Hello, this is your one and only Nana! Yes, it’s my turn to write about my Disney Princess Reporter life. I hope you guys had a magical holiday!
What did Nana do for Christmas? Oh, thank you for asking! I worked and reported from Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I got to see Santa Duffy and Santa Goofy! It was magical. (Don’t worry I went to somewhere non-Disney after that…)
All the holiday crowds are full throttle in the parks, and all the rides, restaurants, and restrooms have long lines. If you ever wonder which bathroom you should go to during this busy season, please watch our podcast! We break down all the best and worst bathrooms on property, and offer a little history lesson. Anyway, let the magic begin. Shall we?
Good Morning from TTC – Magic Kingdom
One-day Magic Kingdom base tickets have been sold out often during the holiday and today was the one of those day, which means we are expecting large crowds.
The Monorails were having some issues; it took me about 20 minutes to get to Magic Kingdom via Express Monorail.
Here, you can see the crane for Big Thunder Moutain and Beyond.
Since the monorail took a little extra today, I was a little late for “Let the Magic Begin.” At least I got to see it a little bit.
The things we’ve been checking during our visits to Magic Kingdom are the Swiss Family Treehouse, the under-construction Pirates-themed tavern, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad construction, and the Haunted Mansion.
The Swiss Family Treehouse is still not fully reopened, but some parts smell like new paint.
At the reported future home of the Pirates-themed tavern, they are working on the ceiling. I am not tall like other bloggers so I can’t get any behind-the-wall pictures, unfortunately. They also recently added a stone-like texture to the walls.
At Big Thunder Mountain, there have been no updates since our last report. But DO NOT forget, Big Thunder Moutain Railroad will close for a long refurbishment starting January 6th, 2025.
At the Haunted Mansion, the Duke and Duchess are still not moving. Elsa must have frozen them and forgot about it! (I hope true love will thaw them soon.)
2024 is about to be over, but the Tomorrowland rocks never got fully painted this year… Maybe they will get fully painted in 2025.
Nothing was going on in Magic Kingdom, so I made my way to the All-Star Resorts to review some new treats.
The New Treats from World Premiere Food Court
I feel like Disney is always dropping new menu items when I’m the only reporter in the parks, but it’s fine! Today, I had an unofficial intern with me. It’s a lot for just two of us.
You can watch or read my crazy review if you want to know my full thoughts on these sweet treats. I do not know how many reviews I’ve done this year, to be honest. Maybe I should count them all?
Speaking of counting, Let’s talk about my yearly recap.
2024 as a Theme Park Reporter
I’ve counted how many days I’ve gone to the parks this year. (So I can calculate how much my per visit is…😂)
- Walt Disney World*:182 days (Disney Springs and Resrots are not counted)
- Universal Orlando Resort*: 38 days (only from April)
- Disneyland Resort*: 5 days
- Tokyo Disneyland: 3 days
- Tokyo DisneySea: 5 days
*I have an Annual Pass for those parks.
I spent a total of 233 days in the parks. I am not quite sure a Disneyland Magic Key is worth it, but you know you can’t buy one whenever you want… so I just keep paying like I am paying my taxes. IT’S MY DISNEY TAX!
Anyways… Here is a park event recap with some funny pictures:
January
- 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts: We all bought Figment buckets, and Jason ended up taking them back to the car.
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Pluto returned to the ground from the flotilla.
February
- Valentine’s Day Meet and Greet in Magic Kingdom: If you are ever in the park around this time, please go! And yes, I got to hold the mirror for Gaston.
- 2024 EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival: Please do not forget to bring sunscreen! We got sunburned (as you can see in the picture).
March
- Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunnny Meet and Greet: This has become my tradition now.
April
- 1900 Park Fair Reopening: Their dinner is fantastic and highly recommended. (I even went back after this report.)
- Earth Day Meet and Greet: I was in Animal Kingdom pretty much every day that week.
- Pixar Fest 2024: I made 4*TOWN T-shirts for my crew. (I offered one to Tom but he didn’t want to join us.)
May
- DreamWorks Land opening at Universal Studios Florida: Their snacks are not so good but their ice creams and popsicles are on point!
June
- Fantasy Springs opening at Tokyo DisneySea: I waited from 2 a.m. by the gate and I was not even the first guest. Also, we became Lost Boys!
- CommuniCore Hall opened at EPCOT: I was the first guest at the new character spot. (I didn’t mean to be the first one but…)
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened at Magic Kingdom: We got a whole bot for ourselves (minus Tom).
July
- Independence Day Special Meet and Greet: Patriot Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto meet guests in EPCOT for the Fourth of July. It’s been my tradition since 2017.
- Country Bear Jamboree reopened with a new setlist in Magic Kingdom: I love the new ones a lot. This was the only time I dressed for the occasion.
August
- Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2024: I did the Halloween daytime food review with Eric and then went straight to the party. A 17-hour shift! But this meet and greet was worth it.
- Oogie Boogie Bash: Coming from MNSSHP to OBB… OBB is way better than MNSHP. Take my word and please go to OBB at least once.
- 2024 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival: More food reviews!
- Halloween Horror Nights 33 at Universal Studio Florida: Nana doesn’t like scary stuff. “The Conjuring” was nuts. I couldn’t see anything, I just kept walking to get out. Nana is marked safe. 🚩
September
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind played “September” all day: Is “September” your favorite song? Well, we can’t be friends… I love “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and that is my favorite. (But I haven’t got the song this year AT ALL. The world is trying me.)
October
- The Cake Bake Shop opened at Disney’s BoardWalk: I don’t know how many times I went to BoardWalk that week.
- New Corn Dog “Giant Mozzarella Stick” review at Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs: This one was okay. I didn’t put my first corndog review in the recap… But lots of people recognize me from the insane review.
November
- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2024: I did the Christmas food review all day, another 17-hour shift! But again, this meet and greet was worth it.
- Disney Jollywood Nights: I was just there to get characters. This year’s event was much better in so many ways, from crowd control to entertainment, and there were more characters! I do not know how to feel about “Glisten!” but hopefully they will make it better next year.
- Grinch meet and greet at Universal Islands of Adventure: I only waited for 20 minutes and he was magical, as usual. He is one of my favorite meet and greets.
- Soarin’ Around the World Updates at EPCOT: Disney added a new CommuniCore Hall scene and straightened the Eiffel Tower!
- 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays: FIGMENT SWEATER! and more food reviews. Did you buy your sweater? I hope you did…
December
- Christmas Entertainment during daily operations: Guests can enjoy “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade,” “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration,” and “Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks” starting December 21. But this is when all the guests start to fight other guests, so all the locals will be hiding. (I wish I could hide too…)
This is pretty much what I’ve done this year. I’m sure there was more… I definitely enjoyed Pixar Fest and and he opening of Fantasy Springs! These two are my highlight of 2024.
But I am really thankful for all the readers (like you!) who read Crazy Nana’s Princess Diary and watch Nana’s food reviews on YouTube. I still do not like doing food reviews by myself due to my limited vocabulary (Yeah, even though I’ve lived in the States for 17 years…) and some not-so-nice comments. I also appreciate the readers who stopped me in the parks and shared a few kind words with me. Lots of them apologize for stopping me, but I love talking and do not mind getting stopped by at all. So please don’t be sorry!
2025 is around the corner and we have lots of exciting stuff coming: Disney Starlight Parade, Epic Universe opening, Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration, Test Track 3.0, and more! Are you guys excited? Because I am excited.
Thank you for reading all the way till the end! Happy Holiday and New Year!
See you in 2025!
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