Tuesday 14th December 2010

[10:23 EST+1]

Tuesday was the day we had our tickets for the Disney Christmas Party at Disney World. Since it was going to be a late finish tonight, we didn't exactly hurry ourselves along. Indeed, we sat in the villa until lunchtime, chilling out trying to complete the latest Angry Birds Christmas level.

Even once we'd left the villa, our first port of call was to the nearby Perkins for some light lunch. We then left and headed up to WDW.

Arriving later actually meant we ended up parking closer to the entrance. We were within walking distance, but the cold wind whipping across the car park meant we waited for the tram in an effort to get to the gates quicker. Needless to say, we caught the monorail to get to the park rather than sail over the lake!

Some plants in the park were still covered from the frost as tonight was forecast to be even colder than last night.

Mainly due to the weather (and that it was mid-week) the park was less busy than we'd seen for a while. Not that WDW ever gets empty during the day, but this was manageable, 15-20 minute waits in TomorrowLand (aside from Space Mountain which was 60 and required a fast pass or two).

7pm arrived pretty quickly and so the park started to empty out even more. The lights came on and everything looked suitably seasonal.

We walked on, doing most of the rides as 10 minutes waits or walk-ons. We skipped the first parade instead we headed inside to grab some of the complimentary cocoa. Normally, this stuff is just so-so, but this night it certainly helped to warm you up!

Before the fireworks started, I decided to get on Splash Mountain - this was almost deserted. One person every three or four boats (at the same time the, dryer, Thunder Mountain has a 20 minute wait). Luckily, I didn't get drenched, just a light splashing or I would have been in trouble as the temperature was probably close to zero by then.

We installed ourselves on the bridge in Frontier Land to watch the evening fireworks.

Finally, we headed back towards Main Street to watch the parade. The 'snow' was falling and it certainly felt like winter! Linda was frozen by now.

Straight after the parade, we dashed back to Tomorrowland to grab another cocoa and try and warm up. Sadly, we couldn't manage to warm up enough for another loop, so we went back to the Monorail for the trip back to the car park.

The trip back home was OK, although the outside temperature was showing as 27'F - that's almost -3'C