A Very Disney New Year - Day 4: New Year’s Eve, Hollywood-style

[Stewboy]

Index

Saturday 31st December 2016

Today was New Year’s Eve and tonight we would be celebrating the end of 2016 at the Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! nighttime show at Hollywood Studios. As we would be out late we didn’t plan on waking early, instead waking at about 8. After falling back to sleep for a bit I eventually got up at 9.

Jo showered while I made some “delicious” (Mr.) Coffee. Housekeeping were still only leaving us the one sachet to share; if it was better coffee I would’ve been annoyed!

Isabella was up at 9:45 and needed a bath having gone straight to bed without one the previous night. By 10:30 we were ready to go, the question was where to? We’d decided on Denny’s again but this time the one further south on I-Drive (just past the Convention Centre, near the Red Lobster).


Jo's ready to go


Isabella's ready to go


Our feet are ready to go

Arriving at about 10:35, fortunately the restaurant wasn’t busy and we were seated straight away. Our server arrived, she was the spitting image of the actress Maya Rudolph (from Bridesmaids)!

For breakfast we ordered the following:

• Jo and I: Lumberjack Slam - Two buttermilk pancakes, a slice of grilled ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two poached eggs, hash browns and toast
  
• Isabella: Build Your Own Jr. Grand Slam - Scrambled egg, two sausage links, and two fluffy buttermilk pancakes

We drank coffee while we waited and Isabella did a really good Christmas drawing. We resisted the lure of the rather grandly named “fun zone” which consisted of two grab machines: I bet the fun never ends playing those!


"Fun" zone




Fun zone

The food arrived quickly, it was hot and delicious. Forty five minutes after arriving we were back in the car with full bellies and on our way to Publix, forty five minutes after arriving at the other Denny’s two days ago we were still waiting for our food.




Food

[Stewboy]

It was a short trip from International Drive to our favourite Publix on Universal Boulevard, we were super excited to be going back to our go-to American Supermarket. We stocked up on the essentials - water, milk, cereal, crisps, alcohol, chocolate….

While shopping Isabella had the following revelation: “A few days ago I realised that my favourite colour is green and pink is my second!” OMG!

This came as a big shock to me as I’d always assumed, and indeed she’d always insisted, that pink was her favourite (along with purple and magenta). Maybe five year olds prefer green?


Publix YAY!

Shopping and revelations over with we headed back to the hotel where I wrote up some notes, Jo did some reading and Isabella did some drawing. After a while Isabella and Jo sorted out her pins, deciding which to trade and which to keep. We then had some snacks and Isabella sent her nanny a WhatsApp before we got ready for our evening of New Year celebrations.

We marched down to the car at about 2:40. The roads were pretty clear and by 3:15 we were parked up in Hollywood Studios, Music lot, row 51, right at the end of the row. As there was a tram waiting for us when we got to the end of the row we jumped on it and rode to the entrance.








In the room


On the march


Posing in the lift


At least we're close to the exit..


On the tram

[Stewboy]

It had turned into a really warm day, perfect weather for a PhotoPass in front of the big Christmas tree at the park entrance.

Once we’d got our photos we entered the park via the Annual Passholder entrance. These were only being trialled when we were there but they are a great idea, definitely worth keeping - even if we don’t get to use them again in future years










Annual Passholders, baby!

When we got into the park Jo left Isabella and I relaxing in the shade, soaking up the atmosphere while she popped into a couple of the shops on Hollywood Boulevard, returning empty handed - still no luck in finding those Christmas sweaters, sorry Hardings







As it was such a warm afternoon we decided it was time for a drink, well it was New Year’s Eve so why not eh? We never seem to spend much time down Sunset Boulevard so that’s where we headed. After perusing the various alcoholic beverages on offer we ended up at the Sunshine Day Café where we got the following:

• Jo - Evergreen Spritz (Midori, vodka, sweet-and-sour, Sprite)
• Me - Winterberry Cooler (Chambord, vodka, cranberry juice, lime)

While we enjoyed our drinks Isabella did some pin trading with the CM at the Sunshine Day Café, unfortunately I didn’t make a note of what she traded nor did I get a photo - bad trip report writer!

[Stewboy]

Taking a slow walk back to Hollywood Boulevard we arrived just in time to watch the March of the First Order. If you’ve not seen this yet, it’s a must see. The music is great and the First Order Stormtroopers are really menacing - even more so because you know they’re better shots than the old Empire Stormtroopers

While Captain Phasma and her posse made their way to the stage outside The Great Movie Ride for the finale of their march we headed round to Pixar Place for our Toy Story Midway Mania FastPass. On the way we spotted a large table full of plastic NYE hats and annoying party horns; the CMs were handing them out to all the guests so Jo went and joined the fast-moving line. The sound of those party horns could be heard everywhere, reminiscent of the much reviled vuvuzelas at World Cup 2010, something to look forward to for the next 5 or 6 hours...








March of the First Order











We carried on to Toy Story Mania. We all got in a car together, Jo and Isabella one side, me on the other. Once again Jo was victorious, but hey, it’s not the winning that counts it’s the taking part…

Exiting the ride, Isabella saw a pressed penny machine and got another one to add her ever burgeoning collection, I’ve lost count of how many she’s got now!

Nowadays Pixar Place is a dead end, so we walked back towards The Great Movie Ride and past the back of the stage. As we did we stopped to watch the characters from Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away walk past; Captain Phasma, a couple of First Order Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Chewbacca.













Continuing on down Commissary Lane we stopped at Muppet Courtyard to get an early dinner from PizzeRizzo. It was quiet inside and we ordered two pizzas to share between the three of us. We got:

• Vegetable Pizza topped with Mushrooms, Peppers, Onions, and Tomatoes served with Caesar Salad
• Cheese Pizza served with Caesar Salad

We headed upstairs and sat in the New York themed area. The restaurant is huge and the theming is really cool, especially the Wedding Party room. The area we sat in had lots of Muppet characters illustrations on the walls. Unfortunately the food itself leaves a lot to be desired, at least I thought so. Jo and Isabella seemed to enjoy it though, but I wouldn’t go back in a hurry.






PizzeRizzo Wedding Room




Pizze Rizzo New York themed upstairs seating

[Stewboy]

Leaving PizzeRizzo we walked over to Star Tours for our next FastPass. There was time for Isabella to get her photo taken on a speeder bike before we headed into Star Tours, passing Kylo Ren being all moody on the Jedi Academy stage. We boarded our Starspeeder 1000 and set off on the following adventure:

• Imperial probe droid beginning
• Arrival on Hoth
• BB-8 hologram rebel spy message
• Death Star/Boba Fett/Rebel Alliance leaders ending

Once again Jo was disappointed not be the rebel spy; shouldn’t she be relieved not to be found out...?

We exited into the shop where, after a lot of browsing, Isabella ended up buying a Star Wars bracelet featuring Yoda, a Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo.

]
Go get your ride. Take her back to base



Time now for another attraction we’ve not done for years, Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. In fact I’m almost certain that I’ve only ever done this once in thirteen previous visits!

We had a good look around the exhibition and then watched the short film at the end which we all found really interesting. After the film we exited and headed back to the stage outside the Great Movie Ride. At 7:00 the stage was hosting a New Year’s Eve countdown show, so we thought we’d kill an hour before the Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! dessert party so decided to watch.
















One Man's Dream


Isabella's bracelet

The show itself consisted of a stage full of overly enthusiastic dancers and a DJ. The music was definitely not to my taste and there was a lot of encouragement being shouted at the slightly bemused crowd that had gathered. Of course, some were joining in, mostly because there was a man with a camera filming in the crowd which was being shown the big screens either side of the stage.

Fortunately after about 20 minutes Jo and Isabella had also had enough, so we decided to go and check in for the dessert party at the courtyard in front of the Great Movie Ride - the setup looked pretty cool. The wristbands would give us access, not only to the dessert party but to the viewing area for the Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! show.




NYE countdown


Desserted...

After check in we still had half an hour till the dessert party started so we wandered round over to the Animation Courtyard where Isabella got another pressed penny and also bought herself a Bunga stuffed toy (he’s a honey badger featured in the new Lion Guard cartoon on Disney Junior) from the Disney Junior shop.

It was finally dessert party time. We got back to find large queue had formed but thankfully it moved swiftly and we were soon shown to table #1. First thing’s first, a drink. There were two cocktails on offer from the bar and a selection of beer. Jo tried them both of course, preferring the Gingerbread Martini (whipped cream vodka, gingerbread syrup, and half and half garnished with gingerbread cookie crumbles) over the Apple Cinnamon Cocktail (vanilla vodka, cinnamon whiskey, and apple juice garnished with a cinnamon stick). I would’ve loved to have had a few cocktails but as I was driving I stuck to a couple of Bud Lights. There was also tea, coffee and soft drinks available to help yourself to on a separate table.


The queue


Number One




The many NYE drinks of Jo

[Stewboy]

Now time for the food. There were four tables, one of which was savoury.

The nitrogen station was immediately to the right of the entrance. They were offering, separately or together:

• Liquid nitro frost bites - a duo of white chocolate and wintergreen mousse with dark chocolate sauce and Mickey confetti

Next to that table was the aforementioned tea, coffee, hot chocolate and soft drinks table.

The savoury table was next along to the right, featuring:

• Kale, collard and pomegranate onion slaw
• Holiday antipasto
• Pineapple sweet and sour mixed grill meatballs
• Grilled flatbread
• Warm spinach artichoke dip

Pineapple sweet and sour mixed grill meatballs

The next table had the following mini desserts:

• Chocolate cupcake with mint frosting and peppermint bark
• Holiday crispy bon bons
• Gingerbread almond chocolate cookie
• Lemon meringue tart

Chocolate cupcake with mint frosting and peppermint bark


Holiday crispy bon bons


Gingerbread almond chocolate cookie


Lemon meringue tart


The many NYE drinks of Jo

The last table had more desserts:

• Winter spiced party mix
• Warm salted caramel cottage pudding
• Warm chocolate torte with cream cheese glaze and candy cane dust
• Hand-dipped vanilla bean ice cream

The food was mostly good, and the atmosphere was fun. We also got to meet Santa Goofy and Isabella even got a selfie with him on her camera, unfortunately it didn’t come out well because of the poor lighting (which also explains my lack of decent photos - sorry).







After about an hour of sampling the various treats on offer we were led out of the dessert party, being handed a Gingerbread Mickey Cookie on the way out, through the crowd to the roped off viewing area; follow the green lights rather than the yellow brick road.

It wasn’t long before the Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! show started. The roped off area was policed by a few CMs but that didn’t stop other guests from trying to get in, some innocently who didn’t know what was going on, and others who knew but wanted to try their luck anyway.

One of the CMs was valiantly trying to defend his area, even hasing one group who’d ducked under the ropes. I felt sorry for him but also pleased that he was being so vigilant. The people in those roped off areas do pay quite a bit of extra money for the privilege and it’s not right that other people think they should get it for nothing.

One of the additional perks of the dessert party was being given the 3D HoloSpex glasses for the show which made all the lights look like snowflakes: they were really cool! The fireworks were good, if a little sparse, the light show was brilliant and the projections were amazing. The story was a bit hit and miss, something to do with a couple of Santa’s Elves from a show called Prep & Landing - which as far as I can tell hasn’t been aired in the UK (we did manage to watch one of them on YouTube, didn’t think much of it to be honest) - trying to rescue Santa from Oogie Boogie (of Nightmare Before Christmas fame).
























Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!

So was the dessert party worth it? I think probably yes. Having access to the viewing area was really good - if you’ve ever watched any Disney shows in the parks you’ll know how annoying other guests can be! The viewing area removed that from the equation. Overall we enjoyed the Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! Show, and the dessert party food and drink was good enough to feel like it was value for money.

The show was over by about 9:15 and we headed out of the park and back to the car. Back at the room Isabella went straight to bed as it was waaaaaay past her bedtime. Jo and I had originally planned to sit and have some drinks and snacks but we were so full and tired that we ended up having showers and going to bed at about 11:30 - yep, we didn’t even see in the new year!


Time to go home


Isabella's photo of the day


Tomorrow: 2017!

[Excited6910]

Love reading your trip reports. We're hoping to catch the Jingle Bam show when we go this year (We Love Prep and Landing) I guess you can see it without the dessert party but get a better view, 3D glasses etc?

[Stewboy]

Originally Posted by Excited6910

Love reading your trip reports. We're hoping to catch the Jingle Bam show when we go this year (We Love Prep and Landing) I guess you can see it without the dessert party but get a better view, 3D glasses etc?

See more...

The show was really good, where have you seen Prep & Landing? It's not been on in the UK has it?

Yeah, you don't need to do the dessert party, but obviously you get a guaranteed good view and the glasses.

TFR

[Excited6910]

Originally Posted by Stewboy

The show was really good, where have you seen Prep & Landing? It's not been on in the UK has it?

Yeah, you don't need to do the dessert party, but obviously you get a guaranteed good view and the glasses.

TFR

See more...

It was on the disney channel a few years ago. They're only 15-30 minute shorts, there are 2 well 3 but one is really short and not great that's called secret santa I think. But we absolutely fell in love with the idea of the elves prepping everything ready for santa. I couldn't find them on tv this year but they do have a dvd.

I'll look into the party dates when they get released thank you

[mick]

Another great day Isabella did really well staying awake

Joan