From Halloween to Christmas in just one night!

The alarm went off early and we asked each other if we felt like getting up and ……. Nay!

We went back to sleep for a while and got up around 8am. After taking showers and getting ready we got into the car and drove over to the little Boulangerie to pick up some more baguette and sweet treats for breakfast. We still had cream cheese, ham and salami in the fridge, which we needed to use up, so we had a nice breakfast and even enough stuff to prepare some baguette to take with us for lunch. I had another Chocolate Eclair and Tom had decided on a Raisin Pastry. After finishing breakfast we loaded our stuff into the car, walked through the house one more time to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything and took the keys back to reception. We left the villa around 9.45am and drove over to the parking garage. After paying the AP holder ticket we walked over to Disneyland Park to spend the day there until it would be time to leave again. There were considerably less people trying to get into the park and in the park.

We walked under the railway station and were so surprised to see that they had already put up the huge Christmas tree in the middle of town square. Most of the Halloween decorations on Main Street and in the shops were gone and Christmas had started to creep in. We walked through the shops and I was able to take a few photos of the cookies they offer at the sweets shop. When we got to the hub we admired the wonderful decorations they had put up at the hub.

We walked over to Frontierland and got a Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain, before we walked over to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril roller coaster. It only had a 15 minute wait and was as fun as always. They have made a few new modifications to the waiting area and there even is now a Hidden Mickey in the queue area! We both still wish they would reverse the ride to going backward again, but it still is a fun ride.

Next stop should have been Pirates of the Caribbean, but we just should have believed the sign outside, which said 25 minutes. It WAS 25 minutes, the line started outside the building and when we saw that we turned around and walked out of the ride again. We slowly made our way into Fantasyland and past Peter Pan, which had another long line.

So instead we walked down to Belle’s Christmas Village, to see if the shops were open and if we would find some neat photo ops. We did find the stores to be open, but unfortunately all of them sell the same stuff. While we were walking through we saw that the back part was kind of deserted, so we stopped to take some photos. When we walked further towards Discoveryland we found out that “It’s a small world” had been closed for refurbishment.

Good thing we got to ride it during the Halloweenparty. The shortcut walkway to Discoveryland was open, so we walked through there and made our way over to Space Mountain. There was a neat WallE display and after taking a few photos we decided to pick up a Fast Pass for Space Mountain. By that time the skies started to become grey and we were sure it was going to rain rather sooner than later.

Our Fast Pass time for Big Thunder Mountain was already on, so we slowly made our way over there again, but not without hitting another store and picking up a few small bits and pieces for some of our friends. The regular line was long, but Fast Pass was only a 5 minute wait, Tom asked if we could ride at the back and we got to ride in row 13 and had a lot of fun! Once we got off the ride we decided to try and have a look if we could find a table at the Cable Car Bake Shop.

Yip, several tables were free and we got in line to pick up some goodies. Tom had a Café au lait, I had a Cappucchino and a Halloween Cupcake. The coffee was hot, but we both had had better and the cupcake was horrible. Most of it went in the bin. But when we had finished our coffees it was time to ride Space Mountain. We walked to the Fast Pass Entrance, up the stairs, handed in our tickets and found out that the regular line started right where the Fast Pass line met the regular line! There were some kids pushing through the line which always annoys me, but within 10 minutes we made it to the front of the line and onto the ride. To our huge amazement the ride had a lot more light than we remembered. You could actually see the props in there and see where the ride was heading.

But it all didn’t help, I bumped my head and shoulder several times! After the ride we noticed that we had not been in the store next to Startours and went in. Right in the very first container there was the Tower of Terror Stitch we had been looking for, for our friends Stefy and Dave! In no time one of them belonged to us! We only had about an hour and a half left until we had to leave and since we wanted some lunch we walked back to Fantasyland to see if we would be lucky at Mr. Toad’s.

No way, people were already sitting outside the restaurant. Same was true for La Chalet de Marionette and the Hakuna Matata Restaurant. There were only a few more choices and our time was running out. Next stop was the Cowboy Cookout, but they had a band playing and the restaurant was full. So the only restaurant that was still a possibility was Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost. When we entered we were surprised to only find a short line and several open tables. It was good we did not know what was in store for us! The line moved very slow. The people on the left were very undecided and it took forever for them to make their minds up, while on my side, the ride side there was a huge group ordering their meals. It took forever for them to place their order, then for them to pick it up. And even though there were only 4 or 5 people ahead of us it took about half an hour to place an hour. There are only little choices. So we both had a pizza.

Tom had the Pizza Royale, which had ham and olives, while I had the Four Cheese Pizza. By the time I made it to the table with our food and drink the pizzas were only lukewarm. We did not have either the time nor the nerve to complain, so we ate our lukewarm pizza and off we went.

 We used the shortest way out of the park and over to the parking structure. Since we had paid beforehand, we could walk straight to the car, hop in and off we went. We stopped at the gas station next to the hotel Santa Fe to fill up the car and were finally on our way. The drive to the airport was uneventful and we reached with plenty of time to spend before having to say goodbye. We returned the rental car, loaded our stuff onto a trolley and went down to check in with Lufthansa. We had checked in the day before so we thought that we only had to pick up our tickets at the little “do it yourself” check in desks. Tried the frequent flyer card, didn’t work, tried the booking code, didn’t work, tried by name, didn’t work. So there was no other way than to walk to the actual check in and do it the old fashioned way. Luckily I checked the tickets as they had changed our seats and we were now seated rows apart.

I asked about having different seats and was granted my wish. Once we had sent off our luggage we found a seat, had a sandwich that we had prepared earlier and some of our leftover drinks, before we headed to the final security check and the boarding gate. Our flight was on time, we were handed some Ham Sandwiches and were offered some drinks and in no time we landed in Frankfurt. Our second gate was across the airport, so we made the hike, plopped down on some seats when we finally arrived and waited for the second half of our trip. The flight was full, our snacks had been put on the seats before we were allowed on board and we were nibbling the baked Pizza Snack while taking off. About 55 minutes later we landed back home in Linz, picked up the car and I dropped Tom off at his place before I drove home and fell into bed shortly after midnight. I even managed to fit in a few hours of sleep before I was back to everyday life at 5.30am in the morning.