Christmas Dinner

While we were busy walking around Downtown Disney Candy had us stop by guest services. Sydney and I both picked up Birthday pins with our names on them. If your birthday is the month before, the month of, or the month after your visit you can celebrate it at Disney...so I did! Then we made our way over to the restrant where we had reservations. T-REX. Way, way cool!

The sign at the restrant...just a preview of the fun to come!

It didn't take very long at all for us to be seated ~ even though we had 7 in our party. Our reservation got us right in. We were seated next to this lovely dining companion ...

He would bend over and roar...which scared Peyton a little at first, until Memaw told him he better stop and he did! Of course he started up again later, but by now it was just a funny joke! As we looked around the restraunt there were plenty of the animated, and non-animated prehistoric creatures around to entertain throughout the meal.

Right across from us between the room we were in and the ice age room was this beautiful Pterodactyl flying over the heads of some diners.

On the wall behind the Pterodactyl was this ginormous bug!

In the ice age room at the edge of the walkway was this baby mammoth. Isn't he cute?

Just around the corner from us was the ocean room. I thought these jellyfish were amazing with the colors and lights.

Of course you can't go to a special place like this and NOT order an extraordinary dessert, right? So we ordered chocolate extinction.

Since Sydney and I had our Birthday Buttons on they put candles in our ice cream and sang happy birthday to us. We had a wonderful time!

The day came to an end and we were all pretty well exhausted so with VERY full tummies we made our way back to our home away from home and headed for bed. We knew it was going to be an early morning and we wanted to get some rest so we could really enjoy it.

Tomorrow I finally make it to the Magic Kingdom!

Getting Started

We got up VERY early Christmas morning and drove out to the airport to begin our trip. The flight was quite uneventful and we arrived in Orlando, picked up our rental car, and headed to the condo. We unloaded the car, jumped back in and headed towards Downtown Disney to have lunch and do a little shopping. What a blast! One of the first stores we actually went in was a Build Your Own Ride store - it is basically a Build a Bear for boys! We weren't going to stop at first ~ that is until we saw the Carbon Fiber Lightning McQueen...leave no doubt that Peyton is a HUGE fan! We all went in and helped him pick out all kinds of special things to add to his new remote controlled Lightning car. He was so proud of it!

Peyton practicing with his controller.

We then started REALLY window shopping. I wasn't really ready to do much REAL shopping ~ saving up my money for Disney World...all four sections!

I loved this figurine of Mickey and Minnie.

A little sad to see they had already re-set the calendar for Christmas 2011.

There is so much to see, both inside and outside the shops at Downtown Disney...here is a small sampling of some of the things we saw.

Lego Nessie ~ actually in the water!

Lego family outside the store.

The brooms from the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Carolers

Cinderella's Castle Model.

Santa Genie as a Photographer.

The Disney Train rolling along overhead tracks.

Part of one of the wreaths that decorated nearly all the stores.

The Christmas Tree in the courtyard.

And finally a close-up of the tree decorations.

We found several hidden Mickey's on our very first day! This was a quest we set for ourselves because in my Disney Christmas package along with my Passport, Pressed Penny packages, and Disney sling backpack I also recieved the Hidden Mickey scavenger hunt guide. We didn't do the hunt, but we did try to find some of the Hidden Mickeys.

This was at the Build Your Ride store where Peyton built his Lightning McQueen car.

Mickey in the package next to the Carolers.

Mickey in the Dalmation in the Lego Family.

Mickey in an over the door sign inside one of the stores.

and along the border on the side of the door.

Mickey on top of the clothing poles in one of the stores,

and along the sides of the pole in another.

And finally Mickey on the back of the benches next to the interactive Mickey fountains.

Next time ~ dinner at T-Rex...what an experience!