The last bit of Disney magic

We decided to spend our final Disney World night taking in the magic at the Magic Kingdom. Matt, Christian, Matthew and I sneaked over during my family's afternoon nap to get some pictures, Jake's silhouette, and fastpasses before catching the dancing lights at Hollywood Studios.

After watching lights at Hollywood Studios, we returned to the Magic Kingdom to see the sky light up behind the castle.

We then ate Disney churros (um, also better at Disneyland. Weird, right?) while we watched the castle change outfits countless times during The Magic, the Memories and You show.

Shortly thereafter, the electrical parade came rolling down the street.

Please love the above picture of Cinderella heading to her castle in a pumpkin. Anyway. Once all the shows were over, we caught a few last-minute rides and posed with the castle before heading down Main Street one last time.

Christian climbed the stairs in the train station for a final look at his domain. Seriously, he owns Disney World.  Thanksgiving is definitely a brave time to head to Orlando, and I know there are others who went at the exact same time we did that spent their visit in two+ hour lines and overwhelmed by crowds. But thanks to Christian's expertise, planning, and running across parks to secure fast passes for everyone, we were able to ride everything multiple times and never waited for more than twenty minutes. Crowds? What crowds? Thanks, Kiken. You made the vacation.

We boarded the ferry and were enjoying our ride to the parking lot when we noticed that 9-year-old Kaleb and 5-year-old Gabe were both silently crying. We asked Kaleb why and he responded, "It was just so wonderful!" They weren't whiny tears, but happy-because-we-loved-it-so-much-and-sort-of-sad-that-it's-over-now tears. How cute is that? We asked 6-year-old Josh if he was going to cry, too, and he laughed a hearty "No." Then, as we watched Disney World fade into the distance, our little jokester Joshie turned toward Kaleb and said:

"Don't worry, Kaleb. You're never going to see it again."

Classic.

So sweet, right?

One final look at the second-happiest place on earth. Thanks for the memories, Mom and Dad!

Best early Christmas present ever.

The best dancing Christmas lights ever

... are found on the Streets of America at Disney World's Hollywood Studios. Now you know.

What started as a single family's Christmas light display in Arkansas has been turned into Disney's Christmas lights show to end all Christmas lights shows -- the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Everything along the Streets of America is literally blanketed in bright, glittering Christmas lights, which twinkle along to a new holiday song every ten minutes and are complimented by fake snow flurries on occasion. We stayed and watched the lights dance for no less than an hour. Christmas light perfection, I tell you.

A video of the lights dancing can be seen here,  but it really does it no justice. It's incredible in person.

Pictures this cute bear repeating.

I loved that they had a nativity, too.

If only we'd gone when Nicole and the Darowskis were with us, we would have had a rather impressive Christmas card picture.

Hollywood Studios

After Animal Kingdom, we hurried over to Hollywood Studios to make sure we covered all four parks before Nicole left the next morning to spend Thanksgiving with Jordan. The entrance to Hollywood Studios looks almost exactly like the new California Adventure entrance, and the park itself mimics the real Hollywood area here in California. 

Except for the giant magic Mickey hat, of course. That's not anywhere in California.

We rode Tower of Terror a few times and then raced over to catch Fantasmic in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater.

The next morning, we headed back to Hollywood Studios to catch a few things we'd missed -- most importantly, Star Tours and the Jedi Training Academy for my baby brothers. 

Using the force to open the doors on Star Tours.

They took their Jedi Training very seriously and successfully defeated Darth Vadar. It was a definite highlight.

We wandered around fake Hollywood a bit more, touring the Hollywood backlot, checking out real movie props, and stepping into classic movies in the Great Movie Ride.

Jakey made good use of his stroller time and caught up on sleep. Then, since it was Thanksgiving and all, we grabbed a few turkey legs for lunch in between stunt shows.

After few more rounds on Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster plus a photo-op with a green Army man from Toy Story, we were ready for our afternoon break.

A couple hours later, we were back for the most impressive Christmas lights display ever.
Just wait 'till you see it!