soneevda: DISNEY: Mylie Kingdom

The rationale for going to Disney in the few hours between a big race and a Holiday party, and after having been over the night before, was because Herb told me to. I couldn't decide between Disney (hey, while I'm in town) or home (and being responsible), and Herb was my Jiminy Cricket.

I chose MK because I also wanted to check out the gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian. I got to the TTC just before 3pm and decided to hit the park first. The holiday decorations were in full-bloom. The only hankering I had was for Splash Mountain (it's been a while) so I took to the Railroad. Looking out on Main Street, I noticed that there was a stage where the flag pole should've been. Something's amiss, but I didn't really think much more of it.

Train to Frontierland, I found Splash at 60 mins (so, no thanks). The park was really busy. And I headed towards Tomorrowland thinking that TTA would be a no-wait attraction, plus I could maybe check out Dream Along With Mickey on the way, but when I reached the hub, I saw the crane cameras and a heavy crowd. There was a band on stage... a concert... looks like Ozzy, but it's... Billy Ray Cyrus!

I did manage to catch a small anecdote, a make-up touch-up, an impromptu Star-Spangled Banner, and a more-produced Run Run Rudolph. It was pretty dang cool. I had no idea.

Afterwards, some guests headed out, but many tried to hover around the Rose Garden area (to the right of the stage) to get a glimpse of Mylie who doing an interview there. CMs were herding people on towards Fantasyland; I did a U turn, and went over to the Tomorrowland side to linger -- didn't get a good shot of her, but I took a pic of stitch with the Mouses and caught a hidden-Mickey of sorts... (just to the right of Mickey's left cheek... ha!). Anyways, I didn't ride any real rides and I headed out to see the gingerbread house.

I decided to go small boat to GF. I had to wait a cycle and was feeling quite social, so I started talking with another family (CD); they had no idea that the Cyruses were at the park, and so I shared my vid of BRC performing. I asked for and got their email address to send them some of the pictures (I did). Anyways, we were the last ones on the next boat, and the view across the Seven Seas Lagoon was beautiful.

Well, the gingerbread house at GF was a bit underwhelming. I guess once you've seen it once, there's nothing so much new. I didn't stay long. I took the resort monorail back to MK, then transferred to the express monorail back to the TTC. During that monorail transition, I saw the honoraries from the night before's DHS Lights as they were heading in, and I stopped and congratulated them. I wonder how often those people get recognized.

Anyways, a would've-been-mundane visit turned out quite the celebrity surprise, and the trek to see the gingerbread house turned out positive reinforcement from a CD&fam and an opportunity to spread some special holiday cheer -- I figured it to be good karma cashed in. It was a light but certainly memorable visit to the World.

Pictures of the concert and the rest of the visit can be found after the agenda:
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Here's what I did this visit:

TTC (PLUTO 25)

EXPRESS MONORAIL to MK (Silver)
- WDW Railroad to Frontierland
- (Splash Mountain @60mins, no thanks)
- Billy Ray Cyrus concert (good dad)
- Mylie Cyrus interview

SMALL BOAT to GRAND FLORIDIAN
- Gingerbread House

RESORT MONORAIL to MK (Gold)
- shared BRC vid, positive reinforcement

EXPRESS MONORAIL to TTC (Silver)
- congratulated OFL honorees from last night

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