My parents, sister and brother-in-law, other sister and her boyfriend and I were at Disney World last week from Nov 30-Dec 5. Yes, I was the seventh wheel. A friend of mine was supposed to come but had to cancel last minute due to family stuff. The worst part about going with 7 people is that someone almost always has to sit alone on rides. Anyway, this was also my first trip with such a large group. It went surprisingly well. There wasn't a lot of arguing over where to go and everybody was chill.
I'm now a converted park-hopper. I was adamant about not getting PH prior to this trip but now I don't think I'll ever go without it. We were at parks for 4 full days and did almost everything we wanted to go. (The most notable thing we missed was "Wishes" because of the poor timing of MVMCP and the taping of the parade.) On the last day, my sister, BIL and I did all 4 parks in one day just to say we did. It was epic.
Crowds were pretty low almost the entire time. We didn't wait in lines at all the first day (Thursday) at MK. The worst line times were during EMH at Epcot on Friday night and with Toy Story Mania on both days (Sat and Sun) that we were at DHS. (What's up with that? I mean, I love TSM but it seems odd that it STILL has 70+ min wait times basically 80% of the time.) The weather was spectacular most of the time - although it was really cold the first day.
I rode the new Star Tours for the first time and it is now my new FAVORITE ride. I went 4 times, got two different openings, two different rebel transmissions, and went to 6 different locations. It. Was. AWESOME. I would ride it all day if I could.
We went to the Candlelight Processional with Michael W. Smith on Thursday night and it was fantastic! We also spent a lot of time one night wandering around the Spectacle of Dancing Lights at DHS looking for Mickeys and playing in the "snow". MK didn't have a Christmas tree up on Main St and we were guessing it was because of the parade taping (since where the tree would probably be was where a bunch of the cameras were set up). We crashed the beginning of MVMCP one night though and it was cool to see the snow falling on Main St.
On the Saturday of the parade taping we didn't go to MK at all (much to my objection, actually) and we hung out with some (off duty) CM friends at DHS. One of them heard that our dearest Justin Bieber (who had performed in the parade) was in DHS incognito. So, we spent the rest of the evening playing "Spot the Bieber". Alas, we did not find him. Actually, we seemed to be one step behind him at all times because we'd get to rides and the CMs would tell us that he'd JUST been there. Shucks.
We stayed at Saratoga Springs and it was PERFECT. I room requested and got a room close to the 3rd of 5 bus stops and we never had to wait very long or get passed by because of full buses. We loved the sprawling, quiet grounds and ponds and how close it is to Downtown Disney. I decorated the room for my sister's birthday and we had a lot of fun with it. We also saved a lot of money by stocking up the kitchen and bringing food into the parks. We had one meal out and that was lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. That was FANTASTIC. The fried chicken was great but my favorite was the mashed potatoes! SO. GOOD.
One downer is that we had several issues with CMs being out of character and one incident with a CM being very rude to us. As a whole, the CMs seemed a lot more casual than I've noticed in the past. There were a lot of them just walking around the parks talking (loudly) about their schedules and work. We did have a couple really good experiences with CMs on the last day, which was some redemption after having so many issues up until then.
But besides that, the trip was amazing and I miss it already. Even though I hadn't been there in 3 years, it felt so normal to be in the parks and I felt like I was home. *sigh* So, those are my stories. I feel like I'm forgetting something I wanted to tell you all but I can't remember what it is....
(PS I got a Star Wars mystery pin box hoping for the Minnie Leia/Donald Han combo and just got Donald Han. If anyone would like to trade a Minnie Leia for a Stitch Grievous let me know.
(I hope it's ok to ask that...I don't know the rules about pin trading...))
What exactly are you doing in the castle photo?? Catching snowflakes? 
I too think the hat should be moved. I don't mind the hat, but you just can't see the beautiful theater behind it. I didn't even get a photo of the theater this year 
Was she surprised?