2018 Minnie's Moonlit Madness Medal Ceremony at Disney Studios

After having our best showing yet at Minnie's Moonlit Madness, Ruston invited us up to the Disney Studios in Burbank to accept our first place medals.

This happens to be the kids' first visit to the studios too! One of the highlights was seeing the Partners statue up close.

Ian wanted to see if he was taller than Mickey.

And Alli was happy to give Mickey a hug.

And she was even more excited to see Minnie Mouse!

It's fun seeing all the handprints in Legend's Plaza. Here's a large version of the Legends Statue that is presented to recipients.

And it happens to have a hidden mouse. No, not Mickey. It's Gus-Gus I think.

Checking out Mickey Ave and Dopey Drive on our walk over to the cafeteria for lunch.

Right at the busy time.

Ruston got us a table right in front of the Arendelle castle. We enjoyed hamburgers, chicken strips, soup, salad, and some of Walt's Chili.

After lunch it was time for us to meet with Rick, the director of Minnie's Moonlit Madness. We passed by Pluto's corner.

And cut through the old Animation building to get back to Legend's Plaza. The kids enjoyed seeing their favorite characters decorating the walls.

It's Rick!

He enlisted the kids' help to unwrap the medals and get them ready.

And in Legends Plaza, three more members of the Clue Crew were here!

Back in 2013, when we took 3rd place, we had a private medal ceremony at Ruston's house, and as he presented us our medals, he played the Olympic Theme by John Williams.
Today, Ruston queued up David Foster's Winter Games Theme.

I present to you, your medals for coming in First Place for Minnie's Moonlit Madness 2018!

The medals look great this year!

The medal is really detailed and well done.

It's going to look great next to our Third Place medal from 2013!

Time for some pictures!

Congratulations again team!

I bet we tried to get this shot at least 6 times. I love having the Team Disney building in the background.

All those tries inspired another little one to take a jumping photo.

Well done Ian.

And we've got to take a group picture with some of the people that made it all possible!

Thank you Rick, Craig, Wendy, and Rachel for coming up here today for us! And a big thank you to all the rest of the Clue Crew who work so hard to put this on every year.

Afterwards the 8 of us talked about the Madness. What our favorite parts were, things we found challenging, behind the scenes details like planning and logistics. Did you know for an event in February they get started all the way back in October? I probably could have kept talking about it for an hour, but it's Friday in So Cal, and the freeways are going to get backed up. Time to get moving.

We made a quick stop at the Disney Archives. The theme is Tomorrowland right now.

And we saw various props from the parks, plus what looks like a suit from Tron Legacy.

We walked over to see Ruston's office.

And no visit is complete without a trip to the Studio Store.

Quite a few of the stuffed animals have a little bit more love in them now that Alli and Ian have given them hugs.

And despite it taking 1:30 to drive 21 miles, we made it home with no issues. Both kids fell asleep after having a fun day walking around the Disney Studios.

So... Will we be back for Minnie's Moonlit Madness 2019? Only time will tell, but come next February I'm hoping that somehow I can still be a part of it!