Your ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE to Disney World at Christmas Time! UPDATE x2 10/21

[partyof2]

Great to see you posting again Jess! I guessed that no news was good news where you were concerned and you were obviously loving college, glad to see that's the case.

Do you like having a dorm room to yourself? I stayed at home when I was at university so I didn't have to share with a roomie but I think I'd have preferred a room to myself.

 

[Caretames1]

Love the snow pictures! I almost forget what snow looks like as we here in WI have NONE! weird!


Love you new home!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Your college dorm room looks nice! Love all of the Disney things.

I cannot get over how beautiful, stunning, magical, fantastic that castle looks. Ahh, so gorgeous! I just love it.

Snoap...haha I never heard it called that before. I like it! I was pretty much covered in that during Osborne Lights!

Yum...peppermint bark.

Oh man, I forgot you had to go back to check out and get your things at the "other hotel". Did they say anything? Curious as to why you're leaving already? Were you able to get any type of refund?

Yay Port Orleans! So pretty there, glad you were able to get a mansion room. How nice of them to let you switch! Go Disney!

Thank you so much! My room is so... me

I love the castle so much! I miss it

LOL that's what the CM's called it when we were there! Oh, snoap. I love how they have it at the Osborne Lights too... it's SO pretty!

Haha they had NO idea we left. We just packed up and headed out of there. We didn't get our money back.... but we didn't pay much since it was a transfer thing from the timeshare. So it didn't really matter. But there's more to the West Gate story coming up later in the TR! Stay tuned!

I am SO glad they totally filled our requests... that was awesome! Yay for Disney!

I'm so excited to read all about it and see the photos! AHHH! Oh, and YES, I AM!!!! Hahaha I cannot wait.

AHH ARE YOU REALLY!? Holy crap you're gonna die of happiness. Especially after staying at the value resorts for your past few trips. Your mind is going to be BLOWN AWAY by bay lake I'm so excited for you!!!

Great to see you posting again Jess! I guessed that no news was good news where you were concerned and you were obviously loving college, glad to see that's the case.

Do you like having a dorm room to yourself? I stayed at home when I was at university so I didn't have to share with a roomie but I think I'd have preferred a room to myself.

Haha yes, I am loving college! Which means the TR is going to move a little slower... but thankfully I have break March 3-10th so hopefully I will get some updating in!

I LOVE having my dorm to myself. Having a single is definitely the way to go if it's available. And a lot of my friends stay home while they go to college... so it's definitely a good option. My school is an hour away so that's not really an option for me. But that's alright... I'm having a lot of fun dorming!

Love the snow pictures! I almost forget what snow looks like as we here in WI have NONE! weird!


Love you new home!

Thank you! Haha yeah we don't have any snow here either... which is REALLY weird because we usually have a ridiculous amount. But hey, I'm not complaining. Snow is not my favorite thing in the world, honestly.

And thanks! I loved it too!​

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Chapter 13: Mother's Birthday Morning!
December 7th, 2011

It was December 7th! Do you know what that means....!?!

IT WAS MY MOM'S 50TH BIRTHDAY! YAY!!!!

Happy Birthday, Mother! She was so happy that she got to wake up on her birthday in Disney! There's no better place to be!

I woke up even before our wake up call because I was so excited to get going! I took a shower and got ready!

Once we were all set, we drove to Walgreens and picked up some Neosporin and some big band aids for my injured knee. We also got some Purell, hairspray, make-up remover, and tanning oil. ...I mean in case you were wondering about our shopping list LOL

We left Walgreens and headed BACK TO DISNEY WORLD!

We started off Mother's big birthday celebration at Epcot! Hooray!

We parked, took the tram, and arrived! We went straight to The Land and got some Soarin' Fastpasses for later.

SIDENOTE: ummm....... WHAT THE HECK is up with the fact that we can't use fastpasses after the time slot anymore?! You have NO idea how upset I am. That's just not even fair! My entire Disney touring strategy is going to be thrown off now. I'm SO upset. No more stocking up on TSM fastpasses. UGHHHHH.

Anyways....

We didn't really have a plan on what we wanted to do, so what is the most logical option?

GET SOME BREAKFAST!

Yes, we went to Sunshine Seasons. Here is the beautiful display case full of DELICIOUS desserts! I wish I could eat them all.

However, I had my eye on a little beauty called Berry Croissant Bread Pudding. It was necessary that I got it that morning!! I had been admiring it on the food pictures thread and I couldn't WAIT to taste it!

OH MY GOD.

SO SO SOOOO GOOD!

The fact that this bread pudding is made out of croissants makes it taste 5 and 1/2 million times better than regular bread pudding. It was really hot when I got it so it must have been a fresh batch. I ate the ENTIRE thing and it definitely lived up to my expectation. Ahh I loved it so much it was FANTASTIC!

My Mom and I shared a plate of scrambled eggs as well... which I wasn't really a fan of, unfortunately. They tasted weird that day.

Mom also got some Greek Yogurt and a Banana. (such Disney exclusive food, I know)

As well as some oatmeal!

While we were sitting and eating our breakfast, I caught up on my trip journal from the night before. I wrote NOTHING so far. It took a pretty long time, but that catching up session was needed.

We left The Land and started to wander around Epcot.

kldhsfldsugabfkjsdlsvkfdjhafhkaejdfnsdauifhalshujk MY FOUNTAIN! ♥ ♥ ♥

Since Kristen was so obsessed with pin trading during our trip in August, I realized how much fun it is! So a goal for my December trips was to become a pin trader! (and I did it... yay me!)

On this little trip I didn't trade for a ton of pins (I was saving up for the Christmas vacation!) but I made my first trade at this very moment! I saw some pins that were perfect.

I traded for a Character Spot pin, a Dinosaur Fastpass, and a pin Fastpass Logo pin! I LOVE THEM!

Once I made that trade, Mom and I saw Chip and Dale coming out for a Meet and Greet! Since we were there at the right time, we got right in line.

A Cast Member asked if a Make-A-Wish family could go ahead of us, and of course we said yes! Chip and Dale were SO good with the little girl. Any Make-A-Wish situation is so sad, but the magic that is brought into these children's lives from the characters is just beautiful.

Once their interaction was over, it was our turn to meet Chip and Dale! They musically conducted the Happy Birthday Song to my Mom because they saw her birthday pin! It was so adorable!

We gave hugs goodbye and then decided that we wanted to go to a different park! So we made our way out of Epcot.

My Mom LOVED these poinsettas, so we took some 50th Birthday pictures of her! Yay!

How adorable!

These flowers are just gorgeous.

We exited Epcot and I took a ton of pictures of Spaceship Earth. The sky was SO pretty that day!

I LOVE Palm Trees.

This is one of my favorites:

I also love this fountain!

We took the tram and made it to the parking lot.

Then this is where we learned a very important lesson:

Christmas Tip #10: If you drive a car to the parks, MAKE NOTE OF WHERE YOU PARKED!

My Mom and I could not remember for the life of us where we parked. I must have walked up and down SO many lanes of cars.

After about 10 minutes we FINALLY found it in Amaze 32.

Notice how the sky says JESUS. So I guess the moral of the story is follow Jesus and you will find your car! hahaha

Every time after that, we always made a note of our parking spots in our iPhones. It made life SO much easier.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[Aussiesalad]

Yay updates! How have I missed all this?
Your college room is completely adorable! Love it!
I love when you can deck out a room with posters and 'you' stuff, actually makes it feel like a home.
And I am so happy college is going so well for you still
Your staying off property/back on property is hilarious!!
Seriously could go on and on and on about how much I love Christmas castle and snoape.
I got engaged at Disneyland and we went for a stroll in the snope shortly after and it was so magical....such good memories
The prettyness of snow without the freezing toes, always a win.
Yay for your mums birthday! Early December birthdays are pretty rad. When I was in grade 5 me and my four best friends all had birthdays in early December, we started an "December club" we had shirts and membership cards we made ourselves. It was one of those things that is pretty damn cool when you're 10.
Hooray for going back through the Disney gate! The best part of leaving the property is getting to go through the gate again.
The Berry pudding looks soooooooooooo good! That is quite a sensible breakfast for mother. Good work!
Gahhhh I know, the new fast pass enforcement is going to stink up all the usual routes we take! Not happy about that!
Palm trees! Seriously have a few albums dedicated to them. I don't know how anyone could not be happy around palm trees! Hawaii had so many...obviously haha... (Another reason you must go!) They just make me so happy! It really does seem like all the best places in the world are crawling with palm trees.
Those are some great pictures of SE, and those are really pretty shots of your mum!
Such a wonderful start to a birthday! Waking up in Disney on your birthday must be an amazing feeling!
Bahahaha we lost our car soooo badly at animal kingdom last trip. The four of us split up and looked for 20 mins, then I found a guy getting into his truck and asked if I could climb in the open back bit to try and see. Then when that didn't work he drove us around the parking lot through each row for another 20 mins! Such a nice guy, lesson learned? Probably not...
Good work Jesus, always there to lend a helping hand

 

[onelilspark]

I love that croissant berry pudding. It's so good!

And a tip for the car thing, snap a quick picture with your cell phone of the row you parked in.

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Yay updates! How have I missed all this?

Haha don't worry - I sporadically have days when I can actually have time to go on the DIS... so my updates may come as a surprise now Oh, college. So time consuming.​

Your college room is completely adorable! Love it!
I love when you can deck out a room with posters and 'you' stuff, actually makes it feel like a home.
And I am so happy college is going so well for you still

Thank you so much! I love it too. I had SO much fun decorating it. I also found some Tangled posters that I have hung up since I took those pictures. They're perfect! But thank you! I'm so glad it is, too!​

Your staying off property/back on property is hilarious!!

Hahaha once you go the Disney Resort route, it's hard to go back ​

Seriously could go on and on and on about how much I love Christmas castle and snoape.
I got engaged at Disneyland and we went for a stroll in the snope shortly after and it was so magical....such good memories
The prettyness of snow without the freezing toes, always a win.

That's absolutely adorable! Aww how romantic! And yeah, snow that isn't cold is just a big win in my book!​

Yay for your mums birthday! Early December birthdays are pretty rad. When I was in grade 5 me and my four best friends all had birthdays in early December, we started an "December club" we had shirts and membership cards we made ourselves. It was one of those things that is pretty damn cool when you're 10.

That's so precious! Hahaha I TOTALLY would have done something like that when I was 10. Ah I miss being a child.​

Hooray for going back through the Disney gate! The best part of leaving the property is getting to go through the gate again.

Amen to that!​

The Berry pudding looks soooooooooooo good! That is quite a sensible breakfast for mother. Good work!

IT WAS AMAZING! And lol my Mom was on Weight Watchers when we were at home, so she tried to eat healthy-ish when we were in Disney. It worked out pretty well! But she still enjoyed some desserts, of course!​

Gahhhh I know, the new fast pass enforcement is going to stink up all the usual routes we take! Not happy about that!

LOL this basically ruins everything. I'm so upset. ​

Palm trees! Seriously have a few albums dedicated to them. I don't know how anyone could not be happy around palm trees! Hawaii had so many...obviously haha... (Another reason you must go!) They just make me so happy! It really does seem like all the best places in the world are crawling with palm trees.

They seriously do! Aww I want to go to Hawaii SO bad! I just need to stay at Aulani before I die!!! Palm Trees are perfect.​

Those are some great pictures of SE, and those are really pretty shots of your mum!

Thanks!​

Such a wonderful start to a birthday! Waking up in Disney on your birthday must be an amazing feeling!

I know, seriously! I was in Disney on my 13th birthday and it was just a wonderful feeling! I was so happy!​

Bahahaha we lost our car soooo badly at animal kingdom last trip. The four of us split up and looked for 20 mins, then I found a guy getting into his truck and asked if I could climb in the open back bit to try and see. Then when that didn't work he drove us around the parking lot through each row for another 20 mins! Such a nice guy, lesson learned? Probably not...
Good work Jesus, always there to lend a helping hand

Oh my gosh that's really funny hahaha. I'm sure at the time it wasn't though! Ugh losing your car in the parking lot is the WORST.​

I love that croissant berry pudding. It's so good!

And a tip for the car thing, snap a quick picture with your cell phone of the row you parked in.

It really is! YUM I wish I could have some right now.

Ah that is also a very good idea! It's probably even faster than making a note in our phones!​

 

[petals]

Love your updates. Your Mom does not look 50 btw

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Thank you so much!
Good good good! Make sure you get the tickets as early in advance as possible! I think the last day of the party sold out pretty early this past year!
Umm I don't know how often it snows. Probably after the entertainment finishes I would think. Like the castle show or the fireworks or the parade. And also the end of the night? I'm kind of guessing but that's what I would assume.​

We will definately get them early...as soon as they go on sale!! I remember seeing here on the Dis that last party sold out.

Love the palm tree pics from Epcot.

 

[marDgreen88]

AHH ARE YOU REALLY!? Holy crap you're gonna die of happiness. Especially after staying at the value resorts for your past few trips. Your mind is going to be BLOWN AWAY by bay lake I'm so excited for you!!!
​

ALL my trips, actually! SO YEAH, you're right, I am pretty much going to die. THANK YOU! :
******
YAY, Happy Birthday to your mom!!!! Being at Disney on your birthday... that must be so amazing! UGH, if only mine wasn't at such an inconvenient time of year.

About the fastpasses: RIGHT? I don't even understand what the big deal is. I mean, if you have a fastpass, you should be able to use it whenever. Like what if you can only get a fastpass with a return window that you have an ADR during, or something? I guess you're just out of luck? Not fair.

Love the pins! So cute. AND I love that lanyard... I was GOING to get that exact one! But I didn't. But I WILL!

Aww, the pictures of your mom are so precious! AND your pictures in general are awesome! Epcot's scenery is just AHHHH so beautiful.

Hahaha omg... I'm lame but I'm gonna say this anyway: you were parked in Amaze and you had to go through A MAZE of cars to find yours... BAHAHA. Thank you Jesus.

 

[basketkat]

Happy Birthday to your beautiful mother!!! What a fabulous way to spend your birthday!!!


Isn't pin trading fun??? We started it for my oldest daughter, but I quickly got sucked in too! Ha! I have been collecting the fastpass pins as well!

 

[duckylady]

Happy belated birthday to your mother!! She seems like such a lovely lady.

Your pictures are GORGEOUS. Looks like it was a really beautiful morning!

Man this is making me so homesick. NINE DAYS UNTIL I'M BACK AGAIN asdfasdfdsf

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Love your updates. Your Mom does not look 50 btw

Thank you! And aww I'll tell her you said that! That's so nice. I don't think she looks 50 either!

We will definately get them early...as soon as they go on sale!! I remember seeing here on the Dis that last party sold out.

Love the palm tree pics from Epcot.

Yes definitely! Good planning.
Thank you very much!

ALL my trips, actually! SO YEAH, you're right, I am pretty much going to die. THANK YOU! :
******
YAY, Happy Birthday to your mom!!!! Being at Disney on your birthday... that must be so amazing! UGH, if only mine wasn't at such an inconvenient time of year.

About the fastpasses: RIGHT? I don't even understand what the big deal is. I mean, if you have a fastpass, you should be able to use it whenever. Like what if you can only get a fastpass with a return window that you have an ADR during, or something? I guess you're just out of luck? Not fair.

Love the pins! So cute. AND I love that lanyard... I was GOING to get that exact one! But I didn't. But I WILL!

Aww, the pictures of your mom are so precious! AND your pictures in general are awesome! Epcot's scenery is just AHHHH so beautiful.

Hahaha omg... I'm lame but I'm gonna say this anyway: you were parked in Amaze and you had to go through A MAZE of cars to find yours... BAHAHA. Thank you Jesus.

Ahhh oh my God. You're going to literally want to cry when you get there. I'm so excited for you Did you write an update on your trip plans or anything? I may have missed it.

I know how you feel. My birthday is May 8th so it's like an awkward time of the year since school is pretty much wrapping up at that point. This year it's my last day of exams (I don't think I have one though, hopefully!) and I wish I could just go for my birthday!

Oh I know. I just don't understand why they have to change this now. THIS ISN'T FAIR!

Thank you! Haha I like that lanyard too. It's a good one!

Thank you!

HAHAHA oh my God. People point out to me how I make unintentional puns ALL of the time. And here's just another one That's fantastic.

Happy Birthday to your beautiful mother!!! What a fabulous way to spend your birthday!!!


Isn't pin trading fun??? We started it for my oldest daughter, but I quickly got sucked in too! Ha! I have been collecting the fastpass pins as well!

Yay for birthdays! It really was a special one!
Pin trading is SO much fun. Oh my God I was loving it. I seriously am OBSESSED with the fastpass pins. I am constantly on the lookout for them! Ahh I miss Disney!!

Happy belated birthday to your mother!! She seems like such a lovely lady.

Your pictures are GORGEOUS. Looks like it was a really beautiful morning!

Man this is making me so homesick. NINE DAYS UNTIL I'M BACK AGAIN asdfasdfdsf

Aww she definitely is She's precious and a half.

Thank you so much! It was such a great morning.

AHH NINE DAYS!?!?! That's absolutely wonderful! I hope you have a magical time!
​

 

[Kelliroo3]

Happy Birthday to your mom! She looks great! Definitely does not look 50! I wish I could spend my birthday in Disney...maybe one day!

Yumm, your breakfast looks delicious! I've never had bread pudding before (I'll try it for the first time at Ohana's this summer) but that berry one looks yummy!

Love your pins. Great trades! I was lucky enough to get the no dancing on rides pin last May! LOL-love that!

 

[mike the canuck]

I don't think the strictness on the Fastpass returns will last forever. It will probably fade away again. (Or at least I hope it does)

 

[__disneygirl]

OMG how awesome that you got your room changed to the mansion section. I always wanted to stay there too. It is SO pretty! And thank goodness you got out of Westgate. I remember how relieved you guys were when you were telling me the story haha. What a nightmare.

Aww, what a great 50th birthday it was for your mom! I'm so happy we got to see you guys that night. So much fun! My mom says she wants to go for her 50th there too which will be next February. I think it would be fun if I said I couldn't go cause of work or something and then surprised her and said HEY GUESS WHAT WE'RE GOING. haha.

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Hiiiiii!!! I'm finally here to catch up on your TR. I've missed so much. Like, the entire Christmas party. Ah!

Ch. 6
The special Christmas balloons are adorable! How have I never seen pictures of those before!?!

The Castle is GORGEOUS all lit up. Cinderella hired excellent decorators.

I love that you guys are always going to be known as The Frumps. When you have children, they will be Baby Frumps and then that next generation will grow and continue passing on your frumpish traditions. It's like the circle of frumps.

The Christmas singalong video! Hip Hop Noel (with the dancing reindeer) was my jam omg.

Prince Charming's hat cracks me up. Thank god they didn't include that in the costuming on Once Upon a Time.

FLYNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! I am so jealous of you. Though they would've had to take me outta there on a stretcher because the smolder would've done me in.

Ch. 7/8/9
Your pictures are awesome. It's like I'm right there on Main Street.

The parade characters look adorable in their scarves. I'm dying!

OH MY GOD THE REINDEER FROM THE CHRISTMAS VIDEO! Did they bust out any hip hop moves?

Ch. 10/11
OH MY GOD PART DEUX! Chip and Dale have movable mouths now too? It's been awhile since I actually paid attention to the Castle show, so I didn't realize they were all animated. So cool!

The deer are in the Castle show too?? Ahhhh!!! If I weren't 5'3 I'd be applying for a position as a reindeer right now.

Ch. 12
Hooray for checking out of the West Gate. I'm so glad that a mansion room was available for you. I'm sure Alligator Bayou is nice, but the mansions look so much prettier. Plus, who wants to stay in a Bayou? Certainly not me.

Ch. 13
Happy Almost-Three-Month Belated Birthday to your mother! My mom's birthday is December 3rd. She's always wanted to be in Disney on her birthday. Someday we'll make that happen.

Sweet Jesus, does that sign say Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake? I NEED IT. Hopefully they will still have them in July. Also bread pudding with croissants? Brilliant.

Fountains! Spaceship Earth! The monorail! A section of the parking lot is called AMAZE! I've been missing Epcot A LOT lately and this isn't helping. I think I'm gonna go listen to the Epcot Entrance Medley and sob myself to sleep now. Siiiiiiiigh.

Can't wait for more!!!

 

[antnyh]

Your pictures of Spaceship Earth were so good I could immediately hear and smell all things EPCOT!! Glad to see an update!

 

[JESSketeer]

Hey there!!

I recently just found your TRs and I've already read them all! You do such a good job reporting your trips, it gets me so excited to go back to Disney!

I'm actually in the process of planning a trip and staying at AK, I absolutely can not wait!! I was wondering, all your pictures come out AMAZING, what kind of camera do you use?

 

[sader24]

I am enjoying your trip report and suggestions.