The Do's and Don'ts of my Disney Deluxe December!

[therussells08]

I'm finally here and I am loving it! The DOs and DON'Ts are great! Jack is such a little cutie!

I can't believe Thomas Gibson was your narrator! My mom and sister are obsessed with Criminal Minds! I bet he was a good reader, he has a nice voice.

[stephielela]

Originally Posted by therussells08

I'm finally here and I am loving it! The DOs and DON'Ts are great! Jack is such a little cutie!

I can't believe Thomas Gibson was your narrator! My mom and sister are obsessed with Criminal Minds! I bet he was a good reader, he has a nice voice.

Hey! Thanks for joining! I am loving your TR too! I do like Thomas Gibson, and he did a great job!

Sorry I have been such a slacker everyone!!!! I promise to post an update tomorrow!

[Queenofallthings]

Great update....have never been to Les Chefs for lunch, but it sounded delicious! We love Le Cellier and never try and miss it.....and we ALWAYS stop for at least one Grey Goose Slushie

Can't wait to read more

[lovegrumpy]

Your title drew me in. Loving all the info from the do and don't. Can't wait to hear more.

[saralexander97]

#1 Jack is such a cutie!
I have never seen the little movies they show in Canada, Norway, France, or China. Am I missing out or are they all outdated?
Cant wait to read more =)

[DLB]

Loving your TR! It is really getting me excited for my upcoming trip! We have ADR's at chefs and Le cellier, so I appreciate the review!
World showcase is my all time favorite as well! I could get list at the countries for hours!
Going to read you PTR NOW since I can't sleep anyway :/

[stephielela]

Originally Posted by Queenofallthings

Great update....have never been to Les Chefs for lunch, but it sounded delicious! We love Le Cellier and never try and miss it.....and we ALWAYS stop for at least one Grey Goose Slushie

Can't wait to read more

Thanks! I will be having a slushie FOR SURE the next time, I just can't decide which one! Update coming in a few minutes!

Originally Posted by lovegrumpy

Your title drew me in. Loving all the info from the do and don't. Can't wait to hear more.

Welcome! Hopefully the rest is entertaining!

Originally Posted by saralexander97

#1 Jack is such a cutie!
I have never seen the little movies they show in Canada, Norway, France, or China. Am I missing out or are they all outdated?
Cant wait to read more =)

I am personally not a huge fan of any of those movies. The China one and Canada one are in circle vision, but that just means you have to stand up the whole time. They aren't bad, I just have seen them enough. France is WAY outdated, and I don't like Norway because the movie is a trap at the end of the ride. I think they are all worth seeing once though, and hopefully the France one will be updated soon. I think it's the only one that's obviously old.

Originally Posted by DLB

Loving your TR! It is really getting me excited for my upcoming trip! We have ADR's at chefs and Le cellier, so I appreciate the review!
World showcase is my all time favorite as well! I could get list at the countries for hours!
Going to read you PTR NOW since I can't sleep anyway :/

Welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying it! I am glad that you are getting to eat at both of those, they are great!!

[stephielela]

December 18th was our Animal Kingdom day. We had a before park opening ADR at Tusker House at 8 am so we were up early. We were at AK by about 7:30 am, and we got in line and got checked in.


Here’s my gripe of the moment- Anyone who has an ADR before the park opens is allowed to check in at the same time, we are all in one big line. So everyone pretty much heads right over to Tusker House even if their ADR isn’t till later. It seems like even people who didn’t have ADR’s till 8:30 were getting in line in front of us at the restaurant which doesn’t make sense to me, but we didn’t really have to wait long, so I guess it’s not that big of a deal. Oh wait, I have another gripe- Why won’t they put the pictures with Donald on your photopass card??? Since (unlike CRT) the price doesn’t cover the picture, it’s a pretty big rip off. I paid for the CD and I would have like to have our pics loaded onto our card. Instead we just asked them to take pictures with our cameras as well which is more work for them, but there was no way we were paying $30 for several copies of the same picture. Ok, done griping… for now!

So we got checked in and got our picture taken and got seated. We were in the room right to the left of the entrance near the window so we were about the 5th table to get each character. We went to go get food in turns so someone would be at the table to take pictures and get autographs. We got Mickey, Daisy and Goofy in that order, and I was just getting back from getting my plate when Goofy was finishing up with Jack.






I really enjoyed the food here. There was a great blend of new and interesting and standard and yummy. I also LOVED the juice. It was super tasty! My dad and I got coffee as well. I asked for the check after we were finished with our first plate and then looked at the time and realized it was only 8:30 am. I wanted to make sure we could get our check settled before it was time to rush out to the Safari. We ended up being done in plenty of time. Then we decided to head out and discovered that it was, in fact, raining.

We rushed over to the Safari and got on one of the first cars. I knew Jack would love this ride, but I was surprised at how many animals we saw and how close they were. It was definitely the best experience we’ve had on that ride.






After we were done, we realized the rain was not letting up. I am not a fan of the rain. I am 5 feet tall, and so when I have to walk in the rain, my pants get soaked. I was really hoping it would stop raining quickly, but it ended up lasting for a few hours. We had brought our rain gear, so we had 2 (one for a person, one for the stroller), 2 wind jacket/hoodie type pullovers, and Jack’s rain coat. I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to buy another poncho, but I couldn’t find the cute Disney parks waterproof pullover I saw in September, so we got another poncho instead.

We pretty much abandoned our touring plans at this point. My dad headed off to go get fastpasses for Everest, and the rest of us headed to the Festival of the Lion King. It was nice to get out of the rain, but it was cold in the theater. My dad got there right before the show started. We were in the lion section about 6 rows back, and we had a great view. I loved the show and so did Jack.



Next we decided that since my mom didn’t want to ride Everest in the rain, she would take Jack to It’s Tough to be a Bug while we rode EE. The one great thing about the rain? No lines anywhere! We walked onto Everest twice. Then we went to meet my mom and Jack at Finding Nemo, the musical. While we waited my dad went and got fastpasses for Dinosaur. Our seats were way better this time and we got comfy and waited about 10 minutes for the show to start. My mom told me that Jack didn’t like the Bug show, it scared him when it got really dark. I thought this might happen, but he was ok after. He liked the Nemo show a lot though and afterwards he really wanted a Dory plush so I got it for him to go with his Nemo one at home.

After Nemo we headed to our 1 pm ADR at Yak and Yeti. We were a bit early, but once again, got seated with no problem. We were all pretty hungry. Jack LOVES dumplings, so we got 3 orders of dumplings and my dad got shrimp cocktail I believe. Jack ate at least 6 dumplings. For entrée’s I got the bourbon chicken, my mom got the chicken lo mein, my sister got sweet and sour chicken, and my dad got the steak and shrimp. My sister and I both got Jasmine rice with our entrées, which was very tasty. Jack ate some of my chicken as well as some of my sisters. I was really pleased with the food here, as well as the service. I of course can’t remember our servers name, but she was really nice and she and my dad talked military stuff, she is former Air Force and he is former Army. For dessert my dad and I both got the cream cheese wontons with pineapple, my sister got chocolate cake and my mom got cheesecake. The wontons were definitely different, but I liked them. The sauce really made it for me, without it the taste just wasn’t sweet enough, so I wish there had been more sauce, but it was great regardless.

[stephielela]

After lunch the rain had stopped!!!! The sun was even out. Of course we were already soaked so we decided just to finish up and head back. The wait for EE was still really short so we rode a few more times.



We went to Dinoland and Jack and I rode Triceratop Spin while the others went to ride Dinosaur. Then we swapped while we rode Dinsaur. Afterwards we went into Hester and Chester’s and bought Jack an adorable Santa Mickey sweatshirt that he wore the rest of the trip. On our way out we took a few pictures, but we were pretty cold and tired so I was ready to go.





The original plan was for us to go to church this evening. I had already decided that was not happening for Jack so he and I were planning on taking a nap. My parents were going to run a load of laundry to wash all our wet clothes from the day before heading out to church. I guess they got lost on the way so they didn’t make it in time so they just went to a store and then came back. We had 8 pm ADR’s at ‘Ohana, so once we got up and got dressed we headed over to Poly. We checked in and actually had to wait about 10 minutes, which was no big deal, I think it was the only wait we had. We looked around in the stores and Jack found some dog toys for Zsa Zsa. Once we were done buying those it was time to eat!

We got seated and the hostess girl kinda creeped me out. I was holding Jack (who had been throwing yet another fit) and she started tickling him. It is pretty normal for people to talk to Jack, he is not a shy child, he is so outgoing and will talk to anyone, but this girl was a bit over the top in her attention. Anyways, we got seated and our server came right around with some bread. I decided to order the white sangria, my dad ordered the red. I wanted to get a Lapu Lapu, but it wasn’t on the drink menu, and I was hesitant to pay $13 (at least that’s what I’ve heard the price is) for a drink I wasn’t sure I would like. Then the food started. It came out pretty fast and consistent. Jack ate some more dumplings, and I really liked the wings and the noodles. Then the meat started. This is where we had an issue… a few of us got some pieces of chicken that were definitely undercooked. This pretty much killed the appetite for the rest of the meal, but they were great about it when we pointed it out. They removed the plates and silverware and brought us new stuff immediately. I was already pretty full anyways, but it did put a damper on the meal. The bread pudding was FABULOUS though. We headed “home” full and happy.

Do's and Don'ts in Dreary Weather!
DO book at least one early breakfast ADR. It was really nice getting into the park early and getting a few characters done without worrying about what we were missing by not rushing to rides.
DO try Tusker House It was yummy
DO bring rain gear.
DON'T be discouraged by a rainy day. It might be less pleasant, but the crowds are lower!

[mom2rtk]

Hi there! I've been following along on your PTR and TR, but don't know that I ever posted.

We were at AK that same day. Because I am easily entertained........ I found it amusing that I see myself in the background of your shot with Goofy! You can just barely see my Santa hat back there!

That really WAS a crazy long line to check in that morning! And it moved soooo sloooow......... And man... wasn't that rain fun....... We rode EE while it was still lightly raining. Man those drops sting at full speed!

Anyway.... just wanted to say hi! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[Lisha428]

Hi! Great report so far! I love the "DO's" and "DON'TS"! It's getting me excited for my upcoming trip

Can't wait for more installments!!

[therussells08]

Great update! Sorry about the rain, but at least it got rid of some of the crowds!

I have a very similar complaint about Tusker House. We were so upset when we realized the only way to get the Donald pic on our PP CD was to buy the $30 picture package. I hate feeling like I've been ripped off!

I had a Lapu Lapu on our trip, and it was okay, but SO strong. I'm glad I tried it once, but I don't think I will get one again.

Ugh! I can't believe the chicken was undercooked! I'm glad they were nice about it, though!

[jenseib]

What a fun and busy day. Do you have any food pictures from 'ohana. I keep hearing mixed reveiws on it, but it is a place I really want to try.

Originally Posted by mom2rtk

We were at AK that same day. Because I am easily entertained........ I found it amusing that I see myself in the background of your shot with Goofy! You can just barely see my Santa hat back there!

Anyway.... just wanted to say hi! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

I see you back there!

[OhdahLolly]

Joining in a bit late!

Lovin' the dos and don'ts of your trip.

your DS is adorable!

[stephielela]

Originally Posted by mom2rtk

Hi there! I've been following along on your PTR and TR, but don't know that I ever posted.

We were at AK that same day. Because I am easily entertained........ I found it amusing that I see myself in the background of your shot with Goofy! You can just barely see my Santa hat back there!

That really WAS a crazy long line to check in that morning! And it moved soooo sloooow......... And man... wasn't that rain fun....... We rode EE while it was still lightly raining. Man those drops sting at full speed!

Anyway.... just wanted to say hi! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Welcome!! Wow, it's a small world after all At least I know Jack was well behaved at that meal so I don't need to apologize!

The line was slow, and we rode EE in the rain as well and I managed to catch a rain drop right in my eye!

Originally Posted by Lisha428

Hi! Great report so far! I love the "DO's" and "DON'TS"! It's getting me excited for my upcoming trip

Can't wait for more installments!!

Welcome! I'm glad you like it so far!

Originally Posted by therussells08

Great update! Sorry about the rain, but at least it got rid of some of the crowds!

I have a very similar complaint about Tusker House. We were so upset when we realized the only way to get the Donald pic on our PP CD was to buy the $30 picture package. I hate feeling like I've been ripped off!

I had a Lapu Lapu on our trip, and it was okay, but SO strong. I'm glad I tried it once, but I don't think I will get one again.

Ugh! I can't believe the chicken was undercooked! I'm glad they were nice about it, though!

The crowds were definitely lighter! Silver lining right?!

I really don't understand why the pics are included at CRT but none of the others. It's pretty frustrating.

I really want to try a Lapu Lapu, but if they are that strong I will need a meal to go with it!

Yeah the underdone chicken really grossed me out. Now that I think about it, if I had been paying (which we kinda were with the dxdp upgrade and all that) i probably would have expected to be comped at least the two of us that had the raw chicken. I'm not sure why I wasn't more vocal about it, but we were all tired and Jack was being difficult. It's sad because I had such high hopes for that meal. I might try it again, but probably not our next trip.

Originally Posted by jenseib

What a fun and busy day. Do you have any food pictures from 'ohana. I keep hearing mixed reveiws on it, but it is a place I really want to try.



I see you back there!

Jen, I didn't take any pictures of the meal! We were pretty tired and there was some grumpiness going around. I have found pics online though, and they look exactly like what we had, so let's pretend they are mine!
Salad came first:

Then dumplings, wings, noodles and broccoli:

Then the meat skewars (shrimp, chicken, steak, pork, and turkey)

Then the dessert! Bread pudding with bananas foster sauce! YUM!

I know they will bring out kids food too, but we didn't worry about it because Jack is such a meat eater.

Originally Posted by OhdahLolly

Joining in a bit late!

Lovin' the dos and don'ts of your trip.

your DS is adorable!

Welcome!! Thanks, but if you'd been at 'Ohana that night, you probably wouldn't have thought he was very cute...