Our Jolly Holiday! Dec. 14th-21st

[DSNY4ever]

Okay, I have decided to do it- my first WDW trip report! Since I have the post disney trip/ post Christmas blues, I figured this would be the perfect pick me up ​

So here is a summary of what I will review in my trip report in case you want to just skim for information for your own upcoming trip:

Dreams Unlimited Travel services
Pop Century Resort
Old Key West Resort
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
Christmas in WDW vs. the DLR
Christmas decorations at the resorts (yes, we visited a lot of resorts)

Restaurant reviews will include:
Boma (breakfast)
The Hollywood Brown Derby
Jiko
The Wave
Raglan Road
Chefs de France
Earl of Sandwich
Wolfgang Puck Express

Plus I’ll add in some opinions on rides, shows, activities etc. to help you make decisions for your own trip- or just for fun reading

Okay now I have to get busy uploading all my pictures...I'll check in with the first installment later today!

 

[DSNY4ever]

So let’s begin the fun!

This was in interesting year for us as my husband lost his job (so we clearly had no plans to go to WDW), but luckily he found another job and was only out of work for a month- yes very lucky.

Right after my husband found a new job we heard from my mother-in-law that one of her co-workers was looking for someone to use her DVC points before they expired. My husband and I thought about it and we did a lot of digging to see if we could afford a trip- then we found out that she would give us her DVC points for FREE!!! That was so generous!! And luckily we were also able to get our flights covered through our credit card reward points, so we got REALLY LUCKY!

So here is a little bit about us: My husband and I are 27 and 28- we have been to Disneyland many many times! We have been to Disney World two times (2003 for college graduation and 2005 for our honeymoon...okay I was lucky enough to go once as a kid to WDW too, but my husband got the Disney bug from me and never went as a kid). This was our first trip to WDW at Christmas time and we were very excited- who wouldn’t be after watching all those Travel channel specials!!! Wahoo! Sometimes you really do get what you wish for



Booking with Dreams Unlimited Travel-

We contacted Dreams Unlimited Travel (whose ads appear on these boards a lot). We had heard great things about them and since we found out that it is no additional cost to book through them, we decided we wanted to support the company that supports the DISboards and the Podcast. We only needed them to book the three nights that we decided to add on to our stay (Disney was running a really great deal if you booked a three night package).

We filled out all of the requested information on the Dreams site and were assigned a travel agent, Stacey Wood. Stacey booked us three nights at the Pop Century Resort with a 6 day park hopper pass (our DVC reservation was all handled through the DVC owner).

In addition to booking your trip, Dreams will make all of your ADRs for you which I didn’t know before but was a nice bonus! They also set up your magical express and make a schedule for you (includes park hours for the days you are there, all extra magic hours, all of your ADRs with confirmations codes and tips from your agent about touring the parks, attractions you might like, shows to see etc.). This was another nice addition that we didn’t expect. Stacey also sent out a huge list of information on all the theme parks and all of her general tips four touring the parks, using fast pass, how to get the most out of you trip, stuff like that. We already knew a lot because we have been to WDW before and I read a LOT on these boards, haha. But it was fun to read through and see what she suggested.

Overall we really liked using Dreams. Stacey got back to us very quickly whenever we sent her a question (usually within the hour if we emailed her during the day- all of their communication is through email). She was able to answer more specific questions and give us her honest opinion about things since she doesn’t work for Disney. She knew what she was talking about and seems to have fun helping people with their trips. We definitely plan to use them again and were very pleased with their services. I mean why not have someone else sit on the phone for your ADRs? - especially when you live in California!

So the trip ended up being Dec 13th-21st (redeye flight on the 13th arriving in WDW in the morning on the 14th).

WDW here we come!!!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Magical Express:

When we landed at the Orlando airport and made it over to the magical express area there was the longest line we had ever seen. It stretched from their desk (where it was wrapped through a queue like at the parks) all the way to the end of the building which I have no way of describing, but there were hundreds of people in line it was crazy. Luckily the line moved pretty quickly and from line to resort it took about 2 1/2 hours (and the bus stopped at Pop first, so the people at the other AK resorts had a longer process). Our bags however took about 5 1/2 hours from the time our flight landed to reach our hotel. We planned ahead and packed clothes in our carry on, but we forgot about the fact that we would want to take a shower (after an overnight flight) and we didn’t have anything like our shower stuff, deodorant, my make-up etc, or hair brush. Now I can go out without make-up, but no deodorant and not combing my hair...I didn’t want to scare people! We ended up having to go a little later than planned to MVMCP that night because we had to wait for our bags- so keep all of this in mind if you are using magical express.


Staying at the Pop Century Resort:

We chose to stay here because this was a trip on a tight budget, and we have already stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort once before so we wanted to try something new.

So we checked in on Dec 14th at around 12:30 am and our room was ready to go, yipee! But you heard our long story about waiting for the bags But that had nothing to do with the resort, that is due to using magical express.

We had a standard room with no view and we ended up in the 60’s building. It was a good building because it was close to the main hub and close to the hippie dippy pool (but we didn’t do any swimming while we were there). Here is a picture of the pool though and some other pictures around the resort-
The Pool

The back entrance to the main building

Back behind the resort on the bridge

Around the resort-

There were lots of windows decorated for the holidays, it was very cute.

We only ate at the food court once (right after arriving). It was a typical food court- we walked through the whole thing and nothing looked very good so we went safe and got hamburgers and fries and they weren’t very good and were very expensive for the quality- I would say we were disappointed, but it was kind of what we expected. Here is a picture from the gift shop that is right off of the food court-

Overall we thought the Pop was just alright. The room was clean, the service was fine, the check in was fine, the buses were very efficient, there was nothing to complain about we just both agreed that we though the All-Stars were a little bit cuter and a little bit nicer. The colors, and atmosphere at the Pop was just slightly more tacky and less interesting to us- but we still had a good time. Oh I forgot- yes the walls are very thin, we could hear everything. That was our only actual complaint. We could hear every toilet flush every suitcase roll, every shower...everything. When we were walking around the resort we actually noticed that there were some old buildings out back that look exactly like the hotel buildings without all the “decor.” It made us suspicious that these were old dorm buildings for the workers or was some sort of other old building that they just converted into a hotel- does anyone know if this is true?

But if you have any specific questions about Pop, there is an excellent thread on here that I looked through before the trip it has everything you would ever need to know-
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1991543

We didn’t have a bad time at the Pop, but we wouldn’t pick it again, if I had to do another value resort I would go back to All-Star Movies.



To be posted later today- our night at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

 

[Space Command]

those buildings are the other half of the hotel that never got completed

 

[DSNY4ever]

Ah thanks Space Command, I wonder if they will ever finish those and expand the resort? I thought for sure with the thin walls there that they were converted from office buildings or dorms or something. Anyway here starts our first night in Disney!

Off to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! (Sunday Dec. 14th)

So after a lot of back and forth over whether or not to fork over the money for MVMCP, we decided to do it. I have to admit these boards scared me, I kept reading “It is so worth the money” and then right after we bought the tickets there were a bunch of threads called “MVMCP, not worth the price!” I tried not to think about it and just wanted to go and see what we thought for ourselves.

When we arrived at about 5:30 (you can get in at 4:00, but we were late because of our bags) it was pretty crowded, but we just sort of hung out taking pictures until 6:30 when they lit up the castle- it is sooo pretty!

Main Street at 5:30

Our night:
6:30 castle lighting
rides, rides, character meets and more rides
8:00 Twas the Night Before Christmas show (we only arrived ten minutes before the show and our seats were fine)
rides and more rides
9:30 fireworks
got a seat on main street for the second parade (we were able to stand up and watch “Celebrate the Season” from where our parade seats where so it passed the time quickly
10:30 Christmas parade
-The park cleared out after the 10:30 parade and we were pretty much able to go anywhere and we got lots of nice pictures of Fantasyland all empty (which my husband accidentally deleted the next day!).

The castle all lit up-

Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas-

Character meet and greets-

All in all we had a very good time and we were glad we did it. The best part was just that it wasn’t very crowded. All of the other nights that we were in the Magic Kingdom it was SUPER crowded so we were glad that we had one night where we were able to relax and walk on rides and watch the parade without being pushed or watching people get into an argument after crowding in moments before the parade starts. On the other hand, you can make the argument that if they didn’t have the party, then the MK would have been open EVERY night and maybe it wouldn’t have been so crowded because the crowds would have spread out during the week. But we did each have 3 hot chocolates, 2 cookies and 2 bags of sliced apples each (we made the snacks our dinner since we had a late lunch) and we liked that. The cookies are all sugar cookies with sprinkles on top and they are just okay, but I am not a huge sugar cookie person, but I love cocoa!!

So did we enjoy it- yes and we are glad we went.
Would we do it again? Probably not
Would I recommend it to others? If you live nearby and want a night of fun it is definitely worth it. If you are already buying a multi day pass and this is an extra think about if if will be crowded when you are there- if yes, I recommend the party, if not, skip it.
How did it compare to Christmas in Disneyland? ...well this is a good time to lead in to that part of my review.

So that’s what’s coming next!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Christmas in WDW vs. Christmas in the DLR

Well this was our very first time in Disney World at Christmas time and of course we loved it- we would love it even if they did nothing for Christmas...hello, its Disney World! But this was a very different experience for us because we have done many Christmases in Disneyland which is quite different.

The first thing that we noticed was that in WDW the main entrance area of each park is decorated and then that is sort of it. In the Magic Kingdom, Main Street looks like a Christmas explosion, but then once you leave that area it is quite easy to forget that it is even Christmas time. In Disneyland, every nook and cranny of the park has a touch of Christmas and everything is free. Disneyland has no parties, so everyday there is “A Christmas Fantasy Parade,” special Christmas fireworks followed with snow, a lit up castle, the Haunted Mansion is changed to Haunted Mansion Holiday (based on the Nightmare Before Christmas movie), and Small World is covered in beautiful lights (with a display show that runs about every 20 minutes), and the Santa’s Reindeer roundup has Santa in his cabin, Mr. Claus helping to decorate Christmas cookies, Characters dancing and doing shows, and Santa’s reindeer to visit! In Disneyland it is like a MVMCP every night and I think people would start to uproar if we had to buy a special ticket to all of the Christmas activities. And New Orleans square is always covered in lights and giant ornaments that drape over the streets....all in all it is pretty amazing! The Magic Kingdom was great and we loved seeing it, but it didn’t really compare. California adventure also has Santa’s Beach Blast and you can get pictures with Santa in his “California attire” and play games with him and do a hula hoop contest etc. It is pretty cute and there are lots of other nice details in the park.

The Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom also had a tree out in front and some decor as you enter, but then that was about it. But the Osbourne Lights display in Disney Studios was fabulous. We loved just standing and watching the lights and walking the whole street and looking at all of the details it was pretty awesome.

Epcot was pretty with little details in each of the countries of the world showcase. The Christmases around the world thing was cute, but it mostly like a story time for kids. I guess I was hoping it was going to be more of a cultural show with a lot of information about how they celebrate the winter holidays in their countries (with people really from their countries, but I have a sneaky suspicion that they were all just actors from Florida

The Deluxe hotels were pretty fun to visit and most of their lobby’s had something neat to see, but it takes a lot of time to travel around to see all of them (but I’ll get to that later in the report).

All in all we really enjoyed being there for the holidays, but we have to admit that we kept forgetting that it was even Christmas time at all! The weather was too perfect. But that is part of what we loved, everyday was comfortably warm, we weren’t dripping with sweat from the humidity or feeling like we had to find a spot in the shade for the shows it was just nice during the days and cool at night. I wouldn’t feel the need to only go back to Disney World at the holidays now, but to have that cooler weather in Florida, I might rearrange our schedule to be there at that time!



Okay now back to the trip-

Monday Dec. 15th-

Breakfast at Boma:

Well we had a reservation for 8:00 am and we decided to just take a taxi over from the POP because since it was still pretty early we didn’t want to depend on the buses to hop to a park and then to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. When we got there, the Lodge was beautiful as usual. The tree was huge!
Here’s a pic from the lobby-

We hurried down to the breakfast and it wasn’t very crowded, we could have easily been seated right away even if we hadn’t had a reservation. For those of you that don’t know Boma is a buffet and they have all of the regular types of breakfast foods- omelets, pancakes, french toast, pastries, fruit, cereal, yogurt etc. But then they also have some foods with an African “flavor.” We have eaten here before and we already knew it was delicious so we were thrilled to be back. I only have one picture from here, but if you want to see every inch of the buffet check out the food porn thread, it will make you drool!

Some of our favorite things here are the yummy juice that is a mixture of a bunch of different tropical fruits, we love it (it is in the picture). We also love the carved meat station (good ham) and my husband loves getting an omelette made with whatever he wants, it is quite a treat. But my very favorite was the Bobotie (I don’t know how they spell it) it is an egg, corned beef type casserole and it is very good, and the second dish was biscuits baked on top of a curry sausage veggie dish- it was sooo good! I am getting hungry just thinking about it and I think I might try to make that one at home.

For those of you wondering if Boma will be okay for your kids- YES, they have enough regular stuff for your kids to choose from. And this is a great place to try new foods because it is a buffet, if you don’t like it, go get something else! The only negative for some reason was their bacon, it was paper thin and tasted like nothing...I don’t know what was wrong there but everything else got a very big thumbs up from us!

 

[sfacowgirl87]

OMG! I am so glad I found your TR! We are going those exact same dates this year...12/14/09 - 12/21/09! We too are a married couple with no children...and we honeymooned in Disney!

Hopefully these dates this year will be similar to last year (in respect to crowds and stuff) and I can kind of get an idea of what to expect! And get some great ideas! YAY!!!!!

SUBSCRIBED!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Hey sfacowgirl87- lucky you that you get to go next year! It was a great time to be there, and we lucked out with truly great weather the whole time, so hopefully you will have the same! I am going to post a bunch more tonight, hopefully this can help give you ideas for your trip

 

[DSNY4ever]

Well after our breakfast at Boma we headed over to Epcot and explored The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. The new little ride that you go on to enter the exhibit area is very cute it is similar to the Nemo Submarine ride in Disneyland, we spent a long time in here and since it was early in the morning there was a cast member putting food in all the tanks and it was fun to watch the fish and manatees eat and she was answering lots of questions for people. The dolphins were also really active jumping all over, it was pretty cool. We explored a little more of Future World before hoping over to the Magic Kingdom. This was the only non Christmas party night that we were able to be over there to see Spectromagic and the regular Wishes fireworks. This also happened to be an extra magic hours night (I know, I know...crowds), but we didn’t have any other choices. So it was very crowded! We were able to do a couple of rides, watch the castle being lit again, watched Spectromagic and then the fireworks, then caught a bus over to Downtown Disney to get some dinner (Boma really filled us up and we definitely ate our money’s worth!). I really wish that the parks had direct transportation over to DD because it took a very long time (I think we hopped on the bus to Saratoga Springs and then caught the bus to DD from there).
Spectromagic-

At DD we decided to eat at Earl of Sandwich-
We split the seasonal special which was a Turkey/cranberry/stuffing/ gravy sandwich. I am sorry this picture is so terrible and it makes the sandwich look gross, but it was pretty good, just like thanksgiving dinner in a sandwich except it was thin deli style turkey, not carved turkey.

They had a really good looking menu and pretty much all of the sandwiches sounded good to us. If we had gotten one of their sides too it would have been enough to split for a small dinner, but we only got the sandwich my husband was still hungry so I agreed to let him get a giant sundae at Ghiradelli’s so he was happy. He got a giant chocolate fudge, chocolate ice cream sundae and of course it was delicious- but I forgot to take a picture, sorry! The sundaes here are enormous so be ready to split here if you get something. We walked through some of the shops and then called it a night.

Tuesday- Dec 16th

We are pretty cheap (or rather I am pretty cheap), so we usually bring breakfast food to eat in our room (oatmeal, nutra grain bars, applesauce, fruit cups). We usually pick one or two special breakfasts and then eat the rest in our room, it is nice because it also makes the mornings quick because we don’t have to stop anywhere.
Animal Kingdom entrance tree-

So today we headed off to the Animal Kingdom. When we came on our honeymoon in ’05 Expedition Everest was still being built, and we couldn’t wait to come back to ride it, so of course we did that first and it was AWESOME! We loved it, but it is one of those short roller coasters, but it has a lot of details which make up for the quick ride. Pretty much everyone in the park tries to head for that ride first now and we actually found that one of the best times to ride was like 20 minutes before park closing because people tend to leave AK early to hop to another park and it is usually pretty quiet around closing. After we hit Kilimanjaro Safari...which was a lot jerkier and bouncier than I remembered, but of course that ride is great and we saw lots of animals this time probably because it is a cooler time of year and it is actually comfortable for them to be walking around!

We went around to lots of other attractions, but another new one for us was the Finding Nemo show- which I LOVED! My husband liked it, but I was really impressed. All of the people that they got to play the parts did such an excellent job! I was pleasantly surprised because I hadn’t heard anything about that show, and I thought it was fabulous. We saw the first show of the day and were able to walk up about 15 minute before show time and had great seats.

In the afternoon we hoped over to Disney Studios and the first thing we did was the backlot tour. As soon as we started heading toward that ride I saw a cast member eyeing us and I knew, he was going to ask us to be in the stunt intro. I started to laugh and my husband looked at me and cringed, but he said if you want to, I’ll do it. We were also chosen to be in the show on our honeymoon, and we were terrible stunt people! Neither of us could hear her talking and we missed all the queues of what to do and we just looked like idiots. Well we did it again...and we didn’t hear her this time either! In fact I thought it was over and I took my hood off right before one of the explosions that got my head soaked... We had fun and they took some pictures for us, but my husband said it was the last time he was doing it. Haha.

Lunch at The Hollywood Brown Derby:

We had reservations for a late lunch (2:45) at the Brown Derby. We loved eating at this time because the restaurant was pretty much empty because lunch ends at 3:00, and so it was a very quiet and relaxing meal.
Inside the Brown Derby-

We decided that we wanted to split the Cobb Salad (it is an entree at lunch time) and then we decided that we would just share the salmon. Our waiter was Moses and he was fantastic- the best service that we had out of the whole trip (everyone there was really great). They came and spilt up the salad an mixed it for us and we both loved it. Then we asked for an extra plate for the salmon, but they actually split it for us and brought it out on two plates-
So keep in mind this is a picture of a half portion.

The salmon was SOOO GOOD. We both agreed that it was the best salmon that we have ever had. Since this was our one sit down meal of the day, we both had room for dessert. I got the pumpkin cheesecake with pumpkin seed brittle and my husband got the creme brulee. They were both amazing, but I think my husband wished he had gotten mine because it was really really good and he looked a little sad after I let him have a bite! Don’t be fooled these desserts were big and rich, we could barely finish them...but we did

I have to say that this was my favorite meal of our entire trip. The food was amazing, and the service was fantastic and we loved having the restaurant to ourselves for a nice quiet meal- we gave it two very big thumbs up!

We did some more rides and shows and saw the one showing of Fantasmic that was at 7:00. We were a little worried about there being only one show and that it would be too crowded, but we got there about a half hour before and our seats were fine, but it filled up (to capacity) about 5 minutes after we sat down.

After Fantasmic, we headed over to the Osbourne Lights which were amazing. We spent to rest of the time till closing just walking through, examining the details, and looking for the hidden mickey’s. It really was pretty neat and about every 15-20 minutes they dance to music and then it snows!

We were there so long that the park cleared out (since it closed at 8pm) and we were able to get some cool pictures with barely anyone in them (one that I put at the beginning of my report). We loved doing this and we decided that we would do this in every park because it made for the best pictures!

Since the park closed early we rode the ferry from Disney Studios over the the Swan & Dolphin hotel and decided to check out all the holiday decorations-

Lobby tree at the Dolphin- (this was all poinsettias)

The Beach Club-

The Yacht Club-

The Boardwalk-

We also discovered that the bridge back behind Epcot that takes you over to this resort area is a great spot for watching Illuminations (of course you can’t see the globe or hear the music, but the fireworks were still fun to stop and watch). After all of this we were exhausted and called it a night.

more to come later!

 

[DWFan4Life]

All the pics above are really amazing. Looking forward for more of your report and pics. It looks you had a great time.

Have a nice day.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Thank DWfan4life- our family laughed because we took so many pictures, they said "oh is this the first time you have ever seen that place?" - obviously they are not DISers

 

[DSNY4ever]

Wednesday- Dec 17th

In the morning we checked out of the Pop Century Resort and brought our luggage down to the bell service to have it transfered over to Old Key West for us (they do this free, but it could take a while so make sure you have what you need for the day).

After that we headed the Magic Kingdom- (I can’t miss the little welcome/morning rope drop show that they do, I love it!). The weather was again perfect, we really lucked out. From the Magic Kingdom we hopped on the monorail so that we could check out the decorations at the other deluxe hotels.

Pictures at the Polynesian (they had food replicas of buildings in Hawaii, it was cool):

Pictures at the Grand Floridian:

After we saw the hotels we hopped on a bus to Old Key West to check into our new hotel. So here is my full review of our time at Old Key West:

Staying at Old Key West:

As I previously mentioned we got this hotel free from a very generous DVC member. So we stayed here 5 days, 4 nights. We arrived at check in at about 1pm and they said our room was ready even though we were early. We had a studio in building 18, which was just a short walk from the main building, and our bags were already transferred and they brought them to our room.

Here are a few room pics- sorry I dumped everything out before taking pictures!

The room was great. The bathroom was big, the beds were very comfortable, the room was spacious, we loved having the little kitchen area and the balcony was great!!! This was our first time at a deluxe hotel, so we loved having a balcony to sit at in the mornings and eat our breakfast and check out the weather etc.
view from the balcony:

The kitchen area had a microwave, fridge, coffee maker and sink. They had some real coffee mugs, and then some paper plates and plastic utensils in case you need them. They also provide a sponge and dish soap which was great because my husband and I are sort of eco-nuts and we brought our own utensils and bowls for our food and it was nice to have a real sink to wash them in (we even bring our own utensils to the parks because we don’t use plastic).

The gift shop has a small grocery area with a lot of basics so that you could make sandwiches, buys snacks or even get stuff for a frozen dinner- they even have Mickey ice cream bars like in the parks.
The back entrance to the main building where check in and the restaurant Olivia’s is located:

The one thing we ate at the resort at the snack stand (a tuna sandwich)- this is half and it was huge!

Overall we liked the hotel very much. The grounds are very pretty (there is a golf course throughout the property), it was quiet and relaxing. We noticed that probably the most. It did feel much more like we were staying in someone’s condo because it was so quiet the whole time we were there and we barely ever saw other people walking around the room buildings. Staying here really did feel like we were escaping the chaos of the parks.
The marina area:

On this first day we did swim at the main pool which lucky for us was close. The hotel is very spread out (they actually have an internal bus so that you can just get around the grounds). If you have kids that will want to swim a lot at the main building you better make sure you request a room that it close to the pool otherwise it could be quite a pain. They also have several other “quiet” pools spread out along the resort...but I think most kids will want to go to the big pool.
The main pool area:

The Sauna is in the light house:

The play area (yes I know i look like a 12 year old. This was the day we were going home):

The main pool has a water slide in the sandcastle looking building, and we tried it a couple of times and it was pretty cool. They also have a kiddie pool, hot tub, sauna and sandbox playground area. We also swam at one of the quiet pools on another day because we found that the hot tub at the main are gets a little crowded and was full of kids, and the quiet one was empty. While we were there is was just warm enough to swim. I wasn’t so hot that I needed a swim, but warm enough that I could convince my husband to get in with me (but the hot tub felt nice too). I can imagine that in summer time those pools are probably jam packed!

Overall we really liked the resort. The grounds were beautiful, the buses were efficient, and our room was very nice. The best part was having the balcony and kitchen area which were big perks for us and we loved that it was so quiet, but we have stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort and we both agreed that we liked the grounds at that resort a little bit better and we don’t know if we would pay so much more to stay at this resort over the Port Orleans- but we also aren’t people who spend a lot of time in our room or even at the resort- we are parks people

Taking the boat ride from Downtown Disney to the hotel on our last day:

Anyway, so after checking in we headed over for the evening extra magic hours at the Animal Kingdom and were able to see a few shows and exhibits before heading over to the lodge for a dinner at Jiko!
The Tree of Life at Night:

Dinner at Jiko:

We had an 8:00 dining reservation and we were seated right away and even though the restaurant was completely full they were seating people without ADRs right away as well. The restaurant is very pretty it has a very adult, modern feel to it, and the walls around the restaurant slowly change colors as you eat and the server said that it was to replicate a sunset in Africa.

The seating was a little awkward because we were so close to the two tables next to us that it was basically like we were one long table and I got very distracted listening to the two groups next to us. I was seated in the side with a chair and I was fine, but my husband was on the side that was a booth and he said it was really uncomfortable because he said it was made for a larger and taller person (DH is a little short) and he had to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the table, but it wasn’t flat it had one of those rounded edges that curve up to hug your knees, but that is what his butt was on! I felt bad that he didn’t mention it till the end because I would have asked to move- but on with the food!

We ordered the Barbeque chicken flat bread for our appetizer and it was so good we forgot to take a picture (we were hungry). I was a little iffy about a flatbread with chicken, BBQ sauce and apples...it sounded weird- but it was delicious!

For dinner I ordered the Lamb Loin that was over lentils and baby carrots (sorry the picture is so bad, it was too dark when I didn’t use the flash and then too bright when I did).

My husband was mortified when the flash went off because it is pretty dark in there, so he wouldn’t let me take a picture of his plate . He ordered the short ribs and when they came he went nuts! He said it was so good, it was melting in his mouth and he practically licked his plate. He just loved it. Mine was just alright. The meat was good, but I wasn’t going crazy and I didn’t really care for the lentils and carrots, there were so many yummy things on the menu I sort of wished I had gotten something else.

But then it was dessert time! My husband ordered the chocolate cheesecake with lavender ice cream- again he went nuts!!!! (I snuck one little picture without the flash, but it is really dark). He said it was the best dessert of the whole trip. He was iffy about the lavender ice cream, but he said it was alright- he loved the cheesecake though. If he was a crier he probably would have had little tears in his eyes- that’s how happy he was

I got the spice cake with berries (I couldn’t get a picture). Unfortunately I didn’t care for mine at all. It comes in like a martini glass and has cut up pieces of cake and mixed berries tossed in with like a rummy/yogurty type sauce mixed in and I just didn’t care for it- which was funny because berries and spice cake are two of my favorite things, but the cake was a little dry and I didn’t like the sauce.

So this one was mixed. We both loved the flat bread, and then the rest of the meal was a toss up. Obviously my husband was very happy, but he ordered better than I did! This was the most expensive meal of our trip and was our one big treat. The service was good and since some things were good I would definitely be willing to try it again.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Thursday- Dec. 18th

Okay this was our morning to ride Toy Story Mania. We arrived at park opening and rope drop was CRAZY! 98% of the crowd was headed to Toy Story Mania and of course they led us through very slowly, but then once we got to the ride it was chaos. Everyone was splitting up and trying to have their group get in line while someone else got fast passes. My husband tried to send me through the line, but the cast members would let you move inside until you had you whole party (they would not let people squeeze through with the “my party is just right there”) so I didn’t want to be rude and I got out of line and waited for him- it was crazy, hold on tight to your kids!!

So we did ride it twice and we waited about 25 minutes through the regular line and then went through again with the fast passes. The ride is awesome! I don’t want to give away all the fun details, but you will have a blast. We were super competitive and I have to say I won these first two rounds! It is definitely worth the wait, but do it in the morning because the line was already at about 60 minutes within a half hour of opening.

After a morning in Disney Studios, we headed over to the Contemporary for a 1:00 lunch at The Wave. We got there a little early to check out their decorations:
All chocolate!:

Lunch at the Wave:
We were seated immediately and the restaurant was not very crowded at all so it was quiet and relaxing. I don’t think many of the non-DISers even know it is there because it is downstairs and not on the main lobby floor where Chef Mickey’s is located. We had to eat here because it is sort of Disney’s “environmentally friendly” restaurant and like I said we are eco-nuts. They have some organic options and the fish they serve is all sustainably harvested etc. We liked that they are trying to do some good things because at home we eat about 95% organic.

Our server was very nice and they sat us in a huge booth that was very comfy. I ordered a spicy chicken salad-

My husband ordered a grilled chicken sandwich

My salad was delicious, I loved it. It was not spicy at all and I gobbled up the whole thing. My husband also liked his sandwich, I think he thought it was pretty typical for what it was. For dessert, we both got milkshakes:

These were sooooo delicious, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. Mine was vanilla and it was so good I downed it so fast I actually ended up feeling a little sick and we had to sit in the lobby for a minute before getting on the monorail (but I was fine, haha). I am not usually a big milkshake person, but these were too good. The chocolate one had chocolate sauce swirled around the edge of the cup before it was filled, my husband loved that. Overall we both gave it a big thumbs up and we will definitely eat here again.

So after lunch, we hopped on the monorail to Epcot where we finally got a chance to explore the world showcase. We watched the Candy maker in Japan, which was sooo much fun to see. We were right up in front, but since there were so many excited kids I didn’t want to try to ask for anything since I knew it would make them a lot happier to get a handmade candy. I tried to get a picture but she moved too fats, and everything she made was amazing. DH and I were very impressed and if you haven’t seen her yet, you need to go!

In the evening we decided to try for the candlelight processional with out the dinner package tickets. We got in line at 4 for the 5:00 showing (and when we got in line there was already a long line). My husband didn’t want to waste the time, but I made him. It was a long wait and the show was nice. The speaker was Chita Rivera and she did a nice job. If you haven’t seen it, it is like a giant Christmas Eve church service. The church where I grew up puts on an amazing Christmas Eve service, so my Dh husband wasn’t that impressed with the candlelight processional, but I thought it was nice. It was nice to sit down and enjoy the choirs and have it feel like Christmas time. In Disneyland we avoid the Candlelight processional weekend because the do it right on main street and it is so crowded and you either have to fight the crowds to watch it or fight the crowds to get around it and see the park, we choose to do neither

That night we watched Illuminations and stayed till the parks closed. We actually stayed till the whole park practically cleared out, but no one told us to leave. The shops and attractions were closed, but we walked the whole world showcase and through the Lights of Winter just taking pictures- it was so fun! I had no idea that at night the project onto the back of Spaceship Earth “Good Night” in all the languages of the world showcase, pretty cool! We were there so long the actually lifted the walkway (which is apparently a bridge) the by Mexico, in order to have some of the stuff for Illuminations go back in to storage for the night. It was pretty cool to see and we had to wait for them to lower it back to let us and some cast members across to leave the park.

Here are some cool pictures we got that night:

More to come later!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Friday Dec 19th:

In the morning, we headed back to Epcot which was a good choice because crowds were starting to increase as it got a little closer to Christmas. We got a chance to see the glass blower in Germany and he was making some really beautiful Christmas ornaments, I definitely recommend heading over there to check him out.

I tried to snap a picture of my husband tasting the Beverly in Future World (he didn’t know because he doesn’t use the Dis Boards), but I snapped it just a second before he made the “BLECH!” face...I missed the money shot!

Lunch at Raglan Road:

We walked out to the Beach Club from behind Epcot and hoped on the Downtown Disney Bus from there. When we got to DD it was really quiet and Raglan Road was really quiet too. Some people don’t care for British food, but I am pretty crazy about it, so we had to give this place a try. When we went to Europe a few years ago everyone said the best food would be in France...but I ate the most delicious stuff in England . We actually regretted that we hadn’t made this a dinner because we didn’t think about the fact that the dancers/performers and all of the excitement that makes this restaurant fun only happens at dinner, but it was still a nice place.

I didn’t realize the “Pie in the Sky” that I had seen on the food porn thread was not on the lunch menu, so I was a little sad. So I ordered the Eggs Benedict with the Tomato soup side. I don’t know how dinner is, but at lunch you order your main entree and then whatever side you want to go with it.

The soup was really good, it was rich, but delicious. The eggs benedict was good and I ate the whole thing, but it was very different- the eggs were hard boiled inside, which I am not sure if that is how they do it in Ireland or of they were cooked too long, and the meat it prosciutto. I still liked it.

My husband got some sort of grilled steak sandwich with a side of potatoes. He liked his too, but wasn’t blown away. The bread that they serve you when you sit down is a little dense and you dip in in an oil/honey mixture, it was interesting. We would like to try this one again at night sometime and see how different it is, but overall we liked it.

After lunch we headed over to the Animal Kingdom to see the parade and some more shows. From there we headed over to check out the Wilderness Lodge...and we were blown away!
The lobby:

Out of all the resorts that we checked out this trip- this was hands down the most beautiful. The Christmas decorations were absolutely amazing. It really felt like Christmas just exploded in there and we felt like we had been swept away to the mountains. We both agreed that we would pinch every penny to try and stay here on our next trip, and if we ever came back at Christmas time we would do everything in our power to stay here! While we were there a bell choir from local church came into perform (which we loved). Apparently bell choirs performed at various deluxe resorts so you can check when they might be at your hotel during the season.

From there it was an obstacle course back to our hotel. We decided to head over to Epcot to end the night and to catch a bus back to Old Key West. Now I have to comment on resort hoping and what we noticed about the bus system.

What we thought was really weird was that we noticed that so many of the Deluxe Resorts share busses with multiple resorts. If you are staying at The Boardwalk, you will pay a pretty penny to often share a bus with the Beach Club, Yacht Club and the Swan and Dolphin. And if you are at The Wilderness Lodge, you could at times be sharing a bus with Fort Wilderness, the Polynesian, The Grand Floridian and the Contemporary. This was so weird to us?!?! The bus rides took forever because you had to go so many places and they were getting really crowded and they just didn’t seem as efficient as Pop or Old Key West (really late at night they did combine Old Key West with Saratoga Springs). In general in the mornings when the buses picked us up, we barely ever waited more than 10 minutes, and in the evening we didn’t have to wait long to get back to our hotel either. But in the middle of the day park hopping and resort hopping seemed to take a lot longer than we remembered.

...We actually had one incident that took us about 2 hours to get to Old Key West from the Magic Kingdom. The bus took a long time to come and then we were the only people so the bus driver decided to wait. Then families kept running up and saying my husband is on his way, can you wait? The bus driver waited and ten minutes later the husband came walking slowly up...not even hustling. Then a family with a baby ran up and I think this was the first time they have ever folded up their stroller and then once they got on the little boy said he had to pee really bad and we had to wait for them to get off the bus...at this point we were dying, but we were trying to be understanding, because we know it is hard with kids. Then right when she started to close the doors an EVC came up- I try to be totally understanding of them because I know it is hard and they feel bad holding everyone up (and yes this family needed the EVC- we were not upset with them in any way), but they were having a hard time getting it on the bus and the bus driver tried to help and accidentally set the speed too high and then she told the woman to roll forward and it went so fast it slammed the bus driver into the seats in front of her and pinned her to the pole. I think she was really hurt and probably bruised some ribs, but she was pretty embarrassed, so we all tried to help her laugh it off and she knew it was her mistake and the EVC driver felt awful...it was an interesting ride an we tried to be really nice to the driver since she was having a hard day, but after that we decided that next time we would rent a car just to save time. We don’t get over to the world very often and we like to visit all the hotels and hop around for meals so I think this would save us a lot of time next trip. Plus getting to and from Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk can be much easier with a car. I am surprised that they don’t have a bus station at the Boardwalk like they do at Downtown Disney, especially now that Pleasure Island is closed it would be nice to have easier transportation there.


Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express:
Okay, I forgot, but somewhere along the line we went over to Downtown Disney and had a very late dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express.
This restaurant is counter service, so you order up at the front and get a number and they bring you your food. But instead of just bringin us the food, they actually had a server who came by and introduced herself and checked on us, asking if we needed anything, getting our utensils, clearing our plates etc. We really felt like we needed to tip her and we then felt terrible because we had no cash to leave for her- not even a dollar, but we weren’t expecting that, and we had already paid with our credit card at the front. So keep this in mind if you go.

We decided to split a chicken caesar salad and a pesto three cheese pizza. Both were good and we were pleased. We looked around while we were eating and the portions there seemed big and everything looked pretty good for the price and type of restaurant that it was and they had a really big selection to choose from so it would be an easy place to take a group or picky eaters.

We gave it a thumbs up. It was pretty much what we expected (pretty good for counter service). After we left the restaurant we actually had one of the Disney survey/feedback people ask us a bunch of questions about our experience. He told us that they do this to check on the quality of the non-disney dining experiences to make sure they are keeping up to par. He asked how we heard about the restaurant and I wanted to answer “From the food porn thread!” Haha, but I just said internet

 

[DisneyWldHoneymooner]

Oh my gosh you have some AMAZING pictures! How many did you take! I wish I could develop some of yours for my photo book, mine aren't as good
I am lovin your report. You are very lucky, what a trip!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Oh my gosh you have some AMAZING pictures! How many did you take! I wish I could develop some of yours for my photo book, mine aren't as good
I am lovin your report. You are very lucky, what a trip!

Haha, I am reading your report too and your pictures are great! Our trick for the nighttime shots was putting the camera on our backpack that we put on the ground (or sometimes we put it on top of a garbage can)- it made the camera perfectly still and then we could set the timer with the shutter set to stay open a little longer (sometimes we looked like nuts smiling at a garbage can). People kept walking by and saying "do you want us to take the picture for you?" It was funny, but if people held it was blurry. Don't worry if you honeymooned in WDW, you'll go back

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hi there! I just found your TR and decided to stop by...we were there the same time you were! It was a great time to visit. I can't wait to read more!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Haha, I checked out your report WDWgirl 03 and it is so funny that were were doing so many things at the same time and crossing paths etc. This was my first trip to WDW since I have joined the DISboards, so I had a LGMH on my backpack and a DISunpluged podcast pin and I was so excited to spot DISers.

The first ones I spotted were two young women in the pineapple whip line and I scooted up and tapped them and asked them if they were DIS board users- I think I caught them off guard and I had to point to the LGMHs on their back packs and then they were like "Oh yeah, we have never actually seen anyone in the parks before." After they left my husband was cracking up and he said I scared them...which I think I did .

One other person on a bus said she recognized the tag and used the boards occasionally, but the most exciting spotting of the trip was when I saw a couple with "Just engaged" pins on- I had been looking at a thread on here where a guy was asking for help with ideas for his proposal and I knew he was there at the same time as us and I spotted them the day after their engagement in the Animations building at DHS. I said hello and that I had talked to him on the DISboards they were still glowing from the excitement of being engaged and told us a little about it, they were too cute and it was fun to meet them and hear how the proposal went.- Congrats TrekkinDave and his new fiance Kate!

I was glad to at least have three sightings, because my husband kept calling it my dork tag- he said you are wearing a tag so that all the other dorks can spot you! He thinks he is so funny

Has anyone else seen DISers in the parks- was anyone else at the parks when WDWgirl03 and I were there?

Okay well I am uploading more pictures to put up the last installment of my report

 

[DSNY4ever]

Saturday Dec 20th- Our last day in the parks- EEK!!!

Okay well since this was our last day we wanted to try and cram as much in as possible, unfortunately this day was just starting to bring in the Christmas crowds (plus it was Saturday, so we tried to be smart).

So we started the day at Disney Studios again and did the whole crazy rope drop to ride Toy Story Mania- we had to do this ride is just too cool! We rode two more times and DH won both , my arm was honestly killing me after this ride, I had to stretch after!

So after doing a few more last minute things in the Studios, we headed over to Epcot. We were getting pretty hot because it was another high 70’s/ low 80’s day so we got hungry early. We ended up right next to Chef’s de France at noon and even though it looked pretty full we asked if they could squeeze us in and they did with only a 2 or 3 minute wait! We were thrilled.

Lunch at Chef’s de France:

Funny note, I had a Lime Green Mickey Head on my backpack and while we were waiting to be seated the manager walked by and I saw him glance and do a double take at my tag- haha I could tell he knew what it was!

Anyway, we were seated right away, and our waiter took our orders immediately. I think since it was noon they were moving very quickly to get as many people through as possible- everything was very fast, but we didn’t mind because we weren’t in the mood to relax, we just wanted a quick nice meal.

We both ordered the Chicken crepe with a side salad. It was very good. I usually love their french onion soup, but neither of us were in the mood for something heavy- we wanted something lighter and this hit the spot. We both loved it and saved just enough room to split the Chocolate mousse cake with coconut ice cream. I had the ice cream, and DH had the mousse and both were good (DH was thrilled with the mousse). The ice cream actually had coconut shavings mixed in the ice cream, I liked it.

This restaurant is so pretty and it is a great lunch spot to sit by the window and people watch on a nice clear day. We both gave it another thumbs up!

We explored more of the world showcase today, and we got a chance to watch a man in the Africa area making wood carvings. He was currently working on a walking stick with the monkeys doing “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” thing. I loved watching him he worked so fast, but was totally accurate with each swing of his little axe- I definitely recommend stopping to watch if you see him out!

We also discovered another giant gingerbread house that they have inside the restaurant next to the American Adventure theater. It was pretty cool with lots of detail, so if you can’t make it over to the Grand Floridian to se theirs, make sure you step inside here and check it out!

There were some Komodo Dragons invading the village in Germany- pretty scary

In the afternoon we decided to relax at our hotel pool since we knew the crowds were starting to head into the parks (the morning was not too bad still). We relaxed, swam, napped and made microwave mac n’ cheese that we got from the grocery section of the gift shop at OKW- it wasn’t very good, sort of flavorless and really needed salt and pepper- it was no Stouffer’s, haha which I love.

We decided to spend our last night at Magic Kingdom even though we knew it would be the most crowded park, we didn’t have a lot of choices- we had already spent many nights at Epcot, and MK was the only other park open late enough for us to go back to, so off we went!

We arrived at MK and it was PACKED! We hurried to get somewhere out of the way of the Spectromagic parade so that we could ride some rides. We ran on Big Thunder Mountain and then headed over to Splash Mountain which at that point was empty because the parade had just started and it was late so I don’t think anyone wanted to get wet. We rode it three times during the parade and it was so much fun because there were several spots where we could see the parade traveling along and lighting up the park- and the view from the top was so beautiful. During one of our waits, behind us in line was the cutest little boy ever. He looked like he was about 8 and he was telling his Dad that this had been the best day ever and he was having so much fun because he was doing it with him (meaning his dad)- I mean what 8 year old boy says something sweet? He even said “I can’t imagine this day could be any better,” and when his dad mentioned they would be watching the fireworks later, his face just lit up- my husband and I could not stop glancing at each other and smiling because it was so sweet. It is nice to see truly grateful kids in the parks, because often we only notice the ones who are throwing fits and this little kid made us excited about having kids someday- he was pretty funny on the ride too, and we pointed out the hidden mickeys to him and his Dad.

We tried to do more rides during the Christmas Parade (yes on the 20th they started showing the Christmas parade with out it being MVMCP), but it was just so crowded, (watching either of these parades would have been a nightmare)- we were over in Tomorrow land and the wait for everything was still pretty long. We were able to squeeze in some of the less popular stuff like Stitch’s Great Escape and Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, and we stopped to watch the fireworks one last time. We took our time exiting the park and absorbing every last minute, because we know it is probably going to be a long time till we get to come back.
Here are some of the mainstreet windows decorated for the holidays-

 

[DSNY4ever]

Sunday Dec. 22nd... heading home

Well since our flight home was in the afternoon we were able to squeeze in one more treat...another breakfast at BOMA! Haha. This time we used the buses to make our way over there and had another wonderful meal. We were able to really take our time and fill our stomachs because we had no park to rush off to. It was soo good and I made sure to get a big plate of the curry sausage biscuit dish again...yum.
A view of inside Boma-

We still had time after we ate so we headed out to see the Animals at the lodge. We happen to walk out at the perfect time because the workers had just come out to feed the flamingos and since there were just a few of us standing there they answered questions about the animals and told us about the facility and what they feed them and all of that kind of stuff. It was great! We even got a chance to go over and see one of the baby (or young) giraffes that they had and it was so cute.

We decided to take the long way back to OKW, we hopped on the bus to Downtown Disney, and from there we took the ferry back to the resort. It was such a beautiful warm day and we had a really nice driver who told us a little bit about working in the parks and he asked us a lot about Disneyland, it was a great way to end the trip.

Once we were back we grabbed our bags and did the Airline check in at the resort (I can’t believe that they have that now- pretty cool). And before we knew it Magical Express pulled up to sweep us away and the trip was over...

That was officially the end of the magic. At the airport there were numerous delays because we had to change flights in Houston and they were having weather problems and we almost didn't make it home. We ended up having to eat at the Burger King at the Orlando airport- this was a nightmare for us because we ate there on our very first trip and we vowed we would never get stuck having to do that again (we don’t usually eat fast food, and airport versions are usually particularly bad). Next time even if we don’t think we will need to eat we will pick up a sandwich or something at the hotel before we go.

But we finally made it home and we were exhausted, we woke up the next day and it was back to work.... now we are just dreaming of another Disney vacation

Goodbye WDW....

I hope this report helped people make some decisions for their own trip- or maybe you just had fun reading- either way I had fun doing it If you have any questions, just ask!