Our Very Merry Trip Report! December 2011*LINK to NEW PTR*

[tiggerfan77]

Hello Everybody! I just joined a few months ago so I am still new to all of this. So I am finally going to post my first trip report

Since I don't have a date set for my next trip, I will report our trip in December and try to relive the magic again

So here is "us"

My name is Pam and I have been a Disney fan since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I have always loved Disney movie which inspired me to go up and be an artist. As a side note I am also a fan girl who loves, Star Wars, Superheroes, comics and Fantasy movies.

Favorite Character: Tigger, of course!
Favorite Disney movie: The Lion King
Favorite Park: Disney Studios
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain

Oh yeah, I love Pirates too. Arrrrr!

Here is my boyfriend Tom who is just as "goofy" as I am and loves me unconditionally even with my Disney obsession

Favorite Character: Classic Mickey
Favorite Disney movie: Up
Favorite Park: MK (for the rides EPCOT (for the food)
Favorite Ride: Space Mountain

(this picture was actually taken at Busch Gardens. But see what I mean by goofy)

And here is my equally goofy little boy. He is 6 years old, funny and is completely obsessed with dinosaurs. Here is a picture from his first trip to WDW, with my favorite character.

(Eeek! I can't believe how little he was!)


Well that is our introduction. Please stay tuned as I go through my journal and give you updates. Hopefully this will help out anyone else who is planning on going down at Christmas time.

 

[weswife]

we went last year around that time too!

Looking forward to your report!

 

[tiggerfan77]

we went last year around that time too!

Looking forward to your report!

Thanks for joining in weswife It is definitely a great time of the year to go!

 

[Reberella]

Following along! Looking forward to reading about it

 

[tiggerfan77]

This trip was a lot of firsts for all of us. All three of us have never done the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. At this point my DB and I had been dating for about a year and a half and this was our first trip together.So we decided that this trip was going to be our Christmas present to each other so this was going to be the best present ever!

We waited a week before we left to tell my son so that he would be surprised and he definitely was. This was my first time taking EJ out of school for a trip so was 4day,3nights over a weekend. We decided to drive to save money but from Richmond to Orlando is a 12 hour drive

We both left work a little early so we could pick up EJ as soon as he was out of school. By this time I was so excited, I felt like I was going to explode! When we picked him up, EJ was a cool as a cucumber and acting like going to Disney was no big deal.

Because I usually go to Orlando every other year, I make my usual stop and stay overnight with friends in Savannah. By the time we got there it was almost 11 at night and we were all exhausted and crashed.

coming up next is our arrival at Disney! YAAAYY!

 

[Reberella]

Yay for Disney day! It's so exciting

 

[tiggerfan77]

I'm am really bad at updating this. I got so distracted with the holidays and all! Anyway, so after getting up early from Savannah, we arrived through those wonderful gates around 1:30. Since this was our first time staying at a Disney Hotel, I was really looking forward to not having to drive around like I do when I have stayed in timeshares.
So we arrived at Port Orleans-Riverside which was actually really beautiful. Going to college in the south, I'm not too impressed with the deep south but I heard so many good things about this moderate resort, I had to check it out. I requested to be in Alligator Bayou because I thought my son would like it more than the other rooms. Apparently this was before they redecorated so this is what the older rooms looked like. (sorry my photos are so big, still trying to figure the sizing thing out.)

Our First Mickey towels!!

Our view out of our door.

I must say this resort is a whole heck of a lot bigger than I thought. We got lost trying to find the bus stop. But once we figured it out the place became much easier to navigate. So we unpacked and ran to the bus stop because tonight is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!!....

 

[weswife]

great to see the post! Looking forward to more!

 

[SAT887]

Joining in!

 

[tiggerfan77]

great to see the post! Looking forward to more!

Joining in!

Thanks for joining in guys

 

[tiggerfan77]

I read on AllEars.net that you can arrive as early as 4 to get into Magic Kingdom before the official party starts. Because I'm so militant about my time, we ended up being the 2nd family that arrived at the rope. We only waited a few minutes and then we were off!

Goofing off!

My DS hasn't been to Magic Kingdom since he was three and afraid of EVERYTHING, so I was happy to see he has become more adventurous now. The first ride he wanted to get on was Space Mountain, so after a few pictures that's where we headed. We got in line with a 5 minute wait and then got in the cars and shot off! When we got off the ride, DS's face was not too happy. He was almost in tears and said, "It was too dark, I couldn't see where I was going!"
So I hugged him and thanked him for at least trying trying the ride and we went to look at our picture. I wish I got a copy of it because the look on DS's face was complete shock. He looked so funny that even Mr. Grumpy face busted out laughing.
We decided to grab something to eat since everyone was getting hungry and a lot of the food places were going to close soon for the party. We ate at Columbia Harbour House, which is one of my favorite counter service places in MK. After dinner we headed over to Haunted Mansion which DS was convinced that he was brave enough to go in. We got all the way to the Doom Buggies and then he chickened out. A cast member escorted us through one of their doors and we were back outside. We struck out twice and I was wondering if DS was going to have a good time or not. So I suggested that we try the other two mountains and maybe they won't be so scary.
We went on Splash Mountain first and everyone loved it! Then we went over to Big Thunder and DS loved that one too! Yay!! DS loved these two rides so much that DS and DB went on them multiple times while I got a light up toy for the parade. So it started off rough but the rest of the night was so fun! I loved the parade and the light show on the castle was just amazing! And of course the fireworks are always awesome! We got our cookies and hot chocolate and people watched for a while, then hit one more ride before leaving the park. I wish we could've stayed longer, I know DS wanted too but after two days of driving, we were starting to hit the wall. But here are some of my favorite pictures from the party.

The beautiful icy castle.

Me and my wonderful boy <3

Toy Soldiers!!

Loved the reindeer. They were so cute!

Goodnight Magic Kingdom. Coming up next is our sleep in day, Downtown Disney and some special meals!...

 

[FancyNancy]

I'm loving your trip report so far and subbing in!

 

[tiggerfan77]

I'm loving your trip report so far and subbing in!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[tiggerfan77]

The next morning we attempted to sleep in, but with an excited 5 year old and 30something year old, the best we could sleep in was 7:30. I tried to let DB sleep in as much as he could so I fixed cereal for myself and cereal bars for DS. DB only requires coffee for his breakfast so he's a throw some clothes on with coffee in hand and go kind of person. After breakfast, me and DS got ready and then watched cartoons until it was time to go catch the boat to DD.
When it was time to leave, it was still pretty early so we decided to meander around the paths and take some pictures. Let me tell you, I loved the grounds at PO. It was so peacefully and relaxing that I wish we could stay longer so I could have enjoyed more of it.

Beautiful morning at Riverside!

Loved all the plants and trees around, it made us feel secluded.

We love the lizards in Florida so my son took this picture. They are just so darn cute!

We are almost to the boat dock...

When we reach the boat dock, we find out that boat is not running until later on. But never fear! Disney transportation is always near! So we just hopped on the bus at the nearest bus depot and off the Downtown Disney!

Even though we had lunch reservations, I wanted to get to DD early to do some Christmas and souvenir shopping done.

Couldn't resist a Christmas photo op!

Some very cool Lego sculptures.

To infinity and beyond!!

So after getting a dinosaur from Once Upon a Toy and some things for my niece at Little Miss Matched, it was time to meet up with an old friend from college that lives in Orlando and eat lunch at what else but- T-Rex!!
This place was definitely loud of course but it was really cool to be inside and looking around at all the figures and animatronics. My son really loved it although it took some convincing to go in because of all the noise. I thought the food was pretty good. DB thought it was OK and DS was too distracted to eat his meal Sorry I have no pictures of our meal or even the 4 of us. (I really need to take more pics!) But I do have some cool shots of inside the restaurant.

We were sitting next to mammoth in the ice room. Which is really cool!

After our meal, we headed back to our resort to relax until our dinner at Beach Club. DB took a nap while DS and I headed to the pool to try to swim before the storm hit.

 

[tiggerfan77]

So for our special dinner out, I booked us a dinner reservation at Cape May Cafe. I heard a lot of good things about it and decided to try it plus I couldn't get into the infamous Ohana's after I have been trying for the last 3 trips. Oh well, maybe next trip. Anyway, Cape May Cafe is an all-you-can eat surf and turf place with no characters for the dinner. The food overall I thought was pretty good and the place was pretty crowded for the off-season. I thought it had a good variety but my picky child did not eat his moneys worth. My DB has a big appetite so this kept him well feed but for the price, I was missing the characters or some form of entertainment. For those on the meal plan, this is definitely worth it but when you pay out of pocket, I had sticker shock

After several plates of a satisfying meal, I suggested we try to walk off our meal by taking a tour of the Christmas decorations at BYC and BW. The Beach Club had a gingerbread carousel with chocolate horses and then rotating castles with some of the princesses.

The carousel

Over at the Yacht Club, there was a miniature village with the train set which was pretty cool. I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of it, maybe I was so mesmerized!
Last, we headed over to Boardwalk and saw their gingerbread sculpture of Stitch as a chef.

Do you see Donald?

After being full of all the Christmas cheer and going into a slight food coma, we decided to take the boat ride over to BC instead of trying to walk back. We went to bed sadly as tomorrow was going to be our last day of our whirlwind Christmas weekend. Good night and see you in Animal Kingdom!...

 

[FancyNancy]

Great update! Downtown Disney looked super crowded!

 

[tiggerfan77]

Sorry it has taken me sooooo long to update but things have been busy around here and honestly I hate thinking about our last day at Disney But on a happier note, as you may notice from my ticker, we have another fantastic trip coming up and we will be staying a FULL week! Happy Dance!!

Ok, so we left off at going back to our room for the night. So we woke up early the next morning so that we could pack the car because *sniff* this was our last day at Disney. But we saved the best for last because my son's favorite park is Animal Kingdom because he LOVES Dinosaurs and nature. We had breakfast in our room as usual and packed up the car to try to get to Animal Kingdom by 9. The crowds weren't looking too bad but the clouds were menacing which is why I don't have a whole lot of photos from here because I wanted to keep my camera dry. So as we meandered through the Oasis we went straight for Kilimanjaro Safari.

We got a good look at the Rhinos.

and a lovely giraffe.
After the safaris we headed over get some pictures with the characters before things got crowded.

Here is me and EJ with his favorite character, of course!

And here is me with My favorite character.

Alas, Tom was too cool to have pictures taken with the characters and only offered to take the pictures but next trip, we'll get him.

So after an early lunch at Pizzafari, we headed over to Dinoland USA and hit Dinosaur (of course) and the Boneyard. EJ wanted to get on Primeval Whirl but was one inch too short even with his tall hair. So after having a giant ice cream sandwich, we headed over to Asia to ride Expedition to Everest and Kali River Rapids multiple times before suddenly the bottom dropped out and it poured down rain. And I mean POURED! Since we were supposed to be driving back to Savannah tonight and the park was going to close we decided to head out which made for a very wet ride in the car.

Well, it was a great weekend and we had a blast in our few days. Thanks for those who have joined along and I promise that my next trip report will have more pictures and a week full of good stuff! See ya then!!

 

[RSADP]

Nice report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tiggerfan77]

Nice report! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading along!

 

[tiggerfan77]

Here is the link to my PTR for my upcoming trip in July. Hope to see you all over there!
My Super-Cheap Trip to Disney/Universal