Shenanigans, Tomfoolery & Mayhem, Oh My! A Christmas/New Year's TR (New 6/12!)

[SoNotAPrincess]

That was very nice of the CM's to refund all of your credits!! Hope you found a fun use for them!!

It really was! Well, it was Christmas week, and ADRs were pretty scarce....

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Day 2, Chapter 14—Grubbin’ at the Grand​

“The main trouble is there are too many people who don't know where they're going, and they want to get there too fast!”
(The Bishop’s Wife)​

I apologize up front for the lack of photos in this post…I took very few pictures of our food…but here we go anyway…

GFC felt crowded and loud as we walked through it, but we found our table to be an oasis of calm in the midst of the surrounding chaos. Our waiter was a little slow coming to take our drink orders, but not so much that we were getting dehydrated. He tried to hard sell us wine, which completely turned Gabriel off. He might have been inclined to order a bottle for the table if not for the aggressive technique employed by the server.

Gabriel was intrigued by the pickled green Mango and Papaya slaw served with avocado rémoulade that came with the crab cakes and chose them as an appetizer. He has an adventurous palate, while, I on the other hand, do not. Pickled mango and papaya slaw sounded a little out there to me, so I went with the tried and true cheese plate, which Lenny and I shared. Earl got the shrimp cocktail, Mom got the French onion soup, and Brianna rounded out the appetizer selections with her chicken noodle soup.

For our mains, Gabriel went with the shrimp and grits (jumbo shrimp with chorizo and fennel served on top of creamy mascarpone cheese grits), while Earl and Lenny both got the New York strip steak. After extensive deliberation, I finally settled on the grilled pork chop. I got it the last time but didn’t love the chimichurri, so I asked if I could swap it out for the mushrooms that come with the pan-roasted chicken breast. Mom ordered salmon, and Bee got cheese pizza. Of course, she did…she would happily eat nothing but cheese pizza if we’d let her.

Fasten your seatbelts, buckaroos…it’s about to get bumpy up in here!

First, Bee pouted because her chicken noodle soup was more gourmet and less Campbell’s. They very nicely traded it for carrot sticks and dip, which appeased her.

Crisis averted!

Gabriel was impressed with his crab cakes and their accompaniments. I’ve never met a crab cake I didn’t like, and my first experience with rémoulade was positive. He liked the mango/papaya slaw, but I didn’t. It wasn’t the slaw’s fault though…I’m not crazy about mango in general.

The cheese plate, shrimp cocktail and French onion soup were what you’d expect them to be, although Mom did say that she’d had better soup at Applebee’s (yikes!).

My brother is a steak savant…he can tell just by looking at it if it’s going to be cooked as ordered and taste good. It’s a game in our family to have him predict before he makes the first cut. I’ll say that it looked OK to me, and it smelled good; but Earl’s hopes were not high. He and Lenny agreed that it was good but not great.

Gabriel hit the jackpot again with his shrimp and grits, finding everything to his liking. Since he’s a foodie, his opinion goes a long way with me; and I was relieved that he was enjoying his meal. He was the most disappointed at missing out on Cali Grill.

Mom’s salmon was, once again, “OK”. She’s easy to please, so for her to give anything except a rave review is unusual. I liked my pork chop, but the potatoes were the star…AH-MAY-ZING. The mushrooms were mushrooms. Eh.

Brianna was happy with her pizza, which was good because, as I was quickly learning, “If Beezer ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

Service during the entrees was less than stellar. I had to flag down another server to ask about drink refills, and although they swapped Bee’s soup for carrot sticks, it took longer than it should have. Just before our entrees came out, we heard a crash in the kitchen, which turned out to be Mom’s dinner. When her food came out, it looked like it had just been slapped on the plate, with green beans hanging off the edge.

For dessert, Bee got the worms in dirt and Mom ordered the dark chocolate fondue and fruit because she’d never had fondue, which I found to be completely adorable. Earl/Lenny and Gabriel/I ordered the dessert sampler (berry tart, Boston creme pie, Key Lime tart, and lemon cheesecake). When Erica and I got it, it came with a chocolate Mickey, but for the holidays, they served it with a white chocolate Christmas tree (painted green with tiny red and blue ornaments and gold star on top), a tiny caroler complete with muffler and mittens, and a snowman.

I know I took a picture of it…knowing me, I took 113 pictures of it…but my photo has gone poof. I scoured the Internet looking for a photo because they were just SO cute, but my search came up empty. If anyone out there has a photo, please share!

Dessert was a rousing success…the very best part of the meal! We laughed so hard at Mom dipping her fruit in chocolate and trying to eat it without dripping. The sampler was as good as I remember, and the berry tart and lemon cheesecake were universal favorites. We had dessert family style, sharing everything, making each other laugh and telling remember when stories.

I love remember when stories! My wonderful brother got great enjoyment telling the story of how I got a black eye on Christmas Eve trying to climb the tree to straighten the star. I was six years old with the beginnings of the OCD that makes me such a great Disney trip planner…what did they expect? What I didn’t have (and still don’t) are great balancing skills. I fell off my oh-so-steady kitchen stool/dictionary tower and caught my face on the corner of the coffee table.

Just call me Grace.

When we settled our bill, the server seemed a bit taken aback by the fact that we paid OOP for the appetizers even though he knew we were on the regular dining plan. He even heaved a giant sigh as if we were ruining his Christmas. Suffice to say that his tip reflected his attitude. All things considered, I think I’ll stick to GFC for dessert and coffee.

I was hoping we might run into Mickey and Minnie in their Victorian garb on the way out, but no such luck; so we headed back to POR.

Gabriel and I took a turn around the grounds, and I was entranced by this fountain…

…and tried for a night photo of the marina…

POR is lovely and romantic at night, but we didn’t linger long because tomorrow was a big day!

Up next…An Extra Magical Morning

Pssst...look who has a new ticker!

 

[marDgreen88]

Ehhhhhhh... it just sounds like this meal was basically an 'ehhhhhh'. I honestly haven't heard very good things about the dinner there. The breakfast, however, I've heard lots of great things about! So yeah, it's too bad that the meal wasn't amazing, but I'm glad yall had a nice dessert and reminiscing time!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Ehhhhhhh... it just sounds like this meal was basically an 'ehhhhhh'. I honestly haven't heard very good things about the dinner there. The breakfast, however, I've heard lots of great things about! So yeah, it's too bad that the meal wasn't amazing, but I'm glad yall had a nice dessert and reminiscing time!

Yeah, we were pretty underwhelmed...we definitely won't be having dinner there again. Breakfast, however, will happen...I've heard great things, too!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Day 3, Chapter 15—An Extra Magical Morning

“Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny Kaye.” (Christmas Vacation)​

So, here we are, two days into the trip; and we haven’t stepped one toe in a theme park. I was overdue to be up close and personal with the castle, and if I had to get up at 5 a.m. to get ready for 7 a.m. EMH at MK, then that was A-OK with me. Everyone else climbed on board the EMH express plan, and we agreed to be at the bus stop at 6 a.m.

Here’s the thing with a plan…it only works if you work it.

I was awake before the alarm, and Gabriel and I were ready to go when Earl came by to say that Brianna wouldn’t get out of bed, Lenny was tired, and Mom was running a bit slow. Of the four of them, he was the only one up and at ‘em. Mom got a free pass because she’d just started a new medicine that made her tired, but the other two…not so much. They decided to just hang out at the resort until Bee got up and going; then they’d meet us at MK.

I’m not proud of it, but I lost it just a little. I couldn’t comprehend staying in bed when they could be going to MK. I didn’t understand why Earl wasn’t going with us…after all, he was ready and everyone else was just going to be sleeping! But mostly I HATED that they weren’t sticking to THE PLAN! Thankfully, my brother is just about the most patient person in the known universe; and he just let me rant for a few minutes until I got myself together, at which point we agreed that Gabriel and I would go, and he’d call me later when they got there.

If WDW is the Happiest Place on Earth (and, of course, it is), then MK is my happy place. It’s so chock full of memories that being there like coming home. In fact, I found myself singing Phil Philips’ “Home”...perfect for the way MK makes me feel! All the tension I was feeling slid away and magically transformed, pooling around me in shimmering Pixie dust. I smiled so hard my face hurt, and I squeezed Gabriel’s hand and arm so fiercely that he asked me if I’d been working out.

Funny, funny man.

It was a chilly, misty morning; but I had my love to keep me warm.

Gabriel had the audacity to suggest stopping for a muffin or something. Aghast, I reminded him that there’s no stopping in extra magic hours!

If Bee had been with us, we would have dashed for Enchanted Tales with Belle; but instead we hotfooted it over to Under the Sea...my first time riding it! Evidently, there’s no photography during extra magic hours either because all my photos came from later on…but here’s a few to tide you over…

Under the Sea is a fully immersive (I crack me up) experience. I really enjoyed it and sang along the whole time…for me, it was all about the music, although the sensation of being pulled backwards into the sea was pretty cool, too. Gabriel, on the other hand, found it entirely too girly and said I owed him something packed with testosterone afterwards.

You want testosterone? Okey doke…we made a quick detour into the MK equivalent of a man cave….

He really does use antlers in all his decorating! (Buh-duh-bump!)


----Continued in next post----

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

----Continued from previous post----

Day 3, Chapter 16—An Extra Magical Morning (continued)​

In keeping with our manly theme, we headed for Tomorrowland.

Gabriel rode Space while I sat on a bench and elevated my knee. Yeah, that lasted about two minutes before I was off looking for something to amuse me. This guy is pretty amusing, doncha think?

This sign always makes me smile…

Oh, Disney, you’re so clever…you melt the heart of this Shakespeare lover!

After Space, Gabriel decided he wanted to try Astro Orbiter…it made me so happy watching my “Disney is for children and crazy women” guy unleash his inner kid! The line wasn’t too long, but it moves so slow that I figured I could ice my knee while he rode. I tried to get him to take the camera…oh, how I’d love to have aerial photos of Tomorrowland…but he insisted that he just wanted to enjoy the ride.

OK, dearheart, I guess it’s all about you!

I took a couple of photos before giving in and settling myself on a bench for real this time. Thank goodness for instant ice packs and a scooter basket in which to carry them!

After landing safely (he loved it, BTW), we rode Buzz, where I was beaten into the ground by the love of my life. He shows absolutely no mercy on this ride, and I am so bad at it that it’s embarrassing. I’m pretty sure Gabriel was a gunslinger in a previous life and depended on his hand-eye coordination for survival.

On the way out of Tomorrowland, we stopped at Auntie Gravity’s to grab a muffin and ended up getting a coffee float, too. Well, let me tell you that the coffee float is dee-lish-us! It just goes to show that even Disney coffee is palatable if you add ice cream! It was my first one, but it will definitely not be my last.

Sufficiently amped up on ice cream and coffee, Gabriel grinned and said, “You know what’s next, don’t you?”

I smiled back at him. Why yes, as a matter of fact I do!

Up next: A Rollickin’ ‘n Rollin’ Along

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Boo for GFC being such a disappointing meal!! We've had great breakfasts there - never tried dinner there before - so I will vouch for that being good, at least!

Hopefully the rest of your group started getting to the MK soon! Don't they know there's no sleeping allowed in Disney???

 

[marDgreen88]

I wish Earl had decided to go with yall! At least you got to go. Your picture of Main Street is beautiful!

I apologize but I have to skip anything related to New Fantasyland... haven't seen it in person yet! BUT YEAH.

Mmm, I'll have to try one of those coffee smoothies. Yum! Wait, I want to know what's next?

 

[shan23877]

Joining in! I'm going to comment as I read so that I don't forget what I wanted to say.

Ohhhh,I would have certainly been blasting the novelty Christmas songs. And, for the record I was singing Making Love out of Nothing at All (I'll make all the stadiums rock!).

How disappointing that your niece saw her surprise with out you.

Loving the TR so far, you're a great writer!

 

[shan23877]

Love, Love, LOVE all the pictures of the Royal Room. Believe it or not, I didn't know the story of the rooms. How cool is that??? Thanks for sharing such detailed photos and explainations!

 

[shan23877]

You're quoting Dickens, some of my favorite Christmas movies, and using words like tomfoolery and chapeau? Where have you been all my life?

Reading on...

 

[shan23877]

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the Hoop despite the horrible transportation issues. The show is so much fun!

 

[shan23877]

Love the BBB invite and Christmas gift!!! How cool!

You guys exchanged awesome gifts! I am the wife of a Star Wars nerd, and the sister of a Star Wars/comics nerd. I too have been on the receiving end of many a comic book lecture. Am I the only one who can't stop thinking about Adventures in Babysitting when I see Thor? He was pretty!

Kona sounds amazing. That's another one of those places thats always on the list for "next time".

 

[shan23877]

Ok, had to comment again. I have always been on the clumsy side. When I was little my grandpa nicknamed me "Grace" because of that. So I got a big smile from that remember when story of yours.

 

[shan23877]

Ok, now that I've officially taken over your (fantastic) TR with my comments, I'm all caught up!

I CANNOT WAIT to see new FL.

Why on earth were people sleeping? AT WDW? When they could have been in the MAGIC KINGDOM?? Who are these people you traveled with?

At least you got to go.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

It sounds like your dinner at GF was actually a mixed bag... parts of it actually sound nice ... it just didn't all pull together which is a shame...

Didn't you give out the memo ahead of time about sticking to the schedule? you actually handled that better that I would have... I'd have been pretty darn militant about getting up and at um... but...

you probably had more funny just the two of you then if everyone else was cranky...

I'm with you on the MK love... doesn't get better...

Ahhh... you found the trick to drinking the Disney coffee... add ice cream...

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Boo for GFC being such a disappointing meal!! We've had great breakfasts there - never tried dinner there before - so I will vouch for that being good, at least!

Hopefully the rest of your group started getting to the MK soon! Don't they know there's no sleeping allowed in Disney???

We're definitely going to try GFC for breakfast!

I know, right? Who sleeps in Disney?? Um, that would be my family!

I wish Earl had decided to go with yall! At least you got to go. Your picture of Main Street is beautiful!

I apologize but I have to skip anything related to New Fantasyland... haven't seen it in person yet! BUT YEAH.

Mmm, I'll have to try one of those coffee smoothies. Yum! Wait, I want to know what's next?

I know...I wish he would've gone with us, too...but to each his own, you know? Thank you! Main Street at Christmas time is to die for!

LOL...OK! I hope you get to see it SOON!

Coffee smoothies....yummmmmmy! Update coming up tonight!

Joining in! I'm going to comment as I read so that I don't forget what I wanted to say.

Ohhhh,I would have certainly been blasting the novelty Christmas songs. And, for the record I was singing Making Love out of Nothing at All (I'll make all the stadiums rock!).

How disappointing that your niece saw her surprise with out you.

Loving the TR so far, you're a great writer!

I'm glad you're here!!

LOL...I've been known to burst into random Air Supply songs myself...you rock on, girl!

I was disappointed, but there lots of other surprises to come so I decided to try to be mature about it. Try being the key word!

Thank you!!!

Love, Love, LOVE all the pictures of the Royal Room. Believe it or not, I didn't know the story of the rooms. How cool is that??? Thanks for sharing such detailed photos and explainations!

I love the Disney details, and the back story for the princess rooms is a perfect example!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

You're quoting Dickens, some of my favorite Christmas movies, and using words like tomfoolery and chapeau? Where have you been all my life?

Reading on...

LOL...sounds like we're of like minds...leave it to the Dis!

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the Hoop despite the horrible transportation issues. The show is so much fun!

It really is fun, and we'll do it again for sure...hopefully without all the drama!!

Love the BBB invite and Christmas gift!!! How cool!

You guys exchanged awesome gifts! I am the wife of a Star Wars nerd, and the sister of a Star Wars/comics nerd. I too have been on the receiving end of many a comic book lecture. Am I the only one who can't stop thinking about Adventures in Babysitting when I see Thor? He was pretty!

Kona sounds amazing. That's another one of those places thats always on the list for "next time".

I had fun making the invite, and she really liked it, which made my day!

We were definitely on the same wavelength with our gifts! Ah, the dreaded comic book lecture...I know far too much about superheroes! I hadn't thought about Adventures in Babysitting and Thor, but you're right! He WAS pretty!

Ok, had to comment again. I have always been on the clumsy side. When I was little my grandpa nicknamed me "Grace" because of that. So I got a big smile from that remember when story of yours.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one going through life tripping over my feet! Grandpas give the best nicknames!

Ok, now that I've officially taken over your (fantastic) TR with my comments, I'm all caught up!

I CANNOT WAIT to see new FL.

Why on earth were people sleeping? AT WDW? When they could have been in the MAGIC KINGDOM?? Who are these people you traveled with?

At least you got to go.

New FL is AH-MAY-ZING! Everything you think it will be and MORE...you will love it!!

I know right? LOL...I thought they were my family, but obviously they'd been taken over by aliens!!

It sounds like your dinner at GF was actually a mixed bag... parts of it actually sound nice ... it just didn't all pull together which is a shame...

Didn't you give out the memo ahead of time about sticking to the schedule? you actually handled that better that I would have... I'd have been pretty darn militant about getting up and at um... but...

you probably had more funny just the two of you then if everyone else was cranky...

I'm with you on the MK love... doesn't get better...

Ahhh... you found the trick to drinking the Disney coffee... add ice cream...

You're right...the parts of the GFC that were good (namely the desserts) were SO good, but the rest...just kind of Eh.

You'd better believe they had a memo....they just didn't care! THE HORROR!!

We did end up having such a great morning so it worked out for the best!

LOL...everything is better with ice cream!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Day 3, Chapter 17—A Rollickin’ and a Rollin’ Along​

“Bones, it’s after midnight! Christmas Eve day! Both an eve and a day…It’s a Christmas miracle!” (Bones)​

Having enjoyed our coffee float…ice cream for breakfast, just another reason to love Disney…we put a little giddy up in our go and headed for Frontierland. It was time for the wildest ride in the wilderness! I love BTMRR, especially riding it in the very back of the train. I was pleasantly surprised that Gabriel loves it, too, naming it his favorite ride in MK.

On the way, we spotted Woody and Jessie. I wanted to get a photo, but there were tons of kiddos milling around; so we passed them by. Whenever I see Woody, I say loud and proud that he’s my favorite. And then when I see Buzz, I announce just as loud and proud that HE’S my favorite. Guess I’m just fickle like that.

I have to say that Disney was on the ball with all the characters that were out and about. I’ve never seen so many…they were everywhere! With crowd levels so high, they were doing whatever necessary to keep people entertained.

The line for BTMRR wasn’t outrageous yet, so we decided to wait it out since we weren’t going to do Splash. I tried to convince Gabriel to do the Triple Mountain Whammy, but he just gave me the look…the look that implores the universe to explain how he got saddled with a crazy woman.

He could’ve just said no. Seriously.

Every time I ride BTMRR I promise myself that THIS will be the time that I get awesome ride photos. And every time, this time is not that time. True to form, this time wasn’t that time either. As advertised, it was a wild ride…the only thing more fun than riding BTMRR in the back of the train is riding BTMRR in the back of the train in the DARK!

After BTMRR, we zip-a-dee-doo-dah’d over to Splash so I could document that it was still there. They were cycling an occasional empty boat, so apparently Gabriel wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to get drenched.

We briefly discussed whether or not to take the ferry over to Tom Sawyer’s Island but quickly decided against it. I told him about the paintbrushes (do they still hide them?) and how much fun it was to scavenge around the island looking for them. It’s such a proud moment when you trade that paintbrush in for a precious Fastpass! I haven’t been out to the island in years…maybe next time.

I took one photo and decided to get all artsy with it.

Oooooohhhhh......

Aaaaaaahhhhhh.......

Since I’m pretty lackadaisical about taking notes, I have no idea what time it was when we wandered out of Frontierland. On the upside, I know how to spell lackadaisical and use it properly in a sentence. So there’s that. Gabriel was lured by the scintillating aroma of turkey legs; and I think he actually shared it with me. Wonders never cease.

I’m not sure where this next photo was taken from. It’s in my Frontierland/Liberty Square photos, so here you go….Rapunzel’s Tower!

See that pretty blue sky?

Don’t get too attached to it.

While Gabriel gnawed on his turkey leg, I went into the pin store in search of the elusive Eugene Fitzherbert pin. Drats…foiled again. Eugene, where in the World are you? I spent a fair bit of time looking at pins and decided to go ahead and get one of the Annual Passholder pins, along with a couple of others.

Hello, my name is Laura; and I'm addicted to pins.

Up next was Haunted Mansion, which is my favorite MK ride. Unless I’m standing in front of Pirates of the Caribbean. I really am fickle.

Because it was Florida in December, it took about 2.5 seconds to go from a bright blue sky to gray, overcast and threatening rain.

The HM line was longer than I normally would’ve waited in, but we went for it anyway. It was great being reunited with the dearly departed.

Why hello there, Leota, ma’am…nice of you to wake up for us!

A while back, I made the mistake of telling Gabriel that when I was in high school, HM had the reputation of being the best make-out ride. The whole time we were in line he was waggling his eyebrows at me, making kissing noises, and generally being hilariously obnoxious while I was taking pictures of the statues. You have no idea how many photos were ruined because I was laughing and couldn’t keep the camera still. Anyway, there was a young couple in bride and groom ears in line behind us, and they were laughing at him, too. Gabriel and the groom formed some kind of macho man bro-nection. When we got off the ride, he and Gabriel grinned hugely and gave each other the thumbs up. The bride and I exclaimed in unison, “We did not make out!” Which I have to admit was pretty funny. And completely true!!

From Liberty Square, we decided to go forth unto the Land of Adventure. Pirates and Jungle Cruise were mobbed, so we grabbed FPs for the cruise; and Gabriel climbed the tree house (his first time) while I iced my knee. He took the camera with him, and I wondered if he’d actually use it. What I got were a lot of blurry photos of the water wheel…not really sure why he found it so fascinating, and evidently the fascination was fleeting because he doesn’t remember either.

He said he could see Space Mountain, and that was cool. Did it occur to him to take a picture of it? Uh, no, it didn’t.

Men.

We were talking about what to do next when Earl called to say they were getting off the bus and they’d meet us in the castle. I asked how Brianna was doing, and he said she was as happy as could be, chattering non-stop about her BBB appointment, practically dancing on air.

Music to my ears.

Gabriel and I decided to celebrate her good mood by getting a Dole whip before making our way to the castle. It's my favorite WDW treat (no being fickle this time)! So much yummy goodness!

Up next: The thingamabob that does the job….

 

[marDgreen88]

Hahha, for a while I couldn't decide whether Woody or Buzz was my favorite, either... but somewhere along the way I decided it was definitely Buzz.

No Splash?! This is highly upsetting. If I were there, I would have GLADLY filled those empty logs. Hahha.

HAHAH... I'm glad Gabriel didn't try to make a move on you in the Haunted Mansion!