Being Florida residents, we rarely bother to spend the night when we visit the parks. However, I wanted a special "christmas" trip, so we decided to "sample" the deluxe resorts and camp down in DiSNEy duRIng the Christmas Cheer.
Who Went?
Me (28)
DH (37)
Part Two - Friday, 12/12/03
We woke up at the Contemporary and mono-railed over to the Grand Floridian for breakfast. We had fun taking pictures of the giant gingerbread house and tree. I don't understand the giant birdcage in the lobby, but that's just me, I guess
We had breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe (using Disney Dining Discount). I had the Traditional Japanese Breakfast and that was quite fun. It was quite good, and I was happy about how healthy tasting it was. The only scary part was when I bit into something in the fruit bowl that looked like a cherry, but it was actually *SALTY!* I had to spit it out in my napkin it took me by surprise so much!
After breakfast, we checked out of the tower and headed to MGM Studios. We watched Indiana Jone's Stunt Spectacular which we had missed during Star Wars weekends back in June. I also was able to drag DH to the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show once again. I love it, but I wish it wasn't people mashing buttons to try to get in the hotseat so much.
We drove to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and checked in. I had reserved a standard room because we have visited the lodge before and know about all the public viewing areas. I didn't realize how far the walk would be to get to the room! I love to walk, but I had no idea it would be like a 5 minute walk from the lobby to our room. The room was *HUGE*. It had this really long walkway to get in. We were on the end of a building so that have had a lot to do with it. It was nice because we had a balcany view straight out and on the side. We could see some elands from our balcany but nothing really else. The next morning, though, we did have 4 giraffes parked for 1/2 an hour right outside our window. WOOHWOOH. That wasn't expected, but a nice treat
We dropped off our luggage and went to Epcot. We had a PS for Les Chefs de France, but thought we'd try lunch there instead of Dinner. We found out at 3 pm they close and don't reopen for a while. We headed over to Germany for the buffet because DH was *hungry*. We have eaten at the Biergarten before, and it was kind of nice to see them perform some extra christmas music during the show.
After dinner at Biergarten, we joined the line for the Candlelight Processional. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes in the end, but we enjoyed the music. I really liked that Disney had some "real reason for the season" mixed into the picture. MVMCP the day before felt a bit too santa-focused at times. I can only deal with so many santa or toyland songs. They performed one song at the CP that I had never heard before and really enjoyed - Rejoice with Exceeding Joy. I liked it so much, I had to purchase the CD later.
After the CP, we debated racing to the front of the world showcase for the tree lighting ceremony. I'm glad we didn't after later watching clips from the Travel Channel. I think it would have been a little too kid-like for us.
By this time, it was dark and we stopped to enjoy the tunnel entering world showcase with the lights that dance to the music for a while. That was definitely a treat! We hopped on the monorail and headed to the Grand Floridian. We sat in the lobby and watched a high-school madrigals choir perform. I just love the christmas season!!!!
While everyone was trying to pile onto the monorail to get to the MK for MVMCP, we got in a non-existant line to return to Epcot. I was so excited to ride the monorail through the christmas lights. My husband asked the CM if it was possible to ride in the front of the monorail. He shook his head furiously no. Then another cast member said that it would have to be billed to our room! I later explained to my DH that they were kidding and they usually do allow people to sit up front. I just thought that the Cm's handled the whole situation very poorly. My DH didn't know they were kidding as he isn't a disney nut who knows things like this.
Riding through the lights at Epcot was beautiful.
We returned to the AKL and went to Mara and found that they sold 3 Zebra Domes and 2 Mousse Crunches for about $3. We took them back to our room and ordered room service. The food was really good, but the portions were *HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* I swear, I almost fell off the bed when I saw it. We ordered 2 appetizers and a sandwich to share. We had pita/hummus (enough to feed about 8 people), a flat bread (which was like 2 phillycheesesteaks in size), and a ruben with french fries (the ruben was normal sized, but there must have been 100 gazillion french fries on the plate!) YEESH! I am glad we did so much walking or I would have gained so much weight on the trip....
Spent a relaxing evening sleeping at the AKL...
More to come in part 3.
Who Went?
Me (28)
DH (37)
Part Two - Friday, 12/12/03
We woke up at the Contemporary and mono-railed over to the Grand Floridian for breakfast. We had fun taking pictures of the giant gingerbread house and tree. I don't understand the giant birdcage in the lobby, but that's just me, I guess
We had breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe (using Disney Dining Discount). I had the Traditional Japanese Breakfast and that was quite fun. It was quite good, and I was happy about how healthy tasting it was. The only scary part was when I bit into something in the fruit bowl that looked like a cherry, but it was actually *SALTY!* I had to spit it out in my napkin it took me by surprise so much!
After breakfast, we checked out of the tower and headed to MGM Studios. We watched Indiana Jone's Stunt Spectacular which we had missed during Star Wars weekends back in June. I also was able to drag DH to the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show once again. I love it, but I wish it wasn't people mashing buttons to try to get in the hotseat so much.
We drove to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and checked in. I had reserved a standard room because we have visited the lodge before and know about all the public viewing areas. I didn't realize how far the walk would be to get to the room! I love to walk, but I had no idea it would be like a 5 minute walk from the lobby to our room. The room was *HUGE*. It had this really long walkway to get in. We were on the end of a building so that have had a lot to do with it. It was nice because we had a balcany view straight out and on the side. We could see some elands from our balcany but nothing really else. The next morning, though, we did have 4 giraffes parked for 1/2 an hour right outside our window. WOOHWOOH. That wasn't expected, but a nice treat
We dropped off our luggage and went to Epcot. We had a PS for Les Chefs de France, but thought we'd try lunch there instead of Dinner. We found out at 3 pm they close and don't reopen for a while. We headed over to Germany for the buffet because DH was *hungry*. We have eaten at the Biergarten before, and it was kind of nice to see them perform some extra christmas music during the show.
After dinner at Biergarten, we joined the line for the Candlelight Processional. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes in the end, but we enjoyed the music. I really liked that Disney had some "real reason for the season" mixed into the picture. MVMCP the day before felt a bit too santa-focused at times. I can only deal with so many santa or toyland songs. They performed one song at the CP that I had never heard before and really enjoyed - Rejoice with Exceeding Joy. I liked it so much, I had to purchase the CD later.
After the CP, we debated racing to the front of the world showcase for the tree lighting ceremony. I'm glad we didn't after later watching clips from the Travel Channel. I think it would have been a little too kid-like for us.
By this time, it was dark and we stopped to enjoy the tunnel entering world showcase with the lights that dance to the music for a while. That was definitely a treat! We hopped on the monorail and headed to the Grand Floridian. We sat in the lobby and watched a high-school madrigals choir perform. I just love the christmas season!!!!
While everyone was trying to pile onto the monorail to get to the MK for MVMCP, we got in a non-existant line to return to Epcot. I was so excited to ride the monorail through the christmas lights. My husband asked the CM if it was possible to ride in the front of the monorail. He shook his head furiously no. Then another cast member said that it would have to be billed to our room! I later explained to my DH that they were kidding and they usually do allow people to sit up front. I just thought that the Cm's handled the whole situation very poorly. My DH didn't know they were kidding as he isn't a disney nut who knows things like this.
Riding through the lights at Epcot was beautiful.
We returned to the AKL and went to Mara and found that they sold 3 Zebra Domes and 2 Mousse Crunches for about $3. We took them back to our room and ordered room service. The food was really good, but the portions were *HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* I swear, I almost fell off the bed when I saw it. We ordered 2 appetizers and a sandwich to share. We had pita/hummus (enough to feed about 8 people), a flat bread (which was like 2 phillycheesesteaks in size), and a ruben with french fries (the ruben was normal sized, but there must have been 100 gazillion french fries on the plate!) YEESH! I am glad we did so much walking or I would have gained so much weight on the trip....
Spent a relaxing evening sleeping at the AKL...
More to come in part 3.
