ADP - Live From Disney World - Family Holiday Adventure

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We just returned from the AkL gift shop, Zawadi Marketplace (it's the largest resort gift shop on property). While we were there I took a picutre of the current watch(es) you can purchase at a discount. The watch(es) can be purchased for $15.95 with the purchase of $30 or more at the gift shop. The same watch and promotion can be found at most gift shops across property.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Hi Everyone,

We just returned from the AkL gift shop, Zawadi Marketplace (it's the largest resort gift shop on property). While we were there I took a picutre of the current watch(es) you can purchase at a discount. The watch(es) can be purchased for $15.95 with the purchase of $30 or more at the gift shop. The same watch and promotion can be found at most gift shops across property.

Cool...I really like those watches! I'd get one, but I never wear a watch anymore.

I adore Zawadi Marketplace. This is the first year in recent memory that I haven't gone there and bought my souvenir there. Durn short trips...

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Hello Aaron, Kim, and Anna I'm caught up with your trip report now. It looks like you are having a wonderful trip. Happy New Year! Great picture of your family in the Osborne Lights by the way.

 

[ADP]

Hello Aaron, Kim, and Anna I'm caught up with your trip report now. It looks like you are having a wonderful trip. Happy New Year! Great picture of your family in the Osborne Lights by the way.

Hi Dave,

Happy New Year to you and your family. We are having a great time. Hope we get a chance to see you guys. Our next family trip will probably be in June.

 

[ADP]

Sunday, Jan 3rd

HI Everyone,

Well, it's our last full day in Orlando. To be perectly honest, I'm ready to go home and get back to our daily routine. Kim left today to head home. She is an accountant and had to leave early to close the books for the year. Anna and I stayed for an extra day because of airfare prices. Anna starts school again on Tuesday, so staying an extra day is ok. We do miss Kim though, even if it is for 1 day.

Our day started at the club lounge where we grabbed some breakfast. We decided last night we'd go to Hollywood Studios one more time, then the Contemporary resort arcade, and finally, the Magic Kingdom. I wasn't sure how crowds would be today. There was a noticable down-tick in crowds, but it certainly wasn't uncrowded by any means.

Main St. crowds in the Magic Kingdom around 1:30PM

Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood Studios early this morning

As you've probably noticed in the photos jackets, scarves, gloves and hats were abundant. It was cooolllld this morning. Temperatures were in the 30s and 40s most of the morning into the afternoon. That's the coldest daytime temps I've ever experienced in Orlando. Quite a contrast to the middle of summer.

As we walked up Hollywood Blvd I snapped this photo of a Christmas window display. It's one of the best Christmas displays I've seen in any gift shop.

Most of our time at Hollywood Studios was spent walking around and enjoying the Christmas decor. Anna got her hair wrapped and we experienced other attractions.
This snowman is smiling because it's COOOOLLLLD!!!!

We also caught a couple of streetmosphere skits on Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. One of the most entertaining things to do in all of Disney World is to watch the Citizens of Hollywood perform their skits. It's worth the price of admission.

While on Sunset Blvd I snapped this photo of a DVC booth. Why you ask? Well, I'm told this was the first DVC booth in any of the 4 theme parks at Walt Disney World.

We strolled over to Pixar Place to check out the wait time at TSM. Only a 60 minute wait at 10:13AM. Not too bad.

We alos saw at Pixar Place the Green Army Men performing a skit with the kids who wished to participate.

We then headed to Starring Rolls for some hot chocolate and a cookie. I was surprised to see they had lunch food out already. One thing I saw that blew my mind was a huge ham sandwich pie. This looked totally awesome! If it wasn't so early in the morning I would have tried a piece.
WOW!!!

We even thought about stopping here for a sweet treat, but our consciences got the best of us and we moved past this shop.

After we left Hollywood Studios we boarded the Contemporary resort bus. We wanted to spend some time at the best Disney arcade on property. This arcade used to be huge, but after the 4th floor rehab at the Contemporary it is now half the size. But, it's still the best on property.
While at the Contemporary we viewed some of the Christmas decor at the resort.

We left the Contemporary via the monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom. The park wasn't too crowded, but as I mentioned earlier attractions were still busy. We did manage to get fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and take a spin on the TTA. We also spent time shopping. I believe today is the last day annual passholders can get 20% off at most Disney World gift shops.
During our time in Tomorrowland we ran into the talking trash can that wanders around speaking with guests. It even picked on Anna because she was carrying a light sabre. Apparently, the trash can thought it could be R2-D2 next to Anna's light sabre.

We left the Magic Kingdom around 4:30PM and headed back to AKL. We are going down to the club lounge for some food and drink. I've finished packing some last minute things because we leave for the airport tomorrow morning around 7:30AM. Our 8 days have passed and it's time to head back to reality and the daily grind. It's been a fun holiday adventure though. We've accomplished quite a bit considering the crowds. It is, after all, the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World.

I'll have more later

 

[AnneR]

Wonderful trip report Aaron as usual.

 

[exwdwcm]

Sunday, Jan 3rd


As we walked up Hollywood Blvd I snapped this photo of a Christmas window display. It's one of the best Christmas displays I've seen in any gift shop.

I'll have more later

love it- we also found that window display fantastic- i took a similar pic!

the sandwich at starring rolls, wow!! definitely have to stop there next trip- for that or the cupcakes.

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We are at the airport waiting for our flight. I'm posting via eTicket. I'll a few more pictures later when we return home. It's been fun! It was also good seeing some of you.

More later!

 

[OKW Lover]

Hope you have a good flight home. Thanks for the trip report - loved reading it.

 

[Cyrano]

Take care and have a good flight home

 

[ADP]

Monday, Jan 4th

Hi Everyone,

We are back home in snow covered central Indiana. The temperature is a balmy 18 degrees. When we left Orlando this morning the temperature was only 42 degrees. Not a huge difference, but we could sure feel the difference when we got off the plane.

In fact, here's what it looks like outside the back of my home, and I don't mean my DVC home.....My actual home.

This type of weather makes me want to have this face
(From the Muppets 3-D attraction queue). I find the Muppets pre-show to be the best pre-show in all of Walt Disney World.

Here's a picture from last night in the AKV club lounge. I was a bit disappointed in the club food offerings this trip. I'll talk about it more in my final post, but the food; especially the appetizers were not very good. When we stayed club level last August it was much better in my opinion. The staff was wonderful though.

Now that I'm home I can tell you that we were in room 6406. All the way down the hall. It was a nice room in a good, quiet location. Except for the bongo noise from the main lobby it was peaceful. We had a pool view; which I liked. We didn't feel the need to have a savanna view.
Outside our door we had a view of a triangle opening into the main lobby. It was a nice window to stick our head through to see what was going on in the lobby below.

Thanks to everyone who read along. It's been a fun trip and I'm glad you could see Disney World through our eyes. I must admit, I love reading trip reports simply to find out what's going on in our favorite place. Disney World is constantly changing. Having pictures and even video to view the changes really speaks volumes to people who love to vacation at Disney World. I also love writing in general. So, writing trip reports for me is fun. Plus, I get to reflect on our trip each day and into the future. I've made a lot of connections and friends at Disney World; especially thorugh these boards. As these relationships evolve and as new relationships are formed I'm reminded of one thing I was thankful for in 2009, and what I will be thankful for in 2010.....Friendship!

I'll have one more post to give my thoughts about what we experienced this trip.

More to come!

 

[belle8306]

Great TR Aaron! I enjoyed reading it. I feel the exact same way about winter. Although, I will say we have a lot more snow up here in Northern IN. I think there is still about 8 inches on the ground.

 

[Dodie]

Welcome home, Aaron. Unfortunately, it's only going to get colder and snowier this week.

 

[Tonya2426]

love it- we also found that window display fantastic- i took a similar pic!

the sandwich at starring rolls, wow!! definitely have to stop there next trip- for that or the cupcakes.

I've got the same picture from December 2008

 

[disadventurer]

Nice trip reports!! Would love to brave XMAS, New Year's one year.

Leave Sunday for CSR & WL can't wait. Do you have any reports on either of those two resorts?? If so, would love to read.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[ADP]

Nice trip reports!! Would love to brave XMAS, New Year's one year.

Leave Sunday for CSR & WL can't wait. Do you have any reports on either of those two resorts?? If so, would love to read.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I have a trip report from the Wilderness Lodge Villas; however, the pictures don't match up. I've modified my photobucket account with new pictures so the text doesn't match up with the photos anymore.


One thing I wanted to mention to everyone about the AKV Kilimanjaro Club Level. We stayed there in August as well as this past December. The food and food offerings in August were way better than the food in December. I don't know what happened, but back in August the selections of food between 5 and 7PM were ribs, chicken wings, etc. This past December we had chicken triangles and chicken egg rolls. Most of the food brought out was from the microwave in the back and not from the Boma kitchen. I know microwaved food when I taste it and the hot appetizers all week were from the club lounge's microwave in the back. We also experienced food not being replenished quickly enough. Guests were waiting for dishes to be refilled. When dishes did get refilled they were gone immediately because enough guests had been waiting too long. It was very disappointing. I'm not sure why this happened now versus back in August, but there was a huge difference in the club lounge food service. I'm hoping it was a one-time thing and not a trend.

 

[dpuck1998]

Thanks! I have a trip report from the Wilderness Lodge Villas; however, the pictures don't match up. I've modified my photobucket account with new pictures so the text doesn't match up with the photos anymore.


One thing I wanted to mention to everyone about the AKV Kilimanjaro Club Level. We stayed there in August as well as this past December. The food and food offerings in August were way better than the food in December. I don't know what happened, but back in August the selections of food between 5 and 7PM were ribs, chicken wings, etc. This past December we had chicken triangles and chicken egg rolls. Most of the food brought out was from the microwave in the back and not from the Boma kitchen. I know microwaved food when I taste it and the hot appetizers all week were from the club lounge's microwave in the back. We also experienced food not being replenished quickly enough. Guests were waiting for dishes to be refilled. When dishes did get refilled they were gone immediately because enough guests had been waiting too long. It was very disappointing. I'm not sure why this happened now versus back in August, but there was a huge difference in the club lounge food service. I'm hoping it was a one-time thing and not a trend.

Bummer! This was my experience when we stayed Concierge level at Beach Club many years ago. We were very disappointed in the food quality and upkeep of the lounge. This is the reason we have not done Concierge at any resort since. I've always heard AK and Poly were a notch above the rest, so I'd be interested to hear if it gets better again or is taking a nose dive.

 

[yupikgal]

I was wondering the same thing because we are considering staying at concierge level at either the Poly (which we've stayed at before and loved) or one of the other Deluxe properties next Dec. 2010...I'd hate to pay those sky high prices and have mediocre food and service! Thanks for the info on Christmas at the "world"! Kind of scared of crowds and cold weather, although I'm sure we won't freeze, since we are from Alaska!!

 

[disadventurer]

Yupikgal--Make sure you check out the threads under Resorts and more importantly pictures thread. WL at Xmas is just beautiful. We had a Courtyard View which overlooked the stream, pool, geyser and lake. We saw the beautiful Electric Light Parade from our balcony. Wanted to try Concierge Level but didn't stay long enough (January). 1/22 is was 80 degrees. Also learned in November they have a special ceremony which blesses the directions. Have a wonderful time where ever you stay.

P. S. DS21 now lives in Anchorage. Went to APU.

 

[ADP]

I was wondering the same thing because we are considering staying at concierge level at either the Poly (which we've stayed at before and loved) or one of the other Deluxe properties next Dec. 2010...I'd hate to pay those sky high prices and have mediocre food and service! Thanks for the info on Christmas at the "world"! Kind of scared of crowds and cold weather, although I'm sure we won't freeze, since we are from Alaska!!

Out of all the club level experiences we've seen our family really liked the Poly the best. I believe you'd here the same from many others. In fact; I'd go as far to say it's leaps and bounds above the others. I used to say AKV was right up there with it in second, but I'm not so sure anymore.

That said, I'd always encourage you to try anything and everything at least once. This way you can form your own opinion(s).