Bahamas Cruise, Marco Island and Walt Disney World!

Lizzim

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Our latest adventure took us on a Bahamas Cruise followed by a short visit to Marco Island and then a week at my favourite place – Walt Disney World!

22nd November

An early start in the office today as I had to complete the forecast before heading off on our trip :( Rob stayed at home to get the dog ready for the kennels and to sort out some last minute bits and pieces. I managed to get everything done by 2 and headed home.

We tidied the house (which seems odd but it is nice to come home and not have to do any cleaning) and then did the packing. Shortly after 5 and we headed off for the airport.

We stopped along the way and grabbed a bite to eat. We arrived at the Hilton Gatwick around 8pm and checked in before dropping our bags in the room. Then we took the car to the long stay car park and took the bus back. As we were a little bit later arriving we decided not to bother with twilight check-in.

We had been upgraded to the executive floor so we popped in for a quick drink before bed.

23rd November

Unfortunately when we woke up in the morning we discovered that there was no hot water :( We called and were told that an engineer was working on it but it was not fixed before we left. The front desk did adjust our room cost to apologise for the problem but not the best start to a morning.

We took the monorail across to the terminal for our flight with BA. We had checked in online but needed to drop off our bags. We were able to print our own bag labels and the bags were gone in a few moments. Security was fine and we were quickly through so we went to Frankie and Benny’s for breakfast.

Not too long a wait before our gate was announced and boarding started. We actually left a few minutes early I think. The flight was fine – I watched Planes, Turbo and most of Monsters University :)

Immigration took a little while at the other end but I had successfully retrieved the bags before Rob was done. Straight down to Avis to pick up the car and had no wait. The guy was friendly – no hard sell and we were on our way to Cape Canaveral.

About an hour later and we arrived at the Radisson. We checked in and got a voucher for our transfer to the cruise terminal. We found our room which was in a building quite far from the lobby and were immediately puzzled by the Jacuzzi tub in the corner!

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We were hungry and tired so we got some food from McDonalds across the road and then went to bed. At this point we realised that we had left our swimming costumes at home!

24th November

We woke up this morning and decided to pop to Ron Johns at Cocoa beach to try and buy some swimming costumes. We had some time before our transfer and it was only a short drive down the road.

We got there and were very puzzled by the apparent lack of swimming costumes for me – there were a few on sale but very limited sizes and colours. We did manage to get some shorts for Rob but I left with nothing. Rob’s parent’s were joining us for the 2nd week so we asked them to collect mine and bring them out.

Back to the hotel and we got a subway next door for a late breakfast/early lunch. Then we parked the car in the cruise area and headed to the lobby to catch our bus.

Whilst I had been researching our trip I had read many horror stories about the massive lines that we would find on arrival at the cruise terminal...

We got to the terminal and the porters took our bags and we headed across to the terminal. We walked in and there was no line at all for check-in! We saw a lady who took a quick look at our passports, scanned our cards and told us to head to a 2nd line to get our keys.

There were about 2 people in front of us at this point. We had a photo taken and were given our sail and sign cards then we had to have our photo taken in front of a picture of a boat.

Up a big escalator and we waited I think about 5 minutes before being allowed to board the ship.

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I think our total time from arrival was 15 mins!

Once onboard we went to the Lido deck to get lunch and a drink. Everyone had the same idea as it was packed! We found a table and got some lunch and then a short while afterward headed down to our cabin.

We were in U22 – which had a picture window. The cabin was much bigger than our first cruise experience – and the bathroom was much nicer than the last time :)

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We had a quick wander around and then went to the spa as they were offering a tour of the facilities (and also a raffle)! Shortly afterwards we had to go for our muster drill – this was held in the theatre and we didn’t have to go outside as it had started to rain a little :(

After the drill we went back to the spa for the raffle but we weren’t lucky :( We then found out about another raffle later in the day at the art gallery so we decided to go there after we had left the port.

We headed up to the deck to watch the ship leave Cape Canaveral. We were escorted out by the coastguard (who was visibly armed) which seemed very odd to us! They did wave when they were finished escorting us out though.

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We went to the art gallery for the next raffle and we were unsuccessful again :( We did get a free picture though to take away.

We stopped to buy the soda package at one of the bars and to have a quick drink before dinner. It was a little bit rough on the way out and it was quite funny to watch people wobbling their way around the ship.

We were starting to get tired again now so we went to the main dining room for dinner before bed. The food was good – we were a little bit surprised by the wait staff doing a conga as part of ‘showtime’!

Dinner finished and we went off to bed.

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25th November

We docked in Freeport this morning and the weather was a little overcast, we had breakfast in the main dining room. We had originally planned to book an excursion but hadn’t been able to make up our mind what to do. As it turned out several of them had been cancelled due to the weather.

We decided to go for a wander around Port Lucaya so we joined the line for a ‘taxi’. We were squashed into a 12 seater van as part of a group of 14 people...! The motto seemed to be add 2 more people than there are actually seats!

We got part of the way along our trip and the van pulled over and the driver swapped with another guy... we assume there was some licensing issue that they were avoiding!

We arrived in Port Lucaya and paid for our return journey and were issued a ticket. Return journeys were available from 12 – which means this service should really be called a shuttle rather than a taxi!

We wandered across the road to the shops and took a look around. Most of the stores were selling jewellery, watches etc.

The beach was a short walk away so we headed over to take a look. The route to the beach was a pathway past what appeared to be a junk yard! The beach itself was fine and we walked a little way along. It was quite windy but not cold and if the weather had been better would have been quite nice.

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We walked a little further and were yelled at by some guy – we eventually worked out that he was telling us the beach we were walking toward was private. Why there wasn’t a sign informing people of this was beyond us!

Back to the shops and we found a boat which suggests that the local sheriff was misappropriating funds!

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We also found a telephone box on our travels...!

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We took a seat in a bar for a while and got something to drink. We were a little gobsmacked when a woman and her daughter ordered tequila shots – for the daughter who appeared to be about 13 years old!

We popped into the casino across the road for a quick look around and then took the ‘taxi’ back to the boat!

We decided to have lunch at the Lido again – I think we might have had burgers today. Once we were done we went to have a rest in our cabin before the art auction later.

We fell asleep but luckily woke up in time for the art auction. We headed up and handed in our raffle tickets... guess if we won anything?

There were a couple of pictures which we quite liked – one of Mickey Mouse as a fireman which was quite big and probably way too expensive.

There were quite a lot of items available for sale and the auction went on for a couple of hours. It was quite interesting though and we found out a little about some of the artists.

Most of the pictures did not appeal to us or were too expensive but we did decide on impulse to buy the item at the link below:

http://www.parkwestgallery.com/artwork-detail/?ArtworkID=19250

We are still awaiting it’s arrival – having said that we think that UPS attempted to deliver it today (Christmas Eve) whilst we were out shopping!

Art auction over (and no we didn’t win any raffle prizes) and we headed out on deck for a little bit. We had an appointment at the art gallery to finalise our purchase so we went there before dinner. Tonight was formal night on the cruise so we decided to skip the main dining room as we couldn’t be bothered to dress up.

We were a little disappointed by the selection available at the Lido – we eventually decided on pizza which was just ok.

Another quiet night and we were off to bed.

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26th November

Today we docked in Nassau, I had unfortunately heard nothing good about this port and we debated booking an excursion but decided against it.

We got off the ship and braved the many many people trying to persuade us to rent a scooter. There had been quite heavy rain before we arrived and several of the roads were slightly flooded. We took a wander around some of the shops and then made our way toward the beach.

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The beach was quite small but the sun appeared and it was quite nice. We had passed a McDonalds on the way and headed back there to grab a drink and borrow their wifi for a short time.

Worryingly there were 2 security guards in McDonalds – reassuring in the sense that they were there but not great that they were needed :(

We sat for a while to send a couple of emails and then decided that we didn’t really need to see any more of Nassau. So we finished our drinks and headed back to the ship.

We did pop into Senor Frogs for a quick look on our way back and we stopped to look at some souvenirs but decided against any cheap tacky t-shirts.

I have to say that we weren’t overly impressed by either of the ports we visited. I’m sure the Bahamas are nice enough if you visit a resort and stay there but if not you can find nicer beaches in Florida!

So, back to the ship and we had a little rest in our cabin. We were planning on going to an art seminar in the afternoon but we were being too lazy and so didn’t bother.

We headed out on deck to watch the ship leave the port, then we went to the bar for a little while before dinner.

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There was a singer/guitar player called Chris Miller who was quite entertaining.

Rather than having a set dining time we were on ‘My Time Dining’ – which means you can arrive during the opening hours (6 – 9.30) and be seated as soon as an appropriate sized table is available. For some reason though a large number of the guests decided to queue up before opening time – at one point the line was all the way around the balcony level!

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We eventually wandered up a little later when the line had gone. Tonight’s ‘showtime’ was the wait staff performing Gangnam Style :) This was so funny... !

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27th November

Today was our ‘fun day at sea’.

We got up late and headed to the main dining room for brunch, it was quite odd to have breakfast followed by dessert!

The rest of our day was spent being lazy – we watched a couple of movies on the TV in our cabin and I think we played a game of mini golf. Aside from that we didn’t do much else!

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Back up to the Main Dining Room for dinner and ‘showtime’ tonight was the wait staff singing to us! We had a visit at our table from the Maître d' who was interested in how our experience had been – we were glad to be able to tell him that the wait staff had been one of the highlights of our cruise :)

We were also visited by a magician who did a card trick that still has us confused after several weeks!

Back to the cabin to pack and then to bed!

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28th November

Today was Thanksgiving and our day to disembark the ship. We had chosen to self-debark which meant taking all of our bags off the ship on our own – but which meant we could leave at about 8.30 and start our trip to Marco Island.

We woke fairly early and sorted all of our stuff and then waited for our deck to be called. It was a little later than scheduled but not by much. We walked our bags off and were sent down in a lift – even though we would have managed fine on the escalator.

We joined the immigration line and had all of our documents ready – one guy actually thanked us for following the instructions!

There was a short wait before we saw an immigration officer – he glanced at our passports and sent us on our way! Quite different to our experience at the airports where we are normally asked questions about our plans!

Outside the terminal and we went to find the bus back to the Radisson – just as we arrived so did the bus! We handed over our voucher and off we went – we were back at the hotel a few minutes later and set off to find the car.

We loaded up the car with our luggage, set the sat nav and off we went!
 
28th November cont.

The drive to Marco Island took around 5 hours and was a relatively straightforward trip. We stopped at a McDonalds on the way for a quick lunch and then continued our trip.

We spent a day at Marco Island a few years ago and booked ourselves 2 nights at the Hilton. We got to the hotel and decided to self-park (slightly less expensive than Valet!)

We checked in and were upgraded from a garden view room to a sea view – this was a relief as Rob wanted a sea view but I booked him the garden view as normally Hilton upgrades Gold card members and I didn’t want to spend any extra if I didn’t need to ;)

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So we were all checked in and we had a little rest in the room. We face timed home and let them have a look at the view :)

We had thanksgiving dinner booked and decided to pop down to the bar for a little while beforehand. They had ‘happy hour’ for 2 hours and so we each got 2 cokes!

Off to dinner and we were seated at our table. Dinner was a buffet so we headed up for turkey, yams and all the trimmings. This was our first ever thanksgiving dinner :)

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After the main course I had some cake and then some pie then coffee :) Too much food and we headed to bed for the night.

29th November

We had breakfast included in our room rate so we headed down to the buffet. We each had an omelette then some pastries and some toast.

As I still had no swimming costume we decided to go for a walk up the beach. As it had been rumoured to be chilly I wore my jeans – we didn’t get very far up the beach before we had to turn around so I could go back and change!

Quick change and we were off again. We walked a couple of miles before turning back – we decided to dip our toes in the water – it was quite warm! We did experience a few sharp shells as we walked back but it was quite lovely.

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Back to the room for a while and then we headed out to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. We wanted to pick up a few bits and pieces for when we got to the tree house.

On our way back we decided to look and see if there were any restaurants nearby – and it seemed like there were none.

We took our shopping back to the room and got showered and changed. We decided to cross over the road as there seemed to be an Irish pub – as we got closer we discovered that there were actually several different restaurants staring us right in the face!

We decided on an Italian and I think we both had pizza followed by a chocolate cake! It was a really nice meal and not too expensive.

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30th November

Breakfast at the buffet again today and then we finished packing up our stuff. We checked out just before 11 and started the drive back to Orlando.

Some people say that it is too far for just a couple of days but we really love it down at Marco Island. Maybe next time we’ll stay for longer.
 
30th November cont.

The drive from Marco was straightforward, we stopped briefly for a snack and arrived at Saratoga Springs around 3pm. We checked in and our tree house was ready :) We got our Magic Bands and parking pass and off to the villa we went. The parents would be arriving later by Magical Express.

The Tree House

Before our trip I had looked online for photos of the tree houses and was disappointed as I couldn’t find very many. So on our arrival I tried to take photos of each of the rooms :)

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Master Bedroom

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Master Bathroom - shower and tub

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Master Bathroom - sink area

I made sure to turn all the lights on as otherwise the photos would be a little dark. I didn’t think this was an issue but I know some people would complain that they would like more light.

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2nd Bedroom

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The other bathroom

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The other tub

We had requested a tree house near the water (for Rob’s dad) and we were granted this request.

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The 3rd bedroom

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Kitchen area

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Another angle of the kitchen area

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Living room/Dining Area

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An attempt at a panoramic living area shot

We liked this location but anyone considering this location should be aware that the boats tend to sound their horns quite often which could be annoying. We were aware of this before we made our request and so it was not a problem.

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The deck area

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Our villa from the ground

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The view of the water :)

The other common complaint with the tree houses is the remoteness of the location. We had a car and did not plan on using Disney transport and so they were a fantastic location – a nice peaceful place to relax after a day at the parks.


If not using a car then I can see that the buses would be tedious due to the need to take an internal shuttle before boarding a main bus.

Overall, we liked the tree house for 4 adults – we each had a bedroom and a bathroom – so no sharing :) I would also think adding a couple of children would still be comfortable but anymore and I think the villa would feel crowded.
 


We unpacked our bags and settled into the villa whilst waiting for Rob’s parents to arrive. They sent us a message when they got through security and onto the Magical Express and we headed over to Saratoga Springs to meet them off the bus.

We took them back to the tree house to drop off their bags and then we popped to Wal-Mart to buy some food for the villa. We were also planning on getting something to eat but Paul and Tracey were tired so we went back to Saratoga and got some flatbreads at Artist’s Palate.

They went to bed and we watched some TV before going to bed ourselves.

1st December

We were woken up by “the noisies” (Paul and Tracey) in the morning. They had woken up early (as expected) and Paul had already been to the pool for a swim... !

We got up and had breakfast in the villa before heading over to Epcot. Unfortunately despite their early start we didn’t arrive until a little while after opening and the lines for Soarin’ and Test Track were already much longer than we were prepared to wait (and fast pass times were well into the evening).

So, to Spaceship Earth we went – there was a short line but we were quickly onto the ride. Afterward we went over to Nemo for a quick ride and a little look at the fishes. We decided that we would return to Future World another day and so we headed over to the World Showcase for a wander around.

As we entered I saw Santa Duffy. As you may have noticed I quite like meeting characters so I joined the line. There were a couple of families ahead of me so it only took a few minutes and I got a photo with Santa Duffy.

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We continued around the World Showcase – stopping in Mexico for the boat ride but skipping the meet and greet with Donald due to his long line.

Into Norway for Maelstrom and oh my goodness what a line for the new Frozen Princesses! We carried on around for a little bit and then stopped at the refreshment outpost for some soft serve ice cream :)

Further around the World Showcase and Tracey and I went to see Pooh and Tigger in the UK.

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We finished off our visit to Epcot with a quick ride on Living with the Land. On our way back to the villa we did a little more food shopping at Wal-Mart and then we went back and had pizza at the villa before the Christmas Party later.

We tried to get our tickets linked with our Magic Bands – Paul and Tracey’s tickets liked fine but ours would not link :( We were told to try at guest relations to see if they could fix the problem.

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Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

We headed over to the Magic Kingdom around 6pm (much too late but still!) and we then had to battle our way down Main Street which was extremely busy as party goers were entering and some day guests were heading to the exit... !

First task of the evening was to ride It’s a Small World – this was the last day the ride was open until after our trip was over as it was having a short refurbishment.

Once we were done with IASW we headed over to Frontierland where we took a quick ride on Splash Mountain – we got really wet! The water seemed to hit us right in the face!

Then we took a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean followed by the Jingle Cruise (it’s fun to ride at night).

We headed over to the hub to try and find a spot for Celebrate the Magic and Holiday Wishes – unfortunately as we had now discovered the party was sold out this was quite difficult and we ended up in a less than ideal spot.

We could see Celebrate the Magic fine but had a tree blocking our view for some of the fireworks :(

Once the fireworks were over we headed towards Liberty Square to find a spot for the 2nd parade – it was still much busier than I had expected but we found a spot behind a family with children who were sitting on the floor and there was a wall where we could sit while we waited.

Although not the best viewing spot we were able to view the parade without feeling squashed by people. My photos are not that great though due to a large light shining from the opposite side of the parade route.

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Once the parade was over Paul and Tracey decided to catch the bus back to the resort as they were tired. I wanted to meet at least one of the special party characters so we headed over to see who was available.

The line for the 7 dwarfs had already been cut so we kept going to see if Scrooge McDuck and gang were still meeting. They were so we got in line. They went for a break shortly after we arrived so it took a little while but eventually I got to meet them!

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By now it was approaching Midnight so there would be no time to meet anyone else, so we headed over to the exit. We stopped on Main Street to take some pictures of the snow and Christmas decorations before taking the ferryboat back across the Seven Seas Lagoon.

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We were back at the villa shortly after 12.30 and headed off to bed after checking that Paul and Tracey had managed to successfully make their way back!

2nd December

Breakfast in the villa again today and before heading to a park we decided to take a ride around Saratoga Springs on a Surrey Bike.

This was an interesting experience... Rob was steering most of the way and doing a good job of keeping us on the path and out of danger. Then Paul took over and he almost tipped us over while cornering too fast on 3 separate occasions! We demanded that Rob take over the steering!

The ride of terror over we decided to take the boat to Downtown Disney to get some lunch and see if our passes could be linked with our bands.

We headed straight to the Earl of Sandwich for lunch and then popped across to Ghirardelli for a chocolate sample.

We then got in the ridiculous line at guest relations to try and fix our bands. The cast member who eventually helped us just had to reissue our annual passes and then the new ones linked easily.

Unfortunately it took us about 30 mins to see a cast member and Toy Story Mania FP+ were unavailable on all days during our trip!

We took the boat back to the tree houses and took the short walk to our villa. We stayed at the villa until around 5 when we headed back across to the Magic Kingdom.

I had managed to book us some FP+ for this evening. We had dinner booked at Be Our Guest for 7.15 so we first went to the Haunted Mansion at 6.15. Then we took Paul and Tracey to see Storybook Circus as this was new since their last trip.

Over to BOG and I was hoping that as a table of 4 we might be seated in the West Wing as last time as a twosome we were seated in the ballroom.

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We were taken to our table and it was in the West Wing! Yay! I was the most excited – nobody else was really interested.

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For some reason the restaurant gets some very mixed reviews, I’m not sure why as both times we have eaten here we have enjoyed the meal and the service has been very good.

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I had the steak followed by the Grey Stuff for dessert!

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Then Tracey and I went to meet the Beast before we left. He had only just returned from a break so there was a short line but we left the restaurant just in time to see Wishes.

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We watched from Fantasyland which gives a different perspective than watching from the hub but it’s much less crowded and you get the feeling that you are in the middle of the display :)

I had booked a FP+ for Buzz Lightyear but because we had been watching the fireworks we were too late. Instead, we waited until 9.25 to ride Space Mountain. We had a short wait because I think everyone was waiting for their FP+ window to open...

After riding Space Mountain we headed out of the park and took the Ferryboat back to the parking lot.
 
3rd December

A relaxed start to the morning with breakfast at the villa and a wander across to Saratoga Springs for a bit of shopping. Paul and Tracey had forgotten to bring sunglasses and we decided to buy some Magicbandits to go on our Bands :)

We headed over to Epcot at about 1pm as we had a lunch reservation at Via Napoli as part of the candlelight processional package.

We checked in and were seated at a slightly odd table right next to a terminal that the wait staff use to place orders etc.

The meal was good (although Tracey wasn’t a big fan of her pizza) but the waiter was a little distracted – and we had to ask for our plates to be cleared when the main course was brought out.

Dessert however was lovely :) We paid the bill and I went to get our tickets for the show.

The standby line was already really long when we got near to the theatre...! Neil Patrick Harris is really popular. We had a wander around and then eventually joined the package line to ensure we had a good seat (it was our first time).

Whilst in line we were told most emphatically that we had to wear our tickets (they had a sticky back). I did ask why we couldn’t just show them and wasn’t given an explanation but just reiterated that we MUST wear them. I was concerned that they would fall off and we would lose them (as you also get Illuminations viewing later) but followed the instructions!

About 30 mins before the show (we were at the 5pm show) we were allowed to enter the theatre. We initially sat in the front row and then realised that would be too close so we moved back a little. In hindsight we should have moved back and across a little more to be centred in the theatre.

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The show was great and Neil Patrick Harris was fantastic. How many people can open a show about the nativity with “What up”?!
He vanished pretty quickly from the stage once the show was finished!

We left the theatre and wandered back to Future World as I expected the World Showcase to stay busy for the rest of the evening.

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We took a quick ride on Nemo and Paul thought about buying a “Mine” t-shirt but decided against it.

By this point it was getting a little chilly so Rob and I walked back to the car to get our fleeces. Finally we got to ride Soarin’ with our FP+. No Test Track though *** of the stupid tiering :(

Paul and Tracey wanted to sit for a while so I headed over to the Character Spot which only had a 10 min wait. I met Mickey, Goofy and Minnie :)

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We decided to head over to the Illuminations viewing area so I picked up a cappuccino from Starbucks on the way.

It turns out the viewing spot is where we watched Illuminations from back in September. It is a great spot and the fireworks (with holiday addition) were fantastic but we did get quite a lot of firework smoke and the odd piece of debris falling whilst they were going on!

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Fireworks done and we headed back to the villa.

4th December

Breakfast in the villa again before heading off to Premium Outlets for a bit of shopping. After about 2 shops Paul and Tracey were bored – we went into Banana Republic and lost them for a little while as they had kept going. I got a new dress and Rob got some jeans and a polo shirt.

Then we headed to Sketchers for some new shoes. We stopped and got a drink at the food court and then did a little more window shopping before we left.

We stopped off at Downtown Disney for some Earl of Sandwich and a Ghirardelli sample :)

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Back to the tree house and we had a quick chat with some people back home via facetime.

We eventually headed over to Hollywood Studios and I had booked us a few FP+. Due to the MagicBands not working earlier in our trip a FP+ for Toy Story Mania had been unobtainable – but don’t worry as you can change your FP+ options as you change plans ;)

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First ride of the afternoon was Star Tours – although we didn’t really need the FP+ *** the line wasn’t very long.

Once we were done we headed over towards Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster. The posted wait time for ToT was 10 mins so we got in line – Tracey decided she didn’t want to ride as she felt a little motion sick after ST.

It quickly became apparent that the wait was going to be longer but we stayed in line as we had a wait for our next FP+.

I think we eventually waited about 25 mins in the end. Once we were done we headed over to Rock n Rollercoaster, I’m not the biggest fan of this ride as it tends to bash my head but it wasn’t too bad this time.
 
Once we got out we decided to get some soft serve ice cream before making our way to the Osbourne Lights. It wasn’t as busy as I had expected and the lights were as good as I remembered!

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We stayed for a little while and then went back over to ToT for a final ride using FP+.

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We were on our way back to the car and I asked if Tracey wanted to take a quick visit to the Grand Floridian to see the decorations.

After being told it was late (it was 7.30! ) we decided to pop in, so we drove over to the Ticket and Transportation Centre and parked then took the resort monorail across.

We had originally thought about booking 1 night at the GF at the end of our trip but in the end we decided to be a little more cost conscious and instead booked the Waldorf Astoria. As we walked in Tracey was really impressed – and asked Paul why we weren’t staying here!

We had a look at the huge tree and the gingerbread house and I couldn’t resist buying a shingle :)

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Once we were done we got back on the monorail and went around to the Contemporary. They had a gingerbread stand set up too but it wasn’t quite as impressive as the Grand Floridian!

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We decided that whilst we were here we would see if we could pop up to the Top of the World Lounge – as we were staying in the tree house on points.

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We saw the CM in BLT and they scanned our MagicBand and sent us along to the elevator with a little pass to let us up.

We got up and ordered some drinks and then headed outside to watch Wishes. So much more peaceful watching from up here than in the park; makes me glad I bought BLT points so that on my next trip I can go back to my theme park view!

Wishes over, we finished our drinks and took the monorail back to the parking lot to pick up the car and head back to the tree house.
 


5th December

Breakfast at the villa again this morning and then we were off to the Animal Kingdom. Managed to get moving a little earlier this morning and I had booked FP+ for the safari for our first ride.

The standby line was quite long for AK so I was glad I had booked. We managed to see lots of animals – we even got a glimpse of the lions :)

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Afterward we headed over to Everest, before we went on Paul and Tracey had a soft serve ice cream. I decided to wait until later and in the end forgot!

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Tracey decided to buy the ride photo from Everest and we had it sent to package pickup so that we didn’t have to carry it around with us.

Our next FP+ was for Dinosaur so we headed over that way, Primeval Whirl only had a 10 min wait so we hopped in that. I don’t really know why as we always complain when we get off that ride! I briefly considered meeting Santa Goofy but his line was really long so I skipped it.

We got around to Dinosaur and were a little early so we took a break in the shade while we waited. There was a bunch of cheerleaders in the line and they were practicing cheers which was very annoying!

After a little wait we got on Dinosaur pretty quickly and managed to avoid most of the cheerleaders.

We wanted to watch the Flights of Wonder show so that was our next stop. We really like this show but I’m not sure that Paul was impressed.

Afterwards we took a quick walk through the Pagani trail before it was decided that it was time to leave.

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I had tried to meet Russell and Dug on our last trip but only got to see Russell so I wanted to try again. I went to get in line whilst Paul, Tracey and Rob went to collect the ride photo.

It took me about 25 mins but I saw both Russell and Dug! I was super excited – Dug had tried to eat my bag whilst Russell was signing my autograph book :)

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I met up with the others at the exit and we headed back to the villa for a late lunch.

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After relaxing at the villa for a while we were heading to Sanaa for dinner; Rob and I had eaten here in September and really enjoyed it and Rob’s dad had selected Sanaa for his choice of dinner reservation.

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We arrived a little early and took a look at the animals using the night vision goggles. There weren’t very many out and about but it was still quite fun.

We were seated promptly and we all ordered the butter chicken with the spicy durban chicken although we were split on the choice of rice. Tracey found the spicy chicken too spicy so swapped it for Paul’s butter chicken!

Finally time for dessert :) Rob and Tracey had the trio – although Rob was upset that they had changed it since last time. Paul had bread pudding (I think) and I had the seasonal kulfi – this was blood orange and pomegranate which was yummy. The last time it was banana which was also fab but I liked the change!

Once we were done we did a little bit of shopping – I got a new pin – and then we went back to the tree house!

6th December

This morning we were leaving the tree house and moving to the Waldorf Astoria. Not quite the Grand Floridian but we do really like this hotel.

We packed up our stuff and left the tree house :( We drove over to the Waldorf to check in and leave our bags. When we arrived (around 11) our rooms were already available so we got the bags brought up and headed back out.

We decided to get another Earl of Sandwich for lunch before upgrading Paul and Tracey to annual passes. Unfortunately we couldn’t get them to budge from their price of $285 per ticket (I am pursuing this via email) but as they were still cheaper than the tickets we would be buying for our February trip we went ahead and upgraded.

Rob and Paul were going to go do some boy shopping (Lowes etc) so they dropped us at the Contemporary so that we could walk to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours.

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Tracey loves Splash Mountain so we went over to ride. I picked up fast passes for later and we got in the line, we waited 20 mins before the ride broke down and we were asked to clear the line :(

We went straight to Big Thunder Mountain and got in line, luckily we got there before the rush and the wait was only about 20 minutes.
We went and did some shopping on Main Street for some gifts and then took a ride on the railroad. We decided to take a round trip and then continue to Frontierland so we could see if Splash Mountain was fixed.

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Luckily it was so we used our fast pass to ride :) We got a pretty good photo so we decided to buy it.

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By now the boys should have been heading back to collect us so we started on our walk back to the Contemporary. We got back to Bay Lake Tower to find that the boys had got delayed so we sat on a bench in the sun.
 
Once they collected us we popped to Wal-Mart to buy some sweets to take back to work.

By now it was almost time to do online check-in for our flight home so we went back to the hotel. Rob and I were flying Club World and needed to select our seats (as I was not paying £65 each for the privilege) – thankfully we were able to get 2 seats together :)

By now we were starting to get hungry again, we debated going to the boardwalk to try the ESPN club but in the end decided to go to Epcot as I had booked a FP+ for Test Track. We eventually got burgers from the Electric Umbrella although this was not the best choice – I think I’ll stop eating here.

We then used our FP+ to ride Test Track, I don’t especially like the new design theme. Also, our ride vehicle didn’t show us any of the information along the way – I’m not sure why not.

We decided not to stay for Illuminations so we headed to the Waldorf for a quiet night.

7th December

Time to go home :( We packed our stuff for the last time and checked out, dropping our bags with bell services for the morning.
We popped across to the Magic Kingdom where Christmas parade taping was in full flow this morning.

We did a little bit of shopping on Main Street before checking in at The Plaza for our lunch reservation.

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While we were waiting we got to see a little of the parade taping – there were some poor dancers wearing woolly jumpers and hats etc!

Lunch at The Plaza was just as good the second time and a nice way to end the trip. Rob decided to have the brownie sundae again – only this time he actually managed to eat it!

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Once we were done we left the park and headed back to the Waldorf to collect our bags.

Across to the airport and we dropped off the car. We took Paul and Tracey to check in with Virgin – they were asked to volunteer to be offloaded as they needed a seat on the plane. They were offered a free flight each plus hotel, food etc but Tracey wanted to go home so they turned it down!

They got checked in and we headed off to drop our bags with BA. We got our boarding passes and went through the fast track security line – I’m sure they are nicer when you are flying Club World!

Once we were across to the gate we went to the Delta lounge – much criticised on the internet but we found it to be quiet and we had a few drinks and snacks while we waited.

After a while we decided to go and see Paul and Tracey at their gate. We stayed with them for a short while before moving to our gate – as we arrived they started to call for boarding!

Once onboard we were offered drinks and then fairly quickly we were taking off. This was the day after the air traffic control issues – our plane had been delayed by about an hour but other than that we had no issues.

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We quite enjoyed our Club World experience, we had our evening meal and then settled down to sleep :)

The seat/bed was quite comfortable and it was much nicer than economy (obviously) however, I think I would only pay for Club for a night flight.

Shortly before landing we were offered breakfast, Rob had a bacon roll and I ate his fruit.

Once we landed we were quickly through passport control and we actually had to wait for our luggage to arrive.

A quick ride across to the other terminal to catch the bus to the car park (call me crazy but the better hotel/parking package) and soon we were on our way home to collect the dog from the kennels.
 
Thanks for posting the Treehouse Villa pictures. We are staying there for the first time in November. Great report!
 
Thanks for sharing. I read your entire trip and sounds like you and your family had a wonderful relaxing time. The pictures are great!:)
 
Thanks for posting the Treehouse Villa pictures. We are staying there for the first time in November. Great report!

No problem :)

Thanks for sharing. I read your entire trip and sounds like you and your family had a wonderful relaxing time. The pictures are great!:)

Thanks - some of the pictures didn't quite turn out as I had hoped but some are good :)
 

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