"Bow to the all-powerful Birthday Button!"-Dec 12-20 TR (4/9 - FINAL POST MADE!)

[khertz]

I wish we could have eaten at Chefs just to see Remy. He is so cute!

I loved the CP, but I know what you mean about an actress just standing there and waiting between singing. I bet that is pretty awkward! It was nice having a Christian singer (Steven Curtis Chapman) as our narrator, because he just sang right along with the choir. And he had a lot of passion when reading the words of the Nativity. I agree, the CP and Osborne lights were my two favorite Christmas things, and I didn't expect them to be!

 

[If U Had Wings]

CP sounds wonderful. We never made it to see it while I was there, but we listened for awhile while waiting to go in to see the American Experience attraction. Their voices were beautiful.

 

[skier_pete]

I wish we could have eaten at Chefs just to see Remy. He is so cute!

I loved the CP, but I know what you mean about an actress just standing there and waiting between singing. I bet that is pretty awkward! It was nice having a Christian singer (Steven Curtis Chapman) as our narrator, because he just sang right along with the choir. And he had a lot of passion when reading the words of the Nativity. I agree, the CP and Osborne lights were my two favorite Christmas things, and I didn't expect them to be!

Hmmm, never thought about singing along...guess that would be an option for some narrators, but not most of them!

CP sounds wonderful. We never made it to see it while I was there, but we listened for awhile while waiting to go in to see the American Experience attraction. Their voices were beautiful.

Definitely a must-do! It's odd that CP and Obsorne lights are my two favorite things, as they represent the polar opposites of the Christmas season - one gaudy and over-the-top, the other beautiful and spiritual. Not sure what that says about me, though! Normally I don't like Griswoldian christmas light displays...but sometimes you gotta love when something is so excessive it moves into the realm of the absurd.

 

[skier_pete]

I am having a harder and harder time remembering the details of the trip, the further I get away…so I think it’s time to really crunch down and finish it up. I am up to Friday, our 7th day, and our 2nd full MK day. The day dawned overcast and cool, and there was a forecast for some torrential downpours later in the day. My only hope was that it would lead to low crowds.

We got to MK plenty before rope drop. As a little background, we have friends who’s mother works for a (nameless) major Disney park sponsor, and she was able to get us enough passes for DMIL for the week…and actually got us three extra day passes. Well, since we were buying APs, and they wouldn’t let us convert “free” passes to APs, we had these three park passes extra all week. I was hesitant to sell them, since they were not really my passes, and even a little hesitant to give them away. So, I decided that one day (today) we would register the extra tickets in the park, and use them to accumulate extra FastPasses. So after we came in through the gates, DW and I went out…and came back in…and then I went out…and came back in…and like that we were a group of 7(!)

It was a drizzly morning, and surprisingly, the opening show was cut really really short. I wondered if the trains weren’t running, but instead of “Casey Junior coming down the track”…they came out, welcomed everyone…introduced the family of the day, and had them count down the opening and that was it. We were off to the Dumbo Dash.

So, as per our usual routine, we hit Dumbo (DD still wanted to ride it) and then Peter Pan. DD wanted to do Small World, which I HATE doing this early. (The first two hours of park time is for rides that build lines later!) So, to be more efficient, I let DMIL and DW take DD on Small World, and I bolted and got FP for BTMRR and Splash Mountain (BOTH OF THEM – remember I had those extra tickets!) then came back, and came back. Well, they weren’t off small world yet, so when they got off, I grabbed DW and we went and did HM, which we had missed the previous day at MK. After that, it was 9:40 AM, so we headed over to Ariel’s Grotto, but the line was HUGE. Apperantly they had decided to open it at 9 AM, even though the Times Guide said 10 AM. Has anyone else seen this happen?

Well, so DW and DMIL wanted to look in a shop, so I said I would take DD on the tea-cups, and we would then head over to toon town for rope drop to see the fairies. Well, while we were on the Tea-cups, they opened Toon-town (DOH!) so DD and I headed there to get in line for the fairies. Though it was only about 10:05 when we got in line, they had JUST flipped the wait time from 20 minutes to 40 minutes. We told the CM that DW and DMIL were coming, and could they send them into line to meet us? They were OK with that, so we got in line.

Now, this was our first time seeing Tinkerbell and her friends, and I knew the wait would be long, but I thought DD would like it. It actually took about 25 minutes to get to the front of the line, but it was really worth it, the interactions with the characters were fantastic. They take you in, and first we met Fawn, who was very nice and took DD with her into the room, and chatted with her a bit.

Next up was Tink…she was near perfect…a little flighty (pardon the pun) and really curious about the human world.

Can you tell DD was enjoying the experience?

Finally was Terrence (The Male Fairy…<snicker> - I felt like a twelve year old constantly finding that funny.) Terrence was great, he got all excited about something that DD told him (I can't remember exactly what now!) and kept yelling over to Tinkerbell to tell her about it. We had just seen the new movie that he i sin, so were able to reference it in our conversation. Great character!

On the way out, DD saw a cup cake that she just HAD to have. We hadn't really been indulging her tooooo terribly (OK, we had.) so we let her get it. These cupcake makers at Disney know what kids want, basically an insane amount of frosting:

Yes, that is all frosting above the cupcake wrapper! DD basically ate all the frosting off, and then handed it to us to eat the actual cupcake. She was now primed for the rest of the day.

We next headed towards Tommorowland, a section of the park that often gets the short end of the stick with our family. Not sure why, it just seems we never have enough time in MK. I got some FP for Buzz Lightyear (There was ZERO wait, but I grabbed them for later when it got busier.) After Buzz, we saw the laugh floor show..which I think is great..."I'm watching you Wyzowski!" Then it had cleared enough we hopped on the TTA for a quick ride around tomorrowland, and finally we checked out Carosel of Progress, which we had never been on since DD was born. This is a pleasant show, but I was surprised that DD totally loved it, she wanted to ride AGAIN! (We said no.)

Next up...lunch at Columbia Harbor House.

 

[If U Had Wings]

The look on your DD's face meeting the fairies is just priceless! Well worth the 25 minute wait.

 

[skier_pete]

So Crissy, any word on your little mini-trip? (Not to let you take over my TR...but in 100 words or less?)

 

[If U Had Wings]

So Crissy, any word on your little mini-trip? (Not to let you take over my TR...but in 100 words or less?)

It was fun. Colder than I would have liked, but better than the summer heat. Crowds were a mixed bag. Not as empty as I was expecting, but not packed and crowded either. Maybe a bit busier than the parks were the year I met you down there. It seemed like there were lots of people in the parks, but the lines weren't bad at all for the rides. It was a bit odd. Because of the snow before we left we lost 2 park days so things ended up being a bit rushed. Still it was a good trip. After the Dec. trip I was on a bit of Disney overload and wasn't looking to go back again, but this trip helped bring back the Disney "magic" for me.

 

[skier_pete]

Well, it was now time for lunch, and the weather was starting to improve. As I mentioned in a PP, the prediction was for really nasty weather, but fortunately, the nasty stuff stayed well south of Orlando. We headed across the park and we wanted to go to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. Well, on the way, we stumbled across Tiana's meet and greet, and we wanted to get in line for this...but it turned out they had cut it off...the Tiana M&G was really sporadic, as it depended on the schedule for the showboat review....more on this later.

We always seem to get to a breakdown day for DD, and apparently this was it....I can't remember the exact details now...but she did NOT want to go for much NO MATTER WHAT. Well, the rest of wanted to, so she spent the meal crying and pouting. Again, this is not normal, but seems to be each trip we get a breakdown like this...we've learned to live with it. The food at CHH was quite excellent. DMIL and I both had the fried shrimp platter...which came with FF and cole slaw and desert. I forget what DW had, DD had the chicken nuggets.

Again, the BIRTHDAY BUTTON struck again. All the CM behind the counter gave me a chorus of happy birthday. I don't consider myself having a big ego...but I rather enjoyed being sung to.

After lunch, we headed to fantasyland. First we did Jungle Cruise, and then decided we would try out PotC. DD still refused to try it. I had even offered her $5 earlier in the day to give it a whirl. Well, I had one last trick up my sleeve. I sent DW and DMIL to ride the ride, and I took DD to the exit store. I had heard the strategy of showing other kids coming off the ride, and I thought I'd try it. Well, at first I couldn't get her that far into the store, she was too interested in the selection of guns. (Yes, DD is not your typical girly-girl.) Well, she found one gun that made an electronic *bang* sound and actually shown a light (skull and crossbows) when you pulled the trigger. She REALLY wanted this, but I told her she didn't have enough money (which was true) but she could earn enough if she rode the pirate ride and I gave her $5. She STILL refused, but by then we'd moved further into the store. I said to her..."well, come here and look at all the kids coming off the ride and tell me if they look scared." Well,wouldn't you know it, but as we go over there a little kid no more than 2 years old came toddling out of the exit. DD turned to me and said, "OK I'll ride it."

So, DW and I took DD on the Pirate ride...and guess what, she LOVED it. She didn't want to do it again, but really enjoyed it.

Once that was done, we had time to see the tiki bird show.(DON"T GET ME STARTED ON THIS SHOW!) and then headed over to Frontierland to get a spot for the 3 O'clock parade.

Just before the parade started, DW and DMIL went and tried to do a little more shopping, so DD and I held the spot. She wanted some popcorn, which I got for her. The parade started with no sign of DMIL or DW.

I have to point out here - the rain had disappeared just before the parade came through, and suddenly the sun came out...and there it was....a rainbow over Magic Kingdom, as can be seen clearly in the next three shots.

This was EXTREMELY COOL, making the parade totally worth seeing.

An interesting bit about the workings of WDW...right before the parade started, DD spill a bunch of her popcorn into the street where the parade was going to happen. Well, all the performers walked over the popcorn, crunching it into the ground. This was a pretty wide-spread mess, too. Well, after the parade was done, we stuck around the area waiting for DW and DMIL, along comes the clean-up crew behind the parade. And the guy sweeps up every last kernel of popcorn we spilled. In fact, the entire parade route was spotless.

Then, along came one of those survey people, and they asked me some questions about my stay. I didn't get anything out of it, but then just as she was wrapping up...out comes Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. She pulled one of the CM in the parade over, and gave DD a string of beads. Nice! The show headed for the boat while we headed for a good viewing spot.

The show was great - we were very lucky to be there when it was running. Not the greatest pictures, but again I tend to videotape more than take snaps...so that's why they are limited. In fact, these were taken by DW, who finally reappeared while this show was going on.

After the show, DMIL had decided to head back to the hotel. We had decided we were going to go back and rest a bit before dinner. So, the rest of us hit Splash Mountain and BTRMM, as well as using our FP for Buzz Lightyear, before heading for the bus and back to POP. We only had time for about an hour's rest before we headed out for a 7:30 PM dinner at Le Cellier!

 

[skier_pete]

OK, I admit I was skeptical. You hear of the legend that is "Le Cellier" here on the boards, and you think..."it can't really be that good, right?" Let me say this, I love steak, but I find that those overpriced steakhouses aren't nearly that good. If I get a good cut of meat at home and slap it on the grille, I can beat the steakhouses...and as for going out, give me an Outback NY Strip over Ruth's Chris any day.

So, I went in to Le Cellier thinking I wasn't going to be that impressed. And the fact was, I didn't find the steak all that impressive. But what impressed me on the food was how everything...I mean everything we had was absolutely delicous.

So, let's get to it...we arrived at Le Cellier about on time, though had a little bus trouble getting there. Poor DD was just whipped, and didn't really want to go out to dinner. In fact, she passed out before her dinner came, and though she woke up to eat a few bites of her pizza, she slept right through the ice cream sundae.

While we didn't get appetizers per se, DD meal came with a bowl of the Cheese soup, which I was lucky enough to get. DW wanted to order the crab cakes - which were just awesome.

The various breads were great, but the legendary pretzle bread was fantastic, we just HAD to ask for seconds.

I ordered the Kansas City Black and Blue Strip Steak. The steak was very good, not spectucular, but I substituted the yukon gold potatoes au grautin, which were plain awesome:

DW got the filet mignon...which I admit was much better than my steak. It was melt-in-your-mouth good. Served over risotto.

DMIL got the pan-seared scallops, which were also fantastic.

And DD got the ubiquitous Cheese Pizza:

We also got an order of Onion Rings to share:

As if that wasn't enough, we had dessert coming to. DMIL got the maple creme brulle, which she said was wonderful:

DW got the delicous Chocolate Mousse Moose:

And I got the Smores sundae (or whatever it was called). Which had graham cracker crust, chocolate brownie, ice cream, more chocolate and graman cracker, topped with a marshmellow...and it was soooooo good.

In addition, our waitress was very nice. She gave us several of the recipes, including the Potatoes Au Grautin and the cheese soup. We also had a long conversation about hockey. (If you are ever hanging with Canadians and aren't sure what to talk about, mention hockey. They can talk for hours.) She was from outside of Vancouver, so we chatted about the Canucks and also about the upcoming winter Olympics. (She was going to be in Florida for them.)

So, the verdict was that Le Cellier's reputation is well-deserved. And while I wouldn't necessarily eat there every trip, we will DEFINITELY be trying to go back some time.

Afterwards, we carried DD back to her stroller, and wheeled her home. We were all full and tired and ready for bed. We again missed Illuminations, but no longer cared. The pace was starting to take it's toll.

Next up, Day 8. The Christmas crowds arrive, and we get to check out the Christmas parade.

 

[khertz]

Oh my goodness, the food looks fantastic!! The crab cakes look delicious, and I don't think I would have ever thought to order them before seeing that picture! (If we ever eat at Le Cellier, that is. )

The pics of your DD with the fairies are precious. I'm sad we missed out on meeting them, but next time we go to Disney, we may have our own little princess to take to meet the fairies in the new Pixie Hollow!

 

[skier_pete]

Oh my goodness, the food looks fantastic!! The crab cakes look delicious, and I don't think I would have ever thought to order them before seeing that picture! (If we ever eat at Le Cellier, that is. )

Yup, I admit it, I am a Le Cellier convert. Now we gotta see if we can even GET ADRs.

The pics of your DD with the fairies are precious. I'm sad we missed out on meeting them, but next time we go to Disney, we may have our own little princess to take to meet the fairies in the new Pixie Hollow!

That's one thing that has me a little bummed about the FL expansion, by the time its done, DD will be 10, and may well be past princesses and fairies. (Heck, already the two characters she wants to meet next trip - Indiana Jones and Kim Possible. )

 

[If U Had Wings]

All of your food at Le Cellier looks great. I managed to get an ADR for my recent trip and enjoyed it quite a bit. My mother loved the filet there, and my father insists on going for the maple creme brulee alone.

 

[Believeinfairytales]

I have enjoyed your report. You had wonderful luck with your birthday button. My child didn't get a lot of attention wearing his, unfortunately for him. He got a lot of "happy birthdays" but no special attention or favors because of it. I'm glad to know that Disney IS doing that for others and perhaps we were just haing an "off" week. Great job on the report. Keep it coming!

 

[skier_pete]

I have enjoyed your report. You had wonderful luck with your birthday button. My child didn't get a lot of attention wearing his, unfortunately for him. He got a lot of "happy birthdays" but no special attention or favors because of it. I'm glad to know that Disney IS doing that for others and perhaps we were just haing an "off" week. Great job on the report. Keep it coming!

That IS disappointing to hear...for all the things that were done for me...I would have thought that they would do even more for kids!

 

[skier_pete]

OK, I have told myself I need to wrap this TR up before I leave for my NEXT trip, which is just a little over 3 weeks away. (Just too crazy...DW and I were discussing it, doing two trips (really three with October) in such short notice is really amazing to us, even though we are the ones doing it!)

Anyways, back to the Birthday trip. Saturday we arose to our last full day at WDW. Actually, I always find that after a week, we really start to wear down, and the enthusiasm for doing stuff starts to wear off. However, we had some real specific targets for today. Namely, to see some of the Christmas stuff at MK. We could have done the Christmas party during the week, but DD is NOT a late night kid (and neither are we, normally in bed by 10:30 at home). So, by waiting until today, we can see most of those things for "free", except we did not stay for Christmas Wishes, since we already saw it from the California Grill.

We started the day at AK. We actually did not shoot for rope drop this morning...the stuff we had left at AK didn't really require it. In addition, there was this massive snowstorm plowing through the Northeast. It was missing Buffalo, but was targeting Baltimore, which we were flying through on the way home the next day. Myself, I could have cared less about worrying about this, especially as it is something we could do nothing about today. (They wouldn't let us change flights tomorrow, based on a storm today.) But DMIL is a major worrier, and we had to spend an hour watching weather updates in the morning before she would let us leave the room.

Finally we headed out. The rain had moved off, and it was a clear sunny day, but very very cold. Probably 35 degrees out when we left the room. And let me tell you, I discovered that 35 degrees and sunny in Florida *feels* colder than 35 degrees and cloudy in Buffalo. It felt colder on Saturday and Sunday in Florida than on Sunday when we got home...even though the temperature was identical. The humidity really makes the chill in the air worse. (I couldn't have imagined I would prefer the weather in Buffalo to the weather in Florida in December!)

However, the sun was out when we got to Animal Kingdom. Since our goals for the day were few, we stopped for some photopass shots:

You can see we were well bundled. We got DD to do the "Simba" pose.

We headed over to Rafiki's planet watch. Our goal was to get there for some of the surgery in the morning. They were supposed to have had two birds (can't remember the types) and a turtle come out. The bird apparently had an adverse reaction to the anesthetic, and they couldn't perform the exam. (We could see them frantically treating the bird in a room further back.) They then brought out the turtle, who had been hit by something and whose shell was damaged. They had used a polymer to "repair" the shell, and was examining the turtle. The poor thing. It was very interesting..though not as much as many years ago when we saw them examining a lion.

DD and I went out to the petting zoo for a while, we ended up spending over an hour there, and it sort of limited what else we had time to do. The other thing we wanted to catch was "Flights of Wonder", so we headed over to Asia. The show was entertaining as usual, but not one of my favorites. DD really liked it though.

We finally went and had lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque. This is one of our favorites...but they have eliminated the corn muffin with the meals...bummer. We were also too full from a week of eating to order the ribs, which are great, but DW and I both got the pulled pork sandwhich. YUM!

It was now time to head over to MK. The crowds at AK were not bad at all, but as we arrived at the TTC on the bus, the number of people arriving at MK was HUGE. The line for the monorail was all the way down the ramp and looped around. WE decided instead to take the ferry, something we had never done before. There was a massive queue of people, but we all made it on the first ferry. It was a nice ride over, we got through security, and we actually were able to stake a spot for the parade right at the front of main street. I didn't realize it. (One of the few oops I've made.) but the parade started at the far side of the park, and ended at Main Street, so we were waiting there close to an hour, but DD spent the time hula-hooping and also playing with the digital camera. Boy did we get a lot of pictures of the Christmas tree:

We also spent a lot of time talking to a young couple from Georgia. They were honeymooning at Disney, and this was their first trip. We gave them a little advice, and listen to their wedding stories. It's always a nice way to pass the time.

 

[skier_pete]

The parade finally started...DW took a TON of pictures:

 

[skier_pete]

So, the parade as shown above...I really was impressed. I am not much of a daytime parade person, but this one was pretty good. Much longer than the regular daytime parade. (I guess if you are paying $55 for 5 hours in the park, they better give you something good.)

What I actually liked better than the parade was the castle stage show...but before I get there...we had about an hour after the parade before we needed to get a spot for the show. DW and DMIL wanted to do more shopping (AGAIN?) so I told DD we could do one ride. She picked Buzz Lightyear, I said the line might be too long...and it was - showing 55 minutes. Then she said TTA...and when we got there...there was a line for the TTA! (There were a LOT of people here!) Honestly, it wasn't a 10 minute wait, but she didn't want to do that either...so she changed her mind to...Carousel of Progress. Yes, she really likes this show!

So, we headed over to the castle show. There was already a big crowd (There were big crowds everywhere...face it it's christmas) but DD wormed her way to the very front. The rest of us hung back. I thought this show was great. The regular castle show always seems so sparse, with only 10-12 people on that giant stage. Well, the cast of this show had to be around 50. Another case of "for the Christmas party", but still I was very impressed.

Next up, we headed to Chef Mickey's for an early dinner, before returning to our resort to pack.

 

[tinkerbells mum]

the photos of the parade are really good, are they the ones your DD took?

 

[skier_pete]

the photos of the parade are really good, are they the ones your DD took?

Nope---DD took about 20 pictures of the tree, but none of the parade. DW took over. She takes great pictures with the point and shoot. Mine tend to come out somewhat blurred. I am more the camcorder guy. We took lots of video, but our camcorder was failing, and most of the stuff in daylight came out really washed out. We just got a new one with an internal hard drive...so hopefully that will work out a lot better.

 

[khertz]

Nice that you got to see the Christmas parade without paying for a MVMCP ticket, but boo for the crowds!! Your DW got some great pics!!

The castle stage show looks awesome. I'm disappointed that we missed that this year! Hopefully there will be other December trips in our future to see it.