(Complete 4/20!) How Many Cookies Does One Couple Need? - Dec 2023 Trip Report

[Araminta18]

You had me at cookies! Looking forward to reading more.

Welcome!!

So, what would you suggest we get when we go? I think we have to get the flaming cheese. Just for presentation alone.

Oh definitely get the flaming cheese - super yummy and a fun presentation. The meatballs are good; Trevor likes the mac and cheese bites (I don't love mac and cheese so they're not my favorite), the burrata is amazing - super fresh and tasty. The family style skirt steak is also yummy. Honestly, even if the particular dish isn't my favorite, it's never bad, so you really can't go too wrong.

We have not gotten new magic bands. They are just too $$$ for us to buy 4 at once and the thought of charging 4 magic bands plus all of our other things seems so annoying! I am sure we will eventually but we are holding out for now.

that's a good point! We got them mostly cause Trevor wanted to try the new bounty hunter game in Galaxy's Edge, and the light up effects are fun but yea, not worth the $$$$. (I say as a new magic band for Trevor for our next trip literally just arrived lol)

 

[iivye]

Looking forward to reading your trip report. I know what you mean by not knowing what clothes to pack. We visited in Dec and Feb and I couldn't decide if I was going to need a jacket and long pants or not. We are heading back in April and I'm sure I'll still worry about what to bring.

We've never tried Gideon's but after reading about it in your trip reports I'm thinking we have to hit it up this next time.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

e got them mostly cause Trevor wanted to try the new bounty hunter game in Galaxy's Edge, and the light up effects are fun but yea, not worth the $$$

Did you do the game? Wonder if Andy and Morgan would like it?

(I say as a new magic band for Trevor for our next trip literally just arrived

I don't judge!

 

[Araminta18]

Looking forward to reading your trip report. I know what you mean by not knowing what clothes to pack. We visited in Dec and Feb and I couldn't decide if I was going to need a jacket and long pants or not. We are heading back in April and I'm sure I'll still worry about what to bring.

We've never tried Gideon's but after reading about it in your trip reports I'm thinking we have to hit it up this next time.

Oh thank you! And right? Isn't it so hard to decide what to bring? I guess Disney likes it though - we all just bring shorts and clothes for hot weather and then if it's cold we all buy jackets and spirit jerseys!!

Try it! It's worth seeing the inside just for the theming, and then the food is delicious

Did you do the game? Wonder if Andy and Morgan would like it?

So....we have done the game, and Trevor liked it, but I found it SUPER frustrating. It's basically a game of hot and cold, but I got frustrated with what the band was telling me (it would be like "you're super hot! oh wait you took one more step in the same direction, cold." and then you go back one step to where you were super hot and it was like "nope, super cold". After I did it a few times I got it but i was still frustrated because you also needed to be able to see what color your band was flashing and you know, it's in FLORIDA in the BLAZING SUN which makes it hard to see the stupid colors on the magic band.

Yea so some feelings there. Trevor liked the game though! Maybe if you go to the outlets get a cheap one from the outlets and try it out?

I don't judge!

LOL i love it! #disneymath?

 

[MommaKetch]

Following along! I love reading your trip reports!

 

[Araminta18]

Not The Last Post of Christmas Trees - Wednesday, December 13, 2023 (part 3)​

DVC Tree also had this awesome Grand Floridian decoration - look at the little golf cart there above the GF logo!

So cute.

Next up, my favorite tree that I took WAY too many pictures of. Can you guess what it is?

Haunted Mansion! Look at that carpet with the mirror and the candelbra - endless hallway!

The whole thing.

The bride with the red beating heart!

And the wedding tree! It's hard to see it but on the topper, the groom has no head. Bwahahahahaha

Yea I took a video. #sorrynotsorry

We continued our way around the little area there in front of the movie theatre- the Wish tree!

Still haven't seen that movie. I want to though!

They had a poster up for The Marvels, so we took some photos.


If you haven't seen The Marvels, highly recommend it. It didn't get great reviews but we loved it - super funny, great acting, I LOVE Ms Marvel...just great. Ignore the reviews - go see it.

Next up we headed into that covered area by Chicken Guy and what did we find?

Nightmare Before Christmas Tree! Look at Jack and Sally there on the hill!

 

[Araminta18]

Almost but Not Quite the Last Bunch of Trees - Wednesday, December 13, 2023 (part 4)​

Next though was the Moana tree and this one had fantastic details.

Look at those little coconut guys!


and Hei Hei with the coconut on his head!

and the heart of Te Fiti! Sorry, had to show all the cute little details. Love it.

Then the BIG Christmas tree in the center:

So pretty! And big.

We kept going 'cause I wanted to duck into the Ever After store with the jewelry and the Dooney and Burkes, but on our way, I saw this cute little setup:

And then it was right about 9 pm and we got to see the snow!!

Probably would have been better in that center area but still pretty cool from by this display.

Snow!

We were starting to flag a bit here, so we hurried it up a bit to complete the Christmas tree stroll. Next up, the not-a-tree on the Christmas tree stroll.

Hello Disney Treasure! This was honestly kind of meh, but what can I say, I'm a completionist.

At least the next tree made up for it -

Coco tree! Look at the guitars up at the top! I just love all the colors. So cute.

I think this next tree was Trevor's favorite-

Star Wars! The front was just kind of there (lots of stormtrooper armor parts) but the back -

Kylo Ren lightsaber! Also, the topper was C-3PO. Brilliant.

 

[Paulaparm]

Love the trees! I was excited when I saw you started this!

 

[jrmint427]

Following along! I love all the Christmas tree pics!

(I am going to apologize in advance - I got burned by the whole imgur pictures not embedding thing, so now I just embed my pictures directly in the posts, but there's a limit of 10 and if you are at all familiar with any of my previous trip reports, I include a LOT of photos. a LOT. So there will be a LOT of posts...sorry!)

I do the same! It’s kind of annoying to have to break up by every 10 photos but I never figured out how to do it the other way to get more.

So we have a whole system for Gideon's: we each check out separately (so we can get more cookies...#sorrynotsorry) and we take the cookies home and freeze them. Gideon's cookies freeze really well - I just had one this afternoon, actually.

Do the cookies stay fresh while you’re there / traveling home? We’re planning on Gideon's on the first day of our week long trip, I’m wondering if we can stock up too!

 

[Araminta18]

Love the trees! I was excited when I saw you started this!

Thank you! I'm glad you like them, cause there's one more post of trees to go

Following along! I love all the Christmas tree pics!

yay! I'm so glad!!

I do the same! It’s kind of annoying to have to break up by every 10 photos but I never figured out how to do it the other way to get more.

right? It is a bit annoying but better than losing the photos later I think.

Do the cookies stay fresh while you’re there / traveling home? We’re planning on Gideon's on the first day of our week long trip, I’m wondering if we can stock up too!

We stick them in the fridge, and lately have started bringing ziploc bags and/or tupperware. That keeps them fresh enough that when I get home and stick them in the freezer they're still good and fresh later when I pull them out of the freezer. So all that to say yea, stock up - just maybe bring some big ziploc bags.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

If you haven't seen The Marvels, highly recommend it. It didn't get great reviews but we loved it - super funny, great acting, I LOVE Ms Marvel...just great. Ignore the reviews - go see it

I think it is out on Disney+ now... I am a watch Marvel movies once they get to Disney+ kind of person now... Ha!

 

[Araminta18]

Last Post of Christmas Trees! - Wednesday, December 13, 2023 (part 5)​

We kept going and saw the trees over by Amorettes! I loved this Frozen tree - it was super subtle.

Like a Frozen Disneybound, vs the crazy over the topness.

Course next to it was a tree for Princess and the Frog and this one was awesome.


I particularly liked the beignets and cooking implements on the tree!

We wandered through World of Disney and ended up buying a bunch, thanks to mobile checkout. I bought the Christmas necklace with the singing Mickey/Minnie as well as the cream spirit jersey. Trevor got a couple new polo shirts for work with Grumpy and Spiderman on them.

But then, more trees!

Almost missed this one - especially cause it wasn't lit up at all, weirdly. But Minnie! So cute.

We headed back by Basin and found this super cute Mickey fountain!

I've never seen it before! I guess we never really come back here. But look at that cute santa hat.

Then, Toy Story tree!

This one had such fun details -

Alien ornaments!

Look at the various Mr Potato heads!!! I love it.

And that was our last tree (well, mostly). So we ducked into the Arribas Bros shop to redeem the Christmas tree stroll free prize (also a shop we'd never been in). The prize was a button, but it was fun looking in that shop. I ended up buying a silhouette of Prince Charming and Cinderella - they don't have a Sleeping Beauty one, but it was neat to see the silhouettes of the characters.

It was a little bit before 10 pm so we split up - Trevor to head to Goofy's candy kitchen for the custom rice krispy treats we love and me to do some more shopping in the Co-Op Marketplace. I bought the Rescuers Disney 100 plushie of Bernard and Bianca (it was on sale) and then the Hitchhiking Ghosts Doom buggy ornament I'd been looking to get but kept missing on ShopDisney. Woot!

Then I met up with Trevor and got our krispies, and then it was time to head back to the resort. Cause tired.

We haven't been down here to the Disney Springs boats for a while - I love the decorations on the lamp posts!


I was definitely a bit tired from carrying all the bags at this point... Hopefully the boat would come soon!

 

[Araminta18]

I think it is out on Disney+ now... I am a watch Marvel movies once they get to Disney+ kind of person now... Ha!

lol totally fair! i think we saw it in theatres cause we had a coupon for free popcorn and I'm a sucker for movie theater popcorn!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I was definitely a bit tired from carrying all the bags at this point... Hopefully the boat would come soon!

Looks like a good haul!

lol totally fair! i think we saw it in theatres cause we had a coupon for free popcorn and I'm a sucker for movie theater popcorn!!

So, we aren't far from a movie theater, sooooo some times, we go over to the theater, buy popcorn and bring it home to watch at home..... hypathetically, of course...

 

[Araminta18]

Saratoga Springs Room Tour! -
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 (part 6)​

We ended up waiting about 5 minutes for a boat. Not too bad!

I was definitely rocking my light-up christmas mickey necklace.

We got to Saratoga Springs super quickly but then we were basically lost LOL. We took a few wrong turns, and then once we found our building we ended up walking ALL the way around it because we didn't know where the entrance was. But eventually we found the room! Phew. It actually ended up being about a 20 min walk with all the detours. Oops!

Anyways, we'd rented DVC points to stay in a studio, and were in the Paddock section, but the building closest to the Carousel. But we were the first floor, room 4523 - we weren't super impressed tonight but you'll have to follow along to see if we ended up liking it better!

Now, on to the room tour!
View from the front door.

The entrance was a bit oddly shaped, but the little alcove there to the left of the door was good for storing luggage.



Only one sink, but there are drawers and storage space! Yay!

Nice tub

Hi Trevor!

I really like that headboard and the pictures. And the nightstands.

The murphy bed folds out on top of where the couch is, and look at this!

Love that little mural. So cute.

Overall we liked the room - a good size and I think this was a refurbished room, so everything was newer and nicer. When we went to put the Gideon's cookies and cakes into the fridge we found some ants over in the kitchen area - no trail, just a bunch of scattered ones. If it hadn't been almost 11 pm and SO FAR from the main building we probably would have done something about it but as it was, we squished the ones we saw, made sure there were none in the fridge, and just hoped they wouldn't be there in the morning. *shrugs*


The view from our room at night. Not too bad!

Overall, a really good travel day. We'd done all the things we'd planned to do on our arrival day, and were fully into the Christmas spirit! Tomorrow, Epcot and our first Candlelight Processional!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 12,845 steps (4.7 miles)
Savings due to AP discount: $67.80 in merch
Cookie Count: 16 + bag of cookie bites

 

[Araminta18]

Looks like a good haul!

I may have a problem...two of the bags are Gideon's cookies and cake!

So, we aren't far from a movie theater, sooooo some times, we go over to the theater, buy popcorn and bring it home to watch at home..... hypathetically, of course...

DUDE. That is BRILLIANT. I don't know why that's never occurred to me before!! lol

 

[Newsies]

Fabulous first day!!! Amazing photos of all the trees!!!

 

[Araminta18]

Fabulous first day!!! Amazing photos of all the trees!!!

Thank you! I'm glad you liked them - I had so much fun looking at them all and then went...maybe just a bit overboard with the pictures LOL

 

[Araminta18]

Heading to Epcot - Thursday Dec 14, 2023 (part 1)​

Our first day! Originally we were going to do MVMCP tonight, but then they announced Brendan Fraser as the narrator for Candlelight Processional, and as a Millennial librarian who loves "The Mummy", we HAD to go (tonight was his last night). So Disney graciously switched our MVMCP tickets to the next day and I booked us a Candlelight Processional dining package. Woot!

We had a 9:30 breakfast reservation (you'll see in just a few posts! ), and since we were going to Epcot, we were up at 7 doing the whole virtual queue thing (two devices, someone with the time.gov site up). We did awesome - we got like group 8 or 9 I think. (should have taken a screenshot...oops!). And then 'cause we love Guardians, we also bought the ILL for 11:15. I realized we're the problem but that ride is just so good!! No Genie+ for us today though - we figured we'd ride a few things in the morning when the lines were short, and then do the Epcot resorts in the afternoon before heading back to the park for the CP.

Anyways, once those were gotten we were kind of awake, so we slowly got up and got ready, while checking out our room/view during the day!

Trevor liked the lizard.

View!

Not super bright, but a nice view!

We were ready to go just a bit before 8 pm, and so we headed to the bus stop, which we were very excited to realize was essentially right outside our room!

Our room is just inside that archway, to the left. And this picture is basically from the bus stop. So that was exciting to realize.

We only waited about 4 min for the bus (I can't remember if this was one of the mornings where I was checking the bust times on the app or not...), and got a seat. Woot!

We were the second stop on the internal bus loop, so we did have to go through the other 3 internal bus stops, but by 8:05 we were on our way to Epcot (the internal bus loop was quick that early in the morning )

Also got a better view of the decorated racehorse at the entrance:

So cute.

We were at Epcot by 8:15, with the extra morning hours starting at 8:30. Honestly it's been a while since we've taken a bus stop Epcot, so we were all thrown off but it was super neat to enter with Spaceship Earth right there.

Festival of the Holidays!

Selfie!

They let us all the way through behind Spaceship Earth (that whole new area) so we wandered around and managed to get a bunch of pictures with basically no wait. There were some folks waiting at the rope to head over to Test Track, but we figured we'd explore the area while waiting.

For example, no wait for the picture with Walt!


Honestly, that whole area is super neat. I really liked the whole vibe. Definitely not worth waiting 5 YEARS for it, but it is pretty neat. And they had a BUNCH of photographers out this morning, so that was pretty cool.

Not a bad shot!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Saratoga Springs is not a resort I see on here much. I am intrested to hear how you liked once all was said and done.