first timers for 9 days w/ dining plan, cirque and mvmcp,tons of pics 12/28

[mickeysgirl17]

The Cast:
Me: 23, Disney Fanatic. Planned this trip inside out, first timer
Dbf: 23, Likes Disney enough, paid for trip, didn’t plan a second, been there 2 times with his family
DD3: daring daughter, first timer

Trip Details: Friday, December 8th, 2006 to Saturday, December 16, 2006
Staying at Pop Century Classic
Magic your way package plus dining, no park hopper 8 nights, 9 days

The Plan/itinerary:
Fri, 8th : AK, Chef Mickeys
Sat, 9th: Epcot, Coral Reef as part of Candelight processional package
Sun, 10th: Epcot, Garden Grill
Mon, 11th: MK, 1900 Park Fare
Tues, 12th: Resort day, Mickey’s very merry Christmas party
Wed, 13th: MGM studios, Mama Melrose Fantasmic package
Thurs, 14th: Downtown Disney Shopping, Cirque du soleil
Fri, 15th: MGM studios, Ohana’s
Sat, 16th: Mk, Cinderella’s royal Table dinner


Pre trip Report:
Monday, November 6th, 2006
30 days to Go! Well, let me start off by saying, I am a total Disneyholic. I love love love anything Disney. About 6 years ago, I had absolutely no interest in Disney World at all. I knew nothing about it. Surely, I’ve heard of Disney World, and the Cinderella Castle came to mind when someone spoke of Disney World but that was about it. I lived in NYC at the time and one afternoon, I headed into my local library looking for a good read. Well, I came across the travel section. I don’t know why, but I stopped. I started browsing some of the books and that’s when I saw the Disney World Guide book titled “Walt Disney World for Couples” by Rick and Gayle Perlmutter. I don’t know why, but I took the book off the shelf and checked it out of the library. I read that book from cover to cover all night long. I couldn’t put it down. I immediately fell in love with Disney World. I talked to my boyfriend of a possible trip. He had already been there a few times with his extended family years ago. He told me he enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind going back one day. At the time, we were still very young, so we didn’t have the money and therefore, couldn’t go. I continued to research and jot plans down for a trip that I would take one day. This became a hobby for me and I completely loved it. My boyfriend and I moved into our own apartment, and in 2003, I became pregnant. All plans of a trip went out the window for a while since I wouldn’t even consider bringing an infant to WDW.
Finally, in 2006, we agreed that this would be the year. It wasn’t easy though. We didn’t have any extra money put away on the side and after waiting so long for my dream to come true, I wanted the trip to be my way. I didn’t just want to visit each park one day, have one good meal and head home. No way! I wanted to go all the way. First, I had to decide how many days we could go, so I messed around with the Disney website to get estimates on what it would cost us. With a value resort, on the dining plan with no park hopper option, in a standard room, we were looking at around$2000 for the package alone for 8 nights. A few weeks later, after I had my heart set on 8 nights, my DBF said he may have a hard time with his job getting a 10 day vacation (1 day for rest) so, he told me we may have to take a day or two off the trip. I flipped out because I love Disney so much that a day or two to me meant that I wouldn’t be able to do everything I wanted to. After my DBF saw how upset I was, he tried to work with his job and we can still go 8 nights. He’s the greatest, isn’t he? I chose to do the dining plan- which I think is the most awesome thing Disney has ever came up with At first, we were going to go in September or October, but then I remember how much I love Christmas (almost as much as Disney) and we decided to do December instead. Christmas and Disney together can’t get better for me. (Although, I’d never attempt to go Christmas week ) It’s a true dream come true. After that, I decided that I wanted to do the Christmas party and Cirque du soleil too. (Remember: my way , Yes, I know I’m spoiled ) so I took on a couple of extra hours at work and got the tickets. They just arrived a few days ago! I also looked into a dinner show and wanted to try the hoop dee doo revue, but I would have had to pay out of pocket, since I needed the dining plan credits for other restaurants and decided not to do it. After all, I live in Florida now, about 3 hours from Disney and I could always go back when we get the chance.

How I planned the trip:
I quickly realized when I picked up that first guide book how huge WDW really is. Over the years, I’ve collected so much information that I call myself a Disney World expert even though I’ve never been there, but yet, I’m still learning new information all the time and since WDW changes so often, there’s always new stuff to learn. Currently, I own about 6 WDW guidebooks (official and unofficial). Two of my favorites are: the unofficial guide and Passporter. I also have the planning VHS from Disney (from years back) and the newer DVD planning videos too. Once a day, I go to certain websites to see if anything is new or has changed so that I can update my notes. As soon as I made my first payment to WDW in February, (trip is paid in full now) I bought, a 3 ring binder. I needed a way to keep all my info organized. I read all the guidebooks, articles on the web, and spoke to people who have been to WDW to get as much info as possible. I kept sections in my binder for parks, dining, resorts, menus, etc. I know....pathetic. About 5 months ago, I made my dining reservations and put all the confirmation numbers together in my binder. Besides the binder, I copy and paste lots of info off the web in my Microsoft windows and save it in my documents. (I made a copy of all my information and put it on a disc too incase it got erased). I want to say that I’m an obsessive planner. I want to make sure everything will be perfect on my trip. I don’t want to worry about a lost reservation while there or not knowing where to find an attraction we want to ride. I memorized a lot of information and I have a general idea of all 4 of the parks layout. Just recently, I came across the disboards. I’ve never been a person to have discussions over the internet until recently. My BF has gotten tired of me talking about the trip all the time. (I mean all the time!) He’s not the type to plan or organize at all. He did help pay for our trip, but he’s leaving the planning up to me, so when I came across the disboards, I had people to talk to about Disney. We all have something in common and that’s our love for Disney. It was just wonderful. Now, I know I’m not the only Disneyholic out there. Many of my questions got answered too. The disboards helped with info so much. I’m just so thankful to everyone. So, as of now, everything’s a go. I have my mvmcp, and cirque tickets, my trip is paid in full, my ADR’s are made. Now, the hardest part of all: Waiting………..


Sunday, Dec. 3rd
4 ½ days to go!!! The waiting is hard, but to my surprise, I’m more calm than excited. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been counting down the days for a while now, and I can’t wait to get to Disney but for some reason, I’m in no rush. I guess I just want to make sure I don’t forget anything. Very weird……Now, let me tell you something crazy….my daughter has had a stroller since I was pregnant. I completely love the thing. It was a gift and it was worth every cent our friends paid for it. The day our car broke down, I was sure it was in the trunk. My DH completely disagrees and says it wasn’t. It’s not in my apartment and its not in the trunk. I think the mechanic took it. The problem is that our car went through 4 mechanics before we got it back so I have no idea if one of them has it or where it could be. We just realized it was missing yesterday. Just when I thought I had everything set to go. Now, I have to get a new stroller….Ok, the next time I write should be when we get back.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Monday, Dec. 18th
Yayyyy!!! We’re back!!

DAY 1, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8TH :
AK, CHEF MICKEY’S AND OUR FIRST 2 ARGUMENTS (Yes, that is 2, not a typo)
We got to Pop Century around 10am. We couldn’t believe we were finally here. We got on line to check in which wasn’t too long. Everything at check in went smoothly. The lobby had a big check in area and was nice. I requested a bottom floor room for the nights we got back and are too tired to go up the stairs which they gave us. The room wasn’t ready so the receptionist gave us a number to call later on. We went into everything pop….the store and food court. It was quite busy in there. They had a lot of nice merchandise I wish I could buy. I wanted to buy the refillable mugs cause we were very thirsty from the trip. We didn’t know that they were sold in the actual food court. We searched around the store section and couldn’t find them. Finally, DH asked a guy walking by with his cup where he got if from. We bought 2 refillable mugs and an autograph book and got drinks from the beverage station. There were lots of choices. From what I remember, its Coke, Sprite, diet coke, applejuice, orange fanta, and a few others. There was blue frozen coke too which my dd loved. I also saw that there was a very convienient mug wash station to wash your mug before refilling again. That came in very handy later on.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

We went to AK which was easy to find. We parked and took the tram.Since we were resort guests, we didn’t have to pay to park. It was very very cold that day. When we arrived, we saw the huge Christmas tree outside the entrance. It was very very nice. We easily got into the park, and then right away we saw chip. There was a long line. There was another character in the area too whom I didn’t even recognize. We went to Africa and got fastpasses for Kilimanjaro safaris. Then we ate lunch at Tusker house restaurant. It was very busy and hard to get a table. We found a table in the back room. I had the half chicken with mashed potatoes and cheesecake. DH got the chicken sandwich with fries and chocolate cake. DH didn’t want to even eat here at all because he’s not a chicken person, but he tried it for me. He wanted to go eat at pizzafari instead. The chicken was excellent. I wasn’t too crazy about the potatoes or cheesecake. I found it a bit too sweet. DH liked the sandwich and fries. He thought the cake was a bit too rich. After lunch, we used the restroom. Then it was time for our fastpass return at Kilimanjaro safaris. I expected a great ride from all the great reviews, but I was disappointed. It may have been because it was in the middle of the afternoon when the animals were hidden and asleep, but I’m not sure I’ll go again. The storyline was corny about the poachers. It was very cold and we only saw a couple of giraffes and an elephant. Next, we found the character landing at discovery island. It is sort of hidden. We went to take a look. We walked down a trail to find pooh, tigger and eeyore.

We waited about 8 minutes and then got to see all 3 one at a time. We were also introduced to photopass and had our DD’s pics taken with each plus a family photo with each. Now came the 1st small argument. I knew from planning my trip that tough to be a bug would not be appropriate for our DD, but DH insisted on us seeing it and said the DD would be just fine. I completely disagreed and was afraid DD wouldn't try any other 3d shows after this. We went into the tree to see it. We put on our glasses and I had a small talk with DD about everything being make believe. DH realized I was right and admitted it afterwards. The show was way to scary for anyone under 6. I don’t mean to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t gone but there is a few seconds of complete darkness, then a huge fog of smoke and spiders fall from the ceiling. This even scared me a bit. I’m not really scared of the dark or anything, but being in a full theater with my DD and not being able to see anything sets a bit of panic in. Next we we were on our way to dinoland to catch the finding nemo musical at 12:45. On the way, we found devine. She was pretty cool. A crowd gathered around her to watch her walk up and down the walkway and disappear into the tree.

The line for the Nemo musical was very very long already so I didn’t think we’d even get in but it kept moving and we got the first row of seats in the very last section in the back. These seats had no back part like the rest of the theater and my back hurt by the end of the show. I also had DD in my lap because she started to fall asleep. Honestly, I really looked forward to this a lot but I didn’t like it. It just wasn’t memorable. I can barely remember anything except for the jellyfish scene and the shark. Maybe if I was a bit closer to the stage and there wasn’t a thousand peoples heads in my view, I might have felt a bit differently, but it just wasn’t good enough. DH said he liked it, but its nowhere near the top of his list. DD saw most of it before falling asleep, and said she liked it. After this, we went to camp Minnie mickey to visit some characters. First we saw Donald who had the shortest wait of all, maybe 5 minutes or so. Then we met Santa Goofy who had an under 10 minute wait. Mickey was next with about a 10 minute wait.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

After looking at minnie’s long long line, we wanted to skip it, but DD wouldn’t let us. Minnie is her favorite. The wait was about 20 minutes in the end so it wasn’t too bad.

After the characters, we found a spot for the jingle jungle parade. The parade was just so-so. The highlight of my day at AK to me was Festival of the lion king. I think this was the best show there. DH thinks that tough to be a bug was the best thing there though. The lion king show was just wonderful with acrobats, a fire juggler, characters and sort of a parade. It was nice and a very good ending to the day. When we left AK, we went to our hotel room which of course was ready by then.

The room had 2 full size beds which meant that I’d be sleeping with DD for the week while DH slept alone on the 2nd bed. This turned out ok. At home, we have a king size bed and DD sleeps with us a lot of nights instead of her own room, but I’m constantly on the edge of the big bed because DH loves to sleep in the middle of the bed and DD in between us leaving me all the way to the side. Lol. At least I got a break for 8 nights. The room also had a table with 2 chairs, a good size tv and drawer space, a night table and phone and of course the sink and bathroom area. There was a hair dryer and ironing board w/ iron. The mousekeeping was terrific. Everyday the room was very clean. We got new soap and shampoo every day and new towels. It was a very comfortable room. We also found a towel animal by the window. While DH took a nap, I got all our stuff organized. We had an ADR for Chef Mickey’s that night at the Contemporary. I made the ADR for 9:10pm. You may think I’m crazy for having such a late dinner reservation but the way I looked at it, we’d have the place almost to ourselves giving us extra character time. I sort of regret this a bit and I’ll tell ya why……we left Pop around 8:20pm giving us 50 minutes to drive to the contemporary. I had no idea how difficult it was to drive around Disney property. We got lost several times despite reading the road signs and having a map. Instead of getting into MK resorts, we ended up in the MK parking lot which led to small argument #2….DH was very frustrated and while inside the Mk parking lot, he wanted me to walk over to the tram driver and ask directions. The tram was about to leave and was a few rows over. DH wouldn’t drive me over either. He just turned the car off and wouldn’t move until we got some help. I got out of the car and proceeded to the tram…I was trying to do anything to avoid a fight on our vacation. I was about 25 feet away when the tram took off. I walked back to the car and we drove out of the lot. By the time we got to the restaurant, it was 9:25. The restaurant was closing at 10pm that night and only accepts seatings until around 9:30. At the podium, I had a very rude CM. She was the only CM during the trip that was rude. I told her I had an ADR and I was very sorry for being late, but we got lost. With an attitude she told me that the tables were being cleared to close. Then she told us, she’ll see what she can do. She walked away and came back a few minutes later to tell us we can eat, but we won’t see the characters since they are closing soon and the characters have to leave. We were kind of disappointed but told her its fine. I wanted to request a booth or half booth, but I was almost afraid to ask since we were already late and the CM wasn’t very nice. What the hell? I asked anyway. She snickered that we couldn’t get a booth. I figured it would be ok. We were going to see the characters plenty of times during the trip and I shouldn’t sweat it. But I was a bit worried about DD seeing the characters miss our table while visiting others. We were told to wait in the lobby for a few minutes before being seated and while waiting we were called to get our picture done with the option to buy later. After the pics, we got seated in an almost empty room. We went to the buffet to see very few choices. There was like prime rib, ham, mashed potatoes, some other potatoes, some carrots and then you would walk down the buffet line to see the same choices being repeated. I got some prime rib, the parmesean mashed potatoes and some other potatoes. The prime rib was just ok. The potatoes were good….now I just can’t figure out the parmesean mashed potatoes. I heard so many wonderful reviews on how delicious these were. Honestly, I’ve made parmesean mashed potatoes at home when I heard about them from a Disney website before we left and I’m not trying to brag, but mine seemed so much better and way more cheesier. These were pretty cold and just ok. DH didn’t like the limited selections either. To our surprise, Mickey came by for a few minutes, then goofy and Pluto. We were so happy they came by even though the rude CM said they wouldn’t. By the time we tried getting some dessert, they were clearing the buffet away. DH managed to grab a couple of dessert items first which I didn’t care for. The lady who handles the characters came by and asked if we got to see all the characters. We told her we didn’t see Donald or Minnie yet. She said she would make sure they came by. She was very nice. They did all come by and we even got Pluto, goofy and Minnie all at once in 1 picture with our family!!! DD wanted an apple before we left but everything was already put away. The wonderful chef went out of his way into the kitchen to find her an apple and made her happy…..One of the reasons I love Disney is because they go out of their way so much for their guests. Overall, service was very good and we liked this restaurant. On the way out we saw the display of Pinocchio and Gepetto made out of candy and chocolate which was so cool. We went back to the hotel and got a good nights rest.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 2, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9:
EPCOT, CORAL REEF AND 1ST BIG ARGUMENT
We got up and used 1 snack credit each at the food court. Then we went to epcot. I had my fears about epcot. We were going to epcot on both Saturday and Sunday so I wasn’t so sure how crowds would be. I don’t handle crowds well at all, I was also concerned that DH or DD wouldn’t like this park and think its “boring”, but I wouldn’t let that stop us. We arrived to the park around 1pm. The reason for this is because we were going to stay until park closing for illuminations and we would also be back tomorrow. We walked to the entrance.

The first thing we tried was spaceship earth. It was a walk on. At first, when you go up and its dark, DD got very scared and started crying. DH gave her his cell phone so she could use the light to see. She got better. I loved the scene at the very top with the planetarium. I had no idea that you go down backwards and neither I or DD liked this very much. Overall, the ride was well done though and I would go on again. Next, we went to the figment ride in imagination. DD3 was terrified the whole time even though it wasn’t really scary. The ride wasn’t really worth it but DH loves figment. We tried going to the new Nemo ride at the living seas, but there was a 30 minute wait so we went to the land instead and saw the circle of life. This had some nice photography in it, but DD got bored and it wasn’t that good. After this, it was time for dinner at the Coral Reef. We went into the lobby area and there were a few people on line to check into the podium. The lobby had a lot of families waiting despite it being only 3:30pm. I expected a long wait but we were called in about 3 minutes. We were escorted to the dining room and saw the very nice view of the tank. We were seated in the middle tier between the tank and the back of the restaurant. The view was pretty good but DD had to stand on her chair to see well. It was kind of dim but well enough to see everything and everyone. The server came out and introduced himself and started with our drinks. We didn’t get anything alcoholic. Just soft drinks. DH likes a drink now and then with his meal but we didn’t want to spend more than what we spent on the dining plan. The waiter gave us a few minutes to pick an appetizer. I had the Caesar salad and DH got the shrimp cocktail. The server thoroughly explained what the ingredients were in both. Appetizers were served pretty quickly. Next, we both got the steak and potatoes. I have to say, I was worried about this place from bad reviews but I think it was one of the best meals all week. The steak was cooked perfectly and had great flavor. Then there was a slight misunderstanding……before eating his potatoes, DH asked the server what kind of potatoes they were and the server replied “rotten potatoes” and left. DH looks at me like WHAT??? Did he just say rotten potatoes????? I told DH that maybe its just potatoes we never heard of before and that’s what its called. They just looked like regular potatoes though. So, DH still didn’t try them. When the server came back to check on things, DH asked again “What kind of potatoes did you say these were?” and the server said again “rotten potatoes” Afterwards he asks me “ You’ve never made these for him at home? And I said no. Then he said “Yeah, they’re gratin potatoes, I can’t believe you’ve never had them before” and we laughed and told him we thought he said rotten potatoes. DH was like “oh, I thought you put rotten potatoes on my plate” (as a joke) The server didn’t even laugh at all. He just looked at us funny and walked away. Me and DH thought it was hilarious though. For dessert, I got cheesecake with a peach liquid on top and DH got the chocolate wave. Cheesecake was pretty good. DH said chocolate wave was amazing. Overall, it was an excellent meal for food and service. I’d go back again.

After dinner, we headed over to the land pavilion. We got on the living with the land boat ride with about a 5 minute wait. The ride was good and relaxing. After this, we decided to see the new Nemo attraction. The wait was still 30 min. but most of the wait times we already experienced were shorter than what was posted so we were hoping it was actually 15 minutes. We probably waited about 20 minutes, but the line kept moving. There were a lot of people and the waiting area kept winding us around and around and around. Eventually we got into a clam, but we didn’t like the ride very much. It wasn’t that good. The part with crush in the EAC was a bit dizzying so I kept focus on my legs and not what was going on outside the clam. After this, we made our way to World Showcase. It was just before 6pm and we were scheduled to see the 6:45pm candelight processional. As we got closer to the theater, we noticed the standby line for the candelight was about 3 countries long. Thank goodness I got the dinner package. The dinner package line was still pretty long too, but the line kept moving fast and we were seated within 15 minutes of getting on the line. We were seated up close about 3 rows away from the stage on the left side. I probably would have preffered seats a few rows back and maybe in the center since you get a better view of the stage but DH loves to run up front and grab seats close to the stage wherever we go. (Except at the movies…..he loves the middle of the theater there).The show started and I liked it, but it wasn’t excellent, just good. DH found it boring. DD got restless during the show and wouldn’t sit still. Our narrarator was Steven Curtis Chapman. He was a good narrarator. From here, we visited Italy, china and Mexico. In Mexico, we looked around in the plaza for some souvenirs but didn’t get anything. Instead, we rode el rio del tiempo, the boat ride in mexico. I like it’s a small world and this was sort of like it so I thought it was cool and cute. We went around to France and rested at the water fountain a bit. Then we were looking for an illuminations spot when we got a little something extra. Believe it or not, we got to watch the space shuttle take off from Kenedy space center and go up to the sky and into outer space. We didn’t even know it was going to happen until a crowd started to form and people started clapping and getting all excited. It was really neat. Illuminations started at 9:30pm and we were near morocco. Dh and I liked them a lot but DD was scared of all the noise. (I liked wishes much better though). We somehow found our way back to Pop and went against our rule to not pay anything out of pocket. Dh was hungry so he got a cheeseburger and cheese fries. We argued all the way back to Pop because Dh didn’t like epcot and didn’t want to return to epcot tomorrow. I liked epcot and wanted to finish touring. I had an ADR at Garden Grill that I didn’t want to miss either. Is he crazy??? No turtle talk with Crush? No cranium command? (This was our last chance to catch it since its closing again in January) No street entertainment in the countries??? I wasn’t going to hear it. He went on and on about how we finished everything in epcot like he was the expert. He insisted we go to MGM tomorrow and I told him that was a bad idea. I told him that Epcot is such a big park that the crowds won’t seem so bad at epcot compared to small MGM. (It was going to be Sunday). Eventually, I won this argument. But I hated having a fight on our vacation. It was supposed to be perfect………….
illuminations:

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 3, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10TH
EPCOT
We went to epcot around 11am. DH and I love to sleep in at home so our bodies aren’t used to getting up at 8am to go to a theme park. Even DD sleeps in. (We let her go to bed late so that she will sleep in on purpose). We had snacks at Pop before going to epcot. Upon arriving, Dh got a mission space fp for himself. Dh loves the big thrill rides. I on the other hand wouldn’t get on mission space if someone gave me a thousand dollars. (Maybe a million though. Lol ) I like the rides with detail like Peter Pan’s flight, the haunted mansion, pirates, etc, Dh likes rollercoasters that go upside down and corkscrews like rock n’ roller coaster. While we waited for his fp return, we went to the wonders of life pavilion. Now this was intresting. All year long this pavilion had been closed and wasn’t expected to ever open again. All of a sudden 2 weeks or so before our trip, we hear the stunning news that its opening thanksgiving week until after Christmas. I couldn’t believe it. This very well may have been our only chance to see the wonders of life ever. First we saw cranium command. It was good. Funny. For some reason, DD was scared when the smoke poured out of the brain. After this, we saw the making of me and found it just so so. Kind of boring and needs updating. I just don’t think its up to Disney to be teaching kids where they come from….its a theme park!!! DD played in the area in the exhibits. They had some cool stuff here. Dh then went on mission space and LOVED it. I think he was glad that I talked him into going back to epcot but he would never admit that. Lol. He was the engineer and he made a friend on the ride who happen to think he was a real astronaut and really going into outer space. How does he meet these people??? From here, we went to China. We wanted to see the dragon legend acrobats since I heard they were very good. While waiting, Dh told me his stomach was kind of messed up from mission space and he needed to eat something to settle it. The closest place was lotus blossom, the little café in China. I went in and bought 2 eggrolls for $3.50 out of pocket. I took a bite and they were fantastic. Such good flavor and there was meat inside!! Yummy. The dragon legend acrobats ended up being very good and we’re glad we saw them. These were like 8 year old kids doing amazing acrobatic stuff….its a must see. Next, we went to America because I wanted DD to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. We waited about 20 minutes for them to come out and met them. Mrs. Claus seemed grouchy. On the way back to future world, we saw Snow White and Dopey in Germany. We got on the line (about 15 min wait) to see her. Of all characters, I love the princesses. If I lived in Orlando, I’d probably try to be a princess at WDW. They are so pretty and nice. (I kind of look like a Belle. Lol). We got our pics and autographs and moved on.
On the way to dinner, we still had time and saw the three caballeros in Mexico so we got to meet them, get pics and autographs. We had dinner at the Garden Grill. I chose this place because it has characters like chip n’ dale and the restaurant rotates past scenes from the land. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t very good at all. It was just edible. Server was very nice and we didn’t have to wait much for a table but it wasn’t very enjoyable. Chip, Dale and Pluto were awesome. Mickey wasn’t into character much and went by fast. They all visited several times. When my Dh was on his cell talking to his cousin, Pluto came by and tried to take the phone away from him which was cute.Dh also called Dale by Chip’s name and Dale told my Dh he was naughty for getting them confused. I was a little nervous too because Dh and DD went to the bathroom and left me alone and they were gone for like 15 minutes. I wasn’t sure if they got lost or what , but Dale came to sit with me and he pretended to eat my DD’s food. He was really sweet.

Before leaving epcot, we saw turtle talk with crush which we all liked. Dd didn’t want to sit up front with the other kids cause she was shy, but the show was pretty good and I’m glad we watched it. Crush is funny and its neat how he interacts with the audience. We returned to the hotel and I fell asleep early.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 4, MONDAY, DECEMBER 11TH
MAGIC KINGDOM, RAIN, DTD, AND 1900 PARK FARE

I was smart enough to know to get to Mk early. I already knew this was going to be my favorite and DD’s favorite park. We got up at 7:30am. I wanted to get there by opening. By the time we left, it was around 8:20am. We had a fast breakfast in our room so we didn’t have to waste any more time. We got to ride the monorail for the first time. We arrived at MK around 9:03 so the park already opened and people had a 3 minute head start. Darnit!!! We approached mainstreet and saw the Cinderella Castle. It was gorgeous. Of course I’ve seen it in pictures, but its much prettier in real life. It still had the crane there from the construction. We walked down mainstreet and went to fantasyland. I was a bit worried because I heard MK could get really crowded on a Monday, but it actually wasn’t too bad at all. In Fantasyland, I knew to do Dumbo first. We went to Dumbo and got on with a 5 minute wait. I wish the seat on Dumbo was a bit bigger cause we all sat together and it was uncomfortable. DD loved it and so did I. After dumbo, we got on the Pooh ride. Cute, but only once please. After this, we went on Peter Pan. We all loved this ride and it turned out to be DD’s favorite. We ended up riding 3 times by the time the trip ended. It was nice. After Peter Pan, we went to see phillharmagic. This is one of my very favorites. I loved it from start to finish. I wanted to do this again, but never had the chance. Dh said it was ok, Dd got scared when it went dark, but tried grabbing the 3d objects in front of her. Then we rode It’s a small world. I loved this too followed by Cindy’s carousel which we liked. Very cute and relaxing. We were done with fantasyland in an hour and a half. Whooooo!

From Fantasyland, we went over to toontown fair. It was almost 10:30 and I knew toontown opened at 10am, so I hoped for small lines and that’s what I got. We got on line for Barnstormer. I’ve never been on a roller coaster so even a kiddie one looked a little scary to me. I had to sit alone since each seat only fit 2. Dh wanted to sit with DD so I had no choice. I told myself that if they’d let a 3 year old on, it couldn’t be so bad. As I waited on the line, we watched the coaster go by really fast and do hard turns. Yikes…..I got into the seat right infront of my Dh and DD and we took off. Whoa…….this is fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!!!!!! I was screaming my head off the whole 25 seconds, but it was so much fun. Dh and DD were laughing but no screaming. I’m just a big chicken. Then we went to Minnie’s house and Mickey’s house. We liked Minnie’s better. The line to meet mickey in the judge’s tent was pretty long so we skipped it. We already met him at dinner anyway. From here, we proceeded to the hall of fame. I wasn’t going to stop here but Dh got this obsession to try to meet every Disney character possible. We hadn’t met the princesses yet except for Snow white so we had to try. DD was dressed in her snow white gown so I opted to go. We waited for 20 minutes and got to meet Snow white, Cinderella and Belle. They were so beautiful in their gowns. Snow white was the best. She cuddled with DD and spoke with her for a while. She sounded just like the snow white from the movie.

After this, we went to lunch at Cosmic Ray’s. I loved this place. Dh of course got in line for a burger and fries. I went on line for the half chicken and ribs combo. You had to wait on separate lines which I didn’t like, but overall the place was great. My food came with mashed potatoes and carrots and for dessert I got chocolate cake. Dh also got chocolate cake for dessert. The food was so good. The chicken was moist and juicy. Yummmmmy!! The ribs were just ok, they were a bit spicy for me. Dh ate all his food. The chocolate cake was a bit too rich. This place was busy and we enjoyed the alien sonny eclipse. Dh got on space mt. after lunch with only a 10 minute wait. By now, it was around noon. We grabbed a buzz fp (which only had a 20 min. wait) and rode the transit authority. Nobody warned me about the dark part. DD got a bit scared and wanted Dh’s cell again for the light. This was a very relaxing ride and we enjoyed the view of tomorrowland. As we approached the Buzz ride, somebody gave us 2 buzz fastpasses that they weren’t going to use. Cool. We rode buzz which was fun. When we got off, we decided to spread the magic and give our 2 fastpasses away. At the carousel of progress, the real Buzz character was available for meet and greet so we got on line. He got down on his knee and kissed DD’s hand because she was princess snow white. Awwww.

I had no intention of seeing the carousel of progress, but Dh wanted to give it a try so we went in. It turned out to be one of my favorites. I really liked it. I couldn’t believe how much we accomplished in just a few hours. We decided to go to the other end of the park and see some more there. We went to the haunted mansion next. I was worried about DD getting scared here. I knew it wasn’t scary, that it was actually funny, but I was still worried. Thankfully, she wasn’t scared at all. I enjoyed it and really looked forward to this ride, but it wasn’t in my top 5. Still very good though. From here, we went to see the country bear jamboree. Now, this one I can’t figure out. I just don’t understand how this is still running at all. Half the theater including my Dh and DD fell asleep during this show. I was bored to death. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. There was a family next to us and the Dad was actually snoring loudly. The wife had to wake him to get him to stop….I had just wasted 15 minutes of my life that I can’t ever get back. After this, it started to rain. Dh wanted to stay in the park, but I wanted to head back and get some rest before dinner. I told him we still had 2 more days here and plenty of time to finish. He wasn’t tired at all.

I thought we were going back to Pop, but instead ended up at Downtown Disney. We browsed some shops and ended up buying a few things. At Mickey’s Mart (the $10 and under store, which was very hard to find) we bought some toys for Dd and a few mugs for friends back home that were actually 4 for $10. The cashier was so nice and helped us out a lot. We saw the lego family and dragon thing in the water which was so cool. How do they do that???

I wanted to stop at Days of Christmas for some items and ended up spending most of our souvenir money there. We bought ornaments of all the Disney princesses with their prince, tinkerbell, Donald and daisny and of course mickey and Minnie. They were $12 each so we spent quite a bit. We got back to the hotel to change my daughter into her Cinderella gown since we were going to 1900 Park fare to meet Cinderella. We got to the Grand Floridian to find that self parking was pretty far from the entrance. We even had some trouble finding self parking. Then we had to walk through the parking lot and across the street to the main building. Once inside, the restaurant was very close by. We waited about 5 minutes for our table. While waiting we checked out the lobby of the resort. It was gorgeous. To me, it was stunning. The Christmas tree had yellow lights though, which didn’t look right. We saw the gingerbread house display which was impressive. Once inside the restaurant, we noticed it was very very busy. Every table had a family in it. The food on the buffet was excellent. There were many choices here and I found this amazing pasta with shrimp in it that I loved. Very creamy. Dh found some chicken that he ate a lot of. As far as the characters go, we had some problems. The mice came around frequently and spent quite a bit of time with us. Cinderella only came once and for about a minute. She was pretty and polite, but she was very rushed. We had to meet the fairy godmother out in the hallway so I took DD to meet her and use the bathroom. The prince was a completely different story. We had finished our meal and he hadn’t come by yet. Service was pretty bad. Our plates were piled up. Refills were slow and the server tried to rush us to pay with our dining card so he could clear the table. I politely told him we hadn’t met the prince yet and he told us that the prince should be around soon. We waited and he came by again for our card. I told him we still haven’t seen the prince and if it was possible for him to try to get him over here before we left. He told us he would try to find the person who handles the characters. He never did, instead he disappeared into the kitchen. The prince finally was in sight, but he went to every table but ours. DD was getting very impatient. He eventually made it to our table. He was very sweet. We got his autograph and pic with DD, then it was mommy’s turn. He treated me like a princess. Dh should hang around him more often. Lol. We got back to Pop and went to bed.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 5, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12TH
MVMCP

We got up around 11am today and went down to the food court to get some lunch. Dh got….you guess it, a burger with fries and chocolate cake. I got the chicken parm with penne alfredo and marshmallow cheesecake. (I love my cheesecake) Dh’s food was just an average burger and fries. My food was very good. The chicken was a thick peace of breast and the pasta was good too. Cheesecake was good but I didn’t care for the marshmallow chocolate topping. We toured our resort for a while. I wanted to see all the big cartoon icons and stuff and get some pics. Here at Pop, we came upon hourglass lake. As we walked along the lake area, we came upon some ducks in the water. As we passed by, they came out of the water and started to follow us. DD thought this was hysterical. She enjoyed herself and those ducks so much. Dh went to try to find some food for them but it started to rain so we just went back to our room to rest. We went to MK around 4pm for the Christmas party. First, we went to Adventureland and rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The Camels didn’t spit while we were there that day. Don’t know why. It was warm out. Then we rode the jungle cruise on a 10 minute wait. The line was deceiving. Every time you thought you were going to get on the boat, a new line appeared. The line kept moving though and we didn’t wait long. After this we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. I liked it. I’m a big fan of both Pirates of the Caribbean movies and I liked seeing Captain Jack Sparrow in the ride. Dh liked it better before the refurb. The drop was just good enough for me. Not too scary, but it was dark. DD didn’t get scared at all. After we got out, we found Captain Hook and Mr. Smee doing meet and greets across from Pirates, so we got in line. There was a guy behind us who was traveling solo and he asked Dh to take his picture when he got his turn. Dh told him sure of course. I loved to see that though. A grown man traveling solo to WDW. That’s cool. You don’t see many of them and it shows what kind of place WDW really is. Anyway, moving on….we got up to captain hook and he tried to take our jewelry. He wanted to fight Dh for his gold chain. It was fun. Dh decided to play around and tell them tick tock, tick tock. Captain hook made a gesture that he was going to cut of Dh’s head. It was so fun. When we were done, the man traveling solo went up while Dh took his pic and captain hook tried to take his souvenirs and leave with it. He was so cool.

From here, we were walking towards mainstreet to find a wishes spot. As we approached the castle, the show was taking place on the castle stage. We watched and it was actually pretty good. It got really crowded by the show and I guess because people knew wishes was starting soon. After the show, we squeezed our way over to the bridge to tomorrowland and sat down for Wishes. DD fell asleep waiting which turned out good since she’s scared of the fireworks anyway. During the amazing wishes, I got that one moment during your trip when you realize your in Disney World. I just loved Wishes. Its one of my favorites. Illuminations was good, but to me, Wishes was much better. It might have just been the Castle that made it better, but overall, I just liked it better.

After Wishes, we made our way to tomorrowland’s galaxy palace theater for the twas the night before Christmas show. We got there at 6:30 and the show didn’t start until 7pm. The theater was already almost full, but we got good seats. The show was great. We’re so glad we caught it. After this, we went over to Pecos Bills Café for some dinner. I got the bbq pork sandwich which came with beans and Dh got the burger and fries. For dessert, I had the peanut butter brownie mousse and Dh got grapes. They don’t list grapes on the menu, but if you ask, they are available as dessert. We sat outside and were able to catch the 8:15 parade from our table. I just LOVE that parade. It’s my favorite of all the parades. I didn’t grab many pics now because I was going to catch the 10:45 parade anyway and we were trying to eat. My sandwich was ok. They went a little heavy on the bbq sauce. Dessert was good. Dh didn’t say anything about his burger so I guess it was good. DD loved the grapes. After this, we were walking and found a meet and greet for Belle and Beast. The line was very long. We decided to get on to meet them since we missed them in Epcot. After being on line for 10 minutes, a CM comes by to tell us they are going to switch to Snow white and her prince. We’d already met snow white twice so we decided to get off the line. The CM said Belle would be back at 10pm. By that time, I looked at my watch and realized we had to run to find a spot for the 9:30 holiday wishes. By the time we got near the castle, the show started and I was very frustrated because we couldn’t find a good spot. We decided to stop and try to see as much as possible. There was a large tree in the way, so you could only see the bigger higher fireworks. DD was scared and I had to stand up and hold her the whole time while she faced tomorrowland and hid her head in my shoulder. My arms were killing me by the time the show was over. We headed back to meet Belle and Beast. The line was very long. I think that Beast really liked Belle in real life because he kept trying to grab her or something and she kind of laughed and told him to behave. Lol. DD kept telling me she was scared of beast before the trip, but she cuddled with him here and wasn’t scared at all. Whew!

Next, we went to get a parade spot and was able to find one. The parade of course was wonderful. I think I could watch it 10 times in a row and still not get bored. It is a must see!! Next, I wanted some cocoa, so I went inside the diamond horseshoe place and we were so lucky cause while there, Woody from Toy story and his horse came out and we pretty much had them to ourselves. Jessie from toy story came out too after a while. After about 5 minutes, people started coming in and it got more crowded.

The park was almost closing after the parade, so we wanted to get a couple of rides in before we left. We rode Snow white, Peter pan and pooh again. On Pooh, we saw Tigger and Piglet get on one of the vehicles with kids to ride with them. Going down mainstreet, we got to see snow. It was beautiful. Before we left, we also took some pics at the expo hall. There's a room in the back with some photo backgrounds that you can use for free!

After the ride, we tried to meet with them (we still haven’t met piglet), but they had to leave. We left MK and got to the parking lot to find out our car wouldn’t start. There goes the magic out the window. Our battery had died and we were stuck there. Within 5 minutes, Disney security came by and gave us a jump start. We thankfully were able to get back to pop safely.

mvmcp parade pics and some others:

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 6, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13TH
MGM, DH GETS LOST

We got up around noon. We went to mgm late since we were going to stay until close. Car wouldn’t start again so Dh calls security but they didn’t show. After an hour, we decided to take the bus and deal with the car later. We realized we should have been taking the bus every day since it was easy and saves gas money. By the time we arrived, it was actually 1:40. We went over to see the 2pm Indiana jones show. Even though Dh has been here before, he never got to see this. The show was good. He liked it. DD got a bit scared since its very loud at times. On our way out, I heard a guest ask a CM about Spectromagic and the CM told her that Spectromagic wasn’t in MGM, it was in Epcot. I couldn’t believe my ears. I think the CM’s need to be trained a bit better. SpectroMagic is actually in Magic Kingdom. I could understand if he didn’t know where the swiss family treehouse is, but common- spectromagic is a popular parade. Anyway, we didn’t really know what to do now because we had dinner reservations at 3:30 at mama Melrose for the fantasmic package and it was almost 3pm. I didn’t want to risk being late to dinner so we found a spot on some steps for the parade. Dh doesn’t really like the parades much, but he enjoyed this one cause it had characters that you usually don’t see like power rangers, mike and sully from monsters inc, mulan, and some villans.

From here, we had to go to dinner. I was surprised to see that we were given the regular menu and not the fantasmic menu. I thought this was a mistake, but it wasn’t. You must now order from the regular menu. It turned out good for us since we love calamari and the fantasmic menu doesn’t offer calamari. For appetizers, both me and Dh got the calamari. It was sooooo good. For entrees, I ordered the penne alla vodka and Dh ordered the veal osso busco. Both entrees weren’t too great. The pasta needed more flavor and Dh said he didin’t like the flavor of the veal. The server told us the veal was the best entrée in the restaurant. Desserts were much better. I had the ricotta cheesecake and Dh had gelato. The cheesecake was amazing. It was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had in my life and I’ve had many. I think this made our trip to Mama Melrose worth it.

After dinner, we tried to go see beauty and the beast, live on stage. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies, so I was looking forward to this. To my surprise, the theater was closed for the week. I had no prior warning. We decided to try the Great movie ride. The wait was 25 minutes, but Dh said he wanted to go anyway. We didn’t think we’d actually wait 25 minutes, since they usually exaggerate the wait time. It actually ended up being about 25 minutes in the end. While waiting on line, we watched trailers from old movies. We got into the tram and everything was going fine until the alien scene which is where the ride broke down. The lights went off and everything. The CM who tours with you had a flash light and people had the Cell lights on so it wasn’t too dark and DD didn’t really understand what was going on. Some other CM’s came in and told us that a fuse blew or something and that we couldn’t proceed with the ride. Eventually, the lights came back on, but the tram wouldn’t move, so we had to be escorted out. On the way out Dh took the opportunity to get some great pics. Since we never saw this attraction before, we weren’t sure if it had been part of the ride. The man infront of us assured everyone that he had ridden before and this never happened. The worst part of all is that Disney didn’t give us a fastpass for our trouble or even an apology. By now, it was time to get lined up for Fantasmic. We walked over to Oscar’s which is the special entrance for the dinner package guests and made our way to the theater. So far, Fantasmic was the best show we had ever seen by far. It was incredible. The part with the princesses going by on the boats almost brought on tears. It was just wonderful from start to finish. The boat with all the characters at the end was a great addition to this show too. DD loved it. From here, we rushed over to see the Osborne lights. They were very nice and we got to watch them dance which was pretty cool. The park was closing so we went back to Pop. We wanted a snack and Dh was worried about our car not starting so DD and I went to the food court while Dh tried to get security again to help with our car. When DD and I got back, we tried to bring Dh a doughnut (which we purchased with 1 snack credit) , but he was gone. We couldn’t find him anywhere. I guessed that he got the car started and tried to go find a walmart for a new battery. 45 minutes went by and still no word from Dh. I kind of worried a little, so I used the room phone to call his cell phone. He told me that the security got him a jump start and sent him to a walmart for a new car battery. He told me he somehow ended up in Kissimmee somewhere and was lost. He told me to call him back in an hour. So, I called him back and he told me he was having lots of trouble. Eventually he got back and told me what happened. It turns out that Dh got lost finding the walmart in the first place. When he found it, he tried to get a battery, and the department that sells the battery was closed since it was late. Dh asked a person who works there if he could get a battery and the guy said no because it was closed. Dh tried to get back to us, but the car of course, wouldn’t start. He kept trying to start it and it wouldn’t. A security guard for walmart kept passing him by and wouldn’t help. Dh went back inside and explained the situation and eventually got the battery. He doesn’t know anything about cars, but he managed to get it started. He tried getting back to Pop again, and he needed to pay .75 to get onto the highway in a toll, but didn’t have any change. He only had credit cards. They wouldn’t let him pass. By now, Dh was really frustrated. He backed up and tried getting change at some stores, but no one would. He had to buy something and get change. He got onto the highway and got lost again. He finally got back, but was furious at the night he had. Thank goodness the car was fine after all that. We all went to bed trying to rest before going back to Mgm the next day.

sorry the pics are blurry

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 7, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14TH
MGM STUDIOS, CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

Today we originally were going to go to the Magic Kingdom for extra magic hour mornings. We were too tired to even get up for extra magic hours not to mention we only did a few things at MGM yesterday, so we wanted to get some more done so we went to MGM instead. We arrived around 11am. We took the bus even though the car was working. Upon arriving, Dh got a rock n’ roller coaster fp, then he rode tower of terror twice which had a 10 minute wait. He made a friend named Roy on tower of terror. Then ended up riding rock n’ roller with the same friend. He loved being able to do the thrill rides together one after the other and thought both were amazing. From here, DD wanted to meet Sully and mike wazowski from monsters inc. We headed over to the garage where they hang out. DD was disappointed that mike wazowski was not there. She only got to meet sully and he didn’t do autographs either, just pictures. From here, we proceeded to the backlot tour. It was kind of cool seeing the props from the movies, and catastrophe canyon was alright, but overall, we found it boring. After the backlot tour, we saw lights, motors, action stunt show. Dh loved it. DD didn’t care for it much. I liked the show itself but I didn’t like walking up all those bleachers while it was pouring raining. I felt like I was going to slip and fall down. People were also standing in our way as we were going up leaning against the railings, so a few times I wasn’t even able to hold on as we were making our way to our seats. Good thing the top half of the stadium is covered since it was raining. The show was able to go on even in the rain. Next, we had lunch at toy story pizza planet. I hadn’t planned on eating here, but the smell from this place as you passed outside was really good so we decided to try it. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Foodwise, I got the woody deal with a cheese pizza, side salad and drink. Dh got the buzz deal with pepperoni pizza, salad and drink. For dessert, I had the choc. Chip cookie, Dh got the rice crispy treat. Pizza was good. Salad was very fresh. I liked the fact that you could get your own dressing since I like a lot of dressing on my salad. Cookie was good. Dh liked the rice crispy treat. While I finished eating, Dh took DD to play some of the arcades. In the end, it was hard to pull Dh out of this place, but we enjoyed it. He especially enjoyed the boxing game and he had a sweat by the time we left. After lunch, we saw muppetvision which we thought was excellent. A good 3D show without any scares. From here, we went to the hotel to rest before cirque. We decided we would be back to MGM tomorrow again. I didn’t think we needed another day, but Dh loves this park so much. MK would be saved for the last day- Saturday. We decided to try to drive to downtown Disney to see cirque. We were running late since I couldn’t get Dh to wake up from his nap so we didn’t want to risk the bus running late and getting to the show after it started. After we got frustrated because we couldn’t find our way, We decided to go back to try to take the bus. By now, it was around 5:30 and the show started as 6pm. On our way back, we found the sign that said Downtown Disney and we just followed it there. We got there early and we were able to catch the pre show with the clowns which we loved. Overall, we both agreed that Cirque du soleil was the best thing we did all week and was worth every single penny we paid for it. In fact, (and this isn’t something I ever hear) Dh, said he would have paid more. Trust me, that’s saying something about this show. It was excellent and everyone should see it. I don’t want to give much away for those who haven’t seen it and its hard to describe, but there’s a little of everything in this show: acrobats, music, dance, clowns and so much more. Don’t expect your average circus with animals. There were no animals in this show, but it was just amazing. They were very strict about pictures though. Every time someone tried to sneak a pic, security came to them and told them no more pictures. I find it weird since they have the show on DVD anyway. After this, we got some dinner from Everything Pop and brought it up to the room. We got the same thing as the other day and it was just as good.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 8, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15TH
FINISHING MGM, POLYNESIAN RESORT AND ANOTHER ARGUMENT

This morning was pretty bad. Dh and I were arguing because he wouldn’t get up. Dh LOVES to sleep. He could sleep for 18 hours straight and still not want to get up. I got upset because we were leaving tomorrow and I wanted to make the most of our last 2 days. I know we were almost finished with MGM, but I didn’t want to stay in our room and wait for Dh to get up when he felt like it. I got DD and myself ready and after repeated attempts of trying to get Dh out of bed, I told him we were going to take the bus and leave him. He thought we were playing around so he just stayed in bed. DD and I went to the bus stop and waited. I figured he would get up and follow us. After we waited 15 minutes and I watched 2 buses go by, I went back to the room. He hadn’t even budged. I started yelling at him and he told me that he wasn’t going to go anywhere with me acting that way and that now he wanted us to go alone without him. I was so upset that I stormed out again. I was about to take the next bus when DD started to cry and said she wanted daddy to go with us. I was really stressed out by then and told her that daddy didn’t want to go and that we’d see him later but she got really sad so we returned to our room again. I calmly asked Dh to go with us since DD was upset and he agreed as long as I became happy again. We got to MGM around noon. First, we saw playhouse Disney. This was a great show for kids, but DD was too shy to go up front with the other kids to dance along. Next, we saw the magic of Disney animation. Surprisingly, it was very good. First, there was a show with mushu, not the real character, we just see him on a screen. Then, we got to meet the incredibles. Mr. incredible and Mrs. Incredible. There were also some intresting exhibits where you could see which character you resemble the most, or hear yourself sing a Disney song or even paint a character. We choose to paint flounder from the little mermaid and it was fun. We skipped the drawing part since you had to wait 15 minutes and proceeded to the store. If I ever become rich, this is where you’ll find me. This store was amazing. It had some wonderful artwork that I wish I could one day have. The figurines of the characters were great too. Next, we tried our 2nd attempt at the Great movie ride. It went fine this time. Alien scene wasn’t too scary for DD. We got hungry so we decided to grab some lunch at Backlot express. Dh and I both got the double cheeseburger. I got the cheesecake, and Dh got the strawberry parfait for desserts. We found a table but it ended up being too hot inside, so we got a table outside instead. Burgers were very good as were fries. Desserts were pretty good too. There was some problem at the counter though when we ordered. Our receipt number got mixed up and it took forever to get our food, but everything was straightened out and we were able to enjoy our meal. We only came to eat, but we were able to see the parade again from our table. For some reason, Dh was still hungry after eating so he wanted to get an ice cream from a vendor, but the parade wouldn’t let us cross to get it. After the parade, Dh rode star tours but didn’t like it much. I guess after Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Roller, this didn’t thrill him as much. Next, we lined up to see the Cars from the movie Cars. The cars circled around and then everyone was told we could go up to them to meet them. It was complete craziness and no organization whatsoever, so we just moved on. We were able to get some silly pics of me wearing a stitch hat in a shop while we waited for the Cars too. We then went over to see One Man’s Dream. A CM gave us a questionnaire when we entered and told us if we answered all the questions right, they’d give us a souvenir certificate at the end. We went inside, and I actually liked this attraction. You learned a lot about the man, Walt Disney. It was nice and intresting. The movie at the end was very good too. After the attraction, we were able to answer all of the questions except one, which I took a guess at. It asked about how many cruise ships there were. There was no where to give the answers too, so I brought the questionnaire back to the CM who gave it to us and she got us a certificate and told us all of the answers were correct. We went back to the hotel for rest and to pack up. DD and I tried to go back to visit the ducks while Dh napped, again. The ducks didn’t come out at all this time and DD was disappointed. Around 8pm, we went to the Polynesian resort. I had an ADR for Ohana’s at 9:15. I chose this time because I wanted to catch the electrical water pageant at 9pm from the poly beach. This resort was gorgeous. I loved this one the most, followed by the contemporary. Hopefully, we can stay there one day. We made our way to the beach and relaxed on a hammock while we waited for the pageant to start. We went to dinner, and this ended up being Dh’s favorite restaurant. It was actually amazing. I requested a window seat in hopes of seeing the 9:30pm Holiday Wishes from the Magic Kingdom that was on during the Christmas party. We were able to sit near the window. First, they brought us salad and wontons with 3 dipping sauces. The salad was very good. Honey lime dressing was great. Next, we got Chicken wings and shrimp. The chicken wings were outstanding. DD didn’t like the food much so we also ordered her chicken strips with fries. We were able to see the fireworks from our table and it was nice. Next, came the potatoes and veggies. The potatoes were the best I’d ever eaten. Just wonderful. We didn’t try the veggie’s but they looked good. After this, all the smoked meats started coming out. The steak was the best and Dh loved it even though it still had some pink inside which usually grosses him out. We didn’t care much for the sausage. They kept bringing more out every so often, but we were so full. Even dessert was very very good which I didn’t think I was going to like. All I can remember was bananas foster sauce, and caramel.

I can’t remember what it was called. I usually don’t even try stuff like that, but it was good. At the end, DD wanted those little umbrella’s they stick in your drinks, and the server brought her a bunch. Dh loved how they called us cousins and he played along. The only thing we didn’t like about this was that we wanted to pay for DD’s meal out of pocket and it ended up costing 11.99 for a child’s chicken strip meal. It was a huge portion but it wasn’t worth 11.99! Overall, we will definitely return next trip, was one of the best meals all week.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

DAY 9, LAST DAY, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16TH
MK, DINNER IN THE CASTLE, AND GOODBYE

I was really sad when I got up being that this was our last day. We had to go down to the main hall to check out. I did that while Dh and DD checked out the arcade near the food court. I had to pay for phone charges for the night Dh got lost in Kissimmee which came out to $10 or so. I met up with them in the arcade and they were taking forever picking out a prize. I was getting really impatient. I wanted to go to Mk and spend every possible last second I could there. Our tickets expired at midnight and Mk was open until 11pm, but Dh said we had to leave right after dinner so we could get home at a decent time. He was afraid he’d be too tired to drive home that late after a long day in the park. The parking lot to Mk was already packed and the line to park was long. (That’s right….there was a line to park your car ). It was Saturday, and I expected to have our longest lines today. We parked and went over to take the monorail to the entrance. The line for the monorail was unbelievable. The ferry was closed so we had to wait. After a few minutes, the ferry opened and hundreds of people ran, pushed and shoved their way to the boat. We walked calmly to the boat and it was actually a nice ride. When we arrived, we made our way to fantasyland. DD wanted to ride peter pan again, but the wait was 30 minutes. Darn!!!We got a fastpass with the return of 3:15pm. All of fantasyland had waits of at least 30 minutes or more. It was crazy. We went over to adventureland hearing DD whine about not getting to ride peter pan. She didn’t understand that we were coming back later. Everything had long lines, so we went to try the swiss family treehouse which didn’t have a line. It was kinda cool but a lot of climbing. After this, we saw the enchanted tiki birds. This was ok. Kind of weird and unusual.On our way to shopping, we saw timon and rafiki from lion king and lined up for a pic. By the time it was our turn, they had to leave, so we had to wait until they got back and we were the first family to see them.

We went to mainstreet to do some shopping at the emporium. I fell in love with a snowglobe type thing with the Cinderella castle and many characters on it. Unfortunately, it was expensive. Dh still was going to buy it for me, but when I found out that it didn’t play a song, I didn’t want it anymore. We decided to go see if lines got any shorter and we would go back to the store on our way out. It was too late, as people were already lined up for the parade and we couldn’t cross over into fantasyland so we got a spot in liberty square and watched it. I had no intention of watching this parade, but I actually liked the song and of course, I loved the float with Cinderella and her prince and the fairy godmother. Cinderella always amazes me with her floats. I especially loved the horses and carriage she was in during the Christmas parade. Just amazing. Next, it was time to return to peter pan with our fastpass. We got on and rode. We could have gone on twice because the CM never even took our fastpass, but we just gave it away instead to spread the magic. By now, it was almost time for our 4pm dinner reservation at CRT. We went over to the castle and had to wait outside the entrance for the restaurant to open. At 4:05pm, a birthday girl was chosen to be princess of the day and her family was taken inside first. They were a family of 3 just like us so I was sure they would get the special table for 3 by the window overlooking fantasyland. I requested a window table anyway and they said we would get one at the podium. We were called shortly after, and first we lined up to take our family portrait with Cinderella in the lobby. We loved being able to get a glimpse of what the castle looks like from the inside. Very medieval. Cinderella wasn’t the best Cinderella we’ve seen, but she was ok. After our picture was taken, we had to sit and wait. There was a bit of confusion because one CM told us to go upstairs after our pic was taken, another told us to sit and wait until we were called. They eventually did call us after a short wait and we went up a spiral staircase. At the top of the stairs was the main dining room. It had a nice atmosphere. I was surprised and very happy to see that we were getting table 16- the table for 3 overlooking fantasyland. A little bit more Disney magic! After being seated, we quickly gave our order for appetizers. We both chose the BLT salad which we really didn’t like. The view of fantasyland was very nice. My DD was given a blue wand that said Cinderella’s royal table on it. She loved it, but it already broke just a few days later. Boys were given swords. After the salad and bread, our free family portrait was brought over. The pics just came out ok. It came in a nice folder though, with an extra pic of the castle. For entrees, we both chose the prime rib with potatoes. I honestly thought this was the best meal I’d had all week. Dh just thought it was ok. While our dessert was brought out (Chocolate mousse cake for both of us), the fairy godmother and mice, perla and suzy came out and did a small show. They passed all the tables though, but barely stayed at all. Quick pic and they were off. We only had one of the mice’ autographs but when the other one came around, and Dh asked for her autograph, she shook her head no because they aren’t allowed to do autographs at dinner. Dh was upset that a character would actually say no. The characters spent most of their time at tables that celebrated birthdays and anniversaries and then they were off. The dessert was ok. I generally love chocolate mousse, but this wasn’t the best I’d ever had. I would go back and maybe try breakfast next trip.
view from our table at CRT:

bread:

inside CRT:

child's complimentary meal:

prime rib:

dessert, choc. mousse cake:

After dinner, I started to get really depressed because it was time to go home. We stopped at the emporium for some last minute souvenirs for ourselves and our family back home. We were also able to get a throw for $15 because we spent over $60 which Dh loves and calls it “his blanket”.

We took the monorail to the parking lot and got home safely.

BEST THINGS ON OUR TRIP:
- festival of the lion king
- spaceship earth
- mission space
- lights of winter arch
- a stroll around world showcase
- the acrobats at china
- phillharmagic
- peter pan’s flight
- pirates of the Caribbean
- haunted mansion
- carousel of progress
- twas the night before Christmas show
- mickeys very merry Christmas parade
- the princesses (especially snow white and Cinderella)
- prince charming
- barnstormer (whew!! Loved this coaster)
- Cinderella’s carousel
- Osborne lights
- One man’s dream
- Tower of terror and rock n’ roller back to back

CANNOT BE MISSED:
- Fantasmic (2nd best show I’ve ever seen)
- Cirque du soleil (best show ever)


THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
- Country Bear jamboree
- Get stuck in one place because of a parade
- Snow white’s scary adventures (although DD loved it)
- Our car battery died
- Mk on Saturday
- Tough to be a bug with a 3 year old
- Finding nemo musical and ride
- Not being able to meet mickey in his red/black/yellow outfit
- Never got to meet Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora
- Getting lost on property


THINGS I WANTED TO DO, BUT DIDN’T DO:
- ride maelstrom
- ride big thunder mountain
- ride soarin
- ride test track
- see captain jack sparrow’s pirate tutorial

BEST PLACES TO EAT:
- Ohana’s
- Cinderella’s royal table
- Coral Reef
- Cosmic Ray’s
- Toy Story pizza planet

Well, thank you all for taking the time to read my trip report. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be glad to answer any questions.

 

[David R]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report. It's always fun to hear a first timer's experience. Yes, the entire resort is huge, isn't it?

Sorry to hear that you got lost in Kissimmee. Don't let your dh feel bad, I also get lost whenever I find myself in that area.

And it's a good thing you didn't get to see everything, now you have a reason to return!

 

[Jenny]

Great pictures....where in MGM was Sully from Monsters Inc.?

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Sully was across from the ABC comissary on Comissary lane. He is inside a garage.

 

[Jenny]

thanks - we're definitely going to look for him!

 

[PrincessMaddie]

Thank you for sharing your Trip Report!

Your DD is ADORABLE!