*Food, Wine & Christmas Time!* A November 2012 TR...UPDATED (3/29)

[herb102211]

~Food, Wine & Christmas Time~​

Welcome to my first trip report! ​

​

My name is Melissa. Im 27 and am a financial analyst. Im OBSESSED with Disney (as many of us on here are!) My obsession is starting to rub off on DH, which is a good thing, especially since we visit so frequently. This is my 15th trip to WDW, 12 of which have been in the past 4 years (and no, we dont live in Florida)! I know what many of you are thinking, crazy right!! We became DVC members in 2011 after we got married, as well as annual passholders that year, which basically gave me free reign to visit WDW as many times as I want (or as many DVC points as we had ) I like to think of us as honorary Florida residents, as WDW truly is our Home away from Home!

Before we get on with the show, lets meet our cast of characters and a few of our Disney favorites!​

Me!

Park: Epcot
Attraction: Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, The Great Movie Ride
Show: Beauty and the Beast, Illuminations
Table-Service Restaurant: Via Napoli, Ohana, Crystal Palace, Sci Fi Café, Tusker House, Garden Grill ( I have way too many favorites!)
Counter-Service Restaurant: Captain Cooks, Pecos Bill
Movie: The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, The Lion King, Toy Story, Aladdin
Character: Beast, Buzz, Cheshire Cat, Sebastian, Genie, Winnie the Pooh


DH!
DH is also 27 and is a business analyst. He likes WDW, just not as much as me. He prefers DCL over the parks, while I'd much rather be on land at the parks!

Park: Epcot
Attraction: Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror
Show: Illuminations
Table-Service Restaurant: Via Napoli, LeCellier, Garden Grill
Counter-Service Restaurant: Pecos Bill, Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Movie: Toy Story
Character: Lotso



When: November 7th, 2012- November 11th, 2012

Where: Disneys Beach Club Villas (My favorite resort, EVER!!)

Special Events: Epcot Food & Wine Festival, Kitchen Memories with Buddy Valastro, Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party and the Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights!

Our favorite time of year to come down is when the Christmas decorations are up. We came a little earlier than we have in years past, so we were only able to see Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios decorated. But, we got to see the tail end of the Food and Wine Festival so that made up for it. This is our second year going to the Food & Wine Festival (we went in October 2011 on our honeymoon and had a blast!)


So come along and join us for some food, wine and Christmas time!!​

​

​

 

[herb102211]

~Chapter Links~

Intro

Arrival Day~ Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Chapter 1: See ya Snow, to Disney We Go!!​

Chapter 2: Welcome Home!​

Chapter 3: Come Sail Away..To The Food and Wine Festival​

Day 2~Thursday, November 8th, 2012​

Chapter 4: The Happiest Place on Earth ​

Chapter 5: The Food Coma Continues...​

Day 3~ Friday, November 9th, 2012​

Chapter 6: Buddy Comes to the Food & Wine Festival​

Chapter 7: Adios, Food & Wine Festival!​

Chapter 8: The Christmas Season Has Finally Begun!​

Day 4~ Saturday, November 10th, 2012​

Chapter 9: Final Morning with the Fab 5!​

Chapter 10: Christmas in Hollywood!​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 1: See ya snow, to Disney we go!
​

The day had finally arrived. We were going to Disney today, ahhh!! I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. We had so many things planned for this trip, I couldn’t contain my excitement. However, there was one thing that possibly stood in the way of me and Disney: SNOW!! I had been watching the forecasts nonstop the past 2 days because they weatherman had been talking about the possibility of a decent sized storm. Really, this early in the season L It was predicted to start around noon and our flight was for 12:45pm. We ate breakfast, packed a few last minute things and were on the road by 10am. We got to the airport around 11am, and still no sight of snow yet (woohoo!). We parked in the long term parking garage, dropped our bag off at the checked luggage station and were through security in about 10 minutes. The airport was pretty dead, although we were flying on a Wednesday so that could have been why. Seriously love our home airport because its usually a breeze to go through., unlike MCO. Luckily, our flight was on time and it wasn’t snowing yet, so I was hoping it would hold off until we got in the air.



Before we knew it was time to board. We were flying Jetblue. I love flying Jetblue!! They make the experience so much more enjoyable with the TV’s, great customer service and the snacks . We had the even more space seats so we were first to board. It’s great to sit in the front of the plane so we can just hop on and off and not get stuck behind rows of people when we land (that’s valuable Disney time wasted!!)



Our flight was pretty uneventful and we landed about 20 minutes early. Yay! I called my mom when we landed and she said there were already 3-4 inches of snow. Looks like we had gotten off just in time! I think the night flight ended up being canceled, so I was really glad we ended up not booking that one.



We made our way to the fake-o-rail and headed down to Magical Express.

Off to the Beach Club we go…

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 2: Welcome Home!
​

We only had to wait a few minutes for the Magical Express bus to arrive. Talk about timing! We stowed our luggage under the bus and got a seat up front. Our bus was making stops at Port Orleans Riverside, then to the Boardwalk and finally the Beach Club. Our "motorcoach operator" introduced himself and then it was almost time for the movie. No matter how many times I ‘ve been to WDW I always look forward to the movie on Magical Express. It’s just such a great way to start the trip off! Before long, we were arriving at Port Orleans Riverside. Most of the people on our bus were going there.

Afterwards, it was a short ride over to the Boardwalk. We were almost home!! We finally arrived to the Beach Club a little before 5pm. Ahhh, I'm so in love with this resort!! It is PERFECT!!!!

We were the only ones getting off here. We were greeted by a cast member who took our name and wished us Happy Anniversary (our actual anniversary was October 22nd). She brought us to the front desk and we checked in. I had done the online checkin, so our packet was ready to go. The CM at the front desk was so nice (I can’t remember his name) and wished us Happy Anniversary as well, and gave us our anniversary pins. He asked us a little about what we were doing on our trip and we told him we had a jam packed 4 days ahead. He gave us our Key to the World cards and we were off to the Villas. We had a studio in the villas on the 5th floor.

I walked out to the balcony and this was my view.

Yup, Spaceship Earth. What a perfect start to the trip!​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 3: Come Sail Away....To the Food and Wine Festival….
​

We got changed and headed right over to Epcot. One reason of a million why I love the Beach Club. I can be to Epcot in 5 minutes! It’s absolutely perfect!


Tonight Dennis DeYoung, who was an original member of Styx, was playing at the Eat to the Beat concert .

DH and I are both Classic Rock fans so we made our way over to the America pavilion. The first show was just letting out and as soon as they did we got in line so we could get a good seat. The show started around 6:30pm and the place was packed. Dennis played a bunch of Styx hits like Come Sail Away, Babe and Lady. DH and I really enjoyed the concert.

We have seen a lot of concerts between going to the Eat to the Beat Concerts and Flower Power Concert series, and other than Boyz II Men, this was the best show we’ve seen. After the 6:30 concert, we went and grabbed dinner at the Italy Food and Wine Festival kiosk. DH and I both got the raviolis and a canoli each. Both were amazing!

I did a little shopping in one of the Italy giftshops and got a Donald cutting board and a Mickey wine stopper. Since we hadn’t eaten much all day we made our around the world and stopped at a few other kiosks. I loved the cheese fondue and sourdough bread. It was so good!

We walked around for a bit more and it started to get cold, like near freezing cold. We later found out it was only in the low 40s that night (looks like we brought the cold weather with us…Sorry Florida! ) Luckily I had my Northface jacket with me and we both had jeans on but I felt really bad for the people that had tanks and shorts on. We did a little more shopping in future world and started to make our way back to the Beach Club.

By now it was a little after 8 and we were walking through Canada, I thought to myself, “I know exactly what will warm me up- Cheddar Cheese soup”. We stopped at the kiosk and DH and I both ordered one. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because the line was really long. We found a bench and ate our soup. We ended up stopping in France to bring back a few pastries (strawberry tarts= ) We noticed a photopass photographer outside the fountains in France, so of course I had to stop.

After we were done, we started heading back to the room. We ended up watching Illuminations from our balcony.

Love this view!

We were both exhausted and finally fell asleep a little after 11. We had a full day of eating around the world tomorrow…….​

 

[wiigirl]

Can't wait to read more of you TR!

 

[herb102211]

Can't wait to read more of you TR!

Thanks for joining in!!

 

[NMW]

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[herb102211]

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[herb102211]

Day 2: Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Chapter 4: The Happiest Place on Earth…..​

Despite the fact I was super tired from the day before, I still managed to be up at 6am. I don’t know what it is about Disney, but I just can’t sleep there, no matter how hard I try. Too much excitement, maybe? After all today was our first full day in Disney!! We had an ADR at 1900 Park Fare this morning for 10:05am. We had originally thought about cutting through Epcot and taking the monorail over to MK and then the Grand Floridian, but we ended up taking the bus to MK instead. There were so many people waiting for the MK bus, that I was regretting my decision about not taking the monorail. Oh well! The first bus was filled so we had to wait for another bus. Luckily another bus arrived a few minutes later. After transferring to the monorail at MK, we ended up getting to our ADR around 9:40am.

We checked in at the podium and the cast member said our pager would go off when our table was ready. We went and sat in the Grand Floridian lobby.

It is so gorgeous there. I was hoping that the Gingerbread house would be setup but it wasn’t Before long, our pager went off and we went and had our photo taken. We had the Photopass Plus for this trip so we got both the print package and the digital print added to our Photopass.

We were seated in the back right near the buffet. Ahh, the smell of Disney food! I love it!! We couldn’t wait to dig in. DH filled up his plate and I went straight for the breakfast pizza and strawberry soup. Yum!! First to come over to our table was the Mad Hatter.


He is always a riot! Unfortunately, the pictures came out blury After he left Pooh and Tigger stopped by. Pooh is always so cuddly!

We went back up to get some more food and then Alice and Mary Poppins stopped at our table.

I always think that the character interaction is great at 1900 Park Fare. Even though we’re adults with no kids (yet), the characters always stay at our table for quite a while. We were on the dining plan this trip so we gave our server our key to the world cards to pay, left our tip and we were out the door around 11:30am.



We debated about going to MK seeing how it SO busy! But I figured, what the heck, might as well! We took the monorail over from the Grand Floridian. We passed through security and before we knew it we were through the gates at my happy place! Us, and thousands of others, but it was still all good. We stayed and played at MK for a few hours.


Since it was so busy we didn’t get to get on as many rides as we would have liked. We made a mad dash over to Frontierland. In all of the times we have been to Disney we haven’t had to use many fastpasses. However, today would be an exception. We had to fastpass Thunder Mountain because there was a 50 minute wait. Yes, a 50 minute wait, in November, on a Thursday. Hmm…never had that happen before. Now we could have gone over to Splash Mountain where there was only a 5 minute wait. Only a 5 minute wait? That would have been perfect had it been a little warmer than 60 degrees! Guess only those brave people went down to the Briar patch that day!

We still had about 30 minutes until we could go back to Thunder Mountain so we ended up taking a ride on the Liberty Square Riverboat. We’ve only been on this ride one other time, so we figured, why not? We got seats on the top of the boat, and boy was it chilly! We had a nice leisurely ride around Liberty Square before making our way back to Thunder Mountain. We got through the queue in about 10 minutes and were seated all the way in the back of the train. The back is the best!! The ride is so much faster from the back. Thunder Mountain is definitely my favorite ride in MK! If only the ride last longer

After we were done conquering the mountain range, we made our way over to Emporium. Shopping time! I ended up getting a Cheshire Cat Pillow Pet, a magnet and an ornament. We showed the CM our AP and got a 10% discount on everything we bought (another reason why I love the AP’s). We left MK around 2 and waited for the Beach Club bus to pick us up. We got back to the room around 2:30 to rest for a bit, as we had a full night of eating around the world!​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 5: The Food Coma Continues......​

We got up from our afternoon siesta, freshened up a bit and headed over to Epcot around 4pm. I was so excited to be able to spend the rest of the night taking in the sights and sounds of the food and wine festival. It is seriously the best time of year at Epcot!

We walked through the international gateway and headed over to the UK. We stopped in the Toy Soldier and had out picture taken with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. It’s one of my must do’s in Epcot!

After leaving the UK, we made our way over to Canada. It was cheddar cheese soup time again! I swear, I could live off that stuff. DH and I also got a LeCellier filet mignon too. It was a little pricey for the portion you got, (I think it was $6.50 OOP) but we were able to use our snack credits so we didn’t mind. The meat was so tender and delicious though! Across the way was the Greece booth, so DH headed over there to check it out. I saved our seat on the bench and he came back with a greek salad with pita bread. We split that and it was really good ( I wish I had taken pictures of all of these foods).

We made our way over to future world to check out the cranberry bog. Being from the Northeast, this reminded me of Cape Cod.

We headed over to take our photo next to Spaceship Earth near the food and wine festival sign.

Dennis DeYoung was playing again to night and DH wanted to head over to the American pavilion. It was almost 6 so we knew we probably wouldn’t get seats by the time we talked from Spaceship Earth over to America. We hit up a few kiosks on the way over to America. DH is a little more adventurous than I am when it comes to food so he stopped at the Caribbean booth, Argentina and New Zealand booths. I forgot what he had but I remembered he told me they were all good. I stopped along the way and picked up a schoolbread in Norway. LOVE SCHOOLBREAD!!!! We got to the America pavilion a few minutes before the show started. It was standing room only at that point but we didn’t mind.

The setlist was different than the night before and Dennis rocked the house, or Epcot, I should say. Dennis promised a different setlist for the last show of the night, so DH made the executive decision and decided we should stay (anything to keep DH happy ! ) DH saved our seats while I headed over to Italy to get some raviolis and cannolis again.

The ravioli’s were sooo cheesy and good! After the show ended we made our way over to Germany. Where to? You guessed it the Karamell Kuche.
The single best place for desserts in Epcot!! I love anything with caramel so this place is right up my alley. I ended up getting 2 of the caramel apple oatmeal cookies to go. I had some snack credits left so I ended up using them up DH got a chocolate caramel pretzel rod. By now it was a little after 8pm and it was freeing again. Seriously, warm weather, where are you? We started to make our way back to the Beach Club and stopped at the Belgium kiosk and got a Belgium waffle with strawberries. It was so warm and delicious, and was the prefect snack at that point.


We made our way back to the Beach Club and went to the Marketplace to fill up our mugs. I also ended up getting a Beach Club tee shirt and key chain. I swear I can’t go in a Disney gift shop and not buy something, lol. We called it an early night and headed up to our room to relax, shower and watch some TV. Tomorrow was the day I had been waiting for since August., and was definitely going to be the best day of the trip!!
​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 6: Buddy comes to the Food & Wine Festival!!

Today was our last day at the Food and Wine Festival. What a better way to go out than with the Kitchen Memories event with Buddy Valastro this morning!! Yes, the Cake Boss was in town and we had tickets to his amazing lunch!

A little background about how this event came to for us- This was one of the reasons for us coming down to WDW so early in November. You see, we had originally planned on coming down the Saturday the 10th and staying through the following Thursday. However, when I found out that Buddy was going to be at Epcot doing the Kitchen Memories event we switched our week and came down earlier. Don’t regret that one bit! Yet, there was only one thing stopping us. The phone lines to register for this event I remember calling nonstop the first day in August that you could register for the signature events for the Food & Wine festival. I seriously sat on the phone for 2.5 hours and after many unsuccessful attempts at getting through, I was finally able to talk to a human!! YAY! Now, the question was, were there any seats left? I told the cast member what event we were looking for and she said there were still seats available. SCORE!!! I was so happy at that point. I for sure thought it would have been sold event (it did end up being sold out eventually) . Now I just had to wait for November….

Well that day finally arrived!! DH was actually really excited for this event too. How can you go wrong with lunch and desserts made by Buddy? We had met Buddy back home once while he was on a book tour and he was super nice. We have always been a fan of his work and he is just amazing at what he does.

We got up around 7am, got ready and we were waiting at the gates at the International Gateway by 8:45am. While we were waiting for Epcot to open, we noticed that they had started to hang up the “Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday” banners from all of the countries.

It’s amazing what Disney can do overnight!

In any event, we also found out that Buddy was doing a book signing for his new cook book following the Kitchen Memories event. Wristbands were being distributed for this which meant we had to get over to Festival Welcome Center as soon as Epcot opened. Now you would think that being at the Beach Club would put you at an advantage for something like this, WRONG! We literally had to sprint from one end of Epcot to the other. Somehow we got over to the Welcome Center in like 10 minutes, but there was already a line!!! The line was only 10-15 people deep so I definitely thought this wouldn’t be a problem. Well……they gave the last wristband to the family in front of us. I was crushed I thought they would have given a lot more wristbands than that. But…..there was still hope! The CM at the door saw that we were disappointed and said to come back to the line for the book signing as soon as the Kitchen Memories event ended. She told us that Buddy would be signing for 45 minutes and he got through both the wristband and stand by lines with time to spare when he did the book signing that past Tuesday. So that made us feel better. We went over to the festival shop and purchased 3 of Buddy’s new cookbooks (I got one for my mom and sister too as Christmas gifts). It was around 9:30am so we made our way over to where the Kitchen Memories event was taking place. I went up to the podium and checked us in.

We were seated at the “Oregano” table, which gave us a really good view of the demonstration (not to mention it was the table closet to the exit so that I could hop back in line for the book signing!)

We got seated and met the rest of our tablemates. There were 6 of us in total, 2 mom’s and their daughters and they were from Jacksonville. They were super nice and we talked about Disney for a while before the event got started.

Buddy came out to the demonstration around 10am, and introduced his wife Lisa, who was going to be his assistant for the demonstration. They joked around for a bit and then we all did a champagne toast, and yes it was only 10am!!

Buddy began cooking and his appetizer dish was a pasta in cream sauce. Now many of you are probably thinking, pasta in the morning? I’m Italian so I was totally ok with this!! The sauce was so rich and delicious.

DH wanted seconds and I could have gone for some more myself! The main entrée was a veal picatta with asparagus. Now I’m not a huge veal fan (I would prefer chicken over veal) so I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. However, it was PHENOMENAL!

The veal was so tender, and was downright delicious. With each course in the meal, a different wine was paired with it. The CM’s that were the servers kept filling up our glasses every time they were empty, so by 11am we were feeling pretty good!

Buddy talked about his life growing up and what inspired him to go into baking and he took some Q&A’s from the audience. He was so humble and down to earth throughout the whole event!

The meal part was now over and it was time for Buddy to make what I would like to think of as his signature dish….Cannoli’s!!!

Being from the Northeast, I’ve been to a lot of Italian bakeries. I will say that nothing was as good as a Carlo’s Bakery cannoli. The filling could melt in your mouth and the shell was crunchy (there’s nothing worse than a soggy cannoli )

Buddy did a little more chatting with the crowd, thanked everyone for being there.

I said goodbye to our tablemates and made a bee line to the book signing line. There were already about 15-20 people in the standby line. I was talking to the girl in front of me who lived in the area and she was actually coming over on her lunch hour to meet Buddy and get her book signed. How cool is that? I wish my lunch break could be spent at Epcot!!!

In any event, around 12:30pm Buddy and Lisa made their way out to start the book signings. We weren’t guaranteed to meet them as they were only signing for 45 minutes but the CM that was monitoring the line said we shouldn’t have a problem getting through. It was around 1pm and we were next, ahhh!!!! I was so excited….

Buddy was so friendly and down to earth. He shook DH’s hand, gave me a hug, and we said hi to Lisa, too. He asked what we thought of the luncheon and we said it was awesome.

He signed our books and took a few photos, and we were on our way! This was seriously the best special event at Disney we’ve ever done!!!

After we met Buddy we made our way “around the world” back to the Beach Club. It actually started to warm up a bit (finally!!) We stopped at the cheese fondue booth to see my cousin who was part of the DCP this past fall (super jealous by the way!) We chatted with her a bit, and got some more cheese fondue and sourdough bread. Yummy! We quickly stopped in Germany again and I got a small bag of the caramel popcorn to take home with me. We then went to the gift shop with all of the German Christmas ornaments.

This is DH’s favorite store at Disney. I will agree that all of the ornaments are so pretty in there. I ended up getting a Beauty and the Beast Ornament, a soldier Mickey and a Winnie the Pooh ornament for my parents. $100 later we decided it was time to head back to the room. Since it was warmer out today, we agreed that we’d go lounge by Stormalong Bay.

Picture perfect!


I really wish it had been warmer that week so we could have gone in the pools, but oh well, there’s always next time! We went back to the room, got changed and it was time for a feast at the Garden Grill and to get ready for MVMCP!!! It was Christmas time at the Magic Kingdom…..
​

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!

 

[herb102211]

Count me in!!

Hope you enjoy the TR!

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 7: Adios, Food &Wine Festival!!!​

After a fantastic morning at Epcot, we were heading back there again!

Tonight we had an ADR at the Garden Grill at 4:05pm! The Garden Grill is one of our favorite character meals. I love the fact that the food is brought to your table and you don’t have to worry about standing in line at buffets. Plus, the food is so good there! We made our way over to the Land and arrived around 3:50pm. The Garden Grill doesn’t open until 4:00, as they only serve dinner, but we were able to checkin at the podium. No sooner did we sit on the bench, our pager was flashing. It was dinner time! We got seated and our server took our drink order and brought us out some rolls and salad.

The Garden Grill rolls are sooo yummy!! Then the characters started rolling out….First up was Mickey.

DH and I grabbed a few photos with him. Dale stopped by next and apparently thought DH needed a little more salad….

Too cute!!!



Our server brought us out the rest of our meal, tilapia, roast beef, turkey and mashed potatoes. We were in heaven!! We were so going into a food coma after we finished eating here!



Pluto and Chip stopped by while we were eating and we got a few photos with them.

Our server asked us if we wanted anymore food. I don’t think we could have handled anymore food at that point, lol. However, we did manage to leave a little room for dessert. I was a little disappointed that they changed up the dessert. It used to be a mixed fruit crisp (sort of like an apple crisp but with berries in it). It was now a cake with berries in it. Still good, but I like the fruit crisp way more.



We got our check and we were on our way.



We said goodbye to what were a great 3 days at the Food & Wine Festival.

We made our way over to the monorail to head to the Magic Kingdom…

Tonight was the first night of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!!!

Wooohoo!!​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 8: The Christmas Season Has Officially Begun!​

I was so excited for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! It definitely gets you in the Christmas spirit (even if it was only November 9th!) This was our 3rd year going to MVMCP. Keep in mind that tonight’s party was sold out! Yes, sold out! I found that out a few days before we arrived that it had sold out. We had never experienced a sold out party before, so we weren’t really sure how the night was going to end up. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 6:30pm. Most guests were arriving now for the party (in case you didn’t know, you can get in as early as 4pm for both MNSSHP and MVMCP). We got out wristbands and we were on our way.

We stopped and took a photo in front of MK before heading in.

We walked underneath the train station and there were Christmas decorations everywhere!! It was so magical


I stopped to take a picture with the Toy Soldier (who doesn’t love the toy soldiers in the parade!)

We started to make our way down main street and this place was packed! Between the people arriving for the party and the day guests leaving, there were wall to wall people. Not a very enjoyable experience but we made do. I had the map for the party and I knew where the characters we were going to see were so we made our way over to Winnie the Pooh and friends. It was almost 7 at this point but we were the first people in line. As time passed, the line got longer, but there was still no sign of Winnie or any of the characters. Finally around 7:20pm, they arrived! We got our photos and we were off!

I loved the Photopass boarders that they had this year for Christmas.

I love how the Christmas music is playing and you can’t help but be in a good mood. We headed over to Frontierland and got a spot for the parade. The Christmas parades are the best. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. We didn’t have the best spot but we wanted to eat at Pecos Bills afterwards and we were on the hunt for the 7 Dwarves so we just stayed in Frontierland. If that parade doesn’t get you in the Christmas spirit, I don’t know what will!

Finally Santa arrived!

Once the parade was over, we made our way over to the Splash Mountain area. Originally we weren’t going to wait for the 7 Dwarves because we had met them at the MVMCP the year before, and usually the lines are super long. We were surprised that the lines weren’t too long so we joined in. The wait was probably about 20-25 minutes and that included a break for the Dwarves for a few minutes. We were next! The Dwarves are always so fun to meet and they always in character. It’s great.

We watched the fireworks near Crystal Palace and had a great view. There were hardly any people there.

After the fireworks, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. For whatever reason, there was a 25 minute wait. We decided to wait, because at that point, most of the rides had at least a 30+ minute wait. Once we got off Pirates of the Caribbean we headed back to Main Street.

There were hordes of people everywhere! It was crazy. We stopped to take a few pictures on Main Street with the Castle in the background.

Pretty Main Street

It was almost 11 and we decided to call it quits for the night. We were both exhausted. We made our way out of the Magic Kingdom and there were CM’s handing out Ghiradelli peppermint bark. So good!



We had a great time at MVMCP but the fact that it was so crowded did limit the amount of things we were able to do. We got back to the Beach Club, showered, and passed out as soon our heads hit the pillow. Tomorrow was our last day in Disney ​

 

[saintstickets]

Just found your TR and it is excellent!

DW and I are staying at BCV for the 1st time this October for F&W. Do you remember which room number you had or did you request a specific view?

Looking forward to more on your trip.

 

[herb102211]

Just found your TR and it is excellent!

DW and I are staying at BCV for the 1st time this October for F&W. Do you remember which room number you had or did you request a specific view?

Looking forward to more on your trip.

Thanks for joining in and I'm glad you are enjoying the TR!!

You are going to have a blast at the F&W festival!! October is the perfect time to go! We were there 10/23-10/29 in 2011 and there were virtually no crowds during the week.

Unfortunately, there aren't any view requests for BCV, but I do remember we were on the 5th floor (we were the room directly across from the Exit by the staircase).

 

[herb102211]

Saturday, November 10th, 2012​

Chapter 9~ Final Morning with the Fab 5!
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Today was our last day in Disney Say it ain’t so! I swear these trips go by in the blink of an eye. We were technically going home tomorrow morning, but we were checking out of the Beach Club Villas today. When we had originally booked this trip, there was no availability for pretty much any of the DVC resorts on Saturday night. Our waitlist never came through and we didn’t want to pay rack rate for another night at the Beach Club, since there weren’t any AP discounts available. We thought about staying at Art of Animation for the night, but since we had a 6:45am flight the next day, we didn’t want to have to catch Magical Express at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am. So we decided to stay at the Hyatt @ MCO Saturday night. Problem solved!



We packed a few last minute things and called bell services at the Beach Club to hold our luggage for the day. When we checked in, the cast member told us to stop by concierge on our last day to arrange a pickup time for Magical Express that night. We were going to the Obsourne lights tonight at Hollywood Studios so I wanted to make sure we had enough time to enjoy those. The cast member told us the last Magical Express pickup time was 8:50pm. Perfect! That was exactly enough time to explore the parks that day.



We went outside and waited for the bus to Magic Kingdom. We had an ADR for 11am at Chef Mickey’s! Breakfast with the Fab 5! It had been about 4 years since we last ate there, so we were excited to be going back. We got off at Magic Kingdom and boy was I glad we weren’t going there today. The crowds were insane! Even more so than last night at MVMCP. In any event, we hopped on the monorail and were off to the Contemporary.

We arrived around 10:45am and waited for our pager to go off.



We stopped to get our photo taken in front of the Chef Mickey statue and we headed to our table.

Our server came over to get our drink order and we went off to load up our plates. Mickey waffles and breakfast pizza, yum! They also had a fruit salad that was really good and the fruit was fresh. Before long, the characters started coming out. First up was Mickey!

I just love the characters in their chef outfits.



Next up were Minnie and Pluto

Goofy always messes around with DH no matter where we meet him. It’s too funny

Last but not least, Donald stopped by.

We were almost ready to go, when our server stopped by with 2 anniversary cupcakes and a card.

We were so full from breakfast that she gave us a box for us to take them to go. We thanked her, paid and were on our way.



We took the monorail back to MK and waited for the Beach Club bus. We got back to the Beach Club around 1pm and relaxed outside for a bit.

Surprisingly, it was pretty warm today (high 70s), so we relaxed outside on the beach by the Beach Club. I knew we wouldn’t be seeing these temperature for a while, so I soaked up as much sun as possible. We went back to the Marketplace to fill up our mugs and headed off for our last park of the trip…​

 

[herb102211]

Chapter 10~ Christmas in Hollywood!
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We left the Beach Club a little after 3 and waited for the Friendship boat to take us to Hollywood Studios.

Tonight was the Osborne Light Display! Woohoo! I think this is the best Christmas event in Disney World. Just love seeing all of those lights.

We got into Hollywood Studios around 3:30pm. The Christmas tree was already setup outside the entrance of Hollywood Studios and there was a photopass photographer stationed there.

So of course, we stopped!

We watched the Pixar Pals parade for a bit before making our way over to the Sci Fi Café.

We had an ADR there for 4:15pm. Sci Fi is our favorite restaurant in Hollywood Studios. The food just hits the spot and the milkshakes are SOOOO good!

We got seated right away in an orange car in the front row. A few minutes later we picked up a few hitchhikers who happened to be from New Hampshire. DH and I split the onion rings and buffalo chicken bites.We each ordered milkshakes to go with them. I will say that we have always had great service at the Sci Fi Café and the meals come out quickly. For the entrée, we each got the All American picnic burger. I had been dying for a good cheeseburger the whole trip so I was glad I finally got one!


What a great last meal of our trip!



It was a little after 5pm when we got out so we went to stake out or spot on the Streets of America for the Osborne light display. Other than the Buddy Valastro lunch, this was the event DH and I had been most excited before. Weve been twice before, but its such a magical display, how can you go wrong? Having been before, we know how crowded it gets, plus it was the first weekend for the lights, so we just figured we would hang out and wait. The lights are turned on around sunset which was a little after 6. DH held our spot while I went over to Youse Guys Moichandise to see the Christmas souvenirs they had. I ended up getting a stuffed Chip n Dale with their Santa hats on for underneath our Christmas tree. As it started getting darker out, the crowds grew. It was almost time! Santa Goofy stopped by and picked a family from the crowd to turn the lights on.

Ta da!!! Merry Christmas from Hollywood Studios!!

The lights are so beautiful and really put you in the Christmas spirit. I love how the Christmas carols are playing in the background too.

DH and I got in line for our photo by the big Christmas tree with the toy soldiers. We were the first ones in line.

For whatever reason, our photopass photo of this never got added to the card. I was so mad because I wanted to add one of Christmas boarders to it. Im glad I had given the photopass photographer our camera, too.



We walked around for a bit more to look at all of the displays. Santa Goofy was taking photos as well, but the line was 30+ minutes long and we didnt want to wait.

We stopped and took a few more pictures before making our way out.

It was almost 7:30pm at this point so we stopped at one last gift shop before heading back to the Friendship boat. We got back to the Beach Club around 7:45pm and got our luggage and waited for Magical Express. Tonight was the Food and Wine Festival Half Marathon so there were a lot of people in the lobby for that. I got a few snacks at the Marketplace and we filled up our mugs before heading outside to wait for the Magical Express. It was 8:55pm and Magical Express hadnt showed up. I knew there would be traffic and detours due to the marathon, so we sat and waited. It was around 9:15pm and a cast member came up to us and asked us if we were waiting for a cab. We told her we were waiting for Magical Express. She took our boarding paper and went back inside to find out where the bus was. She came back about 10 minutes later, apologized to us (even though it wasnt for us) and said that they had called a cab for us and to just give the cab driver the voucher. Literally as she was telling us this, the Magical Express bus pulled up! She said it was up to us as to whether or not we wanted the bus or the cab but I told her we would take the bus ( I felt bad that Disney was going to have to pay for the cab). Plus, I wanted to watch the movie



We boarded the bus, which we had all to ourselves by the way. We pulled out the Beach Club and said goodbye to Disney one last time. The driver asked us where we were headed to, and we told him the Hyatt. He dropped us off right at the entrance to the Hyatt!! It was so nice of him to do that.



It was now after 10pm by the time we checked in and we asked the front desk to give us a wakeup call at 4:45am. It was so convenient being at the airport because we just had to walk downstairs when we were ready to board our flight. If we had an early morning flight again, I would definitely stay there.

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