Hi it's me- you want some pretzel?- a sisters' Dec 2019 USO/WDW trip! new 1/24!

[lvcourtneyy]

I love those holiday wreaths! So cute. I'm glad to see the decorations there in December. I keep asking myself if we'd be happy at a value resort at Christmas time...I've been on the fence as I consider different options for our 2021 trip. This helps!

We didn't mind being at a value at all! Whenever we go around the holidays, we like to make time for resort hopping to see the decorations at the other hotels anyway so we never felt like we were missing anything!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I just got all caught up on this trip report!

I hope you had a great Christmas with your new little boy!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Let the Drinking Begin!

Long ago when we left off, we'd just finished voting in the wreath contest at All-Star Movies and were going to do a little exploring of the resort.

The main pool is Fantasia themed and has Sorcerer Mickey .







We were loving the theming!







Next we hit the Herbie section. I don't think I've ever seen the movie but the area was cute lol.











I was dying to see the Toy Story section but it was getting close to 3 pm and we had resort hopping to do so we headed out.



Our first stop- the Poly!









The Poly tree is nice but it always feels like they should do more. How cool would it be to have a gingerbread beach bungalow?!





We put our names in at Trader Sam's but it was already a long wait so we decided to get drinks from the outside terrace and walk over to the Grand Floridian.





I got the Mele Kaliki Mai Tai because I wanted to get the souvenir seasonal tiki cup and Kim got a Hippopotomai-tai which is my usual go-to and also decided to buy the cup.



On the terrace, the drinks aren't served in the souvenir mugs but you can still purchase them. You simply go inside to Trader Sam's with your receipt when you're ready to pick them up. The orange nutcracker mug in the middle was the seasonal release that I wanted and Kim's was the tan one that's on the right next to the zombie.

https://imgur.com/7m1vNWg

We hadn't eaten any substantial meal since breakfast and our original plan was for an early dinner at Jiko. However, we opted to cancel our reservation and figured we'd get some food while at Trader Sam's. That plan was foiled by the wait to get in so we decided to enjoy our drinks while we walked over to the Grand Floridian and figured we'd get food there.



It was a gorgeous day with gorgeous views as we walked .





And in almost no time, we were entering the Grand to see it all decked out for Christmas!



Up next: more drinks and do we ever get food?!​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I just got all caught up on this trip report!

I hope you had a great Christmas with your new little boy!

Thanks for catching up! We did hope your family had a great Christmas also!

 

[pkondz]

Let the Drinking Begin!

The main pool is Fantasia themed and has Sorcerer Mickey .

You know... I've stayed at ASMu numerous times, and walked through ASSp several times to get to ASMu... but I don't think I've ever been to ASMo.

Next we hit the Herbie section. I don't think I've ever seen the movie

I watched it not long after its release... and again not long ago on Disney+.

And they have a Herbie there!!!!!

Cute.

Pretty tree! Very unique, too.

The Poly tree is nice but it always feels like they should do more. How cool would it be to have a gingerbread beach bungalow?!

We put our names in at Trader Sam's but it was already a long wait so we decided to get drinks from the outside terrace and walk over to the Grand Floridian.

Annnndddd... the instant you left... "Courtney? Party of two? Courtney?"

<sigh>... Not being a rum fan, I'd have to settle for the Jingle Jammer.

It was a gorgeous day with gorgeous views as we walked .

Looks like it!

Whoa!

Up next: more drinks and do we ever get food?!

I'm gonna say yes, because if you didn't, you'd die and you wouldn't be writing this.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We were loving the theming!

I do think that all of the value resorts are so fun! We did make a trip over to Art of Animation just to walk around and see all of the stuff! I would love to see all of the resorts at some point.

How cool would it be to have a gingerbread beach bungalow?!

YES!!! Maybe with the Moana retheme that they are doing now, they will do something then.

 

[footballmouse]

The Grand Floridian is so beautiful!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a fun time exploring your resort and going to the Poly!!

 

[kastoney]

Let the Drinking Begin!

You had me at drinking

How cool would it be to have a gingerbread beach bungalow?!

That would be amazing!!!!

The orange nutcracker mug in the middle was the seasonal release that I wanted and Kim's was the tan one that's on the right next to the zombie.

How cool. I had no idea they had seasonal tiki mugs. We've only been there once and like you had to be outside. We definitely need to get back. It somehow slipped off my radar.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

You know... I've stayed at ASMu numerous times, and walked through ASSp several times to get to ASMu... but I don't think I've ever been to ASMo.

I stayed at Sports once but never music- I have visited on Halloween to meet characters though!

I watched it not long after its release... and again not long ago on Disney+.

Oo I didn't realize it was on Disney +! I'll have to try to watch it someday

Annnndddd... the instant you left... "Courtney? Party of two? Courtney?"

<sigh>... Not being a rum fan, I'd have to settle for the Jingle Jammer.

Yeah Trader Sam's is probably not the place for you then. I think most if not all drinks there are rum based.

I'm gonna say yes, because if you didn't, you'd die and you wouldn't be writing this.

Good point. You're too smart for this trip report.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I do think that all of the value resorts are so fun! We did make a trip over to Art of Animation just to walk around and see all of the stuff! I would love to see all of the resorts at some point.

I think we've visited them all at this point but I would like to stay at them all eventually.

YES!!! Maybe with the Moana retheme that they are doing now, they will do something then.

Oo yess that would be awesome!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

The Grand Floridian is so beautiful!

Yes it is!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Sounds like a fun time exploring your resort and going to the Poly!!

It was! I love some good resort time!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

How cool. I had no idea they had seasonal tiki mugs. We've only been there once and like you had to be outside. We definitely need to get back. It somehow slipped off my radar.

I think the Halloween ones are much more popular but Disney can get me to collect almost anything lol. We like sitting out on the terrace but inside is even more fun. I'm not sure when they'll ever get to reopen since it's so small in there but hopefully at some point!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I Didn't Even Get to Take a Picture!

The first thing we did at the Grand was take tons of pictures of the Christmas tree and gingerbread house. We even found photopass photographers out to take pictures of us.







On our trip in 2015 for Kim's 21st birthday, the photopass CM used my phone to take a vertical panoramic picture of us to get the whole tree in it and I wish I'd thought to ask them to do that this time too.







As gorgeous as the tree is, I love the gingerbread house even more.

You can see the long line of people behind us in line to buy treats.













It was December 14th at this point so I guess we missed the signings lol.



700 lbs of chocolate



Finally, we made our way upstairs and continued taking pictures from a new angle.



If you didn't come to this TR to see every angle of the Grand lobby, well, I'm sorry.







And what's a good photoshoot without some selfies?



A much smaller but still pretty tree.



I spy a gorgeous bride casually hanging out in the lobby!











Portrait mode inspired this one and I kinda love it!









Once we finished obsessing over the tree (for now), we went into Basin.



Naturally we did what fancy people at the Grand do and washed our hands.



Kim was even kind enough to film me washing my hands, as though she knew there was a pandemic coming and we'd have to teach people to wash their hands.

https://imgur.com/g6ouPtl

Kim bought something and I bought some face scrub that the CM swore was amazing that is sitting in my bathroom and I've yet to use lol.

Freshly scrubbed, we finally made it to our intended destination- Enchanted Rose!



We were able to grab a table for 2 windowside so we were excited.

Some cute decor.



​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I Didn't Even Get to Take a Picture Part 2

We spied the bride again from the window and wondered if they were filming for Fairytale Weddings since there seemed to be a lot of cameras around.







We were starving and had looked at the small plate options online and were very excited about them...only to find out they don't start serving until 5. It was 4 pm at this point and we were still hoping to get called for Trader Sam's and waiting an hour to order food seemed like torture.

The natural way to deal with our starvation was to just order more drinks.



We both ordered the Island Rose (Ketel One Grapefruit and Rose, Lime, Orgeat (Almond), Pineapple, Bitters, and Rose Water $15).



I think the real draw here are the drinks they make tableside but neither of them appealed to us and they were over $20 each!

Our drinks were decent, nothing outstanding. The bar itself was themed nicely and the light Beauty and the Beast theming was cute but nothing to write home about. I would go again if I were there and in need of a drink lol but it wasn't a place I'm rushing back to.

You can kinda see the bride and groom in Cinderella's carriage here.



Kim got a nice video of it in action.

https://imgur.com/KTVkt97

We were finished with our drinks around 4:45 and debated getting another drink and ordering food but decided to go back to the Poly instead.

Some more decor pictures on our way out.





Is anyone surprised that we took more Christmas decoration pictures while leaving? Because you shouldn't be .









We were feeling very silly on our walk back to the Poly.



I photobombed a picture Kim was trying to take and this was the result:

https://imgur.com/JdrcEIg

Like children, we were very entertained writing our names in the sand .





In true little sister fashion, Kim ruined mine before I even got to take a picture.

https://imgur.com/pVUGNDN

This clip to me shows what genuine happiness looks like and I wish I was there right now!

https://imgur.com/AXZKLqY

When we got back to the Poly, we hadn't been called for Trader Sam's still and the hunger situation was getting desperate so we decided to go to Captain Cooks for some food.



We got an order of my favorite to share .



Pulled Pork Nachos (Topped with Cheese, Spicy Mayonnaise, Pico de Gallo, and Pineapple Salsa $9.49). YUM. If you've never had these, you must!

Literally the minute we got our food, we got a text to come back to Trader Sam's.

We told this to the CM at Captain Cook's delivering our food and she told us it happens often and said we could just take our nachos there with us.

So we did just that.







It was Kim's first time inside Trader Sam's and we were both really excited. Unfortunately our waitress was nice but not really into the shtick with us but she was playing it up with the people at the table two away from us so who knows? We still had fun anyway!



Part of the fun at Trader Sam's is that when you order certain specialty drinks, there are effects in the bar!

We got the Uh-Oa (Plantation Original Dark Rum, Bacardi Superior Rum, Orange, Passion Fruit, Guava, Pineapple, and Grapefruit Juices, Falernum, Cinnamon, and fresh Lime Juice. Recommended for Two or more Guests $23) which I was really excited for because I always want to try it but it's huge and Mike never wants to share with me.



I planned to purchase the souvenir mug but somehow I forgot to at the time.

Uh-Oa special effects!

https://imgur.com/aQc09jC

This was good but we found it very strong! Definitely splittable lol. You make the flame by throwing the cinnamon on the top so if you don't like cinnamon flavor, be careful how much you throw lol.



​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I Didn't Even Get to Take a Picture part 3

As delicious as our nachos were, they weren't enough to cure our starvation so we ordered some food also. Plus, we needed to soak up some rum.

We decided to share the Pan-Fried Dumplings with soy-sesame dipping sauce (9.50)



and the Veggie Rainbow sushi roll ($11.50)



These were both good choices and our bellies were much happier with us.

Some more bar photos.











Some lovely people sat down next to us and we saw them struggling with a selfie and offered to take their photo so they offered one back.



After we ate and drank ourselves full, it was time to head out because we had tickets for After Hours at Animal Kingdom!

Goodnight Poly!

​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This was good but we found it very strong! Definitely splittable lol.

I ordered this from the outside window because I also wanted the cup. And it was super strong.... And I also didn't really love it.

I have yet to make it inside Trader Sam's. We have done the outdoor patio which is nice but obvisously not the same thing.

 

[SonnyEclipsesSpaceAngel]

Hey just tuning into your trip report and I have been enjoying it so far. I have been to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto a few times and the last time that I went I ordered the Uh Oa and it was so good. The effects was pretty neat as well, especially when everyone chanted her name. Anyway I am looking forward to reading more about your trip, glad you had fun. Great pictures btw.

 

[pkondz]

I stayed at Sports once but never music- I have visited on Halloween to meet characters though!

Really! I didn't know they had character meets at the Values.

Yeah Trader Sam's is probably not the place for you then. I think most if not all drinks there are rum based.

I know. I've been to the one in California. Wasn't easy finding something to drink.

Good point. You're too smart for this trip report.

This is correct and true.

The first thing we did at the Grand was take tons of pictures of the Christmas tree and gingerbread house.

But of course. It must be done.

On our trip in 2015 for Kim's 21st birthday, the photopass CM used my phone to take a vertical panoramic picture of us to get the whole tree in it and I wish I'd thought to ask them to do that this time too.

Oh! What a good idea!

700 lbs of chocolate

700 lbs!?!?? It would take me almost 2 whole days to eat all that!

If you didn't come to this TR to see every angle of the Grand lobby, well, I'm sorry.

Naturally we did what fancy people at the Grand do and washed our hands.

How very forward thinking of you.

Kim was even kind enough to film me washing my hands, as though she knew there was a pandemic coming and we'd have to teach people to wash their hands.

I thought that video looked familiar. We use it up here in Canada all the time.

Kim bought something and I bought some face scrub that the CM swore was amazing that is sitting in my bathroom and I've yet to use lol.

So... the CM could have been lying for all you know.

We spied the bride again from the window and wondered if they were filming for Fairytale Weddings since there seemed to be a lot of cameras around.

Hmm... I wonder!

The natural way to deal with our starvation was to just order more drinks.

But of courshh... of courshh.... of couuurrshh.... exactly.

I think the real draw here are the drinks they make tableside but neither of them appealed to us and they were over $20 each!

Better be 1. One heck of a show and 2. One heck of a drink!

Is anyone surprised that we took more Christmas decoration pictures while leaving? Because you shouldn't be .

Nope!

We were feeling very silly on our walk back to the Poly.

I wonder why? Huh. Odd.

In true little sister fashion, Kim ruined mine before I even got to take a picture.

Literally the minute we got our food, we got a text to come back to Trader Sam's.

Of course. It's designed that way.

We told this to the CM at Captain Cook's delivering our food and she told us it happens often and said we could just take our nachos there with us.

Phew! Crisis averted!

Unfortunately our waitress was nice but not really into the shtick with us but she was playing it up with the people at the table two away from us so who knows?

Oh, she just hated you guys. That's all.

We decided to share the Pan-Fried Dumplings with soy-sesame dipping sauce (9.50)

yum!