How the Other Half Lives ~ Updated 10/22: I Forgot Something!

[norybell]

Just found your TR, and read through the whole thing at once! I can't believe you got such an amazing rate at the Poly...I wish I were there right now!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[aprilisis]

Great update! I LOVE it when restaurants serve bread with roasted garlic- that looked so yummy! I really love that fleece with the castle on it, too. I didn't realize that Mickey's Pantry had so many food items. I'm definitely going to have to check it out in May!

 

[A&Bmama]

I really liked this too. It’s not my birthstone, but I love blue! So, Dug stealthily got me one for Christmas too, later in the trip!

That's so sweet of Dug! I love the necklace.

I’d forgotten that this store had added an extensive spice/tea/salt/sugar section. We were sucked into that for quite awhile, smelling all the goodies. A nice cast member helped us pick out some things. We got a lot of gifts here:

Pizza seasoning for Dug’s sister and BIL, since they like to make homemade pizza

Salt free steak seasoning for Dug’s dad, since he loves to grill steaks

My dad and step-mom enjoy cooking, so we got them a few things: chardonnay oak salt, California fields tea, and a California spice blend

There is a couple we’re friends with and they love tea, so we got a few for them: almond cookie tea, Bombay chai tea, and a sampler pack

All of those things sound so good. I love trying new spices and I am always up for a good cup of tea.

Not pictured, we also got popcorn seasoning, which Dug has already finished, since he loves popcorn. popcorn:

Do you remember what flavours of seasonings they had. My favorite is dill pickle salt, although, I'm not sure that it is popular in the US.

When we checked out, we asked for everything to be shipped back to our room, but they are not allowed to ship food products, so we ended up carrying it around. Oh well, not too heavy.

Really? I didn't know that. I can understand why they wouldn't want to deliver perishables but don't really get why they wouldn't deliver spices and such.

Just in time for naptime!

I took a brief nap and here’s where you get to see the fleece we bought:

I love the throw. An afternoon nap is so nice. I don't think I've had one since 1999 though . . . hold on, there was that time I have the flu, I think I got a nap then.

 

[Dugette]

i'm late to the party but i found you and i'm loving it

Glad to have you here!

I love hearing what you got there for Christmas! The fleece blanket you got is adorable!
Great update!

I love that fleece--so pretty! And very useful...(coming up soon...)

I love the Christmas store at DTD, it's my favorite! I always spend way too much money there!

Understandable. We spent A LOT of time (and money) in there too! So much to see!

I've always wondered about Portobello, it seems like it would be good! I didn't know they had a meatball bar!

The menu looked pretty good. It was very quiet while we were there. I loved the idea of the meatball bar! My kinda bar!

I love that castle throw, I got one the year before, and I use it all the time!

I would totally use ours all the time if it weren't still sitting next to Dug's suitcase, where it travelled home with his dirty clothes! I really need to wash that...3 months is pathetic! I will wash it after this post!

Sounds like you guys are having a great time!! Great idea to do some Christmas Shopping in disney!!
Mickey's Pantry sounds great!! I'll have to check that out for sure!!

I'm so glad we decided to do the Disney Christmas shopping...it was really fun. Gave us a chance to explore AND get something useful done. And, really, the fact that it came from WDW is really the only good excuse for giving someone a packet of seasoning for Christmas! Check out Mickey's Pantry for sure - LOVED that store! Especially the Tea & Spice Exchange area!

Salmon meatballs???? eeekkkk.....I don't blame you for staying away - LOL
and I love Salmon, but in a meatball???

Dug loved it, but I'm a fish-avoider, so I steered clear!

The cooking store sounds very interesting AND very yummy!

Indeed it was! Fun place to browse around. Sniffing all the spices is fun!

Wow! Great job with doing a huge chunk of your Christmas shopping. You guys have a big list of people to shop for Don't envy you! Luckily my family is huge so we pull names

Yeah, I used to have a pretty small list before getting married. But it's not so bad now, just immediate family (including grandparents) and a few friends, really.

Just found your TR, and read through the whole thing at once! I can't believe you got such an amazing rate at the Poly...I wish I were there right now!

Can't wait to read more!

Glad you joined!

Yeah, I'm not sure Poly Club can be had for any better of a rate than we got. Value season, 40% off, lowest Garden View rate, one night free. Still can't believe it! Ditto on the being there right now!

Great update! I LOVE it when restaurants serve bread with roasted garlic- that looked so yummy! I really love that fleece with the castle on it, too. I didn't realize that Mickey's Pantry had so many food items. I'm definitely going to have to check it out in May!

I'm not sure I've ever been somewhere that they brought out the garlic clove like that. Dug was all over it, though! Very tasty! Thanks on the fleece. For sure, swing by Mickey's Pantry if you get the chance!

That's so sweet of Dug! I love the necklace.

Thanks! One of these days I'll actually wear it...guess I can't just wait for a Disney trip for that!

All of those things sound so good. I love trying new spices and I am always up for a good cup of tea.

Do you remember what flavours of seasonings they had. My favorite is dill pickle salt, although, I'm not sure that it is popular in the US.

You would have fun checking out all the good-smelling canisters of things in there, I bet! They had all kinds of different seasonings. Not sure about the dill pickle salt, but wouldn't be surprised either. I just went online and found some pics so you can see what the place offers:

http://www.wdwmagic.com/Shopping/Mickeys-Pantry/Gallery/22Nov2010-The-Spice-and-Tea-Exchange.htm

Really? I didn't know that. I can understand why they wouldn't want to deliver perishables but don't really get why they wouldn't deliver spices and such.

I don't know. Maybe it was the shortbread cookies? Even though we had a lot of stuff, it was all small and light, so no big deal to carry with us.

I love the throw. An afternoon nap is so nice. I don't think I've had one since 1999 though . . . hold on, there was that time I have the flu, I think I got a nap then.

If only work would let me take an afternoon nap...

 

[merbobear]

I just read your whole TR so far...I was feeling bad in teh beginning that your flight was so delayed, but it seems like your luck turned around big time as soon as your feet hit Disney property! Club level at a bargain price for your whole trip! Unbelievable
Can't wait to read more!

 

[Dugette]

I just read your whole TR so far...I was feeling bad in teh beginning that your flight was so delayed, but it seems like your luck turned around big time as soon as your feet hit Disney property! Club level at a bargain price for your whole trip! Unbelievable
Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in! I know, the luck was crazy with the good/bad switch-offs early on in this trip! The Poly Club level was true Disney magic

 

[Dugette]

After our brief post-shopping nap, we headed down the hall to the Club Lounge:

It was time for dinner/snacks! We enjoyed potstickers, chicken on a stick, salad, cheese/crackers, fruit, Kilauea juice, and pitas/hummus:

After fueling up, we hopped on a boat to the Magic Kingdom for this:

We entered the MK under the entrance that was labeled for special events. We used our MVMCP tickets to get in (rather than our APs). Once inside, we wondered where we were supposed to get our wristbands. We saw some signs that seemed to indicate that we needed to go down Main Street to get them, but then those signs disappeared. We asked a CM and they had no idea. Another CM, however, said to go back to the City Hall area.

So, we made our way back to City Hall and went inside. They told us that we should have been given wristbands when we entered the park with our MVMCP tickets. Clearly, that didn’t happen. Otherwise, they were available over by Stitch’s ride in Tomorrowland. But, since our tickets had already been scanned, they thought it best to just give us wristbands right there at City Hall.

Wearing our prestigious new wristbands, we headed out down Main Street again. The parade (Move it, Shake it, I think?) was making it’s way down the street, so we took some pics and video over/between people’s heads as we bypassed it:

Our destination was the Hub, to find a good spot for the castle lighting ceremony. We found a rail to lean against, with a nice view, and waited. When the show started, people kept standing in front of us and blocking our view, so we had to move around quite a bit to see. In fact, the video I took is constantly blocked by people who are lifting their children onto their shoulders, right in front of me. After dodging several of these, I managed to get some video from just in between a couple of the shoulder-children.

Anyway, we enjoyed the show and Dug managed to hold his camera high enough to get a few pictures of the process:

Gotta love the beautiful lit up castle!

If you read the TR for our first trip, back in September 2009, you may remember that we used the touring plans from the Unofficial Guide to WDW for our trip (touringplans.com). We were commandos. Our other trips, we have been more relaxed (but still have priorities). However, we decided to pull out the Touring Plan again for MVMCP. We wanted to make sure we hit all of the special events this night. Rides weren’t a priority, but seeing all the shows was.

So, our Touring Plan told us to start off in Tomorrowland. It said that the holiday treat station near the Plaza/Noodle Station opened early. We saw the balloon indicating the treat station:

Not open yet, though:

Oh, well. We’d just have to get some cookies and cocoa later.

Since we were in Tomorrowland and had a bit of time to kill before the party officially started, we decided to hop on the TTA/Peoplemover:

We enjoyed seeing the special lighting for the party. Space Mountain had a snowflake overlay:

We also enjoyed the red and green lighting on all the trees in Tomorrowland. While we rode along, Dug got on his iPhone to figure out when the Seven Dwarves came out, since he wanted to get a picture for a friend back home who loves Bashful. He found out that they came out right at 7pm, when the party started, so we headed over there (the stroller parking area by Small World) as fast as we could after the TTA. On our way over there, around the Dumbo area, we had our wristbands checked for the first time. A CM was teaching another CM how to do it. We passed the test!

We got to the Dwarves’ mine just before 7pm and there was already a line. However, from everything I’ve heard (and what the CM said), not a bad line at all. Right at 7, it started moving and it probably only took us 10-15 minutes to get to the front. Here’s some of their jewels from the mine:

And here are the Dwarves between photo ops:

We wanted to get one picture of us with the whole group and one of just Dug and Bashful (to give to his friend). Didn’t seem that complicated. Well, this is the best they could do with our camera (the other picture is AWFUL and not worth posting):

And here’s the Photopass shot:

Apparently, getting all Seven Dwarves in the picture and facing the camera is pretty tricky!

Up next: A show, some treats, and character meet & greets!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I think you are on to something....just stay Concierge and never have to pay for food in the parks. I could have lived all week on those snacks

The Dwarves purposely don't all look at the camera I think. I believe they are supposed to be acting silly.

 

[Nermel9]

The castle lighting ceremony looks so amazing! I can't believe I haven't seen it, and have gone twice during the Christmas season in the past 2 years!

I love that photopass border you got for the Dwarf pic! That wasn't available when I picked my borders!

 

[jc040404]

I'm so wishing it was Christmas right now! The castle lighting is so much fun to watch. That Seven Dwarfs pic is nuts. Did they not notice the missing dwarf? I do have to say that the photopass version is kinda funny though.

 

[norybell]

That's so funny about the dwarf pictures! You'd think they could set the camera up in such a way that they could more easily get them all in one shot, wouldn't you?

I love seeing the MK Christmas pics! Someday I'll get to see them for myself...

 

[OatsZoo]

I don't know. Maybe it was the shortbread cookies? Even though we had a lot of stuff, it was all small and light, so no big deal to carry with us.

We tried having the coloured hot chocolate cans delivered to the resort and they wouldn't do them either. Not sure why but it definitely was not perishable.

 

[OatsZoo]

I love the photopass picture. Dug is standing right in front of one of them and they have their hands up like saying "hey what's up with this" hahaha very funny!

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Great update!
That's funny about the dwarfs not fitting in the Photopass pic....it is a good picture of both of you and the 5 3/4 dwarfs!!

The seven dwarfs are my favorite...after all they do work in a diamond mine!

The dinner/snacks look yummy....
Can't wait to read more!

 

[Dugette]

Wow, I've really been slacking on my DIS duties! Sorry I've been slow. New update coming up, though!

I think you are on to something....just stay Concierge and never have to pay for food in the parks. I could have lived all week on those snacks

I agree. If you like to graze, this is a great eating option. It's not a "meal", but there's plenty of yummy stuff!

The Dwarves purposely don't all look at the camera I think. I believe they are supposed to be acting silly.

Hmmmm, it seems like they were more organized for other people's photos. I think our request to have a pic of Dug with Bashful really threw them off. No clue what the Photopass person was taking pics of either. I never knew if I was even in the pic (couldn't tell if they were doing the group shot or just Dug/Bashful), so the Dwarves were probably confused too.

The castle lighting ceremony looks so amazing! I can't believe I haven't seen it, and have gone twice during the Christmas season in the past 2 years!

Wow, I can't believe you haven't seen that either! It was pretty neat!

I love that photopass border you got for the Dwarf pic! That wasn't available when I picked my borders!

Yeah, we thought that border worked well with it. Bummer they didn't have it for you...I wish they always just had all the borders to choose from, but it changed, depending on the photo location/event.

I'm so wishing it was Christmas right now! The castle lighting is so much fun to watch. That Seven Dwarfs pic is nuts. Did they not notice the missing dwarf? I do have to say that the photopass version is kinda funny though.

Yeah, the dwarf picture is funny. The one is hiding behind poor Dug. Not sure if that was on purpose or not?

That's so funny about the dwarf pictures! You'd think they could set the camera up in such a way that they could more easily get them all in one shot, wouldn't you?

I love seeing the MK Christmas pics! Someday I'll get to see them for myself...

It would have been nice if we had even one shot of us with ALL seven dwarves visible, but oh well. Christmas at Disney is very memorable...I hope you get to see it yourself sometime!

We tried having the coloured hot chocolate cans delivered to the resort and they wouldn't do them either. Not sure why but it definitely was not perishable.

Huh, maybe there's just some rule about any sort of food/consumable product?

I love the photopass picture. Dug is standing right in front of one of them and they have their hands up like saying "hey what's up with this" hahaha very funny!

Exactly! It's hard to even notice that dwarf at first!

Great update!
That's funny about the dwarfs not fitting in the Photopass pic....it is a good picture of both of you and the 5 3/4 dwarfs!!

The seven dwarfs are my favorite...after all they do work in a diamond mine!

The dinner/snacks look yummy....
Can't wait to read more!

I like that...the 5 3/4 dwarves!

Yes, dinner/snacks was tasty!

 

[Dugette]

After our meet and greet with the Seven Dwarves, our Touring Plan told us to head back to Tomorrowland for the Rockin’ Tomorrowland show at 7:45pm. We made it to the Tomorrowland stage a little early and had to wait for the show to start. Dug was a little sore, so he ended up sitting on the ground (by the kids). I stood behind him. Soon enough, the show started. Here’s a glimpse:

Dug thought the show’s star was “so Raven”:

The show was fairly entertaining and it snowed (soap) at the end.

Afterwards, we had some time to kill, so headed over to the Starlight Café for some treats. We had cookies, hot chocolate, and apple juice:

Goofy danced and led a conga line:

After a nice break, we headed out to scout out a good place to watch the fireworks later. On our way, we came across a Photopass photographer:

We made our way over to the Crystal Palace area, as we’d heard that there was decent fireworks viewing on the bridge to Adventureland. While we were over there, we came across another Photopass photographer. She was shivering in the cold! Got a nice shot, though:

We still had some time to kill, so we wandered into Adventureland. We noticed a building open that we hadn’t been in before. We decided to check it out. Turns out that Lilo and Stitch were in there, with almost nobody in line. We figured, since we were staying at the Poly, a pic with them would be fitting. We got in line and one of the Photopass CMs was demonstrating to us how some Photopass cards (like ours) make “exciting” wobbling sounds when bent. I guess there are limited things to amuse you if you’re a Photopass line CM. Anyway, we got our pic:

They also had holiday treats in that building, so we grabbed some more. It was nice to have hot chocolate in the cold (the high that day was 71, but the low was 51 and quite windy). When we headed out, we ran into some country bears (no flash, so not a great photo):

At this point, we decided it was about time to head over to the Hub and stakeout a good spot to see the fireworks. We’d never seen a fireworks show from the Hub or Main Street, so we thought this was a good opportunity to do so.

Up next: Holiday Wishes!

 

[TheDreamsComeTrue]

Great update! The show looks fun, I've never been to it before.

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Thanks for the update!
brrr, it must have been COLD

 

[jc040404]

Hooray for an update! I've been wondering about you!

The party looks like so much fun! Was that really Raven??

Your Stitch pic was so cute! I'll have to try out that photopass card trick.

Can't wait to see what you thought of the fireworks!!

 

[OatsZoo]

Hooray, your back, was beginning to wonder if you were going to continue, have followed some in the past that just stop....thanks for the update. The castle looks amazing! Where the snacks free or did you have to pay extra for them? Have never been to Disney around Christmas, seems a bit chilly. I am from Canada so I go on vacation to get away from the cold, 51 is a bit cold for me but would love to go one year to see the lights.