Jingle Bell Jingle BAM: A Christmas 2019 Trip Report

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Nice that the kids were able to get a little pool time in. I love a night swim, but with the shorter pool hours on our last couple trips, we just haven't been able to make it work.

Now that the girls are older, we have tried to do mre night swimming but it is hard with the shorter pool hours. That was the one nice thing about our trip in August!

We really loved this meal, too! Of course, Dopey is my absolute favorite, so I would definitely do this meal again if it comes back Any excuse to see my favorite dwarf!

The dwarfs are a lot of fun, for sure!

love WL. We stayed there once and loved it! We were supposed to be there next week, our first trip staying at Fort Wilderness, but postponed due to Covid

I am sorry you are missing out on your trip! That must be so hard!!! Hopefully you can reschedule soon!

Since we typically go in the summer we've skipped it the past couple of times, as it's just so hot to sit and wait for it. However, our next trip should be in a little better weather, so we'll probably put it back on the schedule.

You guys def should! If you sit on the Pecos Bill side there is usually shade. We just never get there in time to snag those spots.

Your secret spot looks amazing and I'm so stealing that location as a future cooldown spot.

It would be a perfect place to feed the baby! You will get some people walking by but most won't even know you guys are there!

So good. I'm trying to decide if this meal is worth it again in the future. We were on the dining plan when we went before, but probably won't be next time, so don't know if I'd want to pay OOP for it.

It def was $$$ but I think we will go again. Not a every trip meal, mind you.

Your post is giving me all the Wilderness Lodge and Christmas feels. I told Jason come hell or high water we are doing both in December.

That would be nice!!! BTW, Gwen tried to make one of her answers something with Casey... I don't remember which one, but

As you know we aren't much into character meals but Storybook Dining really does look like something we'd enjoy. I'm still sad Artist Point isn't what it was but its good to see Disney upping the food game when it comes to a character meal.

I do think you guys would enjoy the meal. I know it's not really your thing, but the food was good. Def one of the better meals at a character place. And the evil queen is fun. As a side note, Gwen said she wanted to do Hoop Dee Doo Review with Casey. So, "when" we overlap again and "when" the restaurant reopens, we will have to make that happen!

 

[cstorm65]

That looks like a great dinner. It looks interesting maybe just because it is different how they do the appetizers and desserts. Of course right now we all just hope character meals come back at some point!

 

[vamassey1]

Great Meal! We enjoyed our meal here too but I'm not going to give any details since it will show up in my reports eventually. We ended out trip here.

 

[disneyAndi14]

What a fun meal and WL decorated for Christmas is so beautiful!
We did the Storybook Dining once and I am so glad we did.
We loved our food and meeting the evil Queen

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Sounds like a great time at Artist Point! The first time I went it was a miss for me but then we gave it another chance and we loved it! I agree- I hope this is the new way character meals will be when they return.

 

[cheryllarsen]

Great read. Thanks for posting!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We loved our meal at Artist Point that Christmas. My youngest adored Snow White and the Dwarves, but took one look at the Queen and said, "I don't want to snuggle her!" But he was sport and went up and took pictures with her anyway, and they had a fun interaction. We had the FDP, but I think this is one character meal I would repeat even out of pocket.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

That looks like a great dinner. It looks interesting maybe just because it is different how they do the appetizers and desserts. Of course right now we all just hope character meals come back at some point!

Yeah, it is def different the way they do it. With no real choices for the apps and dessert. But they were more than accomidating with providing more of anything.

We enjoyed our meal here too but I'm not going to give any details since it will show up in my reports eventually. We ended out trip here.

Can't wait to hear all about it!

We loved our food and meeting the evil Queen

The Evil Queen was very entertaining!

The first time I went it was a miss for me but then we gave it another chance and we loved it! I agree- I hope this is the new way character meals will be when they return.

What didn't you like about it the first time around?

Great read. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for following along!

My youngest adored Snow White and the Dwarves, but took one look at the Queen and said, "I don't want to snuggle her!"

How cute!!! And I agree, she is not snuggle potential AT ALL!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Sunday Everyone!!! We have snow coming our way this afternoon. Which is kind of exciting, we haven't had a real snow here in South Jersey for a good 2 to 3 years. We will see, there is ALWAYS a chance that they will be wrong. And we really don't have anywhere to go! So, bring on the snow.

So, what better thing to do on this hopefully snowy Sunday, but start our next trip day...

Day Four: A Slightly rough start to the day.

We were all VERY tired from yesterday, and well some folks were slow moving and grabby this morning. Last night we did agree to take our time to getting up and out this morning. We were headed tto EPCOT today, and really no HUGE need to rope drop except to get on Test Track.

We woke up around 7:30 and slowly got ready for the day. I apparently threw the Tinker bell Gifts in the bathtub... Not sure why...
Tinkerbell Gifts
Today's item was lanyards for all the kids with a check list of the Santa's in EPCOT. These were a big hit for half the kids (aka Big L and Gwen) Morgan liked it but kind of forgot about it once we were at the EPCOT.

We still managed to leave the rooms a little before 9:00 AM and headed to the Skyliner.
Getting on the Skyliner
We walked over to the Rivera stop at a nice leasurely slow pace. It was nice to not being in a HUGE rush or runnning ala Home Alone to the bus.

Big L and Little M were excitied to finally get to ride the Skyliner.
Ready to Fly
When we got inside the Skyliner stop, we realized that we needed to take it to the OTHER Caribean Beach Skyliner stop which is a hub and switch to the EPCOT line. Which in the morning was fine, but we were basically between the 2 stops, so, good to know for next time, that we could just walk in the other direction.

Skyliner Car
The girls were excitied that we got the Star Wars car. (even though you can't see the character when you are inside it...

All Aboard
All Aboard..

On the Skyliner

Everyone on the Skyliner
The Skyliner was a hit with the L's.

Saucier's Skyliner

By 9:11 we were at the tapstiles at the World Showcase entrance. You really can't beat that. And it was such a calm way to go. We are big fans of the Skyliner! (my time stamps was 8:50 to 9:11, 21 minutes!)

We made our way through the World Showcase towards Test Track. We wanted to still try and ride that before our first fast pass.

First up was England.
England Tea Cup
Miss L and I were snapping photos as we walked. Again, we were trying to take it slow this morning. But I was getting anxious about the wait for Test Track.

London Phone Booth
We had the kids get in the phone booth.

All the kids piled in, and then Morgan said NOPE.
England Morgan Nope

We moved on to Canada.
Canada Photo said no.

And moved on... with a stop at the EPCOT tree
EPCOT Tree

EPCOT Tree

Tree
This tree has some really fun ornaments on it. I really liked it.

Kids and Tree by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Walking to TT

And we moved on yet again. Only to stop a little farther...

Festival of the Holidays

Topiaries
These topiaries were super cute. I loved them. We tried to get a good shot with the kids.

IMG_0066 by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
But the kids were getting ants to get ton a ride!

So, we moved on. As we passed Mouse Gear, Mr. L ran in to find a shirt he was looking for while Andy and I stopped at the AP spot to get our AP magnets. By now the kids were REALLY anxious to ride something. Butt it worked out. we got our magnets and Mr. L was sucessful in finding his shirt.

By 9:35 AM we finally arrived at Test Track! The line was outside, and we had never actually waited in the stand by line, So I wasn’t sure how long the wait would actually be. We waited awhile until I said we really should just get out of line. And I would try and get us a fast pass later in the day.
Test Track

Kids weren’t too happy about it, but just wanted to ride something. So, we walked across the way to Soarin.

We arrived at Sorin a little before 10. We had quick bathroom break and then used our fast passes.

I asked for the middle front. Had to wait AWHILE!!! Butt I wanted there first time with no bending. There was a set of folks in front of us and behind us doing the same thing! The girl next to us said she was dong the same thing, that the people with her were riding for the first time.

We waited a full 20 minutes to do this! Was it worth it? I am not sure to be honest.
Soarin

Soarin In Line by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Soarin Ready to Fly
Poor little M was NOT sure about the ride! He was white knuckled the whole time! Miss L loved it, though!

After our ride, we stopped for some Christmas Tree Buckets. Little M had been asking for one and I wanted one for us as well.
Popcorn Buckets
The L's ended up getting the refillable bucket as well. And the kids made quick work of all of the popcorn!

We had never gotten the popcorn bucket before, and it did come in handy. But I am not sure I would want to carry it all the time. We headed on to our next fast pass while the children stuffed there faces with popcorn.

up next a few more rides before heading back to world showcase.

 

[cstorm65]

Great update! The Skyliner makes it so convenient to get to Epcot and DHS. We are looking forward to staying at Pop for this reason at our trip this summer! It will be our first Skyliner experience!

 

[kastoney]

Happy Sunday Everyone!!! We have snow coming our way this afternoon. Which is kind of exciting, we haven't had a real snow here in South Jersey for a good 2 to 3 years. We will see, there is ALWAYS a chance that they will be wrong. And we really don't have anywhere to go! So, bring on the snow.

Happy Sunday to you! We are in the same snowy boat down here and loving it. Have about 2 inches so far but doesn't look like we are gonna get hit too hard like there were predicting. I was hoping for a work snow day tomorrow but don't think that is going to happen now.

We were all VERY tired from yesterday, and well some folks were slow moving and grabby this morning.

Sure hope it was only Andy that was being grabby with you

We woke up around 7:30 and slowly got ready for the day. I apparently threw the Tinker bell Gifts in the bathtub... Not sure why...

Saucier's Skyliner

Love this pic. Casey is so excited to try the Skyliner. I'm afraid of heights so it looks terrifying to me but the more I've seen it I think I'll be up for trying it

But the kids were getting ants to get ton a ride!

Poor kids. Hope it wasn't this kinda ant

Popcorn Buckets
The L's ended up getting the refillable bucket as well. And the kids made quick work of all of the popcorn!

Love these popcorn buckets. We have a pluto one (that Casey was mildly obsessed with since you could eat popcorn out of this butt) that we still pull out every Christmas.

 

[missjackiemcg]

After our ride, we stopped for some Christmas Tree Buckets. Little M had been asking for one and I wanted one for us as well.

Ugh, my one regret from our Disney Cruise during Christmas 2019!! They were selling these outside the theater, and I ALMOST bought one on our final night, but then thought about how I had nowhere to pack it. I have regretted it since then!!!!!!!!!

Love the Skyliner. It's SO convenient, and faster than using the buses to Epcot and DHS.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Great update! The Skyliner makes it so convenient to get to Epcot and DHS. We are looking forward to staying at Pop for this reason at our trip this summer! It will be our first Skyliner experience!

You guys will love it! You will have to transfer at the main hub everytime, but it is all very centralized! And this summer, you will probably still get your own cabin.

I was hoping for a work snow day tomorrow but don't think that is going to happen now.

Yeah. No snow work day for me ever... Sometimes being an adult is lame.

Love this pic. Casey is so excited to try the Skyliner. I'm afraid of heights so it looks terrifying to me but the more I've seen it I think I'll be up for trying it

So, I can't speak for someone who has a true fear of heights. But Morgan has gotten over the fear of it, pretty quickly. I don't love ferris wheels and this is nothing compared to that. If it helps. Being all enclosed helps, I think.

Poor kids. Hope it wasn't this kinda ant

Ha!

Ugh, my one regret from our Disney Cruise during Christmas 2019!! They were selling these outside the theater, and I ALMOST bought one on our final night, but then thought about how I had nowhere to pack it. I have regretted it since then!!!!!!!!!

Ugh! We all have that one or two things we regret not getting!

Love the Skyliner. It's SO convenient, and faster than using the buses to Epcot and DHS.

So much faster!! And it is just more chill. The bus can get stressful with waiting and getting seats or not.

 

[Jfsag123]

Happy Sunday Everyone!!! We have snow coming our way this afternoon. Which is kind of exciting, we haven't had a real snow here in South Jersey for a good 2 to 3 years. We will see, there is ALWAYS a chance that they will be wrong. And we really don't have anywhere to go! So, bring on the snow.

So, what better thing to do on this hopefully snowy Sunday, but start our next trip day...

Day Four: A Slightly rough start to the day.

We were all VERY tired from yesterday, and well some folks were slow moving and grabby this morning. Last night we did agree to take our time to getting up and out this morning. We were headed tto EPCOT today, and really no HUGE need to rope drop except to get on Test Track.

We woke up around 7:30 and slowly got ready for the day. I apparently threw the Tinker bell Gifts in the bathtub... Not sure why...
Tinkerbell Gifts
Today's item was lanyards for all the kids with a check list of the Santa's in EPCOT. These were a big hit for half the kids (aka Big L and Gwen) Morgan liked it but kind of forgot about it once we were at the EPCOT.

I love your dedication to doing this! I'm sure I would screw it up by day 2 lol

Ready to Fly
When we got inside the Skyliner stop, we realized that we needed to take it to the OTHER Caribean Beach Skyliner stop which is a hub and switch to the EPCOT line. Which in the morning was fine, but we were basically between the 2 stops, so, good to know for next time, that we could just walk in the other direction.

Skyliner Car
The girls were excitied that we got the Star Wars car. (even though you can't see the character when you are inside it...

All Aboard
All Aboard..

On the Skyliner

Everyone on the Skyliner
The Skyliner was a hit with the L's.

Saucier's Skyliner

Love this! I both really do and really don't want to try to Skyliner. This type of transportation has always freaked me out. We have one at our state fair and the kids ride it every year with a grandparent because I won't get on it! However, the Disney version looks so cool that I'm tempted to get over myself and try.

All the kids piled in, and then Morgan said NOPE.
England Morgan Nope

Ha! Way to enforce those boundaries, Morgan!

Festival of the Holidays

Topiaries
These topiaries were super cute. I loved them. We tried to get a good shot with the kids.

IMG_0066 by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
But the kids were getting ants to get ton a ride!

These are so cute!

So, we moved on. As we passed Mouse Gear, Mr. L ran in to find a shirt he was looking for while Andy and I stopped at the AP spot to get our AP magnets. By now the kids were REALLY anxious to ride something. Butt it worked out. we got our magnets and Mr. L was sucessful in finding his shirt.

RIP Mouse Gear. We bought stuff there every trip.

By 9:35 AM we finally arrived at Test Track! The line was outside, and we had never actually waited in the stand by line, So I wasn’t sure how long the wait would actually be. We waited awhile until I said we really should just get out of line. And I would try and get us a fast pass later in the day.
Test Track

I've only done it standby at rope drop. Cannot imagine standing in an actual standby line. Really hoping FP+ is back before our next trip!

Kids weren’t too happy about it, but just wanted to ride something. So, we walked across the way to Soarin.

We arrived at Sorin a little before 10. We had quick bathroom break and then used our fast passes.

I asked for the middle front. Had to wait AWHILE!!! Butt I wanted there first time with no bending. There was a set of folks in front of us and behind us doing the same thing! The girl next to us said she was dong the same thing, that the people with her were riding for the first time.

We waited a full 20 minutes to do this! Was it worth it? I am not sure to be honest.
Soarin

Soarin In Line by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Soarin Ready to Fly

We have taken first timers on twice (both times at Disneyland, not WDW), and both times chose to wait for B1. It's worth it with first timers, but we just take whatever we get when it's just us because the wait does tend to be pretty long.

up next a few more rides before heading back to world showcase.

Loving your updates and looking forward to more!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great start to your day at Epcot!

 

[vamassey1]

We woke up around 7:30 and slowly got ready for the day. I apparently threw the Tinker bell Gifts in the bathtub... Not sure why...

Was it a scavenger hunt?

When we got inside the Skyliner stop, we realized that we needed to take it to the OTHER Caribean Beach Skyliner stop which is a hub and switch to the EPCOT line. Which in the morning was fine, but we were basically between the 2 stops, so, good to know for next time, that we could just walk in the other direction.

Was this station closed? Maybe because the resort wasn't open? I think it opened while we were there.

By 9:11 we were at the tapstiles at the World Showcase entrance. You really can't beat that. And it was such a calm way to go. We are big fans of the Skyliner! (my time stamps was 8:50 to 9:11, 21 minutes!)

We loved the ease of the Skyliner!

Miss L and I were snapping photos as we walked.

Lots of great photos.

We waited a full 20 minutes to do this! Was it worth it? I am not sure to be honest.

That's a long time.

After our ride, we stopped for some Christmas Tree Buckets. Little M had been asking for one and I wanted one for us as well.

Cute kids and cute buckets.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Did you get snow? We have had a quiet winter so far thank goodness!
I am thinking of staying at Riviera this summer and the Skyliner will be a nice option!
Andi never lets me ask for B concourse first row, it definitely is the best spot but waiting 20 minutes is long.
We have never purchased the special popcorn buckets, very cute!

 

[suse66]

The gingerbread house for this resort is super cute.

I loved the log cabin theme...perfect for WL!

Snow White is just ok... She is just a kind of meh princess.

I don't mind Snow White but she is not at the top of my list. I really like Belle, Merida, Mulan and Moana.

But these... these were the table favorite! They were sooo good. I don't know what gooseberries really are, but there should be more gooseberry pies! They were tart and the meringue on top was so good!

I think I would love those too!

Evil Queen's face is perfect in this picture... But... Andy isn't looking

Awesome pic!

Your post is giving me all the Wilderness Lodge and Christmas feels. I told Jason come hell or high water we are doing both in December.

As you know we aren't much into character meals but Storybook Dining really does look like something we'd enjoy. I'm still sad Artist Point isn't what it was but its good to see Disney upping the food game when it comes to a character meal.

Bill and I are already booked at Boulder Ridge for Dec 17-22. We've got to be able to travel by then! (I am still holding out a bit of hope for August too)

These topiaries were super cute. I loved them. We tried to get a good shot with the kids.

That's a sweet picture!

 

[Tracy161]

As usual these days, I'm late! Didn't realize you'd started this... oops! Here now and going to go catch up

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I love your dedication to doing this! I'm sure I would screw it up by day 2 lol

I will admit certain days are ROUGH!!! It all started when the girls were really little and I wanted to avoid the constant requests for princess dresses. Which it worked beautifully for. Plus they went to sleep early back then! You could do it for. the little one, and employ the big kids to help!

Love this! I both really do and really don't want to try to Skyliner. This type of transportation has always freaked me out. We have one at our state fair and the kids ride it every year with a grandparent because I won't get on it! However, the Disney version looks so cool that I'm tempted to get over myself and try.

You should try it at least once... If you don't like it, then you can say you did it! If you do, the ride from Carribean Beach to Hollywood Studios is a shorter ride than EPCOT to Riveria. But give it a try!

RIP Mouse Gear. We bought stuff there every trip.

I know. Hopefully the new version will be even better. The temp store is sad!

Really hoping FP+ is back before our next trip!

Me too!

Sounds like a great start to your day at Epcot!

Thanks. It turned out ok. I was worried for awhile.

That's a long time.

It was, but we were talking so for the most time it was fine. It was more that when we were done I was suprised at how much time we took to do it.

Was this station closed? Maybe because the resort wasn't open? I think it opened while we were there.

So, it's just how the lines work. Since they only go one way, and the stop we walked to is technically the Riveria stop. Riveria you can go directly to EPCOT but have to go to the hub and switch.

Was it a scavenger hunt?

that sounds good. let's go with that...

Did you get snow? We have had a quiet winter so far thank goodness!

We did. I am not sure how much we ended up getting but it was a decent amount but it is starting to melt already.

I am thinking of staying at Riviera this summer and the Skyliner will be a nice option!

That sounds great! Riveria sounds great. And I think you will love the Skyliner!

I don't mind Snow White but she is not at the top of my list. I really like Belle, Merida, Mulan and Moana.

All good choices! I love Rapunzel as well.

Bill and I are already booked at Boulder Ridge for Dec 17-22. We've got to be able to travel by then! (I am still holding out a bit of hope for August too)

Boulder Ridge in December will be GREAT!

As usual these days, I'm late! Didn't realize you'd started this... oops! Here now and going to go catch up

Glad you are here now!!!