Jingle Bells....AKL....Disney for 10 Whole Days! ** Updated June 2015: Videos Added**

[thornton0511]

Great update. Having grandparents with you is awesome. We did that on our last trip which allowed us to go out to dinner one night. Disney World dates are the best! Can't wait for more!

That is awesome that you guys got to do that on your last trip! And yes it was definitely a perk to having them along when we wanted to dine alone or ride something together. Especially since DH cannot bring himself to being okay with a parents only trip to the world. He can't see ever going without the kids, where as I say let's take two trips then lol!

 

[thornton0511]

A lot of people do it.

Always nice to start with Buzz.
Monsters Inc is so much fun. I was the “cannot smile guy” once.
Glad he was able to get the phone.
I agree about Jambo House to Kidani.
Ooh! Sanaa. My favorite restaurant there. I love the spicy shrimp and chicken.
I have to laugh. We were that day at Sanaa but at 6:15 for dinner. Missed you by a few hours.
A cliffhanger. Can’t wait to find out.

Oh how cool that you were "cannot smile guy" what a riot!
Yes Kindani seems very nice and new but Jambo just has that BAM moment when you walk in, you know what I mean? Plus it just seems like that's where it all is.
Wow that is crazy that we just missed each other at Sanaa like that!

 

[cstorm65]

Great update! Did you ever get back to see that gingerbread house later in the trip??!! I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Love the Disney Magic in unexpected places like your dinner. We had one of those moments last summer as we just happened to walk by the dance part in Tomorrowland and our son wanted out of the stroller. We danced for a good 20-30 minutes...an unexpected highlight of the trip. That's why we go I guess!

By the way...I am looking for an ADR for Raglan Road right now so I can try that bread pudding. Thanks.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Ahhh I so love Spaceship Earth if for no other reason that to make ridiculous faces.

Hmmm, ok Jenn, so I'm reading along and thinking what is she going on about with the Epcot Monorail to the TTC to the resort monorail... It all seemed normal to me. Until you added that your ressie was at... DOWNTOWN DISNEY!!!!!

I have to admit, I am dying to eat at Raglan Road for the... um... "ambiance". (I got your back Cory!!!!!)

But I have yet to understand the draw that is bread pudding. I mean, people RAVE about it, but I just can't get my head around the concept.

Oh yeah, I SO TOTALLY AGREE. There are those moments that just completely stand out, and they're usually the ones you least expect. I love that.

 

[thornton0511]

Great update! Did you ever get back to see that gingerbread house later in the trip??!! I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Love the Disney Magic in unexpected places like your dinner. We had one of those moments last summer as we just happened to walk by the dance part in Tomorrowland and our son wanted out of the stroller. We danced for a good 20-30 minutes...an unexpected highlight of the trip. That's why we go I guess!

By the way...I am looking for an ADR for Raglan Road right now so I can try that bread pudding. Thanks.

No I hate to admit we never did get back to GF to see the gingerbread house. Ah well. Yeah Disney magic can definitely show up at unexpected times for sure! Love that your son got to dance at Disney! Super cool!! Ha, the bread pudding at Raglan definitely lives up to the hipe!

 

[thornton0511]

Ahhh I so love Spaceship Earth if for no other reason that to make ridiculous faces.
That's the whole point of the ride...right?!
Hmmm, ok Jenn, so I'm reading along and thinking what is she going on about with the Epcot Monorail to the TTC to the resort monorail... It all seemed normal to me. Until you added that your ressie was at... DOWNTOWN DISNEY!!!!!
I am telling you I have no sense of where I am going. I should never ever be in charge of getting anyone anywhere lol!
I have to admit, I am dying to eat at Raglan Road for the... um... "ambiance". (I got your back Cory!!!!!)
Do I need to get some horsey blinders for you too Rob?
But I have yet to understand the draw that is bread pudding. I mean, people RAVE about it, but I just can't get my head around the concept.
I know it kind of sounds gross but the concept is that there is no concept. It just is......wonderful
Oh yeah, I SO TOTALLY AGREE. There are those moments that just completely stand out, and they're usually the ones you least expect. I love that.

Disney Magic at it best!!!

 

[thornton0511]

Breakfast with the Capt.
Today was Wednesday, December 11th and it was a Magic Kingdom kind of day. We headed down to catch the bus to MK around 8:30am. Once we arrived however instead of heading to bag check we opted for the resort monorail.

Why you ask? Well, not only was it a MK kind of day but also a Poly breakfast kind of morning. And I had a hankering for some Tonga Toast.

We arrived at Capt. Cooks around 9:30. This place makes for a nice little detour in the morning and a great place to get some good breakfast for a counter service price.

Everyone made their decisions as to what they wanted to eat. And we placed our orders.

I love love love the Poly and all of its décor. I really hope that the remodel does not change the ambiance of the resort too much. And yes staying here at least once is definitely on the bucket list. Sigh…one day.

The weather was extremely wonderful once again today so obviously we found a nice place outside to eat. I cannot remember exactly what everyone got but here is what I have record of….

A blueberry muffin

A cinnamon roll

And my yummy delicious Tonga Toast. Nom Nom Nom.
After breakfast I decided to go on a bit of a photo taking tour of the grounds of the Poly. Your welcome. Lol Just kidding. I do really love everything here.


After my little photo adventure we headed inside to the resort store or "boutiki" and wandered about a bit and then took a pic of the kids and their grandparents in front of the beautiful lobby.

It was now getting close to 10 am and we had a fastpass + to get to so we hopped back on the monorail and made our way to the most magical kingdom of them all.

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[thornton0511]

Adventures in Frontierland…YeeeHaawww!

With just a short ride on the monorail we had arrived at our destination. It was now just after 10:00am. We quickly got though bag check and we were greeted with this

Indeed. Shall we?

We made our way down Main Street and I immediately noticed that they had hung the Christmas wreaths up from taking them down for the filming of the parade. FINALLY!! This was the first time for us to see the complete holiday overlay and it was amazing and magical!

With a quick snap shot of the castle and the partners statue we made our way to Frontierland for our first FP+ selection of the day, which was BTMRR. I for some reason have no photo proof of this so you will have to just take my word for it.

After taking a ride on the wildest ride in the wilderness we decided to have a raft ride to Tom Sawyer Island. This seemed to fit in well with our relaxed day approach. We had not done this in two years so it was nice to get back to the island. I would love to be a kid again and could easily spend an entire day running around here. True story.

After a nice raft ride we had arrived in a place that until Disney, had only existed in a Mark Twain novel (that I am aware of anyway). I love how Disney is able to do things like this, wouldn’t you agree?

Apparently upon arrival someone had to take a potty break so we all kind of waited around.

This however did prove perfect timing because the Mickey shoes that I had gushed over and over about on this report finally made their debut in a photo. Yay! Love them!!

Sydney at this point was apparently planning our course of action by scoping out the map of the island

For the most part we kind of dictate to the kids where we go and what we do at Disney but on Tom Sawyer Island it is completely up to them. And they love being the ones who call the shots!

Finally we were on our way!

The kids decided first that we would explore some mines

We made our way through the tunnels where we came across

A failed attempt of a picture of glowing treasure.

After just barely escaping the mines we found ourselves by the old windmill

Which resulted in one of my favorite pics of our trip with the family…well minus me of course

At this point the kids had decided it was time to cross the old wooden bridge and I was able to catch a wonderful picture of the liberty belle making its way at the same time.
Continued next post…..

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[thornton0511]

More Tom Sawyer and Fort Langhorn Fun

We made our way across the bridge to Fort Langhorn were we let the kids run free. I found after the first year that we did this that the fort was made for children….kind of like Honey I Shrunk the Kids area at HS. There are just too many tight spots and low ceilings, and I am not necessary a large person either so no problems here letting the kids go alone.

I found a cozy little spot where I could see the kids run by now and then

And the in laws took to a nice game of checkers…..ahhhh relaxation

DFIL was doing some pretty intense thinking on his next move

I looked just in time to see Sydney run across

And not a moment later came Cory. That's when for the first time I realized that I had not seen DH since we entered the fort area. Was he with the kids? A few moments later…

Well that answers that question.
We had been on the island for just about 45 minutes now, and it was so much fun, but we were now ready to get back to the rest of the park. So we crossed the bridge once more, and we crossed paths once again with the belle

Gah! I love Disney!!

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[thornton0511]

Braving 999 Ghosts

After returning we spotted a very eerie mansion off in the distance. I had really been talking to DD about this ride over the last year to try to help give her the courage to ride it. She got all the way though the stretching room last year and then after the lights went out and the screaming that was enough for her. She likes to know every aspect of something before she will trust it. And I had put a lot of Haunted Mansion time in with her to get her ready for this trip. She really did want to be brave and see it for herself, I just had to make sure she was prepared.

We made our way to the standby line and it only had a 15 minute wait. So far so good with Sydney. I should also point out that the in laws are not too keen on "scary" themed things and there is a very fine line with them when it comes to this stuff so we were watching for cues and reactions from both them and Sydney.

We made our way through and I was so glad for all of the distractions in the queue. There was a lot of "look Sydney the "invisible" horse" trying to keep her mind from going to scary.

The in laws did seem to find the humor in the theme of the queue so that was a relief too

We even got to see the Belle again while waiting in line. I swear this boat was following me today…
So we got to the last part of the outside queue where you wait for the doors to open and we were all just kind of standing there in a group. So far so good with Sydney when all of a sudden I hear this blood curling scream coming from her. My initial reaction was what in the world could be scaring her at this part, when I looked down and noticed that her poor hair from her braid had gotten caught in the zipper of a man's backpack in front of us. When he moved it pulled on the caught hair….hard. And she was stuck. We quickly and politely told the, now puzzled guy, to hold still while I detached her hair from his backpack. Disaster averted and we freed DD. Whew that was intense. After a few moments of wiping tears and cuddles Sydney was okay and ready to continue on as the door opened. One stipulation though, she only wanted to ride with her brother. Usually if she gets on any ride that she is unsure of it's always daddy that she wants. She made a few exceptions this trip with DFIL but this was the first request for her big brother. I was a little uneasy about how Cory would be able to handle her if she started to freak out but he assured me that it would be fine. The idea of her wanting her brother to protect her and his wanting to protect her warmed my mommy heart. And that was that. She still wanted daddy for the stretching room though. We got through this time and I am happy to report that everyone survived. Sydney agreed that the stretching room is the worse part and everything else was a breeze after that. The in laws did not particularly like the ride too much, which I kind of expected, but I was glad that they at least kept an open mind and rode it once. We got off the ride around 11:40 and were now at a crossroad with whether or not we wanted to make our next fastpass+. Oh the suspense.
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[thornton0511]

Change of Plans, Lunch, and Adventureland
It was now getting close to noon and we were at a point where we had to decide whether or not to head in the direction of our next FP+. It was kind of an important one that I had made as soon as our window had opened up forever ago and seemed like a good choice at the time. The problem with scheduling too many things so far in advance is that sometimes you honestly do not know what the day will bring. I had no idea that we would be touring the park as we were this morning but we were enjoying it and no one really wanted to leave the area we were in and head to New Fantasyland. We had FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Sigh. I was really looking forward to this, but like everyone else, I just was not feeling it today. And with this being in such high demand there were no other times available for the whole week. Ah well. Another time maybe. We were getting a bit of a rumbly in our tumblies at this moment so instead we decided to have lunch at Harbor House. Yum.

I had wanted to eat here on previous trips and had not gotten the chance so I was glad to be finally eating here. As far as I am concerned Disney food is just as important as any other aspect of a Disney vacation and I much look forward to it!

I thought this was a neat menu outside the restaurant.

We ordered our food and headed up the stairs to find our spot. I had wanted to eat in a certain room with a certain view but they had it roped off for some private party or gathering of some sort, so we found a room with a window view of people crossing over into Fantasyland. Works for me!

The kids sat at their own table and enjoyed people watching while eating lunch.

Since we were on the dining plan a frozen lemonade drink counted as a beverage and it was yummy and refreshing

It seems as if we all got the fried shrimp platter with an array of sides ranging from fries to broccoli to apple slices. And for desserts chocolate cakes and some sort of apple tart thing.

And since the portion sizes are huge we kind of split everything up

At some point during lunch DFIL received a very important call regarding an upcoming mission trip that the in laws were taking and he proceeded to take the call in the corner. I don't know why. Seemed strange to the CM's that passed by too as they gave funny looks and we just told them he was in a time out lol.

With lunch finished I took one last snap shot of the order line below and we headed out.

This place was really cool and lived up to the great reviews I have seen on the disboards. It fit in well with our relaxed theme for the day and was very laid back and quiet…..upstairs anyway. Downstairs seemed to be a little more chaotic.

It was now a little after 1pm and we made our way over to Adventureland where I managed to dodge the spitting camel. DMIL was not so lucky though and after DFIL figured it out he made a point to try to lure his wife into the line of fire for the rest of our trip. She did not like that to much lol.

The kids wanted to ride Aladdin's carpets of death and while I had managed so far this trip to avoid riding this at all cost, today I was not so lucky. I decided to be a good sport and get on. Bleh.

Everyone in front and behind me seemed so happy which could only mean one thing….WE WERE ALL GOING TO DIE!!

Obviously we survived this time but man I was so glad to finally be back on the ground.

We then headed out of Adventureland toward the hub and saw once again that Dream Along With Mickey was happening. So we stopped for a bit.

I love Peter and Wendy!

The princesses seemed to be just talking it up lol

And of course the stars of the show!!

Mickey must have been doing his zombie impersonation. Soon enough I once again got distracted from something or another and we made our way around to Fantasyland. We stopped at the bridge so I could get a shot of my favorite castle spot.

Ahhh so beautiful. Now picture this with the moat drained….cause apparently that is what it looks like now while they are refurbishing the hub. Why can't they just finish one project before tearing up and starting a new one? Sigh.

We made our way around to the back of the castle where I finally found this. I had heard of this very lovely statue before but never able to find it until now. So pretty.
We came across the sword and the stone in front of the carrousel.

The kids each had their go at trying to get the sword out with no succession.

Ah well maybe next time.

We made our way over to New Fantasyland and passed the mine train construction on the way. I know that they are saying May now but good heavens it seems like forever ago they started this thing. And plus its smack dap in the middle of the whole new area so there is no escaping the walls and such. Blah just get it done already.
Continued next post

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[thornton0511]

New Fantasyland….It's a Beautiful Thing

It was now around 2:00pm and we were headed to "the little mermaid ride" but first we stopped in Belle's village to take it all in. Since we had decided to not use our FP+ from earlier I wanted to get my Beauty and the Beast fix.

This place is awesomeness!

Okay I was ready to move on. We made our way over to Ariel (the ride) and went standby. This was good because you miss so much of the queue with FP and I wanted to experience all of the wonderfulness of the little mermaid.

I have to warn you this post is a little picture heavy because I went crazy trying to capture how perfect everything really is!

We made our way through the breathtaking queue

And soon we were in our clam shells on an adventure with Ariel.

After this we headed over to Storybook Circus and rode the train completely around the park. I took this time to try and change our third FP+ of the day. Since we missed the second all together as the day took a different spin, I was going to try to at least salvage our last one. Our day just was not going as planned and that was completely okay, I just wanted to use the new FP technology to the best of our ability.
After a very hot ride around the park we had made our way back to Storybook Circus. What was the plan now and had I been able to make a new FP selection?
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[DisneyKid4Life]

Hmmmm, I seem to remember December 11 being an Epcot kind of day.

OK, just so I have this right... You went directly to the Poly for Capt. Cooks via the Monorail and not via boat... over to the Boardwalk... bus over to DTD... a quick boat over to Saratoga... bus to Epcot... then Monorail? Strange.

Yeah I have to agree, I really want to stay at the Poly at least once. Just once.

And I have to agree about how glad I was to finally have all the taping done and Magic Kingdom back.

I really need to get back to Tom Sawyer Island while I still can. It's been forever. Plus I can brush up on my spelling.

Aww the in-laws look so at home playing the checkers.

Oh my goodness with poor little Sydney's hair getting caught like that. What a sin. Not what you want before entering the Mansion that's for sure. But how absolutely adorable that she wanted big bro to be her shield. That's so sweet.

Love love love the Harbour House, and yes, upstairs rules!

I have seen the moat drained and it is not a recommended look at all.

 

[PeanutButterMom]

I just finished reading your entire TR (so far) and I've loved it! Teared up a few times (Not gonna lie!) and written down some notes for out upcoming December trip. We are SO similar in our mega-planning and then zoning out! A couple times in October I meant to go one place then got off in the wrong place only to have to back-track (I remember at one point ending up at TTC and then out by the parking lot... no idea where were were trying to go! I failed at keeping acurate notes for a TR - next time!)

There is DEFINITELY Raglan Road in our future after your pictures though, without a doubt.

Great TR! Keep it up!

 

[cstorm65]

Great updates. We have never gotten over to Tom Sawyer Island so we are definitely going to have to check that out this trip. It looks like you all had a lot of fun over there.

We love sitting upstairs at Columbia Harbour House as well. It is a little crazy at lunch time downstairs, but upstairs is just really nice and relaxing.

Can't wait for more!

 

[Adgie128]

I just finished catching up from the very beginning. Your trip sounds like it was so great. Looking forward to more soon!

 

[JDUB]

Great updates! I love the overload of Ariel's queue.

Such a great moment when yer DD wanted her brother on HM. Mine of course love fighting with each other.

 

[scottny]

Looked like fun times at Raglan Road.
It was an Epcot day for us. LOL.
I would love to stay at Poly to but will buy into it when DVC opens.
Cute shoes.
Nice Tom Sawyer island pics. I love the bouncing bridges.
OUCH! That would hurt about the hair. Strange. Glad everyone was fine on the ride.
I have yet to try CHH. One day.
LOL. He does look like he is in time out.
NFL is a pretty area.
Love the queue for Little mermaid.
All caught up again.

 

[thornton0511]

Hmmmm, I seem to remember December 11 being an Epcot kind of day.
Ha!
OK, just so I have this right... You went directly to the Poly for Capt. Cooks via the Monorail and not via boat... over to the Boardwalk... bus over to DTD... a quick boat over to Saratoga... bus to Epcot... then Monorail? Strange.
I am surprised that you are even a bit surprised by my sense of direction at this point lol
Yeah I have to agree, I really want to stay at the Poly at least once. Just once.
one day.....
And I have to agree about how glad I was to finally have all the taping done and Magic Kingdom back.
yes I agree
I really need to get back to Tom Sawyer Island while I still can. It's been forever. Plus I can brush up on my spelling.
lol
Aww the in-laws look so at home playing the checkers.
I know right?
Oh my goodness with poor little Sydney's hair getting caught like that. What a sin. Not what you want before entering the Mansion that's for sure. But how absolutely adorable that she wanted big bro to be her shield. That's so sweet.
my kiddos have their moments
Love love love the Harbour House, and yes, upstairs rules!
definitely!
I have seen the moat drained and it is not a recommended look at all.

bleh on the moat draining

 

[thornton0511]

I just finished reading your entire TR (so far) and I've loved it! Teared up a few times (Not gonna lie!) and written down some notes for out upcoming December trip. We are SO similar in our mega-planning and then zoning out! A couple times in October I meant to go one place then got off in the wrong place only to have to back-track (I remember at one point ending up at TTC and then out by the parking lot... no idea where were were trying to go! I failed at keeping acurate notes for a TR - next time!)

There is DEFINITELY Raglan Road in our future after your pictures though, without a doubt.

Great TR! Keep it up!

Awww thank you so much! Glad to hear that you are enjoying it! Yay for December you are going to have a blast and the weather will spoil you rotten lol. Ha glad to see I am not the only one who get confused and turned around in the world! Oooh you are going to love Raglan Road! Thanks for following along!!