Joy From The World! A New Trip Report! 1/27 HUGE News!!!

[tinacaplan]

Stopping in to say hello! I'll be back in a while to read more!

 

[glennbo123]

Signing on! Melissa, what a great TR title for a December trip.

Great pictures of all of the decorations, and especially Wilderness Lodge. I know just where that favorite hallway of yours is.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I'm here!

I love your pictures of the WL at Christmas! It is so beautiful there.

The Osborne lights were amazing this year. I loved them in LED.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Eek at the wait for Mama Melrose! I'm glad the food made the wait worthwhile.

Wow love the pics and video of the Osborne lights - they look amazing!!!

Also great pics of WL - it looks very festive with all the Christmas decorations.

It was a crazy wait for Mama Melrose! People were getting so cranky!

The Osborne lights are amazing!

I love, love, love WL at Christmas!!

Oooh I love your favorite hallway too!!! Thanks for the walking tour....seeing that I have never been there in person It really is a beautiful resort and between your and ME's stunning pictures I should get over there some day....although I think their # of villas is on the smaller side availability wise maybe.


Tracy

I really love that hallway! You've never been to WL?! Ever?! At least you have to try Artist Point!

All caught up from trip to the world. I had a chance to walk over to the villas too. So pretty especially during the holidays.


The Osborne lights are empty during the hour the park is open and during EMH. My favorite time for maximum effect.

Welcome home!! I hope you had a great trip!

The lights weren't nearly as crowded this time as they were last year! I think a lot of people were at Fantasmic!

Stopping in to say hello! I'll be back in a while to read more!

Welcome!!

Signing on! Melissa, what a great TR title for a December trip.

Great pictures of all of the decorations, and especially Wilderness Lodge. I know just where that favorite hallway of yours is.

Welcome!! I stole the title from a shirt! Not kidding!

I love WDW during the holidays! Especially WL!

I'm here!

I love your pictures of the WL at Christmas! It is so beautiful there.

The Osborne lights were amazing this year. I loved them in LED.

Can't wait to read more.

Welcome!!

I totally agree about the lights!! They seemed more colorful!!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

So, while DH got ready I sat on the balcony and enjoyed another cup of coffee! Funny thing about the coffee! I made sure like 15 times before I packed up our Owners Lockers in October that I had coffee filters and sugar packets for coffee for this trip! I bought ground coffee at Dunkin Donuts and double and triple checked that I had packed it before we left home! Which I did! I even remembered to buy milk in the Merchantile the night before so I could have real coffee. BUT, the coffee maker in our room was a pod machine! Darn it!! I was kinda bummed! I decided to try the pod packets and if I hated it I would call housekeeping and ask for a different machine! But, the pods were quite good! So I was happy!

With DH ready it was time for breakfast! So we headed down to Roaring Forks! I believe DH got a breakfast platter while I got a fruit and a croissant, had to balance the good with a little bad

We sat outside because it was an absolutely beautiful morning! With full bellies and faces warmed by the beautiful morning sun we head down to the boat dock to get a ferry to the Contemporary!

Lets take a little holiday tour of the Contemporary shall we?

First, the pool!





Ahhhh, palm tree!



My favorite topiary!



I’ve seen this it many a TR!



The main building!



We went through the main building and I went outside for a minute…





The tree in the lobby!



Front desk, where I spent I ridiculous amount of time while checking in in October



Decorations!





Lobby light fixture!



Then we moved upstairs to see what we had really come to see! The holiday display!







LOVE the IASW people!







I also LOVED the Gingerbread Contemporary!



John, however, mocked me for taking a picture of it! I believe his comment was something about how next I’ll be taking pictures of gum on the ground or something like that! Boo!

Cute ornament trees in the shop!





I think next year my glue gun and I will create something of the sort!

Very nice wreath!



Having had our fill of the Contemporary we hopped on the monorail and headed to Poly!

CONTINUED NEXT POST...​

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I really love Poly! Not as much as WL, but a lot! I just love the setting and I love that I feel like I’m in some tropical paradise, not a theme park Mecca! I wasn’t really feeling the tropical Christmas vibe though! It was more like Poly with a Christmas an a few decorations! Oh well!

Tree just inside the door from the monorail!









Tree downstairs!



A few decorations



Then we moved outside!






I LOVE Sunset Point! LOVE IT!







One of my favorite pics of the trip!



A little green guy who was enjoying that flower a lot



More Poly sites!





With our trip to Poly complete we hopped on the monorail and got off at the next stop! Ahhhh, GF! How beautiful you are!

CONTINUED NEXT POST...
​

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I was very much looking forward to seeing the tree and, of course, the Gingerbread House!

So, here goes!

A beautiful wreath just inside from the Monorail!



The tree!!!!



And the Gingerbread House!



I must admit, there were soooo many people it was a little hard to get close!

But, I did my best!


Notice the people inside the ropes!? Yeah, very nice!







I also did a little shopping!

I got online to get a few goodies to take home to the kids! The line wasn’t long, but it moved kinda slow. With the tiny little space inside the house for the shop there was only one girl working inside.

This lead me to the most annoying experience (aside from DH’s love affair with his phone) of the trip! A family got online behind me. Mom and 2 teenagers, a boy and a girl. We moved up in line and they started discussing how the house was made and talking about the wood base, blah, blah, blah. Then they decided to debate the edibleness of the house! UGH! So, sister dares brother to break a piece off and taste it! SAY WHAT?! Mom says nothing! The brother takes the dare and does it! Yup, it’s gingerbread! They all chuckle! Including Mom! Yup!!

So we move forward a little more and the 2 adorable older ladies in front of me really enjoy spending time at the window and picking out their purchases! Fine by me because they were super sweet, super nice and just generally in awe of the Gingerbread House and GF in general! Because of the arrangement of the house and the counter there is room for 2 or 3 people to be comfortably at the counter at a time. I was able to look while they did their thing and once one of the ladies had happily made her purchase I was able to start picking things up! 3 each of 2 different types of chocolate lollipops, 3 shingles and something for DH, can’t remember what!

The whole time I stood at the counter with the 2 ladies in front of me the annoying family behind me was reaching over me, around me, bumping me and evening rubbing up against my purse! Really?! I was tempted to ask them if A) they where in some sort of hurry and needed to go ahead of or B) were trying to mug me or something! But, I refrained! The sad thing is, I reallllllllly loved the gingerbread houses they had for sale! I really wanted to ask the girl if and how they shipped them! But, I just wanted to get off the line and away from Incredibly Annoying Family!

With my purchases in hand we were off to tour the grounds of GF!

First a few more christmas tree pics..







Then outside...









During our tour we both realized that we were getting hungry but it was nowhere near our 12:50 lunch adr at GF Café. But we headed over and found the place empty and were seated immediately!

I believe we opted to pay cash for this ADR but I could be wrong! I can’t remember! We both ordered Crab Cakes for an appetizer! They were very good! For lunch we both got the rustic chicken sandwich. DH thought it was very good, I thought it was meh! I didn’t like the marinade! It made the chicken very wet. When it was time we dessert we debated having dessert at all, but decided to go for it! It was vacation afterall and we had no dinner arrangements for the evening!

I ordered Chocolate Hazlenut Mousse Cake. DH ordered New York Style Lemon Cheesecake, without the lemon! Not kidding here folks! The waitress and I chuckled! I felt kinda bad laughing. DH is a simple kinda guy, especially when it comes to food! He wanted cheesecake, not lemon. I explained to him that the lemon was baked into the cheesecake and they really meet that request! He was ok with that and as it turned out, he really the cheesecake! I also really enjoyed my cake!

Then it was time to head back to WL! We took the monorail to MK and got off and took the boat!

Back at WL it was time to relax it a beautiful and serene setting! But would there be poolside drinks involved!?
​

 

[marDgreen88]

Oh my goodness, the monorail resorts are SO pretty! I love the Christmas decorations!

Okay, SERIOUSLY? I can't believe that kid's mom just let him deface Disney property... not to mention the fact that it wasn't like the gingerbread was brand new and who knows what (or who) could have touched it! That's just outrageous.

Anyways... great update! All the pictures were great.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oh my goodness, the monorail resorts are SO pretty! I love the Christmas decorations!

Okay, SERIOUSLY? I can't believe that kid's mom just let him deface Disney property... not to mention the fact that it wasn't like the gingerbread was brand new and who knows what (or who) could have touched it! That's just outrageous.

Anyways... great update! All the pictures were great.

Aren't they pretty?! LOVE them!

RIGHT?! Honestly, I should have mentioned that very same thing! Because after want to scream at them for doing it the next thought I had was, the house has been up for a fews now, the gingerbread isn't fresh, 9 million different people from 9 million different places have been through here and potential touch the house. I'm one of those "don't touch that!" kinda mom's! I was completely skeeved out! I kinda hope he got sick from it

 

[MEK]

Well, I am reading your update without benefit of the pictures and I am sure they are totally lovely. We also managed to visit the GF and the gingerbread house this trip. We, however, did not have time for the Poly. Boo! I was actually shocked at how short the line was. Uggghhhhh to that annoying family. That would make me want to get out of that line ASAP too!

It sounds like you had a lovely morning/afternoon. My short trip did not afford me a chance to spend much time outside of the parks, but it certainly sounds wonderful.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Beautiful pictures of the resorts! We didn't make it to the Poly in November so I enjoyed look at yours.

What a rude family at the Gingerbread House! My son and I encountered a lot more rude people on our trip. Parents who seemed to have a lot less sense than their children!!!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Well, I am reading your update without benefit of the pictures and I am sure they are totally lovely. We also managed to visit the GF and the gingerbread house this trip. We, however, did not have time for the Poly. Boo! I was actually shocked at how short the line was. Uggghhhhh to that annoying family. That would make me want to get out of that line ASAP too!

It sounds like you had a lovely morning/afternoon. My short trip did not afford me a chance to spend much time outside of the parks, but it certainly sounds wonderful.

Well, you just have to come back later to see them! I really, really needed to get away from that family!

I loved our time that day! It was so amazing and so relaxing!! A little bit of heaven and a whole lot of Disney Magic!

Beautiful pictures of the resorts! We didn't make it to the Poly in November so I enjoyed look at yours.

What a rude family at the Gingerbread House! My son and I encountered a lot more rude people on our trip. Parents who seemed to have a lot less sense than their children!!!

I'm glad to have provided you with a Poly Christmas! Honestly, I'd love to stay there again, not at christmas, but sometime! I wonder if they'll ever do DVC!

You are soooo right about people having less sense then their kids!! Who is the kids supposed to learn from? I don't think I'm overly strict, far from it, but my kids know how to act and how not to and what the consequences are!

 

[eandesmom]

Oh man, that family sounds incredibly annoying, I'd have probably said something. Who DOES that? Deface property like that. Encourages their child to do it? The germs part is disgusting enough but the utter lack of respect some folks have boggles my mind. I want folks like that to get caught, yelled at and yeah, maybe get sick from the Gingerbread. I do console myself with what comes around goes around...it really does.

Fun morning monorail tour and wonderful pictures! Bummer about the coffee, did you end up having to buy more pods at the store?

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oh man, that family sounds incredibly annoying, I'd have probably said something. Who DOES that? Deface property like that. Encourages their child to do it? The germs part is disgusting enough but the utter lack of respect some folks have boggles my mind. I want folks like that to get caught, yelled at and yeah, maybe get sick from the Gingerbread. I do console myself with what comes around goes around...it really does.

Fun morning monorail tour and wonderful pictures! Bummer about the coffee, did you end up having to buy more pods at the store?

They were super annoying! It was very difficult for me to hold my tongue!! I was really hoping a CM would happen past and see. But no such luck! I really karma came back to bite them!

It really was a great morning!

I didn't end up buying more but I did end up taking a few from the housekeeping cart! More on that later...

 

[archdandy]

Great trip report so far! What a wonderful and relaxing idea, to check out the different displays and decorations at the resorts! It sounds like you had a fun morning besides the rude family.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Great trip report so far! What a wonderful and relaxing idea, to check out the different displays and decorations at the resorts! It sounds like you had a fun morning besides the rude family.

Thank you and welcome! It was such a nice, relaxing morning!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I often wonder what's wrong with people. Eating the GF gingerbread house! Crazy!

The resort pictures are beautiful!!

 

[jenjolt]

HOLY COW They ate a piece off of the gingerbread house...really?!?!? That is just nutz!!

Sorry you had to deal with the horribly annoying family!!!

However what beautiful pictures of the resorts!!!! Thank you for sharing!

 

[pooh'smate]

Wow that family!!! It is amazing how little respect people have for others and things these days. I loved all your pictures, they made me feel like I was there.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Boy, they're really letting in just any old riff raff these days! Eating a piece of a display? I would not have been able to keep quiet. I imagine my kids would have said something loud enough for them to hear too!! I can see why you would want to get away from them.