Joy to the World: an offsite Christmas extravaganza at Disney, Universal & SeaWorld – Dec. 2016 TR

[iona]

Universal Studios in the dark at Christmas looks lovely - one to add to my bucket list I think. Our sole December trip (so far) was a WDW only one due to budget constraints (we had spent two weeks in Austria in the summer so I couldn't really complain...).

 

[I-4Bound]

Great update! Love the Christmasy atmosphere❤

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I can't believe you hadn't been in the park at night, it certainly has a different feel. The Italian meal sounds lovely.

Hope you are having a good week at work

 

[dancin Disney style]

Something tells me that you make a lot of people laugh! I know you bring me a regular giggle.

I try. Problem sometimes is that others don't get sarcasm and then they just think I'm rude.

I can imagine you were a real handful as a teenager .

Who have you been talking to? I'm pretty sure that to this day my mother still doesn't know half of what I got into. My three besties from high school and I are still besties. One of them (who has no children) routinely fires off stories in front of my girls about the stuff we did. I've looked at him a couple of times and told him he should start sleeping with one eye open.

My girls have gone through their teens being told that there is nothing they can get away with because whatever it is they think they are going to pull over....I invented!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I love Manheim! Sounds like a perfect evening. I don't think we've ever been to Universal past sunset either, at least not since the kids were born. Seems like they close pretty early the times of year we usually go.

Yes, we got Duncan on Kong, Transformers (because he loved Spiderman so we knew he'd like it), and even one ride on the Pteredon flyers in Jurassic Park.

 

[sk8jdgca]

We went to California the end of July a couple years ago. I found decently priced flights on southwest but they weren't direct. I did find a direct on Spirit but I hate Spirit.

 

[chiamarie]

Here you go......
View attachment 238872

I have to say I was disappointed to get a sticker. I didn't know that they no longer had buttons. I would have worn the button. No way was I going to peel off my sticker and ruin it. Although, let's be real....that sticker is going to sit in a drawer for eternity.

I feel soooo ripped off right now! Over the past 10 years, I've maxed out on Buzz at least 5 times. And I've never got a button or sticker!!!!

 

[Joanna71985]

I feel like I've said this before, but that Italian place by Universal sounds awesome!! I need to give it a try

 

[dancin Disney style]

I feel soooo ripped off right now! Over the past 10 years, I've maxed out on Buzz at least 5 times. And I've never got a button or sticker!!!!

You have to ask for it at the photo counter.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Great update!
Glad to hear job is going well.

Your TRs are making me much more excited for our Thanksgiving trip than August trip. It has been decades since we've been in any parks over Holidays and that was only at MK and we were working much of it. I don't care that it will be crowded beyond belief-we will be offsite in our 2 bed condo and able to hide from people if we want LOL!

And absolutely check out west coast trip. I haven't been to Disneyland yet either-priced out a trip last year over Halloween season and it came to about half what it would have cost for same length at WDW. Unfortunately with band season with the kids it will be a while before we can go...

What do you have planned so far for your Thanksgiving trip? Are you sticking solely with the Disney parks, or will you be going beyond to Universal and/or Seaworld?

I am shocked that Disneyland would end up less expensive than Disney World. Every time I have looked at DL hotels, they have seemed crazy expensive. Maybe they haven't seen the rapid increases that the FL hotels have experienced in the last few years?

back! (though I know that sentiment is rather belated......I am finally starting to get caught up a bit, though) So happy to hear you had a fun time away. How was the weather? Still super hot down there?

The weather was great! Not too hot at all. It can get hot during the summer months, but there is always a breeze blowing off the gulf so it is not too bad. Not as hot as it can get in Orlando during the summer.

I love, love, love the Gulf coast. St. Pete's Beach was stunning. A vacation at the Don Cesar is on my bucket list.

Man, my bucket list is LONG!! .

Universal Studios in the dark at Christmas looks lovely - one to add to my bucket list I think. Our sole December trip (so far) was a WDW only one due to budget constraints (we had spent two weeks in Austria in the summer so I couldn't really complain...).

Austria....wow! What took you there, specifically? Just a desire to visit somewhere new, or do you have extended family there?

Great update! Love the Christmasy atmosphere❤

Thank you! It was so festive and fun!

I can't believe you hadn't been in the park at night, it certainly has a different feel. The Italian meal sounds lovely.

Hope you are having a good week at work

We are generally park opening/early entry people, so we're always there as the rooster crows. By the time we mog around the park for 8 hours or so, we're generally pretty done and ready for the pool by early evening. Combine that with the shorter hours of the Universal parks and yeah.....somehow, other than during Halloween Horror Nights (which is a whole different beast, pardon the pun!) we've never been in the parks at night time. I guess we should start sleeping in more and staying out later!

Work is going okay. It's hard to get used to having a schedule again. Apparently I was quite good at being a lazy, retired bum .

I try. Problem sometimes is that others don't get sarcasm and then they just think I'm rude.

Who have you been talking to? I'm pretty sure that to this day my mother still doesn't know half of what I got into. My three besties from high school and I are still besties. One of them (who has no children) routinely fires off stories in front of my girls about the stuff we did. I've looked at him a couple of times and told him he should start sleeping with one eye open.

My girls have gone through their teens being told that there is nothing they can get away with because whatever it is they think they are going to pull over....I invented!

I was a rather boring teenager (I know, I know...you're shocked ). I liked to study, follow the rules, and avoid doing anything my parents would disapprove of. I swear I was born without any wild oats to sow. Looking back, I wish I had thrown caution to the wind far more often and done a few wild and crazy things while I had the chance. That would have been way more memorable than the box of academic awards collecting dust in the basement.

I love Manheim! Sounds like a perfect evening. I don't think we've ever been to Universal past sunset either, at least not since the kids were born. Seems like they close pretty early the times of year we usually go.

Yes, we got Duncan on Kong, Transformers (because he loved Spiderman so we knew he'd like it), and even one ride on the Pteredon flyers in Jurassic Park.

Oh man, Duncan has one up on me!! We can't ride the Pteredon Flyers because we never have a little one with us, and you must have a child in order to ride. Are you absolutely, positive sure that I can't borrow your boy for just one trip?

We went to California the end of July a couple years ago. I found decently priced flights on southwest but they weren't direct. I did find a direct on Spirit but I hate Spirit.

After Spirit's latest shenanigans in Fort Lauderdale, we are happy to avoid them like the plague. I will have to do a little exploring of the options to the west out of both DTW and Flint. I wonder if Delta offers a non-stop option?

I feel soooo ripped off right now! Over the past 10 years, I've maxed out on Buzz at least 5 times. And I've never got a button or sticker!!!!

Okay, ya'll are making me feel very insignificant in comparison. If I get to 50,000, I think I've done incredible. How do you all manage to max out at 999,999?!?!? Am I truly that uncoordinated?

I feel like I've said this before, but that Italian place by Universal sounds awesome!! I need to give it a try

It was really, really great. We hoped to get back there on our spring trip, but we just didn't manage to fit it into the plans. I'm thinking we will absolutely have to work it in for the fall .

 

[dancin Disney style]

I was a rather boring teenager (I know, I know...you're shocked ). I liked to study, follow the rules, and avoid doing anything my parents would disapprove of. I swear I was born without any wild oats to sow. Looking back, I wish I had thrown caution to the wind far more often and done a few wild and crazy things while I had the chance. That would have been way more memorable than the box of academic awards collecting dust in the basement.

Listen sister.....it's never too late to get a little wild.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Listen sister.....it's never too late to get a little wild.

It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks .

 

[Monykalyn]

What do you have planned so far for your Thanksgiving trip? Are you sticking solely with the Disney parks, or will you be going beyond to Universal and/or Seaworld?

I am shocked that Disneyland would end up less expensive than Disney World. Every time I have looked at DL hotels, they have seemed crazy expensive. Maybe they haven't seen the rapid increases that the FL hotels have experienced in the last few years?

I would love to do Seaworld if my DD can get discount passes or if they have a pre-black friday deal. It is looking like our trip in November may be a bit longer due to flight prices. Had DH look at the prices last night and woohee are they outrageous so far. It is looking like we will be there for a MVMCP so the money saved from extending with cheaper airfare will cover the party (Disney math-)

Listen sister.....it's never too late to get a little wild.

oh good gravy do not give my middle any ideas! Her goal in life is "travel, excitement, adventure" and is already counting days to her 18th bday when she can skydive. Thankfully she is also a pretty responsible kid, so she already has her bail money saved up

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Monday, December 19th

Today was set aside to be our SeaWorld day: one of my favourite places to celebrate the holiday season in Orlando . Their Christmas Celebration events are, in my humble opinion, the place to celebrate all things Christmas when visiting central Florida .

We were no strangers to their festive offerings……we have spent two previous Christmas vacations here, both with Jake along for the fun……but we were super excited about today’s itinerary because it included a few new things that we had never done before. That excitement helped get us up and moving at an early hour (despite still being tired from our late night prior) and we managed to make it to the park in time for the national anthem before park opening.

Admission and parking were both free today, the last entitlements we’d use on our annual passes that would expire just a few days later. We also still had our Photokey annual pass (also due to expire on the 22nd of the month), so all of the park photos we had taken would also be no charge . We had purchased our annual passes on the 2015 Blue Friday sale, where they offered them on a buy one, get one free basis. We had amassed an amazing value from those passes, squeezing in visits to both SeaWorld and Aquatica on our trips in December 2015, April 2016, October 2016 and now SeaWorld again in December 2016. While we chose not to renew for 2017 (opting instead for AP’s to Universal for the year) we hope to purchase the SeaWorld passes again on this year’s BF sale. We adore SeaWorld and Aquatica, and have truly missed having those parks on our 2017 itineraries.

Once inside the gates, we decided to grab some breakfast while we waited for Kerry, Robert and David to arrive. We stopped on the way to have our picture taken by the Photokey staff next to the huge Christmas tree just inside the entrance:

......as well as by the SeaWorld Orlando display:

Though we had tickets to Santa’s Fireside Feast for later that evening, we had opted for the all-day dining passes for the balance of our food needs for the day. Kerry was able to purchase them at a significant discount on the Black Friday sale (I think they were offered BOGO to Florida residents) so we’d easily get our value on bottled water and other beverages alone. Yet again, the day was shaping up to be hot and even a touch humid despite the calendar reading mid December .

Breakfast was offered at the Seafire Inn. Breakfast is now pretty basic on the all-day plan…..muffins, pastries, fruits, and cereals…..but it was ample enough to sufficiently fuel us for the busy day ahead. We had a lovely view of the lagoon as we ate, and the restaurant was virtually deserted so it was a relaxing, peaceful meal. Their muffins, in particular, were absolutely fabulous: fresh baked that morning and monstrously HUGE. Perhaps not the most nutritious start to the morning, but OMG were they good.

We texted back and forth with Kerry as we ate, working to determine their estimated time of arrival so we could plan out what to do while we waited. She noted that they were having a bit of a slower start, so we opted to stroll over to Pacific Point Preserve to visit the seals, sea lions and another Orlando friend (a Dis-er who has my ultimate dream job of working with the various animals at SeaWorld).

I can’t help but adore these adorable creatures, even though they make enough noise to wake the dead . Those faces…….oh, I could just kiss them!! (if their breath didn’t stink like raw fish, that is ). They were apparently quite the hungry bunch, and they were all excited to see us approach: those pinnipeds are pretty smart cookies. They know that guests often equate to their food source and they worked very hard to earn our attention. We had bought a three-tray feeding pass online before our visit (at the discounted pass member price) so we redeemed one of the entitlements for a tray of food, and enjoyed a few minutes of fun tossing the fish to the plethora of wide open mouths begging loudly below.

A few were still pretty sleepy, though: apparently even sea lions can have an aversion to mornings . Despite the ruckus and noise of the other residents, a few just snoozed away in the warm morning air.

Around 10, our friend (who I will simply identify as “T” …. she prefers to keep a low profile) emerged carrying huge buckets of fish to feed the residents en masse. Not only is this girl one of the sweetest young women that we are privileged to know, she is also super knowledgeable about the animals she works with at the park. So, when we meet up with her on our trips to Orlando, she almost always leaves us with a ton of cool bits of knowledge about many of the animals we visit…..I can’t tell you how much we have learned from her, specifically, on our vacations.

So, as she tossed the buckets and buckets of food to the sea lions and seals, we got a little in-depth “who’s who” and some backstories on how they arrived at SeaWorld.

My favourite had to be Big Chris, a massive old fellow who we knew immediately was suffering from some sort of eye condition. Our hearts just hurt for the big, old guy as he barked out a deep, throaty call. T assured us, however, that there was no need to pity Big Chris: a senior sea lion suffering from cataracts, he would surely have long since fallen prey to natural predators in the wild.

Instead, he was living out a protected, safe life at SeaWorld Orlando, dining on regular healthy meals, and receiving regular treatment for his eye conditions. He was also one of two dominant males within Pacific Point Preserve, so not only was he being well cared for, he was sort of seen as “the boss” within his half of the sea lion enclosure. Life for Big Chris was pretty comfy, and unless something unexpected occurred, he was expected to live for a long time yet.

We riddled T with questions (and God bless her, she patiently answers them all with her trademark kindness) and she told us all about the new mommas and babies that had been born inside the exhibit. They made me lonely for my kittens back home…….seeing the new sea lion mothers with their babies kicked my maternal instinct into high gear, too.

Eventually, though, we knew we had taken up enough of T’s time, and she needed to get back to work as much we needed to get back to touring. We thanked her for all her kindness once again, and as she made her way to the backstage areas with empty fish buckets in tow, we made our way back down to the Waterfront area while we texted Kerry and the boys.


It was still crazy quiet in the park at that point in the morning, so we were surprised to see that the snow globe photo center was open already. Photos inside the snow globe have become a tradition on our Christmas visits, and with only one other family in front of us, we knew that this would be the PERFECT time to have them done. Later in the day…..particularly once the Christmas Celebration events were in full swing after 5 pm…..this would be a hot spot in the park. Lines would be lengthy and waits would be long.

We only had to wait behind one other family, who was just finishing up as we approached. Each year, the park has different props for the photo op and this year it was a huge stuffed candy cane. The photographer ushered us inside, we quickly had a few pictures snapped, and then we headed over to the adjacent kiosk to have them added to our Photokey account. I will bet that the whole process took us right around 5 minutes. Super quick and some truly fun and unique pictures.

More SeaWorld is coming up!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I would love to do Seaworld if my DD can get discount passes or if they have a pre-black friday deal. It is looking like our trip in November may be a bit longer due to flight prices. Had DH look at the prices last night and woohee are they outrageous so far. It is looking like we will be there for a MVMCP so the money saved from extending with cheaper airfare will cover the party (Disney math-)

oh good gravy do not give my middle any ideas! Her goal in life is "travel, excitement, adventure" and is already counting days to her 18th bday when she can skydive. Thankfully she is also a pretty responsible kid, so she already has her bail money saved up

Longer is always good!! And hey, I think you have the totally right idea.....if you can stay an extra day or two essentially for free (taking in what you will save on airfare by extending the trip), why on earth wouldn't you? The ability to squeeze in a MVMCP with those bonus days is just the icing on the cake!!

I know in the past, they haven't released the SeaWorld Blue Friday deals until Black Friday itself. They often leak the offers to the Orlando Sentinel in advance (so we all know what is coming), but the actual offers haven't gone live until right on BF. You have a full year to activate the APs, though, so you could always purchase this year and start planning another trip for next year .

 

[Lynne G]

Yay! Love seeing the pictures, as it also reminds us of our Christmas vacation.

My kids, who declared they were done with Disney, decided to go to WDW for Christmas vacation this year. Well, after hearing the new VB and what new stuff USO is doing, split stay for us. My poor pocketbook. And crazy, I know. The kids were not fond of the Christmas Party last year. (that may have been because of our way too late flight the early morning of) So, haven't bought that yet. I guess I'd better if we do, earlier than later, as I think the last one was a sell out.

Any Christmas in Orlando plans this year? 20 to 31 for us. And no, no Busch parks this time. We've done the Grover passes several times, and while enjoyed DC for three times so far, not interested this year. Even with Blue Friday.

I'd love to also hear how your VB Cabana works out. I think I may do it for one for a day, since I know we will spend several hours in VB. Here's hoping the extra warm weather we had, will be again this year.

Follow on. Your trip reports are fabulous.

 

[pattyw]

WOW! Did I miss a lot in less than a week! We spent a long weekend in Nags Head in the Outer Banks (beach, drinks, relaxation, AAAHHH). Congrats Gina on your job!! That extra $$ will come in handy for vacations!
@dancin Disney style congrats to DD!! And I applaud your decision to have a job which gave you flexibility for your kids. I did the same when my DS's were young. Could have made more $$ and had a better paying full-time job but opted for less responsibility and a part-time job. They grow so fast - as I see now that they're all grown up! Glad I was there for them.
Gina, glad you enjoyed Kong!

 

[dancin Disney style]

It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks .

I wasn't suggesting you go and commit any crimes....but it's excellent advice to have bail money handy, just in case. BTW, you're hardly an old dog.

 

[dancin Disney style]

WOW! Did I miss a lot in less than a week! We spent a long weekend in Nags Head in the Outer Banks (beach, drinks, relaxation, AAAHHH). Congrats Gina on your job!! That extra $$ will come in handy for vacations!
@dancin Disney style congrats to DD!! And I applaud your decision to have a job which gave you flexibility for your kids. I did the same when my DS's were young. Could have made more $$ and had a better paying full-time job but opted for less responsibility and a part-time job. They grow so fast - as I see now that they're all grown up! Glad I was there for them.
Gina, glad you enjoyed Kong!

Ugggg....don't even make me think about the money. I probably would be making about 3-4 times what I do with a lot less headache.

You're right about how fast they grow up. I can hardly believe that I'm basically done. GC just got her university offers in the mail and has accepted one. Although, today is 'parenting' day. I got an email this morning from her math teacher and it's not at all pretty. Going to have to be all adult on her and deal with it. If she doesn't get her act together in math she could lose the university offer. Of course she will be missing math for the next two days to go out of town to do a job that lays a little ground work for her future.
Is there anyone that wants to come over and deal with this kid today?

 

[pattyw]

Is there anyone that wants to come over and deal with this kid today?

I've always wanted a daughter, but...... I think you'll do fine! Here's to you from all of us and a little can't hurt!