LoveWDW said:
I'd like more detail on your stay and on your restaurant experiences.
The Yacht Club was a wonderful resort to stay at. We had previously stayed at the Beach Club, and enjoyed the location, so we decided to stay at the Yacht Club on this trip (we try to stay at a different resort every time we go, so we can have different experiences). Anyway, traveling with a party of 6 caused us to need two rooms (preferably adjoining). When we checked in they had us in two rooms across the hall from one another, but after some searching found us two rooms that did connect--Thank you to Milo, he was very helpful. We had no problems with our room--clean when we arrived, and continued to be cleaned daily with no problems.
Day 1:
The night we arrived we had reservations at the Yachtsman Steakhouse at 6:00 pm. We were seated immediately and service was wonderful. Mom, dad, brother, and I all had the chateaubriand which was delicious, my other brother had the cowboy ribeye, and my fiance' had the filet. We all thouroughly enjoyed this meal, and thought it would be a hard meal to beat over the remainder of the trip. Also, they had a specialty drink--banana's foster martini--which was absoutely delicious. Banana's foster is my favorite dessert, so I actually had this drink as my after dinner drink/dessert. After dinner, we walked to Epcot to watch Illuminations. We had a little time so we rode the rides in Mexico and Norway before the fireworks started. After Illuminations we headed back to the room to get a good nights sleep before our first full day in the parks.
Day 2:
We went to Magic Kingdom for our first day, and walked up just as the park gates were opening. We had tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night, so we decided to get the big rides and any rides that would be closed during
MVMCP out of the way. During the day we pretty much did everything except Fantasyland, Country Bear Jamboree, and Hall of Presidents. We went back to the room around 1:00 pm, to rest, and returned to the Magic Kingdom for our reservation at the Plaza Restuarant at 4:30. At this restaurant my fiance' and I both had hamburgers, mom and brother had rueben, other brother had club, and dad had tuna salad. The sandwiches, although nothing special, were good. The rest of the evening we went and saw Mickey's Twas the Night Before Christmas, watched the parade, watched the fireworks, and did Fantasyland. By this time the parents were tired and went back to the room. My brothers, fiance' and I stayed and rode Splash Mountain back-to-back without having to get off and we rode Thunder Mountain back-to-back without having to get off (it was misty/rainy so there were no crowds), and finally ended the night with a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean and Aladdin's Magic Carpet.
Day 3:
We arrived at Animal Kingdom as soon as it opened for our second full day and immediately went to ride Kilmanjaro Safari's before the line got too long. After that we headed to Dinoland U.S.A., did those rides, saw Flights of Wonder, got lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, did the Asian walking path (forgot the name), did A Bug's Life, and I think that's about it. I don't remember anything else we did that day. We went back to the room around 3:00 to rest before heading to EPCOT for the Candlelight Processional and Dinner at Teppanyaki. The Candlelight Processional was amazing--Harry Hamlin narrated, and was okay--but the music was outstanding. I had never seen it before and was thoroughly impressed. After the show, we went to Teppanyaki for supper at 8:30 pm and it was very entertaining as always. The food was good and service was wonderful. Between all of us we had the steak, chicken, shrimp, and scallops, and if I'm not mistaken there was none left on our plate at the end of the night, so we all must have enjoyed it.
Day 4:
We went to MGM on Saturday, arrived when it opened, and this is when we noticed more people on property. It was not too crowded yet, but there were definitely more people. The first thing we did was head to Rockin' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror to ride both and get a fast pass for both. We timed it so that by the time we got off of the second ride our time would come up to get another fast pass. After this we headed to the back of the park to do Lights, Motors, Actions, and then did the Muppets before our lunch at the Brown Derby. We all split the cobb salad for the appetizer, but I also got the oyster and brie soup--all delicious. For our entree' 5 of the 6 got grouper which was delicious and light--perfect lunch. And the other got the steak, and he said it was delicious. We stayed in the park after lunch to finish up the rides, and then we headed back to the room to rest later in the afternoon. This night we returned to the Magic Kingdom to see Spectromagic and the regular Wishes fireworks, since there was no MVMCP. We saw the Hall of Presidents, and that is the only attraction we did because the crowds were so large and since we had already done the rides. However, the fog was so thick you could not see any fireworks during Wishes. The sky just lit up in different colors behind the castle, which was kind of cool.
Day 5:
Sunday, we went to EPCOT and did future world during the morning. We immediately went to Soarin' and rode it, and then headed to Mission Space to ride it. Got fastpasses for Soarin' and Test Track, and then headed to Canada for lunch at Le Cellier. For appetizers, my parents had the Shrimp Cocktail with wasabi slaw--which was outstanding, I would recommend this to anyone. The rest of us got the cheese soup, which was good, but nothing extra special. For meals we all had steak or beef tips and everyone enjoyed it tremendously. For dessert we split the sampler platter which was good, but wish we would have had more maple syrup creme brule--it was delicious. We hung out in EPCOT the rest of the day and finished up the rides and countries. We left before Illuminations began and went to eat at the ESPN Bar & Grill at the Boardwalk. The meal was good, but we all decided that the wings were the best part of the meal. Headed back to the room after this for a good nights sleep.
Day 6:
Since we finished the attractions by this day, it was a free day for everyone to do as they pleased. My mom, brother, fiance', and I headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping whild my dad and other brother went to EPCOT to go through the countries since they did not do that the day before. We all made it to MGM by 4:00 for our reservations at Mama Melrose's as part of the Fantasmic package. The flatbread was absolutely delicious--we got the vine ripened tomato, grilled chicken, and pepperoni. The entree's were okay, and dessert was fine. We made it just in time to get a seat for Fantasmic before the seats were full. Fantasmic was entertaining, and then finally we headed back to see the Osbourne lights before the park closed.
Day 7:
This was our departure day. My brothers and dad went on a fishing trip and had some luck catching bass, and enjoyed this relaxing activity. The rest of us slept in, and finished packing before we headed out. We had lunch at Beaches & Cream and then hit the road back home.
Overall we had a wonderful trip. We weren't in a rush to finish anything and did things at a good pace. I will mention that we had dinner packages for the candlelight processional and for Fantasmic, but we did not do the Dining Plan. We figured that we would spend more money on it, because of having to pay out of pocket for meals, and we figured it out, and did in fact save some money. I would suggest for anyone to do the fantasmic and the candlelight processional packages they were very convenient and easy to use, and the waiters/waitresses were willing to help if you had any changes you wanted to make. I hope this gave you a better description, but feel free to ask more specific questions if you wish. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!
