Kidani Trip Report - The AP experiment

[dclfun]

Thanks for the great TR! Can't wait to read the rest as it sounds like you had a wonderful time. Sometimes last-minute trips are the best, and we play theme park bus roulette too!---Kathy

 

[eporter66]

Great posts and pictures. We really want to get down for Christmas one year to see WDW decorated, unfortunately it is my busy time at work, getting a week off would not happen

Interesting game, we have been renting a car our last few trips, but it sounds like fun. Glad to see Rose & Crown being brought up, I always stop in and at least have a beer there during our stay!!!

Have a blast!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

As promised, Christmas is over...and we are back to our late trip report.

I would have been back sooner...but we got snowed in at my sister's house.

Now, I know most of you guys think 5" of snow is nothing...but we live in the Deep South! This was a big deal.

Mostly though, I don't get to spend a lot of time with the family, and we didn't absolutely have to get back, so we didn't.

OK...back to the trip report.

As you know...we played theme park roulette...and won. That's right...Magic Kingdom baby.

We could only stay for a few hours during the day. It was probably close to 10 am when we got to MK, and had planned to get back to the room to get our luggage, settle in, etc.

We did some touring in MK, ate lunch at Pinnochio's, and scored fast passes for both Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear for later that night.

Getting lunch was a bit unusual. First of all, it was a very cold day, and nobody was eating outside. When we got inside, we were given menus, then escorted to a place to order, and stood there while the order was completed. Customers were not given a choice of finding a table before getting the food. Although strange, it seemed like a very efficient process.

About 3pm, we headed back to our resort. Our plans were to get settled, put on extra clothes, drive to Downtown Disney, buy gloves for dh and some souvenirs, and eat at Wolfgang Puck.

We got back to the resort, but of course our room wasn't ready. I was kind of hopeful since we checked in on Monday.

We hung out in the lobby for awhile and took some pictures of the savannah.

We had hoped to be at Downtown Disney by about 4pm, but our room wasn't ready at 3:30.

OK, don't flame us on this point. We decided since we were a long way from the lobby, and were just putting clothes on and not taking anything off...we could just do that in the SUV. That's right...I put on a 2nd pair of pants, in the car.

Actually, I put on an extra jacket, a long lined winter coat, an extra pair of pants, a hat, and gloves. DH did something like that too. OK, so now its 3:45...we head out to Downtown Disney in our own vehicle. We will unpack the SUV when we get back at midnight. As we come out of the parking deck...we get the room ready text. Seriously? I mean...seriously? OK, so now what??

We decide to unpack all of our stuff, skip shopping at Downtown Disney, and take the bus straight to the West Side for dinner at Wolfgang Puck downstairs.

That's right! For any Disney CM reading this report...if we'd gotten in our room sooner...we would have went SHOPPING!

OK...so we get to the Westside. DH pops his head in a shop looking for gloves...no luck! We then get to Wolfgang Puck.

I had the Fettucinni Alfredo there about 5 years ago. We sat on the water, had a great meal, and good service. It was time to go there again. Well...I had seen some negative reviews on another website, but of course, we got what we could get in ADRs.

OK...so I'd been looking forward to some great pasta. So, DH ordered a steak, which he liked alright, and I got the pasta dish. The fettucinni had been replaced with penne...but I can live with that.

However, the pasta sauce tasted just like LEAN CUISINE!! It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, and after they gave me some grated parmesan that I asked for...it wasn't that bad at all...but if you charge $19 for pasta...it should never taste anything like LEAN CUISINE!! With so many choices at Disney, we will probably NOT be back to Wolfgang Puck.

We had originally planned Sanaa, but I'm very picky about food and chickened out. We would have been better off both logistically and quality wise, I believe.

OK, so then we got through eating...and had to get back to MK. This time, we played a different kind of roulette. DTD - Westside...had 2 busses going to Monorail resorts. We would have to stop at a hotel to get back to MK and use those fastpasses.

Where would we end up? Where would the busses go? Our choices were GF/WL/Ft.Wilderness or CR/BLT/Poly? Where did we land?

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

Subscribing and I'm gonna guess that you went to CR/BLT/Poly

 

[Harlemgirl720]

I play bus roulette too. Its fun. Having DVC gives you that luxury because we go so often, we don't feel rushed going to certain parks.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Subscribing and I'm gonna guess that you went to CR/BLT/Poly

KyCruisinSusan: That is a very good guess. We really love both CR/Poly. However, this is bus roulette. So....(drumroll)

we went to:

I admit it. I'm a sucker for the Grand Floridian at Christmas. Several years ago, before the giant gingerbread house, hubby and I just sat in the lobby for an hour or so listening to the piano and orchestra play Christmas music. I am truly a sucker for good music.

One disappointment on this trip: we love going to the Contemporary. We stayed there in 1994 and 2002. We would love to stay there again, but I'm not sure its in the cards. We may stay in BLT at some point.

Ok, so we were only in the Grand for a few minutes. The purpose of the trip over there was truly to get to the magic kingdom in time for fireworks.

Did I say fireworks?

Of course seeing the Christmas Ice on the castle was also spectacular.

Afterwards, we scurried around to use our fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan. My score for Buzz would have been awful...but I hit a 100k target. Don't ask me...I don't have a clue. I finished with 113K, which beat hubby's score big time.

OK...so we are at MK, its late EMH until midnight. Its 25 degrees. I still hadn't caught up on my sleep...and I wussed out. I found out later that late EMH was great that night. I just remember desperately wanting to get back to the room.

We stopped in the lobby of Kidani so that we could get our Christmas tree. Yes! we participated in the Christmas tree swap! How wonderful! I had wondered about the tree for weeks. How tall would it be? Would it have decorations? etc.? Anyway, hubby talked with bell services for an eternity...ummm... ok maybe 10 minutes.

I sat on the couch in the lobby looking very strange. My black coat was all buttoned up, my black hat was pulled over my eyes, and if I had been a bit more comfortable, I could have snored on that couch. I own a black lined raincoat that comes in handy...but I have to admit....black is not a popular color at WDW. Its odd. Black can be sleek, sophisticated, and in winter downright functional. In WDW, for some reason...you start feeling like a villian. Its strange I know.

So...finally...hubby gets the Christmas tree, and we head down the long, long hallway. We get to the room, and open the box to find a 4' tree with ornaments!

Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much for everybody that made the tree swap possible.

So...for the next day...we will do some good touring...dance in the street, and have a decent lunch ADR with a fabulous perk.

Stay tuned!