Last minute December trip 2020!

[samantha3590]

We headed back to AK and got there around 5.
Wait times were still pretty long so we headed to one of our favorite spots in all of Disney...

Nomad lounge!! I think this is our favorite bar in Disney! The atmosphere is great and the drinks are interesting! We sat here for probably about an hour and enjoyed ourselves. We headed back to Everest and rode it another 3 times for 6 times total today! It was fun riding at night.
It was about 7:30 and the park was closing at 8. We decided to get in line for FOP and again only waited 30 minutes! After this we left the park and headed to The Contemporary for dinner!
Once again, I think that AK probably has the least to do in the parks right now. Definitely a half day park right now. I would have liked to ride Navi river but the wait time never dropped low enough for what I was willing to wait on. I think because there’s not that many attractions the wait times seemed the longest here.

 

[tundra1]

Hi! I love reading about your adventures! We were there in November, and had a great time! I am an ER nurse, and desperately needed a vacation by then! We rented DVC points about a month prior to our trip and ended up at AKL with a savanna view. It was amazing there!

I am sorry Wine Bar George did not meet your expectations. We went there and the food and service were amazing. But Disney Springs in the evening was pretty crowded, and we were there on a Tuesday night. I can't imagine being there on a weekend!

Thanks for doing this trip report!

 

[samantha3590]

We had a 8:50 reservation at California Grill. We went here on our trip in 2017 and it was one of the best meals we’ve ever had (anywhere not just at Disney.) Heres a (not great) picture of the castle from our table! Similar to the night before, they seemed understaffed and the service just wasn’t as great from what I remembered I think because of covid they must be running short staffed.
The food was good but not excellent. We split the goat cheese ravioli, spicy kazan roll, and the filet. The ravioli was probably my favorite.
I would definitely come back and think this may have just been an off night. I also booked such a late reservation and was basically falling asleep at the dinner table I hope they bring back the brunch. We were supposed to do that in April.

 

[samantha3590]

Hi! I love reading about your adventures! We were there in November, and had a great time! I am an ER nurse, and desperately needed a vacation by then! We rented DVC points about a month prior to our trip and ended up at AKL with a savanna view. It was amazing there!

I am sorry Wine Bar George did not meet your expectations. We went there and the food and service were amazing. But Disney Springs in the evening was pretty crowded, and we were there on a Tuesday night. I can't imagine being there on a weekend!

Thanks for doing this trip report!

Thanks for reading!! And thank you so much for everything you’ve done this year in the ER! I work in family practice..I can’t even imagine what working in the hospital is like this year
Yeah I think I would only do Disney Springs for lunch or on a weeknight right now. It was just way too crowded!

 

[stacyrains]

Following along!

We were ready for some booze! Honestly can’t believe it took this long haha! Baseline tap house is one of our favorite spots in Disney!

This place has been pretty busy on our HS trips in October and November. I have never been. Maybe we will have to try it in April! But, I don't love beer.

We split the charcuterie board and the bison burger. OMG this burger is amazing. You have to get this if you’re here.

I want to go get the Bison Burger at Geyser Point when we go in April!! I've never had it before. It looks delicious.

 

[samantha3590]

Following along!


This place has been pretty busy on our HS trips in October and November. I have never been. Maybe we will have to try it in April! But, I don't love beer.


I want to go get the Bison Burger at Geyser Point when we go in April!! I've never had it before. It looks delicious.

Thanks for following!!
I’m pretty sure Baseline has cocktails too!
And yes the burger is worth a trip there for sure. There’s some kind of sweet jam sauce on it that makes it so different.

 

[samantha3590]

Sunday December 13th was our last day and also our Magic Kingdom day. We had another super early wake up. We had to pack our room up and we brought our luggage to bell services for them to store all day.
We got an Uber at about 710 from Saratoga to take us to the Contemporary. I was going to try to do the mobile order trick again so that we could just walk from the Contemporary to the MK. This one was a little more dicey than when we got dropped off at the Boardwalk. The guard questioned us for a long time and made me actually show her my phone of where I ordered a mobile order at Contempo Cafe. She made me press “I’m here prepare my order” (because I was just going to cancel it haha) So I wasted 3.25 on a Dasani water bottle at the Contempo Cafe because we didn’t actually walk up there to get it. So basically, if you plan on doing this..I would plan to ACTUALLY eat the food at Contempo Cafe or get breakfast at the Wave because they were super strict.
We entered the MK at 7:35 for an 8 am opening. I love the Christmas decorations here

I like the new paint job on the castle!
We headed to 7 Dwarves first and they were already letting people ride. We waited 11 minutes.
After 7 Dwarves we went on a mad dash of riding rides. I had a plan in my head of which order to do them in and it worked out perfect! Next was Big Thunder and Splash Mountain..both walk ons! I was so happy that we were able to ride Splash this trip. This is one of my all time favorite rides and is super nostalgic to me. Growing up I would ride this with my Dad and sister over and over again. I remember waiting in huge long lines for Splash Mountain in the 90s haha. Here’s a poncho pic!
After Splash, we walked over to Adventureland. Pirates was a walk on. Jungle Cruise would have been a 10 minute wait but a boat broke down and the cast members had to get another boat to tow it away! So we ended up waiting about 20 minutes.

Our skipper was extra funny this morning. I love all the puns! While in line I mobile ordered this bad boy..

Omg it was so good. This is my first time getting the float, usually I just get the cup of soft serve. The float is better!
We headed over to Peter Pan (15 minutes), Haunted Mansion (maybe 5?), Winnie the Pooh (15 minutes), and Ariel (walk on.) We rode all of these by 11:15!! I hate waking up early on vacation but it’s almost necessary right now without Fast Pass if your main goal is to ride everything!
Next we have a lunch reservation and have beer in Magic Kingdom for the first time!

 

[samantha3590]

We had a lunch reservation at The Plaza. This is the first time that either of us had been here. This view at lunch is pretty spectacular
I ordered a blue moon and Colin ordered a jai alai ipa. We shared the plaza loaded cheese fries which don’t look like much but they were actually really good! We debated getting the club sandwich (a bunch of people around us kept ordering it and it looked amazing) but decided we would save room for snacks later. I would definitely come back here! It was nice to get in the AC and take our masks off for an hour!
After lunch we headed to Tomorrowland! Both buzz and space mountain were 30 minutes. These queues were probably two of the worst just because you’re outside for the most part in the sun with nothing to look at. Still 30 minutes for space mountain at 1 in the afternoon isn’t bad!
We got a pepper jack cheese stuffed pretzel from the Lunching Pad-add side of plastic cheese

This was really good!
I then did my shopping at the Emporium while Colin found a shady spot to wait in.
I love this picture of the castle
We decided we were pretty much done with rides at this point. It was by far the warmest day we had so far and the masks were starting to get to us a little bit!
I had two more snacks I wanted to get before we left. Cheeseburger spring rolls and a classic churro with chocolate sauce.
One more look at the castle...

We walked back to the Contemporary, did some more shopping at their gift shop (one of the best resort gift shops in my opinion) and ordered an Uber back to Saratoga Springs. We picked up our luggage and called for another Uber to the airport.
We had a somewhat eventful travel experience home that I’ll save for another post

 

[footballmouse]

Sounds like a successful trip!

 

[stuffed withfluff]

Hi!

Following your adventure! I already love the leopard face mask. I can't wait to read the trip report!

 

[ceeceegee]

What a fun trip! You got so lucky on weather and wait times - amazing! We just got back from a big family trip over Christmas (at Wilderness Lodge ) and it was super fun, but also exhausting with all the personalities lol. Your trip makes me want to plan a long weekend just the hubs and me. Thanks for the report!

 

[samantha3590]

What a fun trip! You got so lucky on weather and wait times - amazing! We just got back from a big family trip over Christmas (at Wilderness Lodge ) and it was super fun, but also exhausting with all the personalities lol. Your trip makes me want to plan a long weekend just the hubs and me. Thanks for the report!

You should do it!! A couples trip is always worth it!
My Disney bucket list is to stay at wilderness lodge during Xmas!! Sounds like a dream.

 

[samantha3590]

There was a longggg line at the Delta ticket counter to check our bags..this process took about 45 minutes!
My husband just got a new credit card which gets him free access to a lot of airport lounges for the year. We went to the MCO club and it was really nice! Alcohol, soft drinks, and snacks (mixed nuts, gummy bears, granola bars etc) are included.
Our plane was delayed about an hour from MCO to ATL and then delayed probably another 2 hours in ATL meaning we didn’t get back to Memphis until after 1 in the morning and I have to be at work at 7 am Of course it was worth being exhausted!
We had an amazing quick trip! It’s totally doable (but exhausting!) This was a great time to go crowds wise too!
We are going BACK to Disney Feb 17-21 and staying at my DREAM resort...the Grand Floridian!!! I have a work conference there which greatly discounts the room price otherwise that would not be doable for us! We’ll have about 3 and a half park days this time and since we just went in looking forward to a slower pace! Also very excited about going to Epcot since we missed it this trip!

 

[DL1WDW2]

I was so excited to read your trip .
And your next trip is first I have heard of the return company planned business conference, good news
Have fun planning next one and look forward to your pictures!

 

[Gino USMC]

Awesome review. I am very jealous. I am also a huge Star Wars fan, and everything you guys did looked amazing. I can't wait to experience Galaxies edge. Does the lightsaber build experience justify the cost? I don't know if I can convince my wife with the price.

 

[samantha3590]

I was so excited to read your trip .
And your next trip is first I have heard of the return company planned business conference, good news
Have fun planning next one and look forward to your pictures!

It’s a medical conference so I think it will be pretty easy to space us out!

 

[samantha3590]

Awesome review. I am very jealous. I am also a huge Star Wars fan, and everything you guys did looked amazing. I can't wait to experience Galaxies edge. Does the lightsaber build experience justify the cost? I don't know if I can convince my wife with the price.

I think the light saber build was definitely worth it! It’s about 20 minutes long and the light saber feels high quality. It’s heavy!

 

[DLo]

Thanks for taking the time to report. Looks like you had a magical time. The only time we stayed at GF was the same - convention rates. Enjoy ! The new walkway to MK is game changing.
I noticed your husband’s shirt in one of the pictures- War Eagle , I graduated awhile ago and my younger son graduated in May.

 

[samantha3590]

Thanks for taking the time to report. Looks like you had a magical time. The only time we stayed at GF was the same - convention rates. Enjoy ! The new walkway to MK is game changing.
I noticed your husband’s shirt in one of the pictures- War Eagle , I graduated awhile ago and my younger son graduated in May.

War eagle!!

 

[Paulaparm]

You certainly had a great time! How great that you're going back so soon! Can't wait to read all about it