Live from WDW!

[ctrabada]

I am writing from our studio at VWL....

Cast:
Me, a bona fide Disney addict. I do all the planning and research and packing.

German (DH). I quickly converted him to a Disney addict on our first trip when we started dating 11 years ago. I knew then that he was the guy for me . We’ve been married almost 9 years.

Cristy (DD8). A child born to Disney addicts doesn’t have a choice… she was born addicted… it’s in her genes.

We drove up to Orlando on Friday morning and spent 2 nights at my parents.

Sunday, December 25

After we opened presents on Christmas morning, I packed everything and checked in (around 2:00 pm) at VWL. Our room was ready, so we went upstairs and unpacked.

Here are a few pictures of the room (3550). It faces a wooded area in front of the resort... I can see the buses when they come in. The view is not bad and it's not noisy at all.

I then hooked up my laptop so we could install the software for my DH's new iPod (he was a good boy this year). I brought all my mp3's, uploaded them and spent some time listening to the music on the Bose speaker dock I got him as well. Then, we took a shower and dressed for dinner at Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club. We met my family there and had a wonderful time. The food was really good. It's the best buffet I've had on property. The mussels and clams were delicious. The clam chowder was pretty good and so was the corn bread. They had salmon (my piece was a bit salty but my DH’s was good), peel & eat shrimp, turkey (only for Christmas), roast beef (a bit too red for me, but DH loved it), corn on the cob with melted butter (sweet and crunchy), mashed potatoes (very yummy), macaroni & cheese, pasta in a white sauce (not so good), young broccoli (very good), a great salad bar with seafood pasta salad (one of my favorites), potato salad, marinated green & black olives, marinated tomatoes, marinated cucumbers, and much more. For dessert, they had apple cobbler, apple pie (very good), pumpkin cheesecake (pretty good), chocolate mousse (sorry, didn't try it... I don't like chocolate), pecan pie (very good), cookies, and some coconut/chocolate layer cake that was out of this world (I know I said I don't like chocolate, but this thing was incredible).

After dinner, we walked outside for a bit. We also enjoyed the gingerbread carousel in the lobby and hunted for the 6 hidden mickeys in it (we found them all). By then, we were so tired we went back to our room and crashed.

Monday, December 26

This morning we went to the Magic Kingdom. We left around 9:15 am and boarded the boat conveniently waiting for us (somebody must have called ahead to let them know we were on our way ). My DD and I had scheduled the Family Magic tour at 10:00 am and separated from DH who went to join his sisters who came to WDW last night. This tour was well worth the money. I think I paid $40 each (with a Disney Visa discount) and it’s a scavenger hunt geared to kids under 12 years old. It was a lot of fun. Our tour guide, Jeff, was incredible. Oh, and EVERYONE has to participate, not just the kids. You should have seen us, jumping, skipping, hopping, marching and singing all over the park. We had to find Captain Hook’s favorite hook, which Peter Pan had stolen the night before. Captain Hook threatened the boss (Mickey Mouse) that he would storm Cinderella’s Castle with all the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean if he didn’t get his hook back by Noon today. Peter Pan left 11 clues that we needed to follow in order to find the hook. The clues took us everywhere around the park and we played several games and performed innumerable acts of silliness. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the tour, we met Wendy, took pictures and then she accompanied us to Mickey’s Philharmagic (front row). We then received personalized certificates autographed by Peter Pan, Tink and Wendy. If you are a kid at heart and you have any young children (or can borrow one), I highly recommend this tour. Here are some pictures:

After the tour, we reunited with DH and his family and ate lunch at a counter service restaurant in Fantasyland (I forgot the name). My DD8, who has a sprained ankle from gymnastics was hurting a lot by now, so we decided to rent a wheelchair for her. My poor baby had skipped, jumped and hopped too much for the past 2 hours and it put additional strain on her ankle. She is such a trooper, though, that she kept on going and did not interrupt the tour even though she was hurting. I was so tired that I decided to go back to the room for a nap and left the family to continue their Magic Kingdom adventures. I forgot to mention earlier that I got a serious case of bronchitis two weeks ago and I’m still recovering. I’ve had to go to the doctor twice and today I finished my second round of antibiotics. I am still coughing and I get tired very easily. I NEVER take naps, but due to this darn illness, I have to rest (doctor’s orders) and today was a bit too much activity…. So I went back to the room and actually fell asleep in just a few minutes. I slept for about 2 hours and after getting up took the bus to Downtown Disney where I met my mom and sister who had just come out from the movies. We wandered around the shops and then had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. This place is great, good food at great prices. We shared a tuna melt, grilled cheese sandwich, chicken Caesar salad, 2 bags of chips, a soda, 2 coffees and a water and spent only $25. Can’t beat that. After we ate, I bought another tuna melt, bag of chips and a cookie to bring back to my DH and DD who were back in the room.

The park was really crowded today but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Some lines were long, but I’ve seen it worse. We got fast passes to Buzz Lightyear at 1:00 pm for 3:04 pm… not bad. When I left, I asked a CM if they expected to close the park and he said no. If you have a plan and tour wisely, it can be done and it’s not that much different than the summer. The weather was quite nice (a bit cold for me, but I’m a Floridian…. Any temp under 60 is cold to me). The high was 64 and it’s currently 49 degrees.

We are going to call it a night and rest. Tomorrow we’ll be going to Epcot.

 

[Valentine]

Thanks for the report!! Your pics are great! How long will you be there? I am flying in on Saturday.. So..keep the place hopping for me! LOL!! Have fun!

kathy

 

[LightBurnsBlue]

Thanks for the report...sounds like you and your family are having a great time! I hope your daughter's ankle feels better! And your cough!

 

[Queen_freckles]

Thanks for the report! Hope your daughter's ankle heals quickly and you feel better! Beautiful pictures and family!

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Thanks for the report, Cristy! Sounds like everyone is having a good time. I am glad you get to share WDW with your entire family. What a wonderful way to spend the holidays! I really appreciate the pictures, and also your detailed review of Cape May...I have not eaten there yet, but after that review it is a MUST for our next trip!

I cannot wait to do that Keys Of the Kingdom tour! Maybe I will let my DH skip that one, as I cannot see him skipping around MK! LOL!

Hope DD feels better soon, and you too. I cannot believe you had to take a second round of antibiotics!

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[Franne]

OMG, this is hysterical!!! Guess what, we were in the Family Magic tour with you and that is MY DD in the picture!!!! I was reading your posts and then saw the picture, It really is a small world!
It sure was a great time and I would recommend it for anyone with kids. We were in a group of only 10 so it was very personal. Have a great rest of the vacation!

 

[Allison]

OMG, this is hysterical!!! Guess what, we were in the Family Magic tour with you and that is MY DD in the picture!!!! I was reading your posts and then saw the picture, It really is a small world!
It sure was a great time and I would recommend it for anyone with kids. We were in a group of only 10 so it was very personal. Have a great rest of the vacation!

Holy cow, that is amazing.

 

[Allison]

Please stop posting because you are making me extremely jealous.

No, seriously, it sounds like you are having a great time. How nice to be able to meet up with family and do different things like that.

I'm glad you are having a magical time.

 

[nhpooh]

Have fun at Epcot today, hope your DD's ankle is feeling better today. Be careful with that cough, don't over do it. Thanks for the report and pictures.

 

[Gymbomom]

Can't wait to hear your next installment!!!!!

 

[ctrabada]

Franne, it IS a small world!!! It was nice meeting you at the tour. I was very impressed with your DD's reading skills.

WLL, the tour we took wasn't the Keys to the Kingdom, but the Family Magic Tour. I believe it's the only one where they take young kids. All the other ones are for ages 16+. I wish my DH had joined us. Even with the jumping around, I think the dads had fun too. You get to be a kid again.

OK, so here's my report for yesterday. Sorry I didn’t post last night, but we got back pretty late and we were exhausted. So here’s my report for yesterday.

Tuesday, December 27

We arrived in Epcot around 10:00 am, rented a wheelchair for DD and met my DH’s sisters in front of Innoventions. We decided to get fastpasses to Soarin. The return time was 2:30 pm (stand by waiting time was 80 minutes) and we went to Mission Space. Since we had little kids, some of us stayed behind while the rest went on the ride (60 minute wait). I am not much into waiting in line and I’ve ridden this one several times before, so I didn’t mind staying. We chatted while waiting, went to get a snack and browsed the shop a little bit. The park was PACKED. I am not used to seeing Epcot this crowded. Magic Kingdom, yes… but not Epcot. By the time our group got out of Mission Space, it was 12:00 pm so we walked to Mexico for our 12:30 reservation at San Angel Inn. (My sisters in law are not into planning, so they had no priority seatings and I couldn’t get them added to any of mine—I tried, so we split up and they continued touring the park).

As always, the food here was excellent. Since I’m still recovering from bronchitis, I did not order a beer as I would usually do <sigh> and asked for a lemonade. Our server, Ana (the sweetest little thing), asked us if we wanted the pink lemonade or a fresh-squeezed one… Fresh squeezed??? Let me think… YES! So then she asked, would you like it with regular water or mineral water? Hmmm, we thought a fizzy lemonade would taste cool so we ordered the one with the mineral water. Oh my, were we glad we did! It’s the best lemonade I’ve ever had. If you eat at San Angel, order the fresh lemonade with the seltzer water… you won’t regret it. I kept thinking that this would also taste great with a shot of Bacardi Limon… yummmmm

Anyway, DH and I ordered Ceviche as appetizers and shared the Plato Mexicano. The ceviche here is one of the best I’ve had and the plato mexicano was excellent: grilled beef taco, chicken enchilada and quesadilla, served with black refried beans, guacamole and rice. I was so enthralled with my food that forgot to take a picture…. this seems to be a recurring theme for my trip… I get so excited about the food that I keep forgetting to take pictures BEFORE wolfing it down!

Our server with DD:

Plato Mexicano:

For dessert, we decided to try the pastries in Norway. We had the school bread and berry tart. I had heard about the school bread here on the Dis, but was nevertheless pleasantly surprised at how good it was. However, I must say that I liked the berry tart better… but I’m a sucker for any fruit tart…

Of course, I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we ate them, so here’s a picture of what was left:

I went back to the case to take a picture of them:

By now, it was time for our fastpass at Soarin so we headed to The Land. By the time we got there, all fastpasses were gone for the day and the standby line was 140 minutes. We were so stuffed and tired that we decided to go back to our room for a nap (did I mention we are DVC members, passholders and Florida residents who visit WDW 4-5 times a year? We visit so many times that we are spoiled… we rarely make lines and mostly visit the parks to enjoy the atmosphere and to eat, so if we can’t do a ride it’s ok since we know we’ll be back soon). We gave our fastpasses to a family waiting in line and went back to our room for a quick rest.

We had dining reservations to Biergarten at 5:45 pm. By 4:00 pm I knew we were going to make it. We were still so full from lunch that there was no way we could eat again that early. So I called to see if we could postpone our reservation. Yea, right. Well, we couldn’t reschedule there and the only thing I could get was Artist Point at 9:00 pm so I took it.

Since we had time, we decided to go back to Epcot and see the Candlelight Processional. The guest speaker was John Stamos. Since we had not purchased tickets, we staked out a place right at the edge of the theater, behind the ropes. We had a pretty good view. My camera doesn’t have a really good zoom, so here’s the best I could get of John Stamos:

The chorus:

Other Epcot pictures:

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[IMG]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid198/p9ea31898df0a5e0fa7f6344ca30553aa/f0df9933.jpg

After this, we returned to VWL and changed for dinner. We arrived at Artist Point a little early but were seated right away. Our server, Darlene, was fabulous. DD ordered the Lava Smoothie (it tasted like a virgin pina colada) and the kid’s salmon.

Of course, she had two bites, put her head down and was out for the count. She was so tired I couldn’t get her to eat more than a few bites… We were pretty tired too but food is food!

DH and I had the Moosehead beer… yum…. So crisp and smooth:

Based on Darlene’s recommendations, DH had the Crispy Venison Spring Rolls with Sweet & Sour Sauce and I had the Frisee Salad with Heirloom Apples and Aged White Cheddar. DH loved his spring rolls but I found them a bit too spicy. Now, about the salad. This has to be one of the BEST salads I’ve ever had. Really. It had candied walnuts and a wonderfully light apple vinaigrette. All the flavors combined in such a harmonious way that is hard to describe.

For the main course, we shared the Cedar Plank Salmon with Reduced Red Wine Sauce and Parsnip and Potato Gratin. All I can say is WOW!. I don’t even know what a parsnip is, but I can tell you, everything about this dish was delish. For dessert, we had Coffee Two Ways… Mochaccino Bread Pudding and Café Latte Crème Brulee. Overall, this was one of the best meals we’ve had in Disney. I can’t believe that I’ve stayed at the WL 3 times and not eaten here before. I had read so many “so so” reviews on the Dis that I never made it a point to eat there. Now I know better. This place is on my must do list from now on… The service and food were top notch and I highly recommend it.

As always, I forgot to take pictures BEFORE eating, so here’s a few of the finished or almost-finished plates:

Kid’s Salmon:

Spring Rolls:

Frisee Salad:

Cedar Plank Salmon:

Dessert:

By now, DH and I are falling asleep on the table, so we pay and go back to our room. Within minutes, we are all asleep.

Today, we decided to rest in the morning and take it easy. We are meeting my parents for lunch at Whispering Canyon and they’ll be taking the munchkin with them for an overnight stay. DH and I have the evening free and tomorrow morning we’ll go to the Backstage Safari at AK. Tonight, we have dinner reservations at Raglan Road. I can’t wait to try it. I’ll keep you all posted.

 

[Allison]

I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment (even if I'm jealous ).

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Oh, Cristy...I am enjoying these reports so much, you have no idea!

I am ROTFLMAO at all the pics of half eaten (and fully eaten) food! Too funny! I have had that salad and that dessert at AP, so I know how good they are. Does the WL itself seem crowded? Like...is the lobby busy all the time?

*sigh* keep the reports coming! Please! let me live vicariously!!!!!!

 

[nhpooh]

Great pictures, this is why we like to go to WDW in Sept. DH can't stand crowdes. I wish I could get DH to relax like you are at WDW, maybe when we move there he will. Have fun today, thanks.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Great review.... Thanks for sharing.

Can't wait to hear the rest.

Tina

 

[shellbelle]

Love reading your reports. Can't wait for the next one!

 

[jenjen212]

let us know how the tour at AK went...

great report thanks!!!

ps. did you hear anything at AK about EE for passholders?

we are looking forward to this too!! we are fl residents who are also passholders! just like you we are there all the time. even better that we have family in orlando. we love staying on property, but whenever we have a 3 day weekend, and just want to get away. we stay with family, use our passes. then all we pay for is food, and gas to get there. if we could, we would be there all the time at the snap of our fingers... like a star trek teleportation =)

 

[cocowum]

Thanks for posting!!!

It is my dream, to one day, be able to say "I am a FL res DVC member"

Sounds like your having a great time. BTW, How was John Stamos at CP? We were there on 12/9 and saw Jaci Valasquez(sp?)and she stunk. Originally we were supposed to have Jim Caviezel.

 

[ctrabada]

Wednesday, December 28

I spent the morning writing my trip report while DH slept. He’s fighting a cold and I decided to let him rest so he can beat it. My DD asked me if we could both have some “girl time” together around the resort so, after breakfast, we got dressed and went downstairs. We shopped at the resort’s store and walked around the resort talking and taking pictures. We met DH a little while later and walked a little bit more. It was very relaxing. The day was absolutely beautiful today.

Here are a few pix:

We met my parents and sister for lunch at Whispering Canyon. I really like this restaurant for its all you can eat skillet and rambunctiousness. Granted, you have to be in the mood. If you are looking for a nice quiet meal, this is not the place for you. We all ordered the Canyon Skillet, which consists of all-you-can-eat pork ribs, sausage, chicken, green beans, baked beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes and corn bread. The ribs fell off the bone (I didn’t bother with the chicken) and the BBQ sauce was excellent. I loved the green beans, cole slaw and mashed potatoes. I found the sausage a bit too greasy for my taste but my dad liked it. The corn bread was warm and light with the right amount of sweetness. The service was very good and we didn’t have to wait long for our seconds (and thirds).

Here’s a picture of the skillet:

We didn’t order dessert because, frankly, we were stuffed. We then went upstairs, packed an overnight bag for DD as she will be spending the night with her grandparents. My mom and sister then went shopping while DH, DD, dad and I went to the movies to watch The Chronicles of Narnia. If you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for??!! I really loved it. I’ve been wanting to watch it since it came out, but with my illness I just didn’t have a chance…. This is a beautiful movie and very faithful to the book.

After the movie, we went our separate ways… I’m gonna miss my munchkin tonight. Isn’t if funny… you want some adult time alone and when you do, you really miss your child….

DH and I walked around Downtown Disney and then went to eat at Raglan Road. We were early for our reservation but were seated right away at a table next to the band’s stage. It was around 7:00 pm but the band doesn’t start playing until 9:00. We ordered a couple of beers (Black and Tan for DH, Boddingtons for me). Our server, Phillip, was very attentive and let us take our time while we perused the menu. We finally ordered the Drunk Chicken for the appetizer (and more beer). This was 2 chicken kabobs in a whiskey glaze with a delicious dipping sauce (I forgot what it was). The chicken was very juicy. We really enjoyed it. As always, I forgot to take a picture of the dish, so here’s a half-eaten one:

For dinner, I ordered the Sirloin Steak in a Whiskey Marinade, served on top of mashed potatoes with crispy battered string onions. This was served perfectly medium and it was delicious.

DH ordered the It’s Not Bleeding Chowder, mussels, prawns, scallops and fresh seafood infused with white wine and finished with cream with fresh potato. All I can say is WOW. This dish was incredible. One of the best chowders I’ve ever had (sorry, I meant not-chowders). They’re not kidding… it’s not really a chowder as it’s chock full of seafood with very little liquid. Absolutely dreamy.

More beer…..

For dessert, we ordered the Baileys Tiramisu. This was delicious as well.

 

[ctrabada]

jenjen, I know what you mean about those short weekends staying with family in Orlando. We do it all the time, but actually prefer staying onsite. I try to stay at least one night at my parents' so we can spend time together, but then like to book something onsite. As it is, I just booked a quick weekend at Pop the first week of Feb for my DH's bday.

I did not hear anything about EE for passholders.

nhpooh, we also come every year in Sept (for my bday) and that's when we really do the rides. It's the best time of the year. But I still love being here for Christmas, even though it's crowded. We come more for atmosphere than anything else.

cocowum, John Stamos was pretty good. He wasn't great, but this is the first time we go to CP and have nothing to compare it to... I wasn't moved by his reading, but I wasn't disappointed either. He was quite charming.