M&M's Magical Disney Christmas Vacation - 12/3 - 12/11

Day 5 - But Did You Die?

Thursday, December 8th - Animal Kingdom Day!

So sorry for the delay on getting our next post up. I had my wisdom teeth removed last week, and it has not been a fun week. I got dry sockets, and have had to go back to the oral surgeon twice so far to get my sockets packed. Super fun times!

So on Thursday, we did not get in a big rush to do much. We didn't have any breakfast reservations, and our first fast pass window didn't start until after 10am, so we took our time getting to the park. I had sort of a rough touring plan for the morning, but I ended up having to scratch it because we just missed maybe the third step, so after that we winged it. We started the day with Tough to Be a Bug, and while I think the show is cute, I don't know if I had defective glasses or a defective brain, but I saw double through almost the entire show.

After that we hit our Expedition Everest fast pass.

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If I wasn't already properly awake, I was now!

Then had a quick picture taken on the bridge on our way to Dinoland!

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Next we passed by Primeval Whirl. I wanted to ride, but we didn't have a fast pass for it, and the wait was up to 50 minutes or so, so we headed on to use our Dinosaur fast pass. I know Dinosaur got a recent refurb, but it's been SO LONG since I rode it, that I really have no idea if it was different than what I had seen before. Either way, still fun, even if our faces don't really show it.

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After Dinosaur, we had intended to catch the Finding Nemo musical before lunch, but we just missed the cut off for the next show, so we decided to go ahead and leisurely make our way to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our lunch reservation at Sanaa. We ended up showing up almost an hour early, but I knew lunch reservations there aren't hard to get, so I figured even if we had to wait, it might not be terribly long.

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Once we checked in, they gave us a pager, and we headed out to the little observation area around the corner to look at the animals. We had just taken a seat in some rocking chairs on the deck when our pager went off, so off we went back inside. We didn't get a window table, but our table didn't have an obstructed view, so we oriented ourselves around to watch the animals as we ate. That was so nice being able to just people watch and animal watch. Naturally when it came time to order, we got the bread service to start.

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I have to admit, I am NOT a spicy person. Between my very sensitive taste buds and my very sensitive digestive system, I am not a very adventurous eater when it comes to spicy food, but I did try every single accompaniment, even if the bites of the very spiciest ones was quite tiny! My favorites were definitely the red pepper hummus and the cucumber raita. (Aren't you shocked they're the least spicy! Haha!)

Even though we definitely could have stopped after that, we ordered entrees as well. I had the Tandoori Shrimp, and Roomie got the Kenya Coffee Barbecue Sandwich. I didn't try Roomie's (one of the few times of the trip!) but she said it was delicious, and I really liked the Tandoori Shrimp, but after SO MUCH NAAN in the bread service, I do wish I hadn't ordered something else that came on naan, but as with a lot of things on our trip, hindsight is 20/20.

After lunch, we headed back to Animal Kingdom. Since the sun wasn't in our faces this time, we got some pictures at the front of the park. I love these frames they use!

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For the rest of our day in the park, we kind of took it easy. We saw both Flights of Wonder (AMAZING!) and the Finding Nemo musical (SO STINKING CUTE!) for the first time. I was glad we had two shows to sit through after such a heavy lunch. I definitely needed some time to work my way back up to full touring mode after eating so much bread! We rode Expedition Everest again on standby since the wait wasn't too bad. (I wasn't able to utilize 4th or 5th fastpasses this day because our last one wasn't until 5:40 for the Safari!) After that, we spotted a Photopass photographer nearby, so we stopped by for more pictures. This was another case of "just do what they tell you! It will be super cute!"

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One of the things we didn't end up doing that I thought we might was explore more of the wildlife trails, but to be honest, by this point in the trip, my feet were pretty worn out, so we kinda hit the high notes and then moved on.

One of the things I haven't mentioned yet so far was that we did get lockers in the park almost every day. We had a canvas bag that we carried in every day with our jackets packed and sometimes scarves and gloves as the temperature forecast predicted. This was the first day we actually really had to go back and get our jackets out. It got pretty chilly late in the afternoon, and I knew by the time we went on our safari, I would be shivering!

We headed to Africa for the last bit of our day, seeing Festival of the Lion King (makes me cry EVERY time! Gah!) and then heading out on our nighttime safari. I had read to try to time this at dusk, so that's what we did. The sun was setting as we departed, and then it was pretty much down by the time we finished. I have to say, I was NOT impressed with the nighttime safari. I don't feel like you see anywhere near as many animals as you can during the day, especially compared to the morning which is usually when I have done the safari. The few animals we saw were also in much smaller groups than I was used to seeing. Instead of three or four giraffes in a clump of trees, there might be one. Instead of a group of hippos, you might see two. That kind of thing. Also toward the end of the safari when it started getting genuinely dark, it was hard to see anything at all even with the lighting they've installed.

Once we finished our safari, and since there was STILL NO ()#*$&#(&(^ RIVERS OF LIGHT, we headed on out. Our local friend had been texting us through the day, and we decided to head to Disney Springs to meet up and go see Moana at the dinner theater. Once we got back to our resort, roomie and I freshened up. Just as we were getting to the car to head out, our local friend texted that his truck wouldn't start. Uh oh! So we hightailed it to Clermont instead to pick him up for the movie.

Well, this put us on a TIGHT SCHEDULE. According to the GPS, we were going to get to Disney Springs something like 5 minutes before the movie was set to start. So naturally, I'm driving slightly over the speed limit to get there, being a little more ballsy than I normally am driving in a slightly unfamiliar city. Roomie is holding on for dear life, and off we go! We pull into the orange garage with 8 minutes to spare. Roomie says she wishes we hadn't gone so fast. I cop back, "But did you die?" We rush to the theater. We dash to the kiosk to get our tickets...

And it's sold out.

...

...

All that rush for nothing.

Did I mention Disney Springs is SO PACKED? We stand there trying to figure out what we're going to do with the rest of our evening. I am so over the crowd, Roomie is probably still anxious from our car ride, and poor local friend is just along for the ride. So we decide to just go back to the resort and chill out. We go to the food court and get supper, and then go back to the room and visit. As it starts to get late, we take local friend back to his apartment, and we settle back in for the night.

It was disappointing not to get to go to the dinner theater as it would have been Roomie and my first time to go to a dine-in theater, and plus we had not seen Moana yet, but alas, it wasn't in the cards. Overall, it was a pretty solid day, but as this was my first time to actually plan an entire day at Animal Kingdom, it was kind of lackluster. I will be so glad when Pandora opens up so that there is more to do in that park once it gets late, because it really does empty out as soon as the afternoon starts to come to a close.

Next up, Hollywood Studios day, and THE BEST PHOTOPASS PHOTOGRAPHER EVER!
 
Of course you got the bread service at Sanaa-I think it's a requirement and if you don't order it you get kicked out :P We always enjoy our meals there and since I've been reading quite a few reviews of it lately, I think it's time for us to go back on one of our next trips!

What I didn't like was our nighttime safari, which we also did at dusk. Yup, not impressed at all. Like you we saw far fewer animals than during the day, and since it got darker as we went on, by the end we couldn't even tell if animals were out or not. That was in Aug. so when we went back last month, we stuck to daytime. EE at night though is awesome!!!
Stinks about the movie, I hope you've since seen Moana :)
 
How did the lockers work? Can you use your magic band to pay? Do you remember the cost?

There is a bank of lockers at the front of each park, and there is usually a gift shop or info counter nearby where you actually purchase your rental. Most of them offer small and large lockers, but we always got the small. It was plenty big enough for our large tote bag stuffed with winterwear. For the small, Disney's website says it's $8 per day with a $5 key deposit, but they must have just gone up, because I remember paying a total of $12, which was $7 for the day rental and then the $5 key deposit. They'll give you a small key with a number printed that corresponds to your locker and your receipt, which you need to keep to get your deposit back. So you'll keep the key with you all day until you're finished with it, and then once you've emptied out at the end of the day, take the key back to the counter with your receipt, and they refund you back the $5 key deposit.

For Magic Kingdom, the lockers were before you went under the train station on the right hand side near the wheelchair rentals, and the counter you rent from was in the little gift shop adjacent to that.
For Epcot, the lockers were in that building to the right of Spaceship Earth, and the counter you rent from was inside the camera shop.
For Hollywood Studios, the lockers were just inside to the right where the gas station-y thing is, and you rent from the counter in the center that I think says Crossroads.
For Animal Kingdom, the lockers were just inside to the left after you pass guest services, and there is a little cart with souvenirs right outside it that you rent from.

I don't actually know if you could use your magic band to pay because we always used cash. I tried to look on the website, but it doesn't say. Sorry!
 


Thanks so much. We are doing 1 day mk precruise in January and worry about it getting cold. I figure I could bring the backpack get a locker and go back for sweatshirts, gloves etc
The lockers seem more reasonably priced then I imagined.
Six flags is like $20 so I figured Disney would be $25, I debated renting a stroller to keep the backpack in but will do the locker.
 
Thanks so much. We are doing 1 day mk precruise in January and worry about it getting cold. I figure I could bring the backpack get a locker and go back for sweatshirts, gloves etc
The lockers seem more reasonably priced then I imagined.
Six flags is like $20 so I figured Disney would be $25, I debated renting a stroller to keep the backpack in but will do the locker.
Oh wow, I didn't realize they were so steep at other places! It definitely worked great for us. The front half of our week didn't get too chilly, so we didn't need our things (but we always took them just in case. I'm an over-preparer!) but the back half of our week was definitely the kind of weather where you were good with short sleeves or thin long sleeves during the day, but the minute the sun went down, it was downright chilly! A small locker would be plenty big enough for a backpack.
 
I just read your entire trip report and I love it! I can't even begin to go back and quote, but you actually had me Lol'ing:

The night does get better. Temporarily. We ride a few rides, the kids are pumped, and then all of the sudden, we have a family squabble involving one family member telling my niece to calm down and stop getting in Roomie's and my faces (which she totally wasn't) and the next thing I know, my niece is crying. Forever crying. Cried for like 2 hours. Glow sticks do not make the crying stop. Rides do not make the crying stop. Finally, she and I have a heart to heart on Peter Pan's flight, and she starts to perk back up. Meanwhile, my sister is making me mad because she's not riding ANYTHING, which makes other family members feel like they need to sit out as well, which I know they didn't want to, but the person who I felt like should be checking on her and/or sitting out was her husband, and he did not seem to care at all. He was almost first in line for every ride we headed to.

This is as real as it gets! Families are so much fun, aren't they? And yet, we love them dearly (if only from a distance and when they aren't aggravating us in our happy place!).

And, OMG…clueless husband…so typical :rotfl2:

Sorry about your wisdom teeth and dry sockets. My dentist has been telling me for 20 years I need to get mine out and I'm too chicken to go! And when I read stories like yours, it just reinforces my decision!

Can't wait to read more :bitelip:
 


Sorry about your wisdom teeth and dry sockets. My dentist has been telling me for 20 years I need to get mine out and I'm too chicken to go! And when I read stories like yours, it just reinforces my decision!And, OMG…clueless husband…so typical :rotfl2:

Can't wait to read more :bitelip:

Oh man! The wisdom teeth struggle is real! Mine's been telling me for about the last five years, but one has been bothering me on and off all this year, so I finally bit the bullet. And I won't lie, it's been rough, but now that my dry sockets are slowly getting healed up and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I don't regret it. It has been a struggle though and I definitely had to keep telling myself that this is a one-time thing, and THANK GOD they can't grow back or anything! Haha!
 
Day 6 - We are watching the Frozen Sing Along if it KILLS ME!

Friday, December 9th - Hollywood Studios Day!

Behold, the cold weather hath arrived in our trip! Thank God we were prepared, because I think the high this day was somewhere in the lower 60s and the low that night was about 45, so it was CHILLY! For this day, our local friend B got to join us, and for a while so did his roommate D! That was super fun to get to spend time with B's friends (we got to hang with the other roommate the next night) so that we could make sure our sweet surrogate child is being looked after. Roomie and I sort of took B under our wing in our local community theater while he was in college, so we think of him as ours. Anyway, so we took some pictures this morning. Clearly, B's legs live in a different climate than the rest of us.

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Our first stop was my absolute favorite ride ever (AND I SWEAR TO GOD IF IT GETS MURDERED LIKE THE ONE IN CALIFORNIA I WILL DIE), Tower of Terror! This is us on the front left.

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B wouldn't ride this ride because he is a wimp, but do you see this ridiculous $%*@-eating grin on my face? So on our ride video on memory maker, I have like your typical OMG face going on, and then basically we hit the top, I realized they were gonna take a picture, and then I cocked this face. SO RIDICULOUS, but the video makes me laugh so much!

After Tower of Terror, we were coming back down the boulevard and stopped for a photopass photographer who ended up being THE BEST EVER. He was so fun! Of course, we took your typical happy picture:

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And then he asked us, "Out of the four of you, who is the screamer on Tower of Terror?" I raised my hand, and then he concocted this picture:

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How funny is that? I love this picture so much I blew it up into an 8x10 and put it in my office at work!

So after that, we headed to Toy Story Mania, and it was like it was my first time, because the only other time I got to ride it was 2 years ago, and I was so pumped about it... that I forgot to put my glasses on. So. Dumb. Anyway, I kicked butt on it, and blew Roomie and B's scores out of the water! After that, we headed to One Man's Dream, which makes me cry every time. (Have you noticed a trend on the crying? I am the worst.) Then it was time for our early lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In. B's roomie headed off to hang out with some friends who work at the Star Wars Launch Bay, and Roomie, B, and I headed to our first drive-in!

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I was curious as to how they would seat us in a party of three, but as you can see, they just stuck B in the seat behind us. I will also mention that I didn't know B would be joining us for a lot of our ADRs, but I had pretty good luck with modifying our reservation to add him in the day before. I did this while we were eating supper at the resort the night before after I knew for sure he would be joining us the next day. I was able to add him to this one and our Hollywood & Vine we had scheduled later that night no problem.

I LOVED Sci-Fi! The atmosphere in the place is just amazing, and it is so quiet! Has anybody else noticed that? I don't know if it's the acoustics or just because people generally watch the movies, but man, it was such a nice break from a lot of the loud restaurants we ate at during our trip. Food wise, we all split the appetizer sampler, which was pretty good, but I'm not a huge wings eater, so B ate most of those. Then Roomie and I split the specialty burger that day which I can't remember what it was named, but it was a burger that basically had a slab of fried cheese on it and a roasted red pepper aioli. That burger was TO DIE FOR. Just absolutely perfect. B got a burger too, but I don't remember what kind. He's a pretty unadventurous eater, so I think it was just a bacon cheeseburger or something, but he said it was delicious. Of course, we also had milkshakes. I had a classic chocolate shake, Roomie got a peppermint cookies and cream shake, and B got a cookies and cream. They were all top notch as well, but they were quite thick so I was glad we also asked for glasses of water to actually wash down our food. Overall, it was a great lunch, and I will absolutely be going there again. It may even be one of those, I HAVE to do restaurants, I loved it so much!

I don't remember the order of how we did things the rest of the afternoon, but it included visits to Star Tours (B's roomie was the rebel spy!), Muppet Vision, Star Wars Launch Bay, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, and The Great Movie Ride. It was my first time to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and to say I was unimpressed would be a vast understatement. B hates on Beauty & The Beast because he hates the weird tapestry dance, but in my opinion, the weird tapestries are WAYYYY better than the weirdly unexplained Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

So the biggest fail of our day was us trying to get into the Frozen Sing Along. We tried to hit it right after lunch, and just missed the cut off. We actually even got told to go to a side entrance where they will let in people to finish filling the theater, but we didn't get in. So we left to ride a couple of rides and came back. And the next show had just started. FINALLY on our third attempt, we got in! Can I just say, THIS IS DELIGHTFUL. I like Frozen, but it's not one of my absolute favorite movies, but this show is just so fun! I loved singing the songs, and the two Arrendale town criers or whatever they're called were HILARIOUS! I honestly wanted to just stay put and do the whole thing again right away.

Did I mention how cold it was? We DEFINITELY GOT OUR JACKETS OUT THIS NIGHT!

Now if you were familiar with early December's park schedule for Hollywood Studios, you know that you can't do Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM and Fantasmic, which is super sad. As we have seen Fantasmic several times, we decided to do the one we hadn't seen (duh, since it's new!). Can I just say? I LOVE THE JIBJAB! We managed to stake out a spot right across the walkway from where the dessert party folks were, so we had a pretty similar view, and I was in holiday heaven. I should also say that I was bound to love this because The Nightmare Before Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday movie (and by holiday movie, of course I mean for Halloween AND Christmas!) so it was like it was handpicked to appeal to me. I loved that we got snowed on, and I just oohed and ahhed, and it was awesome!

I had our Minnie's Holiday Dine scheduled at Hollywood & Vine for after the jibjab, so once the crowd cleared out enough, we headed that way. We did have a little wait before our table was available, but there was plenty of seating outside to wait, so that was no biggie. Once inside, we went to town. It had been a long time since lunch, so we were pretty ravenous. I thought the buffet had a lot of good variety, and everything tasted great, especially that lobster mac & cheese! Oh man! I kind of overdid it on the peel & eat shrimp, so I didn't hit the desserts as hard as I normally would, but the few bites I had were great.

Of course, the stars here are the super cute holiday decked out characters!

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I do not even know what B is doing with his face, but I can tell you that Santa Goofy was super sweaty, so maybe he got a handful of Goofy juice...

It was pretty late by the time we got out of dinner, and Roomie and I had a super early morning the next day, so after a little shopping, we called it a night. About the only thing we wanted to do but didn't get to was ride Rockin Rollercoaster, but it was down for a bit early in the day, and the line stayed crazy most of the day. I would have also liked to have ridden Tower of Terror again, but after my H&V food baby, there was no way I was riding that for a good long while, and like I said, we had an early morning the next day.

So we took B home, and headed back to the resort for a long winter's nap. :santa:

Next Up: Our last day! Booooooo! But it involved a MAGICAL DISNEY CHRISTMAS SURPRISE FOR ROOMIE! Yay!!!!
 
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Love your report - you crack me up! I love the nursing your tea babies!!
And I totally get the family dynamics thing! There is always one, right?
 
Hi there, enjoying your TR! I can't imagine how stressful it was trying to wrangle your whole family, kudos to you! Besides some headaches, it sounds like you and your roomie had a really great time thus far!
 
I chickened out and didn't get to go on ToT this trip :( I'm glad your time improved after your family left!
 
I was enjoying your trip report, but there's been no update of the last day! I hope you will come back & update it!
 

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