This is me. I'm Emily and I am a Disney freak. I grew up with parents who didn't like to travel much so I never got to go to Disney until I met my DH and he took me. I fell in love with it the minute I walked into the Magic Kingdom for the first time. The trip last December was my third trip to the World in 2 years. My favorite characters are Belle and Eeyore and my favorite ride is the Tower of Terror.
This is my DH, Daniel. He loves Disney as well, but not as much as I do. He went to Disney a couple times as a kid, but it had been years since he had been when we got the chance to go together in September 2010. His favorite characters are Tigger and Stitch and his favorite ride is anything that would be considered a thrill ride. He would ride Space Mountain or Tower of Terror all day if he could.
Here are a few more pictures of us on our Disney trips(from when he proposed, I love sharing these pictures):
This picture is funny because the woman at the table next to us is taking a picture of us.
This picture is so cute, the little girl sitting next to us came over and gave me a Belle sillyband.
WHAT:
A Christmas trip to Disney World! 4 nights with 3 days in the parks(we don't like going to the parks on travel days).
WHEN:
December 17th, 2011-December 21st, 2011!
WHERE:
Pop Century!
WHY:
Because we love Disney and wanted to see the Christmas decorations! (Sorry the picture is so big, I didn't take any pictures of the lights so I took this one from google)
I apologize that this update is going to be a little lacking in the picture department. Like I said in the intro post we don't like to do parks on travel days, so we spent most of this day at the resort. The park day updates will have a lot more pictures.
We barely slept at all the night before the trip(I think I may have gotten an hour or two, I'm not sure if Daniel slept at all), we got the first flight out of ALB, so we got in a cab to the airport between 4 and 5 a.m.(semi-related amusing story, it began snowing as we were waiting for the cab, I was upset that it hadn't snowed all winter until it was time for us to leave). We had already done online check-in, but we had one piece of luggage so we checked that once the Southwest counter opened at 5.
After checking in, we went upstairs to get some breakfast(let me also apologize that I have absolutely no pictures of any food, I've been extremely bad about that, but I will do my best to get pictures on future trips). We ended up at Dunkin' Donuts where I had a donut, an order of hash browns, and a hot chocolate and Daniel had an iced tea and some sort of breakfast sandwich.
After finishing our breakfast we had a fairly uneventful trip through security. I was wearing baggy fleece pants which caused the body scanner to go off so the TSA agent had to pat down my legs, but other than that it was completely painless.
We wandered through a few of the airport shops and I got a book of sudokus and then we settled in at the gate to wait to board the plane.
The plane ride went fairly quickly(we both took naps) and because the plane wasn't sold out we got an entire row to ourselves which was great. We ended up landing at MCO around 10 am, a half hour ahead of schedule. After a quick stop so Daniel could smoke and I could change into shorts and a t-shirt(like I said I was wearing fleece pants and it was fairly warm in Orlando) we were standing in line for the Magical Express!
Maybe 10 minutes later the ME pulled up and we boarded. We sat in the second row of seats and settled in to enjoy the ride(and enjoy the little intro movie). We had recently been talking about the possibility of taking an Adventures by Disney trip and while we were on the ME I was reading information about them on my phone and I mentioned to Daniel that they do adult-only adventures. We both said that that would be cool(I love kids, but if I was going to do a vacation like that I would much prefer not to have a bunch of them running around) and this woman that was sitting with her husband and kid in front of us turned and glared at us like we were terrible people for wanting a child-free vacation.
Finally we arrived at Pop Century!!!! As soon as we got off the ME we raced inside to check in. We were checked in by a wonderful CM named Sam. We had put in a room request for a king bed(we have a double at home, so when we're on vacation we prefer having a big bed) and I asked if we had gotten one. He apologized profusely and said that the request had not made it to the hotel, but because we had checked in so early he was able to switch our room. First he tried to get us a room that was ready, but it was taken by the time the system decided to cooperate it was taken, so he put us in a king room that wasn't ready yet(which ended up being a benefit, our room was in the perfect location, building one just steps away from Classic Hall).
All in all, he was incredibly helpful and we ended up sending a message after the trip and we included praise for him(we find it much more convenient to send an email after the trip with various good and bad experiences, rather than go to guest services every time we have praise or a complaint).
After he got us checked in and gave us our KTTW we were passed over to Kip who works in the luggage room(I'm not sure what else to call it) at Pop. He asked us how many bags we had so that when our luggage came in he would know how many to look for. After we were checked in we ran over to Everything Pop to get something to eat since we hadn't eaten since about 5 that morning. I got a pepperoni pizza, sprite, and a cookie(we were on the DDP) and Daniel got something pasta related(I'm not exactly sure what it was all I remember is that it came with a breadstick, because I ate it lol), a cookie, and iced tea. We sat in a large booth and enjoyed soaking in the Disney atmosphere.
After we finished eating we went to the little luggage room in the front of Classic Hall and dropped off our big carry-on, Kip was there and told us that we could just leave it there and it would be dropped off with our suitcase. We made it almost to the bus stop and then I realized that I had forgotten something important in the carry-on. We ran back and they brought the bag back out to us and we got whatever it was out of the bag(I think it was our check-in packet, but I'm not entirely sure) and then headed back to the bus stop.
On the way past we took a picture here:
We were excited, for the first time ever we were going to Downtown Disney! I was actually kind of disappointed, maybe it's just because I was so tired, but it did not live up to my expectations. We didn't want to stay very long, because as I said we were very underwhelmed and we also didn't want to wear ourselves out on the first day.
We still hadn't gotten a text about our room so we stopped by the front desk to see if our room was ready(just in case). It wasn't so we went out to the pool and found a table in the shade to sit and people watch. I was actually shocked about how much both of us liked Pop. We had only stayed moderate prior to this and I was a little worried about how a value would compare, but it was really great. Daniel says the decor is definitely over the top, but that is part of the charm.
While we were out the pool I took these pictures:
After maybe a half hour of sitting at the pool we got the text that our room was ready(from the time stamp of a couple pictures I would assume this was about 2:30) so we headed over. It took us maybe a couple minutes to get to our room(I will always pay for preferred whenever I stay at Pop, it was so worth it). When we got into the room we were greeted by this little guy:
We also had a fridge in our room at no extra charge(this was when Disney made the change so that all resorts, including values, got fridges for no fee). The bed was extremely comfy and the pillows were big and squishy(I only slept with one at night and usually I sleepy with two). Because we got a king bed, which are also the handicap accessible rooms, we just had a shower no tub, and I loved it. I don't typically have time for a bath on vacation anyway and the bathtubs are too short for me to really enjoy. Also, because there was no bathtub the bathroom felt a lot less crowded. The walls are fairly thin, but because we sleep with the television on that didn't really cause any problems. The only complaint I had about the room is that we love to have the room freezing cold when we sleep and the thermostat will only go down to 68.
I don't really remember what we did the rest of the night, but I think we went down to Everything Pop and got something for dinner and then went to sleep fairly early. We had to get up fairly early the next day for breakfast with some new friends!
I had set the alarm for 9 a.m.(I know that will probably seem extremely late for most DISers) and when it went off I got up and got ready. I was excited for today, we were doing a lot of things that I had never done before. When I got out of the shower, I woke up Daniel and finally he got out of bed, after heading down to the smoking area for a cigarette he came back upstairs and finally we were both ready. Just before we left the room we called for a cab, we figured that would be the easiest way to get to our first destination. By the time we got to the front of Classic Hall(less than 5 minutes) our cab was already waiting for us.
We got in the cab and after 10 minutes or so we saw this:
(photo taken from google)
But we weren't heading to the park just yet, we had a date with some furry friends first. By accident the cab driver tried to drop us off here:
(also from google)
Finally he got turned around and dropped us off here(also he was very nice and took a couple dollars off the total since he had messed up):
(this is the last one in this update stolen from google)
We were a little early for our reservation so we spent some time exploring the resort. Here are some pictures from our Polynesian fun:
After exploring the inside we decided to walk outside and check out the pool and the beach. Everything is so beautiful and I hope to get a chance to stay here at some point. On our way to the pool we saw a wedding party and Daniel had to snap a picture:
This picture was taken from the Poly beach which is why it's small and grainy:
This is the Grand Floridian also from the Poly beach:
Finally it was time to make our way upstairs to have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at Ohana! We checked and got our picture taken(which we didn't buy). After about a 5 minute wait we were taken to our table. We chose to make our reservation for the last breakfast seating because we like to have a late breakfast and we also hoped the restaurant would be quieter(and it was). The food was amazing. I really enjoyed the bread, except it was a little hard as if it had sat out for just a few minutes too long. The biscuits were delicious. The bacon was typical Disney bacon. I was pleasantly surprised with the eggs, they actually tasted like eggs. The fresh fruit was really good, except for the watermelon(but I wasn't really expecting much in December). The waffles were great as always, everything tastes better when it's shaped like Mickey. I can't remember what the juice was but it was extremely good. We both enjoyed the potatoes a lot. At the end of the meal our waitress brought us cupcakes(we were celebrating our anniversary).
About halfway through the meal the characters starting coming to our table. The characters were fairly close together so we got through them quickly.
First was Mickey:
(sorry for the quality of the pictures of Daniel, there was a window behind him and it was hard to get a good picture)
Then Lilo:
Then Stitch:
Finally Pluto:
All in all, I really enjoyed our meal at Ohana. We will definitely return. We would love to try dinner there as well. The character interactions were great especially Stitch and Pluto. The service was alright, but it definitely could have been better.
We made our way to the monorail platform. I was extremely excited, because we were going to a park I had never been to before: EPCOT! We waited a few minutes and then the monorail pulled up. I was also excited for my first trip ever on the monorail!
I love the view from the monorail and we got to see a lot because the Polynesian is the first resort on the trip.
Pictures from the monorail:
The Contemporary Christmas tree with the Grand Floridian in the background:
The castle from the monorail:
We got off at the TTC and then got onto the EPCOT monorail. According to my notes we walked into EPCOT at about noon. We raced to the Land Pavilion and got fast passes for Soarin', the return time was already 7:40! After getting our fast passes we went over and road Living with the Land. After about a 20 minute wait we were on the ride. This ride was great and a very fun way to start off our day in the park. Daniel enjoyed it as well. Just to warn everyone I took a lot of pictures(and the ones I'm putting here aren't even all of them).
I thought these things looked cool, plus I think it's awesome that they even decorate in here for Christmas.
I'm very curious about what Disney does with the nine pound lemons:
We both thought it was really cool that Disney was doing this type of research:
After this we headed over to Journey into Imagination. There was no wait for this ride. We both loved it, now admittedly I've never ridden any of the other Figment rides so I'm not comparing it with anything. At the end of this day I had Daniel email me his thoughts about all the rides this is what he said, "funny, cute, kind of old school but that's not a bad thing at all. Appeals to adults who went as children and to children. He's timeless."
After Figment we went over to Captain EO. Daniel and I both enjoyed this. I love Michael Jackson so this was great. The only thing I didn't like was the queen lady(or whatever she was) was scary looking. Daniel's opinion was, "speaking of timeless, MJ definitely qualifies. Epic is a word very overused now, but CEO is definitely Epic in the vernacular sense and in the Homer (poet, not Simpson) sense. 25 years is a very long time for both a ride and the individual it's centered on to remain relevant."
After Captain EO we stopped at Club Cool and tried all the different sodas(even Beverly). I really liked the watermelon flavored soda from China and the ginger ale from Mozambique. We didn't like Beverly and we didn't care for the VegitaBeta from Japan either.
After Club Cool we passed by this fountain:
We made our way over to Test Track and got fast passes(return time 8:40). Unfortunately we never got the chance to use them.
After getting our fast passes we decided to make our way up to the World Showcase. We didn't really spend much time in the WS because we only had the one day and the offerings of Future World appealed more to us. Next time we will focus on the WS.
We decided to check out the Mexico Pavilion and ride the Gran Fiesta Tour.
This picture is kind of blurry, but I thought this part of the ride was so funny.
The ride only had a five minute wait and it was very cute. It wasn't my favorite, but I would definitely do it again as long as the wait was short. Daniel opinion was, "Gran Fiesta Tour can be described in a word: "Meh..." - not overwhelming, but not uncool either."
Next we road Maelstrom which had about a 25 minute wait. I enjoyed this ride, but I probably wouldn't wait that long to ride it again. It's probably a "walk on only" ride for me. Daniel's opinion was, "surprisingly cool for a more or less educational experience. A few holes I would have filled in, if I ran the proverbial zoo, but that's probably because I've been to Scandinavia and I'm an amateur student of Soviet history so a bit of knowledge about that area comes with the territory. Overall, intriguing and they sneak in some lrn2. Pretty cool, and some good art on the walls." We did not stay for the movie afterwards.
After this we made our way back to Future World. On our way we passed this:
It was really cool to know that at that moment we were standing directly in the center of Walt Disney World.
We were hungry(since it was about 4:30 at this point and we hadn't eaten for about 5 hour) so we stopped at a pretzel cart for a snack. I got a regular pretzel and Daniel got one of the cinnamon sugar pretzel. The CM asked us and EPCOT trivia question(what does EPCOT stand for?) and Daniel answered it correctly so they gave us a thing of cheese for free. We found a bench and sat and enjoyed our snack while we people watched.
After finishing up our food we made our way over to Spaceship Earth. I apparently timed this one exactly, because my notes say our wait was 8 minutes. While we were in line I took these pictures:
We both really liked this ride. It was fun and I enjoyed the interactive part. Daniel's opinion was, "digging on the creating new tmw at the end. They only caught one of our faces on picture. E got pic, I didn't. The ride is cool, and the interactiveness at the end was a welcome surprise and different every time."
Next we went to Mission:Space. We both went on the green side of the ride. While in line there were a couple people who left and then returned which was mildly annoying. We both enjoyed this ride, but it made me slightly dizzy. I would ride this again, but only once a day and I will probably never try the orange side.
After this we still had a bit before our Soarin' fast passes so we went over to Ellen's Energy Adventure. We walked in a few minutes into the preshow. I enjoyed this. It was educational and entertaining at the same time. I probably wouldn't do this every trip, but I might use it occasionally as a way to get off my feet and out of the heat. Daniel's opinion was, "Cool if you're a member of the /intelligentsia/. If you're not, there's room to take a nap. I wish there was more clarification of the process from dinosaur to oil. Overall, pretty cool for an uncool ride."
Finally it was time to use our Soarin' fast passes. This was the ride I had been looking forward to all day and it did not disappoint. It was amazing and even the fact that we weren't on the top row did not detract from the experience. Daniel's opinion was, "Don't look at the far side of the screen - if you see the edge trim, all black and solid, it's a real illusion killer. Just don't look more than 35 degrees left or right, and you'll be in absolute awe."
We showed up at the Garden Grill 5 minutes late(we didn't realize the Soarin' fast pass line would be as long as it was). It was ok though, the restaurant was running about 10 minutes behind. The only real complaint I have about this place is that we were seated at one of the large booths with another family, but they left before the salad showed up, so it wasn't too big of a deal.
Our server was Jeannie and she was great. She came around often enough, but not too often. Refilled our drinks without our asking.
The food here was really good. I'm not a big salad eater but Daniel is. He probably would have finished one whole bowl of that if it hadn't been for the rest of the food. I did try one of the cherry tomatoes from the salad and I was shocked that it was so good in the middle of December. The bread was good, but the butter was a little too sweet(but the bread didn't really need the butter anyway). The mashed potatoes were great(they were lumpy, just the way I like them). I was in love with the turkey and I pretty much hate all turkey. The beef was great. Daniel really loved the fruit crisp, I didn't try it because it was some sort of fruit that I don't care for, but they brought us a chocolate cake for our anniversary and it was really good.
The characters here were really fun. I loved Chip and Dale, they were really fun. Pluto was great as usual. We got to see all of the characters except for Pluto twice.
When we left the restaurant the park was closed, but Daniel needed a cigarette before we left. We made our way to the middle of the park and while we were sitting there we got to see the end of Illuminations which was really cool.
After this we made our way to the bus stop and went back to Pop and fell into bed. We had a big day ahead of us filled with Hundred Acre Woods friends and princesses.
I had set the alarm for 8 a.m. and when it went off I jumped out of bed and started getting ready. Just like the previous morning once I was out of the shower I woke up Daniel so he could start getting ready.
I saw this on the wall and I was fascinated by it and had to take a picture:
(It's the light shining through the peep hole, I'm amused by the smallest things)
By 9 we were out of the room and by 9:40 we were in the park and saw this:
I love the Disney Christmas decorations and the enormous Christmas trees are the best part.
We continued down Main Street(we took the shortcut through the shops just like always) and when we were back outside it was time to take some pictures of the castle. Seeing the castle for the first time is always my favorite part of every Disney vacation.
(this was Daniel's picture and it was much better than either of mine)
We made our way over to the smoking area near the Plaza restaurant and while Daniel smoked I kind of watched the Dream Along with Mickey show that was going on in front of the castle(I could see the stuff that was going on higher up on the stage).
After that we made our way over to the Crystal Palace to check in. I think we were a few minutes early and we were seated right away. This was our first time eating breakfast at CP(we ate there for lunch on our first trip and for dinner on our trip in May) and we both really enjoyed it. I really liked the puffed french toast. I don't really remember what all we ate because I didn't take any pictures or notes about the actual food.
Now for the characters. They were fairly spread out, but we saw them all(we always sit and wait even if it's going to take a bit for the characters to get to us I love all of the characters here).
First was Eeyore(my favorite):
Then Piglet:
(We have no idea why this came out pink)
(Daniel's interaction with Piglet was my favorite character interaction of the trip. Daniel was wearing his ThinkGeek bacon shirt and Piglet acted scared when he saw it. It was so cute)
Then Tigger(Daniel's favorite):
(This Tigger wasn't as fun as the ones we've seen in the past. The last one was fascinated by Daniel's beard and kept rubbing it and then touching his own face. This one just signed my autograph book, took pictures, and moved on)
Finally came Pooh:
(we were at one of the half booth/half tables and Pooh came into the booth part to take the picture with me, it was a tight squeeze lol)
(I love this picture it's so cute)
We paid our bill around 11:30 and made our way back out into the park. On the way out I had to take some pictures of these:
I think it's so cute that they have them dressed up for winter.
Like I said before I'm easily amused and I think this sign is so funny.
Finally it's time to make our way out into the park and ride some rides.
After enjoying a leisurely breakfast with Pooh and friends we made our way over to Fantasyland and grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight(I had never ridden it before) we got fast passes at 11:35 and our return time was 3:20. After that we checked out the line for IASW but it was too long(I was kind of disappointed that's another ride I haven't gotten a chance to ride). We made our way over to Mickey's PhilharMagic and just had to wait for the last show to end. This is my second time seeing this show and it was just as good the second time. While we were in Fantasyland we also went on the Carousel and it had basically no wait(when we got in line it was in the middle of the last ride so we just had to wait for it to finish).
After that we decided to make our way over to Tomorrowland and when we went past the wishing well we had to stop and take pictures:
(It was really bright and it was hard to get a good picture)
(I love the way the light is shining in this one)
We made our way over to the TTA and got in line(yes there was an actual line, I was shocked) after about 5 minutes we got on. I love this ride, it's relaxing and I love the part where you go inside Space Mountain. Here are some pictures I took from the ride:
After this we went over to the Carousel of Progress(another first for me). This was a walk on. I really enjoyed it and the CM that made the announcement at the beginning was really funny. He told everyone to reach under their chairs for their 3D glasses and pretty much everyone(including the two of us) fell for it. The only problem with this ride is that because your basically stuck there's no way for parents to take screaming children out so if a kid throws a fit it ruins the experience for everyone(this happened on our ride). Also it's in need of a refurb, we got stuck in one of the sets once and we got stuck in the final set and had to sit through it 4 times. Finally everyone just got up and left and the CM outside yelled at us. They say it's a safety hazard, but I don't see how. I can assure you we weren't moving anytime soon.
After the CoP we made our way over to Space Mountain and got fast passes at 1:35, our return time was for 6:30. Then we made our way over to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. There was about a 15 minute wait. This was hilarious as usual. It is definitely a must-do for us. Then we made our way over to Stitch's Great Escape. We waited about 10 minutes for this. We love this ride. Stitch is one of our favorite characters and I don't understand why so many people hate this ride so much .
After this it was time for us to use our Peter Pan fast passes! We made our way back to Fantasyland and after about a 10 minute wait we were flying with Peter Pan! I really enjoyed this ride, but I really don't understand why people wait so long for this. I will definitely ride this again, but only with a fast pass.
I was craving something sweet so we stopped at Storybook Treats for some vanilla milkshakes. After this Daniel's phone was dying so we searched all over for an outlet(that is one of the few complaints that I have about Disney, there is no convenient place to charge your phone, neither of us are comfortable leaving our phone at Guest Services to let it charge so next time we're just going to have to bring along extra batteries and switch them out when our batteries die) and finally we found one over by the bathrooms close to the place where Rapunzel used to be. After sitting down and relaxing so Daniel could charge his phone as well as both of us changing into our warmer clothes(the weather was absolutely perfect but it got a little chilly at night so we brought a long sleeve shirt for Daniel and pants and a long sleeve shirt for me into the parks with us).
Finally it was time to use our Space Mountain fast passes and after about a 10 minutes wait we were flying through space. We both absolutely love this ride and until we rode Tower of Terror last trip it was our unequivocal favorite. Our first trip we rode it 3 times in one day!
Afterwards we went over to the TTA because I had read on here that the ride was even better at night. And it was! I loved having the few of Tomorrowland at night. And seeing the castle all lit up was great(and I swear I took pictures but I can't find them).
After this we made our way back to Fantasyland to go visit some princesses. It wasn't time to check in at CRT so we stopped at the smoking area and caught the side of the Magic, Memories, and You show
Before the show started:
A couple pictures from the actual show:
Finally it was time to check in at the castle. We went inside and got our picture taken with Cinderella(which is around here somewhere, but I can't find at the moment, when I find it I will take a picture of it and put it here).
After about a 10 minute wait we were taken up to the restaurant. We were seated at one of the two seater table by the window. I was mildly annoyed because we were put at one of the tables off to the side of the restaurant, rather than the one in the middle of that wall(it was the table Daniel proposed to me at and it was empty when we walked in), but I found out later why that table was being left open.
Our waiter came over and took our drink orders, I got a sprite, Daniel got an iced tea. When the waiter came back we put in our orders. Daniel got the Rock Shrimp Cocktail and I got the Corn and Crab Chowder for appetizers. Daniel really enjoyed his and we both loved mine(in fact I got online when I got back home and I made my own at home). For our entrees Daniel got the Pork 3 ways, which he really enjoyed and I got the Beef Tenderloin. Mine was okay, I'm not the biggest fan of the sauce that comes with it and I dislike asparagus. Also the "duchess potatoes" have an odd texture. For dessert we both got the dessert trio which came with almond cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and fruit tarts. Daniel loved all three of them, but I preferred the cheesecake and the mousse(I'm just not a huge fan of fruit desserts). They also brought us an anniversary cupcake(along with a card signed by all the princesses) which we took to-go because we were too stuffed.
About halfway through the meal the princesses were announced and started making their way around the room.
First was Snow White:
Then Aurora:
I'm sorry the pictures are kind of crappy, my phone doesn't take very good pictures in dark places.
Then Ariel:
Finally my favorite, Belle:
I have a picture of Daniel with Belle but it's so blurry that I'm not even going to bother putting it here.
At the end of dinner, we finally found out why we didn't get the table we wanted. A round of applause came from the center of the restaurant and we turned around and saw a man proposing to his girlfriend(somehow we had been oblivious to it before now). Now I understand how people felt watching the night Daniel proposed to me, it was extremely magical seeing it happen to someone else.
After this we left the restaurant and made our way over the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh(which was another first for us). It was shortly before 10 when we got in line and after a fun ride through the Hundred Acre Woods we came out just as Wishes was starting. We stopped and watched for a few minutes(I also had never seen Wishes, because I don't do crowds), but we decided to forego the rest of it in the hopes of getting to the bus stop before the crowd. Unfortunately we had no such luck and we were stuck in a huge crowd on our way out(as I mentioned, I don't handle crowds well, they cause me to have panic attacks) and then we had to wait for about a half an hour before we got on the bus(we always wait for a bus where we can get a seat because the end of the night crowds always take a toll on me and standing in a crowded bus would not help matters at all). Finally we made it back to Pop and quickly got to bed. It had been a long day and we had another long day ahead of us.
Since this was our last day and the night before had been a fairly late night, we set our alarm for 9:30. By about 10:30 we were out of the room and we entered the park about 10:45 and we're standing within view of this:
By 11 we were waiting at the Sunset Market for the counter service places to open. I got a pizza and caesar salad from Catalina Eddie's and Daniel got a barbecue pork sandwich from Fairfax Fare. We both enjoyed our meal, the only problem I had was that a CM started cleaning our table before we were finished. Afterwards I ran up to Tower of Terror for fast passes at 11:35 and the return time of 2:40. We met up and went to the 11:45 show of Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed, except I don't like the way they changed "Be Our Guest".
After the show we made our way over to the other side of the park and at this point I realized that I had made a huge mistake picking this park for this day. I had made our ADRs and park plans prior to looking at the crowd calendars and by the time I found out that this was the worst park to choose for this day(Fantasmic was showing), it was too late to change things around. Because of this I'll be honest, we didn't do much this day.
We walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere of the park.
At 1:35 we got fast passes for Star Tours with a return time of 5:35. After that we made our way over to the Writer's Stop. I was looking forward to trying one of their iced cappuccino, but unfortunately their machine was down. Instead I had one of their frozen fruit drinks, mango and something else, but I didn't write it down. I do remember that I really enjoyed it.
It was while we were sitting at one of the window seats at the Writer's Stop that we saw our first ever Brazilian tour group. It was just as bad as I expected. They were loud(we could hear them even though we were inside and they were outside) and a lot of them were dressed inappropriately.
After hanging out at the Writer's Stop for a long while(we were exhausted at this point and we weren't looking forward to standing any long lines) we left so I could use the bathroom and Daniel could have a cigarette. The closest bathroom was over by the Muppets 3D show so I took some pictures:
I met Daniel back at the smoking area and while I was sitting there I saw this and it amused me so I took a picture.
After that it was close to being time for us to use our Star Tours fast passes so we slowly made our way over there. On our way there we stopped for some pictures:
We got over to Star Tours and Daniel had to get his picture taken here:
Finally it was time for us to take our ride on Star Tours. Daniel was extremely excited. He is a big Star Wars nerd and he was disappointed when we missed the opening of Star Tours by a matter of days on our last trip.
Some pictures of Star Tours:
This ride was awesome. Even I thought so and I know basically nothing about Star Wars. Daniel was so happy because he got picked to be the rebel spy!
After that we made our way back over to Sunset Boulevard so that we could use our Tower of Terror fast passes. This ride was great as usual and we were happy because it was one of the longer rides we've had. Some pictures inside the Hollywood Tower Hotel:
(I'm not entirely sure if this rip is intentional or not, I meant to send the picture to Disney and ask, but I never got around to it)
It was almost time for us to leave the park so that we could get to the Yacht Club for our dinner reservation so we decided to just hang out on Sunset Boulevard until it was time to go. Here are some pictures I took:
(It took me forever to get a picture of this signs with Legends lit up all the way)
(I told Daniel to get into the picture and this was the pose he gave me)
On our way out of the park I saw that the Christmas tree was all lit up so I had to get a picture:
We went out to the dock so that we could take the friendship boat over to the Yacht Club for dinner. We got on the first boat and quickly made our way over there. At this point I started feeling kind of dizzy(I think I had gotten dehydrated over the past few days) so we sat outside for a bit in the hopes that I would start feeling better. At about 8 o'clock we made our way inside and checked in at the Captain's Grille(about 20 minutes early). After waiting 30 minutes(10 minutes past our ADR time) we were finally seated. I will be honest this is the only meal I've ever had at Disney World that I would consider a disappointment.
From waiting so long to be seated(and when we got in the restaurant half the tables were empty, so they weren't just running behind), as well as our waitress taking nearly 15 minutes to come over and take our drink orders. Also, the food was really low quality(and I love pretty much all Disney food) and our waitress took forever to bring anything. At almost 9 o'clock at night the restaurant was nearly empty and there was no excuse for the horrible service we received. Also keep in mind that I grew up with a mother who was a waitress, so I was brought up to give servers the benefit of the doubt. With this woman there was only so much I could give her. The steaks were mediocre and the broccoli that came with them was severely overcooked and drowning in butter. I don't even remembered what we had for dessert because I basically tried to block the whole experience out.
After our horrible dinner we had to go outside and wait for a bus to Downtown Disney where we then transferred to a Pop Century bus. Finally we were back in our room and laid down to sleep. We were sad because this was our last night in Disney and it had been utterly disappointing.
I only took one picture this entire day, so this update will be severely lacking in pictures.
We set the alarm for 10 the night before so that we would be able to leave the room by 11 to check out. I slept horribly our last night because I felt like I was starting to get sick, so I was exhausted when the alarm went off. There was a knock on the door while we were getting ready and it turns out they were dropping off our boarding passes. Problem was there was only one of them, Daniel had been checked in, but I hadn't. After making sure we hadn't left anything around the room, we went downstairs and checked out in Classic Hall. Then we made our way back outside to the luggage/airport check-in area. I got checked in for our flight, but because we checked in at different times my boarding number was far away from Daniel's(he ended up boarding with me because my crowd troubles extends to planes as well). We dropped off our luggage to be brought with us on the ME and then we went into Everything Pop to get something to eat. Daniel had a burger and I had the chicken. Both were good as usual, but I only finished half of mine because I was still feeling sick.
After we finished eating we made our way out to the pool so that we could enjoy the great weather. We got a couple of pool chairs and I napped for a bit. While I was laying there I took this:
Because the pool had to be evacuated for some reason(I think they may have been cleaning it) there was an activity going on in the pool area. Daniel dragged me over so we could play. It was a newlywed game style game where they asked questions and you had to match your partner's answer. We ended up winning and we got a blow-up fish as our prize.
At about 3:30 we made our way to the front to wait for our ME that was scheduled to arrive at 3:45. It was a few minutes late but we made it to the airport with plenty of time. We got on the plane and we were back in Albany by 9:30 and we were home by shortly after 10. We basically fell straight into bed because we were exhausted after our fun-filled Christmas trip.
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