No Kids, Gnu Year! Ringing in 2018 at WDW! **Complete 8/31**

[Raeven]

I loved this! I didn't have any real expectation for it, but I always prepare myself for disappointment regarding hot spinach dips, they're so hit or miss most places.

That looks really good!

I met all of them in October, it was life changing

Yes. This is the line for People Mover. They had an extended queue out that looped around, and a person with a sign marking the end of the line.

You know it's busy when the peoplemover has a line!

I cannot think of a scenario in which I would wait 90 minutes to ride that.

I can't either

 

[missangelalexis]

What a packed afternoon! Sounds like you made the best of it. Love the pic in front of the carriage!! And 1) jealous that you were able to snag a kingdom of cute pin box (couldn't find any on my trip) and 2) SO awesome that you got the ones you wanted!!

 

[Smilelea]

So my quotes didn't save....

But,

Wow on the wait times. This a very good reason why we don't ever plan to go that time of year. Early December and 2nd week in January are as close as we get.

Congrats on getting both pins in one box!

Love the Lumiere Magic shot! I want one of those.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Ah! I wish I'd paid closer attention to your comment sooner!! We ended up giving the BB-8s to the kids...they didn't know we got them and when they were taking laundry in they saw them wanted them!! I would have 100% made the trade!

Silly kids always messing things up! Ha. I took a survey about the dessert party after we had done ours, and one of the the feedback I had given was a choice of cups. Guess they didn't like my advise...

DH was in marching band, and had a music scholarship, so I knew he'd enjoy staying and watching. I also wanted to support the kids and see all their hard work pay off - how cool to be able to play at WDW!

DH and I were in Marching Band as well. No music scholarships but we did get to go to a couple bowl games for free in college.

The last time I'd eaten here it was a character meal, if that tells you anything!

What characters did they have?

We made it!! And we didn't get soaked, thank goodness!!

I am sure those kids loved getting wet.

Ahh!! Both in one box, can you believe it?? I was so excited!!

Awesome!

Yes. This is the line for People Mover. They had an extended queue out that looped around, and a person with a sign marking the end of the line.

For the People Mover.

We had a line like that when we were there in February.

I love carriage picture.

 

[wdwnut61]

You sound like us we haven't been to LTT since they had the characters
Glad to hear the spinach and artichoke dip was good and dessert yummy
Great score with the 2 pins
Even though the crowds were heavy you still got a lot done
Love your picture in front of Cinderella's carriage

 

[ariane37]

Steve is set on going for NYE either this year or next. I'd love to do it but the wait times.......

We'll be at LTT in just over 3 weeks!! I love the Colony salad there, it's filling but not too filling. Which leaves room for the ooey-gooey-ness that is dessert

 

[Tracy161]

I needed some Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake!!

YES!!!

as we got closer we heard a few different people saying how everyone in line was crazy since it was cold, LOL.

Our MK day in January was one of the exceptionally cold ones. Part of my family went on Splash, but I declined

I wanted the Dole Whip and Space Mountain in particular.

What?! You got the ones you'd been wanting - how awesome!

I'm a little sideways there! At least I didn't hit my head this time.

True

Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those days where they let you stay on the PM and keep going around and around

Ahhhh, I love being able to do this. But January was not the time for that... I remember well

 

[MeghanEmily]

HUCK!!!!!

But one thing really stood out above the rest, and that was the amazing panoramic views of the Haunted Mansion

Oh cool, I've never noticed this before! We rarely do the island. Maybe next time.

It's basically exactly the same as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train if you can't get a fast pass for that. See??





Ok, so maybe not, LOL!

The last time I'd eaten here it was a character meal, if that tells you anything!

Oh wow, I don't think I even knew it used to be a character meal...

Um...this is awkward...but it seems you guys missed the green matching shirt memo...

Ahh!! Both in one box, can you believe it?? I was so excited!!

YAY! These are SO cute. I'd never paid much attention to them before.

I think we waited about 20 minutes or so before we made it onto the People Mover.

Wow.

Love it!!

and my personal favorite, a 90 minute wait to go Under the Sea

Holy cow. Yes, the crowds/lines were really so insane.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Somehow apparently I read the most recent updates, but missed out on the ones before that while I was away. So I had some backtrack-quoting to do...

The only downside to these was the liquid amount was small compared to the giant glob of whipped cream. You know how sometimes when you have an iced drink in a cup with no lid and the ice all freezes and you take a drink and the ice smacks you in the face? It was like that but with whipped cream. Just one big game of Russian Roulette pie-face style!

Uggh! ...but also because your description is hilarious and I can picture it...

I really want to be able to be in the room for Prince Eric tryouts for this show.

Qualifications: Must be able to lie motionless while wearing terrible wig.

I wonder if he gets paid more than Ariel anyway? #wagegap #mermaidist

He's allllwaysss watching.

Please don't ever let me make dessert party reservations for a nighttime show that doesn't start until 10:30 pm ever again. Slap my hand, throw a rock at me, do whatever it takes! This was SUCH a long day!!

Haha that would absolutely be me!! Well, let's be real, I would be worse. Since N and I went home early this night before any kind of night shows even started. The struggle is real!

had three blue milk panna cotta. They were weird and bland and delicious, all at the same time!

DH found the savory table, and brought over probably the best part of the whole dessert party. Skewers of cheese, tomato, and grapes, flatbread with two types of hummus.

Yum!! A little savoury at a dessert party is an excellent idea!

Part of the reason I wanted to book this was for the Chewbacca stein!!

Guess what??

We didn't get a Chewbacca stein

It was a BB-8 sipper cup. I was so disappointed.

Oh no! This is so sad!

The people behind us yelled at us to sit. I asked them if they wanted to switch spots and try to see over the bushes. They said they paid too much money to do that. Of course they did.

Of course they did. Puke. People get so entitled on vacation. EVERYONE paid too much money to be here, all the time, cuz it's Disney.

And our lone toiletry item

Bahaha in case the two bottles of shampoo in the shower weren't enough!! We had terrible luck getting toiletries when we stayed at ASMu later that week. We were in a suite with two bathrooms. We'd play the toiletry game every time we came back to the room, and see whose bathroom got a better selection each day. Sometimes it would be nothing. Sometimes it would be two conditioners and no shampoo. Etc, etc. I think the mousekeeper didn't even look at the bottles, just grabbed a couple and left. Then I left a passive aggressive note one morning when I was totally out of shampoo, and we came back to an equally passive aggressive mousekeeping act! They'd just left a big plastic bag full of over a dozen assorted toiletry items!! Unfortunately, only one or two of them were actually shampoo.

Why is it that busy times are never a one off?? They're like, a whole week (or sometimes month!) of things happening in rapid succession

I so feel you here.

What's he watching on tv, anyway??



Me!

hehehe

How ironic. You used to watch him. Now he watches you.

This is the one shot I was able to get before some kids came over to climb on RC. And then their parent began screaming profanities at them. So, so magical

Of course. Disney really brings out the magic in families.

And Woody! I love this shot:

Awesome!!

I was glad I'd picked up a container of pineapple from the cooler, because it was the only thing I ate. The tater tots were terrible. I don't think I've ever had bad tater tots before, how do you mess those up?? But they were flavorless and dry. The flatbread didn't have much flavor either. I threw away almost all of it, and my grandmother's exclamations about starving children were echoing in my brain!

This is disappointing! We did okay at the food court at Music. But Nathan and I just got back from a stay at Sports last month, and the food court there was far inferior to Music, in my opinion. I don't know how this is possible, since they're basically all exactly the same resort.

Pretty much the cutest thing ever. I wanted all of them, but mainly Minnie for myself, and then one each for the boys. Ultimately I made the decision to wait until our last MK day to make the purchase.

So cute!! I only just discovered these on our last trip, and I had a hard time not bringing any of them home!

And let's face it, the real stars of the whole shebang:

Naturally.

What are they doing there, does anyone know?)

I wondered this, too! They were still up last month.

"We wants the redhead...........to be a positive influence on the girls of today, tomorrow, and the future!"

YAS!

 

[xlsm]

Once again, I've fallen off the Disboard diving board into a big fat pool of real life. I'm going to bang out as many updates as possible today, and come back to chat after. It's spring break and the kids are with the grandparents until Wednesday, so I might as well do something productive

Chapter Three Part Six

We're finally at the end of our pre-NYE Magic Kingdom evening! We had just finished Philharmagic and had a couple minutes to kill before we could check in for that miracle Peter Pan fast pass I'd found for us that morning while we were in line for Pirates.

Check out Fantasyland:

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Not so bad right? There's at least a small gap between us and the masses. Small.

We paid a quick visit to Rapunzel's Fancy Bathrooms

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And then slowly shuffled through all the people to Peter Pan's Flight. You can sort of see the wait time is 120 minutes...at least the one and the two.

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Honestly, not a bad wait for 12/30. People were starting to head up front for the castle lighting, so maybe it cleared it out a little. We were going to watch too, but first...

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we're on a boat!

And wow we look tired!! Thank goodness for two showings of the fireworks, because I'd never have made it to midnight.

After flying over Neverland, we went up to the hub to try and find a spot for the castle lighting and fireworks. We got very lucky and were able to cram into a little patch of Hub Grass on the Adventureland/Casey's side.

Our view:

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Our neighbors:

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In 2016 we watched the castle lighting from the side over in Liberty Square before MNSSHP, so I was excited to see it from the front.

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It takes her forever to light up that darn castle. In Frozen she freezes the entire town by accident in less time than it takes her to ice one single castle ON PURPOSE. She's so dramatic

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I never thought we'd ever be back for the holidays, so I can't even tell you how happy I was to see Cinderella Castle dripping with Dream Lights again.

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While we were waiting for Fantasy in the Sky they were doing Fake New Year's Eve with a DJ in front of the castle playing music and trying to hype up the crowd. It's not really my scene, but you couldn't really help but get caught up in the atmosphere. Everyone was standing around kind of half heartedly dancing, but it passed the time and was kind of fun.

I didn't take a ton of pictures b/c I was trying to live in the moment and watch the fireworks, but here you go:

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This was such an amazing moment for me. Fantasy in the Sky was the fireworks show during my first visit to WDW in 2001. It is pure magic to me. I remember watching it for the first time on the Tomorrowland side of the hub, with the tops of some trees casting shadows, and Tink flying over us. Tears involuntarily rolling down my face.

Revisiting it was just as magical, and I'm so grateful to have been able to experience that again.

And even more grateful that we could experience it at 6:30pm and not midnight.

We stood still for a little while as people started filing out, because I didn't want to get murdered on Main Street by a stampede of families with toddlers (it was a mass exodus of strollers!!)

After about 15 minutes or so we started slowly making our way to the exit and stopped to admire the tree

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I really wanted to go up onto the train station for some photos down Main Street. I had to settle for some lackluster shots b/c they had the best spot for a direct line of sight blocked off with ropes. I guess it was a VIP viewing area for the late show??

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It was pretty even without that perfect view.

We left the Magic Kingdom and walked over to our bus for All Star Movies. Another reason we were heading back early, aside from the old people tiredness problem, was because it was our last night there. We were moving over to Kidani the next morning, and we wanted to be totally packed aside from toiletries we'd use the next morning, so we could go over as early as possible.

The wait for the bus was a long one, but we made it. We were hungry, so our first stop was the food court. I was hopeful that the food would be better than our disastrous breakfast there that morning.

I had a carrot cake cupcake:

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I wish you could see better - it was covered in this totally gorgeous iridescent edible glitter

and something that I think was called the Ultimate Grilled Cheese, accompanied by potato salad and broccoli slaw:

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It was fine. Not all that ultimate. The edges of the crust were so tough and hard that I couldn't eat them. Have you ever microwaved something with cheese on it and you leave it on too long and it turns into something resembling greasy concrete? Yep. I ate the center of the sandwich and a few bites of the broccoli slaw.

The cupcake did not survive. It was destroyed and enjoyed.

DH had a cookies and cream cupcake:

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Oreos are his favorite, so he liked this.

He had what looks like a roast beef sandwich?? I'm not sure. Looks like regular cole slaw and potato salad there on the side.

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There was nothing remarkable about this either, and we were once again disappointed by our food court experience.

I took a couple pictures of the holiday decor

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and then we were off to our room. We packed as much as we could, watched a little tv, and went to bed early. We were ready to get out of there and move on to the rest of our week at Kidani Village. We were also anxious, because the next day was New Year's Eve and we were heading into unknown territory!!

More posts coming throughout the day, and I'll try to catch up on quotes tomorrow! Happy Monday!!

 

[xlsm]

Ok! We've finally made it to the part most people wanted to see - New Year's Eve! The first two posts in this chapter are just going to be our arrival at Kidani and our lunch at Sanaa, in case you aren't interested in room photos. I love Animal Kingdom Lodge an awful lot, so I take a lot of pictures!! Let's go!!

Chapter Four: New Year's Eve For Real!

The time had finally come. New Year's Eve at Walt Disney World. Do we have what it takes to deal with this?? It's like the most discussed and lamented time of the year. It has taken on this iconic sort of status - not doable! Stay away! Only crazy people come this time of year!!

So what would our experience be??

I really put on my planner hat for this day. I researched. I read every old blog post from my trusted favorites. I followed threads here on the Dis and listened to people who had been there, done that. I felt as prepared as humanly possible.

Our plan for the day: Get up early, Uber to Kidani, hang around until lunch time at Sanaa, then bus over to Epcot in the early afternoon. I had our three fast passes ready to go:

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(that first one is for Living with the Land)

and I had our early dinner reservation for Chefs de France at 4:30

The timing all seemed doable, we were ready!!

(any guesses on how this goes??)

We got up early. DH got ready first and then went down to get us coffee while I took a shower. Because we'd packed up and cleaned up the night before, we were checked out of All Star Movies and waiting on our Uber by 8:30am.

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Our driver had never been to Kidani Village before, so we were trying to explain where it was in relation to Jambo House. We all chatted the whole drive - he was asking about the resort, and how well you could see the animals, etc. He was Brazilian and he pronounced giraffe as Jee-Ruff, which basically made my whole life, and now that's the way I say it too. At least to DH. He told us there was a zoo type place in Brazil where you could feed giraffes and how his daughter got to pet one because you could get so close. Because we were all just talking away, before we knew it we were almost to AKL. There is a point where the road goes straight to Animal Kingdom park, and then a left turn lane that takes you to Animal Kingdom Lodge. As we get close to that turning point, he realizes he's in the wrong lane (was heading straight, toward the park), and just turns the wheel a hard left and crosses a couple lanes of traffic, and we barely make the left before the road splits, and almost ran over the grassy median. Awesome.

This was just transportation foreshadowing. If only we'd known.

After we coached him along the road to Kidani from Jambo (and he drove straight through parking lots instead of following signs), we made it in one piece to our new home, Kidani Village.

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While it might not be as dramatic as Jambo House, the lobby at Kidani Village is still beautiful. It isn't as grand, and certainly not as large, but it has a special cozy charm that I love. It's like hanging out in a comfortable living room.

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A really spectacular living room.

It was around 9am, and I didn't think our room would be ready, so as soon as we got there we checked our bags with bell services. After that I went over to check in, and got the biggest surprise. Our room WAS ready!! I could not believe it, and was so excited. The check-in guy said, oh, your room is just right down this hallway behind me, leading us to believe it wasn't too far away.

Wrong.

It was almost as far away from the lobby as possible. (on our departure day, I take a picture of each hallway as we walk down it...oh yes, I plan to share so everyone can experience the walk!! If you followed my trip last December and heard me complain about Boardwalk's hallway length, this was about twice as long.)

This particular trip down the hallway didn't seem as bad as it would later in the trip, because we were running on excitement at this point!

We were booked in a deluxe studio with a savanna view. Here's the room:

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The little kitchenette thing had glasses and some paper plates/plastic silverware up in the cabinets. I appreciated having the dish soap, although it wasn't as needed on this trip. We didn't have refillable mugs or anything like we usually do. And at Kidani, in this room location, a refillable mug would have been a huge waste for anything other than a souvenir. Since we have a whole cabinet full of mugs, it was no loss!

The bathroom:

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(Lotion AND conditioner! We have reached the promised land!!)

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I loved the painted tile:

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And the main room:

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The room I had at Jambo House last May was a tight space with the two queen beds, but the size worked for the studio with the loveseat/bed combo. It was perfect for us.

Of course I had to check out our view:

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No animals at the moment, but a beautiful view on a beautiful day!

I stood out on the balcony for awhile and realized I was wrong about the no animals thing. One was just hiding from me!

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Mr. Ostrich was blending in with the dirt pile.

As soon as we'd made it to the room, DH had called bell services while I took room pictures, and they arrived while I was admiring the view. They seemed equally impressed that we'd been able to get into a room so early!

Our lunch reservation at Sanaa wasn't until 11:35 so I decided to watch some Must Dos for awhile to kill time

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Here's the thing about me and relaxing...I'm not very good at it, so I didn't watch Stacy for very long. I had to check the view again, and this time I was excited to see some zebras

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After my zebra observing, we had about an hour before our lunch reservation. We decided to go explore the resort while we waited. On the way out I noted our location on the fire escape map to show how far away from everything we really were

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the bright red arrows are the emergency exits. The little red dot on the second to last section, that's us. Aside from a few other rooms, we were as far away from the lobby as you could get. I clocked it as .4 miles, but I can't remember if that was from the lobby or the bus stop. Too far either way! More than double our distance at the Boardwalk when we were in a similar location situation)

Enough complaining, there were giraffes to see!! Yes, we had a far walk to our room, but along the way we had lots of windows to look out and we almost always saw some animals every time we passed through

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We eventually got back to the lobby and took in our surroundings

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More exploring coming in the next post, along with a lunch at Sanaa!

 

[xlsm]

Chapter Four Part Two

We had never stayed in a DVC property before (as in, directly booked into a DVC resort, not a resort that also has DVC available), and while we were at Kidani a year before for lunch at Sanaa, we didn't do any real exploring beyond the lobby.

Our first stop was the Community Hall. There was a fireplace with cozy seating, and a guy working on his laptop. There were also tvs and book shelves and toys. It was a cute, comfortable, and inviting room.

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My pictures are obviously lacking here

One of my favorite things was the Daily Adventures board, posted outside of the Community Hall

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If you stay here and you're ever bored, you are doing something wrong. If you've followed along with me before you know how much I love Wilderness Lodge. AKL has firmly cemented itself in second place. While it isn't somewhere I'd want to stay if I was really planning to hit the parks hard, for a slower paced trip, particularly a trip with days off from the parks, there's no place I'd rather be.

After our mini-exploration, I realized I needed to charge my phone before we went to Epcot after lunch, so we found a spot outside of Johari Treasures to sit for awhile

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Does anyone else love that they put the charging ports on the lamps in resort lobbies?? They've saved me several times!

We had successfully killed enough time to make our way down to Sanaa. Thank goodness, because I was starving. I was torn between branching out or getting the open face tandoori chicken sandwich again.

While I mulled that over, I grabbed some spa water, and we headed downstairs

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Bread service, here we come!

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Our reservation was for 11:35, but we showed up at opening and after a very tiny wait, we were the first people seated for the day, so I took advantage of the empty restaurant for pictures

From our seat:

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The universe decided to solve my food choice conundrum for me. Because it was a holiday, they had a special (and very limited) New Year's Eve menu. No Tandoori Chicken sandwich for me How would I ever go on??

She took our drink and bread service order. Since we'd been dreaming about that bread service for the past year, we were pretty excited.

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True love is giving your wife total control over the red chili sambal. DH loves Indian food, but I don't always care for the sweeter flavor profile, so we are able to balance our favorite accompaniments without fighting over them.

I ended up ordering the butter chicken, which was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. I love basmati rice, but I don't usually love the veggie sides here. It's the cinnamon/cardamom sweetness. So I only had a few bites of whatever side I ordered...potatoes were involved.

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I am kicking myself for not photographing the NYE menu, and I googled but couldn't find one. I'm not sure of the exact thing DH ordered, I think it was pork three ways, but with a more special name than that?? It came with broccolini, mashed potatoes, and onions in cream sauce

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He loved it.

We finished our lunch fairly quickly, and when we left it was a full house. I wanted to pop outside to see the animals

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admire the beautiful building

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and then head upstairs and outside to the bus stop. We'd been in Sanaa for about an hour, and it was right around noon.

From the walk to the bus stop:

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I love the thatched roof

We got to the bus stop and immediately felt like something was wrong. There weren't *that* many people in front of us waiting, less than ten, but we could hear them talking. One group had been there for almost an hour. I started getting nervous, but it was just a little after noon, our first FP wasn't until one, and we had the full hour to scan in for it. I figured we'd be fine.

We ended up waiting about half an hour for a bus. By the time it arrived, the line had grown. We managed to sit, but it wasn't comfortable. The bus was packed, with people sitting on laps (and not just kids) and people standing all the way to the front.

It was about 12:40ish.

See? We were ok on time. We'd totally make it in time for our fast passes!!

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At least that's what we thought.

We pulled out of the resort and onto the main road and traffic was heavy, but mostly moving. It took about three light cycles to make our turn to head toward Epcot. Then, we sat. And moved forward a few feet. And sat.

The pattern continued.

We eventually got to the road behind the Swan/Dolphin, where the busses turned to go toward Epcot. It had been an hour. Everyone on the bus was talking and laughing, and commiserating. Even though we were all miserable and crammed together, we were trying to make the best of a very frustrating situation. I joked that I'd just hop out and swim across the swampy pond thing to make it to the Swolphin, and then just walk to Epcot. I'd probably make it before the bus.

I guarantee you I'd have made it before the bus!

We saw the most ridiculous things while sitting there.

People driving through the median, people getting out and walking...and my favorite.

The lady who got out of her car, walked over behind a monorail support, and peed.

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Circled in red, for your viewing convenience.

She marched back, smoking her cigarette in defiance.

Go lady. Go.

She went.

If a monorail had passed over, they'd have had quite the show.

The bus was in a hysterical uproar, we were doing a play by play of the whole scene.

What else did we have to do??

We watched the time for our Living with the Land FP come and go. The window for Soarin' opened...would we make it?

Our bus pulled up to Epcot TWO HOURS after leaving Kidani.

I had to stop and use the restroom on the way in or I would have had a very embarrassing NYE. The line was so long.

Eventually we got up to bag check.

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It was just wall to wall people. We were so close on our Soarin' time. I sent DH through the bagless line

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143888229@N08/

and told him to go straight to Soarin', and to wait as long as he could before the FP window closed, but if I didn't make it inside, to go on without me.

I was talking to some other guests in line. They were local, and said they come to Epcot for New Year's Eve every year, and they had never seen it this crazy at this time of day before.

I waited for over 20 minutes to get through security.

When I saw the line to scan into the park, my heart sank. I knew I'd never be able to make it to Soarin' if I had to wait in that line.

By some miracle, the Annual Passholder entrance had no one in it!! What?? I'd been so unlucky using the AP entrance, maybe all that bad luck was just me storing up some GOOD luck for a time like this. I ran over and tapped my magic band and rushed through the gates

I paused long enough to take this picture

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I texted DH that I was in and on my way, and I walked as fast as I could without full on running and made it to Soarin' at 3:12.

We tapped in for our fast pass and I was finally able to heave a sigh of relief

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143888229@N08/

Note to self, and to any future NYE trippers...don't try to get to the parks at noon. On the crazy bus ride, I'd been texting back and forth with Raeven, and she had told me MK was already closed. I think everyone read the same blogs this year - we were all using the same park strategies, I guess!!

Pausing the updates for now, more tonight or tomorrow!

 

[missangelalexis]

Nice fireworks spot! I'm glad you enjoyed it and it brought back some nice memories for you

Your room looks really nice, and you had a great view!

Yum your lunch at Sanaa sounds great!

Oh goodness, TWO HOURS to get to Epcot? That's brutal! And such chaos getting through bag check/turnstiles!

 

[wdwnut61]

MK is so beautiful with all their Christmas decorations
Your room at Kidani is great even though it was a hike to get to
We've never been to Sanaa but your meals look delicious
I can't believe a woman actually stopped and peed in broad daylight by the monorail
We went one year for New Years but stayed away from the parks on New Years Eve. We stayed at the CR theme park view and watched the fireworks from both EP and MK from our balcony. It was the only way I could convince DH to go with the crowds. We spent the day swimming and parasailing. New Years day and beyond crowds we great.

 

[Momee]

I totally lost it about the woman peeing by the monorail support beam...

But ya know what... good for her. And it must've felt amazing if she lit up a cigarette when she was finished!
Still laughing here...

 

[Smilelea]

We were booked in a deluxe studio with a savanna view. Here's the room:

This will be us in just 8 weeks!!! Love the pictures!

Our bus pulled up to Epcot TWO HOURS after leaving Kidani.

OMG!!!! That's insane.

But over the lady making a "pit stop".

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

It's spring break and the kids are with the grandparents until Wednesday,

Glad to hear we are not the only ones who ship our kids off to the grandparents for Spring Break!

Not so bad right? There's at least a small gap between us and the masses. Small.

Oye!

It takes her forever to light up that darn castle. In Frozen she freezes the entire town by accident in less time than it takes her to ice one single castle ON PURPOSE. She's so dramatic

Ha! I have heard that Elsa is sooo dramatic!

And even more grateful that we could experience it at 6:30pm and not midnight.

It was pretty even without that perfect view.

Very Pretty!

It was fine.

It looks good, at least. Sorry that it wasn't great.

Oreos are his favorite, so he liked this.

Yum! Both cupcakes looked delish!

The timing all seemed doable, we were ready!!

(any guesses on how this goes??)

I was going to say perfect because of all of the pre-planning that you did... But... apparently not....

He was Brazilian and he pronounced giraffe as Jee-Ruff, which basically made my whole life, and now that's the way I say it too

This reminded me of a toy we had given to us when my oldest was a baby, and it said animal names with a british accent. It was hilarious. The lady said Za-Bra instead of Zebra, and we used to say Morgan was going to learn the word with a british accent.

After we coached him along the road to Kidani from Jambo (and he drove straight through parking lots instead of following signs), we made it in one piece to our new home, Kidani Village.

Yikes! That driver was a little crazy!

(on our departure day, I take a picture of each hallway as we walk down it...oh yes, I plan to share so everyone can experience the walk!!

I can't wait! These are the things I love to see. Guess that is why I read everyones trip reports!

(Lotion AND conditioner! We have reached the promised land!!)

Conditioner!!! Amazing!!! But seriously, we just stayed at a moderae and it was find but they gave us bar soap. Blek!

along with a lunch at Sanaa!

I have seen this room! Our very first trip we went to BOMA and went to the wrong building and wondered in there. It was a nice room!

So, yummy!

We ended up waiting about half an hour for a bus.

So, again, as I was reading this, I was thinking those poor people that had been waiting an hour before you even got there. But the kicker comes later!

The lady who got out of her car, walked over behind a monorail support, and peed.

Desperate times, calls for desperate measures I guess.

If a monorail had passed over, they'd have had quite the show.

The bus was in a hysterical uproar, we were doing a play by play of the whole scene.

She might of wanted to look for a better place! I love that your whole bus was entertained by it!

Our bus pulled up to Epcot TWO HOURS after leaving Kidani.

OMG!!! I think I would have gone crazy!!! So, it took you 2-1/2 hours! And those poor other people took 3-1/2 hours?

I texted DH that I was in and on my way, and I walked as fast as I could without full on running and made it to Soarin' at 3:12.

We tapped in for our fast pass and I was finally able to heave a sigh of relief

Amazing that you made it!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Once again, I've fallen off the Disboard diving board into a big fat pool of real life.

Oooohhhhh I feel you there.

This make me eye twitch to look at. My least favourite place to be during a crowded Disney day.

And then slowly shuffled through all the people to Peter Pan's Flight. You can sort of see the wait time is 120 minutes...at least the one and the two.

Hah! Yeah, when we were there we had a FP for this and I had a frozen lemonade in my hand, and I asked the CM if I wasn't allowed to take it with me, and he was like "You can't take it on the ride, but you've got over two hours to finish it..."

It takes her forever to light up that darn castle. In Frozen she freezes the entire town by accident in less time than it takes her to ice one single castle ON PURPOSE. She's so dramatic

This was such an amazing moment for me. Fantasy in the Sky was the fireworks show during my first visit to WDW in 2001. It is pure magic to me. I remember watching it for the first time on the Tomorrowland side of the hub, with the tops of some trees casting shadows, and Tink flying over us. Tears involuntarily rolling down my face.

And even more grateful that we could experience it at 6:30pm and not midnight.

Yes.

I wish you could see better - it was covered in this totally gorgeous iridescent edible glitter

We saw these when we were there! So much pizzazz for a cupcake!

The timing all seemed doable, we were ready!!

(any guesses on how this goes??)

...uh oh.

He was Brazilian and he pronounced giraffe as Jee-Ruff, which basically made my whole life, and now that's the way I say it too.

I LOVE this! I've been casually trying to slip it into conversations ever since you mentioned this in a comment a while back.

There is a point where the road goes straight to Animal Kingdom park, and then a left turn lane that takes you to Animal Kingdom Lodge. As we get close to that turning point, he realizes he's in the wrong lane (was heading straight, toward the park), and just turns the wheel a hard left and crosses a couple lanes of traffic, and we barely make the left before the road splits, and almost ran over the grassy median. Awesome.

This was just transportation foreshadowing. If only we'd known.

I know just where you mean, because I've had to yell at Nathan not to miss this split when we've been driving before! ...uh oh..doesn't sound good...

While it might not be as dramatic as Jambo House, the lobby at Kidani Village is still beautiful. It isn't as grand, and certainly not as large, but it has a special cozy charm that I love. It's like hanging out in a comfortable living room.

Agreed! Such a beautiful living room

(Lotion AND conditioner! We have reached the promised land!!)

Oh my gosh! This is the dream!

Our lunch reservation at Sanaa wasn't until 11:35 so I decided to watch some Must Dos for awhile to kill time

Of course you did!

the bright red arrows are the emergency exits. The little red dot on the second to last section, that's us.

Woah!!

True love is giving your wife total control over the red chili sambal. DH loves Indian food, but I don't always care for the sweeter flavor profile, so we are able to balance our favorite accompaniments without fighting over them.

My mouth is watering. Nom!

I am kicking myself for not photographing the NYE menu, and I googled but couldn't find one. I'm not sure of the exact thing DH ordered, I think it was pork three ways, but with a more special name than that?? It came with broccolini, mashed potatoes, and onions in cream sauce

I think this looks like the Braaivleis. That's what I at there last time. A selection of grilled meats. I think the middle one is lamb, and the sausage might contain beef and pork? Anyway, it was good.

Your ears are adorable.

The lady who got out of her car, walked over behind a monorail support, and peed.

NOO! Oh my gosh!!

She marched back, smoking her cigarette in defiance.

Go lady. Go.

She went.

What a classy lady.

Our bus pulled up to Epcot TWO HOURS after leaving Kidani.

NO. WAY.

On the crazy bus ride, I'd been texting back and forth with Raeven, and she had told me MK was already closed. I think everyone read the same blogs this year - we were all using the same park strategies, I guess!!

That's sooo wild!!

 

[DVCGreg]

Hellooooooo DisFriends!!

I am xlsm, and I think this is my 6th TR here on the Dis?? I've lost count!
I've done family trips, a solo trip, a trip with my mom (TR in progress HERE) and now this one...
an adults only trip - just me and DH!!

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Don't we just look like a ton of fun?? Well, I think we are. We think we're cool

Nice hats, xlsm, but what kind of shenanigans did you guys get up to on this trip?? What is New Year's Eve like at Walt Disney World??

Great questions! In this report you will see THREE hotels, TWO peeing ladies causing trouble, and ONE realllllllly long bus ride to Epcot. Among other things of course! And spoiler alert, that long bus ride was on NYE. It was intense! It was also COLD while we were there. Like, hats/fleece/gloves kind of cold!
There will also be a lot of dining thrown in...for once I managed to take pictures of almost everything for an almost proper dining report (well, rolled into this one, not a separate thing!)

THREE hotels?? Are you nuts? Also, food! Yay!

Yes. Yes we are. We stayed arrival night (12/28) at the Hyatt inside MCO, two nights at All Star Movies (12/29 - 12/31), and three at Kidani Village (12/31 - 1/3). It was a little hectic, but we made it work.

As for food you'll see: Liberty Tree Tavern, Jiko, Citricos, Hollywood Brown Derby, Sanaa, Boma, Skipper's Canteen, and a couple more places, too.

I am REALLY excited to share this trip with you!! I will be working on this TR concurrently with my October TR, but I think I will be able to keep up ok.

I hope you stick around and enjoy the ride!!

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Love the animations!

~DVC Greg
#dvcrentals

 

[Raeven]

It's not really my scene

I just pictured you standing around arms crossed, in a Southside Serpents jacket, looking moody and saying this for some reason

Everyone was standing around kind of half heartedly dancing, but it passed the time and was kind of fun.

Did they just move the Tomorrowland DJ to a more prominant position? I always see people halfheartedly dancing in Tomorrowland

I had a carrot cake cupcake:

Ooo that looks yummy.

There is a point where the road goes straight to Animal Kingdom park, and then a left turn lane that takes you to Animal Kingdom Lodge. As we get close to that turning point, he realizes he's in the wrong lane (was heading straight, toward the park), and just turns the wheel a hard left and crosses a couple lanes of traffic, and we barely make the left before the road splits, and almost ran over the grassy median. Awesome.

On one of our Uber trips back to CSR we had the Uber driver ask me where to turn, like he was at a sign and he's like is this the right way to go? I was like I don't know! Considering they have GPS's and live there, I always get confused when we end up on the wrong place or they ask me where to go. I don't even know how to give directions in my hometown

While I mulled that over, I grabbed some spa water, and we headed downstairs

Spa water at AKL

I ended up ordering the butter chicken, which was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. I love basmati rice, but I don't usually love the veggie sides here. It's the cinnamon/cardamom sweetness. So I only had a few bites of whatever side I ordered...potatoes were involved.

I love the butter chicken Not sure if it's true, but I heard for a couple more dollars you can get double meat.

The bus was in a hysterical uproar, we were doing a play by play of the whole scene.

What else did we have to do??