November 16-21, 2009 - TONS of pics of Christmas activities! - COMPLETED

[themilesfamily]

Seeing as we closed MVMCP down the night before -- we stayed until nearly midnight -- we slept in the next morning. I think it's really important to have a break in your touring schedule and this was a nice break for us.

Eventually we got up, got dressed and went to down to Mara for lunch. Mara is the quick-service restaurant at AKL Jambo House.

This is where they serve Zebra Domes by the six-pack-- a tasty dessert. DD loved them!

We grabbed a cab, (about $15), over to the Gaylord Palms Hotel to do ICE. We brought our own hats, gloves, scarves. ICE provides the parkas. We were warm and cozy the whole time we did the attraction, despite the fact they keep it at 9-degrees.

The ice slide area:

More in the next post...

 

[themilesfamily]

More ICE/Gaylord Palms pics:

After the tour, (which took us about 20-30 minutes), you could purchase a commemorative photo of yourself in your parka. (Which we did.) They also had a cute gift shop.

When you come out of the ICE area, there is a really fun winter-themed electric train set:

Out in the lobby:

In the hotel atrium, (which is beautiful), they had hot cocoa, a musical Christmas program and a gnome hunt.

This display case is inside a revolving door:

Gaylord Palms is a very beautiful hotel. I noticed they have a cool swimming pool, as well. It has a giant octopus in the middle with waterfalls and a slide. Fun!

After our visit to ICE, we headed back to our hotel to plan the remainder of our day. It was about $20 to get back. They have fancy towncars at the Gaylord Palms, instead of taxis. They charge a bit more, but they are very sharp and comfy.

 

[praisehisname]

The ICE exhibit looks amazing!!! If we had a few more days on our trip, I'd want to go check it out!

 

[themilesfamily]

Coming next....Downtown Disney photos...

 

[themilesfamily]

After we returned from ICE and the Gaylord Palms we decided to bus it over to Downtown Disney and do some shopping.

 

[themilesfamily]

Downtown Disney continued...

The balloon ride:

This is where you meet Santa. We chatted with Santa's cameraman.:

 

[themilesfamily]

After our shopping excursion at Downtown Disney, we took our plunder back to our room and headed off to Spectromagic at the Magic Kingdom.

We went over to Sleepy Hollow Refreshments in Liberty Square where we got a yummy-yummy funnel cake. (YUMMY!) We watched the castle lighting again from that location. Then we moved over a few yards for a front-row seat to the Spectromagic parade.

While we waited for the parade to start, they brought out hula hoops to keep the kids entertained. My DD is a hula-hoop expert.

I didn't take any pics of Spectromagic. It was my first time seeing it and I just wanted to take it all in. AMAZING!!!! AMAZING!!!! I loved it.

After Spectro, I snapped some pics on our way out.

The castle in many colors:

A few installations from the "Mickey's Christmas Carol" exhibit on Main Street:

And a few posters of our favorite rides:

Tonight was the last night in our Savanna view room. So we went home and got everything packed up for our move the next day to a Standard view room.

 

[themilesfamily]

First thing in the morning, we checked out of our Savanna room, left our luggage with the bellhops, and headed over to the Animal Kingdom park.

This is where things got a little sticky. We had a lot of problems with our split-stay/room change on this trip. Starting here.

When we checked out of our room, they accidentally voided the remainder of the days on our park pass/room key. (Even though I asked the front desk person to make sure that didn't happen.) So when we got to the Animal Kingdom, our park pass showed that we had zero days left on our pass. We had to go over to Guest Services where they called the hotel to confirm we were just switching rooms. They straightened everything out AND gave us a FASTPASS and a certificate for a free ice cream. Hooray!

We had breakfast at Pizzafari.

Looks like French toast sticks:

I like the little snails and turtles crawling on the ceiling.

After breakfast we headed out into the park:

We did the Festival of the Lion King:

Then had our pic taken with Chip & Dale, holiday-style:

We used our Fastpass on Expedition Everest. Fun, but no Yeti. (Only the Yeti shadow.)

We had our ice cream. And that's it. We left. I ALWAYS make the mistake of doing the Animal Kingdom late in our trip. There are so many trails I want to walk, so many things I want to explore. But I'm just pooped out by the time we hit AK. On our next trip, I vow to make Animal Kingdom my first park and do it up right.

On the way out, we stopped to look at the AK Christmas tree which was really neat. Here are a few of the cute things around the bottom of the tree.

We went home to check into our new room, eat lunch and go for a swim. Trying to get into our new room was a MAJOR hassle. I don't want to dwell on the negative, but repeatedly the front desk assured us that our new room was ready and we'd haul all of our luggage upstairs to find the room they had assigned us wasn't ready, or was torn apart, or had the maid service cart in the room with the radio blaring. I was fine waiting for a room, (I hadn't anticipated checking in until 4 p.m. anyway), but I didn't appreciate being sent to numerous rooms with a five year old and all of our luggage, only to have to run right back down again to report the room was in fact NOT ready. The front desk person seemed very frustrated and implied that there was miscommunication between the front desk and housekeeping.

One thing I have to say about our new Standard room, which overlooked the pool -- it STUNK. It smelled really bad. Kind of like a musty, mildewy, chlorine-like smell. And after a Savanna room, the Standard room was a bit of a letdown. I know there are differing opinions on this, but I'm going to settle in the camp of "spend a little extra money and stay in a Savanna room -- it's worth it."

In any event, we had lunch down at Mara and once we finally got settled into a room, we went for a swim. I LOVE the Animal Kingdom Lodge swimming pool. The setup down there is perfect for families with little kids. You can see every part of the pool -- there is no way for your child to slip out of your eyesight. The slide into the pool is great. Just tame enough for a younger kid -- but exciting enough for an adult. The theming is beautiful -- the jungle look around the pool is very lush. There is plenty of seating. We also enjoyed the hot tub.

So a big for the Animal Kingdom Lodge swimming area.

Tonight would be our Disney Hollywood Studios night -- Osborne Festival of Lights and Fantasmic. We took a nap and prepared to head back out into the parks!

 

[themilesfamily]

We got to Disney's Hollywood Studios and headed straight to the Osborne Festival of Lights.:

It was spectacular -- not to be missed.

After Osborne, we did the Great Movie Ride. Then we headed over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We waited in line and ended up taking the chicken exit, as DD was scared. I can't blame her. When you chicken out, they take you on a separate elevator to get you out of the ride. As we were boarding, DD looked a little frightened and said, "Is this a REGULAR elevator?"

The cast member who walked us out looked exactly like someone I saw in a movie recently -- Shanna Collins from the Haunting of Molly Hartley. The resemblance was really uncanny.

At that point we headed over to the second showing of Fantasmic. We got great seats toward the back of the Mickey section. (Mickey is right in the middle.) As we walked in, I heard a lot of people yelling, "Get seats in the Scar section!" So that must be a popular place to sit.

This was my first time at Fantasmic and it is LOUD. I brought soundproof (or sound-canceling) headphones for DD to wear and I'm glad I did. She's only 5 and I really want to protect her hearing. I HIGHLY recommend these headphones for young kids at Disney. From rides to fireworks to shows -- things tend to be loud.

We both enjoyed the show.

I snapped a few photos around DHS before we left for the night.

 

[themilesfamily]

Coming up -- Epcot Center and Chefs de France, (with pics of the Ratatouille characters at the restaurant.)

 

[DisneyDaddio]

What a great report. Thanks for also including the ICE photos, looks very cool (no pun untended... OK, maybe a little).

 

[themilesfamily]

Thank you so much!

I had never heard of ICE until this year -- I came across a blurb about it on the DIS. It was definitely worth visiting and we'll do it again!

 

[themilesfamily]

Today was an Epcot day and our last day at the parks.

We got there bright and early, went straight to Test Track and rode that over and over.

I really like the display cars they have on show.

I wish cars still looked like this:

We went over to the Land pavilion and had a snack in their food court.

We rode The Land ride. This ride is so serene. It just makes me happy.:

Baby alligators (or are they crocodiles?):

After the ride, we picked up a Kim Possible Kimmunicator at Innoventions to do the Kim Possible game in the World Showcase. I just have to say, my DD LOVED IT. We did the adventures in Norway and Mexico.

Here's DD in Mexico with her Kimmunicator:

I wish we'd had time to do more adventures.

We headed over to Chefs de France -- I'd made reservations for lunch the night before.

We ran into Belle in her blue dress...:

Marie from the Aristocats...:

and Princess Aurora...:

At Chefs de France, we met Remy:

Here's our wonderful waiter Stephane:

After lunch we headed back to the MK for one last Magic Kingdom hurrah...

Final pics in the next installment.

 

[themilesfamily]

Tonight was our last night and DD wanted to go back to the Magic Kingdom.

Here are a few more pics of the MK.

I love this one of the Liberty Belle coming around the bend.:

Gravestone at the Haunted Mansion:

Mickey's garden in Toontown:

Mickey's garage:

Toontown playground:

I took several (non-flash) pics on It's a Small World.

After we did the MK, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning we had a VERY early morning wake-up call and a 6 a.m. flight.

We took Magical Express back to the airport.

These are at the Orlando Airport:

We had a quick, nonstop flight home and that was it.

We had a wonderful Mother/Daughter trip!!!

Thanks everyone for reading!

 

[themilesfamily]

FAVORITES:

DD's favs - age 5
1) Kim Possible Adventures - Epcot World Showcase
2) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Magic Kingdom
3) Goofy's Barnstormer - Magic Kingdom
4) Having her pic taken in Spaceship Earth
5) Getting a HUGE hug from Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore at MVMCP

My favs - age 41
1) Animal viewing from the hotel room - Animal Kingdom Lodge
2) Spectromagic - Magic Kingdom
3) Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Magic Kingdom
4) The pool/hot tub setup at Animal Kingdom Lodge -- perfect for adults with kids
5) Our aquarium-side table at Coral Reef in Epcot

Things I did for the first time this trip -- there were a lot of firsts:
1) Spectromagic
2) A hard-ticket party (MVMCP)
3) Fantasmic
4) Stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge
5) ICE at the Gaylord Palms
6) Festival of the Lion King
7) Saw the castle lighting
8) Osborne Festival of Lights
9) Chefs de France
10) Coral Reef

Goals for my next trip:
1) Do Animal Kingdom first and really explore the park and all its trails.
2) Stay at Bay Lake Towers.
3) Do Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party.
4) Try out Universal Studios

 

[reyasmommy]

Thank you for sharing your TR! I LOVED your pictures, looking at them is making me really excited for my trip next week.

What a wonderful memory you and your daughter will share for the rest of your lives. Maybe one day my DD and I can also do a mother/daughter trip, I would love that.

Thanks again.

 

[themilesfamily]

Thank you for sharing your TR! I LOVED your pictures, looking at them is making me really excited for my trip next week.

What a wonderful memory you and your daughter will share for the rest of your lives. Maybe one day my DD and I can also do a mother/daughter trip, I would love that.

Thanks again.

Thank you so much -- what a nice comment. I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip next week!!

 

[JLR]

Great Report! Thank you for sharing your journey with us, I realy enjoyed it.


Do you mind if I ask a question? What kind of headphones did you get and where did you get them?

 

[themilesfamily]

Great Report! Thank you for sharing your journey with us, I realy enjoyed it.


Do you mind if I ask a question? What kind of headphones did you get and where did you get them?

Thank you for reading!

These are the headphones we use:

http://www.amazon.com/AO-Safety-973...1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1267056135&sr=8-2-fkmr1

I was just reading the reviews on the headphones and someone else mentioned that they bought a pair for their child for Disney World. They gave the headphones 5-stars. We really like them, too!

 

[themilesfamily]

Trip report completed!