Our 10 Day Holiday Adventures!.... COMPLETED!!!

[KatGarcia]

OK here’s the scoop. I have become beyond Disney Obsessed ever since our honeymoon in Feb 2005. We have been hoping beyond hope to save enough money to get there again and relive the best vacation EVER! I have been faithfully reading the DIS for about 4 months. I have read so many great TRs and I really hope this one will live up to the ones I have so enjoyed reading. That being said…On with the show!!!
Some background on us…

Me: 30, Disney FANATIC, OCD planner, on the DISboards constantly, Tinkerbell Lover
DH: 21 (*Pats self on back*) He loves Disney too just not as outwardly as me, he lets me plan everything and just comes along for the ride, teases me about being on the DISboards all the time but secretly knows it’s a good thing for our vacation, Loves Tigger & Stitch

Our main goals:

To see as much Tinkerbell, Tiger and Stitch things possible! It’s a MUST to get DH a pic with Stitch, he adores him!!! And also to try as many infamous Disney foods as possible… we may not be able to walk when we get back but we were in Disney and getting fat in Disney just seems so much more acceptable than anywhere else!!!

The Trip:

We are going on this trip for several reasons. First and foremost since the day we left on our Honeymoon we wanted to go back! It was the best time ever! It was also our first real vacation together. I had been to Disney but not since I was about 18 years old and for some reason that trip is a blur now. It was so much better with my hubby! My hubby had never been, so seeing it through his eyes really made it awesome too. Another reason is we had a really bad year this year. In April my mom suddenly passed away. No one saw it coming and it hit the family very hard, me more than most esp. because I’m an only child. She was only 50 years old. Then 4 months later (to the date actually) my step father passed away. He had had a stroke and wasn’t well for years but the loss of my mom really made it bad for him.

All in all 2006 is a year I hope to forget or at least turn into a happy blur of the time we went to Disney for the holidays. We haven’t been on a vacation since our honeymoon either, so it is time! My hubby deserves it ten fold because he works full time and goes to school 4 nights a week so boy does he need a break!


The Planning:

So we pick dates according to DHs school schedule and bring them to his job for vacation approval. This is going back to July that he requested this December vacation… He kept getting put off by his boss who, finally, about a month ago, decided he could have the vacation!! At this point I had already booked the package and made our first round of ADRs. I figure better to get what we want and have to cancel later than have slim pickins’ for dining. The first plan was that we would stay at Pop for 9 days, making day one a late arrival so as not to run around that day, and to get a good night sleep before we have our first full day. Once we realized DH was missing some school anyway we changed our plans. After reading up on it, we decided on a split stay. So we are staying 5 days at Pop and then transferring to CSR for 4 days. So we are spending 10 GLORIOUS days in the house of mouse, from December 27th thru January 5th. We also made the first day a half day because I couldn’t resist once I was actually buying the plane tickets.

The ADRs

I think most of the ADRs we have now aren’t remotely close to what we started with…but I have learned I’m not in the minority of changing ADRs like underwear! I just couldn’t make up my mind! We had never done the dining plan before and I obsessed over spreading out the credits to get us the most varied places. We decided against 2TS credit places because DH is a big breakfast guy and so we are doing some breakfast buffets the same day we are doing TS dinners. Here’s our current (and final I swear)…

12/27-Ohana (Dinner) 8:45pm
12/28-Biergarten (we have been here before & LOVED it) 5:15pm
12/29-Chef Mickey’s (Breakfast) 11:10am *OOP*
Boma (Dinner) 6:30pm
12/30-Wolfgang Puck Café 8:15pm
12/31-Ohana (Breakfast) 10:00am *OOP*
Marrakesh 8:30pm
01/2-Raglan Road 8:00pm
01/3-Maya Grill (Breakfast) 10:00am *OOP*
LeCellier 6:40pm
01/4-Coral Reef 5:40pm
01/5-1900 Park Fare 10:00am

We did decide for a few OOP just to even things out. The way I see it the DDP is waaaay worth it to us so a few inexpensive breakfasts won’t break us at all. I am in some fear that there will just be too much food! We love to eat and we love to sit down and eat but it just seems like tons of food esp. since we usually share an app when we are out. We’ll see. The day we get in our flight gets to Orlando at 5pm so I don’t for see having any trouble getting to our Ohana ADR. This is the one place where I really wanted to try dinner and breakfast. We are doing the breakfast later in the week so DH can see Stitch, so instead of making myself crazy and trying to pick out ANOTHER TS spot I opted for Ohana. I’m very excited about it, well I’m very excited about all the ADRs but that’s beside the point! Some times I think I’m more excited about eating in the world than being there! All the yummy food pics don’t help!!!!


Other Preparations

We are doing a fridge swap @ Pop. I can't be happier with this!!! I was concerned we would end up wasting food on the plan with no fridge. We are also late night people so being able to take home some food from dinner would be great so we can snack when we get back to the room at night. I wasn't about to spend ten bucks a day for a fridge... but once I found the fridge swap I was in! How awesome that people organize such great things!

We are also doing a window decorating kit swap as well, and I'm real excited about that too! I have already got some stuff to stick in it. I'm very excited to see other people’s windows as well! I even made some Mickey Themed Stockings to hang in the window. We are planning to take down our Christmas decorations before we leave so we don’t have that task waiting for us when we come home after the New Year, so this is awesome for us!

We bought a spiffy new video camera/digital camera to take with us because regular film won’t do anymore! This camera has become my hubby’s new baby…he’s even calling it “the child”. We are borrowing some luggage from a friend and, sometime this week, are going for our new sneakers for the trip. I also have spent way too much money buying things from Disney.com to don while we are there!

So that about covers it up till now… I did make an attempt to write this TR before and it kinda flopped but it was waaaay far in advance and now it’s just a mere few weeks away so here’s hoping I get some kick butt comments!!!

Viva La DIS! Viva La Mouse!

 

[OhMari]

I thought I recognized you. Your pre-trip wasn't a flop.

You'l be eating at a lot of resturants that I have ADR's for, so I expect a review on the TR Board too, OK.

Let me know when you get back and I will switch you to the regular Trip Reports Board.

Have a great vacation.

 

[mlill]

OK Our main goals:

To see as much Tinkerbell, Tiger and Stitch things possible!

Now, if that doesn't sound like a perfect plan, I don't know what does! LOL!

Have fun with the new digital camera! Take tons of pictures for us!!!

Happy Holidays!
-Michelle

 

[KatGarcia]

TWO WEEKS! I think I'm going nuts! I can't wait... the gifts are all bought and wrapped so I'm ready for Christmas to just be here so we can get to The World already! I am trying to keep busy and find people to see and things to do so time can fly a little faster. Still have to bake and visit with some family before we run off to our escape of a vacation!!!! TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!

 

[MomofCKJ]

I am sorry to hear of your losses this year. I do think a trip to Disney is a wonderful thing to brighten the spirits! I hope you have a fantastic trip and looking forward to reading your report!

Allyson

 

[KatGarcia]

MOMofCKJ - Thanks for the sweet words... I'm really looking forward to making this upcoming year a way better year - and what better way to start then to go to WDW!


So we are almost all packed! The christmas gifts have been bought and wrapped and some delivered! Maps and and other DIS finds have been printed out! We bought new sneakers! We made and filled our mousekeeping envelopes! I made soem thigns to bring for window decorations... now all we have to do is WAIT! 6 more days!!!! YEE HA!

 

[OhMari]

How do you join the window decorations swap?

 

[KatGarcia]

We're Back! We got in very late friday night. I am currently trying to get my stuff unpacked and organized and then I plan to go thru my recipts and start up this TR! Boy I wish we were still in WDW!

To get in on the window deocrating PM DisneyMommyMichelle and she will hook you up!

See Ya Real Soon!

 

[mlill]

Welcome home! I can't wait to read all about your trip!

Happy New Year!
2007 is going to be a better year for both of us!

-Michelle

 

[KatGarcia]

Okay here we go…. Welcome to my wild ride! This is my first TR so be nice..Lol…

The day before we left my cat got seriously ill and I was about 80% sure we’d have to put him down… thankfully medication for a few days and some awesome friends to give it to him, he’s fine and still with us today! I have had him since I was 16 so to loose him would have just concreted 2006 as the worst year ever! So much of the first few days were spent worrying about the cat at home, but it was Disney after all and fun is had even of you aren’t looking for any!

Day 1

Our flight left at 2pm so we left for the airport too (11am) early but better early than late! Security took almost no time and I expected it to be worse for some reason. We haven’t flown since 2 years ago for our honeymoon so I really had no idea what to expect. Being the paranoid over planner that I am all possible items that may be a problem (toiletries, etc) were in the checked bag so we swept right through. We relaxed at our gate, listened to some pod casts and had some Dunkin Donuts coffee. I needed a real coffee fix before embarking on a 10 day Nescafe fest. We were all excited to get going and it turns out the pilot was late! We sat there on the place for an entire hour waiting for a pilot! Didn’t they realize I had an 8:45pm Ohana ADR to get to??? I was planning on surprising DH with the 9pm Wishes!! We got into Orlando around 6ish, got our luggage and hurried to Magical Express. Our bus came in about 5 minutes and the video got me in the Disney Mood! I have to admit when we passed by the entrance sign to the world I got a bit misty...

Our check in @ Pop couldn’t have been better! When the woman told me she had us in the 80’s Building I grunted, then she told me it was the King Bed I requested! I told her “For the king bed, I’ll walk!” So off to room 7253 we went. Our first bit of pixie dust, i thought. We dropped our stuff off and headed to luggage services to see about getting my fridge swap refrigerator delivered while we were at dinner. They couldn’t find it!! They also had no luck loacting a box left for me with window decorations. We didn’t have time to waste so we grabbed a cab, vowing to check back later for the boxes, and headed for the Polynesian.

Our Room @ Pop! HI!

Somehow when we went to Disney on our Honeymoon we visited NO resorts other than the one we stayed at! How this is possible after all our resort hopping, I dunno! I was so excited to see The Poly, after al the pics I was anxious to see it! We got out the video camera and taped us going in. WOW! I did love it! So homey and cozy. We checked in @ Ohana at 8:45pm and were seated at about 8:55pm. We just got our drinks… and Wishes started. On our Honeymoon we had our first dinner at CRT and saw the fireworks then too, and it was a truly magical moment. My DH was very proud that I recreated that moment! I teared up a little and was really ready to start our vacation! We also got the window table I requested, which was a GREAT view! The food was awesome! We loved it all, esp. the scalloped potatoes! The server even brought us a second plate of them after hearing DH say he loved them! I liked everything, the salad dressing was yummy, the shrimp tasty, the wonton sauces were awesome on the juicy meats! The bread pudding was INSANE! We forgot to take pics. lol… I’m a food porn rookie…it took us a few days to remember actually…

Here’s KC eating the shrimp…YUMMY!

It was kinda late but we were hyped and decided to head to the MK since it was open till midnight anyway. We made a stop at the Grand Floridian to see the Gingerbread House. That thing is sooo neat. It was also closed, oh well. We made plans to go back later in the week for a shingle. When we got to MK most people seemed to be leaving so we took advantage of it and walked onto Small World AND Peter Pan’s Flight! Small World was my fav as a kid and I was thrilled to go on it. Peter Pan we LOVED and for some reason never checked it out last time. We strolled our way out, hand in hand, thrilled to finally be in Disney together.

When we got back to Pop they called and said they found the fridge! P.S. It was 1am at the time, and they said for KC to come get it! SO he did, unhappily, BUT we got our fridge!

It was only our first day and already DH (who was gung ho to come on vacation but not as Disney obsessed as me) said "So when are we coming back?" I have converted him!!!! My life's work is done! We are now offficially Disney people and already are plotting a return trip next year.

We hit the very big bed and passed out with the alarm set for early to start our first whole day of fun!!!!

Coming up next: Pirates, Snacks and German Food.

 

[monymony3471]

I found your trip report!!!!! I'm anxious to see your deocorated window and door.

 

[KatGarcia]

So DH wasn’t feeling any telephone wake up calls so we set the alarm for around 7:30am. I was up instantly and in the shower, DH on the other hand waited till I was practically jumping on the bed yelling “It’s Disney get Up!” We were out of the room by around 8:30ish and headed to Everything Pop to check out the breakfast situation and buy our mugs. We ended up using our first CS for an adult breakfast platter that we shared at one of the outside tables. Again, food porn rookie, we forgot until the next nights dinner to take food pics…sorry!

We headed to The Magic Kingdom, a must for our first whole day. We went straight to guest services for our anniversary buttons! Properly pinned we strolled in the direction of Pirates, as it was one of the things I was most interested in seeing. On the way we saw Aladdin & Genie! We hopped on the very short line and got some pics.

DH ended up having an entire conversation with Aladdin about his shoes, it was priceless and Aladdin stayed in character really well. It was a really hot day out so we decided to cool off with a Dole Whip before heading to Pirates to wait on the colossal line. I have never had a famed Dole Whip and it lived up to the hype! I LOVED it! We shared a pineapple float. It really hit the spot in the hot afternoon sun. We waited for an hour, maybe more, to get on Pirates. I can’t stand how they herd you on the queue all the way through. It was not pleasant. I have always loved this ride and I was anticipating the new additions and I’m sorry to say I was disappointed! I still love the ride but the hype around the changes were over done. Capt. Jack Sparrow looked great but they just threw him in there. We then got our first Fast Passes of the trip for DH’s fav thing in all of Disney, Philharmagic! We had about an hour to kill so went to Sleepy Hollow for a funnel cake. I love those things! We relaxed with out snack and people watched for a while then headed back to see Philharmagic. I really love this show too. The scene where you are riding the carpets with Aladdin has to be my fav! I also caught sight of the hidden mickey in the showroom there (We walked around all week with the hidden mickeys book in our bag referring back to it). We also caught Gipetto & Pinocchio in the little photo area by the exits!

We then took the monorail to Epcot and then the boat over to Germany. Let’s all remember I have a bad back so the least amount of walking was the preferred way! We checked in at Biergarten at 5pm for our 5:15 ADR. This was the last place we ate on our honeymoon and we have been talking about it ever since! We were seated about 5 min after check in and shown to our table with another couple and a group of 3 friends. The food didn’t disappoint! We had yummy bratwurst, snitzel, salmon, potato salads and apple strudel for dessert. There isn’t too much of dessert selection but they are good. There are like 3 or 4 types of cakes and a few cookies. Good stuff just not a whole lot in the choice department is all. We rolled our way out of Germany and strolled through the countries and then out to the busses. It was fairly early but it was a long day and DH had a need for swimming. I thought it was a little too chilly for swimming but I went with him to the computer pool and shot some videos of him swimming. I called our house/cat sitter and found out my cat was good and taking his meds like a big boy (LOL). After DHs sprint back to the room due to the cold I got us all ready for the next day and we relaxed with some TV. We ended up watching about 10 episodes of “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” while we were there, funny show. I was out cold before I hit the pillow, which was a nightly occurrence.

I also tried several times, to no avail, to get the box of window decorating stuff left for me. They swore they had no idea where it was, but they said that about the fridge too so I kept hoping. All I had with us was some red and green mickey heads (NOT lime green I might add, Home Depot was out of them here but I took others just to be festive) and stockings with our names on them that fell off the window when you turned up the heat! I tried for the first 3 days of our trip and then gave up. I “ghetto” decorated our door just for us and pretended not to be too jealous of everyone else’s cool decorations…

Thanks for coming on this trip with us… coming next: Dancing Characters, Clubbing and Boma!

 

[ferretxxxferret]

Aw man! I want to read more! Drats.

Great start!

 

[krismom]

Aww- you're a cute couple! Congrats on your anniversary.

 

[Eventer98]

Great trip report......I hate reading them in progress b/c the wait for the next excerpt seems to take forever!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

I will hopefully be updating the next day or so tonight... we took a mini vacation to Atlantic City for the weekend so I haven't been around! But thanks SO much to all who are reading!!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Day 3 - Part one

It became increasingly easier over the week to get up early but for the first few days we had a rough go of it. I know that the first few hours at the parks are the easiest to get on rides BUT the crowds were so nutso due to the time of year I decided not to stress it too much and we would just do what we could. So today we got up around 7:45 because we had an ADR at Chef Mickey’. We got ready nice and slow and were still on our way to the 11:10am ADR by around 9am. After heading to Classic Hall for some Nescafe/Hot Chocolate Mix (it KINDA helps the taste of the Nescafe) we headed to the MK to catch the monorail. We were so early in fact that we decided to stop at the GF again and see about getting some gingerbread. They were open but the sign showing what they were out of was longer than the things they did have! So we opted for the gingerbread sugar cookie. It broke in the backpack during the day so no pics. I didn’t even open it until we got back home. It was ok, too sweet for me, and that’s saying something! I had my heart set on a shingle but you can’t win ‘em all!

Off to Chef Mickey’s we went! We arrived at about 10:30, decided to relax at the lounge near the restaurants. The view was beautiful and we were admiring the neat shapes of the Contemporary. I like it there but I don’t think I’d like to stay there, not totally sure why but I’d prefer the GF more. Hunger hit and we checked in at around 10:40am and after taking our picture we were seated by 10:45am!

They gave us “Our Special Day” placemats with the signatures of all the characters on it. They were so cute; it was a great way to start the morning!

The food was yummy! Def a good buffet! There was the general breakfast stuff and a few other cool things like “Goofy’s Breakfast Lasagna”. It was sooo good; DH went for 2nds on that! About half way through our breakfast our server brought us a cupcake and lit 2 candles on it and said “keep it lit”. Then they played a song over the speakers, something about celebrating your special day and everyone clapped and the characters danced around and everyone swung their napkins around- all for us! It was ADORABLE! We got pics with all Mickey, Minnie, Pluto & Goofy dressed as Santa. We missed Donald just as we were being seated and he never made it around to us again!

It was our first of a few character breakfasts and it went great! We planned a few so we wouldn’t be tempted to spend too much time on lines waiting for pics with characters. We hopped on the monorail to the transportation stop and took a bus to MGM. We went straight to the Great Movie Ride, which was about a 45 minute wait but worth it because I love this ride! Esp. the Wizard of Oz parts! That’s my all time favorite movie!! We even remembered to video tape it! Then we headed to Narnia. I had heard it wasn’t so great but I love the movie and was determined to check it out. We waited about 20 minutes to get in. I thought the fact that you walk through a wardrobe was really neat…it had me excited…until I had to stand for a long trailer version of the movie. The room was cool, the appearance of the White Queen was good, but that’s all there was that was good. It has potential tho! Maybe add some more people appearances and cooler effects, I dunno, but it was a waste of time! By this time it was mid afternoon and I was feeling tired so we decided to head back to Pop for a snack and some rest.

We went to the food court and shared a Chicken Mediterranean Wrap. We got an apple juice and a Twinkie Tiramisu (I was dying to try one) and took them back to the room for later. Half the sandwich came back with us as well. My eyes were bigger than my tummy but I also knew Boma was to come tonight so I was saving room!

Yay! We remembered to take pics! Finally! The sandwich was tasty and made fresh when I ordered it. I did have to ask for the Tiramisu because there wasn’t any in the freezer case, but the CM got me one!

My DH was so excited that they had Apple Juice on tap…he was drinking it all the time! He’s not much of a soda drinker. I on the other hand, was drinking my fill of the frozen cokes! YUMMY!

NEXT BOMA & DTD....

 

[MousekaMaddi]

i had no idea apple juice was so available!! Thanx!
Great pix too!

 

[mlill]

I know what you mean about getting up early at WDW. It really does take a few days to get used to 'DisneyTime'. By day 3, I'm good! Chef Mickey's sounds great! We were supposed to go there for breakfast in October, but we never made it. Love the pictures! Can't wait to hear about Boma and DTD!

-Michelle

 

[KatGarcia]

After freshening up and changing clothes in the room we headed to Animal Kingdom to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was kinda rainy out but we hoped it would clear up during dinner so we could still go out afterwards. We had a 6:30 ADR and were seated by about 6:15. The food was soooooo good! We both loved it! I am officially in love with The Animal Kingdom Lodge in general! It was so beautiful. I love the open yet homey feel it had. I would LOVE to stay there in the future! On to the food… When we were seated we were given Anniversary buttons and a card signed by all the servers! It was so cute! The food was awesome! One of my favs of the whole trip!

The only thing specifically I can remember from this plate was the hummus and chips which are at 6oclock on the plate. The rest were salads, as that was my 2nd plate!

Seafood Soup (All the soups were yummy!), watermelon rind salad (I loved this but DH didn’t) and some salad with apple vinaigrette (I think) on it.

Desert! The famed Zebra Domes (yum-o), banana canoli and bread pudding.

We also were in love with the Butternut Squash soup! It was like desert itself! Also calamari salad, prime rib that melted in your mouth, fru-fru & bootie w/cornbread. I don’t think there was much I tried that I didn’t like!

I really learned a lesson in planning over the first few days. Even tho I did my research I didn’t realize I’d given us so many buffets in such a small span…so take it from me SPACE OUT BUFFETS! We were so stuffed it was unbelievable!

After dinner we wanted to wander the grounds a bit and saw some Zebras roaming outside. How cool is that???!! I so want to stay there and see Zebras from our window! One day!!! We got trapped under an umbrella for a few when the rain poured on us but a little bit of rain couldn’t bother me! We actually headed back to Pop since I had dress shoes on and going anywhere with wet feet wasn’t really my idea of fun. So after a pit stop we hoped the bus to DTD.

BTW- we were in the 80s building but that actually made a quick walk to the busses cutting thru the parking lot. Pop seems really big, and it is, but we learned a few short cuts pretty quick and were cruising around in no time!

We got off at Marketplace and decided to stroll through to Pleasure Island, something we were both looking fwd to. I had a 20% off coupon for Ghiardeli so we got a milk shake and shared it on our stroll. I guess too much food got to me and by the time we got to PI I needed a break. We sat for a while because my tummy was killin me! This was an issue for like 2 days as I think something wasn’t passing thru my system and after every meal I needed to sit longer to digest. It suddenly was gone a few days later and I was fine, go figure! I was most excited to go to the clubs at PI. We live in NY and the club scene here is NOT our thing but we both wanted to get our groove on Disney style! LOL! We went to the BET Club around 9ish. It was COMPLETELY empty! My tummy was an issue so no drinking for me and with no one dancing we just relaxed for a while. We saw like 3 people dance to one song and we gave up! We tried out Mannequins but it was so not our scene and decided that clubbing was a bust for the night! We caught a bus around 11pm or so and went back to the room to snack on some leftovers! We cleaned out the fridge and hit the sack!

Next up: Supreme Buzz Scores, Columbia Harbor House & Wolfgang Puck’s!