Our First Disney Christmas Vacation

[Mischa]

We just got back from our first December trip to the World (12/12-20/06). “We” consisted of me and my DH (both middle-aged big kids). We don’t have kids – not for the lack of trying, but decided earlier this month that, after 10+ years we were not going to pursue the dream of having kids anymore; it was a very hard decision for us to make, but one we needed to make after all the heartbreaking years of not having that dream come true.

This was our first time as DVC’ers and we stayed at our home resort - SSR. We really liked our studio at SSR – we were at Congress Park and had a great view of Downtown Disney. This was also our very first visit to WDW around the Christmas Holidays. We’d heard how magical and beautifully decorated all of WDW is around the holiday we were excited to be here and experience it for ourselves. This was a Christmas present to each other, plus we were celebrating dh’s birthday which is actually next month but we could only make one trip – so we decided to combine it as a “Christmas/early b-day” extravaganza!

On our 1st day – we had arrived around 3:00PM, so after checking out our room we decided to grab a bite to eat, we went to Downtown Disney and ate at Rainforest Café. DH had the BBQ Wrap (which was excellent) and I had the Coconut Shrimp (my favorite!) Afterwards we strolled down to the other side of DTD and came upon AMC Theatres and decided to go see “Casino Royale”. Which was a great movie by the way, even though Sean Connery is my all time favorite Bond, Daniel Craig’s blue (very blue) eyes were captivating.

Highlight of the day: Arriving at WDW!
Lowlight of the day: Not being able to find any real coffee (Nescafe coffee just doesn’t taste like coffee when you are used to Starbucks – sorry Nescafe lovers).

2nd Day: We started off with breakfast at SSR’s Artiste’s Palette. The platter (eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuit & potatoes) was ok. Then we were off to Animal Kingdom. Before getting into the gate we saw Chip & Dale and got our photos taken with them. We told them that we used to have two birds we named “Chip & Dale” they acted almost giddy (with delight I hope). When we got into AK we headed for Asia (since we hadn’t seen that on our last trip this past May). The wait for Everest was over 40 minutes long, so we decided to see the Flights of Wonder bird show instead (that was wild). Afterwards we got something to eat (chicken fingers & chips). We sat nearby with a great view of the river and the Tree of Life. I went to check out the river below where we were sitting and there was an alligator (about 3 feet long) just waiting there. I snapped some photos of him. I threw a potato chip for him and it landed on his nose – I’ve never seen an alligator move so fast (in real life anyways)! We had great places for Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade. Snapped some cool pictures! Then we went back to SSR to rest a bit since I thought we were going to MVMCP that night. WRONG!

Actually that day we were supposed to go to Epcot for the Candlelight Procession (even had ressies for LeCellier too), unfortunately I didn’t check my calendar and didn’t realize it – so we missed it! I had called and made reservations for lunch & the 5:00 PM Procession at Epcot and MVMCP at MK on the same day, but got the dates confused. I thought MVMCP was on the 13th and the Candlelight Procession was on the 14th, but it was the other way around. Oh well! Instead we went to DTD and had dinner at Planet Hollywood. They have awesome chocolate milkshakes by the way!

Highlight: the parade at AK, meeting Chip & Dale, and seeing the alligator.
Lowlight: Not realizing we were supposed to be at Epcot until it was too late.

3rd Day: Breakfast at Artiste’s Palette. DH had the platter and I had the breakfast croissant sandwich (DH said the platter was better than the day before; the croissant (which had cheese, egg & bacon) was really good). Then we were off to MGM. We had a late lunch at the 50s Prime Time Café (our first time trying this place; DH had the meatloaf and I had the fish sandwich – both dishes were good). We saw the parade and took some great photos. We stopped at SSR for a bit and then headed to MK for MVMCP. I couldn’t believe the rain! It was pouring down so hard we could hardly see the finally of Wishes when they were closing the park at 7o PM. MVMCP was ok – the rain basically ruined the “snow” so we didn’t really get to see that, the parade was cool. We saw that twice. One of the floats died during the 2nd parade so it was kind of funny to see a tractor come up and start pulling down Main Street for the rest of the parade. The rain held off long enough to see the Holiday version of Wishes. That was awesome!

Highlight: The parade at MGM & Wishes during MVMCP.
Lowlight: The rain during most of MVMCP.

4th Day: Spent the morning at SSR – just relaxing, and then headed off to MGM. We saw Mr. & Mrs. Incredible and Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. We got photos with them and their autographs. We also saw Goofy, Minnie and Chip and Dale. I think we saw Chip and Dale at each park this trip! After stopping at SSR for a bite to eat, we went over to Epcot and spent the evening. We had an excellent place for Illuminations! We had missed this during our last trip in May, so I was glad we made it this time. It was spectacular!

Highlight: Illuminations!
Lowlight: The guests at the parks. We couldn’t believe how rude and mean everyone was acting.

5th Day: We got a late start and decided to take today easy. We had to take a cab to the outside world to find a pharmacy. DH is diabetic and didn’t take enough test strips along. I think that is the one thing that sort of annoys me about WDW – there is no pharmacy nearby. Yeah you can buy cold stuff or headache medicine in the hotels, but you would think they would have at least one pharmacy nearby so that you didn’t have to go outside to get something. But we managed to find a pharmacy and another cab to take us back. Overall it wasn’t a long trip. We went over to the Grand Floridian to see the Gingerbread House (wow what a house). Then went over to the Boardwalk in search of Beaches & Cream. I guess I didn’t realize it wasn’t at Boardwalk but we did manage to find it and had a later dinner there. Dh & I both had the burgers & fries (and a cherry coke for me too) and for dessert I had the Mickey Mouse Sundae and DH had the Fudge Mud Slide. While we were there someone actually ordered the Kitchen Sink. That was awesome to see! Talk about a huge Sundae!!!

Highlight: Seeing someone order the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream!
Lowlight: Having to travel out of WDW to find a pharmacy.

6th Day: Went to MK – boy was it crowded! And there was so much going on it seemed. DH wanted to try Thunder Mountain Railroad so since the wait was only 30 minutes we headed to TMR. I waited and took pictures. Then we went to Adventureland and saw Captain Jack Sparrow! I was happy! I got some good shots of him. Captain Hook was also around posing for photos and signing autographs. We also saw Wendy walking by us. We had lunch at our favorite place – Casey’s Corner, and then headed over to Space Mountain, only to get stuck by folks waiting for the parade. We opted to wait and see the parade instead of trying to fight our way to Tomorrowland. The parade was cool and we had great places to see it too. Afterwards, we went back to SSR for a bite to eat and then headed to MGM to see the Osborne lights. Wow! That was really cool. Then we decided since we were at MGM to try and do the 7:00 PM show of Fantasmic. We love that show!

Highlight: Seeing Captain Jack Sparrow!
Lowlight: The rude guests at the parks.

7th Day: Had toast in our room and then headed off to Epcot for the day. We arrived at Epcot around noonish and went straight for the World Showcase since we didn’t get to see much of it on our last trip. We did the boat thing at Mexico which was nice, and we also did the Norway boat ride. That was a lot of fun! Then we decided to get lunch and headed for America and opted for burgers & fries; which were very good. There was also a gingerbread house on display so we took a few pictures. Then we back-tracked and visited Germany, Italy (I love the chocolates & wines in Italy and the accents of the CMs there!) Snow White & Dopey were in Germany, but the line was so long that we opted not to meet them (since we had met them in May anyway). Aladdin, Jasmine, & the Genie were doing a “meet & greet” in Morocco; we had just missed Belle in France, but did get to see Pere Noel. Mary Poppins & Alice were in the United Kingdom, and then Father Christmas came out to visit. We had stopped to rest and check the map in Canada and found out that at 6:00 PM there would be the tree lighting ceremony, so we hurried over to the tree and waited for that to start. Ran into a few rude folks (actually they ran into us – literally) so we tried to make the best of it. The tree lighting ceremony was a lot of fun, and even though we weren’t “right up front” we still had a pretty good view. When Mickey & the gang left, we decided to go back to America for dinner (since we didn’t have ressies for anywhere) and this time had hot dogs & fries. Around that time the Candlelight Procession was beginning so we got to see & hear a part of that. Then we found a spot and waited for Illuminations to start. This time we parked near Italy. Illuminations is just so captivating!

When Illuminations ended we headed for the gates (just like the rest of the crowd). We got to the #4 (for SSR) bus stop around 10:15 PM (after stopping to go to the restroom). There was a bus there but it was totally full. I asked when the next bus would be arriving. The driver rudely said “I can’t take you – I’m full.” I told him I could see that and again asked when the next bus would be arriving, I guess this time my question made sense to him and he said there should be one in about 10 minutes. I thanked him and off he went. So we waited – just DH & I, then a few more guests arrived (still no bus); 20 minutes later – no bus, but more guests; 30 minutes later – still no bus, but a few more guests. At this point dh & I are both cold – all we had on were sweatshirts & light slacks since the temperature that day was around 80 degrees and now it felt around 50 degrees with a chilly wind); and I was getting mad that there were no busses coming to our line but there were a few going to the other resort lines and there was a line of busses waiting for some reason.

Anyways, 45 minutes later – there was still no bus. At 11:06 PM a bus arrives saying “Epcot” and the driver asks “How many for Old Key West?” I started thinking…wait a minute – why OKW, this was the line for SSR – the sign says that too. About ½ the guests raised their hands and the driver tells them get on board. I go up to the driver (before anyone could get on – sorry OKW folks but I was there first and waiting the longest) and ask him about SSR and told him we had been waiting since 10:15. The driver says to me (and I quote) “ain’t my problem, dispatcher told me to pick up the resort with the most guests.” I went from mad to angry in 5 seconds flat! There was 24 of us standing in line – 12 had gotten on the bus when the driver asked about OKW, and there were 12 of us still standing waiting for SSR. So where does that say that OKW had more guests?? Two minutes after that bus left a bus that had been waiting in the line of busses changes his sign to SSR and comes to pick us up. We ended up getting to SSR at 11:24 PM. Now DH & I are both acky, starting to cough, feel like we’re coming down with something, and angry to boot because of the bus situation. Thank God this happened towards the end of our trip and not in the beginning of our trip!

Highlight: The Norway boat ride.
Lowlight: The bus situation at the end of the night!

8th Day: Did some last minute souvenir shopping but stayed in our room mostly because neither of us felt good. I did go up to the front desk to complain about the bus from the night before and they called the dispatcher manager who said they would call me back within 10 minutes. Surprise! They did NOT call me back! After about 3 hours I went back to the front desk to again complain. I was told that she had already received 3 complaints about the (lack of) busses just this morning. She took down my complaint and gave me an email address and snail mail address to send a complaint. Which I have done by the way.

For dinner we did venture out to DTD and hopped a bus to Ft. Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds. We went to Trail’s End Restaurant and had the best fried chicken! Trail’s End has a wonderful buffet – salads, mashed taters, boiled taters, veggies (broccoli, string beans, & carrots), fried chicken, BBQ Ribs, mac & cheese, pizza. For dessert there was Blueberry Cobbler, Apple Cobbler, chocolate pudding and Banana Pudding. Even though we didn’t feel all that well, the food was great (especially the banana pudding – according to my DH!) On our way back (via bus) to the bus depot from Trail’s End to catch the bus back to DTD we passed by the campgrounds at Ft. Wilderness and saw some great Christmas light displays! They were cool!

On a side note – we stayed in one of the cabins here back in May and absolutely loved their breakfast buffet! They had the greatest “breakfast pizza” I have ever tasted.

Highlight: Dinner at Trail’s End.
Lowlight: Not feeling well.

9th Day: Travel day back home. We took the 11:30AM ME to MCO and had to check our bags (since we flew Southwest). I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting in line! So I opted to go to the curbside check-in which was much faster. After checking our bags we proceeded to Security – which also went surprisingly smooth and quickly. We still had an hour to go, only to find out that our flight had been delayed another ½ hour. No problem – we passed the time chatting with the other folks waiting.

Overall, I would say that this was a nice trip, but that I don’t think we’ll be going down to Disney in December anytime soon. Even though there was only one day that was extremely crowded (in our opinion) at the parks, we found almost all the other guests to be… quite simply - rude. We were just amazed at how rude people would actually get! For example – when there was a parade about to begin (and we had been in place for at least ½ to an hour prior to it beginning, some folks with kids (who came almost at the last minute) thought we should move and allow their children to sit in our place (I was actually told by a few people that the parade was “more for kids anyway”). I tried to be nice and ignore their comments but that didn’t always work. They would continue to badger us to get us to move. I refused to move since we had been waiting and we’re big kids and love parades. So I would smile and say “Merry Christmas” (I stopped that when one guy said to me “well Merry f***ing Christmas to you”). DH & I kept saying to each other “don’t you just love that Holiday feeling folks have at this time of the Season?” Another time, while we were waiting for the Tree Lighting ceremony at Epcot to start, everyone was gathering in front of the stage. We found a spot and got pinned in – we couldn’t move even if we wanted to. One lady with a stroller tried to get by me and told me to move (she didn’t ask, she told me). I told her there was no room and I couldn’t move; she then tells me she had to get by because her child wanted to see the show. I again told her there was no room for me to move. She turned to the guy next to me and said to him (in a nasty tone), “well apparently she’s not moving.” He managed to move (he jumped onto the trash can next to him) so she could pass. But she didn’t pass through; she took his place and was trying to get the people standing in front of her and her kid to move so she could move forward closer to the stage. No one moved since her “child” was a baby about 6 months and was sound asleep. We all started to giggle and she gave us all a nasty look and then left.

We were also a little disappointed in how some of the CMs treated us. It was as if we didn’t count. Like everything was for those with kids or for the elderly; if you were a middle-aged couple you didn’t get anything to make you feel special (and I’m not talking about a gift or anything – even a smile or a “happy birthday” would have been nice). We got passed over by CMs handing out lanyards and hats (not sure if they were the “official” YOAMD CMs or what was going on at those times, but we were passed over for them). Even DH who was wearing a “Happy Birthday” pin that he got from MK didn’t get told “Happy Birthday” as often as when we were here this past May and had “anniversary wishes” pins to commemorate our anniversary. We figured the CMs were so busy with all that was happening with Christmas and the YOAMD that they were just too busy to notice. This trip really didn’t feel as magical as our last trip.

We did love all the decorations at all the parks and at the hotels we visited, but the people just didn’t make it feel “Christmassy”. Plus it didn’t help that DH & I both came home sick and were sick through Christmas and are still fighting this bug we have. Even so we are planning our next trip to the World – which will be in May ’07. We’ll be driving down for that trip!

I do want to thank everyone who suggested seeing the Grand Floridan, Boardwalk, and eating at Beaches & Cream and the 50s Prime Time Café. They were excellent treats this trip! And we are looking forward to more suggestions and trying new adventures in our upcoming trips!

Thanks for reading!

 

[pumba]

WOW....thanks so much for your report.....we were there about the same time and we were at the Thursday night MVMCP too......we were wet even with our ponchos on...we were hiding under the train depot for most of the downpours.....we went to guest relations and got a refund on our credit card.....I mean I was WET......sorry about your trouble with the cm's ...we were fortunate to have found the good ones I guess......
We did do Le Cellier and we were glad that we did..........
Thanks again for your report and very detailed .......you did great