Our "Totally Tinsel" Christmas vacation! UPDATES Page 14 - two!!

WOW! The Kitchen Sink is SCARY!!! :lmao: That is amazing!

The Beach Club looks SO nice. My Dh and I decided that when the kids are older, we will go and stay there. Now nice to have such an amazing pool and be so close to Epcot!!!

I was wondering the same thing about Marie! I could see an Aristocats II!!
 
When your Kitchen Sink is ready, the lights in B&C flash and your waitress gets on the microphone, letting everyone know that you are attempting to tackle the mountain that is the Kitchen Sink.

I think that is so funny that they make a huge deal of drawing attention to the fact that you've ordered this GINORMOUS sundae! :lmao: :lmao:

We stayed at YC during New Years, but didn't get over to Beaches 'n Cream, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
 
Oh, what a bargain on the condo in Celebration!!! It is a lovely little town, and I am fighting the urge to go look at their website now. ;)
 
You are thinking of moving to Florida? What about your job???
Personally, I think living in Celebration would be magical!!!
 

:rotfl: I bet he could eat a lot of it! I think they give it to you free if one person finishes the whole thing. But there is no mention of how pays for the hospital visit when you have to get your stomach pumped. :lmao:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
Beach Club always looks so gorgeous in pictures. I really need to visit it sometime.

CP, I didn't realize you had never even been to Beach Club! This summer, when you are at Epcot, maybe you can take just a few minutes to walk out through the private entrance and go over to Beaches & Cream for a No Way Jose or some other luscious ice cream treat. It's such a short walk, and you won't regret it!



I should just never, never look at these things.....


But as you know, the winter here has been BRUTAL (as it's been over much of the country) and so every so often I entertain ideas of moving to warmer climates and the land of palm trees and of course, Disney World. :lovestruc



And guess that I found?!?!? A 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo in Celebration for $69,900!!! :scared1: I shouldn't even have looked. Now I have those "should I move" feelings all over again.....oh Lord help me. :upsidedow

This winter has even southerners wanting to move south!

It would be a huge move for you. Would you have the money to travel to see family fairly often? Would they be able to come and see you maybe a few at a time throughout the year? I think if you know you can see your family often, you would do okay. You'll probably have plenty of friends come to visit, too, and lots of DIS meets. I am a huge fan of sunshine and palm trees. I lived in St. Pete for several years as a teenager, so sometimes I long to live there again. I know I would get out more, because I would love to take frequent walks around World Showcase and walk the trails at AK.

I have roots here, though, in my family, church, and job. As the kids grow up and out, my roots may change, but for now, I'm settled. That is an awesome price on that place, though, and if you are going to try new things, it's best to do it while you are young. If you decide to do it, it will probably be a wonderful adventure, and you can always go back home if it doesn't seem right. If you stay home, you can just enjoy trips to Disney World like always, and maybe just go more often to get your fill as much as possible.

I'm a horrible decision maker, as you can see. I write down the pros and cons a million times, and then I straddle the fence until someone finally just knocks me off! :upsidedow
 
CP, I didn't realize you had never even been to Beach Club! This summer, when you are at Epcot, maybe you can take just a few minutes to walk out through the private entrance and go over to Beaches & Cream for a No Way Jose or some other luscious ice cream treat. It's such a short walk, and you won't regret it!

I would love to go explore the Beach Club. I am hoping we will get to stay there for our December 2011 trip. I wonder if they have Christmas-y ice cream at Beaches n' Cream at that time of year.
 
$69,900?!??!??!?! That's incredible!!!! :faint:

It's a big decision...Joe and I talk nearly daily about moving to Orlando. It's always a toss up between NYC and Orlando for our "dream".
 
The Beach Club is soooo pretty!! :lovestruc

Oh boy!!! I can't believe ya'll ate the Kitchen Sink!!! How fun!! It DOES look yummy!!! :goodvibes

Girl--Brent and I have also talked about moving to Celebration!! It seems like such a magical place to live!!! :wizard:
 
WOW! The Kitchen Sink is SCARY!!! :lmao: That is amazing!

The Beach Club looks SO nice. My Dh and I decided that when the kids are older, we will go and stay there. Now nice to have such an amazing pool and be so close to Epcot!!!

I was wondering the same thing about Marie! I could see an Aristocats II!!

I loved their pools, too!! SO pretty!!

I think that is so funny that they make a huge deal of drawing attention to the fact that you've ordered this GINORMOUS sundae! :lmao: :lmao:

We stayed at YC during New Years, but didn't get over to Beaches 'n Cream, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

I would for sure make a B&C trip next time, if you can; it was so great!!
 
Oh, what a bargain on the condo in Celebration!!! It is a lovely little town, and I am fighting the urge to go look at their website now. ;)

Don't look, whatever you do!!! :lmao: It will suck you in with the good prices.

You are thinking of moving to Florida? What about your job???
Personally, I think living in Celebration would be magical!!!

Well, thinking about it is as far as I've gotten. What holds me back is the scariness of picking up and moving to a place where I know no one, and wondering if I will like it.

CP, I didn't realize you had never even been to Beach Club! This summer, when you are at Epcot, maybe you can take just a few minutes to walk out through the private entrance and go over to Beaches & Cream for a No Way Jose or some other luscious ice cream treat. It's such a short walk, and you won't regret it!





This winter has even southerners wanting to move south!

It would be a huge move for you. Would you have the money to travel to see family fairly often? Would they be able to come and see you maybe a few at a time throughout the year? I think if you know you can see your family often, you would do okay. You'll probably have plenty of friends come to visit, too, and lots of DIS meets. I am a huge fan of sunshine and palm trees. I lived in St. Pete for several years as a teenager, so sometimes I long to live there again. I know I would get out more, because I would love to take frequent walks around World Showcase and walk the trails at AK.

I have roots here, though, in my family, church, and job. As the kids grow up and out, my roots may change, but for now, I'm settled. That is an awesome price on that place, though, and if you are going to try new things, it's best to do it while you are young. If you decide to do it, it will probably be a wonderful adventure, and you can always go back home if it doesn't seem right. If you stay home, you can just enjoy trips to Disney World like always, and maybe just go more often to get your fill as much as possible.

I'm a horrible decision maker, as you can see. I write down the pros and cons a million times, and then I straddle the fence until someone finally just knocks me off! :upsidedow

Thank you for the good advice, MeMom! :lovestruc It's very sweet of you. You made some excellent points. Honestly, what held me back before and what is holding me back now is the thought of missing my family. I don't know a soul in FL, and so I would have to start over with friends, my church, etc.


And I know what you mean about a Pros and Cons list....I do that all the time!!!
 
$69,900?!??!??!?! That's incredible!!!! :faint:

It's a big decision...Joe and I talk nearly daily about moving to Orlando. It's always a toss up between NYC and Orlando for our "dream".

Well, if you decide to move down there, let me know - then at least I would know one other person!! :rotfl:

The Beach Club is soooo pretty!! :lovestruc

Oh boy!!! I can't believe ya'll ate the Kitchen Sink!!! How fun!! It DOES look yummy!!! :goodvibes

Girl--Brent and I have also talked about moving to Celebration!! It seems like such a magical place to live!!! :wizard:

Celebration is gorgeous - in May 2008, I went there and just spent a day in the town, walking around and going in shops, etc. It's a lovely place. If you guys get a chance (and have a rental car) you should go there on one of your next trips!
 
So here we are, already at Day 5: New Year's Eve!!! pixiedust: I will warn you now, this update is going to be about 20 pages because I have so many pictures. :goodvibes So bear with me, please.....

The day was a busy one; because this day, we had breakfast at Kona Cafe, were moving over to Saratoga, AND the NYE DIS meet at the Poly Beach! Whew, makes me tired again just typing it! :rotfl:

Our breakfast was more of a brunch, around 10AM. We got up, packed our bags, triple checked the room so we didn't leave anything behind and took our bags to the front desk at AKL! For anyone that is considering a split stay, it's super easy; we just took our bags to the conceierge, let them know we were moving to Saratoga, and presto!!


Before we went to Kona, we decided to first at least scan our tickets at the Magic Kingdom so we might have a prayer of getting back into the park later. When we were at Le Cellier the day before, our waitress said they went to a Phase 3 closure the day before (don't quote me on this, but I am pretty sure a Phase 3 is where they only people they let in are resort guests and those people that have already been in the park for that day). :scared1:

This was MUCH more of a process than we thought. We took a resort bus to MK and it was PEOPLE EVERYWHERE....I would have taken pictures but we were literally trying to hold hands, stay together and not lose any kids. We wanted to rent a locker at MK since we brought a change of clothes and swimsuits with us, in case we went to Saratoga early but the room wasn't ready.


My aunt then stood in line at the Guest Relations booth. Just a back story - when their family was staying at Saratoga before their Magic cruise last March, my aunt looked under the bed to make sure there was nothing left behind and found.....A TASER UNDER THEIR BED!!! :scared1: Needless to say, she was shocked; Disney believed her that it wasn't theirs and tried to make it right. The gal at DVC had told her months before that we would have about 50 anytime fastpasses waiting for us, so my aunt was attempting to get those. The guy at the counter didn't really know what she was talking about, and so my aunt and uncle decided just to go to the DVC area at Saratoga at a later date.

We FINALLY made our way to Kona Cafe!!! It smelled so good!!


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A bad picture of the menu, but I tried. :goodvibes

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Here is Sadie, waiting for her breakfast!

And Ta-Da!! The main event, the Tonga Toast!! It was SO GOOD, I would for sure get that again.

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That's actually all the pictures I have of breakfast; we were so hungry by 10AM that we pretty much scarfed down our food and left with full bellies. :goodvibes

After eating, we caught the monorail over to MK....

Will we be able to get in??

Stay tuned......
 
Wow! How did I miss the moving to Florida post??? I think you should do it :cool1: Try to get a job with DISNEY!!! How great would that be??
 
Didn't want to make you wait too long.

After leaving the Poly and the Kona cafe, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom. I could use every adjective here to paint a picture for you, but suffice it to say - it was PACKED!!! I think on Facebook, I had a status update about a "sea of humanity" -and boy was I right!!

We decided to spend a few hours and try to do some activities. We split up so the boys could do their thing and we could do ours.

We made our way into the park - just love that castle!!


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We walked my uncle and the boys over to Space Mountain....

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See ya boys! Have fun waiting in line!!

The rest of us then mosied over to Fantasyland....and saw this lovely lady:


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It was very surprising - Snow White and Pooh Corner didn't have very long waits at all, even though the rest of the park was so crowded!! I think we wait in line a total of 1/2 hour - 45 minutes for both rides. We wondered if it wasn't because the adults came to ride the rides that day, and left the little ones at the hotels. At any rate, we first rode Snow White!! I hadn't been on that attraction for a few years, it was nice to go back! It was also nice to be able to take Justin on some rides - at 3 1/2 years old, his choices are limited, so he was excited to be doing some things he could do!!

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As proof, there is our wait time - 20 minutes!! Woo hoo!! :woohoo:

Sadie was being silly....


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Then I got a semi-group shot...

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Before we knew it, we were on the ride!!! Warning, lots of random and non-captioned shots ahead...


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We then decided to walk towards the carousel and ride that! Again, no wait!!

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And some more random Fantasyland shots...

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(update next post)
 
After Snow White, we made our way to Pooh Corner! pooh:

Now I remember...we had fastpasses!!! No wonder we got on that one so fast!!

There's our Hunny Pot!!


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We then decided to split again. The adults and older kids wanted to go on another ride - oh, that's right, they had fastpasses for Space Mountain and so wanted to use those. I volunteered to take Justin on Dumbo!

He was such a good boy!! We were in line for an hour and he was wonderful. In fact, we were in line so long that just as his parents were getting back from their ride (their fastpass line was also long), we were just getting in our Dumbo!!

Justin showing me his "pirate face":


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And here were are on the ride! If you squint, we are in the green Dumbo. I gave my sister my camera and she attempted to get some pictures of us. :goodvibes

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Yeah, we've landed!!


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Phew! Only about 1/2 way through the day and I am tired already!! :rotfl2:

Coming up for day 5:

Riding the WDW Railroad for the first time...

Checking into Saratoga....

And the DIS meet at the Poly!!!

Stay tuned!!!
 
Ugh, seas of humanity make me twitch. :laughing: I am surprised about the rides with small wait times. I would have thought that every ride would be packed on NYE.
 
So here we are, already at Day 5: New Year's Eve!!! pixiedust:

Before we went to Kona, we decided to first at least scan our tickets at the Magic Kingdom so we might have a prayer of getting back into the park later. When we were at Le Cellier the day before, our waitress said they went to a Phase 3 closure the day before (don't quote me on this, but I am pretty sure a Phase 3 is where they only people they let in are resort guests and those people that have already been in the park for that day). :scared1:

Just have to chime in that we were in MK on the day you're referring to (Dec. 30) and yes, the park had a level 3 closure. I have a picture on my trip report of TomorrowLand around 1 p.m. :scared1:

I can only imagine that if you stayed at MK all day during NYE, you saw worse crowds.

Can't wait to read more! :)
 
I can't remember at what point, but when I was going into Hollywood Studios, maybe the evening of the O Lights with Jill and the girls, they were just opening back up - taking the covers off the turnstiles. They said all four parks had been closed that day!

I want to have a Hunny Pot ride at Bella's birthday party!!! :banana:
 












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