SSR Christmas TR....finally!

[Chellymouse]

Here is DH and I upon arrival to MK. This was taken just prior to my feeding frenzy!!

 

[Disney Princess]

So glad you posted pictures - I like having something to see while I read! (I guess seeing the words isn't enough. )

Glad you cleared up the bit about the Hansen brothers - MMM Bop is forever stuck in my mind when I hear that last name. I need to clarify that I didn't care for the band, but the song was so annoying of course it gets stuck in your mind. Glad it was not them!

 

[Disneypirate85]

Thanks for the tip! I will pass this along to his parents! Where can we find earplanes? Big box retailer?

DW got hers at WalMart...Great TR..LEAD ON

 

[SunnieRN]

So glad you enjoyed the merry mixer. I am hoping to go next year.
We are doing a split stay in May, animal kingdom and Saratoga and plan to eat dinner at the turf club one night. Happy to hear it was good.

 

[Chellymouse]

Well, now it's Sat. morning and I'm psyched because a few days before we left we found that WOD was open at 6:30am for DVC members and AP holders. So DH and I were up at 5:45am and heading over to DTD by 6:15am. Boy was it chilly!! Brrrr! Wish I'd have had a coat. Let me tell you...that store is normally crazy, but this morning, it was even crazier! DH got in line while I shopped. We did save quite a bit of $$ on gifts so it was worth it! DH and I each bought shirts for MVMCP for tomorrow...more on that later! At 7:45am we had our packages and were making our way back home to drop off our purchases and pick up the cooler and bags for the day. We had decided to stay out all day so we were packed pretty heavy. We went up to AP for breakfast and then made our way over to Epcot. Bus service wasn't bad yesterday...today was a different story and would set the tone for the rest of the week. We arrived at Epcot, grabbed a locker and headed over to Soarin for FPs. The plan was to join the Mousefest folks as we'd registered, but we were too late due to the bus taking forever. We then road MS-orange and TT all with little or no wait. DH wanted to try Spaceship Earth and he agreed, while it is less lame, it is still lame. We then made our way over to Club Cool where we entertained ourselves by getting newbies to enjoy the Beverly.... That has to be one of my favorite activities at Epcot. It's more fun when it's people you know though! Now it was time for Soarin' so we rode and then decided to lunch at the Seasons. I LOVE this place! Got hooked in August and we had a few meals there. Good food and good selections! We were planning to head over to the Mega Mouse Meet, but I wanted to meet the Hansens (Deadliest Catch guys) more so we headed over to Norway. We were the fifth people in line and it was great because they came out early as their line was pretty long! Amazing! What great guys! I have to tell you, before I left, I did tease Margaret (remember our awesome neighbors? Margaret lives across the street and was watering our Christmas tree for us while we were gone) Margaret is also a huge fan so she said a few un-Disney like things before we left! I promised to bring her an autographed photo. Edgar wrote "don't kill the tree" on Margaret's photo. I also had to get one for one of my classmates who wanted to me to offer her services on the boat as a nurse practitioner next season. What great people! I felt bad for the CMs because their line was so long and they really spent alot of time with each person. Totally awesome! That alone made my trip!
Here's a pic of all of us:

 

[Chellymouse]

So after all of the excitement, we wandered around WS for awhile, caught a few storytellers and indulged in some adult beverages! It was getting close to the time we needed to leave to make our dinner ressies at 50's Prime Time so we cleaned out our locker and made our way over to the boats. It's just too far to walk. We arrived at DHS in plenty of time so we grabbed a locker, some FPs for RNR and hit TOT. I couldn't quite get it...RNR was 50 min standby and TOT was walk-on. Afterward DH wanted to see TSM so we walked past and it was 100min wait with no FPs so we agreed we'd do it in the am. DH wanted to ride Star Tours, so we did. He's a Star Wars nut. One of these years, I'm going to send him for Star Wars Weekends! Now it was time for dinner. I have to say, I LOVED 50's Prime Time. This was the first time we'd eaten here and it was great. The food was excellent. Our server was a bit boring, other servers were much more entertaining than ours, but we'll definitely be back! After dinner we decided to go see the lights and they were amazing as always! Here's a few pics:

 

[Chellymouse]

After the lights, we rode RNR then got in line for the second show of Fantasmic. I do love Fantasmic! Second show is the way to go! Much less time to wait for the same great seats! After Fantasmic, DH and I were ready to call it a night so we headed home to SSR. It was a great day, but we were ready to hit it! Went home, I spent some time in the jacuzzi and then it was off to sleep! Up next....DHS....DH FINALLY can't beat me....and MNMCP!

 

[Mahusky]

Great trip report makes me want to go back NOW!!!!

 

[Disney Princess]

Such a fun trip report! I'm happy to hear you had such a good time. Keep up the good work.

 

[Chellymouse]

Such a fun trip report! I'm happy to hear you had such a good time. Keep up the good work.

Thank you! I've been "sneaking" at work!!

 

[Chellymouse]

Such a fun trip report! I'm happy to hear you had such a good time. Keep up the good work.

Thank you!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Sunday and DH and I are having a hard time breaking our "commando" style vacations. We were up and out the door by 7:45am for breakfast. I just can't live without my Mouse waffle and bacon! Thankfully, we were on a bus to DHS by 8:35am so we made it in time for RD. DH was in charge of the locker, I was the FP runner for TSM. RD happened and.....they're off....it's the crazed Disney fanatics running to TSM...who will win...sorry...had to have a little fun with that! I secured the TSM FPs for a return time of 10am, not too bad at all! Met up with DH at 9:30 and RNR still had only a 10 minute wait so we rode RNR then hit TOT. As fast as we could walk around we were back on again so we rode TOT 3 times! By now it was a little after 10am so we made our way over to TSM, where I BEAT DH!!!! You have to understand...DH ALWAYS kicks my backside on Buzz so I was thrilled! DH was grumbling that if the line wasn't so long he'd go for a rematch. We tried to get FPs for later, but the return time was up to 6pm and we had dinner ressies at Chef Mickey's for 5pm so that wouldn't work! Needless to say, I rubbed DH's nose in that one for awhile. We then took our time enjoying the studios and meet some characters. Let me tell you, Sulley was NOT happy with DH's shirt! DH decided to buy the Grumpy Bah Humbug shirt for his party shirt and Sulley was having a fit. It was pretty funny! While this isn't an all day park, unless you plan to see every show, we still enjoy it quite a bit. DH was a bit bummed that Jedi Training was only for the younger guests as he would have loved to have had his day fighting Vader. Maybe I should have been on the lookout for the Dream Squad? We hit Star Tours, then had lunch at the ABC Commissary. I have to say, I'm glad we don't live on burgers and fries, but boy were theirs good. The dessert left something to be desired, but have no fear...the popcorn cart was near! After lunch we decided to use our FPs for RNR that we'd acquired after our 3rd stint on TOT and we hit RNR and TOT again before staking out a spot for Block Party Bash. We were impressed. Definitely one of the best parades Disney had brought out in awhile. Loved it! After the bash, we decided to head over to MK to "locker hop" then head over to the Contemporary for dinner. We arrived at MK to find that the turnstiles had mysteriously "gone down"...interesting as it was 3:50pm and the line of people to get in for MVMCP was quite long. We finally got in, grabbed a locker then decided to head over to Contemporary to look around before we dinner. Chef Mickey's was wonderful. Great food and the characters were awesome! We got some great pics of us! This one was one of the best of DH!

Dinner took longer than expected so we missed the Castle lighting tonight. This was the first of 2 MVMCP for us. DH has learned....one night to see all of the characters and shows and one night to ride! This was our picture and show night although we did ride a little. MVMCP was wonderful as always. I thought if I ate one more cookie I was going to be in big trouble! Minnie was also not a huge fan of DH's shirt! The nice thing was, we only waited about 20 minutes in Pixie Hollow and that was totally worth it! The fairies were awesome! That is hands down one of the best character interactions we've ever had! Tink made DH stand on his knees the whole time because DH is 6'4". She decided he had to be at least 7 inches tall in Pixie Hollow. Tink also mentioned the Stitch toilet papering the castle as I was wearing my "ears" and we got a good laugh out of that one. That is the first time I'd heard that story so it was pretty funny. Cinderella was not pleased to see my Stitch ears. She also mention the "incident" and I said that I was sorry Stitch was so naughty, but I loved him anyway. That was also one of our better character interactions! I will share some pics on the next post. We stayed at MVMCP until 11:30pm. The parade was nice as it was slightly different than 2005 and we were smart and waited until the second run. Much less crowded. We'd had a productive day and we were getting tired so it was off to the villa. Next up...Animal Kingdom and DH has finally had it with commando style vacations!

 

[Chellymouse]

Have to love Tink!

DH and I

 

[Chellymouse]

Another of DH and I

And my beloved Stitch! Yes...Stitch's great escape leaves something to be desired, but boy do I love Stitch!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's now Monday and DH has threatened that if the alarm goes off before 7:30am I will be banished to the couch for the remainder of the trip!
So, we "slept in" until 7:30am and were at AP by 8am for breakfast. The bus service is now getting ugly. We were at the bus stop at 8:35am and didn't get a bus to AK until after 9am. We were both starting to get irritated by the busses. Bus service was WAY better in August! We finally made it to AK, DH grabbed the locker and I went for FP for EE and we met up at the safari where the wait was about 20 minutes. We had a fantastic safari! The animals were very active and if the wait hadn't gone up to 40 minutes, we'd probably have gone a second time. DH LOVES the animals! After our safari, we made our way over to Dinoland where we hit Dinosaur twice. I don't know what was up with Primeval Whirl, but the wait was 60minutes and no FPs. The FP machine was done for several days, which was annoying and we decided we hit on the next time to AK. We weren't waiting that long. We thought about seeing Nemo, but the line was already back to Dinoland 30 minutes before the show so we skipped it. We figured we'll catch it in August as we'll have our friend's DS8 with us. We still haven't seen Nemo! Oh well...something to look forward to! We then went over to EE to use our FP and grabbed another FP for later. EE was awesome as always. We then made our way over to grab some character pics and I was pleased to see Goofy in his Santa outfit! I just love it! After that it was almost time for EE so we took another spin on Dinosaur, PW was still an obnoxiously long wait and much to our dismay....EE was stuck and had been for quite awhile. At this point, we'd had enough of AK so we hopped a bus over to Epcot. We grabbed lunch at the Seasons, then hit TT and MS-orange. MS was great....5 minute wait so we wound up riding it 3 times in a row. We were present for the grand opening and we love it! still haven't done the green....we're curious, but not that curious! Now it was time for our ressie at LeCellier and it was delicious as always. I do love LeCellier. DH let me have a carafe of wine with dinner so I was feeling good after dinner! Being that it was Monday and we are both die-hard football heads, we decided to head over to ESPN to catch some of the game. We first stopped at BCV to see the food displays and to buy my gingerbread house! They are $40 less at BCV for the same ones the GF has. DH kept warning me not to break it and I'm happy to report that my house made it home completely intact! Not so much as a piece of icing was out of place! Next we wandered over to ESPN and got the last seat in the bar. It's ironic that the Browns were playing....did I say playing....I meant, whatever it is the Browns do when they claim to be playing! (I'm a die hard Steelers fan which I take quite a bit of flak for living so close to Cleveland) We then called home to rub it in that we were at ESPN watching MNF and the guys at home were giving us grief. After the debacle of the the 1st quater, we decided to check out the decor at BWV then head in. We grabbed a bus over to DTD and walked home from there. We were in by 10pm which made DH happy. He has now decided that since we are members, we do not need to be all go no quit for 16 hours a day! After the nightly swim in the jacuzzi, we were in bed by 11pm. Tomorrow....Yuletide Fantasy Tour and Candlelight.

Here is a picute of the chocolate carousel at BCV!

 

[Chellymouse]

We were up and out early this morning as we had Yuletide Fantasy tour at 9am at Epcot and Epcot had EMH. We arrived at Epcot at 7:45am and managed a quick spin on TT before we went out front for our tour. The Yuletide Fantasy tour was amazing and I would highly recommend it! We went backstage at America, Germany and Italy, then back on the bus for a trip over to DHS where we learned some backstage secrets regarding the Osborne lights. After that, the tour hit the GF so we could see the Gingerbread house and a quick treat. We then made it over to the holiday storage building which was really cool. To confirm everyone's suspicions, Disney did NOT put out all of their Christmas decorations and yes, it was primarily due to the economy. Straight from the mouths of the tour guides and it was evident because there were quite a few decorations still in the building. Finally, we landed at MK for a quick tour of the holiday decorations. All in all it was a great tour, however, I'm glad we took our own waters because the tour did not provide any beverages. After the tour, we were taken back to Epcot where we received our tour pins. DH and I decided to stay at Epcot because we'd had CP dining package for tonight. We stopped at the Electric Umbrella for lunch then did the boat ride in the Land, MS-orange twice and then decided to roam around WS to see what we'd missed earlier in the week. We also caught up with Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie as well as Snow White and Dopey and Belle. We arrived at Tutto Italia (the restaurant formerly known as Alfredo's) and were seated for dinner. What a huge disappointment! Alfredo's has long been a favorite of ours and tonight was just disappointing. The service was very poor and the food was worse. We won't be returning here. We were finished with our meal earlier than we expected so we went over to CP to see if we could be seated for the 6:45pm show instead of the 8:15pm show. The CM working the rope said no problem if we weren't picky about our seats. We still had great seats though! CP started and this has become on of our favorite traditions when we are at WDW for the holidays. Unfortunately, our narrator was awful. We'd never heard of her, Chita Rivera, but she was terrible. I don't remember "um...oh...uh" in the Christmas story. She lost her place several times while reading and showed absolutely no emotion. Maybe we've been spoiled because we've had amazing narrators in the past, but she was just not good. The choir and the orchestra were amazing as always though. DH said he was just starting to get into the spirit and after CP, he had lost it again. We decided to head home early tonight as we were both bummed, so we went back to our villa and decided to go for a swim because it was rather warm. We went over to the pool at CP and the water was freezing! Apparantly someone had turned the heater off during the day, according to another guest, so we just hung in the hot tub with a few others. When we'd had enough, we went home, took showers and decided to call it an early night. Tomorrow....Breakfast with Stitch!!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Wed and we are halfway through our trip... I always hate the moment that reality hits and know that we only have a few more days until we have to go to our other home. We were up about 8am and caught a MK bus by 8:30am. Made it to the Poly by 8:55am, which was somewhat of a miracle given the way the buses had been running. We were seated and within a few minutes Stitch had arrived at our table! oh I love Stitch! Our DN 10 and 7 had asked for new stuffed Stitch for Christmas so we had Stitch autograph the stuffed ones. Our DN were very excited Christmas day when they got their Stitches. Breakfast was wonderful and I wished I could have bottled up the juice and taken some home! DH and I were stuffed! I begged to go to MK so that we could catch up on some rides and characters and DH agreed so we boarded the monorail over to MK. On the way, we stopped at GF to check out the Gingerbread house in a bit more detail as we didn't have much time on the tour. I was astonished at how much the shingles cost this year, so I didn't buy any. DH knew I was bummed, but I just couldn't see paying $7 for a cookie. DH would make it up later though! Here's a pic of the house:

We arrived at MK, stowed our gear and hit the rides. POTC of course as there was no wait! We then hit HM, Peter Pan, ISAW, Snow White and Dumbo. We also caught up with Fairy Godmother! I love her!! DH then made a beeline for the tea-cups. I swear he does this to drive me insane. I can ride roller coasters until I'm blue in the face, but boy do the spinning teacups of spew drive me crazy! I was a little green around the gills, so we stopped off for a sprite and a stern look to DH. DH let me ride Space Mt. twice in a row after my stomach decided it was going to hold onto breakfast for a bit longer. After the mountain, we did Buzz twice and DH beat the pants off me both times. I would get even though!! We also found a few more characters. We stopped for a couple of Dole Whips, I have DH hooked on them now, and decided to head home for a few as our guide had left a message for us the night before. Before we went over to the DVC center, DH and I rented bikes and rode around the resort for a bit. What a beautiful resort! We also saw 2 gators, albeit, small ones, in the waterways by the paddock. DH has been saying that we needed to do something around the resort. After our bike ride we stopped in at the DVC center and met up with Todd for a bit! He is wonderful! He took us over to see the BLT rooms and while we thought they were pretty neat, we decided that it's just too many points to be worth buying in there. We may stay there at some point, but we probably will add on at SSR once the THV are complete. Todd also asked how my toe had healed...in Aug. I broke my toe at BB on the last day of our trip in Aug. After some ice cream and our complimentary photo, we headed back out to AK EMH. We arrived around 5:30pm and rode EE 3 times in 40 minutes. If you haven't been on EE at night, I highly recommend it! Awesome! Totally different ride! After that we took a spin on Dinosaur and FINALLY on PW, where the wait was a much more reasonable 15 minutes. DH is grumbling about being hungry and I realized we had skipped lunch because we were so stuffed from breakfast. Alas, no food, so we decided to call it a night. We went home and stopped at AP for flatbread pizzas and then walked back to our villa with our dinner. I asked DH if we should eat at the table to which he replied "we don't at home, so I don't know why we should here!" It was pretty funny! We plopped on the couch, turned on our Christmas tree and the tv and managed to choke down the worst food we'd had in a long time. Now we know why there are mountains of pizza coupons under our door everyday when we come home. We're not all that impressed with AP and other than breakfast or a quick snack, I think we'll eat elsewhere. We called it another early night as we were going to BB in the morning then our second MVMCP tomorrow.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I've been enjoying your trip report Chellymouse and now I have a face to put with the person who so kindly tried to help us out with an ornament. I think we were criss-crossing paths a few times!

It's sad to hear about your CP. We saw Chita Rivera on Thursday night and apparently she had gotten a bit familiar with the story as I don't recall any um's, oh's or uh's. When we were booking the CP I had to google to see who she was and I'd say she probably would have been at the bottom of my list if there had been an option. We much preferred seeing Edward James Olmos last year. At least they did have the same orchestra director as we saw last year and I thought he was fantastic!!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report. It's like being back again!

 

[Chellymouse]

I've been enjoying your trip report Chellymouse and now I have a face to put with the person who so kindly tried to help us out with an ornament. I think we were criss-crossing paths a few times!

It's sad to hear about your CP. We saw Chita Rivera on Thursday night and apparently she had gotten a bit familiar with the story as I don't recall any um's, oh's or uh's. When we were booking the CP I had to google to see who she was and I'd say she probably would have been at the bottom of my list if there had been an option. We much preferred seeing Edward James Olmos last year. At least they did have the same orchestra director as we saw last year and I thought he was fantastic!!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report. It's like being back again!

I love re-living my trip! I've been working on my scrapbook from this trip, which has to get done this week because I start back to school. We saw her the first night and it was very disappointing. We had Phylicia Rashaad in 2001 and James Caviel (I know I butchered the spelling in 2005) and they were amazing! I have both on video at home!
We probably did cross paths once or twice! I was just amazed about the ornaments....they weren't made of gold either!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's BB day! I just love BB!! DH and I slept in a bit and after our morning walk to AP for breakfast, we caught a bus over to BB around 9:40am. We arrived in time for RD, which was awesome! After securing our belongings, we...ok I made a run for Summit Plummet. I do love that slide! DH won't go near it. He prefers to stand at the bottom and laugh at everyone who is removing their swimwear from unmentionable places.. ! I should mention there was a film crew all over SP. The second time I went up, we were held up so they could film the "actor" going down the slide. After this trip, a lady from the crew stopped me and asked if I would sign a release as I was filmed coming down. Absolutely! I tried to find out what they were filming, but mum was the word. By now, my backside is feeling the effects of 2 trips down SP so DH and I walked over the mat slides. We hit the Double Dipper then the mats. DH was yelled at by the guards because he went all the way to the end of the runway. It was pretty funny. After a few times down, we wandered over to the tube slides. The doubles are fun, but we like the enclosed. After that, we needed a rest so we jumped in the river and relaxed back over to Teamboat Springs. We were "strays" (only 2 of us so we had to wait for other "strays" to join us) after 3 great rides, I decided to do SP again....not the best decision on my part! Ouch! On a good note, I did NOT break any toes on this trip to BB so I was happy about that! Afterward, we went to the wave pool for a bit then hit the mat slides again. By now, we'd done everything more than once so it was back home for showers, lunch and shopping. Getting home was NOT fun! After waiting for 40 minutes, we hopped a bus to AK figuring we would just transfer there. Wouldn't you know, the bus we chose, changed to SSR as soon as we pulled into AK. Then it was back to BB and finally to SSR. It took us 1 hour and 25 minutes from the time we got to the stop until we arrived at the CP bus stop. NOT HAPPY! We very quickly showered and went over to DTD and Earl of Sandwich for lunch, which was VERY good. First time we've ever been there and we will certainly be back! We did some quick shopping and then walked back to our villa to drop off our purchases and grab our stuff for the party. We made it MK by 4:30pm and after dropping our stuff off in a locker, we went to Crystal Palace for our ressie. I love this place! The food is great and the characters are even better. DH was a bit miffed that Pooh ignored him, but I think Pooh heard the "stitch-like" comment DH made and that is why! DH begs to differ! After dinner, we staked out a spot on Main St for the castle lighting as we'd kept missing it! That was amazing! After the castle lighting we dropped the video camera back in the locker and headed over to conquer the mountains. This was our primary "ride night" and I was going to take full advantage! It would figure...I hardly ever get wet on Splash and wouldn't you know I was soaked! It was warm, but not warm enough to be soaked. We then rode BTMRR 3 times in a row so that I could "dry off"....which I did. We did Splash one more time and thankfully I didn't get soaked. After the mountains we did HM. I was bummed because the narration wasn't on in our doom buggy. I mentioned it the CM when we were exiting and the CM very graciously took us through a "secret passage" and we rode again...this time with the narration. Definitely loses something without our Ghost Host. After HM, we did Peter Pan, Snow White, Dumbo and the carousel. By now it was getting near time for Holiday Wishes so we ran back to get the video camera and a quick visit with Santa. Note to self: Do NOT wear a shirt that says "I'll be good next year" when visiting Santa. Santa stopped us before we sat down on his lap, read my shirt and declared that he would deliver next year. DH was laughing hysterically. I promptly told DH that he was not included in Santa's joke, which he said if Santa doesn't have to bring presents, neither does he. I think this was DH's favorite thing from the whole trip. He was still bringing it up at Christmas with the family.
Here is DH and I with Santa.

Holiday Wishes did NOT disappoint and I was able to film the whole thing! Main St right in front of the tree is the place to be if you're planning on filming Wishes. After Wishes was over, we went to tackle Tomorrowland. Tonight was no exception...if I ate one more cookie...I did convince DH that the teacups would not be a good idea and for once he agreed. I'd also been chowing on popcorn and had a Dole Whip earlier. It's a wonder I don't gain 20 pounds when I'm at WDW!! We did Space Mt 4 times in a row!! I told DH that this could be our last trip with Space Mt as we knew it and he owed me one so he hung in. Being 6'4" Space Mt is not the most comfortable ride for DH. A CM overheard me and confirmed that the refurb was coming in 2009, but they didn't know when. As we all just found out, it starts in April. DH then beat me badly twice in a row on Buzz. Parties are great for riding! No lines!! Everything was walk on! After my beating, I wanted to head over to POTC again. DH will tolerate my pirate obsession to a point so he said 2 more rides, then no more POTC tonight. Turns out, he wasn't kidding. Since I had the video camera, I videoed us on the ride. Not the first person and surely not the last person . DH kept telling me that if our camera was confiscated, he was going to throw me into the Briar Patch. After our second run on POTC, it was nearly 11:30pm and DH was beat and I was winding down so we made our way to the gate. Thankfully, we were back home by 12:30am. Tomorrow is our last full day and DH tried to make it magical! A quick side note, when I transferred my videos to DVD, I have watched POTC at least 15 times.....DH is threatening to hide my DVD!