The Disney Grump & Family Take on the World-Our '09 Christmas w/ the Mouse, COMPLETE

[brookelizabeth]

What a cute mini golf course! I stink at mini golf too....or golf PERIOD! despite being on the golf team in high school for 3 years.

A surprise...!!!

 

[ladybugmom]

So sorry I've not been checking in as often but now I'm all caught up!!

I LOVE your Jim Shore Mickey!!! And boy did you luck out on the crowds in AK!! The park is EMPTY! I just love how the characters at Camp Minnie Mickey are all decked out in their Christmas attire!! That is adorable!! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wonder what the gestation period is for a giraffe?????

I just looked it up -- it's fifteen months! I am so glad I am not a giraffe!

 

[praisehisname]

That looks like a fun course. We've never done the mini golf at Disney, but I'd like to.

Can't wait to hear about the surprise!

 

[kcandbella]

I just looked it up -- it's fifteen months! I am so glad I am not a giraffe!

An elephant is over two years! Can you imagine? Nine months is MORE than enough!

 

[SoonerGirl]

What a cute mini golf course! I stink at mini golf too....or golf PERIOD! despite being on the golf team in high school for 3 years.

A surprise...!!!

Yeah, Don tried to teach me to golf not long after we got married - it wasn't pretty

So sorry I've not been checking in as often but now I'm all caught up!!

I LOVE your Jim Shore Mickey!!! And boy did you luck out on the crowds in AK!! The park is EMPTY! I just love how the characters at Camp Minnie Mickey are all decked out in their Christmas attire!! That is adorable!! Can't wait to read more!!

Isn't that Jim Shore Mickey too cute?!

AK was amazingly empty that morning, it was so much fun to be able to just do whatever we wanted to without having to wait or worry about it being too crowded!

I just looked it up -- it's fifteen months! I am so glad I am not a giraffe!

Wow! Yeah, me too, I thought 9 months was too long - I don't think I could have survived another 6!!

That looks like a fun course. We've never done the mini golf at Disney, but I'd like to.

Can't wait to hear about the surprise!

Mini-golf is a fun way to still be doing something but be away from all the people at the same time.

An elephant is over two years! Can you imagine? Nine months is MORE than enough!

I remember reading that not too long ago. The elephants from our local zoo are off getting pregnant and having babies right now and they have a sign up explaining why they are going to be gone so long. I just can't imagine.....two years!!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

We all got cleaned up and changed for the evening, then we took a cab to Ft. Wilderness. We needed to go to the back of the campgrounds by Trails End, but the cab could go no further than the entrance, so we had to take the internal bus to the back. We walked around for a bit waiting for our check in time, the boys still quizzing me as to what we were doing there.......

Soon it was time for our sleigh ride!

Our horse's name was Doug, he was beautiful!

Then we went for our ride around the campgrounds. I was amazed by the number of decorations that some people brought with them to set up! Some of these photos are going to be a little blurry as we were moving as I was taking them, but you'll get the idea of what it was like

At home if one of my neighbors had that much stuff in their yard I would think it was a bit over the top, but here it was fun and seemed to fit!

Our ride was about 30 minutes long. There were blankets in the 'sleigh' but it was a beautiful night and we didn't need them. Our driver was very nice and fun to talk to, she also had Christmas music playing during the entire ride - it was such a neat thing to do on Christmas Day. Don, Justin & I loved it, but Jared wasn't all that excited - we didn't move fast enough to suit him. He said it was just alright and that it lasted too long. Oh well, I tried! Three out of four wasn't bad. If I had to do it over again though, I think I would have scheduled the ride for a bit later. It was still light outside and it would have been nice to see the campgrounds with all the Christmas lights on as well. Not to mention, there was a guy that had a mini Cinderella's castle on his site. Our driver told us that he has his display choreographed to music and everything and it is apparently really cool to see. He was in the process of setting it up when we drove by, I would have loved to have seen that!

Here are Justin & Jared with Doug at the end of our ride.

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

It was now time to catch the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge for our dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. As we waited at the dock my boys started doing what gross boys do - Justin spit into the water, then was overjoyed when a fish came up and grabbed his spit. Ick! So, of course they had to test this and see if it was a fluke or if they would do it again. My boys started spitting in the water over and over again watching the fish bob up to the top and eat the spit. Don was laughing, I was trying to get them to stop - it was disgusting!! Finally we were saved because the boat arrived!

I love this picture of the boat - I may frame this one!

Here are the boys kicked back enjoying the ride over

The Contemporary

And finally the Wilderness Lodge - so, so pretty! I really want to stay here one day.

We checked in at

Got our buzzer and they were very busy, so we figured we had a bit of time. We decided to walk around the lobby and take some pictures

Isn't this tree incredible??

A couple saw me taking the above picture of the boys and they offered to take one of all of us

I love this bridge

We also got some photopass pics in front of the stunning tree

After about a 10-15 minute wait we were ready to be seated. Our waiter introduced himself as Running Bull or something like that, but his name tag said Raphael. During dinner, Jared helped out with a crayon emergency in the next room, he said the poor girl had more crayons than she knew what to do with when it was all said and done! We also all got a kick out of the absolutely MASSIVE soda that was brought to the man at the table next to us. We thought it was funny, but he didn't seem too amused...

There was a holiday menu today so we were fed traditional Christmas food. Turkey, brisket, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, etc. It was all very tasty. For dessert we had cake that had been made to look like a Yule log - so creative and cute. And not only was it creative and cute, it was really good. Don is not usually a dessert eater, but he ate almost his entire piece of cake.

After dinner we took a cab back to the resort. I took these in front of the WL while we waited for our cab

When we got back to the resort, the boys went to the arcade - again! And, Don & I went back to the room and called our parents. They were still snowed in. After the crazy snow storm had ended, we had gotten 14" of snow!

Coming Up: Our last full day at the World and would my plans for a perfect final evening fall apart???

 

[kschafer]

What a fantasic evening! the sleigh ride looks like fun and the pictures of your family at WL are great! I gave up WCC on this trip to do Artist Point but someday I WILL get there!

 

[RachelNinja]

Oh cute! The sleigh ride is something that most people probably don't know about.

Haha, as bad as it is that your son were doing the spit thing, I was curious too to know whether or not it was a one time thing! It's just different when it's your own kids doing it!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Yeay for a neat sleigh ride! I am so impressed by all the decorations the RVers put out! They are super creative!

I was glad when I read that the boat came, too. Working with middle schoolers, I can understand how riveting the boys' "game" must have been to them.

Dinner at the Whispering Canyon sounds quite yummy -- especially the yule log cake! Sounds like you escaped being heckled by the waitstaff. Whew!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Next year we are heading out to Fort Wilderness for sure! That looks like so much fun! Also the Christmas menu sounds really tasty at Whispering Canyon! If I'm not mistaken Raphael goes by another name as well, I'll have to ask MeMom about that...
That Christmas tree is gorgeous and your photo pass pics are awesome!

 

[Kewz1]

I love the sleigh ride through Ft. Wilderness! And your pics of the resorts at night are gorgoeous.

Kristen

 

[MaryAz]

Great update! Looks like a fun day!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY!!! This is the update I've been waiting for!! The sleigh ride looks like so much fun! I'll definitely put that on our list for Dec.! What time would you suggest doing the sleigh ride? And the WL pics are just gorgeous!!! You really got some great family pics as well. I'm glad you enjoyed WC--I'm excited about eating there in Dec!!!

 

[disneydusted]

I was interested in seeing the camp grounds all done up for Christmas... I have heard that people go all out in their decor! Wow... that is a lot of stuff! I'm thinking that this is the one place you can go crazy and it is loved by everyone.
Your family photos in the WL are so nice! It is beautiful resort, especially during the holidays!
Hummmm....spitting boys at the dock.... I read that part to my 13 year old and he just said "cool". Guess you need to be a boy to appreciate the spit and the fish!

 

[praisehisname]

Then we went for our ride around the campgrounds. I was amazed by the number of decorations that some people brought with them to set up!

I really want to do that! I saw a special a few years ago on the travel channel about the campground and the Christmas decorations. It looked awesome!

Don was laughing, I was trying to get them to stop - it was disgusting!!

I'll take that anyday over the nitpicking that my girls get caught up in...

We also got some photopass pics in front of the stunning tree

You have such a beautiful family and the pictures turned out great!

 

[klacey1]

What an awesome update!!! That sleigh ride looked so...Christmas-y! I can imagine, though, that it would have been even more fun at night. Your dinner at WCC sounds sooooo yummy!

 

[Spartangirl]

Getting to see the CP on Christmas Eve was such a joy! We did enjoy it very much. Have you always had a good narrator when you've seen it? I've heard that they really make a difference.

We've been very fortunate with the narrators we've had........We saw Gary Sinise twice (Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump ) and Steven Curtis Chapman once (He gave a very moving performance!!!).........I would agree that narrators would be the key to how much someone would enjoy the performance.........

Your AK Day seemed pretty incredible!!! Even though it was raining, you guys seemed to make the best of it AND it was empty! I think I could handle "walk-on" rides too! The sleigh ride looked cool.........WOW, some of the campgrounds were really decked out!!!

 

[MHTeacher]

Great update---there are so many things I want to comment on, I don't know if I can remember them all!

Sounds like you had fun playing mini-golf....My DH tried to teach me how to play golf when we were newly married, too. Like you....that didn't go so well!

Isn't the WL beautiful? I love that resort, and it is just perfect for Christmas! Once when we were there, a friend got the giant glass of coke with a straw that must have been 18 inches long. After he drank it all, our waitress brought him a fastpass for the restroom! It was so funny!

Is that a new sig I see? Looks like you've added pics from this trip. Looks great!