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

[marsa1969]

Love the Grand pictures. Don't worry my 16 yr old still likes to spit in the water to see the fish eat it - gag!!

 

[bussellmomof3]

Love the update and great pics....but, oh the suspense. I hope all turned out well!

Le Cellier is my absolute favorite too! Yum! Yum!

 

[MaryAz]

Another fun day! Glad you got to walk on to a few. Sorry for the TT fiasco. Glad you were able to enjpy your yummy lunch. Oh boy, that sounded a for the next update.

 

[KathyRN137]

Hey! You could ask Don what the name of that wine was and if he asks, just say you need to put it in your trip report!!

Fantastic morning, although the TT trouble offset your good karma just a little.

LeCellier is LeYummy!!

And of course, how can you visit WDW at Christmas and NOT visit the Grand Floridian gingerbread house? I can almost smell it...


Kathy

 

[JJBEAN]

Great TR!! Subbing so I can read more later!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh, wow---a walk-on to Soarin' ??? That's never happened for us, although, I'd really like for it to!

Wasn't the GF so pretty at Christmas? The gingerbread house was just amazing---it smelled so yummy in that lobby!

I couldn't believe we walked right on to Soarin'! It was great! Probably won't ever happen again

The GF was really pretty decorated for Christmas. And I'm sure they pump the smell of that gingerbread all through the lobby so that they sell more!

Even with the TT mess, I feel like your day was well-filled! You guys got a lot done-- the GF is soooo beautiful at Christmas time!! You took beautiful pictures!

Other than the exceedingly long ride on TT, we had a great morning. Got to ride all of our favorite Epcot attractions, ate lunch at our favorite restaurant and I got to mark the last Storyteller off my list! Not to mention we had enough time to go check out the decorations at the GF, that had been on my must do list too!

I'm all caught up!!

Your time looks like so much fun - how great to spend Christmas Day at WDW!! I would love to do that some year. I just have to convince my family.....

Great TR!!! I've really enjoyed it!!

Hi there! We did have a really good time. Being away from home on Christmas Day was different, I'm glad we did it, but I don't think I'd want to often. The holiday just isn't the same away from home!

WOW! What a great last day in the parks!! Congrats on all the walk ons

Le Cellier sounds amazing!! Cant WAIT to try the pretzel bread! Yummy!

My DH does not care too much for dessert and loves expensive wine. Sounds like he could hang with yours

I love all of your WS pics. Thanks so much for sharing! I really want to go to the Grand Floridian during Christmas! We stayed there last October for a trip and it was so pretty...I can only imagine it during Christmas! How cool that you can buy a shingle of the ginger bread house?!

Oh my gosh, I love the pretzel bread - and dipped in the cheddar cheese soup it's even better!

Yep, sounds like our DHs would get along just fine!

The GF is decorated so pretty for Christmas, you'll have to at least drop in and see it. I thought it was fun that you could buy a shingle too, and I was surprised at how tasty it was. I'm not usually a big fan of gingerbread, but these were really good - sort of cakey, with chocolate on the bottom - yum!

I love all your Photopass pics! I think you may have convinced me to get this on our next trip. Thanks!

Kristen

I was pretty happy with most of our photopass pics, but I will say that the quality appears to be down from the CDs I've purchased previously. And, they keep going up on the price! I bought this one because it was a special trip, not sure if I'll continue to get them though.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Soarin is also one of my FAV attractions. But DH doesn't care for it because he said it gave him motion sickness. Which is weird because I get motion sickness really easily.. and It didn't even phase. So now I have to beg him to ride this.

Getting stuck on a ride is never fun. But I'm glad you made it to your resse! I have yet to eat there but DH said that we have to eat there next time!

I like the picture of you guys- where he is strangling Jared- I don't think it looks like that at all. I understand why you see that but you all look very happy.

I also love wine but I hate how expensive it is!

I love the gingerbread house!! Thats cute you can buy a shingle! hehe

You know, I usually have motion sickness issues too. I take Bonine everyday when I'm in WDW and that helps alot. If I ever start to feel a bit queezy on Soarin' I just close my eyes for a second and that does the trick. It's too good a ride to skip!

Ooooo, yes, add Le Cellier to list of restaurants to try. We all love it.

I'm not a wine drinker, so I don't get it, but DH loves it so I don't mind slowing down so he can have a glass or two!

Aren't those gingerbread shingles cute? And they were tasty too!

I read your latest posts! I normally go back and skim it before I comment (since I break up the reading as I do lesson plans; it's a good reward as I finish each class!), but alas, I have a sinus infection, and my head's about to explode on top of being unable to breathe. So I'm just going to comment on the thing that I got such a kick out of it ... "Don bought a shingle - it was so good!" Haha, that's so great! I think I'd get one just so I can say that too!

I guess it did sound kinda funny didn't it?! It was a tasty shingle - get down there during December one year and try one for yourself!

I'm all caught up on your wonderful updates!

I've added several must-do's to my list after reading: mini golf and the sleigh ride. Though, add me to the list of not so good at mini golf. My DH and kids would love it however.

I'll have to check into WCC's holiday dinner. That followed by a sleigh ride seems like a perfect thing to do over the holidays.

Did you see the new D&B bags they are releasing? I saw them on the Disney parks blog-cute!

I'm nervous about your next update...after such a wonderful trip I hate to think that anything went wrong.

You don't have to be good at mini-golf to have fun with it! I stink, but I still enjoy myself

Yep, we should have had dinner first, then done the sleigh ride after dark - if we had done that, IT would have been perfect!

OH MY GOSH!!! Just went and checked out the new D&B bag - so cute!! I wonder if they'll still have them in a couple of months........

Hey this was a great great post! Loved all the photos and your tales of woe on TT !!! Le Cellier, I am right there with you! BUT I am right there with your DS, the Smores is my FAVORITE dessert I get it every every time! I LOVE it! How silly I know, but I cannot lie, I love it!

Ah, Italia! Tutto Italia! Que Buono! We have spent quite a bit of time in Italy. I was definitely Italian in a past life It is amazing country... in my PTR from last summer I slipped in some pics from our last trip... the Pavillion in the WS does a pretty good job!!! I haven't spent much time there myself! Good wine is totally worth it -- that would be a wonderful gift for sure!

Great update, and I know, I hate the last day packing blues, too...

Hope the rest of your evening pans out?!!

I will admit - I had a bite of the s'more, and yes, it was good!

Oh, I'll have to hit you up for advise when we plan our trip to Italy!!! Sadly, it will probably be awhile, we're thinking maybe for our 25th anniversary, which is still 6 years away....

Packing up on the last day is never any fun

Yep, I would have been pulling my hair out and fighting the urge to unbuckle my seatbelt if I had been you and stuck on Test Track!

Love the pictures of the Grand Floridian gingerbread house -- I can almost smell it!

Don was actually laughing at me getting irritated on TT, I just don't do well when things don't go according to plan, and using a FP for a 5 minute ride shouldn't take over an hour!

The smells from the gingerbread house shouldn't be allowed - we weren't the slightest bit hungry, yet there we were, buying gingerbread......

 

[kangaand2roos]

Subbing but I haven't read yet. Gonna go catch up, and see you in May!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Love the Grand pictures. Don't worry my 16 yr old still likes to spit in the water to see the fish eat it - gag!!

Great - even as they get older, they stay gross. So glad I have that to look forward to

Love the update and great pics....but, oh the suspense. I hope all turned out well!

Le Cellier is my absolute favorite too! Yum! Yum!

Thanks!

Love Le Cellier, eating there again in just over two months!!

Another fun day! Glad you got to walk on to a few. Sorry for the TT fiasco. Glad you were able to enjpy your yummy lunch. Oh boy, that sounded a for the next update.

Other than the 2nd ride on TT, it really was a great morning!

The evening??? Well.........

Hey! You could ask Don what the name of that wine was and if he asks, just say you need to put it in your trip report!!

Fantastic morning, although the TT trouble offset your good karma just a little.

LeCellier is LeYummy!!

And of course, how can you visit WDW at Christmas and NOT visit the Grand Floridian gingerbread house? I can almost smell it...


Kathy

Yeah, I had the same idea to ask Don the name of the wine and use my TR as an excuse - he can't remember either It was probably a Merlot, maybe if I just go in ask them for all of their $85 bottles of Merlot

The GF Gingerbread house was on the must see list for sure!

Great TR!! Subbing so I can read more later!

Thanks and

 

[marsa1969]

Great - even as they get older, they stay gross. So glad I have that to look forward to

Just think you have two boys.... Thank goodness my 2nd child is a girl! She is a girly girl tom boy though.

 

[praisehisname]

Yikes about getting stuck so long on TT!

Lunch sounded so good!

That's a great idea to surprise Don with the bottle of wine! Did you remember the name yet?

I'm a little worried about your dinner!

 

[harleyquinn]

Hi!

Stopping in to say that I've REALLY enjoyed reading your report. You have such a wonderful attitude.

But I have a question. DH and I are contemplating going to WDW with our DD who will be 17mo this year for the same week you were there. I've been trying to read every report I could find. To be honest I had pretty much decided to go in August instead, because of the crazy crowd pictures and reports, but your report has me rethinking it again. You park touring style seems similar to ours--go to rope drop and leave in the afternoon. Do you have any advice? Do you think that 2 WDW vets would have a great trip with a 17mo old and her stroller? We're either going to brave the heat in August or enjoy Christmas. What do you think?

 

[kangaand2roos]

OK...caught up! It's hard work keeping up with all of the TR's/PTR's of all of the people who will be at the Cava del Tequila meet in May!! But I'm caught up and also scared of the next installment!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Just think you have two boys.... Thank goodness my 2nd child is a girl! She is a girly girl tom boy though.

I know! I have way too much testosterone in this house! At least the dog is a girl though

Yikes about getting stuck so long on TT!

Lunch sounded so good!

That's a great idea to surprise Don with the bottle of wine! Did you remember the name yet?

I'm a little worried about your dinner!

No, I can't remember the wine, I'll just have to hope it hits me when I see it

Hi!

Stopping in to say that I've REALLY enjoyed reading your report. You have such a wonderful attitude.

But I have a question. DH and I are contemplating going to WDW with our DD who will be 17mo this year for the same week you were there. I've been trying to read every report I could find. To be honest I had pretty much decided to go in August instead, because of the crazy crowd pictures and reports, but your report has me rethinking it again. You park touring style seems similar to ours--go to rope drop and leave in the afternoon. Do you have any advice? Do you think that 2 WDW vets would have a great trip with a 17mo old and her stroller? We're either going to brave the heat in August or enjoy Christmas. What do you think?

Hello & thanks!

Hmmmm, stiffling heat of August or crowds of Christmas? Have you ever been when all the holiday decorations were out? The are truely worth seeing! I won't lie, it was crowded, but if you know what your doing and what you want to see, it's very doable. It got more crowded as the week went on, so we really focused early in the week on park time. Then later we used the arrive early/leave early strategy. It worked really well for us. As you've probably been able to tell from my report, early mornings were really a great time to get things done. There are so many other things to see and do outside of the parks, especially at Christmastime, that I think you can still have a great vacation without being in the parks from opening to close. Whatever you decide to do I'm sure you'll have a fabulous vacation!

OK...caught up! It's hard work keeping up with all of the TR's/PTR's of all of the people who will be at the Cava del Tequila meet in May!! But I'm caught up and also scared of the next installment!!

Hey! Thanks for stopping by! I know what you mean - I'm subscribed to so many reports right now, it's hard to keep up! It's fun though!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

All packed up, we changed our clothes and got ready for dinner. We took a bus to the MK and then walked over to the Contemporary. I loved the giant Mickey wreath on the outside of the building

We made our way inside and to our dining destination.

We were about 30 minutes early, but they were able to seat us anyway. We ordered our drinks and when our waiter returned with them we ordered our entrees. This is where things take a turn for the worse. Justin had ordered a milkshake and he had sucked it down in about 2 minutes flat. He got very quiet and said he needed to go to the bathroom. When he returned he had tears in his eyes and said his stomach hurt. I knew what was coming next, so I told him he better get back to the bathroom. He was gone quite awhile, so Don went to check on him, and sure enough he was throwing up. While they were gone our food arrived. Justin & I had ordered the seafood linguine, Don got the trout and Jared had kids pasta. Justin said he felt a little better, but didn't feel much like eating, he did pick out and eat some of his shrimp and he took a couple of bites of the pasta. I tried mine and was initially pretty disappointed, the sauce honestly tasted like they opened a can of Hunts tomato sauce and that was it. After a couple more bites I could taste the spice in it, but it was still disappointing. My meal was okay, just nothing special. Don said his fish was too fishy tasting, but he ate it all anyway (little foreboding here).

For dessert I got the "no sugar added sampler", it included chocolate mint mousse, fresh berries, and vanilla crème brulee. The dessert was very good, I gobbled that right up. Don got the creamy indulgence sampler, I don't remember what it was, but I do remember he said two of the three were good. Jared got a vanilla gelato sundae. Justin obviously skipped dessert. When we finished our meal, Justin said his stomach still hurt, but that it was getting better. We all stopped to go to the restroom on our way out of the restaurant.

When I came out, I found Justin sitting and watching television. Don & Jared were no where to be seen. Justin said they were still in the bathroom and that Jared was throwing up. Aggggg! I was so upset. I had planned and planned and planned some more for this trip and tonight was supposed to be one of the highlights, our meal hadn't been very good and everyone was sick - I was near tears!

When Don & Jared joined us I asked Jared how he was feeling and he said he wasn't sure. We decided to go for a walk outside in the fresh air and see if that would help. We walked around the marina and I took a couple of pictures.

Justin was feeling much better, Jared still wasn't so sure. We had some time to kill still, so we went in search of breath mints - my boys needed them! Don & Jared took a seat while Justin & I tried to find a store with mints. Of course, as long as I was walking around I might as well take some pictures, right?

Finally, with mints in hand we headed back to Don & Jared. Jared had the most pitiful look on his face, like he was certain he wouldn't last another second. Before I sound heartless, let me explain a little something about Jared. His mind is a powerful thing, he can make himself sick by thinking about it too much, I was certain that him throwing up was a direct result of him dwelling on the fact that Justin had. I gave him a mint and then explained to him that I had a surprise for them that night and that it was too late to cancel and it would cost us a lot of money for nothing if we didn't do it. He almost started crying and said he was sick. Crap! I still wasn't sure if he was really sick or not, but I could see that my surprise for the evening was definitely in some major jeopardy!

Justin needed to use the restroom, so I told Jared that I was going to take Justin to find a bathroom and then if he still didn't feel well we would leave. While Justin was in the bathroom I had a brilliant idea - this would tell me if Jared was really sick or not. I went back and told him that I had just walked through a really cool arcade and asked him if he wanted to play in there for a bit. Lo & behold the phantom illness left the child and he was ready play! I bought both boys a $5 card and told them we didn't have much time, so they would need to use it quickly. Best $10 I ever spent! I was so relieved that the night could go on as planned!

Once they emptied their game cards we headed back down to the marina to check in for our Wishes Cruise! We met our boat captain, his name was Allen, he fitted the boys with lifejackets and then we were on our way. Here we are, boarded and ready to go!

Allen was extremely knowledgeable and we loved talking to him throughout the ride. He took us over to what was once called Discovery Island, I think. It was a place where you could go and see a lot of wildlife and walk the trails. When they opened AK, the island was closed down and is now a bird sanctuary of sorts. He shined the light over towards the island and it was LOADED with birds, there had to be thousands of them. Allen said they came there to roost every night. Next we went over by Ft. Wilderness and he showed us the remains of River Country. He said that they will be cleaning up that area within the next year, removing all the remnants of the old water park and making the space usable again. After Ft. Wilderness we made our way over to the Wilderness Lodge where we stopped for awhile to watch the Electric Water Pageant.

We had never seen it before and the kids ooooed and aaaahhhhed and had fun seeing what would pop up next! Don peppered Allen with questions about how the barges are ran and the technical aspects of the parade. Allen was able to answer every question Don had. At one point during the ride I heard Don say to our captain that Disney was far and away the best service organization in the world - I about fell out of the boat! The Disney Grump was paying Disney a compliment????!!!!

Continued in the next post....

 

[SoonerGirl]

At about the time that the EWP was ending, the kids tummies were beginning to grumble and they both headed for the chips. I warned them not to eat too much, but they insisted that they were fine. It was now time to head over and get parked for Wishes. I tried to take some pictures, most of which didn't turn out worth a flip. I still hadn't figured out the best camera settings to use for fireworks, plus it was hard to be as still as I needed to be in a rocking boat, not to mention I took them all sitting down and the angle is crooked! Here are some that aren't too terrible.

We splurged for the cruise with sound, after all, what's Wishes without the music! And we all enjoyed it immensely! It's very different from watching the fireworks from Main Street and I wouldn't recommend it if you've never seen them from there, but if you've seen the show a few times already, this is a wonderful way to experience it in a whole new way!

All too soon it was time to head back to the Contemporary. As we disembarked Don gave me a little squeeze and said "you did good". I was so happy! Of course, he still doesn't know how much the cruise cost.........I think that will remain my little secret. Shhhhh!

We arrived back at the same time as the Pirates cruise and Allen as well as a CM from the Pirates cruise said that we were welcome to stick around and meet Peter Pan with the guests from their cruise, but we were cold and ready to head back to the resort so we didn't stay. I mentioned as we were walking back into the Contemporary that we could just take a cab back to the resort. Don said, 'let's just go over to the MK and take the bus'. Knowing that Wishes had just ended and that the bus lines could be crazy long, I said again "we could just take a cab back to the resort". Don smiled and said, ok we'll take a cab.

When we got back to POFQ Justin was starving and wanted to stop in the food court to eat, so we stopped and all sat there and enjoyed each others company while Justin ate his dinner. Then it was back to the room to get some sleep. I wanted to be up and gone early in the morning to get in as much as we could before we had to catch the ME bus back to reality!

 

[harleyquinn]

Great update!! So glad the boys felt better and the cruise was a success!!

Thanks for the advice too!

 

[marsa1969]

Awsome update! The wishes cruise looks like fun, plus you avoid the trouble of finding a place to watch in the MK. I'm sorry the meal wasn't good, I have alway heard great things about the Wave. Sorry the boys got sick!

 

[kangaand2roos]

OK, that was bad but not as bad as I expected! Sorry the kids were sick, but glad they recovered and you were able to enjoy your plans!

 

[BippityBoo]

UGH! I HATE tummy problems

My poor family has to deal with me asking if they feel ok and stopping them from eating too fast or too much when we are on vacation. There is NOTHING worse than that to destroy good plans. I am so glad that everyone recovered!! And so funny that you tried the arcade trick to see if your son was ok

Your Wishes cruise sound awesome!!! That is something I want to try when my kids get older.

And last...sooo sweet that your DH told you that you did good. Nothing better than that!