The Double-and-a-half Trippie ** COMPLETED **

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We love the CP and are hoping Gary Sinise is there again over Christmas this year. No seat there is really that bad though and you managed to get great pics!

 

[Hedy]

The CP looks nice....we were going to do it, but my mom wasn't crazy about the celeb who was announced at the 6 month mark.

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Oh, it looks so cool! I love Gary Sinise. He's on a TV program here that I only watch for him.

I feel the same way about walking from the Poly to GF or to TTC...hahaha, I can walk! Spoiled for sure.

 

[DisneyTabby]

Great pictures! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[StephSalyer]

My son, Corey, was part of the choir at CP a couple of years ago. (His High School was chosen for 4 or 5 performances) After seeing CP it is now my all time favorite show at WDW. Awesome!

Thanks for the update, I had surgery a couple of weeks ago and reading your updates really cheered me up and put a smile on my face. I know I have said this before, but you are an incredible writer, for a little while today I felt as if I was actually there. Thank You!

Steph

 

[marivaid]

We love the CP and are hoping Gary Sinise is there again over Christmas this year. No seat there is really that bad though and you managed to get great pics!

So you're going back at Christmas, that's great ! Do you already know where you're staying ? Gary Sinise was there the past 3-4 years I think so hopefully he'll be back this year too. I hope we can be there, it's Grumpy's 60th and she already said she wants to spend it at the Poly

The CP looks nice....we were going to do it, but my mom wasn't crazy about the celeb who was announced at the 6 month mark.

Who was it ? When I first saw the list the only name I recognized was Kirk Cameron

Oh, it looks so cool! I love Gary Sinise. He's on a TV program here that I only watch for him.

I feel the same way about walking from the Poly to GF or to TTC...hahaha, I can walk! Spoiled for sure.

Is he in one of the CSIs or somethin ??
Yeap I love that spoiled feeling. No bus for us!

Great pictures! Can't wait to hear more.

Comin' up

My son, Corey, was part of the choir at CP a couple of years ago. (His High School was chosen for 4 or 5 performances) After seeing CP it is now my all time favorite show at WDW. Awesome!

Thanks for the update, I had surgery a couple of weeks ago and reading your updates really cheered me up and put a smile on my face. I know I have said this before, but you are an incredible writer, for a little while today I felt as if I was actually there. Thank You!

Aww Steph, you're so sweet !
Sorry to hear you had to have surgery Hope you're feeling better!
How did your son like being in the CP,any chance he got to meet the celebrity ?

 

[marivaid]

Christmas Eve !!
We have to leave the Beach Club

Grumpy doesn't quite grasp the concept of AP rates. When she woke up that day she said she was going to go to the front desk and see if we could stay for the next 3 days. After all it was only an extra $100 a day.

It saddened me but I had to explain to her that the cutoff for AP rates was December 23rd aka : last night. If we were to stay at the BC now, we'd have to pay rack rate. Something like $530 a night plus tax, if I remembered well.

Not gonna happen.
We tried not to cry as we packed ours stuff for the 3rd time and called Luggage Services.

We were going to Epcot that morning and would walk back to the resort when we were done, get our stuff, then take a cab to POFQ.

I don't know why we didn't at least TRY to get to Epcot for rope drop. We had done so few rides the past few days I had barely noticed the crowds.
To make things worse, we decided to take the boat to Epcot that morning insted of walking (we like the boat, okay??).

And then we had to cross half of World Showcase to make it to Future World.
Stopped to take photos of the tree because, you know, no rush... it's only Christmas Eve at Epcot.

We made it to The Land!
It was exactly 10.22am.




Soarin' was issuing Fastpasses for 3.30pm.



Honestly ? I was crushed. I knew we'd be either at POFQ or at MK by 3pm. Grumpy wanted to get FPs anyway. Why bother ?? Let the people who'll actually be there get them.

Standby time for Soarin was over 80mns.The other rides were no better. Test Track had a 70mns wait. I didn't pay attention to Mission Space because I knew Grumpy didn't want to do. Even Living with the Land had a 35mns wait !!!

The only thing that was doable was Ellen's Universe of Energy, a 20mns wait. So we went there. Good thing we like it ! Still, not my favorite ride.
When we came out, Test Track was down. Soarin' was now a 125mns wait.

Future Land was a bust. We went back to World Showcase, stopping at the smoking area close to the bridge first.

Waved to the monorail ...

Then we took our time and walked to Mexico. We had an ADR around 1pm at San Angel Inn, but since we had nothing else to do we wanted to check if they could seat us early.

Before going to the restaurant we checked the Mexico pavillion, and bought a few souvenirs. A T-Shirt with skeletons for Alex, a mini sombrero for me. Grumpy would have loved a tequila box set but we knew it wouldn't make it home in one piece. Can't have a bottle of that size in our carry-on luggage, and it wouldn't last 10mns in our duffle.

I noticed they were selling huge bags of Tostitos. Huh ? Tostitos ?? They have the same bags at Winn-Dixie !!! (I have a strange fascination for Winn-Dixie. Don't know why. I even carry the card with me every day here. It's the next best thing to a Green Card, as far as I'm concerned.)
It was just weird. Like selling Pringles at the America pavilion and passing them off as authentic, hard to find American items.

They let us in early at San Angel. We were given a table that was as far from the water as could be, but we still could see the temple.

(Bad pic, sorry.)

Our lunch was okay. Grumpy said her margarita was exactly the same she's had anywhere else on property. They gave us salsa and Tostitos with our drinks. Wasn't bad, but I find it kind of tacky to serve those in a real restaurant. The rest of the food was good, Grumpy really liked her dish. I picked something that was not a whole lot different or better than what the the CS outside serves though. Our server was indifferent at best, didn't come to check out if we needed refills or anything else.

All in all it wasn't a very memorable lunch, and I was still a bit peeved that we hadn't been able to ride Soarin'. Grumpy wanted to walk her tequila off so after we left the restaurant we went for a World Showcase walk.

I noticed a small crowd on the side of the "street" on our way out of Mexico.
DONALD !!!!! Even better, Caballero Donald !!!

We both LOVE Donald and got in line. It was our first time actually waiting in line to see a character. We were told Donald was going to leave for a break soon so we just snapped a couple pics of him & Grumpy fast so that the family behind us could get to see him too.
I was dying to ask Donald if they really had Tostitos in Mexico, but abstained.

We waved goodbye to the duck, telling him we'd see him tomorrow (we had an ADR at the new AK Donald breakfast). Seeing Donald put us in a better mood !

I wanted to go to the Norway pavilion and buy a sweater for my dad. He likes that stuff. Holy troll, those are mighty expensive sweaters !!!!!!! Now that I think of it, almost everything in the Norway shop was overpriced. The little wooden trolls were something like $25. We took a pic of the big one instead.

We finished off our tour, stopping here and there to take pics of things that caught our eye.

Then we exited through International Gateway and walked to the Beach Club for the last time (in 2007!).

Grumpy went to the Bell Services stand to retrieve our luggage while I gave one last try to get money out of my credit card. I really wanted to buy that windbreaker !!!
Nope. No money for me

My mom came to get me and we went outside to wait for our luggage and get a cab. A CM came over carrying a luggage cart that looked like it was about to collapse. Did we really have that much stuff ?? Next time, I'm taking a pic. Him and another CM sarted taking bets on whether they could stuff everything in a regular car or if they needed to call for a van.

It was slightly embarassing.

"Five bucks I can get everything in one car!"

And he did. With Grumpy's carry-on on the passenger seat, mine between us in the back, and the laptop bag on my lap. But we made it. That guy deserved his $20 !

Neither of us were thrilled about leaving the Beach Club, but unlike me Grumpy likes POFQ. I don't hate it, but I'd pick POP over it any day.

Recently I said in a POP thread that POP was like a huge dose of Vitamin C. Well, for me, POFQ is an extra-strength Advil.

Grumpy checked us in. We were given a room in building 1. It's on the "far" side, but nothing is really far at POFQ. The resort is small and compact.
We went to our room and did the usual get-pics-of-everything-before-there's-socks-and-bras-everywhere.

Grumpy said we should take a nap now as we intended to spend most of the night at MK. So we did. I had read that MK was usually "nice" on Christmas Eve, but after the Future World fiasco that morning I didn't know what to expect anymore.

How about 25mns to cross Main Street ?

But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Grumpy might disagree with me on that point though. She still calls it "the night where I almost died."

 

[Hedy]

25 minutes to cross main street?

 

[StephSalyer]

Aww Steph, you're so sweet !
Sorry to hear you had to have surgery Hope you're feeling better!
How did your son like being in the CP,any chance he got to meet the celebrity ?


My son LOVED being in CP! His favorite celebrity he performed with was John Stamos. He said that he was the most friendly. I cannot remember who the other 2 were. (John Stamos was the narrator for 2 of the performances.) We have also been able to see Corey march down Main Street with his High School marching band. Very cool!

 

[DisneyTabby]

What a nightmare!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see how your night turned out.

 

[CPer'sMom]

we decided to take the boat to Epcot that morning insted of walking (we like the boat, okay??).

Glad to hear you like the boats! My DD spent 7 months as a FB captain during her college program and loved it She worked with great people and all the CPs were treated so well ~~

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Your mom is so funny..."the night that I almost died"! Love it as a description!

 

[marivaid]

After a good nap, we were ready to hit Magic Kingdom again. And do some rides, for a change !!

We made it to Magic about an hour before the first SpectroMagic parade. To say the park was crowded would be the understatement of the century!! We did manage to find a space on the floor. After seeing the MGM parade close up, I insisted we try to do the same thing for Spectro. So we found a space and sat. And waited.

There was a couple in front of us, in their late 60s I'd say, who had on matching "anniversary" T-Shirts. The lady was all the way up front and had her legs stretched in front of her, but apparently that wasn't enough space for her because she kept pushing back into us. It was a bit annoying but not exactly torture, either, so we didn't say anything.
We'd been there for a good 20mns when a bunch of people wearing the same matching shirts came up to the couple. They proceeded to squeeze themselves in, which meant everyone behind them got squished too. But we all still fit, although it was definitely not very comfortable.
Then 10mns before the parade was due to begin, half a dozen more of their "party" showed up. And squeezed themselves in again. One little boy was told to sit next to Grumpy, who barely had enough space to sit cross-legged. The kid literally sat on her.

We'd had it. Grumpy got up first, saying her back hurt too much to sit like this any longer. She went to stand in the back instead. I tried to stay for a bit but didn't last long. That was just way too much contact.

Grumpy stayed in the back, just in front of the rope, but I told her I was done, s.... that stupid parade, I'm going shopping.

I was in the Emporium when the parade started. Grumpy was watching. Later she told me she'd started to chat with a couple and their 4 year old kid. They'd been waiting for almost an hour. Just as the floats started coming up Main Street, the little boy announced that he had to go #2.
With those crowds, by the time they came back, they had missed most of it
She also told me that the entire anniversary party stood up and blocked everyone's view for the entire thing. Lovely people.

I did come out at some point and tried to get a couple shots.

Okay, one.

Grumpy joined me and said we should try & go towards the castle, and get our spot at my "secret" location. Easier said than done !!! We went through the shops for most of Main Street but at some point we did have to come out.
We had to wait until the floats were all past the castle then a CM waved to us and we crossed the street.

My "secret location" was not mobbed at all. Grumpy agreed that this was an awesome spot !!

We waited for Wishes and I took some more pics of the lit up castle, you know, because I had only taken a hundred or so the last time

Wishes was once again amazing. We got to see Tinkerbell fly over us, and from that spot no one can block your view.

A little boy standing next to us was in awe. But he didn't quite get what he was watching. When Tinkerbell flew over us he yelled "MOMMYYYY it's SUPERMAN !!!!!". When the fireworks started going off he yelled "Spaceships! SPACESHIPPPPPPPS !!!!". When one of them failed to make a big enough noise he remarked "That spaceship didn't go pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff".

Everyone around him, including the parents, were cracking up. That little boy was so cute !!!! He may have thought Tinkerbell was Superman, but he was definitely enjoying the magic !

Now, where is that spot, you ask ? I'm getting there.

Wishes lasts about 20mns and had started at 9pm. We had a 9.40 ADR at Crystal Palace, which was literally accross the street from us.
Plenty of time, right ?

The blue circle is the "secret location". The pink one is Crystal Palace.

When people first started exiting after Wishes, it went okay. We were almost on Main Street (right behind the pop corn thing), when suddenly no one could move anymore. Okay, it'll just take a few minutes, I thought. Maybe there's an ECV trying to go through or something.

Ten minutes later we were still there.

One guy mooed. Another started trying to sell peanuts

At least no one got angry. Everyone was relatively "relaxed", as much as could be expected. The ones that were towards the front yelled to explain to us poor folks in the back what was going on. First, the path was full of abandonned strollers. And people had started to sit on the floor for the 2nd Spectro parade, which made it extremely difficult for anyone to move.

We made the best of it and started chatting with the people who were sharing our personal bubble, just talking about which parks we'd all been to and where we were doing the next day.

Finally we saw some flashlights and then people started moving. It was still slow, but we made it to Main Street.
I managed to squeeze myself through, but when I turned around, Grumpy was GONE !

Now I know my mother isn't a kid, but she ain't much taller than one, and has the sense of direction of a carrot. So I panicked a bit. Finally I heard a gargling sound that was a bit familiar. What I saw next, I'll probably remember forever.

Grumpy was squeezed between 2 huge guys. She was literally smashed like a crepe between them. I tried not to laugh but it was hilarious. Didn't help that Grumpy saw me looking at her, made one of her silly faces with her tongue hanging out like a dog's. As if she was being crushed between two walls, which she kinda was.

She broke free of the "embrace" and ran to meet me.

"Help, help, they're trying to kill me !!!! Protect your Grumpy!!!!"

We made it to Crystal Palace. Us and 300 of our closest friends.
I looked at the time on my cell phone before getting in line to check us in.
9.45pm.

It had taken us 25mns to cross Main Street.

We were escorted to our table soon, and met our server, Paul. We asked for some water right away as we were both parched.

Crystal Palace is one of our favorite restaurants in WDW, we've done lunch and breakfast there but it was our first time trying dinner. We ate like PIGS ! Maybe it was the near-death experiment for Grumpy, or maybe we were just hungry because we had lunch before noon and it was now almost 10pm. Either way, we got our money's worth.

The characters were awesome, too !

(Yes I bought that top for Grumpy at Walmart. No, she'll never wear it again.)

I had to try the desserts even though I rarely like them. Grumpy got her favorite, apple crumble, and went back for seconds. I saw a pink cake and had to try it, because it was pink of course.

It tasted like bubble bath. Paul asked me if I was done, I said yes and when he asked why I didn't like the bath cake, I told him.

"But how do you know what bubble bath tastes like?"

I was stunned. Doesn't everyone drink their bath water ??? I drank mine 'til I was in my teens. No not the WHOLE tub, but enough to know that this cake tasted like Mr Bubbles.
Paul seemed a little disturbed by that.

It was now time to leave CP and go do some rides !

Bye, Pooh & Friends. See you soon !!

Compared to what it was like earlier, Main Street looked like a desert. We went to Tomorrowland and walked right on Buzz, then Laugh Floor Comedy Club and Stitch (not the best idea after a big meal). Carousel of Progress was still open and we went on that too. Can't get enough CoP !!
And we finished by a nice ride on the TTA.

We then headed back, with a stop at the Emporium where we bought the baby Pluto in a blanket for my sister, and a Thumper for my bunny-crazy cousin.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom.

We got on a nearly empty bus and were back at POFQ a little before 1am.
BEDS !!!!!

I was starting to fall asleep when Grumpy turned around in her bed and said

"I could have died, you know!!!"

Sure. Night, Grumpy. Merry Christmas.

 

[SeptemberGirl]

What a fun, crazy, sweet way to spend Christmas Eve!

 

[Hedy]

Poor Grumpy.

 

[IloveDMB]

Just wanted to let you know I love your trip reports. I am so bad on commenting on them, though.

Thanks for continuing!

 

[CPer'sMom]

Wonderful update! AND it's just about time for your next trip ~ I hope you all have a great time and that the 2 newbies start to understand your love of Disney!! May you have much come your way!

 

[marivaid]

What a fun, crazy, sweet way to spend Christmas Eve!

It was the best Christmas Eve ever

Poor Grumpy.

Don't feel too sorry for her She's a tough cookie.

Just wanted to let you know I love your trip reports. I am so bad on commenting on them, though.

Thanks for continuing!

Thank you I love reading comments from everyone !!

Wonderful update! AND it's just about time for your next trip ~ I hope you all have a great time and that the 2 newbies start to understand your love of Disney!! May you have much come your way!

Only 2 more days !! I can't wait. But the newbies are even more excited than us

 

[marivaid]

Christmas morning. We had planned to go to Animal Kingdom. We even had a reservation at Donald's new character breakfast. At 10am. But after last night Grumpy told me she wanted to cool off instead.

Around 8am I made an effort and called Dining to cancel our reservation. It was Christmas day, surely someone would grab it soon. Then I went back to sleep.

Grumpy woke up first, around 10, and went to get us breakfast. Cinnamon roll for her, beignets for me. Yum-mo.

She went to the pool while I got ready, but I was sooooo slow and lazy that morning we didn't make it out of the room before 1pm !!!! And mostly because Housekeeping called and asked if we would require our room done today. Grumpy told them yes and told me to get my butt moving.

We walked to the boat dock at POFQ and got the boat to Downtown Disney.

Here's Grumpy pretending to fall in the water

The boat ride is nice. We saw the TreeHouses, well I didn't know what they were then, only found out on the DIS a few weeks later

When we got to DTD we went straight to World of Disney. We spent over an hour in the store and bought NOTHING. The place was packed, and there's just too much stuff,it's overwhelming. Then we went to check out Mickey Mart, but they didn't have any good stuff anymore. We spent some time at the Christmas store. The ornaments there are amazing. We wanted to buy the whole store Grumpy fell in love with a Christmassy mug but we couldn't take it back, we had no space in our carry-ons

We took a break and had lunch at Wolfang Puck Express. The food was soooo good. Grumpy had their spinach pizza and I had the four-cheese macaroni. Even Grumpy who hates mac'n'cheese thought it was delicious.
It was, however, way too much food. We ate late, around 2pm, and we had a 5PM ADR at Spoodles that night!

That sign at WPE cracks me up !!!!

I wanted to go to Basin. Grumpy wasn't interested... then she entered the store. We left with $70 worth of soaps, bath salts and loofahs. The amount of choices is incredible !!!

Last stop for me was the crystal shop. I wanted a little crystal Stitch. They didn't have any Only a really big one and I didn't like it. No Grumpy. No Goofy. Only Mickey & Minnie, which I like, but are not my favorites.

It was about 4pm then. I called and tried to get a later ADR for Spoodles but it was booked solid.

So, although we were not one bit hungry we took the bus to the Boardwalk anyway.

You know, I didn't enjoy our stay at the Boardwalk much, but I still have to admit that resort is mighty impressive.

They have a Gingerbread carousel in the lobby, with Donald and Daisy. Very cute !!!! Cuter than the Beach Club's, I think.

We went to check in at Spoodles. The first thing I asked was if Wayne was working. On our first trip, we had celebrated Grumpy's birthday at Spoodles and had the best server ever, Wayne. He's SO funny and energic, we just fell in love with him. He was the reason why we wanted to go back to Spoodles, but we had no idea if he'd be working that night.

"Is Wayne working tonight ??"
"Yes I believe he is."

(Insert screams of joy here)

"Can we please please be in his section ? We'll wait."

The girl thought it was a bit weird that we were willing to wait 30mns to have "our" server, but she gave us a pager and told us to take a seat.

Grumpy sat. I went into Sweet Sensations to pick some candy. They have PURPLE M&Ms there !! I've never seen purple M&Ms before. I don't even like M&Ms, but if they come in purple, I gotta have me some.

I hadn't been in the store for 5minutes when Grumpy came in, yelling at me to get moving because our pager was beeping. I put my half-done bag down, planning to pick up where I left off after dinner.

Wayne's here !!!!

"Good evening, welcome to..."

He stops talking and looks at us.

"... I know you ladies ! You were sitting in a booth right there... and it was YOUR (points to Grumpy) birthday! And you're from France!"

Wayne recognized us !!!!!!!!! We were so happy.


He starts chatting with us like we've known each other forever. We ask how he's been and learn he came to Germany to visit his son a few months back. He wasn't far from us at all !

Wayne & Grumpy

Comes the time to order. Grumpy wants sangria. Just one glass she says. Wayne tells us we'd be better off with the pitcher, but I hate the taste of alcohol, and I tell him if we buy the pitcher Grumpy will drink it and I'll have to carry her home.

I didn't like the food there the last time but this time it was great ! We shared the steak kebabs , and they were nice enough to not only serve it on separate plates but to cook the kebab differently. Grumpy likes her meat rare, I will only eat mine if it looks like charcoal.

Of course Grumpy needs another glass of sangria to finish her meat
That means now we have about an hour until she crashes.
And I want to go to Epcot !!!

We say goodbye to Wayne, and I go to Sweet Sensations again to buy the purple M&Ms, plus a selection of jelly beans for my sister. When she sees that you can buy jelly beans by the flavor, Grumpy declares she wants a whole bag of coconut ones. We end up spending almost $30 on candy !!!

Isn't the Boardwalk area gorgeous at night ?

Then we get on the boat to Epcot. We have no idea what awaits us there. Chaos ?? Will we even be able to enter ?

We don't want to stay for Illuminations, but we do want to see the Christmas decorations by night. They were amazing last year.

Well, I don't know how it's possible, but Epcot didn't feel crowded one bit. We walked from International Gateway to the Plaza where they set up the Christmas tree, and we were not disappointed.

My favorite part of the Holiday decorations at Epcot is the lightning on the bridge. It's even better if you can manage to see right through the middle up to the Christmas tree. That part of Epcot was a bit more crowded than World Showcase, so I couldn't spend much time taking pics.

We walked the rest of the way and stopped at MouseGear. All week long we'd been trying to find something for Granny besides the umbrella. We'd gotten her a couple things at Basin but it wasn't very Christmassy.

Granny is not a character fan. We bought her Mickey/Minnie stuff on every trip and she has not worn any of them even once. She does love her Disney bear though.

So we went through all MouseGear and again, didn't find a thing for her. We picked up a few things for other people though, and when we went to pay, I saw the sign I'd been seeing all week that said you could get a fleece throw for $10 if you spent $50 or more.

"Get her the throw !!!!"
"The what ???"

She has no idea what a "throw" is. Blanket, Grumpy. It's a blanket.
Granny always says she's cold. And she loved it. She spent the whole winter wrapped in that throw, every night while watching TV. Here's ten bucks well spent !

It was time to say goodbye to Epcot. We knew we wouldn't come back this trip, and wouldn't get to see it all Christmassed up for at least a year.

We only had one more day and I was starting to feel sad. Not only because we were leaving Disney, but I had been in Florida for over 2 months by then and really had no desire to leave. Even Grumpy felt a little sappy

"I can't believe we only have one more day here. I really don't want to go back home !!!! Why can't we stay here forever?"

On the bus back to Port Orleans, we started planning our April trip.
Christmas wishes always come true.

 

[Hedy]

Great Boardwalk pics! and thank you-I'd been having name retreval issues re Sweet Sensations!