There's a Giraffe in my Stocking! A Mom/Daughter Christmas trip!

[jenseib]

great parade pictures!!!!

 

[LuvEeyore]

I love the pictures!! Looks like a great day.

I have some Amtrak questions. I am thinking of taking the train from Cary NC to Orlando roundtrip before the cruise. Do you and your daughter go in coach seats? How is the comfort? Did your trains arrive on time? If not, how late? How easy is the rental at Hertz in the train station? Are the cars there? We would arrive on a Friday and leave on the Fantasy on Saturday? Trying to decide if to stay in Orlando and go to a park Friday evening or just go to port and chill before leaving? Any suggestions?

 

[mousetravel]

I love the pictures!! Looks like a great day.

I have some Amtrak questions. I am thinking of taking the train from Cary NC to Orlando roundtrip before the cruise. Do you and your daughter go in coach seats? How is the comfort? Did your trains arrive on time? If not, how late? How easy is the rental at Hertz in the train station? Are the cars there? We would arrive on a Friday and leave on the Fantasy on Saturday? Trying to decide if to stay in Orlando and go to a park Friday evening or just go to port and chill before leaving? Any suggestions?

All the seats are coach, unless you decide to get one of the "rooms" which is very tiny and expensive. The seats were very roomy and comfortable, similar to plane seats, but better!

We have traveled twice on the Amtrak, and both times it ran a little late either coming or going. But it wasn't bad at all. Not sure if I mentioned it in this TR, but on this past trip, it was scheduled to leave from Columbia at 1:44am. Well, we were already halfway there, and they call with a message that the train is running late and will arrive around 3:15am!! But at least they did call, so we just went to McDonalds drive through, and tried to find an open WalMart or something! (no luck there) But again, really, it wasn't that bad.

The Hertz rental car place is very easy! The first time we took the train we went through Hertz, this past time we went through Enterprise downtown Orlando (just because they were cheaper). I found the Hertz people were WAY nicer than Enterprise and the process was a lot easier. Also, at the Hertz station, if you bring the car back after hours, they have some paperwork and a drop box where you can leave the keys, and info, etc. the cars are there at the station. they ahve their own parking spaces. VERY EASY!!!

Depending on what time the train arrives, you may have time to go to a park that Friday. Have you checked the schedule? What time does it arrive?

I'm also going to send you a PM of some questions (and my answers) where a Dis'er PM'd me some questions. Maybe that will help a little.

 

[mousetravel]

Parade Pics continued:

After the parade, DD wanted some ice cream, so while I stood in line, DD took some Fantasyland construction pics.

We got our ice creams and walked around for a bit.
I got mine is this cute souvenir ceramic keepsake:

We then decided to go eat at Cosmic Ray's:

Yep, ice cream before dinner!!!



Coming up: Night time comes too quickly at MK, and a couple of "first time" rides!!

 

[leshunlenese]

i love jambo house! but i am a wea bit jealous because i never say any characters in the lobby. Boma is so good but i want to try it for breakfast because waking up every morning with the scent from the buffet was so tempting

 

[jenseib]

I love the icecream before dinner idea...Dessert is VERY important! Of course..I am very overweight right now...so you might not want to listen to me....

 

[mousetravel]

..... i want to try it for breakfast because waking up every morning with the scent from the buffet was so tempting

I know what you mean!!!:

I love the icecream before dinner idea...Dessert is VERY important! Of course..I am very overweight right now...so you might not want to listen to me....

I LOVE ice cream!! Guess that's why it's a struggle for me losing weight. I can do without a lot of things, but NOT ice cream!

 

[mousetravel]

My night time pictures at MK didn't turn out too well, which they hardly do at night time anyway. I hope our photopass pics taken that night, turn out good. The photopass CD should be here any day now! (did the photopass share, so it's taking a little longer than just ordering it straight from Disney)

So for the first time ever we rode.........

Yes, this is the first time we have ever gotten the chance to ride the Carousel!! And it was walk on, no waiting in line!


The other first timer ride was the Astro Orbiter. I was real hesitant about riding it.
(I am slowly coming out of my "chicken-ness" on some of these rides!! )

I actually liked it though, and loved the view of the castle from there!

We took a few more pics on our way out:

Coming up: Another full day planned, with a "tour" around the resort, Cape May Cafe, and AK!!!

 

[mousetravel]

I recieved my photopass CD today!!

So, do ya'll remember previously on my TR, where my camera went crazy on some of my MVMCP pics? And I was really sad because the only character pics we got that night was Mickey & Minnie! Well, the photopass pics turned out good, so I though I'd go ahead and share those pics, then I'll put some more up later on:

 

[jenseib]

I think your night shots of the castle are great. I love that color!!!

Yay for photopass!

 

[Pinkocto]

Just got back in town so was behind on everything.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the parade pictures! And the castle looks so beautiful with the drippy lights all over. We never made it to MK at night. Must do another Christmas trip.

The Mickey and Minnie pics came out great! I love that new area. The icecream looks so delicious.

 

[mousetravel]

I think your night shots of the castle are great. I love that color!!!

Yay for photopass!

I'm so glad we decided to get the photopass CD! (Even better, saving money on it by doing the share!)

Just got back in town so was behind on everything.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the parade pictures! And the castle looks so beautiful with the drippy lights all over. We never made it to MK at night. Must do another Christmas trip.

The Mickey and Minnie pics came out great! I love that new area. The icecream looks so delicious.

Glad you're back!!

 

[mousetravel]

I woke up very early each morning at the AKL. I went out on the balcony with my "mini breakfast" (Mt. Dew & mini muffins...what a nutritious breakfast!) while I let DD sleep in.


This morning was a little different. I noticed several hot air balloons!!!

Each morning, I would get up first and finish getting ready, then wake DD up. So this morning I decided to tour around the resort a while, as I was waiting on her to get ready. And took a bunch of pictures, as usual.

Continuing in next post:

 

[mousetravel]

I headed back to the room to get DD, so we could make our way to the Beach Club for our breakfast at Cape May. We LOVE this place, and was so ready to finally get back there!

Loved the chocolatey decor here!!

We didn't have a lot of time upon arriving to take a lot of pics or really look around, but we'd stop back by here as we were leaving.



A few Christmas trees:

And cute decor at the buffet:

A couple of our food plates:

I love this place so much, definately for the food, but especially the character interaction.

A few more pics around the lobby before leaving:

DD loved the Ariel design on this horse!

We were finished up with our breakfast, so we headed out, taking a few pics of this beautiful resort:

Next up: Back to AKL for a bit, then off to AK!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

LOVE the Beach Club pics! That's where we're HOPING to stay for the Tower of Terror Race! And we thought we'd try breakfast at Cape May for the first time as well, so I loved seeing all the yummy food...can't wait to try it now! The characters were SO cute in their beach attire!

Looks like y'all had a great view from the balcony. Were you able to see many animals? The hot air balloons were cool...I can only imagine what the view would be like from up there!

 

[mousetravel]

LOVE the Beach Club pics! That's where we're HOPING to stay for the Tower of Terror Race! And we thought we'd try breakfast at Cape May for the first time as well, so I loved seeing all the yummy food...can't wait to try it now! The characters were SO cute in their beach attire!

Looks like y'all had a great view from the balcony. Were you able to see many animals? The hot air balloons were cool...I can only imagine what the view would be like from up there!

Hope ya'll do go to Cape May. That is DD's absolute favorite character dining place!!!

We had a great view, but since we were gone most of the day, we didn't see a whole lot from the balcony (except for a few here & there each morning, as I would get up about 7am). I think they were putting out food for the animals (mainly the giraffes) each morning, mostly on the other side from where we were. But when we would walk through our hallway, you know where the "lookouts" are in between the buildings? We always seen a bunch of giraffes and zebras there. So in the next post, I'll have some pics I got after we left Cape May and returned to AKL for a little bit, where we seen them from inside.

Those hot air balloons were so neat, to see them from the balcony!

 

[Pinkocto]

Was the carousel made entirely out of chocolate? I've heard that but not sure.

Love the pictures as usual

 

[partyof2]

I don't think I've ever seen pictures of the rooms at AKL before but WOW!! They are beautiful, the decor is absolutely amazing. I think it's now my dream resort.

 

[mousetravel]

Was the carousel made entirely out of chocolate? I've heard that but not sure.

Love the pictures as usual

I'm not really sure about he carousel. From what I've seen on the Travel Channel before, I think it is.

I don't think I've ever seen pictures of the rooms at AKL before but WOW!! They are beautiful, the decor is absolutely amazing. I think it's now my dream resort.

I loved the AKL! It has always been my dream resort! Even if I don't get to ever stay there again, I'll definately be going back to "tour" around again!!

 

[mousetravel]

After our breakfast at Cape May, we decided to head back to the resort before going to AK. We stopped on the way to our room, as we seen the giraffes from the hallway outlook area of the resort.

We went to our room and I decided to change clothes, and we headed out to AK!

We went back to Camp Mickey/Minnie. The lines were long, so we decided the main character we wanted a picture with would be Minnie!!

Love all the decor!

Did some more shopping:

We came upon Devine again!! We thought we were lucky, to have not only seen her once (for the first time), but twice!!

Coming up: Finishing up our day at AK!!


-More characters
-Another 1st time ride!
-A little magical moment with a guest
-And a wonderful surprise encounter as we end our day, returning to the resort!