Visting the Big Apple and the Big Cheese, for the Holidays! December 2010

[disneybarbie]

Great update! I just love your Boardwalk view from your room - keep posting all the pics you took! You got so much done at AK; I'm impressed! I've only ever been at AK when it's felt like about 120 degrees, so we never do that much.

So funny to see the plants covered up in the cold - it must have been really chilly!

yes it was so strange to see the plants covered.. something I'd never thought about suffering in the cold! .. in Epcot, entire topiaries were covered (like the Christmas Mickey & Minnie at the entrance to World Showcase)

I know people complain that Animal Kingdom is the hottest park.. but after being in there twice now on chillier days.. I won't mind at all when we go in June & it's 90 degrees + ! ... Kali River Rapids was closed for most of the time we were there.. not that I can imagine anyone would have wanted to go on it! brrr

oh, i can't wait to hear how the surprise goes!

love all the pics- and yes, it was so darn cold, i couldn't believe it. Isn't the WL gorgeous. I think it is more crowded in the lobby during the holidays because a lot of guests not staying there come to eat or see the tree and hotel.

Looks like you had a great time at the AK too and got so much done in a short time! it was funny, we took the safari about 9:30am or so and were afraid there would not be many animals out, but there were more than usual!

Can't wait to read the rest- great photos!!! i love all the BW balcony ones too- i would have taken a bazillion from my room overlooking, since you had such a great view!

Thank you for reading along! ... it was quite nice that the safari was so different in the cooler temps... we didn't see any elephants though .. and they are my favourites!

Great photos. I really like your pink jacket. I never ate at Whispering Cannon Cafe but that Skillet sounds yummy. OOO excited to hear about the surprise....

thank you! I actually bought that coat last April/May.. it was on sale for £25 (about $40!).. I knew I wanted a really bright coat to take to NYC.. didn't think I'd be needing it in Disney too!

Monday December 13th, I was in Animal Kingdom that morning too. We spent the EMH time on the trails by the Tree of Life, and had Breakfast at the RainForest Cafe at 8:45. We may have seen each other.

oh we might have seen each other! I think PRMamiEdos was at AK that morning too

Sounds like you guys had a productive day at AK! I'm glad i am hearing all these good reviews for Yak and Yeti counter service. I havebeen wanting to try it! I can't wait to hear how the surprise turns out!

we were really pleased we chose Y&Y counter service.. our favourite at AK is Flame Tree BBQ, and it was hard not choosing that! Someone actually came up to us while we were eating and asked "where did you buy that rice from?" lol

Looks like you had a great day at AK, some great shots on the safari

So Whispering Canyon was a hit with Steve? Food looks delish

yup Whispering Canyon Cafe was a hit! we both played along with our server & the jokes.. like when she was putting down the little napkins that go under drinks, she was just throwing them down and they were going all over the table and floor! it's a really fun place, with lovely food too... we really liked the pulled pork, chicken & the bread


update coming soon!

 

[disneybarbie]

We arrived at Fort Wilderness, and got off at the first bus stop.. I think it was called the Outpost.. and went inside the building which was like the check-in area.

Steve went to the restrooms, which gave me time to ask a cast member where we needed to go for ….. a sleigh ride!!
Unfortunately, we were in completely the wrong place… but, the CM arranged for someone to drive us to Crockett’s Tavern!


I’m so glad he did that, it was much further away than I’d imagined… Fort Wilderness is huge!!

So.. I then tell Steve what the surprise was… he said it was ‘a bit random’ ! and then said he thought I’d planned a Wishes fireworks cruise (we now have one of those booked for honeymoon

We met our driver & horse…. Ralph

We got up onto the carriage, and wrapped ourselves in the blanket provided.

This was by far the coldest evening of the vacation, it must have been in the low 40s or near freezing.. we were very, very cold . Because of this, it was quite hard to fully enjoy the sleigh ride… Steve said afterwards that he didn’t really like it …. I enjoyed seeing the decorations, and a part of WDW that I’d never seen before …. But maybe the ‘haunted carriage rides’ would be better.. milder weather too!

At one point, we had to stop – as Ralph needed a bathroom break – we realised then that he was wearing a nappy (diaper) !!


The way people decorate their trailers & camp sites is fantastic though!

(also.. due to the movement of the carriage, it was very hard to take good photos!)

Our driver told us that people can stay at Fort Wilderness for up to 6 months, and they get a lot of snow birds.

After the chilly sleigh ride, we said goodbye to Ralph.. and got a bus back to the Out Post… then another bus to Downtown Disney….

We got off the bus at the Marketplace, and walked along to Team Mickey shop for Steve to have a look at the sportswear & NFL things.

We were both quite cold & tired by this time, so we got a bus back to the Boardwalk – and headed to bed.

Emma x

 

[klacey1]

Sounds like a nice day! I love all of your pictures of the Christmas decor! WCC looks so yummy-- we can't wait to eat there on our next trip! Sorry the sleigh ride wasn't a huge hit with Steve-- maybe if the weather was better. I didn't know they did Halloween rides?! That sounds really fun!

 

[stephielela]

Sorry the sleigh ride wasn't as great as you had hoped. It's hard for me to imagine a sleigh ride without snow. But a haunted carriage ride does sound fun. I would love to do a Wishes cruise. We did the Pirates and Pals and that was great, but without kids I'm not sure it would be as fun.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

oh we might have seen each other! I think PRMamiEdos was at AK that morning too

Yes, I can vouch that PRmamiDEdos was at AK that day. This was our first meeting.

 

[Dugette]

Hi there! I've been enjoying your TR, but haven't posted until now. Just had to tell you that we had a very similar day to you on that Monday. Spent the day at AK and...strangely enough...went on a sleigh ride at Ft. Wilderness at 8:30pm that night! I think we showed up a bit early for it, so we probably just missed you guys! I can vouch for how COLD it was that night...thank goodness for the nice, cozy blanket they had in the sleigh. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[Stefy]

Sorry it was as expected on the carriage ride, but it sounds and looked like it was fun and thank goodness you had that blanket

I have heard about the trailers being decorated at Christmas, is a sight to see

 

[Swalphin]

That was a nice update, it was sooo cold that day yikes. WL looks beautiful I need to check it out one of these days. How sweet the sleigh ride looked, I remember seeing that on the Travel Channel maybe a Samantha Brown special not sure. The trailers look like they are very festive. I wonder where you will go the next day?

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I’m not sure if it was the cold weather, but my eyes were streaming by the end of the ride

Probably the ride. Mine did the same when we rode that night.

We returned to Everest to use our Fast Passes.. this time, we asked the CM at the front of the queue if we could possibly have the front row… he smiled, and said “just stand over here”.. we stood in a little standby line.. and in a few minutes, we were in the front row of the train!
Really like the front of EE as you can see so much of WDW when you get to the top.. and also the track section rotating when you switch from moving backward to forward!

I was in the 3rd row at one point, but I think it would be too freaky to be up front. I'll get over it and do it one day. Maybe in June.

Monday December 13th, I was in Animal Kingdom that morning too. We spent the EMH time on the trails by the Tree of Life, and had Breakfast at the RainForest Cafe at 8:45. We may have seen each other.

I think we all missed each other at some point. LOL I'm pretty easy to miss in a crowd since you have to look down to find me.

Yes, I can vouch that PRmamiDEdos was at AK that day. This was our first meeting.

Stop stalking me! LOL

 

[disneybarbie]

Sounds like a nice day! I love all of your pictures of the Christmas decor! WCC looks so yummy-- we can't wait to eat there on our next trip! Sorry the sleigh ride wasn't a huge hit with Steve-- maybe if the weather was better. I didn't know they did Halloween rides?! That sounds really fun!

yes WCC was really nice food.. we enjoyed being in the quieter area but I bet the main dining room is a lot of fun!

The 'Haunted Carriage Rides' are similar but would be all the Halloween decorations at FW, and I believe a narration is played of someone telling ghost stories (we had Christmas music on our sleigh ride )

Sorry the sleigh ride wasn't as great as you had hoped. It's hard for me to imagine a sleigh ride without snow. But a haunted carriage ride does sound fun. I would love to do a Wishes cruise. We did the Pirates and Pals and that was great, but without kids I'm not sure it would be as fun.

hehe yes maybe it was missing snow! We did an Illuminations Cruise as a surprise for DF's family (as well as a mini DIS meet with MrsDisneyB2B!) in 2009, and it was fantastic - one of the best things I've ever experienced in WDW... so we're really looking forward to the Wishes one this year

Hi there! I've been enjoying your TR, but haven't posted until now. Just had to tell you that we had a very similar day to you on that Monday. Spent the day at AK and...strangely enough...went on a sleigh ride at Ft. Wilderness at 8:30pm that night! I think we showed up a bit early for it, so we probably just missed you guys! I can vouch for how COLD it was that night...thank goodness for the nice, cozy blanket they had in the sleigh. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

Hi! Thanks for reading along... how funny that we had such similar days!! .. we did see another sleigh ride when we were on ours, and said "Happy Holidays" to each other... was that you?!

ps - going over to read your TR now... and I love your DIS name! Up is such a wonderful movie ... squirrel!

Sorry it was as expected on the carriage ride, but it sounds and looked like it was fun and thank goodness you had that blanket

I have heard about the trailers being decorated at Christmas, is a sight to see

Yup the decorations were really amazing, people must take so much time & effort to design and put them all up each year!

I quite liked the sleigh ride & would recommend people to try it out.. it was very festive.. ours just suffered from being the coldest night (on record, I believe?!) in Orlando!
I think Steve felt it a bit awkward that we were riding by peoples' trailers/cabins.. sometimes you could see inside and people were sat (in the warm) watching tv/eating meals! ... maybe I shouldn't have made it a surprise, so he had more idea what to expect; also, during dinner he'd said "oh its EMH at Magic Kingdom tonight.. we could go there for an hour or so?"

That was a nice update, it was sooo cold that day yikes. WL looks beautiful I need to check it out one of these days. How sweet the sleigh ride looked, I remember seeing that on the Travel Channel maybe a Samantha Brown special not sure. The trailers look like they are very festive. I wonder where you will go the next day?

WL was a beautiful resort, I was so glad we got to visit it this trip - we did a lot of resort hopping actually! I need to upload more photos but will get on with the next update soon


Emma x

 

[irishdancer86]

Wow another totally full but really lovely day! I think I'd be the same wanting to enjoy the banter of whispering canyon without being directly involved in it!

Loved seeing photo's of the christmas decorations at the resort, I'm listening to lots of disunplugged at the moment and they had talked about the chocolate carousel, so cool!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Your pictures of the Boardwalk in the morning are so beautiful! It's making me want to stay there so badly. I can't wait to check out the area on the Disneymoon!

I'm sorry to hear the sleigh ride wasn't quite what you expected. I'm sure the cold made it pretty difficult to enjoy. It's neat seeing how people decorate their campsites, though. I never knew people could stay there for up to six months!

 

[disneybarbie]

Wow another totally full but really lovely day! I think I'd be the same wanting to enjoy the banter of whispering canyon without being directly involved in it!

Loved seeing photo's of the christmas decorations at the resort, I'm listening to lots of disunplugged at the moment and they had talked about the chocolate carousel, so cool!

yes I think we had the 'best of both worlds' at Whispering Canyon Cafe.. we had a fantastic waitress who was really into her role, but we weren't picked on or made to run around for ketchup!
I think all the resort decorations are so beautiful.. it's another reason to visit during the holiday season I guess!

Your pictures of the Boardwalk in the morning are so beautiful! It's making me want to stay there so badly. I can't wait to check out the area on the Disneymoon!

I'm sorry to hear the sleigh ride wasn't quite what you expected. I'm sure the cold made it pretty difficult to enjoy. It's neat seeing how people decorate their campsites, though. I never knew people could stay there for up to six months!

Hi Courtney, hope you love the Boardwalk when you visit during honeymoon! (in 19 weeks!!)

6 months in WDW.. that would be amazing



Time for another update.. sorry I've neglected this for a few weeks.. it's been soo busy at work & weekends have been full of wedding planning & going out places!

 

[disneybarbie]

Tuesday 14th December

Today we were headed to Epcot – it was an extra magic hour morning, so we got up at 7am.. got ready, then wandered around the Boardwalk to the international gateway.

The weather had definitely turned cold.. we were both wearing 3-4 layers and.. gloves! In Florida!

Unfortunately at the turnstiles, my annual pass wouldn’t work .. I think it had got demagnetised from my camera – so I had to go to guest relations for a new card, luckily there was no queue though so after a few minutes we were strolling through an empty world showcase.

First ride of the day had to be … Soarin’ !

We joined the main stream of people (who had entered from the front of the park) and went inside The Land pavilion.

I like how all the cast members in the pavilion are waving & saying ‘good morning’ here.

We waited about 5 minutes in line, but were soon soaring over California – we got the front row too! The lady next to me insisted on talking all the way through the ride .. “oh that’s Malibu… I love this part… can you smell the oranges.. Disneyland!”

We got fast passes as we exited, and then headed over to Test Track.

This was a walk-on.. they weren’t even showing the pre-show!


We wandered back to The Land pavilion, and rode ‘Living with the Land’ .. we both love this boat ride as each summer we (try to) grow various vegetables & fruit in our garden!

...

 

[disneybarbie]

...

We stopped for breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, we had coffees & fruit cups.

Then it was time for…

Soarin’ again!

Middle row this time, but no one sat next to me doing a running commentary .. I mentioned to Steve about the Mickey Mouse on the golf ball – and this time he saw it!


After Soarin’, we walked over to the Imagination Pavilion.

It was time to see a 3D show that I’d not seen since 1993…

Captain EO!

I could hardly remember a thing about this.. just lots of dancing, some fury little aliens & Michael Jackson.

I enjoyed the pre-show, and that the entire building has been rethemed & decorated for EO, no sign of ‘Honey I Shrunk The Audience’ anywhere.

The actual show was.. very dated! But I love that Disney has brought this back as a tribute to Michael Jackson… and I’m excited to see what happens next at this pavilion.. maybe now that Kodak have pulled out their sponsorship, it’s time for a new show/ride/exhibit?


After saving the world with MJ, we headed to Innoventions to look round.

I’d heard the ‘Great Piggy Bank Adventure’ was very good, but – as Steve works in a bank & I’m an accountant.. we didn’t really want to do an attraction about money & savings! I had wanted to see the ‘Sum of All Thrills’ attraction, but that must have been in the other Innoventions building – hope to check this out next time.

Stopping to look at the fountains..

Next we went to Mouse Gear to buy some souvenirs & Christmas presents. We had one of the 20% off coupons which made a really good saving, and we had the items sent back to the Boardwalk so that I didn’t have to carry them around with us.


By now it was just after 11am, so we headed to World Showcase.

Despite the cold, it really was a beautiful day!


We went to Canada first and saw the ‘O Canada’ circle-vision show, I’ve always loved this & even more now with the Martin Short narration.. and I can’t help singing along to the theme song at the end!

We decided to have an early lunch as our dinner reservation was at 5pm tonight.. so we wandered around to Mexico to try the new Cantina de San Angel.

We got the chicken tacos & tortillas to share..

I thought the food was really good, a little more pricey than other counter-service restaurants but it tasted delicious.

There are a lot of birds still around this area.. we saw one family leave because their son was so scared of the birds! I wish people would stop feeding them.. some of the storks & sea gulls are really big.


After lunch, we explored a few more pavilions – like China..

We spent some time in the shop, so much to see in there.. plus it was very warm!


Next to Germany, we went into Karamel Kuche.. it was very very busy, but smells amazing!

We decided to see the American Adventure.. and just caught the end of the Voices of Liberty.

(obviously we sat on the wrong side of the room!)

I liked the Hannukah display..

We both really enjoy the American Adventure show, I love how patriotic it is.. especially during the ‘Golden Dream’ song near the end.


After the show, we decided to head back to the Boardwalk to rest for an hour or two before we headed back out for the evening.

 

[Swalphin]

Emma,
That was a great update. How nice is it to just be able to walk on over to Epcot in the morning,
I am impressed you ate outside it was brutal that day. The birds can be very pushy. I did not try the new counter serivce at Mexico, I wanted to I love Mexican dh not so much.
You sure did get quite a few rides on Soarin! I made a video last time I rode, very discreetly. It really is fun to watch at home, a little Disney fix.
Thanks for the update.

 

[disneybarbie]

After resting for a while in our room, and speaking to Steve’s parents & sister on Skype – it was time to head out to dinner.

We got a bus to the Magic Kingdom,

Approaching the Magic Kingdom..

and then the boat to the Polynesian..

Just as we approached the dock, there was a boat leaving.. but the CM saw us & stopped moving so we could jump on!

Although it was very cold, I’m glad we took the boat – we saw some beautiful views across the lake of Magic Kingdom and the resorts.

We particularly liked seeing the Grand Floridian .. the resort we’ll be staying at for part of our honeymoon!

After a stop at the GF, we made it to the Polynesian Resort.

Neither of us had been here before but I’d heard such great things about it. We wandered through to the Grand Ceremonial Hall..

We located our dining destination.. Kona Café … then Steve went to find a restroom, while I browsed in the gift shop!


Kona Café opens for dinner at 5pm, so we had to wait a few minutes before we were seated.

I liked how our server showed us the desserts on the counter before we were lead to our table!

We didn’t get off to the best start with our server, as after we ordered our drinks (Kona beer for Steve & a cocktail for me) – he asked to see our IDs, which was fine.. but as they were UK/Euro driving licences – he wasn’t sure if he could accept them & said only passports would do? We’ve never had this problem anywhere else in WDW or the US – so he went to ask his manager, and she said the licences were absolutely fine!

Soon we got our drinks, and the delicious pineapple bread..

I had the duck pot stickers to start, and Steve had the lump crab cakes.. both were delicious.

For entrée – I had the tuna oscar, which was fantastic.. and Steve had the teriyaki-style strip steak, which he declared to be the best steak he’d ever had!

We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Kona – Steve said it was one of his all time favourites at Disney! We even considered booking it again for our honeymoon, but have decided to try ‘Ohana instead.

 

[disneybarbie]

After dinner, we strolled out to the monorail – it was just after 6pm and we were hoping to get to the Magic Kingdom before the castle lighting ceremony (which I guessed would be at 6.30pm)
Unfortunately.. the lighting ceremony was at 6.15pm.. and as our monorail train approached the park… we saw the castle light up! Never mind.


Tonight was our night to attend…

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!
I loved this so much last year, and couldn’t wait for Steve to experience it.

As it was before 7pm, a lot of guests were leaving the park – we got our wrist bands, and then a cast member asked us where we were visiting from (she had a hand-held computer pad with her), we said England.. then she asked “which regional ITV television channel did we get” .. seemed very surreal to be asked that when stepping into the Magic Kingdom in Florida! I guess it was a survey to see where people were visiting from.

We wandered up Main Street, taking in all the amazing lights, decorations.. and ‘snow’!

First we visited Liberty Square & the Haunted Mansion – I like doing this attraction at night as it’s easier to see everything inside, my eyes don’t need to adjust from the sunshine to the dark!

We walked through Fantasyland.. then there was an announcement to say it was 7pm and … the party had begun!!

The lighting changed and Christmas music started playing.

We stopped at Cosmic Ray’s Café to get our first serving of hot chocolate & cookies.

We wandered over to Tomorrowland..

And then rode Space Mountain..

Next up was Buzz Lightyear’s Spaceranger Spin

And the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor..

A lady sat right in front of us got picked to do the ‘mind reading’ act.. when the spotlight went on, I really thought it might be me!

We stopped to watch the ‘Totally Tomorrowland’ Christmas show..

It was really cute, Steve thought Stitch was fantastic.. “Santa spies on boys and girls?! Santa sounds like a snitch to Stitch!”

Then we rode Space Mountain.. again!

 

[disneybarbie]

Next we wandered to Main Street to see the ‘snow’..

I popped into the Main Street Emporium to buy the limited edition MVMCP 2010 pin.

We stopped for a Photopass picture..

We went to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain.. at night! I’d never done this before in the dark, it seemed so much faster.

Next was Adventureland – we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, and heard the band Rusty Cutlass singing Christmas songs, it was really good. There were cast members & children playing some kind of dancing game outside POTC – with light up squares on the floor.. it looked like fun!

We got more hot chocolate and cookies, and found a spot to watch Holiday Wishes.

The show is breath-taking… I especially like the projections on the castle, and when it is turned into a Christmas tree.

We found a spot near the castle to watch the ‘Celebrate the Season’ show – but just before it started, there was an announcement saying that due to unforeseen circumstances, the show couldn’t happen.. but instead, the cast would come on stage and perform a medley of Christmas songs!

It lasted about 5 minutes, I thought it was nice that they did something rather than just saying the show was cancelled.



We walked through to Frontierland, considering riding Splash Mountain.. but it was just too cold! Also, it was getting close to the second parade time – and the ropes were being put up, making it hard to get around.. so we found a good spot to watch from.

 

[disneybarbie]

We both really enjoyed this parade – it’s so festive!

On the princesses’ float.. Ariel pointed at me & my ‘just engaged’ button.. she made a heart shape with her hands.. and shouted out “congratulations” … magical moment!! I smiled and laughed like a little kid… she whispered to Prince Eric and he gave us a thumbs up too! The fairy godmother also noticed the button and pointed at Steve.. I nodded, then she mouthed ‘congratulations’ too! Only in Disney World

After the parade had gone by, we walked around to Adventureland.. and then managed to catch up with the parade route! So we went through the Emporium and out to town square. We had to wait for a little while..

(notice the blankets on the plants!)
but when the parade stopped for a moment.. Cast Members quickly put a rope across and allowed us to walk over the street towards the exit.

We waited a few minutes for a bus, it was about 11.30pm (late night out for us in WDW!) – there were two other guests dressed in pink bunny costumes (I believe this is something to do with the ‘Christmas Story’?), and one of them said to me “you look cold!” .. I had made the mistake of wearing ballet pumps & not my boots.. but I just couldn’t imagine I would ever need to wear boots in Florida!

We got off the bus at the Swan (first stop) and walked back to the Boardwalk.. end of a wonderful day, even if it was a little cold!


Emma x