VWL Lovers & Groupies Thread: Meese-ka, Mice-ka MOOSE-kateers

[Muushka]

Oh my. Makes me grateful that Lucy (the cat) has never broached the subject of college!

Best wishes to all with the kiddos in college!

 

[Muushka]

Oh my. Makes me grateful that Lucy (the cat) has never broached the subject of college!

Best wishes to all with the kiddos in college!

 

[Muushka]

Good news: Sid the squid, actually got his acceptance letter to Seton Hall today (his #3 pick). Newbies, Sid the squid is my youngest son who provides comic relief for the groupies while trying to drive me insane.

Bad news: the old guy and I have the $375.00 dollar university fee all covered the other $27,000 bucks is very much up in the air. How much are kidneys going for?

Still waiting to here from number one and two University of Cincinnati and University of North Carolina

Oh, that one has my vote! Lunch with Eliza!

 

[Dizny Dad]

Wow – such a whirlwind December, and now off into the new year!

So sorry to be vacant in the last month, but with 10 days at the Lodge, Christmas Holidays, a short but necessary trip to Virginia to see DS & DIL, New Year’s frivolity, a new job description and responsibilities at work (yeah, I have to squeeze work in to my schedule), it has seemed nearly impossible to get back on the thread, relax, and push on.

I do intend to post a few pictures of our last trip as the month stretches out. It needs to be done here at work since “Dial a Death” is all we have at home, and uploading pictures fits the name of the service.

We did thoroughly enjoy our time at The Lodge. We once again had the opportunity to be Flag Family with Ranger Jack. We had a good time with Ranger Jack. We spent a moment at Ranger Stan’s picture in the upper hallway on the way to the roof. Ranger Jack is sensitive to the feelings of Ranger Stan’s following. We spent time encouraging him to make it his own.

DiznyDi & I enjoyed the Backstage Tour this trip. We spent more time in the Utilidors than I had anticipated, with a walk around the complete MK circle. It was interesting in seeing “Pin Trading” central in the Utilidors, where the Cast Members sign-out new lanyards each day (cool for you pin traders out there!).

I promise to post a picture or two of Stopher parading around Whispering Canyon upon the commands of our waitress. The Groupie breakfast was fun.

 

[horselover]

HAPPY NEW YEAR GROUPIES!!!

I know I have been absent from the thread since returning from the World. Sorry about that. Got caught up in the after holidays happenings at home, then getting ready for back to school, then a bit of the post trip blues I'm afraid to say. But at last I have some free time so wanted to share some detail about our trip.

I know I've missed a lot, but first off I have to say

HAPPY POST BIRTHDAY ELIZA!!!

And a big congratulations to Sid the Squid for getting into Seton! Best of luck with that tuition bill.


I'm reposting what I posted for some other friends to read. I never do formal TRs here so hopefully no one will mind the synopsis. I have pics too!

Please bear with me. I will need to split it into a couple different posts. Pics may need time to catch up.

I could say this will be a mini TR but I know it won’t end up that way so lets just say I’ll try to stick to highlights & a few observations from a 1st time Christmas visitor.

WL - fantastic, incredible, awesome, beautiful, magnificent, etc., you get the picture. Our room a corner 1 BR #5519. LOVED IT!!! I didn’t take any pics before we started moving in unfortunately but from now on I will request one of these rooms at check in. I know I will very likely never get it again but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Photopass photogs in the lobby at night. Character were there 21-23 I think. Carolers, Santa came Christmas Eve. CMs were all helpful & friendly. Quiet pool - heaven. Marshmallow roasting on the beach each night, then movies. Boat transportation - perfect. Absolutely nothing but wonderful things to say about my favorite home away from home.

Food - this is the 1st time I’ve been slightly disappointed with the food. I know many have problems with Disney restaurants in general but we’ve had mostly good experiences on every trip. 1st time not having really good things to say about Le Cellier. We went for our regular lunch. DS11 loves eating here for there gluten-free rolls. Don’t know what makes them so special but he loves them. Well don’t you know they replaced that brand with something else. Thumbs down from DS11. The rest of us ordered a cup of cheddar cheese soup. When it arrived the cup was only ½ full. It was still enough with the pretzel bread but for $5.49 I’d like a full cup of soup, not ½ a cup. The burger was very good. DH said his skillet was ok. Service was just ok. Not anything I’d consider signature. We ate at Kona twice for dinner. 1st time I ordered the coconut almond chicken. It came out slightly burned on the edges. It was still ok but maybe if they were less busy they might not have served it like that. 2nd dinner DH & I both order the noodles. They were ok, but dry. DS11 got the fish. It was very dry. Our 1st time California Grill dinner was just ok. Again I didn’t find the service to be anything spectacular & I had trouble with my steak being cooked properly. DH & I ended up switching because even after sending it back once it still wasn’t cooked enough. Beaches & Cream still gets the big thumbs up. RF was good too. Those specialty waffles in the mornings are excellent. We had dinner twice in our room. We’ve decided we’ll up that # to 4 the next time around. We don’t mind preparing simple things & it saves a lot of money. I should also note that while not technically food 3 Lapu Lapus & 2 Blood Orange Margaritas were consumed & all were very tasty.

Parks - I’m not going to lie it was crowded. The 1st few days weren’t too bad right up until Christmas Eve. The key, at least for us, was get up early. I know many people don’t like to do that on vacation. I don’t love it either but at this time of the year it has to be done. MK opened at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve. We arrived at 7:02. We got everything done we wanted to by 11:00. We headed back to the resort around 11:30. We did Epcot our 1st full day & DHS on the next day. DHS was the worst in terms of crowds. What we had listed on our welcome packet was 9:00 opening, but I swear they opened early because it was already packed. We got there just before 9:00 & went right to TSMM. I was in the FP line at 9:03. Our return time was 1:25 & there were only a few people ahead of me in the line. The stand by line was out the door & 60 min. We headed to RnR as we had finally decided this was the trip we were going to ride. Arrived there at 9:15. 60 stand-by. Guess that’s out again. Off to Star Tours - 10 min. wait. Yeah! We did this 3x. I was the spy in one of them. It’s always me & never the boys. We did ½ day here & then came back to see Osborne Lights & Fantasmic. We arrived at the lights while the 1st Fantasmic show was going on so the crowd was not bad. We did go back to MK for our last day before heading to the airport. It was 12/27. Yikes, what a difference in the crowds! It was really, really crowded. I was glad to be going home at that point, although I would have happily stayed a few more days if it was just around the resort. Oh & just because it’s so rare I get bragging rights I just want to say that I was the family champion on Buzz. Every round all me baby! I even managed to max out one round. That never happens to me. So what worked for us to make Christmas in the World enjoyable was get up early, plan things outside the parks (more on that), & get the majority of park time in before 12/25.

Weather - spectacular! I know we got so, so lucky with the weather as it could have easily been cold. We got upper 70s & 80s with lows of 60 for the entire week. I have no doubt this added to our enjoyment of the trip.

To be continued...

 

[horselover]

Keeping it fresh & avoiding the crowds - We knew going in it would be crowded so I tried to plan non-park things to do & we also like to find something new to do on each trip to keep things fresh & interesting. We did the HDDR one night. We have done this before but it was 3 yrs ago. Took the boat from WL & snapped this pic on the way

.

We really enjoyed it. The food was tasty, the show corny but funny, the sangria also tasty & plentiful. Not something I’d do often because it wasn’t cheap with 4 Disney adults but still fun. After that we went on the holiday sleigh ride at FW. That was fun too. People really do go all out! Again, not something I’d do every year but still something different. We rented surreys at WL the day after Christmas (one of our non-park days) & biked down to FW. We saw several deer along the way. We then parked & looked at the horses for a bit before heading back. It’s really a lovely ride if you ever get a chance to do it. I snapped this picture of the newest member of our family while there.

Meet Joy Duffy. So named in honor of Christmas & for all the joy I felt on this trip. I have a friend on another board that does the most amazing TRs with Joy's big brother Duffy. I feel in love with Duffy during those TRs so DH got me one of my own. It was in my stocking Christmas morning. DS11 got one too. He was the one that decided the last name was Duffy & they each needed a 1st name. He named his John. No pic. of his though.

We had tacos in the room that night then headed over to Fantasia mini golf. We’ve never done that before either. After dinner we went to Beaches & Cream for ice cream. A great way to spend a non-park day. We did go to DtD on the Friday before Christmas too. It was really crowded even at 11:00 in the morning. I can avoid DtD on future trips I think. Not much you can’t find somewhere else. We toured all the deluxe resorts except BW. Just didn’t have time. There were also several activities going on at the Lodge but the only one we participated in was the roasting of the marshmallows on the beach each night. So again my advice to anyone considering Christmas is do lots of activities outside the parks.

Christmas - devoting an entire section to this special day. We slept in then opened our gifts. Everyone was pleased. Another thing I had done for this trip to keep us occupied was everyone got a set amount of money. Their assignment was to buy a gift for each member of the family. They could pool their money if necessary but couldn’t spend all their money on one person. It was fun to see what everyone ended up with. After gifts it was off to Kona for breakfast. Very yummy. Back to the room to get ready for BB! We had talked about this in jest during our May visit. Wouldn’t it be fun to say we spent Christmas Day at a water park? How often can you say that?! Never really thinking it would be warm enough but sure enough it was! I also knew it had the added benefit of having no crowds. We packed a lunch & off we went. Arrived around 11:15 or so. Hardly anyone there! We snagged a very quiet spot in the back corner & had that section all to ourselves the entire time! The only negative thing I have to say about BB is you better be in shape. Dang they have a lot of stairs there! Back to the room around 3:00 to rest before heading to Kona for dinner. My Lapu Lapu seemed particularly tasty this night. After dinner it was off to meet some friends from another board. One of my friends had invited us to join her family for a Wishes cruise! It was awesome! The company, the fireworks, everything. I admit I got a little choked up while I was sitting there watching those fireworks. Shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone! It truly was the most wonderful Christmas I’ve ever had.

Highlights - We had decided ahead of time this would be a go with the flow trip which turned out to be a great thing. Some days not everyone would want to do the same things so we did split up a couple of times. I needed to pick up a gift for DS13’s stocking at Epcot on Friday & since neither DH nor DS13 wanted to go (good for shopping) DS11 & I went alone for a couple hours in the afternoon. We had so much fun. We strolled & stopped for cinnamon sugared almonds in France, then sat for awhile sharing them & people watching. We did 2 Kim Possible missions. We got caramel popcorn in Germany then people watched some more. It was nice to get some alone time with him. The Wishes fireworks cruise - spectacular! Waking up on Christmas morning opening gifts then heading to BB - priceless!

So that’s about it. Would I go at Christmas again? In a heartbeat! I’m already trying to work it out with my points to get back there again next year. Only 2 missed days of school for the same trip. After seeing the crowds after Christmas vs. the few days before I don’t see myself ever wanting to do this week. Arriving a few days before Christmas & then leaving shortly after I think is the key. Next time we know we’ll eat more in the room & not plan to eat many meals out on Christmas Eve & day, especially a signature, without our TIW discount. We spent too much money on food this trip but now we know how to do it better. Can’t wait to go again!

Now for the good stuff - the pics! I'll start a new post & try to group pics in some kind of theme.

 

[horselover]

I'll start with what I know you all want to see - the Lodge!

A couple balcony shots.

Ahhhhhhh, so relaxing.

WL lobby tree. Sorry about the glare. Never seemed to be a good time to get a pic in the lobby.

Me with the Mickey & Minnie in the WL lobby (no one else would come with me)

VWL lobby tree - posted this before but I never get tired of looking at it

Our room tree & stockings - use Command hooks so no wall damage! Our tree came to us courtesy of my Dsis since our original tree was ruined due to water damage. Didn't think we'd have a tree.

Various decorations

Poly tree

To be continued

 

[horselover]

BCV tree - very pretty in person.

BCV decorations

BC lobby carousel - pics don't do it justice

Wonderland was my favorite

YC train - so big it's hard to get a good overall pic. I took a few pics of details

To be continued

 

[horselover]

Couple more train pics

Should have put these with the Poly pic. These were on the dessert counter at Kona.

GF gingerbread house - again huge so I took some details pics.

To be continued - you said you liked pics, right?!

 

[horselover]

MK - this is how it looks at MK at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve

Took this from the balcony at Cali Grill - not bad considering I used my camera phone.

This would have been a good shot save for the shadow & I had to crop some people out of the right hand corner.

DS11 patting some Duffys in a window display on Main Street.

Epcot - didn't take many pics here. Canada storyteller. Not the best shot.

My favorite shots of the week possibly even ever at WDW.

Christmas Day at BB!

Friends enjoying a Wishes fireworks cruise

And that's how I spent my Christmas vacation! Can't wait to go again this year. Hope you enjoyed.

P.S. - Trish - I have some pics just for you! I think they're on my other computer though. I'll post them later.

 

[DiznyDi]

Wow Julie! I've really enjoyed the 10 minutes spent reading your post and looking at the pics. How wonderful that the weather was so cooperative!
I've always thought that Christmas at the Lodge would be a wonderful way to spend the holidays....I just can't justify the points. Thanks for sharing

 

[eliza61]

MK - this is how it looks at MK at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve

Took this from the balcony at Cali Grill - not bad considering I used my camera phone.

This would have been a good shot save for the shadow & I had to crop some people out of the right hand corner.

DS11 patting some Duffys in a window display on Main Street.

Epcot - didn't take many pics here. Canada storyteller. Not the best shot.

My favorite shots of the week possibly even ever at WDW.

Christmas Day at BB!

Friends enjoying a Wishes fireworks cruise

And that's how I spent my Christmas vacation! Can't wait to go again this year. Hope you enjoyed.

P.S. - Trish - I have some pics just for you! I think they're on my other computer though. I'll post them later.

Oh thank you Julie for that great report and the pictures!! I love them. What a wonderful way to spend the holidays.

How did your kids enjoy Duffy. When we went in August, it was the first time I had even heard of him and sadly not many kids knew who he was. He had a character meet and greet in Epcot and poor Duffy was standing there all alone with his handler.

 

[horselover]

Thanks Di & Eliza!

Di - if it wasn't for the fact that we have school aged children the actual Christmas holiday would be less appealing. That's why we try to do a few days before the actual holiday to avoid the giant point increase. No doubt about it though that time period is a point eater. I'm sure our habits will go back to early Dec. again once the boys are out of school.

 

[stopher1]

Those are some wonderful shots, and memories you made there, Julie! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a very nice trip, overall.

I still have yet to go through all of my pictures from my early December visit to the World... but it was so nice to see yours from the latter part of the month. We still have never been to the World actually FOR/OVER Christmas - Disneyland yes, Walt Disney World no - maybe one of these years we'll do that.

 

[Muushka]

Loved reading about your Christmas celebration! Loved the pictures. And I agree, those 2 butterfly with flowers are the best.

And I agree with your assessment of dining at Disney. We actually enjoy our meals much more in the villa.
Love cooking them, love eating them! And the $$$$ saved is considerable.

PS now I want a Duffy!

 

[Granny]

HL...wow, wonderful pictures and commentary from your trip! So glad to hear that you found the Christmas magic at WDW and VWL. It is a special time, isn't it? Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and pictures.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Wonderful trip report and pictures Julie! Glad you had such a great time. And it's one of those that tempts me to try going over Christmas.

 

[Nicoal13]

Loved your trip report and pictures Horselover! Looks like a magical Christmas was enjoyed by your family.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a tough year for our family but we feel very blessed. DS was spoiled from both sides of the family for sure. Still have one Christmas gathering with some extended family this weekend.

DS didn't feel the best at Christmas. Ended up taking him to urgent care the day after Christmas and he had an ear infection. But it went away without having to take the antibiotics. So he is feeling good again. Nasty stomach flu going around at work and I ended up getting sick while we had friends over for NYE's. I'm still pretty run down, back at work, but moving pretty slow.

Here's hoping to a happy and healthy New Year for all the groupies!!

 

[I Book He Pays]

Hi Groupies:

twinmom108 ~ Welcome home and great to have you with us! Love the AK image! AK is a tab bit too chilly to get a tan! I agree!!

Inkmahm ~ I can imagine how popular Inky is with the family. She'll be a very loved cat! Looking at her face makes you melt. I hope you can catch "daddy cat" soon. How's "momma cat" doing?

eliza61 ~ Congrats to your son being accepted! Good luck coming up with the tuition! OUCH!

DiznyDad ~ Great to see you and looking forward to your pictures!

horselover ~ You go girl with your trip report and photos! I really enjoyed reading it and the pictures are great. The butterfly shots are outstanding. Thanks so much for the detailed report. I wonder what kind of pictures you have for me... ???? Anything zebra related? LOL I'm feeling the love!

Nicoal13 ~ Sorry that you and your son got sick during the holiday season. Take it easy and feel better soon.

 

[horselover]

Trish - sorry about the quality. It was the best I could do. I thought of you immediately!