Why, My Little Guppy Has Groupies! - A Dec. 2013 TR *Completed

[USAFdad]

But by now you know I hint at stuff, so you should be aware that I'm not direct.

Not my fault.

 

[marDgreen88]

I'm not glad to hear that your room wasn't very clean, but I AM glad that I have someone to commiserate about Pop with. I'm in total agreement here... all three of my All Star stays have been way better than my one stay at Pop. Yikes! That being said, all the CMs I encountered were fantastic, so it's definitely a bummer that you got a dud. Crossing my fingers that you got to ride small world!

 

[emmysmommy]

What a great photo of Landon in the Santa hat on Christmas. Adorable! Those jammies are cute too.

Oh my gosh! Landon's first Mickey ears are absolutely the best souvenir / keepsake for your little guy! He's

Those chatty gate guards, oh my! Of course it happens when you want to just get there and meet up with your mom.

What a smart idea to rearrange the beds in the room to give more baby room. And your window decorations are such a clever idea. We saw wreaths on some room doors and some lights on balcony's. I loved to see people getting into the holiday spirit with their rooms.

Nice cliff hanger.... waiting to see if you made it to IaSW. Sadly we arrived after it was already down for refurb.

 

[Britard]

I agree with you on cleanliess of AS Sports. We stayed there and it was def. one of the cleanest places I have seen!

We had an adjoining room with grandparents on a visit too-it was awesome. All the benefits of having helpers close by, and another room to visit while kids are safely sleeping close by!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I could imagine that Landon thought you were insane putting this stupid thing on him! He was probably like "what's this fabric thing?"

My Dad is a magnet for chattiness. I swear, that man can't go anywhere without encountering someone that wants to talk to him. I feel your pain.

Yay Pop! After 1,502,508 minutes.

Little boys are the most flirtatious little buggers, aren't they? They play that "what me?" face so well.

Ugh, I have no tolerance with the way that CM acted at check-in. I am the kind of person though, I don't go down without a fight. I would have called over all of the managers that were standing around and complained with the guy standing there. Oh yeah, that's how I roll.

Wow, an uncleaned bathroom? That's terrible! We've stayed at POP a few times and haven't had any issues at all. I'm so sorry it was like that for you!

Uh oh. Cliffhanger!

 

[Dugette]

Love that picture of Landon on Christmas morning! So cute! (Also, we have that same wrapping paper from the lower-left).

Love his flirty face at check-in. I guess that's how you know the glasses are working...he can see well enough to make eye contact and flirt!

That's too bad about your non-friendly CM at check-in. We actually encountered a handful of grumpy CMs this time and I don't recall that ever happening before. Also, that is a very odd compliment about not liking kids. And, yes, why work at WDW then?

Glad you got your room request. And the connecting rooms. That is weird about them not being cleaned fully, though! We've stayed at Pop a number of times and never had a problem. Glad you found a configuration for the baby stuff to fit in.

Ha, I understand that time flying past and having to rush off feeling all too well. I hope you guys make it to IaSW!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hi, Alicia! I'm so late to the party, but so excited to be reading! As you know, I adore your reports!

I love that you don't always sugar coat things...as much as we'd like for it to be, things aren't always perfect, and that includes Disney, so it's good to hear about the "bad" or "ugly" sometimes.

I simply adore Landon, but you already know that.

I'm glad to hear that adding your AP's to the Magic bands were seamless. We'll be doing that next month, and hadn't even thought about going to DTD to do it. I'm guessing you could do it at the resorts too, though, right? This will be our first time wity AP's, so I'm new to the whole thing. But I was confused about when you said you didn't want to get yours and Alex's vouchers mixed up since you had linked them to MDE...how did you do that, or are you referring to something else?

I so can't wait to read more!

 

[afwdwfan]

(Relax, your eyes can stop bugging out of their sockets, I wouldn’t torture you all like that. I like you guys too much. That’d be worse than getting stuck on It’s A Small World.)

No, it wouldn't.

The Cast Member checking us in was not the friendliest sort. In fact, if I had to measure everyone up, I’d say he was the most un-Disney-like employee we encountered on the trip. He didn’t say anything at all about the MagicBand system, how it worked, what we could use it on.

Well, on the bright side, you were able to make up for lost time from the CM at the gate!

One of the managers, a middle aged guy in a nice suit, walked over and said to me, “You know, I have to be honest, I’m not a fan of kids. I’m just not, but that is one cute guy you’ve got there.”'

Wow. That might be even more awkward than a CM at the check in desk who only uses one word answers.

It’s probably odd, but my first reaction was, “You don’t like kids, but you work at Disney? How do you avoid them?”

Took the words right out of my mouth! I mean, most people talk about wanting to work at Disney. And CM's for the most part, seem like they enjoy their jobs and interacting with guests. This guy must hate his life!

We placed our trusty MagicBand up to the door’s sensor and VIOLA! our door opened. So far, MagicBand 1, Glitches 0.

Well, you're already doing better than a lot of people. I hope the good luck continues.

The kid has licked another baby’s foot before, I don’t think a few minutes on the bed was going to kill him.

I'm sure he's done worse than that. You just don't know about it yet. Gotta build up that immune system.

Don’t worry, though, I supervised like a champ and made sure Alex deposited everything in the correct place.

Yeah... I know how that works...

Because, spoiler alert, Landon’s sleep did NOT improve.

Sorry about the cleanliness issues. Never a good thing to see when you check in. I think I'd have probably had to say something to them about that. Then again, their solution would likely be to assign your Mom a different room that wouldn't be connected and maybe even not in the same area of the resort.

I like your window decorations! Can't go wrong with lights and Rex.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I love that Christmas picture of Landon!! Such a cutie!

I'm sorry that you had a few issues right away at Pop, but I hope that was the end of them for you and you were able to enjoy the rest of your trip there.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Here

 

[amazingact21]

96 updates? I know you were kidding, but It could happen.

Boo to the nasty CM who checked you in. How annoying. It really stinks when you get an unfriendly CM checking you in. Having a nice one goes a long way.

So glad your mom arrived and you got adjoining rooms. How convenient!

I love you windows. They are awesome!

It was so nice having that extra space an adjoining room gave us. We would have been miserable if we'd have had to cram everything into our room.

I'm not glad to hear that your room wasn't very clean, but I AM glad that I have someone to commiserate about Pop with. I'm in total agreement here... all three of my All Star stays have been way better than my one stay at Pop. Yikes! That being said, all the CMs I encountered were fantastic, so it's definitely a bummer that you got a dud. Crossing my fingers that you got to ride small world!

We didn't see any cockroaches, but the bathrooms were definitely not clean. I think the only way Alex will stay at Pop again is if all the All Stars are booked and we had no other choice.

What a great photo of Landon in the Santa hat on Christmas. Adorable! Those jammies are cute too.

Oh my gosh! Landon's first Mickey ears are absolutely the best souvenir / keepsake for your little guy! He's

Those chatty gate guards, oh my! Of course it happens when you want to just get there and meet up with your mom.

What a smart idea to rearrange the beds in the room to give more baby room. And your window decorations are such a clever idea. We saw wreaths on some room doors and some lights on balcony's. I loved to see people getting into the holiday spirit with their rooms.

Nice cliff hanger.... waiting to see if you made it to IaSW. Sadly we arrived after it was already down for refurb.

I had read online that the beds were bolted to the floor, so I didn't think we'd be able to move them. It was a nice surprise to find out we could. Otherwise, I have no idea where they'd expect us to set up a Pack & Play. There was no room for it!

I agree with you on cleanliess of AS Sports. We stayed there and it was def. one of the cleanest places I have seen!

We had an adjoining room with grandparents on a visit too-it was awesome. All the benefits of having helpers close by, and another room to visit while kids are safely sleeping close by!

Yep, connecting rooms are fantastic when you don't want to wake a sleeping kid and don't have a balcony to escape to.

Alex stated that his theory as to why the rooms at ASSp are so clean is because it's the least frequented resort. So, mousekeeping doesn't have as many rooms to clean, they're used less often, and mousekeeping is happier.

I could imagine that Landon thought you were insane putting this stupid thing on him! He was probably like "what's this fabric thing?"

My Dad is a magnet for chattiness. I swear, that man can't go anywhere without encountering someone that wants to talk to him. I feel your pain.

Yay Pop! After 1,502,508 minutes.

Little boys are the most flirtatious little buggers, aren't they? They play that "what me?" face so well.

Ugh, I have no tolerance with the way that CM acted at check-in. I am the kind of person though, I don't go down without a fight. I would have called over all of the managers that were standing around and complained with the guy standing there. Oh yeah, that's how I roll.

Wow, an uncleaned bathroom? That's terrible! We've stayed at POP a few times and haven't had any issues at all. I'm so sorry it was like that for you!

Uh oh. Cliffhanger!

I'm sure the bathroom was a fluke. It just surprised us more than anything.

Being a magnet for people to strike up conversations isn't usually a bad thing, but when we're talking about getting to someplace at Disney...c'mon!

Love that picture of Landon on Christmas morning! So cute! (Also, we have that same wrapping paper from the lower-left).

Love his flirty face at check-in. I guess that's how you know the glasses are working...he can see well enough to make eye contact and flirt!

That's too bad about your non-friendly CM at check-in. We actually encountered a handful of grumpy CMs this time and I don't recall that ever happening before. Also, that is a very odd compliment about not liking kids. And, yes, why work at WDW then?

Glad you got your room request. And the connecting rooms. That is weird about them not being cleaned fully, though! We've stayed at Pop a number of times and never had a problem. Glad you found a configuration for the baby stuff to fit in.

Ha, I understand that time flying past and having to rush off feeling all too well. I hope you guys make it to IaSW!

I wasn't sure how to take the compliment about the kid. All I could think about was, Sorry you don't like kids.

We've stayed at Pop once before, and other than an overwhelming smell of bleach, the room wasn't dirty. It was ridiculously busy that week, so I'm sure mousekeeping was swamped and just forgot about the bathroom.

Hi, Alicia! I'm so late to the party, but so excited to be reading! As you know, I adore your reports!

I love that you don't always sugar coat things...as much as we'd like for it to be, things aren't always perfect, and that includes Disney, so it's good to hear about the "bad" or "ugly" sometimes.

I simply adore Landon, but you already know that.

I'm glad to hear that adding your AP's to the Magic bands were seamless. We'll be doing that next month, and hadn't even thought about going to DTD to do it. I'm guessing you could do it at the resorts too, though, right? This will be our first time wity AP's, so I'm new to the whole thing. But I was confused about when you said you didn't want to get yours and Alex's vouchers mixed up since you had linked them to MDE...how did you do that, or are you referring to something else?

I so can't wait to read more!

I'm not sure about the resorts...probably?
We purchased our annual passes ahead of time, so we got these paper vouchers for them. (we bought them on base, but I'm pretty sure if you buy them through Disney you get a voucher, as well.) And once we had the vouchers we could go to the MDE app and link the number on the voucher to our username.
This allowed us to reserve FPs.
And so when we went to activate them, we just wanted to make sure the actual tickets transferred over to the correct voucher number. Just in case someone had a different Fastpass reserved.
Did that make sense???

Well, on the bright side, you were able to make up for lost time from the CM at the gate!

That is true...

Took the words right out of my mouth! I mean, most people talk about wanting to work at Disney. And CM's for the most part, seem like they enjoy their jobs and interacting with guests. This guy must hate his life!

Yeah. I mean, I guess at the resorts you're dealing directly with adults, but they still bring their kids along. He must really love Disney to endure the kids.

Well, you're already doing better than a lot of people. I hope the good luck continues.

Don't worry, we made up for that anomly.

Yeah... I know how that works... [?QUOTE]

Sorry about the cleanliness issues. Never a good thing to see when you check in. I think I'd have probably had to say something to them about that. Then again, their solution would likely be to assign your Mom a different room that wouldn't be connected and maybe even not in the same area of the resort.

My mom was thinking along those same lines. She didn't want to deal with a million questions or have to repack all her stuff and move.

I love that Christmas picture of Landon!! Such a cutie!

I'm sorry that you had a few issues right away at Pop, but I hope that was the end of them for you and you were able to enjoy the rest of your trip there.

Thanks! There was definitely no shortage of photographs taken of him at Christmas.

Here

Thanks for joining!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I'm not sure about the resorts...probably?
We purchased our annual passes ahead of time, so we got these paper vouchers for them. (we bought them on base, but I'm pretty sure if you buy them through Disney you get a voucher, as well.) And once we had the vouchers we could go to the MDE app and link the number on the voucher to our username.
This allowed us to reserve FPs.
And so when we went to activate them, we just wanted to make sure the actual tickets transferred over to the correct voucher number. Just in case someone had a different Fastpass reserved.
Did that make sense???

That makes perfect sense. We purchased ours online and received vouchers, too. At least I guess they are vouchers...they are little plastic cards that I think are orange or red. Anyway...I had no idea that you could link the numbers to MDE...I was just trying to make FP+ ressies yesterday but couldn't because it didn't show we had park tickets. Can you tell me how to go in and link it? Thank so much for the info!

 

[amazingact21]

That makes perfect sense. We purchased ours online and received vouchers, too. At least I guess they are vouchers...they are little plastic cards that I think are orange or red. Anyway...I had no idea that you could link the numbers to MDE...I was just trying to make FP+ ressies yesterday but couldn't because it didn't show we had park tickets. Can you tell me how to go in and link it? Thank so much for the info!

We used the MDE app on our phone. If you go to the tickets and passes part there's a link to add tickets. Once you click that a barcode scanner will pop up and it should scan your tickets.
I'm not 100% on how to do it through the computer...

 

[UGAFan0829]

I just wanted to say thanks for your help...I was able to get our AP's linked and our FP+ ressies made! Thanks a bunch!

I also had another question about FP+...once you make the 3 that you're allowed, can you make anymore throughout the day, or is that it? As we were making ours of course it didn't give us the option to do all the ones that we really wanted, like RnR in HS...so will we just have to stand in line for that one?

 

[amazingact21]

I just wanted to say thanks for your help...I was able to get our AP's linked and our FP+ ressies made! Thanks a bunch!

I also had another question about FP+...once you make the 3 that you're allowed, can you make anymore throughout the day, or is that it? As we were making ours of course it didn't give us the option to do all the ones that we really wanted, like RnR in HS...so will we just have to stand in line for that one?

I'm not sure, since I didn't try it. I think you might be able to make day FPs, but I can't say one way or the other.

I know in Epcot and DHS, for sure, the rides a tiered, so you can only pick one from each section. Meaning, you have to decide between Soarin' and Test Track and TSMM and RNRC.
I hate that they do that, because I feel like if you paid for the tickets and took the time ahead of time to book the reservations, you should be allowed to get all the attractions you want, but that's my little rant....

I know when I was there they still had paper FP machines up and you could use your Annual Passes to pull tickets. That might have already gone away, but if not you can always do that for RNRC.

 

[amazingact21]

Sorry for abandoning you all for a week or so, life's been interesting in my household. Nothing says you're back from a Disney vacation like a big ol' dose of reality dished to you on your plate.

Anyways, since I was such a slacker, here's 2 updates for you all.



Sunday, December 1st, 2013:

Heading out of our room and stepping into the elevator, our excitement grew.





We were here!



Our vacation had begun!


There was nothing left standing in our way between us and a Disney park. All we had to do was make it out of Building 2, our temporary home for the week.

Oh, wait. Just kidding.

There was one more task we had to accomplish.

Isn't there always?

We needed to stop by the food court and pick up our refillable mugs. It was part of our dining plan, and we would need them for beverages the following morning. So, alas, instead of taking a right towards the parking lot, we hooked a left and started what would be the first of dozens of trips to Everything Pop.


This was my first real glimpse of the resort, and so I lagged behind a bit to take some photos.

​

​

(One of the cooler window decorations we saw throughout the trip.)​

​

And by some, I mean 3...



The walk from our room to the lobby was not bad at all. We just had to pass the 50's section, some of 60's, the Hippy Dippy pool, and we were inside. And that night, Alex found a short cut that made the trek even easier.

When I'd picked Pop as our resort, I wanted to make sure we weren't far away from the main building, and I am happy I went with a preferred room for that very reason. It was a nice luxury being so close. And Building 2 was the best. It was close, had its own pool and laundry, and was near the bridge that led to Art.

I couldn't have chosen a better building if I'd tried. And that's one of the things I'm happiest about with our Pop stay.


Inside the food court, the 3 adults picked up our mugs.
It was quite convenient that there were 3 colors to decide between. We each got our own color without having duplicates. It was meant to be.

The Cast Member ringing us up had a bit of trouble activating our cups, but it was nothing too serious. Just one of many, many times we witnessed a CM getting frustrated with the new system.


My mom and Alex wanted soda, and when they placed their cups on the new RFID machine readers, it worked without a hitch. I wanted some water, though, and the screen would not cooperate for me.

I would pull down the little tab that indicated water and nothing would come out, so I switched to another machine. It, too, would not work.
The screen on the machine instructed me to place my mug below the spicket, which I was doing. Nobody saw the screen tell me this, though, so when Alex walked up to me, he told me to remove my mug.

"Maybe it's because it's trying to read your RFID chip. Move your cup and see if it'll work then."

I sighed and showed him that that, too, was not the answer.

Some other attempts were tried, I became increasingly frustrated while Alex became more adamant and, eventually, I snapped at him. Not one of my better moments, but those things happen.

I ended up giving up and just got some Sprite.

Good job, Disney. Breaking my healthy habits one RFID chip at a time.


(For the record, I believe Alex got water for me at a later date, and it worked fine. Who knows what glitch was going on then.)


Beverages in hand, it was time to head to the car and hit the road. We piled into our vehicle, because it has the good car seat in it, and it was an unspoken agreement that Alex would drive everywhere. Unfortunately, our car is a Crossover SUV, so it's not that big and, we discovered, not very quick for loading and unloading.

Between climbing into the backseat to get to the middle spot where the car seat is, having my mother dig around for the seat belt clicker, which was buried under the car seat, moving the passenger seat to give her more leg room, we agreed to try my mom's car the next time.

Roomier and higher off the ground, so nobody had to bend over too much to buckle Landon in, it was much more comfortable for all us adults. (We did end up switching and sticking with my Mom's car the rest of the trip.)

It was just another little lesson we learned within the first few outings at Disney.



With everyone buckled in, Alex followed the GPS's directions out of Pop and took a different direction than usual. I can't remember off the top of my head, but if he took a right out of Victory, it was the same road as when we left the All Stars.

But by taking a left, it put us in unfamiliar territory, so that we came upon and passed the exit we needed for Magic Kingdom.

This was a rare occurrence for Alex. Normally, he's excellent with directions and navigation, but for some reason the off ramp wasn't clearly marked, so he wasn't positive that was what he needed to be on. We missed the exit and couldn't find anywhere convenient to turn around.

We ended up driving straight until we passed Animal Kingdom and came close to entering Animal Kingdom Lodge.




Poor Alex was becoming a little frustrated behind the wheel. We had already missed our Fastpass window, were running almost an hour behind schedule, and were currently driving in the opposite direction we needed to be going.

I tried to make it better by pointing out, "At least you know how to get to our breakfast on Thursday."




He didn't seem amused.



An eventual turnaround and several minutes later we were approaching the ticket windows to the wonderful Magic Kingdom.

​

I thought I'd still be grumpy about the sign not being its old pink color, but I didn't really care. The blue and yellow remind me of Cinderella, and since it's Cinderella's Castle that's the main focal point of MK, I can live with it.

Not that the design team at Disney asked me, of course.
But in case they were concerned...



We pulled into the parking lot of the TTC and began our insanely good streak of getting a location right by the tram line.

It was kind of nuts how lucky we were that week. Which was a blessing, since we had to carry all 18 pounds of Landon to the tram. No sense in putting him the stroller just to have to remove him to board the tram.


Speaking of trams- it was our first one of the trip, and Landon's first ever!

Was he excited?

​

Not so much.​

That's all right, I was excited enough for the both of us.



Can I just say, the difference between when Alex and I rode that thing and when all of us went on it this trip was incredible. Between the 3 adults, the baby, P.I.T.A., and the folded up stroller, we took up an entire row.

Ridiculous.

How do you people with 2 and 3 kids do it?? We didn't even have the adventure of keeping the kid from free falling out of the doors, which I saw several little ones try over the course of our trip.

Okay, okay, enough about the transportation woes.

We exited the vehicle and were at the Ticket and Transportation Center!
​

My mother explaining to Landon that this...this is where many a magical adventures will start. It's the hub before the hub. The center of the Disney universe. The gateway to all the parks and magic and food you could ever dream of.



He seemed to be taking this lesson very serious. Good job, son.




I know for most that was just the basic monorail track, but for me, it meant I was inside the Disney bubble. It was evidence that I was actually on vacation, on my way to a park, on my way to---

Oh, wait.

I forgot to mention something.
Something VERY important.

Something that's kind of vital to this story.

You see, while that last sentence should have been completed with On my way to It's a Small World, that wasn't going to be the case.

That ever important deadline Alex was trying to make? Yeah, I messed that up pretty good.

Back at the car, before the whole tram spewl, long before I was looking at monorail lines, Alex had gotten out of the car and went to the trunk to unload the stroller. I was unbuckling my seatbelt, leaning back to talk to my mom and watch her as she got Landon out of his seat.

And just like that, it hit me.

I said a not very Disney-friendly word that could be the definition of the Beverly's taste, and my eyes got huge.

My mom looked up, concerned. I could tell she was thinking something serious. Oh God, she forgot someone's medicine, oh somebody's hurt, any other form of world ending scariness.

I cut my eyes back to Alex, who was preoccupied with the gathering of necessities, thank God.

"What, Alicia?"

"Well, we were rushing to get out of the room, and I took the travel binder out of the diaper bag, because I didn't think we'd need it."

"Oh, no."


Oh, yes.
You see, a few weeks earlier, simply because it was more convenient for us, Alex had purchased my mother's tickets.

Those tickets were in an envelope inside the pocket of that travel binder.

Back at Pop.



Talk about an epic fail on my part. There would be no activating the tickets that evening. And without tickets, there would be no park visiting. And certainly no Small World riding.

I could not believe I'd had done that. By far, the dumbest rookie mistake I'd made on that trip. Who forgets the tickets?!

This wasn't my first rodeo. You'd think after activating 4 other sets in the past 3 years, I'd have remembered something as important as that.

And telling Alex was no picnic. He was, very obviously, bummed and disappointed in me for having such an oversight.

Me? All I could think about was if this was how Day 1 was going, what was going to happen on park days??? Was my whole trip going to be one mistake after another? And if so, could I recover any of my Disney vet dignity?

So it was as we passed the TTC windows that I vowed to slow the heck down and focus! Clearly, I needed to unscramble my brain and put a little more effort into making sure I had all my ducks in a row.

The monorail for Epcot that night was BUSY!
f1 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr​

Epcot was a hopping place to be, apparently. And the scary thing was, it was DHS that had evening EMH.

Yikes.

The monorail we needed wasn't nearly as bad.
f2 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr​

We had about a five minute wait for the next one to arrive, and in that time, Alex and I managed to get into a little spat.

I believe we all have bad Disney habits. It's not the end of the world, and it's not something that's necessarily awful, just a characteristic that comes out when touring the parks.

My mom's would be not smiling enough or showing any kind of fun emotion. She looked like she was miserable a lot of the times, when that actually wasn't the case at all.

Mine is switching sides of the people I'm walking with. One minute I'm on someone's left, and when they turn to say something to me, I'll be on their right. I can see where that'd be aggravating, and I tried to stop doing it so much.

Alex's is that he tailgates people with the stroller. He stops the front wheels RIGHT BEHIND a guests' heel. So if that guest so much as sways backward they will run into our stroller. That and he did (I counted) run into 3 people that night.


By the time we got to the monorail ramp, we'd gone through the ringer with the wallet at Guest Services, my mom's bad traffic incident, my refillable mug not working, the tickets being forgotten, and then the stroller incident.

So, when Alex got right behind someone I called him out on it, and well, it was a typical married couple's fight. Not exactly what I wanted to do on the first night at Disney and right in view of dozens of other guests, but hey, what happened, happened. I look back on it as, at least we got it out of the way in the beginning, because after that everything went smooth.

I think the majority of it had to do with us also being a little frayed at handling a baby at Disney. We were on edge over how it was going to go and how to make everything run and operate smoothly.

It takes time to work out the kinks in plans, and that's what this whole day was. Stretching our legs, testing the water, finding our groove, etc.

By the time we boarded the monorail we'd both entered the cooling off stage and were focusing on the fact that this was Landon's first monorail ride!


A momentous occasion!
​

And he seemed to enjoy it more than the tram ride, so that was a good thing.


By the time we got to our point of destination, everyone was cool again; the reset button had been pushed, and we all agreed to just chill out, enjoy the casual evening, and get up the following morning more prepared and organized.

Fine by me, it was time to start seeing some Christmas decorations!

And boy, did we start that off with a bang.

 

[amazingact21]

Continued From Previous Post:


Our destination of choice was none other than the Grand Floridian.

I know each and every location on Disney property has its own unique theme and quality that make it special during the holiday season, but I don't think you can get much better than the GF for Christmas. It's just my personal opinion, but the classic design of the resort mixed with the poinsettias and Victorian decorations are just so beautiful and welcoming.

When I think Disney during the holidays, I immediately jump to the Grand Floridian. And I knew my mom would be just as taken a back by how in-depth the resort goes to show off their holiday spirit as I was.


We were immediately immersed in the décor the minute we stepped off the monorail. Looking down below, we saw this gorgeous arrangement set up at the lobby doors

f1 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr

Gimme some coffee and a good book and maybe a seat cushion and I could sit there for hours.




We walked inside, and what do you know? We were greeted with more flowers!

f2 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr



The trees on the second floor were no less perfect than the main one downstairs.

f3 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr



We took a second to admire the resort lobby in its entirety from one of the railings.

f4 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr

Even from our location up high, you could still smell ginger and cinnamon and hear the live band performing.



It was so festive and bright; I could have stayed in that spot much longer, but my mother gave one of those "I'm gonna go down to where the actual action is," comments and we followed her lead.

She wanted to take the grand staircase down, but with the stroller Alex, Landon, and I had to cram into the elevator with about a hundred other guests.

Before I was swept inside with the sea of people, though, I managed to take a look at the stair banisters.

f5 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr

I love how every little piece in the resort has some kind of decoration on it. Even if it is just a simple garland. It completes the look.



We all met up on the very crowded ground floor.

VERY crowded.


I've never seen the Grand Floridian that packed before. There were no empty couches or chairs, and people were just milling about. I'm sure a large portion of them were waiting on their dining reservations to become available, but I also think a bunch of them were like us, wanting to tour the resort and see the decorations.


However, with so many of us vying for a spot to see the sights, it made enjoying said decorations a bit difficult. I don't think anyone could get a photo without strangers being in the background, and keeping the stroller out of someone's way was near impossible.

While it did take away from the magic just a tiny bit, I still appreciated how gorgeous everything looked and tried to get some decent photos of the main Christmas tree.
f6 by Alicia Wolchick, on Flickr






Even though we all had been traveling that day and didn't look our best, I insisted we get some Photopass pictures while we were there. We'd bought the package, after all, and I wanted to make sure we got our money's worth.

​

Landon looks so amused, doesn't he?
​

After the Christmas tree was visited, we moved on to inspecting the Gingerbread House.



I think it looked even more incredible than the one I saw in 2010.
The detail on this structure was unbelievable. From looking like there was snow on the roof to shutters on the windows, every inch of it was out of this world.

​

I wanted to look at it more in depth, but the crowds surrounding it were heavy, and I didn't want to overstay my turn.


We had to attempt some pictures, though, before we trekked off.



The Christmas tree had caught Landon's attention, though, and there was no turning his eyes away from that huge thing. Too many shiny objects to enthrall a young kid.

With the exception of a mom's pin lanyard, that is.​

That warrants a good look...


Those were all the shots we could get before Landon became too uncooperative. He was starting to get hungry and sleepy, so his patience was wearing thin. It was decided we needed to start making our way to the next resort so that we could give Landon his dinner and let him chill out.


My mom and I made a quick stop in the bathroom next to 1900 Park Fare, and oh dear. There were 2 stalls for approximately 15 guests. And while we were washing our hands, a pipe below the sink burst!

Whoa there!!

All of a sudden the floor got wet, and everyone looked down and saw a steady outpouring of water gushing out of a pipe. Someone went to alert a CM, and we forewarned ladies heading towards the restroom. My mom was worried an elderly woman or a small child would slip and fall on that slick floor.

With how heavy that spray was, I was worried it was going to be submerged underwater before too long.

Yikes.

The Little Mermaid, the Grand Floridian edition.



Meeting back up with the boys, I saw that Alex had stopped by the Guest Services desk and picked up another souvenir for Landon.




A First Visit button!

Naturally, he had to have one. Like his ears, it was a rite of passage.


The button stayed on his onsie for about 10 seconds. Long enough for me to take the picture and for him to realize it was there. Like a light bulb, his face lit up and you could just see what his expression was saying.

"Ooohhh, lookit here! A toy to play with! One that I have to pull at! The best kind! And it's metal, the exact type my parents don't like me to mess with. Let's see how close I can get it to my mouth before anyone sees."



The button was then moved to a strap on P.I.T.A. and my group began heading out.

One last look at the GF:



And off to the monorail we went!

 

[afwdwfan]

I wanted some water, though, and the screen would not cooperate for me.

What???? They have water tied into the RFID system???? Why on Earth did they do that? You don't even have to pay for water!

This was a rare occurrence for Alex. Normally, he’s excellent with directions and navigation, but for some reason the off ramp wasn’t clearly marked, so he wasn’t positive that was what he needed to be on.

I do hate that about driving there. Most places are well marked and have good signage, but there are a few places where it is almost like they're saying "you have no reason to be going there coming from this direction."

How do you people with 2 and 3 kids do it??

We don't ride the tram!

Seriously though, that's why I book through AAA so I can get the diamond parking pass and park close to the front. We just get out of the car and walk to the park entrance.

I said a not very Disney-friendly word that could be the definition of the Beverly’s taste, and my eyes got huge.

Those tickets were in an envelope inside the pocket of that travel binder.


Back at Pop.






Talk about an epic fail on my part.

Oh, Beverly...

Alex’s is that he tailgates people with the stroller. He stops the front wheels RIGHT BEHIND a guests’ heel. So if that guest so much as sways backward they will run into our stroller. That and he did (I counted) run into 3 people that night.

Only 3?

Rookie...

Not exactly what I wanted to do on the first night at Disney and right in view of dozens of other guests, but hey, what happened, happened.


I look back on it as, at least we got it out of the way in the beginning, because after that everything went smooth.

Never something you want to have happen, but thankfully you didn't let the little spat and the forgotten tickets ruin the evening.

Looking down below, we saw this gorgeous arrangement set up at the lobby doors

That alone, might be one of my favorite displays of Christmas decorations on property. It is simple, but beautiful.

She wanted to take the grand staircase down, but with the stroller Alex, Landon, and I had to cram into the elevator with about a hundred other guests.

I realize they're trying to keep with the Victorian theming, but do they really have to go so far as to have one little, tiny, slow elevator that looks like it is from the turn of the century and probably powered by a steam boiler somewhere?

My mom and I made a quick stop in the bathroom next to 1900 Park Fare, and oh dear. There were 2 stalls for approximately 15 guests. And while we were washing our hands, a pipe below the sink burst!

What the what????

The Little Mermaid, the Grand Floridian edition.

“Ooohhh, lookit here! A toy to play with! One that I have to pull at! The best kind! And it’s metal, the exact type my parents don’t like me to mess with. Let’s see how close I can get it to my mouth before anyone sees…”

Parents... always ruining the fun stuff.

 

[Dugette]

Well, I don't feel quite so bad about our first morning going off the rails now. Wow, that would be such a bummer to not have the tickets and not be able to get into the Magic Kingdom!! Not to mention the other challenges thus far. Looks like you were able to have a nice time at the Grand Floridian, though! It really does capture the best of Disney at Christmastime. You got some cute pictures with the tree too. Looking forward to the rest of the evening. Hope things go more smoothly. And no more broken pipes...crazy!

 

[teekathepony]

Oh man, what a way to start! The water, the tickets, the stroller... My DH does that with the shopping cart so if we ever had kids, he's not allowed to drive!
The GF is so gorgeous at Christmas. Sounds so busy though. And that sink! Yikes!
Hole everything turns around from this point on, nothing but good luck!

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