Xmas before Thanksgiving? Why not! 11/16-23 TONS of Pics! AoA, MCMCP, FP+, CG & MORE!

[kelowatt]

My dad, Little Sis and I are going to Walt Disney World Nov 16-23 (well, Little Sis is leaving on the 21st). My friends are probably sick of hearing all about my trip, so I figured I would write about it here.

We are using Magic Bands, which will be interesting. I live in Boston, and my dad and sister still live in Buffalo where we grew up, so coordination has been through chat and the My Disney Experience website.

My sister and I chatted for about an hour about where we wanted to go eat before we realized we were no closer to making a decision, and were both STARVING after talking about food so much.

We knew we were going to MVMCP on Sunday night, and we had snagged a reservation for BOG that night for dinner WELL in advance.

We then booked dinner in Germany for Monday, and lunch at the Brown Derby for Tuesday. We booked our fast passes and figured we would do Magic Kingdom Sunday, Epcot Monday, Hollywood Studios Tuesday followed by Downtown Disney, and Animal Kingdom on Wednesday followed by the campfire sing along with Chip and Dale at Fort Wilderness afterwards. That's where our family used to stay, and my sister and I have fond memories.

The last decision was what to do on Saturday. Usually on our arrival we would kick around downtown Disney. That is still the plan, but I thought it might be fun to catch the fireworks over the magic kingdom. I initially tried to book a reservation someplace on the monorail system for that night, but the best I could do was Kona Café at 8:30.....

Except I kept trying every few days and managed to land a reservation for 7:30 at the California Grill. It's more fancy than I had initially planned, but we are all in for a monorail pub crawl topped off by California Grill for dinner and fireworks Saturday.

 

[kelowatt]

Pre-Trip

Post 1: Planning
Post 2: Fast Pass Plus
Post 3: Speaking of Postcards
Post 4: What we look like
Post 5: Preparation
Post 6: Day Dreaming about Food

Trip Report

Post 7: Day 1) The Mousening: MK and California Grill
Post 8: Day 2) Part 1: MK Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Fantasyland
Post 9: Day 2) Part 2: BoG and Mickeys Very Merry SUGAR HIGH Christmas
Post 10: Day 3) Breakfast at Kona Cafe, EPCOT and dinner at Biergarten
Post 11: Day 4) Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney
Post 12: Day 5) HS, BD lunch, Osborne Lights and "See Ya Real Soon" Little Sis
Post 12: Day 6) EPCOT, part deux including Behind the Seeds and La Hacienda
Post 13: Day 7) Return to the Magic Kingdom

 

[kelowatt]

So, like I mentioned, Little Sis and I spent a couple of hours planning our trip and booking our fast passes.

I am of two minds on this:
I will say, its nice to know that I WILL be able to ride these particular rides, but then again it's November, so at least based on previous experience, its not vital to have a fast pass in order to do anything. Sure, sometimes you have to wait WAAAAY longer for something than you want, but my sister and my dad are fun to hang out with. Also, lines are where I write most of my postcards, so it's not the end of the world to have to wait in a line.

On the other hand, it is odd to have certain aspects of my trip already planned ahead. Not bad, exactly, but weird. I mean, its not like we HAD to use fastpass and its not like something terrible will happen if we don't use the ones we booked or if we changed them. I think it makes it a bit easier that we are not traveling with little kids and it's a bit easier for the three of us to go with the flow. Also, I'm the closest thing we have in my family to a type A person, and I'm more of a type B. Little Sis and dad are type C and D respectively

I am hoping that having the fastpasses already booked will help take away some of the pressure to get on the "must see" rides so I can enjoy the intangibles of a Disney vacation. These are the things I've come to appreciate as an adult. The details in the theming, the positive energy that comes from cast members and spreads to others. I've read a tip in some different places about packing glow necklaces to give out to kids at the parades to help spread some pixie dust, and I love that idea. I want to listen to the music, and watch the people, and just be in a world far removed from my day life which while very enjoyable and rewarding, is pretty much devoid of pixie dust (lots of other kinds of dust...but we will leave that for another day). And the best part is just spending time with my dad and Little Sis and having fun together.

Fast Pass Plus may not be the most spontaneous way to plan a trip, but I am seeing it as a couple of fixed points to "riff" off of, so to speak. It will be interesting to see how it pans out when the "rubber meets the wrist" so to speak.

 

[kelowatt]

I LOOOOOVE to write postcards. Seriously. It is one of my favorite things ever. That and the People Mover. What can I say, I'm an oddball. If you want, you can drop me a line on this contraption and will send you or your kiddos a postcard from Mickey and Co.

 

[kelowatt]

In less than two weeks Little Sis, my dad and I will be in Disney World!

This is a picture of the three of us at the Division 2 Flat Track Derby playoffs in Kalamazoo, MI. Little Sis (who is in her mid 30's) plays roller derby for Queen City Roller Girls in Buffalo. I am a non skating official for Boston Derby Dames, and my dad is a "derby dad".

This is a pic from our last trip together in march of 08. Our mom died in Dec of 08. Dad and M have been to Disney since, but this will be my first time going without my mom.

While nobody who knows me in Boston believes it, I'm the quiet one compared to my sister. She is sweet and outgoing and a blast to be around. She is absolutely my all time favorite person, and as we get older we get closer and closer

Our dad is a pretty fun and laid back guy. He's a big kid at heart

I'm probably the most serious of the three of us, which is kind of funny considering my generally goofy sense of humor.

I'm 38, I live in Boston so I don't get to see them as much, and I have a job that I love but is also stressful supervising a team of mobile psychiatric crisis intervention clinicians. AND I am helping out the office by working the overnight shift until they can find someone new in that position since the last one left the company. SO, to say I am ready to be on vacation and breathe in some pixie dust is an UNDERSTATEMENT. I am pretty much posting something Disney related on facebook every day with the comment (x) days...not that I'm counting.



I am TOTALLY counting.

 

[kelowatt]

Its 11 days until our trip, and I've been spending a lot of time focusing on big and little things to get ready.

I've been thinking through what clothes I want to wear. We are going to the MVMCP and I want to wear something cute for a picture that I might or might not use for the holidays. Ideally Dad, Little Sis and will wear something that won't look hideous when the three of us stand together for a picture. I mention this because of a hilarious church directory photo where my sister is in plaid, my dad is in stripes and my mom was in polka dots and I was in a floral print.

I've also been thinking about shoes. I have a great pair of Dr Scholls slip ons that are super comfy that I am breaking in. I bought a second pair in the same size, but they're a smidge too narrow. I usually would wear flipflops, but with my plantar fasciitis, it's probably not the best idea.

I've packed my bag with some survival stuff. I have a first aid kit with Blister Block, Blister bandages, Advil, and my inhaler. I have a tiny umbrella, a fold up water bottle, reusable utensils (Ariel ones that were on sale at Target) extra camera batteries and back up batteries for my phone, and a small quick dry towel.

I've been filling out blank address labels with addresses of people I plan to send postcards to so I can just peel and stick instead of copying it down from my address book.

I've had some coconut water lattes, granola bars, and snack nuts shipped to the hotel via Amazon Prime so I don't have to spend money on coffee or snacks, and can avoid being hangry (hungry+angry)

I still need to buy some glow sticks to hand out to kids at the parades and whatnot. I'm trying to organize my family into placing an order with garden grocer so we can have yogurt and fruit in the hotel room for breakfast too. I hate spending a lot of money on breakfast, so hopefully this will work out. IF not I may just freeze some yogurt and put some bananas in a shoebox and pack them in my checked luggage.

Honestly, I am so excited and impatient to go that I'm probably going to pack my suitcase in the next few days. I'm sure my friends are sick of hearing me go on and on, but it's all I can think about right now.

 

[kelowatt]

One of the things I appreciate about Disney more as an adult than I ever did as a kid is the food and beverages. These are the memories of food I have at Disney as a kid:

Fried chicken in iron buckets at Hoop De Doo
Eating snails at the French restaurant at EPCOT
Eating squid (aka Calamari) at The Coral Reef
Tonga Toast at the Polynesian
Getting TONS of extra pickles at the Pecos Bill's fixins bar

As an adult pescaterian (vegetarian who eats fish) who enjoys a good cocktail, I've come to see a whole new side of food at Disney.

For starters, it's nice to know that there are veggie burgers EVERYWHERE. I mean, it's not my first choice, but knowing I won't be hurting for protein is nice. Theme parks generally aren't good when it comes to that.

Going back to the Hoop De Doo as an adult I now know why it was so popular with the adults...all you can drink sangria (weak sangria, but sangria none the less) and beer!

Drinking around the world at EPCOT is it's own adventure. We've done beer in Great Brittan and Germany, Limoncello in Italy, and finding a seat near Mexico before Illuminations so we could watch it with a margarita and chips.

The buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge is REDICUOUSLY good, and very veggie friendly.

SO, what are the food things I am looking forward to this trip?

Well, our first night we have reservations for 7:30 at the California Grill!!! I can't even tell you how excited I am about this. I love me some sushi and mid-century design. And the timing will be perfect to finish our meal and then head out to the observation deck with a cocktail to watch the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom!

We also have reservations for Be Our Guest for dinner (my cousin is a Chef there). I'm looking forward to seeing my cousin because we both work jobs where getting holidays off is impossible, so we hardly ever see each other. I'm also looking forward to the food. My roommate is intrigued by "the grey stuff". I'm hoping to see if I can get the recipe to bring home and make for my friends.

The other reservations we have are for lunch at the Brown Derby and Dinner in Germany for the show. Little Sis has never eaten at the Brown Derby, and their coconut crusted tofu is probably the single best vegetarian option at WDW. I am envisioning having one of their cocktail flights, probably the three margaritas (I am a sucker for tequila). We haven't done the show in Germany in a while, in fact, I think the last time we did it Little Sis and I weren't old enough to drink.

In addition to the reservations, there are certain food items that I am really looking forward to:
Dole Whip, of course
The apple beverage at Gaston's because I am a sucker for a souvenir mug
I really want to try School Bread and Viking coffee with Illuminations this time
Mickey Bar

and the one food thing I miss: Donald Duck orange juice. I really didn't think I liked orange juice until I had a bottle of Donald Duck OJ at Disney. Turns out, I like fresh squeezed oj. Now that they just do Minute Maid, it's not as good.

Now I'm hungry!

 

[kelowatt]

So, Now that my trip is over, I figured I would write about the experience some.

The night before my trip, one of the girls from the Boston Derby Dames (the roller derby league I officiate with) came over and did my nails. She is AMAZING! and they came out so good I couldn't stop looking at them

You can see more of her stuff on her tumblr Nina Nailed It

My flight from Boston to Orlando was direct on JetBlue (Hooray!) and check in went so smoothly I had time for breakfast and a preflight bloody mary at Boston Beer Works. A beverage here is one of my preflight traditions, and their Bloody Mary has a nice kick to it.

After getting off the plane in Orlando, I made a quick call to the Disney Florists to make arrangements for the "Ears to You" to be delivered to our room at Art of Animation that night for my dad's birthday (which was actually at the end of the week).

This trip we rented a car because my dad was staying for an extra week in the Daytona area. It didn't take long for us get on the road and head to Art of Animation to check in!

The lobby was clean and bright, although beware...those floors get slippery when wet as my dad proved by slip sliding in the entrance by the animator area. Check in went pretty smoothly. We had some confusion when we tried to explain to the concierge that we wanted to add two days to my ticket. He thought we were trying to transfer two days from Little Sis's ticket to mine. That's one area of improvement I would say that cast memebers in general could work on. It felt like a lot of times when we would ask a question, they would give an answer without trying to find out more about what we needed, and wound up giving us information we didn't need instead. It's understandable, because they were giving answers to us that they probably gave to people a million times a day, but it was because they didn't really "hear the question". It's a small thing, but in my line of work it was something that stood out to me.

Our rooms were super awesome. The three of us were splitting a family suite in the Nemo section. The pool was bright and beautifully themed, and when you put your head underwater, you can hear music and character sounds that they play through underwater speakers. It was pretty sweet. The room came with a fridge, microwave, and pod coffee maker (not k-cups, the other kind). Also, the Mouseka-florists had already delivered dad's surprise!

We put on our magic bands (or as I like to call them, my mouske-tracking device) and decided to hit the Magic Kingdom!

They were pretty comfy and unobtrusive. The only real issues I had were a) it was awkward to get the mickeys to touch when trying to get into the room, and b) I kept looking at it like it was going to tell me the time. "Mouse o'clock" became a running joke.

We signed up for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, and then famished from our travels, we had ourselves some Pecos Bill. As the only vegetarian in the family, its pretty "meh". I mean, how excited can you get about a black bean veggie burger. Little Sis's Taco Salad looks a lot better, as does my dad's pulled pork sandwich. In retrospect I wonder how confusing it would have been for them to make me a taco salad with a veggie burger that I could then cut up? Hmmmm..... We hit up Pecos Bill's pretty much every trip, so I know what I'm in for. On the plus side it means I get to fill a paper condiment cup to overflowing with PICKLES! It's the little things sometimes. The woman keeping the area where we sat was super nice and helpful, which is one of the things I love about Disney. Cast members seem much more invested in the guest experience there than most places I've been.

Something to note about Sorcerers...I'm not a fan. Mostly because it dictates how you go through the park. It kind of feels like, if that's what you're doing...that's ALL your doing, because you want to stay on track with the story. And I really didn't get how you decided to which spell to cast. I don't think my sister did either, and she plays games like Magic, the Gathering. The effects were pretty cool, but it felt a little "fascist". I much preferred the Wilderness Explorers at Animal Kingdom, where you had more control over where and when you did each of the activities. Maybe I'm just missing something.

After our late lunch we head over to Pirates, which is the traditional family first ride. We have fast passes, so we basically just walk right on. I find having to have to check in twice with the magic bands to be...odd, but its not a big deal. The mermaids were a nice addition, but I take it they've stopped doing the fog/projection effect?

From there we wandered ourselves over to New Fantasy Land to check things out and to use our second fp+ of the day, The Little Mermaid. The theming of New Fantasy Land is pretty cool. I loved the area around Rapunzel's tower, and the new Mine ride looks like it is going to be amazing. We stopped by the princess themed gift shop near Gaston's Tavern, where they had some pretty cute and clever souvenirs

The Little Mermaid Ride was really great. We never wound up doing the standby line, which I hear is quite something. The ride itself is a cute retelling of the story. The AA's are quite good, especially the facial features. And the ride through the "Under The Sea" was the highlight. They kinda skimped on the ending with Ursula, and there is nothing of my favorite part of the movie, the song Les Poisson, but you can't have everything I suppose.

We also wandered around Storybook Circus, which was a lot more coherent than Toon Town. The gift shop there is fantastic! I particularly loved the "dinglehopper" hairbrush I found.

They also have a sweet shop right at the center, which smells AMAZING! We took the train to the front of the park so we could hop the monorail to the Contemporary Resort for dinner at the California Grill!

I was super excited to land that ADR for 7:20. I figured the timing would be perfect for post dessert firework watching on the observation deck. Our server Wendi was pretty attentive and VERY enthusiastic. She gushed about something on every part of the menu, and gave very detailed descriptions. Living in Boston, I didn't have quite the same sticker shock as my dad and Little Sis did. In fact, the beer and cocktail prices were pretty much in line with a fancy hotel based bar in my neck of the woods. Little Sis and I split the tomato and mozzarella flatbread. Each slice had a slice of roasted tomato and mozzarella. The roasting brought out a nice earthy sweetness to the tomato, and the flatbread stayed just the right amount of crispy.

Then she and I each had a sushi roll, while Dad had the scallops. His scallops were HUGE, and the curry dusting was not too spicy (although I thought they could have gone a tad lighter on the seasoning). I had the dragon roll. For $24 I was pretty happy with the portion, and it was really fresh and delicious.

I had planned on getting dessert, but I was pretty well stuffed after that. Over dinner we talked about the last time we had been to dinner at the contemporary (which I had TOTALLY forgotten about until that conversation) back when it was called "Top of the World". Apparently one of the lounge singers had gotten a little "fresh" with my father and made him blush!

The dinner took long enough the fireworks were going to start before we were ready to think about dessert. Wendi did a great job getting us cocktails before we headed out to the deck to watch Wishes. I had a very nicely balanced Sidecar (my Boston friends and I are cocktail snobs, if you're ever in the area the bar Drink comes highly recommended). The view was tremendous. We went to the deck furthest from the MK as recommended by Wendi so the fireworks would be more over the castle. They had the music playing out on the deck which was a nice touch.

Now, since we are celebrating our dad's birthday, and he has the pin to show for it, Wendi brings us a complementary dessert. Fueled by the sugar, and the giddiness of being at Disney, we decide to go back to the Magic Kingdom and get a couple more rides in.

When we get there it is about time for the Electrical Light Parade to start, and we get the most amazing spots right under the train station! there is literally nobody between me and the parade!

Not to mention a clear line of site to the castle, all lit up in twinkle lights.

After the parade, we decide to hit some rides. The standby line for Space Mountain is only 10 minutes, so we decide to hit that first. And this is where we find out that it takes 10 minutes to walk from the sign with the times TO the ride. I forgot how long you have to walk before you get on! They have these games in the cue that look interesting, but we've got rockets to ride! It was a blast. Little Sis and I were screaming and laughing our heads off. I think the best part was when we both spotted the "asteroid" that is actually a photo of a chocolate chip cookie...and we both yelled "COOKIE!" at the same time. After getting off, we walked straight on to Buzz Lightyear, and then caught the PeopleMover before the park closed. Not bad for a first day.

Tomorrow's plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner at Be Our Guest, and Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party

 

[kelowatt]

So, after a pretty decent nights sleep on the murphy bed in our Nemo Suite at AoA (mattress was firmer than I'm used to, but plenty comfy), we were off to MK. I decided against a refillable mug, as I don't like hot coffee, and we don't typically eat at the resort. I had some coconut water latte's shipped to the room via amazon, and had those with greek yogurt every morning. I had wanted to stop at a grocery to get them to save a bit more money, but we never got around to it so I got it from the "to go" cooler in the food court. I also filled up my Vapur collapsible water bottle with ice from the beverage station, and a slice of lemon for flavor. I LOOOOVE this bottle. It is flexible, and rolls up to the size of about a roll of quarters, yet when you fill it up it can hold a liter of fluid and has a built in clip so you can attach it to your bag/belt/ect. I got mine at Target.

We took the bus over to MK, and then took the train over to Frontierland.

We had a FP+ for Thunder Mountain, but when we got off the train and walked past the cue for Splash Mountain, it said 5 minutes. Who's gonna turn down a 5 minute wait time?

Here's a tip. If you want to get REALLY wet? Have the two largest people in the log sit in the front. My dad and I wound up in the front seat, and I have NEVER gotten so wet on that ride! I love that attraction! It really holds up over time (the movie? not so much).

Then off to use our FP+ for Thunder Mountain. One of the things about doing the FP lines, is that you don't get to play with the new interactive queues. Although, walking straight onto a ride is more fun than pushing buttons (my younger sister might disagree). We got to sit in the back of the train, which is my favorite part. When you're in the front, you really don't accelerate until the back part of the train is over the hills, where the back part is full acceleration. It's a fun little coaster! (although, when did they take out the boulders that are supposed to move like they're about to fall on you? I clearly remember there being a couple of boulders that moved down towards the train tracks when I was younger, but they're not there anymore)

From Thunder Mountain, it was off to the JINGLE CRUISE!

I was really excited to see what they did with their first holiday overlay in Orlando. The jokes were cute and corny, and our skipper had a deadpan delivery that I enjoyed. I kinda wished they had decorated the ride more, but it was a nice changeup. Also, I LOOOVE the poster (more on that later).

We made a trip over to Aloha Isle for the obligatory Dole Whip (or in my case Dole Float...need to hydrate!) and finished them off while in line for the Enchanted Tiki Room. I was not a big fan of the "Under New Management" show, so it was nice to see the classic. Heck, let me bring my Dole Float in and spike it with a nip of Malibu and it's pretty much retro heaven!

From there it was time to move on to Liberty Square for the Haunted Mansion. 10 minute standby line gave us a little time to play with some of the interactive pieces in the queue. This is my sister playing the piano (notice the look of concentration as indicated by her tongue sticking out of her mouth )

(aren't I a loving big sister?

There were two really cute little boys in front of us that were getting more and more nervous as the preshow went on. Since we were standing behind them in line for the doombuggies, I offered mom a couple of glow bracelets, which seemed to help ease their fears. I know I went through a period where I found it too scary to go on (it was interesting, because I had been on it and been fine before, and I KNEW I had been on it and been fine before, but one year I WOULD NOT GO ON, and nobody could convince me otherwise). I noticed that they had changed the storyline in the attic from the last one I remember, and told the story of the bride in a clearer narrative. As what seems like the norm, there was a period on the ride where we were "stuck" and had to wait. I don't mind so much because I remember when my mom was alive but not as mobile, WE were often the reason for these delays. It was a little uncomfortable because those doombuggies aren't exactly sized for three adults, one with a pooh sized back-end (me), and one with a "derby-butt" (sister). Interestingly, the Haunted Mansion is the only ride I've ever had to walk off due to the ride malfunctioning. It was with my sister on a band field trip, and we were almost late catching our bus to the hotel because of it!

All that mock-terror (and walking) got us hungry. We made the rookie mistake of having lunch at lunchtime, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We went to Columbia Harbor House. I grabbed the table upstairs while dad and sis got the food. Probably the best counter service lunch I had all week (followed closely by Tangerine Café at EPCOT). Grilled salmon that was moist and flaky, VERY tasty couscous, and steamed broccoli!

The family next to us had a rougher time of it. We were sitting next to a family of five. The dad was downstairs grabbing food, while mom had the three kids. The middle child was having none of it, and pitched the mother of all tantrums, flailing and stripping down to her panties screaming "I WANT MY GOOFY!". The poor woman was mortified. My dad talked to the mom and made "it happens to the best of us" noises while I chatted with the older brother and gave him some Mickey stickers from my bag. "I WANT MY GOOFY" became a rallying cry for the rest of the trip.

After lunch shenanigans, it was time for FantasyLand! Our next FP+ was for Peter Pan. I figured we should have a fast pass for this ride because it ALWAYS HAS A SUPER LONG LINE! And it is probably one of my favorite rides besides the PeopleMover. We had some time before the FastPass was good, so we went on it's a small world, which had a 5 minute wait. I can never go on that ride without thinking of the Simpsons episode where they go to Itchy and Scratchy land and they ride the water ride with Aunt Selma who says in frustration "Bart, Shut UP! Lisa, drink the water!", and Lisa gets high off the water and winds up in the middle of a fountain exclaiming "I AM THE LIZARD QUEEN!" (but I digress).

We played some of the Sorcerer cards, and then went on Peter Pan. There is something about flying over those scenes that is just magical to me.

Then to Mickey's Philharmagic, which reminds me again why Donald was my favorite character as a kid. After that we decided to try some of LeFeu's Brew. WOW! It is sweet, and it is TASTY! And who could pass up those souvenir mugs!

It was around 3pm, and we had tickets for MVMCP, so we decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap so we could be fresh and ready to go. We had 7pm reservations for BoG (our cousin is an exec chef at Disney, so he was able to fit us in), so we figured we would rest, and head back, do a couple of things before dinner then hit the party!

 

[OhMari]

I think I have just read the coolest thing ever.
Roller derby girls.

Plus, it is nice to read adult trip reports. I do not see many. Your touring sounds a lot like mine.

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[kelowatt]

Great pics!

Thanks!

 

[kelowatt]

I think I have just read the coolest thing ever.
Roller derby girls.

Plus, it is nice to read adult trip reports. I do not see many. Your touring sounds a lot like mine.

Thanks! My sister has been doing derby for a while, this is my first season. It's a lot of fun. There are leagues all over the world now. It's a lot of fun even just to go and watch.

It's funny to me how my appreciation for Disney has changed as an adult. Talking to my friends at work, some of them didn't get why we would go without little kids. Of course, one of my friends at work went two weeks before me on her on for Food and Wine, so it's a mixed bag

 

[kelowatt]

So, after a nice little nap at AoA, we were back to MK for dinner at BoG courtesy of our cousin Chappy, and the Christmas party. This was our first ever party, so we weren't really sure what to expect besides what we had read here and other places.

We were a bit early for our dinner reservation, so we tried out the Barnstormer. It went pretty quicky, but not bad for a kiddy coaster.

Dinner at BoG was wonderful for several reasons. First of all, we got to see Dave (aka Chappy!) He and I both work jobs where it is difficult to get holidays off, so we very rarely see one another besides weddings and funerals. Second, the restaurant is BEAUTIFUL! We were seated in the main ballroom which is gorgeous (and the faces of the imagineers painted on the ceiling as the faces of the cherubs was a nice touch). Our host who sat us was in training, and was SUPER into the whole thing. Our waitress was a good waitress, but was a little less into the whole THEME of the place (which was fine). The windows snowing were beautiful, and were apparently because Beauty fell in love with the Beast during winter, so it is always winter there. The ballroom was a bit noisy, but really that was my only complaint.

My dad and I split the trio of salads for an appetizer (my favorite was the one with the shallots in it) and my sister had the potato leek soup, which was fantastic! My dad and I had the seafood filled puff pastry, which we both enjoyed immensely, and my sister had the steak and fries. I can vouch that the fries were good, and she enjoyed the stake which was medium and was too big for her to finish. For beverages my dad and I each had a beer (I don't remember what he had, but I had a Chimay Red, which is one of my favorites), and my sister had a non-alcoholic beverage in the flashing princess *pimp cup*. When we couldn't turn it off, our server brought us a brand new one and made sure it worked. My dad the Birthday boy had some grey stuff (it's a whipped cookies and creme panna cotta, and is delicious as advertised) and my sister and I split an eggnog cupcake that was a holiday party special.

We sat and talked with our cousin for a while, who told us that each table has a computer in it, and that he has a screen in the kitchen where he can watch people move through the restaurant via Magic Bands. We also joked about what piece of kitchen equipment he was before he was turned back into a person when Beauty and the Beast fell in love (he said stove, I said iPad). We checked out the other dining spaces including the west wing:

and what I am calling the music box room:

Every so often the Beast would walk through, and he would meet with guests in the den, or something. It was a great experience (and the beer selection was NICE), but it was off for the PAR-TAY!

We decided to head towards the hub for the light show and fireworks. The castle projection show was pretty cool (I hadn't seen any version of it before)

and they even had a Wreck It Ralph section (which is my Brother In Law's favorite movie, and is pretty under-represented)

They also did the song from Frozen, which they were pushing pretty hard (It's a great song, and I can't wait to see the movie)

We also got a couple of pictures taken by the photopass people and saw the holiday Wishes fireworks, which were great, especially when they were surrounding us 360 style (although I'm not big on fireworks in general, too boomy).

While we didn't get our pictures taken with any of the characters, we did take pictures of them...

and my sister decided to get her moneys worth in free hot cocoa. Which I'm pretty sure they laced with crack, because she went from being full and kind of tired to SUPER wired and hilarious! We had ourselves some ice cream in a Minnie Mug at Sleepy Hollow

and my sister ran into Woody's Holiday Hoedown so she could see the inside of the Diamond Horseshoe (I'd been there once during a "Behind the Magic" thing I did as a teen) and wound up dancing with Woody

That's her in the red and white sox and brown t-shirt.

We watched the parade in Frontierland just in front of the Trading Post. It was cute, and we had a great view. My sister was particularly excited about seeing the marching tin soldiers (we were both marching band geeks in high school) and I might still have the bruises to show how excited she was. She tends to punch me in the shoulder when she is excited, and after four cups of hot cocoa she was pretty excitable. I liked that they had some of the less known characters in the parade, like Clarabell and Horace.

We basically followed the end of the parade out of frontierland into Fantasyland where we took advantage of the short wait times to go on Winnie The Pooh (the interactive line looked really cool, and I loved the "honey" screens). From there we headed to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain again, TWICE (my sister told the ride operator at the end that it was our dad's birthday and she gave us a re-ride). The ride photo of my sister was so funny I wound up buying it! We also did one of the VERY last rides of the People Mover of the evening.

Oh, and I had to buy myself some emergency souvenir flip-flops, as my souvenir blisters on my heels had gotten to the point I really couldn't NOT limp (my comfy converse sneakers let me down). Once all the rides were shut down, we moseyed back to Main Street, just in time to see the last of the snow, and get our picture taken by one more PhotoPass person. I think we finally left the park at 1am, and were back to the hotel by around 2.

The Christmas party was a lot of fun. In retrospect, it would make a better day of arrival activity so we didn't burn a park ticket too. The hot cocoa was good, the snickerdoodles were ok, but my roommate makes homemade caramel filled ones with browned butter, so anything else is going to be a let down. We were absolutely fascinated with the woman who was drawing characters on the street with water. How do you learn to do that? Who came up with that as a thing? Inquiring minds want to know!

Fortunately, we had a late breakfast at the Polynesian scheduled for the next day, so we could sleep in. It was quite a day, and we were averaging about 10 miles a day in walking.

 

[kelowatt]

So one of the things I remembered from trips as a kid that I wanted to re-experience as an adult was Tonga Toast, so we made plans to hit Kona Cafe for breakfast. Dad got Tonga Toast, and Little Sis and I split Tonga Toast and an order of Pineapple Macadamia Pancakes and we got a french press of Kona Coffee to split.

Lemmie tell ya something...that was one carbtastic breakfast!

I asked to sub the bacon for eggs since I don't eat meat. Little Sis felt that the bacon portion was too small. "They're teasing you with bacon, just a little bit" as she put it.

The Tonga Toast was HUGE, and delicious...but the pancakes were even better! The Pineapple Macadamia topping on the pancakes was fantastic. And the coffee....mmmmm.

After filling up on tasty tasty carbs, we were off to EPCOT!

The monorail ride to EPCOT is my favorite way to get there. I love the preview you get of the park before you get off and go through the gate.

Our first fastpass was for Mission Space, perhaps not the best idea after such a big breakfast. Especially since we are an Orange or nothing kind of family. While I still miss Horizons (and the smell of orange groves) it is still a really impressive ride. (Also, does anyone go through that ride without SOMEONE making a Lieutenant Dan joke?)

some post-ride ear shopping

After Mission Space, we did the standby line for Test Track (Tron edition). I like the speedy ride just fine, but the old "World of Motion" was one I enjoyed back in the day. I do like the preshow where you get to customize your own car. We wound up making what I dubbed the "Monster Prius"

The post show games were also pretty cool.

And we were just in time to see...THE JAMMITORS! They are a super-fun percussion group that play on garbage cans. It is a family favorite (especially for dad).

From there we went on to the Universe of Energy, aka Ellen's Universe of Naps. Man, they need to do more with that ride!

From there we headed over for lunch at Sunshine Seasons. I had some super tasty VEGAN mongolian "beef". So so good!

It makes me SO happy when there are interesting veggie options at Disney.

And then Soarin, which is fantastic, but could stand for an upgrade in image technology. The prints in the projectors are starting to show their age.

It was a short walk to the non-existent line for Living With The Land (did I once stand in line for 40 minutes for this?) I actually really like this ride because it feels more connected to Walt's vision of EPCOT than most of the others. It has a purpose outside of the attractions, and that purpose is SCIENCE!

From The Land, we headed off to The Seas (now with more Nemo). I remember when you took the "hydrolators" to Seabase Alpha, which frankly, was kinda lame. I think the Nemo theming is kinda cute, if a little less sciency (and I miss the diver coming down the tube on regular intervals). Turtle Talk with Crush was fun, mostly because he picked three kids in a row who's favorite food was broccoli.

We went from there to Spaceship Earth (I miss Walter Cronkite) and then Journey into Imagination (I REALLY miss Dreamfinder)! We also took in Captain EO, which I remember being TERRIFYING as a kid. It was a cute flashback to the past, and I totally forgot it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola! Also, this is the line with the infamous "Do you suck the head?" convo (My dad has a knack for being approached by strangers, and he just starts chatting. Apparently when I was a teen and we were waiting in the handicapped line for Captain EO, he was talking with another dad about crawfish when their teenaged son, who was about my age at the time came up to me and asked me "Do you suck the head?" To say I was a bit taken aback by this was an understatement. Apparently it has something to do with crawfish eating techniques. And the best part? That was only my SECOND weirdest conversation with a stranger at Disney...but that's a story for another time)

The day is going by pretty quickly, and we haven't even hit World Showcase yet! We start off in Mexico (which is our usual pattern) and ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, which I always enjoy, because I like Donald!

but what I like maybe more than Donald, is tequilla. We head over to La Cava del Taquila, and have some fantastic margaritas! I have the pineapple one, which is very tasty (although not as good as the cucumber one I have later in the week). Dad has a traditional one, which is mighty tasty, and they make my sister some sort of fruit juice beverage. My dad has an annual pass, and usually hits up the bar outside for his Margaritas. He said that while these were a bit more expensive, they were DEFINATELY worth the price differential.

After a little browsing, we head over to Norway, to ride Malestrom! Out of curiosity, has ANYONE ever stayed for the movie at the end? We wander through the stores

(nice photobomb, Little Sis)

and scoot past China on our way to Germany for dinner at the Biergarten!

We are seated with an adorable family with three boys who positively talk our ears off. Fortunately all three of us like chatting with kids, so it went well. I was glad they had a flight of beer, so I didn't have to choose (I liked the dark one best, but this comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I <3 malty beers). They also had a pretty decent selection of food for a non-meat eater (I do like me some spaetzel) We thoroughly overstuffed ourselves. For a buffet, the food seemed pretty fresh, and was refreshed pretty often. I had the fish which was tasty and moist (buffet fish tends to get too dry). Make sure to walk all the way down, as you might miss something. They also had fresh carved meat, and schnitzel, and a lot of other really tasty things. The entertainment was pretty enjoyable too. I feel like this place gets looked over when thinking of places to dine in EPCOT. It's not the most exotic or fancy, but it certainly was enjoyable.

From there we continued to wander around the World Showcase. We skipped by the American Experience (it's long, and I like the Hall of Presidents better) and browsed the Japanese pavilion, where three kids were doing Pick a Pearl (I remember doing that my first time to EPCOT)

The castmember doing the Pick a Pearl was really into it, and taught the kids how to count to three in Japanese while she opened the pearls.

We kept walking, passed right by France and wandered around the UK. Little Sis was looking for a pint glass from the Rose and Crown as a gift for her hubby back home. Apparently there was a story about the last time they went and wanted to get a pint at the pub, but got waylaid. They didn't have pint glasses like she hoped, but she wound up getting him a t-shirt (not the one pictured)

We parked ourselves outside of the Canada pavilion and watched Illuminations. I fogot how good this show was! I still remember the afternoon show they did with kites and speedboats back in the day. Of course, I also remember that you could catch double decker busses around the World Showcase. I might not be young

At the hotel we decide to try out the pool. It was not the warmest water I've ever swam in, but it wasn't the coldest either. It was cool to hear the music played under the water, but it was a short dip. We were exhausted and had early fastpasses for the Safari in the morning.

 

[kelowatt]

Today was the day for Animal Kingdom! Armed with 9:10 safari FP+, we headed out, and got there WICKED early.

we wound up having snacks at Kusifiri Coffee Shop before we got on to the safari. We got Ariel as our safari guide...and she was FANTASTIC! Between her and seeing more animals than usual, this was by far the BEST safari I've been on, and today was the most fun I've had at Animal Kingdom. The two-part podcast on Overlooked Animal Kingdom really added to the experience as well

baby giraffe

IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!

From there we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, and me up with our first Wilderness Explorer guides!

I absolutely LOVED the Wilderness Explorers. It was a great way to point out interesting things in the different areas, the leaders were super into it and informative, and tailored things for adults like my sister and me (I learned about shade grown coffee, for one thing). I also liked that you could do them as you found them, and make it fit what you already had planned.

Kelly in Thai and Hindi

Next we hopped the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. I like learning about the things they do to take care of the animals. (SCIENCE!) While we were there they were doing a checkup on a bird, and they had an owl out as well.

Thats the Birthday Boy in the background

I have some fond memories of the last trip we took with my mom, where a goat climbed on top of her in her wheelchair and ripped her park map right out of her hands. We all couldn't stop laughing, once we rescued her from the goat.

From there we headed over to DinoLand to ride Disnosaur! Wow! That ride was a lot scarier than I remember, and a lot of fun. We had lunch at Restaurantosaurus, which was better than the old McDonalds that used to be there. Had a decent veggie burger, and a rum beverage that was yummy.

After lunch my sister and I did the Primeval Whirl while dad looked on. Nearby they had Goofy and Pluto dressed up for Christmas and taking pictures.

We wandered ourselves back towards asia where I had a lovely Green Honey Ginsing Iced Tea from Royal Anandapur Tea Company. It had a really nice and subtle honey flavor. We sat and watched the monkeys on monkey island, and then did the Jungle Trek while waiting for our FP+ for Expedition Everest.

I am particularly fond of the theming around the Maharaja Jungle Trek

Expedition Everest was a blast as always! And when we got off, my sister swore she saw Joe Rhodi in line behind us.

We started heading back to the entrance, and dropped into It's Tough to be a Bug, which is cute. When we got out we were just in time for the Jingle Jungle Parade, and had pretty good view.

We got a PhotoPass pic and then headed back to the resort to grab a bite before going to Downtown Disney. I had the Surf and Surf burger, which was a crabcake covered in fried shrimp. It was pretty tasty!

Originally the plan was to head to Fort Wilderness for the campfire and movies, but we were too tired, and as my sister put it, we were feeling rushed.

We walked around Downtown Disney for a while, and did some shopping. The guitar player outside of Fultons was AMAZING. It was pretty busy, and we wound up having drinks and dessert at the Lava Lounge, which is the bar at Rainforest Cafe that overlooks the water.

Lego Maleficent

A variety of steampunk mickey ear ornements

We caught the last of the boats from Marketplace over to the West Side, and then drove back to the resort

Tomorrow, sister's last day at Disney, and we hit up Hollywood Studios and the Osborne Lights

 

[kelowatt]

Today was the last day for little sis. Dad is retired, and I have more vacation time banked at work than I can take, where little sis has to use so much of it for roller derby that she could only get half the week off Still, it's been great spending time with her and dad, and we've got one more day to make the most of. We decide to walk around the Cars section of the resort in the morning, which is super cute.

Of the things I wish I had done, one of them is take a bit more time walking around the resort is one of them (it's a short list. the other thing is that I wish we had gone to the France pavilion, but then it seems that Disney always leaves you wishing you had more time)

We headed over to Hollywood Studios, and did a little shopping before we went on The Great Movie Ride. That's a ride that could stand some sprucing up. Although the Wizard of Oz section is a highlight!

We wandered through the Disney Animation section. I miss the tour when it was a working studio (although it was a bit like going to the Animator Zoo). We decided to come back later, and headed off for our FP+ for Toy Story Mania. I hadn't been on this ride before. It was a lot of fun, although I'm not getting the frenzy for it. The week before thanksgiving is generally a super slow time, and yet this ride still had hour long waits. *shrug*.

We went from there to Muppet Vision in 3D. I can't see the muppets without thinking of my mom. Gonzo was her spirit animal, and she would talk about him and his girlfriend Camilla the Chicken at the drop of a hat. It's a cute 3D movie, and I hope that it sticks around. We did a little shopping at the Muppet store nearby. I was surprised there wasn't more stuff considering how well the new Muppet movie did (written by and starring my TV Boyfriend Jason Siegel).

From there it was a quick hop skip and jump over to the Backstage Tour, which is less and less of a backstage tour every year. That's the other thing I miss about Hollywood Studios. When it first opened, it was a WORKING studio, with TV shows filming and Animators working. Now it feels fake...like a movie prop of a movie studio.

While we were standing in line watching the battleship effects show, the two little girls next to us were starting to fuss and were clearly upset by all of the booming noise. The parents of the girls were trying to soothe them, and the mother called the choice a "mommy-fail". I pulled out two of my plastic princess wands from my bag (they come a dozen for three bucks at the Party Store) and asked if the princesses would like to have some princess wands. And just like that they forgot all about the loud noises and were playing with their wands and showing their parents. The mom said "I should add you to my Christmas card list". *shrug*. That's the power of a well timed distraction!

After the tour, we walked back towards the front of the park, stopping at Star Tours on the way. I am generally TERRIBLE at those simulator rides, although the 3D seemed to help quite a bit. We rode it twice, once in the afternoon, and once at night. Apparently there are different missions you can get, but we got the same one each time. If I was judging this like an Olympic event, I'd have to take points off for including JarJar, but what can you do?

We also did the Legend of Jack Sparrow. Eh. It was cute, and the effect of Johnny Depp projected on the screen was pretty spiffy, but its nothing I would wait in line for...unless I was desperate for air conditioning but NOT for seating.

We had a late afternoon ADR for lunch at the Brown Derby. My sister had never been, and wanted to try it. We were giving Dad's Tables in Wonderland card quite the workout this trip! Servers must LOVE that thing, because then they don't have to worry about getting stiffed! Our server at the Brown Derby was FANTASTIC! Very attentive and helpful. Little Sis was going without alcohol on this trip, and she was pouting about not being able to have the flight of margaritas like dad and I had (and the three drinks were each a healthy size), until I suggested that a place like this probably had a fun non-alcoholic beverage selection. Our server suggested their non-alcoholic mojito, which was quite good (although not as good as my margaritas)!

Melissa had the Kobe Beef Burger with pastrami, dad had the fetuccini, and I had what is legendary as one of the better vegetarian choices on all of Disney property...the coconut crusted tofu noodle bowl! It is tasty and spicy and definitely something I was looking forward to all week. All three of us absolutely LOVED our lunches and were too full to even split a piece of grapefruit cake! Fortunately they have little derby shaped recipe cards at the front desk that you can take home with the recipe for the cake on it (not to mention it is in at least one of my Disney cookbooks).

From there it was time to do something a bit more low key while we digested. Little Sis got in line to get her picture taken with Vanelope and Wreck It Ralph (her husband's favorites). Unfortunately I used her camera to take pictures with her in them, so I only have a pic of the characters standing alone.

From there we got in line for the Animation Academy. I was pretty wiped out after the last four days of go! go! go! touring.

But I really enjoy the drawing lessons.

The tattoo of Lady and the Tramp is one Little Sis got in memory of our mother. Lady and the Tramp was her favorite Disney movie. She would tell us stories of how she would listen to the record in her bedroom upstairs, and would yell down to grandma and grandpa to come upstairs and turn the record over when the first side was done. I have fond memories of eating at Tony's Town Square for breakfast so we could get Lady and the Tramp waffles.

Our class drew Minnie Mouse

not bad, if I do say so myself!

After the Animation Academy, we did Tower of Terror. That is a ride that NEVER gets old! I love how the drop sequence changes every time! This is also one of my dad's favorite places to leave one of his "Jimmy's wooden nickels". It used to be that he would leave quarters hidden in places around the parks, and then come back to see if they had been moved. One year for Christmas, or Fathers Day, or something, my sister and I got him a set of printed wooden nickels with an email address on them. That way when someone found the wooden nickel he had hidden they could tell him. We've talked about helping him make a map or something. Anyhow, it's something that amuses him. Our bellhop for the ride was amazing! A) she looked a little bit like Lady Gaga with her long straight blonde hair (or so Little Sis thought), and B) she was super dramatic and scared the crap out of Little Sis before she even got on the ride (although first place in scaring the crap out of Little Sis will always belong to the castmember at Alien Encounter who banged on the one way glass windows as Little Sis was trying to peek in. HILARIOUS! Man, I miss that messed up ride).

From there it was a quick walk over to Rockin' Rollercoaster. Its a fun little coaster, although this time through we got some less fun Aerosmith concerts. Last trip we kept getting Sweet Emotion, which is my favorite Aerosmith song. Not as big of a fan of the new stuff. *shrug*. I always thought Aerosmith was an "interesting" choice for Disney. Although as Miley is showing us, it's hard to know where an artist is going to wind up down the road.

Originally I had made a FP+ for Fantasmic, but we traded it in for Rockin Roller Coaster FP+. So, when we went to get seats for Fantasmic, it was standing room only. Fantasmic is my least favorite of the nighttime shows at Disney (I think in part because of the seating procedure), so I was not up for standing through the performance, and neither were Dad or Little Sis. On the plus side, this meant the line for Tower of Terror was NOTHING, so we went on again! I can't remember which time, but one of the times we rode it, we got all the way to the bottom, and the end film part started...and then we shot all the way up to the top again! Again, I cannot get enough of this ride!

It was getting dark, and it was time for the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. The last time I saw this, I am pretty sure it was on the old backlot with the houses (does anyone remember that?) Being on "Streets of America" was nice, because they could blow some of that Disney snoap (snow+soap) to make it look a bit more Christmas-y. I ran and grabbed a beer for Dad, a margarita for myself, and a soda in a traffic cone for Little Sis (the castmember pouring the beers was super sweet and kept the bar open for me so I could run around the corner and get Sis a drink before they closed)

Sister Selfie!

We saw a few cycles of the dancing lights, which were really fun and put us in the holiday mood. On our way out we hit up Star Tours ONE MORE TIME! and then took a sitting break where Little Sis decided she wanted a Mickey Bar. The dinosaur was closed for the evening, but undaunted she went to a street cart who was closing. The cast member gave her two Mickey Bars and told her it was on Mickey Mouse! Free is my FAVORITE flavor (and I like Mickey Bars anyhow, so win-win)!

Then it was back to the resort for a late supper (and another Surf and Surf...I wasn't super impressed with the veggie options at the resort, although mostly because I didn't want to wait in line for the pasta bar). Little Sis had the most adorable Mickey cupcake.

We crashed in the room, and Sis packed, as her flight was at stupid o'clock in the morning. Originally she was going to do Magical Express, but last minute dad decided he would just drive her, and I would sleep in! I was going to miss Little Sis, but with two more days to spend however we wanted, touring was going to go at a bit more relaxed pace with just me and Dad.

 

[kelowatt]

So, having shipped Little Sis back off to Buffalo, dad and I decided to take another swing around EPCOT.

The skies are looking a bit ominous. We've had a sprinkle of rain pretty much every day, but nothing major, and nothing long lasting. Half the time the only way we knew it rained was that the ground was wet after we got off a ride!

not ominous looking...YET

Walking in, we decide since the line is only 5 minutes, we would do Spaceship Earth first. Followed by Test Track in Standby. Instead of making one car for both of us, we each made our own car. We spent a little more time goofing off in the post ride section, which was neat. Turns out you can even get your picture taken with the car you designed, and you can look up your results after you get off

Then it was time to hit the World Showcase again. We made a reservation at the Hacienda San Angel, so we decided to skip Mexico for the time being and head over to Norway, where we sampled the world famous School Bread, and had some iced coffee with Baileys. Not sure why Baileys is considered Norwegian, but School Bread lived up to the hype!

The pastry on the outside is a yeast based bread, but not sweet like on a regular donut. The cream inside was vanilla, but a stronger vanilla flavor than you get in the typical boston crème/Bavarian crème donut. And the coconut topping was nice and not too sweet. Basically, it was more balanced than the typical sugar bomb that is most American donuts.

From there we headed to China, to buy a present for one of the girls who covered my shift while I was away (It's not easy finding people to work the overnight who are trained to do my job, which is why I have all of that vacation time banked). We also walked through the exhibit with the terracotta warriors, which my dad particularly enjoys. This is probably one of the better done exhibits, showing examples of pottery work and temple art through the dynasties. Very interesting and informative (at least for a nerd like me)

Oh, Hi Mulan!

We continued around the World Showcase, taking a minute to watch the miniature trains near Germany (we had already seen the pavilion when we had dinner there) and spent some time in Italy. I've never really connected with the Italian pavilion. Mostly it's a bunch of expensive luxury goods, and the food doesn't wow me. I guess I'm spoiled living not too far from the oldest Italian neighborhood in the US (Boston's North End) with some crazy good Italian food.

Continuing our tour of World Showcase, we stopped by the US pavilion and watched a Fife and Drum group (my dad is a sucker for those) and peeked in the gift shop. There was a woman there selling kids books that could be personalized with different sections based on the heritage of that child. I also found some pretty entertaining swag.

You could see that they were starting to get ready for the holidays in EPCOT, with the stage set up for the Candlelight Procession, and little booths for holidays around the world starting to spring up.

As we continued to walk, we spent some more time in the Japan Pavilion. Japan and Morocco are probably my favorite World Showcase pavilions. We even spent some time in the display they had on ancient myths and how they are translated into current Japanese culture. Definitely recommend this for anyone into Japanese cartoons, Manga, or Anime. They had different displays for each Japanese mythical being, and modern examples of where you find this mythical being or it's characteristics. It is tucked WAAAAY in the back of the pavilion, but it's worth seeking out.

We also spent a little time listening to the drummers

From there we wandered around Morocco for a bit before heading out on the boat back to Future World to catch our FP+ for Soarin!

Hi, Jasmine!

We did a bit of browsing at the World Showcase Plaza shops (both dad and I really like those shops, although I'm not that down with Duffy the Disney Bear. You already have SEVERAL bears, between Pooh and Brother Bear. Why do you need a new random bear? Pooh is even already a stuffed animal! Eh, to each their own. But I digress)

We did Soarin, and then took the Behind the Seeds Tour, which I was really excited about. It's a walking tour through the greenhouses at the Land Pavilion. They talked about their program with the USDA (real SCIENCE!) developing natural pest control systems. They use teeny tiny wasps that prey on plant destroying leaf worms to control pests. They also showed a variety of ways that hydroponics can be used, and how you can do hydroponic growing at home.

They let the kids in our tour group release lady bugs, that were also used in pest control

They demonstrated a variety of ways of getting higher yields from plants, including the tomato tree, which holds the Guinness World Record for the most tomatoes harvested from a single plant

And it wouldn't be Disney without a few mickeys

After the Land, we decided to spend a little more time over in The Seas so we could sit and enjoy the aquarium and sit out an incipient rainstorm...

Turns out, those ominous skies were not joking, and it was POURING. We give up on waiting it out after a while, and head through Innoventions, and then splash our way over to Canada. We saw the new movie hosted by Martin Short, which is appropriately self deprecating. We also wander through the gift shops. I was HOPING to score a Nanaimo Bar (which is a specialty in Vancouver) but no such luck. We did find THIS souvenir from an exotic land

Buffalo is on the boarder with Canada, and there are more Tim Hortons than Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, so I found this funny. Also, Timmys kicks Dunkies butt (or dupa, as we say in Buffalo)

The rain started to let up, so we headed over to Mexico, and Las Cava de Tequila, where I had the best Margarita I can remember having, the Cucumber margarita with basil.

and munched on some chips and guac while we watched the poor bartender deal with a bunch of loud, drunk "ya-doods" (aka frat boys) who were clearly on their last stop on a drinking tour of EPCOT, and who had attracted the attention of the Mouska-cops. Those poor bartenders at the Mexico and Canada pavilions probably have to deal with this on a regular basis.

We also did a bit of browsing and ran into a friend....

Viva Donald!

It was time for dinner at the Hacienda. I had the shrimp tacos, which were good, but nothing special. Dad had the short ribs, which he was not impressed with AT ALL. we had margaritas there as well. I had the Rosita, which was easily the best part of the meal. We did corn ice cream for dessert. Not having had corn ice cream before, I'm not sure if this is consistent, but our ice cream had a lot of ice crystals in it and was not terribly smooth. Basically, I wouldn't recommend the Hacienda. It didn't help that our server was not that good.

We wound up skipping Illuminations, and heading back to the resort for the night (which was a good call after I had an epic wipeout while getting on the bus)

Tomorrow is one last day in the Magic Kingdom before it's back to real life

 

[kelowatt]

So, for our last day, we decide to go back to the Magic Kingdom. We get there right as the trolley show is starting, with a Christmas flair

We are there on a mission, as we have coupons for 20% off that are good until noon, and a shopping list from Little Sis for souvenirs she didn't get while she was there (we had been given a heads up on the coupons when the three of us were at EPCOT by a very helpful castmember who let us know about the promotion that would be starting the next day). I took the shopping list into the Emporium and was on a mission, both for Little Sis, and for myself and my friends. Unfortunately since this was our last day, we would have to settle for having our items held at the front of the park, as opposed to having them shipped to the room (LOVE that perk of staying on site). While we were shopping, some of the castmembers from the trolley show were walking through the Emporium, and stayed in character while walking through the store, which was cute. I think my favorite souvenir for me was the mouske-gingerbread mix and cookie cutter.

Mission accomplished, we headed towards Liberty Square.

I wanted to see the Hall of Presidents (I'm a nerd, but you probably figured that out by now). I like that the have Lincoln speaking his own words. Nobody can "out-Lincoln" Lincoln. Also amused that one of the first things Obama did after being elected was record his bit for the Hall of Presidents.

Next up was a second time around the Haunted Mansion. After leaving the Haunted Mansion, I decided to stop into the Pantry store. A little backstory: As I was leaving for Disney, I sent my friends a message asking them who was their favorite Disney character. My roommates had normal answers: Male roommate said Donald or Goofy, Female roommate said Aurora. Both of these were easy to work with. Then my hipster friends started mentioning characters like Basil from the Great Mouse Detective, or Baloo from Jungle Book. These people got a postcard from The Art of Disney that had EVERY SINGLE Character on it. One friend named Malefocent, because she turned into a dragon. Now, I wanted to bring a little souvenir home for everyone. I didn't want to spend the money on Malefocent Mickey ears, but I wanted to find something small. Well, here at this store, they had a shot glass!

It was perfect.

We continued our way into Fantasyland, where we rode It's a Small World, and got off just in time for the clock to turn 12!

We decided to stop for lunch. Originally I wanted to have lunch at the Tomorrowland Terrace, but it wasn't open. Curse you off-season! Kidding! Probably the best part of this trip was the total lack of crowds. This was the first day where we really saw anything I would consider a crowd. We wound up stopping at Cosmic Rays. When I asked the nice castmember from South Boston if they had any other vegetarian options besides the veggie burger, he nicely suggested a turkey sandwich! God bless So veggie burger #3 for the trip, and AA alien lounge act for lunch.

After lunch we did the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. My favorite joke? What was Beethoven's favorite fruit? BananaNaaaaa!

followed by Space Mountain

and then Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

Dad was telling me how he saw this at the worlds fair in NY when he was a kid. I know it's not as zippy as the newer attractions, but I hope they never get rid of this one. Just knowing Walt made this, and that it so spoke to his own philosophy, I feel it's important to keep. I know Orlando doesn't have the same sense of history as Anaheim, since Walt never got the chance to walk these streets, but in some ways I feel like that makes keeping things like Carousel of Progress even MORE important.

Also, it's got a catchy tune!

Then back to the PeopleMover! It's one of those things I can do over and over again. I love the view, and just being above it all.

also, I enjoy sitting

We made our way out of Tomorrowland and back into Fantasyland

for another ride Under the Sea!

We stopped at the Big Top Gift Shop, and I got myself a sweet snack with a souvenir Mickey straw

We had seen some folks in Tomorrowland walking around with the Jingle Cruise poster, and we wanted to get in on that action. They told us they were just giving them out at the exit of the Jungle Cruise, so we hopped the train over from Fantasyland to Frontierland and picked one up! Apparently it was the Limited Time Magic for that week. It's hanging up in my living room as we speak (and we got an extra for Little Sis).

We did a little more exploring in Adventureland and Frontierland, including Splash Mountain one more time, and Pirates one more time

Then we hopped aboard the train to Fantasyland for Enchanted Tales with Belle. I enjoy the train between Frontierland and Fantasyland because they have all of those scenes set up. The best part was, just as we were approaching Fantasyland, there was a deer on the left, pretty close to the tracks. I figured it was another model, until it bounded off and I exclaimed "Woah! That's a REAL dear!"

Enchanted tales was cute, and the Lumiere piece was amazing. We had one last ride to ride at Thunder Mountain, because they were getting ready to clear the park for the Christmas Party.

Then it was time for one more ride on Thunder Mountain before heading out, since they were getting ready for the Christmas Party

From there we walked out, saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom

We went over to Downtown Disney, where we had a lovely supper at Raglan Road. We sat at the bar, and our bartenders were fantastic and attentive, and between the two of them, somebody was always just an "excuse me" away. I had a couple of whiskey highballs, and a very tasty salmon dinner. The part of the bar where we were sitting also had an excellent view of the stage! We did some last minute shopping, and went back to the resort.

I flew out the next morning, but not before visiting with one last friend: