Trip Report COMPLETED: Christmas Week 2013: Nevermind the crowds, what's with all the churros?

Welcome to my Christmas Week 2013 Trip Report!

Dates Traveled: December 22-December 27

Basic info: Port Orleans French Quarter Resort (second stay), 5 day Park Hopper and Deluxe Dining Plan.

Our family:

Jonah, age 5. This is his second trip to WDW (first was in May 2012 when he was 3.5). He's a huge Star Wars fan, a big Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy and Pluto fan and a princess fan, as well. His current Princess ranking is as follows: 1) Tiana, 2) Rapunzel, 3) Aurora, 4) Snow White and 5) Ariel.

Eddie, the birthday boy, age 43 as of this trip. This is his 3rd trip to WDW (he doesn't remember the first in 1975) and he's a Star Wars, Goofy and Baloo fan.

Me, Sue, age 43. Huge Minnie Mouse fan, Star Wars fan, princess fan, lover of rides of all kinds.

Eddie and I visited WDW in May 2012 to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We took along our son, Jonah, who was almost 4 at the time (we were married for 16 years before he was born because of long term infertility. Since he's been born we try to celebrate every moment that we can, and for Christmas 2013, that meant going where the MAGIC happens!).

I started planning our Christmas week trip beginning January 2013. Initially, we planned for our best friends (a couple without kids) to join us and the 5 of us to stay in a Ft. Wilderness Cabin. They backed out on the trip early on, so we changed our plans to the POFQ since we'd stayed there before, loved it, and felt it would be familiar since we knew our Christmas trip would have the uncertainty of holiday crowds and My Magic. We decided to drive to save money (we did not save money driving) and bought a 2013 Kia Soul to make the road trip easier (as far as road trips go, it wasn't bad). Here we go!

DECEMBER 20th
We left Oklahoma City at 12:30 p.m., right after Jonah's school Christmas party ended and his school break began. We drove to Forrest City, AR, before we were stopped by a huge rain storm (Oklahoma City had a massive ice storm that night and Edmond, OK, OKC's northern suburb, made national news with the amount of ice it received. Thousands were out of power. We were extremely grateful to just be stuck in AR in a roadside motel in the rain).

DECEMBER 21st
Our original plan was to spend the night with family in Memphis, but after spending the night on the AR/TN border, we pushed on to our reservation in Tallahassee, FL. There was NO traffic in Mississippi. It was eerie. Like, "Walking Dead" eerie. Also? What's up with the Magnolia State's love of Bryan Adams? I must have heard the entire "Reckless" album, something that hadn't occurred since sleepovers in middle school. Isn't Bryan Adams Canadian? (Eddie: "I believe he's the Canadian Bruce Springsteen.") Well, anyway, he rocked me through the Winter of '13.

Road trip warrior. He ate string cheese, watched "Tangled" and "Aladdin" and played 8 million Leap Pad games, plus Palace Pets on my iPhone. Zero whining.

December 22

We're here!

We arrived at Downtown Disney at 9:45 a.m. and, worried about the issues with parking and construction we'd read about, parked over near La Nouba, even though we were going to the Marketplace. We did not need to park near La Nouba, there was still plenty of parking. Oh, well! A walk through DTD upon first arrival wasn't terribly annoying. The weather was great...it was around 75 degrees and would only get warmer.

Once we arrived at the Marketplace, I attempted to direct the boys to World of Disney to buy ears, but Jonah was distracted by the Lego Store. I decided, instead, to head to Team Mickey to get our Photo Pass card (we ordered Photo Pass two days before Memory Maker was announced). I was directed to a HUGE Guest Services line (the longest line I saw all week) and stood in it for a few minutes and then thought, this can't be right. There were unoccupied Photo Pass CMs across the room. Finally I asked Eddie to see if they could help him (so I didn't lose my place in line) and, of course, the Photo Pass desk WAS where we were supposed to be (this was the first of two erroneous bits of direction I received from a DTD CM about their Guest Services area). Eddie took this to mean he was the Photo Pass Commander and wore the lanyard all week. I was A-OK with that.

I found a Minnie headband with the old-fashioned Classic Minnie hat with flowers and feathers. Jonah turned down my suggestion of an R2 earhat (he's not a fan of the way earhats feel) and opted instead for a black, glow-in-the-dark Jedi Mickey ballcap. Eddie went to get the Goofy bucket ear hat he liked last year and discovered that it was too small for his head! So was the Pluto ballcap. And the Donald earhat. And the Chip and/or Dale plush hat. Are we seeing a pattern? He's finishing up his PhD this year...so check out the big brain (or skull) on Eddie! Two out of three whimsical Disney hats purchased, we headed off to T-Rex for our 11:00 a.m. lunch reservation.

His Dr. Pooh shirt was a Christmas gift from his godparents who were unable to join us on this trip.

He drank the entire thing. He doesn't eat much, but he can imbibe big time.

In case you ever wondered what the Jurassic Chicken Tidbits at T-Rex look like:

Eddie and Jonah picked T-Rex for our lunch reservation on arrival day, and I was happy to let them, since I (over)planned everything else. I would have chosen Raglan Road, but hey -- I like a good Stegosaurus as much as the next non-8 year old. I had the Footprints Flatbread, which was HUGE and would have fed all three of us comfortably. Although we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan, we paid out of pocket for this meal since we were using a lot of our dining credits for the (three) 2-credit meals we had planned. I only ate two small pieces of my flatbread because I was saving room for later, and while I enjoyed the mélange of cheddar, Parmesan, cilantro, pizza sauce, carmelized onion and balsamic glaze, I found the chicken tasted over-processed, almost canned (although it was not canned). Eddie had the Bronto Burger and loved it, said it was one of the best burgers he'd ever had. I barely glanced at it because I was too busy watching Jonah watch the meteor shower and the animatronics. We sat in the aquarium area and although it was LOUD, it wasn't super busy and our service was pretty fast (we checked in 10 minutes early and were seated within 5 minutes of checking in).

We looked some more for a hat for Eddie (fruitlessly, in the non-Carmen Miranda way), promised Jonah he could come back later to the Lego Store to pick up the Star Wars set with Ahsoka Tano (she's his favorite) and then we stopped in at Ghirardelli for dessert. I have visited the flagship store in San Francisco, but we hadn't been able to work the DTD Ghirardelli into our 2012 visit and I had REALLY talked it up to the guys.

Eddie's a big fan of butterscotch, so I offered to split the Butterscotch Hot Fudge Sundae with him. Since I am NOT a big fan of butterscotch, he took this as the Christmas miracle it was intended and eagerly agreed. Alas, I didn't read the ingredients carefully and didn't realize until we dug in that the sundae was made with butter-pecan ice cream, not vanilla. Eddie doesn't do butter pecan, and since the butterscotch topping was buried in the bottom of the glass, he was underwhelmed. I ate the delicious, not-of-this-earth hot fudge *and* the butter-pecan ice cream (I'm secretly an old lady, I like hard candies and Lawrence Welk, too!) and ignored the butterscotch sludge at the bottom of the glass. Someone, however, was totally pleased:

SPRINKLES!!!

Coming up:
Trying to check-in at POFQ before 3:00 p.m. and taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom at 3:30 p.m. the week of Christmas. Are we wacky on the nuts (and sprinkles)????

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 24, continued

AK was another park where the 3 FP+ rule was daunting. I made one for the safaris and didn't need it with rope drop, didn't think I would need one for Festival of the Lion King, which was our "must do" at AK other than Everest, so I ended up making a FP+ for the Mickey and Minnie meet and greet. We were there so early that we didn't need the FP+ but used it anyway.

Jonah was still so shy (at this point) around the "characters who don't talk" that Eddie did most of the interaction with Mickey & Minnie. My plan for a holiday pic of the three of us in matching shirts with the Big Cheeses didn't turn out because Jonah and I both looked like we didn't feel well. I got so many pics, though, that it didn't really bother me. It was great to have a quiet moment with Mickey & Minnie together and a great memory on its own.

There's the smile I didn't get for the PP+ pic! He's saying "Haaaats!" because I was looking at Mickey pith helmets for my brother, LOL.

So beautiful!

We arrived at Festival of the Lion King with only minutes to spare (too long making nice with the Mice). By the time we arrived, the standby line was going to be standing only and there wasn't a guarantee that we would get in. So much for my thought that a FP+ for FOLK was unnecessary on Christmas Eve. This was the one time AK felt "crowded" to me, and this was around 10:00 a.m. I changed our Dinosaur FP+ to the 12:30 FOLK and we walked over to Camp Mickey Minnie to meet Baloo!

Minnie Tree!!!

Eddie's a Baloo fan, and even though Jonah hasn't yet seen "The Jungle Book," he's familiar with the song "Bare Necessities." He still wasn't interested in this M&G though, LOL. Eddie was trying desperately to get Baloo and King Louie settled so the PP photographer could snap the pic, but Baloo was too concerned with giving Eddie a "bear" hug and elaborately writing his autograph.

This was a fantastic meet and greet. Louie was determined to involve me, and since I didn't want a pic, he "picked" mangoes from the decor and tossed them at Baloo and gave me orangutan hugs (which means flinging a lifeless, five foot arm over your shoulder, haha)! Jonah got more concerned the sillier Louie's antics became, and I tried to convince him of their non-scariness by reminding him how much he loved "Bare Necessities," which led to a sing-a-long of it by the character handler, the PP photog, Eddie and me while Baloo and Louie cavorted to the "music." People in line behind us, I'm so sorry! But it was awesome.

We had already met or were planning to meet Donald and Chip and Dale, and Pocahontas's line was too long (plus Jonah has princess snobbery and refuses to allow for Pocahontas and Mulan to be included in the princess category because one is the daughter of a chief and the other is the daughter of a general and neither of them married princes -- bow to the incredibly didactic five year old mind), so we left the Meeting Trails. We passed Dug and Russell from "Up" heading for a break on our way and a young girl said, "Squirrel!" to Dug and he pointed. It was adorable.

Next, we were off to use a FP+ for my most anticipated ride at AK - Expedition Everest! We did not ride this in 2012, since we didn't go to AK that time, and I had watched dozens of videos of this and couldn't wait!

This is what the walkway crowds were like at just before noon on Christmas Eve. I know, right? I didn't find holiday time to be any big headache if you are an early bird. That said, don't you all go, please, because it'll be a breeze for me if we go again, LOL.

Expedition Everest!

Eddie went to park the mostly useless stroller since Jonah would rather walk under his own steam, finding the Disney rental strollers demeaning (and too small) for a five-year-old. On the plus side, we hit no one with our stroller nor did anyone walk in front of our stroller, so we were stroller free! I had Jonah measured for EE just to make sure he was okay to ride (44" -- just right!). Somewhat reassured, we joined Eddie at the FP+ entrance (by the way, all of the standby and FP+ entrances are plainly marked) and we flew through the queue.

We were boarding before I knew it, and Eddie and Jonah rode together while I was joined by random "Woo-hoo, put your arms in the air and wave 'em like the Yeti don't care!" guy. I had my eyes closed all the way up the mountain. I admit it. If EE had the over-the-shoulder restraints (I know it doesn't need them) I would have been okay. It's just too high! I did open my eyes for the "end of the tracks" which looks amazing and I opened them inside the mountain. I thought the Disco Yeti effects were amazing. Maybe they were all working that day? I don't know, it was my first time.

Jonah and Eddie loved this ride and I would have ridden it again but it was time to make our way allllll the way back to Festival of the Lion King. I got a lot of exercise at AK, like you do. My orthopedic boot worked great, though. I was faster with it than in two normal shoes, LOL.

On our way, we stopped at Dinoland USA to let Jonah play for a bit at the Boneyard. He wasn't overly impressed, but I got to sit down for a minute, so yay. We walked on to Triceratop Spin and he loved it, because no matter how many times you re-theme Dumbo, Jonah's gonna ride it, haha.

We had FP+ for FOLK and despite getting there about 20 minutes early, we still ended up almost at the top of the elephant section. It was a packed show. I had never seen this before, but one of my best Disney friends had assured me that it was the best show at WDW. I had seen the Broadway tour of "The Lion King," so I wasn't expecting to be amazed.

I was amazed.

I thought the singing was fantastic, the acrobatics were energizing and the spectacle was incredible. Disney does the "Roll on the big show, roll off the big show, roll the big show back on in 30 minutes" better than anyone. The aerial ballet! Tim Rice's incredible lyrics! I don't know if it was because it was Christmas Eve or because all day I had heard such an amazing mixture of American regional accents and languages from the around the world around me, but by the time we got to:

"It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love"

with most of the audience singing along, I had tears rolling down my cheeks. We rode iconic rides and met every princess and hugged Mickey Mouse on more than one occasion this trip, but THIS was the heart-soaring DISNEY moment for me. Jonah and Eddie loved it, too, but they appeared to contain their manly tears.

That was it for us at AK. We had missed only Dinosaur that we planned to do, and to be honest, I'm not sure how big of a hit that would have been with Jonah. I didn't mind giving it a skip -- something new for next trip! I had planned to grab a snack lunch with a jalapeño cheese pretzel from Harambe Fruit Market, but we were nowhere near there, so we decided to go ahead and leave AK and make a quick trip to Downtown Disney.
Up next: Wolfgang Puck's! Build Your Own Droid! And later...Beaches and Cream!

 

[QueenMum]

Great Animal Kingdom day! Love Jonah's logic with the princesses. Totally makes sense! Our last trip I scheduled DAK as a half day on our last day. We were supposed to leave the park and get in some hours into the drive home. However, we got rained out. Heavy, heavy rains made us miserable and we left about noon. Thus, we missed FOLK. We did see the Nemo show which we loved.

We loved the safari. I think the combination of the brilliant African landscaping done by the imagineers plus the ride vehicle makes you really feel like your driving through Africa! Tommy and the kids really like Dinosaur. I thought it was OK. I really plan to give DAK a lot more time on my next trip. I really feel like I missed a lot. Also, I would really like to try some of the "African" food.

 

[LeCellier.Lover]

I'm so glad you guys were able to experience Expedition Everest because it is one of my favorites! Looks and sounds like (despite the colds) you guys had a lot of fun!
I have to ask, WHERE did you get your son's NY Rangers Mickey blanket?!

 

[Minnie Sue]

I agree with you about the safari, Susie! We watched a behind the scenes special on AK and the way the enclosures are designed is humane and brilliant! I think AK I the prettiest park, and I LOVE Epcot! I wish we could take a joint with you guys if we could ever make the schedules work!

 

[Minnie Sue]

I'm so glad you guys were able to experience Expedition Everest because it is one of my favorites! Looks and sounds like (despite the colds) you guys had a lot of fun!
I have to ask, WHERE did you get your son's NY Rangers Mickey blanket?!

Thanks!!! Everest is something I really want to do again! I just Googled Mickey + hockey blanket and found those! I am mainly a Canucks fan, but there were no Canucks patterns so I went with my second fave.

http://www.khcsports.com/catalog/ne...w-york-rangers-mickey-mouse-hugger-79546.html

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Great report so far! Haven't quite caught up yet, but you've got me hooked!!

The milkshakes at the Plaza Restaurant are the best milkshakes anywhere, IMO. Better than any I get at home and wayyyyy better than anywhere on property. They are truly hand-dipped deliciousness!!

The churro thing is weird, I totally agree with you. People at Disneyland and California Adventure are even more obsessed with churros. Seriously, there were more churro carts than trash cans. I guess the craze is slowly making its way east. (having been going to WDW multiple times a year for 20 years, this churro craze is new!)

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Minnie Sue]

The churro thing is weird, I totally agree with you. People at Disneyland and California Adventure are even more obsessed with churros. Seriously, there were more churro carts than trash cans

Thanks! I'm so glad you're enjoying the report! I have heard that the Plaza has great ice cream and ice cream treats, we will have to put it on our schedule for our 2016 trip. I am an ice cream fan, I think I had it three times this trip.

The churro thing was just so ODD because they aren't something we'd normally order and people kept offering or giving them to us, LOL!

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 24, continued

We drove from Animal Kingdom to Downtown Disney and found surprisingly good midday parking in the lot near the Marketplace. We headed to the Lego Store to let Jonah use his gift card on a Star Wars Legos set. We also found a Legos mug with Jonah's name printed on it and had to buy it because it's the first monogrammed thing we've ever found that didn't skip straight from Jon to Jonathan. I didn't realize Jonah was such an unusual name (it's only several thousand years old and a book in the Bible but hey, I guess we could have named him Haggai and we'd never find that).

Next we stopped in at Once Upon a Toy because...well, because we hadn't been there yet. There Jonah and Eddie decided to do the Build Your Own Droid station.

Jonah's creation, R3-P3

Next we went to Disney's Days of Christmas so that I could pick up a Monster's Inc ornament for Jonah's godparents. While I waited in line, a very sweet CM named Frances from College of the Air Force knelt down and talked to Jonah all about his droid and his Jedi Mickey ballcap and really drew out my shy child who takes a bit to warm up to new people. One of my absolute favorite things about Disney is the cast members who go the extra mile, and we had more than a couple this trip.

On the drive to DTD, I had cancelled our Dec 26 lunch reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern because I could tell by the rhythm of our days so far that a table service lunch and dinner during a full day at MK was just going to be too much. We decided to use some of the freed credits for lunch so our next stop was Wolfgang Puck's, which was our favorite counter service in 2012. Jonah was still not hungry, but Eddie and I split the 1/2 rotisserie chicken meal. This was delicious...incredibly moist chicken and creamy mashed potatoes and more than enough for Eddie and I to share.

We drove back to POFQ to find that there was a Christmas Eve treat of lemonade and snickerdoodles being served in the lobby (Beach Club had Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, but hey, we were paying Moderate prices, haha). I took a few minutes to take some pics of POFQ's Christmas decor.

Jonah and I napped while Eddie visited the hot tub, and then we dressed for dinner. We drove over to the Beach Club and checked Jonah in at the Sandcastle Club childcare service. Even though Jonah has been through preschool, Pre-K and Kindergarten, I was still leery about how he'd feel being with people he didn't know at Disney World, but once he saw their Wii set-up, I don't think he noticed when we left.

Sandcastle Club

I had made reservations for Eddie and I to have dinner at the Yachtsman and I appreciated our first date night in six months (my parents are deceased and Eddie's live over an hour away and neither of us have siblings nearby, so babysitters are at a premium). It still felt strange to be away from Jonah for even a short time on Christmas Eve.

Eddie and I walked to the Yacht Club, which was incredibly quiet at 7:30 on Christmas Eve. The pool was completely empty (it was a bit chilly) and there were few people on the walkways, although the lobby at the Beach Club had been hopping (Santa Claus was there, and of course the gingerbread carousel).

Eddie and I sat in rocking chairs looking out over the pools until it was time to check in. It was so peaceful, and as much as we adore our son, it was wonderful to just be able to talk to each other, and focus on each other for a little a while, especially in a place so beautiful. We checked in 10 minutes early and we were called right at our 7:40 reservation time. We had another fabulous server, this time Bev from Enid, Oklahoma, a town about an hour and a half north of Oklahoma City, so that was a fun happenstance. I ordered the "Interesting Whites" wine flight for Eddie and I to share, but Eddie misheard me and ordered one of his own, haha! That's a lot of wine (well, six ounces a piece) for me in one evening. I particularly enjoyed the Cakebread.

Wine flight

I chose the cheese platter as my starter, and it was so delicious that I had to force myself to eat only 1/3 of it so that I would have room for some of my main course. Up until we arrived, I had planned to order the filet, but once Eddie ordered the NY Strip, I decided I wanted it as well. It was paired with a white cheddar twice-baked potato, and both were delicious. I ate half of both, trying to save room for dessert later with Jonah. We explained to our server, Bev, that we were going to pass on dessert at the Yachtsman so that we could pick Jonah up early and go to Beaches and Cream, and she boxed our desserts up to go (of course they sat in our fridge for two days before we threw them out...too much food at Disney for us!). I apologize for the lack of Yachtsman pictures, but the lighting at our secluded table, while incredibly romantic and delicate, did not lend well to pictures. Our opinion of the Yachtsman was resounding "YUM!" It's the only signature we've yet visited, and we loved it.

We picked Jonah up at the Sandcastle where he had been playing Wii games "that we don't even have at home!" with the two other children there that evening, pleased to learn that he had eaten his mac'n'cheese, and stopped in the lobby to check out the gingerbread carousel.

We walked down to Beaches & Cream and checked in. I had randomly run across the reservation capability for B&C the day it went live and booked it. There was no need to have a reservation for B&C at 9:30 p.m. I think we were one of three tables there.

No Way Jose! Eddie and I had planned to share this, but I didn't count on the fact that even skipping the bread service and dessert at the Yachtsman, we wouldn't remotely be hungry. I think Eddie had two bites and I had three. The peanut butter topping was yumtastic.

Jonah's Mickey sundae. He ate the cherry. :/ Not quite the jolly Christmas Eve I'd planned on, but I didn't take into consideration how tired we'd be by day three and how little appetite we'd have from the constant snacks and meals, not to mention Jonah's sore throat.

Back at the POFQ, we got ready for Christmas Eve. Our advent calendar from home and Jonah's Disco Fabulous Toy Story tree worked perfectly to have something from our home Christmas traditions.

We all went to bed immediately because tomorrow...SANTA! Oh, and some princesses at Epcot!

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 25th - Christmas Day!

I let us sleep in a bit and we woke at 6:00 (yeah, that's sleeping in for my son) to see what Santa had left! I had hung our stockings on our bed posts, but Jonah only had eyes for what was under the little red Christmas tree. He'd only asked Santa for one thing in the letter we sent explaining that we would be at the French Quarter resort at Disney World on Christmas morning, and it was gleaming under the old fashioned wall sconces:

B-ball!! Eddie received a text from Santa that morning showing a basketball goal standing next to our tree at home, because Santa didn't want us to have to try to transport it back to Oklahoma City. That Santa. He's awesome!

Eddie and I decided Jonah's last birthday to start giving him just three things each birthday and Christmas: One toy or wished for item, one book, and one experience. Okay, so the experience was a trip to Disney World...I'm not saying it's a cost-saving plan, more of an "appreciation" plan. Jonah's favorite Christmas gift was the Legos Star Wars sticker book he got from his Dad and me.

On Christmas morning Eddie and Jonah gave me a Minnie Mouse pendant that Jonah had picked out and Jonah and I gave Eddie a "Por favor, manténgase alejado de mis vacaciones" (Please stand clear of my vacation) monorail t-shirt (Eddie teaches Spanish at a college in Oklahoma City). It's possible that I also tossed a Star Wars Mickey t-shirt, a Stormtrooper koosh and some chocolate Mickey coins into Jonah's stocking...I'm dangerous with a gift card, despite my best intentions.

We drove to Epcot and arrived at 7:30 (our Akershus breakfast reservation was at 8:15). This was the second coolest morning our of Disney trip and while we all wore jackets, I was grateful that Jonah's gloves were in his backpack, along with a Mickey sweater vest to pull over his tee-shirt. We were allowed into Epcot about 10 minutes before the 8:00 a.m. Magic Hour and we quickly walked to the Norway pavilion, taking some pics on the way.

Merry Mice! Our last trip to Epcot was during the Flower & Garden expo when Epcot is filled with character topiaries, so it was great to see these guys.

Haha, I could have gotten a little closer, but I wanted to be sure to get the entire tree.

Mexico! Professor Eddie gives us an Hola.

We arrived at Akershus about 10 minutes before our reservation time and checked in. We were called in less than 5 minutes to get our picture with Belle.

Unfortunately, our picture with Belle is on our PhotoPass CD, but it didn't turn out that well. She looked great, though, in her Christmas dress of wine colored velvet, and she was very sweet. She's my favorite princess, but I wasn't that worried about the picture, since we'd be seeing her the next day at Enchanted Tales.

Breakfast!

Although the morning light was beautiful, I had to use an Instagram filter so that Eddie didn't look like a photoshopped Ghost from Haunted Mansion, haha! This was a WONDERFUL breakfast. Eddie alone ate the hot platter (scrambled runny Disney eggs, bacon, sausage and the delicious potato casserole that I was only able to eat a bite of). I had an incredible apple-filled pastry from the buffet and some strawberries, blackberries and a banana (I really didn't have much of an appetite on this trip). The strawberries were INCREDIBLE. Fresh, ripe strawberries in DECEMBER? It was a big treat for this Midwesterner. Jonah ate two plates of strawberries and other fruit and I was thrilled. Our server was great, too, and I wish I'd caught his name.

Cindy was great with Jonah. She asked him if he was in training to be a suit of armor since he'd already taken a vow of silence. That cracked Jonah up.

Ariel! The perkiest princess ever. She was wonderful, too. It's obvious in this picture that Jonah was still getting over his sore throat, though.

Snow White! Jonah and I missed her when we went to get more berries (the buffet line on our second trip was quite long -- it was Christmas morning after all). Our server waved her down because I was wearing a Snow White shirt and she was the princess Jonah most wanted to meet at this breakfast.

Me and my bestie Snow.

Princess Parade! This started and we assumed Jonah would opt out due to shyness and not feeling well, but he turned to his Dad and said, "Can boys do this too?" and Eddie nodded to the other boys and girls and said, "Sure, it's for all kids," and Jonah jumped up and got in line. When I snapped this (rather blurry, sorry) pic, he looked and his Dad and me and said gleefully, "I'm following Ariel!"

We signed our tab and left the gratuity and then headed back to Future World for the boys' first ride of the day!

Coming Up: Test Track, Mission:Space and The Seas with Nemo!

 

[fractal]

Christmas Day at WDW, how cool!

Glad you enjoyed EE and I agree with FOTLK - pure Disney awesomeness!

and you gave me a craving for Beaches & Cream.

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 25, continued

We headed back to Future World so the boys could ride Test Track, which I decided that morning I really didn't want to do (I'm not into cars, at all, and I was feeling a little blah). So they took off to Test Track while I went shopping at Mouse Gears. I, however, forgot to get the gift card from Eddie before they left, so I was more "wandering" than "shopping." I also made my biggest planning FAIL that morning.

I had somehow gotten the idea from the Dis boards that riding Test Track with FP+ skipped the car design portion, which is what Jonah really wanted to do, so I told the guys to ride TT standby. Which they did, for 30 minutes. All of you who have ridden Test Track can imagine Eddie's annoyance when he saw that the FP+ entrance came out at the design area and he had NEEDLESSLY stood in the standby line. Oops. I told them they could always go back later and ride it again with their FP+. Jonah's designed car was pink (his third favorite color) and he LOVED the design portion, so I'm sure it was worth the 30 minutes of unnecessary standby (no it wasn't).

Test Track: they let the five year old drive!

Meanwhile, I waited for the guys outside of Test Track and the sun had come out and it was lovely. I crowd watched for a while and I really couldn't tell if it was crazy Christmas busy. There were people, sure, but it was only 9:30 or so in the morning, so not crowded busy. However, by the time the boys were done with Test Track, the standby time was 60 minutes.

We walked directly over to Mission: Space (Green) and used our FP+. I didn't check the standby wait, but I don't think we really needed the FP. Hi, Gary Sinise! I had no idea he was our Mission: Space guide. Fun! This was cool, all three of us enjoy a motion simulator and we're all space geeks, so I think we would have been fine doing Orange.

About to board our mission to Mars! Our pilot was so short he could barely reach the panel buttons!

We made our way over to the Seas With Nemo, which had a posted 10 minute wait. It was a long, long, long line that moved really fast. I had a little trouble with my orthopedic boot and the moving walkway, but I managed to flail into the clam shell without injury or plastic mollusk damage. This was cute, but it is, for us, one of the rides that could be so much MORE than it is. At least it's a fast loader. We skipped Turtle Talk and the aquarium this time, although we enjoyed them last year.

We headed toward the Land Pavilion to check out the Garden Grill (our dining destination for the evening) and to ride Living With the Land. We did not ride it in 2012, and since we had the time and it was there, I wanted to check it out. The boys weren't thrilled, LOL, and while I thought the hydroponic pomegranate trees were festive and clever, I walked ALONE in that opinion. Plus our boat stalled right at the end of the green houses and it was 5 or more minutes of staring at tomatoes that could have utilized elsewhere.

Not quite a complete holiday overlay, is it? Hee.

Jonah was actually hungry, so we stopped for a snack at Sunshine Seasons. We had 3 extra meal credits to use, and I tried to talk him into a meal (we had no lunch plans for Epcot) but he was satisfied with a Christmas cookie. Eddie and I shared a carrot cupcake. I had planned to do the cupcake crawl at WDW, but this was the only one I managed to eat. It was delicious, though!

I believe he thinks Daddy has designs on his cookie.

The single product of my cupcake crawl. It was more a limp, less a crawl, haha! Delicious and fresh, though!

Sunshine Seasons was BUSY (this would have been at almost noon), but there was no one in line ahead of us in the check out, and we had no problem finding a table. So people: yes, but frustrating, horrifying mass of humanity: no.

Next, we headed off to use our FP+ for Soarin'. I had made our FP+ reservations the day before the tiers were put in place at Epcot and DHS. WOW. We would have been fine having the tiers, since we did rope drop, but I was grateful to have FP+ for both headliners and that allowed the guys got to ride Test Tack again later in the day.

We did not ride Soarin' in 2012, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because Epcot was the park we knew the least about and last year we had a lunch reservation we had to get to, which really fractured our day. I enjoyed Soarin'. Now I know what people are talking about with the orange scent, haha. We were on the second row, so feet, but there were still some "Woaaaah!" moments.

The plan was to head to the World Pavilions and ride Maelstrom, followed by checking out the holiday storytellers and wandering the WPs and having snacks until our 4:55 p.m. dinner reservation at Garden Grill. I could tell Jonah was fading, though, so Eddie and I decided to head back to the resort for a nap. We left our car in its SUPER CLOSE spot in the Epcot lot and took the bus back to POFQ.

Jonah and I napped, Eddie took a hot tub and then we were up and ready to catch the next bus back to Epcot where I would FINALLY get to enjoy the World Pavilions at my leisure, right? RIGHT????

All perked up from his nap and ready to take on the World!

We arrived at Epcot and Jonah was thirsty, so we stopped by Club Cool. While Eddie got in line to buy Jonah an Icee, I showed Jonah the drinks from around the world and he fell in love with Fanta Pineapple (which is awesome because it's easy to get Fanta in our area). Eddie and I both LOVED the Taste of Peru (again, awesome, because our next family vacation is to Machu Picchu in 2015 to celebrate Eddie's graduation). I made Eddie try Beverly without telling him why and he stoically drank it and then, stone faced, turned to me and said, "That tastes like crap." That, ladies is gents, is from a man who speaks 3 languages and 'crap' was the what he felt the most descriptive, haha.

Watching the fountains dance while we wait for our dinner reservation.

We checked in about 15 minutes early for our Garden Grill reservation because there really wasn't much for us to do kill time in the Land Pavilion area. I figured they would tell me to come back, but they gave me a pager and it went off 5 minutes later. Sweet!

We were not seated on the lower level and kind of tucked back to the side, but that didn't matter. Jonah was so amused by the slowly revolving restaurant and how the landscape behind us would change (now it's buffalo, now it's rainforest, now it's Sunshine Seasons) that he wold do exaggerated expressions of surprise for our amusement.

He does love a good color sheet.

It's Pluto! This was our first sighting of one of Eddie and Jonah's faves. The only bad thing about our seating was the unfortunate overhead lighting.

Merry Christmas, Farmer Mickey!

My favorite memory from our trip is when Mickey gestured to Eddie's Santa Ears and then clasped his hands over his heart and Eddie said, "You like my ears? This was the ONLY hat in all of Disney World that fit my head!" Mickey leaned over at the waist, one hand over his mouth as he "laughed" and slapped his knee. Cuteness galore.

He's eating! Something green!

Christmas Dinner.

Dinner was great. The beef wasn't too rare for Eddie and me, I'm the only one who eats fish and I thought the Tilapia and sauce were good and the turkey was MOIST. I mean really. The potatoes were good...the stuffing was okay, but I had a southern Mama and I'm super picky about my cornbread dressing. The star, of course, was the salad made from veggies grown at The Land. We didn't manage to finish one platter, but Eddie and I were both super happy with our meal, and we LOVED the blackberry buckle fruit dessert with vanilla whip cream, and Eddie's not even a big cooked fruit fan. Our server, Agnes, was fantastic, too. She was very informative about our Candlelight Processional package and made sure to give us Processional stickers when we weren't distracted. This is the first Christmas I haven't had meal cooked by either my mother, Eddie's mother or myself, so it was nice to sit back and let Agnes take care of us.

Dale! We'd met Chip last year at Chip and Dale's Campfire Sing-a-Long at Ft. Wilderness, but we had missed Dale. He and Eddie really hit it off.

Chip came by and Eddie tried to do the, "Oh, but we've already seen DALE," bit, but Chip shook his head at Eddie like, "Don't even try it." Besides, he only had eyes for Jonah.

There was nice pacing with the characters, too, and all of them visited for a good bit of time. Agnes scanned Eddie's magic band for our meal, we signed our tab and then our gratuity and headed off to finish off Future World and see the rest of the World!

Up next: Space Ship Earth, Karamel Kuche, The Candlelight Processional

 

[disneygirl1]

Loving your report! We were there the 20th to the 24th! This was a total last minute trip for us and I was very nervous about the crowds. I have to say I has very surprised at how managable they were for us. WE got everything we wanted plus more done. We were at MK on the 22nd too and DHS on the 23rd. Matter to fact we were at Sci Fi the same time as you too. I'm sure we must have crossed paths b/c as soon as I started reading your report I thought you looked very familar. LOL. So sorry the little guy wasn't feeling so good :-(

 

[Duckberg]

HAPPY family having a GREAT time @ WDW it what it is all about. VERY nice pics! Thank you so much.

 

[Minnie Sue]

Christmas Day at WDW, how cool!

Glad you enjoyed EE and I agree with FOTLK - pure Disney awesomeness!

and you gave me a craving for Beaches & Cream.

Christmas Day at WDW is truly magical! I will probably see FOTLK every time I go to WDW from now on. They boys might leave me, but oh well! I wish we could have finished that No Way Jose. It was truly amazing!

 

[Minnie Sue]

Loving your report! We were there the 20th to the 24th!We were at MK on the 22nd too and DHS on the 23rd. Matter to fact we were at Sci Fi the same time as you too. I'm sure we must have crossed paths b/c as soon as I started reading your report I thought you looked very familar. LOL. So sorry the little guy wasn't feeling so good :-(

Oh, how cool! We were seated to the left side (facing the screen) at Sci-Fi. I was really surprised at how manageable the crowds were, but I think EMH, FP+ and rope drop really worked in our favor.

 

[Minnie Sue]

HAPPY family having a GREAT time @ WDW it what it is all about. VERY nice pics! Thank you so much.

Thank YOU! I had some camera issues, so I'm glad you're enjoying the pics!

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 25, continued

After dinner, we walked over and rode Space Ship Earth, which I think we waited about 10 minutes to ride. This time, I rode alone and Eddie and Jonah shared a car. Last year, Jonah shared with me and he set our language to French. Unlike my husband, I don't have an ear for languages but I was able to infer from the vignettes. Eddie kept turning around and telling me, "This is Ancient Greece. This is the Renaissance," until finally I hissed, "Yes, got it! Majored in English, minored in history, not my first life-size diorama, thank you!" This year I set the language on English, so the computer age stuff was more informative, LOL. I really enjoy this ride. I think I just like being inside the golf ball.

We made our way to the World Pavilions and jumped in line for the Gran Fiesta. This was the first time we were INSIDE any of the WPs, other than China. It's a long story, but I thought the WPs were fascinating in 2012 and my husband, the MODERN LANGUAGES prof, was all, "Ugh, this is boring! I want to ride a thrill ride and hug a mouse! Waah!" Ahem. Perhaps I exaggerate, but not much. This time when we walked into the Mexico pavilion and he saw the pyramid, the volcano, the mercado, he was all, "Ooo!"

Gran Fiesta. Jonah enjoyed the Cancun bit since he's been there.

The plan was to then head BACK to Future World to ride Test Track with our FP+ (I know, poor time management but our dinner ended earlier than I expected), but I told the guys to go without me and I'd enjoy the WPs. We synchronized phones, agreed they'd meet me between Italy and Japan at the Candlelight Processional entrance, and I headed off.

China. This was the only WP I got to explore in 2012, so I find it hilarious that it's the only one I got a decent pic of
this trip.

This is where the crowds truly started to feel like Christmas week. However, they were all moving with purpose and I was just one person with no bags or stroller and I darted in and out as needed. I stopped in Norway to buy a troll for one of my friends and there were NO trolls?! There was cologne and sweaters. What am I missing??? I did see that the queue for the Elsa & Anna from "Frozen" M&G was still CRAZY long.

I stopped in Germany and looked at Christmas ornaments and then made my way to Karamel Kuche to use a snack credit on a piece of dark chocolate caramel with sea salt. This was the one treat I had most looked forward to and it did NOT disappoint. As I was paying, I asked the CM what time the World Pavilions closed. Now, I realize that question was vague. I should have said what time do the SHOPS close. She said that Christmas Night they'd be open until 11:45. Well, that meant I had plenty of time to see everything!

Germany!

I flew past Italy, because by then I was across from the American Gardens Theater and I could hear the 6:45 Candlelight Processional show. I looked around for the dinner package line, but only saw the standby. It was DARK and difficult to find anything in the wandering people and the people who were standing outside the theater to listen. Finally, I asked a CM and she pointed me toward Japan where the dinner package line was already starting to stretch out. She said not to let the length of the line scare me, she was sure I would still "get in." That worried me, so even though it was only 7:15, I decided to go ahead and get in line (committing a Disney faux pas, since Jonah and Eddie weren't yet with me).

Japan

I had chosen the 8:15 p.m. show because several of the trip reports and blogs I read said that during the last show, it was truly dark enough to see the candles. Yeah...those people must have never gone during actual Christmas week (I had a really hard time finding actual CHRISTMAS trip reports during my research because so many people who went the last week of November or first week of December labeled their trips "Christmas" despite low crowds, warm weather and actual Christmas holidays not yet commencing). It was PLENTY dark enough at 6:30 p.m. to see the battery operated candles. Had I realized how dark it was going to be, I would have made a lunch reservation for us and we would have gone to see an earlier show.

I started texting Eddie, telling him to put his CP sticker on, where I was in line, how long I'd been standing and longingly looking at benches. There was a family behind me from upstate New York, grown children with parents and aunts and uncles, and they were having such a great conversation about Christmas traditions and past trips that it took EVERYTHING in me not turn around and join them, haha! I was a lonely lurker. The 6:45 show ended and the theater disgorged a HUGE crowd into the already busy showcase walkway in front of Italy. I kept looking for a tall guy in a Santa hat, so I waved eagerly at many a teenage boy who gave me a "Buh?" look, haha.

Eddie and Jonah finally caught up with me just as we started moving forward into the theater. I had strolled through the world pavilions for at least 20 minutes and then stood in line for almost an hour and it took the guys that long to walk from Mexico to Test Track, ride with a Fast Pass (doing the design) and walk back. Yeah. That was some bad planning. It was also late for my son who's used to 8:30 bedtime and who wasn't all that into the CP. I had brought his hockey Mickey blanket and figured he could fall asleep if he wanted.

Candlelight Processional, Christmas night, with Steven Curtis Chapman narrating.

Yeah, we were on the 4th row in front of a full orchestra and a 100 person choir. There was no sleeping, but there WAS a five-year-old telling me how LOUD it was. Seriously, we might as well have been sitting with the cymbal player. It was great, but it was loud. The Voices of Liberty were fantastic. If we ever do this again, though, we'll definitely see an earlier show and sit in the back. Steven Curtis Chapman did a great job and I have a couple of his Christmas albums, so he was a familiar face. I would have loved to have seen Neil Patrick Harris, but I knew he would do an early date. Our friends saw Edward James Olmos on their Disneymoon earlier in the month.

Afterward, we headed into Germany to look around, and then back toward Norway to look for trolls. So....the showcase was open until 11:45, but the shops closed at 9:30!!! Jonah was so tired that we decided to skip Illuminations and head out (I will never see Canada, *cries*). Seriously, the only thing I've seen past the American pavilion is a glimpse of Belle in France, and we ate at the Rose & Crown last year. I so wanted to explore Morocco. This was my only real disappointment with the trip, and it had nothing to do with the crowds or MDE or weather, it was all planning fail and an unfortunately ill child. In 2016, I'm booking us at the Beach or Yacht Club and I'm walking to Epcot every day, haha!

Up next: Last Day at WDW, all day MK!

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 26 - Last WDW Day!

We all woke up well rested and feeling great! I had done laundry the day before and Eddie got us all packed up (what a way to spend Christmas night, right?) and the car loaded. We checked out and drove over to the Magic Kingdom at 6:00 a.m., parking in the Aladdin lot and taking the monorail.

We were super excited about our empty monorail until about 30 seconds later when the hordes found us, haha!

We caught the very end of the welcome show and then we were heading into the Magic Kingdom at 7:00 a.m. under chilly grey skies.

I told Eddie every time I read an MK trip report that I had no idea what this "Partners Statue" people kept going on about was. Eddie would look at me warily and say, "It's a statue. Of Walt and Mickey. It's right in front of the castle. There's no way you could miss it." I'd stare back at him, baffled.

Yeah, I have no idea how I missed that last year, haha!

Then we were off through Fantasyland to ride Jonah's favorite spinner: Dumbo!

Riding an empty Dumbo at 7:00 a.m. is chilly business!

We headed over to Small World, which Jonah had been talking about for days. I don't care what anyone says: I love this ride. The song doesn't bug me (and it doesn't get stuck in my head, because there's no room for it with "Be Our Guest" on constant loop, LOL) and I love the theming.

After saying adios (Arrivederci, Vaarwhel, etc), we noticed that there was NO wait for Princess Fairytale Hall, which meant Jonah could meet Rapunzel! We had been afraid the wait time and our schedule wouldn't allow for it so this was a fantastic bit of spontaneity in our over-planned trip.

Awww!

He also met Snow White for the second of three times.

We visited for so long that I realized we'd better head over to Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid before there was a line.

This was lovely, but we agreed with a lot of reviews that said the ending is pretty abrupt.

We grabbed a pic of the Beast's castle since it had been too dark on our MK arrival day.

Next, Eddie ran over to the Storybook Circus to visit Daisy at Pete's Silly Sideshow to get the autograph Daisy forgot at Tusker House. She was happy to sign and insisted that Eddie join her for a pic, too.

Meanwhile, Jonah and I had an early morning spot of Tea!

He loves the Tea Cups, and when Eddie wasn't back when the ride was over, I asked if he wanted to ride it again while there was NO wait, but he was done. I asked the CM at the Mad Tea Party if Alice was greeting yet and she said that she was, but she had taken a break (a break after 15 minutes? Maybe there was a pinafore malfunction). We waited around while I texted Eddie to grab me breakfast from Storybook Circus, but alas, no Alice. Oh, well, we got a great pic of her last year.

In any case, I suddenly had a willing photo subject.

Scaffolding around the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

We caught up with Eddie outside Storybook Circus where he'd picked up breakfast for me! Hey, it's fruit!

Obligatory castle pic on our way back to Mainstreet USA

Starbucks stop! Yes, I let him have a cookie for breakfast. He was eating, I was happy. Eddie and I picked up a couple of caramel macchiatos which were greatly appreciated in the morning chill.

Armed with treats, caffeine and chocolate milk, we headed out to taste the adventure.

Jonah did not remember this ride at all, so I was singing 'Yo ho, yo ho!' as we walked in. I'm sure I'm not the first person.

I had totally forgotten about the drop, so that was a bit of excitement. It was fun and no one took flash photos but then we got stuck at the end for about 5 minutes. Oh, well, all part of the experience, eh, me hearties?

Jonah wasn't interested in another go on the Magic Carpets, so we wandered over to Liberty Square. I remembered Tiana's gazebo and we went to check it out and had perfect timing as she was just coming back from break!

Tiana is Jonah's favorite princess and I was quick to tell her that as he handed her his autograph book. This was a GREAT meet and greet. She asked him all about his kindergarten class and his life back home and really engaged him. She was wonderful.

Up next: The Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

 

[Minnie Sue]

December 26, continued

And one last pic with Tiana, because they turned out so great (the Photo Pass pics were awesome, too, gotta love natural light, Christmas decorations and a fairytale princess!).

I needed a bathroom break, so of course I looked around and...at last I see the light! And it's like the sky is new! Haha. Well, they're LOVELY bathrooms. Very warm and welcoming, and the tower *is* impressive.

And then there in the distance, a more ominous structure.

The Fast Pass line was hoppin' but we were saving our FP+ for Belle and the mountains, so we walked standby, which allowed us to go through the cemetery, something we missed last year. We were the ONLY people walking standby, and we could have spent all the time we wanted.

This was the look Eddie gave me when I told him everything I had planned for the day!

The boys enjoyed the wall organ.

I like this ride, but I don't love it. I'm not sure why? I used to love The Wonderful World of Disney's Halloween specials when I was a kid. Jonah does NOT love this ride. He's a pretty brave kid (the dark rides never bothered him) but a ride dedicated to the glorification of ghosts is not his thing, haha! Plus we got stuck for several minutes at the very end, staring down into ghostly nothingness and not moving. He was not amused.

It was time for our first FP+ of the day, Enchanted Tales with Belle! I had so been looking forward to this attraction. I didn't know what Eddie or Jonah planned to do, but I couldn't wait to see the Magic Mirror and I hoped that Jonah would at least agree to portray flatwear.

We were at the very head of the FP+ line and the CM chatted with us all about our day, our holiday and our love of "Beauty and the Beast." She really made the time fly until our showtime started. The Magic Mirror is amazing. It has to be seen to be believed. Some incredible Disney Imagineering. Since were were at the front of the queue, once we moved in and over in the room with the Wardrobe, we were in the very back. I know it's unusual for a five-year-old boy to care about the Princess movies as much as Jonah does and he was being quiet, so all of the major roles were given to little girls, which is totally understandable. When the CM asked if there were any other children who would like a part, I asked Jonah and he curled into me and said he was too shy, so I told him we would just watch. We had a full group, so Eddie didn't volunteer for a role, although I knew he wanted to be a spoon, LOL.

Lumiere!

We were greeted by the amazing Lumiere and then there was Belle in her golden gown! The show is very cute, especially for kids, and it's a fantastic photo op for parents and grandparents. At the end, all of the children in the show are allowed a picture with Belle and they're given a bookmark. The CM gave Jonah a bookmark and said, "Don't worry, I won't make you take a picture" and moved on before I could say, "COULD he have a picture? He'd do that!" Oh, well, you gotta speak up.

Belle curtsies to her guests in thanks for their help in the show.

I wish that we had had time and another FP to do Enchanted Tales again (actually, the wait probably wasn't too long at 10:00 a.m.) but as we were leaving, I got a text stating that Splash was down for repairs and our upcoming FP+ had been opened to where we could chose one of the following rides without having to make another change on MDE:

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
Tomorrowland Speedway
Pirates of the Caribbean
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion

We had ridden all but the Speedway (no interest for me) and BTMR, but we had a FP+ for BTMR scheduled for 4:00 p.m. We decided to go ahead and ride BTMR now and switch our late afternoon FP+ to Splash (Jonah's favorite ride) when it was hopefully up and running again.

We headed to Frontierland, where we discovered the biggest crowd we'd seen at MK congregating between Splash and BTMR. BTMR was the ride down for refurb during our May 2012 trip, so this was our first time to ride it. Jonah didn't seem terribly excited about it, which was weird, since he loves the mine train ride at Six Flags over Texas.

The sun was out!

We scanned our Magic Bands and it accepted what had been our Splash FP+ without me having to make changes...sweet! Eddie and I really loved this ride! I had to take my Minnie ears off, but it was such a gentle rollercoaster, to use an oxymoron. Jonah wasn't impressed, though, and said he didn't want to ride it again (which was fine, because the standby line was lengthy). We pondered our options at this point. Our itinerary had us eating lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, but we had cancelled our reservation. We didn't really have a plan and had ridden most of the attractions we'd plan to visit, so we wandered toward Adventureland.

Jonah STILL wasn't interested in another go on the Magic Carpets and was pretty much just wanting Splash at this point. I was starting to get hungry and the crowds were starting to show up. And then Eddie and I both mentioned doing two different things.

Me:

Eddie:

Haha! I managed to talk him into grabbing a legacy FP for The Jungle...er Jingle Cruise while I scoped out the menu at Tortuga Tavern. I haven't mentioned the legacy FP machines because we had very little need of them. We did have Keys to the World cards (since we were staying at a moderate) but we hadn't even noticed the machines (other than noting that the FP machine for TSM was covered on the 23rd...anyone know what that was about?). We did end up pulling 3 legacy fast passes on the 26th, though, and used our first for our innagural Jungle Cruise.

Before that, though, we got in line at Tortuga Tavern. I knew that this counter service was seasonal and rarely open, so I was excited to get a chance to check it out. I have no idea why, since I don't care for fast food "Mexican," but I love the way Johnny Depp says Tortuga. Yeah, I got nuthin'.

Our young Padawan in line at Tortuga Tavern.

Eddie got the beef taco salad, which he devoured, and Jonah had a smoothie. I got the Beef Nachos because I love black beans.

This, plastic cheese aside, looks so much better than it was, haha. The black beans were good, but the salsa was fresh and the cheese and meat were processed, which was an off-putting combination. The chips were fresh, I guess? LOL.

I think my actual lack of appetite came because I was experiencing my first malfunction with MDE. I had attempted to change our BTMR FP+ to Splash Mt at 4:00 and initially it didn't have Splash as an option since it was under maintenance (we got to see the repairmen splashing about in the waterfall, very exciting!). Then Splash was available as an option, but when I chose "change for all," it only changed it to Splash at 4:00 for Eddie and Jonah and would not add me, despite my being primary on the account. I attempted to copy the FP+ (never having used that function) but the app acted as if my name didn't exist.

After we finished with Tortuga (it was pretty and Jonah liked his smoothie, but I'm good with having seen it once), I stopped by my favorite place in Adventureland to make up for my disappointing lunch.

Dole Whip Float! Vanilla + pineapple juice, that's my drink! I don't know why I love these so much. It's soft serve (which I don't normally care about) and Dole pineapple juice. Maybe it's the tropical vegetation? IDK, I just love.

Eddie found the FP+ kiosks over by the bathrooms and attempted to fix our Splash problem. Nada. Finally, a senior CM named Andrea was able to use her tablet to add a FP+ for me. The problem was that Splash was still reading as down, so it wasn't wanting to open a FP+. She was able to get me a 4:10 FP (odd, since the guys' was at 4:00) but either way, Andrea was awesome.

This was our first time on the Jungle Cruise, and I found it amusing while Jonah and Eddie were just happy we didn't wait in line for it, haha. The holiday-centric jokes were cute.

The plan was for us to watch the 12:30 Once Upon a Christmastime parade and then do the Hall of Presidents and Philharmagic and maybe spend some time on Tom Sawyer's Island during the busy part of the afternoon until our Splash FP+ and our dinner reservation.

Jonah decided, however, that he did not want to see the parade (WHAT??? I'd waited months for the parade! And I could have watched it on the first day, had I known!) and that he needed a nap (he didn't decide that, but it was obvious, he had sickly sleepy eyes).

So we decided to leave, go check into our Universal partner hotel and rest for a bit. That was bad planning by people planning badly. Driving on International Drive and driving in the Disney bubble are two different things. Plus our room at the Comfort Inn and Suites wasn't ready and they asked that we come back at 2:00 (which was reasonable, since check-in is at 3:00 p.m.) By the time we checked in, took our luggage upstairs and freshened up, it was time to head back to MK for our 4:00 p.m. FP+ and our 4:55 dinner reservation.

While we were gone, though, we missed the MK's parking lot closing to capacity. We were able to park with no problem in the Simba section when we returned and take a tram to the ferry back to the MK.

Up next: Splash Mountain, Cinderella's Royal Table and the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party!

 

[Minnie Sue]

Love your report, so detailed and a great family!

That Tiana is gorgeous!!!

Aw, thanks! It's possible that I overshare, so I'm glad you're enjoying! Wasn't Tiana lovely? We got some great pics.