Trip Report I Horsey again

We’ve been home from Walt Disney World for a little over two weeks now and the holidays have passed. It’s time for what has become my post-trip tradition of writing our trip report.

We always take our best photos at Hollywood Studio.


If you read our previous reports, you know that we have previously visited WDW in November. Given the amount of crowds last year, we decided to change to a December trip. We made sure to steer clear of the Holiday crowds however. I mean we are not crazy, even though we do enjoy a good country bear jamboree.


Our trip began on December 8th. My super-organized wife Sara (I say that in a good way – mostly) had worked the previous week or so packing up her stuff as well as the kids’ things. Here is a photo of our cat Oliver asking us if he can on December 7th.

Ollie gets his name because he came from a “free kittens” box at a yard sale in our development. He has a sister we named Jasmine who is harder to get to stay still for a photo. Much to Sara’s dismay, I have continuously put my foot down and forbidden our cats from coming on vacation with us. Taking care of two children tends to be hard enough.


On December 8th, I stayed home with an off-day from work while Sara and Makayla went to daycare (Sara is a teacher there) and Luke went to Kindergarten. Yes, Luke is our big Kindergartner this year. I took December 8th to pack my things, which hadn’t been started yet. Sara and I are very opposite in this way. Sara and Makayla came home around 1:30, and Sara and I loaded the car while Makayla napped. Around 3:45 Luke returned from school, and after a quick potty break for him we were on our way.


After a 40 minute wait to eat a Chipotle in Leesburg, VA, and a bunch of Paw Patrol episodes on our DVD player later (both kids’ current favorite show) we arrived at the Hampton Inn in Emporia, VA, our home for the first night.


We quickly settled in for the night and prepared for bed. Luke always enjoys spending nights away, he seems them as adventures. So it took a little bit of time to get him wound down, but we ended up sleeping well. The next morning, both kids insisted on “helping me load the car again.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way. Here is Makayla enjoying her yogurt.

Friday, December 9th was an all-day drive affair. It included a Pizza Hut lunch in South Carolina, and a stop at the Florida Welcome Center 10 minutes after it had closed – no free orange juice for us. Makayla was terribly afraid of this dolphin statue. She would not go near it. She kept saying “Dolphin bite me.” As far as we know, she’s never had a negative run-in with a dolphin before, so I’m not really sure where this came from, but she would not go near the thing. At least Luke was willing to take his photo here.

Once we were back in the car, we hit a little traffic around Jacksonville, then made our way to I-4. As we turned onto I-4, the navigation on Sara’s phone told us we were about an hour and 15 minutes away. About 15 minutes later, a recheck told us we were about an hour and 45 minutes away. It usually seems like Disney keeps getting further away from us due to our excitement, but this time we found out there was a massive accident on I-4 closing the left three lanes.


We ended up having a major delay through Orlando, and instead of arriving around 8, we ended up not getting to our hotel until almost 9:30. We had hoped to stay at the Hampton Inn near Disney (Hampton is a long-time favorite of our family), but found out they were booked for the night. So we ended up next door at the Quality Inn and Suites, which thankfully had an opening (though for a little bit more money). Both kids helped by pulling their suitcases this time.

Luke loved the fact that we had two rooms – it is a suite after all.

After a quick game of hide and seek – yes Luke deemed the room was big enough we had to play hide and seek, we got the kids to bed. We were ready to begin our Disney adventure the next day.

 

[Lyear]

Great report! Forgive me if you already mentioned this, but is your family vegetarian? You seem to be ordering mostly (only?) veggie meals.

Thank you! Yes we are vegetarian. I had mentioned it in my previous reports and felt like I'd be overly driving home the point by mentioning it here again. One of my favorite things about Disney is how they go, in my opinion, above and beyond to take care of us, and others with dietary restrictions. I'll get into it later, but the chef at Garden Grill on our last day made us Tofu sausage! Thanks for following along.

 

[MinnieM123]

Goofy took special care in trying to come up slowly to say hi to Makayla, but it still produced the same result. After he posed with Luke he waved goodbye. Since he was leaving, Makayla composed herself and said "bye bye Foofee."

"Foofee"

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Thank you! Yes we are vegetarian. I had mentioned it in my previous reports and felt like I'd be overly driving home the point by mentioning it here again. One of my favorite things about Disney is how they go, in my opinion, above and beyond to take care of us, and others with dietary restrictions. I'll get into it later, but the chef at Garden Grill on our last day made us Tofu sausage! Thanks for following along.

I had been wondering the same thing. I don't eat any cow or pig products and it can sometimes be hard to find things to eat at certain places (or when you eat meals with your husband's family that seems to mainly eat cows and pigs ).

 

[Lyear]

I had been wondering the same thing. I don't eat any cow or pig products and it can sometimes be hard to find things to eat at certain places (or when you eat meals with your husband's family that seems to mainly eat cows and pigs ).

Thankfully with all of us being vegetarian we don't get into having to please meat-eaters and non meat-eaters at the same time. But from what we have experienced almost every table service restaurant will accommodate vegetarian requests, even if there's not something on the menu. I've actually been very surprised at chefs' willingness to work with you or even come out and talk to you about what you need on busy nights. With counter service it's a little more hit or miss since they really only have whats on the menu.

 

[Lyear]

We ended up resting later than expected then made our way to the bus stop probably around 5pm. Luke was happy once again as a charter bus pulled up to take us back to Magic Kingdom. We made it through bag check and found the park entrance for regular guests, since there was a Christmas Party happening that night and it seemed most people were arriving for that.

As we entered the park and prepared to head onto Main Street, the Move it, Shake it (whatever it's called) parade was just entering and heading up Main Street. We ended up following it to the hub, which was nice because we didn't have to dodge a lot of people taking pictures .

The Move it Shake it parade had been something on our "it'd be nice to do, but who knows if we'll have time" list. Note - we don't really have a list named that . Just something we keep in our heads. We decided we would join in the fun tonight since it was happening right in front of us.

We all had a good time and Luke really liked trying to mimic the movements of the characters. We were right near Donald's float, but we had Jesse dancing nearby us too. We stayed for about 20 minutes. As a side note - I had no idea this parade/party would last as long as it did. Finally, we had to leave so we could make our fastpass to meet Cinderella. Since we were in the middle of the hub, we had work out way out. And it was hard work. People apparently don't like to move for a second to let you push a stroller through. Our stroller isn't the easiest to maneuver anyway, so trying to go back and forth around people was a bit of a workout. In the end we made it out without being harmed or harming anyone else .

We made our way directly over to Cinderella's meet and greet. While Luke could have probably done without meeting Cinderella, she was Makayla's first favorite princess, so we wanted to be sure to meet her. To this day she still refers to Cinderella as "Rella." This time the line wasn't nearly as long as it was for Rapunzel. It felt like we were ushered in to meet her within two minutes.

Even though Makayla had loved Rella at one point didn't mean she wanted to get near to her tonight. She wanted nothing to do with her. A cast member was actually very nice towards Makayla and brought us (since I was holding her) over to a central location between Cinderella and Elena where there was a Snow White book laid out that Makayla enjoyed looking at. It was just a single page thing, but it seemed to calm her own somewhat. In the meantime, Luke was having his meet and greet.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Luke has that classic, "do I have to" look on his face.

Meeting Elena was a bit more awkward, if that is possible for our family . Since she was so new and we don't get Disney Jr, the kids had no idea who she was. It just happened that we watched an episode of her show that morning as we were getting ready, and I noticed that she was riding some sort of flying tiger. I mentioned that we saw her riding her tiger that morning, and she asked "which one?" Um????? Apparently there is more than one. Maybe one day Makayla will fall in love with her show and we'll come back filled with knowledge.

Anyway, she was very nice and Luke got some photos.

this is the, "Do I have to do this" look

As we left Luke wanted to get his photo in front of this Minnie near one of the stores. Makayla was willing to go up to it, which is a step in the right direction .

 

[Lyear]

Of course, as we came out from the meet and greet, we found ourselves in the same location as the carousel. Makayla immediately went into a round of "I horsey again," and Luke wanted to ride too. Our plans called for us to grab dinner then take part in the Pirate fireworks cruise, so we had to say no to the horsey ride. Luke the asked if since we couldn't ride the carousel if we could ride the people mover. Sorry Luke. Trying to explain time management to a five and two year old was a failed cause so both kids were upset as we headed towards the exit. Luke could not comprehend how we were leaving Magic Kingdom without riding any rides.

Sara did take some time to grab some night time photos.

One last time down Main Street

Our plan had been to grab a quick service meal at Gasparilla Island Grille at Grand Floridian then head to the Contemporary. We wanted something to break the monotony of eating at Pecos Bills. Other CS restaurants at Magic Kingdom just didn't seem that appealing after reviewing their menus. Gasparilla had been closed for a refurb, but it was scheduled to have been open by this time. Scheduled of course being the operative word .

We grabbed a boat to Grand Floridian. Luke and Makayla wanted to sit outside. They had quickly gotten over not being able to ride a ride in the MK.

We were all crammed on a bench that was likely meant for 1 person. It was a fun, short ride over to GF, and since we had never been there, I used the directions function of the Disney app to find our way to Gasparilla. All was good until we saw it and all the lights were out. As we got closer, the sign clearly said "closed for refurbishment," in whatever cute way Disney writes that out. A clear lack of detail management on our part.

The clock was ticking on when we needed to check in for the pirates cruise. One detail we knew was that if we weren't there when the boat left, we'd miss out. Disney is usually pretty good with customer service, but bringing a boat back to the dock is likely beyond what they'd be willing to do. GF only had the one counter service, so eating at a different restaurant here was not an option. The sign had said that a lounge would have some counter service food, but Sara wasn't interested in trying this.

What followed was a bit of family drama for us as we were trying to make decisions with a time deadline looming. Sara suggested heading over to the Polynesian, but my concern was whether we could make it in time with the monorail having been somewhat unreliable for us recently as far as breaking down and maintenance. I pushed for seeing what the lounge had to offer, but Sara was not convinced and we didn't even know where it was. After some debate and walking around checking for any other option, we found ourselves waiting for the monorail to head to the Contemporary, deciding we would try their CS option.

One disappointment I had in all of this was that this was my first time in Grand Floridian, and because of the circumstances I wasn't able to stop and take it all in. Maybe next time. Sara did take a few photos while we were there.

The monorail was pretty full when it arrived, but we were able to find some space, and shortly found ourselves in the Contemporary.

We decided we would run down to check into the Pirate Cruise before eating but when we arrived on the 2nd floor there was no one to be found. We then went back upstairs to the Contempo Cafe. Since it was our first time here, we hadn't realized you were supposed to get your sides and drinks before you ordered at the checkout line. Luckily, our cashier was graceful and let us pay for the food and then go back to pick it up. Sara and I ordered the Caprese pizza, and we got Luke a cheese pizza.

While they were making our food, I decided to run down to the front desk to see if I could tell where the check in for the Pirate Cruise was. Unfortunately, the line to speak to someone rivaled the line we encountered when we had first arrived at All Star Music, long and un-moving. By chance I happened to run into a guest who was also going to be on the same cruise, and he told me that check in had been moved to their convention center. OK, at least now I knew where we would be going.

I headed back upstairs to meet with the rest of the family. We were still waiting for our food to arrive, though the kids were having a nice pre-meal snack of goldfish crackers. After a bit our meal arrived. Luke enjoyed his cheese pizza, and Makayla actually had some of mine. This was a bit out of character for her, but if she wants to expand her taste bud horizons, more power to her. For dessert, I grabbed this peanut butter confection, which made the previous troubles of the night melt away.

Apologies for the half eaten picture. But in honesty it was so good I'm surprised I paused at all to take one. By far the best dessert I had that week, but so rich I could barely finish.

With that our dinner was taken care of, and we knew where we were going. We packed up our things and headed fo the check in at the Pirate Cruise.

 

[PrincessL]

I'm excited to find out how you all liked the pirate fireworks! We have this scheduled for our 2nd night.

 

[Lyear]

This was our second time doing the Pirates fireworks. We had done it on our last trip, and it was such a hit that we decided to try it again. As we arrived in the Contemporary convention area, the first thing Luke noticed was that there were several kids dressed head to toe in Pirate gear. He immediately wanted his pirate sword, hat, and eyepatch, which unfortunately were safely in our house in Pennsylvania. Sorry bud, dressing up like a pirate wasn't something we had accounted for. They gave us a pirate bandana as we walked in, but this didn't quite meet the amount of clothing necessary for looking like a pirate.

The frowns turned to smiles though as he was able to run around the open hallway with his sister.

Last year we had been one of the first to check in, and this year we were likely one of the last. It seemed like we had just checked in and got our bandanas on when the music started playing, and our captains for the evening showed up, both named Patch. They welcomed us in for some snacks and dessert, but we were all pretty full from having just eaten. After a bit, we jumped in line to meet Captain Hook and Smee.

Captain Hook looked at Luke wearing his Captain America jacket, and pointed to the jacket giving a thumbs down, then pointed to his bandana giving a thumbs up. Luke stood there with a blank look on his face, and I explained that Captain Hook wasn't a fan of Captain America, but he liked the pirates bandana. This prompted a pat on the back from Captain Hook. Guess I'm in good with pirates now. Makayla was not a big fan, but we at least got her in a few pictures this time.

Luke was definitely more excited to meet Captain Hook and Smee than he was to meet Cinderella.

Following the meet and greet, we were separated into our boats, and the primary rule for the evening was shared with us, "there are no bathrooms on the boat." We took a final potty break before following Captain Hook out to our boat. And of course we got to scare him away by pretending to be tic toc croc.

As we set out, Patch went around to the different groups on the boat and everyone got the chance to share where they were from. He then sang a few songs and challenged us to a sing-off of "Yo-ho Yo-ho a pirates life for me." The captain at first said it was a tie, but then said the other side had sang a bit louder than our side. This sent Luke into a tizzy that our side hadn't won.

Soon enough it was time for the fireworks to start. Can't beat the view.

No video this year since we had taken video of the fireworks on our last trip. Once the fireworks had ended, Patch gave the children some trivia while we sailed back to the Contemporary. Luke legitimately got an answer right this year, though I can't remember now what it was. He then volunteered to answer a question for Makayla, so they both walked away with pirate hats. There you go Luke, one more piece of pirate clothing for you to wear.

Once we got back to the Contemporary, Peter Pan was waiting for us. Makayla was actually willing to go up and be close to Peter Pan. I guess he was less threatening than anyone we had met to that point.

Still with some reservations here.

But now we are interested.

Couldn't get her to pose for a photo though.

As Peter Pan was signing their book, the only page left was the half page at the front of the book. Peter was excited about this since he said he was the best one there anyway and we should be happy that he will be the first one we see when we open our books.

Overall, our second pirate cruise was a lot like our first. Very little had changed. It is a great way to see the fireworks since you get so much perspective of seeing other things, and the narration is very easy to hear as opposed to some times we have experienced in the parks. In the end, I doubt we'll be doing it a third time. It seems like one of those things that's great to do once, but not so fun doing it a second time.

We made our way back to the hotel, grabbed our stroller, took a quick potty break, then walked back to the Magic Kingdom bus stop. Both kids were clearly getting tired. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long for a bus. Sara and the kids found some seats, and I stood while holding the stroller. Luke fell asleep on the way back to our hotel. I was standing in the doorway so I was off the bus first when we arrived, but apparently when Sara went to wake up Luke, he went to walk and fell flat down in the aisle. I was outside setting up the stroller and Luke came over to me crying. Sara was a few steps behind explaining what had happened. It was definitely time for us to sleep. We made our way to our room and both kids fell asleep pretty quickly. Sara and I stayed up a bit doing some packing, since we would be loading our car in the morning.

 

[Lyear]

I'm excited to find out how you all liked the pirate fireworks! We have this scheduled for our 2nd night.

I'm sure you'll have a great time. This was our second time so it wasn't quite as magical, but the first time we went was great.

 

[PrincessL]

I'm sure you'll have a great time. This was our second time so it wasn't quite as magical, but the first time we went was great.

Looked like a blast! Makayla definitely looked the most comfortable with Peter than any other character. By next trip she will be an old pro with the character meets Love your TR!

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Was Makayla always scared of the characters? My son was fine with them when we went when he was 4 months and 9 months. Our next trip he will be 21 months and I'm getting nervous that he isn't going to be a fan of them anymore.

 

[Lyear]

Looked like a blast! Makayla definitely looked the most comfortable with Peter than any other character. By next trip she will be an old pro with the character meets Love your TR!

Ha! I hope so. I remember Luke had issues with characters up until he was four. Thanks for following.

Was Makayla always scared of the characters? My son was fine with them when we went when he was 4 months and 9 months. Our next trip he will be 21 months and I'm getting nervous that he isn't going to be a fan of them anymore.

Unfortunately I don't have great news for you . Makayla was fine when we went in November 2015, and she was about 15 months at that time. Somewhere in the past year she developed a fear of characters. Luke was pretty much the same way. I hope that's not the case for your family.

 

[Lyear]

Friday, December 17th, our last day, began with a fierce round of packing. Items were being thrown into boxes or bags left and right, and soon enough I was wheeling our bags to the van on the stroller. After several trips we were all packed up. We said a final goodbye to our room, then walked to our car and drove to the front parking lot of the hotel. When we entered, Sara took Luke to the food court to fill up our mugs with hot chocolate (it was a cold morning), while Makayla and I went to the front desk to check out.

While we waited, I glanced over at the check in line, which was almost as long as our first day there. Suddenly, the idea of waiting 30-45 minutes to check in didn't seem like the worst thing in the world. In fact, standing there in the check-out line, I would have welcomed a long wait to check in. But it wasn't to be.

When it was our turn, the cast member allowed Makayla to scan her band, which made her day. I haven't mentioned it up to this point, but Makayla had developed a bit of magic band envy during the week when we were all scanning our bands for fastpass attractions, and hers didn't work since she was only two and didn't require a ticket. So she was very happy to scan her band and see it light up green. The checkout went smooth, and we finished up around the same time Sara and Luke had finished with the hot chocolate. We walked back to the van ready to head to Epcot.

Our little diva, ready to go

We drove to Epcot and got there pretty close to park opening. We parked and walked the short ways to the entrance. We approached bag check, and again, while through the week bag check had been frustrating, the idea of waiting today didn't seem all that bad. I could think of plenty of worse things to do than stand in line at bag check to head into a Disney Park.

Once inside, our first stop was at Spaceship Earth. Makayla and I again rode together, and this time I made sure that our narration was in English . Afterwards, most of the displays and games were empty, and Luke wanted to play this.

He enjoyed pushing the little energy sources to the neighborhoods that needed them. Makayla wasn't exactly much help, but she knew how to scream if we tried to take the little paddle thing away from her .

Once our game had ended, other people had lined up for their turn, so we had to explain to Luke that we had to let them play. He really wanted to either play this again or try another game. Unfortunately we had to pull him out of there since it was time for our final breakfast reservation.

 

[Lyear]

After we exited, we walked back towards our stroller, and Sara fell slightly behind. As she walked, she was approached by one of the cast members conducting surveys. I'm not trying to sound mean, but this cast member was older and very slight. As her and Sara talked, a young, probably college age man with the build of a linebacker wasn't walking where he was going. He was turned around talking to his friends and walked right into her at a pretty good speed. Sara said it was really lucky she was standing where she was, because it apparently jolted this poor woman, and she would have hit the ground if Sara hadn't been there to catch her. The man apologized, and after a bit the woman was able to get her bearings and finish the survey.

Once that bit of drama had passed, we headed over to the Land for our Garden Grill breakfast. When we saw that Garden Grill was serving breakfast, we knew immediately that we wanted to try it. We hadn't eaten there before, but had heard great reviews. And since we love breakfast food, it was too much to pass up. We checked in and had a very short wait before we were buzzed and led to our table.

We started near the farm scene.

Our server quickly came and was very nice getting our drink orders. He offered to bring a chef to our table but we explained that wouldn't be necessary, we just asked that they not place any meat on our plate. He quickly came back with a fruit tray and a cinnamon sticky bun that was utterly delicious. I have little doubt I could have eaten the entire thing myself.

Sara was very happy that I wouldn't be taking random dinner pictures after today. The fruit was a big hit with the kids.

Pluto was the first one to arrive at our table, and Luke jumped up to meet him.

Makayla was not so thrilled of course.

Dale came next, and Luke again was excited.

Makayla not so much.

He tried to play peek a boo with Makayla, and that got her interested.

I'm not sure about you Dale...you play fun peek a boo games with me, but you still look pretty scary

After leaving our table, Dale grabbed the coffee off the next table and walked away with it, leaving a server to track it down.

At this point we had reached the front of the restaurant

Our server brought our food, and as I mentioned in a comment above, it included some type of tofu or soy sausage. I'm sure for most of you out there that doesn't sound appetizing, but for a couple of vegetarians it was a very thoughtful thing to do. We made sure to thank our server. Unfortunately, Sara has never liked sausage, real or fake, and Luke wasn't interested in it. Makayla had one piece, so I felt I had to eat a lot of it so we could show our appreciation for the chef's gesture. As I was stuffing myself with imitation sausage, Luke was going to town on the tater tots. He probably had 2-3 plates full.

Soon enough Mickey came by in his farmer outfit and got a big hug from Luke

Makayla wasn't so sure

Mickey was also well trained in peek a boo games. Look at that, he actually got a smile.

Finally it was Chip's turn to come to our table.

As we were finishing our meal, we had made it to the rainforest. Our server brought the check,and since we had already checked out of our room, I gave him my credit card to use for the tip. Unfortunately, we later learned that he had placed the entire bill on our credit card instead of using our dining plan. Fast forward to the next week, and I had left two voicemails at the restaurant about this with no response. Finally, the 3rd time I called the reservation line, which was able to connect me to the financial services unit. I spoke with a cast member and explained our situation. She was able to look up our receipt and refund the appropriate amount back onto the card.

Outside of a little billing snafu, we had a great time at Garden Grill. The food was excellent and the characters were very interactive. It didn't seem like we were moving, yet slowly our backdrop was changing. Luke enjoyed turning around and seeing which ecosystem was coming next. Eating in the restaurant had put a strong urge in Luke to ride Living with the Land, so as we left we went downstairs to jump in line.

 

[MegRuss626]

After we exited, we walked back towards our stroller, and Sara fell slightly behind. As she walked, she was approached by one of the cast members conducting surveys. I'm not trying to sound mean, but this cast member was older and very slight. As her and Sara talked, a young, probably college age man with the build of a linebacker wasn't walking where he was going. He was turned around talking to his friends and walked right into her at a pretty good speed. Sara said it was really lucky she was standing where she was, because it apparently jolted this poor woman, and she would have hit the ground if Sara hadn't been there to catch her. The man apologized, and after a bit the woman was able to get her bearings and finish the survey.

Once that bit of drama had passed, we headed over to the Land for our Garden Grill breakfast. When we saw that Garden Grill was serving breakfast, we knew immediately that we wanted to try it. We hadn't eaten there before, but had heard great reviews. And since we love breakfast food, it was too much to pass up. We checked in and had a very short wait before we were buzzed and led to our table.

We started near the farm scene.

Our server quickly came and was very nice getting our drink orders. He offered to bring a chef to our table but we explained that wouldn't be necessary, we just asked that they not place any meat on our plate. He quickly came back with a fruit tray and a cinnamon sticky bun that was utterly delicious. I have little doubt I could have eaten the entire thing myself.

Sara was very happy that I wouldn't be taking random dinner pictures after today. The fruit was a big hit with the kids.

Pluto was the first one to arrive at our table, and Luke jumped up to meet him.

Makayla was not so thrilled of course.

Dale came next, and Luke again was excited.

Makayla not so much.

He tried to play peek a boo with Makayla, and that got her interested.

I'm not sure about you Dale...you play fun peek a boo games with me, but you still look pretty scary

After leaving our table, Dale grabbed the coffee off the next table and walked away with it, leaving a server to track it down.

At this point we had reached the front of the restaurant

Our server brought our food, and as I mentioned in a comment above, it included some type of tofu or soy sausage. I'm sure for most of you out there that doesn't sound appetizing, but for a couple of vegetarians it was a very thoughtful thing to do. We made sure to thank our server. Unfortunately, Sara has never liked sausage, real or fake, and Luke wasn't interested in it. Makayla had one piece, so I felt I had to eat a lot of it so we could show our appreciation for the chef's gesture. As I was stuffing myself with imitation sausage, Luke was going to town on the tater tots. He probably had 2-3 plates full.

Soon enough Mickey came by in his farmer outfit and got a big hug from Luke

Makayla wasn't so sure

Mickey was also well trained in peek a boo games. Look at that, he actually got a smile.

Finally it was Chip's turn to come to our table.

As we were finishing our meal, we had made it to the rainforest. Our server brought the check,and since we had already checked out of our room, I gave him my credit card to use for the tip. Unfortunately, we later learned that he had placed the entire bill on our credit card instead of using our dining plan. Fast forward to the next week, and I had left two voicemails at the restaurant about this with no response. Finally, the 3rd time I called the reservation line, which was able to connect me to the financial services unit. I spoke with a cast member and explained our situation. She was able to look up our receipt and refund the appropriate amount back onto the card.

Outside of a little billing snafu, we had a great time at Garden Grill. The food was excellent and the characters were very interactive. It didn't seem like we were moving, yet slowly our backdrop was changing. Luke enjoyed turning around and seeing which ecosystem was coming next. Eating in the restaurant had put a strong urge in Luke to ride Living with the Land, so as we left we went downstairs to jump in line.

Luke is a kid after my own heart!! I prob ate my weight in tater tots when we ate there too! And that delicious cinnamon bun!!

 

[Lyear]

Luke is a kid after my own heart!! I prob ate my weight in tater tots when we ate there too! And that delicious cinnamon bun!!

haha, he loves them. That cinnamon bun was amazing.

 

[Lyear]

Looking at the projected crowd calendars while planning our trip, we knew that our last Saturday was supposed to be the first mass arrival of Christmas crowds. Judging by the amount of people walking around Epcot this day, I'd have to say the projected crowd calendars were right. It was easily the most crowds we had seen that week, which is saying something since there had been a good number of people there all week.

As we jumped into the standby line for Living with the Land, the wait time was 25 minutes. But shortly after we entered, the changed the queue around and adjusted the time. We checked the Disney Experience app and found that the wait time was now 40 minutes. People continued to stream into the line.

Standing in line for 40 minutes with our two children can certainly seem more like an eternity. There were times where each one would upset the other, and then we would need to console the crying one. Luke insisted on trying to swing from the guiderails multiple times, with a quick "no" from us following every time. But then there are times where they go and do something so cute.

It seems like they might actually like each other after all. 30 seconds after this photo was taken though...

Eventually it was our turn to board, and during our ride Luke enjoyed looking up at the Garden Grill restaurant, knowing we had just eaten there.

Once we exited, we headed straight for Soarin, our first fastpass of the day. Luke had ridden the old version last year, but wasn't the biggest fan. He was excited to try it this year though. Sara went first with him. I realize in typing this that Sara went first with Luke a lot this trip when we did the rider swap. I'll have to be sure to make it up next year.

While Luke and Sara were riding, we decided to try the Journey into Imagination ride with Figment, but there was a 35 minute wait. So we ended up walking around outside and looking at more ducks between the Land and Seas pavilion. After a bit we went back inside, and got to the Soarin exit just before Luke had exited.

In the meantime, Luke had been excited for this ride.

He was a little scared at some of the transitions, but overall really liked the ride. As he exited, he grabbed my hand and led me right to the entrance. We made it to the loading area and Luke was explaining to me what to expect, and how we had to put our hats in the area under our seat.

As for the new ride, I thought it was very well done. We were all the way over to the right of the theater on the bottom row, but it still felt like a very good view. While the ride experience is about the same, I was surprised at the amount of CGI that went into the video, as it seemed like each scene change was accompanied by something swiping across in front of you. There was one scene where a large bird comes across the screen, which had scared Luke the first time and he ended up keeping his eyes closed for about 3 scenes as we approached that moment.

While Luke and I rode Soarin, Sara had taken Makayla over to the Seas to look at the aquariums. As we exited, since it was already time for our next fastpass for Nemo, we met them over there.

 

[Lyear]

Nemo would be the last ride of our vacation. Makayla had really become a fan of the turtle scene, and to this day when she sees Crush or squirt she'll shout "Turtle - whoaaaaaaaa." After Nemo, we took some time walking through the aquarium, which was much busier than it had been during evening extra magic hours 4 days before.

Luke's goal was to once again find the giant sting ray. It took a bit of searching, but we were finally able to locate it on the opposite side from where we had seen it a few nights before.

Finally it was time to leave the fish behind. We had one more treat in store for the kids. Luke had really wanted to splash in the giant fountain with jets that shoot up from the ground on our first day, so we had brought swim suits for the kids so they could play, but then still be dry for our car ride. However, Luke decided that he really wanted to play in the jumping fountains outside the imagination pavilion instead. So we changed the plan and let them go there. Sure, there's no other kids running around getting wet with them, but we're on vacation, who cares.

During the course of their playing, I left to head to the France pavilion to pick up some snacks for our ride home with our remaining snack credits. Chocolate chip cookies, eclairs, etc. When I came back, we had to break the bad news to our kids that it was time to change back into their regular clothes and head back to the car. But then Sara came up with one final idea, the Chase character meet and greet.

 

[Lyear]

So we changed their clothes then headed back towards the leaping fountain area to the Chase visa meet and greet. Once it was our turn, we discovered that it was Minnie and pluto greeting us. Makayla was scared at first, but massive hat tip to the Minnie character.

She got down on Makayla's level and waved, then coaxed Makayla into giving a high five. And with that, the barrier was broken. 8 days of crying and screaming and she was suddenly just fine meeting Minnie and Pluto. She still wanted to be held, and had her finger in her mouth which is her safety position, but still...progress.

And as we said goodbye to Minnie and Pluto, it truly was time to leave. Both kids were mellow on the way out, a combination of sadness that we were leaving, and exhaustion as it was the end of a long week (plus it was naptime). We made it to the exit, then to our car. Packed it up and were on the road, leaving WDW behind us for another year.
Luke fell asleep shortly after we got out of the parking lot, and Makayla soon followed.

The trip home was fairly uneventful, at least as uneventful as traveling with small children can be. We made it to Savannah, GA before stopping at another Hampton Inn. This Hampton Inn came with a complimentary bed bug scare , but we made it out ok. The next day was the long drive back home to Pennsylvania.

So that will wrap up our December 2016 trip report. Fun times had, happy memories made, in short, met the goals we all have when we head to WDW.

Thanks to everyone who followed along. Truly appreciate the likes and comments.

 

[blreinsel]

Great TR.. sad to see it end! Looks like Makayla will be good to go with characters on your next trip. Thanks for sharing and glad that you had a magical time!