"Is this the Magic Kingdom?" - A November Trip Report

“Is this the Magic Kingdom?!” - A November Holiday Trip Report

53 rides
36 characters
6 table service meals
5 nighttime shows, fireworks and parades
4 and a half days
3 girls
And 2 resorts
All add up to….

One magical Disney getaway!

Hey everyone! I may be home physically, but mentally I’m still in Disney World. We had a GREAT long weekend (or short week, as some people have called it) For those who have read my pre-trip report, you already know the scoop. For those who haven’t, here’s a little run down:

Who:
-Me: Darolyn (or most people call me D) age 28. Disney enthusiast to the max.

DSC07392 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

-Sister: Ashley, age 26. Loves Disney as well but not quite to the same obsessive level as I.

DSC06321 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

-Mama: Terryn, age 29... Again! I thank her for bringing me to WDW at the tender age of 11 months and getting me hooked. I also thank her for buying our timeshare in Kissimmee so we can enjoy a vacation with Mickey and friends every year J

DSC06942 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

We’re all Disney fanatics!! J

Here’s me and my sister (and friend) in 2006

8131_189995891071_674341071_4381286_4635389_n by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And here we are in 2007

n674341071_2766527_4062959 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And at Busch Gardens in 2009 (Yes, sometimes we cheat on Disney… sorry!)

n674341071_2824009_4791285 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

Me and Mama on our 2010 trip

155212_10150099410841072_674341071_7868956_7013788_n by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And May of 2011

DSC07059 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

We visited Disney World together this past May and had a great time. We had originally scheduled our next WDW vacation to be fall of next year, for a week, in our timeshare at Vistana. Well, plans changed. None of us wanted to wait a year and a half so a couple schedule changes, a few number crunches and some reservations had us flying into Orlando on Thursday night November 10 and returning home Tuesday night November 15. Yup, a full year ahead of time. Since we wouldn’t be using the timeshare, we decided to stay on Disney property. Much easier doing that than renting a car and staying off-site (though in the long run, that might have ben cheaper!) We’d stayed at the All Stars a couple times but this time we decided we wanted to go big… deluxe resort big. So we booked a courtyard view room at the Wilderness Lodge for 4 nights and 1 night at the All Star Movies (since our flight wasn’t scheduled to arrive into Orlando til midnight, we couldn’t fathom the idea of spending the $300+ nightly rate when we were arriving so late.)

This trip was a trip of many firsts for us: Our first deluxe resort. Our first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We added 3 new restaurants to our itinerary and also it would be my sisters first time visiting WDW during the holiday season (my mother and I both visited Thanksgiving week back in 2001 and again last November) Also, our first time experiencing the Magical Express and our first time NOT having a rental car and relying completely on Disney transportation.

Now, onto the good stuff…. Enjoy!!

 

[jenseib]

I hope you can recover your pictures!

 

[enchanted_belle]

Finally, after 20 billion years I'm all caught up!!! And I only have one thing to say....

:slurp::slurp::slurp: Mickey Waffles :slurp::slurp::slurp:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Sadly, Duffy was not out yet, so we headed over to Mexico.

You can't really tell in any of these pictures, but compared to Friday, World Showcase was dead. Even a CM who was walking by another CM said "It's a ghost town now" and it really was.

I wanted to check out the jewlery. I got 2 bracelets back in May that I LOVE and wanted to see if they have any new ones. No bracelets but I did end up getting a ring with a pretty turquoise colored stone in it. We also took a spin the with 3 Caballeros.. OLE!!!

Donald getting a whack on the butt...

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

After we finished up in Mexico, we headed over to the International Gateway to do our KP mission. It was starting to get really hot so we were hoping it would be in the shade.

We headed over to France, where our mission was to begin. It sounded like fun, but it was just too hot and about 15 minutes in, we gave up. Bummer. We headed back over to the UK and couldn't decide what we wanted to do. Ashley and I decided to go see O' Canada while Mom waited for us. She doesn't like Circle Vision movies. Although this one wasn't too bad. I enjoyed it. Being a hockey fan and all, it was nice to learn a little bit about hockey country.

You can barely see it but there's a rainbow right in the center of this picture

When we were done, Mama was just boarding Imagination so wedecided to meet her for our ADR when she was done. Ashley and I wandered up to UK and saw Mary Poppins was out so we got in line to meet her. No pic though. Waaahhhhhhhh!!

We headed down to check in for lunch at my absolute most favorite place to eat in the whole wide world (Disney World and regular world) I'm talkin bout.... LE CELLIER!!

We had to wait about 10 minutes and while we waited one of the hostesses played trivia with everyone. I won a couple Mickey stickers. YESSSSSSSS!!! Soon, we were brought to our seats. I can't remember what section we were in but it was different than the one last time. They brought out the delicious bread.... Mmmmmm.... I do miss the sticks of multigrain and sourdough though

I knew what I wanted to eat and so did Ashley but Mom changed it up a bit. I got the filet, medium with the mushroom risotto. YUM!!

Ashley got the filet, medium well with cream cheese mashed potatos. I didn't save a picture because it just looked like a big blob and you couldn't tell the difference between the potatos and the plate. My camera takes such awesome food pics (NOT) Mom got the burger with fries. After the meal I think she kind of wished she'd gotten the filet.. Eh, there's always next time which is coming up in 90 days!! Booo yeah!!!

Ashley decided to order some dessert. She got the chocolate cake. I tried to explain to her it's a lot smaller than before so I pulled up John's oh so wonderful food trip report from last year and showed her and her response was "I got jipped!!" haha

Le Cellier was amazing as usual. After lunch we headed back out toward Future World....

 

[LeCellier.Lover]

Your Le Cellier pictures are making my mouth water! :slurp: They only have two types of breed that they bring out now?! (even though I do love the pretzel bread!) Love this report! SO jealous you get to go back in 90 days! I still have 143 to go....

 

[sam_disney]

Ooo the food pictures.. I so want to go to le celier!

 

[jenseib]

I didn't care for Le Cellier, but I have to say I think the bread selection looks better now. I wasn't impressed with the pretzel breadstick at all.
Can't wait to hear more about your day!

 

[Kristia]

I really want some of those waffles! They look delicious!! Another food on my must try list!

The marketplace in Mexico looks so empty!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Your Le Cellier pictures are making my mouth water! :slurp: They only have two types of breed that they bring out now?! (even though I do love the pretzel bread!) Love this report! SO jealous you get to go back in 90 days! I still have 143 to go....

They have the pretzel bread still and then they have the sourdough and multigrain (I think) but they are small, like rolls. I miss the bread sticks

Ooo the food pictures.. I so want to go to le celier!

Le Cellier is the best!!!

I really want some of those waffles! They look delicious!! Another food on my must try list!

The marketplace in Mexico looks so empty!

The waffles were really good. I wish they had them at all the resorts!!

And all of World Showcase was dead at that time. It was so bizarre after seeing it mobbed on Friday and Sunday...

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I hate you for putting those LeCellier pictures up! :slurp: SO YUMMY!! And I agree best place in the whole world..both worlds! haha

 

[cindyella]

What a great report.. sounds like a fun trip

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We headed over to Soarin to use our FP's and to pick up another set for later in the day. On the way over we saw these guys hanging out.

After that we headed over to Spaceship Earth. I rode with Mama Dukes this time...

Love how I'm missing a patch of hair here. So nice.

After SSE we strolled over to get our photo taken in front of the Christmas Tree and in front of SSE.

Those photos were sadly lost along with the character pics. We made our way over to see Duffy, who was just heading in for a break. A few minutes later he came out adorned in his Christmas gear. I'm so sad we lost this picture because I specifically wanted a picture with Duffy in his Christmas sweater. I guess this gives us a reason to go back during the Christmas season in a couple years!!

After hugs from Duffy, we headed over to Maelstrom and took a fabulous journey over de falls! I'm not sure why but this was always one of my favorites when I was younger. It's nothing spectacular, I just loved it. Still do.

After our boat ride it was time to try something new... I'm talking about something people seem to really love.....

I'll give the school bread 3.5 stars out of 5. It was pretty good. I loved the custard but the bread itself seemed a little dry. Maybe it's the same thing with the cupcake at Starring Rolls and I need to get it earlier in the day? It'll probably be awhile before I order another one. I want to try the cloudberry horn next time.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We headed over to Test Track and Ashley and I rode single rider. I rode next to a little girl who was there for her Make A Wish trip. She was super excited to ride and kept asking me if I was excited. I work with a lot of these kids in my jobs so they hold a special place in my heart. She was so flippin cute!

Mom went off to ride Energy so Ashley and I walked on Spaceship Earth. We emailed the video at the end to ourselves, which I didnt know that you could so, so that was cool. We met up with the mother ship and headed over to use our last FP for Soarin and score one last ride on Living With The Land. This time on Soarin we were seted from row center. Soooo much better than being in the 2nd or 3rd rows. Seeing peoples feet dangling in front of me ruins it for me That and I don't like feet. YUCK!!

We decided we were hungry and instead of the old standby of Electric Umbrella, we decided to see what was offered at Sunshine Seasons. I went back and forth on what to order and decided on the chicken and mashed taters. Soooooo yummy!! There was so much meat on the chicken and the potatos were just as good. It appears from the picture I also got a chocolate milk.

Ashley got the rice and chicken. She said it was ok.

It was getting late and sadly we had hardly spent any time in World Showcase but we wanted to sit down and wait for Illuminations and Ashley was on a mission to grab a silver bracelet that Mom had been eyeing but decided not to buy til our next trip. So we headed over to Mexico and parked up at the railing between Mexico and Norway. This is always our go to spot. Ashley went and got the bracelet and all was well.... until right as the show was about to start when two girls climbed up onto the railing and sat right in front of me. Ummmmm, yeah, not going to happen. I not so politely told them we had been sitting here for a while and they were NOT going to ruin my view. I also pointed out that if they listened to the announcement they would have heard them say "no sitting on the railings" They quickly moved after that. I don't like to be mean but people who just seem to lack common sense really ________ me off. The fact these girls who were in their teens had the audacity to sit directly in front of me, blocking theview of many people really rubbed me the wrong way. You're not special, wait like everyone else or if you don't want to do that, you don't get a good seat or you'll have to stand. PERIOD. End rant...

Back to the positive.... Illuminations was amazing as usual. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I recognized the music more since I now have it on my iTunes or if it was cause it was our last night in the world, but I cried like a baby. Illuminations has a very moving score. Actually, so does Wishes... and Fantasmic. and yes, I also cry at those too. lol

As the park started to clear out, we took in the last of Epcot this trip and headed over to Mouse Gears. Ashley picked up some stuff for her co-workers and I still hadn't decided what I wanted yet. We slowly made our way back to the bus stop and there was a bus to WL waiting right there, zero line and about 4 people on it. We got on and the bus headed to the lodge. We still had to pack and wanted to get to bed somewhat early. It was sad that it was our last night, but we still had one more morning/afternoon left at the MK to look forward to....

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Finally caught up...whew! I'm sitting in my office starving and starting to drool over all the food pictures....so thanks for the tease! :ROFLOL:

 

[chrissyw14]

I don't want your trip report to end!! lol

 

[enchanted_belle]

We headed over to Test Track and Ashley and I rode single rider. I rode next to a little girl who was there for her Make A Wish trip. She was super excited to ride and kept asking me if I was excited. I work with a lot of these kids in my jobs so they hold a special place in my heart. She was so flippin cute!

awwww. I love hearing about Make A Wish trips! I work at a camp in the summer for kids with cancer, and almost all of them went to WDW for their trips (though one went to Fiji and took a hot air balloon ride.... I was super jealous). They seriously are the sweetest children out there!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I hate you for putting those LeCellier pictures up! :slurp: SO YUMMY!! And I agree best place in the whole world..both worlds! haha

Le Cellier = LOVE

Are you getting to visit the beloved Le Cellier while you're down there?

What a great report.. sounds like a fun trip

It was a blast! Thanks!!

Finally caught up...whew! I'm sitting in my office starving and starting to drool over all the food pictures....so thanks for the tease! :ROFLOL:

Sorrrry!! haha.. I haven't eaten breakfast yet and looking at the pics is making me hungry.... While I'd rather have a delicious filet, I'll have to settle for a bagel and raspberries.... eh... lol

I don't want your trip report to end!! lol

I didn't want it to end either All good things come to and end, sadly... But I have a pre-trip report to start working on and then in May another TR.. A long one... 10-11 days long!! lol

awwww. I love hearing about Make A Wish trips! I work at a camp in the summer for kids with cancer, and almost all of them went to WDW for their trips (though one went to Fiji and took a hot air balloon ride.... I was super jealous). They seriously are the sweetest children out there!

MY sister has cancer when she was 5 and her wish was to go to Disney, so that's where we went. We used to go to a summer camp every year for a week and all the camper there were kids with cancer or who previously had cancer and their families. I made some of the best friendships there and still talk to several people who I met there. After I was too old to go as a camper, I worked as a counselor (it was also a regular stay away summer camp too for 6 weeks) It was such an awesome experience.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Tuesday November 15

We woke up saddened by the fact that it was our last day at Disney and in 12 hours, we would be flying home. But, on the brightside, we still had one more ADR and some time left in the park so... onward!!

We packed up our bags and headed down to the lobby...

Goodbye room!

When we reached the lobby, we were greeted with a surprise of sorts...

Overnight, the lobby had been transformed with holiday cheer. The tree had gone up and garland hung from the balconies that overlooked the lobby. It was beautiful. Of course, I got all teary eyed because it was so pretty and because we had to leave right as all the decorations were put up. Booooo!!

I thought I took more pictures but apparently not? I'll look for them this weekend because it really was beautiful to see all the decorations.

We left our bags our front with guest services so we could head to our breakfast ADR. We walked down in front of the lodge towards the bus stop, taking in how peaceful the lodge was in the early morning.

The bus stops down to the right of the lodge.

Saw this little guy chillin on the sign..

Resort map. Excited to be staying in the red buildings for 2 nights in May!

Since the boats didn't start running until 8am and we needed to be at MK early, we took the bus. The bus showed up right after we reached the bus stop. Perfect timing again!

We made our way from the bus stop to the gates..

 

[fractal]

that Christmas Tree looks awesome!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We strolled through the gates and made our way under the train station into the park for the last time...

I love these posters and am super pumped you can buy them. I didn't buy any on our last spring trip or this trip but hopefully in May I will. We're going to be driving so it'll be a bit easier to get them home.

An almost empty town square...

I love the emptiness of the mornings at MK...