Trip Report COMPLETED: The “Let’s see if this dumb thing works” Treat Yo Self Christmas trip report!

All the PTR funtivities can be had here, including who we are,:
The Treat Yo Self Christmas pre-trip report

Friday the 18th 11ish o’clock
The DW and I decide to ditch work a little early and check the DD out of school early today to make sure we have plenty of time for our Star Wars showing in McDonough at 3:40. So we check the DD out and make our way for some to-go lunch. A relatively short pit at Zaxsby’s and we’re finally on the road and soon cruising down GA400 towards McDonough. Our last few trips through the ATL on the way to The Bubble have been nightmares which is why we left a little early today. Well, surprisingly, today was the exception! We cruised right through town and my worries of being late for the movie became concerns of “what are we going to do when we arrive two hours early?!” Thankfully, I guess, Henry county helped me out by having the worst traffic of the trip…FOR NO REASON AT ALL! Anyway, The delays we faced there offset the great time we made but we still had an hour to kill. This worked to our advantage as the DW forgot her sunglasses at home and we needed a few toiletries for the trip so we popped into Super Target for a bit, made our purchases and enjoyed a SB coffee before making our way to the theater.

Finally, it was time!

We happened to be in a theater full of some fanatics so there was much cheering and applause throughout the movie. I personally really enjoyed it despite the many similarities it had to New Hope. The movie even brought the DW and DD to tears! I won’t spoil it for anyone as to why. So with The Force Awakens under our belt we made for Tifton, about another two hours. Henry County did its best to squeeze the last bit of traffic tolerance out of us as we left town. Soon we were in Tifton checking in to the Hilton Garden Inn, great place BTW! I was immediately sent on a dinner run to try out Marcos Pizza for some subs. What was supposed to be a 10 minute drive turned into a hobbits tail of which I thought I may never return. Long story short about an hour later I’m back at the hotel with dinner for the ladies tired and ready to eat. After some discussion as to when the ladies want to arrive at the Bubble, as that will dictate when we should leave, we hit the hay with visions of Siths and BB-8s dancing through our heads…ok, my head.

Saturday the 19th 05:30
Up and at’em! Time to get our Disney on!!! We make quick work of getting to the car, hitting Starbucks again for breakfast and make for The Mouse House! A few hours later and we’re crossing the state line most uneventfully and before you know it where on the turnpike! Have I mentioned how much I love the SunPass? Seriously, if you go at least once a year it is worth not having to stop and deal with your coin tossing skills. Soon we had arrived!!

The enjoyment was short lived, though, as it was realized the DW only packed one pair of jeans for the trip and she was worried she would need more since the temp outside was high 50’s. We look probably the longest route EVER to Walmart to pick up some emergency jeans for the trip. It was not so refreshing to see that the Walmarts of Orlando are much like the Walmarts of Dahlonega….Anyway, after that detour we were back in The Bubble ready to get our BCV on!

It was here where we met Guard Shack Joe from New York! As we approach I’m ready with my MB and ID for him to scan and review. Joe blesses us with what might be the quote of the trip, and on the first day too!

[ThickNewYawkAccent]
Oh, you’ve got your band ready. Stupidest idea Disney ever had. Let’s see if this dumb thing works…
[/ThickNewYawkAccent]

I think Joe is awesome BTW. Wouldn’t ya know that stupid little thing did work! The light went green and we were on our way to self-parking! We grabbed our overnight bags and made for bell services as our room was not quite ready yet.

Cape May had not yet ruined the smell of the lobby as it was still early. The beautiful gingerbread display helped too!

So with our bags checked we were off to Epcot by foot to test out the waters for lunch!

 

[lostpro9het]

Photobucket is finally back up so lets get this train rolling again. So after a brief rest we hopped back on the bus towards EC. WE had plans to catch the final DVC Merry Mixer. This would be our first DVC function as we only recently drank the koolaid. It was a another beautiful day at EC

Despite having read about the popularity of the mixers we showed up about 20 minutes before it was to begin and saw this:

That would be a line stretching all the way back from England to the port of entry! It caused quite the commotion for guests who had no idea what was going on. What was nice, though, is that once the event officially started this line moved FAST. We were in the building in less than 15 minutes once the line began to move. Snapped a pic of the new holiday entertainment along the way, they were ok.

Soon we were approaching the gate! The white specks you see in the next few pics is from them making it snow!

Once inside we each received our snack coupon and our raffle ticket as well as our voucher for this year’s ornament.

We entered the venue and were pretty surprised to see how much room there was in there and what all was going on!

There were several projects going on as you entered. This station included an area to write letters of appreciation to the troops

This station here was a collaborative art mural for the children’s hospital!

There were M&Gs with Daisy and Donald, Minnie and Mickey, and of course Lilo and Stitch

We were entertained by Jingle and Jangle’s lip sync battle

And we learned Im on the NAUGHTY list!

After exhausting all there was to experience we made for the WS but not before picking up one more keepsake.

Still to come: Innovations, Trattoria al Letdown, Osborne lights, and moving to Jambo House!

 

[catmom46]

Ah, looks like so much fun! Hopefully someday I'll make it to a mixer.

 

[Cesar R M]

wow, that looked awesome!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

Never heard of a mixer before, but I'm not a member of DVC. Anyway, that sure looked like fun, once you actually got inside. I like how they had the option to write a nice holiday note to the troops. The collaborative art mural for the children's hospital was festive and unique. So glad you got to experience everything going on there. (Very cute picture with Stitch, by the way!)

 

[lostpro9het]

After the Mixer we made for Innovations as we had a small amount of time to kill before dinner and the DD really wanted to check out Colortopia. The attraction was closed a few days prior so were hopeful it was open today, which it was!

First up, Power of Color, you enter this white room where Phil Dunphy talks about the feeling and emotions behind colors, It was pretty neat.

Next you exit and have some, potentially, neat interactive games that include Spinning Spectrums, an interaction where you see the effects of blending colors, and Color Mix Match, an interaction where you use RBG sliders to create the color of the item listed on the screen. Both SS and CMM showed some serious wear and tear for being a new attraction. A few of the spinners did not work and two of my three color sliders would constantly get stuck and not slide! The DW and DD enjoyed it though and for the most part so did I, I was just surprised that this attraction already needs a refurb!

Next we entered Color our World where we learned more about how colors and lighting can be used to manipulate things

Finally, we were put to task of painting a virtual world. We were armed with our magic brushes and sent forth to color!

Our canvas

Paint station, here is where you would “dip” your brush to get color on it before heading to your canvas to paint!

Overall Colortopia has some small issues to work out but it is a lot fun! With the limited offerings Innoventions has to offer now, its nice to have a fun option still.
Still to come: Trattoria al Letdown, Osborne lights, and moving to Jambo House!

 

[RebeccaMcK]

Hi - I've been following along for about a week or so and just had to chime in (and subscribe) to say it looks like you had a fun trip and I look forward to reading more. I've kind of lost track of the dates you were there - were you there through Christmas? We're going for Christmas this year for the first time (not first time to WDW but first time in December, 21st-27th, and might still add a day at the end) and we know it will be very crowded. Did crowds affect your plans much, or do you think you were able to do everything you'd set out to do? We know we won't get to do everything (that's okay, we've done a lot in the past and we'll deal with FP+ and lines - we tend to get to parks for opening times) but mainly want to see the countries' Christmas festivities at Epcot, Candlelight Processional, various monorail hotel decorations, etc. I've been to a MVMCP before (3x now since 2010, always in November) but my DH and DD11 haven't so we'll do one at MK. DH won't be in the parks as much - he prefers to hang back at the resort while DD and I explore. If they have a Merry Mixer scheduled during our stay we'll try to get to one of those as well (we've been with DVC since May 2014). It'll be our first time staying at our home resort (GF) but we've done BLT and AK-Kidani before. Anyway, looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[fractal]

Finally catching up!

Congrats on the tournament. Mace Windu's Lightsaber is the coolest. RE: stroller incident " is wrong with people". Appreciate the beer reviews. Colortopia looks cool!

PS - nice pics!

 

[lbrad]

Finally caught up!!!
Enjoyed your TR.
Looks like a great time for everyone

 

[lostpro9het]

I've kind of lost track of the dates you were there - were you there through Christmas?

19th-27th

We're going for Christmas this year for the first time (not first time to WDW but first time in December, 21st-27th, and might still add a day at the end) and we know it will be very crowded.

Hey! We'll be there too!

Did crowds affect your plans much, or do you think you were able to do everything you'd set out to do?

No, not really since we've been during Christmas week a few times before we knew what to expect and how to plan. You have to accept that between 11am and 8pm it will be nuts from Christmas Eve through new years. You can still get everything in you just need to plan on getting it in early or late.

I've been to a MVMCP before (3x now since 2010, always in November) but my DH and DD11 haven't so we'll do one at MK.

We've never done that, just hasn't really interested us.

 

[catmom46]

The magic brushes look really cool!

 

[RebeccaMcK]

Thanks for the answers. We'll plan on having breaks in the early afternoons. For me, the MVMCP nights are good for finding some shorter lines for rides while most people are seeing parades and meeting characters (our list of "must meets" is short now)...but the cookies and cocoa are yummy and the kiddo wants to try them. And I managed to see all the shows in one night before but just the tail end of the parade and the Celebrate the Magic castle thing (had seen them before, though). Next time I'll just see what the hubby and kiddo want to see of the festivities. By the way, I really liked the tradition you have of taking the picture of your daughter in line for Space Mtn at different ages - that is sweet. I've seen pics before of the Winter Summerland mini golf course but haven't been there before - is it easy to get to or do you know if Disney transportation can get you there? We normally don't have a car when we're there. We'd take a taxi or Uber if necessary.

 

[MinnieM123]

This is the first I've seen of Colortopia. I think it looks like it might be fun. Next time I get to visit WDW (hopefully, I can go this year), I'll definitely check it out. If nothing else, it's nice to have something to do again in that building!

 

[lostpro9het]

Congrats on the tournament.

Thanks! I'm happy to say we just won the Traditional Area tournament this past weekend by 57 points over the second place team. We advanced 13 out of 14 wrestlers to the Sectional tournament this weekend too!

By the way, I really liked the tradition you have of taking the picture of your daughter in line for Space Mtn at different ages - that is sweet.

Thanks! The first two years was pure coincidence then I made it a point every year after.

I've seen pics before of the Winter Summerland mini golf course but haven't been there before - is it easy to get to or do you know if Disney transportation can get you there?

Its easy to get to. If Blizzard Beach is open when you go, you could catch a bus there then walk over otherwise you'll need to secure a taxi uber.

 

[RebeccaMcK]

Oh good, I'm glad the mini golf is close....I figured it was but I just never knew for sure, lol. We've never done the water parks. I check this site and some others almost daily (or at least weekly, to update my growing notes with updated info) so I'll stay on top of what is closed and when, for our trip dates. Colortopia looks interesting, maybe we'll check it out. I forgot to ask earlier....was a child actually in the stroller that got run over by the ECV person? The first time my mom rented an ECV four years ago, to rest her legs at Epcot (just 1 day of our multi-day trip) and be ready for more walking on the next day at MK, I swear she nearly knocked down a pins arrangement (outdoor shop display) and almost took out an automatic door inside one of the Innoventions buildings (right in front of a CM, whom I think was laughing....she was driving just a little too far to one side instead of straight down the middle like I'd told her to). After the pin display bump, I told her to park the scooter away from shop areas and just WALK to see what she wanted to see up close (she could walk sometimes, after all....she wasn't confined totally to the scooter). She has become a better ECV driver now but we practically jog to keep up with her on the straight and empty paths! (Her legs are weak and she has the foot-drop problem now from diabetes, so she nearly always rents a scooter for long theme park days.) I know she'd never run over a stroller, though.

 

[lostpro9het]

I forgot to ask earlier....was a child actually in the stroller that got run over by the ECV person?

YUP! I think the child was the reason they were pulled off to the side, getting he/she a snack or drink I think.

 

[RebeccaMcK]

YUP! I think the child was the reason they were pulled off to the side, getting he/she a snack or drink I think.

Wow, that's terrible

 

[Goofnut1980]

great report!!!

 

[lostpro9het]

Well, you may or may not have notice my snail’s pace in completing this TR. I apologize about that. Work and wrestling have been keeping me very busy lately but I’m happy to say this is the last week of wrestling and Im looking forward to a break. Also, you may have noticed that countdown in my sig, yeah we’ve got 52 days til our next trip and I’d really like to have this wrapped up before the next PTR!! So lets push on! We last left with a short stint in Colortopia and it is now time for dinner! Last summer we had an AMAZING experience at Trattoria al Forno and just had to go back!
Sadly, as good as the food and service was last visit we received the opposite this time. I could not believe the extreme difference in just a few months! Firstly, we were real excited to get a bottle of Amarcord Bruna again. The beer is very good and hard to get locally. Whelp, according to our two waitresses they have not had that beer for months and don’t know why it is still on the menu…So we choose another beer, guess what, they haven’t had that for a while either… 2 waters please. So we attempt to order, the DD had a great grilled shrimp pasta dish last time but we were quickly told the restaurant no longer sells shrimp dishes…Oh my, well a pizza for her then. Thankfully they still had the seasonal risotto, fresh mozzarella and meat board but something was off about them too. Take a look:
Seasonal risotto from July

Seasonal risotto from Decemeber, same plate mind you! And no, the price of the risotto wasn’t half of what it was over summer.

Mozzarella from July, mozzarella is larger than the tomatoes

mozzarella from December, about 30% smaller than before

Finally, the meat board from July

Finally, the meat board from December

If I didn’t have the pictures from before I probably wouldn’t have believed it. In addition to the food fails our TWO waitresses left us with empty glasses of water most of the night, very disappointing. We had hoped this was going to be our new “go-to” restaurant but it left us not wanting to go back ever again. The DD didn’t even want to deal with asking if they had Cannoli as she was so over the place, and I cant blame her, her pizza looked pitiful.

So with that, we made for more pleasant things. A short walk later and we were heading downtown

We spent a few minutes taking Osborne in at least on last time

And finally, my favorite part of the Osborne lights, Look, it’s a major award!! I got my hand slapped two years ago for scaling the steps to get a close up, this year I just zoomed in.

So that closes out HS for us tonight, we will be back soon to take in the ST fireworks show so stay tuned for that. Tomorrow morning we move from SSR to AKL, Jambo, with a standard view room that has more animals than you can shake a baby zebra at!

Still to come: Jambo house, Savanna Animals, and a kid free Sanaa night!

 

[RebeccaMcK]

Ah, man - I was there in November and didn't see the leg lamp in the O Lights display, darn! If it was always there (or there for a while) I didn't see it in my 3-4 times ever seeing the lights. (And I have a "tiny leg lamp" string of lights for my dining room window as of last Christmas, hehe. From Big Lots.) Looking forward to more.

 

[lostpro9het]

Ah, man - I was there in November and didn't see the leg lamp in the O Lights display, darn! If it was always there (or there for a while) I didn't see it in my 3-4 times ever seeing the lights. (And I have a "tiny leg lamp" string of lights for my dining room window as of last Christmas, hehe. From Big Lots.) Looking forward to more.

Been there for at least 4 years.