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Trip Report Our Christmas trip do-over

If youre lucky enough to be my spouse, every night is like Valentines and every day is like Christmas. Well, at least thats what i think. My wife might disagree to an extent lol!

But, we are having a "second" Christmas trip of sorts. Only Christmas isnt in March, which is when we are going. So what exactly do I mean by all of this?

We spent 12 days at WDW in December to celebrate Christmas. Our friends joined us with their kids as well. And while we had a blast and the trip was great, it was their first time at WDW as a family and many of the things that C (my wife) and i wanted to do, didnt happen as we were often changing plans to accommodate our friends (which we did not mind at all).

It was just difficult for them with timing rides and getting to and from the parks and getting the kids fed and naps and all that fun stuff. And C and I didnt have anything specific planned such as dining reservations or rides. We take it slow on our trips and aren't worried about how many rides we get on and we had plans to take it slow and explore some new things in the parks and resorts, and while we did do some of that, we wanted our friends and the kids to have a good first trip so we didn't mind getting in a bunch of attractions when we were all together.

So this trip will be our "do-over" of taking it slow! Slow for us also includes lots of eating, snacking and drinking at various places. Now, lets get to the details:

Who: My wife and I

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When: March 1-8

Where: Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge

Will there be a dog? That's proprietary.

We have a 1 br villa so it will be nice to have the extra room and as some of you know, my wife gets a high from doing laundry on vacation so shes excited for a room with a washer/dryer!

Our arrival day is also the last day of operations for RnR. I was up this morning to secure LL's for us. I was successful and I booked it for later in the evening. We watched a live stream for the last day at Dinosaur at AK and it definitely seemed to be a wild time as it got closer to park closing so hopefully it will be a fun time, even thos we will miss Aerosmith being the headliner.

We've got a few ADRs planned as well as some new spots we will be visiting that I will update soon.

And yes (@Tuvalu ) I will finish my Jan TR before we leave 😊😁
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
It wasnt even a question as to where we would have lunch while we waited for the room.

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Old fashion and whiskey sour to kick things off properly

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C has been craving the turkey sandwhich since she finished her last one in Decmeber. I had the bison meatballs

We browsed around the gift shop and snagged anither drink at roaring fork

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Room ready text came shortly after
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Before we unpack, C usually starts with a thorough wipedown of the room but she threw a curveball today amd immediately started doing dishes?

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Starting dishes first then wiping down the room is proper time management.

Things were back to normal programming soon

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And then in another odd twist, i noticed the disney hand soap is no longer acceptable

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Then she hit me with the trifecta of newness and whips out a spray for the patio chairs

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We are beyond covid level precautions people!

Once our room was cleaner than a surgical ward, we stocked up the fridge

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
After cleaning our room on a level thatvwould make the CDC wet their pants in excitement, we headed to the Studios!

Amd if you know what today is, then you know why we were headed there.

Today is the last day of operations for Roc N Roller Coaster 😭

Luckily I was able to secure lightning lanes for this evening. Good thing as it was packed.

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It was a bittersweet time but we made the best of it

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We had a great time and it was an honor to be here on the last night for an attraction that ive been enjoying for 26 years.

Big thanks to Aerosmith and Disney for the many awesome memories. Muppets have some big shoes to fill.
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
After our last backstage passes there was only one place that could comfort us

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Some beer and munchies definitely helped.

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We made a stop at ToT and TSMM as well

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One thing that annoys me is the laziness of the design team at TSMM to not bend the letters on the spine of books to make it appear somewhat realistic looking.

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But I digress.

We headed back to the room and im currently at Geyser Point with a whiskey and enjoying the water pageant, as true OG Disney people do!

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
We hadnt decided where to start the day off but C eventually decided she wanted a specific snack/drink combo so ended up at Epcot around 11 am!

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Flower and Garden is nearing!

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I snagged a Golden from Rose and Crown on the way to our destination

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Some people at Rose and Crown loose their manners the moment they walk in the door. Theyll just squeeze into an open area at the bar and flag down a bartender.

We arrived at the America Pavilion for C's treat. An espresso martini from Joffreys and a big donut!

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This guy was lurking for a treat and hopped on the table to get some donut

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Monday ctd...

We stopped at Germany Pavilion for an Erdinger for me amd C had a glass of wine. The unwashed masses go to the outdoor beerstands in the pavilion. But if you want a classier German beer, go inside the shops and all the way to the back behind the Christmas shop and you will find some quality choices that you cant get at the outdoor stands

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We strolled around the countries as we discussed where to get lunch. Our final decision would have us board the monorail. Our total ride count after leaving Epcot: 0! And we were having a wonderful time.

Where would we end up? A place i have eaten at several times but C had not. I had raved about the food and especially the views so she was excited

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Wailulu Grill!

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She ordered my personal favorite, the banana old fashion. I got the hibiscus margarita. Both were excellent. And that photo has an inadvertent Easter egg. The Polynesian long house in the background is Tuvalu! I had to message the O.G. herself @Tuvalu to be sure and she confirmed it was indeed! I could have just walked over and looked but where is the fun in that lol!

We started the chickpea hummus with breadfruit. Always a good choice

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And we got the wayfinder burger amd the poke bowl with teriyaki chicken.

C said that burger was good but she doesnt get the hype and prefers Geyser Poimts bison burger. We still enjoyed both dishes very much amd agreed they have the best sweet potato fries

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Monday ctd

After lunch we had a bit of an odd timing situation. We had LL' s at MK but not for almost 90 minutes. Going back to the room would mean just leaving the room shortly after getting there. So we decided another stop to kill some time would be best

Where would be a good spot to stay near MK amd still have some fun?? C had an idead. Enchanted Rose, she said?? A few moments later...

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She ordered the drink that currently has suburban America by the b@lls, the espresso martini. I ordered the Boulevardier

I only tease about the espresso martinin because it seems like EVERY bar and restaurant has added all sorts of variations to this drink over the last year. Its odd. Similar to On Cloud sneakers. Everybody has to have them lol

We headed over to MK next. C makde a quick stop at Pandora. Shocker. I forgot to mention Sherman got the Vilains charms at Epcot earlier in the day. Ill get pics. She oddly didn't buy anything at this stop

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Our forst ride was PoTC amd we entered the queue we were greeted by Captain Sparrow himself!

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Never seen him actually in the queue before. It was cool. Sorry for blurry pic. I took it as we walked by. He was allowing people to get pictures with him and it was severely causing a traffic jam so.we kept it moving.
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Monday ctd...

I forgot to mention that when Sparrow was in line, I think one lady thought it was actually Johnny Depp. She literally started making noises that I can only equate to Dolphins squeeking crossed with parrots screeching. It was quite interesting.

We of course didnt get the ride photo. We ride HM next and again no photo. We finished tje after noon with Peter Pan amd tjen headed back to the room, but we would be returning to MK in a few hours.

We did some beautiful sunset pics on the boat ride back

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You can see a monorail in the shadows above

And moonrising over Contemporary

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Monday ctd...

We showered up back at the room and hit Territory Lounge to pre game our return to MK

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Above is thier caprese flatbread and man was this thing AMAZING! Definitely one of my favorite flatbread now

Soon we were water bound

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We were returning for C's first ride on Tron! And at night!

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And once again, no ride Pic. But sje absolutely loved it. It was my first ride at night amd I definitely prefer it!

We headed back to the room.and called it a night!
 

NomadLounger

Active Member
Monday ctd...

I forgot to mention that when Sparrow was in line, I think one lady thought it was actually Johnny Depp. She literally started making noises that I can only equate to Dolphins squeeking crossed with parrots screeching. It was quite interesting.

We of course didnt get the ride photo. We ride HM next and again no photo. We finished tje after noon with Peter Pan amd tjen headed back to the room, but we would be returning to MK in a few hours.

We did some beautiful sunset pics on the boat ride back

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You can see a monorail in the shadows above

And moonrising over Contemporary

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I always love the boat ride from Magic Kingdom to Wilderness Lodge. Sorry our paths didn’t cross this time!
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday

We didnt have a plan for the day when we woke up but eventually decided it felt like an AK day so I hopped on the app and got a few LL's ! Then we remembered there was a new AP magnet at AK so we definitely picked the right park.

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Magnets in hand we headed to the Safari!

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Love was in the air for these two. We saw some mounting

Baby Tucker was having a snack as we cruised by

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Hazel (Mandrill) was out as well! Baby Safron was running around but I could t get a clear pic

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The cheetahs were keeping an eye on an Austrich

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Mshango and siblings were napping as usual

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wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday ctd

Quick stop for a Tiger tale beer on the way to Everest. Cheers to my homie @riverside !

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The bartender just set the can in the cup and it poured itself. Pretty cool

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At the top of the hill we noticed a gold coin that is wedged in between the rocks. It doesnt seem possible that someone could have thrown it as it is sitting upright and lodged between the rocks

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Even if someone was walking on the track it seems to be in a tough spot to reach. I did a Google search but nothing came up. Anybody know what or how this got there?!!
 

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