Trip Report A Jingle BAM Birthday! *COMPLETED*

*Sorry for the bump. This TR is from December 2016*

Let me begin by giving a shout out to all park commandos ~ those who arrive at the parks at opening and stay until closing ~ those who only use the hotel room to sleep and shower ~

We SALUTE you!!!!!

After a whirlwind 48 hours in the world, we have a new appreciation for the stamina of a park commando. We gave it our all and had a blast ~ though a third non-stop day would have likely killed us!

So do your warm-up stretches and prepare to join us on a quick jog through three parks as we celebrate the quarter-century of a wonderful gal named Em.

Cast: Tuvalu and TrolleyFollower91
Date: December 1-3, 2016
Resort: Coronado Springs

Ready, Set, GO!

 

[Tuvalu]

The CM who checked us in had given us brief instructions:
There are 4 stations with a variety of offerings.
There is a special surprise guest.
The party lasts one hour.
At the end of the hour you will be escorted to a private viewing area on the grass.

If only the instructions had been true.

Well, technically they were kinda true. Two of the 4 stations had sweet treats and 2 had savory.....but they were the SAME sweet or savory options. "Variety" was a stretch. And if you are not a peppermint fan, your sweet tooth was limited to one choice ~ an almond gingerbread cookie. There was peppermint of some form in everything else. Now I don't mind peppermint, but this was overkill. Em resorted to scraping off icing and asking for the liquid nitrogen ice cream without the peppermint scoop (it was served as one scoop chocolate, one scoop peppermint.)

The meatballs, while tasty, were glazed with pineapple and more sweet than savory. The pita and artichoke dip was okay but we did not care for the kale salad.

Feeling like we weren't getting our money's worth of food, we resorted to alcohol.

We had spotted the "special surprise guest" immediately upon entering the courtyard ~ after all, Santa Goofy is hard to miss!

We agreed that though the food did not live up to our expectations (we have seen the spreads at the Wishes and Illuminations dessert parties and this wasn't in the same league) it was a memorable experience sitting in the courtyard of the Great Movie Ride, watching guests in the queue gawk at us partygoers, as the sky turned from sunset to twilight. We felt like VIPs.

"The party lasts one hour" actually means "We will start flickering the lights at 6:20 pm as a signal for you to leave the party ASAP so the area is completely cleared by 6:30."

In my next post I will debunk (oh goody, she's gonna debunk again!) the "you will be escorted to a private viewing area on the grass" myth.

 

[Pirate Magic]

82 days......

I can't believe that!!! You made my day!!!!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

So wait - the Illuminations and Wishes dessert parties have savory options, too?

 

[21stamps]

Hello, majestic tree! You make a beautiful lobby even more stunning!

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What's this? A gingerbread house with real smoke puffing out of the chimney!! Can you smell the yumminess?!
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Garland makes the stairwell extra Grand.
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A closer look.
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My brother and sister-in-law love the chocolate dipped gingerbread shingles. When I texted him that one shingle now costs $9, he replied: "That's ridiculous. Pass. ****ed." Guess I won't be surprising him with a shingle or two after all.

I just have to tell you that I'm a little angry. Your lobby photos are better than mine!!! Seriously.
And.. you arrived at the dessert party before dark. ..And..you got a table with chairs.

Thanks for making me feel like a failure. .

Did the two of you enjoy the gingerbread drinks? That was my favorite part.lol

 

[Tuvalu]

I just have to tell you that I'm a little angry. Your lobby photos are better than mine!!! Seriously.
And.. you arrived at the dessert party before dark. ..And..you got a table with chairs.

Thanks for making me feel like a failure. .

Did the two of you enjoy the gingerbread drinks? That was my favorite part.lol

Em gets the credit for the lobby photos. We didn't try the gingerbread martini.

 

[Tuvalu]

Phil, Bill, Gil and Jill!!

Hmmm...

( start one minute in and watch for 30 seconds )

What a terrific find! Thanks!

 

[DisneyJeff]

Are the adult beverages included in the price of the party or is it a "cash bar"? If they are included, I may be able to get my money's worth out of one of those parties!!!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Are the adult beverages included in the price of the party or is it a "cash bar"? If they are included, I may be able to get my money's worth out of one of those parties!!!

It's included, but it would be impressive to down your money's worth in that "tiny span of time!" (500 points to who can name that attraction!)

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Finally catching up!

That gingerbread house is gorgeous!!!!!! I love the Grand Floridian's lobby! I was halfway temped to squeeze in Narcoosee's so Joe could just witness the lobby. Oh well, there's always next time! And 9 bucks is pretty steep for a chocolate shingle, though I do have a craving right about now!

Congrats to your son on his engagement! December proposals are the best

Thank you for all the Pizzerizzo photos! The details look amazing! I have so many pizza places to try! Between @Doc Disney recommending Via Napoli and Blaze Pizza, and now your pictures of the inside of Pizzerizzo, I better be craving some Italian!

Happy belated birthday to Em! There's nothing better than being in Disney on your birthday!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

Must say, I was impressed with the photos of the new PizzeRizzo. Looks very nice inside!!

 

[Courtney6682]

As you know my best girl is obsessed with Rizzo, did u find out if those cups are avail for purchase @Tuvalu ?

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

following along! May be a fast trip, but sounds like fun! Can't wait to read your next one! Sorry about the dessert spread glad the alcohol made up for it. I'm not a huge peppermint fan, and Disney should know by now that they need variety!

 

[Gabe1]

Check-in for the dessert party began at 5:30 pm. Naturally there were earlybirds in line ahead of us! We were given our party wristbands
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and our 3-D goggles
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and watched the earlybirds rush in to claim their tables. Though you cannot tell by this picture, the area filled up very quickly.
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Em and I worried that we would end up standing (and our tootsies really needed a rest!) Thankfully I spied an empty table in a corner and we staked our claim.
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I sent the professional off to take pictures.

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Funny. You were smiling, happy you have a chair to sit upon. I looked at all the following photos. Nobody is smiling??? All those lovely desserts and adult beverages and they all look kinda sad. Go figure humans!

 

[Gabe1]

Must say, I was impressed with the photos of the new PizzeRizzo. Looks very nice inside!!

Me too! Best photos I've seen of Rizzo

 

[blreinsel]

PizzeRizzo looks so awesome! I was extremely disappointed when they announced that Pizza Planet was closing (I love the greasy pizza too, Em ) so am happy to hear that the menu hasn't changed. The cosmetic changes are fantastic.. Can't wait to see them for myself in June!

 

[Tuvalu]

As you know my best girl is obsessed with Rizzo, did u find out if those cups are avail for purchase @Tuvalu ?

I did not....so it will be YOUR MISSION when you go next month!

 

[Tuvalu]

Finally catching up!

That gingerbread house is gorgeous!!!!!! I love the Grand Floridian's lobby! I was halfway temped to squeeze in Narcoosee's so Joe could just witness the lobby. Oh well, there's always next time! And 9 bucks is pretty steep for a chocolate shingle, though I do have a craving right about now!

Congrats to your son on his engagement! December proposals are the best

Thank you for all the Pizzerizzo photos! The details look amazing! I have so many pizza places to try! Between @Doc Disney recommending Via Napoli and Blaze Pizza, and now your pictures of the inside of Pizzerizzo, I better be craving some Italian!

Happy belated birthday to Em! There's nothing better than being in Disney on your birthday!!!

Thanks for your kind wishes. And I completely agree that there's nothing better than being in Disney on your birthday!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Must say, I was impressed with the photos of the new PizzeRizzo. Looks very nice inside!!

Me too! Best photos I've seen of Rizzo

PizzeRizzo looks so awesome! I was extremely disappointed when they announced that Pizza Planet was closing (I love the greasy pizza too, Em ) so am happy to hear that the menu hasn't changed. The cosmetic changes are fantastic.. Can't wait to see them for myself in June!

Em has a great eye for detail and I loved her PizzeRizzo pics too. It is even nicer in person, worth a looksee even if you don't eat there (which in Em's opinion would be a mistake! )

 

[Tuvalu]

following along! May be a fast trip, but sounds like fun! Can't wait to read your next one! Sorry about the dessert spread glad the alcohol made up for it. I'm not a huge peppermint fan, and Disney should know by now that they need variety!

I did receive a survey about the dessert party after I was home. I made it clear (in a nice way) that there was TOO MUCH PEPPERMINT!

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday (con't)

So by the third flicker of the lights, Em and I got the "signal" it was time to hoist our keisters off the chairs and move to the exit. We expected the party attendees to be gathered together as a group to await our escort to the private viewing area...on the grass. It never occurred to us when we checked in (and certainly not after several drinks ) that THERE IS NO GRASS. Imagine our confusion when we were each handed a gingerbread man (at least he wasn't peppermint!) and were told, "Follow the green lights."

Excuse me, what????!!!

It was dark. It was crowded. We'd been drinking on essentially empty stomachs. And now we were supposed to navigate ourselves to the viewing area? Suddenly we no longer felt like VIPs.

The "green lights" turned out to be illuminated batons held by CMs pointing the way towards the private viewing area...on the concrete. The area was roped off, but I can't remember if our party wristbands were even checked when we entered. So we weren't exactly escorted.....more like guided.

This is where we ended up:

I was in charge of picture-taking, since Em just wanted to watch and enjoy the show. We loved the snowfall and the lasers (in red) that looked like glitter.

The projections were very colorful.

The fireworks were great!!

Final verdict? Trying to compare Jingle BAM! to Osborne Lights is akin to comparing apples to oranges ~ it cannot be done. We enjoyed Jingle BAM! and were glad that DHS offered this holiday show, instead of doing nothing special to mark the season. Was the dessert party worth the money? For the memory ~ absolutely.