A Very Merry December Trip Report with an Exciting Surprise!

hello everyone!! :wave: i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! i just returned from my trip to the world on the 17th and have finally found some time to get started on my trip report! its been an eventful month but very exciting.

here is a little background on this trip: the trip was originally to include myself, the boyfriend, my parents and my aunt and uncle and we were all going to stay at the yacht club with the deluxe dining plan (i got a 40% off resort stay pin code so i couldn't pass it up!). well, the family had to back out because my dad got a new job and couldn't justify taking a week off work when he had just started. so, now it was just me and wes (the boyfriend) booked in a resort that we normally wouldn't pay for and on the deluxe dining plan. since we had already been planning on paying all that money, i convinced wes that we treat ourselves and not switch to a less expense resort. since the next time i go with the fam we will most likely stay at the yc, i decided we should switch to the boardwalk instead. so after many emails to tammy, our wonderful kingdom konsultants agent, our trip was booked, dining reservations were made and we were ready for disney!

after booking our trip, we found out that wes' parents, grandma and grandma's boyfriend (yes, i said grandma's boyfriend :lol: ) would be in disney for part of our trip. originally we were going down dec. 12 - 17th but wes' dad suggested we come down 2 days early and stay with them for free. well i can't say no to 2 extra days at disney world! so our trip was now dec. 10 - 17th, with the first 2 nights at old key west and then on to the boardwalk.

i think that's enough explanation. now on with the trip report!


Day 1: Traveling to the World and Lots of Time Spent Waiting at DTD

so on friday december 10th, wes and i woke up around 5:15am to get ready to head to the airport. we said goodbye to our dog daisy and my aunt gave us a ride to the airport. we left the house at 6am, got to the airport at 6:08 and were sitting at our gate at 6:28am. i love living so close to the airport! :lol: we took off at 7:40am and had an uneventful flight. i basically slept the entire flight. i did manage to wake up in time to get some peanuts though! we landed a little early and were in line for dme at 9:27! we walked up to the line and a cast member came over immediately to let us on a bus.

you can see the cast member in the background coming over to let us on the bus. :lol: funny lady. we got to the okw at 10:05 and called wes' parents to see if they had checked in yet. it turns out they were still at the waffle house eating breakfast, so wes and i got in line to see if we could check in. it took us about 20 minutes to check in but we actually got there right in time because the line behind us was crazy long. our room wasn't ready so wes and i walked around the main building of the resort while we waited for his family to arrive.

 

[disneygirl1]

Loving the report! Can't wait to hear about this SURPRISE!!! I have my thoughts on what it is, but I'll keep them to myself for now! :wave:

 

[mickeysshoes]

Great so far!!! Cant wait to read the rest!! I am really looking forward to picture and your opinion of the Boardwalk. We will staying there for the first time in 231 days and i cant wait to check it out!!! We nornal stay the WL but are trying something new this time around..

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Loving the TR!!! Glad to see pics from the Poly...never made it over there.

Looks like your visit to WL was after we'd left for DHS that day. I saw a person in a yellow jacket in one of your pics and at first thought it might be me, but after further review- I think it's a man. :lol: It's so sad, but I showed DH one of your pics with the fireplace and was like "look-look! that's the area right in front of our room door and all of our stuff was in the room when this pic was taken!" He thought I was nuts. :lookaroun

Can't wait to read more!:wave:

 

[mouselvrmom]

This is SOO fabulous! I'm loving it!

How great that you got two extra days at OKW, although I hear ya about rooming with other families, not the easiest thing!

Can't wait to get to the surprise!

 

[BookwormxBelle]

I love your trip report already!

The pictures of all the Christmas decorations are great, I think my favorite ones were WL and the Poly.

It was also cool to read about Raglan Road, I walked by there my last trip but after seeing the beer menu, I think I want to check it out because some of the names were funny. :]

I can't wait to read more!!

 

[heartodisney]

Looks like your trip to GF for Christmas tour was during the day..was anyone playing Christmas songs on the piano? We went one evening and it was very magical with pics being taken and the music..did you buy anything from the gingerbread house...we wanted to buy everything..but settled on just a few things. We did not tour WL and and I very much regret that..but we will spend our next trip there for the holidays and make up for that! I also was disapointed in the Contemporarys' decorations..and have seen others talk about it also..but our troup walked out of there and were entertained by the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom and that made up for it...hope your trip to the Boardwalk and the decorations were awesome and we thought..we also visited Swan and Dolphin and were slightly impressed! Love your thread...and thanks again for the food and other detailed pics...hope the "golf game" went well. My wife and I will also take a day for this!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yay!! A trip report!! Surprise?!?! I can't wait to hear what it is!:sohappy:

Loving it so far!

 

[harveyt0206]

I'm along for the trip report too. :wave: I'm anxious to see if we had any overlapping days in the park as my husband and I were down there 12/10 -12/15! Plus, I'm totally into the "surprise" portion of the trip.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Great TR so far! Your Poly pictures are beautiful!!
I'm excited for the surprise!!

 

[plaz10]

Loving the TR so far. Can't wait to read more! I can't agree more about vacations with other families! Luckily you only had a few days...trust me it's harder to bite your tongue the more days you are with them! A trip to the beach w/my boyfriends family was just awful. I fear the day they plan a Disney trip. I think they would ruin so much of the magic by complaining about lines and getting up early, etc...:brick:

Can't wait to find out what the surprise is! Although I certainly have my suspicions...

 

[Tiggerish]

Ooooohh, anxiously awaiting the surprise, and hoping that I am guessing right!

Can't wait to see your scrapbook pages of this trip! (I know, I know, they'll be a while)

Your photos are great--I've seen the GF decorations, but never the WL, which is one of my faves, too. Christmas decorations were up during my last trip in November, but I didn't think to go over to WL and check it out. Nice way to spend a day!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

That was totally me! We had breakfast there on our last day. It's really too bad you didn't come busting into Kouzzina shouting my name... that would've been awesome!

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Boardwalk. I'm glad to hear that you and Wes decided to stick with a deluxe once the family backed out. Sometimes it's just worth it to splurge a little!

i can't believe that really was you! i should have ran into kouzzina shouting but i guess its better that i didn't disrupt people's early breakfast. :lol:

i really loved the boardwalk. the proximity to epcot and dhs is amazing. and the rooms were beautiful. i love to splurge on wdw vacations!

Loving the report! Can't wait to hear about this SURPRISE!!! I have my thoughts on what it is, but I'll keep them to myself for now! :wave:

thanks!! the surprise is on its way!!

Great so far!!! Cant wait to read the rest!! I am really looking forward to picture and your opinion of the Boardwalk. We will staying there for the first time in 231 days and i cant wait to check it out!!! We nornal stay the WL but are trying something new this time around..

thanks! the boardwalk was AMAZING! such a great resort. it was so nice being so close to epcot! and you aren't far from dhs either. i also love wl! they are both great resorts and if you have extra money to spend, the bw is worth it. but the wl is such a great deal! i still can't believe that it is on the lower end price wise out of the deluxes!

Loving the TR!!! Glad to see pics from the Poly...never made it over there.

Looks like your visit to WL was after we'd left for DHS that day. I saw a person in a yellow jacket in one of your pics and at first thought it might be me, but after further review- I think it's a man. :lol: It's so sad, but I showed DH one of your pics with the fireplace and was like "look-look! that's the area right in front of our room door and all of our stuff was in the room when this pic was taken!" He thought I was nuts. :lookaroun

Can't wait to read more!:wave:

how cool would that have been if you were in the background of my pictures?! i think that would be awesome, not crazy! :lol:

This is SOO fabulous! I'm loving it!

How great that you got two extra days at OKW, although I hear ya about rooming with other families, not the easiest thing!

Can't wait to get to the surprise!

thanks!! i love extra days at disney! but yes, rooming with other families is quite the challenge.

I love your trip report already!

The pictures of all the Christmas decorations are great, I think my favorite ones were WL and the Poly.

It was also cool to read about Raglan Road, I walked by there my last trip but after seeing the beer menu, I think I want to check it out because some of the names were funny. :]

I can't wait to read more!!

i am glad you are enjoying the tr! the christmas decorations were so great, i couldn't not take a ton of pictures! the wl was my favorite. that tree is just HUGE! and raglan road is definitely worth a trip if you enjoy beer and funny names. :lol:

Looks like your trip to GF for Christmas tour was during the day..was anyone playing Christmas songs on the piano? We went one evening and it was very magical with pics being taken and the music..did you buy anything from the gingerbread house...we wanted to buy everything..but settled on just a few things. We did not tour WL and and I very much regret that..but we will spend our next trip there for the holidays and make up for that! I also was disapointed in the Contemporarys' decorations..and have seen others talk about it also..but our troup walked out of there and were entertained by the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom and that made up for it...hope your trip to the Boardwalk and the decorations were awesome and we thought..we also visited Swan and Dolphin and were slightly impressed! Love your thread...and thanks again for the food and other detailed pics...hope the "golf game" went well. My wife and I will also take a day for this!

i didn't notice if anyone was playing the piano but when i stayed there the band was always playing and it is so magical in there. you feel like you went into a time warp to a much classier era. i didn't buy anything from the gingerbread house but man did that stuff look good!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Yay!! A trip report!! Surprise?!?! I can't wait to hear what it is!:sohappy:

Loving it so far!

yay indeed!! and the surprise deserves a mega yay! :lol:

I'm along for the trip report too. :wave: I'm anxious to see if we had any overlapping days in the park as my husband and I were down there 12/10 -12/15! Plus, I'm totally into the "surprise" portion of the trip.

thanks harveyt! maybe we crossed paths at some point! keep an eye out for yourself in the background of pictures!

Great TR so far! Your Poly pictures are beautiful!!
I'm excited for the surprise!!

thanks for reading!

Loving the TR so far. Can't wait to read more! I can't agree more about vacations with other families! Luckily you only had a few days...trust me it's harder to bite your tongue the more days you are with them! A trip to the beach w/my boyfriends family was just awful. I fear the day they plan a Disney trip. I think they would ruin so much of the magic by complaining about lines and getting up early, etc...:brick:

Can't wait to find out what the surprise is! Although I certainly have my suspicions...

yea, a few days was manageable. i might not have made it if we had to stay there on the pull out couch for another day :lol:

Ooooohh, anxiously awaiting the surprise, and hoping that I am guessing right!

Can't wait to see your scrapbook pages of this trip! (I know, I know, they'll be a while)

Your photos are great--I've seen the GF decorations, but never the WL, which is one of my faves, too. Christmas decorations were up during my last trip in November, but I didn't think to go over to WL and check it out. Nice way to spend a day!

i still haven't finished my 2009 sept trip scrapbook pages! i am so behind! but i hope that i can find some time in 2011 to get caught up.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Day 3: Boardwalk, EPCOT and Osborne Lights

today we were moving to the boardwalk! we woke up at 7:15, packed up our stuff and wes' dad drove us over to the boardwalk.

i had done online checkin but when we got there, it seemed like the online checkin hadn't worked. we had to do the regular checkin which seemed very odd. they also had us down for having 4 people in our party. weird. it seems that all of those updates to their computer system really messed things up. but we got things figured out and unfortunately, again, our room wasn't ready. so we dropped off our bags at bell services and headed to epcot for opening.

i took some pictures of the boardwalk on our way to the international gateway.

we made it to the international gateway a little before 9 and made our way over to future world to ride our first attraction of the trip, test track.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we got to test track and walked from the line entrance to the loading area. the ride was the worst first ride of a trip ever. the ride stopped repeatedly but the soundtrack kept going so it was pretty comical. it said "increasing speed, 10%" and then we continued to sit there on the hill climb portion of the ride. the on ride photo was priceless and really showed how much wes and i were enjoying this first ride. :ROFLOL:

so we were pretty bummed about the ride not running properly but we moved on to the land hoping for more luck with our next attraction. we grabbed a fp for soarin since the wait was around 40 minutes and then jumped on a boat for living with the land, which had no wait. i love this attraction. its so peaceful in that little boat and its very informative.

after lwtl, we decided to use a snack credit at sunshine seasons.

we then decided to head over to the seas for a ride in a clam mobile to find nemo.

we then hung around in the seas and checked out some of the exhibits. normally we just walk out of that building so it was nice to take some time to explore.

after the seas it was on to see captain eo!!! i LOVE this show!! it is so awesomely 80s and i love it! wes hadn't see the show yet and i had talked it up so much, i really hoped i hadn't talked it up too much. well, wes thought it was good but not as great as i had made it out to be. darn. :lol: i guess i shouldn't have talked it up how awesomely bad it was.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we left captain eo (with me singing "we are here to change the world") and headed up to the front of epcot to get some photopass pictures taken.

it had gotten really windy all of a sudden so it was a battle to keep my hair tamed while taking these pictures.

after we took some pictures, it was time to use our soarin fp. i really like this attraction but i am always a little frightened about falling from the seat. :lol: so i always sit as far back as possible and hold on to the handles. :lol: it's a little crazy, but i do still enjoy the ride.

when we left the land pavilion, it had rained outside and it was currently misting outside. and of course, we had forgotten to pack the ponchos. we left them at home and i was not trying to spend money on disney ponchos (although i did contemplate buying them, i remained strong and did not cave in to my love of everything disney :lol: ) it was then time to head over to france for our lunch reservations at les chefs de france.

i took some pictures on our way over to world showcase.

i've never spent a lot of time in the france pavilion so i was excited to eat lunch there.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we had 12:40 reservations and we checked in at 12:27 and we seated at 12:29. not too bad.

this was our first meal with the deluxe dining plan and i was very excited for wes to experience all the great food wdw has to offer. his family never eats in the parks and if they do its normally at the quick service places. so this was what he was looking forward to the most about this trip.

for our appetizers, i got the french onion soup and wes got the lobster bisque.

the french onion soup was good but really hot. i burned my tongue on it and it was kind of raw for a couple days. :lol: i always do that when i want to eat something and i am too impatient to let it cool down. the lobster bisque was just okay. i have had better lobster bisque other places so it was kind of a let down. and this was only the appetizer. for our entrees, i got the hamburger and wes got the roasted chicken.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

the hamburger was really good. it had mushrooms and onions on it which i normally wouldn't order on a burger, but i decided to be adventurous and i was really happy that i did. :slurp: wes said his roasted chicken was good. it was quite a lot of food though for a lunch. for dessert, wes got the profiteroles au chocolat which was a puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

i got the crepes filled with cinnamon, apple, vanilla ice cream and apple caramel sauce. it was good but not as good as an american apple pie :lol:

and you can tell that wes really liked his dessert.

overall, it was a really nice meal. i would go back to les chefs de france but it isn't one of my favorites at wdw. the food was definitely very good though. i would recommend trying it out sometime.

we were done with lunch at about 1:40 and we decided to head back to the boardwalk to see if our room was ready yet.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we went up to the front desk and found out that our room still wasn't ready. so we sat in the lobby for a little bit and then i decided that i wanted to walk around and take some more pictures!

we had killed a little bit of time but we still hadn't gotten a text saying that our room was ready. so we headed to the boardwalk bakery to pick up our resort mugs. we then took a leisurely stroll on the boardwalk and checked out some of the stores.

we still hadn't gotten our text but we decided to go back to the lobby and wait. finally, a little after 3 i decided to go back up to the front desk to see if our room was ready yet. the cast member said that i shouldn't have gotten a text because our room was ready. great. :lol: we didn't have much luck with our rooms being ready early this trip. so we headed to check out our room. and it was beautiful!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

i love the art with the postcards at the boardwalk! they are so cute.

the view from our room

i was really impressed with our room at the boardwalk. it was just so nice.

after we got to the room, i received my text that the room was ready. :lol: bell services brought our bags up and i unpacked, while wes started his nap. after i unpacked, i decided i was in need of a power nap before our night at dhs.

we left the boardwalk at 5 to head over to dhs. as usual, i took pictures on our way. the carpet at the bw is really cute with the little roller coaster on it.