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.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

All I can do is SMILE for you while i read your TR!!! Pictures are awesome and sounds like you made the best of the really cold weather!!! Keep it coming!!!

aww thanks!! i was so bummed that the weather was so cold but it made us feel better that nc was even colder. so we did escape the cold a little bit. :lol:

First, Congratulations on your engagement!! I'm really enjoying your TR!

This is so cool!! Newport, Or is not far from where I live. In fact, we have a local Rogue Brewery/Restaurant right in our town! It's really good btw.

LOL!!

thanks! i am glad you are enjoying it!

OMG!! I had to sit here and read it all the way through just so I could know the surprise. That is so wonderful and so amazing!!! Congratulations. And Dec 13th is a great day, mainly because of your grandparents anniversary. Way to go Wes!!!:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

Congratulations and what a great trip report. I just wish I could see the pics here at work. That will just mean I will have to come back when I make it home tonight.

thank you! it was just so cool that he proposed on their anniversary! that's the worst when your work blocks websites! how dare they! :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Day 5: Good Food and a Memorable Celebration Dinner

we woke up late again today. today we woke up at 7:45am! luckily, we got ready very quickly and were out the door at 8:15. we stopped by the bw bakery for some hot chocolate in our refillable mugs and get some snacks for breakfast. unfortunately, getting the hot chocolate made us miss the ferry and it was just too cold to walk this morning. so we went into the shop on the boardwalk and waited until we saw another ferry coming. the ferry arrived in about 15 minutes and we arrived at dhs at 8:54. not as early as i would have liked but we still got there before the opening so we still had time to make the mad dash to tsmm!

we made it through the gates just as they were letting people into the park. and we followed the mob to tsmm. wes had never been there at opening before and had never seen how crazy people get walking to that ride. tomorrow we were going back to dhs in the morning and i told him we needed to make sure to get there earlier so we could be farther up in line.

our plan was for wes to get fatpasses while i got in the standby line but the fastpass line was so long it didn't make sense for wes to wait in that line. so we both got in the standby line. and this was the line.

the sign said the wait time was 60 minutes, like it always does at opening, but it really only took us 21 minutes. i love this queue. its so fun!

after my all time high score the previous night, i had a lot to live up to....and i let myself down! i didn't beat my high score and worse of all wes beat me!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

i was so bummed! i couldn't believe that wes did so bad the other night and then he beat me! he then reminded me that at that time he was a little distracted with a ring in his pocket. :lol: so i guess he had a good reason to do so poorly.

we then exited tsmm and went to ride rock n rollercoaster.

the wait time for rnr said "*," :veryconfu :lol: i am not sure what that meant but the line wasn't too bad. we walked right up to the preshow area. after rnr, we went over to the tower of terror.

after tot, we went over to the magic of disney animation. i wanted to go in the animation academy since i had never done it before. we got to draw donald which is our favorite character!! the class was so cool! we had a great time learning to draw the characters. we decided that we wanted to go back again tomorrow and draw some more characters. before we went to the animation academy, we stopped to get some photopass pictures.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we had reservations at the sci fi dine in theater at 11:55 so we headed over to sci-fi and checked in at 11:35. its crazy how crowded the lobby gets at this restaurant and as soon as they say they are fully booked, the lobby clears out. 10 minutes later, we were escorted to our car. we had a very nice hostess. she saw our buttons and was congratulating us and asking all kinds of questions about the wedding. we told her we literally just got engaged and hadn't picked a date or location yet. :lol: but she was very friendly!

i love the atmosphere and the food at sci fi! its one of my favorite restaurants at wdw! and i know a lot of people say the food is bad, but for lunch i think the food is really good. its hamburgers and apple pie! it doesn't get much better than that! :slurp: :lol: for appetizers, i got the onion rings and wes got the spinach and artichoke dip. :slurp:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

both were delicious! for entrees, i got the hamburger and wes got the italian chicken sandwich.

i decided to take a picture of my ring while we waited for dessert. so here it is!!

for dessert, i got the apple crumble and wes got the peanut butter chocolate cake.

our lunch was great! everything was delicious as usual! :slurp: and our waiter was really great. he took our picture in our car.

after lunch we decided to leave the park and head over to the ak to meet wes' family over there. of course, we stopped for photopass pictures along the way.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

we went over to bus stop number 7 and waited for the bus to ak. about 10 minutes after waiting we were on a bus and on our way!

we arrived at the ak and called wes' family to see where they were. they were at the fotlk waiting for the next show. so first we stopped to take some pictures by the tree outside the entrance before we headed over to camp minnie mickey to get some more pictures with characters.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

while waiting in line for minnie, fotlk let out and wes' family headed over to its tough to be a bug where we would then meet them.

we then all headed over to asia to ride expedition everest.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

the wait was 30 minutes but we used wes' parents dvc fastpasses so we could ride immediately. to explain a little further, the day before wes' parents went to go sign some dvc papers. they mentioned to the cast member that the service at okw had drastically gone down in recent years. they mentioned how the coffee maker broke in our room, how when we asked for more towels since they didn't give us enough the cm told them it would be an extra $2 per towel and how we couldn't get any more toiletries for our room even though we asked repeatedly for them. so anyway, the dvc cast member ended up giving them a bunch of dvc fastpasses which would allow you to get a fastpass for the current time frame. they were pretty awesome! and since wes' family was leaving tomorrow, they gave us a bunch of them. enough of the explanation, back to the tr. :lol:

after everest, we all walked over to africa because wes and i wanted to see the jingle jungle parade. when we got to africa, we said our goodbyes to wes' family and they exited the park. next to us at the parade we started talking to a really nice australian family. i normally hate talking to people i don't know but this family was very friendly. the parade started and i was excited since i have never seen a parade at the ak before.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

after the parade, we went over to dinoland use to ride dinosaur. i love this ride! the preshow is great and i really like the part at the end of the ride where the scientist guy keeps saying "they're not gonna make it. they're not gonna make it" :lol: that would be the line i thought of later in the trip when we were running late for reservations or running to catch a bus. "we're not gonna make it!" :lol:

we left the park a little before 5 to head back to the boardwalk to get ready for our dinner reservation at the california grill!! i was so excited about this reservation! originally i thought it would be cool for wes to propose there while watching the fireworks but i was happy he did it at the beginning of the trip so this dinner could be our celebration dinner!

when we got back to the room i jumped in the shower and then laid down on the bed to relax for a little bit before i had to start getting ready for dinner. i told wes that it would take me at least 30 minutes to get ready. well next thing i know, wes is waking me up saying its 6:45 and our dinner reservation is at 7:45! my hair is still wet and i am wearing a bath robe! i immediately start panicking because i was so looking forward to this dinner and i didn't want to run the risk of losing our reservation! so as i quickly started straightening my hair, i had wes call the california grill and tell them that we were running late. i had wanted to ask for a window seat at the cg but since we were now running late i didn't think we would have a chance to get one. so i got ready as fast as i could and we were out the door at 7:10.

as soon as we got to the bus stop there was an mk bus there so we jumped on. we got to the mk and then went over to the monorail since it was still pretty cold to walk to the contemporary. well we got to the monorail and found out that there was some kind of medical emergency on the monorail so they had temporarily stopped the monorail. the monorail finally started moving again and we were at the contemporary a little after 8. we checked in and i noticed that the hostess saw my engagement button! i was hoping that the buttons would pay off!

so we took the elevator up to the 15th floor and took a seat in the little bar area while we waited for our table. it was taking a little while but since we were so late, i couldn't be mad. then a hostess came over to us and took us to our table. she apologized for the wait but told us that she was waiting for a window table for us!!! :sohappy: i was thrilled!!! a window seat at the california grill!!! and they had decorated our table with mickey confetti!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

its hard to do justice to the beautiful view but we had a great view of the castle! try to ignore the reflection of the restaurant and you can see it.

wes and i were really excited to try some sushi. i have always wanted to try it but i have never wanted to be an adventurous. since sushi counted as an appetizer, we knew we just had to try it! so i got the california roll and wes got the shashimi. the cali rolls were good but i found the rolls were too big for one bite. i felt it wasn't proper etiquette to shove the whole thing in my mouth (that's what she said :lol: ) at such a nice restaurant. :lol: but they were good. wes liked his and i tried some but i wasn't so fond of the really raw sushi. the texture kind of freaked me out. but it tasted good.

i kept trying to take pictures of our view, but they just didn't turn out. wes also tried with no luck and then he took this lovely shot. :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

for entrees, i got the seared scallops and wes got the filet.

my scallops were delicious!! :slurp: wes liked his filet but he said the one at jiko was still his favorite. after our entree, it was time for the christmas fireworks at the mk!! since we had such a great seat and it was freezing outside, we stayed at our table to view the fireworks. i love how they dim the lights in the restaurant and play the music for the fireworks. i was super excited since the mk was having a christmas party tonight that i would get to see the christmas fireworks from a different view point. we were going to the christmas party on thursday so it was a little preview of what to expect! and i loved them! they really put you in the christmas spirit!

this was the first meal that i actually wasn't completely full for dessert! so i ordered the fall celebration which was the warm heirloom apple torte and wes got the valrhona chocolate cake. again, both were delicious! :slurp: and they put a very nice message on our dessert!

the waiter was also nice enough to take our picture at the table.

this was the most memorable meal of the trip for me! it was such a wonderful dining experience to share with my new fiance! we left the contemporary and decided to head back to the boardwalk. again, we caught a bus to the yc since it was so cold and there wasn't a boardwalk bus there at the time. we cut through the yc and walked back to the bw. we got back around 11:30 and were in bed by 12.

 

[HollyBelle]

And props to Wes for 1) picking out a ring you love and 2) not doing it when you were staying w/his family...so NOT romantic! :lol:

I've got to agree with Jess here. Good on Wes for keeping it just the two of you. On a past Christmas trip with Brett's family there was this awkward moment when the thought crossed my mind that Brett may propose and I had a mini freak out in my head hoping it wouldn't be so. I mean, I know we shouldn't be too picky, after all we're getting engaged, but c'mon the timing is important.

i decided to take a picture of my ring while we waited for dessert. so here it is!!

Hello, gorgeous!!! I heart solitaires. You're going to have so much fun picking out a band to go with it.

I'm glad to see the engagement button paid off and your dinner was so perfect. Your window seat is amazing and what a perfect time to get one, because you're right that outdoor viewing area would've been miserably cold with the wind chill.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

What a beautiful ring!! Good job, Wes!!


Your table at California Grill was awesome! I think your pictures are perfect because of the restaurant reflection. You can tell how beautiful your view was.

I was laughing that the cold determined what ride you were looking for next! I have done that exact same thing!

 

[Amber]

wes and i were really excited to try some sushi. i have always wanted to try it but i have never wanted to be an adventurous. since sushi counted as an appetizer, we knew we just had to try it! so i got the california roll and wes got the shashimi. the cali rolls were good but i found the rolls were too big for one bite. i felt it wasn't proper etiquette to shove the whole thing in my mouth (that's what she said :lol: ) at such a nice restaurant. :lol: but they were good. wes liked his and i tried some but i wasn't so fond of the really raw sushi. the texture kind of freaked me out. but it tasted good.

First of all, congrats!!

As I'm reading through your TR, I'm noticing that you seem to order all the same stuff that I do - Cesar and four cheese flatbread at Mama Melrose's and that weird appetizer thing at Jiko that was good but maybe not repeat-worthy...anyway, next time you're at the California Grill and if you're looking to try the sushi again, go for the spicy kazan roll. I have only discovered sushi within the last year or two, and I get the spicy kazan roll every time now. Just a thought :slurp:

 

[Raven66]

I'm really enjoying the trip report. I can't wait to read the rest. I have to tell you that I'm also a little nervous on Soarin', I also sit all the way back but I use the kids seatbelt and lock myself in.:lookaroun My daughter and husband laugh at me every time.

Congrats on your engagement and your ring is beautiful!!

 

[becanya]

What a great trip report! Congratulations on your engagement, I can't think of a better place for a proposal! Your pictures are beautiful and making me very homesick for Disney.

Questions...when you guys ate at Chefs de France, did you get to see Remy, the rat from Ratatouille? Just wanted to make sure they are still doing that!

 

[Dumbo2675]

congrats on your engagemnet. My wife and I Honeymoon at DisneyWorld back in November of 1990 but at that time did not stay on Disney as my folk live near by in Leesburg and we drove back and forth each day to the park. We just celebrated our 20th aniversary in October 2010 and did stay on Disney (All Star Movies) I think you two should plan for you both to spend your honeymoon with Disney as you two seem to have so much fun and how can you not with Disney. The best to you both. PS: great pictures of your trip so sorry the weather was a little cold for you and your family.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I've got to agree with Jess here. Good on Wes for keeping it just the two of you. On a past Christmas trip with Brett's family there was this awkward moment when the thought crossed my mind that Brett may propose and I had a mini freak out in my head hoping it wouldn't be so. I mean, I know we shouldn't be too picky, after all we're getting engaged, but c'mon the timing is important.

Hello, gorgeous!!! I heart solitaires. You're going to have so much fun picking out a band to go with it.

I'm glad to see the engagement button paid off and your dinner was so perfect. Your window seat is amazing and what a perfect time to get one, because you're right that outdoor viewing area would've been miserably cold with the wind chill.

i was so thankful that he waited until sunday when we were at the boardwalk! it would have been really awkward if he had proposed in front of his family.

yes, our dinner was fantastic! it was really a perfect viewing location since it was freezing and i can't imagine how cold it would have been standing on the roof of the 15th floor!

What a beautiful ring!! Good job, Wes!!


Your table at California Grill was awesome! I think your pictures are perfect because of the restaurant reflection. You can tell how beautiful your view was.

I was laughing that the cold determined what ride you were looking for next! I have done that exact same thing!

thanks! the cold played a big favorite in this trip. :lol: what ride we went on and what bus we got on!

First of all, congrats!!

As I'm reading through your TR, I'm noticing that you seem to order all the same stuff that I do - Cesar and four cheese flatbread at Mama Melrose's and that weird appetizer thing at Jiko that was good but maybe not repeat-worthy...anyway, next time you're at the California Grill and if you're looking to try the sushi again, go for the spicy kazan roll. I have only discovered sushi within the last year or two, and I get the spicy kazan roll every time now. Just a thought :slurp:

thank you!! how funny that we order the same things! you must have very good taste! :lol: i will have to try that spicy kazan roll the next time we go to the california grill! it sounds good!!

I'm really enjoying the trip report. I can't wait to read the rest. I have to tell you that I'm also a little nervous on Soarin', I also sit all the way back but I use the kids seatbelt and lock myself in.:lookaroun My daughter and husband laugh at me every time.

Congrats on your engagement and your ring is beautiful!!

i am glad you are enjoying the trip report! its almost done, just two days left to post. i am glad i am not the only one who is a little nervous on soarin. :lol: thanks!! it is a beautiful ring! wes did such a good job!

What a great trip report! Congratulations on your engagement, I can't think of a better place for a proposal! Your pictures are beautiful and making me very homesick for Disney.

Questions...when you guys ate at Chefs de France, did you get to see Remy, the rat from Ratatouille? Just wanted to make sure they are still doing that!

thanks! it was a great place for a proposal! we didn't see remy at chefs de france but we weren't there very long so he may have come out later.

congrats on your engagemnet. My wife and I Honeymoon at DisneyWorld back in November of 1990 but at that time did not stay on Disney as my folk live near by in Leesburg and we drove back and forth each day to the park. We just celebrated our 20th aniversary in October 2010 and did stay on Disney (All Star Movies) I think you two should plan for you both to spend your honeymoon with Disney as you two seem to have so much fun and how can you not with Disney. The best to you both. PS: great pictures of your trip so sorry the weather was a little cold for you and your family.

thanks! congrats on your 20th!! i really hope i can convince wes that we should go to wdw for our honeymoon. we both enjoy it so much that it would seem stupid not to go! :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Day 6: DHS, EPCOT and Illuminations

today we had another park opening at dhs so we were up and out the door around 8am. we stopped to get a refill at the boardwalk bakery. and i saw these little cakes there and thought they were so cute. it made me realize that i would have to start thinking about what kind of wedding cake i would want!

since it was still really cold, we again went to wait for a ferry in the gift shop. we saw two ferries go by without stopping at either resort. it was now 8:20 and we realized if we wanted to make it to dhs for opening we would need to start walking.

we walked a lot faster today and made it to dhs in about 15 minutes. we were a little closer to the front of the crowd but wes was shocked at how quickly people pass you in that morning mad dash to tsmm!

and of course, when we go to tsmm, the ride was broken down! i feel like this happens a lot in the morning. i am starting to think that they do this on purpose to get people to go to other attractions! our original plan was to get in the standby line but they weren't letting people wait in the line for the ride to open. at this point, the fp line was all the way back to the front of the voyage of the little mermaid, so we went to the hat to get some pictures with characters while we waited for the ride to open back up.

i was super excited to see these two in some new outfits!

daisy saw my just engaged button and started giving donald a hard time about not proposing. the cast member said that it was either a new dress or a ring for daisy and that donald picked the dress. i love the character interactions! we then saw this guy with absolutely no line so we went to say hi!

we then went back to tsmm and hoped that it had opened up. wes got in the fp line and i went up to see if the ride had opened. it was still closed so i went back to join wes in the fp line.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

while waiting in the fp line, we heard a guest ask a cm if any of the attractions were working today at dhs. the cm seemed really confused and the guest told him that not only was tsmm broken down but so was rnr and tot! yikes! the three major attractions at dhs were all broken down! we double checked with the lines app on wes' phone and sure enough, they were all reported closed.

we finally got up to the fp dispensers and each of us had one of the dvc fastpasses so we could a total of 4 fp so we could ride it twice. we then decided to go to the art of disney animation to draw some more characters at the animation academy. we drew sorcerer mickey and man was he a lot harder to draw than donald! when we left the academy, wes checked the lines app to see if tsmm had opened up. no luck. it was still closed. so we decided to do another drawing session. this time we got to choose which character we wanted to draw. our choices were between dale and eeyore and eeyore won out.

i really love the animation academy! it is so much fun. this is now a must for me on all future trips! after our second drawing session we checked the lines app again and we were in luck! tsmm had finally opened! so we went and used our first fp and i am very sad to report that wes beat my all time high score!

major bummer. to get over my defeat, we went to use some snack credits at starring rolls. after getting re-energized with some food we went back to take our last ride on tsmm for this trip. and again, wes beat my all time high score!! dang.