Trip Report Another Brifraz Live Christmas TR

Hello One and All and Welcome Aboard!

Brifraz and @MeffysMom clan is headed to WDW for the Christmas to New Years week - seems to be happening every other year (well, at least since 2015). As much as the crowds are always over the top, the weather generally is pretty good, decorations and special celebrations are wonderful, and... most importantly... as a couple of teachers with a college student daughter, we can all get out of work/school for the week without any big issues. I'm sure that many of you following along already know the crew, but regardless here we are.

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Perhaps some of you don't recognize us? Or the giant wand on Spaceship Earth has you thrown off? Yup. That's us from our very first family trip in 2006. I'd say that one of us still looks pretty similar. Not quite so much the other two...
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That first family trip in 2006 was when our daughter was just about 2 and a half and was my (not unlucky at all) 13th trip. Pretty sure that this time around will be trip number 42 for me, which means that I plan to sprinkle some good Douglas Adams references through the Trip Report.

Most of my reports start a few weeks or even months before the trip and I lay out some plans, get some feedback, revise those plans, change everything a couple times, and then finally get to the live Trip Reporting. This time, we're going to leave you hanging just a little more and keep the plans to ourselves, letting things unfold (somewhat) live as they happen. We hit the road for our 900+ mile journey south on Thursday afternoon and drive overnight and then enjoy whatever the World has to offer for the next seven days. Sadly, this does mean that we are coming home on December 30th and won't be able to enjoy NYE at Disney, but I think we've done that enough times and perhaps the insanity of NYE crowds for fireworks was a little more than we are ready to deal with right now.

But, I'd be remiss if I didn't give you some teases about the adventure coming your way!

Crepes, Kites, a Dessert Party, a Cirque, and a fancy shmancy WDW 50th dinner. Oh, there's a whole lot more coming your way but those are a random smattering of highlights from what we hope will be another epic adventure at WDW.

You just come along with me and have a good time. The Galaxy's a fun place. You'll need to have this fish in your ear.
 
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brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I'm from VA and still live there and we only take that stretch of 95 in emergencies. We usually go Rte 1 or 301 to 295.
We’ve done the 301 ‘bypass’ before but if Google Maps is to be believed it would’ve still been a bit longer than I95 was with the traffic.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
And…
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We are here! Pulled onto property at about 5:45am. Didn’t take any extended rest stops, so it was about a 16 hour drive this time. Bit longer than normal but now that we rotate 3 drivers it wasn’t really a problem at all!

First stop was Old Key West to ‘check in’ and get freshened up. Even though we checked in online, we still like to stop in the lobby and talk to real humans! And it was our first time in the remodeled lobby which was very nice but a bit bright before 6am.

Headed ver to the pool bathrooms to get ready for the day and just had to get a Christmas decoration and lighthouse picture.
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Feeling much cleaner and ready to go, we headed to Yacht Club for our breakfast at Ale and Compass. Okay maybe not quite totally ready.
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While they stored up some energy I got some decorations pictures and.. well… posted this!
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Wreaths all over.
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Great little train garden.
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And, of course, the very well themed tree! Almost time to try to get Remy passes and get some food as well.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Food pics!!!

Mega Berry Smoothie - not very sweet, which was a good thing!
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Our daughter surprised no one at all by getting the Salted caramel apple French toast. This is where the sweet is!
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@MeffysMom got the ham and cheese omelette. Satisfying and as expected. The arugula was a good addition.
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And I got the smoked salmon bagel sandwich which was perfect for me after the long drive. Not too heavy but filling and somewhat healthy.
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See you in Epcot!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
And here we are.
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That’s the view from the imaginary rope by Canada as we wait for the early hour to start at 8:30am.

Some nice views on the way in.
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And as the sun rises majestically over the Rose and Crown, all the pints get ready for a busy day of providing muscle relaxant for anyone hitching a ride with the Vogons.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Frozen!

The girls love it… I’m a bit alarmed by a talking snowman who appears to be able to teleport.
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However, everybody loves this guy.
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After our visit to Elsa’s Ice Palace we walked down to the Land pavilion where we are currently waiting for Soarin. Did happen to get a standard Brifraz photo with foreground flowers and background subject.
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brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
We got off Soarin at about 9:15, so almost regular opening. Also right about that time our group for Ratatouille was called. Rather than rush over, we decided to enjoy a leisurely boat ride on the best attraction at WDW. With holiday additions!
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Then we headed back for a ride with Remy!
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Sorry, no ride pictures as I was just enjoying the first time on this one. It’s a lot of fun for sure!

We then headed back to the park front for our first trip into Creations and the new ClubCool. Like the improved layout of both!

Next a quick boat ride to help some feathered friends
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Then it was the long trek around the Showcase to get some lunch at the Creperie!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Not being at all familiar with the way the Creperie runs things, we showed up about 20 minutes prior to our booked time and tried to check in. Nope. You can only check in AT your ADR time. So, we waited for a bit outside and @MeffysMom toured the area to score some great pictures.

This is looking toward the Creperie walk up window and, if you can see past the stroller parking to the building corner on the left, the crowd is quite large. I'd read about the wait times for the crepes and they were certainly no joke.
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Just some of the nice building work along the avenue.
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And, of course, the main attraction from some artistic angles!
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Our ADR was at 11:50am and so right then we headed in. And were quite happy to be seated almost immediately. Here comes the food pics!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
After just a moment or two, our waitress came to check on us and take drink orders and answer questions. We had a substitution question that she had to verify the answer to, but was then right back to us and took our complete orders. @MeffysMom and I were both doing the Prix Fixe menu, which gives you an appetizer (soup or salad), savory crepe, dessert crepe, and glass of cider for $33 - definitely a bit of savings over getting the same a la carte, but not sure I would do it again - I'm pretty happy with just the savory crepe and appetizer! Our daughter wanted the brie cheese crepe which was only on the kids menu so for this lunch she was 17 going on 13. After reading about slow service and service issues we were quite impressed with how fast our soup/salad and drinks came out.

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Our daughter got the lemon/mint sparkling drink. Not her favorite, but quite refreshing. We got the Brut Cidre (on the left) and the Rose (on the right). The Brut is pretty dry and tart so I liked it and the Rose is more of a sweet/tart mix which went over well with @MeffysMom.

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We got the potato-leek soup and the salad and shared those among the three of us. Both were nice, but nothing all that special.

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There was only a slight pause before our savory crepes came out. Our daughter's 'child menu' brie crepe was just as big as the adult portions (which means that the kids menu is an AWESOME value). And it was delicious - but a LOT of cheese, which isn't a bad thing but a little more than she could handle after the long night and morning.
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My wife had the goat cheese and spinach (with walnuts) and it was also really excellent. Both of theirs had a great balance between the buckwheat of the crepe and the creaminess of the cheese.
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I figured I was in the area, so I should get the ratatouille crepe. It was good, but not as good as the two cheese based ones. I definitely think it would have been better with a more savory crepe batter.
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Both the Prix Fixe and the Kids Menu comes with a dessert crepe, so those were one their way soon. Okay, maybe not soon. Yup, now we understood the issues with food coming out here. It was a significant delay and our waitress did check back with us and apologize for the delay. Although, after the long night and morning it was definitely a good thing for us to just sit and take some time for lunch! Our usual complete meal time at a Disney Table Service is about 45 minutes, so the hour and fifteen for lunch was certainly extended from our normal.

The 'red berries' crepe was very good, but I think it could have used some kind of cream or other dairy to offset the berries a bit.
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The peach melba worked better for sure and the almonds were a welcome addition.
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And the Pear and chocolate was quite good - our crew aren't huge chocolate fans, but we did all enjoy this one... not too sweet, but definitely chocolate-y.
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It was about 1:30pm when we got out of the park and our room at Old Key West was ready so off to rest and relax we went. Car is unloaded, girls are both sound asleep and as I finish these last few words, I suspect that a nap is in my immediate future as well. We plan to relax for a bit in the room and maybe over at the pool and then back to Epcot tonight for some dinner and fireworks. We've avoided all spoilers and tried to avoid reading reviews of Harmonious, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will enjoy it.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
And… we’re back! In Epcot for the evening.

After our nap break, we watched the final episode of Hawkeye and then drove over to Epcot for some Holiday Kitchen dinner and then Harmonious.

First stop was the Holiday Hearth for the cinnamon cider and the gingerbread man.
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The cider (non-alcoholic) was a bit too cinnamon for me but the girls really liked it. The gingerbread is still waiting to be enjoyed later!

Speaking of enjoying, we definitely enjoy the decorations although the old Lights of Winter are definitely missed.
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We were all pretty hungry so off to Germany we went for the ‘full house’ - everything on their menu.
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That’s the beer flight, fondue in bread bowl, linzer cookie, and pork schnitzel. All were very good and well enjoyed by this family. Now in much better spirits we made the slow trek around world showcase enjoying the sounds of the Candlelight Procession and taking some pictures of Spaceship Earth in full show.
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Eventually we found our way to Japan for a slow walk through the shops and the cute exhibit!
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And now it’s 8pm and we wait to pounce on our favorite firework spot between America and Japan. And we enjoy the views up close!
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brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
As we wrap up this Christmas Eve, I bring you a couple of pictures from Harmonious this evening. I'm not totally ready to pass any judgement at this time. Why? Well... those technical issues that caused the show to be delayed around 15 minutes... they meant that the center ring didn't really do anything. Our daughter pulled up a video just to verify that there should be something in there, but it was obvious something was missing. I will say this - the technology involved in this show is totally insane. And I liked the vast majority of elements, but I didn't really like the show. Didn't connect and I didn't feel like it had any real heart to it. But, man does it look cool.

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After the show, we made our way out of Epcot at a leisurely pace and managed to wrap up the day much the way it began as we passed Rose and Crown.

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And were back in our room a little before 11:30pm and now it is most definitely time for some serious sleep. But alarms are set for 6am so we can get our Christmas morning fix of Magic Kingdom!
 

Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member
As we wrap up this Christmas Eve, I bring you a couple of pictures from Harmonious this evening. I'm not totally ready to pass any judgement at this time. Why? Well... those technical issues that caused the show to be delayed around 15 minutes... they meant that the center ring didn't really do anything. Our daughter pulled up a video just to verify that there should be something in there, but it was obvious something was missing. I will say this - the technology involved in this show is totally insane. And I liked the vast majority of elements, but I didn't really like the show. Didn't connect and I didn't feel like it had any real heart to it. But, man does it look cool.

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After the show, we made our way out of Epcot at a leisurely pace and managed to wrap up the day much the way it began as we passed Rose and Crown.

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And were back in our room a little before 11:30pm and now it is most definitely time for some serious sleep. But alarms are set for 6am so we can get our Christmas morning fix of Magic Kingdom!
Awesome pics!!! Thank you so much for your live TR!!
 

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