Trip Report Another Jolly Holiday ~ JOY From the World ! *COMPLETED*

At the conclusion of my last trip report
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/a-jingle-bam-birthday-completed.922901/
I ended with To be continued....

Well, here's the continuation. Though to be fair, the trips were totally different and not connected in any way except they both included Me (yep, a humble one I am!) And for the second time in a year, I left WDW only to return a week later. I am very grateful that I can visit my favorite place as often as I do and am honored that y'all follow along.

I booked this trip on a bounce back offer while vacationing last year:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-a-jolly-holiday-completed.909445/

And this year I may have booked a bounce back offer for December 2017. Okay, I did book. But my love/hate relationship with traveling in December and a few unknowns for the fall may cause me to cancel. Time will tell.

Ready to read about our latest adventures? There's DRAMA . And ELEVATOR COOKIES . And maybe even a RED CARD .

Dates: December 10-15, 2016
Resort: Disney's Wilderness Lodge (duh....it's Christmas!)
Cast: Tuvalu and Woody

Who's in?

 

[Tuvalu]

K texted that she had just parked her car so I knew I had some time to kill before meeting her.

Well what do you know, it's still 13 days until Christmas!

I spied Santa's empty chair. Dare I??????


I did.

Now for the embarrassing part.....I got busted! Not by the man in the red suit ~ by a sweet guest who had rounded the corner and said, "Here, give me your phone and I'll take your picture."

I had to be polite.

There wasn't a soul on top of the train station so I went to check it out.

I suppose Disney was smart in placing these benches sideways so "bench hogs" don't plant themselves on them for hours while waiting for parades/fireworks.

I do remember the chairs that used to be here!

Guests are trickling in.

Maybe MK won't be terribly busy today?

 

[Tuvalu]

I climbed down to street level and said hello to a wooden toy soldier.....

......just moments before I said hello to this famous pup

 

[Tuvalu]

I saw K emerge from the train tunnel and went to greet her. We would only spend six hours together but as you will see we got a lot accomplished ~ 10 attractions, 1 show, shopping, a table-service lunch and lots of conversational catching up. (We're women....gabbing is what we do! )

Celebrating 33 years of friendship in the most magical place on earth.

First up was a visit with the Seven Dwarfs.

A cruise around the world

Scurrilous pirates

And a wild wilderness ride, @Longers

 

[amjt660]

All of that in 6 hours - seriously jealous !

 

[Tuvalu]

Time for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern ~ yes, this ADR was made before the menu change. But I had success getting turkey last week, so I wasn't worried today. I asked our server if I could order the child's turkey and she said sure! K said she was in the mood for turkey too and ordered the same.

And since I know you're keeping count ~ my third lunch in a row of TURKEY!

The child's portion was the perfect size to allow room for dessert. (Which, let's be honest, is the real reason we came to LTT.) K was an Ooey Gooey Cake virgin and she wanted one all for herself. No complaint from me ~ I knew I'd have no difficulty finishing one of my own.

Boy those look yummy! WANT ONE.

 

[Sillysidewalker]

I'm a newbie here but just want to let you know I love reading all your trip reports. I am so jealous of all your trips!!! I need to get my hubby addicted so we can go more. My kiddos were easy.

 

[Tuvalu]

I'm a newbie here but just want to let you know I love reading all your trip reports. I am so jealous of all your trips!!! I need to get my hubby addicted so we can go more. My kiddos were easy.

Thank you for following along on my trips!

 

[Tuvalu]

After lunch K and I returned to Fantasyland to use our FP for Peter Pan. The FP line was long!

There may have been some technical difficulties with the ride which caused this longer-than-normal wait. In fact, we experienced a brief ride stoppage when we were onboard our pirate ship. Didn't bother us though and enough time elapsed that our FP window for our next attraction opened.

We browsed the shops in Fantasyland upon exiting our honeypot. K wanted to buy a gift for baby Tuvalette. K is a LDR nurse and was in the delivery room when Tuvalette's daddy was born, so she feels a special connection with my granddaughter.

K saw this and fell in love:

I told her I had already purchased this darling outfit for Tuvalette. So K chose the matching headband (which I had not seen before) and this cuddly rag doll.

 

[Tuvalu]

K wanted to see the Muppets Great Moments in History and she had picked up a Times Guide upon arriving at MK. The two morning showtimes did not mesh with our schedule but we could catch the next performance. We arrived a few minutes early and were greeted by J.J. the Town Crier, who handed us his card and two small American flags.

He instructed us to wave our flags when Sam Eagle appeared and then whenever we felt patriotic.

Does this "J.J." do anything for ya, @Courtney6682?

King Georgette....aka Piggy.

K enjoyed the show very much. She made sure to bring her son's family to see it last month.

 

[MinnieM123]

@Tuvalu , you certainly know how to have a great time! Your TRs consistently crack me up. Looks like you had fun on the Girls Day in WDW. By the way, I love turkey, too--perfectly normal to have turkey multiple days in a row!

 

[Tuvalu]

Here's a recap of the rest of our afternoon.

We were first in line to enter when the doors opened again.

Just prior to going Under the Sea

Mermaid rarely has a long wait and neither does

Then we had to cross the park to use our last FP.

K was a Jingle Cruise virgin. She isn't anymore.

You know how some folks have a hard time saying goodbye? K is one of those people. She always has "one more thing" to say. I decided we could expand our talking time by riding the resort monorail together. I would get off at the Contemporary (and transfer to boat to WL) and she would get off at the TTC.

Best laid plans.

We encountered a sea of people waiting on the resort monorail ramp. After several minutes of standing and no forward motion, it was clear the monorail was having issues....AGAIN. We turned around and excused ourselves through the crowd that had formed behind us. K went to the ferry and I walked to the Contemporary. I was in the mood for a boat ride ~ and I totally spaced that I could have taken the boat from MK! (In my defense, K was talking to me when we passed the entrance for the WL boat, which is before the entrance to the ferry.)

And since I hadn't yet had my fill of "girl talk" for the day, I phoned @TrolleyFollower91 while on my journey back to the lodge.

 

[Tuvalu]

@Tuvalu , you certainly know how to have a great time! Your TRs consistently crack me up. Looks like you had fun on the Girls Day in WDW. By the way, I love turkey, too--perfectly normal to have turkey multiple days in a row!

Maybe we should start a "Gobblers Club"!

 

[Tuvalu]

So Tuvalu, the elevator has now been broken for at least 4 days. Surely it was in working order when you returned from the MK?

Yeah.......no.

But good news! WL management finally realized that their guests had run out of patience waiting for the one working elevator. So a CM had been assigned to be the "elevator operator"...to push the buttons...making sure the elevator did not linger on empty floors and that the door closed promptly after guests boarded. Of course the CM gave no information to guests other than "they're working to repair the problem."

A second CM was handing out....elevator cookies . I suspect they were the same chocolate chip cookies offered to club level guests, since we have eaten similar sized cookies in the Poly club lounge. They are pretty tasty, so of course I didn't refuse one.

Woody was finishing his last call when I entered the room. He said he had also partaken of a complimentary elevator cookie earlier in the afternoon when he'd gotten a drink from Roaring Fork.

I shared details from my "girls day" and we discussed where to have dinner. I was able to snag an ADR at Whispering Canyon and soon we were seated.

We began with a beer for Woody and a Magical Star for me. I was bummed the glow cube stayed purple and did not change colors.

We ordered the all-you-care-to-enjoy skillet.
Fresh baked cornbread

Mixed greens tossed in an apple vinaigrette dressing

BBQ pork, chicken, ribs; oak-smoked beef; baked beans and veggies

Whispering Canyon did not have the red and green "participation" cards and the schtick from the staff was toned down....almost subdued...it was somewhat disappointing. Part of the fun of dining at Whispering Canyon are the loud shenanigans. Our server was definitely not into playing along.

Why settle for one Ooey Gooey Cake a day when you can have two?

This is Whispering Canyon's version of the Gooey. It is really a chocolate lava cake. And the ice cream is an additional charge.

Woody and I had no difficulty polishing this baby off.

 

[Tuvalu]

We decided to walk off some of the calories we'd consumed with stroll around the lodge. It is just so beautiful at night.

We walked outside and decided to peek inside the lobby of the Villas. It was gorgeous too.

As much as I wanted to return to the MK with Woody (since it was not a MVMCP night), I was too tired. Girls day had worn me out! We turned on Elf and I was asleep before the ending!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thanks for the pics from Whispering Canyon Cafe! I am so looking forward to that dinner in June (and that is exactly what I plan to order)! I just hope it is more upbeat for us!

 

[Tuvalu]

Tuesday, December 13

Well the elevator did not get repaired overnight, as there was another CM pushing the buttons this morning. This CM mentioned she usually works at DHS but wanted some extra hours and was given elevator duty. So when she said she had no knowledge of when the elevator might be fixed, we genuinely believed her!

I changed up my waffle order this morning. Instead of strawberries, I went with chocolate chips.

I got the child size (one less Mickey waffle) and gave the bacon to Woody.

The Epcot bus was waiting for us and we went directly to the park. This was a nice surprise as the last several times we stayed at WL the bus stopped at Ft. Wilderness before continuing on to Epcot.

We entered the park and noticed dozens of young schoolchildren (1st or 2nd graders) in matching shirts with almost as many parent chaperones crowding the entrance area. What could be educational at Epcot for students that young?

Ironically, we were on a mission for Em's 3rd graders ~ obtain more Tsum Tsums! They LOVE to play with her Tsum Tsums (she uses them as a reward) and I enjoy picking out new ones each trip. There's only one place in Epcot that carries them.

Gotta love a backwards waterfall!

We walked right on Figment and had the car to ourselves.

Then I found several adorable Tsum Tsums for Em's class.

 

[Tuvalu]

Thanks for the pics from Whispering Canyon Cafe! I am so looking forward to that dinner in June (and that is exactly what I plan to order)! I just hope it is more upbeat for us!

You're welcome! The food was very good. Perhaps we dined on an "off" night?

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Then I found several adorable Tsum Tsums for Em's class.

We love tsum tsums!

 

[amjt660]

Hi Tuvalu
I have only been to Whispering Canyons once and it was a long time ago
I assume the Red and Green card is a way to state if you want to participate in the hijinks?
Do you know when this started? and obviously now it is not being used?

Thanks
Max

 

[Tuvalu]

We had a FP for Living with the Land. I was looking forward to riding it during daylight since I wasn't overly fond of our nighttime ride. Woody and I had front row seats!

I must say I was loving the sunshine and our prime seats!

Love me some corn and tomatoes!

Can you spot the hidden Mickey?