Celebrating Christmas at the Cape: A December 2009 Trip Report

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

Day 6 – Thursday, December 17: DHS/Epcot

Thursday, unfortunately, was our last full day at the World. :cry:

And like clockwork, our breakfast reservations were for 7:30 am; this time we were headed over to Olivia’s at Old Key West. I just love the feel at OKW and Olivia’s is no exception. We’ve eaten lunch there before, but this was Brett and I’s first breakfast there. We were seated right away in an empty restaurant and our server was quick to take our order, but it did take a little while before our meals came out. I, of course, entertained myself with the camera during this time.

I will say, for me, breakfast was well worth the wait! I ordered the banana bread French toast with Bahamian banana rum butter sauce and whipped cream. :slurp: Mmmm… good stuff! Looking at this picture makes me hungry for more:

Brett, with his distaste for all things banana, passed up the French toast in favor of some pecan pancakes. He enjoyed them, but they didn't exactly offer up a new flavor profile.

I think the rest of the table had some form of pancakes or in Kathy’s case a Mickey waffle. So other than the banana bread French toast I can’t really comment on signature items. I do know that of the new breakfast spots we tried this trip; Olivia’s is the only one we’ll be adding to the rotation. One for three isn’t too bad!

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

Kathy wasn’t feeling well so we dropped her off at the villa and the rest of us headed on over to DHS. The plan was to meet back up with her sometime before lunch. We got there right about 9 am… rope drop time. We wandered around one of the stores while we waited for the citizens of Hollywood to officially open the park. I found Tiana while we were waiting.

The rope dropped and the great race for Toy Story Midway Mania was on. Rather than try to stay together amid the masses, we all gave our tickets to Brett and he took off weaving through the crowd. They’ve added a roped off line just to get fastpasses and it was ridiculously long. As soon as Brett got them we all hopped in the standby queue, which was being managed by green army men. I like the use of these guys to corral the morning crowds in Pixar Place, but I prefer the more accurate looking faceless ones for meet and greets.

We probably waited 30 minutes before it was our turn at the Midway. I love this ride/game. For me, it is far superior to Buzz simply because I know when I'm hitting the targets. :ROFLOL:

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

Of course we took off for Sunset Boulevard quickly after finishing up with TSMM. We were curious to check out the queue-less system they were testing at RNR. Apparently, this is how the new Dueling Dumbo area of future Fantasyland is supposed to work. So here are the logicistics. We picked up our Tour Ticket right at the entrance to the RNR courtyard (just under the limo archway). Our ticket was numbered B5, which we were told represented an approx. 40 minute wait. We were asked to mill about the courtyard and enjoy the DJ, etc. while we waited.

Now maybe the milling about part will work better for the Dumbo queue because it will be designed with games/interactive things to play with while you wait. But at RNR it was pretty lame. So what did we do? We thought… hmm? 40 minutes? Tower of Terror only has a 20 minute wait… let’s take our chances. What’s the worst that can happen? If we miss our time we’ll just get another tour ticket for later. So we pocketed our tickets (which I’ve decided are pretty much glorified fastpasses) and headed over to ToT.

Here’s my ticket playing hookie over at the Hollywood Tower Hotel:

The restrictions are on the back; basically, if you show up after your ticket is called… too bad, so sad. In my opinion the sad part should be in reference to the poor CMs who have to turn these people away and then deal with their irate behavior when they show up after their time. Because we all know these people are out there. And on Dumbo, it won’t be fun to tell a 4 year old he can’t ride because mommy and daddy didn’t read the directions. Anyhoo.

Tower of Terror was a blast, as per usual. It’s definitely one of my favorites. No doubt due to the ever changing ride sequence.

Afterwards we walked back over to the RNR courtyard and found that are ticket still hadn’t been called. I think they had just called B3. Brett and I thought we’d abuse the system a bit more by spending our “queue-less wait time” in the single rider line. What do you know!? The front area of the recording studio wasn’t full (I guess because not everyone returned quickly enough with their tour ticket(. Therefore when the studio doors opened and we all headed into the parking garage those people got on the ride fairly quickly. Once that happened they let all of us “single riders” ride together so as not to send empty limos down the tracks. I believe a completely empty limo went out after us because there still wasn’t anyone in line. A good sign that the queue-less system isn’t all that efficient.

We thought surely we’d missed our return time and figured we’d have to wait for Danny and Derek to get off the ride, but about five minutes after we left the store we saw the guys and our ticket was called. So we walked right on again, this time in the regular line. So my opinion on this system is that it was extremely easy to abuse. Rather than wait, we took our chances on another ride and partook in single rider, and I’m sure we weren’t the only folks to figure this out. The biggest issue I saw is that they weren’t filling the recording studio to capacity, which in turn left the load area empty at times… increasing wait times, I suspect. We saw a bin full of completed comment cards at one point, but we were never given one to fill out. I’ll be curious to see if they actually use this approach in Fantasyland, and if so, how they improve upon it when designing the queue for such a system.

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

We left Sunset Boulevard and ran into a green army man as we headed back to TSMM for our fastpass return.

We also got to see Luxo, Jr. put on a fun little show. It always surprises me how much emotion and personality Disney manages to create in completely inanimate objects! Take Wall-E for example. It doesn't get any better than that.

After TSMM Danny went to meet Kathy at the front of the park and Derek, Brett and I made our way to the Muppet courtyard via the Backlot area, stopping for a coke along the way.

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

Oh how I love the muppets! I’m especially excited Disney has chosen to use them so prevalently in this new marketing campaign. And I can’t wait to see the Muppet Mobile Lab in Epcot on our next visit since we seemed to miss it years ago when it was around.

I love that the wait time is posted by the Muppet Labs Department of Wild Guesses! It’s as absurd as Dolores Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic’s ludicrous decrees in the Order of the Phoenix.

After the show we hopped on over to the Stage One Company Store and picked up this little guy! We’re in the process of gathering up all of the muppets for our Christmas tree collection and it was Beaker’s turn to come home with us!

Meep!

Some shots of the Stage One Company Store:

HollyBelle · Jan 20, 2010

We were closing in on 1:00pm so we checked in for our lunch reservations at Mama Melrose’s. The lobby area was absolutely packed with people, who, from what I could tell were trying to get walk ups. We, on the other hand, were seated about 5-10 minutes after checking in. Brett and I hadn’t eaten here in a really long time, something like 3-4 years if I recall. It seems that each time it made the reservation list it got cancelled for one reason or another. I’m really glad we were finally able to keep it because lunch was perfect, both from a taste and ambience perspective.

For lunch, Brett had the chicken parmigiana, which he was really pleased with. He said the spaghetti was just your average spaghetti but the chicken had a nice flavor:

I decided to try the grilled chicken flatbread with sun-dried tomato pesto, pancetta, chives and asiago cheese. It was delicious! The pancetta added just the right balance of salt and the flavors really went well together. I appreciated that it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill pizza. Plus the dough was baked to perfection.

Brett’s parents and brother all had pizzas, as well. I think they stuck with the four cheese and pepperoni, but overall everyone was satisfied with the meal. After hearing so-so reviews of Mama Melrose’s I was pleasantly surprised and we’ll likely return for lunch again sometime in the near future. It certainly won’t be another 3-4 years.

Derek wanted to get dessert at Starring Rolls so we headed back towards the front of the park after lunch. I snapped a pic of Derek’s cupcake before he had a chance to dig in. Mmmm… if only I hadn’t been too full from lunch:

The cool thing about this stop at Starring Rolls is that the receipt came with a fun surprise. Basically, if it was turned in at the World of Disney (or any of the four major stores at the theme parks: Emporium, MouseGear, Island Mercantile, Mickey’s of Hollywood) the purchaser would receive 20% off his/her ENTIRE purchase! What?!? That’s crazy talk. It had to be used within like 72 hours, but what a deal. Derek gave it to Kathy who made good use of that 20% off on her purchases at WOD the next day.

I went back and checked our receipt from earlier in the stay and it didn’t have the deal on it. So I’m not sure if it is a random thing that prints out on every so many receipts or if it was just something they were doing that day. Suffice to say… check your receipts people!!

Up next: The DVC member mixer!

Brett · Jan 20, 2010

I loved how the Green Army man we met there was just checking out the merchandise in the shop before we flexed. At one point, he was getting frustrated with the ID Tag maker behind us and was going to blow it with a grenade! :ROFLOL:

Nicole220 · Jan 20, 2010

Beautiful pictures! I love the food pictures. :slurp:

This is great. I'm still in a post-Disney depression and this has made me feel like I'm back there.

HollyBelle said:
Each shirt featured a character and nickname (to a degree). Danny’s (Mr. Moneybags) featured Scrooge McDuck for the obvious reasons; Derek’s (Beefy) featured Hercules because of the nickname Brett adorned him with back when he started working out all the time; Kathy’s (Kitty Kat) featured Tigger because he’s one of her favorites and represents her love of all things Clemson; Brett’s (#%@&$!) featured Donald because he and the Duck share the same sentiments about having to wear matching t-shirts; and mine (#1 Tink Fan) featured Tinkerbell because Brett’s parents (especially Danny) get the biggest kick out of my complete and total distaste for all things Tink.

We were going to do this for our trip! :lol: Nicknames and characters and everything.

disneygirl1 · Jan 20, 2010

Great update Holly!!! I too will be interested to see where the new training area is moved to during and after the Fantasyland construction! So can't wait for the project to be complete!

popsicletrees · Jan 20, 2010

All of your food pictures are making me want to expand my must-try dining list. Jordan and I definitely want to try one of the miniature golf courses possibly on our next trip. Maybe we will do Fantasia Gardens first to get the more bland of the two out of the way.

mouselvrmom · Jan 20, 2010

I can't believe you're such a queue abuser. :lookaroun:lol::lol:

ClemsonTigger · Jan 20, 2010

This report will be done just in time for the start of princess 1/2 marathon report..... :animwink: :lol:

maggiegrace1 · Jan 21, 2010

Loving it!..Great pictures and you all look to be having so much fun!

I am craving Disney a whole lot more thanks to this report!..

Pluto Princess · Jan 21, 2010

I love your trip reports Holly! It looks like you guys had a great time! Cant wait for the rest.

HollyBelle · Jan 21, 2010

Brett said:
I loved how the Green Army man we met there was just checking out the merchandise in the shop before we flexed. At one point, he was getting frustrated with the ID Tag maker behind us and was going to blow it with a grenade! :ROFLOL:

Whew! I thought you'd given up on my report. :lol:

Nicole220 said:
Beautiful pictures! I love the food pictures. :slurp:

This is great. I'm still in a post-Disney depression and this has made me feel like I'm back there.

We were going to do this for our trip! Nicknames and characters and everything.

Thanks, Nicole. That's funny about the t-shirts. I know all to well about that post-Disney depression. Yuck.

disneygirl1 said:
Great update Holly!!! I too will be interested to see where the new training area is moved to during and after the Fantasyland construction! So can't wait for the project to be complete!

Just in the last day or two, I read somewhere that Canada is a fairly new training spot and apparently they're talking about using the Pocahontas show area over in AK. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

popsicletrees said:
All of your food pictures are making me want to expand my must-try dining list. Jordan and I definitely want to try one of the miniature golf courses possibly on our next trip. Maybe we will do Fantasia Gardens first to get the more bland of the two out of the way.

Winter Summerland actually has two separate courses...a winter one and a summer one, both of which are better than Fantasia Gardens. But I completely understand the approach of knocking out the more boring first. I'd do the same thing... I think that's why I'm going to steal your idea to do Universal first on our next trip.

mouselvrmom said:
I can't believe you're such a queue abuser. :lookaroun:lol:

I know, right?! And that's coming from two line nazis. We're usually total rule followers. :lol: But it seemed pointless to sit there in the courtyard and wait when we could be doing something else with our time.

ClemsonTigger said:
This report will be done just in time for the start of princess 1/2 marathon report..... :animwink: :lol:

Hmm... T minus 43 days and counting. You might be right!

maggiegrace1 said:
Loving it!..Great pictures and you all look to be having so much fun!

I am craving Disney a whole lot more thanks to this report!..

Thank you! We were definitely having fun so I'm glad it shows. Here's hoping you have a trip planned to really fulfill the Disney cravings!

HollyBelle · Jan 21, 2010

Pluto Princess said:
I love your trip reports Holly! It looks like you guys had a great time! Cant wait for the rest.

Thanks, Pluto Princess! I hope to have it all finished by Saturday. :sohappy:

HollyBelle · Jan 21, 2010

We bid farewell to the Studios and headed back to the villa. Derek took off to explore the MK and the rest of us grabbed our Santa hats (a gift from Kathy who adores her Santa hat!) and took off for the DVC Member Mixer. Look at that… the BCV elevator:

I had read that the line for the mixer gets pretty long so we wanted to get there kind of early. We arrived around 2:30 and there were probably about 20 or so people in front of us. It rained off and on while we were waiting in line, which was growing in size at an exponential rate. Around 3:30 when it was time for the mixer to start we were let into the tents and given stickers, and complimentary rice krispie treats. Mmmmm…. snack!

The tent (for those of you who are curious). This was before it became super packed with people. If you look closely you can see Pluto working the crowd.

Of course, I’m sure everyone knows why Brett and I wanted to go to the party. That’s right… characters! I came across a picture of Donald and Daisy all dressed up in their Christmas finery from one of the 2008 mixers and I was just holding out hope that they’d be attending again this year. I asked a CM about the line up and she said they couldn’t make it, but Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale were ready to celebrate the season! We saw Pluto as soon as he walked in and took a quick picture with him.

For the next 20-30 minutes we watched as Pluto worked the crowd. I’ve never seen such a thing. He didn’t have a line and he didn’t stay still long enough for a line to form. He just moseyed around the event stopping to take pictures with everyone as he went. I’m really surprised it worked out so well this way and he didn’t get mobbed. He was so perfectly in character and I enjoyed watching him “play” with a lady and her guest assistance dog. He was down on all fours with the dog and then getting her to pet him, too. So fun!

Mickey and Minnie didn't have the luxury of working the crowd... instead they had a nice queue all set up and ready for them when they got there:

Because we have a pretty good idea of how the character sets work, we decided to get right back in Mickey’s and Minnie’s line because we figured they’d be switching out with Chip and Dale and this way we’d be near the front when the munks got there. Worked like a charm. We were one family back when the switch took place.

And when Goofy switched out with Pluto, he sure made an entrance, dancing along with his umbrella!

I love this capture:

Unlike Pluto, Goofy didn’t have a chance to meander about. The place was quite packed at this point so he set up shop and a line formed instantaneously. It was getting hard to move about so we decided to head on back to the villa and freshen up for the evening ahead. On our way out the CMs were handing out little pewter DVC ornaments. Cute!

HollyBelle · Jan 21, 2010

We had dinner reservations in World Showcase, but Brett and I decided to go back to the Studios for an hour or two and hopefully catch the Osborne Lights. We had gotten to this point in the trip before I realized it was our last night and I hadn’t gotten to see them yet.

The woes of seeing your trip come to an end.

We didn’t have much time, so we just wandered about for a little bit. We went to see Mickey in the Animation Academy. Brett and I always try to get different poses with the characters just for the sake of having a fun picture. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We hadn’t been too successful throughout most of this trip… but we did find success with Sorcerer Mickey. Here’s what we came up with. I love it!

Frozone wasn’t getting any love so Brett stopped to ride an icy wave with him on our way out.

We headed over to One Man’s Dream to burn a little time. I’m not really a fan of museum style exhibits, but this one’s not too bad.

Next we strolled back towards the Streets of America. It was still too early for them to turn the lights on, but too late for us to catch another ride before they did so we just wandered around and waited. You know how there’s always a moment when it hits you that the trip is almost over… this was it for me. By the time they actually turned the lights on the place was crazy packed and we didn’t have time to wait out the people so we could truly enjoy the lights. So I snapped a quick picture and we headed for the entrance gates.

HollyBelle · Jan 21, 2010

We met up with Kathy and Danny in the BCV Breezeway with plans to catch up with Derek when we got to Epcot. He was monorailing back from the Magic Kingdom when we spoke to him. We headed straight for the Japan pavilion to check in at Teppan Edo for our 7 pm reservations. We were told at check-in that they were running behind and it would likely be 45 minutes to an hour before we were seated. Luckily, it ended up being about 30 minutes instead.

It’s been awhile since we’ve eaten here; Brett and I hadn’t been since the refurb a while back. We’ve put it off from trip to trip simply because they don’t take Tables in Wonderland and we try to limit the number of visits to non-TiW restaurants each trip, just for the sake of feeling like we’re saving some moolah. :lol: A side note: I was very excited to see many restaurants that have not previously participated in TiW add themselves to the list recently. Now that Bluezoo is participating we’re super excited for a return trip there, as well as Il Mulino and Portobello’s.

Back on track… for dinner we had multiple variations of chicken, shrimp and steak on our plates. No surprise there. And of course, if you don’t already know this, Teppan Edo does not serve fried rice. Instead they serve steamed white rice and udon noodles with the entrees. Very good! Our chef was Yukiko. And she was fabulous!!

Also dining with us at our table were two teenagers across the way. In trying to figure out the dynamic, Brett and I decided they reminded us of George Michael and Maeby of Arrested Development fame. :ROFLOL: Only the roles were reversed (for those of you unfamiliar with Arrested Development, that’s what Netflix is for... check it out)!

After dinner Brett and I took off for Future World and rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I’m actually quite shocked we didn’t ride it at any point prior in the trip.

We hit up Spaceship Earth for one last ride and then spent some time perusing MouseGear before going back to the villa to pack up. Brett and I always stretch our last day out and we decided it would be better if we were all packed up and called bell services before breakfast so we wouldn’t have to waste time going back to the room. That meant having everything ready to go by 7:15 am or so. Yuck.

Up next: breakfast at Kona and one last stop at the Magic Kingdom.

ClemsonTigger · Jan 21, 2010

Nearing the end and the excitement continues to build! :lol:

I like rice crispy treats...but those packaged ones are a pile of sugar with a few rice crispies to provide a base....just too sweet for my taste!

Character photo's at the mixer were outstanding! Definite keepers.

When waiting for Osborne lights, I like to mingle around mid street. Mulch Sweat and Shears usually does a last set there of only their Christmas music, and its a great irreverent segue to the lighing of the street.

Celebrating Christmas at the Cape: A December 2009 Trip Report

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