Trip Report **COMPLETED** A Grand Christmas Trip (in November!)

Hey all! We have been back for about a week now so I will slowly work on my Trip Report :) Not sure if anyone even knew I went on this trip aside from people who follow me on IG and snapchat :joyfull:

Who?
Who else...my Mom (Mary) and I (Megan)
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When?
November 16-19

Where?
The Grand Floridian :) First time stay for us....and won't be the last! We fell in love! :inlove:
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Why?
We wanted to see the Christmas decorations...and well, why not?

T-1 Day November 15, 2017
We had a very early morning flight so instead of making my Dad get up early to drive us we planned on staying at a hotel across the street from the airport the night before. For some reason this plan continued to morph and we decided we should eat at the Cracker Barrel before going to the hotel. I have no idea why but it felt like a thing people do before Disney trips and we had never been before so why not?
So, after a busy day at work I headed to my parents house and we packed up the car and drove off to dinner.
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My Mom and I both got the Southern Chicken biscuits
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We both got Mac and Cheese and she got fries while I got hashbrown casserole (which had a bit too much onion for my taste).
My Dad got the chicken fried chicken (with mashed potatoes and hashbrown casserole) just because it seemed like a thing people eat in the South/at Cracker Barrel. I don't know...we are very Northern :)
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Yum!!! I have no idea why it took us so long to eat at Cracker Barrel but we really enjoyed it! It was way too much food though, my Mom and I should have shared. My Dad ate the rest of it over 2 meals the next day :joyfull:
Is it a visit to Cracker Barrel without a rocking chair picture?
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Anyway, after dinner my Dad drove us to the hotel and dropped us off. The worker was like "where are you visiting from?!" and we sheepishly said we were from here and just staying over for an early flight :p
We dropped our stuff off in our room and headed to the bar for a drink but it was full of business men who were sitting every other seat and we didn't feel like asking someone to move over or having to make awkward/polite small talk so we went back to the room. :p I talk to people all day long...sometimes I just don't want to talk anymore!
This is the only picture I have of the room because I thought it was funny that the phone was extra old :)
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We watched some TV then went off to bed early.....only we didn't. We were on the first floor and could hear everything outside including cars parking, backing up beeping, etc etc. :banghead:

Day 1 November 16, 2017
After a very eventful night of minimal sleep we both got up around 3:30 to get ready. We have an early flight coming up in a few months and we, after some discussion, decided it was not worth staying at the hotel the night before again. Too hard to sleep. If I am going to have to get up early I would rather it be from my own bed (because yes I still have a bed at my parents house...because I'm the baby child aka the most important :joyfull:) :hilarious:
I know you guys think these pictures are weird but its our tradition!
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Next up: flight time
 

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Thank you!! We sadly always wear matching outfits and only half the time its on purpose :joyfull: My Mom is also a great fan of zoom....it took like 10 takes the get the picture I wanted :p



They were on the side entrance. If you went to the party after the park already closed you may have just gone down Main Street and missed the actual entrance to the party

That must be it. We arrived fairly late. Went straight to Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, I looked around for a moment and didn’t see the ornament, decided to just move on.


We were at the coolest coffee shop in Belize, a woman and daughter make their own vegan ice cream bars, coffee is organic, wonderful selections of fresh squeezed juices, entire atmosphere is fabulous.. I wanted a photo of myself in this haven.
Here’s my son’s photography-
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becca_

Well-Known Member
That must be it. We arrived fairly late. Went straight to Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, I looked around for a moment and didn’t see the ornament, decided to just move on.


We were at the coolest coffee shop in Belize, a woman and daughter make their own vegan ice cream bars, coffee is organic, wonderful selections of fresh squeezed juices, entire atmosphere is fabulous.. I wanted a photo of myself in this haven.
Here’s my son’s photography-
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Hahahahahah this is amazing :hilarious::hilarious::hilarious:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That must be it. We arrived fairly late. Went straight to Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, I looked around for a moment and didn’t see the ornament, decided to just move on.
We were at the coolest coffee shop in Belize, a woman and daughter make their own vegan ice cream bars, coffee is organic, wonderful selections of fresh squeezed juices, entire atmosphere is fabulous.. I wanted a photo of myself in this haven.
Here’s my son’s photography-
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Oh no!!! That is pretty bad...you win :)

I’m not a Bills fan, but I am happy with the playoff situation. My team won’t be there.. we did prevent another team from making it, so that made my NYE. ;)

Coming from a team that usually ended up doing nothing but kicking out teams for the past 17 years I appreciate it

It should be “ Thank a Bengals Day” in Buffalo today ;)
Joking.. I’d love to see the Bills win it all, for no other reason than to switch things up in the NFL.

Theres this
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krisri18

Well-Known Member
Day 3 continued
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We had quite a bit of a wait for our waitress to come over and the slow service would continue throughout the entire meal. Finally she came to our table (despite being at like everyone else tables several times before us) and we placed our order all at once. We decided to each get a salad and split an entree. The waitress was NOT thrilled that we were sharing :cautious:. Like my Mom said although its nice that we save money when we share we don't do it it for that reason...we do it because otherwise its a waste of food for us!
We did eventually get some bread
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It came with bone marrow butter that I had all to myself because it grossed my Mom out...it was delicious!
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For salads my Mom ordered the local greens salad with Champagne vinaigrette
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This was yummy!
I ordered the Cobb salad because it felt like the thing to do. I wasn't originally going to because I was worried I wouldn't like all the things combined together and I was worried the turkey and egg would gross me out (I'm a weird eater). However, I am SO glad I ordered this!!! It was soooooooo good!!!!! I could have eaten all of it but needed to save room for dinner!
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My Mom tried some of it and liked it too!
For an entree we split the charred filet of beef...only they essentially threw it down at us without asking if we needed anything and we did indeed need a fork and knife....to cut our steak....and eat our food (they took the utensils with the salads) :oops: We waited quite a bit and our waitress never showed up so my Mom literally chased down a hostess to ask for silverware who was put out because thats not her job :banghead:
Although it was fairly cold by the time we ate it it was still delicious!
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So overall food at the Hollywood Brown Derby A+ Service F
We will be back but aside from maybe the lounge I don't think we will go back anytime soon.
After dinner we walked around the front of the park some more, Facetimed my sister and took some random pictures. We considered waiting in line for a PP picture of the tree but the line was insane and we had places to be so we took our own pictures (with a nice speaker appearance :joyfull:)
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Next Up: it's a party!
That's our opinion of the Brown Derby too!! Food was great, service terrible! And we definitely felt underdressed, even in our better than usual park attire. Our waitress clearly wanted nothing to do with us. We were at a tiny 2 person table off to the side too, maybe that's a bad spot....
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That's our opinion of the Brown Derby too!! Food was great, service terrible! And we definitely felt underdressed, even in our better than usual park attire. Our waitress clearly wanted nothing to do with us. We were at a tiny 2 person table off to the side too, maybe that's a bad spot....

Oh I am glad I am not alone! Did you guys do the dining package for Fantastic? We didn't and it seemed like those people who did got more attention maybe..I don't know...maybe it was just a bad spot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
Oh, we did stop to briefly see the new Tower of Terror projection Christmas show! It was so cool but we were running short on time so had to just watch it from afar. Something to do next time we come around Christmas time!
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Our final destination in Hollywood Studios was the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam Dessert party! Even though this party didn't get super great reviews we wanted to try it out ourselves so I booked it. It was in the courtyard right in front of the Great Movie Ride.
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We realized pretty quickly we would be sharing a table...eek...we usually avoid things where we have to share a table (despite having a YouTube channel I am very shy). Fortunately the couple we were with said a few things and then nothing else so it was pretty comfortable. We also noticed how there were way too many tables in there. Every table was uncomfortably close and even the CMs trying to clean up things were really struggling. I didn't take any pictures because it was very dark in there and I didn't want to disturb the couple we were with. We both had a cocktail but my notes are terrible. Mine was gingerbread but I have no idea what my Mom's was other than it was a punch. They were both really good though! We weren't super hungry but I tried some of the cheese (shocker), cheese fondue, and spinach dip. I liked that they had multiple non dessert options for people like me who don't really like desserts (although I realize it is indeed a dessert party). They also had cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, Yule logs, chocolate fondue, tons of nonalcoholic drinks, etc. Everything we tried (except for maybe the spinach dip) was super yummy! Way more food options than the MK dessert parties and we liked the options of alcoholic beverages too. Another nice thing is you get a time to meet Santa Goofy instead of everyone waiting in line at the same time!
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He spent so much time with us! Back at our table we got a special gift (an ornament) and we relaxed a bit while the husband part of the couple across from us fell asleep. :joyfull:
At one point we did walk out of the party to go to the bathroom and also stopped for a PP picture
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You also get 3D glasses to see dancing candy canes everywhere which is a cool touch!
At first I didn't realize we would move to a viewing spot but I am glad we did because it was right in front of the theatre, you could sit on the ground and it was more comfortable than the crowded tables at the party :) My Mom was SO confused about what was happening, about moving and at one point asked me if the show would be real people coming out on a stage or something :p:p:p
Anyway we also got to watch Disney Movie Magic for the first time too :)
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Next up: more projections
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
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Finally it was time for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam. I made sure we watched the movie Prep and Landing before we left so we would have a clue what was going on but it definitely wasn't necessary because it had a ton of other characters in there as well. I mean, the movie was cute so its not like we regretted watching it :)
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The show was great! The music was awesome, the projections were so cool and the fireworks were just an added bonus :) Overall we had a fantastic time. The only negative was honestly how crowded the tables were (I did also write that in the survey they sent us). I realize its over now but I highly recommend it for next year if they keep it :)
After the show we headed out
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We went off to bed early because we had a very early DME :)

Next up: last morning
 

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