Trip Report *COMPLETED* Hap-bee Holidays! 🐝

We're back! Okay, we have been back for weeks now but I am just getting around to starting this TR. "December was crazy, but January will be better," she told herself. Except, she didn't account for all the things she got behind on in December and now has to catch up on. And now she's going totally nuts, talking about herself in the third person. Enough excuses, let's get this party started!

Who: Me and M, with a few special guests (BOTH of our parents and brothers)
What: A Disney trip, of course! With a side of family time.
Where: The Swan (and Jacksonville)
When: December 26-January 4
Why: Because those Annual Passes aren't going to use themselves!
How: I'm still asking myself this.

Note: I almost called this "The One Where Everything Goes Wrong," because, well, A LOT went wrong. Illness, injury, family dramma, unfortunate planning (or lack thereof), travel changes, and probably more that I have conveniently "forgotten." But, despite multiple setbacks, we really did have a nice time and everything worked out in the end!

 

[bee]

Day 6, cont.

After lunch/dinner (linner?) we had a FP for Living with the Land. We may have also had Soarin' but I have no photographic evidence and I honestly don't remember for sure. But I definitely have photographic evidence we rode LWTL!

FIX THIS DISNEY!!!

MICKEY

Festive Fish

Up next: More drinks! Happy New Year!

 

[Disstevefan1]

Day 6, cont.

Six months before the trip I had made a lunch reservation for just M and me since lines for QS can get very long and we wanted to make sure we had a place to eat. Then my brother upgraded his AP so he'd be able to join us on NYE, but OF COURSE I couldn't find a reservation for 3 at the restaurant we wanted. I managed reservations for 3 at some other places, but luckily a day or two before, one opened up for a late lunch/early dinner at our original choices. And in case you didn't guess from my last post, our destination was Biergarten!

We checked in a bit before our reservation time of 3:30 and, as expected, had to wait for a while until our pager went off.

My brother attempting to get us another FP for later

We were seated with a couple and a family of three who spoke little English and had the dad interpret everything for the waiter. Speaking of our server, we were assigned to Antony and he was great. The family of three didn't understand that they were supposed to wait for the server to take drink orders and THEN go to the buffet, so it slowed down the ordering process a bit, but Antony handled it just fine.

When we first arrived the band was in the middle of their show and we had missed the first half. So we decided to stay at least until that point in the next show.

Berlin. Bear-lin.

Around dessert time the next show started and we actually stayed around for the entire thing because they were playing a few different songs than usual, probably because of the holidays.

Once again we had a wonderful meal and experience at Biergarten. And despite what some may have assumed (*cough @Darstarr *cough) we didn't actually consume any Bier at Biergarten. Since NYE is a blockout date for Tables in Wonderland we could only use our 10% AP discount, and alcohol isn't discounted for APs. Plus, we had plenty of Bier in the fridge in our room!

Up next: Vegetable Boat!

We love the Biergarten, especially during the holidays! I never knew TiW had blackout dates!!! Boo Disney!

 

[bee]

We love the Biergarten, especially during the holidays! I never knew TiW had blackout dates!!! Boo Disney!

Yep, it has a few. They are mostly popular food holidays like Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It doesn’t usually affect us too much because of our travel dates, but we did have to plan our meals around it on this trip on NYE and NYD.

 

[bee]

Day 6, cont.

Our original plan today was to stay in the park for the Epcot Forever early show, but we found out from a CM that the early show wouldn't include the NYE tag. So instead of waiting around in the crowds until 6:30 we all decided to leave the park around 5:30.

I think we just missed a boat because we decided to walk. It was a very pleasant and cool evening for a walk around Crescent Lake.

We stopped in our room in the Swan because we had a present for Jay that I didn't want to give him in front of my parents. It is an intro to wine book and my parents don't drink at all and believe alcohol is evil so I was NOT about to start extra drama over it. Then we decided to go down to the lobby and have some Chill beverages.

I think Jay had a margarita, and M and I shared a vodka lemonade.

Jay left after our drinks and (I think) went to DHS for a bit. M and I were done with parks and excitement for the day and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our room.

When I checked the TV Guide I saw that PBS was showing the NY Phil playing Sondheim LIVE!

BERNADETTE!!!

If you didn't already know this about me, I am a big music nerd, and theatre nerd, and I LOVE Sondheim!!! The concert was mostly the orchestra playing instrumental arrangements of his songs from various musicals. Bernadette hosted and (I think) sang one song with Katrina Lenk.

We showered and pretty much got ready for bed. We intended to stay up until midnight so we could have our traditional toast, but then we planned to go right to bed because we are old. We'd bought a bottle of Prosecco at Publix so we popped the cork and sipped while we waited for the fireworks.

The photos don't do it justice, but we could see both Epcot and Hollywood Studios fireworks from our room! Having a private double fireworks show sure beat pushing through crowds of strangers!!

As I mentioned before, we went right to bed after the show because we still had three more full Disney days coming up!

Up next: Day 7! Epcot! Food! Rides!

 

[bee]

Day 7: Wednesday, January 1, 2020 (!!)

I am sure no one is surprised to learn that we slept in this morning. We had a few afternoon FPs and plans for an early dinner but no morning plans. I am also trying to figure out why I have photos of walking to the front entrance of Epcot. I am thinking my brother drove to the Swan, picked us up, and we parked in Epcot parking so we could all meet up sooner and he could just leave straight from the park after dinner. So, enjoy these photos that I'm still a bit confused about.

We had a LWTL FP, but first we shared a light lunch to tide us over until dinner.

This was...okay. I think I ended up adding hot sauce to everything.

The fake sunflower wreath looks great while the real sunflower plants whither away.

Next we had a Nemo FP, and actually needed it today.

WHO LOST THEIR STICKERS???

Up next: Dinner at an old favorite

 

[MinnieM123]

As a fellow Swolfin fan, I liked that nighttime photo of the red and green lights projected on the Dolphin -- festive, yet understated. Nice.

 

[bee]

As a fellow Swolfin fan, I liked that nighttime photo of the red and green lights projected on the Dolphin -- festive, yet understated. Nice.

I love it too!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

After Nemo we walked through WallCot to get into World Showcase. But just barely into World Showcase.

We checked in at La Hacienda de San Angel and were seated almost immediately. Our server, Tito, greeted us and took our drink orders.

We also received our complimentary chips and salsa.

The salsa recipe has changed since the last time we were there, and for the better. The chips were also luxuriously thick with a nice crunch and flavor.

Orange Mango Fire Margarita for me. YUM! M and Jay each tried a sip of mine, but M was still being cautious after her stomach bug and Jay was driving soon after so neither of them had their own drinks.

Pumpkin seed guacamole for the table. YUUUMMMMM.

Jay had the Enchiladas de Vegetales. I tried a bite and YUMMMMMMM (are you noticing a theme here?).

I somehow didn't get a photo of the entree M and I shared (Tacos de Vegetales) but here is a photo I stole from a Vegan Disney blog:

Ours looked basically the same but had cheese as well. Also YUM.

Our meals also came with family style beans and rice (oops, not pictured).

We all enjoyed the food, service, and atmosphere. If there was one minor snag it was that when Tito brought the final check after running my card, he forgot to bring a pen so we couldn't write down the tip and total! We were able to flag down a different server who brought us a pen. Another downside is that La Hacienda doesn't accept Tables in Wonderland, but since New Year's Day is a blockout date anyway we decided to eat there. Considering we almost definitely won't get APs again and therefore won't be able to get TiW again, we are pretty likely to come back on a future trip!

Up next: RIP Maelstrom

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

After dinner we said goodbye to Jay, who had to drive back to Jacksonville and work the next day. M and I had a FP in Epcot for later in the evening so we walked back out the International Gateway to have a rest in the room.

It's almost a nice picture...until you see the skeleton of Innoventions.

We waited a few minutes for a boat to the Swolphin.

We relaxed in the room for a bit before heading back out to the boat dock.

Once inside the park we headed to our next FP location. Any guesses??

Up next: Wrapping up the night

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

Observant readers may have noticed that the last photo in the post above was of Akershus in Norway. And that means our FP was for...

Olaf, u ok??

That's better

After Frozen we had no desire to wait around for Epcot Forever or to wait on line for any other rides, so we headed back to the Swan for the evening.

On the way we stopped for a beverage!

Iced chai with Baileys!

We also decided to walk back to the hotel so we could stop at Boardwalk bakery for some dessert AND for breakfast for the next day.

Cookie!

Fudge!

For most of the trip and leading up to it, we had no intentions of even attempting to get up early and ride Rise of the Resistance. We are NOT morning people, on vacation or at home, and we hate the rush of rope drop/morning crowds. But we also knew we wouldn't be back for awhile (relatively speaking anyway) and since we were staying at the Swan and could walk over to DHS, we decided to just suck it up and get up early the next day. I asked my brother for timing advice so we planned to arrive at the park at 6:30 for a 7:00 opening. We showered and had a relatively early bedtime.

Up next: Day 8! Will we make it to Rise? Will we make it out of bed???

 

[bee]

Sorry for the huge gaps in posting lately. The last few weeks (okay this entire year so far!) have been very busy, mostly in good ways. Earlier this month I signed with an artists management agency, which means that I now have managers who can get auditions for me that I couldn't get for myself. I have been busy updating all my press materials (videos, resume, bio, reviews, photos, etc.) for their website so that when potential employers (opera companies and concert presenting organizations) view my page they can get a good idea of my voice and abilities. I also teach voice and piano lessons and am the music director for a musical theatre class, and lots of my students are working on auditions for college, summer programs, musicals, films, etc. All that to say I have had very little free time to work on fun things like trip reports! I hope I can finish this one by the end of the month but no guarantees!

Day 8: Thursday, January 2

We did indeed make it out of bed at 5:45. I take medication in the morning that requires an empty stomach so I can't eat until half an hour after I take it, so we just got dressed and brought our portable breakfast with us to eat on the way. We left a few minutes after 6:00 and began the walk toward DHS. We were far from the only people with this idea as lots of guests staying at the Swolphin, Boardwalk, and Yacht/Beach Clubs were also taking the walking path. Lots of them were RUNNING to get to the park faster and NGL it was stressing me out!

We finally made it to the security lines at 6:30, which weren't terrible but didn't exactly move quicky (and we didn't have bags).

We tapped into the park at 6:44 and made sure our apps were working. We didn't feel the need to push our way to the front of the crowd because we weren't intending to RD Slinky or anything, so we just hung out by a little merch kiosk near the tapstyles.

There was at least one loudspeaker announcement (maybe two?) about the boarding group process before the official park opening. At exactly 7:00 the app started allowing guests to join boarding groups. We both had our phones out in case one of ours was slow or not working and by 7:01 we had joined boarding group 50. Not too bad if I say so myself.

By the time we got past Sunset Boulevard the wait for Slinky was already posted at 150 minutes (no thanks!) so we rode A*S*S instead.

It was fun and the wait was short so we considered going again, but coffee was a bigger priority as we hadn't had any yet.

We did Mobile Order from Woody's and sat in the seating area for awhile as we enjoyed our iced coffee and people-watched.

Up next: More waiting

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Glad to hear you’ve been MIA for positive reasons!

 

[Swissmiss]

I just saw this in an email from the Disney Food Blog ... so of COURSE I thought immediately of you

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

We finished our coffee and left TSL around 8:30. It seemed like RotR was functioning pretty well today as the boarding groups were moving along at a pretty quick pace. All the rides worth riding had very long lines and the shows hadn't started yet so we decided to just people watch near the Chinese Theater.

The smell of Disney popcorn wafted through the air and we noticed that we were surrounded by competing popcorn stands!

Apologies to the folks in this photo, but the point is POPCORN...

...and more POPCORN!

We simply couldn't resist sharing some!

The boarding groups were still moving along so we decided to go back to Galaxy's Edge around 9:30.

We still hadn't tried blue or green milk and needed to fix that!

Initially I suggested we get one of each so we could try both but M wisely said it would be better to just try one in case we hated them.

M's idea not to buy two milks turned out to be VERY wise because neither of us cared for it. To me it tasted like a weak, melted Dole Whip. Why pay $8 for this when I can get an actual Dole Whip (that I will actually enjoy) for $5??

SWGE was pretty crowded so we exited and sat in the Muppets area for a bit and took turns using the bathroom nearby. And then, a few minutes after 10:00am, I got the notification that our boarding group had been called!

Up next: We RISE!

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

We walked back into SWGE and approached the army of CMs who were scanning MagicBands to verify boarding groups. We got through quickly and entered the queue. I'm going to put all my photos under a Spoiler button in case anyone hasn't ridden yet and is avoiding spoilers.

Spoiler: Rise Photos/Experience

Found the ice cream maker!

(It's a reference to this guy, in case you didn't know: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Willrow_Hood)

The queue moved pretty quickly and we were in the first pre-show area within about 15 minutes.

Spoiler: More Rise

M and I were both very happy to see Rey!

Up next: MORE Rise!

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

Spoiler: MORE Rise

The First Order CMs were seriously in character and quite intimidating! At one point I was admonished, "Don't lean on my ship!"

The use of outdoor areas was really impressive!

Did we love the ride? Yes! Was it worth getting up before 6:00am on vacation and being glued to our phones while waiting for boarding groups to open? Yes, at least once. Will we do this again? Hard to say. I reeeeeeeally hope Disney adds FP, or adds another way to guarantee a ride that doesn't require getting up at the buttcrack of dawn and rushing in with all the other hordes doing the same. I know I have mentioned that M and I are not morning people and getting up that early on vacation is just not fun for us. So while I would really like to enjoy Rise again, I don't know that we will until the whole queue system changes.

Up next: Back to the Swolphin, and lunch!

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

After Rise we didn't see much reason to stay in DHS as lines were long and we couldn't get any good FPs. So we made our way toward the exit, but not before getting a very bad photo of Gertie.

We had great luck with transportation as a Friendship was just arriving at the DHS dock as we exited the park.

BOAT!!!!

It was nearing an appropriate lunch time and we were starving due to our early morning. We decided we wanted something available at the Swolphin so we could enjoy some resort time in the afternoon.

Bye, boat!

"But wait, Bee, weren't you staying at the Swan?"
"Yes, my friend, but we decided to eat at The Fountain in the Dolphin!"

The Fountain had just opened and we were the first guests to eat there for the day.

M and I are big It's Always Sunny fans and immediately thought of this:

SO ANYWAY, Christian was our server and he was great. We both ordered Coke Zeros for an extra caffeine boost and he kept them filled.

We shared the pretzel bites with cheese dip as an appetizer. We have gotten this before and it's always great!

We also shared the veggie burger and the kitchen was kind enough to split it into two plates for us.

It's a good thing we shared because the burger had TWO veg patties, so we each still ate an entire patty!

We ended up taking most of our fries to go. Everything was very tasty and well-prepared, and the prices are quite reasonable for the large portions. The Fountain is one of the few restaurants that doesn't take Tables in Wonderland but we still frequent anyway because it's so good.

We walked back to the Swan so we could rest for a bit before our big evening plans!

Who knows what's missing from this spot?

Up next: Back to a park! Which one could it be??

 

[Darstarr]

And your pictures still blow mine away! Even the “bad” one of Gertie is way more betterer than any of mine

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

We enjoyed a nap in the room and felt much better upon waking. Around 4:30 we left the room to head to Epcot.

We juuust missed a boat so we walked via the Boardwalk.

The timing worked out so that we could catch the same boat at the Boardwalk for the rest of the journey to Epcot.

Soon we arrived in the park and walked toward our next destination.

I took this photo because two days prior, on NYE, these benches had been removed from the stage area. NO SITTING ALLOWED!!!

We kept walking all the way to the front of the park, because our destination wasn't actually in Epcot!

Up next: Monorail time!

 

[bee]

Day 8, cont.

We took the Epcot monorail to the TTC, and from there we hopped on the resort line.

If you guessed we were going to the Poly, you'd be right!

Once we arrived we immediately went downstairs and outside to Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace.

We picked a table and waited quite a while for our server to greet us and take our drink orders. I am not including his name because the service was just a little weird. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was...weird.

Our server took our drink orders and we tried to ask him a question about the food menu but he disappeared, having seemingly not heard us. When we returned with the drinks he also left as quickly as possible so we still didn't get a chance to ask about food.

Spikey Pineapple for M and HippopotoMai-Tai for me

Finally he came back to check on us and we were able to ask about vegetarian options on the menu. We ordered both of his suggestions and for once he didn't disappear immediately and we were also able to ask for water!

We found it odd that they were serving both water and alcoholic drinks in disposable cups.

FOOD FINALLY! Tofu lettuce wraps and veggie rainbow roll

Everything was very good and we'll definitely be back again. As I said the service was weird but we've always had great service there before so one strange experience won't deter us from returning.

🕷🕸

After dinner I was craving a Dole Whip!

I think the combination of pineapple and vanilla is my favorite Dole Whip flavor. Yum!

From the Poly we could have either taken the monorail to MK and then a bus to the Swan, or monorails back to Epcot and then walked through the park to the Swan. We opted for the Epcot option as it wasn't too late yet and we wanted to avoid the MK entrance madness.

Up next: Finishing up the night