"Is this the Magic Kingdom?" - A November Trip Report

“Is this the Magic Kingdom?!” - A November Holiday Trip Report

53 rides
36 characters
6 table service meals
5 nighttime shows, fireworks and parades
4 and a half days
3 girls
And 2 resorts
All add up to….

One magical Disney getaway!

Hey everyone! I may be home physically, but mentally I’m still in Disney World. We had a GREAT long weekend (or short week, as some people have called it) For those who have read my pre-trip report, you already know the scoop. For those who haven’t, here’s a little run down:

Who:
-Me: Darolyn (or most people call me D) age 28. Disney enthusiast to the max.

DSC07392 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

-Sister: Ashley, age 26. Loves Disney as well but not quite to the same obsessive level as I.

DSC06321 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

-Mama: Terryn, age 29... Again! I thank her for bringing me to WDW at the tender age of 11 months and getting me hooked. I also thank her for buying our timeshare in Kissimmee so we can enjoy a vacation with Mickey and friends every year J

DSC06942 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

We’re all Disney fanatics!! J

Here’s me and my sister (and friend) in 2006

8131_189995891071_674341071_4381286_4635389_n by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And here we are in 2007

n674341071_2766527_4062959 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And at Busch Gardens in 2009 (Yes, sometimes we cheat on Disney… sorry!)

n674341071_2824009_4791285 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

Me and Mama on our 2010 trip

155212_10150099410841072_674341071_7868956_7013788_n by Derelicte19, on Flickr

And May of 2011

DSC07059 by Derelicte19, on Flickr

We visited Disney World together this past May and had a great time. We had originally scheduled our next WDW vacation to be fall of next year, for a week, in our timeshare at Vistana. Well, plans changed. None of us wanted to wait a year and a half so a couple schedule changes, a few number crunches and some reservations had us flying into Orlando on Thursday night November 10 and returning home Tuesday night November 15. Yup, a full year ahead of time. Since we wouldn’t be using the timeshare, we decided to stay on Disney property. Much easier doing that than renting a car and staying off-site (though in the long run, that might have ben cheaper!) We’d stayed at the All Stars a couple times but this time we decided we wanted to go big… deluxe resort big. So we booked a courtyard view room at the Wilderness Lodge for 4 nights and 1 night at the All Star Movies (since our flight wasn’t scheduled to arrive into Orlando til midnight, we couldn’t fathom the idea of spending the $300+ nightly rate when we were arriving so late.)

This trip was a trip of many firsts for us: Our first deluxe resort. Our first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We added 3 new restaurants to our itinerary and also it would be my sisters first time visiting WDW during the holiday season (my mother and I both visited Thanksgiving week back in 2001 and again last November) Also, our first time experiencing the Magical Express and our first time NOT having a rental car and relying completely on Disney transportation.

Now, onto the good stuff…. Enjoy!!
 

disneyny

Member
Really enjoying your trip report so far. You guys remind me of us as I always travelled to Disney with my sister and my "Mama" too. Now we have added "the boys"- my nephew and son, but I learned that my husband was not as good a companion as my mom and sister. He just doesn't get it so he can stay home and I will continue to travel with them and I am of course going to raise my kids to be Disney freaks like me.
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great report so far! That pizza looks so yummy!!

You had a great view at Wilderness Lodge. I can't believe they made you wait outside your room in wet bathing suits!! That is a crazy story!

Yeah, standing in a wet bathing suit in an air conditioned hallway was not fun! The whole thing just seemed really bizzare to me. She was in there for quite awhile making those beds. We checked and everything was still there when we got back and you never want to think anyone would steal your stuff but you just never know.

And we loved our view! Probably won't be able to upgrade to a courtyard view again for awhile so we enjoyed it while we could :)

My bad I was supposed to post this on Tom's TR.

Is there any way for me to BLOCK you from commenting on my TR's?!? haha.... just kiiiiiddding! :p

Really enjoying your trip report so far. You guys remind me of us as I always travelled to Disney with my sister and my "Mama" too. Now we have added "the boys"- my nephew and son, but I learned that my husband was not as good a companion as my mom and sister. He just doesn't get it so he can stay home and I will continue to travel with them and I am of course going to raise my kids to be Disney freaks like me.

I love traveling with my Mom and sister. We have the same travel style.. Up early, stay late. Go, go, go!! lol We tried traveling with my aunt and her two kids last November and we stayed off site with only one vehicle and my aunt never wanted to get to the parks early. She wanted to get there around 10-11am and leave before they closed. And her kids aren't young (16 and 11) and even they wanted to stay. But we couldn't with only one car. It was very frustrating.

I need to make sure I find myself a guy who likes Disney. If he's not into Disney, I'll just have to convert him to a Disney lover!! :)
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Enjoying the report so far. Glad to see more boat captain humor!:)

Looking forward to more!

We had a few funny boat captains. Made the rides more enjoyable :)

Hoping to get another update posted sometime tonight between periods of the Bruins game.... Stay tuned!! :)
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Great start to your report. I can't wait to see your Christmas pictures. I so badly want to go back again at Christmas time. Next time I want to go closer to Christmas so we can see all of the decorations and not just the MK done up for MVMCP. That pizza looks delicious. Via Napoli was already on my list of places to eat next time, but now it is at the top of the list! Can't wait to read more!
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great start to your report. I can't wait to see your Christmas pictures. I so badly want to go back again at Christmas time. Next time I want to go closer to Christmas so we can see all of the decorations and not just the MK done up for MVMCP. That pizza looks delicious. Via Napoli was already on my list of places to eat next time, but now it is at the top of the list! Can't wait to read more!

It's so pretty at Christmas. When we got there, none of the resorts were decorated though.

Via Napoli is definitely a must do on or trips now. The atmosphere in there was really nice too. We sat right next to the ovens so we got to see them making all the pizzas.

Thanks for reading! :)
 

melflip8

Well-Known Member
Tebow is so awesome! I'm a huge Florida Gators fan (as if you couldn't tell by my Florida Gators shirt lol) I'm super pumped he's doing well so far in the NFL!

Great Trip Report....my little brother played baseball and football with Tim at our high school and I was going to UF while he dominated! He's a great guy...keep sporting that orange and blue and GOOO GATORS! :xmas:
 

wishes2013

Well-Known Member
Isn't it so pretty at Christmas? We went last year, and one night when we got back to the resort late, there were decorations and trees ready to be set up and cms everywhere. When we woke up the next morning, the whole hotel was decorated.
I can't wait to hear about mvmcp. We didn't do it last year and I really regret it now. Keep up the great work!
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great Trip Report....my little brother played baseball and football with Tim at our high school and I was going to UF while he dominated! He's a great guy...keep sporting that orange and blue and GOOO GATORS! :xmas:

Thanks for reading! :)

That's awesome. A girl I know went to UF with him as well. She said he's a very nice, laid back guy. Good to see him get another win last night!

Isn't it so pretty at Christmas? We went last year, and one night when we got back to the resort late, there were decorations and trees ready to be set up and cms everywhere. When we woke up the next morning, the whole hotel was decorated.
I can't wait to hear about mvmcp. We didn't do it last year and I really regret it now. Keep up the great work!

Christmas is definitely my favorite time in the parks! :)

I should be getting up the MVMCP portion of the TR possibly tonight or tomorrow!!
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So our little mission we needed to take care of before heading into Magic Kingdom required a monorail trip over to the Polynesian. Sadly, this was our only monorail ride of the trip. Boooo!!

d-mom-1.jpg


We got over to the Poly around 4:30. We had about 40 mins to spare until dinner so we headed over to the Tambu Lounge for some adult sodas! As we walked over we saw people had already lined up for 'Ohana. These (I assumed) were people without a ressie and were trying to get a walk up. YIKES! I'd hate to be in that line.

At the Tambu Lounge I had the Blue Glowtini

glowtini-1.jpg


Ashley had some pink thing (Magical Star cocktail maybe?) I seriously think that we have like 8 of those glow cubes at home between the Tambu Lounge and 50's Prime Time Cafe.

Mama decided to go over and check us in for dinner while we waited. Our ressie was at 5:10 at 'Ohana... another first for us. I checked and checked every day for something to open up for us and the Disney gods must have been smiling down on us because back in August a 5:10 spot opened up. YAY!!

A few minutes before 5 the 'Ohana staff came out and blew the conche shell and welcomed everyone. It was a really cool little ceremony. Our buzzer went off about 30 seconds later and we were the first family led into the restaurant. All the staff wa standing there greeting us with Aloha! It was super cool. We were seated next to the window overlooking down by the Volcano pool. I'd heard so many good things about 'Ohana and this was probably the meal I was most excited for on the trip. And it didn't disappoint!!!

I started off with a Lapu Lapu
DSC07543-1.jpg


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Then they started bringing over tons of food

Delicious!
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Noodles and veggies. Soooo good!!
DSC07544-1.jpg


I didn't get any pics of the chicken wings or the pork dumplings but both were excellent. I've never had dumplings before. They were yum! I did however get a pic of my sister struggling to get the chicken off the wings. She's not a big "chicken on the bone" girl but she wanted to try them.

DSC07540-1.jpg


I also had some chicken, pork and steak from the skewers. All 3 were great. I like the steak and chicken the best. They were juicy and full of flavor.

DSC07546-1.jpg


A woman walked around playing the ukulele, I think. And they had the kids come up and learn a Hawaiian song. Pretty cool for the kids. We were so full already, but I was determined to try the dessert. After reading the rave reviews about it I knew I couldn't leave without just a taste.

DSC07548-1.jpg


The dessert was really good. Not my favorite dessert in all of the world but definitely something I want to have again. I think 'Ohana was my mom's favorite meal of the trip. It came in a close second for me (nothing can top my beloved Le Cellier!) The food was great, the service was great and we even got lei's as we were leaving. Can't beat that!

After 'Ohana, we headed out to catch the monorail over to MK for MVMCP!

DSC07549-1.jpg
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Loving the report, Darolyn. I'm happy to hear you all enjoyed Ohana - the place is simply amazing! Looking forward to hearing all about your experience at the Christmas party!
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Hey! I see you like The Bruins. Wow I like hockey too. I see you also wear a shirt when you go outside. I do too. A/S/L?
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loving the report, Darolyn. I'm happy to hear you all enjoyed Ohana - the place is simply amazing! Looking forward to hearing all about your experience at the Christmas party!

'Ohana was sooo good! It has now claimed the top restaurant spot on my sisters list :) We already booked it for the spring trip! Yaa hooo!!!

Hey! I see you like The Bruins. Wow I like hockey too. I see you also wear a shirt when you go outside. I do too. A/S/L?

You're such a dork! 50/male/under your bed.. Let's be friends! :)
 

heartodisney

Active Member
Great trip report! We just got back also...we are still working on our report...love the food pics...one night, I forgot to take pics at Sanna...we had dinner with a friend who used to work at disney, and I got to talking too much...
 

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
Wow, time flies - Feels like I just got back from my weekend in October, and now here's your November TR already!

Via Napoli is a "must" for my next trip. And while I've done Ohana twice for breakfast, I've never been for dinner...think I'm going to add this to the list as well.

What a bizarre story about bed bugs! I wonder what room had actually called about the?! Glad to hear your room was bug-free, though :lol:

Looking forward to the rest of your report!
 

PolynesianPrincess

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great trip report! We just got back also...we are still working on our report...love the food pics...one night, I forgot to take pics at Sanna...we had dinner with a friend who used to work at disney, and I got to talking too much...

Thanks!!

Aww and Sanaa was the one place I wanted to see pics of! lol we added Sanaa to our ADR's for the spring. We're going to be adventurous and try something new! :)

Can't wait to read your TR!!

Nice I am 3ft 12in tall...267 lbs...athletic build.

John.... I have no words for you...

Wow, time flies - Feels like I just got back from my weekend in October, and now here's your November TR already!

Via Napoli is a "must" for my next trip. And while I've done Ohana twice for breakfast, I've never been for dinner...think I'm going to add this to the list as well.

What a bizarre story about bed bugs! I wonder what room had actually called about the?! Glad to hear your room was bug-free, though :lol:

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Yes, definitely give 'Ohana a try for dinner. It didn't disappoint us one bit! And Via Napoli as well - both so yummy!

yeah, after the "manager" left, we double checked to make sure there were no BB's.. It was just so weird!!

Going to get the next part of the TR up today!! :)
 

heartodisney

Active Member
We were very IMPRESSED with Sanna! You will love the bread served before your meal with the ndifferent sausces...I had the lamb...forgot wht my wife and mom-in-law had, but I do know they liked it...Linda also had the lamb, and she loved it! We got out of there with 4 adults, one child..couple of glasses of wine..couple shots of bourbon for Lindas tea...she was needing a "toody" for her throat...for less than 100 dollars! The only downfall was at this time of year our dinner time frame it was dark and we could not see out of the windows into the savanna.
 

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