Trip Report It’s broken. A Loco Christmas TR!

Hello everyone!

We just got back yesterday from our weeklong stay at WDW and as promised, I am here to deliver a full blown loco_driver TR. I have about a million pictures to sort through still, but we have enough to get started. Let’s do this!

When: December 4-11

Who: Me and the wife A, or Mrs. Loco if you will. Pickle the dog would not be making the trip.

Where: Split stay between OKW and Riviera.

With all the formalities out of the way, let’s do it to it!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A has good taste with the poodles. I like them too, or as I exclaim when I see them “oodles of poodles!”

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Day three continued.

We wanted to see the decorations at DHS all lit up.
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Dancing ornament things.
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A was obsessed with these poodles.
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The light pole trees are pretty.
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I really like the way everything reflects on the water at night.
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Notice anything different in this picture?
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The ornament lighting up is a nice touch.
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Y’all my wife is like super pretty(but you all already know that, right?).
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We did manage a ride on star tours as well.
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We enjoyed the tower projections and sunset boulevard before calling it a night.
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Sorry to put the post up again. I am not tech savvy, can you tell?
I wanted your wife to know that I have that pink poodle set from the 50's (found it in an antique store) and it's one of my favorites.
Also, The Boathouse is excellent! It is our go to place while at disney. We ate there for our 50th anniversary. Yes, we are that old, LOL>

 

[MickeyCB]

If

Dancing ornament things.

Nooooo, they changed their colors!!!

A was obsessed with these poodles.

If she was truly loving those poodles and you want to get her a little treat, search vintage poodles on Ebay. There are a ton of them.

 

[Loco_driver]

Nooooo, they changed their colors!!!

I think it’s just for the 50th.

A has good taste with the poodles. I like them too, or as I exclaim when I see them “oodles of poodles!”

I wanted your wife to know that I have that pink poodle set from the 50's (found it in an antique store) and it's one of my favorites.

If she was truly loving those poodles and you want to get her a little treat, search vintage poodles on Ebay. There are a ton of them.

Haha I think she’s likes them because her grandmother had a set of pink poodles like this. She’s a poodle lady.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 Wednesday December 8, 2021

This was our day to switch hotels. We had done most of the packing the night before. We hopped in the car and made our way to DAK.

We still managed to make it through the gate just before regular park opening. It was another foggy morning.

We planned on doin the safari first thing, since we’d get to do it and this was our last planned time in animal kingdom. An elephant for my friend @Darstarr and a fun fact about me!

The line was long but moved fast. We were on in a little over 10 minutes.

It was a somewhat strange safari thanks to the fog and early morning hour.

It was morning feeding time for a lot of the animals.

I think the cattle thought we might have some food!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Happy Newyear @Loco_driver! And also the same wishes to all fellow magicians here! Enjoy!

 

[Loco_driver]

Happy Newyear @Loco_driver! And also the same wishes to all fellow magicians here! Enjoy!

Thanks @Laurenciaa !

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

a few more from our safari.

A quick selfie while we waited to exit.

The gorillas were visible from the exit area.

I thought the holiday decorations in Harambe were really cool and perfectly fit the theme.

Our next objective was to do the art of animation class at Rafikis Planet Watch. We had some time to kill before the first trains started running, so we ventured into Asia since Everest still had a 5 minute posted wait.

It’s hard not to take pictures of the tree of life anytime I see it.

Getting closer.

We walked on.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

After Everest it was back over to Harambe to catch the first train of the day to planet watch. These monkeys were really active.

I never thought I’d see the day where we were rope dropping rafikis planet watch, but that’s exactly what we did. We were in the first class of the day.

Drawing 1

Drawing 2

Which do you think belongs to me, and which one belongs to A?

Petting zoo time!

This is Tiana. Although thanks to @Back!Elbow!Shoulders! i kept calling her Tina.

This is Dan.

A made friends with this pig.

Of course, A makes friends with every animal. I might have to start calling her Snow White!

 

[Zipadeelady]

The second one looks a little tweaked out or like it has a spasm in the one eye. I'm going to say that one is yours.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Drawing 2
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Which do you think belongs to me, and which one belongs to A?

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

It was time to head back to the main part of the park for lunch. I thought this tree was really cool.

It was great to have live performers back, but why in the world is this stage in the middle of the walkway in front of the bathrooms?

We saw these guys a few times throughout our trip. They also come out during the kite tails pre show.

Lunch was at Satu’li canteen, a first for us. We were able to secure a same day reservation for Ohana on our train ride back from the petting zoo, so we knew a kids meal would suit us just fine.

We were both very satisfied with this meal. This is my new favorite thing about Pandora!

There was a cupcake that A wanted over in Dino land, so we made a mobile order and started that way, stopping at discovery island to do a little shopping. We once again found nothing. When we left one of the shops I felt something bumping into the back of my leg. It was these little fellas!

There was a photopass photographer with a short line, so we stopped. We got photobombed by scooter lady.

One of us is much tanner than the other.

The big polar bear was making its way out as we headed for dino land.

Speaking of polar bears. This one was a little too sugary for my taste.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

After our dessert we decided to watch it’s tough to be a bug. We walked directly into the theater without stopping. This picture thing was near the exit.

We cut over to the otter grotto. They weren’t doing much while we were there.

It was getting pretty hot and crowded by this point, so we headed for the exit. Devine was out.

We drove to riviera. I did in-person check in. It went smoothly. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we hung out in le petit cafe for a bit to cool off and relax. This peppermint reindeer was quite tasty.

We hung out outside for a little while. I know much has been made about how small the lobby is of riviera, but that is true for pretty much every DVC only resort. I really like the outdoor area of the resort with all the activities and pool area. It has a nice energy.

We got our room ready text while we were outside. We grabbed our luggage and hauled it up to our room. I did remember to take pictures for @Nunu this time!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

A few more room pictures.

We are fans of the Murphy beds that are being installed in all the new DVC studios. It’s way more comfortable than the pullout sofa bed and easier to put up.

A absolutely loves the feel of these rooms as it’s right up her alley. I found them to be very well appointed and comfortable as well. It certainly felt like a step up from OKW. Especially the bathroom area.

The double shower set up was really great.

Our view was very “standard”. I know some standard view rooms have views of SSE or Tower of Terror. This one did not. We were able to see MK fireworks fairly well at night though.

The TV is one of the new style smart tvs. It’s nice, but there’s no WDW today channel to help me take a nap!

This was probably the warmest day of our trip, and the pool beckoned us. Unless you just have to be near the slide or kids play area, I’d highly recommend the quiet pool here. It’s my new favorite quiet pool on property(yes I liked it more than the WL one). They did a great job of making it feel quiet and secluded even though it’s in the middle of the hotel.

After catching some rays and some naps we got cleaned up and drove over to the Poly for dinner.

We had a few minutes to kill before we could check in so we explored the new lobby for a bit.

Their tree is nice.

 

[Loco_driver]

I’ll pause this TR for just a moment to wish everyone an happy new year!

I hope you all had a happy and safe celebration wherever you are!

I am writing this report from the comfort of my couch as I watch the tournament of roses parade on TV. I have always watched it since I was a kid and my mother would reminisce about her childhood in Southern California and going to the parade every year. And how she got to meet longtime parade host Betty White one time.

It’s a little bittersweet this year. Anyways, happy new year! Here’s hoping for a great 2022! Also I hope all my fellow Texan magicians have prepared for our upcoming two days of winter!

 

[Darstarr]

I’ll pause this TR for just a moment to wish everyone an happy new year!

I hope you all had a happy and safe celebration wherever you are!

I am writing this report from the comfort of my couch as I watch the tournament of roses parade on TV. I have always watched it since I was a kid and my mother would reminisce about her childhood in Southern California and going to the parade every year. And how she got to meet longtime parade host Betty White one time.

It’s a little bittersweet this year. Anyways, happy new year! Here’s hoping for a great 2022! Also I hope all my fellow Texan magicians have prepared for our upcoming two days of winter!

I use to volunteer to help decorate the floats and camp out overnight to watch the parade. Brrrr. Good times.
And I too miss Betty….

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

One more of the criminally underrated poly tree.

I checked in for dinner, and we were seated early. I don’t think that’s ever happened here!

We were seated in the front of the dining room.

Our server wasn’t particularly great, but her runner was. He quickly brought out the salad. This was good, but they brought way too much. The bread was just ok. Not as good as the old bread.

My favorite part of any meal at Ohana! The pot stickers were a little different than before, they’re now cooked with the sauce. There is no dipping sauce. I think I actually preferred this to the old way. The wings and noodles were outstanding as always.

The chicken was ok. A little too charred for my liking.

The steak was a little fatty, but I didn’t mind. It was very good!

The really star of the meal was the shrimp though! I could’ve eaten a hundred of these! They were so well seasoned! I think we ended up getting two extra helpings of these!

The bread pudding was just as good as I remembered.

A little celebration dessert as well. Nothing on this was very good, but it was a kind gesture from the staff!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

After our huge dinner we knew we needed to walk it off a bit. We took a stroll over to the grand Floridian. We always stop and look at the villas lobby fountain.

Making our way toward the main lobby.

The lobby is always impressive during the holidays.

Especially the gingerbread house.

It had gold and “earidescent” accents for the 50th.

The tree is themed to twelve days of Christmas.

We thought about getting a treat, but didn’t want to carry anything around MK that night, so we decided we’d get one another day, but we never did. We finished our walk around seven seas lagoon at MK.

Don’t let the above picture fool you, the place was a madhouse.

The sea of humanity 45 minutes before fireworks.

I actually got in a little heated exchange with a man whose entire family was sitting right in the middle of the walkway coming off Main Street. I just needed by and they refused to move but we were kind of bottled in and stuck behind them. Finally I flat out told him someone was going to either move or get steppped on by a very large and increasingly angry man. He finally relented and moved. It’s just ridiculous that a.) they thought it was ok to just sit in the walkway and b.) they were allowed to do it at all. I really had no intention of “stealing” their spot I just wanted to walk. I had half a mind to stand directly in front of them for the fireworks but I’m a (mostly)nice guy, so I moved along.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

We escaped the crowds on the bridge that leads to cosmic rays. Not the best place to see fireworks, but there was no way I was standing in that mob of people.

I didn’t get any good pictures of the fireworks, so here’s a bad one.

This show has gotten a lot of hate from the fan community, and I understand why. I actually didn’t really hate it. I’m just kind of indifferent to it. It has some decent pyro. The music leaves a lot to be desired. Once again, why the cover music? After watching it a few times online I don’t think the projections really add anything either. Honestly they would’ve been better off just doing fantasy in the sky or wishes every night for the 50th. This show is just average. I liked it more than harmonious due to it having real fireworks, but I’m not in any rush to see it again.

We hung around fantasyland for a bit while the crowds died down.

We joined the queue for small world 10 minutes before park closing time.

We waited 5 minutes and when we exited it was time for nighttime magic hours. Our first stop was haunted mansion. A brief line to scan our bands and then straight to the stretching room.

I don’t have a ton of pictures from the bonus hours because we were so busy, but our night went like this. HM-BTMRR Xs 2-Pirates-Buzz-dumbo-Hm.

Festive pirates.

Buzz looks confused.

Raise your hand if you won!

I caught A taking a selfie.

Here’s me catching A taking a selfie.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

We were the last ones let through just before closing time.

It was a little creepy being in here just the two of us.

We enjoyed the peacefulness of the hub.

The castle is looking great these days.

I always love the view back down Main Street from the castle.

This one now sits on my desk at work.