Trip Report It’s Christmalicious Disney Time! COMPLETED!

Well hello fine forum members!

I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! TOMORROW! :eek:

With my hubby, too. I think he’s also excited :p

So... this is going to be my attempt at a live trip report. I have managed one or two years ago & failed miserably in more recent times, but I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s reports recently- it really helps with the Disney blues & the countdown to new trips! So I hope I can do the same!

Now the who, when and where- ‘tis my husband Russ and myself, Sam. And we’re leaving tomorrow for 7 nights at the Beach Club! We’re from the U.K. however we’re actually already in America- we flew out on Wednesday to Philadelphia, then got the train to Washington D.C. a day later. We love to see different cities over here & the route worked better with my air miles- plus it means we’ve settled & are over our jet lag in time for our Disney trip! We’ve had fun doing a mix of touristy things and exploring both cities & finding some great restaurants.

And now tomorrow we’re flying out of DCA to Orlando! The airport is a 15 min drive from our hotel & I also love that now we’re already in the US we won’t have to go through customs when we arrive in Orlando- it’s straight on to the Magical Express!
We’re flying with Southwest which we’ve done before- already checked in and in boarding group B which isn’t too bad.

So the reason for the trip title- well, who doesn’t partly/largely come to Disney for the food?! Ha well we do! It’s time to get it alllll in ma belly followed by many a Disney drink. That’s how we do Disney! I am so excited for our ADRs and the Christmas booths in Epcot! Plus, it’s nearly Christmas people! The things I pretty much love in life are Disney, food and Christmas. Hubs & family too, obviously, but... Christmas, delicious food, Disney, all together?! Come on! WOO HOO!

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That was us on our last trip- New Years at Disney and the first week of January. And we both got a 48 hour sickness bug on NYE! We spent the evening listening to the fireworks from our room whilst very sick- and didn’t leave for 2 days! :depressed: So this is a redo sort of. Even when we were better both of us couldn’t really enjoy food for a few days. It was also really weird having everything still Christmassy for the week after New Years, so I’m really looking forward to it now being the build up to Christmas and then going back home for Christmas this time.

It feels like there’s so much more to see since last year too- Pandora, Happily Ever After, Sunset Boulevard Christmas stuff & Baseline Tap House & the Epcot Christmas Festival!

Oh- and it’s our 2nd wedding anniversary whilst we’re here! :inlove: I don’t actually think I could be any more excited... bring on tomorrow! :D
 
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Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So today started with surprise presents :happy: and a Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno!
As I’ve mentioned Russ and I love Tangled- and the lantern scene & song I See The Light. I actually walked down the aisle to the string quartet version of it! :inlove: And my wedding ring has purple stones & sunflower carvings into it :inlove:

So having a Tangled theme breakfast seemed a good way to start the day! And of course, I love Ariel too who is also at the breakfast!

Anniversary selfie!

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Awesome, awesome themed pastries in a frying pan! :D Very tasty too.

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I had a bellini (which the waitress actually dropped all down herself before handing to me! Oops!) and Russ had a bloody mary which we toasted the day with.

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Flynn came around before our meal, and we took a photo with both the guys giving “the smoulder” :joyfull:

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I’m not the best with the actual face characters, but it wasn’t too awkward and actually fun to take this photo!

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As Rapunzel was announced they played an instrumental version of “I See the Light” and I got all teary! :oops:

However, Rapunzel totally skipped us! I think she just accidentally missed us then it was too late... I didn’t really mind though as I was there for the food and theme rather than the actual meeting of characters! Plus, as Russ said, maybe I’m the real dreamer & Rapunzel, so there couldn’t be two of us in the same space at one time! :D;)
We just spoke with Ariel & Eric, no photos, and they both told us we needed to take a romantic boat ride, and make sure Russ kissed the girl!)

So to eat I had the cuuuute tower of pancakes and Russ has the calzone. Both were very tasty! I also bought the glow cube clip on Pascal from the kids drink cup as, well hello, it’s a glow cube Pascal!! Best $6 spent ever :joyfull:

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So with that, breakfast was over and we left to carry on the days adventures :happy:
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just found this! We are staying at the Besch club too! We also had breakfast this morning at Trattoria al Forno! Great minds think alike! Also here celebrating our wedding anniversary, although a bit early. It will be 10 years in march.

Oh how funny! Small world. I hope you’re enjoying your trip! And it’s never too early to celebrate in Disney! :happy: Happy Anniversary for next year- 10 years, that’s awesome!
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Anniversary continued...

So after breakfast we made our way to Disney Springs. Our plan for today might seem funny to some for our anniverary, but it was fun to us and what we wanted to do. We made our way out of Disney Springs once there, towards the Hotel Plaza Blvd and the Disney Springs hotels.

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Our first ever trip together here was 6 years ago & we stayed in Hotel Plaza Blvd. We also stayed there the few nights before we went to Vero Beach & then honeymooned after in WDW. So it was kind of nice walking up that road and reminiscing. We then walked out of the Disney World area & up Appopka & Vineland road to the Winn Dixie supermarket. Again this may seem strange for some- but being from the U.K. we love American supermarkets and all the different food we can’t get! So we made it our day of the trip to stock up on snacks and things to take home. Including Oreo cereal which was my favourite here when I took trips as a kid- and has just been brought back out again!

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So anyway, after our walk & shop, we caught a Lyft back to Beach Club to relax for a few hours. At the time we actually got married, we headed to the beach to sit on a swing and have a couple of drinks from the room put into our refillable mugs, and reminisced & toasted our anniversary. We spent about 45 mins to an hour here, enjoying the view & the sounds & smells of the Boardwalk resort, talking and having a lovely moment. This was my favourite part of the day! :inlove::inlove::inlove::inlove:

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Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So for our evening meal we’d booked Narcoosees. We headed out 45 mins before, grabbing a Lyft to the Grand Floridian.

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Of course they have the biggest tree!
We made our way over to Narcoosees & checked in- we were seated in about 5 mins.

Castle through the windows whilst waiting!

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We had Mickey confetti on the table :happy:
Now unfortunately the place was a bit too crowded & noisy- and the meal was a bit rushed. The food wasn’t the best we’d had either. The mains came out luke warm & were brought out whilst we were literally just finishing our appetisers. My calamari wasn’t as nice as Yachtsman’s & the steaks weren’t either.
But it was still our anniversary though and our server was very nice. So we probably won’t be coming back to Narcoosees, but hey. It happens!

Calamari

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Mussels were nice though!

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Surf & Turf

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And the complimentary dessert was good.

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I was also starting to feel the exhaustion of non stop Disney fun for the last 4/5 days! So we just made plans to walk to the Poly boat dock before heading home.

We took a stroll along the path to the Polynesian and past the Luau before catching a boat to the MK (which because of the Christmas party we were one of two couples on the boat! So it made for a peaceful ride). It was super quiet outside MK too. We got the bus back to Beach Club and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

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And that was our 4th full day!
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
My calamari wasn’t as nice as Yachtsman’s


Its possible the calamari wasnt as good since its prepared gluten free. Only place on Disney propety where it is. As far as GF goes, its the best I've ever had. It was the first calamari my wife had in over 15 years! If you aren't used to the different "flour" you may not enjoy it as much. GF has come along way since she was diagnosed in 1996, but I still prefer the real thing. I've eaten enough GF food the last 20 plus years to know the difference. When I can choose, I like my gluten!

Loving the report.
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Its possible the calamari wasnt as good since its prepared gluten free. Only place on Disney propety where it is. As far as GF goes, its the best I've ever had. It was the first calamari my wife had in over 15 years! If you aren't used to the different "flour" you may not enjoy it as much. GF has come along way since she was diagnosed in 1996, but I still prefer the real thing. I've eaten enough GF food the last 20 plus years to know the difference. When I can choose, I like my gluten!

Loving the report.

Ahh ok, that makes sense. The actual calamari felt a little over cooked which was why I didn’t enjoy it as much, but it may just have been me. Places have off days though, we might try it again one day! And that’s great they’re making dishes available for people with intolerances.

Thanks for reading! Glad you’re enjoying it :)
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, today, we were up and out to Disney Springs at 9.30am for what else, than Star Wars at AMC at 10.30am!

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Liked these steampunk reindeer decorations in the Springs!

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We grabbed a Starbucks after arriving and grabbed our seats!

Scrump getting ready! Lol this is the one time we’ve remembered to get him out!

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No spoilers, obviously, but it was great! I really enjoyed it. Better than Force Awakens!

After this we headed to Homecomin’ to grab some refills again- and have just been eating some B.B. Wolf’s for lunch. Delicious! They’ve new dogs since we were last here- and so we got the trio to try them all. A Greek one, Cuban style one & an Italian.

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Now we’re off to do some shopping & then meet who else, but @dclfan and her fiancé for a drink at Jock Lindsey’s :D
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So I bought these from the Co-op :D

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It’s a print of the castle & “believe in magic” on the other side.

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Then we met @dclfan & fiancé at the Polite Pig instead of Jock Lindsey’s as they were hungry- we had a beer whilst they ate & then we totally lost track of time discussing Star Wars, Disney & stuff in general!

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Here you go @Longers :D

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We’re now heading back to Beach Club to quickly change and head to Epcot for a QS then on to MK for the Christmas Party!
 

Longers

Well-Known Member
So I bought these from the Co-op :D

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It’s a print of the castle & “believe in magic” on the other side.

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Then we met @dclfan & fiancé at the Polite Pig instead of Jock Lindsey’s as they were hungry- we had a beer whilst they ate & then we totally lost track of time discussing Star Wars, Disney & stuff in general!

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Here you go @Longers :D

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We’re now heading back to Beach Club to quickly change and head to Epcot for a QS then on to MK for the Christmas Party!

Yay - one to treasure - it appears you may have made some life Long friends - me and @Minnesota disney fan still share emails regularly across the pond after our meet up in the MK a few years ago.
Looks like your having a fab time - it’s still really cold here so make the most of that sunshine:)
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay - one to treasure - it appears you may have made some life Long friends - me and @Minnesota disney fan still share emails regularly across the pond after our meet up in the MK a few years ago.
Looks like your having a fab time - it’s still really cold here so make the most of that sunshine:)

Yep we really have made some great friends! Feels like we’ve known each other longer than these meet ups! And all down to Disney :happy:

Last full day today! Definitely going to make the most of the sunshine. Can only laugh that starting from the day we’re home it’s 82F+ all week! :cautious: So random the one week we’re here it went down so much. But it’s been such an awesome trip & still warm & lovely & bright that it hasn’t really mattered :happy:
 

Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after grabbing a bus to Boardwalk rather than Beach Club as it turned up first, we walked through the Boardwalk lobby and down the stairs to the Boardwalk to get our resort. Sun was setting and it was warm, so the walk was lovely :)

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We got changed and the plan was to head to Epcot, use up a few snacks on holiday kiosks for tea, then grab the monorail to MK. Nope! Soooo busy in Epcot! We managed to get to America & grabbed the turkey & stuffing, but I realised I’d left my phone (so no pics!) in the room and also that it would probably be best just to get back to Beach Club & grab a bus from there. We didn’t grab anymore to eat as the lines were too long. So a very brief stroll into Epcot for some turkey! Well, we were visiting the Chrismas party so why not start with a Christmas turkey snack dinner? :joyfull:

Back at the Beach Club after grabbing my phone, we headed to the stop. It was quite busy, but not too bad, and at 7.05pm we had arrived at the party!

Snow on Main Street!

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But first things first, snacks! We decided to head round anti-clockwise starting in Tomorrowland, grabbing snacks & riding what we fancied as we went. We planned to see the later parade rather than the first one, after the fireworks.

We grabbed snickerdoodles from Aunty Gravity’s and then cookies & hot chocolate from Cosmic Rays but I forgot to take photos!
I remembered by the next stop. Nesquik & peppermint crunch cookies!

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I also caught the 7 Dwarves coming out for their photo ops.

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Then we went to our first ride- 7DMT! It was only a 15 min wait! The whole party wasn’t crowded at all and all the rides were 5-20 mins max. We picked a good night!

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This photo made me laugh for ages as there’s a shadow on the back of Russ’ neck making the back of Russ’ head look all misshaped & like his skull is really big! :joyfull:

I was excited to be wearing my Beauty & the Beast jumper tonight with my chip purse! Another Primark find/bargain!

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Then we grabbed more cookies (well why not?!) and grabbed a table at Pinnochio’s Haus by It’s a Small World to watch the boats and enjoy all the sugar.

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Up next was Haunted Mansion!

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Ariel1986

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just about caught a pic of a hitchhiking ghost above Russ!

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The first parade had just finished by this time & there was a bit of a crowd surge as we were leaving HM! But it soon dissipated and we made our way through Frontierland and onto Big Thunder Mountain. We didn’t wait for the back this time we just went where we were told- so much fun in the dark! All the rollercoasters seem much faster in the dark- it must be psychological but it’s great.
Russ was starting to get hit by a wall of exhaustion at this point- we’ve been going non stop since before Disney, in Philadelphia & Washington D.C. and then 6 days in Disney- we’re both feeling it! Russ even more so as he worked 10 days straight up to the day we flew out! We need another week just to chill out here. Usually we do come over for 2 weeks and do that- so this time we’ve squeezed a 2 week holiday into 1! There’s never enough time for Disney! I need at least a few months! :arghh:

This is Russ as we got on to BTM :p

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As we left BTM we made our way to Tortuga Tavern to grab pretzels, more nesquik & some snow cones, hoping the sugar would help Russ.

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Nope! I know how it feels to be that tired in Disney so even though I wanted to see the parade, we made our way down Main Street as the fireworks were going, stopping occasionally to watch. We watched the finale from the square and train station (which was actually quite a good view for the perimeter ones!) and then made our exit when it finished.

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We had a great time even if just for a few hours- and want to try the Halloween one at some point! We’d probably do this again for the low crowds one day too.
 

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