Trip Report Merry Christmas You Filthy Animals! A Live Christmas Trip With The Inlaws.

You all knew this was coming, just a down and dirty live TR with the inlaws this Christmas week. So, strap in and get ready because here we go...

Naturally I told the folks we would be leaving at 05:00 this morning so be ready. You can see one guy didn't want us leaving. We were up at 04:25 and all packed and ready....except the MIL. She seemed to want to play the "let's see how many things we can touch in the house before leaving" game. My crew was ready to roll by 04:50 but we had to wait until about ten after five before her game was over... a quick stop at dunkin donuts and we were well on our way. We hit the half way spot, Tifton, about 09:00 to gas up and hit the restrooms. Over the hump and determined we pulled into the Panara Bread on 192 about 12:30 for lunch. While we ate I got the text our room was ready!!

 

[MinnieM123]

Oh my--that crowd at Living With the Land -- ugh!

 

[imahistorygeek]

Jiko fans...the mac and cheese from the enhancements menu with the sausage is gone. It has been been replaced with white truffle mac and cheese and is over $30.

 

[lostpro9het]

What do you guys think of the Go Pro? I vaguely remember you guys saying that it was your first time using it on your last trip. Are you still using it? Any pros and cons you can think of? I'm loving the pics too!

Over 80% of the pics in this thread are from the GoPro. This is my opinion of the GoPro Hero+.
First, I don't believe I fully understand all of the capabilities of this device but here is a pros and cons list:
Pros"
Great video
Mostly easy to use
Waterproof.
Syncs via wireless to your mobile device to transfer photos or allows your mobile device to control the GoPro for taking pics or video.
Cons:
Pictures with movement do not come out well.
No zoom!
Pictures in low light tend to come out poor.

Is this your " @Tuvalu "?

That would be an accidental @Tuvalu. I actually took two proper Tuvalus on Space Mountain this trip but for whatever reason they have not shown up on my Phot Pass list .

 

[MinnieM123]

Jiko fans...the mac and cheese from the enhancements menu with the sausage is gone. It has been been replaced with white truffle mac and cheese and is over $30.

$30 for Mickey and cheese??!!!

This is $2.00 at Walmart (3 portions).

 

[imahistorygeek]

$30 for Mickey and cheese??!!!

This is $2.00 at Walmart (3 portions).

The menu has changed...we adapted. Disappointed for sure. Server said new chef was the reason.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

I wonder what is up with all those rides at Epcot being down? I have a friend who is at Disney now and she was at Epcot yesterday. She said at one point almost everything was down so they just went to World Showcase to drink lol.

 

[Tuvalu]

Good to know about the school bread. School Bread is on my list of "still need to do" at Disney. I'll still give it a try next year. I'm a coconut girl though so I'm hoping it's as good as they say.

It's not. And I am a coconut girl, too.

 

[Tuvalu]

That would be an accidental @Tuvalu. I actually took two proper Tuvalus on Space Mountain this trip but for whatever reason they have not shown up on my Phot Pass list .

Beware my power to hack into the Space Mountain Photopass system.....POOF!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I must add Primetime Café to my list of next trip restaurants! Enjoying your report so much!!!! You are always influencing my food and drink choices!!!

 

[lostpro9het]

Lunch at Teppan Edo and dinner at Jiko still to come. On the bus heading back from MK now. Here are a few PhotoPass pics from today until I update in the morning. We're planning on AK tomorrow with dinner at Yak and Yeti.

 

[lostpro9het]

After leaving Morocco we made our way to Japan and looked around a bit before our ADR was ready. The three ladies going to town on the drums was impressive.

 

[lostpro9het]

We checked in early to TE and was happy to be seated immediately. This ADP is typically a Christmas Eve tradition for us but since we wont be here then we decided to surprise the DD with a lunch. DD and I each had a Tori (chicken) while Laura had the Salmon. The food and the entertainment was excellent. I posted a video of our chef in action below. The restaurant was pretty busy too and by the time we left, somewhere around 1:30/2:00, the line out the door to get in was substantial!

After lunch, we continued on around the WS when the ladies decided they wanted a hot chocolate. I got the DD one and got Laura an Adult one. I left them at Italy to look around while I went to Germany to get an Oktoberfet by Alternmuster. The beer was ok but Laura’s drink was potent! We finished up the afternoon with a visit to Canada again before heading back to our room.

 

[lostpro9het]

We had a few hours to relax with when we returned to AKL. We had plans to head to MK this evening so we just chilled in our room until dinner. We hopped on the shuttle to get over to Jambo. Upon entering the House that wonderful smell smacks you in the face! The lobby was busy and you could hear the folks at Boma going to town on the buffet. We looked around for a bit before walking down to Jiko. Once again, we checked in and seated immediately. We were presented with menus but felt we didn’t need them because we knew what we wanted based on Disney’s online menus. Sadly, we were surprised to see that the menu differed substantially from the on posted on line and our beloved mac&cheese had been replaced, booo. We learned from our server Erin that Jiko recently got a new head chef and he made some changes. So we called an audible and decided to go full tapas. We ordered a Charcuterie, Cheese Plate, Mushroom Flatbread, and the Inguday Tibs Brik. The Charcuterie included elk and rabbit which was new to us. We accompanied this with a bottle of Red Jasper, I still highly recommend this wine if you visit here. We had a great dinner and before you know it an hour and a half flew by. We closed out the dinner with a few complementary chocolates from the restaurant. I included a picture of Kindai’s lobby for you to compare the differences between the house lobbies.

 

[lostpro9het]

Goooood morning!!! We actually stayed at the resort long enough to get a proper sunrise in! To finish out last evening, though, we hopped on a bus to MK in time to see Wishes start. We took a Jingle cruise, a trip with some pirates, a ride with an elephant, and closed out the night with a little space mountain action. We're heading to AK now.

 

[lostpro9het]

A savanna breakfast to get us warmed up for AK today.

 

[lostpro9het]

We pulled in to AK at about 08:30 and grabbed some Joffery's and a donut for the kid. They were doing a phased opening so we were soon insidw the park waiting with everyone else around the ToL. We used the AP line today for the first time too. We learned that not everyone on you party needs to have an AP which was nice since the DD did not have an AP. On our way to the ToL we passed a botanical beauty.

 

[lostpro9het]

After rope drop we followed the herd to EE for a quick dance with the Yeti. We followed that up with a dino time travel session, and a whirl in a Primeval carnival. The Dinosaur referb was noticeable! The cleaned up and added new content to the queue as well as adding new content to the ride. All the effects were working and the sound on the ride is noticeable better. Once YouTube cooperates I'll have am EE video to share.

 

[lostpro9het]

Here are a few more PhotoPass pics.

 

[lostpro9het]

We made our way over to the safari next. Our driver was from east Africa and knew his stuff!

 

[lostpro9het]

After the safari trip we made for Rafiki's. The train ride over was real entertaining as we got to see several rhino and elephants in their pens back stage. Once there we saw the cutest little monkeys. I even learned some trivia while in the bathroom!! While we made our way around the center we came upon some turtle surgery. This little guy got ran over by a car and the surgeon was cleaning and dressing some of the areas around the wounds.

Spoiler: I washed my hands so here are the answers

20 gallons and 15 feet!DANG, that is some pee!!!