(Mostly?) Live! from WDW, it's my trip report....

Seems totally surreal that I'm about to start this trip report! My Grand Gathering Christmas 2010 report! :xmas:

First things first, and I must thank the person who made this trip possible, kept my sanity, survived nearly 18 months of emails with yours truly AND my immediate family.......... Marie from Kingdom Konsultants.

I can't say enough good things about Marie and all the help she has provided my family over the last year and a half. From the '500 days out room only reservation' to now, she has stuck with us through some very tedious changes. First we were a group of 12, then 14, then (sadly) 12 again. We got pin codes, promotional emails and bounceback offers - one at a time, Marie made all those changes with never any complaint.

Then came the Free Dining promotion, oh so close to our travel dates, but just not in our arrival range. It was Marie who pointed out that we could go for 10 days and still pay less than it would cost us to go for 7 days! :sohappy::sohappy: And it was Marie who manged to get us FIVE rooms at Pop DAYS after the promotion had been released (I thought she couldn't do it, but I now know never to doubt Marie! )

Anyway, I am sure that the other travel agents and support staff at Kingdom Konsultants helped out along the way too, so a big thank you to them as well. And my point is, if you have a Grand Gathering to plan, I HIGHLY recommend Marie (marie@kingdomkonsultant.com) and the Kingdom Konsultants! Thank you so much for making this planning process so easy!!

Up next: Roll Call

 

[erstwo]

seriously adore this trip report.. the fast you have so many in your "group" and it's working is awesome. We have 19 as of now in our group...7 in my immediate then 9 then 3 (potential of 204 more teens joining)..

Okay, I about passed out when I saw the 204 more!! I thought maybe you invited your son's high school band or something! But I saw your correction below. It wasn't too hard keeping everyone together, but we were usually a group of 10. I'll bet you might have to split up into 2 smaller groups.

Great stuff..enjoying the trip report!!!:xmas:

Thank you for reading! :wave:

Hi there!!! First things first ::Serious blush:: Thank you for all of your compliments. I am proud to say I work with the best team of travel agents anywhere. From my wonderful boss, Pam to our secretary/ agent, Denise to all of the wonderful agents that I am proud to call my co-workers, I Am truly blessed to be able to be a part of the Kingdom Konsultant Travel Team!!!!
You have such a cute family!!!! It looks like it was just amazing!!!! The little ones are adorable!!!!
I can completely identify with your Mom, The same thing happened to me a number of years ago with my Mom. She came on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with me and freaked out. She didnt realize it was a full blown coaster. Mom was not happy!!!!! She does love Test Track though. Did your Mom do Soarin'? I keep saying if I get my Mom to go again, I think she would love that ride.
I am anxiously awaiting more!!!!
Marie

You totally deserved it!!! It is one awesome team you've got there!

My Mom did ride Soarin! She didn't love it, but she was willing to ride again, so I guess that means she thought it was okay!

This is a great read keep up the great work!!!!:xmas:

Thank you! I'm hoping to post again tonight. I have to create a photobucket account though! My flickr account is full.

 

[erstwo]

Okay, so after 2 days of MK and one full day of DHS we were pooped. Seriously exhausted.

So we just took it easy this morning. The cousins all played in our kids room (we had 2 adjoining rooms) and the adults had coffee and talked. By about 9, we were all getting ready for the day, and by about 10 we were all making plans on where to go.

My sister decided that her girls needed to take it easy and take a nap before dinner at 1900 Park Fare and the fireworks at MK in the cold. My husband, parents and I decided that we wanted to go have a look at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Wilderness Lodge.

So my family piled into my parents van and we drove over to AKL. When we got there, I was once again hit over the head with the wonder of all things Disney.

Check out this lobby view!

 

[erstwo]

Now, I know it's nothing amazing to those of you who've seen it before, but for me it was almost jaw dropping. It was definitely one of those times when I said "Wow, look at......" about every 5 minutes. (I may have even said "awesome" a few times.....:lookaroun)

We were drawn outside....

 

[Alison1975]

LOL on the 204.. no band..but my kids whole school will be on the trip ( we homeschool..LOL)

I actually have NO plans to tour with our friends.. we will go to the same parks simply because we will be eating most of our TS meals together..but once in the parks..SO LONG...LOL

 

[erstwo]

It was at this point that my husband (who adamantly said right before our trip, "After this, we are NOT going to Disney for at least two years, maybe three.") said, "We have GOT to stay here. You know I noticed in the room that they have Free Dining the first week of the kids summer break in June."

Wait. Hold the phone. WHAT?

I gently reminded him that #1 We've been the first week of June and we didn't like the heat. #2 His mom wants to take the family on a Disney cruise in June (and he can never take off 2 weeks in one month) and #3 - We weren't coming back to Disney for 3 years remember? :lol:

But that's how........wait for it......... awesome! the Animal Kingdom Lodge was! It made us forget about anything other than wanting to spend more time there.

We were getting hungry, so we decided to use our Counter Service right there at the AKL. We made our way over to the Maya (is that right - Maya? It was something like that) and had what was honestly, one of the best Counter Service I've ever had at WDW. The place was so calm - nothing like the zoo that is Captain Cooks at the Poly. All of the CMs were so helpful, it was wonderful!

I don't have any pictures of our food. I gobbled mine up, but here is a pic of my husband's dessert - Zebra domes:

After we ate, we decided we wanted to hang around a little more, so we headed over the playground, and another savannah lookout

I thought this was kind of a funny mouse tribute. At first glance, I thought it was the castle at the end of the maze. Turned out to be a piece of cheese.

By this point, we had killed so much time, that we would have to skip the Wilderness Lodge and head straight back to Pop. We did a little shopping before we left:

This bear was everywhere:

We never felt the urge to buy one.

Up next:
The monorail is "straight up broken." Will we ever get to dinner at 1900 Park Fare?!

 

[erstwo]

I'm going to try to streamline this as much as possible and give out the "facts" and not just my opinion.

So here's what happened between the hours of 3 and 7 pm. We were all ready to leave for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare, so we went downstairs to visit the Arcade:

And then at roughly 3:45 we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom. We figured that the most direct route to the Grand Floridian, was to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then take the monorail over to the GF. Called my sister while on the bus, on the way over, and found out she would be on the next bus right behind us.

After we got off the bus, we headed for the monorail ramp. The line for the monorail was all the way down to the bottom of the ramp and a rather "interesting" :lookaroun family was pushing their way down the ramp and through the crowd (why they didn't jump the rope/ rail and go down the "out" ramp, I have no idea) We asked them what was going on and they informed us that the monorail was "straight up broke" ....... or something to that effect. :lol:

But judging by the line they weren't kidding. We would find out later in the evening that the monorail was shut down completely that morning (don't know for how long, we heard an hour, we heard 2 hours, we heard 45 minutes.......have no idea who was right) and that lead to looooong lines at the bus stops and the boat launches that morning.

We slowly, slowly crept up the ramp and finally made it on a monorail. Once we got on the monorail, it was still slow going. We had to creep along at a snails pace, I think we only went full on "monorail speed" one time. Everytime we approached a resort, we waited at least 5 minutes for the "track in front of us to clear" before we could proceed to the next stop.

Looking back we should have just walked to the GF. :hammer:

When we finally arrived at the GF, this sight greeted us:

It was packed at every resort, just like this one.

When we finally got downstairs, it was 5:45. It had taken us 2 hours to get from Pop to the Grand Floridian. Our reservations were at 6:05.

My sister had arrived at the MK about 20 minutes behind us and decided to try for a boat. I called her immediately and found out she had just boarded the boat. She finally arrived at 6:15.

Fireworks were at 8:00.

Originally, I had hoped we could check in early, be seated on time (6:05), spend an hour to hour and half with the characters (7:05 - 7:35), hop on the monorail and be back at the MK with just a few minutes to spare before Wishes.

Now I knew all hopes of that were lost.

Curse you monorail and your "straight up brokenness"

 

[erstwo]

But dinner was fabulous!

Meeting Cinderella (for the 3rd time.....)

Dancing with Cindrella

They loved following the stepsisters around:

Sending the children "back to the people who own you"

 

[Billy6]

We were getting hungry, so we decided to use our Counter Service right there at the AKL. We made our way over to the Maya (is that right - Maya? It was something like that) and had what was honestly, one of the best Counter Service I've ever had at WDW. The place was so calm - nothing like the zoo that is Captain Cooks at the Poly. All of the CMs were so helpful, it was wonderful!QUOTE]

Its the MARA...and I think its a great counter service place...The soup bread bowls are great...

 

[erstwo]

As dinner was ending, my sister took her girls out on the porch of the GF to watch the fireworks.

After dinner, my sister said her family was going back to the hotel to get ready for our big day at the Animal Kingdom. My parents said they were going back too and my brother and his girlfriend were going back to Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours until 9 pm (I think I misquoted earlier, because I know it was Wednesday that had the EMH)

We had missed Illuminations, my husbands favorite show earlier in the week. Dinner was over at 8. Illuminations was at 9:30. We decided to go for it!

When we got upstairs, the line for the monorail had diminished substantially, so we got on, only to realize that it was still crawling along. When we got to the MK about a million people (okay, not a million, but you get my drift....... :xmas got on with us including a family that had been trying to get to their 7:45 dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare - departing from the MK) since 7:00! They said that once they finally got on a monorail, they had to get off - I guess it wasn't working? :shrug:- and they were told to wait for the next one and we were the next one...... about 20 minutes later. Crazy stuff.

We crawled along to the Contemporary, the Poly and finally the TTC, where we disembarked and headed for the Epcot line. The Epcot line seemed to be moving along just fine.

We got off the Epcot monorail at around 8:55 and headed for Test Track! No one was there, it was walk on!

Great ride! We wanted to ride again, but we also didn't want to miss Illuminations, so we walked away sadly and headed for the World Showcase. We finally found an acceptable spot on the bridge by France.

After the show, we decided to avoid the long bus lines by taking the long way around the World Showcase.

I took some bad pictures:

And then, there was a beacon of light for our cold hands - a stand open! With hot chocolate, coffee and tea!!!! And us, with 24 snack credits to use in just 3 days! A match made in heaven!

But then we saw the sign....."At this time this location cannot accept the DDP or DDP snack credits." Boo!

 

[erstwo]

And I continued taking bad pictures:

And finally we made it to the homeland:

First I took the bad pictures:

And then my daughter did:

And then my son got in on the action:

There were some people in black coats sitting around. I assumed they were patrons of the Biergarten, waiting for the rest of their party to come out. They were talking with us and laughing at our kids taking pictures.

Turns out they were CM's who were taking down the German "Santa station" to give it a little TLC overnight. Super cool!

When we finally got to the bus stop, to our shock there were still people at many of the stops. We couldn't figure out what was going on, but evidently there was another breakdown in the monorail and people were stranded all over the place. I don't really get how that could happen, but the 2 guys in front of us said that they were stranded at the Contemporary, the buses at the MK were mobbed and they decided to take a bus to Downtown Disney and then to Epcot before taking a bus back to Pop? :shrug: Seems insane to me, but a cruise line bus picked us up.

Day 7 gone bye bye!

 

[erstwo]

We were getting hungry, so we decided to use our Counter Service right there at the AKL. We made our way over to the Maya (is that right - Maya? It was something like that) and had what was honestly, one of the best Counter Service I've ever had at WDW. The place was so calm - nothing like the zoo that is Captain Cooks at the Poly. All of the CMs were so helpful, it was wonderful!QUOTE]

Its the MARA...and I think its a great counter service place...The soup bread bowls are great...

Awesome! Thanks for clearing that up. I knew "Maya" sounded too Mexican-ish - Mayan temples and the like- but I was too lazy to look it up on allears!

Yes, the MARA was awesome! I can't remember what I had, but I know I ate every bite. My mom had a bread bowl and loved it!

 

[LeafsFanNL]

What day of the week was your day seven? I have lost track.

It's too bad the monorail thing had to happen to you. Was the boat running? Last April when we had our last night dinner at Narcoosees, we took the WL launch to MK and jumped right on the GF launch. We did the reverse on the way back.

I was also sad you didn't get over to WL to take some pictures. I was hoping to see it in its Christmas glory. Heading over there was in the back of my mind on our trip, but it didn't happen.

 

[erstwo]

What day of the week was your day seven? I have lost track.

It's too bad the monorail thing had to happen to you. Was the boat running? Last April when we had our last night dinner at Narcoosees, we took the WL launch to MK and jumped right on the GF launch. We did the reverse on the way back.

I was also sad you didn't get over to WL to take some pictures. I was hoping to see it in its Christmas glory. Heading over there was in the back of my mind on our trip, but it didn't happen.

Day 7 was Wednesday, December 8 - the day before your arrival right? Or did you arrive on Friday? I've forgotten now too!

All boats were running, but because of the monorail situation, it was a long line to get on the boat!

I was sad about the WL thing too, but that's on our "next time" list!

ETA- I DO plan to get back to this trip report soon! I have Day 8 uploaded, now to just find the time to type it up!

 

[erstwo]

Well, Day 8 dawned bright and early!

Most of our get up and go, had got up and left by this point, but my sister and parents who had NEVER been to Animal Kingdom (it wasn't completed when they last visited in 1995!) were up and at 'em!

Which led to them being about 2 buses in front of us. Lucky for us, it's a short drive to AK from Pop, and when we arrived, the park wasn't quite open yet. They were still doing the morning show.

We got in the gates quickly and saw my family just up ahead.

We hopped right on Safari. My sister had been looking forward to this for months!

It was walk on.

Soon we were seated and checking out the animals we would see on our adventure.

 

[erstwo]

In order to get to the park on time, we'd skipped breakfast and we were starving, so we stopped off at a pastry place in Africa (across from the bathrooms) for a quick bite. As I mentioned in Day 7, we had 24 snack credits to use in 2 days!

This isn't half eaten, its what the pastry looked like.

Next, we decided to warm up in someplace indoors, so we headed to Festival of the Lion King

 

[erstwo]

Then it was on to a park of the park I'd never visited before. One of the things on my short "to do this trip" list was to find Pocahontas, because my kids love her.

I had heard she was always at Conservation Station and checking in with a few CM's while entering the park, confirmed that Pocahontas was indeed waiting for us at the "top."

So we boarded the train:

It was interesting to see the backstage areas for the animals:

 

[erstwo]

When we arrived, we found that Pocahotas, was there indeed!

And then we met Rafiki

And Jiminy:

There were also many other great, educational things to do up there! When we arrived there was a "zoologist" (vet/ other knowledgeable person) teaching about a tiny turtle. My kids watched part of that show. We also saw them mixing up the food for the animals at Animal Kingdom. At that time, they were making food for all the birds in the kindgom, but they had examples of meals that other animals at AK eat too.

Neat stuff. It didn't feel as "Disney-ish", but we are lucky enough to live within driving distance of 2 great zoos, and I guess I'm kind of over the zoo thing, since I take our kids to the zoo a lot.

We wandered outside to Affection Section to pet the goats/ sheep.

After a few minutes, we washed our hands at the great handwashing station, and caught the train back 'down the mountain.'

 

[erstwo]

We were all getting hungry for lunch, and we'd yet to try the pizza at WDW. We'd passed Pizzafari on our way in, so we decided to head there for lunch.

At almost the exact second I snapped this picture, my husband called out to me, "Have you seen (our son)?" No. I hadn't. The last time I saw him, he was with my husband.

A brief moment of panic ensued, as my husband, myself, my mom, and my dad searched frantically for my son. We found him crouched outside of the restaurant, having run out there to upchuck in the bushes. :hurl:

My deepest apologies to the landscaping staff at AK!

The Disney stomach bug had struck. It really was everywhere that week. We passed someone throwing up in/ on a trash can on Main Street. There was a "throwup cleanup" going on in a bathroom we used in Tomorrowland. On our final night at the Hoop De Doo, someone threw up all over the stairs that lead to the bathroom...... it was just :hurl: everywhere. Gross.

My husband and I strategized. It was decided that since we were traveling with my family, that I should stay with my daughter while my husband should take my son back to the room to rest. Even though every motherly thing in me screamed against this, I knew it made the most sense. So I sent them home with strict instructions and the rest of my family carried on.

No pictures of our food, as none of us was feeling very well after all we'd seen.

After lunch, we headed toward Dinoland to be "prepared" for the next Nemo show.

My oldest niece had lost her riding partner when my son left to go back to the hotel to rest, so I tried my best to fill in! I took her on the Primevil Whirl - which no one else wanted to ride- while the rest of the family took the littles on the Triceratops Spin.

We met up with Pluto in his holiday collar:

And then it was time for...

Why isn't this show on Broadway yet?

 

[erstwo]

After Nemo, we decided to conquer:

It was my first ride on Everest. I have to confess - after we started going backwards, I kept my eyes closed the whole time. :lookaroun What can I say? I was totally freaked out!

I was glad my 4 year old daughter had decided to sit it out with my mom, but my 4 year old niece cracked me up, because she kept saying, "I really liked the part with the monkey!" Talking about the Yeti. :lol:


Then it was time to wait for the parade. My sister was ready to hightail it out of the parks as soon as the parade was over, so we headed back to Africa, and as far toward the gate as we could get.

Continued calls to my husband confirmed that my son was doing better and resting.

Parade time:

A partridge in a pear tree.

I loved the holiday theme. Donald's boat was surrounded by "snow."

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Love your TR!!! Looks like we were in AK on the same day. I also saw you mention the monorail breakdown issues the previous nt...we were caught in that mess, but weren't sure how widespread the problem was. I guess we now know it was a pretty far reaching issue. Can't wait to see more of your TR!