Trip Report Our First December Trip! A Bay Lake Tower/ Dream Cruise Land & Sea Report ***COMPLETED***

Hi everyone!! Back from a wonderful trip only yesterday. Among laundry loads, grocery shopping, giving the cats the attention they're craving, not to mention recovering from my sea legs (I have no trouble ever on the cruise ship, but the first day or two afterwards, I still feel the motion of the ship), we are also uploading pictures. So I will be beginning our trip report shortly.

You may have seen our Pre-Trip report here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-night-trip-first-time-renting-points.909350/
The nitty-gritty of our trip:

WHO: Amber, age 38 (myhappyplace) and Dave, age 46 (Mrhappyplace). We have been married for 3 years. We live outside Atlanta together with our fur babies.




PAST TRIPS: Dave visited WDW as a child a couple times, and I have been going every 1.5 years or so since 2001. Our first WDW trip as a couple was our honeymoon back in October 2013. Our next trip together was a Land & Sea trip in September 2015. While on that cruise, we booked this cruise, then added some days to the beginning of the trip, since neither of us have visited when Christmas decorations are up-and I LOVE me some Christmas!! Spoiler alert: we booked our next cruise on this one!! (TIP: if you think you even remotely want to cruise again while onboard, there is no reason NOT to do this! It locks in a discount and shipboard account credit, you have 2 years to complete the cruise, plus if you decide not to, the deposit is refundable!!)


WHEN: December 1-4 Bay Lake Tower (we rented points-another first, all went smoothly)
(December 1- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party)
December 5-9 4-night Disney Dream cruise


OF NOTE: This report will have TONS of pictures. After our prior trip, on which Dave highly enjoyed borrowing my camera, we bought him the same one, so we could share lenses. So some pictures are from my camera, some are from his camera, some are from my phone, some are from his phone.

Who's ready to go!?

 

[myhappyplace]

Day 0/ Wednesday, November 30th

Everything had been packed for weeks. All we needed to do was come home after work, go to sleep, wake up around 2:00am, and be on our way. Everything went almost according to plan. What we didn't count on was tornado warnings/ watches in the Atlanta area, causing me to have to work late. I teach the Toddlers Class at an Early Learning Center, and because of said warnings, we spent a chunk of the afternoon in the hallway. The warnings also prevented my afternoon assistant teacher from arriving on time to relieve me, so I ended up staying an hour past my normal quitting time. Luckily, like I said, everything was 95% packed. Dave had somewhat of a stressful work week leading up to the trip, because of him trying to get as much done prior to vacation as possible. But, with work behind us, we headed home and went to bed only about an hour and a half after I planned.

We woke up at 2am and did our last minute preparations, and were on the road at about 3:20am. We live about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta, and so we were happy to avoid traffic since it was still a work day. It was a fairly easy trip. We did swap driving duties at one point when Dave got tired. We stopped at a Steak n' Shake near Phillipsburg, GA (we remembered the name because my hometown in PA is Philipsburg). We usually like Steak n' Shake, but we were not impressed this time. Dave's spicy chicken fillet sandwich was not to his liking, I asked for chili cheese fries and got no chili, and the service was...shall we say...very unenthusiastic. We definitely were looking forward to much better food and service in the Disney bubble. Some off-and-on rain happened during the drive but nothing heavy.

Of course, as we got closer and closer, the excitement was building. For some reason though, our GPS took us off of I-4 and through a residential area. Which caused us to miss the welcome sign. I was a bit sad at this. We ended up in some backstage areas (by Disney University and bus areas). So my first sight of Disney World this trip was the backside of Space Mountain as we approached the Contemporary/ Bay Lake Tower area from the opposite direction!

We pulled up and stored our luggage with luggage services, as we had not gotten our "room ready" text yet. As Dave went to park the car, I took a few photos:

Our view from the front of BLT:


Dave walking back to me:


Our home for 4 nights:

 

[myhappyplace]

Day 1- Thursday, December 1st: Resort Hopping & MVMCP

Our plans for our first day included resort hopping to see Christmas decorations, and MVMCP that evening. First, even though our room wasn't ready, I peeked in the BLT lobby and took a few pictures:









As I sort of expected, the themeing didn't really do anything for either of us (the same would hold true for the room later). Don't get me wrong, it was a nice room, and we loved the location, but it didn't have that special Disneyness to me. BUT, because of the wonderful location, our first order of business was to walk (WALK!!) to the Magic Kingdom for the first bus that could take us to one of the Epcot deluxe resorts, to begin our tour.

We did enjoy watching the monorails go by, and through the Contemporary as we walked:






A look back:

 

[lostpro9het]

As I sort of expected, the themeing didn't really do anything for either of us (the same would hold true for the room later).

Same here! But what about that lobby smell!!!

 

[myhappyplace]

We stood in the line for the Swan & Dolphin, but when the Boardwalk bus was the first to get there, we hopped in that line...with all of our friends...


Christmas Magic Bands!


This fellow greeted us as soon as we stepped off the bus:


Hello, old friend!!






Just BEAUTIFUL decorations!! Loved the boardwalky touches

 

[myhappyplace]

Same here! But what about that lobby smell!!!

It did have a lovely, distinctive smell! As soon as we walked in, I said "that must be what lostprophet is talking about!!"

 

[myhappyplace]

Boardwalk decorations, continued:








Venturing outside:

 

[myhappyplace]

We walked around the lake toward Yacht & Beach Clubs. As we passed the pavilion, we noticed that there was a wedding going on; the bride was just about ready to walk down the aisle!! The groom was already under the pavilion, his back toward where the bride would enter, until the last moment. It was all so beautiful, and we got to watch the moment she walked in! One little hiccup...and I felt horrible for her...her veil got caught on a bush, and she couldn't proceed forward. Her wedding planner lady was looking down at her phone, and didn't notice right away It was kind of awkward. I could have taken a picture, but didn't feel I that would be appropriate. Poor girl, it will be a story to tell. But freed from the bush, she continued on. Happy thoughts and pixie dust to them!! Dave whispered to me, asking if he should warn the groom to run. Hrm.





Next on our tour, Beach Club!! And their gingerbread carousel! Each horse modeled after one of the Fab 5.











A very nice CM named Nelson, from Spain, noticed DH's Pink Floyd shirt, and came over to inquire if we had seen Marvel's Doctor Strange yet, as there was a nod to Pink Floyd in the movie. DH told him how we intended to see it on our upcoming cruise in 3D. He offered to take our picture in front of the carousel for us:


More pictures around Beach Club:






As you can tell by the progression of the last couple of pictures, we were on our way to the Yacht Club!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

OF NOTE: This report will have TONS of pictures. After our prior trip, on which Dave highly enjoyed borrowing my camera, we bought him the same one, so we could share lenses. So some pictures are from my camera, some are from his camera, some are from my phone, some are from his phone.

I somewhat felt that it was a bit of a extravagant purchase and that we might look silly walking around the parks together snapping pictures along the way but I do really enjoy taking pics of some of the amazing things in WDW and on a DCL cruise. I can't say my skills are up to par with some of the amazing photographers I see here but my dad loved taking photos when I was a kid and I think I somewhat instinctively know how to get some nice shots from watching him. Some of my shots are much darker then they should be and I was not expecting to be able to get good shots of fireworks or while on rides but was willing to give it a try. I also think I may have used the dutch angle a bit much but think I got some nice results with it so I continued to use it.

 

[myhappyplace]

Photobucket is being a booger, but I will continue on!

On our way to Yacht Club, both to see decorations, and for lunch! I love how though these two resorts are similar, there are subtle differences. Here is YC's wreath:



And tree:


Lots of large ships and blue coloring in their decor:


Some of the ships on the tree-especially those near the bottom-were HUGE!






Where were we going for lunch you ask?


We had read on a blog that they share a kitchen with the Yachtsman, and offered some similar items for lunch, and we DEFINITELY wanted to try truffle oil fries!! Plus we both had a burger in mind. The inside was a little dark, but it offered more seating than I had pictured in my mind.


The menu:


We both decided to order a drink: Yuengling for me (I'm originally a PA gal), and Captain's Mai Tai for Dave.

 

[myhappyplace]

We both ordered the same meal: Angus Chuck Cheeseburger and of course, Truffle Oil Fries!


The fries were delicious!! The burger was tasty too, though maybe not as much as this blog had built it up to be. We enjoyed our lunch overall, and as lightweights (who also had not eaten much prior to this meal), we were already feeling our drinks.

Leaving the YC, on our way to our next destinations!




I used this as an example to Dave on how to use aperture, and shift the focus on different subjects in your photos.


LIZARDS EVERYWHERE!! On the boardwalk anyway...once the sidewalk shifted to pavement, we didn't see them anymore.


We were on our way to the Swan/ Dolphin! These resorts have never really had any appeal to me, as far as staying there. But their decorations were just as beautiful to see!


We ended up just following the path we were on, which ended up being the long way to the door of the Dolphin, but we were still kinda giggly, so we didn't care. We entered to see this gloroiousness which smelled wonderful:


We watched the train a few moments:

 

[myhappyplace]

On to the Swan, where they had a lovely chocolate display:








Our next goal in mind, was to get to the Wilderness Lodge. We decided the best way to do that was to walk to Hollywood Studios, and grab a bus there. I still think that worked out the best, but I do recall being very warm. (I had originally intended to switch to shorts upon arrival at BLT, but forgot, so I still had jeans on). We made it though:


After getting off the bus at Wilderness Lodge, we decided to head to the right, and check out the DVC section first, because I knew that we would be blown away by the main lodge, and wanted to save it.


Still pretty impressive!:






Little dark, but I LOVED this window seat!


I took a short break in a rocker in front of the fireplace. Beautiful decorations to look at!


Then we headed to the main lodge:


And there it was!! The view I already knew I'd love the most! Sigh...








With all of the construction going on there, they had the elevators closed, and this was in front of it:




Instagram selfie:

 

[myhappyplace]

I could have stayed there all day. But we figured we should head back toward BLT, and sure enough, as soon as the boat from the WL pulled away from the dock toward Fort Wilderness (and then on to the Contemporary), we received our "Room Ready" text. Perfect timing!

Taking pictures of both the geyser and DVC villa construction, looking back toward the WL as we pulled away:








We arrived at the Contemporary and had to visit the Mickey Ears before getting to our room:


We initially were a little confused, because our room was on the 11th floor, but was #8132. Once we figured that out, we found we were really just right off the elevator to the right, easy to find.







Our view:

 

[Mrhappyplace]

I used this as an example to Dave on how to use aperture, and shift the focus on different subjects in your photos.

More often then not my camera was unwilling to allow me to accomplish changing the focus and I ended up with 3 similar shots. Still not sure why as it worked eveytime I tried it on the previous trip.

 

[sheriffwoody]

More often then not my camera was unwilling to allow me to accomplish changing the focus and I ended up with 3 similar shots. Still not sure why as it worked eveytime I tried it on the previous trip.

It might have been the focus mode you're in. If you want to lock focus then shift your composition, make sure you're not in "servo" mode. You can also look into using the focus points on your camera! So fun that you two are experimenting with photography!

 

[myhappyplace]

It might have been the focus mode you're in. If you want to lock focus then shift your composition, make sure you're not in "servo" mode. You can also look into using the focus points on your camera! So fun that you two are experimenting with photography!

Thanks for the tips! He really got into it on our last trip, and while I don't mind sharing the camera, it is something I enjoy doing at WDW, and so he didn't want to always ask for a turn. He really does have a good eye!

 

[myhappyplace]

We had originally planned to use our MVMCP tickets for admission into MK at 4pm, but our long day caught up to us, and we needed a nap. I can't remember what time we got going over to the park, but we took these prior to leaving the room, so...sunset, apparently. Even though it wasn't a theme park view, we enjoyed the goings-on out of our window.



While we were aware that there were (I think?) 9 icon trees (4 parks, Disney Springs, WL, AKL, Contemporary, GF), we knew we weren't going to see the DS ones this trip, and this is as close to the Contemporary one as we got...it wasn't in a lobby or on our direct path anywhere. Oops.



And here is Magic Kingdom's!


I was so excited to see the Main Street decor I'd seen in pictures!!




My first order of business was to secure a pink "Baby's First Christmas" ornament, personalized with my new (and only!) niece's name. We really wanted to get it done now because we wanted it sent to our resort. So off to Ye Old Christmas Shoppe we went! The store was very busy, as it was close to time for day guests to be leaving, and the party to officially begin. There was quite a line for personalization, but that task completed, we wanted to find something to eat. We headed to Pecos Bill's. Dave wasn't overly impressed with the burger he'd gotten there last trip, but I knew the menu had changed and I was interested in the nachos, along with that toppings bar!

We split a nachos which I thought were quite good:


This being our first Christmas party, we had read up on suggestions...and promptly forgot them, or ignored them. We probably really didn't make the best use of our time. We went in knowing that we were going to focus on activities that were Christmas exclusives, and not worry about riding rides.

We did enjoy seeing the castle with all of its lights!








The best part of the party was of course the snow on Main Street!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

We had originally planned to use our MVMCP tickets for admission into MK at 4pm, but our long day caught up to us, and we needed a nap. I can't remember what time we got going over to the park, but we took these prior to leaving the room, so...sunset, apparently. Even though it wasn't a theme park view, we enjoyed the goings-on out of our window.

To tell the truth I didn't nap well and was a bit grumpy, even when going on a vacation I stress out about leaving work, home and my cats to the point that I begin to think I am a functional agorophobic. I tried to enjoy myself but the truth is (highly unpopular opinion coming up) MK is my least favorite park and it wasn't until about when the second parade started that I actually started enjoying the night.

 

[myhappyplace]

Continuing on...

We knew we wanted to see the Castle Lighting, but had some time, so we headed toward Tortuga Tavern snack location



And picked up this (which was surprisingly good)


Some cast members were caroling:


Selfie time, as we waited for the Elsa to light the castle (again)












We ended up just staying in this spot for the first parade, even though we should have gone and done something else. Pictures did not turn out and it was hard to see. We planned on catching the second parade later.

 

[myhappyplace]

We decided a trip around Tomorrowland on the Peoplemover was in order. I know we didn't plan on doing rides, but we didn't think we were doing very well with the party planning, so we thought sitting down and collecting ourselves was best. We ended up really enjoying this, as always. We got stopped in Space Mountain, so that was neat. We also could see the Nick and Judy Meet and Greet going on.

Everyone loved Dave's shirt, he got several comments on it.





I know we got more treats in there somewhere, because I enjoyed the molasses cookies, which I think were from Liberty Square. I didn't care for the eggnog, though (it was the first I'd ever tried eggnog)

I guess we went back to Main Street, and sat along the curb while we waited for the holiday firework show.






During our wait, we were chatting a bit with the 2 ladies in front of us, and we all got to witness a wedding proposal!! A man and woman were getting their photopass taken in front of the castle on the street in front of us, and then he dropped to one knee! We all oooohed and aaaahed (well the three of us ladies...Dave again whispered "don't do it!" or something like that)

I will add our photopass pictures from this spot in the next post...