Trip Report The Two Goofs Holiday Special!- Now with February updates!

Hello again my friends. We’ve just returned from our short, action packed, trip to the world. We had the hap hap happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny fu- oh wait, wrong thread! Anyways we had a great trip!

When: December 6-9

Where: Grand Floridian

Why: Because we wanted to, and we were celebrating six years of wedded bliss!

Who: Myself and my wife, A.

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Featuring appearances by Bucky the popcorn bucket, The Orange Bird backpack, Chewbacca, Scrooge McDuck, Whoopi Goldberg, Creepy dancing reindeer, Sant Claus, @Nunu, and many more!

So just sit back, relax, and maybe try to stay warm if it’s -4 degrees outside(looking at you @ajrwdwgirl!).

Travel Day/ Day 1. December 5-6.

I had been working nights all week and A works during the day, so we didn’t get to spend any time together this entire week. This isn’t unusual for us, but it did make packing a bit tricky, as we had trouble keeping up with what was in which suitcase. Also being a man, I didn’t actually pack my suitcase until about an hour before we hit the road!

We handled a few errands at home and were westbound on the interstate by about 6:30 that evening.

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Our usual rest stop on the way to Dallas. Anyone who’s ever visited one will know why, it’s like the Disney World of gas stations! 🤣 It’s hard to tell from this photo, but that store is around 60,000 square feet of pristine clean awesomeness! It has 84 gas pumps and over 70 restroom stalls!

Anyways, we arrived at our good friends’ place on the outskirts of Dallas at around 8:30. We were sleeping here for the night to avoid leaving our house in the middle of the night,or paying for a hotel near the airport. We quickly went to bed for a few hours rest, and were up and ready to head to the airport around 4 the next morning.

We got dropped off at the airport around 430 for our 6 am flight. Normally this would leave plenty of time for a nap in the terminal, but for some reason security at Love field this day was SLOW! First they stopped the line to bring in the dog, but then when the dog arrived, they only let people through 2 at a time. We ended up being in line for nearly an hour. Fortunately we still had time to grab a bite at whataburger for breakfast, and catch a small nap at the gate.

Our plane boarded on time, and we were in the air a little ahead of schedule. We had the smoothest, fastest flight we’ve ever had to Orlando. With a strong tailwind, the flight tracker showed ground speeds of nearly 700 mph! We were at the gate an hour and 40 minutes after takeoff. Our chief flight attendant was the absolute best we’ve ever seen. He was a huge Disney nut and was super pumped to be working the Orlando flight(he even wore his ears), his safety spiel was hilarious, and as we taxied the runway at MCO he played a little Disney trivia with everyone. When he gave his farewell message, people were literally screaming and cheering for him!

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This was painfully accurate today, but we didn’t mind too much!

We were the last stop on the magical express, but we finally made it to the grand a little before 11 AM!

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The lobby is absolutely beautiful this time of the year!

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The gingerbread house is really incredible to see! This was my favorite of all the special lobby decorations that we saw!

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We grabbed a snack and headed outside to enjoy it.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday December 8 continued.

Soon the fireworks began.

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Like the Halloween show I felt the narration bits felt forced. The projections on the Halloween show seemed a bit more impressive. Overall I really enjoyed the Christmas fireworks

After the fireworks we hung out around the hub just enjoying the atmosphere.
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This was from earlier in the evening during the castle lighting show.
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The castle lights are really impressive to see up close!

We strolled down Main Street next enjoying the crisp evening and festive music playing. We wanted to try to get a spot for the parade somewhere around the town square.

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Main Street looks great all decked out for the holidays!

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We managed to find a pretty good spot for the parade about 10 minutes before it started.

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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Happy festivus everyone!

I hope you all have had a pleasant evening and accomplished feats of strength around the festivus pole.

And of course, I hope you all had your airing of grievances!


If you have no idea what I’m talking about well then


Now back to the TR!

Sunday December 8 continued.

We found a nice spot right in front of the train station to watch the parade. The pre parade entertainment came by and tossed balls around the crowd, and were just generally crazy. I wish I would’ve been recording when the poor guy next to me got spiked right in the head by the girl behind him! He was ok. Anyways here’s some parade photos!
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Cold. Dead. Eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the character in the movies, but this thing just gives me the creeps!

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These guys were great. Really nice of him to hold that pose for me too!
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Is this THE prancer? Or just A prancer?

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After waving goodbye to Santa, we swam sideways through the exiting crowd to meet mickey. We managed to beat the rush and had a very short wait.
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I don’t think we had ever done a Mickey M&G outside of character meals.
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Looking for diamonds, but only finding a Qalo ring.

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I had to explain to him that the real wedding ring is much to valuable to carry around his parks. He agreed!

We exited to a light crowd. We hung around Main Street for a little longer.


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I enjoyed all of the window displays.
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The clock struck midnight at this point, and the party was over. We headed back to the grand and called it a night. We had a blast at the Christmas party and can’t wait to go back! I‘m not sure why it seemed so much calmer than the Halloween party. My guess is the lack of the party pass helped make crowds more bearable. Either way we’ll try and do this event again next year. I can’t say the same for the Halloween party.
 
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I hope you all are having a very merry Christmas, and are getting to spend it with those who are near and dear to you!

Monday December 9.

We’ve reached the last day already? What a bummer! I woke up around 8 and took our checked luggage down to airline check in. We gathered what was left and dropped it off at bell services for later. We decided to just spend the day in MK.

I enjoyed our balcony one last time.
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There was a PP photographer in the lobby, so we grabbed a picture by the tree on our way to the monorail.
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After tapping in we only had a few minutes to use our first FP on big thunder. The water effects at the beginning were working. So that’s a plus. Ride was fantastic as usual.

After big thunder we decided on sleepy hollow for breakfast. A had a waffle with eggs and other such nonsense.
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She insisted it was delicious.

I had the Nutella and fruit waffle. I was too busy devouring it to bother taking a photo. Needless to say it was great.

There was a PP photographer nearby with nobody around. His name was Brian, and he was fantastic! So fun and kind! It’s nice to have those CMs who still have more of the old school charm.
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Brian insisted on taking all sorts of different pictures, this one turned out pretty neat.

We had a FP for haunted mansion up next, but it must’ve broken down because it turned into a multiple experience FP. This turned out to be to our advantage, as we had been unable to secure a jingle cruise FP after changing our plans on short notice.
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There were more decorations than I thought there would be.
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Our vessel. I quite liked the jungle cruise overlay. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s a nice touch to what was already a favorite of mine!

After our cruise we were able to catch a tiki room showing that was about to begin. We missed the pre show, but it was getting quite hot at this point, so I was ready to get some AC. I didn’t find any in the enchanted tiki room though!


We cut across to Frontierland, passing on a dole whip, much to the disappointment of @Darstarr I’m sure. I had my sights set on a superior treat later!

I can’t visit MK without stopping by to see my family member!
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Cousin Al!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday December 9 continued.

After saying goodbye to cousin Al and friends, we used a FP on splash mountain.
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A rare front row ride for us. We got pretty soaked, luckily our feet were dry, so it wasn’t too bad.

We cut back through Adventureland at My favorite treat spot.

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I unknowingly took a picture of Robert Gilbert. Robert is the culinary director for all of the magic kingdom! I do not know who the other chef is.
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Citrus swirl float. It was getting hot this day, so it really hit the spot!

We stopped by the Christmas store to pick up a thank you gift for A’s mother, who had been taking care of the dogs while we were away. I managed to get one last FP for the day.

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Our last ride of 2019 would be Pooh.

We started making our way towards the exit. I stopped in the emporium to grab a Christmas present for A, then we exited the park. We waited on the boat dock for quite a while before a WL boat finally showed up.

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There was a nice breeze outside. The CM on the boat was great, and hung out on the back of the boat playing a little Disney trivia with us during our journey.

We made it to WL in time for a late lunch at whispering canyon. Our server wasn’t very fun, but the view was good.
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I had the nachos again. A had a BBQ sandwich. Total cost was less than any QS meal we had that we didn’t split. Hard to beat that! After lunch we just hung out around the lobby admiring the decorations.

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About this time the DVC CM came up and asked us if we’d like $150 gift card for taking the tour. We have been discussing DVC for many months, since we travel quite often, and stay Deluxe quite a bit. We decided to go ahead and do the tour, and see what they had to say.

I’ll spare you all the boring details. We left the tour with $150 gift card and this.
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By the time we finished sorting the Is and crossing the Ts, we were getting very close to our tragical express pickup. Our salesman must’ve known this, as he had a ride waiting down stairs to take us back GF. We made it back in time to change out of our funky park clothes, and were the last ones on the TE.

Unfortunately as soon as our bus pulled away I got a notification from southwest that our flight was delayed due to weather in the midwest(it was coming out of St Louis.). Then my boss from work called to tell me he needed me to be at work at 8 am the next day for a federally mandated check ride. Not what you want to hear when it’s nearly 7 PM and you’re in Orlando! I prepared myself for the long night of travel.

Our bus made good time to the airport. The tree there was quite nice.
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They also had a nice orchestra playing Christmas music. Made for a pleasant TSA experience!(this may be the only time anyone has ever had that to say about TSA!)

Our flight ended up being delayed by about 40 minutes. We struggled to make up any time in the air, as we were going head on into a large cold front. We landed in Dallas about 30 minutes behind schedule, not too bad considering.

It was cold and windy and rainy in Dallas, a far cry from what we’d been experiencing the last 4 days! After a small snafu at baggage claim(jammed carousel), we were on the road. We pulled into the drive a little before 3 AM. I’ll have some final thoughts in my next post.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Final thoughts for 2019.

This was our last trip of 2019. My final thoughts will be for our entire year at the parks and resorts. The hotel I’m currently at has free beer, so please bear with me as I ramble.

Parks: I feel like the parks were excellent for us in 2019 with a few glaring exceptions. The first being the entry experience at the parks currently. It’s quite simply not good. It doesn’t bother me much, but I could see this making a bad first impression on a first time guest. Luckily the parks are strong enough inside to make up for this. Except for EPCOT. That place is officially on my do not visit list for my next trip. I also sadly had to recommend to a friend of mine who’s visiting soon, not to bother with Epcot. The walls around future world are just too much. I’m sure it’ll be nice once it’s finished, but for now it’s a pain.

Ak still needs more. Pandora is nice enough, but they need more attractions if the y really want people to stay all day.

MK is strong. I am looking forward to tron. It’ll be nice to finally have a new attraction at that park. They need to do something with the stitch building too. The worlds busiest theme park shouldn’t have empty buildings just sitting around.

The highlight of the year in the parks for both of us was far and away galaxy’s edge. The land really surpassed all my expectations. The intricate details, the roaming characters, the way all the CMs have really embraced their roles in it, it’s all great. Rise is just awesome. That’s all I’ll really say about that. The only downside to the land is probably food and beverage. Docking bay 7 leaves a lot to be desired, and was too expensive. Ogas is fun, and we had a good group with us, but it is also too rich for my blood. I could see going back with a larger group, but if it’s just A and I, we’ll pass.

Resorts: We stated at Yacht club, Poly, Pop, Coronado, POFQ, and grand Floridian throughout the year. We have nothing but good things to say about any of those resorts with few exceptions.

YC is now our favorite resort on property, so quiet and laid back, plus that pool! I know some people don’t like the new rooms, but I thought they were great. Nicely appointed with subtle Disney touches. Being walking distance to two parks is also a huge plus.

Poly was a little disappointing. The resort grounds are incredible, the dining options are great, monorail to two parks is great. The room though, left a lot to be desired. It just felt dated and tired. As much as the place charges for a room, I don’t want dated and tired. I can enjoy all of the amenities here without paying outrageous prices for and old, tired room. I have no plans to return as an overnight guest in the foreseeable future.

Pop is far and away the best value on property. The skyliner plus the new rooms make this a no brainer for us if we are wanting to stay at a value resort to save a little money.

Coronado was not our favorite place, but we’d be willing to stay here again if the price was right, especially at the new tower. I feel like the large convention of foul mouthed tool salesmen really ruined the vibe during our trip. I think if we’d been placed in the ranchos section away from all of that, we may have enjoyed it more. They did do a great job of taking care of us after our luggage got misplaced.

We only stayed at POFQ one night, so I don’t have much to say. I do like the compact layout, and the theming makes me reminisce about my days of living in Louisiana.

We really loved the grand Floridian. It’s elegant without being stuffy. The room we had was fantastic as well, and the staff was superb every time we encountered them. As a couple without children, we enjoyed the more “grown up” feel that parts of the resort had.

Most importantly, I’m glad I got to share some of our 2019 adventures with all of you! I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them! Ultimately The best part about Disney is getting to share it with others. That’s what I’ve felt I’ve done with you all here on the boards, and even in person! I look forward to sharing our adventures in 2020 and beyond with you all!
 
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