Trip Report The Worst Week: A December 2013/January 2014 Trip Report! *COMPLETE*

You all know the week I'm talking about.

The week that all the guidebooks and fan sites warn about...the parks are packed, Soarin' hits a 4-hour wait, and there are phase closings left and right. It's the week between Christmas and New Year's - the worst week to go to Disney World.

What kind of idiots would book a trip during this crazy, insane time??

Hi, I'm Shannon. Nice to meet ya.

See that guy in the picture with me? That's my husband, Will. He's sort of my favorite. WDW is my favorite place. I like to be in my favorite place with my favorite person.

But there's a catch. You see, this favorite person of mine is a teacher who coaches tennis. So for all of you that smugly say stuff along the lines of, "why not go during off-peak times," (is there even such a thing anymore?!) well, some of us can't. Seriously, like we wouldn't rather go during some random week in February or whatever??? In our case, it's summer or Christmastime for a longer trip. Those are the only options.*

We did the summer thing in June of 2011. It was hot and crowded, and Will swore we'd never do it again. The heat and humidity were too much. I agreed and set my sites on Christmas 2013 pretty much as soon as we got home from that hot, sticky trip. Yep, this trip had been planned (or at least thought about) for about 2.5 years! I'm ridiculous.

But this is where my crazy OCD planning began to shine. Right at the 11-month mark I had our resort reservation secured - no discounts are ever out for that time of year, but I was able to rent DVC points, which saved a RIDICULOUS chunk of change. We still had our APs and Tables in Wonderland card from earlier in the year, we booked flights on rewards points, and thanks to saving up our points on our Disney Visa we had just about enough rewards dollars to cover our food for the week. So as far as Disney trips go, this one was relatively cheap. And I of course woke up early at our 180-day mark to make reservations (19 ADRs! But would we keep them?! ) and grabbed some FP+ reservations at the 60-day mark or whatever. I also pored over the few Christmas-week trip reports on this and other Disney boards from fellow *idiots* like me, which were pretty hard to find...because most threads started with someone asking about traveling during this week didn't have actual USEFUL information, just snide replies along the lines of "cancel and book another week."* Um, thanks?

ANYWAY...I planned for and thought about this trip more than any other trip we've taken, and that's really saying something. But I'd say it paid off overall.

*Yes, I'm a little bitter about it. It just got really old to read how stupid people are for going during this time over and over. I promise the rest of the report won't be like this! Let's be friends?

 

[Ariel484]

Soon our maid returned and asked if we wanted coffee. Um...yes, absolutely. I'd quickly gone from feeling gooooood from the wine to downright hammered. Anything that would help sober me up would be a good thing.

Here's Victoria & Albert's coffee maker!

It's a vacuum percolator. So cool! Vapor pressure from the bottom chamber forces water up into the top chamber to brew the coffee.

Later it falls back down into the bottom chamber and is ready to drink. Pretty neat!

We both found the whole thing pretty fascinating. I'd been drinking a TON of water throughout the evening to try to balance out the wine (like I thought this would help me be less drunk? Riiiight) and during one of my many subsequent bathoom trips throughout the evening our maid brought will the business card of the company that makes their coffee maker. We looked it up when we got home - $200! I think we'll stick with our $35 Mr. Coffee instant coffee maker from Target, thanks.

While our coffee was brewing we were served course #6, the palate cleanser I guess? Choices were a cheese plate or white chocolate gelato with a balsamic glaze, which is what we both picked. I don't have a picture but this course came with (I think) another champagne that I remember liking, but not as much as the champagne we'd had at the beginning of dinner.

 

[Ariel484]

The coffee was ready in time to enjoy with our last course of the evening - I forget whether this one came with a wine pairing and Will can't remember either. Oh well.

Dessert! Will chose the Grand Marnier Souffle:

I chose the chocolate souffle:

I remember trying to eat this as slowly as possible - it was warm and so incredibly rich and creamy that I knew I'd be sad when it was all gone. The ice cream was sooooo good and somehow didn’t melt very quickly (very fascinating to me in my drunken state ). I can say without a doubt that the little cracker-type thing sticking out of the ice cream was the one thing I didn't like throughout the entire meal. It reminded me of the hard, sugary layer on top of creme brulee and just didn't really do it for me here.

And just like that, our dinner was over. We'd been in the dining room for almost 3 hours, but the evening seemed to have flown by. Our wonderful dinner had come to an end.

Our menus were packed up, along with a small box of candies. I tried these later and they were surprisingly disgusting.

And now for what I think is the #1 question concerning Victoria & Albert's - is it worth the money?

To be honest, I'm not really sure I can answer. Remember our little savings plan? After applying our gift card and Tables in Wonderland discount, our bill came to about $80. Putting the money aside for all of this time had done exactly what we'd hoped it would do - it made us feel like we didn't ACTUALLY shell out $500+ for dinner. I'm not sure if I would have felt differently if my credit card had taken the hit all on its own.

Then again...I'm currently brainstorming how to get back to Victoria & Albert's as soon as possible (in fact during dinner we were discussing how we knew we'd definitely want to come back as early as the first course), so clearly I think it's a winner.

Rather than try to navigate the bus system in our impaired state we opted to take a cab back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I forgot how much it cost but we thought it was worth every penny.

We'd originally planned on heading to the Magic Kingdom this evening, but we were totally spent. The rest of the night was spent sobering and packing up. So sad it was our last night.

 

[Goofy6294]

Great TR so far! I have a question about V&A - with the courses that have several items spread over the plate, do the servers advise how to combine them into a bite so that they properly compliment each other? Not being a foodie at all, I'd be afraid of messing up some how!

 

[Ariel484]

Great TR so far! I have a question about V&A - with the courses that have several items spread over the plate, do the servers advise how to combine them into a bite so that they properly compliment each other? Not being a foodie at all, I'd be afraid of messing up some how!

Thanks!

You know, I don't remember them giving advice like that. They told us in great detail what was ON the plate, and I definitely got the impression that the chefs put everything there for a reason, ya know? It didn't seem like anything was random.

One thing that was really great about the servers was how patient they were with our questions (and we had a lot of them!). They never made us feel stupid for asking or tried to rush through an answer. And they were very knowledgeable. So I'm sure they'd be happy to talk you through it.

 

[Ariel484]

For anyone that's interested, here's our (seafood-less) menu from Victoria & Albert's. We were also given the vegetarian menu when we were ordering, but didn't get a copy to take with us.

Apologies for the so-so quality of the scan!

 

[plaz10]

I just ate a Smart One (Mac & Cheese) for dinner and had a small bowl of frosted cheerios for dessert.

So pretty much the same thing as V&A.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Victoria and Albert's looks like such a fun disney life experience! I would loveeeeee to eat there one day. I am a bit nervous though because I am a very picky eater. Thanks for all the photos.. and oh my goodness so much wine!

 

[LindsayLoves]

The first picture of Will with the three wine glasses is amazing! He looks so hopelessly overwhelmed. I would totally spring for the wine pairing when I go (not if), they were definitely not skimping on the pour size for each drink.
My husband has told me that we can spring for a meal like this if I really want to (let's be honest I totally do) - I'm thinking Per Se or Le Bernardin to keep it local but I know he wouldn't enjoy himself because he is such a picky eater. I would be more worried about him not enjoying himself than taking it all in and for $300 a person I better have that experience tattooed into my memory.

 

[durangojim]

Great TR so far! I have a question about V&A - with the courses that have several items spread over the plate, do the servers advise how to combine them into a bite so that they properly compliment each other? Not being a foodie at all, I'd be afraid of messing up some how!

They won't give you advise like that unless you ask for it, but I would never feel bad about asking for advise. For as fancy as the restaurant is, it's not pretentious at all, and that includes the servers.

 

[Ariel484]

I just ate a Smart One (Mac & Cheese) for dinner and had a small bowl of frosted cheerios for dessert.

So pretty much the same thing as V&A.

You're so fancy, Jess. In the interest of full disclosure, I eat the Smart Ones breakfasts a lot (Breakfast Quesadilla, yuuum )

Victoria and Albert's looks like such a fun disney life experience! I would loveeeeee to eat there one day. I am a bit nervous though because I am a very picky eater. Thanks for all the photos.. and oh my goodness so much wine!

It totally was, definitely up there in the top 5 things either of us has ever done at Disney World. I'm definately a little picky too (as evidenced by the requests we put in before the meal) but I am getting more adventurous, so I really enjoyed it. Yes...SO MUCH WINE! Not complaining!

The first picture of Will with the three wine glasses is amazing! He looks so hopelessly overwhelmed. I would totally spring for the wine pairing when I go (not if), they were definitely not skimping on the pour size for each drink.

He was! Good thing I was there to help him out! You're darn right they didn't skimp on those pours!

My husband has told me that we can spring for a meal like this if I really want to (let's be honest I totally do) - I'm thinking Per Se or Le Bernardin to keep it local but I know he wouldn't enjoy himself because he is such a picky eater. I would be more worried about him not enjoying himself than taking it all in and for $300 a person I better have that experience tattooed into my memory.

I know what you mean. It was worth it to us because we really enjoy dinners out, and Will is a pretty adventurous eater (I'm not as adventurous, but I'm getting there). If you're interested in eating at V&A at all and can swing the price, you should definitely go for it. I'm sure they'd work with you as far as the menu goes.

They won't give you advise like that unless you ask for it, but I would never feel bad about asking for advise. For as fancy as the restaurant is, it's not pretentious at all, and that includes the servers.

A thousand times yes to the bolded portion! Everyone was great and we felt very comfortable there.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

That coffee maker....I would not shut up about it while we were there...(darn that wine...)
And I 100% agree...it was definitely not 2.5 glasses of wine!
I would love to go back there too....if it only wasn't so much money.....

 

[Ariel484]

That coffee maker....I would not shut up about it while we were there...(darn that wine...)
And I 100% agree...it was definitely not 2.5 glasses of wine!
I would love to go back there too....if it only wasn't so much money.....

I know what you mean, I wouldn't shut up about the ice cream not melting with dessert! Hopefully I wasn't as loud as I remember myself being...

 

[Ariel484]

Day 8: Saturday, January 4, 2014

The last day... Not the best feeling in the world!

We slept in a little bit (surprise, surprise), packed up and dropped our carry-on bags with Bell Services. Somehow we made it over to the Polynesian for our breakfast reservations at 'Ohana (I assume we took a bus to the Magic Kingdom and transferred to the monorail from there...maybe?).

I had my camera with me but wasn't really in a picture-taking mood...maybe end-of-the-trip depression was settling in already? So I'm going to cheat again and use an older set of pictures.

This was another meal we'd considered canceling earlier in the week, because it's a pretty pricey breakfast. Ultimately we kept the reservation (but moved it back an hour later) because we really, really like the food here. I think their eggs in particular are pretty awesome.

And they have POG juice!!!!!!!

We decided to be difficult this time and ask if our server could get us a pressed pot of Kona coffee from Kona Cafe...and she did. Bless her. Bless.

We got a pretty bad table this time around in the back corner of the restaurant (close to the marina) and seemed to be the very last table in line for the characters...which was okay but sort of not. The main attraction for us at this breakfast is the food, but let's be honest - that inflated price is due to the characters.

The best part of this breakfast was that Stitch's #1 Fan, a 7- or 8-year-old boy from England, was seated at the table next to us. He was wearing a Stitch hat and COULD NOT CONTAIN HIMSELF at the thought of meeting Stitch. He was so excited he couldn't sit still and couldn't eat any of the tasty food in front of him. It was SO cute.

Those weirdly delicious eggs

At some point Stitch walked by and #1 Stitch Fan seized the moment - literally - by running up to Stitch and wrapping his arms around good ol' Experiment 626's waist. The kid was thrilled and WOULD NOT let go. Stitch handled it pretty well and eventually #1 Stitch Fan's grandmother came to pull the kid back to the table. The kid went willingly at first...then changed his mind, turned around and wailed "STIIIIIIIICH!" before bolting back to his idol. It was SO funny!

Can't pass up these little beauties:

Eventually we finished up our breakfast, paid and headed out. Total number of character meets during this meal = 0. Eh, whatever. At least I got my eggs, Kona pressed pot and POG juice. Not a bad way to start the day.

 

[Ariel484]

We hopped on the monorail and headed into the Magic Kingdom. Our first FP+ of the day was for Space Mountain!

The lady behind me was freaking hilarious. Her husband dragged her onto the ride (he was sitting behind her) and now that it was go-time, she was none-too-pleased. I laugh a lot on Space Mountain anyway, but today it was downright side-splitting because I could hear her alternate between shouting "YOU SUCK YOU SUCK YOU SUCK" and dropping F-bombs during our entire ride through space. I'm pretty sure her husband was in trouble after that one.

After that profanity-filled ride, we slowly made our way through Fantasyland.

Time for one last ride on Big Thunder Mountain!...

...followed by Mickey Premium bars for 2!

While eating our delicious, delicious bars, we made our way back into Tomorrowland.

FP+ #3 of the day:

I think we were spoiled after getting to ride Toy Story 3 times this week...Buzz just does not live up. We were actually kind of mad coming off of that ride. I think it's off the list for us.

And with that, it was almost time for lunch. See ya real soon, Magic Kingdom!

 

[dukeaboy]

But now, something else to be excited about...WINE!

I first read about the Jiko Wine Tasting on the Disney Food Blog. It's held each Wednesday and for about $30 one gets an hours-worth of wine education, including the opportunity to sample 3 wines along with some cheese and fruit. Over the last few years I've really started to prefer wine over beer and mixed drinks (except for certain instances...for example, when one hangs out in a cabana on Castaway Cay, it's much more fun to down Coronas rather than sitting there sipping red wine ). But I still know next to nothing about wine, so this was something I really wanted to check out. Will agreed to come along even though he's pretty much strictly a beer drinker.

And BONUS...it was at Jiko, right in our resort. We're quite fond of Jiko...it was our big, fancy dinner on our honeymoon in 2009. We also had Thanksgiving dinner there with Will's parents later that year.

I LOVE the decor in here. We have a room in our house with super high ceilings and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe Jiko can sell me these birds and I can hang them up. That'll look totally normal in a tri-level in the Midwest, right?!

I think this display may have been made of chocolate...

Jiko's Christmas tree:

There ended up being 7 of us total in the "class." Our table was already set up and the tasting started at 3PM.

I'm pretty sure this is the same cheese plate served at dinner. The orange stuff next to the strawberries was some sort of honeysuckle. The purple cube thing by the crackers was actually another gelee, but unlike the Le Cellier one it was berry-flavored and tasty. To the right of the plate is a piece of paper with the names of our wines printed out for note-taking, along with a card describing the cheese plate.

Our tasting this afternoon was run by CM Marty and featured 3 red blends...the Black Pearl (cabernet/shiraz blend), The Left Bank (shiraz/merlot blend) and Thelema Mountain Red (shiraz, petit verdot, cabernet, merlot, grenach blend). Interestingly, they were all screw-top wines. Marty said that's something that used to be looked-down-on, but as the technology gets better and better more wines are going this route. The main reason being they want to prevent cork-tainted wine...where the wine bottle is stored on its side and some sort of bacteria grows in the cork, which they gets into the wine. Um, yuck. Anyway this was all welcome news to me as I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to uncorking a wine bottle. Screw-top wine, I can handle that no problem. I'm a champ.

So basically all of the wines looked like this...seemed kind of silly to take 3 separate pictures.

I can't remember all of what Marty said, but this was a really fun experience. He was super knowledgeable about wine in general, particularly South African wine and what regions of South Africa produce certain blends (best climates to grow certain grapes, how they're harvested, etc.). Apparently Jiko has done a lot for South African vineyards by bringing their wines to Disney and selling them. Whenever a South African wine distributor has new wine, they always call Jiko first. Pretty cool.

Anyway, the Black Pearl was far and away my favorite, followed by the Left Bank, then the Thelema Mountain Red. I mostly like white wines but I like smooth reds, and the Black Pearl was definitely smooth. I liked it so much that I've been trying to look into how to get it at home, and so far it looks like the only way I can get it is through an online dealer. Hmm...

So anyway, we basically sat there drinking our wine and listening to Marty talk. He also encouraged us to ask lots of questions. I wish I'd come up with more to ask, but I'm such a wine dummy I didn't even know where to start. I did come away from the experience knowing I like smoother reds with pronounced berry flavors, so that was good to know (so basically it sounds like I like wines that taste the most like juice ). Will really liked the tasting too...I think he's getting more into wine after this trip, especially reds. His favorite was the Left Bank.

HOWEVER...this was 3 tastings of wine. And, in general we do NOT drink very much. Will has a beer with dinner maybe 4 nights a week and I normally have one glass of wine per week. One PER WEEK. Soooo...by the end of this thing we were feeling goooood.

So I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone wanting to learn a little more about wine. For $30 I thought it was a pretty good deal and would love to do it again - the neat thing about it is that the CM running the tasting (there are 2, Marty and one other) picks the wines beforehand sort of on a whim, so when we do it again it could be all whites, some whites and reds, or maybe 3 totally different reds than what we'd just tried...never the same 3. Very cool. Cheers!

But now, something else to be excited about...WINE!

I first read about the Jiko Wine Tasting on the Disney Food Blog. It's held each Wednesday and for about $30 one gets an hours-worth of wine education, including the opportunity to sample 3 wines along with some cheese and fruit. Over the last few years I've really started to prefer wine over beer and mixed drinks (except for certain instances...for example, when one hangs out in a cabana on Castaway Cay, it's much more fun to down Coronas rather than sitting there sipping red wine ). But I still know next to nothing about wine, so this was something I really wanted to check out. Will agreed to come along even though he's pretty much strictly a beer drinker.

And BONUS...it was at Jiko, right in our resort. We're quite fond of Jiko...it was our big, fancy dinner on our honeymoon in 2009. We also had Thanksgiving dinner there with Will's parents later that year.

I LOVE the decor in here. We have a room in our house with super high ceilings and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe Jiko can sell me these birds and I can hang them up. That'll look totally normal in a tri-level in the Midwest, right?!

I think this display may have been made of chocolate...

Jiko's Christmas tree:

There ended up being 7 of us total in the "class." Our table was already set up and the tasting started at 3PM.

I'm pretty sure this is the same cheese plate served at dinner. The orange stuff next to the strawberries was some sort of honeysuckle. The purple cube thing by the crackers was actually another gelee, but unlike the Le Cellier one it was berry-flavored and tasty. To the right of the plate is a piece of paper with the names of our wines printed out for note-taking, along with a card describing the cheese plate.

Our tasting this afternoon was run by CM Marty and featured 3 red blends...the Black Pearl (cabernet/shiraz blend), The Left Bank (shiraz/merlot blend) and Thelema Mountain Red (shiraz, petit verdot, cabernet, merlot, grenach blend). Interestingly, they were all screw-top wines. Marty said that's something that used to be looked-down-on, but as the technology gets better and better more wines are going this route. The main reason being they want to prevent cork-tainted wine...where the wine bottle is stored on its side and some sort of bacteria grows in the cork, which they gets into the wine. Um, yuck. Anyway this was all welcome news to me as I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to uncorking a wine bottle. Screw-top wine, I can handle that no problem. I'm a champ.

So basically all of the wines looked like this...seemed kind of silly to take 3 separate pictures.

I can't remember all of what Marty said, but this was a really fun experience. He was super knowledgeable about wine in general, particularly South African wine and what regions of South Africa produce certain blends (best climates to grow certain grapes, how they're harvested, etc.). Apparently Jiko has done a lot for South African vineyards by bringing their wines to Disney and selling them. Whenever a South African wine distributor has new wine, they always call Jiko first. Pretty cool.

Anyway, the Black Pearl was far and away my favorite, followed by the Left Bank, then the Thelema Mountain Red. I mostly like white wines but I like smooth reds, and the Black Pearl was definitely smooth. I liked it so much that I've been trying to look into how to get it at home, and so far it looks like the only way I can get it is through an online dealer. Hmm...

So anyway, we basically sat there drinking our wine and listening to Marty talk. He also encouraged us to ask lots of questions. I wish I'd come up with more to ask, but I'm such a wine dummy I didn't even know where to start. I did come away from the experience knowing I like smoother reds with pronounced berry flavors, so that was good to know (so basically it sounds like I like wines that taste the most like juice ). Will really liked the tasting too...I think he's getting more into wine after this trip, especially reds. His favorite was the Left Bank.

HOWEVER...this was 3 tastings of wine. And, in general we do NOT drink very much. Will has a beer with dinner maybe 4 nights a week and I normally have one glass of wine per week. One PER WEEK. Soooo...by the end of this thing we were feeling goooood.

So I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone wanting to learn a little more about wine. For $30 I thought it was a pretty good deal and would love to do it again - the neat thing about it is that the CM running the tasting (there are 2, Marty and one other) picks the wines beforehand sort of on a whim, so when we do it again it could be all whites, some whites and reds, or maybe 3 totally different reds than what we'd just tried...never the same 3. Very cool. Cheers!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I am very late to this party. I have lots of reports to catch up on!

A whole week!! With no races! How exciting!

I really liked Sanaa a lot but I was shocked by how spicy one thing I had was. I don’t know why, I should have expected it, but many my mouth was on fire!

I love love love Animal Kingdom Lodge and the rooms, but you are absolutely right. SO hard to photograph! And who has time to get out a tripod when you first walk in?

Great dessert party review!

Love your lobby shots!

We really like the food at Boma breakfast (Pog juice!!) but the price is high. Agreed.

Citricos is one of my favorites as well. Delicious!

You’re plans for the day vs. sleeping in are cracking me up!

Cupcakes are the perfect way to end a year.

Bummer Fantasmic only kind of went!

Okay, the baby zebra is adorable. Totally.

And I was riveted by your “Albert and Victoria” experience. My word I’m glad you brought your camera. Saving for it was the perfect plan. I’m so glad you did it!!

 

[Ariel484]

I am very late to this party. I have lots of reports to catch up on!

A whole week!! With no races! How exciting!

I'm sorry Tammy, I know how much you secretly love running!!

I really liked Sanaa a lot but I was shocked by how spicy one thing I had was. I don’t know why, I should have expected it, but many my mouth was on fire!

YES! That was how one of the naan varieties that we had was...or so I hear, as I wasn't brave enough to try it myself.

I love love love Animal Kingdom Lodge and the rooms, but you are absolutely right. SO hard to photograph! And who has time to get out a tripod when you first walk in?

Okay, if even YOU think they are hard to photograph then I don't feel so bad! Photoshop helped a bit but overall there was just no saving those pictures!

Great dessert party review!

Love your lobby shots!

Thanks!

We really like the food at Boma breakfast (Pog juice!!) but the price is high. Agreed.

POG juice!!! I did think the food was good. If they added an a la carte option I would definitely go back!

Citricos is one of my favorites as well. Delicious!

Oh yes!! I think Citricos is my new favorite at WDW! (Besides Victoria & Albert's, but that's just a whole other category.)

You’re plans for the day vs. sleeping in are cracking me up!

Just keeping it real, Tammy...just keeping it real.

Cupcakes are the perfect way to end a year.

Yes, might have to be a new tradition for us!

Bummer Fantasmic only kind of went!

I know! I've heard of that happening before but have never witnessed it myself. It was bizarre!

Okay, the baby zebra is adorable. Totally.

He was just the cutest! I wanted to take him home with me. I don't think my dog would have been very happy with that. WDW may have been upset too if I'd stolen one of their zebras, now that I think about it.

And I was riveted by your “Albert and Victoria” experience. My word I’m glad you brought your camera. Saving for it was the perfect plan. I’m so glad you did it!!

Albert & Victoria! That was definitely the highlight of our trip! I'm glad I had the camera too, the only bad thing is that I look at the pictures of that delicious, delicious food and I want to go back every trip! I need to win the lottery.

 

[Ariel484]

Oh no...time for the last update!


We had a very late lunch (2:50ish) booked at Sanaa as our last meal of the trip. Right back where we'd started...it was like we were coming full-circle!

Lazy Saturday:

I love these guys and their ridiculous "hair":

We ordered the naan appetizer again...after our first lunch earlier that week we knew we wanted all plain naan and 3 portions of the red pepper hummus. Sooooo delicious!

For my appetizer I got the tomato soup with Paneer cheese (no picture, oops!)...it was pretty tasty. Will went with grilled lamb kefta:

(served open-faced on naan with minted greens, tomato, onion and cucumber raita.) I had a few bites of this and it was SO good! This place is awesome.

This time we actually DID have room for dessert. Yay! We ordered the dessert trio to share.

L-R Coconut Cheesecake, Chai Cream and Tanzanian Chocolate Mousse:

YUM! The chai cream was definitely my favorite part and the one thing I'd wanted to try the most. The other two desserts were great as well...super creamy and rich.

BABIES ON THE SAVANNA OMG SQUEEEEE...bye guys.

Oh well. We had our own little guy to get home to (along with sub-zero temperatures...seriously, temperatures of -4 with a windchill of -31. We should have just stayed in Florida and had the dog sent down to us).

Bye-bye WDW.

 

[Ariel484]

Final Thoughts

Animal Kingdom Lodge: Loved it. Perfect. So quiet and serene, two of our favorite restaurants are there, and the themeing is just amazing. We really felt like we were in another place entirely...it was incredibly relaxing. We'll be back for sure!

Food: When Disney first announced their new ADR Cancellation policy, it didn't really phase me. But during this trip we made more than a few changes to some things, so I'm not sure how it's going to impact us in the future. I'm glad we made our reservations BEFORE the change took place. New places for us on this trip included Garden Grill, Artist Point, Boma (first time for breakfast), Yak & Yeti counter service and Liberty Tree Tavern. I was pretty impressed with the food from Garden Grill, Yak & Yeti CS and Liberty Tree Tavern. Boma I liked, but it was sooooo pricey. Artist Point was the biggest disappointment of the trip. Definitely highlights for us were Citricos, Via Napoli, Sanaa and, of course, Victoria & Albert's.

Special Experiences: Since we knew the parks would be so crowded this week, we tried to think outside the box and book some other activities to escape the chaos. I'm glad we tried the Wishes Dessert Party, but for us, I don't think it's worth the price. We both LOVED the Jiko Wine Tasting and are looking forward to doing that again in the future. We thought the price was a good deal and we learned something along the way. Last, but certainly not least...Victoria & Albert's. I'm SO SO SO SO glad we did this. Yes, it was expensive, but what an incredible experience. The food was amazing, the staff was welcoming and professional...I cannot recommend this dinner enough. Can't wait to go back!

MM+/Magic Bands: Maybe we were lucky, but they were a non-issue for us this week. It was very nice to be able to book FP+ ahead of time and sleep in. Not only did this help us recover from our sicknesses, it also made this trip feel like - gasp! - a vacation.

That Week: THE week. The week between Christmas and New Year's...it wasn't that bad. I think mostly because we went into it knowing what to expect - lines would be insane, parks would close to capacity, prices would be a little higher. FP+ helped a lot. We had our ADRs booked at 180 days. We saved money wherever we could. We booked out-of-the-park experiences. We made sure to check out the decorations at the other resorts and spend a good chunk of time hanging out in our own. All of this was very deliberately planned, and I think it helped to make The Worst Week really pretty great...

Regrets: ...however I'd be lying it I said I didn't have regrets. I wish we hadn't been sick, but that was beyond our control. Beyond that...

1. We didn't eat nearly enough cupcakes that week - only one apiece?! Unacceptable.
2. I still haven't gotten to try the Nutella Waffle with fruit from Sleepy Hollow.

So you'd better believe I'm going to do my best to right those wrongs during future trips.


Thanks for reading along, everyone!! Keep warm out there!

 

[plaz10]

1. We didn't eat nearly enough cupcakes that week - only one apiece?! Unacceptable.

So you'd better believe I'm going to do my best to right those wrongs during future trips.

So I'm thinking...if we split cupcakes - we can have/try MORE cupcakes over the course of 4 days. I think this is a great idea. I'm excited to put it into action. I may or may not have a list of cupcakes to look out for and try...and a repeater list of delicious cupcakes I know are delicious and can't wait to eat again.

(insert cake emoji here.)