The Yuletide Hypothesis - A December 2011 TR

PenelopePeach · Oct 19, 2012

Chapter 1: Away we go...

It never fails; in the weeks leading up to a trip, I start to have dreams where we’re on the plane headed for WDW, wearing our PJ's, with NO luggage, and NO itinerary. Oh, the horror.

In reality, it seems that no matter how much I prep & plan before our trips, I’m always rushing at the last minute to get it all done & ready. This trip was no exception, meaning there wasn’t much sleep happening the night before we left. We had to leave the house at 3:30 in the morning and my sweet dad drove us to Ontario (California, not Canada) airport at dark-thirty for our 6am flight. Just in case you were wondering, yes we were wearing regular clothes, had our luggage all packed & our itinerary ready to go!

We had an easy check-in with Southwest, then stopped by Starbucks & paid $247 for a bottle of water & some muffins to snack on during the flight (OK maybe I'm exaggerating, but airport prices are seriously insane). From there we just sat & people-watched until it was time to board, where I'm convinced we saw the "Octomom" (sans brood) also waiting for a flight.

By the time we boarded, I had been awake for 24+ hours and was really starting to feel it. As soon as the plane left the ground I knocked out, so I don't remember much other than the take-off & landing. We had a short layover in Phoenix where we changed planes. We tried to get some sleep on the 2nd leg to MCO, but DH has a hard time sleeping in planes and I was just too excited. We passed the time doing word searches together & playing multi-player Boggle on our iPad. How exciting are we? At 4:25pm, we arrived at MCO right on time.

My sleepy hubby in Phoenix, waiting for our connecting flight. Apparently the thinking man was also on his way to Disney

Aside from the dreams/nightmares leading up to our trips, I also have a tendency to become ever-so-slightly paranoid about getting sick. A month before we leave, we increase our vitamin C intake and add Echinacea to our daily routine. Inevitably, a few days before we're set to leave, I’m certain that I’m getting a sore throat. DH just rolls his eyes because, luckily, I’ve been wrong every time. (Gees, I really sound nutty don’t I? ) This time was different, though. This time I felt it coming and didn’t say anything, hoping it would just pass and that I was wrong like I had been EVERY other time. When we got off the plane in Orlando, my ears were completely full of fluid and I couldn’t even hear myself talk. But I'm sure they just needed to pop, right?

We took the infamous MCO monorail ride and followed the herd toward baggage claim. Is it just me, or does it seem like it always take the bags an hour to get to the carousel? I'm sure it’s just because we’re so excited to get on the road to Disney, but it seriously feels like forever.

After all of our pieces were located safe & sound, we headed toward the Alamo car rental counter. We got a great deal with our Costco discount at $185 total for a full size car for the entire trip (13 days)! Oh, how I love a bargain. After breezing through check-in (IOW, dodging all of their extra services - insurance, GPS, pre-paid gas, etc), we headed out to the garage to pick out our car, something I love about Alamo. There were about 15 cars in our aisle, but there were only 3 different models to choose from: a Nissan Altima, a Chevy Impala, and a Crown Victoria. The Altima seemed too small for all of our luggage (and my curvy bottom). We skipped the Crown Vic because we didn’t want to have the theme song to “Cops” stuck in our heads the entire trip (you're welcome if it's now stuck in your head ), so we plopped our stuff in a snazzy dark grey Impala and headed for the exit. I’ll show you a picture of our car later in the report, but look how cute this Muppets movie advertisement was hanging from the mirror! Our trip was already off to a good start. Well, aside from the whole plugged up ear thing.

We were on the road by about 5:30pm and our first stop was Super Target off 192. This is our routine every trip. We usually buy most of our toiletries when we get to Target, and we also get lots of Cherry Coke Zero, water & snacks for the room. Why specifically Cherry Coke Zero, you ask? While it is something we can get at home in CA, we first stumbled upon it at this Target on our very first trip back in '08, so it's become a tradition for us & we save it for WDW. Kinda weird, I s’pose, but it’s just something we do. Since my ears hadn't popped yet, we picked up some DayQuil, you know, just in case, and off we went.

Next stop: Old Key West, with lots of photos!

wiigirl · Oct 19, 2012

Loving you report. Can't wait to see more pictures!

PenelopePeach · Oct 20, 2012

wiigirl said:
Loving you report. Can't wait to see more pictures!

Thanks for joining in!

PenelopePeach · Oct 20, 2012

Chapter 2: Battered & Fried - Pt. 1

As we made our way into the World, I was driving & forgot to ask Daniel to snap a picture of the welcome sign. So just imagine that it’s dark outside, Mickey & Minnie are all lit up and waving hello to you as the Disney bubble happily seals around you once you pass under the sign. *POP*

About a month before our trip, we decided to add on a couple of nights, moving our arrival date from the 8th to the 6th. A good friend of ours had some DVC points available for us to rent, but since we were booking at the last minute our resort choices were pretty limited. We decided on a studio at Old Key West because 1) the price was right, 2) we had never stayed there before, and 3) they recently renovated their rooms. We were really looking forward to trying it out.

We pulled into Old Key West around 7:00ish and we were happy to find that the lobby wasn’t very busy. I did online check-in before we arrived, so overall the process was quick. That is until I inquired about where our room was located. It was a bottom floor over-looking a roadway, so I asked if they had anything available on a higher floor with a water view. If not, it wasn't a big deal, but since it's what we wanted, I wanted to at least make an effort to get it. After about 10 minutes, they were able to get us a room on the 2nd floor, overlooking a waterway in the Turtle Pond area. Yay!

We drove over to our building and lugged our mass of luggage up to the room. This is one bummer about OKW - no elevators. I get why they don’t have them, and I know that to avoid it we could’ve just stayed on the bottom floor, but I’d rather stay on the higher floor and complain about hauling our junk up & down the stairs. :rolleyes1

Once we got everything into the room, I made Daniel wait to do ANYTHING so that I could take a bazillion photos of the room in its pristine condition.

While I never saw the old rooms in person, I’m sure that I’m grateful for the new color scheme. It was really calming.

I really liked the French doors that open out to the balcony

In writing this TR, we just noticed the lizard up there!

It's kind of hard to make out in the dark, but here's a shot of our water view

Looking into the room from the balcony, featuring one patient hubby

Closet closed

Closet opened (oooooh….ahhhhh)

Potty shots

Kitchenette

After I sufficiently filled up my memory card with photos of the room, I unpacked just what we would need for our short stay here and got the room organized. Then we freshened up & drove back down to the lobby area to take the boat to Downtown Disney and grab some dinner.

On our way down, we decked out our rental car full of holiday cheer. Sadly, it was too dark to get a photo of it all dressed up, but here’s a taste of what’s to come…

Once we drove over to the lobby, we meandered through the Conch Flats General store and snapped some photos of the area.

wishing_upon_a_dstar · Oct 20, 2012

Great so far, I'm watching your tr

we are staying at old key west next year it looks really nice. Thank you for sharing all the pictures

How do you get vouchers for the car rental? At the moments for 14 days it's £246 for us a lot more than yours

xx

PenelopePeach · Oct 20, 2012

Chapter 2: Battered & Fried - Pt. 2

The view of DTD from our boat

Normally on our first night we trek over to Earl of Sandwich, but since the boat from OKW takes you to the dock by Pleasure Island, we decided to try Cookes of Dublin. I looked at the menu before we left and I really wanted to try the battered burger. We were starving by the time we got there since all we had to eat up to this point were the snacks we picked up at Starbucks early that morning, and the crackers & nuts given to us during our flights. This is something to keep in mind as I show you the pics of ALL that we ordered. Just as a disclaimer, we shared everything between the two of us and didn't completely finish anything.

Daniel waiting for our food at Fried-Fest 2011

Mini Battered Sausages $8.95

Battered Burger and Chips - hand-battered beef burger topped with garlic mayonnaise, tomato chutney and mixed greens $10.95
(We added cheese)

Chicken and Field Mushroom – flaky pastry crust, filled with chicken breast, mushroom and leeks in a rich wine cream sauce $10.95

Side of Garlic Mayo $3.00

"Doh-Bars" Fried Candy Bar - $3.50

We’ve never been to Raglan Road, but the battered sausages have been something I’ve wanted to try for a long time so I was excited to find them on the menu here. These were overly peppered, and aside from that, surprisingly bland. This was a common theme with everything we tried here, even the garlic mayo - it was all bland. The burger was heavy & tasteless and the chicken pie was dry and, yep, tasteless. The D’oh bar was a fried Payday, which isn’t something that I particularly enjoy, and we weren’t given a choice of what kind of candy bar we could have. There wasn’t anything that we really loved here, or even finished. We walked away feeling heavy and blah.

After dinner, we walked around the West Side a bit to try to walk off our heavy meal. We usually spend most of our DTD time over on the Marketplace side, so it was kind of fun to spend some time over here.

Decorations around Pleasure Island

Westside holiday goodness – they had singers performing here at various times. This, obviously, was not one of those times.

I prefer Goofy’s Candy Co. to the Candy Cauldron, this store is so tiny and their selection is really limited

We spent most of our time in D Street – I just love this shop. While I don’t collect all of the vinylmations, I do collect more than I should…

I loved how they made holiday lights out of the old clear series

If they offered apples for free, I would be scared to partake. Eek!

Cool old cash register on display

I wonder how they come up with the ideas for their decor

Looks like those clear vinyls weren’t very popular

PenelopePeach · Oct 20, 2012

Chapter 2: Battered & Fried - Pt. 3

We were pretty tired, so we decided to head back to the room. On our boat ride back, we had a nice view of the MK fireworks. We were enjoying the show, so I only thought to snap one photo:

We spotted this room at OKW from our boat - so cute!

The CM driving our boat asked the passengers on board a bunch of WDW trivia questions. I was in nerd heaven.

The view of our hotel as the boat pulled into the dock

We peeked into the pool area:

We drove back to our room and sacked out! The plan was to get up at 7:30am to meet my family at DHS in the morning for rope drop. We’ll find out how that panned out in the next installment.

PenelopePeach · Oct 20, 2012

wishing_upon_a_dstar said:
Great so far, I'm watching your tr we are staying at old key west next year it looks really nice. Thank you for sharing all the pictures

How do you get vouchers for the car rental? At the moments for 14 days it's £246 for us a lot more than yours xx

Thanks for following along!

We're planning a trip for the same time of year this year, and we can't find a car for anywhere near the great deal we got last year. I ended up going to Priceline where you can bid for your own price, and the best I got was a fullsize for $15/day from Budget. Not too shabby! That might be an option for you. Best of luck in your search.

wishing_upon_a_dstar · Oct 20, 2012

PenelopePeach said:
Thanks for following along!

We're planning a trip for the same time of year this year, and we can't find a car for anywhere near the great deal we got last year. I ended up going to Priceline where you can bid for your own price, and the best I got was a fullsize for $15/day from Budget. Not too shabby! That might be an option for you. Best of luck in your search.

Thank you

hopefully one day we can see the world at Christmas time x

PenelopePeach · Oct 22, 2012

Day 2 - The Best Laid Plans

In the months leading up to our Disney trips, my mom and I spend countless
hours creating the “perfect” itinerary together. For us, this process is almost as fun as the trip itself. Some people may think we’re nutty, but we totally love it….and something tells me we’re probably not alone.

Here’s a snapshot of our itinerary for this day. Anything in a blue font meant we would be with my family:

For as strict as the plans may appear, we’re usually pretty flexible and are open to changing things up as needed. There have been several instances where the itinerary has acted as nothing more than just a reference guide for our ADR’s.

That flexibility was something that proved to be more important than ever on this trip, and today, our first full day, was no exception.

As you can see, our intention was to wake up early and get to the Studios in time for rope drop to meet my family. My looming cold, however, had its own plan. Both Daniel & I slept right through the alarm and didn’t wake up until almost 9:30! I went into a panic at the realization of how late it was and immediately called my mom. As soon as she answered, I found that my voice had completely vanished overnight.

She was totally understanding, and after hearing my struggle to speak she was really just concerned about how I was feeling. For the most part, I didn’t actually feel *that* bad. My ears were still plugged up and my voice had disappeared, but aside from that I just had a touch of congestion. It turned out they were running a bit behind too, so we decided to meet up later in time for lunch at Starring Rolls. This meant Daniel & I didn’t have to rush to get over there…whew!

After we hung up & the panic settled, I went out onto the balcony to check out our view in the daylight. Pretty!

Daniel went back to sleep for a little bit while I ate a banana & some Pop-Tarts (breakfast o’champions) so that I could take some DayQuil. When I went to open that orange box I realized it was actually DayQuil Sinex! The symptoms it promised to help weren’t at all what I was feeling. Boo.

The word “Sinex” was printed WAY bigger than anything else on the box so I really don’t know how I overlooked it. It was all I had though, so I took it in hopes that it would at least give some me some relief, even if just a little.

I started to get ready then woke up Daniel so he could hop in the shower. I found that my voice was starting to make a comeback, it was super crackly but at least it was audible. Once we were all neat & pretty, we hopped in the car and drove to DHS.

On all of our trips, we always bring along an auxillary cord so we can play Disney tunes in the rental car. For this trip, I added our favorite Christmas songs to the playlist so that we could be immersed in both Disney & Christmas goodness the whole trip.

:

We pulled into the parking lot at about 11:00am and I was SUPER excited to be there! You might remember from the “Introduction” post that this was the first time DH & I were at the World during the holidays, and I couldn’t wait to see everything all decorated. Two of the things I love most in the world are Disney and Christmas, so when they come together I’m pretty much the happiest girl on the planet.

On our way in we stopped for a self-portrait ala iPhone in front of the DHS Christmas tree

Not a bad shot for a phone pic!

We breezed through bag check then pulled out the real camera so I could start snapping away

As soon as I saw these adorable trees up on the lamp posts I was in love!

Even though I was completely entranced by the splendor of it all, I didn’t want to lollygag too much cuz my family was a-waitin’! They flew into town a day before us on 12/5, and were staying at AKV. The last time we saw them was at our wedding almost 14 months prior, so I was really itchin’ to catch up to them. Before I called them, though, we needed to stop by Guest Services and renew our Tables in Wonderland card.

When we walked in there were only a few people in line ahead of us, so I assumed it wouldn’t take very long. Boy was I wrong. We ended up being there for almost 30 minutes! It seemed like there were a lot of new CM’s on duty, something we encountered a lot during this trip. Not that I have an issue with new CM’s, they just should’ve had more seasoned CM’s on hand to offer assistance and to keep the lines moving. While waiting to be helped, we overheard an older couple asking the seemingly new CM about a “must-do tour” they heard about from their friends. “Backstage something or other” they called it and wanted to know how much it cost and how to reserve it. The CM told them there were no behind-the-scenes tours offered at the Studios and that their friends must have meant the Backlot Tour attraction. They even pulled out a park map to show the guests where the “tour” attraction was. Oh, brother. I wanted to chime in and tell them their friends must have been talking about the Backstage Magic Tour , but they were gone by the time we were finally done. I hope someone was eventually able to point them in the right direction.

As soon as we were done and had our shiny new TIW card in hand, I called my mom to let her know we were ready for lunch, but I wasn’t able to get a hold of her. I sent her a text and she responded back that they just left Starring Rolls and were heading into Muppets 3D. She said to go on ahead to lunch and we’d meet up afterward. It turned out she had accidentally set her clock an hour too far ahead and thought they were way further behind schedule than they actually were. Oops!

DH & I decided to grab FP’s for Rock n’ Roller Coaster in hopes that we could all ride it together later, so Daniel headed toward the FP machines and I went into Starring Rolls to buy our lunch. We had only ever had desserts from there so I was looking forward to trying out the sandwiches. Since they offer two different kinds, I ordered 1 of each and we shared them both (you’ll see that DH & I do this a lot). Here’s what we had:

Black Forest Ham Sandwich - with chips or fresh fruit $9.19
Turkey Focaccia - with chips or fresh fruit $9.19
Red Velvet Cupcake $3.99
Eclair $2.79

Because the sandwiches are piled so high, I was a little worried they might be dry, and well, maybe too meaty for me. Instead we found that the bread was super fresh, they had just enough dressing, and the meat wasn’t too heavy at all. Each one was really tasty, but DH & I both preferred the turkey over the ham. The turkey had roasted red peppers and fresh mozzarella topped with a yummy pesto mayo, giving it the edge over the ham’s Dijon mustard.

As good as the sandwiches were, though, I was only using them to get to the sweet stuff. I had dessert on the brain! This was our first time trying the éclair, and I think I can safely say that it will also be our last. The pastry was incredibly dry, there wasn’t much crème filling, and the chocolate topping was overly bitter. On the other hand, the red velvet cupcake was deeeeelicious! The cake was moist and dense with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. It was also covered in crushed up Heath bars, which just happens to be my favorite candy. I was seriously tempted to go in and buy a 2nd one so we could each have our own, but we were just too stuffed from the sandwiches.

While we were finishing up our dessert, I heard a commotion building near us. I looked up and saw that the Streetmosphere characters were getting set up to do their Glee club performance in front of the Villains in Vogue shop. This was something on my must-do list, but I had no idea what time they were scheduled to perform. As soon as I realized what was happening I bolted. Well, I did grab my stuff and blurted some type of gibberish to Daniel so he knew where I was going. He was right behind me without skipping a beat! I couldn’t believe our luck that we happened to catch the show, and just at the right moment! These are my favorite types of Disney moments.

They sang a few holiday standards and then selected people from the audience to join them in singing the 12 Days of Christmas. It was absolutely hilarious! I was crying from laughing so hard, especially during the finale. I don’t normally take a lot of video, but when they started the last round something inside told me to record it. I’m SO happy I listened to the little voice – it still cracks me up when I watch it.

Leading up to this, #9 (who is one of our favorite Streetmosphere characters) was hitting on #8 the entire time and she gave a different response each round, and always directed at him. His line was always “8 golf clubs” or something like that, so listen for what he says this time. DH & I laughed about it the rest of the trip. Also, #5 started out really super quiet and shy. His first response was a meek “5 turkey legs” and with each round he got a little louder and his responses grew longer. So his 2nd round his response was “5 turkey legs with mashed potatoes and gravy”, and then it was “5 turkey legs with mashed potatoes and gravy and yams with little marshmallows”, etc. Watching his final response in the clip, you can see why it was so funny.

Here's the link to the video on YouTube. I recorded it with my phone, so I’m sorry that it’s not the best quality.

I texted my mom to see where they were, and she responded that they were getting onto the tram at the Backlot Tour. As soon as the Glee Club was finished, we headed in that direction to meet them at the exit.

I called her as we made our way over there and she said they were waiting by the giant misting Coke bottles. Daniel spotted them as soon as we passed TSMM, but I didn’t see them. Then I saw this:

That’s my mama!!! How stinkin’ cute is she?!? The second she spotted us, she ditched my brother & step-dad and came running toward us!

PenelopePeach · Oct 22, 2012

Day 2 - Rockin' the Studios - Pt.1

After lots & lots of hugs and hellos, we decided to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. Not surprisingly, all of the FP’s were already gone, but the stand-by line was only about 40 minutes long (not bad in the world of TSM) so we waited it out.

We chatted & chatted (well, I more crackled than chatted) while in line and before we knew it, it was time to board. Since this was my brother's first time on the ride, he & I we went together so I could show him some of the tricks and DH rode by himself.

DISCLAIMER: Any of the fuzzy pics came from my phone. :blush:

My baby brother & I in line.

So if you know any of the secrets to TSMM, you know that it really takes two people to open up the higher point targets. That is, unless you’re my hubby. He not only got the best score out of all 4 vehicles, he got the best of the hour! Go, Honey!! I s'pose my brother probably should've gone with him... :laughing:

Afterward, we decided to pick up FP’s for Tower of Terror, stopping in the shops along the way.

I loved this window display!

FP’s in hand and window shopping done, we headed over to the Great Movie Ride.

I was hoping to finally get the cowboy scene, but alas we got the gangster yet again.

For our anniversary in October, DH bought me a 50mm lens and I couldn’t wait to play with it on this trip! The GMR was the perfect place to try it out, so I took lots of photos here. I'm still very much a novice when it comes to my DSLR, but I’m having a lot of fun learning how to use it.

Representin’

Right about the time we got off the ride, Mulch, Sweat & Shears were scheduled to perform on the Streets of America. None of us had ever seen them before, but I’ve read so many rave reviews that I really wanted to catch them this time.

PenelopePeach · Oct 22, 2012

Day 2 - Rockin the Studios Pt. 2

On our way there we passed by Star Tours and it was practically a walk on, so we decided to hop in line.

I was SO glad we did! DH & I have been on it several times since the refurb at both WDW & DL, but we’ve never been able to catch the Naboo scene. Well, this time we got it!! I’m not a die-hard Star Wars fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I was so excited! We all loved it.

Silly boys in silly glasses

When we came out of Star Tours, we could hear Mulch, Sweat & Shears performing. We hadn’t missed the show! Yay!! We simply followed the sound of the music until we saw this…

Enjoying the show!

One of the singers came into the crowd and asked us some questions

It was a FANTASTIC show and we all loved it! They played a mix of classic rock & holiday songs, and they were high-larious to boot! This will definitely be a must-do for us on future trips, Christmas time or not.

On the way out of the area, I spotted this balcony. For some reason, it made me super excited for our upcoming visit to the Osborne Family Lights planned for later that week.

By this time, the bright blue skies of the morning had turned into a cloudy shade of gray, and as soon as the show was over it started to rain. The timing actually worked out well for us cuz my brother needed some food, so we ducked into the ABC Commissary. Daniel & I wanted a carrot cake cookie, so he & I went into the Writer’s Stop to pick up one for us & another for my DM & DSD to share. We met back up with them in the Commissary and just relaxed & chitchatted for awhile, waiting for the rain to subside. Just in case you were wondering, the cookie was delicious as usual!

Apparently I turn into a pirate when enjoying a yummy treat

Not quite sure what DH turns into…

Ham.

After about 30 minutes, the rain had turned into a light drizzle, so we made our way toward Sunset Blvd to use our RnR & ToT Fastpasses.

My family picked up FP’s for RnR earlier that day too, so we were able to ride it together. Woohoo! As soon as we got into the FP line, a HUGE tour group came up behind us. Talk about timing! I wish I had taken a pic to share with you, but there were at least 75 people.

My mom sat this one out, so we met up with her at the exit then made our way to Tower of Terror. It’s always fun to ride Disney’s thrill rides with my mama. She loves them, but DH & I love to put our arms up and she HATES that we do it. This provides lots of opportunities for me to give her a hard time, as any good daughter would.

This is a TERRIBLE picture, but I have to share it. You’ll notice DH & I have our arms up high in the sky, but my mom has a death grip on my other arm. Nothing unusual for a ride on ToT, really. But on this trip, she NEEDED to hold my arm extra tight because I kept coming OUT of my seat. It was so crazy! I thought my seatbelt was tight enough, but when we the zero gravity would hit, I would go STRAIGHT UP out of my seat. I’ve been on this ride TONS of times, and it’s never been that drastic before. Since my mom was holding on to me so tightly, she was being pulled up too. Both she & Daniel were trying to pull me down. It made an already thrilling ride that much more exciting.

Once we were all safely back on our two feet, we parted ways to rest a bit at our resorts before meeting back up again later that night for dinner.

DH & I took our time leaving so that I could take some pictures of Hollywood Blvd. Normally, dusk is a great time to take photos at DHS and being that it was decorated so fabulously, I couldn't wait to snap away! Too bad the clouds didn't get the memo that I was there. lol

PenelopePeach · Oct 22, 2012

Day 2 - Rockin the Studios Pt. 3

When we walked out to our car, there was a family in front of us ogling at an adorably decorated car in the parking lot. Guess who’s car they were ogling at?!?

Yep! It was OURS!! :love:

Isn’t it cute? It really added an extra touch of magic throughout the entire trip.

Next up: Our waiter decides Daniel needs a bath.

TheMouseFan · Oct 22, 2012

Great TR so far! I'm loving all of the Christmas decorations. I will be in WDW in 48 days and your pics are getting me even more excited!! What were the temps like during your trip? I'm trying to figure out what to pack.

The Yuletide Hypothesis - A December 2011 TR

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