Trip Report 'Tis the Season to be Jolly... at WDW! 🎄 - Live- *COMPLETED*

Hello and Welcome Disney Friends!
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Another adventure is about to begin for Frank and me, starting tomorrow!
We are very excited, for this is our favorite time of the year at our favorite place in the World! We've been looking forward to this trip since we booked it back in January.

When: Dec 1 -Dec 9
Where: Bay Lake Tower
Who: Frank and Nunu

The last few days have been crazy, my friends, like they always are for us (mostly me!) trying to get everything in order here at home, including leaving my beloved turtle Domenica under JC's care. You don't want to know how that went with her in the car today, she was trying to get out of her "house" while I was driving! And to make things more nerve wracking, Frank had to travel to Mexico this morning and I was afraid that something might delay him and that, could've complicated our departure tomorrow morning.

Fortunately, he landed an hour ago, so things are looking good so far, phew!

Frank and me, last December

Our immediate plans are:
Fly tomorrow into Miami, lunch at Aventura Mall (between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale) buy some necessities and stay the night.

Sunday morning we drive from there into Orlando. Those who followed us on our April/May trip, might remember about our highway scare, so this time around, we're hoping to check-in at our WDW Home, without any incidents at around 10am.
Wish us luck!

Thank you for choosing to read along, you're all delightful to have around, and we're happy and grateful for your company! Feel free to comment or ask, I'll do my best to keep you posted as much as I can. I'm an so expect some late night posts.

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[Nunu]

I am glad that someone took the picture of both of you with Piglet
And that you overcame your fears and rode Splash again


Max

Thank you Max! I have a "tradition" of softly pinching Piglet's cheeks, every time we visit him at Crystal Palace!

I'll try to ride SM at least once, from now on.

 

[Nunu]

@Nunu, I just finished reading the (no lie) 65 pages on this forum regarding RotR boarding groups.
Apparently you need to get there super early, 6:30-7 am-ish latest, and the second you scan into the park go on MDE and try to get a boarding group. Hope that helps. Would love to know if it works if you go back to HS this trip.

Wow! 65 pages, really?!
We were too tired to get up so early today, without any guarantees.

Hopefully, when we return next May, things won't be as crazy.

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Nunu]

It didn’t start better, but then it did get better. Woke up to find no WiFi (had to read posts on my phone with my coffee ☹) only to realize there was no telephone or tv either. Hmmm. Did one of the cats manage to knock out the power cord? No, one of the cats ate the power cord AND the optic fiber cable (sorry, this might be a bad translation). But luckily for the cat, she gets a stay of execution on one of her lives because the phone company gave me new cables for free

And you are so right Nunu, a coffee would hit the spot right now

Hope your naughty cat is doing ok! You can thank him (her?) for your new cables!

This gives me something to look forward to when I come home exhausted after hitting up 3 different Christmas markets in three different cities/towns.

How did it go at the Christmas Markets? Sounds like quite a day!

 

[Swissmiss]

Hope your naughty cat is doing ok! You can thank him (her?) for your new cables!

How did it go at the Christmas Markets? Sounds like quite a day!

The kitty is doing fine, thanks. We think we managed to block off the shelf where the WiFi box is so that she can’t get to it anymore.

The Christmas market day was ... interesting. I knew what to expect (more or less) with the first one, as I’ve gone to that one a few time - but it dawned on me that the last time was 10 years ago when I flew my mom over for her last visit to Europe (it became apparent to the family that she was too addled to fly on her own after that trip). The second market had us in fits of laughter - I wanted to go because of some huge wood sculpture decorations but after we saw them we looked for the market and it was pretty pathetic - the stalls were sparsely dispersed around the town and there was barely anyone (so no ambiance). It was kind of surprising. BUT: the heated portapotty with no line and running water was a huge plus for us.

The last one was nice, but again way too crowded - or maybe I should say way too crowded for the space provided. Half of the market was inside a Chateau and there were so many people that you could only shuffle past stalls because there was no room to actually stop and look. But the outside area had more space so I’m sure those stalls were more successful because you could browse comfortably.

I did manage to find something for our secret Santa exchange at work, which was my one goal of the day, so that right there made the day a success . And we had AWESOME public transportation karma all day - most times arriving just in time to hop on the bus/train/metro. Other plusses include the weather (earlier forecasts was cold and rainy - actual weather was pleasant and sunny and hanging out with my friend without our teenagers

 

[Nunu]

Hello Friends!

This is one exhausted, but very happy Nunu! I wanted to post more about our day, but came back to our room way later than planned.

Tomorrow (check-out day), we'll do half a day at AK. From tomorrow evening on, I'll have more time to catch up with you.

Weirdly enough, I don't feel sad about the Disney part of our vacation being almost over, I feel happy and grateful for the fun times Frank and I have been able to share.

It's very late, and believe or not, I'm still finishing packing our bags!

 

[Nunu]

It’s been a busy week so I am just now catching up! Gingerbread men are my favorite so I LOVE the Gingerbread plushie! I’ve never been to WDW during Christmas so I am loving all the pictures of the holiday decorations.

Thank you for reading along!
Gingerbread plushie is already in my bag, ready to go home with me, in a few days! ☺
Today, we'll be checking out the AK holiday decor.

 

[93boomer]

Gingerbread plushie is already in my bag, ready to go home with me, in a few days! ☺
Today, we'll be checking out the AK holiday decor.

Thank you for reading along!

Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Nunu]

Thank you for sharing!!

My pleasure!

There's still more to share!

 

[Nunu]

And... this is what's going on, right now at The Edison, Disney Springs!

Left (Frank), Anchor Steam.

Right (me), Now I'm Here, Now I'm There. Gin, Irish whisky and tart cranberry cocktail.

 

[donaldtoo]

I hope I'll make it in time to finish today's report! There'll be a power outage in just a few minutes.View attachment 430764
I apologize. If I stop in the middle of a post, I'll complete it tomorrow.

OK, this is somethin’ I’ve never even heard of before, or experienced while at WDW.
Was this exclusive to the CR, or were other areas of the resort affected at the same time...?
Is it a thing they do at different times in different places on property...? Were they upgrading, as in “Ah neeed mohrrr poower Kiptin!!!”...?!?!
So many questions...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Frank and I ordered 2 Holiday Menu items, and a regular one.

For Frank, Cinnamon Bells, made with Fireball, Frangelico and a golden sugar rim. His drink was great, it reminded me of a spiked eggnog, but lighter and refreshing.

For me, my usual Shorty's Singapore Sling, made with gin, Cointreau and tropical juices.

We also ordered a Holiday Caprese Wreath, to share.
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We were happy with our choices. Everything was very good and we really enjoyed Jock's new Holidays overlay.

WOOF!!!
Those drinks sound and look awesome, and that Caprese Wreath looks YUM-O-LICIOUS...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Hello friends!
In line for Splash right now.
View attachment 430859
View attachment 430860
Nervous! I haven't had the courage to ride this for many years now! Wish me luck!

Oh my, Splash is a must-do attraction on every WDW trip for us...with the obvious exception of our recent “Worldwind” trip with our dear lil’ Emy...!!! But, that trip was all about her, and I’m sure she’ll be “Splashin’” right along with us just as soon as she’s tall enough...!!!!!
Hope you enjoyed it...!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

Splash just went down...
Guess it wasn't in the cards for me at this time!
View attachment 430870
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Oh well, we might try again, later.

Well, that answered my last post...for now anyhow...?!?!

 

[Nunu]

We're still in Orlando, where we'll stay for 4 more nights. I'll be having more time in the evenings, to catch up. There's a lot I still haven't shared with you!

Let's go back a couple of days.

December 7 - DHS

Remember I told you we woke up "early" that day, with the idea to be able to ride Rise of the Resistance? Well... we drove there and approached the parking booth. As soon as my AP was scanned, the CM told us, no more boarding groups were available for that day. It was 9:02! I tried to hide my dissapointment because of Frank. Turns out, he was doing the same for me!

We didn't even park, we decided to turn around and have breakfast at Cracker Barrel instead. We didn't plan on visiting DHS 'till noon anyway.

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We love everything about this place!

Back at DHS, we saw this sign all over the park:

We had a FP for Slinky, so we headed to Toy Story Land.

 

[donaldtoo]

Back at our resort, we picked our refillable mugs from our room and, on our way for coffee, something caught our eye... the arcade!

Frank and me are huge pinball machine fans, and this place has 5, which is rare to find at Disney resorts these days. Fun!
View attachment 431102
View attachment 431103

Oh gosh, I’m a pinball nut from way back when...!!!!!
The first job I ever had in HS was at a long-ago-defunct local go-kart track back from ‘78-‘80 that had a separate arcade building called the “Skill Mill”...!!!!! We had privileges that went along with our employment that led us to spendin’ A LOT of our time off in there...!!!!!!!

 

[Nunu]

Then:

We were surprised to find a 30min wait for this, so we got in line and 20mins later, we were almost there, yippee!

And the winner was...

Me! Barely...

 

[donaldtoo]

It didn’t start better, but then it did get better. Woke up to find no WiFi (had to read posts on my phone with my coffee ☹) only to realize there was no telephone or tv either. Hmmm. Did one of the cats manage to knock out the power cord? No, one of the cats ate the power cord AND the optic fiber cable (sorry, this might be a bad translation). But luckily for the cat, she gets a stay of execution on one of her lives because the phone company gave me new cables for free

And you are so right Nunu, a coffee would hit the spot right now

Oh my, laughing with you, not at you...!!!!!
Big question though, have y’all figured out how to keep the cat from eatin’ the cord and cable again...?!!!

 

[Nunu]

Time to refuel with a Cold Brew!

There was a CM at the entrance holding a Starbucks cup sign on a staff and she jokingly made it "photobomb" my picture!

 

[Nunu]

The timing of our Star Tours FP, was planned to get us pumped-up for what was coming next...

Frank, a huge Star Wars fan, couldn't contain his excitement, he knew Galaxy's Edge was coming next!

After a Star Tours mission that ended with us landing in Batuu, we started walking towards Galaxy's Edge. Finally!
I had the chance to visit on my August solo trip. Since then, I've been waiting for Frank to experience this new land too.

I'll spare you the many, many pictures I took of, mostly Frank, smiling ear to ear in complete awe. My guess is that most of you have seen many images of Batuu, the buildings, droids, ships, etc by now. I'll just share a few.

Chewbacca!

MF:SR

Ronto Wraps and Surly Sarlacc cocktail.

Millenium Falcon at night.

 

[Nunu]

And last but not least, Oga's Cantina. First time for me too. The atmosphere here is very unique, in a good way. It is on the smaller side, but it feels hip and grown up-ish. We both liked that.

The music was great. DJ Rex was really working the room!

Our drinks.
Frank, The Outer Rim.
Me, Yub Nub. (You don't have to buy the souvenir mug, you can just get the drink in it ).

We both liked our picks, and boy did they pack a punch!

After Oga's, it was time to say goodbye to Galaxy's Edge and DHS. We had new friends to meet in an hour!