Trip Report Two Turkeys at WDW & Merrytime Disney Cruise November 2016

Hello! My husband and I (two turkeys) just got back from WDW & a Merrytime Disney Cruise and I thought I would share our adventures. All of you are welcome to read but I'm going to tag a few of you that I know have followed along before. (Or at least those I can remember.) I look forward to reading your reactions!


I have shared a few of our other adventures and if you are interested here are some links:

Disneyland
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disneyland-forever-july-2016.917141/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/back-to-disneyland-ringin-in-2016.909039/

Walt Disney World
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ts-wdw-november-2015-lots-of-pictures.907613/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/movin-in-two-weeks-in-the-world.915373/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/springin-into-wdw-solo-march-2016.911995/

Introduction:
Who: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad) We are the two turkeys.
Magic Band personalization: Me: Gobble '16 and Brad Stuffing, in honor of Thanksgiving
When: November 22-November 28
Where did we stay: All Star Sports

Backstory We have wanted to do a Christmas themed cruise for awhile, and in May of 2014 I booked us on a 3 night cruise in hopes that it would match up with my school's calendar. Luckily it it did. I figured I might have to take a personal day (which I did), and we would add in some time at WDW.

The Report
Tuesday November 22:
I teach in a rural northern Wisconsin school so school for our students is off the whole week of Thanksgiving, but we have teacher inservice Monday and Tuesday. In our district we are not supposed to take off inservice days. So being the rule follower that I am yet still wanting to get maximize my WDW time I book (months ahead of time) a flight leaving at 7:10pm on Tuesday night. I figure I am golden, I don't have to break the work rules, and I'll still get to Disney on Tuesday night giving me 2 full WDW days before the cruise. Leaving on a 7pm will be perfect for traveling from work to the airport and giving me the time cushion I like to give myself at the airport. Well, Delta airlines had other plans.

About 1 1/2 month before our flight, I get an email from Delta saying they cancelled my 7pm flight and moved me to a 5pm!!!:jawdrop::mad: This was not good! If I left work for the airport without asking to leave early I would make it to the airport (if things went perfectly) when my plane would be boarding! So long story short I went and talked to my boss, fully prepared to take unpaid time and all that. And luckily he was very understanding and he said he knew that I would easily make up the time/work since I usually come in to work about 1-1 1/2 early every day anyway, and I would not have to take unpaid or personal time. (which was good because I had already designated my other personal day for a WDW in March of 2017). So now the only thing I had to worry about was weather & traffic getting to the airport.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but the weather decided that there would be a wintry mix with mostly freezing rain starting at noon the day we flew out! :jawdrop::mad: Ok, so now I'm already "breaking" the rule of leaving early, but now the roads would be treacherous. And I HATE driving in bad weather. It all made this type A girl very anxious. So my boss said I could leave even a little earlier. Luckily the weather people were somewhat wrong and it was mostly rain on the way, and stayed mostly rain. But were were at the airport now about 3 1/2 hours early. But we were there and our plane was on time. It really was time to relax now.

Minneapolis has two terminal buildings and we were flying out of the big terminal and flying back to the smaller one (with the cheaper parking). So we parked at the smaller terminal and took the light rail train to the bigger one. It is a bit of a hassle but the train came shortly after we got the to platform and away we went.

Brad at the train platform
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We are on time for take off. The plane did have to go through de-icing, as did other planes. So we were 20 minutes late in take off because of waiting for de-icing, but we only landed about 5-10 minutes late.
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The plane is here, what you can't see to well in the pictures is the sleety-rain. It made me a little nervous, but the trucks were constantly spraying de-icer on the runways.
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We landed, YAY! And since we planned to drive to the cruise port we rented a car. This was our sweet ride. As usually hubby, tried to pick up the most beat up and scratched one in the lot. His theory is that then the rental car company can't prove the scratches are from us.
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It was dark then as we drove under the sign so my picture didn't turn out clear. I got this blurr, but in a way it is kind of trippy and cool with the blur.
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We were super hungry and we thought about going to Trader Sam's or Disney Springs for something but it was a little after 11:30 pm and figured we wouldn't have much time. So we parked at the All-Star Sports and went into the food court. We probably should have went to the McDonald's. We got chicken tenders and fries and they were definitely end of the night servings (a little cold and stale). But it was sustenance and then we could go right to our room.
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A couple pictures of the decorations at the Sports. They weren't anything spectacular like a gingerbread house, but I liked them.
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Our room was really close to the main building in the Touchdown section. So we were both happy. In June we had requested to be near transport at the Music and got stuck in the Broadway section which was a bit of a hike. So we unpacked and I put up a few Christmas decorations to spirit up the room.
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So after unpacking we went to bed. We were planning to maximize our WDW with early mornings and late nights. We figured we could relax on the cruise.

Tags:
@figmentfan423 , @MinnieM123 , @JenniferS , @Tuvalu , @PacNWTigger , @Gabe1 , @betty rose , @Songbird76 , @catmom46 , @BuddyThomas , @donaldtoo , @Cesar R M , @fractal , @Mr Ferret 88 , @MouseDreaming , @PUSH, @Wrangler-Rick, @sheriffwoody, @MOXOMUMD
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Ok continuing on.....We left Main Street and met up with my sister and niece at the Jingle Cruise. They had been in WDW and on a Disney cruise the week before us and were just finishing their trip. My brother-in-law couldn't get a lot of days off but had been with them for the cruise and couple of days at WDW. Brad and I had been taking care of their dogs while they were vacationing, so on his way home from the airport he swung by our house and picked up their dogs and ours. It was nice timing. Anyway, it was nice to have a chance to meet up with my sis and niece.

We rode the Jingle Cruise together. The Jungle Cruise in general is a favorite ride of Brad and I, and we love the conversion for Christmas. I wish WDW would do more holiday overlays. Last year over New Years we went to Disneyland and we were blown away with the overlay for small world. It is the only time we have ever gotten off of small world when Brad has said "We have to go on that again!". We also liked the Haunted Mansion overaly too. We also rode the Jingle Cruise at Disneyland as well, and that was our last impression of it and then we rode the MK's version.....

Don't get me wrong we like the MK"s version, but we were disappointed. The version in Disneyland had a lot more decorations during the ride and the one at MK doesn't. Example, in the African veldt at DL there were plastic snowmen and reindeer, on the African elephants were some holiday bells, and the group of chanting headhunters had holiday sweaters. There was none of that at WDW. So even though we liked it we walked away feeling a little sad. A couple more strings of garland somewhere and a plastic reindeer here and there would bump it up a lot and not take much time.

Anyway, enough moaning....Jingle Cruise!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
After the Jingle Cruise my sis and niece wanted to go to the Country Bears before we all used our Big Thunder fast pass and then had lunch. I don't mind the Bears but Brad really does not like that show. There was a Muppet show starting soon in Liberty Square and Brad and I hadn't seen it yet so we all decided to just meet at Big Thunder at 11:15 the time of our fast pass.

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I just love the details of Liberty Square, with the shutters and all that. I even noticed what might be a hidden Mickey (kind of) in the chimney. Does anyone else spy it?

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The Muppet show was cute, we got the Paul Revere show. I was happy about that because I had watched the Declaration of Independence one online. I got a kick out of the theme song too..."Great Moments in history but just the American parts!"
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After the show we had a little time so we perused the Ye Old Christmas Shop. I collect nutcrackers so I loved these, but I can only buy so much stuff, so a picture was what I could afford today.
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These were cute little Christmas statues as well.
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I liked the felt ornaments too but just a picture for a souvenir.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
"I even noticed what might be a hidden Mickey (kind of) in the chimney. Does anyone else spy it?"


More like a hidden Oswald to me. Was the muppets show worthwhile?

Yeah, a hidden Oswald might be more fitting. The Muppet show was cute and entertaining. And it is a nice length too, it keeps one's attention but isn't too long where I wanted to look around for a bench (which I wouldn't have found nearby anyway).
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
After our wild ride through the wilderness we headed to lunch at the Liberty Tree. We all got the all you can eat platter (the pictures are on my phone I will put them up in another post). The food was fine and tasty. The meat was the best part, the stuffing tasted like Stove Top but with more sage. I'm not saying that is bad, I like Stove Top, but I didn't remember it tasting that way. Neither Brad or I like apple and that is the dessert on the platter. My sister and her daughter got that and liked that a lot. Brad and I asked if we could have Ooey Gooey cake (that is really why I wanted to eat there), and we were expecting to pay for the Gooey cake but our server substituted it for us. Fantastic!

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There was a nice tree and decor in the lobby area of the Liberty Tree. Here is a wreath.
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After lunch we said our goodbyes to my sister and niece, they had more fast passes lined up. We wanted to take a nap. However, there was one more thing we wanted to see. Brad had told his friends he would see them later so we hung around Main Street to see the Dapper Dans! We actually ran into my sister and niece at their show too.
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And Brad enjoying the sweet harmonic melodies!
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And then a look at some of the windows of Main Street on the way out.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
So let's continue on a little trip down Main Street....
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Has anyone every noticed the pretty door handles at the Emporium? I never really noticed before. I got a strange look from a guy when I took this picture. But I didn't care, I've taken pictures of Disney bathroom signs. If I didn't care about looking crazy then I sure don't now!
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A little Mickey's Christmas Carol in the windows (sorry for the reflections).
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I was sad that I wouldn't be able to see the marching toy soldiers this year in a Christmas parade but at least I got to see these little guys.
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Oh Christmas tree.....(be thankful you can't hear me singing! :joyfull:)
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And back to the resort...
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Once back the resort we popped back into the room to grab our mugs, it took us about a minute to get from the main hall to our room. Then we did some shopping at the resort store and I took some pictures of the decorations in the daylight. The sports wreaths were really fun, the best sport was missing though. What is the best sport you ask? Hockey! But that was represented in the store and the mural behind the front desk.
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And now the wreaths....
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So we took a nap before heading out again for the night.
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Where are we headed? You'll find out!
 

Santa Raccoon 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Once back the resort we popped back into the room to grab our mugs, it took us about a minute to get from the main hall to our room. Then we did some shopping at the resort store and I took some pictures of the decorations in the daylight. The sports wreaths were really fun, the best sport was missing though. What is the best sport you ask? Hockey! But that was represented in the store and the mural behind the front desk.
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And now the wreaths....
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So we took a nap before heading out again for the night.
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Where are we headed? You'll find out!
Missing Hockey AND NASCAR ... Some sports resort :rolleyes:
 

myhappyplace

Crazy Cat Lady
Those felt ornaments are adorable! How did I miss those?! Actually, I know how...I was on a mission, and made a beeline straight to the pink "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments, that I had to have personalized for my new niece. The checkout line was so long (because the party was about to begin) that I didn't get a chance to look around. Boo.

Glad you were able to substitute the dessert at Liberty Tree Tavern; we have an ADR there for May, and hope to be able to do the same.

Lovely pictures and report so far, enjoying it!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Those felt ornaments are adorable! How did I miss those?! Actually, I know how...I was on a mission, and made a beeline straight to the pink "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments, that I had to have personalized for my new niece. The checkout line was so long (because the party was about to begin) that I didn't get a chance to look around. Boo.

Glad you were able to substitute the dessert at Liberty Tree Tavern; we have an ADR there for May, and hope to be able to do the same.

Lovely pictures and report so far, enjoying it!

Thanks! I think the felt ornaments are available on the shopping app, you could take a gander at it. :)

The Ooey Gooey cake is available on the Liberty Tree menu so you should be able to get it. We were anticipating a charge for it, but our server substituted it without a charge.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
And we went to Animal Kingdom. We arrived about 2 hours or so before closing and we thought it might have cleared out a bit, and we did see a lot of people leaving. Well we took a few pictures at the big tree before entering the park.
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What we were really there for was Expedition Everest!
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When we got there the line was 75 minutes and the single rider line was at 40. Oh pooh! We didn't want to wait that long. We were just planning on a maybe 20 minute wait. Brad decided he didn't want to wait, he wasn't that keen on going to Animal Kingdom anyway. He had just wanted to go to Disney Springs. I had been hoping to catch the projections on the tree after Everest and maybe the safari, but he was having none of it. So we headed out of the park to go to Disney Springs, it is quite convenient that they run a bus from the parks there now.

I did get this pretty awesome picture of Everest while we were checking wait times on the app, and Brad was like "nope, nope, nope, let's go to Disney Springs."
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Although Brad did want to check the shop for something. So it was selfie time in front of the Tree of Life.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
So we made it to Disney Springs. We wandered around for a bit and then found a place to watch the drone show. We watched it from between the Boathouse and Jock Lindsey's, there were a lot of people in that area so we thought it might be good. And we didn't have time to walk all the way to the West side where I heard was the best spot. It wasn't the best place in the end. Sure we could see the show but they didn't turn off the regular background music so we could barely hear the music that it was supposed to sync to. At least the background music was Christmas.

Here is a cool tree near the bus drop off area.
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Me and the tree
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We went inside the new D-living store and it wasn't anything we hadn't seen in other stores around WDW, so that was pretty disappointing. It was just displayed in a more fancy manner.
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Then into the World of Disney.
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And into the Marketplace Co-op
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And then the drone show. Despite our difficulties with hearing the music it was pretty cool to watch. I hope they do more with this in the future.
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