Very Merry Christmas Trip

[SamatBCV]

As much as I'd like to entertain you all as much as Freak did with his rhyme, I'm not talented that way, so I'll just have to give a regular trip report.

Day 1

We left Chicago on Sunday morning at (as my wife would say) dark-thirty. It was a chilly 30 degrees. Two hours later we landed in Orlando in beautiful 73 degree weather with sunny skies and a slight breeze. I already began to regret not wearing shorts.

Off to Old Key West where we checked in. We didn't even go to our room though since we had lunch reservations at the Liberty Tree. We drove to the TTC and had to park at the "end" (the Daisy Duck lot in the last row). I was amazed at the decorations on Main Street. I wanted to get a better look, but we were running late for our lunch reservations, so we decided to come back and look more later. We got to Liberty Tree just in time and they sat us in the Paul Revere room. We both had the Pot Roast and it was EXCELLENT. The service was so fast, we got the roasts before we even finished a roll. The roast was so tender I didn't even need a knife.

Once we finished lunch it was off to Timekeeper (I wanted to see it ASAP). I've only seen it once before about 3 years ago cause we usually go off season when its closed. It really is a cute little show. I'll post a pic or two later.

Next was the Very Merry Christmas Parade. We stood right in front of the firehouse and had a great view. Unfortunately, it was not the best spot for taking pictures, so they are kind of washed out, but I'll post some of them anyway.

To be continued....

 

[SamatBCV]

Pics

Day 1 cont.

After the Parade, we decided to take a look at some of the decorations at the hotels. Of course the most obvious was to hit the ones on the monorail. First stop was the Contemporary. In front of the Contemporary is a massive tree (it really brightly lit at night). We thought there would be a lot of neat decorations inside. Except for the tree out in front, there really wasn't much. :veryconfu

Next it was off to the Poly. I was really curious to see how they would do a South Pacific Christmas. When we got there we were disappointed to see even less than there was at the Contemporary. :brick: What happened to all the decorations I'd heard about? :lookaroun They had two small trees and some garland.

Ok, lets try the Grand Floridian. Ahhh, finally!! As we walked in, we saw the massive tree in the floridian lobby. As good as Freak's pics were, they don't do that tree justice. It was nearly 5 stories tall and had a huge base. There were pointsettas (sp?), wreaths, flower arrangements, and garland everywhere. Then, once we got on the other side of the tree we saw the ginger bread house. That was so cool. I just had to buy a cookie from the shop in it. (The cookie wasn't really my taste, but I enjoyed it anyway.)

We decided to head back to MK. To be continued...

 

[SamatBCV]

Still Day 1

Day 1 cont...

We took a nice stroll down Main Street soaking in everything. Then we went to get a FP for the Haunted Mansion (it was closed for rehab on our last visit). While waiting for the FP, we went on Snow White. While in line there we saw Mary Poppins. The ride was the same, but I still love it.

We went over to frontierland and browsed through the shops, then went into Country Bears for their Christmas show. My wife LOVES the Country Bears. It was great seeing it all decorated and a new show (although we still like the normal show a little better). The Deer on the wall had a red nose so he looked like Rudolph, the bear had a santa hat, and the moose had lights in his antlers.

Finally we went over to the Haunted Mansion. :sohappy: That rehab really did help. The stretching rooms are so smooth.

Well it was getting on toward dinner, so we headed over to Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge. I'd heard such good things on the boards about it that I wanted to eat there. I wasn't disappointed. The food was excellent (I had a chicken pasta dish while my wife had the meatloaf). They had the Pony ride for the kids, and did the ketchup routine a couple of times. I had two half yards of Honey Lager (mmmmmmmmmm). We then took the boat back to the MK. While waiting for the boat there was a wonderful huge moon over Bay Lake. Then on the boat we had a nice chat from a lady from Texas.

Once back at MK, we saw the Fireworks from Mainstreet. It was so cool hearing the Christmas music in the background while watching Fireworks in 60 degree weather.

We did a quick ride on Buzz Lightyear before SpectroMagic started. I've only seen that parade once before back in 98 and I didn't like it then. I didn't like the music for it as much as the MSEP. This time though, I had more appreciation for the parade. It was really fun and we were right in the front row at the bridge leading to Liberty Square.

Finally we headed over to Jungle Cruise which is my wife's favorite ride. We had the "Chicago" boat. It seemed that everyone on board was from the Chicago burbs (3 families). Next was Pirates before we called it a day and headed back to our room.

To be continued...

 

[SamatBCV]

Timekeeper's entrance.... and it's OPEN!!!!!!

 

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Main Street Decorated...

 

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Who doesn't love Dopey

 

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For Everyone who loves Pooh (ok, actually Rabbit and Kanga)

 

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Of course I have to have Goofy Clause

 

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and for all those (including me) who love Stitch

 

[SamatBCV]

The huge tree at Grand Floridian

 

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Can't forget the gingerbread house (also at Grand Floridian).

 

[SamatBCV]

Day 2

We got a late start, but went to Downtown Disney to start our day. We shopped for a while. We've been admiring the monorail set that is set up at the toy store, but we decided to wait till Christmas. Afterwards we went to McDonalds to have some overpriced quarterpounders. Then its off to Epcot!!!

We first went to Innoventions West (we always seem to skip Innoventions West... even if I want to look at Innoventions, we always go to East). There we sent a postcard to our friends back home. We decided to head to the World Showcase to catch some of the events going on over there.

Off Kilter was playing at Canada (I swear they only take one 10 minute break per day, they are always playing when we pass Canada), but we didn't stop till we hit Great Britain. We wanted to see the Christmas Carol. I was the lucky one from the audience to be picked to play Bob Scratchet. A good time was had by all and we headed to the American Adventure to see Santa. We got our picture taken with he and Mrs. Clause. Next, we were off to Italy.

The Masquerade people were out at Italy and I have to ask if anyone knows what the heck they really do. We saw their introduction where they bowed and then mingled with the crowd. What's the point?! So we left to see the new/temporary/maybe will be permanant someday Spain pavillion. I had a bit of Sangria (mmmmm it was very good), and avoided the olive oil.

We then headed to Maelstrom, but it was closed (again, it was closed for rehab last time we were down too). We are wondering if we will ever see it open again. Then we went on El Rio del Tiempo. I love that ride.

We completed the circle by going through MouseGear and ending up at SE. Another of my favorites, there is no way I could pass up going on it (especially with all the talk about Time Racers). By the way, Freak is right, there are actually six "legs" there are two separate legs originating from each of the shops on either side (total of four), then there is the entrance to the ride itself, and finally there is a silver column at the bottom where Leave a Legacy is. I know that most people know this, but I never really thought about it and was determined to count while I was there.

To be continued...

 

[SamatBCV]

Day 2, part 2

We decided to check out our DVC home and see the Beach Club. They had a cool carousel made out of gingerbread (seen below). It was then time to head over to the Candlelight Processional. We were excited because we're fans of Gary Sinise and it was going to be his first reading for this year (this would be his third year of participation). It was amazing!!!!! :sohappy: :sohappy:

The choir was wonderful, as was the orchestra and Mr. Sinise did a fantastic job. It really was inspirational. He also had some very nice things to say at the end of the program. They ended it with SNOW!!!!! How cool is that?!

After all that excitement I was getting hungry so we went to Japan for dinner (we had the dinner package from the processional). After buying a gift for some friends back home, we had a great dinner. We met a family from Bermuda while there and we all had a great time. I've never met more pleasant people at a restaurant at WDW. Of course I had the lobster (hey, it was included in the package), and it was so good. My mouth is watering right now thinking about it.

After diner, since this was going to be our last night we ran to the boat dock to catch a boat to MGM. We still needed to see the Osbourne Lights. There was mass confusion at the dock though since one boat wasn't going to MGM and it was getting close to closing time. Finally, a boat got us there just in time before the park closed (they keep the park open to people in the gates for about an hour). While you can get 3D glasses, we didn't find them very useful. The lights were amazing. We started at New York street and had snow (actually soap bubbles) come down from the buildings. Then the actual Osborne Lights. I had read about 5 million lights, but you don't realize how many that is till you actually see them. INCREDIBLE!!!!

The only bad part was when we saw a kid grab one of the displays and start shaking it. His mom was yelling at him, but didn't stop him. I was about to call a cast member over when he finally stopped.

To be continued...

 

[SamatBCV]

The spain pavillion.

 

[SamatBCV]

Candlelight Processional with Gary Sinise

 

[SamatBCV]

Osborne Lights, Candy Cane Canopy

 

[SamatBCV]

Osborne Lights, carousel.

 

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Osborne Lights, my favorite home.

 

[SamatBCV]

Day 2 Part 3

After seeing the Osbourne Lights we headed back to the MK. We went on the Haunted Mansion. We didn't get on any other rides due to the lines (going off season has really spoiled us) so we just walked around. As the park closed we took a walk to the Contemporary for a quick snack and a game of air hockey (my wife won, but the game helped her by not counting about 4 of my goals).

We finally went back to our room, but the day's adventure wasn't over. Just after we went to bed there was a loud beeping noise. The power had gone out. I called the front desk to let them know and they said it was really weird (the outside lights were still on). They connected me to the plant department and I explained the problem, he also said it was weird. I'm thinking.. I know it's weird, but saying so doesn't fix it. :hammer: Then they sent a guy out. I showed him what was going on and he called it in to his supervisor. Their conversation went like this:

Maintenance guy: "The power is out at building 37."
Supervisor: "What's the problem?"
Maintenance guy: "Ummmm, Building 37 has no power."
Supervisor: "That's weird."

So I went to bed and the power came on before I woke up.

To be continued...

 

[SamatBCV]

Day 3

We started off at MGM and this was a very crowded day. We got a FP for Tower of Terror and went to Muppets where some old guy practically ran down my wife. After I calmed down we saw the show, had a good time and went on the new ToT. We rode profile number 4 (see http://www.wdwmagic.com/tower.htm) It was awesome, but because of the line we only rode it once. Then we went to Muppets.

We moved on to MK where we started by getting a FP for Peter Pan (my favorite). We went all the way back to the entrance to have lunch at Tony's. It was Christmas eve at 12:30 PM and I figured we'd have to wait forever. Somehow, a lot of people forget that Tony's exists and we were seated in just 3 minutes. I really think Tony's is one of the few forgotten treasures of Disney dining. They have excellent food at a pretty reasonable price. It's based on Tony's from Lady and the Tramp if you didn't know and they have cells from the movie everywhere.

Then we went to the Wedway (I know Tommorrowland Transit Authority, but I'll always call it the wedway peoplemover) and then did CoP. I've only been on that once in the past 5 years and it really is a great show.

We took a quick ride on Pirates (I always love how people forget there are two sides to the line). Next we went over to Small World and finally rode Peter Pan. Heading out of Fantasyland we looked down what I now call Bird Alley. The street that runs down Frontierland was infested with Seagulls. I'm sure its those nasty turkey legs (sorry Turkey Leg Boy, they just aren't my taste... I don't even like the smell). Birds were ummm relieving themselves all over peoples heads, so we took a quick left and took the long way to the Tiki Birds.

Well, it was getting late and we needed to catch our plane home so we stopped by the Taco place by Pirates (since it was going to be about 18 hours till we got our next meal). Those tacos are great and a pretty good deal. Finally, it was time to head home.

We had such a wonderful trip. Hope you all like the pics.
:lol: :xmas: