Trip Report "When We're Together" - December 2024

So yall that read my trip report for May already know that we booked a bounceback offer before leaving WDW so that we could use those 2 free park tickets. Well, Disney should be proud to know that their "free" ticket plan worked and we are for sure returning to WDW in December - and this time I'm purchasing the MVMCP and Jollywood Night Tickets I just purchased plane tickets, party tickets, and travel insurance (if you know, you know LOL). This is the first time we've been more than once in a year so I'm super excited!! I told R that maybe it will help me get more comfortable on flights and maybe next time I can do one longer than 2 hours I am holding off on getting Mears until closer to the trip - I'm hoping that they release a Disney+ or Disney Visa room discount that has more selection than the bounceback offer at Riverside. I'm not complaining about Riverside though since it's our place but I would like to save a little extra money (or stay at AKL cheaper), if at all possible. This year's discount selection is not very good compared to past years.

When we went in December 2021 for the short 3 night stay, they didn't have the full Christmas Party just the abbreviated themed After Hours event. We loved it but I'm seriously looking forward to a full Christmas party though. And we've never done Jollywood Nights

 

[LeighM]

But when we got there, they hadn't opened it yet. So we sat under a shady tree and waited. It was still quiet in this part of the park since Kali River Rapids wasn't operating.

We enjoyed talking to the CM about this laidback animal. I wish I could recall everything she said but I remember it was highlight of the day.

I was happy to experience this trail again since we didn't get a chance in May. I had to go see my most favorite ever bird!

And I saw these cuties relaxing on a branch

And saw this big bird in a tree

I don't think he was happy to have his picture taken so early in the morning!! At this point, I have to fast forward in the day to when we came back here a second time. We were unable to see the tigers during our first walk through and was hoping to see them the second. However, they still weren't out. But we did see this annoyed looking bird trying to impress his female counterpart.

She walked away unimpressed

When she realized he wasn't following her like she expected him to do, she turned around and went back to him But then he was playing hard to get and walked away from her. Only for a woman who pretended to not speak English attempt to pet him like a dog....

But the bats were out during the second walk through but this was as low as they were getting

The CM pulled out a book and told us these were the bats in the enclosure.

 

[riverside]

I had the same appetizer & entree as you a few weeks ago at Space 220!!

 

[LeighM]

Soon it was our return time to FoP. With the ILL it was pretty much a walk on. I knew this time to keep my eyes closed for the first minute for the big drop. And it seemed to work and I was enjoying the ride. Until I made the mistake of looking down and realized we were on the very top row LOL. Then I had to battle my anxiety for the rest of the ride and just got it under control right about the time the ride was ending. But it was a better experience than my first and only time in 2018

We weren't really hungry so skipped over Satuli Canteen again as we didn't want to mess up our Boma dinner. We got to ride It's Tough to be a Bug one last time

We made our way out of the park to go back to the resort to shower and rest.

 

[LeighM]

I had the same appetizer & entree as you a few weeks ago at Space 220!!

Hopefully you enjoyed the beet salad as much as I did! And that the Pad Thai had a little bit more wow

 

[riverside]

Hopefully you enjoyed the beet salad as much as I did! And that the Pad Thai had a little bit more wow

I thoroughly enjoyed both!! I wasn’t super impressed the first time I ate there but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time!!

 

[LeighM]

We decided to go to Disney Springs to finish up the Christmas Tree Trail and then transfer to AK for Boma.

Across from Saratoga Springs, I was able to photograph a wild turkey butt.

I love seeing this come into view as we float down the Sassagoula

Here are my favorites of the DS Christmas trees.

This was the Wish tree. I still haven't seen this movie even though it's been added to my watch later for a while

The HM is my favorite ride even though I don't much like the tree

And I wouldn't go so far as to call this a tree but it was very well done

It got R into talking about taking a Disney cruise one day. For those that have followed the trip reports for years, you may remember that I had to cancel each and every Disney cruise I had booked all the way back to 2015. But he was feeling the Disney high so I booked a bounceback for the first week of September during Labor Day. We completed the map and got the finisher ornament

After picking this up from the jewelry store, we made our way to the bus stop for AK.

 

[LeighM]

I thoroughly enjoyed both!! I wasn’t super impressed the first time I ate there but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time!!

Those beets turned out to be the most memborable new food I ate during that trip. I'm still mentioning it months later

 

[LeighM]

Oh! I just remembered something else that happened on Friday. While in the Africa animal trail, a CM at the prairie dog area saw my Colonial Williamsburg shirt and started talking to me. She was telling me how much she loved it during a family vacation there (made me feel old LOL) and how interested she was in Colonial American history. I started to ask her if she had been to other locations steeped in that and she said no, that she had never heard of them before. So she went to get a piece of paper and wrote down notes as I was giving her a list of places in Virginia she would be interested in visiting.

Now back to the trip report.....

We arrived at AKL and I checked into Boma.

I had forgotten about the gingerbread display there.

We took pictures in front of the ginormous tree

We were the first to arrive at Boma but luckily weren't the family of the day - that honor went to the family that arrived after us I made a total glutton out of myself and I seriously thought my stomach was going to rupture. It was all so good. I don't even want to share pictures of everything I ate that night - it's truly that embarassing. We (mostly me) waddled up to the lobby to wait until most of the discomfort subsided and I could walk without the urge to purge.
We decided to go back to AK to see Pandora at night. It was EXTREMELY crowded and I could not believe what I was seeing. Animal Kingdom has never been that busy at night. The standby for FoP was well over an hour, Navi was 40 minutes, etc.

This was the best picture of the ones the photographer took

We got to see a couple minutes of the display on the Tree of Life.

The unexpected late night crowds prevented us from riding anything else so we decided to go back to the resort and start packing for our flight back home on Saturday afternoon.

 

[LeighM]

Final Day and the trip home

We left our room about 10:30AM and went to get breakfast in crowded food court. I had been eyeing this special blue cupcake and since we weren't having pictured taken, I figured blue teeth wouldn't be a big deal.

Instead this is the worst cupcake I have ever had. I am forever striking out on the Disney cupcakes.....

We went outside to wait for the Mears bus and got into a conversation with a really nice retired couple. The bus was late arriving but it turned out to be because of all the Disney cruise line buses. The Mears bus had no where to go. Eventually, a CM came out and made one of the buses move so that Mears could continue with his pick up. He had stopped at FQ first, then POR, and a few stops at Disney Springs hotels after us.

We got to the Terminal C at the airport and saw their large and boring Christmas tree

And there was a decently long line for TSA at about 1PM

However, the TSA Precheck line was a breeze

I was happily surprised to see that our gate was MUCH closer than the last time!!

And the plane was already waiting so I was hopeful there would be no delays. We started boarding on time an we discovered a very strange woman was sitting at the window seat and you could smell her perfume before you saw her. Who wears that much perfume within an enclosed space like an airplane?!!!

And those hopes were dashed in the worst way possible for a person with anxiety flying. The power went out - lights, air, everything. But then came back on. Then a few minutes later, they went out again. At this point, most people were getting concerned. The pilot came on and said that something had accidentally gotten unplugged and he had to wait until the system was rebooted. And then it went out again and lasted longer. Eventually, the plane's system was rebooted, the power stayed on, but the anxiety definitely remained

All of the pins that were purchased this trip (my computer won't let me rotate it for some reason)

We eventually made our way home and on the way we were discussing the possibility of taking a Disney cruise. There was much discussion and I figured it wasn't going to materialize. But then a couple of weeks before the cruise left, he booked it. It was too late to get plane tickets so road trip it was. We were going on the Disney Wish on February 3-7. And that's just what we did. So keep your eyes open on that trip report, which I will be starting soon and I promise it will be completed quicker than this one LOL.

 

[Swissmiss]

Instead this is the worst cupcake I have ever had. I am forever striking out on the Disney cupcakes

My experience as well; they suck you in because they LOOK so good but the taste never lives up to the appearance.