"But WHY did you do it?" Our Annual Disney Christmas trip PTR/TR Completed 10-17-11!!

[Roxychica7]

You are making me all kinds of excited for my December trip.....can't hardly wait!!!!!!!!

We've been going to Disney in December since 2005! And I can not imagine NOT going to Disney during that time. Is it your first time for December? There is absolutely nothing like it!!! You will love it!

 

[Nairnyn]

I have gone in December a few times, but my husband has never been at Christmas-time.

We live near Disneyland, and he has been there at Christmas, which is amazing, but just not quite the same as the all immersing experience that ANY vacation at WDW is, let alone a Christmas vacation at WDW.

So I'm so excited for him to see all the Christmas-y things, and hope that it wins him over enough to want to come back in the future!

Plus this is our official honeymoon, so....yeah, this should be an amazing trip. I just hope I don't over hype it!!

 

[Roxychica7]

I have gone in December a few times, but my husband has never been at Christmas-time.

We live near Disneyland, and he has been there at Christmas, which is amazing, but just not quite the same as the all immersing experience that ANY vacation at WDW is, let alone a Christmas vacation at WDW.

So I'm so excited for him to see all the Christmas-y things, and hope that it wins him over enough to want to come back in the future!

Plus this is our official honeymoon, so....yeah, this should be an amazing trip. I just hope I don't over hype it!!

Oh yay how fun!! Congrats on your official honeymoon! When/where are you staying in December? My fiance and I have gone since 2005, but my mom, who hasn't been since 2002, is going with us this year and it'll be her first time during December too. Like you, I am SO excited for her to see everything!

 

[Roxychica7]

One of my favorite counter services is Cosmic Rays. My mom and I used to always split the huge chef salad that they had, but recently they've upgraded their choices. I love how they're sectioned into stations depending on what food item you want. And thus...can you guess where we ate lunch??

LOVE these new interactive pictures! It's like food porn viewing before YOU even get to take pictures of it yourself!

Blake and I thought highly of the chicken/ribs combo that they have. Their green beans are fresh and the red skinned mashed potatoes are awesome. Since we knew that our dinner ADR was coming up, we decided to share a counter service and ended up choosing...

This is the "half" chicken for $9.69 and we got the carrot cake for dessert

We always like to sit by Sonny! He's cool!

With our bellies full, it was time to tackle more of Tomorrowland.

I am a HUGE fan of the Laugh Floor. Blake and I always get a kick out of "that guy"...you know the random embarassed guy that Roz picks for each show. We love it!

And I especially love Mike's door in the waiting area! Cute!

After many many laughs later..it was time to battle....

The Evil Emperor!

If you didn't know..this is Blake's "you're going down Jess" face.

And yes..I admit it. He beat me.

But I DID beat him at Toy Story Mania..let's not forget that now Blake!

You know we all do it. The ghetto photo.

After getting my butt kicked, it was time to head off in the direction of the beloved Fantasyland! We noticed the first signs of the construction.

Blake wanted a picture of this one.

Now I'll give it to these girls for their creativity. They tied the plastic Disney bags over their Ugg boots so that they wouldn't get wet. Now..my questions are, why does one wear Ugg boots not only in Florida, but while it's raining? Yes, I can understand maybe at night when your feet get cold...but Ugg's do not have great support for that much walking and obviously will get hot because they are meant for cold weather. Ok..rant over

Continued in next post...

 

[Roxychica7]

So after ignoring the Ugg boots, it's off to some familiar childhood rides, the first one being

Now I do not LOVE IASW, but I love the colors. I can only take one ride a trip, but since they have updated the ride, everything just shines and is so pretty and I can totally appreciate that.

Holy crap look at that line!

I must say, I do believe this was the longest wait time we had of the trip!

Everybody loves the hula girls!

Next up...

Love this one! Does anyone remember the lion king puppet show they used to have here??

The goofy glasses shot.

After departing the ride, we realized we were getting closer to our ADR and wanted to check out some shops in Main Street we never have time to see. Plus, the clouds were getting dark again.

These signs were all along the construction wall with different Disney quotes.

Introducing Belle's land

This new queue at Winnie the Pooh is amazingly cute!!

You can see the clouds sneeking up in our picture. We wanted to grab a few with our camera in case we couldn't get any of the castle when we got back from dinner.

Next up...browsing some shops and a new ADR.
Can you guess where we were having dinner at???

 

[Nairnyn]

Oh yay how fun!! Congrats on your official honeymoon! When/where are you staying in December? My fiance and I have gone since 2005, but my mom, who hasn't been since 2002, is going with us this year and it'll be her first time during December too. Like you, I am SO excited for her to see everything!

We're staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We're arriving on November 30, though I don't count that day, since we're traveling the whole day. The one down side of going to WDW from the west coast....it's a full day travel event. But we'll be there December 1-9th.

And I have to laugh at the girls with the Ugg boots. That is some kind of creativity.

 

[Lady Lallie]

We're staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We're arriving on November 30, though I don't count that day, since we're traveling the whole day. The one down side of going to WDW from the west coast....it's a full day travel event. But we'll be there December 1-9th.

Oh Port Orleans Riverside is so nice and romantic for a honeymoon!

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Jess, I have no idea where you are going for your ADR but I'm guessing you are going out of Magic Kingdom. How about Kona Cafe?

Oh the Ugg boots.

 

[jenjolt]

Holy Updates Jess!!! WOOT WOOT!! So much fun to read!!! Sorry you lost to Blake on Buzz, just keep reminding him about TSM LOL!!

Glad the rain let up so you could have a bit more fun!!! Casey's looks so good! I'll have to finally eat there someday! I haven't tried there yet but I hear good things!! Sonny looks like a lot of fun to sit near!!!!

Can't wait to see where you decided to go for the ADR!

 

[Roxychica7]

We're staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We're arriving on November 30, though I don't count that day, since we're traveling the whole day. The one down side of going to WDW from the west coast....it's a full day travel event. But we'll be there December 1-9th.

And I have to laugh at the girls with the Ugg boots. That is some kind of creativity.

Ah, Riverside..I have heard very good things about that resort. We were going to try and stay there, but for memory sake, my mom and I are staying at the resort we used when I was a little kid. But I hope you enjoy it sounds like a nice, long and romantic trip!!

Oh Port Orleans Riverside is so nice and romantic for a honeymoon!

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Jess, I have no idea where you are going for your ADR but I'm guessing you are going out of Magic Kingdom. How about Kona Cafe?

Oh the Ugg boots.

Yes, the Ugg boots. They should not be packed for a Disney vacation. Kona Cafe, eh? Perhaps

Holy Updates Jess!!! WOOT WOOT!! So much fun to read!!! Sorry you lost to Blake on Buzz, just keep reminding him about TSM LOL!!

Glad the rain let up so you could have a bit more fun!!! Casey's looks so good! I'll have to finally eat there someday! I haven't tried there yet but I hear good things!! Sonny looks like a lot of fun to sit near!!!!

Can't wait to see where you decided to go for the ADR!

I know!! I am an updating machine!! I'm just so stoked about this PTR and getting a chance to start it early this year! Blake will always lose to me on TSM, but in return I shall always lose at Buzz

 

[Roxychica7]

Hi everyone! Ready for some more Magic Kingdom fun?!

When I last left off, the sky was getting dark and we were ready to exit the park in pursuit of our dinner ADR! Any guesses??

Last chance!



But first, we had some time to kill. We wanted to be close to the exit in case it did come up a storm so we weren't soaked. Blake and I have missed many of the shops on Main Street in past years, so that's what we did!

A few of Main Street

First we ventured into the glass store. Not sure what the official name is.

Beautiful!

I had never seen this before, an artist at work! Wish I would have taken more pics, it was awesome

Loved this window display at the wedding shop...definitely want the cake toppers! And the mrs and mr coffee mugs!

Next it was into the candy shop

Sorry Blake, we've got dinner to eat!

I was getting antsy and ready to get closer to our destination, so abroad the monorail we go!
Nasty sky!

Love the Mickey wreath!

Bay Lake..not so decorated

And a close up

Hello down there! Have never been on a Disney boat before! We all know that LL is definitely a fan!

 

[Roxychica7]

Continued from previous post...

And we arrive at.......

YAY! This was a first for us tonight..I was so looking forward to it. But first, Kona did not open until 5 and we of course were early, so we decided to explore the Poly for a few. We had been inside, but not out, so off we went!

Love the decorations here.

I'm going to have a photo albums of just resort/restaurant wreaths one day!

Outside the pool area

I had a hard time deciding whether to do Kona for breakfast or dinner. As we walked outside I realized that Captain Cooks by the pool offers Tonga Toast. I thought maybe next MK visit, we could swing by and get some and not have to use an TS credit.

The weather was awesome tonight aside from the threaten of rain

We popped a squat right here

and took in the scenery...

Looking left

And right

Finally, it was time to head in.

SO excited!!

Our waiter was Lucius tonight and we checked the menu out

I had looked long and hard at the Tuna Oscar for a while. I had never had their tuna, I had never had fried green tomatoes (although I have always wanted to because I LOVE that movie)...but at last minute, chickened out and went safe..Blake and I both got the Steak.

Wonderful mac butter and hawaiian sweet bread

The candle mood was very nice in here tonight.

YUM! I thought I could eat the whole loaf myself! It might have been close

oh MY this steak was fantastic!

Now I loved Brown Derby's steak, but this was more of a casual steak, great flavor, loved the sauce and the veggies...just a really great meal!

You know what's next? Dessert Here were our choices

Blake chose

The fondue! Yum yum! Great big bowl of dark chocolate, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple and coconut macoorons!

I ended up with

The Kilauea Torte.
Now, I did not experience an "explosion of warm liquid chocolate" but it was mighty tasty! The white chocolate on the plate was a great contrast to the dark chocolate cake.

Our bill was $80.77, we paid with 1 TS credit each...well worth it!! With our bellies full, it was back to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I knew it was Kona!! I win!

I'm so glad you liked your meal there, we have only been once but we really loved it there. Marc wants to try the tuna very badly.

 

[Roxychica7]

I knew it was Kona!! I win!

I'm so glad you liked your meal there, we have only been once but we really loved it there. Marc wants to try the tuna very badly.

You do indeed win LL!! You're too good!
Mmm, Kona..we perhaps may be eating there again next trip but it really is a great casual place for any meal!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I do believe those Mr. and Mrs. mugs are definitely something that you must have!!!

I have very fond memories of that bread at Kona! Yum!

 

[jenjolt]

I just love Disney at Christmas time!! So beautiful!!!

Uggh to the rain clouds though!!

Hmmmm...Kona!! Your meal there looks so good! I'll be eating there for Breakfast soon! I really want to try their macadamina/pineapple pancakes!! They just look so GOOD!!!!

YAY for another great update!!!

 

[Roxychica7]

I do believe those Mr. and Mrs. mugs are definitely something that you must have!!!

I have very fond memories of that bread at Kona! Yum!

Blake and I LOVE our Keurig, we've had it for 4 years and we'd absolutely love those mugs!
I love bread in general, if I could have a meal of just bread around WDW, I would

I just love Disney at Christmas time!! So beautiful!!!

Uggh to the rain clouds though!!

Hmmmm...Kona!! Your meal there looks so good! I'll be eating there for Breakfast soon! I really want to try their macadamina/pineapple pancakes!! They just look so GOOD!!!!

YAY for another great update!!!

Always gotta make the best of the trip even in the rain! We got lucky that it was only for a few hours that morning! Mmm, we love Kona! We're trying their breakfast this next trip too, although I am eyeing the Tonga Toast..Blake has made a good mock version, so it's getting me even more excited!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Ok folks, I've got some good news and some bad news. Both, end of kinda being good news in a way.

I've been wanting to finish this trip report for a while now and it's been my own fault for neglecting it so long. Well, this weekend, I was going to finish, but then I couldn't find my other memory card, the one that had the rest of our MK day on it and our last day, Animal Kingdom. I found the card today, but somehow it is broken. So..yes, I did lose my pictures from AK, BUT there weren't many because it was cold, the only thing I regret it I lost Boma, but I'm ok with that. So I'm going to finish up the last few pics of MK that I DO have from my other memory card, then try to explain briefly from my trip report what AK was like..and then....


I"M READY TO START MY PTR!!

So without further waiting...

We had just finished eating a wonderful meal at Kona. We jumped back on the monorail and headed into the park again.

The park is SO beautiful at night decorated with the normal lights, plus the Christmas lights.

And here is a feast for the eyes!

LOVE the turquoise color the castle changes.

So beautiful.

We missed the castle lighting this year, but have made it other years, so I wasn't too sad. But, it is definitely something you HAVE to see!

I could have taken pictures ALL night at EVERY angle!

We passed under the castle into Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan. Still my favorite, next to Philharmagic in Fantasyland!

We took a quick detour into Toon Town since I knew it would be closing down soon to head to the Judges Tent. And to get pictures with some princesses!

Loved Belle! She was so excited about my button and my prince charming asking me to marry him!

Continued in next post..

 

[Roxychica7]

So this is where I'm saddened to say, but happy to start my PTR, that this is the last of the pictures. My memory card has alas eaten my photos, but I have my trusty trip book, so let's get this TR finished..shall we?!


Ok, so after the judges tent, we went into tomorrowland and used our 2nd buzz fastpass we still had, Blake beat me...again. Butthead.
We did the Laugh Floor again, love it! At this point, we were cutting it close for the Electrical Parade. This was new for us, as we had seen SpectroMagic before and didn't want to miss it. The dilemma was, use our splash mountain fastpass from earlier or grab a spot in the ever growing crowd for the parade. We opted for the parade. At this point, it got eery.

The FOG set in to the point where we COULD NOT see splash or thundermountain. I mean it was freaky. The parade was great, I loved all the old floats like Pete's Dragon! Loved that movie growing up. Now, we went to try Splash, but they were closed for issues. Figures. But its ok, because the fog was getting worse and we'd have a hard time drying anyway. I told Blake, I bet you we won't be able to see the fireworks. So instead of getting stuck in the lines, we headed toward the park entrance and stood on Main Street by the Christmas tree. You literally could NOT SEE THE CASTLE! Music you could hear, but no castle or fireworks. So at that point, the crowd started hustling to the exit because they too are now realizing this, thankfully we beat most of them and sat back for a long busride back. Craziest fog EVER!

We got back to the resort exhausted from the day, we grabbed a banana, some poweraid and water from the resort, then went to our room to find our keys weren't working. Walked all the way back to the front desk who said there had been a computer error sometime during the day and our new keys were already waiting for us. Interesting.
At this point, we ended up going back to get more snacks, and crashed in the room. I tried to update a little, and it was already 11pm and I realized I couldn't change our early dining reservation the next morning because dining was closed.

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Our last day

The next morning was FREEZING. We got up to shower and dress and boarded the bus at 8:40. We met the nicest SC couple who retired to Orlando a few years ago and thankfully they were talking their magic into how much they still love it and don't get tired of Disney. Keep going folks, talk Blake into it!
We pulled into AK at 8:58, thankfully the AKL bus was there and we RAN to the other side and got on in time pulling into AKL at the Jambo House at 9:08
We of course first took pictures of the gorgeous Christmas tree, if you haven't seen it, you must! Comes a close 2nd to the tree at the GF. We headed downstairs to Boma and checked in, got a pager and took some light pictures for LL. We were buzzed within 5 minutes and our server quickly explained the process and bought out a pot of coffee. We declined on the passion/oj/papaya juice, as I got the juice at Ohanas a few years back and while I loved the taste of it, my stomach did not. So, I passed and opted just for apple juice.

We went up to the buffet. Here's where I WISH I had my pictures. But thank goodness for notes! The 1st station had carved meats, eggs, bacon, sausage and spicy tomatoes. The next had oatmeal. Then french toast, pankcakes, casserole, syrup warmers. Then an omelette station and more bacon, some breakfast potatoes (yum!), then a pastry station with sticky buns, a fruit station, and then finally a cereal and bread station. WOWWOWOW! SO much food. It was all so delcious, I wish I could have eaten it all!
The total came to $48.97, steep for breakfast, but we used our last 2 table service credits. The waitress seemed very rushed and kinda threw my juice at me which ended up all over the table.

We took a few more pics of the tree/lobby and it took approx. 10 mins for the bus to get back to AK. Here's where I decided I was REALLY cold. I had jeans, a tshirt, a sweater, a hoodie, and my jacket and gloves on and I was still freezing. We ducked into Rainforest after arriving at AK to check in on the fish. My overanalyzation with being an Aquarist found me noting the diseases that the fish had in the tank including eye cloud and bacterial mouth infections. Way to go Jess I can't help it, just the Aquarist in me.

I REALLY miss the Rainforest Cafe we had in Baltimore. They put ours in about 20 mins from my hometown back in...8th grade or 9th grade, so 1998 or 1999. They took it out about 3 or 4 years ago so 2008 due to the mall it was in wanting something different, a change. Really?? Still miss it like crazy!

We proceeded through the gates and saw the beautiful tree with its african decorations and headed off to africa to snag FP's for Kilimangaro, then straight to Camp MM to make sure we saw the Lion King, since we normally see it last and we weren't sure how much energy we would have today. Lion King was awesome as usual, a favorite for us! The best part is that the characters dressed in their christmas gear have really short lines, so we got to see Goofy. The best part was this kid in front of us...Goofy started strumming an air guitar. And the kid doesn't understand, adn the CM's proceed to say "what's that goofy? He looks like Justin Bieber?" and the kid gets SO embarassed and Goofy is cracking up and the CM'd are dying with laughter. It was GREAT! It must have been his hair.

Next up...the last of AK!

 

[Charleston Princess]

What a shame about your memory card! I am in love with all of your Castle pictures, though. It really is so pretty with all those lights! That is crazy about the fog! Too bad you couldn't see any fireworks.

 

[Roxychica7]

What a shame about your memory card! I am in love with all of your Castle pictures, though. It really is so pretty with all those lights! That is crazy about the fog! Too bad you couldn't see any fireworks.

Oh the castle is SO beautiful. It is unreal!

I wish I had my pictures of the fog, it was so freaky/creepy/odd looking down Main Street and NOT seeing the castle! I'm just glad my memory card only ate the last day, which wasn't even a full day compared to the rest of our trip!