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This was our Christmas getaway trip. We took one last year, to see the 100 years of magic and also to see the world at Christmas. It was our present to each other, and we ended up bringing along three extra people. It was not one of the easiest trips, so we decided that we'd try it again this year, just us. And, it was absolutely perfect. As usual, it was me, 25 and Chris, my husband, 24.
We decided to get an early start Sunday morning, so when we went to bed Sat night, we had everything packed and laid out. The house was cleaned up and all the details were taken care of. We settled into bed, figuring we'd get some sleep, then be up at 4:30, off at 5 am at the latest, to make the most of our time (and to miss traffic) We didn't anticipate one problem, though, neither one of us could fall asleep. We watched the hours tick by and finally Chris decided that he was just going to get up and do some computer stuff. He said that we'd leave at 4:30 regardless. l, of course, fell asleep at about 3:45 am, and was less than coherent when Chris woke me at 4:30. I stumbled into my clothes and out of the house. A quick stop at the dumpster to throw out the trash and we were on our way.
We started the trip out listening to Christmas music. A local radio station is playing nothing but Christmas music, and I'd heard a song the other day that I loved but have no idea what it was or who it was (in case anyone knows, it's the Pachebel Canon, in the beginning it's just piano and strings, the middle part has a choir taking over the various string parts while accompanied by the piano, then it switches back to the piano and strings for the end. if you know what it is, please let me know!!) When we lost the station, we settled on a cd, and I drifted off to sleep.
The next thing I know we were on I-4 and I'd slept through about 2 1/2 hours of the trip. We ate the breakfast bars we'd packed, then stopped for a drink before heading on to the world. We arrived at Sports and checked in quickly. It was only about 10:00 am, but they were able to accomodate our request for a room that was ready. We decided to hit the food court to grab lunch. I had no idea that they were still serving breakfast, but we figured it would be a good idea to eat anyway, so Chris got a breakfast platter (eggs, bacon, and a biscuit) and I got one of the premade subs from the cooler, then we headed back to the room.
We were put in Center Court, building 5, on the bottom floor. We were dreading the Pop Warner kids and they were there in abundance. However, we didn't hear them at all. It seems that most of the rooms around us were empty, and we only went to the food court that once, so while they were there, we never noticed them, other than that one trip to the food court. And, even then they weren't bad, just loud and sort of self absorbed.
After getting settled and eating, we put on our jammies and hopped into bed for a much needed nap. We arranged a wake up call in two hours. Then when we got that one, we arranged another one for later. We eventually got up, showered and then headed out to explore. We had tickets for MVMCP that night, and also a pre-MVMCP PS at Artist Point. We love the WL, and the food at Artist Point but we hadn't been there in a year, not since before our last MVMCP, so this was our "special treat" for the trip. We parked the car, then headed to the MK gates. We decided to walk from the MK to the Contemporary, as we opted to explore the resorts instead of spending a few hours in the park then going back after dinner. (As a side note, Chris and I recently made a commitment to exercise for 15 minutes a day, we try to do this together and decided that we were going to make a point of it at Disney, even though you're normally active, we were going to just walk for a bit each day anyway.) The walk was nice and when we arrived, I realized Chris had never seen the lobby. We took a picture of the sculpture in the lobby, then headed up to the 4th floor concourse. There, we took a picture of the edible Christmas display and wandered around a bit before hopping on the monorail.
We got off at the Polynesian, and poked around in the Great Ceremonial House for a while before deciding to walk to the Grand Floridian. On the way, we passed the Wedding Pavillion. It's such a beautiful location, and I was dying to head out and peek around the Pavillion, but there was a wedding set to begin in a bit, so we kept going on to the GF. When we got to the main building, we took in the atmosphere, and marveled at the giant gingerbread house. After taking several pictures, we headed upstairs to get back on the monorail.
A few minutes later we were back at the MK entrance. From there we hopped on a boat and headed out to the Wilderness Lodge. On the way over, we debated about where Discovery Island was. Neither of us had ever seen it ( I don't think it was open when I went for the first time) and while I think I heard it was on Bay Lake, I'm just curious to know which of the islands it was. As usual, the conversation didn't get resolved, but soon we were at one of our favorite resorts, soaking in the atmosphere.
We went in and wandered around, finally ending up on the 4th floor, on the patio above the front entrance. I made a quick call to CRO to see if we could get a room there for Christmas Eve, but not for anything near what we wanted to pay. So, after ending the call, we headed down to check in for dinner.
We were quickly seated and given our menus. They've changed chefs and my favorite meal (the filet with dungeness crab sauce) was no longer on the menu. However, we were able to find substitutes and settled on the venison spring rolls as an appetizer, which we split, and then we ordered a mixed grill and a roasted chicken meal. The mixed grill had a buffalo sirloin, a lamb chop and rabbit sausage. We took turns trying all the different food, then ordered dessert. Chris got the famous berry cobbler, and I got the flourless whiskey chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet. The food was wonderful, as always. Our server was very good, however I had a few problems with something he did. He had another table near ours, and we could hear him explaining the food on the menu to them. When he was bringing our food out, he stopped by their table with it and showed them what it was. I wasn't too pleased with that, and got further upset when in the middle of us eating dessert, he headed back to that table, then pointed to us and said, that's what the cobbler looks like, while we were trying to have a quiet meal. All of a sudden all the people (and it was a large party) at the other table were staring at us. I'm still not sure if I'm going to write a letter or call, as I didn't appreciate it, but in the scheme of things, it wasn't a huge deal.
Anyway, after dinner, we took several pictures of the holiday decorations, then headed back to the dock, where there was quite a line. We finally got on one of the boats and were on our way to the MK. On the way over, the wife of the guy sitting next to Chris started talking about how her mother knew that all the boats on the Seven Seas Lagoon are on tracks. They were discussing this, and Chris explained that we had taken a tour and were told that they are not on tracks, all the vessels are free floating. As a further explanation, he pointed out that one of the ferryboats that was waiting to pick up passengers at the WL was one that goes from the TTC to the MK normally, but was helping out because of the large number of people waiting to get back to the MK. The guy basically said, well, you're wrong. So, Chris let it go, but got quite a laugh when as the boat was docking the guy stood up and got jostled around as the boat bounced off the dock. At that point he looked at his wife and said," You know, if they were on tracks, they wouldn't be bouncing around. I guess he was right."
We got through security and headed into the park. We stopped at City Hall to get a map, then wandered down Main Street. We decided to skip the first parade, and headed to Tomorrowland. We stopped on the way and bought Santa hats, Chris getting the one with Mickey ears, and I got the one with ears and the Minnie bow on the white furry part. In Tomorrowland Chris got on Space Mountain. After he got off, we went to Mickey's Star Traders and bought the pin for the evening. Then it was off to Buzz Lightyear, where Chris stomped me as always. (I've only ever beaten him once)
After that, we wandered out to the hub and asked a CM if Cinderella's Coach was out. He told us that he didn't think it was, so disappointed, we wandered back to Fantasyland to go on some more rides. We came up the path by the wishing well, and just as we were coming around the side of the Castle, out came Cinderella, Princess Aurora and the Fairy Godmother, along with a dog. I'm not sure what was up with the dog, as we didn't bother with autographs, having seen all of them at CRT. We did however find the Coach and took several pictures. I absolutely loved it, it was gorgeous. Then it was time for one of our favorite rides, Pooh. After Pooh, we decided to head to Liberty Square to await the fireworks.
They were incredible as usual, and afterwards we wandered our way down to Adventureland. We got our hot chocolate and cookies then got in the long line to have our picture taken. After the picture, Chris rode Pirates of the Caribbean while I wandered around the gift shop. We met up after he was done and headed back to Main Street to get a spot for the parade. Chris went to Casey's and got us each a hot dog and some fries to split while I headed out to find a seat for us. We ended up on the curb in front of the store that was built over the little side street. ( Confusing, huh?) After enjoying the hot dogs, we waited for the start of the parade.
The parade was incredible and the snow was wonderful. After it all ended, we headed back up Main Street and ducked through Liberty Square. We were able to almost walk right on to the Haunted Mansion. After riding that we went back to Fantasyland and got on Peter Pan.
At this point we decided to pack it in. It had been a very long day and it was now midnight. We took our time leaving the park, taking lots of pictures as we left. We retrieved our car and then made our way back to the All Stars. After getting some ice we settled in for the night. We decided that we were going to sleep in the next day and arranged for a wake up call at noon, then we collapsed.
Day One, Day Two, Day Three
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