I'll be home for Christmas - Trip Report - UPDATED 1/5 - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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December 3, 2009
This morning I found out on Facebook that my friend Jeanne would be picking up a group over at All-Star Sports. She was going to be there around 9am. I called Jim and told him that I was going to go over and meet up with her for a while, and could he drive over at 9am. So off I went, and took pictures along the way. I wandered around and around 8:45am I made my way over to the parking lot that Jeanne said she would be at. There were a bunch of kids around and I quickly saw some Mears buses but no Jeanne. I wandered around some more and went into their Food Court to check out the Christmas decorations. I came back out front and got a call from Jim, he was over at Building #2. Jeanne sent me a text message she would be there in 5 minutes. Jeanne came and we got on her bus and talked for a while.
Jim and I then went over to Magic Kingdom. I drove again and we parked in the TTC. I forgot to write down where we parked, but had an indication of where it was. We took the monorail from the TTC over to Magic Kingdom. They were taping the Christmas Parade so the Tree was not up or the swags across Main Street.
We both took some pictures of the Christmas decorations and then made our way toward Tomorrowland. We rode the TTA first and I asked if we could have the front car, as I wanted to do some taping of the new spiel on the ride. Once off the TTA. We went off going on Space Mountain, the wait time was 10 minutes and we made our way quickly up to the ride. We never go to play with any of the games in the queue, but I did try a couple of the buttons on the way. When we got off Space Mountain, we wandered over toward Fantasyland. Jim was hungry and we tried to find him a filled pretzel but for some reason they didn’t have any this morning. We bypassed Winnie the Pooh, We wandered over to ride Peter Pan, the wait time wasn’t crazy so we entered the queue. Jim hasn’t yet to ride Peter Pan. After Peter Pan we went to see the dolls at it’s a small world. We had to wait for them to load a handicap boat and then we were off.
Once off Small World we went over to the Haunted Mansion. When we got off Haunted Mansion we spotted the Goodyear Blimp above the skies of Magic Kingdom. We wandered around toward Splash Mountain, and saw Woody & Jessie out signing autographs. From there we went over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, the wait was only 5 minutes and we took the right hand side, so some reason I always go on the right. It was more or less a walk on and we were in our boat in no time. Our lunch reservation at Crystal Palace wasn’t until 12:50pm and we still had some time before we could check in. My friend Monica really enjoys the Walt Disney World Railroad, so we walked back down Main Street, took some pictures of the window displays and made our way up to the Railroad. We stopped for a while and took some pictures from the 2nd floor of Main Street.
We found a seat on the train, it was pretty crowded and off we went. We got off at Toon Town where we went into Mickey’s House. I wanted some pictures before Mickey & Minnie’s house were no longer. Mickey’s House wasn’t that bad, crowd wise, but when we went over to Minnie’s, well let’s just say it was too crowded for the both of us. We turned around and exited. We went over and walked onto Mickey’s PhilharMagic, during the show I’ve never seen that many small children scared and had to be taken out of the show. There were at least 2 or 3 of them during this showing. We walked around the castle as it’s about the time we can check in for our reservation at Crystal Palace. We stopped for a little bit for a couple of pictures of Kris Allen taping of the Christmas parade.
I checked in and we found a seat outside on the patio and waited for about 15 minutes before our name was called. The buffet at Crystal Palace is always good, and we enjoyed our lunch along with Piglet, Tigger, Pooh & Eeyore.
When we finished lunch we also then left Magic Kingdom and went over to Epcot. We took the monorail over the TTC and then drove over to Epcot. Once parked we entered the park with no wait at either the turnstile or bag check. Our first stop was at Spaceship Earth. Once back down we made our way to World Showcase. We stopped for a while to check out the Christmas tree at Epcot. What a beautiful tree. We stopped to listen to Off Kilter
for a little bit and then went on to France. We stayed for the movie and then made our way toward Japan. Once in Japan we spent some time in the gift shop. I got a kick out of the various snack options.
No Thanks.
We then made our way over to American Adventure, took some pictures of the Christmas tree out front and then went inside the counter service area to see the Gingerbread House. We stopped at Germany where Jim got himself a beer. I was going to get one as well, but we were leaving Epcot soon and since I was driving I shouldn't be drinking. While Jim was waiting I took some more photos. Then we took off and wandered the rest of World Showcase. We didn’t stop in any of the other countries. We saw the Santa from Norway coming out, but we kept moving.
We left Epcot to go back to our rooms for a while before our dinner tonight at Kouzzina. Our reservation wasn’t until late, but we wanted to check out all the Christmas decoration around the Boardwalk area. We left around 7:15pm and parked in the Boardwalk parking lot. From there we went inside Boardwalk Inn lobby and saw their beautiful Christmas decorations. We then went down to the Boardwalk to check out one of the performers, he was balancing a ladder. It was very interesting. From there we walked over to the Beach Club, checking out the Christmas decorations, and then walking over to the Yacht Club, again seeing the Christmas decorations. We made our journey around Boardwalk and came full circle back to Kouzzina. The gentleman performing on the Boardwalk was doing another set, and we had a little extra time so we watch for a few minutes.
Dinner at Kouzzina was good, they weren’t that busy but we still had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes. I ordered the Lamb Burger, the waiter told me that it was spicy, and yes it really was too spicy for me. We also ordered the Kouzzina Spreads, they were delish, I could have just ate that for dinner and be happy. Jim ordered the Lamb Shank. We left stuffed and with our desserts to go. We made it back to our rooms by 10:30pm.
Great update and pix. It looks like the crowds were somewhat managable for the areas around the parade activities. You guys really packed a lot into one day.
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Today was our day to start at Epcot. It wasn’t extra Magic Hour so we took our time. I wanted to check out All-Star Movies, so Jim and I took off with the car over to their food court. We wandered around taking pictures and Jim showing me where they stayed with his friends a couple years prior. It started raining right as we were leaving.
We made it to Epcot, parked and went to the front of the park. When we entered we say Stitch all by himself. He posed for a picture for me.
When I said that he was all alone the CM handler said no he wasn’t she was with him. Okay, who knows. From there we watched the opening of Epcot, it was starting to rain again, but not too bad yet.
Once the park was open we went with the masses over to Soarin’. We rode with about I’d say a 20 minute wait. When we got off Soarin’, we rode Living with the Land. I can ride this over and over again with no problems, very similar to the TTA. Once out of Living with the Land, we left The Land pavilion and went over to see Figment. There wasn’t a sole in the queue and we rode in our own tram throughout the ride. Next up was Honey I Shrunk the Audience. I hadn’t seen this show in over 2 years, and enjoyed it again. When we left we walked over and got FastPasses for Test Track. We then walked over to see Ellen in the Universe of Energy. While we were waiting in line, which is outside and I can never understand that queue, it started raining. Raining hard too, I took my poncho out and put it on while we were outside. The queue started moving and we were inside. Jim hasn’t seen Universe of Energy and I do enjoy this ride, it’s such a nice place to sit for a while and just take in a game of Jeopardy.
When we got out of Ellen it was still raining, and raining good. We were getting hungry for lunch so we made our way over to World Showcase. I certain Shawarma Platter from Tangierine Café was calling my name.
We made it before the crowds and found a spot inside out of the rain. The problem was that it was windy and I was wet so I was getting cold. I didn’t bring my jacket as I left it in the car that morning. I knew that was a mistake. So I sat freezing and eating my favorite lunch. When we left it was still raining and it looked like it wasn’t going to let up any time soon. I checked my new app on my cell phone and the green glob wasn’t going away any time soon.
We made our way over to Germany where we went inside the shops to look for a while and to get out of the rain. Jim left his poncho in the room, and wouldn’t for some reason buy one. He was a drowned rat. I checked out the beautiful clocks in Germany, I guess that I have never seen them before. We went back out in the rain and made our way over to China. From here we checked out the Tomb Warrior exhibit for a while. I sat down while waiting for the movie as I was getting a good size blister on my right heal from my sneakers. I found out later it was bleeding up a storm and got my khaki slacks all bloody. We watched the movie and then wandered again the stores in China, just to stay out of the rain. I seriously wonder how many people actually buy anything in these stores as most everything is so very expensive. From there we went to Norway and rode Maelstrom, when we got off we stayed for the movie. I don’t think that I’ve ever watch the movie before. We checked out the gift shop for a while and then went back out in the rain. We wandered over to Mexico and took shelter inside and took a ride on Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. Jim was just drenched at this point. I don’t think that he could see with so much water pouring down his head. I was miserable myself, even though I wasn't that wet, just my slacks and feet.
Now we had dinner reservation tonight at Teppan Edo at 3:50pm for the 6:45pm Candlelight Processional. I really didn’t want to sit out in the rain any longer. I asked Jim his opinion and got no response. I didn’t want to get sick again, as the last time I was out in the rain at a Theme park I got a nasty cold. It was decided that we would go back to the room, check the weather and possible find somewhere else to eat dinner.
When we got back to the room we found out we have a bunch of neighbors on the second floor. Pop Warner has arrived. Boom boxes were blaring and kids screaming, oh joy!
I got online, as we thought about possible a resort where we could eat dinner, we were thinking about Whispering Canyon, nope that was booked. I checked some more options before deciding on eating dinner at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney. I also checked the weather forecast and the rain was forecast throughout the night and into tomorrow morning.
I took some pictures of the room while we had some time before we had to leave for dinner. We left, and I found a parking spot, it wasn’t near Raglan Road of course and it started pouring again. We made it to Raglan Road, where I had the Sheppard’s Pie and Jim had It’s Not Bleedin’ Chowder. For dessert I got the Bailey’s Crème Brulee Tart, which was just okay. Jim got the Dunbrody Kiss since he was craving chocolate.
We decided against walking over to World of Disney and just went back to the room. I was a little nervous about what would happen tonight with our 2nd floor neighbors, but right at 9pm I believe they quieted down and I never heard from them until the next day.
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