Flashback to Christmas: Dec 3-10Updated!! 3/6!
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Luv2plan · 02-14-2006, 05:01 PM

Flashback to Christmas: Dec 3-10, 2005

All the snow here in New England the last couple days has not only reminded me of Christmas, but made me long for a nice warm trip to Florida [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] at the same time! So it’s Flashback to Christmas time – a trip report of our first-ever trip to WDW during the holidays.

Dates: Saturday December 3, 2005 – Saturday December 10, 2005

Party: Nicole, 32, (that’s me) mega Disney fan(atic!)
DH Matt, 33, loves Disney but doesn’t like to say so
DD Tessa, 4 ½, veteran of 3 WDW trips
DM Sharon, 54, my mom, loves WDW, has to bring all her favorite Disney clothes every trip, also known as Nonna
MIA this trip: DF Nick, also known as Papa, who was unable to come at the last minute because of work

Resort: Coronado Springs, Ranchos section

Plans: Anything Holidays!! We’ve never been to WDW at the holidays before and want to see every tree, every ornament, every poinsettia leaf there is! We have plans for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and the Candlelight Processional.

This trip has had so many different incarnations I’m not even sure I remember them all! So journey back in time with me….to March ’04 to be exact….and I’ll give ya the brief (ok, not so brief) rundown!

In March ’04 Matt & spent three glorious nights at CBR – [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]ALL BY OURSELVES[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]!! It was a wonderful trip, and during the trip we ate at Kona at the Polynesian. Totally fell in love [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] with the Polynesian, natch, and wanted to stay there as soon as possible. Well, ok, I’m still waiting for that trip, but what would we all do if we didn’t have more Disney trips to plan??!!

We (my parents included – we live in a two-family house with them and they go wherever Tessa goes. I’m an only child, can you tell??) started to plan a spring ’05 trip to see the Flower & Garden Festival. But with my dad’s work schedule and an out-of-state wedding to attend [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img] we decided to try for a December Holiday [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smileysanta.gif[/img] trip instead. I logged many an hour on the ‘ol cell phone with Disney Reservations booking and changing resorts. We never seem to be able to make up our minds when it comes to resorts! Although, DH is an On-Property Snob [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] and will only stay On-Property (Not that I’m complaining!!)

In the end we got a good deal on 2 rooms at Coronado Springs through the much-hated AP Best Rate Program online. Our first choice was Wilderness Lodge, but it was booked booked booked, and after seeing it decorated for the holidays I can see why! But we were game to try CS as I’d like to eventually try all the Disney resorts.[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

Way before the resort was settled on I had booked a rental car with National for $109, and airfare on Song for $165 roundtrip out of Logan. I wanted that great rate, but in the end I probably booked too early, because Song changed our flight times so much we ended up canceling our tickets with them [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]. Live & Learn. We were able to get a full refund, and paid a bit over $200 roundtrip for tickets on Southwest, but it was worth it to me to use an airline we’d always had good luck with. And now we would get to WDW at 2pm instead of 10pm, which is when Song had bumped us to!

MVMCP tickets, a DDE card, an AP for me and 10-day no-expiration Park Hoppers for Matt & Tessa, t-shirts for Tessa at The Disney Store…you name it, I bought it!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ouch.gif[/img] Perhaps one of the “downsides” of so much planning time?? Actually I’m sure I was able to save quite a bit by spreading out our expenses like that. I also got some great deals on the Disneydeals.com ebay site, like a kids Tinker Bell holiday sweatshirt for $6, and some toys for the plane.

For ADR’s we booked Tony’s Town Square for the night of MVMCP, The Candlelight Processional Package with Biergarten for dinner, Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue, The Princess Storybook Lunch in Norway, Coral Reef lunch, and Crystal Palace breakfast with Pooh. I looovvveeedd the new (at the time) policy of being able to book all your ressies at once, instead of calling back every day for a week.

It was kind of strange having such a big countdown to our trip. I’ve never booked a trip so far in advance before. It alternated between taking forever and rushing up on us. Of course, thank goodness for the Passporter Boards and all the wonderful live updates being posted from Mousefest 2005. I was soooooo ready to be there myself!![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]

But in Everyday Life, as opposed to Disney Planning Life, we had a few hitches: my dad had to back out of the trip because of work [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img], and low & behold, I found out I was pregnant [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]! Boy was I sick this time, not at all like with Tessa. But as luck would have it I started to perk up a bit right before we left. I’m trying to count backwards (math is not my strong suit) and I guess I would have been about 2 ½ months along. Secretly I was looking forward to eating my way around WDW since I was definitely still in the Need A Snack Every 5 Minutes phase of pregnancy. The final curve ball was a nasty cough for Matt, and an ear infection for my mom.

Boy, we sound like a rag-tag group, but I swear we had a lot of fun and I hope you’ll enjoy reading about our trip & seeing our pictures!!

Next up: We’re finally at WDW!!!![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]

simbarel · 02-14-2006, 08:51 PM

You bunch of rag-tags, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I can't wait to read your adventures and see your photos! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/Flash.gif[/img] Bring 'er on!

Grammy Grumpy · 02-14-2006, 10:03 PM

Great start, looking forward to much more!

bsblady01 · 02-14-2006, 10:11 PM

can't wait to hear about your trip to the world

**Colexis Mom** · 02-15-2006, 10:40 AM

Great start Nicole [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

mac · 02-15-2006, 10:52 AM

I'm glad to see you're doing a trip report Nicole [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]! Congrats on your pregnancy! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

DawnDenise · 02-15-2006, 12:11 PM

Wonderful start Nicole!!! Looking forward to more!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

disneymom9092 · 02-15-2006, 04:49 PM

Great start-more please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Luv2plan · 02-15-2006, 08:49 PM

Day 1 – Dec 3, 2005 We’re finally at WDW!!!!

Our flight out of Providence was at 10:15am so we didn’t have to get up too early to make it there in time. And good thing we allowed extra time because both our suitcase & my mom’s were 2 lbs over the limit. We quickly pulled a pair of shoes out of each and shoved ‘em in the duffle bag carrying Tessa’s car seat.

My poor mom couldn’t hear anything because of her ear infection, so there were a lot of dialogues like this throughout the trip:

Airline Guy: Ma’am your bag is too heavy
Airline Guy: Ma’am?
Me: Mom take something out of your bag!
Mom (finally): What?? What bag?
Me (with a little internal eye-rolling): I got it mom.

This scenario repeated itself with the whole Keep-Your-License-Out-For-Security before I realized I was going to need to stay on top of things for her. I’m a quick one, aren’t I?? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/foreheadslap.gif[/img]

Since I’m already picking on my mom (she’s a sweetheart, really!![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]) I should mention the luggage – we were bringing for our family a full-size suitcase and a carry-on suitcase. And mom was bringing for herself…..a full-size suitcase and a carry-on suitcase. Hmmmm, discuss amongst yourselves…..

Tessa settled right into her seat like a pro, buckling up & everything. The girl loves to fly (thank goodness). And after a minor hitch with a plastic bag – yes, a plastic grocery-type bag got caught in the engine and we had to have everything re-checked. Hey, take your time guys, I like to watch Lost, not be Lost. – We were off & flying.

How great is it to land in Orlando where it’s nice & warm after leaving cold cold Massachusetts??? Soo great!! But I didn’t have to tell all you that, right? Our bags came out quickly, but we weren’t so lucky finding the rental cars. We have the National Emerald Club so you can go right out to your car….if you can find it that is!! We went up, down, around, and back again. Hello, wave to the nice DME people…No, we already rode that elevator once… Pack-Mule Matt was starting to shrink closer to the ground under the weight of all the luggage, when bingo! We found the cars!! (For all you curious readers, the rental cars were on Garage Level 2.)

We had reserved a full-size car and picked an Impala from the row. You were all right, thanks for the advice - the Impala’s trunk is huge! We drove straight to Super Target for some sundries. I wish our Target at home would Super-Size itself. I’ll have to settle for the Starbucks they put in there. And finally we drove up to Coronado Springs Resort…we’re here! We’re here!!!

They had big garlands of white poinsettias draped across the carport, and the CM’s were just all so pleasant!

We didn’t have to wait at all to check-in. Well, except that the CM that checked us in was Mr. Chatty Cathy, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] explaining every little tidbit of WDW to us. Doesn’t he know I know everything already [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Normally, I love chatting it up, but after about 10 minutes I was just ready to check out our rooms. To his credit though, we threw some “complicated” check-in stuff at him – mom paid for the rooms b/c we’d paid for other stuff, but then we wanted our own cards down for charging privileges, etc. etc. – and he handled it with ease.

I was hoping for the Casitas area, but we got Ranchos Building 6A. We did get the connecting rooms we wanted, which was the main thing. Ranchos has a neat desert theme –

And we were pretty much directly across the lake from the main building, El Centro. It was about a 7 minute walk. Our bus stop was definitely convenient, just across the parking lot. And we tested that out by running back to our room for forgotten items (like park tickets!) on a couple of occasions.

We were all getting a little beat so only unpacked a little before heading up for dinner at the Pepper Market. My favorites about our room were the décor, the dividing curtain between the vanity area & the room, and the new little fridges in every room. I did think the beds were kind of small, but we had a king-size bed when we stayed at CBR so maybe all the double beds in the moderates are like that?

I liked having the conventions at our hotel – tonight we saw lots of handsome men in uniform and their beautiful dates all dressed up. It was the last day of an air show. We saw different events like that all week.

Sorry, some of you were probably hoping for a shot of the guys in uniform![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]

We sat down & were served our drinks and then took turns picking out our dinners. I had the chicken quesadilla, mom had a burrito plate, Matt a grilled tuna dish, and Tessa the chicken nuggets. The plates were huge. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] That first night was a great experience and the food was very tasty. But, alas, we were lulled into a false sense of security. A couple other nights we ate there it was very crowded and clearly understaffed. The long waits made me not care at all about it being ‘cooked to order,’ [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] I’d have eaten any ‘ol McD’s cheeseburger at that point. But, like I said, that first night we were happy campers, and decided to head over to GF to check out some Christmas decorations.

Next up: Was that Cinderella’s Coach???!!!

**Colexis Mom** · 02-16-2006, 07:14 AM

Another great update Nicole [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]

PrincessSharon · 02-16-2006, 02:39 PM

Great so far, Nicole! Your pictures of CSR are taking me right back there! Can't wait for more, please!

Luv2plan · 02-16-2006, 08:47 PM

Day 1, Part 2: Was that Cinderella’s Coach???!!!

We drove over to GF and it was very easy to get around, CSR is in a great location. Parking at GF was a little tougher – for us anyway [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Apparently you don’t pull through the gate into the main resort, you have to park across the street. And of course we parked as far as possible away from the walkway across the street to the resort.

Oh well, it was quickly forgotten as we walked up to the resort and saw all the comings & goings of a Saturday night. And one of the “goings” was a beautiful ‘glass’ coach pulled by little white ponies!! There was a wedding going on! (Actually a couple, we saw more bridesmaids in beautiful red holiday dresses inside.) I guess I always thought the whole coach thing would be a little corny, but in person it was really magical!!

Grand Floridian looked gorgeous out front of course

I think all the beautiful red poinsettias everywhere, not just at GF, were really one of my favorite things about the holiday decorations.

And inside it was just…amazing (maybe I should go get a thesaurus).

Tessa’s a little pouty b/c all she cares about is getting to the gingerbread house.

There was a choir performing in front of the tree.

And of course we had to go upstairs & check it out:

The piece de resistance…the gingerbread house

We had quickly run back down to get in line for a gingerbread shingle. The line wasn’t too bad really considering how mobbed the whole place was. But they were out of gingerbread shingles!! I couldn’t go away empty-handed so I plunked down 4 zillion dollars for a bag of small gingerbread cookies. Ok, it was only $15 but it seemed like a lot for something that wasn’t my first choice. Tessa picked a chocolate Santa lollipop and happily munched away on it over in the little cartoon area with Matt, while Mom & I finished exploring upstairs. BTW, I love the little miniature chairs & couches in the kids tv area.

waiting in line for our snack

Did anyone see the special on the food network about how they made all the flowers & details of the gingerbread decorations? It was really neat!

Upstairs we peeked into a few of the high-end shops and mostly just stared around with our mouths hanging open.

Right next to my mom in the photo is a musician’s dais (I wanted to say “pit” but that didn’t seem right since it was up above everything) and after the choir sang the musicians came out to play. We baby-swapped with Matt so he could explore & take some pictures too.

Tessa was fading fast (and I’ll admit, we all were too) so we headed back to CSR for the night. It was fun having connecting rooms – Tessa immediately opted for a sleepover at Nonna’s.

No plans or wake up calls for the a.m. We had tickets for MVMCP the next night and wanted to be well-rested.

Next: Day 2 – Burning up the Disney Rewards, trying out Tony’s Town Square, and the big event….MVMCP!!

**Colexis Mom** · 02-17-2006, 06:32 AM

Another great update! How could they run out of shingles [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Can't wait for more [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

PrincessSharon · 02-17-2006, 12:54 PM

Great update! Can't wait for more, please!

Luv2plan · 02-20-2006, 03:33 PM

Day 2, Part 1 – Burning up the Disney Rewards

I was so excited when I woke up this morning – MVMCP tonight!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] We had a 5pm PS for Tony’s Town Square, a new one for us, and not a whole lot to do in between.

Mom & I did run up (ok, walk [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]) to Pepper Market to get our mugs, and also a side of bacon & eggs to go with the muffins, yogurt, oatmeal etc. we’d bought on our grocery stop. As much as I love a big ‘ol chocolate chip muffin, I gotta have some protein [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] It was about $3 each for the side dishes, but it was more than enough for all of us to share. Thus, a morning routine was born [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I had decided to try something new this trip which was shopping at the start of the trip instead of the end. As you’ll see, this quickly turned into Shop The Whole Trip, but hey, it’s christmastime. I always go around the parks all week saying, oh I like that but maybe they’ll have it at WOD and I can get my AP discount. So heck with that, that’s too much work, I wanted to head straight to DTD and check out WOD. Ulterior Motive: I had quite a few Disney Visa Rewards burning a hole in my pocket.

Wow, it was just gorgeous out today, and we got a parking spot right up “front” meaning, right behind WOD.

More beautiful poinsettias, and my favorite DTD Mickey topiary. And there were also some beautiful holiday displays nearby, representing and explaining the different holiday traditions, like Christmas or Kwanzaa.

I read in someone else’s TR how they now shop WOD in an orderly fashion, going room to room. That could not be less like how we attacked the place, but I think it’s definitely a good plan for the future because we all got separated a bunch of times!! Matt always picks out a photo album for our trip pictures, I got a few stocking stuffers & Christmas gifts, hat & sunglasses for Tessa, some scrapbook supplies like a castle punch, and I couldn’t resist a Stitch bib for the new baby. I really wanted a red long sleeve t-shirt with a mickey-head in glittery snowflakes, but they didn’t have my size [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I was really disappointed because I wanted something Christmas-y to wear to the party tonight. I perked up a little when my Disney Rewards covered all my purchases though!

Tessa had brought her own money from her piggy bank. I actually just about fell over when we rolled all the change before we left – she had about $60 [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] She’d clearly been hitting up Papa again for pocket change [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. Of course I didn’t just hand all that over to her (I actually didn’t even bring it all) but I was very impressed with how thoughtfully she went through the mega amounts of stuff before picking anything. She decided on a very round Donald Duck stuffed animal. There was a whole line of these round, cooshie style guys and I thought they were hysterical, but she loved them. She even picked out a small Eeyore one that she just ‘knew the baby had to have.’

DTD was absolutely mobbed by now. I hadn’t thought about how busy it would be a Sunday morning around Christmas. We hit guest services to activate my AP and get mom a 10-day ticket (she likes to have the extra no-expiration days for future trips, it’s a good value) but decided to head back to CSR for lunch and some pool time.

Matt had to get a picture of his favorite Christmas floral display: the big poinsettia “trees.”

Next: trying out Tony’s Town Square, and the big event….MVMCP!!