2013 Holiday Trip

Good morning. It is a gorgeous morning here at SSR.

Here is a brief report from last night. We had dinner at Artist Palette here at SSR. Donald got his order in and was impatiently waiting for his food.

After dinner, Donald needed a few mins for the food to settle down. So he sat in the tv lounge to watch his cartoons.

We then walked over to Downtown Disney. We saw the carollers.

We stopped by at the Goofy Candy Co. They have festive goodies!

We saw several sweet treats being made. Chocolate-covered Mickey rice crispies? Yum!

The tree at Downtown Disney.

Did some shopping at World of Disney, and then we left early to go back to our room since today is going to be a rather early and long day for us.

Zz.

We are back at our resort to rest up a bit. Went to DHS this morning. Then made a quick trip to the All-Star resort to get the Donald pin that is released there before coming back to our room. We are resting for a couple of hours before we head out to MK tonight for our MVMCP.

Zz.

Holiday Wishes was just over. We are sitting down in liberty square for the second parade of the night. The place is packed. Tonight's MVMCP is sold out.

The weather so far has been perfect. Low 70s in the morning, mid to high 80 during the day. However, I've been here at the same time of the year where you need a jacket and a sweater. My advice is to pack a jacket or a sweater/sweatshirt if you come here at during this time. You just never know how the weather is going to change.

I haven't seen the regular parade yet, only the one during MVMCP.

I didn't bring mine. We have those ears that a friend bought for us from Disneyland. They are pretty cool. However, they are not being advertised well here, so not many people are wearing them during Holiday Wishes last night (haven't been to Illuminations yet on this trip). If you look at videos of World of Color from DCA, you can see how it works, and it can be spectacular if a lot of people are wearing them. Last night, I hardly saw anyone wearing them, so the effect wasn't that dramatic.

As I've said, I haven't seen Illuminations yet on this trip. However, I was told that it is the same one they've had in previous years. So check out the video of it that I took from last December:

http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/cape-canaveraldisney-cruisewdw-trip?page=4#comment-263149

Donald says "quack" back.

Zz.

This is a quick report about our MVMCP from last night.

We got there early, around mid afternoon, and got in using our regular park passes rather than wait for the to let us in using the MVMCP tickets (that's the advantage of having an annual pass). When we got it, we noticed that there were filming crew along Main Street, from Town Square to the Hub. They must be filming for the TV Christmas show this weekend.

We did a quick round of Sorcerers, and then got our event wristbands. Then we got the special Sorcerers cards for MVMCP. They're the Donald nephews! Can't wait to use this magic spell card on those nasty villains!

We then had a quick dinner at Cosmic Rays, and then did Pirates, followed by Jingle Cruise at night! It was a hoot!

We skipped the first parade of the night, opting instead to do a few more attractions and to consume large amount of hot chocolate and sugar cookies.

After the first parade, we sorta followed the end of the parade behind the Santa float from Frontierland all the way to our favorite fireworks viewing location right at the bridge on Main Street. So here was the view from our location.

The show started with the Celebrate the Magic show, which was OK. I'm going to show this picture because several people and us were talking about this silly "phenomenon" that I'm seeing more of, especially in Asia. If you look carefully at the bottom of the photo, you'll see someone holding up a TABLET, trying to videotape the show.

Now, I know most of you are too cool to do this, but when I was in Malaysia last year and visiting Legoland Malaysia, holy crap! People were walking around taking photos with their iPads and other tablets! Now people, here's a friendly advice. You look awfully silly using this large piece of electronic device to snap photos of. I mean, really!

But the problem with this lady was that the tablet was obnoxiously big, it was interfering with the view for the people behind her, and as you can see from the picture, it was ruining part of my photo as well! So please, for the sake of humanity, use your smartphone, your camera, or your camcorder. Leave your tablet to do what it does best - surfing the web!

Now that I've ranted, here are a few photos from last night's Holiday Wishes:

Then we walked to Liberty Square to view the last Christmastime Parade for the evening.

Donald was happy to see him and Daisy in the parade.

Soon, it was time to head out. It was a fun MVMCP.

Zz.

We are chilling out at the Grand Floridian. We got a last-minute reservation for an afternoon tea!

Zz.

On our way back from fort wilderness after viewing holiday decor by the guests staying at the camp grounds.

Good morning!

It is another perfect morning here in the Most Magical Place on Earth. This is a quick report on our activities from yesterday.

We started out the late morning at Animal Kingdom. This is the tree at the entrance to DAK.

Tried to get on EE, but the standby line was long, we didn't have fast passes, the fast pass time was later than we liked, and they have closed the single-rider line. It sucked.

We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, and had fast passes for Kilamanjaro Safari.

We then skipped the park and headed on over to the Grand Floridian to look at the tree and the gingerbread house. We parked by the new DVC villas at GF and walked into the lobby to find this water sculpture.

The next few photos are pictures of the GF Gingerbread house and the tree in the lobby.

And then, just for the heck of it, we asked if there are any seating available for the afternoon tea as the Garden View Lounge. We've been trying to do the afternoon tea there throughout this trip and they were booked solid. Must to our surprise, we were told that we could be seated in an hour that very afternoon! So we took the reservation and had a lovely afternoon tea! All of us had the Buckingham tea service but with different types of tea. Here are some of the very delectable finger sandwiches and goodies that we had to eat.

We had a lovely time. Definitely something that we would like to do again on future visits.

In the next post, it will be on our on-foot tour at the holiday decorations put up by the guests staying at Fort Wilderness.

Zz.

We spent the evening at Fort Wilderness and Campground. After parking and taking the bus to the settlement area, we walked around the grounds to look at the holiday decorations done by the guest staying in their RVs. I tell ya, there were some very impressive decorations that can rival any neighborhood. Here are some of the photos that I took.

Wish we had more time to explore the campgrounds. It is huge, and we didn't get to roam around the cabin area. But we still had a great time looking at the decors.

Today, we do Epcot in the morning, come back in the afternoon to rest a bit, and then do Osborne Lights tonight. And oh, I'm wearing my "Fish are food, not friends" t-shirt that I mentioned earlier. I'm planning on wearing this and going to the Living Seas With Nemo and Friends!

Am I a bad person?

Zz.

Epcot is packed today.

We are having lunch at sunshine seasons. We plan on doing living with the land after this and then proceed to nemo.

Zz.

We are back in our room at SSR to rest up a bit. In about an hour, we will head out to the Studios for the Osborne Lights.

Epcot was busy today. Still, we managed to do Test Track twice, did Living With the Land, Nemo, Figment, and then got our free Disney Visa photos with Mickey. Other than a little girl, no one said anything about my "fish are food, not friends" t-shirt at the Seas pavilion. On the other hand, a couple of cast members said something about it at Test Track, at the photo store, and on the way out of Epcot. I also had fun comments about it at the Carriage House here at SSR when we stopped by to pick up our packages. While there, I won a pin for answering a trivia question correctly. Yea!!

Zz.

{SPOILER ALERT: If you do not want to know where the Black Cat is at the Osborne Lights, skip this trip report}

Good morning!

Another gorgeous morning here in paradise. I am going to get spoiled by weather like this, and it will be a HUGE change when I fly back to Chicago on Wednesday, considering the frigid weather there now and when I land.

Anyway, yesterday morning was as perfect as today. The balloon was up early.

We started out at Epcot. Did Test Track twice!

We then walked over to The Land pavilion to have lunch at Sunshine Seasons. On the way there, we noticed some holiday display inside the Land pavilion itself.

After lunch, we got on Living With the Land.

Then we walked over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. No one said anything about my t-shirt!

We stuck around to watch Crush, and then headed on over to Figment.

We did some shopping and then went back to our room to rest a bit. Later that evening, we went to the Osborne lights. So the next few pictures are from that.

And here's the black cat. He/she is in the tree this year and not that difficult to find.

Today, we have a breakfast reservation at Kouzzina. Then we plan on spending the afternoon at Animal Kingdom to see Jingle Jungle Parade. We will then make our way to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our reservation at Boma for dinner tonight. It will be a full, long, and very filling day.

Zz.

We are chilling out at the end of the maharajah jungle trek. Did safari and EE using the fastpass plus via the app on my phone.

We are hanging out in the lobby of animal kingdom lodge. We have a late dinner reservation at Boma. We got here just in time for the campfire. I roasted some marshmallow, so that should tie me till dinner.

Lobby is gorgeous as always. Will post photos later.

Zz

A quick report of yesterday's activity.

We started out with breakfast at Kouzzina's. It was quite good. We then headed on over to Animal Kingdom. When we get there, I decided to use the FastPass Plus feature using the app on my iPhone. We got fastpasses for EE, Safari, and Nemo the Musical.

So we got on EE, and saw the Yeti.

We got on the safari, and saw the crocks.

We then stayed for Mickey's Jingle Jungle parade. The following are a few photos from that parade.

Donald was in the parade as well.

After the parade, we went to see Festival of the Lion King.

We then left AK and headed on over to AKL for our dinner, which will be in the next post.

Zz.

We got AKL lodge for our dinner reservation at Boma. But of course, we first looked around the lobby area. The tree and the holiday decorations in there were as spectacular as we remembered it from previous visits.

I went up to the 5th level and got a better shot at the hidden mickey on the chandelier.

Soon, it was time for our dinner at Boma. Here are a few photos of the food offerings there. This is the carving station. I always like the sauces that accompanies the meat.

This is the salmon and other side dishes.

Pasta, chicken, potatoes, and other dishes.

Couscous, potatoes, etc.

My most favorite station there ,the soups and stews. The one on the left is my most favorite, the coconut curry seafood soup. I could eat the whole pot if they let me!

More side dishes of beans, lentils, peas, etc.

The prepared salads. This is my other favorite station. The watermelon rind salad is very unique, and so is the fruit/avocado salad. I had seconds on those.

Another station that I can easily park myself in front of. This is the flatbreads with various hummus.

And of course, there is desert. This is the bread pudding and cassava tart.

Panna cotta and zebra dome.

Oh my god, I'm so full, I can't remember what these are!

{burp}

It was a lovely dinner and I feel as if I've gained 10 pounds already on this trip!

Zz.