FINAL DAY- Monday, December 25th
Hoop Dee Doo Review and SNACKS SNACKS SNACKS!
Checking out Christmas morning wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be. The annoying part was a knock on the door at 8:30am- it was 2 housekeeping cast members asking if we had any trash. They had a huge bin that they were wheeling around. I asked them if they really needed the trash now and they said they'd come back later. An hour and a half later, there was another knock on the door and the same 2 housekeeping CMs were asking for trash. I just told them we didn't have any and we were checking out anyway. I couldn't understand it as I had placed the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. I noticed though that the sign no longer reads
Do Not Disturb, it now reads
Room Occupied. After our trip I read up on it and apparently the monorail resorts now have these signs instead of Do Not Disturb; here's some articles I found regarding the changes for both the daily trash and the signs, which are apparently both for security reasons:
http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/12/break...-world-hotels-not-disturb-room-signs-removed/
http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/12/dvc-r...ely-related-new-wdw-resort-security-measures/
Anyway, we checked out fairly early and both drove home, each vowing we weren't going to eat anything for the entire day until the HDDR that night. I received the final folio for our trip via email:
Deluxe Dining Plan for 2: $414.28
Gratuities for Boma, Ohana, and CG Brunch: $66.70
Drinks at TOTWL: $24.00
Grand Total: $504.98, or $252.49 each
I know a big question on the Disboards is whether or not the Dining Plans are worth it and if you end up saving money in the long run. On the surface, you do save money- I know if I add up how much each meal would've cost OOP, it would've been more than $500, but even with those savings, you have to go below the surface and ask yourself if you would've eaten that much in the first place. Looking back on it, I think the mistake Greg and I made on this trip was booking All You Can Eat for every meal. In hindsight, I think if I were to do the DxDP again, I would do more of the signature dining that require 2 TS. I couldn't even begin to imagine how we could possibly have done 3 TS meals per day! We did our favorites on this trip, and I think a future DxDP trip would have us trying different signature places instead so we could try new things. Originally for this trip, we had only planned to do 2 things: HDDR and CG brunch. Since those 2 experiences on their own were gonna run over $300, we figured if we did the DxDP for $100 more (not counting gratuities), we would be able to add 2 of our faves: Boma and Ohana.
The fun part of being able to just tap the band whenever you're finished with your meal- there's something nice and hassle-free about it! Still, Greg and I usually cook as part of our stay, and though I know some people wouldn't dream of cooking on their vacation, I kinda missed it. For Christmas last year, we stayed at GF and had breakfast in the room:
And for my birthday last year, we stayed at the Polynesian and grilled steaks and had a full spread of food in the barbecue area:
On a side note, I for one am REALLY excited they are adding alcoholic drinks to the 2018
DDP! Greg and I both like to have a drink at dinner, so since the DxDP didn't include alcohol at either Boma or Ohana, we did pre drinks and post drinks in the room. We typically spend a TON of money on drinks when we do WDW, so I think the money we saved drinking in the room ended up going towards the DxDP.
By the evening of Christmas, neither Greg nor I had a single bite of food since Ohana, and by then we were getting pretty hungry. We drove from home to Wilderness Lodge to check out the Christmas decorations and when I was in the merchandise shop at the Lodge, it hit me: SNACKS! WE HAVE ALL THESE SNACK CREDITS STILL! I had pretty much forgotten about the snack credits after getting the beignets on the first day and I knew if I didn't use them, I'd lose them. Somehow, I thought I had a total of 3 remaining credits after getting the beignet, so I grabbed 3 bags of the Goofy's Candy Company candies and headed to the register. After checkout, the CM informed me I had 4 snack credits left. I was shocked! WHAT?!?! She suggested we head to the food court to use up the remaining credits, which we did. After the food court, here was our total snack pile:
2 cupcakes (one was a campfire s'more cupcake and it was amazing!), the best gingerbread cookie I've ever bought, 3 bags of candy and a soda. It was an INSANE amount of snacks, and I can say I still have these bags of candy at home. Granted, neither Greg nor I touched any of these snacks as we knew we were headed to HDDR!
We boarded the boat for FW and arrive about 30 minutes prior to showtime. We got a drink at Crockett's Tavern. If you haven't been there recently, they now have a moonshine drink menu and it is SOOO GOOD! They have a lot of good drinks there! Sorry no pics, but it was so dark they probably wouldn't have turned out anyway! lol
Here's what I don't get about HDDR: everyone gets in this RIDICULOUSLY long line to wait to be seated, even though its assigned seating and therefore your table has already been chosen. I guess its like the airport, when you see people lining up to get on the plane even though everyone has an assigned seat. We sat on a bench, watching everyone standing there, and waited until the last person walked into Pioneer Hall, then we walked in and were immediately sat at our table. Our table number was 36- Category 1 and the view was perfect! The odd part, though, was it was a table for 4, and the table for 4 next to us was empty. It was the ONLY table not occupied and it was right near the stage! The entire place was packed, and I know the folks sitting on the 2nd floor were probably looking down, wondering why there are 2 guys sitting at a table for 8!
We did HDDR for Christmas last year as well, so its kinda become a tradition since. I don't have any food pics, but the fried chicken and ribs were good as always and we both stuck to wine this time (last year was beer). The performers in the show were wonderful!!!
So, that's my first Disboards review. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed it!!!
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