Trip from 12/2/18-12/8/18. 1st time ever at Christmas.

michael jensen

Earning My Ears
Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Good afternoon everyone.
We have just completed our most recent Disney Vacation, and thought we would share some of what we experienced during the week.

We started off the week on Sunday 12/2 checking in at Saratoga Springs Resort. We are lucky enough to have a family who own a DVC Timeshare. We stayed in a 2 bedroom Villa. It was a lovely room, and very spacious. It was only a short walk over to Disney Springs, which we took full advantage of. We had dinner at Raglan Road, which we had previously only been to for lunch. We both enjoyed our dinner, 1 of us having the half roasted chicken, and the other having the Shepherd's Pie. 1 great thing that happened was even though we were sitting in the back of the room away from the stage, they brought over the entertainment to our section and performed for about 15 minutes to keep us immersed in the atmosphere.

Our first full day was Monday 12/3, and we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast at Kona's Cafe in the Polynesian. In our 4 trips over the last 10 years we have always enjoyed this restaurant. This was our 1st experience in the new security checkpoint where the bags are checked before getting on the monorail. It was much easier then the old system being crowded at the entrance of the MK to have the bags checked. At the MK we found the crowds to be much lighter then we expected. This was our 1st time ever seeing the Christmas decorations, and the light crowd made it great to see everything decorated. When we walked in the Dapper Dan's were singing between the train station and the Christmas Tree, and seeing all the decorations made it immediately feel like Christmas.
We took the boat over to Wilderness Lodge to see the decorations, Gigantic tree, and to have dinner at Whispering Canyon. The decorations and tree were overwhelming. The color theme-ing throughout the whole lodge was spectacular. The dinner was good, not great. Our server Linda was fantastically sarcastic, the food was decent, but the portions were way to large, especially since we were heading back to the park. There were still some theatrics, but definitely toned down form the last time we were at this restaurant in 2008.
This was our first chance to see the Happily Ever After Fireworks. We enjoyed the projections on the castle more then Wishes, but the fireworks were not quite as good. However it still was a tremendous way to end the evening.

Our 2nd day was Tuesday 12/4 and we went to Animal Kingdom. This was my first time there since the year the park opened in 1998, my wife had never been there. We found the safari was amazing, and the tour guide was fantastic in describing all the animals. This is basically all I did during the day because I don't do roller coasters, so my wife will tell the rest of this day: I was able to go on Expedition Everest with my sister-in-law and also Avatar: Flight of Passage in Pandora. Both of these were excellent thrill rides. I will say, having the fast passes for n=both was essential to our time frame. Expedition Everest was a fun roller coaster and I would do it again. I loved the theme-ing and decor while waiting o get onto the ride. Avatar: Flight of Passage was as great as all the hype I had been told. The Theme-ing and decor of Pandora immersed in the story, the ride itself was very interactive even as you just stood on line waiting to begin. And the ride itself was a great thrill and definitely will being this one again and again.
We had dinner at Tusker House. The food was good, the character interaction was great. we did not have kids with us, but seeing the interaction between the characters and the kids was awesome.

Our 3rd day was Wednesday 12/5 and was a rest day. We always do a rest day in the middle of the trip and tour resorts / shop at Disney Springs.
We had a quick breakfast at Artist Palette in Saratoga, and for a quick service it was good. Our dinner was at the Yachtsman Steakhouse in the Yacht Club. This is always a favorite dinner of every trip for us. Everything is top level from the service to the atmosphere.

Our 4th day was Thursday 12/6 and we went to Epcot. We had breakfast at Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club. Our server was Dorothy was phenomenal. She took all the pictures we needed of us with the characters, and kept the drinks filled. You don't typically see this level of service at a buffet, but this was outstanding. The carousel in the lobby made of gingerbread and chocolate was fascinating. It's cool to See that kind of engineering go into the decorations around the properties.
At Epcot, we also felt the crowd was much lighter then normal. We had fast passes for Soarin', Spaceship Earth, and Nemo and Friends. These were all enjoyable. We got coffee at Starbucks which is quite enjoyable and it should be noted that you can use regular Starbucks gift cards at each of the Starbucks locations in each of the parks. We checked out the DVC lounge over Figment.
We love walking through the countries and being able to take our time and discover each one and all they had to offer. We bought a bottle of wine from France and each got a glass of wine there as well. The staff in all the gift shops only adds to the experience as they are from each of the countries represented. We did the ride in Mexico and got margaritas for the walk, we walked through Canada and got Maple popcorn and a signature drink, Ottawa Apple, and then had our dinner at Rose & Crown in England. There we had fish and chips and my wife had bangers and mash for the 1st time, and loved it.
We also got to see Illuminations, which we know is coming to a close. We stood in Morocco and found it very lightly attended in the area but fund we had a great view of the entire production, and loved the holiday ending.

Our 5th and final full day was Friday 12/7 and we did the Christmas Party at MK. We had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. My wife enjoyed the food here greatly, I thought the food was good, but being a bit more upscale there were things that she enjoyed that I don't like. The character interaction was again incredible. Having a photo-pass with Tigger was interesting because it added a different element to the buffet in giving you another location to go during the meal. The Gingerbread house at the GF is a phenomenal thing to see and smell.
We went to the Christmas party and because we were with DVC members we were able to get into MK at 2pm. This was wonderful because the party didn't start until 7pm which gave us time to do all the normal rides and attractions before the party even began.
Right before the party began they had the Lighting of the Castle. This was a wonderful event and was so beautiful it was mesmerizing. Seeing the castle covered in blue Chrystal lights is something you have to see in person to truly get the magnitude of how beautiful it is. Since the party was not sold out, as soon as the castle lighting ended, all those with a regular ticket started leaving, which made the rest of the night very comfortable to walk around.
We decided to have dinner at the Plaza because we were already on Main Street. The food was quite good and simple. After that it was Party Time!
The Christmas party was truly a new experience for our family and gave us a new love of Disney for all their effort to make such a wonderful event. I believe we did luck out on the small crowd level that evening. We were able to go from place to place and go through the treat lines with almost no stopping.
The atmosphere of the party, everyone dress up, and the characters all over the park made it so enjoyable we ran around with childlike enthusiasm as we went from treat stop to treat stop. Also, the cookies and drinks we all of very good quality. Not homemade, but very good. The parade was awesome. Seeing a night parade again brought back a lot of memories to the previous night parades that used to happen each night. The special fireworks were spectacular. It was a perfect way to end the park part of our vacation, especially walking down Main Street in the snow.

Extras: We went to several different resort bar's during the week. The Turf Club Lounge at Saratoga was interesting. The seating was comfortable, the pool table was in great condition, however they were limited on the types on drinks they could make. Martha's Vineyard in the Beach Club was quiet, but the bartender there was excellent. Mizner's Lounge in the Grand Floridian was full of people, and a good atmosphere.

Overall our trip was fantastic. We have been fans of the Dis for a long time, and after this trip we really wanted to share everything with you. Thanks, Mike and Missy
 
Sounds like fun. We are going in 12 days...while so excited..would have loved to see the Christmas decorations...
 



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