LIVE! 8 Nights, 6 ADRs, 2 Resorts, 1 Wedding, and finally a Honeymoon!

[deej696]

So I slacked off a little yesterday on my report, so I may have to catch up in a couple installments, seeing as how my wife is itching to get to DHS for rope drop and to ride Midway Mania...

Sunday night after a visit to AK we headed over to DHS for the Osborne Lights. Great show as always. It was not nearly as crowded as I had expected, although dont let it fool you it was still slammed. We were able to get a couple photopass pics without much wait, so that was good. After we watched them dance a couple times, we decided to head to Midway Mania just to see how long the line was. Yeah, it was definitely 120 minutes, and they were no longer letting people in. Thus why we are headed back this morning....

Have the lights always been "presented by" someone, or is this just Disney never missing an opportunity to make a buck?

As Meg mentioned, I played golf at Magnolia yesterday. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, however my golf game did not match up to the beauty of the day. As usual there was a lot of wildlife around, like these turkeys that we saw next to one of the greens. I felt it ironic that I saw turkeys, because I played so poorly I felt like one

And here is another cool one from the 18th green. You can see the Poly and the Contemporary in the areas between the trees....

And of course the "hidden Mickey" bunker on the 6th hole...

Thats all for now, as its time for us to leave. I'm sure Meg will be along shortly to post a gogillion photos. A little later I'll post on our night of "Drinking around the World" at Epcot, and our visit to DHS this morning

 

[twiu]

Yes, DJ... the lights have been presented by Sylvania for a while now. Not sure how long but I know for sure for the last 4 years it has been. I'll have Sam give me the specific answer tonight - just for you!

 

[pjstevens]

Great updates yesterday Meg (and you too today Deej). So enjoying this live TR. So much fun. Enjoy your day and hope you got on Midway Mania without much wait this morning.

 

[OceanGdss]

ok...so he has officially updated you to the point of DHS two nights ago for the lights. So I will go ahead and post pics up to that point. I HAVE pics from yesterday...but you know..not allowed to post them till he has narrated

So... Sunday 12/21
DHS

A window display..so cute!! the legs move like a kick-line!

Some shots of all the lights!!

The required daily snack of popcorn & coke!!

Ok...ill post more soon!! enjoy!

 

[deej696]

After my round of golf and her shopping at DTD, we headed to Epcot to "Drink around the World" and Illuminations. World Showcase is our favorite place among the parks, and this is something we do a couple times a year. It was quite cold last night, so after a few stops while the sun was still up, we decided to huddle in Rose and Crown while we waited for Illuminations.

At about 9pm we headed outside to find a spot for the show. The cold weather had obviously kept away a lot of people, as we were able to walk right down to the lower UK section and hardly anyone was there. I've seen it at times 5 or 6 deep down there on warmer nights. It was nice to get to see the show from here because a) it was where we hosted our dessert party the night before our wedding and b) this time the wind was blowing toward America which ment it rained ash elsewhere instead of on our heads like it did that night.

This morning we got up bright and early to be at DHS for rope drop and to ride Midway Mania. It seems we weren't the only ones with this plan. Once the park "opened" nearly everyone headed straight to MM. We waited in line for a fast pass for 30 minutes. Seems to defeat the purpose, but when we looked at the standby line, it was pretty clear we came out far ahead. At 9:30 we got our pass for 11:10. When we returned at that time, they were already distributing for 7pm.

This is an amazing ride and we loved it. First I'd like to point out that I beat Meg by 800 points. I think its important to keep an eye out for the higher point targets that pop up, but to not spend a lot of time trying to get them because they are usually very small. You can spend the entire time trying to get one 5k target when you could have hit ten 500 pointers faster. Either way, its an awesome ride and I look forward to the newness wearing off so we can do it more.

After DHS we grabbed a pizza at the Boardwalk, and then went and played putt putt at Fantasia Gardens. We always do the Fairways course, and everytime we play I swear I'm never going back. That thing is so stinkin hard, and I'm a pretty good golfer. I've shot scores higher on this course than some of my scores on the real thing! It was fun, Meg also lost at this, so I'm 2 for 2 today!

As for now, well we are off to Yachtsman Steakhouse for our final evening dinner. I plan on "going big" and its possible Meg will have to wheel me back on a bellman cart when its all over. As you can see, I've left the job of posting pictures to her, and I'm sure she will be along shortly to do so

 

[deej696]

So tonight is our final night here, and we decided to have dinner at Yachtsman as our last dinner. We both left feeling like we should have done this earlier in the week, and finished the trip with Victoria and Alberts. I realize its an apples to oranges comparison, but we were underwhelmed by dinner tonight. Dont get me wrong, our steaks were great and we had a nice bottle of wine as well. But dinner tonight was not "dining." I walked away feeling like it was a glorified Outback, as opposed to a dining experience like we wanted. Granted, I didnt expect anything near what we had at V&A, but I had hoped for a bit of a romantic atmosphere to end the trip, that sadly we didnt get.

I dined here when I was a kid many years ago, and I remembered it being much smaller, and much quieter. In addition, I had looked forward to the sliced garlic pods that you could scoop out cloves to spread on your bread. Instead, todays version is cloves of garlic in a dish that looks like it came off the topping bar at Starlight Cafe. Our server was less than enthused and attentive, and the nice wobbley table we had was great as well.

These werent really huge issues, just a sign of the evolution of things I guess. Back in the day, many of the restaurants like Yachtsman, Narcoossees, and Flaglers (pre-Citricos) were designed for dining. Today, they are turn and burn operations, yet you still are paying fine dining prices. I'm sure we will go back in the future, but it will just be for your normal run of the mill dinner, certainly not to celebrate something like the last day of a honeymoon...

So thats enough complaining for me Tomorrow we check out and head to Chef Mickeys for one last breakfast, and to say goodbye to Mickey and the gang. I'm sure many more pics will get posted by my better half, and I also plan on posting some final thoughts on the trip, and especially an elaboration on our experience at Victoria and Alberts

Till then, Merry Christmas-Eve-Eve everyone!

 

[OceanGdss]

Ok..here are some 'visual aides' for you to catch up with our TR!!

First, this is our favorite place to grab a bite!!!! Cheap & cheesy!!

DJ has been running around all of WDW taking pictures of these....

our room @ BWV....

mmmhmmm...

Monday 12/22...

On our way to Epcot for drinking around the world!!! Isnt that a beautiful little gazebo across the lake??

Hmm...looks like a lovely place for a wedding

Me in France with my Grey Goose slush!

awww...

Deej and I resting in Morocco...

Deej drinking an Ichiban beer!! Ichiban! Lipstick for men!!! hahahaha :lol:

Epcot at night..it was FREEZING!!!

Tuesday 12/23....

When we were walking to the Bakery this morning for coffee I saw this gorgeous shot of poinsettias...wish I had my better camera with me..

Oh..so funny story Deej forgot to mention. I got a cream-cheese danish at the Boardwalk bakery this morning, around 8:30am. I walked out, had just unwrapped it, strolling along peacefully...took a single bite, held it in my right hand as I sipped my coffee with my left hand. When suddenly a huge mass came over my shoulder and SNAP...my danish was gone!!!! A seagull up and yanked it out of my grip and began chowing down!! I was SO mad!!! Luckily..it all happened infront of the small coffee cart outside and the CM saw my seagull brawl go down...so she gave me a replacement danish for free. Me= 1, Seagulls= 0

 

[OceanGdss]

More pics...

12/23...DHS & Midway Mania!

Ready for ropedrop!

In line for fast passes...

The park has been open 16 minutes and the wait is already 60m long..

Line for standby...it was easily 120m long..

Monkies!!!

Line for the...FAST PASS!!

Deej finally got our fastpasses!!!

We were AT rope drop and it still took us 30m to get Fast Passes!

Gold baby...GOLD

Inside MM..

Yeah...he beat me...

Headed out for some pizza!!

like the back of the shirt??

Enjoying some pizza on the Boardwalk!

The off for some putt-putt!!

Me on our way over to Yachtsman...

Well...thats it for now. As he mentioned, we're off to Chef Mickey's in the morning..then back to home I'll be posting a full detailed TR of the wedding & HM on my own thread in the coming days. In the meantime, we hope you have enjoyed following along, have a Merry Christmas, and look for the final installment tomorrow evening!!!!

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I LOVE your door hanger that says "Do Not Disturb...we're on our honeymoon!" Where did you get that? I'll need one for my honeymoon in October!

Thank you so much for posting the pictures and your TR. I've enjoyed reading it over the last couple of days. Enjoy your breakfast at Chef Mickey's!

 

[OceanGdss]

I LOVE your door hanger that says "Do Not Disturb...we're on our honeymoon!" Where did you get that? I'll need one for my honeymoon in October!

Thank you so much for posting the pictures and your TR. I've enjoyed reading it over the last couple of days. Enjoy your breakfast at Chef Mickey's!

Thank you!!

I got the door hanger at JoAnn's craft store in their wedding section.

 

[lov2b@disney]

Perfect pair! Deej the writer, Meg the photographer..

sorry about the bummer of a last dinner...hope Chef Mickeys didnt let you down! \

Cant wait to hear all the detail when you get home!

thanks for the live update, it was fun!

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Thank you!!

I got the door hanger at JoAnn's craft store in their wedding section.

I'll have to check there!

 

[deej696]

We finished the trip this morning with breakfast at Chef Mickeys. It was great as always, and you pretty much always know what you're gonna get there. Got some last pictures with all of the characters which was nice.

Along the drive home I had some time to think about everything we did, and some observations we picked up along the way. As I suspected, we have decided that we want to start making our trips longer. Being local and thanks to DVC, we usually head down for 1 or 2 nights a month. Its nice to get to go so often, but some of the specialness of it is lost when you go so often. Also on our short trips, just about the time we start getting settled and comfortable, its time to go home. So I think we've decided we are going to start doing fewer trips each year, but make them longer.

We also decided that we are most definitely Boardwalk and Beach Club people. We enjoyed our stay at the GF, and its always one of my favorite resorts to visit for dinner, etc, but I dont think we will stay there again. While its great for the families who visit MK as their primary park, for folks like us who prefer Epcot and DHS its not really the place to be. The monorail is probably my favorite thing on property, but relying on it for transport to MK and Epcot is a bit stressful and I much prefer to walk to Epcot and DHS from BW or BC. Perhaps on our anniversary when we visit for dinner at V&A we will stay at GF again, but otherwise we will call the Epcot resorts home

Having had more time this trip to soak things in, its also clear that a combination of poor economy and Disney's ever need to help the bottom line are showing an impact on the little things around property. I mentioned the lack of Christmas decorations earlier. In addition, I noticed a lot of routine maintenance things that needed some attention. I also dont remember seeing so many sales at Disney, especially during Christmas. Yes I said "Sale" and "Disney" in the same sentence. I bought a not so cheap shirt only to find it was 50% off when I got to the register. So I decided to get two

The homogenization of all the gift shops and drink menus in the restaurants is also a bummer. If I sit down at the bar at Narcoossee's, I would like to see some different offerings than the bar at Jiko. While the gift shops around property may have a few individual items depending on location, for the most park they all have the exact same Hannah Montana and Pirates junk. Granted, neither of these things is anything new, it just really stood out to me this trip because we were there longer and I was dragged to every gift shop on property by my wife.

Finally, I will say that for the most part the CMs everywhere we went were great. Sure I ran into a few grumpy gills, but for the most part they all had the Disney attitude. Meg wore her "just married" button almost everywhere we went, and we couldnt walk 20 feet without a CM saying "congratulations." Makes me think that perhaps this "Celebration Vacation" is a good idea afterall.

This is the first time in a long time that we dont have another trip already on tap. I'm sure we will line something up soon, and I'm just as excited to get back as always, but as always it wont be soon enough

 

[alissa2008]

Deej and I resting in Morocco...

That is all.

 

[deej696]

Sadly, yes, that is all....

And thats all I have to say, about that....

 

[Donald'sGirl]

DJ you and Meg did a fantastic job with the live TR! I am sorry your last dinner at Yachtsman didn't end they way your were hoping. I would have been disappointed as well if mine ended that way as well.

Hey Meg I have a quick question for you, what are you wearing at your DP? I love what looks to be the a top or the top of the dress and I wanted to know if it was a shirt or a dress. It looked beautiful on you!