JJBescher Christmas Hopefully Live Christmas Trip Report

[jjbescher 17]

OK- you need to spill the beans and explain how you were able to score so many great ADR's during a busy holiday time.

 

Were you up at midnight on the 180th day?

 

TCD

 

I actually did not book them at 180 days out.  I think a lot of people did not want to head to the parks that early in the morning.  It was not till after we got out of breakfast, around 10:30ish that it really starting to get busy.  I was just very lucky.

 

 

Wow, what an amazing Christmas morning!  And you just finished breakfast!  I hope the rest of your day was just as great.

 

Thanks and as you will see in the next few updates, it was a great time.  The rest of it was spent at the fort, so it had to be fun.

[Beckers 1,136]

That has to be the most perfect Christmas morning ever for a little girl!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I have to say that is a very authentic looking Snow White.  That's a nice pic of the two of them. 

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Having Christmas in the middle makes it even more enjoyable.  She is so into Santa and the Elf.

Well, you tell her Santa loves her, too. And I'm so glad the Cindy dress fit!

(Grin)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Beckers 1,136]

Reading what Shanta quote about your DD being into the elf, you mean elf on a shelf?? Did you bring it along?? My son LOVES his elf but that thing stresses me out!!

[jjbescher 17]

That has to be the most perfect Christmas morning ever for a little girl!!

 

It will definitely be a hard one to top.  We are planning on doing Christmas at the Fort in 2015 (not enough vacation time for 2014).

 

I have to say that is a very authentic looking Snow White.  That's a nice pic of the two of them. 

 

Thanks.

 

Well, you tell her Santa loves her, too. And I'm so glad the Cindy dress fit! (Grin) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thanks Santa.

 

Reading what Shanta quote about your DD being into the elf, you mean elf on a shelf?? Did you bring it along?? My son LOVES his elf but that thing stresses me out!!

 

I do mean Elf on the Shelf.  We did bring it along and it stressed out DW.  I had to get up to do different things with it on the trip.  With the RV and the tents outside we had enough space to keep moving it around.  She had to get something that was very close to the Elf one day and would not get it.  She said that she was not allowed to touch it and did not want to chance having Santa be upset with her, so we had to get it for her.

[jjbescher 17]

Christmas Day – Time to open the rest of the gifts.

Let’s just say gift opening took a while.  We like to buy things during the year when they are on sale.  So we had lots of little things.

 

Cinderella


Tiana


Mulan – This maybe only the third one pictured, but I think she got 8 of these.  After the first few we heard.  “Another One”  However, she plays with all of them now and they take up a lot of her bed.


A watch and me resting my eyes, we had to get up early and I was tired.


Either an Anna or Elsa dress, I know she got both.




A Hoop-Dee-Doo Pin and a note that we were going tomorrow night.  She loves this show.  We went with Friends in August and every time we would go by Pioneer Hall she would ask us to go to the show.


See, I am up reading her the note.


Why we keep going to it.  She finally realizes what it is all about.  I wish I could bottle up that smile.




Looks like that is all we took of gift opening.   We went to the campfire that night.  We brought our own Marshmallow sticks and stuff with us.  One good thing about camping, you have all the equipment.

Meeting Dale




Wow, it looks like Christmas Day is over.  I know that the dogs were brought to the Dog Park and taken for a few walks.  Our oldest Dog does not play nice with others when there are toys involved so she does not get to the park as much as she would like.

My Dw was concerned about doing Christmas at the Fort, but being that we are talking about going back in 2015, I think she enjoyed it.  Having a big enough RV and towing a car makes it possible for us to bring all the gifts.  Maybe in 2015 we will only bring a few and tell her Santa left the rest at our house.  We will have to see.

We only have a few days left and not many pictures after today.  So I am thinking a few more updates and I will do my best to get them done today since I leave tomorrow in the evening.

[jjbescher 17]

Thursday December 26^th

 

Today was an EPCOT Day in the morning.

 

We had never done Character Spot at the EPCOT.  The line always seemed too long.  However with FP+ and already done Soaring, I decided to try it.

We got to the park for opening and something crazy happened.  They had us park in the grass area.

This made it very easy to leave when we wanted to, but I guess they were expecting a big crowd.

Family Picture –Since we had Memory Maker, thought we would get our use out of it.





Character Spot with Mickey


Goofy


Minnie


That was it for the characters.  I would not wait in line for just the 3.  Using FP+ was worth it since we did not do Chef Mickeys.  It was a quick and easy way to meet the Big Cheese and the Minnie and Goofy.

We had FP+ for Spaceship Earth, but I did not feel like riding.  There was a line for Pluto.  I was one of those parents that waited in line while the other rode Spaceship Earth.  I did let others go in front of me when I got closer to the Pluto and they did come back.


Mickey and Minnie Topiaries


Some Stage with the ball behind it.


I feel like I am getting close to running out of space, next HDDR

[Beckers 1,136]

I do mean Elf on the Shelf. We did bring it along and it stressed out DW. I had to get up to do different things with it on the trip. With the RV and the tents outside we had enough space to keep moving it around. She had to get something that was very close to the Elf one day and would not get it. She said that she was not allowed to touch it and did not want to chance having Santa be upset with her, so we had to get it for her.

I give you major credit for bringing it! 2 years ago the elf thought it was a good idea to get on top of a fire truck (which happened to be a favorite toy). Bad idea. Ds tried to push the fire truck to give the elf a ride, it fell and touched DS. It was awful.

[jjbescher 17]

December 26^th Continued

 

After hitting EPCOT in the morning we looped around the fort and went to the pool. 

While looping we came across this car.



Definitely not expecting to see a Porsche at the Fort.

As you saw from the Christmas Photos, we had HDDR tonight.  My daughter was SO Excited about this.  She loves it.  We have to play some of it on youtube and see she will just start singing some of the songs.  This show was a little different as it was their Christmas version, so some of the songs were different.  The food was the same.

We had Category 1 seats.  We were right up front, second row from the stage.




Opening act


The Washboard Picture that everyone needs to take


Closing Act


And that was it for the HDDR.  We went to the 4:15 show and we had friends come over.  They both work at NASA and are able to come over during the week.  It was great seeing them.  They were nice enough to take a picture for us in front of the Christmas Tree with our Dogs.

 

It was bit chilly that night, but it was fun.  We took the boat over to the Contemporary.  One of the perks that we have as DVC members is the ability to watch Wishes from the top of BLT.  We are allowed to bring guests, so we brought them and had a lot of fun.  They bought us some Hot Chocolate.  I did not have the camera that night, so no pictures of the fireworks or the view.

That ends Thursday.  All we left is Friday and an adventure on Saturday.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What a great Christmas you had!

 

Love the family photo, including the three dogs.  Awesome.

 

That's great that you got to the top of BLT- I thought it was restricted to BLT owners who are actually staying at the resort?

 

You still have two days to go with this report- and you are leaving for your next trip tonight?  Are you going to make it? 

 

You can do it!

 

TCD

[jjbescher 17]

What a great Christmas you had!

 

Love the family photo, including the three dogs.  Awesome.

 

That's great that you got to the top of BLT- I thought it was restricted to BLT owners who are actually staying at the resort?

 

You still have two days to go with this report- and you are leaving for your next trip tonight?  Are you going to make it? 

 

You can do it!

 

TCD

 

A couple of years ago, DVC Changed that policy to ANY DVC member can go up.  They are allowed to restrict at any point, but the few times we have gone up, it is not very crowded.  If you are not staying at one of the Magic Kingdom Resorts, it is a pain to get to.  You either need to drive or you need to get to the Magic Kingdom, then get over to BLT.  Also, a lot of DVC members still think it is only those staying at BLT.  They do not read over the Perks that we get before they leave.  I plan on going over there again this trip if time allows.  Hopefully it will be warmer than the last two times we have gone.

 

We actually leave tomorrow night, so I will definitely be able to finish since we did not do much either day.

 

jon

[jjbescher 17]

Friday December 27^th.

I was challenged by TCD to get this trip report done before I leave tonight and I am going to to do that.

Friday was a Hollywood Studios kind of day.  However, we had to go eat at Fulton’s Crabhouse first.  We love this place and try to go every trip, if we can.  With the TIW, DVC or AP you can get 20% off at Lunch, where you can only get 10% off at Dinner.  You can still order from their Dinner menu at lunch.

DD still in her crown



Pood Forn for DIT – Crab Legs



The food once again was great and now it was time to hit Hollywood Studios.



We had to get use of the Memory Maker for this trip.

I went and rode Star Tours.  While waiting in line, I saw the CM come out of the vehicle and move the Monitor out, look at a picture of the on the Monitor.  The CM then chose the Rebel Spy from the Monitor.



We then had to go see LMA.  My DD had never seen it and we wanted to watch it before it gets torn down, hopefully for Cars Land.  If you have never been to Disneyland, Cars Land is AWESOME.

My DD loves getting her Face Painted and we use that as a Bribing method.  I forget what she had to do in order to get her Face Painted, but she get it done as Rapunzel.

That picture was taken before the Osborne Lights and we were watching Mulch, Sweat and Shears.  We then headed over to the Lighting of the Lights.  This is the first time we have seen the ceremony.  We were very surprised to see who the guests were that were turning them on.



The Osborne Ladies – Breezy, the Daughter who asked her Father for lights is the one in Red.  That is her Daughter and the Mother/Wife, Mitzi, of Jennings Osborne is the one behind the Emcee.  It was very cool to see the original family turn them on.  Breezy’s husband is the gentleman in the jacket on the other side of the switch.

This one update concludes Friday.  All we have left is Saturday and we are done.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It looks like you're going to make it!

 

Good job!

 

Nice work spying the Rebel Spy selection.  We met a CM once who let us know she would be the one selecting the Rebel Spy, but we never have figured out exactly when the photo is taken and how the selection is made.  Mystery solved.

 

Very cool that you got to see members of the Osborne family.  It must be awesome for them to be able to see what Disney has done with Jenning's lights.

 

TCD

[jjbescher 17]

Saturday December 28^th

We are near the end of the trip.  This Saturday, although we did not have many plans for Saturday, it turned out to be a VERY busy and LONG day.

We started the day at MK, here is picture of Clementine’s Beach in the morning.  Looks like the Tether Ball is still there.

They started off at Buzz Lightyear



While I rode Space by myself



Then I was the First one Splash.  I just got in line and the crowd all went different directions and I just followed the CM’s.



While DD did the Little Mermaid ride, I decided to go visit Ariel.



The obligatory Castle Picture



Dumbo – I love what they have done with this ride.



Fairy Godmother





This ends the pictures we have from Disney.  We packed up our things and headed out.  We had lunch plans with our Friends that we saw on Thursday, but our plans got added onto.

[jjbescher 17]

Saturday December 28^th Continued

We would normally not have anything interesting to talk about or show after we leave Disney.  Depending on traffic and how long our stops are, we would have gotten home that night.  However, that was not the case.

On our way out of town on I-4, we get a call from my 2nd Cousin Once Removed or something crazy like that.  Essentially my Mothers Cousins Daughter.  I could never figure out the 2^nd, 3^rd Cousin thing.  This would not be so important, but she now lives in London and has a Daughter that is my DD’s age.  She was only in town for a little while and the 2 youngest have never met.

The problem is that we have lunch plans with our Friends in the Daytona area.  We had our dogs with us and we did not want to just stop and say hi and then leave.  We wanted the cousins to be able to hang out.  So we did what any other non –sane person would do.  We drove to Daytona, ate with our friends, unhooked the car, turned the generator on, locked up the RV, drove back to Orlando and met my Cousin, Husband and her Daughter at the Mall.  Btw, the parking lot was awful.  It took us forever to find a parking spot.

Cousin and her Daughter eating Ice Cream

They were very shy at first and then after the Ice Cream were like they have known each other forever.

Playing Around






Picture of the related family



The two youngest cousins







The two older cousins



For those of you wondering, I was adopted, that is why I am not the same shade as my cousin.   I had not seen my cousin in at least 15 years.  We would normally see each other every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Her parents are my God Parents.

Although this meeting set us back about 4-6 hours it was well worth it.  The kids now know who we are talking about when we mention the other ones names.  They now are saving their money to go visit each other across the pond.  At least I have a free place to stay if I ever go to London.

After the meeting, we headed back to pick up the dogs, hooked the car up and headed home.  We made it to the Georgia line before we stopped for a while and slept.  Got up in the morning and drove the rest of the way home.

Some observations from the trip

I realized that by doing the FP+ in the afternoon and then doing rope drop, you avoid lines in the morning and then when you go back to the park or park hop, you have your FP+ to show up for.  We are going to try that same thing on this trip, even though we can now add on other FP+ after we use up the three.  Sounding from TCD’s trip report, it sounds like we would not be able to get any good ones afterwards anyways.

Thank you for those that have read through this and stuck with it so long.  Just because I leave for the Fort tonight, does not mean another trip report will come.  I am heading there for Business, my work is paying for me to camp, but I will be at the Conference for half of the time.

My DD and DW will be able to spend some quality time together.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

What a perfect Christmas!!!! BBB and CRT, your daughter must have been so excited! Love that you ended at the camp fire too. 

 

Great pictures! Yum, crab legs! 

 

So glad you saw your cousin, totally worth it. 

 

PS- I did a trip report for a conference. No excuses!

[Beckers 1,136]

What a great report!! Thanks for sharing!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.  I'm not sure I would have unhitched and driven back to Orlando just to meet a distant cousin in a mall.  Good for you.  It looks like the girls hit it off.

 

Good job getting this report done.

 

Have a great return trip to the Fort.  The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend.

 

TCD

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Great report!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What great updates!  

 

We have never eaten at Fulton's.  Those crab legs look so great that I'm gonna have to try it!

 

Hope you don't have to work too hard this week and are able to enjoy the fort.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Thanks for a great trip report, and let's see you get to go to the Fort and get paid for it, sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Have a safe trip.