The Unexpected Festive Family Trip - 26.12.18 - Day 2: An Evening with a Mermaid

[Rescuer]

26.12.18 - Day 2: An Evening with a Mermaid

Day one is here
index

Boxing Day

Another early start. We left the room at 6.40am again to walk into MK. Dh was taking pictures of the sun starting to rise behind, we were absolutely loving the Contemporary.

It was the same security cast members on bag check again and they were teasing Mil about her learning well and getting better at being prepared for bag check. The turnstiles were way less busy this morning and we were in the park pretty much straight away.

Much calmer today.

This morning was a morning for rides, nothing too adventurous but we had fun. We rode Buzz, the Teacups and Dumbo.

Ds was keen to ride Barnstormer so he could work on his Tim Tracker impressions, Mil sat this one out but the 3 of did this ride and even stayed on for a second go. Finally, we took Mil on the Voyage of the Little Mermaid as its always good for a wee sing song.

By the time we were done it was 8am and the park was opening to everyone and everyone was heading to 7D. So, Winnie the Pooh it was. This was the last ride Mil had done in MK on the day she was stretchered out and ds has always talked about how he thought Winnie the Pooh was responsible, (it was not obviously) but we thought it would be a good one to do to put this memory to rest once and for all!

Another sing a long on Small World, walk on and the Haunted Mansion was next, it said a 15-minute wait but it too was walk on. Now I was starving but we had an adr at BOG later so we stopped off at Sleepy Hollow for a funnel cake to share, delicious but slightly too much sugar.

The weather was gorgeous again today and it was lovely sitting at the side of the castle with our early morning snack.

So, lets talk ears. I had read on facebook that the purple potion ears were being released today in some sort of event at World of Disney, so I was confused as to why I had seen a fair few people wearing them in MK before 9am. On the way to our Peter Pan fastpass I thought, why not just nip in to the closest shop and see if they have any. I was pleased to see they did. I showed great restraint by sticking them in DH’s backpack and not sticking them on my head straight away.

The park was becoming pretty busy now. We used our Peter Pan fastpass and headed to BOG for breakfast.

We had a 9.55am adr for breakfast at BOG, I’d wanted to get an adr for the first part of our holiday as paying $28 for this was something, I didn’t feel all that keen to do.

Mil and I had the meats and cheeses which was really nice but there is only one bit of Brie to represent the cheese.

Ds and DH had Gaston’s feast. They really enjoyed it. They both got fruit and ds and I shared that to make a wee melon and ham combo.

2 plates of pastries were delivered to the table, I only had some blueberry muffin but it was very nice.

Overall a nice experience and great use for quick service credits.

This would have been $112 before tax.

Our next fastpass was the Jingle Cruise, to think I really didn’t get this ride for a long time but I think its really funny, it was nice to try the festive version.

We carried on around MK and by this point it was pretty hot so we shared 2 dole whips between us. Mil had never had this before, I’m not sure why as we stayed at the poly for her first trip and it had the machine which I used a lot.

Our last fastpass of the day was Pirates. We ended up in the front row and we actually got really wet, I had already told Mil that there was no chance of getting wet on this. Oh well, my mistake.

The Christmas parade was due to start at 12 yet when we came out of Pirates at 11.50am it had already started. We made our way to the pin shop in Frontierland and found a space on the raised pathway. Our view was fine. This was really cool to see and I can only imagine how amazing it must be to watch in the dark at MNSSCP. My absolute favourite bit is the toy soldiers, it brings back so many memories of a trip we took to DLP with ds when he was 3.

We left after the parade as we wanted to take the boat to the Grand Floridian to grab some lunch and have a look at their Christmas decorations. We opted for the boat.

More photos of our new favourite resort

We headed into Gasparilla Grill for lunch, we often visit the Grand Floridian but our eating place of choice is normally the Grand Floridian Café. When we walked in we noticed they had the Christmas mugs, this was the only place we saw them in the entire trip. We had 3 of ours with us so asked to swap. You could tell that this was news to the very friendly cast member who made a phone call, swapped the mugs and told us it was Christmas magic.
We decided to order 2 quick service credits between us.

We had the chicken and Brie sandwich which was fab. We also had the sausage and pepper flat bread which was good and way better than the bbq chicken one ds had had previously.

Dh had an angry orchard and we had a sticky bun to share.

It’s the first time we have eaten there but it was really nice. They had a coke freeserve machine as well so ds was beside himself with glee!

The Christmas decorations at the Grand Floridian were certainly stunning. The Christmas tree was massive and the Gingerbread House was impressive.

The lobby was really busy though and the I found the gingerbread smell a bit overpowering after a while. We spent a fair bit of time wandering around and Mil and I had a little visit to Basin White.
Suitably tired out we got the monorail back round to the Contemporary. Ds was ‘King of the Monorail'.

Part 2 coming shortly

[Rescuer]

Part 2

After a bit of chilling out and some peppermint bark for snack we got ourselves organised to head out to Epcot.

When we first booked we had planned to do MK this evening and had booked the Candlelight Processional Dining Package for the second part of our holiday. Once they announced the narrators for the shows the date we had booked it was to be Cal Ripken Jnr who is in the baseball hall of fame. Ds suggested we move the plans around to have a narrator we had heard of and Boxing Day was Jodi Benson (Ariel from the Little Mermaid) so we switched our days around.

Another ride on the monorail. Bag check was very busy, for some reason Epcot bag check always seems the most chaotic. I got stuck behind someone who had all his worldly possessions in his bag. .
We had a visit to Club Cool as you do every time you pass. A few more photopass pictures and then a walk round to the world showcase to France. Ofcourse we had to get a photopass sitting beside the fountain in France but this time with a little extra magic thrown in.

When we first started looking at the dining packages for Candlelight Processional, we were planning to pay oop so looked at some of the cheaper options like Trattoria Al Forno and Nine Dragons but once we switched dates it looked like Chefs De France might be a good option, at $75 per person without an alcoholic drink, for the 2 credits on the dining plan.

We checked in for our reservation about 10 minutes before our adr time, there were a lot of people hanging around. Ds and I went for a wander to have a look at the decorations while we were waiting. It took us about 15 minutes to be seated.

I really like Chefs De France but the tables are really packed together. We had a lovely server who was really nice and chatty, he works at Walt’s in DLP and is over in Epcot for a year.

With the package you get 3 courses that you pick from the normal menu.

To drink ds and mil had soft drinks. I had the French Martini which was really really good. They said we could have any cocktail, I had a $15 limit in my head mine was $15.50. Dh had a beer.

Ds and I had the lobster bisque, I love this soup so much. It was bigger than it initially looked and we both really enjoyed it with a little of the French crusty bread. Ds declared this the standout starter!

Mil had the French onion soup which was massive again but she enjoyed what she had of it.

Dh had the charcuterie, this was pretty sizeable and he enjoyed everything on it. I don’t know if it was deliberate but there were little slices of meet shaped like love hearts, which tasted as good as they looked.

Ds had the duck with cherries for main course. He says it is not comparable to the duck 2 ways from Hollywood Brown Derby but was still very nice.

Dh had the cod. This was stunning. The sauce was so light and the smoked haddock sausage that went along with it was gorgeous. I wish I’d had it, ds wished he’d had it was that good! Ds declared this this the standout main course.

Mil had the steak which she said was very nice but again too big. Don’t be thinking badly of all this wasted food as ds and Dh are more than happy to help her out with some stuff.

I had the tenderloin and it was really good, cooked just right. I was regretting not having the cod mind.

For dessert ds and I had the swan pastry with ice cream and chocolate sauce. It was perfect and not too heavy. Ds declared this the stand out dessert.

Mil might have disagreed. She had the creme brûlée. I don’t eat this but it’s one of her favourite puddings and she loved it and totally cleared her plate for the first time.

Dh had the meringue. He enjoyed it but it wasn’t anything special.

The meal here was fantastic, the only thing is the tables are very very close together. As I said our server was lovely. It was one of the first places we added to our list for the summer trip.

We got stickers for the candlelight processional which they were insistent you wore but the did not stick very well.

On the way I finally, after loads of trips, had an orange grey goose slushy which was lovely.

We got these new photopass pictures in Morocco, not quite as good as the Tangled Lanterns but nice.

We joined the reserved seating processional about 7.30pm, 45 minutes before the show and the line was still pretty big then but we had a view .

I’m not 100% sure what to say about the show. Visually it was gorgeous, the singing was lovely, Jodi Benson herself was very enthusiastic about it and what it all meant to her which I found to be a bit too much but I’m sure that depends on your own beliefs and personality. We were also tired as it was our first later night out so it wasn’t quite the experience, we had thought it would be. Would we do it again, no, it’s not for us but I can understand why people love it.

Our original plan was to stay for Illuminations at 10.30pm but we were exhausted and were struggling to master the enthusiasm to walk all the way to the front of the park to get the monorail to ttc and then swap over to go all the way back round to the Contemporary so we came up with a new plan. We walked to the Beach Club, briefly stopped off to look at the chocolate carousel and their decorations before catching a bus to MK which took no time at all.

We had to go through bag check at MK but it was super quiet and we walked back to the Contemporary. We all agreed that we had made the right decision and we were treated to a new view of Wishes as we walked back.

After our 22k steps today we were suitably tired and were asleep within minutes.

[Palm trees]

What a long but fab sounding day. You've got some lovely photos.

[scotsprincess]

Another busy day and more fab pics

[mick]

A long busy but fantastic day

Joan

[Goldia]

That was a jam packed day for day 2. We're normally shattered in the evening of day 2 as well, a shame that the starlight processional was somewhat underwhelming.

The photopass are great again today. I love all your Christmas tops and the festive atmosphere. It's lovely to see all the Christmas decorations at the other resorts as well. You're really making me want to do a festive trip one day!

Oh and I'm glad no one needed to be stretchered out of pooh this time around. Definitely a good idea to put that demon to rest.

[DISNEYLIZ]

Sounds like a wonderful day. I love the Contemporary Resort

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

What a long but fab sounding day. You've got some lovely photos.

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Thank you, after taking 1000's of photos I was hoping I'd end up with some nice ones

Originally Posted by scotsprincess

Another busy day and more fab pics

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Thank you. I love taking photos.

Originally Posted by mick

A long busy but fantastic day

Joan

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Thanks Joan.

Originally Posted by DISNEYLIZ

Sounds like a wonderful day. I love the Contemporary Resort

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Us too, I'd always wanted to stay there for the location, I didn't expect to love it as much as we did

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Goldia

That was a jam packed day for day 2. We're normally shattered in the evening of day 2 as well, a shame that the starlight processional was somewhat underwhelming.

The photopass are great again today. I love all your Christmas tops and the festive atmosphere. It's lovely to see all the Christmas decorations at the other resorts as well. You're really making me want to do a festive trip one day!

Oh and I'm glad no one needed to be stretchered out of pooh this time around. Definitely a good idea to put that demon to rest.

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Tiredness clouds the judgement, I'm glad we did it but I'm not sure I'd bother if we ever did another Christmas trip unless the narrator was someone I really wanted to see.

I was pretty impressed with the photopass, I had thought because it was Christmas we might not get many but there was loads. I'm after your one from haunted mansion in the summer.

Yes, no medical emergencies this trip thankfully.

[Cinderella]

Brilliant day