The Unexpected Festive Family Trip - 31.12.18 - Day 7: “Manage my Expectations! ”

[Rescuer]

The Unexpected Festive Family Trip - 31.12.18 - Day 7: “Manage my Expectations! ”

31.12.18

Day 6 is here

Index

No surprise that we needed a little bit of a long lie this morning. Mil was up and about and ready before us so she grabbed a coffee and headed out to the beach to wait for us. We caught up with her on the swing chairs at the beach, such a lovely tranquil spot.

We decided to head around to the Boardwalk to explore.

For breakfast we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery, man that place is heaven.

We managed to grab a table outside and sat in the glorious sunshine watching the world go by.

We chose 4 things to share. A doodle muffin - it looked deep fried and had a sort of crispy outside with cinnamon flavour but was a normal muffin inside - very very nice.

A hot cinnamon bun which was not what I expected as the topping tasted more buttery than sweet, I still liked it though.

A blueberry scone which was as expected and very nice.

Pumpkin bread which was my least favourite of the 4.
$16 for them all.

I’d never explored the Boardwalk Resort so we had a wander and had a look at the notorious Clown slide. We had a look around in the art shop, this place was a treasure trove but only for those with a bigger bank balance than me. Mil fell in love with a custom-made table with the seven dwarves, the guy informed us it would be around $30,000.

The Christmas decorations here were very nice, the gingerbread display of the Boardwalk was so cute.

I really liked the inside of the resort, for me it was less fussy than the Beach Club but less masculine than the Yacht Club.

They were having a party on the Village Green this evening. I had noticed that the Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary also had events on for guests but the Yacht and Beach club did not, which I found a wee bit surprising, I’d have thought they might have done something on the beach.

We got a notification through about crowd levels at Magic Kingdom, this was the first one I’d seen all holiday.

We carried on walking past the Swan and Dolphin and headed to Fantasia Gardens to play golf. They predicted around a 45-minute wait. While we were waiting ds played cornhole with a little American boy.

The golf was good fun but it was sweltering, almost as hot as July. I’m pretty sure I came last. I only really have 2 strengths, 1, rubbish where the ball goes nowhere and 2, where the ball ends up hitting the Tower of Terror.

On the way back we stopped off at the Yacht Club to refill our mugs. I was loving their bakery selection way more than the BC Marketplace.

The Beach Club was nice but when we visited the Yacht Club, I did wish that we’d been staying there again, it’s definitely my favourite of the 2. I like the décor better; the colours are more me and it seemed calmer. Don’t get me wrong they are both great resorts and it’s just personal preference really. Their decorations were lovely too.

We had an early dinner booked so we just had some snacks on the balcony. Ds and I shared a clam chowder with crackers and Dh had a cheese and fruit plate. $12

After a rest we headed over to the boat dock for our night at Hollywood Studios.

It was busy but again they had extra bag check stations and the staff were really friendly and efficient. We were in in no time. The Star Wars show was on as we went in so we caught a little of that before heading over for dinner.

Dinner was at Hollywood Brown Derby. We had about a 20-minute wait for our table, we weren’t bothered as everywhere was really busy due to it being New Year’s Eve.

They were handing out New Year hats. We ended up in a booth which was quite close to the door which meant we could see everything that was going on. And hear everything that was going on, a bit into our meal a very loud American man was having a go at one of the Cast Members about being kept waiting. He was complaining that he had checked in early and had now been waiting 10 minutes. He kept saying loudly to the poor CM ‘Manage my Expectations!’. The CM was trying to placate him saying his table would not be much longer, that he had been early and that it was a very busy night. He wanted to be seated there and then and walked away after announcing loudly ‘This Sucks!’. Anyway back to the food.

To drink I had a grapefruit beer and Dh had a normal beer. Mil had a glowing watermelon lemonade, with a glow cube in it. She was loving life.

Ds had a fanta.

Lovely bread

Ds had the lobster and grouper cioppino, he loved this. It was packed with fish and seafood. Black Grouper and Lobster Cioppino - Big One Mussel, Fregola pasta, blistered tomatoes, red onions, fennel, poblano pepper, Fontina cheese, cioppino broth.

Plate cleared again.

Dh had the salmon, he enjoyed it but it wasn’t that big. Faroe Island Salmon , - saffron potato silk, Beluga lentils, tomato confit, watercress, crispy capers.

I had the chicken which I was a bit worried it would be boring but it was far from it and was really tasty. Bell & Evans Chicken Breast - pancetta, guajillo pepper, tomato stuffing, roasted fingerling potatoes, seasonal mushrooms, romanesco, sun-dried tomato sauce.

Mil had the pork chop, she didn’t like the stuff on top and hated the sauce. Charred Cheshire Pork Chop - Yukon Gold Smashed, Asparagus, Maker's Mark Bourbon, Mustard Glaze, Apricot Jam. I offered to swap but she didn’t want to and she ate the pork and said it was nice, I’m not sure she meant it though.

For dessert we ordered two of the mini selections. You can choose any 3 mini desserts from their menu for $11.

Mil wanted the cheesecake and I wanted the banana cake and we agreed to share the grapefruit cake - all 3 were lovely

Ds and Dh had the crumble thing with the banana cake and cheesecake.

A pricey one oop but a lovely meal and cheaper than BOG. $215

Part 2 in the next post

[Rescuer]

Part 2

Afterwards we headed round to Toy Story Land. It was cool to see it all in the dark. We had a fastpass for Slinky Dog, it was fab in the dark.

Ds was shattered and wasn’t sure he could last until Fantasmic. We all went and watched the Sunset Seasons Greetings, it was very cute, maybe not a show as such but more like the animations on the Tree of Life.

Mil had loved Fantasmic the last time she was at Disney and had asked to see it again so we agreed that I would take ds back to the hotel and the other 2 would stick with the original plan.

Ds and I wandered out the park stopping for photos on the way. I love these mini head decorations, I even brought one home for my tree.

The line for the boat was pretty long so we had to wait on another one. Ds was straight to bed and I watched the New Year countdown on tv while waiting on the others to come home.

Dh and Mil enjoyed Fantasmic, Dh said it was crazy busy, way busier than July.

They also said it was a bit chaotic trying to leave the park, the boats were still busy and like us they had to wait for a second boat. Overall though dh said it maybe wasn’t quite as bad as he was expecting.

We had discussed the possibility of going to Epcot tonight for the midnight fireworks. With ds asleep and Mil happy to have an early night dh and I took the opportunity to go and see what Epcot would be like.

The Boardwalk was having a party on the Village Green so we walked around past there to have a nosey.

We got into Epcot just before 11.30pm. We walked through world showcase. It was pretty busy. Japan especially, the square in front of Teppan Edo was full of people sitting waiting for the fireworks.

It actually wasn’t as crazy as I perhaps expected. We were not expecting a great view of the fireworks but the spot we got was alright (apart from the tree ) for arriving quite last minute, we’d just watched Illuminations the night before. The extra fireworks were great as they had them setting off from around the world with music specific to each country, everything finished off with Auld Lang Syne, surreal to hear this so far from home.

After the fireworks the crowds were reasonably well managed with lanes marked out which most people stuck to. We decided to walk right round the world showcase to have a nosey at what was going on. Italy and China were packed as they had dance parties going on, not our type of music, very clubby, (I must be showing my age) but they were bouncing with loads of people loving it.

We stopped off in Germany which was pretty quiet and grabbed a couple of beers for our stroll. They had the globe lit up, saying goodnight in lots of languages.

We also fancied a snack but all the festival food places were closed. We left about 12.45am and walked to the Boardwalk for snack.

The party on the green was just finishing up but there was still loads of people around. Tonight, was the night for my favourite snack. Joe’s had jalapeno cheese pretzels. There was a fair line as it was Hogmanay, the party on the village green at the Boardwalk was just finishing off and Joe's is generally a bar. It was tense as there was only a few left. Dh got to the front and ordered and the cm said Happy New Year, have that on me! So not only did I get my pretzel but it was pixie dusted to me!

I can’t believe we got to Epcot on New Years Eve.

23,600 steps today.

[summersun]

great day x

[duchy]

I think the only way I would ever consider NYE at Disney would be one of the EPCOT area hotels . We stayed at the Boardwalk last year (unplanned we'd booked AKL but moved when the pool renovations were announced) and it overtook the Y&B as my favourite onsite to stay in. The staff were without exception amazing and it's really quirky. The Boardwalk bakery was a definite plus too !
Thanks for posting.

[Palm trees]

That's a great way to see the new year in, sounds fab!

[mick]

Fantastic day with a mix of relaxing and parks


Joan

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by summersun

great day x

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Thanks for reading and commenting. Feels like a lifetime ago now.

Originally Posted by duchy

I think the only way I would ever consider NYE at Disney would be one of the EPCOT area hotels . We stayed at the Boardwalk last year (unplanned we'd booked AKL but moved when the pool renovations were announced) and it overtook the Y&B as my favourite onsite to stay in. The staff were without exception amazing and it's really quirky. The Boardwalk bakery was a definite plus too !
Thanks for posting.

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I think over Christmas and New Year location on site is way more important than at quieter times.
Glad you enjoyed the Boardwalk, it looks a really nice place to say and as much as I love AKL a swap to the Boardwalk would have been welcome. Would you stay there again? I have never chosen it so far it always comes out more expensive than the Yacht and Beach Club.
Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted by Palm trees

That's a great way to see the new year in, sounds fab!

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It was great, we are not big New Year fans and are normally in bed not long after midnight so it was very different for us.

Originally Posted by mick

Fantastic day with a mix of relaxing and parks


Joan

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Thanks Joan. It certainly was a nice mix of a day

[Inky]

Amazing

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Inky

Amazing

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Thanks Inky

[collybird]

Oh, I love that shot of your MIL on the beach looking out over the Boardwalk, you must get it framed.

$30k for the table and then imagine how much more to ship it home!

You have so much energy, I am so impressed, I really wish we got out and about in the evenings more.