Jingle Bell Jingle BAM: A Christmas 2019 Trip Report

[kastoney]

Finally back on the DIS after a few months hiatus and was so happy to see you had started this. Even a year later, its so good to relive Disney again and remember how good it could be. Your pictures have me both happy and depressed (which is why I'd stayed away for a while) but mostly happy for what has to be some Disney in 2021.

 

[Jfsag123]

Love your updates! Gwen's surprised face was perfect and y'all's photos are gorgeous! Going back a few updates on this one, but I loved getting to see the jingle bells jingle bam dessert party. We are definitely dessert party people and I'm always wondering which ones are worth it. We have never been to WDW during the holidays and kind of associate Disney Christmas with Disneyland at this point since we've done holiday time there a couple of times. However, we are committed to trying to get to WDW for the holidays at some point in the future. That looks like a good one!

Feeling a bit of the post-holiday let down at this point, as Christmas always seems to fly by in a blur. Your TR is helping to keep some of the holiday spirit around.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I think I still think of him as that little boy from one of the first trip reports of yours! Ha!

Aww, well that's OK, because that's how I see him, too! LOL

Gosh, this is the best!!! Makes keeping the secret totally worth it How awesome!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Even a year later, its so good to relive Disney again and remember how good it could be.

I know, I have to hope most things will return to normal at some point. And maybe some stuff will change for the better! hopefully...

Your pictures have me both happy and depressed (which is why I'd stayed away for a while) but mostly happy for what has to be some Disney in 2021.

I seriously had a point in time where I just couldn't be here on the boards. It was just way to sad. Now with 2021 here, I am hopeful to have a real vacation and trip to look forward to. Here's hoping!

We are definitely dessert party people and I'm always wondering which ones are worth it.

I think you guys would def love Jingle Bell Jingle Bam dessert party.

However, we are committed to trying to get to WDW for the holidays at some point in the future. That looks like a good one!

You def need to at some point! I know you guys always go in the summer, but it will be a nice change of pace one year.

Your TR is helping to keep some of the holiday spirit around.

We were to take our tree down today, and I said, why don't we wait one more week... Ha! Just a little more holiday spirit.

 

[Stasieki]

Signing on and catching up. I was way behind. Looks like a great trip so far and it's just the beginning!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Gwen's face is priceless! Glad the surprise went well!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a fun morning at the pool/afternoon at DS!

Sounds like an exciting reveal for everyone! And you were all off to a fun start together!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two: Our First Dinner as a Disney Family

I left off with us checking in for dinner. We were a late but the CMs didn't seem to mind. We were sat for dinner at 6:15. I think we had to wait a bit before they seated us, but since we were late, not suprising.

We had our next fast passes at 6:40 - 7:40, so I was slightly worried about time. But I figured we would make it. The L's were def more worried about than I was.

We ordered our meals, as the L's were starving after a long travel day.

I ordered an app for us all to share, the Not-So-Secret Brazilian Cheese Bread. SOoooo good. And perfect to share, as there were 8 rolls. And hit the spot for our hungry bunch!

No photo, sorry. I wasn't sure how much food photography I would end up taking on this trip... But Miss L did as well later in the trip, so Trip Report Saved! Ha.

Andy ordered the Orinoco Ida's Cachapas and a Blue Moon Shandy.
And you thought our jokes were corny! House-made Corn Pancakes, Beer-braised Pork, Roasted Corn, Fresno Pepper Salsa, and Avocado Cream
Usually this is what I get but I decided to try something different. These were good as always, although I have said many times, these aren't as good as they used to be.

I ordered the Perkins Thai Noodles
Tofu, Seasonal Vegetables, and Rice Noodles tossed in a Spicy Soy-Chili-Garlic Sauce. A favorite of our friend Pamelia Perkins, Adventurer's Club President.
This was soooooo spicy!!! And I like Spicy things! It was crazy. I couldn’t eat that much becuase my mouth was on fire!!!! Andy picked at it a little and so did Miss L, who seemed to not be effected by the spice!
IMG_1156
It was good just sooo spicy. I am not sure if it is always that spicy or if the cook dumped too much by mistake or something.

I also got the Not-So-Secret Tropical Sangria. Def my favorite.

Gwen ordered the Kids Mac and Cheese & Schweitzer Slush
Frozen Apple Juice and Passion Fruit topped with Bursting Green Apple Boba Balls, first concocted by the noted explorer and humanitarian, Dr. Albert Slush

And Morgan went with the Chef Tandaji's Crispy Chicken, sauce on the side.

IMG_1156
Cheers to the begining of the trip together.

Dinner
Not sure what was being said but clearly they were glad to be together.

All of the kids ordered the Volcano Cake! dessert. And once again, they let Morgan order one, even though she didn't get a kids meal.

Gwen Volcano

The L’s were on the dinning plan, so they got dessert as well. Andy and I opted not to, as we were going to have more desserts later!

While we were eating, we mentioned to our waiter if we could order dessert and have the check at the same time, since we had a fast pass to get to. He said that he could help with that! And to just enjoy our meal. He asked what ride it was for and we told him for 7DMT and he said that was good to know, as it was a different thing he had to do.

A little while later, a manager came over and scanned all of our bands for an anytime fast pass good for 7DMT! I was super excitied about this, but I don’t think the L’s really knew what a gem we had just have happen!

We finished up dinner, paid and headed out. I had said that with the grace period, we might still make our fast pass. So, we all hustled over to ride. would we make it?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two: Someone's First Time on a Rollercoaster!

So, we finished up dinner and headed out. Little M really wanted a bubble wand and the L's had said they would get him one after dinner. So, Mr. L and Little M headed out a few mintues before the rest of us and we said we would meet him outside.

We paid the bills, hit the bathrooms and headed out. We met Mr. L and Little L at the cart in front of Sunshine Tree Terrace. They were filling the bubbles in the wand and we started making our way to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! It was pretty busy today, so we had to snake our way through the crowds.

We made it over to to 7DMT att 7:50, 10 minutes after our fast pass window. I was hopeful that it would use our fastpass and not an anytime fastpass. But I also knew that if it did use an anytime fastpass it would be fine.

We scanned in, they measured Little M and he passed! This was going to be his first rollercoaster! And they weren't sure how he would like it. So, Miss L rode with him. Morgan got to ride with Big L and Gwen rode with me!
7DMT
We were excitied to get teh party started!!!! Dinner was good and def nessisary but it kind of felt like it was just stalling the fun. If that makes any sense.

7DMT Morgan and Gwen
Morgan was happy that she got to ride with Little L. They both enjoyed it.

7DMTt
Gwen was fine riding with me and had fun. I will say riding at night is so much better! When you go inside to see the mine, your eyes are already adjusted and I feel like the whole area just seems more brillant. Att least that is my oppion.

You can see little L's face sitting in front of me... Does that look like he is enjoying the ride?

7DMT
This side of the train was def having fun!

Miss L & M 7DMT
Look at poor Little M! When we got off, it was sadly confirmed that he did NOT like the rollercoastter.

Andy and Mr. L 7DMT
Mr. L is not a big rollercoaster fan either, see no hands up... on 7DMT.... ha! Well, thatt didn't go quiet as planned. But next up was Peter Pan!

We headed over to Peter Pan next. We tried to make Little M know that this was NOT a rollercoaster.

Peter Pan
Little M liked this better, thankfully. In an effort to let the L's actually ride with there kids at some point, we split up by family this time.

Gwen need to use the bathroom after the ride, so we stopped at THE BEST BATHROOMS EVER! Ha!
Rapunzel Lights

At this point we had 2 anytime fastpasses to use! After our bathroom break, we saw that Pirates was back up. So, we went to use one of the anytime fast passes on that.

Pirates Que

Pirates
By now, I figured we had adopted Little L as he wanted nothing more than to be on the rides with Morgan and Gwen.

Pirates
This ended up being one of Little M’s favorite ride the whole trip. So at least we made up for the trama of 7DMT...

Pirates Photo Pass
Only Andy and I got the memo of where the ride photo was... Ha! But seriously, why is the camera here?!?! No ones photos never look intresting.

After we checked out the gift shop a little while some folks used the bathroom.

Little M Pirates
Little M wanted pretty much everything in that gift shop. Morgan found a head band that she wanted. It was tan and looked like it had a treasure map on it but when you had it one you couldn't completely tell what it was. I quickly made that purchase.

I suggested we use our last fast pass on Jingle Cruise! I think we talked about doing Haunted Mansion but I said that we had a fast pass another day for it.

Jingle Cruise

Jingle Cruise

Jingle Cruise
I was excited to ride Jingle Cruise! And loved all the holiday decorations in the que.

Jingle Cruise
It was the L's first time on the ride and we all loved it.

Jingle Cruise

At this point it was time to check in to the dessert party. I think we were ready to sit down! We really got a lot done from about 7:50 to 9:30! Especially with how crowded it was that night. It def wasn't worth waiting in a line at this point.

So, we headed over to check in.

Up next fireworks and desserts!

 

[Steppesister]

Slowly, sloooooooooowly, trying to find my way back here. It's so hard working 50 hours a week now. But I will sure try!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Slowly, sloooooooooowly, trying to find my way back here. It's so hard working 50 hours a week now. But I will sure try!!

Yikes! 50 hours a week! Welcome back!!!

 

[buzzrelly]

Hi Ariella! I'm so glad I came across your report! Allie and I were there just after you in December 2019 and I love that time of the year there! The Jingle Jam party looked like so much fun. Hopefully these things will be back this year since I would definitely want to try it!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Your meal at Skippers sounded good. I loved it there when they first opened and was disappointed when they changed the menu but maybe it's time to give it another chance.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Only Andy and I got the memo of where the ride photo was... Ha! But seriously, why is the camera here?!?! No ones photos never look intresting.

I cannot understand this ride photo placement, or the one on Frozen Ever After!! All the pictures are just so blah, so I appreciate you and Andy getting into it at least Have to have a finger-hook when riding Pirates!

 

[Steppesister]

How adorable!

We walked over to the Riveria stop, not know how the skyliner worked yet.

She quickly got over her fear and just enjoyed the ride.

GOOD!! Cuz the Liner is amazing!!

IMG_0864

Morgan and Andy shared this, as they both love all of the traditional Thanksgiving food and wanted to try this "french" version. Andy and Morgan really liked this. Morgan didn’t want to try it at first but did and really liked it.

LOL!! Funny how kids say they aren't going to like something when you know they will and end up loving it!

So pretty!!

The train is cute but def not worth a visit JUST to see it... unless you have a kid who is really into train. Which my sister does, so we took a couple videos and sent them to her.

I do love trains and didn't know this was a thing there!

I

Always so beautiful!!

What a fantastic picture of you!

IMG_1079
This one was my favorite. Haunted Mansion!

OHhh, that one is amazing!

When we go to the Contemporary, Gwen asked if we could take the monorail around. And on VERY bad judgement on my part, I said sure why not. Let me tell you it took FOREVER to get to Magic Kingdom!!!!

Uh oh!!! But the kids always love the mono and I'm glad you got out of the heat a bit.

Gwen Suprise

What a face!

After our ride, we had to high tail it over to dinner. We had dinner reservations at Skipper Canteen. We were about 15 minutes late, but the CM when we checked in, didn't seem to care one bit. Which was good.

Phew!! I've not heard of too many places that will turn you away if you're a bit late.

 

[kastoney]

What I wouldn't give for some of those little magical bread balls at Skippers right about now. Those are definitely some of the best things in MK. And how awesome of the cast member to give you all some anytime FP. I'm sure the first timers didn't quite understand the gold you had been gifted, but the extra rides I'm sure made their night more special. And the kids look like they are so happy to be together. Can't wait for our girls to be together in Disney again!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hi Ariella! I'm so glad I came across your report! Allie and I were there just after you in December 2019

Yeah! I am glad you are hear! That's right! Our last day was the opening of Rise of the Resistance. And it is quiet the story of whether we would try to get on and if we actually did or not!

The Jingle Jam party looked like so much fun. Hopefully these things will be back this year since I would definitely want to try it!

Fingers Crossed! We def want to do this one again.

Your meal at Skippers sounded good. I loved it there when they first opened and was disappointed when they changed the menu but maybe it's time to give it another chance.

There was a steak on the menu when it first opened that was SOOOO good. And they keep changing it, now we don't bother with it. I do think you have to order carefully, so of the items are just ok and other are really good. But I would seriously just go for the cheese bread and the sangria at this point!

Have to have a finger-hook when riding Pirates!

Aaaarrrggg!

LOL!! Funny how kids say they aren't going to like something when you know they will and end up loving it!

This is a daily occurance for my girls. They are so distrustful, like we have feed them hot wings as a baby or something.

What a fantastic picture of you!

Thanks. All I see is tired eyes in that picture. But we are always so critial of ourselves.

Uh oh!!! But the kids always love the mono and I'm glad you got out of the heat a bit.

True and I did remind myself that at least we were in air conditioning. Who knows how hot we would have been from walking.

Phew!! I've not heard of too many places that will turn you away if you're a bit late.

That is kind of what I was thinking. Especially the ones IN the parks. They have to know people will get stuck in line or underestimate how long it is to treck across the park.

What I wouldn't give for some of those little magical bread balls at Skippers right about now. Those are definitely some of the best things in MK.

I know!!! The cream cheese and chimichurri dip that comes with them, puts them over the top. There is a frozen version at the grocery store. Andy and I were talking about doing a week of Disney food in February, as we won't be going to Disney. Maybe I will get those and try and recreate the dips!

And the kids look like they are so happy to be together. Can't wait for our girls to be together in Disney again!

I know!!!! Here's hoping we can overlap sooner than later.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

There was a steak on the menu when it first opened that was SOOOO good. And they keep changing it, now we don't bother with it. I do think you have to order carefully, so of the items are just ok and other are really good. But I would seriously just go for the cheese bread and the sangria at this point!

Yess! I loved that steak. A meal of cheese bread and sangria sounds perfect to me.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two: Fireworks, Desserts, and some very tired kids!

So, We checked in for the dessert party around 9:30. Fireworks was starting at 10:00 tonight. So, when they escorted us over to the viewing area, it was already pretty full. But we didn't have too hard of a time finding a place to sit, though. I do think the L's thought it was a little too crowded in the area. (This was the first time for them to do something like this) But I knew we would have had a REALLY hard time finding a good spot at this point if we hadn't done the party. It was still fairly crowded with it being Saturday after Thanksgiving.

We all sat down on the ground and relaxed. We weren't too far from the photopass person, so we took turns getting up to take pictures.

IMG_6130

Dessert Party

Dessert Party

The L's Dessert Party

The kids entertained themselves with LIttle M's new bubble wand.
Little M Bubbles

But as, would become the theme of this trip, once we all sat down, we all realized how tired we all were. The L’s especially were beat. They had been up early and flew in. But before long the fireworks were starting!

But what was good, was we were able to sit during the fireworks, which again was AMAZING (and again something I don't think the L's realized would NOT have happened if we just found a spot with the masses.

IMG_0014
The more we have seen these fireworks, the more I just love them. We really didn’t see Wishes that much as when we came when the girls were little, we didn’t stay in the parks late that much. So, this really is becoming my favorite night time show.

Fireworks
I think the L’s loved it as well. I know Miss L loved seeing Tinkerbell flying.

After the fireworks, we headed over and got seated at the Dessert Party. When we checked in, It was strange. We booked the party seperately. So we were 2 reservations of 4. And we asked to be seated together. The CMs kind of got all bent out of shape about it. We asked nicely and just kind of went with what ever they said. There was a decent amount of people, but by no means was the area sold out. We got 2 tables of 4 next to each other, so it was fine, but it was more strange than anything.

Dessert Party

Dessert Party

IMG_6130 Here my plate a little sweet and savory. Those egg rolls are still the star of the dessert party!

IMG_6130
Morgan went all sweet! One of Morgan's "goals" was try the ooey gooey toffee bread pudding. When we had done the party for her birthday, she was sooooo tired and just didn't want to eat that much. And she said regretted not trying it.

IMG_6130
Big L's plate, he loved the fact that he could take ANYTHING he wanted.

The kids sat at one table and the adults at the other. The kids loved sitting "by themselves" Even if they were only a small space apart from us! Ha. There was 1 incendent... Little M tried something and didn’t like it, so he spit it out. Morgan almost barfed watching him do it. Oh Good TIMES!

The deserts were good. But other than the egg rolls, nothing stands out for us. Maybe the Ooeey Gooey Toffee Bread Pudding from Liberty Tree Tavern, maybe. They aren't bad but nothing amazing. We were all really tired. So, I don’t think we enjoyed it as much as we wanted to. I am still glad we did it, as I just don’t know what it would have been like to find a place to watch from. I do think that IF we do a dessert party in Magic Kingdom again, we would do the one where you eat while watching the fireworks.

The park was still open, but we needed to go to bed! We started heading out around 11:00.

The L's Tree Photopass Pic
The L's grabbed a photo on the way out. It was still pretty crowded!

IMG_6130
The picture is blurry but these 3 were just still so excitied to be together!

While we waited for the bus, we found out that our rooms were just around the corner from the L’s. We didn’t request rooms near each other or anything. It was just luck! So, we were able to get off the bus together and walk to our rooms together. It wouldn't have been a big deal for us if we weren't but it def helped!

We decided on a time to get up and meet the next day and we all headed straight to bed!

Up Next, another FULL day of fun!

 

[kastoney]

Looks like a great first day/night in Disney for the L's. We've never done the dessert party and don't think we would. It's just so expensive for what you get (though I could probably eat $70 of cheeseburger egg rolls worth). Of course we've also never seen Happily Ever After from anywhere other than the roof of the California Grill. Now that is my idea of a dessert party