"Coconut Water Tastes Like Drinking Someone Else's Saliva..." A 12/14 TR

[bellebookworm9]

Hello, hello! Welcome to my fifth and final trip report of 2014!

Who: Gretchen (me), Debbie (mom), and PB (my BFF twinsie)
What: Our December Disney trip
When: December 14-19, 2014
Where: Port Orleans French Quarter
Why: Because we missed a ton of holiday stuff on our last Christmas trip in 2012, so I wanted a do-over!

Here's Mom and me:

And the three of us:

I'm 23 and a third year graduate student at the University of Buffalo, studying to get my doctorate in audiology. I was a cast member at Epcot in 2012, starting out on the college program and then going seasonal. That's where I met PB. He is 26 and currently working full time in the Magic Kingdom at outdoor food carts. And my mom comes along for the ride. She's 57 and is the medical appointment person for a group home.

Come join us for our mostly magical trip! There's lots of funny stories and happiness, a bit of drama, and (unfortunately) some illness later on. But I guarantee lots of holiday pictures and a fun time for all!

 

[missangelalexis]

Hey Gretchen, joining in and can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Saturday night I fell asleep around midnight...and then popped up, wide awake, at 3am. Couldn't fall back asleep so I finished a final paper by 5am. Still couldn't fall asleep so read a book until a more reasonable hour. By 9am, I was packed and ready to go.

My friend Matt showed up around 9:15. He was leaving his car with me and we would be taking my mom's Jeep to the airport. Then Matt would park the Jeep when he left to go home to California two days later and it would be there for us to pick up when we came back. Mom showed up about 10 minutes later and we were on our way. But first, a detour had to be made to CVS. I had a bit of a head cold going on, and so did Mom, so she needed generic non-sudephedrine sudafed, and I needed the "good stuff driver's license required" Aleve Cold & Sinus. Then we were on our way; the Buffalo airport is less than 10 minutes from my apartment.

Once inside, we did a bit of redistributing between carry on bags to make things easily accessible. Both checked bags were under 50 pounds and we got through security super fast. Four out of five times this year, I haven't needed to take my shoes off or take liquids/laptop out of my bag. Our gate was right next to security and we had just about an hour and change to wait. We stopped at the food court and Mom got a smoothie and I had a danish and orange juice.

Our flight boarded on time and we had Even More Space seats (JetBlue), in row 2. I would definitely spend extra for this in the future as there was just so much room! We arrived in Orlando around 1:40pm, about 20 minutes earlier than scheduled, and had the shortest taxi to the gate ever. I took a picture of the one tree in the airside terminal, but they had a ton of them in various places throughout the airport.

The bags came around fairly fast and then we headed downstairs to pick up our rental car. I had chosen to rent from Dollar, and we did the "Lock Low n Go" deal, where you're guaranteed at least a compact car, possibly larger, but they get to pick the specific vehicle (normally you can choose your own from what's available in your category). Because Mom is a Dollar Express member, we didn't have to stop at the counter and were able to go right to the garage. Our name and parking spot were on a sign at the kiosk, so we found our vehicle pretty quickly: a black Nissan Versa Note (hatchback). It was a compact car but it was fairly roomy, and the back seats folded down-very handy for lots of luggage and eventually for the ECV!

Mom got all the mirrors and what not set up and to her liking and then we were on our way! By 2:45, we were pulling up to this beautiful sight:

Just a couple of minutes later, we had arrived!

I had done online check in and requested a ground or second floor room and then sent a fax requesting a room in the South Quarter (buildings 1-3) or building 4, overlooking one of the big courtyards. We had a garden view reserved. Check in took only a few minutes. Since I had changed our reservation discount and room category several times, up until maybe a week before we arrived, they tried to give us another set of bands, which we declined-I have six already and Mom has two!

Our assigned room was 4106. So ground floor, yay, but not where I had asked to be. As it turned out, this was okay! Our room was very near the parking lot, one minute and twenty seconds from the food court, and overlooked a nice garden (also a smoking area but I think I saw someone using it for that purpose all of one time).

We drove to the appropriate parking lot and brought in the bags. Then Mom was hungry so we went to the food court so she could get a drink and snack (cheese crackers, in this case). Back in the room, Mom took a nap and I unpacked. We had brought window decorations/clings and lights, so I tried to get those set up. But the window was dirty and I couldn't get the lights or some of the clings to stay and gave up for awhile. Here's some photos of the room:

No idea why the one bed is missing the decorative pillow, but it stayed that way for the whole trip.

There's enough space between the bed and the wall for the ECV...but no nearby outlet.

Drawers were pretty large; I took two and Mom had one and the closet.

We ended up moving this bench between my bed and the wall and parking the ECV in this spot, then stretching the charger cord across the opening to the vanity and plugging it into the outlet near the foot of Mom's bed.

Plenty of space on and around the sinks:

And our garden view:

My only complaint about the room was the lack of outlets. There were two by the table (only because we unplugged the coffee maker), probably one free one behind the dresser (didn't bother with that one), one by the nightstand (the other one was taken by the alarm clock, which didn't work properly anyway), and two by the foot of the other bed, plus a set in the bathroom. I stayed at Caribbean Beach in August and the outlets were much more plentiful-there was one right next to the door, plus they had new nightstands from the refurb with outlets and USB ports right in the back.

Mom's pink princess ECV was supposed to be delivered between 4-5pm and we had a dinner ADR at Hollywood Studios at 5:20. Of course, the scooter was delayed and got there at about 4:50. Then we had to remember how to break it down and get it properly loaded into the car. I drove to the Studios and should have followed my own brain and not the road signs, because that directs you the really long way up and around past Epcot, when we were already running late. Then, continuing our streak of poor timing, there was a HUGE backup in the parking lot as people tried to merge into one lane. Then the handicapped parking in the bus loop was full, so we were in the "overflow", Stage 43. PB was thankfully already at the Studios so I asked him to check us in for dinner as we quickly unpacked and reassembled the scooter and literally ran to 50s Prime Time!

 

[bellebookworm9]

OK, so we were running/rolling through the parking lot and down Hollywood Boulevard. You can read all about our dinner and Frozen dessert party here.

At 8pm, the park officially closed to day guests but there were evening Extra Magic Hours until 10pm for resort guests. The crowds in the Streets of America were beginning to thin out a bit around 8pm anyway, so we left the dessert party and went out into New York Street. First though, we stopped to pick up our special pins and lithographs for package attendees.

We ended up giving them both away to people in the December Facebook group who had to cancel their parties due to unforeseen circumstances (illness and a canceled fireworks cruise that needed to be rescheduled). Neither of us pin trade, so that didn't really matter to us, and Mom said I take better pics of the Osborne Lights anyway, though you can be the judge of that!

We loved the gold & white lights here:

The quality of this one isn't great but I love the colors!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Over on to San Francisco Street:

The crowds were definitely much lighter than they were two years ago. Mom was able to maneuver through them without much difficulty at all. We had Memory Maker for this trip but all the Photopass photographers in this area had super long lines, so we skipped them. I thought I remembered the lights dancing more frequently in 2012 but maybe I'm crazy.

By 8:25, we'd had our fill. I'd considered staying longer and trying to ride some rides but we were so full from eating and I was exhausted. On the way out we caught this snowman:

Passed by some nice decorations by the Muppets:

And found the hidden black cat completely by accident! He was lit up but by the time I got the camera out, he'd gone dark. We waited a few minutes but his lights didn't come back on.

The park was fairly empty by 8:30.

There was a photographer on Hollywood Boulevard, so we got a picture taken.

Just beat the crowds leaving from the second Fantasmic show!

We made our way back to the car and then left the mess of a parking lot-I hate exiting the Studios lot because there are so many vehicles, stop signs, yield signs, turning lanes, and just a lot of confusion. I knew I could make a left onto Backstage Lane and then a right onto Overpass Road to get back to POFQ...but then a car came speeding into the lane I needed to be in, which distracted me, and I was in the wrong right-hand turn lane, so we ended up on I-4 East toward Orlando. Noooo! But at least I knew where I was and so we exited and re-entered at the next off ramp and looped back to the hotel. Problem solved!

After a quick shower, I was ready for bed. Then I realized I could hear the IllumiNations fireworks and thought, "Hey, maybe we can even see them from here". As it turns out, we could! If we stepped outside the door and faced to the right, the higher bursts were visible. Not great pics, but you get the idea.

So that was a very nice surprise! Within half an hour I was passed out in bed, ready to get good night's sleep for the next very long day at Epcot.

 

[leahlefler]

I love your trip report! We go up to Buffalo for audiology (my seven year old has a moderate loss in one ear and a moderately severe-severe loss in the other) - we definitely need more audiologists in the area! Good luck with your studies!

The light show at HS is amazing... I almost wish we had gone at Christmastime instead of our planned February trip!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a good first day, love all your pics of the lights!!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I love your trip report! We go up to Buffalo for audiology (my seven year old has a moderate loss in one ear and a moderately severe-severe loss in the other) - we definitely need more audiologists in the area! Good luck with your studies!

The light show at HS is amazing... I almost wish we had gone at Christmastime instead of our planned February trip!

Do you take him to Buffalo Hearing & Speech, by any chance? That's where I've been doing my clinical placement for the last six months and I loved it. We see a ton of kids up there!

The week before Christmas is a great time to go! It was so much less crowded this year than the same week two years ago. I think it's just the way the dates fell. In 2012, we were there the 17th-21st (Monday-Friday), but this year it was the 14th-19th (Sunday-Friday). I guess even just those two extra days before Christmas made a big difference! And at least in February (depending on when you go), it's not super crowded either!

Sounds like a good first day, love all your pics of the lights!!

Thanks! Yes, it was a nice first day, minus the rushing for dinner bit.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Monday morning we slept in until about 9am, and once we were both dressed and ready, headed to the food court around 10:15am. It wasn't crowded at all due to the late breakfast hour. I liked the Christmas trees they had throughout the resort:

Can you see the guy with the big multi-colored hat in this next one? He was leading the kids around the Mint building and grounds in a Mardi Gras parade!

After breakfast we stopped back at the room to pick up the scooter and items we'd need that day before getting in the car and driving to my favorite park, Epcot! We were parked waaaaaayyyyy down at the end of the second row of Journey (the closest lot to the gates), because of the handicapped tag.

By 11:20am we were inside and holy cow, was it sunny that day! And quite a lot warmer than I originally expected!

We had to get some Photopass pics done:

I love that Stitch took a bite out of the sign:

We had FP+ for Spaceship Earth good at 11:10am, so that was our first stop. Mom parked her scooter and the FP+ line moved super fast.

This was a much more vivid purple on the ride itself:

Yay for the Renaissance!

Typical family in 1969:

We picked a really wacky ending this time and thought it was our funniest one yet!

There we are on the globe at the end:

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Our next destination was China for the 12:30pm Lion Dance, so we weren't in any great hurry. That was good since we found another Photopass person:

Then yet another one just a few feet beyond the last one:

He told us to do a pretty princess pose, which I've learned how to do very quickly over the last couple years. Mom, on the other hand, had a little delay as she tried to figure out how on earth to portray a princess. She got there in the end though!

Love this tree and the angel topper!

Just around noon at this point and we still had some time to spare, so I hopped in the short line to meet Duffy Bear while Mom browsed a shop.

 

[missangelalexis]

I love your Christmas shirt! Great pics in this update

 

[bellebookworm9]

Duffy was just coming back from a break and there were about five people ahead of me. I had to get a picture of my favorite princess reading with Duffy!

There was an adorable little girl and her mom right behind me and the girl was just chattering about everything. She pointed out some honey bees in the flowers next to the line and said, "The bees are making some more flowers, those are some very nice bees!" There was also a mosquito or something flying around, which she hit and then stated, "I killed the weird bug thing." Too funny!

Soon it was my turn:

Duffy liked my hat so much, he had me flip the tassel part so we had matching hats!

Awwwww.

Then it was over to China, where we had a quick snack before the Chinese Lion Dance. We got very good at hunting out these scrolls, because they indicated where the performance would be happening in each country:

We really liked this show, and the performers in the lion costume were amazing!

The good luck scroll:

Time for a nap!

A great start to our holidays around the world!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I love your Christmas shirt! Great pics in this update

Thanks! I got the shirt at WalMart and saw a TON of other people wearing it throughout the trip, too.

 

[leahlefler]

Do you take him to Buffalo Hearing & Speech, by any chance? That's where I've been doing my clinical placement for the last six months and I loved it. We see a ton of kids up there!

We used to go to BHSC, but now go to Diversified (in the same office as our ENT). We drive from Jamestown, so the location at the ENT office is convenient. He's doing great (in 2nd grade and reading at a 7th grade level, plays piano pretty well for a 7 year old).

 

[missangelalexis]

That little girl sounds so cute. Love your pics with Duffy!! His Santa Suit is adorable.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Subbing because I haven't been reading TRS! I'll be back later to catch up, I just started your July 2013 TR for some ... backstory? LOL

 

[bellebookworm9]

We used to go to BHSC, but now go to Diversified (in the same office as our ENT). We drive from Jamestown, so the location at the ENT office is convenient. He's doing great (in 2nd grade and reading at a 7th grade level, plays piano pretty well for a 7 year old).

I'm familiar with Diversified as well. My mom had her hearing tested there and also took some of the people from her group home there. Plus they always take a couple of students each semester from our program! I'm jealous of anyone who can play the piano-I was kind of a flute prodigy but never was able to catch on to piano or guitar.

That little girl sounds so cute. Love your pics with Duffy!! His Santa Suit is adorable.

Santa Duffy is nice, but I am a huge fan of pumpkin Duffy! I found a small version of him wearing that costume at the Cast Connection store behind MK a few years ago. It was super discounted cause it was out of season (I bought it in March). Just double checked and he was priced at $4.50-normally $30!

Subbing because I haven't been reading TRS! I'll be back later to catch up, I just started your July 2013 TR for some ... backstory? LOL

Yay backstory! You really only need the intro post to get it.

 

[bellebookworm9]

After China, we had a bit of time before Helga in Germany at 1pm, but we headed over that way so Mom could look in Karmell-Kuche.

We didn't see the holiday scroll anywhere obvious so I told her to ask in the store. In the meantime, I sat outside on a bench with the scooter. There was a very nice English family taking a snack break next to me, so I chatted with them. They had a little boy who was maybe 7 or 8 and I was asking him what he'd done so far that morning. He didn't want to tell me, so I said, "Are you not telling me because I'm a stranger?" And he replied, "No, you just have to guess what I did!" OK, I'm pretty good at that game. In the end, it turned out the only thing they had done so far was the one thing I hadn't guessed: Living with the Land!

A manager was giving out free samples of the milk chocolate & caramel covered apple, so I had a slice, and it was so good! I told Mom we'd have to come back later for sure! She had found out that Helga would be telling her story to the left of the pavilion, on a grassy area near the "Prost" stand. As it turns out, you can see the scroll in the background of the picture above.

Helga told us all about the German traditions, like the Advent Calendar, Christmas Trees (and how crazy Martin Luther's family must have thought him for dragging this huge fir tree home through the woods!), and the nutcrackers. Funny, I don't recall her mentioning the pickle tree!

Then, if we all close our eyes and make a wish for it to come true, the Nutcracker will come to life!

A picture with the stars of our story:

On to Italy, for a glass of Moscato, aka adult grape juice.

The plan was to see La Befana at 1:30, but it was still early. We did see a few minutes of the new flag show.

It was so sunny and really pretty hot by this point in the afternoon, so we stayed in the shade until right before showtime.

Then we dashed next door to The American Adventure for Hanukkah, which was supposed to begin at 1:45. However, Kwanzaa was still going on so we watched that. I didn't take pictures because I had planned for us to come back and see it at a different time...unfortunately, that didn't end up happening. When Kwanzaa was over, I told Mom I was going to sit on a bench across the performance space. There was nice couple sitting there who said I could share with them. As it turned out, they were DIS friends! I had been talking to the woman for several weeks online because her daughter is doing the college program this spring semester, and I'm a CP alum. So it was very nice to meet Tami, Deanna, and the rest of the family.

Imagine a Fran Drescher accent (not the voice itself), and you have this wonderful performer. My father's family is Jewish, so I vaguely remember celebrating some of these traditions when I was younger. At one point, the woman said something like, "Asking questions is a very Jewish thing to do!" which had me cracking up.

As soon as it was over, I apologized to Tami for meeting and then running, but we had a Via Napoli ADR at 2pm and I didn't want to be too late for it. Thankfully, it was right next door! But we did have to cut through one of the shops since Sergio the juggler was out performing near the promenade.

Beautiful chandelier in the foyer:

Holiday garland:

Very pretty tilework on the bathroom walls, cause I'm weird like that.

After lunch, we had FP+ scheduled for Soarin from 3-4pm. There was a Friendship coming towards the Germany dock and we were happy to find out that they are ECV accessible. Soon we were up by Future World and on our way to the Land.

Mom parked up top with the other scooters and decided she felt up to waiting in the FP+ line. If only we had known...

We got down to Soarin' and she hobbled her way through the queue, where we were directed to Concourse 2 (me for the second time ever and Mom for the first time). When we got to the gate area we asked for B1, and they sent us to wait for that loading area to be cleared for boarding. Suddenly, there was a commotion complete with yelling and swearing from the A section! We couldn't see what was happening and I'm still not even sure what started the altercation, but all three CMs in the area went flying over there. They were clearly shaken up but whatever happened. A couple was pulled to another line, and the other family, complete with children, continued yelling and swearing. Someone made a comment about the swearing in front of kids which didn't make them happen. Eventually a coordinator and then a manager came out and both groups were escorted backstage. I don't recall if the first couple came back out, but most of the second family did, with the exception of what seemed to be the main instigator. This was probably the second stupidest guest fight I've seen, after the one at California Adventure last May. And while all that was going on, nobody else was getting on the ride. Probably 15 minutes went by with empty loading areas. Eventually we were allowed to board and our flight was as lovely as always. But my goodness, we weren't expecting that bit of excitement during our day!

There were some holiday decorations in The Land too, which I took a quick picture of before leaving.

Then it was out to Fountain Plaza for the Joyful Gospel Celebration Concert!

 

[missangelalexis]

Your posts really make me want to see the Storytellers one day. So interesting!

Wow what a crazy situation at Soarin

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Ok, you really, really make me want to get to WDW for Christmas! One day... when I'm retired, I guess!

Oh and I know the backstory now, but reading a TR is fun too!

 

[bellebookworm9]

We arrived at the Gospel Concert just a minute or two after it started; had we not been delayed at Soarin' we would have been on time...oh well, the best laid plans, right? This performance was a lot of fun and I saw a ton of kids dancing around and having a great time. The only downside was that it was SUPER loud!

Next it was off to Mexico for the 5pm Fiesta de Navidad celebration. I liked the garland they had everywhere throughout the park.

Mom parked the scooter and then went to use the restroom in Norway. I sat in it while she was gone. I have to say, other guests were so, so nice and helpful in asking other people to move if they were blocking it during this show, no matter who was sitting. That is something I haven't seen on a trip with an ECV until now!

This was another great story! The Mariachi Cobre sang and played their instruments and there was a couple who did some beautiful dancing.

They tied this bow with their feet, in several very fancy dance moves. It was amazing!

In addition to traditional Mexican carols, they also brought the kids in to show the audience about Las Posadas. I learned about that as a little kid myself, back when the Puzzle Place was on PBS! They had a holiday special that discussed several cultural holiday celebrations.

And finally, there was a pinata that all the kids got to take turns whacking. I don't think it broke, but they still got candy anyway!

Mom was hungry then, so we stopped at La Cantina to get one of their holiday snacks. I didn't take a picture, for some reason. Next we headed to Test Track.

My mom knows someone whose father worked for GM. As such, this woman lent us her father's employee ID card to backdoor the ride. Well, I didn't see the card until we were approaching the ride. When Mom gave it to me and I saw that his picture was on it, I thought, "no way are we going to be able to use this". The CM at the front told us to go in the exit to the desk in the "showroom" to get a FP. Sure enough, once we got there, they said that the employee had to be with us to use it. Apparently, that didn't use to be the case, but we passed the word on to the woman who had lent it to us.

Then we had FP+ for Mission: Space, so we headed to that. There was basically no wait for the green side. We were assigned to a pod with a young couple who was part of a larger group. As we exited the ride, one of their family members (probably about 7 years old) excitedly asked the woman, "Were you the pilot?" She responded that she was and he said, "Cool! I was the pilot, too!"

It was a little after 6pm, so it was already dark. We had managed to arrange our LED lights on the scooter and had our sign to recognize our December DIS friends:

Not a great picture of the lights but we got so many compliments on them! And people always saw us coming, for sure!

We were getting a little cold, so I said I'd go out and get our jackets from the car while Mom did some shopping at Mouse Gears. We parked the scooter in the breezeway and decided to meet back there at 6:30. I hustled out to the parking lot and got some pictures of the decorations on the way.

As I was walking to the car I realized exactly how far out in our row we were. It never feels quite as far when you're walking in that morning! I noticed a lot of open spots closer to the entrance in the first row (we were in the second), so I moved way closer than we were. I did not want to make the walk two more times back and forth!

I made excellent time and arrived back at the scooter at 6:28. On the way, I passed a family with their pre-teen who was getting massively, violently sick in the bushes behind Spaceship Earth. Normally I'm a "sympathetic puker" but I managed to keep it together and move on.

We continued on to Norway for some more stories and dinner!