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

[bellebookworm9]

Let's finish up this day, shall we?

I told Mom we had two options: We could eat first and see the 7:45pm Storyteller, or see the Storyteller first, at 7:05, and then eat. She chose the second one.

We were pretty early and so I just pulled up some concrete and waited. Julenissen was the "Christmas Barn Elf" and Sigrid is the girl. The whole story is about Sigrid telling the stories about the barn elves but not really believing in them, despite Julenissen occasionally tapping his staff on the ground and going, "Boop!", freezing her in whatever silly position he chooses or making her do ridiculous things.

Boogie down!

In the end, Julenissen is able to convince Sigrid that he is real, and so when she believes, he is finally visible to her.

At one point, they gave a bell to a brother and sister in the audience, Lily and Lucas. They were sitting right next to me, and Lily wanted nothing to do with ringing the cowbell, but Lucas rang it hard enough for the both of them! It was a really cute story.

Then we walked over to the Kringla Bakeri to get some dinner.

After dinner, we made our way to Germany to get some salted hot caramel, which was amazing, and also one of those chocolate caramel apples! They even pre-sliced it for me, which made it so much easier to eat.

Despite the early time (8:15), we decided to go up to World Showcase Plaza to wait for IllumiNations at 9:30. The left side handicapped area had very few people in it. I have to say, this was one of the least crowded days at Epcot that I've ever experienced (and I used to work there, so that's saying something)! World Showcase felt wide open all day and maybe that's why people were so friendly?

So we sat and waited and were rewarded for our patience when the show started, and we discovered the lasers and fountains had been upgraded. IllumiNations is my absolute favorite thing in Disney and I've seen it more times then I can count (again, the working there thing). The holiday tag just makes it even better!

Some pictures of the beautiful new lasers and rainbow fountains!

Here's the "Let There Be Peace on Earth" tag. I'm pretty sure this first picture I was trying to show the candles on the globe.

We made our way out of the park and even those crowds seemed way less than normal. I'm proud to say we did NOT get lost on our way back to the hotel. A little over ten hours in Epcot is definitely a record for us! The cool weather, lack of crowds, and our relaxed pace definitely made that possible.

Back at POFQ, Mom decided to tackle the window decorations. She wiped down the windows as best she could with napkins and that did help. Then with a lot of teamwork, hoping, and medical tape, we managed to get the lights to stay up. I took a photo the next day, but I was pretty darn tired and not feeling great at that moment, so it was off to bed!

 

[MnNsmom]

I love your holiday hat/headband! We are leaning toward a early/mid December trip this year, so I am looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I love your holiday hat/headband! We are leaning toward a early/mid December trip this year, so I am looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks! I don't think they make the hat anymore, at least not the Minnie one (I got mine in 2012). I only saw the Mickey one in the parks. As for the headband, we ordered that online through the Disney store in November, and I'm so glad! They sold out both online and in the parks before Thanksgiving! A ton of people asked where we got them, so order early if you want a pair.

 

[missangelalexis]

Great rest of your Epcot day, love the Illuminations pictures.

 

[kaoden39]

Hi,

I'm from over on the Disneyland side and I really enjoyed that trip report. We are planning our first trip to WDW in December. First we are doing a 3 day cruise on the Dream and then on to the resort. I have a question for you. We are renting points to stay DVC and I am overwhelmed at what resort to stay at. If you were going to stay DVC which resort would you choose?

I'm really enjoying this trip report too. I am so looking forward to visiting Epcot.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Tuesday morning we had an ADR at Crystal Palace and were planning to be at MK through Festival of Fantasy. When we woke up, I felt and sounded like absolute garbage. At first we discussed just going for breakfast and then coming back, but I decided that was too much effort, even for one of my favorite restaurants. So I called to cancel, as I'd heard that doing that rather than canceling online might save you the $10/person fee, particularly if you're ill. But no luck, the agent didn't pity me. Oh well, more time to sleep in.

It was a lazy day and I was pretty upset about missing the parade because it was rained out when I was there in March, and it was just too darn hot to be out in the afternoon in August. PB was staying at POFQ from Tuesday into Wednesday so he could indulge in the Sangria that evening at Hoop dee Doo. I had requested he get a room near us but that was totally disregarded and he ended up all the way out in Building 7.

Around 3:30 we went to the food court for some lunch. Then Mom's insulin pump started indicating the batteries were unexpectedly dying, so she and PB went to the gift shop to buy some batteries. In the meantime, I went to the front desk to get our HDD tickets printed and pay our accrued charges with a gift card.

Mom took a nice photo of the lobby:

Then we returned to our rooms to get ready for our evening. I took a pic of our window decorations:

We waited for PB in the courtyard by our room:

When he was all set, we loaded up the Versa and made the short drive to Ft. Wilderness, just around the corner via the back roads. An internal bus came pretty quickly and Mom was able to get herself loaded on pretty quickly. There was a super adorable family that was chatting with us because they didn't know where they were going (to Pioneer Hall) so we told them to follow us. They were all dressed up in cute western themed outfits for dinner!

Our first event was a wagon ride. This is actually a really cheap thing to do. It's $8/person and first come, first served. The wagon holds about 30 people. When we arrived, there were only a couple of people ahead of us, but the wagon was full when it left around 6pm.

While PB and I were paying, Mom was talking to another family in line. As we returned, she said, "Gretchen, you're good with kids! This is Brooke. She's 18 months old and feeling a little fussy, maybe you can cheer her up". So I knelt down to little Miss Brooke and did get a smile out of her. Yay!

One of the first stops the wagon made was to show us a view of Bay Lake Tower, the Contemporary, and Magic Kingdom. Our driver, Austin, said this is a prime fireworks viewing location.

The ride was really nice and lasted about 25 minutes. We got to see a lot of the decorations around the campsites. It picks you up near Pioneer Hall and drops you off at the Settlement bus stop. Here's a blurry photo of the wagon, and also our horses, Rookie and Chief.

The little Ft Wilderness tree:

Crockett's Tavern & Trail's End all dressed up:

PB suggested we go to the stables to check out the old Calliope. I'd never been over there and boy had I missed out! In addition to a number of the horses that you are free to look at (but not touch!), there's a lovely alcove with the history of horses in the Disney company.

After we had hung around their for a bit, we revisited some of the campsites on foot to get a better view and photos of the decorations.

We were all fans of this mini blow up trailer:

I couldn't get a good picture of Baby Jesus because of the lighting, but his face was super creepy!

There were several camo Santas scattered about:

Loved this Tinker Bell lantern:

Mack trailer from Ohio:

These two Olaf decorations were just a couple of campsites apart from each other:

And finally, the front of Pioneer Hall.

It was still way early for our 8:30 HDD show, so we went over to the Settlement shop. Mom went inside to browse and PB and I stayed outside and chatted until it was closer to check in time.

 

[kaoden39]

Being sick on vacation is so hard. I love how you're doing things at the different resorts. As a usual Disneyland resort guest I really didn't realize how different each resort is. I am down between wanting to stay at Wilderness Villas and a Villa at Kidani I think.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sorry to hear you were feeling crappy and had to cancel your daytime plans Sounds like a fun evening so far though.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Being sick on vacation is so hard. I love how you're doing things at the different resorts. As a usual Disneyland resort guest I really didn't realize how different each resort is. I am down between wanting to stay at Wilderness Villas and a Villa at Kidani I think.

Ooooh, that is a tough choice. Both are great resorts. For Christmas time, I think I'd have to pick Wilderness Villas, but any other time, I'd go back to Kidani in a heartbeat.

Sorry to hear you were feeling crappy and had to cancel your daytime plans Sounds like a fun evening so far though.

Unfortunately, the feeling crappy is going to get worse before it gets better. But I managed to muddle through as best I could!

 

[bellebookworm9]

They took away my Comic Sans font, which makes me very sad. But let's continue on with Hoop dee Doo. You can read a summary about the meal (the food in particular) here.

Our table was number 42, so it was a great view, almost centered.

Here we go, "raising the roof inside the Hoop dee Doo!"

Oh they come from "overseas in Canada" when they come, when they come.

I loved all the decorations!

More fun with the Pioneer Hall Players:

"I'll Be Home for Christmas"

Six Bits and Dolly Drew were having a competition. We were on Six Bits' side, but at one point we were told to go "Toot Toot!" PB did it SO LOUD that Dolly Drew actually came over to chat with him during the show! PB was so excited!!

Everybody's favorite time: Strawberry Shortcake!!

A slew of "unbearable" bear jokes:

Playing the washboard to finish out the night:

The Players say goodbye:

And PB was so proud of his lipstick mark from Dolly Drew:

We let everyone else rush out before getting the scooter from the corner where it was parked, then we walked over to the Settlement Depot. After the last show, they have "Zone" buses to get you back to the various resorts without transferring at a park or Downtown Disney, but we needed an internal bus to take us back up front. One came, but because it was so far back behind the Zone buses, the driver didn't see Mom parked in her scooter, and let a bunch of people on. When he pulled up closer, he loaded her in, but it was a bit crowded, so she had some difficulty getting situated. Some people were rude but a lot of them were cheering her on and helping her out. Eventually she was all set and more people piled on. The people around us were commenting "That's PB!" and also enjoying his lipstick mark. He was a mini celebrity for a bit.

Back at Port Orleans, we dropped PB off by his room and made our way back to ours. The next day would bring us back to Epcot!

 

[missangelalexis]

What a fun dinner!

 

[TheUndercoverDISer]

had to stop by just so i can comment on your TR title -- truer words have NEVER been spoken! finally somebody else understands!!

also, looks like we were in WDW the exact same time in December and did the exact same thing on arrival day - how funny!

 

[bellebookworm9]

What a fun dinner!

Yes! We definitely recommend Hoop dee Doo if you get the chance.

had to stop by just so i can comment on your TR title -- truer words have NEVER been spoken! finally somebody else understands!!

also, looks like we were in WDW the exact same time in December and did the exact same thing on arrival day - how funny!

Unfortunately, those words are not mine, and I will explain the story behind them when we get to Thursday! I have never tasted Coconut Water, so have no opinion of my own. DHS on arrival day seems to be our December pattern. We really only go to see the lights!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Wednesday morning when we woke up, I was still not feeling all that great, but at least I had some energy to get up and go to Epcot! We had some quick pastries for breakfast, and then Mom and I drove to the Beach Club to valet park, and PB self-parked at the Boardwalk. We met up at International Gateway right around 12pm.

I had hoped to catch the noon showing of the Daruma Vendor in Japan but we were just a bit too late for that, so we just went to France instead to wait for the 12:30pm showing of Pere Noel. It was very hot and sunny so we tried to stay in the shade until he came out. Not my favorite storyteller, it was a bit boring.

We had a 12:40pm ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh. While our experience was less than stellar, you can read about it here, if you'd like.

Well, that took so long that we missed 2:00pm Morocco storyteller. The Canadian Voyageurs were performing at 3:00pm and we had about half an hour until then, so we boarded a Friendship that was just approaching the Morocco dock and made our way to the opposite side of the lagoon.

I'm told this group is actually the now-retired "Off Kilter" with a female singer.

It was a decent show but nothing special, just pretty traditional holiday tunes that most Americans are familiar with, along with a few Canadian songs thrown in. I remember it was just really LOUD and I so wished I had brought my earplugs to the park that day! While we were watching, I was also trying to adjust our touring plan to make up for the missed storytellers.

When that group was done, we hightailed it over to The American Adventure for a listen to The Voices of Liberty.

Loved this gingerbread representation of the US Capitol Building!

The Voices were awesome, as usual, but we only listened for a few minutes. There was a pretty big crowd watching so it was hard to see, and Mom was actually dozing off a bit. The original plan was to next see the Kwanzaa performance at 3:45pm, but since we had seen most of it on Monday, I decided we would go see the Daruma Vendor at that time and save Kwanzaa for 5:55, immediately after the Candlelight Processional, and then Morocco at 6:05 or 7:20, followed by Father Christmas in the UK at 8:30. Well, the best laid plans, right?

So here's Japan/Daruma Vendor:

Personally, I think those dolls are a bit creepy looking, and I suspect that Japanese children must have more sense than I did when I was young. Since you can only paint the other eye if your wish comes true, they are apparently not wishing for things like ponies or winning the lottery!

Despite it only being a little after 4pm, we decided to get in line for the Processional. There were two handicapped lines going for those with the dinner package: one for people who would be transferring to a bench, and one for people who were staying in their chairs/scooters. Mom said she was okay staying put, so we joined the much shorter non-transfer line, and were like the 4th group there. I will say that they were only allowing the handicapped individual and two family members to enter the line, so we were good to go. While we waited, we shared a Pumpkin Funnel Cake. I have been wanting to try this for ages and it was definitely worth the wait!

They let us in quite early, around 4:25 and we were among the very first allowed to pick our seats, so they were great! Front row behind the VIP section, so maybe the 4th or 5th row in total.

We waited another half hour and then the show began-pics to come in next installment!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

All the story tellers! Wow! That's something I've never experienced. You know, I think I need to spend more time in Epcot seeing things there. I know the storytellers are there only around the Christmas Holidays, but there is so much at Epcot I haven't seen or done. And I love Epcot. Weird.

 

[missangelalexis]

Aw I love the Madeline doll in France!

The gingerbread version of the Capitol is awesome!

You got some greats seats for the CP!

 

[bellebookworm9]

All the story tellers! Wow! That's something I've never experienced. You know, I think I need to spend more time in Epcot seeing things there. I know the storytellers are there only around the Christmas Holidays, but there is so much at Epcot I haven't seen or done. And I love Epcot. Weird.

Same for me, actually. I spent sooooo much time at Epcot when I was working there, and yet I never saw most of the typical daily performances that they have. The Storytellers (and the holiday foods!) are just another great aspect that I think more people should experience.

Aw I love the Madeline doll in France!

The gingerbread version of the Capitol is awesome!

You got some greats seats for the CP!

I LOVED the Madeline books and animated movies (and the live action one as well) when I was little. There was definitely a time when I wanted to run a school for orphaned girls!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Here's a panoramic view of our awesome seats for the show:

As an audiology student, I was so happy this guy was wearing bright orange earplugs, so I took a total creeper picture and sent it to a bunch of my classmates!

Then the show was underway...first the Voices of Liberty performed.

Then the Cast Member "living Christmas tree" filed in, along with the visiting student choruses.

There were actually quite a few students who had to be escorted off the stage during the show due to the heat!

One of my favorite parts of the show, the American Sign Language interpreter:

Love these trumpeters!

Our narrator for the evening, Chita Rivera:

The show even better than I remembered it being! Even as someone who is not at all religious, I enjoy this presentation for the beautiful performances alone. The sing along part to Silent Night is very touching-there's something about having hundreds on people joined together in song. And the end part with the Hallelujah Chorus when everyone in the audience stands gave me goosebumps! I can't recommend seeing the Processional enough, no matter where you fall on the religion spectrum.

After that, we did deviate from our plans a bit, and ended up skipping the storytellers for Kwanzaa and in Morocco. But all in all, only missing one country altogether? Not bad! Mom and PB headed towards Germany to go take advantage of his CM holiday discount at Karamell-Kuche and I went in the opposite direction to International Gateway to get our jackets out of the locker we had gotten earlier, as it was getting a bit cold.

We met up in World Showcase Plaza and I got a picture of the Epcot tree.

And then Mom and I were able to take a picture with the tree itself.

We had another batch of FPs for Soarin' so that was our next destination.

Thankfully there were no fights this time so we got in and out pretty quickly!

At my 60 day mark for FP+, there was a system glitch where it was ONLY allowing me to make Tier 1 options, so I was able to reserve Soarin' and Test Track back to back for the same day. Even better, I was able to copy those choices to PB much later, which I certainly didn't expect. But then Mom and PB decided they didn't want to ride Test Track, and would rather go shop in Mousegears instead. Well I sure wasn't wasting the opportunity of such a rare glitch, so off I went by myself.

The FP line was actually pretty long, and it was half an hour before we met up again. In the meantime, I was stuck in line with a very obnoxious woman who I stupidly struck up a conversation with. She was a "know it all" DVC member who really knew nothing, and complained about literally everything she could think of, from how she couldn't stay at Kidani Village despite being a founding member, to how there was a photo snafu the last time she had ridden this several years ago and she tried to get someone fired as a result, to how she hated the new FP+ system and was able to convince Guest Relations to give her extra options for the "inconvenience" of not being able to get Soarin' and Test Track on the same day. It was 30 minutes of hell. And then, I got put in the same row as her and her niece. I should have just used the single rider line!

And then, to top it off, I managed to block my own face in the picture.

When I finally got back to Mom and PB, we decided to head back to France to get some dinner from the bakery-one of our favorite places to eat! Of course, we took more pictures on the way:

PB grabbed a table while Mom and I ordered and then we ate while he ordered. After that, he was tired out so he left.

Some of the decorations in France:

And this is Mom's favorite pic of the trip:

Since we were parked at the Beach Club, we decided to watch IllumiNations from the UK bridge rather than go up to WS Plaza again. Mom had never watched from there before so it was a new experience for her. We beat the rushes out of the International Gateway, picked up the car, and drove back to POFQ.

Now, this whole time, I was getting sicker and sicker, and I finally agreed to go to the CentraCare around the corner because Mom thought I might have bronchitis. They were open until about 12am, and it was a bit after 10:30. Mom stayed back at the resort. I did have a bit of a wait while I was there, but in the end I was diagnosed with an acute upper respiratory infection-not bronchitis-and they wrote me a crazy strong prescription for antibiotics as well as a cough suppressant. The coughing was awful, one of the previous nights it was so bad that I almost threw up.

Of course, the Walgreens next door to CentraCare is not 24 hours, so I had to drive a little bit further to get to the nearest one in Dr. Phillips. I was there for quite a while, and it was almost 1am before I got back to the hotel; Mom was sound asleep when I returned! I had a snack that I had picked up from Walgreens, took my first dosage of meds, and finally headed to bed.

 

[missangelalexis]

Great pictures of the CP! I will for sure have to see it one day!

You and your mom took such cute PP pics!

Ugh, that lady at TT sounds REALLY annoying!

Sounds like it was a long night for you Probably smart that you went and got that medicine though, hopefully it helped you feel better!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Wow! I had a CP dining reservation once. But then I got a teaching contract and had to cancel the trip! So thanks for sharing about it. One day I will get there to see it myself. That lady was just a tad annoying, and it looks like she's still complaining to you in the picture! Too funny!! Sorry you were sick, that's no fun!