Not A Creature Was Stirring, Except Mickey Mouse! Christmas 2016...**new updates 09/17/18 p.4**

[HomeSweetDisney]

"For all who come to this happy place...welcome!"
Pretty sure that's not the most original opening ever but hey, I am a newbie to this trip reporting thing
Anyway - welcome!
I am Veronica and I'll be your narrator for this very merry, BELATED trip report. What can I say? I procrastinate. A lot
Onto the introductions!
Here's me and my little family this past Easter:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

That's me on the right - I've been a member of the DIS since I was 17...I'm 31 now so I've been around a while! But this is my first time documenting a TR here on the DIS.
Then there's my boyfriend John (41) who also joined us on this trip but only for a few days. He's a teacher and wasn't able to miss much school. (He was with us from Saturday December 3rd - Tuesday December 6th.)
Then there's my son Jacob - he is 7 and in 2nd grade and it was just he and I for most of the trip.
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr


We were in Walt Disney World from 11/30/2016 - 12/08/2016. We stayed at Beach Club Villas and had 8 day Park Hoppers - no dining plan for us. I payed OOP for food as it was mostly just the 2 of us and the DP would have been way too much food!
We were lucky enough to stay at Beach Club Villas because my parents own DVC and let us use their points

This was a WONDERFUL trip in every way. I of course had it planned down to every small detail but as is often the case with the best laid plans...well you know the rest. We stuck to the majority of my itinerary but there were definitely things that changed along the way. But overall we had an amazing trip and we enjoyed every minute of it!
I am really looking forward to sharing my memories of this trip with ya'll so I hope you'll join in! Disneyworld at Christmas time is truly magical and we loved every bit of it

As soon as I finish uploading my pictures I'll get the first chapter posted!

Also - I am super NOT tech savvy so if anyone wants to explain to me (like in Dis for dummies terms) how to link chapters, I'd greatly appreciate it!

​

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Reserved for Chapter Links
Chapter 1
Part 1 -
Travel and Arrival!
Part 2 -
Evening in Epcot
Part 3 -
Evening in Epcot, continued

Chapter 2
Part 1 -
Breakfast at 'Ohana
Part 2 -
Magic Kingdom fun!
Part 3 -
Hoop Dee Doo Revue!

Chapter 3
Part 1 -
"I can't believe there's no moose in Animal Kingdom!"
Part 2 -
The rebellion or the dark side?

Chapter 4
Part 1 -
Hooray for Hollywood!
Part 2 -
A far out lunch & battling the Dark Side
Part 3 -
Finishing our day at HS & an evening at Disney Springs

Chapter 5
Part 1 -
Future World and WS fun!
World Showcase fun, cont.
WS, continued
End of the day at Epcot!

 

[MeghanEmily]

You and I seem to be following some of the same TRs, so I just noticed your new TR. Here's the explanation of chapter links @xlsm gave me when I wrote my first TR:

Making chapter links isn't too hard. Let's see if I can explain it ok typing it out, and that it makes sense!

At the end of each post you make on your thread, there's a little number at the bottom next to the like, quote, reply links. Right click on it and open it in a new tab. Then, in the post you've designated as your table of contents, click edit. The edit box will open, and you can type in whatever you want to call each link, like Chapter One, or whatever. Highlight the words and click the little icon next to the font size/color buttons that looks like two little chain links linked together. A box will open. Go to the tab you opened with your post, highlight and copy the address in the bar, then insert it in the box that popped up when you clicked the chain links. Click 'insert', and save your changes. "Chapter One", or whatever you typed in, will then link to that specific post.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

You and I seem to be following some of the same TRs, so I just noticed your new TR. Here's the explanation of chapter links @xlsm gave me when I wrote my first TR:

Thank you so much! That helps a lot! And thanks @xlsm who I also follow and has now helped me without even knowing it

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Chapter 1
Part 1 - Travel Day & Arrival

John and I had decided that Jacob and I would stay the night at my parents house the night before our flight. My mom was the one driving us to the airport and since they live pretty close to the San Antonio airport (about 10 minutes) it made sense for us to just stay there since our flight was leaving at 8:10 AM.
So the evening of November 29th John and I loaded up our CX-5 with mine and Jacob's luggage and headed over to my parents house. They live about 25 minutes from where we live and we also ran into traffic. Once we'd stopped to pick up some food at Whataburger (Whataburger > In-N-Out...I'm sure plenty of Californians would disagree but we Texans love our Whataburger!) we arrived at my parents house around 7:30 pm.
John hung out with us there for about 45 minutes before he decided to head home. Jacob and I watched a little bit of TV with my parents and were in bed by 8:30 pm. We had an early morning ahead of us!
I remember not sleeping much because hey...Disney anticipation!

I think I got maybe about 4 hours of sleep total and before I knew it, my phone alarm was going off at 4:30 am. I am NOT usually a morning person but when it comes to Disney I don't mind!
I woke up, showered, did my hair and makeup and then woke Jacob up.
He was also pretty excited and didn't have any problem getting up.
Pretty soon we were on our way to the airport!
We arrived by 6:00 and the airport was pretty empty still - we were flying Southwest and did curbside check in. No problems or issues and there was NO ONE at the counter when we got there.
We said our goodbyes to my mom and went to check in.
I remember the guy who checked us in that morning was SUPER sweet and chatted with us a bit about Disney - he let Jacob help him load our luggage on the conveyor belt because he noticed he was eyeing it. This was exciting for Jacob! He is fascinated by airports and airplanes haha
Anyway, we got inside and security wasn't bad either - we were through pretty quickly. So far so good!
Once we got inside we found our gate and had plenty of time to kill so we found a place to get some breakfast.
I believe we ended up getting a couple of breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts.
I shared this photo to Facebook and Instagram:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

Before we knew it, they were announcing it was time to board! I always pay for early bird check in which guarantees "A" boarding group. For those of you who aren't familiar with Southwest, they don't have assigned seating. So you are put into boarding groups and then just find a seat once you're on. If I was flying solo I probably wouldn't care but I wanted to make sure we were "A" so we'd have seats together. It's only $30 per person round trip so I think it's worth it!
Anyway, I believe we were in A34 & A35 so we were among some of the first to get on and we had no problems finding good seats.
Everything was running on time & pretty soon we were taking off!
Jacob is a great travel buddy and does well on planes so it was a smooth and easy flight

Before you could say "Mickey Mouse" we were landing in MCO!
We grabbed our carry on's and made our way to the Magic Express.
Obligatory airport picture:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
And here's a picture of Jacob waiting for the ME bus:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
The lines were CRAZY busy for all the value resorts - I remember POP and AoA had super duper long lines. But luckily our line (Yacht & Beach Club, Boardwalk, and Caribbean Springs) didn't have too many people in it. I do remember we waited about 30 minutes for our bus to arrive though.
Once we were on though we took off pretty quickly!
I posted this pic to FB - "YES! WE ARE FINALLY HERE!"
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
The bus driver asked if anyone was staying at CSR and no one was, so he headed straight to Boardwalk. About half the bus got off there and then Yacht Club was next.
Finally we arrived at Beach Club!
I had done online check in but I had also done a room request through Touring Plans. I never got a text about our room so I think maybe the request from Touring Plans cancelled out the online one? I never quite figured it out and luckily we still got the room I wanted! And our room was ready for us! After we checked in and I got my MB set up with my credit card info, we headed to the room.
I can't remember the room # but it had a view of Spaceship Earth! That's the main reason I wanted a room on this floor/side. I love Spaceship Earth and loved being able to see it from our balcony
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Here are some more room pictures - we had a studio villa. It was a refurbished villa. I think they were done with the refurb at that time but I could be wrong. The room was beautiful! I know some people think it's not "beachy" enough but I thought it was really pretty and classy looking. I've always stayed at BCV with my family so it was nice to see the rooms had finally gotten a much needed update!
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

My only "complaint" about the room would be the lack of storage space. We pretty much lived out of our suitcase for the week because there was hardly any drawer space or anything! I thought this was weird, especially for a "deluxe" resort. I mean, it wasn't a deal breaker but I thought it was odd they would design the rooms that way.
But other than that, I loved it!

Coming up next...our first park!
​

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Chaper 1 - Part 2
Evening at Epcot

After Jacob and I got settled into our room we ready to get some park time in!
We had FP+ set up for Epcot that evening and so we headed to the International Gateway. Along the way we stopped to take a couple of pictures with the pretty tree that's set up in the lobby of the Villas building:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
That tree was so pretty! I loved coming "home" to it everyday
This is one of my favorite things about staying at Beach Club - it's so convenient and easy to get to Epcot! The International Gateway entrance has you entering the park right in between France and the UK.
We scanned our Magic Band's and we were in!
I posted this picture to Facebook:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

We were sooooooo excited to finally be here! I had planned this trip for about 2 years and it felt so good to step foot in WDW again after a 3 year hiatus

We wanted to start doing some rides but we were both hungry since we hadn't eaten since breakfast and by now it was about 2 pm. I decided we'd stop in at Sunshine Seasons and grab something since Jacob wanted to ride Living with the Land. I got pictures of our food from here but other than this and breakfast at 'Ohana, I had failed to remember to take any other food pictures - womp womp! Anyway, here's our food. I had a power salad which was super yummy and Jacob had the kids chicken with rice. It didn't look very appetizing but he ate it all up so I guess it was fine!
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

After we were done eating we hopped on Living with the Land because there was ZERO wait for it. I always enjoy this ride so I figured might as well! I didn't have too much of a plan for this afternoon since our FP didn't start till 5:30 and I honestly didn't think we'd be in the park this quickly. So we were just kinda winging it!
Well as it turns out, Jacob really liked LWTL too! We ended up riding it a few more times throughout our trip
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
I liked the festive ribbons they put on these melons
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

After we were done at LWTL I asked Jacob wanted to do next. I was trying to not be all commando with him and let him take the reigns when possible. He decided he wanted to do Spaceship Earth - we had a FP+ set up for this for later but there was only a 5 minute wait so it was fine. We snapped this selfie outside of SE:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

I really love Spaceship Earth! I think I took about a million pictures of it this trip - it's just such a classic Epcot attraction and I never get tired of it!
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
I love this sassy gal! I always need a picture of her!

After we finished Spaceship Earth Jacob wanted to get on Mission: Space. So we headed there next! Now I don't know about ya'll but I CANNOT handle the orange side on this ride. It made me sooooo sick the last time I rode it. So we stuck to the green side - Jacob LOVED this. I think it's a good ride for kids. He really loves anything to do with space so he had a blast! (get it? a BLAST? No? Nevermind ) I think we rode this one probably 10 times throughout our trip and it never really had a wait. I don't mind the green side so it was fine!
I took this picture of him after:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

Continued in next post...​

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Chapter 1 -
Part 3
Evening in Epcot, cont.

After we finished Spaceship Earth I suggested we get on Journey Into the Imagination. I love Figment! I have been coming to WDW since I was 4 and I miss the old Dreamfinder with the original JITM - but I like this one too! I know there are many who don't care for it but I would be really sad if they got rid of Figment. I've been hearing more rumors about him getting the boot lately so I am glad we rode this a couple times in case he isn't there the next time we go!
Luckily Jacob really likes Figment too so he enjoyed doing this with me
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
I think this was the only decent picture I got - I just used my iPhone 6 this trip so some of my pictures definitely didn't come out the best

I snapped this adorable picture near the Imagination pavillion
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

We stopped in at Club Cool where I introduced Jacob to Beverly:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

He wasn't impressed

Afterwards, it was finally time for our Soarin FP! I was SO excited to see the new film! Soarin has always been one of my favorite attractions so I couldn't wait to see this. My personal opinion? Loved it! The old one was awesome too but I think the "around the world" makes more sense, especially at Epcot where you have the World Showcase. We both loved it and were excited to do it again when John got there a few days later.

After Soarin I decided we'd walk around the World Showcase for a while before we headed back to the room. It was about 6:30 at this point and I wanted to make sure we both got a good nights sleep before our first full day in Disney!
We started in Mexico and walked through about half of the WS. I did take this picture at some point:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
I just love Epcot in the evening - so pretty!

When we got to the American Pavillion, the Candlelight Processional was going on. Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator that night. We could see him from wayyyy back where we stood but I couldn't get a good picture of him at all. This was the best I got:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Yeah - he looks like a white blob
You're welcome for my amazing photo skills!

We walked through the pavillions a bit more but I could tell Jacob was losing steam - and so was I to be honest!
So I decided we'd start making our way back to Beach Club.
I got this picture of the awesome Epcot Christmas tree:
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

And Jacob in front of it!
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr
Ooops, bright flash

Eventually we ended up back at Beach Club! Jacob insisted I get this mirror picture on the elevator hahaha
Untitled by Veronica Villarreal, on Flickr

We got back the room, I had Jacob take a shower and pretty soon we were in bed! We both needed a good nights sleep because I had an early morning planned.

Tomorrow we'd be having a fun character breakfast and then a full day at Magic Kingdom

Stay tuned!

​

 

[JessH87]

Stumbled upon your trip report and I'm following along! I cant wait to read about the trip. I love Disney during Christmas time!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Stumbled upon your trip report and I'm following along! I cant wait to read about the trip. I love Disney during Christmas time!

Thanks for following along! Disney during Christmas time is the BEST! I got lots and lots of pictures so there's lots more to come!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Wow, you're getting updates up so quickly! Looks like you had an awesome Epcot day. I agree that Epcot is so pretty...especially decked out for Christmas! We also love LWTL, so I'm glad Jacob enjoyed it.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Wow, you're getting updates up so quickly!

I am going to try! I waited so long to start this TR so I figured I will try to update as often as I can haha

Looks like you had an awesome Epcot day. I agree that Epcot is so pretty...especially decked out for Christmas!

It is!! I just noticed you were there Dec 2016 too! What dates where you there? I need to check your TR out too

We also love LWTL, so I'm glad Jacob enjoyed it.

It ended up being one of his favorites!

Thanks for reading along and commenting!

 

[dnllmz]

Following along!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Thanks for reading along @dnllmz !!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

It is!! I just noticed you were there Dec 2016 too! What dates where you there? I need to check your TR out too

We were there over Christmas. I believe it was Dec. 19-24 at Disney and 25-26 at Universal? Thanks for reading my TR! (I wrote an awful lot in that one, so you're brave! )

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

We were there over Christmas. I believe it was Dec. 19-24 at Disney and 25-26 at Universal? Thanks for reading my TR! (I wrote an awful lot in that one, so you're brave! )

I didn't mind! I get a little wordy too so that didn't scare me off

I love reading other people's TR's - it's so much fun to re-live stuff through other people's perspective. Sometimes it gives me inspiration to try new things there on future trips!

For instance, I've never really had an interest in staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge but between your TR and @TheLittleKatie 's TR, I think I may want to rent points to stay there one day! It is definitely a beautiful resort but it just never much interested me until I read ya'll reports

 

[MeghanEmily]

I didn't mind! I get a little wordy too so that didn't scare me off

I love reading other people's TR's - it's so much fun to re-live stuff through other people's perspective. Sometimes it gives me inspiration to try new things there on future trips!

For instance, I've never really had an interest in staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge but between your TR and @TheLittleKatie 's TR, I think I may want to rent points to stay there one day! It is definitely a beautiful resort but it just never much interested me until I read ya'll reports

I agree. I love TRs! I probably spend way too much time reading them. It's a great way to get the Disney fix when you're not there or not currently planning a trip. I'm glad we could persuade you on AKL a bit! I hope you like it if you ever go. I've gotten some tips and things from reading TRs too. Like we probably wouldn't have booked an ADR for Beaches & Cream otherwise, or our extra night at WL. And I'm really interested in someday trying BW or BC from reading about other people's trips

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

I agree. I love TRs! I probably spend way too much time reading them. It's a great way to get the Disney fix when you're not there or not currently planning a trip. I'm glad we could persuade you on AKL a bit! I hope you like it if you ever go. I've gotten some tips and things from reading TRs too. Like we probably wouldn't have booked an ADR for Beaches & Cream otherwise, or our extra night at WL. And I'm really interested in someday trying BW or BC from reading about other people's trips

I'm sure I'll love it! It's a gorgeous resort - the lobby is just

I like Beaches and Cream! I had an ADR for it at some point but decided to cancel it - we've been there so many times so I didn't really feel like I was missing out. That No Way Jose is the best! Although I have to watch my sugar intake now or it'll make me sick so I don't eat much ice cream these days I do love Halo Top but they don't sell that at WDW hahaha

I could talk to people alllll day about how much I love Beach Club! I know part of it is that I am biased b/c it's my parents DVC home resort and I've stayed there so many times. But mostly it really is just an awesome resort! I love how close it is to Epcot - and we didn't get to utilize Stormalong Bay this time but next time for sure!

 

[Fia]

Following along! Great First TR so far!

 

[Sinders99]

Loving your TR so far!! DH & I are considering a trip at the same time of the year as your trip so we're really keen to see what you thought of crowd levels and wait times Can't wait to read more.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I am Veronica and I'll be your narrator for this very merry, BELATED trip report.

HI Veronica!

Disneyworld at Christmas time is truly magical and we loved every bit of it

Can't wait to hear all about it! We will e taking our first Christmastime trip this December!

(Whataburger > In-N-Out...I'm sure plenty of Californians would disagree but we Texans love our Whataburger!)

AGREED! I'm not a Texan, but I used to date one. The only thing I miss about that relationship is Whataburger.

I am NOT usually a morning person but when it comes to Disney I don't mind!
I woke up, showered, did my hair and makeup and then woke Jacob up.
He was also pretty excited and didn't have any problem getting up.

Its ALWAYS easy to get up on Disney day!

I remember the guy who checked us in that morning was SUPER sweet and chatted with us a bit about Disney - he let Jacob help him load our luggage on the conveyor belt because he noticed he was eyeing it. This was exciting for Jacob! He is fascinated by airports and airplanes haha

That's awesome! Its always nice to start your first Disney day with a pleasant time at the airport.

Before we knew it, they were announcing it was time to board! I always pay for early bird check in which guarantees "A" boarding group.

Us too. Our last trip we didn't and we literally got the LAST two seats together on the plane. Since then we opt for EBCI.

The room was beautiful! I know some people think it's not "beachy" enough but I thought it was really pretty and classy looking.

That's ok, its super classy looking and you can feel the "beach vibe" throughout the rest of the resort.

My only "complaint" about the room would be the lack of storage space. We pretty much lived out of our suitcase for the week because there was hardly any drawer space or anything! I thought this was weird, especially for a "deluxe" resort. I mean, it wasn't a deal breaker but I thought it was odd they would design the rooms that way.

I agree. You lose a whole dresser to make room for the little murphy bed.

Now I don't know about ya'll but I CANNOT handle the orange side on this ride. It made me sooooo sick the last time I rode it.

I feel ya, girl!

I took this picture of him after:

Awe, cute!!