Although we don’t ever need a “purpose” for a trip to WDW, we
did have three reasons for traveling – to celebrate reaching the halfway point of the courses for my degree, to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and to get one more
use out of our passes before they expired.
These passes have been fantastic in terms of the discounts
on rooms and shopping as well as admission to the parks on both coasts. Over the course of the year, we took seven
trips – six to Florida and one to California, and spent a total of 30 nights in
Disney hotels! These passes were worth
every penny!
So let me admit up front that we are fairly sentimental
about milestones in our relationship and celebrate many little anniversaries
throughout the year – our first kiss, when we got engaged, when we bought our house…you get
the idea. The list goes on and on. December 17, 1988 is a big one for us,
marking the first day of us becoming us; we spoke on the phone for ten hours
and by the end of the conversation, I just knew. We wanted to celebrate 25 years together in
some way, and decided to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on December
17 – Magic Kingdom, snow on Main Street – it doesn’t get much better than that.
Our Magic Bands for this trip were Christmas colors (mine
was green and C’s was red), and the names on them were Beauty and Beast. You may recall that our last ones were Ellie
and Carl. We’ve decided that each time
we go, we are going to choose one of our favorite Disney couples for the
names on our Magic Bands.
On December 14, we checked in to Port Orleans Riverside. The wonderful cast member said, “Ok, we’ve
got you in a royal guest room,” which confused me and prompted me to reply,
“That’s not what I booked.” He checked
the reservation again and told us that our room had been upgraded because we
were celebrating an anniversary. We got
our buttons and went to check out our room.
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| one of our favorite resorts |
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| courtesy of Mousekeeping - so cute |
Obviously, I was delighted.
I love all things royal – for obvious reasons – and the little details
in the room were just great.
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| faucet in the shape of Genie's lamp from Aladdin |
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| Cinderella coach wall hooks |
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| prince silhouettes - Adam, Aladdin, Eric, and Prince Charming |
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| prince silhouettes - Eugene, Naveen, Phillip, and The Prince |
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| close-up of the headboard |
After a stop over at Port Orleans French Quarter for some
beignets, we headed to Epcot for the afternoon and evening. We were pleasantly surprised to find the park
less crowded than we had anticipated, although that may have been due in part
to the intermittent rain showers. There
was no way a little precipitation was going to deter us, and we enjoyed
visiting the pavilions to learn about each country’s holidays traditions
(although I lived in Canada for 22 years and never heard the name “Belsnickel”
until it was on last season’s Christmas episode of The Office). We had a
delicious dinner at Nine Dragons in China before heading back to the resort.
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| chocolate and fondant model of Sleeping Beauty Castle and Matterhorn |
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| Canada's holiday traditions - who knew? |
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| Pluto and his holiday dog house |
Sunday involved lunch over at the Art of Animation resort,
then more beignets and a fresh ice cream sandwich before heading to DHS. We picked up some carrot cake cookies,
enjoyed some of our favorite attractions, and ate dinner at Hollywood and Vine. The evening was capped off with the Osborne
Family Lights – which seemed an appropriate bookend to the last day of our
passes, since we saw the lights on the first day we acquired our passes. Just beautiful!
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| ice cream sandwich made with fresh cookies and mint chocolate chip ice cream |
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| Christmas tree at Disney's Hollywood Studios |
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| Full moon during the snowfall celebration |
With our passes now expired, we had somewhat of a lazy day
on Monday: breakfast at Kona Café at the
Polynesian Resort, followed by some time at the Grand Floridian and
Contemporary Resorts to admire all of the holiday decorations. My friend Michelle had raved about a
restaurant at Downtown Disney we’d never been to, and since I consider her a
Disney expert, we decided to try it. The
food at Paradiso 37 was SO good and it is definitely somewhere we will return
to in the future! Thanks, Michelle! After dinner, we did some shopping and went
to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which was very entertaining
(and much better than the first one, in my opinion). Plus, who doesn’t love Jennifer
Lawrence? She’s awesome.
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| Christmas tree at the Grand Floridian |
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| gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian |
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| gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian |
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| wreath at the Contemporary |
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| Small World holidays at the Contemporary |
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| Small World holidays at the Contemporary |
Tuesday arrived and we donned our anniversary buttons before
heading to breakfast. It is surreal to
think we have been together for a quarter century. How has that much time passed? It would appear that the saying “time flies
when you’re having fun” is true, because these twenty-five years have been a
whirlwind of fun and laughter and adventure.
Breakfast that morning was a Whispering Canyon Café at the
Wilderness Lodge Resort. Those of you
who have eaten there are aware that this is not the establishment to frequent
if you are looking for a quiet dining experience, and the staff did not
disappoint. Our server took note of our
anniversary buttons as soon as she came to the table and she yelled as loudly
as possible, “Hey everybody! These two
are celebrating 25 years together! AND
they’re sitting beside each other! Can
you believe they still like each other after all this time???” Overall, I am fairly reserved and a complete
homebody, but compared to C’s thoughtful and quiet nature, I am the most
outgoing extrovert imaginable, so this attention was more than we bargained
for. However, our server was so kind and
attentive (and it goes without saying that the food was out of this world) that
it quickly turned into one of our favorite dining experiences we’ve ever had at
WDW. This is why we return time and time
again – the cast members make magic for the guests whenever they can. She brought us complimentary mimosas and
yelled for everyone in the restaurant to clink their glasses with their
silverware so that we would kiss. It was
very sweet of her to make a fuss over us and help our day be so special.
After breakfast, we spent time visiting the other resorts to
admire the holiday decorations and then stopped in for a late lunch at Beaches
and Cream. This is truly one of our
favorite spots for the food, the atmosphere, and the service and we’ve eaten
there over thirty times – it is that good.
After lunch, we stopped back at our room to get ready for
the Christmas party, and in true Disney nerd fashion, we wore matching Santa
Mickey shirts and our Mickey and Minnie Santa hats. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was so
fun – the parade, the castle show, the fireworks, the lights, the decorations,
the music, the snowfall – a perfect ending to our anniversary.
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| Christmas tree at Wilderness Lodge |
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| three beautiful giraffes at Animal Kingdom Lodge |
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| Christmas tree at Animal Kingdom Lodge |
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| Christmas display at the Yacht Club |
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| Christmas display at the Yacht Club |
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| Christmas display at the Yacht Club |
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| Christmas display at the Yacht Club |
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| Christmas tree at the Yacht Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| Christmas display at the Beach Club |
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| window display at the Emporium |
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| Christmas tree at the Magic Kingdom |
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| carrousel and castle at dusk from Pinocchio's Village Haus balcony |
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| holiday version of the Jungle Cruise |
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| Cinderella Castle with icicle lights |
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| Cinderella Castle with icicle lights |
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| full moon and celebration snow |
Wednesday morning we packed and checked out, then went to a
late morning character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian
Resort featuring Winnie the Pooh (my favorite), Tigger, Alice, The Mad Hatter,
and Mary Poppins. Each of the characters
came over to our table, with Alice and Mary Poppins being very prim and proper,
and The Mad Hatter being loud and obnoxious.
He was absolutely hilarious, yelling loudly about my “animals rights”
hoodie and telling Tigger I cared more for “his kind” than I did for people
(which is not too far off the mark). We
don’t often go to character meals, but they are certainly great fun. I adore the character of Mary Poppins, and
while it obviously wasn’t Julie Andrews (another obsession of mine), the cast
member did a wonderful job of bringing her to life. Alice also scolded us for drinking coffee –
“dirty water” – and told us that “civilized” people drink tea. :-)
We stopped at the Yacht Club to visit the gazebo where we got married and also snapped a picture of our "Walk Around the World" brick - as I mentioned earlier, we are ridiculously sentimental.
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| a little worn, but it's been there almost 19 years! |
We wrapped up our trip by seeing Frozen before going to the airport.
Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
So thirty nights over the course of the year were spent at Disney
hotels – the second most we’ve ever done!
During the 2008-2009 school year, we went one weekend per month and
spent 36 nights at WDW hotels over those ten trips!
Of all the perfect moments, one stands out more clearly than
the rest. Disney is known for inside
jokes, hidden Mickeys, and Easter eggs, often giving a silent nod to a Disney
movie, TV show, or memory in an unexpected setting. Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel is
filled with all kinds of knickknacks and paraphernalia and has many fans
fascinated with its backstory. We were
excited to go there in August, and spent quite some time looking around at the
details on the walls and the shelves. Up
on a high shelf, tucked into the corner, we spotted Ellie and Carl’s jar in
which they save money for their trip to Paradise Falls.
I know the picture quality is not great, but the memory in
my head is crystal clear. Best Disney
moment of the year for us.
Happy Tails to you!
