Tuesday, November 30
We left on Monday afternoon and went to my parents house for the night about 3 hours south of us. On Tuesday morning, we left at 6:30 CST to head to Orlando. We had to take highways to get to 75 south in Georgia and it seemed like we would never get there! According to Google maps, it should have taken us about 7 hours from my parents house to get to WDW. Instead it took us 10 hours. We did have to stop in Valdosta, GA to get a tire patched which took almost 45 minutes. That really set us back. Then traveling with C-man and JAG, we had to stop for stretch breaks, potty breaks and snack breaks. Without kids, it would have been a pretty easy trip! Finally, we were there!
When we got to WDW we checked into the Coronado Springs Resort and got settled in our room before we hit our trail! The Coronado Springs is a huge resort with a large lake in the center. The pool is a Mayan Temple theme that we could see from our hotel window. The food court, Pepper Place, was very good. One of my favorite meals of the week. The Convention Center is very large too and was a great location for the Youth Worker Summit.
First, we drove to The Polynesian Resort to check out the hotel Christmas decorations on the Monorail Loop. The Polynesian was a bit lacking in my opinion- but we didn't get too deep into the resort.
The Grand Floridian was amazing with the Gingerbread House and gigantic trees! The smell in the lobby was to die for! There were so many people milling about and the music playing was perfect to get everyone in the Christmas Spirit. In front of the large center tree there were Photopass Photographers ready to capture the moment.
The Famous Gingerbread House at the Grand Floridian
After this loop, we headed to the Beach Club to see their decorations and eat at Beaches And Cream. This lobby was my favorite! The Gingerbread Carousel was amazing. The staff was very hospitable and interactive. One lady told us all about the carousel and told us to look for a dozen hidden Mickey's in the display. Another man was passing out samples of the gingerbread and sharing copies of the recipe.

The Kitchen Sink at Beaches And Cream... who wants to join me?!
I had hoped to have time on this night to go to Fort Wilderness and see the campers all decked out for the holidays, but C-man was getting too tired and we had early breakfast reservations for the next morning. That also ruled out seeing the Campfire movie at FW. That's the beauty of "next time!"
Great stuff. Loved reading about the many stops you made. My wife was in the contemporary last month and I loved seeing her pictures.
ReplyDeleteWe threw our tree out last year, too, and I had also forgotten about it until I went to get it to decorate the house.
Too funny! :)