Rob N Lyn Christmas Trip Report

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Day 2

We got up early and checked out of Port Orleans French Quarter after a surprisingly nice stay. We headed over to the Grand Floridian Villas for our first stay there. A very special check-in process awaited us. In the beautiful lobby of the new Grand Floridian Villas are quaint desks where you check-in with a cast member. Very personal and simple. After a short check-in, we walked over to the Polynesian where we had an early breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe. We have read so much about their food, including the famous Tonga Toast. They have a very nice menu with alot of choices. As a result, noone ordered the Tonga Toast It was very crowded and we had to wait a bit with a reservation and once seated, service was just okay. Food was just average too. Not sure if we'll return for breakfast.

We then walked back to the Grand Floridian and had Bloody Mary's poolside. It was still fairly early and our room wouldn't be ready for a bit. We were very excited about other family members that were joining us for this vacation; however, their arrival wouldn't be until noon. So with a little time on our hands, we walked over to the main lobby of the Grand Floridan and checked the Christmas decorations, especially the Gingerbread house We decided to sit outside and wait for the magical express. We observed a lot of activity with people coming and going and a lot of cast members assisting the arrivals. We were fortunate to meet Richard, the grandfather of Disney greeters. After chatting with Richard, we found out that we're neighbors back home, just a few towns over. What an experience meeting this Disney treasure The atmosphere was filled with Holiday excitement. They even had chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Finally, our other family matters arrived, and we were all ready to officially start our Disney Vacation

Shortly after their arrival, we were paged that our room was ready. We checked our first time staying in a 2-bedroom villa at the Grand Floridian. All I can say is Wow. We have stayed at other properties in a 2-bedroom, and all have been very nice but these were exceptional. Very elegant, spacious and new! We had ADR at 3 pm at T-Rex in DTD, so we headed over and did a little shopping before our ADR. We had never been at T-Rex, we chose this place because we had our 3 year old nephew (first time at Disney) and knew that he loves dinosaurs !! Great menu, lots to choose from, and everyone enjoyed their meal.

We headed back to our room to catch a breather because we had purchased tickets for A Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom starting at 7pm. Lyn and I experienced this once before with another couple and did not have such a great experience, mainly because it poured the whole time we were there and could not enjoy any part of the Party. Well, we're glad we gave it another go because it was well worth every penny. The parade itself was remarkable and held everyone's (all 8 of us) attention and even a few tears of happiness. We let the two teenagers run wild because the lines were not so bad for the rides. We found the hot chocolate & cookie carts and enjoyed the fireworks. We used our photopass for pictures in front of the castle (our first time using the photopass option). The pictures caught the magic of the night. Whew, what a day!! With tired legs & feet and a little jet lag, we managed to find our boat for our ride back to the Grand Floridian !

Some pictures from the second day