Lynne and John are friends that enjoy doing the same things that we do. All four of us enjoy going to Disney. Many of my other friends and family…not so much. Florida residents have a really good deal on Season’s tickets. Granted, we do have some “black out” times. December 19 through January 1 have one of these periods. Most of the time, it is no fun to go to Disney during these times, anyway, as the place is MUCH too crowded. Long lines for everything. Steve and I have had season’s passes for several years now. Most of our “up-north” friends like to go there when they visit us. A season’s pass costs about the same as the rest of y’all pay for about four and a half days. So, another value for us. We manage to get to Disney around ten to fifteen times during a year. Our pass allows us to “Park Hop.” So, sometimes we go to more than one park in a day.
John called us a couple of days ago. He is retired Navy. Disney offered a very special good deal for active and retired service personnel for the year 2009. They could get a five day Park Hopper set of passes for free. They could also purchase extra ones for his or her spouse and loved ones at a super special price. These passes expire December 31 of this year. They had a couple of days left on their passes and wanted us to join them. We agreed and then looked at our own passes. OOOOOOPS! Black out.
There is something we had all wanted to do and that was to go to the resorts and see the decorations. We decided that we would spend the morning doing this. Then Lynne and John would go to a park, and Steve and I would go home. Lynne and John had not had breakfast, so they ate a quick meal from the Wilderness Lodge cafeteria.
We visited four resorts. A travel channel had indicated that this was something that one could do. We met them at the Wilderness Lodge—a favorite of all of us. Each of the resorts we visited had Christmas trees decorated in its particular theme and reached high into the atrium—maybe thirty-forty feet up. Appropriate themed garland was also strung around each resort.
THE WILDERNESS LODGE
The Wilderness Lodge is designed after some of the wilderness lodges in the West during the later part of the 19th and earlier part of the 20th centuries. Very rustic. And, like all Disney facilities, absolutely totally detailed to its theme. The center lobby with its five story atrium. The upright supports look like giant logs. Several of them have carved animals—a wolf, an eagle, an elk, raccoon hiding in a tree, a jackalope. The tree is decorated with eighteen inch high lighted teepees and an assortment of tom toms. There are also large bows in rustic themed fabric, smaller wood decorations with looks like hand painted pictures of wild American animals. In the lobby and the halls around the upper floors of the atrium an assorted display of Native American and old west relics. The chairs are also rustic style. Like all Disney attractions and resorts, the “cast” is uniformed in themed attire. One of the outside topiaries is a mother buffalo with her young buffalo baby. On the cement sidewalk leading to this topiary are buffalo hoof prints. So, cool.
THE GRAND FLORIDAN
After perusing the Wilderness, we hopped into our car and motored to the Grand Floridian. The words “grandiose” and “opulent” do not begin to cover this place. Its tree was decorated with Victorian style ornaments including wooden birdhouses. The garland and many arrangements were filled with Victorian flowers (roses, hydrangea, and other dried flowers).
There are several swimming pools, but this was another cold windy day in Sunny Florida. We did not spend much time outdoors. It is located on the Seven Seas Lagoon and has a monorail stop that will take one to the Magic Kingdom. There is a beautiful wedding pavilion on this portion of the campus, but again it was too cold to check it out.
Another feature—this one especially for the Christmas season--is a real life-sized ginger bread house within the atrium lobby. It is large enough for workers to stand inside and use it as a store. I wish I wrote down the ingredients. They are posted outside the building…an incredible amount of flour and sugar, etc. Also, a small trickle of ginger fragrance floats from the chimney.
There are many very ostentatious stores and restaurants--including the exquisite Victoria and Albert’s which is only open for evening formal dining. A white 1929 Cadillac and a coach (minus the horses) welcome guests at the front door. A character breakfast was taking place. Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter and Tigger were all visiting the breakfast. Staff was dressed in Victorian style uniforms. The male front door greeters were dressed in golf knickers.
THE CORONADO
The next stop was the Coronado. This resort includes a huge convention center. The thing is big enough to handle several conventions at one time with lots of ballroom space and many, many, smaller meeting rooms. Steve and I had gone here last year when four different conventions were being hosted. In the lobby, where THE Christmas Tree always sits, was a tree surrounded by a gazillion poinsettias in a rosey pink color with white edges. Red poinsettias all over the place. This resort has several building surrounding a lake. We could see an Aztec or Mayan pyramid across the lake, but again, we found it too cold to want to venture to it. Next time. The theme of this resort is Mexican or Spanish. There was a three foot angel on top of the tree that looked hand carved. The garland was brightly colored with Mexican style ornaments. “Tres, Amigos”
(from the long ago movie—starring Donald Duck) was the topiary that we first noticed and examined, but did not stay outside very long.
ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE
The last resort on our agenda for the day was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was sitting in the back seat and could not see exactly where Steve was heading. First, we got in the wrong turn lane leaving the Coronado. After a U-turn, we continued to the AKL. There are two portions of this resort—Jambo, the main part and Kidiani, a smaller area. Somehow, we missed the turn for Jambo and found ourselves at Kidiani. We took the Zezu elevator up from the parking area and walked through miles of hallways before we came to the lobby. Steve and I had been to this resort once before and knew nothing seemed familiar. Just before we got to the lobby we could see some animals. The Animal Kingdom Lodge looks like a large thatched hut, both from the inside and from the outside.
Part of the attraction to this resort is that there are several wild (live) animals in the compound which is surrounded by the various buildings. The animals can be observed from most of the rooms’ balconies. Zebras, wildebeest, waterbucks, ostriches, cranes. We went out to the veranda and could see several running, almost looking as though they were at play. But they were not playing, they were running toward the food that had just been left for them. They were rather aggressive in chasing the animals of other species away the hay. The zebras were the most aggressive. One got running so fast that it slipped and almost fell to the ground. We watched them for a bit. Then, we headed to the lobby and discovered how truly wrong we were. Everything here seemed to be miniature in what we remembered. Talked to Daniel, a cast member who gave us directions. We could walk (too cold), take a bus (part of Disney’s wonderful transportation system) or get back in our car. Number three won. We found the correct turn and the correct parking lot. Another, larger building and bigger lobby were a quick walk from the parking lot. Lynne called our parking space, “Princess Parking.” From a balcony we watched some more animals. This time we found a giraffe family (mama, papa, and baby) munching delightfully on some high-placed greenery. The Christmas tree in this atrium was decorated with hand woven baskets and various African related ornaments including some skin covered drums. The lobby had several displays of African relics, including several hand beaded items. Lynne weaves baskets and does bead work. Her work has given me an appreciation of the amount of work included in both of these crafts. http://disneyworld..go.com/resorts/animal-kingdom-lodge/
OUR LAST STOP
By this time, we were getting hungry and Lynne and John wanted to go to Downtown Disney. They wanted a special Christmas tree ornament which they have been collecting for several years. It apparently is only sold in the Christmas store at Downtown Disney. Parking was horrible. We drove around a bit. Just when we were getting discouraged, we saw a lady with packages, hopefully heading toward her car. BINGO! She was. We followed her. Someone else put their signal light on coming from the other direction to move into that spot, but we were fairly determined we were gonna get it as we had followed her for some distance. She backed out in the right direction for us to get it. YEA! Long walk, Lynne got her ornament. We decided to eat at The Earl of Sandwich. Lonnnnnnnng line. Well, worth the wait. All sandwiches and salads are priced the same ($5.95). One can get various sides—chips, small salads—desserts and beverages in addition. I had a holiday special—turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce on some wonderful baked bread. Yum! Yum! Steve got “the Original” which was roast beef with cheese and horseradish. I tasted that. It was also yummy.
Downtown Disney® Marketplace
1750 E Buena Vista Dr
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Sun - Thur 8:30am - 11:00pm
Fri - Sat 8:30am - 11:30pm
By this time, Steve and I decided it was time to go home. We took Lynne and John back to the Wilderness Lodge where they would use the Wonderful World of Disney Transportation busses. We went home. They were headed to Disney Hollywood, where they would stay until after dark so that they could enjoy the lights.
We would like to visit the other resorts--the Dolphin, the Swan, the Contemporary, The French Quarter (New Orleans), etc. But that will have to be another day.
As the title indicates, we did Disney “free.” Well, almost. Lynne did a bit of shopping and, of course, our meals and gas. It was a fun great money-valued day.
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