So, Tuesday was definitely a nice day weather-wise, despite being very cloudy until well past lunchtime. We headed to the Dolphin hotel about 12:30 after booking some tickets on-line for a very special event at the Gaylord Palms. We’re off to it on Thursday so you’ll have to wait until after that to read what it is (I am such a tease!)
It was still a little cloudy by the pool at the Dolphin but we managed to don shorts for the first time quite comfortably. The Cabana restaurant was fairly empty, in fact the hotel seemed very quiet with only one or two people by the pool. The majority of people we saw seemed to be attending conventions of some sort.
Paul ordered a burger and I had chicken BLT – both with waffle fries, which are particularly nice from there (nice is such a terrible word but you know what I mean). We did have to pay the full whack for parking this time ($10) and since the Swan and Dolphin are not Disney owned we get no discount for being annual pass holders.
When we left we decided to go to I-Drive to try and do some more xmas shopping.
I wanted to go to some of the outlets too. My fave and Paul’s least fave is the Neiman Marcus last call – loads of designer labels all discounted heavily. Despite trying on a few pairs of shoes I bought nothing! I did fall in love with some black suede Manolo Blahnik boots but even discounted they were way too much.
We then headed to TJ Maxx. Paul managed to get some more Polo shirts and I got a couple of pairs of jeans. Prices are all about the same as always in there so whilst good they are tainted by the poor exchange rate currently – still cheaper than home in many cases though. We also went to my beloved Nine West outlet. All boots were 50% off so I managed to get 2 pairs (long and ankle). Even with the poor exchange rate they were much cheaper than home.
We continued down I-Drive to Premium. It was under some sort of construction work last time we were there which is now all finished. They have actually added a whole new aisle of shops. We managed to get a few more xmas presies here so are doing quite well on that front. It was quite busy and as always we don’t think the prices are all that good, it’s a bit of a tourist trap. We also had to buy a pair of gloves each. We need them for Thursday’s event – there’s a little clue for you – and no peeking on the Gaylord website!
It was getting to about 6pm and we had tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party so needed to think about heading over to Magic Kingdom. We had a change of clothes in the car so quickly scrambled into them in the car park!
On the way to Magic Kingdom we stopped off at 7-11 for drinks and as I waited in the car I witnessed an accident. A woman in a Merc reversed right into some kind of small Chevvy and the Chevvy definitely came off worst. We have noticed this trip the standard of driving is worse than ever. It’s no wonder there are so many accidents.
Anyway, we got to MK and parked up. The event was sold out so we knew the park would be heaving. We used the Monorail and even with a slight queue got to the park entrance quite quickly. As we got onto Main Street people were already starting to wait for the first parade so we thought we’d take the opportunity to do some rides whilst everyone else was watching the parade. We did Pirates, Small World and Paul’s favourite Philharmagic. All were as good as ever and all had no queues at all.
We stopped for some sustenance in the form or McD’s fries again (typical US and Disney non healthy options!) and then headed over to find a viewing spot for the fireworks. Right in front of the Castle is the best place and we managed to find a great spot. It was very busy and crowded so we were lucky. The Castle was all lit up with special Christmas lighting that makes it look iced up – it looked really good.
The fireworks kicked off on time at 9:30. They were 360 like Pirates and Princesses and Hallowishes but we thought not as good as these 2. Hallowishes is my fave and P&P is Paul’s. Still superb though as all Disney fireworks are.
Afterwards we went back to Tomorrow Land to ride the TTA. As we went through Space Mountain the queue looked quite long. Since Carousel of Progress is not open at the evening events (my all time favourite ride EVER) we went over to the Castle where there was a show. It was the usual characters, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy in a Christmas special singing Christmas songs and dancing around. As soon as it was over we headed for Frontier Land to watch the parade. It seemed like a really long parade but was very good. Lots of the usual floats but also roller skaters between them. It was ended with Santa in his sleigh.
The freebies for this event BTW were hot chocolate and cookies. Not as good as the trick or treating at Halloween so no huge bag of candie to bring home. I thought they could have given our candie canes or similar but sadly not.
As soon as the parade was over we decided to head home having done all we wanted and having very tired feet from being on them all day (and you know how we pound that park!) As we got to the exit we had managed to catch up with the parade but about half way through so we thought we may have to wait and watch it all again (Paul felt it was like some sort of spooky time travel!). Thankfully, there was a gap where the cast let those who wanted to leave through and the parade had to wait.
We headed out of the car park at about 11:30, having got the monorail back to the parking lot again. It was not too busy so we got home quickly.
Today (Weds) the weather is cloudy with some sun struggling through. Paul has been for a swim whilst I type all this and later we are going to Epcot. We are gluttons for punishment but have to make the most of these annual tickets now we have them!
More again tomorrow…..