Jingle Bell Jingle BAM: A Christmas 2019 Trip Report

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This is the area I won't for our trip too. I looks to be in the middle of the skyliner and not too far from food.

I think it might be the best location. You aren't right next to anything but basically equal distance from pretty much everything. It was a short walk over the bridge to the pool and main area. I will say depending on what room you get there is varing degrees of Skyliner noise. Our friends ended up having a room araound the corner from us and they said they could hear the skyline announcement very faintly. We didn't hear a think, though.

We didn't get a chance to do this. Thanks so much for the review. Maybe someday in the future.

I hope dessert parties come back after all of this. But who knows.

Sounds like a fantastic first day!

Thanks! It really was!

 

[missjackiemcg]

What a beautiful spot for a dessert party!!! We did the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam dessert party this first year it was available (I think!) in 2016. Santa Goofy came around to our tables at that time. He came up behind me and when I bent my head back to look up, he bent his head to look down and knocked me in the forehead with his nose. Ow! LOL, anyway, my point was in 2016, the party location was the courtyard in front of the chinese theater. I like your view much better!

This is so perfect!!! What an awesome picture

Right at 8:30 PM we headed over with the escort. This is where I start to stress a little. I really wanted a good spot. I had read that the spots right up against the back wall were the best, but we were enjoying ourselves and did leave the area IMMEDIATLY. And they were all full

We had the same experience!! We went out to the seating area and were shocked how many people were already seated in the reserved space! Thankfully, we were able to find a spot to be together, but Jimmy had a really hard time seeing because there were so many people standing.

I literally RAN ahead, as I had forgotten to lay out Tinker Bell items. I got to the room, laid out (aka threw) the items on the bench, then headed to the main pool to see what the pool hours were for tomorrow. (this is what I said I was really doing)

The things we do to keep the magic for our kids! I am always running ahead or running back to the room, LOL. But it makes me happy when I see his reaction

Just booked our 2021 Christmas trip! I'm not sure if Jimmy will still be a believer next year, but I sure do hope I get one more Disney Christmas morning where he is surprised Santa found us at Pop Century

 

[suse66]

You can see both Chip and Dale were both still holding the plush. It was a great interaction!

The look of Gwen's face is priceless. I love the family photo too. You really can't go wrong with a Chip and Dale meet!

Overall we really enjoyed this dessert party. It was a huge plus to have a place to sit and relax. And to know that we didn't have to fight for a "good" table. Have adult beverages was also really nice. And you get the ornament, and even if it isn't super fancy. It just all adds up to a really nice expierence. My only complaint is that it is very dark. They could use a little bit of lighting to make it easier to see your food. But then it would ruin the ambiance a little. So, I get it.

The dessert party looks amazing! What a great way to spend the evening!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

He came up behind me and when I bent my head back to look up, he bent his head to look down and knocked me in the forehead with his nose. Ow!

Ow is right!

anyway, my point was in 2016, the party location was the courtyard in front of the chinese theater. I like your view much better!

When I booked the dessert party, I had read a ton of the reviews from when it was by the theater and they all kind of said the same thing. It is def a nicer view but DARK!

Thankfully, we were able to find a spot to be together, but Jimmy had a really hard time seeing because there were so many people standing.

Why do people pay for primo spot and then stand!? Just sit people!

The things we do to keep the magic for our kids! I am always running ahead or running back to the room, LOL. But it makes me happy when I see his reaction

Right!!! I know you understand!

Just booked our 2021 Christmas trip! I'm not sure if Jimmy will still be a believer next year, but I sure do hope I get one more Disney Christmas morning where he is surprised Santa found us at Pop Century

YEAH!!!!! I feel like with 2020 coming to an end, I am ready to allow myself to start actually thinking about our trip! How old is Jimmy? He is a year younger than Gwen, right? Gwen was FULL in on Santa again this year, if that helps.

The dessert party looks amazing! What a great way to spend the evening!

It was a great way to kick off the trip! Highly recommend it.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two: A Slow Start to the Day

After our very jam packed 1st day, we knew we def wanted to relax a bit today before heading out! Today was the big day! We would be meeting up with the L's! And I was so nervous and excited about it!

We all woke up around 8, which is LATE for my girls!

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Tinkerbell had left some festive shirts for the day. And some Christmas madlibs to do in line.

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Gwen was still a bit tired in the morning.

Around a little before 9, we headed to the pool for a quick dip.

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I was not feeling the swimming this morning. A little to cool for my liking. So, Andy took the girls to the pool while I popped into the counter service area. I got a coffee for myself and was going to mobile order some breakfast but it was trying to use the L’s counter service credits! this became an on going issue on this trip! We ended up not being able to mobile order this trip because it keep wanting to use dinning credts, that weren't ours!

I also grabbed some plastic sliverware for the room and headed back to the pool to sit and have my coffee.

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Morgan used the slide many times!

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Andy actually got in the water with the girls. He wanted to try out our water camera.
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And then Gwen and Andy used the hot tub a little before we had to head back to the room.
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Andy got out and headed back to the room before us, got started on the showering line. Andy text me once he was done and I dragged the girls out and back to the room we went! The girls swam for about an hour / hour and a half. I did want them to also relax a little still as well.

We all took turns showering and getting dressed and headed to the bus stop to get a bus to Disney Springs around noon, I think. The girls were tired already. And they were both melting down before we had even gotten to the bus stop!!!

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Yesterday was a long day and Morgan wasn’t rebounding very well. I had to sit down with Morgan (literally in the middle of the bus stop) and talk with her about her attitude. I had both girls sit down with me and rest and we looked at food options for lunch as I assumed they were hungry by now as well.

We waited a little bit for a bus. There were a few families waiting. One which was NOT happy about how long the wait was. (I don’t know how long they were waiting) but they were using the phone at the bus depot. That bus camp for MK and those folks got on. Then a HS bus came and then another HS bus came. And then a DS bus. The wait wasn’t too long.

We arrived at Disney Springs around 12:50 PM.

We saw the big Christmas Tree with a photo pass photographer. Stopped and got a photo as there was only 1 family there.

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Disney Springs was decorated nice as well.

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Pictures came out great dispite us all being starving! And I sighed a little relief that I knew we at least had one Christmas Card worthy picture!

We headed DIRECTLY to get lunch after that. There was a bit of a line, but it was prime lunch time, so there wasn’t too much we could do about it. As we were waiting in line, I said this is why we try and eat counter service lunch BEFORE noon!!!!

Once we were inside, we sent the girls to grab a table to hold and to just not be standing on there feet. It took till 1:30 PM till we got our lunch. So, we waited a good 30 minutes in line. Not great. But it was worth it. We love the food here!

Gwen ordered Chicken Tenders served with Carrot Sticks, Lil' Ranch Dipper and Apple Juice
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We subbed the carrot sticks for waffle fries. The chicken tenders were really good. Actual chicken! I think Gwen ate all of the fries and one tender. Morgan might have stollen one, as well.

We convinced Morgan to try the Slider Trio - Southern Pig, Low and Slow Brisket and Fried Chicken
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Morgan was a little hesitant about the different sliders, but tried them all and ate most of them. She said her favorite was the pulled pork slider.

Andy and I split the Low & Slow Brisket - Prime Brisket, Pimento Cheese, Porter BBQ, Pickled Jalapeños and Onion Straws served with a Pickle Spear
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This is my favorite!!! I love it sooo much!!!

I also ordered a beverage! As I think I felt like I needed to make up for yesterday! I went with the Polite Punch - Light Rum, Whiskey, Passion Fruit, Lime and Bitters
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This was delish as well, my only complaint was that I drank it all way to fast!

I will say, it took awhile to order, but our food came out fast! If you haven't been here before, you order up front and they give you a coaster buzzer thing. And then they bring the food to your table. We didn't wait long at all for our food once we had ordered, so that was nice.

After we had all eaten and our moods had improved, we headed out to explore a bit. Andy wanted his moonshine from Homecomin’, so he headed that way. I took the girls to the bathroom and then we headed to Wine Bar George so I could get a Frose.
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On our adults only trip, we stopped at the outside bar of Homecomin' and Andy has been hooked on the Sweet Tea Moonshine.

Sweet Tea Shine
Sweet Tea, fresh-squeezed lemon and moonshine
And I was excitied that we had gotten a holiday squeeze bottle!

Andy met us at Wine Bar George, It took awhile as there was a group of 4 ladies ordering when we got there and they were sampling the different flavors. Gwen wanted a cup of water, which they were glad to give me. And then she saw the metal straws, and wanted one. So, Gwen got a free cup of water and a metal straw.

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I think I went with the rose frose. So good!

We headed into World of Disney to let the girls shop a little. We mostly wandered around and let them checkout all of the merch, mostly Christmas Stuff. They both ended up getting the Christmas Wishables. And Andy picked up a Christmas Shirt.

At some point we started texting with the L’s. There plane was delayed and we were trying to time when we needed to be in Magic Kingdom to meet up with them. We needed to get moving, so we headed towards to Tree Trail.

We of course, pitt stopped at a churro stand.

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Morgan ordered an Apple Cinnamon churro and Gwen went with a peppermint churro. They both liked them, but Gwen said hers wasn’t very Pepperminty. We took there churros to go. And headed to the tree trail!

up next a boat load of tree pictures!

 

[sheri18]

Joining in...great pics

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Two: Christmas Trees and more Christmas Trees!!!

So, the last thing I wanted to do before we were united with the L's was the Christmas Tree Trail. The L's had been to Disney one other trip. So this was there second trip and I really wanted to fit in as much as we could for them. And I knew that the tree trail was cool but not a MUST DO.

We started the tree trail at 2:45 AM

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Andy and the girls didn't really know what to expect. But Andy knew that I wanted to check it out. So, in we went! First up was a snow white tree.

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Once we got in, the girls got into it and trying to decide which tree they liked best.

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It was semi-crowded in the area. But most folks understood that everyone wanted to get pictures.

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You have to love the parks tree.

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And you "have" to have a frozen tree!

Somewhere along the way, we got word that the L's had finally landed and were heading to the resort!

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Gwen loved this one. Somewhere along the way Gwen decided that Princess and the Frog was one of her favorite princess movies...

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This one was my favorite. Haunted Mansion!

Somewhere around here they fired up the snope machine and I managed to snap this photo of Morgan.

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Pretty sure Andy posted this later saying something about Morgan still liking us or something.

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Morgan of course loved the Star Wars tree!

Morgan got more into the trees somewhere along the way.
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Gwen is no longer the only one posing with the trees!

We finished up the trail and decided that we needed to start making our way to Magic Kingdom.

Since we were already by the uber area, we called for an uber to the Contemporary. At this point I was trying to gauge exactly where the L's were and how much time we had to kill before we met up.

When we go to the Contemporary, Gwen asked if we could take the monorail around. And on VERY bad judgement on my part, I said sure why not. Let me tell you it took FOREVER to get to Magic Kingdom!!!!

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First we waited in the wrong line for security, they had a seperate area for strollers and one for no strollers and we were in the stroller one. Grrrr. And then, we had to wait for a 2 monorails to go by. And then I realized that we had to go ALL the way around to get to MK.

Oh Well, it was hot, and we were at least in air conditioning.

Finally made it to Magic Kingdom half an hour later! I meant that isn't bad, but I was SOOOO anxisous to get to the park at that point!

At this point, we figured the L’s would be at MK around 4:45 - 5:00. So, we didn’t have a ton of time to do anything.

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I was so happy to see this tree! We made it!

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Main Street was so pretty!

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It was intresting to try and guide the girls to something that wouldn’t take too long. We decided on People Mover. So, we headed into Tomorrowland.
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Of course there was a line! But then I noticed that they were filling up CP. So, we ran over there, and hopped in for a show of that instead.

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This was perfect also, because I knew this ariellasaucier@yahoo.como might have been skipped the rest of the trip!

After CoP, it was FINALLY time!!!! I had major butterflies in my stomach! I was so excitied!!!!

Up next the Big Reveal!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Joining in...great pics

Welcome!!!!!!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Wow all of those trees are gorgeous! also cannot wait to hear about the meet up!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

All caught up! We love the Jingle bell jingle bam dessert party too. I do hope it comes back in the future!

 

[vamassey1]

A swim sounds like a relaxing way to start your day. Sorry for the confusion on the mobile ordering. When it works right it can be a really good thing. I've never tried the Polite Pig but someday I would like to. I love a good pulled pork sandwich. I did the Christmas Tree tail by myself last year and really enjoyed it. So many pretty trees.

I'm looking forward to the big reveal.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Wow all of those trees are gorgeous! also cannot wait to hear about the meet up!

I hope to post that soon! I am off all this week and we have zero plans! So, I should have plenty of time.

We love the Jingle bell jingle bam dessert party too

Thanks to your reviews it was helpful!

I've never tried the Polite Pig but someday I would like to.

We went on our adult only trip kind of on a whim and Andy was sold!

 

[karalecia26]

Joining in on your trip report! It sounds like you had a fun first couple days! Disney at Christmas time is my favorite! We haven't been down to see the tree trail yet, but fingers crossed they have it next year so we can see it! I can't wait to see your "cousins" reveal!

 

[missjackiemcg]

YEAH!!!!! I feel like with 2020 coming to an end, I am ready to allow myself to start actually thinking about our trip! How old is Jimmy? He is a year younger than Gwen, right? Gwen was FULL in on Santa again this year, if that helps.

I think Jimmy is between your girls, maybe. He's 11 1/2, turning 12 in July. He was super into his elf and Santa this year, too, so I'm hoping he's good for one more!

Somewhere around here they fired up the snope machine and I managed to snap this photo of Morgan.

This is the cutest picture!!! Morgan is usually grinning in pics, but how adorable is she with a full on smile and giggles!!?!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I think Jimmy is between your girls, maybe. He's 11 1/2, turning 12 in July. He was super into his elf and Santa this year, too, so I'm hoping he's good for one more!

I think I still think of him as that little boy from one of the first trip reports of yours! Ha! Gwen will be 11 in July, so they are basically a year apart. And he is in between both!

Morgan is usually grinning in pics, but how adorable is she with a full on smile and giggles!!?!!

I know! She kind of has this closed smile. This is also so nice that something so small could cause such a great happy smile.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!!!!

I don't know about any of you, but I am ready for 2021 and what I hope to be the beginning of things returning to a new normal. New Year's has never been my favorite holiday, regardless, so we are being SUPER low key today/this evening. We played a few board games this afternoon, made homemade pizza and are now watching Incredibles. Exciting, huh? I am drinking champagne while typing this, but that is about as festive as we are getting. Here's to next year!!!

And what better way to celebrate the new year, than posting "the big reveal" today.

Day Two: "The Big Reveal"

I left us off finishing up with CoP. And Andy and I were trying to nagivate the girls towards the L's and text with the L's all at the same time. We said we should head to Pirates tto use our fast pass, but actually, I just got an alert that Pirates was down, so our fast pass had turned into an anytime fast pass.

We headed to the hub area, which Miss L said they were in the hub. There was a Move it Shake it Parade going on. So, it was a bit chaotic. I had thought of about a million different ways to do this, but never cam up with one that sounded realistic. So, the basic plan was just to run into each other. I wanted more fanfare but with Morgan and Gwen not knowing as well, it made it hard to wait out for the L's to show up. But it didn't really matter. They were surprised all the same.

They were by the Walt Statue, and we just kind of walked up. Morgan and Gwen almost didn't even see them! I pointed out, Who was that over there... And Gwen's face tells the whole story... She was beyond suprised. So was Morgan, I just didn't get a good photo of her.

Gwen Suprised

The L's suprised
Little L and M were soooo confused! I think they were still takin gin Disney, they had just gotten there and then bam, we showed up.

L & M in disbelief
I think they were all in disbelief that we were all in Disney togetther.

Miss L & Morgan
The kids were all SUPER excited to see each other. And I think the adults were proud that we had managed to keep it a secret!!!

After we all kind of settled down, we grabbed some photo pass photos there in hub.

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The L's went first.

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And then we went.

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Photo Pass L's & S
And then one all together.

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The first of many! Which this worked out well for us, one family would go, then the other and then we would do all together. And then at the end the Photo pass CM would just scan both of our magic bands, and we would all get the photos. It worked out seamlessly. And since our accounts were linked, we could access each others photos, in teh few rare instances that we took photos without each other.

We talked about what to do first, and the kids decided on Buzz. I think the big kids might have wanted to do Space Mountain but I said we should do something we can all do together. So we landed on Buzz.

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So, we headed that way!

There was bit of a line but we decided to get in line anyway. We were still all just talking and excitied to see each other. So, the wait wasn’t too bad. Other than the fact that we had a dinner reservation to make! We got in line around 5 and our reservation was 5:45. Would we make it in time?

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The kids wanted to ride with each other, but Little M was too young, even with Morgan. We tried to let Morgan go with Little M, but the CM said no, so Miss L went with M and I went with Morgan. Morgan was NOT happy about it and pretty much mooped the entire ride.

Gwen & L Buzz Lightyear
Here is Gwen and Little L. Gwen had her game face on!

Andy and L Buzz Lightyear
Andy and Mr. L went together. And I love this... College room mates to Space Rangers.

Morgan Buzz Lightyear
Me and Morgan... See how hard she is trying to play the game.

Miss L & LIttle M Buzz Lightyear
And then Miss L and Little M. Little M LOVED this ride.

After our ride, we had to high tail it over to dinner. We had dinner reservations at Skipper Canteen. We were about 15 minutes late, but the CM when we checked in, didn't seem to care one bit. Which was good.

Up next dinner!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Oh my goodness Gwens face was priceless! So fun!

 

[cstorm65]

Glad to have your trip report to read! I haven't been coming around the Dis much since we haven't had any trips to report on and I was just getting disappointed. The Homecomin' food looks so good! I can't wait to try that place. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

 

[Paulaparm]

All caught up! So glad the kids were surprised. Can't wait to read more

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Oh my goodness Gwens face was priceless! So fun!

Thanks! I was super excitied that we managed to not blow the suprise.

Glad to have your trip report to read! I haven't been coming around the Dis much since we haven't had any trips to report on and I was just getting disappointed. The Homecomin' food looks so good! I can't wait to try that place. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

I am so glad you are hear!!!! I totally understand not being on the boards with no trips in the future. It's hard. I think we are all slowly coming out of our lack of disney depression. We LOVE LOVE LOVE homecoming now!

All caught up! So glad the kids were surprised. Can't wait to read more

Welcome!!!! So, glad you are here. Another upday hopefully coming soon.