Our Very Merry DISNEYmoon Celebration - 12/12/2011 - Day 4

[brivers222]

Previously on OVMDC
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/s...d.php?t=187839

Agenda: Key To The Kingdom Tour, SPA, Cali Grill, Sleigh Ride, MK

Photos to go along with story: http://photobucket.com/DISNEYmoon4

Originally I had planned to see the opening show at the MK by scheduling a 9am Key To The Kingdom Tour, but about 1 week out Disney had posted on all sites and apps that the opening would be at 8am (way to early to get YO! up for sure). So we just planned on arriving slightly before 9am. A quick look out of the balcony alluded to a slightly overcast morning and a mild temperature at around 65-degreesish. It was a vast improvement over last nights rain storm so I was a bit relieved because we had a lot of weather permitting activities planned for our 1 month wedding anniversary.
I didn’t bring my camera with me as I knew we couldn’t bring it along on the tour. No big deal, I can live without the camera for a few hours. As we were walking to the TTC I realized that the ponchos were packed in my camera bag, oh well the clouds don’t look threatening at all. We arrived at MK via monorail at about 8:45am, greeted by a large mass of people standing in front of the train station. Low and behold the MK didn’t open until 9am afterall. So we showed our confirmation to the CM and we were led out unto an empty main street. What an awesome sight! We checked in a were given our backstage passes along with choosing our meals from the Columbia harbor house. I chose the shrimp and fish with a Diet Coke and YO! decided upon chicken fingers and a lemonade. We were told to wait out side of the building for our tour guide (Jerred) to get us starting. It wasn’t long before we heard the whistle of the train and the opening show started… Granted we were behind the scenes so we couldn’t actually see anything just hear it. But really it was watching the characters come down the back side right in front of us. I got a video of Jasmine and Aladdin congratulation us on our honeymoon as well as snow white waving to me (not before I called out her name ☺ ) that makes up so far for the in ability to see her so far into our trip.
Just before the wave of people poured into the freshly opened MK it started to sprinkle and a quick check of the weather app yielded a not so promising storm heading our way. Great, ponchos were back in poly room 3022… so I decided to bit the bullet and buy an over priced mickey poncho, well one for each of us. $17.50 later I was putting it on. Nothing is worse than the wet feeling while walking around.
I am not sure if it is because I learn so much from this site and other online but I really didn’t learn all that much new from the KTTKT. But there was a few things that were pointed out along the tour that was interesting. The opening credits pointed out on the windows of Main street and all the different fake names Walt used while securing the land for WDW! Another thing that I found was cool was as we were walking from the Castle Hub to adventureland we were shown how they transition guests to go to the new land. Also I never noticed how the Crystal Palace was divided in half on the outside with one side being mainstreetish and the other side being adventurelandish. During the tour we rode on the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted mansion. The most amazing thing was back behind splash mountain. It was amazing that as soon as you went behind the wood fence the stench of garbage hit your nose! All vents point “back stage” so guests never get greeted with the stench. In liberty square I was shocked to know that the swirled rock pattern on the ground was to represent the river of sewage that would be found in the colonial time. Lol so much detail! Lunch and Columbia Harbor House was okay, it was typical counter service food… still appreciating the Deluxe Dining plan TS meals! After lunch we went in the utlidoors which I was actually waiting for, but it was a huge let down actually. We just kinda stood by a wall and looked at pictures on the wall. Idk, I was expecting a bit more ☹ after the tour we returned back to the front of mainstreet and we each said our goodbyes.
For us we had to go back over to the poly to get our car keys and drive over to SSR for YO!s massage. Arrived just in time for it as TomTom wanted to take us the back roads. Although I had DVC ownership at SSR I had never been to the spa and was not exactly sure where it was in the complex. Unfortunately SSR spa is NOT the same quality as the GF spa. I guess YO! had a guy masseur which isn’t always bad but I guess his arms were robin Williams hairy and that with massage oil on her back made it extra gross. Oh well, hopefully next time we go back GF spa will be back and running!
We had a little bit of time to relax at the Poly before our anniversary dinner date at the Califronia Grill. A new dining experience for both of us! The one downfall with the poly is that the Cali grill is the last stop before the TTC and the poly is the first stop after. We didn’t anticipate this and were biting our nails as we made each stop along the way. We arrived just at our reservation time 7:20pm. But I wasn’t sure where to go, so asking the front desk I found that to go up you have to go down first (only in Disney lol) I took a cue from people on the boards and made a mention to the check in CM that we would wait for a window seat. She explained that all of those seats are pretty much taken and not being let go as the fireworks were in 40mins. Oh well I tried. We took the express elevator up to the cali grill and upon exiting we were blown away. What a view and what a cool restaurant! We had our pager in hand and were just walking around the outside viewing decks. Amazing view and the rain appears to have left leaving behind clear starlit skies. We came back in and just then our pager went off. Our seater explained about the viewing decks but then said, of course with your seat you wont have to…. FRONT ROW WINDOW SEATS! Wow! This was the best meal I had all 11 days! I had the Chicken Pot Pie flatbread and YO! had the Cheese sampler. The entrée was the show stealer, the filets were amazing! Along with dessert our waiter brought out a champagne toast for us ☺ All throughout dinner I would give YO! some clues as to what her special surprise was (sleigh ride). She still had no clue. We went to the boat dock and boarded the boat heading towards Fort Wilderness. Upon exiting the boat YO! looked at me and said, “What on earth would I like at a campground?” lol now you have to know, Adrianne HATES camping. I shrugged it off and as we walked up near the Christmas tree she spotted the horse… I said, Oh, your carriage awaits! We had the most romantic 30mins moonlite sleigh ride around the campsites. I can’t imagine how much effort was put into these decoration, it truly blows your mind! I loved the hoof sounds on the pavement and the jingle bells. It was a romantic experience and one I really recommend for anyone visiting around xmas time!
The MK was staying open until 12am so we had about 45mins of park time to close out the night. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day! I think we only did one attraction there and that was the Mickey’s Philharmagic. We were back in our beds by 12:45am
To be continued on Day 5…

[Hair_Razor]

How lucky with the window seats!! Sounds like a great day.

[faline]

What a terrific day!

I think you were at California Grill the evening after we ate there. The carriage ride was a wonderful end to the evening!

[brivers222]

yep i think you are right... it was the night after the rainy holiday wishes. we will definitely be eating there again on our next trip!

[mouseketeer mom]

What you saw in the Utilidors is very controlled, right? We thought the same thing when we did the tour.
How did YO like the cheese sampler at Cali Grill? That was the one thing we ordered there that we didn't like.

[TinkerbellT421]

Oh what a great day I would LOVE to do the Sleigh ride when we are down for Christmas later this year. (DBF take note!)

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[Kairi_7378]

DH and I were a little let down by the Keys to the Kingdom tour when we took it in 2007. I think that part of the problem was that we learn a lot on Intercot and have read several of the "behind the scenes" books. Glad you enjoyed the CA Grill, it is DH's MUST DO for each trip.

[yjgirl32]

How romantic!!!!! Love your reports. ALso glad to hear you liked the sleigh ride- we are going around Thanksgiving and are planning to take the sleigh ride.

[brivers222]

You will definitely love it! So much to see... I would do the haunted one this trip but Adrianne hates all things scarey... which is why she loves MNSSHP