Hahaha I forgot about this and I’m so glad you reminded me!
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That Emperors cloak is epic!
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It really is! I thought it was just going to be an expensive robe, but when he put it on he really looked like Palpatine.
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Ok, vacation day 5 (already??) with a HS reservation. We rope dropped MMRR. By now I had a lovely routine on skyliner mornings, where I ran down the ramp at the Caribbean exchange to the Joffreys and snagged a yummy coffee before heading to the next destination. Bliss. 
Next up was Toy Story Mania.
No, best in vehicle was not me, it’s never me. On to Star Wars land so dh could get the emperor’s lightsaber to match his cloak.
We also did a mission with my mb+. It was a little odd. You scan the band, get an “assignment” and then walk around until the band turns purple. Then you go back to the place on the wall and put your band in for “credits.” I’m still not exactly sure what happened.
On to the Muppets and then ABC Commissary for lunch. I got a Mickey sipper that everyone I walked by from then on commented on. The gingerbread dessert was awesome, as was the buffalo chicken grilled cheese.
Last part of our HS day was my very first visit to the Beauty and the Beast show! Yeah, I know, how is that possible, but I have 4 boys and never got to see princesses or shows on any of our family trips lol. Now poor dh indulges me (although he has become as much of a Frozen Sing Along fan as I am.)
Back to the hotel for us, to pack up and get ready for the move to the Grand Floridian tomorrow!
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You drowned poor Mickey!
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We actually went back out after HS and hit AK. It’s pretty and relaxing there in the evenings.
I can’t do anything in AK until I have gone on safari. We didn’t see many animals on this one but I still loved it. Our ride was stopped by a CM in a truck for a while and we were entertained by two ostriches that pecked on her windows and posed.
We strolled toward Pandora as it got darker and walked right on to FotLK. Never saw it before. It was entertaining, especially the fire guy and the monkeys. We did have some people sitting nearby that hooted and hollared like they were at a sporting event instead of a performance. I don’t know that this would be a priority for me in the future as they really pack the place full!
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Just now catching up with your trip report. So glad you decided to extend your trip and we got to do a liner meet!
Your enthusiasm is infectious—I want to go back right now!
P.S. Love DH’s cloak!
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Me too! Let’s run away together lol. 
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Only if y’all take me too!
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The best way to do a trip report is to leave it for days at a time and then jump right back in, right? I thought so.
Vacation day 6, last park day, AK reservation.
We got the car loaded and drove to AK for our last park day and the transition to the GF. We haven’t driven our car to a park in years and it didn’t go well. More on that later. We hoofed it over to Africa for the Caring for Giants tour. Caring For Giants Trip Report After that we walked the gorilla trails and took the train to Rafiki to pet some things.
I’m not sure how long Conservation Station can survive in it’s current form. When we last visited years ago there was a lot more to do and characters to meet. Now the coolest thing there was the fancy bathrooms. Although we did enjoy the animal hospital and had a funny encounter with a cm making up meals. There was glass enclosure all around except for her area, and when she spoke to us we kinda freaked out lol.
We lunched at Restaurantosaurus (take that spell check) and saw the Nemo show. I enjoyed the older version better as far as story and “acting” go, but there were neat new “costumes.”
We receive our room ready text and head for the exit. Anyone else think AK has the hardest to find exit? The directional signs are all large and the exit sign is like an afterthought pointing in no real direction. Anywho, we board the trams to the parking lot and drive right past the entire right hand side of the lot. They make the u-turn and start letting people off at the left and we ask the cm in the back what’s up and she says they don’t stop on the right side, it’s (insert a bunch of bull here.). She says we can ride back to the tram loading and walk from there. She must have noticed we are old and didn’t want us passing out/dying on her watch so she flagged down another cm in a golf cart and they gave us a ride to the other side somewhat kinda but not really near our car. In the words of dh, “Never again!” Now off to the GF to experience life on the nice side of the tracks!
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We pull up to the gate at GF and are wished good luck by the guard for parking as the main lots were pretty full with convention goers. Can’t really complain when we are among that group. But we give it a try and discover that the parking lot one ways (yes, it’s a verb) you out to the entrance again so we are greeted once more and told we can park over yonder in the Villas lot. Or valet park. Well, we pulled up to the unloading area and ask for a luggage cart and are curtly told, “Madam, this is a concierge hotel, you can’t do that here.” The guy unloads our luggage and dh goes to the other side of the property to park. I go to the check in kiosk and a kindly old man asks if I want a ride to the room in a golf cart. Not wanting to be told off again I say, “Uh, sure?” He then re-loads all the luggage onto the golf cart and we wait for dh. Off we go on a lovely tour with our guide pointing out things and dropping knowledge about the resort. We arrive at Sugar Loaf.
I really like the layout of this property, each area of rooms has it’s own little lobby and the hallways are not super long and far from the elevators (looking at you Beach Club.). The room was nice, tucked away in the corner so we only had a half balcony. Dh only had a $50 bill on hand so he really made our valet guy’s day.
This was our view. There was construction going on involving machinery that BEEP BEEP BEEP’s a lot. A lot!
The tree was glorious, the gingerbread house was awesome. But these facts made for an incredibly busy lobby. It felt like we were walking in the parks just to move through our own hotel!
We picked up some dinner from the lovely Gasparilla Grill and enjoyed an evening in. Tomorrow, last vacation day and Epcot dinner and fireworks! Don’t get excited.
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We had the morning free, but no park tickets so we went on a monorail resort tour. It’s great how each resort has their own vibe for the holidays.
The Contemporary apparently uses more sensitive security equipment, dh got wanded (verb) even though we passed through others just fine.
Now that I have stayed at six of the eight deluxe resorts I feel I can critique them freely. The busses at the deluxe resorts suck! There is ONE area for all the busses to load/unload. The line at the GF stop was long on both sides…people wanting to board and busses trying to do so. After seeing how smooth things run bus wise at the other resorts I just can’t believe the deluxe hotels can’t get their act together. All that to say we took a bus to DS. Nothing went right there so I’ll just post pics and move on.
Time to clean up and head to the busses that are taking us to the convention dinner and fireworks viewing at Epcot.
The last convention we attended in 2019 had this event at the American Pavilion. This time we had dinner in the China Pavilion and watched fireworks in Italy. It was all very enjoyable, although we are not fans of the Epcot fireworks/show. That’s a wrap! Snarky summary of this glorious trip coming next.
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Love the snowglobe sipper cup!
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I can’t wait for this! 
I felt baited when you said things like
I like reading the good along with the bad You have quite a way with words too–love it!
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You are absolutely right, I shouldn’t leave details out. I felt like I was complaining a bit much and maybe you guys didn’t want to hear anymore of that garbage. So, our morning at DS. I went with the goal of doing the Christmas tree map and enjoying a Joffrey’s. We got off the bus and made our way to the World of Disney area, never seeing a map location. Asked a cm who said, “Oh, just go to any register to get one.” After waiting in a considerable line (it was Saturday, folks. Don’t do DS on a Saturday) we were met with a “I have no idea what you are talking about lady.” I’ll explain my frustration a little more by adding that in 2019 the trees were all together, kind of like a tree lot, with a kiosk to buy treats and special merch, and it snowed while you strolled and ooohed and aaahed. Some proof.
So much more fun, so much easier, so not happening this year. I gave up on the trees and headed to the nearest Joffrey’s which turned out to sell only smoothies. ?? 
?? Okay, Starbucks it is, where I acquired an iced peppermint mocha AND a venti pink drink and high tailed it to the busses.
Now for the wrap up. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, somehow this was our longest ever Disney trip and it felt like the shortest! We got so much done and tried so many new things all, GASP without G+ or ILL. Remy, Frozen, PP, Jingle Cruise, 7DMT, the Han Solo ride, MMRR. It was absolutely wonderful to not pay Disney to set alarms and be slave to my phone all day.
The Christmas Party was a big letdown and I won’t do it again. We’ve been going to Disney for 30 years, we’ve done special events, and that one just wasn’t special. Why in the world couldn’t they have the holiday overlays every night? A broken cookie and inch of apple cider I had to stir with my finger? Pass. Not one flake of snow. And being yelled at every five minutes to show my wristband did not feel special at all.
The two tours we took were definite highlights and we would absolutely do again. Both the Caring for Giants and Behind the Seeds were fun and informative, but also inexpensive!
The Grand Floridian was a big disappointment. A lot of money for an average room and the not making the bed or cleaning things is getting real old. Again, I say this after having spent fantastic stays at the Contemporary, Coronado Tower, Beach & Yacht and AK Lodge all before Covid. A lot of the “magic” has not returned and it could, but Disney knows we will spend the same money for less return.
Now we are coming up on our AP renewal and debating whether to keep them or not. Big changes are coming and they won’t benefit the consumer, that’s for sure. I hope we can renew, I hope we can go back, but there is a part of me that doesn’t want to do either with Disney in it’s current state. One thing is for sure, I have enjoyed sharing our adventures here and will continue to enjoy reading everyone else’s. You guys are the best!
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Had the EXACT same thing happen to me at Beach Club. They acted like I was straight up trash trying to bring down the whole establishment with my shenanigans.
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I greatly enjoyed reading about them! I love your sense of humor.
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I wouldn’t have said anything if you hadn’t already expressed your disappointment, but … the room as depicted in your photos looks fussy and dated to me.
I so, so agree. The best part of hotel life is having someone else make my bed.
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Thanks for reviewing these; I’m keeping them in mind for future visits and probably wouldn’t have thought about them otherwise. 
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