Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Last night we headed over to the Disney Contemporary Resort. I couldn’t help but imagine this was where Jen stayed with her family on their 1980’s Disney trip. I have no idea if they stayed there or not, but it’s what I imagined. (I have since asked and they did not stay on Disney property for their 80's Disney vacation.)

We went into the second building first, where only hotel guests are allowed. We rode the elevator up to the 15th floor (the 16th floor was only accessible with a key) and stepped out to enjoy a view of the Magic Kingdom.

We walked across the skywalk over to the main hotel. It’s such an amazing feeling just to be present on Disney property. The monorail runs right through the Contemporary Hotel, so we decided that a ride was in order. We stepped off at the Polynesian Hotel and enjoyed the shops there. I wanted Gary to buy a pair of Mickey Mouse Crocs but he didn’t want to spend the money. Sigh.

Matthew accidentally knocked over a display of vinylmation characters.

at the Polynesian Resort

Matthew thought the M was for Matthew.

The kids colored pages with a Disney cast member who was there for a semester as part of a paid internship. Apparently all the hotels have activities for the guests much the same way most campgrounds do.

Being that we were all tired, hungry (and broke! LOL) we went back “home” to the motor home to cook dinner. I had planned on making mashed potatoes and stuffing but I’m missing at least one pan so I wasn’t able to. Instead we had spaghetti with sauce, salad, and garlic bread. It was delicious. For dessert we had more of the Floridian chocolate.

When we were finished eating, the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom began; we had a front row view out our camper window. We couldn’t have had a better view if we planned it.

One of my main reasons for always wanting to visit Disney World at the holidays was to see the decorations. I feel like I am having the Disney experience without the thousands dollar price tag. It occurs to me that if we HAD decided to break the bank and head down here at some point, we would be having the exact experience that we are now, only we are seeing ALL the hotels, not just one, and we are doing it for free. The rooms at these places run about $500 per night to start, and we would need two rooms, so there is no way that we could do it for less than $10,000. Wow. Unreal.

That said, I’m having a great time wandering around all the free areas at Disney. Just walking through each gift shop really is such a thrill. I’m still unsure if we will be able to take the kids to one of the parks, and if we do how many days we’ll get to go, but for now we are just enjoying what we can.