Hard to believe I haven’t written an update since 99 days *before* this trip. In any case, it’s time to recount the wonder, the amazement, the horror (well, not really. Okay maybe a little bit.) that was our December 2011 trip to the World.

A refresher:

This trip would provide my first-ever glimpse of WDW at the holidays, something I’ve wanted to see since I was very young. While the rest of my family took not one but two holiday trips to the World (while I was in college, mwah-mwahhh), this trip would be a first for me. The plan was to travel for 10 days (it became 11), stay with my grandparents in their DVC villa at Disney’s Old Key West Resort for the first eight, and then CP and I would switch to the Polynesian for two nights of club level luxury before returning home.  In early November, CP and I decided to add a first night offsite to our trip, which would allow us to be in Orlando with a rental car when my grandparents’ flight landed. It also allowed us to move up our vacation from December to November (3oth), which psychologically made a difference after a few very stressful months at work.

In addition to seeing Disney at the holidays for the first time, we decided to do a few new things on this trip. We made reservations at some new restaurants, booked a dessert party at the Magic Kingdom, bought tickets for the Christmas party, and, of course, were giving club level a whirl. All in all, our vacation was fantastic – possibly the best one we’ve taken. That isn’t to say there weren’t some bumps along the way, but all told it was one heck of a trip.

Day One: November 30, 2011

This day can be summed up in two words: packing and flying. Both CP and I took the day off from work, so we had (not quite) ample time to do all the laundry and packing we had unfortunately put off until the last minute.  The real challenge of the day was minimizing the stress on our cat, who doesn’t take kindly to our departures and who knows exactly what seeing a suitcase means.

In any case, we were packed and out of the house a little before 4pm, drove an hour or so to CP’s parents’ house, where we transferred luggage to their car and began the second leg of our journey to Boston’s Logan Airport.  Not only was Logan airfare cheaper than flying out of Hartford, we were able to leave our car with CP’s parents, thus saving easily +$100 bucks on parking.  The tradeoff was the additional 2 hour drive to and from our home to the airport, but having done it now I’d certainly do it again.

We arrived at Logan a little before 6:30pm and walked into…nothing. It was a pretty dead terminal, no lines, no chaos, nothing. Not that we were complaining! We checked our bags painlessly and went through security, where we both had our very first full-body scan (Say it with me: Awwwwww!).  We were soon at the gate, enjoying Boston’s newly remodeled JetBlue terminal and the free WiFi. I called relatives and Christmas shopped.  CP read. Exciting stuff, yes?!

Let’s jump ahead here. Flight = fine. Orlando airport = quiet at 11:30 p.m.  We proceeded to the National Emerald Aisle in the A-side parking garage, and were met with an unimpressive row of Chevy Impalas.  Not wanting one of those – and feeling the vast expanse of eleven carefree days ahead of us – we decided to backtrack to the B-side parking garage to see what the National selection was there.  What did we find? More Impalas.  And one stray Hyundai Sonata, which I almost took, just for the heck of it. The cloying smell of air freshener masking lord knows what was enough to get me back out of the Sonata, however, and into (what I thought was) an Impala.

As we exited the airport grounds and headed toward 528, I said to CP something like “Wow, this isn’t what I expected the Impala to be like.” She looked at me and replied “Yeah, that’s because this isn’t an Impala. It’s a Malibu.” Oh. Do with that information what you will.

Around 12:30am we arrived at our Hotwire-procured home for the evening, the Caribe Royale Resort.  I felt relieved after booking this hotel that all the reviews I could find of the place were positive, and it turned out to be just fine. Not great, but fine. A little generic? In the light of day the next morning we noticed that the resort is built like a public housing complex, with tall, identical towers surrounding a shared public space in the center.  Sure, this was public housing for the upper middle class, but it’s maybe not great that your hotel reminds you of something you might see on The Wire. Hyperbole alert!

Hello, generic hotel furniture.

Anyway, after thoroughly inspecting the room (for decor and bedbugs) we fished pajamas and toothbrushes out of the carryon we brought in for our brief stay. The bed was comfortable, the tower quiet, and our day long, so we quickly fell asleep.

Up next: The grandparents arrive, the first great meal is had, and I go cuckoo for Christmas lights.