Other than arriving at the airport on the first day, I don’t think there’s a better feeling than waking up on your first full day of vacation. Especially a long vacation, when you know there’s nothing you have to do for 10+ days other than relax and have fun.

In spite of going to bed late we were up around 8 a.m.  We dressed, read e-mail, and decided to head out to the Orlando-area Whole Foods Market to grab some breakfast. We took Apopka-Vineland road north through the suburban areas behind WDW, not rushing and enjoying the scenery (including wild turkeys and some giant egrets on our hotel grounds). We bought fresh muffins, fruit, and yogurt, and then headed to the nearest Starbucks for lattes.  It seemed every radio station in Orlando was playing nonstop Christmas music, providing a bit of cognitive dissonance on a beautiful, hot day in central Florida.

Confirmation we're really in Florida. (aka the Caribe Royale pool.)

AK Christmas tree.

We returned to the Caribe Royale, ate our breakfast, packed up, and headed out around 10:30. Our first stop? Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a park we hadn’t visited since our October trip in 2010.  We parked in row 36 and trammed ourselves to the front, enjoying the warm breeze and the feelings of anticipation.  Not in any particular rush, we ambled through the front of the park, me snapping pictures all the while, and headed toward Expedition Everest. We had a great ride in row 16, and then decided to walk back toward the front of the park, back to the Tree of Life. Since before our October trip I had intended to find the “hidden” trails that circle the Tree, and this time we were successful, finding an entrance to the trails near the exit of It’s Tough to be a Bug. We spent a good 30-45 minutes walking and taking photos, enjoying the hidden enclaves and waterfalls and the relative quiet you don’t normally find within a theme park.

Tree of Life close up.

By this time it was after noon and quite hot, so we decided to leave the Animal Kingdom and head to Downtown Disney for lunch.  It was in moments like this that I really came to appreciate having an Annual Pass; we were in AK for less than two hours, but I certainly didn’t feel like we had wasted time, money, nor park admission!  We secured a decent parking spot at DTD and decided to head first to Once Upon a Toy for a bathroom break. (Pro tip: Once Upon has great (for Disney) bathrooms tucked away in a back hallway; single stalls that are quiet and infrequently used, if you care about that sort of thing). The store was MOBBED with screaming children, so we didn’t linger long.

All Hail Duffy!

Our next stop was the pin store to see if we could find some 40th anniversary mystery sets we had started collecting during our May trip.  The pin store was a) also mobbed and b) sadly devoid of any 40th anniversary pin sets, so we left, minorly dejected.  After a quick walk through Tren-D (what is this store? Still don’t get it) and Team Mickey, we stopped by Guest Relations to purchase our Tables in Wonderland card, the key to saving money on the many signature meals we had planned for the trip.  We thought we’d just stop in before grabbing lunch, but we ended up waiting in line for over half an hour, waiting behind a group of impatient people who discussed their desire to legalize carrying concealed weapons in bars. (ooookkkk.)

TIW card finally in hand, we headed to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. The line was typically long, but we snagged an outdoor table and enjoyed our sandwiches while we people watched. By this point it was time to head back to MCO to pick up my grandparents, who were arriving midday on a flight from Detroit. We headed down 528, and with a few minutes to spare, parked in the cell phone lot to watch planes take off and land.  Soon I got the call from my grandmother that they were curbside and ready to go, so we picked them up and headed back down 417 to Disney.

At MCO. Waiting for a flight to get in. (Get it?!)

By this point my grandfather confesses that he hasn’t eaten anything since his oatmeal at 7 that morning, so we begin a back-and-forth about whether to get him a sandwich at Downtown Disney; take him to Saratoga Springs to grab a quick meal (he loves SSR and in particular the Artist’s Palette there); or whether he’ll just suffer through until our dinner reservation at Artist Point. The thing to know about my grandparents is that they’re not huge on making decisions, so I finally convince him to eat an energy bar and wait until dinner to eat. This will become a theme of our trip: who makes the decisions? How do you satisfy people who won’t tell you what they want to do/eat/see?

In any case, we park and check in. Before the trip I had asked my grandmother to make a request on our reservation for a villa close to the Hospitality House so that we could be close to buses, food, and activities. She apparently didn’t do this, because we were assigned to room 5430, a third-floor villa near the South Point bus stop. The South Point bus stop also happens to be perhaps the furthest located stop from the main building, so I don’t think we could have been located any further from the front. Ah, well. We had a car, so we’d manage, and it turned out to be a lovely and quiet location.

The last time I stayed at Old Key West was 1994. To be honest, I was really hoping my grandparents would get us into Animal Kingdom Lodge for this trip, but I wound up really liking Old Key West. Granted, not my favorite resort in terms of decor, location, or activities, but OKW has been recently refurbished and looks really nice. Also, it’s HUGE. If space is a concern for you, OKW is a great affordable option for sleeping a lot of people/having room to spread out. Observe:

Old Key West kitchen, 2-bedroom villa.

Old Key West master bedroon, 2-bedroom villa

2nd bedroom

Bathroom off the 2nd bedroom

After lugging all of our stuff up the stairs (no elevators at OKW), we checked out the villa, unpacked, and showered in anticipation of our Artist Point dinner. The four of us piled into the Malibu around 5:15 and headed to the Wilderness Lodge to explore and take pictures before dinner. Of all the deluxe resorts, the Wilderness Lodge was the one I most wanted to see decorated for Christmas. It didn’t disappoint:

This is one beautiful Christmas tree.

Aren't they cute?

Why hello up there.

After exploring the lobby and 4th floor we checked in for dinner. While waiting for our buzzer to go off, I couldn’t help but notice how many people waiting for dinner were poorly dressed, at least for a signature dinner. Denim cutoffs and Mickey ears, really? There were also more young (screaming!) children waiting for dinner than I would expect for a restaurant of this price. I remarked to my grandmother that I thought we were seeing the effects of the Disney Dining Plan in action, and she agreed.

Feeling a bit hesitant about my restaurant choice, we followed the hostess to our table in the middle of the restaurant. I was surprised at how open it was, and how it felt refined but not stuffy. Our server was lovely (his name I don’t remember), and recommended a terrific King Estate Pinot Noir that would complement the varied entrees we planned to order.  My grandfather ordered the beet salad to start, and my grandmother the mixed greens, while CP and I split a cheese plate featuring an amazing Gouda with dates; New Zealand honeycomb; and Humboldt Fog cheese with raisins on the vine. Delicious! My grandfather’s beet salad was also a winner.  For entrees, he and I both had the pork, my grandmother the scallops, and CP the chicken with fresh pumpkin fettuccine. The wine was bright and delicious, the conversation pleasant, and even the nearby children well-behaved. This meal was a Christmas present from CP and me to my grandparents, and my grandmother teared up a bit when she confessed that she and my grandfather just “didn’t do this kind of thing, and it was really special.” We finished the meal by splitting apple upside-down cake and the chocolate indulgence, lingering over coffee and tea.

Now nearly 9pm, we headed to Whole Foods Market to buy groceries for the villa. My night ended with Sudoku, CP’s with reading on the iPad (thank heavens WDW finally put free wi-fi in the resorts!), and soon we were contentedly asleep.