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The end of my fact-finding mission is drawing near and I’ve scoured the four parks at WDW for that elusive Christmas spirit. What’s left? You know that Disney has to have also spiffed up all its resorts for the season, so let’s see how the deluxe resorts celebrate the holidays... The Resorts We start our resort hopping by parking at the TTC and taking the monorail to the Polynesian. Having heard of the mythical "Tonga toast" for years now, we decide to start our tour by breakfasting at the Kona Café. Jeff orders a sensible breakfast of eggs and potatoes, and I go for Auntie Kaui’s Tonga Toast. The waiter returns with our order and warns me to not pour syrup on my toast without trying it first. And he’s right, it’s sourdough bread stuffed with bananas and fried, then covered in cinnamon sugar. It is so rich, I can’t even finish half of it. I inform the waiter afterwards that I don’t think I’ll order it again but I thought it was interesting to say the least. He tells me that one couple who always stays at the Poly insist on having the Tonga toast every morning for breakfast. How do they tour the parks without collapsing from sugar overload? We then stroll through the hotel lobby, taking in the South Seas-styled Christmas decorations. A tree covered with Hawaiian toys graces the entranceway, and all the shop windows display merchandise with Christmas trimmings and leis.
A very clever display shows Santa’s workshop in the South Seas. The sign announces that Santa was invited to winter further south this year and he accepted.
I like the ambience of the Polynesian a lot and decide I’d better win the lottery so I can afford to stay here from now on when I visit the World. But the monorail arrives and we continue our journey on to the Grand Floridian. Disembarking from the monorail, the first hint of the extravagance of the Grand Floridian comes in the form of a large miniature railroad display. The train steams around a little town made up of spun sugar and gingerbread houses. Very cute.
Looking up from the train display, our vision is completely taken up with a huge Christmas tree that stands at least four stories tall. I run up and down the different flights of stairs trying to take the best photo of the tree, which is decorated with pastel ornaments and giant gilded mirrors.
Down in the lobby, a large gingerbread house stands in one corner.
From the other side of the house, a cast member sells special Christmas candies and sweets to hotel guests.
We wander the hotel, noting that the lunch prices for the smaller restaurants and especially that of the morning Character breakfast were not that much more expensive than in the Parks. As we ascend the grand staircase, visions of myself dressed in Edwardian costume and living the life of a doomed Henry James heroine fill my head. Jeff decides the place is too stuffy for him. I finally have to agree, noting that all the clothing shops sell conservative golf clothing and I don’t think I could ever see myself wearing plaid pants and a polo shirt. Oh the horror, the horror! Suitably awed by the Grand Floridian, we take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom where we switch to the ferry to the Wilderness Lodge. I have a great fondness for the Wilderness Lodge, because when I was young, my family would always go on long car trips to stay at all the great national parks like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone. We come in by the waterfall and spy a small Christmas tree to the side, decorated with tiny birch bark canoes, teepees and drums.
In the main hall stands a Christmas tree, equal in height to the tree at the Grand Floridian, but it is dressed with the same tiny birch bark canoes, teepees and drums as on its littler sibling tree. Once again, I roam up and down the floors trying to get all of the massive tree into my viewfinder for a decent photo.
By now, we are famished from our wanderings and decide to brave the Whispering Canyon Café. There’s no wait for a table and we’re taken to a back table where we hope we will be left un-accosted by the very theatrical waiters. I order a chicken sandwich and Jeff orders the pork ribs. I advise him this may not be a good idea as the last time that we were here, the waiters announced how many ribs he had eaten. The food is wonderful and we try out all the different barbecue sauces. Jeff orders a refill on his milkshake and I hold my breath as the waiter takes the order. I think he sees the look in our eyes and refrains from publicly humiliating us as only a Whispering Canyon Café waiter can do. We head back to the launch and wait along with several other families. One family is dressed to the nines, including three little girls between the ages of 4-6. The hair of each girl is immaculately styled and the mothers have these wonderful Southern drawls. We guess we’re seeing Southern belles in training. The launch arrives and we motor off to the Magic Kingdom. As the castle come into view, the youngest of the three perfectly behaved girls can’t take it any more and screams at the top of her lungs, "I see it! I see it! I see Cinderella’s Castle!!" The whole boat breaks out into laughter and the girls are beside themselves with anticipation. It’s a true Disney moment. Next stop is the Contemporary Hotel and here the Christmas spirit just about comes to a complete stop. Down in the registration area is a very large sculpture of Disney characters out for a sleigh ride. A sign announces the sculpture was created by the Pastry Department and is made completely out of sugar.
To the left of the sculpture stands a modest little Christmas tree.
And that, with the exception of a wreath here and there, was the extent of Christmas at the Contemporary. We were so disappointed. I was really hoping for a big plastic tree or a metallic tree made out of silver with a lighted color wheel – you know, a really retro tree from the 60’s or 70’s. Dang, and I was so hoping to be able to make a joke about the "gently sloping decorations around you – even the trees are made of plastics". No Tree of the Future here... Not mentioned so far was the personal quest that I had been on to acquire the new 2001 Official Walt Disney World Resort CD (with 10 minutes of Splash Mountain ride tracks!). So we decided to try one of the Epcot resorts to see if we could find it. Switching from the monorail resorts, we take the boat from the Disney-MGM Studios and drop in on the Sheraton Dolphin Resort. Inside the Dolphin lobby was yet another huge Christmas tree.
Around the base of the tree chugged a large model train.
Slipping into the gift shop, we discover the CD. Eureka! Hours before we depart the World, the CD is found. And now the time to say goodbye finally came. Trudging back to the car, we take one last look at the World and head back to the Orlando Airport. Of course, no trip is complete without stopping at the World of Disney Store in Downtown Disney. I put my MKC card to a final use for a 10% discount on some gifts for the folks back home. I’m really going to miss the MKC program; too bad it isn’t financially worth it for me to purchase the Disney Club card. We arrive at the airport on time and stand in line at Delta check-in where we find our plane has been ...cancelled! Good news, bad news. The next plane won’t get us in until 2 in the morning but we get bumped up to first class. On the plane home, I reflect on the results of my search for Christmas. And I came to a very definite conclusion. Christmas is alive and well at Walt Disney World but it’s not on the rides and it’s not in the stores or in the decorations on the buildings. I realized that all of my best experiences at WDW this trip came about because a cast member, either on the front lines or behind the scenes, took the time to be friendly, helpful, kind or generous to me and to the guests around me. To those cast members who may be reading this report: you guys are the greatest! To the Tapestry of Nations performers who invited children to dance with the "butterflies", the wacky CMs in the Tower of Terror who urged us to "enjoy our stay", the Imagineers and Resorts craftspeople who added special little Christmas touches to the queues and theming, and to the cast members in the stores and everywhere else who tried to fulfill every request, thank you! The pixie dust was not unnoticed; the Christmas spirit in your voices and in your actions was greatly appreciated.
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Fifth and final in the series
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