The Brits at the Beach Club RE-VISITED! THREAD 2 COMPLETE! About This Page:

[LSUtigerfan]

Nice update, only I'm sorry you didn't have a very good meal at the Flying Fish Cafe. Hopefully, you had dessert to make up for it! I've really been enjoying your TR....Can't wait to catch up on the rest of it when I get back!

[chezp]

Wednesday 25 December (Christmas Day) - part one: Goofy and Chip forget it’s the season of goodwill to others…!

Our Christmas Day started relatively late and, being a big kid, the first thing I wanted to know as soon as I woke up was whether Santa had visited or not, like he did two years ago, when we were last at the Beach Club. I looked out through the spyhole in the door and couldn’t see any little presents hanging on other doors in the corridor, so I figured that must’ve become another victim of the Disney cutbacks.

But when Mark actually opened the door a few minutes later, there was a stocking – I guess that we must’ve been one of the last ones up and everyone else had obviously already taken theirs! It contained some chocolates and candy sticks, but what’s in it isn’t really relevant. It’s just a really nice touch and a lovely piece of Disney magic.

We’d planned our Christmas Day to be almost identical to the one we’d enjoyed so much in 2000, so it started with the character breakfast at the Cape May Café.




The food wasn’t as good as a couple of years ago and the service was, to put it bluntly, lousy. Our server didn’t seem to want to know us and we practically had to beg to get more orange juice. I got the distinct impression that she didn’t want to be working today and while I can’t say I blame her for that, I would imagine that she didn’t pick up many tips that morning with an attitude like that!

To make up for this, the characters surpassed themselves! I don’t know if it was just because it was Christmas Day and they were giving it their all, but we did have fun with them. To begin with, Goofy and Chip were fighting, but then it went one stage further.

Goofy decided to tie Chip to a post, using his fanny pack. Once Chip got himself free, he wasn’t too impressed, so kept hold of Goofy’s fanny pack, despite Goofy’s attempts to retrieve it. Goofy gave up shortly afterwards and headed backstage for a break. Of course, Chip’s still out front waving Goofy’s fanny pack around like a trophy, so then poor old Goofy was stuck inside. Of course, he couldn’t come out with fanny pack on, so had to wait until Chip headed in for a break as well, about 10 minutes later. We loved every moment with them and had a complete ball with them.

We were trying to have our photo taken with Goofy and as we did, we suddenly acquired a chipmunk, Dale I think, in the photo as well. What a great shot and a lovely way to start Christmas Day:



Cape May Café
Food 7 8
Atmosphere 8 8
Service 6.5 6
Value for money 7.5 8

Average: 7.38


Me with Minnie on the way out

Afterwards, it was time to phone home and speak to Mark’s family, who were all yelling “Happy Christmas” down the phone at him. I wasn’t anywhere near the phone and I could hear it all clearly! My parents were away at my grandmother’s and I had agreed that I’d phone them tomorrow.

Then we went and sat by Stormalong Bay for a while. Although it was sunny, the wind was cold, which kept us out of the pool, so I didn’t get to recreate our wonderful Christmas Day from two years earlier. At least it was warm enough to sit outside – and it certainly wasn’t at home!

Next: discount shopping at Disney and a cold Candlelight Processional

[Colexis Mom]

I'm sorry the food wasn't good, but the characters sound like they more than made up for it! Great pictures too

More please

[Jillybean]

Whew! Just catching up!

What a great start to Christmas Day!

Jill

[lauren-roxy]

Looks like you had a ball at Cape Mays with the characters Cheryl!! Sorry the service was so poor. Can't wait for more!!

[Cinderbrella]

I'm glad Disney left some Christmas magic on your door! The characters at Cape May sounded like a lot of fun! Looking forward to more!!

[chezp]

Wednesday 25 December (Christmas Day) – part two: discount shopping at Disney and a cold Candlelight Processional

We didn’t stay at Stormalong Bay long, because of the wind, and headed off to Epcot instead to take advantage of our 15% Candlelight Processional discount.

It’s just as well we had the discount, as following our tours of the shops yesterday, we’d identified plenty we wanted to buy in Mousegears, including presents for all three of our nieces, a sweatshirt for Mark and scrapbook items and the Candlelight Processional CD for me. We left there with some fairly heavy shopping bags, but considering what we bought, I felt $115 was a reasonable price to pay. If you do go to the Candlelight Processional and have the discount, do go and have a look before you get to the day to decide what you want. That way, you won’t end up buying items and then find them in Epcot on the day you’ve got the 15% discount. Take it from us, that’s what we did wrong two years ago! (Unfortunately 2002 was the last year that Disney had provided a discount for all purchases at Epcot on the day of your Candlelight Processional dining package. It’s a shame, as it was a great perk. )

From there, it was back to the Beach Club to drop off our purchases and relax for a while. This is one of the distinct benefits of staying on property, so close to a park. You can just pop back to your room whenever you want to.

After spending some time back at our room, we wandered back into Epcot and took a leisurely stroll over to America for the Candlelight Processional. Today it was a really nice feeling to see people waiting for attractions and to know we’d done most of the ones we wanted to. Any we hadn’t done, we’d get done over the next few days.

For those staying at Disney over the Christmas period, if you’re there a few days before Christmas itself, this is the way to do it. Get all of the big attractions, which are likely to attract the largest queues out of the way while it’s quiet (generally before Christmas Day) and then when it’s busy, hit the more minor attractions, which will never have that much of a wait.

By the time we got to the American Gardens theatre at 3.45 p.m., they weren’t even admitting people to the Candlelight Processional, so we took our places in the queue which, as we had the dining package, wasn’t that long at all. When they did let us in, we got prime positions in about the third row from the front, far better than we had had two years ago. Boy did it get cold though, as we sat there waiting for the show and that was the first show of the night! I dread to think what it was like for the later shows and as we sat and shivered, I was glad that we’d gone for the earliest show of the three.

As we sat there, we saw the globe come out on to the lake, ready for tonight’s showing of Illuminations.



We ended up chatting to two newlyweds next door to us, who came from Washington state and it was fascinating to hear about their lives, very different to the ones we lead. That’s the thing I love about Disney, the way you end up chatting to anyone and everyone!

The Candlelight Processional was inspirational as always and very magical. The sound of the massed choirs and orchestra was just perfect. For me, this is the best way to spend Christmas Day, as while you sit there and watch it, you’re reminded of the Christmas story and the magic behind this special event.






I do always feel for the celebrity narrator though, ours was Gary Sinise again, who we saw two years ago. They don’t actually have a lot to say and all the time the choirs are singing, they don’t have anything to do, except look interested all the time and that’s actually not as easy as it may sound! If I was up there doing those readings, I’d just want to sing along to everything!

Next: lighting up for Christmas and a French Christmas dinner!

[DrDolphin]

I the CP!!! Christmas is just not Christmas without it.

[Colexis Mom]

Ooh, my favorite show at Disney What great pictures I'd love to see Gary Sinise

[DawnDenise]

Another great update!!! The Candlelight Processional sounds wonderful!! More please!

[chezp]

Wednesday 25 December (Christmas Day) – part three: lighting up for Christmas and a French Christmas dinner!

When the Candlelight Processional finished, we walked over to Future World and, by sheer luck, we saw them light up the Christmas tree. I even managed to get two shots of it, one where it was half lit up and the other where it was fully lit up:



What we didn’t realize was that they also light up the arches between Future World and World Showcase. More great photos followed and what a great view from the Christmas tree, all the way up to Spaceship Earth! I was completed enchanted by the whole view, very magical.





We started to walk back towards World Showcase, as we weren’t far off our dining time, calling into England on our way to dinner at Chefs de France and we discovered that they’re having a New Year’s Eve celebration at 7.00 p.m. that night, as that’s the time New Year will arrive in the UK. They invited us to join in and as they’re planning a street party, it sounded good to us! Guess where we’ll be at 7.00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve?

We had our longest wait of the vacation so far at Chefs de France. It took 15 minutes for us to get to the podium and book in, something to do with the very loud and rude idiot in front of us who was literally demanding a table for his party of eight! Yes, that’s right – he had no booking and he told the Cast Members that he shouldn’t need a booking, as he should be able to get into a restaurant on Disney property. I mean, where was he meant to eat that night? They very politely suggested that there were a number of counter service options around the park, but he wasn’t happy with that – he wanted a sit down restaurant. “Well,” suggested the Cast Member. “It’s possible that you might get into one of our quieter restaurants – perhaps Akerhaus in Norway”. The guy then told him that he didn’t want Norwegian food before storming off.

Honestly, you can’t help some people – how the Cast Members were able to stand there and just be polite to him when this guy was being so rude, I have no idea. I was seething just listening to him. You wouldn’t expect to go out in any town or city for a Christmas Day dinner without a reservation – why on earth would Disney be any different? OK, rant over.

After we got to the podium, we were seated in just five minutes. The meal was superb, with just the right length of time left between each course to allow the previous one to settle. I enjoyed every mouthful and was determined to finish it all, which I did, apart from a couple of mouthfuls of dessert.

I had the French imported cheese plate as an appetizer, which was excellent. I love my cheese, but Mark can’t eat dairy products, so for me this was a great treat. Most of the cheeses were familiar, but one wasn’t and come to think of it, I did ask our server to write down the name of it, but he never did. Shame, as I’d love to try and get it over here. Mark had the escargots, but didn’t enjoy them as much as he had two years ago.

For entrée, he had the duck, with natural jus, Puy lentils and braised endive. He loved the duck, but wasn’t too impressed with the accompaniment. I had the seared grouper, salmon, scallops and crab meat with stuffed tomato and saffron sauce and spinach ravioli. Again, desserts weren’t listed on the main menu, but were explained separately and I can’t remember what either of us had.

As far as the atmosphere goes, it was like the Flying Fish Café, in that the interior was very light and airy and we got chatting to both sets of people who had the table next to us during the course of our meal, which was lovely. We left there feeling satisfied and full, but not stuffed and really that’s how it should be with a good restaurant.



Chefs de France
Starter 9.5 8
Main course 10 9
Dessert 9 9
Service 8.5 8.5
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 9 8.5

Average: 8.92

From there, it was back to the Beach Club and a reasonably early night after a very relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Day. I can’t think of anywhere better in the World to celebrate Christmas than Disney!

The weather today was sunny, but windy and temperatures were on the cool side only reaching the low 60’s.
The best thing today was the Candlelight Processional.
The worst thing today was how cold it got during the Candlelight Processional.
The funniest thing today was seeing Goofy and Chip fighting at the Cape May Café.
Today we tried absolutely nothing new, as this was a carbon copy of Christmas Day 2000 for us!
The most magical moment today was the Candlelight Processional.

Next: a magical moment at the Princess Storybook breakfast

[lauren-roxy]

Great updates Cheryl!! I love your pictures from the Candlelight Processional, they are just beautiful!! Can't wait for more!!

[Jillybean]

The archway between FW and WS is absolutely gorgeous! Your meal sounds like a perfect ending to a wonderful Christmas Day!

Jill

[DawnDenise]

I the picture of the archway!!! That is an amazing picture!! Sounds like you had a great Disney Christmas! More please!!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great Christmas dinner Cheryl More please