Skip to main content

The Grand Floridian, Minnie Vans & Monorails


Sunday December 2nd 2018

A Minnie Van, the Grand Floridian, a Ride on the Monorail into the Contemporary Hotel and Fireworks!

After leaving the Christmas Tree Trail, we took a Minnie Van to the Grand Floridian to see the giant gingerbread house and Christmas decorations and a couple of drinks at Mizner's Lounge. The Minnie Van rides are like Uber or Lyft rides except they are specific to Disney World properties and are driven by Disney World employees. While our experiences with other ride operators have been iffy, the Minnie Van rides have been very nice. Get the app. Enjoy the ride. 

 The gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian is always impressive. It is a Christmas tradition with the Grand Floridian and it takes them months to plan, prepare and build their Christmas gingerbread house each year. In the picture above, you can see the roof of the gingerbread house over Kevin's shoulder. They really put a great deal of thought and effort into this house. Add it to your annual calendar for next year if you cannot catch it this year.

 We walked around the lobby, took pictures with the Christmas trees and had a round of drinks at Mizner's Lounge before hopping in a Monorail car over to the Contemporary. I love going to Mizner's Lounge. It is on the second floor of the Grand Floridian and on the back side of the band which plays overlooking the gingerbread house on the first floor. We caught a few Christmas songs with the band before they took their break. We finished our drinks and headed over to the Contemporary.
Grand Floridian Christmas Tree
Noah, Maureen, Kevin, Carolyn
Gingerbread House in the right background.

Grand Floridian Christmas Tree and Me!

Grand Floridian Gingerbread House
Noah, Maureen, Carolyn

Gingerbread House
Noah, Maureen, Carolyn, Kevin
Kevin's shot of the Gingerbread House and Shop

Gingerbread House
Grand Floridian Christmas Tree

Mizner's Lounge

Grand Floridian Lobby
Christmas Tree and Gingerbread House
View from the Second Floor Balcony
To get to the Contemporary, we took the Monorail. Carolyn had never ridden the Monorail. It may not have been there when she took her last trip to Disney World when Kevin was two years old. It was a good ride. She got to see Magic Kingdom and Space Mountain along the way. Here are a few pictures from the ride.
Kevin and Carolyn
Disney World Monorail
Grand Floridian to Contemporary Hotel

Monorail Ride to the Contemporary Hotel (seen out window)
Kevin and Carolyn

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail Station at Magic Kingdom

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail in front of Magic Kingdom

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail passing Magic Kingdom

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail passing Magic Kingdom

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail passing Space Mountain

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail passing Space Mountain

Carolyn and Kevin
Monorail passing Space Mountain

 The next page wraps up our first night at Disney World and covers the Contemporary Hotel, Outer Rim and fireworks.
< Next Page >

Sunday
Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4
The Grand Floridian, Minnie Vans & Monorails
Page 5

Monday
Page 6
Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom
Tuesday
Page 7
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Wednesday
Page 8
Christmas and Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Page 9






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going to Disney World for Christmas

Sunday December 2nd 2018 , I rode with Kevin and Carolyn to Disney World. I've been to Disney World with Kevin many trips these past few years. This was the first time I've been to Disney World with Carolyn and its been about forty something years since Carolyn has been to Disney World. She says Kevin was only two years old when she went last! I never went when I was a kid. My first trip was in my late 30's, but I do love my little mid-life crisis. This next screenshot shows our route in blue. We covered 474 + miles over 7 + hours, including 2 time zones and a couple of toll booths. We got an early start on the drive, but it was not as early as we had planned. A strong storm system blew across Pensacola before the sun came up and we waited for it to pass before we started loading up the car. The storm was actually moving to the northeast so we had to drive through some really intense rain and thunder storms east of Crestview. We also drove through the area on
Post a Comment
Read more

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Tuesday December 4, 2018 Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party I worked part of Tuesday from the hotel room again. I met Maureen, Kevin and Carolyn for lunch at Disney Springs Art Smith's Homecomin' restaurant. They were already seated on the porch on the water by the time I got there. We had a good lunch and then they did some shopping before we took a short afternoon break back at our hotels. Maureen met us at Coronado Springs and we all took a bus (not Maureen's preferred mode of transportation) to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Maureen and Mike had bought party tickets for us all. Thanks Mike! Thanks Maureen! The first thing that Kevin had us do was get photos with Winnie the Pooh and his pals - Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger. We got some cute photos and then Maureen and I rode the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I realized on this ride that Pooh and his buddies had a very dangerous neighborhood. There were tornadoes, floods and it s
Post a Comment
Read more

Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom

Monday, December 3rd 2018  was a half day for me. I worked all day (or at least most of the day) from the hotel room at Coronado Springs. As soon as I could wrap up client work for the day, I jumped on a bus and headed over to Magic Kingdom to meet Maureen, Kevin and Carolyn. Maureen and I had FastPasses for Peter Pan - my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom. It was great flying over London and realizing that I would actually be in London in just a few weeks. Our flying ship stopped unexpectedly as we were flying over the Indian campfire. We lurched forward twice before the ride got underway again. When they say rides can start at any time without notice, they really mean it. After Peter Pan, Maureen and I met Kevin and Carolyn on the bridge in front of the Beast's castle. We did not have to wait very long before they announced our names and walked us into the castle for dinner at Be Our Guest. It was an early dinner but Be Our Guest is always crowded. We were seated in the main di
Post a Comment
Read more