Disney Christmas Day 4!

Day 4 was our "rest day". We knew we were headed to the Christmas party that night so we planned to chill around the resorts, get in a good nap, and then PARTY! We started the day with breakfast at Kouzzina. This breakfast pretty much knocked my socks off. I had turkey and sweet potato hash with poached eggs and arugula salad and it was AMAZING. Sasha and Teddy used the opportunity to score some Mickey waffles. I have to admit I had a bite of the little gluten-bombs. They are as good as I remember. Dammit.

After that we DRAGGED the kids to play mini-golf. They were totally against it. Said they would hate it, couldn't do golf, were allergic, you name it. They loved it and had a total blast. It's hard being right all the time...

We played the summer course and it was so much fun! All beachy and Christmassy at the same time. Kind of like Christmas in SA!

One of my fav holes was this one. You had to get your ball into a depression around this pole and then your ball went up the screw in the middle and popped out the top!

 On this one you had to shoot for the hole at the base of the tree through the gap in the train:

At the end a cast member gave the kids a free themed Christmas golf ball. They wanted to play more mini-golf right that second and begged us to take them to check out all the other mini-golf courses on property (there are 2 more!). I took the moral high-ground and didn't say "I told ya so!"

After golf we headed to the other side of the Epcot resort area to check out the Christmas displays at Yacht and Beach Club. It was a perfect day to ride the boats across the lake!

Yacht club had a huge Christmas train display!

There were so many cool little scenes all around the display that it took a good 10-15 minutes just to walk around and see them all. There was a mini-Radiator Springs, a Christmas town, and a mini-carnival:

Then we went over to Beach Club and they had a carousel made out of CHOCOLATE. Look at Sasha's face! That'll give you an idea of how good it smelled!

Each horse was different and incredibly detailed. And there were 14 little golden hidden Mickeys to find hidden in the display. We found them all!

The ingredient list!

One of the things that blew my mind about Christmas at Disney was the sheer volume of decorations everywhere and how none of them were generic or interchangeable. If you took a Disney fan to the massive Christmas storage building (which I picture being about as big as the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc) it would be pretty easy to point to a garland or wreath and say: That one is for Beach Club, that one is for the Grand Floridian, That one could only be for the Wilderness Lodge and all those are going to Animal Kingdom. EVERY garland and wreath at Yacht club contained some kind of theming with boats, compasses, anchors or helms, and at Beach club they all had starfish, shells, seahorses or little sandcastles. Beautiful!

I guess seeing those chocolate horses really turned on our sweet tooth and we were lucky enough to grab a walk-up at Beaches and Cream! The kids each wanted a "No Way Jose". I talked them into splitting one. Yeah, that was a good choice.

When you consider that for my kids one Oreo would be a pretty amazing treat, this thing was like a Christmas miracle!

Even Teddy and his massive sweet tooth was defeated by that Sundae. Good thing they shared!

After a fantastic nap (nothing like noshing on a load of carbs and then sleeping right?) We headed over to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner and then a boat ride to the party. I loved all the decorations at all the resorts, but WL was my absolute fav. It was so rustic and beautiful!

Love this place!

It was a beautiful night for a Christmas Party!

We hit the party on such a great night! It was perfectly crowded. Enough people to make it festive but no waits for rides or treats and no fighting through the crowds. They even gave us gluten-free cookies at the complementary snack stations!

We found a great place to watch the parade right before it started! (still glowing with the show!) And then just enjoyed the rest of the party.

Our car was at WL so we had to take the boat back there after the party. This turned out to be a plus as the busses and monorail were swamped. The lobby was nearly deserted and the Christmas Tree looked about a mile high! See those little teepees all over the tree that look tiny? They could EASILY fit an 18" American Girl Doll.

You can see one above Sasha's head for scale

Even though we did a lot, the pacing of the day seemed so mellow and with our mid-day nap it really did seem like the perfect "rest day" at Disney!