"For a few Fastpasses more!" TR-Nov 9-18, 2013 (Cruise TR LINK added April 10th)

[Tinker326]

Buzz Lightyear.

I liked the Jingle Cruise too. I think too many people were expecting an overlay like the Nightmare Before Christmas at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion....

This was subtle & fun... a good little mix up for the holidays!

 

[PrincessInOz]

It was a sad day for us when we also experienced the "kids portion is for kids". DS has a very healthy appetite so he was still 9 in 2010 when he last went. We did purchase the kid's dining plan for him and ended up having to share our meals with him.


Looks like a great time in the pool; and not so great queueing for MB fixing.


One of these years, I'm going to plan a trip to see the Christmas decorations at WDW. Been to DLR a number of times; but not WDW for Christmas.

 

[skier_pete]

Buzz Lightyear.

I liked the Jingle Cruise too. I think too many people were expecting an overlay like the Nightmare Before Christmas at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion....

This was subtle & fun... a good little mix up for the holidays!

Right on with Buzz. It was in fact pretty easy, though. I should've trimmed it to be just the number.

I agree with your assessment, perhaps people were expecting a major overlay. However, the fact that the ride didn't even shut down should've indicated there wouldn't be a lot of cosmetic changes. HM Holidays takes like a month to put in place.

What I was impressed with Jingle Cruise was they added enough new jokes that each ride was still unique. We usually ride JC at least 3 times a trip and this one was no exception, and each time it was different!

It was a sad day for us when we also experienced the "kids portion is for kids". DS has a very healthy appetite so he was still 9 in 2010 when he last went. We did purchase the kid's dining plan for him and ended up having to share our meals with him.


Looks like a great time in the pool; and not so great queueing for MB fixing.


One of these years, I'm going to plan a trip to see the Christmas decorations at WDW. Been to DLR a number of times; but not WDW for Christmas.

Well, she is 10 so really shouldn't be eating kids meals according to Disney. She's sort of at an in between stage, where some places the kid's meal is too small and she wants the adult meal, yet other places the kid's meal is plenty big. It doesn't help that we are trying to mind her weight and prevent her from overeating, but that sad little quesadilla just wasn't cutting it.

There is a lot that's worthy to see with the Christmas holidays. I think the Osborne lights along might be worth the trip! You wouldn't even mind the lack of cold / snow that always makes a warm-weather Christmas somewhat off-putting to me. (I can't feel completely Christmasy without cold and snow.)

 

[skier_pete]

Yup, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command!


Blurry ride photos. Can you tell DD doesn't like the flash!!





We next headed to Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, and just as we were walking through the queue, the doors CLOSED on us:



The nice thing is, this gave us an opportunity to catch up with Matt from our ABD trip (not Matt the guide, Matt the fellow tourist). I had been IMing with one of the folks who had been on the ABD trip with us, and he caught up with us in the queue for this ride.

The show was fun, but I do have to say, having now seen it half a dozen times, it is rather repetitive and is starting to feel tired to me. Don’t mind it per se, but not high on my list of attractions.

We had pulled a paper FP for Buzz Lightyear, but DD didn’t seem to want to ride again, so we all (including Matt) decided to ride the TTA. As we were riding around, we noticed that Carousel of Progress was closed, and that there was a rather large film crew there shooting something. There were actors/extras dressed in old time (fifties/sixties?) clothes, and a big catering table. Matt later found out that they were shooting the new Brad Bird film “Tomorrowland” with George Clooney – though I guess George wasn’t there. No pictures sadly - I don't know why I didn't pull out my camera. Anyways, when we looked at the times guide, it was indeed scheduled to be closed.

We parted ways with Matt after the TTA ride, and made our way over to Space Mountain. DD had agreed to give it a try, but was now having second thoughts. We again did the old trick where we went and watched the little kids coming off the ride all smiles. DD in the end decided to give it a try. I think she was still scared, so didn’t love it, but she went through with it after all. (I think she had her eyes closed the whole time, which is pretty funny for a ride that is as pitch black as that one. )

It was getting late in the afternoon, and we actually had managed to snag a 4:50 PM dinner reservation for Be Our Guest, so we decided to make our way over towards the restaurant. On the way, we couldn’t help but pass by the Seven Dwarves Mine Car Ride. The construction is getting really far along.



Here you can see some of the track, the Eric’s Castle in the background.



Through the window:



Next up we walked through Storybook Circus to check out the new Dumbo. We didn’t have the time to ride it just yet.







DD REALLY wanted to use the Splash Park. We told her that we didn’t have a change of clothes, and we were going to be here in the evening that she couldn’t go and get herself all wet. She got all upset about this and started crying. This should’ve been an indicator of how the rest of the night was going to go.





There were clowns putting on a show outside storybook circus.


We continued our tour of all that is new by walking towards the Little Mermaid attraction. I do have to say that getting to see all this brand-new stuff is a lot of fun. I can’t honestly remember having seen something truly new at Magic Kingdom, never mind that there is SO much of it. And to think we haven’t even seen the best part, which will undoubtably the mine car ride.
Anyways, a few shots of Ariel in the fading light:





And then a quick stop at Gaston’s Tavern. You know this will be a popular photo spot:





And I HAD to peak inside to see if the rumor was true, he DOES use antlers in all of his decorating!



But here’s where we were really heading:





Up next - is Be Our Guest worth the trouble?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Seems like a fun day so far and how awesome to catch up with a previous ABD travel mate.

Looking forward to your review on BoG. I hope DD wasn't too unhappy for the rest of the day.

 

[khertz]

I know what you mean, even when we plan for a late arrival at the park for whatever reason, I just hate it!! It makes me feel like I have missed out on so much.

I already how the night turned out with DD, but the crying over the splash pad still made me . It's never fun when you can just tell your kid is not going to have the good time you had been imagining!

 

[Tinker326]

Oooooh- I know how this ends!!!

Love the pic of A on Buzz.

Hey, arn't you close to your cruise? You better get crackin' on this trip report so you are ready for your next one!!!

 

[JulieODC]

Great F&W update! You guys got to try a lot! Those desserts look divine!

The pool looks so inviting!

Fun day at MK! You did a great job of taking pictures are you went from ride to ride. I didn't so much --- next time!!

I was so worried that DD would see the splashground and want to play -- but we would have had to say No for the same reasons you did. I luckily was able to steer her away, so she didn't notice the water fun!

 

[skier_pete]

Seems like a fun day so far and how awesome to catch up with a previous ABD travel mate.

Looking forward to your review on BoG. I hope DD wasn't too unhappy for the rest of the day.

"too unhappy" oh boy...The BoG review has LOTS of pictures though.

I know what you mean, even when we plan for a late arrival at the park for whatever reason, I just hate it!! It makes me feel like I have missed out on so much.

I already how the night turned out with DD, but the crying over the splash pad still made me . It's never fun when you can just tell your kid is not going to have the good time you had been imagining!

I know, we tried to say she could go in there the next time we came. I really hate those splash pads. You will have to stick around for the last day when we finally DID let her play in the splash pad.

Oooooh- I know how this ends!!!

Love the pic of A on Buzz.

Hey, arn't you close to your cruise? You better get crackin' on this trip report so you are ready for your next one!!!

Oh - I've already written the rest of the day out, just don't have time to post just yet. It's probably worse than you think.

And there's NO way I get this report done before that trip! What can I do! Just 4 weeks to go. Unfortunately I'll have 18 months after that before our next trip!

Great F&W update! You guys got to try a lot! Those desserts look divine!

The pool looks so inviting!

Fun day at MK! You did a great job of taking pictures are you went from ride to ride. I didn't so much --- next time!!

The more trip reports you write, the more you try to take pictures at each ride. It's an easy record of what you did each day. Photos >>> Memory
I was so worried that DD would see the splashground and want to play -- but we would have had to say No for the same reasons you did. I luckily was able to steer her away, so she didn't notice the water fun!

 

[skier_pete]

We were really excited that we managed to snag a Be Our Guest dinner reservation. Before waiting in line, I ran off to get a Little Mermaid FP for after dinner, and then returned to wait in line here at the restaurant. We waited about 5 minutes before our pager went off. I took some pictures on the bridge in the meantime.













Above the doorway on the way in:



We were seated in the main room – the grand ballroom. This room is extremely impressive. Unfortunately, cameras don’t really do it justice, as the mood lighting involved is very helpful in setting atmosphere.







Not one to underdo a theme – Disney even turned our Napkin’s into a rose!



And for a day full a “firsts” why not celebrate with my first ever alcoholic beverage within the confines of the Magic Kingdom! (Don't judge me!)



As for our entrees – I ordered the Braised Pork - Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans Jardiniere. It was absolutely delicious.



DD couldn’t decide between the kids menu and the adult menu, as there wasn’t anything that was really appealing to her. She ended up off the adult menu with Thyme Scented Pork Rack chop - with Au Gratin Macaroni, Seasonal Vegetables, and Red Wine Jus. She liked the pork, but not so much the macaroni (a fancy mac and cheese).



DW chose the Sautee Shrimp and scallops - With veggies in a puff pastry with creamy lobster sauce. This was I would say pretty good. She enjoyed it quite a bit the taste was good but there wasn’t a lot too it.



Continued next post...

 

[skier_pete]

Our dinner at Be Our Guest continues.

After the meal, they push around a dessert cart where you can choose your pastry of choice.



I could not resist getting “The Grey Stuff”, which DW also chose.





Lumiere did not lie to Belle when he said it was delicious! DD on the other hand did not trust anything that was grey – so she went with the Triple Chocolate cupcake.



We took a quick look around – the West Wing is a very small room off of the main room. And again, photos just didn’t really do it justice, as the dark atmosphere of it was pretty cool:



The Beast’s portrait.



I was amazed how HUGE the main room was – this has to be the biggest TS restaurant within a theme park at WDW! The window from the ballroom showed a snowy landscape outside. I wonder if this ever changes.



There was also of course a Christmas tree there.



The third room – the “Music Box” room? It has paintings of scenes from Beauty and the Beast.























So –on the way out, you can stop and meet the Beast. He wasn’t there when we were getting ready to leave, and DD didn’t want to wait – she thought the area was too scary. This is the area you order your meal from when it’s a QS lunch:



DD did NOT like the talking suits of armor!


More stuff from the entrance/exit





Next up - an evening of tears and regret.

 

[Tinker326]

Oh, we loved BOG too- we went for lunch... but still thought the food was great! They did not have 'the grey stuff' dessert in the cart for lunch. So we didn't try it. This resturant will be top of our list to get into when we go back......

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great experience. I wasn't lucky enough to score an ADR for BoG on the last trip. I would have just loved to see the dining area. The food looks decent; and I know there are rather varied reports on it. I think I would have liked dining there.

Oh well. Next time.



Thanks for sharing.

I'm not liking the sound of the next update!

 

[JulieODC]

We didn't manage to get a BOG ADR for our November trip -- those things are so hard to find!!

I do remember the beer list being great though - so we would have been right there with you on ordering a drink. The dessert cart is hard to pass up too!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

following along...your pictures are great! we're thinking about staying at CBR this fall but I haven't decided yet. your room looks nice. did you enjoy staying at this resort? I've heard mixed reviews....

 

[skier_pete]

Oh, we loved BOG too- we went for lunch... but still thought the food was great! They did not have 'the grey stuff' dessert in the cart for lunch. So we didn't try it. This resturant will be top of our list to get into when we go back......

Wonder when it will get easier to get into. We really got a bit lucky (and DIS help) getting the ADR just a few days before our trip.

What a great experience. I wasn't lucky enough to score an ADR for BoG on the last trip. I would have just loved to see the dining area. The food looks decent; and I know there are rather varied reports on it. I think I would have liked dining there.

Oh well. Next time.



Thanks for sharing.

I'm not liking the sound of the next update!

Great food and service! Prices were reasonable too, though we were finally on the dining plan so we didn't pay them.

We didn't manage to get a BOG ADR for our November trip -- those things are so hard to find!!

I do remember the beer list being great though - so we would have been right there with you on ordering a drink. The dessert cart is hard to pass up too!

Yeah, we definitely struck gold getting that. They opened some up in early November, and I happen to follow a thread on the DIS that was watching November ADRs, and suddenly a bunch of people were getting ADRs.

following along...your pictures are great! we're thinking about staying at CBR this fall but I haven't decided yet. your room looks nice. did you enjoy staying at this resort? I've heard mixed reviews....

Thanks very much. This is our second time at CBR and we very much enjoyed both of our stays. There was some considerable problems with our reservations/magic bands, but I will say that the customer service folks did everything they could to correct the issue. Great pool, great food court. We had a couple of morning bus issues, but I would still highly recommend CBR, especially with small kids. They have activities for kids by the pool from about noon to 6 PM.

 

[skier_pete]

We were a few minutes late to using our first PAPER FP of the trip for Ariel’s Undersea Adventures. It was a little after 6 PM and we were just past our FP return window by about 5 minutes, but they allowed us in anyways. Perhaps it was because there was absolutely no standby line! I didn’t really talk about it much, but the crowds had been pretty low all day, we didn’t wait long for anything to speak of, though we also didn’t ride a lot of the headliners and the ones we did we had FP for.

Anyways, though this was our first time riding this ride, we had already ridden it is California. The theme of the queue is MUCH better here however, and overall I think this version is better. It’s really a nice ride. If you consider that it replaces Snow White Scary Adventures, I think this is the winner of the two.













Next up we headed to Storybook Circus to ride Dumbo and check out the new virtual queue. Of course with the two Dumbos, there was no actual line to wait in, so we only spent a few minutes while DD played in the climbing area.





Then it was time to ride!




I am generally a proponent of change at Disney World, and I love most of the MK expansion. However, the change to Dumbo is a big waste to me. In my view, these spinner rides have no value at all unless you have little kids that just can’t get enough of them. Dumbo was the exception to the rule, but it was all about LOCATION. Spinning around behind the castle gave such a spectacular view of Fantasyland. Now, you look out and all you see is…another Dumbo. Meh. I must say, we are not many years away from not riding this ride again!

So, it was now just past 7 PM and time for the start of the Christmas party. You could tell because some unusual characters were rolling out:



DD again declared she wanted to run around in the Splash Pad. At this point, it had been dark for 1+ hours, and it was quite chilly. We explained that (1) it’s too cold and (2) we need to get our Christmas party tickets exchanged before they kick us out.. Well, it was this point she had a MAJOR meltdown. Crying and saying if she couldn’t play in the water she just wanted to go home cause she’s tired. Now, understand, I had been telling her for NINE months “You sure you want to go to the Christmas Party? You sure you can stay up?” to which she repeatedly said “Yes, Yes’. You see, I had to lousy time at MNSSHP 3 years ago and wanted nothing to do with spending $200 for another hard ticket event. But, DW said she would buy the tickets.

Well, as I’m saying we have to cash in our tickets she says “I never said I wanted to go to the Christmas Party. I just want to go to bed.” and that totally pushed my buttons. I was like “The only reason we are at this stupid party is because of YOU and we are GOING to the party.” (Realize also her normal bedtime is 9 PM – this is 7 PM.) So as the CM are trying to herd us out and we are trying to get our wristbands she is lagging behind pouting or crying. When DD plays the “I’m tired!” card, DW totally caves on things for her, and was trying to say things to calm her down. Meanwhile, I was furious so she trying to calm me down too. (This is also not the first time she’s pulled stuff like this.) I HATE feeling like this, because to be like all uptight and wound up and angry at Disney World is not the way to be. But C’mon, this 5-hour ticket costs more than 3 park days! I was PISSED! No pretty lights can cheer me up:



Well DW tries to calm me and her down, but I’m saying “Well, let’s go to FL and ride Small World” “NO!”, “How about Haunted Mansion?” “NO!” So, she’s refusing to ride anything. ARGH! Clearly I am not going to be the parent dragging their kid along the ground through DW, but boy do I want to.

Finally she agrees to go to Adventureland and ride Pirates that we missed earlier. We get over there, and she decides she wants to ride Jingle Cruise – well the wait is 25 minutes (during the party) so I convince her to skip it and we finally go on a ride.

By now, we decide we obviously need to see the early parade because she’s not making it to the later one. So we decide to try and find a spot near the start of the Parade at Splash Mountain. Even though its 30 minutes until the parade starts, there’s already big crowds around here. We get a spot and sit, and eventually the parade comes through. DD says she wants some popcorn, so I break down and get the souvenir bucket, which I tell her to be careful not to spill. She almost immediately knocks it over, spilling about ¼ of the contents before I can catch it. I remain calm as possible, and say “That’s OK, just be careful,” and then she knocks it over AGAIN! I just grab it and say “REALLY?” UGH. I hold the popcorn container for the rest of the night.







The parade is really nice, but for some reason, even though we were in the very front row, everyone around us decided that they would stand up to watch the parade. My injured foot at this point was aching, so I stayed seated, but unfortunately this meant I had a blocked view of the parade even though I was in the front row.









It’s a bit of a odd parade, as it is designed as a daytime parade, but it runs at night during the Christmas party, so some sections were very poorly lit.





I love the Gingerbread men’s flat butts!



Continued Next Post...

 

[skier_pete]

One thing that was kind of cool – the DIS was on hand today, and was streaming the parade live. So, I called it up on my phone, and was watching the parade on the hub at the same time as I was watching it in front of me. Isn’t technology amazing! Or silly, not sure which.

So, I think the parade was at 8:15 PM, so DD seemed relatively calm and we decided to go and try and ride Jingle Cruise – which of course is the one ride everyone at the party wants to ride. We get there and again 25 minute wait. I try and resist (I don’t wait in 25 minute lines, EVER – never mind when I’m paying extra money for “shorter waits”.) DD insists on it coming near to tears again. Well, I figure at least we are doing SOMETHING – so we get in line and ride.

Now it’s just after 9 PM. The fireworks start at 9:30 PM, but they are doing the castle projection show first, and DD is excited to see this. Well, we go over to the hub and it has already started and the hub is COMPLETELY PACKED. I mean a MASS of people like I’ve never seen, we can’t even move through them enough to see the castle show. This is it, the end of the line, DD completely loses it. She just wants to go home, that’s all she wants! And I admit I am sort of fuming again too, not at her, but the fact that I again paid all kinds of money and I can’t even move 30 feet to see the show I paid to see.

So, we decide that’s it, DW will take DD back to the room. She’s not recovering from this one. I’ll stay and try and enjoy the party a little bit.

Except for one thing – we REALLY wanted to get family picture for our Christmas card on main street with the lights of the castle behind us. So, we head over to find a PP photographer. On the way, we run into the PODCAST crew – Pete and Dustin, and we say “HI” for a few minutes as we met them on our ABD trip. Shortly, we find the photographer and only one group ahead of us. But, as soon as we get to him – BOOM, they turn out the castle lights for the fireworks. Now the fireworks are going off and DD is begging to leave. (She hates the noise from fireworks on a good night.) So, they go, I stay.





Truthfully, I don’t really feel that much like staying. My foot is throbbing and I just want to sit down, but I am DETERMINED to at least get MY money’s worth out of this stupid party. And to me, that means getting to actually experience some rides with no wait! So, I decide what am I gonna ride? And my first thought: Haunted Mansion!









Definitely a Top 10 ride! I debate about the trek out to BTMRR, but decide my foot hurts too much, so I will instead head to Fantasyland. I get my first experience with the “Tangled Potties”. I loved that the men’s room had framed frying pans on the walls. Too bad I’m not whipping out my camera in the men’s room.

Peter Pan still has a 20 minute wait, and I’m not that big a fan of Small World to ride without DW, so I then end up riding probably my favorite Fantasyland attraction: Philharmagic. I figured I could give my foot a rest this way. There were about 12 people in the theater enjoying the show.

I wanted a cookie and Hot Cocoa. Is this $200 worth of cookies?



I next decided since I was here and lines were short, I was going to take advantage of the opportunity to ride one of the few rides at WDW I had never, ever been on: Astro Orbiter. There was no line downstairs, but once the eleveator took you up, we had to wait two cycles for our turn, so I got to watch Stiches Christmass Pagent or something like that. This pretty much stunk. I would much rather have Phineas and Ferb host this:



I got on AO, and that was kind of fun. It was quite a view at night spinning high above Tomorrowland.

After that, I decided to try my hand again at Buzz Lightyear. At one point the ride got stuck, and I had a clear shot at one of the 100,000 point targets (below Zurg), so I maxed out BOTH score bays.



Being a galactic hero I HAD to show my best stuff for the camera!



By now, it’s almost 11:30 PM, and I decide I have had enough. I walk out through the stores looking for merchandise, but everything Disney seems to be crap. Or maybe its just how tired I am and how packed full of people the store is.

But the surprises aren’t done. I get back to the room about midnight – and there’s a note on the door from DW that my MB might not work, and if so I should call her on the cell to wake her. Well, it doesn’t work, and she let’s me in. She tells me she got back to the room and her MB didn’t work, but fortunately DDs did. However, she was about to go out for ice, and as a check she went to see if it still worked, and neither one worked. So, I went to bed knowing that again my morning would be spent dealing with MB issues.

So, let me tell you, never again on the hard ticket events. This time the crowds weren’t SO bad as with MNSSHP, but it was just such a train-wreck of an evening, I will say again, never, ever again. (And you can all remind me of that the next time we go to one. )

The Good
Seeing friends at Disney World (Matt, Pete, Dustin)
Be Our Guest was fantastic, and in generally the new FL is superbly done
Really did get quite a bit of stuff done today– Adventureland, Tomorrowland and some of Fantasyland

The Bad
Changing the resort reservation to the package – did NOT go smoothly.
The crowds around the castle for MVMCP were crazy, and what's with everyone standing for the parade!

The Ugly
Tantrums and Meltdowns during the MVMCP (from DD)
Too much frustration and anger for a vacation (from me)
Coming back at midnight to a locked room – imagine if we hadn’t been able to get in!

FP vs FP+
Three successful uses of FP+ - Jingle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, and Space Mountain. Pulled two regular FP (Buzz and Little Mermaid) but only used one, and the one we used, we really didn’t need as the standby line was minimal. The only real line we waited in was during the MVMCP, so it couldn’t have been avoided with either FP or FP+. So, winner today was clearly FP+.

Up next - do we really get a day off?

 

[skier_pete]

I keep forgetting to post the Photopass pix. We joined in on a share again, which was good because I think we only got around 50 worthwhile photos, and I would've been upset to have spent $150 for that.

First off, one from the end of Sunday at Epcot, after a full day of food and wine. Oh, those days when we were still happy.



These are my favorites, from earlier in the day @ MK before all the misery:









To this point, we were just vamping with the photographer so she could get a shot with the fireworks going off behind us!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Thanks for the CBR info. Can I ask one more question? If we stay there and free dining is announced (which we've never had) do you get the regular dining plan free or the deluxe plan, do you know?

I can so relate to the troubles with your foot. I wore the wrong shoes on our last trip and my feet and legs were killing me the whole time. I started taking Tylenol a lot and sitting down whenever (and wherever) possible. Got some looks, but whatever gets through the day....

Love the Epcot pp pic--cute!

We are trying MNSSHP next trip--I'm worried it will be crazy packed. Fingers crossed its not too nuts. I predict a meltdown or two in our future too. Don't you just love it when you're in the middle of doing something they SWORE up and down they couldn't live without doing and then they say they don't want to do it.....kids!

We have yet to actually see fireworks with the kids, but someone told us to bring earplugs for the kids to block the noise. We haven't tried it but something to keep in mind if the noise bothers DD

flat butted gingerbread men!!

Geez--for $200 they could have at least given you 3 cookies...