I'M BACK!
I got back this afternoon - it had been 65 in Memphis when we left on Friday and we return to upper 20s and snow today. Woo-hoo! [Unlike you Northern snowbirds, snow is such a rarity that it is a treat so I was excited].
I planned and planned and planned -- for myself and everyone on the trip. I was sure that, despite how much people all over the world love WDW, I would be disappointed - I mean, just how could anything live up to those kinds of expectations?
I was wonderfully wrong - Disney was all that I wished for and more. I am officially a fan - I knew I had been completely smitten when I saw Mickey by himself at a character viewing and just had to get my picture taken with him. [I HATE getting my picture taken!] Not only that, but the consensus of everyone else was the same - the trip exceeded their expectations. They loved the restaurants where we ate and loved almost all the rides/shows I had planned for us to see. I haven't taken an official survey but I do think we did a lot in a relatively short time.
I was disappointed in just how crowded it was - zowie! Epcot was packed on Friday [evening EMH], DHS was slow during Saturday morning EMH but picked up pretty quickly by early afternoon and MK was packed that evening - throngs of people. AK was busy on Sunday but the lines were fairly quick [and we had the added bonus of the birthday fast passes] and MK was busy, too. Monday was the first day that, back at Epcot, I thought - 'these look like what I would have thought January crowds would have looked like.' Tuesday was still pretty busy at DHS and MK -- I guess the secret is out about the low crowds for January!
I didn't see any LGMHs either - I was doing pretty well to keep up with my crew much less try to find any other people. During shows/bus rides, I did look for anyone who resembled the snowbirds but had no luck.
I had wonderful experiences with Disney's customer service which truly added magic to our trip. I'm trying to get brave enough to write a trip report - in a burst of emotion and creativity, I started one on a napkin [who was the great writer who did that, too - Steinbeck?] - it'll be interesting to see if that materializes.
I'm excited to read others' TRs - I've always loved them before but now, I'll know what people are talking about.
And I am that much closer to getting an AP - how much fun would that be to go in early December [are the Christmas lights up yet?]. I know that I could never go in the summer/early fall - I had a hard enough time with the crowds in the beautiful weather we had [70s and 80s]- I'd hate to see what would happen with larger crowds and higher temperatures -
to everyone and a big box of these
for the sad ones just coming back. I'll sniff along with y'all.