My (very belated) Trip Report LA,USO, IoA, WDW

[lffam]

Wow great views- the flag family is quite an honour- good for you

We were pretty lucky there was only one day available during our stay so you're right it was an honour and like most thinks Disney it was done so well and really gave us a unique experience

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I am loving your posts. In so many ways they are bringing back happy memories of my own.

Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful and you are correct that it was modelled after Old Faithful Inn. Looking at your pics, I love that Disney have captured the charm and character of this beautiful National Park Lodge so well. I watched the new planes movie the other day and I found myself chocking up a bit when the planes visited Old Faithful Inn - I definitely left a little piece of my heart there.

Also, I know what you mean about walking into the hotel and feeling in awe of it's grandeur and size. I haven't actually been to the Wilderness Lodge, but I felt the same way walking into Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney certainly doesn't do things by halves

We too had issues last year connecting our Halloween tickets to My Disney Experience. Our first park visit was to HS, and our tickets wouldn't work, apparently due to a glitch associated with the Halloween tickets. It took the guy what felt like almost an hour to sort out the issue, and in the end he had to take the Halloween tickets off MDE in order to get our main tickets to work. I could tell he was embarrassed by how long it was taking, and because we were just happy to be on holiday, we told him we were okay waiting. I think he appreciated our patience and gave us free Fastpasses as an apology which we used on Toy Story Mania.
We then had multiple issues with Fastpass + throughout the trip, but overall I still quite liked the system. I'm guessing/hoping that a year on they have ironed out most of these issues.

That pumpkin display is great. I too couldn't get over the effort Americans go to for Halloween. Driving through small town America on our way to Yellowstone this year, so many homes had beautiful pumpkin displays on their front lawn. I even had to look twice sometimes to check the pumpkins were real as the ones we grown here in NZ are so much smaller and less impressive.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great updates! Loving this retrospective TR. It looks like you and the family had a great time. And I love the flag raising views. Congrats on having the honour!

We had issues with ticket stacking on the MB as well. Our MB worked well until MNSSHP when there was issues seeing our FP+ on the party day. We ended up with paper good-anytime FP (4 sets) given to us by guest relations. Like Wanderlust, it took them 45 minutes to figure out they couldn't work it out. I expect they might have resolved them by now.

 

[lffam]

I am loving your posts. In so many ways they are bringing back happy memories of my own.

Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful and you are correct that it was modelled after Old Faithful Inn. Looking at your pics, I love that Disney have captured the charm and character of this beautiful National Park Lodge so well. I watched the new planes movie the other day and I found myself chocking up a bit when the planes visited Old Faithful Inn - I definitely left a little piece of my heart there.

Also, I know what you mean about walking into the hotel and feeling in awe of it's grandeur and size. I haven't actually been to the Wilderness Lodge, but I felt the same way walking into Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney certainly doesn't do things by halves

We too had issues last year connecting our Halloween tickets to My Disney Experience. Our first park visit was to HS, and our tickets wouldn't work, apparently due to a glitch associated with the Halloween tickets. It took the guy what felt like almost an hour to sort out the issue, and in the end he had to take the Halloween tickets off MDE in order to get our main tickets to work. I could tell he was embarrassed by how long it was taking, and because we were just happy to be on holiday, we told him we were okay waiting. I think he appreciated our patience and gave us free Fastpasses as an apology which we used on Toy Story Mania.
We then had multiple issues with Fastpass + throughout the trip, but overall I still quite liked the system. I'm guessing/hoping that a year on they have ironed out most of these issues.

That pumpkin display is great. I too couldn't get over the effort Americans go to for Halloween. Driving through small town America on our way to Yellowstone this year, so many homes had beautiful pumpkin displays on their front lawn. I even had to look twice sometimes to check the pumpkins were real as the ones we grown here in NZ are so much smaller and less impressive.

Something about that architecture of the lodge. It's so far different from what I see at home and day to day which I think is what helps me really escape to another world when I was there. I woke up one morning early and went for a walk around the grounds. It was so serene. I sat in the lobby sometimes near the fire and just watched the world go on around me, something I rarely do.

The only other resorts we went to as a result of our dinning reservations were Grand Floridian, the Polynesian and The Contemporary. Now Grand Floridian is certainly "grand", but I can't say that the other two had similar feels. To be fair we really did not spend much time in those others , just to walk through and get to our dining reservations.

The glitch with the Magic Bands, while annoying wasn't too much of an inconvenience. Only one time did our Fastpas+ not work properly. WE had change the time in the morning for some and that change was reflected in MDE but when we went to use them it was not changed. I think they they let us through so it was no issue.

Great updates! Loving this retrospective TR. It looks like you and the family had a great time. And I love the flag raising views. Congrats on having the honour!

We had issues with ticket stacking on the MB as well. Our MB worked well until MNSSHP when there was issues seeing our FP+ on the party day. We ended up with paper good-anytime FP (4 sets) given to us by guest relations. Like Wanderlust, it took them 45 minutes to figure out they couldn't work it out. I expect they might have resolved them by now.

It was certainly a family trip we will never forget. The time we can spend like this is an ever-shortening window so when we make these opportunities we like to make the most of them. while there is more that I would have liked to have done on our trip, really I wouldn't have changed anything. We'll just have to go back again to do the rest!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

The only other resorts we went to as a result of our dinning reservations were Grand Floridian, the Polynesian and The Contemporary. Now Grand Floridian is certainly "grand", but I can't say that the other two had similar feels. To be fair we really did not spend much time in those others , just to walk through and get to our dining reservations.

We visited the Polynesian for a dining reservation also, and after a walk around the grounds and lobby, we were also underwhelmed. It's such a favourite of so many and so very expensive, that I was expecting something amazing. But other than it's location, I couldn't see what others do.
Perhaps it's because I technically live in Polynesia and I saw maori designs all throughout the gift shop - it just wasn't enough escapism for me.

We also stayed 5 nights at the Boardwalk, and while it was lovely, it just didn't tug at the heart strings like Animal Kingdom Lodge or Old Faithful Inn did. If I went back I would rent points again and do a split stay AKV and WLV.

 

[lffam]

We visited the Polynesian for a dining reservation also, and after a walk around the grounds and lobby, we were also underwhelmed. It's such a favourite of so many and so very expensive, that I was expecting something amazing. But other than it's location, I couldn't see what others do.
Perhaps it's because I technically live in Polynesia and I saw maori designs all throughout the gift shop - it just wasn't enough escapism for me.

We also stayed 5 nights at the Boardwalk, and while it was lovely, it just didn't tug at the heart strings like Animal Kingdom Lodge or Old Faithful Inn did. If I went back I would rent points again and do a split stay AKV and WLV.

Our impression of the Polynesian was very similar. To be honest even our Dining at Ohana's was nothing spectacular, not bad in any way especially if you are a meat loving carnivore as there was plenty of it, just nothing to rave about.

We did look at AKL to stay at. The thing that swayed us away was the location of AKL. Most of the reports we read often said that you really needed to have a car to be able to get around if you stayed at AKL. While the Disney Transport still serviced it being further out would mean that travel times were longer. I mentioned in one of my early posts that something that was very hard for me to comprehend prior to experiencing , was the distance between the parks and the logistics of getting around. This coupled with dining reservations from one park to the other and knowing that we weren't necessarily going to be 100% planned and be spending the day at the same park that our dining may be we opted for something which seem more central. Thought I am sure the sight of the animals from our the Lodge would have quickly faded that concern away. The Kilimanjaro Safari a tie for the number one attraction for me along with Kali River Rapids Ride.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Our impression of the Polynesian was very similar. To be honest even our Dining at Ohana's was nothing spectacular, not bad in any way especially if you are a meat loving carnivore as there was plenty of it, just nothing to rave about. We did look at AKL to stay at. The thing that swayed us away was the location of AKL. Most of the reports we read often said that you really needed to have a car to be able to get around if you stayed at AKL. While the Disney Transport still serviced it being further out would mean that travel times were longer. I mentioned in one of my early posts that something that was very hard for me to comprehend prior to experiencing , was the distance between the parks and the logistics of getting around. This coupled with dining reservations from one park to the other and knowing that we weren't necessarily going to be 100% planned and be spending the day at the same park that our dining may be we opted for something which seem more central. Thought I am sure the sight of the animals from our the Lodge would have quickly faded that concern away. The Kilimanjaro Safari a tie for the number one attraction for me along with Kali River Rapids Ride.

I was also worried prior to our stay that AKV might feel quite remote, but it never seemed that bad at all. Particularly I guess since we did the Epcot parks while we were staying at BWV, and while we were at AKV we spent a few of our days at Animal Kingdom (my favourite park). Also one of the Waterparks is very close to AKL, I just can't remember which one. As for meals, we liked the restaurants in the AK resorts (particularly Sanaa), so ate a number of our meals there.

Overall, we disliked the buses (and boats) at Boardwalk Resort much more. They stopped at so many resorts, they took forever to get anywhere. I preferred going to MK from AKV than BWV.
If I go back, I would definitely do a split stay again. I found that being in two different locations really cut down our travel time if we planned our days wisely.

 

[lffam]

I was also worried prior to our stay that AKV might feel quite remote, but it never seemed that bad at all. Particularly I guess since we did the Epcot parks while we were staying at BWV, and while we were at AKV we spent a few of our days at Animal Kingdom (my favourite park). Also one of the Waterparks is very close to AKL, I just can't remember which one. As for meals, we liked the restaurants in the AK resorts (particularly Sanaa), so ate a number of our meals there.

Overall, we disliked the buses (and boats) at Boardwalk Resort much more. They stopped at so many resorts, they took forever to get anywhere. I preferred going to MK from AKV than BWV.
If I go back, I would definitely do a split stay again. I found that being in two different locations really cut down our travel time if we planned our days wisely.

I've never been one for split stays. We like like get there unpack and not have to worry about moving till its time to go. That said, I could see where a spilt stay at a different Disney Resort could suit us given that a new Disney Report is like a different holiday itself. Beach Club & Boardwalk was on our list when we last time but we couldn't get any availability

 

[lffam]

So I am going to depart a little from the Trip Report for a bit as planning a new trip has started to get some momentum.

I think I posted before we were looking at HKDL, well that's all changed! Our plan is now something for Dec 2015/Jan 2016. We have thrown a few ideas around like a White Christmas, or a Disney Christmas or a Disney Cruise Christmas. We need to decide where we want to be for Christmas day and I think then things will fall in around it.

White Christmas - Pros , well it's a White Christmas! Not sure best location, seems Canada Ski Resorts are popular. We don't just want to be in a hotel room in city for Christmas, would rather be at some sort of resort . We don't have family or friends in any White Christmas location so it will just be the three of us, which we are fine about.

Disney Christmas - Pros, being at one of the parks on Christmas day would be an amazing experience I think. Seeing the joy from DS and all around I think would be priceless. I assume there will be plenty to do and a Christmas Dinner/Lunch booking would be achievable. Cons - It's obviously going to be busy not just on Christmas but the week leading up to. We aren't sure if we would stay at WDW or DL for Christmas, probably leaning towards DL at this stage.

Disney Cruise over Christmas - Pros, well we've never taken a cruise and DS really wants to. Everything taken care food etc. Immersed in Disney Experience. Cons - well we've never taken one!

We thought if we were going to stay all Disney that maybe fly in early December go to DL for 5 days then fly to Orlando/Miami for cruise then do WDW/USO after and over Christmas/new year. That's sort of our rough time window and e can swap things around and in and out .

Love to hear from others, any spent Christmas at Disney or a White Christmas in North America?

 

[LivingforDisney]

Wow are u meaning next month for this trip?
I looked at doing a Xmas or new year cruise and it was double what I am paying for Jan.
Couldn't justify that cost myself.
If you do mean next month, you better get cracking.

 

[lffam]

Wow are u meaning next month for this trip?
I looked at doing a Xmas or new year cruise and it was double what I am paying for Jan.
Couldn't justify that cost myself.
If you do mean next month, you better get cracking.

no no not this year ! I mean Dec 2015/Jan 2016. (had the wrong year in my original post sorry!) While I would love the challenge, I wouldn't do that to myself or the budget!

 

[lffam]

I don't know how this is happening but we have our first draft itinerary for Dec 2015/Jan 2016!

This one is a Disney Itinerary setting aside the White Christmas Option.

Fly in around end of first week of December.
6 or 7 days Disneyland
5 night Cruise Disney Magic (Sail date 13th Dec)
10 nights Wilderness Lodge (Over Christmas - check out around 27th)
6 nights Animal Kingdom Lodge (Over New Years)
3 nights Universal Studios Orlando

This assumes the we are at a Disney Resort for New Years. I need to check out what New Years at Universal Studios might be like as we could shuffle things so we check out of Disney to end up at USO for New Years.

Trying to see what we can add at the end after USO. I blame Disboards for this!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Firstly, YAY for another trip

My two cents for what they are worth, but I would pick either the cruise or the snow holiday over Christmas and NY and do WDW either January or early Dec. But then that's because I hate crowds and would only attack WDW over the holiday period if someone paid me to do it.
Shoulder to shoulder people stress me out big time and the thought that there might be days where we couldn't even return to the hotel for a nap due to the parks reaching capacity and shutting, doesn't sound relaxing to me. If you're okay with crowds though, and happy in the knowledge that you won't be doing as much each day, then all power to you.

I have looked at a Disney cruise for Xmas day, and admittedly it's almost double the price of a few weeks later. But it would be a such a magical, relaxing way of spending Xmas as a family, that I think one day (in the distant future), it's something I might just splash out on.

I've never done a White Christmas in the USA, but I have done one in Austria. It was magical and is one of my all time fondest travel memories.
My DH is a bit take it or leave it when it comes to travel, and he really only agrees to our trips to humour me. However, he does occasionally mention repeating one of trips, and it's the Winter Christmas one. If we had the money to fly back to Europe, a White Xmas would be the easiest trip I could convince him to do.
With this in mind, if you can find a snowy location in the States to hole up for at least a few days over Xmas (perhaps a cute log cabin somewhere), then it could be pretty special.

I love your split plans for WDW. Staying in both of those beautiful lodges would be wonderful.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congrats on having another trip worked out.

My vote is for a White Christmas.
Have you looked into towns in Colorado (Breckenridge, Durango, Georgetown) or Utah (Park City) instead of the Canadian Ski Resorts?

 

[lffam]

Firstly, YAY for another trip

My two cents for what they are worth, but I would pick either the cruise or the snow holiday over Christmas and NY and do WDW either January or early Dec. But then that's because I hate crowds and would only attack WDW over the holiday period if someone paid me to do it.
Shoulder to shoulder people stress me out big time and the thought that there might be days where we couldn't even return to the hotel for a nap due to the parks reaching capacity and shutting, doesn't sound relaxing to me. If you're okay with crowds though, and happy in the knowledge that you won't be doing as much each day, then all power to you.

I have looked at a Disney cruise for Xmas day, and admittedly it's almost double the price of a few weeks later. But it would be a such a magical, relaxing way of spending Xmas as a family, that I think one day (in the distant future), it's something I might just splash out on.

I've never done a White Christmas in the USA, but I have done one in Austria. It was magical and is one of my all time fondest travel memories.
My DH is a bit take it or leave it when it comes to travel, and he really only agrees to our trips to humour me. However, he does occasionally mention repeating one of trips, and it's the Winter Christmas one. If we had the money to fly back to Europe, a White Xmas would be the easiest trip I could convince him to do.
With this in mind, if you can find a snowy location in the States to hole up for at least a few days over Xmas (perhaps a cute log cabin somewhere), then it could be pretty special.

I love your split plans for WDW. Staying in both of those beautiful lodges would be wonderful.

Where to be over Christmas is definitely key and your points about the crowds is well taken. We certainly know it will be busier than when we were there last year this time, how much well thats the $64m question and will that bother us? I can't say. There is a 7 day cruise over Christmas but as you say it goes up significantly, but then given we're in a ship with a set maximum number of people crowd control is implicit so thats a bonus. It's also on the Fantasy and DS really wanted to go on the Magic for the Avengers Assemble Academy, but if thats what we need to do then he'll "suffer"

I'll look into more options to see if the Snow is a viable one for us this time around.

The split stay does sounds really good. DW wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom and got no complaints from me and then WL well thats got a soft spot from me.

 

[lffam]

Congrats on having another trip worked out.

My vote is for a White Christmas.
Have you looked into towns in Colorado (Breckenridge, Durango, Georgetown) or Utah (Park City) instead of the Canadian Ski Resorts?

No we haven't PIO, but I will be now! In reality We don't feel we need to do both resorts and the Cruise. We would be happy with DL & a Disney Cruise if we were able to get the White Christmas in somehow. Yes ideally I would love to go to USO to see the new HP area, ad then I would feel I'm so close so I really want to go to WDW also, but I'm sure I can convince myself it wouldn't be too far in the future that we will be back - my goodness maybe i should look at buying DVC .

 

[LivingforDisney]

Lol, its terrible isn't it, start planning & the trip gets longer & longer.
Is the Magic leaving from Miami?
I did think about doing one from Miami, but not driving , so too much hassle to get there.
Please post if & when you find airfares.
We are going to stay on IDrive for 4 nights & then stay at Cabana Bay from Sunday 3rd Jan , so hoping by Monday the crowds have gone, we will stay here 5 nights & then stay at the Hyatt at MCO & leave from their to the cruise on Disney transport.
Then we will fly home straight from the cruise, hmmm not liking that idea, I will have to see what the flights are, might have to spend a night in L.A
good luck with the planning

 

[lffam]

Lol, its terrible isn't it, start planning & the trip gets longer & longer. Is the Magic leaving from Miami? I did think about doing one from Miami, but not driving , so too much hassle to get there. Please post if & when you find airfares. We are going to stay on IDrive for 4 nights & then stay at Cabana Bay from Sunday 3rd Jan , so hoping by Monday the crowds have gone, we will stay here 5 nights & then stay at the Hyatt at MCO & leave from their to the cruise on Disney transport. Then we will fly home straight from the cruise, hmmm not liking that idea, I will have to see what the flights are, might have to spend a night in L.A good luck with the planning

First draft was just that! There will be a few more before we settle. After looking into the crowds a bit more I think WanderLustNZ has got it sussed so we are rethinking the order of things and still looking for the White Christmas that might suit us.

Yes the Magic leaves from Miami which I didn't realise was so far from Orlando. When I looked for flights to Miami I saw my preferred US domestic airline Virgin America doesn't fly there. After a bit more reading they fly to Ft Lauderdale which is 30mins from the port phew..!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Having the cruise leave from Port Canaveral is an advantage.
For what it's worth, if you do decide on the Fantasy over the Magic, your son will be extra grateful for the extra 2 nights onboard. Even after 7 days we were sad to get off the ship. If we were back in the area, I would seriously consider a back to back Fantasy spending 14 nights onboard.

Also, if you do look into the Fantasy, because you're a family of 3, see if there are any of the four 8a mini-suites left. They are a bit cheaper than a balcony cabin, and I would pick one over a balcony cabin any day. We loved all the extra space, and the fact that it gave my son his own little area and television.
Here's my blog entry about the room we had.
http://3batteredsuitcases.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/a-room-fit-for-king.html

As for the snow holiday, Dollywood and The Smoky Mountains may be worth looking into. I don't know a huge amount about the area over Xmas, but I have looked into the area for a Fall holiday and fell in love with all the gorgeous cabins you can rent there. It might be a delightful place to hole up for a week?

 

[lffam]

Having the cruise leave from Port Canaveral is an advantage.
For what it's worth, if you do decide on the Fantasy over the Magic, your son will be extra grateful for the extra 2 nights onboard. Even after 7 days we were sad to get off the ship. If we were back in the area, I would seriously consider a back to back Fantasy spending 14 nights onboard.

Also, if you do look into the Fantasy, because you're a family of 3, see if there are any of the four 8a mini-suites left. They are a bit cheaper than a balcony cabin, and I would pick one over a balcony cabin any day. We loved all the extra space, and the fact that it gave my son his own little area and television.
Here's my blog entry about the room we had.
http://3batteredsuitcases.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/a-room-fit-for-king.html

As for the snow holiday, Dollywood and The Smoky Mountains may be worth looking into. I don't know a huge amount about the area over Xmas, but I have looked into the area for a Fall holiday and fell in love with all the gorgeous cabins you can rent there. It might be a delightful place to hole up for a week?

I'm with you on the length of the cruise and that 5 would be too short. That said I've never been a cruise person so I'm hoping that will change! The things i do to get my Disney fix and for our DS!.

Thanks for the blog link, a great read. I didn't know that you could book a specific stateroom. I understand what you mean by the upgrade, it would seem a no brainer to upgrade to me, but I totally understand what you mean about the space and am glad that your research helped you make the right decision for you all. Loved the photo of your DS sitting in the overside window, certainly looks relaxed.

I'll have a look at those suggestions for the snow part, pesky work got in the way during the day! back to the planning...