Claire&TheBoys
The Queen of the Castle!
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2007
What with the holidays, I realized I never came back to do a re-cap of our 1-night Premium Plan trip back in November. We had an amazing time!
We arrived on Sunday night, Nov. 27 and checked into Pop just before 9:00 pm. Within 30 minutes we were waiting for a bus to go to EMH at DHS. My husband and brother-in-law waited 20 minutes standby for Star Tours while my sister and I took in the Osborne Lights. When the guys got done, they met us there to watch more of the light show. Just amazing. We walked over to TSM to see what the wait-time was and although it was listed as about 50 minutes, we went ahead and got in line. It turned out to be about 30. We then went over to RNRC and got in the standby line and again waited about 20 minutes. We left just before midnight to head back to Pop.
Monday, Nov. 28. My sister and I went to check in for our Premium reservations at 7:00. Thanks to this thread, I knew to make sure we got our La Nouba vouchers, and the CM had to hunt for them, but we got them. We had a quick breakfast in the food court before driving over to Epcot. We had no trouble getting in about 8:15 for our 9:00 Segway tour. While we waited, we wandered around the area between the Innoventions buildings. We met up with the rest of our group at 8:45 and went to Segway Central for our training. We all loved riding the Segways and the rest of the day really felt like we were walking soooo slow!!
We had a lunch ADR for Le Cellier at 11:30, which is the first seating time. Before officially opening the restaurant the servers treated us to a rendition of O Canada, which was a nice treat. Following a wonderful meal, we walked over to the American Adventure to catch the Voices of Liberty. They were doing their Christmas music and were fabulous, as always. We then walked to Future World to ride Soarin' (we had grabbed FP after the tour ended) and Spaceship Earth. It rained while we were on Soarin' and after the shower it had cooled off quite a bit, so my sister and I exited the park to get jackets out of the car and came back in to meet up with the guys. We headed over to Chefs de France for our CP dinner ADR. It was raining again and we had to wait quite a little while, but we were seated just as Remy was finishing his rounds, so we got to see him in action. Very cute! We had another terrific meal and headed over towards the line to get in for CP. I think we stood in line about an hour before the show was to start at 8:15. Even though we were in line all the way back by the Japan pavilion, we were able to get close seats on the left side of the ampitheater. We didn't have a good view of Michael W. Smith (awesome narrator!) but the sound was very good and well-balanced. We were on the 2nd row, so well under the roof. My husband and I had never seen the CP and we loved it. We all loved it!
After the show, we went to our designated Illuminations viewing spot, which was the bridge in Italy. We were right at the side of the bridge and had a terrific view of the show. I was surprised, but thrilled, to get to see the "Peace On Earth" part of Illuminations; I didn't realize they started it so early in the season. After it was all over, we spent some time in Mouse Gear buying some treats for those back home, and we were among the last out of the gates around 11:00. First in, last out!
Tuesday, Nov. 29. We again went to the front desk to check in for our last room-only reservation at Pop, grabbed a bite in the food court and headed to MK. I had hoped we'd leave Pop about 8:00 as we had the day before, but we were all dragging a bit! We left about 8:15. Fortunately, we had a quick drive to the TTC and walked to the monorail station and one pulled in as we were walking up the ramp. We made it to the front gate of MK about 8:30 and had plenty of time to check in for our KTTK tour and go get some pictures of empty Main Street and get a couple of Photopass pics taken, too. The CMs by the Chamber of Commerce told us to watch the ramp to see all the characters walk by and that was fun. We also saw the "running of the bulls" as people rushed in -- we saw one man sprinting down Main street! Our KTTK tour guide was Claire, and I can't say enough good things about her. She was just superb. A real treat! We rode Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion as part of the tour and it was exactly 2:00 when we walked back up to the Chamber of Commerce to turn in our gear. We had a 5:35 ADR at the Castle and we spent our free time on Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn, Splash Mtn and Pirates, and did a little shopping. We arrived early for our ADR and were just about to have our picture made with Cinderella when our name was called. We loved the atmosphere there, but the food was just so-so. My husband's dish was burned on the edges, mine was just average. But my sister and I took pics with all the princesses and had a ball!
There was a MVMCP that night, so we had to get out shortly after 7:00. We did take a few minutes after dinner to enjoy the Ice Lights on the Castle (my sister had never seen them), and browse through Main Street a minute. After we left MK, we went to DTD for the 9:00 La Nouba show. We had front-row seats on the left side of the stage -- the trapeze artists were directly over our heads! It was an amazing view of some of the acts, like the little girls with the spools, and the acrobats. Others, like the trapeze directly over us, not so great, but when we had made the reservation, the seats were the "best available" so we didn't have much choice. We were all stunned by the show - just amazing artistry and incredible acts.
After La Nouba ended, we went back to Pop. We got up Wednesday morning and headed for home. It was a really neat experience. I wish we could have done it for longer, but we could only be gone for a couple of days. It was awesome for the 4 of us because we've all been to Disney a number of times and seeing the backstage things at MK was a dream come true for us. And riding the Segways was a highlight of the trip, too. I would love to do more of the tours in the future.
So, that's my not-so-brief re-cap!
Thanks to whoever started this thread because without it, I never would have known this was possible and it was truly a dream come true for me. 
We arrived on Sunday night, Nov. 27 and checked into Pop just before 9:00 pm. Within 30 minutes we were waiting for a bus to go to EMH at DHS. My husband and brother-in-law waited 20 minutes standby for Star Tours while my sister and I took in the Osborne Lights. When the guys got done, they met us there to watch more of the light show. Just amazing. We walked over to TSM to see what the wait-time was and although it was listed as about 50 minutes, we went ahead and got in line. It turned out to be about 30. We then went over to RNRC and got in the standby line and again waited about 20 minutes. We left just before midnight to head back to Pop.
Monday, Nov. 28. My sister and I went to check in for our Premium reservations at 7:00. Thanks to this thread, I knew to make sure we got our La Nouba vouchers, and the CM had to hunt for them, but we got them. We had a quick breakfast in the food court before driving over to Epcot. We had no trouble getting in about 8:15 for our 9:00 Segway tour. While we waited, we wandered around the area between the Innoventions buildings. We met up with the rest of our group at 8:45 and went to Segway Central for our training. We all loved riding the Segways and the rest of the day really felt like we were walking soooo slow!!
We had a lunch ADR for Le Cellier at 11:30, which is the first seating time. Before officially opening the restaurant the servers treated us to a rendition of O Canada, which was a nice treat. Following a wonderful meal, we walked over to the American Adventure to catch the Voices of Liberty. They were doing their Christmas music and were fabulous, as always. We then walked to Future World to ride Soarin' (we had grabbed FP after the tour ended) and Spaceship Earth. It rained while we were on Soarin' and after the shower it had cooled off quite a bit, so my sister and I exited the park to get jackets out of the car and came back in to meet up with the guys. We headed over to Chefs de France for our CP dinner ADR. It was raining again and we had to wait quite a little while, but we were seated just as Remy was finishing his rounds, so we got to see him in action. Very cute! We had another terrific meal and headed over towards the line to get in for CP. I think we stood in line about an hour before the show was to start at 8:15. Even though we were in line all the way back by the Japan pavilion, we were able to get close seats on the left side of the ampitheater. We didn't have a good view of Michael W. Smith (awesome narrator!) but the sound was very good and well-balanced. We were on the 2nd row, so well under the roof. My husband and I had never seen the CP and we loved it. We all loved it!
After the show, we went to our designated Illuminations viewing spot, which was the bridge in Italy. We were right at the side of the bridge and had a terrific view of the show. I was surprised, but thrilled, to get to see the "Peace On Earth" part of Illuminations; I didn't realize they started it so early in the season. After it was all over, we spent some time in Mouse Gear buying some treats for those back home, and we were among the last out of the gates around 11:00. First in, last out!
Tuesday, Nov. 29. We again went to the front desk to check in for our last room-only reservation at Pop, grabbed a bite in the food court and headed to MK. I had hoped we'd leave Pop about 8:00 as we had the day before, but we were all dragging a bit! We left about 8:15. Fortunately, we had a quick drive to the TTC and walked to the monorail station and one pulled in as we were walking up the ramp. We made it to the front gate of MK about 8:30 and had plenty of time to check in for our KTTK tour and go get some pictures of empty Main Street and get a couple of Photopass pics taken, too. The CMs by the Chamber of Commerce told us to watch the ramp to see all the characters walk by and that was fun. We also saw the "running of the bulls" as people rushed in -- we saw one man sprinting down Main street! Our KTTK tour guide was Claire, and I can't say enough good things about her. She was just superb. A real treat! We rode Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion as part of the tour and it was exactly 2:00 when we walked back up to the Chamber of Commerce to turn in our gear. We had a 5:35 ADR at the Castle and we spent our free time on Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn, Splash Mtn and Pirates, and did a little shopping. We arrived early for our ADR and were just about to have our picture made with Cinderella when our name was called. We loved the atmosphere there, but the food was just so-so. My husband's dish was burned on the edges, mine was just average. But my sister and I took pics with all the princesses and had a ball!
There was a MVMCP that night, so we had to get out shortly after 7:00. We did take a few minutes after dinner to enjoy the Ice Lights on the Castle (my sister had never seen them), and browse through Main Street a minute. After we left MK, we went to DTD for the 9:00 La Nouba show. We had front-row seats on the left side of the stage -- the trapeze artists were directly over our heads! It was an amazing view of some of the acts, like the little girls with the spools, and the acrobats. Others, like the trapeze directly over us, not so great, but when we had made the reservation, the seats were the "best available" so we didn't have much choice. We were all stunned by the show - just amazing artistry and incredible acts.
After La Nouba ended, we went back to Pop. We got up Wednesday morning and headed for home. It was a really neat experience. I wish we could have done it for longer, but we could only be gone for a couple of days. It was awesome for the 4 of us because we've all been to Disney a number of times and seeing the backstage things at MK was a dream come true for us. And riding the Segways was a highlight of the trip, too. I would love to do more of the tours in the future.
So, that's my not-so-brief re-cap!
Thanks to whoever started this thread because without it, I never would have known this was possible and it was truly a dream come true for me. 
