100 Eats & Drinks in 3.5 Days! ~ Updated 1/10: December TR Started!

[Dugette]

Welcome to our 5th WDW trip in 14 months!

We are enjoying a "Year of Disney" in 2010. We took a trip to WDW in September 2009 and loved it so much that we decided to return in January 2010 for a longer trip AND get Annual Passes so that we could return for short visits during special events. We attended Star Wars Weekends in June, we attended the Food & Wine Festival in November (this TR!), and we will be leaving again in 3 weeks and 1 day for the Holidays at Disney! We are very lucky to be able to do this!

You can find our plans in our pre-trip report here: "Don't Forget to Pack the Extra Stomachs! PTR"

The basics of the trip:

Who: Me ("Dugette") and DH ("Dug")

What: Eating and drinking around the World

When: Weds. 11/10/10 to Sun. 11/14/10

Where: Pop for first night, then a Studio at the Beach Club Villas

Why: Because we are getting our money's worth out of the APs!

Disclaimer: Okay, it might not have been exactly 100 eats/drinks, but right around there. Depends how you count a margarita flight (one or five?) and if you count "seconds", etc.

Travel Day coming up in the next post!


Chapters
Day 0 - The "Traditional" Travel Day
Day 1 - An Extra Magical Morning - Part 1
Day 1 - An Extra Magical Morning - Part 2
Day 1 - Time to Start Eating - Part 1
Day 1 - Time to Start Eating - Part 2
Day 1 - A Great Night!
Day 2 - A Relaxing Morning
Day 2 - Munching, Magic, & Miniatures
Day 2 - An Action-Packed Evening!
Day 3 - Remy Makes us Lunch
Day 3 - Stormin' Along the Food Booths
Day 3 - Wishes & Nibbles at the CA Grill
Day 3 - Dug's Dream Comes True
Day 4 - A Lazy Last Morning

December TR Started!

 

[Disneymoon09]

I'm in!

 

[Dugette]

I'm in!

Wow, you are speedy! Glad to have you here!

 

[Disneymoon09]

Haha good timing i guess! I think this is the first time I've been on the Dis tonite!

 

[Dugette]

We seem to have developed a routine for our travel days. Same flight, same seats on the Magical Express, same hotel...I guess we're creatures of habit. So, if you read our other TRs, some of this might sound just a little bit familiar. Here's the story of our day:

The night before our departure day, we dropped our dog Bailey off at my dad and step-mom's house, since they had kindly agreed to watch her for us. They actually love having her, which is great! (more on Bailey's "vacation" at the end of this post!)

We finished packing that night and our cat Kitty did everything she could think of to keep us from leaving. It didn't work.

Departure day morning, we got all of our luggage loaded into the car. Dug dropped me off at the bus stop and I took the bus into work, as usual. Dug drove to work, as usual. We both worked all day, as usual.

The only real "incident" was that I decided to eat lunch that day. Though I'd been warned to stop eating before our trip so I'd be sufficiently hungry for Food & Wine, I didn't heed the advice (sorry, A&Bmama!) I should not have eaten lunch. I got Swedish Meatballs from the (usually good) cafeteria at work. They tasted good and I didn't think much of it. Until mid-afternoon. They must not have agreed with me too well. I didn't actually get sick, but I felt just YUCK all afternoon and evening. And I completely lost my appetite. Nice - losing my appetite immediately before Food & Wine!

Anyway, after work it was our normal travel day pattern. Dug drove to his sister's house, dropped his car in her driveway, transferred the luggage to her car, and got dropped off at the airport. I walked to the lightrail station downtown, hopped on a train, and got out at the airport. Our timing worked out perfectly in that I was able to get to the drop-off area just in time to thank Dug's sister and help bring in our luggage.

We each checked one bag (free perk of our Delta AmEx) and kept one carry-on plus the backpack with us. We got in a security line. Almost immediately, one of the TSA people told a bunch of us that the security area at the far end of the terminal had no line. Several of us herded over there. Once we got in line, Dug realized that this was where they were setting up the new body scanners and he was not thrilled about the prospect of having to use one of those. Fortunately, they were not in use yet, so we just had the normal scanners to walk through. In no time at all, we were heading towards our gate and some dinner for Dug.

You may remember Dug getting food at "Wok & Roll" on previous trips. And he did so again. This time, he actually deemed it worthy of taking pictures. He had Bourbon Chicken and Crab Rangoon:

I had zero appetite, so I just played with Dug's iPhone during dinner:

I had a glass of ice water for dinner.

Not too long later, we were boarding our flight. The flight was completely full. Early on, Dug noticed that the male flight attendant was the same one we'd had on our June trip. In June, he'd been making joke-announcements over the PA system. This time, he wasn't doing any announcements (maybe they don't let him do that anymore?). Later on, during the beverage service, I heard him involved in this exchange a few rows up:

Flight Attendant: Hey, you know that actress in L.A. that got stabbed this morning? I haven't heard, did she live or die?
Passenger: Huh, what happened?
FA: She walked out of her house and someone stabbed her in the back!
Passenger: What actress?
FA: Um, her first name is Reese...
Passenger: Witherspoon?!?
FA: No, with a knife!!!!

I heard this same exchange again a bit later, a few rows behind us. Although I was pretty sure it was just a dumb joke, we did check on Reese Witherspoon's welfare via Dug's iPhone from MCO. She is just fine, by the way! That dude's an oddball flight attendant!

Anyway, Dug watched the movie shown, "Get Low". I actually got a good amount of sleep on this flight! I love sleep! I did wake up for a bit to make another attempt at "dinner." I had peanuts and a Fresca for dinner.

Flight was pretty uneventful.

Once we got out of the plane into the airport, Dug and I turned to each-other and, completely coincidentally, simultaneously said, "Home, sweet home!"

We got our luggage and headed to the Magical Express area. We were a bit concerned when we saw a few people waiting to go up to the counter...we are used to having no lines, since we get in around 11pm. However, since we had our voucher, we were told to bypass the desk and go straight to the queue area:

We made it up to the front and waited in "line" for about 12 seconds:

We were then directed to a Magical Express bus. Lucky us, we got our "traditional" front-row seat behind the driver:

We enjoyed the ride and the video once again. The WDW sign was dark this night, so we didn't attempt a picture.

Our first destination was Caribbean Beach. Due to the Bonnet Creek road construction, Caribbean Beach was nearly inaccessible. First, the exit from the interstate that our bus driver was going to take was closed. So, he tried to take the back roads. And the one he needed to turn onto was closed. He was frustrated. Have you ever been in an ME bus that turned completely around in the middle of an intersection? We now have. I wouldn't recommend it. Those buses are not meant to turn around in tight quarters!

Our driver finally found a route to Caribbean Beach that was open and dropped off some passengers there. Then, on to Pop!:

We had done online check-in, so it took no time at all to get our packet and keys. We also got our anniversary buttons, as this trip was a belated celebration of our 5th anniversary. We got most of our room requests. We'd asked for a King bed, '80's section (we like the remodeled rooms), and top floor. Well, we got the first two, but were on the first floor. We were okay with that, though, as it wasn't a high-traffic area going by us.

We dragged our luggage across Pop to Building 7. We had a towel animal waiting for us:

Our room turned out to be a wheelchair accessible room. I don't think we have a picture, but the entire bathroom was essentially a shower stall. Didn't bother us at all. Plus, this room had a fridge! We had no need for it that night, but kind-of cool! Here's the room:

We were quick to hit the bed. We had an Extra Magic Morning at the Magic Kingdom ahead of us!

So, back to Bailey. My dad and step-mom were nice enough to send us pictures of her throughout our trip. We call it "Puppy Wilderness Adventure Camp" when she stays with them, as they take her out running with them and have lots of little critters living near their house. Bailey likes stalking the bunnies and squirrels and such.

Bailey's vacation involved a lot of cuddling and napping:

They apparently got Bailey a new toy called "Mr. Owl" and here she is ripping his feet off:

The highlight of Bailey's trip was probably their run in a nearby state park. Before you see these pictures, you should know that the weather took a turn for the worse once we left Minnesota. It had been in the 50's and beautiful during the week. While we were gone, it got cold and the first snow of the season fell (winter storm caliber). So, here she is getting set to go:

Out in the snow:

Soggy doggy on the way home:

So, Bailey had a good trip. Although, we were told, she missed us desperately and kept listening for our car. But she was a good girl!

More on our trip soon!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Disneymoon09]

We had a King room as ASMo, but we hated the shower stall bathroom! It just got irritating, plus I dont think our drain worked correctly, so we always had around an inch of water in the entire bathroom while taking a shower. I really like the POP room, and I hope we get to stay at POP next time!

BLAH to a bad lunch! It's always something before vacation huh?!

Loving it so far!

 

[jerseygirl16]

Yay you've started!!!

Can't wait to read the rest. By the way your dog is so cute!

 

[Dugette]

joining in

Glad to have you here! You just got back from the BC too, right? How was your trip?

We had a King room as ASMo, but we hated the shower stall bathroom! It just got irritating, plus I dont think our drain worked correctly, so we always had around an inch of water in the entire bathroom while taking a shower. I really like the POP room, and I hope we get to stay at POP next time!

BLAH to a bad lunch! It's always something before vacation huh?!

Loving it so far!

Yuck for broken drains! Yeah, that would be a problem. Ours seemed to work fine and it was just for one night, so not really a concern...the seat in the shower was actually kind-of handy too.

I love the refurbished rooms at Pop. They just seem so nice and clean and new. Actually, in some ways it was nicer than the BCV room.

I'm just glad that the lunch didn't make me any sicker than it did! Even though I had no appetite that night, I felt pretty confident that I'd be better in the morning. Really, I had no choice on a trip centered around eating!

Yay you've started!!!

Can't wait to read the rest. By the way your dog is so cute!

Glad you made it over here! I'm going to try to get another update up tonight!

Bailey says thank you! She's adorable and she knows how to use it to her advantage.

 

[A&Bmama]

Though I'd been warned to stop eating before our trip so I'd be sufficiently hungry for Food & Wine, I didn't heed the advice (sorry, A&Bmama!) I should not have eaten lunch. I got Swedish Meatballs from the (usually good) cafeteria at work. They tasted good and I didn't think much of it. Until mid-afternoon. They must not have agreed with me too well. I didn't actually get sick, but I felt just YUCK all afternoon and evening. And I completely lost my appetite. Nice - losing my appetite immediately before Food & Wine!

There was nothing really wrong with those meatballs...just the hex I put on them to make sure you saved room for the good stuff later.

I had a glass of ice water for dinner.

See, my plan is working...

I love sleep! I did wake up for a bit to make another attempt at "dinner." I had peanuts and a Fresca for dinner.

Still going strong. Oh, by the way, the meatballs made you sleepy too......you're welome.

Flight was pretty uneventful.

I LOVE an uneventful flight!

Have you ever been in an ME bus that turned completely around in the middle of an intersection? We now have. I wouldn't recommend it. Those buses are not meant to turn around in tight quarters!

No, but I imagine it would feel like the whole bus was going to tip over on it's side.

this trip was a belated celebration of our 5th anniversary. We got most of our room requests. We'd asked for a King bed, '80's section (we like the remodeled rooms), and top floor. Well, we got the first two, but were on the first floor. We were okay with that, though, as it wasn't a high-traffic area going by us.

Happy belated Anniversary! Sounds like you got a great room.

We were quick to hit the bed. We had an Extra Magic Morning at the Magic Kingdom ahead of us!

I hope you were feeling better in the morning.

So, back to Bailey. My dad and step-mom were nice enough to send us pictures of her throughout our trip. We call it "Puppy Wilderness Adventure Camp" when she stays with them, as they take her out running with them and have lots of little critters living near their house. Bailey likes stalking the bunnies and squirrels and such.

Puppy Wilderness Adventure Camp looks awesome!

Soggy doggy on the way home:

Aww, she is sooo cute! I'll bet she really missed Mom and Dad though.

 

[Dugette]

There was nothing really wrong with those meatballs...just the hex I put on them to make sure you saved room for the good stuff later.

Now it all makes sense!

See, my plan is working...

This explains so much!

Still going strong. Oh, by the way, the meatballs made you sleepy too......you're welome.

Thanks! I love sleepy on a plane!

I LOVE an uneventful flight!

Me too! On the same note as the comment above, sleeping sure helps. I'm a nervous flyer (better than I used to be, but still...) and I always say the best flight I ever took was one several years ago where I was so tired that I fell asleep at the gate, slept through take-off, woke up for a second mid-flight (enough to see we were safely in the air), fell back asleep, slept through landing, and woke up at the gate. I would love for every flight I take to be just like that one!

No, but I imagine it would feel like the whole bus was going to tip over on it's side.

The worst part was backing up. It was kind-of like Dinosaur...really bumpy and lurch-y. Not cool.

Happy belated Anniversary! Sounds like you got a great room.

Thanks! Yes, room was great. Especially for sleep!

I hope you were feeling better in the morning.

Indeed I was. I guess your hexed meatballs wore off!

Puppy Wilderness Adventure Camp looks awesome!

It is awesome!

Aww, she is sooo cute! I'll bet she really missed Mom and Dad though.

You've got that right! I hope she didn't mope the whole time she was at "camp." She's a little too attached to me...

 

[jc040404]

Bailey is just too cute! Glad your baby has some fun when you're off playing at Disney.. I'm still feeling bad for poor Kitty though!

I totally just tried the Reese joke on dh.. and he fell for it. Afterward, he claimed to have seen it coming, but he just doesn't want to admit he fell for the lame joke. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome start! The bus turn just sounds scary. You would think the driver should have a clue how to get there anyway.

Happy belated anniversary!

Can't wait to read about all this yummy food!!

 

[Dugette]

We were up early Thursday morning. Got ready. Wore jeans and fleeces, since it was a bit chilly this early. Ate meager breakfast of items we’d brought along (I had a fruit bar). Called up bell services before we left and told them our luggage would need to be transferred to the Beach Club. Left the luggage in the room and we were off to the bus stop!

On the way, we checked out Pop Century’s lake view:

What’s that back there?:

The former Pop Classic Years/current Animation Suites being built!

During this walk, we were also fortunate enough to see “the backside of potato-heads”!

After our little walk, we made it to the bus stop. Got in line for the MK and soon our chariot arrived:

We made it to the Magic Kingdom with a few minutes to spare before the opening show. The decorations were pretty:

It was not terribly crowded, so we were able to stand pretty close with nobody really too near us. Nice! And the show began:

Can you see that Mickey is holding the hand of the cute little girl from the opening family that was picked?

The show was fun. I’m glad we got to see it again, since it had been awhile. Now that the park was open for the Extra Magic Hour, our plan was to split up briefly. I would go grab Fast Passes for Peter Pan (since I walk faster than Dug) and Dug would meet me over at Space Mountain to ride. So, we each got our own Main Street experience.

As I was speed-walking through the crowds, I heard a mildly amusing conversation around me. A dad and son were in front of me and a mom and daughter in back of me. The mom was saying to the daughter, “Apparently, your dad thinks Dumbo is just going to take off and leave us! Somebody should tell him that Dumbo is operating all day long!” Moments later, I hear a little girl saying, “Daddy, Dumbo is running all day!” The dad responds, “Yeah, but I’m going to be first!” and takes off walking even faster! I have to say that I side with the dad on that one. Doing the Dumbo Dash was assuredly going to save his family a lot of time that day.

I continued through the castle and over to Peter Pan. Went straight to the Fast Pass machines. When our Fast Passes came out, I had a moment of panic. Why did these Fast Passes say Mickey’s Philharmagic on them? Had I gone to the wrong machines? I thought I was finally learning my way around (I’m rather directionally-challenged). After that brief moment of terror, I realized that the Peter Pan Fast Passes were there too and we had gotten these “surprise” Fast Passes for Mickey’s Philharmagic with them. The Peter Pan passes were for 9:40am and the Philharmagic for 9am.

I pocketed everything and made my way across Fantasyland to meet Dug at Space Mountain. As I passed Dumbo, I noticed that the wait was probably about 3 Dumbo rides already. (I was looking because Dug had been somewhat interested in riding Dumbo right away so we could look over the construction wall, but I hadn’t wanted to delay Space Mountain for that…we’ll get to Dumbo later in the trip, don’t worry!) I bet that guy and his family were either at the front of the line or already on the ride!

I was able to see construction going on behind the wall. A crane dumping dirt and some structures going up. Can’t wait to see the new Fantasyland! After our Year of Disney is up, that will likely be our next WDW trip…sometime after it’s open, in a couple years, we’ll come check it all out.

As I was doing all this dashing around, Dug was taking a much more leisurely stroll through the MK. I had videotaped some things while speed-walking (pretty decorations on Main Street, nets of lights visible on the castle), but Dug was stopping to take photos:

We had a few previews of the holiday decorations on this trip. Our next trip (3 weeks from today!) is where we intend to really focus on seeing all the holiday stuff, so the things we saw on this trip were just a nice bonus.

Dug made it to Tomorrowland:

We met up outside of Space Mountain and headed in. There was actually a line here! Oh, well, we could wait. They had added some new effects (sound, visual) to Space recently and we were excited to experience it. And I just really love Space Mountain.

We got to try out the games for the first time here. (We’d never had enough of a line to do this before). They were a fun little diversion. The line wasn’t all that long, so we didn’t get to play very much. I don’t remember ever seeing the window with a projection of the coaster going by it before, but we were fascinated by it now. Also, when we were nearing the part where the line splits, we were watching the coasters through a window as they waited to launch. And one of the people on a coaster says, “We can see them, but they can’t see us.” We yelled, “We can see you!” No one-way mirrors here!

Soon enough, we were headed into Space! Enjoyed the ride and all the new effects! As we were on the conveyor belt out, I commented that I would love to get an ADR for that “restaurant” scene along the way. How cool would that be, to sit in the round booth there in the “space” restaurant with a robot waiter and have a meal catered?! I would totally do that if it were offered!

As we walked away from SM, we saw Tomorrowland Chip and Dale out doing a meet and greet:

We also saw Stitch out posing for photos.

We made our way to Buzz and got in the walk-on line. Dug had requested to sit on the left this time, since I usually do, and he wanted a chance to be able to get the first super-secret-100k target. So, I let him. Even though that is the only high-score target I’ve ever been able to get. So, since I wouldn’t be able to get it from the seat on the right, I wouldn’t be setting any records this game. (As a side note, if you’ve followed my other TRs, you’ll know that we’ve been on a mission to max out the score on this – 999,999 – but never have been able to, despite having found an excellent “cheats” video online and using the info from it.)

I must have managed to hit another large target, though. I ended up with 180k and Dug with 440k. Not our best game, but respectable, I guess.

Time to head off to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

Up next: What’s this rope for? And a pirate notices our anniversary buttons!

 

[Dugette]

Bailey is just too cute! Glad your baby has some fun when you're off playing at Disney.. I'm still feeling bad for poor Kitty though!

Oh, Kitty was okay. Dug's friend spent a night with her. She likes him, as he was Dug's roomie during her kittenhood.

I totally just tried the Reese joke on dh.. and he fell for it. Afterward, he claimed to have seen it coming, but he just doesn't want to admit he fell for the lame joke. Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad my repetition of a lame joke could amuse you!

Awesome start! The bus turn just sounds scary. You would think the driver should have a clue how to get there anyway.

We actually wondered if he was going to try to go through the police barricade. He pulled right up to it and stared at it for awhile before backing up.

Happy belated anniversary!

Can't wait to read about all this yummy food!!

Thanks and there will be plenty of food pics coming up!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Subbing in, great TR! So jealous, so many WDW trips! Did you say you would not be back for 2 years? Why the gap between trips?

 

[jerseygirl16]

Sounds like a great morning so far. And don't worry, those buzz scores are perfectly acceptable considering I only ever score 2000 ( yes that is a 2 with only 3 zeroes ).

Don't you love getting double fastpasses?

 

[gellybean]

I'm here!!!!! The Christmas decorations are getting me so excited!! Our trips are so close!!! We need to figure out if our days are gonna overlap at all?!?! Would love to meet up with you guys!



Can't wait for the next update!!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm subbing!! Love the Christmas decorations and how cute was that little girl holding onto Mickey's hand Can't wait to be there in 9 days!!!

 

[A&Bmama]

As I was speed-walking through the crowds, I heard a mildly amusing conversation around me. A dad and son were in front of me and a mom and daughter in back of me. The mom was saying to the daughter, “Apparently, your dad thinks Dumbo is just going to take off and leave us! Somebody should tell him that Dumbo is operating all day long!” Moments later, I hear a little girl saying, “Daddy, Dumbo is running all day!” The dad responds, “Yeah, but I’m going to be first!” and takes off walking even faster! I have to say that I side with the dad on that one. Doing the Dumbo Dash was assuredly going to save his family a lot of time that day.

I'm with you, that Dad knew what he was doing. I would have been fighting the urge to tell the Mom and Daughter to hurry up!

I continued through the castle and over to Peter Pan. Went straight to the Fast Pass machines. When our Fast Passes came out, I had a moment of panic. Why did these Fast Passes say Mickey’s Philharmagic on them? Had I gone to the wrong machines? I thought I was finally learning my way around (I’m rather directionally-challenged). After that brief moment of terror, I realized that the Peter Pan Fast Passes were there too and we had gotten these “surprise” Fast Passes for Mickey’s Philharmagic with them. The Peter Pan passes were for 9:40am and the Philharmagic for 9am.

That is so funny. I too am directionaly challenged, and would have been slightly panicked that I just blew one of our fastpasses on an attraction I was not planning to use a fastpass for. Thank goodness it was just pixie dust and not a mistake!

It looks like such a nice morning. After our Feb trip the next time I would like to go in Nov or Dec to see the christmas decorations. That probably will not be for a few years.

 

[Dugette]

Subbing in, great TR! So jealous, so many WDW trips! Did you say you would not be back for 2 years? Why the gap between trips?

I think I'm a little jealous of myself going on all these trips...it doesn't quite seem real! And, yes, we will likely be spending 2011 going through severe WDW withdrawal. For some reason, people we know don't seem to believe us that this plethora of WDW trips really is a one-time thing. But, it's just like how we had annual passes once for the MN Zoo, once for the Science Museum, once for Valleyfair, etc....only this place is further away and more expensive! We really had a confluence of circumstances that allowed this Year of Disney (paid off all our non-mortgage debt, had some extra cash flow, 5th anniversary trip $, great deals being offered by Disney, etc.). After this, we resume our "normal" style of vacationing, which is a lot more low budget and not as frequent. We'll need a couple years to have a decent "Disney fund" again. Hoping for a long trip then...these short ones are fun, but exhausting!

Sounds like a great morning so far. And don't worry, those buzz scores are perfectly acceptable considering I only ever score 2000 ( yes that is a 2 with only 3 zeroes ).

Don't you love getting double fastpasses?

I always had those low scores on Buzz too! On one of our past trips, though, the little girl ahead of us had a 600k score and I think that prompted us to find a way to do better. And, luckily, there are handy videos online for that!

Double Fast Passes can be cool, although you'll soon see that these particular ones were rather useless. However, later in the trip, we have a different kind of double FP situation that is quite nice!

I'm here!!!!! The Christmas decorations are getting me so excited!! Our trips are so close!!! We need to figure out if our days are gonna overlap at all?!?! Would love to meet up with you guys!



Can't wait for the next update!!

Hi, Gellybean! Glad you're here! I seem to remember us saying at one point that our ME buses will probably pass each other as you're arriving and we're leaving. But, remind me again, what day do you arrive? We are scheduled to leave on 12/14. However, just today I got thinking about the fact that Delta changed our flight out from 6-something pm to 3-something pm. Really takes away a lot of possibilities for our last day! From what I'm reading online, though, it looks like we might be able to get on a different flight for no charge because the change was more than 2 hours (we used FF miles for these flights). We are mulling over adding an extra day, if that's the case. Not real sure yet. I'll let you know. We'd love to meet up if our paths cross!

I'm subbing!! Love the Christmas decorations and how cute was that little girl holding onto Mickey's hand Can't wait to be there in 9 days!!!

It was very cool seeing the decorations everywhere! I never thought about it, but the insides of restaurants were decorated and everything! I bet you will see a lot more decorations on your trip, as they hadn't put up some things during ours (like, there was nothing in the BC lobby yet). And, yes, that little girl holding Mickey's hand was adorable! She looked so comfortable with him! Your trip is so soon! Have a great time!

I'm with you, that Dad knew what he was doing. I would have been fighting the urge to tell the Mom and Daughter to hurry up!

Even though I was technically in the middle of them, I decided not to get into the middle of it! It is pretty funny, though, that I actually had my videocamera running during the first part of their exchange, so I can listen to the wife's comment over and over! She sounded quite irritated!

That is so funny. I too am directionaly challenged, and would have been slightly panicked that I just blew one of our fastpasses on an attraction I was not planning to use a fastpass for. Thank goodness it was just pixie dust and not a mistake!

Exactly! It was just this moment of pure terror! We only were spending a couple hours in the MK that day, so I couldn't afford to screw that up. Luckily, it turned out that I am overcoming my directional challenges at WDW!

It looks like such a nice morning. After our Feb trip the next time I would like to go in Nov or Dec to see the christmas decorations. That probably will not be for a few years.

It was a beautiful morning. A bit chilly, but nice. I don't know if November weather is typically like this, but it was amazing. No rain at all. Sunny and probably around 80 during the day. Cool, but not cold, mornings and nights. Loved it! You should definitely go see the holiday stuff. Early December is also value season! And low crowds!