The flight from ORD to MCO took off on time and Disney's Magical Express to the hotel was very nice. The whole process from arriving at the ME desk to the bus leaving was all of 10 - 15 minutes. We were at CBR checking in about 1.25 hours after landing. The bus driver didn't speak very good English and one of the passengers had to ask him twice to turn on the air and start the DVD, but all in all, it was good.
CBR was very nice as always. Not much to report there, other than the rooms seemed even nicer than we remembered them. The CM's left some balloons and a card in our room the first day congratulating us on our anniversary, which was very nice.
The weather was around 90 and very humid the whole time, with heavy rain on Thursday and spotty rain through Saturday. The rain never stopped us from enjoying ourselves. Sunday and Monday were drier, but the sun obviously made it seem even more hot. I guess it is Florida afterall.
We purchased TGM's program to give it a shot and were disappointed. It didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. Oh well. I won't go into details since I'd be giving away his proprietary info.
Following our normal pattern, we walked onto most rides with little or no wait. As the day progressed, we utilized FastPass. The longest non-FastPass wait was about 30 minutes and that was Splash Mountain. By the time we got to that ride the FP time was past when we would be in the park. We FP'ed GM's Test Track and still had to wait about 10 minutes. If you waited to go on the main attractions until the afternoon, most of the FP's were gone and the waits were 70 to 90 minutes, at least in Epcot.
Rode Soarin' for the first time. Awesome! We actually grabbed a FP, then waited in line for the first ride because it was only posted at 30 minutes. We got on in about 20-25 minutes. Later we came back and rode it again with the FP - practically walked on.
Crowds weren't bad on Thursday. By Friday, they were thickening up as expected because of the holiday weekend.
The Food & Wine Festival was great as usual. This time we bought a cookbook to duplicate some of our favorites at home. I don't want to even think about all of the calories we consumed. My pants feel a little tighter today.....
One of the highlights of the trip was Pam Brody dedicating an anniversary song to us at Rose & Crown. She then gave us an autographed postcard with her picture on it. She is quite the entertainer and a very sweet woman.
Magical Express back to the airport wasn't quite as magical. It took 45 minutes to check our bags and get a boarding pass at CBR. Once that was done, we went to Epcot for lunch at Le Cellier and explored a bit more. We got back to the CBR lobby to wait for our 3:30 bus. Two buses arrived at the same time and no one from Disney gave anyone good direction as to what the boarding process was. This despite the fact that there were about 6 CM's standing around. There was a mad rush to the bus and some people boarded without checking in with the driver. We finally got on board and the rest was fine; I just expected a little more organization from Disney.
All in all a great trip. Next time we're going to try early December when it is cooler out.
CBR was very nice as always. Not much to report there, other than the rooms seemed even nicer than we remembered them. The CM's left some balloons and a card in our room the first day congratulating us on our anniversary, which was very nice.
The weather was around 90 and very humid the whole time, with heavy rain on Thursday and spotty rain through Saturday. The rain never stopped us from enjoying ourselves. Sunday and Monday were drier, but the sun obviously made it seem even more hot. I guess it is Florida afterall.
We purchased TGM's program to give it a shot and were disappointed. It didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. Oh well. I won't go into details since I'd be giving away his proprietary info.
- Wednesday night
- Late dinner at Old Port Royale, a couple of banana cabanas and off to bed.
- Thursday
- Studios in the morning, go for a swim, Epcot until Illuminations and close.
- Friday
- MK in the morning, took a nap, Epcot until Illuminations and close.
- Saturday
- AK in the morning (three attractions), took a nap, Epcot until 6:30.
- Boat to Studios for Fantasmic. What an incredible show! Highly recommended!
- Bus to Polynesian for a drink.
- Monorail to MK for Wishes. A nice fireworks display, but not worth the aggravation of fighting the crowd. We had a 45 minute wait for a bus back to CBR with very crabby people trying to cut in line, etc.
- Sunday
- Epcot in the morning, back for a nap, off to Epcot until Illuminations and close. A very nice CM let us watch from a very private area next to Rose & Crown because of our anniversary. Very cool!
- Monday
- Check out (see below), to Epcot for lunch at LeCellier, then back to CBR for ME transportation to MCO.
Following our normal pattern, we walked onto most rides with little or no wait. As the day progressed, we utilized FastPass. The longest non-FastPass wait was about 30 minutes and that was Splash Mountain. By the time we got to that ride the FP time was past when we would be in the park. We FP'ed GM's Test Track and still had to wait about 10 minutes. If you waited to go on the main attractions until the afternoon, most of the FP's were gone and the waits were 70 to 90 minutes, at least in Epcot.
Rode Soarin' for the first time. Awesome! We actually grabbed a FP, then waited in line for the first ride because it was only posted at 30 minutes. We got on in about 20-25 minutes. Later we came back and rode it again with the FP - practically walked on.
Crowds weren't bad on Thursday. By Friday, they were thickening up as expected because of the holiday weekend.
The Food & Wine Festival was great as usual. This time we bought a cookbook to duplicate some of our favorites at home. I don't want to even think about all of the calories we consumed. My pants feel a little tighter today.....
One of the highlights of the trip was Pam Brody dedicating an anniversary song to us at Rose & Crown. She then gave us an autographed postcard with her picture on it. She is quite the entertainer and a very sweet woman.
Magical Express back to the airport wasn't quite as magical. It took 45 minutes to check our bags and get a boarding pass at CBR. Once that was done, we went to Epcot for lunch at Le Cellier and explored a bit more. We got back to the CBR lobby to wait for our 3:30 bus. Two buses arrived at the same time and no one from Disney gave anyone good direction as to what the boarding process was. This despite the fact that there were about 6 CM's standing around. There was a mad rush to the bus and some people boarded without checking in with the driver. We finally got on board and the rest was fine; I just expected a little more organization from Disney.
All in all a great trip. Next time we're going to try early December when it is cooler out.
