Amy&Dan
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2004
- Messages
- 15,958
Last Christmas while eating dinner with my husband's Aunt and cousin who generally come to see us at Christmas I commented how my kids had an extra week off next Christmas and how we should spend time together at WDW instead of at my house for a change of pace. So the idea for this trip was born and while it presented some challenges and lots of crowd factor we had a ball! I'll just recap some of the highlights all in one thread.
December 27:
My family of four consisting of me, my husband Dan and our two kids Matthew 11, and Maria 9 flew out of Denver on this day. We decided that it would be fun for the four of us to spend a few days at POFQ before moving over to Saratoga Springs on New Years Day when my husband's aunt (Eileen) and cousin (Rebecca) as well as Dan's dad Gordon arrived to join us. We arrived into MCO at around 10:30, got our luggage and found the Magical Express area. Since Frontier is not a participating airline and also the late hour we just handled our own bags. We found our proper line and were on a bus by 11:30. The driver was wonderful, the bus wasn't crowded and we were on our way and at Port Orleans by midnight. Check in was a breeze and we got to our room in no time. Due to our late arrival we were in building 7, the furthest out I believe, but the resort is so compact it was not a problem. The room was very nice and clean and we were asleep by about 2:00.
December 28:
Needless to say after that late night we didn't even attempt to get up early. We knew with the crowds we wouldn't be commando touring anyway and just decided our 4 days of just the 4 of us would be spent just hanging out and taking things as they came. Unfortunately the alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. I was so out of it I think it had been going off for a couple of minutes before I managed to realize what was going on and shut it off. Nobody else even woke up! Don't know if the former occupants of the room had left it set or if if the button got pushed maybe when the maid was dusting. Three hours later we all began to stir a bit and decided to get up and head to the pool. There is something wonderful about being at an outdoor pool in the month of December and I couldn't resist calling my brother in Chicago to pay him back for the smug phone call he gave me from Hawaii while it was snowing in Denver recently! We ate lunch and the kids swam but the pool was freezing so we switched to the hot tub. Then it was time to head to O'Hana for dinner. My birthday was the 25th so this was my three days late birthday dinner. We had never been there and it was wonderful. I know the menu has changed some recently but since this was our first time we didn't know anything different so we were in heaven and not missing anything. DH and I had two Lapu Lapu's so frankly it could have been beanie weenies and we probably would not have cared! After dinner we rode the monorail to see the Grand Floridian's decorations and gingerbread house which was fun. Then we went to MK and saw Spectro by literally arriving as it started. We stood behind some people sitting right where it starts and had a great view. Then we headed down Main Street, the decorations were beautiful and found a spot next to the fence across from Crystal Palace with a perfect view for Wishes. After Wishes we did Mickey's Philharmagic, Snow White, Haunted Mansion, Splash, TTA and Astro Orbitor (which we had never done before). We then hung out on Main Street, shopped a bit and were about the last to exit the park at 1:00 a.m. I was pleasantly surprised that we had managed to get so much done given our late arrival. It frankly didn't feel much more crowded than a typical Saturday night but it could have been the Lapu Lapu's!
December 29:
Slept in again then headed to Epcot. This was our worst bus experience. As we walked up the Epcot bus was leaving but we were allowing plenty of time to make our San Angel Inn ADR so I wasn't worried. Well, 40 minutes later the bus arrived and it was jammed packed with people who had just left Epcot and were heading to Riverside. I wish they would not have these two resorts share buses when its so busy! By the time my family and maybe 10 other people boarded that bus it was packed and then the joy of having to stop at four stops at Riverside. One man who got on with us stepped off the bus to let people off and the driver shut the doors and began to drive off before he could get back up. Luckily he got back on! We were late for San Angel but they let us in no problem. I loved POFQ but instead of one hour to get to an ADR I would allow more because you have to account for the four stops you will make at Riverside after you board. Epcot was crowded, we mostly went that day to attend the DVC member Christmas party which was kind of fun. We got some free cookies and they had Pluto, Goofy and Mickey and Minnie there which was very nice. Then we rode Spaceship Earth and finally at long last got to experience the Wonders of Life Pavillion. It was nice because the park was packed. There were no fastpasses left for anything but Maelstrom when we arrived at 1:00 but when we headed to the Wonders of Life it was deserted. It is not on the map and I think a lot of people didn't realize it was still there or there at all for that matter. We saw the Making of Me, rode Body Wars and saw Cranium Command. We enjoyed all of this but it is outdated and I am not surprised they are closing it down. Still, I'm glad we got to do this. After this we were just not in the mood hang out in packed Epcot with no fastpasses in hand so we decided to go over to MGM for Fantasmic and see the Osborne Lights. We arrived at 7:30, and they were having Fantasmic at 8:30. I have never seen that many people going into Fantasmic. People were being very nice and orderly but it was a little disconcerting to know that there were literally hundreds, maybe thousands of people behind us and know that if somebody started shoving we were going to get trampled. They had cm's admitting in groups of people once you got closer so that helped. We found seats no problem and it was great to be there. Afterwards we had no problem going to the Osborne Lights which were just incredible. It was basically deserted back there which was nice. Afterwards we walked by Sci Fi and just for kicks asked if we could get a table and they actually did. We didn't get a car but it had been over 8 hours since San Angel and we were starved. So that ended the night on kind of a lucky note.
December 30:
We slept until noon. We were all just kind of wiped out, post Christmas, at Disney, two hour time difference kind of wiped out so we just slept in. Also, we knew that MK had EMH until 4:00 a.m. and thought maybe we would do that for at least some of it. So we headed to the pool and had lunch and did some laundry and then decided much later to go to AK. Tourguide Mike assured me people would be leaving in droves and that the park being open until 8:00 would be a good evening option. We arrived at 5:30 and people were exiting in droves. We were totally swimming against the current and I began to think maybe we would have the park to ourselves since it looked like about 50,000 people were all walking the other way. Then we hit Dinoland and it was packed! We fastpassed Primevil Whirl and the return time was only about an hour away so that seemed pretty great but there were just so many people back there! We decided to head to Dinosaur and wait it out. The line said 60 minutes but a castmember said it was probably closer to 45 or 50. We don't much like lines but we had used up our fastpass for Primevil Whirl since Dinosaur was out of them and wanted to leave AK by 7:30 to try to get to MK for Wishes at 8:30. We only wanted to do these two rides so we decided to wait. And then the magic happened. Some wonderful lady walked up and gave us five fastpasses for Dinosaur. They were for earlier in the day, they had to leave and had never used them. She told us we might be able to use them even though the return time was for three hours earlier. I knew they would take them no problem, so we told her she was our new best friend and walked right in, past all those people. I told Dan we had to pay this forward at some point in our trip! After Dinosaur we rode Primevil Whirl then headed to MK via the Pop Century Bus since there is no bus at AK that goes directly to MK. We walked off the Pop Century bus just as a MK bus pulled up and we were off! We got to MK just as Wishes was starting and saw it from Main Street near the Christmas Tree. Then we decided to grab dinner at the Tomorrowland Noodle place. This was okay food but nothing to write home about. The best part was the view of the castle we had. We decided to see Spectro again. The crowds were pretty intense and we had never seen Spectro on Main Street before so tonight was the night. Then we found a spot for Imagine a Fantasy in the Sky in the hub. MK was running their New Years Eve fireworks tonight probably hoping to keep people out of the park on New Years Eve. They were spectactular fireworks, they were shooting them not only from the usual spot behind the castle but from the front of the park (the lagoon maybe?) too. So we were surrounded by fireworks. They were over at midnight and so we hoped a lot of people would leave and they did. There were still crowds in Fantasyland so we headed to Hall of Presidents at 12:30 for its last showing and then when EMH started at 1:00 we managed in the next fthree hours to ride Haunted Mansion, Small World, Splash Mountain twice, Country Bear Jamboree, Magic Carpets (three times without getting off), Peter Pan, Indy Speedway and Space Mountain (twice). We rode Space Mountain the last time at 3:58 a.m. and were some of the last people to leave the park. Several times we felt tired and thought about leaving. Riding Alladin's Magic Carpet ride when it was pretty chilly gave us our last burst of energy at around 2:45 and we managed to make it through the rest of the evening! We shared the POFQ bus with one other couple who slept the whole way back. When we arrived back at POFQ at around 5:00, Dan decided he needed something to eat and Matthew was wanting a croissant sandwich. Dan left at 6:00 when the food court opened and brought back a bagle and a muffin. Matthew had waited patiently but fell asleep. Of course 8 hours later at around 2:00 p.m. he sat up and crying wondering if we had saved him some bacon! We assured him there never had been any bacon since they don't start serving the hot stuff unit 7:00 a.m.! We all felt strangley time warped and disoriented. We watched tv for awhile and then decided to head to DTD via the boat to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We got there at around 5:00 and with our Safari card were seated immediately. We were all starving since we had basically not eaten anything but that bagle that Dan and I ate at 6:00 and the kids shared the muffin at 2:00. It had been a long time since the somewhat nasty noodle bowls we had shared at MK the night before. After RFC we shopped a little and then decided to head to Epcot and see if we could get in. We did no problem but I saw a line of cars from the bus just sitting there at the gates so I don't know if they weren't letting people in indefinitely or what but we got in fine. I have never seen Epcot that crowded and yet it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The standby for Soarin at 8:30 when we arrived was 170 minutes. We decided to just walk into World Showcase, find a spot for Illuminations that was starting at 11:40 and people watch. It turned out to be pretty fun. We got a good spot right Near the Amercian Adventure. We had the fence to lean up against and Dan and I took turns taking the kids to the bathroom and to walk around a bit. Maria and I had to wait 20 minutes for a bathroom in Germany before we sat down and swore off liquids after that! Dan reported women using the men's room which didn't seem like too bad an idea. They did have these strange little trailor bathrooms open behind the fence, behind the American Adventure. Each one had 4 little individual bathrooms, very funky setup! We had a nice family from Italy (I think) sit near us and when Illuminations started I motioned for their kids to stand next to mine at the fence. To me this was almost the highlight of our trip. To be in Epcot on New Years Eve, while our children stood next to two kids probably very near their ages from a different part of the world sort of illustrated the whole meaning of Epcot to me. When the countdown started we all held hands, Dan camcorded and it was worth sitting on the ground and peeing in some weird bathroom trailor with airplane pottys in it I can tell you that much! The fireworks were amazing and far off in the distance we could see the dual MK display as well. Afterwards we wished our new friends a Happy New Year and said goodbye. It was just sort of cool to make friends via smiles, a few words and a handshake on New Years Eve. We decided to see the Impressions de France movie and then headed out. We didn't have too bad of a wait for the bus which was good because this late evening on the tale of our 4:00 a.m. MK experience was making us all feel very tired. Dan and I both agreed we felt like victims of some sort of sleep deprivation experiment. We fell asleep immediately. I had set up a wakeup call for 9:00 a.m. since we had to check out of POFQ by 11:00 and them meet up with Dan's dad at SSR at 11:30 so he could recieve his scooter from Randy's Mobility. I know the wakeup call happened but I completely ignored and nobody else heard it so when at 10:30 my cell phone went off it was a good thing. It was Dan's Dad saying he had landed and was heading to the resort. I was so out of it I couldn't even process this right away. I laid there a minute and then realized we had 30 minutes to get out of POFQ and meet Dan's dad at SSR! We managed to get this done sort of. Naturally they weren't doing any late check outs but I peeked out the door and didn't see a maid's cart so figured we had a little time. We got out of there by around 11:20, caught a cab to Saratoga Springs where we met up with Dan's dad. Thank God he had called us or we would probably still be sleeping away at French Quarter!
January 1-7:
Eileen and Rebecca met up with us at SSR later that day. The rest of the trip we spent happily playing tourguide to the three of them. Eileen had spent one day at Epcot many years ago and Gordon lives in Los Angeles and goes to Disneyland regularly but basically they had never really done WDW. We had to take it slow. Gordon is basically in congestive heart failure and was really struggling. Walking from the main lobby area of Brown Derby to our seat near the back of the restaurant almost did him in. He literally could not catch his breath for several minutes. Thank goodness we had the scooter. We did have a wonderful time though and since we had taken my elderly, disabled parents in October had learned a few tricks about touring WDW with the not so young and healthy. This was our first scooter experience at WDW. Gordon always rents one at Disneyland and I have never thought much about it until all the recent "too many scooters at WDW" threads. I have to tell you if you think this makes your trip easy, gets you on any ride easier or that these things are fun think again. We had to wait for a second bus on more than one occasion because they couldn't take another scooter. People are looking straight ahead and go right in front of you which is probably why they frequently get run over. It was not easy, especially at MK. But we were glad to have it and my kids got to experience WDW with their grandpa so it was worth it. We had ADR's every day, sometimes two in one day. And since Eileen and Rebecca were picking out the places and have much more gourmet taste (no kids and bigger dining budget) we were eating at some pricier places than usual. But we needed that structure and since this will likely be a one time only trip for our three family members we wanted them to experince all the good eats WDW has to offer that appealed to them. But I began to feel like we spent all of our time getting from one restaurant to the next and I haven't had the courage to add up our total food bill yet. We normally do maybe 4 sitdowns in a 10 day trip and I missed that cheaper and more spontaneous way of eating. But we had some tasty meals! Crowds didn't thin out as much as I would have liked but I was anticipating that due to the fact New Years was on a Sunday. We still managed pretty well and since our three companions don't like any type of thrill rides didn't have to worry too much about the headliners anyway. Oh, and remember the nice lady at AK who gave us the Dinosaur fastpasses? We did pay that forward on Wednesday evening when we gave a group of teenage girls four fastpasses to Test Track just as they were about to get into a 60 minute standby line.
WDW is such a great place for extended family gatherings. There is so much to offer and staying at SSR was wonderful. Both of our trips "home" have been with family members and we realize how much we are enjoying our decision to buy into DVC. We had no waits for buses to speak of at SSR except on our last day (Sat.). It was the marathon and we had an ADR in France for noon. We got to the bus stop at 10:15 and around 11:30 after not being able to get on the one Epcot bus that came by (couldn't get the scooter on) gave up, got on the DTD bus and ate at RFC. Apparently the marathon causes massive traffic jams and the buses just couldn't get to the resorts. I still think maybe Matthew and Maria prayed for this to happen as they love RFC and were not thrilled to be eating in Epcot "AGAIN". But other than that we generally got on buses pretty quickly. The pool at SSR was wonderful and so warm. The weather was great especially on Wednesday, we literally hung out at the pool all day with Gordon while Eileen and Rebecca shopped in World Showcase. Friday and Saturday were pretty chilly, especially while waited for Fantasmic Friday evening. We mostly encountered friendly people. I did notice many people seem to be in a huge hurry or maybe they were training for the upcoming marathon. Eileen was walking slowly with a cane due to a hip injury and I noticed several people practically run her over to get around her only to end up on the same ride vehicle we were on. Cast members were all great.
Probably my funniest moment was at Epcot on Monday. I overheard a lady behind me as we were in line for Honey I Shrunk... telling maybe her daughter or niece that Disney has this "new fangled" fast thing. Its a fast pass line you see, for folks who want to "pass fast". You get in that line if you can walk real fast and its quick. The young girl wasn't too sure if this was correct and said it was something to do with your ticket but the older lady assured her it was for folks who just wanted to "pass fast"! DH and I are still laughing partly envisioning a line of in shape park guests who can run an 8 minute mile and also that "pass fast" sounds more like a flatulence problem! My saddest moment was when we entered the Contemporary to eat at California Grill and saw Maria's eyes well up knowing she was within spitting distance of Chef Mickey's but had to eat at a stuffy grown up restaurant with no characters! It broke my heart and my budget. We did get to see a couple get engaged however so that was pretty special. My guiltiest moment came when we got our trash and towel service on day 4 at Saratoga. The nice mousekeeper was this very sweet lady. She told us "no English" and was so sorry and apologetic when she couldn't answer some question we had (can't even remember now what it was). DH gave her $5 as she was leaving and she burst into tears and said "Oh I love you and kept blowing us kisses. DH and I figure maybe not a lot of people tip for the trash and towel thing or maybe it was her first day and she wasn't expecting a tip? Much later that afternoon as I came back from a lazy day of reading by the pool I saw her again still working away and looking so worn out. It made me realize not everybody at WDW is getting freebie fastpasses and eating $35 filets at California Grill.
Probably my biggest treat was getting to go to Cirque de Soleil. This was our Christmas gift from Eileen and Rebecca. What an experience! We all enjoyed it although it was a nightmare getting through those crowds with Gordon's scooter and having to see him struggle up maybe 5 or 6 steps to his seat was really sad. But the show was just incredible. Matthew and Maria were mesmerized. One note, if anyone who has walking or mobility issues is planning on taking a resort bus to DTD to go to Cirque be prepared. Its a long walk from the bus stop to the "tent". Gordon was fine on his scooter but Eileen was struggling due to the fact that we did this after a long day at AK. I put Eileen, Rebecca and my kids in a cab that was right outside Cirque after the show and Dan and I walked back to the bus stop with Gordon and his scooter. This was the only time I missed having a rental car the whole 10 days.
The Christmas crowds were intense and yet not as bad as I had envisioned. We still had fun, saw a lot and I would do it again every year if I could. We never one time got to any park at opening, a definite no no and Tour Guide Mike would not have been pleased with our poor getting out of bed performances! The first part of our visit we were worn out from Christmas and Dan had been working tremendous hours and was exhausted. Plus we have a two hour time difference. The second part of our trip we were exahausted from late nights and Gordon being from California had a three hour time difference. Even with not getting to the parks early we managed to see pretty much everything we wanted except Dan and Matthew somehow missed Big Thunder Mountain. Maria and I rode it one night just the two of us while Dan and Matthew took everybody else on Pirates. We also missed seeing Voyage of the Little Mermaid due to slow service at Brown Derby. Yet another reason to avoid too many ADR's! Other than that we managed to get it all done. Even if we had not had those extra days after New Years I would have felt like we had a worthwhile trip even with the crowds. So we are already wondering if maybe we could do this again next year. Unlikely given the fact we are taking a Disney Cruise with Eileen and Rebecca in September but maybe we'll win the lotto!
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to all my disboards friends!
December 27:
My family of four consisting of me, my husband Dan and our two kids Matthew 11, and Maria 9 flew out of Denver on this day. We decided that it would be fun for the four of us to spend a few days at POFQ before moving over to Saratoga Springs on New Years Day when my husband's aunt (Eileen) and cousin (Rebecca) as well as Dan's dad Gordon arrived to join us. We arrived into MCO at around 10:30, got our luggage and found the Magical Express area. Since Frontier is not a participating airline and also the late hour we just handled our own bags. We found our proper line and were on a bus by 11:30. The driver was wonderful, the bus wasn't crowded and we were on our way and at Port Orleans by midnight. Check in was a breeze and we got to our room in no time. Due to our late arrival we were in building 7, the furthest out I believe, but the resort is so compact it was not a problem. The room was very nice and clean and we were asleep by about 2:00.
December 28:
Needless to say after that late night we didn't even attempt to get up early. We knew with the crowds we wouldn't be commando touring anyway and just decided our 4 days of just the 4 of us would be spent just hanging out and taking things as they came. Unfortunately the alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. I was so out of it I think it had been going off for a couple of minutes before I managed to realize what was going on and shut it off. Nobody else even woke up! Don't know if the former occupants of the room had left it set or if if the button got pushed maybe when the maid was dusting. Three hours later we all began to stir a bit and decided to get up and head to the pool. There is something wonderful about being at an outdoor pool in the month of December and I couldn't resist calling my brother in Chicago to pay him back for the smug phone call he gave me from Hawaii while it was snowing in Denver recently! We ate lunch and the kids swam but the pool was freezing so we switched to the hot tub. Then it was time to head to O'Hana for dinner. My birthday was the 25th so this was my three days late birthday dinner. We had never been there and it was wonderful. I know the menu has changed some recently but since this was our first time we didn't know anything different so we were in heaven and not missing anything. DH and I had two Lapu Lapu's so frankly it could have been beanie weenies and we probably would not have cared! After dinner we rode the monorail to see the Grand Floridian's decorations and gingerbread house which was fun. Then we went to MK and saw Spectro by literally arriving as it started. We stood behind some people sitting right where it starts and had a great view. Then we headed down Main Street, the decorations were beautiful and found a spot next to the fence across from Crystal Palace with a perfect view for Wishes. After Wishes we did Mickey's Philharmagic, Snow White, Haunted Mansion, Splash, TTA and Astro Orbitor (which we had never done before). We then hung out on Main Street, shopped a bit and were about the last to exit the park at 1:00 a.m. I was pleasantly surprised that we had managed to get so much done given our late arrival. It frankly didn't feel much more crowded than a typical Saturday night but it could have been the Lapu Lapu's!
December 29:
Slept in again then headed to Epcot. This was our worst bus experience. As we walked up the Epcot bus was leaving but we were allowing plenty of time to make our San Angel Inn ADR so I wasn't worried. Well, 40 minutes later the bus arrived and it was jammed packed with people who had just left Epcot and were heading to Riverside. I wish they would not have these two resorts share buses when its so busy! By the time my family and maybe 10 other people boarded that bus it was packed and then the joy of having to stop at four stops at Riverside. One man who got on with us stepped off the bus to let people off and the driver shut the doors and began to drive off before he could get back up. Luckily he got back on! We were late for San Angel but they let us in no problem. I loved POFQ but instead of one hour to get to an ADR I would allow more because you have to account for the four stops you will make at Riverside after you board. Epcot was crowded, we mostly went that day to attend the DVC member Christmas party which was kind of fun. We got some free cookies and they had Pluto, Goofy and Mickey and Minnie there which was very nice. Then we rode Spaceship Earth and finally at long last got to experience the Wonders of Life Pavillion. It was nice because the park was packed. There were no fastpasses left for anything but Maelstrom when we arrived at 1:00 but when we headed to the Wonders of Life it was deserted. It is not on the map and I think a lot of people didn't realize it was still there or there at all for that matter. We saw the Making of Me, rode Body Wars and saw Cranium Command. We enjoyed all of this but it is outdated and I am not surprised they are closing it down. Still, I'm glad we got to do this. After this we were just not in the mood hang out in packed Epcot with no fastpasses in hand so we decided to go over to MGM for Fantasmic and see the Osborne Lights. We arrived at 7:30, and they were having Fantasmic at 8:30. I have never seen that many people going into Fantasmic. People were being very nice and orderly but it was a little disconcerting to know that there were literally hundreds, maybe thousands of people behind us and know that if somebody started shoving we were going to get trampled. They had cm's admitting in groups of people once you got closer so that helped. We found seats no problem and it was great to be there. Afterwards we had no problem going to the Osborne Lights which were just incredible. It was basically deserted back there which was nice. Afterwards we walked by Sci Fi and just for kicks asked if we could get a table and they actually did. We didn't get a car but it had been over 8 hours since San Angel and we were starved. So that ended the night on kind of a lucky note.
December 30:
We slept until noon. We were all just kind of wiped out, post Christmas, at Disney, two hour time difference kind of wiped out so we just slept in. Also, we knew that MK had EMH until 4:00 a.m. and thought maybe we would do that for at least some of it. So we headed to the pool and had lunch and did some laundry and then decided much later to go to AK. Tourguide Mike assured me people would be leaving in droves and that the park being open until 8:00 would be a good evening option. We arrived at 5:30 and people were exiting in droves. We were totally swimming against the current and I began to think maybe we would have the park to ourselves since it looked like about 50,000 people were all walking the other way. Then we hit Dinoland and it was packed! We fastpassed Primevil Whirl and the return time was only about an hour away so that seemed pretty great but there were just so many people back there! We decided to head to Dinosaur and wait it out. The line said 60 minutes but a castmember said it was probably closer to 45 or 50. We don't much like lines but we had used up our fastpass for Primevil Whirl since Dinosaur was out of them and wanted to leave AK by 7:30 to try to get to MK for Wishes at 8:30. We only wanted to do these two rides so we decided to wait. And then the magic happened. Some wonderful lady walked up and gave us five fastpasses for Dinosaur. They were for earlier in the day, they had to leave and had never used them. She told us we might be able to use them even though the return time was for three hours earlier. I knew they would take them no problem, so we told her she was our new best friend and walked right in, past all those people. I told Dan we had to pay this forward at some point in our trip! After Dinosaur we rode Primevil Whirl then headed to MK via the Pop Century Bus since there is no bus at AK that goes directly to MK. We walked off the Pop Century bus just as a MK bus pulled up and we were off! We got to MK just as Wishes was starting and saw it from Main Street near the Christmas Tree. Then we decided to grab dinner at the Tomorrowland Noodle place. This was okay food but nothing to write home about. The best part was the view of the castle we had. We decided to see Spectro again. The crowds were pretty intense and we had never seen Spectro on Main Street before so tonight was the night. Then we found a spot for Imagine a Fantasy in the Sky in the hub. MK was running their New Years Eve fireworks tonight probably hoping to keep people out of the park on New Years Eve. They were spectactular fireworks, they were shooting them not only from the usual spot behind the castle but from the front of the park (the lagoon maybe?) too. So we were surrounded by fireworks. They were over at midnight and so we hoped a lot of people would leave and they did. There were still crowds in Fantasyland so we headed to Hall of Presidents at 12:30 for its last showing and then when EMH started at 1:00 we managed in the next fthree hours to ride Haunted Mansion, Small World, Splash Mountain twice, Country Bear Jamboree, Magic Carpets (three times without getting off), Peter Pan, Indy Speedway and Space Mountain (twice). We rode Space Mountain the last time at 3:58 a.m. and were some of the last people to leave the park. Several times we felt tired and thought about leaving. Riding Alladin's Magic Carpet ride when it was pretty chilly gave us our last burst of energy at around 2:45 and we managed to make it through the rest of the evening! We shared the POFQ bus with one other couple who slept the whole way back. When we arrived back at POFQ at around 5:00, Dan decided he needed something to eat and Matthew was wanting a croissant sandwich. Dan left at 6:00 when the food court opened and brought back a bagle and a muffin. Matthew had waited patiently but fell asleep. Of course 8 hours later at around 2:00 p.m. he sat up and crying wondering if we had saved him some bacon! We assured him there never had been any bacon since they don't start serving the hot stuff unit 7:00 a.m.! We all felt strangley time warped and disoriented. We watched tv for awhile and then decided to head to DTD via the boat to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We got there at around 5:00 and with our Safari card were seated immediately. We were all starving since we had basically not eaten anything but that bagle that Dan and I ate at 6:00 and the kids shared the muffin at 2:00. It had been a long time since the somewhat nasty noodle bowls we had shared at MK the night before. After RFC we shopped a little and then decided to head to Epcot and see if we could get in. We did no problem but I saw a line of cars from the bus just sitting there at the gates so I don't know if they weren't letting people in indefinitely or what but we got in fine. I have never seen Epcot that crowded and yet it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The standby for Soarin at 8:30 when we arrived was 170 minutes. We decided to just walk into World Showcase, find a spot for Illuminations that was starting at 11:40 and people watch. It turned out to be pretty fun. We got a good spot right Near the Amercian Adventure. We had the fence to lean up against and Dan and I took turns taking the kids to the bathroom and to walk around a bit. Maria and I had to wait 20 minutes for a bathroom in Germany before we sat down and swore off liquids after that! Dan reported women using the men's room which didn't seem like too bad an idea. They did have these strange little trailor bathrooms open behind the fence, behind the American Adventure. Each one had 4 little individual bathrooms, very funky setup! We had a nice family from Italy (I think) sit near us and when Illuminations started I motioned for their kids to stand next to mine at the fence. To me this was almost the highlight of our trip. To be in Epcot on New Years Eve, while our children stood next to two kids probably very near their ages from a different part of the world sort of illustrated the whole meaning of Epcot to me. When the countdown started we all held hands, Dan camcorded and it was worth sitting on the ground and peeing in some weird bathroom trailor with airplane pottys in it I can tell you that much! The fireworks were amazing and far off in the distance we could see the dual MK display as well. Afterwards we wished our new friends a Happy New Year and said goodbye. It was just sort of cool to make friends via smiles, a few words and a handshake on New Years Eve. We decided to see the Impressions de France movie and then headed out. We didn't have too bad of a wait for the bus which was good because this late evening on the tale of our 4:00 a.m. MK experience was making us all feel very tired. Dan and I both agreed we felt like victims of some sort of sleep deprivation experiment. We fell asleep immediately. I had set up a wakeup call for 9:00 a.m. since we had to check out of POFQ by 11:00 and them meet up with Dan's dad at SSR at 11:30 so he could recieve his scooter from Randy's Mobility. I know the wakeup call happened but I completely ignored and nobody else heard it so when at 10:30 my cell phone went off it was a good thing. It was Dan's Dad saying he had landed and was heading to the resort. I was so out of it I couldn't even process this right away. I laid there a minute and then realized we had 30 minutes to get out of POFQ and meet Dan's dad at SSR! We managed to get this done sort of. Naturally they weren't doing any late check outs but I peeked out the door and didn't see a maid's cart so figured we had a little time. We got out of there by around 11:20, caught a cab to Saratoga Springs where we met up with Dan's dad. Thank God he had called us or we would probably still be sleeping away at French Quarter!
January 1-7:
Eileen and Rebecca met up with us at SSR later that day. The rest of the trip we spent happily playing tourguide to the three of them. Eileen had spent one day at Epcot many years ago and Gordon lives in Los Angeles and goes to Disneyland regularly but basically they had never really done WDW. We had to take it slow. Gordon is basically in congestive heart failure and was really struggling. Walking from the main lobby area of Brown Derby to our seat near the back of the restaurant almost did him in. He literally could not catch his breath for several minutes. Thank goodness we had the scooter. We did have a wonderful time though and since we had taken my elderly, disabled parents in October had learned a few tricks about touring WDW with the not so young and healthy. This was our first scooter experience at WDW. Gordon always rents one at Disneyland and I have never thought much about it until all the recent "too many scooters at WDW" threads. I have to tell you if you think this makes your trip easy, gets you on any ride easier or that these things are fun think again. We had to wait for a second bus on more than one occasion because they couldn't take another scooter. People are looking straight ahead and go right in front of you which is probably why they frequently get run over. It was not easy, especially at MK. But we were glad to have it and my kids got to experience WDW with their grandpa so it was worth it. We had ADR's every day, sometimes two in one day. And since Eileen and Rebecca were picking out the places and have much more gourmet taste (no kids and bigger dining budget) we were eating at some pricier places than usual. But we needed that structure and since this will likely be a one time only trip for our three family members we wanted them to experince all the good eats WDW has to offer that appealed to them. But I began to feel like we spent all of our time getting from one restaurant to the next and I haven't had the courage to add up our total food bill yet. We normally do maybe 4 sitdowns in a 10 day trip and I missed that cheaper and more spontaneous way of eating. But we had some tasty meals! Crowds didn't thin out as much as I would have liked but I was anticipating that due to the fact New Years was on a Sunday. We still managed pretty well and since our three companions don't like any type of thrill rides didn't have to worry too much about the headliners anyway. Oh, and remember the nice lady at AK who gave us the Dinosaur fastpasses? We did pay that forward on Wednesday evening when we gave a group of teenage girls four fastpasses to Test Track just as they were about to get into a 60 minute standby line.
WDW is such a great place for extended family gatherings. There is so much to offer and staying at SSR was wonderful. Both of our trips "home" have been with family members and we realize how much we are enjoying our decision to buy into DVC. We had no waits for buses to speak of at SSR except on our last day (Sat.). It was the marathon and we had an ADR in France for noon. We got to the bus stop at 10:15 and around 11:30 after not being able to get on the one Epcot bus that came by (couldn't get the scooter on) gave up, got on the DTD bus and ate at RFC. Apparently the marathon causes massive traffic jams and the buses just couldn't get to the resorts. I still think maybe Matthew and Maria prayed for this to happen as they love RFC and were not thrilled to be eating in Epcot "AGAIN". But other than that we generally got on buses pretty quickly. The pool at SSR was wonderful and so warm. The weather was great especially on Wednesday, we literally hung out at the pool all day with Gordon while Eileen and Rebecca shopped in World Showcase. Friday and Saturday were pretty chilly, especially while waited for Fantasmic Friday evening. We mostly encountered friendly people. I did notice many people seem to be in a huge hurry or maybe they were training for the upcoming marathon. Eileen was walking slowly with a cane due to a hip injury and I noticed several people practically run her over to get around her only to end up on the same ride vehicle we were on. Cast members were all great.
Probably my funniest moment was at Epcot on Monday. I overheard a lady behind me as we were in line for Honey I Shrunk... telling maybe her daughter or niece that Disney has this "new fangled" fast thing. Its a fast pass line you see, for folks who want to "pass fast". You get in that line if you can walk real fast and its quick. The young girl wasn't too sure if this was correct and said it was something to do with your ticket but the older lady assured her it was for folks who just wanted to "pass fast"! DH and I are still laughing partly envisioning a line of in shape park guests who can run an 8 minute mile and also that "pass fast" sounds more like a flatulence problem! My saddest moment was when we entered the Contemporary to eat at California Grill and saw Maria's eyes well up knowing she was within spitting distance of Chef Mickey's but had to eat at a stuffy grown up restaurant with no characters! It broke my heart and my budget. We did get to see a couple get engaged however so that was pretty special. My guiltiest moment came when we got our trash and towel service on day 4 at Saratoga. The nice mousekeeper was this very sweet lady. She told us "no English" and was so sorry and apologetic when she couldn't answer some question we had (can't even remember now what it was). DH gave her $5 as she was leaving and she burst into tears and said "Oh I love you and kept blowing us kisses. DH and I figure maybe not a lot of people tip for the trash and towel thing or maybe it was her first day and she wasn't expecting a tip? Much later that afternoon as I came back from a lazy day of reading by the pool I saw her again still working away and looking so worn out. It made me realize not everybody at WDW is getting freebie fastpasses and eating $35 filets at California Grill.
Probably my biggest treat was getting to go to Cirque de Soleil. This was our Christmas gift from Eileen and Rebecca. What an experience! We all enjoyed it although it was a nightmare getting through those crowds with Gordon's scooter and having to see him struggle up maybe 5 or 6 steps to his seat was really sad. But the show was just incredible. Matthew and Maria were mesmerized. One note, if anyone who has walking or mobility issues is planning on taking a resort bus to DTD to go to Cirque be prepared. Its a long walk from the bus stop to the "tent". Gordon was fine on his scooter but Eileen was struggling due to the fact that we did this after a long day at AK. I put Eileen, Rebecca and my kids in a cab that was right outside Cirque after the show and Dan and I walked back to the bus stop with Gordon and his scooter. This was the only time I missed having a rental car the whole 10 days.
The Christmas crowds were intense and yet not as bad as I had envisioned. We still had fun, saw a lot and I would do it again every year if I could. We never one time got to any park at opening, a definite no no and Tour Guide Mike would not have been pleased with our poor getting out of bed performances! The first part of our visit we were worn out from Christmas and Dan had been working tremendous hours and was exhausted. Plus we have a two hour time difference. The second part of our trip we were exahausted from late nights and Gordon being from California had a three hour time difference. Even with not getting to the parks early we managed to see pretty much everything we wanted except Dan and Matthew somehow missed Big Thunder Mountain. Maria and I rode it one night just the two of us while Dan and Matthew took everybody else on Pirates. We also missed seeing Voyage of the Little Mermaid due to slow service at Brown Derby. Yet another reason to avoid too many ADR's! Other than that we managed to get it all done. Even if we had not had those extra days after New Years I would have felt like we had a worthwhile trip even with the crowds. So we are already wondering if maybe we could do this again next year. Unlikely given the fact we are taking a Disney Cruise with Eileen and Rebecca in September but maybe we'll win the lotto!
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to all my disboards friends!
