DH, DS 12, DS 10 & Me/Caribbean Beach Resort
My DH was in charge of the FPs and I think he did a good job. We only waited in one looooong line during our 5 days. The weather was excellent. I was the only one that wore a jacket in the morning and evening. We wore shorts and T's. Our goal for our stay is to go to one park a day, ride all thrill rides and then ride our favorites again on day 5.
Prestige Towncar pickup was awesome! $80 for round trip.
Sat. 11/22 - arrive at MGM around 10:30. Crowds are not bad. We get a FP for RnR and ride ToT and get a FP for ToT after we ride RnR. We arrived just as Indiana Jones was beginning and didn't have a seat. When the CM told everyone to slide closer, we split up 2 and 2 and got excellent seats. A great show! PS for Sci Fi at 1:00. Very crowded, I'm glad we had a PS. Loved the atmosphere here. We all had burgers. Star Wars was a walk-on. Didn't see many characters. Fantasmic is at 7:00, we arrive at 6:30 and Oh look!, seats down front. We are on the fourth row center. We ate hotdogs while we waited. Show starts and we now know why the seats were empty. We got a little chilled getting sprayed by the water. Show is excellent. The theater looks full but really not a big deal leaving and catching the bus for CBR.
Sun. 11/23 - EE for MK. A good choice but boy was it difficult leaving the resort at 7:10. We rode SM, Astro Orbitor, Buzz, Mickey's Philharmagic
, Tea Cups, Cindy's Carosel, used FP for SM that we got before walking on when we first entered. It's 10:30 and we have PS for 11:15 at Chef Mickey's. The crowd coming in is HUGE. We decide to go to Epcot after Chef Mickey's. Great meal and characters, would definitely do this again. Epcot is not crowded. Go to MS . Time for the Wintergreen Pepto gum. The ride was an experience. Not the thrill ride screaming experience that it looks like in the pictures but very well done. I tried not to think about the huge spinning machine that I knew I was in. I concentrated on the screen and never felt like I was spinning, just felt like I was going up. Rode TT single riders. My sons had been on this before and felt comfortable doing single riders. Got a FP for later because the time on the MS FP said we could get one right away and MS FP also gave us a FP for Honey I Shrunk. My kids love Innoventions. We spent alot of time here and in the MS control center. Sent emails from MS control center, very fun. When we got home we pulled up our copies of the cards but none of our friends could pull theirs up.?? We have cable connection and I don't know if that made a difference. At dinner at Mexico's counter service, I love sitting by the lake. Went into Mexico and did some shopping, margarita time. Illuminations was a great show.
Mon. 11/24 - back to Epcot for yes those thrill rides again. We get separated when an electric wheelchair runs over by foot. My DS 10 waits for me and chimes in with the Christmas music singing "Mama got runover by a wheelchair" to the tune of grandma got runover by a reindeer. I recovered nicely and didn't explode at the terribly rude person who ran over me. DH and DS 12 gets FP for MS and wait in line for TT. Lots of other people were doing the same and it was comical waiting at TT for DH and seeing all the other DHs running from that direction to TT. The wait for TT was only 15-20 minutes. Go to everthing on that side today, Wonders of Life, Universe of Energy. Go to World Showcase, I just love WS. I could spend days walking around and shopping in these countries. My kids tolerate it, but do enjoy the shows. They complained about waiting to see the singers in the American Pavilion but afterwards were very impressed. Lunch was in Italy. Excellent! We ate outside. Continue around WS and then exit because I want to go back to MK. We ride Spaceship Earth on our way out. Monorail to MK and arrive about 6:30. It is packed!!! We waited in that loooong line for HM. It's dark and creepy. What fun. Once inside the hallway this was the only time I felt like the line was not orderly. We were crammed in there. We had to really hold the kids close to us and we got separated a little. After HM, we rode Pirates, went to the shooting gallery (my 10 year old's favorite thing of all). Went through FantasyLand hoping to ride a few things. Oh! Mickey's Philharmagic has a very short line so we do this again because my DH absolutely Loved this. We have just enough time to ride Small World and make it to a spot for Wishes. The crowd was positively silent during this show, it was great. Then to Casey's for a hotdog before the late parade. We find a parade spot behind a trash can on main street. Loved SpectroMagic. Afterwards we get an icecream, I do some shopping and we wait for people to leave. This was a good plan! I've never seen so many people. Kids fall asleep on the bus. Tomorrow we sleep late.
Tue. 11/25 - Animal Kingdom. My kids will say this was the BEST day. Everything just seemed to go smoothly. I think it's the atmosphere there, very calming if you allow yourself to soak in all the sights. My DH hated the Dinorama area. Said it was so unDisney. I thought it was OK but I didn't like the $2 games. PrimeEvil Whirl was fun. Lunch at Tusker House. Just OK, I didn't like the leg quarter chicken. We had a FP for the last Safari and were concerned because what we had read said to try for the morning. I don't know if it was time for the animals to eat or what but we saw everything. Hippos getting out of the water, the lion roaring, the black rhino running, it was excellent. We did this after watching the parade. Loved the parade. We had a spot at the top of the stairs across from Pizzafari. The kids got a lot of attention from the parade characters. PS for Rainforest Cafe. Shopped afterwards and then went to the bus at about 7:50. I knew we were suppossed to get there before 8:00. The 'special' bus was the only one there so this was a loooong ride home. Plans for the hot tub back at CBR but it was too crowded. Oh well, the kids swam a little and we had margaritas.
Wed. 11/25 - back to MGM for RnR and ToT. We used the FP for ToT that we got on Sat and were unable to use. The CM said it was OK as long as we used it during the time it said. More characters are out today. Lunch at Pizza Planet, good pizza. Kid's played in the Arcade. Had our family picture made with Sorcerer Mickey. Hopped on the water taxi for Epcot. It was very crowded. No FPs available for MS or TT. Wait time for both is 2 hours. Oh well, back to WS for me and some shopping in Japan. Bought some nice rice bowl sets for Christmas gifts and the kids got chopsticks. Dinner at ESPN and some Christmas shopping here too. The boys and DH loved this place, they didn't want to leave. There was playstation connection at the booth table we had. Back to CBR to watch Illuminations from the beach, oh, and have another Margarita. Have to arrange to have items shipped to my home. I've done some major Christmas shopping and now I'm paying the price. $25 in shipping costs but I don't regret it. There are some really inexpensive gifts in the countries like chopsticks, candies, african masks, Asian zodiac signs, purses, Morocco jewelry and change purses, trinket boxes in Mexico. I should have brought an empty suitcase!
Thur. 11/26 - Towncar pickup ($30)for US/IOA for 3 days - I'll post that trip report on their Dis Boards.
The most excellent vacation I could have immagined. To see that magical look in my boys eyes is priceless. If given the chance to go at the same time of year, YES I would do it. Yes it got crowded but I knew it would be. It was manageable. It was incredibly beautiful with all the Christmas decor and music.
My DH was in charge of the FPs and I think he did a good job. We only waited in one looooong line during our 5 days. The weather was excellent. I was the only one that wore a jacket in the morning and evening. We wore shorts and T's. Our goal for our stay is to go to one park a day, ride all thrill rides and then ride our favorites again on day 5.
Prestige Towncar pickup was awesome! $80 for round trip.
Sat. 11/22 - arrive at MGM around 10:30. Crowds are not bad. We get a FP for RnR and ride ToT and get a FP for ToT after we ride RnR. We arrived just as Indiana Jones was beginning and didn't have a seat. When the CM told everyone to slide closer, we split up 2 and 2 and got excellent seats. A great show! PS for Sci Fi at 1:00. Very crowded, I'm glad we had a PS. Loved the atmosphere here. We all had burgers. Star Wars was a walk-on. Didn't see many characters. Fantasmic is at 7:00, we arrive at 6:30 and Oh look!, seats down front. We are on the fourth row center. We ate hotdogs while we waited. Show starts and we now know why the seats were empty. We got a little chilled getting sprayed by the water. Show is excellent. The theater looks full but really not a big deal leaving and catching the bus for CBR.
Sun. 11/23 - EE for MK. A good choice but boy was it difficult leaving the resort at 7:10. We rode SM, Astro Orbitor, Buzz, Mickey's Philharmagic
, Tea Cups, Cindy's Carosel, used FP for SM that we got before walking on when we first entered. It's 10:30 and we have PS for 11:15 at Chef Mickey's. The crowd coming in is HUGE. We decide to go to Epcot after Chef Mickey's. Great meal and characters, would definitely do this again. Epcot is not crowded. Go to MS . Time for the Wintergreen Pepto gum. The ride was an experience. Not the thrill ride screaming experience that it looks like in the pictures but very well done. I tried not to think about the huge spinning machine that I knew I was in. I concentrated on the screen and never felt like I was spinning, just felt like I was going up. Rode TT single riders. My sons had been on this before and felt comfortable doing single riders. Got a FP for later because the time on the MS FP said we could get one right away and MS FP also gave us a FP for Honey I Shrunk. My kids love Innoventions. We spent alot of time here and in the MS control center. Sent emails from MS control center, very fun. When we got home we pulled up our copies of the cards but none of our friends could pull theirs up.?? We have cable connection and I don't know if that made a difference. At dinner at Mexico's counter service, I love sitting by the lake. Went into Mexico and did some shopping, margarita time. Illuminations was a great show.Mon. 11/24 - back to Epcot for yes those thrill rides again. We get separated when an electric wheelchair runs over by foot. My DS 10 waits for me and chimes in with the Christmas music singing "Mama got runover by a wheelchair" to the tune of grandma got runover by a reindeer. I recovered nicely and didn't explode at the terribly rude person who ran over me. DH and DS 12 gets FP for MS and wait in line for TT. Lots of other people were doing the same and it was comical waiting at TT for DH and seeing all the other DHs running from that direction to TT. The wait for TT was only 15-20 minutes. Go to everthing on that side today, Wonders of Life, Universe of Energy. Go to World Showcase, I just love WS. I could spend days walking around and shopping in these countries. My kids tolerate it, but do enjoy the shows. They complained about waiting to see the singers in the American Pavilion but afterwards were very impressed. Lunch was in Italy. Excellent! We ate outside. Continue around WS and then exit because I want to go back to MK. We ride Spaceship Earth on our way out. Monorail to MK and arrive about 6:30. It is packed!!! We waited in that loooong line for HM. It's dark and creepy. What fun. Once inside the hallway this was the only time I felt like the line was not orderly. We were crammed in there. We had to really hold the kids close to us and we got separated a little. After HM, we rode Pirates, went to the shooting gallery (my 10 year old's favorite thing of all). Went through FantasyLand hoping to ride a few things. Oh! Mickey's Philharmagic has a very short line so we do this again because my DH absolutely Loved this. We have just enough time to ride Small World and make it to a spot for Wishes. The crowd was positively silent during this show, it was great. Then to Casey's for a hotdog before the late parade. We find a parade spot behind a trash can on main street. Loved SpectroMagic. Afterwards we get an icecream, I do some shopping and we wait for people to leave. This was a good plan! I've never seen so many people. Kids fall asleep on the bus. Tomorrow we sleep late.
Tue. 11/25 - Animal Kingdom. My kids will say this was the BEST day. Everything just seemed to go smoothly. I think it's the atmosphere there, very calming if you allow yourself to soak in all the sights. My DH hated the Dinorama area. Said it was so unDisney. I thought it was OK but I didn't like the $2 games. PrimeEvil Whirl was fun. Lunch at Tusker House. Just OK, I didn't like the leg quarter chicken. We had a FP for the last Safari and were concerned because what we had read said to try for the morning. I don't know if it was time for the animals to eat or what but we saw everything. Hippos getting out of the water, the lion roaring, the black rhino running, it was excellent. We did this after watching the parade. Loved the parade. We had a spot at the top of the stairs across from Pizzafari. The kids got a lot of attention from the parade characters. PS for Rainforest Cafe. Shopped afterwards and then went to the bus at about 7:50. I knew we were suppossed to get there before 8:00. The 'special' bus was the only one there so this was a loooong ride home. Plans for the hot tub back at CBR but it was too crowded. Oh well, the kids swam a little and we had margaritas.
Wed. 11/25 - back to MGM for RnR and ToT. We used the FP for ToT that we got on Sat and were unable to use. The CM said it was OK as long as we used it during the time it said. More characters are out today. Lunch at Pizza Planet, good pizza. Kid's played in the Arcade. Had our family picture made with Sorcerer Mickey. Hopped on the water taxi for Epcot. It was very crowded. No FPs available for MS or TT. Wait time for both is 2 hours. Oh well, back to WS for me and some shopping in Japan. Bought some nice rice bowl sets for Christmas gifts and the kids got chopsticks. Dinner at ESPN and some Christmas shopping here too. The boys and DH loved this place, they didn't want to leave. There was playstation connection at the booth table we had. Back to CBR to watch Illuminations from the beach, oh, and have another Margarita. Have to arrange to have items shipped to my home. I've done some major Christmas shopping and now I'm paying the price. $25 in shipping costs but I don't regret it. There are some really inexpensive gifts in the countries like chopsticks, candies, african masks, Asian zodiac signs, purses, Morocco jewelry and change purses, trinket boxes in Mexico. I should have brought an empty suitcase!
Thur. 11/26 - Towncar pickup ($30)for US/IOA for 3 days - I'll post that trip report on their Dis Boards.
The most excellent vacation I could have immagined. To see that magical look in my boys eyes is priceless. If given the chance to go at the same time of year, YES I would do it. Yes it got crowded but I knew it would be. It was manageable. It was incredibly beautiful with all the Christmas decor and music.
