coolieworm
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2009
- Messages
- 11
My family spent the week from 11/20 - 11/28. Here are some very specific highlights:
1. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge. The kids loved the theme and the huge indoor Christmas tree
2. We couldn't have been happier with Disney transportation. We made full use of the boat transportation to MK. The first four days of our trip we literally NEVER waited longer than 5 minutes for a boat or a bus. Once we reached the 27th, things seemed to slow down. We waited as much as 15 minuts for a bus
3. The staff at Wilderness was geat. No complaints.
4. The pool was great too although my son wished the slide was like the Polynesian's.
5. Fantasmic was Fantastic! I highly reccommned one of the dining packages. We strolled in about 30 minutes prior to show time for great seats. That was especially important because it was raining off and on that evening (ending just in time for the show).
6. We were very surprised by the food quality of Hollywood and Vine and would definitely go back
7. MMVMCP was outstanding! The parade was really something special - my nine year old son loved it. The crowds were really not bad at all except for the hundreds of people lined up for free cookies. Ride wait time were 15 minutes or less. Lines for characters were less than half an hour EXCEPT for the fairies. My 6 year old DD was willing to wait 90 minutes in line with Mom (at 10PM) to meet the faires. Apparently, she never complained once and now I have to find the Tinkerbell movies
8. A cast member gave a some helpful advice as to where to find The Princess and the Frog charaters (I don't know the names yet) prior to their procession to the paddleboat. I think we only waited 15 minutes. Later, after their boat excursion, the wait was over an hour.
9. I know there have been many mixed reviews on the dessert party at Noodle Station. But for us, it was worth it. Yes, it was expensive but the dessets were very good. The time spent with my family, watching the firworks, and not fighting the crowds was PRICELESS. My son has nut allergies and the staff had prepared a huge dessert plate just for him that was brought to our table. He couldn't finish it! Our family would reccommend it to anyone.
10. Make sure you see Christmas around the world at Epcot. My daughter needed to get pictures and listen to the stories for a special school project. Her favorite was the Italian Christmas witch whose story we were somewhat familiar with.
11. I thought Roaring Forks was plenty large enough. Breakfast was the busiest but there were still empty outdoor tables at all times.
12. Whispering Canyon was named for what it is not. We heard about the hijinks and enjoied getting straws and napkins thrown at us. However, the ketchup thing and the yelling got old - maybe because we were beat after spending the day at MK and Epcot. The food was very good though!
13. If you have the opportunity, try to rent one of the boats in the MK area, We rented one of the 17' boats and crusied around the lakes for an hour (on Thanksgiving).
14. Favorite rides (in order): Toy Story, Soarin', Big Thunder RR, Dumbo, Test Track (at least for me). With some planning, we rode everything at least twice and Dumbo 6 times.
15. Thanksgiving at Artist Point couldn't have been better. My kids were very well behaved, manners impecable. My 6 year old DD now loves filet mignion:scared1
16. Crowds started to really hit hard on Wednesday. I was glad we front loaded as much as possible
17. I highly reccommend car service from the airport to the hotels. It was worth not having to wait for the Magical Express and its long lines at the airport.
The worst part of the trip: Having to leave. On our last night at MK, my DS was in tears which made me a bit teary eyed as well. We always tells us how truly magical he thinks the place is. I know we forget about the outside world while there.
I never got to ride Space Mountain. I was going to have to go solo but the lines were very long and fast passes for the day were gone before Noon. Late one night the standby line was only 30 minutes so i was about to hop on until a cast member said it was closed due to a broken escalator!!!!!
Sorry this is long and rambling -I don't have the time to write a true trip report and I just wanted to get the gist across to everyone. In our opinion, this was a great time to go as long as you get as much done as possible before the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Like many, I wish we were still there in the 70+ degree weather. Our next trip is many years away.
Forgot to add: Monsters Inc. wasn't that funny...like my son two years ago, my DD was able to speak with Crush. We consider ourselves very lucky!
1. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge. The kids loved the theme and the huge indoor Christmas tree
2. We couldn't have been happier with Disney transportation. We made full use of the boat transportation to MK. The first four days of our trip we literally NEVER waited longer than 5 minutes for a boat or a bus. Once we reached the 27th, things seemed to slow down. We waited as much as 15 minuts for a bus
3. The staff at Wilderness was geat. No complaints.
4. The pool was great too although my son wished the slide was like the Polynesian's.
5. Fantasmic was Fantastic! I highly reccommned one of the dining packages. We strolled in about 30 minutes prior to show time for great seats. That was especially important because it was raining off and on that evening (ending just in time for the show).
6. We were very surprised by the food quality of Hollywood and Vine and would definitely go back
7. MMVMCP was outstanding! The parade was really something special - my nine year old son loved it. The crowds were really not bad at all except for the hundreds of people lined up for free cookies. Ride wait time were 15 minutes or less. Lines for characters were less than half an hour EXCEPT for the fairies. My 6 year old DD was willing to wait 90 minutes in line with Mom (at 10PM) to meet the faires. Apparently, she never complained once and now I have to find the Tinkerbell movies
8. A cast member gave a some helpful advice as to where to find The Princess and the Frog charaters (I don't know the names yet) prior to their procession to the paddleboat. I think we only waited 15 minutes. Later, after their boat excursion, the wait was over an hour.
9. I know there have been many mixed reviews on the dessert party at Noodle Station. But for us, it was worth it. Yes, it was expensive but the dessets were very good. The time spent with my family, watching the firworks, and not fighting the crowds was PRICELESS. My son has nut allergies and the staff had prepared a huge dessert plate just for him that was brought to our table. He couldn't finish it! Our family would reccommend it to anyone.
10. Make sure you see Christmas around the world at Epcot. My daughter needed to get pictures and listen to the stories for a special school project. Her favorite was the Italian Christmas witch whose story we were somewhat familiar with.
11. I thought Roaring Forks was plenty large enough. Breakfast was the busiest but there were still empty outdoor tables at all times.
12. Whispering Canyon was named for what it is not. We heard about the hijinks and enjoied getting straws and napkins thrown at us. However, the ketchup thing and the yelling got old - maybe because we were beat after spending the day at MK and Epcot. The food was very good though!
13. If you have the opportunity, try to rent one of the boats in the MK area, We rented one of the 17' boats and crusied around the lakes for an hour (on Thanksgiving).
14. Favorite rides (in order): Toy Story, Soarin', Big Thunder RR, Dumbo, Test Track (at least for me). With some planning, we rode everything at least twice and Dumbo 6 times.
15. Thanksgiving at Artist Point couldn't have been better. My kids were very well behaved, manners impecable. My 6 year old DD now loves filet mignion:scared1
16. Crowds started to really hit hard on Wednesday. I was glad we front loaded as much as possible
17. I highly reccommend car service from the airport to the hotels. It was worth not having to wait for the Magical Express and its long lines at the airport.
The worst part of the trip: Having to leave. On our last night at MK, my DS was in tears which made me a bit teary eyed as well. We always tells us how truly magical he thinks the place is. I know we forget about the outside world while there.
I never got to ride Space Mountain. I was going to have to go solo but the lines were very long and fast passes for the day were gone before Noon. Late one night the standby line was only 30 minutes so i was about to hop on until a cast member said it was closed due to a broken escalator!!!!!
Sorry this is long and rambling -I don't have the time to write a true trip report and I just wanted to get the gist across to everyone. In our opinion, this was a great time to go as long as you get as much done as possible before the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Like many, I wish we were still there in the 70+ degree weather. Our next trip is many years away.
Forgot to add: Monsters Inc. wasn't that funny...like my son two years ago, my DD was able to speak with Crush. We consider ourselves very lucky!
