Christmas & My Happy Place Equals Perfection. - A Dec 2011 PTR

[cogero]

I think I was annoyed because everytime I asked what he would like it was I don't know. Drives me batty.

 

[cogero]

so the time for honesty is upon us. I love planning but telling the story after I get home is not as fun for me LOL.

Also while I love BLTs location, its transportation stinks that was the one big downer on this trip. We love Epcot. We could spend each and every day there heck we do. We eat dinner there every day. You would think a quick trip on the monorail switch over and you would be fine. YEAH right.

It took us longer to get to Epcot staying at BLT than it does when we stay at AKL. I think one of the reasons we love AKL is the transportation has always been great.

Also there were so many rude people. People not willing to let disabled people in ECVs and Wheelchairs on buses. It was mortifying really.

I will say J did great as usual the crowds didn't phase him, if something was too much he would put his sunshade down and hide.

Oh and we discovered Buzz Lightyear is the one ride not to bring him on. The lights and sounds really get to him.

There were reports they shut the parks for capcity but the only day I saw a sign about that was on Christmas Day.

On the 28th we did a bonus day at MK because we were right there and could walk. The lines were sickening this day and we didn't get there remotely close to rope drop. I will not wait more than 20 minutes for a ride, my philosophy is I will be back in a few months and go on then.,

We walked around and headed to frontier land for BTM we get there and it is a huge line, but the wait time was only 30 minutes supposedly. The friends decide to chance it okay we decide to get J a pretzel and we head to get Cs hair wrapped. One of favorite things. On our way there we see Peter Pan, with no line stuck over by the Bathroom so C decides she wants her picture taken. He was great fawned all over her skirt.

WE then get Cs hair wrapped and she is a happy girl, now almost an hour has gone by and no site of friends so I text them and say we are heading towards Main Street (we were going to go on pirates but it was down). Finally hear back they are still on line. We decide to use our Princess FP and go see the princesses on the way out. Main Street is Wall to Wall People time for this mama to go.

So C and I go to see the princesses,when we got our FP it was only Cindy and Aurora, when we got back it was Cindy, Belle and Aurora. Belle and Aurora were fabulous. They adored Cs skirt and by the time we saw Cindy C had turned her skirt so she was on the front too

After that we headed back to the room to relax and get away from the crowds. The one thing I love about BLT is you can walk from MK.

Oh and the friends waited an hour and 15minutes for BTM no way no how.

That night we went to Biergarten a new restaurant for us and I loved it. Next time I will book it for a late lunch. It was a bit late for us.
Here is a picture of G and his Bier.

 

[DMGeurts]

oh and I have come to the conclusion it is easier to vacation alone than with people

I agree it's easier to vacation alone. When we went in 2008, we had a group of 14... all various friends of ours and their families. When we all decided to go together - I told them that I would plan their ADRs and make them for them. I also planned 2 ADRs together. We had a TGM subscription, so I chose the parks we were in every day, and THAT was IT. I told all of them, flat out, we are paying a TON of $$ for this trip (all of us are), and we are all going to enjoy it the way we want to. I am all for meeting up and helping you plan, but we tour alone, unless we meet up and want to go on a ride together or something. We all had totally different touring syles, and this worked our perfectly for all of us. No hurt feelings and no annoying friends.

so the time for honesty is upon us. I love planning but telling the story after I get home is not as fun for me LOL.

Also while I love BLTs location, its transportation stinks that was the one big downer on this trip. We love Epcot. We could spend each and every day there heck we do. We eat dinner there every day. You would think a quick trip on the monorail switch over and you would be fine. YEAH right.

It took us longer to get to Epcot staying at BLT than it does when we stay at AKL. I think one of the reasons we love AKL is the transportation has always been great.

Also there were so many rude people. People not willing to let disabled people in ECVs and Wheelchairs on buses. It was mortifying really.

I will say J did great as usual the crowds didn't phase him, if something was too much he would put his sunshade down and hide.

Oh and we discovered Buzz Lightyear is the one ride not to bring him on. The lights and sounds really get to him.

There were reports they shut the parks for capcity but the only day I saw a sign about that was on Christmas Day.

On the 28th we did a bonus day at MK because we were right there and could walk. The lines were sickening this day and we didn't get there remotely close to rope drop. I will not wait more than 20 minutes for a ride, my philosophy is I will be back in a few months and go on then.,

We walked around and headed to frontier land for BTM we get there and it is a huge line, but the wait time was only 30 minutes supposedly. The friends decide to chance it okay we decide to get J a pretzel and we head to get Cs hair wrapped. One of favorite things. On our way there we see Peter Pan, with no line stuck over by the Bathroom so C decides she wants her picture taken. He was great fawned all over her skirt.

WE then get Cs hair wrapped and she is a happy girl, now almost an hour has gone by and no site of friends so I text them and say we are heading towards Main Street (we were going to go on pirates but it was down). Finally hear back they are still on line. We decide to use our Princess FP and go see the princesses on the way out. Main Street is Wall to Wall People time for this mama to go.

So C and I go to see the princesses,when we got our FP it was only Cindy and Aurora, when we got back it was Cindy, Belle and Aurora. Belle and Aurora were fabulous. They adored Cs skirt and by the time we saw Cindy C had turned her skirt so she was on the front too

After that we headed back to the room to relax and get away from the crowds. The one thing I love about BLT is you can walk from MK.

Oh and the friends waited an hour and 15minutes for BTM no way no how.

That night we went to Biergarten a new restaurant for us and I loved it. Next time I will book it for a late lunch. It was a bit late for us.
Here is a picture of G and his Bier.

BUmmer about BLT and transportation - you would think it would be phenominal?

That is really sad about the wheelchairs and ECVs... that makes me very angry!

Loved little C's skirt and love even more how she turned it so each princess was her "favorite" LOL - smart girl.

And love the pic of G's bier! LOL I should show my DH - then maybe he'd beg for a trip back to the world.

Thanks for the mini TR - I like how you are doing it. And it's really not a problem that you don't like talking about it after you're home. I really like the planning portion too - I don't know how well I will do with a TR - seeing as I get so sad that there's no more trip to look forward to.

D~

 

[babynala]

Great updates. I'm glad J is figuring out how to deal with things if he gets too overwhelmed. I don't think I could handle those crowds and I'm dreading our next trip since I won't be able to pull my DD out of school (since she will be in Middle School and is not the best student). It is great that you make the best of your visit and enjoy the parks while not making yourself crazy. I can see why all the princesses loved C's skirt, it looks great! What a bummer about the transportation to the other parks at BLT but you can not beat a walk to MK. Where are you staying on your next trip?

 

[cogero]

We are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani which we adore. We were supposed to stay at the boardwalk villas but I had to change the trip due to state testing, so I am okay.

We are trying to stay at Boardwalk Villas for our August trip.

I have one more day to post about here until I get my photopass pictures but it is okay since I finally have a name for my next report.

 

[cogero]

Okay we start our last day bright and early because we were heading over to DHS. Well DH wasn't feeling the best and DS was still sleeping so they stayed back.

We get to DHS at 7:35 to find they are already open. No biggie we will head over to TSM to see how bad it is. Still fast passes with return times of 9:45am so we grab those and see 30 minute wait posted so we head on. Line is moving pretty good. by 8am we are in our car having fun shooting. Can I tell you this is the first time I ever played without having J it was kind of weird LOL.

After TSM we head across to meet Woody and Buzz that wait was about 30 minutes but I love the queue over there. Here is C in Buzz's box

Here is an old picture of me strapped to the rocket

We were heading to get coffee when I saw there was a short line for Phineas and Ferb so went and did that. I even danced with Ferb. Then C and I went and saw Lightening Mc Queen and Mater

After we were done there the boy child of my friends wanted to eat (see the theme here) so we went to Starring Rolls (I have never seen such a huge line there) C and I grabbed a coffee, Soda and cookie from the cashier not a specialty coffee) the friends waited on that line for over 45 minutes. After C and I finished our snacks we ditched the friends and headed over to Star Tours.

I don't do motion rides I get horribly sick but C wanted to so I went. Stand by was 30 minutes. Not sure where the friends went after eating but we met up with them and sent them onto the BackLot Tour I didn't want to chance getting wet on Catastrophe Canyon so we went to meet Sully and Mike. I love Sully and Mike. OH and the kid actually liked TSM and the Back Lot Tour

I then called G and he was on his way to meet us so I saved my TSM fast Pass for him. So we went to One MAns Dream, it was really cold that day.
We met up with G and then headed to TSM to use our fast passes.

After that the boy had to eat again so his parents got him a hot dog. We walked over by ToT and Rock and Roll Roller Coaster the wait was over 80 minutes and there was no single rider line. The boy wanted his dad to wait on the line So me being nice asked if he would rather go to the ESPN zone and have nachos.

So we went and had lunch (Oh did I mention I had an ADR at The YAchtsman) G and I shared something. After than my girlfriend wasn't feeling good so they went back to BLT and we wandered the boardwalk and then hung out at the Solarium at the Beach Club for a while. I love the Beach Clubs Solarium there is never anyone in there.

After that it was just the 4 of us for Dinner. Dinner was Delish. Then it was time to head to BLT and Pack up. Oh and we were smart this time we took a bus from the Yacht Club to MK and walked back to the hotel from there

Here is the Christmas Tree in the Yacht Club Lobby

 

[DMGeurts]

Cute pics!!! I love them all!

D~

 

[aboveH20]

oh and I have come to the conclusion it is easier to vacation alone than with people

I've gone to Disney solo the last four times. I really, really like taking my own pace, doing what I want when I want, standing in line for 40 minutes for something if I want to, not having to make talk, eavesdropping, eating when I want, getting up early (or not), etc. etc.

DH & I went back and forth about becoming DVC members but in 2010 we rented some points and stayed at AKL and well the rest is history. As soon as we came home DH decided he only ever wanted to stay at AKL and we purchased DVC. So far we have been very happy with it

We're considering it, but probably not too seriously.

On the 28th we did a bonus day at MK because we were right there and could walk. The lines were sickening this day and we didn't get there remotely close to rope drop. I will not wait more than 20 minutes for a ride, my philosophy is I will be back in a few months and go on then.

When my kids were younger we went every four years -- and that was a $tret¢h for us. My philosophy used to be, 'I waited four years, I can wait another 40 minutes.' Psychologically it worked for me, I don't know about my sons.

We walked around and headed to frontier land for BTM we get there and it is a huge line, but the wait time was only 30 minutes supposedly. The friends decide to chance it okay we decide to get J a pretzel and we head to get Cs hair wrapped. One of favorite things. On our way there we see Peter Pan, with no line stuck over by the Bathroom so C decides she wants her picture taken. He was great fawned all over her skirt.

He SHOULD has fawned all over her skirt, and so glad that he did!

Oh and the friends waited an hour and 15minutes for BTM no way no how.

That night we went to Biergarten a new restaurant for us and I loved it. Next time I will book it for a late lunch. It was a bit late for us.
Here is a picture of G and his Bier.

Even I wouldn't wait an hour and 15 minutes. Especially for BTM!

I agree it's easier to vacation alone. When we went in 2008, we had a group of 14... all various friends of ours and their families. When we all decided to go together - I told them that I would plan their ADRs and make them for them. I also planned 2 ADRs together. We had a TGM subscription, so I chose the parks we were in every day, and THAT was IT. I told all of them, flat out, we are paying a TON of $$ for this trip (all of us are), and we are all going to enjoy it the way we want to. I am all for meeting up and helping you plan, but we tour alone, unless we meet up and want to go on a ride together or something. We all had totally different touring syles, and this worked our perfectly for all of us. No hurt feelings and no annoying friends.


D~

I think you're so right that it's a whole lot of money for every minute not to be magical. That's how I used to justify taking my sons out of school -- it was too much money to go during school vacation and not want to do any rides or be able to eat anywhere because it was so crowded.

 

[mphalens]

Love the pictures!!!

I agree with all of you - I don't know if I could do a trip with some of my friends . . . We do fine on museum outings and stuff together, but how we do Disney and how they do Disney are so different . . .
I like the rides, but for me Disney is all about the experience. Seeing all these characters that only exist in movies or shows and seeing my children interact with them is pure magic for me. I'd rather wait in line for a character my kid wants to see than wait in an insanely long line for a ride (now, if it's a "can't miss" ride for us, then maybe, but I'd rather get a FP or come back at a better time).

I am IN LOVE with C's princess skirt! And that's the same Peter Pan Finn met on his Pirate day! He was GREAT!

 

[babynala]

What a great last day. I love that Toy Story meeting area. How were the nachos at ESPN zone?

 

[miprender]

We tour the same way. We don't wait in a line longer than 30 minutes unless it is for a character

Love your DD's skirt. Can't wait until you post your Photopass pics

 

[mommy2mrb]

love all your photos! the kids are so cute and your DH looks like he made a new friend with that stein of beer!

sorry about all the issues with your friends...hard to tour with others who need to do everything, sounds like you did good with the ditching part
we went one time with my family back in 2003....NEVER AGAIN! will only plan trips with other DISNEY lovers in the future!

 

[cogero]

Finally received the photopass cd so I will hopefully be posting some of my favorites in the next few days.

 

[mphalens]

Yay! for photopass cds! Can't wait to see some of your favorites! Hmm - I really need to go work on my TR . . .

 

[mommy2mrb]

Finally received the photopass cd so I will hopefully be posting some of my favorites in the next few days.

can't to see them!

Yay! for photopass cds! Can't wait to see some of your favorites! Hmm - I really need to go work on my TR . . .

I hope to get back to mine too if they boards would get back to normal...taking way to long for things to load and post!

 

[DMGeurts]

Yay!!! Can't wait to see pics!

D~

 

[cogero]

I uploaded them to photobucket so if the board cooperates I will start posting

 

[cogero]

Okay here is one of my absolute favorites of the trip. I love the topareries (or however you spell the word) that Disney does. It is one of the reasons I am happy we are going back during Flower and Garden.

The photographer loved this skirt and made a point to get it in the picture, plus C was happy it was in front of Stitch

 

[Lidian]

Finally received the photopass cd so I will hopefully be posting some of my favorites in the next few days.

I uploaded them to photobucket so if the board cooperates I will start posting

I can't wait to see!!!

 

[Lidian]

Okay here is one of my absolute favorites of the trip. I love the topareries (or however you spell the word) that Disney does. It is one of the reasons I am happy we are going back during Flower and Garden.

The photographer loved this skirt and made a point to get it in the picture, plus C was happy it was in front of Stitch

How adorable!!! I love it!!!