Dec. 13 - 22 Trip! A report with pictures!

[PrincessTiffany]

Well, UG was right - it was crowded . I was, of course, a little disappointed with the crowd levels, but we made the best of it. I detest large crowds, so having a touring plan and using fastpasses were the only reasons I was still able to enjoy myself. Also, after the first day, my dear MIL decided she could not take all of the walking (which I warned her about) and she rented a scooter - that also made it harder to tour around the large crowds. The christmas decorations were beautiful! The weather was almost hot - in the 80's every day. I'm not complaining, because that was better than freezing or being in the rain, but it's a little bit harder to feel the Christmas spirit when you're sweating! lol! Here's a short synopsis of our days with some pictures:

Day 1, Dec. 13 - We arrived at our resort, All-Star Movies, at about 5:30 p.m. We had reserved two connecting rooms and had no problem at check-in. We dropped off our bags and headed to DTD for dinner at T-Rex. We got to T-Rex at about 7:30 p.m. and the line to check in was about 20 minuntes long and then was waited another 20 minutes to be seated. About 40 minutes total. It was packed. The restaurant is fantastic to see. My kids were in awe and so were we. The food was very good. The service was good, but very, very slow. All three of our girls got a dinosaur at the Build-A-Dino store and our son got a real geode. They were all completely thrilled.

Back to the resort and into our matching Minnie & Mickey Christmas p.j.s

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Day 2, Dec. 14, Animal Kingdom
We got to AK at about 10:00 a.m. (yes, I know I'm supposed to be there at rope drop, but it just didn't work out) headed to Everest first and got fastpasses and then rode with a standby time of about 20 minutes, the posted wait was 30 minutes. Then we headed for Bugs Life - which we all love! It was about a 15 minute wait.

We then headed to Kilamanjaro Safari and the posted wait time was 40 minutes, we waited about 30 minutes.

We ate at Flame Tree BBQ and it was great, as usual. We tried to wait in line for Lilo and Stich after lunch, before we went to Lion King, but after about 25 minutes we gave up and went on to Lion King where we waited about 25 minutes or so to get in.

We headed to Dinoland after that and all of the Dinosaur fastpasses were gone. The CM said they were all gone by 2:00 at Dinosaur and Everest. The standby line was posted at 40 minutes, we waited about 25 minutes. Primeval Whirl had a posted wait for 70 minutes and my kids waited about 50 minutes to ride it. We finished off the day by using our Everest fastpasses. My MIL and youngest daughter went to the Nemo show. After closing we headed for our dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon. We loved this meal. The food was good and the kids enjoyed the "silliness" of the wait staff.

The next day we headed to Epcot.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Looks great so far, stopping back later for more.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Day 3, Dec. 15, Epcot

Once again we arrive late, at about 9:30. We head straight for Soarin'. We get fastpasses for later and get in the standby line which is posted at 40 minutes. Our actual wait was about 25 minutes. We then headed to Mission Space and and Test Track. Mission Space had a 15 minute wait for Orange and a 30 minute wait for Green. We then rode Test Track with a 40 minute wait. After that we headed for Spaceship Earth and had a 15 minute wait. Then we went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. The walk ways were very congested. Once again, fastpasses for the big attractions were gone by early afternoon.

We ate at Garden Grill that night with a Candlelight Processional Package. The food was good and our waiter, Patrick, was really great. However, he did forget to give us our passes for the CP and my husband had to go back and get them after we had already gotten around to the other side of the world showcase.

The Candlelight Processional was beautiful and it was a full house. We lined up about 45 minutes early and we ended up in the middle on the right side. They were pretty decent seat. Monique Coleman was our narrator and she did a great job. We saw the last show at 8:15 and then we stayed to see Illuminations. Both were fantastic!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Looks great so far, stopping back later for more.

Thanks!

It's taking me a little while to download everything to photobucket.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Day 4, Dec. 16, MVMCP

Since it was Christmas party day, we decided to sleep in and get some rest before the party. It was definitely hot enough to swim. It was pretty much in the mid 80's the whole time we were there. So, after a morning of swimming and an afternoon of napping, we headed to the MK for our 5:00 p.m. dinner ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food was good and the characters were fun.

After dinner we headed around to see the Castle in it's dream lights. It was truly breathtaking. It was packed around the Castle all night. The party was a sell-out and it was very crowded most of the night. We did stake out a good seat for the fireworks early, though.

Then it was time for the second parade. The crowds were still about 6 people deep.

 

[Robindianne]

Beautiful Princess Tiffany. Thanks for posting! I'm living vicariously (sp?) through you
PS I love your outfits. So fun!

 

[Honeymooners1021]

I love the matching outfits! There is no way my husband would ever go for that. He is such a stick in the mud... It's not like we are going to see someone we know at the parks.

 

[jordancej]

Awesome report so far!! I'm hooked!! I was also there at the same time... goodness it was so crowded and hot!! But had a good time besides that!! I just worked all the rope drops!! Anyway, i LOVE, did i say LOVE how your whole family has matching outfits!!! So Cute!! It makes for some awesome and beautiful pictures!! You have a lovely family!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm lovin' what you have posted!

 

[RCharnay]

Great report! We are headed down end of the week. I know you said it's crowded but the wait times don't seem toooo bad. I was scared it would be hours in line for rides. I'm not a big fan of shoulder-to-shoulder but you can't beat the decorations and excitement during the holidays.
I love your outfits!!!

 

[krismom]

Great picutres- beautiful family!

 

[momtotwoteens]

Where did you get the matching clothes? I would like to do something like that when we go (well, my DD won't go for it, but my DH and I can match!). I'm glad you had a nice trip and thanks for the report.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

You're right, the wait times weren't toooo bad, I think a lot of people were using fastpasses though because most of the headliner fastpasses were gone by late afternoon. We always travel at slow times, so seeing fastpasses gone for the day was a new thing for us. The madhouse crowds were around the shows, parades and fireworks. The lines were noticeably smaller during those times.

Thanks for all of the reviews so far. I love matching clothes. My husband is such a good sport. He won't do it all of the time, but he does humor me when we are at Disney.

Here comes Day 5 . . .

 

[nicwoodard]

Thanks Tiffany!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Where did you get the matching clothes? I would like to do something like that when we go (well, my DD won't go for it, but my DH and I can match!). I'm glad you had a nice trip and thanks for the report.

Most of them I got custom made off of Ebay. Just to to Ebay and go under advanced search and put in "custom Disney." It will bring up a ton of cute stuff. My cousin at faithworksboutique.com made my girls matching hairbows. If you can't find what you are looking for, just PM me and I'll give you seller i.d.s

 

[momtotwoteens]

Most of them I got custom made off of Ebay. Just to to Ebay and go under advanced search and put in "custom Disney." It will bring up a ton of cute stuff. My cousin at faithworksboutique.com made my girls matching hairbows. If you can't find what you are looking for, just PM me and I'll give you seller i.d.s

Thanks! I never thought about Ebay. I miss the days when I could put bows in my DD's hair. Your girls look really cute.

 

[photobob]

Tiffany, glad to hear you guys had a good time in spite of the crowds. Look forward to reading more. So far your standby times haven't sounded too bad, it is frustrating when fastpasses get gone so early. What times of the year do you normally go?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Day 5, Dec. 17, Magic Kingdom and dinner with Cinderella at 1900 Park Fare.

The crowds started off pretty good, but as the day went on the crowds grew and grew. I think it was because this was just about the only non-party night at MK, so the crowds started filtering in to see the fireworks and spectro. Peter Pan and Space Mountain kept the longest waits of the day. Peter Pan was usually between 30 and 45 minutes and Space Mountain was between 40 and 80 minutes.

We had dinner ADRs that night at the Grand Floridian's 1900 Park Fare. The resort was so beautiful and the dinner was really wonderful. The girls especially liked meeting the step-sisters for the first time. And Cinderella's Stepmother did not like the Ellen Anne and Grayson's outfits one bit! lol!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Tiffany, glad to hear you guys had a good time in spite of the crowds. Look forward to reading more. So far your standby times haven't sounded too bad, it is frustrating when fastpasses get gone so early. What times of the year do you normally go?

Hey Bob, the crowds were larger than we have ever experienced before, but they were tolerable. Saturday and Sunday they were really noticably bigger, though. When I was a kid we always went mid-May and that was a pretty slow time. Now, as an adult with my family, we have been at the end of January into the first of Februay, we have been the first week of December and we have been mid-September. The crowds this past week were much larger than any of those previous trips. The year that we went in Jan/Feb, it was so quiet, we literally walked on everything. I fear that those days are long gone now! lol!

Thanks for the nice review . Next up DHS . . .