After numerous glitches in getting my family to WDW, we just returned from a wonderful 8 day visit to the World.
Dh, my 2 teen dd's, my retired parents and I stayed in a SSR 2 bedroom villa from 12/20 to 12/27. It was our first visit to our home resort as members and our first family Christmas away from home. SSR has grown into a LOVELY resort. We were all "wowed" by the lovely setting, beautiful room and great service we received during our entire visit.
12/20 - We took ME to SSR - time from landing to check in desk was exactly one hour. My ddad was traveling with an electric wheelchair - it arrived in one piece from our flight & the ME people were great in getting us to the resort.
Check in went smoothly - we were assigned a room in Congress Park. Non-smoking lock off; all my requests were met. Merry Christmas! Took advantage of the DVC discount & bought annual passes, so we'll be saving money by taking another trip sometime this year ;-).
Check in was complete by 2pm. but our room was not ready. We stowed our carry-on's with luggage service and went over to Downtown Disney for a little shopping. We returned around 4:15 by bus and called to get our room assignment. We were in 2701/2703 with a spectacular view of Downtown Disney. Checked luggage was waiting in our room - a quick call & our carry-on's, Christmas tree & grocery order were delivered.
We zipped off for an ADR at Jiko for dinner. We were trying out the dining plan for the first time - spending two credits seemed like a bit of a splurge right off the bat, but it was well worth it. Dinner was a big hit with the entire clan. Food and service were impeccible. DH did the tally for the trip - for 6 of us, all adults, we saved about $600 dollars using the dining plan over the course of our visit.
12/21 - Day 2 started off at Epcot. Did Soarin' twice - the dparents loved it. Then did The Land ride - dmom is an avid gardner & really enjoyed this. Stopped for lunch at the food court there - great selections. I had a grilled chicken salad with a flatbread - yummy. Key lime pie for dessert - not bad for a counter service meal. It was by far the best of the desserts that we had at our table (although my 14 year old still has a soft spot in her heart for the worms & dirt). Rode Test Track & teased my 14 year old about her driving.
After a break back at the room which we used to set up our DVC Christmas tree (so cute!), we were off again to dinner at Kona. Bus service slowed us down a bit - the first bus that came around after waiting about 10 minutes was too full to load my ddad's chair, so we had to wait for a 2nd bus. That wait was about 30 minutes. Got to Kona & they couldn't find our ADR, but they told us they could seat us in about 45 minutes. We stayed, but it did make us late getting started at MVMCP.
While waiting for our table, a little girl was playing in the lobby waiting with her family. She fell down & let out a big wail. When we all looked around to see if she was okay -we couldn't help but notice her dad (?). Big white cowboy hat, oversized Western shirt - country singer Alan Jackson.
Finally got seated at Kona & enjoyed another great meal. Kona doesn't seem to get a lot of attention on these boards, but we find it to be a hidden gem. I sat facing Alan Jackson during dinner, but no one would take my dare to ask for an autgraph.
Unfortunately, I have a food allergy to fish & something I ate here made me very ill. I expect it was cross-contamination on the grill (I had a steak). They have renamed their lava cake, but it is still on the menu (& still decadent!)
Off to MVMCP - due to our travel glitches & our slow seating at dinner, we missed most of the parade. About that time, my allergy kicked in & I had to excuse myself several times during the party. Thank goodness for Benedryl!
Saw the new incarnation of Pirates - cute additions to tie the ride in with the movie franchise. DD's & I are big Johnny Depp fans, so we were pleased. Rode Peter Pan & then headed to Main Street for Holiday Wishes. Beautiful!
Hit a few more rides - Splash, Big Thunder, Dumbo - & then called it a night.
12/22 - Day 3 - had planned to hit AK early to try out Expedition Everest, but we all decided we needed to sleep in a bit. It was almost noon by the time we made it to the park. DH went for FastPasses, return time was for 5:45pm. Hit the safari ride - saw more animals than we ever have on this ride. They must like the cooler temps! Got back to unload & found ourselves stuck in a line of ride vehicles. We heard that . . . a) a tree was down , or b) there was a rhino in the road. Never found out for sure, but we did have to wait awhile. Counter service lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Took in the Festival of the Lion King show - one of our all-time favorites. Great as always.
Back to the room to freshen up - then off to Fort Wilderness for Hoop de Doo Review. We are missing our usual rental car by now. Never a long wait for a bus, but loading, unloading, multiple stops & what seems like indirect routes make traveling just take longer.
12/23 - Day 4 - we learned our lesson & started off earlier this day. Left dgrands at home & headed off to MGM. Made it for rope drop - 3 rides on Rock n' Roller Coaster & one on Tower of Terror. Met up with the stragglers & went to see Lights, Motors, Action. Our family is missing WWTBAMPI - greatly. This park looses a lot of its attraction for our group without that game. Lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby - gotta have our Cobb Salad! Caught Beauty & the Beast, toured some shops & rode GMR. Ummm - already time for dinner at Prime Time - beginning to see what people mean by the dining plan being too much food. DH & I split our meals, as did dd's. Still very full!
Strolled through Osbourne Lights. This was our first time to see them on the city street sets. Liked the "dancing" effect, but I liked the residential back lot scenes better. Caught the 7pm Fantasmic! show. Theatre was filled to the brim & they were filling standing room only spots in the back.
12/24 - Christmas Eve at Epcot. Ddad wasn't feeling well today - he was the only one who had the tradition Cobb dressing the day before & thinks it is not sitting well. He stayed behind while we hit Soarin' again, then shopped through Mousegears. Rode Ellen's Energy Adventure (I think I snuck in a nap here). Headed over the Canada for a performance by Off Kilter - I trekked down to France to grab some croissants & eclairs for a split counter service lunch. DDad caught up and joined us for SpaceShip Earth. Took in a Dicken's parody at UK. Shops at France & then Voices of Liberty & American Adventure. Time to eat again - we had a CP package at Chef's de France. They were rushing people through it seemed. Dinner was just okay. Rain started pouring down just as CP started. A wonderful show, but enjoyed it a bit damp & cold. Dgrands were beat & headed home, my family stayed and watched Illuminations. Really enjoyed the Peace On Earth holiday extra.
Back to room to get ready for Santa.
Christmas Day - you know you are raising true Disney kids when they choose to head to the park before opening their packages.
So - off to MK. Got there about 9:30. Long lines at bag check. People were already lining Main Street - surely not for the 12:30 parade! We figure out there was a Family Fun parade too, so the crowds weren't completely nuts. Hit Buzz - my score was embarrasing.
Had our Christmas lunch at Crystal Palace - I'm not a fan of buffets, but the food was pretty good here. Usually we only do breakfast buffets, but I would not object to doing this one again. After eating, the rain set in. We caught Small World, Snow White, Country Bears & Philharmagic before picking out a spot for the Christmas Parade. Rain delayed the start time, but we held out - cold and wet - to watch.
Back to our "home away from home" for Christmas presents.
Dinner was at the Turf Club. Very nice atmosphere. Food was on par with most of what we had for the week. With the exception of Jiko, we were really noticing the "standardization" of the menus & food quality at most of the restaurants. Disappointing because we have looked forward to Disney dining in the past. Hope this is a trend that reverses as they learn to manage the dining plan crowds better.
12/26 - AK - hit the park early so that we were sure to get on Expedition Everest. WOW!!!!
What a fun ride! Love how smooth it is. Caught the Lion King for a 2nd time - told ya we like it & then did Dinosaur. Forgot about the big guy at the end...
Lined up and saw Nemo - cute with a talented cast, but it won't have the repeatablity appeal for us that Lion King has. Geared for younger families.
Over to Epcot for a tour of World Showcase. Dinner at Rose & Crown took 3 hours ...
...just very, very, very slow service. Not sure why, there were several empty tables. They seated us outside at first - it was too cold & we asked to be moved. They put us under the covered patio area. They had plastic sheeting draped to enclose this area & had heaters on - still cold, but tolerable. Prime rib is gone from the menu - dessert was inedible. My eyebrows felt singed by the overhead heaters by the end of the meal.
Toured the countries some more, found we could use some of our accumulated snack credit on chocolates in Germany.
Finished off our evening with Illuminations. Awwww.
12/27 - check out day. Took the walking path from SSR to Downtown Disney - love the stroll along the path from Congress Park. Grabbed some sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. First time here - yum! Took some for the plane ride home.
ME back to MCO. They had us meet the bus at 1pm for a 4:10 flight. We were the last stop on the route - straight to MCO from SSR. No glitches, no rush, no fuss. I like ME, I just would prefer to have car for getting around the World.
Sorry I wrote a book here...it was a very good trip. Crowds weren't as bad as I expected. Weather was fairly comfortable, if a bit soggy. We all had a great time. Next trip will most likely be a senior trip for my dd - with a few of her friends. Asked her for a choice of resort - SSR!!!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Dh, my 2 teen dd's, my retired parents and I stayed in a SSR 2 bedroom villa from 12/20 to 12/27. It was our first visit to our home resort as members and our first family Christmas away from home. SSR has grown into a LOVELY resort. We were all "wowed" by the lovely setting, beautiful room and great service we received during our entire visit.
12/20 - We took ME to SSR - time from landing to check in desk was exactly one hour. My ddad was traveling with an electric wheelchair - it arrived in one piece from our flight & the ME people were great in getting us to the resort.
Check in went smoothly - we were assigned a room in Congress Park. Non-smoking lock off; all my requests were met. Merry Christmas! Took advantage of the DVC discount & bought annual passes, so we'll be saving money by taking another trip sometime this year ;-).
Check in was complete by 2pm. but our room was not ready. We stowed our carry-on's with luggage service and went over to Downtown Disney for a little shopping. We returned around 4:15 by bus and called to get our room assignment. We were in 2701/2703 with a spectacular view of Downtown Disney. Checked luggage was waiting in our room - a quick call & our carry-on's, Christmas tree & grocery order were delivered.
We zipped off for an ADR at Jiko for dinner. We were trying out the dining plan for the first time - spending two credits seemed like a bit of a splurge right off the bat, but it was well worth it. Dinner was a big hit with the entire clan. Food and service were impeccible. DH did the tally for the trip - for 6 of us, all adults, we saved about $600 dollars using the dining plan over the course of our visit.
12/21 - Day 2 started off at Epcot. Did Soarin' twice - the dparents loved it. Then did The Land ride - dmom is an avid gardner & really enjoyed this. Stopped for lunch at the food court there - great selections. I had a grilled chicken salad with a flatbread - yummy. Key lime pie for dessert - not bad for a counter service meal. It was by far the best of the desserts that we had at our table (although my 14 year old still has a soft spot in her heart for the worms & dirt). Rode Test Track & teased my 14 year old about her driving.
After a break back at the room which we used to set up our DVC Christmas tree (so cute!), we were off again to dinner at Kona. Bus service slowed us down a bit - the first bus that came around after waiting about 10 minutes was too full to load my ddad's chair, so we had to wait for a 2nd bus. That wait was about 30 minutes. Got to Kona & they couldn't find our ADR, but they told us they could seat us in about 45 minutes. We stayed, but it did make us late getting started at MVMCP.
While waiting for our table, a little girl was playing in the lobby waiting with her family. She fell down & let out a big wail. When we all looked around to see if she was okay -we couldn't help but notice her dad (?). Big white cowboy hat, oversized Western shirt - country singer Alan Jackson.
Finally got seated at Kona & enjoyed another great meal. Kona doesn't seem to get a lot of attention on these boards, but we find it to be a hidden gem. I sat facing Alan Jackson during dinner, but no one would take my dare to ask for an autgraph.
Unfortunately, I have a food allergy to fish & something I ate here made me very ill. I expect it was cross-contamination on the grill (I had a steak). They have renamed their lava cake, but it is still on the menu (& still decadent!)
Off to MVMCP - due to our travel glitches & our slow seating at dinner, we missed most of the parade. About that time, my allergy kicked in & I had to excuse myself several times during the party. Thank goodness for Benedryl!
Saw the new incarnation of Pirates - cute additions to tie the ride in with the movie franchise. DD's & I are big Johnny Depp fans, so we were pleased. Rode Peter Pan & then headed to Main Street for Holiday Wishes. Beautiful!
Hit a few more rides - Splash, Big Thunder, Dumbo - & then called it a night.
12/22 - Day 3 - had planned to hit AK early to try out Expedition Everest, but we all decided we needed to sleep in a bit. It was almost noon by the time we made it to the park. DH went for FastPasses, return time was for 5:45pm. Hit the safari ride - saw more animals than we ever have on this ride. They must like the cooler temps! Got back to unload & found ourselves stuck in a line of ride vehicles. We heard that . . . a) a tree was down , or b) there was a rhino in the road. Never found out for sure, but we did have to wait awhile. Counter service lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Took in the Festival of the Lion King show - one of our all-time favorites. Great as always.
Back to the room to freshen up - then off to Fort Wilderness for Hoop de Doo Review. We are missing our usual rental car by now. Never a long wait for a bus, but loading, unloading, multiple stops & what seems like indirect routes make traveling just take longer.
12/23 - Day 4 - we learned our lesson & started off earlier this day. Left dgrands at home & headed off to MGM. Made it for rope drop - 3 rides on Rock n' Roller Coaster & one on Tower of Terror. Met up with the stragglers & went to see Lights, Motors, Action. Our family is missing WWTBAMPI - greatly. This park looses a lot of its attraction for our group without that game. Lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby - gotta have our Cobb Salad! Caught Beauty & the Beast, toured some shops & rode GMR. Ummm - already time for dinner at Prime Time - beginning to see what people mean by the dining plan being too much food. DH & I split our meals, as did dd's. Still very full!
Strolled through Osbourne Lights. This was our first time to see them on the city street sets. Liked the "dancing" effect, but I liked the residential back lot scenes better. Caught the 7pm Fantasmic! show. Theatre was filled to the brim & they were filling standing room only spots in the back.
12/24 - Christmas Eve at Epcot. Ddad wasn't feeling well today - he was the only one who had the tradition Cobb dressing the day before & thinks it is not sitting well. He stayed behind while we hit Soarin' again, then shopped through Mousegears. Rode Ellen's Energy Adventure (I think I snuck in a nap here). Headed over the Canada for a performance by Off Kilter - I trekked down to France to grab some croissants & eclairs for a split counter service lunch. DDad caught up and joined us for SpaceShip Earth. Took in a Dicken's parody at UK. Shops at France & then Voices of Liberty & American Adventure. Time to eat again - we had a CP package at Chef's de France. They were rushing people through it seemed. Dinner was just okay. Rain started pouring down just as CP started. A wonderful show, but enjoyed it a bit damp & cold. Dgrands were beat & headed home, my family stayed and watched Illuminations. Really enjoyed the Peace On Earth holiday extra.
Back to room to get ready for Santa.
Christmas Day - you know you are raising true Disney kids when they choose to head to the park before opening their packages.
So - off to MK. Got there about 9:30. Long lines at bag check. People were already lining Main Street - surely not for the 12:30 parade! We figure out there was a Family Fun parade too, so the crowds weren't completely nuts. Hit Buzz - my score was embarrasing. Had our Christmas lunch at Crystal Palace - I'm not a fan of buffets, but the food was pretty good here. Usually we only do breakfast buffets, but I would not object to doing this one again. After eating, the rain set in. We caught Small World, Snow White, Country Bears & Philharmagic before picking out a spot for the Christmas Parade. Rain delayed the start time, but we held out - cold and wet - to watch.
Back to our "home away from home" for Christmas presents.
Dinner was at the Turf Club. Very nice atmosphere. Food was on par with most of what we had for the week. With the exception of Jiko, we were really noticing the "standardization" of the menus & food quality at most of the restaurants. Disappointing because we have looked forward to Disney dining in the past. Hope this is a trend that reverses as they learn to manage the dining plan crowds better.
12/26 - AK - hit the park early so that we were sure to get on Expedition Everest. WOW!!!!
What a fun ride! Love how smooth it is. Caught the Lion King for a 2nd time - told ya we like it & then did Dinosaur. Forgot about the big guy at the end... Lined up and saw Nemo - cute with a talented cast, but it won't have the repeatablity appeal for us that Lion King has. Geared for younger families.Over to Epcot for a tour of World Showcase. Dinner at Rose & Crown took 3 hours ...
...just very, very, very slow service. Not sure why, there were several empty tables. They seated us outside at first - it was too cold & we asked to be moved. They put us under the covered patio area. They had plastic sheeting draped to enclose this area & had heaters on - still cold, but tolerable. Prime rib is gone from the menu - dessert was inedible. My eyebrows felt singed by the overhead heaters by the end of the meal.Toured the countries some more, found we could use some of our accumulated snack credit on chocolates in Germany.
Finished off our evening with Illuminations. Awwww.12/27 - check out day. Took the walking path from SSR to Downtown Disney - love the stroll along the path from Congress Park. Grabbed some sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. First time here - yum! Took some for the plane ride home.
ME back to MCO. They had us meet the bus at 1pm for a 4:10 flight. We were the last stop on the route - straight to MCO from SSR. No glitches, no rush, no fuss. I like ME, I just would prefer to have car for getting around the World.
Sorry I wrote a book here...it was a very good trip. Crowds weren't as bad as I expected. Weather was fairly comfortable, if a bit soggy. We all had a great time. Next trip will most likely be a senior trip for my dd - with a few of her friends. Asked her for a choice of resort - SSR!!!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
