clareyfairymouse
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2010
- Messages
- 356
Well......I've been back a few weeks however the day after we got back I was uploading photos to the laptop and it died! Wasn't a happy bunny so currently borrowing the parentals so we can finish the photopass editing and ordering.
So the background:
We flew out on the 28th October to Miami and flew back on Friday 15th November from Orlando to Gatwick. We had a friends wedding in Key West on the 1st November then drove up from Key West to Disney on Sun 3rd, staying at POR until the 15th on the dining plan.
Highs
Osbourne Lights
I hadn't seen this in 9 years so was absolutely desperate to see it again and it did not disappoint! My DH couldn't understand why I was so keen to see it until the streets of America were illuminated around us, absolutely stunning! And we love the snow!
MVMCP
This sits in both highs and lows unfortunately. From a high perspective, the parade is brilliant, the atmosphere in the park was amazing and we got some great interaction with characters! We were a big group but the characters were so good with us, loved meeting the dwarves and the princesses and princes.
Dining Plan
We had some fantastic meals on the dining plan this trip! Some stand out meals came from Artist Point, Sanaa, Teppan Edo, Kona and 50s Prime Time Cafe. We also had dinner at Be Our Guest which was brilliant! We were in the ballroom which had been dressed up for Christmas with some really cute Beauty and the Beast stain glass window decorations. A great dining experience so Im really glad we booked and got in! We had some good breakfasts too, I had a girlie character breakfast at Cape May Cafe where we had a great giggle with the characters, then DH and I went to Chef Mickeys and had a good breakkie. On our last day, we went to the Grand Floridian cafe which we both really enjoyed and it was a great way to finish our trip.
Food & Wine
Love love love food and wine and considering we were a group of 17 we made it all the way around and got a chance to stop where we all wanted which was great. Using snack credits for the food is brilliant and we also bought a gift voucher wristband for additional food and drinks. We also saw Hanson in the eat to the beat shows which was an absolute guilty pleasure so great to watch!!
Christmas extras
I love Christmas so to see the parks in their festive attire made it even more special for me! Magic Kingdom was beautifully decked for the festive season and the castle lit up in the even is a spectacle all of it's own. We loved the decs at Animal Kingdom too, really cleverly done and each character had their own decorated tree in the character greeting area which was fab!
We also got to see the gingerbread houses at both the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary which are fab! The smell is amazing!!
The Dapper Dans, trolley dancers and main street band also had festive offering which was lovely to sing and dance along to.
Magic Bands
Worked really well for us! It was really easy to make fastpasses throughout our trip, check dining reservation times and have a look at ride wait times. The update to the priority rides kicked in while we were there and to be honest, it seemed pretty sensible. Its only tricky when half your group are on the normal fast passes and the other half have magic bands and trying to match up the times.
The Keys
Was pure chill out! We took the time to chill out before a busy 12 days in Orlando although we saw alot! We visited the turtle rescue centre, took a boat out to pigeon key and saw manatees on the journey, visited Bahia Honda state park and did all the touristy stuff in Key West. I'd highly recommend the keys to anyone!
Weather and Crowds & other stuff!
We had a really mixed bag with temperatures. The keys at the beginning of the trip were in the 30s every day, then the day we arrived in Orlando was a windy chilly day and was more than 10c colder than when we set off that morning so felt cold! Orlando was really comfortable temps, mid 20s most days, cooling off in the evenings.
Disney buses were pleasantly frequent which meant we could get from POR to MK in under 15mins. we had a couple long waits but nothing unusual. POR was lovely! Really glad we stayed there! Loved the resort theme, pool, rooms etc. We walked to FQ a couple times and took a horse & cart ride one evening which was really lovely. One morning near the end of the trip we had the main pool to ourselves which was very unusual but great fun!
Photopass + was brilliant and great value in a big group, we took full advantage. I have a feeling they are def trying to get away from groups sharing cards as they checked whether the additional cards were part of our group a lot! We have hundreds of pics though so it was well worth it.
The Lows
Nothing too much to report here, there were a lot of rude people, pushing and shoving. Which, even as an ex-cast member I found worse than I had previously experienced. We went to MVMCP on the opening night which I knew was a mistake when I booked the tickets but this was the only day everyone in the group could do. Big groups on a sold out opening night are not a good mix! We lost people, were waiting around a lot and it was uncomfortably busy. People were sat along Main Street waiting for the first parade more than 2.5 hours out so moving around was hard work! Also cast members were really unclear on what was happening, no-one knew timings, where characters were - we got a lot of mixed messages from cast members.
We had a brilliant trip from start to end and missing it soooo much now we are back in the chilly UK! Christmas to look forward to now and then we can start thinking about our first Disney Cruise next September which will come around so quickly!
Thank you for all the help and advice from everyone here, it's really so helpful!
So the background:
We flew out on the 28th October to Miami and flew back on Friday 15th November from Orlando to Gatwick. We had a friends wedding in Key West on the 1st November then drove up from Key West to Disney on Sun 3rd, staying at POR until the 15th on the dining plan.
Highs
Osbourne Lights
I hadn't seen this in 9 years so was absolutely desperate to see it again and it did not disappoint! My DH couldn't understand why I was so keen to see it until the streets of America were illuminated around us, absolutely stunning! And we love the snow!
MVMCP
This sits in both highs and lows unfortunately. From a high perspective, the parade is brilliant, the atmosphere in the park was amazing and we got some great interaction with characters! We were a big group but the characters were so good with us, loved meeting the dwarves and the princesses and princes.
Dining Plan
We had some fantastic meals on the dining plan this trip! Some stand out meals came from Artist Point, Sanaa, Teppan Edo, Kona and 50s Prime Time Cafe. We also had dinner at Be Our Guest which was brilliant! We were in the ballroom which had been dressed up for Christmas with some really cute Beauty and the Beast stain glass window decorations. A great dining experience so Im really glad we booked and got in! We had some good breakfasts too, I had a girlie character breakfast at Cape May Cafe where we had a great giggle with the characters, then DH and I went to Chef Mickeys and had a good breakkie. On our last day, we went to the Grand Floridian cafe which we both really enjoyed and it was a great way to finish our trip.
Food & Wine
Love love love food and wine and considering we were a group of 17 we made it all the way around and got a chance to stop where we all wanted which was great. Using snack credits for the food is brilliant and we also bought a gift voucher wristband for additional food and drinks. We also saw Hanson in the eat to the beat shows which was an absolute guilty pleasure so great to watch!!
Christmas extras
I love Christmas so to see the parks in their festive attire made it even more special for me! Magic Kingdom was beautifully decked for the festive season and the castle lit up in the even is a spectacle all of it's own. We loved the decs at Animal Kingdom too, really cleverly done and each character had their own decorated tree in the character greeting area which was fab!
We also got to see the gingerbread houses at both the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary which are fab! The smell is amazing!!
The Dapper Dans, trolley dancers and main street band also had festive offering which was lovely to sing and dance along to.
Magic Bands
Worked really well for us! It was really easy to make fastpasses throughout our trip, check dining reservation times and have a look at ride wait times. The update to the priority rides kicked in while we were there and to be honest, it seemed pretty sensible. Its only tricky when half your group are on the normal fast passes and the other half have magic bands and trying to match up the times.
The Keys
Was pure chill out! We took the time to chill out before a busy 12 days in Orlando although we saw alot! We visited the turtle rescue centre, took a boat out to pigeon key and saw manatees on the journey, visited Bahia Honda state park and did all the touristy stuff in Key West. I'd highly recommend the keys to anyone!
Weather and Crowds & other stuff!
We had a really mixed bag with temperatures. The keys at the beginning of the trip were in the 30s every day, then the day we arrived in Orlando was a windy chilly day and was more than 10c colder than when we set off that morning so felt cold! Orlando was really comfortable temps, mid 20s most days, cooling off in the evenings.
Disney buses were pleasantly frequent which meant we could get from POR to MK in under 15mins. we had a couple long waits but nothing unusual. POR was lovely! Really glad we stayed there! Loved the resort theme, pool, rooms etc. We walked to FQ a couple times and took a horse & cart ride one evening which was really lovely. One morning near the end of the trip we had the main pool to ourselves which was very unusual but great fun!
Photopass + was brilliant and great value in a big group, we took full advantage. I have a feeling they are def trying to get away from groups sharing cards as they checked whether the additional cards were part of our group a lot! We have hundreds of pics though so it was well worth it.
The Lows
Nothing too much to report here, there were a lot of rude people, pushing and shoving. Which, even as an ex-cast member I found worse than I had previously experienced. We went to MVMCP on the opening night which I knew was a mistake when I booked the tickets but this was the only day everyone in the group could do. Big groups on a sold out opening night are not a good mix! We lost people, were waiting around a lot and it was uncomfortably busy. People were sat along Main Street waiting for the first parade more than 2.5 hours out so moving around was hard work! Also cast members were really unclear on what was happening, no-one knew timings, where characters were - we got a lot of mixed messages from cast members.
We had a brilliant trip from start to end and missing it soooo much now we are back in the chilly UK! Christmas to look forward to now and then we can start thinking about our first Disney Cruise next September which will come around so quickly!
Thank you for all the help and advice from everyone here, it's really so helpful!
