Just a few words about our Thanksgiving trip!

[Greg K.]

Who: Me and the Missus (ages 10 and 9. Real ages...45 and 44).
Where: Coronado Springs
When: Nov 21-28, 2004

Just a few thoughts on an all too brief trip!

The weather: Brisk! We were surprised to find the temps plunging into the low 40s on a couple of nights. The Missus, wiser than I, brought along her down coat. Me, I just wore a fleece jacket and got a sore throat and -- hack, hack -- cough. I was not amused.

The surprises: The trees! I was not prepared for the devastation caused by this fall's hurricanes. Driving along Lake Buena Vista Drive, toward our resort from Downtown Disney, you could see Epcot's backside exposed!

Elsewhere, along I-4, there were large swatches of forest where trees had fallen. It was disconcerting and a little bit sad.

The food: Yum! We did the Cape May Cafe for Turkey Day, and the place was PACKED. And noisy! But the food, as always, was exceptionally good, and I can't say enough about the pumpkin bisque. :jumping4: We also tried, for the first time, Hollywood and Dine, at MGM, and were pleasantly surprised. The crusted pork whatever-it-was was AWESOME. We'll definitely be visiting there again.

Biggest kick: The Epcot Segway tour! We did this on a whim, and ended up snagging the last two spots available for the week. (Each class is only 10 people) What a blast! It's definitely worth it ($80 pp, but we got a 15% discount as DVC members.)

Second biggest kick: The sort-of-new Wishes fireworks. I still have a lump in my throat thinking about them.

Third biggest kick: Mickey's Philharmagic. This was just a delight, and my wife and I grinned through the whole thing. An instant classic.

The resort: This was our first stay at a moderate, and we really enjoyed it. Coronado Springs is spread waaaaaay out -- and they're adding onto the convention center, even as I type -- but we were in the cabanas, just about a five minute walk from the main building, so it wasn't bad. It was a nice stroll in the morning, as I joined the Refillable Mug Brigade -- moms and dads, with their fingers curled around the handles of mugs, heading for the morning java or juice. The gift shop is surprisingly large and well-stocked, and the Pepper Market food court was quite good (and, to my way of thinking, overpriced.) Something I didn't quite cotton to: screeching children galloping down the concrete passageways at odd hours. We were also very late at getting housekeeping. She usually didn't show up until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Right around the time we were, um, "napping" before dinner.

A tip: If you visit the AKL -- we were there one night for dinner at Jiko's -- wander out to the savannah around 5 pm, and you'll get a great show. The rangers drive around in their jeeps, feeding the animals, and you can observe a lot of activity, some of it up close and personal.

All in all, a delightful and easy-going visit. The crowds were not TOO bad -- I was surprised there wasn't more of a throng on Sunday for EE at the MK. In fact, that morning, until noon time we never had more than a 15 minute wait for anything. And the night we saw Wishes, we stayed in the park until midnight. What a blessing! The place cleared out and we had it nearly to ourselves!

I'm still coping with post-Disney let down...but there's always next time...!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Sounds like a great time!

I have noticed that from late October - December you can't trust the weather. It's been nearly 90 in late October and in the 40s too. Same for December. Just have to pack EVERYTHING!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Thanks for posting...sounds like a great trip

 

[lspongberg]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your report. We haven't been to WDW during the holiday season yet and would love to try it some day.

Linda from MA

 

[Zurgerific]

thanks for the report.
how would you say the crowd levels and wait times were on the monday and tuesday(an which parks were you in) ?

 

[Greg K.]

We went in the MK late Monday ... after dinner at Jiko's ... around 9:00. We just WALKED ONTO Mickey's Philharmagic, no wait at all. Then we took up our position on Main Street to watch the fireworks at 10. After that, we had ZERO wait for Alladin's carpets, Splash Mtn., and Big Thunder. After THAT...we were pooped, so we went back to our hotel.

Tuesday afternoon we popped into Disney/MGM, and the wait for Tower of Terror (without FastPass) was 25 minutes. For Rock'n Roller Coaster, 40 minutes. For MuppetVision, about 25 minutes. I only used FastPass for the coaster.

But the crowds around parade time were insufferable. The bottleneck around the Starring Rolls Bakery has always been a nightmare, and for a couple loooong minutes, we were at a standstill, virtually unable to move. Grrr.

We didn't do any early mornings until Sunday.

Interestingly, when we've been there during busy times before, some of the signs saying "Magic Kingdom" along Lake Buena Vista Drive would say "FULL." But we never saw that when we were there last week, not even on Thursday.

 

[Zurgerific]

thanks for the response.
was a spectromagic parade going on at 9pm on that late monday you were there?
were you in any of the parks that sunday?
we stayed at the akl this past june, ate at buffet. great dinner, great hotel.
we were daunted by the crowds at the parks though (june 6 - 13). looking for some less crowded opportunity to take an 8th grader and high school junior with minimal disruption to school work.

 

[Greg K.]

thanks for the response.
was a spectromagic parade going on at 9pm on that late monday you were there?
were you in any of the parks that sunday?
we stayed at the akl this past june, ate at buffet. great dinner, great hotel.
we were daunted by the crowds at the parks though (june 6 - 13). looking for some less crowded opportunity to take an 8th grader and high school junior with minimal disruption to school work.

Yes, the Spectro parade was going, I believe, TWICE -- at 9, and 11!

We did early entry for Sunday, at the Magic Kingdom, and I was pleasantly surprised at how FEW people were waiting outside for the park to open at 8 am. The morning was a breeze, with hardly any wait at all for any of the rides! .

We've been to WDW in May, June, July, November and December. The first two weeks of December are relatively slow -- in fact it stays quiet until Christmas week -- but the weather can be nippy, if not downright COLD.

My advice: go RIGHT AFTER 4th of July. We did this in '03, and for the first few days it was surprisingly slow. In the mornings, the waits were all less than 20 minutes. One of our guides said that's because EVERYBODY comes to WDW for the fireworks, and then hightails it out on July 5th, so for a few days it's pretty tame, crowd-wise. It picks up later in the month, though. Also, in the summer, the parks tend to stay open later, and they often offer e-Nights in the Magic Kingdom, where you can stay in the park for a couple extra hours after it closes. We did that one night, and it was amazing -- we felt like we had the whole Kingdom to ourselves

But if you plan your day, and do a lot of stuff early (when it's not quite as hot) you beat the heat AND any crowds!

 

[PamNC]

Great report! We were there too, from 11/25 - 11/29. You're right about the weather. Brisk is a great word to describe it. I think I'll stick to going between the months of April - October. We like to visit Florida when it's warm...uh...hot. I know that sounds crazy, but that's the way we are.

PamNC