Just back: 11/17-11/21 HIFS and tips, char. dinners

[Cindymere]

Hey, all. I'm so tired but I want to get this all out, so let's seee...

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS Dh and I both agreed things seemed cheaper in the park this time around..

We LOVED Holiday Inn Family Suites! We will definitely stay again there. We had the room for 86.00 a night, and the average drive time was 7-9 minutes parking lot to parking lot, even in end of park traffic. It was warm enough to swim (though I wish the big pool was a few degrees warmer).

I'm glad we had the autograph books with us at the start because Pluto was on the ferry on the way to Magic Kingdom with NO ONE around him! So our first character experience was fantastic!

I had gone to Pet Smart and bought each of my kids a limited time Mickey Mouse Christmas dog tag for their shoes. I put their first names on it along with my cell phone number and my mom's cell phone number. Luckily we didn't need it and the tags will be good to have for school field trips, festivals, etc.

O.K. Now let me take it park by park:

MAGIC KINGDOM (Monday) It was an early entry day, but the ppl at HIFS said this week it didn't matter and to remember that MK would always be the most crowded. It seemed to be more crowded than I remember 3 years ago, but nothing horrible. Still now wait times really. We hit the race cars while a parade was going on and just walked up. BTM, of course, was closed... bummer...

Philharmagic was WONDERFUL! I wish we had done it again. Carousel of progress needs updating again, but was still sentimental. The peoplemover (TTA) is just worthless at this point.. I wonder what they will do with it.

They had many Christmas decorations up... many more than 3 years ago this week, so we were able to get a lot of potential shots for our Christmas cards...

We also did the Cinderella Dinner at 1900 Park Faire... the buffet was pretty good considering and the characters were really nie and took their time with the kids. My daughter was in AWE of everything. Dinner for 8-- 5 adults and 3 kids was about 220.00 after tip.

EPCOT (Tuesday) Dh and I loved Epcot much more this time and I'd like to change my vote on a previous thread to Epcot as my favorite park instead of MGM. Epcot was dead. No wait times on anything, including M:S (which I rode with inner ear problems and WON"T be doing again). M:S was really cool and beautiful images, but it took me 20 minutes to recover afterwards (visually), but at least I didn't throw up!

We ate breakfast at the Princess breakfast in Norway. The food was really good, and the princesses took a LOT of time with the kids talking to them. My daughter kept getting a kick out of asking them to see their shoes. lol.

TIP: If anyone in your party needs or potentially needs one of those convenience scooters, this is the park to rent one. We took my parents and DH's mom and we were too far around the countries before we realized they probably needed one. MIL has back problems and my mom had ligament surgery 6 months ago on her knee and they were wiped out after Epcot.

 

[Cindymere]

Wednesday (MGM) It stormed heavily until about 2:00. Luckily I had bought these really nice panchos at Tuesday Morning (the chain of close out high end shops) for 2.99 each. They were pink with Minnie and blue with Mickey and they were heavy; I could easily find my kids because no one else had pink and blue panchos.

Strollers: because we had the park hopper tickets, we rented about 22 strollers over 4 days. i didn't like the ones at MGM because they were mesh, got very wet during the rain and weren't strong enough to hold a bag or purse on top of them. These were the strollers, however, that my kids fell asleep in for a nap, so I guess they were the most comfortable. Out of 22 strollers, only 1 sounded like they were pushing a barrel--- the double stroller at Animal Kingdom--All the rest were quiet and easy to push. I think the stroller issue is the biggest issue parents overthink. My kids didn't complain once about any of the 22 strollers, not even the noisy one.

We also ate at Chef Mickey's and had a great view of MK. This was an o.k. buffet... and the characters didnt' spend a lot of time with the kids, but then again those huge costumes I think prevent them from doing much interacting other than a few goofy things.

WISHES TIP: The Contemporary has a viewing deck on the 4th floor where you can see the Wishes fireworks and they even pipe in the music! Also, the 4th floor is somewhat distracting by the monorails, so you can walk up to the 5th++ floors on the outside stairwells adjoining the observation deck for an awesome view of wishes.

Thursday: (Animal Kingdom/MK) The only reason we went to AK was because my parents and my MIL had never seen it. Dh and I *HATE* it. Really, if you've been to an award winning zoo recently, you have my permission to skip the safari totally. The park was once again THE HOTTEST BY FAR and it the forecast called for a high of 72. I swear it was 88 in that park. Once again it was incredibly crowded. The boys enjoyed the dinoland, but we left after abotu 2 hours out of sheer disgust at the temps. and the crowds (even though nothing had a wait time.. i cannot imagine this park when attendance is 40K++).

Dh and I decided we'll try this park again in about 10 years, so it makes it easy for next time because we can drop off one park.

We went back to MK to finish up what we still hadn't done, which was most of Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toon Town fair. The weather was nice, the crowds low. My parents and MIL decided to keep the kids at MK starting at 5 p.m. so Dh and I could go to Epcot by ourselves! They stayed for the electrical parade and wishes again, and Dh and I took off as fast as we could back to Epcot.

Epcot was once again cool and uncrowded. We ate at the San Angel Inn, which was pretty good.. nothing to rave about, but good. We had a couple of margaritas and went to watch Illuminations. Dh loved this part the best.

ILLUMINATIONS TIP Stand between Canada and England for the best view. Look for this independently standing coffee stand, and then go directly across the walkway to the lake. Look for 3 very small cannons hooked to the lake side. It was awesome to stand here and see occassional fireworks shoot off right in front of you.

Closing thoughts

Overall we had an excellent trip. The kids were amazingly well-behaved. We were able to go into stores and they never coomplained once about not getting something (we did eventually buy them a lot of stuff lol). All of us had minimal blow-outs.

We took 2 days to drive home so we could rest more (did the trip straight through going there). We also stopped at the Titanic exhibit in Orlando since my 6 year old is fascinated with it. It was over-priced, of course, but a nice added-on activity.

Hummmm, I can't think of any more... any questions? I'll probably put my pics online later on this week...

 

[Cindymere]

Hummm.. a few more add on ramdom thoughts...

All of us wound up with strep throat, but we were lucky because my daughter went to the ped for it the day before we left, and he gave me scripts to take with us for all the family members...

The breakfast at HIFS was described by Dh as "army ration quality", which is correct. The breakfast isn't a quality one..but what do you expect for free? KWIM? The food was edible and they had the staples... cereal, milk, juice, coffee, eggs, corned beef hash, tater tots, pancakes, and then the meat rotated bewteen ham, bacon, sausage.

HIFS was clean and there were no problems here.

Epcot really needs updating on the technological issues... even in the start up videos, everyone has so very obviously 80s hair-dos and clothes. El Rio Del Tiempo, for example, needs refreshing, as does spaceship earth. This is why I don't believe Disney will be building new parks any time soon.. they really need to touch up what they can in epcot. Still, Epcot was my most enjoyable park. i think Dh and I have underrated it for the kids too, because I think it was the park the enjoyed second after MK. They could have sat there for hours looking at those stones in the ground that would light up unexpectedly! They also loved the trains in germany, which is a really cool thing to watch.

Oh, I rode Tower of terror for the first time! *LOVED* it... the images were soo cool... and there was *NO* wait either time.

The back lot tour is now worthless too I think. They tore the residental street down to make way for a new ride. This tour is now basically a ride around parking lots.

Oh, I asked my kids what they favorite thing was during the 4 days and here are their answers:

6 year old son: Star Tours (rode it 2 times).. then he said, "Well, everything!!!"

4 year old son: the speedway (racing cars...rode it twice). he couldnt' see over the steerign wheel and couldn't reach the pedal lol, but he concentrated soooo hard on steering the car. it was hysterical to watch!

4 year old daughter: Ariel in MGM and Beauty and the Beast at MGM.

I'm sure more random thoughts will come....

 

[mecook]

I'm considering using our "early AM empty Main Street and castle" shot for our card. Of course, it was early October; therefore no decorations and us in summer clothing, but does it really matter?We live close to the Gulf, so we usually get several photo cards from the beach. My niece dressed her 4 kids in "patriotic" swimwear one summer and used that photo. If I do use the castle shot, I'm thinking of a greeting that says "Merry Christmas from the Happiest Place on Earth".....what do you think?
Melanie

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Cindymere]

In regards to the Christmas card issue, yes!!! I'd definitely use the one from October with the castle in the background! It takes 5 days at Sam's to get your order back and then I usually take like 7 days farting around trying to get my list together, etc. I like to send mine out the first week of December, so I'm usually taking pics in early November for the card.... I think the fact that there are no Christmas decorations is not an issue...

I was also going to put a tag line like that: Merry Christmas from the happiest place on earth (if it will fit)..well, you could always write it in...

 

[Kukoc]

We where the same week, shared your thoughts although we where unimpressed with the princess breakfast at the Norway pavaillon, they seemed to be rushed, even though the crowds where down due to the rain. My Kids loved Fantasmic- was able to see that and Illumanations twice with us geting luckly and having a seat in the Rose/Crown pub area with only a 45 minute wait. I also would strongly advise parking at the Broadwalk and walking into EPcot for the show-saves a lot of time once it was done. Can't wait to plan my next trip, probably in a about 2 years.

 

[TomAndLori]

Thank you for the posts. Very nice to read.

 

[Cindymere]

Oh, I forgot to add.. no mosquitoes.. didn't see even 1 of them.

 

[Kukoc]

Yes, that was good, although my daughter needed something to complain about all in all I would book for that time again, although it was quieter when we went in late Jan a couple of years ago when we were not able to use any of the pools or Typhoon lagoon and even had a coat day! I refuse to go during any "busy" time, only booking during the down times to get the best value. Next trip I hope to be able to afford the Wilderness!!!

 

[Cindymere]

Oh, I agree!!! I would never again go during the busy season!

We'll go again in 2 years. But I might like to try the first week in December. This was the second time we went the week before the week of Thanksgiving. I really like this week, and I can't complain because the Christmas decorations were all up. and then I see the residental street at MGM was torn down, so...

Maybe we'll stick with this week!

 

[Cindymere]

A funny little aside:

Dh and I both smelled pot on 2 different nights in several places in Epcot. Another poster here said she smelled pot also the week of 11/3 at Epcot at night.....

 

[heart4dis]

We'll be at HIFS. The kids can't wait. I'm not expecting breakfast to be top-of-the-line. We've stayed at lots of "breakfast free"places and have everything from mediocre lukewarm toast to shrink-wrapped microwaveable sausage biscuits!

Hey, the best thing is that I'm not fixing it! It's vacation!
It won't be long now...

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Great report sounds like a good time was had by all.

 

[Kukoc]

I noticed you where able to view the fireworks show Tuesday night from the deck of the Contemporary. I tried this also (Tuesday night too) but I tried to be smart and park my van at the hotel and then walk over when the fireworks where over. Disney is on to this trick as they would not let me park at any of the Monorail lodges for a quicker exit from the park. The only way is to have dinner reservation after the show and then for only three hours.