Just back, our Nov. versus Jan/Feb thoughts and general observations

[diswedwish]

We (myself 26, DH 24) just got back from our 11/12-11/24 trip and had a wonderful time

We had a more laid-back, go with the flow approach for the majority of this trip as compared to previous trips and this worked well for us. We had a much better sense of how to get where we needed to both within the parks and between parks and resorts so that was nice too.

Some observations on Nov. versus Jan./Feb.:
Weather was absolutely perfect!!! We had rain twice, but not for long. The temps were in the 70s and 80s during the day and a bit cooler at night. Quite a difference between that and the gloves and sweaters we needed on our past Jan. trip. We only wore jeans once, and that was because we went horsebackriding.

Park hours were longer, so that was a plus. We got to watch as Christmas decorations magically appeared overnight, saw the gingerbread house at the GF and saw the Osbourne Lights.

Crowds were much ligher in Jan. and Feb. The first weekend we were there it was the end of the Food and Wine Festival, Super Soap Weekend, and Festival of the Masters. We stopped by Epcot for a bit, avoided MGM like the plague (lol!), and did go to DD. We thought crowds were a lot heavier during this time than what we'd been used to in Jan. and Feb. The next week crowds were similar to Jan./Feb. although at times it was still crowded for us. When we used FP on BTMRR we had no idea the queue even extended that far (ignorance is bliss). Then it started getting very crowded as Thanksgiving week approached; we'd hate to see what Christmas week crowds must be like!!!!

New things in the parks that we tried:
Turtle Talk was great, we loved it!
Finally got to check out TL, our favorites were the wave pool and Shark Reef, very cool. Plus it was practically empty both times we went so it was our haven from crowds. The second time we went it was after 3 pm, because of that we only had to pay $3 for a locker, and got $2 of that back.
Fantasia Gardens - we really enjoyed this, I love Fantasia, we're both musicains, the whole theme was both and we it was by far the most fun we've had playing mini-golf
We caught Spectromagic, we're not that into parades but thought it was neat.
Tried Stitch once, liked it, DH wanted to go on again but the lines were too long for us. The chili-dog smell lingered the rest of the day for us (yuck!).
We really liked the amount of time we were there, it was perfect for us.
We also did several tours, Hidden Treasures of WS, Backstage Safari, Epcot Aqua Seas, and Dolphins in Depth, I'll write separate reviews for them.

Any questions? I'd be happy to help

 

[diswedwish]

Almost forgot one of the funniest things we overheard on our trip. At the HM, a little girl asked her mother to read the moving tombstone to her. Her mother replied "Dear Lolita, etc" lol!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Tell me more about Fantasia Gardens. DS is also a music major, saw Fantasia in some class in college, and will be going to WDW with me. Exactly how is the course themed to the movie?

 

[diswedwish]

Each hole is themed to a different song from the movie. At the start of each hole there is a clue that tells you what you need to do to get the ball where it needs to go, underneath it is some music on the staff that happens to be the actual sheet music to that song. I think there's a hole for just about every song in the movie. Every hole has some sort of effect to it, even if it's just hitting the ball through eighth note obstacles it was still really entertaining for us People must have thought we were nuts, I kept taking pictures of everything - lol!

The holes that really stick out are the one with the thunderstorm (actual "thunder" inside the mountain with Beethoven's Pastoral symphony). There's another one towards the beginning (we don't have our pics back yet or I could tell you which one), where your ball has to go up a hill, then down through some wind chimes, and down steps that are actually a xylophone. Another one where you hit the ball into the hole Pan plays a song on his flute - there are about 4-5 different songs. We played with that one for a bit because some of the songs I'd actually played on my flute. The holes towards the end are themed to the Sorcerer Mickey part with lots of water effects.

We used our choice feature for this on our package and it was a great way to get away from crowds for an hour or so. I think it's $10/person if you pay.

HTH

 

[LovePug]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I have to admit that the weather was perfect for us on our recent trip also .