Just Got Back From Trip!!!! LOTS OF TIPS FOR YOU ALL!!

[DisDarling]

We were at WDW December 10th-17th and here is a quick run down of the trip in a nut shell:

MGM: *Narnia-cool exhibit, but VERY short and NOT worth a long wait!
*Playhouse Disney try sitting in the back, you will see everything much better!
*The Holly Day Parade is awesome, dont miss it!
*We walked right on to the Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppets, and the Little Mermaid later on in the day.
*Take advantage of the EMH's here, while Fantasmic is on you can hit the attractions with no waits!
*Chicken Little and Abby are inside the Animation Building for pics!
*DO the Animation class also located here, we got to draw and keep our Piglet drawing, its fun and free!
*The EMH wristbands can be found at the Drew Carey Show

EPCOT: *Get there at open-we fastpassed Soarin and then rode Test Track twice- walking right on!!
*YOu can no longer run to Soarin in the morning, the CMS walk you to the building and you CAN NOT pass them!
*Turtle Talk with Crush was open and it was AWESOME!! The line may LOOK long when you get in it, but we were at the end of the line and were easily able to fit inside the attraction.
*The Christmas stories in each of the Countries are really neat to lisen too, take the time to watch and listen!
*We found Genie in Morocco, and Princess Aurora in France.
*We saw the Candlelight Processsional- BEAUTIFUL!! If you cant get in the 1st show, try the other ones that night, they are less crowded BY FAR!!
*The Tree Lighting Ceremony is also very cute, Mickey and the Gang come to do it after they get of the HOLIDAY BUS, which IS running!

MAGIC KINGDOM
*Again, get there at opening and you will be able to do SO MUCH! We did Philharmagic, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Small World, Pooh, and the Carousel all in the first hour.
*The new 100 Acre Woods area with the large tree is SO cute, great for pics and some relaxing time for mom and dad as the kids can pay for a bit! Its right across from the Pooh ride!
*Dont miss the Flag Lowering Ceremony at the end of the day, very moving.
*Another not miss is the Tree Lighting Ceremony here as well!
*EMH is NOT worth it- everything was crowded expcet Haunted Mansion and Pirates. We only rode those and than ate in Tommorowland with some yummy tukey legs and slushis!

DOWNTOWN DISNEY
*We were served free cookies and hot chocolate in the World Of Disney Store, it was great to shop and be relaxed with the free treats!
*Earl of Sanswich is still our favorite here- $5 sandwiches which are HUGE-great on the tummy and pocketbook!
*Take advantage of all the great photo ops here!

THE WEATHER:
*Rained once on us, not a problem just waited for it to pass which it did!
*We were in winter coats and mittens on our Epcot night. I HIGHLY reccomend bringing warmers for your mittens, and storing your jackets in a locker so you dont have to go all the way back to your hotel to get warmer clothes!
*We didnt swim the entire week- JUST TOO COLD!!

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

Thanks for the tips! It sounds like you had a magical trip!

 

[3princesses4us]

Wow! Thanks for the great tips especially during this time of year with all the extras!

 

[Aalore]

I'm sure this will be helpful to a lot of people! Sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[shellbelle]

Glad you had a great trip. Thanks for the tips!!

 

[Sydrox]

Thanks for the tips. We are heading there tomorrow morning. Can't wait

 

[dixiedizfan]

Thank you soooo much for your observances and suggestions! Merry Christmas!

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the tips! We will be there soon.

 

[mamacatnv]

Thanks for all the great tips, I keep telling my family that early in is the only way to go, being from the Pacific time zone, may make this a little tricky, but I am determined DH is the only morning person in the group, the rest of us are like hibernating bears, should be an interesting week. If you see the family of grumpy bears with one happy Dad it is probably us, offer coffee from a distance.

What were the temps while you were there? I have just started packing and can't decide between more shorts or more jeans and long sleeves. We live in a cold climate so 65-75 is really warm to us.

 

[julielovestigger]

DisDarling - You mentioned that it is important to get there at opening, but said that you did not like the EMH. Are you advising to go to parks that do not have EMH? Also, did you stay at a Disney resort or off site?

 

[DisDarling]

DisDarling - You mentioned that it is important to get there at opening, but said that you did not like the EMH. Are you advising to go to parks that do not have EMH? Also, did you stay at a Disney resort or off site?

We stayed at AS Music and also as AS Movies- I HIGHLY recommend doing EMH for MGM and Epcot, but MK both this trip and we were there this past May, BOTH nights of EMH at MK were INSANE!! There were longer lines during EMH than the entire morning both trips! I would say do the EMH for the ambience of the park has a whole being emptier, but the rides in Fantasyland had over 20 min waits! We had a nice time walking around, eating, looking at people, but riding anything was tough (except for Pirates and HM).

You are better off going to ANY of the Parks opening and hitting what you want in the first 2 hours to get more done, I guarantee it you will do more in 2 hours than any EMH night.

Any other questions, post away!
D.D.

 

[julielovestigger]

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[DisDarling]

Thanks for all the great tips, I keep telling my family that early in is the only way to go, being from the Pacific time zone, may make this a little tricky, but I am determined DH is the only morning person in the group, the rest of us are like hibernating bears, should be an interesting week. If you see the family of grumpy bears with one happy Dad it is probably us, offer coffee from a distance.

What were the temps while you were there? I have just started packing and can't decide between more shorts or more jeans and long sleeves. We live in a cold climate so 65-75 is really warm to us.

Yes, keep telling your family they NEED to be at opening! Its a great time to hit so much in such a little amount of time, plus with kids it keeps them less cranky in those oh so long lines later in the day!

The weather was 60-65 most days, maybe a 75 I think last Wednesday, but thats as high as it got. The best advice I can give u on packing is to bring long sleeve shirts, light jackets, sweatshirts, capris, jeans, heavy jackets, and mittens. We NEVER wore shorts once, they were a waste of space! We wore jeans the whole week, with long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts most days. We would layer so when it got a bit warmer in the afternoon, we could wear just our shirts and be fine, but it was nowhere near shorts weather. To tell you how cold it was, there was only 2 people in the pool the ENTIRE WEEK that we saw in the AS MOvies pool!! Now we saw them before and after the parks, so there could have been people during the day, but I cant even imagine anyone was, people were bundled up pretty good!
This is us in the light jackets and sweatshirts our first day:

This is 2 nights later in Epcot having a funnel cake:

Bring what you can to wear, put the rest of it in a locker for later that day, you will need it
D.D.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Thanks for the tip! You were there the same time we are planning to go next year! I just bought the white Mickey winter coat from Disney Direct to wear on the trip- I knew it wouldn't be too warm for it then!!!!

 

[HayGan]

Thanks for the report.

We actually had a different experience with EMH at the MK. We were able to go on Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean several times in a row (we even got to stay on a few for a second or third ride!) The only place we found to be more crowded was Tomorrowland and even that had wait times of less than 15 minutes for most everything!