Merry is NOT an Option ~ Live from WDW w/ Pics :)

[MissMichelle]

LOOOOOVING your Live report! I am so jealous! One day I will be brave enough to take the kids out of school and take them at this time of year...

How are the crowds???

 

[Cass]

Your report is amazing! Have a great time at DAK today.

I am staying at AKL in 11 days, please get some pics if you can

 

[happybratpack]

LOOOOOVING your Live report! I am so jealous! One day I will be brave enough to take the kids out of school and take them at this time of year...

How are the crowds???

I'd LOVE to take L's kiddos for the holidays. The crowds are odd to be honest. The best luck we've had with attractions has been at the Christmas Party. During the day we've pretty much walked on HM, Pirates, Philharmagic but Peter Pan, the mountains, etc were untouchable during the day (and still pretty long at MVMCP). Right when Epcot's extra magic hours started last night we walked right into Turtle Talk w/ Crush and were almost alone on The Land. Soarin'/Test Track was still 40 mins at 11 pm and Mission Space was only 10 mins. The new Nemo ride has been a walk on everytime we've gone on no matter the time of the day - we love it, I think it's a great addition to the park. We went to the Wonders of Life our first day and it was a ghost town, I don't think most people realize it's open.

The common areas of the parks haven't seemed to crowded really - easily found a spot on Main Street for both Wishes and Holiday Wishes as well as the parades. The resorts seem packed though. The transportation has mostly been full except for a couple times. Anytime close to peak times of the days we've been standing on the bus and waited through 3 buses last night to get home from Epcot. We're at CBR and not all that happy to be honest, but there's nowhere else to move to w/o putting out almost another 1k to move to a deluxe. I'll cover all that in the TR - the resort is gorgeous but I really don't see us staying here again.

Oh - we've seen the Dream Team a LOT. In fact, two of them watched The Making of Me with us and I thought for sure the Disney Gods were going to bestow something exciting but I guess they just wanted to watch the movie. We actually rec'd a great Wish from another guest in the form of two Gold VIP tickets to the Candlelight Processional our first night.

I'm going to try to get L up and moving, I feel so bad he's sick since I was sick last week and I guess passed it on. Nothing worse than being under the weather here.

 

[OhMari]

I hope he is feeling better. Love the picture of you 2, you guys look great.
Do they make a new Gingerbread house every year?

 

[Blaynexox]

Love the pics! So cute!

 

[serendipity]

I LOVE the live report. Thanks so much for sharring the magic with us. I really love the shots of the candy pinnocchio scene. I hope L feels better!

 

[UtahMama]

I wonder if it'd be in poor taste to climb on the carousel and start eating? I could claim I've been on a low-carb diet and couldn't help myself!

I saw the houses on the Food Network and that alone would be worth the trip! I LOVE the lights and decorations! I have only been to DisneyLand during the holidays but if they were to offer free dining at WDW during this time of year, I'd have to go!

Your pictures are adorable, YOU!

 

[aimhi]

Love the trip report...it's so great that you are doing it...i will be reading this daily and when you are leaving I will be checking in. This is going to make the next few days feel as though I am almost there. Your great!

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

I am loving your report so far--I love the live pics. I hope L feels better soon. . .sending pixie dust your way.

The food pics are gorgeous! That gingerbread house is amazing! Have a great time!!

 

[Angelrose]

What beautiful pictures! Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[Angelrose]

well darn, I tried to put them elf in my siggy but forgot how to do it. Oh well.

 

[Stitch's O'hana]

Thanks for your live report and pictures! My mom and I will be coming this Tuesday!!!!!! Hope the weather stays good! Did you get you Mickey Mouse Santa hat's at MVMCP? We are going on Dec. 7, it will be our first time! We can't wait!!!!!

 

[happybratpack]

Hello everyone!!

Thanks for all the sweet comments, I was dragging when we got back here but this perked me up.

We had a late start this morning and got back here early (for us) tonight so L could get more rest. We went to the AK for a few hours during the day, it was pretty crowded. At about 3:00 EE was 50 minutes, we walked onto Dinosaur and we used FP for the Safari but the FP times were only an hour out. We spent the rest of the time on the trails, exploring and taking pics. I was surprised how crowded the trails were today.

After dinner we went to the MK. Mistake. Ugh. It was July crowded in there, complete madhouse. Pirates was 50, Space was EIGHTY, Small World was 20, Peter Pan was 45 I think. HM & COP was pretty much walk on, but the TTA actually had a line down to ground level. The common areas were madness, we headed out during Wishes.

Weather...when we got to AK it was pretty toasty and late afternoon the cloud cover cooled it down. Tonight was one of the coolest nights since we've been here I think but still comfortable in shorts and tshirts. It's so seasonally confused here right now - people in everything from halter tops to fleece.

OH - one big thing I didn't realize and was completely bummed about. When we went to the AKL tonight for dinner I was SO looking forward to the gingerbread display. I didn't know the Chef had left and they didn't have it this year. There were a LOT of people there looking for it. That was going to be the holiday pics on here for the day so instead I'm going to attempt to post the ones from CBR. It's all behind glass so they didn't turn out all that great. The buildings matched the food court buildings. I'm going to go ahead and start the first couple days reports because I'm afraid of getting back home to Christmas madness next week and not getting it done. Plus we're back in the room and I have nothing to do.

 

[happybratpack]

Thanks for your live report and pictures! My mom and I will be coming this Tuesday!!!!!! Hope the weather stays good! Did you get you Mickey Mouse Santa hat's at MVMCP? We are going on Dec. 7, it will be our first time! We can't wait!!!!!

OK, I suppose this is pathetic but I took this pic last night.

The striped ones are the hats only available at the Christmas Party, the red Mickey & Minnie ones are available everywhere and we've seen the Pluto ones a few places. The Santa type hats are around $17 and Pluto was $28 but he lights up so it's justifed.


We're going back to the party on the 5th, I bet you'll have a blast on the 7th!

 

[happybratpack]

ETA: I'll post sep resort and dining reports but will add the pics and such in this one as I go.

Hello!!!

We left on Wednesday morning, November 29th from DFW. The flight was awesome - even more so since it was only $154 each RT on AirTran. Empty, smooth and early to Orlando - as a fearful flier I can't ask for anything more.

Our bubble was burst pretty quickly to get off the plane to this... (and it continued off and on the entire day) Magical Express was pretty speedy, we waited in the airport about 10 minutes, then on the bus maybe 15 before heading on our way. It's still the old video on there from last years Celebration.

Tradition states that the MK has to be the first and last park each visit so we checked into the Caribbean Beach Resort, the room wasn't ready so stored our carry-ons and were on the bus by about 1 pm. Once we arrived we got new AP's because the last ones were the cheesy Lights, Motor ones and since that is my least favorite attraction I didn't want to look at it anymore. Shallow, I know, but L was even more sour when his new pass was Cinderella instead of something manly and cool like the Tink one I got. (In case anyone cares the tickets are the new Dreams ones)

The lines into the park were zip and we were on Main Street before we knew it. In the rain, but on Main Street. Since L had waited AGES to get his hair cut so he could have it done here he was looking a little - a lot - ragged. We made a beeline to the Barber Shop where we lucked out with Michael after about a 5 minute wait. As you can see, the man can perform miracles. (L won't read this till we get back)

All we did at the MK was hang out on Main Street and check out the holiday decorations. Here's a shots even though it was dreary outside. (better ones to come later in the trip)

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We decided to grab a bite to eat so he grabbed Casey's and I the Bakery, we lucked out with a table right outside the Bakery to people watch.

Shortly after sitting down we had this lovely parade come by... (they were setting up for the parade tapings)

We wandered around Main Street a little more, picked up our red Minnie & Mickey Santa hats and caught a great holiday performance...

We headed out and hopped on an *empty* Monorail to go to Epcot - Part 2 of the day on the way!

 

[happybratpack]

Welcome to Epcot! We arrive without fanfare, getting in was a breeze. We made sure to get the mandatory Photopass pic at the entrance. Again, all those chins - Disney should fix those cameras.

I was super excited to hear that Wonders of Life would be open while we were there - L had never been in there since he was a Disney Virgin till he met me. It was pretty dead and I thought the pavilion looked great. (well, the parts that were open anyway) The Dream Team was skulking around (I'd say flitting, but they didn't bestow any surprises while we were there so they're skulking) They even watched the Making of Me with us. So we did that, Cranium Command and Body Wars then just hung out at some of the exhibits in there.

Corny, I know, but what the heck. After that we headed over to ride the new Nemo attraction. I had read mixed reviews but we were both really impressed by it. There wasn't a wait at all and since this is a continuous loading ride hopefully it will keep the waits down. The "Clam Mobiles" seemed narrow, we both fit but it was cozy. Of course, we've ran into that a few times this trip so maybe we're just widening. The first time I was on it I had leaned forward most of the time so I could look left and see what was coming. The second time I stayed sitting back so I could only view what was directly in front of our car and it was MUCH better.

We decided to hit the Character Connection, it was pretty dead in there. I love that they added this, we always have fun. The Photopass guy for Minnie had some scanner issues and left us there with her for a few minutes. Next thing I knew her and L were pretending they were on Dancing with the Stars and had quite the audience.

We headed towards the World Showcase and caught the tree lighting, very cool. Hopefully we'll see it again tomorrow night. It was quite crowded during it and since I'm vertically challenged I find it frustrating sometimes.

We were going to eat fast food somewhere but at the last minute decided to try something new so we picked Restaurant Marrekesh in Morocco. It was very interesting, I though the building was beautiful and the entree was awesome. We had Beef Brewat Rolls for appetizer, the Seafood Platter, we both tried some non-alcoholic fruity drinks that were delish and topped it all off with Moroccan hot mint tea. (We just split everything) Very good meal, it could have been great but the waiter left quite a bit to be desired. To make up for the lack of service the live music and dancer rocked. Nothing like a tall, skinny hot chick to make you feel like a tub-ola eating a bunch of fatty food.

After dinner decided to try to get in to see the Candlelight Processional. We hadn't bought a dinner package yet but thought maybe we could get in there in the standby line. HA - it was like three countries long and insane. So next we figured we'd stand at the back of the theater and at least hear the music. Great plan till it started to pour buckets and at that point we gave up. We started walking away and another guest came up to us and asked if we were going to watch the show. We told her we didn't have tickets and couldn't get in and she whipped out two GOLD VIP tickets and took us to the rope. We were escorted all the way down to the front and seated in a small roped off section on aisle five with her family!!! It rocked, John O'Hurley was the guest narrator and he was awesome. The woman who was signing in front of us was just mesmerizing, I think I watched her the majority of time. Took several pics and lots of video which I need to edit. It wasn't easy for pics in there since we didn't want to use flash so nothing really captures how great it was. I have to admit, when they were taking us down to our seats we both were kind of teary-eyed. Goobers, I know.

We caught Illuminations w/ the holiday addition - just awesome. We'll take pics at the one later in the week.

SOOOOO....we were pretty happy with our day and at about midnight made it back to CBR. We had called to get our room, Aruba 5655. Of course we have no map with us so we wander and wander. We finally find the room and were just not happy. It was quite beat up inside, the beds were like rocks and sqeaked, we weren't happy with the location and according to the front desk there was no other room we could move to. *We're not resort snobs, we're just as happy at Pop as a deluxe, we do it all.* At about 1:15 am we're on the phone to the manager, Ann, and asked to be moved to another resort - either another moderate or Pop so not to spend any extra money. We explained all the issues and she said she understood. She called around, there was no other resort to move to unless we paid about $175 extra a night to move to AKL or WL. Since it wasn't planned it just wasn't possible so we agreed they would find us another room the following day and in the meantime would bring an egg crate for the bed.

By 2:30 am we had the egg crate and settled down for the night, the next morning we had bell services pick up everything and are supposed to check in the following night after MVMCP to get the new keys, room assignment. (which would be like 1 am, ugh)

Since we're still here I will wait to give a full resort report, but some quick opinions. By the state of the room we were in and the one we have been moved to I wouldn't have thought the rehab was as recent as it was. I don't mind big resorts, PO doesn't bother me at all with the walking. That said, this place is HUGE. I read it, I heard it, but I guess it didn't click. It adds a lot of time to a bus trip to make all the different stops. My other big complaint is having the front desk in a sep (and not close) building than the food court/shop. I guess I don't get it - it's been a big inconvenience several times. The grounds here are gorgeous and well maintained, I am looking forward to some serious hammock time at some point. I can see why others love this resort, but it's just not a good match for us. I really wanted to move but since it's not in the stars am making the best of it.

Coming up is the Magic Kingdom, Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian and MVMCP on Nov 30th. Stay tuned! (I'll post live reports/pics in the meantime - hope this isn't horribly confusing)

Thanks for reading!!!

 

[Blaynexox]

Im loving the report! keep it coming!

 

[Cass]

How nice about the Gold passes to the candlelight processional! Magic from another guest is pretty special

 

[snoopy two]

Great report! I am wondering if you have been into the Country Bear Jamboree? I read on another report where it is not in the Christmas show. Is that correct? We are headed down next week, and I will miss the holiday bears if that is true. Thanks.

 

[bsusanmb]

I just love you report! I am here right now too and I have never seen it so crowded the first week in Dec. Keep the report coming.

Guess I will get those tickets to MVMCP for this week. Did you get to see how they tape the parade? I think that would have been interesting.