Cast of characters
Me Grandmom DH Poppop
DD - Mother DFi - Daughter Fiancé
2 Granddaughters Friends Family of 5
I will break my trip into three parts: Parks & Christmas Dining Transportation
The Good: We had a nice relaxing trip. Relaxing you say? The parks were very crowded and we ended up spending a lot of time at the pool. Sat Dec 10th arrived and spent some time at the Magic Kingdom. We all know about Saturdays at the Magic Kingdom Packed. Around 6:00 we went to Fort Wilderness Campground to see the campers decorations. You guys did a great job!! A special shout out to Dave the Castle Guy. We totally enjoyed his display and our conversation. A note to future watchers a lot of campers dont put their lights on until 6:00 or afterwards.
Sunday Dec 11th we did the Studios. Also packed. Went back around 10:30 pm and saw Osborne Lights. It was drizzling and the crows were very low, but the lights were as beautiful as ever.
This is the less merry part - We went the same week two years ago. The crowds were much less and the decorations much more abundant. At the Magic Kingdom Main Street was basically the only part decorated, with little touches throughout the park. I have fond memories of the Christmas Bear Country Jamboree, with lights on the buffalo & moose, but not this year. Each park had a beautiful tree and the hotel was decorated. But Christmas use to mean Disney. This year we all kept saying It sure doesnt feel like Christmas. We decided we probably wont go back at Christmas for quite some time. Its a lot of work to get everything done at home ahead of time, and then to come down and lose the Christmas feeling. But like I said we did get a lot of relaxing at the pool done. Thank goodness were rested for our trip home (see transportation.)
Dining - We made our ADRS 180 days out before the new system. We tweaked up to a week before we flew down. I just want to say make sure you print out all of your cancellation notices. It may save you a lot of money if you get charged for ADRs that you cancelled.
A month before our trip I started getting reminders of ADRS I had made when we were planning on going in October. I was sure I had cancelled these, but went immediately to the Disney Website to cancel them only to be told the ADRS were not in their system. Disney needs to work on interfacing their system.
Two days before our trip I started getting e-mails again for ADRS I had already cancelled. We decided not to book anything for our first day.
Sunday Dec 11th 8:10 ADR at OHana. We arrived at 7:50 to find over 30 people waiting to check in or trying to get a table. I checked in and sat with another 40-50 people waiting for tables. Finally at 9:00 we were seated. Kind of a late dinner for 3 7 year olds. The food was great as always, but the usual woman who entertains was not there and the gentleman did a very short segment.
Monday the 12th Dinner at LTT. Ended up just being 2 of us not 6 but we did show up. We arrived 5 minutes after our ARD time due to the monorail breaking down. When I told the girl we were checking in for a 5:40 ADR she scrolled down and said Oh you mean 4:50. I said no and she pointed out that we had two reservations. I told her I had cancelled the 4:50. Once again the system was not correct. We then waited 35 minutes for a table that was sitting empty the whole time. So those of you who say Disney is holding table for no shows you are totally wrong.
We cancelled several ADRS due to the crowds at the parks, we kind of knew we werent going to want to deal with it all day. I called dining and scheduled Cape May Café for 7:00 one day and had to hold it with a credit card. Good thing I did. We arrived to find about 70 people trying to get a table.
In conclusion: we ate a lot of counter meals and had a lot of table service meals left over. Luckily we were able to use those at counter service restaurants. We did have free dining, but we did pay to upgrade to regular dining. I doubt I will ever upgrade our dining plan again, if free dining is offered when we visit. I can save that money to pay for one or two table services. So to those of you who are now cheering that one less person is making adrs I hope you get the table of your dreams. But people were constantly turned away and there were very few empty tables and only for a very short time. So if everyone starts making their adrs so they dont get charged be prepared for 45-90 minute waits to be seated.
Transportation: Arrived 10:40 Dec. 10th on Spirit Airlines. We had no bags to worry about because DH is retired and drove down with bags so we would have a car available and not have to pay for bags. We went right to ME along with 500 other people and waited an hour to get a bus to the park. I will never use ME again.
On Sunday we used Disney transportation to the Studios. Wasnt bad going in but the bus broke down in the pouring rain on the way back to our room. Luckily the bus driver got it started again in a minute or two.
On Monday we decide to use Disney transportation again. We were at the ASM. We went to the bus stop and waited 45 minutes for a bus to come to the MK and then another one was right behind it. During that time we counted 10 AK busses and numerous DD busses. That was pretty much the last time we used Disney Busses. We will bring a car or rent. DD & Fiancé went to Boardwalk for dinner one night and ended up getting a cab to get back to the room. She said she will rent a car from now on.
Now our no Spirit part. I do understand Disney has nothing to do with this fiasco. We were walking to the lobby to get magical express back to the airport (7:30 a.m.) When we checked our flight (that we had pre-checked in for on the prior day), DD found our flight was cancelled (we eventually found out there was a sick out). The next hour was spent calling Spirit Airlines only to be told maybe they could get us on a flight late that night, dropped call. Call again and start over. We decided to go to the airport and see what they could do. DD and her group were able to get on to another Magical Express bus. I stayed behind with DH. I wanted to make sure he didnt start driving home in case we had to rent a car and drive home, I didnt want to spend 15 hrs squished in the back seat with two little girls. When they arrived at the airport there were over 100 people trying to make arrangements with Spirit. It had been a full flight. Two hours later they got to the desk. No vouchers for other airlines. The best they could do was send us to Ft Lauderdale at 9:40 p.m. and then try to get us on a 6:00 am flight the next day. We cashed in our tickets and started driving home at noon. We werent willing to spend another 9 hrs at the airport to maybe get a flight the next day. Finally arrived home at 4:30 Monday. Not the best trip home.
In conclusion: I still love Disney World. May daughter is planning to get married there this summer at one of the onsite/non-Disney Hotels. We will be keeping the girls with us. Im really not sure I will stay on property this trip. Some other hotels offer more family friendly rooms with separate kids areas. I will start checking into this. Also if we are not going to eat sit down meals at Disney World and if we are going to have a car then we can just do counter at the parks and the chain restaurants around Orlando. So Disney will be seeing a lot less of our dollars.
Me Grandmom DH Poppop
DD - Mother DFi - Daughter Fiancé
2 Granddaughters Friends Family of 5
I will break my trip into three parts: Parks & Christmas Dining Transportation
The Good: We had a nice relaxing trip. Relaxing you say? The parks were very crowded and we ended up spending a lot of time at the pool. Sat Dec 10th arrived and spent some time at the Magic Kingdom. We all know about Saturdays at the Magic Kingdom Packed. Around 6:00 we went to Fort Wilderness Campground to see the campers decorations. You guys did a great job!! A special shout out to Dave the Castle Guy. We totally enjoyed his display and our conversation. A note to future watchers a lot of campers dont put their lights on until 6:00 or afterwards.
Sunday Dec 11th we did the Studios. Also packed. Went back around 10:30 pm and saw Osborne Lights. It was drizzling and the crows were very low, but the lights were as beautiful as ever.
This is the less merry part - We went the same week two years ago. The crowds were much less and the decorations much more abundant. At the Magic Kingdom Main Street was basically the only part decorated, with little touches throughout the park. I have fond memories of the Christmas Bear Country Jamboree, with lights on the buffalo & moose, but not this year. Each park had a beautiful tree and the hotel was decorated. But Christmas use to mean Disney. This year we all kept saying It sure doesnt feel like Christmas. We decided we probably wont go back at Christmas for quite some time. Its a lot of work to get everything done at home ahead of time, and then to come down and lose the Christmas feeling. But like I said we did get a lot of relaxing at the pool done. Thank goodness were rested for our trip home (see transportation.)
Dining - We made our ADRS 180 days out before the new system. We tweaked up to a week before we flew down. I just want to say make sure you print out all of your cancellation notices. It may save you a lot of money if you get charged for ADRs that you cancelled.
A month before our trip I started getting reminders of ADRS I had made when we were planning on going in October. I was sure I had cancelled these, but went immediately to the Disney Website to cancel them only to be told the ADRS were not in their system. Disney needs to work on interfacing their system.
Two days before our trip I started getting e-mails again for ADRS I had already cancelled. We decided not to book anything for our first day.
Sunday Dec 11th 8:10 ADR at OHana. We arrived at 7:50 to find over 30 people waiting to check in or trying to get a table. I checked in and sat with another 40-50 people waiting for tables. Finally at 9:00 we were seated. Kind of a late dinner for 3 7 year olds. The food was great as always, but the usual woman who entertains was not there and the gentleman did a very short segment.
Monday the 12th Dinner at LTT. Ended up just being 2 of us not 6 but we did show up. We arrived 5 minutes after our ARD time due to the monorail breaking down. When I told the girl we were checking in for a 5:40 ADR she scrolled down and said Oh you mean 4:50. I said no and she pointed out that we had two reservations. I told her I had cancelled the 4:50. Once again the system was not correct. We then waited 35 minutes for a table that was sitting empty the whole time. So those of you who say Disney is holding table for no shows you are totally wrong.
We cancelled several ADRS due to the crowds at the parks, we kind of knew we werent going to want to deal with it all day. I called dining and scheduled Cape May Café for 7:00 one day and had to hold it with a credit card. Good thing I did. We arrived to find about 70 people trying to get a table.
In conclusion: we ate a lot of counter meals and had a lot of table service meals left over. Luckily we were able to use those at counter service restaurants. We did have free dining, but we did pay to upgrade to regular dining. I doubt I will ever upgrade our dining plan again, if free dining is offered when we visit. I can save that money to pay for one or two table services. So to those of you who are now cheering that one less person is making adrs I hope you get the table of your dreams. But people were constantly turned away and there were very few empty tables and only for a very short time. So if everyone starts making their adrs so they dont get charged be prepared for 45-90 minute waits to be seated.
Transportation: Arrived 10:40 Dec. 10th on Spirit Airlines. We had no bags to worry about because DH is retired and drove down with bags so we would have a car available and not have to pay for bags. We went right to ME along with 500 other people and waited an hour to get a bus to the park. I will never use ME again.
On Sunday we used Disney transportation to the Studios. Wasnt bad going in but the bus broke down in the pouring rain on the way back to our room. Luckily the bus driver got it started again in a minute or two.
On Monday we decide to use Disney transportation again. We were at the ASM. We went to the bus stop and waited 45 minutes for a bus to come to the MK and then another one was right behind it. During that time we counted 10 AK busses and numerous DD busses. That was pretty much the last time we used Disney Busses. We will bring a car or rent. DD & Fiancé went to Boardwalk for dinner one night and ended up getting a cab to get back to the room. She said she will rent a car from now on.
Now our no Spirit part. I do understand Disney has nothing to do with this fiasco. We were walking to the lobby to get magical express back to the airport (7:30 a.m.) When we checked our flight (that we had pre-checked in for on the prior day), DD found our flight was cancelled (we eventually found out there was a sick out). The next hour was spent calling Spirit Airlines only to be told maybe they could get us on a flight late that night, dropped call. Call again and start over. We decided to go to the airport and see what they could do. DD and her group were able to get on to another Magical Express bus. I stayed behind with DH. I wanted to make sure he didnt start driving home in case we had to rent a car and drive home, I didnt want to spend 15 hrs squished in the back seat with two little girls. When they arrived at the airport there were over 100 people trying to make arrangements with Spirit. It had been a full flight. Two hours later they got to the desk. No vouchers for other airlines. The best they could do was send us to Ft Lauderdale at 9:40 p.m. and then try to get us on a 6:00 am flight the next day. We cashed in our tickets and started driving home at noon. We werent willing to spend another 9 hrs at the airport to maybe get a flight the next day. Finally arrived home at 4:30 Monday. Not the best trip home.
In conclusion: I still love Disney World. May daughter is planning to get married there this summer at one of the onsite/non-Disney Hotels. We will be keeping the girls with us. Im really not sure I will stay on property this trip. Some other hotels offer more family friendly rooms with separate kids areas. I will start checking into this. Also if we are not going to eat sit down meals at Disney World and if we are going to have a car then we can just do counter at the parks and the chain restaurants around Orlando. So Disney will be seeing a lot less of our dollars.
