My (so far) trip report

[JackieO]

This is an anniversary trip for DH and me so kids are left at home this time. We arrived on Sat., checked in to the Pop and headed to DTD. DTD was incredibly crowded! We enjoyed dinner and people watching though.

Sun we went to MK, it was crowded but we figured it was due to it being the weekend and since we have 6 park days we didn't worry about it. We used our MB with our FP+ and figured out that we could still use our room key for more fast passes so we were able to do everything we wanted without much waiting. We ate at BOG and it is my new favorite place! The food is great, the castle is great and the magical way they bring your food is so cool. The line was long but we had a fast pass so we just walked in. I wouldn't have been disappointed if we'd waited, it was that good.

Mon we went to AK. That was much less crowded, but again we figured it would be, because it was now during the week. We had a relaxing day seeing animals and shows. We saw the lion king show for the first time and highly recommend it! There were "wilderness guides" throughout the park and they were very knowledgeable on the animals and always more than willing to answer ALL of our questions.

Yesterday we took a bit of a day off and went to a near by boat plant for a tour then lunch and shopping at DTD. Went into DQ for the first time and determined that we HAVE to bring the kids there next time. They would LOVE it. Then we did a round of mini golf at the winter summerland. That's about the cutest place I've ever seen! There are tiny elf trailers and Christmas lights and it even snows on you. So fun, and a nice break.

We're off to Epcot today and then back to AK tomorrow for the Wild Africa Trek tour, I'm excited and I'll update after that and let you know how it goes.

 

[Pseudacris]

Sounds like a lot of fun already! I'm jealous that you are hitting that sweet spot where you can use FP+ along with regular FP. You will be able to do so much more!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Following along...very anxious to hear about EPCOT. Our experience and so many others is that it's been empty all summer. Makes for a nice experience but Disney has to be worried about it. It seems the only park anyone goes to anymore is the MK.

 

[HappyGal]

I'm so envious and keeping an eye on the weather to see if it's nice this time of year - I hope to take advantage of the free dining next September!

I have a crazy favor to ask: Would you be able to measure the distance from the floor to the window's ledge? I'm going to decorate our Pop window for our December trip and I need to figure out how to balance a christmas tree on the ledge of the window.

Thanks so much!

 

[wdwnut61]

Sounds great glad you liked BOG

 

[JackieO]

I'm so envious and keeping an eye on the weather to see if it's nice this time of year - I hope to take advantage of the free dining next September!

I have a crazy favor to ask: Would you be able to measure the distance from the floor to the window's ledge? I'm going to decorate our Pop window for our December trip and I need to figure out how to balance a christmas tree on the ledge of the window.

Thanks so much!

Oh rats, I didn't see this until we got home, can't measure that window for you, sorry!!

The weather was nice, HOT when the sun was directly on us but if it went behind the clouds (which it did fairly often) it was pretty nice. There was a nice breeze that really helped.

 

[JackieO]

Home now so I have time to update on the rest of our trip:

On Wed we spent the day at Epcot. It was a beautiful day, and not too crowded. We had a great lunch at the quick dine place in China, rode my FAVORITE ride in the world Soarin' and spent a lot of time shopping "around the world". We had a nice, relaxed day and finished it off with dinner in Mexico.

On Thurs we had a relaxing start, we slept in, meandered down to breakfast and took our time getting to AK. Then we were off on our Wild Africa Trek. We had an amazing time, it was great to be so close to some of the animals and have tour guides who were so knowledgeable. The hanging bridges were fun and the snack time was a beautiful retreat right in the middle of the Savannah, surrounded by animals so close we felt like we could touch them.

Even though we enjoyed it thoroughly and we're glad to have had this experience I can't totally recommend it. If you have $200 extra per person then I say go, you will not be disappointed, but if $200 is a real stretch (like it was for us) then I think you skip it and ride Kilimanjaro Safaris a few of times. The cost was always in the back of my mind, if it had been 1/2 the price I would say ABSOLUTELY do it. But again, if $200 isn't a stretch for you like it was for us then you will most likely LOVE this tour.

Friday was our last day and I had been trying all week to decide what park to do that day (we didn't have park hoppers so we had to choose). I wanted to do Magic Kingdom again (my favorite) but I also wanted to do Hollywood (my least favorite, although a least favorite Disney park is still Disney and still much loved!!) for the Villains dance party for Fri the 13th. I opted for MK and we had another relaxed and magical day. We strolled around Tom Sawyer Island, rode the train and the people mover, my DH stomped me at Buzz Lightyear's SRS. We shared an ice-cream cookie sandwich and shopped our way down Main Street (again!!)

We ended the day with one final trip for shopping and dinner at DTD (btw, best meal on the quick dine plan: anything at Wolfgang Puck Express)

On our drive back to the POP we got stuck in some pretty nightmarish traffic. When we finally reached our resort we asked the parking attendant what the traffic was all about and he said the Hollywood had reached capacity and they were turning people away. I was glad I'd opted for the relaxation of MK for our final day.

We had a great trip and now we're home enjoying our kids and planning our next trip to Disney: WDW Marathon Jan, 2015