No Kids, No Waiting, Lots of Fastpasses - Dec 2010 TR - Complete!

[MNTwinsMom]

This is my first TR, so please leave feedback if you have suggestions or questions!

First, the basics:

Who: DH and me.

We have 8-year-old twin boys, who we left at home this trip. DH and I have visited WDW together 4 times since 1997 and I visited several times before that including 3 months as a cast member on the College Program in 1993.

What/Where: 5 days in Walt Disney World. Staying at All Star Movies with “free dining” QSDP and Base 5-day Magic Your Way park passes.

When: Originally scheduled for December 12-16, 2010. However, due to a snowstorm that dumped a foot of snow on us on December 11 and caused cancelled flights, we changed our dates to December 13-18 and actually came out ahead with one more night

Why? Belated Anniversary trip and to redeem GAD vouchers.

A little background . . .
We took our first family trip to WDW in December 2009 and had a GREAT time. My parents came with us and we stayed in a Ft. Wilderness Cabin. Although I have been a Disney fan for a long time, I wanted to wait until my kids were old enough to remember and appreciate the experience. This trip confirmed that I had made the right decision. They were old enough to walk around all day without complaining and tall enough to experience all of the attractions. They were well-behaved and so appreciative of everything. It was truly a week full of memories for our family.

When free dining for Fall 2010 was announced I booked 4 days at Pop Century in December for DH and I. I was able to book 2 free airline tickets using frequent flyer miles and coordinate our dates with free dining. So, we were booked for December 12-16 for a total of $850. With free dining and Magical Express I was hoping to keep this trip as inexpensive as possible. Our one big splurge was going to be the Candlelight Processional Package on the 13th at Le Cellier.

Unfortunately, the blizzard caused our cancelled flights. So, on December 11 I spent about 3 hours on the phone with Delta and Disney re-booking our trip. Thanks to 2 amazing Cast Members we were able to re-book at All Star Movies in a preferred room and add the additional night for an extra $200 total. I had to cancel our Candlelight Processional Package because we would not arrive in time for our reservations. So the money we saved by not doing the CP package was pretty close to what we spent for the extra night. I was disappointed to miss out on dinner at Le Cellier, but happy we were able to re-book and work out our flights.

OK, enough background. On with the trip!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Because of the snowfall over the weekend, it took us much longer than it should have to get to the airport on Monday morning, so we ended up rushing through the airport. Luckily, we only had carry-on luggage so we proceeded right to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare! Whew! Stressful way to start our trip. Thankfully that was the most stressful thing that happened for the next 5 days!

We arrived at the airport and walked right up to the Magical Express desk. We needed new vouchers since ours were for the originally scheduled flights. Our bus came quickly and we were on the road within an hour of when our flight arrived. After stops at Coronado Springs, All Star Sports and All Star Music, we finally arrived and checked-in at All Star Movies.

Check-in went pretty quick and we were on our way to our room in the 101 Dalmatians section.

I had requested a quiet room and was happy to see we received a corner room on the 2nd floor. The room was small. It was fine for the 2 of us since we were basically only there to sleep and shower, but it would have been tight if we’d brought the boys. We found the resort to be clean and quiet. The only times it seemed crowded was at the food court in the mornings.

We settled into our room and had our first “free” dinner at the Food Court. Cost would have been $32 if we did not have the meal plan. I had the chicken dinner and DH had a pork dinner. Both were okay. This ended up being the only meal, other than breakfasts, that we ate at our resort.

By 4:45 we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We wanted to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade, Wishes and stay for Extra Magic Hours. Because Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is several nights of the week, this was our chance to catch the evening activities.

We stopped for a picture at the Train Station:

The crowds were light and we were able to get in a lot in a short amount of time. First stop was Tomorrowland. Space Mountain was down and they weren’t giving out fast passes, so we grabbed Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear and walked in to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It was funny as always. I love this attraction and feel it's one of the most underrated at WDW.

We walked onto The Haunted Mansion, then watched the Castle Lighting show in front of the castle. I love Disney at Christmas and my favorite part are the Castle Dream Lights. I’d never seen the show before so this was on my list of things to do on this trip.

Next we had to decide where we wanted to view the parade. People were already lined up along Main Street and in the hub, so we walked along the route toward Frontierland. We decided we didn’t want to sit and wait and would just take our chances on getting a spot. So we headed over to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean then back to Frontierland and got a great spot on the porch of the Trading Post to watch the parade. We had a great view and I enjoyed the parade, which I’d never seen before.

Since it was around 7:40pm by the time the parade was over, we decided we better find a spot to watch the fireworks. We ended up in front of the Crystal Palace. I’d never watched from this side before. We usually stand on the bridge to Tomorrowland. Although the Crystal Palace location is more straight-on with the castle, it was so bright and loud that I wouldn’t recommend it. They don’t dim the lights right there, so it just wasn’t quite as magical. Sorry, no pictures of the fireworks. They didn't turn out well at all. Something I need to work on before next trip!

After the fireworks we headed back to Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mountain twice with no wait. Next we headed to Fantasyland to see if waits were minimal since we figured many families would leave after the fireworks.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, we don’t like to wait in lines! There was still a 15 minute wait for Peter Pan, so we walked into Mickey’s Philharmagic instead. I love this show and seem to find something new in it each time.

After the show we took some more pics by the castle now that the Dream Lights were on.

Then we headed to Main Street for a snack at the Bakery. It was quite cold that night, so the warm cinnamon rolls looked especially inviting. We used 3 snack credits to get a cinnamon roll, a Diet Coke and a coffee ($8.49 if not on meal plan).

Next we went back to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin 2 times in a row. We walked right on and did not even need the fastpasses we had in our pockets. I beat DH both times, which set the stage for the competition later in our trip on Toy Story Mania and on Buzz on our next trip to MK. Then we rode Space Mountain. Once for me. 3 times back-to-back from DH. It was after 10pm now so we were required to show our Keys to the World at each attraction since it was EMH.

Our last stops for the night were in Fantasyland. On our family trip in 2009 we never made it to Peter Pan, so that was another thing on my to do list. We waited about 5 minutes for this ride, which DH said he had never ridden before! Next we went on Winnie the Pooh which neither of us had ever ridden. Fantasyland was very quiet at this time of night. You could walk right onto everything including Dumbo and Peter Pan which nearly always have long waits! As we were walking behind Dumbo along the construction fence DH noticed a painted Mickey on the ground.

It was one of the drawings that the custodians draw with water. It was so cool to discover this on our own. There was no one else around.

We were tired at this point since we’d been up since 5:30am (4:30 Eastern time!) . Since we had another MK day scheduled later in the week we headed back to the resort after a few more Main Street Decorations pictures:

Up Next: Day 2 at Disney Hollywood Studios - Toy Story Mania 5 Times in one Day!!!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

I can't wait to see how your trip goes! I wish I could convince DH to go on a couples trip!

Where was the blizzard?

 

[oOJulieOo]

Joining In!

Your castle photos are WONDERFUL!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

I can't wait to see how your trip goes! I wish I could convince DH to go on a couples trip!

Where was the blizzard?

Thanks so much for reading along! Since this is my first TR I wasn't sure anyone would even click on it!

We enjoyed this trip just as much as last year with our kids! We wanted to do an Anniversary trip on a budget and it was either Las Vegas or WDW. Wasn't a tough decision for me or DH since we've been Disney fans for awhile. DH loves rides and I love all things Disney. I especially enjoyed being able to look at all the details on this trip - things I would fly by if our kids were along.

The blizzard was in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It hit Friday evening so we thought we'd be okay for Sunday morning flights, but the airport was completely closed through Saturday night and they cancelled some Sunday flights, including ours!

Joining In!

Your castle photos are WONDERFUL!

Thanks for joining in and for the compliments on the castle photos. It is my favorite site in all of WDW! DH did a great job of photographing the castle on this trip.

 

[MNTwinsMom]

We grabbed some breakfast from the food court using 1 CS credit ($11.50 if not on meal plan). I’m not a big breakfast person, so we easily split a meal. We could get an entrée, croissant and juice for one credit. DH had a breakfast croissant sandwich and orange juice and I had a yummy chocolate croissant and Diet Coke in my refillable mug.

We arrived at DHS around 10am and proceeded to the Will Call booth to redeem one of our Give A Day Get A Day vouchers for a Fastpass card. This took only a couple minutes. Here’s the HUGE, beautiful tree outside the Studios:

I know there is much debate about the amount and quality of decorations at WDW, and it may be less then in previous years, but I still think they do an awesome job of decorating the parks and resorts for the holidays. The details they put into the decorating are unmatched in my opinion. They’re not just throwing up trees and wreathes. – every decoration is themed for its location.

First thing we did was head to Tower of Terror and pick-up some fastpasses using our regular park pass. Our fastpass strategy for the day was to use our GAD fastpasses on Toy Story Mania only, which meant we could ride it 3 times and use our park pass to get Tower of Terror fastpasses. I don’t ride Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, so DH uses single rider line and doesn’t need fastpasses for that attraction. The wait time for Tower of Terror was 40 minutes, which we soon realized was because RNR was down.

So we headed to Toy Story Mania for our first ride of the day. It is so great to walk up to the fastpass machine and put in the magic card. The machine spits out a fastpass that works right away, so you can just walk right on to the attraction. DH beat me this time and every other ride on TSM. He can pull that string really fast! We both love this attraction and being able to ride it 5 times in one day was a highlight of the trip (more on that later).

One of the things I wanted to do that we missed on our last trip was to meet Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. We walked to their area on Streets of America and there was one family having their picture taken as we walked up. They left and we were the only ones there! I cannot stress enough how AWESOME it is to not have to wait! Without the kids I would not stand in line for characters, but who can pass them up when there is not waiting - I feel sorry for them standing there with no one to entertain!

So we took a few pics then headed to Muppetvision 3D. This is another classic favorite of mine. I know it hasn’t changed since the studios opened, but I still enjoy it with every viewing.

Before lunch we did some shopping. We had a 20% off coupon good until Noon and wanted to pick-up some stuff for our kids – it’s the least we could do when we came to Disney World without them, right? We bought them each a pin and a Disney Star Wars action figure. Both of our boys started pin collections on our last trip and they received a couple other Disney Star Wars action figures for Christmas last year. DH also bought a keychain. We had the bag sent to the front of the park for package-pick-up at the end of the night.

At this point we were getting hungry, so we split a hamburger at Back Lot Express using 1 CS credit ($11.50 if not on meal plan). Not a great meal, but it gave us fuel for the afternoon.

Next we went to the Great Movie Ride. We did not do this on our last trip because I didn’t think my kids would enjoy it much. However, it was one of my favorites when I was a CM, so it’s a sentimental favorite for me and I enjoyed the ride.

Somewhere along the way we had picked up another set of fastpasses for Tower of Terror, so next we rode TOT 2 times in a row. I don’t know if they kept the Summer Nightastic TOT sequence changes or not, but it felt different to me this time and very fun! Sorry, no pics of TOT - I didn’t take any because they had scaffolding all around it.

After TOT we decided to use another TSM fastpass. By this time all of the fastpasses had been distributed for the day so it was especially fun to walk up and have the CM get us fastpasses. At least 10 people walked up and said “Are there more fastpasses?” and several people lined up behind us! So we got our fastpasses and went right on to the attraction.
As we were loading into the ride vehicle a cast member asked us if we were traveling alone. We said yes and he said just the 2 of you? And we said yes. He said “maybe you can use these?” and passed us a stack of fastpasses. He said he’d hate to see them go to waste and told us there were some for TSM, TOT and RNR. DH discretely put them in his pocket as we thanked him several times without being too obvious about it. So after riding TSM again we checked out the stack of fastpasses the CM had given us. There were 4 each for TSM, TOT and RNR. SCORE!!

DH wanted to ride RNR, so we split up for awhile and agreed to meet at the Animation Building around 3:30pm.

I checked out One Man’s Dream – another first for me. I enjoyed the exhibit, especially the “Florida Project Room”.

Original plans for EPCOT - not exactly a themepark!

At the end of the exhibit they had a case with pics of the Fantasyland expansion plans which was interesting. I enjoyed the short film on the life of Walt as well. It finished just in time for me to meet up with DH.
It was approx 3:40 now and I wanted to try for the 4pm Animation Class so we went to the Animation Building. The gatekeeper outside the Animation Class asked how many people we had and when we said 2 he said come on in and told the people behind us that the class was full. Whew! Just made it! As we waited for the class to start people started lining up for the 4:30pm class. This was a first for both DH and I. I had read about the Animation Class on the DIS Boards and wanted to try it. Promptly at 4pm they let us into the class.

We drew Winnie the Pooh.

The class lasted about 20 minutes and we both enjoyed it. The instructor did a great job of breaking down the steps and walking you through the process of drawing a character. On the next trip with our kids we will definitely do it again. I think they would love it.

Continued in next post

 

[MNTwinsMom]

We went to the Candy Store to grab a snack. We shared a giant chocolate chip cookie and a Diet Coke using 2 snack credits ($6.82) then returned to the Animation Building to check out the 4:50pm character jackpot I had read about on the DIS.

If you haven’t heard about it before, here’s the deal. From 5-6pm on non-Fantasmic nights they bring out a bunch of “random” characters in the animation building. Usually 2 sets for ½ hour each. We arrived around 4:45pm and at 4:50pm on the dot a bunch of characters came out the door next to the Lotso set. (Lotso, Sorcerer Mickey and the Incredibles were also in their regular spots at this time) The first set was Aladdin and Jasmine:

Aladdin and Jasmine asked us where we were from. When we said Minnesota, Aladdin said to Jasmine “that’s where they have the white sand that falls from the sky when it’s cold.” I haven’t met a lot of the “face characters” so this was fun to actually be able to talk.

Pocahontas and Meeko:

Pocahontas was beautiful and charming! She took time with everyone. She asked our names and when DH said Jon, her face lit up and she said “we know a John, John Smith!” She asked what village were from and when we said Minnesota she said “that’s a very long canoe journey, you must have very strong arm muscles!”

Minnie

Belle

Gepetto and I think I saw Mulan come out but I didn’t see where she was standing?

I saw the characters I wanted within about 10 minutes and didn’t want to hang around waiting for the next set, so we rode Toy Story Mania again.

How awesome to be able to walk right up and be in-and-out of that ride in 15 minutes! DH headed to RNR again and I went back to catch the 2nd set of characters at the Animation Building. First was Goofy:

Mary Poppins:

Rafiki

Captain Hook & Smee, and the queen from Alice in Wonderland.

I’m not a character hunter and rarely stand in lines for them, but this was just too good an opportunity to pass up. I never waited for more than 2 groups ahead of us for any of these characters. Best kept secret in the park if you ask me! In one hour I saw all these characters and rode TSM – doesn’t get much better than that!

I met up with DH and we rode TOT 3 more times, he rode RNR at least 2 more times and we rode Toy Story Mania until our shoulders were sore from pulling the rope! 5 times total for the day! At this point we walked toward the Streets of America to check out the Osborne lights.

We leisurely strolled through the area and watched the lights dance for one set, then worked our way out of the park. It was nearly 8pm, closing time.

We picked-up our package from earlier in the day and headed for the exit.
Our plan for the evening was to visit the Polynesian, so we took that bus directly from DHS. We arrived in time to get dinner at Captain Cook’s before watching Christmas Wishes from the beach. On our last trip we figured out that the Deluxe resorts have better counter service restaurants than in the parks. Our meal on this night was very good – far superior to our meal in the Value Food Court. The difference is all the food is made-to-order at the Deluxes as opposed to buffet-style warmers at the Food Court. We used 2 CS credits ($26.67) to get a chicken ceaser salad and a flatbread pizza. The best part about Captain Cook’s is you can get Dole Whip as your dessert! I am lactose intolerant, so Dole Whip is as close to ice cream as I get so this is extremely exciting to me - even when it is 30 degrees outside Dole Whip tastes sooo good!

We finished dinner just in time to get to the beach for the 9:30pm fireworks at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. It was cold that night, so there were not many people watching from the beach. We grabbed some towels from the pool to cover up with and cuddled-up in a lounge chair for the show. The Poly beach is a great location to watch the fireworks. We watched last year from the Contemporary, but this is much better.

After the fireworks we took the monorail to MK then a bus back to the resort. There were lots of sleepy and crabby kids on the bus coming back from MVMCP. One dad holding a sleeping kid commented that this was a great way to blow $50! He said his son had slept through the whole party.

So, in summary . . . an INCREDIBLE day. Relaxing and yet full of fun!

 

[princess_reject]

Hi! Great report so far! I also live in the MSP area and got to experience that epic storm. Luckily it didn't mess up any plans I had! It looks like you had lots of fun with your DH. I would love to convince my boyfriend to go on a trip to WDW, but I'm not sure if it is in the cards for us.

Keep up the good work on the report!

 

[LisaKeys]

I'm on board! Loving your TR so far.. and thankful for new tips I've never seen. (The character interaction at DH, CS choice picks, etc)

I am becoming slightly concerned for our flight out on Monday, since the coming week shows snow! snow! snow! I am glad that everything worked out better for you in the end after your flight cancellation.

Looking forward to future posts.

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Hi! Great report so far! I also live in the MSP area and got to experience that epic storm. Luckily it didn't mess up any plans I had! It looks like you had lots of fun with your DH. I would love to convince my boyfriend to go on a trip to WDW, but I'm not sure if it is in the cards for us.

Keep up the good work on the report!

Thanks and welcome! I'll definitely always remember the 2010 blizzard since it impacted a Disney vacation! I'm so thankful we were able to switch everything around and still have a great trip. Keep working on your boyfriend . . . WDW can be such a great "grown-ups" trip!

I'm on board! Loving your TR so far.. and thankful for new tips I've never seen. (The character interaction at DH, CS choice picks, etc)

I am becoming slightly concerned for our flight out on Monday, since the coming week shows snow! snow! snow! I am glad that everything worked out better for you in the end after your flight cancellation.

Looking forward to future posts.

Thanks for joining in. Hope the weather doesn't impact your travel plans and that the Sunshine State provides a great break from the snow. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Wednesday, December 15 - Epcot

After a quick breakfast at the resort of croissants (2 snack credits), a banana (paid OOP $1.29 for a banana) and beverages from our refillable mugs, we caught the bus to Epcot.

I should mention at some point that we had AWESOME bus service our entire trip. I had read horror stories about the busses at the values and we did not have any issues. At least 50% of the time there was a bus waiting or pulling up as we walked up. The longest wait we had all week was 20 minutes for a DTD bus. We only shared with the other All Stars resorts twice – DTD and home from Epcot.

Today was the last day GAD vouchers could be redeemed for the year, so we turned in our second voucher for another magic fastpass card. Our plan today was to get Test Track fastpasses using our regular passes and use the GAD fastpass for Soarin.

On the way in we saw Daisy and Stitch. More characters with NO WAITING, so we stopped for pictures.

Also had this photopass picture taken.

Due to the cold the topiaries in the front of the park were covered with tarps, so we did not get to see the Christmas topiaries at Epcot.

We went to Test Track first and it was a 5 minute wait. We picked-up fastpasses to use later in the day and boarded my favorite attraction at Epcot.

After our ride around the track DH went on Mission:Space (another one I can’t do) and I went to Innoventions to see how long the wait would be for Sum of All Thrills. The wait was only 15 minutes.

I flew through Mousegears and found 2010 ornaments marked down to $4.99. I had a 20% off merchandise coupon that was good until Noon, so I bought 2 ornaments, one for me and one for my Mom. We both collect dated Disney ornaments – try to get one every year. Before I was done with my purchase DH called and said he was done with Mission: Space.

We met at Innoventions and got in line for Sum of All Thrills.

DH loves roller coasters and thrill rides, so I wanted him to try this. I was able to stay with him through the instructions and designing of the ride. When he went up to get into the simulator I went outside the area and watched. He was all over the place in that simulator. DH said he enjoyed it but it wasn’t as intense as he expected. Since he did the jet option it was over pretty fast. If he did it again he would choose the roller coaster because you would get a longer ride.

Next we went to the Seas with Nemo. Something I’d never noticed before was in the queue right before you board the Clammobile the boat that captures Nemo is above you. One of my favorite lines from that movie is when Nemo goes up and touches the boat with his fin and his classmate says “He touched the butt”. Makes me laugh everytime I think about it!

After the ride in the Clammobiles we explored the aquariums, another thing we did not do on our last trip. We didn’t spend much time at Epcot on our last trip and I regret not exploring this area with our boys. But as you all know, you can’t do everything!

Finally, we were headed toward the Land pavilion. We were eligible for another fastpass so picked up Soarin fastpasses for later in the day before having lunch at Sunshine Seasons. We shared a chicken dinner and key lime pie dessert using 1 CS credit ($17). We rode Living with the Land then used our first GAD fastpass of the day to ride Soarin.

In 2009 we road Soarin for the first time. We waited almost an hour for it because we'd arrived at Epcot later in the day (my touring plan mistake) and honestly didn't quite understand what all the hype was about. While we enjoyed it we didn't "get" why everyone loved it so much. On this trip we ended up riding Soarin 4 times and I have to say that now I get it. I loved it! I think last time I was so worried about making everyone wait for it that I couldn't relax and enjoy it.

Cont'd in next post

 

[MNTwinsMom]

At this point we decided to finish up Future World then head to World Showcase.

So we rode Test Track again using fastpasses from earlier in the day and walked on to Spaceship Earth.

At the exit from Spaceship Earth we sent our postcard from the future to my Mom so our kids would see it. When we talked to them later that day they were SUPER EXCITED about that and asked us a bunch of questions about it. I had also pre-registered our Photopass card so our kids could see those pictures everyday and know what we were doing. It was a nice way to have them follow along with our trip.

We walked by the Character Connection hoping to find Chip and Dale (one of our son’s favorite characters is Chip so we were hoping for a picture). We found them outside but they had a long wait so we kept walking toward World Showcase.

We bought some popcorn and pop using 2 snack credits ($5.75) and explored Canada a bit, which honestly looks like home to us since we’re from Minnesota.

We checked out the new random character training spot by the Millenium Village and found 2 of the Country Bears available with just a few people around, but neither of us was interested in a pic with them, so we kept walking.

We toured the countries stopping to look at the train exhibit and new Carmel shop in Germany which smells so good and had a long line of people waiting to puchase some of the treats. I had forgotten my earrings at home and couldn’t find any Mickey earrings I liked, so I bought some pretty sterling silver earrings for $15 in the Italy pavilion.

A couple random shots from our trip around World Showcase:

DH bought a beer near German and we arrived in China just in time for the acrobats show which we both enjoyed. We traveled to China a couple years ago and went to an acrobats show, so it was fun to remember that trip as we watched these amazing athletes perform their routine.

We used our GAD FP to avoid the big 10 minute wait at Maelstrom in Norwary. DH had never done this ride either. We avoided the movie at the end and went to the new Mexico restaurant for a snack. We used 1 CS credit for a taco meal which came with yummy tortilla chips and churros for dessert ($18.54). The tacos were very good. This was 2nd only to Flame Tree BBQ for a CS meal in the parks on this trip. The portions aren't huge, but it gave us fuel for the next couple hours.

As I said earlier, we had to cancel our Candlelight Processional Dinner Package due to our date changes, but I was still hoping to catch a performance. We finished our snack around 5pm and went back to the American Adventure to see if we could get a spot to stand at the back of the theater. When we first arrived there were people in front of us, but many of them left after a couple songs and we were able to move toward the front of the crowd. Although I’m sure the show is better from the seats up-front, we were able to hear everything and enjoy the show from here. When we walked by earlier people were in the stand-by line over 1.5 hours before the show! I wasn’t willing to give up that much touring time to stand still, so this worked for us. Stephen Curtis Chapman was the narrator and he is one of my favorite singers, so I enjoyed hearing his narration and the choir sounded wonderful.

After the Candlelight Processional we went back to Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta. I had not ridden this since they changed it and added Donald and DH did not think he’d ever ridden it, so another first for this trip.

After that we went and rode Test Track again, DH rode Mission: Space again and we rode Soarin 3 more times using our fastpasses.

Just like TSM the day before it was so great to have the GAD fastpasses to use on Soarin!

At this point it was about 8:30pm and we had to decide if we were going to wait for Illuminations. As painful as I know this will be for many of you to read, we left the park before Illuminations. We went back to the resort quick, then caught the bus to DTD.

We had a late dinner at Earl of Sandwich using 2 CS credits ($20.50). This was a really good CS meal! I'm guessing this is a popular restaurant, because we could hardly find a table at 10:00pm! We did some really quick shopping because the stores were closing at 11pm. We bought a mug, 2 “Art of Disney” postcards that I am going to frame and some wooden cooking utensils for my Mom at World of Disney. This ended up being our only visit to DTD on this trip, so I’m glad we got in a little shopping before the stores closed. Once again, a late night as we returned to our resort. Like I said earlier, we basically only slept at the resort!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Great updates! Such skillful touring!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

I'm not sure this makes sense right in the middle of the report, but I thought I'd share my thoughts about the resort. We were originally booked at Pop Century, which I had selected because of what I'd read on the boards and because a friend stayed there and had a great experience. I was looking forward to the re-habed rooms and having dedicated bus service.

With all that said, when we had the weather delays and had to change our dates I was thankful we could get into any of the Values and decided I couldn't be picky. When I first called they said they couldn't get me into a Value, so I would have been looking at a large increase in the cost of the package. So, although I'd done lots of research on Pop Century, I knew almost nothing about All Star Movies.

Overall I thought the resort was good. The rooms could use a freshening up and the "theme" inside isn't much - a wallpaper boarder, light fixtures and bedspreads themed to your particular resort and All-star carpeting that I would assume is the same at the other resorts. One unique touch I liked was the tile in the shower was in the pattern of a strip of film.

As I said earlier, we didn't spend a lot of time at the resort. It was too cold to use the pools except on the last day. One funny story about that. One of the cold nights when we were returning from a park my husband wanted to feel the water and see how warm it felt. We went over to the Mighty Ducks pool and Jon put his hand in and said it was very cold, which neither of us expected. As we were talking the lifeguard came over and said the heater in the pool had broken. He said he was very bored since obviously no one was swimming in this pool. But he said he had to be there, because if someone did jump in they would probably have a heart attack and he would need to save them.

Here are some shots from around the resort. We were staying in the Dalmations section:

Right behind the main building was the Fantasia section and pool:

Can you see DH holding up the hat? Gives you some idea of just how HUGE these icons are. One of my sons really likes Sorcerer Mickey, so we had to take this pic for him.

Behind Fantasia is the Herbie the Love Bug Section:

Next we explored my favorite section - Toy Story!

I wish I had DH stand in the doorway to Andy's Room - it was so HUGE! Actually I guess it's real size - it's the people that have been shrunk to the size of toys.

And on the other side of the door:

I LOVE the army guys on top of the buildings

Do you see me standing by Buzz - again, he is HUGE. If you have a Toy Story fan in your family this would be an awesome place to stay.

Sorry, we didn't take any pictures of the Mighty Ducks section or the main building. There is an arcade, the front desk area and the food court in the main building. Right outside it, next to the pool was a small bar that was open into the evenings. The food court was open until Midnight, which was nice because we could grab a refill in our mugs when we returned from the resorts at night.

All-in-all we enjoyed the All Star Movies and feel it is a great value for what we paid. If you have any questions about the resort I'd be happy to answer them.

 

[MNTwinsMom]

The weather was noticeably warmer this morning and we didn’t need quite as many layers – just long sleeves and jeans today. It was funny to watch people walking around all day with their winter coats even though it was finally warmer. I guess people got used to bundling up during the cold snap. Although Disney probably didn’t sell much ice cream and water during the cold snap, I’m sure they made up for it selling hats, gloves, jackets and hot cocoa!

We slept in this morning and didn’t arrive at AK until 11:15am. The Animal Kingdom Tree is my favorite tree at the parks, so we had to stop for some pics by the tree on the way in.

We headed to Expedition Everest, picked-up fastpasses and DH rode it twice with minimal waiting in the single rider line. I wandered around the area then headed over to Dinoland where we’d agreed to meet to ride Dinosaur, taking pictures along the way.

I also made a quick stop back at the Island Mercantile to pick-up a few more pins using another 20% coupon. I bought each of the kids a single pin plus a 2 pack of Disney Star Wars Mystery Pins to give them for Christmas.
I met DH by the Pluto and Goofy greeting area in Dinoland and we rode Dinosaur.

I didn’t ride Dinosaur on our last visit, so was looking forward to experiencing it again. Actually, I might not have ridden it since it was called "Countdown to Extinction" and I had forgotten a lot of the story, so enjoyed it one time, but that was enough for me.

After Dinosaur we had lunch at our favorite counter-service restaurant, Flame Tree BBQ. We split a rib meal with chocolate mousse for dessert ($17) and paid out of pocket for an order of French fries. I love the food and the seating area at Flame Tree BBQ. It’s so beautiful and quiet down by the water. The sun was shining and it was warming up.

At this point we walked toward Africa to check on the wait for the safari. We saw Meeko, Flik and the Tarzan ape on the character trails.

There was only a 20 minute wait for the safari, but the fastpass return time was just over an hour, so we decided to get fastpasses instead and set-off to check off another thing on my to-do list – seeing DeVine.
I asked the CM at the Safari fastpass machines where and when we could find her. Although they don’t list DeVine’s appearances in the times guide they give to guests, the CM had a more in-depth schedule that did list her appearances and she was scheduled to appear in just a few minutes. So we had our pic taken with Meeko while we waited.

And took in the beautiful views by the water in this area:

Pretty soon a small crowd started staring toward the water and we spotted DeVine. Sorry I didn’t get a good picture because the sun was directly behind her, but if you’ve never seen her make sure to check it out next time you’re at AK.

We took the train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I had only done this one time before when AK first opened and it was called Conservation Station. We enjoyed seeing the animal enclosures on the train ride. I recently watched the Disney Parks DVD about AK and they showed the buildings and talked about the state-of-the-art facilities they have for the animals, so it was cool to see them.

Cont'd in next post . . .

 

[MNTwinsMom]

When we returned to Africa it was time to use our fastpasses for the safari. We had the best safari driver I’ve ever had. His name was Michael and he was informative, funny and stayed in character the whole time. He did an awesome job of pointing out the animals, passing along information about them and enhancing the “story” with dry humor. We had the front row on the safari truck and since we actually stopped a few times I was able to get the best pics I’ve ever gotten on the safari.

Next we headed to Asia to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek, which we had never done before. We used a snack credit to buy a frozen lemonade ($3.69) along the way which was yummy and refreshing. The tigers were pretty active, so we watched them for quite awhile then walked pretty quickly through the rest of the route.

Since we were so close to Expedition Everest DH decided to do it a couple more times, so we split up and agreed to meet at It’s Tough to be a Bug at 4pm.

I was planning to explore the trails around the Tree of Life, but as I approached I realized the parade had not passed by yet and there were loads of people around.

So, I headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey instead thinking maybe it would be quiet if everyone was lining up for the parade. Well, I was right! I walked right up to Donald:

And waited for one family ahead of me for Santa Goofy:

Mickey and Minnie had a few people in line, so I didn’t wait for them. I had heard that each of the characters has their own tree in Camp Minnie-Mickey, so I looked around and identified all of them.

DH called and said he was done at Everest but the parade was coming and it didn’t look like we could get across to the entrance of It’s Tough to be a Bug. So, he walked toward Camp Minnie-Mickey. When we met up he told me Lilo and Stitch were out with no line, so we grabbed a quick pic with them as well.

We saw the very end of the parade:

We had talked about trying to do the safari once more and seen a posting that the last safari would be at 4:30pm, so we hustled back to Africa and walked right on to our Safari vehicle. I wasn’t sure what to expect at this time of day, but it turned out to be a GREAT safari. The animals were very active because this is the time of day they are all moved to their pens for the night. We saw several animals up close that you usually only see way back by the fences. Even the Cheetahs and Lions were moving around. I’m so glad we decided to do the safari again and I’d recommend to anyone to try to do a late safari.

Since we had not yet seen It’s Tough to be a Bug we headed that way and waited about 10 minutes for the next show. This is a favorite of both DH and I and even though I’ve done it several times before, somehow I had forgotten about the surprises at the end so we both got a good laugh out of my screams!

It was now about 5:15 and the park closed at 6pm. We wanted to catch the last show of Festival of the Lion King at 5:45, so headed back to Camp Minnie Mickey. We tried to get a snack along the way, but most of the kiosks were closed up already. We did not see this show on our last trip either, so it was fun to experience it again. When the show was over we followed the masses out of the park.

We jumped on the bus to the Contemporary because our plan for the night was to eat at the Contempo Café then catch the monorail to the Grand Floridian to check out the gingerbread house and Christmas decorations. On our last trip when we stayed at Ft. Wilderness we ate at the CS restaurant at the Contemporary a couple times and thought the food was pretty good. We used 2 CS credits. ($29) DH had a hamburger and fries and I had the flatbread pizza. Everything was very good. We shared a delicious Caramel Dos Leches cupcake for dessert and got a giant cookie for our other dessert which we ate later back at the resort. You’ve got to try this cupcake if you have a chance. It’s huge, super moist and there is a molten caramel center.

We checked out the gingerbread Christmas tree and pressed penny machines at the Contemporary, then boarded the monorail for our trip to the Grand Floridian.

This is one of my favorite decorations in all of WDW - love the huge Mickey wreath on the Contemporary! The monorail was pretty full of guests leaving MK, but we fit on the first train.

At the GF we checked out the gingerbread house and beautiful Christmas tree.

There was an orchestra playing Christmas carols when we arrived and later a piano player. There were lots of people dressed up for dinner and it was a very festive, Christmasy atmosphere. We also visited the Basin store in the GF. I didn’t even know they had one there and I hadn’t made it the store at DTD, so we looked around there for awhile. They have a very fancy set-up where you can try out their body scrub by washing your hands with it. That stuff was amazing! I didn’t buy any because I didn’t want to haul it home, but did buy some lip scrub which is also amazing. I found out you could order online, so placed an order after returning home for the body scrub. I’m sure you can also have it shipped from the store, but I didn’t think of it that night.

We went back to MK and caught the bus back to All Star Movies. This was our earliest night back to the resort so we checked out the arcade to see about using the voucher that came with our package. We laughed hard when we realized our big 100 point voucher was worth a whopping $2! We played one game of Wheel of Fortune and gave away the tickets we won.

While DH worked on his laptop for awhile I sorted through the stack of papers, receipts, maps, etc. that we accumulated and threw away what we didn’t need in preparation for packing to go home. We only had our carry-ons and although we hadn’t bought a lot I needed to make room for our purchases.

Up Next . . . our last park day and it's finally warm!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

We woke on the 17th to the best weather of our entire trip. Finally a shorts and t-shirt day!

It was also our last day in the parks, so we headed to MK after a quick breakfast again from the food court using 1 CS credit. I filled up both of our refillable mugs and brought breakfast back to the room, but the machine I used must have been bad because the soda was terrible. I always have a Diet Coke to start my morning, but we had plenty of credits to use on our last day so I decided to just grab a soda when we arrived at MK. The refillable mugs are nice, but we didn’t ever want to carry them around all day, so it meant another trip back to the room if we used them on our way to or from the parks.

Ok, so on to MK.

First things first. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin had a posted 5 minute wait so we grabbed fastpasses to use later and rode it 3 times in a row. DH was getting higher scores and figuring out some targets that earned him lots of points. We picked-up fastpasses for Space Mountain before leaving Tomorrowland.

For those of you who are wondering why we are picking up fastpasses for attractions with minimal waits, here’s our strategy. We stockpile fastpasses in the morning and then use them later in the day when the waits are longer. Even though we are outside of our window of time the CMs always take them.

DH had never been to Tom Sawyer Island and I hadn’t been for a long time, so we took the raft ride across the river and explored the island. We didn’t find any paint brushes, but enjoyed looking around the island and the great views of other attractions.

Next we scored some fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and decided it was warm enough to brave Splash Mountain. This will always be my sentimental favorite attraction in all of WDW because when I was on the College Program I worked at Splashdown Photos, the gift shop at the Splash Mountain exit. I especially love riding with people who are experiencing it for the first time because they think every hill is the big one – I love the anticipation of the big drop! There were first-timers in the front row of the log and they got soaked!

DH took this cool shot by the fastpass machines for Big Thunder.

After Splash Mountain we rode Big Thunder Mountain then boarded the train for the ride to Main Street. There was a family behind us trying to figure out what to do. It sounded like they had just arrived and gotten on the train on Main Street. They were debating what to do first as they rode the train. By the time we arrived back at Main Street they decided they should do Splash Mountain so they stayed on the train. I hope they got off the train at some point that day! It amazes me how many people have no idea what they are doing at the parks.

We wanted to try Casey’s for lunch. Another first for us. We used 2 CS credits and both ordered the hot dog meal ($25). We found a table in the sunken seating area outside of the Plaza with a great view of the castle. The hot dogs were nothing special – comparable to ballpark hot dogs I guess.

We listened to another family try to decide what to do. The lady was very confused and kept trying to explain an attraction that I would call “Pirates of the Splash Thunder Mountain After All Cruise”. She knew just enough about the park to be dangerous and was confusing all the attractions. I hope they enjoyed their day!

After Casey’s we went to Adventureland and grabbed fastpasses for Jungle Cruise. The return time was about an hour away, so I suggested the Swiss Family Tree House and Big Thunder Mountain while we waited. I suggested the Tree House because I didn’t think DH had ever been on it. About half-way through our tour he says something about seeing it last year. I said I didn’t think he’d ever been on this and he reminded me he did it last year with one of our sons while I rode Haunted Mansion with the other one. I had an Ah-Ha moment as I realized neither of us wanted to be at this attraction.

Oh, well. It only took about 15 minutes start-to-finish and it is a classic! After our tour of the tree we rode Big Thunder Mountain again then returned to Jungle Cruise to use our fastpasses. We had an awesome skipper named Adam who made the cruise very fun. DH had never done this attraction either and we both really enjoyed it. Our favorite joke was “if you think this is boring you obviously haven’t been to Hall of Presidents yet” and then “or the Tree House – we call the Tree House a stairmaster on steroids”. It’s always great to come in contact with CMs who seem to thoroughly enjoy their job and Adam was a perfect example.

cont'd in next post

 

[MNTwinsMom]

After the Jungle Cruise I waited about 15 minutes for a Dole Whip at the Aloha Isle. It was actually getting warm out and the Dole Whip was refreshing and delicious as always.

DH decided a Mickey Bar would hit the spot, so we stopped at an ice cream cart on the way to Tomorrowland. 2 snack credits used. ($7)

We also stopped for a couple photopass pics on the bridge to Tomorrowland:

We saw Chip and Dale in Tomorrowland:

Since we were in the final hours of our park-time, we decided to hit as many attractions as possible. We went on Buzz Lightyear using fastpasses from earlier, Space Mountain and the People Mover. DH wanted to do Space Mountain again, so we agreed to meet at the Main Street Bakery. I wanted to look around Main Street and take a few more pictures before it got dark. I found some of the windows I was looking for:

And listened outside the voice lessons window to hear the singing that I’d read about – another of those fun little things most people miss out on.

I found a table right outside the bakery and sat down to wait for DH. The Dapper Dans came up as I sat down and started to sing Christmas songs. I’d seen them before but never stopped to listen. They put on a fun show. DH arrived during it and went in to the bakery to order. Since we had more CS credits then we were going to be able to use we ordered 2 pastries and a drink and used a CS credit. ($12) Not the best use of a credit, but better than going to waste.

It was about 5:00pm by the time we finished our snack and the park closed at 7pm because it was a Christmas Party night, so we didn’t rest for long!

We headed back to Big Thunder Mountain (yes, we do a lot of crossing the park, but we prefer that to standing in lines). We used 2 sets of fast passes to ride our favorite roller coaster. I like it better with every ride. We walked back through Liberty Square and went on Haunted Mansion again.

The park was getting busier as the guests for the Christmas Party arrived but there was only about a 5 minute wait for Haunted Mansion. After that we went back for a couple more turns on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

So, like I mentioned before DH had figured out a couple targets that give you bonus points so we’d been scoring in the 200,000 – 400,000 range our recent rides. Well on the last trip of the night the ride stopped briefly when I was at the perfect angle for one of the bonus targets. I guess I hit it several times because I watched my score go up by 100,000 with each hit. I showed DH, but he couldn’t get the same score. I must have been at just the right angle to hit the target. Anyway, I ended up maxing out the score in the second room of the attraction. My score was 999,999. So I spent the rest of the ride getting out my camera and taking a picture of my score and listening to DH say “How did you do that?”. It was an awesome way to end our day in the park.

It was nearly 7pm so we reluctantly left MK. We were planning to have dinner at the Polynesian again and decided to go back to the resort for a bit to change clothes since it was cooling down after the sun set. Also, we decided we wanted to watch Wishes from the beach again and that wasn’t until 9:30pm.

So we went back to All Star Movies and spent a little time in the room starting to pack-up. I realized we hadn’t been told what time we needed to be at the Magical Express bus in the morning so I called and found out we would be picked-up at 6:45am.

We headed back on the MK bus and took the boat from MK to the Polynesian. It was a relaxing ride and we saw the Water Pageant from a little ways away. We had dinner at Captain Cook’s again using 2 CS credits ($25) and I had my last Dole Whip of the trip for dessert. We enjoyed the Christmas Party fireworks from the beach again, this time it was warmer so there were quite a few more people watching.

We looked around the Poly gift shops and lobby a bit and finally traded the one pin I had been carrying around all week. We asked our kids before we left if they wanted us to trade any of their pins. Of course they didn’t want to give any up, so I only brought one that we had a double of from an ebay purchase. So we found a CM with a Chip pin and traded with her before boarding the monorail back to MK.

We just missed the All Star Movies bus from MK, so we hopped on the All Star Music bus that was waiting. We stopped quick at the Music gift shop and used our 5 remaining snack credits on Mickey chocolate bars and realized the Music bus stop was probably closer to our room than the Movies bus stop.

 

[MNTwinsMom]

The next morning we used our last CS credit to grab breakfast to go right at 6:30am when the Food Court opened.

We boarded ME at 6:45am and arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight. DH couldn’t pull up his reservation to check-in at a kiosk so we had to have a real person help us get boarding passes. She asked if we wanted better seats and put is in the first row of coach. So we had lots of leg room and were among the first people off the plane when we arrived home.

So, to summarize it was an AWESOME trip. We did almost everything on my to-do list and much more. The only things we didn’t see were PUSH the talking trash can in Tomorrowland and the flag retreat ceremony at MK. But that’s okay because there’s always next trip!

We wanted to keep this trip as inexpensive as possible because we’re planning to come back soon with our boys again. We did well with this goal: $15 out-of-pocket on food and about $150 on shopping but some of that was for Christmas presents. The QSDP worked great for us, much better than the regular dining plan on our last trip. We figured out on the last trip that we don’t enjoy taking time away from touring to sit-down and eat lots of food. The CS meals work better for us since we tend to snack more and eat more small meals. If we hadn’t had the “free dining” our food would have cost over $350, so I do feel we got a good deal with the free dining promotion.

Our opinion of the Value Resorts is that they’re fine if you just need a place to crash. The rooms are small and there would be no privacy for a family, but they are themed really well. We both said several times that All Star Movies would be the perfect place for a family with one or two small kids. Little kids would love the huge icons like Buzz, Woody and the Dalmatians. I love staying on property and would choose the Value Resorts over spending a similar amount to stay off-property.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I love it! Great report, lovely fotos! My fiance has never been to a Disney Park *and he's a chunnel ride away from Disneyland Paris! *He's lives in England ~ right on the SE coast. I look forward to taking him to his 1st Disney park *I hope he loves it or at least tolerates it enough to kind of enjoy it