NYE and 23 days of Disney

[Daddio]

To those of you who have been fortunate enough to attend an Owner's Locker get together, (which is held every Tuesday night in front of the France pavillion at Epcot), you all know that John does his due dillegence in snapping everyones picture and posts them on facebook. Well, this time, I beat him to the punch and grabbed one of him.

I can't say enough about John's service. Our storage boxes are delivered and picked up so many times a year that I find it hard to beleive that there has never been a mix up. Every trip, there they are, waiting for us at Bell Services. And within a few hours of our departure, I always get a text message assuring me that my lockers have been picked up and are back in the warehouse. Cudos to you and Brian (John's partner), John.

David

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hey, good to see a picture of John for a change! He's usually on the other side of the camera.

 

[Daddio]

We had a late start this morning as there was no rush to get anywhere. By noon we headed down to the Contempo Cafe for some grub.

After some grub, we needed some shopping fix so into Fantasia we went.

Fantasia didn't fulfill the shopping urge, so we headed out to the Premium Outlet on Vineland Road, however, we wern't 2 miles from the joint when we both decided that traffic was heavy enough to warrant a U-Turn back to the resort. We thought we'd do Magic Kingdom instead. But on the way back, we ran into this road sign. If you can't read it, Ive zoomed in on the image below.

Come on people. It's 1:30PM on December 29. We're not even close to New Year's Eve.

Being the troopers that we are, it now became our mission to get into the Magic Kingdom and experience first hand what full capacity was like. Here's our first stop. Buzz Lightyear. 75 minutes wait time.

Our second stop, The Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Look at that line. WOW.

I guess there's no point to trying Space Mountain is there? Nope. 150 minutes.

When all else fails, head to It's a Small World. Oh Oh. 70 minutes.

We decided to do a quick boat trip over to Wilderness Lodge and then catch the next Water Taxi back to Bay Lake Tower for an afternoon of rest. It's off to dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe tonight.

David

 

[bwvBound]

re: Magic Kingdom Closed

Our evening news last night reported that Disneyland had stopped allowing entrance for the second day in a row. Like MK -- this is mid-week (Mon/Tues) between the major holiday weekends. Business seems to be brisk for the Mouse!

Edited to add: A quick search on Google news claims that DL quit selling tickets both day at 10AM. I can't imagine how awful the park must have been with those crowds.

 

[Cyndibear]

Wow!! Never saw a line for TTA before. Oh, the crowds, yuck!!! I would of had to check that out too. Sounds like you are having a relaxing time though!

Cyndi

 

[DenLo]

I checked our WDW Wait times App a little while ago and there were 120+ minutes on most of the E ticket rides throughout the parks. Yikes!

Hope you get some fast passes. Thanks for the TR and photos.

 

[nolanboys]

Your room view is spectacular. At least if you can't get into MK on NYE, you can have a nice relaxing view from your room.

 

[ccigliano]

Did you take any pics over at the WL? It's only been two weeks for me and I really miss it. It will be March until I'm home again - unless I get lucky and my waitlist comes through in Jan as I am at SSR right now for a long weekend before a business trip. Enjoying your report.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

Wow Those are long lines! Guess that is what we have to look forward to next Christmas.

 

[Daddio]

Did you take any pics over at the WL? It's only been two weeks for me and I really miss it. It will be March until I'm home again - unless I get lucky and my waitlist comes through in Jan as I am at SSR right now for a long weekend before a business trip. Enjoying your report.

No, sorry I didn't. We just jumped from one water taxi onto the next and didn't get up to the resort. We may go back another day so I promise to get some if we do.

David

 

[vicki_c]

David - thanks so much for sharing your trip! Love your room view too!

We were there 2 years ago - I know we didn't do MK on the 29th though - because we went there on the 30th for the NYE preview fireworks. That was bad, but not TOO bad. If you avoided Main Street. But you can watch them from your room! Have fun!

 

[Daddio]

David - thanks so much for sharing your trip! Love your room view too!

We were there 2 years ago - I know we didn't do MK on the 29th though - because we went there on the 30th for the NYE preview fireworks. That was bad, but not TOO bad. If you avoided Main Street. But you can watch them from your room! Have fun!

You should watch the preview from the beach at the Poly. Just before they start, the Water Pagent floats park in front and then pipe the live audio when the show starts. The whole show is mirrored from the island so you get double wammied.

David

 

[Daddio]

Last night we were in the room when Holiday Wishes started. After the first few minutes, I grabbed my little camera and attempted to capture some video. The television in the room has the audio piped in so that is waht you hear in the background.


Click Here to View Video

It's short but enjoy.

David

 

[uncw89]

I'm joining in! Can't wait to see pics of the GV! I love the view you have now though! One day I want to stay at BLT!
Crazy day at the MK! Last week when I was there the waits were much shorter. NYE is fun though even if it is EXTREMELY crowded.
Have a great trip!

 

[a742246]

Please keep us updated, I will be in OKW in 4 weeks.

Hope you have good weather, and a great time!

 

[JaxDisneyFans]

Thanks so much for the video. Loved It.

 

[MinnieGi]

Awesome report! We just came back (29th) from a 8 day stay at BLT so its wonderful to see you pics - we loved our stay!! Jealous of your 23 day stay!!! Love the view from your studio too!! We had a LV room and loved seeing the sunrise every morning over "Discovery Island" and we were up every morning at sunrise so we could be at the parks before opening and get on all the rides without those HUGE lines!!

 

[theww228]

So, just for fun ... how many points is that 23-night visit? (Help us dream a bit??)

My rough calculations put it around 1300 points for the trip. If only you knew of somebody who you could rent that many pts from! Even better if they were last minute points for only $7/pt!

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

Can't wait to hear more. We just returned home from our 12/10-12/18 trip and I'm already missing it, especially knowing it will be July 2012 before we go back.

I'm curious about one thing David. If MK was closed how did you get in?

 

[Daddio]

I rented a car for 2 days only because the rates leading up to New Year's Eve were outrageous ($68.00 per day ++) and I had 2 free days coming so my total for this little beauty totaled $11.53 with taxes and fees. I love my Emerald Club.

Before returning the car, we went over to Downtown Disney for lunch and a quick walk around. I had the spaghetti and meatballs at Wolfgang Puck and DW had the Pennette Boulagnese (??)

We ran into Frosty and the Mrs.

I stopped to watch the Yellow Medicine East High School Jazz Choir from Granite Falls, Minnesota perform and then a very quick walk through the World of Disney.

Dropped my DW back at the resort and dropped the car at the Car Care Center. They shuttled me back to the resort and we relaxed for a bit.
We headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a 5:45 dinner at Liberty Tree. I hate to say this but it just isn't as good as it used to be. However, our server Sebastinn was excellent.

After dinner, we did a quick walk around the park. Every little snack cart and every space that can be used to serve food is open. The family dinner served at Liberty Tree is also being served at the Diamond Horseshoe.

David