Our Thanksgiving trip to Disney & Universal

[mysparky]

Cast:
Me (41)
DH (42)
DS (11)
DD (8)

This was our second trip to Disney. First time (Thanksgiving 2004) we stayed in a studio at the VWL, this time we stayed in a 1BR suite at BWV. We were all very excited for the trip and had a tough time getting to sleep the night before. We loved our time at Disney, but can't really say the same about Universal (more on that later).

Here we go:

Sat, 11/18 -
Got up at 5:00am, booked out of the house at 5:30, and caught a 7:20 direct flight to Orlando. Again, we so excited that none of us could sleep on the plane! We arrived about 10 mins early and went down to Magical Express. It was a very busy day at the airport and ME seemed pretty packed, but we ended up getting to our resort about 75 mins after we landed. Not bad considering that a) it was free, and b) we didn't have to worry about luggage.

Check in at BWV was very easy. They didn't have a room ready for us (it was only 11:45), but said they'd call us when the room became available. We stored our extra carryon's w/ the bell stand (I always carry on an extra set of clothes in case our luggage gets lost....been there too many times) and headed out to lunch.

We walked over to the ESPN Club for our first meal on DDP. We were seated right away (note - there was no line at that time, but around 2:00 the line was out the door). I had obsessively planned out all of our meals and had planned that we would use just 2 TS credits for this meal and just pay OOP for our beverages. The 2 apps, entrees and desserts were plenty. The chicken tenders in bbq sauce were great (can't remember their exact name) as were the nachos. For the entrees we had a pulled pork sandwich and a turkey sandwich. Again, both were very good. Dessert was a big ice cream sundae, and something else. We left very full and headed back to the Boardwalk for an afternoon of swimming.

The pool (Luna pool) was not at all crowded. DS and DD enjoyed the clown slide very much; however, I would have liked a few more "attractions" at the pool as after about 1 hour of repeatedly going down the slide it got a little boring (i.e. they wanted me in the pool to play games). My DS and I ended up walking over to the Beach Club to check out SAB. We knew that we wouldn't be able to swim (you need a bracelet), but I wanted to see what it was all about. It's a pretty amazing-looking place. I would love to stay here next time as there are so many areas to swim in and explore, however if my children were younger, I wouldn't want to stay here as I'd imagine it would be tough to keep track of them.

Anyway, left the pool around 4:00 to get into our room and sure enough, our luggage was there! It was nice. We also had a message that our groceries from Garden Grocer had arrived and to call the bell stand when we wanted them delivered. Took quick showers and headed to the Flying Fish. ADR's were for 5:35. We arrived at 5:30 and were seated right away. We LOVED this restaurant. My DH is really the fish lover of the group, but we were all able to find something we loved. Service was terrific. The only thing I'd do differently next time? We should have eaten somewhere a little less "formal" (i.e. Spoodles) as we were tired and the kids didn't appreciate the slower pace. In other words, dinner took about 1 3/4 hours and while none of us would normally have any issue with this, we would have been better off eating somewhere with a faster pace that could have had us out in 60-75 mins. Again, we shared our dinners - DH and I each ordered something (calamari and apple/cheese/pecan salad for apps, salmon and red snapper for entrees) and my DD ordered from the child's menu. DS split DH's appetizer and ate 1/2 of my entree (red snapper specialty).

After dinner we rented a surrey for 30 mins and it was great fun. We went around the boardwalk "loop" 2 times, decided we were definitely beat and headed back to our room by 8:30. Did some unpacking, got our food delivery from bell services, and got the kids in bed by 9:15. All of us were asleep by 9:45!

We had a great first day and were very excited for our morning trip to AK.

 

[mysparky]

My kids were waken up at 7:30 by a singing wakeup call. The day before had been a long one (early AM flight) so we were moving slowly. We ate breakfast in our room (from the groceries from Garden Grocer) and had planned to be out of our room by 8:15 so that we could catch the bus and arrive at AK just at opening, but we were just too pokey.

We got down to the bus stop at 8:45 and caught a bus around 8:55. We arrived at AK around 9:15 and I was worried that the lines for EE (the ride my DS was so excited to try) would be too long. DS and I split from DH and DD, who wanted nothing to do w/ EE. They went to KS and DS and I went to EE. I had wanted to go to KS, but since I had done it before and I really wanted to try EE, we decided to take this approach. Turns out that we could have done it all. DS and I got to EE at 9:30 and the wait was 10 mins! We went on the ride - we loved it - and he begged me to go again. We got right back in line, waited about 15 mins this time, and went again. Two times was enough for me! DD and DH had a GREAT time on the KS and reported that they saw tons and tons of animals (note - it was a pretty cool morning so I think that must of helped). They also explored one of the trails (can't remember which one). We had agreed to hook up at "It's Tough to be a Bug" and on the way over, DD and DH stopped for popcorn. They were given a free popcorn in a souvenir bucket - our first YOAMD experience and a very nice surprise since I hadn't told anyone about the event (I didn't want anyone to have expectations).

We waited about 15 mins to get into "It's Tough to be a Bug" show and afterwards, decided we were ready for lunch (it was only 11:15 but we were ready as we had only had cereal and fruit 4 hrs earlier). We went to Pizzafari and we all ordered lunch (I had read on earlier posts that portions were not huge, so I knew we'd each have to order). Knowing that my DD would be upset that they didn't have pizza on the kid's menu, we agreed to share some of our meal with her. DD ordered quesadillas, DS had pizza (it really is a small personal sized pizza and really only is ok), I had the chicken parm sandwich (quite large and very good), DH had a chicken caesar salad (also very good). For dessert we ordered 2 chocolate cakes, and 2 frozen lemonades (which we saved for later). We left satisfied, but not overstuffed.

Our next stop was Dinoland and we wanted to check out the new Nemo musical. On our walk over, we ran into a "human tree". I had read about these somewhere, but I was amazed at just how talented this individual was. We watched for about 10 mins and then continued to Dinoland. The line for the Nemo musical was so jam packed, that we decided to try a later show. The park was becoming noticeably crowded at this point (12:15) and lines in Dinoland were definitely around the 30 min mark. Went on a few rides and then headed over to the Dinosaur attraction. The line was 50 mins so we decided to get a FP for later. While we were waiting, we watched a GREAT trampoline act. We found a shady spot (there aren't many in that area!) and ate our partially defrosted lemonade - it was about 2:15 at the time and it really hit the spot!

We used our FP's to get onto the Dinosaur ride and my DD was pretty scared. She had been on it 2 years ago and knew what to expect, but it scared her more this time. We left the Dino ride and went back over to the theater to see Nemo. Again, the line was incredible and we didn't think we'd get in, but we did. We enjoyed the musical very much - great costumes, good singing and a nice opportunity to sit somewhere comfortable. We got out of the show around 3:40 and decided to walk back over to the Kali River Rapids. We walked by EE and noticed that the wait was 80 mins. There was no wait (!!) for the river rapids. Perhaps it was the fact that it wasn't a particularly warm day (we worn sweatshirts for most of it), but we were quite happy. We donned our ponchos and went on it 3 times in a row!

We left AK about 4:15 and headed back to the resort.

People say that AK is a 1/2 day park, but I just don't see that. We skipped many things - the jammin' jungle parade, the 2 trails, the Lion King show, and visiting w/ the many guides throughout the park. Seems to me that there are more performers in AK now than there were 2 years ago and with the addition of EE and the new Nemo, there's a lot to do!!!

We enjoyed AK very much and could have used another 2 hours there (easily). However, we were still a little tired and we had an ADR for dinner at 5:40. We wondered if perhaps we should have toured the park in two 1/2 days because there is a lot of walking in this park and for some reason, this park seems to tire us out more than others.

The bus back from AK was shared with the Dolphin/Swan and BC/YC. I had read on the boards that many people get off at D/S and walk back to the BW. We did the same thing and it seemed like the right thing to do. We were back in our room w/n 10 mins and it would have taken 20 mins had we waited on the bus.

We got changed into warmer clothes for the evening (it had seriously cooled off) and walked over to the Yachtsman Steakhouse for our 5:40 ADR. We were seated within a few minutes. We had great hopes for this dinner, but we were very unimpressed (I've left a review of this restaurant and others on the Restaurant Review board).

Left dinner around 7:30 and walked over to Epcot. We wanted to see if we could get onto Soarin', but the ride had actually broken down about 10 mins before we got there. Apparently right before we arrived, standby time was about 60 mins. They weren't sure when it was going to be fixed and most people, who were waiting in line, left. We decided to stick it out for 20 mins and to our delight, the ride was fixed! So, overall, we waited about 30 mins and then got in. We enjoyed the ride very much and were very pleased that we got to ride it. We were still planning a day at Epcot but knew that since this was still a relatively new ride, it would be hard to ride it more than twice on the day we had planned.

Following our ride at Soarin, we walked back over to the World showcase to watch Illuminations. We didn't have a great spot (it was partially blocked by trees), but it was still a fabulous show. Next time we'll do a better job of finding a spot.

The walk from Epcot to Boardwalk resort is a quick 10 mins, and we were definitely pleased that we didn't have to board the bus or the monorail. There were tons of people in the park and walking home seemed like the best option.

Lights were out by 10:15 and we all deemed it a GREAT day. We weren't sure what was going to be on the docket for Monday as we had planned a visit to Typhoon Lagoon, but the forecast was for cold weather (mid-60's, but winds 15-25 MPH).

 

[pjv]

Enjoyed reading your report.

I was at MGM , on 11/18 and we got there at 10am, and Aerosmith was a 30 minute wait, park had a lot of people there, so you picked the right park to go too! We ended up that night at illuminations also. Can't wait to read more.

 

[mysparky]

Well, what do you know, the weather channel was right! It was definitely a cool day on Monday (11/20). High temps in the mid-60's, but winds between 15-25 mph. Definitely not a TL kind of day.

We all slept in a little later than usual and finally got on the bus at 10:00 for DTD. The plan was to eat breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express and then head over to DisneyQuest.

Wolfgang Puck Express was GREAT for breakfast. DH had a breakfast pizza (scrambled eggs, tomatoes, bacon and cheese), kids split a cheese pizza (they weren't feeling adventurous and were thrilled with the idea of eating pizza at 10:45), and I had the cornflake french toast with fresh fruit (WOW!). After stuffing ourselves, we walked to DisneyQuest over on the West Side (about a 10-15 min walk).

DQ opened at 11:30 and we were there around 11:50. The place was practically empty!!! No lines for any of the rides or games at all and it stayed this way until about 4. We loved the Pirates of Caribbean ride/game (played about 6 times), DS couldn't get enough of the cyberspace roller coaster, and it was lots of fun to play all of the old video games with no one around (I was on Frogger for about 1 hr). We thought other games sounded very interesting (Mighty Ducks Pinball, Buzz Lightyear Bumper cars, Jungle Cruise, Alladin Magic carpet ride), but we really didn't enjoy them at all. Mighty Ducks and Buzz were just plain lamo, the Jungle Cruise was only ok, and the Magic carpet ride made all 4 of us a little queasy.

Admission to DQ wasn't inexpensive (had old park hoppers that didn't include admission) and I hoped that we'd spend a few hours there, but wouldn't you know...we were actually there until 7!! It actually started to get noticeably crowded at that time (ie. no available air hockey tables, 15 min waits for cyberspace mountain and 25 min waits for Pirates)and our eyes were buggin' out so we decided it was time to call it a day. BTW, we did take a lunch break at the counter service w/n Disney Quest and it was good.

DQ is one of those places that gets very mixed reviews, but for us, it really was a good way to spend the day. There was plenty of opportunity for us to do something mellow (i.e. learn how to draw Donald Duck) and we felt perfectly fine having DS11 and DD8 play video games while we sat in one of the internet-enabled booths when we wanted a break from the action.

Man was it COLD when we finally went outside and that bus back to BWV couldn't come quick enough! Fortunately for us it was only about a 5 min wait and then we were in the warmth of the bus!

When I realized that I wasn't going to get my family out of DQ and back to the Boardwalk in time for our 5:45 ADR at Spoodles, we canceled. We eventually went over to Spoodles around 7:30 and asked how long the wait was, and it was about 30 mins. We ran back to our room during the wait and changed into warmer clothes and then ran back to the restaurant. Turns out the wait was only about 15 mins and we were seated as soon as we got back.

Dinner at Spoodles was very good - good service, good food, and we were in and out in about 60 mins (which is really what we wanted since we were sitting down at 7:45).

There wasn't much activity happening on the boardwalk because the wind coming off of the lake was just too much. We were happy to see that one of the entertainers was actually in the lobby at the boardwalk so we got to watch the magic act in the warmth

We eventually got back to our room around 9:30, got our stuff packed up for the next day, put in a wake up call for 7:45, and it was lights out for the kids at 10:00.

Plan for day 4- MK in the morning, MGM in the evening.

 

[chascath]

You mentioned Universal being not so great but have not seen the reason(s) why so far in your postings unless I missed it. I am leaving very soon and would very much like to see what your experiences were.

 

[OhMari]

That sure was a long day at Disney Quest. I heard a lot of the games are broken, did things improve at Disney Quest?

 

[mysparky]

We definitely spent more time at DisneyQuest than I thought we would. All of the games were operational....I didn't see anything that was broken.

I'm not sure that all families would be into spending as much time as we did there, but the fact that it wasn't at all crowded, made it so enjoyable. We played games that we normally wouldn't (i.e. big family competition on video bowling...go figure) and my son was thrilled with being able to play the various sport video games (soccer, tennis and football) non-stop.

 

[mysparky]

Finally, a morning when we actually got up when we got the wake up call. It was another cold day! After a quick breakfast in our room (we loved being able to do this instead of having to go out), we got ready in our warm clothes as it was going to be another cold day. So it was jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts for us!

Made it down to the bus by 8:30, waited for about 10 mins, and got to Disney just as the characters were finishing up their morning welcome song. MK opened at 9.

Walked (quickly) over to Space Mountain and waited about 10 mins. Next went to Buzz Lightyear (twice) and waited 5 mins the first time, and 10 mins the second time. We walked over to the Speedway (which always seems crowded) and had about a 10 min wait. Next was Goofy's Barnstormer ride (5 min wait). After the kids got off the ride, we were taking a brief rest on the bench and a woman came over and asked the kids to be her official cotton candy tasters! They were thrilled with the prospect of eating cotton candy at 10:15 and they were told it was part of the YOAMD celebration.

After chowing down on cotton candy, we went on the Snow White ride which was about a 10 min wait. While we waited, DH walked over to Mickey's Philharmagic and picked up FP's. Our FP return time was about 30 mins later. After Snow White, we went on It's a Small World (that song was in my head for the rest of the day), and then returned to see Mickey's Philharmagic.

Bottom line, it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we got to Magic Kingdom when it opened, and we went on lots of rides between 9-11:30. We could absolutely feel the crowds picking up around 10:30 and by 11:30, the park was definitely crowded.

Decided to eat lunch at 11:30 before everything got too packed and had a good lunch at Columbia Harbor House. DH and DS had the chicken/fish combo basket and ate every bit. DD and I split the tuna sandwich and it was also very good.

After lunch we headed over to The Haunted Mansion and the standby line was about 40 mins. Then walked over to BTMRR and standby line was 70 mins. Picked up FP's with a return time in 2 hours and then decided to ride Splash Mountain (which only had a 10 min wait because it was cold!). Kids rode Aladin's magic carpet ride (25 min wait) and we went on Pirates (40 min wait). We liked the new Pirate's ride and found that the difference in technology between the older pirates and the new Jack Sparrow was amazing. Eventually made our way back to BTMRR and rode that.

We took the MK Railroad back over to Toontown and then tried to see if we could get back on Buzz (it's our favorite ride). The wait time was 60 mins and we decided to pass.

We had a good day at MK and we were all very happy that we got to enjoy many of the rides before it got too crowded.

Once back at the Boardwalk, we went to the bakery to pick up MM rice krispie treats (1 Snack credit each) and then went back to the resort to relax for about an hour. Before we left, we again put on additional layers of clothes (i.e. t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, heavy fleece jacket, jeans and sports pants over the jeans) before we headed out. Yup...it was cold and windy!

Our plan for the evening was to go over to MGM, see if we could get on a few rides, grab some food, and then eat dinner in the Fantasmic arena while waiting for the show. We got to MGM a little later than we wanted to (about 6:45) and DS and I waited in line for RNR for about 45 mins. DD and DH thought about going over to see the Osborne Lights, but at that point they were a little tired from the day and didn't feel like making the hike over and back. They decided, instead, to see the Narnia display and then saw a show about Walt Disney.

We met back up around 7:45 at Rosie's All-American care where we got cheeseburgers and a veggie burger to go. From there, we walked over to the Fantasmic theater, and got seats at 8:00. We didn't want to get too close because I knew we could get wet from the mist, so we sat in the center of the theater, but up high. It was cold, but we had our food (my veggie burger was good, not sure about the cheeseburgers but they were gobbled up) and we were happy with our seats. We had seen Fantasmic two years before, but we enjoyed it just as much this time.

Being at the top of the theater allowed us to get out of the theater quickly and although we were going to walk back to the resort, the line hadn't formed at the Friendship boat yet, so we took the boat back.

We made it back to the resort by 9:15 and we were tired. Put a load of laundry in because I knew we'd be in the same clothes on Wednesday as the forecast showed yet another cold day!

Kids turned the lights out at 10:00 and slept through the noise of the dryer.

On the docket for day 5...Epcot!