Here's a brief rundown on the magic.
(1) DME -- wonderful -- absolutely no problems and time in transit was minimal.
(2) CSR-- breathtakingly beautiful. We received a free room upgrade upon checkin -- Cabanas 9A room 9631. Room was large and VERY clean. Excellent location as it was short walk to El Centro and to bus stop.Would definitely stay here again although I could see that it may be a problem if you were further away from El Centro. I used the laundry facilities 2X -- clean and efficient. We swam 3 nights. Unfortunately, we missed using the slide as the lifeguard was gone after we arrived. We could see a glimpse of the fireworks from our room.
(3) Crowds : we pretty much walked on rides the 13, 14 and 15. Crowds arrived Saturday but did not really impact lines until Tuesday.
(4) Dining plan : don't think I would go to WDW without this. We loved getting to eat at the TS restaurants. Our favorite had to be Ohana. The only restaurant that we had problems at was Marakeesh (just Greg though -- my food was wonderful). Our meal at H & V was wonderful-- it was just us and one other family so we had the characters all to ourselves. We were able to get b'fast at the Pepper Market with our snack credits -- we were never hungry and brought home a huge bag of Disney goodies with our remaining snack credits (this seemed to be common as everyone around us was using up leftover credits on their way out of the MK).
(5) The Magic: in addition to just being there- here are a few magical things that happened to us: DH received a free drink on his birthday in addition to being sung to every where we went. DS rec'd a free Epcot pin at MGM from a CM. DS and I got YOMD lanyards and pins getting off Space Mountain. DD(4) (who insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress or her Sleeping Beauty dress had the most magic happen) -- she rec'd a huge container of popcorn in a reusable container in MGM for smiling at a CM. She was asked to sign too many CMs autograph books b/c she was a princess, she rec'd a free Mickey bar in FantasyLand. She also rec'd special passes for Mt. Everest that entitle her to skip to the front of the line when she is finally tall enough to ride. (Her favorite ride was Tower of Terror -- no fear in that child).
(6) Fantasmic was well FANTASTIC. I really impressed my sister and brother in law with the package -- they were like how did you know how to do this. DD wanted to see Fantasmic again -- but it did not fit into our plans.
(7) Osborne Festival of Lights -- okay I actually cried when we walked onto the street the first time with the snow and everything. Breathtaking!
(8) MVMCP: I changed our tickets to the 18th as it was pouring down rain on the 14th. CM was very helpful in getting things changed. On the 18th the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, no one wanted to see the Christmas shows except for me. They went on the rides and I tried to get into Twas the Night before Christmas -- but it was full!! DD and I did go to the Dance Party with Pluto though -- that was fun and we learned a couple new songs. We missed the parade-- (see above) we had planned to stay for the 2d parade but by that time the kids were falling asleep. We did catch Christmas wishes which was spectacular and saw the last ten minutes of the show in front of the castle.
(9) Shows: DD and I went to a lot of shows. DS did not enjoy the ones he went to but I think it was due to his age. We particularly enjoyed the Festival of the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. DD was in awe the entire time.
(10) WDW transportation: Awesome -- our bus was never crowded until the last couple of days. Very easy to use.
(11) Stroller rental -- we did the length of stay rental for DD(4). Easy to use and great just to leave stroller at the park. No longer am I one of those poor unfortunate souls struggling to lug that huge stroller onto Disney buses.
(12) Character meals: Best way for families with young children to get to meet characters -- we did 3 character meals and would do more next time for this fact alone -- saved us waiting in those huge lines at the parks.
So -- not considering losing my Mickey watch somewhere between home and the Orlando airport (DH bought me a new one for Christmas) and our brand new camera breaking (thank goodness it is under warranty) our trip was fantastic.
(1) DME -- wonderful -- absolutely no problems and time in transit was minimal.
(2) CSR-- breathtakingly beautiful. We received a free room upgrade upon checkin -- Cabanas 9A room 9631. Room was large and VERY clean. Excellent location as it was short walk to El Centro and to bus stop.Would definitely stay here again although I could see that it may be a problem if you were further away from El Centro. I used the laundry facilities 2X -- clean and efficient. We swam 3 nights. Unfortunately, we missed using the slide as the lifeguard was gone after we arrived. We could see a glimpse of the fireworks from our room.
(3) Crowds : we pretty much walked on rides the 13, 14 and 15. Crowds arrived Saturday but did not really impact lines until Tuesday.
(4) Dining plan : don't think I would go to WDW without this. We loved getting to eat at the TS restaurants. Our favorite had to be Ohana. The only restaurant that we had problems at was Marakeesh (just Greg though -- my food was wonderful). Our meal at H & V was wonderful-- it was just us and one other family so we had the characters all to ourselves. We were able to get b'fast at the Pepper Market with our snack credits -- we were never hungry and brought home a huge bag of Disney goodies with our remaining snack credits (this seemed to be common as everyone around us was using up leftover credits on their way out of the MK).
(5) The Magic: in addition to just being there- here are a few magical things that happened to us: DH received a free drink on his birthday in addition to being sung to every where we went. DS rec'd a free Epcot pin at MGM from a CM. DS and I got YOMD lanyards and pins getting off Space Mountain. DD(4) (who insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress or her Sleeping Beauty dress had the most magic happen) -- she rec'd a huge container of popcorn in a reusable container in MGM for smiling at a CM. She was asked to sign too many CMs autograph books b/c she was a princess, she rec'd a free Mickey bar in FantasyLand. She also rec'd special passes for Mt. Everest that entitle her to skip to the front of the line when she is finally tall enough to ride. (Her favorite ride was Tower of Terror -- no fear in that child).
(6) Fantasmic was well FANTASTIC. I really impressed my sister and brother in law with the package -- they were like how did you know how to do this. DD wanted to see Fantasmic again -- but it did not fit into our plans.
(7) Osborne Festival of Lights -- okay I actually cried when we walked onto the street the first time with the snow and everything. Breathtaking!
(8) MVMCP: I changed our tickets to the 18th as it was pouring down rain on the 14th. CM was very helpful in getting things changed. On the 18th the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, no one wanted to see the Christmas shows except for me. They went on the rides and I tried to get into Twas the Night before Christmas -- but it was full!! DD and I did go to the Dance Party with Pluto though -- that was fun and we learned a couple new songs. We missed the parade-- (see above) we had planned to stay for the 2d parade but by that time the kids were falling asleep. We did catch Christmas wishes which was spectacular and saw the last ten minutes of the show in front of the castle.
(9) Shows: DD and I went to a lot of shows. DS did not enjoy the ones he went to but I think it was due to his age. We particularly enjoyed the Festival of the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. DD was in awe the entire time.
(10) WDW transportation: Awesome -- our bus was never crowded until the last couple of days. Very easy to use.
(11) Stroller rental -- we did the length of stay rental for DD(4). Easy to use and great just to leave stroller at the park. No longer am I one of those poor unfortunate souls struggling to lug that huge stroller onto Disney buses.
(12) Character meals: Best way for families with young children to get to meet characters -- we did 3 character meals and would do more next time for this fact alone -- saved us waiting in those huge lines at the parks.
So -- not considering losing my Mickey watch somewhere between home and the Orlando airport (DH bought me a new one for Christmas) and our brand new camera breaking (thank goodness it is under warranty) our trip was fantastic.
