QUICK Solo Christmas Shopping Trip! Nov 13-14 LOTS OF PICS

[Nooshkin]

Hello fellow Dis-ers!

This is just a mini trip report for a quick trip I took to WDW last week. My goal was to do some commando Christmas shopping. This report won’t have much info on restaurants and attractions. If you’re looking for a more traditional trip report, check out the link in my signature line for my work-in-progress October trip report! If you’re interested in knowing what sorts of Christmas wares are being offered right now, crowd levels, traveling solo and stuff like that, read on!

The cast of characters for this trip is easy: Just me!

I’m 43, single, no kids and I have a family of Disney fans! In fact, my 3-year old nephew said “Disney” before he said Mommy or Daddy!
I’ve been to Disney parks over 30 times, in the last 20 years. My last trip was just over 6 weeks ago. I spent a week at AKL with my sister. I’ve started that trip report but for some reason I’m dragging my feet completing it! I have hundreds of pictures to sort through and I just don’t know where all the time in a day goes…

This trip was fairly spontaneous. I work in the travel industry and although free airline tickets are getting more and more rare, they are occasionally offered to us. I had the last minute opportunity for one free ticket, very limited flight availability, and it had to be used before December 1st. Of course Thanksgiving week is blacked out so it pretty much came down to having to use it between Nov 10-15! I was able to get seats on the earliest flight to Orlando on Thursday, Nov. 13th, returning the next day on the latest fight of the night. The goal was to do some Christmas shopping.

We did a lot of shopping six weeks ago, but I wasn’t really in Christmas mode yet. While I wouldn’t buy a plane ticket to go to Orlando from Chicago just to shop for a couple days, I certainly wasn’t about to pass up free transportation!

I was able to get a very reasonable travel industry rate at the All-Star Movies resort. Originally I was going to shop at Downtown Disney and the resorts and just take it easy. But I decided to splurge on one thing- a park ticket. Sort of a present to myself. How could I go down and not at least see the Christmas decorations at the Magic Kingdom? It’s been about 15 years since I was in a Disney park during the holidays. We tend to go in February, June or October. Besides, there are even more stores to shop at in the parks! (Yes, a touch of rationalizing!) So chose to split my time between the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

Coming up- Checking into the All Star Music resort and heading to the Magic Kingdom!

And more pics as promised!

 

[Nooshkin]

It was Thursday morning in the Chicago suburbs. I left my house at 4:30 am, the temperature a “brisk” 34 degrees!
It’s a short drive to the airport but to save money I was parking in a remote lot so I had to allow some extra time. I parked, took the bus to the tram and the tram to the terminal. Ok- I’m already exhausted! Then I remembered I was going to Disney World and perked up a little. My plane was packed- not a seat left empty which seems to be the case every time I fly these days. The flight was uneventful and we landed in Orlando around 10:40am. I grabbed my carry-on bag and headed to Magical Express.

Sometimes when you read a lot of posts on these boards and on other sites, it’s easy to get freaked out about other people’s bad experiences. You read about a few people having trouble with Magical Express or rude cast members or long waits for the busses and you start to feel that things are going downhill. I’m not saying that other people are not having those disappointing experiences or that it’s not horrible when it does happen. But I have to say that my last trip in Sept/Oct was almost “charmed”! We had great cast members, short waits and no big mess-ups. I was worried on this trip because I had such a preciously short amount of time, I didn’t want to lose any of it to waiting in lines or being delayed. I was a little concerned when I walked up to ME and there were about 20 people in line ahead of me. But not to worry! That line moved so fast- I don’t think I waited more than a couple minutes. The check-in process was fast and I was directed right onto a bus that was just about to head for the all-star resorts.

The bus was packed- but everyone was very excited to see the Disney sign! (Click to play)


We stopped at Sports first and only a few people got off. I was a little worried that everyone on the packed bus would be getting off at Music, thus delaying my quick progress through the check-in process! But only 3 of us got off at Music so I guess Movies was the hot place to be that day! I was immediately greated by one of the most energetic cast members I’ve seen in a long time. His name was Isaac and he had on some silly sunglasses and the big “Mickey” hands. He came up and said, “Princess! I’ve been waiting for you to get here!” I replied, “I got here as soon as I could!” He walked me right up to the cast member who would check me in. Everything was quick there too. My room was ready and off I went to drop my things off.

Now, when you get a discounted, industry rate room, you can bet that you aren’t going to get a good view or a room in a good location. You can pretty much bet that you will be in the farthest reaches of the resort with a view of a roof top or a parking lot or a clump of bushes. This time was no exception! I was at the back of building 7, the “Broadway” area.

Despite its location being a GUD, the room was very clean, everything was in perfect working order and none of the furniture showed signs of wear or distress. (That has not always been the case for us when staying at value and moderate resorts.) I was greeted by a towel Mickey and a duck.

I freshened up, changed from jeans to light weight capris, grabbed my backpack and headed for the bus stop. I should take a moment to mention the weather. November is supposed to be cooler, right? Still warm during the day but without the horrible humidity, right? Riiiiiggghhhtt… Lucky me- I got to experience 2 days of record setting head and humidity for November! Oh well, it beats snow. But it was way worse than when I was there in Sept/Oct. From what I understand, a cold front came through after I left and returned the weather to a beautiful normal comfort level-if not slightly cool.

The Magic Kingdom bus came right away. I noticed the time when I got onto the bus- 12:45. Not bad! My plane landed at 10:40 and I was already settled in my room and on the way to the park 2 hours later!

When I arrived at the MK there were virtually no lines. I breezed through bag check and the turnstiles. A few words about crowd levels- during the day there were no crowds. You’ll see in my upcoming photos that the crowd levels during the day were quite light. Night time was a different story! The Magic Kingdom was packed that night. The rides all had long lines- even the TTA! I’ve never seen that kind of line at the TTA! I think it’s due to the Christmas parties. There are a limited number of nights that you can go to the MK and see Spectro Magic and Wishes or the Christmas lights. So those non-party nights get really crowded. Not unbearably so but definitely more packed than during the day.

Next up: MK Photos, Christmas Decorations

 

[Nooshkin]

Main Street:

The area by Guest Services:

Even Minnie’s house is decorated!

The Hub:

 

[Nooshkin]

One of the first things I did after looking at the decorations was head to lunch! I went to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. I usually get the Half Rotisserie Chicken meal. It comes with mashed potatoes and green beans, it's tasty and it's a good departure from burgers, pizza and chicken nuggets. I was famished. I had a bagel at the airport at 6am that morning so I was definitely rumbly in my tumbly. I decided to bump my meal up a notch and get the chicken and rib combo. Basically the same meal as I usually get with a few barbeque ribs thrown in. I'm glad I tried it but I don't think I'll be tempted again! The sauce was good but there wasn't enough of it and the ribs were a little fatty. But the rest was as good as always!

And here are some random photos from around the MK:

My favorite little wooden boy:

And of course a Dole Whip in memory of “Bawb”…
(And now you can also see my traveling companion- little Willie!)

Next up… the Castle at night!

 

[Nooshkin]

As I said, the crowds were light during the day so I was able to walk onto to pretty much anything I wanted to ride. In fact the only real wait time that I noticed was for Pixie Hollow- 75 minutes! I would've loved to have had a picture taken with Tink - my 3 year old nephew loves her! And I love him...but I'm not waiting 75 minutes for a picture with her!

As it got later and the crowds got heavier, I switched from enjoying the attractions to SHOPPING! But I did take a moment at 6:30 to plop down in front of the castle and watch the little show that results in the castle transforming into a beautiful ice castle. This is something new for me and I was eager to see it. I have a video of the show but I'm have trouble with it. If I can get it to work, I'll plop it at the end of this TR. The show is only about 10 minutes long. Mickey, Miney, Goofy and Donald come on stage and debate about how best to decorate the castle for the holidays. The Fairy Godmother pop out and reminds them that it is Cinderella's castle so it should be her decision. She comes out and says that the prettiest thing she's ever seen are her glass slippers. Wouldn't it be great if the castle sparkled and shined like it was covered in ice? We all say the magic words- Bibbity-bobbity-boo! And the castle starts to transorm with the lights going on in sections. It was...breathtakingly beautiful! I actually got a little choked up! I think they have redeemed themselves for that horrible pink birthday cake monstrosity a few years ago!

Words and photos cannot describe how beautiful the castle looks! It was quite emotional for me. Just lovely. And of course the background color changes every so often.

 

[luna99]

Even Minnie’s house is decorated![/B]

where DO they get those giant lights from?!? Wow!

can't wait to follow along on your trip! I love seeing the parks all dressed up for christmas because I will be there in about 3 weeks myself... and what is that Donald's christmas tree lot thing all about??? Donald is my favorite!

 

[Nooshkin]

Here are some photos of some of the Christmas items in the shops right now:

After Spectro Magic, I started to “shop” my way down Main Street and out of the park. I decided to skip Wishes at 8pm because the park was closing after that and I wanted to get a jump on the crowds. At this point I was loaded down with bags already but I didn’t want to take time out to go back to ASMusic and walk aaaallll the way to building 7 to drop off my bags, then make my way back onto a bus to head over to Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney was fairly crowded. There were some specific things that I wanted to so worked my away around to all the stores. I really would've liked an ice cream sunday from Ghirradelli's and I considered it for awhile. Instead I popped into the store and got sample of chocolate. Tonight it was white peppermint bark...and it was good! I even got another on my way back later!

The World of Disney store was really chaotic - when is it not? Eventually, I could not hold another bag. Seriously! The palms of my hands were purple! I was in some serious discomfort and it was about 10:30 at this point so I headed for the buses. My hands would in fact hurt for days afterwords! It was as if I had bruised them. Now that is some commando shopping!

 

[Nooshkin]

I headed out of Downtown Disney and back to the resort. The plan was to get all my purchases organized and pack that night...but I was pooped! I took a relaxing bubble bath and went to sleep! Stitch and Mickey gave me my wake-up call bright and early- 6:30 am. I wanted to be sure that I was packed, checked out and waiting for a bus to EPCOT as early as possible. (EPCOT opened at 9 am that day.) The funny thing is, even though I've been to Disney Parks more than 30 times, I can count on one hand how many times I've been to a park when it opened! We're not an early morning family... I mean, I get up early at home - even on weekends. But that doesn't mean I'm fully functioning at that time! My flight was for later in the evening and I just wanted to be sure I had as much time as possible at the park.

I was out the door and checked out by 7:45. I even saw the nicest man at the resort again - Isaac! He pushed out his bottom lip, pouted and said, "I don't want you to leave, Princess." That makes two of us! I had time to stop and do a survey in lobby. It was all centered around the cleanliness of my room and the resort. I have to say, there was a definite improvement over the last time I stayed there. There were a lot of people heading over to EPCOT that morning but there were also numerous buses so once we were full we headed strait to the park- no more stops. I made it through the bag inspection area and into the park- right at 9 am!

Christmas Topiaries

 

[Nooshkin]

I won't bore you with a run down on each ride and each store. I will say that I headed strait for Soarin' and rode it two times in a row and got a fastpass for an hour later! The wait was only about 10 minutes. (Which didn't stop the people behind me from complaining about the wait time!) Soarin' is my current favorite ride in all of WDW. From 9 am to 11 am, I was able to ride everything that I wanted to in Future World, trade pins and shop to my hearts content in Mouse Gear. If you look at my pictures you can see that the crowds were pretty much non-existent.

And of course I popped into Ice Station Cool a couple times for a cold beverage! I like the watermelon soda...

 

[Nooshkin]

Shortly before 11 am I started to head over to the World Showcase.

If there was anything disappointing, it was my trip around the World Showcase. I love the WS but things don't really start happening around here until later. I'm not really a breakfast person so I had skipped it with the goal of eating my way around the WS! I really had a taste for a chocolate crepe- but the booth was not open. At least the stores were!

I love these soaps in Canada. Not only are they good soaps but the labels are so fun! I grabbed a few to keep on hand for gifts: Who wouldn't want some Beaver Butt, Bear Breath or Moose Spit soap?!

I just love the atmosphere of the Mexico pavilion so I have to include some pictures of that!

Christmas decorations in the WS, in no particular order:

Norway

Germany

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk232/Nooshkin/Nov%202008%20Shopping/wdwNov08epcot16.jpg[i/mg]
[img]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk232/Nooshkin/Nov%202008%20Shopping/wdwNov08epcot17.jpg

Italy

 

[Nooshkin]

More Christmas decoration in the WS:

USA

UK

And now a public service announcement!

This salad is to be avoided at all costs! It is the sesame chicken salad from the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China.

By the time I made it to China, I was starving and ready to steal candy from a child. The counter service restaurant here was actually open so I stopped. When I ordered the salad, the guy taking my order said something to me that sounded like, "Grobblle muhhlable goofleumph." Pardon Me? "Grobblle muhhlable goofleumph." It wasn't that he had a heavy accent. The problem was that he mumbled and focused on a place in the distant area behind his shoulder when he talked to me so I couldn't quite hear him. I was in a hurry, the line was getting long, I took the passive way out and said. "OK". In retrospect, he may have been saying, "You know this salad tastes like lint, right?" The egg rolls were ok- at least they were fresh, hot and had flavor. The salad was just blah. The "signature sesame chicken" was completely devoid of flavor! It was like if you took boiled chicken and rolled it in sesame seeds. The greens were just basic mixed greens and the dressing was a bland ginger dressing. It wouldn't take much to turn this salad around- a few strips of red bell pepper, mandarin oranges, something crunchy like water chestnuts or bean spouts. Some fried wonton strips. It was just too pricey for what it was- and even though I ate it, I was not left satisfied!

Well, that pretty much wraps up my 2 day shopping and more trip! If you are considering a solo trip, I say go for it! I don't think I'd go by myself for a week but for a long weekend, no problem! Almost every thrill ride line went quickly for me because at some point they asked if there were any single riders. I have no problem eating in restaurants by myself. And if you get lonely for someone to talk to, there's always a cast member willing to talk for awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[MovienutNiffer]

I love those pictures! I wish we could go again now! I better not be getting any Beaver Butt soap for Christmas missy!!!

 

[loribell]

Now that was fun! Someday maybe I can do it too.

 

[chalkboard]

Sounds like you had a fun time and got some serious shopping done but at least everyone will be happy with their Disney styled gifts. I never really thought of going Disney by myself but you sure made it sound like fun.

 

[OhMari]

I was at the MK the same day.
I just got done with my tour of Keys to the Kingdom, and I was looking to see if we were in any of your pictures. It sure was hot those 2 days. On your Epcot day, our boys came down Thursday evening. On Friday we did the Boogie Creek Tours and went over to Kennedy Space Center and watched the Shuttle launch.
Thanks for sharing your solo-trip with us.
I agree about the Lotus blossom Cafe-it stinks.