short trip report 12/18-26

[digman6]

We arrived at our resort room was ground floor as I wanted. Hate steps with a stroller! We stayed at POR AB section. the room was nice not to crowded for 5 and a baby. I did notice the room smelled like chlorine when we got in which was not what I wanted, but it seemed to of faded or we got used to it . Housekeeping did 1 towel animal the enitire trip -it was a reindeer and our 2 year old grabbed it and then it was history!
Weather was nice the entire time no rain to speak of
Bus service had issues mid trip... we sat at MK for 1.5 hours waiting for a bus the night of one of the MVMCP. the POF had 4 busses to 1 of ours. it was crazy and POF driver would not take any of us as we asked them to.

I think after a bunch of phone calls were made in line and they said you better send 4-5 buses for these people they got a clue. coarse I found DTD bus to be a joke they took 1 hour to come each time I went there. that was the only trouble we had. Thankfully they corrected there bus problem basiclly right away with THE PARKS.

KIds got there faces painted and they looked really cool worth the 15$.
both my dd5 and 8 really lucked out or they save spots for walk ups at BBB at DTD.
I had cancelled the appt. because of cost. well both my girls wanted to do it so they used there money to do it. they were booked solid at MK, but the woman at DTD squeezed them BOTH in together. It was pretty fun to watch and see it all going on. I kept thinking oh my god this is a real money maker for disney. they had fun and loved it.

We got stuck on space mountian Xmas day! the ride stopped and lights came on- I snapped some pictures of the inside . they had to push our car to the end of the ride. the wait time was over 70 minutes we uses a fast pass when we went on.
the Passporter has great tips on what ride to do when we used it and it worked great.
the park was full Xmas @ 9am from what I was told all tickets were sold out and it hit 82k people ( they are allowed to go over 5k of what ever the limit is).

We ate at Cosmic Rays for lunch very good food we ate erly at 11am so we would avoid the never ending line. Dinner was at CP and was great as well that night. we left after dinner to tired to do anymore and we needed to finish packing as well.

I must say it was a real bummer that some what friends of ours came down to WDW and meet us there and we were going to spend time together. Our sons are good friends and they surprised him. it was her idea to get together and she was all excited to see us there etc etc.
We met them at DTD and saw them for a bit. then we met the next morning 12/24 at MK they had ADR at 7:30am Chef Mickey's they never went to it:confused. We hung out at the park and rode some rides but they left before lunch time! The dad thought it was to crowded! I thought you have seen nothing yet! They left the park and went back to there room to swim.
they ate at Trailes End as we did . We ate 1 hour prior to them and they were going back to the room the 11 year was tired at 6:30pm!
We resort hopped and went and saw the spectro Magic and Fireworks that night.

Then 12/25 THEY had ADRs for LUNCH and DINNER at the Plaza and Tony's. I told them they need to be in the park that day or they will not get in. I am not sure if they did not believe me or what. They went to AK park at 8:30am. They said they will call us when they get over to the MK.
They never called and they never got in so they at that point lost 3 TABLE service ADRs. I am sure they are not going to find anything opening up with out it being really , really late.
We never heard or saw them again. they thought the Kelly and Regis show was taping I told them that was early in the month.

I am kinda bugged only because I spent alot of time helping her plan her trip at SHE wanted it and then she threw it out the window! I called all her ADRs in for her because the trip was a surprise and she is not using them. Seems like she wasted my time and energy in helping her plan.
She said herself when we met up she was "Disney Dumb".
So we never heard from them again. They thought it was crowded on 12/24 wonder what they thought the past few days!
Our son wanted to ride some rides with his friend but no luck. we did not have Hoppers the othe family did so they could move around more then us.HOwever with the crowds etc we did 1 park a day and never missed the hopper at all.

The water there is terrible some of my family drank it and then paid for it later with running to the bathroom all the time. once we went back to bottle water only we were fine.
rides were fun everyone had a good time and I took over 500 pictures! We are all tired and in recovery mode right now but it was worth it.
Happy New Year Everyone!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

So how were the days leading up too Christmas eve???? We are trying too plan for next year Dec 18th to the 23rd and the get home before the huge crowds hit??

Christmas is on a Thursday next year??

We have been to WDW many times so we are just planning to take in the atmosphere of Christmas and not try and do everything.

We want to attend MVMCP and the CP at Epcot and then maybe a sleigh ride at FW.

Any Adivce or tips????

I know what you mean about your friend..>That is dissapointing and sometimes people don't understand how much planning goes into a Disney trip.

Glad you had a good time.

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[digman6]

prior to the 23rd the crowd level was perfect most lines were 15-20 minutes. the line for food was just as good.
I would be sure if your using the DDP you watch what they give you, many times they forgot things and I had to go back and get them. I had to order for 6 people so I am sure it can happen but it happened way to much for me almost daily. I would be missing drinks, dessert . we even got a hot dog bun with NO hot dog!

If you will be there after the last Xmas party they have then I say don't get the tickets. we went and saw those things through out the day and the parade happens during the day as well. I am gald I did not get those tickets seems it would of been a waste of money really.

CP was really nice, my kids fell asleep during it! we hit the 8:15 show and then went to the illuminations after that.
I can tell you the Coral Reef was WONDERFUL we had a great meal from start to finish. We sat in front of the tank so that was a added bonus. we voted to go there again with our a doubt. someone tried to walk up and eat and they had no openings until Jan.6 2008!
we ate at 1900 Park Fare (D),Coral Reef(D),Mama Melrose's(D),Crystal Palace(D), Cinderellas Royal Table breakfast(B), Liberty Tree Tavern (D), Trails End (D). all were really really GREAT the only one that was just "OK" was trails end and it was good just not GREAT.

We followed the Passporter guide for parks they have and it worked well for MGM. We also made sure we got in the hard to get on rides EARLY in the trip this way if we did not get on later in the trip 24th and 25th it was not so bad. We would get a fast pass for Big Thunder MOuntain then go ride it or Splash mountain and the get vise versa.

eat at the off times helped alot , we ate at like 11am and 5pm before the crowds got heavy.

I would do it again as long I was gone by the day after Xmas

I think they are going to have regreted not listening to me with the parks, but they were warned. I think I am just kinda mad that after all that they did not spend any time with us and she wanted our kids to get together it was HER idea. I felt bad for my son who was really excited to see him and then never got to hang out with him. kinda like here is a candy bar but you can not eat it !

oh well at least he is old enough to understand that they could not get into the park even if they wanted to.