SSR Dec8-18th

[boettj]

We had a very slow relaxing day. In the am, I took our DC to breakfast while the DW went to the Spa. She loved it. In my opinion, it's worth every penny. For a woman who slaves after our DC's night and day while I travel for work, deserves a break. I bought her one for our anniversary, but she has yet to use it. I hope this positive experience will have her using it.

We spent the remainder of the day washing clothes and walking around Downtown Disney. We were able to get some of our last minute shopping done now. They had a great multi-picture frame that will look great on our wall of pictures at home.

Tonight, we ate at Cape May and then went over to the Boardwalk. There we rented one of the bikes and rode around. Our youngest DD rode in front of me. She is just big enough to reach the string for the bell. As we made our laps, she would hold onto the string and make cute baby sounds. The DW was not ready for the hills. But we had a great time riding around that Boardwalk area. I won each of the kids a small basketball by sinking three shots at the basketball shooting game.

Off to bed for all of us.


Take care.

 

[boettj]

We were going to go to Animal Kingdom today. However, we decided to stay at the hotel and take the kids to the pool. We also had to replace our stroller. The handle that opens and closes the stroller broke. It could still be operated, but it was a real hassle.

The pool at SSR is great in my opinion. I love the shallow entry like at a pond or the beach. My DD 11 months has not liked going into the pool. I was able to take her in the shallow area. Then I moved her in slowly and she loved it.

Our DS 7 and DD 4 went to The Neverland Club tonight while my DW, DD 11 months and I went out to a quite dinner. I absolutely love this program. We dropped them off at 5. They were there for dinner (included for free). Then we picked them up at 8. It's $11/child. Worth every penny. How do parents that come with their DKs go out to dinner by themselves? The Neverland Club is one answer.


Take care.

 

[50 years Too!]

When we had tea at GF in March, we specifically asked if we should move our car before we went to MK. They said we were fine. I think it really depends on how busy and full they are. I think as long as you ask, and not try to be sneaky, you have every right to not move!

 

[boettj]

We went to the Crystal Palace for breakfast. The food was good. The characters were on the other side of the restaurant though. We had signed or DS 7 up for the Pirates Cruise at the GF that started at 9:30. I took him over there on the monorail while my DW waited with our DD's to see the characters.

DS was nervous about the Pirate Cruise. He did not like that he was going alone. When he got back, he loved it. Arrrr..

At 1:30 our DD 4 went to the group Tea party. Again, another hit. It was only an hour, but she loved it.

While our DD 4 was at the Tea Party, my DS and I rented a boat from GF and took a spin around the lakes. Not bad. They could be faster, but I can understand why they are not.

Soarin: By far my favorite ride. Hands down. There are a few rides I like, but none of them come close to that experience. It's like iMax on steroids.

Tonight we ate at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. When I looked at the menu, nothing caught my eye. My DW had the Barbecue Short Ribs. And I took the advice of our waitress and tried the Traditional Kjottkaker. Both were excellent. I did not expect the food to be so full of taste. Goes to show you that trying something new is a good thing.


Off to bed. Take care.

 

[Nadine&Scott]

First time online in many days. Nice to know another diser is here in the paddock with us. we're in the 6000 block, studio also. We will be heading home late Friday afternoon. Will post a trip and dining report soon after returning home. It will be a very positive report.

Scott

 

[boettj]

I know that people are going to disagree with me and this may not be a popular post. However, this is my opinion of the two.

My DF and I have been to 2 MNSSHP's. And I loved them both. Last night we went to MVMCP. Now the weather may have played a role in this, but I believe that MNSSHP is better. Please, hear me out.


MNSSHP:

-Family Photo.
-Many more characters.
-Candy give away.
-Lit up pumpkins to designate character meeting spots.
-Great parade.
​

MVMCP:

-Free Hot Chocolate and cookies. (It was 65 out)
-Only saw one character outside of the parade. (Penguin)
-No family photo.
-No indicator expect for map to tell you where characters were suppose to be.
-Best fireworks I have ever seen.
-Great parade.
​

The rain may have played a role. However, we did not see any characters other than the Penguin. The Halloween party, there were characters inside. So rain would not have changed that outcome. The parade and fireworks made it worth it for me. We should have left at this point.

From my perspective, it seems like Disney puts more thought into the overall plan for the MNSSHP than they do for the MVMCP.

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

Thanks for the Report Jason

We are also hugh MNSSHP fans but wanted to try out the MVMCP just to see.Our hopes are not that much as we are hugh halloween people.

DW loves the lights and X-mas so this is why we are going for her.

They also stopped the free family photo at MNSSHP this year as well and did a special 50% off PPcard.

We only have 2 days to go and it looks like the weather is getting better . Enjoy the rest of your trip and have a safe trip home

Thanks again for the on-sight reports
Terry

 

[dumbo71]

What I noticed and wanted to bring your attention was the menu, http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_cs.htm. If you go to the link above, and then go to this one, you will notice that there is not much difference. I asked out waiter what the deal was. He told us that the chef's at the different restaurants no longer help plan the menu. Disney was losing 1.5 million on food a week. So they put four top chefs in an office to come up with a more common meal plan to erase the debt.

Our waiter went on further to tell us that many of the restaurants are following this similar food plan. I believe the reason they are losing the money is the food plan itself. We have heard from another source that several of the restaurant's are going to not be included in the dining plan come January. My guess about this is to restore the restaurant to it's culinary independence, the y, Disney, had to break it down.

I will add more tomorrow.

Yes and the WDW supporters on here have flamed me for saying that the DDP is responsible for the cutbacks/loss of quality.

Seems many owe Dumbo71 an apology. I won't hold my breath for that.

Your post just made my morning by the way. I am thrillied to death to hear that some of the restaurants will be dropping the dining plan. If these people want cheap grub limit them to the crummy restaurants on property. Don't ruin the restaurant to accomodate discounters.

Yeah to the downfall of DDP and free dining! Now all I need is to somehow get through to the head of WDW dining for a little discussion. Any suggestions?

 

[boettj]

Day off. Thank god. My dogs have been barking like crazy.


One comment that I would like to make about this day off was that we went to Disney Quest. Our tickets are two years old with 3 options left on them. When I tried to use them at Disney Quest, I was told that you can not use them there. I was very surprised. However, since I told my son we could go, I paid the money.

Today when buying new tickets, we were told that our old tickets had three options left and that we could use them at the water parks, PI and Disney Quest. My DW was fumed. Can someone steer us right?



Take care.

 

[boettj]

We went to Epcot today. Boy was it crowded. I have never seen it this crowded. The lines were not too bad. We had already done all of the rides. So today was a walk around.

I want to give for Alfredo's in Italy. Very good food.

We attended the lighting of the tree as well. And the Illuminations at the end of the night. I enjoy that show.

 

[boettj]

I have two rants. This is the first one. It appears that the characters have become more and more scarce over the past few years. We have been at Disney for 8 days and have not seen Mickey around the park. And for that matter very few other characters. The only place that we can gauruntee to see them is at a character breakfast or lunch.

I get the feeling that Disney is streamlining the bottom line and we are paying the price with the characters. Just my two sense on this.



Take care.

 

[boettj]

I know that there are tons of other threads about smoking. However, I am including it here because it has affected our vacation. As I understand Disney's smoking policy, there are no smoking in the parks accept for in designated areas. Today at Epcot, people were smoking all over the place. When I sit down on a park bench with my DF, I do not like to have to have them smell smoke.


Quite frankly, I don't give a damm why they cannot walk over to a designated area. I make sure that we steer clear of those areas.


How can you teach your DC to follow the rules if so many people are disregarding them?

Take care.

 

[boettj]

For those of you with infants, the Baby Center is great. Our meal schedule today was off. We ate brunch at 10:30 and then lunch at 3pm. She had her bottle at 6:30. Our DD 11 months was very hungry at 8pm. We looked at the kiosk's for something for her, but could not find anything. As we came up on the bridge to the baby center, we decided to check there.

We were pleasantly surprised with the facility. They had just what we needed for our DD 11 months. A big for the Baby Center at Epcot.



Thank you.

 

[cristbaby]

So glad that you and you DF are having such a good time. I understand about the smoking as I have asthma and I hate sitting down on a bench with the smell of smoke all around. I begin wheezing and coughing right away, I just wish people would learn to follow the rules.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Sorry that you are having a hard time finding characters. We did not find this to be the case at all during either of our 2006 trips--we were running into them everywhere!

Did you try the Character Connection while at Epcot? You are virutally guaranteed to find the classics there with never more than a 15 minute wait.

 

[boettj]

Our last day in the parks was at MGM. The DS-7, and DD4 went of Tower of Terror. Then I took the DS-7 on Rockn' Roller Coaster. It was great.

The parade at MGM was very good. We normally skip this parade. This year we decided to go to it. I am glad we did.

Now the Osborne Light show. We went over to watch the show. Little did I know that we would be in it. When we got over there, we parked ourselves right near the switch. There were two photographers there, and another park official. I told my DW to ask who was turning the lights on. The park official told my DW that there was a woman walking around with scarf hats. It just so happens that she walked over a couple of minutes later. My DW explained that this was our last day of our vacation and could we turn the lights on?. She told us that would be great. I was thinking we would watch the DC do the honors. Oh no. It was a family thing. We all did it. It was a great experience. And the lights are unbelievable. To watch them dance to the music is terrific. I could have sat there all night and watched them while listening to the music.


To be honest, we did not know about the Character Connection at Epcot until our last day in Epcot.


We are home now. I will be processing the pictures over the next couple of days. Once I am done, I will add some to this thread.


Thanks all for listening to me talk about the ups and downs of our vacation. Overall this was a great vacation. Both my DW and I decided that we would not go this close to X-mas again. It just did not feel like X-mas for us. We are use to the cold and snow. It was odd walking around Disney in shorts with the X-mas decorations up. But that is us. If you have not been for it, then you need to go. It is worth it.



Take care for now.

 

[StormTigger]

...
One comment that I would like to make about this day off was that we went to Disney Quest. Our tickets are two years old with 3 options left on them. When I tried to use them at Disney Quest, I was told that you can not use them there. I was very surprised. However, since I told my son we could go, I paid the money.

Today when buying new tickets, we were told that our old tickets had three options left and that we could use them at the water parks, PI and Disney Quest. My DW was fumed. Can someone steer us right? ...

For the old tickets, the Plus option did not include DisneyQuest, just the water parks and PI. The 1st CM was actually correct. DQ wasn't added until they started the "Magic Your Way" tickets. ((I'm a former TDS CM who use to sale the tickets)).

Glad you had a great trip... wish I was there now!!!

 

[I'mNoPrince]

Jason

Just wanted to drop in and let you know we recieved the tree with no problems and left it for the next family.

We also really enjoyed our trip even through we had some real problems (my fault with personal stuff not Disney related at all).
Karma reared it's head and all worked out fine for usas we found and truned in a real nice camera on our MVMCP night only to find the lady and family looking for it later in the night.We took them to the store that we left it with to make sure they got it back.

We also most likely won't be going back at this time .Enjoy the MNSSHP and that time of the year a bit better.

Happy Holidays to all
Terrry

 

[boettj]

Here are our Pics. Yes I know it's X-mas. I am taking a break while the DK's are playing with their toys.



The boy at the SSR pool.

The girl at the Tea Party with her Pirate brother.

The boy on the Pirate Cruise.

MVMCP - As I mentioned this was the only character other than the parade we saw.