Still the One...27th Anniversary trip

[dvczerfs]

great trip report jim!! nice pics. cant wait for june, we will be staying at the contrmp. mk view again and realy looking forward to it. we may have been at the same candle light show. jodi did a great job. the clp is probley the main reason we go at that time of year. loooking forward to reading more.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

Okay - I am seeing scenes from "The Birds" with all of those little guys hovering on your balcony! That is too funny! And love the story of the little girl and the pin. Truly the Disney spirit at work there!

They were gone in a short while...but a bunch of them came back the very next day...just sat there...waiting.

great trip report jim!! nice pics. cant wait for june, we will be staying at the contrmp. mk view again and realy looking forward to it. we may have been at the same candle light show. jodi did a great job. the clp is probley the main reason we go at that time of year. loooking forward to reading more.

Thanks!

 

[Pjimmeyer]

Some parade pics. MSEP was nice to see again but I hope they bring back the regular parade soon.

Tinkerbell to lead things off.

Mickey Minnie and Goofey are in here somewhere...you could tell if I could take pictures worth a darn.

Alice

Cinderella

Pan and Hook

 

[Pjimmeyer]

Again I aplogize for the quality of some of the parade pictures. MSEP is a little harder for me to capture with the way they do the lighting and I am a total noob with photography.

Pete's Dragon

I'll stop here with the parade pics. Unfortunately not much is usable from the Pinochio and Snow White sections.

 

[BettyBeBop]

I think your parade pics are great!! Thanks!

 

[thechesters420]

Love your report so far

 

[seadd67]

Great report, I wish I can do half as good . Did you think CL was worth the extra$$.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

On Sunday the 12th we made it an Epcot day. After the late night with the second parade in the MK the night before, we slept in a bit. This was not always easy with our room immediately above Chef Mickey's, but leaving the fan running on the climate control was enough to mask most of the noise.

Step outside of our room and look down. "M i c...k e y...emmmm oooo uuuuu esssss eeeeeeeeeee." If you stay on the far end of the CR you might want to consider something to mask the noise for the mornings you sleep in.

A late start to the morning with just a bit of exploration around the world showcase before our noon ADR at the Biergarten. It was a rather blustery day ahead of an arctic front about to move through the area.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

I think your parade pics are great!! Thanks!

Love your report so far

Thank you very much!

Great report, I wish I can do half as good . Did you think CL was worth the extra$$.

Thats a good question. I will cover that a little more at the end, but the bottom line for us is no. Unless they throw another 40 or 45 percent room package discount at us that is likely the first and last time we stay at CL. Don't get me wrong, everything was fine. We had not complaints of any significance. Once you get the room and view you want in a deluxe resort I don't think it is really worthwhile to make another fairly sizeable jump up to club level prices. Just my opinion and I can certainly understand those who think otherwise.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

So as I mentioned...a late start to the morning with just a bit of exploration around the world showcase before our noon ADR at the Biergarten. It was a rather blustery day ahead of an arctic front about to move through the area.

From the quiet walkway in front of the old Horizons building. They need to do something more with this area again.

Somewhere around China.

The Biergarten is our second favorite place to eat at Epcot after Le Cellier. Its always fun to meet people at the large tables. This time we had fun talking with a nice couple from Ohio and some great folks from Florida. I spent 6 years in Germany growing up and both my and Sara's ancestry are almost all German. We LOVE the food and atmosphere there.

After lunch we headed back around to catch some of the rides in the front of the park. We hit the standards with Spaceship Earth...Mission Space (Orange of course)...Test Track...Soarin. We walked into Universe of Energy but walked back out. That was one that was always a must see when the kids were younger between the dinosaurs and the nice long break off your feet. Not so much now. We really enjoy making our own ride at Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions East and stopped by the Visa cardholder character spot for a quick picture with the gang at Innoventions West.

Then a stroll back around the World Showcase...we were headed for an Illuminations Cruise that we were sharing with some folks.

Norway story teller. I highly recommend not skipping these at Christmas time. Very fun and well worth the time at each pavillion.

The sun went down and it was getting cooooold fast! There is a corner of the DIS boards where you can arrange with other members to share the cost of an Illuminations Cruise. This is highly recommended! Depending on the size of the boat you can reduce the cost to around $35 or $40 per person. They take you on a short tour around the waterways outside of Epcot (the marina is behind the Yacht Club Resort) before anchoring just in front of the bridge at the entrance to the lagoon for the show. We met some great DIS folks and had a blast. Thank you Lisa for inviting us on your cruise! I'm sorry but I didn't take any pictures. It was just too cold on the water that night. The temperature was going to be a theme the next few nights.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

A few more Epcot photos left over:

The large villiage and train display near the German pavillion.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

On Monday the 13th we again slept in before heading to DHS. Since we slept in there was no TSM (fastpasses were gone and a 90 minute standby line when we got there) but everything else was pretty reasonable.

The highlights were later in the day when we had an early Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood & Vine. If its cold outside (and this day definitely qualified as cold) then that is not a great place to wait as the only waiting area is outside. We showed up at 345 pm for a 4 pm ADR but it wasn't until 430pm before we were seated. They seemed to be backed up with folks that were not very eager to get back out in the cold. Otherwise its not a bad buffet.

We were a little early for the first Fantasmic showing of the night. There was plenty of space as folks seemed to be leaving because of the cold (no real need for the dinner package this night). We really weren't prepared to stay warm enough for the showing and when a cold wind continued to blow into the theater from the direction of the stage we left about 10 minutes into the show. I absolutely hate leaving a show early, but even with hot chocolate we just couldn't stay warm enough. They actually completely ran out of hot chocolate shortly after we got ours. Its still a great show though, and the second half is much livelier than the first half.

Once we got into the shelter of the main part of the park again we decided we could stand the cold enough for a quick visit to the Osborne Family Lights on the other side of the park.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

When we got back to the room that night we noticed housekeeping again had some fun with our towels. Mousekeeping did a great job including the evening turn-downs. We made sure to leave a tip each day.

 

[dvczerfs]

nice pics. we stayed on the 11th floor last may and we sleep with the tv on at night so we are use to noise. i forget, i thinks its evey 15 min. they sing the mickey song. we also we on the mk view side and if you lay real still in bed and think about it, you can feel the bed shake when the monorail comes through. it was great!!! were going back.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

nice pics. we stayed on the 11th floor last may and we sleep with the tv on at night so we are use to noise. i forget, i thinks its evey 15 min. they sing the mickey song. we also we on the mk view side and if you lay real still in bed and think about it, you can feel the bed shake when the monorail comes through. it was great!!! were going back.

Thanks! In the past we have asked for the other end of the tower, but just left it to chance this time. No worries...its all part of the atmosphere along with the monorail. Always makes me wonder why people complain about the themeing at the CR. I mean you have Chef Mickey's...giant Mary Blair mural...big Fantasia Giftshop Mickey ears...assorted character topiary outside and for goodness sake the WALT DISNEY WORLD MONORAIL comes right through your resort. In my opinion any more themeing would be overkill.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks! In the past we have asked for the other end of the tower, but just left it to chance this time. No worries...its all part of the atmosphere along with the monorail. Always makes me wonder why people complain about the themeing at the CR. I mean you have Chef Mickey's...giant Mary Blair mural...big Fantasia Giftshop Mickey ears...assorted character topiary outside and for goodness sake the WALT DISNEY WORLD MONORAIL comes right through your resort. In my opinion any more themeing would be overkill.

I agree with everything you said about their theme and I guess it means more rooms will be available for those who don't like it.

Now if people want to talk about resorts with no theme they shouldn't look no farther then the Swan & Dolphin. While they are nice on the inside and outside after that I don't see what is so special about them.

 

[dvczerfs]

Thanks! In the past we have asked for the other end of the tower, but just left it to chance this time. No worries...its all part of the atmosphere along with the monorail. Always makes me wonder why people complain about the themeing at the CR. I mean you have Chef Mickey's...giant Mary Blair mural...big Fantasia Giftshop Mickey ears...assorted character topiary outside and for goodness sake the WALT DISNEY WORLD MONORAIL comes right through your resort. In my opinion any more themeing would be overkill.

i like getting up around 5am, open the room door, stand looking out over the grand canyon con. and listen to the birds chirp. nobody in sight its great. its the only "hotel" i ever stayed at and left the curtains open all night. my wife and i were like two little kids laying on the bed just watching the mk, the bus's coming and going the trucks coming and going it was just great. ive been a dvc member since 1999 and have no desire to stay in bay lake tower. id love to stay in one of the suites at the contemp. but its a bit out of my price range. if theres somrthing i didnt like there was the lack of elevators. at night when cm got going, it was hard to get on an elevator. the people going to cm would take them up and come down so by the time it hit the 11th floor, they were packed. but all in all, its the best resort on property. just waiting to score a ap disount again.

 

[Pjimmeyer]

Sorry for the delay in posting the Tuesday the 14th report (a cold morning in AK with our 2nd MVMCP). Work has been crazy the last few days. I'll have something new up in the next day or two.

 

[clandrum]

Just started reading tonight. Looking forward to hearing more. I must admit your pics of the birds have me a little scared for my first stay at the Contemporary.