THE MURPHYS are LIVE from the GF!!! (1/1/12-1/8/12)

[TigrLvsPooh]

Sort of a cool view of illuminations :

 

[OThopeful35]

Skillet dinner tonight at WCC :

Looks so yummy!! My son loves to ask for the ketchup!

 

[Stitch2244314]

Wow, thanks for the updates and great pictures!! I've always wanted to stay at the GF, and for our next trip we'd like to do a monorail resort, but really would need a discount or pin code. If we don't get one, we'll probably do a split stay at the GF or Poly (only for a few nights though, since rack rate is ridiculous!). Looking forward to your full review of the GF! Have a great rest of your trip!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We hit the studios early this morning! Got youngest ds in Jedi training!!! He was thrilled. We also got fp for toy story, the line was 100 minutes by 9:30. Weve done star tours, great movie ride, animation, our toy story Fp is next at 12:40! Staying for the Osborne lights tonight. Will post pics later.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Wow, thanks for the updates and great pictures!! I've always wanted to stay at the GF, and for our next trip we'd like to do a monorail resort, but really would need a discount or pin code. If we don't get one, we'll probably do a split stay at the GF or Poly (only for a few nights though, since rack rate is ridiculous!). Looking forward to your full review of the GF! Have a great rest of your trip!

A discount is a must! If you don't get a postcard check for a code.

 

[Stitch2244314]

A discount is a must! If you don't get a postcard check for a code.

Yes I will call to check if there are any pin codes attached! (once we are close to booking time) I sure hope there is one!

 

[MissPrice]

Hi Erika Great updates. Keep em coming...hope it warmed up for ya'll down there -Amanda

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I broke my #1 rule!!!! I was in the Studios from the time it opened until it closed. I never do that. But I promised DS10 we would go early so he could try to sign up for Jedi training. We got there around 8:40 AM thinking we'd be early but they had a "surprise" opening at 8:00, which I'm not sure I like. I understand it can be a great thing for the people who arrive super early, but its sort of not fair to those of us who are trying to plan our morning so we can do certain things. But it all turned out ok... we signed up at 8:45 and he was in the Noon show! At 9:00 we went over to Toy Story and the line was already 110 minutes, but we got a fastpass for 1:00, so that was good too. We spent the entire day in the park, dinner at Mama Melrose, then hopped the bus back to the GF just as Wishes was starting. We watched from Boca Chica and the view was perfect!!!!!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I also have to report tonight before I fall asleep how impressed I am with the staff here at the GF. Any thing we have called to request, rather it be an extra blanket, or whatever, they bring it immediately. We've called almost every day at least one time and the speed of service is amazing. We ran out of lotion, well actually its body butter here, and I called to ask for another one, within 5 minutes there was a castmember at the door with 4 bottles. I'm almost afraid to call again for anything else because they are so good to us.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Just uploaded a few more pics, wifi here is still slow!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Also meant to tell you that a castmember told me this morning they will have these "surprise" openings every morning this week. Not sure which parks, and I'm not sure why they are doing it, but they are open to everyone, not just disney resort guests.

 

[figmentfan0724]

Also meant to tell you that a castmember told me this morning they will have these "surprise" openings every morning this week. Not sure which parks, and I'm not sure why they are doing it, but they are open to everyone, not just disney resort guests.

thanks for the heads up! It will be good to know for friday, our first full day

 

[shellbelle]

Also meant to tell you that a castmember told me this morning they will have these "surprise" openings every morning this week. Not sure which parks, and I'm not sure why they are doing it, but they are open to everyone, not just disney resort guests.

I would not be happy about this either, unless I knew about it of course!

It would be a bummer to think you are getting there early only to find the park is open already. However, it could also work to your benefit depending on how many others got there early, too.

I wonder if this is something they plan on doing with the new promotion of more time in the parks?

Loving your report! Thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[NYTiz]

Also meant to tell you that a castmember told me this morning they will have these "surprise" openings every morning this week. Not sure which parks, and I'm not sure why they are doing it, but they are open to everyone, not just disney resort guests.

We experienced the same thing at DHS while we were there the week before Christmas. Opening was set for 9am, we got there for opening, went right to TSM to get fast pass and there was already a huge line. We got our fast pass by 9:20 and it was for 3:35-4:35! I was talking to one of the CMs and they said they had a "surprise" early opening. It was kind of annoying! And, by 10:07, the fast passes were gone!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Slept in late this morning.... headed to AK

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

All bundled up for the cold weather with Mickey and Minnie :

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

This picture cracks me up LOL Never have we been so bundled up in a photopass pic!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We enjoyed watching Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear dancing with the country bears

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Hello all! What a day!!!!!!!! I swear it just goes by so fast, one minute we are waking up, the next minute we are going to bed. We had another great day. AK wasn't too crowded, we were able to do EE, Dinosaur, Triceratops Spin, and Primeval Whirl. We tried to get on the safari but the wait was too long and fastpasses were all gone for the day. We had lunch at Flame Tree, just as good as it always is, and we saw the parade. Mom and I did more shopping, the kids played at the Dig site, so we got a lot of things done. We left around 5:00 to head back to the GF for a rest. We were supposed to have dinner tonight at Coral Reef but we really didn't feel like going back to Epcot, so we canceled and booked 1900 Park Fare instead. The kids loved the buffet, and even though I'm not a fan of buffets myself the salmon and beef tenderloin were both excellent. There were of course 100 screaming toddlers in tiaras all over the place but we had a table in the far back corner so it was a little more quiet. After dinner we went to MK and did Pirates, Small World, Peoplemover, and Buzz. Thunder and Space mountain were both closed for technical problems. We got back to the room around 11:00. Crowds were definitely a bit better today than earlier this week. But honestly this is the busiest first week of January I've ever seen in the 15 years we've been going to WDW. I'd say a majority of the people seem to be from Europe or Asia, I'm guessing Disney must have offered some really great deals to people from overseas. I don't think I've hardly seen an English speaking family at this hotel all week. I wonder what kind of deals they get??? It must be pretty good.

We did notice some marathon people are starting to arrive, and Disney has a lot of stuff already set up and ready for the races. Cones, barriers, medical tents, etc. DH is running the mini, luckily he runs right past the GF so we will go down to see him run by.

If you've been following my photobucket album I've been able to upload more pics. I let it run today while we were gone. The wifi is sooooooo slow its crazy. I've got another 100 or so pics running right now that will probably take all night.

Anybody have any questions about the parks? Or the GF?

There is a bounceback offer in our room. 35% off. Most of April and June are blacked out. Also all of July. But plenty of other weeks throughout the year.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]