The Polynesian - There and Back Again

[MickeyMaz]

Planning and Booking the Journey

I have debated putting together a Pre-Trip report. But then I figure that it must be done as another step in that ultimate Disney Planning Quest. So here I am, 15 days away from the day we return to Walt Disney World. I am planned out and will be using this as my therapy.

July 4th was the day I decided we would be going back to the World. I had just seen or read something about the Disney Dining Plan(1 pt.) and some of the cheaper rates in December(2 pts.). That started the tickle in the back of the skull. Well, we had always wanted to see the parks over the holidays(3 pts.). And, DS9 is just under the age of full adult prices for everything(4 pts.). We had just come into some cash(5 pts.) Not a lot, but enough to make the payments for a trip a little easier. Five very strong points that let me at least look at this a little more.

After a preliminary look at the Disney site and the AAA site I was able to price out a trip for the inexpensive side, Scopa Towers(Pop Century) and the expensive side, Wilderness Lodge. I showed both plans to the DW and was loving life when she agreed we should go expensive this trip. Again the 5 points above playing big factors.

Here are the stats: Family of four. DH41, myself. DW41, my better half(for if she reads this), DS9, the Disney expert, and DD6 our princess. We have been to WDW all together twice, once with my parents at Fort Wilderness and once off-site. Both trips were 3-4 day trips in the parks and then other locations in Fla. The wife and I have been to the parks other times. Target Dates for this trip are 12/6-12/12.

I went to visit our local AAA to see what kind of deal they could get us. Little bit of Bad a lot of Good news. They were able to come up with a great deal, much better than we were able to find on our own, but not at the Wilderness Lodge. There were no AAA packages for those dates at the WL. The agent was recommending the cabin’s at Fort Wilderness instead. I was thinking moderate now and she did some more searching. Lo and Behold, she found a spot at the Polynesian, Garden View, for $100 more for the entire week than the WL would have been and still a lot cheaper than I could find. I called the DW and we jumped at it.

Dec 6, arriving 9:20am at MCO with Magical Express service. Never used it and I needed to do a little research in that. We are staying at the Polynesian with the DDP for six nights. We are leaving on Dec 12 at 7:50 pm. Based on those arrival and departure days I opted for seven days worth of tickets with the Park Hopper.

This seemed like it happened so fast, especially finding ourselves set-up for the Polynesian. Once the trip was booked I went over the dates we and I had been to the parks. The one date that really stuck out was the first trip I made with my family, November 1976. To cap it off, we stayed at the Polynesian then also. There and back again thirty years later. It was a different World back then in all senses of the word.

Sorry for the lack of excitement, but I wanted to share our planning experience in the hopes of helping you with something we did right or helping you avoid something we did wrong.

More Pre-Trip coming up soon.

Thanks,

Maz

 

[tubachick]

Everything sounds good to me!!!

Sounds like you got a good deal with AAA. Did you give them a date range or see what they had available?

Can't wait to hear about your trip.

 

[OhMari]

I don't think you have a "lack of excitement".

Have a great trip and have a great time.

 

[MickeyMaz]

Thanks for the cool comments.

The next step in our planning process was to learn everything we wanted to know about the Disney Dining Experience but were afraid to ask. The only time we had done anything like this was on our Honeymoon so long ago. As I might have mentioned we stayed at the Grand Floridian and the plan was great. It was billed as an all inclusive plan at the time. I don’t even think we made reservations for dinner ever. I also seem to remember that lobster was included because we had some form of it at every meal. It was the honeymoon after-all.

From the Disney web site, we saw we can make reservations 180 days out, so it was time to figure out what we wanted to do. We have 6 days worth of Dining to plan. The way I understood it, there was 6 Table Service, 6 Counter Service and 6 snack vouchers per person for our stay. The things I am keeping in mind for most part while choosing the restaurants are: 1. Menu, 2. Where it is, and 3. Kids Menu. Some of the kids menus can be very limited and DS9 can tend to be very picky. The rest of us are pretty easy as to menus. DW's only concern for a sit down dinner is that it is not be rushed or somewhere very physically crowded. A restaurant can be crowded but there is plenty of room at your table. Or you can be bumping chairs. We prefer the first.
The first two decisions were where the character breakfast was to be and if we wanted to do any dinner shows. We decided on the Polynesian’s Ohana’s for the character breakfast. The kids are Lilo and Stitch fans so that would work out great 1(ts). And on the selfish side again, the thought of rolling out of bed, showering and walking to our character breakfast is pretty cool also.
We also decided to do the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. Two reasons, first, we went to the Polynesian’s Luau a couple years ago and although the show was great, the food was pretty nasty. It could have been just that night, but why chance it. The second reason was the last time I was at the Hoop-dee-doo revue was on the trip in ’76. Remember the title? There and Back again. We had a blast then and none of the reviews I read or stories I have heard have ever said anything bad about this show. 2(ts) We would also be able to take a boat over to Fort Wilderness pretty easily from the Magic Kingdom.

I want to take a minute to thank all of the Web Masters that run Disney Fan Websites and to those who run the Disney Podcast sites. You guys and girls have been invaluable in getting me up to speed about all that is new in WDW. If you have not heard of Podcasts, they were created loosely for I-Pods, hence the name. There are a number of WDW Podcasts, but I mainly listen to 5-6 different shows. WDWToday, MouseTunes, Inside the Magic, and Trapped on Vacation being my favorites. I might talk about it later but it was fun to find out we are, by coincedence, going to be down in WDW during Mousefest. My Mousefest pins are due in the mail Saturday. Down geek, down.

Back to the DDP reservations. After the Character Breakfast and the Hoop-Dee-Doo we still have three TS meals left. I wanted to schedule one for Epcot and since we can use a TS for the Candlelight Processional package we would do so. The down side to this was the CP schedule times were not set by 180 days. There were also to be changes for the package for 2006. To be safe, we made reservations at the Living Seas 1(ts) at 6:30 on the third day we are going to be there. That way we could see the CP show at 5:00 and then walk over to dinner. The show, from what I read, lasts 30-45 minutes. More about this later. That left two TS’s. We decided that we would try the 50’s Prime Time at MGM 1(ts) and that left one T.S. For this last TS, we decided on Ohana’s 1(ts). We have heard so much about this place and since we were staying there, this was a natural. For the CS meals, I plan on going over the menus that AllEarsnet have and finding at least 3-4 good CS places per park. That way we can decide on the fly where to eat. Next, more of the daily schedules and what we're planning on doing in the parks.

Thanks,

Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

Our next step was to set-up a schedule. I went into this promising myself that I would not micro-manage. What we did want to do was to try to set-up each day with a loose idea of where we want to be and when. Here it goes:

Day One: This is a tough day. We arrive in Orlando early. Even so, I do not have us doing anything until about 1:00. If we luck out and our room is ready, we will get into the room and maybe have the kids take a Nap(yeah right). But, they have been up since 5:00 am. Our first thought for today had been Animal Kingdom since they have Extra Magic Hours at night. This idea was nixed when we found out that the Magic Kingdom has Spectromagic that night. So we hit Magic Kingdom by 1:00 and start touring left through Adventure Land. Our goal is to get to the cross over between Adventureland and Frontierland and get set for the parade. We’ve watched the parade here before. It is great, the characters are fresh and the parade ends here first so we can get on with the rides. We will keep going through the Magic Kingdom until time for Spectromagic and wishes. We have no main sites for watching these but I have never watched a parade in the Liberty Square area. We’ll see. The only change I for-see for this is if DD6 is insistent on not watching the fireworks. We have ear-plugs, but if so we will leave after Spectromagic and will probably watch around Mainstreet. It would be nice to time the boat back to the Poly to maybe catch wishes on the ride. As for eating, the plan is for CS at Capt. Cooks or in the MK. Dinner in MK, nothing specific.

Day Two: Today is another Magic Kingdom day. They have EMH in the morning today and I, not so much we here, plan on being at rope drop. I can’t wait. It’ll be the first time. We plan to start with Tomorrowland and move towards Fantasy Land. The only restriction we have today is kind of part of the issue with making ADR’s so far out. I had made 5:15 reservations for Ohana’s on this day. I figured they were going to kick us out at 7:00 because there is a Very Merry Christmas party that night. We could eat at the hotel and maybe catch some of the 6:00 fireworks while eating(if we luck out with a good seat). Well, we found out about a month ago that thru AAA we have vouchers for a Story Reading time with a Disney Character such as Aladdin. This takes place at 4:30 and makes our reservation at Ohana’s tight. I tried to call a couple times to move the reservation but no luck. I plan on stopping by the restaurant on Day 1 and talk to the manager, maybe he/she can help us out if they know before hand. The other problem I figured out is that since the Storybook time is at 4:30 at the Exposition Hall, we would need to be down there before the parade begins. At least be on that side of the street. Otherwise, I am not sure we would be able to cross in time for this. After dinner today is a toss-up. It’ll be around 6:30/7:00 so Epcot or touring the grounds is on the plate. If we stay at the Poly, 9:00 Electrical Water parade and MVMCP Wishes at 9:30. If Epcot a ride or two and then Illuminations. Or, bed. We’ll see how everyone is doing. Today we plan on eating Breakfast on the way out of the room and early lunch at Cosmic Ray’s.

Day Three: We might have had our first taste of Epcot last night, but today is the Epcot day. We plan to be at the park at opening and then to head towards the Land and Sea pavilions. After that we’ll see. As I mentioned above, the Rules for the Candlelight Processional have changed. Because of the kids we wanted to see the 5:00 show. To see this you need to make a reservation between 12:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon and then go to the show. You will get your passes for the show at dinner/lunch. We will work our way thru Future World and then towards Canada for Lunch at 2:00 at Le Cellier. We also just heard that the Wonders of Life pavilion will be open. That will be a must see. After Lunch we will work our way towards the American Pavilion for the CP show. After the show we will decide if we should go back to the hotel for a couple of hours or hang out. Epcot has EMH pm hours tonight and it will be open to 12. We will then finish the night with illuminations. We can push today a little as tomorrow is our ‘day off’. Breakfast maybe a CS at Sunshine Grill in the land while we are there or at Capt. Cooks before leaving the hotel. With a 9:00 Epcot opening time we can relax a little in the morning. Dinner is up in the air. We’ll see when we get hungry again after lunch.

Day Four: Today is our day off. Day off from the parks that is. Today is the Ohana Character Bkfast at 9:20. Can you say sleep in? Then we have nothing until 4:30 at the Hoop-Dee-Doo revue. Today will be a discussion then. Warm enough to swim? We could go to Down Town Disney. Or, as an outside favorite, go to the Meg-Mousefest meet at the Swan/Dolphin. This is a late night for the Magic Kingdom so we might go there after the Hoop-Dee-Doo. If we need lunch. It’ll be OOP or Planet Hollywood. We have free lunch vouchers from AAA for there.

Day Five: Wow, that stinks. I just had a twinge of the ‘trip is almost over’ feeling and I am just writing the pre-trip report. Today is our MGM day. Brkfast will be out of the room. Kinda of a dilemma as to which way to go on going into the park. Right to the big rides or left to the kid rides. Hmmm. It’ll be a choice then. Would like to have lunch at the Pizza Planet and have and ADR at 50’s primetime. It’ll also be a toss-up between Fantasmic or the Osborne Family lights. I heard it is tough to do both in one day. But the CM’s might let you still go back there after Fantasmic even thought the park is closing. I plan on asking a CM about this. I would like to do Fantasmic first if we have a choice. Since we are done with MGM by 7:00 we can go to the hotel, Downtown Disney, or MK which is open until 11:00.

Day Six: Did you note the lack of Animal Kingdom up till now. Well today is the day. Today is EMH am hours and we plan to stay in the park until about 3 or 4. Parade? Maybe. Today we will go left after entering the park and fastpass Everest if necessary. Then tour around. We have heard about Nemo and would like to see it. We will play today by ear. We can leave AK and go to MGM which has EMH pm hours. We have no meal plans for today so it will be Counter services for dinner and lunch. Brkfast will be out of the room or Capt. Cooks.

Day Seven: This is the last day. Bummer. We have a late flight and will not need to go to the airport until 4:30 in the afternoon. I figure we will make it easy and go to either MK or Epcot. If there is a need to go somewhere else we will do that also. Meals are up in the air, but I am sure we will have a number of CS’s to use. And that is it.

Thanks for putting up with the planning babble. I hope this helped, as therapy it was great for me.

6 days and counting. Hope everyones trip goes well. I’ll up-date if I remember anything I missed and when I get back.

Thanks
Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

Well, if all goes well we will be landing at MCO at this time tomorrow. Bags are packed and so is the carry-on stuff. We decided since it is an early flight tomorrow to stay at a hotel near the airport tonight. It was $65 to park at a lot for the week. It cost $99 to stay at the hotel and leave the car there for the week and take their shuttle and wake up an hour later. Easy decision.

The kids got their last gifts from Santa's 'Travel Agent Elf' today. In a nutshell, we had the kids write a letter to Santa in the fall asking if we can go to WDW instead of having a lot of gifts for Christmas this year. They were all for it and Santa's reply said of course, yes and that he had a 'Travel Agent Elf' that would take care of everything. He also asked them to be good and save money for the trip. He then mentioned that his 'Travel Agent Elf' would visit every week or two see if they were saving their change. If they were, the change was taken away and replaced with Disney $$$'s.

This worked out well enought that the elf has left small disney items like pens, journals and trading pins to trade at the parks.

So, what did I forget? I am ready to stop asking that question and just deal with whatever comes up down there. Wow, it's like I need a vacation or something after all of this planning.

See ya,

Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

We are back. Sigh! But on the good side I will be posting the begining of the trip report tonight or tomorrow. We did very well. No Year of a Million Dreams prizes, but a great trip none the less. When you go, do not miss the Osborne Family lights or the tree lighting at Epcot.

 

[MickeyMaz]

Here we go. Please, let me know if there are any questions.

12/5 Tonight is the first night away from home. We are at the Days Inn near the Philadelphia airport. The hotel is nice and we plan on leaving the van at the hotel for the week. $107.00 for the night and the week. $13.00 for BLT and Chicken Salad Sand. We are due to get up at 4:00. God Willing.
Packing was hectic and I think I left my phone at home. DW brought both of hers.

12/6 Wow today was long. We woke up at 4:00 and needed to make the 4:30 shuttle to get to the airport two hours early for our 7:00 flight. We made the shuttle and made the flight. Security was tight. Shoes off, PC out, keep track of the kids. Our seats on the plane were not that bad. DW and DD6 and DS9 sat together. I was across the aisle. Normal flight. I re-read the Magical Express brochure on the flight and realized that I put the yellow labels on the bags wrong. I hoped we would see the bags again. We did.
We landed and made it to the Magical Express counter. A bunch of us from Philly were following each other. We made it and were the only ones in the line for the Polynesian. Got put on the bus and the ride was great. We watched a movie on the ride about the parks. We were the first stop on the lake loop. We checked in and got our room. Requested Samoa third floor, got Niue first floor 1701. Awesome room. Big bathroom, big room. My DS9 wanted me to make sure that I mentioned the big flat screen TV. I pointed out that we will not be watching TV much. He said , oh. We had a small porch out the sliding glass door. A fridge also.
I am getting ahead of myself. We checked in and the room was not ready so we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. Dropped our extras off at the Bell Station and jumped on the monorail. We got to the park, went through security and headed down mainstreet. We stopped at VMK Central and DS9 turned in a prize he got from VMK a while ago and they gave him 500 credits. VMK is an online Disney game. It is very cool. From there we went to Casey’s for some dogs. Good food but expensive. This was OOP so we knew how much it hurt. While we were eating we had two shows. The first was a very talented Piano player. He was playing outside Casey’s and he was good. The second was the Year of a Million dreams show in front of Cinderella’s castle. Then onto Adventureland. We went through the Swiss family Robinson house and then the jungle cruise. Same old cruise. Kids liked it though. After this we went to the Tiki Room. It was cool because we sat in the back row for the first time. We got to see a bunch of things we have not seen before including the crooning flowers and singing tiki masks. After this we, I mean they, went on Aladdin’s magic carpet ride. In my old age I am getting more and more against spinning rides. They loved it and I took a couple of pictures.
We went on Pirates next. The new effects were great. Jack Sparrow looked good. After this we walked to Frontierland to ride Splash mountain but it was closed. At this time the kids were getting antsy. They had been up since four and were fading fast. We went back to the hotel via monorail. The kids and DW swam in the pool for about an hour and then we got changed and went over to Capt. Cooks for dinner, a CS rest. We had a burger some chicken fingers and a pulled pork sandwich. Mmmmm.

After dinner we took the boat to the Magic Kingdom to see the Spectromagic parade. Great as always. We sat on main street across from the cinema. About 15 minutes before the parade, a couple of CM’s brought all the kids who would go into the middle of the street and they also dragged a parent with them, DW was on-deck for the parent type event. They danced the Hokey Pokey and a couple of other dances. The Spectromagic parade is great. The music always sends a spark of excitement through me. All the regulars were in the parade. After the parade we decided to go back. We were bushed. Tried to take the monorail but it had broken down. So we eased off the line and took the boat back again. This was a major Monorail malfunction. They closed the platform and this was the MK. I hope they had it fixed before the Fireworks crowd gets out. We took the boat back and watched the fireworks from the Polynesian dock. Not too be missed. We went back to the room, checked our pictures for the day and after that it was too bed. All asleep before 9:00.

Day 2 coming up.

Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

12/7 Today is Pearl Harbor day. I should have know as much. Every flag on property was at half mast. We went to the Magic Kingdom today and were there for the rope drop for the eight o’clock EMH opening. Now I know where the Character Breakfast podcast gets in opening song from. There were not a lot of people there for the opening. Once in we bee lined it, at DS9’s request to Fantasyland and went on everything there by 9:00. First time we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic. I think it should have it’s name changed to Donald’s Philharmagic. No other major things happened there and we then headed over to Tomorrowland. I was able to convince the kids that waiting on-line for Indy 500 was a waste of time. We will try it later in the week. We took a break and ate at Cosmic Ray’s. Before though, I stopped and got a Fastpass for Space Mountain. While there I asked about the child-swap. The CM explained it to me and began to give me one. I told him the info was for later but he insisted on giving it to me so I took it.
At Cosmic Rays, DS9 had corn-dog nuggets and DD6 had chicken fingers. DW and I split the chicken and Ribs combo. Very Good. Two things. First, the food is good at CR’s but the split menus need to stop. Even the kids meals were different between stations. If you don’t know, CR’s has three counters with different choices at each. If you have kids with different taste…Good Luck. Second, I was overcharged a CS credit for the lunch when I got mine/DW and DD’s meals. I had the manager on the floor fix it. I only noticed it because at the top right of the receipt it says how many guests. It said three when I had ordered two meals. Another odd thing. When I got DS’s nuggets, the Guest number was 0. And the credits remaining was 19. Hmm. Three meals at Captain Cooks day one and three today at CS’s. That is six. Six from 24 = 18. Our credits showed 19 remaining. Not sure if I am right or not. I’ll let you know later on.
One more note about Cosmic Ray’s, the entertainment is great. His name is Sonny Eclipse and his lounge act is great, cheesy but great. After lunch we decided the kids were not going to ride Space Mountain(SM) so DW and the kids went to Toontown and I went to ride SM. Fastpass was a quick walk up front and on. 10 minutes from walking into SM until I walked out. I gave away the child swap ticket. We were not going to use it and the stand-by line was outside the building.

I met up with the family after they had seen Mickey and we decided to pack it in for the hotel. It was 1:00 and we had been in the park for 5 hours and needed to come back later for the Storytelling. We went back to the hotel and the kids and I went swimming while DW took a break. We headed back to the park and walked in on the Exposition side just as the parade was beginning to make the turn from mainstreet around the circle. Perfect. When the parade was over we had a little time to waste before the AAA storytelling began. DW shopped and I went into Exposition hall with the kids. I had heard they had picture cut-outs to take pictures with. They were right. A steamboat Willy, Dalmatians, Seven Dwarfs and a Buzz light year ‘set’ were there. Pictures looked great.

Story time began and Aladdin was our storyteller. He was great. Did I say great? He was Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat. Very good with the kids and the story. The best part, since it was a story about him and the princess, he kept saying “????? and I”. And, “we decided to do something”. Very much in character. We were done by 4:45. Plenty of time to get to Ohana’s for dinner. Another note about the park. It looked great decorated for Christmas.
Ohana’s was a fun time. We walked in as they were having the coconut races. Food was OK. Unless I am not used to smoked food, it tasted a little like BBQ lighter fluid. The Apps and sides were great. The dessert was very good. DS got up for the limbo parade. The best part of dinner was that we were able to watch Wishes from our table. I had made these reservations with that very idea in mind and was very happy that we were seated looking at the MK. After dinner, DW and the kids played it easy and took showers and went to bed. It was 7:15 and I had some time to go to Epcot. I was able to ride Mission space twice, Nemo, Test Track, and Spaceship earth. I also found the walk-way to the Poly from the transportation Center. Once back I stopped by the room and then hit the arcade. The machines don’t take money. You put a credit card in a machine and buy points which are put on a card the machine gives you to play the games. I would say and above average hotel arcade.

Look for our next day at Epcot.

Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

12-8 Today is our first day away from the Magic Kingdom. We went to Epcot this morning. We were able to get there about 15 minutes before rope drop. It was odd, because we were not let past the ticket takers until 9:00. Then we were stopped at a rope past innoventions. This lasted five minutes before Mickey and friends showed up and welcomed us to the park. Quick footnote. The Christmas decorations were great. I had seen a lot of them lit up the night before when I went into the park by myself. The kids had been too tired to do anything. I was able to get through, Mission space both times on orange, Test Track. Gotta love the single rider line. Also the new Nemo ride. And of course Spaceship Earth on the way out. Not bad fro 1.5 hours there and back. Anyway, as the rope dropped we all headed over to Soarin’. What I mean by all of us was the 500 or so people there for the opening of the park. The night before it was the only ride that had a 45 minute wait. I walked onto Mission Space and Nemo but the wait was on Soarin’. That made it easy to decide what to do. The thing that was cool was the the CM’s were walking in a line ahead of us. That kept people from running. Again, very cool. We were on the first ride of Soarin that day. Mission accomplished. It was an awesome ride. We hit the fastpass on the way off. While waiting we went on Living with the Land and the Circle of Life show. Sad to say that we did not even miss the boat driver. They have been replaced by a recording. We then went back to Soarin. I guess because it was still early, the fastpass return time was only about a ½ hour. The first time we were in the second row. It was very distracting seeing peoples feet dangling in front of us, but in the first row, no feet. Again Soarin’ was awesome. While on line, we heard some bad news. It seems that the Nemo ride was closed. Now, I sure can’t tell the kids I went on it last night. We decided to go the the Living Seas anyway to see Turtle Talk with Crush. On the way over, as we were watching the mine mine mine seagulls a CM was just taking down the rope to the ‘closed Nemo ride. We walked onto Nemo. The kids loved it. I was a little disappointed. The animation was good and the line decorations were great. It looked like there was a Long toothed fish prop that appeared to be broken. I had also thought there would have been more scenes with real fish. On the good side was the starfish at the end. I wanted to hear more of her banter. Also, the night before, in one of the scenes with the real fish, a Dolphin swam by. Very cool. We were let off right near the queue for Turtle Talk. It was a huge line but the CM said only about 20-30 minutes. We waited and she was right. The show is great. DS9 was called on first and was able to talk to Crush for a couple of lines. I was able to get a little video of this. The rest of the show was good. We left the seas with kind of a shock. The line for Nemo, which we basically breezed through 45 minutes earlier was now out the door. If you have seen the length of the queue for this ride inside you would be amazed they would be able to fill it so fast.
Our next stop was Wonders of Life. The pavilion was spotless inside. I seem to remember that it was a little beat up the last time we were there, but it seemed almost new now. Kind of a shame since they would be closing this for good soon. Also, for as crowded as the Living Seas and the Land were, this place was empty. There were maybe 50 people in the whole place. We walked on Cranium Command. Great show. The kids liked it but as the show began there was an announcement. It appeared that the left eye was not working. They said that the 12 year old boy had an accident and had an eye patch on. We passed on Body wars and The Making of Me and decided to head towards Test Track. It was getting close to our 1:50 ADR at Le Cellier and we wanted to head that way. We got to Test Track and found that there was a big wait. We had gotten fastpasses for all before going to the Wonders of Life pavilion. However, DS9 and DD6 were not into it and we gave away the fastpasses and headed to Canada. Once there we had a little time to kill so we saw O’ Canada. It was a good 360 degree movie. It was time to go to Lunner(Lunch/Dinner) so we went down to the restaurant. It was the best meal so far. Very good. I had the NY strip(Scopa Special) and DW had the filet. The kids had the standard kid’s fare, chicken nuggets and pizza. I think everyone should see O’canada before eating here. It gives the menu a little background. We got our Candlelight Processional tickets and then we started walking around WS. DS9 and I had made a list of Smashed penny machines so we can collect one of Mickey the whole way around the park. We also took a look around as we passed though UK, France, Morrocco and japan. We ended up on line in front of Japan for the CP at 4:30. Across from the American Experience there is where the stage was. We got in and sat in the third row toward the middle. Perfect, or so I thought. If I did it again, I would take a row further back. It’ll let you see more at once. Not a complaint , though. This was such a great show. The orchestra filed in followed by the chorus and then Brain Denehy. This was a great show. We will do this again someday. It ran about 35-45 minutes and again was very good. Mr. Denehy was outstanding. Someone in line with us mentioned how Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell and Dancing with the Stars (heh) fame was the previous speaker. The story was he was a little bit of an idiot while doing his run of the show. It seems he was text messaging during the musical parts of the show. If this is true, shame on you Mario. Can you say coal in you stocking for Christmas, Mario?
When the show ended, we made the decision to stick it out a couple hours for illuminations. So we continued the tour of WS with a stop in the American Experience. Great as always thanks to Mr. Franklin and Mr. Clemens. DD6 got a lot out of it. We continued our walk thru WS with a stop at Italy. Very nice. We walked through the buildings and shops and moved on to Germany. The kids liked the railroad at night. Especially how it was decorated for Christmas with all of the Christmas lights and a big Christmas tree in the town center. We walked past the African Outpost and onto china. China was a treat this time. I always remember it as being a nice exhibit inside the building in China, but this time it was amazing. First of all they had a display of about 100 Terra Cotta soldiers. All lined up as they were excavated in china complete with horses. There was one in the store next to the exhibit. It was about two feet tall with a movable head. I would have thought it’s cost would be out of range but it was $60.00. Not bad. I debated getting it and shipping it home. Could not come up with a place I would display it so no go. We saw this while waiting for the Chinese movie to begin. While waiting, a group of Chinese acrobats entertained us. 5 kids were doing a bunch of tumbling moves with open ended tubes. The tube was about two feet high and were wide enough to let the guys fit their butt inside it. This was a big part of the act, by doing stunts inside and outside of the tubes. The second act was an older guy standing on a board on a cylinder. Very hard to do. His act was flipping bowls from the board onto his head. He did one, two, three, four, five, and six at a time. He had about 20 something bowls on his head by time he was done. The third act was the little guys coming back on to jump rope. They were doing flips over the rope, jumping on each other’s shoulders and jumping through the rope and other things. They got a standing O at 8:30 pm from a very tired Epcot crowd, awesome. The China movie was the same as always but the kids liked it and they got to see a little bit of china. The next country was Norway. Norway is a nice country. We did not do the Maelstrom. It was incredibly crowded for the Holiday storyteller. We did not see too many story tellers this trip. We will make up for it next year.
The next stop in the world was Mexico. I love the Mexican pavilion. It has always been special. We had the best time here on our Honeymoon. The atmosphere is so relaxing in here. The glass artist is fun to watch. The River of Time is pleasant and follows the relaxing theme also. I am not sure if I mentioned it, but DS9 and I were collecting pressed pennies from around the world. We were able to find a list of machine locations for each country. We got all but Mexico and China. The Mexican machine was broken and the China machine could not be found. We asked a couple of CM’s but no luck. It was nice to see other families doing this as well. Kids love it. As we were leaving Mexico, DD6 tried on one of the Sombreros. It was a classic moment. It was perched on her head as I was getting the camera ready and then it just slid down to her neck. All you could see was the hat on her shoulders. Like I said, Classic.

We had some time before Illuminations began so we hightailed it over to Figment ride. On the way we got our extra magic hours bracelets. All this time I had heard that there were a couple of versions of Figment and this one sucked. It did. Nuff, said. It was also nice to know that I have seen the good version and remember it well.

We watched illuminations from the Canada side of WS. Not a bad spot. Not the front row, but we saw all of it. It was a very good fireworks/laser/fire show. Nice to see my company, Siemens, is pumping cash into Disney. Nice segway here because we started out of the park with the intention of riding Universe Energy and Spaceship Earth. Spaceship earth is also sponsored by Siemens. Anyway, Universe of Energy was closed so it was onto spaceship Earth and out of the park. After we got back to the room, we took a look at our pictures and video from the day, and fell asleep watching the Polar Express. I would have to say, except for it not getting above 55 degrees today, it was a perfect day. All of our plans worked out well. Thanks, DW, DD, and DS.

 

[MickeyMaz]

Hello all, back with our next day at the World:
Any comments?

12/9. Today is our day off, heh. We slept in and made it to Ohana’s for breakfast with Lilo and Stich at 9:30. It was a good breakfast. The other two characters making the rounds were Pluto and Mickey. Everyone had a blast. Autographs and pictures all around. I liked this meal a lot better than the other night’s dinner. For our day off we decided to go to Downtown Disney. Nothing special about this trip. We had a couple of pretzels. And the kids and Lesley made some candy treats at Goofy’s Candy shop. Hope customized a caramel apple with white chocolate and crushed oreo cookie. Quinn customized some pretzel rods with chocolate and white chocolate drizzle and Lesley had the marshmallows customized with Dark Chocolate and crushed m&ms.
We made it back to the hotel in time to change and get over the Hoop-dee-do revue over at Fort Wilderness. We took the monorail over to the MK and a boat to FW. We got there a ½ hour before dinner as we were told. We could have gotten there later if need be. We checked in at 4:30 and sat around outside until 5:00. This was the hands down best show we have been too. The food was good the show was great. Six entertainers put on a good ol show. We had Fried Chicken, ribs, corn on the cob Baked beans and Ma’s strawberry shortcake for dessert. After this we went back by boat to the magic kingdom. DW went back to the hotel to do some laundry and the kids and I went to the magic kingdom. We wanted to see the fireworks in the park and another viewing of Spectromagic would be a bonus. I had found a spot near the Tomorrowland noodle station down on the water the other day which would be great for wishes. We waited for the parade across from Casey’s where the pathway to tomorrowland begins. They need to keep that crosswalk open so no-one can sit there for the parade. By standing back by the wall we were able to see thru that window on the curb perfectly. After the Parade, DD6 had a little bit of a break-down and did not want to wait for the fireworks, so we left. By the way, the perfect spot was roped off as a AAA VIP fireworks watching area. At least I have good taste in picking spots. Here is where I gotta thank the DD here. If it was not for here wanting to leave we would have missed the Discovery launch. The space shuttle took off at 8:47ish. As we were walking to the boat to go back to the hotel we noticed people looking towards the Space Mountain area. And then we saw it. A long yellow trail of flames as the shuttle took off into space. After about a minute we saw the yellow go away as the boosters fell away. We could barely make that out. The cheers that were going up all around sounded different than the cheers and yells form inside the parks. Prouder, happier kinds of yells. There were a lot of us watching, hoping there would be no problems and there were none. It was an incredible site I will never forget it. So thanks honey. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep after looking over some of the pictures from that day.

Quick note here, every night after the parks we formed a kind of routine when we got back to the room. Kids get in there pj’s asap and then we look at the pictures and video we took over the day. We also talk about what we are going to do the next day and then fall asleep to the ABC family channel. Twice this week we saw the Polar Express. That movie will forever on make me think of our Disney Trip. All of us un-winding from the day and falling asleep.


Look for another day of our trip tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks,

Maz

 

[OhMari]

I see that you are back. I am going to move you over to the regular Trip Report Board and if you complete it like a good DIS'er after a few weeks, we move it to the completed Board.

I know it sounds dumb, but there are so many unfinished reports out there, it is nice when we can move completed ones to that board.

OhMari

 

[MickeyMaz]

A Couple of Pics, now that I know how, to liven up the post. Be Kind.

Here is the Family. All smiles on the Magical Express Bus on the way to the Hotel.

An official greeting from Goofy in front of Tony's in the Magic Kingdom

Piano Player at Casey's Hot Dog Stand in the Magic Kingdom. He was very good!

This photo opprtunity just struck me as too funny to pass up. The Dapper Dans catching a ride down Main Street. Polyester anyone?

I'll be posting pictures with the rest of my trip report.

Maz

 

[MickeyMaz]

12/10 Today is the MGM day. We wanted to get to the park by 8:30 for the 9:00 opening, but the bus was late. We got to the park after opening and headed to the Little Mermaid first. We walked into the show. Even with the bus being late, we got to our first ride with no line. Actually we made it to Playhouse Disney and the Stunt show with no wait. Playhouse was the same as always with less bear. We always used to watch Bear when the kids were smaller. I love the good-bye song with Luna. Winnie the Pooh and Stanley also made appearances. The stunt show was very impressive. It seems that MGM is sticking to the concept of the movies and how they are made. This show was cool to watch because we got to see how they do all manner of car stunts. Just the way they designed the stunt cars was very cool. We left the Stunt show and worked our way over to the Muppet show and stopped at Pizza Planet for an early lunch. We have 4:00 50’s Prime Time ADR’s and wanted to get an early lunch. I was impressed with Pizza Planet in that the food was good. The pizza’s were Boboli like and the salads were good. We were able to get two combos for the four of us. One vegi pie and one plain pie. We also had to play a couple of the arcade games inside before moving on. We went to the Muppet show next and loved it as always. This was the first time we saw the key under the rug by ticket booth and we saw the net full of Jello(Annette Funicello) in the pre-show. We sat in the front row and had a close encounter with Sweet-ums as he was looking for the lost rabbit. From here we went to the Indian Jones show. Nothing new with this show. We tried to get picked as the volunteer, but no luck. Show was the same as always. I think the last time we were down there the plane was not working. None of us remember it from the show last time. Other than that, the show was the same. On the way out and over to the Beauty and the Beast show next. This was another very well done show. It is not surprising to hear that people that perform in these shows perform on Broadway also. First class all the way. I was able to get a quick ride on the Tower of Terror at this point. Wait time said 5 minutes. It was less. Walked right into the TV room and then walked right on to an elevator. Another quick note. With the lines being so small on most rides, I almost miss the detail that the Imagineers pour into the ride Queues. Almost, that is. I like small lines. The next thing to do was to get ready for the parade. Here is another podcast tip that played out.(Matt from WDWtoday) We sat near where they have the TV celebrity busts near the Drew Carrey Sound show. Perfect spot and not crowded. The parade was nice and Christmassy. A nice point was where the Power Rangers made a big deal about a little guy dressed as the Red Ranger. They all did their karate moves and poses with him before the parade moved them on. It’s always nice when the characters go out of their way for their fans. After the parade we went to Sounds Dangerous show. This attraction takes place mostly in the dark, you get to hear what is going on. Very cool hands on things to do on the way out of the building also.

After this we went on Star Tours. DS9 was dead set against this but, for the second time this trip we forced him to go on a ride. This time the results were great. He loved it and we went on two more times. A quick note about personalities here. When we were in Epcot in China and were reading about the Chinese zodiac. We found out that the DW and I are year of the Snake. While DS is the Year of the Ox and DD is year of the Dragon. The Dragon is adventurous and must do everything almost to the point of hurting herself. While Ox is steady and stubborn and reliable. And, would’nt you know it, while they are both compatible to the Snake(us), they are not compatible to each other, go figure. So, to get DS on a ride he was set against was a surprise in itself. Wait until you see DD6 on our last day. A true Dragon. Moving on. After our mini-marathon on Star tours it was time to get to dinner. We were 5 minutes late for our 4:00 Adr and did not want to do anything to get the ‘Mom type Waitresses’ over at the 50’s Prime Time any madder at us than necessary. Didn’t matter. We sat down to eat at 4:45. Fun waiting area though. This whole restaurant yells Grandma’s house. DD found a hidden mickey while waiting. The table’s in the waiting area are held together with Mickey Shaped brackets. Dinner was good, but a lot. Steak and Meatloaf for me and the DW and Chicken for the kids. Great dessert also. Apple Cobbler for me and a Chocolate shake for Dw and the kids got make your own Sundaes. We saw a ‘Dads Brownie Sundae’ It had everything including the Carmel Popcorn. Dinner took 2 and a half hours. Ahhhhhhh! Wasted park time. We all but ran over to the Osborne lights. We decided to do this instead of Fantasmic for today. We have done it a bunch of times before and we would do Fantasmic if we get back to MGM the next day. MGM had EMH the next night. I was not sure what to expect with the Osborne family lights. I had heard and seen so many things. Nothing did it justice until we turned the corner and saw right down NY street. Wow is one heck of an understatement. We tried to keep moving since it was bottle-necked where we were and moved down the street. Did I say wow? All the detail and the lights. It took the kids about ten minutes and then we heard the cry of “There’s a Hidden Mickey “. As you walk the streets, there is a radio station playing. We could not tell if it was legit or a Disney Created broadcast for each night at the lights. The girl-guy combo mentioned that there were a number of hidden Mickeys in the light show. 48 I think. The kids picked right up on it. We found 18. The Trains smoke was the coolest and the Red/White and Blue in the Big Red Christmas tree was the easiest. The detail was amazing. In one front living room window there was a tv that was on. The cartoon ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ was on. The one with the mice and the big clock. Very cool. And then the synchronization with the music began. Did I say Wow? You just had to keep turning in circles to catch everything. Did I mention the snow? It was also snowing. Very real looking snow. Until in landed on you. More like soap bubbles, but bubbles that looked like snow. We stayed there for a good hour. We tried to see everything but that was tough. Picked up some ides for the home outdoor lights show also. After pulling ourselves away from the lights, we had to hit Star Tours again, per the boy. Very fun. We also found the well near the Indian Jones ride. DS pulled the rope and we heard the poor bloke in the bottom of the well. I tried to record it with video, but it would not talk again. The Bus ride back was very crowded. I am not sure if it is because we are on a Disney property, but it is always easy to strike up a conversation with fellow line members. We met a very nice couple from Long Island. Reminded us of my parents and how we need to take them along with us next time. Once we got back we went through the routine and talked about the Animal Kingdom for the next day.

 

[MickeyMaz]

DD6 in front of a Window on Main Street as we waited for Spectromagic to begin on Day 1.

Stunt Show at MGM

Osborne Lights during the day:

 

[Tink3Belle]

Nice Report!

 

[MickeyMaz]

Thanks Tink!

12/11 Animal kingdom day. The bus this morning was on time. We got to the Animal Kingdom with time to spare for their rope drop. We were let through up to right before Discovery Island. Here we were stopped again and a jungle beaten, double decker truck rolls out with Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy. They did about 5 minutes of back and forth welcoming us to the park and then they called for Tour Guide Mickey on the radio. After a couple of calls on the radio Mickey made an appearance at the base of the Tree of Life. The park opened and everyone bee-lined it to Everest. We decided I would keep up with the front guys and get fastpasses before getting on. I should also have gotten a Child Swap. As it was, I went on and then found the family when I got off. Fastpass was not for another half hour. We had to wait so we went to Dino land and rode the two low budget rides, the Triceratops spins and the Spinning roller coaster. We went back and DW got her turn on Everest. We both agree a great ride. We then went back to Dinoland and I got a Fastpass or two for Dinosaur. When we then got on line for the Nemo show. This was a very well produced show. The use of the puppets was inspiring. The actors would all, at times, drop their puppet down and speak to the crowd and there was no break in the spell. This is a must see attraction. Even before the Festival of the lion king. Animal Kingdom is slowly getting on it’s own feet. With the Nemo show, Everest, Dinosaur, the Safari, and the Festival of the Lion King, there is more of a reason to spend time at this park. After Nemo, DW and I rode Dinosaur separately. This is a fun but rough ride. DW did not like it, I thought it was great. I even saw the yellow, white and red pipes on the way out that had the chemical names of your favorite condiments. Mcdonalds sponsors the ride. Which brings us to lunch. We ate at the Restauransaurus. Basically McDonalds, with less selections. Kids meal choice was only chicken nuggets. Good Fixin’s bar though. At this point, DW realized that she had forgotten her sunglasses on dinosaur. She went back to look with no luck. However, she was thoroughly educated as to how the Lost and Found system works throughout the Disney World parks. It seems that all items found in rides or attractions are picked up from those rides periodically over the course of a day. From there they go to the guest services office of that park. That night, all items are then taken over to the Guest Services office at the Ticket and Trans. Center. The building is shared with the Kennel. She was given a number to call the next day. More about this later. After Dinosaur we headed over to the Festival of the Lion King. This was one of our favorites from the last trip. It did not disappoint. We were in the Elephant sections. Easy sound to make. I felt bad for the Giraffe people, trying to make that sound. The gymnasts and songs were both great. After this we started talking about leaving the park. It was getting into the afternoon. As we were going over the bridge from Camp Minnie Mickey, I took a picture of the Dragon waterfall on the left of the bridge. Very cool. We stopped and went on It’s Tough to be a Bug. This was a pay-back visit from the first time DS9 went on it. He had a slight melt-down the first time, three years earlier. This time was much better. Funny, the stink bug did not look anything like the stink bugs we see at home. After this we headed out of the park. Tonight was a night we had planned to go back to MGM but we decided to take a swim at the hotel and head over to Epcot for one last time. We would eat at Epcot also. That was the plan. We finished swimming and got over to Epcot around 6:00. We figured to use my leg power so I took off for Soarin and got 4 fast passes. I met up with the family as the tree lighting ceremony was going on. Gotta mark this as a must do for next year. We were kinda far but it was still a nice show. The story goes the Fab 5 are trying to find a new Christmas tradition. They do so with Goofy’s idea about lighting the lights around the tree with a song. We all thought it was a great idea. If you have not seen it, the Christmas Tree is set up between World Showcase and Future World. The walkway that takes you from FW to WS is covered with a lattice work of many lights. The lights on the lattice work were set to go on and off to music every 15 minutes or so. Similar to the Osborne lights. The returns for Fastpass were not for a while, so DD and I rode Test Track. She loved it. That’s my little Dragon.(Chinese Horoscope reference from Epcot) We headed over to The Land to eat and go on Soarin. DS needed to use the restroom. As I was waiting for him a guy came out and did the look over his shoulder back into the bathroom thing and I new there was a problem with DS right away. I went into the bathroom and the boy and lost his lunch all over the floor and was hanging onto the garbage can. The poor guy had lost it all and was trying to keep his cool. I cleaned him up and got a CM to help out with the mess. DW and I both offered to help the CM clean it up. I should have threw the guy a $10, but did not think about it until later. While DS was recovering, DD and I went on Soarin,(first row) to give him a chance to recover. He was still down when we got off. We checked with Sunshine Grill to see if they have take-out. They did, but we decided against it and headed back to the hotel. We will eat here the next time the food looked great. Once back, we cleaned up DS and he went right to sleep. DW got the rest of us take out from Capt. Cooks. The adult Grilled Cheese was great. At this time we also did an inventory of the Dining Plan vouchers we had left. We had 8 CS’s left for Brunch and Lunner for the next day. DS and DD came up with the name Lunner. A cross between lunch and dinner. We also had about 9 or so snacks left. Looking good. DW and I then spent some time getting organized. We had tomorrow and that was it. We planned to dump our bags at the Bell Stand until we left. Magical Express was to pick us up at 4:30. Our flight left at 7:30.

More pictures are coming, I promise.

Maz

 

[luciloo]

Great Report.

 

[MickeyMaz]

Hoop Dee do Revue

Lights in the Ground at Epcot

Hidden Mickey at the Osborne Family Lights at MGM

Santa doing his Part

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing