Just got back from my 12th trip to the world and I thought I would share some highlights. Accompanying me on this trip was my DW of 25 years and our DS (age 23) and our DD (age 21). This was our first family trip in which everyone was of drinking age and it was a little weird and expensive "drinking around the world" with my kids. We had our first family trip together in 1999 and my DS was 5 years old and my DD was 3 years old. Where has the time gone? We stayed at the CS resort and we had the standard Dining Plan which we got for free as part of our bounce-back offer from my DW and my trip last September.
Resort
We stayed at the CS on our 2010 trip and we enjoyed it so we decided to try this resort again. Since we would be sharing one room, I called the resort a week before our trip and requested a renovated room in the Cabanas section. We were given a room in the Cabanas section (8B) but it was not a renovated room. The room was very disappointing and not up to Disney standards. The furniture was gouged and dinged-up, the wallpaper trim along the wall and ceiling was peeling apart, the carpet was dingy and there was a hair on the wall in the bathroom. I called the front desk and politely expressed my disappointment with our room. I know that a room request is just that, a request, but I did not expect a room resembling a Super 8 motel for the rate that I was paying. Fortunately, Disney rectified the situation and moved us to a renovated room in Cabanas 7A the next day. The renovated room was perfect and we even had a corner room to boot. We had a rental car so we only used the resort bus when we went to MK. Except for one time in which we waited @45 minutes for a bus from MK to the resort, our wait times were minimal. We did have breakfast and lunch at the Pepper Market (food court) and both meals were enjoyable. Construction at the resort was not disturbing at all.
Crowds
I expected large crowds, especially later in our trip as we got closer to Christmas day. MK felt the most crowded every time we were there during our trip. My daughter had a friend who was participating in the college program and they had made plans to meet up at the MK on Saturday 12/16/17 but my daughter's friend was denied entry to the park due to high capacity. According to my daughter's friend there was over 80,000 people at the MK on 12/16/17. We witnessed one shoving incident at the tram boarding at AK parking lot and one near fight between two female guests in line at POC. Other than that, everyone was well-behaved.
Weather
The weather was absolutely perfect! Temps during the day were in the high 70's and low 80's and at night the temps were still in the mid 60's. No rain at all during our trip.
New Experiences
We saw ROL for the first time. I thought the show was ok, but it lacked in story and drama and the finale was underwhelming. The Awakenings projection show on the Tree of Life was cool! I was able to snag FP's for NRJ and FOP. I was extremely apprehensive about FOP as I tend to suffer from motion sickness and I am a "larger" gentleman (6' 3" tall and 300 lbs.) I am pleased to report that my apprehensions were for naught as I had no problem fitting on the ride and I did not experience any motion sickness. The ride is awesome! My son and I were able to snag another FP during our trip so we got to ride it twice. Keep refreshing the app! NRJ was ok and I am glad I did it but it is a one and done ride unless wait times are significantly lowered. Pandora itself was a sight to see in person and my only regret is that we did not get a chance to see it at night. We attended the sold-out MVMCP on 12/17/17 and it was money well-spent! Loved Christmas Wishes and the parade. I definitely recommend watching the parade from Main St. We attended our first Candlelight Processional on 12/21/17. I booked the dining package at Coral Reef for guaranteed seating as Neil Patrick-Harris was the guest reader and I heard that he was very popular. Unlike the Fantasmic! dining package, there is no special section reserved for dining package guests and seating is first come first served. We headed to the 8:15pm show at 7:30pm and the line to enter the theater was backed up to the Japan pavilion. We did get seats but we were in the back far right of the stage. Other than the seating issue, we thoroughly enjoyed the show and I see why Neil Patrick-Harris is so popular. We saw HEA for the first time on 12/19/17. I decided to book a dessert party for the first time in order to avoid the mass of people. I booked the garden view party which was $20 less and gave us access to a section of the hub. I would highly recommend this as the view of the show is perfect and you don't have to deal with the crowds. Plus the desserts are an added bonus! As a die-hard Wishes fan, I have to say that HEA may be a better show. The fireworks are amazing. My only issue is that I felt it was hard to watch the projections and the fireworks at the same time so I focused mainly on the fireworks and I felt that I missed out on the castle projections somewhat. Lastly, the new Christmas offerings at HS (JBJB and Sunset Seasons) were enjoyable and a much needed addition to the park.
Meals
We ate at Yak & Yeti, Whispering Canyon Café, Trattoria al Forno, OHana's, Planet Hollywood, Coral Reef (CP dining package), Chef de France, Mama Melrose (Fantasmic! package), BOG (lunch), Garden Grill (breakfast) and Splittsville. Although all our meals were ok, I was unexpectedly impressed with our meals at TAF and WCC and I was a little underwhelmed with my first experience at Ohana's. I have long been a fan of the charred strip steak at Mamma Melrose so I was disappointed when I read prior to our trip that they changed the menu and replaced the strip steak with a flat-iron steak. Service was good at all of the restaurants and we were seated timely in relation to our reservation time at all restaurants except for Chef de France. We had a 7pm reservation and we were not seated until @7:40pm.
Misc.
Cast members were friendly and it was nice to hear "Merry Christmas" as often as we did throughout our trip. Restrooms were hit and miss and there did not seem to be as many attendants as I have seen in the past. I understand and appreciate the security measures at the parks and things went smoothly except for HS, Bag check lines always seemed to take longer and security staffing seemed to be lesser there than other parks. Overall, it was another wonderful trip and I can't wait to start planning trip number 13!
Resort
We stayed at the CS on our 2010 trip and we enjoyed it so we decided to try this resort again. Since we would be sharing one room, I called the resort a week before our trip and requested a renovated room in the Cabanas section. We were given a room in the Cabanas section (8B) but it was not a renovated room. The room was very disappointing and not up to Disney standards. The furniture was gouged and dinged-up, the wallpaper trim along the wall and ceiling was peeling apart, the carpet was dingy and there was a hair on the wall in the bathroom. I called the front desk and politely expressed my disappointment with our room. I know that a room request is just that, a request, but I did not expect a room resembling a Super 8 motel for the rate that I was paying. Fortunately, Disney rectified the situation and moved us to a renovated room in Cabanas 7A the next day. The renovated room was perfect and we even had a corner room to boot. We had a rental car so we only used the resort bus when we went to MK. Except for one time in which we waited @45 minutes for a bus from MK to the resort, our wait times were minimal. We did have breakfast and lunch at the Pepper Market (food court) and both meals were enjoyable. Construction at the resort was not disturbing at all.
Crowds
I expected large crowds, especially later in our trip as we got closer to Christmas day. MK felt the most crowded every time we were there during our trip. My daughter had a friend who was participating in the college program and they had made plans to meet up at the MK on Saturday 12/16/17 but my daughter's friend was denied entry to the park due to high capacity. According to my daughter's friend there was over 80,000 people at the MK on 12/16/17. We witnessed one shoving incident at the tram boarding at AK parking lot and one near fight between two female guests in line at POC. Other than that, everyone was well-behaved.
Weather
The weather was absolutely perfect! Temps during the day were in the high 70's and low 80's and at night the temps were still in the mid 60's. No rain at all during our trip.
New Experiences
We saw ROL for the first time. I thought the show was ok, but it lacked in story and drama and the finale was underwhelming. The Awakenings projection show on the Tree of Life was cool! I was able to snag FP's for NRJ and FOP. I was extremely apprehensive about FOP as I tend to suffer from motion sickness and I am a "larger" gentleman (6' 3" tall and 300 lbs.) I am pleased to report that my apprehensions were for naught as I had no problem fitting on the ride and I did not experience any motion sickness. The ride is awesome! My son and I were able to snag another FP during our trip so we got to ride it twice. Keep refreshing the app! NRJ was ok and I am glad I did it but it is a one and done ride unless wait times are significantly lowered. Pandora itself was a sight to see in person and my only regret is that we did not get a chance to see it at night. We attended the sold-out MVMCP on 12/17/17 and it was money well-spent! Loved Christmas Wishes and the parade. I definitely recommend watching the parade from Main St. We attended our first Candlelight Processional on 12/21/17. I booked the dining package at Coral Reef for guaranteed seating as Neil Patrick-Harris was the guest reader and I heard that he was very popular. Unlike the Fantasmic! dining package, there is no special section reserved for dining package guests and seating is first come first served. We headed to the 8:15pm show at 7:30pm and the line to enter the theater was backed up to the Japan pavilion. We did get seats but we were in the back far right of the stage. Other than the seating issue, we thoroughly enjoyed the show and I see why Neil Patrick-Harris is so popular. We saw HEA for the first time on 12/19/17. I decided to book a dessert party for the first time in order to avoid the mass of people. I booked the garden view party which was $20 less and gave us access to a section of the hub. I would highly recommend this as the view of the show is perfect and you don't have to deal with the crowds. Plus the desserts are an added bonus! As a die-hard Wishes fan, I have to say that HEA may be a better show. The fireworks are amazing. My only issue is that I felt it was hard to watch the projections and the fireworks at the same time so I focused mainly on the fireworks and I felt that I missed out on the castle projections somewhat. Lastly, the new Christmas offerings at HS (JBJB and Sunset Seasons) were enjoyable and a much needed addition to the park.
Meals
We ate at Yak & Yeti, Whispering Canyon Café, Trattoria al Forno, OHana's, Planet Hollywood, Coral Reef (CP dining package), Chef de France, Mama Melrose (Fantasmic! package), BOG (lunch), Garden Grill (breakfast) and Splittsville. Although all our meals were ok, I was unexpectedly impressed with our meals at TAF and WCC and I was a little underwhelmed with my first experience at Ohana's. I have long been a fan of the charred strip steak at Mamma Melrose so I was disappointed when I read prior to our trip that they changed the menu and replaced the strip steak with a flat-iron steak. Service was good at all of the restaurants and we were seated timely in relation to our reservation time at all restaurants except for Chef de France. We had a 7pm reservation and we were not seated until @7:40pm.
Misc.
Cast members were friendly and it was nice to hear "Merry Christmas" as often as we did throughout our trip. Restrooms were hit and miss and there did not seem to be as many attendants as I have seen in the past. I understand and appreciate the security measures at the parks and things went smoothly except for HS, Bag check lines always seemed to take longer and security staffing seemed to be lesser there than other parks. Overall, it was another wonderful trip and I can't wait to start planning trip number 13!
