I seriously debated whether or not to even do a trip report this time. Not because I don't love trip reports (I do) but more because I wasn't sure that I had anything new or enlightening to add to the Disney trip report conversation.
Then, the more I thought about it the more I realized that for me a trip report is the means by which I have the opportunity to assess the fun that was had, remember the magical memories and appreciate the very fact that I had another great trip to Disney. Plus, it's New Years Eve so what better way to reflect on my amazing year than to sit down and recount my most recent trip.
A bit of background and declarations before digging into the meat of the report.
Travelers: Me - Tracy :wave: and my husband, who is also named Tracy.
This trip was completely unexpected and planned very last minute. Hubby and I made the reservations for this trip the first week of November. We got a great deal through Disney Visa and free dining. Neither one of us has been during the Holiday season and it has always been a dream of mine. We opted to stay at a Value resort since this was only going to be a quick stop for 3 days. We initially booked All-Star Music for 12/12 -12/15. Since we were staying at a Value resort, we only received free quick service, so dining reservations weren't an issue. I immediately started reviewing park hours and crowd levels on Touring Plans. We booked our flight with Southwest and with everything finalized and paid, there was nothing left to do except wait for the big day to arrive.
Except, about a week before our expected departure on Sunday, 12/12/10, hubby and I began discussing the possibility of actually leaving on Friday, 12/10/10. Now, here is where I have to give both WDW travel and Southwest airlines props. We called WDW first. I spoke to a Cast Member who let me know that yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he would be happy to allow you to change your reservation on such short notice. We would have to move to the All-Star Movies (no problem) and we would have to personally communicate with Magical Express about our flight and date change (again, no problem). I then contacted Southwest airlines to see about changing our 12/12 flight to 12/10. Southwest did have a direct flight on Friday that we could get on and here is the kicker, there would be no charge for the last minute change!! What?? I have never flown SW and to be honest, I was not anticipating it being so easy and no charge (they actually credited us $2.50 for the price difference between our flights). I was thrilled and even sent SW an email thanking them for having such amazing customer service policies.
So, with everything FINALLY set in stone, we were ready to roll.
Friday 12/10 - "Is it time to leave yet??"
Our flight was scheduled to leave Columbus at 4:30pm with arrival at MCO at 6:45 pm. Our plan was to grab our bags, jump on Magical Express, check in and then hit Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, our flight did not leave until 8:30 pm due to some mechanical issues with our plane. They were finally able to locate a replacement plane and we were on our way. We arrived at MCO close to 11:00 pm. At this point we knew that Downtown Disney was out, but I wasn't concerned. We were at Disney, and I had four full days of Christmas magic in front of us. We checked in to All Star Movies near midnight. Thank goodness I had already done on-line check in as we were in and out of the lobby within 10 minutes of arriving at the resort. We grabbed our keys and headed over to the Dalmation building, our home for the next few days. This was my first time staying at a Value resort and other than the beds being smaller than what we are use to, we both found the room to be clean, warm (something we would come to appreciate more and more as our trip progressed) and completely adequate. For this trip, we simply needed a place to lay our head at night because we "planned" on spending almost 14 hours a day in the park. That plan would change over the course of the trip, but more on that later.
We both took quick showers, unpacked and hit the hay close to 2 am. Of course, even though we had had a long day, I was extremely jazzed and had ton of trouble falling asleep. My husband on the other hand could fall asleep in the middle of a nuclear war. This is something I have always been extremely jealous of, but good for him.
Saturday 12/11: "Let's go let's go let's go!"
I woke up at 7 am on the dot. Not bad considering the fact that it was close to 3:30am before I fell asleep. We decided we would skip breakfast at the resort and make our way straight to the park. We wanted to spend the entire day at Magic as today was suppose to be our best day weather wise. It was approximately 8:30 am by the time we caught the bus, made it through security and entered the park. The weather was mildly chilly and a bit foggy, but I did not care because I was at Disney World.
As you can tell from the above picture, it was extremely crowded at MK this day. As I previously stated, this was at approximately 8:30 am.
Then, the more I thought about it the more I realized that for me a trip report is the means by which I have the opportunity to assess the fun that was had, remember the magical memories and appreciate the very fact that I had another great trip to Disney. Plus, it's New Years Eve so what better way to reflect on my amazing year than to sit down and recount my most recent trip.
A bit of background and declarations before digging into the meat of the report.
Travelers: Me - Tracy :wave: and my husband, who is also named Tracy.
This trip was completely unexpected and planned very last minute. Hubby and I made the reservations for this trip the first week of November. We got a great deal through Disney Visa and free dining. Neither one of us has been during the Holiday season and it has always been a dream of mine. We opted to stay at a Value resort since this was only going to be a quick stop for 3 days. We initially booked All-Star Music for 12/12 -12/15. Since we were staying at a Value resort, we only received free quick service, so dining reservations weren't an issue. I immediately started reviewing park hours and crowd levels on Touring Plans. We booked our flight with Southwest and with everything finalized and paid, there was nothing left to do except wait for the big day to arrive.
Except, about a week before our expected departure on Sunday, 12/12/10, hubby and I began discussing the possibility of actually leaving on Friday, 12/10/10. Now, here is where I have to give both WDW travel and Southwest airlines props. We called WDW first. I spoke to a Cast Member who let me know that yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he would be happy to allow you to change your reservation on such short notice. We would have to move to the All-Star Movies (no problem) and we would have to personally communicate with Magical Express about our flight and date change (again, no problem). I then contacted Southwest airlines to see about changing our 12/12 flight to 12/10. Southwest did have a direct flight on Friday that we could get on and here is the kicker, there would be no charge for the last minute change!! What?? I have never flown SW and to be honest, I was not anticipating it being so easy and no charge (they actually credited us $2.50 for the price difference between our flights). I was thrilled and even sent SW an email thanking them for having such amazing customer service policies.
So, with everything FINALLY set in stone, we were ready to roll.
Friday 12/10 - "Is it time to leave yet??"
Our flight was scheduled to leave Columbus at 4:30pm with arrival at MCO at 6:45 pm. Our plan was to grab our bags, jump on Magical Express, check in and then hit Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, our flight did not leave until 8:30 pm due to some mechanical issues with our plane. They were finally able to locate a replacement plane and we were on our way. We arrived at MCO close to 11:00 pm. At this point we knew that Downtown Disney was out, but I wasn't concerned. We were at Disney, and I had four full days of Christmas magic in front of us. We checked in to All Star Movies near midnight. Thank goodness I had already done on-line check in as we were in and out of the lobby within 10 minutes of arriving at the resort. We grabbed our keys and headed over to the Dalmation building, our home for the next few days. This was my first time staying at a Value resort and other than the beds being smaller than what we are use to, we both found the room to be clean, warm (something we would come to appreciate more and more as our trip progressed) and completely adequate. For this trip, we simply needed a place to lay our head at night because we "planned" on spending almost 14 hours a day in the park. That plan would change over the course of the trip, but more on that later.
We both took quick showers, unpacked and hit the hay close to 2 am. Of course, even though we had had a long day, I was extremely jazzed and had ton of trouble falling asleep. My husband on the other hand could fall asleep in the middle of a nuclear war. This is something I have always been extremely jealous of, but good for him.
Saturday 12/11: "Let's go let's go let's go!"
I woke up at 7 am on the dot. Not bad considering the fact that it was close to 3:30am before I fell asleep. We decided we would skip breakfast at the resort and make our way straight to the park. We wanted to spend the entire day at Magic as today was suppose to be our best day weather wise. It was approximately 8:30 am by the time we caught the bus, made it through security and entered the park. The weather was mildly chilly and a bit foggy, but I did not care because I was at Disney World.
As you can tell from the above picture, it was extremely crowded at MK this day. As I previously stated, this was at approximately 8:30 am.
