We visited WDW from December 5 to December 15. I plan to do my first TR on this trip later.
Attendance - Crowds were fairly heavy from Thursday until Sunday. They calmed down from Monday until Friday. Saturday picked up even with the rain.
Pop Warner - We encountered a few Pop groups, a couple times, huge groups taking up large segments of walkways. No biggie, just hard to get around. We encountered a large group of football players, they weren't a problem other than one kid, we were waiting in line for Nemo (yes I typed Nemo), and this one kid had a flashlight. He was shining it in his friends eyes but occasionally it would shine in ours. Eventually a parent came to the back of the line and put a stop to it.
South American Tour Group - we encountered one on Rock-N-Roller Coaster, they were extremely well behaved, the only problem here was there literally was around a hundred of them. Two chaperones were scanning cards for fast passes. This took awhile and made our fast pass wait longer than normal. It went much quicker than I thought it would though.
Breakdowns - a year ago we would experience one or more ride breakdowns a day, this year we only had one the whole trip, Space Mountain. Maybe we got lucky, I don't know.
Magic Kingdom - we visited three times, once on a Saturday with no party and twice for the party, once on a Tuesday and the other on a Friday. Since our trip in September the railroad is closed and there seems to be more done on TRON. There are new windows on the people mover looking into Space Mountain. The exit for Space is different, it is a clean modern look, I don't care for it but the wife liked it. You can still see the displays from the people mover into Space, but you have to really look. Other than decorations nothing else seemed different. I need to check notes to verify this. Crowds were heavy on Saturday and Tuesday but lighter on Friday. On Saturday we had to wait for a second show for Tiki Birds, we usually are sitting in a half empty theater. All rides were a long wait with Splash being the only exception, it was cold out.
EPCOT - Nothing really new here, GoTG seems to be making good progress. Ratatouille seems a little further. the Skyliner here seems to be moving along. We tried some of the seasonal treats with mixed feelings. We attempted to do the cookie challenge, but on our next few visits we forgot the book. The only issue with the rides was Journey into Imagination, our first day at EPCOT the eye test screen was black and the smell (skunk) didn't function. They both worked the next visit though. I haven't seen smoke come out of the smell stack though in a year. The crowds were heavy on Thursday the 6th but weren't bad on Monday the 10th or the 11th. Illuminations was awesome, I was able to set up a tripod right on the fence across from the Italian Pavilion.
Hollywood Studios - I love this park and nothing disappointed. We tried the Frozen Sing Along for the first time, I thought it was okay, Margie thought it was awesome. I snapped a few photos of them hanging and trying some gondolas. This looks to be coming along very well. Sunset Blvd is even more amazing this year with all of its Christmas finest showing, Disney added a few more special effects. The only disappointing thing would be the rain curtain in the voyage of the Little Mermaid isn't working again. Hollywood and Vine dinner was better than last year, I really love the food here. I learned that you need to sit in the center section of Fantasmic for the best view and perfect timing of the music to the floats. We sat in the second section from the left and it was just off. It was also difficult to see the water projections clearly.
Animal Kingdom - The crowds were bad on Friday the 7th but much better on the 12th, though we got there after five, we did the after hours, more on that later. As soon as we entered the parks we encountered Vine, this was the best view we have ever had of here and I snapped some awesome photos of her. Nothing different here since September other that the Christmas decorations. Donald's Bash was even better with the Christmas decorations. The only disappointments, the safari driver was great other than he seemed to speed through the ride and stop when there was nothing to see. He kept close to the vehicle in front of him even though the truck behind us was a distance away. This has happened once before, I don't get it. It's Tough to be a Bug, Hopper was lying on the stage in his area on Friday, just as others have noticed, but he was working on Wednesday. They changed up Nemo, I liked it better the original way. Flights of Wonder was my favorite show at Animal Kingdom, that was until I watched the Up version. Disney messed up there. What were they thinking. I am not sure I will watch it again. We tried Tiffin's for the first time and I found it to be delicious, Margie, not so much.
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - We did one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. Tuesday was very busy, even though it was very cold. I guess that's okay, most people had ugly Christmas sweaters on, no offense, I had one on also. Of course mine was very cool. The complementary treats were okay to bad, the best was the Dove chocolate station across from the Seven Dwarfs. The parades were a madhouse, both the early and later one, at least on Tuesday. Friday they were much better, crowd wise. Friday was less crowed, probably because of the rain all day. That didn't bother us and we actually rode Splash twice with no fear of getting wet. The yule log and Ralph cupcake we okay, very rich. The Reindeer Wranglers were amazing, you have to stop and listen to them for awhile. The Country Bears were a lot of fun during the pre parade in Frontierland. The captain we had for the Jingle Cruise was the best we have ever had, he had quite a few original lines during the ride and good timing.
Animal Kingdom After Hours - I originally wasn't going to do this, but my wife's sister decided to go with us last minute and has never really ever done this park. So I decided to do this "money grab". I felt it was well worth it. We had a small problem in the begging but after that it was amazing. If I remember the numbers correctly, we each had two ice creams, a couple popcorns and a few pops each. I rode FoP a total of five times, The Navi River twice, Everest three times and Dinosaur once. We almost did the River of Lights but decided against it, though I felt that Margie's sister should have watched it. The park felt all but empty. It was weird to look at the rider panel on FoP and only see a couple rows of people.
Contemporary Atrium Club Level - We stayed one night here, it was amazing, not sure it is worth the cost. We did a party the night we stayed here, it would have been better had we stayed here on a early night. The view was to die for, you could clearly see the castle, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Tiki and much more. I had fun taking photos both at night and during the morning. The snacks were very good, the standouts were the handmade chips and the smoked salmon. It was a great experience but as I stated earlier, not worth the price.
The Dolphin - We had a balcony view with a clear view of the Boardwalk sign and The EPCOT geosphere. I watched the fireworks from here and it was very cool. I still feel that the dolphin has the most comfortable beds in Disney. As a side note, of all the resorts we have stayed at, Pop Century now has the best showers.
The World of Disney Store- It is much cleaner, more efficient, brighter and easier to get around. With that said, it feels rather stale, I like the version before this one better. It also doesn't feel to have as much, Mouse Gear actually feels bigger to me. I know its not, it just feels that way to me.
Well if you read all of this I will stop boring you. I will try to type up a full trip report later. Also, if you did read it all, thank you.
Attendance - Crowds were fairly heavy from Thursday until Sunday. They calmed down from Monday until Friday. Saturday picked up even with the rain.
Pop Warner - We encountered a few Pop groups, a couple times, huge groups taking up large segments of walkways. No biggie, just hard to get around. We encountered a large group of football players, they weren't a problem other than one kid, we were waiting in line for Nemo (yes I typed Nemo), and this one kid had a flashlight. He was shining it in his friends eyes but occasionally it would shine in ours. Eventually a parent came to the back of the line and put a stop to it.
South American Tour Group - we encountered one on Rock-N-Roller Coaster, they were extremely well behaved, the only problem here was there literally was around a hundred of them. Two chaperones were scanning cards for fast passes. This took awhile and made our fast pass wait longer than normal. It went much quicker than I thought it would though.
Breakdowns - a year ago we would experience one or more ride breakdowns a day, this year we only had one the whole trip, Space Mountain. Maybe we got lucky, I don't know.
Magic Kingdom - we visited three times, once on a Saturday with no party and twice for the party, once on a Tuesday and the other on a Friday. Since our trip in September the railroad is closed and there seems to be more done on TRON. There are new windows on the people mover looking into Space Mountain. The exit for Space is different, it is a clean modern look, I don't care for it but the wife liked it. You can still see the displays from the people mover into Space, but you have to really look. Other than decorations nothing else seemed different. I need to check notes to verify this. Crowds were heavy on Saturday and Tuesday but lighter on Friday. On Saturday we had to wait for a second show for Tiki Birds, we usually are sitting in a half empty theater. All rides were a long wait with Splash being the only exception, it was cold out.
EPCOT - Nothing really new here, GoTG seems to be making good progress. Ratatouille seems a little further. the Skyliner here seems to be moving along. We tried some of the seasonal treats with mixed feelings. We attempted to do the cookie challenge, but on our next few visits we forgot the book. The only issue with the rides was Journey into Imagination, our first day at EPCOT the eye test screen was black and the smell (skunk) didn't function. They both worked the next visit though. I haven't seen smoke come out of the smell stack though in a year. The crowds were heavy on Thursday the 6th but weren't bad on Monday the 10th or the 11th. Illuminations was awesome, I was able to set up a tripod right on the fence across from the Italian Pavilion.
Hollywood Studios - I love this park and nothing disappointed. We tried the Frozen Sing Along for the first time, I thought it was okay, Margie thought it was awesome. I snapped a few photos of them hanging and trying some gondolas. This looks to be coming along very well. Sunset Blvd is even more amazing this year with all of its Christmas finest showing, Disney added a few more special effects. The only disappointing thing would be the rain curtain in the voyage of the Little Mermaid isn't working again. Hollywood and Vine dinner was better than last year, I really love the food here. I learned that you need to sit in the center section of Fantasmic for the best view and perfect timing of the music to the floats. We sat in the second section from the left and it was just off. It was also difficult to see the water projections clearly.
Animal Kingdom - The crowds were bad on Friday the 7th but much better on the 12th, though we got there after five, we did the after hours, more on that later. As soon as we entered the parks we encountered Vine, this was the best view we have ever had of here and I snapped some awesome photos of her. Nothing different here since September other that the Christmas decorations. Donald's Bash was even better with the Christmas decorations. The only disappointments, the safari driver was great other than he seemed to speed through the ride and stop when there was nothing to see. He kept close to the vehicle in front of him even though the truck behind us was a distance away. This has happened once before, I don't get it. It's Tough to be a Bug, Hopper was lying on the stage in his area on Friday, just as others have noticed, but he was working on Wednesday. They changed up Nemo, I liked it better the original way. Flights of Wonder was my favorite show at Animal Kingdom, that was until I watched the Up version. Disney messed up there. What were they thinking. I am not sure I will watch it again. We tried Tiffin's for the first time and I found it to be delicious, Margie, not so much.
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - We did one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. Tuesday was very busy, even though it was very cold. I guess that's okay, most people had ugly Christmas sweaters on, no offense, I had one on also. Of course mine was very cool. The complementary treats were okay to bad, the best was the Dove chocolate station across from the Seven Dwarfs. The parades were a madhouse, both the early and later one, at least on Tuesday. Friday they were much better, crowd wise. Friday was less crowed, probably because of the rain all day. That didn't bother us and we actually rode Splash twice with no fear of getting wet. The yule log and Ralph cupcake we okay, very rich. The Reindeer Wranglers were amazing, you have to stop and listen to them for awhile. The Country Bears were a lot of fun during the pre parade in Frontierland. The captain we had for the Jingle Cruise was the best we have ever had, he had quite a few original lines during the ride and good timing.
Animal Kingdom After Hours - I originally wasn't going to do this, but my wife's sister decided to go with us last minute and has never really ever done this park. So I decided to do this "money grab". I felt it was well worth it. We had a small problem in the begging but after that it was amazing. If I remember the numbers correctly, we each had two ice creams, a couple popcorns and a few pops each. I rode FoP a total of five times, The Navi River twice, Everest three times and Dinosaur once. We almost did the River of Lights but decided against it, though I felt that Margie's sister should have watched it. The park felt all but empty. It was weird to look at the rider panel on FoP and only see a couple rows of people.
Contemporary Atrium Club Level - We stayed one night here, it was amazing, not sure it is worth the cost. We did a party the night we stayed here, it would have been better had we stayed here on a early night. The view was to die for, you could clearly see the castle, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Tiki and much more. I had fun taking photos both at night and during the morning. The snacks were very good, the standouts were the handmade chips and the smoked salmon. It was a great experience but as I stated earlier, not worth the price.
The Dolphin - We had a balcony view with a clear view of the Boardwalk sign and The EPCOT geosphere. I watched the fireworks from here and it was very cool. I still feel that the dolphin has the most comfortable beds in Disney. As a side note, of all the resorts we have stayed at, Pop Century now has the best showers.
The World of Disney Store- It is much cleaner, more efficient, brighter and easier to get around. With that said, it feels rather stale, I like the version before this one better. It also doesn't feel to have as much, Mouse Gear actually feels bigger to me. I know its not, it just feels that way to me.
Well if you read all of this I will stop boring you. I will try to type up a full trip report later. Also, if you did read it all, thank you.
