Just how much can you do in 2 weeks at WDW?

After reading so many wonderful and interesting trip reports on here, I have been inspired to write my first ever trip report (although I do not promise it to be wonderful or interesting!).

Background Information:
I had been planning this trip for nearly 6 years, from the day I returned from my previous one in 2006. I spent every day listening to podcasts and searching the internet for details to make the holiday special as I didn’t know how long it would be until our next one. My Disney planning obsession may have gone a little overboard, as my itinerary shows:

Who:
Husband, Gary
9 year old daughter, Molly
6 year old son, Matthew
and me, Karen.

When:
December 29th 2011 to January 12th 2012

Where:
Pop Century for 3 nights
Old Key West for 11 nights

Any other info:
This holiday was to celebrate my 40th birthday later in the year, as well as being a surprise Christmas present for Molly & Matthew. I still can’t believe that we kept the trip a secret for over a year!!! I guess that as I talk about Disney all of the time anyway, they just didn’t notice anything different!

The adventure really started on Christmas morning of 2011, when the children opened their first Christmas present:

Inside was a 4 foot tall Mickey Mouse balloon with a sign around his neck telling them that they were going to WDW in 4 days. They were very surprised and couldn’t really take it in at first. It was great fun, although in hindsight I don’t think Christmas morning was the best idea as they were a bit overwhelmed, especially with more presents to open.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Our journey actually started on Wednesday 28th December, when we took a taxi from our home in Southampton to London Gatwick airport. We stayed overnight at the Hilton hotel attached to the airport. The Virgin Atlantic twilight check-in enabled us to get rid of our baggage without the queues and saved a lot of time in the morning. We had dinner at the airport and settled for an early night, the kids were so excited to have their first ever night in bunk beds.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and we were ready to go. After all of my planning, I couldn’t believe that we were on our way.

10 hours later, we landed at MCO and headed for the Magical Express (I was a bit disappointed that we were on a cruise line bus but we could see a DME buss out of the window!).

Soon, we were checked in at Pop Century. As we had had a long and tiring day (and although it was gone 6pm, to us it was nearly midnight), we all went to bed.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Woooo hooo!! Love surprise trips to the world!!! :sohappy:

Enjoying reading so far, can't wait to read the rest!! And I'm the same way about making itineraries for our trips!!! It's crazy but I love doing it!! lol

 

[Trouble]

I bow to your superior intellect

Your itinerary...it's...it's beautiful.

 

[patricia27]

How exciting for you all!! We don`t plan too for ahead these days, so every day is a surprise. We all have things that we really want to do , so make a list of those to make sure everyone in our party has been on the rides of their choice.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Woooo hooo!! Love surprise trips to the world!!! :sohappy:

Enjoying reading so far, can't wait to read the rest!! And I'm the same way about making itineraries for our trips!!! It's crazy but I love doing it!! lol

Thank you, I', glad you're enjoying it, I was worried that no-one would read it!!! I'm already trying to plan the surprise for our next trip in 3 years!!! The problem is that they know roughly when we are planning to go,but I enjoy a challenge!!!!

Your itinerary...it's...it's beautiful.

Thank you very much. I have started the next itinerary, but we aren't planning as many extra's, so it's not as exciting!

How exciting for you all!! We don`t plan too for ahead these days, so every day is a surprise. We all have things that we really want to do , so make a list of those to make sure everyone in our party has been on the rides of their choice.

Thank you. I had the same no-plan plan to start with, but I just can't help myself!!!!

:lol:

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Friday 30th December 2011

We all slept well, although Molly and I woke up for a chat at 3am! At 6am we were all up and super excited for our first day. I knew the kids were dying to meet Mickey and would not relax until they did. Therefore, we took a taxi from Pop Century to the Contemporary for our breakfast at Chef Mickey’s.

We arrived a bit quicker than expected, so we had time to look around and take some pictures before we checked-in.

Our server advised that we had time to get our breakfast before the characters would reach our table, so we headed over to the buffet. I quickly re-acquainted myself with American pancakes and maple syrup!!!

We had just the right amount of time to eat our breakfast before we were visited by our host. And before too long, we were joined by Minnie, Goofy, Pluto & Donald.

When we were done, we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. I was actually getting a bit teary as we went through the turnstiles! Six years is way too long between visits!!!

The weather was lovely and warm and we had a leisurely stroll around Town Square before heading up Main Street USA towards the castle.

We knew that the first few days would be busy, so I had planned that we would only do attractions with 20 minutes or less to wait as we had plenty of time to do everything (or so I thought!).

We took a left into Adventureland...

...and we started with a walk around the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. We all found this quite boring and were eager to do something else. After getting fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise, we noticed that there was only a 5 minute wait for Pirates of the Caribbean so in we went.

I was unsure if Matthew would enjoy this as he tends to scare easily, but he loved it. We soon learned that his favourite rides must include a drop and/or being splashed with water!!!

As it was getting warm and we still had time before our fastpasses, we had our first Mickey Bars of the holiday.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Friday 30th December 2011 - Continued…

We used our fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise.

The back-side of water…..

Next, we headed for Splash Mountain to get more fastpasses, along the way we stopped for pictures with Pirate Goofy. We then took a very crowded raft to Tom Sawyer Island.

We headed back to Splash Mountain, and met up with Woody & Jessie.

It was then time to go on my favourite ride. Being in the front row meant that we were soaked! Matthew loved it and Molly said that she would never do it again (as we left the gift shop, she asked if she could do it again!)

We were getting a bit hungry and had lunch at Pecos Bill’s, before heading into Fantasyland.

It was rather busy, so after watching Philharmagic we left the park as I had an appointment to keep.

Gary, Molly & Matthew went back to Pop Century for a rest and I caught the bus to the Yacht & Beach Club. I went to the Salon and had a full set of acrylic nails as a special treat (I can't believe that I didn't take a photo of them, although you can see my thumb in a future photo!). When I was done, I took a taxi back to our hotel.

It was getting rather late (7pm!!!!) so we had dinner at Everything Pop and went back to the room for bed.

 

[tiaragirl]

I love the way you surprised them! It reminds me of the way my parents surprised us with our Dream cruise two Christmases ago!

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Saturday 31st December 2011

This morning we were off to our favourite resort, Wilderness Lodge. We have never stayed here, but it is our dream to do so. On previous trips, we have not had time to have to a good look around, so or love is based on pictures in holiday brochures and coach driver, doing multiple pick-ups, urging us to have a quick look in the lobby back in 1996!!!!!

We were one of the first families seated for breakfast. Our server, M T Wallet, was really funny and the kids loved it that she picked on Gary. The food was really nice (sorry, no pictures of food this trip).

We took our time and had a good look around the lobby and outside before heading to get the boat to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Polynesian. We thought that the parks would be busy today, being New Years Eve, so the plan was to resort hop and look at Christmas decorations before going to Epcot later.

Please don’t hate me, but I wasn’t feeling it at the Polynesian. I really wanted to love the hotel as everyone on the boards and podcasts say it’s the best resort, but I thought that it was just ‘OK’. We decided to leave earlier than planned and took the monorail on to the Grand Floridian. This is another of my favourite hotels to visit, although I’m not sure that I want to stay there. We were so excited to see the gingerbread house in person, as we had watched the TV special where they show it being made.

Next stop, the Contemporary….

 

[Crush Dude!]

Cant wait to read this! Its great to see a report from somebody on this side of the pond :wave:

Ye were so lucky to go during christmas and new years :wave:

Its my hope to get there during that time some year :wave:

 

[Crush Dude!]

Its all a matter of opinion!

But we love The Polynesian it is our Dream Resort

I myself Love The Grand Floidian also its def 2nd on my top Resorts list but dont know if ill ever justify the price, maybe some day :wave:

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Cant wait to read this! Its great to see a report from somebody on this side of the pond :wave:

Ye were so lucky to go during christmas and new years :wave:

Its my hope to get there during that time some year :wave:

:wave:Hello from this side of the pond:wave:

Although it was fun, we've decided that our next trip will be at a quieter time of year. I think Christmas & New Years has to be done at least once, but we are more suited to lower crowds.

Happy reading!

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Saturday 31st December 2011 continued…

We explored the Contemporary, and had a cold drink break overlooking the marina. Once again, it was a lovely warm day and it was nice to take things slow (for now!).

(sorry, this is the only picture in this post!)

When we were done, we took the monorail (again) back to the Grand Floridian for our ADR for afternoon tea at the Garden View Lounge. The food was lovely, although I wish that they would include larger cups for coffee (I know, an English person who doesn’t drink tea!!!!). I ordered a cappuccino which came in the smallest cup ever. The hidden Mickey on top with coco powder was cute though.

Our last monorail trips for the day were to get to Epcot. I expected it to be busy as the evening went on, so the plan was to hang around in future world and then head to the UK for our 6.30 ADR and when we were done, get out!!! As soon as we entered the park, we knew that the plan wouldn’t work. There are no words to describe how busy it was. We signed up for a Kim Possible adventure but trying to get around the countries to Italy (where our mission was to start) was nearly impossible. We decided to abort our mission and hope that the world would survive until we could come back another day! We carried on around to the UK and waited in the (busy) gardens until 6pm, when I asked if we could check-in for dinner. Luckily, they said yes and the buzzer went off soon after to say our table was ready.

We enjoyed our meals, but weren’t that hungry after all we had eaten today. The only down-side to the restaurant was that we had to use the restrooms out in the UK pavilion which were really busy. At 7pm, we celebrated our New Year as it was midnight at home, just as Illuminations started. Luckily we had a table by the window so we could watch from where we were.

When we were done we were dreading leaving the park because of the crowds, but it was a lot easier than we thought as the cast members had opened a route through a backstage area next to the UK pavilion that lead us into future world. We managed to get straight on a bus and were back at Pop in no time.

Gary and the kids were asleep by 9.30pm (this was to be the norm for the rest of the holiday!). I sat up and watched Mr (his first name gets blocked out!) Clark’s Rocking New Years Eve (sorry if that’s wrong) as I wanted to see the Disney announcement (somehow I missed it!). I wished my sleeping family a happy new year and went to sleep just after midnight.

 

[Steve-B]

Jesse looks a little - constipated.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Sunday 1st January 2012

I'm sorry for the delay in posting - the sun came out for the weekend (which doesn't happen too often!!!), but now I'm back at work, so I can spend all of my time on here!!!!


It’s moving day, so after breakfast Gary took the kids to take photos around the resort while I packed.

We arranged for Bell Services to collect our bags and take them to Old Key West, whilst we took the bus to Downtown Disney. We looked around some shops and had ice creams at Ghardarelli’s.

We had a bit of bother trying to find the boat dock to Old Key West, but after a short boat ride over to Pleasure Island, we were on our way. I checked-in but as our room wasn’t ready we had lunch and headed off to Hollywood Studios.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Sunday 1st January 2012 continued…

The Great Movie Ride was our first stop, and we came out just as the parade was about to start and got lucky with a decent spot to watch.

Matthew especially like the Disney Junior show, where Molly & Matthew met Handy Manny & Jake the Pirate outside. Molly kept asking when she will meet people from the Disney Channel as she loves Good Luck Charlie and Wizards of Waverley Place!!

It was time for our ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café. I had been looking forward to this for 14 years as Gary and I nearly had dinner here at New Years 1997, but Gary got ill and we had to leave just after we sat down. The cast members were great and gave us lots of crackers to take back to the hotel for free. So, here we were and I was very excited. We checked-in and sat and waited....and waited...and waited some more until I went up and asked how much longer and then we were seated...40 minutes after our ADR time (we had checked-in 15 minutes early!!!). We waited a long time to have our order taken and another long wait for the food. The food was OK, but we won’t be going back. The kids favourite moment was when I was told off for spilling my chocolate milkshake on the table!!!

We bought Molly and Matthew Mickey Bars for dessert and we went to look at the Osborne Lights. They were spectacular and we loved the snow.

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

Sunday 1st January 2012 continued…

As we left the park, we phoned the hotel to get our room number and caught the bus back. We had a one bedroom villa and it was massive! It is definitely more like a home than a hotel room.

We arranged for our bags to be brought up and explored the rooms before going to bed.

 

[emh1960]

Great Report!

How lucky you were to be at WDW for so long and get to see Christmas Decorations! Were your children on school vacation for the entire time?
You were there at such a peak pricing time! Did you get any good deals on the flight or rooms? Looking forward to more of your report!:wave:

 

[UKDisneyAddict]

:wave:
I'm glad you're enjoying it, I was so worried that people wouldn't find it interesting!!

We took the children out of school for just over a week as it was the only time of year that my husband could get off work.

We managed to get a great deal on the OKW portion of the holiday:

We had 40% off our room, free dining and 14 day passes for the price of 7 day passes!!! :sohappy: