Super Long Trip Report

[TURKEY]

12-26: Arrived at AKL and checked in. Got a complimentary upgrade to pool view (Room 4420) from a standard view without asking. It was a great room with an excellent view of the pool. Not too far from the elevators. Went to AK and Mom purchased her annual pass. Did It’s Tough to be a Bug.

12-27: After just missing the bus, we had to wait about 15 minutes for the next AK bus. 3 MK, 1 Epcot, and 1 MGM bus arrived. A second MGM bus arrived and changed to AK. Hit Dinosaur and the Safari without much wait. Crowds started picking up about 10. We did Tarzan and then went to Flights of Wonder. Both shows were packed. We walked through the Jungle Trek and the other walking path. Both were extremely full and it was hard to enjoy the animals. We had to wait on 3 trains before getting to Rafiki’s. The line was stretching all the way out near the shop and Jungle Trek exit, making getting around extremely difficult.

We sat down for the 4 pm parade at about 3 and got a great seat in front of the little area where the flamingos and kangaroos are as you head toward Africa. We went to the 4:45 Lion King.

We had a PS for Donald’s Breakfast at 9:40, but we arrived about 9:00 and were seated within 5 minutes. Breakfast was pretty good. The omelet guy took forever (people were waiting about 15+ minutes for omelets).

After leaving AK, we went to MK about 8 pm. Spectro had already started and we rode the train around to Frontierland. Hit BTMR with a 10 minute wait. As we exited we got FP for it. The wait had gone to 45 minutes after Spectro had finished. Got some food at Pecos Bill’s and watched the Fireworks. Hit the CBJ. The mounted animals were loud, but we were sitting on the far side in the back. It seemed like Henry had some audio problems, but the crowd was extremely loud (about ¾ full).

We watched the 2nd Spectro and used our FP for BTMR. Standby was nearly as fast as FP line at this point around 11 pm. Did Pirates and Jungle Cruise and left the park. We had about a 10 minute wait on the bus to AKL and it took about 10 minutes to get to the lodge.

12-28: Went to Epcot around 11. Messed around seeing people I worked with. I Did Figment (much improved), UoE, AA, parts of ToD. I met up with my mom and we did the Candlelight package and at Garden Grill. See notes in the Candlelight thread. We did France and watched Illuminations near the UK side store at Showcase Plaza. Arrived back at AKL about 10:15 after the 9:30 Illuminations show.

12-29: MK opened early. Arrived around 7:30. Did all of Fantasyland by 9 am. Got a FP for Space Mountain and did the rest of Tomorrowland except Alien Encounter and Speedway. Timekeeper was about ½ full, COP, ¾. Train to Frontierland and ate at Mexican restaurant. Did Tiki Birds. Watched Christmas parade at Diamond Horseshoe and watched its Christmas show. Left after that. There were 90 min waits for BTMR, Space, Splash, and 50 minutes for Haunted Mansion.

12-30: Had breakfast at Boma. I went to ESPN club for bowl games via bus to MGM, boat to Boardwalk. Afterward, I went back to AKL after the games the same was as arriving. Auburn’s football team was at MGM that day. AK was reportedly closed by the guy in the information booth next to the bus stops at around noon.

 

[TURKEY]

12-31: Up early for MGM. We did GMR, Star Tours, and Muppets. We had a PS at Hollywood and Vine. Afterward we did BATB, followed by a special performance and a Q&A by 3 of Aida’s stars that were performing in Orlando. Had an excellent spot for the parade getting there about 1:45. Did animation tour after parade, followed by Fantasmic dinner package at H&V.

I ran and got hats and noisemakers after dinner. Scheduled to open at 6, it opened before 5:30. One distribution place was the ABC theatre. The line was winding through the wheelchair ramp, down and out to near the hat, and looped back around to the statue park area.

Fantasmic started early due to the approaching rains. Started raining shortly after the 6:30 performance was over. We had a FP for Indy for the 8:45 show. We did Sounds Dangerous which was packed due to rain. Indy started late because it was being used as a shelter, starting about 9 without the building stunts and the airplane stunt. Soaked to the bone, we left (I’m getting over a slight illness from being wet). We left around 9:30.

1-1-03: Moved from AKL to Caribbean Beach. We left AKL around 10:30 and went to MK. We ate at the Mexican restaurant. We got FP for HM (about 1 hour from issue time was return time), and did the Hall of Presidents. After the FP was used, we went shopping on Main Street and got a place for the parade about 1:30 in the town square area. Parade seemed to take extra long, because of all the kids that wouldn’t mind and didn’t go sit down.

We left after the parade and went and checked in to CB. I didn’t get a parking permit, transportation schedule, or times guide when checking in. We stayed in Barbados 1517. The room is right next to an electrical room and had a humming noise that was audible periodically, but it wasn’t a distraction for sleeping or anything.

We went back to MK for the fireworks via bus. Main Street was packed. After taking 5 minutes to get to near the Cinema, we cut through the Emporium/Casey’s to get out. On the trip back to CB, the bus driver didn’t call out stops or turn on interior lights until stopped. It was difficult to see where the stop was at on a standing room only packed bus.

1-2: Up early for MGM. Hit Coaster twice with only pre-show wait. We did ToT 3 times. We got 2 sequences. We had a sweet smell on 1 ride, but I think it was just perfumes and scents of riders. As we were getting off ToT the 3rd time, the park had opened and ToT and Coaster had waits of 30 minutes by 9:15.

Went to Little Mermaid show and walked in right as they were ready to close the doors and only about 10 seats were left. We got a FP for Millionaire. We did the HISTK playground for pictures like I had done when I was 10. We went back to Millionaire. 2 brothers were the only 2 people that made it to the hot seat. One was near 30 and one was 11 or 12. The kid got an extra lifeline when the phone a stranger came in and helped him answer the next question correct after the phone call. We did One Man’s Dream which was packed. We ate at Hollywood and Vine. (Notice a trend?? You just can’t beat a buffet.)

After going back for a nap, we went to MGM for the Osborne lights. We took the boat to Epcot about 8. We did Figment, Spaceship Earth, and shopped. I didn’t ask any of the CM at Spaceship Earth about closure due to arriving right at 9 and wanting to leave before Illuminations crowd left.

1-3: Left CB and started the trip home.

 

[TURKEY]

Weird Notes and Overall Opinions

If you can, stay at a resort that doesn't have multiple stops. It's so much easier to go from AKL to the bus stop and wait than go to CB and wait on a bus to make stops at every island.

One of the Lion King stiltwalkers appears to be one of the guys that was the Sage of Time. I didn't get a good look, but they looked similar.

Peter Pan's queue line needs paint bad. There were stretches were there was more metal showing than the yellow paint.

There wasn't a safety spiel on BTMR on either of my times riding. I didn't hear one while on the ramp or standing in line waiting to board the train.

In the Little Mermaid attraction, there was a CM standing on the side clapping after every sequence to get the audience start clapping. I hadn't noticed that before.

A lot of people were really rude. I was sitting near planters for some of the parades and was getting dirt kicked all over me by little kids. I asked their parents to have them stop, and they either gave me a look or said something nasty.

People wouldn't let you get off the elevator at AKL without trying to get on. When we were checking out, we had to wait on someone to get on before we could get off with our luggage.

I was pushed into things several times by adults and kids while they were trying to cut in front of me.

For four days, 2 parks opened early. 12-30: Epcot and AK; 12-31: AK and MGM; 1-1: MK and Epcot; 1-2: MGM and MK.

 

[MinnieFan]

Thanks for the trip report. Sounds like you did a lot. Did you find time to eat a turkey leg? hee hee:slurp:

 

[Invero]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
On the trip back to CB, the bus driver didn’t call out stops or turn on interior lights until stopped. It was difficult to see where the stop was at on a standing room only packed bus.

Not to say what happened was right... or to defend the driver, because I'm not... But... at that time, we did have a bunch of busses with broken PA systems. During the holiday seasons, the crunch is to make sure every bus is running... and not that every bus works properly. *sigh* Could be worse... on the new low floor busses, you can't understand the PA even when it is working. Sounds like a NYC subway... lol

As for the lights... technically speaking, that is exactly what we're supposed to do. With the lights on, it makes it harder to see out the front window to drive. Most of our busses, when you shut the front door, the front dome lights go out... however, on a lot of them, they dont go out for whatever reason. With those lights on, it makes it very difficult to see out...