Trip Report Thanksgiving Report Plus Free Dining (Is it time to eat again already?)

I decided to go ahead and give a report without pictures because if I wait to get my pictures gathered up I'll never do the report. We are me, DH and DD = M just turned 13 and our arrival on the 22nd was the key to getting in on free dining. School usually has weather days in front of Thanksgiving break (so you never know if they are going to let them out or not) but this year they got the whole week so no missed school.

Saturday Nov. 22, 2014-Drive day
We started out about 5:30 am so we arrived around 3:30 pm with the time zone change (Central to Eastern). Traffic got heavier as we neared but nothing like Spring Break. Check in to Port Orleans French Quarter was smooth and after a little unpacking we were off to Boma dinner. What can I say about Boma dinner...fabulous! End of story. Full bellies and tired from driving made for early bed times which was good because we had ambitious plans in the morning...Animal Kingdom was opening at 7:00 am with EMH and we were going to shoot for it.

Sunday Nov. 23rd-AK day/MK evening
We did not make the park opening show but we were very close to 7:00 am. It had rained before we got there and was still a little drizzly, add that to the extremely early hour and our first park day was perfect. We rode Everest twice and Dinosaur before 9:30 breakfast at Rainforest. M had waffles and me & DH split the breakfast pizza which was so much food that M even had a couple of pieces of the pizza and we were all full.
Fast Passes for Safaris, Everest, and Primeval Whirl after followed by a showing of Lion King in its new theater. It was a good show as always and the Tumble Monkeys were the subject of M's first time lapse on her new iphone she just got for her birthday. This would turn out to be one of her favorite things on this trip, making time lapses of rides or shows. Feeling as though we had accomplished much in this park, we popped back to French Quarter before our evening at MK.
It was time to eat again. 5:ish Grand Floridian Cafe. DH had the steak and me & M split a pasta dish with chicken. They were very accommodating and left out the mushrooms and peas. No, we're not being cheap with all this splitting...it's a ridiculous amount of food. We had the desert sampler and even though this was only at 2nd meal at this location we really believe GF Cafe is a hidden gem. Everything was great: food, service, table location-love this place. MK was crowded but we managed a few rides: HM, Pirates, Pooh, Tea Cups, Ariel, and I think we rode Space Mt. that night also. Never once in this trip did we ride Peter Pan; the wait times were always 50-120 minutes! I like that ride and I get that it's a classic but it was always competing with 7 dwarf (and often winning) for longest wait times. Monday-EPCOT & HS

 

[jjbuster2]

Monday Nov. 24
Breakfast at POFQ (we had quick service credits too!)
EPCOT - FP for Mission Space (we did orange this time) and Soarin'. Did single rider line for Test Track (I was in one car with 5 strangers, they were perfectly nice, and DH and M were in the car behind me, one on each row). We piddled about at the aquarium waiting for lunch at Coral Reef. The manatees were having lettuce. M did another time lapse that ended in a sea horse swimming over and latching his tail onto a branch. The food at Coral Reef was alright. Me & DH each had steak (our own this time) and M had chicken. My problem with this place is seating. We ate there when M was 4 and were like the first reservation or two and were seated along the railing of the upper tier. I would not have complained about that seat if I could have predicted this time...the second to last table tucked away beside the kitchen. DH had to switch with M so she could get a small glimpse of the water. Next time we'll skip this and eat somewhere in WS instead. We didn't need the FP for the Seas w/ Nemo but used it anyway.
This was, as we predicted, the only day warm enough to swim so that's what we did between park hopping.
Hollywood Studios EMH night - We did not properly take advantage of this. I think the beginning of trip soreness was settling in; we just hadn't found our groove yet. Dinner was Pizza Planet which me & M kind of like but DH complains about it. He went to ABC Commissary and there was some sort of malfunction with the door so he gave up and joined us. The pumpkin cupcakes were a hit with both of them as desert and would get a repeat another day. We did Great Movie Ride and Star Tours and saw a little of the Osbourne lights.

 

[jjbuster2]

Tuesday Nov. 25
The Rainy Day
Most predictions had the washout day on Wednesday but the rain came on Tuesday and come down it did. Time to break out those ponchos I've been carrying around for years...
Breakfast-quick service POFQ
Magic Kingdom- FP for Thunder Mt. (we changed the time in hope it would open soon), FP for Space went fine, rode Pirates, Small world, finally changed FP for Thunder into Buzz. The skies cleared for a bit and we squeezed in Thunder and Splash Mt. before lunch. Then it was BOG time. We had done the fast pass lunch but not ordered ahead. We saw some people who ordered get pulled out of line but we really didn't wait that much longer and were lead to a kiosk to place our order. I know lunch is counter/quick service but this was an odd experience. First, there's the order ahead concept...we already choose our restaurants months in advance, actually ordering the food feels like a concept that's not going to take off. We had a joke with the song, "Be our guest, be our guest to get your own drink and silverware." How do they know where to find you to bring your food?! Are there GPS chips in these magic bands? The Ballroom was in the middle (kind of loud at the time), and the West Wing was full, so we went to the Library. This is not a complaint, just an observation...such detail went into the castle, moving suits of armor, chandeliers, art work...all fabulous but THERE ARE NO BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY. No fake book shelves, no wallpaper to represent books, nada. Just saying.
Our FP for 7dwarf was rained out and we were shriveled and miserable so we opted to go back to the room and had our own double feature from movies we brought: Wreck it Ralph and Frozen. Tomorrow things will dry out...and turn cold!

 

[jjbuster2]

Wednesday, Nov. 26
Hollywood Studios
Still a little rainy, colder than I thought (I thought it would warm up after the rain stopped but no). I wanted to get in a queue and get out of the rain so we stood in a 45 minute wait for Rock-n-Roller coaster. M's first time on this ride; she loved it. Next FP for Tower of Terror...I hate this ride, DH loves it, M had not been on since she was 4. She pretended to be freaked out by it (even went wonky about the elevators at Atro Orbiter later) but said she would go again if DH wanted to go again. FP for Toy Story and Star Tours (again, I know but what else are we going to FP at this park). Tried the first show of Indiana Jones but they were having technical issues and pulled together an impromptu something but it wasn't as good as the actual show. M wanted to see this so we'll give it another try on another day. Backlot Express very descent for quick service (the pumpkin cupcakes had a return performance).

Tony's Town Square (yes, it's time to eat again) we shared 2 entrees of chicken parm among the 3 of us. It was good but not great. MK, OMG this park is always so crowded! We did Astro, Tea Cups (that was a heck of a time lapse on M's phone), Peoplemover, Tomorrowland Race Track (Fireworks were going off when we drove the back stretch), did we hit Big Thunder and Splash again?, and we had to ride 7 dwarf so we decided to jump into the 60 minute queue and do it. Pleasant surprise, all that waiting paid of and me & M were in the very front car and DH behind us. It's a very smooth coaster but I thought it would be a little longer...oh well, time flies and all that.

 

[jjbuster2]

Thanksgiving!
Hollywood Studios
We started with a Magic of Animation drawing class (Eeyore). FP for Rock-n-Roller Coaster M's 2nd time (not even nervous). Yes, it's time to eat again. 50's Prime Time. M had a chick pot pie and me & DH each had special Thanksgiving turkey. Cousin Jason gave us a trivia quiz to do and didn't give me too much flak about not finishing my green beans (they were multiplying on the plate). I had the pumpkin tart, DH had Dad's brownie, M had cheesecake. This was an unusual day for us in this park. We normally just hit a few highlights and often hop to another park but we never hopped and just kept enjoying everything HS has to offer. FP for Star Tours (again!) and Lights Motor Action. I don't think M remembered this show from the last time we saw it. Little Mermaid, Muppets, redo of the Indiana stunt show, Fantasmic (haven't seen this one in a few years), and then we watched the Osbourne lights and made several time lapses when they played music. Out of 12+ trips this was easily our best day in this park!

 

[jjbuster2]

Friday, Nov. 28
Magic Kingdom
It was so crowded. We had adjusted expectations and did large capacity attractions to fill time until lunch. Peoplemover (Space Mt was down and all the lights were on), Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Liberty Belle (we've actually never done this before) and then it was time to eat: Liberty Tree. It was another good Thanksgiving style meal. I had the desert cake with the craisins in it and I thought it was good but DH & M didn't want any part of it. We checked with FQ about extending our tickets one day and we did because it was like 10$ per and we figured a few last hours in MK was worth that so drive day tomorrow now with MK time.
Back to Friday, EPCOT PM. Now this was unusual for us...on our last night it was our first time in World Showcase! FP for Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Figment (no need) and a few nibbles around the world (me & DH shared a counter service in Morocco) (M would have used all of our snack credits on Teriyaki Chicken in Japan if we had let her). A chilly showing of Illuminations rounded out the night (Oh how I wished I had another one of those nice hot ciders from UK)

Saturday Nov.29
We have dining credits left...unacceptable.
We figure we'd finish where we started this thing...Boma (breakfast this time).
One last hurrah on Big Thunder & Splash Mts. and a Jingle Cruise in the daylight (we had done this one of the nights). We were going to use our last quick service credits at Pecos Bills but every entrance we went to (three of them) we were shooed away by cast members saying exit only and never found the entrance. We ended up at the Diamond Horseshoe (never noticed this place before) for a sandwich before we hit the road. Now we were down to only one snack credit remaining...M wanted cotton candy, we were in the Main Street Confectionery where I spied something intriguing...peppermint bark. We used the last credit on the bark and paid for her cotton candy and I just ate some of the Peppermint for the first time at my desk and it is soooo good. When can we go back!!

 

[mrdrift]

Great report and sounds like you had a wonderful tie at all the parks. Good to see you even tried some new rides that most people skip. Following along.

 

[jjbuster2]

Good to see you even tried some new rides that most people skip.

I mainly wanted to ride the Liberty Belle to see what was along the 'river' on the back side but the funny part was I was standing on the boat taking pictures of people/things on shore and people on shore had their cameras pointed back at me taking pictures of the boat.