What a high paced week. This was our first time to WDW when the Christmas deco was up and it was awesome. It was amaing seeing the huge Christmas trees and gingerbread houses. We hit 6 resorts and all the parks and I should have pics up in a few days. (sorry it will be so long).
Day 1 Epcot
First thing we did was Spaceship Earth. It seemed very dark at the top of the initial climb and I did notice that the movie screen was not working just before the caveman area. (it was later in the week). Next was TT, unfortunatley it was 45 min wait time and fast passes were around dinner time so on to Canada. We saw Papa Noel and listened to his story of Christmas in Canada. We hit a few more countries and then off to Cape May Cafe. The food was good as always, but the big highlight is the huge candy carosel in the lobby. Now back to SSR for a good nights sleep since we have been up since 3:00 AM :snore:. At SSR the kids wet play area had a construction wall around it and Donald was gone. It appears that they are replacing some of the grates used to drain water.
Day 2 Studios
To RNRC and TOT. I ride by myself. My DD wanted to ride RNRC in the worst way, but she is 46 1/2" tall and my DW will not ride it alone. The Stunt Show set is huge. The grandstand seating is larger that I expected, and there has to be 10 Fast Pass machines lined up by the entrance. The backstage tour has changed tremedously since we were there in October last year. It would be cool to go on the backstage tour during a performance of the Stunt show to see the cars as they do there backstage turnarounds. There was a construction wall up in front Playhouse Disney. I didn't look to see what they were working on, but Playhouse was open. The Great Movie ride was empty. We had maybe 25 people in our car and the one in front of us was completely empty (just the driver). The Indy shows was great as ussual. It completely packed as it always is. I hope the rumors aren't true that this might close after the stunt show opens. The Christmas version of the parade was ok. I am not a big fan of the Stars and Motor Cars parade anyway, and this was ot much better. Dinner at Mama Melrose (awesome) :slurp: and then off to Fantasmic. We got there early and were to the far left of the VIP seating about 5 rows up and had some short people in front of us, so we had a great view.
Day Three AK
We opened the park and headed straight for the safari. The animals were very active and this was by far the best safari ride yet. Next was breakfast at Donalds Breakfastasaurus and Dinoland. My DW and I went on Dinosaur separately, I can't beleive she rode Dino by herself. I kept looking at the ride picture monitors looking for my wife flipping me the bird (since I told her it was very tame), well she came off the ride with a huge smile and loved it. Now to Asia. I can't believe how big EE is. The pictures I have seen here do not do it any justice. It is absolutely humongous!
It is time for Kali River Rapids. We had about a 5 minute wait. I got soaked. So since me and my DD were wet I guess we should go again. The Jingle Jungle Parade was ok, But I like the Jamin' Jungle better. We missed the Lion King so we will have to do later in the week. Went to Boma for dinner. This was also our first time at The Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was beautiful. I loved the savanna in the back. It has to be amazing waking up in the morning and looking out on your balcony and the animals grazing. Well, back to Boma. I liked some of the food, and I tried a little of almost everything they had. The soups were the best. This will not be on the top of my list to try again, but I will go there again someday. I wanted to get to MK for Spectromagic, we were to tired.
Day Four MK
We started the day at Chef Mickey's for my DD's B-day. We missed the bus fo MK so we took the bus the Epcot and then the monorails to the Contemporary. We were the only peple on the monorail and we sat in the front from Epcot to the T&TC. My DD was so excited! After breakfast it was on to MK. My DD has never rode on any of the moutains, and this is what she wanted to do. 1. TMRR 2. Splash 3. SM. She loved them all. By the end of the week we had rode TMRR 4 times splash 2times and Space 5 times. The wait in Space was crazy. There were a group of cheerleaders right behind us and they were cheering at the top of their lungs for the 10 minute wait we had. I wish I had ear plugs. COP was nearly empty (maybe 15 people in our theater. Stitch was fairly busy considering the low crowds. I liked stitch! The Stitch animatronic was amazing! Splash seemed to have all of the animatronics operating. We had the worst Jungle Cruise Guide ever. She was absolutely horrible, especially when she kept putting down Disney. I was going to report her, but on to happier things. For dinner we went to the Mickeys Backyard BBQ. I was very disappointed! The food was ok. The entertainment was ok. The parents were nuts. When the Characters came out to greet and dance for the show, parents grabed there kids and pushed right in. My DD was trying to dance and have fun and was getting knocked around. I will never go back again. River country had all the lights on, but I did notice some trees down near the bathrooms. The MBBBQ uses the River Country bathrooms / lockers and they are in rough shape. By the looks of it, I would assume Disney will have to do something in the next few years before it becomes a liability.
Day Five Epcot
EMH and we made it. We frirst hit TT. It stopped at least 4 times during the ride. I thought we were going to have to walk off. Ellen's Energy Adventure was nearly empty. We had maybe 50 people on our ride. The Land was very depressing. NO BALLOONS!!!! :fork: . There was much traffic in the land at all, but we did the tour and movie. Next to Imagination. My DD hated the skunk smell so much that she doesn't ever mant to go on it again. At The Living Seas we saw turtle talk. I thought it was pretty cool how they asked questions and pointed to specific people in the crowd. We hit all the countries and the CP. The processional was great, except for the horns that were blowing in my ears. In Italy I was trying to take pics of Spaceship Earth and a CM told me to move out of the area, because she had to rope it off for a catered dinner party. I can barely afford dinner let alone a private dinner party. Illuminations was incredible especially with the holiday add-on. In Mexico El Rio Di Tempo was open. I had read before we left that it was going to be closed for 4 days.
Day Six MK
We went to the GF for the My Disney Girls Perfectly Princess Tea Party. A present for my DD. It was nice, but not worth the money. Then off to MK. We only hit a few rides before dinner @ the Liberty Tree and MVMCP. It was more crowded during the MVMCP than it was during the day. We hit a few more rides, but mostly the shows. We waited to see the later parade and it was so crowded that we ended up lining up for the parde about 1 hour before it started. Here are some of the times (space 25 minutes @ 9:45 PM)(Buzz 20 Minutes during the first parade) (Thunder 25 minutes @ 11:30 PM). The 360 degree fireworks are amazing. We left the park at about 12:25, and it was still crowded. The shops were all packed.
Day Seven DTD & Epcot
We did a little shopping and tried to meet santa, but it started to rain. So now to Epcot for the last time. TT was 65min, so we got fast passes and went to Mexico for dinner.
Day Eight AK & MK
We basically went to AK to finish my DD's discovery spots (2 left) and see The Lion King. The Lion King was great as always so we made a quick stop @ the Pocahontas show then headed for MK. At MK it was busy. I mean I have never been there when the crowds were this busy. We couldn't find a table @ Cosmic Rays, Space Mountain was 70 Min wait with fastpasses about 4 hours later, Buzz 65 Min, and Stitch had a line around the back of the building with a 45 min wait and fastpasses all gone, so we went on COP. Now COP was 90% full. There were only about 15 seats open in our theater. The last scene in COP the video game was out of sync with the narraration. I didn't even try to get back to Fantasy Land in these crowds.
We had a great time and the crowds were very low until Saturday 12/11. All week we didn't wait for more than 20 minutes for anything. I will definately go back for the Christmas season again. :xmas:
Day 1 Epcot
First thing we did was Spaceship Earth. It seemed very dark at the top of the initial climb and I did notice that the movie screen was not working just before the caveman area. (it was later in the week). Next was TT, unfortunatley it was 45 min wait time and fast passes were around dinner time so on to Canada. We saw Papa Noel and listened to his story of Christmas in Canada. We hit a few more countries and then off to Cape May Cafe. The food was good as always, but the big highlight is the huge candy carosel in the lobby. Now back to SSR for a good nights sleep since we have been up since 3:00 AM :snore:. At SSR the kids wet play area had a construction wall around it and Donald was gone. It appears that they are replacing some of the grates used to drain water.
Day 2 Studios
To RNRC and TOT. I ride by myself. My DD wanted to ride RNRC in the worst way, but she is 46 1/2" tall and my DW will not ride it alone. The Stunt Show set is huge. The grandstand seating is larger that I expected, and there has to be 10 Fast Pass machines lined up by the entrance. The backstage tour has changed tremedously since we were there in October last year. It would be cool to go on the backstage tour during a performance of the Stunt show to see the cars as they do there backstage turnarounds. There was a construction wall up in front Playhouse Disney. I didn't look to see what they were working on, but Playhouse was open. The Great Movie ride was empty. We had maybe 25 people in our car and the one in front of us was completely empty (just the driver). The Indy shows was great as ussual. It completely packed as it always is. I hope the rumors aren't true that this might close after the stunt show opens. The Christmas version of the parade was ok. I am not a big fan of the Stars and Motor Cars parade anyway, and this was ot much better. Dinner at Mama Melrose (awesome) :slurp: and then off to Fantasmic. We got there early and were to the far left of the VIP seating about 5 rows up and had some short people in front of us, so we had a great view.
Day Three AK
We opened the park and headed straight for the safari. The animals were very active and this was by far the best safari ride yet. Next was breakfast at Donalds Breakfastasaurus and Dinoland. My DW and I went on Dinosaur separately, I can't beleive she rode Dino by herself. I kept looking at the ride picture monitors looking for my wife flipping me the bird (since I told her it was very tame), well she came off the ride with a huge smile and loved it. Now to Asia. I can't believe how big EE is. The pictures I have seen here do not do it any justice. It is absolutely humongous!
It is time for Kali River Rapids. We had about a 5 minute wait. I got soaked. So since me and my DD were wet I guess we should go again. The Jingle Jungle Parade was ok, But I like the Jamin' Jungle better. We missed the Lion King so we will have to do later in the week. Went to Boma for dinner. This was also our first time at The Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was beautiful. I loved the savanna in the back. It has to be amazing waking up in the morning and looking out on your balcony and the animals grazing. Well, back to Boma. I liked some of the food, and I tried a little of almost everything they had. The soups were the best. This will not be on the top of my list to try again, but I will go there again someday. I wanted to get to MK for Spectromagic, we were to tired.Day Four MK
We started the day at Chef Mickey's for my DD's B-day. We missed the bus fo MK so we took the bus the Epcot and then the monorails to the Contemporary. We were the only peple on the monorail and we sat in the front from Epcot to the T&TC. My DD was so excited! After breakfast it was on to MK. My DD has never rode on any of the moutains, and this is what she wanted to do. 1. TMRR 2. Splash 3. SM. She loved them all. By the end of the week we had rode TMRR 4 times splash 2times and Space 5 times. The wait in Space was crazy. There were a group of cheerleaders right behind us and they were cheering at the top of their lungs for the 10 minute wait we had. I wish I had ear plugs. COP was nearly empty (maybe 15 people in our theater. Stitch was fairly busy considering the low crowds. I liked stitch! The Stitch animatronic was amazing! Splash seemed to have all of the animatronics operating. We had the worst Jungle Cruise Guide ever. She was absolutely horrible, especially when she kept putting down Disney. I was going to report her, but on to happier things. For dinner we went to the Mickeys Backyard BBQ. I was very disappointed! The food was ok. The entertainment was ok. The parents were nuts. When the Characters came out to greet and dance for the show, parents grabed there kids and pushed right in. My DD was trying to dance and have fun and was getting knocked around. I will never go back again. River country had all the lights on, but I did notice some trees down near the bathrooms. The MBBBQ uses the River Country bathrooms / lockers and they are in rough shape. By the looks of it, I would assume Disney will have to do something in the next few years before it becomes a liability.
Day Five Epcot
EMH and we made it. We frirst hit TT. It stopped at least 4 times during the ride. I thought we were going to have to walk off. Ellen's Energy Adventure was nearly empty. We had maybe 50 people on our ride. The Land was very depressing. NO BALLOONS!!!! :fork: . There was much traffic in the land at all, but we did the tour and movie. Next to Imagination. My DD hated the skunk smell so much that she doesn't ever mant to go on it again. At The Living Seas we saw turtle talk. I thought it was pretty cool how they asked questions and pointed to specific people in the crowd. We hit all the countries and the CP. The processional was great, except for the horns that were blowing in my ears. In Italy I was trying to take pics of Spaceship Earth and a CM told me to move out of the area, because she had to rope it off for a catered dinner party. I can barely afford dinner let alone a private dinner party. Illuminations was incredible especially with the holiday add-on. In Mexico El Rio Di Tempo was open. I had read before we left that it was going to be closed for 4 days.
Day Six MK
We went to the GF for the My Disney Girls Perfectly Princess Tea Party. A present for my DD. It was nice, but not worth the money. Then off to MK. We only hit a few rides before dinner @ the Liberty Tree and MVMCP. It was more crowded during the MVMCP than it was during the day. We hit a few more rides, but mostly the shows. We waited to see the later parade and it was so crowded that we ended up lining up for the parde about 1 hour before it started. Here are some of the times (space 25 minutes @ 9:45 PM)(Buzz 20 Minutes during the first parade) (Thunder 25 minutes @ 11:30 PM). The 360 degree fireworks are amazing. We left the park at about 12:25, and it was still crowded. The shops were all packed.
Day Seven DTD & Epcot
We did a little shopping and tried to meet santa, but it started to rain. So now to Epcot for the last time. TT was 65min, so we got fast passes and went to Mexico for dinner.
Day Eight AK & MK
We basically went to AK to finish my DD's discovery spots (2 left) and see The Lion King. The Lion King was great as always so we made a quick stop @ the Pocahontas show then headed for MK. At MK it was busy. I mean I have never been there when the crowds were this busy. We couldn't find a table @ Cosmic Rays, Space Mountain was 70 Min wait with fastpasses about 4 hours later, Buzz 65 Min, and Stitch had a line around the back of the building with a 45 min wait and fastpasses all gone, so we went on COP. Now COP was 90% full. There were only about 15 seats open in our theater. The last scene in COP the video game was out of sync with the narraration. I didn't even try to get back to Fantasy Land in these crowds.
We had a great time and the crowds were very low until Saturday 12/11. All week we didn't wait for more than 20 minutes for anything. I will definately go back for the Christmas season again. :xmas:
