Trip Report Dec. 25 - Jan. 4

Grumpy56 · Jan 7, 2004

Enjoying your report. Particularly liked your plan about getting up at 6am after driving down from Canada! What do they say about the best laid plans? Glad you had fun!

mikesenger · Jan 9, 2004

Where you the only driver on that trip? We are making roughly the same drive in march and hope to do it as quickly.

mikesenger

grandmath · Jan 12, 2004

nice trip report! I want to read the rest of it!!

Mr. Tom Morrow · Jan 13, 2004

Hi Grumpy56, glad your enjoying my report. The mistake I made with our planning this time around was that we left home a couple hours later than we usually do, which was do to Christmas dinner. The other thing I usually do is take a short nap after arriving in Orlando or going to bed early which I didn’t do. And it cost me the whole trip!

Hi Mikesenger, nope all five of us drive but I was the only one who actually drove on the way down. Needless to say, I enjoy driving! There are a couple of things to keep in mind if you are going to drive straight through. First, do it through the night time, there is little or no traffic and Police are less likely to be about in the early morning hours. Also, your passengers will all be sleeping eliminating unscheduled potty breaks! But be sure to keep your co-pilot awake to help keep you awake. In our case my wife will read a book to me or simply keep changing the CD’s when required. Make sure you also keep liquids handy, I like water others like coffee or soda. Also, plan your route before you leave, watch out for construction zones or going through large cities (Atlanta) during rush hour! When you stop for fuel, make sure you take a potty break and splash some cold water on your face. And finally, if you feel yourself getting very tired stop and take a break.

Hi Grandmath, glad to hear you’re enjoying my report. Wow it’s already been almost a week since I posted part I, I’ll get on part 2 right away!

Mr. Tom Morrow · Jan 14, 2004

Day 4 – Sunday, December 28th

We were up on time this day (6am) and at the bus stop by 6:50am. Today’s schedule had us spending the day at Epcot which was scheduled to open at 8am. According to the resort TV channel Disney transportation begins running 1 hour before each parks scheduled opening time. I also checked the resort phone message which indicates Disney transportation begins running 45 minutes before. So at 7:15am I approached the cast member at the bus stop to see if he knew when the Epcot bus would be arriving. I was informed that buses began running 15 minutes before each parks opening time. As I was explaining about the resort channel and phone message the Epcot bus pulled up! The driver was great; he had us in line at Epcot by 7:30am. I was kind of surprised that we had to wait in line; it has been our experience that the parks (except Animal Kingdom) were always actually open about an hour before their posted scheduled time. Not on this day, we were let in at exactly 8am and the mad dash for Future World East was on! We headed straight for Mission: Space, grabbed Fast Pass and then went inside. We walked right on and by the time we finished our first mission it was time to use our fast pass, we walked right back on. Aside from the lift off sequence we were kind of disappointed, definitely a downgrade from Horizons. We can’t see how this attraction will sustain its current popularity.

We then headed for Test Track which already had a 45 minute wait and Fast Pass times of 10:30am – 11:30am. So we grabbed Fast Pass and crossed over to Future World West. First stop was The Living Seas, a very deserted Living Seas! Those who were inside all skipped the briefing room and headed for Sea Base Alpha. The first thing we noticed was the new Nemo area on the main level. I was pleasantly surprised with this addition. I don’t think that Disney movie character should be placed inside Epcot; it’s a different kind of park! But I have to give Imagineering their props on this one; they did a nice job of introducing the characters from Finding Nemo yet kept the message very educational, well done! The new Nemo photo area just outside the exit is also beautiful. We then moved on to The Land, walked on to Living with the Land and had a short wait for Food Rocks. Nothing new with either of these two attractions, but Food Rocks will be missed. Moving along we went to visit Figment. On our way we caught a glimpse of the Soaring construction that is now visible from inside the park. I sure am glad that the brought back Figment and One Little Spark. There was a bit of a wait for Honey I Shrunk the Audience and the available Fast Pass times would put us at lunch time so we returned to Test Track. Nothing new to report here, ride broke down three times while we were on it! Sure do miss World of Motion! We did have some additional fun in all of the attractions. One of my Christmas gifts was a guide to finding Hidden Mickey’s. The guide gives you clues as to where they are presented in a kind of scavenger hunt format. People kept asking us where we got the book which we latter saw for sale at various stores throughout WDW. We had always looked for them, but the clues made our little game more enjoyable.

My parents were going to meet us at the ESPN Club for lunch at noon. It was 11:15am so we decided to head over to get in line. Last year we got to the club at noon and waited more than an hour to get in. When we got to the Club at 11:30am there was no line and my parents were already seated on the main floor in front of the Lions vs. Rams TV. Being from the metro Detroit area we are Lions fans. I know, I know, I’ve heard it all before, but on this day it would be us who would be doing some good natured ribbing with the Rams fans as the Lions pulled out the upset to close out the season. We enjoyed several orders of Dingers and one or two Hockey Pucks by the end of the game.

Following lunch we walked with my parents to the van to see if our camera was there, thank goodness it was. One problem off my mind! We then returned to Epcot to complete our day. Our first stop was The American Adventure. However on the way, our Pal Mickey had lots of things to tell us about each country as we passed by. We also stopped by to read about Christmas in each country, very interesting. When we walked out of The American Adventure the first Candlelight Processional was just finished up so we moved quickly over to Italy where we caught the Living Statue, always good for laugh. When we arrived at Norway the line was to long so we picked up Fast Pass and moved on to Mexico to ride the River of Time. Continuing around the lagoon we stopped to watch the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We then took a boat ride across the lagoon and stopping by to watch the Candlelight Processional, hosted by Gary Sinise. This show is always very well done and a must see if you are in the park at Christmas time. One our way back to Norway we stopped at China to watch the new movie. This update was also well done with a nice blend of scenes from the old movie and new section of modern China. When we used our Fast Pass at Norway no one collected our passes so we did a bad thing, went back through the Fast Pass line this time our passes were collected. By this time it was about 8:30pm so we picked a nice spot between Norway and Mexico to watch Illuminations, which turned out to be a great place to watch the show.

Once Illuminations was finished the hoards of people moved towards the front of the park. As we were walking by one of the gardens a lady asked someone else in her party “How does Disney get the flowers to grow?” I almost busted a gut, I mean it would be one thing if this was a young girl asking but it was a grown woman. When we made it to the bus area there was lots of Disney transportation waiting for us. We had to wait for the third bus to take us back to Coronado. Unfortunately a group of teenage kids decided that they didn’t need to wait in the line and just boarded the bus. Those of us in line started yelling at the group, some of them stopped and got in line but about six got on. A few of us gave them the what for but all we got back was attitude. Can’t really blame the driver, an older gentleman who was in his seat. But you would think the people getting on the bus in front of the group might have done something. A few of us were going to give them a hard time when they tried to get off the bus, but our stop came first.

Day 5 – Monday, December 29th

Up again at 6am and at the bus stop by 7am waiting for the Studios bus. The bus picked us up at 7:15am and we were in line at the Studios by 7:30am. This day they let us into the park at about 7:50am but had us roped in at the end of the main street. There was a short opening announcement over the loud speakers and the race was on. We headed for Tower of Terror, picked up Fast Pass and then walked on. When we finished our first ride it was time to use our Fast Pass and walked back on. By the time we finished our second ride there was an hour wait so we got another Fast Pass for Tower of Terror. The wait for Rock ‘n Rollercoaster was only 20 minutes so that’s what we did. We then walked to The Great Movie Ride where we only had to wait for one show and we were on. Then we walked onto Muppets 3D and Star Tours, no wait at all. Lunch was at Pizza Planet and then it was back to Tower of Terror to use our Fast Pass.

Here’s another fun thing to do when you’re at the parks. Make funny faces on the rides that take your picture. For example, we’ve pretended to be sleeping, yawning or reading the paper at the moment that you picture is taken on Tower. It is fun to watch the reaction of the rest of the people on the ride when they view your picture on the monitors. After riding Tower for the third time we headed for the Back Lot Tour. Let me just say there isn’t much left of this attraction and that it was probably a good idea that they closed it in January. All of the bone yard items are scattered in parking areas all over the backstage area. You do however get a good feel for just how much area the new Stunt Show takes up. We then did A Man and His Dream and then the Animation Tour.

This was our first time at the Animation Tour since its fall rehab. Here is a case where an attraction is actually worse after a rehab. The first film, the one were Robbin Williams and Walter Cronkite explain how animation takes place has been replaced with the Mushu film from California Adventure’s Animation Building that does little to explain how animation takes place. Then you move to the animator room where they use to have a Disney Animator actually draw the basic outline of the newest Disney character, now they basically just answer questions. Then you move to the area where the actual animation use to take place and all you see is rooms full of empty desks where there use to be all kinds of figures, posters, signs, nick knacks and animators hard at work, all gone, very sad. And then there is the final blow. The final film has been replaced with the Animation Academy, which is also part of California Adventure’s Animation Building. The Animation Academy is a great addition for children but not at the expense of removing perhaps the best movie Disney has ever made, a collection of highlights from every Disney animated move. I don’t think I ever saw a dry eye come out of that thing and now it’s gone. This is a perfect example of change for the sake of change is a bad thing. If something needs to be changed, make it better, not worse!

At this point the crowds were getting to be a bit much so we decided to see if we could get into the Prime Time Café for lunch even though our priority seating wasn’t for another hour. After a short five minute wait we were seated. I had the Meatloaf just like usual and Marsha tried the Chicken Pot Pie which she tells me is the best she’s ever had. We decided that there really wasn’t much left to do at the Studios which made us really think. With the decline in quality in the Back Lot Tour, Animation tour and sound show, no replacement for the TV sound stage or the Hunchback show the Studios isn’t even a full day anymore, more like a half day and this was during the busiest time of the year! So anyhow we made our way back to our resort and took a nice afternoon nap. We returned to the Studios later to take in Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the Haunted Mansion Movies set, but that was closed already. So we went to get in line for the final showing of Fantasmic. While in line I actually heard a lady ask, “Why are we all just standing here?” some people! Anyhow we get seated in the theater and I’m next to this little boy. I sat my Pal Mickey on the bench next to me, between me and the little boy. I kept setting off Mickey so that he kept talking, the little boy couldn’t believe Mickey was talking, it was awesome. Well after the show we headed for the resort and called it a night. Coming up next, a relaxing day at Blizzard Beach!

Mr. Tom Morrow · Jan 15, 2004

Day 6 – December 30th

The plan for the day was to relax and make it an early night so that we would be rested and ready to go for New Years Eve at the Magic Kingdom. Deb (Marsha’s sister) decided to join us in the morning at Blizzard Beach, up to this point she spent most of her time on the trip at the resort pool trying to get a tan. We arrived shortly after the park opened, found a nice location off the waive pool beach. The weather was very nice once again. Every day of the trip the temperature was in the 70’s and while there were a couple of cloudy periods we never had any rain. Deb laid out to continue tanning while Marsha and I took in the slides, lazy river and wave pool. We had lunch at the Lotsawatta Lodge which had some very good food for a counter service location. After lunch we retuned to our resort, Marsha and I took an afternoon nap while Deb as you might guess went back to the pool.

We were up by mid afternoon and on our way to Downtown Disney. We did most of our shopping and had all of our purchases delivered to our resort. Unlike the last time we used the delivery service, our item would not be shipped to our room but rather to the resort store where we could pick them up by 1pm the next day. Not a big deal but just thought you might like to know! When we finished our shopping we decided to take in Disney Quest for a few hours. This was our third time at Disney Quest so we spend the entire time playing the free video games. I should mention at this point that crowds we not to bad anywhere for the day. I think everyone was just chilling out at their resorts resting for New Years Eve. We found this to be very odd and many of the news outlets were reporting how busy the parks were, that most of the Disney parks were closing early because they were reaching capacity. There were even reports of people going home because they didn’t want to deal with the crowds.

We had priority seating reservations for ‘Ohana where my parents were going to join us. This was the only reservation that we were able to add to, and it was a good thing to. Marsha and I waited at the Marketplace bus stop for 20 minutes for the next bus, which wasn’t that bad, it was the longest we waited for a bus at anytime during the whole trip. However, the Poly bus also makes a stop at the Contemporary. So, by the time we stopped at the Pleasure Island stop, waited for everyone to move all the way to the back of the bus, stopped at the Contemporary and finally the Poly we were late for our reservation. Fortunately my parents were on time and had checked us in and we ended up being seated about five minutes after we arrived. We had dinned at ‘Ohana on last years trip, we were so impressed with the food, service and atmosphere that we added it to our must visit list on every trip. However this year the service left a lot to be desired and portions of the food were not at quite the same level as the year before. The atmosphere was even better that last year, we all sang ‘rollercoaster ride’ from Lilo & Stitch and were able to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks while dinning. Following dinner Mom and Dad drove us back to our resort. Speaking of driving, the breaks were all fixed at the Chrysler dealer the day before. Both front breaks were replaced and the rear breaks were cleaned. A $350 expense that we hadn’t planned on! Well at least the car was all fixed, no more worries. We were sound asleep by 10:30 pm.

Day 7 – December 31st

Today was the day that all five of us planned on going to the Magic Kingdom. So we decided that it would be best if Mom and Dad met us at the resort in the morning and left the car parked there. We figured it would be easier, and faster for them to get back to their hotel at the end of the night. Deb was tired and decided that she might join us at the park later in the morning but would probably just chill at the resort all day. So, we met Mom and Dad at bus stop #3 at 7am and we were shortly on our way to the Magic Kingdom. The Mayor of Main Street USA welcomed a group about 200 to 300 people at the main entrance opening the park at about 7:45am. We headed straight for Mickey’s Phirharmagic, got four Fast Passes and then walked in through the stand by line. When we finished the first show, we used our Fast Passes and walked right back in. I was kind of sad for my parents because both time the final Donald affect didn’t work. When we walked out of Mickey’s Philharmagic there was hardly anyone in Fantasyland, so we decided to go to Peter Pan’s Flight before it got busy, we had only a 10 minute wait. Then we went across the street to It’s a Small World, walked on. By this time Pal Mickey had told us like four times that there was no wait at Pooh, so that’s what we did next, only a 15 minute wait. Next up was going to be Snow White but the wait was 40 minutes so we headed to Tomorrowland on Pal Mickey’s advice.

We picked up four Fast Passes for Buzz, went to Carrousel of Progress, Time Keeper and the TTA before returning to Buzz to use our Fast Passes. We had almost completed all of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland by lunch. We stopped by Space Mountain to get Fast Passes but the return times were 11pm-12am already! So instead we just headed for our priority seating reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table. Now you may remember that we weren’t able to add to our reservation, but we did get Mom and Dad in. We were the fifth group to be seated for lunch. Believe it or no we were seated at the same table that we had the year before. The meal was excellent as always however there was one small change that I was disappointed with, no more red garlic mashed potatoes. They still had garlic mashed potatoes but they no longer used red potatoes. This was something that I was looking forward to for the whole year. I was hoping it was just at Cindy’s because I would be having stake again later in the trip at the Concourse Steakhouse.

After lunch we headed for Fronterland where we picked up two Fast Passes for Splash Mountain, return time 9pm – 10pm. Then we used my parent’s passes to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain, return time 9pm – 10pm. By this time Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade had begun so we were pretty much stuck at the bridge by Splash Mountain until the end of the parade. When we were able to move we went straight for Pirates which was a 15 minute wait, Tiki Birds, walk on, Country Bear Jamboree, 15 minute wait, Hall of Presidents, 15 minute wait. By this time we were able to get more Fast Passes so that’s what we did, at the Haunted Mansion, return time 9pm – 10pm. By this time we noticed that the park was getting extremely crowed so it was time to try and relax. We headed for the Galaxy Theater plenty early for Mickey’s Christmas show where we had a brief nap before the show. This year’s show was not on ice like last years which had all the performers on skates. We decided to walk back through Fantasyland to see how the lines were for Snow White but they wait was 50 minutes. We were a bit hungry so we headed for Columbia Harbor House. Dad had a turkey leg from a nearby cart. This was one of our favorite counter service restaurants up until the last couple of trips. We always have the chicken strips and fish combo. You use to get a couple nice size pieces of fish, sort of like at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop over at Epcot. But now you get what looks like fish sticks. I think we will give it one more try but next time well check out someone else’s order before we order.

As we were walking out of the Columbia Harbor House the first Spectromagic parade was just rapping up. Once the parade finished we walked to the hub to find a nice viewing location for Wishes, just to the left of the castle in the hub. Again, I have to give props to the Imaginers on another awesome attraction. Wishes is about 100 times better then Fantasy in the Sky, it kind of reminds me of Illuminations with the multiple locations for the launching of the fireworks. Very nice! Then things turned ugly! It was closing in on 9pm and the start of all our Fast Passes so we headed for the bridge to Liberty Square, but we didn’t get so far. In fact we didn’t move at all! It took us about 20 minutes just to get across the bridge. By the time we got to the other side, our direction was down to a single line with the other direction taking up the rest of the bridge. Just as we come to the clearing there is a cast member telling us to stay to the right. What good does that do, we’re already across the bridge? Actually that was the only cast member we that saw directing traffic anywhere at any time all day.

When we finally arrived at the Haunted Mansion there was a line up at the Fast Pass return line, we couldn’t believe it. Then we found out it was just people waiting for their Fast Pass times to begin blocking the entrance. One lady actually complained that people were cutting! Since our passes were valid I guess we cut our way to the entrance. After riding the Haunter Mansion we made our way to Big Thunder Mountain, Mom and Dad waited for us to return at a bench along the Rivers of America. Marsha and I rode Big Thunder and Splash Mountains and then joined back up with Mom and Dad. Mom doesn’t like rollercoaster’s and dad just had an operation on his arm so he couldn’t go either. We sat and enjoyed the rest, had a soft pretzel and people watched. We watched the second Spectromagic parade right from our spot, same as last year, still a great parade. Following the parade we made our way back to Main Street and back to the Railroad Station lockers to pick up our stuff so we wouldn’t have to later. Then we made our way back up Main Street cutting through the Pizza Pavilion and stopped at the Tomorrowland side of the Tomorrowland bridge from the hub. And that’s where we sat and waiting to ring in the New Year. We use to watch from the middle of the same bridge but now there are some new trees in the way. Never the less, it was still a great spot to watch the fireworks for New Years. This year there were fireworks launched from all around the park. And definitely much better than last year as Mother Nature was much more corporative this year as last year it poured rain from about 8:30 pm on. Getting out of the park was very slow, slower than usual, I could definitely tell that there were more people in the park then I had ever experienced before. It took us four buses to catch one back to our resort. We were in bed by about 1am and Mom and Dad had no problem at all getting back to their hotel quickly. Other than the crowds, which has to be expected we had another great day. There were only two attraction that we didn’t get to that we wanted to, Jungle Cruise and Space Mountain, which we probably couldn’t have done if we rushed to fit them in. Next up, the final four days.

Mr. Tom Morrow · Jan 15, 2004

Day 8 – January 1st

The first this we had planned for the day was lunch at Whispering Canyon Café at noon, so we slept in until 10am. To get to the Wilderness Lodge we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the boat over to Wilderness Lodge. Unfortunately the boat took a little longer than we had expected and we ended up being 15 minutes late for our priority seating. But, just like at ‘Ohana my parents were on time and already seated when we arrived. We enjoyed the all you can enjoy lunch, terrific food as always. The cast members were really into the show this time doing something outrageous with the whole room about ever 15 minutes or so. While we were eating my dad noticed that there was a gentleman eating two tables over from us who looked a lot like Michael Eisner. After looking at the man and the way he was eating I was sure it wasn’t him. After we got home we heard that Michael Eisner was indeed at WDW over the holidays so you never know? Very interesting!

When we finished lunch we decided to drive over to Pop Century and check it out. As you would expect it was a lot like the All Star resorts only newer looking! The highlight of the resort would have to be the memorabilia in the main building. There are also signs along the walkways around the resort that tell you interesting facts about each year. The main building seemed a little larger than the main buildings at the All Stars. A nice change was that the resort store and the food court were connected here. After experiencing Pop Century we decided that although Pop Century is very nice, All Star Movies is still our favorite value resort. When we finished up with our little visit, Mom and Dad dropped us off at Coronado Springs where we changed into our bathing suites and enjoyed a nice swim at the pool and hot tub. When we finished our swim we found a nice hammock to lay down and just chill out in. At about 6pm we returned to our room and decided to go to dinner at Beaches and Cream. We talked Deb into joining us for dinner so we grabbed the bus for the Studios and then took the boat over to the Beach Club.

When we arrived at Beaches and Cream we were informed that there was a 1 hour and 20 minute wait. This was very unusual; there usually isn’t a wait until after Epcot closes for the day. We decided to walk over to the Boardwalk to see what might be available. ESPN was even worse but that was due to all the college bowl games that were taking place. Spoodles told us to come back at 9:30pm and they might be able to get us in. So, we returned to Beaches and Cream and put our name in. While we were waiting we took a walk around the lake to kill some time. We ended up waiting a little more than an hour to be seated at the counter again, same seats as earlier. After dinner Marsha and I went over to Pleasure Island where we enjoyed the comedy at the Adventures Club (Kongladush!) and took in the last show at the Comedy Warehouse. This is where I learned why Disney does so many unnecessary rehabs to good attractions, so that the props can be used at the Warehouse! There were lots of new props throughout the theater. Even in the entry room with the pictures of the comedians who had performed at the Comedy Warehouse had all kinds of new stuff, pictures were gone. After the last show we caught the last bus back to the resort and went to bed.

Day 9 – Friday, January 2nd

This was park cleanup day where we visit all the parks and hit the attractions that we missed during the trip. We ended up sleeping in again making it to the Studios by about 10am. The only thing that we did was the Haunted Manson Movie Set. We then grabbed a bus and headed for Epcot where we did Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Innoventions and Spaceship Earth. While at Epcot we also had lunch at the Sunshine Season Food Fair which is another nice choice for counter service food. I also took some final pictures of the Food Rocks signage as I knew it would be closing for good two days later. Then we were off for the Magic Kingdom where we did Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Carrousel of Progress, TTA and the Haunted Manson. We never did get to Space Mountain which was ok because by this time we felt we had experienced enough to call it a trip. We grabbed a bus back to the resort, had some dinner at the unimpressive food court at Coronado Springs and then went to bed. We had to call it an early night because we would be leaving the next night for the long drive home.

Day 10 – Saturday, January 2nd

We slept in again because our first planned activity was breakfast at Chef Mickey’s at 11am. Mom and Dad brought the minivan to the resort at 10am; we loaded up the car and headed for the Contemporary. Deb stayed at Coronado to catch some last minute sun tanning. Chef Mickey’s is our favorite character breakfast, especially when we have young nieces or nephews with us, other wise we try to do it every other trip. The food was great and it’s always nice to visit with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale. Following breakfast we drove to the large outlet mall just on the other side of I-4 near WDW to go to Disney’s Character Warehouse which is like the one at the Beltz Outlet but smaller. We made some more purchases and then headed for the Beltz Outlet for yet a few more purchases. Still not shopped out we headed back to Downtown Disney for more shopping. When Marsha was finally finished shopping we went over to Wintersummerland for a round of mini golf before heading on to dinner. Dinner was at the Concourse Steakhouse which after our trip last year has become a must do on each trip. If you like steak this is the place to go and the great thing about it is that most people don’t know about this place so it’s never really crowded. The meal was fantastic, except no red garlic mashed potatoes again. Deb met us at the Contemporary and we rode the resort monorail around the lagoon one last time before climbing into the car and heading north. We gassed up at the Car Care Center and we were on our way which started with a new shortcut we found. We took US-192 West to US – 27 North and then the Florida Turnpike to I-75 North. This allowed us to skip all of the traffic along International Drive, Sea World, Universal and Orlando.

Day 11 – Sunday, January 4th

Our first stop for fuel was in Macon, GA at 12:30am. Second stop was in Knoxville, TN at about 5am. At this point Marsha made me stop driving and Dad took over. Our next stop was just north of Cincinnati, OH at about 9:30am where we stopped for breakfast at a Big Boy. I drove the last leg of the trip and we were beck home in the Great White North by 3pm. When Marsha and I got home we went strait to bed where we slept until 7pm, had some dinner and fell back asleep until mid morning the following day.
The weather back home wasn’t bad, well for a day anyways, by Tuesday we were in a deep freeze. By Wednesday we had Walt Disney World withdrawal bad. To take my mind off of WDW I began to plan our wedding anniversary trip which is coming up on February 1st. I always try to plan a nice weekend away, like for example last year we went to Toronto. I was torn between doing a number of things around the Detroit area, staying in a fancy hotel or going someplace warm. And that’s when it happened, US Air $130 special to all Florida gates. Yup, you guessed it were going back to WDW! Two nights ago we booked our flight on US Air Jan. 29th returning on Feb. 3rd for $335 roundtrip total. We booked a standard room at the Wilderness Lodge on our Premium Annual Pass for $109 per night. I also booked us for the Backstage Magic tour on Jan. 30th, something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. By the time we went to bed we had all of our priority seatings confirmed and our schedule was ready to go. Now all we have to do is wait for two weeks to fly by. So I guess that’s all for now, until my next trip report, next month! Oh Boy, See You Real Soon!

Beauty and the · May 16, 2004

We're going to WDW this Christmas and New Year 16/12 -3/1
reading your trip report has made me excited already

Sounds like you had a great time, great that you didn't compain about the parks being too full it was somthing I was worried about.

Mr. Tom Morrow · May 18, 2004

Thanks Beauty glad to hear I could help get you in the WDW mood! I had to read the whole report over again myself, ahhhh the memories. Actually we did have a great time we always do. In regards to the crowds, it was extremely busy during this trip. We were able to find out that the parks are closed based on how busy the parking lot for each park is and not by the actual attendance in the park! I see you’ll be visiting Dec. 16th through Jan. 3rd. You should have the parks to yourself from Dec. 16th through to Dec. 24th but then the masses, include us will be joining you Dec. 25th. As you can see from the report we have some rules that we follow to combat the crowds. Plan a schedule and book all your priority seating reservations before you leave home. We never wait in a line that is longer than 30 minutes we’ll skip it and return at a later time. Use the fast pass system at every opportunity. If a park gets too crowded for your liking, leave and go do something else. And above all else, chill, relax and remember you’re on vacation! Hope you have a great time on your trip, we might just see you!

Trip Report Dec. 25 - Jan. 4

Grumpy56

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grandmath

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Mr. Tom Morrow

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Mr. Tom Morrow

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Mr. Tom Morrow

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Mr. Tom Morrow

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Beauty and the

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Mr. Tom Morrow

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