[JiminyCricket]

WDW vacation report 10/30-11/7

As of this writing it's snowing here and really miss the 88 degree (not humid) Florida weather!

Our group of 10 arrived in Orlando at 4pm. and we were met by our driver Raphael from Quicksilver (You can read my write up about Quicksilver from the DC transportation forum). After loading up we were on our way to our hotel (offsite) to the Sheraton Safari Hotel. We were all amazed as to how quickly the area was cleaned up from the devastation from the hurricanes.

Located near our hotel is DTD, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden (celebrated a birthday), Black Angus restaurant (night out just the wife and I), Sizzlers restaurant and Walgreens.
After checking in to our Hotel and unpacking we all headed to the pool and jacuzzi in the center courtyard to chill and relax. The jacuzzi got alot of use during our stay at the hotel. After all that swimming we all worked up a hearty appetite, so we all headed for the hotels Casablanca restaurant. By the way kids under 10 eat free. Four people in our group work for Starwood Resorts so we were able to get 50% of our meals. What a menu, grouper, filet mignon, rack of babyback ribs, onion soup, seafood chowder Hmmm MMMM delicious! After dinner the nineteen year olds took the 9 and 12 year old up to the room to play board games while us couples went to the hotels ZanZibar watering hole for some Margaritas and make plans for the rest of the week.
Nite all!!
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-INFO:

We found the parks to be busy from Fridays thru Sundays (local Floridians using annual passes). For the time we were there we found that most of the lines (at all parks) averaged 20-25 minutes wait and found no need to use the fast pass. We found the crowds a little more heavy compared to the last (Nov.) vist when our wait time then was only 10-15 minutes. We figured it is probably due to the hurricanes and people are anxious to go to the parks.

Blizzard Beach is has been closed for refurbishment and I believe it's scheduled to open sometime in Dec. Typhoon Lagoon is open!

-MY 2 CENT SUGGESTIONS:

Instead of wasting time in the gift shops at all the parks (why waste attraction times) we designated that the adults on the last day before our departure would be spent shopping at Magic Kingdom. All of the gift shops carry the same items anyways, with the exception for some shirts with the names of different parks. After purchasing your items and instead of carrying your shopping bags around you can have the cashier send your packages to the pick-up service building (located at mayors building in MK) where you can pick up your items at the end of the day when you leave. We arrived at MK to shop for the park opening and found the gift shops to be very empty that early in the morning (everyone heading to attractions). This made for a relaxing take your time shopping experience. Gift shops start getting packed after lunch.

We did not park hop at all except for once...we found time is wasting by traveling and waiting for busses.

We also found the crowds to be less as soon as the parks open. I also reccomend when going to the animal park, go as soon as it opens so you can see the animals on the safari trip because as the day gets warmer the animals hide in the cool shade of the brush.

We brought our own bottled water and snacks into the parks. We ate a good breakfast before we left our hotel and ate dinner back at our hotel or nearby restaurant.

At Magic Kingdom we found everyone heads to tomorrow land, toon town and the castle (picture taking). When park opens head left to Adventureland and then Frontierland lines 5-10 minutes . By the time you hit fantasyland the crowds will be heading to where you just came from.

Oh and get some inner soles, you'll need it LOL

Hope this helps!
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http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/a...tid=3397&stc=1

~Day 1~ Magic Kingdom / Epcot (Sun.)

Up early! All 10 of us head to hotel restaurant for Casablanca's breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, homefries, grits, oatmeal, pancakes, french toast, belgium waffles (Mmmmm good!) croissants, danish's, donuts, chopped fresh fruits and yogurts, cereals etc. (I gained five pounds over the week!).

Grabbed the 7:50 bus and headed over to the Magic Kingdom! We headed for tomorrow land and fantasy land. Do not miss Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D spectacular (outstanding) at MK fantasyland.

Took the mono rail over to Epcot to see the laser light/fireworks show.

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/a...tid=3398&stc=1

~Day 2~ MGM (Mon.)

Oh Man! Forgot to charge my digital camera batteries the night before and got no pictures.

~Day 3~ Animal Kingdom (Tues.)

Do not miss "ItsTough to be a Bug" located under the tree of life...a must see.

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/a...tid=3393&stc=1

~Day 4~ Typhoon Lagoon (Wed.)

Half of the group of 10 went to Universal studios (My other son and his girlfriend, his girlfriends parents and her cousin) and our group (Myself, wife, daughter, son and his girlfriend) went to Typhoon Lagoon for some rest and relaxation. We did alot of walking over the last three days and it was time to rest our feet and take it easy and take advantage of the 88 degree weather to swim, get tanned and stay cool and have fun. My wife and I love and enjoy using the Castaway Creek, just float and relax for the 45 minutes floating around Typhoon Lagoon park. My son and I loved the huge (bigger than 2 football fields) wave pool. The waves are very powerful, high and knock you off you're feet.

Sharks reef you grab snorkeling gear and vest and swim across a pool filled with tropical fish and sharks. At Mayday, Gangplank and Keelhaul Falls you raft down rapids past rock formations and go through caves.

We all had a blast and Typhoon Lagoon alows you to spend some quality family time together, laugh, kick back, relax and have fun. No one in our group tried any of the water slides we were just having to much fun doing other things.

We would haved liked to go back to Typhoon Lagoon on Sat. but our seven day hopper passes only allows one visit. Typhoon Lagoon closes early at 5 pm. so we left at 4.30pm before the crowd left.

Instead of waiting for a bus back to our hotel we grabbed a yellow cab and it cost us only $6.00 for our group. We found that using a cab here is very inexpensive compared to where we live. We got back to our hotel and went swimming some more (we don't get tired of the water) in the hotel pool and also used the jacuzzi. My son and his girlfriend volunteered to watch my daughter so my wife and I could go to dinner alone before the other group got back.

For dinner we went to the Black Angus Steak House near our hotel. The server we had is from our home state of NH (small world). We got to talk alot to him about back home and of Florida and he offered alot of suggestions about the parks and the area. He also gave us our space for dinner and time to enjoy our drinks alone. The food was good but not as good as what we have had back at our hotel.

I can't comment on Universal Studios because I was not there and have never been there...but my son said the had alot of fun but were tired from the walking. What a great day for everyone!

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/a...tid=3394&stc=1

~Day 5~ Epcot (Thurs.)

Went back to Epcot during the day and finished with the attractions that we missed on day one.


~Day 6~ Magic Kingdom (Fri.) / Birthday party

We went to adventure land and then frontierland.
Celebrated a nineteen year olds birthday at the Olive Garden restaurant.

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/a...tid=3399&stc=1

~Day 7~ Magic Kingdom (Sat.)

This is the day that we put aside for our Disney shopping. This method has worked out perfect for us. We did not lose alot of time away from attractions at the parks that we visited on all the previous days.
The teenagers took the 9 and 10 year olds to see the attractions. Thank God for cell phones, very handy, so we were all able to stay in touch the entire week when we got seperated to meet up later.

This was relaxing no kids, go at your own pace, take your time, type shopping. Our packages was sent to the pick-up services area located at the Mayors building. Some Christmas shopping was also done.

It was nice to go into the gift shops on both sides of Main St. when the park opened because it was very empty from the crowds.

Just afternoon we walked up towards the castle and met up with the kids for photo opportunities and a character show. We hit some more gift shops at the back of the castle so the kids could buy some souvineers too.

We left the park early, 2:30, so we could get back to the hotel for our final time swimming and using the jacuzzi.

We all went to the hotel's Casablanca restaurant for dinner, which we dubbed as the "Last Supper". My wife and I had to order the excellent "Grouper" and seafood chowder before we go. We said our good-bye's to the servers who we all got to know by name over the past week. All the servers were very very personnable and felt like we had known them for years.

We went to our rooms and started to pack our bags and belongings for tomorrow's early departure.

[Dana]

Loved your very detailed report. Thank you for sharing it with us all.

[Pooh Fan]

I enjoyed reading your trip report. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to get back to Disney!