[lovemysons]

I have been missing in action here, trying to recover from whatever it is we all came down with over the holidays, wishing I could get it together to post more about our trip, mostly for selfish reasons, since we are suffering major Disney Withdrawal symptoms. Today is a snow day, Yippee, so I actually have some time to do this.

Anyhow, here's some more. Hope I don't bore anyone.

Our trip started out on a snowy, messy morning, making for an interesting drive to Flint. Many cars off the road, making us just cross our fingers and pray to get to the airport ok.

Get to the airport, park car, smoothly, effortlessly. Get checked in, sitting on plane, waiting, waiting, waiting. They de-ice the plane , 8 year old is now worried. We take off about 15 minutes late, not bad! Arrive in Orlando, our driver from Quicksilver, is waiting for us. Get all of our bags, and off we go. We step outside and it is 70 degrees.Whoopee!!!! We all are just thrilled. Get to the WL, there are a whole bunch of people sitting outside, with their luggage. We get a liitle nervous, but, then a CM comes up to us, lets us know the rooms are not ready, they'll be happy to take our bags, and we can go and do what we want. Happiness sets in, as we realize our vacation has begun. Off to Downtown Disney, do some browsing, it is very crowded, we figure its because its Saturday. Try to get lunch at Earl of Sandwich, the line is out the door. Decide to try that another time. We run into our first set of complaining ingrates. Then we get our AP's at guest services, where it was slow going, but the CM's were doing the best they could. More ingrateful, rude people there though. ANd a very nice family from Australia. Decide to head back to WL, check in & get lunch. By the way, the CM at WL did ask to see a valid AP at check in.And, may I just say, the Christmas decorations were outstanding. It was breathtaking standing in the lobby.

Then of course, we just have to go to MK. Hooray!! Happy children, happy parents. Ride Pooh first, then over to Peter Pan, and then onto MIckey's Philharmagic. WOW!!! It was GREAT!! Kids were crazy about the "opry" glasses. Didn't want to give them back. We had not been to see it before. Dinner at Crystal Palace, didn't wait 5 minutes for our PS. Dinner was excellent, characters were great. Decide to just walk around, and then ride boat back to WL so we can get up early for Sunday back at MK. The park was crowded, but not unmanageable.

No fridge in room, decide we don't really need it, and also, don't know where we'd put it! Not much room for a fridge.
We end up sleeping late, so miss early open at MK on Sunday. It's a little cooler, head over in time for lunch. First though, we must ride Mickey's steam train. Forgot!!! to do it the day before. Do lunch at the Plaza, it was just ok. Kind of got the feeling those folks were way overstressed. People were complaining about the waits, and the cold. Really, what did the CM's hve to do with the weather?? For all you parents out there of chicken finger eating children, no chicken fingers for lunch at Plaza. But mini burgers & mini hot dogs. And definitely crowd pleasing dessert. Blue jello with sharks!!

Really just a nice day at the park, no rushing, dinner at Whispering Canyon. Great Time, great dinner. Because of the carolers in the lobby, though, things were toned down quite a bit. Definitely not as loud and boisterous as it has been in the past.

Early open at AK on Monday. Fantastic!! A bit crowded, but really not bad. Do the safari's first, excellent CM at the wheel. Next to the Maharajah Trail, really nice stroll through there, the CM's were all so informative and the kids had a lot of fun asking them questions. Next, the River Rapids, which we are just allowed to stay on and ride over & over again. 8 year old is beside himself.Oh yea, I forgot we got fast passes to do the safari again, but it turned out we couldn't use them due to breakfast. I tried to give them away and people thought I was a lunatic! They wanted to know how much they cost, etc. Oh well! Finally I did find a family of four to take them, but I don't think they used them. I can't believe how many people still don't get fast pass.

Off only because we have a PS at Donalds. What a great breakfast!!! Also, so glad they now ask you if you want to get your photo and then give option to go sit if you don't. It was the same at CHef Mickey's. Last visit we felt forced. Not this time. The only bad thing was the characters did rush! I didn't get it. The place was pretty empty. Next we are off to the mild Dinosaur ride (the one that is like Dumbo) and then we just kind of strolled around. Had pix taken with Baloo and King Louie, head back to WL for naps and pool. Then we 're off to Epcot. Stop to watch the fountains, my 8 year old could have stayed there all night. The arches were beautiful. Then off to Mexico for the boat ride, my four year old's request, and then off to find a spot for Illuminations. WOW WOW WOW. Just incredible. Great people to sit with, nice CM guarding, just great. It was a warm night, so it was very pleasant. The Christmas addition was beautiful. I love "Let there be Peace on Eath" it was so appropriate.We usually watch the show at the point in between those two shops by the lake after you have crossed through the arches. It is a really good spot. OK!! That's it for now. I will post more later for those of you who haven't fallen asleep.

[royorb1]

Excellent TR, everything sounds great.

[Storm59]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

and then off to find a spot for Illuminations. WOW WOW WOW. Just incredible. Great people to sit with, nice CM guarding, just great.

Where did you watch it from? And what was the CM guarding for? Pushy people?

I'm enjoying your trip report!!

[lovemysons]

Why thank you both! I was feeling a little inferior due to having read MerlinMatt's trip report. But to answer your questions, the CM was guarding an area right in front of the lake, apparently they rope it off until the Fire Marshall oks seating in the area, which depends on the way the wind is blowing.So the CM had to make sure no one tried to sneak under the ropes. We watched it inbetween the two shops just past the the arches, trellises, whatever they are called. I think its the gateway?

[lovemysons]

Ok, Tuesday, the 14th. The day of the MVMCP. We decide to change our plans for the day. Normally this would have sent me into a tizzy, but I decided to go with the flow. I am sooo glad I did. We had planned to sleep in since we'd be up late for the MVMCP. So, we just grabbed breakfast at the Roaring Forks, then headed to MGM. I have say that the bus system seemed to be working much better for us this visit. It seems like last time we were always waiting around for transportation. Maybe we just got better at picking the right times to travel. Anyway, get to MGM and we are able to do Playhouse Disney, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Animation studio. Talk about the trifecta!! We were so impressed. We didn't wait more than 10 minutes for anything. Had great seats for Playhouse and Mermaid. The animation studio was so much better than I expected. We thought we were just going in to meet the Incredibles, but we really enjoyed all of it. The artist was fun and the kids got a kick out of the Dragon from Mulan. Waiting to meet the Incredibles was quick, maybe 5 minutes in line. The computers in the waiting area were definitely entertaining. Frozone had to be our favorite, he was very animated and really put on a show. Next we went into the drawing room and we all drew pictures of Goofy. This was big fun as the kids discovered Mom is not an artist. Then we walked over to see where the Osborne Lights were, got very excited about coming back at night to see them And, finally, after 3 years, we met Woody!!! This was just huge. We all posed for pictures, and I have to say, if we went home then it would have been ok.My mission had been accomplished. Afterwards, we even saw Mike & Sulley! A little sad about the no autograph thing, but we recovered. Then, back to the WL for some down time to get ready for Christmas party.

[Erin]

What "no autograph" thing?

Excellent Trip Report, btw!

[tinkerbell]

I know what you mean about feeling forced to have the picture taken..We have so many from our charactor meals and rides ..unless there is something special ..like In June when our DD and Son-in-law were along we would just as soon skip the pictures.
It sounds as if you had a magical time :)

[lovemysons]

Originally Posted by Erin

What "no autograph" thing?

Mike and Sulley don't sign autographs!!! But the kids were ok with it. I think I took it worse.

[Dana]

I an really enjoying this report. You could never bore..you tell a great story. I can't wait to hear the rest.

[lovemysons]

Well Dana, you just confirm what everyone already knows, you rock!!! Thank you for your words of kindness. I will try to post the rest either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

[Dana]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

Well Dana, you just confirm what everyone already knows, you rock!!! Thank you for your words of kindness. I will try to post the rest either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Excellent. I will have something good to read tomorrow. I am off and plan to spend the day packing up some stuff for my upcoming trip and hang out here. Thanks for the kind words....make me blush If you think your children would like a postcard from mickey or whoever thanking them for coming to WDW, pm me the information and I will gladly send one out to them when I am there in two weeks.

[tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

Well Dana, you just confirm what everyone already knows, you rock!!! Thank you for your words of kindness. I will try to post the rest either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Ohhh great !! lol the sooner the better .. those of us with out trips planned need a good TR to keep us from falling apart!!

[lovemysons]

Ok, the first of the Christmas Parties.
It was pretty chilly, but kind of nice given the occasion. We were sent to Tomorrowland after we got our wristbands, and immediately had our photos taken. This was done so efficiently we were in shock! Decided to do the Indy Cars since there was NO Wait and we actually did them twice. Next, off to the TTA, (Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow) and then to Buzz. I think I forgot to mention that on our first night at the MK our 8 year old got the highest score!!!999,999!!! We had the ride stop on us, and he was just a madman on a mission. Anyway, I digress. After Buzz, we discover Carousel of Progress is open, and since it is sooo cold now, we will go and try it. LOVED IT! Talk about nostalgia and make you yearn for years gone by. Then we decided to see the first parade of the evening, get a wonderful spot on main street, enjoy the "snow" and the CM's. Two CM's pulled out about 20 children from the crowd to do a rendition of the Ten Days of Christmas, as only can be done in Disney World, and boy was it a blast! The kids were great. There were two however, who would not sing. The crowd just laughed and laughed. And then, finally, I think for the second to last round, they sang their lines!!The applause was huge, and then the parade began.I immediately start to cry because I am standing on Main Street with my boys and they are just speechless.(You should know I cry mostly when I am happy or if I am overwhelmed and boy was I overwhelmed. Earlier, I wondered if we were overindulging ourselves and our children, being at Disney at this time of year. While watching that parade I decided that perhaps we were, but you know what, they'll be grown up before I know it and I was so happy we were able to do it, and I don't regret a thing!! It was hard to top the parade, but we still had a great time. We also knew we were coming back on Thursday night so we were able to pick and choose what we wanted to do. It also was not very crowded.

One thing that really irritated me however,at the begining of the evening was the fact that there were a number of individuals who tried to "sneak" into the party. They were running away from CM's acting as if they didn't understand them. It was pretty poor behavior considering they were mostly adults. And we did have some pretty lousy hot chocolate That's it for tonight. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for Day 5, EPCOT, The cold,cranky,make it go away day.

[Dana]

Loving this report. I can't wait to read on. I can't believe people actually tried to sneak into the party...how childish.

[royorb1]

Yes, quite good!