[karliebug]

Just got back last night. Had a fantastic time on our "Girls Only" trip except for my kids bickering constantly. Hardly any wait at restaurants and for buses. Not nearly as crowded as I had expected except for Christmas Day. We had such a great trip. I'll post the details of our first couple of days now and then add more later.

The cast:
Me, Kate (17), Kennedy (12) and Karlie (8)

Day one: Wed. December 19
Took a 7 am flight out of Philly and arrived at Orlando at 9:05. Used Magical Express and we were taken right away to Pop and checked in by 10:30. I asked if there were any rooms available now and she said our room was in the 90's and was not ready yet but that there was one in the 50's available now. I jumped at that, a better location, view of the lake and the fireworks from Epcot at night.
We went over to AK and had lunch at Tusker House Buffet. We were on dining plan. It was okay, but not great. I have picky eaters so If we weren't on the plan it would not have been worth the $90 price tag for lunch. We got fast passes for the safari and went on the single rider line for everest. Saw the Nemo musical with little wait time and also went on Primeval Whirl and Triceratops spin with no wait time. We were pretty pooped from traveling so we returned to Pop , ate dinner at the food court and returned to our room. We had a certificate stating that the housekeepers had picked us as "Guests of the day". They had turned down the beds and given us chocolate mints and left a magnetic photo frame for us.

Day 2 - December 20
We went to DTD shopping. Ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. I had the chicken salad-really yummy. Kids had chicken fingers and Kate had BBQ chicken quesedillas. She said it was good. We then went to WCC for and early dinner at 4 before the MVMCP. The food was good there too. The Christmas party was lots of fun. Yummy hot cocoa and sugar cookies. Little or no waits for the rides, a wonderful parade, and the castle looked so awesome lit up at night with all the icicle lights. The only downside of the evening was that Karlie got run into by some crazy lady on an electric scooter. She ran right into her thigh. She was driving way too fast and knocked Karlie right down. Thankfully she ended up with only a bruise on her thigh but if it had been a toddler that she ran into she would have done serious damage. The lady behind her yelled at her and told her she needed to be more carefull. She did apologize and mumbled something about her 'foot getting stuck" but we saw her again later also driving very fast. I'll post more later. Got to do that vacation laundry.

[karliebug]

Okay, Day 3 - December 21

We went to MGM in the morning and went on Rockin Roller Coaster single rider line to save time. We got fastpasses to use later. We did the Movie Ride, some shopping, saw the Muppet Movie and had lunch at Backlot Express. Then we took the boat over to Epcot. Did the new Spaceship Earth which I liked much better than the previous one. They take your picture and then at the end they superimpose your face on a computer screen to show you your future. Very Fun. They also added some new scenes. The post show area was a lot of fun for the kids,too. There was a racecar like simulator game, a game where they could act like doctors and build a human body, and a fun floor game where you used sticks to push energy blobs to cities needing engery. The kids really liked that . We had dinner at Teppan Edo which was yummy, except they changed the kid's meal since last year so Karlie had to have a small serving of Teryaki chicken rather than steak like last time. I did give her some of my steak . We had ice cream for dessert, but the kid's had to have a cookie so I switched with her. I think my only complaint about food anywhere was the "sameness" of the children's menu. We stayed and watched illuminations and then headed back to Pop. We didn't do the big rides because fast passes were gone for the day by the time we got there and we knew we were coming back. We did get to do Mexico, China, Morroco, America, and Japan.

[leslieh]

Yeah! Another TR- they really get me excited for our trip in January!

I am so sorry that Karlie was injured- a bruise on her thigh must have been from a hard hit. Poor thing. I have seen security "talk" to drivers sometimes- sounds like that woman needed an attitude adjustment

Can't wait to hear more about the great trip!

[Dana]

WElcome home...glad the trip was magical and can't wait to hear more!

[karliebug]

Day 4
We went to sea world on this day. I booked Tiffany Towncar to pick us up and transport us to sea world because I thought it would be nicer to have a towncar than a cab. The driver was really nice and right on time, but the car was beat-up. It was a 2000 lincoln with dents and scrapes and inside the leather seats were torn. It had 538,000 miles on it!! Can you believe it???? Anyway we got to SW and the girls were a little disappointed because Kracken was closed due to maintainence. We saw all the shows, fed the seals, had a counter service lunch. Then we had the towncar take us to the Poly for dinner at O'hanas. It was very good, although the service was a little slow. The kids liked the "parade" around the dining room, doing the hula, and the coconut races. After dinner we rode the monorail over to GF to see the gingerbread house. It was awesome! They also had a beautiful tree. Then we went back to Pop.

Day 5
We went to Epcot in the morning for a few hours, and finished up more of the countries. Then we went back to Pop to change for dinner at the Hoop De Doo! This is a tradition for us. It was great as always. We saw a different cast than usual but they were still terriffic. Food was good and after the show we went to MK where the magic hours were until 3 am!!!! I never thought we would last but we made it until about 2:40 and then headed back. There were no lines for anything. We went on BTMRR 3 times, Splash Mt. Twice and the Haunted Mansion,too. The new scenes in HM are really a great addition to the ride.

Day 6 Christmas Eve
The kids slept in until about 11 because of being up until 3 the night before.
We had lunch at the Pop food court and then headed over to Epcot we stayed there a few hours again, doing Ellen's universe of Energy and Living with the land. We ate at the pavillion in America, as my kids are so picky. We went back to pop for a swim and a rest and then went to AK. It was extra hours until 11 at AK and we were able to do all the rides and shows with no waits. It was great! I'll add more later-off to make dinner.

[dznygrl]

Welcome back, thank you so much for the trip report - I can't wait to hear the rest!

P.S. I can't believe that towncar had 500K+ on it! WOW! That's insane!

[Daisee]

Welcome home! Thanks for sharing!

[Jen]

Welcome home Karliebug!! Sounds like an amazing trip so far. So glad your wait times were small!

[karliebug]

Day 7 - Christmas Day!
We knew the crowds would be crazy this day so I planned a Brunch at Chef Mickeys for 10:30. We originally planned to get up early and go to MK before brunch but since we had done everything on those late night hours, we slept until about 8:30 and then went right to brunch. We were seated right away and the food was terriffic and we had good character interaction,too. The only downside was that when I took the girls to the restroom, some lady had barfed on the stairs-gross. After brunch we checked out the contemporarys improved gift shops . Then we went back to Pop for a short time and headed over to Epcot. Epcot didn't really seem as crowded as I thought it would be, maybe because it is so spread out. We had dinner at Le Cellier, which was so-o good. I had filet mignon! I couldn't wait to try the cheese soup that I had heard so much about. I liked it but it seemed a little peppery. While we were waiting, a lot of people came up and asked for availability but were told that they were all booked up. one lady had a group of 11 and was expecting to be seated. The CM told her that all of the restaurants in Epcot were completely booked up. He told us that earlier in the day someone had come with a group of 22 looking for a walk up lunch ressie. He said that there were only 6 restaurants with any availability for Christmas day, I think Saratoga Spring, Beach Club, and Concourse Steak house and they were all for like 9:30. He also told us that earlier in the week George Clooney was there for dinner and that earlier in the month Justin Timberlake and Jim Carey were also in Epcot. We didn't see any stars though. except- We went to Candelight Processional and Gary Sinese was the narrator. It was so beautiful. Kate and I enjoyed it very much, but my two younger ones thought it was "boring". Afterwards we finally got to do test trakck , soaring, and anything else we had missed. It was a great way to spend Christmas day.

Day 8
This day we went to Disney Studios and had dinner at Mama Melrose for the fantasmic package. I had grilled chicken and pasta and the girls had pizza and Chicken parmagian. The food was okay but not great and the waitress was mostly nonexsisten. When I went to pay there was trouble with my DDP card. The waitress said I only had 2 adult credits left rather than the 3 I needed. I knew that there had to be some mix up. The manager called someone and we figured out that somewhere along the line they charged Karlie as an adult instead of a child, despite the fact that she had only eaten child meals. It was all straightened out and we went on to see Fantasmic. This is definitely my favorite night time show at WDW. I love it every time. Then we went to see the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. It was so magical the way the lights dance with the music. The sign said they use 30 miles of extension cords-30 miles!!! Kate asked how they could do all that when we can't even decorate our tree at home without one strand blinking and the others not! Then it was back to Pop for bed.

Last Day
We went to the MK on this morning where our first stop was the barber shop on main street. I sent Kate to get fastpasses for Peter Pan, which was the only ride we missed earlier. The girls all got colored gel and pixie dust in their hair. The 2 younger ones got updo's and Kate just got some in her ponytail. At $22.50 for all 3 it was a real bargain compared to Bibbidy Bobbity and I actually think it looked much cooler. We got lots of compliments all day. My only regret was that we didn't do it earlier in the trip. We then did Peter Pan, got Fast passes to Splash Mountain, and ate lunch at the pirate perico ?? place near the pirates ride. This place has always been closed everytime we visit so we were glad to see it was open. We had taco salads in a really yummy crispy shell and Karlie had cheese quesedillas from the kids menu. It was really good and I definitely would eat here again. After lunch we went and did Splash, BTMRR and Tom Sawyer's Island. (well, the kids did the island, I rested on Aunt Polly's dock). We took a ride on the river ferry boat and now the park was getting really crowded so we did The Hall of Presidents and left. We took the monorail over to Contemporary to catch a bus to DTD and that was probably the longest we waited for a bus the whole trip maybe 25 minutes? We ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. I had a Beef and Cheddar sanadwihich, Kate had BBQ chicken salad and the girls had chicken fingers. I let the girls all pick a pearl at the pearl stand to remember our special all girls Christmas trip. Kate had hers put in a ring, Kennedy picked a dolphin pendant and Karlie got a turtle pendant. After that we went back to Pop and packed up everything. Our trip ended with our flight out the next morning.

[Jen]

Wow...your trip report makes me think a xmas trip is possible!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! I think we may check out the Barber Shop on main street instead of the BBB ~ good tip!!

So glad you had such a nice holiday trip!!

[Dopey]

That was a great trip!!!! Thanks for posting it. Would there be pictures of any kind?

[Princessbaby]

Sounds like you had such a wonderful trip!!

[Amelia's Man]

Welcome home! How great is that, to spend Christmas in WDW?!


One of these years..........................................

[janiebird66]

Sounds like you had a great trip!

[emamasa]

sounds like a fantastic christmas trip! sounds like crowds weren't too horrible - but what was that lady thinking -an 11 top seated with no reservations? ha! she obviously hasn't been planning like we do!