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Tracy Reinke -- November 2000 -- Walt Disney World (DL, CBR)November 17-24, 2000 Cast of Characters:
We went in 1999 to make our first visit to WDW as a family. At the time we thought that would be our one and only trip but on the drive home we decided we had to go again. We wanted to try a different time of year (we went during spring break last year) but didn't have any set plans. I started counting down til when we could go and due to some major changes with my work, we didn't think it would be soon. But we started to think Thanksgiving because it would be a minimal amount of time for Whitney to miss school and for me to miss work. I didn't think 3 days of second grade were all that important since she is such a good student and I know they don't do much before Thanksgiving. Her teacher was great and gave us her homework the night before we left. Whitney did it all before we returned home. I ended up missing more school than she did (I take evening classes and my professor didn't cancel class the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and even gave a big homework assignment which I had exactly one day to do before leaving.) But I digress. Mode of transportation: Last year we drove and it takes 20 hours to get there. I really wanted to fly so I kept my eye out for cheap airfare. Back in August, Northwest started to run a special so I checked and got 3 seats for $700 from Oklahoma City. That's pretty good considering its Thanksgiving weekend but we specifically picked the odd days to travel (Friday-Friday) instead of the busy days. The flights were full but only one of them was overbooked (Memphis-Orlando on 11/17). I arranged for Tiffany TownCar to pick us up since we knew we wanted to get groceries. I highly recommend them, especially since Mears with the Disney discount was only $5 cheaper. Accommodations: I originally had made reservations at CBR for 11/18-25 but when our flights were confirmed I had to find another hotel. CBR didn't have any rooms for the 17th so we decided to try another moderate, DL. We stayed at DL 11/17-20 and CBR 11/20-24. ASMovies was booked, Whitney wanted to stay there. OK. That's the background, now on with the show. Friday, November 17 Our flight leaves at 10:50 am so we can actually sleep in a little. We were going to park outside of the airport at The Parking Spot. Excellent service and much cheaper than the airport ($24 for 8 days). We got to the airport in plenty of time. Good flight to Memphis. The flight to Orlando had a lot of turbulence since we were flying over storms but we got there about 15 minutes early. Tony from Tiffany picked us up and we stopped at an Albertson's on the way to WDW. It was laid out exactly like the one at home so we were in and out quickly. The only problem was at checkout we tried to use our credit card and it wouldn't work. So we paid cash and off to Dixie we went. Arrived around 5 pm and no lines. I got ready to pay for 2 nights and our tickets and my credit card wouldn't work again. CM Michael was great and tried again and it still wouldn't work. Now I'm panicking since we only have one credit card. Dan calls the credit card company and they cancelled our card because they say they hadn't received our payment. We always pay our bill in full every month so I know that's impossible. After some nasty words from Dan they agree to reinstate the card but it can't take affect until midnight. Michael talks to his manager and they agree we can stay the first night since we paid our deposit but we need to come in at 7 am to run the card again. Since we wanted to do early entry and were planning on leaving by 7 I write a check for the bill. I almost didn't bring the checkbook and am really glad I did. Dan calls home to transfer money to cover the check and we are set now. I had faxed my request in four days in advance and got everything I asked for, Magnolia Terrace, corner room, garden view. We were on the second floor. We decide to walk to the room instead of waiting for bell services to take us. Quick walk to the room and we are very happy. Eat our chicken dinner as the luggage is brought in. Then we hop on the boat to Downtown Disney to look around. It was dark so couldn't see a lot but the condos? to the left on the trip looked really interesting. Back to the room for a little swimming and then to bed. Saturday, November 18 Early entry to the Magic Kingdom: Is there a better way to start your vacation? Get to the bus stop at 7 am. It's pretty close to the room. Unfortunately we must of have just missed the MK bus because we wait 15 minutes. Get to MK just as the gates our opening so we decide to punt on Dumbo and go to the Tomorrowland Speedway. Let me tell you, there is no line first thing in the morning. We were the first ones to drive. We then head to Space Mountain. Last time we went, we didn't do any of the thrill rides so we are going to do them all this time. Whitney was scared but she ended up loving it. There was no line either. Then we head over the Fantasyland and Peter Pan is closed. Rode Astro Orbiter. They opened Pooh up so we rode it with a short wait. Rode the carrousel (Whitney loves it). Then we move over to the rope drop area for Splash Mountain. We are at the very front and when we get to Splash we are probably the fifth boat around. There were empty ones behind us. Big Thunder is down until the end of our trip so we head to Jungle Cruise. No line here. Then over to Pirates and the treehouse. We start to ask Whitney what she wants to do and now she starts getting difficult. Before our trip she made a huge list of everything and now she doesn't want to anything. Aggregation sets in and we decide we've done about everything we can because the lines are getting long so we go to the hotel for swimming. We went to the main pool and there are lots of kids. Whitney doesn't really like the slide because the water is just a little too deep when she lands (she is really short for her age). Off to MGM now for a PS at Hollywood & Vine. I originally made it for 2:10 but we get there a little after 1 and get seated within 5 minutes. They weren't too crowded (several empty tables but I think they were holding them for PS people). The food is ok but the characters are great. Whitney loves Minnie so she got a lot of good time with her. Minnie made several gestures that she wanted to keep her (Whitney was wearing her Minnie ears). The Mulan parade was next. After that we went to Indiana Jones. I had gotten fast passes before we ate and it was great to just walk in. I know we did something else (see I should have written this stuff down that night) and then we went to the early Fantasmic. We absolutely love this show. Then headed out to get back to the hotel since we would be here tomorrow. Sunday, November 19 Early entry to MGM/Evening at Epcot: Why did we ever have children? Another day just missing the bus I guess. Waited about 15 minutes and got there just when the gates opened. We decided to go to Tower of Terror first since Whitney couldn't ride Rock N Roller Coaster (too short by 1/4"). Once again she was scared until we got on it and then liked it. She said she didn't want to ride it again (but she changed her mind later). Went to see the line at the coaster but it was broken so got fast passes. Then went to Muppets. After that went to Backlot Tour and ran into Minnie in her Christmas outfit. Whitney got her hug and then probably the longest line for the whole trip (15 minutes) for the tour. We went to Doug Live (cute show as long as you've seen the tv show). Dan didn't get it since he has no clue about Doug but Whitney liked it. We went to check if the coaster was working and it still wasn't so we went back to the hotel. Did sandwiches in the room and then another swim. We wanted to get in as much swimming because the weather was supposed to turn colder for the rest of the trip. We went to Epcot around 3 since it was the last day of the Food and Wine Festival and I really wanted to go eat and drink and be merry. We stopped and got fast passes for Test Track (7:30 pm) which worked on our timetable. We did Spaceship Earth (no line) and then headed for the World Showcase starting in Canada. We looked around at each country but by France Whitney was a pain in the you know what. She was cranky and wanted to ride rides. By Japan she and Dan had it out and I was trying to play peace maker. In Germany, Dan bought an $8 beer and said it was the best money he had spent that day. Even the expensive daycare at Disney was looking good. So I didn't get anything to eat around the world. We stopped at the character bus and Whitney finally got Daisy Duck. Now she was back to a little happy but still miserable parents. We headed back to Future World and did Honey I Shrunk the Audience and JIYI with no waits. I guess everyone is in the World Showcase. Watched Tapestry of Nations and then did Making of Me and Cranium Command. Time for our fast pass. TT broke down right when we got to the briefing room. I could hear the cars going around so I knew it wouldn't be too much of a wait and 10 minutes later we were in our car. We went to get our spot for Illuminations and I went and got chocolate strawberries. We got out of the park pretty fast and went home. Monday, November 21 Early Entry at MK: Magic can happen This was the day to switch hotels so we knew it would be a long day. We were at MK when the gates opened so off to Dumbo we went. Waited 3 turns (not bad when you aren't first.) Dan went to Cinderella's Castle to see if we could get in. We had tried for a week at the 60 day mark to get reservations and weren't successful but I had heard that if you got there early you might get in. He was told the whole party had to be together and we needed to be there by 8. As soon as we got off Dumbo we met him there at 7:55 and were seated right away. He told me 3 other families who got there after him were seated so there is hope for you if you get there early. I was disappointed though in the interactions with the characters. They were much better at Hollywood & Vine. The food was ok but I had eaten before the park because we didn't know if we would get in. When we left the waiting room was packed so you knew they were trying to turn the tables over although I didn't get the rush feeling from our waiter. We got fast passes for Pooh, rode the carrousel, and went for the rope drop at Toon Town Fair. Last year Whitney got picked by Goofy to ride the Barnstormer with him so I was hoping for something like that again. Mickey came out and signed some autographs and then the rope dropped. Since we already had the head mouse's signature, we rode the Barnstormer (first one of the day). It's cute, but I would never stand in line for it. Way too short. We had a great photo opportunity with Pooh, Eyeore and Tigger together. They didn't sign the books but you could get your picture taken with all three of them together. Since I know that's rare, we went for it. Time for our fast pass at Pooh and we literally walked on the ride. I can't believe people don't get fast passes. We got fast passes for Space Mountain right before getting on and they were up pretty soon so off we went. We then did the Timekeeper. Whitney was wearing out again (I'm glad this was the last time otherwise it would not have been pleasant). We went to see the saloon show. It was pretty cute. Since we were in between hotels, we decided to head to CBR and check in early. Our room wasn't ready but she could have switched us. Since I had sent in a request we decided to just wait it out. It was rather cool that day and we were all tired so we went to the food court for some lunch. The room still wasn't ready yet so we went to the beach to lay in a hammock and soak up the sun. Around 4 the room was ready and we got Jamaica 45 and another corner room. The housekeeper was just finishing it up so we got some extra towels and called bell services to deliver the luggage. Everything got transferred perfectly. We decided to go watch the fireworks from the Contemporary and then move over to the Grand Floridian for the water parade. Got there too early so had to waste a lot of time. We decided to ride the monorail to Epcot and back. Got to ride in the front. That was really cool. The water parade was a big disappointment. No problems getting to the hotel since it was E-night and the buses were running late. Tuesday, November 21 Day Off: recharge the batteries We had originally planned on going to Epcot but since we did everything we could we did a rest day. Slept in (what a wonderful feeling.) Dan wanted an Atlanta Braves shirt so we went to Wide World of Sports. We had tried 4 different times to find out if they had any and kept getting their answering machine. Well come to find out the main gift shop is closed and you have to go to the AllStar Café shop which has basically nothing. What a waste of our time. Went to lunch at the ESPN club and the Harlem Globetrotters were talking. We missed most of it though. The food was very good but service was slow. We headed back to the room for a rest. Whitney wanted to go swimming so Dan took her and I did schoolwork. We went to Downtown Disney for our shopping bonanza and got Christmas gifts. Another early bedtime. A bonus: I could see the Epcot fireworks from my window so I ended the evening on a plus. Wednesday, November 22 Animal Kingdom: ROAR! Since AK doesn't open until 8 we got an extra 30 minutes of sleep. (YEAH!!) Off to the back to ride the safari and since it was a cool morning, lots of animals were out. The lion even roared at us. Then we hit Dinosaur. I did not like this and neither did Whitney. Then ITTBAB. Another one I didn't like. I don't like bugs and thanks to reading reports I knew to sit forward to not feel a thing. I guess I just don't like 3D unless its Muppets. We went to Festival of the Lion King and it was great. We were in the Lion section so another ROAR. All we had left for the morning was Kali. I had bought 49 cent ponchos at Target before we left so we pulled those out since it was really cool out. There was no line because of the weather. We were planning on getting fast passes and the CM was telling people don't worry about it. So we went to Flight of Wonders before Kali. It was a nice show. Whitney is really interested in animals so she had to ask questions of the handlers. Pretty good questions for an 8 year old. Then the rapids. We really didn't get wet the 2 times we rode it. (We got right back in line for the second one, no lines). Our raft ride at Frontier City is much wetter. We went back to the room for lunch and a rest. Then we came back to AK around 3. We did the 2 treks and rode the train. Then we went to the Wilderness Lodge to check it out. I WANT TO STAY HERE! Both Dan and I fell in love with everything about it. We had checked out a lot of the hotels for future stays and this definitely tops our list. Then we headed over to MGM for the Osborne Lights. WOW!!! We got there as they opened and heard the singers before hand. Cute little intro. Then we walked through the snow, put the glasses on and saw the snowflakes. I love Christmas lights so this was perfect. I just had to do it again. So we took some video and photos and started again. It was less crowded the second time, plus there were some cute Christmas characters on the street: Frosty, a penguin and a toy soldier. When we finished Santa Goofy and Chip and Dale were signing autographs. So we all got our picture taken with them. It was my perfect way to end the day. Thursday, November 23 MK, MGM, MK, MGM, MK or bust Thanksgiving had arrived and our last day in the parks. We decided to do everything we possible could. It was early entry at MK so we were there at 7:15. We were one of the first ones in and Whitney wanted to drive the cars again (no Dumbo). So we were the first ones there again. Our car wouldn't stop so we had to go around a second time. This was eating into our ride time and I wasn't happy. I wish the CMs would have let us out when we ran into the cars the first time around. We got fast passes for Pooh, then rode the carrousel, Peter Pan and Snow White. We got fast passes for Space as soon as we could, rode Pooh, then headed off for the drop for Splash/Big Thunder. Big Thunder had opened a little bit the day before. We decided to head for it first since we hadn't ridden it yet. We were probably the fifth group on it. Our train stopped before we got all the way in and we pulled up to an empty cue. They had a problem with the other train leaving so they told us we had to ride it again. Well I never look a free ride in the mouth so off we went. We got our fast passes for Splash then headed over to Space to use our other ones up. Then back to Splash for that one. (We couldn't have had better timing). At 11 am we went to MGM to do Tower of Terror and the coaster. I couldn't believe the number of people entering MK at 11 and opening the map to figure out what to do. All they are going to do is stand in line. At MGM got fast passes for Tower at 1:50. This was going to cut things close since we were trying to get to MK for the 3pm parade, but we took it. So we went for lunch at the Commissary and had fish and chips for Thanksgiving. I know, not traditional, but we were on a timetable. We had time for Hunchback which I think is the best show at MGM. Had an extra 15 minutes, so we sat outside the coaster waiting for its fastpass time to be right after the early Fantasmic show but it didn't change fast enough so that would have to wait. We went on Tower, got all the way up to the front and the left side's elevators stopped working. This had happened the first day we rode them. I have never ridden the left ones. So now we are starting to think we aren't going to make the parade. At 1:20 we exit Tower (I got the seatbelt seat and loved it.), get fastpasses for the coast for 6:20-7:20 and head for the exit. We catch the bus going to Wilderness/Poly/GF, then the monorail at Poly and are in MK at 3 pm. Since the parade hits Main Street last, we got there in time! Whitney got a spot right on the curb and got to dance with Cinderella. We went to get fastpasses for Space before we left since we would be back later that night. We watched a little of the Holiday show and rode TTA (I love this ride, but it will always be the peoplemover). Back to MGM via Poly. This definitely worked better than the bus from TTC to MGM. We got our seats for Fantasmic at 5:30 (not as good as the first night but pretty good.) We had a nice conversation with the woman in front of us whose party was at Little Mermaid and she didn't know if they would make it. We cut out of Fantasmic right after the boat (I know I missed my favorite part) but we wanted to get to our fastpass time at the coaster and knew that a ton of other people would do the same. We needed to do the kid switch and they said you can't do that with fastpass. Strike 1. So Dan and Whitney wait outside while I go ride. It took me 25 minutes to get through. The guy was letting the standby crowd come in with the fast pass. This is an excellent ride, but by the time I finished Dan couldn't ride it. The fast pass line was immense and there was no way for him to do it and make it to MK for the fireworks. So we board the Poly bus again and get to MK at 8 pm. The first parade has started but the train is just getting ready to pull out. It was our only chance to get around so we barely made it. We get off at ToonTown and get Pooh and Eyeore's autographs. We try and use our fastpass at Space Mountain but they have had some kind of problem so we know we won't get out in time to watch the fireworks. We turn around and get a spot in the circle in front of the castle to watch. Excellent fireworks and the music makes the difference. Back to Space to see if we can get in and everyone else has the same idea. Whitney hit the wall so we got her a hot dog and watched the boats at Small World. We knew we wanted to watch the parade over by Frontierland so we went that way. It's 9:45 and no line for Pirates so we ride that. Check out Splash and no line. It's 9:55 and they said the parade doesn't get there until 10:15 so we hop on. Pretty cool at night, especially looking at the castle right before the drop. Get off and hear the music so race for a spot. What a perfect place to watch the parade, right at the end. There was hardly anyone there so Whitney got lots of attention. As soon as it was over, we headed for Big Thunder. Waited a couple of minutes and then we were off. Another great one at night. We had just enough time to run around and get back in line since the park closed at 11 pm. We were the second to last train and when we got off they backed the train up to store it for the night. We made one last shopping stop on the way out and took our picture at the sled/trees on Main Street. Got back to the room after midnight. Wow, 17 hours in the parks. Friday, November 24 Reality sets in Time to go home. Tony met us at our room at 8:15. The plane left at 10:30. Turbulence on the way on both flights. Whitney slept on the plane. I got the rest of my schoolwork done. Had to wait awhile for our luggage in OKC (they are notoriously slow for a small airport.) The parking people picked us up and we were home by 3:30. Just in time to do 8 loads of laundry. Wrapup What a trip. I'm glad we went but I don't think we'll get to go again anytime soon. I'm so glad Whitney liked the thrill rides. There are only so many times you can ride the kiddie stuff. WDW is fantastic at Christmas time. I would like to come and spend more time when everything is decorated just to soak it in. I'm amazed at how overnight they can decorate it. And everything is themed perfectly for the setting. The weather cooperated on us (no rain). I wish it had been a little warmer on some days, but overall it wasn't too bad. Pretty much like the weather back home. We loved Dixie Landings and probably would stay there again. CBR is nice but after DL, it doesn't quite compare. I think if the weather was warmer, we would like CBR more since we could stay at the beach more. We definitely would like to stay at WL sometime. The Disney transportation is amazing. If you understand the system, you can beat it and most of the people riding it. I'm amazed at how many people will crowd onto the express monorail when the resort one isn't full and makes the stop at the TTC. Also, the buses to the WL/Poly/GF were not crowded so if making the trip between MGM and MK is in your plans, try that and then get on the monorail. It really will save you time. Crowds: I don't think the crowds were any worse than they were at spring break. I think if you have a plan, utilize fast passes and early entry, you can get everything you want to do accomplished. We always told Whitney we are rushing around in the morning so that the afternoons we can relax. And anytime she started to complain we would just ask her if she would rather stand in an hour long line or move faster in the morning. She's old enough to know how long 60 minutes is and she would move faster. Attractions: We skipped a lot of things that we had done last year. If it wasn't our favorite, we put it on the if we have time list and did the stuff we missed last year or really wanted to do. We rode Space Mountain 3 times, Splash Mountain, 3 times, Big Thunder 4 times and Tower of Terror 2 times. This is without going to E-nights. If we can do it, so can you. Preplanning: I cannot stress the importance of knowing what you want to do in advance. This is a major time saver. Plus you can then laugh at the people looking at the maps going "What do you want to do today?" Food: We bought food before we left and then when we got there. We took our medium ice chest on the plane (checked as regular baggage.) This saved a lot of money. We did end up eating one meal a day at the parks. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading this report. I hope it gives you some pointers on a trip at Thanksgiving and don't worry about the crowds. Just enjoy a magical day at the happiest place on earth. Tracy Reinke mbatracy@mmcable.com Mail a Comment to Tracy Reinke |
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