LoriMistress Dec 8th-19th 2007 Detailed Picture Trip Report!!!
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LoriMistress · 03-01-2008, 06:25 PM

Sorry, it has taken forever, but finally I'm able to write a full detail trip report, and also include tons of pictures. DH and I ran into some fantastic PP groups/Mousefest along the way. Everyone was extremely pleasant and wonderful.

The Cast:
LoriMistress: 27-years-old/Female/No Children/Celebrating our 4 Year Anniversary/The Vacation Planner and FP volenteer
DH/Jeff: 27-years-old/Male/No Children/Celebrating our 4 Year Annivesary/Allowed me to do all the planning

Dec 7th--our arrival

We woke up at 3am to adjust to the ECT. We were tired, but were able to do any last minute laundry and pack last minute items into our bags. We went to my mom's house (who dropping us off at the airport), and we did some last minute shopping. We printed out schedual that we had. I had studied from TGM and from PP, and we brought along our PP book, which was extremely helpful. We arrived at the airport three hours early (DH was extremely excited, plus wanted to make sure we didn't have any problems with checking in.) Our flight left at 7:30pm and arrived at LAX on time. Then our flight from LAX to MCO left at 10:30pm (on time). During this time, I tried not to get sick and tried to sleep throughout the flight. DH was having problems sleeping on the flight.

DH patiently waiting for our flight. He really wanted to be at WDW so bad!!!

LoriMistress · 03-01-2008, 06:34 PM

Dec 8th (official arrival)

We arrived at MCO around 6am. While leaving our plane we had to deal with someone who was a complete jerk-off on the plane. You know the type--someone who believes that they own the plane. Well, this guy start cursing and complaining of the fact that everyone was "being slow as hell." At this point, others started to chime in (including me), that there were children on the flight so he should watch his language, and others wanted to get off the plane just as bad as him. (I told the guy he was acting like a tool and should relax.) At this point, the guy stormed off the plane. We ran into this guy later, getting our luggage and for some reason he was acting fine--but his wife sure looked embarrased.

Our driver [Sunray Trasnportation] was there to met us immediately, we grabbed our luggage and he picked us up in a nice SUV. We had one of the co-owners as our driver. He was great! We would highly recommend Sunray Transportation, and we'll be definately be using them again. He made everything quick and painless, and he was early every time. We stopped at a grocery store (Albertson's--which was the only store open at this time), and we picked up some last minute items and headed towards POP. We we arrived at POP, I believe it was around 7:30am to 8am.

We left POP by 2pm to head towards the GF for our 3:30pm photo session at the GF. We took the monerail from MK, and we arrived around 2:45pm or earlier at the GF. The resort is absolutely beautiful. The one thing my DH noticed that their bathrooms was one of the most dirtiest he's ever seen. He was pretty shocked by this. We explored the resort, and purchased our treats at the gingerbread store, and did our photo session. The photographer was very nice, but the pictures didn't turn out as well as I hoped it would be. DH and I looked worn out (which we were.)

After the photo session, we decided to go to DTD and try to change our tickets for Cirque du Soleil for another evening. While waiting for the bus for DTD, I called POP to check if our room was ready and it finally was (thank god.) We had plan to see it 6pm that night, but DH and I were definately not up for it. We took the bus to DTD from the GF. While walking alone, I recieved a call from The Dining Room at Wolfgang Puck's wanted to change our reservation to the WP Cafe section since they forgot they booked the entire restaurant to a wedding party and completely forgot. I decided to change the reservation (in case if we weren't able to change our tickets at Cirque de Soleil.) After much walking, we approuched the front desk of Cirque du Soleil and asked if we could change our tickets for another night. The CM could tell how exhausted we were, and were able to change our tickets without issue. I had picked out really nice seats, and unfortuately we couldn't get the seating we wanted. We still got great seats, but I'll go into that another time. From there, DH and I decided to skip our late ADR at WP Cafe and just eat at the WP Express and head back to POP since our room was ready.

We arrived at POP around 6pm to check into our room. Our room was 2303 (50's section, building B, third floor, facing the bowling pin pool.) If you walked down the hall, there was a very nice view of SSE. We checked into our rooms but our bags weren't there (which they told me on the phone our luggage would be there.)

Here is our room.

We called the front desk and the person was shocked since they though our luggage would have been there by now. They told it should be there shortly. 45 minutes later our luggage wasn't there. We called the front desk and they told us we should have our luggage next. Ten minutes later our luggage had arrived. We took a shower and finally crashed for our first day into the parks--MK!!!

LoriMistress · 03-01-2008, 06:39 PM

Dec 9th (Sunday)

We woke up around 5:45-6am and got ready quickly to make it to the bus station no later then 7:15am. The bus arrived a bit early and took us to our first day in the parks: MK!!! DH and I were so excited. Finally, our vacation was starting. We had 8:20am ADR for CRT, and we were hungry. We entered the park without any issues. Whiling walking to the front gates of MK, DH and I noticed that 11th and the 18th for MVMCP were sold out!!! I didn't worry too much over it. I knew I studied and research this trip well so I knew we would tour the parks effecently. DH and I also noticed MK was a bit crowded (even for a Sunday). But, you have to take into mind that locals still arrive at MK but later during the early afternoon, but there also Mousefest going on as well. DH and I weren't going to partispate into any Mousefest activities, but if we happen to run into them we would say hello. I had to warn my DH about Mousefest and we'll be running into some people on the boards that I go to. So he was prepared. After taking a dozen pictures of MK, we waited in line to eat at CRT. We waited less then five minutes to check in, and waited probably about ten minutes to have our picture taken with Cinderella.

When we were seated we were seated at the Engagement Table (I believe.) I noticed our table was the only one with Cinderella confeddi and we had a wonderful view of FL. We received our food, which was delicious! And we met Aurora, Mary Poppins (not a princess but oh well), Belle (second favorite), and Snow White (my favorite). DH didn't care about the princesses, obviously. But he loved being in the castle.

We were the first people to leave the restaurant, and were able to take a few nice pictures of an empty FL, and even had a CM to take a picture of DH and myself alone in FL. Then we waited on the right side of the Castle near TL and FL. I met a very nice British man, who was telling us he had a horrible meal at Mama Melrose. He was planning to eat at CRT in a few days and I re assured him that breakfast at CRT was excellent. Since my DH has a bad knee and wanted to focus more on filming the parks and what it's like during opening, I was the official FP person. When the park official opened, I raced to SM to grab the first set of FP's. I was so fast that I was the first person to grab FP's.

We rode SM, of course. Afterwards we went over to FL and rode on the Mad Tea Party. DH gets sick on those rides, but we will always ride it once--just to say that we did it. Plus, we knew that the MTP would be closed on the 15th. There was no wait for MTP. We rode Buzz Lightyear right afterwards with no waits. We took the "secret path" to Mickey's Toontown. We arrived early, and Mickey and Goofy came out. We were able to go to the Judge's tent and get our pictures taken with the Princesses. Then we past by FL and I had my DH wait in Liberty Square (in front of the HM), while I grabbed FP's for SpM. When grabbing FP's for SpM, I saw a huge Mousefest group trying to figure out if they wanted to ride BTMRR or SpM. After grabbing FP's for them, I trekked the way back to my DH and ran into a PassPorter Mousefest member. I forgot his name, but he's a huge Donald Duck fan--like me, and wore a pink shirt. He mentioned about hanging out with the pink ladies in the group. Afterwards we rode on HM and I love the refurbishment!!! We've been to the DL version two years ago when they had just finished the refurbishment and I can tell some differences on what scenes were better. The staircase scene was great! And the Bride...DH thought it was scary! We rode POTC next, and personally--we love the DLR version much better then MK. We thought Captain Jack Sparrow was great--but every time we rode it someone would use flash photography throughout the ride. I yelled at every person who was using flash during the attraction. I was extremely shocked on how the CMs wouldn't take any action on the photography issue. DL does NOT mess around when it comes to photography. CMs at DLR will go on the intercom and will tell people if they use the flash once more--they will be banned from the parks!!!

We rode BTMRR, rode SpM, and tracked back to TL to use our SM FP's. We decided to leave the park around 12pm--and that's when the park was getting crowded! We took the bus to the Boardwalk Resort--explored the resort briefly and headed towards the Yatch and Beach Club resort. DH thought the BW, BC, and YC were absolutely beautiful and would love to say at one of these resorts. All three of the resorts were absolutely breath taking, and there was few times when walking pass the pools and wanting to jump right in. We walked over to the Beaches and Cream shop where a CM told us it would be a 45 minute wait to eat there, but we only waited 5-10 minutes. Beaches and Cream is a very nice restaurant, but it's so tiny. We sat at the counter and my DH ordered a chilli dog, while I had a cheeseburger. I had heard their burgers were great, but in actuality it was just okay. I had a small Mickey Mouse ice cream--which was good. We explored the resort briefly--and headed back to POP to relax and get ready for our ADRs for Raglan's Road.

When we arrived at POP, we took a nap and got ready to eat at Raglan's Road in DTD/PI. Our ADR was at 8pm. We checked into Raglan's Road around 7pm. DH and I had a great meal. DH ate shepard's pie and I had a filet minogn (sp?)

Afterwards, we checked out PI and went into the Comedy Warehouse, and AC and we ran into a huge group of PassPorter Mousefesters. AC was extremely crowded, but it was a lot of fun. I met Dave (one of the owners/book writers of PP), and he was very nice. He gave us PP pins, and we stayed at the AC for about an hour until DH couldn't take the crowds. We headed back to POP. The one thing we noticed throughout our vacation that the buses would take much longer at DTD/PI. It took one bus over 40 minutes to arrive!!! We were back at POP around 11pm and went to bed.

**Colexis Mom** · 03-01-2008, 06:48 PM

Great start Lori

More please

carters_mom · 03-01-2008, 08:48 PM

Hurry back with more please

Your trip falls during the week I'm visiting this year, I can't wait to see how things go for you!

tammyd_rn · 03-01-2008, 09:10 PM

Great start Lori. I am eager to hear how your breakfast was at CRT.

mcc0313 · 03-01-2008, 09:15 PM

Great start Lori....can't wait to hear more.

iamgrumpy · 03-01-2008, 09:23 PM

Great start! More please

**DyanKJ130** · 03-01-2008, 09:54 PM

Great start!! Can't wait to hear more

travismom · 03-01-2008, 10:38 PM

Fantastic start!!! More please...

LoriMistress · 03-02-2008, 04:05 AM

Dec 10th

DH and I woke up at 6am. We got ready and were at the bus station by 7:30am to head towards Epcot. We arrived at Epcot by 7:50-8am. We waited until the park official opened. I raced over to wait to grab FPs for Sourin'. I told DH to wait over at M:S. When the park official opened, the huge mob raced over to Sourin'...just to grab FP's! I believe my FP time was around 9:50am; and I was one of the first people to grab mine. After exiting to meet my DH over at M:S, there was an ocean of people trying to ride Soarin'. I met my DH and we rode M:S. We went on the orange version, if you could call it the "intense version." I've been on M:S before they started to tone down the ride, and I have to say, I was extremely dissapointed on how mild they turned the ride. DH can only take M:S, once. Afterwards, we rode on TT, which only took about 5-10 minutes to ride. From there, we went over to the Imagination pavillion and rode Figment.

At this point, we explored the WS, going thru the Canada pavillion first. We watched the O Canada! movie--which was great. From there, we explored the UK, and we tried to check into our 12pm ADR at Rose and Crown Pub early, but they wouldn't let us check in until around 11:40am. We explored the UK section briefly, then checked into our ADR. DH and I had a seat close to the bar, right next to a fire place, with a beautiful view of the WS lagoon. We ordered roast beef sandwich; but I had mash potatoes as a side dish and my DH had the leek soup. Jeff didn't care for the leek soup, but the roast beef sandwich was delicious! It was honestly one of the best roast beef sandwiches ever!!! After lunch, we were going to exit Epcot but we saw that SSE was temporary having a soft opening, so we rode it. You could tell they were trying to fix some last minute bugs throughout the attraction. The ride continued to breakdown on us, and we were stuck for at least 15-20 minutes during one part. Some of the AA weren't working, but we rode it later (I believe on a different day) it was working. The ending, I thought it wasn't good, but for the most part--everything on SSE was great.

We went back to POP around 1-2pm. I relaxed by napping. I believe DH went to swim in the pool. We left POP around 5pm to head back to Epcot so we could eat at our ADR at 7pm at Le Cellier. When we arrived at Epcot, we walked through some of the WS, and checked into Le Cellier at 6:30pm. We waited until 7:15-7:25pm for us to be seated! Le Cellier was over booked, and were turning people down left and right that didn't have an ADR. You could hear people complain about how Disney wouldn't allow them to be seated and how they needed an ADR 6 months in advance. For dinner DH had prime rib, which covered most of his plate, and I had the filet minion (sp?). I did try to the Chedder Cheese soup, and it was very rich--but I didn't think it was the greatest as people hyped it would be. We were too stuffed to have dessert. We paid for our meal with my Disney Dollars I had from my Disney Visa card. From there, we checked out the rest of WS and watched Illuminations.

LoriMistress · 03-02-2008, 04:21 AM

12/11

DH and I woke up at 6am to go to MK for our 8:05am ADR for CP. We arrived at MK by 7:50am. Getting into MK was a breeze, and DH and I notice the park being less crowded, then it was on Sunday. There was a party of 37 checking into CP for their 8am ADR, but the CMs made checking in extremely easy and quickly. And people didn't have to wait long to be seated. The CMs made sure to check the huge party first to dwindle the crowd. The breakfast at CP was alright--at best. I didn't take any pictures of the food here...sorry. We had a great CM who was very attentive and made us laugh throughout our stay. DH and I were able to meet all the characters and fetching seconds before rope drop.

DH and I grabbed FPs and rode SM first, then hit PPF and Snow White with no wait. Then DH and I decided to met Ariel, which was a ten minute wait. By the time we left it was easily 30-45 minutes wait. From there, DH and I went to HM. Afterwards, we went over to BTMRR and grabbed FPs and rode it as well. From there, we rode SpM. From there, rode POTC and rode on the JC and we had a great Jungle Skipper--Bethany I believe is her name. At this point, DH and I used our FP for BTMRR. And we took the train to TT to walk over to SM and used our FPs. At this point, it was around 12pm--we decided to leave MK so we could rest up for MVMCP.

We took the bus back to POP and ate in the cafiteria. I had a cheeseburger, and DH had the personal pizza. For dessert I had the tie dye cheesecake, which was delicious! At this point, DH and I napped until 3:30pm. From there, we got ready and headed back to MK for MVMCP. DH and I were not hungry from eating a late lunch--so we decided to cancel our 4:30pm ADR at TTS. We have eaten there before, but it wasn't a "must do" for us. We rode SM again, only because it had a ten minute wait--and we checked out SGE (and after going on this attraction, I understand why 99% of people hate this attraction). We checked out Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, and I thought it was cute. But DH didn't care for this attraction. We went on COP and Buzz Lightyear. At this point, it was around 5:30pm, we decided to start waiting in front of the Galexy Theater in TL, because there was a small group of people waiting for the first 7pm showing of Mickey's T'was A Night Before Christmas Show. By 6:15pm there was a huge line that passed COP!!! It seemed like an eternity for the MTTNBC show to start, but it was worth it. The show, overall--is cute. It was a bit weird to see the characters mouths and eyes move. Afterwards, DH and I walked over to TT. The lines to get your pictures taken with characters were 45 minutes wait and longer, throughout the entire evening!!! It was that way even at FL!!! FL lines for most attractions like Pooh, PPF, and Dumbo seemed to be 40 minutes most of the time. DH and I rode HM, BTMRR, and hit POTC. We decided to purchase our MVMCP merchandise and afterwards pick up some hot cocoa and sugar cookies. At this point the first parade has started and I've realized that we're stuck in AL. We decided to avoid Frontierland and stayed in AL for a little bit. At this point, we were able to walk to the hub in front of the castle and watch the parade from afar. (This wasn't planned, but it sort of worked out this way). After the first parade ended, we picked out our spots at the hub for Holiday Wishes. After Holiday Wishes, DH and I decided we should hit HM one more time before picking our spot in Frointierland for the 2nd parade. Going to the HM was a huge mistake!!! The ride continue to breakdown on us, and what normally takes 10-15 minutes to go through, took 45 minutes!!! At this point, the parade was starting and we didn't have a front spot!!! We were able to grab an okay spot in the back, but high enough to see the floats perfectly between Frointierland and Liberty Square. We didn't miss the parade. The parade was cute but that stupid song gets stuck in your head!!! At this point we avoided Frontierland, TT, and FL and decided to go to TL. TL wasn't crowded, and we rode TTA and SM several times. We stayed in the parks until 12pm. We thought about staying longer (to avoid the large mob), but DH and I were too tired and we just wanted to sleep.