Perfect weather December Getaway

[Katzateer]

Just back fom 8 nights at WDW. Just my husband and myself - the girls were busy with college finals and were the house and pet sitters.

From the moment we arrived at MCO until we left yesterday the weather was PERFECT. Not a drop of rain and not humid.

FastPass+. Worked great for us. If a little flexibility could be worked out with the time of our fast passes, not having a limit of 3 per day, and not being restricted to one park per day for the fast passes I think the magic bands will be a great addition to the Disney experience.

We had no problems with our bands for room keys, charging, and park admission. All of our fast pass times worked but I was not thrilled with the times available. For the first time in several years, I got to ride Toy Story Mania and Peter Pan more than once with little wait and no rushing to the rides at opening.

[Katzateer]

Magic Kingdom was beautiful and the castle breathtakingly so. I have not been to WDW during the Christmas season for several years and enjoyed the decorations. My favorite besides the castle was the gingerbread tree at the Contemporary. :cloud9:

It was Very CROWDED!! Good for WDW but some days we left a park because it was so busy (MK was always packed!!)

We saw lots of Pop Warner groups towards the end of last week but did not have any problems with any of the groups. They were not loud at The hotel or food courts or running around at the parks or bus stops in large groups, as in past years.

POP Century worked out great. Our room was in the 70's section, top floor, and an easy walk to the bus stops and food court. Everything was in good working order, the carpets were clean and the mattresses were very comfortable. The pillows were ok- not rock hard but not great pillows.

Housekeeping was nothing exceptional. We only had our room cleaned twice( I left the do not disturb sign out) but on the days housekeeping came in we just got fresh towels and a light cleaning. The sheets weren't changed and the floor wasn't vacuumed during our stay. We weren't in the room much so it really didnt get that dirty.

[Katzateer]

EPCOT had a holiday passport and I got it stamped in each country. We tryed most of the Hoilday special food or snack in each country that was listed on the passport and everything was very good. I miss when EPCOT had a lot more Hoilday decorations. Holiday Illuminations was very good.

AK was well decorated. We had a great time and it was nice not to be so hot - most of the time I am dripping wet from the humidity at this park. Flame Tree BBQ was very good and there was a baby alligator In the water where we sat by the water and ate. I love that view of Exhibition Everest while eating too. The gorillas were especially active- the males were beating their chests which is really loud and making noises. A female was posing with a baby and a young gorilla which was fun to see. The huge bats had their wings open and were sunning. We saw lts of animals on the safari too.

The Osborne lights were beautiful. Beauty and the Beast was good but they have cut even more scenes. Now they only have 4 or 5 acts- Belle's father was not even in any of the scenes and the show was not more than 20 minutes.

[Katzateer]

Of course the best park during the holiday season is MK and it was CROWDED!! Beautiful, fun, but a lot of people in very little space.

Bus service was good, some very long lines at MK. My guess one night an hour after MK closed there were over 400 people in line both at POP and AoA so we took a bus to another resort, then DTD, then POP.

Our special treats this trip were Keys to the Kingdom(every Disney fan should do this once), Splittsville bowling, WinterLand Golf, and we met Raider and Jackie at the Top of the World Lounge to visit and watch Holiday Wishes. It was great to see them again!:thumbsup:

It was a great trip and I will miss the Florida sunshine!

[VacationDisney]

We were a WDW from December 1-8th. I agree weather was perfect. Sun and in the 80's the entire week.

Parks were more crowded, I thought, than in the past. We have been to WDW this time of year for the last 4 or 5 years. This year, by far, was crowded beyond our expectations. By Wednesday, the 4th crowds were thinning out.

We we not that happy with FastPass+ as we were unable to use some of them due to the fact that we either had lunch reservations or dinner reservations. We did notice that if you did not have the bands or use them that the fast passes were gone earlier in the day than usual and you had LATE fast passes. We were able to final ride Toy Mania between 7:20 - 8:00PM. We got the pass at 9:30 am and cast members were warning people that there might not be abele to even get a fast pass. We were lucky;)

FastPass+ is a little confusing but I am sure that, over time, it will work smoothly.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds like a nice trip, thanks for the report

[yjgirl32]

Great report- thanks for sharing.

[emerzmom]

It sounds like a really great trip!!! Thanks for sharing.
:tink:
Julie

[Katzateer]

Yesterday at work (10 hour work day :(. ) I was looking through my 400+ pictures and remembered one interesting sight. We were on the boat going from Epcot to the studios and on the Boardwalk we saw Cinderella's coach with the 6 white ponies and footmen going towards the bridge to either Swan/Dolphin or Beachclub. It was so cool!! Guess it was going over to pick up a bride. I didn't get a great picture since the boat's windows aren't that clear. From the excitement in the boat captains voice I am assuming this isn't a sight seen very often!:thumbsup:

[Melanie]

Thanks for your recap! I've loved following your pictures on FB. :thumbsup:

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[faline]

There seems to be fewer holiday decorations each time we go during December. The sighting of Cinderella's coach was quite exciting!