Slow down, you move to fast...you've got to make the memories last! TR Nov. 2012 - UPDATED 1/3 About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great day at DHS, despite the crowds! Great pics!

[Cam22]

Sorry the crowd was huge this day, but sounds like you all had lots of fun anyway!

[chezp]

Sounds like a great day at the Studios. Thanks for the review of Mama Melrose - we haven't eaten there in some years now and we're going back in just over a week. Now I'm really excited to be trying it again.

[Mystic6]

Day 4, Monday 11/12 Part 1 – Downtown Disney:

The alarm woke us up at 7:00am sharp. We had a Chef Mickey’s ADR at 8:45, and Michelle takes longer to get ready than I do. I tried snoozing a bit while she showered, but I ended up just watching TV. We arrived at the Contemporary at 8:30am and were seated right away. We ended up in the back section under the monorail, by the windows. We had the usual CM experience, but neither of us was all that hungry after the big dinner the previous night.


Michelle had been looking forward to her Mickey waffles!





Because we had the PhotoPass Plus and had our picture package in hand, we stopped back at the Poly to drop it off and then took a taxi to DTD from there. This was our most expensive taxi ride of the trip - $27 with tip. I am not a fan of taking buses, so I budgeted to avoid most of them. We got to DTD about 11:00. We shopped till around 2:00pm, but took our time and enjoyed it. As you’ve probably figured out, the shopping is one of Michelle’s favorite vacation activities. I swear I’ve been down every aisle of every shop in all of The World! The highlights of this day’s purchases were the Lego Advent calendar and this backpack we bought for Alex.


This came in handy to carry the purchases, and we actually used it several times the rest of the trip.


Michelle liked this tree and I’m sure it looks great at night.

After a quick pretzel snack, we took a bus back to the resort. We boarded at the marketplace stop, and then made a stop at PI – there were no new passengers, but had to do a driver change. We finally got back to the Poly just before 3:00pm. This is one of the reasons I prefer taking cabs!


This turkey was waiting for us when we got back. This was the last of the towel animals though.

Originally planned for Saturday, since today was such a nice day we decided to rent a boat and take a ride. I had wanted to rent a mouse boat, but the CM warned us that two adults with life vests would be cramped and because of the weight we would be very slow. I knew the weight limit is stated as 330lbs, but they would have let us take one if we wanted to. Instead I decided to rent the 17' Boston Whaler. I figured it would be faster and sportier than a pontoon but it wasn’t by much! After picking our life vests we were led to the boat where they explained to me how to start it and went over the rules. (where we couldn’t go, the no wake zones, no drinking, no fishing, the driver cannot use a phone or camera, and the passenger can’t sit on the driver’s lap – LOL) I navigated out of the marina and we started our tour. I first headed over to Bay Lake where I showed Michelle the Wilderness Lodge. I really wish that resort was on the monorail, I would love to stay there! I showed her the old River Country remains and then Discovery Island, and explained what they were and how Disney just abandoned the sites when they closed. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, but I under-estimated the strength of the sun and got a hint of a burn. I had Michelle manning the video camera, the following are screen captures.


The first video I got she took of herself. LOL


One of the pelicans sitting on the poles off Discovery Island.


An interesting view of the Contemporary.


This was as close as I was comfortable getting, but I loved seeing the MK with the monorail in front of it.


This is another video I found once I got home and put them on the computer. Video of her feet while there was so much to see!

After playing Gilligan & Skipper, we were back at the resort about 45 minutes later. As much as I enjoyed the boat ride, I couldn’t help but wish that I had been out fishing instead! I missed doing that this trip, but the only day it would have fit in our schedule was our departure day and I didn’t want to have to wake up that early on that day. So I will just have to make sure I schedule it for our next trip.

[Mystic6]

Day 4, Monday 11/12 Part 2 – MVMCP:

Following our time on the water we went back to our room and relaxed until it was time to head out for our 5:35pm ADR at 1900 Park Fare. I was looking forward to our dinner with the Stepsisters. We checked in, took our pictures, and were seated right away. We got all the character greets in before eating as they were just hitting that area. I think what happened is that they seated us at a table that had been empty up to that point. All the people around us were just finishing their meals and the characters were just arriving in that section. This was something that I noticed was different for us the whole trip. I think because tables for two turn over faster than larger ones, we never had a long wait to be seated.


We liked the 1900 PF dinner buffet. There was a good assortment of foods and everything we had was very good. We loved the interaction with Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia!






Remember my "twins" picture from earlier that Michelle found so funny? Well this is her "twin"!


After dinner we found out we could get our pictures delivered to our resort, so we did that so we could go directly to the Magic Kingdom for our first MVMCP. We arrived at 6:30pm and fought against the flow of leaving day guests. After going through bag check and the turnstiles, we received our wristbands and made our way into the park. Main Street was quite crowded and there were people were already lining up for the 8:15 parade! It was quite warm and humid this evening - we were actually a little sweaty most of the night. We rode PotC first since we hadn’t been on it yet this trip, and followed that with the HM again with no wait. Then we made our way over to New Fantasyland and it was open!!!


We were so excited it was hard not to run to the attractions! We checked out Gaston's Tavern first, but didn’t get anything since we wanted to ride Under The Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid. We had recently watched the movie again since it had been awhile for Michelle and I actually didn’t remember seeing it. It quickly became one of my favorite Disney movies. The ride is spectacular. We love, love, loved it!! Imagineering did such a great job with the detail that it is one of those attractions that doesn’t get old and warrants repeat rides. (As we’ll prove on this trip!) When we exited, we walked right back in the queue to ride it again because we liked it so much. The wait time was posted as 5 minutes, but that’s only because that is how long it takes to walk the queue. I didn’t take any pictures as I was more interested in just taking it all in.


Now it was time for a LeFou's Brew. We both liked it a lot, but not so much the mango foam. But I caution everyone that it is really cold! I got the worst brain freeze I’ve ever had. We chose not to do a tour of Be Our Guest for now, and walked over to do Enchanted Tales with Belle if we could fit it in before the fireworks. It was posted as a 10 minute wait but was closer to 20. But it was SO worth it. We had a great group of people and everybody was in a good mood. The kids did great playing their parts. The detail here was again amazing, but for me it was the Lumière AA that steals the show. I could have sat there just watching that and been plenty entertained!


When we got out it was pushing 9:00pm so we headed through Tomorrowland and selected a spot on the bridge from the hub to watch the new castle show. It was impressive – I liked it even more than the Magic, Memories, & You show which it replaced. We stayed put for Holiday Wishes which was fantastic! It is so much better than the regular Wishes, which is my favorite fireworks show. When that was over we hit Monsters, Inc. and here again we had a great audience. Everyone chosen participated fully and we laughed more than I ever have there. I even had my joke read.

That took a little bit, so from there we went to Main Street to find a spot to watch the parade. We ended up right in front of the bakery behind a row of people sitting on the curb. The crowd was definitely lighter for the second parade, and this was a perfect location! We had the smells pumped in from the bakery, lampposts to lean against, and a great view up & down Main Street. I'm not normally one for parades, but the Once Upon A Christmastime version was a lot of fun. There was LOTS of "snow", way more than at the Osborne Lights.





Mickey pointed and waved right at me!



Goofy's float was very cool!



The soldiers were also very cool. I had no idea they actually played the trumpets!


After the parade we made our way over to Space Mountain for Michelle. I have ridden it in the past, and would again except for the darkness. I prefer seeing where I am going! She had a short, 10 minute wait and I met her outside where I was sitting and watching people. We were starting to run out of steam, so we trekked over to Big Top Souvenirs to purchase our party shirts. They didn't have the pins though, and sent us to Frontierland to the pin trader store. We got our party pins and some other holiday ones too. It was now midnight and time to leave. For anyone considering the MVMCP and wondering if it is worth it, I highly recommend it – especially for the first-timer. We were at the second and third parties of 2012 and both were sold out. While it was not “empty”, the crowds were tolerable and the ride waits short. But the festive atmosphere with the Main Street decorations and snow, the Christmas music, and the parade was awesome.

We stopped for a few PP pictures and headed out the gates. There were large crowds for both the monorail and the boat, and we chose the boat this time. I have to give kudos to Disney for switching to the larger boat for the GF and Poly. If they had used the smaller ones I normally see, we would have had to wait for at least 2 or 3. But with the larger one, everyone waiting made it on one boat. After a short stop at the GF where only a couple dozen people disembarked, the rest of us exited at the Poly.

We got back to our room at 12:45am and took turns showering because we both felt sticky. I typed up my notes and got to bed about 2:00am. Another 7:00am wake up awaits us, tomorrow is planned for AK and Epcot. I wasn’t sure how we were going to manage; we were both exhausted and sore from all the walking.

[JKnott17]

Great day! Shopping, a boat ride, dinner with the Stepsisters, all topped off with MVMCP, sounds perfect! I'm glad you liked the party, and that you got into see the new FL. I agree with you about the mango foam on Lefeu's Brew, the apple part of it is SOOO good, but that foam really doesn't go with it at all! Blech!

[Cam22]

What a great and day! I can't believe how much you all got done!

[chezp]

What a great day!

[MikeL]

Great update Mark But I have to ask, did I read it right you guys did MVMCP twice? I only ask as I am considering doing the same thing during next years trip. Don't fret about not getting in a fishing trip this time I'll make up for it next Nov. I know just what you mean about DW's shopping talents mine is same way I on the other hand have the antishopping gene and spend more time people watching than browsing in store

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day! Some great eats, a great boatride, and a party to boot!

[Mystic6]

Originally Posted by JKnott17

Great day! Shopping, a boat ride, dinner with the Stepsisters, all topped off with MVMCP, sounds perfect! I'm glad you liked the party, and that you got into see the new FL. I agree with you about the mango foam on Lefeu's Brew, the apple part of it is SOOO good, but that foam really doesn't go with it at all! Blech!

I don't know if they were going for the sweet & sour thing, but it didn't work for me. I would think they could come up with some other sweeter foam that would better compliment the drink itself. I loved the hint of toasted marshmallows!

Originally Posted by Cam22

What a great and day! I can't believe how much you all got done!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

What a great day! Some great eats, a great boatride, and a party to boot!

It's strange that as we were going through the day it didn't seem like we were accomplishing much, especially since in the back of my mind we were moving slower than expected. But then at the end of the day when you realize all that you did and experienced you understand why your feet hurt so much! That always seems to happen to me. It might be because I know there is just so much to do that some part of me thinks 'if I don't do it all I am missing out'. But I think this trip taught us both that you don't have to do it all to have a good time and there is still so much that you do without realizing it at the time. And that's one of the magical things about Disney.

Michelle took our DD to Six Flags for the first time this summer with my sister's family. I skipped it. They both came home saying how much more they appreciated WDW. But it really hit Michelle when we were at WDW this time how much better it is than anything.

[Mystic6]

[QUOTE =MikeL;4078415]Great update Mark But I have to ask, did I read it right you guys did MVMCP twice? I only ask as I am considering doing the same thing during next years trip. Don't fret about not getting in a fishing trip this time I'll make up for it next Nov. I know just what you mean about DW's shopping talents mine is same way I on the other hand have the antishopping gene and spend more time people watching than browsing in store[/QUOTE]

You did read that right. On our first trip we did a Pirate & Princess Party. We hadn't planned to, but I was able to get the tickets the day-of since we wanted to get more MK time. We had the best time that night, we will cherish those memories forever. And back then there were fewer tickets sold per event. We like MK at night and with lighter crowds. So I was all for doing MVMCP more than once this trip if the schedule worked. It turned out our last night was a party night, so we liked the idea of having that as our last park experience before coming home. It made it easier for us to spend the time to watch the parade during the first party, knowing we could skip it the second. That said, I don't know that I would personally do more than one again - mostly because I have now "been there, done it".

[lazanya]

Great updates! Sounds like you are having a good time!

[shazza]

Great updates - sounds like a wonderful vacation.

[MikeL]

Have to agree with your reasoning for doing MVMCP twice as its the same as mine have to see how our plans work out