It’s Disney... but not as we know it! Week1 - Land of Plenty

[tonymc]

It’s finally arrived. After waiting for most of the year, we’re finally on our way.

Quick introductions to the herd - myself (tonymc), chief planner, DW Joanne, DD Alex and Alex’s partner Jack.

A quick recap on the pre-trip report stuff - the main reason for visiting later in the year was that Joanne had always wanted to see the WDW at Christmas, and as this would be the first year that Alex was not in education, we could go in November. As well, both Jack and Alex were 21 this year, and both have now graduated from Chester University, so a celebration for both of them.

Originally we had planned the first 6 nights at the Doubletree on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, but in hindsight realised a sofa bed not ideal for two 21 year olds, so we booked two separate rooms at ASMusic, which incidentally got rid of the $22 day parking and $14 day resort fees at the Doubletree. In order to maximise our time in the parks, we also PAID (I know, it hurt by bank account severely doing this! ) for the DDP.

Day 1 (Sat 09/11) We flew on 9th November, having secured 4 PE seats on the VA MAN-MCO flight. Great flight out, empty immigration, and 70 minutes from disembarking the aircraft to checking in at All Stars Music.

We had been given adjoining rooms at All Star Music. Even though they are value rooms, they were comfortable and roomy. Granted, they do need the refurb that is being started at this resort, but other than the lack of a kettle/coffee maker, absolutely fine. We also took advantage of the offer to not have housekeeping in return for two $50 Disney vouchers.

First night was a visit to ihop for dinner, followed by a visit to the nearby Walmart for some breakfast essentials.

Day 2 (Sun 10/11) saw us with an early start on the bus to Magic Kingdom arriving at 08:15. Quite a few photos taken along Main Street before being held at the entrance to Tomorrowland. Suffice to say that we managed plenty of rides, and an early lunch at Crystal Palace kept us going through the day. Evening saw us visiting the Gasperilla Garden Grill at the Grand Floridian, where we also took advantage of watching the MK fireworks.

Day 3 (Mon 11/11) another early start, this time to Animal Kingdom for EMH and to queue for Flight of Passage. Waited around 70 minutes, but well worth it. We then picked up on our planned itinerary, with lunch at our favourite place, Yak & Yeti local. The early start meant a mid-afternoon finish, and some time around the pool before our evening ADR at Chefs de France, where I have to say the service was faultless. Unfortunately wee had to miss the EPCOT fireworks as Jo wasn’t feeling too well, but another day...

Day 4 (Tues 12/11) and Joanne’s birthday. Again an early-ish start over to Hollywood Studios where our FP selections got us onto Slinky Dog ride in minimal time. Plenty of chances to ride Aerosmith using single rider, and introduced Jack to Tower of Terror... not, I suspect, his favourite ride! Lunch was three CS meals at ABC Commissary - Joanne and I split the rib plattter which had 9 ribs and fries - more than enough for two.

Fast forward to evening where we had booked Narcoossee’s for Joanne’s birthday. We have had several excellent meals here, but on this occasion, the ambience was somewhat let down by the very casual attire of the staff - more food court than Signature restaurant, and we all thought that Chefs de France had a much better feeling about it. We managed to watch the Christmas party fireworks from the GF before returning to base.

Day 5 (Wed 13/11) with a morning around the pool and over to Magic Kingdom for a Be Our Guest ADR for 14:15. Although we didn’t have long to wait, the lunchtime experience was something of a shock compared to our last visit in the evening. Appreciate it is a QS option at lunch, but it was too chaotic, with staff seeming to struggle to cope with cleaning tables (and the floor by our table! ). However, we did enjoy the food, and the coq au vin was excellent.

We had a number of FPs booked for later in the day, but in all honesty, the crowds made it extremely hard work, and after a couple of standby rides, we all agreed to call it a day and return to the pool.

This meant we could visit Disney Springs in the evening, and with it, a meal at one of our favourite CS locations, Wolfgang Puck Express. With the redevelopment of the area, it seems that this location doesn’t get anywhere near as busy as we have previously experienced, so we were able to order immediately and enjoyed a very good meal.

Day 6 (Thu 14/11) was a later start at Hollywood Studios, with a Fantasmic lunch package at Mama Melrose. Morning was again around around the pool, then over to HS for our 13:15 ADR. Unfortunately, the service was extremely slow (20 minutes to get a drink, 50 minutes to our mains being served) which meant that we didn’t have time for dessert as our first FP was due to expire. Having scraped on TSM, we had a decent afternoon on the rides, and around 7pm we managed to ride the Millenium Falcon with on a 20 minute wait in the single rider line, where we all managed to end up in the same car.

We also managed to fit in another visit to TSM before picking up some food from Catalina Eddies to enjoy whilst waiting for Fantasmic. As we were seated, it started spitting, evoking memories of Peter Kays dinner ladies at Alton Towers story! Fortunately, it didn’t stop the show, and we all enjoyed immensely.

Day 7 (Fri 15/11) and the final day before the “Austerity Period”! Having packed, we used up some spare CS credits at the Intermission Food Court for breakfast, where I have to say that the staff had been absolutely brilliant all week. We then made our way to EPCOT where we rode on Spaceship Earth before managing a couple of short-wait rides on Soarin’.

As it was the F&W Festival, we had purposely kept back a number of snack credits to use for lunch today, and we enjoyed a pleasant hour or so grazing around the world, all of which were extremely tasty. Unfortunately, our test Track FP got cancelled, so we managed to negotiate a multi-ride extra for our HS visit the following week.

We also took the opportunity to use our remaining snack credits for breakfast items for Saturday so we didn’t have to do any shopping this evening.

With that, it was adios to Disney’s on-site accommodation, and our move over to the dibb villa (Emerald Hunny Pot) we had rented at Emerald Island Resort. with 4 beds so plenty of room if we all fell out with each other, and heated pool/jacuzzi (please note images from Emerald Islands website and Emerald Hunny Pot website).

We had originally planned to eat at the Ale and Compass at the Beach Club, then watch the EPCOT fireworks, but our visit to Chefs de France on Monday persuaded us to change our booking... and yet another excellent meal, with the servers attire reinforcing our negative view of the visit to Narcoossee’s. We than had wander around World Showcase and caught BBMacks final song, before finding a spot near Morocco with a great view.

Have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how little extra travel time it took to get to the Boardwalk (here we parked) via the Sherbeth Road shortcut - only another 10 minutes or so.

And at the end of week 1 – how did we do against the Dining Plan? Having kept a record of the costs we would have incurred, we did break even, possibly as we ate in Narcoossee’s which itself came to $368!

To be continued... with Austerity Week!

[KarenG]

Love this! Having read your reports from previous years I can’t believe your daughter is now 21!

[tonymc]

Neither can we Karen - it doesn’t seem that long ago she was starting school!

[Twentyyears]

Great report, like Karen I can’t believe where the time has gone!

[tonymc]

Thanks for reading, and yes, it has passed in the blink of an eye!

[mossyflossy]

Oh my, where have the years gone? Another one who can't believe your DD is now 21! Have to say "non-austerity" and "austerity" week did make me smile, pity Narcoossees was off the mark this time. Villa looks very nice for week 2.

[tonymc]

Indeed Ruth - time has gone so quickly. It was a shame about Narcoossee’s, especially given the fabulous service and staff presentation on our previous visits.