bavaria
12-21-2005, 10:28 PM
I don't usually do trip reports, but here are some comments about my recent trip. I met up with three different friends during the week, but most of the time was spent with my friend 'M', a former cast member and Disney freak. :bouncegoo
Transportation
The flight there was about the worst I've had this year, with over 85,000 miles flown year to date. It took me almost 12 hours from start to finish, with delays and bad weather. Coming home was almost as bad. :yuck:
We both got great car upgrades due to being high volume renters - I got a nice little sports car :coolcar: , M a big SUV. We used the sports car most of the time. Used valet quite often and the WDW buses only twice. Also walked to DTD a few times using the OKW/SSR path, which was handy. The path was rather deserted and poorly marked - it is marked as SSR only from DTD and only marked as OKW at the second bridge
Accommodation
I'm really glad that OKW is my home, as I hope to stay here a lot in future. I've realized that I don't need to be near the action and prefer the solitude of OKW. The beds are great, the room was in good condition, and I had friendly neighbors. The only noise was from a group who sat by the pool each night, chatting over beers until after midnight. This didn't bother me in the least as they weren't overly noisy, and it was a nice feeling to have the neighbours around.
Parks
The parks were pretty empty until the Saturday before Christmas, when they suddenly became a zoo. :crowded: We had fast passes to return to Buzz, but the fast pass return wait was over 30 minutes! Needless to say, we didn't bother. Saturday and Sunday we puttered around Epcot most of the time. We did wait 25 minutes for Spaceship Earth
M kept asking me 'where is...?' 'What happened to....?' and I had to keep telling her that things had changed. She was sad to see some of the changes, such as the Backlot Tour and the missing Living Statues. We closed down Epcot a few nights - Sunday it rained around 8pm and the park became deserted. :umbrella: We felt like we almost had Illuminations to ourselves. And when did they start writing 'good night' in all the languages on Spaceship Earth?! That was a nice surprise
I took some time to figure out the very confusing Leave a Legacy tiles in order to find Mr and Mrs Cruise-o-matic - hope that was the correct photo I found!
Food
Mmmm.... This was definitely a dining tour of the world! My DDE card was put to good use. We didn't have a lot of reservations, and decided to be flexible. As a result, we ended up at some places I haven't tried for awhile, as well as old favorites (including Trails End, Biergarten, Olivia's, Yacht Club Galley, Raglan Road , Liberty Tree Tavern). I had a pretzel for the first time (I know, I know) and wow! Just like the ones they sell in the marketplace in Salzburg ... :yummy:
At almost every table service place they were turning away walk-ins (shooing them away is more like it); yet we were often able to call and get a booking. Typically, one of us would call WDW-Dine while the other tried the podium or Guest Relations. Even when turned away by the podium or GR, we were able to secure a reservation over the phone. I don't understand that, as I always thought that they had the same inventory.
Overall
A great relaxing vacation. I like the fact that I can do the parks for just a few hours a day when I have the luxury of a long trip. We did visit the parks for longer the last several days, and my feet are still burning!!! (but we needed to after all those meals!)
Transportation
The flight there was about the worst I've had this year, with over 85,000 miles flown year to date. It took me almost 12 hours from start to finish, with delays and bad weather. Coming home was almost as bad. :yuck:
We both got great car upgrades due to being high volume renters - I got a nice little sports car :coolcar: , M a big SUV. We used the sports car most of the time. Used valet quite often and the WDW buses only twice. Also walked to DTD a few times using the OKW/SSR path, which was handy. The path was rather deserted and poorly marked - it is marked as SSR only from DTD and only marked as OKW at the second bridge
Accommodation
I'm really glad that OKW is my home, as I hope to stay here a lot in future. I've realized that I don't need to be near the action and prefer the solitude of OKW. The beds are great, the room was in good condition, and I had friendly neighbors. The only noise was from a group who sat by the pool each night, chatting over beers until after midnight. This didn't bother me in the least as they weren't overly noisy, and it was a nice feeling to have the neighbours around.
Parks
The parks were pretty empty until the Saturday before Christmas, when they suddenly became a zoo. :crowded: We had fast passes to return to Buzz, but the fast pass return wait was over 30 minutes! Needless to say, we didn't bother. Saturday and Sunday we puttered around Epcot most of the time. We did wait 25 minutes for Spaceship Earth
M kept asking me 'where is...?' 'What happened to....?' and I had to keep telling her that things had changed. She was sad to see some of the changes, such as the Backlot Tour and the missing Living Statues. We closed down Epcot a few nights - Sunday it rained around 8pm and the park became deserted. :umbrella: We felt like we almost had Illuminations to ourselves. And when did they start writing 'good night' in all the languages on Spaceship Earth?! That was a nice surprise
I took some time to figure out the very confusing Leave a Legacy tiles in order to find Mr and Mrs Cruise-o-matic - hope that was the correct photo I found!
Food
Mmmm.... This was definitely a dining tour of the world! My DDE card was put to good use. We didn't have a lot of reservations, and decided to be flexible. As a result, we ended up at some places I haven't tried for awhile, as well as old favorites (including Trails End, Biergarten, Olivia's, Yacht Club Galley, Raglan Road , Liberty Tree Tavern). I had a pretzel for the first time (I know, I know) and wow! Just like the ones they sell in the marketplace in Salzburg ... :yummy:
At almost every table service place they were turning away walk-ins (shooing them away is more like it); yet we were often able to call and get a booking. Typically, one of us would call WDW-Dine while the other tried the podium or Guest Relations. Even when turned away by the podium or GR, we were able to secure a reservation over the phone. I don't understand that, as I always thought that they had the same inventory.
Overall
A great relaxing vacation. I like the fact that I can do the parks for just a few hours a day when I have the luxury of a long trip. We did visit the parks for longer the last several days, and my feet are still burning!!! (but we needed to after all those meals!)