Nov 4-9 Trip Report

[DisneyHardin]

This is just going to be a quick report outlining the highlights of our Nov 4-9 Trip. The trip was DH (37) and I (36) - we don't have any kids.

Day 1 - Nov 4th
Usually we take a first thing of the morning flight, but this year our flight didn't leave Louisville until 1:30, luckily it was a direct flight and we landed right on time at 3:30. We went down to Magical Express area and we had just missed the bus, so we waited about 30 minutes or so until we had a full enough bus to pull out. Luckily the Polynesian was the first stop. Our room requests were granted and we had a King room on the ground floor of Rarotonga. The Poly was under a ton of construction as expected, but the CM's were friendly and being up at the front of the resort, we didn't hear any noise from it or anything.

After checking in we took the Monorail to Epcot. We had a FPP for Soarin' right away, so we went straight there and then headed to World Showcase for some food and wine yummies. We got a snack and DH got a couple beers. We had an ADR at 7:30 for Biergarten. We were seated within about 10 minutes of checking in and had a delicious dinner. I ate my weight in cheese soup and pretzel rolls. After dinner we walked on around to Mexico, so I could get a margarita before the booths closed up for the night and found a place along the wall for Illuminations. Our view wasn't fantastic, but it was great to watch it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
We got up and had a quick breakfast at Captain Cooks before heading to rope drop at Magic Kingdom. We got there in time for the opening show. Since we had FPP for headliners later, so we took advantage of the low RD crowds to hit some smaller rides. We did the carosuel, tea cups, Dumbo and Ariel's grotto within the first hour. DH doesn't do any type of thrill rides, so I did Big Thunder and then Splash with FPP while he waited in line for Woody and Jessie. I got off Splash just as we were the next people - perfect timing. My DH is a Sheriff Deputy, so we had the best interaction as DH and Woody both posed with their badges.

We had a BOG FP for lunch, and it was yummy as always. We both had the Roast Beef sandwich and sat in the West Wing. Crowds weren't bad. We did quite a few more rides after lunch and then found a great place near the Main Street train station to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade.

We went back to the POLY via the boat early evening. We had a fantastic dinner at 'Ohana. We checked in about 30 minutes early and planned to sit at the bar and have a drink, but they were able to seat us immediately. Just as we were finishing Wishes started and we had a great view from the restaurant.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Day 3 - Epcot

We got up and had another quick breakfast and Captain Cooks. We walked to the TTC and it was a super quick walk - even with having to take the longer path around, it took less than 10 minutes to get there. We got to the TTC and the monorail was down, so they were bussing people to Epcot. It slowed us down and they had already opened when we got there. We did the Soarin' run and only waited about 15 minutes. We then did a few Future World attractions such as Living with the Land, Nemo, Character Spot and Test Track.

We headed to World Showcase about lunchtime and had a good lunch at the QS in Mexico. We then spent the afternoon going in and out of the shops through the countries. I wasn't feeling too great, so I didn't sample too many Food and Wine booths, but DH tried several beers and a couple snacks.

We had an early dinner reservation at Garden Grill. This was the first time we had tried it and it was great. The rolls were so good, I ate 3 of them. We tried all the meats/veggies, but the steak was our favorite. We don't really like cobbler, so for desert he brought us out cute ice cream cone shaped cupcakes. The character interaction was fun. We were in the first row in the half moon booths. I loved how private those booths were.

After dinner we were pooped, so we headed back to the hotel to watch Big Bang Theory and get to bed early.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom and MVMCP

We slept in and went to breakfast at Chef Mickey's. People rant and rave all the time about how terrible Chef Mickey's is, but we thought it was very good. All the food was hot and fresh and the character interactions were great.

After breakfast we took a bus to DTD. It was nice shopping mid day instead of evening like we usually do, the crowds were much smaller.

The highlight of the day was going to the Christmas party. We used our party tickets to get in about 3:45 and had some FPP between 4-7. We also got a QS dinner at Pecos Bills. The party was lots of fun. It was sold out, so the crowds were fairly high. We met Scrooge and the ducks, Minnie, and the Dwarves in their holiday gear. We also went into the Town Square Theater to meet Tink and talking Mickey, bu they didn't have any holiday gear on. We were in line for the Dwarves during Holiday Wishes, but we actually had a decent view from where we were standing.

We went up to the Main Street train station area to stake out a spot for the later parade. People had started lining up crazy early, but we were able to get a decent second row spot right at starting time. After the parade we got in line for the Mine Train (it was our first ride) and finished that right at midnight.

The castle lights and main street snow was so gorgeous.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Day 5 - Hollywood Studios

After a late night at the party, we didn't worry about getting to DHS at rope drop since we had FPP for Toy Story. We had a nice day at DHS, we did Toy Story, I did TOT, Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, and Muppets. We left DHS about 4:30 and headed to the Beach Club for our ADR at Cape May. We were in the first seating at Cape May and had wonderful service.

After dinner we took the boat back to DHS to spend some time at the Osborne Lights. We had never been to the lights before. I thought it would be something we would walk through in 10 or so minutes. We took an hour to go through them looking for the hidden Mickey's. There were lots of Photopass photographers and so we were able to get lots of great pictures.

I will be glad when they get some new stuff opened in DHS, because it really is a half day park now.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom and Departure

It was sad to wake up and know it was time to go home. We got the suitcases packed up and checked them in for the airport. We then headed to Magic Kingdom to ride a few of our favorites again. We had a FPP for a 2nd ride on Mine Train. We also rode the Flying Carpets for the first time. Being the weekend, the crowds were higher than they had been earlier in the week, but still it wasn't too bad.

We had lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. We had never eaten there before. It was pretty good. I had the pork flatbread and it was good, but had TONS of onions in it.

After lunch we headed back up to Main Street so I could make a final decision about what purse I wanted to buy. I couldn't decide between a Dooney and the new Vera Bradley. I finally decided on the "Buttons" Dooney.

We took the boat back to the Poly and only had about a 15 minute wait for the Magical Express bus.

I did book a bounce back for next November. I am a teacher and we don't have our calendar for next year yet, so hopefully we will be able to keep the reservation.

Thanks for reading my mini-trip report.

 

[ksueboo]

Sounds like fun! We are staying at the Poly for the first time in January so it's nice to hear that the construction wasn't an issue!