Day 2 and 3- 23rd Dec. Animal Kingdom, 24th Dec. Epcot

23rd Dec.- Animal Kingdom:

Well, today, I convinced everyone to get up early, have breakfast in their rooms (we had picked up provisions after MK from Wal-Mart) and be at the park for 7:30 am!! I wanted to be there when it opened, which we did. We got to see the opening ceremony with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy!

Once the ropes came down, I high tailed it to Mt. Everest for Fast Passes and then made our way to the K. Safari. There was NO wait at all. We literally walked onto the ride! It was a VERY cold day! But, when we passed the Kali River Rapids, it was too much of a pull for some in our group and off they went with no wait time (NO WONDER! It was FREEZING!) We made our way back to Mt. Everest and finally figured out the baby swap thing and I got to ride it twice! From there we went to Dinoland. We always seemed to be one step ahead of the crowds and we quickly road, Triceratop Spin and Dinosaur with a stop at the Boneyard for the little one. After that we thought we would do LionKing. However, we had left it too late and couldn%26#39;t get into the show we wanted. Anyway, we were hungry and decided to head to Rainforest Cafe for a nice meal. We were seated in 5 min. and had a very nice meal. We went to the Lion King show and then It%26#39;s tough to be a bug (that was the longest two waits of 30 min. each.) We stopped for an ice cream, got to see Devine and saw the end of the parade. Again, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel! It had been another great day!

24th Dec.- Epcot-

This is the park we were the most unsure about. I really didn%26#39;t find it very 2 1/2 year old friendly. But, we thought we might get to see Santa.

Again, I got everyone up and going to be there for 8:30. We were one of the first ones into the park and waited at the rope drop to get fast passes for Soarin. There were LOTS of people and I thought this was really going to be the day that our wait times would add up!

When the rope dropped, it was crazy and scarey! But, I made it to get the fast passes (fast passes were gone for 11 am for the entire day!). We decided to try Test Track (I had done that one before.) But, on the way, I stopped to see if I could find a Christmas stocking for son. I had forgot his at home and wanted one to fill. Did that with 50% discount and just as we passed the Character Meeting area, we saw an extremely short line. So, 15 min. later, son got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy. He was in heaven! Off to TT which said had a 5 min. wait... wrong... it was 30 min. Then off to Mission Space and Nemo with 15 min. waits. Back across to do Soarin.

Off to the countries we went, stopping first at Mexico for lunch, then Norway to ride Malestorm, stopped in Germany to listen to Christmas traditions by Healga, stop off in France to see Noel Pierre (father christmas), look around England and then headed back out the park. It had been another long day with little wait time...

Thank goodness for:

fast passes

tour plans

getting to the park at opening time

We always seemed to be one step ahead of the crowds. We would get on a ride with only 15 min. wait time to get off and see the wait times had gone up to 60 min. or more!

Day 2 and 3- 23rd Dec. Animal Kingdom, 24th Dec. Epcot

You are good. We have 4 teens, we have yet to get to the park for opening.

Sounded like a good day.

You got lucky at the character spot. I tried that in April with my son, he got bored in line and we left. We had waited over 30 minutes and we were not even close.

Day 2 and 3- 23rd Dec. Animal Kingdom, 24th Dec. Epcot

Well Done

Two good days in a row, during Christmas !!

PS Did you have some Special Pixie Dust with you ? :)

partypa, I thought I might have!

are you responsible