WDW Dec 24-28th Trip review very long

Let me just say thanks to all who helped me with my questions. I should have listened to you guys about the dslr it was too heavy and hardly used it.

I took your advice and booked a pick up from Tiffany Town cars. Our driver ( I forgot her name) was awesome and very helpful and prompt waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a sign with our name on it. Felt so important. LOL Baggage was easy enough and on our way. No traffic problems. Made a quick stop at a grocery store for some fruit and snacks , water and sodas. I highly recommend this as it will save a bit of money. And yes you can take this stuff into the park. No problems.

Dec 24th:

We got to the hotel about 3:30pm. We stayed at the WDW Swan. The rooms were nice and slightly larger than most. Big flatscreen tv ,fridge, and safe and a nice bathroom area. We had a nice view of the roof and the Dolphin across the road. The staff at the Swan was very friendly and helpful upon check in. My sister is an employee of the Sheraton hotels so we got killer prices and 50% off on most food.

After checking in and realizing we haven%26#39;t eaten we decided to stroll down to the Disney Boardwalk. I was shocked at how empty the place was even the hotel seemed empty. We found this place called Spoodles. We decided to go and have drinks and appetizers to hold us till our reservations at 7:30pm at the Garden Grove in the Swan hotel. The drinks were fantastic and freshly made no mixes. I recommend the Mojito and the agave margarita. We had mussels and tomato and mozerella salad both were exellent. Very good service and knoweldgable staff. Back to the hotel to clean up and onto dinner.

Had dinner reservations at the Garden grove which had characters that came around which was cool even for us adults. Food was decent enough good variety very friendly staff. After dinner it was off to the bar by the loby. It was just ok nothing special. Stumble into bed.

Dec 25th Christmas:

Slept in till about 11:30 then Headed to ESPN zone to watch the Phoenix suns in a devistating loosing game then off to epcot. From the Swan you can easily walt to Epcot or just take the ferry but we noticed that by the time the ferry got there you could have walked so walking it was. We didn%26#39;t get to do any of the rides as we were so facinated by the countries of the world. Lets just say we ate and drank our way through Epcot. Its not just for kids anymore!

First place we hit was Paris. They offer (for sale) different types of wines and champagne you can get per glass and sell as well per bottle. Then some chocolates and of course the pastery place where you can get sandwiches and yummie pasteries. I had the rum filled shugar cream puff, dad had the nepolion, and a chocolate filled crossant for my sister. All were good. Morocco was interesting the museum is interesting.

The Japan section was one of our favorites as we got to see the matsuri drums several times and they have this lady who make these animals out of shugar candy that look like blown glass. Watched part of the Christmas candle light procession which was really good but couldn%26#39;t get seats. And one of my favorite actors (Edward james Amos from Battlestar galactica) was narrating. But we had to move on as we had dinner reservations at 9pm at the Biergarten which was yummie! I don%26#39;t drink beer but my sister said it was really good. Food was probably some of the best even if it was buffet. I had some kind of heated red wine type drink that was really good reminded me of sangria. Got several beer steins and fancy crystals mailed back home.

Stopped at the Italy pavilion got a couple glasses of red wine. and off to see the fireworks (Illuminations)which was awesome. China pavilion was very interesting but was starting to shut down so we had to start heading out of the park.

I know I over did it that day but hey it was christmas! Had a slight hangover next day but all was good.....

Dec 26th:

Slept in again. Found out that my dad forgot to pack any pants just the ones he was wearing and we had to go shopping. We forgot that it was the day after christmas with huge sales and huge huge huge lines at the outlets. But got that out of the way then off to the hotel for lunch. Magic Kingdome was open till 3am today so we didn%26#39;t go till about 4pm. Many of the younger kids were gone at that time and it wasn%26#39;t very busy. The longest wait was 1 hour for Big Thunder mountain which is my favorite. Did Splash Mtn, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the carribean (was a little dissapointed with their version) the donald duck 3d movie was awesome. My sister and dad did Space Mtn I can%26#39;t handle that one no way@! We rode other rides but i don%26#39;t remember the names. We were lucky to get a table at the Crystal Palace right before the fireworks . The food was exellent and they also had character dining.

Just a tip if you eat there and the fireworks are about to start just let your server know you are going out to the fireworks or they might not let you back in.

The fireworks at Magic Kingdome are much better than the ones at Epcot. The lit up castle is absolutely beautiful. 3am finally came around had to wait for the ferry to get back to the room. Darn that was a long fun night! By that time we were hungry and it was a good thing that there was a small 24 hour place in the hotel. Of course our hands were all full with stuff we bought plus all the christmas stuff was 50% off. And I even found a cute shirt for my dog :) Yes I am one of those people. LOL

Dec 27th.

Unfortunately we couldn%26#39;t sleep in too long as we had to switch hotels for 1 night inorder to get my sisters discount price. So with only 4 hours of sleep packed up everything and headed across the walkway to check into the Dolphin. Luckily the room was ready so in we went and back to sleep till about 2 pm. decided to try the Animal Kingdom. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!! It was so busy and crowded I think everyone in florida was at this place. You could move or hardly breathe. We were able to see a bird aviary, eat some chinese food (Yetti %26amp; Yak was very good!) and then see a bugs life 3 d which is awesom.

Tip on the Bugs life 3d if your kids or grown kids get scared of the dark or insects don%26#39;t take them. The guy behind me screamed like a girl. LOL

After that we ran out of that place as fast as we could and headed back to Epcot to finish our shopping. Since this was our last night. In a way we were glad to be going back but missed it. We didn%26#39;t get to do Downtown disney, or Universal ect but there is always next time. We didn%26#39;t eat any where as we decided to just grab stuff along the way in the park.

Now we kind of know what to expect.

Dec 28th

No sleeping in as flight left at 11am and picked up by Tiffany town cars at 9am. No flight issues. Just forgot where we parked when we got to phoenix. LOL Get back to my friends house and my truck is dead. LOL Finally made it back home by 10am. UGH!

Just some tips. Get food and water before you get to the hotels. Bring a collapseable cooler or a polar pack to take into the park so you can keep your food/drinks cool that you take in. They do check your bags upon entering the park for security but never any lines. If you are staying at a WDW resort you have to present your room key for every ride durring extra magic hours. Ask for a photo pass when you see a photographer they get some great shots and will even take a photo of you with your own camera. Keep that card and you have 30 days to look and order photos online. Do not bring your DSLR and this is from someone who does semipro photography just take your small one because it sucks carrying it on the rides! Get a photopass. Wear comfortable clothing and drink lots of water. If you buy stuff get an extra suit case to bring back stuff home its cheaper to pay $25 for the extra bag than to ship!

I will post photos as soon as I get them online. Any questions please ask

Sorry so very long! Enjoy

WDW Dec 24-28th Trip review very long

Welcome Home

Great TR, Love all the Details

You got quite a bit done in a short time, well done.

Very pleased to hear your experience with tiffanytowncars was good

Great Restaurant choices, love Spoodles and Yak %26amp; Yeti. Sorry your AK day was Crowded tho :(

A Dog Shirt, how cute. I%26#39;m one of those people too :)

Will look forward to your Photos

Thanks for sharing your Holiday

PS how soon before you book to go back ? !

WDW Dec 24-28th Trip review very long

Hi ya really enjoyed readin your review! It must be nice when you can get great discounts!!!!

Great report MJ! But we%26#39;re glad to have you back here in AZ. We used to do Disney and Orlando every year when we lived in FL. Took advantage of the low season FL resident rates. We always loved Epcot. It was like eating your way around the world. But from your report, it sounds like now you can drink your way there ;-)

Hope 2009 proves to be a much better year for you and your family. God Bless You.

Glad you enjoyed! Wasn%26#39;t it beautiful weather!

That sounded like fun.

Thanks for sharing.