http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/
We arrived on Friday evening and decided to camp at Disney’s Fort Wilderness RV park. The daily price is much more than other RV parks, but you are located right on Disney World with free access to their fantastic transportation system (busses, monorails, and various boats); and you get free parking everywhere should you decide to drive. It was immediately obvious to us that many RV’ers make it a yearly point to be at Disney World during Xmas. The holiday light displays and inflatable characters (Mickey, Goofy, Pooh, etc) that some of the RV’ers put up make you wonder where they store all this stuff? In addition many people have golf carts (or rent them from Disney) and go to great lengths to decorate them in the holiday spirit.



Saturday night, 05DEC, we headed to Downtown Disney. In Dan’s opinion everything at the Disney property is geared to insure that you do not leave their property and spend the most money possible while there. The “Downtown” area is a prime example of this; the Disney people realized that many people were going elsewhere at night for entertainment and they created Downtown Disney to try and keep you on the Disney property. Even allowing street performers; and non-Disney companies on the property, like the AMC movie chain, House of Blues, Planet Hollywood, Hasbro & Lego toys, and even McDonalds! Another example of their attempt to surround you with all things Disney, is the cable system in the Disney hotels and the RV park. Half the channels are 100% Disney content; 25% of the other channels are devoted to ABC & ESPN, both owned by Disney; and the few (and we mean - few) remaining channels get you the usual CBS, NBC, PBS, Hispanic and religious stations. And should you not want to leave the RV park at night, they have nightly marshmallow roasts with Chip & Dale (marshmallow sticks - $.75, and marshmallows - $4.00 a bag).
We arrived on Friday evening and decided to camp at Disney’s Fort Wilderness RV park. The daily price is much more than other RV parks, but you are located right on Disney World with free access to their fantastic transportation system (busses, monorails, and various boats); and you get free parking everywhere should you decide to drive. It was immediately obvious to us that many RV’ers make it a yearly point to be at Disney World during Xmas. The holiday light displays and inflatable characters (Mickey, Goofy, Pooh, etc) that some of the RV’ers put up make you wonder where they store all this stuff? In addition many people have golf carts (or rent them from Disney) and go to great lengths to decorate them in the holiday spirit.
Sunday morning we caught the boat from the RV park to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately ABC (remember they are a Disney company) was filming portions of “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade” in preparation for showing Xmas week. So all of Main Street was blocked off, and other portions of the Park would be closed off-and-on to facilitate filming. We did manage to overcome the road blocks and enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion (one of our favorites), Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (very funny), Mickey’s 3D PhilharMagic (very good), Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, etc. Corrie refused to ride "It’s a Small World", because she was afraid the song would get stuck permanently in her brain. After lunch Corrie headed back to the RV, leaving Dan to tour The Hall of Presidents and ride the few coasters by himself.
One big change we noticed from our previous Disney visits, is an explosion of strollers (also for rent from Disney) & kids not walking. Unfortunately these strollers are not just used for toddlers or infants; but in some cases, kids up to 8, 9 & 10 who should be walking. It appears to Dan’s unscientific survey that Grumpy the Dwarf is the most popular Disney character for T-shirts? We are not sure if this is a result of the current economic downturn; but his face clearly was more visible over Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pooh, Donald, etc. Also, even though the movie hadn't even opened yet, there was a steamboat on the lake that had all the new characters from "The Princess and the Frog" performing the new songs from the movie; and naturally you could buy brand new related merchandise in the Disney shops!


After dinner we headed to Epcot to view “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth”. While we waited for the show, Dan rode the rides Mission Space, GM Test Track, and Spaceship Earth. Finally it was time for the big event “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth”. This was a fantastic light, laser, firework & dancing fountain show at night set to musical score. Definitely not to be missed if you ever have an opportunity to see it.
The next day, Tuesday, 08DEC, we did not go to any of the four Disney theme parks and just rested up because that night we were going back to Magic Kingdom for “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade” and special fireworks show. This is a special parade and fireworks for the holidays, during select nights in November and December. You have to have special tickets (ie more money) and everyone else is kicked out of the park at 7PM. Even though special tickets were needed, the park was still wall-to-wall people and strollers.
As part of your special admittance you can get special “holiday treats” throughout the park (can you say sugar cookies and cocoa?). And there are special stage shows throughout the park, we caught “A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas Story” with Buzz Lightyear & Mike W. Standing in the back of a sea of people we did catch glimpses of “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade”, followed by “Holiday Wishes – Celebrate the Spirit of the Season” fireworks spectacular. Both events were very beautiful, but the crush of people and strollers was more than we could endure and we wouldn’t recommend spending the money to attend. Especially because Disney has their “standard” Mickey parade and nightly fireworks as part of the normal daily admission.
2 comments:
I hope you bought Corrie that princess hat. :)
i was going to, but she wanted the princess's tiara! - dan & corrie
Post a Comment