WDW Trip Report, December 2-5, 2023

[horizons1]

WDW Trip Report (December 2-5, 2023)

My wife and I were able to join a friend in Orlando for 3 nights. She had a timeshare so we knew we would be staying off property. But the upside is she's a veteran so we were able to get 4-day Military Salute park hoppers, saving us close to $300 on the equivalent "civilian" price.

We opted for a car, despite having to pay $30 a day for parking, because the rental was cheap enough that we would break even with Ubers and not have to deal with that hassle. Plus on our return travel day we could leave our bags in the car and have a little more time for magic before heading to the airport.

Crowd-wise, this turned out to be a busy weekend. I had heard that the previous weekend (the weekend immediately following Thanksgiving) was dead. Maybe the hotel rates were cheaper for this first weekend of December and everyone decided to show up then.

Saturday 12/2
We landed at MCO around 4. Picked up our car and met our friend around 5 at the Sheraton Vistana Resort. Like a lot of the hotels in the Disney area, this resort was probably built in the 80's and it shows. But the room was clean and comfortable and the resort is right on the other side of the highway from Disney Springs, so super-convenient.

MK was open until 11p so we headed there, arriving at the parking gate at 5:57pm (according to my receipt). Express Monorail from TTC. After activating the military tickets we were good to go. I had already added them to the My Disney Experience app.

The park was decked out in its Christmas spendor and looked great. As it was still busy and we had time before the 8pm fireworks, we headed to CoP. Weird seeing that show in a theater that was probably 2/3 full. I prefer being the only one in there! After that we rode Peoplemover, snacked on a Mickey pretzel and then headed over to Little Mermaid. 5 min wait on that and came out just as the fireworks began. We watched them from in front of Gaston's and that's a good spot as you're surrounded by fireworks. You have clear line of sight to the castle ones and the big aerial display is right behind you. Nice.

After the show we were getting hungry and headed over to Columbia Harbor House. We stopped and rode iasw first, about a 10min wait which got worse after us during the post-firework rush.

I like eating at Harbor House even though I'm not a fish guy because the decor is so cozy. Upstairs there are dining rooms with carpet which muffle all the noise and it makes for a quiet respite.

We finished dinner around 930p and headed over to Big Thunder. Posted wait time was 35min but it took a bit longer than that, almost 50. That gave us just enough time to do Pirates (walk-on) and end the night with Haunted Mansion. Since when does HM have a line at night? I'm used to it being a walk-on but it was probably a 20min queue before we got to the stretching room. We skipped Jingle Cruise, another ride that is usually dead at night, except at Christmas when it's slammed.

That's it for day one. Not bad for only a few hours in the park.


Sunday 12/3
Today we opted for Genie+ and I woke up in time to grab a virtual queue slot for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind 'GotGCR' I guess!) Group 16, with an estimated boarding time of 10:15am. Since I bought Genie+ we were able to grab a 12:20pm slot for Remy at 7am too.

We arrived at Epcot parking at 9:46a and grabbed a Soarin' LL. We found that our GotGCR group had already been called and our window had closed. However, the cast member at GotGCR didn't seem to mind and said it wasn't a problem. I read later that the cast members are lax on the arrival times for GotG but strict on Tron. More on that later. The queue started just inside the doors of the former Energy pavilion and snaked up and around for about a 30min wait. But what a great ride! Delightful. Fantastic audio system and the ride itself is so smooth! A really great experience.

After GotGCR we road Soarin' (over California) and that was a treat seeing the old show. Then we headed back toward Remy but first stopped by the Canada pavilion to check construction. You see, I had finally been able to secure reservations for dinner at Le Cellier for that evening and I had heard that they were expanding the restaurant. I wanted to be sure the dining experience would not be negatively impacted by the work. Well, it's all good as they are working on the outside. So apart from construction walls at the entrance the rest of it is intact.

We rode Remy and I have to say, "meh!" Too much reliance on giant screens. The ride is cute, but if not for my G+ LL it would have not been worth the wait. The standby queue was ~85min. Poor parents in that line!

We had a snack afterward of a Crepe and then I suggested going to see Impressions de France. Surprised to find the theater was showing a Beauty & The Beast Singalong. Cute and fun surprise.

The plan was to head over to the Studios at 2pm when we were allowed to park hop, so we had a little time to kill and took a leisurely stroll through Morocco. Then it was off to Skyliner for a ride to the Studios by way of Riviera and Caribbean Beach Resorts. First time on Skyliner as well. Nice, smooth ride but the hard wooden seats aren't comfy.

Studios looked great in its holiday splendor. Very festive and I think this is my first time back since they removed the hat eyesore.

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is better than Remy. Given that it's the same trackless ride system I think it's fair to draw a comparison. I do think Disney is getting too reliant on projection mapping. Both of these rides depend upon it, and so does Guardians and some other new stuff. It's cool, but I wonder if it will age well.

We swung by Muppet*Vision and I love all the improvements. The new set material, while not the plush velvet of the old seats, is nice and should hold up well. Plus I think they switched to digital projection. The film was so SHARP it seemed brand new.

We had a late lunch (3:30pm) at the ABC Commissary and lucked out because the only time it poured rain was while we were cozy inside eating (and watching people scramble). One thing we did on this trip to reduce cost is order a kid's meal where one of us only wanted something light. And the KM at Commissary is a generous portion. Our friend ordered the Chicken Arugula-Farro Salad and it looked almost adult-sized.

After lunch we used a Genie+ LL for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. It was our friend's first time on it so we were a bit annoyed when the cast member tried to usher us through the preshow. We wanted to stand and watch it but got shouted at to keep moving. We didn't, and were content to let people pass us. But still, a sign that Disney is no longer committed to the Aerosmith theme.

We got out of RnRC just in time to catch the 5pm showing of the Beauty & The Beast stage show. It rained while we were under that canopy too, so our weather luck was holding out. The musical is the same as it's always been and you could tell the cast knew it by heart. Good show though.

After the show we caught a Friendship boat and took that to Swan & Dolphin, then walked over the bridge to the Boardwalk. We wanted to enjoy a cocktail before heading to Canada for dinner and I'd heard good things about the Belle Vue Lounge. It's a nice spot for a drink. Cozy and quiet. Small but with lots of seats (it wasn't crowded). I know some have bemoaned the generic furnishings that replaced the old school Boardwalk decor, but it was still a winner and a place I'd recommend.

Since we had about 45min before dinner, I checked the wait time for Spaceship Earth and it was only 10min (typical evening). But, unfortunately, our weather luck ran out and it started raining while on our way from the International Gateway. Not wanting to arrive at Le Cellier soaking wet, we detoured to Imagination. Boy that ride needs to be redone. Please, please, I won't miss it.

Our reservation for Le Cellier was for 7:45pm. Actually, I had thought I changed it to 8p but it didn't take. Lesson there, pay close attention to reminders. Anyway, we got to the desk at 7:35pm or so and they said they were running about 30min behind. So I said we'd go see Canada Far and Wide. They said "you could probably see it a couple times before we'll call you." So we had a nice chat with the Canadian cast members in that attraction and then watched the film. Not as good as O'Canada. This one is much more of a travelogue and rather dry, despite narration from Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. They texted me that my table was ready while inside the show, but given what they told me, I wasn't worried. However, when we got back to the desk they had already given our table away. We had to wait about 10min while they set another up for us.

As I said before, I'd never eaten at Le Cellier but always wanted to. It was fantastic. My friend and I split the HUGE Rib-Eye. The service from Candice was attentive and friendly. We were sure to complement her directly, in the app and to her manager. This was also celebrating our friend's birthday and she married a Canadian and have a home on Prince Edward Island (PEI). Le Cellier divides its dining room into provinces and we, randomly, were seated in PEI. She was delighted. The staff also said that they don't get a lot of Canadians, which makes sense since they probably want to eat non-Canadian food. There was a lot of talk about where everyone lives, neighborhood descriptions, etc.

We were out of dinner after the fireworks. The last night of Epcot Forever would be tomorrow, Monday, but we didn't have a huge desire to see that, especially after the great show the night before at MK. We took a leisurly stroll around the showcase lagoon before heading out to our car and calling it a night.


Monday 12/4
Got up early to try for a virtual queue for Tron. Didn't get one, which turned out to be a blessing. More on that in a sec. We opted not to buy G+ but bought LL+ for Tron at 10:20am and 6:40pm for Rise. I had mixed feelings about spending money for LL+. On one hand, I hate giving the Mouse more money and paying for something which is/should be "free". On the other, it reduced my anxiety.

We entered MK parking at 8:57am. Ferry boat from TTC. We were able to ride both Buzz and SM before our 10:20am Tron res. I am SOOO glad I didn't get the virtual queue - it was insane. The line stretched out and down the ramp a bit and switched back and forth quite a bit. I I had to guess, I'd say it was easily 2+ hours. Instead, with the paid LL+, we walked right into the building and the only queue was after the lockers and on the ramp leading down to the trains.

I had ridden Tron in Shanghai when that park had only been open for 4 months. I was blown away by it. The one in Orlando is very similar, but some of the special effect projections didn't appear to be working. This made it feel like a glorified RnRR. My wife loved it and I was so glad she got to experience it. But I have to say, it's a seven year old ride despite being new to MK and, compared with the technical extravaganza that is Cosmic Rewind, it shows.

After Tron, we had lunch at Cosmic Ray's. My poor toppings bar is a shadow of its former self. Read my old trip reports to see what it used to be like. It's now just a place to store salt and ketchup. I am sure COVID was an excuse but, let's face it, they've been cost-cutting for years on fancy toppings.

Part of our rationale for not buying G+ today, aside from helping justify the cost of the paid LL+'s, was that the stuff we had left to do at MK was all easy. Hall of Presidents, a ride on the Liberty Square Riverboat and a stop at Mickey's Philharmagic rounded out everything we wanted to do. We didn't bother with Jingle Cruise - the line was always too long.

As part of our slightly more relaxed pace second full day, we took an afternoon break and headed over to Disney Springs. The security there is stupid: They route all pedestrians from the parking garage up and through a screening area, effectively blocking a full parking lane with barriers and making people walk way out of their way to simply get into the mall. Very consumer unfriendly. Anyway, we had a beer at Ragland Road, walked around and did some light shopping.

We spent the evening at the Studios, riding RnR again in the single rider line. The queue for Slinky Dog Dash was crazy the entire weekend but did get down to 45min while waiting for RnR but the surge of Jollywood guests brought the wait time back up to 85min. So that's one new ride I never got to experience. We just simply weren't willing to wait that long for a family coaster, no matter how cool. Our 6:40pm Rise was ok, not great. They must've had some technical issues prior to our boarding as they were a bit backed up during the actual ride. More than once the show paused and it took us out of our suspension of disbelief. Kind of disappointing.

After Studios, we headed over for dinner at Coronado Springs. We had drinks up in the rooftop Dahlia Lounge where we had a great view of Epcot and the Studios. A good place to see those fireworks but note that you cannot see MK from the side of the tower where the lounge is. Toledo (the restaurant also on the top floor) is closed Mondays and Tuesdays so we couldn't check that out. Instead we headed out to Three Bridges, the bar/restaurant located where the three bridges in the little lagoon converge. The dining area is open to the elements but covered, so it wasn't too chilly at night.

Tuesday 12/5
We were headed home this day so we didn't bother with 7am silliness. We decided to make our last day an Epcot cleanup day, hitting some remaining attractions before we had to head to the airport. We arrived at the Epcot parking lot at 10:28am and headed straight for Spaceship Earth. After that, Test Track single rider, then Gran Fiesta Tour and some snacks at the food stalls. The last attraction was The American Adventure, then another quick snack (nachos in Mexico) before heading to the airport.

All in all, it was a solid use of the 4-day park hopper. But here are a few of my peeves:
- 2pm park hopping is a real inconveniece. So glad that's going away in January.
- Virtual queue or paid LL as the only options for some rides guarantees a stressful start to each day.
- Metal detectors are sensitive to umbrellas. If you have one, hold it out and FAR away from your body as you go through the cameras.

[Amy]

sounds like a nice little trip ~ I'm still not sure I understand the whole genie+ and LL, but I figure until I'm actually going to be going, I don't need to figure it all out.
That's too bad about Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and the pre-show. The CMs were shoving people through on our last few trips as well. It's fine and dandy and keeps the line moving, but if people want the whole experience, they shouldn't be made to feel bad for wanting to see the pre-show.
Pretty nifty about where you were seated in Canada. I'm sure the CMs love seeing people from where they are from. Canada isn't far away from me, living in Michigan, well, some parts are , but I'm sure it feels a world away to those younger CMs
Thanks for sharing your trip report!

[horizons1]

Yeah, the G+ and LL planning is next-level annoying. I will say the most surprising part of the whole trip was how busy it seemed for the first weekend in Dec.

[Amy]

They've made it far more confusing than it needs to be ~ and all at the expense of the guests
Yeah, that is normally a super time to go, in between the Thanksgiving crowds and the Christmas crowds. We always went the first week or two of December!