Thanksgiving Week Trip Report
Howdy, everybody! I have a few quick notes from our trip last week.
We had a couple extra days following a conference, so my wife and I treated our 4-year old daughter to the World. Just a quick 3-nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort, with a day at HS and a day at MK.
1. Generally, the crowd levels were elevated, but manageable. A plan was definitely necessary, and it worked out great. On Tuesday, the wait for Toy Story Mania was up to 170 minutes by lunchtime. Fast passes were gone by 1ish.
2. The Caribbean Beach Resort is a terrific place for young families - there is a lot of great recreation, and the newly renovated pool was a real hit with our daredevil daughter (who loved the water slides almost as much as she loved riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 3 times on Wednesday!). You might want to consider using your rental car to/from the parks if you stay there, though, since there are many bus stops in the resort which can add to the round-trip bus time.
3. Fort Wilderness is also a great break place, if you don't have a resort to go "home" to on property. At lunchtime on Wednesday, we took the launch over to Ft. Wilderness, had lunch at a very unbusy Trails End (Fried Chicken and Mac & Cheeese are back on the lunch menu), and then relaxed on the beach for an hour or so before heading back to MK.
4. Cast Member of the Trip - Alicia at the JUNGLE CRUISE! She was terrific and actually had me laughing at all the old jokes I know by heart. It's really a pleasure when someone has just the right quick and dry delivery to pull those corny jokes off. I was really, really impressed!
5. The new electronic ordering system at Pecos Bills works pretty well. It seems like they added expeditors behind the counter, so service time is ok. Item of note: The Taco Salads are now served as a taco salad shell with the chosen meat, and you make the rest of your salad at the toppings bar. They added big bowls of shredded cheese and lettuce to the toppings stations.
6. Lou is right - there's a great view of the Castle from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse at night. It's particularly nice when the Castle is lit up so nicely for the holidays.
Overall, it was a great trip. We were a little worried about the crowds on Thanksgiving Week, but it was not a problem for us thanks to the right planning.
Have fun at Mousefest, if you're going!
John
