Kevin & Deb Kuhn WDW Trip

Cast of Characters: Kevin & Deb Kuhn going solo without the 2 teenage sons who thought Disney was uncool this year. When it came time to go they wanted to go but alas it's too late. :)

Trip dates: Dec 3-7, 2003

Hotel: Caribbean Beach Trinidad North

Airlines: ATA out of Indianapolis with direct flight into Orlando

The time had finally arrived to leave for this long awaited vacation. I had always wanted to see Disney at Christmas time so I convinced DH that we should go for a couples only trip. He bought it so I set everything up in June.

The flight was on time and arrived 2 minutes early into Orlando. We got our rental car from Alamo and were on our way to the Caribbean Beach. Check in at 1:00 and the room wasn't ready so we headed out to do some outlet shopping. I asked for an available upgrade to a King room. None were available so I was quite happy with what I had paid for.

We went to Belz outlet and shopped at the Disney outlets. After the purchase of 3 t-shirts for son's friends and girlfriend, we were on our way to find a grocery. I found the selection at the Disney outlet to be less than when I was there last time. I'm sure this had to do with the proximity of Christmas. We stopped at Publix and got a cooler and groceries for b-fast each morning.

Called on the way back and found our room location. We dropped off luggage and drove over to Winter Summerland Mini golf to use the tickets that Jessica had given to us. Thanks so much Jessica!!! Once again DH stomped me but I got the hole in one.

After golf, we headed to the Car Care Center to return our car. We only wanted a car for transportation to and from the airport. We enjoy Disney transportation. Alamo dropped us off at the Yacht & Beach Club for our PS for Cape may Buffet. Wow did DH enjoy himself. I HATE seafood so I enjoyed the kids buffet. We did this as a treat for DH. I knew he would love it and I was right. He was thrilled with the meal and should have gills right now. Actually we tease him that he is going to grow gills anyway as he is a scuba diver that dives quite often.

After dinner we walked around the Beach club & Boardwalk area and returned about 10 pm for an early bedtime. We had woke at 5 am to get to the airport so we were ready to get some sleep for tomorrow--MK my favorite.

Day 2

It is a beautiful day and we are at the gates ready to go for early entry at 7:50 am. we are in shorts and t-shirts and loving the wonderful weather. We had our breakfast in the room before heading out and saved ourselves a bunch of money. We find the crowds to be very low and manageable. We got fast passes only because we wanted to come back to an attraction. We enjoyed Philharmagic. It was wonderful and quite entertaining.

Lunch was at Cosmic Rays using one of our Connections vouchers. Meal report to follow but we were pleased with the Connections vouchers. They didn't save immense amounts of money but they saved us approximately $3.00 each time. We used one voucher for the two of us and split the entree, drink and dessert. In my earlier report I mentioned we had always stayed at Ft Wilderness in our own camper. By having stayed in our camper we had always eaten all of our meals at the camper. Just eating at park restaurants was a new experience for us.

We did all we wanted to do and then headed to Epcot approximately 4 p.m. to watch Illuminations. We ate at Liberty tree Inn and once again used a voucher splitting the meal and dessert. We were quite full by doing this and didn't feel cheated in any way. While eating dinner outside at a table we were able to see the 6:15 candlelight processional. Once we finished we went over to the theater and watched the entire program. Wow what a wonderful thing. Being Christians we celebrate this meaning of Christmas not the commercialized meaning so we were thrilled to see Disney doing Christmas the true way!! we hit Maelstrom and the China movie(a first for us--Dh has seen China and felt this movie sensationalized China---by this I mean it definitely didn't show the amazing pollution and poverty of the country.) We found a space to see Illuminations near the fence and were extremely disappointed to realize the speaker didn't work. We could hardly hear the music and it adds so much to the show. Once the show was over we headed out the masses to the bus and were able to get on the first one--we were standing but at least we were able to get back soon.

Highlights: Magic Kingdom dressed for Christmas and Mickey's Philharmagic, DH all to myself

Lowlights: Speaker not working at Illuminations

Day 3

Today we decided to hit MGM studios first thing. I must admit that this is probably our least favorite of the parks. If DH could move Rock n Roller Coaster to another park I don't think we would ever set foot in it again. Our first ride of the day was Rock & Roller Coaster but we grabbed fast passes before boarding for a second trip. We hit Star Tours, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Great Movie Ride, and Back Lot tours. Boy the back lot tour is pretty depressing without residential street. :( We saw Mickey our only time for the entire trip. He was in the sorcerer Mickey outfit on the main street of MGM. There was a cast member standing out front encouraging people to come see him. We walked right in and were the only ones in there. What a neat treat.

We left approx. 11;30 and headed back to Epcot. We had a 2:50 PS at Le Cellier. My husband had eaten here approx 20 years earlier and had been dying to go back. It didn't disappoint!! If you ever eat there get the chocolate mousse. It is shaped like a moose. It was adorable!!! it is found on the children's dessert menu. We took pictures of it and the table next to us sat and adored it before I could eat it. We used a Connections Kingdom Magic Lunch voucher for the meal. The voucher cost me $61.00 but the meal with tax and tip came to $79.80. We felt it was worth it.

After lunch we headed back to MGM. We decided to walk the pathway--it was a hike but a way to burn off the calories. We have never seen Fantasmic in all of our trips and decided to make this a first for us. It was superb. We can't wait to take the boys back there on our next trip. After Fantasmic we boarded a bus to Downtown Disney and did some shopping in World of Disney. I was given Disney Dollars for my birthday in July so I wanted to use them here plus get my 10% disney club discount. We left quickly because DH had developed a nasty cold and was feeling pretty poor by this time.

Highlights: Mickey at MGM, Le Cellier meal, and Fantasmic, DH & Me all alone at WDW

Lowlights: Back Lot tour with no residential street

Day 4

Weather: Cold with a high of mid 50's and and a strong wind

Today was the only day we weren't waiting at the gates when the park opened. We went to Animal Kingdom and arrived at about 9:15. We headed to the Safari and saw very few animals in comparison to our previous trips here. We were surprised with the cool weather that we didn't see more. We checked out Pangani Trail, It's Tough to be A Bug, Disnosaur, and had a shared meal once again. We used a child's Animal Kingdom voucher. We ate at Pizzafari and had a cheese pizza, chips and a child's drink. I used one of the certificates to get a bottled coke to share with the meal. We left the park soon after lunch because I had worn capri pants today and I was too cool so we went back to the hotel for me to change. We grabbed an Ice cream sandwich to share on the way out of the park with the final part of the food voucher. The animal Kingdom vouchers are a good buy expecially the child';s version. We were able to get $10.99 worth of food and snacks for $5.99. I would definitely use these again. Once again DH & I were quite full with sharing the food..

Once I was warm we returned to the MK for an evening of Wishes and Spectromagic. Wow I couldn't believe the crowd. Even the cool temps hadn't deterred the people--by now it was in the mid 40's. We fastpassed Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain and headed to Pinnochio';s Village Haus for dinner. We were able to sit by the windows and watch the Small World boats enter. That was a neat experience. DH was feeling really bad right now so we sat there for a long while and waited until the medicine started taking effect.

We then crisscrossed the park to do our mountain rides. We found several fastpasses for Space Mountain. We picked them up and decided we could use them for future rides later in the evening. As we came off Space Mountain a little girl who was behind DH was telling her Mom how much she loved the ride and she wanted to go again. Mom told her they couldn't because they didn't have another fastpass and they couldn't wait for another hour in the regular line. Out come 2 of the fastpasses we had found. The Mom & daughter were so thrilled and called us angels. It felt great to spread the magic to them. Big Thunder Mountain was wonderful to ride in the dark. Tonight was a full moon with lots of stars in the sky. It was so great to see the castle with the moon shining above while riding Thunder Mountain. We found a spot for Spectromagic 20 minutes before it was to begin in from of Pecos Bill. We were able to sit on the concrete right at the street. We had no one in front of us and no one behind us. It was a wonderful spot. DH didn't really care to see this but said we would just because I wanted to see it so much. After if was over he was quite impressed. We fought the masses and found a spot directly in front of the Partners statue to watch Wishes. Wow it was great!!!

We left the park with the masses and headed to the buses. Amazingly we were able to board the first bus and even got a seat. We left the park knowing this was our final day but not the least bit sad because we had done everything we had wanted to do.

Highlights: Pinnochios village Haus seat location, Wishes, Spectromagic, Spreading the magic to a little girl and her mother, spending wonderful time with my husband at my favorite place

Lowlights: Dh's cold, cold weather

Day 5

Today is our last day as the plane leaves for cold snowy Indiana at 7:50 p.m. DH goes to the Car Care center to pick up our car. He is less than impressed with the service--nothing is automated. Everything must be manually punched into computers. Finally he returns to Caribbean Beach and we load up our things and begin our trek of hotel hopping. We wanted to check out the decorations in the hotels. We first went to MK parking lot and parked there and boarded the Monorail to the Polynesian. This was the first time to visit here. It was very nice but DH didn't think he would ever stay there. After here we went to the Grand Floridian. Wow it's beautiful but defintely not our style. We didn't go on to the Contemporary as we don't care for it at all. We went back to the parking lot and picked up the car and headed over to wilderness Lodge. We love this hotel. It is our style!!! We have visited here many times while staying at Ft Wilderness. We ate at Roaring Forks using the last Connections voucher.

After lunch we ventured over to Fantasia Gardens for one more game of Miniature golf. We had never played here before and I loved this course. Once again DH beat me but I scored 2 holes in one. That made 3 total for this trip for me and 0 for DH.

After golfing we had more time to kill so we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Upon driving into the parking lot we both looked at each other and said "YUCK" it is not inviting as far as we were concerned. I know many people love it and you won't ever have to worry about having me as your next door neighbor. I guess that is why Disney makes so many different lodging options. Not everyone likes the same thing.

We still had more time so we headed to Downtown Disney for some final shopping. I made out quite well as DH headed out of World of Disney with a large bag. I'll be surprised on Christmas morning. :)

We then headed out to the airport. Car rental return was nice and quick. We checked in and found the flight was delayed at least 50 minutes. Upon getting to the gate we found some very unhappy people. There was a flight that was to have left at noon. The plane had problems so instead of sending a 757 as originally planned they sent a 737 and arbitrallily kicked 67 people off of the flight and made them wait 8 1/2 hours for the evening flight. Needless to say there were a lot of angry people. We were just glad to get home at 12:30 am to see our sons. They were asleep but still I had to see their sleeping faces. Is there anything more beautiful than a sleeping child even if they are teenagers? :)

Highlights: Hotel hopping even if we didn't enjoy all of the hotel styles

Lowlights: cranky fellow passengers at the airport

Some final thoughts on our recent trip to WDW.

Connections Vouchers--Can be a small cost-savings only if you plan to order a dessert with your meal. We did this always because we shared the meal and found the meal, dessert and drink filled the two of us completely.

Children at WDW--I know this has been a controversy more than once about a correct age to take children to WDW. I personally found the children well behaved-- it was the parents who were worse than the children. We heard several parents screaming at their children that they didn't care if they were tired they had spent $50.00 to be there and they were going to enjoy it. Any children we saw having meltdowns were obviously tired but parents refused to take them back for a nap. One little girl was sobbing I just want to take a nap and the Mom was screaming at her to shut up and she was going on another ride. Both Mom & the child would have had a better time if the child could have a nap.

Decorations--I was mildly disappointed in the Christmas decorations at Animal Kingdom & MGM studios. Decorations were plentiful at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Wow my personal tree looks pretty small compared to all of the Disney trees. :)

I didn't leave sad that I was coming home. While there DH & I decided on another trip for early December 2005 with our sons. We don't care if they think it's uncool they are going. It may be our last major family vacation as DS# 1 will be a senior so we plan to enjoy the family time. Actually both boys didn't want to miss the days of school this year as oldest has missed 10 days so far for 2 shoulder surgeries and a dislocated knee