Thursday, April 03, 2008

What We'll Do Differently

As amazing as our trip was last time, there are a few things that we plan to do differently this time around.

First, one week is not enough time. You'd think it would be, but it isn't. It's just long enough to give you a taste of what's available and whet your appetite for your next trip. Up until then, we were used to visiting the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California where seven days is more than enough time to see and do everything. So, this time we're planning to stay 15 nights. This gives us a full 14 days at WDW, not counting travel days.

Second, instead of October we plan to go during December this time. Hopefully, December will be cooler and much less humid. Although I've heard people say that October is a great month to visit, we found it to be extremely uncomfortable. Begin from the Northwest, we're used to cooler weather and relatively low humidity.

Third, we won't be taking advantage of the Disney Dining Plan. It was the offer of free dining that prompted us to take our first trip. And while it was fun to be able to order freely without thinking about the cost, it was an incredible amount of food. I don't think I experienced a single hunger pang during the entire week we were there. Rather, it was all about hoping the feeling of fullness would subside enough that we would be able to partake of the next table service meal. Of course being free it was an excellent value. The only expense we incurred for food was the Fantasmic Dining Package at the Brown Derby which we paid for out of pocket as it wasn't available on the Dining Plan at the time we booked our ADR's. We prefer to graze our way through the parks, snacking on things like turkey legs, Dole Whips, churros, chocolate chip cookies and Mickey ice cream bars. Sure, we'll throw in an occasional table service meal, but mostly we'll enjoy counter service meals and snacks. Plus, we didn't like the amount of time that we spent eating at the table service restaurants. It definitely took away from the amount of time we had to explore the parks.

Lastly, we plan to rent a car this time around. On our first trip, we took advantage of Magical Express to get from the airport to our resort and relied of the Disney bus service to get to and from the parks. While it was nice to not worry about navigating through unfamiliar surroundings, it also took more time to get from point A to point B. A lot of time was spent waiting in lines for the bus to come. Also, many times the bus was standing room only. I have trouble with my knees and standing for long periods of time causes me a great deal of pain. I knew I would be spending a fair amount of time standing in line for attractons and didn't want to waste the little stamina I had waiting for a bus. Since we're visiting during the Christmas holiday, we want to be able to go from resort to resort, taking in all the different decorations. This is difficult to do using Disney transportation.

Next time I'll discuss the things we'll do the same.

Have a magical day!

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