Trip Log:

  Started off the morning heading to Everything Pop for breakfast then caught a bus over to the Animal Kingdom.  We split up and two went for Safari Fastpasses and the other two to Asia.  We met up on the Jungle Trek near the Tiger overlook and continued through the Jungle.  We then hiked over to Camp Minnie Mickey to catch the Festival of the Lion King.  After the show it was time to use our Safari Fastpasses.  Once back from the savanna we split up again some eating at Tusker house and the other in Dinoland.  We regrouped near the line board and headed for the Bus to EPCOT which had a really long wait so we instead jumped on the Pop Century bus and road there then switched to an EPCOT bus.  Once we arrived at the park we headed to the East side of the park and into Wonders of Life to see what was going on there.  The pavilion felt kind of dead.  We viewed Cranium Command then walked out and past Mission Space and Test track on our way to World Showcase.  First stop was Mexico and the boat ride then it was onto China to catch the acrobats and visit the museum.  We strolled around world showcase lagoon and hopped on a boat near Germany back to Mexico where we disembarked and went through Future World to the front of the park where we hopped on Spaceship Earth since there was no line.  We took the monorail to the TTC and then the Ferry boat over to the Magic Kingdom.  We line up near the Flag pole for the Flag Retreat then walked briskly to Tomorrowland to the Galaxy Theater, stopping to grab a quick Fastpass along the way for Buzz.  We watched Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas then cut back through Tomorrowland and the hub on our way to Frontierland via Adventureland and to Pecos Bill’s for dinner.  After dinner we took the Train around to Toontown and walked over to Tomorrowland.  We went on the People Mover (oops I mean Tomorrowland Transit Authority)  and had a real treat, the lights were on in Space Mountain.  So we went for a second spin (unfortunately the attraction was back up and running by then).  After our second trip we used our Fastpasses for Buzz and then went for Funnel Cakes at Sleepy Hollow.  After eating we hiked down Main Street to Town Square we were watched the first unit or two of Spectro Magic before bailing out of the park and walking over to the Contemporary to find a good viewing location for the Shuttle Launch.  We found a great spot out near the pool and waited, the shuttle went up on time and we had a great view.  Then we headed back into the Contemporary and hopped on the monorail to the TTC and transferred to EPCOT where we disembarked and walked out to the Pop Century bus stop to head back to the Resort to call it a day.

Thoughts & Observations:

• There seemed to be quite a bit of confusion at the bus stop this morning. The CM directing the busses did not have their act together. For example one line would grow really long and the others relatively short and at one point he had them double loading on a short line instead of sending a bus to the say the Magic Kingdom lined that stretched outside the queue. Also he had to send a bus around a again because it pulled up to the spot too early and the other bus could not get out. It just seemed a little bit confused.
  
  
  
• While visiting Animal Kingdom we saw the baby giraffe but no signs of the baby elephant. We did notice a truck parked out on the savanna near the giraffe.. we are assuming since the baby is only a couple months old and new to the savanna the truck was out to watch.. we noticed a truck out near them on every trip over our stay.
  
  
• The crowds were not too bad at the Animal Kingdom but were building as we left. Come mid afternoon the Magic Kingdom had a healthy crowd though.
  
  
  
• We caught the Festival of the Lion King today and the show is still great (even after seeing it numerous times over the past 7 or 8 years.
  
  
• EPCOT had lots of people and the thrill attraction lines were long but the rest of the park was fairly dead.
  
  
• Wonders of Life was open for the holiday crowds. The pavilion felt like a ghost town with many of the areas closed or covered and the overall impression was just dead to me. I do not even remember any background music. Body Wars, Making of Me, and Cranium Command were all open as were some of the senses stations but nothing else. Cranium Command is still one of my favorite shows.. its just entertaining, especially the pre show.
  
  
• We spent the evening over at the Magic Kingdom, which had the largest crowd of the day. Probably due to the fact that it was a Saturday and it was one of the few days the park was open late. Most of the other days the park closed early for the Very Merry Christmas Party or for Resort Guest Magic Hours.
  
  
• Speaking of the Very Merry Christmas Party... I was extremely disappointed to see how little the Magic Kingdom did for the holidays unless you went to this after hours (separately charged) event. For example the only way to see the Christmas Parade or the Christmas version of Wishes was to go to the party. Same for Snow Fall on Main Street and the castle show. I think this is just a poor state of things and I do not have a problem with after parties but what about the paying day guests... shouldn't they get to see some of these holiday offerings too? I guess I am spoiled with Disneyland's Merriest Celebration on Earth which decks the entire park out and has quite a extras from attractions, to fireworks for all to enjoy. I really hope Disneyland never goes this direction I think it would be a definite negative.
  
  
• One last rant... the Country Bears are not performing their holiday show this year.. its the same old regular show. I have always enjoyed the Bears, they are one of my favorite attractions. I was really disappointed when Disneyland lost their shows and visiting them at WDW is always a highlight of the trip. But this trip I skipped them out of protest over the lack of a Christmas show... I guess it does not matter in the grand scheme of things to Disney but to me it did... I did write a letter and actually got a phone call back from Disney on before we left. They basically said there was no show this year and they may return in the future....
  
  
• We caught the Flag Retreat on Main Street. I thought it was ok, but compared to the current retreat Disneyland has this ceremony is way behind. The Disneyland retreat is done using the band, the dapper dans and a color guard that definitely values precision. At WDW they use the Main Street Band and a color guard but there is no precision and the band plays a short medley then the National Anthem, that's it. The whole thing lasts maybe 5 minutes.
  
  
• One cutback we did notice this trip was no more cheese sauce at Pecos Bills. In the past there used to be a pot of it at the toppings bar and you could help yourself. Now its only available by request from the cashier/serving counter and I think you have to pay for it even. Seems like a small cutback but its just one more in a series of cutbacks at the parks in terms of service and options over recent years.
  
  
• We were really surprised to see a couple minute line for the People Mover (well TTA). Usually its a walk on but they somehow managed to fill the station and were letting people on the speed ramp very slowly so there would not be a jam up. One great plus the lights were on in Space Mountain so it was worth the minute wait.
  
  
• Speaking of crazy lines.. the Buzz Lightyear Fastpass return line was out the door several times this evening. It seemed as if the CM working the crossover point was not managing the line well.
  
  
• Overall I found the crowd control at the Magic Kingdom to be lacking.. whether it was the parade, the fireworks, or just a regular show letting out they really did not seem to have enough CMs out helping to direct people and many times it seemed to be a free for all. I guess I am a bit spoiled with Disneyland's controlled environment on Main Street now after dark.. with ropes, CMs, and signs moving traffic and the number of one way traffic control points they set up.
  
  
• By far the highlight of the day was the spectacular launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. We went out to the beach on Bay Lake of the Contemporary (well really the edge of the pool deck) so we had an unobstructed view of the East without many lights. It was well work it as the shuttle lit up the night sky. The pictures really do not do it justice. We were able to actually see the 5 engine lights as well as the solid rocket separation. I can only image what it was like down on the coast, it must be incredible.
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

* Note: The second pedometer was worn by someone else in our group, not sure why his numbers are so dramatically different than mine, we walked nearly the same places, or at least within 5-10% I would estimate but the numbers were double to triple for mine for some reason..

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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