Thanks for all the feedback, y'all.

I mostly wanted to get my concerns down so I can have something to laugh at this time next week.

We know we can't do everything, so I -think- it'll be easy to just relax. And not tally the litany of things not happening.

Also, 30% off I thought was only on the standard rooms, we did price the others out and just didn't pull the trigger. I am sure I was just misremembering the Magic Your Way ad fineprint.

Also, we have watched about 40 disney movies in prep for the trip... That has been a blast, filling in gaps from our childhoods, and reliving some favorites.

One of my fears has already come true.. we changed our flights to early friday morning, so we can enjoy all day Thursday in the parks.

And a cheap hotel by the airport. It didn't cost $400, so Fiscal Responsibility Doug is OK with the change. And I *love* that we have gained a bunch of time to goof off.

(The Poly won't mind holding our bags until late, right? Then we'll just take a cab to the airport Hyatt.)

We're back. I'm still writing up a report. But I give WDW a thumbs up as a travel destination. We had a great time and are only mildly sleep starved 48 hours later.

Overall Thoughts and Impressions

Some brief notes

• We got our room request. Down to the letter. I owe mrhub a beer sometime for the tips on all of that. That was kinda awesome.
• Epcot needs more photopass photographers. We never saw one in Japan, or China, or any non character meet World Showcase other than France. Granted, France got us a great photo, but I really would have loved Japan.
• Every style of parenting is on public display at Disney, and none of them will make a tired and cranky 8 year old appropriate for a signature dining experience. Not for you and definitely not for the tables surrounding you.
• Speaking of parenting, if you make it all the way on to the ride before the kid starts freaking out, you either embrace your own failure, or make the kid go through it anyway. It'll build character. (I don't have kids, so parenting advice is only tongue in cheek.)
• HS was closed early the one day we could have made it to Fantasmic. Stupid private parties/corporate events.
• Getting there the last day of Flower and Garden was nice enough, but getting out before that 24 hour madness was pure luck.
• Man it's hard to get around Magic Kingdom between 8 and 10 pm.
• We didn't go to Downtown Disney at all. Probably good for keeping pretty much in our budget. We both bought one big souvenir. Mine was utilitarian though. I had to buy a suitcase for all the little souvenirs. Sure it's over priced and has a giant mickey on it, but I could actually use another weekend sized rolling suitcase, even if it was expensive.
• Michelle's love of Maleficent should probably scare me more than it does. Her favorite souvenir
• Long ago I came up with one of the things I love in games is "discoverable complexity", where there is enjoyment at the surface and when you dig a little deeper there's more strategy, more beauty, and when you dig again there's always another layer. I think Disney scratches that same itch. We spent more than half of our day in each park just looking around at themeing and marvelling at the artistry and logistics of Disney.
• Hollywood Studios needs more Muppets! And Pixar Place needs just one other thing, I'm not sure what, but something else to do while the Midway Mania queue grows longer and longer and the fast passes run out would be good for the park.
• Animal Kingdom is way underrated. What a beautiful park.
• Getting chosen as Sulley for the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor retelling of Monsters Inc. was just the coolest thing ever. Even if I blew one of my queues.
• I wish we'd had more time to appreciate The Polynesian. It was great, but I felt like we left the most stones unturned right where we were sleeping every night.
• I think the Dining Plan is too complicated. The amount of time servers have to spend explaining options to a wide variety of guests seems kludgy at best. Putting the suggested tip amounts is genius. I never have a problem, but I'm a math nerd. I can see it only helping almost everyone I ever attend dinners with.
• I really wanna go back, for longer. One day riding and exploring in each park. Then one lugging around my real camera. Which I only took to Animal Kingdom this trip, just because I didn't wanna lug around a big backpack.

Favorite Photopass pics

Hotel Faves

Day 1 Faves (Epcot)

Day 2 Faves (HS)

Day 3 Faves (AK)

Day 4 Faves (MK)

I have a crapton more pics on my flickr account

And I've written up a fuller report for each day, but it's half outline, half prose. And wordy as hell. I'll edit later this week, and maybe post it... it seems super self-indulgent though.

Notes I forgot..

Narcoossee's was 10x the experience of Le Cellier. The food was as good or better. The atmosphere was FAR superior, and we didn't have the whiny child next to us problem. And we saw Wishes for the 3rd time in 4 nights from their deck (though for some reason there wasn't any sound).

Ohana was the best 1 credit meal, by a mile. Yum.

My wife tried to scare Aurora with Maleficent.

My favorite souvenir (not the overpriced suitcase)

A few nights before

5/19/2013

Travel Day and Epcot.

Our ride's truck wouldn't start. Was just a battery problem, and it's my in-laws, who are staying at our place while we're gone, so it was easy to just grab my car and go. However, I fear it is an omen of a difficult and painful day.

We make it to the airport, check our bags, and get to the gate with no additional mishaps. The flight from SDF (Louisville's airport is named "Standiford Field", because who needs to know what you're talking about) to Memphis was quick and painless

Memphis to Orlando was packed. But it loaded quickly, and was silent, peaceful, and there was plenty of room for bags. For a 9AM flight it was as smooth as I've ever seen. Michelle spots Mountain Dew in one of the airport food cubbies, and we buy 5 of them for the trip. Her biggest worry was her preferred method of caffeine intake would be unavailable..and she's mightly particular about that. We make our way to the Magical Express checkin with our carryons and a big ole plastic bag of 20oz soft drinks. We're on our way to The Polynesian within 30 minutes of touchdown. It's been smooth sailing since we hit the road a few hours prior.

We are exhausted when we arrive. After getting checked in, we try and get our photopass plus thing activated, but no one's at the desk until 5pm. It's now around noon. So we decide to just grab a bite at Kona, and nap. Instead of trying to make it half a day at Epcot. The nap seems way more important.

The food was great. We were hungry and it would not have complained as long as it was edible, but it really was delicious. I get a Lapu Lapu and Michelle gets her first "magical star" cocktail. I'm really surprised she only brought home two of those things. She was immediately in love... Sparklies are one of her weaknesses.

We wake up at 5:30ish, and go get the photopass activated there in the Polynesian, then head off to Epcot. Mostly shopping and admiring the the last day of Flower and Garden topiaries. Eventually we catch the boat across to Morocco. We get a couple of slushie booze drinks and get some photos taken in France.

We make our way to Le Cellier a little early and let 'em know we were there. In what becomes a theme, we're seated next to a family of 4, with a young boy who is likely never up at 9 pm-ish. And probably NEVER has a day as draining as Disney. He was loud, obnoxious, and whiny. The steak was good, the appetizers were tasty. The bread service was superb. The meal was really good, though I honestly didn't think much of the highly praised cheesecake dessert. There's a bit of purist in me.

It would have been nicer to have had more time in Epcot, but we'd done a charity walk thing the day before, and travelled that day, we were just beat.

Poly Pics!

The Polynesian entrance

Can't do the full moon justice.. but it was way prettier than that.

iPhone Panarama.

Toys!

Towel Swan

Oh yeah, we Luau'd

Epcot Pics

This thingie is pretty photogenic. Good lighting

There's a guy behind Lumiere, who ruined most of the other shots

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!

What's that moose about, eh?

Oh, Canada!