Familia Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Ok, you were all so helpful and got us really excited! We go one afternoon/evening to Magic Kingdom. I have my our Fast Passes loaded for Magic Kingdom, complete with reminders for street entertainment we hope to cross paths with - Dapper Dans, Flag Retreat, Happily Ever After, to name a few. (fast pass = Peter Pan's Flight, Mickey's PhilharMagic, and Jungle Cruise...may also do Small World, Hall of Presidents, Pooh, People Mover, Speedway, Tom Sawyer's Island, etc, etc ) But, I have questions about the out of the park items I am thinking about. DH will be busy in a conference sometimes, but when he is free, we want to just run and experience something. So, these are a few of the things I am considering: (I know there are tons more, but these really appeal) Surrey Bike Rental If you have done this, where and did you enjoy it? Chip 'N' Dale's Campfire Sing-Along I think this sounds like a really cute, completely different for us thing to do, but is it too much of a pain to get all the way to the back of Fort Wilderness for this? A boat rental, just something simple like kayaks. Is this easy to come by and not a time sink? Port Orleans French Quarter Resort A few of you mentioned it was free to travel to by boat ferry. Tell me about the boat ferry at Disney Springs? Because I am lost about how this works, can we walk to ferry from our hotel (Hilton Lake Buena Vista), then take the ferry? A general question about transportation (see above)...so, again, can we just walk to the Disney Springs area and then just hop on a ferry? We will have a car. I am making no headway figuring out how we will explore and do not want to waste time there figuring it out - your help is golden! What are the gondolas? One MK question: 9pm is the time stated for Happily Every After fireworks. How early should we plant ourselves in front of the castle? Any fav vantage points? (and, sadly, it seems that by going next week, we will just miss the Christmas decorations by a few days!) Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) Christmas decorations are all ready up at magic kingdom. I think Epcot got done yesterday. Animal Kingdom and Hollywood are the only two parks that last I heard were not up yet. The Ferry is free to use. Those surrey bikes take work. It was a once time we did it thing for us. The biggest problem to me was no one moves out of your way and they walk right into you. Chip and Dale Campfire is cute. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. You would have to catch an internal bus to it or really walk to it once you get into Fort Wilderness. If you do it, check out the hay rides in the fort. Those were nice and not too bad expensive. Do the Festival of Trees at Disney Springs. These are excellent pieces of art and it is free. Santa is there in one part and there is usually a dance party in the evening. Edited November 8, 2019 by itsheresomewhere 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) The campfire is very cute, but I agree about not going out of your way. We went twice when we stayed at the cabins at Ft Wilderness, but we were swimming which is next to it, then went over and used a snack from our meal plan to get the s’mores stuff, then sang, then golf carted home. Very nice perk, but not worth the trip unless your trip is super long. ETA: You don’t have to bus to get there... It’s very close to the boat ramp. So that would be another option. One night we viewed the fireworks from the boat, and it’s a great view so that might be an option too. Edited November 8, 2019 by Farrar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Familia Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 11 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said: Christmas decorations are all ready up at magic kingdom. I think Epcot got done yesterday. Animal Kingdom and Hollywood... Do the Festival of Trees at Disney Springs. These are excellent pieces of art and it is free. Santa is there in one part and there is usually a dance party in the evening. I think I had seen on an old TA forum that the resort (FQ) didn't decorate until 15th of Nov, but I'll head to that resort even it it isn't. So glad to hear MK is decorated!! And, yeah, sounds like a pain to navigate the people on the bikes. 7 minutes ago, Farrar said: The campfire is very cute, but I agree about not going out of your way. We went twice when we stayed at the cabins at Ft Wilderness, but we were swimming which is next to it, then went over and used a snack from our meal plan to get the s’mores stuff, then sang, then golf carted home. Very nice perk, but not worth the trip unless your trip is super long. ETA: You don’t have to bus to get there... It’s very close to the boat ramp. So that would be another option. One night we viewed the fireworks from the boat, and it’s a great view so that might be an option too. Our trip is short and afternoon/evening time to explore with DH will be last minute each time, so maybe not bother to go all the way there. When you said you watched from 'the boat', did you rent one? Was that at Fort Wilderness? Or, a boat at Disney Springs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Familia said: I think I had seen on an old TA forum that the resort (FQ) didn't decorate until 15th of Nov, but I'll head to that resort even it it isn't. So glad to hear MK is decorated!! And, yeah, sounds like a pain to navigate the people on the bikes. Our trip is short and afternoon/evening time to explore with DH will be last minute each time, so maybe not bother to go all the way there. When you said you watched from 'the boat', did you rent one? Was that at Fort Wilderness? Or, a boat at Disney Springs? Each resort goes through a lottery Ike system to figure out the order in which they decorate. It changes yearly. We usually are there the week you are going. Normally, the parks are decorated and we wake up to a hotel that become a wonderland over night. The gingerbreads are going up in some resorts. Those are neat. The Grand Floridian one is beautiful. The boat to the fort can be taken from the magic kingdom area. If you come from disney springs area, you will want to take a bus to either magic kingdom or one of the resorts in the magic kingdom area to catch the boat. It is another way to travel around instead of a bus. Not a personal use one. You can rent boats during the day only for personal use. Edited November 8, 2019 by itsheresomewhere 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) The campfire is still a bit of a walk from the boat docks but not as bad. It is near the main store ( Meadows Trading Post). Edited November 8, 2019 by itsheresomewhere 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Familia Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, itsheresomewhere said: Each resort goes through a lottery Ike system to figure out the order in which they decorate. It changes yearly. We usually are there the week you are going. Normally, the parks are decorated and we wake up to a hotel that become a wonderland over night. The gingerbreads are going up in some resorts. Those are neat. The Grand Floridian one is beautiful. The boat to the fort can be taken from the magic kingdom area. If you come from disney springs area, you will want to take a bus to either magic kingdom or one of the resorts in the magic kingdom area to catch the boat. It is another way to travel around instead of a bus. Not a personal use one. You can rent boats during the day only for personal use. That is fascinating about the decorations being on a lottery - what an amazing amount of work that is for them. We are thinking of driving to/from Cocoa Beach for lunch the last day since we fly out at dinner time and have nothing else to do all day. If the weather is drizzly (as is predicted), maybe we will spend time at the Grand Floridian instead. Also, I am exploring the Disney website more thoroughly. I've been relying on the app, and the app doesn't have wish list or nearly as much info as the website. So, I am reading about transportation. Lots of maps, times, etc. Edited November 8, 2019 by Familia added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 One thing we really enjoy is going around to different resorts, even when they aren't decorated for the holidays (although that is extra-awesome). You can get to Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian via the monorail. If you go to Disney Springs, we find that Wolfgang Puck Express has really good and different food for a very reasonable price. There's also a Ghirardelli's there, so save some room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 You may be aware of this, but you can change your Fastpasses on the app on your cell phone. We did this a lot when we were there. Sometimes we would have a 3:00 FP and walk by the attraction at 2:15 and see that there was no wait, so we would walk in. Then we could switch the FP to a different attraction. Have fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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