I promise I haven’t abandoned my September trip report, but before I proceed with it, I wanted to offer a quick rundown of my mini trip to WDW last week.  I am lucky enough to make several trips to Florida a year for my job, and my most recent trip took me to central Florida. What better way to kill time than to spend my free hours checking out the parks?

I flew into Orlando on Sunday, November 11th, and departed on Saturday the 17th. In this time, I was able to visit WDW on Sunday, Thursday, and Friday. I checked out the tail end of Food and Wine, was lucky enough to catch a “dress rehearsal” of New Fantasyland (and to have lunch at Be Our Guest), and checked out the Christmas decor at 3 of the 4 parks. (Sorry, Animal Kingdom.) It was a quick trip, but I took lots of pictures, did some good pin trading, and built up some excitement for my and CP’s trip to WDW next month.

Some highlights before my photo essay:

• Falling under the category of “fool me once, etc,” I have decided once and for all that Food and Wine just isn’t for me. I was on the fence after our first F&W experience in 2010, but this visit sealed the deal. While some of the offerings are quite tasty, they are all overpriced and not worth being trampled by an angry crowd of drunks to get them.  I realize I made a stupid decision to just drop in during the last weekend of F&W (which was also Veteran’s Day weekend); by the time I walked around the World Showcase to Germany, I stopped and took some deep breaths to avoid having a crowd-induced panic attack. Oh, what I would have paid for a time machine to take me back to the moment I made the stupid decision to attend F&W on a holiday weekend!  So: if you’re interested in attending Food and Wine, a piece of advice: go early. Early in the day, early in the festival, just…early. Don’t be like me.

• On a more positive note, the new Fantasyland is – in a word – amazing.  The attention to detail in attractions, hard/softscape, and food service is classic Disney. Sure, Under the Sea is a recycled ride from California and Dumbo is just more of the same spinner ride with a spruced-up queue. But if you look beyond those things, you’ll be impressed.  Under the Sea offers a queue that is an attraction in itself. Gaston’s Tavern, ostensibly just a place to grab a quick snack, is worth a visit just to see the many thoughtful details the Imagineers have imported from the movie.  When the Seven Dwarves’ mine train is complete – and when all the temporary barricades and walls come down – new Fantasyland will be that much more of a sight to see. I was a committed cynic about this project since it was first announced, and I’m now on board. (That said, does WDW in general need far more new/updated attractions and investment in the parks beyond Fantasyland? Absolutely. But I’ll take progress where I can get it.)

• I was lucky enough to have lunch at Be Our Guest, and while the food didn’t blow me away, it was significantly better than most counter service food in the Magic Kingdom, if not all of WDW. Plus, the physical space in which you dine is just…breathtaking. Truly.  If BOG was this good in previews, I can’t wait to see how it evolves once it’s fully and officially open.  I’m a little dubious about how the transition will be from a lunch CS location to a dinner TS location (Le Cellier doesn’t handle the regular lunch/signature dinner thing well, in my opinion), but I’ll keep an open mind.  For those of you who are curious, I paid $17 for lunch, which included an entree, dessert, and soda – not cheap, but for a quick meal that was served on real china with real silverware in a beautiful dining room, I consider it money pretty well spent.

• Christmastime at WDW continues to impress me, even after seeing the parks dressed up for the holidays just last year.  The Magic Kingdom is predictably gorgeous dressed up in its holiday finest, while Epcot remains a disappointment- beyond a few poinsettia towers and Spaceship Earth overlays, there’s not much there that wows me. My vote for most underrated park at the holidays would go to Hollywood Studios – the Osborne Lights are of course a draw (didn’t see them this trip, but will again next month with CP), but the park itself takes on an understated beauty when the tinsel stars and evergreen swag come out.  At the end of my DHS visit I was stopped by a survey taker and asked to take a laptop-based survey, and I’m glad I did – all of the questions were about what attractions/entertainment at DHS needed to be updated, a sign that maybe Disney is realizing the park has gone largely stagnant.  Whatever misgivings I have about DHS’s lapse into relative obscurity, however, were no match on this trip for a peanut butter and jelly milkshake from the Tune-In Lounge. I highly recommend!

One dismaying observation that I hope was a blip and not a trend – I can’t recall a WDW visit in recent memory where I have seen as many Cast Members talking amongst themselves, complaining, and generally ignoring guests as I did last week.  Having been in their shoes (literally) I have a fair amount of sympathy for the rigors of the job and the quickness with which the Disney “look” and “act” can grow tiresome, but this reached a level where I actually felt uncomfortable at times.  While many factors – the weather, the impending holidays, a troubled zodiac – can account for this, I hope it’s not a sign of widespread unhappiness amongst the front-line CMs. It’s a tough and generally low-paying job to have, but with happy, engaged Cast Members being so crucial to a positive Disney experience, it’s something worth paying attention to.

And now some photos to gaze at while you finish your pre-Thanksgiving fast. On that note: happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I have to interject here to confess that I went a little nuts taking photos of Under the Sea. I have far too many photos to narrate individually, so in a separate post I’ll address the ride and offer up a slideshow. Or, in the meantime, you could probably find hundreds of other excellent photos on other Disney sites – I make no claim to having a “scoop.” Here’s a couple photos in the meantime, though:

Anyway! After checking out new Fantasyland, I made a quick stop at the Grand Floridian to see the Christmas decorations, and then finished up the day(light) at the Magic Kingdom:

Sometimes a quick trip is all you need to get your fix and remind yourself of why you’re glad to have Annual Passes in the first place.  Given that some people scrimp and save to afford a once-in-a-lifetime trip to WDW, I feel very privileged to have the relative luxury of popping in and out to see what’s new.  There’s a lot that I wish Disney would do to fix/improve WDW, but when you walk in the gates it’s nearly impossible not to remember why you’ve loved the place all along. CP and I are looking forward to visiting again next month for a longer Christmas trip, where we hope to see Fantasyland “officially” opened; try out the reopened Test Track, and see whether Bistro de Paris is new and improved…or not. I’ll keep you posted!