Yoo hoo, Joe!
 >> JB> We're going back again this year, so what is everyone's opinion?  Is
 >> JB> it  better to stay at the parks, maybe just taking it slow if you
 >> JB> get tired, or better to return to the hotel during the day?
 >JR> You bring up a good point.  We do much the same as you, and have had
 >JR> many a fine home-cooked meal at OKW.  What I have found over the years
 >JR> may be what you are looking for, but will cost you a little more.
 >JR> My solution, which I have to fight for each trip, is to find an
 >JR> inexpensive rental car and drive to each park.  The key is
 >JR> "back-dooring" when possible.  Parking by the Contemporary to enter MK
 >JR> or by Y&BC to enter Epcot from the World Showcase.  Know the most
 >JR> direct roadways to and from each park helps, too.  The time savings are
 >JR> substantial.  Travel time to OKW is ~15 minutes.  By the time most
 >JR> people have waited for a bus, we are home eating.  It also frees up
 >JR> part of our party to take off early, nap or shop and still maintain a
 >JR> schedule. Several years ago, my 7 yr old and I hit just the special
 >JR> highlights in all 3 parks in less than 4 hours.  It was our second
 >JR> last day and we followed a plan taking into account park hours,
 >JR> location and parking. It is still something she remembers!!
 >JR> Hope this helps.  BTW, were you there to see the X-mas decorations go
 >JR> up?? That was the highlight of our trip.
Your solution in using a rental car for getting around WDW was one we 
overlooked!  The Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld did list travel times 
between places either by bus or car.  It didn't look like it would 
consistently save travel time so we didn't try what you do.  We are thinking 
of renting a car, for one day, through Disney.  I haven't found out how much 
it would be, but would figure a daily rate to be more expensive than weekly.  
We've had weekly rentals, but only used it to go off WDW, not between the 
parks.  Thanks for sharing your experience, Joe.
As for the Christmas decorations, we knew that something would go up at 
Thanksgiving time, but we thought it would just be a small bonus to our 
vacation.  As it turned out, it was the highlight of being there!  I never 
thought WDW went all out like it does for Christmas!  Going in Thanksgiving 
was a bit cooler weather than we wanted, so I don't know if we'll go back to 
see it again.  We like October, March and April better.
Question, when you go to OKW, do you actually request specific locations or 
take what they give you?  One disappointing experience we had was trying to 
reserve the two-story 3-bedroom Grand Villa and couldn't get one.  We called 
in January for Thanksgiving week!  How much earlier do you have to call? Oh 
well, we ended up with two separate homes that were relatively close 
together.  We ended up eating at each other's homes!
--- SLMAIL v4.5a  (#2317)
---------------