I just got home from FL last night. Less than 24 hours later, I'm already planning my next trip!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization
(and your service is completed and verified) you'll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®
theme park, FREE! We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service.

Once your service is verified, receive a voucher to redeem your Disney theme park ticket.

Yeah, we've seen the commercials - featuring Ms Piggy - about the volunteer project. This year thay had an even better promotion... a free day just for having a birthday (which most of us have). Laurie and I are headed to Orlando for ours in about ten days. How was the weather? And the crowds?

>How was the weather?
Gorgeous! Temperatures were in the low to mid 80's, minus the typical summer humidity and mid-afternoon showers. Quite lovely!

> And the crowds?
I spent Thurs. at SeaWorld (first time trip there for me). Manta was a walk-on at 9:30 a.m. I took a back seat ride, then waited 1 cycle for a front seat ride. I had walk-ons for Journey to Atlantis and Kraken (6 rides on Kraken). The longest wait of the day was 3 cycles for Shamu Express. The observation tower was closed for most of the day due to "high winds" (?), but opened around 5. There was plenty of seating for the shows, with Shamu's Believe being the most crowded. I got 3 more walk-on rides on Manta just before closing. I've decided my favorite seat is in the back row on the left side. You don't get wet from the wing dip in that seat, but you do get wet from coming incredibly close to the waterfall tumbling off the rock wall after the wing dip.

Friday found me at Busch Gardens in Tampa. I started with several walk-on rides on Sheikra (5 total) and decided I liked it better than Griffon. Kumba ended up being my favorite (10 rides, all walk-ons), with the preferred seat being back right. I took walk-on single rides on everything else (skipped Rhino Rally due to the 40-minute wait). Montu was good enough for a second ride, but the slowness of the crew convinced me to head off to Gwazi. Tiger was closed, but Lion was open. Lion beat the CRAP out of me! It beat me up so badly that I just couldn't believe it, so I rode it again. Guess what ... I was right the first time. I hate to say this, but I'd ride SOB or Mean Streak any day before I'd get back on Gwazi Lion. As for Tiger ... well ... I guess I'd have to give it a try.

Both parks closed at 6 p.m. in order to get ready for their evening Halloween festivities. With the low daytime attendance, though, there was plenty of time to ride everything I wanted. OK, so maybe I could have handled another 20 rides on Kumba. Now, if only it had floorless trains. I can dream, can't I?

My brother ended up working on Saturday, so I had one more day to kill in the Orlando area. I considered Universal Studios until I discovered that tickets were in the $70+ range. I decided to see if I could cheaply fill a day at Disney World without going into the parks. Here's what I came up with:

1. Park at Downtown Disney and walk to the Disney Transportation bus stop. MAKE SURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU PARK!

2. Take a bus to the Contemporary Resort. Enjoy the view of 7 Seas Lagoon and Magic Kingdom from the upper levels.

3. Take the monorail to the Polynesian Resort. Walk in barefeet on the beach. Rest in a hammock.

4. Take the monorail to the Grand Floridian for a baby grand piano recital.

5. Take a monorail to the Magic Kingdom exit and board a small boat to Wilderness Lodge.

6. Soak feet in the pool. Enjoy the free poolside concert, complete with dancing. Splurge if you want and buy a drink. (I got a stack of free stickers with my drink!)

7. Take a bus to the Animal Kingdom. Transfer to a bus going to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

8. View caregivers feeding animals. I saw giraffes, wildebeasts, ostriches and assorted other large birds. The caregivers are very friendly and knowledgeable.

9. Take bus back to Animal Kingdom and transfer to Pop Century bus. Scope out this new “value resort” to plan for next big trip.

10. Take a bus to Epcot, then transfer to the Monorail headed for the Ticket and Transportation Center.

11. Take the Resort Monorail to the Polynesian to make a reservation for dinner at O’Hana.

12. Take monorail to Magic Kingdom, then transfer to resort boat to Wilderness Lodge. (alternate: do 2 laps on the ferry boat.)

13. Play poolside bingo at Wilderness Lodge.

14. Take resort boat back to Magic Kingdom, then transfer to resort boat to Polynesian.

15. Take a load off and spend a little money for the best meal in all of Disney World: drinks, bread, salad with citrus dressing, pork wontons with dipping sauces, lo mein noodles, BBQ chicken wings, broccoli, and skewers of fire-grilled steak, turkey, pork and the most phenomenal shrimp ever, topped off by scrumptious Bananas Foster for dessert. Pace yourself as you eat and enjoy the antics of Nicole, the ukelele-playing native, while she teaches guests Hawaiin songs, dances and games. Participate and you get a lei. The favorite seems to be the coconut race, involving pushing coconuts around the restaurant with brooms.

16. Walk along the beach in bare feet to a raised, grassy lookout hill and watch the Electric Light Pageant, followed by fireworks across the lake above the Magic Kingdom.

17. Stroll along the torch-lit Polynesian walkways to the Transportation and Ticket Center.

18. Ride the monorail to Epcot. If the crowds are still flocking out following Illuminations, take another lap on the monorail, returning to a much emptier Epcot.

19. Take the first resort bus that shows up. I ended up going to Coronado Springs.

20. Transfer one last time to a bus heading for Downtown Disney. Do a little window shopping before attempting to find your vehicle in the parking lot. (Don’t ask!) Pull out with a smile on your face.

We spend a number of days a year taking rides on the monorails and buses around. Favorites include the loop around the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian. There's also a very nice boat loop around the Boardwalk (evening is when it comes alive) and the Yacht and Beach Clubs (fantastic ice cream parlor hiding there). Animal Kingdom Lodge and Fort Wilderness are great if you love animals and getting out a bit.

BTW, you could have save a bit of time there- no reason to go to a place to make dining reservations, either in park or out. A simple call to 407-WDW-DINE will be able to get you any availabilities and reservations at all of the resort restaurants.

you any availabilities and reservations at all of the
resort restaurants.

Thanks! I need to keep that number programmed in my cell phone. The had the WDW-DINE posted in several places, but not the area code.

I've done the boat loop between Hollywood Studios and Epcot before and it's quite nice. I've also done the one at Downtown Disney.

* This Post Has Been Modified *

Your Saturday must have been great, I am jealous.
I love the monorails and also seeing all the little stuff you don't normally see at Disney. We stayed at Poly in 2000 for 11 days, and one day all we did was check out other resorts, we even went swimming in their pools. Very fun and relaxing.

It's been since Sept '06 for me, i need a Florida vacation!

I'd like to suggest that this should have been two different threads. Trip Report and Disney Free Day

Most users are are going to skip this thread because the subject is about the Disney promotion and miss your trip report.