Disney-Orlando has a military specialthru December; military have free admission for 5 days of parks w/ family members paying $99/ person for 5 days of parks admissions.  (Does not have to be used all in the same week either). Shades of Green resort hotel for military is convenient and affordable enough. It was booked but Gaylord hotels (which I love --think Grand Old Opry hotel) also gave us a great rate special (better than S of G. ) Gaylord also has the free shuttle buses into Disney parks too and they consistently run on time. We did the 4 Disney parks plus its Typhoon Lagoon to hit a water park on the hottest day we had. Now my feet need a vacation. Obviously, Disney is something you do once in a blue moon for a vacation...I could have gladly picked some other location, but this was something Paul had wanted to do with the boys before Anthony graduated. All the other years, Anthony had school baseball over springbreaks, and this was the 1st year we had a whole week available at this time of year.

We had a great time booking a last minute vacation down there over Spring Break. Emmitt hasn't been to Disney since he was 4 and not old enough to remember it. Anthony was eager to take Emmitt too, so we enjoyed it. The parks were packed out to the point that they closed down admissions, but we were always there early enough.  With the 2 boys being older, the crowds didn't bother us so much. Can I whine that I didn't get NOT ONE pic of the boys with a character bc they would not wait in line to do that? (okay, so some things they can be a big kid about but not that.) We pretty much rode what we wanted and despite some rides having 2+hr waits, we refused, would time our fast-passes, and return later...there was only 1 ride the boys didn't bother to do that they would have liked bc Anthony refused to wait in lines longer than 1 hr (smart kid). I never thought I'd enjoy Animal Kingdom as much as I did, but I loved it, but I'm also a nature lover...the Mt.Everest-Yeti ride was probably one of the boys' favorites along with Space Mountain at MK. (Space Mountain is closing down this month also.) The gorillas at AK were quite active too--all over the place moving about, eating, running around--actually, many of the animals were when we were on the safari ride at AK. (though you happen to go to Rwanda-Africa for a big trip, I have a friend that says to go to the gorilla reserve while there!) Also, 2 boys eat a lot, so we carried in drink bottles and sandwiches and snacks in a back pack and saved our food eating for Epcot....(get one plate somewhere to sample, then another somewhere else, etc...the boys loved this. All of us enjoyed the less expensive Morocco cafeat Epcot the best, but Paul and I love Mediterranean food/ spices.

My advice--don't go there over Spring Break--but then again, we had a great time anyway...but crowds bug me normally let alone on a vacation too. I love remote-non-tourist-kind of places moreso. For a last minute vacation, we were happy to catch the specials and great hotel reservation. While I think we are insane for considering Disney on SpringBreak, it was so much fun for us and glad we were able to go. If you have military friends/ family, tell them to watch for special offers like that.  Busch Gardens, in the past,  has offered free entry to military up to 4 tickets also.

That's my brief input from this past week! Dennis W, I'm sure, has the whole Disney thing figured out though with living down there! But it is helpful to get little hints of how to move around the crowds and places to eat or not eat and such there if you go.

You're right about the Morroccan part of the International Village when it comes to the food - it's definitely good.  I also like that Disney has an international food festival at least once a year, where they all have stands outside their respective buildings with samples of the cuisines of each nationality there.