PTR: Anniversary WDW trip in December (12-20)

[grrrlennyl]

Original Plan

Thursday, 12/13/2012

• Our flight leaves at 7am (Eek!), so we should get to MCO at around 10:30am. We'll take the ME to Art of Animation. I'm hoping we can check in early (Does anyone know if that's an option and, if so, how you do it?) and drop off our carry-ons, but if not, we'll just leave them there.

• I wasn't sure where we were going to go our first day there, since it's a half-day and none of the parks have evening EMH going on. However, I read some stuff about MVMCP and figured out that it was going on on Thursday (and was actually one of the cheaper nights), so I did a bit more research and then bought tickets for us to do that. She has no idea, and I think I might just surprise her on the plane, when we're waiting for the ME, when we're on the ME, or maybe when we get to the hotel. We'll see!

• I think this would be a good day to hit Cosmic Ray's or Tortuga Tavern. Ooo...or maybe Be Our Guest if we're there in time for lunch.

Friday, 12/14

• I think our plan will be to stay at Epcot all day. We might even take it easy in the morning, since MVMCP is the night before.

• UPDATE 08/28: Behind the Seeds Tour at 11:15am!

• We have ADRs for dinner at Coral Reef, which should be interesting. I'm pretty sure I've never been there before. Then, we'll probably stay through most, if not all, of the evening EMH

Saturday, 12/15

• Hollywood Studios all day! We're going to hopefully get there early to enjoy EMH.

• We have lunch ADRs at 50s Prime Time Cafe. I haven't been there since I was younger and I've heard that they are sometimes awesome with vegan diners.

Sunday, 12/16

• More Hollywood Studios! All day!

• We have dinner ADRs at Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater, since we loved our meal there last year. We'll probably try to make it through all of EMH, too.

Monday, 12/17

• We have early ADRs at 'Ohana, another repeat from last year. I cannot wait for that breakfast!

• I'm pretty sure we'll hang out at MK all day.

• Dinner at Be Our Guest! So exciting!

• MK has EMH this night, so I think this will end up being a really long, but really great day for us.

Tuesday, 12/18

• We'll get to EPCOT for their morning EMH today. We don't have anything else planned, so if we get too tired, we can take a break at the hotel during the day or just head back early.

Wednesday, 12/19

• We'll FINALLY go to Animal Kingdom! EMHs mean that we'll get here early.

• The problem I have with AK is that the quick-service restaurants don't really have anything for me. Restaurantosaurus had one sandwich that I was able to alter, but I'm not exactly dying to have it again. I think we'll try to have some sort of breakfast (maybe grab a muffin the night before) and then use snack credits on fries or fruit or something.

• UPDATE!!! I went ahead and got an ADR for Donald's Dining Safari Lunch at Tusker House after reading about how great the lunch/dinner buffet is for vegans. Now we won't have to worry about waiting until 7pm to eat a real meal.

• UPDATE 08/25: Dinner is a whole bunch of ridiulousness right now. Ha! Here are our options:
  • 1. Whispering Canyon at 4:55pm. Since AK has morning EMH, is only open until 5pm, and we don't do a whole lot there, I'm pretty sure we can leave AK and get here on time. After that, we'll have the option of either wandering around MK a bit or doing the monorail bar crawl. (The latter is more likely.) Either way, I think we'll end up at the beach at the Polynesian to watch Wishes and then head back to AoA.
  • 2. The Wave at 6:55pm. We'd be able to either stay at AK until 5 or maybe run to Wilderness Lodge to look around (I've never been there.) before our ADR time. We'd probably opt for the bar crawl afterwards and then watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly.
  • CANCELLED 3. 'Ohana at 8:55. If we did this, we'd maybe check out Wilderness Lodge and then do the monorail bar crawl before our ADR. I know we could watch Wishes from here, but I also know that it might be crowded

Thursday, 12/20

• Last day. Boo.

• This will be another MK day. We'll drop our luggage off with the ME folks and have someone hold onto our carry-on stuff.

• We have lunch ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern, which I've heard has a good quinoa burger. I don't know if I've ever been there before, so I'm looking forward to checking it out.

• After that, I guess we will wander around and enjoy our last few hours at WDW before heading back to AoA to catch the ME. Our flight isn't until 8:30pm, so we'll have a good amount of time that last day.

 

[grrrlennyl]

DOUBLE DIGITS!

 

[SAT887]

DOUBLE DIGITS!

Woo!!

For some reason though I find that banana oddly disturbing....

 

[grrrlennyl]

Agreed. Ha!

 

[SAT887]

Agreed. Ha!

I refuse to use it!!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Guess who got their 12/18 ADR for BOG! HURRAH! I am super excited. I'll probably be changing up my first post at some point tomorrow!

 

[solana131]

Joining in

I'm hoping we can check in early (Does anyone know if that's an option and, if so, how you do it?)

It is definitely an option....just depends on how busy they are and if your room is ready or not. Some say doing online check in makes it easier to check in early, but it didn't work for us at POFQ

I'm thinking take the Wilderness bus from AK to check out the lodge, and make sure you walk over to the Villas also to see the tree in the lobby there...Then boat over to the Contemporary from the WL dock for dinner at The Wave, then continue on to see the decorations at the Poly & Grand Floridian. Then monorail over to the MK to hop on the bus back to your resort since the MK is open till 10

Totally agree with this! You two HAVE to see WL in all it's Holiday splendor! Plus....is Kona at the Poly an option?? We just love that place! Much easier to get into than O'Hana.

My only concern right now is having enough time in Hollywood Studios, since we spent a good amount of time there during our last trip and the crowd calendar only really has two good days to go there, and two of those are when we need to be back by MK. However, I think we might be able to stop by on Sunday or Tuesday after doing other parks, so maybe it won't be a problem.

You will be fine. That's what makes Hoppers so worth it, you can hop over there anytime when you have a free moment throughout the week Yay! It sounds like a great plan!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Yay! It sounds like a great plan!

Thanks so much! I'm a big planner (obviously), but once we get to the parks and have the potentially problematic things out of the way (Soaring, Peter Pan's Flight, TSMM, etc.), we pretty much just go where we want. We use the hell of our fast passes (and I'm nerdily excited about being able to get two at the same time on our first night at MK: our regular tickets plus our MVMCP ones), so that helps out a lot. Honestly, I think the longest lines we waited in last December were for TSMM (about half an hour, but we also had FPs for later) and, oddly enough, The Maelstrom. HAHA!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Ugh! The DIS is so dangerous! I just made three more reservations at 'Ohana for breakfast. I found out (through someones lovely trip report) that the TTC is right by the Poly, which means that it would be easy to go to breakfast at 'Ohana on one of our Epcot days. Ha!

On another helpful note, I read somewhere that Southwest's fares had gone down, which meant (when I could not sleep at 2am last night) I was seeing if the prices of our flights had gone down (they had) and rebooking them to get a credit. We didn't get a refund (since we had the cheapo fares), but we do have $190 in Southwest credit we can use within the year. Yay!

 

[tofubeast]

On another helpful note, I read somewhere that Southwest's fares had gone down, which meant (when I could not sleep at 2am last night) I was seeing if the prices of our flights had gone down (they had) and rebooking them to get a credit. We didn't get a refund (since we had the cheapo fares), but we do have $190 in Southwest credit we can use within the year. Yay!

Sounds like another WDW trip is in your future!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Sounds like another WDW trip is in your future!

Haha! Not within the next year, unfortunately. However, I am planning one for my family for January or February of 2014 and my partner and I are thinking of a late October/early November trip in 2014, too.

 

[grrrlennyl]

Ugh! And now I'm thinking I NEED to get a reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table, since it seems like something my partner would LOVE. Ha! Wish me luck trying to track one down for the 13th or 14th! Ha!

 

[solana131]

Thanks so much! I'm a big planner (obviously), but once we get to the parks and have the potentially problematic things out of the way (Soaring, Peter Pan's Flight, TSMM, etc.), we pretty much just go where we want. We use the hell of our fast passes (and I'm nerdily excited about being able to get two at the same time on our first night at MK: our regular tickets plus our MVMCP ones), so that helps out a lot. Honestly, I think the longest lines we waited in last December were for TSMM (about half an hour, but we also had FPs for later) and, oddly enough, The Maelstrom. HAHA!

I'm the same way. I plan alot as far as which park on which day and what to do first. But after that it is kinda fly by the seat of your pants.

I never thought about being able to get two FPs at once! How exciting!

Yeah, Maelstrom was one of our longest waits too!

I found out (through someones lovely trip report) that the TTC is right by the Poly, which means that it would be easy to go to breakfast at 'Ohana on one of our Epcot days. Ha!

Yep, that is one big reason I speak so highly of the Poly.....the transportation options are so much better than anywhere else on the property thanks to the closeness to the TTC. And it's such a pretty walk over from TTC to Poly!

 

[grrrlennyl]

I'm the same way. I plan alot as far as which park on which day and what to do first. But after that it is kinda fly by the seat of your pants.

I never thought about being able to get two FPs at once! How exciting!

Yeah, Maelstrom was one of our longest waits too!



Yep, that is one big reason I speak so highly of the Poly.....the transportation options are so much better than anywhere else on the property thanks to the closeness to the TTC. And it's such a pretty walk over from TTC to Poly!

Haha! I would LOVE to stay at the Poly. Maybe some day...

 

[solana131]

Haha! I would LOVE to stay at the Poly. Maybe some day...

Yeah, it was amazing! Once in a lifetime thing for us though....way too much money and now that they are updating it, I expect the prices to just go up and up. But it was the best place possible for a first trip

 

[grrrlennyl]

Yeah, it was amazing! Once in a lifetime thing for us though....way too much money and now that they are updating it, I expect the prices to just go up and up. But it was the best place possible for a first trip

Totally.

The first part of my first trip to WDW was spent at the Grand Floridian (with the rest off-site), so I have a soft spot for the monorail resorts.

 

[taaren]

Ugh! And now I'm thinking I NEED to get a reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table, since it seems like something my partner would LOVE. Ha! Wish me luck trying to track one down for the 13th or 14th! Ha!

Wow, I suspect that's going to be a tough find 2 1/2 month out! Good luck!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Well, I added another night. The getting-on-the-bus-at-4am plan was stressing me out, so we're just going to head out after work on the 12th instead. Yay! Our first full day there is going to (hopefully) be pretty relaxing so that we can get through MVMCP.

 

[solana131]

Yay for extra days! Yeah, this sounds like a much better plan!

 

[grrrlennyl]

Just made a reservation for my partner to be turned into a mermaid at the Pirates League. Yay! They didn't have any times (AT ALL!) on the 14th, so I went with the 13th. Another thing off of my list!