Simply having a wonderful Christmas Time -12/24-12/31/12 UPDATED 3/4

[1stvisit0909]

HI everyone!!! We arrived home last night from an incredible Christmas Week Trip. I plan to let you know all the details, just getting this bad boy started.

So fasten your seat belts, and tug on the yellow strap, its going to be good!

There was pixie dust by the gallons - LOW RIDE WAIT TIMES (yes, it CAN be done during the busiest week of the year) and more fun than one family can stand.

There was smooth transportation, bumpy transportation, a Disney "commercial" moment or two, some tears from mom, CM magic, a little bit of sickness , princess transformations, wonderful character interaction, some great food, some good food, and some eh food, but over all a wonderful magical time. Santa, Lights, Decorations, Dole Whips, Candlelight processional, a wishes dessert party and more! I think my youngest daughter should play the lottery, she was so durned lucky our trip!

There were 1800 pictures taken by my daughter and myself, and 400 taken by Disney photopass! We had PP+, and there will be reviews of all that goodness.

I'll be back in a few to reserve a link's post, and do some introductions. When the photopass CD arrives, I'll come back and add some of those photos as well I hope you'll join me, and come along as I relive our magic. Also hope I can be helpful for anyone planning a trip during Christmas week. Ask questions, I'll be honest!

To start, here is a link to my pre-trip report. would our plans hold? would we make all our ADRs? Would the magic be as magical or would the crowds press us into a pulp?

 

[1stvisit0909]

Introductions, and we are on our way!
Christmas Eve, and Hollywood Studios!
SANTAs been here!
Magical Christmas at EPCOT (pt 1)
Magical Christmas at EPCOT pt 2
Magical Christmas at EPCOT Pt 3
Magical Christmas at EPCOT pt 4 - Le Cellier for lunch!
Magical Christmas at EPCOT part 5 Candlelight Processional and a shocking sea of humanity
Magic Kingdom added photopass
Photopass catchup
MK 12/26 part two
Magic Kingdom Part 3. Food, stitch, rain, pirates and THE WALL
Hitting the WALL requires a NAP
Animal Kingdom, Part 1
Animal Kingdom: Tusker House, bugs, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, oh my!
Wishes Dessert Party
BBB! A magical transformation!
1900 Park Fare - Happily Ever After
JoLLY JINGLES ITS A TINKER FAIRY!
DHS Rope Drop!
More DHS! Star Tours, Animation Academy and more!
Late night at MK. Meeting princess at 1259am? Are we nuts?
Part 1 of one day World Domination - KONA
Part 2 WORLD Domination - nap and AK
Part 3 WORLD Domination - transportation nightmare and DTD
Part 4 WORLD Domination - DHS!
Part 5 WORLD domination we cry uncle
Best of Worst of SNACKS
Best of Table Service

 

[SAT887]

Hi!!

 

[Valgoof]

I am here too.

 

[Lynn57]

Over 2,000 pictures of my favorite place?!?!? WAHOO! I'm in for the ride and my seatbelt is securely fastened!

 

[1stvisit0909]

Welcome! Along for this trip we have Me, Val 36 and the planner of this krewe.
My awesome prince charming, Jimmy, 38. My adorable princesses 11 and 7. Here is one of the photos we had taken in a magical moment in this trip that you'll hear more about soon.

This is the girls second trip to Disney, my 3rd, and Hubby has lost count, since they lived in Florida and took lots of day trips. But we did plenty he'd never done before too.

It all began on Christmas Eve. Our flight was at 1230, but since it was Christmas Eve we had my MIL drop us off a little earlier than normal. It was not necessary. We had our bags dropped off and through security in about 10 mins total. So, we had plenty of time for this:

We were boarding group A, so we got settled in all together and the plane took off on time.

For our in flight snacking pleasure...

Ready to get there!

We had an uneventful flight and landed at MCO on time. We took the fake monorail and and followed the path to DME. A bus was waiting when we got there, it was a MEARS bus so I didnt take a picture. After we got settled in, the full bus pulled off about five minutes later. We had a great driver, he told us jokes. A couple I remember are: Whats a pirate's favorite letter? Someone said Arrrrrh, and he said, I thought so too, but its really SEA.
And how much does a pirate pay for a ear piercing? about a "buck an ear" corny, but cute.
After a short ride we were pulling into POFQ!

Our room was ready, we got a corner room on the second floor of building three. Very nice. Clean, well maintained.

The resort was lovely! We had brought our Christmas Decorations carry on, so we unpacked those and put up our little tree and hung our stockings!

We went and got our resort mugs and then walked down the path to POR to get some dinner at that food court.

Up next, dinner, our first bus ride to....where did we go first?

 

[wed100105]

Hi, great first introductions and post. I am looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[1stvisit0909]

Where I left off we were walking from POFQ to POR. The walk was lovely, POFQ is a very very peaceful resort. We strolled a long the path and arrived at POR for what would be our only visit! I thought we'd get back again so I didnt take pictures. It was about 530, and we went into the food court there to get some dinner.

For supper DH and I both got the bacon cheeseburger, and the girls got chili cheese hot dogs. For our dessert and drinks we got water and bananas, so we could have a banana for breakfast the next morning and water to carry with us to the parks. I neglected to take pictures because we were VERY hungry, we ate breakfast and just snacked on the plane. It was ok food, I mean a burger and hot dogs, nothing to write home about.

We made our way back to POFQ, by this time the horse drawn carriages were out and making tours along the path. We were itching to get to the parks, and we had planned to go to Hollywood Studios with the goal of just seeing the Osbourne Lights. Dropped off our mugs, grabbed our jackets and tickets and set off for the bus stop.

We waited about 5 mins for a Hollywood Studios bus, and it was a very quick trip. We got through the gate - the resort key tap system is AWESOME. We commented on how quick that was each day. *two thumbs up Disney!*

We stopped at the photopass center to trade our PP+ voucher for our lanyard, and while I was in line the girls made their first pin trade with a CM there. DD11 had decided to trade for stitch pins (her fave) and DD7 was just trading for what struck her as pretty. They had a blast checking out the pins on the CM lanyards with DH while I waited in a terribly long and slow moving line for our lanyard. BUT once I got to the counter, the trade for the voucher took literally seconds. The CM we had was awesome, she explained how it worked, and we were on our way.

*aside note, we noticed EVERYWHERE that CMs were just so durned HAPPY! how do they stay so positive and happy and friendly even with all those people everywhere? And you know people arent all nice? We went out of our way to pay attention to them and speak and say hi and so forth. Just their attitudes was pixie dust. More on that later though.

The park was super crowded, but CMs were everywhere directing traffic. It just came out of my mouth, "I wonder what the best way to get to the lights is' when a CM just stopped and said, right this way - and there were CMs lighting the way directing traffic - literally like airplanes! The kids were so excited.

We made our way around to the lights. They were breathtaking. Photos really do them no justice. If you are there during the holidays and havent seen them, make the time. I could have wandered around looking at them for much longer than we did. DD7 spied Santa Goofy, so we made a beeline for that!

Santa Goofy was well Goofy, and he wanted the girls to kick their feet up. They got so tickled.

Then he grabbed DH and I and drug us into the picture, and we all made the pose.

I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. The wait for Santa Goofy was about 20 mins, which wasnt bad for 7ish on Christmas Eve I didnt think.

We made our way down the lights and took a few pictures.

Posed for a photopass photo (here is the one with my camera)

We had fun looking for hidden Mickey's in the lights and spotting them. There are a bunch! the sign says 40, but a CM told DD7 there are really 60 so who knows.

After we wandered through the lights, the kids were itching to ride something, so we checked lines and Hollywood Tower of Terror had the shortest wait, of 25 mins. So of we went. I had never ridden TOT, and I couldnt prepare my DD7. DD11 and DH kept saying it was "no big deal" LIARS!

The queue for the ride was so cool! I enjoyed looking at the details, and kinda glad we had time to stop and look at the theming. Got to our elevator, and DD7 was but she buckled in and held on. She was so scared she couldnt scream. She was holding on to me going "Im scared I'm scared" and I told her to scream she'd feel better. She said "I cant I cant breathe" but she survived. She was in tears by the time it was over. I felt very very bad for her. You can see from our photo that she was NOT a happy camper.

After we got off she was very upset, and crying and her heart was beating super fast. So we distracted her with something that works for every girl - retail therapy. She chose to spend her first spending money on a baby Marie (her favorite character) DD11 bought a stuffed Stitch, and we decided to go back to the resort, because SANTA was on his way, and we needed to be at EPCOT early on 12/25.

Got back to our room, and got everyone settled in for our "long winters nap" and I couldn't sleep! I probably didnt fall asleep until 230 or so I was so excited for EPCOT!

 

[Valgoof]

Oh your poor DD7. LOL. At least you have the picture to prove she went on it. I am guessing it will be awhile before she tries it again. Love the pics with Santa Goofy!!

 

[1stvisit0909]

Oh your poor DD7. LOL. At least you have the picture to prove she went on it. I am guessing it will be awhile before she tries it again. Love the pics with Santa Goofy!!

She decided she didn't like thrill rides at all.she had been so excited to be tall enough, that changed after TOT. Haha. We got her n a few more things....but not a single coaster. I'm afraid we scared her!

 

[pigletto]

Joining in and looking forward to the rest of your trip report

Tell your dd7 that I completely understand. I have not ridden TOT since 2008 and I never ever will again. My husband also rode on that trip with dd15 and "screamed like a little girl" according to dd.

It's terrifying. Much more civilized to shop

 

[1stvisit0909]

Poor me didnt sleep well at ALL Christmas eve night. I was excited to go to EPCOT, and worried about the delivery of Santa. I mean we were sharing a small room, how would Santa not wake us up??

At some point I finally drifted off, and all too soon the alarm was going off. We had to be up and at them early to do our Santa pressies and make the 8am opening at EPCOT. We were also an hour ahead of our normal time, so it felt super early to get up at 6am.

Santa, that sneaky elf, he managed to get in and out without waking anyone. He stashed the loot under the sink behind the curtain. Smart Santa. AND bless him he charged all the batteries.

Here are a few pictures from that early morning.

DD7 was super tickled over her ipod touch

DD11 was also super excited over her nikon coolpix

There were also gift cards:

Invites to BBB for later in the week:

Some new pins to trade, some new headphones for each, and some odds and ends stocking stuffers.

Def a smaller stash of loot than might have had at home, but heck, we were in DISNEY!

That took all of 10 mins, so it was time to get dressed, grab a cereal bar and banana and hit the trails to EPCOT.

Do you think we made it? Did the bus take FOREVER? Would we have ANY fun in Disney during Christmas? Stay tuned!

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Just joining in! Now on to reading!

 

[luckylady]

Just found your TR. I'm in. Poor DD#2 she looks so scared on ToT, but so did DD1. Can't wait to read about Christmas day . I love being there at CHristmas.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Just found your TR. I'm in. Poor DD#2 she looks so scared on ToT, but so did DD1. Can't wait to read about Christmas day . I love being there at CHristmas.

She was scared too, but the difference is when its over shes happy and wants to go again.

 

[summerw]

Following! I'm glad the crowds didn't get in your family's way. Sounds like a great trip already.

 

[AustralianJetsetter]

She was scared too, but the difference is when its over shes happy and wants to go again.

Your DD11 sounds like me lol

I hope you don't mind but I would love to follow on & read all about your Christmas trip sounds great so far!!

 

[blessedby3]

Joining in on this trip report! I dont think I will ever go at Christmas, so I cant wait to read about your experience. My dd22's husbands family was there over that same time in Ft Wilderness. Total novices so Im sure their trip did not go over as well as yours

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Joining in! Havent read any of the posts yet, but I will come back and catch up in just a little bit

 

[beachta1]

Following! Sounds like a great start to your trip. Osbourne Lights are so stunning, what a great way to spend Christmas Eve Can't wait to read more.