1st Trip to Disney World and we're going at Christmas!! Help!!

[vbeaudry]

Hello everyone! My lovely neighbour introduced me to the Dis and I'm so grateful!!

We are making our first trip to Disney World and we're going at Christmas the busiest time of the year! I've been doing lots of reading and research. Also losing sleep thinking about everything!!! AHHHHHH!!!
So I thought I'd start a PTR and get some help and/or advice.

So who's going???


Well that would be myself, Vicky (36). My favourite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast. I actually got to see the Broadway show twice. Love, Love Love this movie!!!

DH, Rob (38) though he's convinced the girls he only 34! DH thinks it's great that I'm so organized, but shakes his head every time I find something new!

DD#1, Faith (standing next to DH). She will be turning 9 a month before we go. Her favourite Disney movie is Princess and the Frog. She loves Princess Tiana and hopes she gets to meet her.
DD#2, Harmony (sitting on my lap). She is 7, turns 8 not long after we get back. Her favourite movie is Cinderella, so obviously her favourite princess is Cinderella!!!
Everyone thinks they are twins, sometimes I think they should've been. They are each others best friends and do everything together. Wouldn't want it any other way!!
Our Beautiful Puppy in the picture is Chinook, she will be 3 in December. She is a Husky/Wolf/Shepard Mix. Not sure how she is going to handle us being gone for two weeks. DH's employee will be staying at our house to take care of her while we are gone.




Table of Contents:
Intro - Post #1
When/ Where - Post #2
Transportation - Post #5
ADR's - Post #8
Days 1&2 - Post #10
Days 3&4 - Post #11
Days 5,6,7,10 - Post #12
Days 8&9 - Post #13
Days 11 to 13 - Post#14

 

[vbeaudry]

When/ Where?

So DH and I have been talking about a Disney trip for a while. We wanted to wait till the girls we're old enough to really appreciate and enjoy it. DH works for himself with only 1 employee so we had to chose a time when it would not be that busy at work, well that time is Christmas! We looked at the calendars and figured 2013 would be the best because Christmas falls in the middle of the week so the shop would be closed more than opened.
The only problem came was with my mom. We alternate Christmas Day every other year between the two sides of the family. 2012 was with DH's side so 2013 is with my side. My mother was not happy about it and wouldn't even talk about us going away over Christmas. Thanks to my brother and sister who are very understanding, they have helped calm her down, I can actually talk about our trip. DH and I have not been away since before we had the girls in 2003, and the girls have never been anywhere!!

With the time of year set we just needed to set dates and pick our resort.
We talked about doing a Disney Cruise along with staying in the world, but the cruise was way too expensive for our liking. Then DH suggested we look at doing Universal as well as Disney. I talked him out of it figuring it will be so busy at Disney, we could really get to enjoy it if we spent all our time there.

So we finally decided on...
Sunday, December 22 to Saturday January 4th
Staying at Caribbean Beach Resort

Photo taken from the Internet!

We upgraded to a preferred room and have 10 day Base Park Tickets.
Originally we were not going to do the DDP, both girls eat like birds and neither DH or I are big eaters. So I just couldn't justify spending $2000 on food.
When my wonderful TA called last Thursday and told us we now qualified for Free Dining we hopped on board!!! WooHoo!!!!

 

[mckelvey72]

You have a beautiful family....but you didn't introduce the dog!! HAHA...love animals, they are part of the family too!!

My hubby too is self employed so i know the pain of trying to get them to leave for a week. We are leaving 11/29 and coming back 12/7! You are going to have an amazing trip. Just keep reading on here for all the great tips. NOt sure if you have or not, but you need to make your dining reservations...that is most important. I have a boy so no advice on all the princess dining etc HAHA....we did Chef Mickeys and while the food didn't set the world on fire, the atmosphere was great!!!

Happy Planning...and stressing HAHAHA!!!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[vbeaudry]

Transportation!!

We are flying...


We are staying over night in Buffalo on Dec 21st, that way we don't have to worry about crossing the border the morning of our flight and parking is a lot cheaper!

Our flight leaves 12:30pm on Dec 22nd, non stop flight to Orlando arriving around 3:15pm. From there we will take Disney's Magical Express.
(DH is really looking forward to not having to drive for two weeks!)


Coming home our Flight leaves Orlando at 11:10am getting us back to Buffalo around 1:45pm.

After looking around on the Dis, I purchased EBCI for our flights. It's the girls first time flying so I wanted to make sure we are at least sitting two together.

 

[vbeaudry]

You have a beautiful family....but you didn't introduce the dog!! HAHA...love animals, they are part of the family too!!

My hubby too is self employed so i know the pain of trying to get them to leave for a week. We are leaving 11/29 and coming back 12/7! You are going to have an amazing trip. Just keep reading on here for all the great tips. NOt sure if you have or not, but you need to make your dining reservations...that is most important. I have a boy so no advice on all the princess dining etc HAHA....we did Chef Mickeys and while the food didn't set the world on fire, the atmosphere was great!!!

Happy Planning...and stressing HAHAHA!!!

Oops! Our dog is Chinook and she will be 3 in December. I'll go add her to the first post!!
I did manage to book all my reservations on Friday, will get to those next.
Thanks!!

Following along.

Thanks for joining in!!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Joining in! Christmas in WDW is so amazing, you guys are going to love it! Your flight plans are similar to the ones we always use - spending the night in Buffalo to avoid crossing the boarder in the morning, and flying SW. You have a beautiful family, and I can't wait to read all about your trip

 

[vbeaudry]

ADR's


Okay, so I mentioned earlier that my TA called last Thursday, August 1st, to say we qualified for Free Dining!! YEAH!!!!

Friday I spent my day booking our ADR's. I had already booked 1900 Park Fare and CRT for Christmas Day and New Years Eve. I had also booked BBB as a Christmas surprise for the girls at DTD (downtown disney not sure if that's the right short form for it! LOL! Still trying to get used to them all).

Anyway here's what I ended up getting...

Monday December 23 - 11am Hollywood & Vine
(I was teasing DD#1 about meeting Handy Manny, she keeps making faces at me and says she's too old for those characters)

Tuesday December 24 - 6:45pm Shutters

Wednesday December 25 - 9am BBB in DTD
- 4pm 1900 Park Fare
(DD#2 is so excited to have dinner with Cinderella)

Thursday December 26 - 7:30am Chef Mickey's

Friday December 27 - 12pm The Crystal Palace

Saturday December 28 - 12:30pm Liberty Tree Tavern

Sunday December 29 - 8am Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Monday December 30 - 3pm The Garden Grill

Tuesday December 31 - 1pm Cinderella's Royal Table

Wednesday January 1 - 8:45am Cape May Cafe

Thursday January 2 - 5pm Captain's Grille

Friday January 3 - 8am 'Ohana

We weren't too fussy when it came to picking restaurants as we are not big eaters. I mainly focused on doing characters meals to hopefully help cut down some autograph time in the parks!!

 

[vbeaudry]

Joining in! Christmas in WDW is so amazing, you guys are going to love it! Your flight plans are similar to the ones we always use - spending the night in Buffalo to avoid crossing the boarder in the morning, and flying SW. You have a beautiful family, and I can't wait to read all about your trip

Thanks! You never know what hassles you might get at the border so better to be safe and get in the night before is our thought!!

 

[vbeaudry]

Day 1!! Sunday, December 22

This is our arrival day, since are flight doesn't get in till 3:15pm I figure we'll probably just check in and explore the resort. We'll do QS for dinner that night at the resort.


Day 2!! Monday, December 23 - Hollywood Studios



We plan on spending our whole day in the park, depending on the girls.
We have an early lunch booked at Hollywood & Vine and will do QS for dinner.

Must Do Rides:
Rock n Rollercoaster
Twilight Tower of Terror
Toy Story Mania
Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
Voyage of Little Mermaid
Magic of Disney Animation
Lights, Motors, Action! Stunt Show
Beauty and the Beast Stage Show
Fantasmic
Osbourne Spectacle of Lights

Rides if we have time:
Studio Backlot Tour
Honey, I Shrunk the kids movie set
Indian Jones Stunt Show
Muppetvision

Hoping also to get pictures with Mater and Lightning McQueen for my niece, she loves Mater!!

 

[vbeaudry]

Day 3!! Tuesday, December 24th - Animal Kingdom!!



Again we plan on spending our whole day here, depending on the girls. We have dinner reservations at Shutters for 6:45pm. We'll do QS for lunch in the Park.

The girls would really like to become Wilderness Explorers and earn badges all over the park. So our must do's are focused around earning badges.

Must Do's:
Expedition Everest
Kilimanjaro Safari
Pangani Forest Trail
Rafiki's Planet Watch Area
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Kali River Rapids
The Boneyard
Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade

Rides if time:
Festival of the Lion King
Finding Nemo Show
Tricera Top Spin
Primeval Whirl (not sure on this one, made DH and I dizzy watching a video of it! LOL!!)
DINOSAUR



Day 4!! Wednesday, December 25 - Downtown Disney



We are surprises the girls with a 9am Reservation at BBB.
Giving them the full treatment!!! Merry Christmas!!!
Then do some shopping and explore the Downtown Area.
We'll do QS for lunch and then head to 1900 Park Fare for an early dinner!!

 

[vbeaudry]

Day 5, 6, 7, and 10!! Magic Kingdom




Thursday, December 26th

We have 7:30am Reservations at Chef Mickey.
After that we will head over to MK.
Being our first day I figure we will spend some time just wandering down Mainstreet in awe of Cinderella's Castle.
Then head over to Adventure Land and Frontier Land.
If the girls are up for it we'll look at doing Liberty Square also.


Friday, December 27th

Today we will focus on FantasyLand.
Lunch is booked at The Crystal Palace for 12pm


Saturday, December 28th

Today we'll cover Tomorrow Land and Liberty Square if we didn't get it done on Thursday.
Lunch is booked at Liberty Tree Square for 12:30pm


Tuesday, December 31st

Reservation for lunch at CRT. We'll focus on any rides or sections we didn't get done on previous days.


We'll see how our days go to see what day we may stay for the afternoon parade and come back for fireworks.
If it's gets too busy and crazy at lunch we'll split our FantasyLand day into two and maybe look at checking out some of the different resorts. (Gotta plan where to stay for the next trip!! LOL!!)

 

[vbeaudry]

Day 8 and 9!!! Epcot



Sunday, December 29th

We have 8am Reservations at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Then we'll focus on the East Side of Epcot

Must Do Rides for Today:
Test Track
Mission Space
Sum of All Thrills

Pavilions: Depending on Time
China
Norway
Mexico
Germany
Italy
America


Monday, December 30th

Late Lunch/ Early Dinner Reservations at The Garden Grill
Today we'll focus on the West Side

Must Do Rides for today:
The Seas with Nemo
Turtle Talk
Journey into Imagination

Pavilions: Depending on time
Canada
United Kingdom
France
Morocco
Japan
America (if not done the day before)

We'd love to see IllumiNations but will have to wait and see how tired we are.

 

[vbeaudry]

Days 11, 12, 13, 14!!!

These days we haven't set a certain park for. At this point we will still have 2 more days of park passes. We're hoping to also go to Typhoon Lagoon one of these days, depending on weather.
If not then back to Downtown Disney or Resort Exploring

Tentatively:

January 1st - Typhoon Lagoon? Downtown Disney? Resort Exploring?
Breakfast reservation at Cape May Cafe

January 2nd - Epcot? Animal Kingdom?
Dinner reservations at Captain's Grille

January 3rd - Magic Kingdom?
Breakfast reservations at 'Ohana
This is our last full day so I'm thinking it's best spent at MK!


Day 14!! Homeward Bound


So am I being realistic as to what we should be able to accomplish during our 2 weeks? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[mckelvey72]

Sounds awesome...I want to go with you HAHA I have a son so no princess stuff for us!! My step-daughter (22) is having a baby in March so if it is a girl I am going to start planning her first trip!!! Well, if mommy will let us take her on her first trip, we might have to take them too HAHAHAHA.

Can't wait to keep reading and see how it turns out. I have always wanted to go at Christmas but my other step-daughter is 13 (and does NOT do princesses ....and her mom would never let us take her on Christmas break.

I have never been at Christmas but everyone says to tour the deluxe resorts for their decorations so you might want to plan that if you have any downtime. And believe it or not, miniature golf is a nice break from the parks and alot of fun. We laughed so hard playing on our last trip!!

 

[vbeaudry]

Sounds awesome...I want to go with you HAHA I have a son so no princess stuff for us!! My step-daughter (22) is having a baby in March so if it is a girl I am going to start planning her first trip!!! Well, if mommy will let us take her on her first trip, we might have to take them too HAHAHAHA.

Can't wait to keep reading and see how it turns out. I have always wanted to go at Christmas but my other step-daughter is 13 (and does NOT do princesses ....and her mom would never let us take her on Christmas break.

I have never been at Christmas but everyone says to tour the deluxe resorts for their decorations so you might want to plan that if you have any downtime. And believe it or not, miniature golf is a nice break from the parks and alot of fun. We laughed so hard playing on our last trip!!

Oh I hope it's a girl!! It's so much fun dressing them up!LOL!!

Thanks for the tips. We have a few meal reservations at some of the deluxe resorts so I'm hoping to take a bit of time to explore them while there.

Never thought of mini golf, going to put that on my list.

 

[DisMomJill]

Joining in Oh, how I wish we could have more days for our vacation! But I know DD will be exhausted by the end of the week, so maybe it is better that we can't do longer. Your plans look good to me. And with the flexible days, you should be able to do everything you want to do.

 

[LB1122]

Joining in your fun. We arrive the same day as you(thanks for checking out my pre trip by the way) I get very excited seeing other peoples plans at the same time.

Your ADRs look fun. Glad you got the free dining plan. We loved it the first time and decided to do it again as well. (got deluxe to eat in some more double meal restaurants)

I can tell you from our experience Royal Table is a fun adventure and magical experience...New Year's Eve...WOW!! I also know that the crowds that day in MK are larger than Times Square, so make sure you give yourself lots of time

We also love Chef Mickey's as well. A great and fun time

Look forward to reading more.

You have a lot of time so give yourself room to move and enjoy. I was sort of over planned our first trip and after day one stepped back and said...let's just have fun.