3 kids under 3 for a Disney Christmas Adventure

[MsPoppinsTX]

This is my first attempt at a pre-trip report, so bear with me.

Let me set the stage first with the cast of 11 for our upcoming family trip. In no particular order (but I'll go first), is me and my DH with our DD (1...she will be 2 in January 2012). Next is my older sister (we are 16 months apart) and her husband with their two kids, one is 2 (will be 3 end of Dec. this year) and the other will be 1 in Nov. Then there is my mom...she's the coolest lady ever with the patience of a saint (a kindergarten teacher). My younger sister (3 years younger) will also be joining us (although not staying with us) for this family adventure. Finally, there is my dad and his wife.

Yes that is right, my mom, dad, and step mom will all be on the same trip. I'm lucky that, even though divorced, my parents get a long great and are excited about the trip. If being together for a week bothers them at all, they definitely don't show it.

Recap (I don't know the actual shorthand for the various people, but here is my version of it):

Me, DH, DD (1)
DSIS, DBIL, DN(2), DN(1)
DMom, DSIS,
DDad, DSM

I have taken the lead in the planning of this trip, which I am pretty sure everyone is happy about since I am pretty OCD when it comes to Disney. This will be my 12th trip to the World and I'm so excited to be back at Christmas time. DH doesn't really understand why I am so obsessed with going "all the time" as he says, but he plays along. This will be his 4th trip. My sisters and I grew up going to Disney every few years, and my parents even honeymooned here in 1976. We love it and it never gets old!

We (except my younger sister) will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas from Dec. 15 through Dec. 21. We have a one bedroom and a studio.

Not to confuse anyone but me, DH, DD, DDad and DSM will be coming up a day early (to take advantage of better fares on flights) on the 14th and will be staying at the BCV in 2 studios that I rented points for.

Now that we have dates and a place to stay lets get planning!

 

[KrysiaG]

Good luck! How exciting! We just took my parents along too and we couldn't have done it without them.

I saw your post title and had to stop in and read. At one time I had 3 kids under the age of 2 (all my own kids) and 4 kids under 4. My kids are all VERY close in age.

 

[MsPoppinsTX]

It wasn't too difficult of a decision for me on where I wanted us all to stay, as I've always wanted to stay at the Boardwalk. This past February (2011) I was lucky enough to get to go to a conference with work that was hosted at the Beach Club and got to stay there for 4 nights. DH and DD got to come too, and we had a great time. I loved the location. The easy access to Epcot and DHS was fantastic.

I had received a PIN code earlier for 40% off Deluxe that was going to expire at the end of February, so when we got back from the conference I had to get on the ball and get everyone in our group to agree on where to stay. I ran the numbers for the various hotels, came up with a spreadsheet for our various options (villas versus regular hotel rooms) and made a case for BWVs.

First, the Christmas decorations at this resort are wonderful.
Second, the location is fantastic.
Third, with a full kitchen in the one-bedroom villa, we can come back to the hotel at lunch, feed the kids (and everyone else) and let them take a nap. Fourth, eating lunches and breakfasts in the room will save us some money on meals and let us splurge a bit and do a TS at least once a day.

It really didn't take much convincing the rest of the group, and they basically said "Whatever you want to do, we'll do it...we trust you." Although an offsite vacation rental (we have friends that have a vacation rental home about 2 miles from Disney...we couldn't get it for free, but pretty cheap) would have been cheaper and roomier from a lodging standpoint, it just isn't the same as staying on property. Plus I didn't want to deal with renting a car and worrying about car seats and driving to the parks myself...I like that Disney has really great transportation.

The BCV reservation came later after the airfares came out on Southwest. If we went a day earlier it was about $100 cheaper, so why not go a day earlier and enjoy more of the magic?! I had never rented DVC points before, but thanks to the DISboards I was able to find a very nice person to rent from and it ended up being comparable to staying at a moderate (price wise) but not as cheap as a value, but not all that much more for just one night. I wish we could have rented for BWV, but that was not available by the time I rented it...the BCV were and it will be pretty easy to move over to BWV from there.

Now that my lodging is done and dates are set, time to create my traditional Disney Spreadsheet that will keep track of park hours, EMH parks, special shows (Fantasmic, etc), recommended parks based on TouringPlans which I subscribe to, to determine what park we will do on what day and I can plug in our dining reservations from there.

 

[MsPoppinsTX]

My DDad says that he has passed on the Disney spreadsheet gene to me, since it was something he used to do (slightly different, but substantively the same) for our family trips as kids (I had no idea). Kind of funny how you discover where you got certain personality traits.

When the park hours came out, I went straight to work on our schedule...hoping that it wouldn't change too much. Here's what I came up with:

Dec. 14th: Arrival day for 5 of us (me, DH, DD, DDad and DSM), DSIS is coming that day, but not until late. Flight from Houston, TX at 7:40am, arrive in Orlando around 11am (FL time). ME to BCV....check in, then go over to DTD for lunch and to see if we can meet Santa! Then go over to the monorail resorts to tour the Christmas decor. Dinner at Kouzzina at the BW.

Dec. 15th: Epcot in the morning, lunch at Le Cellier at 12:45pm for 6.
My DSIS, DBIL, DN(2) and DN(1) will get here in the afternoon, so we'll meet up with them at the hotel. DInner is planned for Crystal Palace that night for 10 people. Watch the parade and fireworks!

Dec. 16th: Girls will go to Magic Kingdom and the guys are off to play golf! Dinner at Tony's at 6:30pm. This is a MVMCP night (I debated long and hard about getting tickets....but I don't think the kids would stay up much past 9pm, and I don't think 2 hours to enjoy the party is worth the ticket price). But with a 6:30pm dinner, we'll catch a glimpse of some of the Main Street festivities as we leave the park after dinner. DMom arrives in the evening of this day (this is last day of school before Christmas break, a half-day, but she wouldn't ask for it off to be able to come earlier)...have to compromise sometimes.

Dec. 17th: Epcot this day (RD). We will be attending the Candlelight Processional and doing the dining package (booked it yesterday!). We are splitting into 2 groups of 4 adults so that we can hand off kids in between the shows since I didn't think they would be able to sit through it.

Dec. 18th: O'hana Character Breakfast at 8am then off to the Magic Kingdom. Kids are getting their hair cut at the Barbershop (reservations are set). This will be DD's and DN(1)'s first haircuts! HDDR at 6:15pm and a sleigh ride for the kids afterwords at 8:30pm!

Dec. 19th: DHS (RD)... DH doing the TSM FP rush... we love that ride! 5:45pm Dinner at 50's Prime Time (for everyone but me and DH... we are doing our 9 year anniversary dinner at Cali Grill at 8pm).

Dec. 20th: Breakfast at Tusker House and enjoying AK today! Later DSIS, DBIL, DDad and DSM are doing the DiveQuest scuba at 4:30pm at Epcot. The rest of us will watch. I'm sure the kids will love to see them under water!

Dec. 21st: Head back home...tear. No real plans this day, may go to DTD or relax at the hotel before ME comes to take us away.

I was up at 5am (CST) to make our dining reservations online at our 180 day mark to make sure we got what we wanted and for the most part we got it all! Did have to compromise on times on a couple of the meals, but just by a half-hour or so...no big deal.

 

[MsPoppinsTX]

With the bulk of the planning already done...what do I do now?

That's right, I make adjustments to the schedule everyday until it drives me crazy.

I really want to make this a wonderful Christmas trip for everyone, so I am constantly coming on these boards to check out any tips or hints for special things for kids and adults at Christmas time. That's how I came across the Sleigh Rides at Ft. Wilderness. I knew there were carriage rides and hay rides, but the idea of a big red sleigh at Christmas...had to do it. Of course the sleigh only holds 2 adults and 3 kids, and this ride is for the kids...looks like 6 adults will have to sit this one out (unless they want to book their own sleigh ride). My idea is to draw names out of a hat as to who the two adults will be that get to go with the kids. That idea might not work out in the end if my sister's kids demand that she go or if my DD demands that DH go (she is on a dad kick lately, hurts my feelings a little bit...but I digress). Then I thought "what if my mom and dad's names were drawn...how awkward would that be not only for them, but for my step mom." My sisters and I would think it was funny, but in a weird way.

I'm not worried about anyone getting their feelings hurt if they don't go on the sleigh ride...my family is really not like that. I just like to have a plan in mind to satisfy my obsessive planning needs. Maybe I'll play that one by ear...my stomach is turning already.