9 nights at Disney for Christmas and New Years

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This is my first trip report but I have been to Disney at least once a year since birth and am a former cast member. I am a little Disney obsessed


Dec. 23, 2012
We left Dec. 23, 2012 from Long Island on a non stop flight to Orlando. It was DH (who celebrated his 32nd birthday at WDW on Dec. 24), DD 5, DS 20 months and myself 31. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:30 am but was delayed 2 hours! I knew things were going to smoothly at the airport prior to this as there were no lines at check in, security and for food. So when they made the announcement, I was like it figures lol. But in the end, as long as we arrived safely in Florida, that is all that matters. However, we did miss DD's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at MK appointment and since it was completely booked that week, I had to call every day until I could find another appointment. I finally got one for Dec. 26 at 5:10pm but it was Downtown Disney and not at Magic Kingdom.

We arrived at Orlando and got to bypass baggage claim thanks to DME. We headed to Alamo and since we did online check in, we got to bypass the counter and head straight to our car. Of course we picked the car with a chipped windshield! We didn't notice until we were driving through the car checkout area but did tell the attendant as soon as we did because we did not want to be held accountable. She informed us that we would have to get another car but that they would bring it to us. This was a bit of a hassle as we had to car seats to uninstall and then reinstall into the new car. But Alamo was so nice, they took off $50 for the inconvenience without us even asking!

Next, we were on our way to my parent's vacation home in Kissimmee to pick up an extra stroller. Then a quick stop to Walmart for diapers, wipes, soy milk, snacks and light up toys. And then finally we made it to the Beach Club for our first 2 nights of the trip. I was very impressed by what happened next. We pulled up to the security gate and told the attendant that we were checking in, he looked up our reservation and said happy birthday to DH. Then we pulled up to the front of the Beach Club to unload the car and was greeted by the front desk clerk with our room keys and folder. I assume the security guard informed them that we had arrived but that was amazing. I asked him how did you know I was here and he said, "Disney magic." And this is why I love Disney

So now it was off to our hotel room and another surprise! My husband's assistant sent us a basket filled with Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals, cookies, pretzels, candy, potato chips, chocolate, and Mickey ear rice crispy treats! This was absolutely perfect as those snacks came in handy for our 9 night trip.


Next stop MK. We used the rental car to drive there as DH hates the bus. We headed straight for the Crystal Palace as we were late to our reservation. We had to wait about 20 minutes and the kids were getting cranky from hunger and our long travel day. Unfortunately, the food and service was not good here. We had went in May for lunch and it was great. But this time around, we did not like it and most likely will not be back. DS went nuts with the characters. It was too much for him to take in and he was screaming at them to come over to him and then he would attack them. He even threw a plate when he saw Tigger. He was over tired and excited that he didn't know what to do with himself. When DD was his age, it was the complete opposite. She cried when she saw characters and screamed for then to get away from her.
Surprisingly, the park was not crowded and it was open until 3am! We literally walked onto Ariel's new ride as well as the carousel. But the kids were tired and DH was hurting from dinner so we left thinking we would be back tomorrow morning for breakfast reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table. But we were wrong


To be continued as the baby just woke up

 

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Dec. 24, 2012 Christmas Eve and DH's birthday

We have a reservation for DS' haircut at the Harmony Barbershop at 9:00am and breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table for 10:00am. However, DD wakes up burning with a 103 fever I had to call the front desk in order to find out where I could take her to the doctor. They were so helpful and gave me the address and phone number for an urgent care facility located directly outside of WDW. So instead of heading MK, DH took DD to the urgent care doctor and then off to CVS to get her prescription filled. She had a cough, cold and a slight infection was detected in her urine. I stayed in the room with DS and had to call the Disney dining reservation line in order to cancel our reservations. They were very kind enough to refund the money for our prepaid breakfast and to not charge the $10 cancellation fee for the barber shop. Once DD and DH came back, we gave her medicine and let her rest as she really wanted to go to dinner and then to the fireworks dessert
party that night. We drove to dinner at Fulton's Crabhouse in Downtown Disney and it was a very nice. DH said it was his favorite meal of the trip. And that is very important because it was his birthday and he wanted to keep it traditional with a fish filled dinner. Our family is Italian and a
traditional Christmas Eve dinner consists of fish, fish and more fish. This was his first time being away for Christmas so he stressed the importance of having this. So I was grateful that we at least got to do this as we wound up having to cancel the dessert party reservation due to DD not feeling well after dinner. Again, the Disney dining reservation line was very helpful and refunded us for it.
As you read on, we had to cancel a lot due to illness

December 25, 2012 Christmas Day

DH and I brought some presents with us for the kids to open Christmas morning from both Santa and Mickey & Minnie. We also had letters from Santa stating that he left the kids a few things in the hotel room but the rest was at their house and he gave them each a $50 gift card in their stockings to buy something at Disney. We set everything up on the table and even some half eaten cookies
and cup of milk while the kids slept. As sick as DD was, she woke up at 3am to check if Santa came. We woke up to her shouting, "He came, He came!" We told her to go back to bed. Then the kids woke up at around 8am and we had our Christmas morning. We got dressed and packed up to have our luggage transferred to the Dolphin as we were checking out of the Beach Club that day. We
wanted to go to mass at the Contemporary but did not make it in time. But we did make our reservation for brunch at Chef Mickey's for 11:30am. After brunch, we went to the Grand Floridian to see their decorations. DS got a cookie from the gingerbread house but DD didn't want one. I knew she wasn't feeling well because DD would never refuse a beautifully decorated cookie. We then went back to the Contemporary and played on their arcade. We would have went to MK but since DD wasn't feeling well we decided not to as those crowds would be too much for her to handle. We then drove to the Dolphin to check into the hotel and took some pictures. DD was dressed in the Belle Christmas dress and shoes and DS was wearing a Mickey Christmas outfit. They looked very festive. I was happy they got to wear these outfits as they didn't get to wear their Christmas Eve outfits which was very disappointing as I was looking forward to those pictures. Christmas Eve breakfast was supposed to be at the castle as I had previously posted. DD was going to wear her Cinderella bride costume and DS was going to wear his Prince Charming costume. They do not make a Prince Charmig costume in his size. I had spent some time finding one online and the best I could do was order the size 4-6 costume and have it altered to fit him. But unfortunately he didn't get the chance to wear it this time. However, there is always next time
Once our room was ready, we went there to change into our matching Mickey Christmas sweatshirts and head to Epcot for our Candlelight Procession Dinner package at La Hacienda De San Angel. It was very busy and we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. We were on the deluxe dining plan and this was our last day to use our credits since checking out from the Beach Club. The rest of the trip we used our Tables in Wonderland card as the Dolphin does not have the dining plan. The service at La Hacienda was very slow and DS was cranky and DD was very tired and hungry so our meal wasn't very relaxing. DS would only eat the chips and DD didn't like anything on the menu but tried to make the best of it. My kids are macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets and french fries type of eaters. DH and I ordered the premium tequila flight to share. I also had a blueberry margarita. This helped take the edge off of our frustrations a bit but not by much. We would have needed an entire bottle at this point lol. Worse was that there was a hair in DH's food! This is his pet peeve and I didn't want it to ruin the rest of our meal so I gave him my entree to eat. My appetizer was very filling and my nerves were shot from the kids so I wasn't very hungry. And I just wanted to go to the Candlelight Procession with Gary Sinise. I had tried every day to get this reservation and was super excited for it. The waitress at La Hacienda was very nice about the hair in DH's food. Since we were on the dining plan, she removed both of my margaritas from the bill. Now for the surprise, I had been told that this package was 2 table credits each but it was only 1 table credit each. Now we had 6 snack credits and 3 deluxe dining credits to use before midnight but we were very full! No time to worry about that because it was time to get online for the procession. And it was some line but we were guaranteed seats since we had the package. DS was acting very hyper and cranky and DD was
lethargic, this was not going to be good. Once we were seated, DS wouldn't sit. He was screaming and wanted to run around. I hoped that once the music started, he would calm down and sit. But instead he just got louder and so DH took him outside the theater area so not to disturb anyone else. So now it was just DD and I and she was feeling very feverish and laying on me. I had a selfish moment where I was thinking to myself I waited and planned so long for this and have had to cancel so much already, I am not leaving. But as soon as I thought this, DD looked at me with her sick looking puppy dog eyes and said, "Mommy I don't feel good. I need to go to sleep." And so we left. I got to see 1 minute of that show. But it was okay because my kids come first and hopefully we will be back for Christmas next year or the year after that.

To be continued but I need to do some serious laundry right now!