OhioDisneyDad
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2006
- Messages
- 753
First let me start by saying that 1) I'm a big kid at heart and 2) this Xmas week trip was MY idea. For a little background, this was our third trip to WDW. I had never been to WDW as a kid so my first trip was when I was 40! I'm 44, my DW is 40, DD is 9 and DS is 13 and we live in Columbus, OH. This was also the first time we've ever taken a trip during Xmas (other than to visit family) and I was surprised my wife agreed to do it. The previous two trips we always went in January because I wanted to avoid the crowds.
Our entire trip was from 12/19 - 1/3 and we drove. I fly so much that I actually like driving and seeing some country. Plus I think it's more relaxing. The itinerary was to leave on 12/19 and drive about half way and then arrive at WDW on 12/20. We left WDW on 12/27 and drove to Marco Island and stayed at the Hilton Marco Island Resort from 12/27 - 1/3 for FREE thanks to all my Hilton Honors points.
A quick plug for Hilton and the Hilton Honors program. I originally had booked a Hilton beachfront hotel in Sarasota for the second week of our vacation. Once I looked at the forecast (mid to low 60's) I decided I wanted to go further south. I called the Hilton Diamond Desk and they did a special arrangement for me and we ended up with a junior oceanfront suite on Marco Island. We also had great weather there (mid-70's to 80)! Thank you Hilton for always taking such good care of me. But I digress.
Here's a quick summary of some observations regarding our time at WDW during Xmas week:
1. Although we enjoyed our time at WDW, one time during peak holiday season is enough for us. We managed the crowds well and did everything we wanted but it's just so much less hectic in January.
2. TourGuide Mike's crowd predictions and best parks to attend seemed to be spot on.
3. If you do nothing else, get to the parks early for rope drop during Xmas week.
4. Keep trying to book that hard to get ADR because people do cancel.
5. If you go during Xmas week, go with the attitude of going with the flow. If it starts to feel hectic - leave the park!
6. Take a monorail tour of the resorts to see decorations and scope out future places to stay. Makes for a great down day.
7. When at Epcot, take time to go to the Boardwalk area through the rear entrance. We'd never done that and LOVED it. Plus it was a great way to get away from the crowds.
8. Unless you've been to WDW several times before, don't make an Xmas week trip your first trip. You'll be disappointed and frustrated.
9. Driving to the parks is a LOT easier than fighting your way on to a bus - especially at night.
10. Treat others as you'd like to be treated. You'd be surprised how many times a kind word or gesture can make a difference in your day or someone else's.
11. It pays to know the names of all the fairies when you're one of the first little girls to arrive for the opening of ToonTown! More to come on that one.
12. The I-75 traffic driving home on the Saturday after New Year's day (1/2) was insane. What should have taken 9.5 hours (Marco Island to Atlanta) ended up taking 13 hours! Be warned. The next day was fine.
13. I wasn't impressed with the level of Xmas decorations in the parks. They seemed almost non-existent at Epcot aside from the big tree. Just my observation.
14. The Osbourne Lights are a definite must see - truly amazing.
Day 1:
Our trip started on 12/19 but on 12/17 the big east coast blizzard was looming large. I had originally planned to go down I-77 but after checking the forecast for our route I did a last minute change and decided to go down I-75. Boy am I glad I did that! Based on the pictures I saw and the people I talked to going down I-77 would have been a NIGHTMARE. My family and I are generally only good for 8-9 hours in the car so we ended up staying just north of Atlanta (for free again with points) at a Hampton Inn.
Day 2:
I'm a big fan of staying off property and the previous two trips we had rented a house. Since I'm a Diamond Hilton Honors member I wanted to try out the Hilton in DTD. I was able to find a special Visa card rate offer for $75/night and jumped on it knowing that I would be upgraded (ended up getting a suite
with a DTD view and could see the fireworks). The DTD Hilton was great and I really liked it. We arrived on 12/20 at check-in time but our room wasn't quite ready. To hold us over they took our luggage and we were able to go to the Executive Lounge (a Diamond member perk) and hangout with free drinks and snacks. That perk was nice all while we were there because we also got free breakfast there as well. My one complaint was that they charge for parking ($10/day) which seems kind of odd. I knew that going in but it was still annoying.
I'm a big planner (result of being a consultant and project manager) so I had our entire trip planned out. Once we got settled in we headed over to MK which also had an evening EMH. We didn't take advantage of the EMH since it was a travel day but it was nice to know we could had we been so inclined. This was also the one evening that it was actually cold so we needed our winter coats. I used RideMax (see I said I was a planner) and since I figured the MK would be busy we did rides that were less popular and inside (Carousel of Progress, Buzz with FP, Haunted Mansion, etc). We watched the castle lighting which was very cool - my DS even liked it. For dinner we went to Pecos Bill's in Frontierland. We all had the pulled pork sandwich except for my DD who had chicken nuggets (they're a food group you know). The sandwich was really good. We ended up leaving about 10:00PM knowing we'd be back at MK on 12/22 and crashed at the hotel. Day 3 is Epcot and we got to experience some extra special Xmas magic!
Day 3:
Thanks to the DIS and all the reading I had done I knew it was important to get the troops moving early so we could be at the Epcot turnstiles by 8:15am. Imagine my shock and amazement when we actually made it there on time! There were a few hardy souls there as well but not a big crowd by any means. We were a bit shocked when they went and opened the turnstiles and allowed us to enter. I told my wife that they were just going to allow us up to the rope by Innoventions so don't get too excited. Once we passed
through the turnstile a couple CMs gathered our small group (maybe 50 people) and asked us why we had arrived so early. The general answer was to be first to ride Soarin' to which the CM asked how would we like to ride before the park even opened! Ummm...YESSS! They then proceeded to walk us to Soarin' and told us we could ride Soarin' as much as we wanted until the official park opening! SO VERY, VERY COOL! I don't know if anyone else did it but we went out of our way to thank every CM we encountered at Soarin'. I mean think about it...they had to get there early so they could get the ride ready and provide some extra magic to this bunch of crazy rope droppers! Every CM we thanked just grinned and said, "You're welcome!"
Being able to ride Soarin' early and often totally shot my RideMax plan but I can live with that! As we were leaving the Land Pavilion the park was just opening. We were walking around the left hand ramp when a CM who was standing by the entrance doors called to us and told us to hurry because "They're coming!" We quickened our steps and made it to the right hand exit doors just as THE MOB arrived. Literally, there must have been a sea of 1000 people heading our way. We just laughed and headed off to get TT fastpasses and then headed to MS and got right on (green side at first but me and DS rode again on the "vomit comet side"). Getting to the park early paid off because we seemed to be able to stay ahead of the crowds and did pretty much everything we wanted without waiting (and fastpasses helped).
We did a quick morning snack because we had a late lunch at Nine Dragons as part of our 5:00PM Candlelight Processional package. I've always liked Nine Dragons and wasn't disappointed but I'm not sure that the overall experience was worth what we paid. We had some time to kill so we strolled around WS and my son and I just had to have some spicy tuna roll. The Candlelight Processional was very good and the narrator was Brian Dennehy. I've always liked him as an actor and I hate to admit it but I couldn't help but
thinking, "Hey, that's the sheriff from Rambo!" Total guy thing I know. We left the park right after the show was over since we'd been going all day and crashed at the hotel with some pizza. Day 4 is up next and was supposed to be a MK day but ended up being a non-park day - go with the flow! More to come.
Our entire trip was from 12/19 - 1/3 and we drove. I fly so much that I actually like driving and seeing some country. Plus I think it's more relaxing. The itinerary was to leave on 12/19 and drive about half way and then arrive at WDW on 12/20. We left WDW on 12/27 and drove to Marco Island and stayed at the Hilton Marco Island Resort from 12/27 - 1/3 for FREE thanks to all my Hilton Honors points.
A quick plug for Hilton and the Hilton Honors program. I originally had booked a Hilton beachfront hotel in Sarasota for the second week of our vacation. Once I looked at the forecast (mid to low 60's) I decided I wanted to go further south. I called the Hilton Diamond Desk and they did a special arrangement for me and we ended up with a junior oceanfront suite on Marco Island. We also had great weather there (mid-70's to 80)! Thank you Hilton for always taking such good care of me. But I digress.
Here's a quick summary of some observations regarding our time at WDW during Xmas week:
1. Although we enjoyed our time at WDW, one time during peak holiday season is enough for us. We managed the crowds well and did everything we wanted but it's just so much less hectic in January.
2. TourGuide Mike's crowd predictions and best parks to attend seemed to be spot on.
3. If you do nothing else, get to the parks early for rope drop during Xmas week.
4. Keep trying to book that hard to get ADR because people do cancel.
5. If you go during Xmas week, go with the attitude of going with the flow. If it starts to feel hectic - leave the park!
6. Take a monorail tour of the resorts to see decorations and scope out future places to stay. Makes for a great down day.
7. When at Epcot, take time to go to the Boardwalk area through the rear entrance. We'd never done that and LOVED it. Plus it was a great way to get away from the crowds.
8. Unless you've been to WDW several times before, don't make an Xmas week trip your first trip. You'll be disappointed and frustrated.
9. Driving to the parks is a LOT easier than fighting your way on to a bus - especially at night.
10. Treat others as you'd like to be treated. You'd be surprised how many times a kind word or gesture can make a difference in your day or someone else's.
11. It pays to know the names of all the fairies when you're one of the first little girls to arrive for the opening of ToonTown! More to come on that one.
12. The I-75 traffic driving home on the Saturday after New Year's day (1/2) was insane. What should have taken 9.5 hours (Marco Island to Atlanta) ended up taking 13 hours! Be warned. The next day was fine.
13. I wasn't impressed with the level of Xmas decorations in the parks. They seemed almost non-existent at Epcot aside from the big tree. Just my observation.
14. The Osbourne Lights are a definite must see - truly amazing.
Day 1:
Our trip started on 12/19 but on 12/17 the big east coast blizzard was looming large. I had originally planned to go down I-77 but after checking the forecast for our route I did a last minute change and decided to go down I-75. Boy am I glad I did that! Based on the pictures I saw and the people I talked to going down I-77 would have been a NIGHTMARE. My family and I are generally only good for 8-9 hours in the car so we ended up staying just north of Atlanta (for free again with points) at a Hampton Inn.
Day 2:
I'm a big fan of staying off property and the previous two trips we had rented a house. Since I'm a Diamond Hilton Honors member I wanted to try out the Hilton in DTD. I was able to find a special Visa card rate offer for $75/night and jumped on it knowing that I would be upgraded (ended up getting a suite
with a DTD view and could see the fireworks). The DTD Hilton was great and I really liked it. We arrived on 12/20 at check-in time but our room wasn't quite ready. To hold us over they took our luggage and we were able to go to the Executive Lounge (a Diamond member perk) and hangout with free drinks and snacks. That perk was nice all while we were there because we also got free breakfast there as well. My one complaint was that they charge for parking ($10/day) which seems kind of odd. I knew that going in but it was still annoying.
I'm a big planner (result of being a consultant and project manager) so I had our entire trip planned out. Once we got settled in we headed over to MK which also had an evening EMH. We didn't take advantage of the EMH since it was a travel day but it was nice to know we could had we been so inclined. This was also the one evening that it was actually cold so we needed our winter coats. I used RideMax (see I said I was a planner) and since I figured the MK would be busy we did rides that were less popular and inside (Carousel of Progress, Buzz with FP, Haunted Mansion, etc). We watched the castle lighting which was very cool - my DS even liked it. For dinner we went to Pecos Bill's in Frontierland. We all had the pulled pork sandwich except for my DD who had chicken nuggets (they're a food group you know). The sandwich was really good. We ended up leaving about 10:00PM knowing we'd be back at MK on 12/22 and crashed at the hotel. Day 3 is Epcot and we got to experience some extra special Xmas magic!
Day 3:
Thanks to the DIS and all the reading I had done I knew it was important to get the troops moving early so we could be at the Epcot turnstiles by 8:15am. Imagine my shock and amazement when we actually made it there on time! There were a few hardy souls there as well but not a big crowd by any means. We were a bit shocked when they went and opened the turnstiles and allowed us to enter. I told my wife that they were just going to allow us up to the rope by Innoventions so don't get too excited. Once we passed
through the turnstile a couple CMs gathered our small group (maybe 50 people) and asked us why we had arrived so early. The general answer was to be first to ride Soarin' to which the CM asked how would we like to ride before the park even opened! Ummm...YESSS! They then proceeded to walk us to Soarin' and told us we could ride Soarin' as much as we wanted until the official park opening! SO VERY, VERY COOL! I don't know if anyone else did it but we went out of our way to thank every CM we encountered at Soarin'. I mean think about it...they had to get there early so they could get the ride ready and provide some extra magic to this bunch of crazy rope droppers! Every CM we thanked just grinned and said, "You're welcome!"
Being able to ride Soarin' early and often totally shot my RideMax plan but I can live with that! As we were leaving the Land Pavilion the park was just opening. We were walking around the left hand ramp when a CM who was standing by the entrance doors called to us and told us to hurry because "They're coming!" We quickened our steps and made it to the right hand exit doors just as THE MOB arrived. Literally, there must have been a sea of 1000 people heading our way. We just laughed and headed off to get TT fastpasses and then headed to MS and got right on (green side at first but me and DS rode again on the "vomit comet side"). Getting to the park early paid off because we seemed to be able to stay ahead of the crowds and did pretty much everything we wanted without waiting (and fastpasses helped).
We did a quick morning snack because we had a late lunch at Nine Dragons as part of our 5:00PM Candlelight Processional package. I've always liked Nine Dragons and wasn't disappointed but I'm not sure that the overall experience was worth what we paid. We had some time to kill so we strolled around WS and my son and I just had to have some spicy tuna roll. The Candlelight Processional was very good and the narrator was Brian Dennehy. I've always liked him as an actor and I hate to admit it but I couldn't help but
thinking, "Hey, that's the sheriff from Rambo!" Total guy thing I know. We left the park right after the show was over since we'd been going all day and crashed at the hotel with some pizza. Day 4 is up next and was supposed to be a MK day but ended up being a non-park day - go with the flow! More to come.
