A skeptical family of First-Timers take on WDW Nov 15-22** NOV 28 update

[Oliquig]

Wow! Somebody sure wants you to go to Disney! Great luck on those tickets.

I am already worried about whether I've made the right decision about ADRs, I'm worried about food I won't eat for six months. The crazy just keeps rolling in.

 

[FosterA]

Wow, you scored a great deal on airfare! Yippee!

I know! I'm thrilled

Hooray for great airfare! I'm assuming Continental, since you're going through Houston. Or is it Southwest? Our airfare was ridiculously expensive, but I am constantly watching, hoping it will come down.

Yep, Continental. Got my fingers crossed for you that you can get something alot cheaper!

Sweet deal on the plane tickets! Someone was sending you some Disney .

Thanks

YAY for that deal on the plane tickets! That is crazy that the price popped up the few seconds you were on!

I know, it was so weird like it was a mistake that they accidently put online or something and then took away when they realized it. I don't know. Maybe just pixie dust?

Wow! Somebody sure wants you to go to Disney! Great luck on those tickets.
Thanks!


I am already worried about whether I've made the right decision about ADRs, I'm worried about food I won't eat for six months. The crazy just keeps rolling in.

haha, the crazy keeps rolling in. Love it! I'm in the doubting stage too and starting to wonder if I booked enough ADRs or too many or if I even want to waste time at Table service places.....it goes on and on.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Pixi Dust is defiantly surrounding you!!!
We stayed in Figi and loved it!! walked out to the beach every day!! Watched the castle every morning and night. Wishes was amazing and so is the electrical parade on the water! the music is pumped threw the Poly so you have front row seats every time!!! Make sure you catch the lighting ceremony!!
Hawaii is the best but we couldn't get it

Where are you looking for ADR? Being a family of 5 we were more excited with free dining!
Ohana is awesome. you said no character meals right?

 

[2princesses2princes]

Joining, and can't wait to hear your plans for your trip. Reading your mini-trip was so fun, your have a great writing style, grabbed me and kept me interested. I am hoping to start my own PTR soon, for my hubby and my 10yr anniversary.

 

[AprilRenee]

Really enjoying your PTR (and I don't really enjoy PTRs!!!) You have a great writing style and your excitement is totally obvious! I also read Unofficial guide cover to cover before my first trip (2008) and I felt SO prepared and like I was a veteran even though it was my first trip! I am looking forward to hearing all about your family trip!

 

[skier_pete]

Hey there! Joining in as our trips overlap - even if our resorts don't. Always interested in seeing when fellow DISers plans might co-incide, so looking forward to your ADR list and day plans. Mine are over at my PTR if you are curious. DD is about the same age as your son, will be 8.5 and in 3rd grade at the time of the trip. Of course, she's a WDW veteran now too - this'll be her 7th trip. We come in earlier and leave earlier. 10 days total, though DD only missed 5 days of school. (Sorry school - Disney trumps education, at least for one week - and I am big on education.)

I think it's funny how you did a preview to check it out. Not hard to understand how you are more enthusiastic than your family. It's really something that has to be experienced, huh?

And don't worry, DH can get into Disney too...look at me!

SkierPete

 

[FosterA]

Pixi Dust is defiantly surrounding you!!!
We stayed in Figi and loved it!! walked out to the beach every day!! Watched the castle every morning and night. Wishes was amazing and so is the electrical parade on the water! the music is pumped threw the Poly so you have front row seats every time!!! Make sure you catch the lighting ceremony!!
Hawaii is the best but we couldn't get it

Where are you looking for ADR? Being a family of 5 we were more excited with free dining!
Ohana is awesome. you said no character meals right?

I absolutely cannot wait to see the cute little light parade on the water. Not sure what the lighting ceremony is but it sure sounds good! I'll have to look that up.
No we do not have any character meals though I may change my mind later.
I love how free dining lets you get the free dining for all your dates even if you just check in on one of them. I wish the room-only discounts worked that way!
anyhoo...thanks for following along. I'll post my plans and ADRs tonight probably.

 

[FosterA]

Joining, and can't wait to hear your plans for your trip. Reading your mini-trip was so fun, your have a great writing style, grabbed me and kept me interested. I am hoping to start my own PTR soon, for my hubby and my 10yr anniversary.

Thanks so much! I've never done this before so it's nice to know my writing style isn't scaring people off. What a nice compliment

yes!! start a PTR. It's very fun and helps keep it organized and out of your head and in writing. I'll follow along for sure!

 

[spreadingpixiedust]

We hung around the boat docks for the water parade on our last trip and it was disappointing. I am sure others may have a different opinion but I say... Unless you have some down time, don't bother.

 

[FosterA]

We hung around the boat docks for the water parade on our last trip and it was disappointing. I am sure others may have a different opinion but I say... Unless you have some down time, don't bother.

Oh, I know. I heard it wasn't anything to plan into your night. I just figured if we were lounging on the beach anyway, it would be cute to see. Were you drinking those big pineapple drinks when you watched it? Maybe that's the secret, it's much better after a few of those I'm sure!

 

[FosterA]

Really enjoying your PTR (and I don't really enjoy PTRs!!!) You have a great writing style and your excitement is totally obvious! I also read Unofficial guide cover to cover before my first trip (2008) and I felt SO prepared and like I was a veteran even though it was my first trip! I am looking forward to hearing all about your family trip!

Thanks so much for reading along
I agree about the Unofficial Guide, I'm sooooo glad I got that book. I was one of those that didn't even know there were 4 parks before I read that book! Between that and the Dis Boards, I certainly knew more about Disney than my friend who's been more times than she can count!

I'll be sure to follow up on here with all the deets on the family trip. 98 days to go! yipee

 

[FosterA]

So we are at the point in my house now that everybody yells at me if I mention our Disney Trip. David and the kids think I've lost my mind. They're like "Mom! quit with the Disney this and the Disney that!".

For example....we went to Galveston for a 3 night beach trip the other day and at one point we all were wandering around in the hot sun arguing about where to eat lunch (that is typical for our family when it comes to deciding where to eat). Nobody ever seems to be hungry at the same time or in the mood for the same stuff. Maybe not a good idea to pipe up at this time since it's 104 degrees in the baking sun and everybody's grumpy, but I say "see, that's why I obsess over the Disney trip and make sure everything is scheduled and reserved so this doesn't happen. so there!" I thought all 3 of my family members were going to tackle me right there in the street and threaten that if I mention Disney again they would murder me.
And then I mentioned "ADR" to my husband the other day and he's like "what the heck is an ADR?" I explained to him and he laughed and was like, "all you people on the Dis probably have all sort of crazy acronyms and codes for stuff." He has no idea I explained that ADR was not a Dis exclusive thing but that is what Disney calls the reservations for meals. He then tells me that he was talking to some of his buddies at work about how I've gone Disney crazy and was making reservations 6 months in advance. Apparently some of these guys said to him "uh, duh we went and never made reservations for anything, you don't have to do that". Now after hearing his buddies talk, he probably believes them and thinks I'm just being obsessive and weird and over-planny. BUT....I think these guys at his work that have been probably are confusing walking up to places and getting a tray and food as being able to eat without reservations. I explained to David that we can certainly eat at WDW without a reservation but if we'd like a nice dinner somewhere or dinner show or something at a decent time, than you must make reservations. Oh well....I'm sure my family will continue to think I'm just over-planning but they will thank me later!


Alright, so I'm going to give you all a day-by-day itinerary of our trip, or at least what I'm shooting for. It will be interesting to see when I get back and do the completed trip report to compare and see what actually happened I'm slightly concerned about rope drops and getting a teen up and an almost-teen up

So here's Day 1:

We will fly out of Austin at 7 am and are supposed to be landing in Orlando around noon. At this point, I hope nobody is starving because I'd really like to eat lunch at the Poly instead of something at the airport. ugh. We don't have any ADRs this day but I'd love to get some sushi or sandwich from Cook's once we get to the Poly versus some Burger King junk at airport. We'll just have to see on that.

We'll take Magical Express right on over to Poly and I'm sort of estimating we'll get there by 2 pm. Just guessing but I think that's a pretty generous amount of time to make that happen.

If luck is on my side, we'll have a room ready early. But...I'm not going to count on it and get my hopes up just in case. So we will either check in and get settled into our room or get settled into a lounge chair down by the pool!

Ok, here's where things get crazy. I already bought tix for the Christmas Party for this night!!! I know, I know, it is not recommended to do this sort of thing on arrival night but I'm going to take a gamble. The reason why is that the only other party going on while we are there is on Fri night and that one will also be the last one for quite awhile (with Thanksgiving in the way) so I have a feeling it will be much more crowded than the one on Tues. night. I also feel ok about it since the kids are 11 and 14 and can stay up much much later than us old coots so I really don't have to worry about grumpy toddlers and all that stuff. We probably wont go to the party right at 4:00 but rather around 5 or 6. Since we wont get settled into the Poly until 2ish, I'd really like to rest a couple hours whether it's in our room or napping in a lounge chair. Plus, I'd like to wait to enter the party when it's a tad darker out to see the beautiful lights and maybe snow falling better. Here's a pic I grabbed online of the Christmas parade. I soooooo want to see these wooden soldiers!

So in a nutshell, Day 1 will be flying in and checking into the Poly and hitting the Christmas Party. I do plan on day 2 being sleep in until we wake up day so we should be able to catch up on sleep then! whew.

I just really hope we can rest up some between checking in around 2 and hitting the party around 6. Plus, knowing we are going to sleep in as late as want the next day will help. My family has no clue what the Christmas Party is nor have they ever heard of it. Of course I've never been either but knowing Disney and what the parks are like on regular days, I can just imagine how gorgeous and fun the party will be! Wont that be a cool first impression for my family too?? Their very first Disney park experience will be walking into the Christmas Party. How fun is that! Now, I imagine we will do quite a few rides this night at the Party even though most people focus on the party stuff. The truth of the matter is though that none of us are into characters (don't shoot me) so we will not be spending THAT much time with that sort of thing. I'm sure we'll grab a photo or two if we stumble upon a character but it's not a priority at all. I really am mostly interested in the parade and fireworks at the party and of course the kids will want to get on as many rides as possible.

I can't wait!!

 

[skier_pete]

The perils of being Disney obsessed...the eye rolls and crazy looks you get. We've all been there. Fortunately, both DW and DD are amongst the crazy, so Disney planning talk doesn't phase them at all. (DD favorite CD is the Disney Parks music CD....it's apparently genetic.)

My biggest concern with doing the Christmas Party on the first day would not be the lateness of it. It would be the fact that you are relying on the airline industry to get you to Disney on time. Our first family trip in 2006, we were delayed severely on arrival (it was weather related) and missed out on most of our first park day and also our original ADR. We were able to adjust, and ate at a different restaurant later at night, and we still had a good time. However, if something happens to your flight and you are delayed a few hours, you could end up in full-on panic mode...not the way I would want to start a trip.

However, being as I'm throwing you a concern you might not have thought of, I will also throw you a solution. While generally Disney doesn't give refunds, they almost always will let you shift the dates of your hard ticket event if necessary. If for some reason your plane is severely delayed, go to guest services and explain the situation, they will probably let you exchange the tickets for the Friday party, as long as it is not sold out, which is very unlikely pre-Christmas.

I do agree with you that Tuesday will be much less crowded than Friday, and is probably the way to go. Our (Halloween) party experience was not at all what we were hoping for. Crowds were huge, and lines for characters and candy were long - we did a Thursday party. While the ride lines WERE short, that really wasn't what we were there for. I was very disappointed with what we got for the cost versus just going to the park on any old day. That is why we are NOT going to MVMCP. However, I'm saying all this as a roundabout way to indicate, IF you are going to try it...going on a Tuesday is definitely the way to go. I would also encourage, since your family isn't "into" Disney, to skip all the huge character M&G lines, and focus on the awesome rides with no wait. Just make sure to see the parade and fireworks, as that's really what your paying the $65 per person to see.

TTFN,
SkierPete

 

[swwake]

Those non-Disney obsessed people - they'll never understand us, will they?

I think your plans are awesome. Even though you're getting up early for your flight, remember you lose an hour on your way. So noon feels like 11am. 2pm will feel like 1 (though I'm betting you're at the Poly closer to 1pm). So if you snack on the flights, you may not be ready for lunch until you get to the Poly.

I'll bet your family's adrenaline will be running so high you'll get a lot done that day - maybe even enter the MK early for some low-crowd rides (you can come back to Main Street at dark), and able to stay up until the party's over at midnight (really 11pm, remember?). Then the sleep-in day will take care of the rest.

 

[AprilRenee]

Regarding getting the teens up. On our last trip DH and I took my 20, 17, and 14 year old brothers and let me tell you, dragging them out of bed was a chore in and of itself. However, after our first morning at the park with no lines and getting 300 things done by noon, they understood the value of it. It was still hard to drag them out of bed but they didn't fight it. They just looked at me kinda bleary-eyed but got up a few min later.

I also warned them WAY in advanced, during our planning period, that they weren't going to be sleeping in. I told them why and really just talked up how much we could get done in the AM if we got there for rope drop. So they were prepared and it wasn't a shock that first morning.

As far as eating at the airport...just don't give them the option! :-D I guess if someone pitches a fit and wants food you might have to give in but we arrived about the same time as you and got food in the park about 2pm after getting to our resort, checking in and bussing to the park. We were starving by then but since you'll be eating at the resort you'll get food a little faster than we did.

Don't worry! Your family will be excited once you're on your way! I'm sure they're excited now but it's not "cool" to be excited about the same thing your mom is excited about. My brothers were so chill about it during all the planning but were practically bouncing out of their seats on the plane and once we got to the resort/parks.

 

[skier_pete]

Oh, we did this once. The prices at the Orlando airport aren't much different from Disney. Last time we were coming in late, so we got our food at the airport and ate on the ME...no thanks...next time we'll grab a snack and wait until we are off the bus.

Leaving 2 hours for the bus is pretty reasonable. We've done ME a number of times now, and I think only once did it take 2 hours from getting off the plane to arriving at the resort. We have occasionally gotten really lucky and had it go under an hour, but it's mostly between 1 and 1.5 is the norm. (It's funny that when the airport is LESS crowded we've waited longer for ME...that's because they won't send the bus without X number of people.)

Also, there's a pretty good chance your room will be ready - particularly if you use the on-line check-in.

 

[FosterA]

The perils of being Disney obsessed...the eye rolls and crazy looks you get. We've all been there. Fortunately, both DW and DD are amongst the crazy, so Disney planning talk doesn't phase them at all. (DD favorite CD is the Disney Parks music CD....it's apparently genetic.)

My biggest concern with doing the Christmas Party on the first day would not be the lateness of it. It would be the fact that you are relying on the airline industry to get you to Disney on time. Our first family trip in 2006, we were delayed severely on arrival (it was weather related) and missed out on most of our first park day and also our original ADR. We were able to adjust, and ate at a different restaurant later at night, and we still had a good time. However, if something happens to your flight and you are delayed a few hours, you could end up in full-on panic mode...not the way I would want to start a trip.

However, being as I'm throwing you a concern you might not have thought of, I will also throw you a solution. While generally Disney doesn't give refunds, they almost always will let you shift the dates of your hard ticket event if necessary. If for some reason your plane is severely delayed, go to guest services and explain the situation, they will probably let you exchange the tickets for the Friday party, as long as it is not sold out, which is very unlikely pre-Christmas.

I do agree with you that Tuesday will be much less crowded than Friday, and is probably the way to go. Our (Halloween) party experience was not at all what we were hoping for. Crowds were huge, and lines for characters and candy were long - we did a Thursday party. While the ride lines WERE short, that really wasn't what we were there for. I was very disappointed with what we got for the cost versus just going to the park on any old day. That is why we are NOT going to MVMCP. However, I'm saying all this as a roundabout way to indicate, IF you are going to try it...going on a Tuesday is definitely the way to go. I would also encourage, since your family isn't "into" Disney, to skip all the huge character M&G lines, and focus on the awesome rides with no wait. Just make sure to see the parade and fireworks, as that's really what your paying the $65 per person to see.

TTFN,
SkierPete

Yep, I sort of in the back of my mind been thinking of "what if" situations such as the plane being very late. That's good to hear that maybe, just maybe they would let us go to the Fri. party instead. I really don't intend on going to the party before 6 pm so if our plane is even 6 hours late, we should still be fine. I just gotta see the parade and fireworks and I'd probably still feel the $ was worth it. Not ideal, but I could live with it.

I'm pretty sure we'll be ok with the flight and should have plenty of cushion between landing at noon and making it to the party. I think it will just be a matter of how much rest/nap time we'll be able to sneak in. I hope it's right on time so we can have several hours to rest!!

That's too bad that your party experience wasn't that great
I do feel that we are at an advantage in this case of not being "into characters" because we'll really enjoy short ride lines. I hope. And that parade! I'm just so excited about the Christmas parade and I don't even like parades that much! it's just that I saw it on youtube and loved it!

 

[FosterA]

Those non-Disney obsessed people - they'll never understand us, will they?

I think your plans are awesome. Even though you're getting up early for your flight, remember you lose an hour on your way. So noon feels like 11am. 2pm will feel like 1 (though I'm betting you're at the Poly closer to 1pm). So if you snack on the flights, you may not be ready for lunch until you get to the Poly.

I'll bet your family's adrenaline will be running so high you'll get a lot done that day - maybe even enter the MK early for some low-crowd rides (you can come back to Main Street at dark), and able to stay up until the party's over at midnight (really 11pm, remember?). Then the sleep-in day will take care of the rest.

You are so right! I didn't even think about that time change. Yep, we will probably just eat breakfast at Austin airport and maybe a snack on the plane or so and it will really just feel like 1:00 when we get to the Poly so we can officially eat lunch there. Allison loves her sushi so she can get that and me and Dave and Ian can round up something at Cook's. I need to figure out what food places are open during the party because we'll probably just grab a hotdog or something at Mk during the party for "dinner". Or...I'd really like to try Harbour House or something maybe around 6:00 once we get into the party but before it officially starts.

Good point.... it will be really only "11 pm" for us when the party ends so we should be in good shape. I know if I get to sleep in the next day I can handle it. It's when I do 2 sleep-deprived days in a row that I have problems but one should be just fine especially with all the adrenaline flowing!

p.s. did you decide on free dining or sticking with your 40%?

 

[swwake]

p.s. did you decide on free dining or sticking with your 40%?

I still haven't had time to look at it, but I really doubt FD would be worth it for us. We won't eat that much, and this 40% PIN is HUGE.

 

[PixieMama]

I think your arrival day plans sound great!

We've never done MVMCP, but we have done MNSSHP. I don't see anything wrong with going to the party on your arrival day... I think you'll have plenty of time for your flight, check-in, and rest all before going to the party. On the day we did MNSSHP, we actually went to the park from Rope Drop until about 3 p.m. before heading back to the resort. At the time, my kids were just 4 and 6... we had time to grab dinner at the resort food court and change the girls into their Halloween costumes. Needless to say, they were pooped pretty early during the party! So if we were to attend another party, I would do it on a day where we don't plan on going to the park first!