ALMOST magical first trip...Disney Christmas 11

[KsquaredMomma]

Hello everyone! This is my very first trip report ever! Truth be told I have been stalking Disboards since the initial planning stages of my trip and found the trip reports to be SOOOOOOO helpful so I was hoping that I could return the favor. Since I haven't done a PTR let me give you guys a few details and introduce you to our crew!

First there's myself- mommy, wife, domestic goddess and the only princess lover in my brood of all boys! Note I am also a "wanna be" extreme couponer so you will hear me talk lots about budgets, saving money etc- all of which quickly subsided after the first day. We're on vacation DANGIT! I'll totally have a full price magical margarita if I want to lol. Then there's my awesome husband who has never ever been to Disneyworld so he was pretty excited. It was so cute. Then last but not least are our two boys DS 8 and DS 2 (yep quite a gap there lol ) Also joining us for this trip were my father in law and his fairly new wife----- but more on that later!

Our trip was scheduled for December 10-18 2011. Thanks to the Unofficial Guide and touringplans.com I had it all planned out to perfection . We opted for the 5 day (non hopper) passes and would be visiting MK (2x), Epcot, AK and DHS. Must dos on this trip were Wishes, Illuminations and Osborne Spectacle of Lights. We were on a budget (or so we thought) and decided to not do the Christmas party at MK, by the end of the trip I didn't see that we saved significantly by not going anyway so next time it'll be a MUST.

We were driving down to Orlando from Louisiana, so about an 11 hour drive. Since the driving was to be split up between my husband and fnl we decided to leave at 8pm so that the kids could sleep all the way there. Part of that plan worked out just as it should- the kids slept ALL the way but DH ended up doing most of the driving because he's stubborn like that . Thankfully we made it safe and the drive wasn't too too terrible. We were staying off property at Crestwynd Resort. Due to the size of our party we thought a condo would probably be best- most cost efficient way to go about this. It was a beautiful condo 3ba/3br only about 1.5 miles away from Disney and totally affordable so we were pretty pleased. I thought we would save money by preparing some of our own meals but there's something about a Disney Hot Dog that just calls your name- MAGIC I tell you! Plus, after being at the parks for most of the days Mama (aka ME) was NOT trying to do any cooking or cleaning, okay? So I didn't lol. Lesson learned- next time staying on site WITH Dining plan!

We ended up arriving at the condo around 9-10am and we were all pretty beat so we showered and rested up a bit. I took about an hour nap, husband took NO nap so he was up for like 24 hours and still going strong. I don't know WHAT he was on- too much Monster perhaps. Everyone was eager to see the sites so we headed out mid afternoon to Downtown Disney. The drive there was literally about 10 minutes from our condo--WINNING

It was pretty dreary out so we sped through Lego Imagination Center and World of Disney over on to our late lunch ADRs at Rainforest Cafe. We arrived a little early but were seated right away. Just from walking through DTD I saw that there was ALOT of people everywhere. I wasn't expecting that many people being that a bunch of guides have called this week a "low crowd" week but it wasn't too terrible and we were just excited and blessed to be there. Our kids were in love with Rainforest Cafe as they've never been. The Rain storm every 20 minutes was a big hit as well as the overall atmosphere in the restaurant...the food was okay. I'd go here again just for the experience. Here's some pics-

And that pretty much concluded our first day in Disney! I was so beyond ecstatic and on cloud 9 where I think I could have stayed had it not been for the extra part of our party...sigh

Since I'm so new I'm not quite sure how to do that fancy link thingy that lets you skip right to the next update....so please bear with me! I'll try to make it worth the work [/SIZE ]

 

[KsquaredMomma]

So Day 2 was something I had been waiting literally months for- Breakfast at Crystal Palace! We had 8:50 ADRs and arrived at the park around 8:30 ish. The ride from the parking lot, to the transportation center and from the transport center to MK via monorail was a little longer than I had anticipated. We had to wait some time for the monorail but once we were at MK we literally walked right on in. Main Street was pretty sparse and it was a sight to behold. My first time seeing the castle in over 20 years and I probably could have shed a tear had it not been for the date we had with Winnie and that puffed french toast I've read about!

Crystal Palace was beautiful, noisy, but what else can you expect from all the excited kids? I had reservations for 6 but in rushing to CP we somehow lost my in laws. We were told that we couldn't be seated until our entire party was present so we attempted to call dfnl on his cell to no avail. My kids were starving and excited as they could see Winnie marching around through the windows and we were standing outside, like rejects lol, waiting on my fnl to realize he lost us and pick up his phone. When we finally did get in touch with them they told us that they weren't really hungry and wouldn't be joining us for breakfast. Okay great, could you have told us this 20 minutes ago instead of having us wait outside for you???? ALMOST ruined my morning until we got to see these guys!

My youngest son had some serious trepidation about these characters and didn't want anything to do with them at ALL!

Breakfast was pretty good we particularly enjoyed the french toast and my husband made a couple runs to the omelette station. The kids really enjoyed the mickey waffles!

I can't for the life of me remember our server's name but he was absolutely terrific. I ended up leaving an envelope with 400.00 CASH on our table and didn't realize it was missing until hours later when it was time to leave the parks. My husband and I retraced our steps and had all but claimed our defeat (which would have made for a very miserable mommy for the rest of the trip) but we returned to CP and found that our server picked it up and had it sent over to City Hall for us. They had attempted to call us several times but we had never heard our phones. I was so elated when the money was returned to us! Wow...it really is a Magical place!

After breakfast we took a few pics in front of the Castle and headed to Fantasyland.

We practically walked onto all of the rides- first the carousel which my youngest absolutely loved, then fast passes for peter pan and on to It's a small world. We loved Philarmagic, the 2 year old was turned off by the water sprinkling on him and decided to take a nap. The line for Dumbo was extremely long so we skipped it. Half of our time I felt like I was looking for a space to park the dang stroller! I cannot WAIT to return when we no longer need one of those things, my goodness.

We had lunch at Cosmic Rays which was pretty yummy and made our way to main street around 2 to claim our spots for the parade

All in all a great first day. We decided to toss the touring plan and just let our kids guide us. It was all about them anyway so if they spotted something they wanted to see or ride we did it. Anything with a wait over 20 minutes we either grabbed fast passes or skipped. We had anticipated that this trip we would not be able to do and see everything anyway so we were okay with that. The Christmas decorations, except for Main St., were pretty mild. It didn't look like a Christmas Fest to say the least but I think that huge beautiful tree more than made up for it- despite the rain clouds looming above us. I think we ended up leaving the park right after the parade, we were all pretty beat!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I'll read! We're also driving 11 hours next fall, but from Mississippi!

 

[KsquaredMomma]

I'll read! We're also driving 11 hours next fall, but from Mississippi!

Thanks! It took us about 11 and 1/2 hours but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated!

 

[leshunlenese]

Hey! Im joining in. We were there the same time as you were. me and my DS who is also 2. You have a beautiful family!

 

[alex9179]

I'm excited to read your report! You remind me of myself...couponer, planning our family's first visit together, trying to do it as frugally as possible only to throw in the towel and just save more for the trip!
I had also thought this would be our one and only trip because of costs, but now find myself yearning to go back before we've even gone. I blame the DIS.

I went from staying offsite and only getting 4 day tickets to staying at the Poly and getting 6 or 7 day tickets with the possibility of an AP for myself (in case those discounts are awsome next fall), MNSSHP, fancy anniversary dinner for myself and DH which means Kids Club! I kinda went nuts Thankfully, we've been saving for a long time so anything added to the budget is gravy. Thank goodness for year round budgeting.

Oh, and we're driving from Texas. Not looking forward to that!

 

[KsquaredMomma]

Hey! Im joining in. We were there the same time as you were. me and my DS who is also 2. You have a beautiful family!

Thank you and what a handsome little guy you have! I hope you guys enjoyed yourselves. I can't wait to go back! lol

 

[KsquaredMomma]

I'm excited to read your report! You remind me of myself...couponer, planning our family's first visit together, trying to do it as frugally as possible only to throw in the towel and just save more for the trip!
I had also thought this would be our one and only trip because of costs, but now find myself yearning to go back before we've even gone. I blame the DIS.

I went from staying offsite and only getting 4 day tickets to staying at the Poly and getting 6 or 7 day tickets with the possibility of an AP for myself (in case those discounts are awsome next fall), MNSSHP, fancy anniversary dinner for myself and DH which means Kids Club! I kinda went nuts Thankfully, we've been saving for a long time so anything added to the budget is gravy. Thank goodness for year round budgeting.

LOL. I totally understand it! I'll just stick with saving here at home so I can just not even bother worrying about it next time. Before I got there I was like, I wonder why everyone is so insistent on staying ON property, NOW I understand. We took the monorail and stopped at a few of the resorts and can't wait to go back so we can experience it. And the Poly was GORGEOUS!

 

[KsquaredMomma]

Day 2- Tuesday 12/12 was Disney Hollywood Studios day. According to touringplans.com this was the best day to go as the crowd calendar was at 3.8, the lowest it would be all week.

I had researched enough to know what needed to be done this morning so I got my soldiers up, went over the game plan and off on our mission- Toy Story Mania. We arrived at the park about 8:30, got through the turnstiles and was stopped right before Pixar Place, along with what seemed to be a thousand other folks. I knew it, my husband knew it- we were ALL headed for the same place. I was on the injury reserve list of sorts with my manning the stroller so DH was in charge of getting to TSM in order to get the fastpasses. By 9 the CMs let us loose in the park and just as I had anticipated, people were literally making a fast dash to TSM. The line was horrendous before my husband, and even more so behind him. He disappeared as my sons and I sat on a bench and waited and before long our hero comes along- with three magical passes in his hand. See you in an hour Woody!

My husband with the fastpasses!

We went over to Disney Junior and I think my oldest son who was too “cool” for everything “baby” had just as much fun as my youngest (let’s keep that between us lol) When the show was over we headed over to the Disney Animation building (sorry for getting all of these titles so wrong) which was located right next door to Disney Junior. There we saw Mickey Mouse and Handy Manny- and escaped from the rain. Luckily, via disboards, I knew to pack a few ponchos so we were so relieved to have some sort of protection from what appeared to be a 15 minute full on storm. We waited some time for our picture with Mickey, I almost couldn’t keep my youngest son from running up to him, since at this time he was starting to like the characters.

After seeing Mickey we decided to get a bite to eat near the Tower of Terror. DS 8 and I were watching and analyzing the ride the entire time, would our courage grow before we were done with our chips and water? Windows open, hello people on the elevator, oooh high pitched screams then DROP- no thanks! So on to the other side of the park we go….far far away from that dang Tower. We rode the Backlot tour which was okay. My oldest son was very concerned when we approached the mountain and big rig scene. I don’t think he liked it much but coming off of the ride he saw some of his favorite Star Wars characters so catastrophe averted.

We did just a few more attractions- Muppets, the Motor show and walked around a bit before leaving the park for lunch and rest.

We returned about 5:30 and was just in time to join the masses of people headed over for Fantasmic. I really enjoyed this show. DS2 fell asleep here but the rest of us were really entertained. It was the first time any of us have seen it and we were pretty blown away. But whoa, it could be a little scary for kids no?

We had ADRs at Sci Fi Theatre Diner at 750 and arrived a bit early but were seated anyway. Again FNL and MNL decided they didn’t want to eat so it was just the four of us, fine. My youngest son slept through the entire meal the rest of us were blown away by the atmosphere. It was really really cool in there and the oreo milkshake DS8 had was amazing. Our food wasn’t all that great and I don’t think we’ll make it a point to return here but how unique is this place? So very cool. When were done with dinner we headed to the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. The park was closing as it was well after 8 by this time but loads of people were still admiring the lights. And they were AMAZING!

 

[windi622]

Oh my goodness, I'm loving your Trip Report!! Your family is beautiful...those little boys are just too cute!! Thank you for sharing!!

 

[KsquaredMomma]

Day 3- 12/13 Tuesday was Epcot day which was supposed to be at a 2 for the crowd. We found this to be fairly accurate. The park didn’t look packed at all. The day was beautiful, for the first time since we’ve arrived it wasn’t supposed to rain. We arrived at exactly 9 and went right into the park.

First ride – test track! My husband and his dad loved this ride and attempted to peer pressure me into riding but standing outside, listening to the car whiz on by really intimidated me. I had seen this ride on several vacation planning dvds and on youtube and really thought I’d be able to “woman” up and take a spin. I totally chickened out. There was a five minute wait time so pretty much walk on. My husband gave it rave reviews and I’m convinced that I need to return to Orlando JUST to get on this ride. Oh yeah! We then made our way to Mission Space- why Green (low intensity)of course, did you expect me, mama scaredy cat to conquer the orange (higher intensity) version? Mama don’t do fast fast and mama certainly don’t do upside down lol. My husband, ds8 and I rode this together and we loved it. It’s amazing how realistic these rides feel. Really felt like we were going into space!

After Mission Space we trekked on over to The Land in an attempt to get on Soarin’. The wait for this ride was 45 minutes, um wow! I had totally forget how important it was to get a fast pass here so we detoured into the Finding Nemo attraction. No one, myself, DS8, Daddy or even DS2 was too impressed with this ride. But it was a much needed break from walking and the graphics were pretty cool. We then headed to Talking with Crush (again, names- I’m sure I messed up the name of this show lol). DS 8 was really entertained, my 2 year old- not so much. Once we were done with Crush we headed over to the Land pavilion for some lunch at Sunshine Seasons (name ?). It wasn’t crowded at all but the selection of food overwhelmed me and I felt rushed into picking the chicken and yellow rice which I didn’t love. The chicken was dry and the rice was okay. Definitely paid more for it than I thought it was worth but hey, Disney! While we were at lunch we decided to grab some fastpasses for Soarin’. I think it was about 12 noon and the return time was 8pm that night! WOW! This ride had to be pretty incredible. Luckily we were due to return to the park around that time for Illuminations so all was good. We rode Living with the Land since it was right there with no wait time, my youngest son was more entertained with the fact that we were on a boat, on water. I thought it was really interesting. I time weren’t on my side however, I’d probably skip this attraction.

Next up was Captain EO. Oh my goodness my oldest son was NOT feeling this show at all! Poor thing. The floor moving, the loud blasts and the water splashing him was just too much . I swear I had to bribe him into seeing any other 3D shows going forward. I really liked it and I think this was high on my husband’s favorite things ever list. It was great to see MJ again, in his prime- rip MJ. The kids were so entertained by the fountains which squirted water in the most peculiar fashion. It was amazing to see, I tell you Disney never ceases to amaze me.

Little video of the fountain


We were on our way to meet up with the inlaws near the big ball, as we had learned separate is better for all parties involved! But we passed by character spot and the wait time went from 45 mins to 20 mins so we decided to meet the fab five. DS2 was totally excited about seeing his bud Mickey and his favorite Goofy! But I think they lied about that dang wait time. It felt way longer than 20 minutes, I’m not sure if my feet hurting exaggerated the wait time or what, but I believe that was the longest line of our entire vacation. We met the gang, took some pics and looked for the nearest exit. We felt a breakdown coming on, courtesy of our little one, so it was definitely time to call it a day- for now.

We returned to the condo and chilled out for a while. As luck would have it, my previously deliriously sleepy 2 year old was not having the nap thing. He was too excited and would not go to sleep . We relaxed as best we could and returned to Epcot around 7:30. The weather was perfect! The breeze felt wonderful and the ball was all lit up, I seriously felt like I was in a dream only my inlaws were there.

We rode Spaceship Earth then headed to Soarin. Even with the fast pass I think we waited about 20-25 minutes before boarding the ride. This ride is seriously the most peaceful, serene thing ever! I really enjoyed it my only complaint is that it was way too short. They could have left me hanging over the ocean for a bit longer and I would have been A-Okay!

When we were done we met up with the inlaws and headed over to the World Showcase. masses of people had already started claiming their spots for the Illuminations fireworks show!We had a great little spot right past Mexico. Put our ponchos to good use as floor mats, sat down and began to wait for the show. Hubby grabbed a few hot dogs (those hot dogs omg- and get this, I don’t even LIKE hot dogs but I promise I ate like 5 that week) and we watched Illuminations. The show was breath taking! By far the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen in my life and the added holiday element was beautiful. It was definitely worth all the headache to get there. My kids enjoyed every moment of it and watching them light up brought me back to what mattered. Priceless!

I remember going to Epcot during my first and only trip to WDW years ago and nearly passed on it this time because I didn't recall having much fun there. But I'm so happy I didn't. We had a blast and made a lot of great memories here. I really can't wait to go back to see the parts of the world showcase we missed!

 

[KsquaredMomma]

Oh my goodness, I'm loving your Trip Report!! Your family is beautiful...those little boys are just too cute!! Thank you for sharing!!

Thank you so much! And you're welcome

 

[KsquaredMomma]

Please excuse my obnoxiously large pictures. I have no idea why they're coming up so big!