Am I crazy???? The things we do for our children....

[Kimberly9701]

Ok so, I've had all kinds of issues getting a TPV CR reservation for the dates (following our Fantasy sailing) I wanted (within 48 hours of letting hold expire that I had placed on said dates/room). Well, I went ahead and booked a lake view room and have been pouting and obsessively checking the dates for tpv availability daily ever since. Growing more furious at the prospect of my son not being able to wake and run to our balcony excited to see the castle, and especially Space Mountain.


So, Disney got me to open my wallet again..to stay a day longer than I wanted.. And I decided to go ahead and book a 4th night in order to get the TPV.

Now my son will be out of school for a full 15 days (including Thanksgiving break and our cruise), because of this I thought maybe that 4th day should be a little more relaxing and skip the parks. I think taking a resort day on a 4 night trip may be kind of pointless..but I also think we may both need it by that point in our trip.

Is there enough to do during December if skip the parks? Last year we did breakfast at Ohana, rented a boat, mini golf, roasted marshmallows, and ordered room service for dinner to watch the Electrical Water Pageant and Fireworks from our room on our resort day. Obviously this year we will skip water sports in December. I'm thinking maybe do breakfast at 1900 park fare. Mickey's winter Summerland. Whispering canyon for lunch. And room service again for the water parade and fireworks.
Do most kids enjoy seeing the different resorts?
Maybe hope that a Pirate cruise is scheduled that morning from GF?
We stayed at Poly this past September, and didn't visit any other resorts.. but with all of the Christmas decorations I thought it could be interesting.

 

[Kimberly9701]

Another question-

I'm using 2 day hopper- old non expiring tickets for me. So I'll still need to purchase 2 days for my son. And I'll also be getting 2 1 night Christmas Party tickets for us.

Which is the better option?
1. To do 2 base days for him and not hop.
Or
2. 1 day hopper 1 day base. Combining HS and Epcot during hopper day.

 

[pmaurer74]

Another question-

I'm using 2 day hopper- old non expiring tickets for me. And purchasing 2 1 night Christmas Party tickets for myself and son.

Which is the better option?
1. To do 2 base days for him and not hop.
Or
2. 1 day hopper 1 day base. Combining HS and Epcot during hopper day.

can you do the party on the day you are not going to the parks?

 

[Kimberly9701]

Ok adding yet another question to this list-
On our 4th (rest day) we will be doing 2 table service meals and room service.
With the other 3 character meals scheduled would it make sense to just upgrade to the DDDP?

 

[Kimberly9701]

can you do the party on the day you are not going to the parks?

Yes, we are. We'll be there 4 days.. 1 MK day, 1 HS (possible Epcot combo day) 1 Party. 1 "rest day".

 

[Mikie]

Another question-

I'm using 2 day hopper- old non expiring tickets for me. And purchasing 2 1 night Christmas Party tickets for myself and son.

Which is the better option?
1. To do 2 base days for him and not hop.
Or
2. 1 day hopper 1 day base. Combining HS and Epcot during hopper day.

Can't speak as much to the Resorts in December or how much you'd want a break day (I know WDW is exhausting, but don't know if the cruises are a more relaxing trip, leaving you ready for busy park days)

On your tickets, though, a 1 day base plus a 1-day hopper will cost you $108+$158+ tax; a 2-day hopper would be $245 and a better deal. 2-day base is "only" $190 and financially best, but it really depends on what parks you'd visit and what you like best whether you need the hopper or not. Personally, in your shoes, I'd do the 2 MK Parties, 1 AK day and 1 Epcot day, since you're at CR and can get to Epcot by monorail, and I'd skip the hopping.

 

[Mikie]

Ok adding yet another question to this list-
On our 4th (rest day) we will be doing 2 table service meals and room service.
With the other 3 character meals scheduled would it make sense to just upgrade to the DDDP?

There a calculator at www.distripplanner.com that can tell you whether DDP or out of pocket makes the most sense based upon where you want to eat.

 

[Kimberly9701]

There a calculator at www.distripplanner.com that can tell you whether DDP or out of pocket makes the most sense based upon where you want to eat.

Thanks!

 

[Kimberly9701]

Can't speak as much to the Resorts in December or how much you'd want a break day (I know WDW is exhausting, but don't know if the cruises are a more relaxing trip, leaving you ready for busy park days)

On your tickets, though, a 1 day base plus a 1-day hopper will cost you $108+$158+ tax; a 2-day hopper would be $245 and a better deal. 2-day base is "only" $190 and financially best, but it really depends on what parks you'd visit and what you like best whether you need the hopper or not. Personally, in your shoes, I'd do the 2 MK Parties, 1 AK day and 1 Epcot day, since you're at CR and can get to Epcot by monorail, and I'd skip the hopping.

I've never planned on "hopping" until my son was older. But since my 2 days are hopper passes..I've considered doing it this trip to take advantage of them.

Edit-- out cruise is 4 ports and we will do excursions at each.. I specifically chose DCL because I'm not very good at doing "relaxing" vacations, and thought this would be a great way to do Disney without my over scheduling us at DW...but it's not looking like it's going to be..lol

 

[BigAlsGal]

Sometimes they will let you take off extra days. Maybe call and see if they'll give you the same room category for 3 nights. Can't hurt to try!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Yes, but we all are.

 

[scrapquitler]

Ok so, I've had all kinds of issues getting a TPV CR reservation for the dates (following our Fantasy sailing) I wanted (within 48 hours of letting hold expire that I had placed on said dates/room). Well, I went ahead and booked a lake view room and have been pouting and obsessively checking the dates for tpv availability daily ever since. Growing more furious at the prospect of my son not being able to wake and run to our balcony excited to see the castle, and especially Space Mountain.


So, Disney got me to open my wallet again..to stay a day longer than I wanted.. And I decided to go ahead and book a 4th night in order to get the TPV.

Now my son will be out of school for a full 15 days (including Thanksgiving break and our cruise), because of this I thought maybe that 4th day should be a little more relaxing and skip the parks. I think taking a resort day on a 4 night trip may be kind of pointless..but I also think we may both need it by that point in our trip.

Is there enough to do during December if skip the parks? Last year we did breakfast at Ohana, rented a boat, mini golf, roasted marshmallows, and ordered room service for dinner to watch the Electrical Water Pageant and Fireworks from our room on our resort day. Obviously this year we will skip water sports in December. I'm thinking maybe do breakfast at 1900 park fare. Mickey's winter Summerland. Whispering canyon for lunch. And room service again for the water parade and fireworks.
Do most kids enjoy seeing the different resorts?
Maybe hope that a Pirate cruise is scheduled that morning from GF?
We stayed at Poly this past September, and didn't visit any other resorts.. but with all of the Christmas decorations I thought it could be interesting.

Personally, I'd rather spend an extra day at the park than do all those extra things (which I'm sure will cost a lot more than adding a 4th day to your park tickets, if thats a consideration for you)

 

[serenitynow]

Not crazy, just a Disney parent!

 

[bbjunkie]

How old is your son? (I missed it if you mentioned it.)

 

[HM2012Butler]

I don't think it will be that exciting to resort hop. I could be wrong though

 

[JennyMP03]

I wish I'd had a "crazy" Disney parent growing up. Your kid is lucky.

 

[Kimberly9701]

How old is your son? (I missed it if you mentioned it.)

5.. Will be 6 April 18th. Maybe I should just do a half park day then. AK for a few hours mid afternoon then back to resort.
Decisions decisions..

 

[Kimberly9701]

Sometimes they will let you take off extra days. Maybe call and see if they'll give you the same room category for 3 nights. Can't hurt to try!

I've tried!!! I had no intention on even booking the Lake View room when I did..I was planning on going thru a travel agent but called when I noticed the dates were no longer available.
I ended up rebooking thru her and then cancelling my original res. We both tried, and both failed.

Personally, I'd rather spend an extra day at the park than do all those extra things (which I'm sure will cost a lot more than adding a 4th day to your park tickets, if thats a consideration for you)

True, but I didn't want the craziness of the parks that day, that was the reason for the semi "down time" day before we head home.
1900 park fare breakfast is about the only character meal that I wanted which we haven't done/doing this trip.. And it does not fit in to our plans any other day. I thought if available he can do a pirate cruise after, and then we could head to mini golf from there. After that come back, relax, change, do a late lunch at Whispering Canyon and see the Christmas decorations.. I've always been curious about WL that time of year.
All of that being said- I definitely don't want to bore him that day!

Does anyone know when the pirate cruise dates become available for reserving? Every one was sold out when I tried to book one last trip.

 

[Kimberly9701]

I wish I'd had a "crazy" Disney parent growing up. Your kid is lucky.

If you read our vacation itineraries you might not say that.lol. I'm such an over scheduler and by day 3 last time my son had a meltdown. I chilled out after that and realized maybe if we miss a parade it isn't the end of the world. 8 nights at Disney was too much for us though.. I ended up scratching Lego land out of our itinerary for day 9 and we just headed to key west for a week instead. And you know your kid is worn out when a Lego fanatic says it's ok to skip Legoland.lol

 

[YawningDodo]

Ok so, I've had all kinds of issues getting a TPV CR reservation for the dates (following our Fantasy sailing) I wanted (within 48 hours of letting hold expire that I had placed on said dates/room). Well, I went ahead and booked a lake view room and have been pouting and obsessively checking the dates for tpv availability daily ever since. Growing more furious at the prospect of my son not being able to wake and run to our balcony excited to see the castle, and especially Space Mountain.

I don't think you're crazy, but I do think you're putting an awful lot of pressure on this vacation to generate picture-perfect, pre-planned experiences. Furious? Really? What if you do get the reservation, but it rains every morning you're at CR and you don't have a good view of the castle anyway? Or what if your son isn't as excited about the view as you expect? Will that ruin the vacation for you? Because that sounds like an incredibly stressful attitude to take toward vacation planning.

As for your actual question, I have become a big fan of rest/resort days since running myself and my mother ragged on our trip last fall. I still wouldn't want to do a resort day on my last day, though. For me, the point of taking a break like that is so that you'll be fresh going into the next park day. If you think you'll be worn out by your trip (which it sounds like you will be), why not have a rest day earlier in the WDW leg of the trip, and spend the last day going out with a bang at you and your son's favorite park? If the cruise does wear you out with all its excursions, a rest day before three park days might be just the ticket.

I do think there's plenty to do around the resorts, as others have suggested. It might also be enough of a rest to (as someone else suggested above) use your Christmas party tickets on a day you don't plan to otherwise visit the parks. Sleep in that morning, have a late breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, relax around the resorts, and show up to the party that evening feeling fresh as daisies.