Family Christmas (Dec 9-12, 2025) at Bay Lake Towers, completed 23 Dec

[tkd lisa]

Welcome to my December Disney World Trip Report.

I used to write up all of our trips, way back when my kids were still at home. I recently wrote up our European Disney Cruise on the cruise line board, and it made me remember how much I like being able to recapture the experience, and potentially help others in their planning.

So starting with the basics:

The Cast (in order of appearance):
Me, Lisa, age 61, recently retired from the federal government after a LONG career. I live in Tampa FL, and wouldn’t be able to count the number of WDW trips I’ve taken. I’m a DVC member (own at Saratoga Springs and Hilton Head), and I do most of the planning for the family.

DM, who turns 88 one week after this trip. She’s a retired nurse, and lives about 2 hours south of me. She has taken a WDW break for the last couple of years, but decided to buy an AP again and come along for the ride. She uses a rented mobility scooter because she has a substantial heart issue which limits her endurance. She can walk, just not very far.

DGS, 5 years old. This little guy is a true bright light, and he loves his Grammy (that’s me) and GiGi (DM, it’s short for great grandma). He’s on the autism spectrum, and is undergoing quite a bit of therapy to develop coping tools for him and the family. He does qualify for Disability Assistance Service (DAS), which will come to play in the report.

DS, 32 years old, active duty member of the Navy stationed at Kings Bay GA (just north of Jacksonville FL). Since COVID, DS has been on regular deployment, so he’s missed a lot of our Disney trips. But he’s on shore duty now, so he has been able to join us for the last couple of times. His objectives for this trip were to see the new Villians show, and ride some of the bigger rides with his daughter.

DDIL, 34 years old, home schooling mom. True Disney lover, who absolutely KILLS at trivia because she remembers everything. She and DS were both in the Disney college program, and she ended her Disney time working costuming for Fantasmic. Seeing this show was her only request for the trip.

DGD, 9 years old. We joke she was literally born at WDW (actually at Celebration Hospital). She’s tall enough for everything at WDW now, and really loves the thrill rides.

When/Where: 9-12 December, in a 1 bedroom at Bay Lake Towers Contemporary Resort.
Plans:

I had bought new Pixie Dust Annual Pass vouchers for myself, DM, DS, and DGD earlier this year which had to be activated. DDIL and DGS had been using military salute tickets, and we were going to upgrade them to APs as well, so our first stop was guest services.

DM, DGS, and myself were driving over from Tampa early Tuesday morning (9 Dec), while DS, DDIL, and DGD were driving down from southern Georgial. DGD had a girl scout event on Saturday, so I picked up DGS early. The park lineup was:

Tues, Dec 9th – Hollywood Studios in the morning, park hop to EPCOT, then catch the Christmas Party fireworks from the top of the Contemporary.

Wed, Dec 10th – Magic Kingdom in the morning, park hop based upon what people wanted to do, Dinner in the room followed by AK evening extra magic hours.

Thurs, Dec 11th – EPCOT in the morning, lunch (for DM’s birthday) at Coral Reef at 1:00. DM and I wanted to see the candlelight processional with Marlee Matlin, the others would break off. This was our only night to see Fantasmic, so that was on the docket.

Frid, Dec 12th – DM and I were doing AK in the morning. The other half was uncertain. There was a chance they would go to Sea World to use their military tickets.

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 1 am, Tuesday December 9th

I apologize up front for the lack of photos on this morning. Nothing we rode had photopass shots, and I was too busy managing the scooter and stroller to take any with my phone.

DM, DGS, and I woke up fairly early and after a quick stop by Wawa for some on the go breakfast, we were on the way to Disney by 7:30. No real traffic challenges, so we pulled into the Contemporary just before 9am. I had pre-ordered a scooter for my mom from ScooterBug, so I left her and DGS at the Bay Lake Tower lobby while I parked the car and brought in our cooler bag for storage with Bell Services.

While waiting for the scooter, we discussed our plans with DGS. As he has gotten older, and had more therapy, we’ve learned that he does better when he is able to provide input into plans. As described in the planning post, we were starting at Hollywood Studios, then taking the skyliner to EPCOT, and planned on returning to the resort via monorail (this comes into play later). I explained that we would have to stop to get our tickets set before entering the park, so he was prepared for a delay.

Smooth sailing via bus to DHS. This was our first experience with the new buses that can hold up to 4 scooters or wheelchairs. They do seem to take a while to load, but given the increased number of people using mobility devices, I’m glad that Disney has adjusted. We had 2 scooters and one wheelchair on the bus this morning. Once through security, we stopped by guest services to activate our passes. We have to show proof of Florida residence the first time the passes are used, and it can back up the ticket gates to do it there. Plus I needed to upgrade DGS and DDIL’s military tickets to change them to APs. I was able to take care of DDIL’s even though she wasn’t there, but they were going to have to stop by the window for the same FL resident validation once they arrived.

We made it into the park shortly after 10. Meanwhile, I had checked on the progress of the GA crew, and unfortunately, DGD had woken up with a sick stomach, which slowed them down. They decided it was just early morning grumpiness once she actually woke up (this side of the family are NOT morning people, and DGD is probably the worst one to get up in the morning), and they were on their way about the time we got into the park. I suggested they just skip DHS and meet us at EPCOT given the timing.

I pulled a DAS for the Millennium Falcon for DGS and me, and decided to set DM up with the new Little Mermaid show. I mistakenly thought that the construction had blocked off access behind the Runaway Railroad, so we all took the long way around through Star Wars Land. I got DM pointed toward the path throught Toy Story Land, and DGS and I headed toward our spaceship ride. He really loves to do this, and insists on being the gunner so he can shoot. We were put in a car with a pair of young adults who were riding this for the first time. DGS explained to them that they had to be the pilots, and it was very important that they didn’t damage the ship! They were really good sports, and played along with DGS’s excitement in the ride.

Rise had a very long line, so DGS and I pulled a DAS for Midway Mania and headed over to stand by on the Alien Saucer ride. The wait for this was listed as 30 minutes, and I wasn’t sure how DGS would do with the line. Thankfully, he made friends with families around us, and the time passed quickly. He also decided while we were waiting that it would be okay if we didn’t get a blue alien car, he was willing to take green. And since all the aliens are green, I knew we wouldn’t have a melt down in the loading area. Blue is his favorite color, and he’s struggled in the past if he’s not able to ride in that car.
We headed straight to Midway Mania and basically walked straight on with our DAS time. Being a party of 2 put us on the fast track for loading. I actually managed to unlock one of the extra point opportunities, which I’ve never done before! We checked in with DM, who had enjoyed the Mermaid Show, and was waiting for us near the entrance to One Man’s Dream. She told me that the ramp was open to come back up behind the runaway railroad, but that it was pretty busy. They’ve redone this ramp area. In the past, there was one ramp, and it wasn’t wide enough for two way traffic, often creating challenges between scooters and double wide strollers. They’ve now added a 2nd ramp, and there was a CM at both ends directing people onto the correct one for their direction. Unfortunately, it still was a traffic jam because 1) many people just don’t listen, and 2) you have to cross traffic to enter and exit. DM was still getting used to the scooter, and it was a bit of a challenge to help her AND manage the small stroller that I was using for DGS, but we made it. We headed to the exit and were on the skyliner by about noon for our trip to EPCOT.

Up next,

The beginning of the transportation trading card quest, meeting with the family, and an evening of Christmas fun.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

 

[tkd lisa]

Picking up where we left off, we were about to board the skyliner to transfer from Hollywood Studios to EPCOT.

I haven’t mentioned the weather yet. For a family that has lived in Florida for nearly 20 years, the forecast for this week was going to be COLD. Tuesday the 9th was initially supposed to be the coldest day, with morning lows in the high 50s, and daytime highs in the high 60s. My mom is particularly sensitive to cold weather, so she was bundled up in 3 layers every day. Thankfully, we had beautiful sunshine on Tuesday, which made it seem nicer.

Moving along, the CM at the studios skyliner stop got us into the right line for the handicapped car. If you have never noticed (or travelled with anyone needing it), the skyliner has a section at the end of the loop where they load anyone needing the line to stop. This load takes a fair bit of time because the scooter goes in, the CM chocks the scooter tires (essentially wedges on ropes, like they would put under airplane tires to prevent them from rolling) , then they load other people in your party, then you re-enter the regular loop. Then you do the same thing in reverse. The studios station went fairly quick, with only one other scooter loading. But at the transfer station, there were at least 6 groups in front of us, which was difficult for DGS. Thankfully, a nice family was handing out pixie dust bags which had stickers and a small bubble wand. 30 minutes later, we were next to load, and DGS was absolutely at his limit. As the CM placed the chocks, DGS darted into the car to “help”. Amazingly, he actually listened when I called him back, and while I was praising him for having “good listening ears”, the CM handed him a skyliner trading card, telling him it was for being a good listener. You would have thought she handed him the keys to the parks. He was absolutely THRILLED! He actually told me “this is my ticket, and it opens up special things”.

At the EPCOT international gateway (probably between 1:30 and 2:00, told you it was a LONG trip), DGS insisted on putting the trading card on Mickey’s head to open the turnstiles, before switching to his magic band. We grabbed a few things from the festival booths because everyone was hungry. We got the potato latkes and a black and white cookie at L’Chaim (starting the stamping process for the cookie stroll). DGS had some of the latkes, and a good bit of cookie and we headed onto America to get something a little more substantial. Note, all the food pictures are taken from the internet. I didn’t take any of my own.



While we were in line in America, DGS had seen the cookie stroll line up, and for some reason he hyperfocused on the linzer cookie and didn’t understand why we couldn’t order it from this booth. After all, the picture was on the poster RIGHT THERE!



Thankfully, chocolate is his favorite thing, so he was willing to accept the chocolate cookie with snickers for now. We also got the turkey, with them separating the turkey and holding the gravy to accommodate the picky eater! At least we got something in our stomachs!



As we were eating, I got a call from DDIL. They had arrived, but there was a problem. Apparently with the kerfuffle with DGD that morning, they left the house without any shoes for her. However, they had a bunch of things that the kids had outgrown in the back of the car because I was taking them to our homeless shelter after the trip. They found her a pair of shoes that she could squeeze into, and I said I’d head over to Wal Mart to get her something later on.

Now that everyone was in the park, I went ahead and pulled a DAS. Although DGS had been talking about riding Guardians for the last 2 days, he decided he had to wait another day, so I pulled Test Track, and we headed up to meet the rest of the crew. They were in the play area of the aquarium, with DGD crawling around Bruce. We still hadn’t gotten a “room ready” text, but I decided to head back over to pick up the car and head to WalMart for shoes. DM and I were going to take the bus (Mom has some monorail trauma to be clarified below) since DGS was staying with the family. However, turns out the only option to Contemporary from EPCOT is monorail.

As a backstory, on one of mom’s last trips to the parks, we were at EPCOT just as hurricane Ian was approaching in 2024. Mom had her scooter, but DDIL had driven because the kids were in a double stroller at that time, and it was easier to leave it in the car and just drive. Disney had just announced that they were closing the parks the next day, so I sent mom back to the resort on her own (DS was deployed so it was only the 5 of us on that trip), while DDIL and I took the kids to WalMart to get more food to have in the room. Mom called me pretty angry as we were heading to the store, telling me that her scooter had died and she was stuck on the monorail ramp. She did have her charger, so I had her ask a CM for help. They found her an outlet to plug in, and she eventually made it back to the room, but since then she avoids that monorail station.

As she and I went up the ramp, the scooter was definitely struggling, even though it had been more than half charged when we left the park. By the time we got to the EPCOT load station, back down and up at the ticket and transportation center, and unloaded at Contemporary, her battery was pretty well shot. This is probably what happened to her in 2024, and being alone, she panicked that she was going to get stuck. Apparently, scooters don’t handle inclines very well! Thankfully, we got the room ready text while we were transiting, so I got all of our stuff into the room, then headed to WalMart for shoes. We were in room 7234. Super easy to remember. 7 was Bay Lake Towers, it was 2nd floor, room 34. This was a great location. Easy access, on a quiet end of the building. We overlooked the main contemporary pool.

While we were doing this, the rest of the family used the test track DAS, and discovered all of the changes made during the renovation. They have taken out all of the unique, customizable things that we had really enjoyed. You no longer design your car, and all of the games at the end are gone. It’s basically just a theme park ride now. But even with that, DGS was super happy to be going SO FAST! Obligatory photopass below.



I think they rode a few other things, but it was tough with DGD’s shoe situation. DGS let her use the stroller most of the time but they headed out about 5pm, after having picked up several more cookies, completing our cookie stroll challenge, but not yet getting the reward.

As they left EPCOT, DS saw the monorail station and melted down when he was told “we’re taking the car”. Remember back at the beginning of the day, we laid out our plans, which ended with “and we’ll monorail back to our room”? They finally got him into the car by promising that we’d do a monorail loop to see the Christmas decorations after we ate.

We just ate out of our provisions in the room once everyone got there. Thinking back, I’m sure the lack of real food was part of DGS’s problem. He had eaten a yogurt on the way, half of a cookie, and half of a piece of turkey, and it was 5pm. Two bowls of macaroni later, he was ready to hop the monorail!

DM doesn’t typically go out in the evening, and especially when it’s cold out! DGD decided to stay with GiGi, so the rest of us headed over to the Poly, which is one of my favorite resorts! Overall, I feel like they have scaled way back on the decorations this year. I remember a village of gingerbread houses at the Poly, and several trees around the resort. Only one tree this year (picture below).


On to the Grand Floridian, where DS was looking forward to his gingerbread shingle. It’s his favorite Disney cookie. Somehow we had missed that the GF display wasn’t there this year. They said it was due to construction, but we found out that they are not going to do the gingerbread house there again because they put a champagne bar in the lobby. We decided to take the boat back to MK because the monorail loading area was EXTREMELY crowded. This was one of the better transportation experiences. Our captain, Kameron, was super nice. DGS asked if she had any trading cards, and she pulled out a whole stack, giving him one of every model of boat they have at WDW! He told her “I LOVE this!” We unloaded at MK (after a stop back by Polynesian en route), and took the walking path back to the Contemporary.

Tomorrow, Magic Kingdom, dinner in the room, and late night at AK.

 

[tkd lisa]

I have to start this update with an addition to the last post. I realized that I ended before the last part of the night. This day was a Christmas party at Magic Kingdom, and we wanted to watch the fireworks from the top of Bay Lake Tower. So once we finished our tour of the resorts, we went back to the room and picked up DGD as well as our cookies from EPCOT and headed to the elevators. We were a little worried because the normal terrace was blocked off for the Villians' Lair viewers. But once they scanned my DVC band, they sent us to the other half of the terrace where there was almost no one waiting. We sat in the seating area and finished our cookies while planning our next day.

Right at 10pm, the lights dimmed, the music started and the fireworks kicked off. Everyone really enjoyed them. DGD is pretty sensitive to loud noises, and DDIL really struggles with panicking in large crowds, so this type of fireworks viewing is the best option for our family.

On to day 2, Wednesday 10 December.

Plans for today to start at Magic Kingdom, then take a break for an early dinner in the room, followed by late hours at Animal Kingdom.

DM and I were up pretty early, and got a couple of hands of cards in while waiting for the rest of the family to get up. We made it into the MK about 9:30 and pulled DAS for the Mine Train ride, which was DGS’s first choice. We headed to Fantasmic to wait out our DAS time. I had forgotten that they added a scene from Coco, which is much clearer than the rest of the show. From there, we split up. DM found a spot in the sun to people watch (she ended up back between Gaston’s and Ariel) while the rest of us rode Mine Train. They added the 5th person with no problem, and we got some great pictures.



Once finished, we met up at Gaston’s and got a ham sandwich and cinnamon roll to share with everyone, along with filling our popcorn bucket. I had learned my lesson from yesterday about getting food along the way! I also pulled a DAS for Haunted Mansion, and we all headed over to ride It’s a Small World together. Although mom can walk, the ramps to this ride are too much for her, so we checked with the CM who had us take the scooter down the exit ramp and park it. An enjoyable ride, with the below selfie to show DGS riding with his Grammy and Gigi!



About this time, we decided to check out the new DVC lounge in Frontier Land. DS’s family headed to use their Haunted Mansion fast passes, and I put our name on the wait list. DM and I used that time to take a bathroom break, and shortly after we finished, we were called for the lounge. By the time I got us our drinks, the rest of the family joined us, and we spent a nice 30 minute break inside, enjoying some drinks and snacks. They had bags of dried apple slices, which the kids really loved, as well as the typical oreos, cheese nips, and graham cracker snacks. I pulled a Jingle Cruise FP as soon as they cleared Haunted Mansion.

While we waited, DGD and DS said they really wanted to ride the bigger rides. DGS wanted to do the speedway, and DM wanted to do Carousel of Progress. DM really can’t do Jingle Cruise due to the loading, so she headed over to Tomorrow Land to wait on us. We had Skipper Garrett, and our group was in the front of the boat. As we came back toward the dock, he was killing a little bit of time, and said something Disney friendly about the Asian temple area. DGD popped up and said “I think that area is the dangerous realm of a snake god because of all the Cobras, don’t you?” Garrett was basically speechless, and actually told the rest of the boat what she had said, then he said “well, I had several more jokes I was supposed to say, but I have totally forgotten them now!”

We split up with DS and DGD riding both space mountain and the Tron Eros overlay. They really enjoyed them both, and pictures are below.



DGS rode the speedway with his mom while I found my mom and we had another bathroom break before walking directly into COP. DGS wanted to ride the People Mover, and mom was ready to try it until I reminded her how hard it is to stand on the incline going both up and down. Thankfully, she agreed, and headed up to the front of the park to wait for us. People mover doesn’t have a DAS option, so we had to speak to the CM about access. By the time the guy with the iPad got there, the incline belt had stopped. The ride was still going, and we rode with no problems, but there would have been no way my mom could have handled it.

After the ride (DGS enjoyed seeing space mountain, but said he’s not ready to ride it yet), we met up with DM to head back to the room. DGS asked to ride the monorail, so DDIL took the path with my mom, and I took him to the resort loop. As we got off, we walked past the front car, and I pointed out that back when his Dad was little, we got to ride up there. The monorail CM (Brad) was another transportation hero. He said DGS could come in and get a picture, even at the pilot’s seat. DGS scored another trading card (monorail red), and was overjoyed as we headed to the room.


DDIL and I put together the in-room dinner we had planned (chicken sheet pan dinner with veggies), and by the time it was close to ready, DS and DGD had returned. We ate, and DM settled in for a cozy evening in the room.

Animal Kingdom was closing at 6, so we headed out about 4:45, using my car to ease the transportation challenges. We parked just behind where the ride-share vehicles pick up, and headed in to get the bonus AP magnets. We got a surprise when one of the CM’s working the tables was a prior roommate of DS and DDIL. In fact, she lived with them when DGD was born, and the last time we’d seen here was before DGS was born so they had a quick catch up.

We walked on to the new Zootopia show just before park closing. The theater was full, and the show was pretty entertaining. I did say I’ll have to see it another 3-4 times to actually catch everything because it was packed FULL of action.

From here we headed to Pandora, because at 44+ inches, DS can ride. I did pull a DAS, but it was basically a walk on. We had one other family in our loading group, and once in the theater, I looked around to see that there was NO ONE else in any of the other sections. One of the highlights of the trip was DGS’s reaction to this ride. We had shown him youtube videos, and talked about how you board the banshee ahead of time. I was watching him the whole ride (which actually helped me avoid my typical motion sickness, so I’ll have to do that more often), and he was just looking all around, taking everything in. Once the ride stopped, his mom said “did you like it?” He raised his little fist in the air and yelled “It was AWESOME!”

We walked through the store, then stopped for a couple of photopass shots on the way to the Navi River ride, which was a walk on. DGS kept pointing out the creatures that he had seen in Flight of Passage.

DGD was interested in Expedition Everest, which DGS wasn’t ready for. The only other thing open was Dinosaur, which he had ridden our last trip. We asked him, and he said that he wanted to ride it, so across the park we went. We told DGD she and her dad could do Everest, or see if there was time after Dinosaur. We knew we would be back in March for her birthday, and since this would be our last chance ever to ride Dinosaur she decided to do that. Just as we hit the loading area (which was basically a walk on), DGS said he needed to potty! He agreed he could make it through the ride, but we booked it to the restaurantosaurus bathrooms as soon as we got off.


And who was there, but Animal Kingdom Santa? We had gotten some good pictures at this station last year, and the kids decided to get in the short line (2 groups in front of us). DGD passed on Everest in order to do Santa. After the pictures, they gave each good a good sized bag of gummy savers, and we headed out to the car and back to the room.



Tomorrow – EPCOT, Lunch at Coral Reef, and Hollywood Studios

 

[tkd lisa]

A few more pictures that I left out from the previous post.

 

[tbre1982]

Great report so far! How did you configure the sleeping arrangements for 6 in a one bedroom?

 

[tkd lisa]

Great report so far! How did you configure the sleeping arrangements for 6 in a one bedroom?

We put my grandson in the king with mom and me. DS and DDIL had the Murphy couch, and DGD was in the single below the tv.

When I planned the trip, I didn't expect mom to be with us. But she asked to join and we made it work. DGS is a pretty easy sleeper, while DGD kicks, and fights sleep so it's better for her to be in a single bed.

Our march trip is fort wilderness cabins which officially sleeps 6.

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 3, Thursday December 11th.

Once again, Mom and I were up early. I hadn’t mentioned it, but we always do breakfast in the room, which lets us go at everyone’s individual pace. DDIL and DGD are typically the last to wake up and the last to eat, generally taking something to eat in transit. While I have to eat pretty much as soon as I get up, and then I grab an extra bite when everyone else is eating.

Today was EPCOT day, with reservations for Mom’s birthday at Coral Reef at 1pm. Everyone was up by 8:30, and all but DDIL and DGD were ready to go, so the rest of us headed out, while those two took a bit more time to get out the door. DGS was super happy to go on the monorail. Below is a picture of him and GiGi at the TTC transfer station. Plus a nice picture of him with his dad.




Once we were in the park, DGS immediately wanted Test Track, but DS said he’d pass. Mom had yet to see the Moana water area, so I sent DS with her to explore that. While we rode TT, it had a glitch just before the scene where you impact the truck, and it was out of phase until we got outside. So I snapped a couple of pictures in the area just before the doors open. And when we were out in the open on the speed track, DGS was literally laughing with joy! He made everyone in the car smile, yelling about how cool it was, and we were going SOOO fast! You can see the smiles on everyone in the car.





Once done with that, DGS wanted to ride “the EPCOT ball”, which is what he calls Spaceship Earth. The DAS was basically walk on, so I pulled it for the two of us. Once on board, I pulled a DAS for Soarin, because DGS loves it and DM hadn’t been on it in several years.

Back to Spaceship Earth, DGS is finally big enough so that the camera gets his picture. I can’t tell you how many times the postcard had a picture of me, and a teeny little bit of hair in the other space. He loves creating our future, and we got a very different one this time. I know we had an electric bike and it featured pets. We did a quick round of one of the brain function games in the exit area, then headed over to meet DS and DM in front of the Land pavilion.

Mom parked her scooter up at the entrance to the pavilion because it’s really difficult to maneuver inside there. I gave her my Magic Band since she hadn’t ridden this ride in several years, and waited at the exit. DGD and DDIL arrived while we waited on them to join us, and I pulled a DAS for Test Track for the whole group because DGS wanted to ride again. I had tried to get him to pick Guardians, but he again told me that he needed to wait some more time before he could ride it, but that it was a great ride.

Once DS, DM, and DGS got off the ride, we took a quick snack break in the restaurant between Living with the Land and Soarin. We wanted to ride the boat ride with the Christmas overlay, but the line was about 30 minutes. Since that’s longer than DM can comfortably stand, I went to the CM to ask if I could wait in line, and have the rest join me. They ended up giving us a return time for the group, so we just ate our 2nd breakfast comfortably waiting out the line. A few pictures in the ride, which was great as always. DS and DDIL have a fairly good garden at their house, and the kids do a great job of eating the produce, so they liked seeing the different ways to grow things. I think they are going to try to do some of the tomato trees next spring.


Off the ride, Mom picked up her scooter and toodled along at her own pace to meet us at the test track exit. We had a good ride on TT, but at the exit we had a pretty major melt down.

As we were walking out, DDIL asked DGS about riding Guardians, since they all wanted to do it. He said “no, I want to ride TT again”. About that time, he grabbed a test track t-shirt in the gift shop and said “I need this. It’s my favorite ride”. Now the last thing he needs is another t-shirt, so I said “You know, Santa’s coming. If you really want this shirt, maybe ask Santa?” And the melt down came on strong. Falling on the floor, he just kept yelling “I need to ride Test Track RIGHT NOW!”

Autism melt downs aren’t something that’s easy to handle, and I’m going through this write up just to raise awareness because I know I’ve seen them occasionally when I’m out in public, and bystanders often don’t know what to do, and sometimes they can make things worse. Feel free to skip down if you’re not interested.
---- Start of melt down discussion ------
At 5 years old and about 45 pounds, DGS has gotten to the point where we can’t just hold him and contain his reaction. He goes into full body flail, and often grabs hair and scratches and kicks if you try to do that, which is dangerous for everyone. So he was on the floor, by the clothes rack, and people exiting the ride had to go around him. At first, his mom was working with him, but she’s also neuro-divergent and I could tell she was getting upset. DS tried to move him out of the walkway, but that just made it worse. The retail CM actually said that she could get him on the ride again right away, but I told her we didn’t want to do that because then he’d think he could just do this anytime he wanted to get his way. Once he had stopped flailing and was just quietly sobbing “but I want to go on TT right now”, I told DDIL to take the others and go see if they could do anything about riding Guardians while I stayed with him and got him calm again. They headed out, and the store was pretty quiet. I got him moved over by the wall, and showed him the wait time for a DAS was 60 minutes. I told him “I can pull a DAS and we can go get our lunch with the fishes. After that you can ride again.” He said “No, I’ll wait in the line.” I explained we couldn’t do that because we had to do our lunch for GiGi, and the time was right in the middle. Thankfully, he understands time (thank God for homeschool which lets a 5 year old pick the things he’s interested in), so once he saw that we did have a DAS booked, but it was after the lunchtime, he agreed to that plan.

Meanwhile, DDIL and the others had talked to the Guardians CM about her having been denied DAS. The CM understood, and basically gave them a “return to line” time, so the 3 of them had Guardians at 2, DGS and I had TT at 2, and we all had lunch reservations at 1. It was probably about 12:40 by this time, so we headed out to meet my mom at the exit. The others had passed her on their way, and explained the meltdown, so she was aware. I called DDIL to tell her the plan, and DGS started getting upset at the wait. That’s when the pixie dust struck again. I remembered I still had his pixie dust bubble tube and pulled that out for him which made things good again. The other group was at the playground, but we decided to just head to Coral Reef rather than risking another transition for DGS.
------- End of melt down discussion -----
Back to the “normal” part of the report. We all checked in, and by the time we had bathroom breaks, our table was ready. We were in one of the large booths at the top of the restaurant, with an okay view of the fish. Before the trip, we had assumed the menu would have salmon, which DGD and DM both like. Our family aren’t really big eaters, so in the past we’ve shared meals. Unfortunately, the lunch menu here has really been reduced from our previous visits. No salmon at all, only one type of fish (snapper), and everything was listed with a lot of seasonings. Given how fragile everyone was, and knowing that portion sizes have been going down, I told everyone just to pick their own food, and not bother trying to share.

When I say we’re light eaters, DM is the lightest of all. So she also went with a kids meal. She and DGD both got the fish, DGS got the mac and cheese, DDIL went with the adult fish, DS picked the short ribs, and I got the chicken. Most of it was just okay. The kids meals were probably the best part. My chicken was served on the bone, which made it a bit challenging to eat, DS’s short ribs apparently had a big texture problem, and the sauce was icky and covered pretty much everything. He actually said the only thing that he could eat was the salad portion.

The kid both got the kids dessert. The last time we were there, it was some type of Nemo based concoction, with lots of blue mousse and gummy worms, which DGD loved (DGS was just a little guy then). This time it was based on Moana, and was a coconut shell filled with vanilla ice cream, plus stuff to decorate it with (picture of DGS’s below). They also brought DM a bread pudding with ice cream for her birthday. Even that was pretty meh. I absolutely love bread pudding, and Raglan Road and O’Hana’s bread puddings are the stuff of dreams. This was a blob, with hard crusty edges. Thankfully, I have a Disney Visa which I use for everything, and we use the rewards dollars for all of our expenses at WDW. So whenever we spend money there, I always say “remember, it’s free chicken”, so I wasn’t disappointed with spending that much money on something that bad.



The kids were totally done by that time, but the adults were still finishing, so I took them down to ride Nemo. I saw something new there, which kept the kids fascinated. 2 shells behind us, they loaded up a wheelchair for a child who couldn’t transfer. They actually pull out a section of the shell, using what looks like a moving dolly, slide the chair in, then turn it back onto the track. It was super interesting, and explains why I’ve experienced slow downs but not stoppages on the ride. It probably took an extra two minutes total to load them.

Once off, the group talked about seeing Santa. Everyone was dressed a little more nicely today for the meal, and Santa was over at the Communicore. DGS agreed to do this, then go to TT. DS went ahead and got in line while DDIL and I kept the kids somewhat busy for part of the wait. This Santa station had cards to write letters, so DGD joined her dad to write her letter. We helped DGS write his, and after about a 40 minute wait total, they were up front. It was a good encounter, although all of the family pictures were kind of goofy shots. DDIL had been hoping for a good family shot for her mom, but not this time!



After Santa, DGS and I headed to Test Track for our ride, while the family went to Guardian's for their spin through the galaxy (picture below). We finished quite a bit before them, so I took DGS to the playground. Meanwhile, my Mom had scooted on over to world showcase because we wanted to see the 5:00 candlelight processional with Marlee Matlin. She people watched by the Fish and Chips shop while the rest of us used our ride passes.


At about 4pm, I sent Mom down to Italy to get in the CP line because the family was just loading the ride. They met up at the playground around 4:20, and I joined Mom, who was waiting in line, just past the corral area, in front of the Italy bridge. We did make it in the show. They actually stopped us right at the rope while they loaded in the orchestra, then took our group across the theater to the side by Japan. We had pretty good seats, and enjoyed it a lot although the show has removed some of the songs. I know they used to do What Child is This as well as a song in French. Neither was in this show.

By this time, the family had stopped to pick up our cookie stroll prize (they were out of the cookie, so gave the kids tubes of M&Ms, plus we got a small spatula), and on their way to Hollywood Studios, after a quick stop in the France pavilion to get DS a ham and cheese sandwich since he hadn’t eaten.

I'm going to break this down here because it's getting long. Up next, a variety of evening activities.

 

[tkd lisa]

11 Dec, part 2.

Mom wanted to see the carousel at Beach Club because she had seen a picture of it on Facebook. Fine with me. This also let us skip the dreaded EPCOT to Contemporary monorail loop, complete with ramp drama. So we scooted out the back gate (with a potty stop at the nice restrooms there), and down into a fairly open lobby at Beach Club. They have had a carousel at this resort before, but I will say that they’ve upped their game this year. Lots more glitz and glamour on the horses, plus a fairly large shop for gingerbread (about the size of what they used to have at Wilderness Lodge). After a couple of photos, we headed out to catch a bus to MK, then took the path back to the Contemporary. I got Mom into the room, and then drove over to Hollywood Studios to meet the others.

Meawhile, they had split into two groups, because DGS insisted on riding the boat. DS and DGD rode the skyliner, and despite some backup and stops, made it in about 40 minutes. The boat ended up taking a full hour, but DGS waited patiently because it was his choice to wait for the boat. They rode Midway Mania and were filling the popcorn bucket when I got into the park around 7:30. The first Fantasmic show was just letting out, so we pulled off on one of the side streets to let the crowds exit. DGD really wanted to ride Tower of Terror, and the wait times looked like they would work. DS and her headed off, and DDIL caught up, while DGS ate popcorn. We watched the Christmas projection show on the Tower, then headed into the theater. Looking at the pictures, they must have ridden Tower twice!



Back at the Fantasmic theater, DDIL checked with the disability CM, who was able to seat us in the top section just below the wheelchairs right where you come into the theater. That gave us enough room for DGS to spread out without kicking people or bothering the others. The other two joined us about 5 minute before showtime, and we had a great time watching DDIL’s favorite show. As a reminder, she worked costuming at this attraction for quite some time before having the kids.

While we waited on the exiting crowds to clear out, DDIL said she’d really like to see the new MK evening parade. Neither child was interested. DGD said “parades are boring”! Plus it was starting to get cold – this was our coldest night with lows in the high 40s. They talked about taking a park to park bus, but we ended up just dropping them off at the Contemporary entrance and they walked over on the pathway. I got the kids into jammies, and we watched some calm-down tv (a special about penguins).

Meanwhile DS and DDIL walked into MK right at the worst time. The first parade was just finishing, people were moving into position for the fireworks, and they were salmon trying to swim upstream. DDIL went into full panic attack, and they had to find a CM supervisor because the guy working the crowd wouldn’t let them stay in the quiet corner they had found. In hind-sight, they should have waited outside until the fireworks started, then gone in while everyone was watching those. Once DDIL had recovered, they went back to FrontierLand for a quieter spot, and said the parade was really nice, although DDIL was freezing! They made it back to the room just as the kids fell asleep, and another Disney Day was in the books!

Up next. Last day. DM and I are going to Animal Kingdom, DS and family to Hollywood Studios

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 4, December 12th. Check out day.

Again, mom and I were up early. The kids had done most of their packing the previous night, but Mom and I packed up while everyone else was sleeping. I didn’t mention that we had done several loads of laundry, so we were packing up clean clothes. As I was clearing the pantry and fridge, I realized that we had done a pretty good job of eating the food that we had brought. I truly love the Contemporary kitchen set up, with the sliding pantries (pic below, borrowed from the internet, yes it's from a studio, but it shows the pantry). As people who really do cook while we’re at Disney, it’s really nice to have sufficient storage space.



By the time we were done packing and eating breakfast, DS was up and about. He and I went ahead and loaded up the cars, and I dropped the cooler bag at bell services. Mom and I said our goodbyes, and headed to the bus stop for our trip to Animal Kingdom.

I asked our bus driver for a trading card, and he said that the bus guys haven’t been given any for a while. He said he thinks they are getting a new design, so they didn’t want to print more old ones. That just leaves DGS something to get on our March trip. Since that’s going to be at the Fort Wilderness cabins, we’ll have a lot of bus opportunities!

We arrived at AK around 9:30, where there wasn’t much of a crowd. We headed to the Zootopia show. They had just started one show, so we were lining up with the other scooters for the next show. This was kind of a wonky system. They told Mom to squeeze into a tiny spot between another scooter and the rope that was separating the regular line, which just wasn’t within her driving skills, so I took over. That meant that I had to squeeze out between the other lady on her scooter, which she really didn’t appreciate. Once they opened the doors, I had mom wait until the other lady went into the theater before getting on her scooter. Our seats were more centered this time, and I was better able to follow the story line. Mom didn’t like the rats under our seat effect, but I reminded her it was better than being stung!

Once out of the show, we headed over to the Festival of the Lion King, which is one of our favorites! We got the last two seats in the handicapped section, and were right next to the Timon and Pumba float. I do love this show, even in the reduced version they have now (Remember when they used to teach you the hand motions for hakuna matata while they were loading?) Trip report sidebar. Way back in the Year of a Million Dreams, when they still had a parade at Animal Kingdom, Mom, my oldest child and I got picked to be in the parade. We rode in a float that was driven by one of the tumble monkeys. I’m pretty sure he was in this show. In fact, those guys never seem to change. That’s a pretty challenging job to be doing for 15 years!


We waited for the crowd to clear out before heading over to catch the next Finding Nemo show, after a bathroom break in Asia. Notice the theme here. With mom, it’s all about seeing things, not riding things! We got there about 5 minutes before it started, so they seated us in the upper handicapped area. I think this was the first time Mom has seen the new version of the show. She asked me where the scene with the octopus mom (“Not now honey, Mom’s only got 8 hands!”) went. Once we finished the show, I asked if she wanted to eat at AK or on the road. She decided that she wanted Arby’s so we headed back to the bus stop after a short detour through the store. Mom wanted to find a pin that said 2025. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any, so she got one that had the 25th anniversary instead. I tried the mobile checkout here, but it was kind of wonky. When I had done this at the big store in Disney Springs, you scanned everything, it applied our discounts, and you just held up the phone as you exited. Here, you did the scanning, etc. But when I tried to walk out the door where the sign said “mobile checkout”, the CM pointed me over to the regular register, just down at one end rather than in the line. That CM was still checking someone out from the regular line, so I had to wait until that was done, then show my screen. After all that, they just told me to go out. It probably would have been faster just to pay the normal way!

Bus back to Contemporary, I sent mom to get the cooler and return her scooter while I drove the car up. And we were on our way by about 1 o’clock. We stopped at exit 55 (highway 27) and got Arby’s drive through before making the rest of the uneventful trip back to Tampa.

Timewarp back to the morning for a short version of the kids’ last day. They finished up the last few food items for breakfast, and loaded into their car around the time we hit Animal Kingdom with a goal of doing the remaining rides in Hollywood Studios. I watched their progress by seeing what DAS was scheduled in the app. As I recall, they rode all 3 star wars rides, and Midway Mania. But they also fit in some quality photopass time, with great pictures.




DDIL’s family lives over on the Space Coast, and her grandfather was a veteran who is buried in the military cemetery over there. 13 December is “Wreaths Across America”, a national remembrance where people put wreaths on the graves of veterans. DGD’s girl scout troop has done this as a service project, but this year, they told the girls they could do it on their own. In previous years, there has been an issue where volunteers had placed wreaths before the family members could get to their loved one’s gravesites. So this year, they were offering a “Family Only” window on Friday evening. So the plan was to meet DDIL’s mom there between 3 and 5, then get dinner together before heading back home.

The plan worked well. They left the park while Mom and I were driving back to Tampa, did the wreath placement and had an early dinner before making it back to South Georgia by 8pm. Another successful Disney trip in the books!

Closing Thoughts:

I always love Disney at Christmas time. One thing that I didn’t get to do this trip was enjoy the storytellers in EPCOT. I’ve had to adjust my travelling style to the needs of the larger group. Between an autistic grandchild and an 88 year old wheelchair bound mother, I end up being the virtual “shock absorber”. But it lets me spend time making memories that I’ll have forever. Last Christmas, my mom was in the hospital and in critical condition over the actual holiday, so every minute of this trip was a blessing.

As was noted, our family is outgrowing a one-bedroom. I hadn’t expected mom to join us, so we squished her into the master with me. The extra bathroom in the Contemporary was really helpful! But we still had some challenges with magic bands. Mom’s band would open the room, but she wasn’t on the extra magic hour list. DS’s band wouldn’t open the room, so he had to be with someone else, or grab an extra band. Although he was on the list for EMH, it wasn’t coming up on the CM’s I-pads. It wasn’t a big deal, they just used one of the others, and since it was 5 people, and there were 5 on the reservation, they waved us in. Our next trip is booked for the cabins, which hold 6. After that, my niece is joining us in October with her husband and son. I’m waiting on the 7 month booking window because they want Animal Kingdom lodge. I plan on booking a 2 bedroom, for the 3 of them, me and mom, and DDIL and the kids. DS probably won’t join us because he needs to bank some leave for an upcoming cruise.

Last thing was the use of DAS. I know that there’s some controversy over this, and Disney has substantially increased the requirements to be able to even get access to it. For our family, we couldn’t possibly do WDW without it. Even using lightning lane, there isn’t the same kind of flexibility. Several times during the trip, I switched our choices to accommodate DGS’s changing interests. With LL, it would have been unlikely for us to get times that let us do that. And I personally have a major problem with how Disney has really monetized access to the parks. I know I’m biased by my many years of experience with the free fastpass system, but I really feel like Disney makes plenty of profit already.

For those who stuck with me, I hope you enjoyed the write up. Feel free to ask any questions, or comment. I wish you all a wonderful Holiday season!