Friend Group 18+ Hitting Disney Around Christmas

[Justin Mendoza]

I apologize in advance, I wasn't quite sure which board this would fit into.

Hi everyone!

Me, my boyfriend, and 4 of my friends decided to take a trip to Disney from December 15th-19th! We took advantage of the free meal plan/park hopper deal and are staying at the All-Star Music Resort!

I'm in love with WDW, but had a few questions about certain aspects of our trip.

1. Two of our friends decided they wanted to stay two days longer, so they booked a separate reservation...this means it'll be a bit more difficult to coordinate FastPasses! Any suggestions? (I guess this could also factor in if we wanted to pre-order a meal during lunch at Be Our Guest...)

2. What's the most efficient way to use the Park Hopper? We're planning on hitting a park a day, but now the possibilities seem endless!

3. If we want to eat at a more upscale restaurant on a certain night, and we all have the Quick Service Meal Plan, how does that work?

4. And lastly, for a group like ours, (ages 19, 19, 18, 18, 25, and 21), what would be fun for us to do around Christmas time at the parks?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

1. Link your MDE accounts as friends and family, then no issues. Make dining reservations (BOG lunch) for the number of people you have total, not per reservation.
2. That's debatable, but a lot of people like to go to one park in the morning for rope drop, take an afternoon break, then hit another with pre booked FP's at night.
3. You will pay out of pocket for it. I love Narcoosees, personally.
4. Just about anything! The two of age may want to have some drinks around the world at Epcot. A dessert party would be fun (~$50/PP), seeing the different resort decorations, everything is fun!

 

[Emily Gilmore]

I keep getting the advice to buy tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, so we're doing that when we go in November. I've never been to WDW around the holidays, so I'm excited to even see some of the decorations and especially see the Osborne lights at Hollywood Studios. Check out the Boardwalk, there's ESPN Club which could be a fun place to have dinner, and check out the carnival games. We usually stay at Boardwalk and some pretty intense competitions to win mini-basketballs commence. Ha!

 

[Bete]

You can upgrade your dining plan and pay the extra dollars for a regular dining plan which would include a table service meal each day. Some restaurants are signature restaurants and those would require two credits for one meal. Otherwise, you will pay out of pocket for a table service meal. Make sure you make reservations early for a table service restaurant. This would mean right now. With free dining many table service restaurants will be totally booked.

With park hopper we would always go to the earliest opening park with extra magic hours and then we would hop to a park that stays open later like MK or Epcot.

Whether this is to your liking Christmas activities include MVMCP which costs extra, Candlelight Processional which costs extra with a dining package for guaranteed seating. You can use dining credits for this if you have a regular dining plan upgrade. MK does a special ice castle and a stage show at the castle. Epcot has Christmas gospel singers at the fountain, the Candlelight Processional, and holiday storytellers at each world showcase country. The Voices of Liberty perform a holiday show. Hollywood Studios has the Osborne Lights. The deluxe resorts all do a great job with holiday decorations. We especially like Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Grand Floridian.

 

[Justin Mendoza]

Hey everyone! Sorry for replying so late, I've been quite busy!!!

Honestly, the biggest thing I'm concerned about is coordinating our entire group's FastPasses. Two of our friends wanted a longer vacation, so they made a separate reservation and to be honest, MDE hasn't been very easy to use...I'm still confused about when exactly the FastPass+ availability comes online, how I can reserve Be Our Guest lunch (can you even do this anymore as quick service?), and how to properly link all of our accounts. I'm sorry for all the fluster, but I just want this trip to go well, as it's my first with friends, and also my first with the entire MyMagic+ system, MagicBands, etc.

Once again, thanks in advance! Sorry that I'm ridiculously confused.