Holiday help from your experience....fill in the blank spaces..... please

[goofie4goofy]

Hi Everyone

I need some holiday and DH birthday help!

We are going to WDW dec 12-16th. We are lucky enough to stay at the GF RPC again, we are really looking forward to it, but we have never been during this time of year. It seems to me that most of the fun is at night when you can see all the beautiful lights. We just returned 2 weeks ago, so if we miss a few rides...no biggie. I have a few questions and help with planning.

So far this iswhat I know:

13th got tix for MVMCP...I thought it would be less crowded on a tuesday night than a thursday night...hope I'm right, I jsut read some posts about massive crowds at this event

14th is DH birthday and I know he will most definately want diner at Citricos (his favorite restaurant there)

Other than that I have some ideas but don't know if they make sense.

I would like to see Osourne lights and dinner first at Brown Derby. What time do the lights go on and is it important to se them go on...mind you I am from NY and have seen the Christmas tree lighting at RP many times...I know there is nothing like this. When we were just there we saw all the lghts going up and it looked amazing...a definate. Is it better to go when there are EMH at MGM, or just regualr hours?

I am not sure about the candlelight thing at EPCOT...what do you guys think? I was thinking of taking a cab to Yachtman's steak house for diner then walking over to EPCOT and take in all the lights there and the candlelight processional...but not sure about that. Is going around EPCOT enough at night or is the CP a must do as well?

Also clothing...It seems as though during the day you can wear shorts and a sweatshirt? i don't know for sure just going by pics. At night what do I need..What would be too warm to wear and what is not warm enough? Is a fleece jacket warm enough or would my burburry jacket be good..not too heavy?

So I need help with Dec 12 (arrival day we will be there around 1pm) should we do Epcot at night or MGM ...shouldI plan these parks around EMH or would that be too crowdwd?

Are we going at a good time crowd wise??

Thanks so much....as you can tell we usually wing it! It seems there is so much more to see this time of year and not used to planning!

Whew!!! I never realized WDW is completely different without the heat...really looking forward to it.

Thank You thank You Thank You Thank You

 

[goofy4tink]

Nice time to go!! I was there about the same time in '03. We had very cold (for Florida) weather. If I fly to Fl in the cold months, I tend to wear my heavier clothes on the plane...jeans, heavier socks, sneakers, turtleneck, sweatshirt and a windbreaker. Then I can peel off layers if I get too hot on the plane yet not take up valuable space in my luggage.
As far as what you have planned....
We love Candlelight Processional. I've done it several years in a row now. I get the dinner package but you can try to get in without one, especially if you try for an earlier show...5ish. We love walking through the different countries and listening to their particular 'Christmas' storyteller. That's a must do for us. We also like the tree lighting in the area between WS and FutureWorld, but that happens around 6ish, so you couldn't do that and CP, unless you did a much later CP.
In MGM I found that viewing the Osbourne Family light show is best if there is a presentation of Fantasmic happening. When that show empties out, it gets crazy in the Osbourne area!!! The lights come on around dusk and I really don't know if there is any advantage to being there for the start.

What to wear?? Well, remembering that they had a cold spell when we were there....we wore short sleeved tees and shorts during the day..in the shade it could get a bit chilly. At night we wore shorts and a sweatshirt....sometimes jeans. My dd had mostly shorts with her, but insisted on wearing the same, one pair of jeans that she flew down in. But, she is very slim with little to no body fat, so she gets cold quite easily!!!
Have a ball....this is a terrific time of year to go. Be sure to check out the other resorts also. They are so incredibly beautiful.

 

[stm61]

we were there the wk ending the 19th in 2003 and it was empty. Granted it was also freezing. It was colder in Fl then it was in the north east! People started coming in that Sat and the hotels were full since that was the Sat. before Christmas that yr.