My first WDW Holidays Trip! Can't Wait!

[shaunthemaun]

Where to begin?
I am going to be taking my first trip to WDW during all of the holiday celebrations. I have never seen WDW dressed in all of its Christmas glory, and I can't wait to be able to experience it. A little information about myself first.

My name is Shaun, I am 29, I live in Southeast Texas, and I am a college student and I work for the college as well. I am a graphic designer, but I am also taking classes in the IT field. Just want to keep my options open.

As my signature will show you I have been to Disney World a few times throughout my life, and I have even been to DL a couple times in between those WDW visits. I like DL, but for me it doesn't hold a candle to what Florida has to offer. My favorite Disney character of all time is Goofy, because he is really tall like me and I can be a little goofy at times.

Our most recent trip that we took was in May of this year, and it was with my younger brother(by 4 years) and my Mom and a friend of hers. I am going to be making a TR of that trip very soon and I will make sure to link to it on here. Ok, enough rambling. This trip that we are planning right now is going to be for November 2015. To be more specific it is going to be during Thanksgiving week. We originally wanted to go the week before Christmas, but schedules were conflicting with school and work for everyone, so we decided to have Thanksgiving at WDW.

The last couple of trips that we have taken have been with 4 people. This trip there is going to be quite a few more people. Coming along with me will be my brother, and my Mom. Also, my Dad and his GF, and my two sisters and their kids. My older sister is bringing her son,(my nephew) and my other sister is bring her daughter(my neice). My nephew is 10 and my niece is 4. My sisters husbands are going to try to make it, but its not likely. Also, both of my sisters Mom will be going too. So, in total there will be 10 of us going on the trip.

It is still really early in the planning process, so I don't have any details yet as far as ADR's or anything, but I will definitely be adding those along the way. As of right now, what I know for sure is that we are going to be staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We will be staying for I think 5 nights and have park hopper tickets for those 5 days. We will also be going to a Hoop Dee Do Revue show. Now, things that I want to do is a different story. I want to eat at either Jiko, Sanaa, or Boma. Another words I have never seen Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I really want to. I would also like to do either the Wishes dessert viewing party, or the boat tour of Wishes in the 7 seas lagoon.

That is really all the information that I have right now. If anyone has stayed at WDW for Thanksgiving or even close to it, could you let me know how the crowds are? We will be making our reservations soon, and then we will start to plan ADR's and things of that nature very soon.

 

[shaunthemaun]

Okay, so I have a little update for the trip. Right now there are 10 people going on the trip with us, unless my brother in law can get off work, then it will be 11 people total. My mom however has asked her best friend if she would like to go with us, because she has been wanting to take her grand kids to WDW for a while now.

If my mom's friend does decide to go, it will be herself of course, and possibly her daughter, plus 3 grandkids from her daughter, and 1 kid from her son. There is 3 boys and one girl, and they are from about 6 - 12 in age I think. So, if you are counting along with me that will bring our total up to 17. This means that we will be trying to make at least Thanksgiving dinner reservations for 17 people.

The next little update I have is for the Thanksgiving dinner. We talked a little bit about where we want to eat for the big dinner on New Years Eve. It seems like the front runner right now for everyone is Be Our Guest. We have also tossed around the idea of eating at Liberty Tree Tavern and The Garden Grill. Personally for me though, eating a traditional meal for Thanksgiving is not a big deal for me. I would be up to maybe have Italian or something else. My brother, Mom and I have decided that we want to get one of two pretty hard reservations to get. We want to either get a table near the windows at Sanaa to see the Savannah, or get a table at California Grill in time to see Wishes.

I usually like to do as much research as I can on Youtube, but there is not very much info for the Thanksgiving week available on there.

I will keep updating as we keep making certain plans and obviously as we keep getting closer to the trip.

 

[grarsh]

Howdy! That is a big group going on the trip! Looking forward to seeing your plans develop!

 

[shaunthemaun]

Update #3. The number of people going keeps changing. We are back down to 9. We are 11 days away from being able to make our ADRs for the entire trip. Still trying to decide where to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. Any ideas would be appreciated! We are definitely leaning toward Liberty Tree Tavern, but it is just re-opening the week before we arrive, and that makes us a little nervous. We're also wondering if anybody out there has been to WDW on Thanksgiving week and what the crowds were like? We've been searching for crowd levels for that week and most of the information we get just says it's a busy week. Lastly, if you've got an opinion on which restaurant is better; Sanaa, Jiko, or Boma, please reply. We would like to hear your ideas! More updates to come.