New Years Trip - Pre Trip Report

[Suziewan]

Hello! I'm going to take a crack at my first ever pre-trip report...

This will be the 3rd trip for my son and I; our first was in Dec 2010 as an early celebration of DS's 6th birthday, our second was just in April of 2012 to help a friend celebrate his 7th birthday and now we are planning for our 3rd trip in December of 2012. We are hoping to convince my mother to join us; it was always my dream to go to Disney World as a kid, but we couldn't afford it, and now that I've been twice, I realize that it's also my dream to go with my mom. Wish me luck in convincing her!

We will be arriving on December 30th, and staying until January 7th. I'm really looking forward to a magical New Years Eve, and also celebrating my son's 8th birthday on January 6th. I'd love any tips and ideas for making either event feel extra special for my little guy.

We have previously stayed at All Star Movies and All Star Sports, this time around we will be staying at Art of Animition in the new Little Mermaid rooms. I can't wait to see the resort and the new rooms!

I haven't made any ADR yet....but would love suggestions for great restaurants for NYE and for DS's birthday.

Looking on the WDW website I've found 17 things that we've never done before, so we'll be trying to fit in some of these, including: Pirates & Pals cruise, Star Wars Jedi Training, Ridezmakers (birthday present), Test Track, and Dinosaur.

 

[Alysa]

I wish you all the luck convincing your mum, I've taken mine a couple of times and I cherish those memories!

We went for new years before kids and we were there for the millennium, we spent the day at Epcot and had dinner at Chefs du France. It was amazing! The line that day to get into the park stretched all the way from the gates to past the boardwalk. We waited in line for two hours because they told us if the park was at capacity that they would not let us in. Everyone was so happy and excited though that it was actually fun. My husband was in his tux and I wore a blue gown (we didn't know if we would be able to leave later to change).

With kids though, I'd recommend the magic kingdom though, I bet the fireworks would be spectacular!

Looking forward to hearing more! By the way, what is Ridezmakers?

 

[DsnyMama]

I'm joining in!! I hope you are able to convince your mom to go! My husband is sitting this trip out (we are going Nov/Dec this year too!) - he likes Disney, but after 3 trips in a row, he's a little "burned out" so he says... My mom will be coming with me and the kiddos though! It's her first trip ever! I can't wait!

 

[Suziewan]

I'm still working on my mom -- she is not able to get all the days off work, but she is seriously thinking of coming with us for 4 days of the 9 we'll be there! Basically I take her not saying no and showing a bit of interest as a firm yes...

She would really have 2 full days and on those days we were planning to be at MK and then Epcot, and I think they are the perfect two parks for her. On our arrival day we will get there in the afternoon, so I'm thinking we may just do a tour of some of the resorts and look at the holiday decorations.

 

[Suziewan]

I'm going ahead with the assumption that my mother is joining us for the first 4 days of our trip!

Here are my ADRs and tentative plans....pretty much all new restaurants and attractions for my DS and I, and this will be my mom's first trip ever...

Sat Dec 29 -- Arriving in the early afternoon. Dinner will be 1900 Park Fare at 5:05 at the Grand Floridian; I'm hoping we can head there a little early and take in some of the decorations. After that we'll take the monorail to Epcot and try to catch the Candlelight Processional and some of the storytellers. (Last day for this)

Sun Dec 30 -- We are going to try to make rope drop at MK this day. We'll be showing my mom around, and getting our first peek at the FLE. We definitely want her to try Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, Small World. We've never visited The American Adventure of The Hall of Presidents and may do those with mom along. We'll do CS lunch, thinking of trying Tortuga Tavern or Pinocchio's Village Haus. At 4:25 we have dinner reservations for BOG - our first one this trip, we are hoping to get to try different rooms for our 1st and 2nd. My plan is to do the slower paced things my mom will enjoy today, and hopefully these will be the least busy parts of the park.

Mon Dec 31 -- Our plan is to spend NYE at Epcot; I've read that it will feel the least crowded of all the parks. I'm torn between getting there early to get FP for Soarin or going a little later so that we won't be tired early. Dinner will be at 8:00 at Rose & Crown. I think the first fireworks will be before our dinner reservation, so after dinner we may head to the boardwalk to ring in the New Year there, or maybe just back to the resort...we'll see how everyone is holding up.

Tue Jan 1 -- Mom goes home this day, so we may get a late start to the parks; we'll be at HS this day. I've never done the Magic of Disney Animation so this is a must for me. We have lunch/Fantasmic reservations at Mama Melrose's at 1:50 - then Fantasmic at 6:30 and this is where I've squeezed in a late dinner (8:00) at the 50's Prime Time Cafe; I think it will be a fun experience for DS.

Wed Jan 2 - Today we hit Animal Kingdom; not our favourite park, and we have a tough time spending a full day here, so this we can take it slow. There are a few things we haven't tried at AK -- Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids and Dinosaur. No ADR's today -- we'll use up some CS and Snacks this day. I'm planning to book the Pirates and Pals cruise at 7:30 and then we'll call it a day.

Thu Jan 3 -- Back to Epcot -- we LOVE Epcot. Today will be full of everything we love there, Soarin, Mission Space, the new Agent P scavenger hunt, The Land...we could fill the day with just these things. Hoping to catch Captain EO and Test Track for the first time. Thinking of a CS lunch in Morocco and then we have an ADR for Le Cellier (yay!) at 6:15.

Fri Jan 4 -- Magic Kingdom again! We will try waffle sandwiches for lunch and have our 2nd ADR for BOG at 6:10.

Sat Jan 5 -- Back to HS -- getting our butts over to get TSM FP's and to sign up DS for Jedi Training. Just realized that I have an ADR for 50's Prime Time Cafe for 4:30 -- I had one for 6:30, but have a note to cancel it -- can't remember why I moved dinner earlier this day (??) but possibly to allow flexibility if we want to spend the evening somewhere else.

Sun Jan 6 -- DS's 8th birthday! I'm planning to take him to Ridemakerz in the morning, look around DTD a bit and then head back to Epcot. DS chose Teppan Edo for his birthday dinner -- can't wait to try it. This will be a 'yes' day, meaning DS gets to call the shots so we could end up anywhere.

Mon Jan 7 -- We have an 8:30 ADR for Tusker House and then fly out in the afternoon. Where does the time go???

 

[DanieD0909]

I'm so excited to find your trip report' we are going to be there almost the same dates...check in on 12/31 and check out on 1/6. It will be me, my DH, and my not yet born 3 month old daughter we are staying in little mermaid rooms too! We have been to Disney so many times and can't wait to have our little one along for the trip! Maybe we will run into you at the pool!!

 

[Suziewan]

I'm so excited to find your trip report' we are going to be there almost the same dates...check in on 12/31 and check out on 1/6. It will be me, my DH, and my not yet born 3 month old daughter we are staying in little mermaid rooms too! We have been to Disney so many times and can't wait to have our little one along for the trip! Maybe we will run into you at the pool!!

That's great! I've been keeping an eye out for others staying at AOA on my dates. I hope we will get a chance to say hi --- how exciting to be bringing your new baby! You should have a look at the December thread and check in there -- there is a lot of excitement and information being shared daily. I'm sure you have other things to occupy your mind though with the baby coming...lol.

 

[Suziewan]

Well, I'm going to start a new PTR as everything has changed about our plans! New dates (January), new resort (POP) and just the two of us....I'll post something new once I figure out what to call it