**Official December 2010 Thread!!**

[DisneyCP08]

Hi everyone, I am joining a little late and close to our trips. Hope thats ok. I am very excited. We are going December 23 thru 29th and we are staying at the Contemporary Resort. It is a surprise trip and so I think joining this thread will help me control my excitement I am also having trouble with the weather. I am planning on making some shirts for everyone but can't decide whether to make t-shirts or long sleeves. If I do t-shirts they can wear a long sleeved shirt under it, but then they may just cover it up with a sweater.

 

[Caribbeanprincess]

About weather...this was our Christmas trip in 2007, we were there around the same time we're going this year from the 18th through the 28th, and as you can see by our clothes it was very very cold.

This was in '08 around the 14th of December. It was freezing that year! I had to buy gloves on this day at Hollywood Studios!

The rest of the days were in the 70s and 80s.

 

[ArmandXG]

I was there in 2006 and it was warm one day and freezing the next. I am packing both summer and winter clothes!

 

[Marblies]

Looking for some convincing here! I have our trip booked and DH says that it is my choice to go. I am still not 100% sure I want to go over the holidays and when my DSis came today, she thought my kids may be too young to miss Christmas at home. THe plan is to have Santa give the trip as their gift, arrive Christmas Eve, and to have stockings and small things from us to wake up to on Christmas morning. They are 6 and 4 and love Disney. Have you taken your kids so young? Did they miss the regular Christmas routine or was Disney a good alternative? Thanks!

What a conundrum! The problem here isn't the kids. They are much too young to be set in their ways over traditions. Of course they would love it! It's Disney and fun and santa and Christmas. (Once you cover the age old "How will santa find us if we are in WDW?")
Your problem is with the immediate family. Is it just DSis, or are there Dgrandparents involved too? Will they miss having your family in their Christmas? Will they make you feel guilty for not staying home? This is a decision only you can really make, but since you asked for our opinions. Here you go - If you can resolve the family issues and live happily with the decision post-trip....Go have a magical merry Christmas and make lots of new memories with your DH and Dkids!!!!!

 

[916chipndale]

77 more days till our first december trip! i cant wait. i know i will be in shorts coming from NJ. if it is 55 and above ill be wearing shorts and a sweatshirt. i konw at nights i will need jeans and maybe a hat and gloves. i just cant wait to be in the parks for christmas and not the summer when it is 95. it has been a dream to go during this time. i love christmas and disney so this will be amazing.

 

[PoppyGirl]

Looking for some convincing here! I have our trip booked and DH says that it is my choice to go. I am still not 100% sure I want to go over the holidays and when my DSis came today, she thought my kids may be too young to miss Christmas at home. THe plan is to have Santa give the trip as their gift, arrive Christmas Eve, and to have stockings and small things from us to wake up to on Christmas morning. They are 6 and 4 and love Disney. Have you taken your kids so young? Did they miss the regular Christmas routine or was Disney a good alternative? Thanks!

What a conundrum! The problem here isn't the kids. They are much too young to be set in their ways over traditions. Of course they would love it! It's Disney and fun and santa and Christmas. (Once you cover the age old "How will santa find us if we are in WDW?")
Your problem is with the immediate family. Is it just DSis, or are there Dgrandparents involved too? Will they miss having your family in their Christmas? Will they make you feel guilty for not staying home? This is a decision only you can really make, but since you asked for our opinions. Here you go - If you can resolve the family issues and live happily with the decision post-trip....Go have a magical merry Christmas and make lots of new memories with your DH and Dkids!!!!!

I agree with Marblies! I haven't taken my kids at Christmas yet, but it seems to me like you can make the traditions whatever you want them to be. Will YOU miss having Christmas at home? I think your plan sounds lovely. Something they would never forget!

 

[Disneywedding2010]

The way I look at is they are still fairly young to be used to Christmas traditions. I mean I could understand your family being upset if you went every year and then they weren't able to have Christmas with their grandchildren. However, like PPs have said its your decision to make. I'd explain to them (kind of like I explained to my fiance) "Its not like I want to go to Disney every year for Christmas. I want to go at least once just to experience it. Our house isn't going anywhere and we can do Christmas at home next year."

His gripe at the time was, "Why are we going to Christmas for Disney. I wasn't able to spend our first christmas in the house and that's what I thougnt we were doing." Well the house isn't going anywhere unless a tornado swoops through and hauls it off to Oz Plus he had already previously said "Oh we can go again it doesn't matter when we go. So I booked the trip and all his griping was AFTER I had made the reservations. I told him 'Tough luck deal with it they are already made and I'm not canceling them" .

 

[bartleyosu]

Just a tip... If the photo pass cd is too pricey for you, try the calendar. It was around 25.00 and you could put up to 24 pictures on it. We loved ours.

 

[nan214]

I have started putting things in a laundry basket so they can be packed and a few weeks. We are packing for every type of weather. I agree anything over 70 and I WILL be in shorts and Flops.
70 days to go

Looks like we are heading down the same day! where are you flying out of? maybe we will be on the same plane

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Looking for some convincing here! I have our trip booked and DH says that it is my choice to go. I am still not 100% sure I want to go over the holidays and when my DSis came today, she thought my kids may be too young to miss Christmas at home. THe plan is to have Santa give the trip as their gift, arrive Christmas Eve, and to have stockings and small things from us to wake up to on Christmas morning. They are 6 and 4 and love Disney. Have you taken your kids so young? Did they miss the regular Christmas routine or was Disney a good alternative? Thanks!

Christmas at Disney is always a good alternative! But if you're concerned, does it have to be on Christmas? Can Santa give the gift for another time period (like closer to New Years or another month altogether)? Or what if you visit before the holidays?

For me, I have a 5 year old and 2 year old (the youngest just turned 2 today!!!), and I love waking up on Christmas morning in our own home. We are visiting WDW in mid-December, so that we can enjoy the holidays at home. But as others have said, it's really a personal decision.

No matter what you choose, you will have a wonderful time at Christmas. Holidays are not always about where you are, but who you are with.

 

[KellyWasHere]

I wrote a poem and posted it for MCMCP, so here's one for everyone else going to WDW in December-enjoy!

​

Christmas at WDW
Pack up your clothes and check out your threads,
because Disney World is waiting ahead!
In December things will be merry as can be,
and lots of singing will be heard around every Christmas tree!
Folks will be jolly and decorations of holly will be on every lightpole around,
If you are like us, it's Disney World or bust, we can't wait to be Disney bound!

Very cute!

I'm now counting down from the day we're leaving, so ........

68 days!!

 

[soontobewed07]

Looks like we are heading down the same day! where are you flying out of? maybe we will be on the same plane

We are flying Jet Blue out of Boston, but we are heading into Tampa because by the time I looked at flight prices I was not will to pay $1000 for the 3 of us. It was insane.
I am really hoping the weather isn't going to be too bad what are you packing? I was thinking a fleece would be good enough?

 

[Vickis3js]

Looking for some convincing here! I have our trip booked and DH says that it is my choice to go. I am still not 100% sure I want to go over the holidays and when my DSis came today, she thought my kids may be too young to miss Christmas at home. THe plan is to have Santa give the trip as their gift, arrive Christmas Eve, and to have stockings and small things from us to wake up to on Christmas morning. They are 6 and 4 and love Disney. Have you taken your kids so young? Did they miss the regular Christmas routine or was Disney a good alternative? Thanks!

This will be our 3rd Christmas in WDW and my kids actually chose this over a ton of gifts from Santa. We started going when they were 6, 7, and 8 and they were used to a ton of gifts. We would have to move my dining room table against the wall to get all the gifts in the room. They actually would get bored of opening so many gifts. We started going because I was tired of the family drama. Another reason was my kids didn't need the toys. I would end up donating a truck load of barely played with toys every year just to make room for the truck load more I would buy. So now they get a stocking and they get a special Disney experiance that we do on Christmas day. We;'ve done BBB and a pirate cruise and this year I booked the fireworks cruise. I ask them every year what they would rather have and they all pick WDW.

As far as family goes my Mom started giving me a hard time but it helps that we own a business and can't really go any other time of the year. But we do Christmas with them the week before we leave. We have a big Christmas dinner I have my sisters over and we just enjoy the day. My DH is Jewish so we don't have to split Christmas with them we jsut do one of the nights of Hanukkah with them. I may miss it this year a little since my sisters have children now but its best for my family. I am Cinderalla in my family. I am the one who gets stuck doing all the cooking, bringing all the food, taking care of all the kids, and doing all the cleaning. I never enjoyed a Christmas until we went to WDW. My kids don't have to see their cousins open 15 gifts from Grammy and Poppy while they get 2 because well they are the old grandkids now. Sorry I went off a little bit there LOL Can you tell I am a little bitter?

Anyway my kids are not as young as your little one is but they are still believers and are still beyond excited to go to WDW for Christmas. I think the way you have it planned out they won't miss gifts and the regular Christmas routine at all!

 

[PoppyGirl]

I was reading on the Theme Parks thread about the tarps around WDW on various areas. Do you think these renovations will be done by the time we are there in December?

 

[Marblies]

I was reading on the Theme Parks thread about the tarps around WDW on various areas. Do you think these renovations will be done by the time we are there in December?

Since we are all experts at getting inside the head of Disney corp.....
It seems that most of the work requiring tarps is being done in MK. Much of the work has to do with the expantion of Fantasyland and will take a while, however, most "experts" agree that the Main St. tarps will be down prior to the Christmas parade taping and probably before the decorations go up.

Woohoo 72 days!!!!! Gotta Dance

 

[Oceana]

Ahh kids and tradition

My kids will be 7, 5, and 1

I skirted the tradition thing by checking out on the 23rd and then heading home. We will have Christmas eve and day at Grandma's house which is something we have never done before. I doubt after being at Disney the kids will mind us skipping doing it at home 1 year.

 

[exwdwcm]

T
As far as family goes my Mom started giving me a hard time but it helps that we own a business and can't really go any other time of the year. But we do Christmas with them the week before we leave. We have a big Christmas dinner I have my sisters over and we just enjoy the day. My DH is Jewish so we don't have to split Christmas with them we jsut do one of the nights of Hanukkah with them. I may miss it this year a little since my sisters have children now but its best for my family. I am Cinderalla in my family. I am the one who gets stuck doing all the cooking, bringing all the food, taking care of all the kids, and doing all the cleaning. I never enjoyed a Christmas until we went to WDW. My kids don't have to see their cousins open 15 gifts from Grammy and Poppy while they get 2 because well they are the old grandkids now. Sorry I went off a little bit there LOL Can you tell I am a little bitter?

Anyway my kids are not as young as your little one is but they are still believers and are still beyond excited to go to WDW for Christmas. I think the way you have it planned out they won't miss gifts and the regular Christmas routine at all!

i agree here- if you think there will be family drama- then why not take them another time.........OR why not celebrate Christmas with your family when you return or before? who says that Christmas Day has to happen on the 25th? I know we celebrate Christmas usually a few days early or late with my in laws. doesn't matter that it isn't the actual day itself. And heck, we've even talked about pushing Christmas back a few days, so we can get all the good deals on the sales after christmas, then exchange gifts! lol. The meaning is in your heart and if it is truly time with the family that matter, who cares what day it is on. i say the kids are young enough they would have a blast!!

I was reading on the Theme Parks thread about the tarps around WDW on various areas. Do you think these renovations will be done by the time we are there in December?

i hope so!!! i assume there will still be some construction going on. HOpefully not as much as they had had in September, since it is a really slow month. I am hoping that they will have some of the tarps down since it is going to be busy in October and then also have them down knowing it will be busy over Thanksgiving and Christmas. But i bet some will remain and of course the huge Fantasyland construction wall will remain. I need to check and see if the train will even be running when we go- i heard rumors it could close for the construction in Fantasyland too at some point. hoping at least the casey's tarp can come down by then. who knows.

Small world opens back up in late October, so at least that construction wall will be gone. Not sure on Peter pan, it is still tarped i think? Pooh is closed from late October til like Nov 14th- hoping they will have that area more cleaned up by December.

 

[PoppyGirl]

Just a tip... If the photo pass cd is too pricey for you, try the calendar. It was around 25.00 and you could put up to 24 pictures on it. We loved ours.

I haven't even heard of this! Is there info about it on the photopass website???

 

[PoppyGirl]

Just a tip... If the photo pass cd is too pricey for you, try the calendar. It was around 25.00 and you could put up to 24 pictures on it. We loved ours.

I haven't even heard of this! Is there info about it on the photopass website???

I just answered my own question! It's on the photopass website and you can view samples. It's SO cute! I think I may do this after our December trip! Thanks for the tip!!!

PoppyGirl

 

[sophie832]

Getting closer...and I'm getting SO nervous! Did I make the right ADRs? Will we have enough time in the parks? Will the crowds be bad? Will it be freezing cold (I've seen a lot of discussion about this in this thread)? How will our flights be (we've never flown Continental, and rarely change planes)?

Ok, gotta breathe...still have 66 days...66!!! Holy cow!