Our first Disney trip and it's at Christmas! TR in progress.

[thepreciouspea]

We are American and living in Germany, we had planned on going "home" for a visit but that didn't work out. So to console ourselves for not being able to be around our families during the holiday season we are taking the girls to Disney.
It has always been part of the plan to go to DLP while we were here for 3 years, and we only have a year left now. We have never been to a Disney park, and kind of glad DLP will be our first. I think the American Parks seem overwhelming.

The Cast
Me- 35 (the planner)
DH-39 (was hesitant, but is getting excited now)
DD- 4 (Disney Princess Fan; has no idea, thinks we are just going to a hotel in France)
DD- 15 months (obviously has no idea but loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

We are going 22nd-26th Nov, just a week now. Staying the first night at the Kyriad (decided last minute to go the night before so we have the full day Wed in the park) and the remaining nights at the Sequoia.

Every vacation, I plan down to the hour and this is no different. I am somewhat flexible, but always want to make the most of our time wherever we go.

Dining-
1st night at the Kyriad Restaurant (anyone been?)
Wed- Lunch at Walts Dinner- Quick or Counter service (not sure yet)
Thurs- Lunch- Auburge Dinner- Cafe Mickey
Fri- Lunch Blockbuster or Restaurant des Stars Dinner -Yacht club

Must see/do
-All the rides that we can go on, height restrictions for DD age 4 might be a bummer she is a total thrill seeker. I'm hoping that she is tall enough to go on BTM. DH and I plan to do some baby swaps.
-Once upon a Dream Parade
-Tree lighting
-Fantillusion
-Mickey's Winter Wonderland
-See Santa and mail a letter to him
-Meet Rapunzel and any other Princess we can without waiting in a huge line
-Meet Jack Sparrow (this one is for DH )
-Stitch Live
-Animagique
-Disney Playhouse

I have bought most of our "sovenirs" online from the Disney store with 25% off, Yay! We will buy a couple of small things there. Everything that I have bought or made for the girls will be given as a gift from a Disney Character, waiting on their beds at night when we return from the parks. Have character outfits planned for everyday, with matching hairbows/hats.

It's taken a lot of planning, thanks to everyone on the board who has answered questions. I may still have a few this week before we go. Here's hoping to a great trip.
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[tinkertaylor05]

Sounds good to me, I'm sure you'll love dlp, I think it's perfect especially for the little ones. If you're going to do any organised meets like rapunzel I'd go early, we've found getting there 30 mins before usually makes us front of the line wishing you lots of magic

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Sounds good to me, I'm sure you'll love dlp, I think it's perfect especially for the little ones. If you're going to do any organised meets like rapunzel I'd go early, we've found getting there 30 mins before usually makes us front of the line wishing you lots of magic

 

[JazzyMe]

Character, waiting on their beds at night when we return from the parks. Have character outfits planned for everyday, with matching hairbows/hats.
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Have a great trip!

Matching bows and hats sounds familiar to me too. I love too match all my girls outfits too. Did you plan princess dresses to wear every day?
I don't know if I should take them. I think they are ok in warm weather, but not sure how to wear them when is so cold you need coat, hats and fleece lined jeans.

 

[thepreciouspea]

Have a great trip!

Matching bows and hats sounds familiar to me too. I love too match all my girls outfits too. Did you plan princess dresses to wear every day?
I don't know if I should take them. I think they are ok in warm weather, but not sure how to wear them when is so cold you need coat, hats and fleece lined jeans.

I looked at your PTR, looks like you are a gap and gymboree fan too. We have the same pumpkin shirt.

When we booked our trip we figured it would be cold, and possibly snowing. After looking at the forecast today I think we are going to luck out. Highs around 50 F, and maybe some light rain one day.

We are doing the princess lunch at Auberge, so definitely wearing one that day and possibly the next if it goes well and dd wants to. (She is getting 2 new dresses Rapunzel and Ariel for the trip so I think she probably will want to.) We are going to do a long sleeve shirt under the dress then tights under skinny jeans. If she gets too warm then we can loose the jeans and just do the tights. For the hats I have crocheted them a hybrid hat/wig to wear. I made a Rapunzel, Ariel and snow white. They turned out pretty cute and even cover their ears. We will see how they work out.

I think you leave a few days after we return so I can try to get on here before you leave and let you know how the dresses worked for us.

 

[Rienchen]

I'm in, you're girls are adorable

When I booked my trip back in September I expected it to be freezing and snowing for the weekend we're there.
We just got back two days ago and were so lucky with the weather, sunny, not too cold and not a single drop of rain

We saw lots of girls wearing dresses with their coats on underneath, they must have got the dresses a couple sizes too big to fit them over all those layers.

 

[thepreciouspea]

Thanks everyone! We just got back tonight....I need a vacation from my vacation. So I will start on my TR tomorrow or Monday. We had a great time! I'm so glad that I was able to plan and get advice from you all on here to maximize our trip.

 

[thepreciouspea]

I'm starting the trip report with booking info and our costs, just to help others plan. Feel free to skip this post, I'm not an expert but thought I would share my strategy as I feel we got an awesome deal.

We are Americans living in Germany with the miltary. When I looked up DLP it took me to the UK site so I was planning to book on their prices/deals and just doing the exchange rate. I was all set to book online, but entering my address it wouldn't let me change the country to the US. So I checked the us site for prices and found it to be about $300 more than the UK site, the Irish site wasn't any less expensive, and Germany's site was the most by far.

So I called Disney directly to book. They allowed me to book the UK deal at 40% off but said if I wanted to do it myself I could just leave the country as the UK because confirmations are e-mailed. I don't understand why they charge different prices for different countries....but at least we got a good deal.

The cost of our trip was $1600 (USD) including 1 night at the Kyriad, 3 nights at the Sequoia, 4 days tickets to the parks, all food and drinks, gas and tolls. We ate at all table service restaurants with a drink or two each and usually shared an Appetizer. (Details of everything to follow) Add another $200 for the souvenirs I pre-bought through the Disneystore online, and clothes and other accessories for our trip.

I had originally booked for just the 3 nights at the SL, but we decided to go a day early. So we stayed at the Kyriad for the first night with breakfast included for about $100 USD or 77 Euro.

If you are driving from Germany the drive is really easy, pretty much all autobahn/autoroute. The tolls are around 30 euro each way. There is plenty of parking at the Disney hotels and the spaces aren't tiny like they are pretty much everywhere else in europe.

 

[thepreciouspea]

We stayed at the Kyriad the first night because we decided to go a day early to take advantage of the full day on Wed to be in the parks and skip going at all on Saturday.

The Kyriad wasn't bad, but definitely not my favorite. I didn't take pictures of the hotel room itself because it was just as pictured on their site. Nice looking room, but a little small since we had to have a baby cot for our 1 year old.

The Good-

Food was good- we ate at the restaurant for supper that night and breakfast the next morning. Both were buffet style with soft drinks (free refills) included. The dinner buffet was a little pricey at 21 E per adult but the kids age 4 and 1 were free. The food at dinner, especially the mains looked like they had been set out for quite a while (some of it looked dry) but what I had tasted decent. The noodles with the bolognese sauce was surprisingly the most tasty thing. The appetizers and desserts were all good. We didn't have to wait in line at all Tues night for dinner around 7:30 and Breakfast Wed morning around 9.

I didn't get pictures of the buffets but can describe it a little. Appetizers typical salads, deli meats, cheeses and giant prawns. Mains, not sure what most of it was as there were no signs, but guessing some beef and pork meats in sauces. Rice and pastas, bolognese sauce, creamy cheese(?) and ham(?) sauce, and crusty rolls/croissants. The Dessert bar was very nice lots of different cakes, tarts, puddings, and my favorite....creme brulee.

Here are photos of my salad and main plates.

There was a kids play area in the restaurant which was nice. It had a slide, teeter totter/rocker, and a tv.

The room was pretty nice considering what we paid. There are 2 storage cabinets that would be nice to use for a longer stay, one for hanging clothes and one with shelves.

The reception area with kids play area was really nice. My daughters both liked the stairs at the check-in counter.

My girls in the play area, both wearing dresses that I made for them.

The Bad-

You had to put your key into a slot to run the lights, it was a bit of a trick to find in the dark. And I couldn't find the switch on the light on the desk for until everyone else was in bed so I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth in the dark to avoid waking everyone else up.

The bathroom didn't have any outlets, except for the one for razors. I use a hairdryer with hot air and a flat iron to style my hair so this was less than convenient. I had to use the outlets in the room to run my appliances which wasn't the best considering I had a 1 year old running around, trying to keep her away from the hot flat iron.

The hair dryer in the bathroom only blows cold air. Not a big deal unless you use it to style your hair like I do.

The bed was sinking in the middle, it wasn't horribly uncomfortable but took me a bit longer to fall asleep.

The walls were pretty thin, and we could hear everyone walking/talking down the hall. Around midnight a family with a screaming child came in and ,lucky us, were in the room right next to us. I was praying that the noise wouldn't wake up my kids and luckily it didn't but kept me up for a little longer. Then they turned on their tv pretty loud. Thanks! URGH.

 

[Linda67]

Great start to your TR

Your girls are super cute!