PTR: Second Try for a Holiday Extravaganza! December 2024

[Disney102015]

Hi all! I’m H and I’m kicking off a pre-trip report for our December trip to Disney World. I’ve written a bunch of trip reports before but never really done a PTR (I think I started one in 2018/19 but never got past the first post!) so bear with me as I figure this out!



The goal for this trip is to hit alllllllllll the Disney holiday festivities. We had a December trip planned for 2023 but I got knocked down with a serious bout of pneumonia and we had to cancel last minute. It was a bummer even though it all worked out about as well as it could have - I was able to rent out our DVC reservation, JetBlue gave us a credit for the flights, and I was able to credit our MVMCP tickets for an After Hours party later in the year. But I’ve been hoping to get back to Disney to do all the holiday things ever since!



We actually had a Disneyland trip booked for January 2025 which we had to cancel a few weeks ago because a work conflict popped up for my husband. Womp womp. So, we had extra DVC points hanging around and what better time to use them than December 2024?!? Since we are booking “last minute” (in DVC terms, anyway), I’ve been piecing together availability one night at a time as I see rooms open up. As of right now this has us doing 5 hotels in 5 nights whiiiiiich…is bonkers but I’ll do it if it means a “free” (haha) hotel in Disney! AND they’re all pretty awesome hotels so I am psyched to spend time at each one, and take in their holiday decor, of course! I am also super organized and no stranger to split stays so I am not too too worried about all the moving around. The biggest hassle is planning for pool time in the afternoons since luggage often doesn’t arrive from bell services until late afternoon / early evening - but nothing we can’t work around!



So we’ve covered the “when” and the “why,” now let’s do the “who!” I’m H, the primary planner for our group. I’ve been going to Disney about once a year since I was young and am a huge fan. I was lucky enough to become an AP holder this year and this will be the 3rd trip I squeeze out of that pass. (Will I squeeze in a 4th?! Stay tuned to find out!!)



My husband N likes to pretend he only goes to Disney to humor me, but we bought into DVC a few years ago so I think I’m calling his bluff He loves a good meal while at Disney and Topolino’s is a big favorite. He usually shies away from roller coasters but on our last trip he shocked me by riding Cosmic Rewind and says he actually wants to do it again!!



We have 3 kids who will be 6, 4 and 2 at the time of our trip. C (6) is our boy - he used to be my roller coaster buddy but he was a little tentative on our last trip so we’ll see! He loves all things Pokémon so a trip to the Mitsukoshi Department Store at Epcot is always a must. He is also obsessed with dinosaurs so we usually let him build a dino at the T-Rex store.



G (4) loves all things princess and sparkly! She did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique on our last trip and I’m pretty sure it was the best day of her life. She’s requested to “eat with the princesses again” so we’ll be aiming for a reservation for Cinderella’s Royal Table at some point.



Rounding out our crew is “Baby” E, who just turned 2. She’s mostly just happy to tag along with her big siblings although she really did get a kick out of meeting Mickey on our last trip, whereas the big kids were a little scared!



That’s about it for now! In my next post I’ll round up the many hotels we are staying at!

 

[Disney102015]

Hotel Plans​

Like I said, we are at the mercy of DVC availability since we booked well inside of the 7 month window! I have been picking up nights here and there and so far we have all nights covered, but it’s a 5 way split stay. I don’t mind this tooooo much since 1) I’m excited about every single hotel and 2) we have done splits before and have a good idea of how to make the best of it. (I actually did a 5 night 5 resort trip with my sister this summer - totally different ballgame with kids, though!)



I do check the DVC site about 20 times a day to see if I can string together 2+ nights anywhere to simplify things! I’ve already changed things up about 5 times as availability has shifted at different hotels. For now though, here’s what we’ve got!



Wednesday night: Saratoga Springs Deluxe Studio



This is a brand new-to-me resort so I am excited about that! To be honest Saratoga has never really appealed to me that much (probably why I haven’t stayed there previously!) but it has a lot of pros for this trip. We plan to spend Thursday at Disney Springs so it’ll be very convenient! Plus I think we’ll land late afternoon/early evening Wednesday (still working on flights) so it’s great to be in a low-point room for that night. Initially we were booked in a 1 bedroom at Old Key West (we LOVE OKW) but when I saw the opening for a Saratoga studio, I jumped at the chance to save some points!!



Thursday night: Beach Club Deluxe Studio



Is this real life?! I saw this opening pop up and jumped on it SO fast! We have stayed at the Beach Club before but it’s been over a decade (and was on the hotel side, not DVC) so we are psyched to be back, and if it’s warm enough I know the kids will LOVE Stormalong Bay.



Friday night: Animal Kingdom Lodge Deluxe Studio (Savanna View)



AKL is our home resort so not our first time here, but pretty psyched to see it decked out for the holidays! I’m sure the savanna view will be a big hit with the kids, as well.



Saturday night: Copper Creek One Bedroom



OMG you guys. My bucket list dream is to stay at Wilderness Lodge when that massive Christmas tree is in the lobby. This was the hotel we had booked for last year when we had to cancel. I really wish we could be here more than 1 night but I’ll take what I can get! It also pains me a little to spend the points on a 1 bedroom when we still fit in a studio but again, taking what I can get. I won’t complain about the soaking tub, that’s for sure! So so so excited to stay here and soak up all the holiday magic. Definitely planning for a good chunk of hotel time on the day we stay here so we’ll be able to take it all in.



Sunday night: Polynesian Deluxe Studio (Standard View)



We always love the Poly. I didn’t have this hotel on my radar for this trip because I heard it’s not particularly Christmassy. But, we initially had a Theme Park View Resort Studio at Grand Floridian booked, and while I love GF it was GREAT to save those points by moving to the Poly.



Whew!! That’s our 5 night tour of the Disney DVC resorts Would I prefer to stay 5 consecutive nights somewhere so we can unpack and settle in? Yes, of course! But it’ll be a fun adventure regardless and I am so pumped about everywhere we’re staying!

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

 

[Disney102015]

Well that escalated quickly…​

Ok, scratch EVERYTHING I said in my last update After a truly egregious amount of time spent stalking the DVC website, I think I’ve got a hotel schedule I’m pretty happy with - and it does NOT involve changing hotel rooms every night! Woohoo!



NIGHT 1 - airport hotel near our local airport. We were able to book all 5 of our flights on points…but at 5:30am. Ouch. On the plus side, earlier arrival to Disney!



NIGHT 2 - Copper Creek 1 bedroom. As you may remember, it’s been my absolute dream to stay here during the holidays and see the huge tree Planning lots of downtime on this day to hang in the lobby and soak up the merry vibes.



NIGHTS 3-6 - Yes, I strung together FOUR whole nights at one resort!! And I’m pretty pumped about it too - we’ve got a 1 bedroom at the Boardwalk! It still pains me to use the points for a 1 bedroom when we still fit in a studio but what can you do. I absolutely fell in love with this resort when I stayed here in a studio for 1 night last summer. I booked these nights one at a time as availability popped up and still can believe I was able to piece 4 together! I had to buy some one time use points to cover the final night and got some pixie dust from DVC - I had 3 points hanging out in holding from the trip we had to cancel last year. I had resigned myself to losing them BUT member services let me use them on this reservation! So nice.



NIGHT 7 - TBD. We plan to spend this day at Epcot and do the Candlelight Processional, and we have a 7am flight the next morning. I’m debating between booking a room at the MCO Hyatt (about $300) and heading to the airport that night, or booking a room somewhere on Disney property. Either way it’ll be a cash reservation because I’m out of points. On the one hand it’d be nice to wake up AT the airport for a 7am flight. On the other hand trekking to the airport hotel at night after a full park day might be a little miserable. Gotta give this one some more thought.



Next up…dining, which I just booked today!!

 

[Disney102015]

Dining Plans​

Our 60 day dining window opened last week and it went pretty well!


We had two sixty day windows since we had a split stay. On day 1 I aimed to make our reservations for Magic Kingdom for our first park day. Well, that was an epic fail! I couldn’t get Cinderella’s Table, Harmony Barber Shop, or anything we wanted for dinner in the MK area. So, we regrouped and moved our park days around a bit to shift our MK day later in the trip and increase our chances of getting the reservations we want.



For now, here’s what we’ve got!



Wednesday: No reservations. Planning to do QS lunch at Copper Creek and Flame Tree BBQ dinner at AK.



Thursday:

• tentative Whispering Canyon breakfast…we’ll see if we get up early enough for this!
• Liberty Tree Tavern dinner during MVMCP

Friday:

• Current plan is to grab apps at Jock Lindsay’s while we are at Disney Springs during the day
• Still thinking about dinner - I have an alert set for Trattoria Al Forno since we’ll be staying at the Boardwalk

Saturday:

• We had planned to make a fancy dinner reservation for our date night but after seeing the Jollywood menu we decided to skip dinner and eat at the event!
• We will have to feed the kids before we go to Jollywood - thinking of maybe doing the Boardwalk pizza window

Sunday: This is our new MK day and I redeemed myself from the epic fail on my first dining day!

• Cinderella’s Royal Table lunch
• Harmony Barber Shop haircut for G in the afternoon
• Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse (since MK closes at 6pm and we won’t have MVMCP tix that night)

Monday:

• I made an Ale and Compass breakfast reservation but again, we’ll see if we think we’ll be up early enough
• I made a late lunch reservation for Le Cellier - hoping to replace that with a Candlelight Processional dining package when those finally open up

There you go! I’m sure I’ll probably do lots of tweaking over the next few weeks but for now I am really happy with the plans we have!

 

[Disney102015]

Hotel Update!​

I was debating between booking a hotel room on property for our final night, versus booking a room at the airport hotel since we had a 7am flight the next day. You KNOW I am always trying to squeeze in more Disney time!! But, then I realized I could book the airport hotel using airline miles plus $100 - this made it a pretty easy decision!!



So, we’ll spend Monday at Epcot and, if Candlelight Processional packages ever get released, we’ll aim for the 5:30 show (with lunch or dinner beforehand). Then we’ll head back to the Boardwalk, grab our luggage, and schedule an evening Mears ride back to the airport to spend our final night at the airport hotel.



I DID have fantasies of booking an MK area hotel for that night and concluding our trip by watching Happily Ever After outside the park…but with 3 small kids, I think I’ll be VERY happy when I wake up at 5am Tuesday morning and just have to walk downstairs for our early flight!



So that’s that - unless another night at Copper Creek pops up, I think I am officially done tinkering with hotel plans for this trip!!



Oh - AND I was able to use Marriott points to book our airport hotel for night 1 of the trip, since we have a 5:30am flight to Orlando. That’ll make the (very very very) early morning slightly less painful!



Things are shaping up!!

 

[madeline07]

These plans look great, can't wait to hear more about the trip!

 

[Disney102015]

Making Progress!​

We were waffling a bit this week on whether to cancel or modify our trip because our dog needed major emergency surgery I would have been so bummed to cancel this trip 2 years in a row!! Luckily after much number crunching we decided we are still good to go, but may cut back on the number of park days we do, to save on ticket costs a bit.

SO! We had hoped to do MVMCP 12/5 but while we were waffling, it sold out! No biggie, we still had 2 nights where we could make the party work so we are booked for 12/8!! AND I snagged a holiday sleigh ride at Fort Wilderness which I am SO excited about.

Honestly even if we have to cut some park days I won’t mind - I’m just so happy to be going! I’ll be happy just to enjoy the hotels, swimming, and holiday decor and time with the family. Counting down the days!!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Big wow and congrats you achieved some magic !
Having fun already for your plans . Thanks for, posting !

 

[Disney102015]

Planning Victories! ​

In my last update, I said we had wanted to do MVMCP 12/5 but it sold out so we booked 12/8. WELL! A day or 2 later on Disboards someone posted that they were able to book 12/5 by calling Disney ticketing so I figured it was worth a shot! And it was successful!! It took about 45 minutes of being passed between different departments but I was able to switch us to 12/5, which works much better for our schedule. And as a bonus, 12/5 was a cheaper party so I saved about $80 in the process!



Another victory - Candlelight Processional dining packages opened up last week. There were lots of glitches and it took quite a while but I was able to snag what we wanted - Via Napoli! We have never been there before and I think it’ll be a hit with the kiddos.



We also pulled the trigger on Jollywood Nights tickets! We had planned to have a date night just N and I, but our usual Orlando sitter that we have used in the past wasn’t available. I priced out some of the commonly recommended sitting services but for 3 kids for that many hours…it was going to be $10 cheaper to just bring the kids to Jollywood with us. (E is under 3, so she doesn’t need a Jollywood ticket.) And N was a little iffy about leaving the kids with a sitter we have never met before.



So! The whole family is heading to Jollywood. Our kids (6, 4, 2) are night owls and generally champs at stroller sleeping so hopefully it won’t be a total disaster. My thinking is we’ll get there right at opening, hit the main holiday/Muppets show, hopefully ride Slinky with the big kids, maybe hit the Nightmare Before Christmas show (my kids are obsessed with Jack Skellington) and then N and I would hit the food/drink booths while the kids snooze in the stroller. We aren’t big character people.



I was looking forward to a date night but on a relatively short trip it’ll be nice to spend all the evenings as a family. Honestly I’m just excited to be going and soaking up all the holiday atmosphere and whatever we get to do is gravy! And it’ll be super nice to just be able to head back to the Boardwalk at the end of the night.



This does put a small wrinkle in our MK plans as we had planned on doing a full MK day after Jollywood. That was fine when it was just N and I, but I think the kids may need a rest day. We can move our MK day but we have Cinderella’s Royal Table and Harmony Barber Shop booked so I am trying to move those. I’ll keep you posted!!