So I just booked us a Disney World Vacation over Christmas. I hope you don't mind! - December 2015

[karalecia26]

Hi everyone and welcome to my first pre-trip report! My name is Kara and my family consists of my DH, Chris, DD Hannah who is 10, DS Nicolas who is 8 (will turn 9 the day we leave for WDW), and DD Maddalynne who is 5. We are a crazy busy family from Iowa looking forward to our first Christmas at Disney World! This will be our 2nd trip down to WDW, but the first time almost doesn't count! We were first timers with friends that were going to be close enough to Orlando that we thought we would hop over for 3 days and be good. Boy were we wrong! After walking into Magic Kingdom on the first day and seeing all the magic around us we were hooked! Our friends and their kids rushed around trying to do everything because for them this was their only time going. We made the decision from the first 15 minutes that we were coming back soon!
This leads me up to when were we going to go back? We had thought about this past summer but DH absolutly HATES the heat and humidity. The 3 days that we spent last summer was about enough to turn him away from Florida for good. With 3 children all involved in activities throughout the year and the youngest going to start kindergarten we just didn't know what we were going to do.
This trip all of a sudden started to come together for us. We had no exact plans when we wanted to go and because we had a beach trip planned with family the idea of a 2nd trip in the same year was not really part of the budget. My DH and children had left me in the house by myself (a very rare occurance!) and I just happened to be messing around on the computer and decided to plug in dates on the Disney website to see what came up for prices. I was thinking that I could get an idea for next year and start to save for a trip. All of a sudden CBR popped up with our dates, December 20-27, 2015 with Free Dining for the whole visit! WHAT?!? Free dining over Christmas?!? Without even thinking I got on the phone and called the reservation number and got a wonderful cast member that answered all of my questions. YES! FREE DINING! The whole time because our check in was before the end of the promotion. Without even thinking I said "Ok! Let's book!" After I got off the phone with Disney, my family walks back into the house and I just look at DH and giggled. He knew I had done something. I had him come into the kitchen were I said, "So I just booked us a Christmas vacation at Disney. I hope you don't mind!"

 

[MataHari22]

Well, I guess I am in to follow along. So, did he mind?

 

[karalecia26]

Well, I guess I am in to follow along. So, did he mind?

Thanks for following along MataHari22! He just looked at me with an eye roll and said ok! I will go more into that with my next post!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Hi there! Fun intro! I've got a 8 (almost 9) y/o DS & 5 y/o DD too. We'll be there RIGHT after you guys! Following along; can't wait to hear about your plans.

 

[karalecia26]

So after about 3o seconds (which seemed like it was more like 5 minutes) DH just looked at me like I was a crazy women and gave me an eye roll and said "OK". WHAT?!? No excitement? No are you crazy? Just a plain ok! I was so beyond excited to be going to Disney World at Christmas! Why wasn't he more excited? But oh well! He will get into the spirit! I was only the end of June so Christmas was still 6 months away! Now the big debate that was going on in my head was do we tell the kids that we are going right away or do we wait a while and get through our summer and all the craziness first? We debated for a while and decided that we would wait a little while to tell them that we were going this Christmas. We had talked to them before and had decided that we were going to try and go in the next year or so, I had in my head that I could customize my magic bands and make some dining reservations by asking them questions about what they would like to do the "next time" we went. So far so good! No one knows that in reality we are going way sooner than planned!

 

[MataHari22]

Lol, well, at least he didn't shoot you down. I always found that my ex never looked like he was excited, even while we were there. It kind of drove me nuts, actually. But then, when we came home, he would talk about the trip to other people, and he really sounded like he actually liked it.

I think because I am always the planner, and I worry so much, and I just want to make sure the other person is having a good time. I would appreciate a person who was excited and actually looking like they were having a great time.

 

[vleeth]

My husband is the same way. He doesn't get excited until we are there. And even then, I'm the only one that can tell he is excited. He looks the same as always to everyone else.

We are going at the beginning of Dec and my dd10 will be surprised the day we leave.

Did you decide when you will tell yours?

 

[karalecia26]

Sorry for the delay in responding! School has now officially started for the kids. I can't believe how fast this summer went by! Hopefully the time between now and our trip will go fast too! Right now we haven't decided when we are actually telling the kids. They are helping with the planning without knowing exactly when we are going. I love my children but they are just as anxious as I am to get back to telling them an actual date may not be the best thing.
So I have been able to get all my ADR's in place and we have gotten some good reservations (I think so anyway!) I was able to get a Crystal Palace breakfast our first day at Magic Kingdom along with an BOG lunch, CRT dinner, Akershus for a breakfast, Minnie's Holiday Dine at Hollywood and Vine, Tusker House Christmas morning and Garden Grill Christmas night and a Candlelight Processional dinner at Teppan Edo on Christmas Eve. Luckily we have free dining or we wouldn't be doing as many character meals/fancy meals as I have planned. We do have to pay for 2 TS out of pocket right now so I have been looking and researching which ones to do. So many decisions.
Right now I am at kind of a stand still in the planning stage and am starting to have doubts on the trip! I know that this was not in the plan right away but I was able to get such a great deal at a time that we really want to go. Am I the only one that has second thoughts about a trip? I know that we are going to have fun and I know that this trip is going to be special, I just have that little voice in the back of my head that is saying "You are crazy for doing this!" I did voice my doubts to my husband the other day, and he said just to leave the trip as it is and to stop second guessing everything. I guess maybe I have won him over?!?

 

[vleeth]

What's making you have second thoughts?

 

[karalecia26]

What's making you have second thoughts?

I am not quite sure why I am having second doubts. We have gotten a great price on our trip and my husband got some extra money that was owed to him from is job that has almost paid off our balance. I think I let others get to my head when they ask how we are going on a second trip in a six month time frame and that "Disney is expense, I can't believe you are going." From others makes me have second thoughts. I know I shouldn't worry about what others think, but it still gets to me. Family vacations and time spent together is a number one priority for us. We don't go out and party (we have 3 kids that are super busy so when would we have time!) and don't smoke so we have money that we put aside for things like this. As a child growing up, I never got to go on vacation so showing our kids lots of places and fun has been important to us.

 

[simonmunro]

At least a time or two during the planning stages I have second guessed every trip I've ever booked. Not saying it was always the most responsible thing to spend our money on but just for us (everyone had different issues), looking back over all the years and pictures of my son (now in his 30's) as a little boy or teenager with his dad who is now in heaven from a heart attack, it was so worth the money and "comments" from people.

 

[simonmunro]

Also, my personal thing is when I have a trip planned and have the inevitable bad day thinking about " hey, we're going to Disney " makes it all better lol. So, I guess I use it to improve my mood for several months at a time beforehand. My family appreciates this splendid feature of our trip lol

 

[vleeth]

I pretty much try not to tell people we are going. I talk about it on here, to my "Disney friends" and my mom.

When you want to talk Disney, talk to us!

I love Disney and I love the memories from past trips. We aren't going into debt to go. This is what I want to spend my money on. It really isn't anyone business.

 

[karalecia26]

Thanks everyone for your happy thoughts and letting me talk Disney! It is so great to have found others who have the same "addiction" that I have! So today has been a lazy Sunday and have decided to take the day and do some laundry and do some Disney planning and list making! When I went and grabbed my computer to do this my husband looked and me and told me to have fun and giggled at me. He knows that I love to plan and love to have lists made in advance and change them as I go. He used to make fun of me when we first started dating, but over the years and adding children to our family he now knows that my lists are a good thing and that most of the time we have everything we need and don't have to find a WalMart or Target the minute we get to our destination!
So since my last time I posted I have now added another ADR to our week. We are going to be celebrating my son's 9th birthday while we are down at Disney (he turns 9 the day we start our drive). He wanted to eat at Sci-Fi but I was unable to get a reservation for a time that worked for us, but I was able to get Minnie's Holiday Dine at Hollywood and Vine. So once the test run of breakfast at Sci Fi opened, I was able to score an ADR for him! He will be so excited! But now to decided if I want to keep all then ADR's that I have or trim some down. We are arriving in time to have scored Free Dining the whole week, and have 7 TS available for our stay. Right now with CRT and Candlelight Processional,which are 2 credits a piece, we have 10 credits. I am torn about what to do, but I am leaning to keeping all of them. Most of the time I have an early breakfast scheduled then a later dinner, so being too full with not be a big deal. Here is what I have scheduled right now. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!

Sunday 20th Arrival Day
QS either at Resort or DTD

Monday 21st
Magic Kingdom Day
Crystal Palace 8:30 am-I know that the park opens at 8 (EMH) and probably will open at 7 am this week but my girls wanted to eat with Winnie the Pooh and Piglet
Will do a QS in the park for late lunch or dinner

Tuesday 22nd
Hollywood Studios
Sci-Fi Dine In Breakfast 8:30am
Minnie's Holiday Dine at Hollywood and Vine 5:30 pm with Fantasmic Preferred Seating

Wednesday 23rd
Magic Kingdom
BOG Breakfast 8:10 am
BOG Lunch 1:20 pm- I need to decided which one to keep! Help!
CRT 8:10 pm- Wishes are at 8 pm this night so we will be in the Castle for this, so planning Wishes for Monday

Thursday 24th
Christmas Eve! at Epcot!
Candlelight Processional Package
Teppan Edo at 5:20 pm with the 8:15 Show

Friday 25th
Christmas Day!
Animal Kingdom AM and Epcot PM
Tusker House 9:10 am
Garden Grill 7:00 pm

Saturday 26th
Epcot in AM and Possible MK in afternoon
Akershus 10:30 am

 

[vleeth]

I would keep the lunch BOG. You are going at the busiest time of the year. The crowds will be insane, but you will find that the waits are much better first thing in the morning and super late at night.

You will get so much more done if you do attractions at 8:00am instead of 1:00pm.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[karalecia26]

Well thanks to our wonderful school system we are now having to cancel our December trip .....days have changed and we have school the week we were supposed to leave and since I am a new staff in our preschool room, I can not take the time off of work. So we have decided that instead of being sad and upset about this trip (it was an extra anyway) we are going to turn around and put the money that we paid for this trip toward a Disney Cruise in 2016 and look forward to all the expansions to be done at Disney World and attempt to make another trip in either 2017-2018

 

[AEB123]

Have you already cancelled your CRT reservation on 12/23?