Spending Christmas w/the Mouse, my first ever Pre-TR or TR

[Ti2GrLvr]

well, I have been a member of this board for some time now, but usually find myself reading much more than I respond. I have learned quite a bit and enjoy reading the experiences of others on here, so I'm not too sure how this is going to turn out......I thought I'd give it a try.

Our Cast of Characters:
Me, 42 and a true Disney lover. I love planning our trips to Disney and find myself making several last minute weekend trip plans

DH, 45 and he enjoys our trips to Disney, but not quite the finatic that I am. He is always very understanding of my last minute weekend trips and never minds.

DD, 17 and kind of tolerates Mom's love for the World, she's our "socialite" and has always wanted to go to Disney for the Power Cheerleading event that they host. She's a varsity cheerleader and really enjoys it.... She will be turning 18 while at the world

Mom, 71 and she travels with us most of the time to Disney. Not a huge fan, but enjoys herself.

Then, we have my brother, 48 and his family, SIL, 37, Niece 16 and Nephew 14 going with us. The last time my brother was at the World was when he was 14 and his family has never been (well, I did sneak my niece and nephew for a day trip back a few months ago).

So, that's eight (8) of us........is it true what they say??? 8 is enough?? LOL Naaa....that was a TV show.

I have been the diligant planner for the past two months to try and please everyone. Of course no one really seems to care too much about what is planned. My SIL is just REALLY excited to go to the WORLD.

We are staying from Sunday, December 21st through Friday, December 26th. We became DVC members back a couple of years ago, so we agreed to use our points for the trip and booked a 2 bedroom at SSR. We also include the Deluxe Dining Plan. We figured we might as well show my family the enjoyment of the different resturants and atmospheres your could enjoy.

Well, I will post our dining plans and other plans soon. Hope this has started okay for a first timer.

 

[Alysa]

Looking forward to reading more. We booked our first DVC trip to SSR in a studio and a 2 bedrooms this year too. Can't wait! That Donald splash pad looks so adorable! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ti2GrLvr]

thanks for joining in......I hope to post some of our itinerary later this evening.

 

[Ti2GrLvr]

since my brother and his family have never spent a vacation in the World, I wanted to try and plan this so they could experience the most possible their first trip, but yet not wear everyone down either.

This is also my families first Christmas at the World as well. Although we have spent many holidays at the World, it's never been over Christmas, only the week before. So, this will be exciting for us as well.

To begin with, we are leaving on Sunday 12/21 in the morning. I hope I can get everyone up and on the go by 8:00am. That will put us at SSR at about 9:00am (we're SO lucky to live in Daytona ) I figured we could check in and hit Hollywood Studios, as we have our first ressies there. I tries to make most of our ressies according to what parks we may want to be in or things we may want to do, but I found that VERY difficult to do with having to make the ressies for a party of 8. So I basically had to settle for what I could get, but yet most of the resturants I wanted fit in somewhere during the week, just maybe not on the day or time I wanted.

So here is what I have so far:

12/21 -
11:10am Sci-fi
4:20pm Cinderellas Castle I was so happy to get this one.

12/22 -
11:35am Crystal Palace
2:30pm FW Trail ride (this is something the 3 teens wanted to do)
5:00pm Hoop De Doo Revue

12/23 -
8:50am Cape May Cafe
2:00pm Biergarten (this was for the Candlelight Processional)
5:00pm Candlelight Processional
8:55pm O'Hana

12/24 -
9:25am 1900 Park Fare
7:40pm Whispering Canyon

12/25 -
10:20am Tusker House (I knew we'd be up for Christmas morning and wanted to give time for present opening and such)

6:15pm Trails End (was very hard trying to find something with a traditional Christmas dinner that was available for 8 of us)

12/26 -
9:10am O'Hana
5:00pm Cape May Cafe

I felt these ressies were pretty good and I was quite happy with them.