- Joined
- Aug 7, 2000
- Messages
- 24,372
The Cast- Myself, turned 32 on the trip, DH 35, Cam 7, Colt almost 4. We've been to WDW quite a few times, but this was our first Christmas trip. My main concern was to take in the holiday events, but in the end we got a lot more done than we had planned.
Saturday, 12/20
We started out early Saturday morning, arriving at the airport terminal at 5:30am. I couldnt believe all the traffic for that early. This was our first experience flying Song airline and check in went smoothly. We went to have breakfast around 6:00 and while walking to the food stands, we saw the security line was HUGE! The last time we flew so early in the morning (7/02) we breezed through security. So after barely eating(we took some of it to go thinking we had the whole line to wait in) we decided to get in line. A woman was waving people who had 6:30 flights to another line (sort of Fast Pass type of thing). We double checked that we were getting in the right line before waiting and finding out we were wrong. When we did she asked what time our flight was. We told her 7:00 and she waved us to the Fast Pass line. Cool! Of course now Colt and I are still eating, while having to show ids, and boarding passes, etc I wouldnt have taken the food if I didnt think we had a long wait . We were headed for the furthest gate away, but finally made it about 6:40. We all decided we should use the restrooms since we had time, so after switching off watching the carryon luggage we boarded the plane around 6:50. Take off wasnt until 7:25, but after a fairly smooth flight we still made to Orlando on time at 10:10.
This was our second time using Tiffany Town Car and again we had a great experience with them. And they even got our name right on the sign this time, LOL! Our driver was right there waiting, he helped us with our luggage which came right away, and we were off in no time!
We arrived at the Swan, probably around 11:00. There was no line whatsoever at check in. We were asked to show our Annual Passes (well, 1 of them), as we were using the AP rate. Our room was ready, and we were taken there right away by the bell hop. We had a lake view room which basically was a view of the Dolphin, but we could also see the boat dock, the Christmas tree below us, and everything else between the S&D. We really enjoyed our first stay at the Swan and wouldnt hesitate to go back again if another good rate came out.
After calling home and doing a little unpacking we were all hungry. My original plan was to go to ESPN for lunch, and I was hoping to get there by 1:00 for the Bruins game. Wouldnt you know things we too smoothly and none of us wanted to wait to eat, so we just headed out then, arriving at ESPN around 12:00. I wont go into dining reviews here since I posted those on the Restaurant Board, but in general we had great food the whole week. In the end we did catch the beginning of the Bs game and we were lucky enough to have it be shown on the tv right above us. It was perfect!
On our way out we had to stop at the gift shop as the boys really like it here. Cam got a Patriots pin and Colt got a Bruins key chain. Heres where my Tip For Today comes in *If you buy your kids small items on the Boardwalk, do not let them play around with them until you are on a smooth surface.* Within minutes of leaving the store Colt lost his keychain between the boards and Cam lost the back of his pin(I originally thought he lost the whole pin).
And because of the lost toys, now the kids were getting cranky.
We had some time and I wanted to check out the decorations at the Y&B Clubs, BW, and do a little exploring of the S&D since we would be there for 4 days. The kids didnt want to go for a walk (crankiness from being up at 4:00 am was also setting in), and DH didnt care too much about Christmas decorations, so they went back to the room, hoping the kids would take naps while I went exploring. All the resorts had really nice decorations. Ive seen many pictures of them all but it was neat to actually experience them.
Upon my return to the room I found the only one resting was DH. The kids were bouncing off the walls. I guess it was too early in the trip to expect them to take a nap. So after some more unpacking we headed to the MK. We checked out some of the Mickey statues before entering. First thing we saw inside the MK was that tree. Wow! Its really beautiful... and huge! After stopping at City Hall to pick up a birthday button for me for later in the week, we headed to Buzz to get a FP. We rode TTA, which is one of my kids favorites, before going back to the tree for the tree lighting ceremony. It was about 5:15 and no one was really gathered around yet. We did see some CMs in the old fashioned dresses (looked like carolers) so DH asked to be sure the ceremony was at 5:30. It was, and then the CM asked my kids if they wanted to help light the tree. OMG!!!! We never get picked for anything! I was so excited! What a magical welcome to Disney! So what do the kids say? No! We tried convincing them and the CM helped. She told them someone special(Mickey) would be there and all they had to do was stand there and wave, but , nope, no luck. Obviously I wasnt going to force them, even though they were breaking my heart.
It turned out to be a neat little ceremony, but of course watching the other kids up on the platform just about killed me, LOL!
So, after that it was back to the rides. We did Timekeeper which was new for us. Colt cried for most of that. After the fact he kept talking about the skeleton ride so I think he saw the robot as a skeleton and was scared of it. It was then our FP time for Buzz. We caught the Carrousel of Progress before heading to the Plaza Pavilion for dinner. My original plan was to take this food to eat while waiting for Spectro to start. DH thought it would be too much and the food would surely end up all over the ground so we ate at the tables. I was stressing because it was under an hour until Spectro and I knew we wouldnt get a place along Main St. In the end we did find standing room in back of sitters, but I would have preferred to not have had to stand that whole time. And did I mention it was freezing out this night? Even in winter coats and gloves we were cold! Brrr!
We made it through though and saw Spectro. This was new for our kids. DH & I saw it with an obstructed view on our honeymoon, but I felt like it was new to us too. While I really liked it, I wouldnt stress over lining up over an hour early again. Then after waiting in more cold, we saw Wishes. That was so worth it! I really thought that was an incredible show.
Well, it had been a long cold day, so we headed back to the Swan about 9:30-10:00. We stopped in the gift shop as I needed to find some tape and surprisingly they had some actually WDW colored tape. In the end we couldnt believe how much use we got from this tape... from taking fuzz off pants, to fixing the stroller wheel, it was a very good investment.
We then returned to our room with the Heavenly Beds calling out to us. Boy did they feel good. And thank goodness we got a good rest as we had an early morning ahead of us for EE at MK.
Saturday, 12/20
We started out early Saturday morning, arriving at the airport terminal at 5:30am. I couldnt believe all the traffic for that early. This was our first experience flying Song airline and check in went smoothly. We went to have breakfast around 6:00 and while walking to the food stands, we saw the security line was HUGE! The last time we flew so early in the morning (7/02) we breezed through security. So after barely eating(we took some of it to go thinking we had the whole line to wait in) we decided to get in line. A woman was waving people who had 6:30 flights to another line (sort of Fast Pass type of thing). We double checked that we were getting in the right line before waiting and finding out we were wrong. When we did she asked what time our flight was. We told her 7:00 and she waved us to the Fast Pass line. Cool! Of course now Colt and I are still eating, while having to show ids, and boarding passes, etc I wouldnt have taken the food if I didnt think we had a long wait . We were headed for the furthest gate away, but finally made it about 6:40. We all decided we should use the restrooms since we had time, so after switching off watching the carryon luggage we boarded the plane around 6:50. Take off wasnt until 7:25, but after a fairly smooth flight we still made to Orlando on time at 10:10.
This was our second time using Tiffany Town Car and again we had a great experience with them. And they even got our name right on the sign this time, LOL! Our driver was right there waiting, he helped us with our luggage which came right away, and we were off in no time!
We arrived at the Swan, probably around 11:00. There was no line whatsoever at check in. We were asked to show our Annual Passes (well, 1 of them), as we were using the AP rate. Our room was ready, and we were taken there right away by the bell hop. We had a lake view room which basically was a view of the Dolphin, but we could also see the boat dock, the Christmas tree below us, and everything else between the S&D. We really enjoyed our first stay at the Swan and wouldnt hesitate to go back again if another good rate came out.
After calling home and doing a little unpacking we were all hungry. My original plan was to go to ESPN for lunch, and I was hoping to get there by 1:00 for the Bruins game. Wouldnt you know things we too smoothly and none of us wanted to wait to eat, so we just headed out then, arriving at ESPN around 12:00. I wont go into dining reviews here since I posted those on the Restaurant Board, but in general we had great food the whole week. In the end we did catch the beginning of the Bs game and we were lucky enough to have it be shown on the tv right above us. It was perfect!
On our way out we had to stop at the gift shop as the boys really like it here. Cam got a Patriots pin and Colt got a Bruins key chain. Heres where my Tip For Today comes in *If you buy your kids small items on the Boardwalk, do not let them play around with them until you are on a smooth surface.* Within minutes of leaving the store Colt lost his keychain between the boards and Cam lost the back of his pin(I originally thought he lost the whole pin).
And because of the lost toys, now the kids were getting cranky. We had some time and I wanted to check out the decorations at the Y&B Clubs, BW, and do a little exploring of the S&D since we would be there for 4 days. The kids didnt want to go for a walk (crankiness from being up at 4:00 am was also setting in), and DH didnt care too much about Christmas decorations, so they went back to the room, hoping the kids would take naps while I went exploring. All the resorts had really nice decorations. Ive seen many pictures of them all but it was neat to actually experience them.
Upon my return to the room I found the only one resting was DH. The kids were bouncing off the walls. I guess it was too early in the trip to expect them to take a nap. So after some more unpacking we headed to the MK. We checked out some of the Mickey statues before entering. First thing we saw inside the MK was that tree. Wow! Its really beautiful... and huge! After stopping at City Hall to pick up a birthday button for me for later in the week, we headed to Buzz to get a FP. We rode TTA, which is one of my kids favorites, before going back to the tree for the tree lighting ceremony. It was about 5:15 and no one was really gathered around yet. We did see some CMs in the old fashioned dresses (looked like carolers) so DH asked to be sure the ceremony was at 5:30. It was, and then the CM asked my kids if they wanted to help light the tree. OMG!!!! We never get picked for anything! I was so excited! What a magical welcome to Disney! So what do the kids say? No! We tried convincing them and the CM helped. She told them someone special(Mickey) would be there and all they had to do was stand there and wave, but , nope, no luck. Obviously I wasnt going to force them, even though they were breaking my heart.
It turned out to be a neat little ceremony, but of course watching the other kids up on the platform just about killed me, LOL! So, after that it was back to the rides. We did Timekeeper which was new for us. Colt cried for most of that. After the fact he kept talking about the skeleton ride so I think he saw the robot as a skeleton and was scared of it. It was then our FP time for Buzz. We caught the Carrousel of Progress before heading to the Plaza Pavilion for dinner. My original plan was to take this food to eat while waiting for Spectro to start. DH thought it would be too much and the food would surely end up all over the ground so we ate at the tables. I was stressing because it was under an hour until Spectro and I knew we wouldnt get a place along Main St. In the end we did find standing room in back of sitters, but I would have preferred to not have had to stand that whole time. And did I mention it was freezing out this night? Even in winter coats and gloves we were cold! Brrr!
We made it through though and saw Spectro. This was new for our kids. DH & I saw it with an obstructed view on our honeymoon, but I felt like it was new to us too. While I really liked it, I wouldnt stress over lining up over an hour early again. Then after waiting in more cold, we saw Wishes. That was so worth it! I really thought that was an incredible show.
Well, it had been a long cold day, so we headed back to the Swan about 9:30-10:00. We stopped in the gift shop as I needed to find some tape and surprisingly they had some actually WDW colored tape. In the end we couldnt believe how much use we got from this tape... from taking fuzz off pants, to fixing the stroller wheel, it was a very good investment.
We then returned to our room with the Heavenly Beds calling out to us. Boy did they feel good. And thank goodness we got a good rest as we had an early morning ahead of us for EE at MK.
