- 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.
Thursday, 12/25
Like all the other mornings, I was up and showered before the others. Santa had left a ticket on the table for a sleigh ride from the Wilderness Lodge tonight at 6:00pm. Then I remembered how I had heard Santa sometimes comes to the resorts so I checked the door. There was a bag with some candy and a card in it. Perfect! I put the sleigh ride info in that bag before the kids were up.
Once we were all up and ready we started out and found the bag. The kids checked out the goodies, which Cam insists people who work there left,
and then we were off to the MK. We asked for the front of the monorail and we thought we had it. Then the CM apologized and said it wasnt empty after all
but the next monorail was the Polys and we would be guaranteed the front if we waited. Tip For Today
*If riding in the front of the monorail is important to you, ask the CM which monorail is your resorts monorail
you should be able to get it*. Since it was still well before 8:00 we waited. So we rode in the front and it was a great view as the sun was coming up over the lagoon. Merry Christmas! 
We got to the MK and around 7:30-7:45 they stated letting us through the turnstiles. It was pretty crowded as I expected for Christmas. One CM was trying to get people to move up and yelled out for everyone to look down, and if you can see ground, you have too much room.
After the little opening show on the train platform we were allowed into the park, but only as far as the ropes in the lands. We headed over to Adventure Land. We waited about 5 minutes there before they let us in right at 8:00. Here we walked on the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin, Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion all before 9:00. It didnt seem too crowded at all over in that area. Maybe the mobs of people all went to the bigger rides? 
Next was breakfast in the castle at 9:10. Being in the castle was a nice touch for Christmas morning. After breakfast and quick phone call home (had to call from the MK on Christmas
), we started out down Main St. This was tough as many more people were coming in than were going out. But, we made it and were off on our journey.
We started by checking out the decorations at some resorts. First stop was POR, a place we had stayed at couple times in the past. The decorations were nice, but we didnt stay here long as we wanted to catch the 11:00 boat to DTD. I had only planned to make a transfer at DTD, but we ended up doing just a little shopping while we were here (we were going back later in the week to shop). We then hopped a bus to Pop Century. We had a bit of a wait here because there was a broken down bus parked in the PC spot. They must have had to get another. We checked out PC and thought it was cute. I wouldnt mind staying here in the future. We then went mini golfing at Winter/Summerland. Every time we have stayed in WDW with a Disney Club discount we have gotten those free passes and never used them. This visit we finally had time so I dug out some old passes from August and used them. The kids really enjoyed this.
From here it was on to Carribean Beach Resort. Ive thought that this would be the next moderate I would like to stay at, but after riding around it in the bus, it just seems so big. I really like the theming and the whole place was nice, but I dont know. I seem to like the more compact resorts. We grabbed dinner here at the food court before going back to the Poly. We needed to grab out jackets and freshen up before going on our sleigh ride.
From the Poly we took the boat to the MK where we transferred to the boat to the WL. Having plenty of time, we explored the WL a bit. This is a very nice resort and I would love to stay here if it were in Canada, or the mountains, or a cold place. Somehow I would have trouble going to Florida and staying in a place like that, as nice as it is. Thats just me though.
We grabbed a drink in the Territory Lounge while we were waiting for the ride. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early, so about 5:40 we got another round of drinks(we were told we could take drinks on the ride with us, so who are we to argue?) and went to the front of the resort where we were to depart. The driver, John, and the horse Rodney were there waiting for us. This was a nice little ride. It ended up being about 25 minutes. The nice part was it wasnt fully dark when we left, but it was by the time we finished. The kids got a kick out of the horse, and about being in the woods in the dark.
After the ride we decided to head back to the Poly. We took a boat to the Contemporary, and then the monorail to the Poly. When we arrived we couldnt believe the line to get on the monorail. It was huge and it took quite a few monorails until we finally got on one.
We decided to crash early this night(edited to add, I forgot Colt had fallen asleep on our way back, thats why I was in the room with him, but DH and Cam spent some time in the arcade that night). I originally had planned to take Friday as a day to sleep in, but when I was working on our plan of attack I saw the first show of the Little Mermaid was at 8:25 and since that was on our plan, I wanted to be at MGM by 8:00. So, since we had the opportunity to get some sleep tonight, that would work out ok. Tomorrow would be another 5:30 morning for me. 
Thursday, 12/25
Like all the other mornings, I was up and showered before the others. Santa had left a ticket on the table for a sleigh ride from the Wilderness Lodge tonight at 6:00pm. Then I remembered how I had heard Santa sometimes comes to the resorts so I checked the door. There was a bag with some candy and a card in it. Perfect! I put the sleigh ride info in that bag before the kids were up.
Once we were all up and ready we started out and found the bag. The kids checked out the goodies, which Cam insists people who work there left,
and then we were off to the MK. We asked for the front of the monorail and we thought we had it. Then the CM apologized and said it wasnt empty after all
but the next monorail was the Polys and we would be guaranteed the front if we waited. Tip For Today
*If riding in the front of the monorail is important to you, ask the CM which monorail is your resorts monorail
you should be able to get it*. Since it was still well before 8:00 we waited. So we rode in the front and it was a great view as the sun was coming up over the lagoon. Merry Christmas! We got to the MK and around 7:30-7:45 they stated letting us through the turnstiles. It was pretty crowded as I expected for Christmas. One CM was trying to get people to move up and yelled out for everyone to look down, and if you can see ground, you have too much room.
After the little opening show on the train platform we were allowed into the park, but only as far as the ropes in the lands. We headed over to Adventure Land. We waited about 5 minutes there before they let us in right at 8:00. Here we walked on the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin, Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion all before 9:00. It didnt seem too crowded at all over in that area. Maybe the mobs of people all went to the bigger rides? Next was breakfast in the castle at 9:10. Being in the castle was a nice touch for Christmas morning. After breakfast and quick phone call home (had to call from the MK on Christmas ), we started out down Main St. This was tough as many more people were coming in than were going out. But, we made it and were off on our journey. We started by checking out the decorations at some resorts. First stop was POR, a place we had stayed at couple times in the past. The decorations were nice, but we didnt stay here long as we wanted to catch the 11:00 boat to DTD. I had only planned to make a transfer at DTD, but we ended up doing just a little shopping while we were here (we were going back later in the week to shop). We then hopped a bus to Pop Century. We had a bit of a wait here because there was a broken down bus parked in the PC spot. They must have had to get another. We checked out PC and thought it was cute. I wouldnt mind staying here in the future. We then went mini golfing at Winter/Summerland. Every time we have stayed in WDW with a Disney Club discount we have gotten those free passes and never used them. This visit we finally had time so I dug out some old passes from August and used them. The kids really enjoyed this.
From here it was on to Carribean Beach Resort. Ive thought that this would be the next moderate I would like to stay at, but after riding around it in the bus, it just seems so big. I really like the theming and the whole place was nice, but I dont know. I seem to like the more compact resorts. We grabbed dinner here at the food court before going back to the Poly. We needed to grab out jackets and freshen up before going on our sleigh ride.
From the Poly we took the boat to the MK where we transferred to the boat to the WL. Having plenty of time, we explored the WL a bit. This is a very nice resort and I would love to stay here if it were in Canada, or the mountains, or a cold place. Somehow I would have trouble going to Florida and staying in a place like that, as nice as it is. Thats just me though.
We grabbed a drink in the Territory Lounge while we were waiting for the ride. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early, so about 5:40 we got another round of drinks(we were told we could take drinks on the ride with us, so who are we to argue?) and went to the front of the resort where we were to depart. The driver, John, and the horse Rodney were there waiting for us. This was a nice little ride. It ended up being about 25 minutes. The nice part was it wasnt fully dark when we left, but it was by the time we finished. The kids got a kick out of the horse, and about being in the woods in the dark. After the ride we decided to head back to the Poly. We took a boat to the Contemporary, and then the monorail to the Poly. When we arrived we couldnt believe the line to get on the monorail. It was huge and it took quite a few monorails until we finally got on one.
We decided to crash early this night(edited to add, I forgot Colt had fallen asleep on our way back, thats why I was in the room with him, but DH and Cam spent some time in the arcade that night
). I originally had planned to take Friday as a day to sleep in, but when I was working on our plan of attack I saw the first show of the Little Mermaid was at 8:25 and since that was on our plan, I wanted to be at MGM by 8:00. So, since we had the opportunity to get some sleep tonight, that would work out ok. Tomorrow would be another 5:30 morning for me. 
