The OFFICIAL December 2014 - Christmas Magic

[jimjenkids]

as we sit and complain about the cold and how we cant wait for spring and summer, I am then reminded that it will be winter again and when that comes...we will be going back to Disney. so that is our positive spin on the cold weather that we have been having. trying to only look at the countdown ticker on the phone once a month, makes the lower number seem lower....Dec 20 we will be sitting in a gym at a wrestling meet once they are done,....we will start the drive right from there(it will have us 3 hours down the road) then hope to make St. Louis before we stop-then on in to Orlando the next day.

Called Disney, have crazy questions and have gotten different responses, we have 3 resort reservation codes; 1is our first 3 nights(room, tickets-5 day hoppers, and our QSDP) 2nd and 3rd are the remaining nights that are comped. question is will our cups work for the entire stay now that they are chipped? I know we can only get the dining plan for the 3 nights that we are paying for-tried to get one extra day on that too and got mixed answers as well. maybe I should just wait to see once it gets closer...
anyway, POFQ-20th wedding anniversary-DH bday- DS pre-graduation cant come soon enough!

 

[bigjrfan88]

as we sit and complain about the cold and how we cant wait for spring and summer, I am then reminded that it will be winter again and when that comes...we will be going back to Disney. so that is our positive spin on the cold weather that we have been having. trying to only look at the countdown ticker on the phone once a month, makes the lower number seem lower....Dec 20 we will be sitting in a gym at a wrestling meet once they are done,....we will start the drive right from there(it will have us 3 hours down the road) then hope to make St. Louis before we stop-then on in to Orlando the next day.

Called Disney, have crazy questions and have gotten different responses, we have 3 resort reservation codes; 1is our first 3 nights(room, tickets-5 day hoppers, and our QSDP) 2nd and 3rd are the remaining nights that are comped. question is will our cups work for the entire stay now that they are chipped? I know we can only get the dining plan for the 3 nights that we are paying for-tried to get one extra day on that too and got mixed answers as well. maybe I should just wait to see once it gets closer...
anyway, POFQ-20th wedding anniversary-DH bday- DS pre-graduation cant come soon enough!

So the chip thing is weird. I find it to be a crazy way to try and save a buck. I think from what I have experienced, and from what I have read on here that confirms, the cast members are just activating the cups for something like 10-20 days no matter what the length of stay is. Takes too long to try and figure it all up, and my guess is lots of mistakes were being made and cups were deactivating too soon. If thats the case, then I guess the real question is will my cups transfer to the other resorts, or are the chips specific for the resort they were activated in. Hmmmmm...now you got me wanting to call and I dont have a split stay planned.

I do have another dilemna though. On our last stay over Labor Day weekend, we had a terrible start on our EPCOT day. We got there at RD and everything we tried to ride would either break right as we got to the building, or we would have to exit the building after waiting. And when I say everything...I mean everything was breaking down. We entered the park a little before the 9 o'clock open, and by 11 we had only rode Mission Space and Finding Nemo. We would go back across the park to use our fp+ at Test track and it would be broke, and then we would see on the board that Sorin was back up so we would go over there and it would break. We were told to go to guest services to get fast passes for the rides we had missed, and what happened was they felt bad and gave us a voucher for 4 one day passes and a set of fast passes. The dilemna I'm in is I'd like to use these on our next visit, but no one can figure out how to link the one day passes or extra fast passes to the MDE site. Has anyone dealt with something like this yet?

 

[fizbobunny]

The fast passes you received were only good for that trip, you can't link them. For the tix, try the mde app scanner.

The mugs are good at all resorts.

 

[bigjrfan88]

The fast passes you received were only good for that trip, you can't link them. For the tix, try the mde app scanner.

The mugs are good at all resorts.

They arent actual tickets or FP's...yet. They are vouchers for 4 1 day passes to EPCOT (or any other park if we choose) plus 8 anytime fast passes. We never received any paper tickets or paper fast passes. Believe me, I am Disney saavy enough to know that any actual paper FP's would have expired and to link any tickets up. The problem is that we are supposed to go to Guest Services with the voucher that has a confirmation # that allows us to get these items anytime, and that they were never to have expired. My question has been, now that everything is "digital" and I would need to have tickets linked to MDE to reserve times, how do I go about redeeming the voucher ahead of time and linking the passes to MDE so I can pre-book for that? On our next visit we plan on being in the parks 6 days, but are only buying 5 day passes and redeeming our voucher. Also, how do they add additional FP's to the 3 pre-reserve I would get with my resort stay? If I wait until the day of to redeem at Guest Services at the park and maybe get it linked to our MagicBands there, I risk totally being behind the crowd since I would not have been able to pre-reserve for this particular day. Hopefully this makes sense.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

as we sit and complain about the cold and how we cant wait for spring and summer, I am then reminded that it will be winter again and when that comes...we will be going back to Disney. so that is our positive spin on the cold weather that we have been having. trying to only look at the countdown ticker on the phone once a month, makes the lower number seem lower....Dec 20 we will be sitting in a gym at a wrestling meet once they are done,....we will start the drive right from there(it will have us 3 hours down the road) then hope to make St. Louis before we stop-then on in to Orlando the next day.

Called Disney, have crazy questions and have gotten different responses, we have 3 resort reservation codes; 1is our first 3 nights(room, tickets-5 day hoppers, and our QSDP) 2nd and 3rd are the remaining nights that are comped. question is will our cups work for the entire stay now that they are chipped? I know we can only get the dining plan for the 3 nights that we are paying for-tried to get one extra day on that too and got mixed answers as well. maybe I should just wait to see once it gets closer...
anyway, POFQ-20th wedding anniversary-DH bday- DS pre-graduation cant come soon enough!

Hey fellow Iowan.
We are making the drive too, leaving Thanksgiving Day and heading to Panama City beach first, then on to Orlando for the following week.
I was/am a bit nervous about driving, this is our first drive to FL during potential snow/ice, we flew in the past. I thought about switching to October, but I love the holiday atmosphere during Nov-Dec

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

They arent actual tickets or FP's...yet. They are vouchers for 4 1 day passes to EPCOT (or any other park if we choose) plus 8 anytime fast passes. We never received any paper tickets or paper fast passes. Believe me, I am Disney saavy enough to know that any actual paper FP's would have expired and to link any tickets up. The problem is that we are supposed to go to Guest Services with the voucher that has a confirmation # that allows us to get these items anytime, and that they were never to have expired. My question has been, now that everything is "digital" and I would need to have tickets linked to MDE to reserve times, how do I go about redeeming the voucher ahead of time and linking the passes to MDE so I can pre-book for that? On our next visit we plan on being in the parks 6 days, but are only buying 5 day passes and redeeming our voucher. Also, how do they add additional FP's to the 3 pre-reserve I would get with my resort stay? If I wait until the day of to redeem at Guest Services at the park and maybe get it linked to our MagicBands there, I risk totally being behind the crowd since I would not have been able to pre-reserve for this particular day. Hopefully this makes sense.

Are the FP a yellow sheet of paper by chance?
As far as getting you 1 day voucher on your MB I think you can't, but if you link your 4 day tickets that you are going to buy and since your stay is longer than 4 days u think you can still schedule FP til you check out??? Am I making scenes?

 

[jewels1916]

So has anyone started a pre-trip report yet? I'd love to follow along!

 

[bigjrfan88]

Are the FP a yellow sheet of paper by chance?
As far as getting you 1 day voucher on your MB I think you can't, but if you link your 4 day tickets that you are going to buy and since your stay is longer than 4 days u think you can still schedule FP til you check out??? Am I making scenes?

Nope they are not yellow. The fastpasses are supposed to be included with the voucher #. I thought the same thing about being able to book the number of days of our stay, but the CM I spoke to on the phone was very clear that you could only book the number of days you have tickets for. I know that CM sometimes give bad info so I'm not really that concerned. I continue to fight the good fight with it and I hope to eventually talk to someone in ticket services that can help.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Nope they are not yellow. The fastpasses are supposed to be included with the voucher #. I thought the same thing about being able to book the number of days of our stay, but the CM I spoke to on the phone was very clear that you could only book the number of days you have tickets for. I know that CM sometimes give bad info so I'm not really that concerned. I continue to fight the good fight with it and I hope to eventually talk to someone in ticket services that can help.

Humm, sorry that I have no idea. We have some yellow anytime FP slips that we were give on our last trip(they have no date on them and it was our last day when we got them) so we are going to use them in December. So I thought maybe that is what you got.

Hope all works out for you

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

If no one know the answer to this I will post it on the main page, but how does FP+ work with a hard ticket?

We are planning on going to MVMCP, but not a regular park that day. Since in the past you could get in starting at 4/4:30 can I make FP+ reservations if I have my party tickets linked to our MB? I know that I could only schedule them up to 7:00 when the party starts right?

Anyone know

 

[Eeyore52]

So, this may be a little off-topic but, can someone tell me how to join the Facebook group.

I've tried, but can't seem to get connected to the Facebook group. (I'm not a heavy Facebook user - can you tell.)

Thanks

 

[jimjenkids]

Hey fellow Iowan.
We are making the drive too, leaving Thanksgiving Day and heading to Panama City beach first, then on to Orlando for the following week.
I was/am a bit nervous about driving, this is our first drive to FL during potential snow/ice, we flew in the past. I thought about switching to October, but I love the holiday atmosphere during Nov-Dec

never did I think that we would drive down, but when the youngest was just days from turning2, we drove down for a funeral....after that, we knew we could do just about anything(and that was before the nice slim tvs-we had the big one that hung) the drive is nice, we try even at their ages now to break it apart and enjoy....we drive from the NW corner. can usually do it in 2 days. Depending on when we leave is how we plan how far to go each day. Right now we will be wrestling most likely in Fort Dodge and will leave right after-hoping to get to the border or even further the first night. I know we can easily make it from Saint Louis to Florida on a hard full running day. we watch the weather and plan the route accordingly(have driven in the ice-no fun)the amount we save in airfare is more that we can spend down there. plans are to do Disney from Dec22-27 w/5 day hoppers and not sure if we are doing Sarasota or Clearwater for a few relaxing days on the beach. We look forward to seeing all the crazy people that are in cold weather gear as we are in shorts and swimsuits(us Iowans think that even at 50 degrees in December is warm compared to what we have at home)

 

[fizbobunny]

For my march trip I am booked for 6 nights onsite, but only have 2 day tix on my account. I can make 2 days worth of fp. Fp is linked to your tix and not your room, that is why a throwaway night works so well.

 

[fizbobunny]

Sorry the app is acting wonky

 

[rebeccam31]

We'll be visiting from November 30 to December 8 (Our longest trip ever ). We're staying at the WL (for the first time). I also requested to join the Facebook group.

 

[reneaterry]

We're going November 29- December 5. We haven't booked yet but will around March. It will be my family's 4th visit in 4 years, my parents and sister haven't been in 9 years, and the first trip for my cousin's family. I'm very excited to show my cousin's family Disney.

 

[Tiramisu]

We'll be there 12/1 - 12/6! Just booked & requested to join the FB group!

 

[gracerussell]

So...what plans has everyone made thus far? I can't wait to dig in! Wish I knew when MVMCP was going to be...that would help.

We are staying 11-29 through 12-5 or 12-6....my son's 8th birthday and my 38th birthday are during this time. So I'm also looking for some great birthday celebration ideas for him!

Any pre-trip reports yet? I would love to follow!

 

[rebeccam31]

So...what plans has everyone made thus far? I can't wait to dig in! Wish I knew when MVMCP was going to be...that would help.

We are staying 11-29 through 12-5 or 12-6....my son's 8th birthday and my 38th birthday are during this time. So I'm also looking for some great birthday celebration ideas for him!

Any pre-trip reports yet? I would love to follow!

We're staying 11/30-12/8 at the WL (first time there!). Plans are rough at this point, but Candlelight Processional and MVMCP for sure. Also planning the Marceline to Magic tour. Starting to think about where we'll eat, too!

 

[gracerussell]

We're staying 11/30-12/8 at the WL (first time there!). Plans are rough at this point, but Candlelight Processional and MVMCP for sure. Also planning the Marceline to Magic tour. Starting to think about where we'll eat, too!

How fun!! MVMCP is a must for us too, have not done it before. I'm planning about one ADR per day: CRT, BOG, Hoop de Doo, Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare. Maybe Pirates and Pals cruise?

What is the Marceline to Magic tour?