The OFFICIAL December 2014 - Christmas Magic

[Disneylover99]

We are going Dec. 2-12. First time to see Christmas decorations and to celebrate our daughter's birthday (Dec. 2). This has been her wish since the first time we went!

Awesome! Hope she has a great birthday!

 

[karalgriffin]

I have 24 days left and JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET ANY WORK DONE!!! Disney World has hijacked my brain and all I want to do is plan!

 

[Webpixie]

Leaving in 4 days! Am going nuts -lol-

 

[Didi8367]

Made our final payment today!! So excited! 45 days and counting!

 

[moogiepet]

DH and I are doing our first kids free Disney trip in a few weeks! We actually asked if they minded and they said They didn't care as long as we took them next Oct for Halloween time! DEAL!!

I'm glad to see that we aren't the only ones leaving the kids home while mom & dad go to WDW alone!! Our oldest doesn't even live at home anymore, so technically we are only leaving the 16 year old home! Between MIL & my mom, she will be taken care of & she will take care of the fish & Beagle.

This will be our first Christmastime trip & first trip just the two of us. Our 16 year old is going without us in March with her Marketing class, so we'll be even!

Only 26 more days, but who's counting?

 

[moogiepet]

So who has their next trip dates planned out?

I am so excited for this upcoming trip, but I am pretty miserable when we leave if I don't know when we'll be back. I would love to go September or October of 2015 but dd will be in her first year of University and A) refuses to be left behind and B) has no time off until December. So, it looks like next year will be another December trip.. which is just fine with me, because it's my favourite time of year at Disney and gives me a year to save.
We could go the week before Christmas this time and be back in time for the holidays at home with family.

I texted dh to get his thoughts and judging by his response... he's not ready to plan the next trip before we leave for this one.

I don't have the exact dates nailed down just yet, but I know we are going in late May/June 2016 for our daughter's HS graduation trip. I'm hoping I can swing another trip in between this December trip & then, but we shall see......

 

[cuches]

Leaving Dec 14th (although my ticker says 3 weeks 2 days...whose math is wrong here) I am so excited! Anyone know how the crowds are typically the week of the 14th? I'm hoping not too many crazy people like me pulling their kid out of school a week before the Christmas break. Is the MVMCP something that is a DO NOT MISS thing? We are on the fence with that one.

 

[micheypl]

Leaving To go to the most magical place on earth on Dec 7 - 22... Can't believe the time is finally here .. Watched some videos of our last trip with the kids last night .. So we are even more excited ... Yeaaaa

 

[Disneylover99]

Leaving Dec 14th (although my ticker says 3 weeks 2 days...whose math is wrong here) I am so excited! Anyone know how the crowds are typically the week of the 14th? I'm hoping not too many crazy people like me pulling their kid out of school a week before the Christmas break. Is the MVMCP something that is a DO NOT MISS thing? We are on the fence with that one.

We were at DW last year for the weekend, Dec. 13-16. Crowds were moderate, but not bad at all.

We opted out of MVMCP last year because my 7 year old daughter gets so tired by 9pm. I would love to do it though. Maybe in a few years when she's a bit older. I would do it if your child can handle staying up late and you don't mind the ticket price. Otherwise, I think it's okay to miss.

 

[Seajam]

Leaving Dec 6 !! We're going to start planning soon

 

[Montana Minnies]

Just saw where BOG FP+ lunch has opened up for me, my sister & my 1 niece. So hopefully I will be able to get the day I want when all 3 of us will be there.

 

[pigletto]

Leaving Dec 14th (although my ticker says 3 weeks 2 days...whose math is wrong here) I am so excited! Anyone know how the crowds are typically the week of the 14th? I'm hoping not too many crazy people like me pulling their kid out of school a week before the Christmas break. Is the MVMCP something that is a DO NOT MISS thing? We are on the fence with that one.

That is the week we went last year. It got very very busy on the weekend that Christmas break started for most school kids but that was the last couple of days of the trip and we felt we had done our must do's with moderate crowds the first part of the trip. It was a great time to go and when it got super busy at the end, it just helped us not be too sad to be leaving. I'd go that time again for sure!!

As for MVMCP I wouldn't say it's a must-do. We really enjoyed it last year, and we are going again this year, but I've been several times when there were MNSSHP parties and we didn't go. We still had great trips and didn't feel like we missed out.

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

For anyone in the same boat as us, only able to do FP+ 30 days out (staying at the Shades of Green), I have good news: I went on MDE last night at midnight for our first 30 day away Fast Passes (Animal Kingdom) and had no problem getting them for our entire group of 10. FP+ for Dinosaur (9:25-10:25), EE (11:05-12:05), and Kilimanjari Safari (12:55-1:55). Ended up with a solid schedule that looks like this:

Arrive @ 9:00
Head straight to Tough to Be a Bug
Dinosaur FP
Finding Nemo Musical
EE FP
Grab a frozen drink and walk the trails in Asia
KS FP
Festival of the Lion King @ 2:00
Head to EPCOT for our Drink Around the World Showcase Passports

Getting pretty excited!!!

 

[disneydude365]

we are going december 16th-21st crowds will probably be starting to pick up but luckily we should be leaving right before the worst of it starts pouring in

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

Now that they changed park hours for Thanksgiving week, are you anxiously checking park hours for Christmas week? I check once a day. We are usually rope-drop then take-a-break-from-the-parks-in-the-afternoon people so there are 3 days where I want earlier am FP+s if I can get them...
If you've been in years past when they changed park hours, about how far in advance of Christmas week did they change the Christmas week hours?
Do they ever open TS lunch hours earlier when they open a park earlier? (before 7 am to noon is a long time - I would change lunch ADRs to 11 if I could...)

 

[scottj78]

We are going Dec. 12-20. This is going to be our 4th year in a row going in December. I'm just as excited this time as I was the first time. We are taking some first timers with us this year. I can't wait to see their faces. That's one of my favorite things about WDW-seeing the wide eyed wonder on people when it's their first time.

 

[elaine amj]

I just flip-flopped my FPs - including giving away a precious 7DMT FP+ on 12/27.

But I decided I can do that at RD and give up my 2nd ride on it. My dad is joining us and I think he would love the AK shows. So we are skipping our afternoon break and braving the crowds in AK in the afternoon. I just FP+'d Nemo, FOTLK and Safari. Crazy to have to FP+ the shows - but given that its 12/27, I think it will be worth it as the crowds will be insane.

 

[fnm]

i'll be there with my bff the 8-15 sort of a belated birthday for me, my birthday's on the 1st but there's no way i'm flying out of jfk on the weekend after thanksgiving to try and catch my actual birthday there. we did it in 2012 though and it was amazing, i'm looking forward to it again

 

[Redarrow5150]

We are doing the same thing at AK the day before. We are going to RD and decided to use some FP+ after 9AM for some shows because we wanted to use our passes up. I'm letting my daughters decide what park they want to visit in the mid to late afternoon. We have friends that are coming that night so not likely to do parks but visit resorts decorations in the evening.

I just flip-flopped my FPs - including giving away a precious 7DMT FP+ on 12/27.

But I decided I can do that at RD and give up my 2nd ride on it. My dad is joining us and I think he would love the AK shows. So we are skipping our afternoon break and braving the crowds in AK in the afternoon. I just FP+'d Nemo, FOTLK and Safari. Crazy to have to FP+ the shows - but given that its 12/27, I think it will be worth it as the crowds will be insane.

 

[OhAmbs]

Booked lunch at BOG on the 5th for me and DD. I'm so stoked!

In May we weren't able to get so this was a big for this trip.

Now if only I can get her to stop asking every morning if this is the day we are going to Disney World. (She's 2)