~*~*~*~*The Official DECEMBER 2015 Thread*~*~*~*~

[PirateD]

Disney has Phased Closures;

Phase 1 - No window tickets, single day tickets, cast member passes
Phase 2 - All as above plus no multi-day offsite park tickets
Phase 3 - Only resort guests and AP holders and in-park reservations
Phase 4 - No one is allowed it

DHS has only had 1 closure in the last 5 years but current predictions are that there will be significant closures from Dec 25 to January 1 this year based on hotel occupancy and the generally higher crowds already reported this year.

Yikes! What does "significant closures" mean? We have survived that time period before and kind of know what to expect but I'm wondering if we need to adjust even those expectations. Do you have a link to a source so I can read more?

 

[Lesverts]

Yikes! What does "significant closures" mean? We have survived that time period before and kind of know what to expect but I'm wondering if we need to adjust even those expectations. Do you have a link to a source so I can read more?

Last year there was 4 days of Park closures, all at Magic Kingdom 25, 26, 29, 31 of December. That would be the minimum expectation for 2015. Hollywood Studios (your planned park) is a good bet because like I said only 1 closure in the last 5 years.

How to put this without getting into trouble. I am a travel agent, my dealings with Disney in the last month have all generally had the tone of how busy the place is/significantly increased demand. Just on a local scale Disney bookings are up significantly within the network I am apart of.

 

[PirateD]

Good to know! Thanks!

Most of our trip actually falls before that time frame because we are booked Dec 19-28. Dec 20 will be our first day in the parks. We are planning to do most of our MK days before Christmas but may go back on the 27th. We are planning to be at EP for Christmas and HS/EP on the 26th. My understanding is that EP has never closed so hopefully we won't run into too many problems getting in there. Even though we are planning rope drop most days, those 2 EP days would be later arrivals due to a character breakfast and park hopping.

 

[Okh]

13669672 seconds!

 

[fightinillini229]

How to put this without getting into trouble. I am a travel agent, my dealings with Disney in the last month have all generally had the tone of how busy the place is/significantly increased demand. Just on a local scale Disney bookings are up significantly within the network I am apart of.

Yikes! I spent the last week in May at WDW for my mother's 50th birthday (she wanted the family back together for a vacation) and it was definitely more crowded than I would have anticipated for late-May. Here's hoping December 12th thru 16th are still low-ish crowds!

I'm currently in Japan for work and will be spending this coming weekend at Tokyo Disney Resort. The crowds here on a typical weekend in the summer rival the week of Christmas in WDW (both Disneyland and DisneySea reach capacity almost every weekend) so should be interesting. The last time I was at TDS was a weekday in October.

 

[Ann Marie McDonald]

My husband and I are going December 3 -13th. We love this time of year and vowed to go just the two of us once our kids were off and in college. We are going to stay 7 nights at Pop Century and then 3 nights at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach resort. We have not been to Universal in many, many years and finally decided to check out HP and the other new additions. Our must do's include Candlelight Processional at least once and MVMCP. So excited!!

 

[nato-mf]

so this is my very first post. my wife and I took our oldest daughter to WDW 7 years ago, and we are now planning a trip with our youngest. Youngest will be 6 at time of trip and oldest will be 11. Due to my wife being a teacher and the girls going to different schools none of the other breaks line up. And the fact that I hate heat and want to see WDW decked out in Christmas, we are going to try to go 12/26-1/2. The concern I have is that none of us are really early morning people. We are planning on staying on site so we would fall into the later band of closures per a previous post, however if for some reason we can't get into MK one day later in the morning, do they re-open later in the day if people leave? And does anyone know of a good iPhone app or some other sort of monitoring tool (text messages) that will alert us? (I loaded the Disney app but haven't played with it yet).

 

[bethany0417]

We are headed to WDW Dec 5- 12 staying at POR in a royal room. Our group will include myself, DH, DD, DS, my parents and my sister. This will be DH's first trip EVER to WDW! My kids have been two other times with me and my family. We bought plane tickets last night (216 round trip, woo too) which makes it all so real!! I am beyond excited. I don't wait to wish the summer away, but I cannot wait until our trip!!!

 

[bethany0417]

Sorry I posted this to see if the banner and other fun stuff I added to my profile would show up, but its not. And now I can't delete the post.

 

[Mainemama]

ADRs done (for now)! A happy respite from T- 4 days to moving! I got what I will call plan 1/2 A 1/2 B. I was able to book most everything I hoped, but those I couldn't get ended up shuffling things a bit. In the end, I am happy with the result! HBD was not available (12/24) and LTT. I had to compromise times on another 1st choice, but as my DH says, "hey, it's Christmas! We can eat at 3:20 if we want!"

 

[PirateD]

so this is my very first post. my wife and I took our oldest daughter to WDW 7 years ago, and we are now planning a trip with our youngest. Youngest will be 6 at time of trip and oldest will be 11. Due to my wife being a teacher and the girls going to different schools none of the other breaks line up. And the fact that I hate heat and want to see WDW decked out in Christmas, we are going to try to go 12/26-1/2. The concern I have is that none of us are really early morning people. We are planning on staying on site so we would fall into the later band of closures per a previous post, however if for some reason we can't get into MK one day later in the morning, do they re-open later in the day if people leave? And does anyone know of a good iPhone app or some other sort of monitoring tool (text messages) that will alert us? (I loaded the Disney app but haven't played with it yet).

My understanding is that the MK will typically reopen at some point during the day. We were already in the MK one day when it did go into phased closings. We left in the afternoon and visited the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house. We had no problems getting back into the MK later that evening.

 

[karalecia26]

I was able to secure my last ADR this morning! Candlelight Processional Package at Coral Reef! This trip is really coming together and I can't wait to be there!

 

[drwadadli]

Presenting the OFFICIAL December 2015 Thread! TAH-DAH!!

Who has already booked? Who is waiting to book? What are your plans? Share the love and while away the months here in good company!


December 2015 Roll Call!

Can you add us to your list.......12/5 - 12/13 drwadadli at GF

 

[drwadadli]

I could only use opentable through trip advisor to get that far out, but using it was a dream after my adr horror story with dinsey's site Saturday morning.

You could/can also book through Open Table directly from Raglan Road's website.

 

[wdw101]

Can you add me too? First time to Disney and Christmas week 20-28th! So very excited! Have my ADR's and itinerary Could use a bit of help though.

My first question is about MK on the 22nd. I'm a bit confused about how to plan to see MK entertainment during Christmas week. From the research I've done, Christmas week is different than other weeks in December. I've read there is a 3pm parade. Is that the same one as the evening parade? All I have planned for that day is MK RD, rest mid day, then go back to MK and stay until park closes (which I know could be really late). I purposely did not schedule an ADR that day because I want to be open to see the extra parades/fireworks/entertainment. We also are going to MK two other mornings during our trip (going to get a lot of rides in at that time). So, I'm not as interested in rides that day as I am getting the entertainment and X-mas experiences in. Anyone have advice on itinerary for a day like that?

 

[PirateD]

Can you add me too? First time to Disney and Christmas week 20-28th! So very excited! Have my ADR's and itinerary Could use a bit of help though.

My first question is about MK on the 22nd. I'm a bit confused about how to plan to see MK entertainment during Christmas week. From the research I've done, Christmas week is different than other weeks in December. I've read there is a 3pm parade. Is that the same one as the evening parade? All I have planned for that day is MK RD, rest mid day, then go back to MK and stay until park closes (which I know could be really late). I purposely did not schedule an ADR that day because I want to be open to see the extra parades/fireworks/entertainment. We also are going to MK two other mornings during our trip (going to get a lot of rides in at that time). So, I'm not as interested in rides that day as I am getting the entertainment and X-mas experiences in. Anyone have advice on itinerary for a day like that?

We will be at WDW the same time!

The 3 PM parade that week will be the Christmas parade. According to last year's schedule posted on easyWDW.com, the Christmas parade was scheduled twice that week at noon and 3:30 PM. I would expect a similar schedule this year. You may be able to see the noon parade instead of the 3:30 PM and keep your midday break. The night parade will be the Main Street Electrical Parade. It will also probably run twice each night that week (last year it was 10:15 PM and 12:15 AM with Wishes at 9 PM). I'm sure when this year's schedule is updated, we will receive an alert here.

 

[wdw101]

We will be at WDW the same time!

The 3 PM parade that week will be the Christmas parade. According to last year's schedule posted on easyWDW.com, the Christmas parade was scheduled twice that week at noon and 3:30 PM. I would expect a similar schedule this year. You may be able to see the noon parade instead of the 3:30 PM and keep your midday break. The night parade will be the Main Street Electrical Parade. It will also probably run twice each night that week (last year it was 10:15 PM and 12:15 AM with Wishes at 9 PM). I'm sure when this year's schedule is updated, we will receive an alert here.

Thank you so much! That is very helpful! We are so excited!

 

[margot31]

So I have heard about MM Sharing. Does anyone do it. I know there are some people on the Facebook group who has already started a group but I didn't know if anyone else does it or really knows how to.

 

[Cee]

I got my ADRs! One for Raglan Road on our arrival day, and Boma breakfast midweek. Yay!

 

[pangyal]

Count me in! We are there December 11-21, four days at Polynesian and then the rest at Wilderness Lodge. My mum is coming with us, she's never been, so we are really excited! ADRs are locked and loaded...who knew my mum would have so many castles she wanted to eat at (meaning all of them). The kiddo is beyond excited to see the Lava Pool at Poly. Hopefully there won't be construction at VWL yet.