The Silly and Mischievous Canucks do Christmas - Dec 2015 PTR - Update 12/13

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hello and welcome to my trip planning thread for my December 2015 trip! This will be my sixth trip to WDW! Some of you may remember my family from my previous trip reports (links in my signature). It has been a few years though since we have been to WDW and there is a bunch of new and exciting things to experience (Fantasyland) and figure out (I'm looking at you MDE, FP+, Magic Bands, and Memory Maker).

I'll start off by introducing the main players for this trip.

First off there is me, Lessa, the writer of the report, the organizer of the trip and overall Disney fan. I tend to be a bit of a control freak and my family kindly allows me to plan out all our travels to the very last detail. I don't just love planning Disney trips but all trips around the world. I just recently got back from a trip to Italy with my dad and I am now in the process of planning a trip to Turkey in addition to this WDW trip. I love sharing my WDW experiences here on the Dis in the hopes that I can help somebody else with their plans or bring a little bit of Disney magic into the life of somebody who might not be visiting WDW for awhile.



Next there is my mom, Beth. She says some of her happiest times are when she is at WDW with her family. She loves WDW so much that she tears up when we enter the parks at the beginning of each trip. She is a great mom and tolerates my controlling nature and my brothers goofiness very well. This tolerance is why she deserves this WDW vacation!



Then there are my brothers, the family goofballs. They are always looking to have a good time and a good laugh. They love Disney but not to the extent that I do. In fact, they are one of the main reasons we have not visited in several years. They don't want to go too often as then it will lose its magic. This is especially true for Erich as he participated in a program very similar to the Disney College Program a few years ago. He got to work at WDW for six months while taking courses through Florida State University. As a result he wanted to wait until there was something new and different to experience before we took another trip. Erich was working at WDW when New Fantasyland opened so he is the only one of us who has had the chance to experience that new area of the parks.

Alek is on the left and Erich is on the right.



Originally we weren't scheduled to return to WDW until late 2016 or 2017. So what happened that made me book this trip? Well, that will be the topic of my next post!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Table of Contents

How the trip came to be

Getting the brothers onboard

A Dilemma

Decision Made???

Changes In The Works

Pulling teeth aka getting the family to make ADR decisions

Arrival Day Plans

Parks Plans - Part 1

Park Plans - Part 2

Park Plans - Part 3

ADR Day

Park Plans - Part Four

Park Plans - Part 5

Departure Day Plans

Travel Back to Christmas 1997

Candlelight Processional

Canadian Dollar Woes

Be Our Guest

Minnie's Holiday Dine

Christmas at the Magic Kingdom

Resort Roulette

Christmas at Epcot

ICE!

Merry and Bright? Osbourne Lights!"

Okanagan/Banff Vacation Part One

Okanagan/Banff Vacation Part Two

Prepping for Fastpass+ Day

Fastpass success

Christmas Party Treats

Two and a half weeks to go!

Two Weeks!

 

[kroseycorn]

Following along!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along!

Welcome!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

So what caused us to change our plans and make an earlier than usual return to WDW? Well, a pin code of course!

A few weeks ago I was checking my e-mail and I saw the lovely beacon of "Disney Destinations" in my inbox. It was screaming at me to open it. I allowed temptation to rule and before my eyes I saw a pin code for 30% off. At first I tried to ignore it as we weren't going to return until 2016/2017. I didn't last long. I decided I would just check it out, it wouldn't hurt to run some dates just for fun and see what was available. I thought about October or December. I decided to skip over October as our big trip in a year or so is going to be in October. Looking at the December calendar I decided to check the second week of the month. I plugged in some dates and clicked the search button. Lucky me, lots of resorts were available with the code! I allowed myself to dream some more. If I was going to plan a "hypothetical" trip during December I wasn't going to stay at a value resort, we were going to go all the way and stay at a deluxe. It couldn't be just any deluxe, it had to be one that looks great at Christmas. The best resort at Christmas is said to be the Wilderness Lodge! We love the Wilderness Lodge! Lucky me, there were several room categories available! I was now in trouble. I had allowed myself to become invested in this "just for fun" trip planning. My heart was set on going.

I decided to feel my mom out on the situation. I told her about the pin code and what was available. "Mom, wouldn't it be nice to do a small trip to WDW to enjoy the Christmas events and decorations? It's 30% off afterall!". Mom wasn't as quick to jump on the bandwagon as I was. She came up with all the rational arguments about "getting time off work", "can you really afford it with your big trip to Turkey coming up"? I reassured her that my finances would be able to handle it just fine (she still hasn't gotten used to the fact that I am no longer a poor student and actually make a good wage) and besides, it wouldn't hurt to just put a deposit down, you know, just to secure the code! We could always cancel later!

And that was that. I booked a Courtyard View room at the Wilderness Lodge! (As of May 31st changed to the Grand Floridian!)

I still hadn't consulted my brothers about the trip. One thing at a time! Now that I had the room booked it was time to fill them in... Would they want to join us or would they want to stick to the original plan of not returning until 2016/2017?

 

[KatMark]

It's good to see you back. I'll be back to read tomorrow...off to bed now.

 

[mrsksomeday]

So happy to see this PTR!! Your trips are always so much fun and I love the pictures. We are going to be in WDW Nov. 30 - Dec. 11. It is a great time of year to be in Disney. I can't wait to read about your plans.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

It's good to see you back. I'll be back to read tomorrow...off to bed now.

Hi Kathy! Thanks for coming over! I will probably need your advise with my planning now that I have to learn the ropes of MDE, FP+!

So happy to see this PTR!! Your trips are always so much fun and I love the pictures. We are going to be in WDW Nov. 30 - Dec. 11. It is a great time of year to be in Disney. I can't wait to read about your plans.

Hi Tracy! That is exciting, our dates overlap! Maybe we will get to meet up!

 

[KatMark]

Okay...I've now caught up. It really is good to have you back...you look great.

You picked a great time to go to Disney. I've gone twice now in December (the first time was my husband's surprise 60th birthday trip and the second time was just because we loved it the first time). So much to see and do. You will love it.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Okay...I've now caught up. It really is good to have you back...you look great.

Thanks! Nursing school was so time consuming that had no time to DIS =( But I've been done school for almost a year now and a new t rip is a perfect reasn to get back into things! It is strange learning the new boards though!

You picked a great time to go to Disney. I've gone twice now in December (the first time was my husband's surprise 60th birthday trip and the second time was just because we loved it the first time). So much to see and do. You will love it.

I always have loved seeing the Christmas pictures. I can't wait to see WDW all decked out!

 

[DisneyJo]

Hi Lessa

I can't wait to read about what you and your crazy brothers get up to and it's good to see your Mum looking so well

 

[finny1981]

I love PTR's I will join in!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hi Lessa

I can't wait to read about what you and your crazy brothers get up to and it's good to see your Mum looking so well

Hi Jo! Thanks for reading along.

I love PTR's I will join in!

I like PTR's too, great way to bounce ideas off of people while planning or when reading other PTR's to get ideas.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Went to see Tomorrowland with my brothers today. Overall we enjoyed it but I am a little annoyed as I now have the song "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" stuck in my head. It's so catchy! Alek and Erich had no idea where the song is from as they haven't been on Carousel of Progress. Another neat thing about the movie is that part of it was filmed out near where my Dad lives and we were able to spot one of our common hiking spots in the film!

 

[KatMark]

I wanted to try and get to see it, but after you told me about that song, I don't know if I can do it.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

wow some how I missed you starting this yesterday. I always like flowing along on trips from fellow canunks

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I wanted to try and get to see it, but after you told me about that song, I don't know if I can do it.

The song is STILL in my head this morning! Maybe you'll be lucky though and escape this fate. It does play at the beginning of the movie, maybe something else will push it out of your mind. Perhaps "It's a small world"

wow some how I missed you starting this yesterday. I always like flowing along on trips from fellow canunks

Thanks for reading along!

 

[Elevationist]

I'm here, I'm here! All strapped in and ready! Let's do some planning! And you're right, our dates DO overlap for the most part! (Pssst... It's almost ADR day!!!!!)

 

[lamom18]

Joining in! Pre-Trip and Completed Trip reports are my new pass time, when I have a few minutes. I have so many questions about the time frame we plan to go and TRs have helped a good bit. We're planning for December 2016. My DH and I Disneymooned in 2006, so that's our 10 yr gift to each other. Also first trip/Christmas gift for our 3 kids. We haven't been since the Disneymoon and I've been dying to go back, but it's never been the "right" time. So I'm trying to take in everything that's changed!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I'm here, I'm here! All strapped in and ready! Let's do some planning! And you're right, our dates DO overlap for the most part! (Pssst... It's almost ADR day!!!!!)

Thanks for coming over! ADR day is coming up soon and I haven't made any sort of itinerary! Yikes! I'm usually much more organized than this! Hopefully I will have some time at work tonight to start sketching out a plan.

Joining in! Pre-Trip and Completed Trip reports are my new pass time, when I have a few minutes. I have so many questions about the time frame we plan to go and TRs have helped a good bit. We're planning for December 2016. My DH and I Disneymooned in 2006, so that's our 10 yr gift to each other. Also first trip/Christmas gift for our 3 kids. We haven't been since the Disneymoon and I've been dying to go back, but it's never been the "right" time. So I'm trying to take in everything that's changed!

What a great gift to each other! I'm sure your family will love Christmas at Disney! It's crazy how much has changed in the past three years let alone since you were last there. I'm sure you will get tons of good info and ideas from reading TR's.