Time to Ring in the New Year Again! A Dec23/Jan24 PTR

[Ellester]

Here goes! Welcome one and all! It's been a hot minute since I’ve done a trip report but I always enjoy them so I’m going to do my best to get this one going and actually finish it! We’ve been several times since my last full report in 2009. Since we are DVC members and have 4 (now mostly adult) kids, we stay in a 2BR villa. We co-own our DVC points with my mom and she has regularly traveled with us over the years. This trip we are not planning on her joining us. She is still in pretty good health but at 80 feels like her park days are in the past. Our last big trip was during the "masking phase" of reopening in February 2021. It was a great trip but we are really looking forward to a trip with less masks, more dining options, and full transportation options. We have been twice in the past year on quick one night stays on our way to or from visiting family in south Florida. No parks either time but trips to Disney Springs and minigolf at the Fantasia course.



We also travel to Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort as much as we can. Such a special place! We’ve definitely been there more than any other DVC resort, we’ve had luck booking 2BR villas at 7 months or less. This past spring break we spent 5 nights in a 3BR grand villa there and it was wonderful. It’s only a 4.5 hour drive for us, so very doable for shorter trips.



Cast of characters:




Me! Ellen, 54. First visit in 1973 (on Tom Sawyer Island above), plenty since then. Engineer turned homeschooling mom and online tutor



DH, John - 57, first visit with me when we were in college in the 80’s. Software engineer, works from home full-time since quarantine



DD1, Anabelle - 25. First visit around 18 months? She is very excited to get a Disney fix. Loves all thrill rides and dark rides and all the rides. Currently a Mining Engineer in Charlotte, NC.



DD2, Rebecca - 22. First visit at 20 months. Loves mostly thrill rides, most likely to make a joke. Cosmetologist and server, back at home for a bit before flying the nest part 2.



DS, Andrew - 19. First visit at 2-½. Not the biggest fan of thrill rides but a good sport. Tall enough at his first visit to ride all the 40” plus rides, currently a solid 6’6”. Rising sophomore in college, plays baseball & guitar. Most likely to catch a stomach bug while at Disney.



DD3, Natalie - 14 (will be 15 at travel time). First visit at 8 weeks. Loves the thrill rides now, not so much when she was smaller. Rising 9th grader. Plays softball, volleyball and ukulele.



DD1 BF, Matt - 26. This will be his first ever visit. Supposedly he’s never even been to a “real” theme park. Only ride experiences have been at fairs. This will be a true test of his and Anabelle’s relationship because if he doesn’t like Disney, it may be in trouble!

When: December 30, 2023 - January 6, 2024. Not my favorite time to travel, but college and sports schedules have to be taken into account. Natalie is homeschooled (as all her siblings were) so while we don’t have to worry about her school schedule, she does play softball and volleyball for a local private school as well as travel volleyball so we have to take those schedules into consideration as well. Andrew will still be on winter break and shouldn’t have to report for baseball until January 8th. We’ve had good and bad luck with weather on our winter trips. Our Jan 2018 trip had record cold temps most of the trip, like 40 degrees. It was brutal. Hoping for more like Feb 2021 weather which was about perfect all week.





Where: Right now we have a preferred 2BR lock off villa at Saratoga Springs. Ideally, I would like to move our reservation to Villas at Bay Lake or Kidani Village at AKL since both of those 2BRs come with a 3rd full bathroom. But since we are traveling at such a busy time of year, if we end up staying at SSR that’s fine too. I have waitlists going for both Bay Lake and Kidani, DVC allows two active waitlists at a time. A preferred room means we will be in a building close to Disney Springs or near the Carriage House. Either would be fine, one of the great advantages of SSR is the easy walk to Disney Springs. I wanted to spring for the extra points to have a villa closer to the action. I know SSR gets lots of shade sometimes but we honestly love the resort. We stayed in a refurbished 1BR for our quick one night stay last month and it was just perfect.

 

[Ellester]

How are we getting there? Anabelle and Matt have a wedding to attend on New Year’s Eve in Gatlinburg, TN. They are planning on coming down to meet us on New Year’s Day, they are still figuring out the logistics of that. We will drive, we live in west central Georgia so are only a 6.5 hour drive away if the traffic isn’t too bad. Ocala has been a nightmare lately but we will hope for the best. We have some backroad options if 75 gets too nightmarish.


Plans right now are for the 5 of us arriving on the 30th to get 6 day park hoppers. Last time we did New Years, we spent the 30th in Magic Kingdom and saw the New Years fireworks practice at midnight. Then we took New Year’s Eve off and just enjoyed the resort. We may do the same this time, not sure yet. Since Anabelle and Matt won’t be arriving until Monday, they will either get 4 or 5 day hoppers. I’m going to budget for Genie+ for all our days but we will see how it goes. This will be our first Genie+ trip. Our last trip in 2021 was a “mask everywhere” no FastPass trip. It was challenging and we are looking forward to a more relaxed trip this time even if it is busier! Last trip, you weren’t supposed to eat or drink while walking, had to wear your mask everywhere other than the “mask free” rest stations or while eating/drinking in a designated area.




Last trip we did a Walmart delivery order which worked out great. I will probably do that again this time. We typically eat breakfast in the room and like to make sure we have plenty of water, other beverages, and snacks for the week. Andrew and Matt are both pretty serious about working out and as a result, both eat more calories in a day then I should have in a week! I imagine they will both be hitting the gym while we are there but that shouldn’t affect our overall touring plans.



We have loved traveling to Disney with our kids over the years, there is nothing like seeing them soak up the magic as toddlers and preschoolers, taking them on Space Mountain or Tower of Terror for the first time, etc. But it is also special traveling with them as they enter adulthood. We don’t get everyone together as much anymore since Anabelle lives two states over, Andrew is at college most of the year, Rebecca is usually at work or out with friends and Natalie is at practice or doing other teenage type things. Disney is our chance to all be together, even if we split up here and there. And it is nice not having to deal with a stroller, diaper bags, etc. Plus they can pay for their own souvenirs!
Natalie's first ride on Expedition Everest!

 

[Ellester]

We have had a few changes and life updates, but our trip is still on and less than 80 days to go! We changed our dates by one day, we will now arrive on Sunday 12/31 and head home on Sunday 1/7. We will save a substantial amount of DVC points moving just that one day due to the season changing from the highest points on 12/30 to almost the lowest for 1/6. Also, it looks like Anabelle and Matt will also be arriving on 12/31. When they were ready to book the hotel for the wedding they were supposed to attend on 12/31 in Pigeon Forge, they found the prices to be insane. Like $300+ a night for the Super 8 insane, plus available flights and the overall travel logistics were just too much. So they decided to send a nice gift and skip the actual wedding/reception.

The other exciting news is that since Matt is a Marines veteran with a disability rating, he can get all of our tickets through Shades of Green for a very substantial discount. We will be getting 7 day Park Hopper Plus tickets for less than 6 day One Park per Day tickets. Andrew is excited about the chance to play golf at the Oak Trail course which is included with the Plus ticket. If it’s warm enough, we may hit whichever water park is open as well.

Other than that, I am not so patiently waiting for our ADR window to open on November 1st!

 

[Ellester]

Nothing like a few more changes to keep things interesting! Biggest change is that my sister-in-law will be joining us! She was teasing us about why we didn’t tell her about our trip so she could come and we told her to come on and join us! She has only been one time, 6 or 7 years ago, with her now ex. She had an amazing time and has been wanting to go back but honestly I didn’t think she would really bite the bullet because spending a full week with all of us can be a lot for her (to be fair, it’s probably alot for anyone!). But she put in for the vacation days and was approved and agreed that she is willing to share a room/bed with one of our daughters so it’s on!

Also excited to report that we have our tickets! Matt was able to use his military discount and get us all 7 day Park Hopper Plus tickets from Patrick AFB. They emailed him the ticket numbers immediately and they are already entered into MyDisneyExperience! We will have to have them activated at Guest Services before we enter the first park of the trip but that won’t be a big deal. Tickets from Shades of Green come preactivated, but my research made me nervous about SoG’s response time and we are getting to close to comfort for me to be worrying about getting the tickets on time. For the military tickets, if you are buying them remotely and not in person on post, you have to first e-mail a form in and then the ticket office at whatever installation you are purchasing them from has to call you back to get your credit card number. I’ve read SoG has been taking up to 2 weeks to call you back and then they won’t send the numbers by e-mail, you have to wait for your tickets to arrive by snail mail! Too much worrying for me!

Our ADR window opens on November 1st, I have a tentative schedule planned out although I'm sure some changes will happen. Park reservations are made, we will be there the very last week they are required. We also can’t park hop until after 2pm. Stinks but it what it is!

Sunday, Dec 31
Arrive hopefully by 3:30-4:00pm. Set up Walmart delivery for 2pm, get from bell services when we arrive. Head out to Epcot by 6pm. Dinner at Regal Eagle or Yorkshire Fish & Chips. See what wait times are but most likely just wander around World Showcase and take in the atmosphere. Head back after fireworks (knowing it will take a very long time to get back to SSR!)

Monday, Jan 1
Happy New Year! After a late night, we may sleep in a little or just tough it out and Rope Drop MK for SDMT. Either way we will plan on MK for the morning/early afternoon so Matt can have his first castle sighting and MK experience! We will probably do G+ today so we can get some MK rides under our belt. Sometime in the afternoon we will hop to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours. I will try for the lounge in Space 220 for sometime after 3pm and possibly Via Napoli for dinner.

Tuesday, Jan 2
We will plan on a sleep in day today. Andrew may play Golden Oak in the morning, he’s an avid golfer and is looking forward to trying the robot caddy! Not sure if anyone else will want to golf with him but the non-golfers will relax and plan on heading to AK later in the morning. Not planning on G+ today but if crowds are super high we might. May try for FoP right before park closing. Might head to Disney Springs for the evening and possibly dinner at Boathouse and then an early-ish night or just head back to the resort.

Wednesday, Jan 3
Early morning today as we hit DHS for rope drop. Planning on G+ today. I’ll try for an Oga’s reservation sometime today and depending on what time that is, eat at Woody’s for a late breakfast or lunch. Heading to MK after 2pm for G+ rides over there and then Extra Magic Hours.

Thursday, Jan 4
Depending on how everyone is feeling about it after the late night, we may try to rope drop AK for FoP. Planning on DHS for the evening hours, hoping for a later F! showing. Strangely enough, we have never seen Fantasmic! (I know, I know, just hasn’t worked out). If we didn’t get Oga’s on Wednesday, I’ll try for it again today.

Friday, Jan 5
Shooting for another sleep in day, planning for a late breakfast at Ale & Compass. Their buffet has been getting good reviews and is much more reasonably priced than the other buffets on property. We do love a good breakfast! Then a leisurely day at Epcot, maybe heading out to play some mini-golf and then Disney Springs. May try for a Boathouse reservation today.

Saturday, Jan 6
Last full day! Planning on DHS rope drop today for RotR. Will probably G+ today and after DHS head to MK for our last night.

We do have the Park Hopper + tickets, so depending on the weather we may try for a water park one day and mini-golf once or twice. Weather is always a big unknown in January so we will have to play that by ear. We are normally die hard rope-droppers, G+ and everyone being older seems to lend itself to later starts but we may end up reverting to our normal strategies. One of the great things about staying on property is that we can easily split up and whoever can head back to the resort or a different park or whatever without a hassle.

We definitely have less ADR’s planned this go round, mostly for cost reasons. I may throw a few more in but not sure, we usually have one table service a day.

So that's what I have for now, I'll post again once I get our ADR's together!

 

[ajf1007]

This is going to be a great trip and I can't wait for your next installment! I wish you and your family a Happy New Year! Enjoy!