Which parks for which days? (December Disneymoon)

[SugarSweetLee]

Rate our plan!

We are getting married in October and delaying our honeymoon until we both have some vacation time in December the week before Christmas.

We are planning 6 days/nights, which is the longest trip we have ever taken, staying at POP. Our budget isn't huge.
We did get to go for a 2 day trip last December to see everything Star Wars, which we both loved and are eager to try again.

Here is our tentative plan:
Friday 12.18: Drive down (~10 hrs), arrive mid-late evening, find dinner somewhere and check into Pop.
Sat 12.19: AK
Sun 12.20: HS
Mon 12.21: morning/day plans with local family and friends, later afternoon/evening at Epcot
Tues 12.22: MK
Weds 12.23: HS again for a slower day (revisit GE)
Thurs 12.24: Epcot
Friday 12.25: Drive home

Some of the evenings when the parks close earlier we would likely end up at DS or try to do some resort dining rezzies.

What would you do, in our shoes? Would you reassign any parks to other days? We're trying to avoid certain parks on the most peak days, although I know some of that can't be helped at that time of year.

Have any recommendations of especially romantic things we might try to fit in that wouldn't totally blow the budget?

TIA!

 

[MulanMom]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

It looks like you've got a decent park plan set up for yourselves. I'll actually be down there that week as well. It seems a lot of people will be at WDW during that time period, so I'm not sure if any park will be more crowded on certain days, etc. I'm planning for the potential that the parks may be full to their limited capacity each day. My strategy for what park which day has been their opening/close times and where we want to be for a particular day (Xmas eve at Epcot, for example).

As for the romantic suggestions, I think that may be entirely personal and up to you. Bride and groom ears? I don't even know if WDW florist is open and delivering packages to the room. If you can swing a dinner at Narcoosee's or California Grill at night, that may be really special and pretty even without fireworks running in the parks. Nighttime strolls around Disney Springs? I've always found the spontaneous moments to be more romantic and memorable than the planned ones. ;-)

 

[Ksquared]

We will be down there the same time as well. I think the parks will be at capacity but hard to know exactly how the crowds will be on any given day. I think you have a good strategy park wise.
As for something romantic, I would pick one nice signature restaurant for dinner one night.

 

[PirateFish989]

I can’t speak to how busy it will be, but my husband and I honeymooned at WDW in June 2018 so I do have some suggestions. Get bride and groom ears, theyre readily available and lots of fun. We got many congratulations from other guests and cast members. We also got Just Married pins when we checked in (or whatever they say now). I would recommend eating at a signature restaurant and noting on your reservation that you are on your honeymoon. We ate at Yachtsman and we got a personalized menu to take with us and we had a really great and special meal!

im not sure if they’re doing the carriAge rides at POR, but those are special, too!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Rate our plan!

We are getting married in October and delaying our honeymoon until we both have some vacation time in December the week before Christmas.

We are planning 6 days/nights, which is the longest trip we have ever taken, staying at POP. Our budget isn't huge.
We did get to go for a 2 day trip last December to see everything Star Wars, which we both loved and are eager to try again.

Here is our tentative plan:
Friday 12.18: Drive down (~10 hrs), arrive mid-late evening, find dinner somewhere and check into Pop.
Sat 12.19: AK
Sun 12.20: HS
Mon 12.21: morning/day plans with local family and friends, later afternoon/evening at Epcot
Tues 12.22: MK
Weds 12.23: HS again for a slower day (revisit GE)
Thurs 12.24: Epcot
Friday 12.25: Drive home

Some of the evenings when the parks close earlier we would likely end up at DS or try to do some resort dining rezzies.

What would you do, in our shoes? Would you reassign any parks to other days? We're trying to avoid certain parks on the most peak days, although I know some of that can't be helped at that time of year.

Have any recommendations of especially romantic things we might try to fit in that wouldn't totally blow the budget?

TIA!

Congratulations! How exciting! As far as your planned park days, I really think it will be crowded due to the holiday but not as crowded in years past. I don’t think you need to change anything given crowd predictions tied to parks is a major guessing game anyway. Just my two cents (but I’m a MK nut t anyway), I would devote two days to MK before I did Epcot and DHS an extra day. Epcot in the evening is nice but if you only have a few hours you may need the extra day. DHS is a half day park for us in normal, pre covid times and now with no shows, we can usually finish midday given we get ROTR boarding passes. If you like to spend a lot of time in SWGE then two days may be needed. It’s really what you prefer and where you like to spend most of your time. As far as romance, maybe a nice signature meal to celebrate. If you can, California grill is nice and so is topolino’s terrace. Both have great roof top views. You could also look at doing something to commemorate your trip like a funny Character artist drawing or silhouette portrait artists too. Have fun!!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

I can’t speak to how busy it will be, but my husband and I honeymooned at WDW in June 2018 so I do have some suggestions. Get bride and groom ears, theyre readily available and lots of fun. We got many congratulations from other guests and cast members. We also got Just Married pins when we checked in (or whatever they say now). I would recommend eating at a signature restaurant and noting on your reservation that you are on your honeymoon. We ate at Yachtsman and we got a personalized menu to take with us and we had a really great and special meal!

im not sure if they’re doing the carriAge rides at POR, but those are special, too!

I think POR is going to be closed still during our visit :/ They've gotten rid of the Just Married buttons, but they do have "Happily Ever After" ones which we've gotten before on a dating anniversary trip we took. Great idea about the restaurant, that would be really nice!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Congratulations! How exciting! As far as your planned park days, I really think it will be crowded due to the holiday but not as crowded in years past. I don’t think you need to change anything given crowd predictions tied to parks is a major guessing game anyway. Just my two cents (but I’m a MK but anyway), I would devote two days to MK before I did Epcot and DHS an extra day. Epcot in the evening is nice but if you only have a few hours you may need the extra day. DHS is a half day park for us in normal, pre covid times and now with no shows, we can usually finish midday given we get ROTR boarding passes. If you like to spend a lot of time in SWGE then two days may be needed. It’s really what you prefer and where you like to spend most of your time. As far as romance, maybe a nice signature meal to celebrate. If you can, California grill is nice and so is topolino’s terrace. Both have great roof top views. You could also look at doing something to commemorate your trip like a funny Character artist drawing or silhouette portrait artists too. Have fun!!

Thank you!

Great ideas on the drawings!

As for DHS, it's not my favorite, but FH is such a Star Wars fan that I wanted to build in some cushion in case we don't manage to make it onto the ROTR on the first day (since I've been reading so many reports about the ride malfunctioning and/or boarding groups getting snapped up immediately).
I do love Epcot and really wanted that to be our special Christmas eve and last night in the parks...we went from planning for 4 park days to 6, so that seemed like a easy fit to wedge in on the extra half-day/evening after meeting up with my family (we're actually bringing our wedding clothes down to do a small vow renewal and photos since my parents won't be able to come up for the ceremony next month). I'll have to think some more on whether or not we can juggle anything around for an extra MK day instead of something else though, since part of the reason we are going on this trip despite all the limited offerings is to ride the current incarnation of Splash just a few more times...(though I think the new P&tF theming will also be amazing!)

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thank you!

Great ideas on the drawings!

As for DHS, it's not my favorite, but FH is such a Star Wars fan that I wanted to build in some cushion in case we don't manage to make it onto the ROTR on the first day (since I've been reading so many reports about the ride malfunctioning and/or boarding groups getting snapped up immediately).
I do love Epcot and really wanted that to be our special Christmas eve and last night in the parks...we went from planning for 4 park days to 6, so that seemed like a easy fit to wedge in on the extra half-day/evening after meeting up with my family (we're actually bringing our wedding clothes down to do a small vow renewal and photos since my parents won't be able to come up for the ceremony next month). I'll have to think some more on whether or not we can juggle anything around for an extra MK day instead of something else though, since part of the reason we are going on this trip despite all the limited offerings is to ride the current incarnation of Splash just a few more times...(though I think the new P&tF theming will also be amazing!)

I think it sounds like you’ve got it figured out. You’re smart to give yourself more time at DHS and Epcot around Christmas is awesome. It really sounds like a magical trip!!