Fizzle's tentative itinerary...

[fizzle75]

We will be returning to The World this November/December and I thought I would run our tentative itinerary by you fine folks so you can give us some advice. We will be taking my wife's cousin and her husband with us. Her cousin has never been to WDW and is very excited, her husband on the other hand has been before and didn't like it.

Christmastime is our absolute favorite time to be at WDW and we think this will be the perfect time to introduce her cousin to WDW and hopefully win her husband back from the dark side.

We are super frustrated, along with many others, that the hours still aren't posted for November or December. We're pretty when it comes to planning so not having the hours is freaking us out. Sunday was our 180 day mark so we figured we should go ahead and book our ADRs and start working on a tentative schedule. We will be staying at SSR again, it was definitely not our first choice but the two resorts we wanted most(WL & BW)were booked solid. SSR is a beautiful resort though and I'll just be tickled to be back at our home away from home.

SO...here's what we've worked out so far, please let me know what you think and if you think we should make any changes.

Friday, November 28th-We will be flying down and we should arrive at Orlando International around 3:00pm and hopefully be at SSR by 4:30pm or so. We have never done Hoop Dee Do but have always wanted to so the plan is to get settled into our room, give our guests a quick tour of the resort and then head over to MK, then hop either a bus or ferry over to Fort Wilderness so we can catch the last showing of Hoop Dee Doo. I know it can take some time getting to Pioneer Hall, are we allowing enough time?

Saturday, November 29th-Introduce our guests to the joys of the Magic Kingdom. We will be eating breakfast at Whispering Canyon(one of our favorites), knowing their personalities I think they'll love it. Does anybody know if Hickory still works there? She is hands down the best server there and we usually request her as our server but we haven't done WC in several trips so I don't know if she still works there.

We plan on wandering around WL for a little while taking in the gorgeous sights and sounds. Man, I love WL at Christmastime, I really wish you could have stayed there again this time. We will be eating dinner at Ohana.

Sunday, November 30th-Breakfast at the resort and then head over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We will be doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood Brown Derby. I'm super excited about Toy Story Mania and I can't wait to ride it and catch Block Party Bash.

A quick question...Will they still be running the Hollywood Hollyday Parade this year and if so will be Block Party Bash be running on the same days?

Monday, December 1st- Head over to Epcot for breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. Focus mainly on Future World and make sure to catch the Lights of Winter and the tree lighting ceremony before we leave. I loooove Epcot during the holidays! We will be having dinner at Rose & Crown for the first time. We've always wanted to eat there but it has just never worked out in the past. We really want to get a table in the outdoor seating area so we will have a great view of Illuminations.

Another quick question...or two...Is the outdoor dining area at Rose & Crown really a great place to view Illuminations? I really want our guests' first time seeing Illuminations to be awesome so are we better off staying at Rose & Crown or should we try to find a better viewing location somewhere else around World Showcase Lagoon?

Tuesday, December 2nd-Breakfast at the resort and then book over to Animal Kingdom. We will spend all day at AK and then head over to AKL for dinner at Boma(we can't visit WDW without eating at Boma). We really want them to see the animals and the gorgeous design at AKL, it's especially awesome during the holidays.

Does anybody know why they stopped doing the edible Christmas village at Boma and if there are any plans to bring it back?

Wednesday, December 3rd-Day 2 at DHS. We plan on focusing on shows this day and we really want to catch the Harlem Gospel Choir this year since we missed them last year...assuming they're back again this year. We plan on ending the evening by spending some time taking in the Osborne Lights. I could spend hours just wandering around the streets of america taking in the amazing lights and listening to the brilliantly chosen seasonal tunes, and when the snow starts to fall...

Thursday, December 4th-Day 2 at AK. I definitely want to spend some time in Camp Minnie Mickey looking at the character themed christmas trees, listening to the carolers and hopefully getting some great character photos. We will probably leave after Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade, we were in the lead car with Rafiki last year...maybe we'll get lucky again this year.
After the parade we will head over to the Grand Floridian to show our guests around the place, take in the gorgeous decorations and of course check out the Gingerbread house. After that we will high tail it over to WL for dinner at Artist Point.

Friday, December 5th-Day 2 at MK. We will be doing Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party this night, I can't wait!:sohappy: There's no place I'd rather be during the holidays than Main St. USA during MVMCP...except maybe World Showcase. Ok, never mind, it's a tie.

Saturday, December 6th- I'm assuming the Christmas Parade taping will be on this day so we plan on staying far away from MK. We plan on spending the entire day in World Showcase. I absolutely love World Showcase during the holidays, the street performers and storytellers are amazing. We will be doing the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package at either Biergarten or Le Chefs de France, we can't decide which, we love them both. Any thoughts?

Sunday, December 7th-Head back to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina...and immediately start wishing we were still at WDW.

We really want our guests to see Downtown Disney but we can't figure out when would be the best time to do it, any ideas?


So...that's our tentative itinerary folks, whaddaya think? We will be booking our ADRs tomorrow night, I'll post any changes we make. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I know my wife and I will have a great time but I really want her cousin and her husband to have a great time as well so I'm very open to suggestions. I would also love to know who will be there the same time we are, I would love to meet up and say hi.

Let me know what you think!:wave:

-Matt

 

[fizzle75]

the intinerary looks great. I hope you have a great time.

I just would be careful with the fantasmic dinner package at the brown derby. I went and had horrible service, the food was just okay, and it rained and fantasmic didnt show so they told us too bad, and did not give us a voucher for the next night.

I am going for christmas the first time this year, really excited!!!! hope you have a great time!

We've done the Fantasmic Dinner Package at the Brown Derby several times, it's one of our favorite restaurants. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, we're bound to have one eventually but so far all of our experiences with both The Brown Derby and the Fantasmic Dinner Package have been great.

You're gonna love WDW at Christmas, it's amazing. Welcome to the boards by the way!:wave:

 

[mitchk]

Awesome, I'm glad you're getting to go again this year! I hate that we didn't get to spend more time together in April, hopefully things will work out so we can meet up again and maybe grab some dinner. I don't think I told you but when we saw you and Holly in line at Test Track we were frantically trying to catch up with you so we could try to get in the same car for a Photopass pic, but the line was moving pretty fast that day and we totally lost track of you.:lol:

We love WDW during the holidays, it's the absolute best time to go, especially if you're a Christmas nut like me. Hopefully you'll get to go during the holidays sometime, I know you'll love it.

Man, a TT pic would have been sweet, well, maybe next time. BTW, I'd love to go during the Christmas season, (I'm jealous) hopefully next year. Take care man, I'll talk to ya soon :wave:

 

[Disneykidder]

Sup Fizz!!

Your itinerary looks good. Did you change it much since the hours have posted?

I'm glad you like the Brown Derby but unfortunately, we did not. Granted I have not been there in 10 years but the dish I had was not very good. The atmosphere was cool...loved all the pics on the walls.

Holiday time is really a great time to go. The decorations are amazing!! Enjoy!!:wave:

 

[MattyFresh]

After a long day of traveling and getting aquainted with your resort, I think I might suggest the earlier reservation rather than the later one. That way you'll be done with the dinner show around 9:00 ish and can maybe turn in a little early. That way your sure you and your guests will be rested and ready to go full steam ahead! As for me I'm always cooked the first day we get to WDW!

If you hit the early show, you might get out in time to catch the water parade on Bay Lake.

 

[fizzle75]

If you hit the early show, you might get out in time to catch the water parade on Bay Lake.

We've seen the water parade on several occasions, unfortunately not in it's entirety though, but I don't think we've ever seen it during the holidays. Does it get a holiday makeover?

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Wednesday, December 3rd-Day 2 at DHS. We plan on focusing on shows this day and we really want to catch the Harlem Gospel Choir this year since we missed them last year...assuming they're back again this year. We plan on ending the evening by spending some time taking in the Osborne Lights. I could spend hours just wandering around the streets of america taking in the amazing lights and listening to the brilliantly chosen seasonal tunes, and when the snow starts to fall...

Hi Matt, We'll be staying at SSR the same dates as you. Looks like we'll be at DHS on the same day. In all the times we've been in December we usually skip DHS, so i'm looking forward to seeing the Osborne Lights this year :sohappy:

 

[fizzle75]

Hi Matt, We'll be staying at SSR the same dates as you. Looks like we'll be at DHS on the same day. In all the times we've been in December we usually skip DHS, so i'm looking forward to seeing the Osborne Lights this year :sohappy:

Awesome! :wave:Maybe we can meet up and get a few pics at DHS.

You're gonna love the Osborne Lights!

 

[Tinkerbella16]

We really want our guests to see Downtown Disney but we can't figure out when would be the best time to do it, any ideas?

If you haven't already gotten a suggestion for this one... Since you are staying at SSR, DTD is basically its neighbor, and thats really great. I read that you like to do it during the day. One morning if you have no ressies to get to, you should take the boat right over to DTD and spend the morning there. Show your guests around, and do a little shopping. That is usually where I do all of my shopping when I'm in the world. The view of SSR and DTD being right next to eachother is really awesome. You can get some great pictures in that area. Have you ever stayed at SSR before?

 

[maryszhi]

We will be returning to The World this November/December and I thought I would run our tentative itinerary by you fine folks so you can give us some advice. We will be taking my wife's cousin and her husband with us. Her cousin has never been to WDW and is very excited, her husband on the other hand has been before and didn't like it.

Christmastime is our absolute favorite time to be at WDW and we think this will be the perfect time to introduce her cousin to WDW and hopefully win her husband back from the dark side.

We are super frustrated, along with many others, that the hours still aren't posted for November or December. We're pretty when it comes to planning so not having the hours is freaking us out. Sunday was our 180 day mark so we figured we should go ahead and book our ADRs and start working on a tentative schedule. We will be staying at SSR again, it was definitely not our first choice but the two resorts we wanted most(WL & BW)were booked solid. SSR is a beautiful resort though and I'll just be tickled to be back at our home away from home.

SO...here's what we've worked out so far, please let me know what you think and if you think we should make any changes.

Friday, November 28th-We will be flying down and we should arrive at Orlando International around 3:00pm and hopefully be at SSR by 4:30pm or so. We have never done Hoop Dee Do but have always wanted to so the plan is to get settled into our room, give our guests a quick tour of the resort and then head over to MK, then hop either a bus or ferry over to Fort Wilderness so we can catch the last showing of Hoop Dee Doo. I know it can take some time getting to Pioneer Hall, are we allowing enough time?

Saturday, November 29th-Introduce our guests to the joys of the Magic Kingdom. We will be eating breakfast at Whispering Canyon(one of our favorites), knowing their personalities I think they'll love it. Does anybody know if Hickory still works there? She is hands down the best server there and we usually request her as our server but we haven't done WC in several trips so I don't know if she still works there.

We plan on wandering around WL for a little while taking in the gorgeous sights and sounds. Man, I love WL at Christmastime, I really wish you could have stayed there again this time. We will be eating dinner at Ohana.

Sunday, November 30th-Breakfast at the resort and then head over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We will be doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood Brown Derby. I'm super excited about Toy Story Mania and I can't wait to ride it and catch Block Party Bash.

A quick question...Will they still be running the Hollywood Hollyday Parade this year and if so will be Block Party Bash be running on the same days?

Monday, December 1st- Head over to Epcot for breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. Focus mainly on Future World and make sure to catch the Lights of Winter and the tree lighting ceremony before we leave. I loooove Epcot during the holidays! We will be having dinner at Rose & Crown for the first time. We've always wanted to eat there but it has just never worked out in the past. We really want to get a table in the outdoor seating area so we will have a great view of Illuminations.

Another quick question...or two...Is the outdoor dining area at Rose & Crown really a great place to view Illuminations? I really want our guests' first time seeing Illuminations to be awesome so are we better off staying at Rose & Crown or should we try to find a better viewing location somewhere else around World Showcase Lagoon?

Tuesday, December 2nd-Breakfast at the resort and then book over to Animal Kingdom. We will spend all day at AK and then head over to AKL for dinner at Boma(we can't visit WDW without eating at Boma). We really want them to see the animals and the gorgeous design at AKL, it's especially awesome during the holidays.

Does anybody know why they stopped doing the edible Christmas village at Boma and if there are any plans to bring it back?

Wednesday, December 3rd-Day 2 at DHS. We plan on focusing on shows this day and we really want to catch the Harlem Gospel Choir this year since we missed them last year...assuming they're back again this year. We plan on ending the evening by spending some time taking in the Osborne Lights. I could spend hours just wandering around the streets of america taking in the amazing lights and listening to the brilliantly chosen seasonal tunes, and when the snow starts to fall...

Thursday, December 4th-Day 2 at AK. I definitely want to spend some time in Camp Minnie Mickey looking at the character themed christmas trees, listening to the carolers and hopefully getting some great character photos. We will probably leave after Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade, we were in the lead car with Rafiki last year...maybe we'll get lucky again this year.
After the parade we will head over to the Grand Floridian to show our guests around the place, take in the gorgeous decorations and of course check out the Gingerbread house. After that we will high tail it over to WL for dinner at Artist Point.

Friday, December 5th-Day 2 at MK. We will be doing Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party this night, I can't wait!:sohappy: There's no place I'd rather be during the holidays than Main St. USA during MVMCP...except maybe World Showcase. Ok, never mind, it's a tie.

Saturday, December 6th- I'm assuming the Christmas Parade taping will be on this day so we plan on staying far away from MK. We plan on spending the entire day in World Showcase. I absolutely love World Showcase during the holidays, the street performers and storytellers are amazing. We will be doing the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package at either Biergarten or Le Chefs de France, we can't decide which, we love them both. Any thoughts?

Sunday, December 7th-Head back to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina...and immediately start wishing we were still at WDW.

We really want our guests to see Downtown Disney but we can't figure out when would be the best time to do it, any ideas?


So...that's our tentative itinerary folks, whaddaya think? We will be booking our ADRs tomorrow night, I'll post any changes we make. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I know my wife and I will have a great time but I really want her cousin and her husband to have a great time as well so I'm very open to suggestions. I would also love to know who will be there the same time we are, I would love to meet up and say hi.

Let me know what you think!:wave:


-Matt

sounds awesome
have a great time
also christmas and easter are our fav. time at disney

 

[fizzle75]

If you haven't already gotten a suggestion for this one... Since you are staying at SSR, DTD is basically its neighbor, and thats really great. I read that you like to do it during the day. One morning if you have no ressies to get to, you should take the boat right over to DTD and spend the morning there. Show your guests around, and do a little shopping. That is usually where I do all of my shopping when I'm in the world. The view of SSR and DTD being right next to eachother is really awesome. You can get some great pictures in that area. Have you ever stayed at SSR before?

The only morning that we have a breakfast ressie is on Saturday the 29th, so we'll probably work it in on one of the other mornings.

Yes, we have stayed at SSR before. We stayed there in April of 2007 and really liked it. It's far from our favorite resort but it's still a gorgeous resort. Have you ever stayed there during the holidays? Do they do much decorating ?

 

[fizzle75]

By the way, we made all of our ressies and ended up making some changes to our itinerary, hopefully I'll have time to post them tomorrow. Thanks for all of the great input folks!:wave:

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Have you ever stayed there during the holidays? Do they do much decorating ?

Yes, we go the 2nd week of November almost every year, and the christmas decorations are always up. I think they start right after halloween. We wouldn't go to wdw any other time of the year. WDW really looks amazing decorated. They really put a lot of effort into everything. And the weather is great in november. Last year it didn't rain once. It really felt like christmastime except without the cold weather and snow. We were spoiled with gorgeous weather from the time we arrived until the time we left to go home. Granted, it does get cool at night, but there wasn't ever an uncomfortable moment. If you haven't been there during the holidays, you are in for a real treat. It truely is fantastic!

 

[fizzle75]

OK folks, we've moved things around a little bit and booked our ADR's. Here's our schedule in it's current form...

Friday, November 28th-8:00pm dinner at Ohana

Saturday, November 29th-Magic Kingdom. 9:30am breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe. 5:00pm showing of Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue.

Sunday, November 30th-Epcot. 8:30pm dinner at Rose & Crown.

Monday, December 1st-Animal Kingdom. 7:45pm dinner at Boma.

Tuesday, December 2nd-Disney's Hollywood Studios. 4:30pm Fantasmic Dinner Package at The Hollywood Brown Derby.

Wednesday, December 3rd-Animal Kingdom. 8:00pm dinner at Artist Point.

Thursday, December 4th-Disney's Hollywood Studios. 5:15pm dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe.

Friday, December 5th-Magic Kingdom. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. 5:25pm dinner at The Crystal Palace.

Saturday, December 6th-Epcot. We will be doing the Candlelight Processional on this, our final night. We can't book the CP Dinner Package yet which is good because we are really wrestling over whether we want to eat at Le Chefs De France or Biergarten. We have eaten at and really enjoyed both of them in the past but here's our dilemma...

On one hand we love the food a little more at Le Chefs De France but on the other hand we love the atmosphere at Biergarten better. If Biergarten does indeed add some Christmasy elements during the Holidays then it will definitely be our choice since I really like the idea of the last meal before we leave being very festive. I reeeaaallly like the vibe at Le Chefs de France though...and the food is awesome. Aaaaarrrggghhh!:brick:

What should I do? Advice please!

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Monday, December 1st-Animal Kingdom. 7:45pm dinner at Boma.

Now it looks like we match up on the 1st. We'll be at AK that day and Jiko at 7pm that evening :lol:

 

[fizzle75]

Now it looks like we match up on the 1st. We'll be at AK that day and Jiko at 7pm that evening :lol:

Sweet! Jiko is great, have you eaten there before? The decorations at AKL are fantastic too!

Be sure to get the Kalamata Olive Flat Bread appetizer, in the words of Rachel Ray it's "Yummo".:slurp:

 

[Kelsybelle]

OK folks, we've moved things around a little bit and booked our ADR's. Here's our schedule in it's current form...

Friday, November 28th-8:00pm dinner at Ohana

Saturday, November 29th-Magic Kingdom. 9:30am breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe. 5:00pm showing of Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue.

Sunday, November 30th-Epcot. 8:30pm dinner at Rose & Crown.

Monday, December 1st-Animal Kingdom. 7:45pm dinner at Boma.

Tuesday, December 2nd-Disney's Hollywood Studios. 4:30pm Fantasmic Dinner Package at The Hollywood Brown Derby.

Wednesday, December 3rd-Animal Kingdom. 8:00pm dinner at Artist Point.

Thursday, December 4th-Disney's Hollywood Studios. 5:15pm dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe.

Friday, December 5th-Magic Kingdom. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. 5:25pm dinner at The Crystal Palace.

Saturday, December 6th-Epcot. We will be doing the Candlelight Processional on this, our final night. We can't book the CP Dinner Package yet which is good because we are really wrestling over whether we want to eat at Le Chefs De France or Biergarten. We have eaten at and really enjoyed both of them in the past but here's our dilemma...

On one hand we love the food a little more at Le Chefs De France but on the other hand we love the atmosphere at Biergarten better. If Biergarten does indeed add some Christmasy elements during the Holidays then it will definitely be our choice since I really like the idea of the last meal before we leave being very festive. I reeeaaallly like the vibe at Le Chefs de France though...and the food is awesome. Aaaaarrrggghhh!:brick:

What should I do? Advice please!

Your itinerary is fantastic! I think that you should cap off your trip with dinner at Biergarten, it just seems like it would be sooo festive! I've never been to WDW around the Holidays (we always go in the spring.) but the Germany pavilion itself is festive, I can only imagine what it would be like for the Holidays! I too love the vibe at Le Chefs de France but I don't think it would be nearly as festive as Biergarten! :xmas:

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Sweet! Jiko is great, have you eaten there before? The decorations at AKL are fantastic too!

Be sure to get the Kalamata Olive Flat Bread appetizer, in the words of Rachel Ray it's "Yummo".:slurp:

Yep, we love Jiko! We've eaten there several times in the past. The flat bread is definitely Yummo :lol: We've never eaten Boma for dinner though, is it pretty good? We've eaten there a lot for breakfast and it was delicious :slurp:

 

[fizzle75]

Yep, we love Jiko! We've eaten there several times in the past. The flat bread is definitely Yummo :lol: We've never eaten Boma for dinner though, is it pretty good? We've eaten there a lot for breakfast and it was delicious :slurp:

Boma's dinner is fantastic! Not only is Boma the best buffet on property, IMHO it's one of the best restaurants on property period. We really like Jiko, we've eaten there several times as well, but we like Boma much better.

Back several years ago they used to display an elaborate edible Christmas village at Boma but I have never seen it in person, only on TV. Does anyone know why they stopped doing this?

 

[Disneykidder]

We are eating at Boma for the first time in August. I am psyched.

 

[fizzle75]

We are eating at Boma for the first time in August. I am psyched.

You should be, it's awesome.:animwink:

Be sure to let me know what you think.:wave: