I know, I know, that's the busiest time of year to go, but hear me out! Christmas sucks for us right about now! And we decided that instead of staying home and wallowing in our sorrow, we would go somewhere and try to keep ourselves busy. Christmas 2022 obviously sucked, but we were so numb at that point that it's all a blur. Then 2023 was horrific and felt like the first Christmas without Lily. Needless to say, I didn't feel like decorating nor celebrating, so we didn't do a whole lot that year. Last year, I still couldn't bring myself to decorate, but we tried to attend a few celebrations and ease back into things. My anniversary trip with Brian last year helped get me closer to remembering that I used to love Christmas and all the decorations, but I'm still not sure I would be able to decorate the house this year either, so now I won't have to worry about it too much! The boys don't necessarily want to go anywhere, but they grudgingly agreed to go with us when I promised we would make it as laid back and stress free as possible, which I know means we will miss seeing and doing a lot of things! As you can surmise from my picture, we are staying at Caribbean Beach again. I booked two (hopefully connecting) standard view 5th sleeper rooms. I am going to request to be in Trinidad again this year.
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Pre-Trip I May Have Done a Thing...
- Thread starter TheMouseFan
- Start date
I know, I know, that's the busiest time of year to go, but hear me out! Christmas sucks for us right about now! And we decided that instead of staying home and wallowing in our sorrow, we would go somewhere and try to keep ourselves busy. Christmas 2022 obviously sucked, but we were so numb at that point that it's all a blur. Then 2023 was horrific and felt like the first Christmas without Lily. Needless to say, I didn't feel like decorating nor celebrating, so we didn't do a whole lot that year. Last year, I still couldn't bring myself to decorate, but we tried to attend a few celebrations and ease back into things. My anniversary trip with Brian last year helped get me closer to remembering that I used to love Christmas and all the decorations, but I'm still not sure I would be able to decorate the house this year either, so now I won't have to worry about it too much! The boys don't necessarily want to go anywhere, but they grudgingly agreed to go with us when I promised we would make it as laid back and stress free as possible, which I know means we will miss seeing and doing a lot of things! As you can surmise from my picture, we are staying at Caribbean Beach again. I booked two (hopefully connecting) standard view 5th sleeper rooms. I am going to request to be in Trinidad again this year.
Yep, I did know that! Thank you
Yowza, is it expensive to go to WDW the week of Christmas! I knew it would be, but it doesn't make it any easier to look at my balance due each time I log in to MDE!! What makes it worse is needing two rooms. I know, I know! I don't really "need" two rooms, but yes I do because I am not sharing a bathroom for a whole week with three boys!!! We will at least get a $150 gift card when we check in with the current package promotion going on. We also added park hopper to our tickets this time because I know it will be crowded and we may need to make a quick change in plans as to what park we want to be in. I am planning on purchasing MPLL and some ILL which will add up quickly with 4 of us, but no way am I dropping PPLL money! I am also planning quite a few sit down meals to try to get away from some of the crowds which will also add up quickly.
Now on to some of the planning:
We are officially taking 2 days to drive down. I have a reservation at Country Inn and Suites in Warner Robins, Georgia for Saturday night. It should take us about 9 hours, leaving about 5 hours on Sunday. Depending on the weather forecast and what the boys are feeling that morning, we may get up extra early and head down so we can hit Typhoon Lagoon, or we may get a little bit of a slower start and just hit Disney Springs for dinner once we get there.
I purchased a 4 ft prelit Christmas tree to take with us, now I just need to get decorations for it. I've also started getting some window decor for both rooms.
We're coming up on ADR day, so I need to start planning the itinerary and deciding what sit down meals we want. Of course, nobody will tell me what they do or don't want to eat, so nobody gets to complain about what I schedule!!
We'll end with pictures from Owen's senior night soccer game.
Minnie1986
Well-Known Member
Can't wait to follow along. There really is something about Disney that soothes the soul.
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Great to have you following! I hope so because we all really need it!
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!
Premium Member
I'll be sure to remind them of that!No one is too old for: “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”
Tiki Traveler
Well-Known Member
I find crafting a “relaxing” Disney trip w/older children is a bit of a challenge. Looking forward to getting some ideas! (In a previous trip report you mentioned the late night party passes (or whatever they’re called) I think they might be good for my family too.) Enjoy!
We did an after hours at Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon last time. Totally worth it in my book! We're skipping the last Jollywood Nights at HS this year and all the MVMCPs are done by the time we get there. My plan is to only require them to be at our sit down meals and our LLs. Otherwise, if they want to be on their own or back at the room, then they can. Our only set in stone plan right now is a 4 park hopping day on Christmas day to get a picture in front of each park tree.I find crafting a “relaxing” Disney trip w/older children is a bit of a challenge. Looking forward to getting some ideas! (In a previous trip report you mentioned the late night party passes (or whatever they’re called) I think they might be good for my family too.) Enjoy!
Which means it's dining day!
I finally got a little bit of guidance from Brian and Owen about what they wanted to eat.
It was easy peasy this morning and I got everything I wanted at the times I wanted. Fingers crossed that this means the crowds won't be as bad as I was anticipating! ( not holding my breath!)
We've got some old favorites and we are trying several new places.
The tentative plan is:
Sat - travel day
Sun - travel day, lunch at Beaches and Cream (this may change since there have been multiple poor reviews lately), Disney Springs
Mon - DHS am, lunch at 50's Prime Time, then over to Epcot
Tues - AK am, Epcot pm, late lunch at Space 220
Wed - Christmas Eve - Epcot am, MK pm, 3:30 lunch at 'Ohana, Seats and Sweets Dessert party
Thurs - Christmas Day - start at AK, bus to MK, lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, monorail to Epcot, Skyliner or boat to DHS, dinner at Hollywood and Vine (this may change as Owen said he would eat here as long as he didn't have to get his picture with the characters!) Our only real goal this day is to take a picture with the Christmas tree in each park!
Fri - ?? am, Beak and Barrel at 2pm, Epcot pm, Spice Road Table fireworks dining package
Sat -?? am, mid day mini golf (probably at Winter Summerland, but maybe Fantasia Gardens since we could get there easier), AK pm, dinner at Yak and Yeti ( I am hoping that the AK hours get extended like they have in the past so we can be there after dark to see the lighting and the projections on the ToL.
I didn't necessarily want to spend extra for the MK fireworks party or the Epcot fireworks dinner package, but I know it will make Brian happier to not fight the crowds, so it will be worth it. I would have done the Fantasmic! dinner package except the last dinner time they have it available is 4:50 which will be way too close to our Liberty Tree Tavern ADR, so we may or may not end up seeing Fantasmic!
I may also be working on setting up a meet up with another member here!!
And a pic of Owen during the downpour that happened during the last 3 minutes of his last ever regular season game. They won the game 7-0 (and he scored a goal which is unusual for him because he is defense), hence the celebratory pose! (This was taken by another soccer mom who is a professional photographer. I wish I could claim it as my own!)
Sat - travel day
Sun - travel day, lunch at Beaches and Cream (this may change since there have been multiple poor reviews lately), Disney Springs
Mon - DHS am, lunch at 50's Prime Time, then over to Epcot
Tues - AK am, Epcot pm, late lunch at Space 220
Wed - Christmas Eve - Epcot am, MK pm, 3:30 lunch at 'Ohana, Seats and Sweets Dessert party
Thurs - Christmas Day - start at AK, bus to MK, lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, monorail to Epcot, Skyliner or boat to DHS, dinner at Hollywood and Vine (this may change as Owen said he would eat here as long as he didn't have to get his picture with the characters!) Our only real goal this day is to take a picture with the Christmas tree in each park!
Fri - ?? am, Beak and Barrel at 2pm, Epcot pm, Spice Road Table fireworks dining package
Sat -?? am, mid day mini golf (probably at Winter Summerland, but maybe Fantasia Gardens since we could get there easier), AK pm, dinner at Yak and Yeti ( I am hoping that the AK hours get extended like they have in the past so we can be there after dark to see the lighting and the projections on the ToL.
I didn't necessarily want to spend extra for the MK fireworks party or the Epcot fireworks dinner package, but I know it will make Brian happier to not fight the crowds, so it will be worth it. I would have done the Fantasmic! dinner package except the last dinner time they have it available is 4:50 which will be way too close to our Liberty Tree Tavern ADR, so we may or may not end up seeing Fantasmic!
I may also be working on setting up a meet up with another member here!!
And a pic of Owen during the downpour that happened during the last 3 minutes of his last ever regular season game. They won the game 7-0 (and he scored a goal which is unusual for him because he is defense), hence the celebratory pose! (This was taken by another soccer mom who is a professional photographer. I wish I could claim it as my own!)
Songbird76
Well-Known Member
Why only 2 drivers? Do the boys not have licenses, or you just don't want to make them drive on the vacation? 13 hours is a really long day. When I was growing up, we couldn't afford flying, and my mom's whole family lived in Illinois while we lived in Wyoming, so every couple of years, we drove to Illinois. And we drove to DisneyWorld once, and to NYC when my choir was singing at Carnegie Hall. What we always did was we'd take a longer trip and we'd plan out a route where we would get to site see along the way. So when we drove to Florida, we stopped at the Louis and Clark trail and Mammoth Cave. Mom also wanted to go to the Hermitage, but it was closed on the day we went through there, so we didn't get to do that. And when we went to NYC, we spent a day in Washington DC to see some of the sites there. On our way to Illinois, we might stop in the badlands, or the Corn Palace in South Dakota, or find a museum somewhere....I remember going to the St. Louis Arch once....and we made a slight detour once to stop in Kansas and see the house and a church my great great grandfather built. We got to see a lot of cool things that a lot of people never get to see. Abraham Lincoln's homestead (or maybe a replica?), Laura Ingalls Wilder's home (one of them anyway), etc. If you wanted to break up the road trip a bit, you could look up something along the route you want to take, and do something fun on the way and stay there for a night and then have a shorter distance the next day. Just an idea.
But I think this sounds like a great idea to celebrate Christmas! I say do whatever makes you most comfortable!
Edit: I see you already decided to split up the travel time. So nevermind my suggestion.
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I apparently fat fingered it because there are 3 of us that can drive. Owen should have his license by then but will likely not be confident driving on the interstate for long periods of time. Not to mention that Brian doesn't like to give up the driver's seat! So it's really his own problem and we could easily do it in one day!
I'm really bummed that this popcorn bucket is only available at the Christmas party! I saw a picture awhile ago and was really wanting to get it! Oh, well. I refuse to pay what everyone will charge on Ebay, so guess I'll just keep admiring the picture!
And a sneak peek at one of our window decorations I found at Five Below.
And a sneak peek at one of our window decorations I found at Five Below.
rshell68
Well-Known Member
I LOVE that popcorn bucket!!!!
DisneyFreak
Well-Known Member
Be careful of this as a park may get to capacity and you may not be able to get in. We ran into this once when we were in the MK for NYE. We were warned before we left the park that it was at capacity and we may not be able to get in.
Yeah, we know. We'll be at AK early, then right to MK before it should be close to capacity and we have an ADR there, then I don't expect Epcot to be full by afternoon since it's Christmas and not NYE, then we have an ADR at DHS so should be safe.
fractal
Premium Member
Great pic!
Yeah, not holding my breath for that!