You Serious Clark? A Family Christmas Vacation Trip Nov/ Dec 2017

Whit64130

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 30, 2015
Hello All!
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Welcome to my second Pre-Trip Report!
As you can tell by the title we are Christmas Vacation fans in this family. So what better way to name the official Christmas trip. This bunch had traveled to Disney together back in 2011 minus the smallest member of our group who wasn't born yet. We had went to celebrate my nieces birthday back in Feb 2011. Once the little one came along it was decided that we would go back as a family when she turned 5. She turns 5 this September so the planning has been in talk for awhile. After hearing how awesome my pre-Thanksgiving trip last year we decided on post Thanksgiving this year to get in the Christmas Spirit! If you have read my other PTR or either of my TR you will note that my husband does not have any desire to do Disney and yes this is his family I am going with. :rotfl2:
Let's get on with it...
Introductions goes like this...
I am your host, Whitney
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I have been going to Disney since the age of 5. I was obsessed then and I am now. Probably more so now than then. I have been traveling with my cousin lately and last year's trip we upgraded to AP's. Sooooooo that means extra trips thrown in between.(I have another trip planned in September before I go on this one. I will probably throw a few updates in this PTR for that one if you don't mind.) Anyways enough about me...
The rest of the gang includes my mother in law Carol, Nick's brother Corey, his wife Laura, their two girls Ashton and Finley, and Laura's mother Charlotte. Here are some pictures from our last trip as a family back in 2011.

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We went for Ashton's 5th birthday. It was a blast and we knew once Fin came along we needed to do it all over again! Nick and his dad have both opted out of the family fun again. I mean we don't need them raining on our Disney parade by day 3 so we are ok with leaving them at home.
This time around we are using a Travel Agent to help plan and I enlisted the help of my friend @ariane37 to help me out! Long story short after planning and talking with her she gave me some advice on becoming a TA myself. I started that back in March and I am really enjoying it so far. It is harder than I thought but still fun to help people, especially if they aren't too familiar with Disney. Anyways back to the plans...
The When:
This is probably the most changing. We initially had planned on doing Nov 26-Dec 4. Then we talked about driving down and staying the night near Disney and being there first thing Sunday the 26th. I had just got back from Disney when we were talking about plans for that Saturday. I had spent one night in the Ariel rooms at Art of Animation and was telling Laura how the girls would LOVE it. Then she had the genius idea to surpise the girls and stay at

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Port Orleans Riverside in the Royal rooms for one night. Ahhh I think I will be more excited than the girls. We aren't telling them this part until they walk into the room for their selves. So back to the plan. Part of us still are doing that. Once the Nick and his dad officially decided not to go, Carol talked how me might possibly want to fly down instead of drive since it would be the two of us. She has a bad back and 10+ hours in a car didn't sound appealing to her. I was nervous to price out flights since it was the weekend after Thanksgiving. Not to mention I am a little nervous to fly since it has been 5 years since the last time I was on a plane. Side note-I may or may not have been medicated and had partaken in a few adult beverages at 10am. So I checked on flights and good news was flying home was very reasonable. Bad news Flight there was outrageous. So we just settled on driving. I had gotten an email from Southwest about a sale. I almost deleted it but then I decided to check again. The prices were still kind of crazy for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Then I had a slightly genius idea. Check Friday. Well I checked Friday and prices were about $200 less. I almost booked them right on the spot but I checked another airport just to be sure. (The only airports that do nonstop flights to MCO are both 2 hours away. Literally get on the interstate and head North or South and its exactly 2 hours.) I checked the other place and it was even cheaper to fly down but more expensive to fly home. So we ended up booking a flight down from one airport and the return flight to another airport. since the boys aren't going with us guess who will be dropping us off and picking us up!
So back to the when: Nov 24- Dec 4
Me and Carol are arriving Friday night at POR via Magical express. We will stay their for 2 nights with the rest of the gang arriving by car on Saturday. So essentially that is 11 days in Disney for us !:jumping1:


The Where...Obviously you know part of this already. Two nights for me and Carol at POR, one night for the rest of the gang and then on Sunday we are all checking into the Wilderness Lodge for the remainder of the stay! I am beyond excited to be staying here again, especially with the Christmas decorations up!
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This is where we stayed when we took Ashton for her birthday and everybody loved it so the decision was mutual.

(I borrowed some of these pictures from google)
I'll leave you with a few of my personal and memory maker pictures from last years trip to get you in the Christmas Spirit!
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I'll be back to quote more but I had to say :wave: and grab my FIRST PLACE in line! Thank you for the shout out :hug: Love the title!
 


ADRS and such...
Ok so as write this I am 152 days out. Have no fear, this trip has been 5 years in the making and I did not fall behind on dining reservations. Originally we had a rough draft schedule. I got up super early Memorial Day to make our reservations only to have our schedule completely changed for the most part. Also since we are doing a split stay I was able to make a couple of reservations for the first 2 days of out trip. So our itinerary goes a little something like this...
Day 1-Nov24
I figure I will start this day out by going to bed by 8am after working all night Thanksgiving at the hospital. (With me going out of town it is almost guaranteed I will be working.) I will hopefully be up by 11 so we can be on the road by 12ish to the airport. I am such a bad last minute packer. I have a list of necessities that I can't pack until departure day and as I throw them in the bag I end up throwing everything else that I might "possibly" need in there too. It is a 2 hour drive to the airport and our plane leaves at 4:20pm CST. Hopefully it won't be tooooo crazy of a drive since it is the day after Thanksgiving. Anyways our plane lands 6:50pm EST. It has been 6 years since I have flown and I am a little nervous navigating the airport with my Mother in Law. I am just thankful we won't have to worry about getting our bags and it is a nonstop flight. Hopefully it won't take us too much time to find ME and hop aboard.
Once we arrive at POR we don't have anything planned. I figured we would just eat dinner at the resort and possibly catch Yehaa Bob? I have read great things on him and would like to see his show since this is unique to POR. Although I am debating to put this off until Saturday because I think the whole crew would like it. I need input here from those of you who have seen the show!

Day 2- Nov 25
We didn't initially intend to have another whole day at Disney but you know how Disney math gets you ever time. Example- Its cheaper (including room) to fly down a night early than originally planned. So logically Carol and I are planning on hitting a park this day since there is not much difference between a 7 day and an 8 day PH. The rest of the crew will be leaving home in the wee hours of Saturday morning so we don't expect them until later in the afternoon. And I mean who is going to sit around the resort all day when DISNEY is right there!?!?! Since Carol has only been one time I asked her what is something you want to do that you didn't get to do last trip? She requested to do Epcot- specifically the World Showcase. The most we got in 2011 was Norway to eat breakfast. I was happy with her choice! I think it will be good for us to explore a little on our on because the girls may or may not like it. I am hoping with all the Christmas activities going on it will be a hit for them but a little extra time for us won't hurt.
I also made us dinner reservations at Trail's End. At this point I am not sure if we will keep them or not. I have been wanting to do dinner here for awhile but it never really fits with out plans. It more so depends on the time that the others get to the resort. We all may end up eating here actually.
When we originally planned the extra night in the Royal Rooms we had decided we would leave a little note from the princesses saying how happy they were to have the girls for this special night and etc etc etc... But I have bought a few things for them already and thought about leaving them a "gift basket" sort of thing in the room with the letter. We figured we could do things like autograph books, maybe a pin starter kit, and other Disney necessities to get them started. (Any other suggestions welcome!!) I intend to sneak in their room to drop this off before they get there. Since we are doing a split stay we are getting two sets of magic bands and I am going to take one of theirs down with us. Once Laura gets her text about what room they will be in she will send it to me and I will drop off the basket. I am expecting some kind of crazy delay or something with the magic bands. You know Disney technology.:headache: But hopefully if we encounter any problems the front desk will be able to help me out since we have a traveling with number. If all else fails once they get there we can entertain the girls for a bit to get it all set up.


Sorry no pictures for this update but hopefully I can gather up some for the next update!
 
I think that's a great idea for you and Carol to have some time in WS before the girls come. Even though there's so much for kids, you're right that they may not be too interested and then I'm sure Carol will feel like she has to rush through. I really hope you keep Trails End though because I know you guys would enjoy it!!!

Where did you meet Ariel with Prince Eric? You look SO young in those pictures lol and you're still so young now!
 


I am just thankful we won't have to worry about getting our bags and it is a nonstop flight.

Good luck! I'm a nervous flyer, and I always feel better being on a nonstop flight, so that should make it much easier for you.

She requested to do Epcot- specifically the World Showcase.

Great choice!

We figured we could do things like autograph books, maybe a pin starter kit, and other Disney necessities to get them started. (Any other suggestions welcome!!)

This is such a cute idea! Along with those ideas, I got my little cousin a Disney hat, and a misting fan that I picked up at the hardware store. But we're going in August, so those are more summer-heat kind of ideas. I thought anything to help keep him cooler and prevent sunburn would be a good idea. :)
 
Love the Epcot plan! You girls will have such fun. I say you two pop in to see Yeehaw Bob. I hear as the night goes on his bit gets a tad more adult oriented. Plus POR is gorgeous at night, we loved walking it in Sept 2015.
 
Sounds like you have a fun trip planned!!

I have heard such great things about Yehaw Bob but have never seen him myself!

Tsums tsums are a cute gift to throw in for the kids!
 
note that my husband does not have any desire to do Disney and yes this is his family I am going with. :rotfl2:

That is hilarious!! But I love that you're enlisting them to drive you to and from the airports--that's what you get for staying home, fellas!!


This pic!!!!!! How?!?!! Where!?!?!

So essentially that is 11 days in Disney for us !:jumping1:

WOOHOO!!!! Coming home from a 12 day trip in December, I can tell you it is incredible! It sounds like it will be "too many" (ha, like there's such a thing as too many Disney days!!!) but the ability to take it slow and do your favorite things more than once is just amazing. You'll love it!!!

Also, I LOVE the title of this PTR!!!!
 
I think that's a great idea for you and Carol to have some time in WS before the girls come. Even though there's so much for kids, you're right that they may not be too interested and then I'm sure Carol will feel like she has to rush through. I really hope you keep Trails End though because I know you guys would enjoy it!!!

Where did you meet Ariel with Prince Eric? You look SO young in those pictures lol and you're still so young now!
I ended up making a Trail's End Breakfast too and then deciding a little bit late on which one works better for us. Either way we WILL be eating there at some point!
Also this picture was circa 2011. They were in Adventureland about where Skipper Canteen is now..and I was just a baby. Barely 21:rotfl:

Good luck! I'm a nervous flyer, and I always feel better being on a nonstop flight, so that should make it much easier for you.
I sure hope so. We are flying Southwest so I am a tad nervous to get split up but I probably will pre-medicate so I don't cry if we do.

This is such a cute idea! Along with those ideas, I got my little cousin a Disney hat, and a misting fan that I picked up at the hardware store. But we're going in August, so those are more summer-heat kind of ideas. I thought anything to help keep him cooler and prevent sunburn would be a good idea. :)
Ah those are good ideas. I look for some hats at least. I am hoping we don't have to have misting fans but you never know with FL weather!

Love the Epcot plan! You girls will have such fun. I say you two pop in to see Yeehaw Bob. I hear as the night goes on his bit gets a tad more adult oriented. Plus POR is gorgeous at night, we loved walking it in Sept 2015.
That may be what we end up doing. I figure by the time we get there we will be too excited and have to explore the resort a little!

Sounds like you have a fun trip planned!!

I have heard such great things about Yehaw Bob but have never seen him myself!

Tsums tsums are a cute gift to throw in for the kids!
Thats the majority I am hearing about him. I am sure he will be a hoot.
Tsums Tsums! Great idea!!! Thanks!!!:goodvibes

That is hilarious!! But I love that you're enlisting them to drive you to and from the airports--that's what you get for staying home, fellas!!
Exactly!:D
This pic!!!!!! How?!?!! Where!?!?!
It was way back in 2011. It was somewhere in Adventureland. We actually met a few "rare" (for now at least) characters that trip.

WOOHOO!!!! Coming home from a 12 day trip in December, I can tell you it is incredible! It sounds like it will be "too many" (ha, like there's such a thing as too many Disney days!!!) but the ability to take it slow and do your favorite things more than once is just amazing. You'll love it!!!

Also, I LOVE the title of this PTR!!!!
Glad to hear from someone who has stayed that long that it isn't a bad idea! After making out our itinerary we still aren't squeezing everything we want to in. :confused3
 
We are staying at Wilderness Lodge right before you get there! Don't be nervous about flying, it might be a little busy because of the holiday but better than driving in my opinion.
 
"Save the neck for me Clark!" ADR's Continued.
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I'll start out by saying I have fallen victim to the latest Photobucket crisis. Bare with me as I swap over to another photo sharing host.

Day 3- November 26 MK *The official start to this Christmas Vacation!*

We will start super early by checking out of POR and driving over to WL to check in. Corey is renting a van for to make their 10+ hour drive more comfortable so we plan to just ride over to WL with them. If all of our luggage won't fit we will probably just have it transferred. We know we will probably not be able to check into our room but we want to make sure and take care of all of our minor details before hitting the park.
We are booked for the bunk bed rooms at WL.

Courtyard view I think. We were a little late to the party and everything else was already booked. Hopefully the queen bed rooms will come available before then! If not Oh Well we are in Disney! Once the front desk stuff is in order we will head over to MK via boat hopefully. I think a good way to kick the vacation off right is to see the new opening show! I am not a fan of it in comparison to the old one but I think the girls will LOVE it! MK hours are posted from 9-7. So we plan to spend all day until they kick us out for the party. Which I am guessing is 6pm since I have seen all over Facebook that they are starting it for the Christmas parties.
LUNCH:BOG at 11:10. This will be everybody else's first look into the beast castle and I can't wait for them to see it!
I hope to have the French Onion Soup for lunch!
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EXTRA:I also made reservations for Pirates League at 1:00pm, not only for the girls but for me to join them as well. I have read a few reviews of adults doing it and really enjoying it! I am sure that will be a fun experience for all of us. Even if it isn't what I thought it would be I can always chalk it up to being good for research. :rotfl:
Anybody got any adult experience doing this? Am I crazy for wanting to join in on the fun?
DINNER: O'hana at 8:20pm. When I booked this this was the only time I could get which would work out perfect for us, kicked out of MK at 7. monorail around to Poly for dinner, but I have seen where they are kicking us out at 6 now so we will probably go to the Grand Floridian and check out the giant Gingerbread house. I know O'hana is notorious for being late so I am hoping we can make it to Holiday Wishes fireworks from restaurant or at least go out to the beach to watch them to end our first day. Then we will monorail around to wither MK or Contemporary and boat back to WL to end our night.


Day 4- November 27 AK/MK

LUNCH: We will hopefully have an early lunch at Flame Tree BBQ or Pizzafari. It really depends on what we have for dinner.
DINNER: Either Whispering Canyon or Boma. We haven't officially decided on this yet. Once we have FP we will make a decision.
I know we are shooting for MK PM EMH but depending on what kind of break and what time our dinner ends being at is what our plans will be. It may be where we split up and send some back to the room and some of us do MK. We will play this one by ear.


Day 5- November 28 DHS

LUNCH: Early QS at either DHS or WL depending on mid day break.
DINNER: Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic Package at 4:00. I know this is super early butttttt with a party of 7 beggers can't be choosers. This is actually one of my favorite buffets so I am looking forward to eating here again especially with the fab 5 dressed in their Christmas attire!


Day 6- November 29 Epcot

This day is still not planned out officially. With the recent release of Candlelight Processional Packages it threw a dent in our plans. Who am I kidding though our plans had been messed up since ADR day when I couldn't get a reservation for BOG this day.
BREAKFAST: Akershus Candlelight Processional at 8:15.
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This wasn't officially on our radar since it really isn't anyone's favorite except for Corey's (either he loves the princesses or the Norwegian Smorgasbord:confused3). I had tried to get a Bon voyage breakfast for this day but I haven't had any luck so with the girls I am sure they will LOVE it anyways and BONUS its PRE-PARK!
DINNER: Possibly Whispering Canyon if we don't do it on Monday.
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I have raved about this to everybody so I am pretty sure most of us will get the skillet!
And I can't wait to have this.....
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This day is still really up in the air because I haven't got to talk with everybody about the Candlelight Processional. I know it is something Carol and I want to do. And I am not sure if they even want Akershus so I was able to get a Garden Grill CP package for later as a back up. Hopefully we will be able to sit down soon and talk this out so I can release the reservation we don't need. I really hate to "hoard" to say but the party of 7 is killing me because it is almost impossible to find reservations for big groups Our CP is at 8:15 so we will have some flexibility with dinner options.

Day 7- November 30 MK/DHS
BREAKFAST: BOG at 10:00am
DINNER: Pecos Bills whenever we get hungry. :goodvibes Corey really want's to do the secret nacho challenge! Has anybody done this yet?
MK is closing at 4:30 for a special even this day. The same thing happened to us last year at MK and we ended up having a great day with low wait times! We are hoping this stays true this day too! We plan on hopping over to DHS after to catch a few rides too!

Day 8- December 1 MK/Epcot
LUNCH:QS in MK
DINNER: Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:50pm
This is another party day so we wanted to make a late dinner so we could enjoy MK all day.
Our plan for now is to hop to Epcot but if hours get extended at AK we will probably go there so we can have some more time in AK at night.

Day 9-December 2 AK/MK
LUNCH: Somewhere in AK
EXTRA: BBB for the girls at 1:00 p
DINNER: BOG at 4:30pm
For dinner I will most likely go with the braised beef again. It was very good in April when I had it!
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Can't forget my favorite the strawberry cupcake!!!
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AK on this day is probably up in the air if we can get FP for FOP our first AK day. If we go to AK it will probably be short and sweet since we have a long night panned at MK. They have EMH for the morning so we will most likely do that and head back to the resort earl to have a short rest before going to MK at 1 for the girls to do BBB. We have an early dinner for BOG because that was pretty much all I could get for the trip. Fin has been obsessed with Belle lately and we wanted to do BBB and BOG on the same day so it worked out perfect! We also hope to meet Gaston as well!

Day 10- December 3 Rest/ MVMCP
BREAKFAST: Bon Voyage at 10:15
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I will be having this tasty dish again!
DINNER:We hope to sleep in a little this day and do a relaxed breakfast at the Boardwalk. Hopefully we will make it back to the resort for a nap and then head to MK for the party at 4! Since I will be he only one with a ticket for this day I may try to go to MK a little early or who knows. We wanted to end our park days at MK and what better way than the Christmas party?!?!?!


Day 11- December 4 Disney Springs

LUNCH: Homecomin' at 12:50.
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I am dying to try the fried chicken dinner!!
We want to sleep in as late as possible this day since we will be out late. We will pack up and check out by 11. I think I read that we can check our luggage at the desk for our later flight. I hope this is the case so we can avoid that line at the airport. We will all head to Disney Springs to shop a little and have lunch. We will part ways eventually because Carol and I will have to catch the ME, which won't be so magical at this point, by 4:15. The others will start their 10+ hour journey home and stop overnight to rest about half way.

This is the starting point for our plans. I am sure they will change multiple times before we actually go. We also know we have a large group and need to have flexibility but we also need a itinerary so we aren't wasting to much time wondering what to do. Any tips and or comments are appreciated.:jumping1:
 
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I'll start out by saying I have fallen victim to the latest Photobucket crisis. Bare with me as I swap over to another photo sharing host. I had gathered up a few pictures to post with this update but I can't get them over from Flickr. Any suggestions? I will tryo to do some more research and add them in later!

Photobucket stinks! I switched to Imgur, so I won't be much help. But good luck! I'm so frustrated with all my old photos disappearing.

I think a good way to kick the vacation off right is to see the new opening show! I am not a fan of it in comparison to the old one but I think the girls will LOVE it!

I think you're right, that this show is going to appeal more to younger kids and people who don't have the nostalgia associated with the old train show. But I agree with you.

LUNCH:BOG at 11:10. This will be everybody else's first look into the beast castle and I can't wait for them to see it!

Can't go wrong here!

EXTRA:I also made reservations for Pirates League at 1:00pm, not only for the girls but for me to join them as well. I have read a few reviews of adults doing it and really enjoying it! I am sure that will be a fun experience for all of us. Even if it isn't what I thought it would be I can always chalk it up to being good for research. :rotfl:
Anybody got any adult experience doing this? Am I crazy for wanting to join in on the fun?

This is awesome! I didn't know adults did it, but I think you'll have a blast :)

DINNER: Either Whispering Canyon or Boma. We haven't officially decided on this yet. Once we have FP we will make a decision.

Can't go wrong with either of these I don't think. We're doing WCC for the first time this trip, and Boma is a longstanding fave for us :)

Corey really want's to do the secret nacho challenge! Has anybody done this yet?

This looks like so much fun! Be sure to take pictures!

This is the starting point for our plans. I am sure they will change multiple times before we actually go. We also know we have a large group and need to have flexibility but we also need a itinerary so we aren't wasting to much time wondering what to do.

Yeah, that's a hard balance to find, especially with a big group. But sounds like you've got great plans so far!
 
Photobucket stinks! I switched to Imgur, so I won't be much help. But good luck! I'm so frustrated with all my old photos disappearing.
I switched to imgur and have pictures now!!

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This is awesome! I didn't know adults did it, but I think you'll have a blast :)
I hope so and hope it won't be too awkward!

't go wrong with either of these I don't think. We're doing WCC for the first time this trip, and Boma is a longstanding fave for us :)
i am very excited to try Boma!
 
Your plans look great, and your photos look very delicious!!! The skillet picture in particular; one of my favorite things at WDW!!


the party of 7 is killing me because it is almost impossible to find reservations for big groups

This. We are 11 for like 3 reservations in September, and what a pain that has been! Try calling for anything you really want. Turns out CMs have access to what is called a live option, where the one on the site is only updated every so often. CMs may be able to find stuff we can't.
 
BOG lunch and ohana- 2 of my faves! I think it's so cool that you're going to do Pirates League!

I loved the Hollywood & Vine Christmas dinner when I went, so fun!

All of your plans sound great!
 

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