A Very Mickey Christmas Week 2014 - a Tale from Two Perspectives

[elaine amj]

Our family had an amazing time in WDW during Christmas Week 2014. My father joined us and texted updates to my stepmother throughout the trip - so I am going to use those updates to try to post a trip report from two perspectives. (It's been 5 months since our trip, so forgive me if my own memories are a little hazy). I have never seen my Dad take photos but this trip, he took photos every 5 minutes and posted everything - it was awesome to see him so excited. His contribution to this will be primarily the photos with some brief comments (He's the quiet type!)

Our family of 4 discovered the magic of WDW 5 years before and we had managed to find a reason to return 1x a year since. This would be our 5th trip to WDW (3 short mini-trips and 2 long vacations). It was a fairly last minute decision to go to Orlando for Christmas Week and we booked it in early October. My father was talking about visiting me sometime in Oct/Nov/Dec and I brought up that we were going to Orlando and it might be a great time to visit. At the end of November, he announces that he would come to Orlando to join us for Christmas!! This was going to be our first vacation together since our family went to WDW 20 years before when I was 14. (He enjoyed it just fine but none of us looked deep enough to see the magic). This was EPIC and I was beyond excited. Initially, my stepmother and stepsister were also going to come (so I hastily created a new set of plans for them) but that fell through and they couldn't make it. So I re-did the plans yet again (stressing a little about FP+!).

We were very flexible and decisions on where to stay changed frequently. Originally, we were going to stay half the week offsite, then half the week onsite (Little Mermaid room!) - which changed a couple of times. At the end of the day, we stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, 2 nights at the Swan & Dolphin, an 1 night in Clearwater.

We spent just 2 days in the parks -
Dec 27 (MK morning, AK, afternoon, MK night) and
Dec 28 (Epcot morning, HS night, MK late night)

Anyway - here's the tale.

Day 1 - December 24th.

My boss stopped into my office at 10am asking if I wanted to leave at 11 instead of noon. Excited, I scrambled to get my work done and at 11:05, I was finished and ready to go! Unfortunately, my DH did not expect me to get done so quickly and was still at home. He finally picked me up at 11:30am and we were officially on our way. Had our favorite lunch at Teppanyaki Grill Buffet and then some shopping at WalMart.

After all the stress of weather delays, our journey has proceeded smoothly. We were super early to the airport but spent the time on our phones so we were occupied. Our flight departed promptly at 3:50pm. The day has passed excruciatingly slowly but we are getting closer to Orlando despite a slight delay in departing Atlanta (we had one stop on our flight).

We got into Orlando only slightly late and hopped into a taxi to our hotel - the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. I was just about hopping in excitement as we would see my Dad soon.

DAD: Wow. finally in Orlando after a 30hr journey. It is 5pm in Florida and weather is warm. Need only a t-shirt. Waiting for Elaine for a late dinner.

Unfortunately, upon arrival, our poor taxi driver had trouble processing our credit card. It ended up taking me another 10-15 mins helping him (patiently) figure out his credit card machine. He was terrified of not getting paid. I finally felt sorry for him (and impatient to get out!) and allowed him to leave after having double charged our credit card. (Later, I checked and my CC company had already cancelled the extra charge).

We finally made it in and were so incredibly happy to see my Dad! After hugs all around, we all decided that 9:30pm was a perfect time for dinner. We headed downstairs and had a variety of delicious food from the hotel restaurant. My DS, Matthew pigged out on edamame and even begged for a 2nd portion (and finished it!).

DAD: Having a Christmas Eve dinner at Hyatt at 10pm

We then strolled around the beautiful hotel grounds to check out our home for the next 2 nights.

 

[elaine amj]

Day 2 - December 25th at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress

I have been planning and planning to make Christmas Day special. After everyone had crashed for the night (past midnight), I forced myself to stay awake and quickly decorated a corner of the room (lots of wall decals since that was easy to pack). Naturally I had to post it on Facebook and ended up ruining the surprise for my kids. In the morning, Matt slept in and Ashley ended up "seeing" my surprise on Facebook before we switched on the lights. *sigh*

My Dad finally came over and we had a great morning opening presents.

The whole resort is so gorgeous. My Dad did not stop snapping photos.

Taking inspiration from the statues!

Breakfast in the Club Lounge was delish. The spread was really good with a couple of hot options, a selection of good pastries, bagels with smoked salmon, and more. (The Club Lounge upgrade for my Dad's room ended up being a good investment as we had multiple meals there during our stay. For an extra $50 a day, we saved on 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches for all 5 of us).

Now it was time for activities. Our resort fee ($20/night per room) included access to a huge range of amenities.

We started off paddle boating, then Matt won a handful of arcade tokens in the ice cream eating contest. He had an awesome time playing air hockey with my Dad. Since my Dad is a golfer, we had to try out the Pitch n Putt golf course. It was perfect and my Dad, DH, and Matt really enjoyed themselves (Ash and I just smacked the balls around and enjoyed the company and the beautiful day). My athletic DH and Matt both learned really quickly and were playing pretty well by the end of the couple of hours.

Tired out, we had a light lunch in the Club Lounge - yogurt and granola and other snacks. It was now time for Dad to take a nap (he was pretty jet-lagged) while we continued to play. Will napped on the beach while Ashley and I kayaked and Matt made a new friend (they played beach volleyball and took the aquabikes out for a spin). I discovered that I inevitably get wet paddling a kayak - canoeing is a LOT drier. Still eager for more activity, we took the 4 person surrey bike out for a an hour. It's not easy to peddle that thing - and DH and I are cyclists!! The grounds are vast and we went pretty far before we turned around back to the resort.

It was finally starting to get warmer towards the end of the afternoon and we decided it was finally pool time. We jumped in but the kids were not too interested in the slide after a couple of goes. It was still chilly and was cold getting out of the pool. Only a very small section of the pool is heated (very unfortunate since it is a gorgeous, massive pool). We had to make use of the pretty hot tub tucked amongst some rocks so shivering, we got out of the heated section to walk over. We had to cross past an unheated section of the pool and my son and I decided to be crazy and take a short swim in the 60 degree water. BRRRR - I got out really quickly LOL (although I was crazy enough to do it again on the return trip from the hot tub).

It was now 5pm after a long, very active day. But we were not done yet! Time to go back to the room to get cleaned up for our Christmas Day dinner reservations at Hemingway's. At 7pm, we took the pretty paths to the restaurant and had a wonderful Christmas dinner that was surprisingly affordable ($39 pp - especially since my kids could eat off the regular (cheaper) kids menu. The food and service were good - but nothing has stuck in our memories (guess it was lacking that Disney magic lol!).

This was our menu:
Charred Black Pepper Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Reduction
Double Cooked Marbled Potatoes, Grilled Baby Carrots, Braised Baby Root Vegetables, Yellow Patty Pan Squash and Zucchini
Caramelized Roasted Chestnut Stuffing
Warm Christmas Bread Pudding à la Mode, Bourbon Whiskey Sauce...
$39.00 per person

DAD: Having dinner at Hemingway. Merry Christmas everyone.

After dinner, it was pretty cool and none of us were wearing warm enough sweaters (We were wishing longingly for our warm hoodies) but still wanted to spend some time on the beautiful grounds. We ended up huddled around a secluded firepit for a while. We had missed the marshmallow roast at the main bonfire during our dinner.

We timed ourselves to be back at my Dad's club room to watch the Epcot fireworks from the balcony. I tried to time the music of Illuminations on my phone but could not get the timing right. It was still kinda cool to see it from a distance - although absolutely nothing like being front and centre (We are fireworks geeks).

Exxhausted, it was time to turn in. The next day we were going to sleep in a touch more and meet at 9am for breakfast in the Club Lounge. It had been an amazing start to our vacation and everything went fantastic with my Dad (I was a touch worried since possibility of conflicts on trips are high. We had always gotten along incredibly well with my Dad but I was nervous since this was a lot of togetherness).

 

[elaine amj]

December 26 - Boxing Day = Shopping at the Outlets!

We had planned to spend the morning at the Driving Range but at breakfast, my Dad asked to go shopping at the Outlet Mall (he LOVES to shop). After some discussion, we decided that Will & the kids would stay in the resort to swim while my Dad and I went shopping. We scheduled a free shuttle but my Dad ended up deciding he didn't want to wait so I used my Mears app to request a cab.

Unfortunately, our can driver got sulky when we told him where we wanted to go. About 5 mins into the trip, I noticed he didn't have his meter running and I questioned him. He claimed he forgot then suggested we pay $20 for the trip to the Mall. I had researched beforehand and told him it should be about $12. He grumbled, I argued - and we settled for $15. Shortly afterwards, we hit a massive traffic jam at the turnoff for the Mall and we ended up stuck for about 10-15 mins. He threw a fit, calling his friend to grumble loudly. A pretty uncomfortable ride for us. We ended up handing him a $20 when we finally got there. (although without the endless grumbling, we would likely have given him $30 since the traffic really was bad).

Anyway, we finally made it to the Mall - which was heaving with people. I headed straight for the Disney store. My Dad saw very quickly that I would be a while so he went off to wander around, checking back on me occasionally. I ended up picking up a huge Anna doll for my niece (named Anna!), a towel, and a photoframe. I wanted some shirts - but after looking through everything, couldn't find anything for our family.

My Dad did some more shopping, buying stuff for himself plus he bought me a beautiful purse I still smile every time I pick it up. We then grabbed a cab which took us quickly back to the resort.

During this time, the kids had gone on the aquabikes, done some rock climbing (Ashley didn't really like their wall here), and swam. It was now time for a light lunch (of snacks) from the Club Lounge and to check out.

Since we had such a bad experience with Mears, we decided to just use the hotel's expensive town car to get us over to the Dolphin for the Disney half of our trip. We had a fantastic driver and the trip was great. The resort was beautiful and the gorgeous huge white Christmas tree wowed us when we walked in. The Disney-themed train circling its base was adorable.

After we settled our stuff in, we had time for a short rest before we had to get ready for some Disney fun - Hoop Dee Doo Revue!! I had booked Cat 2 for the 6:15pm show as a gift to my Dad.

We decided to cab it to Wilderness Lodge and then boat it to Fort Wilderness for the show.

Wilderness Lodge is GORGEOUS - my fave Disney deluxe...would love to stay here one day. My Dad was impressed with the resort too.

We got to check-in early at Hoop Dee Doo and got our photo (really liked it).

We wandered the grounds, saying hi to the horses. Then the kids amused themselves with hula hoops (I love that they put them put there for the kids).

Then we finally made it in to Hoop Dee Doo!! Our Cat 2 tables ended up being the the centre of the balcony. I had been stressing out about possibly being at the back of the room of the ground floor so I was relieved. That said, while our table was better for talking as a group, I kinda think the Cat 3 seats might have been a bit better for viewing since those of us not next to the railing had a more obstructed view.

We had eaten here before - on our 2011 trip but this was my Dad's first time. We all had a great time and the kids in particular enjoyed the corny jokes. My Dad laughed throughout the show. The food was fabulous - my Dad really really liked it! He loved the fried chicken and really enjoyed his first taste of cornbread. We have had cornbread in several places - but HDDR's cornbread is pretty much the only one my Matt really likes. Odd - but he rarely eats cornbread elsewhere but gobbles it up at HDDR. We stuffed ourselves silly and when the absolutely yummy strawberry shortcake showed up, we could only nibble at it.

My DD was particularly tickled pink when they cracked jokes about Frozen. The noise, mayhem, and general craziness of HDDR appealed to us all and my father was impressed

Afterwards, we had planned to walk around Fort Wilderness to check out the decorated campsites but everyone was rather tired out and the bus back to the Dolphin was too tempting as it sat right there. The boys hopped on the bus whil Ashley and I got on to a bus to a different resort - I had plans to meet up with a DIS'er who was kind enough to give me her package vouchers (for minigolf and Disneyquest). Yay!

Back at the Dolphin, everyone finally crashed after yet another busy day. Dad was too wiped out for even a brief comment today - he just posted photos lol. Tomorrow we are headed to the Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[elaine amj]

Day 4 - December 27: Magic Kingdom & Animal Kingdom in one day

Today, we are finally going to use our first ever parkhoppers. (The year before, we had bought 4 non-expiring 10 day with WPF&M with hoppers as an "investment". It's been an awesome way to justify a short visit to Disney when we can't manage a long trip). Normally, we always buy base tickets so it was going to be fun to see experience parkhopping.

I had initially planned for us to go to MK for rope drop, then head back to the hotel about 10ish to get my Dad and head to Animal Kingdom (so he could sleep in). When we discussed our plans the day before, he said he would get up early with jet lag anyway so he preferred to join us for rope drop. Even better

MK had morning EMH starting at 7am. So by 6:15am, we were standing at the gates. This early, we were able to line up near the front - right at the archway to enter MK. I don't think my Dad has ever been a part of early morning lineups like that before, but he was game to follow us. I explained carefully what would happen at rope drop - super important since we were headed to Seven Dwarves Mine Train (along with the masses) to ride it standby.

At rope drop, we followed the CMs closely. My Dad doesn't walk too fast so eventually he had to drop back. My DH dropped back with him while I stayed with the kids right next to the CMs. Eventually we were led all the way to 7DMT and my kids were actually close enough that we could have been on the first train of the day! However, my Dad had fallen behind. Because we wanted to ride together, we stopped about 3/4 of the way through the line and stood aside to wait for them. Within a few minutes, they showed up and we continued to the ride (it only took us about 5-10 minutes to make it into a car...so the RD mad dash is totally doable for slow walkers). The ride was a blast - super smooth and perfect since this was the first coaster my Dad has been on in many years. (plus DH and DS only do mild coasters - so this suited them). I have forgotten that I am just like my Dad - we both scream our way through the entire ride...ANY ride! I have so any incredibly fond memories of my Dad and I riding ever crazy coaster we could find, it was amazingly wonderful to resurrect those memories.

What an awesome way to start the day!

To be continued...

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Great report so far. I'm planning my frost Christmas trip, so I've been trying to find trip reports from last year Christmas time.

 

[elaine amj]

Great report so far. I'm planning my frost Christmas trip, so I've been trying to find trip reports from last year Christmas time.

Welcome! I am working on more updates to come soon Sorry for how grainy some of the photos are turning out. I am grabbing all the photos from FB and some are just not displaying well on the Dis.

We only did 2 park days but hopped both days so we covered all 4 parks. I was pretty anxious about Christmas week too - and read everything I could find and planned, planned, and planned some more. When my Dad decided to join us, our focus changed to making sure he had a great time and got a good overview of the parks - so I gave up stuff like my FP+ to A&E and 7DMT (that I worked super hard to get) because it did not work as well into our itinerary. Plus I had the added complexity of not knowing how my Dad would want to tour so I had to include a lot of flexibility into our plans. Turned out he was game to keep moving from morning to close so he was able to do a whole lot more. Not all our plans worked out as I had hoped and we got stuck in a few longer lines I hadn't planned for.