Witherbark
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2010
Hello friends! I hope you enjoy our adventures in WDW over the pre-Christmas period. We hadn't been to Disney in years, so it was a very special trip. It is just me and DH, intrepid travelers from the frosty north around the DC metro area.
I hope you find some information and inspiration in our tale, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Intro
It’s been a long time since I had a chance for a Disney report! Our last Disney experience was actually staying at Disney (Saratoga Springs) but only visiting Universal and doing a water park. Our last true Disney trip was 2014 – right when 7DMT was in soft open (we didn’t get to see it). Since then we’ve done two NCL cruises, Asheville NC, Universal, Hawaii, and most recently the UK. So only a month after our two-week trip to the UK and I’m busy planning our ‘cheap’ Disney trip. With DVC, Southwest miles, military tickets, and credit card points, I actually should be able to keep the cost rather low.
Our first choice was Dec 2-9. I spent about 40 minutes on the phone with a great vacation advisor trying to piece together a resort stay during that week. We ended up with the first two nights at Boulder Creek, one night cash at AKL, then four nights (one night cash) at Saratoga Springs. This sounded exhausting, but I was hopeful on our waitlists.
After discussing with DH, he said that almost any week between Thanksgiving and Christmas would work for him as far as time off, so would moving it a week help? I didn’t know, but I logged on to the website and saw that it looked hopeful. Another call to member services (I wasn’t quite sure how to cancel and move a reservation) and the excellent representative soon had me in a one-bedroom preferred view at Saratoga Springs for 8 nights the next week (Dec 9-17). I’m not going to lie, I didn’t love vacationing this close to Christmas. But it’s not my year to host Christmas Eve for DH’s family and we do like to get away every six months or so. Sold!
I’m very excited to unpack once and to have the full kitchen and extra space. We actually spend a lot of time in the room, so the space is appreciated. Plus it’s always fun to have breakfast and snacks in a dedicated space, not crammed into the studio kitchenette.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the parks decked out for Christmas – it’s been years since we did a Christmas party (I think before we were married!). Also new since our last visit are 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Frozen Ever After, and of course Pandora. Lots of new things to discover. I hope this trip will be rather low-key. We’ll plan for the new rides and old favorites, plus time to maybe see a movie or take in some mini-golf, have a glass of wine on the patio, and enjoy favorite restaurants.
I’ve seen lots of people have trouble with dining reservations, but I’m hoping that our small party size will work to our advantage. Right now I want to try/return to: Raglan Road, Biergarten, Sanaa, and Homecoming. I’d love to try some appetizers at some of the new watering holes as well. Since our 180 days is already open, I guess I should get on that.
Dining Update:
Woo – I got my most coveted reservation: Brunch at California Grill for the Sunday after we arrive. I also signed us up for the Sci-Fi (love this place). I tried for Biergarten, but I think they are holding reservations for the CP for now. For the others (Sanaa, some Disney Springs) I’m just not that worried about it and will make reservations closer to our actual vacation.
Dining Update Update:
So some random checking on the website and I have:
12/9: Raglan Road 6:15
12/10: California Grill Brunch 11:25 AM
12/11: Biergarten 5:45
12/13: Sci-fi 5:30
12/15: Sanaa 2:10
12/16: Homecomin’ 4:35
RR is a must-do. I really wanted to try the brunch after reading Easy WDW’s review. Biergarten is a family tradition. We both love Sci-fi. I’ve been wanting to try Sanaa forever and I like the look of Homecomin’. I’d love to snag Boathouse for one of the other nights, but so far no dinner times are available.
We’re only doing 5 park days using the military tickets, but we’ll be there for 8 nights. This makes the itinerary look like:
Arrival Saturday: Pick up car, get groceries, check in. Dinner Disney Springs.
Sunday: Probably morning workout to justify the excess of the CG Brunch. Chill. Possibly return to see the MK fireworks.
Monday: Epcot/ hopefully Biergarten for dinner and FP: FEA
Tuesday: MK/ FP: 7DMT, maybe finally try out the WL watering holes
Wednesday: DHS/ FP: RNR, TOT, hopefully hit TSMM and dinner Sci Fi
Thursday: AK/ FP: FoP and dinner Sanaa
Friday: AK/ FP: River (or whichever Pandora we didn’t do) and afternoon park hopping
Saturday: Chill, dinner at Disney Springs
Update:
Well, DH found a Spartan race in Florida on the Saturday we were set to arrive, so it looks like we’ll do a little rearranging. Actually, hotel and dining stays the same. We’ll just arrive on the Friday instead of Saturday. Now I just have to decide if it’s better to fly into Tampa and rent a car or fly to Orlando and drive over to the Tampa area to the race. Hmmm. The difference is probably just about an hour.
Discussed today flying into Tampa versus Orlando on Friday. Actually, some quick Mapquest shows that the difference is about 20 minutes. That makes it an easy decision to do Orlando round trip to save a few bucks on the rental car. Now to find a hotel near Lakeland for the race.
Itinerary:
Arrival Friday: Pick up rental and drive to Lakeland. Stop at store for fruit/Gatorade for race.
Saturday: Spartan Race. Drive to Orlando. Get groceries and check in. Dinner Disney Springs.
Sunday: I’ll do a morning workout, then GC Brunch. Pool day or shopping.
Monday: Epcot. Biergarten. FP: FEA, M:S, SpaceShip Earth
Tuesday: MK. Dinner Open. FP: 7DMT, BTMR, Space
Wednesday: DHS. Sci Fi. FP: TSM, TOT, Star Tours
Thursday: AK. Dinner Open. FP: FOP, EE, Dino
Friday: AK. Late Lunch Sanaa. FP: NRJ
Saturday: Chill. Dinner Homecoming
Sunday: Return rental, fly home
Background:
I have become addicted to the negative Disney reviews on Trip Advisor. Does this make me a terrible person? I can’t help but think that 98% of such reviews are due to people not researching/not preparing for a vacation they are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on. Call me a scrooge, but when I spend money I like to know what I’m getting. Recently I did a last minute girl’s trip with my bestie. I spent maybe 90 minutes online and found a great local B&B with a pool and hot tub, a fun local restaurant where I made a reservation, and purchased a Groupon for a wine tasting. We had an amazing weekend, and I think I spent around $125. If I’m spending thousands? You’d better believe I’m spending hours online doing my homework.
Ticket Update:
Tickets purchased! Wow, I had not been paying attention to recent pricing hikes in the last couple of years because we weren’t doing a Disney trip. I checked online and we paid less than half of the going rate for two 5-day hoppers by utilizing the military tickets.
For anyone else buying military vouchers, linking them in MDE was a snap. I did that and personalized our Magic Bands in about 10 minutes.
Flight Update:
I had been checking SW prices and there hadn’t been much movement, so I finally took the plunge. Thankfully, I can use points gained during work travel for personal travel, which made one leg of my trip “free”. And since I decided to save nearly $200 by taking a ridiculously early return flight, I splurged for Early Bird for all of our legs. I think that 7AM return flight is going to hurt after 8 days of vacation, but on the other hand when vacation is done we both just really want to get home. I know that on the day of, it will feel good to be throwing in some laundry and dealing with the angry cats by 10AM.
Update: Rental Cars: I want to rent it, not buy it
When did rental cars get so expensive? I rented a car for 2 weeks in Hawaii for about the same amount as my 10 day Florida rental. Luckily, I found an okay price (and by OK, I mean price I could pay without throwing up) through Costco travel/Alamo. The example car is a Buick, so I can’t wait until we’re rolling dirty in a Buick Skylark driving through central Florida. I should find some rap music or something to blast.
Fast Pass Update
Ah, FP+. I love it and hate it. But I did do it at 7AM on my 60 day mark. I joined Touring Plans (with the book discount the cost was negligible) and of course I follow Josh at easy.wdw. Between the two sources, I came up with a touring plan that I think works for us. And with FPs that look like:
Mon Dec 11: Spaceship Earth, MS, FEA
Tues Dec 12: Space Mountain, BTMR, SDMT
Wed Dec 13: FOP, EE, Dino
Thurs Dec 14: TSM, TOT, ST
Fri Dec 15: FOP, Dino, KS
Yes, that’s two FOP and we’ll do NRJ one morning at rope drop. As well as several early-morning spins on EE.
Super Secret Surprise
After a very tough day at work, I remembered that Galactic Nights was going on during our trip, and it was happening on our last night. Our last night before our very early flight. But DH had mentioned something about doing a party (he meant Christmas). So I texted him a question: Last night at Disney, chilling and relaxing or party time? He asked if there would be cookies and sent a gif of cookie monster. I took that as a ‘yes’ to the party and a ‘no’ to getting any sleep before our flight. Fine with me. Galactic Nights w/ DVC discount booked.
I hope you find some information and inspiration in our tale, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Intro
It’s been a long time since I had a chance for a Disney report! Our last Disney experience was actually staying at Disney (Saratoga Springs) but only visiting Universal and doing a water park. Our last true Disney trip was 2014 – right when 7DMT was in soft open (we didn’t get to see it). Since then we’ve done two NCL cruises, Asheville NC, Universal, Hawaii, and most recently the UK. So only a month after our two-week trip to the UK and I’m busy planning our ‘cheap’ Disney trip. With DVC, Southwest miles, military tickets, and credit card points, I actually should be able to keep the cost rather low.
Our first choice was Dec 2-9. I spent about 40 minutes on the phone with a great vacation advisor trying to piece together a resort stay during that week. We ended up with the first two nights at Boulder Creek, one night cash at AKL, then four nights (one night cash) at Saratoga Springs. This sounded exhausting, but I was hopeful on our waitlists.
After discussing with DH, he said that almost any week between Thanksgiving and Christmas would work for him as far as time off, so would moving it a week help? I didn’t know, but I logged on to the website and saw that it looked hopeful. Another call to member services (I wasn’t quite sure how to cancel and move a reservation) and the excellent representative soon had me in a one-bedroom preferred view at Saratoga Springs for 8 nights the next week (Dec 9-17). I’m not going to lie, I didn’t love vacationing this close to Christmas. But it’s not my year to host Christmas Eve for DH’s family and we do like to get away every six months or so. Sold!
I’m very excited to unpack once and to have the full kitchen and extra space. We actually spend a lot of time in the room, so the space is appreciated. Plus it’s always fun to have breakfast and snacks in a dedicated space, not crammed into the studio kitchenette.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the parks decked out for Christmas – it’s been years since we did a Christmas party (I think before we were married!). Also new since our last visit are 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Frozen Ever After, and of course Pandora. Lots of new things to discover. I hope this trip will be rather low-key. We’ll plan for the new rides and old favorites, plus time to maybe see a movie or take in some mini-golf, have a glass of wine on the patio, and enjoy favorite restaurants.
I’ve seen lots of people have trouble with dining reservations, but I’m hoping that our small party size will work to our advantage. Right now I want to try/return to: Raglan Road, Biergarten, Sanaa, and Homecoming. I’d love to try some appetizers at some of the new watering holes as well. Since our 180 days is already open, I guess I should get on that.
Dining Update:
Woo – I got my most coveted reservation: Brunch at California Grill for the Sunday after we arrive. I also signed us up for the Sci-Fi (love this place). I tried for Biergarten, but I think they are holding reservations for the CP for now. For the others (Sanaa, some Disney Springs) I’m just not that worried about it and will make reservations closer to our actual vacation.
Dining Update Update:
So some random checking on the website and I have:
12/9: Raglan Road 6:15
12/10: California Grill Brunch 11:25 AM
12/11: Biergarten 5:45
12/13: Sci-fi 5:30
12/15: Sanaa 2:10
12/16: Homecomin’ 4:35
RR is a must-do. I really wanted to try the brunch after reading Easy WDW’s review. Biergarten is a family tradition. We both love Sci-fi. I’ve been wanting to try Sanaa forever and I like the look of Homecomin’. I’d love to snag Boathouse for one of the other nights, but so far no dinner times are available.
We’re only doing 5 park days using the military tickets, but we’ll be there for 8 nights. This makes the itinerary look like:
Arrival Saturday: Pick up car, get groceries, check in. Dinner Disney Springs.
Sunday: Probably morning workout to justify the excess of the CG Brunch. Chill. Possibly return to see the MK fireworks.
Monday: Epcot/ hopefully Biergarten for dinner and FP: FEA
Tuesday: MK/ FP: 7DMT, maybe finally try out the WL watering holes
Wednesday: DHS/ FP: RNR, TOT, hopefully hit TSMM and dinner Sci Fi
Thursday: AK/ FP: FoP and dinner Sanaa
Friday: AK/ FP: River (or whichever Pandora we didn’t do) and afternoon park hopping
Saturday: Chill, dinner at Disney Springs
Update:
Well, DH found a Spartan race in Florida on the Saturday we were set to arrive, so it looks like we’ll do a little rearranging. Actually, hotel and dining stays the same. We’ll just arrive on the Friday instead of Saturday. Now I just have to decide if it’s better to fly into Tampa and rent a car or fly to Orlando and drive over to the Tampa area to the race. Hmmm. The difference is probably just about an hour.
Discussed today flying into Tampa versus Orlando on Friday. Actually, some quick Mapquest shows that the difference is about 20 minutes. That makes it an easy decision to do Orlando round trip to save a few bucks on the rental car. Now to find a hotel near Lakeland for the race.
Itinerary:
Arrival Friday: Pick up rental and drive to Lakeland. Stop at store for fruit/Gatorade for race.
Saturday: Spartan Race. Drive to Orlando. Get groceries and check in. Dinner Disney Springs.
Sunday: I’ll do a morning workout, then GC Brunch. Pool day or shopping.
Monday: Epcot. Biergarten. FP: FEA, M:S, SpaceShip Earth
Tuesday: MK. Dinner Open. FP: 7DMT, BTMR, Space
Wednesday: DHS. Sci Fi. FP: TSM, TOT, Star Tours
Thursday: AK. Dinner Open. FP: FOP, EE, Dino
Friday: AK. Late Lunch Sanaa. FP: NRJ
Saturday: Chill. Dinner Homecoming
Sunday: Return rental, fly home
Background:
I have become addicted to the negative Disney reviews on Trip Advisor. Does this make me a terrible person? I can’t help but think that 98% of such reviews are due to people not researching/not preparing for a vacation they are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on. Call me a scrooge, but when I spend money I like to know what I’m getting. Recently I did a last minute girl’s trip with my bestie. I spent maybe 90 minutes online and found a great local B&B with a pool and hot tub, a fun local restaurant where I made a reservation, and purchased a Groupon for a wine tasting. We had an amazing weekend, and I think I spent around $125. If I’m spending thousands? You’d better believe I’m spending hours online doing my homework.
Ticket Update:
Tickets purchased! Wow, I had not been paying attention to recent pricing hikes in the last couple of years because we weren’t doing a Disney trip. I checked online and we paid less than half of the going rate for two 5-day hoppers by utilizing the military tickets.
For anyone else buying military vouchers, linking them in MDE was a snap. I did that and personalized our Magic Bands in about 10 minutes.
Flight Update:
I had been checking SW prices and there hadn’t been much movement, so I finally took the plunge. Thankfully, I can use points gained during work travel for personal travel, which made one leg of my trip “free”. And since I decided to save nearly $200 by taking a ridiculously early return flight, I splurged for Early Bird for all of our legs. I think that 7AM return flight is going to hurt after 8 days of vacation, but on the other hand when vacation is done we both just really want to get home. I know that on the day of, it will feel good to be throwing in some laundry and dealing with the angry cats by 10AM.
Update: Rental Cars: I want to rent it, not buy it
When did rental cars get so expensive? I rented a car for 2 weeks in Hawaii for about the same amount as my 10 day Florida rental. Luckily, I found an okay price (and by OK, I mean price I could pay without throwing up) through Costco travel/Alamo. The example car is a Buick, so I can’t wait until we’re rolling dirty in a Buick Skylark driving through central Florida. I should find some rap music or something to blast.
Fast Pass Update
Ah, FP+. I love it and hate it. But I did do it at 7AM on my 60 day mark. I joined Touring Plans (with the book discount the cost was negligible) and of course I follow Josh at easy.wdw. Between the two sources, I came up with a touring plan that I think works for us. And with FPs that look like:
Mon Dec 11: Spaceship Earth, MS, FEA
Tues Dec 12: Space Mountain, BTMR, SDMT
Wed Dec 13: FOP, EE, Dino
Thurs Dec 14: TSM, TOT, ST
Fri Dec 15: FOP, Dino, KS
Yes, that’s two FOP and we’ll do NRJ one morning at rope drop. As well as several early-morning spins on EE.
Super Secret Surprise
After a very tough day at work, I remembered that Galactic Nights was going on during our trip, and it was happening on our last night. Our last night before our very early flight. But DH had mentioned something about doing a party (he meant Christmas). So I texted him a question: Last night at Disney, chilling and relaxing or party time? He asked if there would be cookies and sent a gif of cookie monster. I took that as a ‘yes’ to the party and a ‘no’ to getting any sleep before our flight. Fine with me. Galactic Nights w/ DVC discount booked.