Mini trip report from me. We went last Thursday and Friday. Holy cow! Best Disney experience ever! At least twice I caught myself tearing up from being overwhelmed at how blessed I am for everything I have in my life. The first night we got there at about 4 pm and went to DCA. It was quite empty. The Festival of Holidays and the food carts are pretty much awesome. Since it is so over priced, there were literally no lines for any of them. We ate the brisket potato croquet and it was to die for. That is the one that sticks out in my mind. I could have spent a full day at DCA without riding a single ride and still had one of the best times of my life. I was very surprised by how wonderful it was. We then went to the dessert party. I went in October and said it was something I only needed to do once (and that would be the only time I needed to see WOC) but I decided to take my family and hit the holiday version. I personally think its worth it. I wouldn't be willing to watch WOC any other way. I agree with others that the holiday show is not quite as "put together" as the version I saw in December, but honestly, for most, they will think it is spectacular. And the ending made it totally worth it (again, no spoilers). I would definitely give up a sit down meal for it. And with the Festival of Holidays food stands, it works out really well to grab a little bite to eat earlier in the evening. They will take your request for a high or low table in line or at the show, BTW. Before WOC we had breadbowl soup at Boudin and sat in the warf area. The mariachi Divas were on stage and their show was really awesome. Especially if you have kids. There was a good portion of Christmas songs and they let the kids sing and dance and play percussion.
They next day we hit rope drop (sort of) at DL. We walked through the gates a little before 9 and had 10:10 reservation at Plaza Inn. In that first hour we hit 6 rides (including space and star tours, buzz twice and Indiana Jones). I had never been to the Plaza Inn but wanted to get a quick Character fix and be done with that for the day. I think we saw 11 characters! We shopped, rode rides with no lines (the longest being Jingle Cruise, which annoyed me because we have a wheelchair so we were made to wait the wait time before we got in line and then stood in line for at least half an hour after that for IMHO a pretty lame ride). Saw the Christmas Parade from the curb in the wheelchair section by walking up 5 minutes before it started. I agree with the sentiments of others, the parade is not really that great (i would have left after 5 minutes of the same song) but my DD really loved it, so maybe it is more suited to kids. It wasn't crowded at the time of the first parade so I can't imagine it would be worth it to pay fort he holiday tour just to get actual seats. I am pretty sure we rode every ride in DL at least once (with the exception of a few we didn't want to ride in FL). We had 4:30 Alladin PTN dinner reservations. We ate the food there. What a GREAT hidden spot. We had the meat lasgna and all agreed it was fine (about stouffers quality, not an unreasonably huge portion; we all finished our entire meals but were not left hungry). We then rode Small World Holiday 3 times in a row without getting off (the wheel chair boat) and I managed to not shoot anyone and we headed over to the Alladin PTN area. It was a bit hard to find and the cast members were not friendly or helpful. We managed to get my DD up at the rail and the rest of us stood behind her. Considering we entered the area about 5 minutes before the parade started, I thought that was pretty good. IMHO, there is no reason to not do the dinner package if you are planning on seeing the parade. It was less than you would pay for dinner elsewhere and no waiting for the parade. I will say, the DL decorations were what I was expecting. I wasn't blown away like I was with DCA. There were no fireworks that night (but we saw them the previous night as we were exiting DCA) and we were walking out the gate by 8 pm.
This was also the first time we stayed off site. HOJO. It was $200 a night. The hubby and kids thought it was totally worth it. I, who had to work the first night until midnight and then be up at 5 am the next morning to work for 3 hours before we left for the park, and "slept" on an air mattress on the floor with a freezing cold breeze coming in under the door, who had to sit on the floor by the elevator to try to work, because it was the only indoor public area with a power outlet, would have checked out and stayed elsewhere if we were there for more than one night. Not gonna lie, at 3 am, I considered going and sleeping in my car. It was a mistake to think that the hotel doesn't matter because all we do is sleep there. I forgot that everyone else sleeps. I don't sleep and the lack of indoor common areas was a huge problem for me. Mind you, we had the basic level room but there is now way I would be willing to stay there for 5 days in a row. The air mattress and the freezing cold probably didn't help and I know I am a bit of a hotel snob but I got shamed into trying it because it was cheaper by the folks on this board. Should have just paid an extra hundred bucks for PPH. Still the best Disney trip ever and now I know that, for me, the money to stay on site IS worth it.
