Tink0812
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
Hello friends! We are under the 180 day mark for our next WDW trip so I figure it's time to get this pre-trip report started. Welcome to the beginning of our adventure!
How Did This Trip Come About?
- As some of you may already know, my mom, dad, daughter, and I took a fantastic trip to Walt Disney World in December of 2020. While we were there my dad and I got to talking about how much we forgot that we really enjoyed the parks during the holidays. We hadn't been to WDW during the holiday season since I was like 10 years old (so around 20 years ago). This was my DD's first trip to Walt Disney World during the holiday season and she was just in awe of the Christmas decor. The weather was wonderful, the crowds were low and it was just an awesome week. We decided on that trip that we would definitely have more trips to WDW during the holiday season. Also on that trip we talked about how the first week in December (the time we were on the trip), was probably the best time of year for both of my brothers to be able to get off work for an extended weekend trip. One of my brothers hadn't been to Walt Disney World with us in a few years and the other hadn't been since 2011. It didn't take us long to start planning an extended weekend trip for December 2021. It had been so long since we had all been together!
Who is coming along for the fun?
- My dad, known as TiggersAlly on here. He is the mastermind behind all of our trips and really knows how to plan a great trip to Walt Disney World. He has been somewhere in the neighborhood of 33-35 times.
- My mom. She has been to WDW around 30 times. We have lost count on exactly how many times she has been.
- My daughter who is 5 years old. This will be here 5th trip to WDW. She's quickly becoming a pro!
- My brother Kyle. He is the one who hasn't been to WDW since his high school graduation trip 10 years ago. He is a college baseball coach and since we usually take our trips in May, his work schedule always prevents him from going.
- My brother Ryne. He last joined us on our 2019 trip.
- Ryne's girlfriend, K. She has never been to Walt Disney World before, let alone with our family. We are so excited to have her along for the adventure!
- Last but not least, me! This will be my 19th trip to Walt Disney World.
When is the trip?
- We will fly out of Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday December 4th. Both of my brothers along with Ryne's girlfriend will fly home on Tuesday December 7th. My parents, my daughter, and myself will be staying until Friday December 10th.
Where will we be staying?
- While my brothers and K are there (so Saturday through Tuesday AM) we will be staying in a 2-bedroom villa at Old Key West. My dad rented DVC points for this part of our trip. We have stayed at Old Key West a few times. The 2-bedroom villas are always great for our trips with larger numbers of people. We love being able to stay in one "hotel room" while still having plenty of space. It is really nice to have two bathrooms when getting ready as well. Staying together makes meeting up for joint activities much easier. On Tuesday, after the other half of the crew leaves, my parents, daughter, and I will transfer to a one-bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs. This will be our first time staying here! I am excited to check another resort off of my list!
My brothers and K have 2 day park hopper tickets and the rest of us have 4-day park hopper tickets! Our plans aren't set in stone yet since we are so far out from the trip and we can't book dining for a couple more months but below you will find a tentative outline of our week. With the recent announcement of Boo Bash as a replacement for MNSSHP, we are hopeful of a MVMCP replacement. If that happens, we may squeeze one in and might have to re-arrange our schedule to do so.
Saturday December 4th: Our flight leaves at the crack of dawn and we will be landing in Orlando shortly after 8am. We will trek from our gate to baggage claim, round up our luggage, and set off for the Magical Express. We will take DME from MCO to OKW and leave our luggage with bell services. Kyle and K have never been to OKW before so we will probably make use of some time and show them the grounds. We have planned to spend the day in Disney Springs; however, my brothers and K may end up doing a water park that day. It's still up in the air. At some point in the afternoon, we hope to receive our room ready text. At this time we will all meet back at OKW, summon our luggage from Bell Services, and get settled in. We already have a reservation for Raglan Road for dinner that evening (Thank you Open Table). Raglan Road is a family favorite so of course we have to introduce K! We are hopeful that the boats will be back up and running from OKW to Disney Springs by this time.
Sunday December 5th: Rope drop at AK! We plan to do Kilimanjaro Safari, FOTLK, FOP, and the bird show (the name is escaping me at this time). My brothers and K will likely fit in Everest and Kali River Rapids while the rest of us do Rafiki's Planet Watch or something. We plan to try for a lunch reservation at Rainforest Cafe around the time we hope to be leaving the park. We will park hop to Magic Kingdom on this day and plan to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening there. We can't wait to see the special nighttime show/fireworks for the 50th! If dessert parties make their way back into existence we may choose to do that instead of dinner. Our party may split up while at MK but we are also going to try take advantage of us all being there at once and do a lot of things together. My parents, DD, and I will have more MK time later in the week.
Monday December 6th: Rope drop DHS! Hopefully while we are getting ready we can score a decent time for Rise. After a fun-filled morning at DHS, we will park hop to Epcot via the Skyliner. My brothers and K have never gotten to experience the Skyliner before! Crossing our fingers for a dinner reservation at Rose and Crown near the start time for Harmonious. We are so excited for Harmonious! Illuminations was my favorite thing in all of Disney and I literally cried when I had to say goodbye to it. I'm really hoping that Harmonious blows it out of the water and I develop a new favorite!
Tuesday December 7th: We can sleep in a little bit. My brothers and K won't have to board DME until around 10-10:30ish so we may try for a breakfast ressie somewhere. After we successfully get them on their way, the rest of us will pack up our stuff and hand our bags over to bell services for transfer to Saratoga Springs. We plan to spend the day at Disney Springs. Hopefully we will get a room ready text in the early afternoon and we can head over to Saratoga to check it out and spend some time at the pool. That evening we are hoping for dinner and a Cirque de Soleil show at Disney Springs.
Wednesday December 8th: Rope Drop DHS! This day will be more focused to things that DD wants to and is able to do. At some point we will probably park hop back to Epcot and likely have dinner there. Potentially fireworks again, depending on how the first round goes earlier in the week.
Thursday December 9th: Rope Drop MK! Again focusing on the things that DD wants to and is able to do. Maybe BBB if it comes back! We will likely dedicate this whole day to MK and end with fireworks again but if for some reason we don't get everything accomplished in AK earlier in the week, we could always park hop back for a few hours in the afternoon and come back to MK in the evening.
Friday December 10th: Sleep in a little, eat breakfast, pack up, and head back to the airport! This time we will say our final goodbye to DME!
We are so very excited for this trip! I can't wait to see where the coming months take us in our planning. I will be sure to update as I can!
How Did This Trip Come About?
- As some of you may already know, my mom, dad, daughter, and I took a fantastic trip to Walt Disney World in December of 2020. While we were there my dad and I got to talking about how much we forgot that we really enjoyed the parks during the holidays. We hadn't been to WDW during the holiday season since I was like 10 years old (so around 20 years ago). This was my DD's first trip to Walt Disney World during the holiday season and she was just in awe of the Christmas decor. The weather was wonderful, the crowds were low and it was just an awesome week. We decided on that trip that we would definitely have more trips to WDW during the holiday season. Also on that trip we talked about how the first week in December (the time we were on the trip), was probably the best time of year for both of my brothers to be able to get off work for an extended weekend trip. One of my brothers hadn't been to Walt Disney World with us in a few years and the other hadn't been since 2011. It didn't take us long to start planning an extended weekend trip for December 2021. It had been so long since we had all been together!
Who is coming along for the fun?
- My dad, known as TiggersAlly on here. He is the mastermind behind all of our trips and really knows how to plan a great trip to Walt Disney World. He has been somewhere in the neighborhood of 33-35 times.
- My mom. She has been to WDW around 30 times. We have lost count on exactly how many times she has been.
- My daughter who is 5 years old. This will be here 5th trip to WDW. She's quickly becoming a pro!
- My brother Kyle. He is the one who hasn't been to WDW since his high school graduation trip 10 years ago. He is a college baseball coach and since we usually take our trips in May, his work schedule always prevents him from going.
- My brother Ryne. He last joined us on our 2019 trip.
- Ryne's girlfriend, K. She has never been to Walt Disney World before, let alone with our family. We are so excited to have her along for the adventure!
- Last but not least, me! This will be my 19th trip to Walt Disney World.
When is the trip?
- We will fly out of Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday December 4th. Both of my brothers along with Ryne's girlfriend will fly home on Tuesday December 7th. My parents, my daughter, and myself will be staying until Friday December 10th.
Where will we be staying?
- While my brothers and K are there (so Saturday through Tuesday AM) we will be staying in a 2-bedroom villa at Old Key West. My dad rented DVC points for this part of our trip. We have stayed at Old Key West a few times. The 2-bedroom villas are always great for our trips with larger numbers of people. We love being able to stay in one "hotel room" while still having plenty of space. It is really nice to have two bathrooms when getting ready as well. Staying together makes meeting up for joint activities much easier. On Tuesday, after the other half of the crew leaves, my parents, daughter, and I will transfer to a one-bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs. This will be our first time staying here! I am excited to check another resort off of my list!
My brothers and K have 2 day park hopper tickets and the rest of us have 4-day park hopper tickets! Our plans aren't set in stone yet since we are so far out from the trip and we can't book dining for a couple more months but below you will find a tentative outline of our week. With the recent announcement of Boo Bash as a replacement for MNSSHP, we are hopeful of a MVMCP replacement. If that happens, we may squeeze one in and might have to re-arrange our schedule to do so.
Tentative Plans for the Week
Friday December 3rd: Drive from our small central Illinois town to Indianapolis, IN where we have two hotel rooms for the night. We won't leave until everyone is off work, out of school, etc. so we will eat dinner somewhere along the way. The idea is to get to bed somewhat early as we have to be up around 3:30am. Saturday December 4th: Our flight leaves at the crack of dawn and we will be landing in Orlando shortly after 8am. We will trek from our gate to baggage claim, round up our luggage, and set off for the Magical Express. We will take DME from MCO to OKW and leave our luggage with bell services. Kyle and K have never been to OKW before so we will probably make use of some time and show them the grounds. We have planned to spend the day in Disney Springs; however, my brothers and K may end up doing a water park that day. It's still up in the air. At some point in the afternoon, we hope to receive our room ready text. At this time we will all meet back at OKW, summon our luggage from Bell Services, and get settled in. We already have a reservation for Raglan Road for dinner that evening (Thank you Open Table). Raglan Road is a family favorite so of course we have to introduce K! We are hopeful that the boats will be back up and running from OKW to Disney Springs by this time.
Sunday December 5th: Rope drop at AK! We plan to do Kilimanjaro Safari, FOTLK, FOP, and the bird show (the name is escaping me at this time). My brothers and K will likely fit in Everest and Kali River Rapids while the rest of us do Rafiki's Planet Watch or something. We plan to try for a lunch reservation at Rainforest Cafe around the time we hope to be leaving the park. We will park hop to Magic Kingdom on this day and plan to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening there. We can't wait to see the special nighttime show/fireworks for the 50th! If dessert parties make their way back into existence we may choose to do that instead of dinner. Our party may split up while at MK but we are also going to try take advantage of us all being there at once and do a lot of things together. My parents, DD, and I will have more MK time later in the week.
Monday December 6th: Rope drop DHS! Hopefully while we are getting ready we can score a decent time for Rise. After a fun-filled morning at DHS, we will park hop to Epcot via the Skyliner. My brothers and K have never gotten to experience the Skyliner before! Crossing our fingers for a dinner reservation at Rose and Crown near the start time for Harmonious. We are so excited for Harmonious! Illuminations was my favorite thing in all of Disney and I literally cried when I had to say goodbye to it. I'm really hoping that Harmonious blows it out of the water and I develop a new favorite!
Tuesday December 7th: We can sleep in a little bit. My brothers and K won't have to board DME until around 10-10:30ish so we may try for a breakfast ressie somewhere. After we successfully get them on their way, the rest of us will pack up our stuff and hand our bags over to bell services for transfer to Saratoga Springs. We plan to spend the day at Disney Springs. Hopefully we will get a room ready text in the early afternoon and we can head over to Saratoga to check it out and spend some time at the pool. That evening we are hoping for dinner and a Cirque de Soleil show at Disney Springs.
Wednesday December 8th: Rope Drop DHS! This day will be more focused to things that DD wants to and is able to do. At some point we will probably park hop back to Epcot and likely have dinner there. Potentially fireworks again, depending on how the first round goes earlier in the week.
Thursday December 9th: Rope Drop MK! Again focusing on the things that DD wants to and is able to do. Maybe BBB if it comes back! We will likely dedicate this whole day to MK and end with fireworks again but if for some reason we don't get everything accomplished in AK earlier in the week, we could always park hop back for a few hours in the afternoon and come back to MK in the evening.
Friday December 10th: Sleep in a little, eat breakfast, pack up, and head back to the airport! This time we will say our final goodbye to DME!
We are so very excited for this trip! I can't wait to see where the coming months take us in our planning. I will be sure to update as I can!
And going to try hard for a Steakhouse 71 dinner the last night when we stay TPV!
