Only a week to go until we leave for our family vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The cast: Myself, my husband, Seth, our 9 year old daughter Amina, 7 year old son Rhys, Seth's parents Ron and Deb, my sister, Dee, her husband Jason, their 5 year old identical twin girls Rebecca and Kylie, and my mom, Bernice. 11 of us total - we've never been on a vacation before with so many people!
The planning for this trip started over a year ago. I started talking about this with my sister and we thought about how much we liked Disney, how our kids would be the "perfect age", and when we would go. I have fond memories of WDW in early December because Seth and I honeymooned at WDW staying at the Polynesian resort in 1992. The weather was pleasant and the lines were short. We returned for our 10 year anniversary in 2002 and stayed at the Grand Floridian resort. This time, it was cooler than I had remembered but the lines were still short.
In 2004, we returned again but in June - this time with the kids who were turning 5 and 7. Never again. We had planned this to celebrate the kids' birthdays and there were many many wonderful, magical memories but it was crowded and very hot. How quickly the children move is inversely proportional to what the ambient temperature is. The hotter it got, the slower they were. There's something about the heat that just zaps the energy right out of you.
December it was. We had taken the kids on a Disney cruise last year and had bought into the Disney Vacation Club - our home resort: Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa (SSRS). We had enough points to book the 3 bdrm Grand Villa at SSRS for all 11 of us (it sleeps 12). My brother-in-law travels a lot for business and would cover all of our plane tickets with his frequent flyer miles. What a deal! After I made the reservation last December, we changed our minds after looking at the floor plans for the Grand Villa - stairs. Instead, I changed our ressies (that's Disney slang for reservations) to 2 bedroom villas instead - 2 of them. They actually cost fewer points in the long run too but would accomodate our party better. Dee and her family as well as my mom would stay in one of the 2 bedroom villas and we would stay in the other with Seth's parents. We'll have use of a full kitchen as well as a washer and dryer which means less clothes to pack. Yay!
Our target dates: 7 December - 14 December (Thursday to Thursday). We scheduled it this way to work around our days off.....Thursday. Dee arranged for our flights on American and, after a few glitches (grrr.....airline frequent flyer miles - they make it so difficult), we got the ressies we needed.
Next on the list of things to do....make our advanced dining reservations (ADRs). I agonized for weeks on what days we should go to which parks and when to schedule the restaurants that we wanted to eat at the most. We have our definite faves that we had to do: Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast, Fulton's Crab House in Downtown Disney, Victoria and Albert's at the Grand Floridian resort to celebrate our 14th anniversary on the 12th, Le Cellier (never been but heard a lot about it), the Hoop Dee Doo Revue (also never been but had to try it), Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP - ditto) and the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (same). I finally settled on a plan and, at the moment, can't even remember how I came to decide which day, which park. We will not be going to any of the Extra Magic Hours but, according to RideMax (more about Ridemax in a little bit), this is probably better in terms of crowds. I also took advantage of the Disney Vacation Club discount on tickets to MVMCP which meant we had tickets to go on Monday, the 11th. I took into consideration when the parks opened as this was a big complaint from our 2002 trip - too many early ADRs and trying to be at the parks at opening. Seth didn't want to have to get up and rush like that anymore. Some of the parks closed earlier (Animal Kingdom closes at 5 pm and MGM closes at 7 pm) so those were the days I planned Hoop Dee Doo Revue and our anniversary dinner. It's traditional for us to go to the Magic Kingdom on our first full day. I decided on 2 full days at the Magic Kingdom and 2 full days at EPCOT - our favorite parks.
So, at 5:50 am on the 10th of June, I was at the dining room table with 2 cell phones in hand dialing the Disney dining reservation line over and over again. I got through within a minute or two of the reservation line opening (at 7 am Eastern) and quickly made our ADRs. Getting ADRs for a group of 11 is tricky but the cast member (CM) on the phone was pleasant and patient. I had also added on the Disney Dining Plan for all of us through DVC. Here's how our schedule currently looks:
Thurs, Dec 7 - Arrive Orlando at about 12:30 pm
Pick up by Quicksilver Transportation (limo - the kids got a BIG kick out of it last time and begged to do it again) with 30 minute stop at a grocery store then on to Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
Depending on the time, we'll probably head to MGM to catch the Osborne Lights since we've never seen them before. Plan to arrive by 5:30 pm to catch the lights going on at around 6 pm and then we'll need to leave as soon as the park closes (7 pm) to take a bus to Downtown Disney.
Dinner at 1940 (changed from 1900)- Fulton's Crab House. Plan to use our 10% DVC discount.
Fri, Dec 8 Magic Kingdom hours: 0900-1900 (Dream Come True parade 1500, Wishes fireworks 1800)
Breakfast 0825 - Cinderella's Royal Table
Lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station
Dinner 1700 at Crystal Palace. This was changed from 1845 - I just got a call from Disney Dining yesterday telling me that they had made a mistake and needed to change our 1845 ressie to an earlier time. I wasn't very happy - 1845 would have been perfect as the fireworks were at 6 and then we would have just stepped over to the restaurant for dinner but I was wondering how they worked it with MVMCP starting at 1900. Ah well.
Sat, Dec 9 - Animal Kingdom hours: 0900-1700
Breakfast will be in the villa this morning as it will be for most mornings. We plan on picking up a lot of breakfast items on our 30 minute grocery store stop: oatmeal, cereal, bread, fruit, juice, etc. This way, we can save our Disney Dining Plan credits for other meals.
Lunch will probably be at Tusker House which we've eaten at before and were pleasantly surprised at the quality for a counter service restaurant.
Dinner is at 1915 - the Hoop De Doo Revue dinner show
Sun, Dec 10 EPCOT hours: Future World 0900-1900 and World Showcase 1100-2130 (Illuminations show at 2130)
Breakfast at SSRS
Lunch - a variety of counter service restaurants to try but I'm leaning toward the Sunshine Seasons at the Land
Dinner is at 1830 - Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canada pavilion
Mon, Dec 11 - 2nd day at the Magic Kingdom; hours: 0900-1900
Breakfast at SSRS
We have 0930 appointment for the girls to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
Lunch probably at the Columbia Harbor House
Dinner at 1745 - Tony's Town Square
We attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tonight from 1900-2400
Tues, Dec 12 MGM hours: 0900-1900
Breakfast at SSRS
Lunch - probably at ABC Commissary
Dinner at 1830 - Victoria and Alberts celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary
Wed, Dec 13 2nd day at EPCOT
Since this is our last breakfast and I anticipate that we'll have leftover counter service credits, we might do breakfast at the Artist's Palette at SSRS
Lunch - a variety of places at the World Showcase to try (counter service)
For dinner, we have the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package with a ressie at 1700 - 9 Dragons restaurant with the show at 20:15
About Ridemax..... I first stumbled on Ridemax when I was studying for our Disneyland/Disney cruise vacation last year. This downloadable computer program helps come up with a schedule to minimize your wait in line and maximize your efficiency while in the park. I used it to print out ride schedules for our DL/DCL trip and it was amazingly accurate. We had minimal waits and, for the most part, we followed the schedule right on time. The only thing that Ridemax didn't take into account was the long line for Space Mountain fastpasses because the ride had been closed for overhaul and had just re-opened. I helped a friend back in July plan her 4 day trip to WDW with her family and she bought the WDW version of Ridemax to put on my computer. I've printed out proposed schedules for the parks each day which seem to work well with what we want to see and do. The program allows you to input the day, date, park, time of arrival, time of departure, and scheduled breaks. It also allows for slower moving groups (which ours will be) and whether or not you are willing to use a "Fast Pass runner" (which will be me, of course). I'll have to come back and post on how our schedule worked out.
More Disney World thoughts to come....
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