lovndisney12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2008
This was our 3rd late December trip and 2nd actually over Christmas. We arrived at noon on the 21st and departed around 5 PM on the 27th. We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary as well as Christmas with our two sons - 17 and 14. We all love Disney and have similar interests in both rides and food which makes planning a lot easier.
Here is a recap by category:
CROWDS: It was more crowded than we had experienced the two previous trips (2010 and 2008) but still very manageable. We opted to rope drop every morning which allowed us to get a lot done by lunch. We then would head back for a rest (hammocks at CSR were my favorite spot!). In the evening we either headed back to a park, downtown, or the boardwalk. Yes, there were times it was wall to wall people in the narrow sections of the park. The worst was Disney Springs where you were herded down the paths. There was even a rope separating the two different directions of people walking with multiple employees directing traffic. And yes we were there Christmas Eve when panic struck as people mistook breaking plates for gunshots. Needless to say, that was our last trip downtown for the trip and we ended up having to search the park stores for the souvenirs we dropped at the exits as we joined the mobs of people running out of the building. It was a surreal experience that I won't go into detail here. Basically, expect crowds at this time of year but if you are willing to get up and rope drop - the crowds are quite light and enjoyable.
WAIT TIMES: Even with the crowds, wait times were no different than what I have experienced at other times of the year. In the AM we were able to hop on rides as quickly as we could walk through the cue. We used our Fastpasses for late morning or early afternoon. The longest we waited was probably 15 or 20 minutes for Peter Pan after we had already ridden Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year. This includes many top attractions including SDMT, SM, BTMR, HM, TSM, RnR, Soarin', TT, and EE - plus lots of others. By utilizing Fastpasses and rope drop we had minimal waits.
TRANSPORTATION: We stayed at CSR but also used other transportation including boat from POFQ to DS and Friendship boats around Boardwalk, HS, and Epcot. All were great with the longest wait probably being 15 minutes. There were times we had to stand but most of the time we were able to sit.
TS MEALS: We tried Sci Fi for the first time and absolutely loved it. Boys said steaks were great and my DH and I loved the salad. Overall, we enjoyed all our meals (on DDP) - San Angel Inn, Biergarten, Sci Fi, BOG, Yak & Yeti, and Raglan Road. Yak & Yeti was a repeat and probably DH and my favorite. Sci Fi was DS (17) favorite while the other DS (14) liked Biergarten the best. BOG didn't quite meet my expectations but it wasn't bad and glad we tried it. Don't be afraid to share credits and pay OOP for less expensive items. We love the DDP but it is a lot of food and we were able to have our credits go farther by doing this.
QS MEALS: Favorite and best value was the 2 QS credits for a whole pizza, 2 salads, 2 desserts, and 2 drinks at the boardwalk. It was a beautiful evening and you couldn't beat the price, view, and low key feel. We also ate at BOG breakfast, Pepper Market (CSR), Backlot Express, Wolfgang Puck's, Liberty Inn, and Tangeriene Cafe. No complaints. I had only 1 hamburger all week and that was a delicious burger I split with DH the day we arrived at CSR. DH really loved salad at Liberty Inn and I enjoyed chicken shwarma platter at Tangeriene which was a nice change of pace.
SNACKS: My new favorite is the caramel place in Germany! We were able to exchange a left over QS credit for 3 snacks - and a large bag of caramel popcorn (freshly made) counted! The salted milk caramel was also excellent. Other top snacks included ice cream sundaes at the Parlor at Magic Kingdom and the more than enough to share double scoop of ice cream on the boardwalk. We also enjoyed waffle cones of ice cream and sorbet in France and cinnamon rolls and brew from Gaston's. No complaints here! Had some credits left and picked out goodies to take back for my little niece and nephew who will be taking their first trip next year.
CSR: The last two trips have been at POFQ which we enjoyed. Decided to try CSR. I stayed here once before for a conference but not with the family. Loved it and the weather was great so we got to enjoy the grounds, pool, and hammocks. We stayed in business class and felt with 4 people in the room that the extra cost was worth it for the location and morning and evening snacks. It was pretty much the same stuff every day and we didn't use it every morning or night - but felt like we used it enough to justify the extra charge. Building was very quiet. We had a nice backside room overlooking a small lake/pond (I do not believe there are any parking lot views in the business class building). Had plenty of room for twin inflatable mattress too. Would stay here again for sure.
CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL: Our first time and now a must for this time of year. Just one word to describe it - AWESOME. We used 2 TS credits for the dining package and felt it was worth every penny to know you had a seat. We lined up about 45 minutes in advance and got an excellent seat right in the middle about half way back.
WEATHER: This was the hottest December trip ever for us. My hair was all frizzed out by 10 AM making for great pictures! However, we will have 20 degree weather back home next week so we didn't mind the 80's all week. There were moments it was quite hot but it didn't last for that long as there were clouds in and out all week as well as some nice breezes. It never rained. We wore shorts all week. I often wore a light weight pullover in the morning and evening but the guys did not. All in all - it was the best December weather we have ever had. We have had other years where we have been bundled up in sweatshirts most days. You never know and we packed plenty of layers just in case!
FASTPASS+: While my younger DS and I had one day in the parks last year with the new Fastpass+ system - this was our first full trip and I have to say, I actually like it better than the old system. It allowed us to rope drop what we didn't have fast passes for or rides we wanted to do twice. We also had no problem making changes to our fastpasses using the MDE app. We also ended up not using some of our Fastpasses because we were able to ride it without wait or decided to do something else instead.
ALL IN ALL: It was a great trip and everyone stayed pretty healthy (which is a first for us!). I think we enjoyed our last two days the most as we just took it easier hitting the rides we wanted to do again and then just strolling the boardwalk and other resorts as well as hanging out at our own resort. We did have the park hopper which made it easy to do.
If anyone would like tips on planning a trip over Christmas - don't hesitate to message me. We've had two very enjoyable experiences during the busiest time of the year after having the luxury of experiencing Disney during the slower times of the year.
Here is a recap by category:
CROWDS: It was more crowded than we had experienced the two previous trips (2010 and 2008) but still very manageable. We opted to rope drop every morning which allowed us to get a lot done by lunch. We then would head back for a rest (hammocks at CSR were my favorite spot!). In the evening we either headed back to a park, downtown, or the boardwalk. Yes, there were times it was wall to wall people in the narrow sections of the park. The worst was Disney Springs where you were herded down the paths. There was even a rope separating the two different directions of people walking with multiple employees directing traffic. And yes we were there Christmas Eve when panic struck as people mistook breaking plates for gunshots. Needless to say, that was our last trip downtown for the trip and we ended up having to search the park stores for the souvenirs we dropped at the exits as we joined the mobs of people running out of the building. It was a surreal experience that I won't go into detail here. Basically, expect crowds at this time of year but if you are willing to get up and rope drop - the crowds are quite light and enjoyable.
WAIT TIMES: Even with the crowds, wait times were no different than what I have experienced at other times of the year. In the AM we were able to hop on rides as quickly as we could walk through the cue. We used our Fastpasses for late morning or early afternoon. The longest we waited was probably 15 or 20 minutes for Peter Pan after we had already ridden Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year. This includes many top attractions including SDMT, SM, BTMR, HM, TSM, RnR, Soarin', TT, and EE - plus lots of others. By utilizing Fastpasses and rope drop we had minimal waits.
TRANSPORTATION: We stayed at CSR but also used other transportation including boat from POFQ to DS and Friendship boats around Boardwalk, HS, and Epcot. All were great with the longest wait probably being 15 minutes. There were times we had to stand but most of the time we were able to sit.
TS MEALS: We tried Sci Fi for the first time and absolutely loved it. Boys said steaks were great and my DH and I loved the salad. Overall, we enjoyed all our meals (on DDP) - San Angel Inn, Biergarten, Sci Fi, BOG, Yak & Yeti, and Raglan Road. Yak & Yeti was a repeat and probably DH and my favorite. Sci Fi was DS (17) favorite while the other DS (14) liked Biergarten the best. BOG didn't quite meet my expectations but it wasn't bad and glad we tried it. Don't be afraid to share credits and pay OOP for less expensive items. We love the DDP but it is a lot of food and we were able to have our credits go farther by doing this.
QS MEALS: Favorite and best value was the 2 QS credits for a whole pizza, 2 salads, 2 desserts, and 2 drinks at the boardwalk. It was a beautiful evening and you couldn't beat the price, view, and low key feel. We also ate at BOG breakfast, Pepper Market (CSR), Backlot Express, Wolfgang Puck's, Liberty Inn, and Tangeriene Cafe. No complaints. I had only 1 hamburger all week and that was a delicious burger I split with DH the day we arrived at CSR. DH really loved salad at Liberty Inn and I enjoyed chicken shwarma platter at Tangeriene which was a nice change of pace.
SNACKS: My new favorite is the caramel place in Germany! We were able to exchange a left over QS credit for 3 snacks - and a large bag of caramel popcorn (freshly made) counted! The salted milk caramel was also excellent. Other top snacks included ice cream sundaes at the Parlor at Magic Kingdom and the more than enough to share double scoop of ice cream on the boardwalk. We also enjoyed waffle cones of ice cream and sorbet in France and cinnamon rolls and brew from Gaston's. No complaints here! Had some credits left and picked out goodies to take back for my little niece and nephew who will be taking their first trip next year.
CSR: The last two trips have been at POFQ which we enjoyed. Decided to try CSR. I stayed here once before for a conference but not with the family. Loved it and the weather was great so we got to enjoy the grounds, pool, and hammocks. We stayed in business class and felt with 4 people in the room that the extra cost was worth it for the location and morning and evening snacks. It was pretty much the same stuff every day and we didn't use it every morning or night - but felt like we used it enough to justify the extra charge. Building was very quiet. We had a nice backside room overlooking a small lake/pond (I do not believe there are any parking lot views in the business class building). Had plenty of room for twin inflatable mattress too. Would stay here again for sure.
CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL: Our first time and now a must for this time of year. Just one word to describe it - AWESOME. We used 2 TS credits for the dining package and felt it was worth every penny to know you had a seat. We lined up about 45 minutes in advance and got an excellent seat right in the middle about half way back.
WEATHER: This was the hottest December trip ever for us. My hair was all frizzed out by 10 AM making for great pictures! However, we will have 20 degree weather back home next week so we didn't mind the 80's all week. There were moments it was quite hot but it didn't last for that long as there were clouds in and out all week as well as some nice breezes. It never rained. We wore shorts all week. I often wore a light weight pullover in the morning and evening but the guys did not. All in all - it was the best December weather we have ever had. We have had other years where we have been bundled up in sweatshirts most days. You never know and we packed plenty of layers just in case!
FASTPASS+: While my younger DS and I had one day in the parks last year with the new Fastpass+ system - this was our first full trip and I have to say, I actually like it better than the old system. It allowed us to rope drop what we didn't have fast passes for or rides we wanted to do twice. We also had no problem making changes to our fastpasses using the MDE app. We also ended up not using some of our Fastpasses because we were able to ride it without wait or decided to do something else instead.
ALL IN ALL: It was a great trip and everyone stayed pretty healthy (which is a first for us!). I think we enjoyed our last two days the most as we just took it easier hitting the rides we wanted to do again and then just strolling the boardwalk and other resorts as well as hanging out at our own resort. We did have the park hopper which made it easy to do.
If anyone would like tips on planning a trip over Christmas - don't hesitate to message me. We've had two very enjoyable experiences during the busiest time of the year after having the luxury of experiencing Disney during the slower times of the year.
