I need your creative ideas!

[Dream]

We have decided to arrive a day early in WDW to take advantage of the discount codes for December. So instead of arriving on Dec. 26th, we will be in the car on Christmas Day and arrive at the WL in time for the parade in the Magic Kingdom!!! Now while we are sooo excited to be going to WDW, the thought of spending Christmas Day in the car is leaving us all a little sad. Christmas is so special in our family and we are a family where "the day" is important...some folks have no trouble celebrating early or late...know what I mean? So what I need from you creative people are ideas to make our "car Christmas" special! I am already planning to have a little tree in the car and yummy food in the cooler to take the place of Christmas dinner. There will be Christmas music and videos and the kids will have a couple of new "Santa" gifts to play with (we will open gifts at home and then hit the road....my kids are always up by 4 AM anyway out of sheer excitement!!) Any other ideas? I wold love to hear them! Thanks ya'll!!

 

[lpizzu]

Don't know where you are coming from, but we left NJ this past Christmas Day to drive down to Florida for some days in Disney before our New Year's Eve cruise on the Wonder.

I have one big suggestion. Make sure you take plenty of food to eat in the car. I usually pack food but didn't this time because we were supposed to leave 12/26 instead of 12/25. After we got past Washington there were no open resturants at all. We finally found an open Olive Garden (I think) only to find out they were feeding the homeless Christmas Dinner. We found one IHOP that was open till 2:00 and got food there. After that we stopped at a gas station that had a minimart attached and purchased sandwiches and stuff. We did find an open motel on 95 but they did not have any food. The sandwiches from the minimart was our Christmas dinner.

Of course this was all very disapointing but we had gone out for a nice Christmas Eve dinner on 12/24 and I just put it out of my mind that we were traveling on the actual day of Christmas. Disney is so wonderful and so decorated for the holidays I really did not mind traveling on 12/25. Just take a walk down NY street in MGM and feel the snow fallingm,walk through the Osborne Spectacle of Lights and go to the Christmas parade in Magic Kingdom (I believe this runs until New Years Eve) and you will be reliving Christmas over and over.

Hope you have a wonderful time. All this talk makes me want to go down to Disney again this December.

Linda

 

[lpizzu]

One more thing. There was absolutely no traffic on 95. Not only was there no traffic, there were practially no cars. It was very strange being on the highway all by yourself.

 

[Kid at heart]

Sounds like you will have a ton of fun, but i understand about the car situation. Have great holiday music, maybe rent a t.v for the car if you dont already have one & watch christmas movies, pay games etc. Maybe save a couple of gifts, put them in the car & suprize them on the way. Whatever ideas you get, its all about attitude -its an adventure & who would not want to be going to the parade on CHRISTMAS DAY! What a gift. Have fun.

 

[jennymouse]

Maybe you can find an addaptor to use in your cigarrette lighter then string some lights in the car!LOL Put a wreath on your front grill. Snow around the edge of the windows. Hang icecikles or ornaments from the ???? ceiling? Get some pine air freshener. If you want to go really overboard, you can shoepolish/paint stuff on the outside of the car!LOl

 

[Goofyposter]

Groosch Dream!....I like the snow on the windows idea!

How many hours in the car?...any chance to play off the 12 days of christmas and do ah "the 12 hours of christmas' thing?...sort of a game thing w/ the song?

LOL! by the time you get there...yer might welcome the IASWAA theme music!

How old are the kids??...could they "build" an Christmas tree for your room?? like with toothpicks or jellybeans glued to a cone?.....

 

[Kim in TN]

Maybe you could plan for a nice Christmas dinner at MK for after the parade, plus for the car you could get the window clings for the car windows ( They make Disney ones), maybe you could read christmas stories like the Twas the night before christmas.
Have fun

 

[Dream]

Oooo...so many awesome ideas!!! I just knew you guys could help me!!! GP, the kids are 8 and 11 and love crafts so the "build a Christmas tree" idea is GREAT!! The 12 hours of Christmas is perfect...my mind is already full of ideas! I bet Chipperdini would be full of ideas for the lyrics too!! GOTTA do the snow on the windows even though dh is gonna do one of these about all of this!! LOL! Secretly he loves this side of me...very secretly!! I am watching for the Disney Christmas window clings now...the kids love playing with those things anyway...word of warning though...they do tend to get stuck in the door if you roll down the windows too far!! Been there....
Thanks everybody!! I am writing down every one of your ideas so I won't forget them! Keep em coming...I still have room on the paper!

 

[SnackyStacky]

Go buy some cheap garland and wrap it around the headrests. I don't know if your family is into singing, but instead of just playing Christmas albums, buy some kareoke tapes/CDs of Christmas music.

You could hide some candy canes in the seat. (Just keep track of how many you hide so as not to find a sticky surprise come June...)

If you haven't already told the kids about your extension, leave a note from Santa saying that he thought you'd all be on your way to Disney, so he left the presents in the car. They get the surprise of an extra day of Disney, and opening presents in the car will eat up some travel time, plus you get on the road earlier.

Good luck!

 

[crazyforgoofy]

What great ideas so far. The new Crayola Glass Markers might come in handy. They're fun for the kids and easy to clean off. The kids can decorate the car windows (not the ones that will bother the driver, of course) and perhaps even the hotel room window. A paper towel and a bit of window cleaner or a car window wipe (my hubby keeps them in the glove box) is all you need for clean up.

Note: We were at MK last Christmas Day and it was so packed it was hard to move. Get to your parade spot VERY early and make ressies for dinner at the earliest possible moment.

 

[madge62]

Hey Dream, looks like we'll be arriving the same day! Although we're travelling by plane, leaving at 7:45 a.m. from Vancouver and arriving at MCO at 7:00 p.m., that's a long day too! I'm with my DH and my 15-yr. DD, so I'm looking for some Christmasy ideas too. We actually won't be going to the parks that night tho, we'll get in far too late I'm thinking.
Anyone have ideas for making the plane ride festive? Maybe turkey sandwiches for lunch?

 

[Dream]

Hey Madge62! Where are you staying?? We will be at the WL from 12/25 (probably very close to the time you are arriving) until 1/1/03!! Wear your lime green ribbons!!!

 

[Princess49]

When I read your post I was thinking all of the things that everyone wrote!! Garland & decorations everywhere! You said they like to be crafty-- how about pack a few supplies for making ornaments for your tree or maybe popcorn or fruit loop garland(a fun snack too!) this way you can take the fully decorated tree inot your hotel room with you! & how about hanging their stockings on the backs of the two front seats as a fun decoration/ suprise! Fill the stockings with snacks, candy, car games- the little travel sized ones- coloring books & the tapes you plan to play in the car so they think its all theirs & they are actually creating Christmas with their new stuff. Or, have one of their gifts be some Christmas pj's, fuzzy & warm for the car ride & then save a bunch of gifts for the ride & every few spots along the way give them a new gift so they feel like its Christmas morning all day! And I know how kids are at 8 years old & I dont know if they still believe in Santa but maybe you want to send a package down to Disney to be waiting for you in your hotel with one more present each with either a note from Santa or Mom & Dad about how proud you are of them for having Christmas in the car & making it so special! Although it will be different I'm sure it will be one of your most memorable Christmas days ever! & besides whats better than having a GREAT family to be stuck with in a car the whole way to Disney World?!?! Have a great time! & Merry Merry!

 

[iTtYbItTy LiL LeXi]

Heyy I know were your coming from. On Christmas morning in 99 me and my family went downstairs as usual. We opened our gifts from "Santa" and then our parents gave us there gift to us. So me and my little sister open it and it's two disney tee shirts with the 2000 logo on it. Were like oh thanks, ya know and then my mom and dad are like look inside them and we do, and it's plane tickets to Florida, that day! We stayed for the millenium and we left on Christmas day. So my suggestion to hype everyone up, sing christmas songs in the car and try to play some games. Thats my suggestion

<3 alwayz

Lexi