I would love your opinion and advice on my Disney trip plans for the weekend.
Saturday
Saturday morning we are going to wake up the kids at about 5 am (we are early risers) and surprise them with the trip. We are going to get a big Mickey balloon and put it in a wrapped box and let them open it. They will FREAK. (Yes I plan to video tape it.)
We will then drive straight from Birmingham to Orlando. It’s about an 8-9 hour drive. We just get so excited we can’t stop for the night anywhere.
Saturday night we are looking at going to The Boardwalk and taking a boat over to the Swan and Dolphin to have dinner at Garden Grove. It is a character meal and one of my readers sent me a $25 Restaurants.com gift certificate. I figured it would be a great place to try.
I have booked us a room at one of the hotels at Downtown Disney since our reservations don’t start until Sunday night and staying on property is $$.
Sunday
I booked us a reservation at O’hanas for breakfast. We ate there in 2009 and LOVED it. We aren’t doing many sit down meals this trip, but this is one that I would love to do again.
After breakfast, we are going to resort hop. Which ones do you suggest visiting?
At 1 pm we are going to Downtown Disney to meet my readers friends at Earl of Sandwich. If you are going to be in the area, please let me know! I’d love to meet you.
My husband has his ride experience from 3-5 pm at the speedway. I figured he could take the van and drive over there. We will stay in the Downtown Disney area and play and shop.
When he returns, we will head over to Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne lights before they take them down. I would love to have dinner at Pizza Planet.
If you have any tips or advice for me, please let me know!
Quick question for you all…we are renting a house in Orlando for 2 weeks and are going to Magic Kingdom for one day only. Because we are not staying on a Disney property, can we still resort hop?
Thanks!
You should be able to visit as many resorts as you’d like. When you get to the gate you just tell them you’re there to check out the property and have to show a valid ID.
Thanks Micael!
Kristin- There is a little snowman that they had placed over by Pizza Planet last year at Christmastime…he makes for the cutest photo if you nestle your kids on the sides of him :) Have a wonderful trip!
We enjoyed walking (one of these times we’ll do the “bike” ride) around and checking out all the hotels around the boardwalk (I’m sick right now and I cannot remember which one had gignerbread cookies for teh kids to decorate). We did this in the evening and then they had the performers out at night, my son was picked to be in 2 shows – he loved that! We also liked the monorail resorts.. until the monorail broke and we were stuck at the Grand Floridian for a while (which cut back on some time to go to other resorts). We really enjoyed the big gingerbread house though, the shingle and decoration cookies were just okay (to DH and I, but my daughter LOVED them lol). My kids also love the All Star resorts. We’ve done the campfire/s’mores with Chip & Dale one summer too. Lots of fun. Enjoy and can’t wait to see what you decide to do.
Grand Floridian is one of my favorite resorts to visit. I also love going to the Yacht and Beach Club for ice cream at Beaches and Cream.
I agree about going to Ft. Wilderness to see the Christmas displays. I would think that many would still be up. FUN!
We drive 12 hours to Disney and have never stopped but this year we are going to get a hotel half-way using Priceline. I am hoping that my DH will enjoy his first day at Disney more that way.
I am LOVING your trip plan so far!
Glenda
your sunday looks almost exactly like ours! we are driving hoping to be in before lunch. doing downtown dis to make some ear hats and then seeing the osborne lights! I would love to meet you if we get there early enough!
We were just there Dec 1-8th and the Osborne lights are really cool, but very crowded. I second the other person’s comment about going early to get a Toy Story fast pass. The wait was 90 minutes in the late afternoon while we were there. For resort hopping, I would visit the resorts on the monorail. They are all decorated so nicely, and the GF is a must see. DTD was insanely packed-like no parking up in the front by the toy store at 10am! I was actually very surprised how crowded the parks were for that time of year. Felt like I was there over the summer again…
If you’re staying on property and bought tickets you are probably eligible for free dining package. it is running through feb. Call and ask because its a fantastic deal. I usually schedule our trips around free dining. will save you alot of $$$. the free dining is one snack per day ( popcorn, icee, icecream etc..)one fast food and one sit down which you can use at all character dining!) for each person in your party. I usually pack poptarts, muffins etc. and we do breakfast in our room and then our free dining for all other meals!
I hope you have a wonderful trip – I really wish I could make the meet-up.
I do just want to mention that it’s been unseasonably COLD here in Florida lately. It should be warming up next week but will be down in the 40s and 50s in the evening. So PLEASE bring sweaters or jackets, especially if you’re going to be doing things like evening boat trips!
We did the Garden Grove. We had the $25 certificate and our bill was still $80 for 2 adults and 1 child. It was just OK. The food was so-so (buffet). My 5 yr old ate 2 mini corndogs and that was it. We saw Timon and Rafiki but my daughter did not know Lion King. The Swan and Dolphin are beautiful- not Disney properties. You can take the boat from Hollywood Studios past the Boardwalk. We got back just as the park was closing and we waited long for a bus.
Why don’t you do MGM during the morning hours? Since it’s not very big, you could kick a lot of it out in the morning. You could go and get your fast pass to Toy Story first thing and then be back to do it that evening. Believe me, your fast pass will be for late evening! That way, when you come back that night, you’re still using the same ticket. You don’t need park hopper to come back to the same park, do you?
It’s always fun to do the resort loop to check out the resorts there as well as the boardwalk resorts. We have sucha great time there. Another fun thing to do is to check out POR and then take the boatride when it’s time for you to go over to DTD. (That’s DH’s favorite resort!)
I hope you have a blast!!
Drive around the camp ground at fort wilderness people decorate their sites and most people will still have holiday decorations up its so much fun to see everything there… i love the gingerbread house at the GF its really neat
im not sure if they still do the water parade in the winter though im sure they do so dont forget to watch that one night i believe on the beach at the poly they pipe in the music for not only that but the fireworks
Like others I recommend the Monorail resorts for holiday decor resort hopping since they are quick/easy, the GF is my favorite, I wish they had a photopass person there.
We wanted to see the gingerbread carousel at the Beach Club but we dont think they had it up yet. They were still putting up decor during our visit around Veterens’ Day. It was funny one night we went to Ohana for dinner with family and later in the week we went over for sushi by ourselves and the Poly had be transformed with holiday decor.
we were just there Dec 10th-18th and they did have a photopass person at the giant tree in the GF :)
I’ve heard the campgrounds have great decorations at some of the site and you could do the chip and Dale thing with s’mores.
The Osbourne Lights are fantastic!!! I did the WDW College Internship Program 10 years ago and was lucky enough that my 6 months was during the holiday season (though it was my 1st time away from home for the holidays and that was tough), but getting to be at Disney at that time was true MAGIC! I hope that you and your family have a magical time as well and I can’t wait to read the updates and see all the pictures. We are taking DD in March 2012 (she will be 3.5) and I am already getting excited about it. haha
can’t wait to hear the review on the Garden Grove… I bought that same certificate and am itching to use it :) Have a great time.. will be following you all the way!
You are so lucky to live in driving distance. I wish I did. I am going to have fun reading your post and hearing what is going on. i love Disney and it is exciting to hear about everything that is going on. I wish I could go during a time other than summer but being a teacher that is the only time I am able to go. Have a great time!!
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Resort & it is just amazing! It’s such a cool place; definitely worth checking out!!!
Osborne lights are great!! The castle is gorgeous as well! You could ride the monorail and visit contemporary, Polynesian and grand Floridian. All star resorts are fun the way they are decorated. More kid friendly and each set has different themes…
Fort wilderness campground was fun to walk through if they still have their decorations out.
Oh, just remembered, the campground also offers horse rides, but I believe there is a charge for that.
Ft. Wilderness has both horseback riding and pony rides. The pony rides are $5, I believe and you walk your child around the corral. My boys love it!
The campground at Fort Wilderness is a lot of fun and you could easily burn a several hours there. In the summer near the pool area they had “camp counselors” that were doing games with the kids. You might want to call ahead to see if they do that in the winter, too. When you get to the campground you have to take a bus back to the Trading Post and the bus takes you through some of the campsites. When we were there a couple of weeks ago, many of the campsites were all decorated up for Christmas. Some folks might still have their decorations up. Some nights Chip and Dale do a campfire and Disney movie viewing outdoors. Anyone can go. They might have a schedule on the website.
Then you can take a bus back to the Settlement. They have a great playground back there and a little beach. If you want, you can take a boat over to the Contemporary, and I think that boat might run to MK also. There is a lot to do and plenty of good people watching at the campground. We loved it so much when we spent an afternoon visiting we decided we are staying there when we go back in two weeks. Oh, and all those activities, boat, campfire, etc were free. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend. Enjoy!
The boats run to the Magic Kingdom, Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary. The boat ride in it’s self is really fun. My kids love it!
We camp at Ft. Wilderness several times a year (we’re actually going tomorrow). It’s so much fun. A lot of people decorate for Halloween and Christmas. You can take the bus around the campground or even rent a golf cart (they’re expensive though…about $65/day). The campfire with Chip and Dale is every night. They have a fun sing a long beforehand and a movie afterward. We love taking the boat to the Contemporary and Magic Kingdom!
I would suggest going to the Grand Floridian and Wildernesss Lodge. All the Deluxe hotels are decorated beautifully during the holidays but I think those two are my favorites.
We just got back and did GF to see the Gingerbread house, it is really neat and even puffs out smoke every so often (regularly). The carousel is over at the Beach Club (Y&B). We also went to Swan and in addition to a wedding in the courtyard we got to look in on, there was a chocolate Santa with a tree and such. One thing I didn’t get to check out (but it costs extra) is a sleigh ride at Ft. Wilderness. I’ll try to send you some photos tonight so you can see the house and carousel.
In the past we have enjoyed The Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Port Orleans (we love French Quarter) and Riverside is nice as well, completely different feel. Gosh, there are so many great choices!
Something non-Disney you might look into is visiting the Peabody Hotel at either 11 or 5 when the Peabody Ducks make their march between the hotel lobby and their Penthouse. The hotel is over by the convention center on International.
I second the Peabody Hotel! The duck march is awesome! Very cute, and I’m sure the kiddos would love it!
We LOVE going to the Animal Kingdom (Kidani Village) Resort to see all the animals. Our next favorite is Tri Circle D Ranch (must take a bus to it from Ft Wilderness).
I wish we could get to meet this time. I was really hoping to. But I have a coupon class to teach at 2pm so I would never make it back in time. Hope you guys have lots of fun!
Kristen, The Grand Floridian is breathtaking. If they still have their Christmas up, the gingerbread house was beautiful. The Wilderness Lodge is also gorgeous. You can take the monorail to the Contemporary. Our girls enjoyed playing on the beach at the Polynesian. I hope you and your family have a wonderful time!
Polynesian is neat and pretty.
We really like the All Star Movies. We spent a lot of time taking pictures with the movie statues.
Not to ask a stupid question–but are you paying for a full day ticket to Hollywood Studios just to see the Osbourne Lights? They are awesome but I’d try to get more out of my ticket than the lights.
Please don’t think I’m being rude, just curious.
Laura – The first 3 days of Disney tickets are $$$, after that it’s like $4 a ticket per day to add additional days. The parks are going to be so insanely crowded on Sunday (a 9 out of 10 crowd wise where Tuesday is a 1 out of 10) that we don’t want to fight them to do anything that we could easily do the other 6 days we are there. The lights go down on Monday night, so we wanted to see them before they are gone. :)
Very good point, K! I didn’t think of it that way. I probably should,though. We go for into the parks for 4 days every year (staying at FT Wilderness). Now I’ll think more about adding the 5th and only going in the evening to catch stuff I miss.
Pizza Planet is very fun. You will love it. Try to eat a little off the regular Dinner time, though.
I’ll have to see if I can make it–my parents have offered to take both kiddos on Saturday–rare time alone with dh-anyway–resort hopping–the Grand Floridian had/has? a giant gingerbread house in the lobby-boardwalk had/has? a chocolate merry go round all disney themed in the lobby–we saw them in 2009 and didn’t make it out to resort hop this year since I was sick the week of x-mass–wilderness lodge is a neat hotel and the kids might get a kick out of seeing old faithful go off-not sure of the times for this–
if you are resort hopping, you must do animal kingdom lodge. lots of stuff to see there. and if you go at night you can use night vision goggles to see the animals as well. they also have crafts during the day in the lobby.
at downtown disney, catch a meal at wolfgang puck express. huge portions and good quality food. i know your on the meal plan but we used our table service credits there many times since it was so great.