Our 2014 Christmas Trip Report - Final installment and thoughts (updated 5/22) About This Page:

[princetoaprincess]

We surprised our longtime family friend early last year by telling her that we were going to Disney World. She had never been, so this was quite the shock. The trip came in December, and here's the trip report.


Who went:
Me: I am Hughes, am 39-years old and a sports editor editor at a newspaper. I went on my first trip to WDW in April 2013. I only did it because my wife wanted to go. Once I went, however, I was hooked and now can't get enough of that place.

Emily (DW): She's a 32-year-old, who went to Disney for 2 days in high school. She was there for such a short time and was on such a strict time schedule that she doesn't count that as a trip. On our first trip together, I surprised her with breakfast in the castle on our first morning there since her favorite princess has always been Cinderella. I will never forget the look on her face when we walked around the circle and saw the castle for the first time and I told her about breakfast and getting to meet Cinderella. The smile on her face and the tears were priceless. Needless to say, she's hooked as well.

Holly (our longtime family friend, who is also our god daughter) (DGD): She just finished her first semester of college and this was her high school graduation gift from us. This was also her first trip. She's a hunter and cowgirl, so Disney isn't/wasn't really her thing. She'd rather be camping or driving an ATV through a mud pit.

The basics:
We traveled by car from Texas. We left on Dec. 12 and returned on Dec. 21. We were in the car 2 days both ways. We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort, were on the table service dining plan and had a 7-day base package. It was our first time at Coronado Springs and our first trip at Christmas.

So, here we go:
The Day Before
We had been packing for about a week prior to the trip. The 3 of us had gone shopping the night before (Dec. 10) to load up on snacks, drinks and other things.

DGD got to the house about 10 p.m. on Dec. 11 (day before departure). Our DGD finally crashed about 11 p.m., and DW and I stayed up and packed a bit more before finally crashing about 12:30.


Dec. 12-Travel Day 1

Our plan was to get up at 5 a.m. and leave at 6:30. Well, we were late. It was about 5:45 when DW and I got up. Loaded the car in the pouring rain, stopped and got breakfast and we pulled out of town at 7:30 a.m.





It rained on us the first hour and a half. We finally stopped about 10 a.m. in Nachitoches, La., at a McDonald's for a potty break and to get a Dr. Pepper. We got into Baton Rouge about 12:30 p.m., were in bumper-to-bumper stand still traffic over the Mississippi River bridge and then stopped for lunch at a Chick-Fil-A about 1.

We ate and then decided to pull into a gas station across the street to top of the tank, even though we still had a lot of miles to empty. The pump was messed up and would stop about every 10-12 cents. So, we only got a few dollars and got back on the road.

We had to make I think one more potty break, and the few dollars in gas that we got ended up getting us enough to get into Pensacola where we decided to stay for the night. I drove from Baton Rouge into Alabama, and DW drove the remainder of the day.

I was texting our best friend, who is also our agent, and she said to go as far as we could. But I don't travel well as it makes me nervous when I'm in new places. Plus, it had gotten dark, so we decided Pensacola was far enough. We found a Holiday Inn Express at Exit 7. It was about 5:30 p.m. when we got into Pensacola.

Prior to getting into Pensacola, we went over Mobile Bay, and the sun was just going over the horizon, and it was most beautiful.





We checked into our hotel and freshened up and then decided to go out since a beach was supposedly nearby. We searched for the beach in our google maps on DW's phone, so off we went to find it. DW had never been to the beach, and I haven't been since the early 1990s. So, we just wanted to go check it out.

Ends up, the address was wrong. We ended up driving about 10 minutes and finally came to this hispanic neighborhood. It wasn't a good feeling, and DW was pissed off about the situation. Since we didn't know the address of the hotel, we just tried to remember which way we had gone by different landmarks, buildings, signs, etc. and finally made our way back to the interstate.

We were going to get something to eat while we were out, but DW was so mad that she just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. We filled up the gas tank at our exit, and there was a McDonald's by the hotel, so we just went through the drive thru and got something. I swore off McDonald's early last fall, and she knew that yet stopped anyway. So, I just had a few fries and a Dr. Pepper.

We went back to the room, watched some basketball, played on our iPad a bit and were asleep by 10 p.m. - we normally don't go to bed until about 11:30 or 12, so this was quite a bit earlier.


Dec. 13-Travel Day 2/Arrival Day

We wanted to be on the road by 7:30 a.m. at the latest because we had ADRs for dinner at 4:15 and knew it was about a 6-1/2 hour trip (plus an hour difference because of the time change) from Pensacola to our resort. So, we got up early, probably about 6:30 a.m., got ready and grabbed a muffin in the lobby before hitting the road. We packed our overnight bag into the card (we packed a separate bag where we wouldn't have to carry all of our luggage into the hotel) and hit the road right at 7:30 a.m.





For those that haven't driven this way, there's about 200 miles between Pensacola and Tallahassee of just nothing. The trees hover over the road causing a striped effect when driving, and it's such a boring part of the trip. About two hours in, DW was starting to fall asleep at the wheel and decided she needed to get a Dr. Pepper out of the trunk - we had packed snacks and Dr. Peppers since WDW carries only Coke products and we're addicted to Dr. Pepper.

I had decided the night before that since we had our cell phones, it would be okay if something happened and the car messed up. I was a nervous wreck the day before because I was worried about the car, which had over 100k miles before we started. So, I just read and fiddled with my baseball cards that I had brought and didn't worry about the trip anymore.

Once back on the road after stopping to get a drink, we sailed through Tallahassee and on into the Eastern time zone. We made our first stop of the day about noon in Live Oak at a Wendy's to grab something small to eat for lunch. While there, I noticed there was a Wal-Mart nearby. My boss had given me a $75 Wal-Mart gift card before we left as a thank you for the work I do. So, I used that to top off the tank.

We were off the road maybe 30 minutes total between potty and fueling up. We hit Lake City a few minutes later and headed south toward Ocala. Once through Ocala, we got on the Turnpike and headed on into Walt Disney World.

Our DGD took over driving in Live Oak because she wanted to drive through the sign, and we didn't plan on stopping again since we had ADRs so close to our expected arrival. As we were getting closer, we started to see the Epcot ball and the Contemporary resort from afar, and she was getting real giddy and excited. We then drove through the magical gates about 2:50.





Up next: Arriving at our resort, why we missed our ADR and winning a bet.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[Her Dotness]

Terrific photos with a nice balance between the human interest shots and the scenic. You look rather stressed in the second, so I don't doubt you aren't fond of traveling through unfamiliar places. I'm sure we'll see you looking more relaxed once the magic of being at WDW takes hold.

Terrific job of covering the journalist who, what, when, where, etc.

I'm eager to learn why you missed that ADR after it seemed your arrival time was fairly early.

Waiting for next update with

[lfredsbo]

Great Start!

[chezp]

Great start!

[Cam22]

Great start!

[TinkerbellJenn99]

Signing in to read along

[mojjo]

Great start!!! Can't wait to hear about the bet.

[princetoaprincess]

Thanks everyone. It's been fun writing it because it's helping relive the memories before I get to start working on our next PTR.

I should be posting my next update this weekend provided the ice stays away and we don't lose power this weekend.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great start!

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Great Start!

Originally Posted by chezp

Great start!

Originally Posted by Cam22

Great start!

Originally Posted by TinkerbellJenn99

Signing in to read along

[snoozin]

Can't wait to hear more about the trip!

[mcneal]

I'm gonna guess yall live in east TX, probably north of Lufkin. My DHs family all still live around Hudson and your goddaughter sounds like his nieces. I am thinking she is gonna fall in love with WDW just like you did. Looking forward to reading the rest.

[crythomas]

Great start

[princetoaprincess]

We were staying at Coronado Springs Resort, which is just inside the west gates off the Turnpike and Toll 429. We arrived at our hotel at 3 p.m. and were just behind a DME bus. We got to the check-in line and all those people that had gotten off the DME were in line. We had to wait for about 45 minutes before seeing someone and getting everything squared away.

The CSR had a beautiful, really tall tree in the lobby all decorated for Christmas.





Since we had ADRs for 4:15 at MK, we talked to the concierge about being late. She called the restaurant and they said to just get there as fast as we could. We got our magic bands activated and went to the bus stop. We didn't unpack the car or anything and just left it in the lobby parking lot.



After waiting about 20 minutes at the bus stop, we were on our way to the MK. It was going to be DGD's first trip to the MK and she was beside herself. On the way to the MK, we told her she had a really big surprise waiting on her. Here's a hint (that we didn't tell her) … her favorite character has always been Tinker Bell.

I told her she'd be crying by the end of the day because of this surprise. She said she doesn't cry, ever. I bet her $10 (an extra roll of quarters we had gotten for the toll roads) that I'd have her crying before the end of the day.

Well, we approached the MK and guess what…she started crying once we saw the sign. The tears weren't much, but that was only the beginning.

We got off the bus, got through the baggage check and got the customary picture made in front of the MK.



Once through the gates, she started crying again when she saw the castle for the first time. We could only stop momentarily, but she was excitedly pulling at the coat tail of DW's shirt as we turned the corner to view the castle for the first time talking about how beautiful it was and how it looked so much more pretty in person.



We hurried over to Liberty Tree Tavern for our ADR, and we got there about 4:45 - remember our ADR was for 4:15. We had also scheduled a FP for 5:15 (not really knowing how long it would take at LTT, I figured an hour would be good enough. Turns out it wouldn't have been). Once we got to LTT, we told them of the impending FP, and he said to go do that and then come back later for dinner.

So, what was our first FP? It was a meet and greet with Tinker Bell!!! We had only scheduled meet and greets for arrival day because we thought we'd just walk around and check out the park since we had been driving for 16 hours over a two-day span.

We walked back up Main Street toward the exit and started toward where Tinker Bell's meet and greet is located. I told our DGD "remember how I told I'd have you crying before the end of the day? Well guess what? You're going to meet and talk to that person right there," I said, pointing at the sign of Tinker Bell as you enter the building. She started sobbing and said "No way, am I really?" Needless to say I won the bet we had made. But being nice and forgiving since I had cried on my first trip to the MK, I didn't make her pay.

We go in to meet Tinker Bell and round the corner, and DGD starts crying again. We knew we wouldn't be able to top that moment for the rest of the trip.

Here's a picture of DGD and Tinker Bell:



After leaving, we went back to LTT for our later than expected dinner. We eventually got there about 5:45 and had to wait about 20 minutes, and I overheard someone sitting by us say "they're the ones that were late causing everything else to back up." We were at Disney, so how could I be mad? I wasn't and just enjoyed the moment with my family.

Then we ate … and ate … and ate some more. I knew I'd be eating all week, but I was hungry as I had just had a muffin and 6 chicken nuggets from Wendy's.

Here's what the meal looked like (along with the desert). The meal was called the Patriot's Platter. It was like a Thanksgiving meal and was served family style in bowls where everyone at the table dipped out of the bowls. It consisted of roasted turkey breast, carved beef, sliced pork loin, salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and bread. The dessert was called Johnny Appleseed's cake and consisted of a white cake filled with apples and dried cranberries and topped with vanilla ice cream. It came with three spoons, and we devoured it.

This is my plate:





Once we left LTT, we went for our third fast pass. Mine my and greet with Mickey was the second, but we passed it up because a.) we were hungry and b.) we knew we'd get to meet him later in the week at Epcot.

We made a stop on the way to our FP to see Rapunzel. We visited with her and then she asked DGD to hold her hands out. She put her hard in DGD's arm and spun her around. It was so neat to see as this was our first time to meet Rapunzel.



DW's favorite princess has always been Cinderella. Our third FP was to meet Cinderella. So, that's what we did next. Both the ladies got their autograph books signed.



After meeting Cinderella, we rode It's a Small World. We didn't have a fast pass, and the wait was only about 15 minutes. So, we decided to do this. I told DW that we were getting it out of the way. It's not one of our favorite rides, but it's one of those "must check off the list" type rides. So, we rode that first.

Afterwards, we made our way back in front of the castle to see the night time shows. We watched the Electrical Parade, Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. I though this would be our only night of the trip to the regular CTM and Wishes shows as we had Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party passes on another trip to MK. There was a MVMCP on our third day at MK, so we figured we wouldn't see the regular show of Wishes and Celebrate again.

Here are a couple of shots from Wishes. I love this show.







Anyway, after Wishes, most of the crowd headed toward the exit and their respective resort/cars. Not us. We were going to just do meet and greets, but DGD wanted to ride some rides. She had seen Peter Pan earlier in the night, so we decided to see how long the wait would be. Turned out it was about 35 minutes, even though it was posted at 45. So, we rode it.

OMG, she was like a little kid in a candy store. DW was sitting next to DGD on the ride. DGD kept tapping her knee saying "look at that, look at this, oh oh oh look there, that's so cool, etc." We got off Peter Pan and she said that would be her favorite ride, no matter what else the parks held.

So, after Peter Pan, we walked around a bit more and then decided we needed to get back to the resort and get things settled in since our luggage was still in the car.

We walked to the bus stop, waited about 5-8 minutes for a bus and got a seat. We got off the bus at the fourth bus stop (El Centro) and made our way into our car.

The lady in the lobby said we'd need to park between building 7-8 because we'd be in building 7. We parked, got a few bags out and started looking for our room. It was about 12:15 a.m. when we finally got parked and luggage out. It was cold and damp (foggy) and we were walking around trying to find our room. Well, it wasn't where she said it would be. Turns out, we needed to park between Buildings 6-7. We found the room and I walked back and moved the car and unloaded the rest of the luggage, snacks, etc. We got into our room, unpacked a few things and were in bed by about 1 a.m.

Up next: Epcot for Day 2. Riding one of my favorite rides in all the parks as well as a new expedition for me. Also, another one of many mishaps with our ADRs.

[Cam22]

What sweet reactions from your DGD! introducing folks to WDW. Glad you were able to meet Tink and still make dinner, too.

[chezp]

You were so right about those tears!