New Year’s Family Fun PTR – 12 days, 12 people, 3 resorts - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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New Year’s Family Fun PTR – 12 days, 12 people, 3 resorts
New Year’s Family Fun PTR – 12 days, 12 people, 3 resorts
Cast of Characters:
Me – an unlikely Disney fan (really… I had every intention of being the parent who never takes her kids to Disney World. Now we own DVC points and annual passes)
DH – another unlikely Disney fan (I couldn’t have been more surprised when he signed us up for a DVC tour 3 days into our first Disney vacation)
DS – 13
DD – 11
DD – 4
Mother-in-law
Father-in-law
Brother
Sister-in-law
Niece, Nephew, Nephew – triplets, age 7
When: December 29, 2011 – January 9, 2012
Lodging:
3 nights at the Swan
5 nights at Old Key West – 2 bedroom villa
3 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort – 1 Treehouse Villa, 1 Studio
Basic Plan:
Six months after our first (and what we thought would be our only) trip to Disney World in 2010, we joined the Disney Vacation Club. Last January we used our points for the first time and purchased premium annual passes. Last year’s trip was over the MLK holiday, so we scheduled this year’s visit a few weeks earlier to get two trips out of the passes. Plus we thought it would be fun to try New Year’s at Disney. Last January my parents joined us for 5 days of our 10-day vacation. This year, my in-laws are coming for a few days, and then my brother and his family will join us for the last 4 days of the trip.
We fly from Maine to Orlando on Thursday, December 29 and check-in to the Swan. DH travels frequently for work and is a Starwood Platinum member. We’ll stay 3 nights at the Swan using Starwood points. January 1 we move to a 2-bedroom villa at Old Key West. Monday, January 2 my husband’s parents arrive for 4 nights. They head out on Friday and we transfer to a Treehouse Villa at SSR. My brother, his wife, and their three 7-year olds fly in on Thursday night. We’ll connect with them on Friday afternoon and their kids will stay with us at the Treehouse for 3 nights while they stay in a SSR studio. Monday, January 9th we’ll have until about 1:00 p.m. to enjoy the resort or a park before taking the Magical Express back to the airport to return to a cold winter in Maine.
Dining:
We segmented our trip and added the Deluxe Dining Plan for two single nights during our 11-night, 12-day vacation. Made it in just under the wire before they changed the policy for DVC members (segmented dining plans are no longer allowed). We also have a Tables in Wonderland card. Details will follow, but reservations include Hoop Dee Doo Review, Crystal Palace, Chefs de France, La Hacienda, Kona Café, and Akershus Princess Dinner.
46 days and counting! We’ve never been at a truly busy time of year, so New Year’s should be interesting. I’m open to feedback on these plans… please chime in with your suggestions or experiences.
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Day 1 – Travel and Epcot
We’ve had annual passes burning a hole in our pockets since last January. It makes me crazy thinking we could be using those passes... but Maine is a LONG way from Florida and airfare for five is a chunk of change. DH and DS did have a 5-day father/son trip over a Star Wars Weekend to celebrate DS's 13th birthday. Annual passes were definitely a good call for us. We get the DVC discount, and when it is said and done we'll have had 22 park days on the passes, plus 5 more each for DS and DH. I love living in Maine, but do wish airfare was more reasonable so we could all jump down to Disney for a long weekend occasionally.
Which brings me to our travel day. We originally booked flights out of Portland, which is a 3-hour drive for us but prices were better than Bangor. A couple of months ago we got a notice from Delta that our flights had changed and now required 2 stops on the way to Orlando. Not what we bargained for. DH called and they offered to switch our flights to Bangor so that we could have only 1 stop each way. Yay! This saves a lot of driving time (75 minutes vs. 3 hours) and the best part is that the return flight on January 9 is four hours later, giving us time for a half-day in the parks.
So, Thursday, December 29 we’ll head to Bangor in the morning, change planes in New York (La Guardia), and arrive at MCO around 8:00 p.m. Our first few nights are at the Swan, which means no Magical Express. I’ve reserved van service with Quicksilver and am hoping this will get us to the Swan by 9:00 p.m. I’m looking forward to trying out the Swan, even though it isn’t a Disney resort. We’ve never stayed at an Epcot resort before so the proximity to Epcot and HS will be fun. And it’s saving a TON of DVC points. Dec. 24-31 are super premium.
Now, 9:00 p.m. arrival after a long day of travel with a 4-year old. We should be getting settled and heading to bed, ready to hit the parks at rope drop Friday morning, right? Fat chance of that with Epcot extra magic hours from 9:30 – 12:30 a.m. just around the corner! I think we’ll put DD (4) in her stroller and head to the international gateway if only for a late night snack in France (DD 11 loves the crepes) and a couple of rides in Future World. Can’t wait!
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Glad the changes to your flight actually improved your travel time! Can't wait to hear what you think of the Swan.
I know - wasn't that lucky! I think I'm more psyched about the extra hours at Disney, but saving on the driving time will be a huge deal for the kids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
Take plenty of pics...I've never stayed at the Swan.
Will do. I'm very interested to see how it compares to the Disney resorts and whether the proximity to Epcot compensates for staying at a non-Disney hotel.
Here is what I anticipate will happen on our first morning at WDW…. DH will want to play golf in the morning, DD 11 will want to be at Magic Kingdom for rope drop, and DS 13 will want to sleep in and relax in the room until early afternoon. We’ll figure it out once we get there, but most likely scenario is the girls and I explore the hotel and the pool then head to Magic Kingdom with DS late morning with DH meeting us there after golf.
I’m assuming the crowds will be awful. We’ll mainly enjoy the decorations and parades these first few days. We have lunch reservations at the Plaza for 1:00 p.m. This should give us a short break from the crowds. I’m really looking forward to the afternoon parade and hoping it will be the Christmas parade. I can’t find confirmation of this anywhere on the Disney website, but it seems that in past years the afternoon parade has been the Christmas parade from Dec. 24-Jan 1. Has anyone been there to know whether this is true?
Early evening we’ll take a boat over to the Polynesian for dinner at the Kona Café. After dinner at Kona we’ll watch Wishes (hopefully it will be Holiday Wishes) from the beach. Depending on everyone’s energy level, we’ll either head back to the Swan or return to Magic Kingdom to watch the “test run” of the New Year’s Eve fireworks at 11:50 p.m. Or, perhaps we could take the monorail to check out the Christmas decorations at the Grand Floridian.
That's usually the way the Christmas parade runs and the crowds will be insane those first couple of days. If your family is ready to be at the Magic Kingdom at rope drop, I'd do that and spend a couple of hours in the park until it gets insane and then head out.
Thanks! I'm going to be itching to do it all, but I know we'll be happy for a little down time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plans for MK!
Thanks! We're looking forward to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great plans!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
That's usually the way the Christmas parade runs and the crowds will be insane those first couple of days. If your family is ready to be at the Magic Kingdom at rope drop, I'd do that and spend a couple of hours in the park until it gets insane and then head out.
Thanks for the good advice. I'll try to get us there early and then maybe we'll pop back in for the parade only late afternoon.
I knew this day was going to be crazy busy, but listening to the WDW Today podcast today I heard Len Testa say New Year’s Eve crowds in Epcot would mean 4-5 hour waits for Soarin’ and 3-hour waits for Test Track. Whoa! Good news is that it sounds like Epcot rarely reaches capacity. I think we may try morning extra magic hours at the Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom and then head back to the resort to relax for most of the day. Perhaps I can talk the kids into walking around to see the Boardwalk, Yacht, and Beach Club Christmas decorations. DH may want to play golf if he doesn’t get a chance on the 30th. I plan to keep a close eye on park levels so we can head to Epcot quickly if they are reaching capacity.
At exactly 180 days out, 7:00 a.m., I scored an ADR for La Hacienda at 6:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The early show of Illuminations is at 7:00 p.m., so I thought we’d have a pretty good chance of watching from the restaurant and get a little break from the insane crowds. Early October I got a call from the general manager of La Hacienda and San Angel Inn saying they had scheduled a private event and were moving all reservations after 6:30 p.m. to San Angel Inn. This still isn’t sorted out (impossible to get through to a real live person who knows anything about it!), but it looks like our La Hacienda ADR is no good. We’ll probably go ahead and use the San Angel Inn reservation if that comes through, but that means we won’t see the 7:00 p.m. fireworks. DH and I had a “date night” at San Angel Inn once and liked it… I think the kids will enjoy the atmosphere and the break from the crowds.
If all goes well, we’ll brave the crowds to stay for the 11:40 p.m. New Year’s Eve Illuminations and then walk back to the Swan. If Epcot is too crazy after dinner, we may head back to the resort early or switch to Hollywood Studios. I’m not even thinking of trying the Magic Kingdom on this night! Any way it turns out, it will be a real kick to be at WDW on New Year’s.
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the crowds will be insane those first couple of days. If your family is ready to be at the Magic Kingdom at rope drop, I'd do that and spend a couple of hours in the park until it gets insane and then head out.
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