A "Green" Christmas in WDW --- Pre-Trip Report, November 29-December 6, 2008 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A "Green" Christmas in WDW --- Pre-Trip Report, November 29-December 6, 2008
A "Green" Christmas in Walt Disney World, November 29-December 6, 2008
Yippee!!! A holiday trip to WDW! And a chance to try another TR. I'm determined to try and do pictures this time, hope I do ok!
Okay, first let me explain the name of this trip report - the four people going on this trip all have the last name Green, and this is our first time going to WDW together at this time of year.
The four people going on this trip are of course myself, a/k/a Meeko, my husband Jay, and his parents, Ron & Diane.
This is trip number fourteen for me to WDW. I've been going to the World my whole life, quite literally - my parents first took me when I was all of 2 years old back in 1978. Here's a picture of my second trip to WDW back in 1981, with my brother (this is the only old WDW pic I've scanned so far):
Jay has been going to WDW since he was 8 years old. His first trip was in 1986 with his parents. They went about every two years until Jay was in High School. The three of them didn't go back again until the three of them came on a "Grand Gathering" trip with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend (now wife), and my aunt and uncle in March 2005. Here's a picture from that trip:
Jay's parents are in the back row - his Mom is last on the right, and his Dad is wearing the white hat. Since that trip, Jay and I have gone to WDW three more times - in October 2005 for our Honeymoon, in October 2006 with my parents, and this past January 2008 by ourselves. Here's a picture of us on one of our recent trips:
We're totally excited about this trip since we'll get to do lots of holiday stuff we've never done before, and see all the holiday decorations. In 1983, my family went for the week between Christmas and New Year's, but that was a looong time ago, and things have changed quite a bit.
After our January trip this year, we were sharing our photos with Jay's parents. They mentioned they would really like to go again, and said they would really like to go with us, at Christmastime. Hmmm...another trip to WDW in 2008, and around the holidays? Ok, not much of a hard sell for me! But I was pretty bummed because too much time had passed since we got back from WDW to upgrade our tickets to APs. I was pretty bummed. But then Ron and Diane launched a little surprise on us - they wanted to stay at the WL and were going to pay for our room! Okay, now I was definitely sold!!!
Coming up next...our itinerary, and deciding what to do about passes after our BIG purchase...
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
So, after deciding to go, and settling on some dates, the planning part commenced! As the experienced planner of the group, most of the duties fell on me, which is completely ok since I love doing it!
Since Jay and I are always talking about how much we love the Wilderness Lodge, his parents really wanted to stay there. They were fortunate in always staying deluxe on their trips in the 80s and 90s - they always stayed at the Poly (their favorite!) or the Grand Floridian (lucky!!). Although I haven't stayed at either one of thise resorts, I don't think Ron & Diane will be disappointed with WL. We decided on Courtyard view - I love waking up and having my coffee on the balcony over-looking the pool.
After deciding on the resort, the next challenge is planning the itinerary. I have my own "theories" about park planning - having gone to WDW so often, I no longer feel the need to go "commando" style and squeeze in as much as possible. So to avoid crowds, I like to steer clear of parks on their known busy days and on their EMH days whenever possible. Doesn't always work that way, but I try. I also like for MK to be the first park and the last park I go to.
Next, I do park-hop, but usually keep it to a minimum as I find that the transportation time eats too much into my day (we never rent a car) - so when I park hop, I'll try to make it tie in with a boat ride or monorail ride. I want to visit the other deluxe resorts too, to see their decorations, so we need to leave time for that too.
Into this formula, I also have to work around any special events - in this case, MVMCP! I love MNSSHP, and P&PP, so this was a MUST. Since I started working on my itinerary and planning for ADRs before the MVMCP dates were announced, I looked at the last couple of years to guess when it would be.
After plugging all this good stuff into my formula, here's the park schedule I came up with and the highlights of each day:
Saturday 11/29 (arrival day): MK, then dinner at the resort, and a sleigh ride at the Lodge
Sunday 11/30: EP (Candlelight Processional)
Monday 12/1: Visit DVC open house at SSR (more on this later), DD, EP
Tuesday 12/2: Visit MK area resorts to see decorations, MK (MVMCP)
Wednesday 12/3: DHS
Thursday 12/4: AK
Friday 12/5: EP/DHS
Saturday 12/6 (Departure Day): MK
One neat thing we'll get to do - Diane works for a company owned by Siemens, the new sponsor for Spaceship Earth. There's a little perk that comes with bring an employee - access to "Base 21" the private lounge inside Spaceship Earth for Siemens employees. This should be a nice quiet place to get some refreshments in the middle of the day! We have our "access codes" ready to go!
I'm also pretty excited about the sleigh ride - I didn't book it until this fall, when I heard of it in the All Ears newsletter. It should be fun!
Coming up next - ADRs with a picky eater, and the BIG purchase that confuses things...
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Ok, not much of a hard sell for me! 
But I was pretty bummed because too much time had passed since we got back from WDW to upgrade our tickets to APs. 
I was pretty bummed. But then Ron and Diane launched a little surprise on us - they wanted to stay at the WL and were going to pay for our room! 
Okay, now I was definitely sold!!! 
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PassPorter Guide Author
MNSSHP, and P&PP, so this was a MUST. Since I started working on my itinerary and planning for ADRs before the MVMCP dates were announced, I looked at the last couple of years to guess when it would be. 
This should be a nice quiet place to get some refreshments in the middle of the day! We have our "access codes" ready to go! 
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