An Incredible Christmas 12/23-12/30 CBR

[MrsIncredibleNY]

It's the day after Halloween which officially marks the beginning of Christmas at WDW! I've been reading so many trip reports that I decided to write my own as I prepare for our family trip!

But first, let me introduce myself. I'm Mrs.Incredible! I'm a 36 year old working mother of two. I love planning trips, shopping, eating and air conditioning (or heat - I must be 72 degrees at all times). I never though I'd end up at Disney on Christmas but here I come!

This trip will also star:

Mr. Incredible - 36 year old computer guy, husband, father

Dash (aka the Three Year Old) - he is in preschool and loves all things cars (the vehicles, not necessarily the movie). Major Daddy's Boy. Picky eater. Potty trained and very opinionated.

Jack Jack (aka The Baby) - He'll be 17 months when we leave. He's a new walker. Very independent. Great sleeper but WILL NOT SLEEP in a stroller.

We leave in 7.5 weeks. Hopefully by then I can write out all my plans. Thanks for reading!

NB: I'll post pictures when we are home but for now I want to keep our faces OFF of the details of our exact locations for privacy reasons.


Table of Contents:

Disney or the Caribbean? How about both!
My First Lap Baby Part One
First Class Here We Come

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Disney or the Caribbean? How about both!

Many months ago I started thinking about our next family vacation. We have a time share in the Caribbean and went there for two wonderful weeks last Christmas. I knew for our next trip I wanted to go back to the islands OR go to Disney World.

Most years Mr. Incredible gets to go to a conference at Disney in October and in 2014 me and Dash tagged along. So my plan was to do that again. But then Mr. Incredible didn't get picked for the conference this year.

Caribbean here we come again? Just kidding. We found out that we have family heading to WDW for Christmas this year and we said we were in!

I can't even tell you how many people have said to me since we booked "oh wow, I bet there will be nobody there that week."

Maybe not? But we are prepared!

And we will be resting our heads at the lovely Caribbean Beach Resort. Incidentally this is the only WDW property I've ever stayed in before but it was.....18 years ago. You'd think by now the monorail would connect all the resorts. Alas no, but we'll figure out our way around. Since my last three trips were off-site I'm excited to stay in the World.

I really don't get how cold it is. I'm swimming in this pool.

Usually when we stay in hotels we try to fit the Pack N Play in the bathroom or some sort of corner where the noise of the rest of the family won't wake the baby. I think a Pack N Play will work in this setup, right?

Over the summer I ended up moving some furniture around to create a baby corner. We'll figure it out. The Baby is a great sleeper...but only in his crib. Never in the stroller or car seat. Should make for some interesting park days.

 

[ariane37]

Joining! Good for you going during Christmas, I would LOVE to do that some day Unfortunately that's the one time of year DH has no interest in going lol. We're doing Thanksgiving this month for the 2nd time, we've done Mother's Day and if not next year then the following year I hope to do Easter and July 4th, but I think it'll be along while until I get Christmas in Disney.......
I'm with you on the shopping, eating, trip planning, and 72 degrees sounds good to me! I believe Dec. weather can vary as can Nov. but I think there's a very good chance you'll be swimming in the CBR pool

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Joining! Good for you going during Christmas, I would LOVE to do that some day Unfortunately that's the one time of year DH has no interest in going lol. We're doing Thanksgiving this month for the 2nd time, we've done Mother's Day and if not next year then the following year I hope to do Easter and July 4th, but I think it'll be along while until I get Christmas in Disney.......
I'm with you on the shopping, eating, trip planning, and 72 degrees sounds good to me! I believe Dec. weather can vary as can Nov. but I think there's a very good chance you'll be swimming in the CBR pool

Welcome!

I did Easter Week when I was growing up. Actually we stayed in Ft. Myers but drove up and either did a day or two in Disney. This was back when there was only two parks.

When I got a little older it was onto Universal when that opened because I am a huge ET fan.

(But I'm dating myself....)

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

My First Lap Baby part 1

The last time The Incredibles did Disney I had to fly with just Dash, who was 15 months at the time. The idea of getting myself to the airport and getting all the way to Orlando with a toddler so overwhelmed me that I barely planned any part of our vacation other than ways to carry all of our stuff and how to entertain Dash on the plane.

Snacks were purchased. Coloring books were packed. Many many videos were downloaded. Little baby headphones were purchased. Let's just say I thought I was prepared.

The morning of the flight I tried to film a "Surprise we are going to Disney World" video while bursting into Dash's room holding a stuffed Mickey Mouse. But those words have no meaning to someone who needs his diaper changed and to go back to sleep. Rookie mom mistake for sure.

Anyway I packed everything I needed....except for milk. This becomes important in a minute. I load Dash into the car and drive to the airport.

I paid for the "right next to the terminal" parking at the airport. Loaded up Dash, our car seat and carry-ons on the stroller. Wheeled our huge luggage behind us while pushing the stroller, looking like a Sherpa. In hindsight I should have called a taxi but they are reliably unreliable in my town. Plus the car seat issue.

I check our huge suitcase so now I only have 500 things to juggle through security. Our local airport is small and I know it well. I knew if I went left as soon as we went through security I could grab a milk and a coffee from McDonalds.

But I went right.

In my defense I knew there was a coffee shop right near my gate and thought I'd have plenty of time to grab milk before the flight.

I had planned to gate check the stroller and car seat so as luck would have it a Southwest agent approached me as soon as I got anywhere near the gate and took them from me, which was nice because then I didn't need to be anxious about slowing down the crowd while I figured out folding things. What was less nice was absent a stroller I had no place to contain my toddler. I let him wander around thinking he would maybe tire himself out and take a nap in the plane. All of a sudden it was time for Family Boarding and I didn't get any milk.

"Surely they'll have milk on the plane," I thought........

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

My First Lap Baby Part 2

It's been two years since this happened so I can finally laugh at myself but I remember being SO OVERWHELMED without my husband trying to board a plane with a newly mobile toddler. Flying Southwest you don't get an assigned seat but luckily they board families first. I managed to get first in line so I could have the pick of any seats not taken by the Priority boarding group before me. When they let me in I ran for the back!

If I couldn't get the bulkhead seat or the exit row I wanted the very last seat in the plane for two reasons:

1) less chance that people will want to walk that far back for a seat so more likely to have an empty seat for DS1.
2) Close to bathroom and flight attendant staging area so I can take DS1 to stretch his legs for a few minutes when allowed.

Like I said in my last post, I didn't have a chance to buy any milk after we got through security before we had to board but I hoped they'd have some on board. A nice flight attendant came up to me while we were still getting seated and asked me if I needed anything.

Me: Yes, thank you. I'd like a milk please. (As soon as he heard the word milk my son started mumbling and looking around for it.)
Flight attendant: Oh we don't have any milk.
Me: Oh ok, I'll wait until drink service starts to get some.
Flight attendant: No I'm sorry we don't have any on the plane at all.

Hopes dashed. I have even bought a brand new Pooh Bear sippy cup for our journey.

When DS1 turned one we cut him off formula and bottles but he still drank about 30 ounces of whole milk every day in sippy cups. He liked solid food but at the same time he still associated milk with napping. The flight attendant brought me apple juice. He never had juice before and I thought it would be a treat but, alas, no. He tried it and then threw his sippy in anger. Poor guy.

I've since learned that TSA probably would have allowed me through security with a sippy full of milk but I couldn't decide if their exception for baby formula could be extended to toddlers with whole milk. Lesson learned.

I had packed so many books, my Kindle, etc. but DS1 didn't want to play with anything or eat anything. He just wanted to look around...which he did for 45 minutes while we sat on the tarmac with the doors closed. He was really well behaved! If only the plane had taken off on time. Instead we just sat there.

By the time the plane finally took off DS1 kept asking for milk and I kept on not giving it to him so he got frustrated and basically screeched at me for an hour. It was a LONG hour. Sorry fellow passengers. He finally passed out on my shoulder and slept for about an hour. This is the nice and the bad thing about lap babies. He was nice and comfortable but I couldn't move a muscle during that time.

(Incidentally on the way home we had an empty spot next to us so we put him in his car seat and he slept or played the whole way! If you have the money for a seat for your 1-2 year old I'd recommend it but we didn't at the time. C'est le vie.)

When DS1 woke up I let him walk up and down the aisles of the plane waking to people 4 or 5 times. It was only a four hour flight so not terrible but still exhausting.

We got to the airport and my husband met us. DS1 was so surprised to see him after a week apart! I ran to the bathroom to put on some shorts. Man is it hot in Orlando in October!

And that's the story of my first "lap baby" experience.

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

First Class Here We Come!

Since my inaugural flight to Disney with a child I've managed to fly (and survive) with kids three more times. It gets better every time. Mr. Incredible flies A LOT for his work....which brings me to an aspect of the trip I've excited about.....

WE ARE FLYING FIRST CLASS TO ORLANDO!

After flying halfway across the world this past year Mr. Incredible had enough miles for three upgrades to First Class on our flights. We got seats 2A, B and C. Of course I studied the plane's layout on Seatguru.com. Check it out:

And if your mind works like mine you're probably wondering why we couldn't have just gotten a "free" seat for the baby instead of three "free upgrades" to first class but apparently that would have cost 6,000,000 more points. So he'll be sitting on our laps. In first class! I hope the person seated at 2D likes kids.

As soon as we get on the plane I plan to present the boys with a few early Christmas presents:

The Junior Disney Encyclopedia of Animated Characters (to double as an autograph book)

and Disney Christmas Storybook Collection

and a little photo book of pictures from our 2014 trip I'm finally getting around to making it. I am hoping the Baby enjoys looking at it since his big brother was his size on our last trip.

Oh, and fun fact, I was 3.5-4 weeks pregnant on our last trip with him! How's that for Pixie Dust?!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Day #1 Travel + Whispering Canyon Café - December 23

We are staying at my parent's house the night of the 22nd so they can see the kids before Christmas and we are close to a hub airport. The next morning they will probably drive us to the airport.

Our flight is at 10:20 a.m. and the airport is 15 miles away so I hope we will leave by 8 a.m. sharp to get there with enough time to check luggage, feed kids and let them burn some energy before the flight. I'm thinking of getting Dash his very own carry-on to present him with for the trip. Something like this:

and maybe something like this for the Baby:

Isn't that cute? I'm just not sure if I want to pull the trigger on the suitcase since I usually pack all the kids' clothes in my suitcase and we don't exactly need a $50 suitcase because in a few years he may decide he's too old to carry Mickey.

Our flight gets in around 1:30 and it will be my very first time on the Magical Disney Express! I figure we will get to CBR a little too early to check into our room at 3 p.m., but not so early that the boys are ready to mutiny.

Once we get settled I will announce that it's time to get on another bus because I got us reservations at 5 p.m. for the Whispering Canyon Café!

I'm excited for this meal for two reasons:

1. I wanna see the Wilderness Lodge at Christmas

2. the food looks great! Bottomless milkshakes? All you can eat cornbread? Calories in Disneyworld don't count, right?

After dinner I'm sure we will all go back to CBR and sleep. At least the Baby will because he turns into an absolute zombie after 7 p.m.

BUT if Dash still wants to play I hope to take him to the Movie Under the Stars! This month they are showing the Fox and the Hound on Friday nights at CBR. Who knows what they will be showing next month but I'd love to check it out.

 

[ariane37]

Ooh first class, nice I love the Mickey suitcase. When my boys were little I went back and forth with getting them their own cute suitcases but I never did, and sadly now they're too old so I just use our regular ones So I say get them their special suitcases!
So glad you're going to see WL all decorated. We stayed there for the first time in August and fell in love, and I'm planning on making a special trip over there to see the decorations when we go in another 10 days. Everyone says it's gorgeous! I'm sure you know this but just in case you don't, there are no resort to resort busses so from CBR you can take the bus to MK and then boat or bus to WL for dinner at WCC

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Christmas Even Confusion...or How I Made Three ADRs for The Same Restaurant

I've been reading a lot on WDW trip planning and was very excited for my 180 ADR day. Maybe too excited. I read how important it was to get to the parks early and how you could even book a "pre-park opening" reservation. So that's what my plan was...get a pre-park opening reservation at Hollywood and Vine to meet the Disney Junior characters which, at the time of making the reservation weren't really on our radar but I figured it would be super kid friendly.

So I got an ADR at 8:30 a.m. Great, right?

Then I saw that I could reserve a lunch at Hollywood and Vine instead and get priority seating for Fantasmic. We went to Fantasmic in 2014 without priority seating and I remember it not being an issue but it being Christmas Eve I was nervous. So I booked that too for 12:15 p.m.. I figured I would choose which one we wanted more and cancel the other.

THEN...probably not the same day but at least during that first frantic week of reservation hunting...I saw this...

What? I can have Christmas Eve dinner with Minnie and Mickey and Santa Goofy?

So yeah I booked that one too...for 4:55 p.m.

I have three reservations to the same restaurant in a 7 hour period.

This was only supposed to be temporary. I was supposed to figure out how to fix this by now. But alas, several things have happened since this triple booking:

1. Disney changed the park hours for Hollywood Studios from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. So now what was a "pre-park opening" reservation is simply a reservation scheduled for the minute the park opens. Not as appealing. So I should just cancel it, right? Except...

2. Dash has gotten really into Doc McStuffins in the past month. So I am looking online and I can still make my reservation a little later in the day when the Disney Junior characters are around - or cancel it entirely. You can *probably* meet Doc McStuffins at the Animation Courtyard but the calendar for that hasn't been posted yet so I'm anxious that Hollywood and Vine breakfast is our only shot for Doc.

So if we have a late breakfast at Hollywood and Vine we definitely don't need to eat there for lunch but...

3. I can't seem to book a Fastpass for Fantasmic. Is this no longer an option? I know we can probably just get a seat like last time but it's Christmas Eve and I want to minimize stress. Also...

4. Jingle Bell Jingle Bam has since been announced and it sounds awesome! Except do I want to do that instead of Fantasmic? In addition to? It's supposed to be at 9 p.m. and Fantasmic is at 8 so theoretically we could make it, right?

What I really need to do is:

1. Move my 8:30 ADR at H&V to more like 10 so we can get to the park and get on some rides and then take a break but still meet Doc McStuffins.

2. Call Disney and make sure my Hollywood and Vine reservation counts towards Fantasmic seating because it wasn't an option when I booked but it says online that it should be.

3. Cancel lunch.

I actually don't mind eating the same place twice in one day because with two kids under 4 years old you are just happy to sit down and eat something but I'm definitely not eating there three times. I may cancel breakfast if I think we can meet Doc without a huge line that day.

Any words of advice before I make the changes? I've been hesitant to do so just in case Disney wants to mix things up again.

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

12/24 Update: Now only two Hollywood and Vine reservations!

I called Disney last night and tried to get them to change my dinner reservation to Fantasmic and cancel my Fantasmic lunch. Seems reasonable, right? I am already planning to eat dinner there and then to attend Fantasmic. So I can still do those two things all while freeing up a lunch reservation for someone else.

Nope. They said the Fantasmic dining reservation is subject to availability. "But I already have one!" I argued.

Anyway I ended up just moving my breakfast from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and cancelling lunch. DH thinks there's a good chance we won't even be around late enough for Fantasmic with two little kids so after dinner with Santa Goofy we may call it a night but I'm hoping we stick around for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

12/24 Christmas Even Hollywood Studios Plan

After (sort of) fixing my ADR mess I think I have a new plan for our first park day, which happens to be Christmas Eve. Here it is:

Arrive at Hollywood Studios at rope drop
Ride Toy Story Mania
Ride Tower of Terror with child swap (FP @9:15)
Hollywood and Vine Disney Junior breakfast @10
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (if time allows)
Ride Toy Story Mania again (FP @10:20)
Ride Star Tours (FP@ 12:20)
Muppet Vision 3D

:::Back to CBR and nap::::

Back to Hollywood Studios
Meet Olaf?
Minnie's Holiday Dine at H&V at 4:55 p.m.

Whatever the kids wants to do
Fantasmic @ 8 p.m.
Jingle Bell Jingle Bam @ 9 p.m.

:::Back to CBR and sleep:::

As much as I like Star Wars I think I'm going to skip the Launch Bay. It sounds like a time waster with two kids who would be scared of either Chewbaca or Darth Vader.

I'm also going to skip the Frozen sing a long. We did it last time and it was cute but not something I need to do again.

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Day Three - Christmas Day!

When I knew we were going at Christmas I thought I would make our one rest/hotel day on Christmas so as to not be dealing with massive crowds but then I wanted to sync up at least a few of our park days with the extended family on our trip so it turns out we are doing Animal Kingdom on Christmas Day!

It's the one park day I don't intend to rope drop because I think we can fit everything we want to do even if we show up late-ish. So here's the basic plan:

8:00 Wake up, open presents
10:00 Make our way to Animal Kingdom
12:00 FP for Kilimanjaro Safari
1:35 Lunch at Tusker House
(3:30 FP for Festival of the Lion King
4:45 FP for Expedition Everest )

But I'm not sure we'll stay past lunch. We may want to just book it back to the room and nap and then maybe hop to another park. I feel like I'm selling Animal Kingdom short but I was just there two years ago and I'm sure the kids don't care.

Maybe we will take a good nap and then go see Illuminations?

This is my one "don't really care about the plan" planned day.

 

[thumper*]

Hi Mrs. Incredible followed you over from my pretrip report. Sounds like you are planning an awesome trip. Looking forward to reading the rest of the plan. Are you guys thinking about going to MVMCP?

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Hi Mrs. Incredible followed you over from my pretrip report. Sounds like you are planning an awesome trip. Looking forward to reading the rest of the plan. Are you guys thinking about going to MVMCP?

Hi!

No the last party day is the night before we arrive. I thought about switching around our days but it's probably for the best if we don't try to go to a party with young kids. My one year old turns into a monster at the crack of 7:30 p.m. I'm nervous about doing any nighttime planning so I definitely won't be shelling out money for party tickets til I know if Disney magic works on him.

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

As soon as we get on the plane I plan to present the boys with a few early Christmas presents:

The Junior Disney Encyclopedia of Animated Characters (to double as an autograph book)

and Disney Christmas Storybook Collection

and a little photo book of pictures from our 2014 trip I'm finally getting around to making it. I am hoping the Baby enjoys looking at it since his big brother was his size on our last trip.

I'm quoting myself.

These books I linked above are normally around $14 but I just saw a Black Friday ad that says all of the Disney Treasury books are on sale IN STORES ONLY on Black Friday for $6. I've actually never really done Black Friday. I think I've gone to Target the night of Black Friday but that was 12+ hours after the masses had departed. I never really needed anything that bad that I would take time out of my holiday to wait on line and deal with crowds.

But....

it's tempting...especially since Toys R Us also has a bunch of stuff my little guys would love on sale that day. Like this...

Oh wow the boys would love this thing. I think I would hate it. It folds up though. I'm not really sure where we are going to be on Thanksgiving or the day after right now as family plans are up in the air. If we are at my parent's house there's no way I'm going to their Toys R Us. I hate to exaggerate but I wouldn't go there on a good day. They put it in such a way that you have to practically be on the on ramp of a major highway to cut a 180 degree turn to get to the store. It's hard to explain but it gives me so much anxiety to even think of driving there, much less on a crazy traffic day. It's in Yonkers, NY in case anyone knows what I'm talking about.

Speaking of Black Friday, the Disney Store is running their sales already and I got the boys the cutest sweaters. I think we will wear these Christmas Eve. Heck if they keep them clean we'll wear them again on Christmas Day.

for the Baby and

for the three year old. They're so cute. I can't wait til they get here. I also bought a $10 snow globe.

 

[katriscari]

Following along! I'd love to go over Christmas in the future! Excited to see how everything turns out!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

It's beginning to look a lot like Shopmas

I'm still waiting to get the boy's Christmas sweaters from the Disney store (btw why isn't the web site showing me the shipping details? That bugs me). Anyway it's only been a week and we have 4.5 weeks until we travel so there's plenty of time.

While I'm waiting though I also bought this shirt for each boy from Target:

Because cute! And also they were only $8.99 so I couldn't help myself.

I also got a set of three lanyard/coin purse combos from Amazon. These are cute and play into my aspirations to start pin trading!

I'll take the pink one and the boys can have the red and blue ones. I'm gonna buy a cheap set of pins to trade and split them between the three of us. I think pin trading will be a fun activity to do together. I already collect pins inspired by bands and music that I like and I enjoy finding unique ones to add to my collection.

We decided to go down and visit my parents for Thanksgiving this week. My mother wants to hold Christmas for the boys since we will be in Disney for the actual holidays. With that being said, I think we will keep their gifts on Christmas Day to a bare minimum. I'm hoping to get a few stockings to bring with us and fill them with small toys. Dash is getting a bike but we told him Santa is leaving it at home for when we get back.

Just being at Disney World is a gift!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

Strolling Along - Transporting Kids At Disney

Last night my husband was looking through our bank account and asked "so why did we rent a stroller for Disney again?"

I recently placed our order to rent a double stroller from Kingdom Strollers for the week and I'm very happy with the decision even if my husband is scratching his head and saying "we already have a stroller."

You see we have a very nice Uppbaby Vista stroller that we took with us to Disney last time and it was great. Dash napped in it and we stored a soft cooler and all of our assorted junk in the spacious bottom cargo compartment. Now that we have the baby we have purchased the rumble seat for it and use it every day walking the kids to daycare even in the cold NY winter. It's a work horse stroller. It looks like this with both seats attached:

So why would I shell out the money to rent a stroller when I already have one I love? Because Disney!

Actually the problem is that I have a dream...a dream in which both of my children fall asleep at the same time and my husband and I could sit and relax, maybe wait for fireworks or enjoy an adult beverage. And that dream was not going to happen with the non-reclining bottom seat. They don't complain about it currently but it's not a very comfortable seat. For Disney, however, I have upgraded us to a City Mini GT Double. Here's a picture of 90's pop singer Mark McGrath using one, because why not:

It will be delivered to Bell Services at Caribbean Beach so we will pick it up when we arrive. I think we will bring a small umbrella stroller to use in the airport too.

At the same time I am trying to locate our baby carriers that the kids never really cared for. When Dash was a baby someone gave me a Boba Air that I used exactly one time but I think I need it for this trip. It's lightweight and folds up like a poncho so I can stuff it in my diaper bag. Wish me luck finding it. The baby doesn't even like me to hold him unless he's tired but he's never stood in a long line before either.

I also have an Ergo somewhere but I think I lent it to my sister. One month from tomorrow we fly!

 

[MinnieLovesTigger]

It's beginning to look a lot like Shopmas

I'm still waiting to get the boy's Christmas sweaters from the Disney store (btw why isn't the web site showing me the shipping details? That bugs me). Anyway it's only been a week and we have 4.5 weeks until we travel so there's plenty of time.

While I'm waiting though I also bought this shirt for each boy from Target:

Because cute! And also they were only $8.99 so I couldn't help myself.

I also got a set of three lanyard/coin purse combos from Amazon. These are cute and play into my aspirations to start pin trading!

I'll take the pink one and the boys can have the red and blue ones. I'm gonna buy a cheap set of pins to trade and split them between the three of us. I think pin trading will be a fun activity to do together. I already collect pins inspired by bands and music that I like and I enjoy finding unique ones to add to my collection.

We decided to go down and visit my parents for Thanksgiving this week. My mother wants to hold Christmas for the boys since we will be in Disney for the actual holidays. With that being said, I think we will keep their gifts on Christmas Day to a bare minimum. I'm hoping to get a few stockings to bring with us and fill them with small toys. Dash is getting a bike but we told him Santa is leaving it at home for when we get back.

Just being at Disney World is a gift!

That's the cutest t-shirt I've even seen. I want one in my size!