Honey lets take the kids out of school - First December visit 2021

tehSAC

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 6, 2011
Hey hey! I'm Paul and I'm a long time lurker, with a few trip reports under my belt (links in signature). Love reading all of your reports and decided to just get this pre-report trip thread started. Pretty early but hoping this will give me a place to ask some specific questions, update, and eventually turn into a full on Trip Report.

Last year my Brother In Law gifted us his DVC points at Riviera for a trip in December. Well, unless you have been living under a rock, COVID kinda put a kink in those plans last year. We decided mid June that we would cancel and try again for this year. My wife is an ICU nurse at the local hospital and we have taken this very serious from the beginning. Thankfully the girls were on board and we don't regret the decision at all. Our trip this year is from the 4th to the 9th, and will be our first visit during the christmas holidays. Something my wife has always expressed she wanted to do. So i'm crossing my fingers we will get a christmas party this year and possibly on the 4th as well. Again we will be staying in Riviera and we are eager to see the resort. Some of us would like to stay at the Poly or AKL again, but I'm not sure we will attempt to move our points to one of those resorts. Dining, and such isn't something we have discussed, but last year we wanted to do CRT for breakfast for my little one. Last trip we couldn't land that reservation so hopefully we can this time. With my wifes schedule we have decided to take our kids out of school for the week. They will be taking their chrome books with them to keep up on school work while we are away. The intention is to take mid-day breaks to tackle any work their teachers will be posting throughout the day. Might be a challenge, but we are up for it.

As a family we have only been once, and that was in the fall of 2017. My youngest was 2 going on 3, so she doesn't remember a whole lot. Since then I have been one other time with my sister and we were there only 2 days as I was in town for a conference. Now that I type that I forgot to post that report all together. DOH! Also, in October in 2019, my oldest daughter and I were in Tokyo, one day after Typhoon Hagibis. We did not have intentions of visiting either of the Tokyo parks, but because of damage to rails near Mt. Fuji, it kept us from visiting that area. So instead we decided to spend the day at Tokyo Disney Sea. Looking back I'm glad we had the opportunity to see this park.

So there is a little backstory.....

My wife and I

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This year will be our 18th year of marriage. As I said before, she is an ICU nurse, and I work in the engineering field. She isn't a huge theme park fan, but does love Its a Small World. This trip will be my 23rd time to be in a Disney Park. I'm looking forward to seeing the parks during the Christmas season. I also have way too many hobbies, one includes keeping a nano reef. So visiting the Living Seas at Epcot is one of my favorite pavilions.

Lorelai

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My oldest and the sweetest little girl out there. Yea I’m biased. Lo loves anything and everything to do with Flamingo’s, Softball, and making people smile. She also has recently started to create digital art for her and her sisters teepublic site. If you are interested in seeing her work, send me a message. I wont clog the thread up with that. :)


Ella aka Eggs


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This little angel is in her first year of grade school. She loves her pets, loves to dress up, and wants to follow in her sisters footsteps of playing softball.

So there it is, there we are. Hope to continue to update this thread going forward, and share our trip with you in the future!
 
I guess I should have asked in the beginning.

Being a skyliner ride away from epcot and hollywood studios, how much should I pressure my wife to go for Park Hoppers?
 
Getting closer to our dates. Waiting to see what the Christmas Party Dates will be this year. Have those been released and I missed it?
 


No dates yet. We will be there about a week after you (we hope) and are eagerly awaiting party dates too.
 
July 30th, we were really considering waiting another year.....

However a few days later, we went ahead a purchased our airfare. Sooo WOO HOO!

This morning was our 60 day out, so I wanted to get a few dining reservations made. At midnight tonight I tried to get Space 220 for December 5th, and unfortunately none to be had. :( :( Want to surprise my space loving oldest a meal here, but no luck, so far. I will continue to try.

I did land a few reservations. Oga for late night drink, and Beaches and Cream for a lunch on the day we leave. All spots that we have never experienced. Any other reservations we should consider? Still wanting a Space 220 and Sci-Fi reservation.

So here we are 60 days to go. We are excited, and hopeful crowds will not be huge for the first week of December.
 
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We are headed out in 31 days! Please critique our days. Also looking for suggestions for possible dining.

Our plan is as such:

4th - Arrive and Relax at Resort. Possibly visit Disney Springs.

5th - AK in Morning, park hop to HS.
  • If unable to score a lunch for Sci Fi on the 7th, hoping to get a dinner for this evening.
6th - EPCOT, afternoon break/swim, EPCOT in Evening and take advantage of Extra Hours
  • Trying to score a Space 220 Lunch or Dinner
7th - HS
  • May purchase Genie+ depending on crowds
  • Will purchase LL for Rise
  • Oga's for evening drink, and for experience
  • Building Droids after Oga's
  • Trying to score a Sci Fi lunch. No success yet. :(
8th - MK , afternoon break/swim, MK in Evening and take advantage of Extra Hours
  • May purchase Genie+ depending on crowds
  • Depending on crowds may purchase LL for SDMT
  • Dinner at Skipper Canteen
9th - Checkout day, Beaches and Cream for Lunch
 
Have now given up on trying to score a Space 220 reservation.

We will stick with Oga's & Beaches for sure. Will probably drop Skipper as well. If we can get a Sci-Fi Reservation I will add it, but not holding my breath.

It's really feeling like it will be a busy week.... I'm just hoping we can get done what we want to accomplish. This week we are going to sit down and have everyone choose three attractions they must do in each park. That way if it's busy we hit these first and whatever we do after that is just icing on the cake.
 
i'm also going to disney dec 3-11 to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary, and will be my first time for christmas as well!! we also could not get space 220, but will try for the lounge so fingers crossed for that. we'll also be at AK on the 5th lol. hope you have a great time!!

btw i love your oldest daughters name, if i ever have a daughter Lorelai is what i've had picked out since i was in 10th grade and gilmore girls just came on the air!!
 
i'm also going to disney dec 3-11 to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary, and will be my first time for christmas as well!! we also could not get space 220, but will try for the lounge so fingers crossed for that. we'll also be at AK on the 5th lol. hope you have a great time!!

btw i love your oldest daughters name, if i ever have a daughter Lorelai is what i've had picked out since i was in 10th grade and gilmore girls just came on the air!!

Awesome, I hope you enjoy your trip. A longer trip than ours, but hopefully we all have a good time.

Haha Gilmore Girls is where we got the name from.
 
Awesome, I hope you enjoy your trip. A longer trip than ours, but hopefully we all have a good time.

Haha Gilmore Girls is where we got the name from.
yeah we just became DVC members so we're super excited, and its just the 2 of us so long trips for now until we have children.

it's such a beautiful name!!
 
So I've modified ADR's. Still hoping for Sci-Fi on the 5th for Dinner, or Lunch on the 7th.

Other than that, the only ADR's we have are Oga's, Skipper Canteen, and Beaches. I dropped Trails End, Mama Melrose, and Steakhouse 71. We did want to do Space 220, but I think we will snack around the world in Epcot, and bring along sandwiches for lunches the other days. Personally we are a snacking family anyway, and would prefer to maximize our time enjoying attractions.

We also have decided to cancel our Droid Depot Reservation, mainly because we found a Savi's opening during our visit.
 
So I've modified ADR's. Still hoping for Sci-Fi on the 5th for Dinner, or Lunch on the 7th.

Other than that, the only ADR's we have are Oga's, Skipper Canteen, and Beaches. I dropped Trails End, Mama Melrose, and Steakhouse 71. We did want to do Space 220, but I think we will snack around the world in Epcot, and bring along sandwiches for lunches the other days. Personally we are a snacking family anyway, and would prefer to maximize our time enjoying attractions.

We also have decided to cancel our Droid Depot Reservation, mainly because we found a Savi's opening during our visit.
oh thanks that reminds me, i have to try to make a droid depot reservation!!
 
This morning I added a 9:30 ADR for Boma, however I'm not sure about it. Mainly because we would not be able to park drop AK. Not sure if Rope Dropping AK is necessary for our trip. Especially on a Sunday. Our first couple of park days we are not expecting to Rope Drop. I don't feel RD'ing AK and Epcot is necessary. Please let me know if I'm making a mistake.
 
Just a little over a week before we are back in Florida!!

Updated Plan

4th - Arrive and Relax at Resort.
  • If warm let the kids swim
  • Order Groceries for delivery. Snacks and such for lunches in park.
  • Bus to Magic Kingdom and Monorail to GF to see Gingerbread House and Deco
  • Bus from GF to HS and Skyliner back to Resort

5th - Animal Kingdom Day
  • Given up on Sci-Fi lunch for this day. Will just bring lunch with us and have snacks here and there.
  • Hop to HS and hop onto anything we can that has low waits.
  • Savi's appointment at 8:45 that evening.
  • Enjoy the park slowly as we will be there after hours.
6th - EPCOT
  • Boma Breakfast at 9:20. Excited to see the Deco at AKL
  • afternoon break/swim or hop to MK, EPCOT in Evening and take advantage of Extra Hours
  • Was trying to score a Space 220 Lunch or Dinner, but have since given up.
7th - Hollywood StudiosS
  • May purchase Genie+ depending on crowds
  • Will purchase LL for Rise
  • Oga's for evening drink, and for experience.
  • Building Droids after Oga's (Maybe)
  • Trying to score a Sci Fi lunch. No success yet. :(
8th - MK , afternoon break/swim, MK in Evening and take advantage of Extra Hours
  • May purchase Genie+ depending on crowds
  • Depending on crowds may purchase LL for SDMT
  • Dinner at Skipper Canteen
9th - Checkout day
  • Beaches and Cream for Lunch
  • Possibly visit Disney Springs
  • Flight at 7:50 PM
 
We just returned from our trip. I will be updating this as a trip report soon. Mods could you please move?

a hint to come:

Magical Snail-press
Strollers into ankles
Roaches
Drinks with Scum and Villainy
A rebel spy named boo
Family demise at the beach
Emergency above the caribbean
Toby, do you have too....
 
July 30th, we were really considering waiting another year.....

However a few days later, we went ahead a purchased our airfare. Sooo WOO HOO!

This morning was our 60 day out, so I wanted to get a few dining reservations made. At midnight tonight I tried to get Space 220 for December 5th, and unfortunately none to be had. :( :( Want to surprise my space loving oldest a meal here, but no luck, so far. I will continue to try.

I did land a few reservations. Oga for late night drink, and Beaches and Cream for a lunch on the day we leave. All spots that we have never experienced. Any other reservations we should consider? Still wanting a Space 220 and Sci-Fi reservation.

So here we are 60 days to go. We are excited, and hopeful crowds will not be huge for the first week of December.

Just so you know for your next trip…dining opens at 6 am, not midnight! Wish it was though, as a night owl! Looking forward to reading your report.
 

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