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A Disney December Trip Report

March 17, 2019

So many of my readers ask me the same thing: “What does a typical Disney trip look like for you guys.” Something I make sure to express over and over is that every Disney trip is different, and every family does Disney a little differently! I’ve talked about some of the things we’ve done and how we do Disney with little kids, but wanted to give my adult-only or adults with grown children readers a look into how fun Disney can be for adults! 

It’s been a long time (almost 7 years) since Kevin and I have done adult Disney (man I miss it!!!), so I’ve teamed up with my friend Cindy to give you a glimpse into an adult Disney trip report! Not only does Cindy get to do Disney different than we do, she is a DVC owner and annual pass holder. Couple that with her semi-retired professional life (hello flexibility!), and her trips are something even I covet! I think you’ll really enjoy reading about her adventures!

A DISNEY DECEMBER TRIP!

Day 1

We scheduled a trip to Disney in December 2018 for 2 reasons. First, we “had” to go to initiate our annual passes I purchased with a significant DVC discount in January of 2018. The stipulation was the first day of use had to be before December 30th. The other reason was my son, Seth who is a freshman in college would be off then.

There were 4 of us, My husband Gary, myself, my son Seth and his friend Em. Our other usual traveling companions, my daughter and her boyfriend would be unable to join us as they were going to Egypt for the holidays and couldn’t take more time off of work. I was unable to get one hotel for the 4 nights of our stay using DVC points, and so for the first time “in forever’ (sorry couldn’t resist), we had a split stay between Animal Kingdom Kidani Village and Bay Lake Tower. (More to follow on our experiences with a split stay).

We only live 20 minutes from the airport but with a 7:30 am Southwest flight, we had to leave the house by 5:30! Ugh! But since this was my first trip since I retired, I wore my new favorite Disney shirt and carried my new Mickey suitcase that my colleagues bought as a retirement gift! Much better than a gold watch, and that made it all good!

We got to the airport with plenty of time, had a little breakfast at the airport, our flight was on time and we got into Orlando a little after 10. We used Disney’s Magical Express to travel to our first hotel, AKL. (Regarding photos, the teenagers have learned resistance is futile, just stop and smile and the pain will be over quicker)!

Our plans for day one were to check into the hotel and then head for Hollywood Studios. We got the most coveted of text messages on the way to the hotel, telling us our room was ready! We went directly there passing through the magnificent lobby and admiring the very tall tree. (Sorry the picture for the tree does not do it justice because the sun was behind it).

 

We had requested a Savanna-facing, one-bedroom villa near the lobby. The reason for requesting close to the lobby is my husband has terrible knees and I try everything I can to reduce the distance he has to walk while we are at Disney. We arrived to find a wonderful room facing the Savanna as requested. I apologize I didn’t get a picture of the view, but it was great.  We purchased groceries from Garden Grocer and we waited for bell services to bring them up, and then we were on our way to HS.

 

HS has been undergoing construction recently, prepping for the new Disney Skyliner, and the buses drop people off a huge distance from the front entrance. We learned that car share services are able to drop people much closer to the entrance so we took an Uber instead of the Disney bus. (It got us there much quicker, is cheap and much closer to the main entrance).  We had time to shop before our first FastPass (Tower of Terror), so shop we did!  We then rode ToT and then Seth and Em used the single rider lane and rode Rock’n’Roller Coaster. After those 2 exciting rides, we couldn’t resist stopping at a popcorn stand and bought a BB8 drink for Seth, the Pluto popcorn bucket for me, and Em got the Toy Story Green Alien bucket.  While Seth and Em used our next scheduled FP on Star Tours, Gary decided the “kids” needed a lecture!

I do most of the planning for our Disney trips and have learned along the way that the happiest of trips involves everyone getting something on their wish list. So, prior to planning I ask what restaurants they would like, and what Fast Passes they want. If they have any special requests, I try to build them in also. Seth’s request for dining was “anything Italian,” so today was Seth’s day. Up next was an early dinner at Mama Melrose’s Italian restaurant. We were using the Disney Dining Plan, so this was a perfect one credit table service meal where we all enjoyed a pasta dish!

And now, in my humble opinion the most fun part of this day, we were headed to Toy story Land for our next scheduled FP — Slinky Dog Dash! (We ran into these amazing guys on our way in!)

 

I have to divert here for a moment to tell how I came to obtain this most coveted FP. On my day to be able to reserve Fast Passes I happened to be visiting my daughter in Sacramento (of course) and since the FP window opens at 7 am EST, I was up and at my computer at 3:45 am with the 3 hour time difference!!! And, much to my dismay, did not get one stinkin FP that I wanted that day.  No SDD, no 7DMT, and no FOP! I was verrryy disappointed, but how I obtained SDD and the other ones I wanted, was to haunt the My Disney Experience App about 18 hours a day repeatedly refreshing. Over the next few weeks I got them all with a bit of effort. Go me!

 

Anyway, back to the SDD ride. We got there and the stand by line wrapped all the way out of the ride area, back to the character meet and greets! (So glad we had those Fast Passes!!). The ride was absolutely awesome, and we all agreed a great time!

By then we were all tired from our 5 am start, so headed out of the park back to our hotel. When we got back to the room, there was a wonderful treat waiting for us (sent to us by our good friend Meagan who happens to own this excellent blog) — a beautiful cooler bag with a Mickey emblem on the front and filled with tasty treats!

Well, we had an excellent first day at Disney. Tomorrow’s Magic Kingdom day!

 

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