Christmas 2012 Day 10 & Beyond

[disnifiedmarge]

Christmas 2012 Day 10 Thoughts & Plans

The alarm (which has not been heard since early on 12/22) went off at 4:45 am. Bell Services picked up our luggage and us at 7:15 for the trip up to the Hospitality House. Magical Express left OKW @ 7:50. Our Spirit Airlines flight to Atlantic City departed on time at 10:40 am. We arrived home safely @ 1 pm.

Random thoughts about this trip: Before the holiday is much quieter in the parks than we expected. Cooler weather makes Disney a lot more enjoyable for us, and we do way more things in each park. My selected group of Facebook family & friends seemed to enjoy the live status updates as we traveled around the world, and it was a fun way for me to keep track of what we did and when for trip report writing. The iPhone 5 is a great camera and a very handy traveling tool. Staying on property is awesome. Disney transportation continues to amaze me. The Christmas decorations in the deluxe resorts and in each park are dazzling, well -themed, and a perfectly good reason in and of themselves to go to Disney for Christmas vacation. We love relaxing in the mornings, not setting alarm clocks for anything except to catch airplanes, and doing the parks in the later afternoons into the evenings. Nighttime in each of the 4 parks is extra magical. Planning our dining choices 180 days in advance was a GREAT idea; we saw many disappointed people turned away from the restaurants in the parks. Sanaa was the best surprise of the trip, it was FANTASTIC. We loved every single thing about it. Staying in Kidani Village sounds like a top notch idea! Our timing flowed easily, and it was great to just let the trip unfold without running around like nuts. We did a lot of walking, but didn't do anything in a rush. Overall, this Disney trip was the stuff of dreams.

Here are some other pics from the trip: (Thank Jennie for these, she encourages me to attach them so non-FB users could enjoy!)

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/F262316F-ACD3-477F-8F1A-39367228F733-143-0000000DCE8C1C37.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/C59CB934-D68C-45C4-B540-42487C3163B9-143-0000000DA646332E.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/8C80EACC-2887-489B-9D3F-E5C2412325D0-143-0000000D729AC055.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/D6829432-5152-4A31-9673-2CCAE1C903C8-143-0000000D510DDC75.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/37F5FD42-4B77-4195-90FD-8B1B1C69928F-143-0000000D32A7C1E7.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/09E40CBE-1744-499A-8B1D-73C61CF815AA-143-0000000CAAFDE406.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/20C25307-1377-4BEC-B5F1-DFE34E63F4C6-143-0000000C25CB75F1.jpg"][/IMG]

[img src="http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/DisnifiedMarge/73E62D3B-4104-459E-BA5A-A8E87E8C95DC-143-0000000BFC1E9681.jpg"][/IMG]




Things to Consider for Next Trip

-Breakfast @ Kouzzina
-One early a.m. @ Studios to catch Toy Story Mania
-Another meal @ Sanaa
-Use DVC points to stay @ Kidani Village
-Do Pangani Trail to see the Silverbacks
-Watch Wishes from Polynesian Beach
-Get a picture of Pooh & Me for J.S.

I would appreciate suggestions/ideas for next time from any of my friends here @ MT. I value your opinions, which I know are based on your experiences and our shared reverence for all things Disney. Thanks for reading!

[ilovdisney]

Wow I can''t believe you got it all done in a day. Very nice. I really enjoyed reading along on the live reports. Thank for doing that. You all had a great trip at one of the best times to be there. Thanks for letting me "go" along with you two.

[susanm]

you guys get lots done in a day. i personally dont park hop.....i stay all day in one park and do as much as i can in that park. when it got too hot (July 4th week that was almost every day) i would go back to the resort for a while to cool off and chill out. i took a taxi to the outlet mall (cost about $8 from DTD) and got some good buys there. we really should get a trip going ( in 2 or 3 years) and arrange a MTers meet. that would be cool... thanks for sharing your trip....

[sydney]

Thanks for sharing your trip- I really needed a Disney fix! We don't really park hop either, but you gave me some great ideas for next time. We keep saying we need to take time to do non-park stuff. I would love to go closer to actual Christmas, but my job and the kids' schedules don't permit that right now. Do you know when they actually put Christmas decorations up at the resorts? That's something I'd love to see. Glad ya'll had such a magical trip! Thanks again!

[disnifiedmarge]

I think the decorations go up a little at a time during the first 2 weeks of November. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party started on 11/9 this year. I'm pretty sure everything was decorated by then.

[crispy]

Thanks for the tip on Sanaa. I need to try it!

[McDuck]

Really enjoyed reading your trip report! Sounds like a very great time! I'm glad to hear you weren't too badly hampered by crowds. I gathered from the DIS it got pretty hairy at certain parks over a few days.

[disnifiedmarge]

Jennie, the parks (especially MK) got really crowded after Christmas Day. On Thursday we were in AK, but heard from a friend that MK was at capacity & closed by 1 pm. Crazy busy.

[teacups]

I really enjoyed reading all of your trip report. You got alot done.