dimndgal1
One little spark...
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2010
Mission plan a Disney trip for 12 with my in-laws during the craziest time of the year. To make it more fun, throw in 2 18 month olds, 2 non-Disney fans, and 8 novice Disney goers.
Backstory Christmas is a big deal to my in-laws but they reside in the amazingly cold Rocky Mountains so last year the idea was tossed out to find a more temperate location to celebrate the holidays. This idea took off and ran when word came out that my crew would be moving to Japan in early 2015. Somehow, in all this, Disney became the front-runner I didnt know whether to be excited or curl up in fear.
Knowing I was in above my head, I touched base with a TA I knew through a friend and worked with her on getting all our ducks in gear to make some magic. We originally booked 4 rooms at POFQ in February 14 and crossed our fingers for a discount. Finally, a few months later, magic happened and we were able to grab FREE DINING at Coronado Springs for all four rooms for the week of Dec 20-27!!! SCORE! CSR had been my first choice because I thought the toned down Disneyness would appeal to the less Mouse-friendly family, the pool looked great, and the food choices at Pepper Market suited our needs well.
Dining since we were able to grab FD, it became a lot easier to plan out some great experiences for the family on their trip. Having done Disney with some family previously, I learned that time together is best spent in small doses, so we decided on only a few meals together as a group. This helped both in planning and in sanity! Some of the requirements for the meals were: MIL really wanted to eat at Germany, two people wanted a traditional Christmas dinner while 5 people specifically did not, 6 of the group had loved their meal at T-Rex before so wanted to do it again, and I wanted to do one character meal so that everyone could see the kiddos with Mickey. Thus, the meals we decided on as a group were Biergarten for lunch, Chef Mickeys for Christmas brunch, Raglan Rd for Christmas Dinner, and T-Rex for our final meal of the trip.
Also, deciding to hedge my bets, I booked a CP package for my crew and my MIL, FIL, and aunt which turned out to be a good bet as we all agree it was something worth doing again!
Fastpass + - I had been fortunate enough to already be planning a trip in September of this year that would let us have a taste of FP+ before the booking window for our Christmas trip opened. This proved extremely beneficial as we learned the pros and cons of the system and how to incorporate it with our touring style that said, I still ended up beating my head against the wall several times before and during our trip with FP+ and really do miss the days of Fastpass runners . *sigh*
Memory Maker a no brainer considering the size of the group and the fact its a family trip! Still, for anyone on the fence, its totally worth doing if for no other reason than it gets your photographer (in this case, me) to put the camera down and enjoy. I am often accused of living life behind the lens and hubby thinks $150 is a cheap price for a family vacation. I still snap some shots with my point and shoot but since we started doing Memory Maker I take ¼ the photos and we always end up with over 300 pics from the trip. Besides, theres nothing more amazing than that photo of your childs terror at their first RnR launch or the video of them giggling hysterically on ToT!
Backstory Christmas is a big deal to my in-laws but they reside in the amazingly cold Rocky Mountains so last year the idea was tossed out to find a more temperate location to celebrate the holidays. This idea took off and ran when word came out that my crew would be moving to Japan in early 2015. Somehow, in all this, Disney became the front-runner I didnt know whether to be excited or curl up in fear.
Knowing I was in above my head, I touched base with a TA I knew through a friend and worked with her on getting all our ducks in gear to make some magic. We originally booked 4 rooms at POFQ in February 14 and crossed our fingers for a discount. Finally, a few months later, magic happened and we were able to grab FREE DINING at Coronado Springs for all four rooms for the week of Dec 20-27!!! SCORE! CSR had been my first choice because I thought the toned down Disneyness would appeal to the less Mouse-friendly family, the pool looked great, and the food choices at Pepper Market suited our needs well.
Dining since we were able to grab FD, it became a lot easier to plan out some great experiences for the family on their trip. Having done Disney with some family previously, I learned that time together is best spent in small doses, so we decided on only a few meals together as a group. This helped both in planning and in sanity! Some of the requirements for the meals were: MIL really wanted to eat at Germany, two people wanted a traditional Christmas dinner while 5 people specifically did not, 6 of the group had loved their meal at T-Rex before so wanted to do it again, and I wanted to do one character meal so that everyone could see the kiddos with Mickey. Thus, the meals we decided on as a group were Biergarten for lunch, Chef Mickeys for Christmas brunch, Raglan Rd for Christmas Dinner, and T-Rex for our final meal of the trip.
Also, deciding to hedge my bets, I booked a CP package for my crew and my MIL, FIL, and aunt which turned out to be a good bet as we all agree it was something worth doing again!
Fastpass + - I had been fortunate enough to already be planning a trip in September of this year that would let us have a taste of FP+ before the booking window for our Christmas trip opened. This proved extremely beneficial as we learned the pros and cons of the system and how to incorporate it with our touring style that said, I still ended up beating my head against the wall several times before and during our trip with FP+ and really do miss the days of Fastpass runners . *sigh*
Memory Maker a no brainer considering the size of the group and the fact its a family trip! Still, for anyone on the fence, its totally worth doing if for no other reason than it gets your photographer (in this case, me) to put the camera down and enjoy. I am often accused of living life behind the lens and hubby thinks $150 is a cheap price for a family vacation. I still snap some shots with my point and shoot but since we started doing Memory Maker I take ¼ the photos and we always end up with over 300 pics from the trip. Besides, theres nothing more amazing than that photo of your childs terror at their first RnR launch or the video of them giggling hysterically on ToT!