TinksThree
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2009
It's a Marshmallow World...at New Year's!
Welcome one and all to my latest trip report! I feel as though I am on a never ending report writing trip since I have had so many trips over the last few years! But that is a good thing, right!? Who knows when we will return so for now...I will relish in my memories of our New Year's Week trip as I tell our story!!
Introductions!!
Perhaps I should begin by introducing my clan!
This trip included myself, my DH Keith, my DS Chris and DD Madison.
Chris completed Basic Training in the Army and graduated this past Thanksgiving. He is currently in AIT but got two weeks off for Christmas. (More on that later since it plays heavily into the story!)
Madison is a senior in high school and now that her last semester of high school has begun we are knee deep in college decisions and all of the craziness that goes with a graduating senior!
Why on Earth do you choose New Year's Week!?!?!
The road to this trip was bumpy with lots of changes, adjustments, and "will we go" questions along the way! I actually began planning the trip last April. I really wanted to go during Christmas and see the decorations. Normally we go to Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving but we were going over the July 4th holiday so we decided Thanksgiving week would be perfect!
It was going to be only Keith, Madison and myself since we knew Chris would be (likely) busy with the Army. Although I included him in all reservations since we weren't 100% sure! We were booked at Port Orleans Riverside (this is Keith's favorite resort so far!). I had the best ADRs...everything I wanted and exactly when I wanted them!!
Fast forward to July and Chris is sworn into the Army and receives his ship date. We see that Thanksgiving for him is out, so we make a few changes: instead of POR we are now booked at Boardwalk!!! This has just become my dream vacation! I had so many awesome things planned for this 9 day trip!!!
Ah...but some things are still unknown and when Chris shipped off to Basic Training in September we were still not sure until he went through processing: graduation would be the day before Thanksgiving. Well, that pretty much makes this dream vacation a wash out!
I begrudgingly cancelled my wonderful ADRs, said so long to seeing Gary Sinise at Candlelight Processional and sadly let go of my most desired resort!
But we also learned that Chris would have two weeks off at Christmas so the decision was made to go the week after Christmas. Only now I have booked at POR at a higher rate... Now I am going to skip over the many back and forths we went through!
Originally, the plan was to beat WDW December 28 - January 4. Chris had to return to Missouri on January 3 so we were going to fly him from Orlando. But logistics in travel made this a non-option and a round trip ticket was our only choice.
Plus there was the whole cost issue...I am used to going on military discount rates and this time period was blacked out. So again to make a long story short:
Keith did not want to cancel and suggested POP Century and shorter days. Now we had stayed at POP October 2012 and I found it fine but Keith was not thrilled. So needless to say, this decision shocked me!
Now our new plans: December 28 - January 2 at POP Century (And thus began my many,many, many lectures of "It WILL be CROWDED!!!" We went with the mind set we may not do anything but stand in lines...do we?!
(Oh and on a side note about costs, our shorter trip at POP for 4 was close to what I was paying for 3 at Boardwalk the week of Thanksgiving... It's a scam!!! )
This meant letting go of a few ADRs I was looking forward to: Hollywood Brown Derby, Raglan Road, Liberty Tree Tavern and Chefs de France. I still had Be Our Guest though due to my constant haunting of the Reservation website!
Alright enough talk! I want to get to sharing!! I will have many opinions though on several topics! We had Fastpass Plus only, Magic Bands, My Disney Experience app experiences and the new dining cancellations rules during our visit just to mention a few! But we also tried some new restaurants along with some old as well as some new treats! Oh and along the way...well, I didn't get to do a lot that I wanted to do and what about those awful crowds because really...WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND goes the week between Christmas and New Years?! Plus lots of pictures and in some cases the amount of photos may be slightly obnoxious!
Now on with the show!!!