December in Disney World

[faline]

December 8, 2015
Tuesday

After an absence of more than a year, we are returning to Disney World!! We made our reservations in June. I had thought about going in January or February but Gene wanted to be there during the holiday time so December it was. This was before we discovered this would be the last year for the Osborne Lights. Well, that works out, I guess!!

Initially, I only made a couple of dining reservations and then added a couple more along the way. I'm sure we won't go hungry.

This is somewhat of a bargain trip for us. Flights - had enough points for free airfare one way. Additionally, because a flight earlier this year had been seriously delayed, we each had a $50 travel credit which we were able to apply to the return flight home. Accommodations - we own Disney Vacation Club so accommodations are taken care of. Park tickets - had enough Disney Visa Points to pay for annual passes for both of us. I also put enough points on the card to pay for most of our Tables in Wonderland card. Staying with the bargain theme, we opted to use Magical Express instead of paying for a limo service or rental car. We did order a grocery delivery through a service we had used previously.

Plan for Day 1
Check in to our 1 bedroom Old Key West villa.
There's a Christmas party at the Magic Kingdom on this day and that park is closing early so we'll head to Epcot instead.
No specific dinner plans

The alarm is set for 4 am. Both of us are up by quarter of. Brother-in-law dutifully picks us up at 5 and our trip to the airport is uneventful. The line to check our bags is very short and that is quickly accomplished. Neither one of us received security pre-check status which was a bit of a disappointment as we had gotten it quite frequently and were a bit spoiled by being able to sail through security. Security is slow and tedious. The line is long and is moving quite slowly but we finally get through without incident. We head to our gate. The plane prior to our flight is still at the gate, is delayed, and appears to be having some sort of mechanical issue. Our gate is changed to another fairly close by.

Our flight leaves on time and is a little bit bumpy but goes well. I doze for much of the flight. We had opted to use Disney's luggage delivery service so bypass baggage claim and go directly to Disney Express. After a 20 minute or so wait in line, we are boarded on a bus, which is quickly loaded and we are on our way - sort of.

There is construction on the road leaving the airport and we are in virtual gridlock for quite some time. We finally get by the roadblock and then have a smooth ride. The first stop is ours and we are the only two disembarking at this stop so there won't be a mass surge for the checkin desk.

For the first time, I had done on-line checkin. And, yay, our room was ready!! We were right across the street from Hospitality House in a third floor room with a wonderful view straight down the fairway of the golf course. As we discovered later that evening, we also have a direct view of the hot air balloon at Disney Springs whenever it is in the air. Just after landing, I had received a text letting me know my groceries had been delivered to Old Key West. We go to our room, call for groceries to be delivered, store the refrigerated items and head back across the street for some food.

We lunch at Olivia's where I have the shrimp po boy sandwich while Gene has a burger. With tummies now satisfied, we head out to the bus stop. Three Animal Kingdom buses arrive within five minutes and no-one gets on any of them. At one point, two Animal Kingdom buses are at the bus stop at the same time. All in all, we wait about 15 minutes for our Epcot bus.

I had a fast pass for Mission Space but realized I would not make that time so, while we were at lunch, I changed that fastpass for one on the Living Seas with Nemo. We have to exchange our vouchers for annual passes which we are quickly able to do at the ticket counter but can't get a Tables in Wonderland card at this location. No problem - we'll take care of that later.

We enter the park and are already in the time slot for our Soarin' fastpass so head directly there. We get seated quickly for our ride and are even in the front row!! We have a little while until our next fastpass and I had wanted to get the 20th anniversary Food & Wine cookbook which could only be bought in the park. I know it was listed as being in stock at Port of Entry so we head there and purchase the book along with a bottle of bubbly wine. We take both of these purchases with us. As we were about to leave, we found another item on sale and also decide to buy a couple of items as gifts. These we have sent back to our resort.

Now we head to our Spaceship Earth fastpass. Since the standby line was only 10 minutes, I consider this a wasted fastpass. With more time left before our last fastpass, we head over to Guest Relations and get our Tables in Wonderland card.

Our last fastpass is for the Living Seas with Nemo - another 10 minute standby ride and, therefore, another wasted fastpass. I wanted to see the Three Cabelleros since I still remember the original animatronic show so we head to Mexico and take this ride.

We've decided to go to Top of the World at Bay Lake Tower and watch the party fireworks from there. We take the two monorails and then walk over to Bay Lake Tower. We settle into a high top table with a view of the Castle. We order drinks and have some pulled pork sliders and a margharitta flatbread. We finish our "meal" with a shared order of a piece of 7-layer cake. By now, it is almost time for the fireworks so we settle our bill and head outside to watch them. They are wonderful!!

After walking over to the Magic Kingdom, we pick up the bus to Old Key West and are quickly "home". Our luggage has arrived so we unpack and settle into bed for our first sleep.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

What a great way to start the trip! I LOVE your trip reports and can't wait to hear the rest.

[VWL Mom]

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

[MrPeetrie]

Great trip report. Excellent first day. I can feel the excitement of arriving.

[princessgirls]

A perfect start to your vacation!!
Whoohooo!!!

[LandFan]

I had a great time reading all 9 days of your trip reports from this trip! Thanks for posting! 82 days remain in our countdown here and it's killing us...

[rulesofbio]

Haha this is nice! thanks for sharing your trip report