Not doing the Family Thanksgiving... so how bout WDW?? - A PTR/TR About This Page:

[DrDolphin]

Hey all - yes, I know I am still in the middle of the California trip report from the beginning of the month... but on the spur of the moment, we have decided to go to WDW for Thanksgiving...

The summary -
Who: DrDolphin (41 yrs old with 50+ trips to WDW); Crick (44 w/8 WDW trips)
Dates: Nov 23-27
Resort: SSR-DVC Studio

Well - it wasn't TOTALLY spur of the moment. DH was supposed to WORK on the Friday after Thanksgiving - which gave me the grumpies... because he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas day too (ah the joys of being married to a hospital pharmacist... People actually have the audacity to be SICK and in the hospital on holidays...and I am glad that hubs can be there to help them). This meant that I would have ZERO holiday vaca time this year with him. OK - this means no trip to St. Louis to be with my mom's family, or no drive up to the mountains of North Carolina to be with his mom's family... Then, out of the blue, he got it off (either that or he went to work and begged since his wife was WHINING and driving him nuts... ). Ok - now what? What do we do with one month to go?? See - we had originally thought of going to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park for Thanksgiving weekend, and possibly driving over to TN/AL to see Civil War battlefields... well, after much discussion, and preparing of the spreadsheet to assess the cost of both trips... it was CHEAPER to go to WDW - even if we do have to buy new Seasonal Passes (Thank you DVC!)...

Ok - so if it cheaper - can we actually get a room?? I hopped on the phone on Sunday morning, called and miracle of miracles - there was a studio, at Saratoga Springs (actually my home resort) for the ENTIRE 5 days. WOW. How did that happen? The CM said that it had not been there earlier in the day. SOMEONE wants me to go to WDW. Just saying.

Oh - Whack-A-Mole... I realized that I have to leave to go to Tampa on Sunday because I have a week-long conference starting Monday morning at 8am... so I had thought about driving 3 hours back to JAX from WDW Sunday afternoon, dropping Chris off and reversing the car and driving 4 hours through Orlando, past WDW to Tampa. Hubs overruled me there. He said we should take both cars to WDW, and then on Sunday he would drive north, while I drive west about 1.5 hours. Much less stress for me.

Next - plans? Do we have plans? What does Touring Plans say about crowds????

[mojjo]

Wow...you're right. It was meant to be.

[DrDolphin]

After getting our room - we started talking about what to do about dining. I know we need to renew our Tables in Wonderland card. Well we can't get the cheaper AP holder rate until after we get our new Passes on Thanksgiving Day at shades of Green... We could get the $100 rate for being FL residents, but why should I spend $25 more than I need to?? So that will be a "first thing to do when we get to the parks"

Meals - I should start by saying that we don't do the dining plan. It just is not a good option for us. We tend to be TS diners, and the deluxe plan is just too much food for us. I hopped on the laptop after we had a room and went to work getting what I could for ADRs.

Wed nite after arriving from JAX - Turf Club at SSR (new to me)

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day
Breakfast - Whispering Canyon Cafe - hoping to see Miss Roxy there - we really love getting to see her.


Lunch will be something CS
Sinner - Mama Melroses at 630 (closest thing I could find to Thanksgiving Dinner in a park since LTT had long since been unavailable).

Friday -
Breakfast - Boma at 855
Lunch - CS at Y&Y in AK
Dinner - Tusker House at 610

Saturday -
Breakfast - Cape May Cafe at 840 (need at least one character meal a trip)
Snack in EPCOT
Late Lunch/Early Dinner - 420 ADR at Biergarten. Meeting Barb & Bob (GrammyGrumpy and DH)

Sunday -
Breakfast - one more round of WCC!!!
Lunch - Liberty Tree Tavern at 130

That's it - I don't really see too much changing at this point, cause there aren't many options. It appears that the parks will be quite busy while we are there... so I am thankful for what we got.

I looked at both TouringPlans.com's crowd calendar and EasyDisney's crowd calendar - one has the entire time as a 10 while we are there - the other as a 9. I am thinking we will just take it slow, do what we can do and try to follow the Heather school of touring - get there early, leave after lunch for a nap, then back in the evening. I used the same method when I went during spring break with my nephew a few years ago, and it worked then.

Next up - A few touring plans.

[DrDolphin]

Touring Plans -

Since we know the parks will be madhouses... we also want to try and see a few of the holiday things, and we specifically decided NOT to go to MVMCP this year, or to get the CP dining package... I want to see the Osborn Lights, and the Castle Memories show (have not been able to see that yet).

Here are the plans:

Wed - Nov 23 - - Leave JAX NLT 400pm from our respective work locations in our own vehicles. Take 417 Toll road around Orlando to try and avoid as much of the 600-630pm rush hour traffic on I-4 as possible. Arrive SSR, check in and get settled. Dinner at Turf Club at 745. May try to make that earlier, depending on when we arrive.

Thur - Nov 24
905 Breakfast at WCC
Go get SP's at Shades of Green (major discount)
Head to Hollywood Studios.
I realize this means we may NOT get to ride TSMM because we will be late in getting to the park, but we also will be skipping Fantasmic and seeing Osborne lights tonight - so we may be able to sneak it in right at the end.

Friday Nov 25 -
855am Breakfast at Boma
Animal Kingdom
610pm dinner at Tusker House
Try to get back over to MK to see the fireworks/castle memories show

Saturday Nov 26
840am breakfast at Cape May Cafe
Walk to EPCOT from Beach Club
See Holiday storytellers (maybe get the ones we missed last year?)
Dinner with Barb & Bob
Illuminations

Sunday Nov 27
Pack bags - load in the cars
Drive to WL - breakfast at WCC
Boat to MK
130 lunch at LTT
Stay UNTIL.... well Hubs has reminded me he doesn't work till 2pm on Monday - so he won't be deciding when to leave - I will. Since I am the one that has to be in a Convention Center Ball Room in downtown Tampa at 8am the following morning....

Well - that is the trip in a nutshell. It will be our first trip since June - probably the longest I have gone without a WDW since I moved to FL 10 years ago. I know I won't be doing much updating while we are at WDW - but will post photos to Facebook, and do the TR when we get home.

[cubfancolleen]

Sounds like a great trip, Terri!

[lauriep]

Definitely sounds like this trip was meant to be. How else would all the details fall into place like that for a Thanksgiving trip? Have a great time!

[PamelaK]

What is better than a spur of the moment trip to WDW???? Nothing! We'll be arriving at WDW on Wednesday too. Friday morning we have plans to be at AK. Maybe we will run into each other.

[chezp]

Sounds like a wonderful trip!

[clio]

Great plans Terri. Glad you could get a room.
Liz

[FanOfMickey]

Looks like the making of a wonderful trip!!

[bsblady01]

I hope that you guys have a magical time at the world

[Colexis Mom]

Great start and plans Terri! Have a great time!

[MontiMouse]

Sounds like you have some great plans! Enjoy

[PrincessSharon]

Great plans, Terri! You've got the right idea - manage your expectations and you'll enjoy yourselves. Can't wait to hear about it!

[ilovedisney0_0]

You are a brave lady to be facing crowd levels of 9 and 10! I know you and Chris will have a fabulous time anyway. Sounds like you have some great dining options booked!