A YOD Update and Holiday Planning Thread!

Good morning all. I hope everyone is looking forward to something fun over this next Thanksgiving week!

Just a little progress report and solicitation for holiday tips!

As some of y’all know, we bought APs for our family (Me, DW, DD13, DD10) to enjoy a “Year of Disney” or YOD as we call it. This was no small feat in itself as we purchased some of them PREcovid and, luckily, some during that brief window last year when you could purchase them.

Nonetheless, we kicked off our YOD in June with a great trip (Back to the World! (This Time Without a Broken Leg)) and had a blast.

Since then, we have gone back twice. In July we were in Ponte Vedra staying at the shore and woke the girls up at 4:30AM, tossed em in the car and rope dropped EPCOT for a short 2 day, 1 night stay (at AS Movies). It was completely last minute and a ton of fun.

That trip included our first ever trip to Gideon’s!!!

We then went back in October for the fall break with a stay at Coronado Springs. I really loved this resort!!! Enjoyed snack at Three Bridges, played miniature golf, spent a day at Typhoon Lagoon… and, of course, Food and Wine!!!



We ate at Toledo, enjoyed Dahlia’s Lounge (got to see a rocket launch from KSS), explored Tom Sawyer’s island, I finally got to pilot the Millennium Falcon, it was super fun. Even rope dropped a 7:00 AM MK early entry.

Also finally visited Oga’s after park close and enjoyed the long empty walk out of DHS.

One of things we have really enjoyed is the slower touring pace. We are trying to enjoy the many things WDW offers beyond just the parks…

So we are really exited to go back in December. We have never seen the World at Christmas and can’t WAIT.

We are also taking my BiL and SiL (the “ILs”) with us. They don’t have any children and wanted to join us. We are REALLY looking forward to it. Staying at WL which I am so excited about.

However, I have never toured WDW with anyone except my immediate family. My plan is to invite my ILs to participate in everything, but not necessarily wait for them… if they don’t want to RD the MK with us, fine, if they do, even better.

I am the planner and they have said that they are game for everything, so I am trying to share the plans, without asking them too much for input (they don’t seem to care about getting involved in the planning). Have dinner at Jaleo planned, and at Cali Grill (hopefully to coincide with MVMCP fireworks) and some other fun things. Planning to look at Trees at DS, and Gingerbread at GF…

I would appreciate any thoughts from the wise Liner community on either: A) touring with an expanded group; or B) Favorite Holiday must dos!

We elected out of the Christmas Party (DW put her foot down at the cost! I agreed with her.) So that isn’t an option, but everything else is on the board.

Thanks, as always, for your thoughts!!!

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  1. Christmas trees/decorations at all the deluxe resorts, especially AK.
  2. Jingle Cruise
  3. storytellers at WS
  4. are the Santas back in Epcot?

I’m sure I’ll think of more. Christmas at WDW is the very best.

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This is going to be so much fun! Definitely visit Wilderness Lodge and Grand Floridian at a minimum to see holiday decor. The holiday storytellers are great in Epcot. Pere Noel in France, La Befana in Italy, and Father Christmas in the UK are my top 3 can’t miss. Oh and the guy between France and Morocco who does the stiry of Hanukkah with his fiddle is amazing too. Check showtimes for each.

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This is what we did with the kids’ grandparents. I did all the tickets/reservations and asked about rides they’d want to skip out on. Then I made the plan and gave them the general idea. (This was WAY easier with FP. Our G+ plan was all over the place.) I told them they were welcome to do their own thing and catch up with us later if they wanted to.
Since this is your YOD, you can probably concede to their pace a bit day of, but I think it’s a good idea to start out with the idea of ‘I’m the Disney expert. You want to listen to me.’ :laughing:

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