Hi!
We are going to Very Merry Christmas on our arrival day (19th). We arrive that day early (9AM) at Grand Floridian.
Here are my choices after dropping off luggage:
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Grand Floridian 10:40 “breakfast” to fuel up before we hit the park all day and a 3:05 Plaza reservation before party starts at 4.
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Nothing until 3:05 Plaza reservation.
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GF 10:40 Breakfast and come back for 5:30 Narcoossee’s (which is the ONLY time I could that restaurant btw) dinner allowing us to get into our room and settle a little before going back to MK for the party.
Thoughts? We have DDP.
If you arrive at 9 am, does that mean you will be traveling in the wee hours of the morning and kind of tired or sleep deprived upon arrival?
Personally, I loved the party, but my child had a hard time staying awake to enjoy it, ha ha. If it were me, I might do just a few hours in the parks in the morning, then nap and rest all afternoon, then head back to MK at dinnertime.
A few years ago I did MVMCP on an arrival day and I found it chaotic and tiring, but I think that it really depends on how early a start you have that day and how old the kids are (if there are kids). When we did it, we had a 6am start, so by 9pm that night we were all exhausted.
I would personally pick option 1. I think that with option 3, you’re going to feel rushed at your dinner and you won’t enjoy it as much as you otherwise would. Plus you won’t arrive at the party until 7:30 at the earliest. I would be a shame to miss a chance to dine at Narcoosee’s, but if you stalk the reservations as your trip approaches, you might find another date that works.
I would do option #2. Give yourselves the flexibility to rest when you get there if you want to, or go to MK for a couple of hours and then back to GF for an hour or two of rest until you go to your late lunch. Maybe keep checking for a later resey at the Plaza?
Thank you all for the responses! I really appreciate it.
Another wrench just got thrown in… I just searched dinner on a whim at MK that evening and got Cinderella’s at 6:55 which just seemed too good to pass up. But it’s in the middle of the party.
If I wanted to can I cancel my tickets to the party?
Can’t answer your question about party tix – but if you did both, you could be out of CRT by 8 pm and still have 4 party hours left…
I would go with #2, especially if you are going to be tired from traveling. Re your follow-up question, I would only do CRT if you could cancel the party tickets - although they are “non returnable”, sometimes a friendly CM will do it for you. Otherwise, I would not waste party time with an ADR.
We did this last year and it did not turn out as well as I had hoped. I figured we could get to MK @4 and ride some rides and get to see parade and fireworks without having to use a park ticket. After waking up early for flight, some check-in delays, and waiting around for DW and I to go to get Wine Dine 1/2 marathon bibs we made it to MK at around 6. Kids and Grandparents were exhausted by 8-9pm and wanted to leave party. If I had it to do over, I would go to party on another night or go with something like your option #2 and be sure kids get a mid-afternoon nap.
I like #2. Eat a light breakfast, enjoy monorail resort decorations and rest up for party. I don’t think u can get into party til 4p so may have to cancel Plaza. Unless u will be in line for meet and greets, I think there is plenty of time to break for dinner at the parties. I am always the liner downer on Dis food - not as good as all of the effort to get the ADR. Don’t worry about missing Narcoosee or CRT…