Just thought I’d give you all a run down on our recent trip!
12/21-12/26. Stayed at CR (Room #4319). Lakeview Room.
Myself, DH, DS (14years old) and DD (18 years old). We have been to WDW a handful of times as a family. I have taken my kids separately with cousins on “Boy Trip” and “Girl Trip”. I am also a former CM (oh… about 30 years ago!! lol) and was fortunate to have parents that brought me several times as a child.
12/21 - Arrival at MCO 12:16pm from DFW. Airport was nuts. Took an Uber to CR. Rode Monorail to Poly (lunch from Capt Cook’s & Dole Whips). Mono to GF. Then rode Skyliner to Topolinos (sorry can’t remember how we got to SkyLiner).
Dinner at Topolino’s 6pm. Wonderful view - the terrace is gorgeous. If you can go at sunset - I’d highly recommend. Service was wonderful (ask for Sami). Riviera is gorgeous. The Pomegranate martini was delish - all entrees were wonderful - loved the chocolate cake.
12/22 - MK Day
Early morning - walked from CR to temp check and arrived at 6:38am. 3rd family in line. We laughed because the CM’s told us that no attractions would be open until 8am and to just take pictures and shop on Main Street until 8am. However, we made a bee line to 7DMT… then Thunder Mountain… then SM (I believe all before official park opening). Waffles at Sleepy Hollow. Then hit all our favorites - crowds seemed to pick up in the afternoon. We loved the cavalcades - so much easier than parades.
Dinner was at The Wave (CR) 7:40pm. Great service, Great food. Def would recommend.
12/23 - HS Day
We were able to get BG 16 at 7am - then headed out.
Uber to Boardwalk Bakery - placed Mobile order early that morning. Walked to HS (cut through by Jelly Rolls). We were at temp check about 7:30am.
We rode SD first - then headed to MMRR and waited in line only to find out that it was down 
In hind sight - prob should have just rode SDD a few more times. Ended up riding MMRR later in the day. We were able to ride all of our fav’s - RRC, ToT, TSM, RoTR (we aren’t huge SW fans… but were very impressed with Galaxy’s Edge and loved both attractions.). I think we waited about 70 min for MF.
Woody’s Lunchbox (mobile order) for lunch. Ok - nothing spectacular but fine. Mobile order we had a little glitch (my order said that I had clicked we were “there” and never picked it up even tho it was still within our window. CM’s accommodated and had no trouble getting our food).
Dinner at Hollywood Derby. Great food - great service. Only disappointment was that we sat in the Bamboo Room instead of the main dining area.
12/24 Epcot Day
Left CR about 7:50am. Boardwalk Bakery mobile order picked up about 8:15am (super easy). Walked to IG entrance. First in line to tap through. First on Frozen… then went to Test Track… Soarin’, Living with the Land… then on to World Showcase.
Ate: Peppermint Swirl cookie, in Holiday Festival building - Charcuterie Board, Bundt Cake, Peppermint Bark. Then to France - baguette & ham/cheese croissant, lattes. Dinner at Via Napoli 7:25pm. Good food, good service - they sat us in the patio (indoor) area - once again, I wished we could have sat in the main dining area.
Took bus back to CR. No trouble getting on - not a long wait.
12/25 MK Day
Santa filled our stockings the night before - we opened those and were able to sleep a little longer.
Mobile ordered Contempo Cafe (we forgot to order drinks and CM was very sweet to accommodate us and not charge us for drinks once we realized this).
Arrived at MK about 9:30am. We were able to ride Small World, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise (Jingle Cruise), Space Mountain…
“Early Dinner” at Liberty Tree Tavern. This one was a disappointment for sure. They sat us 45 min. after our 3:20pm reservation - and sat us in the Diamond Horseshoe instead of LTT. Service was laughable (literally… it was SOOO bad all we could do was laugh… and now it’s a funny family inside joke). Food was ok - but after experiencing Topolino’s, The Wave and Via Napoli… it was hard to spend that kind of money.
After dinner - we went back to our hotel for about an hour - then put our Christmas PJ’s on… roused ourselves and headed back into the park - fully expecting the crowds to be obnoxious. But they weren’t!!! We had a great time - rode Space Mountain 3 times and closed down the night riding Thunder Mountain 2 times. Leisurely stroll down Main Street and back to our hotel.
12/26 AK Day
Bus to AK from CR - we arrived about 7:30am. We rode FOP first with about a 20 minute wait… Navi River… Safari… Expedition Everest (a total of 7 times during the day).
Left the park about 1:30pm to head back to CR. Took an Uber to MCO for our flight home. About a 30 minute drive to the airport.
Security lines were nuts at the airport… crowds were nuts… I felt MUCH safer at WDW! Thankful that the DH and I were able to upgrade to First Class and made the kids sit in the cheap seats - lol. Made it home safe and sound.
My takeaways…
We had a great trip! Lots of wonderful memories made and so grateful we were able to have this experience.
99.9% of CM’s were WONDERFUL
Topolino’s - wonderful
Skyliner - super fun new experience and nice to have another transport option.
I loved seeing all of the families dressed up in Christmas attire!
Loved the calvalcades (please Disney - keep these!). So nice to not have to line up for a parade an hour before.
I used the Chat feature on MDE for any questions - this was very helpful!! and I’d suggest using - the CM’s responded very quickly.
Mobile ordering was great - so nice not to have to wait in line to order.
Mobile check in at the hotel and restaurants - very helpful.
We were very impressed with the overall cleanliness, physical distancing measures that Disney has implemented!!
We loved the CR - love the size, loved location, loved the Lakeview room.
Temp checks and Security - easy peasy.
The projections on the castle and Tower of Terror are gorgeous!!!
We found it very easy to find photographers (I purchased the Photo package beforehand and glad I did…)
I was pleasantly surprised at the crowd levels and overall wait times. Very manageable.
In general - wait times especially on MDE as well as TP were lower than posted. “Expected” on TP was pretty spot on.
Tip: If you feel someone is crowding you from behind while in line… just Kindly let them go in front of you. We did this about 5-6 times. Mostly of the time - people were surprised and grateful that we let them pass. Once or twice people got snippy about the physical distancing. For us - it was easier to just let them pass than worry about someone breathing down your neck.
I brought a small felt Christmas Tree that we hung on the wall. A string of lights, tinsel garland and our family stockings to decorate the room. I’d bring more of the cheap garland next time - b/c light weight, basically disposable and has a big impact 
Things I missed or would change:
I missed seeing smiling faces… and missed live entertainment.
Wearing a mask was not exactly easy to do for 6 days (even tho we completely agree that this is necessary).
I would not recommend LTT and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to sit in main dining areas of LTT, Via Napoli and Hollywood Brown Derby. I supposed that b/c of physical distancing measures and to accommodate more people they had to do this. I just would have liked to have known this was a possibility beforehand.
I didn’t realized that the entire promenade from Spaceship Earth to World Showcase was under construction -
I also didn’t realize that there were basically no international CM’s at Epcot (it just never occurred to me). This took away from the experience IMO.
I missed not having the Monorail service to Epcot.
I was sad that the Railroad station at MK was covered up.
I loved MMRR - but felt it didn’t exactly belong the in the Chinese Theater. To me - the Great Movie Ride fit the theming of the building much, much better.
All in all - a great trip. <3. I’m so grateful we could have this time together as a family.
I’m happy to help clarify anything in case anyone has questions. This site and this forum were a HUGE help to me in planning as well as while on our trip - so thank you!! Merry Christmas everyone and wishes for a Happy New Year!!
