We will be in the parks at POP dec 12-16. Our first day we land around 3:30 and will do a skyliner food crawl and holiday decorations at the skyliner resorts. We leave Thursday at 3:30 and won’t be going to the parks. I’ll be with DD8. Any suggestions for the morning? I can try for a reservation at topolinos but feel meh about it. If we do a reservation somewhere I’ll need a few options. We can do a bit of pool if not too cold. Any other suggestions? Any sense when DME will want us by? Thanks!!
I’m not sure Skyliner resorts for looking at holiday decorations is worth it. I would suggest, instead, heading over to some of the other resorts. You might consider, for example, taking a bus to MK then doing the monorail loop, checking out GF, Poly, and CR. Once back around, take the boat over to Wilderness Lodge. The lobby is incredible, if you’ve never seen it…particularly with the Christmas decor. Then, take a bus back to HS to hop on the Skyliner back to your resort.
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We almost always spend our last day at Disney Springs. It’s a nice way to close out the trip with good food and some shopping/browsing. It’s also an easy place to stop on a dime and leave without feeling like we have to see / do more.
Edit: DME will pick you up 3 or 4 hours before your scheduled flight time. 3 hours if it’s not busy, 4 hours if around a holiday.
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You’ve made me reconsider everything. This is both good and terrible. I had us going from pop to Caribbean (banana cabana) then walking to riviera (some of the food places there) then skyliner to beach club/ yacht club our arrival evening. But we could do some of this our last day and instead do your suggestions for our first day.
So, instead you are going to Universal? 
My suggestion could work on the last day as well, although I like the idea of starting there, and doing DS on the last day.
We went last time to DS as we ate at Wine Bar George which was awesome. I don’t think we’d do it again though this time but it’s a great suggestion.
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I actually started with the possibility of universal but my daughter announced she was not ready for those rides yet. With genies launch I sort of regret this….
Actually, I changed my mind about DS on last day. You will likely need to be back at your resort by noonish due to DME. If DS opens at 10:00, you don’t get to do much. DS is a better arrival day activity, since you can stay into the evening, when the atmosphere is much more magical feeling. Do the Mk resort crawl on your final day, perhaps starting at Kona Cafe for breakfast or something.
Ok. I’m going to have some thinking to do and will report back! Thanks all.
If you do the MK monorail, might I suggest the Boardwalk resort Christmas decorations on your departure day?
You can easily take the Skyliner to Epcot back and forth from your hotel to do the Boardwalk hotel tours.
Also, I suggest adding Wilderness Lodge to your list for the MK resort tour. It was our favorite.
We used this guide when we toured the Christmas Decorations in 2019.
I’m curious to know what you have on your list for your Skyliner food crawl.
ETA: Sorry for the screw up in the text!
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Thanks for sharing. They have great info on there.
Our plan is based on trying to avoid indoor eating and reservations. So:
Caribbean - Banana Cabana
Riviera - Bar Riva and Le Petit (To go)
Beach Club - Beaches and cream
We may do this switch. Geyser point had been a strong option because of trying to avoid indoor eating but I wasn’t sure how best to get there from pop. @ryan1 directions helps me figure out how to do this.
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If you do the monorail resort tour, you can take the boat to WL. Geyser Point has the yummiest bison burger! It is so juicy. I have it on my itinerary. You leave and I arrive for a long weekend!
Thanks for your list of restaurants! Do you have specific foods you want to eat from them?
I heard amazing things about the pull apart rolls at Caribbean. Otherwise I was checking that things worked for DD8. She’s a good eater so I wasn’t too worried.
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Quick question. None of the boats go from CR to wilderness lodge directly, correct? Looking at the red and blue launch and they seem like I do have to go back to MK to then boat to wilderness.
Correct. Pre-Covid, there was a blue launch that went between CR and WL, but they still aren’t showing that one as running. So it’s just the red launch for WL right now.
Current:
Pre-Covid:
Personally, I like the idea of arrival day doing the monorail resorts and WL, then doing the skyliner/boardwalk resorts on the last day.
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Awesome. Thanks for confirming. It does look like this will be the plan. Gonna try and see if I can time things with watching MK fireworks from WL since they will be on the early side for the Christmas hours that night (Sunday). Or poly. I think it depends on if I reverse @ryan1 ‘s plan and end at Poly. We’ll be starting this adventure around 4 or 5pm.
I would watch fireworks from Poly, if you can. It is a much better view than from WL. We were waiting for the Electrical Parade in front of Geyser Point and got a very partial view of the MK fireworks.
Compare the above pictures with the Poly FW pictures in LTinNC82 trip report: https://forum.touringplans.com/t/me-again-this-time-for-my-annual-holiday-pilgrimage/82418/197?u=stlouie.
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One concern about trying to hang around for the fireworks is one if transportation timing. You still need to get back to POP. You can’t take a bus directly from a resort back to POP. If you stay for fireworks at WL, can you still take the boat back to MK to nap the POP bus? And even if you do, you will be behind all the folks leaving MK after the fireworks. Same if you watch from Poly. You would need to take the monorail back to MK and wait for the bus.
I would try to be done with your tour before park closing and fireworks to ensure you have transportation access.
So, if you are to POP by 5:00, take the bus to MK and tour GF, Poly, then CR (be sure to check out the tree in front of CR!), Before walking back to MK to catch the boat to WL. Check out WL, but be on the boat back to MK in time to beat the MK crowds leaving so you can get a shorter wait for the POP bus.
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Those are much better. Thanks for the comparison!