DD8 and I are heading to WDW mid December to celebrate her vaccination and her kicking butt for the last two years. It’s a short trip - arrive afternoon Sunday, Monday at MK, Tuesday at HS, Wednesday Epcot, leave mid day Thursday. We are at Pop. I keep being so tempted to add things - Very Merriest after hours on arrival day, park hopping, ILLs etc. We went in 2019 and she has the energy and desire to go from RD to close and hit all the coasters. She’s less interested in IP’s / meet and greets and we won’t do pool days. Is everyone else always tempted to do / get more? I’m trying to resist adding more but don’t mind coming home exhausted either! Are there ways you scratch the itch but without going overboard?
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I definitely always feel tempted to run myself ragged doing all the things, but my more laid back trips have been just as fun. I might splurge on ILLs if I were you, but not the after hours. It’s just way too expensive for what it is.
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Make sure you see the resort decorations. I’d do that before I added the after hours.
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My wife and I did a much more relaxed trip, and it was great. Don’t try to do it all. Instead, find the few must dos and focus only on those things.
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You’re describing me and my short trips. My suggestion is choose one event and one or two must do rides. Everything else is a bonus.
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Simple. Go multiple times a year. It’s the only way to avoid needing to do everything every time.
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Have your DD8 chose a theme for your stay - like maybe “how to stick with it”?
and then chose activities that match the theme.
Besides rides, maybe do some pre-trip planning by looking for resort activities that match your trip theme. Maybe make a scavenger list of theme activities to check off.
Between the photopass photographers and the Christmas decorations everywhere, you can keep busy, have fun without running yourself ragged with all the rides and/or extras. Just the themed ones.
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I certainly am!
I try to make a realistic schedule. When I just list out what I want us to do I tend to add in all the things, but when I lay out what I think we can realistically accomplish in a day it forces me to cut back. I purposely overestimate how long routine things, like transportation and meals, will take and set TP to the slowest walking speed to build in wiggle room. I sometimes still overestimate how much we can fit in, but it really helps me whittle the activity list down to the things that I think we’ll most enjoy!
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Thank you. These are great recommendations and such a great way to still get lots of Disney magic. I feel like part of this is a bit of cabin fever hitting me.
I wish we could go several times a year but once every 2-3 years is likely gonna be our max.
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Not trying to do too much is definitely a lesson I’ve been working on over the past year. I’ve learned my kids (and I) just get so exhausted trying to do open to close and everything in between. On my last trip a couple of weeks ago with DD4 and DD8 we did not rope drop once…and it was fine. I love being in the parks in the evenings and knew they could not do both early AM and late nights. And, I wanted to avoid them standing in large rope drop crowds for Covid reasons. This was before genie launched, so we just plugged what we wanted to do into a TP, optimized often and let the app guide us, and it went great! We did everything we wanted to, just usually caught the most popular rides later in the day.
The other thing I’ve learned is not to overdo dining, as tempting as it is to me. One TS per day is plenty. Having two in one day uses up too much time and the flexibility cost is huge.
At the end of our trip DH, DS12 and DS17 joined us for Boo Bash. Although we had fun, we did not feel it was worth the cost. With Christmas party being even more pricy, my DS12 and I decided for our long weekend December trip we will pass. There is already so much to do without it!
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Thanks @threeprincessesfourprinces. We are only doing outdoor QS or at least no TS. DD8 is a good eater but not that good! We won’t do Space 220 though we might try and see if can go to the lounge for snacks on our Epcot day. I hadn’t thought about the RD crowd. Honestly I still get a bit claustrophobic around big groups of people outdoors. Which is a really important point - the mental exhaustion of COVID in crowded places is still big/new to me.
I appreciate getting talked off this ledge!
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As others have mentioned, do some resort-hopping (monorail loop anyway) to see the Christmas decorations. Also Disney Springs is festive & fun in December! Pretty sure I saw they were doing the Christmas tree trail thing* again this year … *not the proper name for it, but it equals lots of themed trees throughout Disney Springs.
We have done DS as an arrival or departure day activity, instead of using a park ticket on a partial day.
Have fun!!!
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I’m already ridiculously excited about holiday decorations. We’re gonna do a skyliner loop our arrival night so will spend a little time in those resorts to check them out. I don’t know that we will make it to the monorail but that could be super fun too! Are there any resorts that are super special during the holidays?
They all have up trees and wreaths that are unique to their theme. My favorite Christmas resort to visit is WL. The tree is amazing. And there are carolers, cocoa, cookies, santa…
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I’ve heard WL and AKL both have fantastic Christmas trees in the lobby.
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AKL does for sure! We’ve stayed there several times around the holidays. I still need to visit WL.
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Grand Flo and WL are must do’s. Poly is skipable. Visit Contempo if you have time.
Grand Flo has the insane gingerbread houses, but I really love Wilderness Lodge at Christmas! (Note: we don’t stay there, but we love to visit … boat ride away from MK …)
Have fun!!! I love going at Christmastime!