elaine amj
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
Our family had an amazing time in WDW during Christmas Week 2014. My father joined us and texted updates to my stepmother throughout the trip - so I am going to use those updates to try to post a trip report from two perspectives. (It's been 5 months since our trip, so forgive me if my own memories are a little hazy). I have never seen my Dad take photos but this trip, he took photos every 5 minutes and posted everything - it was awesome to see him so excited. His contribution to this will be primarily the photos with some brief comments (He's the quiet type!)
Our family of 4 discovered the magic of WDW 5 years before and we had managed to find a reason to return 1x a year since. This would be our 5th trip to WDW (3 short mini-trips and 2 long vacations). It was a fairly last minute decision to go to Orlando for Christmas Week and we booked it in early October. My father was talking about visiting me sometime in Oct/Nov/Dec and I brought up that we were going to Orlando and it might be a great time to visit. At the end of November, he announces that he would come to Orlando to join us for Christmas!! This was going to be our first vacation together since our family went to WDW 20 years before when I was 14. (He enjoyed it just fine but none of us looked deep enough to see the magic). This was EPIC and I was beyond excited. Initially, my stepmother and stepsister were also going to come (so I hastily created a new set of plans for them) but that fell through and they couldn't make it. So I re-did the plans yet again (stressing a little about FP+!).
We were very flexible and decisions on where to stay changed frequently. Originally, we were going to stay half the week offsite, then half the week onsite (Little Mermaid room!) - which changed a couple of times. At the end of the day, we stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, 2 nights at the Swan & Dolphin, an 1 night in Clearwater.
We spent just 2 days in the parks -
Dec 27 (MK morning, AK, afternoon, MK night) and
Dec 28 (Epcot morning, HS night, MK late night)
Anyway - here's the tale.
Day 1 - December 24th.
My boss stopped into my office at 10am asking if I wanted to leave at 11 instead of noon. Excited, I scrambled to get my work done and at 11:05, I was finished and ready to go! Unfortunately, my DH did not expect me to get done so quickly and was still at home. He finally picked me up at 11:30am and we were officially on our way. Had our favorite lunch at Teppanyaki Grill Buffet and then some shopping at WalMart.
After all the stress of weather delays, our journey has proceeded smoothly. We were super early to the airport but spent the time on our phones so we were occupied. Our flight departed promptly at 3:50pm. The day has passed excruciatingly slowly but we are getting closer to Orlando despite a slight delay in departing Atlanta (we had one stop on our flight).
We got into Orlando only slightly late and hopped into a taxi to our hotel - the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. I was just about hopping in excitement as we would see my Dad soon.
DAD: Wow. finally in Orlando after a 30hr journey. It is 5pm in Florida and weather is warm. Need only a t-shirt. Waiting for Elaine for a late dinner.
Unfortunately, upon arrival, our poor taxi driver had trouble processing our credit card. It ended up taking me another 10-15 mins helping him (patiently) figure out his credit card machine. He was terrified of not getting paid. I finally felt sorry for him (and impatient to get out!) and allowed him to leave after having double charged our credit card. (Later, I checked and my CC company had already cancelled the extra charge).
We finally made it in and were so incredibly happy to see my Dad! After hugs all around, we all decided that 9:30pm was a perfect time for dinner. We headed downstairs and had a variety of delicious food from the hotel restaurant. My DS, Matthew pigged out on edamame and even begged for a 2nd portion (and finished it!).
DAD: Having a Christmas Eve dinner at Hyatt at 10pm
We then strolled around the beautiful hotel grounds to check out our home for the next 2 nights.
Our family of 4 discovered the magic of WDW 5 years before and we had managed to find a reason to return 1x a year since. This would be our 5th trip to WDW (3 short mini-trips and 2 long vacations). It was a fairly last minute decision to go to Orlando for Christmas Week and we booked it in early October. My father was talking about visiting me sometime in Oct/Nov/Dec and I brought up that we were going to Orlando and it might be a great time to visit. At the end of November, he announces that he would come to Orlando to join us for Christmas!! This was going to be our first vacation together since our family went to WDW 20 years before when I was 14. (He enjoyed it just fine but none of us looked deep enough to see the magic). This was EPIC and I was beyond excited. Initially, my stepmother and stepsister were also going to come (so I hastily created a new set of plans for them) but that fell through and they couldn't make it. So I re-did the plans yet again (stressing a little about FP+!).
We were very flexible and decisions on where to stay changed frequently. Originally, we were going to stay half the week offsite, then half the week onsite (Little Mermaid room!) - which changed a couple of times. At the end of the day, we stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, 2 nights at the Swan & Dolphin, an 1 night in Clearwater.
We spent just 2 days in the parks -
Dec 27 (MK morning, AK, afternoon, MK night) and
Dec 28 (Epcot morning, HS night, MK late night)
Anyway - here's the tale.
Day 1 - December 24th.
My boss stopped into my office at 10am asking if I wanted to leave at 11 instead of noon. Excited, I scrambled to get my work done and at 11:05, I was finished and ready to go! Unfortunately, my DH did not expect me to get done so quickly and was still at home. He finally picked me up at 11:30am and we were officially on our way. Had our favorite lunch at Teppanyaki Grill Buffet and then some shopping at WalMart.
After all the stress of weather delays, our journey has proceeded smoothly. We were super early to the airport but spent the time on our phones so we were occupied. Our flight departed promptly at 3:50pm. The day has passed excruciatingly slowly but we are getting closer to Orlando despite a slight delay in departing Atlanta (we had one stop on our flight).
We got into Orlando only slightly late and hopped into a taxi to our hotel - the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. I was just about hopping in excitement as we would see my Dad soon.
DAD: Wow. finally in Orlando after a 30hr journey. It is 5pm in Florida and weather is warm. Need only a t-shirt. Waiting for Elaine for a late dinner.
Unfortunately, upon arrival, our poor taxi driver had trouble processing our credit card. It ended up taking me another 10-15 mins helping him (patiently) figure out his credit card machine. He was terrified of not getting paid. I finally felt sorry for him (and impatient to get out!) and allowed him to leave after having double charged our credit card. (Later, I checked and my CC company had already cancelled the extra charge).
We finally made it in and were so incredibly happy to see my Dad! After hugs all around, we all decided that 9:30pm was a perfect time for dinner. We headed downstairs and had a variety of delicious food from the hotel restaurant. My DS, Matthew pigged out on edamame and even begged for a 2nd portion (and finished it!).
DAD: Having a Christmas Eve dinner at Hyatt at 10pm
We then strolled around the beautiful hotel grounds to check out our home for the next 2 nights.
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