The Magic of Disney World at Christmas

[RailRider]

Ahhh reliving memories through the creation of a trip report. This is something I have always taken great joy in doing, but it seems over the years I have done less and less. Lack of time, Apathy or maybe nobody around here cares anymore. I'm not sure the reasons I have not done as many as I once did, but a magical trip to Disney at Christmas seemed like the perfect opportunity to wax poetic once again.

2014 saw La Familia RailRider add member #4. Yes we were blessed with daughter number 2 in August and it made perfect sense that our first real family vacation be to Disney World at Christmas. Visiting the World for the Christmas season is something we have been wanting to do and the trip provided so many new magical moments. Especially seeing Little Miss RailRider share her love and enthusiasm of Disney with her Sister and her Grandparents. What a neat moment to behold. Please take the next few minutes and enjoy our journey.

[Gabe]

Sigh..due to budget cuts, the park removed the Country Bears Christmas show some years back. It was just as hokey, though slightly less subdued than the original show still playing (though in somewhat edited form..kids these days cant be expected to sit through a 20 minute show...better cut it down to 15!)

[RailRider]

An Introduction to Magic

For many Disney World is a once in a lifetime trip, that will hopefully create memories that will last a life time. These special moments and interactions throughout Disney are what I like to refer to as Magic. I was introduced to Magic by a fellow KIC'er and esteemed all things Disney expert (Avatar). When planning a trip I try to incorporate enough time and opportunities for those unique magical one in a lifetime moments. The amazing thing with Disney is that there are so many opportunities to create Magic and sometimes it is by total surprise. This trip was extremely special because we were taking Baby RailRider on her first real vacation and the Grandparents were experiencing Disney through the eyes of a child for the first time. Oh yeah and we went at Christmas as well.

The details:

Bay Lake Tower was our home for the week (Walking Distance to the Magic Kingdom)

We had free dinning that we upgraded to Deluxe. All 4 parks will be visited along with their Christmas Festivities.

We start every trip with Dinner our first night at California Grill, High atop the Contemporary Resort, amazing views of the Kingdom and the best seat for Holiday Wishes Fireworks. Not to mention this is the best meal at Disney by far.

Did I mention best seat around for Wishes Fireworks? We were treated to Holiday Wishes and Disney goes all out. We would be visiting the parks over the next few days

Rather than share a chronological trip report, I am just going to share some favorite moments.

Yes I broke down and bought everyone matching Diseny Shirts with our last names on them. Actually its a brand that makes headwear that we share last names with. Awesome! Too early in the morning for BabyRailRider, she will be awake later.

The Disney Photopass now the Memory Maker is worth the purchase price. You get shots that you wouldn't have otherwise and the onride photos that I will share later are just awesome along with the video

Something in this picture is no longer around?

Oh what Characters you will meet... Coming Soon

[RailRider]

Oh What Characters You Meet...

We always make it a point of our trips to meet lots of characters and the more unique characters have been some of the most fun. Christmas time is not full of unique characters like it used to be, but still there are some neat ones to meet. Gaston was probably the highlight of the trip as far as interaction wise. Not soon after we got back but a video of meeting Gaston went viral for the push up contest. Also no trip is complete right now to Disney without meeting Anna and Elsa. Thank goodness I was able to book our FastPass+ far in advance of our arrival. Love that system. Just a small sampling of the numerous characters we met.

Some great interactions with Marry and Bert

Anna and Elsa

Her Favorite Princess

Snow White Loves Little Baby RR

Some very special characters ever since our trip to Disneyland.

Everyone loves Stitch and Santa

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What to Ride, What to Ride...

[jcgoble3]

Great pictures. I can feel the magic just by looking at them.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the report!

[RailRider]

Rides, Rides and more Rides. One of the really neat things about the new Memory Maker package (formerly Photopass) is the inclusion of On-Ride Photos and something really neat is an on-ride video from the new Seven Dwarfs coaster. Really a neat feature to the package and honestly some of the neatest pictures we have from the trip. I have a little thrill seeker on my hands in Little Miss RailRider and there is no better experience than enjoying some of her favorite rides with her. Expedition Everest being her favorite ride from any park. Also something else that makes Disney World truly family friendly is being able to experience a lot of rides with all members of the family. We experienced so many favorites together as a family and getting to take little baby RailRider on some of the classics like Dumbo, Its a Small World, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and so many others as an entire family is pretty awesome. I must say at such a young age she really enjoyed Its a Small World and Little Mermaid and she may have slept through Pirates. Still these are just mere moments of magic to add to such and fun and wonderful place. Enjoy the pure excitement as we experienced some of Disney's best rides. And I know some of you will ask, Seven Dwarfs was everything I thought it would be... A great family coaster to start the young ones out on and it takes Disney Animatronics to the next level. Do I wish it were longer? yes. More thrilling? No. Is it a great addition to Magic Kingdom, Absolutely! Once again thanks for the ability to pre-book FastPass+ before we ever arrived.

Everest is an amazing ride.

While I like the West Coast version better, Dinosaur is not to be missed.

Might have napped through Dumbo

Was in awe of Little Mermaid

Made it half way through Its a Small World

Space Mountain is such a fun classic ride

Did I mention 7 Dwarfs is a great ride

Tron the Ride? Nope the New Test Track

Tower of Terror

We made it to the concert with time to spare

Thanks for sharing in the thrills and memories. Come back soon as we will celebrate the season with the Mouse.

Tis the Season.

[Skyrider]

Thanks for sharing the highlights of your trip to Disney and it looks like you had a great time. I wish I could go back to Disney World tomorrow. It is a magical place and such a fun place to spend time with the family.

[RailRider]

Another snow day this week makes me long for the warm 70 degree days in Florida. Thanks everyone for the comments, hope to have another section up in a day or two. Stay warm

[Gabe]

Commish- I'm leaving for the World in just about 6 weeks and am considering purchasing the Memory Maker for our group. I assume it's possible to link the pictures taken in the park to your MagicBands or through the My Disney Experience? For the rides, do you need to stop by the photo booth at the exit to the ride to have your pictures linked? Does the package include unlimited ride photos? Can you give an explanation for how the whole process works and how you go about accessing your pictures?

[RailRider]

Great question. When you purchase the Memory Maker, it will be linked to your MagicBand and then linked to any other MagicBand assigned to your My Disney Experience App. We had a party of 5 and each MagicBand was linked to the Memory Maker. There is nothing to do for when you get off the ride. The photos are automatically added to your Memory Maker photopass online. We tried this with both FastPass+ and NonFastPass+ rides and it worked each time. As far as I know there is no limit to the number of on ride photos you can get.

A really neat system and I highly recommend it.

[Gabe]

I recall with the former PhotoPass service, Disney automatically inserted some filler type pics (stock photos) as well as pics where, during the picture, you were asked to pretend something, after which some Disney character was added to your picture. Is this still the case? I noticed the presale price is $169, so the price has since gone up since last year.

[shark6495]

Man, I am so excited for my trip now. Great stuff! Makes me feel even better about taking my little guy. He will be 2 when he meets the mouse.

[RailRider]

I recall with the former PhotoPass service, Disney automatically inserted some filler type pics (stock photos) as well as pics where, during the picture, you were asked to pretend something, after which some Disney character was added to your picture. Is this still the case? I noticed the presale price is $169, so the price has since gone up since last year.

Yes the stock images are still included along with the cgi pictures with Tink and others. I have a few of those. I will upload once I find them. Yes the price has gone up, but if you factor in all the on ride pictures now plus the videos. I will figure out how to get our Seven Dwarfs video uploaded as well. Pretty cool.

Man, I am so excited for my trip now. Great stuff! Makes me feel even better about taking my little guy. He will be 2 when he meets the mouse.

This is the first time we went when Little Miss RailRider was 2. She is now 7. Still some of our most favorite memories from our first trip

See the full PTR here http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/20822-the-magic-of-disneyland-through-a-childs-eyes/?p=363086&hl=disneyland&fromsearch=1#entry363086

[jcgoble3]

Great question. When you purchase the Memory Maker, it will be linked to your MagicBand and then linked to any other MagicBand assigned to your My Disney Experience App. We had a party of 5 and each MagicBand was linked to the Memory Maker. There is nothing to do for when you get off the ride. The photos are automatically added to your Memory Maker photopass online. We tried this with both FastPass+ and NonFastPass+ rides and it worked each time. As far as I know there is no limit to the number of on ride photos you can get.

A really neat system and I highly recommend it.

I'm confused. How does the computer know whose account to add the pictures to? Do they have RFID sensors in every seat of the ride? What if someone is holding the arm with the MagicBand on it out across someone else's seat at the moment the computer attempts to sense the bands? I don't understand how this works.

[RailRider]

I know it is a bit hard to understand how the system works, but yes it automatically knows where you are sitting and adds those pictures to your Online Photopass album. From my understanding the way the systems picks up riders locations is that you have 2 RFID scanners across from each other that span the track of the ride creating a beam that you pass through. When you pass through it senses your RFID MagicBand and knows to add that picture to your account. Folks that are using the card system still have to swipe their cards at the off ride photo boards to get their pictures. Magic Bands eliminate that steps.

The Magic Band system as a whole is awesome and worked flawlessly for us. We even had some of our pictures with Anna and Elsa not show up, I contacted the Memory Maker people and by the end of the day they had added them to our account. The crazy thing is Disney still has other enhancements to roll out with this system. It really is a game changer in the industry.

[Gabe]

I heard from someone who was just down there that the entire FP+ system crashed this past Monday resort-wide, causing lots of confusion and angry guests who lost their times. I believe Disney's backup system uses paper tickets similar to the old FP that are labeled "Choice of Attraction" and can be used in the park issued from park open to close for that particular day. Usually they're used when guests complain about being split up for a ride (different times; currently what I'm faced with for Anna and Elsa, but still have lots of time and I check the site several times a day to see if a time pops up in our other windows, which overlap) or other general complaints. I'm sure lots of those were issued.

[RailRider]

Have you tried splitting your party up to obtain the A&E Fastpass+   If everyone doesn't need to meet the sisters you might have a better chance getting the FP+ with a smaller party.

 

 

Here are the on ride videos I was talking about.  One from 7 Dwarfs and 1 from Tower of Terror.  Just a really neat feature of the Memory Maker package.

 

We are in the last train wearing black Mickey shirts

 

Right side Middle row on ToT

[RailRider]

Not to double post, but did the videos above load properly? I see them on my side but seems like they take a bit to pop up. Can anyone confirm the videos are viewable? Never uploaded from Photobucket before.

Thanks

[shark6495]

They did. Thats awesome. So cool they do that. And Thats part of the Magic Maker experience?

[Gabe]

I actually did try and split my party of 4 up to meet the sisters into 2 overlapping times, but even when I logged in at midnight on the 60th day out, I could only get 2 together. I know you can try and add others to your FastPass, but I've had no success doing it. I've recently been able, through just checking again and again to add the 3rd member of our party to the meet and greet with an overlapping time. My last member has a time 2 hours after the other 3 of us (2 of us at 12:10-1:10, 1 at 12:00-1). If I can't get an overlapping time by the time I get there, I'm sure I'll be able to go into City Hall in the MK, explain my situation and receive 1 choice of attraction FP so we can all go together. I leave April 5, so I have some time left. I still check the site 5-6x a day.

[RailRider]

Yes it is part of the Memory Maker package.

[RailRider]

I actually did try and split my party of 4 up to meet the sisters into 2 overlapping times, but even when I logged in at midnight on the 60th day out, I could only get 2 together. I know you can try and add others to your FastPass, but I've had no success doing it. I've recently been able, through just checking again and again to add the 3rd member of our party to the meet and greet with an overlapping time. My last member has a time 2 hours after the other 3 of us (2 of us at 12:10-1:10, 1 at 12:00-1). If I can't get an overlapping time by the time I get there, I'm sure I'll be able to go into City Hall in the MK, explain my situation and receive 1 choice of attraction FP so we can all go together. I leave April 5, so I have some time left. I still check the site 5-6x a day.

It is still a tough one to get. That is for sure. Are you doing 2 days at MK? When I booked ours for A&E our first day at MK was gone, but I was still able to get them for our later day at MK. They go quick that is for sure. I would highly recommend checking out easywdw.com crowd calendars to and his cheat sheets to make sure you are missing crowds at the right parks and rides.

[Gabe]

I'm a seasoned Disney vet, so I basically know what's crowded at what time. We're doing 2 full days at MK and a last half day there on our departure day. Spending the first 2 days hitting the highlights of the other 3 parks. Even on crowded days, between FP and getting there at park open, I've been able to hit just about every ride with not much of a wait.

I know that getting us all together on the last day prob would have been doable from the get go, but of course my little ones want to meet them FIRST THING haha. With 3 of us together, I'm highly certain that getting a wildcard FP won't be difficult. I know they give them out for lesser reasons than mine. Also, BOG becomes a lunch reservation as of tomorrow midnight, so I plan on logging in again shortly before to snag a lunch spot while we're there. We're going at the tail end of Disney's Spring Break season, so crowds should be about a 6 or so, but when we last took kiddos (well daughter; son was too young) Mem Day wknd 3 years ago, it was absolute bonkers. Both the weather and the crowds should be better this time out (and having the FP+ as well helps immensely).

[RailRider]

And much has changed in how to tour Disney with the implementation of the FP+ system. Especially Spring Break with some of the odd groups that come in I always encourage checking out crowd calendars and some basic touring plans like Easy's Cheat Sheets. Having multiple trips under my belt I still like to make sure my plans line up with what the trends are at Disney now. A touring strategy from a few years ago is almost ineffective at MK with all the new additions. Just saying.

[Gabe]

I agree. I have been there w/o the kids 2x since the new FL opened (the last trip being a week before the open of 7DMT), but I still do check the crowd calendars at the other sites. As with any WDW plan when you have ADRs as I do, our plans revolve around the park where we have an ADR. (Mama Melrose, Teppan Edo and Tonys Town Sq in that order for dinner for the first 3 nights). I was really sad to see Disney do away with the no-expiration tickets. I had tickets from the 90s lying around my house I was able to use on my two previous trips, so that will be missed.

[RailRider]

I understand the planning around ADR's. Disney Dinning is one of our favorite things about the vacation. Also one of the reasons we do the Deluxe Plan because we eat at so many signature restaurants the added cost more than makes up for itself. I will cover some of our dinning later on in the PTR.

Not surprising they no longer offer that option.

On with the update.

Tis the Season.

Having experienced Disney at Flower and Garden and Halloween we had always said our next trip would be for Christmas. Disney offers so many amazing Christmas and Holiday related activities and experiences we were a bit overwhelmed. We planned on hitting every parks major Christmas attractions: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights and the Candlelight Processional.

One of the neat things I always like to do with our trips is start a countdown and have various reminders of our upcoming trip. Typically I use our kitchen chalkboard to keep track of days just to create excitement. This trip being at Christmas I wanted to incorporate something new. While doing the countdown our 2 Mr. Elfs got involved, plus Little Miss RailRider being 7 might be growing a bit skeptical. I thought what better way to create more magic than for our Elves to magically appear in our room at Bay Lake.

Our elves with goodbye messages on the morning we left for Disney

Our elves magically showed up in our room the next morning with their own Mickey hats.

On to the festivities.

The event that gets the majority of the attention during Christmas is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. This is a special ticket event just like the Halloween party and while crowded it provides some neat opportunities to meet unique characters (7 Dwarfs, Princesses with Princess see earlier pictures) special Christmas parade, Fireworks, Dance Parties and free snacks. The party was a great night and really neat to experience snow on Main Street as well as the unique characters and such.

The prettiest I have ever seen the castle.

Yes we bought Glow with the Show Ears and they are worth it. Very cool technology

Awesome Parade, Olaf and the Toy Soldiers were a huge hit.

And Holiday Wishes lights up the sky from all around you. See my first post

The Osborne Family Lights at Disney Studios is truly amazing. Pictures do not do justice to the amount of lights, the dancing and the snow. How magical it really is.

Disney is not ashamed of the reason for the season. More on that later

One of the neat things about the Osborne Family Lights is the numerous hidden Mickey's but the biggest challenge is finding the Purple Cat. Legend has it that it was accidentally put out one year and now the techs make a game of moving it around during the lights as a challenge to see who can find it. Little Miss RR was the first to spot it in a very obscure location and absolutely lost her mind. Awesome!

The last Christmas activity we did was the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. The Candlelight Processional is the retelling of the birth of Christ with 50 piece orchestra and mass choir with a celebratory narrator. This is honestly the one thing I was most excited to see and it started in Disneyland in 1958. Originally our Narrator was to be Sharon Stone, which I could care less to see, but schedules changed and Broadway Legend Chita Rivera took her spot. She was absolutely amazing and the overall show itself was amazing. Honestly I didn't take a single picture of this event because I was in awe the entire time. The fact that Disney tells the Birth of Christ by reading scripture direct from the Bible and the music is traditional Christmas Carols and such is very amazing especially in todays world on trying not to impose your beliefs on anyone. Happy Holidays this is not, but a full fledged Merry CHRISTmas. I included a picture directly from DisneyParks below because one needed to be included.

Stay tuned for everything else, but the kitchen sink...

[Gabe]

That picture in front of City Hall outside the entrance is great! Of course, Disney had to go and ruin it by putting up a 3 ft high iron fence in front of the planter in the past week or so, allegedly to keep the masses off the pretty flower display. As people here have said often, this is why we can't have nice things! I woke up early this morning to nab a lunch reservation at BOG for one of our MK days. I was actually able to get into the system 5 min early before it went live and secure the spot. When I just checked a few hours ago to see what availability was on other days, I saw that every lunch reservation is taken from now until late August. I can't stress enough that if anyone wants to get into BOG for either lunch or dinner, an ADR at 180 days (190 if staying on property) is pretty much required. Given the popularity, I would expect them to begin serving breakfast in the not too distant future. Its size alone could make for a second character dining experience in the MK.

[kingsislandfan1972]

I was at DisneyWorld the week of Christmas in 2008 with my family. My little brother had a Mickey Mouse costume on with ears that squeak , and when he saw Mickey Mouse,Mickey Mouse squeaked his ears, and my brother ran away from him. Christmas at DisneyWorld was an awesome experience, especially when we went to Planet Hollywood at DownTown Disney, then we went to that huge arcade I think was called Kids Quest, which if you rode the elevator, you have seen the effects of the Genie from Aladdin, actually in the elevator with you. Christmas at DisneyWorld was a memory that will be with me always.

[RailRider]

That picture in front of City Hall outside the entrance is great! Of course, Disney had to go and ruin it by putting up a 3 ft high iron fence in front of the planter in the past week or so, allegedly to keep the masses off the pretty flower display. As people here have said often, this is why we can't have nice things! I woke up early this morning to nab a lunch reservation at BOG for one of our MK days. I was actually able to get into the system 5 min early before it went live and secure the spot. When I just checked a few hours ago to see what availability was on other days, I saw that every lunch reservation is taken from now until late August. I can't stress enough that if anyone wants to get into BOG for either lunch or dinner, an ADR at 180 days (190 if staying on property) is pretty much required. Given the popularity, I would expect them to begin serving breakfast in the not too distant future. Its size alone could make for a second character dining experience in the MK.

I heard about the addition of the new fence. Not surprising seeing as the number of people that walk up in the flowers to get pictures is insane. I know waiting to get this pic we saw multiple folks do it. The new fencing is almost identical to that at Disneyland.

Be our Guest is great for the atmosphere and I am very happy they are doing ADR's now. I like to book as many ADR's as possible. Makes the trip much less stressful and meals are important when taking advantage of the dinning plan. I think a character breakfast could be awesome, especially seeing as how Cinderellas Royal Table is very tiny for a breakfast meet n greet. I would love to see Belle and Beast do a character breakfast at Be our Guest with Gaston of course. Would be a very unique meet n greet and an almost impossible reservation to get. The theming is not to be missed. The food is just ok in my opinion.

[Gabe]

When I last ate there for lunch, I found it to be better than dinner. The choices seemed better and of course less expensive. Dinner was certainly an event with The Beast making the rounds. I'm hearing that once they get the breakfast logistics up and running, a character breakfast could be added there hopefully by years' end. Even at $50 per adult and $35 per kid, reservations would be gone in a flash. I will say that the pics of the new Hub area look fantastic. Disney did a great job expanding a once barren (and cramped) area into something that is nice and enjoyable (fountains, grass; although some kind of artificial turf was installed in two of the quadrants and will serve as FP+ viewing areas for Wishes). I'll be excited to see the transformation in about 45 days!