10th Anniversary/Xmas Trip to WDW--Dec. 9-15, 2011

[lovechows]

Greetings everyone!

We are planning our tenth wedding anniversary trip to Walt Disney World, which will be my husband's second trip to the Florida resort (and my 7th). We live 8 miles away from Disneyland and visit the original park at least once a month but will appreciate your suggestions to help make this trip magical. Our first trip together was for our honeymoon so are really looking forward to going back to celebrate this milestone.

We were able to take advantage of the passholder discounts so are staying at the Contemporary Resort (our first choice hotel) instead of the Dolphin. On our first trip, we stayed at one of the DTD hotels and were stranded by their buses twice so want to avoid that experience.

Here are the plans we've made so far:

Friday, Dec. 9: Fly on Southwest (8 AM-6:30 PM) & stay at Hyatt @ Orlando Airport
Sat., Dec. 10: Take DME to Contemporary Resort & check in; Epcot (dinner @ either
Teppan Edo or Tokyo Dining); Illuminations
Sun., Dec. 11: Magic Kingdom, including MVMCP (late lunch @ Crystal Palace)
Mon., Dec. 12: DHS (lunch @ Sci Fi Diner), Osbourne Lights
Tues., Dec. 13: AK (lunch @ Yak & Yeti; dinner @ CA Grill during Holiday Wishes)
Wed., Dec. 14: R&R/Catch-up with lunch @ T-Rex & dinner @ Coral Reef
Thurs, Dec. 15: Chef Mickey's for brunch; possibly a park or DTD; DME @ 3 for 6:15
evening flight

One question: where are the zebra domes at AK Lodge available if you don't eat a full meal? We're thinking about going to Sanaa's Lounge & foraging for the domes but have never been to AK before. Please help!

Thanks so much for your suggestions!!

[Tater]

I don't have a suggest, yet. LOL but you will love staying on the Monorail. Last time we stayed at the Poly and it was the most relaxed we have ever been when on a vacation that included a theme park. Our first trip to WDW was in 2008 we stayed offsite, NEVER AGAIN. We will be arriving on 12/15 and staying at the Poly again, we will be celebrating Christmas (a few days early) and our 22 wedding anniversary.

[jonesin4Dland]

One question: where are the zebra domes at AK Lodge available if you don't eat a full meal? We're thinking about going to Sanaa's Lounge & foraging for the domes but have never been to AK before. Please help!

Zebra Domes can be found in the cold case at the Mara CS. I think they come 4 to a container.

[currence]

We are planning our tenth wedding anniversary trip to Walt Disney World, which will be my husband's second trip to the Florida resort (and my 7th). We live 8 miles away from Disneyland and visit the original park at least once a month but will appreciate your suggestions to help make this trip magical. Our first trip together was for our honeymoon so are really looking forward to going back to celebrate this milestone.

We were able to take advantage of the passholder discounts so are staying at the Contemporary Resort (our first choice hotel) instead of the Dolphin.

Make sure you tell them that it's your 10th Anniversary! When we went for our 10th anniversary, we were upgraded from the cheapest room they had to a 1-bdrm suite. We were not at all expecting it and I assume part of the decision to upgrade us was that it was noted all over our reservations that it was our anniversary (I think our travel agent put the note in every dining reservation we made as well). We also got a couple of nice deserts brought out to us (even at Breakfast which was odd) some of which had spelled out in frosting "happy anniversary."

We also had a surprising amount of fun wearing our Anniversary buttons.

Our trip was a lot shorter than yours but one thing I like looking back on it was that because we planned on taking a lot of pictures, I made sure we packed/wore coordinated outfits every day. The pictures turned out really great and I love looking at them. We may have looked silly while we were there, but I really didn't care. We took a family trip this year and although I packed super cute clothes for my kids, I cared more about comfort and staying cool than style. I was just looking at my Photopass CD and there are some pretty good family pictures that I would like to frame for work except for how we are dressed.

If you frequent Disneyland a lot you may already know this final tip - you can combine your WDW and DL photopasses onto one CD. If you start with a new card you have 30 days to register and then 30 days to redeem, so you can get 60 days worth of pictures onto one order. This means you can get a lot of DL pictures on your CD in addition to your WDW ones. Just make sure to enter a DL photopass number last to avoid paying the WDW prices for the CD.

[lovechows]

Thank you tater and currence so much for your feedback and suggestions. We did mention our 10th Anniversary but will make sure to drop that again at check-in. Also, we wanted to stay on the monorail, especially after being stranded by DTD hotel buses (twice) when we were there last time for our honeymoon. One of our biggest priorities was to be next to Epcot (at Dolphin) or on the monorail so that wouldn't happen again. I also appreciate the photopass info. We haven't used it much (usually take our own camera) but since we're going over the holidays and plan to go to Disneyland's Thanksgiving Buffet, that would be a great option!

Thanks Jonesin4Dland also for the info. about zebra domes. What exactly are they? I've heard from lots of people that they're chocolate (my fave) and you have to have them while at AK but am just wondering what is in them?

This is so exciting!! It's been 7 years since we've been to WDW so I can't wait to go back!

[Tater]

I some how keep missing the Zebra Domes, but not this time, I'm going "Zebra" hunting. I have a link for and will send it if it still works, where you can pre-order a photo pass cd with all your photos for only 99.00. Great thing about that is if you don't feel you have enough photos after your trip to warrant it, you get a full refund.

Found the link and the offer is still good, I just ordered mine.

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

[lovechows]

Tater,

Just wanted to thank you again for all of your suggestions. Also, just realized that you're arriving at WDW on our last day. Hope you have a wonderful stay at the Poly. (We were torn between staying there or the Contemporary but this time, the CR won).

Have you used DME? If so, how well does it work? We've read such conflicting reports and even the staff at DME have given us different information so we're not sure whether to use it. Since we're only going to be at WDW 5 days, we don't want to waste precious time driving around to multiple hotels. So, we're wondering how many stops the buses make? On the return trip, do you check your luggage into the DME desk in the morning and then just get on the bus when it's time to go or do you have to go back and get your luggage and check it onto the bus (we we've read been told we just check it in AM but then read that we have to check it in at the bus so now we're confused). Is it worth it or would it be better just to suck it up and spend the extra money on a towncar to have the extra time at the resort (and peace of mind at MCO going home)?

Also, on Sunday afternoons, how bad are the security lines at MCO? And are the livescan machines used at all the stations? I'm very concerned about them and so far haven't had to go through one but heard MCO uses them extensively. What's the real scoop?

Thanks again for all of your help!!!

[Barberella]

Arrival at MCO Airport for DME: The DME Welcome Center is on the B-side of Level 1 (Ground Transportation). If you choose NOT to have DME handle your luggage, stop on Level 2 to get your luggage before proceeding to the DME Welcome Center on Level 1.

If you have your DME documents in your hand, you likely can go directly onto the bus - otherwise you have to stop and check in at the Welcome Center.

Generally a bus makes no more than 3-4 stops total. Stops are quick, usually only a few minutes. Almost all DME experiences are positive - but yes, there is a chance that you will have a negative experience. The trade-off is that it saves money.

Southwest participates in Resort Airline Check-In Service which is a feature of DME. Passengers on Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, United and AirTran, Southwest Airlines can check their luggage and receive their boarding passes at their resort, as long as their flight doesn't leave before 8 am.

You can also elect not to use the luggage service for Airline Check-in, and leave your bags with Bell Services when you check-out of your resort. Then when it is time to depart for the airport, you would pick up your bags from Bell Services, and board the DME back to the airport.

I usually recommend that first-time DME users handle their own luggage for the first trip - somehow having their luggage with them relieves a lot of anxiety around using DME. This means do not use the yellow tags that DME sends you and go pick up your luggage on Level 2 upon arrival. Board the DME bus to your resort with your luggage underneath. Upon departure, drop of your luggage with bell services and pick it up from them when it is time to board your DME bus back to the airport. This way your luggage will travel in the same bus as you to the airport.

DME generally gets you to the airport with plenty of time for your flight. Get through security (there's no way to predict who gets what security measure) and you'll likely have plenty of time to get to your gate and even have something to eat before departure.

[bochnikm]

Also, on Sunday afternoons, how bad are the security lines at MCO? And are the livescan machines used at all the stations? I'm very concerned about them and so far haven't had to go through one but heard MCO uses them extensively. What's the real scoop?

We did the live scans coming back from our trip last March. To me - no big deal. You just stand with your hands up for a few seconds and your're done ( unless you have a big peice of metal on you like a cell phone). It was much quicker than the metal detector.

[lovechows]

Thanks so much for both of your help! We're actually staying at the MCO Hyatt our first night (late flight & we'll save $200 in hotel expenses) so we'll need to check our bags into DME on the way to WDW. On the return, our main concern was being able to check our bags into the Resort Airline Check-in Service in the AM so we can have some free time to do something fun before catching the afternoon DME. Hopefully our bags will arrive back in CA along with our flight. If they're delayed, I'm sure the airline will work something out (especially since we're on the last flight of the night).

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

all the christmas bueaty awaits. lets all hope it is not as cold as it was last year . wind chills in the 20's

[LegoMom]

Ok, this may be a stupid question... we are staying at AKL in January..... What are Zebra Domes??

[lovechows]

We hope the weather stays beautiful like it is right now (high 70's). If it's cold like last year, we will not be happy campers (I freeze when it's under 65 degrees here in So. CA) but are preparing for cold, just in case. The last time we were there (2004), it was beautiful for two days and then we were cold the rest of the trip (but not as bad as last year). I just bought a down jacket, hat, gloves, and muffler--and bought rain ponchos--so hopefully we will be ready for MVMCP this time!

What are Zebra Domes? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure but so many people have raved about them the last year that I have to go find them. They're chocolate. That's all I need to know for my quest. We'll let you know after we get back from our trip. Three weeks from now, we will probably be at AKL looking for the zebras (edible and wild)!

Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

[candles71]

If you have any Disneyland trips planned after your trip, don't pay the 99 preorder. DL cost is $59, and if you have dl pics after your WDW ones, you get the DL price.

[TinaMouse]

Hope you had a great time.