Lessons Learned: Walt Disney World Christmas 2016 Trip Report Day One

The Plan:

Leave Hotel and arrive in Orlando at 12:30

Check into hotel and leave for Christmas Party by 3:30

After arriving at Magic Kingdom, hop on the railroad and go to Frontierland.

Splash Mountain

Haunted Mansion

Chris and Carol Dinner at Columbia Harbor House while I camped out for the 7 Dwarves Meet and Greet

Ride some rides

Get some snacks

Head to the hub at 9:30 for Wishes

Stay in hub for Christmas parade

Ride more rides

How it Actually Happened:

On arrival day, I usually love to get to my hotel, unpack, acclimate and go to bed early.

That was not in the cards for us on this trip. Because of impending weather, we decided to do the Christmas party on arrival day. This meant changing some plans. We checked in online and got the texts with our room numbers at 2:55 and went directly to our rooms. We unloaded and packed a bag and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

We had pre-party FP+s for Haunted Mansion. We arrived at Magic Kingdom just before 5:00 and were greeted by the Flag Retreat Ceremony. It was touching and I am so glad we got to see it! Then we made our way up Main Street for pictures and got to Haunted Mansion around 5:30.

After Haunted Mansion, I made my way to Storybook Circus with the intention of getting in line to meet the 7 Dwarves. I had originally planned to arrive there by 5:30, but it was much closer to 6:00. By the time I got there, there was a 70 minute wait. Meaning that I had to wait for the party to start at 7 and then wait 70 minutes to meet the Dwarves.

I moved on.

I instead camped out near where the Scrooge and Donald meet and greet was and we waited about 40 minutes to do that meet.

After that, we rode Winnie the Pooh and Mad Tea Cups. Then, we were hungry. (Again, not a part of the plan, but you do what you have to do) So we ate at Cosmic Ray’s and then headed to the hub to watch the Castle stage show, the fireworks and the parade.