Day 1: Sunday, December 17
DISNEY DAY!
I will be this excited to land at Disney.
Enjoy some gratuitous pictures to break up the wall o’text.
Here's Berk and me, touring around DC.
Now that we are officially almost two weeks from leaving, it’s time to get these daily plans down – and maybe an outfit post? I have some pretty awesome themed shirts – so we’ll start with arrival day!
Remember that this is a budget-friendly trip (you should see our spreadsheet!), which is why we have four day tickets, non-hoppers. However, to stretch the budget further, we are taking odd timed flights, which gives us two free days. Arrival Day and Departure Day are those free days.
Here’s the “plan” –
We fly down Southwest at 6 AM from DCA, and our direct flight lands at 8:20 AM! We’re planning on taking DME to the hotel, so with that timing, I feel like we’ll get to Port Orleans – French Quarter around 9:30 or so? There’s absolutely no chance our room will be ready then, but we both plan to buy the reusable mugs, so we’ll do that, fill up with caffeine and a quick breakfast, and then take the boat to Disney Springs!
Berk has only spent a little bit of time in Disney Springs, and I had some time to wander around in August before I went to dinner, but that’s it. We will be back on Tuesday night for Homecomin’, so we will also have time to eat and drink then.
You’ll notice that eating and drinking is a key component of the trip.
For food, we’re throwing around several QS restaurants – Blaze Pizza, D’Luxe Burger, the Poutine cart – and maybe drinks at Jock Lindsays and a few other bars. Any suggestions for must eat and drinks?
I don’t have a lot of shopping that I want and/or need to do, but I do like to browse. I think I could spend hours in Basin, exfoliating my hands.
I’m not sure if there are specific Christmas decorations during the day at Disney Springs, but I’m all about being festive, so we’ll see what’s there. We’ve also thrown around the idea of doing a DVC tour if time allows on Sunday to maybe get some fastpasses and/or a gift card. I think we can sign up for that at Disney Springs? That’s a TBD afternoon plan, but I love not waiting in line and not paying for things, so I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
When we get the room text and/or can’t walk anymore, we’ll take the boat back to POFQ, go to our room, and maybe take a disco nap. Around 5 PM, after showers and an afternoon cup of coffee, we’ll head to the Boardwalk!
I absolutely adore the Boardwalk area, and if money were no object, I would have pushed to stay there on this trip. We were talking about things to do on Sunday night, and both of us were like, “let’s go to the Boardwalk!” The hotels all have amazing Christmas decorations, and there are a ton of fun places to bop into, so instead of booking a big Signature dinner, we decided to bop around the whole place.
I haven’t seen a lot of information about an explicit Boardwalk Bar Hop, so just consider this trademark pending.
As you’ll see from the list, we have found something we like…pretty much everywhere. Right now, the rough plan is to hit the absolute must-dos: Ale and Compass, Abracadabar, and Jellyrolls. Maybe a drink to go while looking at decorations? Can you do that in Disney?
The others seem to have the Standard Disney Drink Menu, but some interesting snacks, so we’ll see if we end up there.
I imagine after 3-4 adult bevs, some heavy snacks, and some dueling pianos, we’ll be ready to go back to the hotel and PTFO around 9 or 10 – especially after the early morning. So we’ll head back to POFQ and get some beauty sleep.
Magic Kingdom day is next!