We were on the road a little after 7AM with a quick stop at Walmart which was conveniently located between our house and WDW.

We cleared security by 7:49AM

We were about a dozen people back from the tapstiles at 7:57AM.

I had the stroller and was about the fourth “row” back from the rope, with the rest of my party at the front of the rope or just behind them in the second “row.”

Each girl was invited out to welcome the crowd.  Katriel went first, but I only recorded hers as a video.

Behind us was an amazing sea of human beings.

I tried to take a photo or two as we were walked to Toy Story Land at 8:53AM

I started to get pushed further and further back and then had to park my stroller, no less.

My family was all separated and I started to wonder if I would even try for the ride through.

In the end, the girls ended up riding in the third train out, and Nan and Nene in the fourth and me in the sixth. 

It was an amazing ride.  I was off by 9:11 AM.

Katriel spotted Jessie, whom she was dressed as, so we queued in her line.  Kelly, Marie, Johanna and Nan rode Alien Swirling Saucers.

I took some photos as Tab waited in line with Katriel.

Today Marie bounded as Snow White and Tab as Bolt.  The family actually got off the line before we met Jessie.

It was finally time to meet Jessie.

We headed over to use our first FPP for Rock N Roller Coaster.  Everyone but Nan went on.  Then Marie and Kelly went to Tower of Terror and the rest of us went to watch Lightning McQueen Racing Academy and Beauty and the Beast.  While in there, I got a text from Nigel that he’d just been advised that the class for spring semester he was on the wait list for now had room.  I missed part of the show registering him… LOL. 

Marie and Kelly missed their chance to tap into Beauty and Beast and therefore didn’t discharge their FPP.  I had to visit a Guest Experience Team Kiosk to get it off.  I didn’t want to wait to see if it fell off, because I wanted to grab some same day FPP at the 12:01PM drop.

We ate lunch while watching the Star Wars stage show and tapped in to our FPP for Frozen Sing-a-Long 6 minutes early.  Kelly’s phone worked better than mind, so we poised ourselves to grab FPP at 12:01PM and got a set of Toy Story Midway Mania for later.  Then we sat back and enjoyed the sing along.  It had a slightly holiday tweaked theme that made it a lot of fun.

From there we enjoyed Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and then Muppets.  It was only 66F.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that the weather forecast started tanking just after we got to Florida…

We headed back to Toy Story Land for our Fast Pass.

We were off the ride by 2:40PM so I picked up another set for later.  I could have had FPP for Slinky Dog again for three of us, but try as I might I couldn’t get all seven of us back on.

From there we went to explore Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.  Kelly had a reservation for Oga’s Cantina (no way we could get one for all of us) at 3:55PM. 

While she visited the Cantina we went and met Olaf.

She texted us when she was done and some of them rode Star Tours while Nan and I shopped a little.

We then had an early dinner.  It’s an unpopular restaurant, but we’ve enjoyed Backlot Express in the past.  I like they have refills on the pop so we ate there again.

After dinner we decided we’d wait the 50 minutes to ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run.  We boarded around 6:05PM.  It was the Best decision.  We had a blast!!  I think it helps a lot that our family filled the capsule and we loved cheering and yelling to one another.  Even the little two who have never seen a movie were totally into it. 

When we were done the park had been plunged into darkness.  We headed back to Toy Story Land to start our hunt for treats and ride Toy Story Midway Mania again.  It is such a great ride.

Nene bought Katriel a refillable popcorn bucket.  Johanna and I found treats at Starbucks.

My carrot cake “cookie” was every bit as amazing as I’d been advised and was honestly too big for me to finish myself.

This was my second day in a row enjoying a Venti Cafe Mocha.

Katriel and I rode Alien Swirling Saucers that we’d missed in the AM. 

At 8:31PM we went to enjoy some projections.  The park was wonderfully uncrowded.  There was lots of room as people continued to arrive right up until the fireworks started. 

Guests remained seated for the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam which started at 9.

These blew us away.  So many lesser known Disney movies were included in the show.  It was exceptional, in our opinions.

 

We headed out around 9:15PM

I was awake before my 5AM alarm.  I was up and at ‘em and started morning prep.  Kelly and Nan were up by 6AM and then it was time to get the girls up.  Our plan for this day was to Disneybound as the characters from Winnie the Pooh.

Breakfast at 6:33 AM.

On our way I got in the wrong lane and got us a little behind.

We finally got to the Transportation and Ticket Center and got on the proper monorail, only to have it experience technical difficulties.  We were instructed to disembark at the Polynesian Resort and told to stay close to the security area so that we would be able to re-enter the next monorail as soon as it arrived.  All of these delays were messing with our ability to be first in line to Rope Drop the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train ride we hoped to Rope Drop.

We finally got to Magic Kingdom and did not stop to properly admire any of the decorations.  We hurried to the spot people were queuing for RD.  After I stood there a few minutes and processed our position, I decided to forgo this plan for this morning.

We moved over to the Adventureland side of the Hub and waited over there until they RDed around 8:50AM.

From there we headed to Splash Mountain because Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed.

I got soaked!

We then went to use our first FPP for Jungle Jingle Cruise, which was EXCELLENT.  We had the funniest skipper.

We waited a whopping 7 or 8 minutes for Magic Carpets of Aladdin and some were complaining… We’ve been spoiled.

We went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and then decided to eat our lunch.  I admit that at first I was willing to acknowledge that it is a little “sad” or even “pathetic” to pack a lunch.  Nuh – uh.  No way.  It is now my favorite thing.  Our breaks were super short.  No ordering and waiting, etc.,  It was so easy.

We went and rode Dumbo and from the air my girls spotted Pluto coming out.  So as soon as we got off we headed directly over to where he was walking.

We were the only ones in that area, and he quickly engaged Katriel.  They danced and then he walked her up and around to a closed food trailer.  He pretended to want to eat something.  It was a few minutes before anyone else joined our grouping.

We finished our visit with him and then went inside to meet Goofy and Donald.

We rode the Little Mermaid ride and opted to skip Tea Cups.

Around 2PM we decided to find some treats.

J and K went for the Arenedelle Aqua ice cream – cotton candy flavored with Mickey Head candies.

M had a Minnie’s Gingerbread treat.

We had done so much already, we decided to bite the bullet and queue for the 7  Dwarfs Mine Train.

And after 50 minutes we were next up for the ride.

And it went down.

They made multiple announcements about it being down and many people left the line.  We stayed put.  After about 10 minutes they now announced it was down and everyone would get FPP for later.  The park was only open until 6PM so we weren’t sure if we’d get to use them or not.

We queued to meet Pooh Bear and Tigger.  This took a long time, but there was no way we wanted to miss meeting them.

Kelly and Marie went to ride Haunted Mansion and the rest of us went to meet Tiana and Rapunzel.  They were both excellent and engaging.

Tab and I decided we wanted our treats for the day.  She wanted an iced coffee and I wanted a Dole Whip.

At 5PM we decided again to try 7 Dwarves and we were on in just a few minutes.

As we inched closer to closing time we rode the Tomorrowland Speedway and looked on in excitement as they started to roll out the special items for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) starting at 7PM.  We had tickets for Thursday, 11/14.

We left at 6PM and rode the monorail around and around.  LOL.  It seemed that way. 

We went to the Contemporary Resort to look at decorations (not many yet) and have dinner.  Dinner was really good and the Cast Member (CM) helped me work our meals to maximize food for the two youngest at the cheapest price point. 

From there we rode around to the Grand Floridian which was beautiful.  For just a moment I could actually catch myself wishing we were staying in such a luxurious hotel.  It was gorgeous.

Then I remembered that behind each door was a hotel room and how much I don’t love hotel rooms, and it wasn’t so hard to not want to stay there anymore…

A cast member noticed us admiring the tile work in the floor and then proceeded to give us a tour.  Meanwhile the band was extraordinary.  I’m glad we stopped here!

Finally we circled back to the Transportation and Ticket Center and took a parting picture of each girl next to the character she had bounded for the day. ♥

Late last summer Marie mentioned how she would love to see Walt Disney World at Christmas time.  I quickly responded with, “I’m sure we will, someday.”  Then I realized that once she started at community college she wouldn’t be able to leave during the holiday season.  Or she’d be limited to the school breaks, which would mean terrible crowds.  So I started to do some research into what it would cost to visit WDW in the 2019 Christmas season.  The numbers looked doable, so I just set to pray about it.

In December 2019, I heard about Traveling Homeschoolers from a friend at church.

In February, the dates and prices were posted on the Traveling Homeschoolers website.  They were traveling in November and were affordable.  I had to wait for airfare costs.  I booked a campsite on Disney property (which we would never actually stay at) to allow for early access to Fast Passes (FPP).

In May, Southwest posted their fares and they were out of my budget.  I looked again a week later and they were now in my range!

Meanwhile, I churned 5 credit cards to earn money to cover many of the costs.

In August, I found a rental house that exceeded my expectations for the low budget I set.

Autoslash helped me to find a rental van in our range.

We told the girls in September.

Monday morning I drove John to work at 6:30 AM.  I came home and placed grocery orders for ALDI and Walmart in the 34747 zip code to be delivered to our rental house in the evening.

At 10:30 AM I picked up Nan and Kelly, and then we picked up John.  He had us to the airport by 11:10 AM.

They watched Toy Story 4 while I watched Endgame.

We navigated MCO easily.

We found our rental car, but had to really WORK to get all our luggage into the Dodge Caravan.

We headed to Kissimmee area for Chick-fil-A.

Then a quick stop at a junky Dollar Tree and off to our rental house on Santee Drive.

Our rental stroller was already there, and our groceries came right on time. 

We dug into making lunches for the next day.

Originally our goal was to make lunches each of the first five days in an effort to save money, and then we would buy lunches toward the end of vacation.  I wanted to make sure we could buy some of the special (and $) treats Disney makes.

We hit bed around 9:30 PM.  I shared with Johanna.  Nan and Katriel had a room.  Marie and Tab had a room.  And Kelly had her own room. 

Dream Come True Day for me.

I got up early and headed to Walmart for some groceries.  We had a fast breakfast and headed about 40 minutes away to the Creation Museum.  John had been there before for a short visit when he was on a business trip to Cincinnati.  This was our first family trip.

My photos are so lame.  But we really enjoyed it. 

We went back to the house where we vegged out.

And ate a yummy dinner of microwaved pulled pork and, wait for it,

mac and cheese.