As we embarked on our journey, I felt a sense of peace and tranquility. I hadn't felt that in a while. Between me owning 2 childcare centers and my husband owning his own electrical business there isn’t a lot of peace and tranquility to be had. I had completed all my Christmas obligations and was totally free for the holidays. There weren't any more demands, no more holiday visits, shopping for presents, or parties to attend. It was just my family and me! Our family’s love that week felt as warm as the weather outside in sunny Florida. Peace of mind is highly under-rated! Do you know how nice it is to have your company shut down for a week and not have any phone calls to answer or issues with clients? Maybe, you do, and if so, then you understand my plight!
Christmas Day was spent with my sister Cheryl, her 4 daughters, their husbands, and children. My niece’s in-laws were there too, both doctors, and the nicest people that I have ever met. We ate the traditional Christmas turkey with all the fixings. I couldn’t understand the homemade mac and cheese with Ritz crackers on top, but I loved it just the same!
Christmas down south has a different feeling that is hard to explain. It is part of the Bible belt and religion plays a key factor. Obviously there wasn't any snow, but they still adorn their houses with elaborate Christmas lights and displays! One thing that I loved is that you don't have to run indoors to avoid the bitter cold weather. You need a sweatshirt at night and also in the early morning, but other than that, you should be just fine!
Here are some tips on accommodations and things I have learned as well as some really fun things we did at Disney in Florida.
1. My family doesn't fit in a traditional hotel room. We opt for a condo when we travel. There are 5 of us and we need at least two bedrooms and two baths, and a kitchen and laundry is a MUST! With a kitchen the kids can grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast and we can keep lots of snacks and drinks available in the refrigerator. This saves us quite a bit of money! Having two or more bathrooms makes the morning "getting ready" process move along more smoothly. Having a washer and dryer in our room is so helpful to me! I am able to put in a load per day and that means less packing for the trip and less work when I return home!
2. Condo Life - Usually when I am sitting by the pool, I have conversations with the other guests. I have learned some very valuable information about condo vacationing. I acquired my parents’ time-share several years ago. They had owned these units for 30 years and decided that their traveling days to Florida were done due to illnesses they both had. I had vacationed at their condo twice a year during the 30 years they owned it, and understandably, I got a little bored with the location. I wanted to visit different place. We (both my sister and my hubby) decided to turn the weeks that we were entitled to annually into points. With points you can stay at any condo within the network, in any location, as long as they have availability. The amount of points that you have gives you a certain status. It goes Gold, VIP and Platinum. We are VIP. We can buy more points to upgrade to Platinum. You can buy additional points through the place that you own, which can cost between $5,000 and $20,000 per week. The cost really depends on the location and the newness of the property. Currently there are major deals to be found! You can buy condos or points through brokers, or you can buy them on eBay. Just click on time shares. My sister and I prefer Wyndham properties. They are usually 5 star suites, unless the property is an older place and they haven't renovated yet! Look at the various units that eBay offers. Some units you can pay $1.00 for, but you must pay the annual maintenance fee which is usually $350.00. I was sitting next to a woman who was retired and had 5 weeks in Hawaii. She always brought her entire family! She and her husband had been buying points throughout the years knowing that this was how they were going to spend their retirement. Another gentleman who was a teacher bought a week in Miami for $1.00. He pays the yearly maintenance fee and that is his summer trip each year.
3. If you would like to try condo vacationing, you can go on the website-VRBO. (Vacation Rentals By Owner) You can try staying at a condo in an area that you like. It is usually is cheaper than a hotel and offers you a lot more space and usually more amenities! Families like to rent their condos out when they are not using them, and it helps them defray some costs. Start thinking about your retirement. Where do you want to be, how do you plan to get there? Both of my parents and in-laws worked all their lives, saved their money, and guess what? The market tanked, and so did a lot of their savings. Not to mention, the cost of their prescriptions eat away at their monthly budget. This can be an affordable way to accumulate a retirement that consists of travel to places that you love!
4. Here are some pictures of the Wyndham that I stayed in. It is not owned by Disney, but is in the downtown Disney area. This is called the Wyndham at Bonnet Creek.
Here is a picture of Heather who is at the front desk. She was so helpful in checking us in and making sure our stay was perfect for us. In my opinion, the girl deserves a raise.
Here is Jeff, another wonderful person working at Bonnet Creek that helped us with our reservations.
This resort is very customer service oriented. They will do whatever it takes to make you happy! It is a 5 star hotel and they have everything you need--Santa was sitting in the lobby on Christmas Eve, and I thought that my son was going to faint. They have several pools, slides, miniature gold, hot tubs and more!
5. We visited various hotels at Disney during Christmas and found a few decorated very elaborately. Our favorite was the Grand Floridian. It had a huge Christmas Tree and a walk in Gingerbread house.
Our second favorite was the Fort Wilderness Resort. This also had a beautiful tree and gave a more New England feel to me! It reminded me of a ski lodge up in New Hampshire!
6. The Magic Kingdom was beautiful! The castle was absolutely beautiful and had daily parades for the children. You won’t find Santa at Disney World during Christmas, though. I asked an employee where Santa was? He responded, "Santa is not one of our characters."
7. We went to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM for New Year’s Eve! What a rocking place that was. It was my favorite New Year’s Eve EVER! They had parades, they had live bands all day, they gave out hats and blowers. The best show that I have EVER, EVER seen at Disney, Fantasmic is worth the entire $80.00 admission. We sat and watched this show and drank wine and had a snack. Every character that you can imagine came out, there were fireworks, there were boats with more characters that came out, there were fire breathing dragons, there were giant safari animals...you name it, it came out! And there were fireworks at midnight! Disney knows how to do New Year’s Eve!! Also, the Osborne family light show was amazing. 5 million lights adorn a section of Hollywood Studios with the sounds of Christmas music and man-made falling snow. It was just beautiful!
8. We also went to a character breakfast at the Beach Resort. It was great! There were three different characters that came to our table 4 times each. My son had a great time getting their autograph and taking their pictures!
I highly recommend a vacation at Disney World during Christmas! It is a truly wonderful experience!
