Disney - Twice, Suggestions?

We had a group that included three pre-teen/teenagers and six adults the last time we went. Our favorite things from that trip that we weren't so sure about beforehand included pin trading, the Hoop-De-Do Revue, and Fantasmic. Pin trading turned out to be something fun to do everyday even though some of us were skeptical about it beforehand. The Hoop-De-Do was great food and enjoyed by everyone. For Fantasmic, we splurged and opted for the package that was a combination of a meal prior and then special no wait seating. Though the show is normally free, it was worth the price of the meal to not have to wait in the line that stretched through MGM to watch Fantasmic. Also, if there are any Star Wars fans in the group, you should definitely stop by at the face painting booths at MGM and get painted up like Darth Maul. They do a great job.

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I agree with CDBAN.  Your first trip is going to be SO crowded, so don't try to do a lot of the more popular things on that one.  Wander through the resorts, take a carriage ride, go see the Osbourne Lights (get there early and don't expect to get out fast - it takes forever!), go listen to the different holiday stories at each country in Epcot, maybe plan a dinner show like Hoop Dee Doo or the Luau at the Polynesian.  The only problem is that most restaurants will be pretty booked for these popular dates.  The Disney website pretty much stinks, but they just updated the restaurant reservation system and it is better now.  You can put in that you want to eat at Epcot at 6pm and it can bring up all of the restaurants that are available around that time.  Just for fun I put in 4 people Dec. 30th for Hoop Dee Do and there is only availability at 4pm and the Luau only has a table at 8pm.  I'm surprised there are even any left though! 

 Maybe even book a tour - there is a family tour in Magic Kingdom that is supposed to be fun and may be the only one that the kids could do with you.

Save things like Jedi Training, Toy Story Mania, the mountain roller coasters, etc. for the second trip when you will be shocked at how NOT crowded it will be.  Late January/ early Feb. is our favorite time to go.  It can be cold, but we live in FL so we don't mind that - we are all about low crowds.

If you are willing to leave the property there is some kind of Snow/Ice show at Gaylord Palms hotel right down the street - about a mile - from Epcot.  I've never been but have heard it is pretty cool.

Oh, and since you live semi-close you might want to think about if you would do another trip in the next year.  If you are planning on buying park hopper tickets for 8 days it will be $330 for an adult.  An annual pass is $519 - a $189 difference.  So if you plan on doing another trip for at least 2 days you would end up saving money.  You also can get hotel room discounts, free parking at the parks and merchandise discounts with the annual pass.

Don't know how much of the holiday activities will still be going on after Christmas, but they used to do a live reading of "The Polar Express" at the Yacht Club in the evenings that was really wonderful.

If you want to get away from Disney for a day and your kids like space stuff, consider a field trip to Kennedy Space Center.  It's a fairly short drive and they have excellent tours and displays.  You can easily spend the best part of a day there.  Also if you're going to be there on Jan 12 or 19 there are rocket launches scheduled.

Thanks everyone.  Keep up the suggestions.

The first time, we are staying at the Pop Century, which I understand is close to Hollywood Studios, but requires bus service to all the parks.  We will have a dining plan for the first trip, but no car.

The second time, we are staying at the Contemporary, so we will have access to the Monorail.  No Dining plan and no car.

We are going 2/24 through 3/2 including the Disney Princess HM. I subscribed to touringplans.com to build itineraries for each day so that we could hit the parks early, take a long lunch/afternoon off, and hit the parks late.

This will be our first trip, so I couldn't tell you how good the plans are first hand.