All I Want for Christmas is...A WDW Vacation!! UPDATE pg 35 - Leaving today!!

[DWGal210]

Hi again everyone!

I wrote a pre-trip for our last vacation (June 08) but didn't get it finished nor did I go a final trip report.... So here I am, going to be a good DISer this time and tell you about our upcoming trip!

The Disney-saavy travelers are:

Me - 27 years old and LOVE my Disney vacations! This trip will be my 7th to the World. I've not been at Christmas since 2002 so I'm looking forward to seeing the decorations and everything!

DSis - 18 years old. She is graduating from HS in May and is my Disney trip buddy.

DFamily - Aunt, Uncle and 4 cousins (who at time of travel will be 16, 14, 9 and 3)

If any of your read my last TR, you'll recall that in June 08, my sister, brother and sister-in-law and I went to WDW for 4 days and then did a 3-day cruise on the Wonder. It was a FABULOUS trip and we had a great time. We would have liked going with them again this year, but at Christmas 08, my brother informed us that they were having a baby in July...and we recently found out that baby is a girl! So naturally, taking a trip in June, while 8 months along, was not such a great idea for DBro and SIL.
(I will get some pics, I promise I thought I had things loaded on photobucket but alas, I was wrong. I will get to it this week!)

My sister and I then thought we would go during her Christmas break from school (and escape the frigid tundra that is the midwest in Winter!) We hadn't booked anything quite yet, and as luck would have it, DFamily said they were going in December and would love for us gals to tag along - sweet! So now, we had a trip planned and in the works.

The details are:

Leave December 26, 2009
Come home January 2, 2010
Staying at DVC in Animal Kingdom (but may switch to Saratoga if that becomes available)
And no idea for ADRs or park days yet

Exciting, right? I promise, more details to come as we iron them out. I am also going to copy my buddy CharlestonPrincess and pass the time from now to December with a different "theme" for each month. Now I just have to come up with that theme! Oh, details!

I will post more later this weekend. Have a great day, everyone!

 

[DWGal210]

OK, so I lied, I do have time for another post this weekend.

As I mentioned, we're booked now at AK Lodge in the DVC area. You might have noticed that I included we would try and book Saratoga if possible. Now, staying at AKL would be AWESOME; we ate at Boma in June and thought the whole place was so neat and it looks like the rooms are to die for. Saratoga is still calling our name, however, since that is DFamily's home resort and to be honest, we're pretty attached. The layout is nice, it's calm and peaceful, and we have runners in our family and in the morning, they like going on the trails that run though Saratoga for a morning jog. We don't think that AK has anything similar (as far as the trails go!) but if anyone can prove me wrong, please let me know!

For each trip, I do a bit of crafting. It usually involves me and the Hobby Lobby...and hopefully a week where the scrapbook stickers are 50% off. I like making a "travel journal" - kinda like my very very basic version of a Passporter. I have just about the most common first and last name in the US, and so I take all my travel info with me more out of necessity (but who am I kidding, I like having an excuse to break out the crafting!!). It's more than a strong possibility that someone else with my name or very similar will be flying down to Orlando the same time I am. And furthermore, I don't want to lose those ADRs - those suckers are more precious than gold! Below is a pic of the journal I made for our June trip (note that it's pre-confirmation number notations ) Cross your fingers for me, sometimes I am not so quick on the picture uploading and I do it wrong the first few times.

If these don't turn out or they are HUGE, I am sorry. I will get better, I promise!

TTFN! (Ta-ta for now!)

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am here! I am so excited that you are going to be at WDW over New Year's! So fun!

 

[annnewjerz]

I'm in! We will be in The World December 12-18 this year, it'll be our first time seeing everything all decked out for Christmas.

LOVE the little planning journal you made. I have tried something similar and just find that I get frustrated---I change my plans so much that it ends up looking like one big old mess.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DWGal210]

I am here! I am so excited that you are going to be at WDW over New Year's! So fun!

Thank you, I am too! I was there a few years ago during this time and it was gorgeous. Yes, there are bigger crowds, but what can you do?

I'm heading over to read your report from this weekend.

 

[DWGal210]

I'm in! We will be in The World December 12-18 this year, it'll be our first time seeing everything all decked out for Christmas.

LOVE the little planning journal you made. I have tried something similar and just find that I get frustrated---I change my plans so much that it ends up looking like one big old mess.

Can't wait to hear more!

Hi there!! Thanks for reading!

Yes, that is my journal pre-notes I should post a pic of the one AFTER this trip in December.

Where are you guys staying? Do you have any special things you are doing this trip?

I'll post more tonight. Have a good day!

 

[DWGal210]

Oh duh, Annnewjerz...you have a PTR I see - I completely missed that before I responded - another blonde moment! I will go and read yours today!

 

[DWGal210]

Hello again readers! (Both of you! )

So below is a picture of my sister and I...this is a few years ago at our Spring Break 07 trip:

She looks older and I have gained a few pounds that I hope to take off before we go again but other than that, now you have a visual.

I saw the Kidani Village pictures this week and it looks SO COOL over there! And their pool looks incredible - I know where we're going to be spending our nights after long days in the park!

So as to more plans: as I mentioned, my aunt and I have yet to confer on what ADRs we want, a schedule for the days, etc, but here's a short list of the places where we might eat:

O'Hana
Boma
A character breakfast, either at Grand Floridian or Contemporary (just drew a blank on the names of the restaurants!!)
And assorted counter service restaurants, including stuffing ourselves with ice cream and funnel cake.

I'll be back later this week to post more - I need to think of something interesting to keep this puppy going for 8 months!

Have a good night, everyone!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I have just been absolutely salivating everytime I look at the photos of Kidani -- it is soooo neat looking! What a great place to stay!

 

[DWGal210]

Happy Monday everyone!

Sorry I have been MIA from the trip report - I was in Chicago this weekend seeing my brother and SIL and so didn't have time to post. We had a GREAT time at the Brookfield Zoo and I'll be posting some pictures this week. If you haven't been and are in the Chicago area, it's a great zoo and a wonderful time, I highly recommend it!

Now on to Disney matters....

I am going to get with my aunt this week and decide on a schedule for our trip so I can book the Keys to the Kingdom tour for my sister and I. I've always wanted to do one of the tours and since I love the "behind the scenes" stuff, I think it will be really neat. I was thinking that we should do it at the beginning of our week as a good kick-off to a week of Christmas and New Years fun.

To add more interest (and hopefully more readers!) to this little TR, I decided that each day, I would post a Disney quote, either from Walt or a movie, tv show, etc. So if you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me!

Today's quote is:
"Settle down? Are you kidding? I'm at the top of my game! I'm right up there with the big dogs. Girls, come on! Leaving the saving of the world to the men? I don't think so!"
- Mrs. Incredible, AKA Elastigirl

Coming tomorrow: more pictures and more quotes! Stay tuned!

 

[DWGal210]

I am with CharlestonPrincess - I am just salivating at those pictures of Kidani Village!! If you haven't seen them, there's a link at the top of the Disboards info section where you can take a look!!

 

[DWGal210]

So here is that pic of my sister and I...it didn't post last time so here we go again...

 

[ladybugmom]

Hi Katie!! Found your PTR--thanks for the PM!! Yay!! Now I can put a name with a face!!

 

[DWGal210]

Hi Katie!! Found your PTR--thanks for the PM!! Yay!! Now I can put a name with a face!!

Hi Becky - welcome and thanks for coming on over!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I have heard nothing but good things about the Keys to the Kingdom tour! That would be so fun to do!

Love the quote idea -- I just adore The Incredibles!

 

[DWGal210]

Here is the quote for today from the head cheese himself:

"It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment." - Walt Disney

Well, I am getting my crafting on in a big way. I decided to start this trip's journal (you can see pics in a previous post). Now the hard thing to decide is the theme - Do I want Princess? Mickey and Minnie? A classic movie theme? In my trek to my Nirvana yesterday (also called Hobby Lobby), they have LOTS more character stickers and embellishments. For example, it was the first time I had seen Peter Pan and Lilo and Stitch scrapbook stickers outside the world. So I got my cart and loaded up.

I promise I will load some zoo pictures and more Disney pics this week. My internet has been on the fritz and for some reason is giving me issues with pictures...grr.... In the meantime, here is a pic of my puppy Riley that I have on Photobucket already; it was from Halloween 2007 when he was Jack Sparrow.

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[ladybugmom]

Oh my word!! Your puppy is adorable!!

 

[DWGal210]

Oh my word!! Your puppy is adorable!!

Thank you, I think so He's my little buddy!

 

[DWGal210]

Today's quote comes from The Lion King!

"What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?" - Timon

Well, an update in computer/camera land - my pictures DID load to my computer last night so hopefully I can post some more in the next few days.

In the meantime, a question to my readers (both of you ): If you only have 1 day and just a few hours at WDW, where would you go and what would you do? My day's picks coming up.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Today's quote comes from The Lion King!

"What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?" - Timon

My all-time favorite quote from The Lion King!!! I love Nathan Lane as Timon!