Once Upon a Christmastime! A Nov. 2010 PTR! *Update 12/12, Disney Blues, pg 61! :( *

Nermel9

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Hello!!!! Welcome to my November PTR!!! I'm so excited to finally be starting this PTR, I've been planning this trip for almost a month already and haven't really gotten to talk about it, so I'm very excited!

For those of you who followed my Disneymoon TR, you know who will be on this trip, but if you don't know, here is the "cast":

Me, Jen, obsessed with all things Disney! My favorite Disney movie is probably Alice in Wonderland, although it's REALLY hard to pick just one, and my favorite princess is Belle, although Snow White is a close second. If I had to pick a regular Disney character, I guess I'd say Minnie Mouse, but I love Tink almost as much!

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This picture was taken on my 2008 trip which I just found, and I love...I was sitting in the little doorway of Pooh's house originally, and those 2 little girls asked me to move so they could go in, which is why they are in my picture!

And my DH, Brandon, who pretends not to like Disney World and pretends he's sick of it, but really, I think he likes it almost as much as I do, I mean, he has Mickey Mouse crocs, how much can he hate it? :cool1: I have no idea his Disney favorites, he would never tell me even if I asked. I know he likes the Pooh characters and he loves Peter Pan, the movie. I don't think he has a favorite Princess, although my guess would be Jasmine. :)

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That picture was taken at Chef Mickey's last November...I don't know why he's smirking like that, but it's the only picture I could find of him with his hat on backwards, which I happen to like much better than when he wears it the normal way! :angel:

Here is another picture from our 2008 trip

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That is the only picture we took with a character that trip, and I believe the only picture we had taken together as well! I hated this picture at the time, I thought I looked so fat...and now, looking back at these 2008 pictures I realize how much weight I've gained...ugh! :sad2:

Now that you know who is going, I'll tell you guys when and why this trip is happening:

November 13-20! :cool1: We went this same week last year and it was perfect! Perfect weather, no crowds, and the Christmas decorations were amazing! The whole time Brandon kept saying he never wanted to go again at any other time, so while we were there, I asked him if we could go again the same week next year and he said yes!

There were times I considered going in December, but I couldn't decide on a week! Between waiting for Thanksgiving crowds to leave, the MK parade taping, and Pop Warner, I just didn't want to chance it with crowds, so I decided on the week that we know is a great time to go! I would like to go in December someday, because I really want to see the Candlelight Processional, but it will have to wait a few years! :)

Ok I don't want to make my first post too long, so I will stop for now, but I will be back soon to update you guys on where we are staying! :)







 
Chapters, finally!

1. Where are we staying?
2. Random Mini Update #1!
3. Random Mini Update #2!
4. Watching Toy Story
5. ADR's!!!!
6. Disney things I bought!
7. Toy Story 3!!!
8. Thinking about a moderate
9. We would save how much???
10. WDW Attractions I have never done!
11. Free Dining Extended!
12. Changes :)
13. Lots of changes!!
14. Food and Wine Festival
15. Weight gain and other things
16. Advice needed!
17. Wishes Dessert Party!
18. 111 Days and other random stuff!
19. Flight changes
20. Random Mini Update #3!
21. Random Mini Update #4!
22. Osborne Lights and other things!
23. Double Digits!
24. My Itinerary
25. ADR changes??
26. Yep, ADR changes!
27. Countdown calendar
28. The Seven Dwarfs!
29. More changes?? Yes, to see MK rope drop!
30. Random Mini Update #5!
31. 2008 Trip flashback started!
32. Day 2 2008 Trip flashback
33. Days 3 and 4 2008 Trip flashback
34. Day 5 2008 Trip flashback
35. Last day of 2008 Trip flashback
36. November 2009 Top 10 list!
37. Labor Day Disney Store purchases
38. Top 10 Characters I want to meet!
39. Random Mini Update #6
40. WDW Snacks and Drinks countdown
41. Paid in Full!!!!
42. Trip Binder!
43. Me Being Indecisive, as Usual!
44. My Top 10 Favorite Disney Attractions!
45. My Memories were Picked!!!
46. It's October!!!
47. My Top 6 Favorite Places to Eat in WDW!
48. My Top 8 New Things I can't wait to try!
49. My Top 10 things I can't wait to see/do again!!
50. Mickey Mail and other random stuff!
51. Arrival Day!
52. Day 2!!
53. Day 3 plans!
54. Days 4 and 5!
55. November is here!!!

 


Wow! I hardly ever get to PTRs and TRs early. I am in too. Your title caught my eye b/c we are going in November this year too. The week before you. We have never been in November so we are very curious to see what it will be like! I am hoping to get to my PTR at some point too. Oh and I know what it is like to look at a pic and realize how much heavier you are b/c that happend to me with our last trip as I was doing the TR. Of course, have I started exercising yet? Nope. :confused3
 
It's about time you started. I wonder where you finally decided to stay. I am going to guess POR or AKL. I think POR since I know you will want to go back to Disney again and POR will save some money.
 


I'm here! Subbing! Can't wait to read more!!!!

Yay, hi Joni! :wave2:

I'm in too! :cool1:

Woo hoo, glad you're here!!! :cool1:

Sounds good! I'm in for the details.

Hey, glad you're here too! :)

Wow! I hardly ever get to PTRs and TRs early. I am in too. Your title caught my eye b/c we are going in November this year too. The week before you. We have never been in November so we are very curious to see what it will be like! I am hoping to get to my PTR at some point too. Oh and I know what it is like to look at a pic and realize how much heavier you are b/c that happend to me with our last trip as I was doing the TR. Of course, have I started exercising yet? Nope. :confused3

Hi, :welcome: November is such a great time to go, you're going to love it! I hope you start a PTR, it will be fun to compare plans since we are going almost at the same time! :) And part of my PTR is going to be talking about my attempt to lose weight, I refuse to go back looking the way I did for my Disneymoon, I swear, I look at pictures from it and it doesn't even look like me! I'm going to start everything tomorrow! :banana:

It's about time you started. I wonder where you finally decided to stay. I am going to guess POR or AKL. I think POR since I know you will want to go back to Disney again and POR will save some money.

Well you already know where I'm staying as of now, but who knows...I'm going to talk about that dilemma in a minute, it's driving me crazy! :laughing:
 
So, where are we staying? (Kind of a long story,!)

Originally when I convinced DH to take this trip, it was on the condition that it would be a cheaper trip than last November (yes, he said we could go back while we were there last year, but trust me, it took a lot of pleading on my part! :rotfl:) AND when we decided to go on our Disneymoon in May and stay at the Beach Club, I promised November would be cheap, because he was trying to tell me there's no way we are going twice in one year! We stayed at WL using the 4/3 deal last year and while it was amazing, it was still pretty expensive, we saved all year for it! We were booked at Pop first last year, then I upgraded us to CBR with free dining, then when they extended the 4/3 deal, I upgraded us again to WL!

Luckily, I got the 20/30/40% off pin this year, which I knew I would use if a good discount didn't come out. I was all set to stay at a moderate, I researched them all, and decided on POR. I called up and booked it, and that was that. :)

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(I borrowed that picture from my sister, pinkxray's TR since I don't have any pics of POR!)

But I couldn't stop obsessing about WL. I asked DH if we could upgrade to WL since it would be our last trip for 2 years (he thinks we are not going back til 2012!) and he said no. So I figured out how much more we would need to save a week to make it happen and it was only an extra $20 a week we would have to set aside. So when I put it to him like that, he said it was fine, and to go ahead and change the reservation! :dance3: Yay, we're going back to WL!!!

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So I called and asked the CM for a woods view room, which we had last year and loved, and he said it was available, and he told me the price and it was WAY more than I had it priced out to be...I asked him if it was a regular woods view room and he said yes, and then he checked again, and said it had bunk beds. I nicely told him we didn't need bunk beds, just a regular woods view room with 2 beds, and there weren't any available. :eek:

I really almost cried...then I asked about Animal Kingdom. I've always wanted to stay at AKL, but the only thing holding me back is the location. I LOVE where WL is, I love taking the boat to MK, and hopping on the monorail to get to Epcot, but AKL is out in the middle of nowhere! :rotfl: But I asked about a standard view room anyway, and they were available so I said "book it!" The CM was all set to start typing and I said "no, wait forget it!" I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I thanked him and said I would call back in a few days to see if anything opened.

The next day I called back and asked the CM what rooms were available with the pin and she said the bunk bed rooms were still there and a courtyard room. Courtyard views are a little more expensive than woods view, but still not nearly as much as the rooms with bunk beds. So I booked a courtyard view room!

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(A little dark, sorry!)

I was excited about a courtyard room for about 5 minutes. I don't really care about views from my room, and as long as you don't have a standard view at WL, I've read there are no bad views. So the plan has been keep calling back to see if any woods view rooms open up, and take one if they do.

But now I'm thinking, maybe I should change to AKL. There I would book a standard view, no question, and save even more than if I booked a woods view at Wilderness Lodge. I like the idea of a savanna room, but those rooms cost the same as the Beach Club, and there's no way I can pay that much again, especially for 8 days!

Or...I've been reading people are getting free dining pins extended through December. So I'm HOPING :genie: by some miracle I will get a free dining pin, because that will decide it for me, I will switch back to POR! That would save me the most $$$ and I know I will be happy at POR...my sister and her family just stayed there and they loved it, and when we were kids we stayed there and I remember liking it back then, and I love the idea of having a boat to DTD!

So that's my "where are we staying" story. As of now, I'm fine with WL courtyard view, but at the same time, I'd like to spend a little less and have a little more money to spend while we are there. And there is something I would LOVE to surprise Brandon with while we are down there too, but I'll tell you all about that another time! :)

If anyone has any advice about the resort dilemma, please let me know!

 
I love reading the process other people go thru when picking a resort. It is not easy. Is a sav room view at AKL really as much as BC? I ask b/c we are staying in a Sav room this November and I keep thinking we will wait till the kids are older to spend BC kind of money :rotfl:. Funny! We did do a bounceback, but still. Interesting. Looking forward to seeing where this takes you! And I will let you know when I start my PTR. ;)
 
I've always wanted to go during the holidays, so I'll join your report and live vicariously, 'kay?

I plan to stay at AKL one of these times, but my philosophy is if you're going to stay there, you might as well do savannah view! Good luck with your final choice.
 
I'd stick with Wilderness Lodge. We were going to stay there this year, but when we got the PIN, we upgraded to the Poly. I will definitely be considering Wilderness Lodge in the future though!
 
I found you! :woohoo:

I think WL is the cheapest of the deluxes, along with AKL. Personally, we don't care for the WL -- don't get me wrong, it is beautifully done, but the theme does not appeal to us in Florida (but I'm sure at Chsitmas time it is simply beautiful). The only other option would be to go to a moderate for something cheaper.
 
I'm in!

I think I'd stick with the Wilderness Lodge. I've stayed there twice (both Courtyard views) and loved it. Plus, what's more Christmas-y than sitting in a rocking chair in front of a giant fire place?
 
jenn!! i didn't even know you started your first PTR! well, you know i'm here of course! alrighty, going back to catch up!
 
I love reading the process other people go thru when picking a resort. It is not easy. Is a sav room view at AKL really as much as BC? I ask b/c we are staying in a Sav room this November and I keep thinking we will wait till the kids are older to spend BC kind of money :rotfl:. Funny! We did do a bounceback, but still. Interesting. Looking forward to seeing where this takes you! And I will let you know when I start my PTR. ;)

I think a savanna room is a little cheaper than a standard BC room, but not by much.

Picking a resort is SO difficult! The only time it was easy for me was when we stayed at BC this past May, I just knew I wanted to stay there for our Disneymoon!

I'd stick with Wilderness Lodge. We were going to stay there this year, but when we got the PIN, we upgraded to the Poly. I will definitely be considering Wilderness Lodge in the future though!

Oh don't get me wrong, i want to stay with WL, I just don't know if it makes sense! I wish I could upgrade to the Poly! :)
 

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