If we don't take Her soon she's going with out us Pre trip report Updated 7/5/13

[Bethislucy]

Welcome to my pre-trip report. The official title of the trip is. . .Because If We Dont Take Abby Gabby To Disney She Is Going To Disown Us And Frankly I Am A Little Scared Of Abby Gabby And Would Much Rather Have Her On My Side Than Not And Lets Face It As A Four Year Old She Is Really Smart And If We Dont Take Her Soon She Is Going To Go With Out Us A December 2013 Disney Trip.

Lol, so welcome to my pre trip report. Yes I know its a little early start a pre-trip report but Im doing a lot of sacrificing so I can make this trip & I need some form of entertainment so bear with me. Please feel free to post suggestions & comments along the way. I would love to have as much fun on my on thread as I do some of the others I read on.


The Cast:

So first up who am I? Well Im Beth and Ill be hosting this report. I am 32 (33 at trip) single and love to spoil my niece & nephews & Im roommates with my cousin/sister. Yes we are from the south no its not that kind of relationship. Lol my cousins & I have always been really close like sisters. My favorite character is Donald Duck followed by Chip & Dale. My favorite park is Epcot, and my favorite ride is Carousel of Progress.

Next up is Emily my cousin & roommate. Emily is 33 (34 at trip). She also loves to spoil her niece & nephews. Emilys favorite character is Tinkerbell & Animal. Her favorite ride is POTC & her favorite park is MK

The two of us will start this adventure on Nov 30th we will leave out early that morning for our 9.5 hour drive down after a quick stop at Starbucks aka Starbuckies (the name Abby gave Starbucks). We are not a 100% sure if we will stop in Palm Coast Fl for the night or drive on into Orlando and check out an offsite hotel weve been looking out. As of right now we are looking at driving on into Orlando so we can check in early Sunday morning and hit the parks.

So what about the Niece & Nephew I mentioned? Well lets start with them.

First up Is Laura she is 31, Sister to Emily, Wife to Mark & Mom to Logan & Abby. Her favorite Character is Piglet. Her favorite ride is RRC. We will also celebrate Lauras 32 birthday while we are on this trip.

Next is Mark 30 (31 at time of trip). He of course is husband to Laura & Dad to Logan & Abby. Mark loves the classic rides. He is a fan of the star wars movies & Animal.

Logan 8 (he will be 9 in 5 days) Logan is my little Disney buddy. This will be his 5th trip to the world. He is starting to get into that pre-teen to cool stage, but when hes with his aunties at the Disney store he tends to forget that. He of course loves the marvel heros but is also a fan of Buzz & Cars if hes not to cool by time we go on the trip. J

Last but not least is the start of trip report Abby 4 (5 at the time of the trip). Abby has been to the world once before but she was only 1 so of course she doesnt remember it. This kid is so determined that she is going any penny she sees on the side walk she picks up for Disney. Abby is a princess girl her favorites are Rapunzel & Belle. Funny side note story. I was talking with Laura this morning and she was saying something she is watching is live at Disney and they had the characters there and Abby started jumping up and down saying someone please take me to Disney.

Mark & Lauras plans are basically the same as ours although they are traveling from a different part of the state. Im not sure yet on what their plans are for the travel day. As of right now they also plan to stay at Pop although plans may change if the market changes. They are going to try to do whatever they can to get Abby G to Disney.


So part of the fun in a trip for us Disers is the planning. I have my nice handy dandy notebook Ive been working on.

I even made one for Mark & Laura for Christmas. There is a little cooler than mine but it has stuff for the kids in it.

In the next few post we will get more to the plans weve made so far and what it is to come. Im going to try and space these out, but knowing me and my excitement youll get a lot of updates at one time.

 

[Bethislucy]

Chapter Links

The Where & What'shttp://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=47580360#post47580360
The Park Days
Shopping update #1 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=47775250&posted=1#post47775250
New plan http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48119428#post48119428
New Plan part A http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48405842#post48405842
New Plan Part B http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48406791#post48406791
New Plan part C http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48664864&posted=1#post48664864
New Plan part D http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48866636#post48866636

 

[purplepixiedust]

Planning on going to Disney the same week! Can't wait to follow along on your pre-trip plans. I am so excited just to be able to go again. I want to see the holiday decorations and lights etc. With our kid's sports schedules there are very few times of the year we can go, so this seemed like the best time frame to fit in all we want to see and do.. I just know I will be wishing the year along too fast so I can get to Disney! It seems so far away!

 

[Bethislucy]

The Dates:

We are checking in on Sunday Dec 1st and checking out Dec 6th. We are hoping for some sort of discount and if it’s offered we hope to add a day to either check in a day early or stay a day longer. I think really if we get any kind of discount we may change this. Like most people of course we hope it’s free dinning. We choice not to do the dinning plan, because when we sat down and did the numbers it was cheaper to not do it, but as the old saying goes if it’s free it’s for me. We aren’t sure at this time if we will upgrade the dinning or just keep it as it is.





The Resort:

We have booked at Pop Century in a standard room. We do very little in the rooms so we don’t want to pay more just to sleep. Plus now with all the rooms have mini fridge and Wi-Fi its perfect.

So why Pop? There really is a reason for it.
1.We wanted to stay somewhere new. All of our past trips we’ve stayed at Movies

2.We wanted to stay at AOA, but they said no discounts any time soon. So staying at Pop we can walk over to AOA and check out everything without staying there.

3.It just looks like a fun place to stay

4.The tie dye cheesecake we’ve gotta see what all the hype is about.





The tickets

We are going with 5 day tickets no options. Emily & I are not fans of AK so we will skip it and it will give us 2 days in MK, 2 days in Epcot & 1 day in DHS. Right now we aren’t planning on doing MVMCP. I kind of want to do it, but we’ve done it a few times before & I’m not sure if it’s worth the extra $60 to do it again. Check back later to see if that changes.

 

[Bethislucy]

Planning on going to Disney the same week! Can't wait to follow along on your pre-trip plans. I am so excited just to be able to go again. I want to see the holiday decorations and lights etc. With our kid's sports schedules there are very few times of the year we can go, so this seemed like the best time frame to fit in all we want to see and do.. I just know I will be wishing the year along too fast so I can get to Disney! It seems so far away!

I know what you mean then I'm like I'm wishing my life away, but I'm so ready to go. It's our first time back since 2009.

 

[GrammyJudy]

I think I found you...coming from the facebook page for Dec 2013. We are going the same week. Think we are staying at POFQ as my grandsons want a waterslide and we sort of want to try a mod. But we have satyed at POP a couple of times and really liked it. I was not crazy about the tiedye cheesecake but many people like it. We will be 3 generations...me, Judy, my DH Andy, mty DD Megan, she is your age, her 2 boys age 13 & 5, my DS. Megan's husband may come too but he is not sure. As you can see we have made many tripd to WDW but never at Christmas so I am super excited to see the decorations

 

[::danielle::]

Hi! I'm coming over from the Facebook group as well! Your niece and nephew are the same age as my kids when we take them in December. It's such a great age to visit WDW!

We stayed one night at Pop on our last trip. It's a great family resort! My kids still talk about waking up the pool in the morning.

I look forward to hearing more about your trip!

 

[happybelle]

Joining in. I love the dates you have picked and POP looks like fun. If you don't do the Christmas party, could you add something else fun to your plans? Maybe a sleigh ride at Fort Wilderness? I just found out about them today. Just a thought, it is something I would enjoy.

 

[Bethislucy]

Thanks everyone for coming over.

A sleigh ride could be lots of fun too. Something new.

 

[Bethislucy]

The Park Days

Taking as much info as I could from last year’s dates this is the tentative plan, although it is still 277 Days until our trip & things can change.

So we will arrive sometime early Sunday Dec 1st. no matter where we stop the night before the plan will to be at Pop around 9:00am at the latest so we can get as much time in the park as we can. We will get checked in & basically check the room quickly and unpack and head out.

As of right now this is our park plans

Sun Dec 1st we will go to DHS can’t wait to see the Christmas lights again.
Mon Dec 2nd will be our first day at Magic Kingdom
Tues Dec 3rd we will go to Epcot
Wed Dec 4th we are going back to Magic Kingdom
Thurs Dec 5th is our last park day and we are head back to Epcot.
Hoping for a discount and we get to extend our trip by a day and if that happens
Fri Dec 6th will go back to DHS. If not we will go to DTD before heading back home.


The Food:

The ADR’s we are hoping for. We find out in only 98 days

Sun Dec 1st 50s prime time
Mon Dec 2nd Ohana’s
Tues Dec 3rd Via Napoli
Wed Dec 4th Be our Guest (dinner)
Thurs. Dec 5th Epcot Chefs de France (lunch)
Fri Dec 6th If we go to DHS Sci Fi or if we are going home Kona Café for Breakfast


Of course as I’m looking at this if we don’t get the extra day I think I’m going to make some changes, but for now I will leave it as it stands. lol

 

[Jennifer41]

Darn it... I might have to do a PTR after all... Maybe it will help me get organised?

 

[Bethislucy]

Darn it... I might have to do a PTR after all... Maybe it will help me get organised?

It really does help you get a plan. Plus it helps pass the time until the trip.

 

[mickeystoontown]

How did I miss that you started this? Going back to catch up!

 

[Bethislucy]

How did I miss that you started this? Going back to catch up!

Welcome

 

[MamaJessie]

Joining in!

The Park Days

Taking as much info as I could from last year’s dates this is the tentative plan, although it is still 277 Days until our trip & things can change.

Sun Dec 1st we will go to DHS can’t wait to see the Christmas lights again.

The Food:

The ADR’s we are hoping for. We find out in only 98 days

Sun Dec 1st 50s prime time
Mon Dec 2nd Ohana’s
Tues Dec 3rd Via Napoli
Wed Dec 4th Be our Guest (dinner)
Thurs. Dec 5th Epcot Chefs de France (lunch)
Fri Dec 6th If we go to DHS Sci Fi or if we are going home Kona Café for Breakfast


Of course as I’m looking at this if we don’t get the extra day I think I’m going to make some changes, but for now I will leave it as it stands. lol

Did you use last year's first week of December hours or week after Thanksgiving? I wasn't sure which way to go about it. If plans stay as is that is the night we plan on hitting DHS too!

Sounds like those kiddos are lucky to have some great aunts in their life.

 

[Bethislucy]

Joining in!

Did you use last year's first week of December hours or week after Thanksgiving? I wasn't sure which way to go about it. If plans stay as is that is the night we plan on hitting DHS too!

Sounds like those kiddos are lucky to have some great aunts in their life.

Yes I took those hours and the MVMCP hours from last year and played around with it. Of course it's all subject to change but it gave us a basic plan to start with.

 

[Bethislucy]

The last trip we all had mickey t-shirts to have our picture made in. They were all different this year the adults will all have matching Mickey shirts & the kids will have a different matching mickey shirt.

The adults shirt is

The kids shirt is

The adults shirt says The best thing about being a grown up is not having to act like one 24/7 365. So with that we have thought of some crazy photo ops we want to do which I'm sure will embarrass Logan, but that's ok.

One we are looking at doing is We are going to have Mark w/ his Kermit ears on and a balloon looking off to space, one us pouting one kind of jumping up and down excited and the other about to run off with a map in their hand. In this one we are hoping the kids will work with us & we are going to have them sitting on the bench like they are worn out.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The Dates:

We are checking in on Sunday Dec 1st and checking out Dec 6th. We are hoping for some sort of discount and if it’s offered we hope to add a day to either check in a day early or stay a day longer. I think really if we get any kind of discount we may change this. Like most people of course we hope it’s free dinning. We choice not to do the dinning plan, because when we sat down and did the numbers it was cheaper to not do it, but as the old saying goes if it’s free it’s for me. We aren’t sure at this time if we will upgrade the dinning or just keep it as it is.

We are going at the same time, except we are checking into the WL on Sat, Nov 30th and checking out Thursday, Dec 4th. I'm really nervous about being at WDW Thanksgiving weekend. But those dates are the discount dates for the bounce back I booked when we were there last month. And they are the best dates for work, too. I am also hoping that this first week of December has small crowds.

Right now we aren’t planning on doing MVMCP. I kind of want to do it, but we’ve done it a few times before & I’m not sure if it’s worth the extra $60 to do it again. Check back later to see if that changes.

We don't plan to go to MVMCP either. I notice that last year they had the party on quite a few nights during this week. I'm thinking that we might end up doing MK in the mornings of the party, then go to Epcot or HS at night. We love the Osbourne lights, too, And we haven't been to WDW at Christmas time since 1997 or '98.

The Food:

The ADR’s we are hoping for. We find out in only 98 days

Sun Dec 1st 50s prime time
Mon Dec 2nd Ohana’s
Tues Dec 3rd Via Napoli
Wed Dec 4th Be our Guest (dinner)
Thurs. Dec 5th Epcot Chefs de France (lunch)
Fri Dec 6th If we go to DHS Sci Fi or if we are going home Kona Café for Breakfast


Of course as I’m looking at this if we don’t get the extra day I think I’m going to make some changes, but for now I will leave it as it stands. lol

We went to 'Ohana for the first time ever last month. We had two grandchildren, age 3 & 5 with us. The five year old had the most fun with the coconut races and the hula dance. the 3 year old was very interested in eating. It was fun.

I'm am going to try to get BOG, too, for just about any night that I can, except for Sat, which is the day they are taping the Christmas parade, according to a CM. It should be insane that day.

 

[MamaJessie]

I love that shirt the adults in your party are wearing

 

[GrammyJudy]

We are booked 11/29-12/7...saved $60 pere person on air by going Friday so we addeda day! Yea!!! CM told me I can book ADR June 2. Hopinh for FD or a good % off