Christmas all year long!

[tinacaplan]

As Kira's disneymoon gets closer, I have been enjoying listening to her plans. This means watching video of the resort she is staying at as well as looking through pictures. It makes me wonder if we are going to like WL.

I know it is really pretty at Christmas. It is also a deluxe so I would think that some of the resort would be "nicer" such as the beds, right? I know when we stayed at YC, the beds were heavenly It just seems too much like what I see every day. (I kinda live in the mountains..well, not quite..more like foothills to the cascade mountain range...but still) Lodge theme... a lot of places look like that here. Even my bedroom is filled with moose and bear and trees. (yes, I have lodge themed bedroom)

However, I really liked POR. Well, the room itself was not my FAVORITE. (we stayed in AB section) The grounds are what I like. I also look at the Mansion section and think those rooms are really cool. Plus, I believe they are doing a refurb this year...and putting queen beds in. I also like the boat ride to DTD.

I don't know..I probably am just being silly. WL is going to be beautiful at Christmas.

The other thing is we may be extending our dates. My in-laws have decided they may not go to FL in December. This would mean that we would not be going down to the gulf to spend Christmas with them. This gives us just a few options.

1. We still plan on spending Christmas down near Sarasota. We would leave WDW as planned on the 22nd and check into a new hotel or condo and stay through to the 26th or 27th.

2. We would leave WDW as planned on the 22nd and head home...spending Christmas at home. (which the point to this trip was to spend Christmas away)

3. We change our dates for our stay at WDW. I would be inclined to check in later and extend by only a couple nights. I hate to fly home on my birthday, but... it actually beats what I normally do on my birthday which is drive my kids all over to go shopping with their gift cards that everyone gave them for Christmas.


So there are my ramblings for the day.

So...the danger in planning a trip so far in advance is that you change your mind about a million times! About a million little details... If I dared go back through my PTR I'm sure I'd be shocked by the number of changes that my little trip went through on its journey to becoming real. I was very set on doing the Contemporary for this trip, but in the end, I couldn't swallow the nearly two thousand dollar price difference. At least not now...someday, I hope, just not yet. So, I'm very happy to go back to CSR. They have a really awesome playground, anyway, and CR doesn't have one at all!

Personally, I wouldn't want to stay somewhere that was like where I'm from, although I can see the appeal of the WL at Christmas. Its kind of like how I wouldn't want to stay at the YC or the BC because I'm from New England and have been doing the whole Cape Cod beach thing my entire life. When I go to Florida, I really want to know I'm in Florida....or somewhere tropical, anyway. But not everyone feels that way. Personal preference, I suppose.

I saw you mention something about the DDP earlier... Here are my two cents: I had originally planned on us doing the regular DDP, even though we did the DxDP last year and really enjoyed it. Do I think I saved money? No because we had more actual meals and ordered an appetizer, entrée, and dessert at every meal (including lunch!). We would not usually do this. I could see us splitting things and skipping the dessert entirely. Personally, I'd much rather have dessert a couple hours after dinner. That's just me, though. My husband really loved having our food pre-paid and not having to worry about that on our trip. I have to say that I liked that, too.

When I sat down to figure it out for this trip, I was bothered by the idea of paying for the DDP and then having to pay for so many things OOP. I love appetizers, for example, and knew I'd want to order some along the way. I also enjoy stopping for table service meals and Disney is loaded with cool places to try. I also knew we'd want to do a lot of character meals. So, in the end, we went with the DxDP. It is a lot of food, that's true. But we're mostly doing either a character breakfast and dinner with little or no plans for lunch, or lunch and dinner. I don't think there are any days we have ADRs for all three meals. I'm also daring to do two signatures with my son, as we are going early, I can take him out or cancel if he's not in the right mood, and there were lots of kids in all the signatures we ate at last year, and we had late ADRs. We also really enjoy going to nice restaurants and didn't mind the time we spent at TS meals in the slightest.

That's probably more than two cents... So, I'll stop now.

 

[annmarieda]

So...the danger in planning a trip so far in advance is that you change your mind about a million times! About a million little details... If I dared go back through my PTR I'm sure I'd be shocked by the number of changes that my little trip went through on its journey to becoming real. I was very set on doing the Contemporary for this trip, but in the end, I couldn't swallow the nearly two thousand dollar price difference. At least not now...someday, I hope, just not yet. So, I'm very happy to go back to CSR. They have a really awesome playground, anyway, and CR doesn't have one at all!

Personally, I wouldn't want to stay somewhere that was like where I'm from, although I can see the appeal of the WL at Christmas. Its kind of like how I wouldn't want to stay at the YC or the BC because I'm from New England and have been doing the whole Cape Cod beach thing my entire life. When I go to Florida, I really want to know I'm in Florida....or somewhere tropical, anyway. But not everyone feels that way. Personal preference, I suppose.

I saw you mention something about the DDP earlier... Here are my two cents: I had originally planned on us doing the regular DDP, even though we did the DxDP last year and really enjoyed it. Do I think I saved money? No because we had more actual meals and ordered an appetizer, entrée, and dessert at every meal (including lunch!). We would not usually do this. I could see us splitting things and skipping the dessert entirely. Personally, I'd much rather have dessert a couple hours after dinner. That's just me, though. My husband really loved having our food pre-paid and not having to worry about that on our trip. I have to say that I liked that, too.

When I sat down to figure it out for this trip, I was bothered by the idea of paying for the DDP and then having to pay for so many things OOP. I love appetizers, for example, and knew I'd want to order some along the way. I also enjoy stopping for table service meals and Disney is loaded with cool places to try. I also knew we'd want to do a lot of character meals. So, in the end, we went with the DxDP. It is a lot of food, that's true. But we're mostly doing either a character breakfast and dinner with little or no plans for lunch, or lunch and dinner. I don't think there are any days we have ADRs for all three meals. I'm also daring to do two signatures with my son, as we are going early, I can take him out or cancel if he's not in the right mood, and there were lots of kids in all the signatures we ate at last year, and we had late ADRs. We also really enjoy going to nice restaurants and didn't mind the time we spent at TS meals in the slightest.

That's probably more than two cents... So, I'll stop now.

Well, I love your two cents! (or the extra beyond it even )

As it turns out, Steve is actually opposed to staying at POR. Not that he didn't like it last year, but he wants to stay in a deluxe resort. Honestly, I am not certain that WL will really feel all that more upscale than POR...but...it is his wish and who am I to not play along? After all...most of the time I feel like I push him with Disney, so it is nice to see him actually want something regarding it. WL may seem too close to "home" but the other deluxe resorts are just a bit more than I want to spend..so WL or AKL is it for us. Besides, WL will be amazing at Christmas.

On the dp... Steve is leaning towards deluxe. I think we have decided we will be spending more on something. Alex and Zoe don't want to share a bed (can't say I blame them) Bunk beds would be a bit more per night. Concierge level would only be a bit more beyond that and we could request the bunk beds (as far as I can tell that is how it would work) For the same cost as the upgrade to concierge level we could do deluxe dinning. Obviously, the standard room with bunks would be the least expensive option. I need to sit down as see where it is we actually think we want to eat. Then I can see how much oop dinning we would actually be doing.

Well, tomorrow is Zoe's birthday. Don't have a big day planned, but I need to get some rest before morning is here. Can't spend all my time on dis.




And as far as Christmas...we still have not decided. Do we stay in WDW... I hate to spend the extra cash for those nights....but I would love to stay for Christmas.

 

[tinacaplan]

Well, I love your two cents! (or the extra beyond it even )

As it turns out, Steve is actually opposed to staying at POR. Not that he didn't like it last year, but he wants to stay in a deluxe resort. Honestly, I am not certain that WL will really feel all that more upscale than POR...but...it is his wish and who am I to not play along? After all...most of the time I feel like I push him with Disney, so it is nice to see him actually want something regarding it. WL may seem too close to "home" but the other deluxe resorts are just a bit more than I want to spend..so WL or AKL is it for us. Besides, WL will be amazing at Christmas.

On the dp... Steve is leaning towards deluxe. I think we have decided we will be spending more on something. Alex and Zoe don't want to share a bed (can't say I blame them) Bunk beds would be a bit more per night. Concierge level would only be a bit more beyond that and we could request the bunk beds (as far as I can tell that is how it would work) For the same cost as the upgrade to concierge level we could do deluxe dinning. Obviously, the standard room with bunks would be the least expensive option. I need to sit down as see where it is we actually think we want to eat. Then I can see how much oop dinning we would actually be doing.

Well, tomorrow is Zoe's birthday. Don't have a big day planned, but I need to get some rest before morning is here. Can't spend all my time on dis.




And as far as Christmas...we still have not decided. Do we stay in WDW... I hate to spend the extra cash for those nights....but I would love to stay for Christmas.

First of all, Happy Birthday to Zoe! Hope you have a magical day.

I totally get it about going with something your husband wants. Mark expresses very few preferences about anything, so when he does, I go with it.

One of my dream trips would be to visit Disney over Christmas, and since we're both teachers, it would have to actually be over Christmas, or right after. Either way...super expensive! But I would LOVE to do it. If this is your chance, go for it.

 

[annmarieda]

First of all, Happy Birthday to Zoe! Hope you have a magical day.

Thank you. I plan to take some pictures to share. I can't believe Zoe turns 6 today. It was such a long journey for her to get to us and then with all her medical issues another long journey. She is such a joy in my life I couldn't imagine her not here.

I totally get it about going with something your husband wants. Mark expresses very few preferences about anything, so when he does, I go with it.

Exactly! Now if I could just get him to commit to where he wants to eat more than just "everywhere"

One of my dream trips would be to visit Disney over Christmas, and since we're both teachers, it would have to actually be over Christmas, or right after. Either way...super expensive! But I would LOVE to do it. If this is your chance, go for it.

I am pretty sure we will end up staying over Christmas. I am just not certain where. (a split stay intrigues me) If we do stay those extra few nights then we won't be booking deluxe dinning or going concierge. Course, now that I think about it...having those few extra ts on the dp would likely be what we would need to eat at the places we want to go. AND...we wouldn't have to cram them all into a shorter span of time. OHHHHH, I think I may have just come closer to figuring something out. Sometimes "talking out loud" is just what I need to be able to think through something.

 

[DisneyKira]

I vote for AKL If you stay over christmas, will you be staying on your birthday?

 

[annmarieda]

I vote for AKL If you stay over christmas, will you be staying on your birthday?

I love animals...love AK...but the lodge just isn't high on my list. As for my birthday... The plan all along has been to head home (no matter where we were) on or after my birthday. If we stay in WDW then we will head home on my birthday (the 26th) If we spend Christmas down on the beach we will probably leave on the 27th. It just looks more an more like mil and fil won't be going down in December. I think they plan to spend 3 months total in FL this year. One month in March and then ??? I think they typically are down for December every other year...and they did not go in 2010...so Anyway..it will work out one way or another. I just wish everyone could be down there for Christmas.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

It makes me wonder if we are going to like WL.

I know it is really pretty at Christmas. It is also a deluxe so I would think that some of the resort would be "nicer" such as the beds, right? I know when we stayed at YC, the beds were heavenly It just seems too much like what I see every day.

I worry about the same thing with POR! We live out in the country and I don't really care for the "country style" but I've decided that it is different in a lot of ways and it's the only mod that will fit all 5 of us, so we're going for it. What are the other deluxes that appeal to you?

 

[annmarieda]

I worry about the same thing with POR! We live out in the country and I don't really care for the "country style" but I've decided that it is different in a lot of ways and it's the only mod that will fit all 5 of us, so we're going for it. What are the other deluxes that appeal to you?

I love YC. I know BC is a bit less and yet it shares the pool. This is where I really would love to stay. Then again, the fact that it will be December and the weather could very well mean no pool time... maybe the pool wouldn't be such an incentive. I loved the walk from YC to Epcot. I am sure I will love the boat from WL to MK. It will all be fine. I just am over thinking it. As Tina said...one of the dangers of planning so early is thinking about changing ones mind.

As for POR, I love it there too. I think it is such a nice resort. We stayed there when we needed a room for 5 of us. It worked great! Even when Steve and I had to alternate sleeping on the trundle cause Zoe was terrified of the bugs that may be on the floor. (darn her older brothers. )

 

[Joyciemc]

I'm here! I feel very unobservant that I hadn't noticed the link in your signature before this!

Getting Christmas stuff on clearance is *such* a good idea! Amazing how the same item can be 75% less just because of the date...

Can't wait to follow along through the planning (changes and all! )

 

[annmarieda]

I'm here! I feel very unobservant that I hadn't noticed the link in your signature before this!

Getting Christmas stuff on clearance is *such* a good idea! Amazing how the same item can be 75% less just because of the date...

Can't wait to follow along through the planning (changes and all! )

I am so glad you made it here.

I actually got a couple more things recently to put in my "red bin". I thought I wasn't going to find any more Christmas items...but low and behold I did. I will have to take a pic to share.

 

[KatMark]

Just popping in to say hi.

 

[oboedm]

Finally signing on, Ann! I am super excited for you-- especially that I get to follow your PTR for the next 10 months! I don't think anything could be better that Christmas at Disney (even though I have never been). And WL seems to be the most "christmassy" of the resorts.

 

[annmarieda]

Just popping in to say hi.

Finally signing on, Ann! I am super excited for you-- especially that I get to follow your PTR for the next 10 months! I don't think anything could be better that Christmas at Disney (even though I have never been). And WL seems to be the most "christmassy" of the resorts.

Glad you are here. I just hope that I won't bore everyone for the next 10 months. I agree...WL seems to be the most Christmassy. I think we are going to love it. At least that is my hope. I still hold some hesitation...but I have 10 months to get over it.

 

[annmarieda]

It has been an incredibly long couple weeks. Zach has gone through a very painful/rough/emotional breakup with his girl friend. I am sad for him, but with him leaving in a few weeks and the two of them being young, I figure it is not too surprising.

So the 6th was Zoe's birthday. I thought I would share a picture of my princess on her special day.

Pretty in pink, it is her favorite color. The pink bracelet is a mickey head that we got in WDW.

Sunday she will have her birthday party. I am glad I rescheduled it since it looks like she is going to have a decent turn out.

In wedding news, Kira has got her officiant and her photographer. I am waiting on the restaurant to get a food quote to me so I can get the deposit in. Once that happens we will be doing the invitations.

Other than that, not much going on....just counting the days.... Oh, I did consider booking a DL trip for next month. I figured though, with the wedding and our December trip, I didn't need to do it. Jet blue was having an AWESOME fare sale and I could have got tickets for $49 each way. Now that I am begining to think I am going to lose my mind over the next 10 months and reconsidered...the sale is over. Oh well...

Since we talked about my room...and how it is similar in theme to WL, I thought I would take a picture of my lamp...

 

[annmarieda]

I am so excited to still find the occasional holiday item. Actually, at this point I am getting surprised...good surprised...but surprised.

Here have been my latest...

Pj's for me. Top is black and long sleeved. Bottoms are red fleece...

Wow, it seems a bit blurry...but you get the idea.

Next is some santa hats... one is more of a cap and is of course for Zoe. It doesn't have anything to do with Disney...but the fact it mentions princess, I figured it was a good one to pick up. Then the second one is maybe for me. It has a super long... hmm... I am not sure what the tail part of the hat is called. Anyway...it is long and wraps around to make a scarf. If it is chilly, it might be a nice hat. Course, I have a short neck and the brim is super big...I kinda look like a kid wearing a grownups hat in it.

here is Zoe's

Something for Zoe's stocking...

Finally, to lend some credibility to the title of my PTR...how I have my coffee in the morning....

 

[dizneeat]

I am all caught up again!

I never commented, but WL is REALLY beautiful and so festive for Christmas. I think even if you live close to that area you will enjoy it very much!
Did you book a special room category? If you have a water view, ask for a room in the bear face and you will have an AWESOME view!

Oh, and your pink princess is just ADOREABLE!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think she would like a postcard from WDW? If so, just let me know, we are off next Saturday and I would LOVE to send her one. (just PM her address!)

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Pretty pink birthday girl! My dd has one of those bracelets, but it's in rainbow colors!

You really do have similar decor! I bet you'll love WL. Love your mug, I drink out of my WDW mug as well, it's one of those huge ones, it has the castle on it.

 

[momabaarjo]

It is so nice to find others who obsess over planning and constantly change thoughts. We are planning to be there after you, but still the holidays... Hope you don't mind if I follow along in your planning!

 

[annmarieda]

I never commented, but WL is REALLY beautiful and so festive for Christmas. I think even if you live close to that area you will enjoy it very much!
Did you book a special room category? If you have a water view, ask for a room in the bear face and you will have an AWESOME view!

I know we will love it. I just have so much time to think about it, it makes me crazy.

Oh, and your pink princess is just ADOREABLE!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think she would like a postcard from WDW? If so, just let me know, we are off next Saturday and I would LOVE to send her one. (just PM her address!)

Thank you, she wold love that! I will send you a pm.

Pretty pink birthday girl! My dd has one of those bracelets, but it's in rainbow colors!

You really do have similar decor! I bet you'll love WL. Love your mug, I drink out of my WDW mug as well, it's one of those huge ones, it has the castle on it.

I still occasionally drink from my resort mug (the one that you fill up for your stay) Christmas mug for a Christmas gift so I use it quite often. It reminds me of where I am going in 10 months.

It is so nice to find others who obsess over planning and constantly change thoughts. We are planning to be there after you, but still the holidays... Hope you don't mind if I follow along in your planning!

Please, follow along. It will be a long ride though...and I can't promise it won't be a long boring one. So you are going for the holidays? What are your dates?

 

[momabaarjo]

Please, follow along. It will be a long ride though...and I can't promise it won't be a long boring one. So you are going for the holidays? What are your dates?

We plan to leave on Christmas afternoon...total surprise for the kids...and spend Dec 25-30 at USO and then head to WDW on Dec 30 until Jan 6 or 7!