KGH
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2008
The Disney Finale: We're Cancelling Christmas PTR (Updated 10/4)
- Thread starter pixleyyy
- Start date
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
It's been a few days since I made our ADR's and I'm finally rested enough to post. ADR's open online at 3am our time so I stayed up to make them. Of course, then I couldn't get exactly what I wanted so I had to reorganize which days we're going to which parks and make more ADR's. Then I called at 4am our time to see if I could get a F! package (no luck there). In the end it took a little over an hour to get it all over and done with. I'm pretty happy with what we have. Here's our list:
Dec 3 Plaza lunch
Dec 4 Sci-Fi lunch
Dec 5 nothing... (wanted Le Cellier lunch or early dinner but no luck - I'm going to keep looking)
Dec 6 Akershus breakfast, Le Cellier lunch
Dec 7 Mama Melrose lunch
Dec 8 Chef Mickeys dinner
Dec 9 Plaza lunch
Dec 3 Plaza lunch
Dec 4 Sci-Fi lunch
Dec 5 nothing... (wanted Le Cellier lunch or early dinner but no luck - I'm going to keep looking)
Dec 6 Akershus breakfast, Le Cellier lunch
Dec 7 Mama Melrose lunch
Dec 8 Chef Mickeys dinner
Dec 9 Plaza lunch
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
I realize that it's been a while since I've updated - partly because the mods but this in the "completed TR" forum (which doesn't allow you to post) and partly because life is busier again.
School started for the kids, which means school started for me. I have 24 new preschoolers to keep up with and am even hosting a 2's playgroup once a week at the preschool. Add that to the kids activities (Taekwondo, swimming, cheer and scouts) and time is just flying past.
The boys have also recently celebrated birthdays. Tristan turned 11 and was excited to receive a Flip Video Camera for his birthday. Yes, there was an ulterior motive here. He wanted the camera but I wanted him to have the chance to take videos at WDW.
He also just earned his green belt in Taekwondo, a big accomplishment for him.
Chase turned the BIG 13 last month and he is SOOOOOO excited to be a teenager! He also started middle school so it's been a big transition, especially since he has the pressure of taking high school Algebra, (he's my super-smart-TAG kid) which will go on his high school transcript. But he's taking it all in stride and loving middle school. Oh, and he's buried in homework at mid-school so we got him a laptop for his birthday. Hopefully it will be useful and taken care of. So far so good.
Brian and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last month. We really wanted a big getaway for our 15th but decided WDW with the family was more of a priority. So we just snuck away for a night at the beach - just the two of us. We usually camp when we go to the beach but did splurge for the luxury of a hotel.
Oh, and not to leave Carissa out I should mention that she and two good friends got free tickets to see Miley Cyrus. It was the first concert of her new tour and it was pretty great. Yes, I went with them even though I know only one Miley song. But it was great to watch them all enjoy their first concert. Carissa is the one on the left, not in a Miley shirt (they cost $35 there!).
Now, on to the Disney news. DH and I had a chat the other day about my plan for WDW and he surprised me by wanting to discuss some changes to our itinerary. I had originally planned on doing a long (open to Illuminations end) day at Epcot and then sleeping in the next day. But he reminded me that even though I planned that it's likely that we wouldn't sleep in. So we made different plans, shifted things around and changed some ADRs. So now we have a schedule we can live with.
Our new ADR schedule is:
Wednesday: Arrive and relax. Maybe hit DTD
Thursday: MK AM EMH, lunch @ Plaza
Friday: AK, no ADRs
Saturday: DHS AM EMH, lunch @ Sci-Fi
Sunday: Epcot, late breakfast @ Akershus, late lunch @ Le Cellier, stay for Illuminations
Monday: DHS, lunch @ Mama Melrose, dinner @ Planet Hollywood
Tuesday: our open day. Whichever park we feel we need more time in (I'm thinking Epcot but we'll see). Dinner @ Chef Mickey's
Wednesday: MK, lunch @ Plaza, stay for Spectro and Wishes
Thursday: Magic Kingdom until noon, when we'll have to leave to catch DME about 1pm.
Oh, and the other fun thing is that we bought RideMax for this trip. It doesn't have December hours added yet, but we've had fun just playing around in the November hours and seeing how it works. I'm excited to try it for the first time.
School started for the kids, which means school started for me. I have 24 new preschoolers to keep up with and am even hosting a 2's playgroup once a week at the preschool. Add that to the kids activities (Taekwondo, swimming, cheer and scouts) and time is just flying past.
The boys have also recently celebrated birthdays. Tristan turned 11 and was excited to receive a Flip Video Camera for his birthday. Yes, there was an ulterior motive here. He wanted the camera but I wanted him to have the chance to take videos at WDW.
He also just earned his green belt in Taekwondo, a big accomplishment for him.
Chase turned the BIG 13 last month and he is SOOOOOO excited to be a teenager! He also started middle school so it's been a big transition, especially since he has the pressure of taking high school Algebra, (he's my super-smart-TAG kid) which will go on his high school transcript. But he's taking it all in stride and loving middle school. Oh, and he's buried in homework at mid-school so we got him a laptop for his birthday. Hopefully it will be useful and taken care of. So far so good.
Brian and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last month. We really wanted a big getaway for our 15th but decided WDW with the family was more of a priority. So we just snuck away for a night at the beach - just the two of us. We usually camp when we go to the beach but did splurge for the luxury of a hotel.
Oh, and not to leave Carissa out I should mention that she and two good friends got free tickets to see Miley Cyrus. It was the first concert of her new tour and it was pretty great. Yes, I went with them even though I know only one Miley song. But it was great to watch them all enjoy their first concert. Carissa is the one on the left, not in a Miley shirt (they cost $35 there!).
Now, on to the Disney news. DH and I had a chat the other day about my plan for WDW and he surprised me by wanting to discuss some changes to our itinerary. I had originally planned on doing a long (open to Illuminations end) day at Epcot and then sleeping in the next day. But he reminded me that even though I planned that it's likely that we wouldn't sleep in. So we made different plans, shifted things around and changed some ADRs. So now we have a schedule we can live with.
Our new ADR schedule is:
Wednesday: Arrive and relax. Maybe hit DTD
Thursday: MK AM EMH, lunch @ Plaza
Friday: AK, no ADRs
Saturday: DHS AM EMH, lunch @ Sci-Fi
Sunday: Epcot, late breakfast @ Akershus, late lunch @ Le Cellier, stay for Illuminations
Monday: DHS, lunch @ Mama Melrose, dinner @ Planet Hollywood
Tuesday: our open day. Whichever park we feel we need more time in (I'm thinking Epcot but we'll see). Dinner @ Chef Mickey's
Wednesday: MK, lunch @ Plaza, stay for Spectro and Wishes
Thursday: Magic Kingdom until noon, when we'll have to leave to catch DME about 1pm.
Oh, and the other fun thing is that we bought RideMax for this trip. It doesn't have December hours added yet, but we've had fun just playing around in the November hours and seeing how it works. I'm excited to try it for the first time.
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
Disneychix
When you wish upon a star...
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
Welcome to my PTR! I'm so glad to have you.Hi! I just found your PTR. I love how you did the trip reveal to your kids! Soo cute!
Wow, you have a teenager now! And you went to a Miley Cyrus concert! Can't say I envy you
Your itinerary looks good. Will you be attending any MVMCP while you are at WDW?
Miley Cyrus was sort of a fluke thing. My DD and 11yo DS go to a tiny school of 70 kids (grades K-6) and the school was given 100 free tickets. So last minute we were offered tickets and ran with it. Let me say, it was a mass of kids and was quite an experience!
As for the teenager, my 13yo DS is the best kid ever. Kind and caring and responsible. He's just fabulous! I only hope that can hold on through his teenage years. So far no change, but it's only been a few weeks. LOL
I'm really torn on MVMCP. I'd like to go because I LOVE the special parades and fireworks (our only experience being MNSSHP in 2001). But we haven't heard such great reviews of MVMCP, hearing that it's overcrowded and such. DH doesn't think it's worth the $200-$250 it would cost for us to attend for 4 hours and I agree that is an exorbidant amount. We thought we could always add it on once we were there, for a day where the weather is going to be decent, if we want. So that's the plan. Though I have a feeling we won't be going.
That would really eat into our souvenior money.
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
55 days... that's how long we have. Seems like I'm just sitting her twiddling my thumbs for the next 55 days. Sure, we'll have to pack, but beyond that I think I have it under control.
I purchased Cinderella Carriages charms off ebay for Carissa and I to display our Pick-A-Pearls from Epcot's Japan.
ADR's were made, then changed but now I'm happy with the plans so they're pretty set in stone.
Just put a little more money in the savings account for spending on our trip. We now officially have "enough" money for spending while there and the trip is paid off, so anything extra we save now is just bonus money.
I do still have to prepurchase the PhotoPass CD, but can't do that just yet as it expires in 60 days. Another 2 weeks and I'll order it.
I'm sort of bummed because my family vetoed the idea of family shirts this year. You can see here that I made us all matching shirts:
Well, we wore them once or twice on our vacation and they have collected dust ever since. Apparently it's not "cool" to wear your "Pixley Family Disney Vacation" shirts and hoodies to school, so they kids never wore theirs. My big, bad, I'm-a-burly-cop DH wouldn't be caught wearing a shirt with a huge Mickey head on it (at least not where people know him) so his was never worn again. I wore mine, but I'm a Disney freak anyways, so I don't worry about what people think of it.
Anyways, this trip was coming up and I asked for some specialty designs to be made on the DISigns board. With a flourish I showed them to my family... who tried to be into it but really weren't. So I surrendered and have now settled on having plain colored matching shirts. So I think the boys will all have polo shirts and Carissa and I will have t-shirts that are the same color. I think us girls will have pink and the boys maybe blue or green. Compromise, you know. But either way, that's on my shopping list for some time soon.
Am I missing anything? Anything left that I must do? C'mon, I'm dying to do something!!!
I purchased Cinderella Carriages charms off ebay for Carissa and I to display our Pick-A-Pearls from Epcot's Japan.
ADR's were made, then changed but now I'm happy with the plans so they're pretty set in stone.
Just put a little more money in the savings account for spending on our trip. We now officially have "enough" money for spending while there and the trip is paid off, so anything extra we save now is just bonus money.
I do still have to prepurchase the PhotoPass CD, but can't do that just yet as it expires in 60 days. Another 2 weeks and I'll order it.
I'm sort of bummed because my family vetoed the idea of family shirts this year. You can see here that I made us all matching shirts:
Well, we wore them once or twice on our vacation and they have collected dust ever since. Apparently it's not "cool" to wear your "Pixley Family Disney Vacation" shirts and hoodies to school, so they kids never wore theirs. My big, bad, I'm-a-burly-cop DH wouldn't be caught wearing a shirt with a huge Mickey head on it (at least not where people know him) so his was never worn again. I wore mine, but I'm a Disney freak anyways, so I don't worry about what people think of it.
Anyways, this trip was coming up and I asked for some specialty designs to be made on the DISigns board. With a flourish I showed them to my family... who tried to be into it but really weren't. So I surrendered and have now settled on having plain colored matching shirts. So I think the boys will all have polo shirts and Carissa and I will have t-shirts that are the same color. I think us girls will have pink and the boys maybe blue or green. Compromise, you know. But either way, that's on my shopping list for some time soon.
Am I missing anything? Anything left that I must do? C'mon, I'm dying to do something!!!
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
Ooooo... Ridemax December touring plans are available. I've been busy making different plans. Some parks are easier than others to plan using Ridemax. DHS is particularly difficult because it has TSM, ToT and our all-time fave RnR. I want to ride them multiple times each day and it keeps telling me there isn't enough time. *grump*
hollybearsmom
Please send my fairy godmother home, pronto!
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
Joining. Anxious to see your daily plans and know if you get to do your favorites multiple times!
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
Hello hollybear! Thanks for joining in.
DS13 is coming home from visiting his grandparents today so tomorrow we're finally going to put together all our Ridemax plans. I'll let you know how it's looking for our daily schedule and whether we get to do all our faves over and over again!
DS13 is coming home from visiting his grandparents today so tomorrow we're finally going to put together all our Ridemax plans. I'll let you know how it's looking for our daily schedule and whether we get to do all our faves over and over again!
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
We're finally in the teens! Only 19 more days to go until we leave dreary, rainy Portland and fly across the country to (hopefully) sunny Orlando. The preparations are in full swing!!!
We did sit down as a family a few nights ago and made our Ridemax plans. We got everyones input on what rides they want to ride, which we need to do more than once, which we can skip, etc. Then we made printed the plans and are going to use them as a guideline for our days.
Our ADR's have been finalized for a while and we pretty much got what we wanted.
We did decide to purchase early-bird check-in for our flight home on Southwest, so we don't have to worry about online check-in while we're trying to enjoy our last full day at Disneyworld. But I'll be online checking us in 24 hours before our flight leaves Portland. Not paying for that one!
Today I started packing our first suitcase! I'm washing clothes and then pulling out those that are "mommy approved" for the trip. This means cute things, things that don't have huge skateboarding skulls on them or giant dragons. Things that will photograph well and keep us in the spirit of Disney and the holidays. Carissa's clothing was a bit more difficult than I imagined it would be, with trying to resist all those graphic shirts. I imagine the boys will be even harder! But I'll keep working on it...
We did sit down as a family a few nights ago and made our Ridemax plans. We got everyones input on what rides they want to ride, which we need to do more than once, which we can skip, etc. Then we made printed the plans and are going to use them as a guideline for our days.
Our ADR's have been finalized for a while and we pretty much got what we wanted.
We did decide to purchase early-bird check-in for our flight home on Southwest, so we don't have to worry about online check-in while we're trying to enjoy our last full day at Disneyworld. But I'll be online checking us in 24 hours before our flight leaves Portland. Not paying for that one!
Today I started packing our first suitcase! I'm washing clothes and then pulling out those that are "mommy approved" for the trip. This means cute things, things that don't have huge skateboarding skulls on them or giant dragons. Things that will photograph well and keep us in the spirit of Disney and the holidays. Carissa's clothing was a bit more difficult than I imagined it would be, with trying to resist all those graphic shirts. I imagine the boys will be even harder! But I'll keep working on it...
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
Holy moly, it's sneaking up on us very quickly! Just 9 more days until we leave and I'm sooooo excited. I'm feeling ill-prepared just because Thanksgiving is in our way and we've got family coming over. So I can set the suitcases up and start filling them up yet and I REALLY want to!
pixleyyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
The trip report has started! And just in time for Christmas too. I can't wait to share all of our festive and fun moments with you. Thanks for reading our PTR. I'll meet you here next:
The Disney Finale: We're Cancelling Christmas!
The Disney Finale: We're Cancelling Christmas!
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