2 Castles, 2 Send out 2011 & Ring in 2012...12 Days of Christmas

[luvmy2sams]

I couldn't sleep last night and stumbled upon your little pre-trip report. Two plus hours later and I'd managed to read the entire thing. Is it okay if I blame you for being exhausted today? I keep meaning to write one myself but have managed instead to simply read the reports of others who are going to Disney during approximately the same time period as we are. We surprised our kids with a trip for Christmas 2009 and had so much fun that we knew we'd have to go again during that time period. I love reading the reveals of others who have kept the secret. It's so difficult but is entirely worth it! I'm looking forward to reading about how yours comes together.

Absolutely enjoyed reading through your pre-trip report and am looking forward to following along! I just wish I had discovered it during the day instead of at 2am the night before I have to start lesson planning for the upcoming school year.

 

[shocky5]

Welcome back! So jealous of your three cabin days! Glad it was relaxing for you - just what you needed!

I've been trying to get caught up with everyone, as well. We are on the 2 weeks til school begins countdown! Mixed feelings about summer winding down already... even though it's one season closer to WDW!!!

 

[momabaarjo]

I couldn't sleep last night and stumbled upon your little pre-trip report. Two plus hours later and I'd managed to read the entire thing. Is it okay if I blame you for being exhausted today? I keep meaning to write one myself but have managed instead to simply read the reports of others who are going to Disney during approximately the same time period as we are. We surprised our kids with a trip for Christmas 2009 and had so much fun that we knew we'd have to go again during that time period. I love reading the reveals of others who have kept the secret. It's so difficult but is entirely worth it! I'm looking forward to reading about how yours comes together.

Absolutely enjoyed reading through your pre-trip report and am looking forward to following along! I just wish I had discovered it during the day instead of at 2am the night before I have to start lesson planning for the upcoming school year.

So glad to have to along!!! Welcome...sorry about the lack of sleep though...seems like WDW keeps me up a lot at night too!

I so so excited about the reveal...I have totally reworked it into a 25 advent countdown theme now that we have our departure time...7:50 am which means be at airport by 6:50 (an hour is fine since ours is a tiny regional airport, on top of it being early Christmas morning)...which means leave the house by 6:15, which means get the kids up around 5:00 am to do the final reveal and get ready to leave... yikes and we probably won't get to bed until after midnight since we will be at mass Christmas eve...I have toyed with the idea of revealing it Christmas Eve or after Mass but I am afraid the kids will not sleep at all and we have to have our touring attitudes & energy ready to go when we hit Orlando soil...commando all the way.

How did you reveal to your family?

 

[momabaarjo]

Welcome back! So jealous of your three cabin days! Glad it was relaxing for you - just what you needed! It was a great 3 days until dh decided to come for day 4 & 5... seriously it has been nice this week just being the 2 of us! I think we needed this time too!

I've been trying to get caught up with everyone, as well. We are on the 2 weeks til school begins countdown! Mixed feelings about summer winding down already... even though it's one season closer to WDW!!!

Where did the summer go? Well, I know where mine went...all 12 days of it! My kids are on less than 3 weeks countdown...they go back the 18th while public school go back the 22nd. My teachers report back on the 10th...so I have 7 days of prep for staff development...thank goodness cause the new stuff I am doing this week is going to take a while to figure out how I am going to present it to them...trust me this is going to make some people...and it is going to make me have lots of !!!

 

[petals]

Yes there is...there is a group called WDW December 2011 Planners...I am not sure how to link it, but I am sure if you did a fb group search you will find it.

Found it

 

[momabaarjo]

Wahoo...I was able to make my ADR for the CP on December 30th...just like I wanted for the 6:45 show. Actually I did not make the ADR, a great TA from my fb group made it for me. I happened to be on fb as I was trying to make the ADR on Tuesday morning and she took pity on my fustration and made it for me!

Here is all it went down...I remembered at the last minute before going to bed on Monday (thanks to fb group) that tomorrow morning was the big day. I got up Tuesday morning nice and early to get my shower taken in case I was put on hold and had a long wait...still had to be at work even it I walked in still on hold! Plugged WDW dining in my phone at 5:55 am and then started hitting the redial...promptly at 6:00 am I started getting the busy signal, then I redialed and got the "all circuits busy message"...ugh fustration my dang luck everyone else in the world remembered this was the day for CP ADRs...so I kept hitting redial....25 times UGH still no connection, 50 times...still no connection, flipped over to fb saw the offer that the TA was online doing her clients and to PM her the information...sent that PM off as fast as I could...kept redialing....82 times....Dang I have bad luck....97 timess...no luck, flip over to fb no message from TA....107 times... 123 times... 145 times.... then at 156 times I have a fb message that my ADR has been made

4:00 pm for Biergarten along with the confirmation number!

 

[luvmy2sams]

So glad to have to along!!! Welcome...sorry about the lack of sleep though...seems like WDW keeps me up a lot at night too!

I so so excited about the reveal...I have totally reworked it into a 25 advent countdown theme now that we have our departure time...7:50 am which means be at airport by 6:50 (an hour is fine since ours is a tiny regional airport, on top of it being early Christmas morning)...which means leave the house by 6:15, which means get the kids up around 5:00 am to do the final reveal and get ready to leave... yikes and we probably won't get to bed until after midnight since we will be at mass Christmas eve...I have toyed with the idea of revealing it Christmas Eve or after Mass but I am afraid the kids will not sleep at all and we have to have our touring attitudes & energy ready to go when we hit Orlando soil...commando all the way.

How did you reveal to your family?

I'm betting that you will get little to no sleep on Christmas Eve! There's no way I'd tell my brood on Christmas Eve, either. There's nothing worse than cranky commandoes!

How did we reveal? Several years ago we purchased a pickle at the Germany pavillion in Epcot. In case you're not familiar with it, the tradition is that whomever finds the pickle on the Christmas tree receives an extra gift. The kids look forward to it every year. We usually do a big prize for the winner and a smaller gift for the runner-up. We decided to use the pickle present for part of our reveal.

When the kids came home from their last day of school before the holidays we told them that it was time for the pickle. However, we also told them that this year the gift was for the entire family. DD, who was almost 11 at the time, was not thrilled. Probably because she was always the winner instead of her younger brother. Anyway, DS actually spotted the pickle first this time, so after posing for the obligatory winning photo, we told the kids to have a seat. DH and I then pushed out the wrapped box and told them to go for it. When they tore into the wrapping, a bunch of balloons floated out. However, the giant Mickey driving a car balloon stopped at eye level. We had anchored it with a Pooh Christmas ornament that said "Surprises indeed are a wonderful thing!" Taped to the bottom of the ornament was our reservation information. DD started crying and DS fell on the floor, screaming "We're going to Disney World!" over and over. Our road trip to Florida began once the tears were dried.

This was the first time we'd surprised DS, but we had surprised DD for her 7th birthday. We're doing it again for a surprise trip over Spring Break. It's SO HARD to keep the secret, but the reveal is worth it for us every single time.

Wahoo...I was able to make my ADR for the CP on December 30th...just like I wanted for the 6:45 show.

Congratulations on the CP ADR! We were having an early dinner out on Tuesday when DH and I remembered that we needed to make our reservation. I thought I was going to be sick because we wanted the Garden Grill (gotta have Chip and Pluto!) on Christmas Eve. DH was on the phone before I could finish my sentence. Ugh! Thankfully, we got exactly what we wanted. So stressful!

 

[momabaarjo]

I'm betting that you will get little to no sleep on Christmas Eve! There's no way I'd tell my brood on Christmas Eve, either. There's nothing worse than cranky commandoes!

How did we reveal? Several years ago we purchased a pickle at the Germany pavillion in Epcot. In case you're not familiar with it, the tradition is that whomever finds the pickle on the Christmas tree receives an extra gift. The kids look forward to it every year. We usually do a big prize for the winner and a smaller gift for the runner-up. We decided to use the pickle present for part of our reveal.

When the kids came home from their last day of school before the holidays we told them that it was time for the pickle. However, we also told them that this year the gift was for the entire family. DD, who was almost 11 at the time, was not thrilled. Probably because she was always the winner instead of her younger brother. Anyway, DS actually spotted the pickle first this time, so after posing for the obligatory winning photo, we told the kids to have a seat. DH and I then pushed out the wrapped box and told them to go for it. When they tore into the wrapping, a bunch of balloons floated out. However, the giant Mickey driving a car balloon stopped at eye level. We had anchored it with a Pooh Christmas ornament that said "Surprises indeed are a wonderful thing!" Taped to the bottom of the ornament was our reservation information. DD started crying and DS fell on the floor, screaming "We're going to Disney World!" over and over. Our road trip to Florida began once the tears were dried.

This was the first time we'd surprised DS, but we had surprised DD for her 7th birthday. We're doing it again for a surprise trip over Spring Break. It's SO HARD to keep the secret, but the reveal is worth it for us every single time.



Congratulations on the CP ADR! We were having an early dinner out on Tuesday when DH and I remembered that we needed to make our reservation. I thought I was going to be sick because we wanted the Garden Grill (gotta have Chip and Pluto!) on Christmas Eve. DH was on the phone before I could finish my sentence. Ugh! Thankfully, we got exactly what we wanted. So stressful!

Wahoo! That was close call...I can't believe I nearly forgot!!!

Yes, we have a pickle on our tree, although we really have not gotten into the tradition of hiding it! What a great reveal!

 

[momabaarjo]

Thank goodness it is Friday! This has been a really long week of training and today I fear will be the longest day...I have to develop a plan with my principal on how to roll this out to our staff in a few weeks. I love my principal, but lets just say that he is not always knowledgeable when it comes to elementary curriculum...plus he is clueless with the staff...but he is a rule follower and this is a district mandate. I just have to mesh my vision for the roll out training with his vision...and he has only had about 4 hours of what I have been doing all week!

Tonight I am headed up to Colorado to get my babies...yep, I am missing Ab, Boo and Goo! It is too quiet around here!

 

[veggiemama]

Glad you had a good time and were able to relax. I'm not much of a scrap booker but I do love it when I have uninteruppted time to do things, especially if it is over a couple of days.

Glad you got your CP package booked I got mine booked as well and it was all thanks to Ann posting about her experience.... I had completely forgotten that I needed to book that day!

I can't believe how EARLY you kids go back to school! My kids don't go back until the 7th and 8th of Sept! I feel like we just started our summer holidays and I'm already procrastinating about starting the school shopping for next year.... I don't want summer to end yet!

 

[shocky5]

Thank goodness it is Friday! This has been a really long week of training and today I fear will be the longest day...I have to develop a plan with my principal on how to roll this out to our staff in a few weeks. I love my principal, but lets just say that he is not always knowledgeable when it comes to elementary curriculum...plus he is clueless with the staff...but he is a rule follower and this is a district mandate. I just have to mesh my vision for the roll out training with his vision...and he has only had about 4 hours of what I have been doing all week!

Tonight I am headed up to Colorado to get my babies...yep, I am missing Ab, Boo and Goo! It is too quiet around here!

Oh good gravy, girl! Good luck with this today! I know what you mean - not to mention how much staff, er... people in general for that matter... do not like change! So to you, friend! Enjoy your drive to get the kiddos.!

I did this... when you said DH joined you for day 4 and 5... yes we do need our together time with them but sometimes sleep is 'A - NUMERO UNO' when trying to catch up with yourself as a woman, mother and wife.

 

[annmarieda]

Jealous about working in a scrapbook store! Sadly our local one closed last spring!

It was an awesome job. I loved helping people choose colors and items... plus being able to work on my own stuff when I wasn't... it was the best job ever! Then the store closed I really wished it had not. One of the two owners wanted out.. and the second of the two did not have enough money to buy her out... and no one (including me) had the money they wanted to shell out to buy in. If I knew the store made a profit I would have... but I know exactly how much the store brought in every day I worked...and it was just enough to cover expenses. I don't think that the owners really even brought home a paycheck. We all just got paid in merchandise... no real cash.

I don't get to work on my albums much either...a couple of times of year when my Creative Memories consultant has all day crops. I wish I had room in our house to have a room just for my stuff where I could leave it out and work on it, instead of having to drag everything out all the time...which makes dh because I tend to have my stuff scattered all over the place when I am working...he would have died if he saw what the cabin looked like....

I had planned to turn ds's room into my scrapbooking room.. but with everything else going on.. I just have not had the time. I normally have kept all my stuff in a closet and it is problematic to take it out and use the dinning room table. However... when we put new carpeting in the family room we took out furniture. It has been siting empty for the last couple months. I decided if I put out a folding table in there... I could use it and leave it all out. It is amazing!! Not having to drag it all out each time from my teeny closet it all sits in.. and out of the totes that I store it all in... I don't know I can go back to having it like that. Even if my family room now looks like a craft room.

Wow...19 Saturdays!

I know, right? I will post on my PTR... but now... I am thinking I don't know what to think about this trip. More of a poor me... but honestly, I am just not sure what I am doing.

Wahoo...I was able to make my ADR for the CP on December 30th...just like I wanted for the 6:45 show. Actually I did not make the ADR, a great TA from my fb group made it for me. I happened to be on fb as I was trying to make the ADR on Tuesday morning and she took pity on my fustration and made it for me!

4:00 pm for Biergarten along with the confirmation number!

I am so glad you got some help and got your ADR for CP. I really had a hard time getting in too. It was crazy!!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Subbing!! Goodness I finally caught up! We will be taking my 2 year old the week beefore yall go for her first trip. Will be starting a PTR shortly!

 

[petals]

I booked Lunch adr for CP but apparently can only book 5pm show with lunch adr's I'm hoping this will be ok as I doubt it'll be dark by then?!

 

[Becc1]

Congrats on getting you CP ADR. Biergarten is such fun, you'll love it!

 

[Monknmom]

Oh wow I didn't know about the group! I just asked to join!
I'm glad that your having a good rest and the kids are havig fun! That must be nice- do they want to add a hyper little one to the mix? ha ha just kidding but sometimes......
Oh I'm glad that you finally got CP- a lot of people have seemed to have a hard time with that!
Okay so I am all caught up and I am sure that you are spending some time with the kids!

 

[swwake]

Hello! Subscribing here. Followed you over from Shocky's PTR and looking forward to reading your plans. I hope to get caught up from the beginning at some point!

 

[momabaarjo]

Guess whose hard drive crashed an died? Did it it know that is not in my budget? What is worse is that I did not back up....grrrrr, stupid me! Heading off to Best Buy to see what this is going to cost!

 

[annmarieda]

Guess whose hard drive crashed an died? Did it it know that is not in my budget? What is worse is that I did not back up....grrrrr, stupid me! Heading off to Best Buy to see what this is going to cost!

I am so sorry... why is it that things just have to fall outside the budget at times???? Especially when we have better things to spend the money on!

 

[shocky5]

Guess whose hard drive crashed an died? Did it it know that is not in my budget? What is worse is that I did not back up....grrrrr, stupid me! Heading off to Best Buy to see what this is going to cost!

UGH! Isn't that just how it always seems to work.... BOOOOO!

Hope you found a good deal!