5 Nights..6 Nights...7 Nights..Okay! =) Dec 2011--Update 8/17

[rachel09985]

Hello Everyone!!!
This will be my first pre Trip Report EVER! I have done a dining report but never any sort of trip report.

I am heading to Disney World June of this year as well so hopefully I will have a trip report to come with that! Definitele a Dining Report.

So what Is this Trip Report about you ask??? Well last week Corey's (boyfriend) sister started asking us about the best things to see at Christmas at Disney. We went this past Christmas to Disney and absolutely loved it so they have been planning a trip. Corey and I gave them suggestions then Corey got sad and said, "I want to go to Disney too!" and I said, "Really, OK! Let's go the same time as your sister!" So we have been potentially planning this trip. It might not happen but I think it is 85% going to. Corey still won't say yes or no and he is the one that brought it up!

WHO will be coming to this trip?

ME!! Rachel, 25 years old.

Favorite Characters- Belle, Mickey Mouse, Lotso!
Favorite Disney Restaurant- Ohana
Favorite Dessert- Oreo Bon Bons!

Favorite Ride- Splash Mountain
Favorite Attraction- Mickeys Philarmagic
Favorite Fireworks/Show- Wishes
Favorite Counter Service-Cosmic Rays
Favorite Snack- KakiGori or Creme Brulee from Sunshine Seasons

DBF- Corey 25 years old as well
Favorite Chracter- I guess Mickey, hes not into characters
Favorite Disney Restaurant- Ohana or Cape May
Favorite Dessert- Ohana Bread Pudding
Favorite Ride- Splash Mountain or Toy Story Mania
Favorite Counter Service- Sunshine Seasons
Favorite Snack- KakiGori or anything from Karamell Kuche

We have been to Disney three other times together

Once in 2008 for Spring Break in college

Once in 2009 with Corey's family

Once in 2010 with just us for the Holidays

We also have a dog, a cockapoo named Lola. She is two years old.

Corey and I have been dating for 8.5 years!!!! Since we have been Juniors in High School. We both went to school at Ohio State University and I graduated in 2008 and then moved to Minneapolis Minnesota after for a job, I work in the CPG industry as a Category Analyst for a food broker. I was here a year before Corey moved to be with me!! We have been living in a quant apartment for a year and hopefully will be able to move back to Ohio eventually.

The other cast in this trip is Corey's sister, Kari, Corey's BIL, Chris, and our nephew, Austin (5)

I am super excited to be spending time with them because I really miss seeing them and it will be fun seeing the special holidays at Disney with a 5 year old.

Coming up..The potential plans-- When, Where, Eating Arrangements...

Table of Contents(probabaly won't need to do this because it wont be that long but I need to practice with this)

Beginning of the Details

 

[rachel09985]

Now on to the nitty gritty....

I have ONLY ever stayed at Pop Century. I just can not justify the cost of staying at a Deluxe Resort or even a Moderate. I am not financially ready to be spending this much money on vacations. I really love Pop Century but thought about trying something new for this trip. So I looked up Davids DVC Rentals, which is $13 per point. I would love to be able to find an individual to rent from for a lesser cost but I am jut not sure how to go about that.

So we looked at all the resort options for our dates. We want to go December 3(Sat) through December 8(Thursday) so a pretty short trip but just enough time for us.

The cheapest resort is Animal Kingdom Lodge at $624 dollars. We would probabaly add the dining plan which would add $460 dollars. The tickets would add $630, and we are definitely doing Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party for $121. All of this for a grand total of $1,835!!! YIKES! That is expensive. I am going in June for only $1600 but of course we are getting Free Dining.

My last three trips have been through Free Dining so I am not used to paying for the Dining Plan, so I am getting a sticker shock.

Our other option is to stay at Pop Century which would save us $78 dollars, still not much its something!!

Another option is hopefully they will release a Free Dining offer for the beginning of December. I reallly want to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge because it is not much more expensive but I just feel that if they released free dining I could not justify spending an extra $400 just to stay at AKL, unfortunately.

I also went about trying to not do the dinining plan but it just wasn't going over well. With my eating habits we would be paying like $70 more out of pocket for the two of us so Dining Plan it is.

Because No Trip Report is complete without pics I will leave you with a couple of my favorite pics from past trips.

What a beautiful site!!!

Potential resort..Animal Kingdom Lodge

Artsy picture from Rock N Roller Coaster.

 

[rachel09985]

Does anyone know how to do a link with just the actual post number in it? My link that I have in there goes to the first and second post but I just want it to only show the 2nd post???


Nevermind- I figured out how to do it!! Looking forward to this pre trip report.

 

[Villainess]

I'm in! We are going to be there Nov 25 - Dec. 4th. We are DVC members, but if you check out the DVC Rent/Trade board on here, you may be able to find points for less than $13. The last time I checked, many listed were $11 per point!

 

[rachel09985]

I'm in! We are going to be there Nov 25 - Dec. 4th. We are DVC members, but if you check out the DVC Rent/Trade board on here, you may be able to find points for less than $13. The last time I checked, many listed were $11 per point!

Thanks for the tip! For some reason I thought you wouldn't do that on here..Not sure why I didn't know that before. We are looking into something now but there is not much available for December so maybe we just will have to stick with Pop Century.

 

[redlight]

I'm in, Rachel. Are you a Shakespeare fan?

 

[rachel09985]

I'm in, Rachel. Are you a Shakespeare fan?

Lol thanks for joining! Im not really a fan but I do love that quote!

 

[redlight]

Lol thanks for joining! Im not really a fan but I do love that quote!

Me too! It's a great speech.

 

[rachel09985]

Well looks like we won't be renting DVC points. I was in contact with someone today who had points available and had him check on AKL but they only had something available for December 4th- December 8th so we would have to do a split stay and it was a higher level up than what we wanted.


So looks like we will be staying at Pop Century, if we go. Oh well, i really do love Pop Century. It is home for us and we don't really like to spend a lot of money on the rooms at Disney because it is just a place for us to sleep and thats it! I do love the Pop Food Court though!!

 

[BerrysGirl]

Subbing! I'm from Ohio too. We're staying at Pop too but in Sept - Oct.

 

[rachel09985]

I am really bummed today so I need to vent.

I have a 2001 Saturn that I have had since college. My dad bought it for me so I don't have payments.

Last week I had the check enginge light looked at and it ended up costing me $1100 that I don't have. It seemed to be running fine.

Today the check engine light came BACK on! I took it in and they said it is a code for the catalytic converter and it is not running properly because I need new spark plugs. Gave me another 800 dollar estimate!! I do not have that kind of money right now especially after spending 1100 last week.

And plus my car is a 2001 its not new enought to be spending that much money on and I eventually want to get my own car. But I don't know if I should pay the money now for the car to not have a car payment or not pay to get the car fixed and save money to buy my own car! I HATE CARS

Now I don't even know if we will be able to afford Disney this year. Maybe we will just have to do really cheap..come on free dining!!

Does anyone have any advice? Lease a car(I dont think buying is in the works right now) or put more money into my car??

Sooo frustrating. And I am heading to Disney in four weeks and I just got so bummed today and now am not as excited for Disney knowing I have another expense.

Just had to vent..Thanks!

 

[rachel09985]

Subbing! I'm from Ohio too. We're staying at Pop too but in Sept - Oct.

Thanks! What part of Ohio??

 

[Villainess]

So sorry about the car! My mom is going through the same thing (with the Check Engine light, catalytic converter, etc.) on her Explorer. I would begin to look into lease options; I know it's not an expense that you want at the moment, but with older cars, you need to decide at what point it is no longer worth fixing and see if you can get at least some value in trading in or selling.

 

[rachel09985]

Well we are booked for Disney World!! We decided on it when free dining came out! It is going to be $1300 for us two so I think that is a great deal.

We added on some traveling partners as well! Corey's parents are coming as well. They are going to be there the same time as us, December 3rd- December 9th at Port Orleans French Quarter. Corey's sister, brother in law, and 5 year old nephew will be staying at All Star Sports. I am soo happy that we are all going. I get along with Corey's family so well, his mom is like my own mom. I call her all the time. I just can't wait to see their reactions to see the beauty of Christmas at Disney World.

Here are our dining reservations that we have so far.
Saturday night- Cape May dinner with everyone
Sunday- prime Time with Corey's parents
Monday- Ohana just us two
Tuesday- Tonys lunch just us two
Wednesday- Le Cellier lunch just us two, Biergarten dinner everyone
Thursday- 1900 Park Fare breakfast everyone, Garden Grill diner just us two

Now, I just gotta get the waiting game going! There is 112 more days!!!

Last year we left on the 2nd and that was the first day of a VERY cold disney spell. I pray that that same cold spell does NOT happen this trip!! I want it to be low 70s during the day.

I will be back later with day by day updates of what we will be doing, I just wanted to get on here and tell everyone that our trip is a GO! I am so happy. It will be so much fun.

I think my pictures are out right now so they will be back up in 4 days! Stupid bandwidth exceeded!

 

[rachel09985]

We have an update!!! After looking at plane tickets we found out that Friday night is actually cheaper to fly into..about $40 per person! We decided to spend an extra $140 and fly in Friday night so we can be at disney all day on Saturday because that is when the Christmas parade is going to be filmed. We also would get an extra credit for being there an extra night and we were going to be paying out of pocket at 1900 Park Fare so now we can use a credit. So really we are saving about $15 if we fly in on Friday night.

Our 5 night cheap trip is turning into a 7 night expensive trip!!!! It is probably going to be $1,000 per person. I really shouldn't be spending this money but vacations are very important to me!!

I just got back from Disney in June and Corey and I just went to Disney last December. So this will basically be three times in one year!! Geez, i am obsessed! I think after this trip I am taking a break until Fantasyland is all up and running and Art of Animation is completely done. Hopefully that will be in 2013 sometime. I think I can wait a year to go back..it breaks my heart though.

We are also thinking about cancelling Prime Time and moving Tonys to a dinner before the Christmas party because Tonys lunch menu does not interest me at all. Really, the only reason I want to go to Tonys is for the Pistachio Creme Brulee. I want to go Prime Time for the entrees because they sound good.

Here is a pic of my family's trip this past June. I had fun with my family but really missed my boyfriend!