Who we are:
Me (Fiona) 41 – Commando and Food Planner and Holiday Booker.
DH (Steve) 41 – He really does not like the "cheese" of Disney and thinks it will be 10x worse at Christmas! He has got rather keen on golf since our last visit.
DD1 (Kate) 17 – I am ashamed to say that she wants to know if there is a hairdryer everywhere we are staying…shame on her!!
DD2 (Laura) 14 – The Fantasmic Laura of old.
DD3 (Sally) 10 – she will out park the lot of us…… and needs the least sleep.
One week to go
I did rather well, I didn’t even visit the Disney boards for 2-3 years!
We had the Big Family Disney Holiday in Feb 2001, all three children were 11 and under and we did a package with BA staying at Dixie Landings in one room for a fortnight. It was perfect, weather was 20-25c the whole time, no rain, I had taken all the advice from Deb Wills’ site and the planning paid off. Steve enjoyed the holiday, but said there are so many places to see and go, that I thought that was it. When we got home I discovered the DIS boards…………a bit late, but I was super depressed!! I secretly started plotting “how” we could return again one day, and to make things easier I discovered scrapbooking from BevS97………. She is totally responsible for the last five years of my life. No, the scrapbook of that holiday has not been finished yet!!
In November 2001 somebody on the boards (not sure when the DIBB first appeared, I think it was around then) posted about a newspaper special offer as tourism was in a desperate state after Sept 11th. BA tickets for 5 to Miami were £550 total for Feb 02 half term for a fortnight, including taxes, it was a Sunday morning, Steve agreed in his sleep. This time, it was DIY all the way!! We enjoyed the 5 nights at Hard Rock Hotel and Universal/IOA, and 10 nights at Coronado Springs, all booked at great rates, the weather wasn’t as kind, but there is nothing as great as the first time when everything is new, is there? Trip report never did get finished.
That was definitely that. I had a knee op that went rather badly wrong in April 02 and has left me unable to walk very far, I need a knee replacement but I am not old enough, so who would want to go to Disney even though walking is very painful? I had a madcap idea to start a little retail/internet scrapbooking business in the autumn of 02, as youngest DD was now at school. That was my daftest idea ever, I haven’t come up for air for years! We find ourselves only ever switching off on holiday, DH is self employed too and we have had plenty of summer trips to France which we love, we even went to DLP in August 03 for a few days as part of one holiday. Our last big holiday was a Family Adventure Holiday to Sri Lanka for Christmas 2004. Luckily for us we came home, if the Tsunami had been at New Year we would have been on the beach in the south……….but fortunately we were in the mountains. We still had the most memorable holiday, even though we felt guilty, we are glad we could stay and carry on spending money which was what the most practical way to help. Last Christmas was very odd, especially with the anniversary of the tsunami, and far too much work.
Earlier this year we looked at different Family Adventure holidays for Christmas again, South Africa was all booked, and Vietnam was far too expensive. My fingers wandered back to the DIBB, and a sponsor advert for cheap(ish) Christmas indirect flights. Enquiry made, school holiday dates checked and a very reluctant DH let me book it. Girls are missing 2 days of school, but even in 6th form they watch videos the last couple of days!! Sat 16th Dec – Mon 1st Jan, civilised times for indirect flights and Heathrow is much easier for us anyway!!
Let the fun begin.
There has to be a large non Disney element to this holiday for Steve to stay sane and married to me, and Christmas will be murder in the parks anyway, so we plan to go back to our first love, Port Orleans Riverside for the first six nights, we love the theming and pools and buses onsite! The best bit, by having one room we splurge on the Dining Plan and got a good deal by booking a Magic Your Way special offer package direct with WDW. We are all adults for dining plan purposes but we would spend around $200 a day on food anyway as we like the Table Service restaurants, and it worked out about $200 each for the 10 day base passes. As I will have to pace myself anyway with my knee, we won’t be park hopping. It means we have plenty of days spare for evening or short visits in Christmas week and we can always pay for a day in Typhoon Lagoon (or upgrade base tickets) if the weather is good enough. We do like good food, which will be a big part of the holiday!
Next up the villa for Christmas. It had to have:
a) a jacuzzi (for my poor tired knee by then, I am sitting in there with Bucks Fizz for my Christmas Breakfast!) and as big a pool as possible for the girls and
b) be on a golf course to appease DH!!
Angela’s 4 bed villa at Esprit (DIBB sponsor) seems to fit the bill perfectly and was available, so we booked that and treated ourselves to two nights at the Dolphin for 30/31st December to see New Year in in style. Luckily we got a great All Ears rate and are guaranteed a high up, EPCOT view balcony room for the lowest rate (still a lot mind!) Early on we knew we would not be going to a park on New Year’s Eve as the crowds seem so bad and I wouldn’t be able to keep going all day. Also, that would mean we couldn’t go to a park on the first day of our holiday, far better to take advantage of the lower crowds at the start.
Food
I booked most of these in June when I booked flights, as it happened to be around 180 days, thank goodness I know how important that is. Meals are mainly outside parks as we don’t have hopping tickets and need flexibility. We will “spend” 3-4 TS or CS credits at each non buffet meal, and share as servings are huge! The all-important plan:
Sat 16th Dec Arrive around 7.30pm (via Washington) Straight to POR and bed (1 night room only) Then 5 nights DDP with 10 day MYW Base tickets. 25 CS, 25TS, 25 snacks to use by Friday midnight!!
Sun 17th Animal Kingdom with Tusker House or Flame Tree BBQ for early lunch AKL Boma for dinner DDP Totals (3-4 CS) (5TS)
Mon 18th EPCOT. Sunshine Seasons for lunch and Le Cellier for dinner (and decide if we want to come back Friday!) DDP Totals (6-8 CS) (8-9TS)
Tues 19th Magic Kingdom. Pecos Bills for early lunch, Pineapple Float Dole Whips as unmissable snacks and early Wishes. Dinner either Narcossees for Steve and I (girls to eat at POR and go to DTD on boat) DDP Totals (12-15 CS) (10-13TS) or Wolfgang Puck at DTD and shopping for all of us. DDP Totals (9-12 CS) (11-13TS)
Wed 20th MGM Studios. ABC Commissary or similar for early lunch. Dinner Spoodles DDP Totals (12-19 CS) (13-17TS)
Thurs 21st Flexible. Disney Golf booked for DH at 11am,
he doesn’t know!! Lunch to decide Dinner Kona Cafe DDP Totals (15-23 CS) (16-21TS)
Friday 22nd Flexible. A choice according to credits left and what we feel like, cancel as appropriate!! Breakfast Chef Mickeys Lunch Candelight Processional Package at Le Cellier with show at 5pm Dinner Boma or Pepper Market at Coronado Springs CS. Move to Esprit villa after 4pm and Walmart!
I have not obsessed about food (ha ha!), snacks I will guide as to best value but let everyone choose day to day!! The last two days will really depend on how many credits we have left, no way are we doing 3 TS meals the last day!!
Saturday 23rd Chill and Christmas shopping!!
Sunday 24th Celebration and or resort touring and or Magic Kingdom for evening shows/fireworks.
Monday 25th Bucks Fizz for breakfast at Villa! Go with the flow. Christmas Dinner 6.30pm 1900 Park Fare Buffet.
Tuesday 26th – Fri 29th Dec Golf for DH, trips out to Clearwater/Dolphin watching? Water Park if hot one day. Meet up with friends possibly and find the State Park with Manatees. Possible short trips to parks to see the Christmas shows/fireworks but not aiming for rides!
Sat 30th Move to Dolphin. Magic Kingdom or EPCOT with a break for swimming and keep going until midnight!! Last day our tickets are valid.
Sun 31st Enjoy the Pool and boardwalk. Disney golf booked again for DH if he wants to go 11am. Fantasia Mini golf? Resort tour? Dinner Cape May Café 7pm Watch all the fireworks from boardwalk or our EPCOT View room! Happy New Year!!
Mon 1st Jan Pack and check out. Nice Lunch More pool time? Flight 6.30pm via Washington.
…and I thought I hadn’t planned too much…………..
The question is whether we will get through this week, packing hopefully on Thursday evening (really early for us) and 2 million other work, appointments and crises to deal with. Just off to finish sorting out Christmas presents that have to be posted here………..
It will be amazing if I manage a Trip Report on our return, the scrapbook will be finished probably in twenty years, but we will have a great time!
Happy Christmas everyone, and get those sprouts simmering!!
Pre Trip Report Saturday 16th December 2006 - Monday 1st January 2007
Day 1 Sat 16th Dec Are we nearly there?
Day 2 Sun 17th Dec AK and Boma.
Day 3 Mon 18th Dec EPCOT and Le Cellier
Day 4 Tues 19th Dec MK and Narcossees
Day 5 Weds 20th Dec MGM and Spoodles
Day 6 Thurs 21st Dec AK (or Golf!) and Kona Cafe
Day 7 Fri 22nd Dec EPCOT, Le Cellier and Candlelight Processional
Day 8 Sat 23rd Dec Shopping, Chilling & TGI Fridays
Day 9 Sun 24th Dec Swimming/Golf, Celebration and Joe’s Crab Shack
Day 10 Mon 25th Dec Christmas Day and Dinner at GF 1900 Park Fare
Day 11 Tues 26th Dec Golf and Magic Kingdom for “Holiday” Parades
Day 12 Weds 27th Dec Shopping, Orange City and Olive Garden
Day 13 Thurs 28th Dec Meeting with friends, TGI Fridays and MGM for Fantasmic
Day 14 Fri 29th Dec Golf, Pioneer Museum and Outback Steakhouse
Day 15 Sat 30th Dec Move to Dolphin and NYE in EPCOT a day early!!
Day 16 Sun 31st Dec 06 Golf, Dolphin Pool and Cape May Café and celebrating NYE on the Boardwalk (not under it!)
Day 17 Mon 1st Jan 07 Fantasia Gardens, Rainforest Café, Homewood Bound and Final Thoughts!
Me (Fiona) 41 – Commando and Food Planner and Holiday Booker.
DH (Steve) 41 – He really does not like the "cheese" of Disney and thinks it will be 10x worse at Christmas! He has got rather keen on golf since our last visit.
DD1 (Kate) 17 – I am ashamed to say that she wants to know if there is a hairdryer everywhere we are staying…shame on her!!
DD2 (Laura) 14 – The Fantasmic Laura of old.
DD3 (Sally) 10 – she will out park the lot of us…… and needs the least sleep.
One week to go
I did rather well, I didn’t even visit the Disney boards for 2-3 years!
We had the Big Family Disney Holiday in Feb 2001, all three children were 11 and under and we did a package with BA staying at Dixie Landings in one room for a fortnight. It was perfect, weather was 20-25c the whole time, no rain, I had taken all the advice from Deb Wills’ site and the planning paid off. Steve enjoyed the holiday, but said there are so many places to see and go, that I thought that was it. When we got home I discovered the DIS boards…………a bit late, but I was super depressed!! I secretly started plotting “how” we could return again one day, and to make things easier I discovered scrapbooking from BevS97………. She is totally responsible for the last five years of my life. No, the scrapbook of that holiday has not been finished yet!! In November 2001 somebody on the boards (not sure when the DIBB first appeared, I think it was around then) posted about a newspaper special offer as tourism was in a desperate state after Sept 11th. BA tickets for 5 to Miami were £550 total for Feb 02 half term for a fortnight, including taxes, it was a Sunday morning, Steve agreed in his sleep. This time, it was DIY all the way!! We enjoyed the 5 nights at Hard Rock Hotel and Universal/IOA, and 10 nights at Coronado Springs, all booked at great rates, the weather wasn’t as kind, but there is nothing as great as the first time when everything is new, is there? Trip report never did get finished.
That was definitely that. I had a knee op that went rather badly wrong in April 02 and has left me unable to walk very far, I need a knee replacement but I am not old enough, so who would want to go to Disney even though walking is very painful? I had a madcap idea to start a little retail/internet scrapbooking business in the autumn of 02, as youngest DD was now at school. That was my daftest idea ever, I haven’t come up for air for years! We find ourselves only ever switching off on holiday, DH is self employed too and we have had plenty of summer trips to France which we love, we even went to DLP in August 03 for a few days as part of one holiday. Our last big holiday was a Family Adventure Holiday to Sri Lanka for Christmas 2004. Luckily for us we came home, if the Tsunami had been at New Year we would have been on the beach in the south……….but fortunately we were in the mountains. We still had the most memorable holiday, even though we felt guilty, we are glad we could stay and carry on spending money which was what the most practical way to help. Last Christmas was very odd, especially with the anniversary of the tsunami, and far too much work.
Earlier this year we looked at different Family Adventure holidays for Christmas again, South Africa was all booked, and Vietnam was far too expensive. My fingers wandered back to the DIBB, and a sponsor advert for cheap(ish) Christmas indirect flights. Enquiry made, school holiday dates checked and a very reluctant DH let me book it. Girls are missing 2 days of school, but even in 6th form they watch videos the last couple of days!! Sat 16th Dec – Mon 1st Jan, civilised times for indirect flights and Heathrow is much easier for us anyway!!
Let the fun begin.
There has to be a large non Disney element to this holiday for Steve to stay sane and married to me, and Christmas will be murder in the parks anyway, so we plan to go back to our first love, Port Orleans Riverside for the first six nights, we love the theming and pools and buses onsite! The best bit, by having one room we splurge on the Dining Plan and got a good deal by booking a Magic Your Way special offer package direct with WDW. We are all adults for dining plan purposes but we would spend around $200 a day on food anyway as we like the Table Service restaurants, and it worked out about $200 each for the 10 day base passes. As I will have to pace myself anyway with my knee, we won’t be park hopping. It means we have plenty of days spare for evening or short visits in Christmas week and we can always pay for a day in Typhoon Lagoon (or upgrade base tickets) if the weather is good enough. We do like good food, which will be a big part of the holiday!
Next up the villa for Christmas. It had to have:
a) a jacuzzi (for my poor tired knee by then, I am sitting in there with Bucks Fizz for my Christmas Breakfast!) and as big a pool as possible for the girls and
b) be on a golf course to appease DH!!
Angela’s 4 bed villa at Esprit (DIBB sponsor) seems to fit the bill perfectly and was available, so we booked that and treated ourselves to two nights at the Dolphin for 30/31st December to see New Year in in style. Luckily we got a great All Ears rate and are guaranteed a high up, EPCOT view balcony room for the lowest rate (still a lot mind!) Early on we knew we would not be going to a park on New Year’s Eve as the crowds seem so bad and I wouldn’t be able to keep going all day. Also, that would mean we couldn’t go to a park on the first day of our holiday, far better to take advantage of the lower crowds at the start.
Food
I booked most of these in June when I booked flights, as it happened to be around 180 days, thank goodness I know how important that is. Meals are mainly outside parks as we don’t have hopping tickets and need flexibility. We will “spend” 3-4 TS or CS credits at each non buffet meal, and share as servings are huge! The all-important plan:
Sat 16th Dec Arrive around 7.30pm (via Washington) Straight to POR and bed (1 night room only) Then 5 nights DDP with 10 day MYW Base tickets. 25 CS, 25TS, 25 snacks to use by Friday midnight!!
Sun 17th Animal Kingdom with Tusker House or Flame Tree BBQ for early lunch AKL Boma for dinner DDP Totals (3-4 CS) (5TS)
Mon 18th EPCOT. Sunshine Seasons for lunch and Le Cellier for dinner (and decide if we want to come back Friday!) DDP Totals (6-8 CS) (8-9TS)
Tues 19th Magic Kingdom. Pecos Bills for early lunch, Pineapple Float Dole Whips as unmissable snacks and early Wishes. Dinner either Narcossees for Steve and I (girls to eat at POR and go to DTD on boat) DDP Totals (12-15 CS) (10-13TS) or Wolfgang Puck at DTD and shopping for all of us. DDP Totals (9-12 CS) (11-13TS)
Wed 20th MGM Studios. ABC Commissary or similar for early lunch. Dinner Spoodles DDP Totals (12-19 CS) (13-17TS)
Thurs 21st Flexible. Disney Golf booked for DH at 11am,
he doesn’t know!! Lunch to decide Dinner Kona Cafe DDP Totals (15-23 CS) (16-21TS)Friday 22nd Flexible. A choice according to credits left and what we feel like, cancel as appropriate!! Breakfast Chef Mickeys Lunch Candelight Processional Package at Le Cellier with show at 5pm Dinner Boma or Pepper Market at Coronado Springs CS. Move to Esprit villa after 4pm and Walmart!
I have not obsessed about food (ha ha!), snacks I will guide as to best value but let everyone choose day to day!! The last two days will really depend on how many credits we have left, no way are we doing 3 TS meals the last day!!
Saturday 23rd Chill and Christmas shopping!!
Sunday 24th Celebration and or resort touring and or Magic Kingdom for evening shows/fireworks.
Monday 25th Bucks Fizz for breakfast at Villa! Go with the flow. Christmas Dinner 6.30pm 1900 Park Fare Buffet.
Tuesday 26th – Fri 29th Dec Golf for DH, trips out to Clearwater/Dolphin watching? Water Park if hot one day. Meet up with friends possibly and find the State Park with Manatees. Possible short trips to parks to see the Christmas shows/fireworks but not aiming for rides!
Sat 30th Move to Dolphin. Magic Kingdom or EPCOT with a break for swimming and keep going until midnight!! Last day our tickets are valid.
Sun 31st Enjoy the Pool and boardwalk. Disney golf booked again for DH if he wants to go 11am. Fantasia Mini golf? Resort tour? Dinner Cape May Café 7pm Watch all the fireworks from boardwalk or our EPCOT View room! Happy New Year!!
Mon 1st Jan Pack and check out. Nice Lunch More pool time? Flight 6.30pm via Washington.
…and I thought I hadn’t planned too much…………..
The question is whether we will get through this week, packing hopefully on Thursday evening (really early for us) and 2 million other work, appointments and crises to deal with. Just off to finish sorting out Christmas presents that have to be posted here………..
It will be amazing if I manage a Trip Report on our return, the scrapbook will be finished probably in twenty years, but we will have a great time!
Happy Christmas everyone, and get those sprouts simmering!!
Pre Trip Report Saturday 16th December 2006 - Monday 1st January 2007
Day 1 Sat 16th Dec Are we nearly there?
Day 2 Sun 17th Dec AK and Boma.
Day 3 Mon 18th Dec EPCOT and Le Cellier
Day 4 Tues 19th Dec MK and Narcossees
Day 5 Weds 20th Dec MGM and Spoodles
Day 6 Thurs 21st Dec AK (or Golf!) and Kona Cafe
Day 7 Fri 22nd Dec EPCOT, Le Cellier and Candlelight Processional
Day 8 Sat 23rd Dec Shopping, Chilling & TGI Fridays
Day 9 Sun 24th Dec Swimming/Golf, Celebration and Joe’s Crab Shack
Day 10 Mon 25th Dec Christmas Day and Dinner at GF 1900 Park Fare
Day 11 Tues 26th Dec Golf and Magic Kingdom for “Holiday” Parades
Day 12 Weds 27th Dec Shopping, Orange City and Olive Garden
Day 13 Thurs 28th Dec Meeting with friends, TGI Fridays and MGM for Fantasmic
Day 14 Fri 29th Dec Golf, Pioneer Museum and Outback Steakhouse
Day 15 Sat 30th Dec Move to Dolphin and NYE in EPCOT a day early!!
Day 16 Sun 31st Dec 06 Golf, Dolphin Pool and Cape May Café and celebrating NYE on the Boardwalk (not under it!)
Day 17 Mon 1st Jan 07 Fantasia Gardens, Rainforest Café, Homewood Bound and Final Thoughts!
have a great time
