A December Do-Over Trip for the Books!-Updated 12/2!

[JessicaKnits]

Your plans for Hollywood Studios sound great! Especially the cupcake part at Starring Rolls! YUM!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Good job on getting in before the tiering. Thankfully I did too!

Yup, Animation Academy is on my to do list too. I hope to draw somebody who actually does meets in the parks because I want to get a picture holding my masterpiece!

If my math is correct and this is the 9th, MK has EMH too from 9-11! Who knows, it will probably be later if/when Disney updates the park hours. A great way to spend the last night of the trip for sure.

 

[Suziannie]

Wow that is a small world! You'll love Crystal Palace, I had a really great time there last year and I am very excited to go back!

Hope you trip planning is going well

We love love love Crystal Palace, it's one of our must absolutely do each trip. This is the first time (out of 6 trips!) that we were able to squeeze it in for breakfast! With the Christmas Party we didn't want a big lunch or dinner so it finally worked out.

 

[JessM]

Your plans for Hollywood Studios sound great! Especially the cupcake part at Starring Rolls! YUM!

I'm so excited for the cupcake haha, my Mom and I were dreaming about them this weekend I wish they'd add some more stuff to HS but I do love that park, and I can't wait to be reunited with TSM.

Good job on getting in before the tiering. Thankfully I did too!

Yup, Animation Academy is on my to do list too. I hope to draw somebody who actually does meets in the parks because I want to get a picture holding my masterpiece!

If my math is correct and this is the 9th, MK has EMH too from 9-11! Who knows, it will probably be later if/when Disney updates the park hours. A great way to spend the last night of the trip for sure.

Oh good, I'm glad you squeaked in there too. I'm not a fan of the tiering at all! I'm glad I spent the time to get my parents tickets linked when I did.

Oooh that would be fun to take a picture with the character you draw. I'm stealing your idea, I might have them sign mine too!

You are right about the 9th. I was just looking at the hours on MDE app, they were wrong shocker haha! And you are right they got extended to 11-1am! A great way to end the last night of the trip! I'll sleep when I'm home

 

[JessM]

Disney Prep/Phase 1 Griswald Family Christmas/Real Life!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a great weekend and I just wanted to share some Disney prep/weekend happenings before I continue on with the plans for the trip!

We are 17 days out by the way!

So a week ago the Disney Store was having a 25% off plus free shipping sale, so I cracked and picked up a few things for the trip!

The first portion of my order arrived Thursday.

I got a pink Minnie and Mickey shirt and

This awesome crew neck sweatshirt! It was only $14.99 what a deal!
I also bought this little gem…

Cute isn’t he?

Well cute he may not be but cheap? Yes! He and his little friend were only $12.49! And I had a plan for him.

I actually stole the idea from abbybeth’s pre-trip report, which you can find here

I planned to spray paint the vinyl to collect character signatures for this trip!

I started out by priming him.

Then he got a total of 3 coats of color to get him completely colored. I have a matte coat sealer that still needs to go on him. It’s been raining so he’s taking forever to dry. I’ll post a picture when he’s all done.

This was a surprisingly easy project and for around 20 bucks I have a custom vinyl ready for signatures!

I between paint coats I helped my parents get started on their Christmas display, affectionately referred to as their Griswald Family Christmas. They like to go all out and we got a head start because it was so warm this weekend! I'll post pictures once its all finished. Its not Osborne lights but its not bad either.

This weekend we just tacked the dreaded candy canes. We cover our entire pool fence, they look awesome but they take forever.

Laying them out

Finished product on one side! We used 85 candy canes to cover the fence perimeter. Each candy cane is attached with 2 zip ties, but my Mom and I are pros and it didn’t take us long at all!

Sunday night a friend and I went to a paint nite class. It was super fun, I highly recommend them if they have them in your area!

They are 2 hour paint classes held in local bars. They include everything you need to create a masterpiece and you can do so while sipping on adult beverages.

I had to share because we had the best time.

Mid painting

Almost done

Final product!

Our instructor was great, so encouraging and really just wanted everyone to have fun and get the creative juices following. She blasted music when she wasn’t demonstrating, it was just great!

Stay tuned for Day 6 plans at the Animal Kingdom!​

 

[missangelalexis]

What a relief that you scheduled before they became tiered, what a hassle that would have been!

I'm such a fan of the Animation Class, I hope you enjoy it!

Great purchases and great idea with the Vinylmation! Can't wait to see it with all the signatures

And what a beautiful painting, that sounds so fun!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Argghhh I so wish I could take advantage of the Disneystore Free Shipping. They won't do it to Canada.

Ooh, that's a clever idea for the vinylmation.

 

[JessicaKnits]

Um painting with adult beverages? I could probably get into painting...if there were adult beverages involved! I am seriously the least artistic person ever. But it looks/sounds like it was a lot of fun!

 

[JessM]

What a relief that you scheduled before they became tiered, what a hassle that would have been!

I'm such a fan of the Animation Class, I hope you enjoy it!

Great purchases and great idea with the Vinylmation! Can't wait to see it with all the signatures

And what a beautiful painting, that sounds so fun!

I know I'm so happy I got in before tiering. I would have been so sad!

I can't wait for the animation class, hopefully my picture comes out halfway decent haha.

I'll definitely post a picture of him when he's all signed!

Argghhh I so wish I could take advantage of the Disneystore Free Shipping. They won't do it to Canada.

Ooh, that's a clever idea for the vinylmation.

Aww such a bummer you can't get free shipping!

Hopefully it will work out, I'll post back!

Um painting with adult beverages? I could probably get into painting...if there were adult beverages involved! I am seriously the least artistic person ever. But it looks/sounds like it was a lot of fun!

I'm seriously not artistic at all but the instructor made it super easy! And the adult beverages definitely took some of the stress off of making it look perfect. You should definitely try it if you have something like it near you, it was fun and something different to do!

 

[JessM]

We are officially 2 weeks out!

I am SO excited and so in need of this vacation. Now onto the plans!


Day 6 Plans!

Finally getting to my beloved Animal Kingdom!

Today is our last day in Disney. My Mom and I have a 6pm flight scheduled so the plan is to hang out in AK til 3ish and then have my Dad drop us off at the airport. He’s going to be driving up to Gainsville to see my grandfather for a couple days before coming home.

The plan is to get all packed up and get everything in the car and still make opening at 9. Ambitious? Yes. Doable? I think so!

We love to do the Safari first thing so that’s first on our list!

The safari is seriously one of my favorite rides in all of Disney. I don’t know what it is about it but I just love it.

Then we’ll head over and see how many rides we can get on a certain mountain before it gets too busy.

My Mom will only ride once so my Dad and I probably won’t ride more than 2 or 3 times so she doesn’t have to wait too long for us.

After conquering Everest we will probably head over to Dinoland to do Dinosaur and Primevil Whirl.

I have a love hate relationship with Dinosaur, I love the idea and the pre-show but those dinos still scare me.

Sometime I’d like to meet Santa Goofy and Pluto but I’m not sure when they start meeting, we’ll have to play that by ear.

We’ll probably try to hit the Finding Nemo show before or after squeezing in our last Everest ride with FP+ between 11:05am-12:05pm for another ride!

We’ll probably grab some lunch sometime after our last Everest ride.
Sometime during the day I’d like to see the FOTLK and meet some of the characters left in Camp Minnie Mickey. It also may be the last year for the character trees if they don’t find a new place for them so I want to look them all over again.

I did book a FP+ to meet Minnie and Mickey in their Christmas garb 12:55-1:55.

During the afternoon I’d like to walk the animal trails and do whatever else catches our fancy.

I did book an afternoon Safari with FP+ 2-3pm. After 3 we’ll probably head out to the airport : (

Bye AK and Disney!

Leaving shouldn’t be as bad this trip because this will be my longest trip in awhile and I’ll be back on the 20th of February!

Must Do’s at AK;
• Ride Everest
• Safari
• Finding Nemo (my parent’s have never seen it!)

Christmas Must Do’s
• Meet Minnie and Mickey
• Meet Santa Goofy and Pluto
• Tour the Character Trees in Camp Minnie Mickey!​

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

YAY 2 Weeks which means I'm the same... less 2 days!!!

I don't remember that picture of the giraffes from your TR (if it was in the TR), but HOLY COW, four in one shot!!!

I think Santa Goofy will start meeting at 11am. I plan to meet him here too as opposed to DHS since I hear the lines for him there are like 60-90 minutes. No thanks!

Sounds like a great finish to the trip. So cool to actually leave for home from a park. I imagine I will be sleeping in a bit that day (it's my MVMCP day) since I absolutely plan to be at MK until 1am the night before!!!

 

[JessM]

YAY 2 Weeks which means I'm the same... less 2 days!!!

I don't remember that picture of the giraffes from your TR (if it was in the TR), but HOLY COW, four in one shot!!!

I think Santa Goofy will start meeting at 11am. I plan to meet him here too as opposed to DHS since I hear the lines for him there are like 60-90 minutes. No thanks!

Sounds like a great finish to the trip. So cool to actually leave for home from a park. I imagine I will be sleeping in a bit that day (it's my MVMCP day) since I absolutely plan to be at MK until 1am the night before!!!

Can I hate you just a little for getting to go two days earlier than me

I think the giraffe shot was in my TR, maybe I forgot it. I love that picture, there were so many giraffes out that day. They are so pretty I loved it!

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I'm not willing to wait that long to see him over at DHS. I've heard his lines haven't been as bad at AK.

It should be a fun day to finish up. We'll probably be at MK pretty late the night before too, we'll just sleep when we get home! I'll be sitting on the plane super jealous of everyone at MVMCP that night!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great last day, you are almost there!!

 

[JessM]

3 Days to Go!

Hey Guys!

I hope all my American readers had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I certainly had a great weekend!

Sorry for such a long time in between updates. Life has been crazy busy lately, in a good way, but Disney planning has been put on the back burner. But the day is almost here so its time to put it on the front burner again!
We are 3 days out!

We received a bit of a curve ball this weekend. My grandfather, Aunt and Uncle have decided that they want to come and meet us for dinner Saturday night (they live 2 hours away). I was originally supposed to visit their hometown for work this fall and see my Grandfather then but that didn’t end up happening so they decided to come visit us Saturday during our trip.
I’m a little bummed we will probably miss the MK nighttime entertainment that night but it will be good to spend some time with the family. So problem 1 is where to make a dinner reservation. We preferably want to eat at a resort that is easily accessible. My Grandfather has slowed down a lot so we need to be able to drop him near the restaurant. Any ideas? Not a ton is available but I was thinking Grand Floridian Café or Whispering Canyon Cafe. We were thinking non-buffet would be best. Thoughts??

I also need to figure out what to do with our FP+ reservations for that night. Hmmm decisions haha!

I also need to make some BOG lunch FP+ reservations this week. We were thinking Monday around 2ish after we finish HS in the morning.

Finally! I did get a chance to do a little packing this weekend.
The weather forecast looks surprisingly mild the entire time we are there so I’m excited to wear shorts!

Here are a few outfits I’ve put together so far, Disney dressing is so hard! I want to be comfy but look ok in pics lol.

AK day outfit!

I’ve used this bag every trip since 07!

I got my pin trading lanyard all ready with traders.

Everyone always asks what I do with my pins when I get home so here it is!

This is hanging on the wall in our office : )

I always try to get a resort pin

A pin commemorating a favorite activity of the trip

And finally the year and season!

I’m so excited and ready for this trip!

I hope to post another post before I go detailing my MVMCP outfit and our last minute dinner plans!

Stay tuned!
​

 

[JessM]

Sounds like a great last day, you are almost there!!

Thank you! I'm so excited I can't even wait. Thanksgiving break was such a tease, I need my actual vacation haha.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Hi Jess, I just wanted to wish you a VERY MERRY Christmas trip.
I hope to see you around the parks!!

 

[JessM]

Hi Jess, I just wanted to wish you a VERY MERRY Christmas trip.
I hope to see you around the parks!!

Thank you! I hope you have a magical trip as well. Travel safe today!

Hopefully we'll bump into each other at some point!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sorry I can be no help on the restaurant advice, but I'm sure you will pick someplace nice! It always stinks to have plans changed, but it sounds like it will be for good reason!

I love all your outfits, especially the Peter Pan shirt!

And OMG absolutely love your pin display, that is SO awesome and cute!!

 

[JessM]

Sorry I can be no help on the restaurant advice, but I'm sure you will pick someplace nice! It always stinks to have plans changed, but it sounds like it will be for good reason!

I love all your outfits, especially the Peter Pan shirt!

And OMG absolutely love your pin display, that is SO awesome and cute!!

I think we are going to try the Big River Grille over at the Boardwalk. My uncle wants to go to the ESPN zone but I think its too loud. Big River seemed like a good compromise.

Thanks! I got the Peter Pan shirt at Hot Topic. He's one of my favorite characters but I can never find him on a shirt! They have way too much cute stuff to choose from at that store!

And thanks! It was super easy but I like being able to see them!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Hey Jess! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and have a FANTASTIC trip!! I had a good lunch at Grand Floridian on my last trip and breakfast has always been excellent there. I haven't ever tried Whispering Canyon, but I have heard great things about them!