A Pirate Looks at 40! - PTR for Dec 12-20th!(NEW 12/11 - Final Update!)

[annnewjerz]

Howdy! Just popping over to say hello. Just read your entire TR and now my mind needs to take a break.

Looks like we will be doing a lot of the same stuff on the same days.

12/12 - Arriving at MCO around the same time (9:30am for us)
12/13 - Evening EMH at DHS
12/14 - MK all day
12/15 - Dinner at Cali Grill @ 7:40 and Christmas fireworks
12/17 - Epcot
12/18 - MK

Your ADRs look great! Very interested in hearing some feedback on Coral Reef as we haven't eaten here yet (tried to during FD in 07 when we were there last, but didn't have an ADR and they weren't taking walk-ups).

Looking forward to hearing more about the trip! Only a little more than 2 months now!

 

[skier_pete]

Howdy! Just popping over to say hello. Just read your entire TR and now my mind needs to take a break.

Looks like we will be doing a lot of the same stuff on the same days.

12/12 - Arriving at MCO around the same time (9:30am for us)
12/13 - Evening EMH at DHS
12/14 - MK all day
12/15 - Dinner at Cali Grill @ 7:40 and Christmas fireworks
12/17 - Epcot
12/18 - MK

Your ADRs look great! Very interested in hearing some feedback on Coral Reef as we haven't eaten here yet (tried to during FD in 07 when we were there last, but didn't have an ADR and they weren't taking walk-ups).

Looking forward to hearing more about the trip! Only a little more than 2 months now!

It is amazing. When we went in 2007, there was this one Canadian family that we met at the bus stop on our second morning that we then ran into like 4 other times throughout our stay...in line at rides...waiting for the parade. It seemed like we were always in the same place at the same time. Last trip I ran a photopass share, and a few of the other people were there at the same times, and our park days NEVER once overlapped. So, bumping into someone here with similar plans seems pretty neat to me.

It is so surreal to me meeting a fellow DISer in the park that you have been chatting with on-line like this...complete strangers that you ask very specific questions of..."So, did you enjoy the 'Behind the Seeds' tour?" It's one thing to share on-line, but it just becomes very strange - in a good way - when you meet that person face-to-face.

So while we won't be going out of the way to track you down - other than at CG - we might just see you enough you'll think you have a stalker - a whole family of stalkers. Or - we might never see you at all...

SkierPete

 

[skier_pete]

You know, I am trying to think of things to write about. Being a guy, I don't have tales of my search for the perfect bag or shoe. Also, I am not much for venting my personal problems in a public forum.

So, I was thinking - why not post a few of my favorite pictures from last years trip. So, here we go:

You'll notice most involve DD...that's no surprise as she is the focus of our attention. Traveling with kids can drive you crazy. At rope drop at MK...DD is obsessed with the Pixie Dust...she wants to pick it up and gather it. So, while everyone is stampeding into the park, she's down on her hands and knees gathering pixie dust. Here's her proud collection from last trip:

For the longest time, I couldn't get her to wear silly hats for pictures...as we went around EPCOT, all the silly hat pictures were of me (see my avatar). But, FINALLY, our last day in Norway, she joined in on the fun:

And here's her with a favorite "princess". She will really miss the Pocahantas show at AK next trip...and yes, that's a Dream FP around her neck.

Finally (for now) we've done pretty good at towel animals...but my favorite was one day returning to our room and seeing Mousekeeping made a "hammock" for Lasha-Baby. (DD is not into dolls - but this one in particular she likes to bring with her while traveling.)

More to come!
SkierPete

 

[skier_pete]

Whew! We passed the 2-month mark yesterday.

But bigger news. We went and did it. We booked airline tickets to go back in April during DD spring break. Her break falls very late this year (April 20-24) and since we are buying APs for the Dec 2009 and Oct 2010 trips, we thought: "Hey, if the price is right, why not." We would leave mid-week and just go down for 4-5 nights. No DDP, No TS restaurants (OK, maybe 1), Stay @ a value...if we can get a cheap enough airline ticket, we could go to Disney for < $1000...when else in our life will we be able to do that. I thought we leave Wednesday night, have Thursday through Sunday, and fly back late Monday - giving us 4.5 days there, and I only take 3 vacation days while DD misses 1 day of school.

So, SWA opened the April dates this morning, and I found flights for $62 each way! With taxes and fees, round trip is $145.20. I had to adjust dates slightly, but we leave Thursday morning, and come back Tuesday afternoon. I have to take one more day of vacation (no biggie) and DD misses 2 days of school (slight biggie, but not the end of the world hopefully in 1st grade).
We land Thursday by noon, so have perhaps 5-6 hours on Thursday. Then all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Our flight returns 11 AM Tuesday, so no time for parks on Tuesday, but who cares? This is a complete bonus trip.

The best part of all, we are not telling DD about this one. We are going for my birthday in December, and she has been asking to go for HER birthday. I have been telling her, nope, we will go for Halloween, we can't take you out of school. We will most likely wait until the morning of and wake her up and say..."Hey, what do you want to do today? How about going to Disney World?" How COOL would that be.

Actually, one of our daughter's best friends is similarly an only child, and we mentioned the idea of taking her (the BF) with us on the trip...they are currently mulling it over. That might change how much ahead we tell her.

So, only 60 days to go, AND only 190 days to go, AND 369 days to go...3 trips in 1 year! Holy cow! There goes the bank account!

 

[khertz]

We will most likely wait until the morning of and wake her up and say..."Hey, what do you want to do today? How about going to Disney World?" How COOL would that be.

That sounds like the BEST surprise ever!! I kinda wish my husband would do that for me! Your DD is going to be so excited! And now you get to plan another trip. Even better.

 

[skier_pete]

Sometimes I think that I don't have many people interested in following my PTR because I don't have any neat scrapbooking or T-shirts, bags or shoes to talk about...being a rare guy on this board. But where my shopping and crafting skills lag, I am pretty mean on the computer. And I used it to set up a countdown calendar for my DD to cross off the days to Disney. I was originally going to do a 50-day calendar, but to make the weeks even, I ended up doing 55 days. Here is what it looks like:

I did a similar one last year, but this year I used all Halloween, Fall and Christmas themed clipart for each day...heres close ups of the individual dates:

We have a bunch of Disney stickers, and we will cover each number as we go. I also bought her a Birnbaum's Guide for kids, so she can fell more involved in the trip-planning. (Even though the plans are long complete, sorry kiddo!) The last few days show what parks we are going to go to on what days. It still feels a long way off, I don't really think it'll feel real until after Thanksgiving.

Oh, and a bonus picture - DD and I at a recent NHL Hockey Game! Excuse the food all over her face...she is only six. This will be the hardest part of the trip for me, missing 5 games the 10 days we are gone!
GO SABRES!

 

[khertz]

That is an AWESOME countdown calendar!! What a great idea. I love the themeing of the clip art. So cute.

Hockey is not big here, but DH and I are pretty bummed to be missing 2 Saints games while we are there. I bought 2 Saints t-shirts to wear on those Sundays to show my NOLA pride! He will probably try to steer me over to ESPN Club those days...

 

[skier_pete]

That is an AWESOME countdown calendar!! What a great idea. I love the themeing of the clip art. So cute.

Hockey is not big here, but DH and I are pretty bummed to be missing 2 Saints games while we are there. I bought 2 Saints t-shirts to wear on those Sundays to show my NOLA pride! He will probably try to steer me over to ESPN Club those days...

Thanks for the compliments! It took a about an 1-2 hours to prep the calender. Then printed it, cut it out, and glued it on some yellow paper. (DD helped with the glue part.) Tomorrow we start the countdown!

I can see where you will be missing your Saints as the season comes down to the wire, but it seems like you guys will be in pretty solid position for the playoffs by then. I prefer hockey, but I do like a good football game (the reason I don't watch the Buffalo Bills...ick), but I find at Disney I like getting away from the "real world" and that includes worrying about watching my favorite team. The last time we were in WDW during hockey season, I simply asked a friend to text me scores during/after the game. That was good enough for me, and probably will be again.

 

[mrskckitty]

I LOVE your countdown calendar! What a great job you did. Less than two months to go!!!

 

[If U Had Wings]

How did I not know that you had a pre-trip report going?

It looks like your plans are coming along great. You have some great pics for ADRS in there.

I'm so excited for you about the multiple trips. I'm keeping the ticker in my siggie for March even though I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to afford it or not. If not I'll be going down again next Sept/Oct. for the 1/2 marathon. I was hoping they'd schedule it for the end of October so I could make it a 40th birthday party for me, but I'm going to have to make due with an early October trip instead.

 

[skier_pete]

How did I not know that you had a pre-trip report going?

It looks like your plans are coming along great. You have some great pics for ADRS in there.

I'm so excited for you about the multiple trips. I'm keeping the ticker in my siggie for March even though I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to afford it or not. If not I'll be going down again next Sept/Oct. for the 1/2 marathon. I was hoping they'd schedule it for the end of October so I could make it a 40th birthday party for me, but I'm going to have to make due with an early October trip instead.

Hey, better late than never - I'm glad you discovered it. I still am a bit bummed our trips won't co-incide, but it sounds like you have a fantastic trip planned! Only a month to go! (For you anyways.)

I keep trying to come up with things to add to my PTR - but I just don't have anything! I am such an uber-planner, my plans were all completely solid months ago...I spend months and months tweaking plans until I come up with the absolute ideal plan for the circumstances...and even after that, I keep coming up with ideas, but keep coming back to where I'm at.

I don't know if you noticed this, but they added Fantasmic to a whole bunch of nights in December. Our week it's playing every night...we don't care so much...neither of us really love it, and DD is scared of it, so we were planning on skipping it anyways...but it might help your plans - I seem to remember seeing that you wanted to catch it.

TTFN, (Just got finished watching "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" with DD)
SkierPete

 

[If U Had Wings]

Hey, better late than never - I'm glad you discovered it. I still am a bit bummed our trips won't co-incide, but it sounds like you have a fantastic trip planned! Only a month to go! (For you anyways.)

I keep trying to come up with things to add to my PTR - but I just don't have anything! I am such an uber-planner, my plans were all completely solid months ago...I spend months and months tweaking plans until I come up with the absolute ideal plan for the circumstances...and even after that, I keep coming up with ideas, but keep coming back to where I'm at.

I don't know if you noticed this, but they added Fantasmic to a whole bunch of nights in December. Our week it's playing every night...we don't care so much...neither of us really love it, and DD is scared of it, so we were planning on skipping it anyways...but it might help your plans - I seem to remember seeing that you wanted to catch it.

TTFN, (Just got finished watching "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" with DD)
SkierPete

I didn't know about the Fantasmic shows, I'll have to go check that out. Both my BFF and I really like the show, so hopefully we'll be able to catch it. I refuse to let myself be bothered by it if we don't get to see it though. We have way too many fun things planned for this trip.

I'm usually much more set in my plans myself. For some reason this trip I can't stop tweaking things a bit. Hopefully there should be no more tweaking. (Unless I need to bump up a dinner time for Fantasmic).

 

[skier_pete]

Hey, some advice for anyone following my PTR - always, always double-check your reservations! (and triple-check, and quadruple-check):

I was looking over my ressie after I paid the balance...and I noticed that it showed our return flight on the ME, but not on our arrival flight. It occurred to me that I had originally booked our arrival day as hotel only...and the package started on our second day as a separate reservation. When free dining came out, I changed the package to start on the first day. This resulted in our ME plans being canceled.

I called today and re-booked with ME. They said my package should be going out tomorrow. Whew! Good thing I caught it. Let this be a lesson to everyone else!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Good catch. My ME docs were a bit messed up as well. They didn't have my friends flight information at all, and for some reason they had me listed as two separate people for the 2nd half of our trip. (The departure info from the Boardwalk).

 

[skier_pete]

Only 25 days to go, and I thought I would try and spend a little time on each day, and what I hope to do.

Day 1 - I truly, truly hope to arrive at Disney World on December 12th!

I have too major things I am paranoid about. (1) One of us getting sick just prior to / early in our trip and (2) A snowstorm shutting down the Buffalo airport so we can't get there. The second being the worst, as we could easily lose 2-3 days of our trip should this happen.

But, I will try to be an optimist, and I have assumed in my planning that our plane not only leaves Buffalo at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning, but arrives in Orlando on time (10 AM). But because of past airline delays, I plan on leaving this day with minimal goals.

IF we get in at 10 AM - and to POP by say noon-time, we would probably get some lunch in the food court, and if we have access to our room and the weather is right, go for a swim.

Either way, we will go to Epcot in the afternoon. I have very modest goals to achieve today; essentially want to accomplish 2.5-3 pavillions in future world

1) Ride SSE and spend a little time with the games in the exit area.
2) Upgrade our 1-day passes to APs.
3) Visit the Seas for at least 90 minutes. DD very favorite thing at WDW...and we have a hard time entering Epcot without going there first.
4) Dinner at The Coral Reef at 5:15 PM. While I don't care about having front row seats, I want to be in one of the bottom 2 tiers of the restaurant. Last year, we were in the very back, and it was kind of a lousy view.
5) Ride EITHER Test Track or Soarin' via FP that we obtain shortly after we enter the park. (1st choice would be Soarin' as we are on that side of the park for The Seas.)

If we get those things done, it's a good day. I would like to be heading back to the hotel by 7:30 PM, as I am hoping to get DD to bed at close to a "normal" bed-time tonight. For one, we will be up very early to catch our plane that morning...for another, Day 2 and 3 are going to be very long days.

Next up: Our first day of hopping in 9 years!

 

[eliz991]

Hi! Just found your PTR and was drawn in by the title...I just turned 40 in September and who doesn't love Buffett?

Unlike you I don't have much planned for the trip yet, but still find it hard to add things to my PTR sometimes....so you are not alone!

I am jealous of your ability to get cheap SW tix - even though I live where they are headquartered, we can't fly directly to Orlando on Southwest by federal law! Luckily, AirTran is less than $200 RT but they're not my favorite airline. We flew them in July with no problems though. Good luck on the weather, that is definitely one thing we don't have to worry too much about. (Although my friend has noted that it's not unheard of to get an ice storm here in February!)

 

[khertz]

The weather can be a scary thing to think about when you are flying! Luckily, we don't have snow"storms" (ok, just plain ol' snow ) but once every 3-15 years down here in south Louisiana! Although the Saints are doing amazing this year, so I guess anything can happen!! I definitely know what you mean when you worry about getting sick before the trip. I just got over a cold, but I still have 8 more shifts at work taking care of sick kids, so I'm not out of the woods yet. I have a pretty tough immune system, but DH will come down with almost anything, so I'm doing my best not to bring him home any germs or crud right before Disney!!

Your Day 1 plans look great...I hope you get to accomplish everything!!

 

[If U Had Wings]

I love your plans for your first day. Have to love those early morning flights to Orlando. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you that it doesn't snow. It's rare that we'd get weather like that down here near NYC, so I'm going to pretend that it will never happen.

 

[skier_pete]

Hi! Just found your PTR and was drawn in by the title...I just turned 40 in September and who doesn't love Buffett?

Unlike you I don't have much planned for the trip yet, but still find it hard to add things to my PTR sometimes....so you are not alone!

I am jealous of your ability to get cheap SW tix - even though I live where they are headquartered, we can't fly directly to Orlando on Southwest by federal law! Luckily, AirTran is less than $200 RT but they're not my favorite airline. We flew them in July with no problems though. Good luck on the weather, that is definitely one thing we don't have to worry too much about. (Although my friend has noted that it's not unheard of to get an ice storm here in February!)

Happy belated Birthday from a fellow '69er! I wouldn't think it would be THAT hard to get cheap flights from Dallas...airline tickets are such a battle anyways. I would assume that weather rarely hampers your flights. In Buffalo, the airport doesn't close very often - honestly if we got six inches of snow overnight we would probably be able to still get out...but about once every other year we get a whopper storm that shuts things down for a day or two, and these typically come in December or early January. It's 55 degrees and sunny today, so it's hard to think in 3 weeks we could be seeing that...but we could.

BTW, Great Princess Bride quote for your PTR!

The weather can be a scary thing to think about when you are flying! Luckily, we don't have snow"storms" (ok, just plain ol' snow ) but once every 3-15 years down here in south Louisiana! Although the Saints are doing amazing this year, so I guess anything can happen!! I definitely know what you mean when you worry about getting sick before the trip. I just got over a cold, but I still have 8 more shifts at work taking care of sick kids, so I'm not out of the woods yet. I have a pretty tough immune system, but DH will come down with almost anything, so I'm doing my best not to bring him home any germs or crud right before Disney!!

Your Day 1 plans look great...I hope you get to accomplish everything!!

Gosh, I think I'd be wearing a mask for two weeks before our trip taking care of sick kids! I hope you all stay healthy too! I know the snow sounds like a hassle, but I'll take it over the steam and heat of LA in the summer...our company has plants in Baton Rouge and Geismar, and when I've come down (many years ago now) it was always in the summer. Love the food, though!

I love your plans for your first day. Have to love those early morning flights to Orlando. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you that it doesn't snow. It's rare that we'd get weather like that down here near NYC, so I'm going to pretend that it will never happen.

Thanks, it is pretty awesome to think that you can leave your house in the morning in Buffalo, NY, and by noon be 1500 miles away in Disney World. The nice thing about living in Buffalo is we can leave the house at 5:30 AM to catch a 7 AM flight. Buffalo has the near-perfect airport in my view. Big enough that you can get most places with only 1 connection, but small enough that there are rarely any long lines or hassels. And it sure beats the drive that we did when I was a kid!

 

[skier_pete]

OK...let me start out by saying I am NOT a fan of park-hopping. To me, I find there is generally enough to do in any of the parks that I have no interest in skipping off to another one part-way through the day. The idea of wasting an hour of transit time just to go somewhere else doesn't appeal to me. And the way I use the fastpass system as much as possible sort of falls apart when you hop. In fact, even if park hopping was a free feature with tickets, I would likely normally hop only one day of the trip...on a day towards the end of the trip where we just wanted to hit a few things we missed throughout the trip.

However, this trip, we are choosing to hop several times, but this is mostly in order to see as much of the christmas decor / shows as we possibly can. It also allows us to eat more dinners at Epcot, but that is more of a side benefit.

The only park that makes me remotely want to hop is DHS. While we *could* probably spend a full day there, and have in the past, this is the park that least interests our entire family. DD only likes about 3 things in the whole park. (TSMM, HiSTK Playground, and Playhouse Disney - she doesn't even really want to do B&tB and VotLM because she doesn't like the scary parts.) DW likes TSMM and the Muppet...and that's about it. I like ToT and RnRC, as well as TSMM and Indiana Jones...and that's about it. While us parents like things like B&tB and VotLM, we can take or leave them after we have seen them the last few trips. We also don't really care that much about Fantasmic! While I like the show OK, I find stretches of it kind of boring. DW was not impressed, and DD also deemed it "too scary" when she saw it last trip, which didn't surprise me at all.

But, the one thing at DHS I definitely don't want to miss is the Osborne Lights. This to me will be something that will really get us in the christmas spirit for the trip. And, it makes a perfect opportunity to use our hoppers.

So, on our second day, we plan on hitting our 2nd favorite park for most of the day, and after a quick hotel detour, heading over to DHS to see the lights. During my planning phase, I waffled a lot on going to DHS this evening. It's an EMH night, making it likely that it'll be crowded...especially with a MVMCP going on at MK. But, I thought (1) the things we want to see won't be a problem with crowds and (2) we could check out the Playhouse Disney dance party that is only held on EMH nights.

OK, so here is the plan:
- 9 AM Rope drop at AK, we head for the Safari with the masses. After that, we walk the Pangori Forest Trail...followed by some time checking out the tree of life. (We love AK, but not for the rides per se...it is my favorite park to just wander in. I wish we could have 2 full days here every trip, but sometimes it is just not possible.)
- 11 AM Festival of the Lion King - our only "don't miss" show at WDW each trip. Possibly go and get a few autographs right before or after in Camp M-M.
- 11:50 AM Lunch and Tusker House - most people seem to gravitate to the Character breakfast here, but last year we tried this buffet for the first time, and it was hands down our favorite meal. DW and I can wait to eat here again.
- After Lunch, we head to Asia, and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Beyond that we will probably head to Dinoland and let DD climb around (the play areas are just about her favorite) while I will probably ride EE and maybe DW will take DMIL on Dinosaur!.
- 3:45 PM is the Jingle Jangle Jungle parade. I am generally underwhelmed by daytime parades, but being a christmas exclusive I thought we should check it out.
-After the parade, we are going to head out of the park hopefully ahead of the crowd leaving from the parade, and then head over to AKL for a brief tour. We've never been there - would love to stay there someday - but for now an hour of checking it out will have to do.
- From AKL we head to DHS for the Obsorne lights. Other things I am thinking we will try to hit while there - Star Tours (if no line, or FP), The Muppets 3-D, and Playhouse Disney Dance party once the EMH starts.
- We will probably leave the park no later than 9 PM...as tomorrow will be another long day. I may try to hit ToT and / or RnRC before we leave.

This day exemplifies my park touring strategy for this trip...a longer time spent in the parks than previous trips, but really trying to not have to accomplish a lot in any one day. You'll notice there are about a total of 4 rides /shows we actually plan on hitting at AK, and only another 2-3 at DHS. And this is one of our busier days!

Next up - I enter middle age with a full day at MK!