A Safari Christmas Goes Pop! (w/pics)

[njdisneyfreak]

Thanks for the tip about the quotes. Your sweet!! WOW You got your flip flops. Congrats. Did you DH like his?

I made my way to the mall with the Dbf tonight, i found every style of crocs EXCEPT the flip flops... i may have to call around the city and/or order online. I still have two months.
what is a guest blogger?

Still loving my Crocs flip flops. They are like walking on cushy gel insoles. My DH does like his. At first, he looked at them and wondered if he could get used to the look. However, he wore them for the rest of the evening and thought he could get used to them. He thinks he may want to get a second pair without the holes on top, the more solid look. But, he says he'll definitely use these, because he can tell them will be so comfortable to wear all day.

I wish you well with finding your flip flops. If all else fails, purchase online.

What is a gueset blogger? Well, a blog is like an online log or journal of someone's experience and thoughts on something, with some pictures. On this particular Disney website, they have bloggers (people who blog) who are part of the creation and upkeep of the website. Then, they allow guests to blog on their site about their various Disney experiences. It's similar to doing a TR, but shorter, focusing on something specific. We'll be focusing specifically on WDW for the holidays. Make sense?

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Not much to update on. We were going to order our second pair of Crocs tonight, but decided to wait a little while. I've been lurking and posting quite a bit on the board today, taking breaks from writing curriculum for the board of ed.

My DH and I agreed that we are happy with our dining choices, and I think we're done looking at dining reviews for the places where we're going. The only reason I can foresee a change is if the T-Rex restaurant opens in time for us to go, in which case we'll go one of the two times we're planning to eat in DTD.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

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My DH and I are planning to have gift baskets delivered to our rooms for one another for our anniversary/holiday trip, on our first full day. I want to surprise my DH with some great items and would love some help. I am going to have the Disney Florist put something together for him and have it delivered to our room, but I am open to having an outside company that delivers baskets do it, too. I'm just trying to come up with ideas for what should go in it.

To help you help me, here are some things my DH is into to help with ideas:
- He works in business/finance
- He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES golf (playing and watching)
- He loves Disney
- He really enjoys sports in general, pretty much all of them

I'm anxious to see what ideas some of you may come up with. I won't post what I'm ultimately going to use out of your ideas until after the trip though, just in case my DH reads this.

 

[bellasmommy0]

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My DH and I are planning to have gift baskets delivered to our rooms for one another for our anniversary/holiday trip, on our first full day. I want to surprise my DH with some great items and would love some help. I am going to have the Disney Florist put something together for him and have it delivered to our room, but I am open to having an outside company that delivers baskets do it, too. I'm just trying to come up with ideas for what should go in it.

To help you help me, here are some things my DH is into to help with ideas:
- He works in business/finance
- He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES golf (playing and watching)
- He loves Disney
- He really enjoys sports in general, pretty much all of them

I'm anxious to see what ideas some of you may come up with. I won't post what I'm ultimately going to use out of your ideas until after the trip though, just in case my DH reads this.

I will have to think about this one for a while, I am curious as to what you will come up with??

 

[njdisneyfreak]

I will have to think about this one for a while, I am curious as to what you will come up with??

Any help would be appreciated. I have a couple of ideas, but I can't post them here, just in case my DH sees it. If you think of anything, let me know.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

My DH and I talked today about doing the WL sleigh ride. I wonder if it's worth doing. It was my idea, because it sounds neat. We're just trying to figure out if we could work it into our schedule as it is, or if we should book a meal at the WL and do the sleigh ride then. Stay tuned.

 

[joelp]

If they do open it in time for us to go, we're considering giving up Narcoossee's to go there on our first night, since we'll be in DTD shopping anyway, and possibly going to Cirque de Soleil, which we've never gone to.

Catching up here ...

If you're serious about Cirque du Soleil - go for it!!

We haven't seen La Nouba (waiting for the DD to get a little older - maybe next September ....), but the DW and I have seen Varekai, Quidam, and the newest - Kooza (which was a lot of fun!!) ... and a special performance on the streets of Montreal at the 1995 Jazz Festival ... and we have a bunch of Cirque videos ... [OK - we're big Cirque fans ... ]

It will be an experience you will never forget ... Try to get seats in the center about half-way up ...

 

[NYPDwife]

My DH and I talked today about doing the WL sleigh ride. I wonder if it's worth doing. It was my idea, because it sounds neat. We're just trying to figure out if we could work it into our schedule as it is, or if we should book a meal at the WL and do the sleigh ride then. Stay tuned.

I say do it, even if you don't have an ADR at WL. I want to try to get it b/c it's such a "Christmas-ey" thing to do. I especially think it would be nice for you b/c you can have a romantic ride with DH. Although I know it's going to be fun to do it with the kids, having the romantic sleigh ride is awesome!

 

[joelp]

So, we booked Boma's for that night instead. It made sense, since we don't usually spend more than a few hours in DTD. Besides, it would be nice to see what our resort is like in the evening and what they have to offer, also we will get to sleep at a reasonable hour for our first full day at WDW!!!

Boma!! Boma!! Boma!! ...

 

[joelp]

That is one of my favorite attractions at the MK. I've gone to see it since I was a young kid. My only complaint is that it has remained the same, as far as memory serves me, through my entire life. I just read that it's being refurbished from 9/28-10/31. I wonder if this means a change is in store. That would be kind of neat. I know that I liked the improvements that were made to the Tiki Room attraction. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I understand the show is different during the Holiday Season ...

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Catching up here ...

If you're serious about Cirque du Soleil - go for it!!

We haven't seen La Nouba (waiting for the DD to get a little older - maybe next September ....), but the DW and I have seen Varekai, Quidam, and the newest - Kooza (which was a lot of fun!!) ... and a special performance on the streets of Montreal at the 1995 Jazz Festival ... and we have a bunch of Cirque videos ... [OK - we're big Cirque fans ... ]

It will be an experience you will never forget ... Try to get seats in the center about half-way up ...

Welcome to my PTR! We'd like to do it, but think it would be too much to add on right now, and we don't want to over pack our itinerary. The nights we would possibly be able to go, we'd like to do the EMH at parks. So, maybe next time.

I see you're also from NJ. Which part? We're in Monmouth County. Like you, we're here physically, but mentally, we're in FL. We can't stand the colder temps that we get here later in the year and the cost of living is getting crazy. At some point, we'll probably move down there.

I say do it, even if you don't have an ADR at WL. I want to try to get it b/c it's such a "Christmas-ey" thing to do. I especially think it would be nice for you b/c you can have a romantic ride with DH. Although I know it's going to be fun to do it with the kids, having the romantic sleigh ride is awesome!

I agree it's romantic sounding, but we don't want to book it without knowing more about it. At night, we wonder what we'd actually see. So, this one is still up in the air. We may just do this spur of the moment, if the moment hits us, and hope they have availability. We'll see.

Boma!! Boma!! Boma!! ...

Saying Boma three times like that is kind of funny. Do you like Boma a lot or just like the sound of the word?

I understand the show is different during the Holiday Season ...

It used to be. Last year, our first time at WDW for the holidays, they decided to keep it the same as all year round for the first time to minimize costs. I haven't heard if they're going back to the holiday theme for this year or keeping it the same year round. I would love to see the show done differently for the holidays, since we were looking forward to seeing that last year. Either way, we'll go see it. It's a must on my list of things to see every trip, but it would be wonderful to see any sort of updates done to it. They could definitely use some sprucing up.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

As I've mentioned before, I'm a teacher, so I'm on summer break. I have been working on rewriting four curricula for one of our departments and yippe, I have just finished and have sent them off!!! Can you tell I'm excited? I'm hoping I won't have to make any further adjustments to any of them.

It's all more Disney money! Next month, I'll be working on creating individualized student improvement plans for some of our basic skills students. Between these two summer jobs, I'll have paid quite a chunk of our Disney trip. It feels so good.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

I ordered these beautiful maps last year and they are so beautiful, that I hope to frame them at some point. They're lovely and glossy. I can't see taking them to the parks with you and potentially ruining them. They are more of a keepsake, though you do have the option to print maps when you set up your customized maps.

Since WDW offers them for free, I ordered a new set this year, so I could have one with the new Studios name. Hint: If you purchase them with the intent of hanging them up in any way, then after yours arrive, order a second set. The maps are front and back. If you want to check this out, here's the link:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/myVacation/customizedMaps/index?id=CustomizedMapsSampleMapsPage

You can customize what you want highlighted on the map. It has your family's name on it. Very cool!

OH, AND WE'RE 159 DAYS AWAY!!!​

 

[Mom2Kate-Anna]

Hi, just found your report. I am trying to get a link going (I am new to this message board thing ) Yes it looks like our stays are going to overlap and we are also staying at the AKL. I am going to go back and read your full report now but it looks as though we have some of the same ADR plans as well!!

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Hi, just found your report. I am trying to get a link going (I am new to this message board thing ) Yes it looks like our stays are going to overlap and we are also staying at the AKL. I am going to go back and read your full report now but it looks as though we have some of the same ADR plans as well!!

I just went to your board. Good start. Don't forget to say, in your PTR, when and where you're staying. That's normally mentioned towards the beginning of the report, along with why you're going and/or how you started the planning of the trip.

That's cool that our trips overlap and that we're going to be at the same resort! Maybe we'll bump into one another somewhere along the way.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

The Disney Travel Company called me today. When I saw them on my caller ID, I admit that my curiousity was piqued. They were calling about our lunch ressie at the Garden Grill, and the fact that they will no longer have character dining.

They are calling everyone who has made a ressie, prior to the change announcement, to offer a dinner ressie since they're going to have characters at dinner, or the opportunity to change to another location. We had already booked a late breakfast and early dinner, with the intent of snacking in the lovely places in the World. So, I told her to just cancel the ressie, which I had forgotten to cancel.

I just thought it was nice that they were calling everyone to do that. Imagine having that job?

 

[bellasmommy0]

The Disney Travel Company called me today. When I saw them on my caller ID, I admit that my curiousity was piqued. They were calling about our lunch ressie at the Garden Grill, and the fact that they will no longer have character dining.

They are calling everyone who has made a ressie, prior to the change announcement, to offer a dinner ressie since they're going to have characters at dinner, or the opportunity to change to another location. We had already booked a late breakfast and early dinner, with the intent of snacking in the lovely places in the World. So, I told her to just cancel the ressie, which I had forgotten to cancel.

I just thought it was nice that they were calling everyone to do that. Imagine having that job?

Somebody on the ADR thread had pointed out the change to me, and when I called to change it last week, they told me they were going to start calling everyone to change them, but yes it is very nice....too bad they are canceling the lunchs though.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Somebody on the ADR thread had pointed out the change to me, and when I called to change it last week, they told me they were going to start calling everyone to change them, but yes it is very nice....too bad they are canceling the lunchs though.

Yeah, it's a shame they're changing it. I used to enjoy lunch at the Garden Grill with the characters.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Well, last night and again this morning, we did what we do every time we plan to go to WDW. We went online and began checking how much it would cost to stay at another resort. Now, let me start by saying that when we started doing this last nigt, I keep saying we and I mean me. I wanted to see the comparisons again.

At first, I did it for fun, to see things like how much it would cost to stay at GF, the ultimate of deluxe resorts. Then, as usual, I got tempted to see how much it costs to stay in places like POP, which we liked on one our past trips and it costs so much less. This, as usual, is always a mistake to look into. It makes us second guess our first choice, because then I start discussing it with my DH.

Ultimately, we decided to stick with where we originally planned, AKL. I mean is there really a comparison? We get so much with AKL. Besides, that would have meant a lot of ADR changes and changing the name of this PTR. Too much work! I know I can't be the only one who does this. This is what happens when there is all this time left before the trip and not much left to plan.

On another note, we think we may earn enough points on our card to get both our airline tickets for free, but we may have to wait till we pay off our WDW trip, which is the first week of November. Part of me wonders if it's crazy to wait that long to book a flight with the prices of flights nowadays, but then again, we may get two free flights out of the deal by waiting. They just have to stay within a certain dollar amount to use the points for the flights. Ah, well. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I suppose if we see the prices sky rocket further, we'll have to make a decision.

Five more months to go? This is not easy. I can't wait till I go back to work in September , so I have other stuff to occupy my mind and time, and the months will feel like they're going by that much quicker.

Speaking of work, I believe I'm finally finished with the curriculum writing. I had to make some revisions on Thursday and again yesterday. Hopefully, I'll hear good news on Monday that they are good to go.

Okay, enough of my ramblings. Till my next update. . .

 

[Mom2Kate-Anna]

Well, last night and again this morning, we did what we do every time we plan to go to WDW. We went online and began checking how much it would cost to stay at another resort. Now, let me start by saying that when we started doing this last nigt, I keep saying we and I mean me. I wanted to see the comparisons again.

I did this at first too. But the AKL continually beat out all of the others. Since we will spend quite a bit of time at the resort with the girls it just made since. There is so much to do just there at the lodge and plus the girls love animals soooooo much I can't wait to see it all decorated for Christmas.