A Summer Wedding and a Disney Trip CANCELLED, HELP DECIDE WHEN WE'LL GO IN 2011

[mickeystoontown]

The Christmas programs are so cute. I remember when my daughter and son were little and they had those kinds of programs.

Yea for getting more Christmas shopping done.

Hope you are enjoying looking at my pics on my trip report!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Oh, yes, i'm definitely enjoying your TR!!


How is everyone's weather today? It was 13 degrees when I took the girls to school at 9am, and it is now 20, maybe 22!!! Oh, how I want to be in Florida so badly!! My boss is on her way down there sunday morning. I'm jealous!!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hey! Pam
we are in the chilly 50's brrrr! it is damp here to go with the chilly air...would much rather a dry cooler day ....

fun update on the performance...I use to love when Gwendolyn & Dayne did things like that....as their PTA president I would organize meetings around the holidays so our teachers and parents could have the children do things like that...if not our school was not given any time to do it....

Have a great day!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I wish we would be 50 degrees!!! It's a whopping 2 out this morning!! Yes, folks 2 degrees!!!!! Is it April yet???

 

[PixieDustPrincess05]

Awe Pam she is adorable!!!!! How is your Christmas shopping going? Did you buy lots of Disney presents like I did lol!!! I couldn't help myself. It is funny, I was making tacos for dinner tonight and I thought of you and your family and El Pirata y El Perico's. God I miss that place- the taco shells that Old El Paso gives are like half the size of El Pirata y El Pericos. I have also been craving disney pizza- is that funny or what? I can't wait to go back!!1

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Oh, Janine I miss the Disney food all of the time!! Every time we have tacos, I wish we were eating them in the MK!!

Well, I wish it was in the 50s here!!

So, not only is it cold here at 20 degrees !!! We're getting a snow storm! It's going to start snowing later today, and after 10pm it will become heavy, it's going to snow until tomorrow late morning, early afternoon. Our totals are supposed to be around 15 inches. That is insane. We usually do not even get snow until January. If we do, it's just an inch or two or three!!!
My boss is going to Florida right now! I'm texting her, she's at the airport. She originally had a flight out sunday morning and last night at work we had checked southwest's website and it said a big long thing about how if you were flying out from 4pm today through all day sunday your flight could be rescheduled or just cancelled and you'd get your money back. Well, I felt so bad, she was in tears last night. Her whole family is out there and she'd be stuck home alone for christmas. She was on hold with SW, it said there was a 65 min wait! Well, while waiting she was able to change her flight online and print her boarding pass, even though it was saying there were no flights available. So she stayed on hold to make sure it was all good and it was, so I was happy for her!! She just told me her plane just pulled up! I have to work tonight in this blizzard, I work at AAA for anyone who doesn't know, so we'll have a blast. I love working in a good snow storm! I am off tomorrow though, so i'm happy! We're supposed to be going to my Grandmother's house for our little christmas with them. And presents galore for the kids, so their excited, but I did warn them that we would have to see what the snow does! I have a 4wd Ford Explorer, so we're good!!!
Anyway, my boss just said, if you need anything, call me! I said, oh, ok, so you can give us advice from underneath a palm tree with a margarita in your hand! LOL

Well, i'm off to call my cousin and see if she thinks we'll still be doing our Christmas thing tomorrow, because if we are no matter what, I gotta bake!!!

Have a nice day! And if it's 50 degrees where you are, enjoy it, cause you could be stuck in a blizzard like me


Oh, September, where are you?

 

[PixieDustPrincess05]

Hey Pam~

We are from NJ and are having the same snowstorm here. There is about a foot or more out there now and it is not supposed to stop until sometime tomorrow. It was pretty at first- but now it is just plan crazy out there. We usually have the same snow routine as you guys. Wishing I was in a warmer place right now......

 

[3princesses+aprince]

The snow is still coming down. We have over a foot right now and it's not supposed to stop for a few more hours!!

We have our family christmas party on my Dad's side of the family tonight and I just got off the phone with my cousin and it's still on, snow and all. They're just shoveling away clearing spots to park!

I'm taking the kids outside right now to play for a little bit before we get ready because Manny's friend came down with the plow and made the kids this big "snow fort"

I'll post pictures of the snow and the Christmas party tomorrow!!

Have a nice day everyone!!!

 

[PixieDustPrincess05]

I hope everything went well with your Dad's Christmas party. The roads were horrible yesterday- even the main roads weren't that great here.

Can't wait to see pictures!!!!!

 

[klacey1]

I am also from the Northeast (NY), and was privy to that fabulous snow storm. Apparently on Saturday a package was delivered to my brother's (according to a tracking #) and he never saw it-- thinks it might have gotten buried in the snow!
I am THRILLED we are going to have a white Christmas, though!
Hope you guys had fun at the Christmas party-- and that the drive was safe. Love Sam's pj's! Super cute!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Pam! I'm finally stopping by! Just wanted to let you know I'm here. Now back to get caught up on all the details. Hope you're having a good week.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I hope everything went well with your Dad's Christmas party. The roads were horrible yesterday- even the main roads weren't that great here.

Can't wait to see pictures!!!!!

Yes, we had a great time! I'll post pics soon.

I am also from the Northeast (NY), and was privy to that fabulous snow storm. Apparently on Saturday a package was delivered to my brother's (according to a tracking #) and he never saw it-- thinks it might have gotten buried in the snow!
I am THRILLED we are going to have a white Christmas, though!
Hope you guys had fun at the Christmas party-- and that the drive was safe. Love Sam's pj's! Super cute!

Oh, my god, that's crazy about the package! We did have a safe drive, thank you.

Hi Pam! I'm finally stopping by! Just wanted to let you know I'm here. Now back to get caught up on all the details. Hope you're having a good week.

Hello, thanks for coming by!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Ok, first of all, I just noticed that my ticker no longer says 9 months. We are at 8. This is exciting

We had a wonderful time on sunday with my family. My father drove around and picked up my grandmother and my aunt so they didn't have to drive. The roads were of course crappy ,but we did good. Everyone made it their and back safely!
The kids got a disturbing amount of presents. So many that they all barely fit in the truck on the way home. I have an explorer with 3rd row seating, so that's pretty bad. They ended up with at least 30 gifts a piece!! My kids are the only kids on that side of the family, so they go slightly nutty on holidays and birthdays.

I will post pics tomorrow! I've been so busy. I just finished the rest of my Christmas shopping tonight. I had to go out and get stocking stuffers, and a few more last minute things. I am completely done. All of the presents are wrapped and it is a relief. I can now relax for the next few days.

I also have a picture of some earrings I just bought Lizzie tonight. Oh, my lord, I love them so much. I want to give them to her right now! They are Mickey earrings!!!! I also bought Sam a Tinkerbell necklace but forgot to take a pic of that, and it's wrapped now, so i'll post that after she opens it. I was too over the mickey earrings!!!

Ok, goodnight all!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good morning!

Doesn't it feel good when you look at your ticker and it's lower than you expected it to be?

Congrats on getting all of your Christmas shopping done. I picked up the last thing yesterday....wait, I take that back...I've got to stop on my way home and get my mother's pedicure gift certificate. Other than that, I'm done.

I look forward to seeing pictures of the Mickey earrings and Tinkerbell necklace. Those are my absolute total Disney characters.

If I don't get to chat with you before Christmas, I hope that you and your beautiful family have a lovely holiday!

Lisa

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Mickeystoontown, if you're not on before Christmas have a wonderful holiday!!!


Ok, so I got the pictures up from sunday. We had a great time, the kids got SOOO much!!! They got so much that I know next year, which, I wish I would have thought of this a few weeks ago, we are going to pick a child's name off of a "giving tree" that they have at a restaurant around here and I want my kids to realize that they are very lucky! That some kids don't get Christmas presents and family gatherings and big dinners all week! I just want them to know that not everyone is as fortunate as them. And as i'm going to tell them that this week, I just really want them to see kids asking for warm PJs, and winter coats. I want them to understand that not everyone can just go buy a new coat because it's cold, and not everyone goes to bed with fleece Disney Pjs and fleece Christmas blankets. Them getting all of this stuff, just from one side of my family made me feel really bad for the kids that do not even get a portion of what my kids got. And that was 5 days before Christmas! Santa hasn't even come yet. I am glad my kids have wonderful Christmas's, I am very lucky for that, I just want to make sure they realize how lucky they are!

Ok, so we got to my Aunt's around 3pm! The kids played, we ate dinner and opened presents. We were there til about 8:30. We had a really nice day! We were all so glad we were still able to get there because of the snow! We really didn't want to reschedule because the next time that was possible for all of us was probably 2 weeks after Christmas!

Here are some pics! The kids got:
Pixos, Chixos, Moxie dolls, barbies, barbie scooters, a barbie pool and beach barbies, a barbie kitchen set. ( See they all know that the girls are getting a big dollhouse from me on christmas morning) They got the cake bakery, cupcake baker, candy jewel factory, moon sand, lite brite, board games, clothes, Planet earth animals, Anthony got PS3 games, a total of $90.... you get the point...

Here are the girls standing amongst the presents. Everyone thought the amount of gifts were funny!

We love the Yankees!!!!

So, monday, we hung out and played and rearranged rooms for all of this stuff!

Here are two of the planted earth animals. They each got 2 a piece, Lizzie got a elephant and a chimp. My cousin didn't even know lizzie's infatuation over elephants. Emily got a penguin and a tiger and sam got a polar bear and a black and white bear. They are so soft and cuddly. They each come with their own dvd about that animal. They love stuff like that.

And Here are Lizzie's Mickey earrings!!! She is going to LOVE them.

I'm hoping she does not want the box. I want to save that. It says three things around the side of the box, It says, Laughter is timeless, dreams are forever, and i'm forgetting the 3rd one! It's so nice. Even Manny said, "wow, that's nice"

Well, that was our sunday. We finished all of our shopping last night and now i'm being held hostage at home waiting for my oil man, which could be any time today. So, i'm sure i'll be back on!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I know i've been trying to decide if we'll be going with the QSDP or DDP, and i've been leaning more towards the QS all along. But now that i'm thinking about it, I think, especially for a honeymoon that it will be nice to eat in these fancy restaurants, and relaxing in the hot afternoons. I think we're gong with the regular DDP!!!

I've been looking into Coral Reef and I've always wanted to go there ,but I don't like seafood! Well, in looking at the menu I realized that there are other yummy things there. Manny loves seafood, so he'll really enjoy this! It looks so pretty in there! The kids will be amazed!

Another place that we really want to eat is the San Angel Inn, in Mexico at Epcot. When we went on that boat ride we thought it was an amazing view that the people eating there had! It's very beautiful in there!

T-Rex is another must-do for us

Sci fi dine in is a definite on our DHS day

The Yak and Yeti on our AK day looks so neat!!!

Character Meals: Must dos

Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Akershus or 1900 Park Fare


Which should I go for, 1900 Park Fare or Akershus?

Also, I feel like I should have more character meals! 3 out of 8 of them will be character. Is there any rest that I have on the list that you would trade for a character meal? Or should I stick with what i've chosen.

I know my kids will enjoy all of these restaurants, even the ones without characters. And we seen so many while there in May that i'm sure we'll see even more in September when it's slower. What should we do?

Only 3 more months and I can make ADRs!! extremely exciting!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

You are a good mother teaching your kids that they should feel privileged to receive so many gifts for Christmas and to think about the other children out there that won't have such a happy Christmas. I have always taught my children the same thing. Every year, we adopt a family for Christmas and buy gifts for them. It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see my kids giving to others.

Moving on to whether or not you should do the quick service dining plan or the regular dining plan. I priced out the two and found that it only cost a little more than $250.00 (for 9 nights) between the two. We went with the regular dining plan. I gotta tell you, I know for a fact that I'd get tired as heck eating counter service meals for our entire trip. Been there...done that.

It's really nice to sit down every evening to a nice dinner. It's a great way to wind down. By the way, we aren't big breakfast eaters so we use our table service credits for dinner. That way, you get the most bang for your buck.

Out of the places you have chosen, I'd definitely say go to T-Rex. It's not on the dining plan though. I have pictures of our food and of the restaurant on pages 20 and 21 of my trip report.

We really like Sci-Fi. If you go at dinner, you can still order the burger that's on the lunch menu. We've done it three different times and have had no problem at all.

Crystal Palace is always good. It's a tradition that we close out our vacation with a day at the Magic Kingdom and eat dinner at Crystal Palace. Our favorite item on the buffet is the Fire Roasted Corn Spoon Bread. Yummy!

We ate at Chef Mickeys for the first time this past August. It certainly isn't a place that we'd go back to. I had read mixed reviews regarding dinner but decided to book an ADR there anyway. I wish I hadn't. There was food on the floor, our waitress came around twice (even though we were there for over an hour) and one of those times my husband had to wave her over, the food was okay.

We haven't eaten at the other three places you have listed. Hope this helps.

Lisa

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Thank you Pam for posting pictures of your family opening gifts! Loved them!!! I'm enjoying your report, too!!!!

 

[PixieDustPrincess05]

Loved the christmas party photos!!!!!! Don't feel bad, my son is the only grandchild and gets a TON of gifts as well from both sides. Plus my husband and I both have stepparents (both moms and dads!)- so you know what I mean!!!!! To tell you the truth I don't know why Bill and I buy so much for him when he gets alot from everyone else. I thing the angel christmas tree is a great idea- it will really help the kids appreciate christmas more.

If you are going on the regular DDP- can I suggest the Grand Floridian Cafe? It is very pretty in there and all of the CM's are dressed in big old time dresses and they are very nice. And the food, oh my word, is delicious- especially if you like steak!!!! I've also eaten at Crystal Palace- but I do not recommend going for dinner (breakfast would probably be much better). They had some weird food in there, but the disney atmosphere and characters were great. We sat at a table that had an awesome view of the castle .

Well, I hope you and your beautiful family have a wonderful Christmas!!!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Pam! Loved the pics of the kids and their presents. They look very happy. I love how your girls always look so happy. We're doing Coral Reef this year for the first time also...I'm not a fan of seafood but Joe is so I'm in the exact same boat as you are. As for Akerhaus vs. 1900 Park Fare...we choose 1900 Park Fare. Breakfast at Akerhaus was good and we got to see a lot of princesses. The downside is that the characters are very rushed. Lunch at Akerhaus was horrible...Joe calls it the worst meal he's ever had at WDW. Therefore if you do choose Akerhaus go for breakfast if you can. 1900 Park Fare is a buffet which means you can start eating right away and everyone can find something that suits them. We also found the character interaction to be fantastic at 1900 PF. Josie danced with Cinderella during our last trip....too sweet. The Grand Floridian is a beautiful resort so it's a nice chance to check it out. Hope that helps some.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Pam!!!