An early pre-trippie Dec 2010- UPDATE POST34, SINGLE DIGIT DANCE!!

[Ware Bears]

Love your plans ~ it will soon be here!

 

[fizz13]

ahhh, i know its not much to report but my virgin holidays invoice arrived this morning, its official in front of me
Ooh and also in my hands I have 3 universal 14 day passes, seaworld/aquatica passes and the disneyworld passes, its a very good feeling

I have transferred the first £100 over to my fairFX card, the spending money fund is under way, eeekkks! shame i have still have 297 sleeps to go but hey ho, it will whizz by, i can't believe we are more than half way through february already. i have subscribed to Tour Guide Mike again, I have my Orlando map. aarrggghh i cant think what else i can do yet. Its a good way to bite back at this yucky winter weather though!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great to hear about your plans, Claire - the boys will definitely love T-Rex, ours did

I forgive you for not writing a trippy for your August trip - anyone who has written trip reports understands just how much work it is - and that is the very reason why I'm not writing one for my August trip either. For once, I want to be able to relax and enjoy it, without having to think about taking pictures of food, taking note of funny/odd events and tryng to remember in what order we did things.

Still, don't let me put you off - I'm looking forward to reading your December trippy, there's no going back now, you've promised

 

[fizz13]

Hiya,
well we have made it to 100 days!! I didnt really have anything to write for a while, I had made my ADRs, had all the arrangements in place, its been veryv quiet on the disney planning front...until now
The friend that was going to come with me has backed out, not that she told me this, she just went very quiet and I havent seen her in ages so I think its safe to assume she's not coming. Not that I mind really, i wonder if my boys would have resented having 2 little ones with us. So I had a spare 1 bed villa next door to mine going spare. I asked around and obviously in the current climate it is not in most people's budget. My mum showed some interest, she hasnt been to a disney park since she was pregnant with me (can't imagine why I love disney then, sublimnal messages into the womb) and then she got put off by the flight. I keep telling her that once she gets there it would all be worthwhile, and she might finally get to spend some quality time with her grandsons (if i tell you they see her once every 2 months that might be an overexageration..she lives 5 minutes round the corner!!!).
Anyway, a few days ago the flight sales began, so flights that were at £720-£800 reduced to £410-£500!! that got her thinking Me and the boys are flying Virgin but BA is coming out nearly £100 cheaper. As the problem was the flight she has spoken to my brother who has said he would love to come, so she is planning on booking BA flights tonight for them. My brother is 19 and i feel more like his mum sometimes so I am really chuffed that he is coming, the boys are thrilled Uncle Louis will be there with them, and I'm thrilled as it means my mum has someone else to moan at for 2 weeks instead of just me.
Things can be strained at the best of time with my mum, but I do want her to come and see it all for herself, she is quite good at going on rides and she will be spending time with the boys. the downside is the woman would be late to her own funeral and counts every penny. Therefore when she asked me about some of the meals I had booked, the words ridiculous and outrageous were spoken about the price, and that they werent necessary as we were staying in a villa.
My response was that the boys have requested some things especially, we are going anyway and she can choose to come or not on the day. As i said her timing is appaling and wont leave the house without full makeup and hair done, I remember being late nearly every day to school as she would sit with a full head of rollers at 8:45! so once again its a be ready or i go without, she has listened enough over the years to know how i run things with my trips and i have very little tolerance for girly perfection over a ropedrop I know that sounds hard, but she would be the first to moan for hours if she has to wait in line for a ride, she gets it and understands.
Going from 3 to 5 gave me another problem, well several, but the main one was dining. I know I'm not onsite, but i cant go without them, and now our dates fall into free dining. I have spent a couple of hours playing with online dining to get ressies for all of us, i had to give up Ohana dinner, Chef Mickeys and a fantasmic package!!! But I will put the itinerary below to show you what i did get:

DECEMBER 9TH TO 23RD

9TH: land 15:40, pick up car, check into Pop Century, chill at resort

10TH: Magic Kingdom, boys have pirate makeover, BOMA 6:25pm

11TH: Check out from Pop, Disney Studios, 50's Prime Time 12:10pm, check into villa

12TH: Seaworld

13TH: ???, Magic Kingdom for Spectro & Wishes

14TH: Islands of Adventure

15TH: ???, Disney Studios for Fantasmic

16TH: Epcot Future World

17TH: Universal Studios

18TH: Ohana breakfast 9:20am, ???

19TH: Animal Kingdom

20TH:???, Epcot World Showcase, Teppan Edo 1:20pm, Candlelight Processional & Illuminations

21ST: Downtown Disney, T-Rex lunch 1:30pm

22ND: ???

23RD: check out, ???

where I have put ??? that just means we have spare time to rest, go shop, waterpark, whatever we decide, sleep may be a good option!

 

[Jets fan]

Hi Claire

Your trip sounds great. Maybe we will see you at the airport as we take off the same day but we are on the later flight.

We have 2 nights at RPR and then 8 nights at the Poly so we may see you around. One thing that I've found difficult is getting dining reservations with shows:

Candelight Proc - could only get 1.55 at le Cellier
Fantasmic - could only get 2.30 at Mama Melrose

Guy on the phone told me that restaurants are getting booked up quickly.

Hey ho, it's Disney and I cannot wait!

Tina

 

[fizz13]

Ok so I've made it to 78 days!!! No mum did not book her flights a few weeks ago, nothing in this family is ever simple, she dithered some more..and more...and more...eventually the prices started creeping up again, her resonse is "oh they'll probably come back down"...errrr no they won't!!! After more talking with my brother she came back to me and said that louis doesn't want to go anymore, he doesn't want the long flight ( i personally think he doesn't want to be on holiday with mum for 2 weeks) so i thought that's that, just me and the boys, which was fine by me as she was starting to drive me crazy and we're not even there yet
Yesterday afternoon i start getting phone calls from her about a flight price she has found, our flights but she doesnt trust the company, can i check them out? to be honest I had never heard of them, but everything seemed legit and above board. Tonight she has booked her flight!
Everyone has made comments, that she is going to ruin my favourite place in the world, this woman will be late for her own funeral, nitpicks over every detail, has impossibly high standards, and never shuts up...sounds fab doesn't she? HOWEVER!!.......I think it is so important that she gets to experience a holiday like this and that she gets to spend quality time with her grandsons, she needs a break and half the whole stressy attitude with her is that she never switches off and escapes, if this isn't the ultimate escape i don't know what is. Me and my mum are very VERY dfifferent, i am quite chilled, I am super organised, I am in and out of a shop just getting what i need.....Mum gets into a mind bending tangle and stress over anything along with deep sighs and migraines, she dithers and can not make a decision, takes forever to get ready, and the shopping takes hours. I ahev never seen another sane person stand in front of cheddar cheese at a supermarket and take half an hour to pick one based on weight to price and working out the best deal...I'm not even joking!! As a child i endured fortnightly 3 hour supermarket trips

Anyway....despite my reservations, despite my grandparents and Colin thinking i have lost the plot and am going to regret this, I have encouraged her to book and come with us and i am going to TRY and show her the most magical vacation destination on earth. there will be a plan and itinerary which she will follow and be ready to leave the villa every morning on time, she is going to have to suck it up and pay the disney prices for meals or frankly just wait outside while me and the boys enjoy, we will be separating if we go to a shopping mall as she knows i really can not tolerate her and shops, i have laid down the law! yes it sounds harsh and undaughterly, but trust me a lot of the time i am the mother and she is the confused child.

Tomorrow mum has the day off work so I will be popping round to help her book 2 nights Pop Century and all her park tickets. And in the meantime I am off to the disneyworld site to play around with some online dining.

Oh i really hope this all ends well

 

[Muscateer]

Great plans Claire. Glad your mum has finally booked her flight. I like the whole idea of the holiday before Christmas and arriving home just in time for Christmas. Look forward to reading more

 

[irongirlof12]

you are realy brave to take you mum on hols with you, i hope you have a fab time.

 

[fizz13]

Ooooh we're getting closer, tomorrow I will be able to say in 7 weeks I am going to my happy place

Mum is all booked up, she has 2 nights Pop Century, flights booked and seating allocated so she is next to us, her ESTA, all her park tickets. And every conversation we have seems to be about the trip, not even instigated by me I think she is very very excited! Whats even funnier is that when we are around other people she has started boasting about how organised I have this trip, that we are going to a special very hard to get breakfast (she means Chef Mickeys) and telling everyone i belong to a disney club (she means the DIS boards). Who knew this is what i had to do to make her proud of me after 32 years??!!! Her manager flew off on Tuesday to Orlando and i ended up making her a little file of tips/plans/ and got her a couple of meal bookings so I am very popular right now. there is word i may even get a job out of this now her manager has seen my skills (It's a David Lloyd health club and they are recruiting at the mo so timing is impeccable, fingers crossed)
anyway, bottom line i have a very excited very chuffed mum who is soaking everything up like a sponge and can't wait to get on the plane. Very good news!
I have been researching everything christmassy there is to do in orlando while we are there, so we are most definitely going to do a night at Celebration and an afternoon/evening at the gaylord Palms, it all looks awesome. And in the same theme, and my mum persuading me by offering to pay we are going to do MVMCP. It seems silly not to if we are there, we have been before and its lovely, but i didn't feel like I could justify the cost of doing it again. Well if mum wants to pay then i am all for it! she has been on a mission for this ever since she saw it on the planning dvd. I think we'll have a great night
I've been thinking about what i need to buy for this trip now wardrobe wise. december is such a mixed bag of weather so we will all be getting new lightweight fleeces, the boys need new jeans as they seem to be incapable of not ripping the knees on them (its downright annoying now) and they definitely need new trainers. A few other bits and bobs too.
I also have started to compile my list of xmas shopping to do as everything has to be wrapped, sent and organised before we get on this plane on december 9th, I may start writing xmas cards next week to be honest, i hate starting xmas so early but i dont have a choice, its going to be a very expensive couple of months!
I am just about ready to start putting my trip folder together and the spreadsheets and tour plans/itineraries are starting to build up. It tends to go in the order I need it :airport car parking, flight tickets, car rental, hotel confirmation, villa confirmation, travel insurance, 14 day itinerary, ADR list, each day's touring plan, travel insurance
something like that anyway

I seem to have got a bit carried away with ADR's again, which is most definitely not a good thing. For one we are not on a dining plan, for two we are staying offsite for most of the trip...and i am even considering adding a couple more..my name is Claire and i am obsessed with disney table service restaurants I'm just thinking it might be really nice to get a sitter for one night and take my mum to a signature dining meal, I think she'd really like Citrico's or Flying Fish, having been to neither i am super curious to experience either ( i have a list of restaurants i havent tried and hope one day to cross them off...yes really, its a word document on my pc, sad, tres sad) I also want to go back to raglan Rd, the boys want Whispering Canyon, and I would love to try Via Napoli...ahh i guess i cant do everything, thats why I go back right? One day I'm going to book a 21 night stay with deluxe dining and just eat my way through the rest of the list..then buy a years membership to Weight watchers

oooh one more thing I am seriously excited about...please dont laugh your little heads off at this...ok you're gonna but please don't tell me you did..as part of the xmas stuff at Seaworld there is a Sesame St show and Elmo is going to be there!!!!!!! I can't explain why i love this furry little red monster so much but I do, I really really do, i am in love with a monsterThe boys have rolled their eyes at going to see the said forementioned show but i dont care, i need to see Elmo, woo-hoo!!

my mind is off wandering yet again..apologies!
Right will give you the rundown of my updated itinerary:

December 9th to 23rd
9th: take off 11:15, land 15:40, pick up car and drive to POP. Have dinner at Cape may cafe 7:05pm (if we are still going ok, otherwise food court)

10th: Chef mickeys 7am, Magic Kingdom day, boys have their pirate league makeovers, dinner at Ohana 7:10pm

11th: check out of POP, morning EMH at Disney Studios, leave afternoon to check in at Mystic Dunes, go do supermarket run and enjoy the jacuzzi in my bedroom suite

12th: Animal kingdom day, evening at Celebration

13th: Islands of Adventure (very excited to see WWOHP) may go to Premium Outlets after here

14th: SLEEP IN day at Aquatica, MVMCP

15th: lazy day, disney studios for fantasmic and dinner package at Mama Melrose 3:15pm, fantasmic 6:30pm, see Osborne Lights

16th: Epcot Future World, lunch at Rose and Crown 12:55pm, lazy afternoon/evening

17th: Universal Studios, evening at Old Town for the car cruise and drive by

18th: Blizzard beach/mini-golf, evening at Magic Kingdom for MSEP and Wishes

19th: Seaworld

20th: lazy morning, Epcot World Showcase with lunch at Teppan Edo 1:20pm, see the storytellers, meet Duffy,eat and drink lots, Illuminations

21st: Downtown Disney for Disneyquest/shopping, lunch at T-Rex 1:30pm, hop over to Gaylord palms for ICE and snow

22nd: hit anything we missed or favourites, Epcot for Garden Grill dinner 7:35pm

23rd: pack up, check out, hit some more favourites or things we missed, take off at 19:50pm


I predict the lazy parts won't be so lazy as my mum loves to shop, we have plans to hit the Premium Outlets and mall at Millenia, and I'm sure we'll see other things along the way.
ooh its all very exciting, I dont think i could have incorporated any more xmas events if I tried (apart from the candlelight processional but thats just not for me)
There is one more exciting event which is worth a mention though. My best friend from school, Suki, lives out in orlando, and she is due to give birth to her first baby the very day i land, so whenever it happens I will be whizzing my way over to see her, along with a basket of uk goodies i am compiling for her, that she really misses. it was fate that i was supposed to be in Orlando at this time. heres a piccie of us from last august when we hadn't seen each other in 16 years:

god bless facebook for finding each other again, that was one tipsy afternoon by the petals pool bar let me tell you, Colin thought we were both mad, lets say we are kindred spirits..ahem! nah, we just fell right back into how things were. I cant wait to see her eeekkks!!!!!

think thats all to update at the minute, the next thing to do is to start making our countdown paper chain. the kids decorate the links, we hang it up, and then they rip one link off each morning until its time to go, they didnt forget from last time.
Its going to be so funny decorating for halloween round here next week when all i can think about is xmas events, its all good fun though, woop woop

 

[florida sun]

Your plans sound brilliant Claire and how lovely that you will be there to see your friends new baby

 

[Sapper383]

Sounds like you have a fab trip planned........can't believe your DD doesn't want to go

 

[fizz13]

Your plans sound brilliant Claire and how lovely that you will be there to see your friends new baby

I know, I am soo excited to see this baby She sent me some piccies last night of her bump and i can't believe she still has 5 weeks to go, think it could be a big baby. Bless her though, the more i count down to the trip, the more anxious she gets, I have been asked to stop wishing time away as she's not ready

Sounds like you have a fab trip planned........can't believe your DD doesn't want to go

Thanks, I kept thinking DD would change her mind and I would have made it happen if she wanted to come, she has been asked so many times, but she won't budge Her friends have all told her she is totally bonkers and have begged to come in her place. She is just excited about spending 2 weeks with her daddy on her own...I tried!!

 

[fizz13]

Not a lot to update really but I am just sooo excited!! And I am acutely aware that I am running out of time, where is the time going????

So today is P day, no not like that, its Planning day!
Planning as in writing a packing list, writing a christmas list of things to do and buy, writing out instructions for Colin as he is in charge of getting fresh christmas food while I am away, a plan of work for the next 5 weeks if you will. I can feel panic creeping in and if i dont write it all down it will not get done, i have the brain of a seive honestly!

I started to have mad disney dreams 2 nights ago, i dreamt we had got on the plane without any luggage, i dreamt that the DIS podcast team had trapped me in a haunted house and had turned into zombies, i dreamt that i lost the boys in magic kingdom, why can't they ever be happy disney dreams? Oh dear Anyway, i know I'm getting close when the disney dreams start lol.

I found something else to panic over last night which was Alamo freezing money on my debit card when they swipe it at car hire. The Virgin site says no money will be taken, and i dont think they do take it, but they put some on hold in case. I can't find a proper answer so have started a thread on trip planning and hope someone can enlighten me. At least if i know how much i can put the extra on my card and it wont mess with our budget.

Another thing I have got to sort out is airport parking, a cost i didnt need, but as Colin pointed out, and i think he is right...we could fit 5 people in my car BUT we will not fit 5 people and luggage. So he is not going to be able to drive us I will drive the 4 of us and park it. Not happy about that one, and technically its my mum's fault for being the extra person so maybe i should make her pay..nah i wont but i should, thats all I'm saying. I hadn't realised how expensive it was to park for 2 weeks at gatwick, outrageous!

I think i have got to the point of rambling here so I apologise, I am just driving myself mad trying to think of every possibility or eventuality and protecting myself. actually, reading it back, its a bit of a money winge

Right, off to work out my lists. I'm going to need Nurofen later, I just know it xx

 

[fizz13]

oh my gosh, we take off in 9 days eeekks

actually we are leaving in 8 days now, as given the weather the last few days we thought we better play it safe. So our first port of call wednesday night is:

The Waterhall Country House, looks lovely doesn't it? I doubt I will get to appreciate it in the snowy darkness but hey ho, fingers crossed the snow is gone by then ...right?
My mum got a very good deal for 1 night with taxi transfers, breakfast and parking. One less thing to worry about!

The cases are down from the rafters and i reckon i will start popping things in very very soon. Its going to be fab to have access to a washer and dryer in the villa this time, we can pack a lot less. I reckon per person; 2 jeans, 2 shorts, 5 t shirts, 2 long sleeve t shirts, 1 fleece, 1 hoodie. i could get away with less but i get bored wearing the same thing.

Charlie is very concerned about only taking 2 teddies. i had to limit him, he is soft toy addicted, you can barely see his bed for the toys. doesnt matter how many times i put them away in the box they all end up back with him so he is thinking hard right now over whom to choose.
One thing the boys dont know is coming with us is a special pressie each, for Charlie a digital camera and for Dean a flipcam (that also takes still photos). really its their xmas present but it seems such a shame to not let them have them for the trip. i love seeing it all from their perspective

All the xmas shopping is done, the xmas tree is up and the cards are written. Just a few more food bits to buy so the cupboards are stocked when we get back, landing on xmas eve morning is the not the greatest time to start food shopping!

apart from that, i think i am good to go. I cant fiddle any more ADRs because frankly there are hardly any available any more, free dining and xmas means the world is going to be busy I am still tinkering with my itinerary as park hours keep changing and when i realised the fireworks at Seaworld aren't till 10:55pm that meant 1 day and a seperate night to allocate. i know i am driving myself mad in circles for no point really but it gives me something to do In a way I miss the days when I didnt do ADRs, and i just went where the wind took me each day..one day hmmmm....

ooh just sonme more planning piccies to get in the mood:

our countdown paper chain back at 30 days, just 9 little loops hanging on 1 side of the fire now

the red envelope arrived and with plenty of time too, most unlike virgin

and just for my own amusement all our park tickets yay!

I think we are a very very excited house at the mo, last night we watched Jungle Book, on Sunday we watched Winnie the Pooh's Xmas, we watched Nemo last week, wonder what the dvd of choice will be tonight?


and just one more time:

9 SLEEPS TO GO!!!!!!​

 

[irongirlof12]

yay

 

[jjk]

this has come around so quick, your plans all sound fab and I cant wait to hear all about it

 

[mandymouse]

Woohoo !! Get your bananas out !!!

I hope you have a fab time hun

 

[Goofysmate]

Not long now claire you'll soon be on your way. Great idea letting the boys have there christmas presents early , i'm sure they will be thrilled to bits

 

[irongirlof12]

Claire I hope this snow moves out of the way in time for your flight next week.

 

[fizz13]

Claire I hope this snow moves out of the way in time for your flight next week.

me too!!! It is supposed to lift a couple of degrees over the weekend so fingers crossed it will melt away whats here and give us a fighting chance. And I refuse to believe that Gatwick will be closed for over a week..my faith is strong seriously, i am keeping everything crossed that by this time next week all of this will be over..eeks