Christmas for 15 as told by the planner

[graveskj]

Ok, I am still new to the disboards, and have never done a PTR, but I love reading others, so just help me out getting this started. I am a crazy frugal planner, and I would love input about issues specific to my trip, so I think I need a place to put everything. This will be my second trip to WDW. I think I read 3 books and joined 2 sites for that one and am only increasing that this time around due to the time of year and amount of people going.
I guess I should do the generic introductions first.
My DH, Kevin:

He's originally from upstate NY, a 33yr old environmental engineer workaholic and trusts every bit of my planning and puts up with me asking for his input on everything (because I can never do enough research).

Kiddos:

DS Charlie is 5 and will just have turned 6 in December when we go, so hopefully I remember to get him a birthday button. He just started school and loves it. We took him to WDW in Oct 2007 (right before he turned 3) and he enjoyed himself, but we really took it easy. I'm hoping he'll do a few more bigger attractions this time (with me).
DD Claire is 2 (first trip!) and is really getting into the princesses. I've been using them to try to push along the potty training, but it's just ending up with her still in diapers and loving princesses. She takes great afternoon naps, which we'll plan around when we can, but I think we'll have some issues getting her to fall asleep in the stroller when we don't leave the parks.

Me:

A 32yr old computer programmer from MN (where we live now), which means I can always have a dis/wdw window open just about every minute of the day. I'm honestly not that much of a fanatic (only been that once in 2007), but I am a researcher and perfectionist and also frugal (so I have to find the best deals and most efficient touring plans). My brother and his family have gone to WDW several times now, so I get their books and always ask them questions as to how things went when their youngest was my son's age. I also have a SIL who is much more of a fanatic.

The other 11 people that will join us for half of our trip:
Family from TX: Mom, Dad, nanny (20ish), 4 girls - 8, 5, and the twins will be 3 in Nov. The Mom is the SIL who is a fanatic. If they went to WDW for 6 days, they would not go more than 24 hours without visiting MK. And they would stay in the parks from about 10am until closing. They've probably been 5 or 6 times, most recently in Oct of 09.
Family from NC: Dad, girl 12, boy 7. Dad works for Toyota on the NASCAR circuit, so we planned this time of year because it is the only time he has off. Luckily, they are pretty lax about planning and costs and are leaving it all up to the rest of us. I think they may have been once a few years ago.
Grandma: Mother of each of the three dads in the group, lives in upstate NY. This is our group gift to her for Christmas. We are paying for everything for her (except souvenirs) and are setting up many group meals, etc so she can enjoy all her kids & grandkids in one place at one time. She took her boys when they were young once, I think, and also attended the son from NC's wedding there about 8 years ago.

I will start discussing the actual trip next post.

When & Where
ADRs so far
Schedule plan
Day 1 & 2 plan
Day 3 & 4 plan
Day 5 & 6 plan

Day 1 TR
Day 2 (pt 1)TR
Day 2 (pt 2)TR
Day 3 TR

 

[graveskj]

As I mentioned in the intro, this whole trip is a gift to my MIL. The idea is to get the three sons (and all her grandkids) into one location at the same time, which has not happened since their grandfather's funeral almost 10 years ago. One son is only available at holiday time and there are several school aged children involved, so the week of/after Christmas was chosen for the date. I think he may have been once at this time of year with his own kids, but none of the rest of us have been for Christmas. We're all very excited for it, and just slightly less scared of all the people that will be there.
This is also going to be a big adjustment for several of us that have to get the most out of every dollar and every minute. We are going to really just have to enjoy being together and not necessarily doing rides with this many people. Luckily, my oldest is only 5 and is in a 'year-round' school where he has 3 weeks off around Christmas. So, my kids should totally be fine with Santa finding their stockings in a new city and not being home for Christmas. The bad part is that my side of the family does our Christmas gathering on New Year's, so we need to be back by the 31st. I booked us tickets on Southwest when they came out, for Dec 21-30th. I was so happy when free dining was announced through the 21st! I got us a room at All Star Sports for Dec 21-26th and upgraded to the regular dining plan. When we went in 2007, we stayed at POFQ (with free dining), which I loved, but that was value season. It will be great for us to get in 4 days of parks by ourselves, doing all the major things we really want to do. Then the others can have the same type of situation after we leave on the 30th since they can all stay until Jan 2nd.
When we check out on the 26th, we will check in to an All Star vacation home in Formosa Gardens. The family from TX should be driving in that night. And hopefully grandma will be arriving at some point later that day via MCO.
I am in charge of finding a flight for grandma from SYR-MCO, so I have a spreadsheet with all the options that would work for her and what the prices have been for the past 6 weeks. Hopefully they will go down a tiny bit sometime soon so I can buy something for her before they start going up permanently.
The family from NC should arrive at some point on the 27th, but they have yet to buy their flights.

Next should be getting into more detail, probably ADRs.

 

[graveskj]

I have 2 ADRs for just about each day. I know some people frown on hanging onto extra ADRs, but I do promise to cancel all the extraneous ones for the first half of my trip next week after I finally book a Candlelight Processional. Once I have that restaurant determined, I may need to remove that same restaurant a different day and use my backup ADR. The last half of the trip is such a mess right now, it will take awhile to figure out where we'll actually be when, but we aren't holding anything hard to get.
Anyway, here are the ADRs I plan to keep:
Wed Dec 22: O'hana 11:15am
Thu Dec 23: Teppan Edo 6pm
Fri Dec 24: CP pkg at Coral Reef, Teppan Edo, or maybe the new mexican place? whatever I can get, really...
Sat Dec 25: Mama Melrose 4:25pm
Sun Dec 26: - none (end of free dining for us)
Mon Dec 27: Crystal Palace 11:30am
Tue Dec 28: - none
Wed Dec 29: Akershus 11am (for 15 ppl)
Thu Dec 30: - none

Last time (2007) we did Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Biergarten, Wolfgang Puck, Hollywood & Vine, and Garden Grill. We liked all of those, but I would like to try some new ones while also giving my DD some good character time.
Now I just need to find a way to make sure we have enough other credits to get through all the other meals. Maybe one cs + 2 snack credits each morning for breakfast to feed us all and then 2 cs and a snack credit for lunch. I can bring some snacks/poptarts/etc from home, too, and we will have a fridge from a fridge swap (I hope ) to store drinks and things overnight to eat the next day.

Next I'll go over other scheduling and plans. Please feel free to give me some feedback on how this is going, I'm still earning my ears!

 

[stephielela]

subbing! I can't believe you have 15 people going! Are you guys going to do any Grand Gathering type stuff? When I plan my big 2 week extravaganza for DS's birthday (April 2013) I plan on us being there the full 2 weeks and everyone else coming and going within that 2 week window. I do hope to have a GG party for his actual birthday. I'm looking forward to hearing more!

 

[graveskj]

subbing! I can't believe you have 15 people going! Are you guys going to do any Grand Gathering type stuff? When I plan my big 2 week extravaganza for DS's birthday (April 2013) I plan on us being there the full 2 weeks and everyone else coming and going within that 2 week window. I do hope to have a GG party for his actual birthday. I'm looking forward to hearing more!

Thanks, and welcome to my first ever subscriber!
You are really a planner going 3 years out! Will you plan a lot for those 2 full weeks for each time people join the group? I'll have to follow your PTRs, you have so many pages to read!
With one of our families having 7 members, they didn't want to pay for two rooms on site, so we are splitting that house rental once we are all there. So, I didn't think we could do any GG stuff if we're not staying on site.(?) We do have the Akershus reservation for 15 people, but that's about it so far. Do you have any good recommendations? Just let me know, and let me know what kinds of info I'm missing that you'd like to hear about!

 

[exwdwcm]

subbing! we just did a trip for 15 of us (or was it 14? can't remember) in December last year. See the link to my TR in my sig if you are interested. We all stayed at the WL in 5 rooms, all on the same floor, except one couple.

we did stick together for quite a lot and most of our meals. I will warn you that meals are LONG with that many people. Even with an ADR, you will often wait 10-15 minutes to get in. And paying is the biggest hassle. Since we had 5 different rooms, she had to do our free dining on 5 different checks and it was always a nightmare to get our checks and pay. We were at 50s prime time almost 2 hours because of it. I finally had to take my toddler outside, he couldn't sit still any longer. so be prepared for group meals like that. they did warn us we might not all be seated together- but near each other. which was fine. and really it was only one restaurant where we were not all at one table and that was at coral reef- 10 of us were in a large booth and 4 at a table across from it.

anyhow- big groups are fun, but challenging- be sure you have a plan and everyone has a notecard with the plan and knows where to meet and what time. it definitely slows you down with that many people. but we had fun!

hopefully you guys will too! where is your BIL in TX from? I am in Dallas!!

can't wait to read more!!

 

[graveskj]

subbing! we just did a trip for 15 of us (or was it 14? can't remember) in December last year. See the link to my TR in my sig if you are interested. We all stayed at the WL in 5 rooms, all on the same floor, except one couple.

we did stick together for quite a lot and most of our meals. I will warn you that meals are LONG with that many people. Even with an ADR, you will often wait 10-15 minutes to get in. And paying is the biggest hassle. Since we had 5 different rooms, she had to do our free dining on 5 different checks and it was always a nightmare to get our checks and pay. We were at 50s prime time almost 2 hours because of it. I finally had to take my toddler outside, he couldn't sit still any longer. so be prepared for group meals like that. they did warn us we might not all be seated together- but near each other. which was fine. and really it was only one restaurant where we were not all at one table and that was at coral reef- 10 of us were in a large booth and 4 at a table across from it.

anyhow- big groups are fun, but challenging- be sure you have a plan and everyone has a notecard with the plan and knows where to meet and what time. it definitely slows you down with that many people. but we had fun!

hopefully you guys will too! where is your BIL in TX from? I am in Dallas!!

can't wait to read more!!

Yeay! Two! Welcome! I will definitely be reading your TR from Dec. I need as many tips as I can get. I like the notecards idea. Did you laminate them or something? Luckily we will all be paying OOP for big meals together. I will start adding my daily plans and you can help me determine if I am leaving enough time for meals. I'm so excited to get us all together and I'm sure we'll all have fun.
My BIL lives in Sherman. They had to convert their garage to a living area when the twins were born and I know they are still looking to move, but not sure where.

 

[graveskj]

First, I'll just note that we made the initial plan back in March and started doing the vacation home search in April and started making reservations in May. Since then we've kept emails going almost daily and have had phone conversations (with the TX crew) probably a couple times a month for several hours at a time. I think just about every call contains SIL asking if we're going to rent a double stroller for our kids so our DS can have a place to crash since they typically never leave the park once they arrive. I've found Orlando Strollers website, but I can't bring myself to deal with the extra hassle since we'll have the regular stroller for our DD anyway. I hope that if he gets that tired, we can just take a break somewhere, if not back at the house. My guess is we won't be physically walking that much (too crowded!), so his legs won't get that tired. If anyone has a great piece of info regarding this issue, please feel free to let me in on it.
Now, onto the overall schedule.

Tue Dec 21 drive to MSP to catch 1pm flight. Arrive MCO 7pm. Take ME to AS Sports. Haven't decided if it will be so late we'll want to get our own luggage or if we should just hope the luggage doesn't get to our room at midnight...
Wed Dec 22 snack for breakfast, head to MK, breakfast at Ohana, resort for nap, then more MK, possibly leaving after parade
Thu Dec 23 after breakfast head to AK, stay as late as kids will allow, resort for nap, Epcot for Teppan Edo 6pm
Fri Dec 24 after breakfast head to HS, find CS lunch in HS, resort for nap, Epcot for CP dinner package hopefully including Illuminations
Sat Dec 25 open stockings/gifts, head to HS again?, no idea for lunch?, nap at resort, head to HS for Mama Melrose 4:25 and try for 6:30 Fantasmic
Sun Dec 26 leave bags at front desk, head to EMH at MK, pick up rental car from DTD, get groceries, check in at vacation home 4pm, pick up Grandma from MCO
Mon Dec 27 assuming fam from TX arrived last night, we all head to MK for the day, lunch at Crystal Palace, probably stay for parade and fireworks
Tue Dec 28 all 3 fams should be here, head to AK. Dads take Grandma out to dinner somewhere, no ideas for rest of us
Wed Dec 29 Epcot for 11am Akershus, then try to head to MK, have a Pirate's league for 2 boys at 3pm
Thu Dec 30 HS, no ideas for meals, our family needs to be at MCO to fly out at 6:10pm - guessing we need to leave Disney/house by 3pm?
Fri Dec 31 collapse at home, miss Disney, but have to get ready for a whole 'nother family gathering that night/next day!
Phew!

 

[graveskj]

Wed Dec 29 Epcot for 11am Akershus, then try to head to MK, have a Pirate's league for 2 boys at 3pm

Just a quick note/question. I would typically never spring for extra stuff like BBB or Pirate's League, but we've all agreed we'll probably never go back again like this, especially at Christmas and that we're not exchanging gifts. So, I'm trying to go with the once-in-a-lifetime mentality and justify some extra stuff by paying for it from the 'Christmas budget'. So, now I really want to do this Pirate's thing and I know my SIL will have all the girls dolled up for Akershus. I thought it would be really cute if they were all pirated & princessed up on the same day. So, I called yesterday and tried to get the Pirate's league at 9am, but the earliest available was 10 and she said no way could we make it back to Epcot for 11. Is the plan I have now the best I can do? We want some time at Epcot (turtle talk, soarin, etc), Akershus (breakfast if possible for $ and menu), and also the PL. We could split up since we all have cars, but I'm not sure what the odds are of the 9am slot opening up at PL and if I should keep calling to try for it.

 

[graveskj]

I just spent another hour on the phone last night with the BIL & SIL in TX. First let me say that my FIL (divorced MIL when DH was 2) used to live in NC as he worked the Truck series and his one son and all his brothers all live in the area as well. But, 7 years ago he married a woman he met on the internet from Austria. So, when he retired last year, he moved over there to help her run the vineyard her aging parents could no longer run. Last week he managed to catch us on Skype and mentioned that he still has airline miles that he needs to use before the end of the year. Normally we would have said, 'Oh, please feel free to come visit us for the holidays!' since we haven't seen him for over a year now. But, with this big Disney plan for MIL, we didn't want to bring it up and have to deal with either telling him he's not invited or inviting him and having everyone else be up in arms.

So, once on the phone with the TX crew, we decided a fact-finding mission was in order to determine what time frame he would be thinking of coming and if he'd be bringing his wife. And also if he would be just going to NC or trying to visit TX and/or MN. From there, we can decide if we can invite him to visit one/all of us around Thanksgiving in order to avoid Christmas, or if we just let him know our plans and purpose and tell him that we can't really change our plans much, but we'd love to see him if he really wants to come to Disney. None of us are excited about planning another trip so we can all see FIL while he's back in the States if he's only going to visit one location, but he's not here very often.

 

[exwdwcm]

Yeay! Two! Welcome! I will definitely be reading your TR from Dec. I need as many tips as I can get. I like the notecards idea. Did you laminate them or something? Luckily we will all be paying OOP for big meals together. I will start adding my daily plans and you can help me determine if I am leaving enough time for meals. I'm so excited to get us all together and I'm sure we'll all have fun.
My BIL lives in Sherman. They had to convert their garage to a living area when the twins were born and I know they are still looking to move, but not sure where.

a big party is fun, but can be a circus too as we liked to say. YOu are always waiting on someone else, even if you have solid plans. lol. anyhow- yes, we printed out the schedule- something simple like this:
[FONT=&quot]SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]6:45am up[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7:30am head to MK[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]8:05am Crystal Palace breakfast #401522009898[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9am MK opens[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2pm back to BLT for break/swim[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4:30pm head to HS[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7:45pm Sci Fi dinner #401521987258[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9pm see Osborne lights[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]11pm HS closes[/FONT]


Then i printed it out and we laminated it on notecards, punched a hole in the notecards and put a keyring through them, so each person had a 'schedule' on noetcards easy to access and see. we didn't stick to these times exactly, but it at least gave us a ballpark on what time everyone should plan to be up and ready etc.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Just a quick note/question. I would typically never spring for extra stuff like BBB or Pirate's League, but we've all agreed we'll probably never go back again like this, especially at Christmas and that we're not exchanging gifts. So, I'm trying to go with the once-in-a-lifetime mentality and justify some extra stuff by paying for it from the 'Christmas budget'. So, now I really want to do this Pirate's thing and I know my SIL will have all the girls dolled up for Akershus. I thought it would be really cute if they were all pirated & princessed up on the same day. So, I called yesterday and tried to get the Pirate's league at 9am, but the earliest available was 10 and she said no way could we make it back to Epcot for 11. Is the plan I have now the best I can do? We want some time at Epcot (turtle talk, soarin, etc), Akershus (breakfast if possible for $ and menu), and also the PL. We could split up since we all have cars, but I'm not sure what the odds are of the 9am slot opening up at PL and if I should keep calling to try for it.


[/COLOR][/SIZE]

for this- i would go do epcot in the am- prior to breakfast/lunch at norway. i would get at Epcot at opening, which is 9am (or slightly before for RD). head to soarin with the masses to get a FP. Then do the Land boat ride while waiting on your FP time. Ride Soarina nd hopefully be out of hte land area by 10am or so. Maybe try and catch the first turtle talk show (usually 10am) if you can. otherwise- just kill the next hour by checking out the seas or journey into imagination- then head to norway for your 11am ADR. After lunch- hopefully by 12:30- i would then take your break and head to MK by 2 for your 3pm PL appt.

I would rather do my PL appt in the am though- that way the kids can wear the makeup all day long etc. Could you try for another day? OR- would it make sense for you to take the boys to PL for the 10am appt and just skip the norway lunch- isn't it all princesses anyway (so they probably wouldn't care?)- the rest of the group could do norway and you guys just meet up later?

 

[graveskj]

a big party is fun, but can be a circus too as we liked to say. YOu are always waiting on someone else, even if you have solid plans. lol. anyhow- yes, we printed out the schedule- something simple like this:
[FONT=&quot]SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]6:45am up[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7:30am head to MK[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]8:05am Crystal Palace breakfast #401522009898[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9am MK opens[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2pm back to BLT for break/swim[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4:30pm head to HS[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7:45pm Sci Fi dinner #401521987258[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9pm see Osborne lights[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]11pm HS closes[/FONT]


Then i printed it out and we laminated it on notecards, punched a hole in the notecards and put a keyring through them, so each person had a 'schedule' on noetcards easy to access and see. we didn't stick to these times exactly, but it at least gave us a ballpark on what time everyone should plan to be up and ready etc.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Thanks for the info!!
This is a great idea. Did you think about trying to be any more specific, like in regards to rides? We haven't really discussed what exactly we're going to do together other than these meals. I'll probably have to start a list of priority rides and who is going to ride them when- especially for the rides where we'll need FP and maybe an extra adult to watch someone's kids while they ride or something.

for this- i would go do epcot in the am- prior to breakfast/lunch at norway. i would get at Epcot at opening, which is 9am (or slightly before for RD). head to soarin with the masses to get a FP. Then do the Land boat ride while waiting on your FP time. Ride Soarina nd hopefully be out of hte land area by 10am or so. Maybe try and catch the first turtle talk show (usually 10am) if you can. otherwise- just kill the next hour by checking out the seas or journey into imagination- then head to norway for your 11am ADR. After lunch- hopefully by 12:30- i would then take your break and head to MK by 2 for your 3pm PL appt.

I would rather do my PL appt in the am though- that way the kids can wear the makeup all day long etc. Could you try for another day? OR- would it make sense for you to take the boys to PL for the 10am appt and just skip the norway lunch- isn't it all princesses anyway (so they probably wouldn't care?)- the rest of the group could do norway and you guys just meet up later?

I like the idea of getting the PL in the AM, but I can't see how to make it work and keep everyone together for the meal. I think meals take priority since it gives us all time sitting down together. The boys will just have to be satisfied getting it done later (and I'll have to give up my need to have everything work perfectly).

If we actually arrive at Epcot at 9, should we drive ourselves over to MK or take the monorail? I'm not familiar with driving to any parks, but it sounds like a lot of work to park at MK, so we may be better off just monorail to Epcot when we leave MK and go to our cars there?

 

[Purpleblanket]

Hi Graveskj!!

Sounds like you have some great plans!!

We'll be heading to Disney at this time as well. We'll be arriving Orlando late on Dec. 26th and just staying at an airport hotel so that we can jump on the Magic
Ex. Bus in the morning.
We are staying at Pop Century.

It is my DH, one of my DS's and my DD and myself.

These are the ADR's that I made:

Dec. 27th doing epcot:
Coral Reef for Lunch
San Angel Inn for Dinner or late snack

Dec. 28th: Magic Kingdom
Cinerella Castle for dinner

Dec. 29th: Animal Kingdom in morning
Hollywood Studios in afternoon
Prime Time Cafe for dinner
Sci -fi diner for late night snack/dessert

Dec. 30th: Hollywood studios in morning
Back to Magic Kingdom in evening ( the park is open til 3 am!!)
Tony's town square for dinner
Hopefully do spectro magic for 7 pm
late night snack/dessert at the Plaza

Dec. 31st: Spend NYE in Epcot
Lunch at Le Cellier

Late dinner/snack/drink at the Rose & CRown pub at 9:55 pm
hoping to get a spot on the patio for illuminations at 11;45 pm


My hubby's birthday is on Jan. 1st so I ordered a cake for late night at the Rose and Crown Pub.
My kids are 18 and 23 and will have an extra day in disney til Jan 2nd because hubby and me are leaving on Jan. 1st to do a cruise!!! Carnival Cruise from Port Canaveral. for 7 days!
We are also celebrating a late 25th anniversary!!

Maybe we'll see you around when we're there!!

Debbie


Dec.

 

[stephielela]

Your plans are sounding good! I can only imagine how complicated it will be with that many people. Probably when I go I will decide on our itinerary and then publish it and people can meet up with us when they want, and then we will just do dinner with everyone each night. I havn't done too much planning, but I think it will be perfect timing since the Fantasyland rehab will be done etc.

I'm wasn't sure if you had to be staying on property to book grand gathering experiences, but it turns out you do, though swan and dolphin resorts do count as well. It looks like there are only a few things to choose from anyways, so you aren't really missing out.

As far as your FIL.MIL situation, I think inviting him for Thanksgiving instead is probably the best way to go, that way it's completely seperate from your trip. These situaitons are always so complicated, I still have that problem with my mom's parents and they have been divorced and remarried for like 25 years. Even now at my son's birthday parties and things I just sit back and let them avoid each other.

 

[graveskj]

Hi Graveskj!!

Sounds like you have some great plans!!

We'll be heading to Disney at this time as well. We'll be arriving Orlando late on Dec. 26th and just staying at an airport hotel so that we can jump on the Magic
Ex. Bus in the morning.
We are staying at Pop Century.

It is my DH, one of my DS's and my DD and myself.

These are the ADR's that I made:

Dec. 27th doing epcot:
Coral Reef for Lunch
San Angel Inn for Dinner or late snack

Dec. 28th: Magic Kingdom
Cinerella Castle for dinner

Dec. 29th: Animal Kingdom in morning
Hollywood Studios in afternoon
Prime Time Cafe for dinner
Sci -fi diner for late night snack/dessert

Dec. 30th: Hollywood studios in morning
Back to Magic Kingdom in evening ( the park is open til 3 am!!)
Tony's town square for dinner
Hopefully do spectro magic for 7 pm
late night snack/dessert at the Plaza

Dec. 31st: Spend NYE in Epcot
Lunch at Le Cellier

Late dinner/snack/drink at the Rose & CRown pub at 9:55 pm
hoping to get a spot on the patio for illuminations at 11;45 pm


My hubby's birthday is on Jan. 1st so I ordered a cake for late night at the Rose and Crown Pub.
My kids are 18 and 23 and will have an extra day in disney til Jan 2nd because hubby and me are leaving on Jan. 1st to do a cruise!!! Carnival Cruise from Port Canaveral. for 7 days!
We are also celebrating a late 25th anniversary!!

Maybe we'll see you around when we're there!!

Debbie


Dec.

Hello!! How nice to find someone there almost the exact same time!
Looks like we will be very close, but may only cross paths once or twice. You have some great plans! I am jealous of your long vacation including a cruise! I want to do one someday when my kids are a bit bigger. Hope you have a great time!

 

[graveskj]

Your plans are sounding good! I can only imagine how complicated it will be with that many people. Probably when I go I will decide on our itinerary and then publish it and people can meet up with us when they want, and then we will just do dinner with everyone each night. I havn't done too much planning, but I think it will be perfect timing since the Fantasyland rehab will be done etc.

I'm wasn't sure if you had to be staying on property to book grand gathering experiences, but it turns out you do, though swan and dolphin resorts do count as well. It looks like there are only a few things to choose from anyways, so you aren't really missing out.

As far as your FIL.MIL situation, I think inviting him for Thanksgiving instead is probably the best way to go, that way it's completely seperate from your trip. These situaitons are always so complicated, I still have that problem with my mom's parents and they have been divorced and remarried for like 25 years. Even now at my son's birthday parties and things I just sit back and let them avoid each other.

It certainly feels like a mess at this point, but I think it will clear up as it gets closer. Since we'll be there several days before the others, we can do our 'must dos' on those days and can be more flexible to do what others want for the days we are all together. I will still plan on making plans on notecards, though.

What Fantasyland rehab are you talking about? I heard that Ariel's Grotto area is all closed off, but that it would be closed into next year still.

Luckily we don't usually have to worry about MIL & FIL dealing with each other as they live so far apart and they are actually on pretty good terms.

 

[graveskj]

I got up at 5:35am this morning (MN time). Started dialing at 5:59 after double checking that I could not make Candlelight Processional package reservations online.
After 49 minutes of hitting redial on two phones, I finally got through the Disney Dining line. Then, I listened to the Disney hold music for a good half hour while I finally started getting ready for work since I no longer had time to take a shower. DH got the kids ready and just as he needed to take one to daycare while I got the other breakfast, a CM picked up!
But, I got what I wanted!!! WOOOO!!!
We got 4:10pm at Teppan Edo on Dec 24th!
I'm so glad we got something on Xmas eve and also got the middle showing so DD can still have a nap and we won't have to run to see Illuminations after the last showing.
I am so relieved!
And now I'm in the process of canceling my other Teppan Edo ADRs. I already got Garden Grill to replace the TE I had for the 23rd! So now I'm back to analyzing all these and deciding if I should try to add Le Cellier before it changes to 2 dining credits next year. Which would mean paying OOP for a meal or canceling something... Such tough decisions!

 

[Purpleblanket]

I got up at 5:35am this morning (MN time). Started dialing at 5:59 after double checking that I could not make Candlelight Processional package reservations online.
After 49 minutes of hitting redial on two phones, I finally got through the Disney Dining line. Then, I listened to the Disney hold music for a good half hour while I finally started getting ready for work since I no longer had time to take a shower. DH got the kids ready and just as he needed to take one to daycare while I got the other breakfast, a CM picked up!
But, I got what I wanted!!! WOOOO!!!
We got 4:10pm at Teppan Edo on Dec 24th!
I'm so glad we got something on Xmas eve and also got the middle showing so DD can still have a nap and we won't have to run to see Illuminations after the last showing.
I am so relieved!
And now I'm in the process of canceling my other Teppan Edo ADRs. I already got Garden Grill to replace the TE I had for the 23rd! So now I'm back to analyzing all these and deciding if I should try to add Le Cellier before it changes to 2 dining credits next year. Which would mean paying OOP for a meal or canceling something... Such tough decisions!

If you're going to try for Le Cellier at some point you may want to try right away. We've got lunch booked there on Dec. 31st. and there was no dinner available when I made ADR's on my 180 days. My travel agents daughter works there as a server and it's just crazy how it books up. But I'm told its really good and the cheddar soup is to die for!!

Good Luck with your ADR!
Debbie

 

[graveskj]

If you're going to try for Le Cellier at some point you may want to try right away. We've got lunch booked there on Dec. 31st. and there was no dinner available when I made ADR's on my 180 days. My travel agents daughter works there as a server and it's just crazy how it books up. But I'm told its really good and the cheddar soup is to die for!!

Good Luck with your ADR!
Debbie

Thanks for the advice. I saw a lot of availability yesterday, probably due to everyone who got their CPPs cancelling their 'backup' ADRs. So, I grabbed one for 12/23 and I see there is still one more (plus some on other days xmas week, still). They probably won't last long, though.

 

[stephielela]

What Fantasyland rehab are you talking about? I heard that Ariel's Grotto area is all closed off, but that it would be closed into next year still.

Fantasyland is undergoing a major refurb that won't be complete until I think 2012... they are adding some new attractions and revamping pretty much everything. Here is a link...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2394175