Dec PTR, The More the MERRIER! 12/5 Upd... It's a BABY! reveal!

francis6306 · Jul 29, 2010

I will begin this Pre trip report with this: I never planned on becoming THIS person :rolleyes1

. My best friend had introduced me to the board when I started thinking about planning a trip for my family to go, and I read through and thought a pre-trip report?!!? :laughing:

Clearly, I had NO idea what was in store for me! So needless to say this is my FIRST pre-trip report. I have a lot of backstory so bare with me!! PLEASE!

A little history: I have been a few times to DisneyWorld as a child. I remember HOURS of sitting in a hot car, while my parents went and listened to whoever was promising free tickets to Disney. I had no idea at the time why that was so important. We always stayed off site- in fact, Im not sure when I really knew there were actual hotels ON property. In high school, I was on the Colorguard and my band marched in the Magical Music Days :cheer2:

(Spring 99) and it was soooo wonderful!

The Cast: (forgive me... I'll add pictures later- I'm at work!)

Me! Im Christen. :cloud9:

My Husband: Corey. He has never been to Disneyworld. A grad student getting his Doctorate in Wind Band Conducting. :wizard:

The Princess: Cortlyn. My beautiful 2 year old daughter!

This trip would not be possible if not for my best friend Shelley :hug:

. She has been to Disney various times and we actually went to Disney several years ago on a Girls Trip. As mentioned before, I was planning a family trip for Disney and it would be in May of 2011, to Celebrate my husband finishing his DMA as well as ALL of our birthdays- we are ALL May babies! Then, we had a trip to NYC for Thanksgiving get canceled, and Shelley mentioned that her and her husband would be returning to Disney World In December. Funny thing was, I had JUST gotten a PIN code in the mail and was sad that I couldnt use it at the time. I mentioned it to my husband that Shelley was going back and he said that their dates for the trip actually lined up with when he would be getting out of the fall semester Lets just say, at 8 in the morning, Shelley told me about her trip and by 10 that night, I had booked a room at Pop Century for my family! Talk about all of a sudden changing your mind :idea:

!

In the middle of all this excitement, I told my sitter that we were going. Her and her husband got excited too and after hearing about the great Pin code and how much we were saving, they asked if they could come with us and how can you resist someone that wants to come with you to DISNEY WORLD!!???! Her husband and DD have never been, so of course, we booked them on our Pin and let them join in the fun! So, can you tell... if we didn't think this trip would be Merry for Christmas, we're determined to make it Merry with lots of people :grouphug:

!

Supporting Cast:

Shelley: My BFF!

Brian: BFFs wonderful husband and friend to my husband.
Nita: My daughters babysitter

Michael: Nitas Husband

Alyssa: Nita & Michaels Daughter!

So, that is 6 adults, 1 child and 1 under 3 (thank goodness my DD is Free! woohoo!). :grouphug:

Although, I will say that since my DD is under 3 we don't qualify for the "grand gatherings" things.

Are we crazy for trying this? I guess we'll see...

Shelley... will you join me in the Pre trip report? Come on out! :cutie:

francis6306 · Jul 29, 2010

francis6306 · Jul 29, 2010

The dates for our trip will be Dec 10-15. :cool1:

I cannot WAIT to see all the Christmas decorations!

Now, I can say that traveling with two other families might sound like a stupid move :confused3

. You are setting yourself up for losing a best friend or something like that. And I think that some people couldnt travel together. Shelley and I have traveled together and while we havent done so with husbands in tow, we think we can handle it.

The key is that Shelley and I have no problem saying See ya when we think its necessary. We must have asked each other a dozen times, Are you SURE you want us traveling together?!!??! But really, I think its about remembering that you are on vacation :idea:

. I dont HAVE to spend every waking moment with Shelley to know she is there and having a good time. We have planned a lot about this trip, but we havent planned everything together. We arent going to be joined at the hip. If you are traveling with family or friends, that is my advise: plan for private family time :dance3:

! This is a BIG place! There is a LOT to do!!! Brian and Shelley have no children tagging along with them, so they probably dont care about Dumbo so why make them stay with us while we wait in line for that? Nita and Michael are the same way, we want to hang out, but at the same time, enjoy the park! Their daughter will be able to ride things that Cortlyn isnt able to ride. So, dont feel trapped into spending all the time together!

I have never had a sit down meal at Disney World, so I was positive I wanted to do some table service meals while we were there :yay:

. If planning out what you want to eat is hard on a regular basis- just think of trying to decide for a GROUP 6 months out :scared1:

!

sbprincess · Jul 30, 2010

Hello everyone! I am the Shelley that Christen has been referring to in her last posts. The plan is for both of us to contribute to this PTR. I tried my hand at one before our last trip and it just didn't work on my end. I'm determined to make this time work!

So as Christen said, YES, we're going to the Happiest Place on Earth together and we're not afraid to admit it!

Since Christen hasn't had a chance to post pictures yet, I will introduce you to my husband and I. Here we are in May, our first day right as we're entering the MK.

We didn't get many pictures together since it was just the two of us and we didn't do the photopass. I think Christen's at least thinking about doing that this time so if any of you have advice for her, I'm sure she'd appreciate it! :thumbsup2

A little history on Brian and myself. We both had been to WDW many times growing up but never actually went together until our honeymoon in March 2008. Before this trip, I would say we were both pretty casual Disney fans. I've always loved the movies and so does he. Well, needless to say, that first trip set off the spark inside of us and now I'm constantly listening to Disney podcasts, looking up information online, and thinking of ways to make our next trip better. And if I wasn't obsessed enough before, our trip this past May quadrupled that obsession!

So here's what happened on my end to bring this trip about. We return home in May and I thought, "Okay, that was great! But I know we can't go back again for a while so I need to just focus on something else." Yeah, that lasted all of about 2 weeks. DH and I started looking into taking some sort of trip in the fall. We were thinking NYC but the prices were just too high. Just to be funny, DH said one night, "I'd actually really like to go back to Disney" not thinking I'd take him seriously. :laughing:

Don't you know you can't tempt an addict when they're trying to recover? Within 2 weeks I had our date set and it just so happened it was right before our 180 day window for dining! Woo hoo! So I tell Christen around the beginning of June, on a Monday I think. And like she said, by Monday night, she had her hotel booked. She even booked her hotel before we did!!!

So that's it! Here we are - writing a PTR together. Here's a little more info about us. I love the Magic Kingdom and Epcot the best. I can't choose which I like better b/c they're both just so different and I like them for very different reasons. However, my favorite ride is the Tower of Terror! My favorite character is Belle, but I also like Minnie and Daisy, Tinkerbell and Scrooge from Mickey's Christmas Carol. My favorite restaurant in WDW is California Grill, hands down. I also love all the animated Disney movies except Lilo and Stitch. The little Stitch drives me crazy. I cannot stand anything about him.

I think Brian would say his favorite park is DHS. He loves RNRC. His favorite characters are Steamboat Willie, Mickey, and (shhhhh! don't tell him I told you) Tinkerbell! He says she reminds him of me :love:

His favorite restaurant is also the California Grill, closely followed by Teppan Edo. He loves all the Pirates movies and National Treasure. He'll watch the animated ones with me sometimes but he's a guy...what can I say?

So hope I haven't bored you. I would love to see comments! We'll unfold our crazy plans to you in the next few weeks and months leading up to the trip!

francis6306 · Jul 30, 2010

So... I'm a little worried... I see ALL these "views" but no comments :confused:

Maybe you need to SEE my family/cast to "meet" us better and then we can all be friends, right? :thumbsup2

Okay... Here is ME:

I'm at my last year of my twenties... which means, no more birthdays for me, right? :lmao:

I LOVE all things Disney and the princesses. My favorite movies are Mary Poppins, Lady and the Tramp and Cinderella. My favorite rides at Disney are Space Mountain, Its a Small World and Tower of Terror.

And my DH

He has never been to Disney and isn't much an amusement park person. I was a little worried :sad2:

that he wouldn't understand why I would want to go several times over the next oh... 18 years of our daughter's life. But he watched the DVD that disney sent us and he GOT it. In fact... I'm thinking HE will be way more addicted to Disney than I am after this trip is over... :cool1:

DD Cortlyn

She is my princess. She has such a sweet but stubborn personality princess:

She's going to LOVE Disney. We went to the Disney store recently (more on that later) and she was soooo excited to see all the characters that she already knew! And thanks to Miss Shelley, she has an Enchanted Tales movie to watch Jasmine and Aurora ALL.THE.TIME. But, SHH!! :rolleyes1

I love it too!

And here is a shot of Alyssa and Nita.

DevonsDisneyMom · Jul 31, 2010

Hey girls! I'm in!!! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!!! You are going to love POP! We stayed there in Sept. last year and thought it was great!!!

I know Christen has been over to my PTR, so you know we will be there the same time as you, well actually we will be getting ready to leave when you guys arrive! :eek:

We are at AKL Dec 3 to Dec 11. Can't wait for December to hurry up and get here! Once you go to Disney during the holidays you are going to keep wanting to go back year after year after year!!!

P.S. Cortlyn is adorable!!!

francis6306 · Jul 31, 2010

Your son is a cutie too! I really hope that you keep your trip a secret! :ssst:

I'm lucky that Cortlyn has NO concept of time... if I say "you wanna see Mickey" she says "Hot Dog!" from the Clubhouse show we watch EVERY morning! :rotfl:

Of course, I wrote my next installment on a word document at work... and then forgot to email myself! :eek:

Maybe Shelley will write some more??? :confused3

DevonsDisneyMom · Jul 31, 2010

francis6306 said:
Your son is a cutie too! I really hope that you keep your trip a secret! I'm lucky that Cortlyn has NO concept of time... if I say "you wanna see Mickey" she says "Hot Dog!" from the Clubhouse show we watch EVERY morning!

Of course, I wrote my next installment on a word document at work... and then forgot to email myself! Maybe Shelley will write some more???

How cute your DD is! That is such a great age!

I am so keeping the secret! I have too! It's one of his Christmas gifts!!!

Oh that stinks that you forgot the doc you typed up!

Daddy_of_Princesses · Jul 31, 2010

OK, I'm in. I am getting addicted to reading these PTRs.
I see you are thinking of the PhotoPass, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, I love it. When I look at photo albums I get to see an occasional picture with me in it since I am the family photographer. With the PhotoPass, I get to be in all kinds of pictures taken by the Disney photographers. Of course getting pictures printed in Disney is expensive, it's called the happiest place on earth, but call it the most expensive place on earth, and their prices for pics prove that. The great thing though is you can have them take as many pictures as you want, and they will put them on a cd for you. I think the price is up to $150, it was $99 in 2007, but Disney will send out a code for $50 off prior to your trip. Anyway, you can get all of those pictures put onto this cd and then get them printed anywhere you want. You can even go online when you get back, and edit the pictures, add special effects, and then order the cd when you get home. I got it while we were down there last time, but will be waiting until we get home this time.
I'm looking forward to future entries.

francis6306 · Jul 31, 2010

You won't mind that will you? Okay, Thought not....

stephielela · Jul 31, 2010

Your daughter is adorable! I can't wait to read more!

francis6306 · Jul 31, 2010

Daddy_of_Princesses said:
OK, I'm in. I am getting addicted to reading these PTRs.
I see you are thinking of the PhotoPass, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, I love it. When I look at photo albums I get to see an occasional picture with me in it since I am the family photographer. With the PhotoPass, I get to be in all kinds of pictures taken by the Disney photographers. Of course getting pictures printed in Disney is expensive, it's called the happiest place on earth, but call it the most expensive place on earth, and their prices for pics prove that. The great thing though is you can have them take as many pictures as you want, and they will put them on a cd for you. I think the price is up to $150, it was $99 in 2007, but Disney will send out a code for $50 off prior to your trip. Anyway, you can get all of those pictures put onto this cd and then get them printed anywhere you want. You can even go online when you get back, and edit the pictures, add special effects, and then order the cd when you get home. I got it while we were down there last time, but will be waiting until we get home this time.
I'm looking forward to future entries.

I am thinking about the photopass :thumbsup2

, just because I know we'll be with a large some of the time, and I don't want to get home and realize that someone was always missing! But, I also have a hard time paying for it... cause I do have a camera... :rolleyes:

can we share the photopass with the other people in our group? Shelley mentioned something about that... not sure how it would work. Does someone out here know how that would work?? :confused3

Hmmm... how do you people quote more than one person in your replies? :sad1:

Thanks for the comments on my daughter... I think she is pretty cute myself! :lovestruc

She is quite the big girl. She decided that the flower headband went with the Aurora dress... but then I was trying to take the picture while she was watching Aurora- she wanted nothing to do with the camera.

Daddy_of_Princesses · Jul 31, 2010

francis6306 said:
I am thinking about the photopass, just because I know we'll be with a large some of the time, and I don't want to get home and realize that someone was always missing! But, I also have a hard time paying for it... cause I do have a camera... can we share the photopass with the other people in our group? Shelley mentioned something about that... not sure how it would work. Does someone out here know how that would work??

Hmmm... how do you people quote more than one person in your replies?

Thanks for the comments on my daughter... I think she is pretty cute myself! She is quite the big girl. She decided that the flower headband went with the Aurora dress... but then I was trying to take the picture while she was watching Aurora- she wanted nothing to do with the camera.

You can use multiple PhotoPass cards and have them combined at the end. I'm not sure how that works though since I have only gone down with the wife and kds. It is worth paying for the pics to me since it is all group photos. I still have the pics I take with my own camera as well. Here is a link to a page that talks alot about PhotoPass. Some of the special poses alone make it worthwhile to me.

Not sure how to quote multiple people so their name appears. I know if you click the quick reply, you still see all the posts and can copy and past the text from various posts and then wrap the quotes around it, but I have seen people quote with the poster name, and I don't know how they do that.

HeatherBelle614 · Jul 31, 2010

Hi!

I'm in; we went pretty much the same time last year and stayed at POP!

You don't have to get a special code for the $99 deal on the photopass anymore; you just have to pre-purchase it. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link here, so if you can't find it by doing a Google search, send me a PM and I'll get it to you.

Photopass shares are really easy; once you get home and sign in, you'll have a number on your photopass card that you'll put in to the account. You're allowed to enter several card numbers; they do that for people who have multiple family members with cards, if one gets lost, etc.

So, your families would each just carry around a card, use it, and then come home, log in, and put in each card number. You can make all of your edits, then order your CD; once it comes in, you just burn it to pass out to everyone that paid for a copy.

HTH!!

bouncycat · Jul 31, 2010

Hi there!! Saw your link on Lisa's TR, so I'm popping in to say HI!!!

francis6306 · Jul 31, 2010

HeatherBelle614 said:
Hi!

I'm in; we went pretty much the same time last year and stayed at POP!

You don't have to get a special code for the $99 deal on the photopass anymore; you just have to pre-purchase it. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link here, so if you can't find it by doing a Google search, send me a PM and I'll get it to you.

Photopass shares are really easy; once you get home and sign in, you'll have a number on your photopass card that you'll put in to the account. You're allowed to enter several card numbers; they do that for people who have multiple family members with cards, if one gets lost, etc.

So, your families would each just carry around a card, use it, and then come home, log in, and put in each card number. You can make all of your edits, then order your CD; once it comes in, you just burn it to pass out to everyone that paid for a copy.

HTH!!

Thanks!! I'm totally going to do that then! :thumbsup2

I know we will all be off doing our own things at times, so that will work out perfectly! What do you think Shelley??? Oh, and I'm off to check out that link about photopass that Daddy_of_Princesses linked.

Okay, so another question: We are planning a breakfast at a certain resort (can't give away info THIS early, right???

), so can I do a family photo session at that resort even though we're not staying there? Just wondering. I have found that some do those- and I've read SOOO much lately, I couldn't tell you where I saw it now! :confused:

Maybe it will be in that link.

Oh and THANK YOU for joining the party here! :jumping1:

I promise... I will be back with an actual planning update.

BPATSMouse · Aug 1, 2010

I want to join the party also!!!! :yay:

I also saw your TR on Lisa's TR. December is our favorite time to go :santa:

great weather and the parks are beautifully decorated. You will enjoy Pop Century they have been renovating all the rooms in the past few years. We have stayed there 4 of the past 5 years. Will be there in Sept of this year (5 of 6). As you can see it is our favorite resort. :thumbsup2

As far as the breakfast you should have no problem getting a picture taken (never tried to do a photopass at a resturant) If they offer pics it will be taken before you are seated. You normally have to buy the picture while at the location. They will bring it to your table during the meal.

coteau_chick · Aug 1, 2010

I am in too. We will be there when you are. Our dates are Dec. 11th-18th and we are staying at Port Orleans Riverside. I followed you from Lisa's trip report. Your daughter is beautiful. I started a pre-trip report today. The link is in my signature. We might see each other there. I did a pre-trip report for our last two trips and ended out meeting a few people from Disboards, it was fun.

Daddy_of_Princesses · Aug 1, 2010

francis6306 said:
Thanks!! I'm totally going to do that then! I know we will all be off doing our own things at times, so that will work out perfectly! What do you think Shelley??? Oh, and I'm off to check out that link about photopass that Daddy_of_Princesses linked.

Okay, so another question: We are planning a breakfast at a certain resort (can't give away info THIS early, right??? ), so can I do a family photo session at that resort even though we're not staying there? Just wondering. I have found that some do those- and I've read SOOO much lately, I couldn't tell you where I saw it now! Maybe it will be in that link.

Oh and THANK YOU for joining the party here! I promise... I will be back with an actual planning update.

Here is some information on the Private Photopass session, not sure if this is what you are talking about with the family photo session.

I agree with you that you can't give away breakfast plans just yet. I have run into that a couple of times with my PTR, and I have to stop myself.

Private Sessions

Additionally, you can schedule a 30 minute one-on-one session with a PhotoPass Photographer at the Beach Club, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Animal Kingdom Lodge, or the Polynesian Resort.

The sessions can be booked up to 30 days prior to arrival. The number to call is: 407-934-4004.

jenseib · Aug 1, 2010

I'm in.

I have what I am calling a "pre" pre trip report going (link in my sig. the dairy farmers wife wants to go back one)
We are possibleby going Dec 8 to 15. Just need to get DH offically on board, and we will stay at Pop as well.

as for photopass, I know ALOT about it, so if you have any questions, ask me. but the best option is to prepurchase it before your trip. You can even do it now. You all can go in on the price ($99 divided by 3 plus shipping) You can use as many cards as you want, but they all have to be put in the one account, but you can all access it as long as you all have the user name and password.
This is the prepuchase link

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

We are also considering the family portrait private shoot. I also have been gathering info on that.

Here is a link that talks about it and the photopass as well

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disneysphotopass/

The private session last about 20 - 30 minutes and it includes a package of pictures. the one I am looking at includes the pictures and a CD of all your shots. That is $99 as well. And you can also have them put on photopass too. But they are 2 seperate things. So it would be about $200 in total to do both. They have a couple of resorts to chose from. I beleive you call 30 days prior to book it.

Also are you taking advatage of free dining? or going with a resort discount? You might want to run the numbers. At Pop you are probably on saving about $20 a day with a resrot discount, but free dingin would be saving you approximately $85 a day. A little less if you upgrade to the regualr dining plan, whic would be about $20 a day to upgrade.
Food at Disney is expensive, and if you want to do several table services, the upgrade way my be ideal for you. WE have done the regular plan on our past 3 trips. We do a ton of character meals and love it. Especially my DD who is now 5. She really loves the Princesses.

I also know quite a bit about Pop. Make sure you check out the grooviest pop thread and the pop picture thread. Tons of info there.
I have stayed at Pop 3 times and love it.
Can't wait to hear more about your trip. And if you get a chance, come join me as well!

Dec PTR, The More the MERRIER! 12/5 Upd... It's a BABY! reveal!

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