Disney Bells, Disney Bells, Disney all the way! On our way!!!!

[adisneymama]

Well since I have nothing better to do, I decided I would start a Pre-Trip report for our upcoming Christmas trip! First a little background history..

Picture it November 2004...I find myself sitting on the disboards that I had just recently found. Thru the dis I find a thread of others going on the same cruise as me. I start chatting with the group and agree to the meet up at the hotel the night before and the meet up on the cruise. We instantly became great friends with Kycruisecrazy and his family. Fast forward 4 yrs later, we have kept in touch this entire time, but not been able to see each other since. UNTIL NOW!! WooHoo we are all going to be at Disney together in 10 short days!!!!

So without delay...Here is the cast...
Me - Debbie The Disney planning junkie in this household.
DH - Buddy Loves Disney and Loves to let me plan it!
DD - Aubrey 6 yo Princess in the making! Loves all things Disney!
DS - Ashton 21 mos and loves him some Mickey Mouse.

John - The Disney Planning junkie in the other household!
Susan - DW to John, does some planning but I think she lets john think he does it all. SHH...
DD - Rachel age 12 Loves some Tinkerbell!
DD- Denise age 9 Loves Cinderella!
DD - Jasmine age 7 It's her first trip!

Disclaimer I think I have all the ages correct! I hope so!

So our dates are a bit different. John and Susan I believe are set to arrive in Orlando on the 17th but will spend their first day at Disney on the 18th for the Christmas Party. They depart on the 27th. We will arrive on the 18th and meet up with them that afternoon, but not attend the party. We leave on the 28th.

Here is the list of Plans so far. I will let John or Susan post the ones that vary for them. But this will give you the jist of things!



John and Susan will be staying at POR and we will be spending our first trip offsite.

12/18 Arrive around 2 pm and pick up rental car. Head over to the resort and check in then head over to MK to meet up with the other half! First time in 4 yrs!!! They haven't met my son and I haven't met their youngest as she didn't cruise wit us. We'll chat and then let Aubrey pick out a ride or two and then call it a night. Before heading back to the room, we'll make a Wally World stop.

12/19 Our first full day together and our 10th Anniversary! We all meet up at Epcot to enjoy a full day together. We don't have any ADR's this day so John or Susan will have to fill you in on their plans.

12/20 Meet the gang at MK! Lunch adr at CP.

12/21 Watch out AK here we all come! Breakfast with Donald!

12/22 MK for us. Haircut for Ashton and then we will meet the rest of the gang for a kitchen sink!

12/23 BBB for six! Susan and I have decided to do this with our girls and we even had Tshirts made! (Thanks Susie!) Aubrey has no idea I'm doing this with her! She has tried to get me to do it the last 2 times she's been. Merry Christmas baby girl! Then we head over to CRT for breakfast with the girls all done up. I can't wait for this day!

12/24 DHS lunch with JOJO. Another favorite of ours!

12/25 This is an open day for us. We will get up, let the kids open the few gifts that Santa (Susan!) brought with her err I mean him! See John and Susan are driving and we are flying. So to avoid any problems since I can't wrap anything ahead of time and since the baggage fees etc, I mailed them to Susan and John and they are bringing them to Disney for us! Santa is also leaving a card that says he hopes they are having a good time and that he couldn't bring all their presents to disney so they are at home waiting on them.
Then we plan on resort hopping and taking pics of the kids in their Christmas finest at the gingerbread house etc. We may see about going to DHS or AK later in the day but for now it is just open to whatever.

12/26 DHS Sadly this is our last day with our friends! At some point in time we may go over to AK but that again is open.

12/27 Epcot for most of the day, but will likely head to MK at some point. We have an adr for CM for dinner.

12/28 Check out of the hotel and then finish up with MK. We have a late flight home so no need to rush.

Well there you have it. Tomorrow I'll try to update with what has been done so far and whats still left to be done!

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Well since I have nothing better to do, I decided I would start a Pre-Trip report for our upcoming Christmas trip! First a little background history..

Picture it November 2004...I find myself sitting on the disboards that I had just recently found. Thru the dis I find a thread of others going on the same cruise as me. I start chatting with the group and agree to the meet up at the hotel the night before and the meet up on the cruise. We instantly became great friends with Kycruisecrazy and his family. Fast forward 4 yrs later, we have kept in touch this entire time, but not been able to see each other since. UNTIL NOW!! WooHoo we are all going to be at Disney together in 10 short days!!!!

Remember this?

Or This one?

 

[adisneymama]

Ahh those were the days...make sure you fill in the rest of the trip for you guys!

By the way, that is my DD Aubrey with John and Susan!

 

[adisneymama]

Ok here is what I've gotten done so far. Not much! LOL

Ok so maybe I've done a little. I have printed the car reservation, printed driving directions to the hotel to and from the airport, directions to all the parks as well as a few off site places to eat and Walmart. I have all the travel docs ready and I've mailed the box to Santa Susan for her to bring with her. I did manage to pull out a few things of Aubrey's clothes and am going to try to pull out some of Ashtons in a bit.

I also have made arrangements for the dogs to be taken care of while we are gone. My friend is going to come over and handle them as well as play Santa here. She will put all the gifts under the tree just before we get home so that the kids think Santa did come here and Disney!

I've made my packing lists and picked up the last few items from Walmart that I can think of. So now I just have to get it all together and packed into 2 suitcases if possible.

So like I said, not much is done. I really need to get busy though!

So Susan and John whats on your list of things to do? HUH???

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Well lets see if I can catch up with Debbie on this trippy. This is Santa Susan by the way, hording in on DH's screenname even though I have my own. This is easier. I had to wait til DD12 went to a school ball game so she wouldn't see me posting this. We have lots of little "suprises" planned for the girls and I'm trying to keep them secret

We leave home next Wed. morning at 8:30am. DD12 doesn't think we're leaving until she gets home from school that afternoon. We are driving straight down and staying offsite the first 2 nights.

On 12/18 after picking up a few items at Walmart we're taking the girls to Old Town to the extreme park. DD7 and DD9 will be going on the G-Force Dragster and DD12 and I will be doing the SkyCoaster, it's 300ft up with a 120ft free fall , then later on that day we're going to DTD to do our Christmas shopping for the family at home and when we leave there we're going to MVMCP We told DD12 that we were not going to be able to do any of these things like we hoped to because we just had to spend $400 on car repairs/maintanance, so she has nooooooo clue!

Before MVMCP starts we will be meeting up with our friends from Texas who we haven't seen in 4 long years. Like she said, we haven't met their son and they haven't met DD7. She wasn't potty trained 4 yrs ago when we cruised so she stayed at home with her and DD9's mother. Yes they are my stepDD's but I love them just the same.

12/19 we check into our resort first thing this morning, next suprise for the girls is they each get mouse ears and autograph books when we arrive, then we are meeting our friends at Epcot whenever they decide to get out of bed and make an appearance . We have an ADR at Garden Grill for an early dinner then after Illuminations we'll head back to POR. Oh yeah the kids think we're staying at PoP again like we have in the past. None of them have any clue we're staying at a Mod this trip. (I wanted a hottub)

12/20 as Deb said, meet the gang at MK. I just realized something that's kinda funny. We are on the dining plan and we are having breakfast and dinner at CP and our friends are having lunch there. maybe it's just me but it made me giggle. We were SUPPOSED to be having a grand gathering breakfast at Tony's but our friends had to change their plans a little, since this is their SECOND trip to WDW THIS year.

I didn't realize, Debbie, until I read your post, that we are spending so much time together. I guess that is also a bonus to having cancel the GG.

We plan on sticking mostly to the left side of the castle on this day doing Adventure Land, Frontier Land and Liberty Square. This will serve 2 purposes for us: 1. we are spending several days at MK so we can devote each day to a different section to enjoy each thoroughly, and 2 we're trying to keep the fact that Tinkerbell is now a face character from DD12 at least until 12/23. Tink is her absolute favorite and we're going to take her to see her after BBB, anywho, back to the schedule.

12/21 Open AK with our Texas friends, try to ride something while waiting for our breakfast ADR. We're all looking forward to this meal. It will be our 1st since the big change to TuskerHouse and we're looking forward to hopefully more space. The other building was sooooooooo crowded. Our coaster freak kids will love EE and I think they will all enjoy Nemo. Will it be warm enough for Kali River Rapids

12/22 This is a day to sleep in a little later. We have a later breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey. This is a no park day for us. After breakfast we're hopping the monorail and heading to the Poly and the Grand Floridian to check out their decorations. When DH, DD12 and myself were at WDW in early Dec 05' we all had head colds and couldn't smell a daggone thing. It was like torture standing next to the lifesize gingerbread house and not being able to smell it, torture I tell you. Well not this year, the 3 of us have been taking Airborne to stay as healthy as possible. After we finish resort hopping we're meeting our Pals at Beaches and Cream for the world famous Kitchen Sink sundae. yummy yummy, there goes my diet I've been working so hard on.

12/23 BBB Day I don't know who's looking more forward to this, the girls or ME. DD7 will be dressing as Jasmine, imagine that...Jasmine is Jasmine's favorite character...go figure, DD9 will be Cinderella, long white gloves included, DD12 will be wearing a brand new Tink top along with her (suprise) Tinkerbell flipflops, and I'll have on the matching t-shirt I had made for me and Debbie. They turned out soooooo good, I'm quite proud of myself. I can hardly wait to show them to you Debbie. I'll put it in the box of Santa stuff. Breakfast with the princesses at CRT then we'll do FantasyLand, Toontown and some of TomorrowLand. I bet DD12 cries when she gets to meet Tink face to face. I can hardly wait to see her face.

12/24 We are spending Christmas Eve at DHS. I think we are planning to stay to the right of the sorcerer's hat this day up until the sun starts to go down then we're headed to Streets of America to see the Osborne Family Lights. Hot chocolate in hand ,we'll stroll up and down, watching the lights dance to music ,while it snows in Florida. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve with my family. This will be the first time in my life that I haven't been at home for the holidays and it's kinda weird. I was terrified to tell my mother that I would be in Florida for Christmas, so I blamed it all on Debbie I told mom it was all her planning and you know the only thing my mom was concerned about was who was going to bring the deviled eggs to dinner at her house

12/25 I have already packed the girls stockings, stuffed and ready to go, except for a few pins of their favorite characters I plan to throw on top, and these will be waiting for them when they wake up. We are bringing a small tree, decorations and window clings to decorate our room. I feel kinda scroogish not putting up decorations at the house this year. We did get those flickering candles for the house windows, and our Mickey flag is hanging out front. We have a breakfast ADR at CP again and a dinner one at LTT for a traditional Christmas type meal. At some point during the day the staff at POR will be delivering a stocking from Disney floral, suprise girls, it will be waiting for us when we return. We will be ending the day with a swim at the resort pool. Only DH, who grew up in San Diego, has ever been swimming on Christmas Day

12/26 our last full day at WDW will be spent at DHS. Since we did the right side of the hat on Wed, today we will concentrate on the left side of the hat. We have a dinner ADR at Mama Melrose (our only tableservice meal that is NOT a buffet or family style) and then we're going to see Fantasmic. I absolutely love this show. I know there are lots of people that don't care for it but it brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. It always happens when I see Steamboat Willie We also have to say goodbye to our friends Next time hopefully it won't be sooooooo long between visits. We have actually been talking about taking a cruise together in 2010 We'll just have to see if it happens.

12/27 today is a sad sad day...we have to start heading home our vacation is over

12/29--start typing up post trip report and get ready to go back to work tomorrow

Ok, I think that's enough for now. I'll answer Debbies other questions tomorrow. Hope you are enjoying our little pre-trip report, we're hoping to have lots of magical and filled moments.

 

[adisneymama]

Let's see if I can fill in some pieces to what Susan has said and give you an update on the latest developments in our household! LOL

This is our second trip this year. We had already scheduled and paid for our August trip. We were tossing around ideas for our 10th anniversary when Susan said "come to Disney with us!" I didn't think DH would want to since we had just been there, but after looking at the prices for some other options we decided to meet up with our KY friends again! I still can't believe Susan blamed it on me! LOL

As Susan said we were suppose to do a grand gathering. My family originally was going to stay at Pop. But along the way, the economy hit and since dh works in banking his job was at risk. We decided to move offsite and cut the room portion down by over $1,000! DH is very pro-active so we have our house on the market etc. In the meantime, DD had to have an MRI to rule out a birth defect that would have meant brain surgery. She also was facing possible eye surgery for a weak muscle. MRI had to be done first as the birth defect could have been the cause. Along this same time, DH had to have a stress test done as he had been having chest pains that he didn't tell me about. The good news is DH has a clean bill of health, pain was due to stress (can't imagine that!) and DD's MRI was normal! We also found out the glasses are working great and she won't need the eye surgery either. I should mention that DD does have Epilepsy. She has something called Absence Seizures and will hopefully outgrow them by puberty. We are all crossing our fingers. So you might hear us talking about the use of the GAC etc. It is due to the seizures along with the low muscle tone that DD has. Just wanted to clear that up.

So now then, where was I .... OH yes, what have I accomplished since I last posted....NOTHING!

DS decided to throw a monkey wrench in my plans yesterday. Or maybe I should say he decided to pull a cast iron stocking holder onto his head! Yep, three stitches later we're good to go. Take a look at my poor baby!

But we did get some fun. When I finally got home from having my son sewn back up, I ran over to the neighbors to get DD. Can I say Thank God for Ms. Norma! She is like a grandmother to my kids, in fact, they never want to come home! To say they love her is an understatement! She was kind enough to get Aubrey from school since I knew I would never make it home! I walked into Ms. Normas and Aubrey ran over to me, gave me a big hug and says "Mommy, I missed you. Can I stay here?" Of course Ms. Norma had to give the kids cookies and milk while we were there. While at the table Ms. Norma notices THIS outside...

That's right it snowed in Houston, TX yesterday!!!! Of course I had to let the kids play in it!

That's Ms. Norma in the background. We were in front of her house. The kids had a blast. I changed out the camera for the camcorder and got some video of them in our front yard. It snowed until around midnite off an on last night!

So instead of catching up on my packing and what I should be doing today, I'm sitting here updating this report! Oh well, I'm off to get something productive done. DS is asleep so we should remain accident free for a little while!

 

[letthewookiewin]

I can't wait to read more!! Ashton took those stitches better than I would have.

 

[adisneymama]

Hey girl! Good to see you! I'll update more later!

The rest of you lurkers come on out and say HI! We don't bite!

I don't know what is wrong with the pics I posted. I resized every one of them. Must be something wrong with photobucket.

Anyway, I'll check back in later. I'm almost done cleaning up the house. At least it will look like I did something today when dh gets home.

 

[adisneymama]

Well we have had a busy weekend! DD was invited to a birthday party. It was neat it was at a black lite putt-putt golf course. She was the only one to get a hole in one! DS loved it as well. He was cute, he would try to hit the ball with the club a few times, then he would go get the ball and drop it in the hole and exclaim "I did it!" and then clap for himself!

We also worked on getting the house cleaned up, I have a few things to finish this week but we got most things done. Dh went and got the spare car seat out of storage and I adjusted it to fit DS.

DH also played Santa and got the big stuff put together. I think I ran the last of the errands, but don't hold me to it!

I did manage to get the kids clothes laid out and into a suitcase. DH has his laid out as well and I should be able to get them into a suitcase tonight.

I also made the kids autograph books. This will be the first time DS has done the autograph thing. I can't wait to see what he does. He loves to copy DD so it should be a hoot.

Here they are, nothing fancy but I think they are cute.

I guess that is all for now. Check in and say HI! John and Susan hopefully will update before they leave. They will either be driving sometime Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning depending on weather.

Anyway, good night!

 

[letthewookiewin]

Those turned out really cute!! It sounds like you guys had a busy weekend. Well are there any new rides that you guys are going to try with Ashton this trip that you didn't last trip, or with Aubrey for that matter?

 

[adisneymama]

I don't think so. I think they have both ridden everything they are big enough for. Aubrey has 2 more inches to grow before she can ride RNR and Prime Evil Whirl. I think those are the only ones left. She hasn't ridden space mountain or Mission Space yet, but I won't let her. If Space Mountain gets redone next year where she can sit beside me I'll let her, but not with her where I can't reach her. I'm also not too sure about Mission Space. I haven't ridden it since they have the wimpy side! LOL Might give it a try and if it is ok, then let her ride it with me.

 

[adisneymama]

I just wanted to update that John, Susan and the gang are officially on their way. They left around noon eastern time due to bad weather in their area.

Be safe you guys and can't wait to see you in 2 Days!!!

 

[letthewookiewin]

I hope you guys all have a wonderful time!! I would love to jump on a plane and escape this weather hovering in the 20's.

 

[adisneymama]

Trust me, it's crappy here too!

 

[letthewookiewin]

We rode the green version of Mission Space and John did great. I was still worried about riding the green version b/c of my high blood pressure and I usually get motion sick. I didn't have any trouble with it either. It's one of the things that John is looking forward to the most.

 

[adisneymama]

That's good to know. I'll ride it first and then if it is ok, I'll go back on with her. I love the "real" version! LOL The things we do for our kids huh?

 

[letthewookiewin]

Yeah, I know. I once rode the Texas Titan at Six Flags over Texas to prove to Joey that's it's ok to be afraid of something, but you need to face your fears. I loved the drop and the ride was great until he stopped. Then I had to keep walking or I was going to be sick. David said that I would have loved the color of green my face was.

 

[adisneymama]

LOL, I bet you looked beautiful! LOL

Just an update, John and Susan made it to Macon, GA last night. They should finish out their drive sometime today!

 

[adisneymama]

Ok, we are packed and ready to go! See you when we get back!

 

[letthewookiewin]

Have a magical trip you guys!!!