Disney Holiday Firsts at Last! - 2 Days to Go and It's Quiet, Too Quiet

[mnmrmustard]

joining in we love Disney in December.

There is nothing like being in Disney at Christmas.

Hello Chiara! Thank you for joining me on our first Christmas Adventure at "The World"

It is fun doing the secret planning - our bedroom was invaded by Bean, our 13yr old. Her and DW are watching wedding dress shows while I plot and plan in the background ....bwwwooohahahaa!!!

 

[Alysa]

What an adorable family! I love that fantasy land map - thank you! I can't wait to see it! You'll love MVMCP, it is a blast, Christmas at Disney, sigh! I've never been to Universal before but we are going on our next trip so looking forward to reading more. And looking forward to seeing the t-shirts!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Halloooo! I wanted to get this posted over the weekend but both work and home life have been pretty crazy. The centerpiece of the weekend was going on a ride-along with the local PD. Did a Saturday from 7pm to around 1:30am on Sunday with one of the K-9 units. It was a very colorful experience

Back to the T-Shirts! For our 2008 WDW trip we made 2 sets with LGMHs and our names - one plain white Ts and the other tie-dye. And for our 2009 Halloween DLR trip we made a Jack Skellington set and a Mickey Pumpkin head set.

This time we're doing a Christmas Jack Skellington which I found by random browsing on google images:

and an image that another DISBoarder named RustManFan put together that I pulled from another DIS'ers graphics request post:

And after further discussion between me and DW, we decided to let the girls know about the trip a month out by just putting our countdown board up and see how long it takes them to notice it

It is a LGMH themed one and looks like this:

If anyone wants the Skellington graphic just PM me and I will put in whatever names you want and all that. If you want the second design, post in the graphics request thread and I'm sure you'll get a response. I just love sharing the DISBoard magic!

 

[Leger13]

Mini update - I've received our PhotoPass+ package and have the voucher in my planning folder

Roxy says I'm being too risky with the trip info and that the girls will find out. I had left the planning folder on the kitchen table over the weekend. But it is a "work" folder so I don't think the girls would look since those traditionally just have boring networking/project info for the college

I did put it away in my bedside drawer though.

My current project is T-Shirt designs. We do two sets of customized designs for each trip and I'm pretty much finished with these. As soon as I have them finalized I'll post them here. And as I usually do, if anyone else wants customized versions of them for their trip I'm happy to make them

We'll be purchasing a "lot" of 100 pins sometime over the next week or so off of eBay. Gotta refresh those lanyards for the trip!

woowoo! I've been considering getting the photopass disk. I want to get in with a share but I haven't found one yet. Haha to just leaving the Disney stuff lying about.

Yay for pin trading too! I'm not so sure we will be doing that this time since Alex won't really understand and is super shy.

Halloooo! I wanted to get this posted over the weekend but both work and home life have been pretty crazy. The centerpiece of the weekend was going on a ride-along with the local PD. Did a Saturday from 7pm to around 1:30am on Sunday with one of the K-9 units. It was a very colorful experience

Back to the T-Shirts! For our 2008 WDW trip we made 2 sets with LGMHs and our names - one plain white Ts and the other tie-dye. And for our 2009 Halloween DLR trip we made a Jack Skellington set and a Mickey Pumpkin head set.

This time we're doing a Christmas Jack Skellington which I found by random browsing on google images:

and an image that another DISBoarder put together that I snagged from a graphics request post:

And after further discussion between me and DW, we decided to let the girls know about the trip a month out by just putting our countdown board up and see how long it takes them to notice it

It is a LGMH themed one and looks like this:

If anyone wants any of these graphics just PM me. I will put in whatever names you want and all that. I love sharing the DISBoard magic!

LOVE LOVE LOVE the shirts! Would you be able to share the countdown calendar with me? I have one that makes rings but I think this one would be more fun and easier to display instead of trying to keep the rings away from Alex LOL The girls are going to be SO excited!

 

[Trentmom]

Hello Chiara! Thank you for joining me on our first Christmas Adventure at "The World"

It is fun doing the secret planning - our bedroom was invaded by Bean, our 13yr old. Her and DW are watching wedding dress shows while I plot and plan in the background ....bwwwooohahahaa!!!

Just had to comment on their good taste in TV...Love all those wedding dress shows, too..Say Yes to Dress, I found the Gown, Four Weddings, etc



Love your shirts designs. They look great!!!

I can't wait to hear how long it takes the girls to notice once countdown board is up

 

[sunnysideup3]

I FINALLY made it here! Sorry for the delay. Glad to join up with people going the same time. I think a DISmeet is in order??

Your plans look great! And I love how you call Gillian "Bean". That's what my parents and grandparents used to call me, too.

I hope you're good, can't wait to read more!

 

[mnmrmustard]

woowoo! I've been considering getting the photopass disk. I want to get in with a share but I haven't found one yet. Haha to just leaving the Disney stuff lying about.

Yay for pin trading too! I'm not so sure we will be doing that this time since Alex won't really understand and is super shy.

Hey Carla! Getting in on a share? Like buying in with someone? We've already run into a small hitch with ours - we are going to do the parent/daughter day and they only issue one card. They give the option to go back to the ride you had pics at within 48hrs and collect them but that would mean a special trip back to areas of a park

LOVE LOVE LOVE the shirts! Would you be able to share the countdown calendar with me? I have one that makes rings but I think this one would be more fun and easier to display instead of trying to keep the rings away from Alex LOL The girls are going to be SO excited!

Thank you on the T-Shirt designs, going to start shopping for an online company to order them through tomorrow.

No problem with sharing the countdown calendar graphics:

LGMH Blast Off and Day 1

LGMH Days 2 to 7

LGMH Days 8 to 13

LGMH Days 14 to 19

LGMH Days 20 to 25

LGMH Days 26 to 31

Just print them out on photo paper and cut them out and you're good to go. For the background I picked up a piece of construction paper and a styrofoam backing at the dollar store and used gluestick to tack them together and add on the border pics. For the LGMHs I just used thumb tacks to fix them to the board.

Just had to comment on their good taste in TV...Love all those wedding dress shows, too..Say Yes to Dress, I found the Gown, Four Weddings, etc

Love your shirts designs. They look great!!!

I can't wait to hear how long it takes the girls to notice once countdown board is up

Yes, Roxy (and sometimes Kyra) love all of those same shows. The only one I actively watched was a one hour special focusing on weddings at WDW

As an aside on the wedding theme, one of Roxy's favorite moments from our '09 DLR trip was ending up in line at PoTC with Reva and her hubby Mike from Merci Beaucoup Cakes who were featured on the "Amazing Wedding Cakes" show.

Thank you also on the T-Shirt designs, I'm looking forward to seeing how they look in person.

Yes, it should be interesting to see how long it takes them. We'll be letting their schools know at the same time (you have to give 30 days notice to our school district) so they may catch a hint there too

I FINALLY made it here! Sorry for the delay. Glad to join up with people going the same time. I think a DISmeet is in order??

Your plans look great! And I love how you call Gillian "Bean". That's what my parents and grandparents used to call me, too.

I hope you're good, can't wait to read more!

Hey Jillian, welcome aboard! No worries, days get so full of stuff it is hard to find proper time for DISing

A DISmeet would be very cool if we can swing it

That is very cool that you were also called Bean. Jillian/Gillian ...Jillibean/Gillibean ...Bean!

Doing well other than some high emotions while we work through the transition of moving my mother-in-law into assisted care. I think we're through the worst of the emotional side of it though.

I think I'll do the "look back" post next, showing a few pics and stories from past trips.

 

[Leger13]

Ugh that stinks that you've hit a hitch in the road with your photopass. so they only give one card with a photopass cd? I always wind up with 5 photopass cards by the end of my trip haha! Thanks for sharing the countdown calendar with me you rock!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mnmrmustard]

Ugh that stinks that you've hit a hitch in the road with your photopass. so they only give one card with a photopass cd? I always wind up with 5 photopass cards by the end of my trip haha! Thanks for sharing the countdown calendar with me you rock!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Yes, we always ended up with multiple cards on our trips too so it does complicate things. They send you a voucher with the PhotoPass CD that you have to redeem at specific places within WDW for a single PhotoPass+ card.

I think Roxy and Kyra will end up back at EPCOT again so there is only Test Track for ride photos, but there are still several PhotoPass photographers stationed around the park so we'll just have to see how it goes

You're very welcome on the countdown calendar

 

[Leger13]

So strange. Ugh! They always have to make things so difficult for us. Silly Disney!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mnmrmustard]

So strange. Ugh! They always have to make things so difficult for us. Silly Disney!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Tell me about it

 

[DizNee Luver]

Mike, we'll be sorta neighbors arriving on the 6th (dinner time) to the All Star Movies......so a couple days together......wonder if we can meet up quickly on one of those days. Our Friday (the 7th is at AK, so done early) we're planning on Cape May for breakfast and then after leaving AK back to the resort......but we'd always be willing to take a side trip over to the Pop if you'd be there!! The other option is we don't have breakfast plans the morning of the 8th.....so if you're just eating at the Pop....we could join you then????

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Mike,

I love both your shirt designs and countdown board... ... I can't wait to hear if/when the girls notice it... I've done the chain countdown but that board is cute...

I've done shirts before too... your designs are pretty awesome -they're lots of fun...

(Hmmm... do I want a shirt this trip... hmmmm.... thinking bout that...)

btw... a lot of those shows your girls watch are some of my guilty pleasure shows too... I love some of those Wedding shows... I like the Southern Say Yes to the Dress better than the New York one; don't know if I've caught the wedding cake show... but there was a great cake show that featured some really awesome Disney themed cakes... fun stuff...good to watch while Dising...

 

[mnmrmustard]

Mike, we'll be sorta neighbors arriving on the 6th (dinner time) to the All Star Movies......so a couple days together......wonder if we can meet up quickly on one of those days. Our Friday (the 7th is at AK, so done early) we're planning on Cape May for breakfast and then after leaving AK back to the resort......but we'd always be willing to take a side trip over to the Pop if you'd be there!! The other option is we don't have breakfast plans the morning of the 8th.....so if you're just eating at the Pop....we could join you then????

The 6th is the "girls choice" day so we literally don't know what we'll be doing. I do currently have ADRs at Teppan Edo for Roxy and PumpkinGirl if she decides that she wants another day of EPCOT like last time. And for Bean and I my best guess is that we'll be doing DHS and I don't know how late that will go.

On the 7th we have breakfast ADRs at a Crystal Palace for early entry to MK and dinner at favorite of mine, Liberty Tree Tavern.

The 8th sounds like the best bet, just planning on eating at POP for breakfast if your fam is up for meeting/eating there. Or we can meet at DTD if you want. The timeframe can be totally up to you guys as our schedule is open.

Hey Mike,

I love both your shirt designs and countdown board... ... I can't wait to hear if/when the girls notice it... I've done the chain countdown but that board is cute...

I've done shirts before too... your designs are pretty awesome -they're lots of fun...

(Hmmm... do I want a shirt this trip... hmmmm.... thinking bout that...)

btw... a lot of those shows your girls watch are some of my guilty pleasure shows too... I love some of those Wedding shows... I like the Southern Say Yes to the Dress better than the New York one; don't know if I've caught the wedding cake show... but there was a great cake show that featured some really awesome Disney themed cakes... fun stuff...good to watch while Dising...

Howdy Patricia, thanks for stopping by! We've actually had a bit of a change of plans with the countdown. Roxy came up with this last night - we're actually going to do a Harry Potter theme. Both of the girls have done WDW/DLR a couple of times but have never done IOA/WWOHP and are REALLY looking forward to it.

So starting in mid-October we're going to start leaving costume props around the house. Harry Potter's glasses, a scarf, maybe a wand. If they ask about them we'll play dumb. And then 30 days out we're going to start leaving wallet-sized pictures showing scenes from the movies laying around the house - one per day.

The pics will have been cut from a master page that will have "NOV 29th" printed in a very large blocky font on the back. The end result will be a puzzle that they will put together to show that date. Once they've solved that we'll let the cat out of the bag

I'll post the master of it here once I have it together.

Yes, they love all of those wedding shows - I'm just glad they don't do the child beauty pagent shows, those creep me out I don't think that particular wedding cake show is still on, but there are always new ones coming out.

 

[Trentmom]

I love Roxy's new idea of leaving props around and then the puzzle

Very cool

 

[DizNee Luver]

Let's just plan on meeting at the POP for breakfast on the 8th. We'll be heading to Epcot that day and had originally planned eating breakfast at our resort......so this wouldn't be a big deal to move it over to your resort. This way at least I get to meet you and the family!!! Nothing like flying across the country to meet someone that lives about 3 hrs away!!!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Howdy Patricia, thanks for stopping by! We've actually had a bit of a change of plans with the countdown. Roxy came up with this last night - we're actually going to do a Harry Potter theme. Both of the girls have done WDW/DLR a couple of times but have never done IOA/WWOHP and are REALLY looking forward to it.

So starting in mid-October we're going to start leaving costume props around the house. Harry Potter's glasses, a scarf, maybe a wand. If they ask about them we'll play dumb. And then 30 days out we're going to start leaving wallet-sized pictures showing scenes from the movies laying around the house - one per day.

This is a brilliant fun idea... I want to see how long it takes them to figure something is up ...

The pics will have been cut from a master page that will have "NOV 29th" printed in a very large blocky font on the back. The end result will be a puzzle that they will put together to show that date. Once they've solved that we'll let the cat out of the bag

Awesome...

I'll post the master of it here once I have it together.

Yes please...

Yes, they love all of those wedding shows - I'm just glad they don't do the child beauty pagent shows, those creep me out I don't think that particular wedding cake show is still on, but there are always new ones coming out.

Yes I agree... my son saw an advertisement for Toddlers and Tiaras and he said it looked like child cruelty...

 

[mnmrmustard]

Yes I agree... my son saw an advertisement for Toddlers and Tiaras and he said it looked like child cruelty...

Agreed, just so very wrong on so many levels.

 

[disney67]

Really fun TR so far i love it all not to mention i will be there 11/28 to 12/4
for all this magical holiday fun , I love the T-shirt designs really cool and leaving little things around the house for the kids is a cool Idea , Ive tried keeping trips a secret 3 times and failed twice. hope to be able to say Hi while im there
Jeff

 

[mnmrmustard]

Really fun TR so far i love it all not to mention i will be there 11/28 to 12/4
for all this magical holiday fun , I love the T-shirt designs really cool and leaving little things around the house for the kids is a cool Idea , Ive tried keeping trips a secret 3 times and failed twice. hope to be able to say Hi while im there
Jeff

Welcome Jeff and thank you for the compliment on my PTR & shirt designs! Very cool that you and yours will be there during the same timeframe as us. Will you be in any of the same parks as us on the same days? I'm still hopeful that we can keep the secret until at least 30 days out when we start laying out the "clues". We'll see how long it takes them to put it all together

How did it go for you the one time you were able to keep the secret? Were they excited/suprised?