Do I really get a do-over?

[carrie6466]

So I've decided to write a pretrip report. I guess I'd better start before the trip actually gets here, since that's the whole point!

First, the cast. It has dwindeled down to DH Karl, DD Kristina, and myself Caroline. We did start out with 7, which will play a part in a bit.

A little background. I have 2 kids. They are 14 years difference in age. It just worked out that way. My son, Kyle, is now 21 and Kristina is 7. Kristina has some issues, she's on the autism spectrum, the "official diagnosis" is PDD-NOS. She also has some other diagnoses, but all it does is make things interesting around here most days.

Kristina and I went on a mommy/daughter trip last year, in December. Even though we prepared her for months that it would only be her and I going, when her daddy didn't go through security with us, things didn't go well. I should have known that would set the tune for the rest of our extended weekend.

It was raining when we arrived. It proceeded to rain all of Friday, all of Saturday and a good part of Sunday. We did have tickets to see the parade taping. It was rained out. We could have gone when they did have it, but we had a lot of plans and not too much time, so we skipped it. This was the weather upon our arrival to MK the first morning.

Then there are the same grey skies on day 2 at Epcot:

The same with day 3 at DHS, but I'm not going to keep boring you with my grey, rainy pictures!

We had tickets to MVMCP party that night, but we were so wet we asked to change them to another night, which they did no problems.

Fast forward to early this year. My brother wants to take his oldest daughter to WDW for her birthday. In December. I am unsure whether to join them, as her birthday is days before Christmas. Ultimately DH says we should go, as they are our Disney travel companions most times and it'll be fun. As luck would have it, I get a Pin code in the mail. I have to use it by early July or it's going to expire.

 

[carrie6466]

I waited and then saw the free dining offer come out. What to do?
After a not-so-quick phone call, we found out we could save more on the Pin than the free dining. 40 % made the Contemporary a viable option. I put down 2 deposits, had them link the reservations and we were set. I called my brother and let him know. Now just waiting for the day to come for ADR's.

A few weeks goes by and I start to get the feeling that this is not quite going to go as we planned. But, plugging along, we decide not to tell DD. Some stuff happens with DH at work and he tells me to get the airfare and book it, because he really wants a vacation. I find JetBlue nonstop from JFK, so we jump on that. Then I go ahead and order MVMCP tickets for 12/16. And I book CRT and BBB for my daughter and my niece for 12/16. Because it's my niece's birthday. I prepaid for CRT, because I don't want to use two TS meals on lunch there. OK. We are ready.

I call my brother. He says he isn't ready to book anything else yet and he'll keep an eye on airfare. Hmmm. This isn't sounding great.

I make some ADR's. Besides CRT, we're going to have an Akershus breakfast, 1900 Park Fare, Sci Fi Cafe, Crystal Palace, Chefs De France and Ohana breakfast on our last morning. Okay, so we have one too many ADR's. We're going to pay for Crystal Palace OOP, since it's breakfast. It's still okay.

We're down to about 60 days before our trip. I'm all ready. Brother doesn't have airfare or party tickets yet. We have a talk and he tells me he has to cancel. What??

I'm really not that surprised, I was kind of expecting it. We wait another week and I make another not-very-quick call to Disney. They are able to apply the deposit I put down on his room to mine. They are able to refund me 4 on the CRT I prepaid for. They are able to change the BBB to one child. ::sigh::

They tell me that they have to transfer me to dining to change all my ADR's from 7 people to 3. Okay, well at least we're not losing anything. We got everything straightened out in a mere 1 1/2 hour phone call.

I feel bad that we are going to now miss my niece's birthday altogether. We won't be home for it, because we're going to be in WDW. Because I have non-refundable airfare and party tickets. If I would have held off on the air I probably would have cancelled. None of the kids, including mine, knew anything about this trip. Thank goodness.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Aww sweetie, you don't need to get over it. I would be upset that the other party cancelled. You are going to be in Disney and it is the happiest place on earth.

Things are going good so far and I hope they keep on going and you have a great trip.

 

[carrie6466]

Woo hoo!! ::waves:: Welcome

 

[carrie6466]

Now that there are only 3 of us, we can do things a bit differently. First off, we were doing Chef Mickey on our arrival night. Why? Well, because even though our flight gets in at 3:00, we were just going to hang around the hotel until the others got there. We don't need to do that anymore.

DHS has extra magic hours that night and is open until 11. Sooo...Chef Mickey's is now gone. We figured we'd just eat at DHS and go see the lights. Wait, what's that? DH heard from a few people how good Hoop De Doo Review is. In all the times we've gone to WDW we've never seen it.
You know, for the price of that and CRT and refillable mugs, I could upgrade to the deluxe dining plan. I wonder if I can get a refund on what I prepaid for CRT?

Back on the phone to WDW. Yes, the can refund my prepayment and rebook on the dining plan. Now...if I can get seats at this late date for HDDR, we will do this. I tell them I'll call back and get on the computer.

Reservations system down for maintainence. Grrr.

Two days later, everything is back up. HDDR has availability. So I call back WDW Dine and make more changes. Good thing we are going to DHS upon arrival, because the only night I could get HDDR is the night we're scheduled to be at DHS. Now I have cancel SciFi to accomodate HDDR that night. I am able to get 50's Prime Time for lunch at 1:00, though, so it's a good trade off.

So far our ADR's look something like this:
12/12 none
12/13 10:10 1900 Park Fare
12/14 1:00 50's Prime Time
9:15 Hoop De Doo Review
12/15 4:20 Chefs De France
12/16 9:00 Crystal Palace
1:00 BBB
2:30 CRT
12/17 10:30 Akershus
12/18 10:00 Ohana

Now that we're doing deluxe, we need to add meals. 6 weeks out. During free dining. UGH!

 

[carrie6466]

Well, the meal thing would prove to be a bit difficult. But I did, and still am, check online every day for reservations. I was able to add:

12/13 6:00 pm Trail's End
12/15 8:55 am The Wave
12/17 5:45 pm Via Napoli
12/18 3:00 pm The Plaza

We've decided that on 12/16 if we get hungry again at MVMCP, we'll just get counter service or a snack. The only thing I'm still actively looking for is to change the 13th to somewhere else. There is nothing available anywhere near the MK, which is where we'll be that day.

As it stands, we are going to be left with 3 or 4 meal credits each. I figure we can either use them for room service, counter service or on the day we're leaving to get stuff at the Bakery on Main St. to take with us for the plane.

Right now our itinerary looks something like this:
12/12 Arrive MCO 3:00 pm. Check in at Contemporary, head to DHS to see the lights

12/13 MK -- We'll probably go back to the hotel at some point, otherwise it will be a very long day. We definitely want to see the parade and the fireworks, this is the only night we'll be at MK that doesn't have a party going on.

12/14 DHS -- during the day. We'll leave there around 6, head back to the hotel for a while and then over to Fort Wilderness for HDDR at 9:15

12/15 Epcot -- Will probably spend the morning doing rides, heading over to France for dinner, going to try to stay for Illuminations.

12/16 MK -- We'll probably try to hit BTM and Splash before the BBB at 1:00. Then lunch at 2:20. After all that, we'll do some rides and then get our wristbands for the party. If we want something to eat later, we'll either get counter service or a snack.

12/17 Epcot -- Planning on spending this day touring the World Showcase. That's pretty much Kristina's favorite thing to do. Will stay for Illuminations if we didn't catch it on Wednesday.

12/18 MK -- check out, check luggage for flight, breakfast at Poly, try to do anything we didn't get a chance to all week. Our flight home is 9:00 pm, so we're probably going to have to be back at Contemporary for pickup around 5:30 or so.

Picture from the world showcase last Dec:

Note the earmuffs and gloves in the first picture. That was the beginning of the week. The other pictures are from our last day, when it was beautiful out LOL

 

[BelleTinkMom]

Joining in.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Your dining plans look good, just remember to call as online isn't always true time. We tried to book LeCellier from DLP and ended up having to call instead to get it for our trip in March.

Sounds like things are falling in place and you are getting great dining lined up. I love DD pictures with ear muffs. The cold helps it feel more like Christmas.

Enjoy the fun of planning.

 

[carrie6466]

Welcome Belle!

I've been going out to the mailbox every day looking for my Mickey Mail or ME tags or something! Nothing yet. Doesn't the mailman know I could care less about the supermarket fliers??

I have called dining several time, in addition to checking online. I don't really hold out much hope at this point, but I keep trying.

We've never done HDDR in all the times we've gone, so that should be fun. We've never eaten at Trail's End, either. Actually we've never been to Fort Wilderness at all. It's definitely going to be a new experience

I'm starting to try and gather bits here and there to pack. I haven't actually started yet, but I will be dragging in the suitcases this weekend. We still haven't told Kristina, but I'm dying to. I'm thinking after Thanksgiving. Maybe we'll do a treasure hunt or something. I'm definitely open to any ideas anyone has.

We did a surprise trip in 2008. It didn't go over huge, because she isn't very big on surprises. Actually when we told her, before we left for the airport, she responded with "I can't go. I have school tomorrow." Sometimes things just don't go as you plan.

 

[carrie6466]

I'm really going to try to get all my Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped and tree up and cards sent before I leave. In keeping with that idea, I did go shopping today and get a few gifts and wrapping paper.

I also got Kristina some new books for the plane and I got myself 2 holiday shirts. I almost wish we were going after Christmas, because we plan on getting her a gameboy and it would be nice for her to have it for the trip. Oh well, she'll have it for next time.

I just found a free android app from Undercover Tourist and downloaded it to my phone. It has informed me I am a mere 1,697,064 yards from Dumbo and the wait time is 20 minutes

From what I read, I think once you are in the parks, it will also give you information on restaurants and parades.

I have to make a big decision within the next few days. Am I going to make outfits for Kristina for this trip or just let it go? I have made stuff for her for every trip we've taken her on so far, but with a lot going on this summer/fall, I haven't sewed in quite a while. I don't know yet.

I am going to bring back some stuff we got last year, like hats, etc. I think tomorrow I'm going to work on wrapping what I bought today and looking for the hats, sweatshirts, light thingee (the technical term lol) we got last year and putting them all on the side with some shorts and capris I left out.

 

[topdog]

Hey! I made it to page 1.

 

[aksunshine]

Hey Caroline!!! I am here!! Kristina looks SO cute enjoying WS last year!!!

 

[carrie6466]

Hi guys! Glad you could join us

 

[aksunshine]

BTW, I am jealous of your app! Everytime we walked by Dumbo it was 30 min!!!

 

[carrie6466]

To recap dining plans so far:

12/12 none

12/13 10:10 1900 Park Fare
12/13 6:00 pm Trail's End

12/14 1:00 50's Prime Time
12/14 9:15 Hoop De Doo Review

12/15 8:55 am The Wave
12/15 4:20 Chefs De France

12/16 9:00 Crystal Palace
1:00 BBB
2:30 CRT

12/17 10:30 Akershus
12/17 5:45 pm Via Napoli

12/18 10:00 Ohana
12/18 3:00 pm The Plaza

If I count correctly, that is 14 meal credits each we're using for TS meals.
We also have 2 meals each that it looks like we will be using CS for. Leaving us 2 meal credits each. Maybe room service breakfast early on 12/14. I'm still looking for a better TS meal for the 13th unless you guys convince me Trail's End is awesome and I should eat there Something late on the 12th would have been nice, too, but I've given up on that one altogether.

Alicia, the wait time for Dumbo was good last night, but the 1,000,000+ yard walk would have been exhausting

 

[carrie6466]

Just because I do it every day, I went into dining and looked for dinner reservations for 12/12 and 12/13 and 12/16. Still nothing. But I did switch out my Plaza lunch on 12/18 for Liberty Tree Tavern.

Soooo....Now we'll have lunch at LTT. I have never done lunch there, I hope it's good

 

[carrie6466]

I realized there is one thing I really don't like about WDW.

Their tea. I drink Scottish or Irish tea at home. I get it because my cousin in Scotland keeps me well supplied <G> My mom is from Scotland, so that should explain the whole tea thing. She goes to visit her family and my cousin sends tea to me through my mom, too.

Now, when I go to WDW and ask for tea, they usually bring out either a) iced tea or b) a fancy box. It's got all kinds of smelly, flowery tea in it. None of which I would drink. Nor do I drink the iced tea. It's just not the same.

I think I am going to add tea to this years packing list. Which I haven't made yet. Or "borrowed" from someone else. I am a chronic overpacker, which makes me reluctant to add anything to the not-yet-existing list. I know, logically, that 3 of us should be able to exist on one, possibly two suitcases for a 6 night/7 day vacation. But it's December. It might be cold. Then again, it might not be. We need sweaters ... and tank tops. We need jeans...and shorts. We need bathing suits ... and gloves and scarves and earmuffs and hats. Just look at last years pictures if you don't believe me. But, we may only need them for a day or two. And everyone needs at least two pairs of shoes, in case one gets wet.

Now I'm thinking, it's okay. We're flying on Jet Blue. There are 3 of us, so we can have 3 suitcases. But we're staying at the Contemporary. And I kind of remember reading that there isn't much room to put your stuff, as in dresser drawers and such. And there isn't any counter space in the bathroom.

I always bring way more than we need. I think I'm going to try and really pare it down this time. As long as we remember all the important stuff (like phone and camera charger plugs!), the other stuff you can always get if you need to; right?

 

[carrie6466]

Despite the rain again today, I am going to check the computer to see if any reservations have become available. Then, I'm going to take a ride out the the Disney Outlet store and see what the have along the t-shirt and/or cheap junk for Kristina to take on the plane line.

In looking at Karl's few Disney t-shirts, the need help. Seriously. Like the 'see the garbage can?' type of help that only a wife can give them. I think it's time he got some new ones. I did see a few online on a two-fer deal, but when I put them in the shopping cart, they didn't come up as two-fers.

I'll post pictures later if a) I actually go out there today (since it's an hour drive) and b) I actually buy anything.

 

[carrie6466]

Quick update: Persistence pays off. I just got Tony's Town Square on 12/13 at 5:45.

 

[disney2mom]

Hi there! Just finished reading your post...I'm so glad you are getting a do-over! I had one of those last year in May, it poored the whole time we were there but we had a great trip this May! I hope the weather is better for you because I will be there around the same time. This will be our first trip in December, how cold does it get? Will we need mittens and hats?? We are also going to MVMCP, is it worth the extra money? Your daughter is adorable!