Healing at our Happy Place: making GOOD 2017 memories: Mar, May, Aug, Oct, Dec TRs (3/24 UPDATE)

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER UPDATE!!

Ready for a BIG December update? My stalking has finally paid off! Just a little while ago, I managed to book PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE for my FIL, and so now we will all be staying there together in a few weeks.

Sadly I'm a bit torn about this, as part of me was kinda looking forward to trying out Pop Century, but the kids have NEVER stayed at Port Orleans and I think they will enjoy it. We can now all stay in the same room together, but there is an option to put a kid in the room with my FIL if necessary.

So quick question...anyone ever had themselves attached to TWO rooms at the same time? I ended up sticking my DH in the room with my FIL when I made this reservation, because I wanted to be able to control it and I control my DH as he doesn't have his own MDE account. I'm already having an issue since I booked Pop Century for my FIL and put him and my oldest son together, but I don't have the link to be able to cancel it. My FIL no longer has access to his MDE account, nor does he want to right now, so I'm hoping that when I call Disney to cancel this (since it was booked with MY credit card and billing information) they won't give me a hard time about it. I guess I'll know soon enough as I need to cancel that other Pop Century room ASAP.

I still need to combine my two POR Resort reservations also, as they were booked separately and I don't want to have to change rooms.

Plus I booked my FIL in a Garden View (since that was all that they had) and we are in the same, but need the extra bed in ours. I believe I read that we'll be in the Alligator Bayou section because that is the location with the rooms that have the extra bed.

I'm just happy that we are in the same resort AND that we get to try out Port Orleans again. I may be sporting my MILs Dixie Landings hat from her VERY first trip to Walt Disney World in her honor.

And now I can stop stalking the websites and relax for a while hopefully.

 

[piglet1979]

I don't have the answer to your question but we stayed their on our last trip. We loved it their. Below is a link to a webpage that someone on the Dis has but together and has a ton of information about the resort. The other link is to the POR thread on here. Out of all of the Resort pages I have been on here this one had the most helpful information. It is very active to. The Guy that put the website together is on POR thread all the time posting new information and answering questions. This might be a good place to start.

http://www.portorleans.org/

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ort-information-and-questions-thread.3374035/

 

[Raeven]

Ready for a BIG December update? My stalking has finally paid off! Just a little while ago, I managed to book PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE for my FIL, and so now we will all be staying there together in a few weeks.

Yay! I'm glad it's showing some more availability. I looked and actually saw availability for our trip too. Very tempting because I wanted to stay there originally, but I think we'll have to stick with CSR because we got a discount.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

So happy your stalking paid off!!!!

 

[kittylady1972]

Yay! I'm glad it's showing some more availability. I looked and actually saw availability for our trip too. Very tempting because I wanted to stay there originally, but I think we'll have to stick with CSR because we got a discount.

Yes...and just like that the availability was GONE so glad I booked when I did. I wouldn't mind doing CSR one day, and that was coming up as an option for a few of our nights, but never as all of them or I would have booked it!

So happy your stalking paid off!!!!

Me too...so happy!

 

[dalmatian7]

I have to say, when I first read of your October trip, it sounded like a logistics nightmare to me, but it sounds like you did a great job making it work and that you had a blast. I am now looking forward to the day the kiddos in our group can detach on their own for periods of time and we can slow down. I may still be the weirdo pushing a stroller because I don't know what I would do without one. hehehehe.

We stayed at POR in 2013 in the Mansions. I don't know how the views catagories differ in the Bayou, but we were all in the same building just different areas. the website in the last post, has great view/room area info. It is such a pretty place, I imagine so lovely with christmas decor too!

 

[kittylady1972]

I have to say, when I first read of your October trip, it sounded like a logistics nightmare to me, but it sounds like you did a great job making it work and that you had a blast. I am now looking forward to the day the kiddos in our group can detach on their own for periods of time and we can slow down. I may still be the weirdo pushing a stroller because I don't know what I would do without one. hehehehe.

We stayed at POR in 2013 in the Mansions. I don't know how the views catagories differ in the Bayou, but we were all in the same building just different areas. the website in the last post, has great view/room area info. It is such a pretty place, I imagine so lovely with christmas decor too!

It did sound rather crazy, but it all worked out pretty well. Yes it was a bit like herding cats at times, and yes having the kids go off on their own is definitely interesting but my kids know how to navigate the world pretty well and they all stayed in groups and had no issues. I do miss the stroller days in some ways...for storage purposes mostly...but this way is so much easier in many ways. Of course, the freedom comes with attitudes that at times I can definitely do without and I am famous for telling them "this is what WE are doing now...you can do it with us without complaining or go do your own thing" and that usually works.

Yes our one and only stay was in the Mansions, but I've read that those do not have the rooms that sleep five people. I'm hoping we just get lucky and have a great location, but we'll be happy no matter where we end up really. We don't do non DVC resorts very often, but we are going to go with it this time for a new experience.

 

[kittylady1972]

Quick Misc Update:

So MagicBands arrived yesterday...much to the dismay of my kids. I asked a while ago what colors they wanted, and two of the kids had responses, DH didn't want any more, and oldest son had picked a color already and solidified it because he was on a DIFFERENT reservation than the rest of us. I still had him in a room with his grandfather at Pop Century.

So over the weekend the two bands for Pop Century arrived...but of course I have since cancelled our other Pop Century room but haven't gotten around to cancelling the other one because it requires me to call since it isn't technically listed as "mine" as I put it in my FIL and son's name, and son being 17 can't control it. Anyway, I believe that when I asked the kids about the colors, it was for the Pop Century room...that is now gone.

In the meantime, I decided I wanted a new color myself and changed one of my Port Orleans reservations to get Magicbands and since I wanted RED for Christmas...I got Red for my other two kids as well. That is the box that arrived yesterday...and they were not happy that the colors they requested (one gray and one orange) were not there.

Ooops.

However I have TWO Port Orleans room reservations for myself...and so I managed to go online and change the colors for them on that one and hopefully those will ship soon. Crisis averted.

In the meantime, I still stalk the DVC site just in case something opens up there for December, since that would mean a FREE room for us, but no such luck so far and it's not looking good.

***********

In other Disney news, did I mention we are planning a trip to Hawaii for this summer? Yes as a reward for my son graduating from HS, an early 20-year wedding anniversary trip for DH and myself, and who knows what else, we've decided to splurge on a trip to Hawaii with some friends. I'm planning to book Disney's Aulani for 3 nights for 9 of us, and then my friends have a nearby condo they will book as well, so we'll get about 8 nights total there. Then we are also hoping to island hop to one other place for a few nights. So of course I checked the DVC Availability site today and WOW...booking with the 7-month window is going to be extra tough and we'll most likely have to waitlist a few nights. Crazy! I guess it's a popular place...who knew? I'll keep my fingers crossed as I still have a few days to wait but as of now...it's not looking great for getting something immediately.

************

That's all of the good stuff for now. In the meantime, I've got SEVEN more radiation treatments to go and I'm in an increasing amount of pain each time right now with severe radiation burn. It's really making me question if I should have gone through with this radiation and wondering if I'd been better off removing this breast instead. Ouch. Hopefully by the time we leave for our trip, at two weeks past my final treatment, it won't be as bad. Fingers crossed or I am not sure I'll be able to ride a few rides with this current level of discomfort. Cancer sucks.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Cancer sucks.

Yes it does. Sending comfort and healing thoughts and prayers your way.

 

[xlsm]

Cancer sucks.

Yes it does.

You sound like you're juggling magic bands like me! I logged in today to pick our colors for Dec/Jan and mine is just a long list of them. I wish there was a way to delete them totally and not just deactivate so they're not cluttering up the screen!

That's so exciting about Hawaii!! We want to go in the next couple of years, but I'm having trouble coming up with an itinerary we all agree to. We'll have to stay for like three months to do everything we want (ok, realistically ten days or two weeks to make it worth it - hard to do with dogs, we've never left them that long before!! Even when my mother in law stays with them I worry the whole time)

 

[kittylady1972]

Yes it does. Sending comfort and healing thoughts and prayers your way.

Thank you.

Yes it does.

You sound like you're juggling magic bands like me! I logged in today to pick our colors for Dec/Jan and mine is just a long list of them. I wish there was a way to delete them totally and not just deactivate so they're not cluttering up the screen!

That's so exciting about Hawaii!! We want to go in the next couple of years, but I'm having trouble coming up with an itinerary we all agree to. We'll have to stay for like three months to do everything we want (ok, realistically ten days or two weeks to make it worth it - hard to do with dogs, we've never left them that long before!! Even when my mother in law stays with them I worry the whole time)

Yes the MagicBand list it completely insane. My DH deactivated a lot of his, and in fact when we were there last month he turned them back in since they do recycle them if you turn them in, in case anybody didn't know that. We may have to turn some in this trip as well. It's crazy.

I get the Hawaii thing, so much to see there and since I've never been I want to do as much as possible as I expect this will be a once in a lifetime trip there, sorta like my honeymoon to Australia. Anyway I think we will be there about 10 or 11 days as well if I can work it out. We'll just be leaving cats at home and our dog will most likely stay with my FIL as long as he's in town and available.

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER UPDATE

21 days to go! Only a small update right now, and that is I finally cancelled my FILs Pop Century room reservation last night, so anybody looking for a room at Pop you might be able to snag it. Also I got notification that our MagicBands shipped so my kids should have their real requested new colored bands sometime soon...and we'll be all set.

I'm going to just stop looking for DVC reservations for December because I realized yesterday that I'll need all the points I can get to be able to book Aulani this weekend. Beginning in December, we get our next allotment of DVC points, and at that time I'll be looking to book for THANKSGIVING 2018.

Yes, if I haven't mentioned it, we already have plans to return next Thanksgiving with my brother and family, as well as my dad...and his girlfriend and yeah I'm not really sure how I feel about that quite yet. I've had very limited exposure to her at this point (read: my kids have met her ONCE at a restaurant) and now we are talking a family vacation with her next year. Today would have been my parents' 49th wedding anniversary...and later this month would have been my mom's 71st birthday, so November is a bit tough right now. Plus throw in the holidays. I'm just not really ready to add another person to my planning party on MDE as right now my mom is still listed in my "friends" there and I'm not sure how to have her removed.

Anyway I can't think too much about that right now, as we are just over a year away from that.

For now...December is coming up soon and I can't wait to be back in my Happy Place just one more time this year.

 

[kittylady1972]

DECEMBER UPDATE - PLAN 1.2

Ok so we are closing in on our trip and it will be here before we know it. I've got plenty of busy weekends coming up between now and then so I'm sure it will go fast.

We leave in 19 days. The only thing that's changed is that I've removed one of our lunch ADRs because I don't want to be tied down to it. I'm still seriously considering some major park hopping for a few of our days to maximize EMH at a few parks, but we'll see what happens.

Here is the plan:

• WEDNESDAY: School and work, airport by 4pm for our 6pm flight. 8:30pm arrival at MCO, get our rental car then head directly to Port Orleans Riverside, drop off our stuff, and drive over to Magic Kingdom that night. EMH until 1am, and just hoping for arrival close to 9:30pm/10pm at the park. If we can get a few rides done from 10pm-12am that would be great.

• THURSDAY: We can:
  • Try to hit EMH at EPCOT by 8am and do a few things there (Soarin' and FEA), maybe grab breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, then head over to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day OR
  • Just grab breakfast at our resort, then head to Magic Kingdom by 9am, ride some stuff, use our FP+s for that day, and we have plans for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern

Since is a party night, hopefully it won't be too crowded here. We are still debating doing the Christmas Party. I'd only be doing it for the park time at night and the parade, NOT the characters. I'm not sure I need all you can eat cookies and hot chocolate. If we do NOT to the Christmas Party, then our options would be to head to Hollywood Studios and catch Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM and the new evening holiday stuff there or heading to Animal Kingdom before 8pm and try to catch FOP during the last hour of the park.
​

• FRIDAY: This is our EPCOT day, so I have our 3 FPs scheduled here. I am considering that we could hit MK for EMH that morning (7am EMH time) and ride a few things here first. Another party day, so maybe not crowded except those taking advantage of the extra morning hours since they can't stay late in the park. If we did that, we'd need to leave MK by 10am and head to EPCOT to catch our first FP+ there after 10:30am. We have lunch at Tutto Italia scheduled here, since I know my Italian family members will enjoy that. In the evening, we have plans to hit AK at the last hour that it's open for FOP OR we can do the JBJB instead.

• SATURDAY: This is our actual planned day at AK. Arrive close to opening (it is an 8am EMH day) and ride Everest Standby and maybe even the Safari and Dinosaur. I'd like to get Safari done so I we don't have to stick around until our 2pm FP+ for that one. I am hoping the new Tiger Cubs are out by this time, so we'll make plans to hit the Maharajah Trail to see them if they are our. Our FPs here are Everest (12pm), FOP (1pm) and the Safari (at 2pm) but if we get some of those rides done at opening we can redo the FPs...well all but FOP. Lunch I'm sure will be here at Satu'li Canteen. I'd like to catch the Lion King show again, and Flight of Wonder which we missed last time also and is rumored to be on the outs! We need to be out of AK and over to EPCOT by around 3pm as we have a 4pm reservation at Marakesh followed by the 6:45pm CP show with Kurt Russell. If we are still feeling good that evening, we can even hit MK afterwards for a few rides before the 12am closing, making it a 3-park day.

• SUNDAY: Departure day...it goes by so quickly. Final day will be spent in HS, which at this point we have no plans to visit until this day, at least during the day. It's an easy last-day park for us. We have some FPs here, with our last one at 2pm. We'll do all we can here, departing for the airport around 5:30pm for our 8pm flight home.

 

[KathyM2]

So exciting that you are getting this close to your next trip! POR will be amazing. Have you seen yeehaw Bob? I love him. Your plans look amazing (though very busy to me, the Disney slacker lol)

 

[kittylady1972]

So exciting that you are getting this close to your next trip! POR will be amazing. Have you seen yeehaw Bob? I love him. Your plans look amazing (though very busy to me, the Disney slacker lol)

I know...we are so excited. Everybody keeps talking up FoP with my FIL (our friends who went with us on our last trip were doing that over the weekend) so hopefully he will feel the same way once he rides it.

We did see Yeehaw Bob a few years ago, made a special trip over because I wanted to see it, but we couldn't sit very close to where he was performing and that may not have helped. I think everybody in my group (kids, DH and in-laws) were just like...ooookay then. I guess expecting much more after the hype I had about going. We watched for a little while and left, though I could have stayed for longer. If we could go, grab a seat and eat while he was playing it would be better and maybe we'll try that this trip since we will already be staying there. However with so much to do and a short timeframe, maybe not.

 

[kittylady1972]

Did I mention yet we are now 16 days away from our trip???

Nothing new to report since my last update. Over the weekend I went through the process of trying to book our NEXT vacation, our trip to Aulani in June, but of course the days I want are already booked so I had to waitlist them. Hopefully we will get them.

Over the weekend we spent a lot of time with many of our friends, the majority of them had been on our last trip with us. I find it funny that they always bring up, what is known as the "Disney Death March" in our circle, because it was a pretty busy trip of course. We had a lot to see with a limited time to see it and we made the most of it. I am not at all offended that they think my method of touring is a bit crazy, because in the same breath I am flattered that they also all admit that if they ever returned to Disney they would NOT want to go WITHOUT me as we really did have a good time overall and our plans all worked out well.

My FIL knows our touring style having been on the majority of our previous trips, so he's ready for the challenge of our next trip. Everybody really keeps talking up Flight of Passage to him so I just hope it meets his expectations now. I know it will be painful to experience Disney for the first time without his wife, but I hope that he will still have a good time overall.

Most of all right now I just hope that I will be healed enough to enjoy this trip, because right now I'm in a lot of discomfort. I'm hoping after radiation treatment is completed Wednesday that I'll begin healing.

 

[kittylady1972]

First the good news: I'm DONE with RADIATION!! My appointment was this morning at 6:30am, so I went in there, had my last radiation blast, got my "graduation" certificate, and rang the bell surrounded by all of the lovely nurses there. Next step is healing and then a bunch more follow-up appointments as we continue treatment.

******************

Countdown to WDW: TWO WEEKS or 14 DAYS and 8.5 hours

No changes. Just counting the days now. I'm sure it will be here before we know it.

We are having some family to the house for Thanksgiving, not as big of a gathering as we have had in the past. Just my FIL and my maternal aunt will be with us for the big feast. I do have lots of food to prepare, which I plan to start today so as to make my Thanksgiving day a little easier.

Hope everybody else celebrating the holiday has a great one!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

YAY!!! Congrats on finishing radiation!!!! And, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

 

[Raeven]

First the good news: I'm DONE with RADIATION!! My appointment was this morning at 6:30am, so I went in there, had my last radiation blast, got my "graduation" certificate, and rang the bell surrounded by all of the lovely nurses there. Next step is healing and then a bunch more follow-up appointments as we continue treatment.

Hooray! Congrats!

Countdown to WDW: TWO WEEKS or 14 DAYS and 8.5 hours

I'm so excited. Our countdowns are about the same so seeing yours makes me so excited

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[piglet1979]

Yay!!!!!!! You are done. That is great news.