Holiday Lights & Magic December 2013

[khaleesi]

What an awesome idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How special!

 

[LB1122]

Thanks for all the fun comments this week (I promise to take lots of photos and write about the In Room Celebration for you all)...I have been working away in the classroom and out. It is about time for auditions or the play so Dis in taking a small backseat right now. Can't believe how super close we are to this trip.

Our 10th anniversary is on the 22nd and that is our 1 month marker for leaving.....YEAH!!!!!!!! My hubby found out you can celebrate an occasion at Disney up to 60 day after so we are thinking...gray stuff at BOG

Before I go....I wanted to share the autograph book with you. This one is for my daughter, who would be happy if we did nothing else but search out characters to meet and greet with.

We have a ton of Character ADR's - Chef Mickey's, Akershus, Tusker House, Garden Grill, CRT, Crystal Palace, & O'hana and BOG dinner meets Beast (not to mention we canceled 1900 Park for dinner after deciding we wanted a longer park time on our first full day) So I needed space for lots of signatures. My daughter will get the signature of repeat characters so we are talking a minimum of 5 Mickey meet ups with Talking Mickey FP+.

This book has room for about 100 signatures so no worries there and that also means room for photos as well. Have a great week all

 

[Sam33]

That autograph book is just beautiful.
Also that in-room celebration sounds so magical I can hardly stand it. I LOVE Christmas more than anything and your plans sound like one of the best ways to spend Christmas ever!

 

[BridgetR3]

Love the autograph book!!!! You did an amazing job on it!

 

[ZehnJahren]

Wow, nice autograph book! Isn't it cool how kids really, really want to meet the characters? I cannot remember the last character I met!

 

[hunterfaimly]

Just found your PTR. I love following along with folks that are planning a trip at the same time as I am. We went for Christmas 2011 as a surprise for our DDs (9&4) and the day we returned we went to a family Christmas with my husbands family. I guess we really sold them on how much fun we had because before we left it was decided we would go back in 2013 with all of us. We are arriving the 21st and staying until the 29th. 7 adults and 5 kids. We have a lot of similar plans. Not long now 8^)

Noelle

 

[dismom9761]

great autograph book

 

[Iamthequeen]

Hi LB - finally found your PTR and am following along. I so want to go to WDW during the Christmas season, but I don't think I could actually go over Christmas unless I took all of my kids and their families. That might happen one day, but not anytime soon.

Your daughter is adorable! Love all of her costumes and your mom is very talented. I know because I've made costumes for years for the school drama department - 4 kids involved in theater spread out over 13 years makes for 26 plays and musicals - and lots of costumes!

Glad dh finally found a job that he likes and is good at doing. It is important to like the work that you do.

We will stay at the Wilderness Lodge for one of our trips. We have a family trip planned for September 2015, though we haven't made any hard and fast plans for it. My brother and sil will be coming from Hawaii to go with us and we will start discussions about who else will be coming along after the holidays, since everyone will have to start saving.

One suggestion and its not really a "have to do" but when you go on Soarin' try to request the first row otherwise you get "feet" from the rows above in your view. Not a deal breaker, but if you've never been on it, you should have an unobstructed view for your first time.

I'm ready to go back to my happy place now. Reading about your plans makes me want to go for Christmas too!

 

[blessedmom4]

LB, LOVE the autograph book, that is a lot of character interaction. Your adorable daughter will be so happy.

 

[blessedmom4]

Your daughter is adorable! Love all of her costumes and your mom is very talented. I know because I've made costumes for years for the school drama department - 4 kids involved in theater spread out over 13 years makes for 26 plays and musicals - and lots of costumes!

I just have to say WOW, WOW, WOW! I am always in awe of folks who can sew.

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Somehow I lost this thread for a bit. So glad. I found it again! The in room celebration looks amazing!! I look forward to pictures. Also, I love the autograph books!

 

[LB1122]

Just found your PTR. I love following along with folks that are planning a trip at the same time as I am. We went for Christmas 2011 as a surprise for our DDs (9&4) and the day we returned we went to a family Christmas with my husbands family. I guess we really sold them on how much fun we had because before we left it was decided we would go back in 2013 with all of us. We are arriving the 21st and staying until the 29th. 7 adults and 5 kids. We have a lot of similar plans. Not long now 8^)

Noelle

YEAH for being so close. We are 36 days out...my poor students here the countdown everyday and they get excited because it means closer to winter break.. Enjoy!!

Your daughter is adorable! Love all of her costumes and your mom is very talented. I know because I've made costumes for years for the school drama department - 4 kids involved in theater spread out over 13 years makes for 26 plays and musicals - and lots of costumes!

Love that your were a stage mom. My mom has been making costumes for Halloween and my stage encounters for a long time now and she loves it. She sews for the productions I do at my middle school...so even when she thought she was done. I sucked her back in.

 

[khaleesi]

Love the autograph book!!! I love meeting the characters too... and I'm 41! Haha. I need to decide what I want to do for an autograph book and I've been tossing around a couple ideas but nothing is sticking.

 

[LB1122]

Made my Mousekeeping envelopes today. I wanted them to be neutral and not holiday themed. Last time we visited I left some money only one day and looking back figured most likely it was different people in my room each day (at least a few different). We are going to follow the general tipping ideas people have mentioned. It seems tipping is a hot button topic on the Dis, but I find that great service should be rewarded and it is the holiday season as well so...

 

[Dream426]

Love the envelopes and scrapbook!! They came out great. I wish I was crafty like that. Well I wish I had the time to be crafty like that. Maybe when my girls get a little older I will...lol

 

[Suziannie]

- In room Surprise being delivered before we get back to room for the night. Not sure what it will be yet??? [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] (Surprise #4)

We've been considering an in room surprise for our trip. Have you done it before? We've done it more than a few times for ourselves, and for other people on a few cruise lines and LOVE the surprise, even if we know it's coming. But I don't have any experience with the Disney stuff. We were thinking about the tote bag with snacks and the special fireworks glasses since that would be fairly easy to get back home on a plane. But I'm not sure I want to spend that much on a bag with candy in it.

 

[LB1122]

Changes...again???

Well the have released the extended park hours for our upcoming trip and that meant we felt we had some wiggle room to play with.

We were very concerned about rushing over to MK after Fantasmic for our later dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table...but with the later hours and added Fantasmic each night, we decided to cancel our lunch plans with Fantasmic package on Friday and added Hollywood & Vine back in for lunch.

For us this means no waiting in line later or earlier to meet Jake or Handy Manny. We do not care so much about the other two but they are blasts form the past in our daughter's world.

Funny how things change still at this time. But hey I am all about the Chocolate fountain they are talking about at H&V now!!

 

[mchelle77]

The park changes are driving me crazy ... changed our MK day from a 2 to a 5. Not HORRIBLE, but not as good as it was when I set my days. And we have hard-to-get ADRs so there will be no swapping around!

Love those envelopes! Might have to do something like that this weekend ... we leave a week from tomorrow!

 

[ZehnJahren]

Made my Mousekeeping envelopes today. I wanted them to be neutral and not holiday themed. Last time we visited I left some money only one day and looking back figured most likely it was different people in my room each day (at least a few different). We are going to follow the general tipping ideas people have mentioned. It seems tipping is a hot button topic on the Dis, but I find that great service should be rewarded and it is the holiday season as well so...

Those are beautiful! I agree good/great service should be rewarded, and myself I think it should be more during the holiday season! But yes, it is a hot topic.

Your trip is coming up soon!

 

[LB1122]

This weekend has totally gotten away from me and here we are less than a month away from take-off....

What a week it was.

- I got to see P!NK on Wednesday (totally awesome show)

- Celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary on Friday (I will have to share my Disney inspired flowers with you tomorrow)

- Had date night last night with a group of co-workers - CATCHING FIRE!!!! Awesome flick!

- Got the daughter into pants that fit (why do they grow so fast) today and she is officially ready to be packed up for the trip...

NOW...my turn to start finding clothes for myself (if I can figure out what type of clothing to wear in Florida in December). I have a few checklists started to prepare for packing....Less than a month until take off.!!!!!!!!