I just couldnt wait anymore....

[teslaaunt]

My Very First Pre-Trip Report

Let me begin by saying that I have never done one of these, but have been an avid reader for a couple of years. I have come to rely on all things DIS when planning our vacations . I would like to say there have been many, but truth be told we have only been once before, Sept of 07.

The people on this trip will be as follows: Us- Kev(DH), Steph (myself), Jane (DM), Hunter(DS)

and another family, we'll call them "The E's": Scott(DF), Lisa(DF), Jake(DS’s BF), Alea(DS’s BF that’s a girl ) and Lisa’s mother.

So there you have it, a party of 9.

I am hoping by posting this pretrip report that maybe some of you might have some fun suggestions for a group our size.

Our travel dates are Dec. 26-Jan. 2, 2010. I know, I know-it will be crowded. I know, I know-it will be more crowded than I'm imagining. But thanks for that warning ahead of time. You see, it has been a dream of mine since the birth of my son to spend Christmas at Disney World. I figure we’ll do it and get it out of our systems.

I wasn’t able to go to Disney World or Land until our trip in 2007. My family was not a big vacation family. I dreamed of being able to go, and promised myself that when I had kids……well, you know the mantra. Kev went to Disneyland as a child, but Sept. was the first time to DisneyWorld for him also. That trip was just a wonderful, magical experience for us. Everything went perfect, no gliches, FREE dining, sunny weather, etc. "The E's" traveled with us on that trip too, so I guess we didn’t embarrass them too bad . Our children are very close and it was so neat to see Disney through their eyes.

The planning for this trip began in Sept of 08. I went on the Disney World site and quoted a trip for this time period . I was pleasantly surprised that the prices weren’t as bad as what I’d thought they’d be. I cut and pasted a copy of the quote and emailed it to my mom (who was really disappointed she was unable to go the past Sept). Within minutes she called and said “BOOK IT”. So I did . My hands were sweating, knees shaking, but I booked our Disney World Christmas/New Year Vacation!! The only problem about booking this far in advance is it is next to impossible to plan anything. You see, I'm a neurotic planner. In the meantime, I sat by and read other trip reports and waited to start on my own . Now….I know you are saying….but it’s still 11 months away. I know, I know. I just couldn’t wait one more second. Plus, I got to thinking that if I started it now then maybe some of you DIS veterans could make suggestions as far as dining, things to do etc. So please, feel free to let the help and suggestions flow…..go ahead, Im waiting…….

While you guys think about that let me give you the details of our plans so far. We live in Alabama and are planning on driving down. Each family in their own vehicle. We will leave on Sat. 26th, am. It is about an 11 hour drive from where we are starting, and were planning on arriving in Orlando that night. Any hotel recommendations would be wonderful…hint, hint. We’ll stay outside the park that night, arrive bright and early the next morning rested and ready to go . YEA!! We are staying at AllStar Music and hopefully be able to get the adjoining room with mom. For our budget, we cant see spending an incredible amount of money on the room. It just doesn’t make good sense for us. We stayed here on our previous trip and were pleased with everything, so why not again?

Now we get to where I need suggestions again….DINING. We are doing the dining plan with table service, counter service, and snack. The only place we REALLY want to eat again is the Coral Reef (we loved it there last time). I’m wondering about places that handle groups our size. Anyone have an experience with this? I believe that any place could as long as we didn’t expect to all be at one table, is that correct? O’hana seemed a good option, but I wanted to try some different places. I don’t think were quite the V & A crowd, but something nice would be great. I thought since my hubby was a native Oregonian that he might really like Artist Point. Anyone have a dining experience there they might want to share? I was also thinking that Whispering Canyon would be good. How welcoming is LeCellier to children? Ours are well behaved and have good manners, but it looks just a little stuffy…I could be wrong though. Another adventure that my mom and I are going to do is LaNouba. She wants to do this more than anything else while we are there.

Ok, so there you have it. The beginning of the “Pre-Trip” report. I know I tend to ramble, especially when Im excited. Bare with me, I’ll get better at this as we go along. I hope some of you will find our journey interesting and again, feel free to throw those suggestions at me. I’ll be waiting…..Stephanie

 

[an_evans]

I am along for the ride! We did a large group at Chef Mickey's and loved it. The buffets have a wide variety of food.