"I know! I'll turn him into a duck!..." Or, I could just start my Dec 2010 PTR.

[therussells08]

HEY! I will be at POP on the 26th!!!!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

I figured I should post an updated schedule. This one includes our extra day and rough flight times. Also, we switched a couple of our days around.

Sunday, 19 December
-- Get to airport around 4:30am
-- Arrive at MCO around 2pm
-- ME to POFQ
-- Check in at POFQ no later than 5pm or so
-- Drop bags off in room and meet up with everyone else
-- Hop onto the boat to DTD around 6pm
-- Dinner at T-Rex at 7pm
-- Walk around DTD and either Ghirardelli or Goofy's Candy Co. for dessert

Monday, 20 December
-- Magic Kingdom

Tuesday, 21 December
-- Hollywood Studios

Wednesday, 22 December
-- Magic Kingdom
-- Anniversary Dinner at Victoria & Albert's at 5:45pm

Thursday, 23 December
-- Animal Kingdom

Friday, 24 December
-- Epcot
-- CP Dinner Package

Saturday, 25 December
-- Presents and family time at the hotel
-- Lunch/Shopping at DTD
-- Resort Hopping to look at Christmas decorations
-- Dinner at Ohana at 7:00pm

Sunday, 26 December
-- Most of family goes home
-- MK for rope drop
-- Ohana Character Breakfast at 10:30am
-- Mini Golf
-- Dinner at Sanaa at 5:45pm

Monday, 27 December
-- ME back to the airport at about 5am

Now, we're just waiting to book our CP package! The plan will probably change a lot more as the trip gets closer. We'll see.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

HEY! I will be at POP on the 26th!!!!

That's right! I hadn't thought about that yet. Maybe we'll run into each other!

 

[therussells08]

That looks like a great schedule!

I hope we do run into each other! Then I could meet baby Lucy in person!

Just keep your eye open for a hyper girl dragging around a really tall and tired looking DH!

 

[kelmarie]

We'll be there, too...or are planning to be. Guess that depends on when they open up ADRs for it and what restaurant we are able to get. I'm REALLY hoping for Le Cellier or Teppan Edo, but with a party of 13, I guess we'll take what we can get. Except for Biergarten. BTDT. Very excited to be going at Christmas. It doesn't get any more magical than that!

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey there!!! Plans look awesome!!! So have you ever ate at T-Rex before??? We are eating there for the 1st time in 2 weeks! Can't wait!


I think you are making a wise move avoiding parks on Christmas day!!! Great plans!!!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

That looks like a great schedule!

I hope we do run into each other! Then I could meet baby Lucy in person!

Just keep your eye open for a hyper girl dragging around a really tall and tired looking DH!

Thanks! We'll keep an eye out for you!

We'll be there, too...or are planning to be. Guess that depends on when they open up ADRs for it and what restaurant we are able to get. I'm REALLY hoping for Le Cellier or Teppan Edo, but with a party of 13, I guess we'll take what we can get. Except for Biergarten. BTDT. Very excited to be going at Christmas. It doesn't get any more magical than that!

Those are our top 2 choices too! We'd be happy with about 6 restaurants, though, 7 or 8 if the new Epcot restaurants are open for the package too. I hope you get Le Cellier or Teppan Edo!

Hey there!!! Plans look awesome!!! So have you ever ate at T-Rex before??? We are eating there for the 1st time in 2 weeks! Can't wait!


I think you are making a wise move avoiding parks on Christmas day!!! Great plans!!!

We have not eaten at T-Rex before, though we are pretty excited. There's one in Kansas City, I think, and we're visiting family in Topeka, KS next week. We've talked about going over to that one to try it out, but we probably won't. You'll have to let me know how it is when you get back. It's so exciting that your Aug trip is almost here!

Yeah, none of us really wanted to fight the crowds on Christmas. I'm hoping the crowds at DTD are a little more manageable.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Well, we're hitting the road this afternoon (hopefully) to visit family in KS for two weeks. We're visiting my parents for a week and then DW's family for a week. I know I'll be without internet when we're with my parents and possibly for the whole time we're gone. I hope I'll have new and exciting Disney news (like booking CP!!) to report when I get back.

Other Disney trip related things we plan on doing while we're gone:

-- Getting LGMH's at Home Depot!
-- Working on my planning notebook.
-- Disney Store shopping
-- T-Rex in Kansas City (maybe)

I'll be missing the DIS while I'm gone!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Have a safe trip. Enjoy yourself, and don't worry about us.

 

[therussells08]

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Have a safe trip. Enjoy yourself, and don't worry about us.

Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks! The trip is going well so far. My parents decided out of the blue to get internet which allows me to update on here and be a little more informed on the CP package waiting.

Lucy did well in the car, but DW and I defnitely agree that we made a very good decision about flying to Disney. It would not have been a pleasant experience to drive.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hope you had fun in KS!!!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Just when I thought most of my planning was complete, I come up with more to plan. I guess that's to be expected, though, with 4 months left until out trip.

I am super excited because I have decided to book a resort photo session while we are there. DW has been asking that we get professional photos done for a while and I have been putting it off. I am going to surprise her with a photo session at Disney! Now, I have some quick planning to do. I thought I had plenty of time because photo sessions didn't book until 30 days out, but now they're apparently taking reservations through December so I need to get on this.

I need to decide which resort to book the session at. I'm leaning toward GF, but am also considering Beach Club or Wilderness Lodge (for the big Christmas tree). We will most likely do the session on 26 December in the afternoon between ADR's. Any thoughts on resort choice?

 

[therussells08]

What a wonderful idea!! I think your DW is going to love that surprise!! I'm torn about the resort, though. I would say GF just because I think it is SO gorgeous, but I'm leaning toward WL since it will be Christmas time. Hmmm.... I think I'm going to vote for GF! While WL would make great Christmas pics, I think GF is best for something you can display year round!!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

What a wonderful idea!! I think your DW is going to love that surprise!! I'm torn about the resort, though. I would say GF just because I think it is SO gorgeous, but I'm leaning toward WL since it will be Christmas time. Hmmm.... I think I'm going to vote for GF! While WL would make great Christmas pics, I think GF is best for something you can display year round!!

Thanks! I'm still leaning toward GF, but I'm going to give a little more detail to see if that changes anyone's choices.

The day we'll have the photo session, we have an ADR at Ohana at 10:30am and an ADR at Sanaa at 5:45pm. I don't mind trying to switch ADR's around to make the photo session work. If we keep them, though, I think we'd either do an early afternoon (2-ish) session at GF or a late afternoon (4-ish) session at AKL. Any thoughts on which one might be better? I'm also open to completely different suggestions. I just want to make this the best surprise I can for DW. No matter what I know she'll be thrilled.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Well, we are finally back home! I enjoyed two weeks with family but it's good to be back home. The car is unloaded and we are mostly unpacked. Now it's time for bed.

Lucy did pretty well on the drive home but there were definitely some rough patches. Not that I needed it, but the drive home was more confirmation that driving to Orlando would have been a horrible idea. I hope Lucy handles flying well!

 

[therussells08]

Thanks! I'm still leaning toward GF, but I'm going to give a little more detail to see if that changes anyone's choices.

The day we'll have the photo session, we have an ADR at Ohana at 10:30am and an ADR at Sanaa at 5:45pm. I don't mind trying to switch ADR's around to make the photo session work. If we keep them, though, I think we'd either do an early afternoon (2-ish) session at GF or a late afternoon (4-ish) session at AKL. Any thoughts on which one might be better? I'm also open to completely different suggestions. I just want to make this the best surprise I can for DW. No matter what I know she'll be thrilled.

I say keep your ADRs and do the 2-ish session at GF! That's my vote, but AKL would be great, too. Like you said, your DW is going to be happy no matter what you choose!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted an update. Work has been crazy this last couple of weeks! I have a few big updates and some minor ones.

As far as the road trip goes, I did manage to get my LGMH's! I haven't done anything with them yet but I will post pics once I do. I got some work done on my planning notebook, but I haven't finished it yet. We didn't manage to make it to Kansas City for T-Rex so we'll just have to wait until Disney. Sadly, that means that we didn't make it to the Disney Store either. I have four days off for the Labor Day weekend so we're considering driving to Minneapolis then. If so, we could go to the Disney Store there! We haven't decided if we want to make the drive yet.

Now, on to big updates. I ended up booking the Photo Session at AKL for 4:00 PM and kept our Sanaa reservation. However, I also rearranged a good portion of our day for other reasons. DW and I love mini golf. It's one of our favorite things to do as an outing. We have never done mini golf at Disney because something always came up and it wouldn't fit in our schedule. Before I came up with the idea of the photo session, I was really happy because our extra Disney day meant that we would surely get to mini golf this trip. The photo session, though, was going to make the timing a challenge. So, I have come up with a plan. Here goes.

I have moved our Ohana reservation to 7:50AM. We will say goodbye to the other half of our group at the hotel and then take a taxi to the Polynesian. While I'm thinking of it, has anyone ever done the split stay thing? Will bell services transfer your bags to your hotel for you and if so about how long does it take for you to see your bags again? Either way, we will probably have to take our clothes for the photo session with us to Ohana. I don't want to wear them because I feel like there's a lot that could happen through the day to ruin the clothes for the photo session, especially with Lucy. After Ohana, we have a block of time that could, depending on how things go, be used for mini golf. After mini golf, we'll go check in at Pop. We'll hang out there for a little while, change, and then head to our photo session and Sanaa. Sound good? Mini golf is still not the priority of the day but I would really love to go and I know DW would enjoy it.

In other news, I booked our CP reservation! After almost an hour of busy signals and redialing and about 40 minutes on hold, we got Teppan Edo at 5:10 PM for the 8:15 show. That was our third choice, but we are very happy with it. By the time the day came to make reservations, I was already leaning away from Le Cellier. Getting Chefs de France would have been nice, though. I will still probably call every once in a while to see if there are cancellations.

I think that's about it for now. We're getting close to 100 days. Almost double digits!

 

[magickingdom]

The photo session sounds great!! I wish Bella would be more cooperative when it comes to pro pics, she hates them and pouts, looks away and runs! What great memories that will make. I hope the road trip wasn't too bad with Lucy. I remember taking bella on a long car ride to Cali when she had just turned one, all I will say is that it made for one LONG drive!! I look back on it now and can't believe I didn't do much planning for her to be in the car. Now that we are driving down in December I am doing all sorts of research and already gathering things and making plans for it. Lesson learned I guess! Can't wait to hear more...

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

The photo session sounds great!! I wish Bella would be more cooperative when it comes to pro pics, she hates them and pouts, looks away and runs! What great memories that will make. I hope the road trip wasn't too bad with Lucy. I remember taking bella on a long car ride to Cali when she had just turned one, all I will say is that it made for one LONG drive!! I look back on it now and can't believe I didn't do much planning for her to be in the car. Now that we are driving down in December I am doing all sorts of research and already gathering things and making plans for it. Lesson learned I guess! Can't wait to hear more...

Lucy is a very cooperative baby now! I'm hoping she still will be when December gets here, especially after a week of Disney. Still, if it doesn't work out, it'll give us just one more excuse to come back to Disney.

The road trip wasn't that bad, but it was definitely a change of pace from road trips before we had Lucy. There were a couple of rough moments but I think that's to be expected when traveling with a two-month old. Next time we do a long road trip with her, I'll make sure to do a lot of planning and I'll remember the tips you're sharing on your PTR!

Lately, even if we're just driving to the store, Lucy will just start screaming and then a few minutes later she'll be asleep. For those first few minutes, though, she's inconsolable. We haven't been able to figure it out. She'll grow out of it we hope.