~i'll be home for Xmas but 1st i'm going to DISNEY WORLD!~ TR link posted!

[punkin413]

Your plans look great. I love the first day. On our last trip we went to the Boardwalk and it's just so relaxing there. What is Mousefest? As far as the stroller goes, I think you just go get one when you need one, no need to reserve.

thanks! i like that first day too. mousefest is a gathering of disney fans that happens every year in december. i think they take a cruise and do a few days in the parks. i know there's a link at allearsnet.com about it.

Do you know what I am most excited about seeing on your plans, Dawn? That you are all planning on eating a Kitchen Sink! I am super excited about that one! It doesn't take much to amuse me.

You just rent the stroller when you get there -- I don't think you can even reserve it if you wanted to -- I am trying to remember if you can do a length-of-stay kind of thing though -- I will see what I can find out. It's been awhile since we did a stroller (2004).

glad i could excite you about the kitchen sink!!! anna said luke asked her why it was called a kitchen sink and she had to explain to him the expression about "everything but the kitchen sink." she got really excited when i told her they use a whole can of whipped cream!

Strollers are available for rent at a variety of locations throughout Disney Theme Parks, Water Parks, and the Downtown Disney® Area. Quantities are limited, and subject to availability. Double-passenger strollers are not available for rent at the Downtown Disney® Area.

The stroller rental fee is $15.00 per day for a single-passenger stroller and $31.00 per day for a double-passenger stroller. A $100 credit card deposit is required per stroller rented at the Downtown Disney® Area. The rented stroller must be returned to the original rental location to receive a credit card deposit refund.

For Guests who require a stroller rental for multiple days, we offer a Length of Stay rental ticket where you make a one-time payment transaction for as many days of rental that you will need. Single-passenger strollers are available for $13.00 per day and double-passenger strollers for $27.00 per day. Upon visiting a Theme Park, simply show your receipt at the stroller rental location and you will be expedited through the queue with little or no wait time.

thanks SO MUCH for this info! i forwarded it to anna.

I saw pictures of this

not very peepish, huh? but at least we'll have 5 people to work on it! i wouldn't even attempt it with less than that.

The condo sounds and looks great! We are staying offsite for the first time in December on our girls trip - coulnd't beat the price for the space! I'm curious to see how it feels to stay offsite - our townhouse is decorated with a Disney theme also and even has a private splash pool.

Your plans sound great - you'll get to see all the fabulous Christmas decorations in the resorts and parks!

we looked at a townhouse that was decorated with disney stuff, but we got a better deal on this one. you'll have to let me know how it goes with your off-site experience. what are your dates? (you may have already told me and i've just forgotten.)

Your plans sound great!

thanks!

What, no meal at HoB that you missed last time?

i know!!!! we just won't have time this trip. we're concentrating on the parks all 4 days. we are going to DTD the day we leave but we just want something quick (WPE) so we can get on the road. i'd like to be home by 10:00 p.m. and taking at least an hour to eat plus doing some shopping just wasn't going to work out. it's definitely on my future must-do list though!

Wow your plan sounds really good! It's smart of you to not be expecting to do EVERYTHING at each park in just a day. (Although you've been to WDW a few times already so you do know that haha ) It will just make you all more happy especially when having a little child with you. Have I told you how envious I am that you are going during the Christmas season?

yeah, i'm trying to remind myself to just take in the christmas stuff and whatever else we do is just bonus. but it's hard when you know you won't be back for awhile - i know i'll want to do everything!

 

[punkin413]

The plans look great! Especially the part where yall eat the KITCHEN SINK!

Yummmmmm!

yep! i hope we do you proud. anna can put away some ice cream (although you'd never know it by looking at her) so we'll see!

Wow, I'm late to this report, but I'm in! I can't wait to hear what you think about Disney at Christmas time. It's so beautiful at that time and it sounds like you're ready to take it all in!!! Your plans look great!

i can't wait! your TR last year was a big influence on us wanting to go during this time of year!

Plans look so fun! I wish I could get one extra day in for our trip, but I can't swing 3 days out of school. No Park Hopper to save on money. We could only do MK during the MCMVP, but I think we'll end up skipping AK instead simply because the others have more "Christmasy" things. I seem to be forgetting that our trip is over a year away! I am planning like it's this December!

i do the same thing! i think the dis is a bad influence when it comes to getting ahead of yourself.

That condo looks beautiful! The space will certainly be nice.

Your itinerary sounds like such fun! I'm looking forward to reading your review of MVMCP. Am I the only one who wants to call it Mickey's Not So Scary Christmas Party?

that's hilarious!

I'm in! I'll have to come back and catch up!

thanks for joining in!

Plans sound good. I was at WDW in December last year, so if I ever finish my TR you can see the photos. I'm a horrible TR writier cuz I never have any time so it will be a miracle if I finish it before your trip but keep your fingers crossed for me. Anyway, Christmas time is great. It is probably my most favorite time to go. I've been many, many times at Christmas.

BTW, are you going to the Vandy game? I will be there.

thanks - i'm excited about it! we don't know yet about the game on saturday. erica's ticket hook-up is supposed to call her today and if she doesn't hear from him she's gonna call him tomorrow. i've been asking some of the attorneys i work with who are UGA alumni about tickets and haven't had any luck. i know we can go buy from scalpers but money's tight right now with me since i'm doing my christmas shopping (i HATE christmas shopping in december so i'm usually done by mid-november). anyway, we'll let you know if we're gonna be there!

Oh wow, how wonderful that you get to go back so soon! I haven't even thought about when we'll be returning to WDW next I can't wait to vicariously go to WDW for Christmas through you!

i'm a very lucky girl this year! this is NOT normal for me.

Oh yes, we saw it this summer. Pretty gross, but Will Ferrell is the man. SO funny.

Ft. Wilderness is awesome!! DH and I plan on buying a camper sometime in the future too...either a popup or another small camper. Its such a great thing to do together, esp w/your pets!! They'd love it there! They have a new dog run there too, very cool!

i read about the dog run and it sounds really cool. i saw you have a TR from this trip - i'm going to check it out!

Hi! I'm along for the ride! I'm so excited that you get to go for Christmas! My DH and i are kind of at the same point that you seem to be, planning for a child. Our Jan 09 trip may be our "starting" point to a future with kids! It's kind of scary but it's so neat to think about! Congratulations on trip #3! i can't wait to hear more plans!

i'm excited about it, although completely frustrated because we don't know when we can start trying yet. i've got to get maternity coverage on my health insurance and that's super expensive when you're self-employed. VERY frustrating! especially when i see so many people coming through the court system with 10 kids who i'm paying for because they're on welfare.

I'm here - better late than never! Woot Woot for ANOTHER punkin TR!

Olan Mills photos -
Staying off property - (although that place does look gorgeous! Will be interested to hear how you like it!)

thanks for joining in! yeah, i know, i know - staying off property is so taboo! but it's just more practical for us this trip. the guy who owns the condo told me we'd never stay anywhere else again after seeing how nice it is there and being able to save so much money - i told him i highly doubted it but we'll see!

Don't you love when you can do all the planning !! Anna and family are in great hands. I get to do it all myself too. Ofcourse I welcome anyones input aswell.
I the Disney Christmas Parade on T.V..I only found out last year that it wasn't taped on Christmas... I know how dumb could I be.
The condo looks fabulous. So beautifully decorated. I love the theme. I'm sure you will get a tree, after all it is Christmas. I was looking at condos myself after a co worker rented one with a private pool. It was gorgeous, but I am on the fence. The price is great but I would miss the feeling I get from staying on property. I actually like the busses and the EMH. I will be anxious to hear about your experience.
Your plans sound good. I can't wait to see pics.
Its so funny, but I also havn't rented a stroller since 2004 either. Theres several of us here with the same answer. It sure has jumped in price since then. It was useful to have, I do recomend getting one. Be careful, someone did take ours and we had to have it replaced. The CM was quick to get us another one.

i would completely stay on property if EMH would benefit us and i HAD to use the busses. but since neither apply, it's really not a benefit for us this trip. i will miss that disney "friendliness." we'll have to see how it goes! oh, and i'm glad i don't have to worry about renting a stroller myself (which apparently is made of gold according to the price!)........yet!

my BIL also told me the nice thing about the stroller is that if you want to ride the train, yo ujust pick up aonther one where you get off at...or is someone takes yours, then you just go and show your reciept and ge another one.

cool! i'll have to tell anna that.

Ooooh, Dawn I keep coming and looking at the "Olan Mills" pics and I just crack up!! I love it!

 

[Charleston Princess]

glad i could excite you about the kitchen sink!!! anna said luke asked her why it was called a kitchen sink and she had to explain to him the expression about "everything but the kitchen sink." she got really excited when i told her they use a whole can of whipped cream!

thanks SO MUCH for this info! i forwarded it to anna.

I am all about that whole can of whipped cream!!!

You are very welcome!

 

[ArielSRL]

thanks - i'm excited about it! we don't know yet about the game on saturday. erica's ticket hook-up is supposed to call her today and if she doesn't hear from him she's gonna call him tomorrow. i've been asking some of the attorneys i work with who are UGA alumni about tickets and haven't had any luck. i know we can go buy from scalpers but money's tight right now with me since i'm doing my christmas shopping (i HATE christmas shopping in december so i'm usually done by mid-november). anyway, we'll let you know if we're gonna be there!

Good luck with that. I know you guys prefer to go through Erica b/c then you'd be in the Vandy section. I am hoping the tickets won't be too entirely much being it is at 12:30pm and we can always wait until right before kick-off if it too expensive cuz they lower the price right then. Maybe I'll see ya there...in that HUGE crowd of people....lol.

 

[punkin413]

THE ALTERNATE PLAN

so being the efficient DISer that i am, i came up with an alternate plan in case of bad weather on our planned MVMCP night. i have read that if you attempt to trade your party tickets at least a day ahead of time that they will allow you to do so in most cases, as long as the party you're trading for isn't sold out. so i figure if they are calling for DEFINITE rain on sunday night (our original MVMCP night), we will switch around our schedule so that we can go friday night instead. of course this means that we'll need to know about the sunday weather by thursday. so the only reason we'd actually have to do this is if they are just basically calling for DOWNPOURS on sunday night. everyone knows how the florida forecast changes so often and scattered showers are constantly a part of it!

anyway, here's the alternate plan. i'm not including all the little details i did when i posted our itinerary before. our plans will remain the same - it's just the order we do them in that will change.

wednesday, 12/10 will remain the same

thursday, 12/11
~sleep in/breakfast in condo
~DHS
~lunch at sci-fi dine-in theater
~block party at 3:00
~dinner at a CS
~fantasmic at 7:00
~osborne lights

friday, 12/12
~breakfast in condo
~AK (i want an ADR at tusker house for the breakfast on this day, but there's nothing available right now. i'm continuing to check every now and then though, so that could be added to this day.)
~lunch at a CS
~jingle jungle parade at 3:45
~WL to see Xmas decorations
~MVMCP at MK tonight w/ dinner at a CS

saturday, 12/13 will remain the same

sunday, 12/14
~boardwalk to see Xmas decorations.
~either have pizza at spoodles window or late breakfast/early lunch at boardwalk bakery OR…walk to beach club to see Xmas decorations - breakfast at cape may character breakfast & ice cream at beaches & cream (this all depends on tusker house - if i get tusker house then i'll cancel this breakfast and we'll just have lunch somewhere on the boardwalk before ice cream at beaches & cream, then teppan edo below.)
~Epcot - first FW, then WS
~maybe very late lunch/early dinner at teppan edo
~illuminations at 9:30

monday, 12/15 will remain the same

hopefully we will not be using this alternate plan as i prefer our original one. but i also don't want to pay 50 bucks extra to walk around MK in the rain at the party! so we will have to see what mother nature decides.

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Good call on making an alternate plan. When I went to MNSSHP last year, it POURED the whole time. I still had fun, but almost all of the special character appearances were canceled. And the parade was almost canceled. But we were determined to stick it out because we spent 50 dollars each on those tickets!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I think it's a great idea to have Plan B! Hope you get your Tusker House Ressies. Is that where they moved the character breakfast to?

 

[Charleston Princess]

Good thinking to have an alternate plan, but I hope you don't have to use it!

I will keep my fingers crossed that you manage to snag a Tusker House ressie -- that was one of our favorite places that we ate last summer.

 

[MeMom]

I'll have to mark my calendar for Friday 12/12 and the Jingle Jungle Parade. I love that parade! It'll be almost time for dismissal at our school on a Friday, so I can just imagine the fun of the parade as I dance my way out of there for the weekend!

And after that you're going to Wilderness Lodge to see that beautiful lobby all dressed up for Christmas! That will be a nice afternoon for me...uh, you.

Hopefully, you'll be able to have a very nice MVMCP evening. Average rainfall in FL in December is like two inches, so I doubt they're all gonna come on the one night you've chosen for your party. I'm not an official weather forecaster, and I've never played one on TV, but I'm predicting that all will go smoothly for your original plans.

 

[xoktenox]

Definitely a good call on making an alternate plan. Rain, heavy rain especially, can make people prettyyyy cranky (even at WDW) so it's good that you have a back up. Keeping my fingers crossed that you won't have to use it though!

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

What a true planner. Hopefully you don't need to use the alternate plan B. You have been lucky all year, I'm sure the rain will stay away.
Do you plan to wear a Christmas hat to the party? You really need to get Luke a cute one for the holiday pics.

 

[punkin413]

Good call on making an alternate plan. When I went to MNSSHP last year, it POURED the whole time. I still had fun, but almost all of the special character appearances were canceled. And the parade was almost canceled. But we were determined to stick it out because we spent 50 dollars each on those tickets!!!

well, i don't KNOW that they'll let us trade tickets if they are calling for bad weather on sunday. but it's worth having another plan if they do!

I think it's a great idea to have Plan B! Hope you get your Tusker House Ressies. Is that where they moved the character breakfast to?

yep, that's where it is now. and i've heard good things about it as far as the food goes. i know it's donald, mickey and goofy but i'm not sure about who else is there. we just mainly wanted mickey.

Good thinking to have an alternate plan, but I hope you don't have to use it!

I will keep my fingers crossed that you manage to snag a Tusker House ressie -- that was one of our favorite places that we ate last summer.

cool! did you guys have breakfast there? the breakfast menu looks really good. i'm excited to try some unusual things, but i'm glad they have traditional american breakfast stuff too. my main requirement was biscuits and gravy for ray. that's all he will eat for breakfast! he almost never eats breakfast which is probably a good thing - having biscuits and gravy every morning would not be a good idea for his cholesterol!

I'll have to mark my calendar for Friday 12/12 and the Jingle Jungle Parade. I love that parade! It'll be almost time for dismissal at our school on a Friday, so I can just imagine the fun of the parade as I dance my way out of there for the weekend!

And after that you're going to Wilderness Lodge to see that beautiful lobby all dressed up for Christmas! That will be a nice afternoon for me...uh, you.

Hopefully, you'll be able to have a very nice MVMCP evening. Average rainfall in FL in December is like two inches, so I doubt they're all gonna come on the one night you've chosen for your party. I'm not an official weather forecaster, and I've never played one on TV, but I'm predicting that all will go smoothly for your original plans.

well, we'll only be at the jingle jungle parade on friday 12/12 if we have to go with plan B. but you can still mark your calendar because if we stick with our original plan, we'll be enjoying the block party bash at DHS when you're getting out of school for the weekend that friday! i'm hoping you're right about not getting all the rainfall in one night!

Definitely a good call on making an alternate plan. Rain, heavy rain especially, can make people prettyyyy cranky (even at WDW) so it's good that you have a back up. Keeping my fingers crossed that you won't have to use it though!

me too! i can deal with a little rain but not constant downpours. my pour sister had to deal with that this summer and she said it was horrible.

What a true planner. Hopefully you don't need to use the alternate plan B. You have been lucky all year, I'm sure the rain will stay away.
Do you plan to wear a Christmas hat to the party? You really need to get Luke a cute one for the holiday pics.

oh, i will definitely have on some christmas headgear! i'm gonna wait until i get there though and see what they have to offer before i buy anything. i'll probably end up with some mickey ears with a santa hat on them! i'm sure anna will have something cute for luke!

 

[Charleston Princess]

cool! did you guys have breakfast there? the breakfast menu looks really good. i'm excited to try some unusual things, but i'm glad they have traditional american breakfast stuff too. my main requirement was biscuits and gravy for ray. that's all he will eat for breakfast! he almost never eats breakfast which is probably a good thing - having biscuits and gravy every morning would not be a good idea for his cholesterol!

We did eat breakfast there, and the atmosphere and the characters (Daisy, Donald, Pluto, Mickey, and Goofy) all decked out in their safari gear were very cool. They have the BEST juice -- a blend of various fruit juices that our waiter called Jungle Juice! The food was definitely what I would call traditional American more than anything else -- they had some different quiches, omelets, bobotie, and pap for the African part. Definitely worth eating there -- we were full until our Yak and Yeti reservation for dinner (our breakfast ressie was at 8:00).

 

[Spartangirl]

i can't wait! your TR last year was a big influence on us wanting to go during this time of year!

Awww.....glad I could help! You're going to LOVE it.....it's such a great time to visit!!!

Good thinking on the alternate plan, just in case! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for no rain. Just about every year that we have gone in Dec. there has been a threat of rain for at least one day. However, out of all of our visits, we only received a light rain for about 5 min. one night and then it subsided. And last year, it rained briefly one day and soon stopped. I bet your stay will be great!!!

 

[punkin413]

so i've given you our plans and all the info on the trip. what more is there to a pre-TR really besides shopping and any changes that we end up making???

PAST TRIPS!!!!!!!

first i will start with mine. the only pictures from trips i have as a kid are from our 1992 trip, which is the last one i took for 15 years until our may 2007 trip. my dad has the pics from our other trips and i actually only have a few from this one. i was 15, my sister was 8 and my brother was 5.

in mexico at epcot......

this picture cracks me up! we were standing in front of a water fall in canada for a picture and were completely surprised by the water hitting us right as my dad took the picture!

look - no lines for the characters! that would be madness. i'm glad it's more organized now.

i think this was taken in frontierland?

that's all i have from that trip. i really need to get with my dad and get the pics from our previous trips and scan them in.

------------------------

here are the pics my stepmom sent me that i'm adding in!

brooke, brett and goofy!

at the gallows. look at how i'm holding brett up!

funny that i had to hold him up because now he's 6'5"!!!! check out how much taller he is now! he TOWERS over me.

as long as we're sharing present pictures, here's brooke with pluto last july. she's grown up too!!!

okay....back to 1992........

my stepmom and brooke on the tomorrowland speedway. look at that ginormous video camera!

brett on space mountain....his first time!

there's a funny story to go with this one. this was his first time on space mountain. he was 5 years old and very nervous, but was insisting that he ride it. now keep in mind that this was 1992 and brett was a HUGE michael jackson fan. i can't tell you how many times i've seen the movie "moonwalker." anyway, on the incline i heard this little voice singing, "heeeee heeeeee" behind me. it was brett singing like michael jackson! he was so nervous and he's silly when he's nervous, so he was just trying to ease his nerves!

at epcot in france....

as i said, he was a huge MJ fan....

me, brooke, brett and my stepmom in front of SE....

 

[Camster0307]

Dawn - it looks like something is on fire in the shot of IASW! When I first looked at it, I was wondering what thrill ride you guys had taken little Luke on!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I love seeing the look of sheer excitement and happiness on Luke's face -- too precious!

 

[xoktenox]

Great pics, Luke is just too cute.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Luke is just adorable! I agree - you're going to have an amazing trip! And I say you should go ahead and dance while in line for the characters.

 

[VandyFan10]

They have the BEST juice -- a blend of various fruit juices that our waiter called Jungle Juice!

I wonder if this is what I had at Boma???

It was very good!