I'm not sure I can wait! Dec 2010!

[stephielela]

Hello everybody! This is my first ever pre-trip report, which will be followed by my first ever trip report! I know this is a bit early to be starting, but whatever, I need something to make me feel like it's getting closer!

First things first, the "cast"! I am a single mother to my DS who will be 2 in April. I honestly would not be able to make this trip without my very supportive (and Disney crazed) family, so it will be the first time all of us will be going together! My dad (DD) 48, mom (DM) 48, sister (DSis) 21 (by the time of the trip), son (DS) and I (26) will all be celebrating Christmas early at Disney, so rather than getting presents this year, the trip is our gift. Of course I'm sure DS will be getting visited by Santa anyways, but many of his gifts will undoubtedly come from the World!

Our current dates are Dec. 16-22nd. We would like to be able to go earlier, but since DSis is in college, we won't know when she will be done with finals until August or so, so we will adjust our dates accordingly. We went in Dec 07 (I was 6 months pregnant) and had a blast, the crowds were still pretty light, and the weather was great, but it was about 4 days earlier, so we will have to wait and see! We will probably initially book the 13th -22nd so that we can just cut days off of one end or the other when we know.

I am assuming that at some point will will manage to wrangle some sort of workable discount, I have already gotten a couple pin offers, but they all end the 16th, so they don't do us much good. A free dining pin would be ideal, since we plan on doing the deluxe dining plan, but we will take whatever we can get. Both my parents and I have/will be applying for the Disney Visa, and I know sometimes cardholders are offerred discounts before the general public. My dad is also retired military, so we will be keeping our eyes out for an extension of their current military discount, which I believe is 40% on rooms or something along those lines.

Assuming we get a discount of some type, we are planning on 2 rooms at CBR, with the dxdp and 6 day park hoppers. We will probably initially book a room only reservation though, since those are more flexible when it comes to cancellations. If we don't get a discount, we will switch to a value resort, probably ASM to save a few bucks.

So far we are planning on dropping into MVMCP, but we have to wait till they announce the dates to see if it will work for us. We also have several (most) of our restaurants picked out, but I will save that for a later post! We are also pondering the idea of crossing over to Universal (I know, the "other" park ) for a half day to check out the new Harry Potter section.

So hopefully I have not been too boring, it would be nice to have some readers, but I guess we will see if I have the wit and charm to sustain an audience! More later!

 

[AuroraRose]

Sounds like an awesome trip! I am hoping to get to WDW during the winter one of these years! If things work out, perhaps next year!

Looking forward to your updates!!

 

[mom2rtk]

If you have a PIN that ends on the 16th, it should work as long as you CHECK IN by the 16th.

Good luck!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Sounds like ya'll are going to have so much fun!
I love Disney during the Christmas season, it's the best

 

[jenniferkeala808]

I don't think i could wait that long!! Sounds like fun...i'm along for the ride!!

 

[jenseib]

If you have a PIN that ends on the 16th, it should work as long as you CHECK IN by the 16th.

Good luck!

I was going to say the exact same thing! I don;t think much will come out for dates after that since it's the holiday season. I'm excited to hear what you will plan!

 

[stephielela]

If you have a PIN that ends on the 16th, it should work as long as you CHECK IN by the 16th.

Good luck!

Wow, really?? i am going to have to call about that next week then! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[stephielela]

Well, we haven't chosen ALL of our meals yet, but we decided each person could choose 4 meals, and we are also doing the candlelight processional package with les chefs de france for late lunch, which we have eaten at in the past and enjoyed. all the other meals are new to us as a family. most of these choices are based heavily on (countless) reviews i've read here. let me know what you think!

crystal palace~planning on doing the earliest breakfast seating here possible, to get into mk early and see what it's like to have a near empty park!

tusker house~ same as above, doing donald's safari breakfast

cinderella's royal table~ planning on dinner prior to mvmcp

california grill~ this will be the adults only dinner, i will get a sitter for ds, and we hope to time it for wishes

le cellier~ we got shut out of this one the last time, so we are really looking forward to it

rose and crown~ planning on timing this one for illuminations

o'hana~ we canceled this one last minute last trip, everyone was tired and i was feeling overly pregnant that night, so now we hope to try it. i've heard this is also a good place to eat during wishes.

50's prime time café~ we have actually eaten here before, but not in the past couple of trips, i only wish they were part of the fantasmic package!

biergarten~ ds really enjoys music and noise, and i've heard the polka music is pretty entertaining, so we plan on eating lunch here

i have managed to get all of these squeezed into a decent schedule, and we are thinking we may not make plans for the remaining credits, and just use those for qs as we need them, or for ds. part of the reason we opted for the dxdp is because it offers so much food at each meal, and since ds won't be on the plan, he will be sharing with the rest of us, and let me tell you, that boy can eat!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

looks like you've chosen the best restaurants...i wouldn't know from personal experience but...with all the reviews and the yummy pics i've seen on the DIS...sounds like a great plan!! hope to hear some dining reviews from you after you've tried these places!!

 

[MainStMandy]

Sounds fun! I'm in!!!

Where are the pics??

 

[jenseib]

YUM! I would love to do deluxe dining some day too!

 

[stephielela]

Sounds fun! I'm in!!!

Where are the pics??

ok, I think I have figured out how to post pictures from photobucket, so here is my DS, at 19 months on our cruise this past November

and the two of us at Christmas

 

[MainStMandy]

Aww what great pictures!! He's adorable!!

 

[jenseib]

What a cutie

 

[stephielela]

thanks! he is growing up so fast! sorry the pics are so big, i'm new at the photobucket thing

after this weekend i will know what, if any changes we will be making to our adr plans!

 

[stephielela]

I am starting my planning journal/binder creation, and I spent a couple hours surfing the Disigns board, but if anyone has any good suggestions of layouts or artwork, that would be awesome!

 

[stephielela]

since i don't have anything else to update yet about our disney trip, i thought i would post a mini pre trip report fro my weekend jaunt to san antonio! my family decided that we wanted to get away from the cold for a few days, and i was wanting a small break from work, so we figured we would go down to san antonio to visit my sister who goes to college there. so my parents left yesterday with my son (i had to work last night) and drove, and i got off work an hour early and caught a 6 am flight. i am currenlty in memphis waiting for my connection. my parents and sis will pick me up, and we will probably try to check into our hotel (on the riverwalk!) early. then we are heading to the mercado to do some shopping, and our traditional dinner and pitcher of margaritas at La Margarita. We may try and get to church today too, but we might wait till tomorrow. Then tomorrow, we are going to Mi Tierra for our traditional breakfast, and then to the zoo. i am a "friend of the zoo" at our local zoo, so i get a discount (50%) on tix! after the zoo, we will probably just hang out a bit, we have been to san antonio many times and seen everything, so there's no pressure to sightsee, and then we are leaving inthe late afternoon to begin our 13 hour journey home... i get to ride with them this time i know it is a short trip, but we will stop at my fave place, the kolache factory on the way home! and at least we will see the sun for a bit!

 

[jenseib]

Sounds fun!

 

[stephielela]

The weather was perfect in San Antonio. Saturday the family picked me up at the airport and we went to the Mercado to shop. I finally got the pitcher and glasses I’ve been wanting forever, and I decided to get tumbler glasses instead of traditional margarita glasses, that way I can use them for other stuff, and they will be harder (for DS) to knock over J We ate at La Margarita which is my fave restaurant there, and we had 2 pitchers of tasty margaritas with our delicious fajitas. DS thoroughly enjoyed the chips, salsa, and guac, which was interesting. After lunch we headed to the hotel to check in and relax, and then when we finally felt less full, we walked down the riverwalk to the Rivercenter Mall for some ice cream! It was chillier, since it was dark, but it still wasn’t too bad.



Sunday we slept in a bit, then had our free mini breakfast in the lobby before we went to church at the cathedral nearby. DS was surprisingly good, and right across the street there was the courthouse, and it’s a tradition that all day on Valentines Day they marry people for free, so there were a ton of brides and grooms around. After church we packed up and checked out of the hotel and went to the zoo. We walked around the zoo and looked at animals in the beautiful 70 degree weather! I wore flip flops and a t-shirt! It was great. After we ate at a place called Saltgrass something or other, it was yummy, and I even ate ribs, which I never do. Then we got dropped DSis back at school and got in the car and headed home, with a mandatory stop at the Czech Stop for Kolaches in West, Texas. I LOVE kolaches! The drive wasn’t too bad, DS went to sleep about 9 and slept on and off until we got home at 5, and then went to sleep in his bed till 11:45! I just wish we could have brought some of the weather back with us!

While we were there we finalized our dining plans, so I will be posting a rough schedule later. Obviously since we don't know park hours yet, I can't assign dates to the days, but that's why it's a rough draft!

 

[jenseib]

Sounds like a wonderful weekend!!!