January 2012 - no husbands allowed

[lledman]

Hello! I followed you over. Read some of your PTR from last year (ok first I though it was this year's PTR then I saw the dates were 2010). We camp a lot, too. We have a Class C, though I often wish we had a travel trailer. Having a Class C means that we use twice as much gas because if we want to visit an area, we need a separate vehicle. Not the best thing with fuel prices they way they are.

Sounds like you are a PA gal as well. Actually your name sounds really familiar...maybe we have crossed paths camping? We have camped at Watkins Glen as well -the KOA is so nice up there & we've done Hershey Campground as well as quite a few others in the area in that general vicinity.

We've done WDW in January twice and have really enjoyed it. Its a much slower pace so you can do a lot more than at busier times of the year. This will be our first "regular season' trip.

I am confused - you said you'd be at WDW when we are -- do you have another trip planned???

Your kids look so great & happy! How nice that your son is so involved in 4H. I think that's something my DD would like when she gets ab it older though I will have to look around to see if they meet locally. I remember seeing a 4H booth at a mall event so they must be.

Thanks for reading. We were supposed to camp in Disney for Thanksgiving 2010 but that trip got postponed and changed to staying offsite in a timeshare mid May (2011 - 25 more days). I'm also planning this second trip with friends for January 2012 staying at Pop. Both sets of plans have changed no less than a dozen times so it's super easy to get confused

We are actually from Southern Maryland but camp in PA & VA a lot.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Joining in!

as you know we have our trip planned for Jan 2012, too!

Will go back and read and post.

Do you have a PTR going for you 1/2012 trip? What dates are your going, I am considering going in Jan so I figured I would participate in some threads of others who will be there then to share info.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Hope men are welcome on the "no husbands allowed" PTR...

 

[GrammyJudy]

My daughter and I are planning a no men allowed trip also...just us and her 2 boys..age 11 and 3. We are planning on POR the first week of Feb or last week of Jan...hoping for FD or a good discount off room.

 

[lledman]

Hope men are welcome on the "no husbands allowed" PTR...

All are welcome - it's the husbands choices to not attend - well they chose to not enjoy Disney as much as the rest of the family so we told them all we were going without them.

 

[GrammyJudy]

Well this pre-trip report has a new title - so guess what that means - we selected new dates - January 21-28 - yep, we moved the trip up. 326 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you will love Jan. We always go end of Jan into Feb. ...Jan 29-Feb, 5, 2011 and planning Jan 28-Feb 4, 2012 at POR I hope. Also hoping for FD. We stayed at PO 2 times and really liked the food court and the pool was ok...but it is aleays the furthest bus stop at the parks. We stayed ASMUsic this year and loved it...smaller, buses were great only sharing in the middle of the day. We always pay for preferred to be near pool and food court. But want to try a mod so hoping for POR as that looks cool and we really like the idea of the boat to DTD and oldest DGS who is 11 would love the pool slide. Can't wait to see the 2012 deals...hurry up Disney!!!!

 

[lledman]

I hope to start working on my Trip Report soon - I got the email that my photo pass has shipped so I wanted to wait for those photos before I began posting.

We had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. Friday night we cooked out at my moms. Saturday Chris took the kids to a cookout at his sisters and I went with my brother to a NKOTBSB concert - took us 20 years to get there but we did - and had awesome seats at the end of the catwalk. I got a high 5 from Jordan Knight and grabbed AJ & Bryan's arms as they walked in the crowd at one point of the show - I such a teeny bopper want to be

























After sleeping in yesterday - dang I'm getting old - we went to another cook-out at Chris' sister's house and then hung out for a while - such a great relaxing weekend.

 

[Marshay]

Do you have a PTR going for you 1/2012 trip? What dates are your going, I am considering going in Jan so I figured I would participate in some threads of others who will be there then to share info.

We haven't made our resort ressies yet since we are doing DVC points and have to wait until 7 months...but we're hoping for Jan 20 - 28 at AKL.

Lledman -- love the pics of the concert!!

 

[lledman]

So it's been almost a month since I updated this thread with a trip related posted - so of course that means our plans have changed - you'll notice a pattern with me that while I love to plan everything, I tend to be somewhat non-committal at times. Even with free dining we’ve run the numbers and we can save money by staying offsite at a timeshare. I don’t mind staying offsite – you have more room and the laundry is an awesome benefit for me. I don’t mind driving/parking/taking the tram. I do miss the Disney 24/7 but with the cost savings I can live without it. I’m sure the dining plan would be awesome to try but really we’d be ok with only doing 2 or 3 character meals.

We aren’t booking anything just yet but that could change as of tomorrow – lol!!! Who knows. Good news is that the park hours should be released within the next 2 weeks – not that it hasn’t stopped me from making plans already though. Take these with a grain of salt – I’m sure they will change again, and again, and again. We are still just going to do 6 day non-hopper passes

We’ll still leave sometime early on Satruday morning and drive most of the day - we'll stop somewhere for the night an hour or 2 outside of Disney or maybe we should look into a timeshare for Saturday check in.
Sunday – Magic Kingdom
Monday – EPCOT
Tuesday – Animal Kingdom – dinner at 1900 Park Fare - Cinderella's Happily Ever After
Wednesday – EPCOT or MK or what ever
Thursday – Studios (hopefully there will be a Fantasmic show this night)
Friday – Magic Kingdom –late breakfast at Chef Mickey’s (will serve as lunch)
Saturday – pack it up and come home

 

[Moira222]

You've been quiet here...but saw that you updated. I have never done a one park a day trip - we always get the park hopper. I wonder if I could commit to only one park a day

Did I see a May TR in your signature? i will have to go check it out.

 

[lledman]

You've been quiet here...but saw that you updated. I have never done a one park a day trip - we always get the park hopper. I wonder if I could commit to only one park a day

Did I see a May TR in your signature? i will have to go check it out.

We've always had hopper passes as well but I must say that we rarely use them to the fullest. With having 6 full days to spend in the parks I think it will be nice to just focus on one place and enjoy it to its fullest - I mean when we hope usually we just hit the highlights/favorites and then move on but it just seems more relaxing when we don't hop - I can't explain it. I will admit it will be weird not having the option to hop since we are used to it - whether we use it or not.

And yes, I have begun my trip report from last month – had to believe a month has passed since we’ve been back. I’ve misplaced my trip notes so not promising anything more than photos and some captions

 

[lledman]

This trip is getting closer and closer - the fact that we've changed plans yet again and moved up the date a week is helping but time really is ticking away too. I can't believe that Disney has the January park hours posted already.

About the change in plans, we are now going to visit over MLK week – hopefully it won’t be too terribly crowded. But good news is we are actually saving money on our lodging by traveling a week earlier – go figure we’re saving money by going over a holiday. We’ve decided to stay at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek – I’m very excited about this as I’ve always eyed the place and it’s just never worked out for us, until now. We are down to just 3 families, the ones I started off with posting about – large groups are cool but so are close friends.

We are going to leave Friday the 13th – lol – again but this time with no speeding ticket I hope. I’m thinking we’ll leave around 3-ish when the kids get out of school. We’ll drive (caravan) a while and stop somewhere when it gets dark. Hopefully we’ll get about 6 or 7 hours out of the way. We’ll get up the next morning and drive the rest of the way (7 or 8 hours) and check in. If we feel like it we’ll go to EPCOT for a while if not it will be a good time to rest up for a full week at the parks.

Sunday – we’ll spend our first full park day at the Magic Kingdom. The park is open until 11 this night (and there are evening EMH but we can’t take advantage of those). We are going to try to get an early dinner reservation at 1900 Park Fare for Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner. I know my traveling buddies want to do the parks from sun up to sun down but I’m going to just play it by ear – if there isn’t too much of a crowd when we leave the park for dinner and my kids will allow it (no naps ack!!!) then we’ll head back to the MK after dinner (and if not I’ll call it an early day back at the resort).

Monday – Animal Kingdom and then Downtown Disney for the evening. We are going to try to get a dinner reservation at the Rainforest Café. We all agree that we never spend a full day at Animal Kingdom and we all want to visit Downtown Disney so it makes sense to knock them both out on the same day. Hopefully Rainforest Café will have their 99 cent kids meals coupons for next year when we travel – this will be a budget friendly meal.

Tuesday & Wednesday – both days will be pretty interchangeable – either MK or EPCOT and then we’ll hit the other park the next day. There will be no dining reservations so 2 back to back just go with the flow days.

Thursday – Studios – I may take a break this day and go back to the resort for a nap with the kids so we can stay out and watch Fantasmic this night but that will just be a play it by ear thing – in 6 months the nap thing may not be necessary. But early morning fast passes for Toy Story Mania (since we missed this ride when we went in May) and finishing the day with Fantasmic is the goal.

Friday – for our last park day we’ll be heading back to the MK again – what better place to wrap up a vacation. We are going to try to get a late breakfast (lunch actually for us but breakfast price according to Disney dining) reservation at Chef Mickey’s with the characters.

Saturday – check out and head home – no real plans but I’m sure we’ll stop at dark for the night and then return on Sunday

 

[lledman]

I took a little break from the Dis but I'm back - and of course there's been another change to our plans

We are still going over the MLK holiday but we are now going to be staying in a 3 bedroom unit at Legacy Vacation Club Orlando - Spas. I really, really, really want to stay at Bonnet Creek but that will have to wait until our next trip when it's just my family going during a warmer time when we can enjoy the resort to the fullest - with there being 3 families we decided we needed a 3 bedroom unit.

I was able to make all our dining reservations that we wanted. We'll be doing the Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner on Sunday night after a day in the MK. Monday night we have reservations at the Rainforest Cafe in DTD after a day in AK. And I got us a 11 am breakfast with Mickey & the gang at Chef Mickeys on Friday which will be out last park/MK day.

 

[Marshay]

Sorry to hear we'll miss each other with your change of plans to the prior week, but so glad to hear you'll save money!! I imagine that MLK week won't be THAT busy, as it is January.

Glad you have your restaurants planned.

Also having a 3 bd unit with bathrooms for each makes total sense! You'll appreciate it for sure!

 

[lledman]

What an eventful week.

Tuesday on the way to take the little 2 to their open house at school there was an earthquake. We were in the car at the end of our road and the car started rocking – like you know when you are parked and a car passes you very fast, that kind of rocking except there were no other cars passing us. I looked in the back seat to see what the monkeys were up to but they weren’t moving – very strange. We got to school and everyone had been evacuated outside, it was then that we had learned the rocking was an earthquake.

Wednesday was the first day back to school for the kids. Hard to believe that all of mine are now in school. Devin and Tyler love their classes & teachers, Tyra is still adjusting but she’ll be fine.

Friday night we bought home our new camper – we had some water damage in the Roo and it was going to cost over $6,000 out of pocket to fix it – no thank you. I was reluctant to admit it but we had outgrown that camper anyway so we took a small negative equity hit and traded her in on a new Salem 31QBTS. I love this thing – it’s huge!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, Hurricane Irene hit. We lost power around 6 and got it back last night around 9. There are trees down everywhere – going to take a while to get the area cleaned up. But the family is safe & sound so all is well.

 

[lledman]

100 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lledman]

So what would a trip report update from me be with out notification of another change

Our friend Christy and her son Parker (who will be turning 3 just a week before we leave) are 99% sure they will be joining us. The more the merrier

 

[lledman]

I called last night and was able to update our dining reservations to include Christy & Parker.

When I called about our first meal - with Cinderella and friends on a hunch I asked about an earlier dining time - and there were 2 choices for our large group. I selected 5:40 - which will be much closer to our normal dinner time at home than 7.

Rainforest Cafe and Chef Mickeys were also able to accommodate and no time change there. I love how Disney is sooo accommodating to larger groups – even if they aren’t staying on site.

 

[lledman]

Just realized that the end of the second marking period for schools here is January 20th – meaning basically no time at all for the kids to turn in any work that they may miss while we are gone on vacation. What is a parent to do?

I'll tell you - change the plans AGAIN. Free dining plan is very tempting so running them numbers we could get 5 extra character/sit down meals and stay onsite for just a little over $200 more a family. Also since we plan to carpool on the trip down and back it will be nice to have the bus transportation available in case we decide that one family needs a break and the others aren’t ready.

Haven't booked yet but I'm pretty sure we will today. I went online this morning and booked a few dining reservations that I know we'll want - just b/c there are going to be so many of us I figured I'd take it while I could find it but I will definitely be canceling right away if we decide to not switch up our plans. Jess and I are really set on the kids not missing the last week of the marking period but at the same time we need consensus from everyone.

 

[lledman]

Well Jess and I are booked at Pop Century from January 22 until the 28th. Janet was in training today and should be calling to book a room for her and Christy tonight I hope. I like staying offsite but I’m excited to be staying at Pop again – I really liked that resort. And I’m super keen on the idea of having free dining – which we upgraded to Dining PLUS. We are still going to just use 6 day non-hopper passes so our plan of attack is going to look something like this.

Saturday – arrive in Florida and stay offsite, probably at the Comfort Suites Maingate but that’s yet to be determined.

Sunday – check in early to Pop for our park tickets and then head over to the Magic Kingdom. I think we are going to make BBB appointments and I’ve got us reservations for Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner. There are evening EMH at the park this night so we’ll probably take advantage of those. I guess sometime during the day we’ll go back and unpack our cars once our rooms are assigned.

Monday – EPCOT. I’ve made a late morning reservation for my family and Jess’ to have breakfast with the princesses – Janet & Christy aren’t interested in this so not sure what their plans for the day are.

Tuesday – Animal Kingdom with a dinner reservation at Chef Mickeys and then probably hitting up Downtown Disney.

Wednesday – Studios with a lunch reservation at Hollywood & Vine. Evening EMH here so we may try to sleep in today.

Thursday – back to EPCOT with dinner at Coral Reef for us all

Friday – our last day at the parks so of course we are going back to the Magic Kingdom. We’ll have dinner with Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace.

Saturday – Departure Day