Jingle Bells, Panic smells; a Joanna & Panic Christmas PTR -Finally an Update! 11/29

[not_Joanna_eggs]

’m not much of a PTRer, but I’m just about done with my June TR, and with 4 other Trips planned between now and the end of January swirling in my head, I need a place to sort everything out.

This is officially going to be a PTR for the December trip, because that is the longest trip, with the largest group, and quite frankly the most interesting. I will be doing TRs for all of them, and most likely mentioning them at least a little bit in here too.

Add that to our January trip, and the June trip, and you might be asking yourself how and why on earth would a girl from Wisconsin go to Disney World 6 times in a year.

Well, in January 2010 my DH and I got married in WDW. When you book a wedding package through WDW, along with a fantastic wedding, you get a “free” AP for the bride and groom. While there in January, DH and I bought into DVC. The promotion at the time was get 2009 points in addition to 2010.

We had already decided that we were going to take a break from Disney in 2011, so that essentially left us with APs and 600 pts to burn. We booked the December trip first (I’ll get into more detail about that later) and then we slowly started booking other trips, since it’s an extremely cheap adventure right now – with the APs, DVC and cheap flights. We usually go to one of 2 in-state resort locations 4 times a year, we figured out that this year we could do Disney 4 times for the same about of time for the same amount of money – SOLD! We know this opportunity most likely won’t happen again, so we’re “seizing the cheeseburger” so to speak (Blossom anyone?)


Okay, so now that I’ve bored you all to death with my rationalizing of our numerous trips… let’s get on with the task at hand!

What: Christmas at Disney; DH and my 1st Christmas married, and my parent’s 36th wedding anniversary.

When: December 18 -27th 2010

Where: 2 bedroom Savannah view, Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidiani.

Why: In 2005 I graduated from college on December 20. This was also the year that my grandpa was moved into a special Alzheimer’s unit, and the family that usually spent the holidays with drifted apart. We decided this would be the perfect time for a vacation – so we went to Paris. This was supposed to be a “last hurrah” of family vacations as I had graduated, and my sister was in college. But we had such a fantastic time - we decided to keep the tradition of traveling at Christmas. We did until last year. My wedding was 1 month after Christmas, so we postponed our family trip.

In March of this year, we discussed options for this year’s trip. We (okay I) researched dozens of options, and presented them to my family. Disney was on my list, as it has been for the last 5 years because it’s been a dream of mine to go to Disney at Christmas for as long as I can remember. But my dad isn’t a huge Disney fan, and something else always wins out.

What made this year different? Remember those 600 DVC points, and those “free” APs – and 2 7 day passes purchased as part of the 3-4 deal but not used yet? So when I did my “projected price” for the entire vacation to Disney this year – it came out to about ¼ the price of anywhere else. Even my Disney Disliking Dad couldn’t deny it – somehow this year, Disney became the logical and cheapest choice!

Who:

Me – Super glamorous planner of this trip. Out and out beauty queen really.

DH – Gentle and loving….

…towards his girlfriend….

DH’s girlfriend –

(Seriously! Don’t believe me? Check out this part of our Jan TR!)

How do I feel about DH’s girlfriend?

My sister, Monica – (a.k.a. Panic – Dis name PanicAttack)

Cute and cuddly are the words I often use to describe her

My mom (a.k.a. Queenie)

Definitely the attention hog in this group, sometimes we have to physically restrain her

My Dad (a.k.a. Grumpy)

Always Grumpy, never wants to have any fun.

Potential Guest appearance by Panic’s DBF

Okay, now that I’ve given any newcomers sufficient warning of my personality and sarcasm hopefully you’ll still want to stick around and count down with me.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

ADRs
The Initial Plan
Random Stuff - Resort Hopping, Bags and Cameras
Plans 2.0
Christmas Eve Plans?
Hodgepodge

Flashback Trips
1985 - Knottsberry Farm, Seaworld and Disneyland
1989 - Miss Joanna Goes to Washington
1989 - Disney - the golden (y)ears!
1990 - Weren't we just here? Disney Again!
1991 - Looking for Martha in DC
'80s and '90s Wisconsin Dells Trips 20 years of fun rolled into 1
1992-Return of the Road Trip: DC Again
1993 - Badlands to the Bone

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'm here!!!!! I need to live vicariously through you since you're going around Christmas.

 

[meeko_33785]

Did I read that correctly- 6 trips in one year!

Looking forward to hearing more about the trip.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I'm here!!!!! I need to live vicariously through you since you're going around Christmas.

Hey Sarah! Welcome. Glad you're in for the ride. I'm so excited for Christmas!

Did I read that correctly- 6 trips in one year!

Looking forward to hearing more about the trip.

Yes, you read it correctly - 6 trips. DH pointed out that when all is said and done, we will have spent aprox. 1 moth in Disney this year. How crazy is that! Trying to soak it all in, because I'm sure this won't ever happen again!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Okay, now that you've gotten Who, What, When, Where and Why… actually you're pretty caught up.

I'll admit it, all these trips this year have made me kind of lazy. I know DH and I can just do whatever and go with the flow. I try to pick out a few new things each trip, but for the most part we go in with no plan.

I'm no fool, I know I can't go into Christmas week with no plan… but since I've become so lazy, I just can't get motivated to make a plan! So I'm going to need your help.

I did make some of our "must do" ADRs already. We decided to not make too many ADRs for this trip. We want to be a bit more relaxed, and we'll have the full kitchen in our villa.

19 - Bistro de Paris - dinner. Our Christmas trip tradition started in Paris, so I thought it would be fun to celebrate that . I was going to do this our first night, but I decided I would be so bummed if we missed it, due to snow or flight problems, that I changed it to the 2nd night. This is a first for us.

21 -Flying Fish (dinner) - This one is a tried and true favorite of ours.

24 - Victoria & Albert's - On Christmas Eve. When I first learned about DIS, like 5 or 6 years ago, one of the first reports I read was a family who had dinner at V&As on Christmas eve. Ever since then, I've wanted to do that. I'm so excited about this!

25 - We want to do the CLP package either at Chefs de France, 9 Dragons, or Coral Reef. If they would just release the packages…

I'll probably add a Character breakfast for Panic and I (no one else will go with us), and a lunch or breakfast at Kona. I also want to try to fit in a dinner at Artist Point. We'll see. I'm trying really hard not to over-schedule. DH and I love going to Disney and eating. The rest of the family, not so much, so this is a departure for us. Must Resist booking more ADRs...

 

[pixiegirl]

Yay!! Another TR. You are going to have so much fun at DW at Christmas. We went last year and it was so fun!! Can't wait to read more of your plans. Hope everything is ok by you with all this rain!!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Yay!! Another TR. You are going to have so much fun at DW at Christmas. We went last year and it was so fun!! Can't wait to read more of your plans. Hope everything is ok by you with all this rain!!

I'm super excited about Christmas. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time. I love when I get my way

It took me over 3 hrs to get home after work! The rain is just crazy - fortunately no water in our basement yet... fingers crossed. Hope you're staying dry!

 

[mom2l&t]

So exciting!

We are heading to Disney for Christmas as well and staying at WL.

Desperately waiting for the CLP packages to be released. I have been calling a ton!

Looking forward to reading about all your planning.

 

[lovealldisney]

Fellow Wiscosinite and Milwaukeean here! Looking forward to your trip/trips!! I lurked on your other TR's, now I'm coming out of hiding

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So exciting!

We are heading to Disney for Christmas as well and staying at WL.

Desperately waiting for the CLP packages to be released. I have been calling a ton!

Looking forward to reading about all your planning.

Ohh Exciting!! I love WL - it's so pretty I can't wait to see it at Christmas time.

I don't understand why they don't just release the packages. I know what date I want to go - who the narrator is doesn't matter. It's so frustrating!

Fellow Wiscosinite and Milwaukeean here! Looking forward to your trip/trips!! I lurked on your other TR's, now I'm coming out of hiding

Hi! Thanks for de-lurking. I love "meeting" other Wisconsinites on DIS. It's fun to know that other people may know what I'm taking about.

Hope you and your family survived the rain last week. It was crazy!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Okay.... sorry for totally ignoring this PTR. I'm finding the PTR to be way more difficult to write than a TR... But I'm going to try my best, so bear with me please


Our ADR plans mean we're locked into going to Epcot on the 19th and 25th for sure. Everything else is totally up in the air and subject to many changes....

Right now Queenie and Grumpy have 1 day - 1 park passes (they might upgrade to park hopper - not sure) so I'm only planning on 1 park a day. DH, Panic and I all have APs.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

18 - arrive around noon. Settle in, grocery shop, unpack, possibly MK or AK Dinner in room or @ Artist Point or Jiko.

19 - Epcot, dinner at Bistro de Paris, maybe holiday Illuminations

20 - MK

21- DHS Dinner at Flying Fish - go back to see the Osbourne lights.

22 - AK

23 - Universal - IOA

24 - Resort Hop and relax a bit - maybe to a park? Victoria & Albert's for a late dinner

25 - Epcot (early as possible based on our late night the night before) book last lunch slot for CLP package. We'll leave after CLP.

26 - Relax on our last day, maybe some resort hopping.

We'll also probably visit ICE and do some mini-golfing. Any other non-park activities that would be fun for us?

How do these plans sound? Any suggestions?

 

[wdwgirl03]

I think your plans sound good so far.

As for nonpark activities, we always like visiting the other resorts (around Christmas especially to see the decorations). You could also go to the Boardwalk.

The ICE thing sounds cool (umm...no pun intended), I've seen pictures of it. That should be fun.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Yay!! I finally got the scanner set up... so without any further ado... I bring you my first flashback trip....


1985

In general , '85 was very good year for me, I mastered the art of the potty (well, mastered might be an overstatement), went on an airplane for the first time and met Mickey. This trip is in an era, I like to call PP as in "pre-Panic" and well for other reasons that will become evident.

Way back before the days of Ryan Attwood and Seth Cohen, good friends of my parents had just moved out to the OC. My parents thought this would be a good excuse for a trip, so we went for a visit, and made side trips to Disneyland, Sea World and Knottsberry farm.

I'll be honest, I was 2 1/2, I don't really remember too much about this trip, but there are a couple "family legends" born from this trip, so I'll share those.

We boarded the plane, and my parents had me well prepared for the flight. I did well on takeoff, but by mid-flight, one of my aforementioned accomplishments of the year was catching up to me. I leaned over to my dad and said "daddy, I have to go potty" So, they took me to the back of the plane into, and opened the door to the lavatory and motioned for me to go in. I scoped out the situation, and gripped on to either side of the doorway, and proclaimed "I'm NOT going in there." And quickly went back to my seat. About 10 minutes later, I leaned back to my dad and said "I'm NOT going in there, you better put a diaper on me…" They obliged and the rest of the flight was uneventful.

I should back up and say that before this trip, my parents did an excellent job of getting me excited by showing me videos of Disney Specials and Peanuts specials and such so I would be familiar with the characters when I met them.

First up, was Knottsberry Farm.

The first character I met was Snoopy.

I was so excited, then came Charlie Brown, and finally Lucy. Oh… Lucy….I was so excited and overwhelmed I again forgot about my aforementioned potty accomplishment and had a little accident - on Lucy's foot. Oops. I'm pretty sure they finally took my picture down from the ticket booths, but we haven't been back since just in case.

The bright side is, that my parents were unprepared for my sudden excitement, and I got my first souvenir of the trip - snoopy undies! They became my favorite - I actually think I might still have them somewhere...

After that, my parents kept my bladder empty for the rest of the trip and there have been no more character instances. But I still get harassed by my family when I meet a character, someone always asks if I've been to the bathroom lately or yells "don't pee" which, as an adult, I'm sure makes the characters feel really comfortable!

Next up was Sea World,

I know it was the '80 but, man those glasses are huge!

Sea world is where I fell in love with Shamu. I liked SeaWorld, but it totally pooped me out.

We also spent some time at Laguna beach with my new friend.

I took some much needed relaxation time...

Next up was Disneyland!!

At first, I was traumatized when Donald tried to eat my mom…

But I quickly got over it... and enjoyed the trip.

Now, I don’t know If you remember, but back in the 80’s there were all these Disney park specials on TV. My parents would tape them for me to watch and get excited about our trip. One in particular that was a personal favorite of mine was the Disneyland 30th Celebration special. And by favorite, I mean that 20+ years later when I showed my mom the youtube clip of the opening parade, she was able to rattle off the order of the stars with considerable accuracy.

My aunt, who at the time had recently moved to Texas and discovered her inner cowboy, was babysitting me and I was insisting that we keep watching the tape over and over again. She was excited over the Alabama performance, and she had become a fan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6i1ooEIO4c

And she got me very excited about Alabama. They were also featured in the opening parade (at about 3:30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VljcTW-do3k

Singing “Celebrate.” I would dance around the house shouting “Celebrate, Celebrate, Dance to the music”

So, we go to Disneyland, and we had been there for a few days, and my dad turns to me and says “okay Joanna, we’ve been on Jungle Cruise, and Dumbo, and the teacups. Are you happy, we’ve done everything from the video.” I looked at him with my big cute eyes and said “No Daddy, we haven’t seen Alabama!”

My mom looked at my dad like "okay Bucko how are you going to get out of this one?" so she'd be no help...

So my dad was faced with a dilemma, break his little girls heart or lie through his teeth. Can you guess which one he chose?

We were entering frontierland and my dad came across 5 guys with fiddles, and he proclaimed “ Look Joanna – It’s Alabama!” I got so excited, I went running towards them screaming “Alabama Alabama Celebrate” the poor CMs must have been so confused! So my dad says to them, “just go with it, you will make this little girl’s day if you sing Celebrate” So they did – and I squealed and clapped around – convinced I’d met Alabama.

I walked around for months showing people this picture telling them “this is when I met Alabama”

They’d look at me like I was bizarre, since they look NOTHING like Alabama, but I was so happy.

This story has a happy ending, because when I was in college, I was able to submit it to a radio station contest and actually won tickets to see Alabama's farewell tour when the came to town - based on this story. Of course I took my dad!

ETA: Not sure why photobucket is being dumb - it says they're all resized and okay... Sorry!

 

[pixiegirl]

Love the Alabama story!! Of course peeing on Lucy is hysterical!!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

I love the flashback! Such cute pictures. I like the one of you playing with your new Shamu toy.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I think your plans sound good so far.

As for nonpark activities, we always like visiting the other resorts (around Christmas especially to see the decorations). You could also go to the Boardwalk.

The ICE thing sounds cool (umm...no pun intended), I've seen pictures of it. That should be fun.

I love the flashback! Such cute pictures. I like the one of you playing with your new Shamu toy.

Yeah, I'm working out a "plan of attack" for visiting the other resorts - most around trying to fit in Tonga Toast for breakfast

I'm very intrigued by ICE. It seems like it might be up our alley.

I was so adorable - I'm not sure what happened We actually still have that Shamu somewhere. It was a hard-core favorite of mine. Every time we went to a pool I made sure we had Shamu!

And P.S. Thanks for the idea - going through all the old photos to put together these flashbacks is really fun!

Love the Alabama story!! Of course peeing on Lucy is hysterical!!!

The Alabama story is probably in our top 5 legendary family stories. My dad is hilarious.

My mom said she learned her lesson with Lucy and when we went to Disney World a few years later with Panic, she had a diaper the whole time even though she was potty trained.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Today's update is slightly OT, in the fact that it has nothing to do with December's trip. But entirely on point in the fact it has to do with a Disney Trip.

Since we're a month out now, I'm finally finalizing our plans for September, so I thought I'd share.

I finally booked our flights in September. We're flying out on Airtran and back on Southwest. Which is stupid, but it worked out to be several hundred dollars cheaper that way, and the schedules worked better, so who am I to argue?

So we arrive really late on Friday - like 11:00pm. I think we'll eat dinner in Milwaukee before we leave.

Then Saturday, we'll head to the MK first (gotta ride the train!) and I made lunch ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern.

After lunch, we'll leave the MK, and head to Disney Quest. We keep wanting to try it out, so we thought this would be a good opportunity.

I have dinner ADRs at Fultons right now, but I'm thinking of switching them to Wolfgang Pucks or Bongos to stay on the west side.

Then we're going to the 9:00 show of La Nouba.

Sunday, we'll head to Epcot in the AM, and lunch at a CS in the WS. Haven't decided what to do for dinner yet - maybe WS, maybe Kona... any suggestions?

Then MK has evening EMH, so we'll head over there (we have to go Saturday too, because the train isn't open for evening EMH)

Monday, our plane leaves at 5, so I made noon reservations at Olivias at OKW to make sure we're there to catch the ME.

I'm hoping we can wake up early enough to be there for rope drop at DHS and make it back to OKW by noon.

 

[meeko_33785]

I just finished reading you flashback to 1985. Those stories are hillarious. The Knotts Berry Farm incedent was great, but it's hard to top the Alabama story!

 

[pixiegirl]

Have you ever been to La Nouba? It is an awesome show you are really going to love it!!