Thank you...I actually have had the WORST day ever!!! Your comment actually made me feel SOOOO much better!!! So THANK YOU!!!
We might not get to attend MVMCP at all...we might have to wait to go until January. Or we might have to go sometime in early to mid-December. I was stressing MAJORLY because I thought December would be crazy! I'm really concerned about how my DS will react with the large crowds. I thought November would be lower crowds & easier on him. Now that I read your comment, I feel a lot better! I am happy to hear that early December has low crowds as well! Maybe I can even get a cheaper deal.
This is another reason I was stressing! We might not have final dates for our trip until AFTER I have to make my ADR's or maybe not until September or October...so I am obviously completely stressing!!! I had my meals pretty much planned out & don't want to miss out on them. I really want to do the character dining for my son & will cry if I can't get into Coral Reef! My biggest concern is that I won't get to see the Christmas decor at all the resorts which is why we were planning a vacation at this time of the year! I might not ever get another chance to see Disney at Christmas time!
I actually cried...does that mean I'm officially obsessed with Disney planning?Anyway, my DH won't know because his job is a PITA if you know what I mean. He isn't allowed to request off time for vacations, he just has to go whenever he's laid off or at the end of a job. Its such a pain! I didn't get to have any sit-down meals last vacation because we didn't know until about a month before when we were going...so obviously all the good dining was already filled up. It was just a kinda "wing-it" type of vacation because we had nothing planned ahead of time. I'm a planner & an organizer so this was great for me to be able to plan everything for this time around! I do not like chaos especially on vacations! lol Oh well...hopefully by June I will find something out & will be back on track!
I am having one of those myself!! Oral surgery is no fun... And very painful!!!
We are here to help, and you can vent away!!!
Okay, here is what I would do about the ADR's...If you do have a package with Disney, you can make your ADR's at the 180 days out from your arrival day... If you end up not being able to go at that time, you cancel your ADR's and move your package to the dates that will work for you!
I think I would actually make the ADR's for those time frames too until my dates were set and then cancel all the other ones, I see nothing wrong with that as long as you cancel them...
Breathe!!!
I really appreciate the support & all of your advice!
I will definitely be venting a ton more throughout the next few months so I'm glad to know I have good friends on DIS!!
My husband says that we "may" know before June which would be awesome for me because with our current dates, I make ADR's on June 2nd. I was just sooo worried about losing all of my hard work! I've been obsessing over this trip for months now & was so excited about ressies! As I said before, last year's trip was fun but completely random. I'd really like to have more of a plan. I guess as long as I can get an idea of the park crowds & we are able to attend the fireworks, parades, see the characters, etc. I will be ok...and we can do that no matter when we go! I'd just really like to have the "extras" that I have planned...with our photo session, ADR's, character meals, touring the resorts for Christmas, etc.
I am soooo relieved to hear that your friend went in January & the Christmas decor was still up!!! That's great because if we have to push our trip to January, that means that we could still tour the resorts to see the decor, have our photo session (I just couldn't use them for Christmas cards!) and we could still see the park decorations. I would miss seeing the characters in their Christmas attire, but we would still be able to see the parade, I think. So I wouldn't completely lose my "Christmas trip" after all! At least I'd still be able to get pieces of what I have planned.
I do already have my trip planned through Disney because I got a PIN & saved a lot on the room. It was a room only discount but it was going to expire & I was afraid I wouldn't get another PIN so I booked the trip. I made sure to ask the CM if I would be able to switch my dates if I needed to & they said there would be no problem. The only issue would be that my PIN expires December 18th so if I book after that, I would lose the discount. Otherwise, it should be fine. Glad to hear that!
So, just to clarify what you said...I can book my ADR's on June 2nd for my 10 day trip. Then I can also book ADR's a couple weeks later for mid-December using my same reservation number?
So for example, I could book Coral Reef for November 30th and December 18th using the same reservation (even though my current ressies say my trip is Nov 29th - Dec 8th) ???
I'm sorry, I was confused. If I am able to book ADR's for dates when my trip isn't scheduled, that would solve ALL of my problems literally!!! Of course, as soon as I find out the exact dates of our trip, I will cancel the ADR's immediately that I am not using.
I'm trying to not be that hung up on MVMCP...I agree with you, I will have no expectations & if I don't get to go, its not the end of the world. My BIG concern was just missing out on my character dining!!!
If you could clarify the ADR scheduling for me, I'd appreciate it! Sorry I am confused!
And THANK YOU for your help! I also hope that you feel better...I know that oral surgery is a pain!
My original dates for our trip were December 8th - 17th but I changed because we wanted to go right after Thanksgiving & I wanted to avoid Pop Warner/Cheerleading comps. Right now our dates are Nov 29th - Dec 8th, but that could change to either Dec 8-17th, Dec 13-22nd, or Jan 4-13th. I know those are all completely random dates but I'm trying to avoid Christmas & New Year's at all costs! lol
Regardless of when we go, we are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort (as long as there are rooms available if we need to change our dates). We stayed at AKL last year but we only stayed 5 days & we completely splurged because we haven't been on vacation since 2004! We want to try out a different resort each time we go as long as we can afford to stay on property!
Soooo, this time I definitely want to take some time each night while DH and DS are watching tv for me to write at least a brief summary of what we did that day. I can add in the details later, but I want to at least write down where we ate, rides, shows, fireworks, parades, special events, interesting things that happened, etc. )
Now there is truly some Disney magic for you!!! You don't know my DH but he doesn't spend money...on anything. I think he feels really badly that I've been spending so much time planning our trip & looking forward to it...and now everything is completely up in the air. He knows I'm upset about possibly losing all of my ADR's and not getting to see the MVMCP. I told him that the most important thing to me is that we will get our family photos taken & as long as they both allow me to take lots & lots & lots of pictures around the parks & resorts! And now, a Dooney too!!! How exciting! I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining!
My parents just bought me a new Kate Spade bad for Easter!!! I can not wait to use it. Anyway, I told my parents that I want the Disney Dooney clutch and wallet and they told me that if I wanted that they could be one of my Christmas Presents, so they are going to give me the $$$ for me to buy them when I am in Disney!!! 
So very excited. I love purses
^^^ Woo Hoo for the Disney Dooney!!!
but maybe an idea for the future! I've also always wanted a Vera & just never got around to buying one. I was stuck on Coach for awhile. I've also been looking at the Jessica Simpson bags for about a year, I was thinking about getting one for a carry-on bag. I guess they will all have to wait though because I have my heart set on my Disney Dooney! lol 
Most of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, here is an update. Basically my husband's job is crazy & a complete PITA regarding "vacation time." We have absolutely no way of knowing ahead of time when we will be going to Disney. All we know is "we can squeeze it in" sometime between November and January. I "might" know sometime in mid-June (early June if I'm lucky) or I might not know until sometime in October. It depends on what jobs are coming up & sometimes we know that the day OF a job, sometimes we know months before, sometimes days before. As you can see this makes it extremely hard to plan anything. I have been very upset about it (and actually did cry a few times!) and I'm very stressed!
Bummer about DH's job! The not knowing can be very stressful, but up until DH and I had kids, we would decide, "hey, let's go to Disney next week" and plan out Disney vacations a week or two in advance with no problems, so it can be done last minute if it has to be!
We might not get to attend the MVMCP at all. We might have to wait to go until sometime in January. Hopefully we will still get to see the Christmas decorations since thats why we were originally planning to go to Disney at this time of the year! At first I was really upset about it, but now I'm not so worried about MVMCP. Although I would really like to go, its not a huge deal to me if we don't go this year. As long as we can see the decorations & do our photo session, that will be good enough for me...at least for this year! If we don't get to do everything this year, I think we'll have to go back for Christmas within the next 2-3 years!
I hope if you have to go in January that the decorations are still up, but I think they take them down the first week of Jan. Hopefully, you'll be able to keep your original plans and won't have to worry about it!
I was also very stressed about ADR's...although thanks to Toni (THANKS AGAIN!!!) I feel much, much better about those! I didn't completely understand about booking them, so she was kind enough to thoroughly explain it to me! Now I understand & feel that I will be able to at least get the meals I really want & have planned for my son!
I won't lie, I am still upset about the whole mess & not knowing anything for sure until months & months from now is really stressing me out. But I also feel better about everything. I took my son to get his hair cut today & just sat there in awe. I was just so amazed at how well behaved he was & how he listened to me. He's really growing up & I see it more every day. It makes me realize that what's important is going to Disney as a family. And while its important to me to see the Christmas decor, parades, fireworks, etc. the most important thing is just being together. I know that might sound a little corny, but its the truth & I really realized it today. I just really want my son to enjoy the whole experience & if that means just going to the parks without all the decorations or special events, then thats what we'll do. Whatever happens, we will just adapt to it & adjust our plans. One good thing is that I don't schedule our photo session until 30 days prior to our trip so I know we'll be doing that for sure. That's one of the most important things on our trip this year because we all love Florida so much & we haven't had family photos taken yet. That alone will be a special experience for us. I also am excited to be staying at the CBR & just seeing all the scenery, the pools, shopping of course, riding the boats, etc. Sooooo to make a long story short, although we have a few little bumps in the road, overall I think we will be ok!
It will be a pain to keep track of all of the ADR's you have to make depending on which dates you might be going, but having the piece of mind that your ADR's are set is
First, I think my dates are changing to December 8-17th but as I said previously, I cannot confirm this until at least June. This would move my ADR date to June 11th so I'm really hoping to find out more info by late May or very early June. We'll see! Maybe I will get some Disney pixie dust!
I also had another "burst to my bubble" this evening while researching my trip. I was actually just reading news articles on events occurring at Disney...I call myself an obsessive Disney planner yet I had NO idea they were completely redoing Fantasyland & closing Toontown!!! I will admit that I cried a little bit! (I know, I know...I'm a big baby!!! lol) I just can't believe it. Last year, DS was too young so we didn't ride hardly anything. Actually at MK, we only rode the train & Pirates! He was scared to death of Philarmagic, but loved the parade. We basically spent the entire MK day walking around, waiting in line at the Judges Tent to see Mickey/Minnie, eating, and shopping! There were huge waits at rides I really wanted to go on like IASW and the tea cups. Anyway, I really wanted to take him to Toontown this year to ride Goofy's barnstormer, play at Donald's Boat, see Mickey/Minnie's country houses, ride the tea cups, carousel, carpets, play on Pooh's playground, etc. That included a lot of things that I knew he would definitely enjoy...and now I'm sad to say that its all gone. So...first I might lose MVMCP and now I might lose both Country Houses??? You have got to be kidding me!!! I read on DIS it may close April 19th, or Sept 2010, or Fall 2010. I don't know when they are closing Toontown for sure, but it looks like we will miss it. As an adult, I really enjoyed Toontown & thought it was one of the best parts of MK. I mean, MK is amazing overall, but IMO I just really liked the theming of Toontown. I didn't have the opportunity to visit it back in 1998 (was it there???) so I made a point to see it last year.
Sooooo...if anyone has additional information (preferrably black & white news articles...lol) OR if anyone has photos of Mickey or Minnie's country houses, could you please let me know??? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!
Hi again! Since I can't really make any decisions right now regarding the trip, I decided to work on some other "pre-planning" things...like making an Autograph Book, Tshirts, Tip Envelopes, suitcase packing list, journal to write in while on vacation, some special "surprises" for DH and DS, etc. I got some GREAT tips & ideas from the DISign Boards on here! You should really check them out if you are thinking about buying autograph books or journals. I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to make all this stuff, but once I saw it on DISign boards, I couldn't resist!!! The designs are just so great that I have to personalize everything for our trip! Of course I'll post some photos after I finish (but don't expect those until at least October)
I'm also planning on making some "Invitations" and "Itineraries" for our trip to leave in the resort's room for my DH and DS. Of course DS is too young to completely understand, but he gets excited when he gets his own mail at home, so I'm sure he would love to see letters for him when he wakes up on vacation!!
I also want to make myself a journal because I purchased one last time on vacation but didn't write in it while we were still there. I figured I would just write in it after we got home & would use my photos to "refresh my memory" of what we did on vacation. Well....one thing after another happened & it was over 6 months before I even started writing in the journal! I think I'm still on the first day of our vacation in the journal...maybe even still writing about the flight there
I'm also making some tshirts for some friends who will be attending MNSSHP in September!!! I found more ideas tonight & I'm planning to surprise them with all "the extras" like tip envelopes, letters from Mickey, autograph books, etc. for their kids! Can't wait to see their faces when I give them these items! (Can't wait to see me actually finish all of this either...
I also have been trying to figure out what to purchase on vacation. As I previously wrote, I did buy some things from the Disney Store in case I couldn't find 2010 items in December. So that eliminates some of what I was saving up to buy on our trip. I also bought some tshirts & am making some, so I won't need to buy those. I will probably still buy 1 tshirt (I want the 4 parks, 1 world one), definitely a Vinylmation or two, a 2010 magnet, and some other small items. I don't need much for myself this year because my "big present" to myself is having our family photos taken at the Grand Floridian!!! I'm very excited about that! I also want to get some items for DS that I didn't buy last time because I felt he was just too young to understand. He was happy with his Handy Manny last trip! I also let him buy a hat with Mickey on it, a tshirt, and a Playhouse Disney figure set. This trip, I want to get him Mickey ears (how could I have forgotten those last trip????), another Tshirt, a few little toys or one large toy that I will let him pick out, and definitely candy from Goofy's Candy Store at DTD! I've been trying to save up for him because I know this time, he is older & will want to buy more than last trip! He already understands that he can go into stores & point at things & mommy will put them into the buggy if she's buying it...so can you imagine him in 8 months from now?!?
Anyway...so I've been saving up for my items & mostly for DS...but came across the Dooney thread on DIS. I've been looking at them on ebay for awhile. I used to have a really nice Coach bag & 2 Dooney's. I got a bonus at work for Christmas one year & splurged. I usually don't spend money on myself, especially for expensive things like that. I've always thought if I spent hundreds on a purse, I would be afraid to carry it! Well, anyway, I ended up buying one of the cheaper (but gorgeous!) Dooneys with a matching wallet. (for those Dooney fans, both together cost under $200 so you can see I did buy the cheaper ones) Well, life happens & I was laid off from my job & needed the money more than the purses. So I have sold all of my brand name purses & went to a Kathy Van Zeeland (that I bought at a yard sale for $4...yepperz, deal!!!)
Anyway, to my point...I have convinced my DH to buy me a Dooney Wonder Tassel Bag for my Christmas present this year!!!!!!
My birthday is right before our trip & Christmas is right after, so I told him it could be a joint gift for both occassions. I figured he'd just ignore me or laugh at me or something...but he said "Well, I was already planning to buy you a Dooney on our trip after I saw you looking at them the other night."
Will try to update again soon!
YAY on the Wonder tassel bag!!! My parents actually just bought me one a few weeks ago!! I have a few pics in my PTR... I love it!!! It is perfect!!!
Just wanted to wish everyone a very HAPPY EASTER!!!
