saratogagirl
<font color= CC0066>I need books, and wine and Ian
- Joined
- May 4, 2006
- Messages
- 6,421
With just under three weeks to go I think its time I get the party and the trip report started. Some Introductions
Me - Jules - The planner, Ians favourite phrase is "make it happen Jules", and I happily try to oblige
DH - Ian - Very laid back, kindly informs me that it is not his job to plan but to earn the bacon which makes it all happen - he has a point there.
Here we are:
Rewind to 2007 and our once of a lifetime Christmas/New Year trip to Orlando, I say once in a lifetime as it is something we had always wanted to do but having heard horror stories of crowds etc, we really thought it would be a one off, well we both fell in love with WDW in its Festive Glory and twelve months later, here we go again.
Our trip begins on December 11th when we leave Merthyr bound for Bristol, realistically we are so close to the airport that we could have left on the morning of the flight, but not being ones to delay the start of the party, we have booked the night before at The Winston Manor Hotel in Churchill. Having stayed in Chruchill before we know there is a rather nice pub where we can have a few drinks a nice meal and raise a toast to our friends The Churchills whilst in Churchill
Our flight from Bristol is at 10.15am with Continental via Newark, this will be the first time we have flown indirect and I am more than a little nervous, when we booked we had a two and a half hour stop at Newark this has since been changed by Continental to one and a half hours
I am doing my best to chill out and think what will be will be. If everything goes to plan we will land in Orlando at around 5.30. Our car is booked with Alomo another new to us as we normally use Dollar.
Our first three nights will be spent at Port Orleans French Quarter, we both love POFQ an have spent many happy holidays there, we love the character of the place and find Rue De Bagu and Cake Walk highly amusing after a couple of margaritas at Downtown Disney, yes we both have a strange sense of humour and I suppose you have to be there to appreciate it. We hope to make it to our beloved Margarita Bar at Downtown Disney, and also pick up our new Annual Passes and Tables In Wonderland card (who thought up that name)! We have decided to go with the card rather than the dining plan this year, as we found that last year the dining plan controlled us rather than us controlling it, and as a couple who occasionally like to slob in the room with a pizza and a few drinks, food control is not good!
Our plans for these three days include breakfast at Kona Cafe on our first morning when we will be up at silly o clock before our annual first day tradition of a visit to the Magic Kingdom. We will need to visit Walmart to stock up on the essentials (alcohol), and our Christmas decorations where we hope to recreate this:
Yes, I know I could wait until we get to Saratoga before I get a tree, but being the paranoid freak I am, I am convinced that Walmart will sell out of trees.
Our first night will be at MGM, oh ok The Hollywood Studios, for the Podcast Party, several weeks agp I was up at one o clock on a school night to secure our tickets for this event. This suits us all round as Ian gets to see his favourite Osbourne Lights "Feliz Navidad", I get to get something alcoholic with a flashing thing in it, and at the party we get our first go on Toy Story. We will hopefully be meeting up with Pinky (Claire) and her hubby Lee whilst at the party
. There are no other firm plans for our time at POFQ, no doubt the Margarita Bar will feature heavily and we also hope to get to try T Rex.
Our first move is a bit up in the air at the moment, we are currently waitlisted for four nights at The Beach Club or four nights at The Boardwalk, as it stands our first night will be at The Beach Club before three at The Boardwalk. We are crossing our fingers that the four nights come through, but if not we are happy enough, we will be at an Epcot resort for the four nights, and having stayed at neither resort before, we are looking forward to it. The plans for the four nights revolve mainly around Epcot our favourite park, with the exception of the 16th when we have tickets for MVMCP. Dining plans include The Flying Fish and Chef de France (both new for us) and Tonys for party night, I know Tonys gets bad reviews but we both enjoyed it last year.
Our last night at whichever resort we end up in will be spent at Jellyrolls, we have not been for years and are looking forward to it.
Next moves takes us to The Royal Pacific Resort at Universal, this will be our first time staying onsite at Universal and we are really looking forward to it. We like Universal Studios, not so hot on Islands of Adventure but love CityWalk. These two nights have been booked with the intention of partying, Margaritaville here I come, Pat O Briens, Hard Rock Cafe, what more could we ask for, oh yes a double helping of Margaritaville please ... We had a brilliant time when we stayed at The DoubleTree last year, and are hoping that it is going to be just as good this year
On the 21st December hangovers permitting we will be up and about early for our drive back to Disney and home, hoping that the earlier we check in the more chance there will be of getting Congress Park. We know that there is little to no chance that there our room will be ready so we plan to shop for our Christmas presents. First stop will be Mall at Millenia Jimmy Choo Choo Choo, then onto Festival Bay for Ron Johns, and also to The Pointe to check out Tommy Bahamas for Ian, the outlets we will hit later on in the holiday, there will also be a shop at Walmart to stock up on coffee, alcohol and snacks for the next thirteen nights.
For the last thirteen nights we will settle at Saratoga, hopefully at Congress Park, we can unpack, get the tree up, stock the fridge with booze and relax at home.
I am sure that there will be much visiting of parks and much relaxing in the room during this time.
There are some set plans also, on December 24th we have the Candlelight Processional with dinner at Tutto Italia, we both enjoyed this last year but picked pants seats, so will take more care this year.
Christmas Eve we will be at Narcoossees a first for us, which we are both looking forward to.
Christmas Day we will open our pressies, indulge in a bottle of something fizzy and watch the parade on ABC, no parks on Christmas Day this year, we are going to chill out for the day before dinner upstairs at Pucks.
We have a character breakfast at Ohanas booked for Boxing Day and will be off on our drink around the monorail on Boxing Day night.
We are booked for the Yachtsman on the 28th, we are both so looking forward to this, it was our best meal last year. The 30th will find us at Magic Kingdom for the preview of the New Year Fireworks, we left the park at 4.00am last year and hope to do so again this year.
New Years Eve will be at Epcot, we will be meeting Mandy (Mandymouse) and her husband Paul at 4.00 in Epcot, and the party will begin, we have discussed the drinking options, and they are many, with any luck we will all still be standing to see the New Year at 7.00 in the UK and again at 12.00 after Illuminations, looking forward to it Mand
. Some pictures from last New Years Eve
Raglan Road and more alcohol on New Years Day, and then our last night tradition of The Rose and Crown and Illuminations on the second.
Mixed amongst all of this I am sure there will be visits to The Animal Kingdom and most importantly the Dawa Bar, shopping and lots of visits to our favourite Wolfgang Puck Express, and resort hopping to see all the pretty trees. Did I mention the Margarita Bar at Downtown Disney at all, oh and I nearly forgot my best mate Papa John, cant wait to see you ...
The challenge has been set by the Churchills and we hope to rise to the occasion, how to pickle my liver in 22 nights springs to mind.
The dollars are ordered, the cases are down from the attic, there are holiday knickers to be bought at a bargain price thanks to my very good friend Sue (FloridaSun), the haircut is booked, life is sweet - bring it on.
Thanks for reading, may I leave you by sharing the fact that this is the second time I have typed this, my beloved Poppy May decided to sit on the laptop and deleted the lot!! And a little slideshow that was put together after last years adventure xxx
<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i97.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/ian8213/Movie.flv">
Me - Jules - The planner, Ians favourite phrase is "make it happen Jules", and I happily try to oblige
DH - Ian - Very laid back, kindly informs me that it is not his job to plan but to earn the bacon which makes it all happen - he has a point there.
Here we are:
Rewind to 2007 and our once of a lifetime Christmas/New Year trip to Orlando, I say once in a lifetime as it is something we had always wanted to do but having heard horror stories of crowds etc, we really thought it would be a one off, well we both fell in love with WDW in its Festive Glory and twelve months later, here we go again.
Our trip begins on December 11th when we leave Merthyr bound for Bristol, realistically we are so close to the airport that we could have left on the morning of the flight, but not being ones to delay the start of the party, we have booked the night before at The Winston Manor Hotel in Churchill. Having stayed in Chruchill before we know there is a rather nice pub where we can have a few drinks a nice meal and raise a toast to our friends The Churchills whilst in Churchill
Our flight from Bristol is at 10.15am with Continental via Newark, this will be the first time we have flown indirect and I am more than a little nervous, when we booked we had a two and a half hour stop at Newark this has since been changed by Continental to one and a half hours
I am doing my best to chill out and think what will be will be. If everything goes to plan we will land in Orlando at around 5.30. Our car is booked with Alomo another new to us as we normally use Dollar.Our first three nights will be spent at Port Orleans French Quarter, we both love POFQ an have spent many happy holidays there, we love the character of the place and find Rue De Bagu and Cake Walk highly amusing after a couple of margaritas at Downtown Disney, yes we both have a strange sense of humour and I suppose you have to be there to appreciate it. We hope to make it to our beloved Margarita Bar at Downtown Disney, and also pick up our new Annual Passes and Tables In Wonderland card (who thought up that name)! We have decided to go with the card rather than the dining plan this year, as we found that last year the dining plan controlled us rather than us controlling it, and as a couple who occasionally like to slob in the room with a pizza and a few drinks, food control is not good!
Our plans for these three days include breakfast at Kona Cafe on our first morning when we will be up at silly o clock before our annual first day tradition of a visit to the Magic Kingdom. We will need to visit Walmart to stock up on the essentials (alcohol), and our Christmas decorations where we hope to recreate this:
Yes, I know I could wait until we get to Saratoga before I get a tree, but being the paranoid freak I am, I am convinced that Walmart will sell out of trees.
Our first night will be at MGM, oh ok The Hollywood Studios, for the Podcast Party, several weeks agp I was up at one o clock on a school night to secure our tickets for this event. This suits us all round as Ian gets to see his favourite Osbourne Lights "Feliz Navidad", I get to get something alcoholic with a flashing thing in it, and at the party we get our first go on Toy Story. We will hopefully be meeting up with Pinky (Claire) and her hubby Lee whilst at the party
. There are no other firm plans for our time at POFQ, no doubt the Margarita Bar will feature heavily and we also hope to get to try T Rex.Our first move is a bit up in the air at the moment, we are currently waitlisted for four nights at The Beach Club or four nights at The Boardwalk, as it stands our first night will be at The Beach Club before three at The Boardwalk. We are crossing our fingers that the four nights come through, but if not we are happy enough, we will be at an Epcot resort for the four nights, and having stayed at neither resort before, we are looking forward to it. The plans for the four nights revolve mainly around Epcot our favourite park, with the exception of the 16th when we have tickets for MVMCP. Dining plans include The Flying Fish and Chef de France (both new for us) and Tonys for party night, I know Tonys gets bad reviews but we both enjoyed it last year.
Our last night at whichever resort we end up in
will be spent at Jellyrolls, we have not been for years and are looking forward to it.Next moves takes us to The Royal Pacific Resort at Universal, this will be our first time staying onsite at Universal and we are really looking forward to it. We like Universal Studios, not so hot on Islands of Adventure but love CityWalk. These two nights have been booked with the intention of partying, Margaritaville here I come, Pat O Briens, Hard Rock Cafe, what more could we ask for, oh yes a double helping of Margaritaville please ... We had a brilliant time when we stayed at The DoubleTree last year, and are hoping that it is going to be just as good this year
On the 21st December hangovers permitting we will be up and about early for our drive back to Disney and home, hoping that the earlier we check in the more chance there will be of getting Congress Park. We know that there is little to no chance that there our room will be ready so we plan to shop for our Christmas presents. First stop will be Mall at Millenia Jimmy Choo Choo Choo, then onto Festival Bay for Ron Johns, and also to The Pointe to check out Tommy Bahamas for Ian, the outlets we will hit later on in the holiday, there will also be a shop at Walmart to stock up on coffee, alcohol and snacks for the next thirteen nights.
For the last thirteen nights we will settle at Saratoga, hopefully at Congress Park, we can unpack, get the tree up, stock the fridge with booze and relax at home.
I am sure that there will be much visiting of parks and much relaxing in the room during this time.
There are some set plans also, on December 24th we have the Candlelight Processional with dinner at Tutto Italia, we both enjoyed this last year but picked pants seats, so will take more care this year.
Christmas Eve we will be at Narcoossees a first for us, which we are both looking forward to.
Christmas Day we will open our pressies, indulge in a bottle of something fizzy and watch the parade on ABC, no parks on Christmas Day this year, we are going to chill out for the day before dinner upstairs at Pucks.
We have a character breakfast at Ohanas booked for Boxing Day and will be off on our drink around the monorail on Boxing Day night.
We are booked for the Yachtsman on the 28th, we are both so looking forward to this, it was our best meal last year. The 30th will find us at Magic Kingdom for the preview of the New Year Fireworks, we left the park at 4.00am last year and hope to do so again this year.
New Years Eve will be at Epcot, we will be meeting Mandy (Mandymouse) and her husband Paul at 4.00 in Epcot, and the party will begin, we have discussed the drinking options, and they are many, with any luck we will all still be standing to see the New Year at 7.00 in the UK and again at 12.00 after Illuminations, looking forward to it Mand
. Some pictures from last New Years Eve
Raglan Road and more alcohol on New Years Day, and then our last night tradition of The Rose and Crown and Illuminations on the second.
Mixed amongst all of this I am sure there will be visits to The Animal Kingdom and most importantly the Dawa Bar, shopping and lots of visits to our favourite Wolfgang Puck Express, and resort hopping to see all the pretty trees. Did I mention the Margarita Bar at Downtown Disney at all, oh and I nearly forgot my best mate Papa John, cant wait to see you ...
The challenge has been set by the Churchills and we hope to rise to the occasion, how to pickle my liver in 22 nights springs to mind.
The dollars are ordered, the cases are down from the attic, there are holiday knickers to be bought at a bargain price thanks to my very good friend Sue (FloridaSun), the haircut is booked, life is sweet - bring it on.
Thanks for reading, may I leave you by sharing the fact that this is the second time I have typed this, my beloved Poppy May decided to sit on the laptop and deleted the lot!! And a little slideshow that was put together after last years adventure xxx
<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i97.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/ian8213/Movie.flv">
xxx
great start to your trippie, we must compare our choos next time we meet !
especially with all the drinkypoos were planning on downing 
You guys are going to have a fab time - I'm just a little jealous... 
Feel free to have a more than a few drinks for me!!! 
