Mom/Daughter Christmas Disney Trip: A Procrastinator's Plans in Progress

[mousetravel]

Hello, and Welcome to my TR. I am a single parent to my 16 year old daughter. We just recently celebrated her 16th birthday on the Disney Dream! I have just finished my TR on that trip. So if you'd like to check it out, see my links below for that one and a couple others.



This is going to be a trip of firsts for us!!!!



First time at Christmas and first time onsite!!! We are SOOOO excited!


We have been to Disney several times but have always stayed offsite. Since I am a single parent and have recently went back to school, everything is budget, budget, budget!!!!

This is also a "dream" trip for us. I have always dreamed of staying at AKL (when I hit the lottery ), but I knew I probably would never spend that much on a hotel stay. The main reason we always have stayed offsite is because we are hardly ever in the room when we are at Disney. We mainly go to the parks and stay from open to close.

But this time we will be staying at AKL - Jambo. With the help and advice from my Diser-friend, Missy, we will be staying there for the first 3 nights by renting DVC points. I am still undecided about where we'll stay after that. The planned dates will be December 18-24.

That's where my title comes in. I am a slight procrastinator. Mostly everything is done or planned at the last minute.

So stick with me and see how our planning goes and/or how many times it might change!!


Now, onto the introductions:

Here we are on the Disney Dream. This is one of my favorite pictures from that trip.

Here we are at MK from the same trip:

 

[anewmac]

woohoo im 1st for once lol.. how fun to go at xmas time. I have always wanted to hit up dland at xmas time but something always gets in the way so this will be so fun to see it thru your plans.

AKL is awesome you will love it! at night go by the pool/savanah and they have night vision goggles to see the animals. thats my 1 tip I can remember from when we went on our last disney trip. hmm maybe once im done with our cruise trippy. This will make me want to finish our disneyworld trippy. if not ill just post pics of it LOL lord knows i cant remember from a few years ago LOL

 

[UGAFan0829]

Woohooo!!Let's get this party started!!
I'm so excited for y'all!!! I know you are going to LOVE AKL! Don't worry to much about the rest of the details...they will all fall into place!

 

[Pinkocto]

How awesome!!! You guys are going to love love love AKL! This might be one trip you're not at the parks morning to night, it is just so nice to sit and watch the animals, that hotel is just so relaxing!

When I read Christmas my first thought was maybe our trips would over lap, but sadly we won't be there the same time. Be careful with the crowds during that time, my friends went a couple years ago and said it was sometimes hard to walk there were so many people. (don't want to discourage you, just want to make sure you know)

So excited to read another of your TR's!

 

[mousetravel]

woohoo im 1st for once lol.. how fun to go at xmas time. I have always wanted to hit up dland at xmas time but something always gets in the way so this will be so fun to see it thru your plans.

AKL is awesome you will love it! at night go by the pool/savanah and they have night vision goggles to see the animals. thats my 1 tip I can remember from when we went on our last disney trip. hmm maybe once im done with our cruise trippy. This will make me want to finish our disneyworld trippy. if not ill just post pics of it LOL lord knows i cant remember from a few years ago LOL

Yeah, you're here! I've heard about doing the night vision goggles on other TR's. But am wondering, do they supply those to you?
I'd love to see your pics if you get caught up on your TR!!

Woohooo!!Let's get this party started!!
I'm so excited for y'all!!! I know you are going to LOVE AKL! Don't worry to much about the rest of the details...they will all fall into place!

Thanks! Glad you're here!!! I can't wait to see AKL!

How awesome!!! You guys are going to love love love AKL! This might be one trip you're not at the parks morning to night, it is just so nice to sit and watch the animals, that hotel is just so relaxing!

When I read Christmas my first thought was maybe our trips would over lap, but sadly we won't be there the same time. Be careful with the crowds during that time, my friends went a couple years ago and said it was sometimes hard to walk there were so many people. (don't want to discourage you, just want to make sure you know)

So excited to read another of your TR's!

Since we get the chance to stay there, I think we're going to hang out at the resort most of the time, relax, do some resort touring and then go to the parks after our time there.

I've heard about those bad crowds. We've been at Spring Break, and it's pretty crowded at that time, but not horrible. If the Christmas crowds are similar to Spring Break crowds, I think I'll be OK. But I have a feeling, it's gonna be worse at Christmas time! Also, we may only go to a couple of parks instead of all of them because we are going to try to get in some "non-Disney" stuff while we're there!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Fun, fun, fun!

I remember reading the beginning of your Dream TR.

We're heading down for some Christmas magic as well! We'll be at the BWV 12/15-12/18 and then head over to AKV (Kidani) 12/18-12/26.

Looking forward to reading about your plans.

 

[Pinkocto]

Since we get the chance to stay there, I think we're going to hang out at the resort most of the time, relax, do some resort touring and then go to the parks after our time there.

I've heard about those bad crowds. We've been at Spring Break, and it's pretty crowded at that time, but not horrible. If the Christmas crowds are similar to Spring Break crowds, I think I'll be OK. But I have a feeling, it's gonna be worse at Christmas time! Also, we may only go to a couple of parks instead of all of them because we are going to try to get in some "non-Disney" stuff while we're there!

Sounds like you've got a good plan! Can't wait to hear more We're pretty excited to see all the Christmas decorations at all the resorts, never been at Christmas time either.

 

[Oliquig]

Hi! Joining in, and I am so jealous about AKL. It sounds like the two of you have fun on your trips, I might just have to go and read your trip reports!

 

[anewmac]

Yeah, you're here! I've heard about doing the night vision goggles on other TR's. But am wondering, do they supply those to you?
I'd love to see your pics if you get caught up on your TR!!

Yes they do, its a free thing too... they tell you about the animals too. You take a few moments to look then pass the glasses around.

Ill try and find my pics.

Also if you do photopass's they take pics in the lobby and around the resort.. actuallly its around most of the resorts. We got some semi nice family pics that way.

 

[mousetravel]

Sounds like you've got a good plan! Can't wait to hear more We're pretty excited to see all the Christmas decorations at all the resorts, never been at Christmas time either.

I'm excited too!

Hi! Joining in, and I am so jealous about AKL. It sounds like the two of you have fun on your trips, I might just have to go and read your trip reports!

Thanks for joining! We love taking these trips together, just the two of us!
Hope you'll check out my other TR's!

Yes they do, its a free thing too... they tell you about the animals too. You take a few moments to look then pass the glasses around.

Ill try and find my pics.

Also if you do photopass's they take pics in the lobby and around the resort.. actuallly its around most of the resorts. We got some semi nice family pics that way.

Love the photopass idea. I'll definately check on that, and the night vision goggles activity.

 

[mousetravel]

I had to share this with you all because no one understands my Disney silliness (or craziness? ) except for my Dis-friends.

There's this really nice thrift store that I love checking out, especially when I'm just passing away time, waiting to pick up DD from school. It's kinda like a goodwill or salvation army type store, but it's a missionary based store, that raises money for their trips, etc. So they have tons of good stuff.


Anyway, look what I found the other day!!!!

A Disney Christmas bucket!


So I have decided to call this my "Budget Bucket". I would like to save extra money to contribute to the bucket for our Christmas trip. We're planning to have a huge multi-family yard sale soon, so any "extra" or "unexpected" money can go into the bucket. I figured a goal: To put in all the extra money from yard sale, ebay, etc., and save for the park tickets, hoping that it will be an expense that won't be "out of pocket".


So that's my silliness for today, but I knew ya'll would understand!!

 

[Oliquig]

I still have popcorn buckests from our last trip to the World! They are fun to use to keep the magic going!

 

[LuvEeyore]

I am so glad to hear about your trip plans. I love December at Disney!! Let me know about renting DVC points, That is an interesting idea...might keep that in mindfor our cruise trip.

 

[Pinkocto]

Love the bucket, an excellent Disney piggy bank

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

Mother/daughter, one of favorite trips!

I'm "old" & my Mom & I go every year for a week in December. It's magic

Have a wonderful time

 

[UGAFan0829]

What an AWESOME find, Kristi!! I LOVE it! And I like even better that you're going to use it as your "Disney Bank"! Very cool!!

 

[mnrhannah07]

Im here and checking in! I totally know what you mean about saving seperate money for tickets! It really hurts the budget when you have to buy them out of "spending" money! lol Have you ever looked into annual passes? They are around $500 a person but if you go a few times a year it works out! Plus having the pass will give you a reason to go more! We are looking into it now because we go at least twice a year...

 

[GrammyJudy]

I save all my change in a WDW bank I got at a thrift store for $1 and usually it adds up to $200 a year.Just empty the wallet every night and then you are forced to break a bill and then there is more change to save.Also I go to Bingo every week . I budget the $20 to spend..if I don't go I save that $20 and all winnings...over $600 since we got back from Disney in Feb so that paid for airfare for this next trip in Jan. "A $ saved is a $ for Disney"

 

[petals]

joining in! Yay for Xmas trip

 

[jenseib]

Joining in too. I didn't realize you never stayed onsite before.