MVMCP - My Very Merry Chistmas Pre-Trip Report

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

OK, I really need to get better at updating this report. I think I have covered a lot of the planning, so here are the high level plans, you know each day, where will we be, and when will we be eating. I haven’t really gotten into the detailed daily plans yet.

OK, so December 11th we get up way before the buttcrack of dawn to drive down to the airport to get on our 6:45 am flight. We are scheduled to land in Orlando at 9:06 am. Then we hop on the ME to go to the Animal Kingdom. Quick check in even though we can’t get into our room until 4. Once that is done we head over to Hollywood Studios. Eat Dinner/Lunch, whichever menus that have at that time, at Mama Melrose. Got the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Then we go see Fantasmic at 6:30. Hoping for no rain.

December 12th. Gotta wake up sort of early to get over to Animal Kingdom for the 8:15 Reservations at Tusker House. Definitely going to ride Expedition Everest, my oldest is looking forward to this. Also gonna do the Safari, gotta compare that to the Great Adventure Safari in Jersey. Will probably leave that park a bit early and go shopping at DTD. Catch dinner at the Earl of Sandwich maybe. I don’t have an ADR for that evening. Is this a mistake? It’s a Sunday night, not sure how crowded DTD will be. May just go to Hollywood Studios early evening/late afternoon. If that is the case, we would go to Pizza Planet for dinner. Hollywood Studios has EMH That night, so we will probably be there. (Good thing I still have a few months to figure out these little details) As you can probably tell, I won’t be planning everything down to the minute, but by the time the trip comes I will have a good idea of what we are doing each day, where we will be, and what we will see. Gotta go to Tourguidemikes and get some input from him, well other than the fact that we are going to parks he has as yellow, but the crowd levels at this time of year are low, so I should be ok.

December 13th, EMH at Animal Kingdom, so we will head there first to see what we didn’t the day before. If we didn’t go to DTD on Sunday, then we would head there this evening. If we did go, then we will go to Hollywood Studios

December 14th. Check out of Animal Kingdom Lodge, and head over to the Poly. If there isn’t a direct bus, I will just take the bus to MK and ride a boat back. Or maybe just go to Epcot. Most likely we will just go to Epcot. We will just eat breakfast at the AKL. Or maybe we should just go check in first then go to EPCOT for the day. Decisions, decisions. We have dinner reservations for the Spirit of Aloha at 8 PM.

December 15th. Dinner at the Crystal Palace at 8:05. Love the idea of getting into the park before it opens. We should be able to get a good pic of us in front of the castle without the crowd. After breakfast we will head over to Tom Sawyer’s Island to look for paint brushes. Dinner that evening will be at 5:00 at the Plaza Restaurant.

December 16th. EMH at the Magic Kingdom, we have breakfast at 8:10 at CRT. Should have a decent view of the relatively empty park while eating breakfast. Definitely interested in seeing how this is different from the Dinner we had the last time. Dinner is at 5:00 at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The park closes early, but we will be sticking around for MVMCP. WOOHOO Snow on Main Street This will probably be a late night for the kids. Depending on their energy level we may skip the first parade to go see other stuff, if they are getting tired we will see the first one. The early plan is to head back to the resort for a few hours in the afternoon. Possibly take a nap

December 17th. What is my obsession with getting into parks before they open, I have 8:00 am reservations for Akershus at EPCOT. We will be spending the rest of the day at EPCOT. I may change this ADR. Just checked and there is availability at 8:35 and 9:50, so I still have options. We will be heading to the Grand Floridian to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:25 pm. We had a good time there the last time, and this time we won’t have Suzy and Perla. I didn’t know their names until they signed the autograph books. I have watched Cinderella about 5,682 times, and I don’t remember them every giving names to those two mice. The only ones I remember are Gus and Jaq.

Tangent: For those who have watched Cinderella, can someone tell me why two of the mice that get turned into horses are different when they change back? Don’t believe me, check out the mice at about the 1 minute mark in the first video, then check them out at the 1:25 mark in the second link.

Initial Transformation

After the stroke of midnight.

Back on topic. EMH at EPCOT, so after dinner we will head back and finish up EPCOT. If we have already seen everything, then we will go to MK.

December 18th. Eating at Chef Mickeys at 7:45 a.m. Last day of the trip, so I am guessing it will be at MK. Hang out there until the hotel says it is time to get back on ME to go to the airport to catch our 7:30 pm flight home. Get into Philly around 9:52. So by the time we get home it will be after 11. Kids should be good and tired, so we can just crash. At least this way I don’t have the “Man, this morning we were in…” blues. We left the Bahamas in the morning one year, and got back to Philly during a snow storm. Talk about having the “Man, this morning we were in…” blues. Sucks clearing snow off your car while wearing shorts.

Time to start working on the Trip Report, working on the DVD of the trip, checking out the PhotoPass pics, formatting them etc… Man, there sure is a lot to do after the vacation.

 

[stephielela]

I think yoru high level plans look good! We are doing 2 "before-the-park-opens" breakfasts as well, and I think it's a great opportunity to get a jump on the crowds! We are barely overlapping with you , but we are plannign on being in Epcot on th 17th as well! Good choice I'll keep my eyes out for you!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I think yoru high level plans look good! We are doing 2 "before-the-park-opens" breakfasts as well, and I think it's a great opportunity to get a jump on the crowds! We are barely overlapping with you , but we are plannign on being in Epcot on th 17th as well! Good choice I'll keep my eyes out for you!

That was my thinking as well. Of course, I will beat the crowds just to get to Tom Sawyers Island to find one of the paint brushes. In 07 we went at rope drop and I picked up my daughter and ran to the castle. I wanted to be the first to Tinkerbell's treasure so she could wake Tinkerbell. They had it roped off, and the people already there were 10 deep. No way that many people outran me, must have been early ADR people. Didn't get to wake tink, but I didn't tell my daughter what we were doing so she didn't know she missed out.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Sounds like you have great plans. I made 1 early morning ADR for CP. Now I keep hoping they don't change and make it EMH that morning since Dec can always change.

 

[PoppyGirl]

I think mine conspire to argue just to make me crazy. Last night the littlest one was complaining that the older one was looking at her. I always thought that was just comedians making stuff up, not real

I must have had an unusual childhood (stop laughing!) because my brother and I didn't fight (I probably just completely dominated him....) and so now when my kids go at it, I'm always shocked. What is going on here? I hear things like "she's breathing." Yes....it's necessary. Get over it!

.

OK, so December 11th we get up way before the buttcrack of dawn to drive down to the airport to get on our 6:45 am flight. We are scheduled to land in Orlando at 9:06 am. Then we hop on the ME to go to the Animal Kingdom. Quick check in even though we can’t get into our room until 4. Once that is done we head over to Hollywood Studios. Eat Dinner/Lunch, whichever menus that have at that time, at Mama Melrose. Got the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Then we go see Fantasmic at 6:30. Hoping for no rain.

Be sure to look for us at AKL! We'll be the ones with the fighting kids....oh wait....maybe the will kick in and they will be on their best behavior at Disney. Maybe THAT is why I keep planning new trips.........everyone is happy at Disney!

Oh, and I do believe that "way before the buttcrack of dawn" is definitely earlier than "o'dark-thirty" which is a military term I learned from a former BF.)

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I must have had an unusual childhood (stop laughing!) because my brother and I didn't fight (I probably just completely dominated him....) and so now when my kids go at it, I'm always shocked. What is going on here? I hear things like "she's breathing." Yes....it's necessary. Get over it!




Be sure to look for us at AKL! We'll be the ones with the fighting kids....oh wait....maybe the will kick in and they will be on their best behavior at Disney. Maybe THAT is why I keep planning new trips.........everyone is happy at Disney!

Oh, and I do believe that "way before the buttcrack of dawn" is definitely earlier than "o'dark-thirty" which is a military term I learned from a former BF.)

I agree, you must have had an unusual childhood, or you have selective memory.

I'm going to have to study the pictures from everybody's PTR's that will be there at the same time as us so I can keep a lookout for you. Of course my wife thinks it's weird that I will talk to people I only know online if I see them at the park or resort.

I wasn't sure about the timing of o'dark-thirty which is a specific time whereas the time of the buttcrack of dawn changes throughout the year. In the summertime way before the buttcrack of dawn is probably before o'dark-thirty, but in the winter it may be after o'dark-thirty. For this trip, way before the buttcrack of dawn is 3:30 am. The car will be loaded the night before with luggage, so just some coffee to help wake me up. Put the sleeping kids in the car around 4:15 am. Get to the Airport around 5 am. Should give us plenty of time to check in, get through security... Of course at that time of the morning we will probably get through all that in 15 minutes, and have WAYYYYY to much time to fill at the airport, but better to be early than to miss the flight.

 

[PoppyGirl]

I agree, you must have had an unusual childhood, or you have selective memory.

I'm going to have to study the pictures from everybody's PTR's that will be there at the same time as us so I can keep a lookout for you. Of course my wife thinks it's weird that I will talk to people I only know online if I see them at the park or resort.

I wasn't sure about the timing of o'dark-thirty which is a specific time whereas the time of the buttcrack of dawn changes throughout the year. In the summertime way before the buttcrack of dawn is probably before o'dark-thirty, but in the winter it may be after o'dark-thirty. For this trip, way before the buttcrack of dawn is 3:30 am. The car will be loaded the night before with luggage, so just some coffee to help wake me up. Put the sleeping kids in the car around 4:15 am. Get to the Airport around 5 am. Should give us plenty of time to check in, get through security... Of course at that time of the morning we will probably get through all that in 15 minutes, and have WAYYYYY to much time to fill at the airport, but better to be early than to miss the flight.

Our flight leaves at 7:00am....which means leaving our house at 4:30ish.....I like your theory!

Don't laugh (who am I kidding?) but I am creating a spreadsheet of all the PTRs that I'm reading...disboard name....real name....title of trip report....dates at WDW....resort....and last night at about 11:30pm I suddenly had this brilliant idea (since I do tend to have swiss cheese brain most of the time) to copy photos from the disboards into my spreadsheet so I can recognize people. Now I'm wondering if maybe that would constitute stalking????

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Our flight leaves at 7:00am....which means leaving our house at 4:30ish.....I like your theory!

Don't laugh (who am I kidding?) but I am creating a spreadsheet of all the PTRs that I'm reading...disboard name....real name....title of trip report....dates at WDW....resort....and last night at about 11:30pm I suddenly had this brilliant idea (since I do tend to have swiss cheese brain most of the time) to copy photos from the disboards into my spreadsheet so I can recognize people. Now I'm wondering if maybe that would constitute stalking????

Nah, not stalking.
I keep track of all the PTR's by going to my Subscriptions page. Just click Quick Links, and then choose Subscribed Threads. It will show all of the threads you have posted on, and will let you know when the last post was. It is a big help in keeping track of everyone's PTR's, and I know when someone posted something so I can go read it.

 

[francis6306]

Okay... About Cinderella... you are kinda right BUT actually... if you watch the whole movie, Gus's shirt is orange-yellow. But in the fairy Godmother scene, its a green color. Not sure what the deal there is, but that's the problem.

By the way! We don't have cinderella (Our sitter does though), so when Cortlyn saw me looking at that clip, she flipped out and wanted to watch the whole movie. Luckily, someone has uploaded the WHOLE movie to youtube!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Okay... About Cinderella... you are kinda right BUT actually... if you watch the whole movie, Gus's shirt is orange-yellow. But in the fairy Godmother scene, its a green color. Not sure what the deal there is, but that's the problem.

By the way! We don't have cinderella (Our sitter does though), so when Cortlyn saw me looking at that clip, she flipped out and wanted to watch the whole movie. Luckily, someone has uploaded the WHOLE movie to youtube!

I was talking about the other two mice besides Jaq and Gus. When they are transformed. The little guy on the left isn't the same. The two mice look like the twin mice seen earlier in the movie.

Here they are prior to trasnformation

And here they are after midnight.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Here they are prior to trasnformation

And here they are after midnight.

It's the hue of the evening of course. Look at Gus-Gus' shirt too. He's supposed to be mustard yellow but prior to transformation he's like a light green.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever read a TR about Mama Melrose. I'd love to try the place but DH hates Italian.

I'm not sure on the need for ADRs at DTD. There's great counter service to choose from so in a pinch you're covered but if you're looking to try something specific maybe make a tentative one. We were lucky and did a walk in at Wolfgang Puck Cafe but it was pretty late in the evening.

 

[jenseib]

I'm subbing and will come back to read tomorrow. I read the first post and your girls are the cutest things. Just beautiful!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I'm trying to remember if I've ever read a TR about Mama Melrose. I'd love to try the place but DH hates Italian.

I'm not sure on the need for ADRs at DTD. There's great counter service to choose from so in a pinch you're covered but if you're looking to try something specific maybe make a tentative one. We were lucky and did a walk in at Wolfgang Puck Cafe but it was pretty late in the evening.

My DW is half Italian, so we should be ok. Pasta is the only sure thing with my kids. Anything else they will like it one time, and not want to eat it the next time, so dinner is a crap shoot sometimes.

I'm not going to bother with an ADR for DTD. Counter service will be fine with us I think.

 

[jenseib]

OK, I'm all caught up. I'm loving your plans. We are tentively going Dec 8th - 15. I have it booked, but my DH is still on the fence, well he's kind of on the otherside of the fence and Claire and I are pulling hard to get him over. LOL!
Our plans are to stay at AKL the 8 and 9th and to switch over to Pop for free dining after that.
I have a PTR going too, (Dairy farmers wife) so if you have time stop in. My DD is 5, but will turn 6 in Dec.
Do you have plans for BBB for the girls?

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

OK, I'm all caught up. I'm loving your plans. We are tentively going Dec 8th - 15. I have it booked, but my DH is still on the fence, well he's kind of on the otherside of the fence and Claire and I are pulling hard to get him over. LOL!
Our plans are to stay at AKL the 8 and 9th and to switch over to Pop for free dining after that.
I have a PTR going too, (Dairy farmers wife) so if you have time stop in. My DD is 5, but will turn 6 in Dec.
Do you have plans for BBB for the girls?

I added your to my subscriptions, and will need to catch up. Thanks.

Another Dairy Farmers wife, you should chat with PoppyGirl.

 

[jenseib]

I added your to my subscriptions, and will need to catch up. Thanks.

Another Dairy Farmers wife, you should chat with PoppyGirl.

Poppy girl is a dairy farmers wife too? I didn't know that. Maybe she can give me secrets to persuade my DH to go easier. He always drags his heals about with any vacation

 

[PoppyGirl]

Poppy girl is a dairy farmers wife too? I didn't know that. Maybe she can give me secrets to persuade my DH to go easier. He always drags his heals about with any vacation

YES!! I am! I work with DH in the barn sometimes too... I just posted on your PTR! WOOT! You need to read my PTR...lots of evil (bwahahahaha) plans there for "persuasion". As I said when I posted on your PTR, I have to go pick up my friend and her kids from the metro station, so I can't read more now, but we definitely need to chat some more!

Thanks Daddy of Princesses for hooking us up!

 

[jenseib]

YES!! I am! I work with DH in the barn sometimes too... I just posted on your PTR! WOOT! You need to read my PTR...lots of evil (bwahahahaha) plans there for "persuasion". As I said when I posted on your PTR, I have to go pick up my friend and her kids from the metro station, so I can't read more now, but we definitely need to chat some more!

Thanks Daddy of Princesses for hooking us up!

I just opened your PTR. but I too need to go do some real life stuff....I hate when life interfears with Disney planning....but will definately catch up later today!

 

[francis6306]

I just opened your PTR. but I too need to go do some real life stuff....I hate when life interfears with Disney planning....but will definately catch up later today!

Isn't that the story of our lives?!?!!?!?!

 

[exwdwcm]

My mom must have been insane. When I was 7 the whole family, me and my four older sisters hopped in the station wagon and went to Michigan, then drove down to Kentucky, and back to PA. I was in the back, no seats, no seat belts. We left early in the morning so I was still asleep and in my pj's. At some point the bag with my clothes fell off the car so I got a whole new wardrobe for the trip when we stopped at a KMart.

LOL--yep, my mom always jokes how car seats didn't exist back then, we just 'rolled' around in the back. lol at your clothes falling off the car.....funny, but okay, not so funny when you are looking for a clean pair of underwear!

OK, so December 11th we get up way before the buttcrack of dawn to drive down to the airport to get on our 6:45 am flight. We are scheduled to land in Orlando at 9:06 am. Then we hop on the ME to go to the Animal Kingdom. Quick check in even though we can’t get into our room until 4. Once that is done we head over to Hollywood Studios. Eat Dinner/Lunch, whichever menus that have at that time, at Mama Melrose. Got the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Then we go see Fantasmic at 6:30. Hoping for no rain.
gotta love the butt crack of dawn! we will be dealing with it too- 6:20am flight. kill me now! i doubt i will even sleep that night before! Mama Melrose sounds good, can't wait to hear your review on it! Sadly, this is the day we leave as you arrive! boo hoo! i always hate seeing everyone coming in as we are leaving, so depressing! having another trip planned is the cure, right!?

December 12th. Gotta wake up sort of early to get over to Animal Kingdom for the 8:15 Reservations at Tusker House. Definitely going to ride Expedition Everest, my oldest is looking forward to this. Also gonna do the Safari, gotta compare that to the Great Adventure Safari in Jersey. Will probably leave that park a bit early and go shopping at DTD. Catch dinner at the Earl of Sandwich maybe. I don’t have an ADR for that evening. Is this a mistake? It’s a Sunday night, not sure how crowded DTD will be. May just go to Hollywood Studios early evening/late afternoon. If that is the case, we would go to Pizza Planet for dinner. Hollywood Studios has EMH That night, so we will probably be there. (Good thing I still have a few months to figure out these little details) As you can probably tell, I won’t be planning everything down to the minute, but by the time the trip comes I will have a good idea of what we are doing each day, where we will be, and what we will see. Gotta go to Tourguidemikes and get some input from him, well other than the fact that we are going to parks he has as yellow, but the crowd levels at this time of year are low, so I should be ok.
i think you are fine without an ADR- we love Earle and i highly recommend it. lines look long, but the move so fast. DTD is always crowded in the evenings, so i think you just go and enjoy!

December 13th, EMH at Animal Kingdom, so we will head there first to see what we didn’t the day before. If we didn’t go to DTD on Sunday, then we would head there this evening. If we did go, then we will go to Hollywood Studios

December 14th. Check out of Animal Kingdom Lodge, and head over to the Poly. If there isn’t a direct bus, I will just take the bus to MK and ride a boat back. Or maybe just go to Epcot. Most likely we will just go to Epcot. We will just eat breakfast at the AKL. Or maybe we should just go check in first then go to EPCOT for the day. Decisions, decisions. We have dinner reservations for the Spirit of Aloha at 8 PM.
no direct bus from resort to resort. you'll have to take a bus from AKL to a park and then hop on one to the poly. or take a bus to the TTC and use the monorail from there? Even if you check in first, your room might not be ready, so i say go to a park first and maybe head to the poly for a midday break and check in then.

December 15th. Dinner at the Crystal Palace at 8:05. Love the idea of getting into the park before it opens. We should be able to get a good pic of us in front of the castle without the crowd. After breakfast we will head over to Tom Sawyer’s Island to look for paint brushes. Dinner that evening will be at 5:00 at the Plaza Restaurant.
i have an 8:05 ADR too (on another day!) at CP- love it! DH and I tried looking for the paint brushes once- first ones on the island and never found them. over an hour later, we gave up and the CM on the boat still gave us the splash/Thunder mtn FP anyhow!

December 16th. EMH at the Magic Kingdom, we have breakfast at 8:10 at CRT. Should have a decent view of the relatively empty park while eating breakfast. Definitely interested in seeing how this is different from the Dinner we had the last time. Dinner is at 5:00 at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The park closes early, but we will be sticking around for MVMCP. WOOHOO Snow on Main Street This will probably be a late night for the kids. Depending on their energy level we may skip the first parade to go see other stuff, if they are getting tired we will see the first one. The early plan is to head back to the resort for a few hours in the afternoon. Possibly take a nap
love LTT! we love the 'home cooking/turkey dinner' theme! love the apple cobbler and mac and cheese. yeah for MVMCP!

December 17th. What is my obsession with getting into parks before they open, I have 8:00 am reservations for Akershus at EPCOT. We will be spending the rest of the day at EPCOT. I may change this ADR. Just checked and there is availability at 8:35 and 9:50, so I still have options. We will be heading to the Grand Floridian to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:25 pm. We had a good time there the last time, and this time we won’t have Suzy and Perla. I didn’t know their names until they signed the autograph books. I have watched Cinderella about 5,682 times, and I don’t remember them every giving names to those two mice. The only ones I remember are Gus and Jaq.

Tangent: For those who have watched Cinderella, can someone tell me why two of the mice that get turned into horses are different when they change back? Don’t believe me, check out the mice at about the 1 minute mark in the first video, then check them out at the 1:25 mark in the second link.

Initial Transformation

After the stroke of midnight.

Back on topic. EMH at EPCOT, so after dinner we will head back and finish up EPCOT. If we have already seen everything, then we will go to MK.

December 18th. Eating at Chef Mickeys at 7:45 a.m. Last day of the trip, so I am guessing it will be at MK. Hang out there until the hotel says it is time to get back on ME to go to the airport to catch our 7:30 pm flight home. Get into Philly around 9:52. So by the time we get home it will be after 11. Kids should be good and tired, so we can just crash. At least this way I don’t have the “Man, this morning we were in…” blues. We left the Bahamas in the morning one year, and got back to Philly during a snow storm. Talk about having the “Man, this morning we were in…” blues. Sucks clearing snow off your car while wearing shorts.
i hate the post vacation blues. i think ME makes you be ready 3 hours before your flight. which i hate. especially when you are using the online baggage/luggage service at the hotel, you don't need 3 hours for the airport/drive. we usually do 2 if we are using hte baggage/boarding pass service. Loved it last time- no waiting in line to get our pass, simply walk to security (yeah for family line) and we are through.
Time to start working on the Trip Report, working on the DVD of the trip, checking out the PhotoPass pics, formatting them etc… Man, there sure is a lot to do after the vacation.

YES!! I am! I work with DH in the barn sometimes too... I just posted on your PTR! WOOT! You need to read my PTR...lots of evil (bwahahahaha) plans there for "persuasion". As I said when I posted on your PTR, I have to go pick up my friend and her kids from the metro station, so I can't read more now, but we definitely need to chat some more!

Thanks Daddy of Princesses for hooking us up!

oh no- two dairy farmers wives? now i am going to get confused!!