MVMCP - My Very Merry Chistmas Pre-Trip Report

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Where in relation to Philly is Phoenixville? I'm originally from Souderton, PA, in Montgomery County. I lived there until I was 7. I think Souderton was about 45 minutes from Philly as well, but I don't remember Phoenixville.

Phoenixville is in northern Chester County and borders Montgomery County. It's an old steel town that was pretty run down until a few years ago. Just head down Rte 113 for about 45 minutes and you are there.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Yay! Another December PTR! I'm looking forward to reading more.

Thanks, I see your ptr in your signature. I will check it out after posting this.

 

[eecteacher82]

Just out of curiosity, is your Olivia incredibly headstrong, and demanding? While it can be a pain at times, I have seen my 4 year old yelling at the teenage neighborhood kids if they are doing something wrong.

Oh yes!!! Headstrong and demanding describe her to a T!!! Must be something with the name! The sad thing is that she is only 2 (she will be 3 on November 11), so I am thinking it can only go downhill from here! She really is a good kid though, just lets you know what she wants, when she wants it and how she feels about a situation!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Oh yes!!! Headstrong and demanding describe her to a T!!! Must be something with the name! The sad thing is that she is only 2 (she will be 3 on November 11), so I am thinking it can only go downhill from here! She really is a good kid though, just lets you know what she wants, when she wants it and how she feels about a situation!

I think it is definitely the name. I know some other people who have kids named Olivia, and they all are very headstrong and demanding. She can be adorable, sweet and loving, but has a bit of a mean streak in her. When my wife drops her off at daycare the kids like to run up to her, but she isn't a morning person, and the teacher says to give Olivia her space.

Guess I need to start work on entry number two for this PTR.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Glad you could make it. I hope my PTR gets to be as large as yours has gotten.

Don't worry, I have no doubt it will!!! You only started yours the other mine has been going on for months!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

OK, onto round 2 of the report. Early plans. When I say early plans, I’m talking January 2007 as I am driving home from Disney. We just had a nice vacation with then 4 year old Ally, 7 month old Olivia, Diane, and my Mom. For those who have driven to Florida, the trip down is great. On 95 there is an exit every mile and the numbers are in descending order so you know when the next state is coming, and you count down the states left. Coming home isn’t as much fun. For starters, vacation is over, no more Disney. Then you realize that you have to drive close to 1,000 miles to get home which takes close to a full day. Ugh, it didn’t seem that bad on the way down. While you can still count down the states you have left, figuring out when the next state is coming is much harder since I didn’t write down the miles for each state. Hitting rain at Richmond just made the ride home even worse.

Well enough depressing stuff about the end of a vacation, we are here to talk about planning a new vacation, hopefully one that doesn’t involve driving 15 hours. In ’07 we stayed at the All-Star Movies in the 101 Dalmatians wing. While the resort lacked a decent restaurant to eat in, it more than made up for that with the decorations. My daughter loved the 40 foot high Dalmatians; I thought disguising the stairwells as fire hydrants was a great idea. The Toy Story wing was phenomenal, and my daughter loved the Fantasia wing because of the scenes from her Disney Princess Christmas DVD that plays part of Fantasia with the one legged tin soldier and the ballerina. Quick side note, I read somewhere that Fantasia will be released on DVD around December 7th, so hopefully we can buy it and watch it prior to our trip. I have never seen the movie, and it will be great for the kids to recognize the scenes for Mickey’s Philharmagic and Fantasmic. We didn’t see Fantasmic in ’07 since it would have been a bit much for a 7 month old, but plan on going to see it this trip.

I was glad we took my mom on that vacation since Olivia got a stomach bug and was throwing up for a couple days. Grandma was more than happy to stay behind at the hotel with her since Disney involves a bit more walking than she is used to.

Ok, I have gotten hopelessly sidetracked here. This is supposed to be about our upcoming trip, not our last trip 4 years ago.

So I am driving home, and already I am thinking about our next trip. Olivia will be 4 and Ally will be 8. Should we go in the first week of January again? The weather was great, we got to see the Christmas decorations, although the GF took down their gingerbread house before we could see it. On the other hand if we go between Thanksgiving and Christmas we can see the MVMCP, and this time see the Gingerbread house at GF. OK, it’s decided; four years in advance; that we will be going between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This of course will mean Ally will be out of school for a week, but hey she will be in the third grade. What harm can missing a week of 3rd grade have. Although my Sister-In-Law who is a teacher is mortified that we are taking her out of school for a week, but hey, it’s my kid I can do what I want.

Where should we stay? Hmm. I liked the All-Star Movie resort, but maybe we can stay at a Moderate next time. The Animal Kingdom Lodge would be a cool place to stay, but can we afford a Deluxe hotel? I have 4 years, we can decide on where to stay later as it gets closer.

After driving in 3 hours of rain in the dark, squinting to see the lanes through the rain and mist kicked up by the 18 wheelers, I am definitely flying next time.

Here are some pics from our 2007 trip.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Don't worry, I have no doubt it will!!! You only started yours the other mine has been going on for months!

I guess you are right. I'm already on page two before I got the second official entry written.

 

[nessz79]

Sooooo cute!

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Sooooo cute!

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans!

Thanks. I just edited the post to add some smileys. Keep forgetting those. I also changed the text since the page+ I wrote in Word seems awful short in an actual post.
My next entry will be about more early planning. I will add it tomorrow most likely.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Great update! Really cute pictures, especially the one of your daughter watching tv with the dalmatian.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Great update! Really cute pictures, especially the one of your daughter watching tv with the dalmatian.

That is one of my favorite pics from that trip. I should try to upload the video of the first time she saw Cinderella, and post a link. Her face lit up like a light bulb and is my favorite memory of the whole trip. Gotta love seeing Disney through the eyes of a child.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

How stinkin adorable!

We've stayed at the ASMovies before, in the Mighty Ducks section. My son loved it, but I would have preferred almost any other one I think. We didn't explore the resort at all so we missed seeing all the fabulous icons.

Four years of planning Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Great update!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

P.S. Go EAGLES!!! Hard to believe training camp starts this week!!! We always rock our Phillies and Eagles when we are are Disney!!! I'm actually pretty upset that the birds aren't playing the Sunday we are down there... They play that Thursday the 2nd!!

 

[therussells08]

Hi! I'm subbing!

Your daughters are so adorable! I can't wait to hear all about your upcoming trip!

 

[stephielela]

Subbing! Even though DS has been to Disneyland (he was 4 weeks old) and WDW (he was 16 months old), we are counting this as his first real trip since he is old enough to understand we are going and to ride more stuff, plus it's the first time we are all going together. Plus last time I didn't get him a 1st visit pin... Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Subbing! Even though DS has been to Disneyland (he was 4 weeks old) and WDW (he was 16 months old), we are counting this as his first real trip since he is old enough to understand we are going and to ride more stuff, plus it's the first time we are all going together. Plus last time I didn't get him a 1st visit pin... Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Welcome
Maybe they didn't have them then, but I never thought to say it was Ally' first visit, but we may get two pins out of this trip, but that is part of an upcoming topic so you will have to wait on that. I don't think 4 weeks and 16 months count toward the first visit.

 

[serene56]

Learning about Dec. as I am thinking that is our next trip. (2013)
so i will learn if this is a good idea or not by you.

We took Amtrak our first trip in 1986 when Jason and Brian were 4 and 6.
After we got off the train-- I hated to think about that trip back home.
I will NEVER, EVER do that again.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Learning about Dec. as I am thinking that is our next trip. (2013)
so i will learn if this is a good idea or not by you.

We took Amtrak our first trip in 1986 when Jason and Brian were 4 and 6.
After we got off the train-- I hated to think about that trip back home.
I will NEVER, EVER do that again.

You will definitely enjoy Disney at Christmas time, but apparently the Halloween party is better.

I checked out the train, but didn't like the times they had, and it costs about as much as flying since the kids would need the bunks we would need at least one of the little rooms. If you want to learn about Disney there are a bunch of PTR's you can read from people on this one. A word of warning though, some of them are quite long.

See you next week, we can compare notes.

 

[nonni]

Subbing. Can't wait to read more. I saw you on the Dec. thread. I think we are going at the same time as you. This will be our first time to go Christmas.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Subbing. Can't wait to read more. I saw you on the Dec. thread. I think we are going at the same time as you. This will be our first time to go Christmas.

Judging by your ticker it looks like you are going around the same time as TruBlu, and I am going about a week after you get there. Unless of course you are going for two weeks. I know alot of people on the December thread know when I am going, but since that wasn't the original time frame I don't want to give away my actual dates yet. That will be discussed in an upcoming post.

Funny thing is, I made an outline of what my first 6 report entries would be. Post number 1 followed that outline, but then I modified it for post number 2 which gives me my first 7 entries. Of course since yesterday, I thought of another topic to cover in my next post, so I am up to 8 scheduled, and 2 of the first 3 weren't on the original outline. But hey, that's what makes this fun, plus interacting with everyone who subscribes. My next post will be lessons learned from the last trip.