Nope, we are NOT going see the lights......but maybe we really are (Nov. 2015)

[BridgetR3]

Whew, what a trip this has been and we haven't even left yet! We had decided to take this fall "off" after going twice a year for the last couple of years to Disney World. We were going to wait a little longer until some of the projects were finished and just see everything next year. THEN, they announce that this is the last year for the Osborne lights and immediately, within minutes, I'm on the phone with DH, booking a trip! There is NO way we could miss the last year of the lights and so here we are......our kids are clueless, our vacation was booked a mere 2.5 months prior to leaving instead of 8-12 months in advance and we are going during a free dining time which made ADRs scarce. Could we possibly get everything we wanted? Would someone spoil the surprise for the kids? Will we actually be able to afford this last minute trip so close to our departure day??

Well, let's start back at the beginning with our characters......

Me - teacher by day/Disney planner and travel agent by night - I LOVE Disney! As a child, I was never able to experience the "magic" that is Disney. My first trip as an adult sealed the deal for me and I've been addicted ever since.

My favorites
Movie - Little Mermaid
Character - Mrs. Incredible
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - ANY!! (As long as I'm home....)

DH - He is just as addicted as I am and works hard to pay for my obsession. He has been found watching Wishes on Youtube when he's really lonesome for home.

His favorites
Character - Grumpy
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - Wilderness Lodge

DS1 - Such a great kid and so very smart! He wants to be an engineer when he is older so we hope that maybe one day he could be an Imagineer! He is known to walk around the house singing ride songs, movie songs, anything Disney.

His favorites
Character - Buzz and Woody
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - Beach Club or Caribbean Beach

DS2 - A total Disney fanatic. He LOVES all things Disney and Disney World. He actually cried the night we told him that it was the last year for the lights because "they are so beautiful, Mom, and we will never see them again".

His favorites
Character - Stitch
Ride - Anything fast and loud
Movie - (as of this minute......) Invisible Sisters or Descendants


Stay tuned for more on our last minute trip of a lifetime!!

 

[BridgetR3]

Links

Our Resort Choice

 

[BridgetR3]

November is here!! We have three weeks til we reveal our trip!! I am so, so ready to leave today but I will try to be patient!

When we first booked our trip, we were going to stay at Pop Century since it was a last minute trip that I wasn't counting on financially. We figured that would lower the cost and we would still be able to stay on property. So originally, we had a Pop Century standard room with 5 day tickets. I was trying to save up for the dining plan because even though I think it is quite a waste of food, DH really likes being able to get dessert at every meal and snacks whenever he wants (read - he eats my snack credits sometimes too).

As luck would have it, DH received a new job (in the same company) right after I booked our trip which would possibly change our dates but did change his pay. He decided that he would rather stay in queen beds so we upgraded to Port Orleans French Quarter. Why don't the values have queen beds? I may never stay in one since that's the case! Anyways, we were lucky enough to be able to switch and since there were no deals out while I was heading down to the world it didn't matter that POFQ was not included in any free dining/special deals. We love the dinners at POFQ and also I love how small the resort is without the multiple bus stops of a moderate.

Our dates did change and we were able to extend the time we were staying to now include some of the Candlelight Processional. We've never seen this before as we always leave on Thanksgiving Day or the morning of the day after to go home. I am pumped about seeing the Candlelight Processional to kickstart our holiday season!

Restaurants on our list of must haves - Whispering Canyon Dinner, Be Our Guest dinner, 50's or Sci Fi, Coral Reef, Candlelight Processional meal, 'Ohana dinner

Next post - What did we get? What didn't we get? What new ones would we get?

 

[misssullyinc]

Seems like a fun trip!

 

[BridgetR3]

Seems like a fun trip!

Thanks for following along!! It's still a secret as of this morning but it is SOO SOOO hard not to tell them!!!!

 

[BridgetR3]

Two weeks until the reveal!! I can't wait to be able to share the news with the kids!!

Today we shopped for clothes to wear and got our last haircuts before the trip. Anyone else get haircuts right before a Disney trip? lol....I want them to look good in the photos.....or at least maybe look a little better than homeless kids, which is the look they are trying for at this moment.

Random favorite photo of my youngest - Story goes this was about 11 p.m. at night while he drank Diet Coke and ate beignets while deliriously laughing at EVERYTHING. Only in Disney right?!?!?

Their list of must-do restaurants included Be Our Guest, Sci Fi, Whispering Canyon, and Coral Reef. I wanted 'Ohana and Liberty Tree Tavern so I added those to the list. Sadly because of the last minute booking all of these were gone completely for the times we wanted to visit. So I joined the November cancellation thread and I began to stalk the Disney website.

In the meantime, I booked Kona Cafe' for dinner, Tusker House for breakfast (on Thanksgiving Day), 50's Prime Time, and Boatwright's (since we will be at POFQ).

With two weeks left to go and almost completely finished tweaking our itinerary, we have booked -

Whispering Canyon - Dinner or possibly lunch because of Christmas party
Sci-fi Dinner
Be our Guest DINNER!!!! - So excited for this one!
Kona Cafe' Dinner
Tusker House - breakfast
Coral Reef Candlelight Processional - So excited about this one as well!!

I still plan to eat at our resort one night as we really enjoy the dinner dishes at POFQ and we hope to make it over to DTD to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express one day/night. Thankfully we can take the boat and not worry about construction or road traffic!

We were not able to get either 'Ohana or Liberty Tree although I think Liberty Tree will be open when we go. Maybe we can stop by and get a walk-up reservation since ADR's for it were not offered.

For now though, our Pandora station is set to Disney songs. I am stalking TR's and blogs and I'm not sure I'll make it to reveal day without spilling the beans!!!

 

[DMGeurts]

Yay! So glad you get to go back and see the lights one last time

I am trying to figure out your dates, but I am thinking we might miss eachother by a mere day or two?

I hope you have a great trip!

D~

 

[MKay]

It seems we might be going at the same time as you. This will be our first time seeing the Christmas Processional, too; we're doing France for a late lunch. Are you doing in Mickey's Merry Christmas?
We have not had as much time to plan as we have in the past; we were last there in Spring 2014 just before the Mine Train opened so I am kind of hoping we are up to speed with most things.

 

[quandrea]

I did the same as you. Found out about the lights and booked a trip. We also started out at a value but upgraded to a villa just yesterday. We love cooking on vacation and I was going to miss that kitchen. We are three and a half weeks out.

 

[BridgetR3]

Yay! So glad you get to go back and see the lights one last time

I am trying to figure out your dates, but I am thinking we might miss eachother by a mere day or two?

I hope you have a great trip!

D~

We are so excited to be able to see them one last time but I'm sure on the last night, you will be able to find me sitting on the curb in the streets of America with tears streaming down my face. Ugh Disney, why????

It seems we might be going at the same time as you. This will be our first time seeing the Christmas Processional, too; we're doing France for a late lunch. Are you doing in Mickey's Merry Christmas?
We have not had as much time to plan as we have in the past; we were last there in Spring 2014 just before the Mine Train opened so I am kind of hoping we are up to speed with most things.

We are doing the Christmas party!! We had tickets for the Osborne lights dessert party but I decided against that so that we could do the Christmas party.

Being a last minute trip, I feel like my plans slightly change every day since we are still getting reservations and such.....You will enjoy 7 dwarves! Magic bands are the biggest new thing but I think they were out back then maybe??

I did the same as you. Found out about the lights and booked a trip. We also started out at a value but upgraded to a villa just yesterday. We love cooking on vacation and I was going to miss that kitchen. We are three and a half weeks out.

Oooh a villa!! I wish we could have afforded WL this year as that's our favorite "winter" resort but we will happily stay at POFQ if it means I can see the lights one last time. I NEVER cook on vacation. lol.....I HATE cooking to begin with so on vacation we eat out! Hope you have a wonderful trip as well!

 

[quandrea]

Oooh a villa!! I wish we could have afforded WL this year as that's our favorite "winter" resort but we will happily stay at POFQ if it means I can see the lights one last time. I NEVER cook on vacation. lol.....I HATE cooking to begin with so on vacation we eat out! Hope you have a wonderful trip as well![/QUOTE]

Thanks. We too love WL. We are dvc but we booked this trip so last minute that there was no DVC availability.

 

[deedee2177]

Just came across your report and following along. Looks like you are heading down there right after our trip!

 

[BridgetR3]

Just came across your report and following along. Looks like you are heading down there right after our trip!

Yep we are a bit after you! Have a great time!!!

 

[BridgetR3]

I NEED to go to Disney like NOW.....yesterday even! Anyone else feel like that when you get so close to the end of your countdown?

Great news that our kids still don't know even though we have had a few near misses with well-meaning friends and family.

At this point, I have reserved the Osborne Lights (Merry & Bright) Dessert Party for the blanket because I figured it would be a nice keepsake since it's our last year with the lights. WHY, DISNEY, WHY!?!?!??!

BUT......then I saw the blanket and I was so NOT impressed. I knew that it was a stadium blanket and I was good with that as long as there was a design of the lights on it. However, to just write Osborne Lights on the flap didn't cut it for me and since we aren't big sweets eaters anyways, I cut the party.


So then I had another dilemma.....should I take that money and for just a few more dollars book the Christmas party. We didn't get to go to the Christmas party last year when we took my mom as she was not interested in spending more money for it. Our last Christmas party (and our only party) was two years ago and my youngest still talks about it to this day. No twisting my arm involved.....I used the refund of the dessert party to book the Christmas party.

And we were all set again!!!

Until.......(whew this trip's planning has worn me out.....) Disney announced this week that there will be no Star Wars Weekends next year. WHAT?!?!? So you are taking away everything we love?!?!? Geez, Disney. (Just so you know we ARE doing Universal next summer thanks to this.....)

While announcing that they have cut Star Wars Weekends, they announced the opening of Launch Bay. Now, I totally HATE that Launch Bay had to take the place of the Animation Studios because we loved to draw.

But we also love Star Wars AND it will be open while we are there so I'm now rearranging my park days to be at Hollywood Studios for one of our last days to see Launch Bay.

Whew......can we leave tomorrow??!?!?!

On a totally different note, I have completed my BIG fall observation (I'm a teacher) on Tuesday so I'm finished and done for the fall with all of the extra work. Tomorrow I can officially say I only have 1 work week left til Disney!! Tomorrow we are in the single digits people!!!

 

[BridgetR3]

Well we did our reveal tonight about 3 days early but I just couldn't hold it in anymore!!

Here's the video my boys watched -

 

[kayemgi]

Joining in! What a cute video! How did your boys react? I bet they were so excited!

 

[BridgetR3]

Our boys went crazy!!! It was so funny to watch them and they NEVER figured it out until the slide that says, "YES we are going to Disney!!" lol....they are so gullible!

 

[MKay]

We leave this coming Friday. Getting confused about both the weather (how to pack) and the crowd levels (people commenting about how crowded it is now). Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[BridgetR3]

We leave this coming Friday. Getting confused about both the weather (how to pack) and the crowd levels (people commenting about how crowded it is now). Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Unfortunately this is a rough time of year to pack for. You will need both winter and summer clothes. During the daytime it may (or may not) hit the 80s but at night you may be in the 40s and in Florida with the humidity that really chills you. We pack shorts, t shirts, and swimsuits along with jeans, sweaters, jackets, and mittens. We also bring hand and feet warmers from the local camping store because sometimes if you place them in your shoes or in your gloves you can stay warmer without all the extra clothes.

Crowds will be heavy for you definitely at first as that is a VERY busy time but depending on how long you are staying, people will likely begin clearing out some by Sunday and definitely on Monday or Tuesday.

Either way, have a great trip!!!

 

[MKay]

Unfortunately this is a rough time of year to pack for. You will need both winter and summer clothes. During the daytime it may (or may not) hit the 80s but at night you may be in the 40s and in Florida with the humidity that really chills you. We pack shorts, t shirts, and swimsuits along with jeans, sweaters, jackets, and mittens. We also bring hand and feet warmers from the local camping store because sometimes if you place them in your shoes or in your gloves you can stay warmer without all the extra clothes.

Crowds will be heavy for you definitely at first as that is a VERY busy time but depending on how long you are staying, people will likely begin clearing out some by Sunday and definitely on Monday or Tuesday.

Either way, have a great trip!!!

Thank you. We are in WDW on Monday so I think we will miss the Thanksgiving crowd. We are planning to do the layer bit for clothes and have gloves and hand warmers, too. As they say, what will be will be!