Oh it's a Jolly Holiday with Masseys, a Pre Trip Report

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

JP and Gia like different things, so this is something good to remind her.

Just play up the fact that you will be doing more "baby" rides... maybe?

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Just thought I’d let you know Michelle that I watched Coco and I loved it! Makes me love the Mexico pavilion even more now
Hope your thanksgiving preparations are going well and then it will be time for your trip!!!!

 

[vamassey1]

So it's Thanksgiving Eve! Both Michelle and I are at work today for at least part of the day. We've gotten texts from most of the out of town guest to let us know they are on their way. Brent & Hannah got in last night. I don't think we'll be online much for the next few days since we will be entertaining so ....

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope everyone enjoys lots of good eats. And @pkondz a Belated Happy Thanksgiving to you!

I'm hoping once all the company leaves we can go back to finalizing all our plans for our trip since it will be less than 2 weeks away. I started having the dreams last night about Disney. Not the good ones but the ones where I don't have any plans, I lost my phone and can't check what time our dinner reservation is and so forth. Does anyone else have these?

I finally set up my Magical Express for the January DCP drop off. My FP day came and went and since we don't have tickets yet and we don't know what park we're going to do we didn't make any. And guess what that doesn't bother me. This trip is just a fun trip to get Danielle settled for her DCP.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Hope your laughter is long and loud and the craic is mighty!

 

[pkondz]

I don't think we'll be online much for the next few days

Totally not surprised!

And @pkondz a Belated Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Thanks! Hope you had a happy birthday and Happy Thanksgiving to you!

I lost my phone

Oh no!

 

[Steppesister]

Happy Thanksgiving, Vanessa! Your plans are all coming right along and things are falling into place- sooooo close now!!! I'm trying to get caught back up after travel and family things (new grandbaby) so will keep my comments short, but I am reading and loved following along!

 

[jdd]

How did your Thanksgiving celebration go?? I'm sure it was wonderful having all the friends and family, but probably exhausting too. We had a great family weekend with T-Giving dinner at my mom's on Thursday, with my in-laws on Friday, and I just hosted brunch for my youngest son's confirmation this morning . Honestly ready for a break. Have a lot of driving to do tomorrow to get DS19 back to college. Then I can be in full-fledged Disney excitement! Just 18 days to go!!

You guys are even closer, and I'm sure counting down the days. Any tweaking of the plans recently? I was able to score a FoP fastpass for our first day at Animal Kingdom (12/19), but it was early afternoon, so my plans for that day changed. We were going to do late afternoon/evening at AK and head to Boma for a late dinner, but since we have midday FPs now, I think we'll head back to DHS to see Batuu at night. So, I switched out Boma for Ale & Compass at the Yacht Club. I've never been - any opinions on that?

Also am thinking of having one evening where my son and his girlfriend can have dinner on their own, so I may switch things around on the 20th as well...it's just hard for me to leave things alone

Best of luck this week getting the house back to normal, and getting your packing on!!!

 

[jdd]

Found the cutest t-shirts at Kohl's yesterday for our trip! They were on sale for $6.99 and I had a 20% off coupon, so great deal. The Mickey one is for me, and the Star Wars ones are for the boys (whoever will wear them )

 

[afwdwfan]

We’re just in this limbo of job land where he’s working 1,200 miles away and do we move? Do we keep doing what we’re doing? Is this permanent? Should he keep an eye open to something down home? It’s complicated.

That's a rough situation. Respect to you guys for pulling it off and dealing with it as well as you are! Hopefully some of those questions will start to answer themselves soon.

Me, Gia, and her Mom. I mean, if I’m spending that kind of money it’s unlikely I’d do it on a trip withOUT my son and husband, and WITH her mother. BUTTTTTT knowing that’s how she felt just absolutely warmed my heart to no end.

That's awesome. I mean, totally get your perspective, obviously. But I love the fact that she thinks that much of you and wants you for her dream girls trip.

I also made JP a sweatshirt that Jimmy had requested I make for him.

That. Is. Awesome!!!!!

We have opening night tickets to Frozen 2 on Thursday. BECAUSE MOM'S BIRTHDAY IS FRIDAY! I thought about making her a shirt that says FROZEN at 29. HAHAHAH. But we're going to dinner and then all going to see Frozen 2 at a local theater. Got the tickets last week or so. Gia's at her mom's, but her and her mom's family are coming too. And my in laws. What better way to celebrate my angel of a mother than going to see the newest Disney movie with a smorgasbord of people. Because my mom has always operated under the notion that everyone that walks through the door is family.

This is pretty awesome too! I hope you all enjoyed the movie and that she had a great birthday with all the family and extended family groups!

 

[KSL]

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family, friends & food! I drove my DD#3 to Richmond, VA for a field hockey tournament and we met up with another family and had our turkey dinner at Cracker Barrel! TBH, I didn't hate it! The food and value were pretty decent, and no prep or clean-up! We drove back home (upstate NY) on Sunday. Yep, straight into the heart of Winter Storm Ezekiel. Between the volume on the first part of the journey and the weather on the second half of the journey, it took us over 12 hours. Hope to never repeat that experience! My little town of Glenville had its 10 minutes of fame being mentioned on The Weather Channel for receiving the highest snow accumulation of the storm -- lucky us. Good news is there was a Snow Day on Monday, so we could sleep in. I can't believe how close our trip is! Two weeks from tomorrow we arrive! I just ordered my MB decals -- thanks for the links, Michelle! I also ordered some inexpensive Christmas ears and will save the ears and decals as surprises. Last week I picked up some cheap-o decorations at the dollar store that I'll probably just toss when we leave but will make the villa feel festive. This week I'm focusing on getting Christmas cards done and some decorations up here at home. I hope everyone's final plans are coming together. Such a wonderful time of the year, and with a Disney trip as part of it, it's especially exciting!!

 

[mFont23]

Just play up the fact that you will be doing more "baby" rides... maybe?

I think that's a great idea! And I told her it's hard to make plans right now, but I'm hoping we will make a trip around July 4th while Danielle is still working.

Just thought I’d let you know Michelle that I watched Coco and I loved it! Makes me love the Mexico pavilion even more now

So glad you liked it! We love it, especially JP. He loves "mama Coco".

Honestly ready for a break.

Holy crap. I feel you on this one.

Any tweaking of the plans recently?

Actually, no. Maybe because our plans are so tight and we have a little one. But we've kinda stuck with everything we have. Only thing we've manipulated is the party to-do list, and maybe the in-betweener stuff.

So, I switched out Boma for Ale & Compass at the Yacht Club. I've never been - any opinions on that?

never tried it, but either sounds AMAZING.

Also am thinking of having one evening where my son and his girlfriend can have dinner on their own, so I may switch things around on the 20th as well...it's just hard for me to leave things alone

as a young couple on the trip (our wedding trip), I wish we would've done this. As much as I want to enjoy EVERY MINUTE with my family, having a few moments alone wouldn't hurt.

Found the cutest t-shirts at Kohl's yesterday for our trip! They were on sale for $6.99 and I had a 20% off coupon, so great deal. The Mickey one is for me, and the Star Wars ones are for the boys (whoever will wear them )

OMG I LOVE THOSE! I have 3 separate amazon returns to bring to Kohls tonight.... my wallet is in trouble now!

That's a rough situation. Respect to you guys for pulling it off and dealing with it as well as you are! Hopefully some of those questions will start to answer themselves soon.

Well, thank you. Hoping for more concrete answers, soon. Although none of it is easy, just knowing what we can prepare for would be nice. Anything to be together again! It's funny... Jimmy has ALWAYS said "why don't you go take the weekend and fly to see your friend in Disney." or "yall go without me to do this fun thing, I just love it when you get to have fun". and i've always told him no, that I don't WANT to do those things without him. Here I am, finally taking him up on that offer... and he's like "I'm so glad yall are going to have a great time... BUT DONT EVER GO TO DISNEY WITHOUT ME AGAIN" LOL!!!!

That's awesome. I mean, totally get your perspective, obviously. But I love the fact that she thinks that much of you and wants you for her dream girls trip.

Definitely warms my heart to hear that.

That. Is. Awesome!!!!!

I get the feeling you'd get along well with my husband.

I just ordered my MB decals -- thanks for the links, Michelle!

Happy to help!!! Hope you love them.

This week I'm focusing on getting Christmas cards done and some decorations up here at home. I hope everyone's final plans are coming together. Such a wonderful time of the year, and with a Disney trip as part of it, it's especially exciting!!

We are doing about the same. Trying to "wrap up" Christmas so we can also wrap up our trip preparations... as danielle has finals and is sick. Now, I'm sick. We're just hoping no one else gets sick. I spy a lot of claratin and humidifiers in our near future! BUT SO EXCITED WE WILL BE IN DISNEY SO SOON!!!!!

 

[vamassey1]

Happy Thanksgiving, Vanessa! Your plans are all coming right along and things are falling into place- sooooo close now!!! I'm trying to get caught back up after travel and family things (new grandbaby) so will keep my comments short, but I am reading and loved following along!

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving to you too Liesa! One week from today we will be in Disney! I'm so far behind on everyone's reports but really want to get caught up too. Your new Grand Baby is so precious. I hope your getting lots of hugs and kisses.

How did your Thanksgiving celebration go?? I'm sure it was wonderful having all the friends and family, but probably exhausting too. We had a great family weekend with T-Giving dinner at my mom's on Thursday, with my in-laws on Friday, and I just hosted brunch for my youngest son's confirmation this morning . Honestly ready for a break. Have a lot of driving to do tomorrow to get DS19 back to college. Then I can be in full-fledged Disney excitement! Just 18 days to go!!

Thanksgiving was fun but exhausting. We ended up with 41 for diner and since it was such a beautiful day we spent most of it outside. It was a fun filled weekend that started with Cousins Karaoke on Wednesday night. Some of our group did the Turkey run on Thanksgiving morning before we gathered for a late lunch. Some ended Thanksgiving with some pre-Black Friday shopping. Friday had groups splitting up again but that night we all went to the lights at the Zoo. Saturday we went to LSU to absorb some of the gameday excitement and to see Jimmy walk down Victory Hill with the team. LSU invites prior team players to do this at each home game. No one had tickets to the game so we rushed back home to watch it. Our house guest all headed back home on Sunday morning and I've been trying to get caught back up since then.

Best of luck this week getting the house back to normal, and getting your packing on!!!

I'm still trying to get back to normal and put up Christmas decorations. Very little packing has been done so far.

Found the cutest t-shirts at Kohl's yesterday for our trip! They were on sale for $6.99 and I had a 20% off coupon, so great deal. The Mickey one is for me, and the Star Wars ones are for the boys (whoever will wear them )

Love the shirts! The shirt I'm wearing to MVMCP came from Kohls.

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family, friends & food! I drove my DD#3 to Richmond, VA for a field hockey tournament and we met up with another family and had our turkey dinner at Cracker Barrel! TBH, I didn't hate it! The food and value were pretty decent, and no prep or clean-up! We drove back home (upstate NY) on Sunday. Yep, straight into the heart of Winter Storm Ezekiel. Between the volume on the first part of the journey and the weather on the second half of the journey, it took us over 12 hours. Hope to never repeat that experience! My little town of Glenville had its 10 minutes of fame being mentioned on The Weather Channel for receiving the highest snow accumulation of the storm -- lucky us. Good news is there was a Snow Day on Monday, so we could sleep in. I can't believe how close our trip is! Two weeks from tomorrow we arrive! I just ordered my MB decals -- thanks for the links, Michelle! I also ordered some inexpensive Christmas ears and will save the ears and decals as surprises. Last week I picked up some cheap-o decorations at the dollar store that I'll probably just toss when we leave but will make the villa feel festive. This week I'm focusing on getting Christmas cards done and some decorations up here at home. I hope everyone's final plans are coming together. Such a wonderful time of the year, and with a Disney trip as part of it, it's especially exciting!!

That was a very busy Thanksgiving. I can't even imagine that much snow. Glad you were able to get some decals ordered. I have a reminder to order some after we get back for my very short trip in January to drop Danielle off for DCP.

Post a picture of your decorations in the villa. I picked up a few things to decorate our window but that's all for now.

 

[vamassey1]

This time next week

Do you every play the "this time next week" when your getting real close to a Disney trip. We like to do this and then once we're back is the sad look back at what we were doing "this time last week". I thought this would be a good way to review our plans and feed the excitement. Soooooo

On this day next week we will be IN DISNEY!!!!

We have a really early flight out of New Orleans. When we were looking at flights I was looking for a direct flight that got us there as early as possible so we could spend some time in a park so flying out at 6 am seemed to be the best choice. Now that we have to actually think about what time we need to wake up on Saturday morning to get there it doesn't look as good. I'm really hoping our room is ready early so we can rest up a little before hitting DHS. Our plane is set to land around 8:35 if all goes as planned. I'm checking the weather several times a day in hopes there won't be any issues. It's not like it's going to snow or anything in Louisiana or Florida but some bad thunderstorms would be bad for us. So far it looks like the highs will be in the low to mid 70s and the lows in the 50s. I'm pretty happy with that. I don't want temps in the 80s but I don't want to freeze either. We'll either grab some food at POP or eat when we get to the park, depends on how hungry we are or if our room is ready and we get to rest up there. We don't have to be at the park until our first FP @ 1. I'm hoping to convert my 7 day hopper to an annual pass as soon as we get to the park. We will be having an early dinner @ Mama Melrose's. Our last FP is done at 4. If we're not dead on our feet I would like to see Jingle Bell Jingle Bam @ 9 and the Wonderful World of Animation before it. I would also like to see The Sunset Seasons Greeting Show. I guess we'll have to wait and see how late we're able to stay. I would like to at least walk through SWGE but not expecting to ride any rides.

What will you be doing 1 week from today?

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

1 week from today I will be going to the Santa Christmas dinner with my grandson and family at our local golf club. Early christmas celebrations as my daughter, her husband and grandson are headed to Denmark for Christmas to celebrate with the other side of their family this year ☃

 

[jdd]

One week from today I'll be setting up a Christmas cookie table in our church's vestibule. It's a fundraiser for our teens (including my youngest) who do a mission trip to Appalachia each summer. They do construction projects for homeowners in the area. So Saturday will be spent baking cookies, and we'll sell them after the masses on Sunday. Hoping it will be successful!

 

[pkondz]

Do you every play the "this time next week" when your getting real close to a Disney trip.

How can you not???

We like to do this and then once we're back is the sad look back at what we were doing "this time last week".

Ugh. That game isn't as fun.

On this day next week we will be IN DISNEY!!!!

What???? How is that possible! Yesterday you were a month away!

When we were looking at flights I was looking for a direct flight that got us there as early as possible so we could spend some time in a park so flying out at 6 am seemed to be the best choice. Now that we have to actually think about what time we need to wake up on Saturday morning to get there it doesn't look as good.

I sooo get this!

So far it looks like the highs will be in the low to mid 70s and the lows in the 50s.

That's not bad at all.

What will you be doing 1 week from today?

Probably working and wishing I was with you guys in Disney.

 

[vamassey1]

1 week from today I will be going to the Santa Christmas dinner with my grandson and family at our local golf club. Early christmas celebrations as my daughter, her husband and grandson are headed to Denmark for Christmas to celebrate with the other side of their family this year ☃

Your day sounds so fun! It's hard to share your kids and grand kids once they get married. Hopefully next year it will be your turn to have them on Christmas.

One week from today I'll be setting up a Christmas cookie table in our church's vestibule. It's a fundraiser for our teens (including my youngest) who do a mission trip to Appalachia each summer. They do construction projects for homeowners in the area. So Saturday will be spent baking cookies, and we'll sell them after the masses on Sunday. Hoping it will be successful!

Very rewarding! I hope y'all sell lots of cookies. Hopefully everyone comes to mass hungry.

 

[vamassey1]

How can you not???

Glad to hear I'm not the only crazy one.

Ugh. That game isn't as fun.

True! It's right up there with the "Tracigal Express".

What???? How is that possible! Yesterday you were a month away!

The time is really going fast now.

I sooo get this!

I know you do. I just hope we don't have any issues and get there really late.

That's not bad at all.

Fingers crossed is stays that way.

Probably working and wishing I was with you guys in Disney.

I tried to get you to come.

 

[vamassey1]

One week from today will be our first full Disney day. This will be our first test to see if we can make rope drop with a 2 year old. We're headed to Epcot and our first FP is @ 9:15. We'll have to get a move on it if we want to ride Test Track and maybe hit Soarin' at rope drop. This is our only full day @ Epcot. The Holiday Storytellers and Voices of Liberty are a priority for me. I would also like for JP to meet Pooh since he loved him so much last trip and we'll be Disney Bounding him. We might try to have a late breakfast in France since we've never done that but it will be easier to get something at Sunshine Seasons. Lunch will be counter service somewhere or the Holiday Kitchens. We're still looking over the menus to see if there are some must dos. I would love to do the Candlelight Processional but we're going to skip it. I don't think JP will do well with the "hurry up and wait" with limited space. He's a mover. I would also like to see the Joyful Gospel and take lots of pictures of the decorations. Dinner is at Coral Reef. I just went there last year but it's been years since Dennis and Danielle went. I originally made the ADR as a place holder for the new Space restaurant but that ain't happening while we're there. This day should give us a better picture of how well we can navigate with an active toddler. I keep telling Dennis we need to slow down and just absorb everything. Danielle isn't in a rush since she knows she has 6 months to see and do it all.

What will you be doing next Sunday?

 

[pkondz]

Glad to hear I'm not the only crazy one.

True! It's right up there with the "Tracigal Express".

yup.

The time is really going fast now.

Good!

I know you do. I just hope we don't have any issues and get there really late.

I'm sure everything will be fine.

I tried to get you to come.

You didn't try hard enough. I did not get my airline ticket in the mail.

This will be our first test to see if we can make rope drop with a 2 year old.

Good luck. Seriously.

What will you be doing next Sunday?

OMG! A rare day off!
So... probably Xmas pre-cooking. Possibly baking. Cleaning. Chores... um... I think I'd rather be working.