Only 615 Days and Counting!!! ***UPDATE 6-21*** complete! New PTR added

[Jackiemarie21]

Awesome!!! What a great surprise!!

Thanks I thought it was pretty awesome!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

YAY!! That's so exciting that your husband surprised you with the trip! May 2014 sounds WAY better than having to wait until 2015!!

I know May 2014 is MUCH better right?

Don't you love the Disney Vera Bradley print? My boyfriend got me the Where's Mickey cosmetic case for Christmas! He told me they had sold out but he actually found a way to get me one!

I love the Disney Vera Bradley bags they are so cute! But, man they sell out so quick! I am glad your BF found a way to get one for you.

I loved the story about your daughter wanting to build an Olaf after seeing Frozen! So cute! I'll be following along!

Awe thanks, she is a very determined little girl! I am glad to have you along!

 

[Jane1967]

What an awesome Christmas present! We are taking an end of the school year trip as well. Right now we are set for May 30th to June 4th at Bay Lake Towers. The 30th is our last day if we use all 5 snow days. So far we have used 2 so I am hoping that is it as I want to extend our trip a couple more days on the front end (maybe a little less crowded ). We are excited and have tentative dates for the parks based on Magic Hours. Will wait on tickets and meal plan once the final calendar is set. The other day my 8 year old daughter said...May is a long time to wait! I am right there with her! But, this trip is a lot closer than our 2015 Disney Cruise!!

 

[FallinlovewithDisney]

I was quietly following your PTR but had to comment How wonderful for you! Your DH must be a great guy even if he's a procrastinator!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

What an awesome Christmas present! We are taking an end of the school year trip as well. Right now we are set for May 30th to June 4th at Bay Lake Towers. The 30th is our last day if we use all 5 snow days. So far we have used 2 so I am hoping that is it as I want to extend our trip a couple more days on the front end (maybe a little less crowded ). We are excited and have tentative dates for the parks based on Magic Hours. Will wait on tickets and meal plan once the final calendar is set. The other day my 8 year old daughter said...May is a long time to wait! I am right there with her! But, this trip is a lot closer than our 2015 Disney Cruise!!

It really is the best gift I have ever received. We are hoping to beat the major crowds with the last week of May too, we'll see. It stinks having to travel around the school calendar sometimes, but a crowded day at Disney beats any other day for sure! I hope to try Bay Lake Towers someday it looks wonderful. May seems far away, but it will be here before we know it!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I was quietly following your PTR but had to comment How wonderful for you! Your DH must be a great guy even if he's a procrastinator!

I am so glad you decided to comment! Welcome aboard! He is a great guy, but he is a chronic procrastinator. Although, this time it totally worked to my advantage .

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I wanted to share some of our holiday fun, but my last post I was so caught up in the excitement of my big gift that I totally forgot about our Holiday fun! We had an amazing Christmas this year.

We made cookies, lots of them. I baked for 12 hours straight!:

This was the first year that Charlotte actually helped. It was so messy to have a two year old's help, but we had lots of fun so it was totally worth it!

We also decorated a gingerbread house:

After it was all decorated Charlotte said, "what a big cupcake, now I need a fork!"

We also had a movie night during our holiday fun. We watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I did not do lots of decorations, I figured the tons of Christmas decorations we have out would do. For our meal we had a traditional Christmas feast. Roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans. For dessert we had ice cream because it was on sale and I didn't feel like anymore baking after the day before.

Charlotte really enjoys movie nights!

Then, we had the normal Christmas stuff. Christmas eve was at my MIL's which was lovely. That night Santa came to our house:

Charlotte got to bed way late on Christmas eve so on Christmas morning she slept in, which was amazing. This was the first year she was really into Christmas and the Santa thing, so as soon as she finally woke up she ran down the stairs:

Charlotte seeing what Santa left for the first time.

Charlotte received quite a few Disney themed things. Santa left that big Minnie Mouse, but mom and dad got Charlotte a few Disney items as well:
A Woody Doll:

And Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on DVD:

I made Charlotte a new princess blanket:

Cinderella dulpo set:

This fun Beauty and the Beast Tea Set:

I made Charlotte a Rapunzel dress (I also made one for my niece):

She also got Rapunzel shoes and the accessory set from the Disney store to go with the dress, but I do not have a picture.

After Christmas morning presents and brunch at our house we went to my mom's for another celebration. Charlotte got an Ariel doll from my Mom and dad which she declared her favorite gift of all:

and a Jake and the Never land Pirates duplo set from my brother:

We had a pretty low key week between Christmas and New Year's since DH was mostly off work we had lots of time as a family. On New Year's Eve we could not find a sitter so we took Charlotte with us to a party one of my friends was hosting. It wasn't a big party or anything, just a quite gathering and Charlotte ended up being everyone's main entertainment. Charlotte made it all the way to mid night!

She did a little dancing!

and made some music of her own.

For New Years day my parents came over and we had a lovely dinner with them. As of today life is back to normal. I always get kind of depressed when the holidays are over. I love that time of the year so much, it makes me sad its all over. However, I have a trip to plan now, so I guess its not so bad, right?

Well, thats all for now. I will be back soon with some planning details.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

LOVE the baking pictures--charlotte looks too adorable pouring and mixing! that was a lot of baking!! she probably made less of a mess than I did baking by myself.

I love muppet Christmas carol! it's right up there on the favorite list with it's a wonderful life and a Christmas story (who can resist "you'll shoot your eye out!").

the picture of charlotte coming down the stairs is too precious! that look on her face is the absolute best. isn't it awesome when they are so amazed and into the whole thing?

seeing charlotte with her duplos reminded me--have you seen the new Disney princess lego sets that just came out? they are soooo cool! we got a lot of lego sets this year (superheroes and lego friends) but I can see some of those coming our way soon!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

LOVE the baking pictures--charlotte looks too adorable pouring and mixing! that was a lot of baking!! she probably made less of a mess than I did baking by myself.

She didin't do too bad until she turned the mixer on at full speed and the flour went flying. Charlotte and Bob thought this was so funny, at first I was a little stressed but after a few minutes I started laughing too, it was a good moment!

I love muppet Christmas carol! it's right up there on the favorite list with it's a wonderful life and a Christmas story (who can resist "you'll shoot your eye out!").

I had never seen muppet Christmas carol, but we recorded it on the DVR and decided to use it as our December movie night. DH confessed A Christmas Carol is his favorite story ever, he even read the book in highschool. (After six years of marriage I had no idea! ) He said the muppet one is very close to the book and thought it was great. DD and I enjoyed it as well. But, my favorite Christmas movies are A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation! We always watch the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story on TBS every year!

the picture of charlotte coming down the stairs is too precious! that look on her face is the absolute best. isn't it awesome when they are so amazed and into the whole thing?

Yes! Christmas was so magical this year because Charlotte really participated, I wish it didn't go by so quickly. I would really like to freeze time.

seeing charlotte with her duplos reminded me--have you seen the new Disney princess lego sets that just came out? they are soooo cool! we got a lot of lego sets this year (superheroes and lego friends) but I can see some of those coming our way soon!

Yes! I was just telling DH I want to get those and save them for when Charlotte is older, they are amazing!

 

[BeckyEsq]

Just found this. Subscribed and going to catch up now!

 

[BeckyEsq]

I am cracking up - Santa brought that same dollhouse to our house this year!!

 

[anniebabymu]

Love the Christmas pics!! Harper got Woody this year too! She is obsessed with Toy Story so Santa got her Woody, Jessie and Bullseye... and what did she say after she opened everything?? "Where's Buzz?!?!" Oh man. Thank goodness grandma and grandpa got him for her!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Just found this. Subscribed and going to catch up now!

Glad to have you along!

I am cracking up - Santa brought that same dollhouse to our house this year!!

Its so cute isn't it? I swear Charlotte plays with it every day. She refuses to play with the baby though because she says families are a Momma, Dadda and a Charlotte, no baby! What is this child going to do if we decide to have another baby

Love the Christmas pics!! Harper got Woody this year too! She is obsessed with Toy Story so Santa got her Woody, Jessie and Bullseye... and what did she say after she opened everything?? "Where's Buzz?!?!" Oh man. Thank goodness grandma and grandpa got him for her!

Thats funny! Charlotte says she wants a Buzz too! So far she only has a Woody, but I see them all in our future at some point.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Well, the plans they may be a changin, as they always seem to be doing for us! However, this time it is out of our control! Mother nature decided to dump about 12 inches of snow on our vacation plans! You may be thinking but the snow is in January what does that have to do with May? Well, since DH is a teacher those 4 snow days (making 5 total since they had one earlier in Dec) are adding three extra days onto the school year. Those extra days are the days we were planning to travel to Disney! And to think I used to love snow

So, what to do, what to do? The problem is that my DH teaches summer school and that takes up the month of June. This year he may be doing a college prep course that will take up a large part of July. Plus we have my brother's wedding in Denver in June and DH's family wants to take a big family vacation to the beach in July. So that pretty much takes up the entire summer, I am tired just thinking about all that we have going on. I was so bummed thinking the greatest gift I was ever given was going to be taken away from me
So, my DH smiled and said if you could take a four night five day trip anytime of the year when would it be? I said fall or early Dec to do MNSSHP or MVMCP, of course. DH said that it just may be possible to go at that time! and I was like "WHAT?"
Well, if DH takes his three personal days in a row and then the weekend we could go during the fall! Okay snow, I love you again!

DH doubled checked that this plan would work and gave me the green light to go a head and start planning a fall or early Christmas time trip! So as of right now every detail is totally up in the air, but my Christmas gift trip is still on!

So now I have a tough decision...MNSSHP or MVMCP?
I have been looking at all the sites I can about the two parties and its seems like the Halloween party is more "worth" it plus we can go during Sept which is better crowdwise, so that has been leaning more towards MNSSHP. But, I have always wanted to see WDW at Christmas. I am still so torn, first world problems, right?

So, the next few weeks will consist of spreadsheets comparing resorts and the two parties and deciding just what this trip will look like! And I am not going to lie, I am excited about every bit of it!

And because this is a text heavy update, I am going to include a picture of my DD and DH in our big snow that caused this whole mess:

I promise to be back soon, with some details!

 

[anniebabymu]

Bummer about not going in May!! And for not maybe getting a Hippy Dippy Pool play date! Thanks to the snow my DD is now going to have to miss her last 3 days of school! I never thought that I'd have to allow for 6 snow days!! And I thought if she had to miss any it may be one... but 3?!?! Makes me feel a little bad... but I just gotta keep telling myself that she's in Kindergarten! It's not the end of the world!

But, yay for still getting to go!! And now you have more time to plan/make ADR's! Ha ha!

We've never been to the Christmas party, but we did go to MNSSHP on our first trip to Disney! We LOVED it!!! Hallowishes is the best firework display ever... gave me goosebumps! And the Boo to You Parade was wonderful! And Charlotte would LOVE trick-or-treating around Magic Kingdom! I could go on and on! It was a very good time and totally worth every extra penny spent! Now I will say that I would also love to be at Disney during Christmas time with the decorations all up... but until I actually get to experience Christmastime there, MNSSHP gets my vote

 

[Tulles]

I've never posted in any of your TRs before but read them all this weekend. I just had to chime in though when you mentioned the debate about the party dates. I've never been for a party but we went in early Nov last time (2012). Managed to sandwich inbetween Jersey Week and Thanksgiving. The Christmas decorations were starting to appear and the castle was all lit up so pretty. Crowds weren't that bad either. Lower then you'd be used to in the summer for sure. Plus you could catch the end of the Food & Wine fest if you time it right. You could always do the MNSSHP a little later when Charlotte is older. Just food for thought. Look up the GF gingerbread house and WL tree pics. Also BC puts up some neat things too so you'd have to allow time for resort hopping that time of year.

 

[AprilRenee]

Stupid snow! Ruins everyone's fun! But I'm glad you get to go at a different fun time! I'm starting to plan our jan 2015 trip but DH just applied for a job at a school so now I have to wait and see if he gets the job and if it will mess up my jan plans. I hate things being up in the air!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

you scared me there for a minute! i'm so glad your Christmas gift trip is still on!

I know this is probably the least of your concerns, but I just wanted to give you a heads up on the Vera Bradley bags. I only saw them at world of Disney and only the blue and green ones. if you really want them, i'd watch disneystore.com and see if you can find them available on there. I think finding them in the park will be super hard....of course, something new and awesome might be out by then too!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Bummer about not going in May!! And for not maybe getting a Hippy Dippy Pool play date! Thanks to the snow my DD is now going to have to miss her last 3 days of school! I never thought that I'd have to allow for 6 snow days!! And I thought if she had to miss any it may be one... but 3?!?! Makes me feel a little bad... but I just gotta keep telling myself that she's in Kindergarten! It's not the end of the world!

But, yay for still getting to go!! And now you have more time to plan/make ADR's! Ha ha!

We've never been to the Christmas party, but we did go to MNSSHP on our first trip to Disney! We LOVED it!!! Hallowishes is the best firework display ever... gave me goosebumps! And the Boo to You Parade was wonderful! And Charlotte would LOVE trick-or-treating around Magic Kingdom! I could go on and on! It was a very good time and totally worth every extra penny spent! Now I will say that I would also love to be at Disney during Christmas time with the decorations all up... but until I actually get to experience Christmastime there, MNSSHP gets my vote

I know that is such a bummer, we were just about settled on the Pop too! Oh well, I guess mother nature has other plans for us! I totally did not expect so many snow days and we are not even 1/2 way through Jan. It looks like its going to be an active winter! I hope we don't keep adding days, this could get crazy! I am sure your DD will be fine. She will probably miss more fun stuff than anything with it being the last few days of school. I would be willing to bet she won't be the only one out then either! And, yes the extra time to plan makes me very happy My DH said "I was thinking of just waking you up one day and saying lets go to Disney. But I thought you love making all those plans and spreadsheets so much, it would be better to give you a budget and let you make the plans yourself" He knows me so well, its the gift that keeps on giving for sure!

Sounds like you guys really enjoyed MNSSHP. At first I thought Christmas for sure, but the more I read about Halloween, it sounds so fun. I like the idea of costumes and meeting all the unique characters. I saw some YouTube clips of the parade and it looks awesome! We do so many special things at Christmas time, it might be fun to do the Disney Halloween. My DH thinks the late Sept time frame will work better for him, so that is kind of what we are leaning towards, although nothing is set in stone.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I've never posted in any of your TRs before but read them all this weekend. I just had to chime in though when you mentioned the debate about the party dates. I've never been for a party but we went in early Nov last time (2012). Managed to sandwich inbetween Jersey Week and Thanksgiving. The Christmas decorations were starting to appear and the castle was all lit up so pretty. Crowds weren't that bad either. Lower then you'd be used to in the summer for sure. Plus you could catch the end of the Food & Wine fest if you time it right. You could always do the MNSSHP a little later when Charlotte is older. Just food for thought. Look up the GF gingerbread house and WL tree pics. Also BC puts up some neat things too so you'd have to allow time for resort hopping that time of year.

Thanks for commenting! So glad you have you reading along! From the pictures and youtube videos Christmas at Disney looks amazing. I really am so torn! My DH thinks late Sept. will be a better time for him to be away so that might be the deciding factor, but, man its tough! I have seen other people's holiday pics of the resorts and they look so neat, especially that GF gingerbread house! No matter which one we pick this time I hope to eventually do both.