PART FOUR!! *December 2012 Roll Call* Holidays, FLE & MVMCP!! A very, merry thread!

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Finally got my Pixie Dust cards printed. These will be the cards that show up with the presents under the tree each day. I have it arranged so two or three people get a present each day. It comes out to about 6 or 7 presents each. Of course, the days are different depending on Plan A or B so I actually have two sets of cards. But this is what they look like.


12 Days Cards (9-12) by tltorrez, on Flickr


12 Days Cards (5-8) by tltorrez, on Flickr


12 Days Cards (9-12) by tltorrez, on Flickr

Now I just have to wrap all the presents.
 
surfergirl602 said:
Thanks!!! I'm so nervous! lol:rotfl:

Our son was only 1 when he left, and I'm nervous he's going to be shy and not want to go to his dad. That would just completely ruin the moment. (in my head anyway)

Maybe when he sees how excited his siblings are, he'll jump right in :grouphug:

Maybe you can show him extra photos of dad for the next couple of weeks so he looks familiar

Don't be nervous, it will be wonderful! No matter how the kids initially react, you'll have your whole family together and vacation time to enjoy each other :-)
 
It's funny. I've been to both WDW and DL a few times, and I've found that the "magic" happens much, much more at WDW.

One of the main reasons for this, I've noticed, is that the cast members at WDW are just MUCH, MUCH nicer/happier to be there. It seemed at DL that most of the people employed there were local teenagers. Everyone had a name tag that showed they were from southern CA, and they just didn't seem interested.

At WDW, it seems like a much more diverse group of people, all extremely happy to make someone's day magical.

In summation, DL was nice, WDW is heaven. :)
I've seen this opinion before on the DIS, as well as the opposite, that WDW doesn't have the magic that DLR does, because its "Walt's Park" and was designed by him from the ground up ... I'm going with an open mind, and pretty sure I'm going to love both (though DLR will be my home park for location reasons, as well as I have a feeling the intimate size of it will keep it the favorite for my family, you can't beat being able to walk into the park, ride Grizzly River Rapids, then going back up to your villa and throwing your clothes in your dryer in under half an hour before breakfast).
We've been fortunate enough to have a lot of magical moments created for us by some spectacular CMs, though they have mostly been when we've stayed at the on-site resorts, Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel ... the magical moments we've had inside the parks were of largely of our own creation. Though the consensus on the DIS seems to be that neither park can compare to the service you get on DCL, which I believe. Within an hour of boarding the ship for the first time I had inquired with a random CM about whether there were Mickey bars at the buffet restaurant I was eating in, and the CM said they didn't serve any in that restaurant, but offered to run down from deck 9 to the restaurants in deck 2 (that were not open for lunch) to get me one .... when I tried to demure he insisted and returned with several Mickey bars about 10 minutes later. And that was the kind of service we got from almost every CM both cruises. Bend-over-backwards-kill-you-with-kindness-and-happy-to-do-so service that truly leaves you spoiled.
I'm looking forward to experiencing for the first time the largeness of the "Disney bubble" of Disney World, and the beauty of all the resorts and the dining experiences. I only have some vague memories of staying at the Contemporary when I was 11, and there were only 2 parks at the time ... :upsidedow
Haha, yea, first time for me. I'm somewhat worried that I've over-planned this trip to be so amazing, that future trips just won't compare, lol.

And I'm sure that as much as I've read on here, it doesn't to justice to the true magic that is WDW.
Our Disney trips over the years have gone from not at all planned, just winging it, to super-over-planned (which rides we're going to do in what order), to now a mixture of sort-of-planned and sort-of winging it. Each trip has been amazing in its own right, even the one where half my party had to leave 3 days into the trip because they had a pet emergency because we won the Wicked lottery and got front row seats to see Idina Menzel ... wish I'd known about trip reports for that one, there were a lot of highs and lows to it. I'm sure all your trips will be amazing and memorable in their own ways.
I'm sure this may not be a popular opinion, but I'm not sure how excited I am about the new FLE. I was looking through the new plans, and I'm not sure how much time we'll spend there. Sure, we'll hit up Ariel's Grotto and walk through the rest of FLE, but not too many of the attractions really caught my interest.
I'm kind of the same. DS6 saw the Enchanted Tales with Belle video on one of the sites, so we have to do that now. :rolleyes: But I don't really want to go on Little Mermaid since we have it over in DCA, and its fun but there's so many rides we want to do that are different or don't exist in our park, so other than Belle we'll probably just mosey on through and admire the scenery.
I'm convinced that some people are just not happy people and there isn't a whole lot i can do about their attitude! :( I just like to keep my distance from people like that IRL.....they just make me sad for them. We have Six Flags about 45 minutes from here....and it's served its purpose when the kids were little.....it doesn't compare to Cedar Point when it comes to amusement park rides and it comes no were near the magical experience that disney provides!
I don't even think of Six Flags as being in the same league as Disney. When I was single in California I used to get the season passes for Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo since I lived within about a 20 minute drive, and never went on the rides, often just go hang out and pet the dolphins, and take a book and sit next to the tiger enclave and watch them frolic for awhile. Never interacted with the employees much. I really enjoyed Cedar Point when I went to college in Michigan.
I'm super excited about Belle. Not for the character but for the effects. It's supposed to be pretty cool.

I read a post today about Jack Sparrow too that said that attraction has comparable effects.
Effects? I saw the video of the previews ... maybe I missed the effects?
I'm stressed we won't get our king size bed request. I know in the grand scheme it's a small thing to stress over, but I really don't want to try to sleep in a queen. :worried:
That would stress me out not knowing what kind of room/beds I was getting. One of the nice thing about DVC is that you get exactly what you reserve, no upgrades, but nothing less than a king and jacuzzi tub in the 1 and 2 bedrooms. Which DH loves since we sleep in a queen at home and he likes to complain I should have bought the king since DS6 still sneaks into our bed around 5:30 every morning ...
Hopefully you guys will get your king!

Love that my ticker is almost at the end after having it up for 18+ months!
 
Maybe when he sees how excited his siblings are, he'll jump right in :grouphug:

Maybe you can show him extra photos of dad for the next couple of weeks so he looks familiar

Don't be nervous, it will be wonderful! No matter how the kids initially react, you'll have your whole family together and vacation time to enjoy each other :-)

I'm hoping we'll be able to do skype or something.

We have the whole week - and then we have to part ways for another week! He's moving on to our next duty station to find us a house, enroll the kids in school, etc. then flying back here to us - then we're all driving back.
 

I've been posting updates about this on our little facebook group, but I realized not everyone is in there.

I just wanted to invite you all to come and celebrate with us!

On December 7th, probably around 3pm-ish, my husband will be surprising our four kids at the Art of Animation resort straight from Afghanistan.

So... if you are around AoA on December 7th, feel free to stick around and watch some magic happen!

See you there!!!

That is so wonderful. I wish we were going to be there on the 7th.

Thanks to your husband for his service.
 
ksromack said:
I pulled out my suitcase friday night and packed it all. I'm going to end up buying a 3' tree from Wallmart and have it delivered. I don't want to waste suitcase space by bringing one from home. My carry-on will house my laptop, ornaments, & my new Tinkerbell tree topper:

:love: another sweet gesture!

What are you planning to do with your tree after your trip? I'm debating whether to pay to ship it home. We're not doing a tree at home this year so it might be nice. But not sure it's worth it.

Hmmm... And I just realized I'm back to the two tree plan. Planning to get one for each room.
 
This is what I did tonight. I had to hand remove some wording that was already in it since I grabbed it off a website but I think I blended the background pretty well.

134A75D8-86D7-4C60-81B6-B5BAA48BFD6E-15388-0000104B468B7F8E_zpsd3a45df6.jpg
 
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I've been posting updates about this on our little facebook group, but I realized not everyone is in there.

I just wanted to invite you all to come and celebrate with us!

On December 7th, probably around 3pm-ish, my husband will be surprising our four kids at the Art of Animation resort straight from Afghanistan.

He's been gone a year, and they have NO IDEA he'll be coming home, and no idea they are going to disney.

We've been working in tandem with AoA, photopass, WDW celebrations, and various other amazing people to make this happen, so the more the merrier.

So... if you are around AoA on December 7th, feel free to stick around and watch some magic happen!

(I do need some people to hold a sign, so if you'd like to help, just let me know! My kids will be wearing some tell-tale shirts. Can't miss 'em!)

See you there!!!

Awww...I check out on December 4th, but this is fantastic. I'm so excited for you and your kids to have him there with you.

Thank you to your husband for his service!

Finally got my Pixie Dust cards printed. These will be the cards that show up with the presents under the tree each day. I have it arranged so two or three people get a present each day. It comes out to about 6 or 7 presents each. Of course, the days are different depending on Plan A or B so I actually have two sets of cards. But this is what they look like.


Now I just have to wrap all the presents.

These are fantastic!!!
 
Also, how early can we get into the park for an 8:15 ADR? Sorry, you can tell I am a first timer!

The "official" line is 15mins. When you go to the gate you tell them what time your ADR is and they allow you through 15mins before HOWEVER, I am yet to find someone who has actually been asked to show proof that they have an ADR so in theory, you could say you have an 8am and enter at 7.45am .... yes, thats naughty, I'm just pointing it out :p :teeth:

Anyone having problems with Disney dining, try a different browser. My two MacBooks with different browsers and my iPad won't load the page at all, but firefox worked fine.

Ugh, went down on me at 5pm yesterday totally. Wasn't able to get on til 2pm today.

We were counting on that late Fantasmic, weren't we? :thumbsup2
Yes, yes we were ::yes::

I'm sure this may not be a popular opinion, but I'm not sure how excited I am about the new FLE. I was looking through the new plans, and I'm not sure how much time we'll spend there. Sure, we'll hit up Ariel's Grotto and walk through the rest of FLE, but not too many of the attractions really caught my interest.

:eek: Who is this rebel???? :rotfl:

Hahaha, no I totally get what you mean. I think the problem is, especially on here, the DIS, it has been treated has a whole new land when really it is what it says on the tin .... an expansion. How many rides & attractions can you put in an expansion :confused3 I think they have the right balance, especially when its completed and the Mine Train is finished. I don't think its a "WOW" experience, I think its an "Ooooooh" experience. I am looking forward to the visual aspect of it, the architecture looks amazing and it will certainly make Fantasyland not feel so closed in!


That is BEAUTIFUL!!

I've been posting updates about this on our little facebook group, but I realized not everyone is in there.

I just wanted to invite you all to come and celebrate with us!

On December 7th, probably around 3pm-ish, my husband will be surprising our four kids at the Art of Animation resort straight from Afghanistan.

He's been gone a year, and they have NO IDEA he'll be coming home, and no idea they are going to disney.

We've been working in tandem with AoA, photopass, WDW celebrations, and various other amazing people to make this happen, so the more the merrier.

So... if you are around AoA on December 7th, feel free to stick around and watch some magic happen!

(I do need some people to hold a sign, so if you'd like to help, just let me know! My kids will be wearing some tell-tale shirts. Can't miss 'em!)

See you there!!!

OMG - I don't think I could cope with such an emotional event, I would be a complete wreck :lmao:

That is going to be truly amazing experience. We actually get there on the 7th so who knows, maybe you just might see me and my family!

Will be showing up 11th -14th staying @ BWV BW view.

Welcome! Can't wait to hear your plans :)
 
I think it was smart you let them have some creative control so that way there will be a surprise for you to. Can I ask how much they charged you? Curious about it for our next visit.

They should be calling me tomorrow for an estimate. I asked a for a mini fondant cake, with a cinderella white chocolate castle, and a fireworks theme. I will let you know and expect pictures on Dec 2nd!!

I've been posting updates about this on our little facebook group, but I realized not everyone is in there.

I just wanted to invite you all to come and celebrate with us!

On December 7th, probably around 3pm-ish, my husband will be surprising our four kids at the Art of Animation resort straight from Afghanistan.

He's been gone a year, and they have NO IDEA he'll be coming home, and no idea they are going to disney.

We've been working in tandem with AoA, photopass, WDW celebrations, and various other amazing people to make this happen, so the more the merrier.

So... if you are around AoA on December 7th, feel free to stick around and watch some magic happen!

(I do need some people to hold a sign, so if you'd like to help, just let me know! My kids will be wearing some tell-tale shirts. Can't miss 'em!)

See you there!!!



LOVE THIS!! If any one gets a video you have to you tube it!!! :goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes
 
The "official" line is 15mins. When you go to the gate you tell them what time your ADR is and they allow you through 15mins before HOWEVER, I am yet to find someone who has actually been asked to show proof that they have an ADR so in theory, you could say you have an 8am and enter at 7.45am .... yes, thats naughty, I'm just pointing it out :p :teeth:



Ugh, went down on me at 5pm yesterday totally. Wasn't able to get on til 2pm today.


Yes, yes we were ::yes::



:eek: Who is this rebel???? :rotfl:

Hahaha, no I totally get what you mean. I think the problem is, especially on here, the DIS, it has been treated has a whole new land when really it is what it says on the tin .... an expansion. How many rides & attractions can you put in an expansion :confused3 I think they have the right balance, especially when its completed and the Mine Train is finished. I don't think its a "WOW" experience, I think its an "Ooooooh" experience. I am looking forward to the visual aspect of it, the architecture looks amazing and it will certainly make Fantasyland not feel so closed in!



That is BEAUTIFUL!!



OMG - I don't think I could cope with such an emotional event, I would be a complete wreck :lmao:

That is going to be truly amazing experience. We actually get there on the 7th so who knows, maybe you just might see me and my family!



Welcome! Can't wait to hear your plans :)

Yay!!! maybe we'll see you, or be on the same magical express!!
 
We received part 1 of our Mickey mail Friday: our dme tags. On the down side I'm taking antibiotics for a huge sinusitis. Lets hope it clears up fast. 36 days to go
 
I don't know anything about the methodology used by UT, so it's hard to evaluate. TP says the crowd numbers are very low and Josh concurs, so I would trust that.

I haven't seen anything to suggest FLE won't be open on the 6th. So I would assume it is unless we see evidence to the contrary.

THANK YOU!! I will stick with TP and easywdw then and go for it - what's the worse that could happen? LOL We'll still have fun b/c we're together and at WDW.

I've seen it mentioned by a few other folks that it might be closed for a private CM thing that night...

Hope you're planning continues to go well and your FIL continues to heal! You have been doing a lot of work for this trip and it's going to pay off - ENJOY! :hug:

ksromack said:
I think I got mine from UT, just like you mentioned!

I'm going to stick with TP and easywdw and hope for the best! Trying to put the UT info out of sight out of mind...

Too bad about those Tigers yesterday :sad1: It's been a tough year for us as newbies in the SEC...I know basketball season will be better - it HAS TO BE!!:cheer2: MIZ-ZOU!
 
Just wanted to give a quick update because we have been crazy busy and I haven't posted in several days. Two weeks from tonight we will be in HS watching Fantasmic and seeing the Osborne lights!! So excited!

Today, my husband took my oldest two boys to the Texans game. (9-1 whoop whoop) So I took my youngest to see Wreck It Ralph today!! It was really good, we both enjoyed it. Hopefully we will get some pics with him in a couple of weeks!

Counting down!!
 
Tltorrez said:
Will you be at MK at all before the appointment? If you take her in to look, she might be less intimidated. Or look at pics online.

Also, she could easily do the makeover without wearing the full dress. The makeover would look just as cute with jeans and possibly make her feel less self-conscious.

Our appointment is at 8:10, right after park opening. I'm thinking maybe I'll tell her that she's just picking out her dress, and maybe the Fairy Godmothers in Training can work some magic on her.
 
Tltorrez said:
I generally allow 40 minutes for the bus. Max travel time is 20 minutes between locations. And buses run every 20 minutes. So even if you just miss one. You can find all travel times between locations in Unofficial Guide.

Thank you!!!
 
Sophia the first is so cute!!! I'm excited magic kingdom extended their hours, so when I'm there it will be open to midnight! Probably won't stay that long though lol.

Is everyone gettjng ready for Thanksgiving.
I'm excited to be making red velvet cake pops, never tried to before, so hoping they come out good!

My daughter's holiday Belle dress came in the mail It fits her perfect! So excited just not sure what to do about shoes??? Since it not summer, so maybe plain black dressy shoes thick tights.
 
Finally got my Pixie Dust cards printed. These will be the cards that show up with the presents under the tree each day. I have it arranged so two or three people get a present each day. It comes out to about 6 or 7 presents each. Of course, the days are different depending on Plan A or B so I actually have two sets of cards. But this is what they look like.

Now I just have to wrap all the presents.

Love these!! How do we get on the present train? ;-)

This is what I did tonight. I had to hand remove some wording that was already in it since I grabbed it off a website but I think I blended the background pretty well.

Cute, is this to decorate your window/door?

I've been posting updates about this on our little facebook group, but I realized not everyone is in there.

I just wanted to invite you all to come and celebrate with us!

On December 7th, probably around 3pm-ish, my husband will be surprising our four kids at the Art of Animation resort straight from Afghanistan.

He's been gone a year, and they have NO IDEA he'll be coming home, and no idea they are going to disney.

We've been working in tandem with AoA, photopass, WDW celebrations, and various other amazing people to make this happen, so the more the merrier.

So... if you are around AoA on December 7th, feel free to stick around and watch some magic happen!

(I do need some people to hold a sign, so if you'd like to help, just let me know! My kids will be wearing some tell-tale shirts. Can't miss 'em!)

See you there!!!

Awww, this is so great. We have plans at that time, but I'm going to see if we can rearrange to join you. Thank you to your whole family, your husband for serving and the rest of you to be the amazing support you are. I have a couple of family members who serve, and as much as I admire them, I admire their families just as much for what they do while they wait for their loved one to return. I think what you do, raising a family on your own while your husband protects us all is so admirable. I will be praying for you all that it is the moment you are hoping for. Even if your little one is shy at first, I know there will be a moment during your trip where it clicks for him and it will be just as magical then. Love and prayers.
 
summerw said:
Awww, this is so great. We have plans at that time, but I'm going to see if we can rearrange to join you. Thank you to your whole family, your husband for serving and the rest of you to be the amazing support you are. I have a couple of family members who serve, and as much as I admire them, I admire their families just as much for what they do while they wait for their loved one to return. I think what you do, raising a family on your own while your husband protects us all is so admirable. I will be praying for you all that it is the moment you are hoping for. Even if your little one is shy at first, I know there will be a moment during your trip where it clicks for him and it will be just as magical then. Love and prayers.

I say something like this to my sister in law a lot. I think what military families do is amazing. I think about how I get upset over DHs long hours and work weeks and then I get brought back to reality. I'm amazed, impressed, grateful, thankful for what these families do, from serving our country overseas to holding everything together home. Amazing!

I watch a lot of homecoming videos and I'm always in tears - in real life I'd be a wreck :) I find this so heart warming! However certain members of my family would probably go "Hey is that the family who is getting surprised by their father coming home from Afghanistan?" :scared:
 
Gooooodddd morning!!


I can officially say "I'm getting married next week!"

12 days until Disney!

It's a good Monday.
 
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