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

[MityCratar]

Joining the fun... we are 60 days away. Last time wife and I went was '95(?) The castle was half pink we'd been married only a year and my mom and brother tagged along.

This time taking wife, 7 yr old som and mother in law. Staying offsite.

We will be driving all night from Texas and will arrive at either at 5am or 12pm (depending on when we leave) on 12/3.

Suggestions on what to do after a 22 hr drive? We do have an adr for whispering canyon at 2.

 

[Mom2Cody06]

That and the fact that it won't be as crowded like it is during the holidays (packed in like sardines by the tree). The restaurants in Times Square during the holidays can have wait times 2 hours long.

We went one time and tried to cross the street and felt like the crowd was carrying us across. It was insane.

 

[Mom2Cody06]

Yikes! That's a long drive. We started taking DS10 when he was, I think, 5. But we're closer than you. For us, it's about a 1 hour 45 minute train ride in.

we were thinking about taking DS6 in the spring but wasn't sure yet. I think DS2 would be to small yet

 

[M&MGirl1]

OMG you are sooooo right. If I've ever heard actual justification to frivolously spend money, thats it

I hadn't even thought of that. There is no way I can wear previously-worn Disney t-shirts ... in years to come when I will already be confused over nothing in particular I won't know which vacay was which

Thanks. I'm going to my husband with this thought process right now

MORE than happy to corrupt others into buying more Disney shirts, especially since my sister used the same argument with me, to great success, with our DL trip last April

Just got an e-mail that I get to proctor the October ACT test at our high school - That's an extra $100 I didn't plan on getting and extra money is like AUTOMATICALLY Disney money, right? Hmm.......I think I'll go look at t-shirts on the Disney Store website now

Oh boy, now I'm looking into adding an extra day to go out to the beaches!

DO IT!!! We took a day during our Oct. 2010 trip to WDW to drive to Clearwater Beach. It was FANTASTIC! The drive was only a little over an hour, the beach was gorgeous, and a day off without rushing around to make rope drops and hiking seven miles around the parks was a great way to recharge our batteries. If you can work it into your vacation schedule I HIGHLY recommend it!

 

[Valgoof]

MORE than happy to corrupt others into buying more Disney shirts, especially since my sister used the same argument with me, to great success, with our DL trip last April

Just got an e-mail that I get to proctor the October ACT test at our high school - That's an extra $100 I didn't plan on getting and extra money is like AUTOMATICALLY Disney money, right? Hmm.......I think I'll go look at t-shirts on the Disney Store website now

Have I mentioned the really cute World Showcase shirts? Ha!!

 

[BDL]

Question for anyone who has done this...

My friend is going to be down there the same time we are, and he has been talking about going to which ever water park is open this Winter. Has anyone done TL/BB in Dec before? Was it worth the trip?

I know weather will have a direct impact at the time. But any experiences that anyone can share, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Valgoof]

Joining the fun... we are 60 days away. Last time wife and I went was '95(?) The castle was half pink we'd been married only a year and my mom and brother tagged along.

This time taking wife, 7 yr old som and mother in law. Staying offsite.

We will be driving all night from Texas and will arrive at either at 5am or 12pm (depending on when we leave) on 12/3.

Suggestions on what to do after a 22 hr drive? We do have an adr for whispering canyon at 2.

Welcome to the group!!!! My suggestion would be sleep. Or go to your ADR at WCC and then sleep. Maybe take a nap and then go to DTD to get a taste of Disney without going to a park. Or go to whichever park is open the latest that night so you can get in a few hours.

I will say the castle will be MUCH prettier on this trip.

 

[grrrlennyl]

Good Morning all! It's a rainy foggy morning here in Southeastern PA.

We're having the same weather here. It's making me sleeeeeeepy!

Speaking of shirts, I just got a coupon for the Disney store for preordering Cinderella (10% off $39.99 or less; 20% off $40 or more), I think it may be time to buy some for our trip.

 

[rubybpc]

Joining the fun... we are 60 days away. Last time wife and I went was '95(?) The castle was half pink we'd been married only a year and my mom and brother tagged along.

This time taking wife, 7 yr old som and mother in law. Staying offsite.

We will be driving all night from Texas and will arrive at either at 5am or 12pm (depending on when we leave) on 12/3.

Suggestions on what to do after a 22 hr drive? We do have an adr for whispering canyon at 2.

Welcome my fellow Texan!! We drove down once as a kid and it was HORRIBLE!! BUT... that was before the invention of laptops and TV's IN the car. It's a long trip and getting out of Texas is the hardest part, unless of course u live in East Texas. I wouldn't plan much more than that ADR and maybe DTD for a little bit. You don't want to start your vacation burnt out to begin with.

 

[rubybpc]

Ok, so now I'm all in to go sightseeing on our last day (Since sightseeing is free) The dilemma now is where o where to head to?

Kennedy Space center, Cape Canaveral (might work to convince DH we should do a cruise next year) and Cocoa Beach?

OR

West Coast, Tampa, Clearwater, someone mentioned Sarasota?

Which beach is nicer? Gulf Coast or Atlantic?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

We're having the same weather here. It's making me sleeeeeeepy!

Speaking of shirts, I just got a coupon for the Disney store for preordering Cinderella (10% off $39.99 or less; 20% off $40 or more), I think it may be time to buy some for our trip.

I got the same coupon for pre-ordering The Avengers and it expires this Sunday, so I'll be going to get myself some new shirts for my trip this weekend!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Ok, so now I'm all in to go sightseeing on our last day (Since sightseeing is free) The dilemma now is where o where to head to?

Kennedy Space center, Cape Canaveral (might work to convince DH we should do a cruise next year) and Cocoa Beach?

OR

West Coast, Tampa, Clearwater, someone mentioned Sarasota?

Which beach is nicer? Gulf Coast or Atlantic?

Beaches wise, Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota has been named the best beach in America every year for over a decade now. It is beyond gorgeous on the Gulf Coast

 

[Tangelders Ahoy]

Ok, so now I'm all in to go sightseeing on our last day (Since sightseeing is free) The dilemma now is where o where to head to?

Kennedy Space center, Cape Canaveral (might work to convince DH we should do a cruise next year) and Cocoa Beach?

OR

West Coast, Tampa, Clearwater, someone mentioned Sarasota?

Which beach is nicer? Gulf Coast or Atlantic?

Gulf Coast has it all over the Atlantic. St. Petersburg beach is gorgeous!! We have been there every year and never miss it....it is gorgeous and relaxing!

 

[rubybpc]

Gulf Coast water in Texas ain't too purty is why I'm askin..lol good thing I still haven't book our flights. Now I'm looking into flying out of Tampa.

 

[tofubeast]

Just noticed there is a Le Cellier ADR open right now on 12/10 for 3 (possibly 4) people at 5:45pm!

 

[Tltorrez]

Yikes! That's a long drive. We started taking DS10 when he was, I think, 5. But we're closer than you. For us, it's about a 1 hour 45 minute train ride in.

That might be a option. I was talking to DH about it this morning. The only issue I have is waiting for it to arrive. The ETA is usually 7-10 business days when shipping something via UPS ground. So we'll be back before it even gets here.

Yes. Don't ship something you need right away. On the other hand - it's a nice post-trip fun to get all your souvenirs. Probably less fun if its filled with dirty laundry though.

 

[Tltorrez]

DO IT!!! We took a day during our Oct. 2010 trip to WDW to drive to Clearwater Beach. It was FANTASTIC! The drive was only a little over an hour, the beach was gorgeous, and a day off without rushing around to make rope drops and hiking seven miles around the parks was a great way to recharge our batteries. If you can work it into your vacation schedule I HIGHLY recommend it!

I stayed in Clearwater for a week one for work. I took DS who was a toddler at the time. I hired a nanny and he went to the pool every day. Then we want to the beach every evening. On Sat we drove to Sea World with my parents. It was a fantastic trip. That was before we started doing Disney. Now we're not to the stage yet where we'll give up Disney days for the beach.

 

[grrrlennyl]

Well, I updated my snacks/other food list and my random-other-stuff-I-want-to-do list.

Food stuff...
Fruit and Nutella waffle at Sleepy Hollow (MK)
Dole whip (MK or Poly)
Warm chocolate banana torte at Citricos (GF)
American Flavors dessert (Chocolate Ganache-dipped Banana Mousse Cake, Apple-Almond Crumb Cake with Spiced Cream, Mississippi Mud Pie) at The Wave (CR)
Margarita flight in Mexico - hopefully! (Ep)
Chocolate caramel grapes at Karamell-Küche in Germany (Ep)
School bread from Norway (Ep)
Butterfinger cupcake at Starring Rolls (HS)
Vegan float or shake at Sci-Fi (HS)
Something vegan at Beaches and Cream, maybe share? (Boardwalk)
Chocolate-covered pretzels from Goofy's candy co. (DtD)

And other stuff to do...
The Pirate's League (MK)
Pick a Peark (Ep)
Animation Academy (AK)

 

[Tltorrez]

Ok, so now I'm all in to go sightseeing on our last day (Since sightseeing is free) The dilemma now is where o where to head to?

Kennedy Space center, Cape Canaveral (might work to convince DH we should do a cruise next year) and Cocoa Beach?

OR

West Coast, Tampa, Clearwater, someone mentioned Sarasota?

Which beach is nicer? Gulf Coast or Atlantic?

Clearwater is routinely voted one if the best beaches in the world. it's near Tampa/St. Pete.

Do you already have Disney resort decorations built into your schedule? Those are free too and you won't want to miss them. I just wouldn't want to do that much driving, I guess.

 

[rubybpc]

Our last day in Florida will be the day we wanted to drive out to the beach. Originally we were going to get an early flight home since we were not going to do anymore parks. Now I am looking into late flights home. I want to drive out to the Gulf coast for the day then get a late flight out of Tampa @ 6:45. Just a quick trip out and sight see.

And to the PP, yes I do plan to go out and see the resort decorations especially if the parks are packed. We will be doing 2 days in each park so hopefully there will be plenty of time to do almost everything in the park and if need be get out of dodge before we get too frustrated in there.