SO EXCITED!!!!! Our first trip to WDW...and during the Christmas season! (New 10/13)

[tntwalkcoach]

We are also planning our first family Disney trip this December 10-16. My incredibly generous parents are taking the whole family, 16 of us. I've been given the pleasure of doing the trip planning and fortunately for my parents I don't pay full price for anything so I've gotten some good deals.

My husband and I are also holding out on telling our boys about the trip until we're at the airport. They will be almost 3 (turns 3 while we're there) and 6 years old when we go. We got them mouse ears from the Disney Store online with their names on them to give them at the airport (paid $15 each - used an online coupon and free shipping, of course).

I am also planning on getting most of their souveniers before we leave. Mickey Mouse (or the favorite character of the day) will "deliver" their gifts to their room while we're at the park, which means mom or dad (or mousekeeping, if they'll do it) will put the day's gifts out while the kids are walking to the bus with the other parent. So far the online Disney Store and our local Disney Store Outlet (in Auburn Hills, MI) have been a great source for me to find deals in their sales areas plus I get an extra 10% off with my Disney Visa. Most recently our store had Vinylmations for $4.99, character beach towels for $6.99 and Toy Story sunglasses for $2.25, I can only imagine how much I would pay for this stuff in the parks. Of course we will probably still get some stuff at the parks but there will be a budget set and once it's gone, it's gone.

I love your movie night idea, I think we'll be doing that soon.

Happy planning I can't wait to read more about your plans.

 

[clynngibson]

We are also planning our first family Disney trip this December 10-16. My incredibly generous parents are taking the whole family, 16 of us. I've been given the pleasure of doing the trip planning and fortunately for my parents I don't pay full price for anything so I've gotten some good deals.

My husband and I are also holding out on telling our boys about the trip until we're at the airport. They will be almost 3 (turns 3 while we're there) and 6 years old when we go. We got them mouse ears from the Disney Store online with their names on them to give them at the airport (paid $15 each - used an online coupon and free shipping, of course).

I am also planning on getting most of their souveniers before we leave. Mickey Mouse (or the favorite character of the day) will "deliver" their gifts to their room while we're at the park, which means mom or dad (or mousekeeping, if they'll do it) will put the day's gifts out while the kids are walking to the bus with the other parent. So far the online Disney Store and our local Disney Store Outlet (in Auburn Hills, MI) have been a great source for me to find deals in their sales areas plus I get an extra 10% off with my Disney Visa. Most recently our store had Vinylmations for $4.99, character beach towels for $6.99 and Toy Story sunglasses for $2.25, I can only imagine how much I would pay for this stuff in the parks. Of course we will probably still get some stuff at the parks but there will be a budget set and once it's gone, it's gone.

I love your movie night idea, I think we'll be doing that soon.

Happy planning I can't wait to read more about your plans.

Sounds like you are going to have a great time!! I was reorganizing my closet last week and looked at all the trinkets I've bought the kids over the past few months all in one pile... You would think I'm buying for TEN children!! LOL And most of it is for my daughter since my son will only be 1yo and won't have a clue what's going on LOL I do plan on spreading it out, though. Some I will give to her for the car ride down, some each morning, and some in the parks when an "I'm boared just standing in line" moment happens. For her birthday, I'm thinking of buying her a really nice princess dress for her BBB appointment that morning. I'll have to wait til closer to buy it, though, since her favorite princess changes so often LOL I wish we had Disney store closer to us!!

Stay tuned...middle of next week I'll post pics of our last Disney movie night and maybe I'll take some pics of the good Disney deals I found so far!!

 

[clynngibson]

Olivia and I are sitting here watching The Incredibles for the first time while Carter tries his best to steal Olivia's dinner. I block him with my leg and the little dare devil dives head first over it! LOL He is 9 months today. I can't believe in 3 months he'll be a year and it'll be almost time to go to DISNEY!!!

I haven't had much to update. I think I got burnt out on the planning! LOL At least it's all done now, so I don't have to worry about it until closer to the trip. Last week, we made the largest Disney purchase yet...a new (to me) car!! Obviously it's not just for Disney! I've been putting 2 carseats into a 2-door Cavalier for almost a year now and it was time for something bigger!! We got a 2004 Lincoln Navigator and I cannot be more excited about how comfortable we will be on our way to Disney! LOL Not to mention all the room we have to put our suitcases!

They just announced the official opening date of the new Fantasyland. It's during our vacation week and I am torn about how to feel about it! On one hand, I'm STOKED that we will be part of it!! On the other hand, I am worried about the crowd levels. We won't be in the MK on the first day, but we'll be there the next day for DD's birthday activities. I am hoping the soft openings and previews attract the largest crowds before we arrive, but we'll see! We already have ressies at Cinderella's Table for dinner that night, so we will try and get into Be Our Guest for lunch. What a MAGICAL birthday DD will have! She'll start out with BBB, lunch at BOG, and dinner at CRT! She's not spoiled or anything! We still haven't told her about any of it!

A couple weeks ago, we had our second Disney Movie Party!

I made a HUGE spread. For the next one, I think I'll have to invite a few friends over to help us eat all the food! I sent 3/4 of the cupcakes to my DH's work with him.

We had seashells and cheese:

Shrimp Scampi for DH and me:

Ursela Dogs, Goldfish, and Crush's Radical Blue Wave Juice:

Smores Cupcakes (Chocolate Cake, marshemellow icing, and graham cracker crumbs to look like sand):

Aquarium Cups:

The whole spread:

We played Go Fish before the movies:

Hope you enjoyed the update and pictures!

 

[clynngibson]

How is everybody's trip planning going?! I have officially requested off for work for our vacation!!!! I work a 7 on/7 off schedule. I've requested my entire work week off, so I will be off for 21 days in a row!! Now THAT's gonna be a great vacation! If only I could go to Disney for the whole 3 weeks, right?!

I am very busy making lists LOL Once I get off work Wednesday morning, I need to start a plan to actually get some of this stuff done! I want to make some t-shirts for us (the kids mostly, but a couple for the adults). I want to start printing out the kids' activity pages for the car ride and our itenerary/journaling pages.

I made an autograph book for each park on Shutterfly. I ordered the AK book when I got a discount code a few weeks ago. It is so cute!!! I have a couple more codes, so I need to order the others!

Anybody have any pictures of projects they have made for their Disney trips?

 

[TMGosizk]

Hello!!

Very excited about your PTR! It sounds like your plans are coming together nicely and I'm so impressed with all of the special preparations you're doing for your family (i.e. Disney movie nights, souvenirs, etc)!! And I'm very excited that you all will be visiting WDW for the first time!!! I've been there 12(?) times and absolutely adore it!!! I hope you all do too!! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[clynngibson]

Hello!!

Very excited about your PTR! It sounds like your plans are coming together nicely and I'm so impressed with all of the special preparations you're doing for your family (i.e. Disney movie nights, souvenirs, etc)!! And I'm very excited that you all will be visiting WDW for the first time!!! I've been there 12(?) times and absolutely adore it!!! I hope you all do too!! Can't wait to read more!!

Thanks for reading!!! We are very excited about our trip. I bought some iron on transfers to attempt to make DD a shirt. If all goes well, I'm going to make a couple for DD and DS....maybe for the adults, as well lol They shouldn't kill me if I make them wear matching shirts just ONE day, right? lol

 

[clynngibson]

I just thought about it this morning and I only have 4 working weeks til Disney!! lol I work a 7 on/7 off schedule, so that's only 30 more shifts (including 2 OT shifts) to work til vacation!

 

[clynngibson]

50 Days Til Disney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I first planned out our itenerary, I was pretty much following Touring Plans recommendations. Last week I got to thinkin.....DD is so excited to see Cinderella Castle and she pretty much associates that alone with Disney. Even thought she doesn't know we are going, she asks me EVERY SINGLE DAY "Can we go to Disney World today?" lol So......after doing some research, I decided to switch our first day to a Magic Kingdom day!!!!

Here is our updated schedule:

Sun Dec 2-Arrival
Mon Dec 3- MK (lunch @ Kona)
Tues Dec 4- DAK (lunch @ Rainforst Cafe)
Wed Dec 5- Epcot
Thurs Dec 6- DHS (lunch @ 50's Prime Time Cafe)
Fri Dec 7- MK (lunch @ Be Our Guest hopefully and dinner @ CRT)
Sat Dec 8- Park of choice...we'll decide that morning!
Sun Dec 9-Going home (I made a tentative reservation @ Ohana for breakfast because DD LOVES Lilo and Stitch. If we get some good interactions with them in the park, then I may cancel. If not, that'll be a good excuse to extend the trip just a few more hours! lol)

The pros of changing:
The first sight we see will be of Main Street with Cinderella Castle at the end!
We'll get to see the electrical parade (They cancelled it for the day we were going there originally)
Wed's narrator for Candelight Processional at Epcot is Blair Underwood. I know more about him than Monday's narrator.

The only con I can see:
MK is a 6/10 crowd level on Monday. But, I plan on arriving at Rope Drop and using Fastpasses where possible. I've been assured by you DISers that I have nothing to worry about lol

 

[clynngibson]

OMG OMG OMG OMG I am almost able to do the SINGLE DIGIT DANCE!!

15 days til our trip! I've started packing, got an idea lined up to surprise DD with the Disney news, and only have a small list of things to buy for our trip! We bought into a Photopass Share through a facebook group. I didn't know if it would be worth it for us, so when I discovered the shares, it was a YES for $25! I bought DD a Belle dress on clearance after Halloween for her birthday present. Her Nana is sending a Cinderella (I think) dress, too. I'm going to let her pick which one she wants to wear for BBB on her birthday. I'm having trouble finding some cute Disney shirts for DS, though! There aren't a lot of shirts for 12 months in the stores. I may buy a 2T and just let him grow into it! lol

How many days does do you have left til your trip? What do you still have to do to prepare?