The Tale and Trials of some Crazy Northern Loons!

[Northern Disney Girl]

The Tale and Trials of some Crazy Northern Loons!

Hi! Welcome to my PTR! Thanks for stopping by! I am really glad you are here to share in this crazy adventure!

For those of you non-Snowbird readers (more on that later) allow me to introduce myself! My name is Kimberly. I am 32 yrs old and I am a proud Canadian! I hail from NW Ontario. The city in which I live is situated on the shores of the largest fresh water lake in the World! We get some mighty cold winter weather up here! It isn't unheard of for us to see temperatures of – 35 degrees Celcius! I believe that would be about 0 for you folks who use Farenheit! Anyway, that's cold! We don't let our kids go outside much on those days!

To explain the title, I must go back to this past summer, July specifically! I was hanging out on the DIS when I found a thread entitled “January 2009 – Calling all snowbirds” I decided to check it out since we were planning our trip for January also! I am so glad I did! In the last 4.5 months I have met some wonderful women and even made a couple of really great friends! We have us some good ole fashion fun over on the “Snowbird” thread! Lots of laughs and keepin' each other company while we wait for and plan our January trips to the most wonderful place on the planet! WALT DISNEY WORLD!

Anyway, the other day, a bunch of us were having an interesting conversation about swimming in January! Some of the more delicate of my fine feathered friends said they wouldn't be caught dead in a bathing suit or anywhere near a pool in January! Well us hearty Northerner's said we would be out to the pool in droves as soon as the temperature reached 60 degrees! Well from that moment on the hearty Northerner's have been labled “Crazy Northern Loons” by some of those delicate Southerners! We are okay with this title because we are tough, thick skinned Northerner's who know what REAL WINTER is like! We can handle it!

I am proud to be a “Crazy Northern Loon” and I will definitely be swimming in January! And not just in any old pool mind you, OH NO! I will be swimming in this pool.......

YES! That's right! My family and I are spending 8 glorious nights at Disney's Wilderness Lodge!

Stay Tuned for part 2: An Introduction to the rest of the Gang!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Sorry about that! I am a total dunce when it comes to posting pictures! I will get right to fixin' that!

 

[jenjolt]

Not that I'm admiting to thinking or calling you a crazy northern loon, because I mean who comes up with names like that

But I will have you know I know what a REAL winter is and I'm completely SANE and I refuse to answer questions like Jen will you be swimming in January...because well I'm "delicate" and we'd hate to ruffle my "pansy" and "dry" feathers...

Just remember when you come out all blue..I'll be the one in the sweatshirt, gloves, and scarf with the hot chocolate LOL!!!

You know I love you

I can't wait to read more...hopefully you'll update a lot quicker than some other southern weather pansy I know LOL (that would be me LOL not Soleil..she actually does update her PTR)

 

[Mndisneygirl]

From one crazy northern loon to another:
Great start Kimberly - I will keep reading!!

 

[Pluto_fan]

Hi Kimberly! Signing on!

For the record, I am neither a "northern loon" nor a "southern pansy"...I'm in the middle, so I'll bring a swimsuit and decide when I get there whether to use it.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Yay! Jen! You are first! You win a prize!

I know that you know what a real winter is like! You are a closet Northerner aren't you? Will you still share your Hot chocolate with me?

Even if I do come out of the water all blue and shivering, at least I will be able to say that I went swimming in January. OUTSIDE. In a real pool. In January! All my friends up here will be sooooo impressed!

Next Chapter should be up sometime this evening!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

From one crazy northern loon to another:
Great start Kimberly - I will keep reading!!

Hi Kimberly! Signing on!

For the record, I am neither a "northern loon" nor a "southern pansy"...I'm in the middle, so I'll bring a swimsuit and decide when I get there whether to use it.

Thanks for the support LAdies! I greatly appreciate it! Y'all are the best!

 

[jenjolt]

Yay! Jen! You are first! You win a prize!

I know that you know what a real winter is like! You are a closet Northerner aren't you? Will you still share your Hot chocolate with me?

Even if I do come out of the water all blue and shivering, at least I will be able to say that I went swimming in January. OUTSIDE. In a real pool. In January! All my friends up here will be sooooo impressed!

Next Chapter should be up sometime this evening!

Of course I will share!!!! Enough hot chocolate for you northern loonies!!!

I have to tell you that I'm a member of the Polar Bear Club...I jumped into the Pacific Ocean in Alaska in February with a group friends during a festival in Seward, Alaska...I have never in my life ever been so cold...we were dressed up as societal women in the 1920s LOL!!

YAY for more updates...I can read yours instead of updating mine LOL!

 

[Monny2AE]

Hooray a Snowbird Shout Out in your PTR!

Hi Kimberly! Signing on!

For the record, I am neither a "northern loon" nor a "southern pansy"...I'm in the middle, so I'll bring a swimsuit and decide when I get there whether to use it.

Same here- what should we call those of us in the middle?

 

[Dancegrl624]

Signing on Kim! Great job so far. I should really start one of my own. I said I would come November and well, Nov is here and has been here for quite awhile! I'll think about it!

 

[laurainsem]

Aahhh, hitting the pool in 60 degree weather; now that's what i'm talking about!

In Alaska, we would jump into the water once it hit around 50. There was really no choice. Either you swim then or you don't swim at all. Guess that's why Alaskans are so tough!

These Pennsylvanians out here are wimps!

 

[trixiequilts]

Gosh, it looks like quite a party here already!

Going back to read now.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Of course I will share!!!! Enough hot chocolate for you northern loonies!!!

I have to tell you that I'm a member of the Polar Bear Club...I jumped into the Pacific Ocean in Alaska in February with a group friends during a festival in Seward, Alaska...I have never in my life ever been so cold...we were dressed up as societal women in the 1920s LOL!!

YAY for more updates...I can read yours instead of updating mine LOL!

Polar Bear club? Wow! I am VERY impressed! YOU ARE A CLOSET NORTHERNER! Give yourself a bit more credit!

WELCOME, WELCOME to all of you! Thanks so much for giving me your support! I really appreciate all of you coming out to read the adventures of a crazy northern family!

The next part will be up in a wee bit! Working on it right now!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

A HUGE THANK YOU to Trixiequilts for finding me the wonderful picture now included in the first post! You rock Trixie! Aerosmith ain't got nuttin' on you!

 

[koolcatshelby]

another crazy northerner checking in. Going in Feb, but your report sounds interesting and helps me get ready for our trip

 

[drakes]

Another Snowbird and Proud Canadian Northern Loon!

We'll both be at WL enjoying that pool!!!

I said I would do a PTR, but the snowbirds thread keeps me too busy reading.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

another crazy northerner checking in. Going in Feb, but your report sounds interesting and helps me get ready for our trip

Thanks for checking in! I do believe you are the first non snowbird poster on my PTR! You definitely win a prize! Stick around! Part 2 should be up in a little while! Just have to put my kids to bed and take a shower!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

PART 2: Come meet the rest of my Gang!

I had better warn you right off the bat. My husband and I are not comfortable posting recognizeable pictures of our children on the internet so you will not actually see pictures of their faces!


FIRST, let me give you the details of our trip!

Who – ME (Kim) , DH (Ken), DD7 (E) and DD5 (N)

What – First Trip to Disney World!

When – January 19-29, 2009!

Where – We are actually staying at 3 different resorts! Our arrival night will be spent at AS Sports. This is a room only. The next day we check into the Wilderness Lodge for 8 nights! Our last night we will move to POP (another room only)!

There are many more details that I will share with you as we continue on this adventure together! But for now, let me introduce you to my family!

This is Me & Ken in July!

Allow me to brag a bit! I happen to think that my darling husband is the best in the world! He is sweet, caring, kind and THE FUNNIEST person I know! He makes me smile and laugh each and every day! He is my knight in shining armour and my Prince Charming! By day he is a computer geek for our Federal Government! I think he is absolutely brilliant when it comes to computers! He is a devoted father to our two girls and also works very hard as a director/actor/writer for our church's Drama Team! This will be his first trip to Disney World!

DD7 (E) – My first born. She is a very gregarious little girl! Loves to read,sing, draw, do crafts, play dress up and playing with her friends! She is very much the social butterfly! She is in the second grade at school and has lost 6 teeth! This is her first trip to Disney!

DD5 (N) – My baby. She is very sweet and cuddly! Loves riding her bike, doing puzzles, colouring and playing with her big sister! She is a wonderful helper and will often volunteer to help do dishes or bring up a basket of laundry from the dryer! She is in Senior Kindergarten at school and can already read Green Eggs and Ham! This is her first rip to Disney!

Yours Truly aka Northern Disney Girl aka Kimberly – I am a SAHM and also do babysitting in my home. Currently, I only have one charge, a 17 month old little girl. It is a situation that works out well for everyone! The girls get a baby sister for a little while every day, I get my baby fix and then we get to give her back at the end of the day! Perfect Scenario! I have been to WDW 3x as a teenager, but haven't been in nearly 15 yrs!

My family keeps me hopping! When I have spare time, I enjoy reading (big time), baking, some card making and a little scrapbooking now and again! And of course DISing! It is a daily challenge to keep up with my snowbird pals!

Well, now that you have met my family, in the next chapter I will tell you a little about the planning of this trip, precisely all the CHANGES that have happened!

UP NEXT: CHANGES, CHANGES, CHANGES....stay tuned!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Chapter 3: Changes, Changes and more Changes!

First off, let me tell you that this trip has been in my head and in my heart since I last left THE WORLD in March of 1994! I have been planning my dream trip for that long! This trip started to become reality just a little less than a year ago! See, this is not the only trip on my horizon! Sometime in 2011 my WHOLE family will be taking a trip to the WORLD together. I am excited about this. Really I am! But first I wanted to introduce my kids to the wonder and magic of Disney at their own pace, without ALL of the relatives hanging around!

We began to seriously discuss the possibility of this trip just after Christmas last year! This is sort of how the conversation went.....

Me: Hey Honey! Disney just extended the Year of a Million Dreams Promotion!
Ken: Yeah? So what?
Me: Well, what would you think of maybe taking the girls to Disney next year?
Ken: When?
Me: Well, I was thinking maybe in December.......
Ken: Nope. Dinner Theatre. (our church does a very large Christmas production every year and He is always involved)
Me: All right. Well how about the following January?
Ken: 2009?
Me: Yup! There is a new Pirate and Princess Party thing that is happening at the end of January, that looks kind of cool! Low crowds, value season means it costs less....
Ken: How much less?
Me: Quite a bit less...
Ken: How much for a whole trip?
Me: (At this point, I presented him with the budget outline I had so carefully prepared) Well, depending on where we stayed... it could be anywhere from 3-5 thousand dollars.
Ken: What are our choices?
Me: Value or Moderate. Deluxe is definitely out of the question. Waaay toooo much money! I have a video if you want to see what they look like.

So later that week we sat down and watched the 2007 Disney Planning DVD! I had my choice in mind and had hopes that he would choose what I wanted! Amazingly enough, he did! So we had our resort.......POFQ! I had wanted to stay there since I saw it being built on one of our previous trips!

POFQ? I can hear you feeling confused from here! But, Kim, you say, your signature says you are staying at Wilderness Lodge!? Ah Yes! Remember the Title of this chapter? CHANGES! Hold on, here we go.....

I called and made a room only reservation in February of this year! We were originally thinking of driving, but that was one of the first changes to be made. Too long and it would actually cost us more to drive than it would to fly! So, I booked our Airfare! Round trip on Airtran from Minneapolis! We will drive into the states because it is tonnes cheaper to fly in the states than it is in Canada. Fast forward to July and I called and turned our Room only into a package that included 8 day MYW park tickets and the Dining plan! This was when all the hullaballoo with the ADR's started. I could only book ADR's for about the first half of our trip! So I did! I have 2 girls and they love princesses! So I booked pretty much every princess TS available! CRT, 1900 Park Fare and Akershus! As well as Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 50's PTC, Rainforest Cafe, and Boatwright's!

I had been lurking on the DIS for a looong time and saw how many times people changed their minds about things. Resorts, ADR's schedules, parks etc. It seemed so .....not me! Most of the time, once I reach a decision, I rarely change my mind! Decisive, I am! Well, this trip has shown me how Indecisive I can be! Dangle a carrot in front of my nose and I want it!

The first changes came about when I started reading more frequently on the Restaurants board! I decided that we really didn't need 3 princess meals and changed the Norway breakfast into a supper at Coral Reef! Then I added a lunch at Biergarten for my dear hubby who loves sausages and beer! Hearing this he became slightly more interested in planning stuff and asked if there was anything Chinese at Disney World! The man has a serious fascination with ALL THINGS of the Oriental World! I said “Yes, as a matter of fact there is – and look at that we will be at Epcot on Chinese New yaer!” So I called to see if we could get into eat supper at Nine Dragon's on January the 26th! Bingo! Got it! So that meant cancelling the Coral Reef ressie! Oh well, maybe next time!

At about this same time I was beginning to get quite frustrated with Airtran! They had already changed our flights 3 times! So I checked to see what else was available! Amazingly enough, Northwest still had seats available on their earliest morning flight on January 19th! And they were cheaper than Airtran! YeeHaw! Booked that, cancelled Airtran (without penalty because they made the changes without informing me) and did a little happy dance! We were set! No more changes.... or so I thought!

Here comes the end of October and the rumor mill is going crazy about some kind of a major code coming out! So, along with everybody else, I wait! Sometimes patiently, sometimes not so patiently! Fast Forward to Thursday November 6th @ 5pm! Disney releases their biggest discount code since 2002! Buy 4 days, get 3 for free! WooHoo! I called only to find out that the code is not available at POFQ! What?! You mean that inorder to save money I will have to leave my dream resort? YUP! So, we struggle, I cry and weigh the pros and cons and come up with a couple of choices.

1.stay at POFQ, No money saved. Would still be happy. Money is not everything.(the $ for this trip came from my parents when they sold their house)
2.Switch to CBR. Save about $700 but be unhappy.
3.Switch to WL, still save money and be VERY HAPPY!
Obviously, we chose option #3! We had to switch our 10 day dining plan to 8 days, book a room only at a value on either end of the WL stay, but amazingly, after all was said and done, WE STILL ENDED UP SAVING MONEY! So this immediately incurred more changes! Had to change a couple more ADR's and had to tweak our park plans a bit, nothing major though! So now, sitting here today I can say with absolute certainty, THERE WILL BE NO MORE CHANGES!

Stay Tuned: up next..... shopping, shopping and more shopping!

 

[jenjolt]

Chapter 3: Changes, Changes and more Changes!

First off, let me tell you that this trip has been in my head and in my heart since I last left THE WORLD in March of 1994! I have been planning my dream trip for that long! This trip started to become reality just a little less than a year ago! See, this is not the only trip on my horizon! Sometime in 2011 my WHOLE family will be taking a trip to the WORLD together. I am excited about this. Really I am! But first I wanted to introduce my kids to the wonder and magic of Disney at their own pace, without ALL of the relatives hanging around!

We began to seriously discuss the possibility of this trip just after Christmas last year! This is sort of how the conversation went.....

Me: Hey Honey! Disney just extended the Year of a Million Dreams Promotion!
Ken: Yeah? So what?
Me: Well, what would you think of maybe taking the girls to Disney next year?
Ken: When?
Me: Well, I was thinking maybe in December.......
Ken: Nope. Dinner Theatre. (our church does a very large Christmas production every year and He is always involved)
Me: All right. Well how about the following January?
Ken: 2009?
Me: Yup! There is a new Pirate and Princess Party thing that is happening at the end of January, that looks kind of cool! Low crowds, value season means it costs less....
Ken: How much less?
Me: Quite a bit less...
Ken: How much for a whole trip?
Me: (At this point, I presented him with the budget outline I had so carefully prepared) Well, depending on where we stayed... it could be anywhere from 3-5 thousand dollars.
Ken: What are our choices?
Me: Value or Moderate. Deluxe is definitely out of the question. Waaay toooo much money! I have a video if you want to see what they look like.

So later that week we sat down and watched the 2007 Disney Planning DVD! I had my choice in mind and had hopes that he would choose what I wanted! Amazingly enough, he did! So we had our resort.......POFQ! I had wanted to stay there since I saw it being built on one of our previous trips!

POFQ? I can hear you feeling confused from here! But, Kim, you say, your signature says you are staying at Wilderness Lodge!? Ah Yes! Remember the Title of this chapter? CHANGES! Hold on, here we go.....

I called and made a room only reservation in February of this year! We were originally thinking of driving, but that was one of the first changes to be made. Too long and it would actually cost us more to drive than it would to fly! So, I booked our Airfare! Round trip on Airtran from Minneapolis! We will drive into the states because it is tonnes cheaper to fly in the states than it is in Canada. Fast forward to July and I called and turned our Room only into a package that included 8 day MYW park tickets and the Dining plan! This was when all the hullaballoo with the ADR's started. I could only book ADR's for about the first half of our trip! So I did! I have 2 girls and they love princesses! So I booked pretty much every princess TS available! CRT, 1900 Park Fare and Akershus! As well as Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 50's PTC, Rainforest Cafe, and Boatwright's!

I had been lurking on the DIS for a looong time and saw how many times people changed their minds about things. Resorts, ADR's schedules, parks etc. It seemed so .....not me! Most of the time, once I reach a decision, I rarely change my mind! Decisive, I am! Well, this trip has shown me how Indecisive I can be! Dangle a carrot in front of my nose and I want it!

The first changes came about when I started reading more frequently on the Restaurants board! I decided that we really didn't need 3 princess meals and changed the Norway breakfast into a supper at Coral Reef! Then I added a lunch at Biergarten for my dear hubby who loves sausages and beer! Hearing this he became slightly more interested in planning stuff and asked if there was anything Chinese at Disney World! The man has a serious fascination with ALL THINGS of the Oriental World! I said “Yes, as a matter of fact there is – and look at that we will be at Epcot on Chinese New yaer!” So I called to see if we could get into eat supper at Nine Dragon's on January the 26th! Bingo! Got it! So that meant cancelling the Coral Reef ressie! Oh well, maybe next time!

At about this same time I was beginning to get quite frustrated with Airtran! They had already changed our flights 3 times! So I checked to see what else was available! Amazingly enough, Northwest still had seats available on their earliest morning flight on January 19th! And they were cheaper than Airtran! YeeHaw! Booked that, cancelled Airtran (without penalty because they made the changes without informing me) and did a little happy dance! We were set! No more changes.... or so I thought!

Here comes the end of October and the rumor mill is going crazy about some kind of a major code coming out! So, along with everybody else, I wait! Sometimes patiently, sometimes not so patiently! Fast Forward to Thursday November 6th @ 5pm! Disney releases their biggest discount code since 2002! Buy 4 days, get 3 for free! WooHoo! I called only to find out that the code is not available at POFQ! What?! You mean that inorder to save money I will have to leave my dream resort? YUP! So, we struggle, I cry and weigh the pros and cons and come up with a couple of choices.

1.stay at POFQ, No money saved. Would still be happy. Money is not everything.(the $ for this trip came from my parents when they sold their house)
2.Switch to CBR. Save about $700 but be unhappy.
3.Switch to WL, still save money and be VERY HAPPY!
Obviously, we chose option #3! We had to switch our 10 day dining plan to 8 days, book a room only at a value on either end of the WL stay, but amazingly, after all was said and done, WE STILL ENDED UP SAVING MONEY! So this immediately incurred more changes! Had to change a couple more ADR's and had to tweak our park plans a bit, nothing major though! So now, sitting here today I can say with absolute certainty, THERE WILL BE NO MORE CHANGES!

Stay Tuned: up next..... shopping, shopping and more shopping!

WOW Great Chapters!!!!! Between me and you we have had to make at least 100 calls to the CMs at Disney for our changes...okay you only called them like 20 times but let me pretend I'm not a pyscho changer!!!

I'm so jealous...WL is going to be so beautiful..you and Ken and the girls are so going to enjoy it!!!!

Shopping....whooooo I can't wait to see your purchases...update soon update soon LOL!!!!!