The "You'vetakenmetoDisney13times-howboutItakeyou?" December 2011 PTR

[QuirkyBelle]

So I’m a bit of an obsessive Disney planner. I think it dates back to our first family trip in 1999, where my dad handed each member of our family a color coded excel spreadsheet laying out the plans for our 16 day Orlando vacation. Ever since, we’ve been hooked, and without fail there has always been a color coded excel spreadsheet to accompany every vacation. Typically they have those really catchy names like “Ultimate Disney Vacation” or “14 Day Disney Extravaganza”, and even though they’re corny, we LOVE them. Point is, my dad’s crazy vacation planning has rubbed off on me and I find my self planning and pricing out vacations I could never afford to take all the time, particularly in times of “Disney Drought”. These occur a few months after I’ve been to the world with no trip on the horizon.

Lately I’ve been experiencing one of those “Disney Droughts” and started playing with the numbers. Turns out, it’s pretty cheap to go in December. As a graduate student I have very little extra cash and typically couldn’t afford a trip. However, thanks to some recent awards I’ve won to help with the cost of living, I’ve managed to build up a pretty decent savings account…decent enough that my “in the works” trip to Disney would barely leave a dent. Therefore, I decided to make the dream plan a reality, but that meant getting my mom onboard.

Now I’ve always wanted to take a trip with just my mom and me but the timing has never been right. And here’s the thing about my parents, they never ever let us spend money on them, and so I knew this would be a hard sell. However, this sudden surplus in cash, and sudden conviction to plan a trip, just happened to coincide with mom getting sick. Usually this would be a bad thing, but the recent health scare seems to have reminded my family (especially my parents) that we can never know what’s coming tomorrow, so we might as well make memories while we can. So after about two weeks of bugging her, I finally got my mom to say yes!

Now I’ve been blessed to have traveled to Disney 13 times, all at the expense of my parents, 12 times with them, 1 without (since they footed the bill for my Senior Trip). This time however, I’m paying for the trip and for the first time in 22 years I’m doing something great for my mom and not the other way around. Let me tell you, it feels awesome!

So, now that I’ve bored you all to tears with the back story let’s recap:

The who: QuirkyBelle and MamaBelle
The what: 4 day trip to Disney World
The where: some value resort (any suggestions?)
The when: 12/17 – 12/20
The why: Because we love Disney of course!

I’m just so excited that I had to share this with you guys! Only 4½ months to go!

Oh, and sorry about the mouthful that the title is...couldn't resist.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Jumping on for your trip!

We're going the same time frame!!!!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

We always do All Star Sports.....
My family of four has done a total of about 30 trips in my lifetime.
My mom and dad have been about 4 times without my brother and I.
They stayed off site the first ever trip, sports the middle two, and some random place for a convention for my dad.

I've been about 25 times in almost 23 years.
Ive stayed at ASsP about 18 times.
Wilderness Lodge once.
Coronado Springs once. It was pretty but the walk was horrible.
And All Star Music about 4-5 times.

The deal with the All-Stars.... all the buses that run to the All-Stars run to all three resorts. (Sports, Music, and Movies)... In that order. So in the mornings, music and movies normally have more of a wait because they pick up sports first and when the bus is full... it's full. So that gets a little sketchy in the morning if they haven't called in more buses. Evenings leaving the parks you have all three resorts lining up for the same queue for the buses unless this has changed recently. So every bus will stop at sports, then music, then movies to let people off.

We are attempting Pop Century this time. It's the same price as the All Stars and the same kind of themes and whatnot. BUT it has its own buses since its not part of their grouping. It's closer to the Downtown Area. (One of the guys in my mom's office says after trying Pop they probably won't stay anywhere else b/c they like it so much.)

Sorry for all the rambling!

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Thanks for the response!

My family is part of the vacation club so we always stay at the villas, however on my senior trip I stayed at All Star Movies. I know exactly what you mean about the buses. One day we waited around an hour for a bus to MGM and saw anywhere between 2 and 4 buses for each, and every other park. It was sooooooo frustrating. It's a good tip.

I'm also currently leaning towards Pop Century this trip. I've heard a lot of good things about it and figured it would eliminate the bus problem all togther.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Thanks for the response!

My family is part of the vacation club so we always stay at the villas, however on my senior trip I stayed at All Star Movies. I know exactly what you mean about the buses. One day we waited around an hour for a bus to MGM and saw anywhere between 2 and 4 buses for each, and every other part. It was sooooooo frustrating. It's a good tip.

I'm also currently leaning towards Pop Century this trip. I've heard a lot of good things about it and figured it would eliminate the bus problem all togther.

Sure! Like I said jumping on for your PTR since we literally have the same dates. Where are y'all from?

If y'all stay at Pop we would do a Dis meet!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Another little blurb. They may or maynot be releasing a couple sets of Free Dining dates. One of the sets in December 10-December 17th. If it happens it will be a counter service dining package. Might help with your budgeting a bit because as long as your check in date is December 17th you get it for your whole stay.

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Another little blurb. They may or maynot be releasing a couple sets of Free Dining dates. One of the sets in December 10-December 17th. If it happens it will be a counter service dining package. Might help with your budgeting a bit because as long as your check in date is December 17th you get it for your whole stay.

I know!!! Here's hoping.

I'm from Pennsylvania and my mom is from New Jersey, where I lived until last year. Don't see much of her now that I've moved so I'm really looking forward to this trip as a chance to spend some time together.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

I know!!! Here's hoping.

I'm from Pennsylvania and my mom is from New Jersey, where I lived until last year. Don't see much of her now that I've moved so I'm really looking forward to this trip as a chance to spend some time together.

I hear ya. Don't know if you've popped over to my PTR yet or not, but were doing our trip to get my mom in a better mind frame from all that's going on in real life.

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Great news!!!! Today I booked our trip!!!

The plan has been in the works for the last few weeks, but I was waiting on a general public offer for December before finalizing plans. There were some rumors that one would be released in August and lo and behold, free dining came out for our dates. Actually, we just squeaked in there with the last date for 2011 being 12/17. Perfect!

As a busy girl I couldn’t afford to spend all morning on hold waiting to book, so as soon as the offer went up online, I booked that way. Took about 15 minutes and definitely beat the hour and a half hold times I heard some people had.

Now I don’t always think free dining is the best offer, but for this trip it most certainly was. Three nights in a value resort aren’t that expensive, so anything less than a 70% room discount wasn’t going to the equal the $200 I’m saving with free dining. And yes, I am completely aware that a 70% room discount has never and will never exist.

I spent some time hemming and hawing over which value resort to stay in. My experience with the values is pretty limited; only one trip spent at All Star Movies. Also, my mom has never stayed in a value. My trip at ASM was great, expect for the buses, and that is what pushed me to book Pop Century for this trip.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the resort, as well as its slightly more central location compared to the All Stars.

So…details.

Pop Century, standard room 12/17 – 12/20
4 Day Magic your way base ticket
Free Quick Service Dining

Package Total = $830.00

By the way, when I called my mommy and told her I’d booked and paid the deposit on our vacation, she cried! It was soooo sweet!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Great news!!!! Today I booked our trip!!!

The plan has been in the works for the last few weeks, but I was waiting on a general public offer for December before finalizing plans. There were some rumors that one would be released in August and lo and behold, free dining came out for our dates. Actually, we just squeaked in there with the last date for 2011 being 12/17. Perfect!

As a busy girl I couldn’t afford to spend all morning on hold waiting to book, so as soon as the offer went up online, I booked that way. Took about 15 minutes and definitely beat the hour and a half hold times I heard some people had.

Now I don’t always think free dining is the best offer, but for this trip it most certainly was. Three nights in a value resort aren’t that expensive, so anything less than a 70% room discount wasn’t going to the equal the $200 I’m saving with free dining. And yes, I am completely aware that a 70% room discount has never and will never exist.

I spent some time hemming and hawing over which value resort to stay in. My experience with the values is pretty limited; only one trip spent at All Star Movies. Also, my mom has never stayed in a value. My trip at ASM was great, expect for the buses, and that is what pushed me to book Pop Century for this trip.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the resort, as well as its slightly more central location compared to the All Stars.

So…details.

Pop Century, standard room 12/17 – 12/20
4 Day Magic your way base ticket
Free Quick Service Dining

Package Total = $830.00

By the way, when I called my mommy and told her I’d booked and paid the deposit on our vacation, she cried! It was soooo sweet!

Yay! So excited! I'm going to call this week and try to get a "Lady" room. My daughter LOVES Lady and the Tramp. We didn't want to keep the CM on the phone for too long this morning with all the others trying to get through the lines!

Btw I'm Ashley!

Are y'all doing any table service ressies during your trip?

Least it was hopefully a good cry!

 

[QuirkyBelle]

I gave a lot of thought to our trip plans this time around. Being that we’ve been to Disney so many times, we’ve pretty much done it all. However, other than seeing the Osborne Lights last January, we’ve never experienced Christmas at Disney. Now my mom and I are HUGE Christmas fans, in fact my whole family is. We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving, decorate like crazy, and leave our tree up well into January. One of my mom’s dreams is to experience Christmas at Disney, but due to my dad’s work schedule we’ve never been able to go in December. Therefore, on this trip, Christmas is the priority.

Tentative Schedule:

Saturday 12/17 – Arrive in the morning, Epcot all day, Illuminations with the special holiday tag at night

Sunday 12/18 – MGM in the morning, resort touring in the afternoon, MVMCP at night

Monday 12/19 – Downtown Disney in the morning, Epcot all day, Candlelight Processional at night

Sunday 12/20 – Animal Kingdom all day, Flight home at night

Originally the plan was to take it slow, with nice relaxing days. We were going to spend one day in the parks, one day seeing the decorations at the resorts, and have a Downtown day or two. However, as you can see we’ve slipped into commando mode with early mornings and late nights. Part of this is our extreme love of the parks (especially Epcot) and the fact that we needed two-day tickets in order to get free dining. Now as a grad student I know I can handle this hectic schedule; I just hope my mom will have the stamina to make it through.

So, what do you think?

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

I gave a lot of thought to our trip plans this time around. Being that we’ve been to Disney so many times, we’ve pretty much done it all. However, other than seeing the Osborne Lights last January, we’ve never experienced Christmas at Disney. Now my mom and I are HUGE Christmas fans, in fact my whole family is. We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving, decorate like crazy, and leave our tree up well into January. One of my mom’s dreams is to experience Christmas at Disney, but due to my dad’s work schedule we’ve never been able to go in December. Therefore, on this trip, Christmas is the priority.

Tentative Schedule:

Saturday 12/17 – Arrive in the morning, Epcot all day, Illuminations with the special holiday tag at night

Sunday 12/18 – MGM in the morning, resort touring in the afternoon, MVMCP at night

Monday 12/19 – Downtown Disney in the morning, Epcot all day, Candlelight Processional at night

Sunday 12/20 – Animal Kingdom all day, Flight home at night

Originally the plan was to take it slow, with nice relaxing days. We were going to spend one day in the parks, one day seeing the decorations at the resorts, and have a Downtown day or two. However, as you can see we’ve slipped into commando mode with early mornings and late nights. Part of this is our extreme love of the parks (especially Epcot) and the fact that we needed two-day tickets in order to get free dining. Now as a grad student I know I can handle this hectic schedule; I just hope my mom will have the stamina to make it through.

So, what do you think?

Sounds great! We're discussing MVMCP if I get the extra day off of work for the front end of our trip. If we're up so early for CP on Sunday, there's no way the little will still be that late at night. All of the adults will be , but if we can get into Orlando early on Saturday and get a full night sleep we're discussing it. We'll know by the end of October.

I'm almost going to miss being able to go commando with this trip.

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Just booked the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package!

Man did I have trouble forking over an additional $100 dollars on top of everything else I’m paying for. Originally I was all for waiting 2 hours in the standby line and getting lousy seats. I was convinced that the only thing the dinner package did for you was to get you into the theater, but with a $100 dollar price tag and an additional hour taken out of park time. To me, sitting in the standby line didn’t seem so bad. However, after doing some research I realized that this would be the first time my mom and I have seen the Candlelight Processional, so why not get the best seats possible to experience the “full” effect. In fact, it only adds half an hour to what our estimated standby wait would be, and now we get a full meal and awesome seats for our troubles.

So, I’m glad to tell you that we have 4:10 reservations for the Biergarten on 12/19 for the 6:45 showing of the Candlelight Processional. I figure we’ll eat dinner, finish around 5:30, and be in the package holder’s line by 6. This should ensure us pretty decent seats. On top of all of this, Trace Adkins is going to be the narrator. Now I don’t know much about him, but my sister is a fan and she’s pretty excited for us.

Also, even though we’ve been to the Biergarten 3 or 4 times already, this is the first time we aren’t going as a party of 8. Since its “family style” seating, it’ll be a unique experience to have tablemates we’ve never met before. Additionally, this will be our only table service meal of the trip – another first! But more on that later…

 

[mikkiwikki]

Quirky..(love your PTR )

AND p.s I totally understand the slipping into commando mode......totally!
Keep up the great work...Ive never done Candlelight Processional. Youll have to tell me how you like it!

Check out my 2011 PTR siggie to see what you have won
(for being the first poster on my PTR)!

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Quirky..(love your PTR )

AND p.s I totally understand the slipping into commando mode......totally!
Keep up the great work...Ive never done Candlelight Processional. Youll have to tell me how you like it!

Check out my 2011 PTR siggie to see what you have won
(for being the first poster on my PTR)!

And thanks for jumping over!

I'm really excited for the Candlelight Processional. I've heard mixed reviews - everything from "absolutely love it, a must see" to "not worth more than a passing glance". I have a feeling my mom and I will fall in with the first group of people. Choirs singing candlelit Christmas songs 6 days before Christmas...what's not to love? Oh and thanks for all the prizes.

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Sounds great! We're discussing MVMCP if I get the extra day off of work for the front end of our trip. If we're up so early for CP on Sunday, there's no way the little will still be that late at night. All of the adults will be , but if we can get into Orlando early on Saturday and get a full night sleep we're discussing it. We'll know by the end of October.

I'm almost going to miss being able to go commando with this trip.

That could be tough with a little one. Last year on our January trip my family did an 8:05 ressie at the CP on an evening extra magic hours day at Magic Kingdom, I think it was open until 1 AM. Needless to say, by 11:00 everyone was dragging (and we're all over 18 ) and we left the park before being able to take full advantage of the low crowds. That would be extra frustrating if that happened after paying extra for a party. But a good night's sleep can work wonders so I think it's a good idea that you haven't written off the idea just yet.

Commando mode may have it's advantages, but sometimes it's a lot nicer, not to mention more relaxing, to just go with the flow. My mom and I may be commando with our park hours, however, we're going to try and slow it down once we're in the parks.

 

[QuirkyBelle]

Photo Testing...Why are my photos so BIG???

 

[mikkiwikki]

Photo Testing...Why are my photos so BIG???

HMM I dont see any photos?

 

[QuirkyBelle]

HMM I dont see any photos?

I know, I deleted them while I try resizing. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out tonight.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Hey! Last week at work was crazy so no DISing. Congrats on getting the Candlelight Processional booked! That's one thing in all our years of going that we have just never done.

We're leaning towards not doing the MVMCP because we don't want Lexa to be exhausted before the trip even really begins.