*~Trading Snow & Slush For Pixie Dust~* Jan PTR - 1/17 - Photo Challenge Complete!

[Colleen27]

It's for this reason that we can only go away in Jan, our school summer holidays and the only time of year there are no activities!

I hope she gets the part A main part is worth a few days change. My niece recently played Alice in her school production and it was wonderful to watch. DD1 performed as part of the children's chorus and as dancer in our local Musical Society's Alice a few years ago. Alice is a great production to be involved with.

Well, she's not going to be Alice but she was cast as Alice's sister... Not as big a part but still more than she was expecting/hoping for since this is the first time she's tried out for any production. I'm very excited for her, and so proud. When I was her age I was always too shy and self-conscious to be the one out on stage. I acted in one high school play but usually stuck to the lighting and sound booths.

I would go so far as to say, why not skip the dining plans altogether for them and just have your mom and brother join you when you can. (I assume you have different rooms so can do DDP/DxDDP on one room and not on the other.) We've found if you skip desserts and drinks and the mug and aren't always ordering the most expensive items from the most expensive restaurants, then it's actually cheaper to pay OOP for meals and the DDP doesn't save.

(However, if you do really enjoy desserts, drinks, mugs, $$ entrees/restaurants, then, as you know, the DDP can save you money...)

Nothing says you have to have all the meals together, so you can still do some Siggies and they can enjoy some CS and save money. Or you can just concentrate on one or two TS to enjoy together.

The last thing you want is your mom and brother not really enjoying the meal b/c they are thinking more about the prices than the meal. They may not say it but they may certainly be thinking it the whole time...

Also, if one of you have an AP, why not get the TIW card...saves you and up to 9 others 20% off at TS dining and the CS in AK and at a few resorts. So that might be a better option. Not sure if you are familiar with that...

Anyway, those were my first thoughts.

Sorry, you have to change things again...

We're booked with free dining so the basic plan isn't a problem cost-wise. The deluxe plan upgrade is a big price jump, though, and an easy place to cut back. I think the basic plan will probably better suit my brother anyway since he's a really picky eater.

Unfortunately I didn't realize we'd be back so soon or I would have upgraded to an AP on the last trip, but it really doesn't matter because we have the YES tickets for this trip anyway. When we go back to use the 2 day tix from our package I'll almost certainly be going for the AP upgrade, but not this time around.

Yay for your daughter getting the callback and maybe the part of Alice! I'll bet she is sooo excited (and hopeful).

You know, even though you may not be dining at your favorite sit down restaurants, the bottom line is, you will still be at WDW. Isn't that what it's all about? Even the counter service places have the Disney touch and attention to detail and you might even find a new favorite. You'll get to experience something new at WDW. You'll also find a certain freedom in not having ADR's and making plans around them and most likely gain more park/resort time this way.

Sending you positive vibes and happy thoughts

That is what it is all about. I'm so used to planning trips just for my family and we've all been there so many times, but having my brother along makes this trip different and dining just isn't going to be as high a priority as usual. While that might not be the way I'm used to doing things, with DB basically being a first-timer to WDW it will probably work out for the best.

I'm working on a rough plan for the new dates now and will probably post an update later on, if I don't fall asleep first. We cut our tree today and put it up so it has been a long one with lots of pics to share, but I'm not on the computer with the card reader to upload them so that'll have to wait for tomorrow. In the meantime...

Day 6 - A picture of something you've never ridden/seen in the parks.

This one took some thought because on the last two trips I've made a point of trying new things whenever possible, but this is one I haven't braved yet - Mission Space: Orange. I've done the green experience but the thought of the spinning on the full version has had me steering clear on the last couple trips. Maybe next time...

 

[Marshay]

Well, she's not going to be Alice but she was cast as Alice's sister... Not as big a part but still more than she was expecting/hoping for since this is the first time she's tried out for any production. I'm very excited for her, and so proud. When I was her age I was always too shy and self-conscious to be the one out on stage. I acted in one high school play but usually stuck to the lighting and sound booths.

We're booked with free dining so the basic plan isn't a problem cost-wise. The deluxe plan upgrade is a big price jump, though, and an easy place to cut back. I think the basic plan will probably better suit my brother anyway since he's a really picky eater.

Unfortunately I didn't realize we'd be back so soon or I would have upgraded to an AP on the last trip, but it really doesn't matter because we have the YES tickets for this trip anyway. When we go back to use the 2 day tix from our package I'll almost certainly be going for the AP upgrade, but not this time around.

Oh, I'm sorry! I totally forgot that you were on the free dining. Yeah, I think you are making a good decision to just stick to what is free. Maybe you can sneak in one Siggie restaurant for Date Night and Mom and Brother can watch Pocahontas?

 

[Colleen27]

A quick run down of the new plan so far.

Jan 25: A super-early flight into Orlando, and something I seldom do on arrival day - a park. Since we're having to shave one night off the trip we're going to take the afternoon at Epcot. I am rolling the dice on the new CC guarantee with a lunch ADR at Le Cellier for 2:55 because I still want to try it and this was the only lunch time that has popped up so far. I will keep watching, though, to swap this out with our other Epcot day.

Jan 26: Studios for the Ridley Pearson presentation. Dinner at 50s Prime Time. The park closes at 7 so if the boys are up for it they might head over to Disney Quest for a little while in the evening.

Jan 27: free morning for DTD/DQ, Blizzard Beach, or just relaxing at Pop. Epcot evening with dinner at Teppan Edo followed by evening EMH.

Jan 28: Animal Kingdom. One of the coolest things about the new dates is that I found a weekend with a 7pm close for AK so we can ride Everest after dark! Dinner is at Chef Mickeys after the park closes.

Jan 29: Magic Kingdom. Tony's for lunch because the girls want to go to the Lady & the Tramp restaurant. Dinner is at Cali Grill OOP as Stitch and DB's birthday dinner.

Jan 30: Another free morning. I'm hoping one of these will be waterpark weather. Dinner is on the fly, either ESPN Club or Beaches & Cream, before evening EMH at Studios for the character dance party.

Jan 31: Last park day, so Magic Kingdom it is. Dinner is at Ohana.

Feb 1: Flying home. No plans, just swimming and packing.

 

[Colleen27]

Day 7 - A picture of your favorite in-park character.

Probably an unusual choice, but one that is always good for fun, in-character interaction... Stitch. On our last trip he was very impressed by his page in Boo's autograph book!

 

[Colleen27]

A quickie trip update - I'm working the details of the new plan and it is starting to fall into place. It isn't as pretty as the original plan (and I mean that literally - I use a color coded spreadsheet) and no matter how I try I can't seem to work it to have MK both first & last or to spread out our Epcot days a bit more but it works.

Instead of flying out early on the 25th I found a flight late on the 24th that is cheaper and that we have plenty of time to make if we leave right after picking Pocahontas up from play practice. We won't get to Pop until 11ish but that's okay; at least it gives us a decent night's sleep and a full day at Epcot on the 25th.

Since we'll have an extra night and an extra TS credit I added Crystal Palace for lunch on our second MK day.

And just because I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law I made sure to book all our non-refundables today while everything looks to be under control. I don't care what comes up now, barring a death in the family or something equally serious our dates are absolutely carved in stone. My poor ticker is getting quite the workout from me bumping it back to square one time and again, but this time it can run uninterrupted!

Now, another little holiday detour. We went out on Sunday to take advantage of the warm weather (a whopping 40°) for cutting our tree.

That's our tree the kids are standing in front of.

We all took turns with the saw. This was the first time Pocahontas got in on the fun.

Our tree came with a little surprise... an abandoned robin's nest, complete with the remains of hatched eggs. Boo was fascinated.

Before we left the girls had to stop to say hi to the resident reindeer.

And the finished product.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Pretty tree!

It wouldn't be a Disney trip without more changes, right? Did you hear about MSEP? Another refub for those of us going at the end of Jan/Feb! Oh and it looks like with your changes, we'll both be at MK on the 29th. I'll wave if I see you!

 

[lledman]

Your tree is beautiful. Congrads to your DD on getting a part in the school play and to you for your new trip dates!!!!

 

[Colleen27]

Pretty tree!

It wouldn't be a Disney trip without more changes, right? Did you hear about MSEP? Another refub for those of us going at the end of Jan/Feb! Oh and it looks like with your changes, we'll both be at MK on the 29th. I'll wave if I see you!

Yeah, I did. That one doesn't bother me terribly because we're really not a parade family and with the changes we weren't going to be at the MK for it anyway. My only worry is that without the MESP to draw people to other nights the evening EMH at MK will be much busier, and that without the MESP to "compete" with other parks' evening EMH those will be busier as well. But this seems like a LOT of closures! We always go at slow times of year including one previous January and I've never seen this much closed at once.

ETA: We should be pretty easy to spot on the 29th. Just keep an eye out for a stroller that is glowing lime green.

 

[Colleen27]

Day 8 - A picture of the ride you miss the most.

This is the one where I have to cheat and use someone else's photo, but I have a good reason, I swear. I took exactly one trip to WDW as a kid, the summer I graduated from high school, and that was also the only trip I took in the pre-digital photography era. And the downside to old fashioned film photos is that they're prone to damage... I don't have any pictures from that trip at all because they were lost when my mom's house burned down in '08.

But there was one attraction on that trip that came to mind immediately as the thing I miss most River Country, with the waterslides that ended far above the surface of the pool and the really cool zip line, so I had to track down a good photo of it online. It really was the best of the three Disney waterparks and I wish it was still there to share with my kids.


Plunge into River Country, Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida by Striderv, on Flickr

Honorable mention for an attraction I miss and one that I do have my own photos of is Minnie's Country House, simply because the sewing machine and big yellow chair in the sunroom were among my favorite spots for pictures of the kids.

 

[Cin]

Brrrrrrrr... it looks snowy and cold out your windows behind the Christmas tree. I am soooo glad I live far south and for us snow is a "miracle". Snow is beautiful to look at but unless the word vacation is involved and some cocoa and a cozy fire and some loved ones (or 1 special loved one) I have no use for the cold of winter. But it is so Christmas-ey in your photo. I like!

 

[Colleen27]

Brrrrrrrr... it looks snowy and cold out your windows behind the Christmas tree. I am soooo glad I live far south and for us snow is a "miracle". Snow is beautiful to look at but unless the word vacation is involved and some cocoa and a cozy fire and some loved ones (or 1 special loved one) I have no use for the cold of winter. But it is so Christmas-ey in your photo. I like!

I despise the cold personally but we want the kids to grow up close to their grandparents and cousins so here we stay. The snow doesn't start to bother me until about the 2nd week of January... I like a white Christmas but wish spring would arrive as soon as the decorations come down! But at least we do have the cozy fire and all of that; putting in a fireplace was one of the first things we did when we bought this house.

 

[Cin]

I can't believe you are sooo calm and all with your trip not finalized yet and still in the planning and in the getting reservations stages and it's next month!!!! How do you do that? I would be freaked out totally, I guess because I have only been 3 times priour and am not a Disney pro like you are yet. But I hope to be one day with more trips under my belt

 

[NLD]

Hi Colleen,


Been lurking a bit on your PTR but had to post to say:

1. Congrats to your dd on the play!
2. We'll be at MK on January 29th too. Hope it's not too crowded with EMH and no MSEP to draw folks to other nights.

What photography gear do you use? (Apologize if I missed it.)

 

[Cin]

I despise the cold personally but we want the kids to grow up close to their grandparents and cousins so here we stay. The snow doesn't start to bother me until about the 2nd week of January... I like a white Christmas but wish spring would arrive as soon as the decorations come down! But at least we do have the cozy fire and all of that; putting in a fireplace was one of the first things we did when we bought this house.

It's funny you said you had to put a fireplace in. I expected being up north were you actually get cold winters, all houses already had them. It's funny because all the houses here have them and we live in a tropical zone. This is our third house here and they all have had wood burning fireplaces.

 

[Colleen27]

I can't believe you are sooo calm and all with your trip not finalized yet and still in the planning and in the getting reservations stages and it's next month!!!! How do you do that? I would be freaked out totally, I guess because I have only been 3 times priour and am not a Disney pro like you are yet. But I hope to be one day with more trips under my belt

Part of it is that we've been so many times and have a couple of future trips in mind already. Part of it is that from the moment my mom suggested having my brother join us on this trip I set aside my usual expectations, since I haven't traveled with him since he was 15 & I was 18 and have no idea how a trip with him will go. And part of it is just personality; it takes a lot to really stress me out and it pretty much has to be major life issues level, not vacations or holidays or any of that little stuff.

Hi Colleen,


Been lurking a bit on your PTR but had to post to say:

1. Congrats to your dd on the play!
2. We'll be at MK on January 29th too. Hope it's not too crowded with EMH and no MSEP to draw folks to other nights.

What photography gear do you use? (Apologize if I missed it.)

Thanks. Keep an eye out for us on the 29th. We love the MK evening EMH, and we're hearty enough to be there until close no matter what the weather!

I use an old Sony Alpha (a100 - one of their first consumer level dSLRs) that my wonderful husband bought me for Christmas back in '07 to have on our Jan '08 trip. I have a few older lenses because I used to use a Minolta film SLR and the lenses are compatible, but the three I usually travel with are the kit lens (18-70mm), an all-purpose zoom (75-300mm), and a "nifty 50" fixed 50mm/f1.8.

It's funny you said you had to put a fireplace in. I expected being up north were you actually get cold winters, all houses already had them. It's funny because all the houses here have them and we live in a tropical zone. This is our third house here and they all have had wood burning fireplaces.

Traditional fireplaces are actually terribly inefficient for heat in cold climates - more escapes out the chimney than goes into the house, and the chimney is a source of drafts when the fire isn't lit. So they aren't as common in the north as you'd think, except in houses that are isolated from or pre-date natural gas and electric connections.

Our house is 130 years old and originally had a coal-fired then converted to natural gas boiler for heat plus a woodstove in the kitchen (which was removed long before we bought it), but no fireplace to sit in front of. We took out the boiler & radiators rather than doing the somewhat extensive repairs that they needed, and added a high-efficiency natural gas fireplace that is both pretty and heats the whole house. I know all the reasons smart builders didn't put in fireplaces in homes like mine but to me an old Victorian just doesn't feel right without a fireplace with a big decorative mantle, so a new, rear-vent model was just the thing.

 

[Colleen27]

Speaking of the fireplace... It is a nice backdrop for our Christmas card photo, even if the kids didn't want to cooperate.

 

[Colleen27]

Day 9 - A picture of your favorite Disney restaurant.

This was the best I could find... California Grill is hands down my favorite, and Stitch's as well which is the reason it is the one signature restaurant we decided to keep OOP despite scaling back our dining plan. We have to get our sushi fix!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Awww..the kids look cute!!

 

[Colleen27]

Day 10 - A picture of your favorite ride or attraction.

It is hard to pick just one favorite but this one embodies everything that Disney does right - they took a familiar ride and made it something really incredible, both in terms of the ride technology with the random drop sequence and in the way the immersive, meticulously detailed theme is carried throughout. And it doesn't hurt that Twilight Zone is one of my favorite TV shows of all time.

 

[lledman]

Great shot of the kids.

I have to laugh, your favorite ride is what I used for my least favorite I do agree with you and love the theme but it's just the ride itself that I'm not a fan of - lol!!!