Two sisters along with their families meet for 8 glorious days!

[xrayvin]

I do not even know how to begin this pre-trip planning thread. I have read so many and they are so fun to read so my goal has 2 parts:
1. make it fun and interesting so people will read it and give opionions and advice.
2. keep it organized so we know where we are at in the planning timeline.

I guess I will use the 4 Ws from English..Who, Where,What, Why

WHO
Myself Tinkerbell-Tink for short, I have always loved Tinkerbell so that is who I claim to be! I am 34 y/o. It is my second trip to WDW (3rd to Epcot) When I was 16 I was granted a wish from Make a Wish and my whole family and my best friend (6 in all) went for 7 amazing days! It seems like forever and I have always dreamed of going back with my family. I am also the oldest of 3 girls.

My Husband- Prince Charming Charm for short. What kind of wife would I be if I did not make my husbamd Prince Charming? Honestly he is a little rough around the edges for prince material but otherwise he definatly fits the title. He is 36 y/o and has been to Epcot 1 time but never anywhere else in WDW. He is excited to dedicate a week in WDW, he just doesn't want to hear about all the plans that will make this trip great.

Our Son Tigger. age 4. He is ALWAYS boucing off the walls. I do not know where he gets his energy, but I hope I have half of it when we are in Disney! Tigger is SO excited and has just recently started talking about the trip. (I think it is beginning to rub off from his mom) He has never been to WDW




My Sister what could her name be...it HAS to be someone FUN and SILLY and who makes everyone around her feel great and excited. She is 27 y/o and lives 400 miles away from me. She is the baby of the 3 daughters, and is like the fountain of youth. I am so happy she will be on our trip, being she will embrace the magic and make sure everyone else will feel it also! For now I am going to go with Minnie Mouse Minnie for short. Simply because she represents all that WDW is! Minnie has been to WDW once, she was 9 y/o. I would say it is about time for another trip.

My brother in law-from Little Einsteins Leo He is also 27. He reminds me of Leo simply because he is a computer guy and likes to inform us of new, upcoming inventions. Even though he is the smarty in our group..he has a fun and crazy side also. I am glad to have Leo on this adventure. To be honest I am not sure if Leo has been to WDW before of not. Eitherway, it is definatly going to be a once in a lifetime trip he is about to experience!

My neice Cinderella Cinder for short. This was a NO BRAINER, she is a princess all the way! She just turned 7 yesterday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINDER!!!!!
Cinder has never been to WDW. She will be so much fun to watch as she witnesses all the magic of WDW.

My youngest neice also a no bainer Piglet although this may seem like a bad nickname..she want to be a pig! She talks in pig language, can not sleep without her 4 pigs . She is 4. (just 3 months older then Tigger) She will let us know what she want to do next and along with Tigger will keep us on our toes! Needless to say Piglet has never been to WDW.



Well that is the WHO of our adventure, I planned to do more but Tigger and Charm just got home so I have to run for now.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[xrayvin]

When
We started for 2009 then changed it to 2008 because our middle sister is getting married. Now she has changed her wedding date to Aug 2008 so our vaccation almost went back to 2009, but we decided what the heck let STILL go to WDW in 2008!

SO HERE WE GO!
We will be going Dec 7,2008 and be returning Dec 15, 2008. Actually my family is going in one day early because of flight reasons! We chose this time for several reasons.
The main reason was the crowds. Another reason~the holiday decorations. Minnie and I want to see Disney all decked out. I think this is going to be the highlight for me!
Weather~we thought this would be the warmest time and still be able to see all the decorations.
WHERE
Being my family is arriving one day early, we decided to splurge a little. For Charms birthday I surprised him with a Savanna view room at AKL! This is where Charm REALLY wanted to stay we just could not justify the cost. But we had to switch days in order to get a 40% discount and using the money we saved there we could do ONE night! We arrive late afternoon this day and plan to go straight to hotel, eat at BOMA, and then enjoy the resort! The story time around the fire and night animal watching are on the agenda!
The following day Minnie and family will join us at POFQ. We have requested connecting rooms (we went with standard rooms being I have read that a water view is not worth the extra money at this resort) in one of the back buildings. I do not know our chances at getting a connecting room (that was our top request) but we are REALLY holding our breath that we get it. Is there a time before arrival (say a day or two) when we can find out if we will have it? Also we are already in Disney so maybe if I call early that morning or check in personally it would help. What do you think? Our hope is that we can put the kids in the one room to sleep and then play cards or something in the other room. We of course would not be comfortable doing this if the rooms are not connected.
We can not afford the deluxe resorts, so we began looking at the mods. We felt that POFQ was the best of the mod resorts. We did consider POP but it really was not that much less and we felt that the time getting to and from the parks would be less at POFQ. I am also very excited to walk around the gardens, maybe rent a bike...a carriage ride...and the boat to DD will be fun to do at least one time. The rooms are basic and I do not hold very high expectations so I am focusing on the resort as a whole!

next post is the most important WHAT

to be continued...

 

[xrayvin]

I am having mixed emotions about the date change. I LOVE the new dates because of the savings! Other then that....I want my old dates back! As most of you know the Pop Warner thing will be at the same time. I am finding mixed opinions about this. We are staying at POFQ which can be an overflow for the cheering bunch, but I am hoping that this will be minimal. There is more of a chance that the weather will be cooler..I know it is only a week later but everyday that I can have warmer weather is a definate plus! It also seems to be a week that everyone suggests is the "best week" to go...so I have a feeling EVERYONE will be going to beat the crowds.

Enough of the negative stuff...after all we are going to Disneyworld..and we got a 40% savings!! I really can not complain. So now that that is out of my system...back to the planning!



What...

This is so confusing and deciding what to do and when to do it is a challenge! Maybe I am starting too early. When you don't have times and events it does make it tough to plan. HOWEVER, with all that said I continue on and I will have a plan. (I just don't know how many times it will change)

This is a general idea of what my family wants...
1. all four parks (not rushed)
2. wishes
3. evening parade at MK
4. illuminations
5. Fantasmic
6. Crystal Palace
7.Coral Reef
8.Teppan Edo
9. Seaworld
10. resort day (enjoy the gardens/bike riding at POFQ)
11. adult nite out
12. boat to DD

My biggest question about planning when to do what is this..Do you plan the day at the park on a magic hour day? The only park we would want to participate on the late hours would be MK (on an adult nite) and that does not work with the rest of our plans, we don't want the babysitter that soon in vaccation.
When a park has the magic hours it is an additional 3 hours after close for late hours and 1 hour for early correct? Is that for all the parks or does it depend on each park?

So here is our schedule complete with ADRs

OK here we go plans with ADRs! (I know it is long but I am hoping for some objective critisism)

We will be there Dec 7- Dec 15, we have the DDP and 7 day PH tickets (my family will be arriving one day earlier)

Sat~ (no PH / 1 TS)
My family gets into FL around 2:30pm on Sat. We want to enjoy the AKL and take in as much as we can of this amazing resort. This is an add on day for as so we will not have any park tickets nor will we have access to our DDP. We are thinking about the storytime by the fire and watching the animals with night goggles. I did make an ADR for Boma at 4:45. As long as we have NO delays we should be able to check in and go eat and then enjoy our night.

Sun~ (possible 1 PH/ possibly 1 TS)
I belive that Minnie and her family arrive in FL around 1pm. We are going to have room service for breakfast and watch the animals. Maybe hit the pool before check out (hopefully we can get a late check out) Then we are meeting at POFQ to check in and start the "family" vaccation! Any suggestions in this area? We have requested ajoining rooms and it would really be a plus to get this request. Should I go over and check in early in the morning to help secure this? Would it do the same to call them? Or is reconfirming our requests a few weeks before we leave going to be our last time to say we "really" would like this?
This is going to be a pretty relaxed day. I did get an ADR for Teppan Edo 7pm. Minnie has voiced some concern and really does not want a TS on there first day in (in case of delays and kids not wanting to "sit" anymore) I totally agree but as of now I don't want to give up this ADR
Depending on how the kids are if we ate at CR we could catch illuminations on the 1st night!
If we don't do this we want to go to DTD and just walk around. grab something to eat at Earl of Sandwich. This does sound awsome to me! We can take the farrie and just enjoy being there!

Mon~(1PH/ 1TS)
AK (morning EMH) 8-12ish
eat at Flame tree/ go back resort or downtime
AK 3ish possible catch the parade (those that want to) leave 6:30 (closes at 7)
ADR GG 7:45
possibly catch illuminations

Tues~(1PH/ 1 TS)
DS 9-1
back to resort/or some downtime
ADR H&V Fantasmic pkg 4:20
Fantasmic 7pm (pk closes at 8pm)

Wed~(1PH/ 1 TS)
MK arrive early for opening ceremony (opens at 9am what time should we be there?)
ADR CP noon then go back to resort/or downtime
back to MK 4ish (we are hoping not to do the wishes or spectro this night) as MK closes at 8pm

Thur~(1PH/ 1TS)
EP 9am
ADR 4 of us will go to Akerhus at 1:25 while the other 3 are going to San Angel 1:30
back to resort around 6pm eat at food court
KNO at 7:30 or 8pm for the kids while the adults head out to Boardwalk? or a resort tour if we can figure out transportaion

Fri~(possibly 1 PH/ 1TS maybe 2)
RESORT DAY
ADR 10:05 Boatwrights
ADR 6:45 Teppan Edo (if we don't do on Sun/or we could eat somewhere else in ep)
EP does have late EMH if we want to stay also can watch illum if not done already

Sat~ (1PH/1 TS)
DS/AK in AM depending what we feel we have not got enough of (DS early EMH)
rest at resort
ADR Coral Reef 4:35
MK after eating (does anyone know how long it will take to get from EP to MK ?)
spect is at 8 and 10 and wishes is at 9 (park closes at 11pm)

Sun~ NO PARK NO TS
Seaworld
plan to take the Linx bus....any comments...how early do we have to catch the bus if we want to be there around 9am?
We may try to make reservations at the Shark place?

Mon~ no park/1 TS
our flight is 5:30 not sure of Minnie's altough I believe it is later then ours
I made an ADR for Chef Mickey 10am while Minnie made an ADR for Park Fare 9:45
Not sure which we will take.
Hoping for a late check out and we have to leave....

I have 1 question I thought of as I was writing this...should we split the spectro and wishes? We plan to spend 1 1/2 days at MK (with naps) trying to see everything plus the shows. Should we plan to watch "spectro" on Wed and ride the rides while wishes is going and then ride rides on Sat till "wishes" and then find a spot for that? or is it better to watch then both the same night?

Lastly I know I asked it before but I am really curious about how to visit all the resorts for a tour in the evening when some parks are closed and we don;t want to spend 2/3 our time transfering from one resort to a park to another park. We also don't want to spend a fortune on taxis from EVERY resort. Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks for reading (and answering)

 

[Jenvenza]

Sounds like you have a lot planned so far! Great start!

 

[Alysa]

Love your report so far - I am going on a trip with my sis and her family too! Looving forward to hearing more!
Cheers!