We are back! "Christmas with the mouse" trip report!!!**New 1/1/08**

[VandyFan10]

The Plan:

We will be driving down from Birmingham, Alabama. We've decided to drive instead of fly for a couple of reasons. #1 flexibility. We can leave for the trip what ever time of day we want. We can leave WDW for home whatever time of day we want. #2 We don't have to worry about how many bags we've packed or how we going to get souviners home or having them shipped to our house. (evern though there still are a couple of things I'm sure we will have shipped) #3 no waiting in long lines at the airport!

It's about a 10-12 hr drive for us. [/COLOR]

We are driving also....from Nashvegas ....I have made it home from Orlando in 10 hrs...but I know that's a perfect 'not many stops' trip ....But really we are about the same 10-12 hrs....I assume you cut over to I-75 somehow??

I have a question for all of you here that have driven.. ..from I-75 once you get to (or outside of) Orlando what is the BEST way to get to WDW?? I would like to avoid the Toll Roads, but if that is the best and most direct I guess we'll be going that way not to go 'around the world' (literally or figuratively)

Is the Flordia Turnpike a Toll Road???

Princess do you or anyone else know the best route?? It's been awhile since I've driven to Orlando and to be honest I don't remember, and I think we were coming from Daytona and from there you can come straight in I-4

ANY info would be helpful... ...THANKS!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

We spent most of our time in Jeans and t shirts...started out with sweatshirts or light jackets in the mornings, and wound up in T shirts by about noon. The evenings were COLD...needed our regular coats. I think it was unseasonably cold in 2005, though...



I seem to remember it being cold in 12/05, too. That was an unseasonably cold December in Florida. I think the best thing to do is to pack layers, like above, and then check out the seven day forcast for Orlando on www.weather.com a day or so before you leave to see if you need the heavier coats (and the gloves and hats.)

...and I can't believe the stores are displaying Christmas stuff. Some stores around here even had it up at the end of September! I mean, I love Christmas, but not when it's still 90 degrees outside!

Good luck with finding the "boy tree"


Kathy

 

[princess-rn]

PigletsMommy- Thanks! He would LOVE to have a toy story tree! I will look in to Disney store online. 'course he would love cars too. Thanks for the tip about the weather. I know it will be unpredictible so I don't even know why I'm trying to prepare. I am going to take a couple pairs of everything and just pray that I have enough. If not..I can always BUY more stuff right???

VandyFan...you should get the tree for yourself! It's so much fun going even without kids. I'm telling you our honeymoon was the BEST vacation yet. I don't know that we will ever be able to top it. Driving down from Nashvegas? Cool! LOVE Nashvegas! I haven't been in a long time though. You've made it back from Orlando in 10 hours!!!! My goodness!! Did you grow wings or something??? It usually takes us anywhere from 10-12 hours from B'ham. Now, that's with LOTS of stops for DS to go potty and stretch out a little. Also for DH and I to move those old bones around! We usually eat breakfast on the road but we stop for lunch and stop at some unique shops (and walmarts/targets) along the way. We don't go down I-75. It might be quicker though. We debated going that way in 2005 but then got soooo many people here telling us that there seems to always be road construction going on on I-75 and you can get caught up in that all the way down. I HATE getting stopped for road construction..so we take another route. We take I65 south through Montgomery then we get on US HWY 231 and stay on it until we get to I-10. Then we take I-10 until we hit I-75 and stay on it until we get to Orlando. Once we get into Orlando we just kind of try to follow mapquest directions. I'm not that familar with the area. I do remember a couple of toll roads from last time. Nothing major though.

bornwiththeears- first of all LOVE your name!! I think I was born with them too!!! Glad to hear I'm not alone with why I like to drive as oppose to fly to WDW. Most people around here think we are NUTS. I remember the drive in 2005 was actually quite fun. We are very excited about O'hanas. We've heard such good things about it. DH LOVED H&V..maybe I was just too hard on it! I just compared it to CM and CM is wonderful!!!

Kathyrn- I can't believe they have the Christmas stuff out either. Don't get me wrong I LOVE it..but can't we at least get Halloween out of the way??? How have you been doing? I haven't heard from you in a while.

 

[VandyFan10]

VandyFan...you should get the tree for yourself!

I may do that....but you definitely made me think...I have a little tree I put up every year, that is VERY special to me....so I might just take that with us!!

It's so much fun going even without kids. I'm telling you our honeymoon was the BEST vacation yet. I don't know that we will ever be able to top it.

No kiddos for us yet....so I have yet to be at WDW with kids ....I always enjoy watching everyone elses kids.....and I dont' have to worry with them

You've made it back from Orlando in 10 hours!!!! My goodness!! Did you grow wings or something??? It usually takes us anywhere from 10-12 hours from B'ham. Now, that's with LOTS of stops for DS to go potty and stretch out a little. Also for DH and I to move those old bones around! We usually eat breakfast on the road but we stop for lunch and stop at some unique shops (and walmarts/targets) along the way. We don't go down I-75. It might be quicker though. We debated going that way in 2005 but then got soooo many people here telling us that there seems to always be road construction going on on I-75 and you can get caught up in that all the way down. I HATE getting stopped for road construction..so we take another route. We take I65 south through Montgomery then we get on US HWY 231 and stay on it until we get to I-10. Then we take I-10 until we hit I-75 and stay on it until we get to Orlando. Once we get into Orlando we just kind of try to follow mapquest directions. I'm not that familar with the area. I do remember a couple of toll roads from last time. Nothing major though.

Yea we did make it back in 10Hrs one time...I think usually it's 11-11 1/2...but like I said that is the perfect trip.. ..hardly any stops, and great traffic flow

I actually just mapped the way we go through Atlanta and also through B-ham the way you said.....it's 700mi (and it says 10hr 43min) through Atl down I-75 and 763mi through Montgomery/hwy 231.....I think 231 is the way we just went to PCBeach and it's a nice 4 lane road but can take longer with the lights also.....for you it's about 30mi more to go through Atl but it's all interstate.....prob not much of a difference for you either way....definitely take the way you like!!

 

[princess-rn]

Vandyfan- Yep 231 is the way you probably go to PC Beach. That's the way we go. I do like taking 231 better and a big reason is because straight interstate driving tends to make me fall asleep. And we don't need that to happen.
I think taking that special tree with you would be great!! Especially since you are driving and you don't have to worry about transporting it at the airport. WDW is fun with our without kids. Our first time with our son we had to remind ourselves that we did have a little person with us and we needed to slow it down a bit.

 

[Lettie-RN]

I am sooo new to all this planning stuff!

Hubby and I are planning on shocking our will be 6 and 4 year old dtrs w/ an "xmas trip" in late jan or feb.

Santa is going to bring them each a totally awesome dress outfit and tickets to disney world! We are thinking of printing out maps and getting books about disney world etc for their other gifts.

I have so many questions about what to do / how to figure out how to do all this stuff but there are so many sites/forums and pages and pages that i am totally confused!


We are driving down from Charlotte, NC so figured it would be best to stay just outside of orlando and drive the rest of the way in the AM. Can we get in to one of the parks before we get checked in to our room? I have heard some talk about an "add on" nite.. what is that??

(that is just question one of one million!)


Thanks in advance for helping me!

Lettie

 

[VandyFan10]

I am sooo new to all this planning stuff!

Hubby and I are planning on shocking our will be 6 and 4 year old dtrs w/ an "xmas trip" in late jan or feb.

Santa is going to bring them each a totally awesome dress outfit and tickets to disney world! We are thinking of printing out maps and getting books about disney world etc for their other gifts.

I have so many questions about what to do / how to figure out how to do all this stuff but there are so many sites/forums and pages and pages that i am totally confused!


We are driving down from Charlotte, NC so figured it would be best to stay just outside of orlando and drive the rest of the way in the AM. Can we get in to one of the parks before we get checked in to our room? I have heard some talk about an "add on" nite.. what is that??

(that is just question one of one million!)


Thanks in advance for helping me!

Lettie

OHHHHH....I think that would be a WONDERFUL Christmas present!!!!!!

I'm assuming you are planning to stay on site.. ..and yes you can check in when you arrive even if your room is not ready....they will give you your park tickets and you can be on your way and come back to get your room later.....not sure about the 'add on' night I would love to know the answer to that also....and you are in the perfect place...a LOT of info but you can usually find out whatever your need is

You just reminded me saying you were a RN....I was going to tell Princess I'm not a nurse but I do get to wear scrubs (oh how I love wearing my pj's daily )....I'm a dental assistant

But ask away...I may know some more answers but you'll prob come up with a lot of questions that we all would like to know the answer to.....

 

[Lettie-RN]

what is



I have been boo'd ??

 

[princess-rn]

Hi Lettie-RN! Nice to meet ya! You guys are going to have SO much fun especially since you are suprising the kids!! I didn't even think about doing that with DS. I could have NEVER kept the secret that long!! (We've been planning since January of this year for our December trip! I'm not a very good secret keeper! (Neither is DH)

Don't worry about being new to the planning thing. If you are like the rest of us you will jump right in and before you know it you're a Disney Mom!!! You've asked some very good questions that I don't know the exact answers to. If you arrive early on the day of your stay (no matter what time) go ahead and check in to your resort. They will hold your bags for you and give you your park ticket and you are set to go for the day. It's one of the many perks of staying in a disney resort. Which BTW..if you haven't made up your mind of where to stay I STRONGLY encourage you to stay in a Disney Resort. Alot of people assume it's way to expensive so they don't even look into it. It's not more expensive. Plus with the gas you save by traveling via Disney transportation (and there are more than buses!) I think you might even come out better. According to where you stay of course. Plus the disney theming in all resorts is just too fun!!!

The "add on nite" I was speaking of in this thread is just the add on DTD Hilton night. We were planning on leaving at midnight Saturday night to get to our resort on Sunday. We decided..bad idea I would probably fall asleep driving. So, we are leaving very early Saturday morning and arriving in Orlando on Saturday night. We wanted to stay somewhere different, instead of just adding on a night at our resort (which you CAN do if they still have rooms available) So we chose to DTD Hilton. We won't have park tickets that night..but that's ok. We are going to spend time in DTD which you don't have to have a ticket for. (I think there is a part..maybe pleasure island..that you need a ticket for..but not marketplace and that is where we are going!)

As far as your last question...I have NO idea what being boo'd means on here. I have been boo'd by neighbors with a fun halloween basket full of goodies.

Ask any questions you'd like. Feel free to PM me. You will find all the answers to your questions and more on this site. DIs boards is AWESOME!!!

 

[princess-rn]

Vandyfan- Don't you LOVE being able to wear your PJs to work!!! LOL I'm a pediatric RN. I LOVE working with kids. (Considering I'm a big kid myself..that's probably a good reason! LOL)

 

[Lettie-RN]

Seems like alot of the playhouse disney stuff is in one area in the animal kingdom park. the rooms there are more expensive then other areas. would it make sense to stay at say the POFQ and go back and forth? i hear that it is done by bus..

my thought is this.. if i have to ride a bus to get there anyhow why would i not save $ and stay off site and take the bus there =)

are there alot of areas for preschoolers in all the parks?

ohh here is another question! if we go into one park for the day but then the place we want to eat is in another park can we do that or would we not beable to get in to that park cuz we played in a different park all day. maybe the restaurants are not in the actual parks...

my kids are afraid of anything in a costume (including Santa) so i dont think we want to do a breakfast w/ all the characters walking around but was thinking that a princess would be awesome. is there a meal w/ just a princess instead of the characters like minnie or goofy etc.

ok that is enough for now!

Will check back in a bit!! Thank you so much for all of this!

Lettie

 

[princess-rn]

Seems like alot of the playhouse disney stuff is in one area in the animal kingdom park. the rooms there are more expensive then other areas. would it make sense to stay at say the POFQ and go back and forth? i hear that it is done by bus..

my thought is this.. if i have to ride a bus to get there anyhow why would i not save $ and stay off site and take the bus there =)

are there alot of areas for preschoolers in all the parks?

ohh here is another question! if we go into one park for the day but then the place we want to eat is in another park can we do that or would we not beable to get in to that park cuz we played in a different park all day. maybe the restaurants are not in the actual parks...

my kids are afraid of anything in a costume (including Santa) so i dont think we want to do a breakfast w/ all the characters walking around but was thinking that a princess would be awesome. is there a meal w/ just a princess instead of the characters like minnie or goofy etc.

ok that is enough for now!

Will check back in a bit!! Thank you so much for all of this!

Lettie

Ok..let's see if I can answer some of these.
1. I think alot of the play house disney stuff is actually in MGM. I know there is a play house disney dinner at Hollywood and Vine in MGM and there's bear and the big blue house at MGM. I'm not sure of what PHD stuff is at AK. I could be wrong though. The Animal Kingdom lodge is the resort close to Animal kingdom park. I've never stayed there..but we hope to one day. The price for the room is more expensive b/c it's a deluxe resort. However, it would be NO problem for you to stay at POFQ and take the Disney bus to AKL.
2. Not all off site parks offer the disney transportation buses. If they don't you are left to drive or get a cab to the parks. Then you have to pay for parking etc. WE've never stayed offsite and used the disney transportation..but I've heard on here that the off site buses aren't as efficient as the buses on site. Like I said though, we've never tried it. Try pricing a value resort at disney (All star resorts or POP) and see what you get.
3. On the disney.com web site you can plan and entire vacation around preschoolers. I forget what it's called..but you'll know it when you see it. There is TONS of stuff for the little ones to do.
4. If you want to be able to leave one park and go to another on the same day make sure when you get tickets you get the park hopper option. This is what we do and we LOVE it. We are park hopping crazy people!
5. I'm sure you aren't the first going to disney who's kids are scared of people dress up. I bet you can find a thread on here about that. Luckily I didn't have the problem..but I know alot of people who did. The princess breakfast at the castle is hard to get into..but it can be done. I think there is also one at the Grand Floridian.


I hope I've helped!

 

[TammyBell]

Hello all. Been away for awhile and am trying to catch up on all that I have missed.
Wanted to make a couple of remarks: All of you that travel down 231, make sure you give a "Go Trojans" for me as you go through Troy. We will be making that trip this weekend for the Troy North Texas Homecoming game.

As for driving, we have gone a couple fo different ways and I think (JMHO) htat the turnpike is the quickest. It is a toll road, but doesn't cost that much and saves a little time.

Looking forward to the packing lists. Mine have been done and I am starting my PTR today.

 

[princess-rn]

Welcome back Tammybell! I'll be sure to yell "go Trojans" as we pass through Troy. I love that part of 'bama. Have fun at the game!! I have GOt to start on my packing lists! **YIKES**

 

[Lettie-RN]

Thanks Princess!!

thinking about staying at the Old Key West in a 2 bedroom villa.
I have talked a friend w/ kids near mine to come too!!! So she will suprise her kids at xmas too.
i am so addictive!

now our dilema is this... she doesnt want to get park passes for the 5 days we are there.. or the dining plan. would it work to just get the villa in our names and say 2 adults 2 kids and set up the plan for us then just add them in or will they make them pick up the package too.

i am not a cheater of the system so i dont want to just not say they are staying there but seems dumb that everyone has to have the same package when there are 3 adults and 4 kids! and one of the kids is only 2.

would it be safer to just get the dining package for all and us to get just two day park passes then just buy 3 more extra pass days for the 4 of us?? did you get lost there?? hehe

THANK YOU!!

 

[princess-rn]

Lettie-RN
No problem. I LOVE to help people plan. OKW 2 BR villa sounds GREAT!! As for your questions...I'm not sure about the answer to those. If you called disney I bet they would help guide you through the process. I booked through Small World Vacations. YOu might want to try them too. They only do Disney Vacations.

 

[Lettie-RN]

OK.. well we opted for the OKW and the 2 room villa. Friend's hubby will be coming down for part of the trip too so should be a full house of fun and giggles.

Hopefully booking by the end of the week! We have to check for some savings through our work et stuff like that first.

So excited I could pee my pants! Guess I have to sit w/ my legs crossed for the next 3.5 months! ( or this ) who would of thought one could find a need for that ?!?! haha

Now we need to start looking into stuff to do! I saw a pirate cruise for the kids for 2 hours! That sounds like a good time to hit an adult ride or two!

Going to look into a princess lunch too... what little girl doesn't want to do that!?!?!

My mom said she would like to buy disney dollars for the girls for xmas. Can you buy them off site or only at DW? thought about checking the disney store here...

rambling.. now just rambling.. soo excited!

 

[princess-rn]

OK.. well we opted for the OKW and the 2 room villa. Friend's hubby will be coming down for part of the trip too so should be a full house of fun and giggles.

Hopefully booking by the end of the week! We have to check for some savings through our work et stuff like that first.

So excited I could pee my pants! Guess I have to sit w/ my legs crossed for the next 3.5 months! ( or this ) who would of thought one could find a need for that ?!?! haha

Now we need to start looking into stuff to do! I saw a pirate cruise for the kids for 2 hours! That sounds like a good time to hit an adult ride or two!

Going to look into a princess lunch too... what little girl doesn't want to do that!?!?!

My mom said she would like to buy disney dollars for the girls for xmas. Can you buy them off site or only at DW? thought about checking the disney store here...

rambling.. now just rambling.. soo excited!

I am SO excited for you! Yeah, I've been about to pee my pants for about 10months now! LOL I swear, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas when it comes to waiting for a disney vacation!

You can buy disney dollars at the disney store. I think you can probably get them online too.

Good luck and happy planning!!!

 

[Lettie-RN]

I am wondering how we are going to keep it a secret until Xmas! I want to talk about it all the time and Jamie is just as bad... we are spelling a lot of things when we talk! hehe (won't last much longer my DD5 is learning to read.. dang it!

 

[princess-rn]

I don't know how you are going to do it either. I know we couldn't here. Good luck though!!! Yeah..spelling works...until the kids learn to spell!!