Sorry for the esoteric R.E.M. lyric subject line -- it was stuck in my head (and apropos).
Hi, I'm Minnie Sue (okay, just Sue) and I have what some might term an unhealthy love for Minnie Mouse. Some would term it that -- but I'm guessing on this forum it would be termed a healthy, nay, a robust, even, love of Minnie Mouse. Well, I have Minnie ears, a Minnie watch and I buy the occasional pair of Minnie pajamas. It's not like I have a stalker shrine of Ms. Mouse photos taped up in my closet or something. Okay, so I bought the Dooney & Bourke Minnie purse. Yes, I'm obsessed! Jeez, you dragged it out of me.
This is me with my husband of 20 years, Eddie, who is a huge Star Wars fan (we're both Disney geeks), on our FIRST trip to WDW in May of 2012. First, can you believe it? (Well, he went when he was 3 and doesn't remember it; I grew up in a non-Disney home. It's hard for me to talk about, as I'm sure you can imagine. They were...Warner Bros people.)
We did our fair share of traveling early in our marriage. Perhaps more than our fair share, because after 10 years or so of trying, we finally made peace with the repeated evidence that we were never going to have children. We grieved for a couple years, and then realized that, without children, the money we'd have to travel! Why, we'd be wayfarers! Wherever we lay our head is home! Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond! We took a leisurely tour of Mexico (Guanajuato's pretty sweet), a theater trip to NYC and hit a few border states (Missouri has legs) and then, at age 37, with no more magic than the usual stuff (*wink*), 16 years after we were married, the EPT read that our own little Mouseketeer was on his way. Whaaaat??? He's now almost 5. We still stare at him in wonder every day.
So to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in May, 2012: we went to Disney world! And we took this little Mickey fanboy:
Jonah, age 3, May 18, 2012 at Chef Mickey's
Our May trip was the 17th-22nd, we stayed at the Port Orleans FQ (loved it) and hit the MK (two days), Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I skipped AK because my son and I are avid zoo goers (the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens is glorious, despite its sad lack of Panda bears and dolphins) and I figured AK was something we could miss to maximize time at the MK. I see now that I was creating a valid argument for returning as soon as possible: "We didn't visit the Animal Kingdom! I mean, that's 1/4 of the parks! It's obvious we have to go back ASAP!"
We rode every ride in the MK except Space Mt (my son was too short) and Pooh (my kid thought it looked "bor-wing," LOL). His favorites were the carpets and Splash Mt (he is fearless). We had ADRs at (among others) Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 'Ohana and Rose & Crown. We did not do Epcot justice (flew through the WPs and missed Soarin' all together) and arrived at HS too late (afternoon flight arrival) for TS Mania, bah. It was a great starter trip. We learned our way around, what we'd like to do again and left plenty to be a new experience for subsequent trips.
Plus, the week before the week of Memorial Weekend was a GREAT time to go. The crowds were very manageable (only big crowd was in front of the castle for "Wishes," we made a rookie mistake there) and we arrived early and used EMH and walked onto Pan, Pirates, and others.
Jonah took his Daisy, his favorite of his Mickey Friends plush, to meet Daisy Duck. He wasn't into doing too many meet'n'greets, but he did get the rest of the Mickey Gang and Woody & Jessie PhotoPass'd.
So this brings us to: Christmas 2013
My husband's birthday is Dec 30 and December will mark the end of his PhD coursework (yay!!!) and he is determined to celebrate by trying every flavor of cheesecake (his fave) in the World (I doubt this will happen, but he'll at least hit the tie-dye at Pop and White Chocolate Cheesecake at Le Cellier). Plus I just want to wake up on Christmas Morning at Disney World in our matching pirate pajamas, put on purple & gold boas and feathered masks and take a family Christmas pic in front of faux New Orleans holiday decor, because I'm that Mom, and is that so wrong?
"That Mom" tendencies: I became obsessed with planning a Christmas week trip while scrapbooking our 2012 trip; this HS photo op was one of my favorite pages. I really should have told him to duck down a wee bit, haha.
I know the crowds are excessive the week of Christmas, I know the parks hit capacity on Christmas Day, I know timing, commando touring and ADRs are a MUST to do even part of the things you'd like to do to make your Christmas merry and bright. But we're laid back, chill people (despite my THAT MOM tendencies) and make our own fun. My (then) three-year-old son didn't cry, get cranky or throw a fit once during 4 days of Disney. We're Disney automatons who run on pure Pixie Dust and Dole Whip. We can DO this!
We're booked for 5 days at the FQ with a 5-day Park Hopper, and I can't wait til June to make our ADRs!!! Things we'd like to do our Christmas Week Trip:
Ft Wilderness Campfire Sing-a-Long. Hint: Not the real Chip'n'Dale
S'mores!
And you know, as long as we get a Mickey Bar, buy some ears, see some Christmas decorations and come across at least one of Jonah's chosen Princesses (and Jake), we'll have a great time. After all, this alone is reason to go back to WDW:
Hello, old friend.
So that's my Dec 2013 PTR (...er, which was mostly a truncated 5/12 TR?) and I will update it as things progress (which they will do SLOWLY, as it is only February!)
Any tips (especially for Epcot on Christmas Day) are appreciated, random rambling about your love for Disney, Christmas or Dole Whip also welcome.
These people really love castles. And orange.
Hi, I'm Minnie Sue (okay, just Sue) and I have what some might term an unhealthy love for Minnie Mouse. Some would term it that -- but I'm guessing on this forum it would be termed a healthy, nay, a robust, even, love of Minnie Mouse. Well, I have Minnie ears, a Minnie watch and I buy the occasional pair of Minnie pajamas. It's not like I have a stalker shrine of Ms. Mouse photos taped up in my closet or something. Okay, so I bought the Dooney & Bourke Minnie purse. Yes, I'm obsessed! Jeez, you dragged it out of me.
This is me with my husband of 20 years, Eddie, who is a huge Star Wars fan (we're both Disney geeks), on our FIRST trip to WDW in May of 2012. First, can you believe it? (Well, he went when he was 3 and doesn't remember it; I grew up in a non-Disney home. It's hard for me to talk about, as I'm sure you can imagine. They were...Warner Bros people.)
We did our fair share of traveling early in our marriage. Perhaps more than our fair share, because after 10 years or so of trying, we finally made peace with the repeated evidence that we were never going to have children. We grieved for a couple years, and then realized that, without children, the money we'd have to travel! Why, we'd be wayfarers! Wherever we lay our head is home! Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond! We took a leisurely tour of Mexico (Guanajuato's pretty sweet), a theater trip to NYC and hit a few border states (Missouri has legs) and then, at age 37, with no more magic than the usual stuff (*wink*), 16 years after we were married, the EPT read that our own little Mouseketeer was on his way. Whaaaat??? He's now almost 5. We still stare at him in wonder every day.
So to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in May, 2012: we went to Disney world! And we took this little Mickey fanboy:
Jonah, age 3, May 18, 2012 at Chef Mickey's
Our May trip was the 17th-22nd, we stayed at the Port Orleans FQ (loved it) and hit the MK (two days), Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I skipped AK because my son and I are avid zoo goers (the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens is glorious, despite its sad lack of Panda bears and dolphins) and I figured AK was something we could miss to maximize time at the MK. I see now that I was creating a valid argument for returning as soon as possible: "We didn't visit the Animal Kingdom! I mean, that's 1/4 of the parks! It's obvious we have to go back ASAP!"
We rode every ride in the MK except Space Mt (my son was too short) and Pooh (my kid thought it looked "bor-wing," LOL). His favorites were the carpets and Splash Mt (he is fearless). We had ADRs at (among others) Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, 'Ohana and Rose & Crown. We did not do Epcot justice (flew through the WPs and missed Soarin' all together) and arrived at HS too late (afternoon flight arrival) for TS Mania, bah. It was a great starter trip. We learned our way around, what we'd like to do again and left plenty to be a new experience for subsequent trips.
Plus, the week before the week of Memorial Weekend was a GREAT time to go. The crowds were very manageable (only big crowd was in front of the castle for "Wishes," we made a rookie mistake there) and we arrived early and used EMH and walked onto Pan, Pirates, and others.
Jonah took his Daisy, his favorite of his Mickey Friends plush, to meet Daisy Duck. He wasn't into doing too many meet'n'greets, but he did get the rest of the Mickey Gang and Woody & Jessie PhotoPass'd.
So this brings us to: Christmas 2013
My husband's birthday is Dec 30 and December will mark the end of his PhD coursework (yay!!!) and he is determined to celebrate by trying every flavor of cheesecake (his fave) in the World (I doubt this will happen, but he'll at least hit the tie-dye at Pop and White Chocolate Cheesecake at Le Cellier). Plus I just want to wake up on Christmas Morning at Disney World in our matching pirate pajamas, put on purple & gold boas and feathered masks and take a family Christmas pic in front of faux New Orleans holiday decor, because I'm that Mom, and is that so wrong?
"That Mom" tendencies: I became obsessed with planning a Christmas week trip while scrapbooking our 2012 trip; this HS photo op was one of my favorite pages. I really should have told him to duck down a wee bit, haha.
I know the crowds are excessive the week of Christmas, I know the parks hit capacity on Christmas Day, I know timing, commando touring and ADRs are a MUST to do even part of the things you'd like to do to make your Christmas merry and bright. But we're laid back, chill people (despite my THAT MOM tendencies) and make our own fun. My (then) three-year-old son didn't cry, get cranky or throw a fit once during 4 days of Disney. We're Disney automatons who run on pure Pixie Dust and Dole Whip. We can DO this!
We're booked for 5 days at the FQ with a 5-day Park Hopper, and I can't wait til June to make our ADRs!!! Things we'd like to do our Christmas Week Trip:
- Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party
- Jedi Training Academy (that's a daily thing, right?)
- Drop the boy at the Neverland Club and have wine & a great meal at Citricos for my husband's birthday.
- Candlelight Processional (if NPH is the narrator again I will explode with happiness, die, and be reanimated as a Holly Jolly Zombie by the joy of a Christmas Musical Miracle)
- New Fantasyland
- Geek out with My Disney Experience and apps
- Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, because my son is obsessed with Cinderella. In fact, he'd like to meet the following princesses "in this order": Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Snow White, Ariel and Jasmine. "And also Jake," LOL. (We're also going to try Askerhus, obvs.)
- I think he'll be tall enough for Space Mt in Dec! (My husband's 6'2", surely my then kindergartner will be a giant...I'm 5'1", Stitch is tall to me.)
- Be Our Guest
- The World Pavilions because I completely missed Morocco and Italy the last time. And I didn't get any booze! Bring on the overpriced holiday re-branding and glow cubes!
- Maelstrom because it sounds hilarious.
- The Pirate League
- Touring the various resorts to see the decor
- Putting $ monthly on my Disney gift card. We are buying no presents for each other pre-Christmas (the trip is kind of the thing) but I want to buy each other totally indulgent stocking stuffers in DTD and Main Street! It's obvious that I need Mickey-shaped pancake molds!)
- A sleigh ride at Ft Wilderness. We went to FW's Campfire Sing-a-Long last year, and it's something I see very few people mention in TRs. There was no extra cost for non-FW guests, we met Chip'n'Dale, made s'mores and watched "Three Caballeros" on the outdoor screen. It was one of the most magical, low-key, peaceful parts of our trip!
Ft Wilderness Campfire Sing-a-Long. Hint: Not the real Chip'n'Dale
S'mores!
And you know, as long as we get a Mickey Bar, buy some ears, see some Christmas decorations and come across at least one of Jonah's chosen Princesses (and Jake), we'll have a great time. After all, this alone is reason to go back to WDW:
Hello, old friend.
So that's my Dec 2013 PTR (...er, which was mostly a truncated 5/12 TR?) and I will update it as things progress (which they will do SLOWLY, as it is only February!)
Any tips (especially for Epcot on Christmas Day) are appreciated, random rambling about your love for Disney, Christmas or Dole Whip also welcome.
These people really love castles. And orange.
You had to start this thing right when I left town and didn't have internet.
I'm super excited that you're going at Christmas! I could never take DH during those crowds. He doesn't do crowds! I also prefer my buffet's for breakfast! I'm hoping for early Crystal Palace ADR in 2014. Animal Kingdom is really awesome! You are going to love it! Where are you going to stay when you go to the "other" park ; ) ? 
That Disney rule is irritating, Olivia at 10 is not an adult.... Anywhoo, hope the La Quinta deal is still available... Though it seems life you have to stay on sight to qualify for fast pass. It's either that or maybe you have to pay extra fee? I don't remember
Maybe after I graduate and have a job I'll feel all fancy and rich and book us an onsite stay... who knows.
