Princess17 is going back for a very merry magical christmas at disney world. w/ Pics.

Updated 10/16! Princess17 is going back for a very merry magical christmas w/pics.

Contents:
Who we are, post 1, right here
Our WDW history, page 1, post 9-13
More history, page 1, post 18-20
My disney obsession, page 2, post 27-30
My itinerary and plans, page 3, post 33
Extras and deluxe dp snacks, page 3, post 35
A quick update, Dh is making T-shirts, page 3, post 41
Park goals- MK and Epcot, page 3, post 45


I am going back!!!! Even if Dh doesn’t want to, even though this was supposed to be a Disney cruise, and even though the entire family thinks I’m too obsessed with WDW and that I’m crazy for spending so much money for another Disney vacation. Oh well….I love Disney world and I will always be back. :)
Before I move on, I should probably mention that this is my first Pre trip report. I have written trip reports in the past, but have never done a pre trip report so I hope I do okay and don’t bore you all to death. I love pictures, so I promise to post lots of pictures in this pre trip report and tons of pics in my trip report when I get back.
So, I guess we’ll get started. Here is the cast of characters…myself and the people who will be joining me on my next adventure to the world.
Me: 24 year old Mom, WDW obsessed, planner of all WDW trips and actually all vacations and trips in our family for that matter, studying to be a professional event planner. I love everything Disney including Disney classic movies, figurines, clothing, etc, (yeah, basically everything with the Disney name on it). If the event planning thing doesn’t work out, I want to move to Orlando and work at…yeah, you guessed it, Disney! I’m not into thrill rides at all. The most thrill I’ll do is Big thunder mountain or the Barnstormer. I’m constantly trying to plan “the perfect vacation” and I must plan every single detail of every single day in advance. My favorite attraction is Fantasmic. I also love Wishes, and Mickey’s Phillharmagic. My DD is the most important thing to me though and she is about to start school in just a few days so I’m freaking out a little but everyone keeps saying she’ll be okay. I’ve been with DH for 10 years this December. We met when we were very young, but we’re still going strong. Here is a picture of me…..

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LDH: Wants to go anywhere on earth except for MK (I’ll explain why later). Tired of WDW (Is that even possible?) Works in a bank call center. Deals with mortgages and stuff that I’m clueless about. He loves to eat, sleep and play video games. He also loves movies and cartoons. He loved our first Disney trip together in 2006, but has since wanted to try other places. He puts up with my Disney obsessions, and basically makes me happy by mostly paying for our Disney trips. He does not plan at all and likes to be spontaneous. He just goes along with what I’ve planned every time. He loves roller coasters and big thrills. Tower of Terror, Mission space and Rock n’ roller coaster are his favorites. At times, he can be very stubborn and cranky but I know how to deal with him and usually get my way. Lol.
Here is a pic of DH:
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LOL. Just Kidding. :ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL:(Sorry to my Real DH if he ever reads this:eek:)

OK....here is my real DH:
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DD5: Loves Disney World as much as I do. Loves rides, not so much shows. Favorites are Peter Pan’s flight, Dumbo, the carousel, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Indy speedway, and Barnstormer. She gets scared on new rides and doesn’t know what to expect especially when they have loud noises, but after the 1st time around, she does very well. She loves princesses. Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty. I believe when I’m too old to keep up with planning for Disney vacations, she will take over for me. She loves all the Disney classic movies and some newer ones too. She can be bossy at home but she is pretty shy out in public. She doesn’t like walking much either so we have to bring her stroller with us to the parks because she tends to get lazy easily. Overall, she is a great kid and does really well on vacations.

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Now on to the basics for this upcoming trip:

Trip dates: Saturday, December 6th to Sunday, December 14th, 2008. (8 nights, 9 days)
Resort: Pop Century. I requested a bottom floor room in the 50’s section. We have stayed at Pop before and we’re in the 50’s section and we loved it because it was very close to the main hall.
Package: Magic your way plus deluxe dining plan
Tickets: 9 day Magic Your Way base tickets.
Extras: Mvmcp, Cirque du soleil, parasailing, Disneyquest and the Wonderland tea party.

Up Next: Our history of WDW (with tons and tons of pics)....stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!
 

mickeychelle

New Member
lovin' your pre-trip report that is like a post-trip too! Great photos!

We're heading there in January (kids are 14, 5, and 3) and I'm over the moon with excitement!
 

princess17

Member
Original Poster
I'm checking in every now and then. :)

Great pics ... can't wait to see Disney decorated for Christmas.

Thanks for keeping up with me. I love Disney at Christmas too!

lovin' your pre-trip report that is like a post-trip too! Great photos!

We're heading there in January (kids are 14, 5, and 3) and I'm over the moon with excitement!

So am I. Can't wait. Thanks for reading.
 

princess17

Member
Original Poster
I'm back with the next installment!!!!

Ok, so I left off with the history and promised to show proof of my disney obsession. So, to do this, I basically walked around my home with my camera. What better way to show you all how crazy in love I am with everything Disney. So here goes...

I'll start with my living room. Here are some figurines we got from a flea market. These were only $3 each. You may be able to see some pics from previous trips in the background.

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These were a bit more expensive. Actually, I got the lady and the tramp one as a gift. It plays music too. The other one, we bought in WDW in 2006. I think it was $20 or so.

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I got this for xmas last year. It is broken. I'm so upset about it.

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We also bought this bobbing head mickey at WDW in 2006. In the back you can see all my Disney classic DVD's.

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Here is my piggy bank where I keep all my spare change to save for the next disney trip. This wasn't too expensive. I think we got it at the emporium on mainstreet.

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Next is my guest bedroom/office....

My little Mickey. DD found this somewhere and gave it to me so now he sits on my desk.

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princess17

Member
Original Poster
Some pens from walmart and dollar stores

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my mousepad from the mickey moms club

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Disney trivia game....the questions are pretty hard even for me so we don't play often.

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Christmas items....

My SIL picked this up for me since it was on sale after christmas last year. I'll use it this year. It plays music.

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Another Mickey and Minnie christmas snowball. Also plays music and has lights. (I love xmas decorations)

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My purse....

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princess17

Member
Original Poster
And now.....DD's room! She is a disney fanatic as much as I am, so she has a lot. She is really into the princesses and the color pink.

I paid $4 for this in a thrift shop.

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The Mickey she bought with her souvenir money at WDW in 2006 and a card from Pooh and friends from the Crystal Palace for her birthday trip. The mickey lights up. We got this for dark rides.

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The following were all from Santa...

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The castle toy is actually a toy she fell in love with at WDW at Downtown Disney. She didn't have enough souvenir money for it and I'm teaching my daughter that she can't have everything, but I felt bad and so I had to get it for her last christmas. I didn't actually go all the way to WDW for it, so I ordered over the phone and they shipped it to me. The total cost was around $75 or so. It's a really good toy. DD always plays with it. It opens up to 4 rooms inside. It even comes with the furniture, and the princesses and princes. It has lights and sounds too. In my opinion, it was really worth the money.

Some wall decorations in her room:

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Another toy....

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princess17

Member
Original Poster
Princess outfits/costumes:

She wore this one as her halloween costume and for special princess meals for our 2006 trip:

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She never wore the red one except for around the house, the middle one is a tinkerbelle costume which she wore for the Pirate and Princess Party and the blue one is a cinderella dress.

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I even have a small souvenir in my bathroom from staying at Pop:

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Yes, I'm that obsessed that I even kept the shampoo!!!:lol:

Coming up next......How I'm planning my WDW trip and my current status.
 

princess17

Member
Original Poster
My plans and current status....

So, there is one basic thing I obsess over when planning my trip. Avoiding Crowds. I absoloutely hate crowds which is why I chose December 6-14th. I would never ever go to WDW during Christmas week or the middle of the summer. (I hate hot weather too and It doesn't help that I live in Florida either).

There is something else that comes in close 2nd: Picking the right restaurants. I love trying new restaurants and Disney has so many that this is very difficult for me. So, over the course of this pre trip report, don't be surprised if I change my ADR's 50 times!!!

We opted to go with the Magic Your way plus deluxe dining plan. We are staying at Pop Century for 8 nights/9 days in a standard room. We will only have basic tickets, not park hoppers.

So, that being said...here is my itinerary so far:


Saturday, December 6th
Arrive at Pop Century by 8am. Check in. Get free refillable mugs.
Epcot day staying from open to 8pm
Breakfast: on the way to wdw
lunch: Tutto italia (1pm)
Dinner: Teppan Edo (7pm)

Sunday, December 7th
Breakfast at Boma (7:35)
MK day Open to about 5pm
Use snack credits for lunch
Return to Pop for rest
Dinner at California Grill (9pm)
(fireworks at 9:30pm)

Monday, December 8th
Hollywood studios day 11am to 8pm
lunch at 50's Prime time cafe (11am)
Fantasmic at 7pm
dinner at Beaches and cream (whenever we get out of fantasmic)

Tuesday, December 9th
Breakfast at Chef Mickeys (8:30)
DH will then go parasailing (anyone know if DD and I can go on the boat even though we're not going to parasail?)
Wonderland tea party (1:30)
Dinner at Ohana (5pm)
mvmcp

Wednesday, December 10th
DHS day 11am to close
lunch at Sci Fi (11:30am)
Fantasmic again at 7pm
Osborne lights
Dinner at Jiko (8:55pm)

Thursday, December 11th
Downtown Disney Day
Lunch at Wolfgang Puck Cafe (11:45am)
DisneyQuest (1pm to 4pm)
Shopping
Maybe Cirque du soleil at 6pm????
Special Anniversary dinner at Narcoossee's (8:35pm)
(Fireworks at 9:30pm)

Friday, December 12th
AK day from Opening to close
Breakfast at Tusker House (8:05am)
Snacks for lunch
Rest at Pop
Dinner at the HDDR (9:30 show)

Saturday, December 13th
Epcot day open to close
Breakfast at Princess storybook (akershus) at 8:30am
lunch at Marrakesh (1:30pm)
Dinner at Le Cellier (7:30pm)
illuminations

Sunday, December 14th
Our last day :mad:
Check out
Lunch at Whispering Canyon cafe (11:45)
MK 1pm to 6pm
Must watch Castle lights show
Dinner at Yachstman steakhouse (7:15pm)
Drive home (2 hour drive):cry:
As you can see from above, we do have a few "extras" this trip:

Mvmcp: We've been there before once. I loved the show in tomorrowland, the snowfall, the parade (which is my favorite parade of all), and the fireworks, so we had to go again this year!

Disneyquest: Our first time ever! I already have the tickets. Got them from ticketmania with a discounted price!

Parasailing: This is something I needed to do for DH since he's being a great trooper about heading back to WDW this year again!

By the way, DH still hasn't forgiven me about not going on a Disney cruise this year. This is something we'd love to do, but they required me to put down a $600 deposit and that was a bit too much for me to get all at once. Then, I also thought about how if we did a cruise, it would only be the 4 night cruise and if we did WDW, we could go 9 nights for about the same price. I also remembered how much of a great time I had in WDW in 2006 and how much I loved being there around christmas and I wanted to try the deluxe dining plan too! So I convinced myself to go to WDW again. DH got mad at me at first, but maybe we can do it next year.

Wonderland tea party: My DD loves playing tea party, so this would be great for her. I wanted to do this in 2006, but she was too young and they would not let her so she meets the age requirement this year.

Cirque du soleil: We saw this in 2006 and absoloutely fell in love with it. It was by far my most favorite thing we did all week and so worth the money. With so many other extras though, I'm not sure its really warranted to do this again even though I'm leaning towards getting the tickets.
The problem is that I'll have to do it on DTD day and I'm not sure we'll make it to Narcoossee's on time. What do you guys think?


Some other quick notes:

I just found out that it may be difficult to get my DD out of school for the 5 week days that she'll need to so I'm a little nervous about this. I don't want to lie to the school but I may have to. I feel so bad.....:eek:

Also, package discounts have recently come out for this year, but this has been driving me insane. In 2006, I was able to apply a discount code and get $300 off my trip easily. This year, I've come across lots of problems. I've been calling everyday (sometimes multiple times a day) harrassing Disney reservations since the codes came out, but there is no availability at any value or moderate resorts during my week. So, they can't apply the code unless a room becomes available. It sucks because I could really use the discount. They just keep telling me to keep trying and maybe someone will cancel their trip.

So, since you all love pictures, here are some tools I use for planning:

My disney planning binder. In this, I keep all my disney info just incase the files on my computer get lost or erased. I have info on my upcoming trip, bill statements, menus, and info on all the parks all in one place. It's very helpful and keeps me organized.
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A folder in my binder where I keep current new info on disney that affects my trip: By the way, that's my other DH on the folder. Isn't he gorgeous?
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I am also a member of the disboards which is why you see my screename as mickeysgirl17 on a lime green mickey head!

Some guidebooks:
These are actually from 2006, but still good and helpful.
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I also use several unofficial websites to plan. Here are my favorites besides the one I'm on now:
allearsnet
wdwinfo
touringplans
mouseplanet
disboards

mousesavers is also great for saving on "extras".

Here is a pic of the bag I'll be bringing with us in the parks:
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I know lots of you love to shop for new bags, but to be honest, I'm already spending too much on this trip as it is and I don't need anything new or fancy. This is DD's bag and we've used it many times for previous disney trips. All I carry with me are our wallets, tickets, a bottle of water, a small umbrella, and a small flashlight for DD on dark rides.

The camera I'll be using is a Canon S5 IS. It is awesome. I got it for mothers day this year right before our May trip for DD's birthday. I love it and can't wait to take a thousand pics with it.

So, I'll leave it here for now, but please give me feedback on what you all think of my itinerary and if I should change anything. Thanks for reading!:wave:
 

princess17

Member
Original Poster
So, I am having a small problem. I just want my trip to be "perfect" so as you can see above, my ADR for the California Grill is on December 7th at 9pm. The fireworks are scheduled for 9:30pm that night. In June, when the official calander was released, the fireworks were scheduled for 6pm, but since then Disney has changed thier minds :eek:and its now only the mvmcp 9:30 fireworks. Originally, my ADR was for 5pm, but when they changed the schedule, I tried to get an ADR for later on so that we could still see the fireworks from there, but all they had was a 9:20pm opening. I kept calling and calling and finally was able to get a 9pm, but I'm still worried we won't get a table until way after the fireworks. I really want to get a table and eat before 9pm so that soon after the fireworks we can leave and DD can get to bed, but I keep calling and no availability! It's so frustrating. :(

Not to mention, I have a fear of elevators and from my understanding, this is the only way up to the California Grill. It makes me nervous thinking I'll have to do this, but I really want to eat there and see the amazing view everyone always talks about.

Do you all think its still worth the trouble to keep trying and see if there are any cancellations for an earlier time?:shrug:

Another problem: Recently, the general public disount codes were released and even though I got the right code, I couldn't apply it to my package to get a discount. I was able to do this in 2006, but apparently, everyone wants to stay at Pop century December 6-14th and there is no availability. I even asked if they could cancel my current reservation and rebook it using the code, but they said no and that there are a specific number of rooms that disney has reserved for the discount. They told me to keep calling and hope for a cancellation so I have until Sept. 24th to try to get this as that is the cut off date. To add to this craziness, I'm hearing that people are now getting emails with discount codes regarding a free dining offer in December. I have not gotten one. :mad:

We could really use the discounts. I'll keep trying and keep you all updated.

Okay, moving on......

A little info about my previous trip in 2006....we had the regular DP and before getting there, I had all these places I wanted to try snack credits at, but never did and usually ended up using the snack credits for bfst items like bagels, yogurt, fruit cups, etc.

Well, as you all know, we are going deluxe this time around and I vowed to use my snack credits to better use this time. We're from nyc and some of you may not know that in nyc there are dozens of bakeries and yummy treats everywhere you go. Well, where I live now, that's not the case, so I hope to use many of my snack credits in WDW to make up for the lost time away from my favorite bakeries up north.

Here is a list of snacks that I can't wait to try:

Strawberry shortcake from sunshine seasons at Epcot
Icee's from Kagi Gori in Japan
Funnel cake from Sleepy hollow in MK (tried this before and have to get another one)
Create your own treats from Goofy's candy co
Mickey premium bar (had this one before too, and have to have one every trip)

I don't know what I will get, but plan to make a trip to:

Mainstreet bakery at MK
Confectionary at MK
boulangerie patisserie at Epcot
Starring Rolls at DHS

In my opinion, the hardest part of planning a WDW vacation is choosing where you will dine. With so many choices, it was very difficult for me to choose which places we should eat at even with the deluxe dp. DH is super picky. It's ridiculous. So, if that's not bad enough, DD won't eat anything that looks yucky. Plus, she loves treats and desserts. It's tough to get her to eat any real food as it is. I'm not too adventurous myself, but I'll try different things.

Well, I finally made up my mind by June 9th, so I could make my ADR's. Of course, this is not set in stone. I change my plans frequently and if the disney dining CM's know me by name, it won't really surprise me.

Just a quick note: I called to make my ADR's at 7am 180 days out. I didn't have any trouble in 2006, but it wasn't as easy this year. First of all, I was on hold until 8:17am. That's over an hour on hold! When I finally got through, I was extremely worried that there would be no more Le Cellier or Chef Mickeys ADR's left, but I got everything I wanted, just not at the times I wanted. I did have to tweak it around a bit, but not too bad. This worries me a bit, because like I mentioned above, I've been calling everyday and still can't get an earlier Cali Grill ADR and I've heard people are having difficulty with ADR's for December, so I hope this is not a sign of it being too crowded not to mention the no availability for discount codes.

Ok, enough of my worries and complaints. Let's talk about what's new this trip:

Deluxe DP: I'm so excited to do this. I can't wait to try 17 new restaurants and eat at 2 favorites again (Ohana's and Chef Mickeys)

Parasailing for DH: He's never done this before and I figured since he's being such a good sport, I just have to do something nice for him this time around. He'll be going on Tues, Dec. 9th aka crazy day at 10:30am. I just made the reservation this morning.

Disneyquest: I kept hearing rumors about how this place might close and since we won't be back to wdw a while after this trip, I figured we had to try it. DH and DD love video games so I thought this might be great for my family. Although DD is still a toddler, so I'm not sure it will appeal to her age. I bought the tickets online at ticketmania and have already recieved them for a great discounted price.

Wonderland tea party: I did this for DD this time around because she didn't make the age requirement back in 2006 plus I figure DH and I could use the "couple" time while she's doing this for an hour. Now, I wonder what we can do. I'm thinking we might just hang around the GF walking and maybe relaxing on the beach. Any suggestions? DH suggested a couples massage, but we'd be cutting it too close with the time and it really doesn't fit into our vacation budget.

So, I'll leave it here for now. I need to go pick up DD from school soon and pick up around the house, but I'll be back soon for more updates. Thanks for reading!
 

H20Babie

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't worry about the 9 pm ADR. Get there a bit early, and a table may open up before or at your ADR time (it has happened). Besides, once you are checked into the Cali Grill, you can go wait for your table in the lounge and have access to the balcony for the fireworks.

IMHO, don't sweat the small stuff. You'll be in Disney with your loved ones, and what's more perfect than that? :)
 

princess17

Member
Original Poster
I wouldn't worry about the 9 pm ADR. Get there a bit early, and a table may open up before or at your ADR time (it has happened). Besides, once you are checked into the Cali Grill, you can go wait for your table in the lounge and have access to the balcony for the fireworks.

IMHO, don't sweat the small stuff. You'll be in Disney with your loved ones, and what's more perfect than that? :)


I guess your right! Of course, I'm gonna keep trying, but in the end, I'm sure it will turn out ok.

Thanks.:animwink:
 

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