~i'll be home for Xmas but 1st i'm going to DISNEY WORLD!~ TR link posted!

[MAGICFOR2]

I'm here! You only have a little over 2 months to go!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Yeah! Another TR!! I love your reports... you guys always have so much fun. I'm also going for the first time at Christmas this year and can't wait to see the decorations!

Love your "olan mills" picture with Ray and your fur babies. Too cute.

I am right there with you wishing there was a way to make $ off this Disney planning obsession!!

Can't wait to hear what you have planned!!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Heeeeeey Dawn!!

Oh man, isn't Christmas at Disney going to be so great?!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Yay - another report from Dawn! Love the family pic with the doggies - very cute!

 

[AussieAngel]

Yayyyy, another Dawn pre-trip report!!!

Can't wait to hear all about your plans!!

 

[IluvXU]

A bunch of Dawn's holiday pictures! Can't wait!

 

[KristinAnne]

Back to read all about your plans. I am looking forward to seeing how you get everything in, as I managed to convince DH that we should go for an extended weekend next December!

 

[disneymom1980]

I'm jumping on too...I've loved your other trip reports, and I can't wait to see holiday pictures .

 

[xoktenox]

Hey I'm joining in! Those pictures are great you and your DH are so cute and so is Anna and her family. Can't wait to read more and I'm going over to read your TR from your September trip right now.

 

[punkin413]

I'm in!

thanks for coming over!

I'm here for the ride too! Your TR's are always so well written and funny. It should be fun for you and Anna to plan together or does she want you to do it all? Who picks the restaurants? Will there be new Tshirts in your future...You have to find a cute Christmas one.
I wish you all the best next year. Its too bad the insurance is holding you back from being a Mom. I'm so glad I don't have to worry over health care anymore, since I returned back home. My husband paid a fortune for all of us. I didn't like the co-pays either. That was something I never got used to. And don't get me started on having to drive to ATL from Auburn so I could see a doctor. Thankfully we switched from Kaiser Permenente to Blue Cross just before I had Lexi(DD). I wouldn't have wanted to make the drive every week for OBGYN apts. It will all work out in the end.
I look forward to all the updates and pics to come.

thanks so much! no, anna thinks it's so great that i'm planning it. she told me she feels bad that she hasn't helped but i'm like.....ARE YOU KIDDING? i live for this! she has given me her input on some things but for the most part i've done the planning. as far as the baby thing goes, it's very frustrating. i'm just trying to be responsible as far as the money goes. i'm only 32 - i know some people think that's old to have a baby but i've just never been in a rush. i like that ray and i have had 6 years of marriage together with just the two of us. and doing the work i do is really hard when i'm having to wait because i can't afford better health insurance and then you have all these women coming through the court system with their 6th baby on welfare. yeah.....thanks. i'm paying for you to have kids when i really want one and i can't afford it. sorry....i will get off my soapbox now! i can't believe you had to drive that far - that's crazy!

I'm here! You only have a little over 2 months to go!

thanks for joining in! actually, i have LESS than two months!

Yeah! Another TR!! I love your reports... you guys always have so much fun. I'm also going for the first time at Christmas this year and can't wait to see the decorations!

Love your "olan mills" picture with Ray and your fur babies. Too cute.

I am right there with you wishing there was a way to make $ off this Disney planning obsession!!

Can't wait to hear what you have planned!!

thanks so much! aren't you so excited??? i can't wait. i think it's going to be SO awesome!

Heeeeeey Dawn!!

Oh man, isn't Christmas at Disney going to be so great?!

Can't wait to read more!

YES! glad you're going at christmastime, too!

Yay - another report from Dawn! Love the family pic with the doggies - very cute!

thanks! and thank you for joining in the fun!

Yayyyy, another Dawn pre-trip report!!!

Can't wait to hear all about your plans!!

thanks! glad you made it over here.

A bunch of Dawn's holiday pictures! Can't wait!

it will actually be even MORE pictures than normal. anna is like 5 times worse than me about taking pictures, so we will have LOTS to share!

Back to read all about your plans. I am looking forward to seeing how you get everything in, as I managed to convince DH that we should go for an extended weekend next December!

i hope i get everything in! we are concentrating on the christmas stuff - anything else is just icing on the cake! although i told ray that i MUST ride space mountain a few times because i hear it's going to be closed for at least a year, maybe longer. not that i'm returning to WDW in 2009 (as far as i know) but if i do i will certainly miss that ride!

I'm jumping on too...I've loved your other trip reports, and I can't wait to see holiday pictures .

thanks! we will have lots of pictures this time. anna is the queen of pictures, so she'll probably take as many as i do and i will have copies of all those too!

Hey I'm joining in! Those pictures are great you and your DH are so cute and so is Anna and her family. Can't wait to read more and I'm going over to read your TR from your September trip right now.

thanks so much! oh, and enjoy the september TR! erica (vandyfan10) and i are co-writing it, so it was actually started by her.....just so you don't get confused when you go over there!

 

[shane&jakesmom]

Hi Dawn,
I love the Olin Mills pics too funny. You and (Grey kids are so funny) I mean Ray are such a cute couple. I can't wait to see your Christmas pics, there is no place better than Disney World at Christmas, you will love it. So, where are your ADR's? where are staying, can't wait to find out.

 

[punkin413]

so trip details.....here we go!

originally we had booked our trip for wednesday, december 3rd through monday, december 8th. then as i was laying in bed one night, playing on the internet, to my horror i realized that the ABC christmas parade taping was on december 6th....... this was to be our magic kingdom day!!!! no other day would work for our schedule. there was NO WAY i was going to fight the crowd that's there that day for the taping, so after much discussion with anna and frustration and complaining on my part, we rescheduled our vacation to wednesday, december 10th through monday, december 15th. thank goodness our condo was still available for those dates!

which brings me to my next topic - where are we staying????

since this trip is a budgeted trip, we are staying -- be prepared to be shocked -- OFF SITE! shocking, i know. but i wanted to be able to stay together and with the ability to have decent breakfasts/late night meals and snacks. the only option for those things is to rent DVC points. and believe me, i would've LOVED to have stayed at VWL or BWV or even at SSR again, but there's no way we could afford that. it just wasn't practical for us. we had already spent a shi-ton of money on our april/may vacation and even if we'd had it, i just couldn't justify doing it again this time.

also, another consideration i had to remember - we are going to be with a 4yo. because of this, EMH is not really a factor to us. i know luke can't do those late nights, so the fact that we won't be able to go to EMHs like we normally do really wasn't a concern. AND another thing - we can't get the DDP if we stay off site.....HOWEVER, i still have my DDE card that doesn't expire until may 2009. so we can get 20% off our TS meals and some CS meals with that. okay......that's it! we're staying off site!

so....i got on the internet and started looking at condos around disney world. i found a property owner that was big on disney. he had numerous condos with different decor and amenities. we settled on one called "hemingway's animal kingdom." it's decorated with hemingway-ish decor (bamboo, wicker, tropical plants, warm colors - it's great - his wife is an interior decorator) and it's only 3 miles from disney! i looked it up on the map - great location. we will be entering disney from the animal kingdom side and it's literally 5 minutes away.

here's a list of amenities:

~1,400SF of beautiful, new living space
~3 bedrooms, 2 Baths
~Vaulted ceilings, privacy and spaciousness are afforded by this second floor home
~Large flat screen TV, soft new couches, vaulted ceilings and bamboo paddle fans make this a perfect retreat.
~Hand carved king-size sleigh bed in master bedroom suite. Private bath, cable TV/DVD and French doors to a beautiful balcony with table and chairs to enjoy the views for your morning cup of coffee, a candle-lit dinner, or just to relax after a long day at the parks
~Second bedroom has two sets of bunk beds (4 twin size beds), cable TV/DVD, games, books, free movies the children will adore
~Third bedroom in white 'beach wash' decor is “fit for the queen” with a new queen-size bed, cable TV/DVD
~Direct-connect high speed Internet!
~Fully applianced, fully 'tooled' kitchen - even fresh coffee!
~TWO magnificent heated pools
~Two hot tubs
~Huge beach-sand volley ball court
~Tennis court
~BBQ’s
~Game room
~Playground with swings and slides
~Fitness center
~New washer and dryer in the home
~Laundry detergent and fabric softener
~Iron, ironing board, Vacuum cleaner
~Paper towels, napkins, paper products
~Windex, soaps, dish detergents, etc.
~Waffle iron
~Every conceivable amenity from tooth brushes to Advil. Just bring your clothes!
~Large screen cable TV with DVD's in L/R and all bedrooms
~Ice cold central air conditioning

looks good to me! and the best part: IT'S ONLY $109/NIGHT!!!! and we're splitting that with anna and family!

i have spoken with the man who owns the property and he's SUPER friendly. he's all about disney which, for some odd reason, makes me feel better about staying off property. he even sent me a "free guide to disney world" as a PDF file. it was cute! i already knew everything in there and i probably can correct a few things, but it's still a cute idea for non-DIS-informed guests!

here are some pictures for you.......i'm excited about this place!!!

the exterior.....

living room......

i see a christmas tree in this picture - i hope there's one there this year!

dining room....

kitchen......

master bedroom.....

second bedroom......

kid's bedroom (luke has 4 beds all to himself!)......

second bathroom (i don't know why he doesn't have a picture of the master bathroom).....

deck.....

if anyone is ever interested in staying off site, you should check out this guy's properties. the prices are great and they all look really nice. just google search "amazing disney homes" and i'll bet you find him!

i'll be back later with our itinerary!!!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

found the link for this one, so i had to join in.

i think i might have started my PreTR a little early,i have lost a few readers, but i am sure it will pick up once it gets closer, and i start the actual TR, so i am hoping to pimp myself out on your thread

link below come and check it out.

sorry done stealing your TR , you can have it back.

 

[Happy Elf]

I'm joining in! Disney at Christmas sounds wonderful!

I loved your family picture with your doggies! They are sure cute!

The condo looks very nice! Even if it is off property.

 

[disneymom1980]

I can't wait to see how you like the condo. DH and I are thinking about taking a trip close to our anniversary (in May), but, if we do, it would have to be a trim downed version. We've done some looking at townhomes and condos, so it will be great to have your opinion.

 

[iluv2go2disney]

I love the pictures where you're staying. It looks really nice and the list of amenities is super long. It sounds like it really includes everything.

 

[Hedy]

Very Hemmingway. Luke'll love the 4 beds!

 

[MeMom]

It looks very nice. I'll be interested in hearing your opinion of the differences in on-site and off-site trips after this. Someday, when all of my kids have kids, we may consider getting a big house for all of us on some of our longer trips.

Luke will have fun climbing on all those beds.
Are you and Ray the 'sleighbed' room or the 'fit for a queen' room?

I hope you get a nice Christmas tree, too! It will be nice to see Disney World at Christmas and maybe get some special holiday things to decorate your own home with. I'm sure we'll be buying some Christmas things on our Thanksgiving trip.

 

[LMO429]

Hey Dawn I'm Here 2! So Excited for you that you get to see Disney during Christmas time!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wow! What a bargain!!! The place is gorgeous and close to Disney! I can't wait to see what you think of it when you go -- a place like that would definitely be an option for us on short trips, etc.