WOOHOO Christmas at Disney!! Another year or no wrapping for me!

[Vickis3js]

Ok so I am obviously very very very late to the game of PTR and I am also a PTR newbie so please take it easy on me. Since my DH is tired of all my stressing and obsessive planning I figured I could use this as an outlet and maybe avoid my DH tuning me out all together LOL.

So I guess I can get the basics done and out of the way. I am me! Vicki a 32 yo SAHM to 3 not so little angels. I am obsessed with Disney and newly just as obsessed with my Cricut, who by the way will come into play during this PTR probably more then anyone would like LOL


DH is Brandon. He is a 35 yo workaholic/business owner. He likes Disney but he loves making me happy so he goes and he enjoys himself but I admit its mainly for my pleasure. He is a big guy and he actually loves to wear my Disney homemade tees only because well its funny to see a big burly guy wearing a cutesy Mickey head shirt and he loves seeing everyone's reactions.


Next are my babies. Well they are not quite babies anymore but well if you are a parent you know how it goes.

Jazalyn or Jazzy or Jazz or whatever she wants to be called is 10 going on 21.
She is my cheerleader/softball player. She loves Disney, but of course she is a tween so if you ask her its just ok<insert tween eyeroll>. She is like her daddy and loves the food. Trying new restaurants and new treats and is a very adventurous eater and a semi thrill seeker.

Jordan is my lil man. He is 9 and he is a typical boy. Loves sports, cars, action movies, and Disney. I think of all my kids he is the one who will openly tell you he loves Disney. His big thing is where are we staying?? He wants a cool resort with things to do. He could care less about the food he wants to know where he is going to sleep.

Joelle is my youngest and 3rd child, we can not call her the last she gets so mad even though she IS.She is 8. She has PDD-NOS, a autism spectrum disorder. She has a problem with people mainly and loud noises. So we take a lot of breaks during the day and have to be very flexible wiht a lot of things. She makes life interesting thats for sure.

Thats all my babies last year on our balcony at AKV they are in age order to.


We are DVC members and have been since our first family trip to WDW. We had looked into it before we left and DH said NO WAY!! Well after 2 nights at the Pop he agreed to take the tour but still said NOPE we are not signing anything while we are here. Well after the tour and the sales pitch he said where do I sign. Buying DVC made him take a break from work and forced us to take a family vacation atleast once a year which we SOOO needed.

Ok well thats us. I will post trip details next.

Where we are staying insanity
The never ending ADR list first draft
Getting there is part of the fun
What makes me an Ubber cool mom or so I think
I am so excited I need to share my crafty side
The only part DH cares about the budget
Our park plans draft #1
Just another post about how I drive me crazy
My list of must do's

 

[Vickis3js]

Alright our dates. Well we are crazy crazy fools we are going Dec 18-26th. But this will be our 3rd Christmas at WDW and we LOVE it. There is way too much family drama and I NEVER got to enjoy a Christmas with my children and my DH until we went to WDW. So now thats what we do.

Where we are staying. Well that was and is still a work in progress. I booked at 11 months and booked a 1 bedroom standard view at AKL. But then DH went and bought my more DVC points for our 10th anniversary and well then I had more points that needed to be used and had more to play with soooo I added another night and moved to a 2 bedroom. But was I happy NOOOOOO I wanted to move to BLT. Called at 7 months when MS opened and was told well we have all the days BUT your first. UGHHH so I have to call back the next day. Only problem is I am chaperoning DS's field trip and can't call until after 3. So by then yep you guessed now the first 2 nights are not available. SOOO I book a 2 bedroom at SSR and waitlist BLT. But nope still not happy. Since we now own SSR points and are trying for a THV in 2011 I want to try OKW. So now I am in a 2 bedroom at OKW with a waitlist for BLT and a waitlit for OKW 2 bedroom Hospitality House. Of course the latter waitlist comes through within days and silly me forgot to reup my BLT waitlist. So now I got a bug to do a split stay 18-21 at BLT and 21-26 at OKW. So you guessed it we are waitlisted for BLT.

So now that you are just as confused and exhausted as my poor DH I will move on to ADRs. BTW I suggest a nice drink or a nap before you read that too LOL.

 

[Vickis3js]

ADRS are the reason I have a hole in my stomach and can no longer sleep LOL. Right now we are booked with the regular dining plan and we are TIW members. So why do we do the DDP well because with DVC we don't pay the holiday surcharge for the DDP and since the TIW card has 2 blackout dates during out trip its cheaper for us. But if we switch resorts we will be upgrading to DxDDP for the first part of our trip.

This year we decided that we are NOT going to repeat any restaurants/meals. We want to try all new things unless we had breakfast there before and we are trying dinner or vice versa. I also let each of the kids pick ONE restaurant that no one else had to agree on. So they are all excited that they got to pick one meal that is special for them. Then Christmas breakfast and dinner had to be a place they all agreed on and it was their choice!

12/18 Rose and Crown lunch at 12pm (this will probably be dropped )
12/18 Lecellier 6:20 dinner
12/19 Tusker House 8am DS's choice
12/19 Boma 6:05 (this may be dropped as well)
12/20 Captains Grille 7:45 am (this is DH and Is fav but may go as well)
12/20 Mama Melrose 3:45 F! package and DD #1s choice
12/21 Crystal Palace 9:30 (this was snuck in because I love Pooh I cheated since we have done CP before but I can't go without seeing Pooh!
12/21 CRT 6:05 this is DD #2s choice
12/22 Biergarten 6:22pm not sure about this one may change
12/23 Sci Fi 12:10
12/23 Cape May Cafe 6:45 another one I might change
12/24 Liberty Tree Tavern 2:50
12/25 WCC 10:00
12/25 Chef Mickeys 6:30
12/26 Olivias 9:45 but this may change

As you can see I have a lot of ADRs. My DH likes his breakfast and is a diabetic so he needs to eat more often and eat well. Plus I need the breaks with DD. We looked at doing deluxe for the entire trip and it was too much for us. So thats where our trusty TIW card comes in handy. Now the ones that I say may go are the days where I think DD may need some adjusting time and it will be either too early for her or she will be too overstimulated after an early ADR. I'll be sad to any of my ADR babies go but for my DD's sake and for the dinners around us who would have to put up with an overstimulated lil girl I will give them all up.

Well so far thats the basics. Believe it or not I have a bunch of extras booked and some extra goodies to talk about. But my Cricut is calling my name and I will post pics of what I am doing with that because well its part of my planning.

So goodnight to all my fellow Disney lovers. Hopefully I didn't you all as nuts as I did my darling DH.

 

[Vickis3js]

Ok I totally forgot the best part of our trip...GETTING THERE!! We live in Southern NJ, so far south most other New Jersians don't even consider us one of their own LOL. I am a big ol chicken and I am petrified to fly. I will do it if it means going to WDW with just DH and I but I REFUSE to put my children on a plane. Mainly because I know my guaranteed panic attack will upset them and well I don't want to pass my fear onto them, yeah I know refusing to put them on a plane is already doing that but hey it sounds good right, so we drive. We pack up my other baby, my Ford Flex, the night before and DH and I hit the sack by 8pm. We put the kids in their beds wearing their new comfy outfit I bought for the ride down and put in a movie in hopes that they will watch and not drift right off to sleep. Then our alarm goes off at around 2am we get the kids up and off we go.

Being an interfaith couple our kids get spoiled they get to celebrate Christmas and Hannukah! So they are armed with new movies and new DS games to keep them occupied. I being the cool mom that I think I bought them messanger bags from Disneystore before our trip in 08 and had them personalized. So each of the kids has their own bag which mom fills with books, activity books, travel games, and cool snacks. They get them when they get in the car. Last year the big hit was the print outs for a travel scavenger hunt and the licnese plate game. We love the ride down. We chat about what we want to see and do on the way down and the way home Mom cries and we talk about all the fun we had.

So we normally stop in Savannah Georgia for the night and we get there by 4 but this year I said NOPE we are going further south so we are trying the Comfort Suites in Brunswick, Georgia. Most people will drive straight through if they could be there by 8-9pm but I don't want to be tired one minute I am there. Plus with DD it gives her time to adjust to not being in her bed a little before we get there.

So thats our journey about 16 hours in a car with my 4 most favorite people in the entire world going to my most favorite place in the world. What more could you ask for!

 

[exwdwcm]

Hi Vicki- i am here!!! Love your family- you guys are just too cute!

and your plans look good, although, i admit, i am a bit confused- so right now are you still waitlisted, or are you confirmed for the split stay you want (OKW and BLT??). We are at BLT from 12/4-12/11. It is our first stay as DVC, we just bought in February after our December trip. Like your DH, mine said he wasn't interested..........that is until he saw our son's eyes light up at disney! Then he was hooked. Seeing the magic through a child's eyes (especially a child we worked 3 years to conceive through countless fertility treatments) will do that to you. And same for me- DH bought this for me for our 10th anniversary, which is actually not until May 2011, but i talked him into buying it early.

The ADRs sound so fun!! I like the idea of trying all new places. But not sure i am disciplined enough to do that. lol at keeping Crystal Palace though! i don't blame you. That is the one my son keeps asking about. We do the breakfast every trip. It is our favorite breakfast. DS now asks everyday when he can go eat with Pooh bear!

So how long is your drive down total?

 

[Vickis3js]

Hi Vicki- i am here!!! Love your family- you guys are just too cute!

and your plans look good, although, i admit, i am a bit confused- so right now are you still waitlisted, or are you confirmed for the split stay you want (OKW and BLT??). We are at BLT from 12/4-12/11. It is our first stay as DVC, we just bought in February after our December trip. Like your DH, mine said he wasn't interested..........that is until he saw our son's eyes light up at disney! Then he was hooked. Seeing the magic through a child's eyes (especially a child we worked 3 years to conceive through countless fertility treatments) will do that to you. And same for me- DH bought this for me for our 10th anniversary, which is actually not until May 2011, but i talked him into buying it early.

The ADRs sound so fun!! I like the idea of trying all new places. But not sure i am disciplined enough to do that. lol at keeping Crystal Palace though! i don't blame you. That is the one my son keeps asking about. We do the breakfast every trip. It is our favorite breakfast. DS now asks everyday when he can go eat with Pooh bear!

So how long is your drive down total?

Yeah I know my plans are confusing. My family has no clue where the heck we will be either. Right now I am booked in a 2bd Hospitality House at OKW for the entire trip 12/18-12/26 and we are waitlisted at BLT LV for 12/18-12/21.

Drive down is we did it non stop would be about 17 hours give or take with stops. We drive about 14 hours the first day with stops and then we have 3 hours the following day. But we are totally rested and ready to go when we get there and thats all that counts.

Thanks so much for reading!

 

[Vickis3js]

OH OH OH now that the kids are doing their 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of instrument practice mommy gets a minute to talk about all the cool things I have planned that they have no clue about!!!

First a little back story. I am a shopaholic. BUT I like to shop for amazing deals. Sooooo I buy and put away for bdays/Christmas/arbor day LOL. So every Christmas my kids would wake up to a ton of gifts. It was so bad one year my oldest looked at us and said can I take a break I am tired of unwrapping. They got soooo many toys it would take a week to find homes for everything. Worst part is they would play with them maybe 2 or 3 times and to the bottom of their countless toy boxes they would go. So after going through their toy box and donating tons of toys right before Christmas since I knew another huge one was just 2 weeks away. I said enough that would be the last big Christmas. DH laughed his butt off since he knew I couldn't do it and had been saying that for YEARS. Well after another stressful, drama filled, Vicki gets treated like Cinderella before the ball Christmas I came home at 11pm and booked our first Disney trip at Christmas. I told the kids that would be their gift and my kids couldn't have been happier.

Now being the Ubber cool mom I think I am I couldn't let that be it. So I bought little goodies and put them away for their stockings that we would have and thought there has to be more. Then it came to me. I would book them at BBB appointments for Christmas afternoon and put letters and GCs in their stockings and that would be their Christmas surprise. They LOVED it. Last year they were surprised with matching tshirts, invites and GCs for one of the Pirate Cruises which they loved even more.

So what is their surprise this year?? I BOOKED THE PIRATE AND PALS FIREWORKS CRUISE!!!! Can you tell I am a little excited. I also booked the Wishes Dessert Party for Christmas eve and when we get there and I do the bug check I will put out the invite for that. I also plan on getting a cake delivered to the room for our first day.

Now to decide what to put in their stockings.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Ok so I am obviously very very very late to the game of PTR and I am also a PTR newbie so please take it easy on me. Since my DH is tired of all my stressing and obsessive planning I figured I could use this as an outlet and maybe avoid my DH tuning me out all together LOL.

So I guess I can get the basics done and out of the way. I am me! Vicki a 32 yo SAHM to 3 not so little angels. I am obsessed with Disney and newly just as obsessed with my Cricut, who by the way will come into play during this PTR probably more then anyone would like LOL


DH is Brandon. He is a 35 yo workaholic/business owner. He likes Disney but he loves making me happy so he goes and he enjoys himself but I admit its mainly for my pleasure. He is a big guy and he actually loves to wear my Disney homemade tees only because well its funny to see a big burly guy wearing a cutesy Mickey head shirt and he loves seeing everyone's reactions.


Next are my babies. Well they are not quite babies anymore but well if you are a parent you know how it goes.

Jazalyn or Jazzy or Jazz or whatever she wants to be called is 10 going on 21.
She is my cheerleader/softball player. She loves Disney, but of course she is a tween so if you ask her its just ok<insert tween eyeroll>. She is like her daddy and loves the food. Trying new restaurants and new treats and is a very adventurous eater and a semi thrill seeker.

Jordan is my lil man. He is 9 and he is a typical boy. Loves sports, cars, action movies, and Disney. I think of all my kids he is the one who will openly tell you he loves Disney. His big thing is where are we staying?? He wants a cool resort with things to do. He could care less about the food he wants to know where he is going to sleep.

Joelle is my youngest and 3rd child, we can not call her the last she gets so mad even though she IS.She is 8. She has PDD-NOS, a autism spectrum disorder. She has a problem with people mainly and loud noises. So we take a lot of breaks during the day and have to be very flexible wiht a lot of things. She makes life interesting thats for sure.

Thats all my babies last year on our balcony at AKV they are in age order to.


We are DVC members and have been since our first family trip to WDW. We had looked into it before we left and DH said NO WAY!! Well after 2 nights at the Pop he agreed to take the tour but still said NOPE we are not signing anything while we are here. Well after the tour and the sales pitch he said where do I sign. Buying DVC made him take a break from work and forced us to take a family vacation atleast once a year which we SOOO needed.

Ok well thats us. I will post trip details next.

Where we are staying insanity
The never ending ADR list first draft
Getting there is part of the fun
What makes me an Ubber cool mom or so I think

OK, I'm in. Just curious, how did you make your pictures so small. I copied the location for mine from snapfish and they were huge, and I couldn't resize them with html coding.

 

[Vickis3js]

OK, I'm in. Just curious, how did you make your pictures so small. I copied the location for mine from snapfish and they were huge, and I couldn't resize them with html coding.

I use photobucket and they give you the option to use a clickable thumbnail. I was going to do the normal size but yeah no I'm big enough thanks LOL.

 

[PoppyGirl]

Hi! Great PTR so far! I loved your idea of letting each kid pick one restaurant that no one else had to agree on! I'm curious as to which places they all picked.

 

[Vickis3js]

Well my DD #1 picked Mama Melrose. She is thinking she might change it to the new place in Italy but she is out of luck since I got a F! package with it and Mama ain't given that up.

DS picked Tusker House he likes characters and he is a big breakfast eater so that was an easy choice.

DD #2 picked CRT much to my other twos dismay. But they knew the rules so they are going to grin and bare it for her.

 

[taramoz]

Love your plans! We will be there at the same time!!! Me a bit shorter. How do you like DVC? I rented points for my Christmas trip but have been reading about membership...

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I am so into your PTR! We are driving from Central PA so I am right there with you!

 

[Vickis3js]

Love your plans! We will be there at the same time!!! Me a bit shorter. How do you like DVC? I rented points for my Christmas trip but have been reading about membership...

LOVE my DVC!! We are newer owners, we bought in 2008, but so far it really works for us. We own at 2 different resorts but have only stayed at AKV twice and that place is AMAZING!! We are actually trying a resort we don't own at for this trip, which is another thing I love. I know its not for everyone but for us it works!!

 

[Vickis3js]

I am so into your PTR! We are driving from Central PA so I am right there with you!

WOOO HOOO a fellow driver. We thought what are we getting ourselves into the first year but it really is awesome. Plus the money we save driving instead of flying for a family of 5 is awesome too!

ENjoy your drive!

 

[Vickis3js]

OK OK OK I am sooooo excited today! Can you tell? Now why you ask? Well remember when I said I am just as obsessed with my Cricut as I am Disney well I will show you shortly how I can combine them. For those that don't know what the heck a Cricut is, well its this awesome paper craft cutter and I can make all kinds of ubber cool things with it. So even before I bought the darn machine I bought Mickey, Tinkerbell and Pooh cartidges for it. Just because they were Disney.

Ok so what the heck does this have to do with my PTR. Well I will show you.

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Sorry they are huge but I am so very excited about them. The first 2 are complete and the last one I need to run to a craft store and get some supplies that I ran out of. Aren't they the coolest thing ever? My kids are so excited about them. They took me awhile mainly because I just got the cricut and its taking me some time to get the hang of how to work it.

My next project is going to be making tshirts with glitter iron on vinyl that I will be cutting with my Cricut. I found awesome green and red glitter vinyl that I will make mickey heads and santa hats out of.

I know I am a dork but I just can't help myself!!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

We are pretty lucky in that we only have to drive 10 hours to the In-laws and then DH can sleep and drive the other 10. Not a big deal for him though. We are doing all night time hours to help the kiddos. They can run off the energy at the grandparent's house. DH is also used to working nights so that keeps him on the same schedule.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Have to add too..I am a huge Cricut fan! I don't have the Disney carts yet but love my Cricut and would be lost without it! Thinking I need to check into the Disney cartridges. I have heard they area little harder to cut because of all the small details. Do you find that to be true too?? And at what point will you start your scrapbook????

Also, I noticed in the first one the a is backwards. Not sure if you wanted that way but wanted to let you know in case things were not quite permanent yet.

 

[Vickis3js]

Have to add too..I am a huge Cricut fan! I don't have the Disney carts yet but love my Cricut and would be lost without it! Thinking I need to check into the Disney cartridges. I have heard they area little harder to cut because of all the small details. Do you find that to be true too?? And at what point will you start your scrapbook????

Also, I noticed in the first one the a is backwards. Not sure if you wanted that way but wanted to let you know in case things were not quite permanent yet.

LOL thats what I get for doing it at 2 am but thankfully nothing is permanent yet.

I actually don't scrapbook. I started when my first was a baby and I got so overwhelmed that I said forget it. I just like making cards and stuff. Who knows though I might make a Disney trip scrap book and do some pages for all our trips.

I have the Disney Font cart and I LOVE that one. They have the character heads with all the layers and it is a PITB. The tinkerbell cart is a pain in the butt. There is a bunch of layers and some of the pieces are super tiny. I haven't used my Pooh one yet but that too looks like its complicated. The Mickey font one is definatly worth it though.

 

[Vickis3js]

Ok this is going to be a boring post. Its all about my budgeting. But for me, its the most important part of the trip. See my DH will do anything to make me and the kids happy, but even he has his limits, and the limits revolve around a budget. He has never given me a set limit and said this is what we will spend but he will give me that LOOK and I know that I have gone over board with planning and buying.

So like I said we drive down. So we have gas, hotel, and food while we are on the road. Now if you ever stepped keyboard into the transportation board and read the driving thread you will see that most people will book and make sure then can cancel the day of. Not me. I am all about saving $$$ I figure money saved on the road is money I can spend at WDW. I book where I know we can get to with out any issues. So this year I booked a Comfort Suites 2 queens with a sleeper sofa which is the only way I will book for $82 with tax!!

Now the big $$$$ is gas. NOPE not for me!!! Gas for our trip is FREE!! Thanks to my shopping habits and shopping rewards sites. I alread have in my hand $225 in gas cards and I've earned enough points for $50 more and I still have back to school and Christmas shopping for family! Gas last year cost us about $250 so that is more then budgeted for. Now the only expense left is food and well since gas is paid for with the GCs and I still have points coming HELLO free Cracker Barrel GCs.

So our entire trip will be just hotels and MAYBE a meal if I don't earn more GCs. So around $250 to get 5 people to and from WDW is not so bad.

Now the while we are there expenses are a bit more. But since we are DVC members the cost of the villa I don't count. I know other members will but I don't it just sounds better in my head LOL. DH and I also have vaild APs that will not expire until March so another expense knocked off for this trip. Thanks to Disney raising prices I did buy the kids their tickets last night. So one expense is off of our list. Which makes me very very very happy.

So now we just have that LONG list of ADRs to pay for. Thanks to our Disney CC and our business we already have over $300 in rewards with about $200 more coming before we leave so that is half my DDP cost. I hit the Disney store about once a month and get Disney GCs and put them away. Makes my life easier and I know everything is paid in cash.

Now we just need a souvie budget. I am a mean mom. I make my kids save money and buy themselves stuff. Now I am not a total meanie we do buy them one thing. It can be anything last year DD #1 got a Dooney bag. Thankfully we go once a year so the kids don't ask for a ton. This year DS already said he is going to Ridemakerz for his one thing. Of course DD #1 is eyeing a new Dooney and well DD #2 just wants a WDW Potato head LOL Now DH will get his watch and I will get a purse, a hoodie and a kitchen gadget. I know I get more then everyone else but I did all the planning so darn it I deserve it.

We talked about doing MVMCP and I am still so torn. I want to do it since we normally get there the day AFTER the last party but this year they have one the day after. I know the last one is normally sold out so its the busiest and the day after they start the holiday parade and the holiday wishes everyday and for free. Sooo by not going we are saving around $300. I know I gave the kids the option to do either the party or the dessert party and they chose desserts so I went with that but I am still thinking HMMMM.

So stay tuned to see what I decide since I have no clue!