Way Too Much Time to Plan This Trip - Dec. 2013 TR - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Way Too Much Time to Plan This Trip - Dec. 2013 TR
The title of this TR says it all. Yes, I have booked a trip for December 2013, yes I am starting a TR over a year out, yes I have way too much time to plan this thing. But half the fun of our first trip was planning it, and for our second trip I planned nothing because it was so short and I found that trip to be not nearly as exciting, so my theory is that it must be the planning that makes it fun!! So I hope you will bear with me as I plan this baby!! My TRs tend to be pretty dry and boring as I am a scrapbooker and I want to remember every.single.detail, not just the funny moments. I know I could do a report just for myself and not bore everyone here with the gory details, but for some reason doing it here is easier for me, so feel free to ignore this TR if you fall asleep easily.
If you are a glutton for punishment though, you can check out my other two TRs, both are still in process:
This is our second trip to The World for Star Wars weekend. It was a short trip, and I have not started the TR yet, but have a few pre-trip details up. Perhaps I will have this one done in a year as well: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ne-2012-a.html
Okay on to our December 2013 trip!! For this trip we have the usual cast of characters:
First off there is me, the mom. My name is Rachel and this trip will be my third trip to WDW. I am a planner, and spreadsheets are my friend, so I do the majority of the planning for this trip. The boys will let me know what they liked and didn't like from previous trips, but other than that they honestly don't care. I currently work part time from home and also homeschool my son. We started homeschooling about a year ago after my son finished second grade in public school. We weren't sure how it would go, but it has been a very rewarding year and we finally have our homeschooling rhythm down pat! I am very excited to be planning this trip and cannot wait to see The World decked out in all it's holiday glory.
Next up is my husband. Kris has been to Disney World a few times as a child, but really didn't remember it too well. Going with us these past two times has been like seeing it for the first (and second) time for him. He is quickly becoming a Disney addict. He follows all the Disney blogs on Facebook and often shows me articles or clips before I even see them. He has more Disney shirts than my son and I combined. He has even talked about moving to FL so we could be near The World all the time! I am so glad that he loves it as much as I do and can share in the enthusiasm with me. He picked out the resort we would be staying at for this December trip, but will leave the rest of the planning up to me.
And last, but not least, is my son, Kolby. Kolby is 9 years old right now, but he will be 10 when we head off for this trip. I am actually glad he will be "adult" age as we are thinking about doing the dining plan and he eats A LOT. I almost bumped him up to the adult plan on our first trip even though he was only 8, but I figured I would give the child portions a try. If he wasn't 10 on this trip, I would have bumped him up anyway, the child sizes just weren't quite enough. Kolby enjoys Disney just as much as his mom and dad, and cannot wait to go back. He is all in with his Dad's plan of moving to FL!! He loves that we can go to The World any time of the year because he homeschools, and brags about it to all his neighborhood friends. He is getting braver and braver with each trip we take and seems to be willing to try more rides each time. This makes it exciting for him and for my husband and I.
So that's our cast of characters!! We are all very excited about this trip. Our first trip we did Halloween, the second one we did Star Wars weekend, so we are thrilled to see what the parks are like during the Christmas season!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I'm looking forward to reading about this trip! You are going to LOVE Christmas at Disney, it's beautiful!
I think I will too!! Halloween is my favorite holiday, but Christmas does touch my heart in a special way too. Plus it will be fun to see everything decked out for the holiday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurast
We took one of our WDW trips in December and I have to say that the parks were gorgeous. I would love to go back again at that time of year!
I am so excited!! Did you do a TR? I would love to see it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Sounds great. Love the pic of Kolby kissing Cinderella's hand.
Thanks!! He was too cute, he tried to do it to each girl, but they are so used to getting the talking started right away he had a hard time butting in to do it, he was finally able to grab her hand and do it though, it was so cute!!
Right now the only thing I can book is our room. We knew right away that we wanted to go with a moderate resort having done a value and a moderate on our first trip.
All Star Movie
Coronado Springs
The moderates are just a step above and we like to have the little bit more room to spread out. I wish I could go with a deluxe, but that isn't in the budget for us. Kris and I sat down looked at all the different moderates, and he loved the look of Port Orleans - French Quarter, so we settled on that one.
So I called up Disney and booked the room. I didn't know you could book a whole package this far ahead, but when I mentioned to the booking CM that I was hoping for free dining, she told me I should book the package because otherwise they would have to re-book the room for me if I wanted free dining. So we went ahead and booked the tickets and dining as well. For now I have a 5 day ticket and regular dining plan.
I am not sure if we will ultimately end up at POR-FQ. I am also looking at the cost of staying off site or possibly renting some DVC points. But either of those can be booked at a later date if need be. I do not think we want to stay offsite, as we do love the 'Disney Bubble' and I love the idea of renting points, but I will have to see if it's cheaper to do that or get the free dining. So we'll see what happens, but at least I have a reservation no matter what happens.
On a completely different note, I was reading Brent & Liz' PTR (http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...g-17-26-a.html) today and I loved the Disney tattoos they got. So for fun, I came up with a tattoo idea for myself and my husband wanted in on the deal too.
It's a mini Mickey on our left hands. These aren't actual tattoos (yet)! I just drew them on with pen and I am going to live with it for a little while to see if I like it. I asked Kris if he would really get it, and he said he would, if I did. I like it, but I have to decide if I want to live with it forever.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Trust me you aren't alone in planning this far out. Our next trip is for Nov into Dec of next year and Ive been planning it for 9 months now as I originally booked on hopes we could do it this year knowing that circumstances would most likely force us to postpone for a year. As soon I could I changed ressies for next year . Happy planning
Great intro of the characters! Congrats on your resort, too!
Thanks!! I didn't really know PPOR-FQ was so small, so i was surprised when the CM praised me for booking it so early since apparently it fills up quick.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsblady01
great start more please
More coming!! Sadly I cannot help but plan this trip so early.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
Trust me you aren't alone in planning this far out. Our next trip is for Nov into Dec of next year and Ive been planning it for 9 months now as I originally booked on hopes we could do it this year knowing that circumstances would most likely force us to postpone for a year. As soon I could I changed ressies for next year . Happy planning
Hehe Wow that is some long term planning!! I am hoping we don't have to postpone, but we will see what happens.
So MikeL reminded me that even though I am planning this trip (way too early) it may not actually happen. I booked the room in the hopes that we could pull it off, but as of today we actually have no way to save the money for it. We homeschool my son and I work from home part-time. We have enough to survive this way, but not really anything extra. My job knows I want to be picked up for full time, but so far they don't have any openings. I am really hoping they will have an opening in the spring, and if they do then we will be able to afford Disney in December. If they do not, then we may have to postpone our trip for a year just like Mike had to. But I am leaving it to fate and pretending like we are going. When I quit my job to homeschool my son a year ago, we only had enough money to make it work for a year, and had no clue after that, but everything has worked out to where we are able to keep going so I am sure if we are meant to be in Disney in December, something will work out.
So I have been thinking of ways to make this third trip special in a way that we could not for our first trip. The first thing I came up with was to make an autograph book using pictures from our previous trips for the characters we have. We actually didn't get a wide variety of character pictures, but it would be fun to include the ones we do have anyway. I am a digital scrapbooker, so it will be easy to come up with something awesome for the pages. Once I start putting them together, I will share them here. Maybe I'll even make a template for anyone that has photoshop or photoshop elements!! Does anyone make their own character books? How do you do it and do you have pics to share?
I hate leaving a post with no pics, so here are some. We were standing in line for Lilo and Stitch (Sept 2011) and my son saw Stitch steal someone's hat, so he made sure to put his own hat on to see if he could have the same thing happen. When he got up there, Stitch immediately stole his hat, but Lilo rescued it for him. My son loved the interaction and tried to find ways to have fun with the characters from there on out.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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Kolby enjoys Disney just as much as his mom and dad, and cannot wait to go back. He is all in with his Dad's plan of moving to FL!! He loves that we can go to The World any time of the year because he homeschools, and brags about it to all his neighborhood friends. He is getting braver and braver with each trip we take and seems to be willing to try more rides each time. This makes it exciting for him and for my husband and I.
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Pixie Dust
Congrats on your resort, too!
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