Way Too Much Time to Plan This Trip - Dec. 2013 TR - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So I quickly made up a page today for the autograph book I want to do. It's going to take a while to make all the pages, good thing I have 16 months!! LOL Anyway, here are the pages for Alice, it's a two page spread with a spot for her to sign at the bottom. I think this will make a great keepsake when the trip is over too.
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We also just recently booked a trip for December 2013. It will also be our first time seeing WDW decked out for the holidays. And we also booked a package with dining (though at a value) with hopes of free dining (in which we'll pay the difference from the free QS to the regular dining plan).
Love the autograph book!! It will make a great keepsake.
I do hope that you are able to save up enough money and pull off the trip!!
It will be nice to have the book to look at when we get back and I think it will provide fun interactions with the characters when we are there too.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Great idea!
Thanks!!
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Originally Posted by shazza
Good job on the book. And, Good thing you have 16 months left to get everything finished!
I know right?!?! It will come together slowly but surely.
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Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
Great start on the book already! I hope the trip works out for you!
Thanks! I am hoping I can pull this one off too.
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Originally Posted by DisneyMamaSarah
Great start! Hope the trip works out for you!
We also just recently booked a trip for December 2013. It will also be our first time seeing WDW decked out for the holidays. And we also booked a package with dining (though at a value) with hopes of free dining (in which we'll pay the difference from the free QS to the regular dining plan).
Looking forward to reading more!
Cool!! I am so excited for the Christmas decorations, I kind of wish they went all out like that for Halloween, but I can understand that the two holidays are too close to go all out for both. I am planning on having a few meals at different resorts so I can see the decorations they have as well. Should be fun!!
You are not alone in planning so far out! When we went in December 2008 I planned for a year and a half for that one week and it was so worth it. Love all your photos and your pages for autographs. I too have a hubby that loves Disney as much as I do, we are very lucky! Can't wait to read all about your plans!
Okay so here is the big post with my preliminary plans. Of course this is all subject to change (and probably will), but I am curious is anyone has suggestions on where we should eat.
My plans are based on the 2012 times for each day (so of course that will probably change) and based on being able to get any time slot I want for ADRs. This is also assuming we get the Deluxe Dining Plan. If we do not get a dining plan, we will have similar plans, but fewer eating out meals and more bringing in of lunches meals. Also, we will not be relying on dinsey transportation, we will be renting a car so it will be very easy for us to get to all the different resorts and stuff.
Here goes!
Day 1 Arrive Late at night, check-in & sleep!!
Day 2 Magic Kingdom (9:00 AM to 10:00 PM)
Breakfast: Crystal Palace (earliest possible)
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern (11:00 AM)
Dinner: Be Our Guest (7:00 PM)
For this day I chose to do the Crystal Palace at the earliest time as I thought it would be cool to be able to walk into Magic Kingdom and see it empty on our very first day there. I did get CRT for this morning because I am not sure I want to do breakfast at CRT. I have heard good things about Crystal Palace, so I figured that would be a good choice. I has lunch a little earlier, so if we are waning by this time of day we can head back to the resort for a couple hours then come back to the park for dinner and some more rides at night.
Day 3 DHS (EMH 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM)
Breakfast: Quick something in the room
Lunch: Hollywood & Vine (11:00 AM)
Dinner: Brown Derby (6:00 PM)
I am unsure on Brown Derby, actually want to try Sci-Fi Diner, but I couldn't find another place in our week to add another meal!! LOL So I went with the one that used two credits. I may end up changing this later on, but since we haven't ever tried Brown Derby, it may be fun to give it a go. Since MK will be a late night, the night before this, I figure we will sleep in and get to the park a little before our lunch ressie, then have the rest of the night at DHS.
Day 4 Downtown Disney
Breakfast: O'Hana (7:30 AM)
Lunch: Planet Hollywood (noon)
Dinner: California Grill (7:00 PM)
This is a day to relax. We will visit DTD and have lunch there and then probably hang at the pool for the day. I figured I would do dinner at the California Grill and hope that we will be able to see the fireworks at MK from the restaurant. Has anyone done this? I wasn't sure what time I should make the ressie for to make sure I don't have a problem asking for a MK view and am there in time to actually see the fireworks. We have never eaten here, so I wasn't sure.
Day 5 MVMCP
Breakfast: Quick breakfast in room
Lunch: 1900 Park Fare (10:30)
Yachtsman Steakhouse (5:00 PM)
This is the day we are going to do the Christmas party. 1900 Park Fare will actually be a late breakfast slot. I have heard you get better interaction with the characters with the later breakfasts, so I have a few of those this trip. There aren't too many dinner places I like in MK, so I figured we would do the Steakhouse earlier and then head to the park for the party. Now that I am looking at this again, I am not sure if this is the best idea. I did like being able to get into the park at 4:00 for the Halloween party and getting in line for the harder to get characters before the party started. Eating at the steakhouse at 5:00 would probably get us to the party right at 6:30 which wouldn't leave much time to get in a line early ... anyone have any suggestions?
Day 6 Animal Kingdom (EMH 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM)
Breakfast: Quick Breakfast in Room
Lunch: Yak & Yeti (11:00 AM)
Dinner: Jiko (6:30 PM)
Since AK closes so early, I figure we will take our time leaving the park and then head over to AKL for dinner. I have never been to AKL, so it will be fun to see the resort and try a restaurant we have never tried. We loved Yak & Yeti so that was a must and I figure we will be out late from the party the night before, so again we can roll in closer to lunch for this park.
Day 7 Nothing!
Breakfast: Quick breakfast in room
Lunch: Chef Mickey (11:00 AM)
Dinner: Artist Point (7:00 PM)
This will be another day of rest. (Yes we learned from our first trip!! LOL) With lunch and dinner at two resorts we have never been to, so we will spend a bit of time exploring them and then hang at our room and perhaps the pool if it's warm enough. Chef Mickey will be a late breakfast slot again, this will allow it to serve as lunch for us and hopefully give us better character interaction when we are there.
Day 8 Epcot (EMH 9:00 AM to 12:30 AM)
Breakfast: Akershus Royal Table (earliest)
Lunch: Teppan Edo (11:00 PM)
Le Celier: (7:00 PM)
This is another day I thought would be nice to get in the park before all the people come in. Epcot isn't our favorite park, but it will be nice to walk around a bit and see it virtually empty. I made the lunch and dinner pretty separate again so we can always go back to the hotel for a bit in the afternoon, then enjoy the park at night.
Day 9 Magic Kingdom (9:00 AM to 10:00 PM)
breakfast: Quick breakfast in room
Lunch: Crystal Palace (1:00 PM)
Dinner: Cinderella's Royal Table (latest)
Since EPCOT might go late, again I have lunch a little later. We can stroll into the park whenever we want. I also thought it would be nice to have our last meal in the park be in the castle. I do not think my boys even know you can do such a thing!! So I hope it will be magical for them. I thought it would be good to eat at the latest time and then walk around the park until closing. A great way to end a wonderful week.
Day 10
Late Flight in the afternoon
Breakfast: Kona Cafe (9:00 AM)
We will have breakfast and then head out to our flight. Usually we are rushing around on the day we leave and never get to do anything Disney-ish, so I thought a nice breakfast would be fun. I may change this to O'Hana so we can get some characters in right before we go. We'll see on that one.
So a little long winded, but what do you think? I am trying to find special moments like getting into the park early or fireworks from the Contemporary and balance that with a reasonable expectation of playing in the parks. I think I found a nice balance between park time and rest time. I also have us visiting quite a few resorts so we can see the decorations. I think it's a good starting plan. I would love to hear more thoughts and suggestions though if you have them!!
I also have done a few more pages for my autograph book if you want to see them:
You are not alone in planning so far out! When we went in December 2008 I planned for a year and a half for that one week and it was so worth it. Love all your photos and your pages for autographs. I too have a hubby that loves Disney as much as I do, we are very lucky! Can't wait to read all about your plans!
Thank you for not making me feel crazy!! I feel very blessed that hubby is as Disney crazy as I am so when I ask him what he would like to eat over a year from now he doesn't look at my cross eyed!! LOL I want some spontaneity in our trip, but when we went for our short trip and had no plans at all, I felt like we missed out on so much!! I mean there is a whole section of AK that we just realized we never knew about!! LOL If I didn't research this stuff, we would be missing out on so much. But once we are in the parks we kind of go with the flow and see how the day unfolds, but having a meal plan and a plan for which park, which day helps us so much.
I can totally empathize with planning so far in advance--we're crunching numbers and plotting to see if WDW will work out for our honeymoon in November 2013, so I'm right there with ya!
(And since it's been 6 years since I've been to the World, there's a lot of catching up to do--research is fun!)
Love the autograph album you're building. I digiscrap off and on myself, what's your favorite site for supplies?
__________________
Jennifer "Scraps" Walker, Queen of the Helper Monkeys
2013 Scrapbook Page Goal: 98/175
I can totally empathize with planning so far in advance--we're crunching numbers and plotting to see if WDW will work out for our honeymoon in November 2013, so I'm right there with ya!
(And since it's been 6 years since I've been to the World, there's a lot of catching up to do--research is fun!)
Love the autograph album you're building. I digiscrap off and on myself, what's your favorite site for supplies?
The supplies I am using on this book all come from Weeds & Wildflowers. It was their 365 kit a few years back, I am not sure if she still has that kit up, but it was a huge coordinating kit that was sold in bits and pieces over the year, which I love (about 5.5 GB worth of supplies!!). I love her other stuff too, she always put so much in her kits. I also love most of the designers from ScrapbookGraphics (Scrapbookgraphics) especially Christina Renee, Tangie Baxter, and Lorie Davison. Lorie's kits are a bit expensive, but they are huge and she is a WONDERFUL artist. She actually does the pictures for children's books as her real job. I like that grungy kind of look, so most designers I like have that look, but I am hard pressed to find a bad designer at this site. I also like Sweet Shoppe Designs. I get most of my fonts from Darcy over there (the two I used on these pages are from her). Honestly most of my kits are older ones I got as payment for being a Creative Team member and making pages for different designers. I have waaaay too many kits that I rarely buy new stuff any more!!
I don't scrap as much as I wish I did, but someday I will get back to it. I am excited to finish my TR for my first trip so I can turn that into a digital scrapbook, but I think I am still working on pages from 2006 for my normal scrapping. LOL How about you? Where do you normally shop?
Looks great! I think chef mickeys is only breakfast or dinner though. What about ohanas for dinner the night of the party? Puts you closer to MK.
I think I was trying to get the last Chef Mickey's breakfast slot so it would serve 2 purposes, late breakfast that counts as lunch and I hear there is better character interaction if you are one of the last to eat. Thanks for reminding me why I did that though, I am going to update my post to include the reason so I don't forget when I actually make the ressies!!
O'Hanas for dinner is a great idea!! The only problem I am having is that there isn't really a place to add another meal (since moving to O'hanas would give us 1 extra meal credit) .... I could also switch the dinners and eat at the Contemporary that night, but I kind of wanted to catch the fireworks when we ate there ..... decisions decisions .....
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