Nov.30-Dec.5 PTR: What better place for a Redheaded Princess than Fantasyland? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Nov.30-Dec.5 PTR: What better place for a Redheaded Princess than Fantasyland?
Welcome to my first ever trip report! While my husband and I have visited WDW several times before, we are looking forward to our first trip since 2006! We are booked for Nov. 30-Dec. 5, 2009 - it can't come soon enough! It's waaay early, I know, but I've sorta run out of things to do for the trip, and since we're very nearly at double digits , this seemed like a good time to start a PTR.
First things first: I am rather new to this community, so I think it best to introduce the cast for our first true "family" trip.
1. Myself, Alissa (Katara81):
I'm sarcastic, dry-humored, and scatterbrained. A few years ago, I put my dreams of being a history professor on hold to become a full-time homemaker, then graduated to being a stay-at-home mommy to DD. I also have 2 cats that pre-date DD's arrival to the family that I consider my children as well. I'm your classic nerd - I like history, movies, books, etc. I often attract weird looks in public due to my tendency to whip out the cameraphone to document random things I find funny.
2. My dear husband, John:
(John and my sister Rae at GG in 2006)
John is extremely intelligent, geeky just like myself, a great dad, a fairly hardcore online gamer, and quite the goofball as well. He has an obsession with Oakley sunglasses, which explains why the pic above is the only one I could find of him without a pair of shades on. He is also one of the people responsible for spending your tax dollars - he's an engineer, and works for the Dept. of Defense in a test facility. It is not uncommon for him to come home and tell me about how he spent $20,000 on a battery. Sorry about that, y'all.
John and I are both currently 28 years old, married for 8 years this past June. We met when we were 15, yes, *15*, in the high school marching band (see, told ya we're geeks). We took our first trip together to WDW with the band in 1998, and marched in the Magic Kingdom parades. That got us hooked on Disney, and we've been back a few times since then, including our honeymoon (which coincided with Star Wars Weekends, natch).
What can I say about Kate....she's a sweetie-pooh. She's very active and very intense about things she is interested in (just like Daddy). She is very stubborn and independent, and has a fiery temper (just like Mommy). She is quite gorgeous, and gets comments wherever she goes on how cute she is. Mommy and "Gickey" (Mickey) are the loves of her life - I cannot wait till she meets that old Mouse. I also have to say, that Kate is quite a challenge to me. She is very dramatic and demanding, and is quite spoiled. So if you happen to be at WDW the week after Thanksgiving, and a tall, redheaded toddler steamrolls over your kid on her way to see her beloved "Gickey".......blame me, please.
Family photo from our June vacay - Kate was very hot and unhappy.
4. Grandma and Grandpa (John's parents-Kate calls them Gee-ma and Paw.):
Gee-ma is a retired schoolteacher, and is very much in love with Kate. She is unfailingly patient and kind-I have never seen her angry. She splits her time between keeping John's nephew while his sister works, and hunting for antiques - they bought a new house when she retired, so naturally, she has to fill it with old stuff.
Paw is a minister, and is always busy with sermons, funerals, his radio program, heavy involvment w/ patient visitation at the local hospital, etc. So, this gives a limit to how long this trip can be, as he doesn't want to miss more than one Sunday service. Thus, we are only scheduled for 5 nights (along with 2 days coming and going).
This will be the second time John and I will have been to the World with family. On our last trip (Oct. 2006), we took along my mother, sister, and the guy Mom was dating at the time. Between Mom and Rae taking 3 hours to get ready in the mornings (grrr) and Mom's BF acting like a 12 year old who thought thetrip was for his amusement only (GRRR), it was a rather irritating experience. I really hope it goes smoother this time, and I think it will. My in-laws arevery easy-going, and willing to follow whatever plan I set up for us.
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I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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
Accomodations:
Pop Century Resort, 5 nights, 5 day hoppers, dining plan.
We had a hard time with resorts on this trip. I had originally booked at CBR just on a whim. Since we hadn't decided on a resort by the time 2009 prices were released, I basically flipped through the Unofficial Guide with my eyes closed and just picked a random resort. No joke. (My apologies for not flipping through the Passporter. This was before I discovered it's manifold virtues.) We had just decided to switch to WL, when lo and behold, the unthinkable happened: After many attempts at getting them to WDW, John's parents announced that they would like to go with us this time. (Wow, all it took to get them to go was a grandchild! Why didn't we try that before???) The one catch was that they did not want to shell out Deluxe resort kind of cash. We debated the moderate resorts for quite awhile before I got a free dining PIN code that made the price of a value resort just too good to pass up. So, Pop Century, here we come! For me, this was an ok switch, since we have stayed at Pop before and I really liked it. John...'meh', he says. Just 'meh'. But he'll be happy enough when we get there. And he was definitely happy with the savings.
I am slightly concerned about choosing Pop though. From what I recall on our previous stay, the beds were not overly comfortable. DFIL has some back problems, and I am worried that an uncomfortable bed might aggravate it. On top of that, DFIL is 6 foot 6.....how in the world is he going to fit in a double bed??? I'm starting to think that maybe I should be on the lookout for a good deal at Saratoga Springs perhaps.....we shall see.
Our departure day is going to be looooong. The church where DFIL preaches is quite aways out of town, along the route we need to take to get to I-75 south (the interstate we will be on for the majority of the trip). So this means getting up *very* early to have time to pack the car so we can leave directly from the church building, and still be able to make it to Sunday School by 9am. After DFIL's Sunday morning sermon on Nov. 29, we will have lunch in the church kitchen, and then just drive until we're ready to stop for the night (or until Kate has had enough, which ever comes first). Hopefully, this will put us at WDW no later than lunchtime on Nov. 30. What I'm really hoping, is that Kate will go to sleep in the car after we stop for dinner, and we can get at least to Gainesville (about 2.5 hours north of Orlando, for those of you who don't drive). I'm sort of afraid of setting my hopes too high on this though. Kate is wonderful in the car as long as she has a DVD player and some juice, and did very well on our mini-vacay in June (about 4 hours drive time, including a lunch break), so I'm thinking we will be able to make good time.
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Nov.30-Dec.5 PTR: What better place for a Redheaded Princess than Fantasyland?
, this seemed like a good time to start a PTR. 
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We debated the moderate resorts for quite awhile before I got a free dining PIN code that made the price of a value resort just too good to pass up. So, Pop Century, here we come! For me, this was an ok switch, since we have stayed at Pop before and I really liked it. John...'meh', he says. Just 'meh'. But he'll be happy enough when we get there. And he was definitely happy with the savings. 
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