***Official Jan 2018 Thread****

[IvyWinter]

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas that celebrates it! I am itching for my trip; believe magic bands should be arriving at my friends place soon!

 

[TheCakePopLady]

12 days!

Is it too soon to go wait at the airport? Lol

 

[MinMou]

Our trip reveal was a big flop too . I got a bigger response over a home science kit and an Ariel toothbrush! I just don't think they understand. They are 4 and 6 and have never been. This only fueled my husbands fire as he has objected to this vacation from the very beginning stating our kids are too young to enjoy or remember it. Big let down. Hopefully I can build the excitements over the next 33 days!

My son loves the Eye Found It game we got him for Christmas, and that is building up the excitement. He doesn't like to do the searches, just likes the race to the castle!!
Don't let your husband put a damper on your enthusiasm - your girls WILL remember, and when they forget, you will have pictures to remind them!!! My son was 2 for his first trip, and when he doesn't remember everything, he LOVES looking at the pictures of our trip.

 

[MinMou]

Our Magic Bands arrived today, and DH said, "You're really excited about this", as if I was a toddler. I looked at him, and said, "I am VERY excited that these are here, because they represent access to EVERYTHING to do with our vacation!".
Him: "So this replaces all those different tickets for all the rides?" (He is thinking back to days of E-tickets!!!)
Me: "These replace EVERYTHING! Our park tickets, our room keys, our photo pass, our dinner reservations! I won't have to walk around with all sorts of papers and cards!"
Him: "Will this have our FastPasses too?"
And then he realized that we need to keep those bands in a safe place.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Magic Band Day for us, too!! Time to start packing!

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

So exciting that everyone's trips are getting so close!

I got the e-mail that my magic bands shipped this morning!

 

[JediBonas]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10214637122112688

Not sure if that works but I TRIED to embed our reveal from Christmas Eve.

 

[JediBonas]

 

[wehrengrizz]

Our reveal for the trip was a success! We did presents under the tree and stockings, ate breakfast (I found frozen Mickey waffles at the store! They were horrendous tasting, but the kids thought they looked cool ) and then DH said he wanted to show the kids a "year in review" video. This consisted of about 10 pictures, less than 3 min long When we were in Arizona for Thanksgiving, our kids got to open a Disney Store !!!!! We don't have one closer than 4 hours away to us, so I couldn't believe we were the first ones there! The awesome CM helped me record a special little video clip for our reveal, and we put that at the end of our year in review! She told the kids they did such a great job opening the store that they need to "pack your pixie dust because Mickey is so excited to see you at Walt Disney World next month!" They were excited to see her and then realized what she said...chaos


We have a bunch of little stuff for them like pin back locks, and magic band "belts" to keep them from popping open, a few little travel games etc. but decided instead of overwhelming them with a box of stuff on top of everything, we're parceling it out. We have a lego star wars advent calendar that we saved, so we're using it in reverse as a countdown, and putting a note in select days so that they can open the goodies throughout the month. I'm calling it a win.

We still have to finalize FP+ (this is killing me but we have all the major ones secured, and then the kids are going to pick some/move some around...I wanted to give them some choices but no way do they get full control!!)

DH and I were struggling for a good way to surprise the kids and it worked out well, so I'm really glad we're spreading it out! Now for packing, and finishing up family tshirts...it will never end lol

 

[wehrengrizz]

View attachment 290487

This was one of our shirt ideas too! LOVE this image <3

 

[Scooter2376]

Cute pic, JediBonas! Glad your trip reveal was a success, wehrengrizz! I can empathize with your trip reveal flops though, melbelle75 and DISfirstTimer. Last Christmas I wrapped up our Magic Bands and surprised my then-5-year-old with a trip to WDW last January. He was totally unexcited by the reveal, but had a fantastic time. In fact, we all had such a great time that we're headed back at the exact same time in 2018, but I didn't bother trying to surprise him this time.

18 days to go! I STILL don't have my DME tags though. I've been stalking the mail carrier. And obsessively checking the weather forecast . . .

 

[Rmurphy005]

You should call and let them know that you did not receive them yet. They won't be able to tell what day the originals shipped but they will just send out new ones for you. I did that and got them about 5 days later.

 

[Rmurphy005]

I STILL don't have my DME tags though. I've been stalking the mail carrier.

You should call and let them know that you did not receive them yet. They won't be able to tell what day the originals shipped but they will just send out new ones for you. I did that and got them about 5 days later.

 

[k8Davies]

Well done all of you on keeping the Christmas reveals so secret ( I am totally rubbish as keep surprises under wraps) and yay now you can all talk about your amazing trips.

And for the little ones who did quite get it I am positive that near the time they will get super excited to see Mickey.

I spent Christmas ill, and still not great now, boo but I keep thinking well at least if I've got a winter illness now I should be all better in time for my Holiday, which cheered me up.

3 weeks today till my trip, so excited

 

[Scooter2376]

You should call and let them know that you did not receive them yet. They won't be able to tell what day the originals shipped but they will just send out new ones for you. I did that and got them about 5 days later.

DME luggage tags just came today! Nothing left to do except pack and check the weather forecast. Fingers tightly crossed for warm weather!

 

[Jon84]

16 days left, actually can't wait.

Even though it's not going to be hot in FL, it'll be much warmer than it has been here in the UK

 

[ginny_lynn]

Hello! We are going to Disney Jan 24-31 staying at All Star Sports. It is myself, my mother and my son. 27 days! We cannot wait! Being from Nova Scotia I am already checking weather predictions for here and praying we get to fly out without any issues. We haven't been to Florida in 2.5 years. So excited to be going back!!

 

[DISfirstTimer]

How many days prior should I make my Touring Plans room request? Does anyone also phone and speak with a CM? This our first trip so its all new to use. We are staying at AKL in a standard room and I'm hoping to get lucky with partial savanna view.

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

How many days prior should I make my Touring Plans room request? Does anyone also phone and speak with a CM? This our first trip so its all new to use. We are staying at AKL in a standard room and I'm hoping to get lucky with partial savanna view.

You can make your TP request now and they will fax it to the resort. I have never phoned. Make sure to make your room requests on my disney experience also.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is amazing! We stayed there our first trip. You will love it.

 

[MinMou]

You can make your TP request now and they will fax it to the resort. I have never phoned. Make sure to make your room requests on my disney experience also.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is amazing! We stayed there our first trip. You will love it.

We had made our room request when we booked. How do we add it - or check it - on MDE?
I made the mistake of letting our TA put the reservation in DH's name, (but I am the one who does all the leg work), so MDE hasnt been very cooperative.