wils
<font color=ff6633>Has had Capt. Jack Sparrow on h
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
Your Cast
Jo - age 33 - Planner and Organiser - loves Eeyore, not one for 'big' rides
G - age 35 - Co-conspirator - looking forward to try the newer rides
Molly -age 5 (going on 14) - loves High School Musical and Princesses
Declan - age 2- loves HSM, Hannah Montana! and more age appropriate characters like Mickey, Pooh, Buzz and Little Einsteins
Background
Our last trip was in late 2004 when we celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday at the Magic Kingdom. We learnt a lot as we went along that trip about travelling with a toddler! It was a great trip and Molly still talks about it - I thought her memories were based on the photos and videos we'd taken until recently we saw the big dinosaur in Dinoland at AK on TV and she reminded me we'd sheltered under it in the rain! The plan was to return in 2008 and that is still the plan. We will be staying off site in a villa with G's parents and celebrating Molly's 6th and Declan's 3rd birthdays as well as our 9th Wedding anniversary whilst in Florida (November is a busy month in our household
)
An idea
2007 didn't start the best for us. Nothing major but G and I were both ill and he'd had to have surgery so we were feeling pretty fed up! He had suggested that we could take a trip to WDW with some money that was shortly to be released from a savings plan but I hadn't thought much of it. I had of course started pricing up some visits at different times of the year as you do (If I was anywhere else I'd be embarrassed to mention it but I know I'm amongst friends
) Anyway, at some stage in this process G actually communicated that he had been serious 
so off I went!
Planning
I wasn't too keen on a summer trip and with Molly starting school this year it needed to be holiday time. I had assumed that Christmas would be out of the equation but I tried some dates and saw the price drop significantly if you were willing to travel on Christmas Day. Now, we have not been alone for Christmas ever and whilst I am happy to include everyone in our celebrations the thought of not spending the whole Festive season trying to keep everyone else happy (and getting exhausted in the process) did sound appealing.
So I did what any sensible person would and went ahead and booked it! I did a bit of hunting around and was happy with the prices I booked (but please don't tell me if you've seen it cheaper or if I've done something wrong!)
Our trip
So on Christmas Eve I will be running the Toddler service at a local Church (which I've moved to 2pm this year to give me an extra hour to battle with the traffic). We will then travel down to the Hilton at Gatwick for the night. We are flying out with BA and staying at All Star Music for 8 nights before returning home just before Molly restarts school on the 7th. Part of me thinks we are nuts for doing this but any time at Disney is better than none at all.
As we will return in November 08 I have bought Annual passes for DH, DD and myself (Declan will still be under 3 when we start the next trip). This will give us the option of leaving parks if we need to or doing half days without feeling that we are wasting days on time based tickets.
I managed to get an ADR for CRT for Boxing Day by ringing at 12 on the dots 180days out - what a buzz! I got so excited I gave the cast member my credit card number instead of the phone number he'd asked for.
We also will be breakfasting with Pooh and co as well as doing the Playhouse Disney meal at MGM.
Our strategy is to get to the parks early and leave when we've had enough. I realised that our must dos aren't the big thrill rides (and G can ride them if we are clever with fastpasses) but I know that it will be busy.
A Big Secret
Once the trip became a Christmas one I thought it would be nice not to tell Molly and have Cinderella invite her to the Castle in a Christmas card with a PS of I MEAN TOMORROW! It has been a hard secret to keep including ordering her to go away when I've been on the phone to the US and dealing with her increasing worry that Christmas alone with just us is going to be the most boring ever! Declan is still too young to really understand but as he requests the planning DVD most days I think hell have a great time
Some of our family have kindly given the children $ for Christmas the year and Santa has kindly bought things that are easily packed. The Christmas stockings have lots of things relating to the trip or useful like a kids guide book, park maps (thanks Netty), Disney $s (Netty again ) and most famously the High School Musical Troy pants which I bought on the Girl's Christmas shopping weekend! Needless to say the trip is the kids main gift from us and G and I are exchanging annual passes (I am so excited - I never dreamt I'd ever be a Passholder!)
Single Digit Dance
So here we are. I am still doing Christmas stuff and I have an A4 card commission to complete before we go let alone all the packing. We have decided that we will tell Molly about the trip next Sunday when we will have our Christmas Dinner. This will make packing easier and simplify things on the Monday. So I need to add making a card from Cinderella to my list and maybe one from the Little Einsteins for Declan (Molly worries if she thinks hes being left out)
So enough chatting (sorry its turned into an essay) and on with some jobs!
Merry Christmas
Coming Next
*The big reveal
*Can Declan beat his sister's record and sleep for less than 15 minutes on the outbound flight?
Jo - age 33 - Planner and Organiser - loves Eeyore, not one for 'big' rides
G - age 35 - Co-conspirator - looking forward to try the newer rides
Molly -age 5 (going on 14) - loves High School Musical and Princesses
Declan - age 2- loves HSM, Hannah Montana! and more age appropriate characters like Mickey, Pooh, Buzz and Little Einsteins
Background
Our last trip was in late 2004 when we celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday at the Magic Kingdom. We learnt a lot as we went along that trip about travelling with a toddler! It was a great trip and Molly still talks about it - I thought her memories were based on the photos and videos we'd taken until recently we saw the big dinosaur in Dinoland at AK on TV and she reminded me we'd sheltered under it in the rain! The plan was to return in 2008 and that is still the plan. We will be staying off site in a villa with G's parents and celebrating Molly's 6th and Declan's 3rd birthdays as well as our 9th Wedding anniversary whilst in Florida (November is a busy month in our household
)An idea
2007 didn't start the best for us. Nothing major but G and I were both ill and he'd had to have surgery so we were feeling pretty fed up! He had suggested that we could take a trip to WDW with some money that was shortly to be released from a savings plan but I hadn't thought much of it. I had of course started pricing up some visits at different times of the year as you do (If I was anywhere else I'd be embarrassed to mention it but I know I'm amongst friends
) Anyway, at some stage in this process G actually communicated that he had been serious so off I went!Planning
I wasn't too keen on a summer trip and with Molly starting school this year it needed to be holiday time. I had assumed that Christmas would be out of the equation but I tried some dates and saw the price drop significantly if you were willing to travel on Christmas Day. Now, we have not been alone for Christmas ever and whilst I am happy to include everyone in our celebrations the thought of not spending the whole Festive season trying to keep everyone else happy (and getting exhausted in the process) did sound appealing.
So I did what any sensible person would and went ahead and booked it! I did a bit of hunting around and was happy with the prices I booked (but please don't tell me if you've seen it cheaper or if I've done something wrong!)
Our trip
So on Christmas Eve I will be running the Toddler service at a local Church (which I've moved to 2pm this year to give me an extra hour to battle with the traffic). We will then travel down to the Hilton at Gatwick for the night. We are flying out with BA and staying at All Star Music for 8 nights before returning home just before Molly restarts school on the 7th. Part of me thinks we are nuts for doing this but any time at Disney is better than none at all.
As we will return in November 08 I have bought Annual passes for DH, DD and myself (Declan will still be under 3 when we start the next trip). This will give us the option of leaving parks if we need to or doing half days without feeling that we are wasting days on time based tickets.
I managed to get an ADR for CRT for Boxing Day by ringing at 12 on the dots 180days out - what a buzz! I got so excited I gave the cast member my credit card number instead of the phone number he'd asked for.
We also will be breakfasting with Pooh and co as well as doing the Playhouse Disney meal at MGM.
Our strategy is to get to the parks early and leave when we've had enough. I realised that our must dos aren't the big thrill rides (and G can ride them if we are clever with fastpasses) but I know that it will be busy.
A Big Secret
Once the trip became a Christmas one I thought it would be nice not to tell Molly and have Cinderella invite her to the Castle in a Christmas card with a PS of I MEAN TOMORROW! It has been a hard secret to keep including ordering her to go away when I've been on the phone to the US and dealing with her increasing worry that Christmas alone with just us is going to be the most boring ever! Declan is still too young to really understand but as he requests the planning DVD most days I think hell have a great time
Some of our family have kindly given the children $ for Christmas the year and Santa has kindly bought things that are easily packed. The Christmas stockings have lots of things relating to the trip or useful like a kids guide book, park maps (thanks Netty), Disney $s (Netty again
) and most famously the High School Musical Troy pants which I bought on the Girl's Christmas shopping weekend! Needless to say the trip is the kids main gift from us and G and I are exchanging annual passes (I am so excited - I never dreamt I'd ever be a Passholder!)Single Digit Dance
So here we are. I am still doing Christmas stuff and I have an A4 card commission to complete before we go let alone all the packing. We have decided that we will tell Molly about the trip next Sunday when we will have our Christmas Dinner. This will make packing easier and simplify things on the Monday. So I need to add making a card from Cinderella to my list and maybe one from the Little Einsteins for Declan (Molly worries if she thinks hes being left out)
So enough chatting (sorry its turned into an essay) and on with some jobs!
Merry Christmas
Coming Next
*The big reveal
*Can Declan beat his sister's record and sleep for less than 15 minutes on the outbound flight?
please try and get us some pics of the reveal Jo !! im hoping the kids sleep on the plane 
Really looking forward to hearing about the big reveal.
