A Newlywed's Very Merry PTR! December 2013 Updated 5/5!!!

[CtinaDitty]

Hi there! My name is Chrissy and my husband and I are planning... oh, who am I kidding? I am planning our Christmas vacation to Disney World in December of 2013!

The Dates:
Check-in: December 2nd, 2013
Check-out: December 7th, 2013

The Resort:
The Polynesian vs. Wilderness Lodge

What we are celebrating!
We are using this vacation as our last big hoorah before we try and start a family!

The Vacationers!
Me: I am currently 24 years old and I work in banking. I love to sing, read, play with my rescued puppies and cats, and of course hang out with my funny hubby! I am extremely emotional and stress out easily. I am a huge Disney fanatic and have been over twenty times to WDW. It's my favorite place in the world. I LOVE Christmas!

Devan: Devan is also 24 years old. He is an electrician/carpenter. He loves to play Call of Duty (COD, for the cool kids ), play with our rescued puppies and cats, drive his truck affectionately named Betty, and hang out with his goofy wifey. Devan is a very easy going, mellow guy. He doesn't like having a schedule (opposite of me) and has been to WDW three times now (all with me!). Devan is so-so about the holidays. I told him this had better change before we have kids!




Most Recent Trip:
Our Honeymoon , July 22-July 29th, 2012 at the Contemporary Resort

Up Next: The Battle Between Resorts Begins!

Table of Contents!
Introduction!
The Battle Between Resorts Begins!
A Moment of Silence
PTR/TR Obsessed
As Promised!
Happy New Year!
Get To Know Us A Little Better!
Home Projects, Baby Showers, Magic+!
Winter Wonderland
Pop Warner, Restaurants, Big News!
I am now a proud member of...
Narrowed Down Tours/Experiences
A Foot of Snow, Thunder Mountain Queue, and Mr. Baby!
Disney Heartbroken
In Honor of NINE Months!
Rumors!
Disney Fever!
Good News and Bad News
Quick Service Dining!
Life on the Homestead
GUESS WHAT I BOUGHT!!
Mini-PTR Day 1, Part 1: The Land of the Lost
Forgot Link to Day 1, Part 2
Day 1, Part 3: "Hope you don't mind bats!"
Day 2: Judy is Fired!
My First Scheduling Attempt!

[CtinaDitty]

My husband and I feel we chose the wrong resort for our honeymoon. The Contemporary Resort just didn't have that magical feeling we were hoping to find. There were so many problems unfortunately and it really impacted our stay. Granted, this probably happens less than one percent of the time because let's face it... Disney is awesome at what they do. It's why we all love the DISboards. It's why we love Disney! I feel that the unfortunate events we encountered were just a test of our new marriage. If we could handle that without taking it out on each other, we'd be fine. I don't want to dwell on past events so I'll move on!

While on our honeymoon, Devan and I had a fabulous dinner reservation at Narcoossies. Before we sat down for dinner, we decided to tour the Polynesian because that was the other resort we were considering for our honeymoon. While we were there we just got the best vibe! All of the cast members were extremely sweet and complimentary! The theming of the resort is beautiful! We got some amazing pictures that made us look like we went to another world! After that visit, we knew we had chosen the wrong resort for our honeymoon. It clearly should have been the Polynesian.

But, we are going at Christmas time and I am ALL about Christmas. All of the pictures I have seen of the Wilderness Lodge look absolutely beautiful, especially at Christmas time. I've only been to the Wilderness Lodge once before and I was a young kid. The only thing I can remember from that trip is riding the bikes on the trail and catching the boat to MK. My mom told me that I hit a rock or something on my bike and flipped head first over the handle bars. So, that might explain why I can't remember the trip at all! Anyway, the Wilderness Lodge is absolutely beautiful at Christmas time, whereas the Polynesian can only do so much considering its theming.

Here's the catch, we are trying to decide between the Theme Park View Room at the Polynesian and the Club Level Standard Room at the Wilderness Lodge. The price difference between the two with the Dining Plan and Park Hoppers is only $400 and when you have a year to pay for it, $400 isn't much. This brought us to think, if we're doing the dining plan would we really need the Club Level amenities? The biggest pull from the Club Level for us is the ability to have free snacks and pop during the day/evening. If we have the dining plan, we probably won't be hungry enough to want to eat anything else. That's how it was during our honeymoon anyway!

So, in the end we opted for the Polynesian Theme Park View room. I know that secretly my husband wanted to stay here. He made it pretty obvious with how he worded everything. So, I know he's happy about the decision. I think he was just being a good husband when he seemed interested in the Wilderness Lodge because I was really rooting to stay there because of the beauty of Christmas there.

Well, guess what? We can go stay at a tropical location as well as see the Christmas decor at the Disney Parks. I think it's a win win!!

[CtinaDitty]

Today, I’d like to post something a tad bit more serious.
I live in the Kansas City, MO area and I’m sure some of you have heard about the tragedy that included the Chiefs linebacker Javon Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins. Unfortunately, Kasandra lost her life when Belcher shot her multiple times and then took his life at the Chiefs training facility in front of our coach and GM. They left behind a 3 month old baby girl named Zoey Belcher.

I feel Brady Quinn, our Chiefs QB put it best. "It was tough," Brady said. "I think it was an eerie feeling after a win because you don't think that you can win in this situation. The one thing people can hopefully try to take away, I guess, is the relationships they have with people. I know when it happened, I was sitting and, in my head, thinking what I could have done differently.
"When you ask someone how they are doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you really telling the truth?
"We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that's fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us.

"Hopefully people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis."

I take what Brady said to heart. I’ve been in that situation before. I had a friend when I was 16 years old, my softball teammate. She lived a couple of hours from me. She was battling depression but always seemed to try and hide that side of her. I knew she was battling it. One day she called me and said she was in the bathroom with a bunch of pills and a razor ready to end her life. I was two hours away; I couldn’t stop her by being there personally. I had to talk her off the ledge over the phone. My best friend was on the verge of suicide. Unfortunately, her mom found out about it and blamed me and wouldn’t allow us to talk anymore. I caught up with her not too long ago through facebook of all places because I still felt that urge to console her and make sure she was okay. She told me she still had suicidal thoughts but was happy to know I still thought about her.

Was there something else I could have done to prevent her from feeling the way she did? Is there something I could still do to help her feel like she belongs in this world? These thoughts run through my head, especially when I hear of stories like this.

Please, care for your loved ones and really LISTEN to them. You never know when that might make a difference.

I would also like to take a moment of silence for all of the victims of domestic abuse out there.

Thank you.

[CtinaDitty]

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the delay in writing! I swear, I will finish this PTR! I have been a very bad DISer. I must admit, I've been a bit busy with work and family stuff. We are down three people at work right now so I've been the go-to person to work a lot of the extra hours. I have just been mentally exhausted! Not to mention I'm trying to plan my older sister's baby shower! Everyone just received their invitations the day before yesterday! They are super cute! I'll have to post a picture here soon!

I've got to the point where I'm completely obsessed with PTRs and TR. It seems every other sentence starts with... "I read (insert something here) on the DIS boards today." or "So, I was reading the DIS boards today and (insert something here)." It seems the obsession over the trip has officially begun!

As you all know, this is going to be our last trip before we officially try and start a family! So, it's no surprise that I'm a tidbit baby crazy! I mean, with my sister being pregnant (less than 10 weeks to go!) and me planning her shower, not to mention reading a book called "Natural Birth Control" it seems that the only thing on my mind is baby! Not to mention, I just finished a TR and a PTR from amandaluvsgoofy where she was pregnant at Disney TWICE!

Luckily, I'm good at keeping it in around DH so he doesn't go insane for the next 11 months! That's right! We are now 11 months and 2 days away from our trip!! I can't believ we are almost in the 10 month range on my countdown!!

I have started keeping a list of things that I'm interested in doing more research on to see if I want to do them whilest on our trip!! Here is the partial list! Some of it is at my other work computer.

• The Garden Grill (I've heard amazing reviews!)
• Candelight Processional (I love Illuminations and have never heard of this!)
• Starring Rolls Cupcakes!
• Festival of the Lion King (I wanted to do this on the honeymoon but somehow it didn't happen)
• The Finding Nemo Musical
• Wishes Dessert Party

Like I said, this is a very partial list but it's a start! I'm finding, thanks to the DIS boards , there are so many things I haven't experienced before even though I've been so many times! I think once you get older you are interested in more than just the rides and rushing around. Devan is very laid back at Disney and I've had to learn to be more that way there as well.

What are some things that you all like to do at the parks?

[CtinaDitty]

As promised, here is a picture of the baby shower invitation I fashioned with the help of etsy! Haha! I did have to print them myself as well as cut them down to size, so I did do some of the work! I also created the envelope labels from scratch. I don't have a picture of them but I'm so happy with how they turned out and I feel super crafty!



Now, I just have to figure out how to throw a couples' baby shower!

Spoke with the DH today at lunch about our trip to Disney! What did he say he never wanted to do again?

[CtinaDitty]

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

So, last I left off my hubby and I had a discussion at Longhorn Steakhouse about the things we never wanted to do again. I also briefly told you that we had a very bad stay at the Contemporary Resort on our honeymoon which prompted DH’s first answer:

“To not go to the Contemporary”.

It is unfortunate we have such a dislike for that resort. It really is beautiful, but I’m sure we will never stay there again. To have a part of Disney I don’t like is difficult for me to comprehend. Even now, six months later, I still have that bitter taste in my mouth. Ah, enough of the dwelling on the past!
Other than that response he didn’t give me much else, which was exciting! I’m slowly hoping DH becomes more of a Disney fanatic like I am. I know this is a common occurrence on the boards! He just didn’t grow up with Disney like I did. However, I did ask him what he would like to do again (secretly hoping to get some excitement from him about our trip that is still 11 months and 1 day away).

“I really liked the segway tour. It was a lot of fun. I think it’d be worth it to do again especially now that you get a meal with it and an extra hour!”
Whoa! DH knows details about the tour? I mean, yes, I told him the new details months ago, but he actually remembers them?? My mind was blown!
This gave me some hope and excitement that maybe I was rubbing off on him after all! He did, in fact, practically choose our resort.

So, not much has really happened on the vacation front other than that. I’m going to be looking into the segway tours per request of the hubby! I’m also looking at some things we have never done before (such as the Liberty Belle). I’ll have that full list for you soon!

With it being the last day of 2012, I feel it is only tradition to come up with a few New Year’s resolutions. Surprisingly, last year I actually kept them! My biggest resolution was to continue losing weight. I ended up losing 62 pounds between August of 2011 and July of 2012. I then gained about 10 pounds back and am now 9 pounds back down! So, without further ado…

*Continue living a healthier lifestyle
*Become more comfortable with my own body
*Eat out less.
*Start contributing to a baby fund.

I will leave you with this from Neil Gaiman:

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

…I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

…I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

Happy New Year, everyone.

[Disney9.9.10]

I haven't read everything yet, but I'll join in! Happy New Year to you and your husband!

[CtinaDitty]

Originally Posted by Disney9.9.10

I haven't read everything yet, but I'll join in! Happy New Year to you and your husband!

Yay!! My first reader!! I hope you had a great New Years! I'm getting ready to try and do an update to introduce ourselves a little bit better. I got to thinking and my introductions kind of suck! I'm going to head over and check out your PTR as well!!

[CtinaDitty]

So, when looking over my trip report, I realized that my introductions, for lack of a better word, sucked! So, I thought I’d touch base on those a little more!

So, I’ve already told you a little about me, but I’m going to touch more on our history as well as the Disney-side of us.

Devan and I have been together going on six years and married for a little over six months! We have known each other since the seventh grade. We both were in orchestra together all the way up through senior year, when he asked me out after our final orchestra concert of our high school career. It was amazing to start a relationship with my best friend. I think it made it that much more special. We were married July 20th, 2012 and honeymooned at Disney!









We have two dogs, Laila and Ellie.



Laila is a border collie mix…



and Ellie is a Rhodesian Ridgeless Ridgeback…



We rescued them both from our local animal shelter when they were little more than a few months old. Laila will be 11 months old in a few days and Ellie is currently 7 months old.

We also have two cats, Jake and Annabelle.



Jake is a Siamese Mix and Annabelle is a tuxedo kitty. Jake was actually a feral kitten that Devan rescued from the wild while we were dating. We rescued him when he was only four weeks old. Annabelle was adopted from a local shelter, Wayside Waifs. She is a hilarious little thing.

My favorite Disney Character is Eeyore!







My favorite Disney Princess is Rapunzel. Until then it was Belle.

My favorite ride at Disney is Thunder Mountain. This is a ride my dad and I grew up riding together! It was actually my very first roller coaster at three years old! I have also overcome my fear of Tower of Terror (I’m a BIG wimp) and love it as well!



My least favorite ride would be the Stitch ride… I really liked Alien Encounters. When they replaced that with Stitch, I was so upset.


Devan doesn’t really have a favorite Disney character, but if he had to choose one it’d be Genie.

His favorite ride would probably be Expedition Everest or Toy Story Mania.

His leave favorite ride would be It’s a Small World. He gets really creeped out by dolls!

Random Disney Fact About Us: We LOVE our Hidden Mickey’s!

Proof:


So, now you know a little more about us. Hopefully it makes you feel more at ease during my PTR!

[lovethattink]

I love TRs and PTRs too! I'm a Disney "local" but still can't get enough.

Great introductions, both of them. Congratulations on being newly wed and how exciting to be planning a trip before you start a family.

Very pretty shower invitation. She is lucky to have you to plan it for her.

Congrats on choosing the Poly. That's a great resort.

[/QUOTE]

• The Garden Grill (I've heard amazing reviews!)
• Candelight Processional (I love Illuminations and have never heard of this!)
• Starring Rolls Cupcakes!
• Festival of the Lion King (I wanted to do this on the honeymoon but somehow it didn't happen)
• The Finding Nemo Musical
• Wishes Dessert Party

What are some things that you all like to do at the parks?[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

I have a Christmas TR going too. You might find some ideas in there.

We didn't get to do everything we wanted to this holiday season. Things got very busy at the end with the theater and then my son got sick. In between we did get some holiday stuff done.

The glass blown ornaments at Germany were very cool to watch. The storytellers were interesting. The Osborne Lights were fun. The gingerbread displays throughout the world are beautiful.

[wiigirl]

You doggies are SO cute!

[CtinaDitty]

Originally Posted by lovethattink

I love TRs and PTRs too! I'm a Disney "local" but still can't get enough.

Great introductions, both of them. Congratulations on being newly wed and how exciting to be planning a trip before you start a family.

Very pretty shower invitation. She is lucky to have you to plan it for her.

Congrats on choosing the Poly. That's a great resort.

[*]The Garden Grill (I've heard amazing reviews!)[*]Candelight Processional (I love Illuminations and have never heard of this!)[*]Starring Rolls Cupcakes![*]Festival of the Lion King (I wanted to do this on the honeymoon but somehow it didn't happen)[*]The Finding Nemo Musical[*]Wishes Dessert Party


What are some things that you all like to do at the parks?[/QUOTE]

I have a Christmas TR going too. You might find some ideas in there.

We didn't get to do everything we wanted to this holiday season. Things got very busy at the end with the theater and then my son got sick. In between we did get some holiday stuff done.

The glass blown ornaments at Germany were very cool to watch. The storytellers were interesting. The Osborne Lights were fun. The gingerbread displays throughout the world are beautiful.[/QUOTE]

I saw your Christmas TR and will for sure check it out! I didn't know there was a place to watch them make the glass ornaments! I saw that in Italy (real Italy, not Epcot Italy, haha) and was mesmerized!

The Osborn lights are absolutely breathtaking! Devan has yet to see them!!!

[CtinaDitty]

Originally Posted by wiigirl

You doggies are SO cute!

Aw, thanks!! They are such sweethearts and can't believe someone would have just dumped them on the side of the road... I mean, they were just babies and are so loving!

If you keep reading you'll see lots of pictures of them! I can't help it! They're our fur-babies!

[CtinaDitty]

Hey everyone!

So, Devan and I have been doing some home projects! DH and I built our house and moved in in May. We have a sub-basement that we didn’t finish because we had a regular basement that we did. But, we decided that since one of our spare bedrooms is going to be a nursery it would leave us with no guest bedrooms if we didn’t move our computer room somewhere else. So, we decided to finish the sub-basement so we could make our spare bedroom a legit bedroom!

We actually ended up laying our own carpet tiles. DH got them free from the company he works for. These are very much temporary. Here is the sub-basement before we painted:



Here is what it looks like now that we’ve painted! Now, it is a bit messy from moving things around and such, but I love how the color turned out! We will be replacing the carpet and getting new carpet with a cranberry color, at least we think that’s the color we are getting.





Devan even installed a fan for us! He was an electrician for six to seven years so he really knows his stuff! I really like having a crafty husband!



So, that has been keeping us busy! We still have to put some sheet rock up over the unfinished part as well as paint the sheet rock we had to patch due to our little Laila and Ellie chewing holes in the walls when they were babies. But, I’m very excited to get everything moved down there!

We also finally hanged our “LOVE” frames that we bought awhile back.



Now, I just need to pick some pictures from the wedding that I can put in there so we’re not staring at strangers!

As for news on the Disney front, I’m curious as to what you all think of the New FastPass+ Wristband idea. If you’re not familiar, here is the link to the story.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/01/09/di...my-magic-plus/

I think this could be really cool and I hope I get to try it out when we go in 324 days!!! Actually, that sounds depressing.. How about when we go in 10 months and 19 days, 4 hours, and 20 minutes! LOL! I can’t wait to be at the Poly again!!



I will try to get some of my Disney plans up here soon! With my sister’s baby shower as well as something I’m not quite sure I should mention yet going on, I’ve been completely swamped!

I’m hoping to get some ideas for dining out soon!

[CtinaDitty]

So, here is an update only to show you the pure joy that my dogs get from snow. This is the third snow of their lives and it happens to be the third snow since right before Christmas! It's extremely difficult to get the pups inside once they go out in the snow. They just have so much fun! Yesterday was beautiful! 60 degrees in January! Couldn't ask for better! We've actually had quite a spurt of great weather. Today, it's freezing and we have about three to four inches of snow on the ground. This is fairly typical weather in Missouri. What's funny is a lot of the KC Metro area apparently didn't even get a flake of snow. We must have hit the band just right!





I love how pretty our little house looks in the snow!



Anyway, that is all!