Making Good on a Very Merry Promise! COMPLETE!

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Links to all updates listed below!
Links to Trip Report also listed below! Feel free to join in!


I will start off by saying Hi! I'm Nicole and I am a DIS addict... more specifically, a TR addict. I'm a stay at home Mom ~ for now ~ and I have lots of time on my hands to Dis. I was introduced to this wonderful place several years ago by my BIL (he's my family's resident Disney expert and also a diser). Anyway, at that time I was planning our first trip to the world with our kids. BIL gave me books, brochures, maps, lots of advice and told me to check out wdwinfo.com. So, I did. I read everything on there... twice. Then I ventured onto the message boards and thought OMG... there are crazy people on there talking to people they don't even KNOW! I was scared (I know! ) and that was kind of the end of that. For the time being. And we went to the world without a real plan . I'll fill you in on that in a bit but here's a teaser.... the ER was involved!

Here is where I will introduce my fam...

There's me, Nicole. And yes, I really do love Buzz and Woody and Jessie and all things Toy Story. Like I said I'm a SAHM but an early childhood teacher by trade. I've stayed at home since my almost 11 year old came along and I wouldn't trade it for the world. But all my kids are in school now and it's time for me to do something that pays actual money for my time! So, I am going to start substitute teaching ~ it's the only job where they call me to work and I can actually say "no thank you" if I have a sick kid at home. I am living and breathing Disney right now ~ 24/7!

Then there's my DH, Tom... truly the love of my life and my very best friend. He is self-admittedly a stick in the mud. But not really. He will have a great time at Disney ~ he just has no interest in immersing himself into the planning, dreaming, talking about it all the time. He'd make a terrible diser! He is shocked that I "talk" to people I don't know and even more shocked that I will don a LGMHPC at Disney and hope I get Fockered! (I've come a loooonng way baby!)

Now onto my kids...

There's my DD, Abby. She is almost 11 and was a very princessy little girly girl. Our first trip to the world was spent persuing princesses. Now she's kind of over that and more into HSM and Hannah Montana.

Last but not least are my sons. My little men. They are 6 (yes, twins) and are beside themselves giddy about this trip. Evan is a Star Wars fanatic and insists he is now old enough to ride Star Tours. He loves nothing better than sitting with his dad and watching a Star Wars movie. Owen is a CARS freak! Actually, he loves vehicles of any kind. He's been known to ask people if they will pop the hood of their car so he can take a look at the motor! I don't get it but my DH does and he loves it.

And did I mention... we're going to Disney World!!! This trip is a long time coming. Our first trip was 4 long years ago in Dec. of '03. That was a tough year for us. My MIL died after a brief and very unexpected illness on New Year's Day. Christmas was very sad for us because she was dying. My DD (she was 6 at the time) was very close to her and losing her was so hard.
After months of greiving and coping, late that summer, we were at my sisters/BIL house and they were talking about yet another trip they had
taken to WDW. On our way home we decided we'd start looking into going. We did have some inheritance money and we thought my MIL would be thrilled if we used some of it for this reason. We thought the boys might be too young but then we found out they were FREE! That sealed the deal. We were going while my DD was still into princesses! I planned our trip mostly through my BIL, the disney website, Birnbaum's and wdwinfo. (The DIS was for hard core crazy people, remember!) We booked our trip for Dec. 27 through Jan. 1 so my DD wouldn't miss school plus we thought having this at Christmas would make getting through the holiday a little easier. We flew down and stayed at the Contemporary. We wanted to "do it right!" and we did. We had a tower room with a view of the castle and felt like the nightly fireworks were just for us. It was beautiful!

Up next: You want us to get up at what time?!? AND... is there and ER nearby?


NOW LINKED FOR YOUR TRIP READING PLEASURE!!! It's true! Even old dogs can learn new tricks!

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TRIP REPORT STARTS HERE!

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PHOTOPASS UPDATE

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[carri5317]

Great Start! When I frist read your post I thought you said you had six twin boys LOL And I couldn't imagine you poor thing, then I re-read and figured it out I am addicted to the dis too! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Great Start! When I frist read your post I thought you said you had six twin boys LOL And I couldn't imagine you poor thing, then I re-read and figured it out I am addicted to the dis too! Can't wait to hear more!

SIX twin boys - that'd be the end of me! And thanks for reading!! Now if I could just figure out how to put a link in my siggie! If anyone can give me the "idiots" version I'd be so thankful!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

Hi Nicole. I am here

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Hi Nicole. I am here

Welcome! It's funny that I feel like I have people coming to visit my house for the first time! I shoulda cleaned up a little bit!

 

[Poohtigeey]

I told you I could be persuasive! Where's the pictures? Kimmy and I don't read reports w/ out pictures! Well, I'll make an exception for you! I'm here and ready for more! I can't wait to hear where you're staying this time!!!!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I told you I could be persuasive! Where's the pictures? Kimmy and I don't read reports w/ out pictures! Well, I'll make an exception for you! I'm here and ready for more! I can't wait to hear where you're staying this time!!!!

Persuasive you are! And you taught me almost everything I know!
I just uploaded a pic from our first trip ... coming up... I hope!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

UPDATE HERE!

Well... since I've got some peeps, I'll write some more!

So, I mentioned that we went without a real plan the first time. But I did have one lonely little ADR... at Chef Mickey's! At 7:30 am... on our first morning... after travelling all day and getting in kinda late the night before. Plus... I had no idea how my kids would react to the characters! Turns out my kids were less than thrilled with those characters coming up and talking to them! Minnie came up next to Owen and he scrambled to get away from her! She put her hands on her hips and shook her head at him. It was cute. But I'll admit I sat there thinking we've spent thousands of dollars to come to the happiest place on earth and my kids are terrified!

Lesson #1 ~ Character meals are NOT to be done FIRST thing!

Against all advice we went to the MK on the first day - a Monday, no less.
I've never in all my life seen so many people! We tried to do some things we really wanted to do but we were very frustrated and exhausted by the end of day one. So we called it an early night. Back at the hotel the boys got a second wind and were jumping on the bed! Just as I said, "No jump...", Owen tripped and SMACK! He took a header right onto the corner of the night stand! There was blood... and screaming... and panicking. He needed stitches, of that we were sure. So we all piled into the rental car and went to the ER. It was FILLED with people with the FLU!!! It took 6 hours for them to see him and "glue" him back together.

After this point we decided that we had to stop trying to go commando on this vacation! That we were just wearing ourselves out. That we would come back and see more next time. So we chilled from there and really did enjoy the rest of our trip. Here's a pic of us with none other than my faves.

Sorry, not the greatest quality because I had to scan it. I'll post some more pics later that are hopefully better and also recent. (If I keep posting pics like that I will have no "privacy worries" whatsoever! )
Thanks for reading!!!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

I told you I could be persuasive! Where's the pictures? Kimmy and I don't read reports w/ out pictures! Well, I'll make an exception for you! I'm here and ready for more! I can't wait to hear where you're staying this time!!!!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

Hey I just realized that we were at Disney the EXACT same time as you in 2003! My birthday is Dec 31, and I always wanted to be there for my birthday. We could only afford 3 nights (that time of the year) we stayed at WL. How cool! Were you at MK for New years eve?

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

That's cool! Were the crowds not CRAZY? But it is so pretty!
We were not at MK for NYE... I can't remember where we went that day but I know we were in bed early that night because we wanted to get up and get to MK for EMH in the morning... we were on a mission to ride Pooh! I did watch the fireworks from the hotel window and couldn't believe my kids were sleeping through it! It was so loud because we were so close. But they were just tuckered out and I think a train could've gone through the room and they wouldn't have stirred.

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

That's cool! Were the crowds not CRAZY? But it is so pretty!
We were not at MK for NYE... I can't remember where we went that day but I know we were in bed early that night because we wanted to get up and get to MK for EMH in the morning... we were on a mission to ride Pooh! I did watch the fireworks from the hotel window and couldn't believe my kids were sleeping through it! It was so loud because we were so close. But they were just tuckered out and I think a train could've gone through the room and they wouldn't have stirred.

I would say the crowds were BEYOND CRAZY! We had a wonderful trip though. We were at the MK at 8 AM and didn't leave until almost 2AM the next morning. They actually had to close the park down that day by 10 AM because they were at max capacity!! It was my best trip to date!! We had such a great time. We were expecting it to be a mad zoo, so it was fine. I was right in front of the castle for the fireworks at midnite!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I would say the crowds were BEYOND CRAZY! We had a wonderful trip though. We were at the MK at 8 AM and didn't leave until almost 2AM the next morning. They actually had to close the park down that day by 10 AM because they were at max capacity!! It was my best trip to date!! We had such a great time. We were expecting it to be a mad zoo, so it was fine. I was right in front of the castle for the fireworks at midnite!

OMG... that totally reminded me that we were talking with some flu victims at the ER that night and they were staying off-prop and couldn't get into the MK even though that is why they had come to Orlando. That's where my fear of staying off-prop began!

 

[kindakrazy2]

I'm here Buzz!

Thanks for starting a pre-trippie! Now I can obsess about your trip!

Keep it coming!

Oh, and I like pictures too! HAhahahaha!!!!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I'm here Buzz!

Thanks for starting a pre-trippie! Now I can obsess about your trip!

Keep it coming!

Oh, and I like pictures too! HAhahahaha!!!!

Hi Sarah! I'm glad you're here! Would you like pictures that you can actually make us out in? I'm working on that! I just learned how to use photobucket and post pics! So, I've got a lot of uploading to do!

 

[kindakrazy2]

Yeah for photobucket! Bring on the pics!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

I'm on board too! Sorry about your MIL. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know the money was spend on great family fun! My absolute favorite resort is the Contemporary! Not that I get there much - we stayed as kids a few times and we went for a weekend last year. Just feels like Disney to me there!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I'm on board too! Sorry about your MIL. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know the money was spend on great family fun! My absolute favorite resort is the Contemporary! Not that I get there much - we stayed as kids a few times and we went for a weekend last year. Just feels like Disney to me there!

Aw, thanks Michelle and welcome! Thank you for reading!

I really liked the Contemporary too. Having the monorail right there was just awesome! And to see the castle from our window... . Hmmm... are we staying there this time?

 

[kindakrazy2]

OH come on! You have to at least tell us that much!

 

[cherbear]

I LOVE that you started this....it's great to get to know more about the people that are reading my report.