The Silly and Mischievous Canucks do Christmas - Dec 2015 PTR - Update 12/13

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[KathyM2]

OMG I want that holiday spice cupcake!! Looks divine!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Can't believe it is soooo close !! Those cupcakes look devine !!!

 

[vleeth]

Nope, no packing yet. I am a terrible last minute packer. I'm hoping that this trip I will be packed at least by the morning before we leave rather than still throwing stuff in my suitcase minutes before departure.

I plan to do most of my packing this weekend..lol

 

[Steppesister]

YOU'RE SO CLOSE!!

How's packing going??

 

[Elevationist]

I saw that information about this year's Christmas Party was posted. I read about some of the yummy treats that will be on offer. Of interest to me are the cupcakes. First is the Holiday Bear Cupcake with vanilla cake with peanut butter chips and chocolate frosting from The Main Street Bakery.

This looks adorable! And sounds delicious! I need to eat this!

The other cupcake that sounds amazing is located in Gaston's Tavern. It is a Holiday Tree cupcake. It is made with spiced cake and infused with orange zest, cinnamon, clove and star anise—topped with sprinkles, buttercream icing and an edible star. Sounds amazing!

I need to eat this, too! Cupcake-palooza at MVMCP!

 

[emmaca]

21 more days!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

YOU'RE SO CLOSE!!

How's packing going??

it's not. i hate packing and delay as long as possible. I'm also waiting until we get a bit closer so I can see the projected weather.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Two and a half weeks until vacation!

My December/January schedule finally got released on Sunday and it is now 100% confirmed I have my vacation time off. That's a relief! I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem but you never know!

Looking at the current Orlando weather it looks like it is pretty warm down there. If it stays that way we will not have to pack any cold weather clothing. Good thing I haven't switched over my closet yet!

I've been thinking about our arrival day plans. Right now we are scheduled to have dinner at Minnie's Holiday Dine and see Fantasmic. I've been reading reviews about this meal and have begun to question it. The food looks and sounds mediocre, the restaurant is not really decorated and the character holiday outfits are kinda blah. So it doesn't feel it is worth the $50+ per person. I haven't cancelled it yet as I am still reading reviews to get a better idea of the meal. If I cancel it though not sure what we will do on arrival day. Perhaps I will make it an Epcot afternoon instead or maybe a Downtown Disney/resort/pool day?

 

[vleeth]

Looking at the current Orlando weather it looks like it is pretty warm down there. If it stays that way we will not have to pack any cold weather clothing. Good thing I haven't switched over my closet yet!

I've been thinking about our arrival day plans. Right now we are scheduled to have dinner at Minnie's Holiday Dine and see Fantasmic. I've been reading reviews about this meal and have begun to question it. The food looks and sounds mediocre, the restaurant is not really decorated and the character holiday outfits are kinda blah. So it doesn't feel it is worth the $50+ per person. I haven't cancelled it yet as I am still reading reviews to get a better idea of the meal. If I cancel it though not sure what we will do on arrival day. Perhaps I will make it an Epcot afternoon instead or maybe a Downtown Disney/resort/pool day?

My daughter would be so happy if it were warm enough to swim. I have a bag with swim stuff and towels packed separately. I'll decide a day or two before we leave if I will take it.

We officially dropped ours. Between the characters not signing and me not being in love with the outfits and the decor, it was just not worth the price.

 

[emmaca]

Long term weather forecast for December as per Accuweather.com for Orlando, Looks like nice weather, let see if it will hold.
High Low precip Snow Forecast Avg. Hi Avg. Lo
Tue
12/1/2015 73° 61° 0 in 0 in

Colder with a chance of rain 75° 57°
Wed
12/2/2015 78° 54° 0 in 0 in

Mostly cloudy, rain possible 75° 57°
Thu
12/3/2015 73° 46° 0 in 0 in

Mostly sunny 74° 57°
Fri
12/4/2015 75° 55° 0.17 in 0 in

T-storms in the afternoon 74° 57°
Sat
12/5/2015 74° 53° 0 in 0 in

Plenty of clouds 74° 56°
Sun
12/6/2015 74° 55° 0 in 0 in

Partly sunny 74° 56°
Mon
12/7/2015 74° 55° 0 in 0 in

Considerable cloudiness 74° 56°
Tue
12/8/2015 79° 56° 0 in 0 in

Considerable cloudiness 73° 56°
Wed
12/9/2015 79° 58° 0.22 in 0 in

Cloudy with a little rain 73° 56°
Thu
12/10/2015 79° 57° 0.27 in 0 in

Rain becoming steadier 73° 55°
Fri
12/11/2015 78° 57° 0 in 0 in

Mostly sunny 73° 55°
Sat
12/12/2015 78° 48° 0 in 0 in

Sun and clouds 73° 55°

 

[vleeth]

I could do without the steadier rain on the 10th, but I"m loving the temps!

 

[emmaca]

I could do without the steadier rain on the 10th, but I"m loving the temps!

I am hoping that the rain holds off, we always seem to get the rain (days of rain) when we go, I am looking forward to the cooler temps, does anyone know if it humidity hangs around in December. We were at Disney on Christmas Day back in 1998 or 1999 I think and it was pouring rain, cool temp, overcast skies for the 3 days we were there. We ended up leaving MK dues to the crowds and went to Blizzard Beach, I think we had the whole park to ourselves, we were wet already from the rain, so we decided to stay wet and go to the waterpark. At the end of it all, I ended up with pneumonia. I am so ready to go, super busy with work and trying to get things wrapped up over the next 2 weeks.

 

[Steppesister]

I think $50 pp on ANY meal is a lot, but one that isn't what you'd thought it was would be terrible! I hope you feel like you've made the right decision whatever you end up doing, Lessa!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

My daughter would be so happy if it were warm enough to swim. I have a bag with swim stuff and towels packed separately. I'll decide a day or two before we leave if I will take it.

We officially dropped ours. Between the characters not signing and me not being in love with the outfits and the decor, it was just not worth the price.

I'm really hoping to swim and get some sun. \

I've decided to drop the meal. We have two other opportunities for Santa Goofy - Hollywood Studios and the Christmas Party and hopefully we can snag photos with some others in Christmas outfits at the party or in the parks.

I think $50 pp on ANY meal is a lot, but one that isn't what you'd thought it was would be terrible! I hope you feel like you've made the right decision whatever you end up doing, Lessa!!

I agree that $50 is a lot and if I am going to spend that I have decided I would rather spend it at a Signature Restaurant and get a quality meal.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Two Weeks until Vacation!

Got a few emails from Disney this week about our vacation. The first was somewhat bad news. Somehow it escaped my notice that work was going to be done on the pool at AKL during our trip. It won't be closed for the whole trip, just Monday-Wednesday, but a little disappointing. There is always the pool at the Villas if we really want to go for a swim on those days.

The other email was basically advertising special add-ons for the trip that we could choose such as a private photo session or a safari and meal at Jiko. Mom has been bugging us about getting a "nice" family photo without Mouse Ears or graphic t-shirts. The photo session though is rather spendy at $400 for an hour at a location of our choosing in park or at a resort and professional retouching or $180 or 20 minutes at Grand Floridian, Beach Club or Animal Kingdom Lodge. Not sure I want to spend that kind of money... I was hoping we could dress up nicely and get a photopass picture in front of a resort Christmas tree or if no photographer ask a nice stranger to take our picture.

In other non-Disney news I have officially booked my trip to Turkey for April. I will be traveling with my Dad and Alek. I am very excited for the trip and almost all my spare time has been consumed with researching and planning. I have found us some pretty neat hotels to stay in. Definitely no vanilla Holiday Inn type hotels for us. My co-worlkers have joked that they don't know anybody else who goes on as many vacations as I do.

 

[vleeth]

That is a bit much for pictures. We plan to do the same thing. Hopefully we get a good pic on our first day. I plan to order Christmas card pictures on my off day.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That is a bit much for pictures. We plan to do the same thing. Hopefully we get a good pic on our first day. I plan to order Christmas card pictures on my off day.

I'm really hoping that there are photopass photographers at some of the Deluxe resort trees so that we can get a picture that has all the settings correct so the we and the tree can look good in the photo.

So exciting! Plus a good vacation has been earned after your extra hard work!


Hopefully it turns out as well as the food court renovation that was at the ASMu on my last stay. Disney had extra busses running to the other All Star food courts, and it really turned out well. Im sure that they will have a plan in place.

The email did say that there would be a shuttle to take people to the pool at the villas so hopefully won't be a huge issue.

! What do these other people do on vacations? PJ days every day, and then just back to work?

Most of them will take a vacation to Cuba or some other island. I think that they were commenting on the fact that in one year i will have been to Italy, BC, Disney and now Turkey.

 

[emmaca]

Most of them will take a vacation to Cuba or some other island. I think that they were commenting on the fact that in one year i will have been to Italy, BC, Disney and now Turkey.

You forgot about the trip to see the family in the summer. 1 week and 6 days!! until vacation and 8 days left of work!!