Nineteen nights of MouseFest, Disney and Christmas - THREAD 1 - UPDATED 1/11 About This Page:

[lauren-roxy]

Glad everything with the resorts worked out Cheryl!!

[MickeyMAC]

Great update. Don't tell me your niece has now changed her mind. Take her to Chef Mickey's she'll see all of them.

[DyanKJ130]

The new arrangements look much more manageable and a whole lot less stressful! Can't wait to hear more

[award]

We will definitely say hi if we see you guys!!! Uhoh sounds like your niece has a different favorite character do I see ADR changes in your future?? Ready for more!

[MontiMouse]

Glad to hear you got the room situation sorted out - that would have been a whole lot of moving around otherwise!! I am right with you in the lack of patience department. Waiting is not something I like doing at all.

Can't wait to hear all about your ADR's! Being at Disney for nearly 3 weeks means lots and lots and lots of great meals .

[Grammy Grumpy]

Sorry we won't be bumping into you at SSR, but our paths WILL meet, I assure you!!

[PrincessSharon]

Glad you got your resort situation sorted out! And how that you've got so many PP meets scheduled! I'm looking forward to meeting you at one of them Hurry back with the dining details.

[chezp]

Pre-trip report – part four: what do you mean, you now like Minnie????

A couple of weeks later, I also phoned up to book some behind the scenes tours. We decided to try out Wild by Design for the first time and also do the Yuletide Fantasy tour again. We’d loved that, but because we took the tour on Christmas Eve before, the holiday warehouse was closed. Now I know that we won’t see much in there, but we’d like the opportunity to see it and, besides, it was something that Mark’s mum Barb wanted to do, so it seemed a great idea to try it again.

Then we decided to do the Segway tour – for the second time for me and the third time for Mark. We opted for the earliest tour on the first full day we’d be there, knowing that, with our jet lag, we were bound to be up sickening early. After booking that for 7.45, I jokingly mentioned it to Sue and said how cool it would be if she, Steve, Bill and Jan were to join us. I never in a million years thought they would – I mean, who in their right minds would get up to do a Segway tour at 7.45 on a Sunday morning? Well, apparently they would! I got a message from Sue, just called Segway tour, which said they were all booked – now how much fun is that going to be?

Of course, I’m never happy if I’m not planning, so eventually in August, we decided that we should make some plans for our days at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. After much debate about whether to take a backstage tour at SeaWorld, we decided to go with the Dine with Shamu option, as that sounded like a lot of fun and that would be lunch sorted for the day. I was also figured that as we haven’t been there in five days, there’d be a lot to see in a day, so I didn’t want to eat into any of that time with a tour, even if it would only be an hour.

For our Busch Gardens day, we went for the Saving a Species tour, during which we’d go backstage and see rhinos, which sounded like a lot of fun. Again, there were lots of different options to pick from, so it was a hard choice to make. All the theme parks have obviously realised the market that’s available to them for backstage tours, as there are a lot available now.

And still there were changes and additions to be made. Early in September, we got an e-mail from Angie, with the subject line as “Okay so now that I’m back from Disney”... with the first line going on to say “I can start thinking about getting back there in December”. By the time we’d finished, she was joining us for a couple of meals and the Christmas Party and might even be coming with us to spend the day at Universal.

The next challenge came at 90 days out and securing an Illuminations cruise. As anyone who knows us can testify, Mark loves Illuminations and always wants to get a cruise. I do keep explaining that it’s easier said than done, but this time we did really strike lucky. We discussed with Wendy whether to get a cruise for the night they were in Disney and decided to go for it – the two of us tried, as it was a Sunday and I could call from home, and I snagged one! I couldn’t believe it!

Even better was to come a few days later. We’d agreed with Claudine that we’d try for one with her as well and had a couple of dates in mind. This time, it was Marnie, previously Queen of the Illuminations cruises, and Claudine trying and guess who snagged one? The new owner of the title Queen of the Illuminations cruises is now officially Claudine! So we were set – and would now be taking two Illuminations cruises during December.

By this time, as everyone who was waiting eagerly to book at these restaurants will know you still couldn’t make ADR’s at Tutto Italia, Yak and Yeti or Tusker House. Eventually a Cast Member persuaded me to book a Candlelight Processional package at Tutto Italia, telling me they didn’t know if they would even open ordinary booking for the restaurant during December and they may just rely on the packages. Well, OK then. One down...

As we (not so!) patiently waited to get into the other two, we had another family gathering and someone asked Hannah what her favourite character was. Now remember that she stunned us all last time by declaring Donald Duck? Guess what? He wasn’t her favourite any more. Typical! Three months out and the toad decides she prefers Minnie Mouse. Thanks to Wendy one phone call later and we were all booked in for breakfast at the Cape May Cafe on Christmas Day morning. Lucky escape! Not long afterwards, booking opened for Tusker House and hey, we weren’t going to miss that, even if our niece didn’t like Donald any more – we still did. We booked it for the two of us to give it a go.

It was late October when I got notification through from Virgin Atlantic of a change in time to our outgoing flight. Instead of leaving at 10.45 and getting in at 3.10, we’d now be half an hour later going out. That really annoyed me, as if all things were equal, the British Airways flight, that gets in at 3.25 would now be first in, which would mean long lines for customs. Great – and we would only have two hours between landing and dinner at Spoodles... this could be tight. We’ll have to see how we get on. If you happen to be in Orlando International Airport that day and see a couple racing through the terminal building, you’ll know that it’s us!

All the time, we were adding things in – perhaps meets with fellow PassPorters and, after reading Melissa’s trip report, I decided that we’d also get a photo session booked through Gifts of a Lifetime. I loved the professional photos that we got on our cruise around the Med and wanted more of the same. After chatting things through, we agreed on an afternoon, where we’d meet at the Beach Club, get some photos around our favourite resort and then head to Epcot.

Then there was ICE at the Gaylord Palms Resort as well – boy, for a trip that was going to have some free time and not be too commando, it was rapidly becoming commando. It’s amazing how quickly you can fill up 19 nights at Disney World!

Next: our itinerary

[Minnie Lor]

Sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned. snagging the Illuminations cruise. I'll have to read about your itinerary when I get back 'cause I'm out of here.

[DrDolphin]

Wonderful plans Cheryl!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Cheryl! In my defense , I had an incompetent CM who took all my information, and then had to reboot her computer. I'm glad Claudine was one of the other callers and was able to snag one (and had a competent CM)

Keep the updates coming !!

[Wendyismyname]

Cheryl, ANYTIME you need an ADR, just let me know!! I'm happy to do them for you!!
I am so glad you were able to get that cruise because I was bummed that I didn't!!

And, if I wasn't getting that 1 magical night of my own, I might be jealous of your 19 nights at WDW!!

Great start!

[lauren-roxy]

YOur plans sound so awesome Cheryl!!! Glad you were able to get a couple cruises!!

[janicelovesmickey]

wow 19 nights!! your so lucky to be going that long!! my record was 14 days. (only once though).
I know your excited.

[MGW]

I am so excited for you! Have a wonderful time. I will enjoy reading every word!