Our 1st Holiday Trip to WDW (COMPLETED 1/4/05) About This Page:

[SharonK0527]

<font color="blue"> November 28th - December 4th Our first Holiday trip to WDW </font>

<font color="blue"> Pre-Trip Report </font>

<font color="blue"> Our Party: </font>
Sharon (me), age 35, 10th trip to WDW
Lee (DH), age 33, 3rd trip to WDW but grew up in Southern CA so many trips to Disneyland over the years
Savannah (DD), age 4, 3rd trip to WDW

<font color="blue"> Our Journey: </font>
Our trip will actually begin on November 18th. We fly from Columbus, OH to Fort Lauderdale and spend 2 nights there. On November 19th my sister and her husband and their two sons are flying to Fort Lauderdale from Chicago. On November 20th we are taking an 8 day cruise together on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas. The ship docks back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday November 28th, where we will rent a car and drive to Orlando. My sister and her family will fly home to Chicago (they will not be joining us in Orlando). Since this is a Disney board, my trip report will focus on the Disney portion of the trip (if there is another forum here where I can post a TR about the cruise portion of our trip, let me know &amp; I'll be glad to).

<font color="blue"> Our Lodging at WDW: </font>
Staying for the first time at Port Orleans French Quarter, water-view room with an AP rate of $94/night.

<font color="blue"> Pre-Trip: </font>
For the past few years, my sister &amp; I get our families together for a cruise over Thanksgiving. It is one of the few times every year that we get to see each other with her being in Chicago and us being in Columbus. Last year we took a 7 day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines. This year we are taking an 8 day Caribbean Cruise on Royal Caribbean's brand new ship, Jewel of the Seas.

Right from the start, I wanted to tack on some time in Orlando to the end of this trip. After all, how could I be so close to Orlando and not stop by Mickey's? Originally the plan was to drive from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando on Sunday November 28th and stay for 3 days. We almost always fly on Southwest because it is by far the cheapest airline in and out of Columbus. When I checked Southwest's fares, I noticed that it would be cheaper for us to stay an extra night. Well, then of course we started thinking of all the holiday things we wanted to do while we're there and all of a sudden it went from 3 days in Orlando to 7 days/6 nights!

I found awesome airfare on Southwest.com:
Airfare from Columbus to Fort Lauderdale on Southwest: $342.60 for 3 people
Airfare from Orlando to Columbus on Southwest: $292.80 for 3 people

I was very happy with the airfares I got - they had some great internet fares available. Since we were going to be at WDW for 7 days and we know we're going back to Orlando at least once (if not more) next year, we decided to take the plunge and buy Annual Passes!

<font color="blue"> Where we're at now: </font>
As of right now we leave for the start of this journey in exactly 14 days!! Airfare is purchased, hotel (POFQ) is reserved with deposit paid for at Disney. We still need to reserve our rental car, which we usually do through Avis. We are going to our local Disney Store here in Columbus either this weekend or next weekend to purchase our AP's before we leave. Our 2 dogs and 1 cat have reservations at the kennel that is part of our vet's office (our cat is diabetic so I feel better leaving him with his vet, who knows his whole history). Savannah's guinea pig, Mickey, is going to be staying with my friend Lisa and her kids (they already have 2 hamsters so hey, why not add a guinea pig to the mix?)

I've started putting things aside in our computer room that I absolutely don't want to forget to pack - things like our birth certificates, cruise tickets, MVMCP tickets, Disney confirmation letter, pin lanyards, Savannah's Disney Princess camera that we bought her so she could take her own pics this trip etc. Lee thinks I'm nuts for starting to pack this early but this trip is too big to pack the night before (which is what we usually do!). We decided rather than trying to pack 2 weeks worth of clothes, we're going to try and limit what we pack and do laundry the night we get to POFQ. That way we can re-use some of our clothes that we wore on the cruise and we won't have to bring too many suitcases.

<font color="blue"> Our Planned Disney Itinerary: </font>
<u>Sunday, November 28th</u>
Arrive POFQ early afternoon
Check in and get settled in room
5:30pm PS at Boatright's
7:00pm PS for carriage ride at POR
After carriage ride, do laundry and hang out at hotel

<u>Monday, November 29th</u>
EE at AK
early afternoon, back to hotel for DD to nap
5:00pm Candlelight Processional at Epcot
6:00pm Try to catch the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony
7:00pm CP Priority Seating at Restaurant Marrakesh
9:30pm Illuminations

<u>Tuesday, November 30th</u>
Morning - shopping at Downtown Disney
Lunch at Earl of Sandwich
Back to hotel for DD to map
4:45pm Meeting Angie (poohsgal) and Kathy (kathy320) and their families outside Liberty Tree Tavern in MK for a mini Passporter meet.
5:15pm PS at LTT
7:00pm MVMCP!!!

<u>Wednesday, December 1st</u>
9:30am Savannah to go on Pirate Cruise at GF
explore resorts
nap during afternoon
6:00pm SpectroMagic at MK (this is my favorite - can't miss it!)
7:00pm Wishes
8:30pm PS at Whispering Canyon

<u>Thursday, December 2nd</u>
8:05am PS at Crystal Palace
9:45am Family Magic Tour at MK
1:30pm Savannah attends Wonderland Tea Party at GF
nap time
6:30pm Savannah goes to Never Land Club at Poly
7:20pm Lee &amp; I to have romantic dinner at California Grill

<u>Friday, December 3rd</u>
8:30am Princess Storybook Breakfast at Epcot
spend time at Epcot
early afternoon - back to hotel for nap
4:30pm Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood &amp; Vine
7:00pm Fantasmic
will catch Osborne lights either before or after Fantasmic

<u>Saturday, December 4th</u>
9:20am PS at Chef Mickey's
11:00am Check out
2:50pm Fly home

We decided that for this trip, we are going to concentrate on all the Holiday happenings going on instead of focusing on going on all the rides. This will be our first trip there during the Holidays and we want to see as much as we can.

More to come as the time gets closer....

[Chikabowa]

This sounds like a great vacation! DH and I will be there at the same time - going to MVMCP the exact same night too! We're eating at the LTT at 6:30 on the 30th, maybe we should stop by and join in on the passporter meet &amp; greet??

[kathy320]

Susan..that would be great!! The more the merrier!!! Our ps is at 5:30 I think.....so we will def have the time.......

[Joy J]

Sharon, your plans look great! I'm looking forward to hearing all about your magical trip when you get back.

Joy

[Stephanie P.]

Sounds like you guys have a great trip planned! I look forward to hearing about it!

[LizardCop]

GREAT start...

Patiently waiting for more [img]http://smileys.*************.com/cat/4/4_6_109v.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Sharon! You're going to have quite the vacation there Can't wait to hear all about it (the cruise part too)!

[SharonK0527]

[ QUOTE ]
This sounds like a great vacation! DH and I will be there at the same time - going to MVMCP the exact same night too! We're eating at the LTT at 6:30 on the 30th, maybe we should stop by and join in on the passporter meet &amp; greet??

[/ QUOTE ]

Susan - we'd LOVE to have you join us!! Mine &amp; Angie's PS's are at 5:15 and Kathy's is at 5:30 so we're going to meet around 4:45 right outside LTT. Would LOVE it if you could join us - the more PP friends the merrier!

[RazberSwrl]

Have a great trip! I look forward to reading all about it

[Chikabowa]

YAY! I knew there were so many passporters who were going to be there at the same time, I'm really looking forward to meeting up with everyone. We'll do our best to be there at 4:45!

[luvnwdwgal]

What an awesome vacation you are going to have!! You can post the cruise portion in Globetrotting if you'd like. Can't wait to read all about your trip!!

[LuvMinnie]

What a terrific family trip you've planned! Have a great time &amp; tell us all about it.

[kathy320]

I can't believe that we have only about 18 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DisneyDoll]

Great start and your trip plans sound excellent. Have a wonderful time and can't wait to hear about it when you get back.

[SharonK0527]

<font color="blue"> Pre-Trip Planning - 8 days to go!!! </font>

8 days to go until we leave! There is still so much to do! I'm going to start packing this weekend so I can see what clothes I still need to wash

Today I booked our hotel for the 2 nights we will be in Fort Lauderdale. We're staying at the Comfort Suites Airport/Cruise Port in a standard Queen suite. The suite has 1 Queen bed, 1 Queen pull-out sofa, a 25" TV, and a fridge. Plus they have continental breakfast and a free shuttle to the cruise port. My sister and her family will arrive the day after us and are staying there for 1 night in their own room. We got an internet rate of $80.99 for the first night and $125.99 for the second night.

I also reserved our rental car today. Originally I had booked through Avis because that's who we always seem to use but I wasn't really thrilled with the rate - $188 for a full-size, plus taxes &amp; surchares and a toddler safety seat for a week would have brought the total to $298.47. That just seemed way too high. So I started doing some research of the other companies and used some of the codes listed on Mousesavers.com. I ended up cancelling the car with Avis and rented a full-size with Budget. Their rate for the week including taxes &amp; surcharges was $229.55. Adding the toddler safety seat ($35 for the week), brings the total to $264.55. That's $34 cheaper than Avis. I also checked out Dollar but Budget was the cheapest of the three.

So, we're all set for Fort Lauderdale and all set with our rental car. It's really coming together! But I'm getting scared when I think about the fact that we're leaving in 8 days! It feels like there's still so much to do to get ready!! This Saturday we're taking our 2 dogs and 1 cat to the vet to get them all updated on their vaccinations so they're ready for their stay at the kennel while we're gone.

Savannah is really looking forward to the trip. She knows we're going on a "big boat" first with her Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. But she's really looking forward to the Disney portion of the trip! This past weekend Savannah received a postcard from Mickey (actually from our Fairy Godmailer Laurie ) and she was SO excited! She carried the postcard around with her for the rest of the day. She kept asking me to read her what the card said and eventually she ended up memorizing it and then pretended she was "reading" the card herself!

More to come as the countdown continues.....