Our Christmas with the Mouse - part 3 added! About This Page:

[IdahoDisneyMom]

Cast of Characters...
Me - Stephanie (32 yrs)
DH - Keven (36 yrs)
DD - Valerie (5 1/2 yrs)

The thoughts of this trip began almost 9 years ago. Keven and I went on a Disney land/sea honeymoon. At that time Disney cruise lines were just in their infant stage, so we went on Carnival. We had a fabulous time, both of us exploring "the World" for the first time. I remember as we stood in line for the Land's boat ride we talked about taking our children to WDW someday. We'd want to wait until they could appreciate it and be able to do most things. Well doesn't time fly as you get older?! Here we are almost nine years later, and we were planning our DD's first trip to WDW! Valerie is 5 1/2 years old, and in her first year of school, Kindergarten. She loves Disney as much as her parents, if not more. As the trip got closer she would ask people at school, etc if they knew where she was going for Christmas. If they answered Disney World she would say, "No, WALT Disney World!" I think that Walt would be pleased that a 5 year old deemed him so important even in 2004.

We officially started researching and planning almost a year before we went. I picked up Fodor's WDW with Kids and considered it a pretty good resource. I had seen Passporter and originally thought it looked too complicated for me. (Silly woman, what I would soon learn!!) We have always used AAA and the internet to do most of our trip planning. I swear I was a travel agent in another life. I just love doing the planning!! Keven found a good price on the flight (LAX to MCO) on USAir, but we'd actually be flying United. Thank goodness for that, since USAir had so many problems last week! He also found us a good deal on a rental car from Enterprise, which later came down even cheaper! So now for my part, the hotel and tickets...

When we went before we stayed at Port Orleans/Dixie Landings now known as Riverside. We were in the mansions then, but I wanted to stay in Alligator Bayou this time. I went to AAA and got it all set, even though it turned out that I knew more about WDW than the travel agent. By this time I had bought my Passporter and joined the boards, so I did have an advantage. But this woman had a WDW travel certificate behind her desk, and she didn't even know that there are two sections to Port Orleans!! Ok, rant over.

So now we're booked, or so I thought. I began reading the boards more this summer. What do you mean there are really good room rates for people with APs? And I can reserve the rate before I activate our passes? Hmmmm...the lady at AAA wasn't really happy with me, but oh well. I saved my family a big chunk of change! So now we were booked at POR for $79/night and have APs. It seems that everything is in place, now for the final touches.

Waking up at 4am to get your family a PS may sound crazy to some, but I know that my friends here on the boards understand. So that's what I did for 5 mornings. But I got everything I wanted, and it was actually easier than trying to call them at 7am while driving to work! I booked Sci-Fi for Keven, Princess Breakfast at Epcot for Valerie, Christmas dinner at 1900 Park Fare (for fear of where to eat on Christmas!), and both a dinner and a lunch at Crystal Palace (different days - both probably our best meals at WDW). So now that that was done the true waiting begins!!!

Coming up next...
*our strange trip to the airport courtesy of DFIL
*our somewhat restful flight/and the loud laugher that wouldn't stop

Thanks for reading!!
Stephanie

[Tara O'Hara]

Great start Stephanie!! I can't wait to hear about your strange trip to the airport!

[LizardCop]

Great Start!!!!! More [img]http://smileys.*************.com/cat/23/23_31_4.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Stephanie Can't wait to hear all about your trip

[jakenjess]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

[Coinbeach]

Yea....Another trip report.... More please....

[luvnwdwgal]

Great start Stephanie!! Looking forward to more!!!

[IdahoDisneyMom]

Part 2 of trip report - "on our way!"

recap of cast
me - Stephanie (32 yrs)
DH - Keven (36 yrs)
DD - Valerie (5 yrs)

We had booked our flight out on the night of Friday, Dec. 17th. Now you have to understand that I teach 1st grade, so even though that means I can theoretically bolt out of work as early as 3:30pm, the last day before vacation can be crazy! I planned my kids' day to reflect a teacher who needed to leave on time. We had a low-key holiday party, and finished up the day with a nice holiday video (while I cleaned up my classroom). Valerie goes to the school where I teach, so it was really easy to pack up and grab her so we could head home.

I had figured out the luggage and what we needed several days prior, so I just needed to finish up our carry-on backpacks. I had forgotten that I have a really nice backpack with several sections and multiple pockets inside. Wow, did that come in handy! So Valerie and I got home, and Keven said that his dad (who was driving us to the airport) thought we should leave about an hour earlier than originally planned! Augh! Try not to panic...

So DFIL and DMIL show up at about 6:30pm to take us to the airport. Our flight is supposed to take off at 10:30pm from LAX, which is a little over an hour from home if there's no traffic on the 405 Sorry, if you've ever driven the 405 in LA you get that joke. Keven and I are of the belief that you should give yourself plenty of time to get somewhere, especially in Los Angeles, so leaving 4 hours early is ok with me.

DFIL has lived and worked in LA all his life, and currently drives towncars to the airport, so needless to say he knows where he's going. He knows much better than I do! When going to LAX I would take the 101 to the 405. But no, that's not how we got there! We took the 101 to Calabasas and through the canyon to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). From there we drove through Malibu, Santa Monica, and on to other places I'm not even sure of. We took one lane roads, sidestreets, etc and I eventually gave up trying to figure out where the heck we were! Somehow we actually did end up at LAX!

We booked our flight through USAir, but were actually on a United plane. We tried to check in using the "Easy Check-in" monitors, but apparently since United had changed our flight times more than once, we needed a little help getting things sorted out. Once that was done it was really easy to go through security and find our gate. We got settled about 1 1/2 hours early, but were happy we were in the right place. Valerie and I went over to the book store and picked up a Clifford coloring book. As the time for our flight approached (and it was a full flight), we noticed that nobody was coming to our gate to get things organized. Finally at about 10pm (when we should have been boarding) a United employee came over and ushered us onto the plane, without even announcing it officially. It was really strange, but we were on the plane and ready to go!

We were scheduled to take off at 10:30pm and arrive just after 6am. Therefore we were hoping to get some sleep. Question for you...who schedules the in-flight movies? Whoever has this job should consider not scheduling hilarious films on red-eye flights!!! The only person on the plane even watching "Elf" was the guy on the aisle across from us. Everyone else on the plane was sleeping! So of course, about every 20 minutes of so he'd let out a loud obnoxious laugh that would wake us up violently. Once the movie was over we got some sleep. More of a cat-nap than a good night's sleep, but it was something!

Thanks again for reading!!

next up...our first day at WDW - checking into POR, the Animal Kingdom and a surprise visitor!

Stephanie

[LizardCop]

Stephanie...

[jakenjess]

More, please!!

[Tara O'Hara]

Maybe there was a celebrity or something on your plane! We know all of those roads! My cousins live in Valencia and we go to visit them at least once a year! Sorry about your laughing dude on the plane, but it sounds like your flight was smooth and at least you caught a little shut eye!!

[Jillybean]

Great start! I loved your story about getting to the airport!

Jill

[IdahoDisneyMom]

Tara,
So weird you would mention celebrities! After everyone boarded, a man with the airline came up to us and spoke to the young woman sitting behind me. He held a boarding pass, and simply said, "Hillary Duff?" and she responded, "yes." But I don't think it was the famous one, because #1 she was flying alone and #2 she had red hair and really didn't look like her. We watch enough Disney Channel at my house to have an idea of what Hillary Duff looks like and I think it was someone else with the same name!
Stephanie

[wdwlovers]

Great start! Can't wait to read about your WDW experience!!

[luvnwdwgal]

Can't wait for your next installment Stephanie!!