Elora goes *pop* (century) pre-christmas style (updated with pics)

[chanti]

It all started on one of those days where there was not much to do. It was too hot to sit in the garden for more than an hour at the time (we are Dutch after all, and not used to hot weather... though we yearn for the sun all year, when it does come in full glory we practially melt or burn) I was just planning to do a load of laundry, but was still happily procrastinating.

Elora, who is almost 3 1/2 years old now (she'll be 3 1/2 at the end of August) walked up with her hand closed but outstreched and a glint in her eye.
"Mommy?" she said and I grunted in response (it was hot... we don't have airconditioning), "Do you know what I have here?" she asked trying to build up the tension. I faked interest, as I always do, because to be honest, what is treasure to a three year old, tends to be junk to a 34 year old. But I try, I am very good at feigning surprise and awe at little pieces of lint, hairbands and other stuff that she tends to come and show me.

"What do you have there?" I ask my little girl with as much enthousiasm as I can muster. "I have coins" she tells me in an omnious tone, "Do you know what I need coins for?" she asks me and I manage to keep sounding interested: "No... what?".
"I am going to save these coins.... do you know what I need to save them for?". "No honey, what?"
She smiles at me proudly and I feel this sudden burst of love for my little girl, I love it when she is excited about something. Then she says: "I am saving it for Disney World".

Honest... that is how it all started... that is how the ball started rolling... it wasn't my idea... I blame the three year old.

When we last left Disney (late December 2009), we said goodbye until late 2013. When we got back we decided, we did not want to wait 4 years, but decided we would go in januari of 2012 instead. I was very excited when we first decided this. I would 'only' have to wait two more years. But the excitement wore off soon enough. And I have nothing to complain about, because I have been rather spoiled this year. My parents took us on a transatlantic Disney cruise... but instead of satisfying our disney needs, it seemed to have only intensified it.

So there we were... with plans for january 2012... and a child who on occassion asks when we are going to Disney world again. A child who is saving up, because that is always our answer... we need to save up again.

Okay, there were other factors... you see, we had just had our tax return. And it was quite a lot of money. That on top of my own savings (yes I have a disney savings account... okay it's not disney savings perse... but that was my intention)

"2 years is a long, long time" I mutter to my husband who grunts in agreement (he was hot too). "We already have half de money we planned to save up for Disney saved up" I look at DH and he just nods. "You know", I say semi jokingly, "If we go ten days instead of three weeks... we could probably afford it now". I jest ofcourse, ten days is not long enough if you travel from the Netherlands, by the time the jetlag wears off, you have to go back. Plus it takes two days to travel (one day back, one day forth)
But DH suddenly sits up and looks at me excitedly (I need to tell you that before our last disney trip he never really was a real enthusiast for disney, but Disney World and a Disney cruise have changed this)
"Get the laptop!" he says with more passion than I thought he would ever have for holidays, "Let's see if we can do it!". A little stunned and very excited we find ourselves looking up the specifics of a disney holiday.

14 days... that would be doable, we decide.... but we are not sure yet. It would drain our savings completely... maybe not wise... let's sleep on it... let's take a week to think it over....

 

[chanti]

It did not take us a week to make the decision to go... it took us a day. We are going!!

things are slightly different from last time. Last time we knew a year and a half before hand that we wanted to go to Disney. We got our Disney tickets about 9 months ago and we arranged everything through a Dutch travel agency. One thing I decided, is that I never wanted to book Disney through a dutch travel agency again. It was horrible, we were not able to do the dining plan and the ladies not only barely provided us with information, they treated us as a nuisance everytime I found something new that we wanted to book aditional to the things we had booked. It was horrible.

We found a good link to an American travel agency that came recommended and I asked for a quote. We were still trying to decide when to go and the lady told us they could only do quotes for 2009. Fair enough... we'll go in December again. It's probably the last time we get to go around this period because Elora doesn't have to go to school yet (starts at age 4 in the Netherlands, they can go earlier, but that is optional and you can stay home from school when you do)

30 November was going to be our starting date. Same as last year. The reason why is because we want to be back in time to get jet lag free for christmas. Last year we experienced christmas in a zombie state, so this year we are planning a few more days of 'getting over our jetlag before christmas'.

14 days was the initial plan... but when I looked up the airfare from a large brittish company, I realised it would be cheaper to pay two more days of hotel and stay two days longer than going the planned 14 day. Wow... that sucked... 16 days of disney instead of 14 days... how was I ever going to get over these changes??

16 days it was going to be... from the 30th of November, until the 16th of December!

Our magical lady at the travel agency told us that we could do a free quick service dining plan or upgrade to a standard dining plan for $10,- p.p per night and Elora would only cost us $2,-.... I did not need to be a math wizard to figure out that $22,- per day was a good deal for us, especially because we do a lot of disney dining.

At first we weren't going to do this, because we usually get our tickets through the UK, which give us lot more freedom. But we couldn't pass this up, it would save us sooo much money, and I can think of better ways to spend extra cash. Plus we didn't save up for 2 years this time, so there is less to spend.

To make long story slightly less long (because, let's be honest, with the length this story has already has, that ship has sailed) we planned 14 days on the dining plan and two days loose. Unfortunately Disney does not go beyond the 14 day dining package, and putting 8 and 6 days in a row would have been so much more expensive... this was fine!

We booked... we paid... we were happy!!! (but no where near done)

 

[chanti]

And still the story continues... (a lot has happend in the week and a half since we decided we were going to go to disney)

Now I need to explain something about our family... we love holidays, but flying tends to bring a little bit of anxiety and a fair amount of stress. My husband is terrified of flying and that kind off kills the fun a little of the whole process. Also... though I actually like flying... anything more than five hours tends to get me a little grumpy as well. Actually, if there were a dwarf called hyper, our family could represent 3 of the 7 dwarves on flights: dopey, grumpy and hyper.

So booking the flight is always a little tense. My husband goes a nasty shade of white when I even mention it and I always try to get the most direct flights. I hate transferring because it makes me a little chaotic. Elora is generally very sweet on flights, but she just doesn't shut up... and when I say, she doesn't shut up... I mean what I say. She will be prattling on for 10 plus hours and there is no getting away from it. She's not a child that cries or screams, but she is the child that will talk and sing you to death. And trust me, no matter how cute you think it is the first hour... after a few hours she can drive you to the brink of insanity. People have requested to us to get her to stop singing before... just so you know!

So anyway... the flight. Last time we went with a british airline that we love, love, LOVED! and so we were planning to go with them again. The problem was, getting from Amsterdam to London and not having to pick up our suitcased and checking them in for the second time.

I googled certain parts of my anatomy off, but I couldn't find any airline companies that gave me the garrantee to transfer our luggage as well as ourselves. And so I emailed my dreaded travelagents in the Netherlands. They actually came up with a good solution, there was a dutch airline company that did direct flights. We were going to take them last year (and I forgot) but they did not do the direct flights then! So... unfortunately we did not go for our favourite airline, but... it's a good second best now!

There was one problem with us going with the new Airline.... it did not return on the day we wanted to return... so we had a choice... either go one day less... or two days more... guess what we choose? *insert wicked grin here*


Also we decided to splurge a little and go for the comfortclass seats. I have such a problem with the legspace in airplanes. It is rediculous how little legspace there is, especially on a flight that is going to take us 10 hours and 20 minutes... my knees can usually audition for a smurf movie after a long flight. I have really long legs. So... splurging is good and now we are going to get spoiled a little, while it is still affordable!

And so we are going 18 days... until december the 18th... still plenty of days until christmas... right??

Sooooo... hotel: check, flight: check!

 

[magickingdom]

Yay! I love Christmas time in Disney!! I am very jealous of the 14 days, maybe someday! Can't wait to hear more!!

Kammie

 

[chanti]

Even before we made the final arrangements with the hotel, I started the great ADR race... this is MADNESS!! I can't believe how hard it is to book certain restaurants 4 and a half months before hand!!

We decided we were going to go to le Cellier this year, to try it out.... well to quote the very funny John Pinette: I say Nee nee!!
It wasn't happening... not in the whole eighteen days we were there!

My biggest heartbreak was the garden grill (with Chip and Dale). I felt a little blue when I realised that it wasn't going to happen for us this year. I love that restaurants and it is definately on my top 5 list.

(Elora's last encounter at the garden grill)

For a moment I was contemplating whether or not to do CRT, but we decided against it. We had recently gone (last year) and we are already doing a princess dinner at the Akershus and at the 1900 PF (where Elora had her first crush on Prince charming) and this one is the most expensive... so maybe next time.

Elora and prince charming at the 1900 PF:

Otherwise, we got some pretty good restaurants. Some of our old favourites (okay, with old I mean 7 months ago... but still) like Liberty Tree tavern (drool) 50's prime time (can I hear a cheer for the peanut butter and jelly shake?) and the scifi dine in cafe. But we are going to try some new things as well, like mamma melrose, kona and ohana. I am really curious! We love disney restaurants.

There was much debate on whether or not to go to MVMCP again. I really loved it last time, but DH and Elora went home early and do not have such fond memories. Also, there is less time and we need to take some relaxation time as well (my schedule is busy enough for the holidays)

Instead we are opting for the wishes dessert party now. That won't take up too much time and still feels really special.

So, our ADR's are in order, and the schedule for 18 days has been made. We also got our tickets for Universal and Sea World and the only thing we still need to arrange is the car... that's it... We even paid for most of our trip (almost all of it except for the car and a few little things) We got a photopass account and I am logged in to TGM. Hurray... now all I have to do is save up for some pocket money and we are set to go!!!

 

[EnchantedPlayroom]

Excellent. You are far better organized that I am for our trip, and I have been planning longer.

 

[magickingdom]

What a great feeling to have almost everything already paid for!! We have never been to the garden grill, but want to check it out next time. Keep checking on some of those others (Le Cellier) maybe there will be a cancelation?!! AND double YUM for the PB&J shake!!
Great ADR's!!!

Kammie

 

[chanti]

Yay! I love Christmas time in Disney!! I am very jealous of the 14 days, maybe someday! Can't wait to hear more!!

Kammie

I am such a christmas fan!! And what better place than disney to get into the real christmas spirit. Where I am from Christmas starts later because we have Sinterklaas (st Nicolas) who visits us from november until december 5th. We're missing the celebrations again this year... but I don't think our daughter will mind too much

 

[chanti]

Excellent. You are far better organized that I am for our trip, and I have been planning longer.

*Smirk* that's because I had practice! Last year it took me about nine months of buzzing around like a bluebottomed fly This year I came prepared!

 

[chanti]

What a great feeling to have almost everything already paid for!! We have never been to the garden grill, but want to check it out next time. Keep checking on some of those others (Le Cellier) maybe there will be a cancelation?!! AND double YUM for the PB&J shake!!
Great ADR's!!!

Kammie

Go check out the garden grill, especially with those two beautiful daughters of yours. It has a very relaxed admosphere because the booths that you are in are reasonably private. It's small, so the characters have a lot of time for the children and come by more than once. They are absolutely great. The food is nice too, simple but well cooked. We were absolutely stunned last time, and we have done a lot of character dinings the last trip we took. Garden Grill and 1900 Park Fare were our favourites!

 

[ThePin Princess]

I'm am so jealous that you're going to Disney World for 18 days! Especially at Christmas time! Elora sounds just like my niece Jessica!

 

[chanti]

Planning this trip is really getting me in the Disney mood again. I am looking at the pictures of last year and I wanted to share a few with you.

One of my favourite character moments was with Rosetta from the fairies. To be honest, I always preferred the 'book fairies' over the 'movie fairies' and from the movie fairies, Rosetta was one of my least favourite... until we met her at Disney. She was wonderful and really spontaneous. Elora, who was 2 1/2 at the time and charming the pants of everyone, was doing weird poses and Rosetta was cracking up. It was sooo cute. The photopass photographer kept showing her the pictures he was taking and at one point she asked him what nr a certain picture was, because she wanted one for herself

Anyway, this is one of my favourite pics from that moment because it's so nice and silly:

Elora really loved all the characters. By the end she was proclaiming her love for most of the fuzzy characters out loud and in English. In the beginning she spoke a lot of dutch and I got very confused looks from everyone (especially because Elora seemed to understand them and she just kept jammering on in a foreign language at full speed. (and my daughter talks a LOT)

In the Crystal Palace, Elora fawned over Piglet. I love this picture, because you can see in her face how happy she is to see him.

Near the end of the vacation she really got into the posing as well. With the 'bad guys' she looked the part

With Drizella

Anastasia:

And ofcourse Lady Tremaine

People actually ask me if Elora was in a mood with this picture, but it was honestly just acting. She was very impressed by all the characters.

 

[chanti]

I think it might be a good idea to introduce our little family. I like how people call the travelling company a cast. So this is our cast:

First off there is Elora, our happy go lucky three year old. She is the love of our life!

Elora is a very happy go lucky girl. She laughs a lot and is always joking around. She doesn't cry much, not even when she was a baby. Actually, she cries more often since she turned about 2 1/2 than she did when she was a baby (and she still doesn't cry a lot) With being three she has adopted a little bit of an attitude. Sometimes I feel like puberty hit early Thankfully it's not hard to correct her and she tones down reasonably easily. We don't suffer from meltdowns, though she can be the queen of drama at times.

Elora was very upset last Disney trip about being too little to go in Dinosaur. She uses this against us: If I don't get to eat a sweety, I won't be able to grow and then I don't fit in Dinosaur...

We are raising her biligual (Dutch and English) and though she understands everything in English, she tends to only speak Dutch (although that is slowly starting to change)

Right now, we find ourselves in the "Princess fase" of Elora's life. It's cute and funny and she has quite the imagination. All day long she plays a princess (sometimes ballerina or mermaid) and we have to be the prince/wicked stepmother/ wicked stepsisters/ fairygodmother/ dragon/ beast/ peter pan etc... Especially the prince is a very important role. She loves princes and when we met a little prince charming on the Disney Cruise Elora was smitten. She asked us if she could have her picture taken with him:

How cute are they??

She loves to dress up and changes clothes about twenty times a day. (Of course, in the process, she tends to make a complete mess of her wardrobe. I let her do this, because we are pretty strict with other things, so I need to grant her the little pleasures )

Though she can be quite dominant in playing. She tends to make up what the stories are and other children (even children much older than her, like twelve year olds) go along with her games. She doesn't get stroppy when she doesn't get her way though, so that's good. If children don't want to do what she wants to do (which, btw, doesn't happen often) she'll try to convince them with her reasonable voice (which is about 2 tones higher than her normal voice and she says okay a lot) and if that doesn't work she just shrugs it off and goes on with her own thing.

When we went to Disney the last time, she charmed the pants of everyone. Even the characters were charmed. Like Rosetta:

Elora loves to pose for pictures and she really gets into character (no matter what the character is) Like when she was a pirate (notice her tough face, it makes her look like an angry duck)

Or when she was posing with Dopey:

But what she likes most is posing as a

Did I mention Elora is very hyper? Because she is.... and not just a little bit. A day with her is exhausting. She is constantly running, dancing, singing... and most of all... TALKING! During her "Ariel moments" she used to sing the "Ahahaaa" that Ariel sings in a loop. At her swimming lessons the teacher asked if she could please stop singing (and they only have her a mere 50 minutes... we had to listen to her 'singing' for hours in a row!)

Recently she has discovered Diego, so besides 'princess' we now get to play animal rescuers. Life with Elora is never boring (though I sometimes wish it was a little more boring) Everyone I know loves Elora to bits, because she is really charming and funny... so they don't understand why I am completely exhausted at times, but they don't get to see the naughty side of my little girl. Elora can be very inventive with her impish behaviour. Like the time that she 'washed' our spareroom with babyshampoo (it was EVERYWHERE), or the time she made 'soup' with the suntan lotion... Another favourite of hers is to go treasure hunting... then she hides stuff (like my purse)... and it takes us weeks to find it again...

As I mentioned before, Elora is a very happy and funny child. She is usually in a good mood and her bad moods don't last long (though they can be very annoying). The only time Elora is truly in a horrible mood is when she is tired. then she adopts this whiney tone of voice that sets the hairs in my neck on end. That is the time that she cries more easily and she'll say "no" before she knows what the question is. Very annoying. I used to be a teacher, so I am pretty strict and I don't accept that sort of behaviour. I have no problems giving her a time out, even in public places like the supermarket. Elora usually starts telling me she is sorry before she is even in the timeout, but we're not falling for that one.

Even her teachers are wrapped around her little finger and I keep getting reports on how clever and funny she is. Elora takes advantage of this though and gets away with murder in school (she once painted one of her classmates red... completely red; hair, clothing, shoes... the works)

So that is my girl: happy, hyper, funny, naughty, clever and most of the time very sweet.

 

[chanti]

Next is my husband Daan (Those who speak English usually just call him Dan, but in dutch it's with a longer a... like screaming aaaah)

He is the love of my life. We have been married for six years now and we have been together for eight and a half years. At first he wasn't much of a Disney fan. He knew I was and went along with it. He even proposed to me in Euro Disney. I like Euro Disney, but I don't LOVE it. It's okay, it's different from Disney world. It misses that "je ne sais quoi".

Daan proposed to me in the Labyrinth of Alice in Wonderland, because I once said that I walked through it at night with all the lights on and it was so romantic. Very cute of him... though in reality he proposed during the day while a group of hyperactive children were running around It still counts as romantic because of the effort and thought behind it...

Daan treats me like a princess, eventhough I don't have the princess ambitions that my daughter has (I am too much of a Tom-boy for that and I actually prefer playing the role of the bad guy when we are into make belief scenarios). But he is wonderful and I am even more in love with him now than I was when we first met.

He is a really cool dad and is always doing fun things with Elora

Last year I introduced Daan to Florida and Disney world, and he fell in love. He loves it there, not just the parks, but also Florida itself. He really loves the food too and gets very excited when I mention the Earl of Sandwich.

One thing though... he HATES to fly and tends to get a little quiet and grumpy a few days before the flight and keeps that up until we have landed. Also, he isn't always very patient when it comes to shopping. Luckily for him I hate shopping for clothes and at home I actually don't do a lot of shopping... but when I get to Disney... that changes. Suddenly I turn into a shop-a-holic. Poor Daan...

 

[chanti]

And then there is me. My name is Chantal (but my international friends call me Chanti)

There aren't many pictures of me, because: a) I take most of the pictures, b) I am not very photogenic and c) I feel very uncomfortable because of the weight I gained during my pregnancy and I just seem unable to get it off... *sigh*

I'm a thirtyfour year old ex-substitute-teacher. Right now I am a sort of social worker, but I am not very happy with my job, so I am keeping my eyes open for something else. One day I hope I can write and illustrate childrensbooks and actually get published.

My first Disney trip was in 1980 (when I was four) and I was immediately hooked. Last year I got to share my passion with my daughter. It was my fifth time to Disney World. I am really looking forward to my sixth time

 

[chanti]

ADR's

Okay... here they are, our ADR's (and also the restaurants we are planning to go to) Though I tend to come back weeping about the weight I have gained, I love going to the restaurants

We arrive on the 30th of November at the Pop Century resort so we are probably going to grab a burger at everything Pop that night.

Dec 1st: No Disney I'm affraid, we plan to go to Universal and want to eat at the three broomsticks (I'm a harry potter fan)

Dec 2nd: maybe some breakfast at the EOS and we want to go and eat lunch at Beaches and cream

Dec 3rd: Our first ADR at 1900 PF breakfast (one of our favourite character meals was at the 1900 PF last time) At night we are going to eat at Emerils in Universal

Dec 4th: Breakfast at Boma and dinner at Jiko's... we are going African today. We stayed at the AKL last year and I loved it there, so we had to go and spend some time there

Dec 5th: No reservations (Universal day again)

Dec 6th: a very early dinner at LTT (I LOVE the food there) and at night we are going to the wishes dessert party! (I shall find a therapist for my scales)

Dec 7th: Nada, seaworld day

Dec 8th: very early lunch at 50's prime time (pb&j milkshake, thank you kindly!! ) and a dinner at the scifi dine in cafe (Love the ambiance there)

Dec 9th: dinner at Akershus

Dec 10th: 1900 PF Dinner (We love the wicked stepsisters)

Dec 11th: breakfast at kona and dinner at the WCC

Dec 12th: breakfast at the Crystal Palace and dinner at the Rose and Crown

Dec 13th: breakfast at cape may cafe and dinner at Boma

Dec 14th: dinner at Ohana

Dec 15th: lunch at the LTT and dinner at Tutto Italia

Dec 16th: breakfast at Ohana

Dec 17th: Dinner at mamma melrose (I hope we can do the fantasmic package, I booked online and I couldn't find out where to select the package)

Dec 18th: Lunch at Kona (and sadly going back home)... sigh

 

[KatMark]

I followed you over from your posting on my PTR. First, let me tell you that Elora is absolutely precious. And I LOVE the coin story of saving her coins for Disney.

You and your husband are very lucky to be making such a long trip and during the holidays to boot. We've never done Disney at Christmas, but one of these years we will get there.

You have a GREAT line up of ADR's. We've done a lot of them and of the ones you have listed that we have done, we loved them all except one (WCC).

I look forward to following your PTR through the TR.

 

[chanti]

I followed you over from your posting on my PTR. First, let me tell you that Elora is absolutely precious. And I LOVE the coin story of saving her coins for Disney.

You and your husband are very lucky to be making such a long trip and during the holidays to boot. We've never done Disney at Christmas, but one of these years we will get there.

You have a GREAT line up of ADR's. We've done a lot of them and of the ones you have listed that we have done, we loved them all except one (WCC).

I look forward to following your PTR through the TR.

Thank you!! we feel really lucky!!!

I can definately recommend going during the holidays. I am a complete christmas nut (have this mad christmastree obsession) so I love going to Disney at this time of year. A lot more exciting than back home I can tell you

You had a bad experience at the WCC? That's a shame. We went there last time and we loved it. Maybe I am bias because of the milkshakes... I still have dreams about the cotton candy one

 

[KatMark]

Thank you!! we feel really lucky!!!

I can definately recommend going during the holidays. I am a complete christmas nut (have this mad christmastree obsession) so I love going to Disney at this time of year. A lot more exciting than back home I can tell you

You had a bad experience at the WCC? That's a shame. We went there last time and we loved it. Maybe I am bias because of the milkshakes... I still have dreams about the cotton candy one

LOVED the bottomless milkshakes; hated the food (Mark got sick on it) and the service was awful (2 hours and we never even ordered dessert). But if you enjoyed it you should go back.

 

[chanti]

Hurray, there is a possibility that my best friend is going to be joining us!! Someone to go in the Mount everest with!!!