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Old 7 Sep 15, 02:35 PM  
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lady emz
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Mobile Vaughan Family Cheeky Christmas Trip!

With only 81 days to go I thought I should start a PTR for our early Christmas trip to the magic for 2 wonderful weeks!

Cast
Me, Emma, will be 29 when we go, chief planner and now Mummy to my little Prince Mason.


DH, Scott, 27, fellow Disney fanatic and Ohana lover!


DS, Mason, will be 17 months when we go. Our little July 4th baby!


This will be our 2nd trip to WDW with Mason, but first on our own as my parents came with us in May. Here he is enjoying the magic, and very hot!


This is a bit of a last minute trip, we had mentioned it but when I returned to work after my maternity leave in August, I knew having a trip planned to look forward to would make it a lot easier for me. (I still miss him now 2 months in!) We found a good deal through Travel City Direct and snapped it up J Looking forward to spending some time as a little family, in our favourite place, creating even more magical memories we can treasure forever.



Package
We have booked a package through TCD, 2 weeks staying at All Star Music, with Virgin flights from Gatwick, and an SUV hire car, leaving on Friday 27th November, Black Friday! We wanted to avoid the Thanksgiving crowds but still hopefully find some bargains in the sales, we are expecting busy parks on Saturday and possibly Sunday but have then heard that the first week in December is quite quiet. Fingers crossed!

On the flight out we have booked Seat Plus so hopefully Mason will have his own seat while we are in the air. We did this in May and it was great, such a shame they are stopping it from next year I believe? Any suggestions on what to pack to keep him amused will be greatly appreciated … I think it will be more challenging than last time when he couldn’t walk! He loves books so we will take some of his favourites, then maybe a sticker book too? He might watch some Mickey Mouse on the TV, and I am sure the people sitting around us will get fed up of our nursery rhyme singing! He usually has around a 2 hour nap after lunch so hoping that is also the case! He won’t get any food on the flight as he doesn’t have a seat so we will bring his favourite snacks on board, and get him pasta or a sandwich at the airport too.

On the return flight we paid a bargain price of £170 to upgrade us all to PE, so we will have more luggage allowance (Always a worry for us on the return!) and hopefully it will be a bit more comfy for him to sleep on the night flight.

We have not stayed at ASMu before but have requested a room with just a king bed instead of 2 doubles so there will be a bit more room for us with the travel cot too. The theming of the resort looks great and I am sure Mason will enjoy exploring here. Has anyone stayed here before and can recommend which area to request please?

We are planning on buying APs for this trip, and hoping to go back early November 2016 as it will be my 30th Birthday on the 5th so this is the best value for us, plus the 10% off shopping bonus. I still need to buy the APs though, hopefully later this month when I get my dividend paid from my shares at work.

Airport
We have booked to stay at the Premier Inn at the Gatwick North Terminal the Thursday before we fly. £39 for the room. We have stayed here before and like the convenience of being so close the the airport, we will just need to ride the monorail over to the south terminal to check in. Mason thought the bed was comfy.


If we arrive in time, we will probably do twilight check in too as it makes for a more relaxed morning. We will either add on the buffet breakfast here or eat in the Terminal once we are through security.

We have also booked meet and greet parking for the 2 weeks, thinking this will be easier with a tired Mason on our return!

ADRs
Booking a late deal is a new experience for us, and it meant we missed our famous 180 day mark for booking ADRs. I have however been able to find some good ones luckily:

Hollywood and Vine Disney Junior character breakfast – we enjoyed the food here last time and obviously Mason loved the characters.
Hollywood and Vine Minnie’s Christmas dinner – very excited about this one, new for us!
1900 Park Fare breakfast – we have never done this so looking forward to the strawberry soup
Be Our Guest breakfast – have a lovely 8am ADR so we can get into MK before it opens at 9am for the empty park photos

Ohana dinner – Scott’s favourite for our last night, also hope to watch Wishes from the Poly beach after which is where we got engaged

I also plan to add on dinner at Trail’s End as we always enjoy that and think it is a bargain, T-Rex and Rainforest Café. We haven’t tried these before and think Mason will love the theming … although not sure how much he will actually eat if he is distracted!

The rest of our meals will be QS or offsite so we have a bit more flexibility. If we do QS we will definitely take a Dibber’s advice of trying out the resort playgrounds while we are there too. Mason loves the swings


We are still undecided on MVMCP ... although the more I think about it the more I sway towards booking it! Anyone been with a toddler? If we plan an easy morning and a nice long nap he may be ok, but he also sleeps well in his pushchair so Scott and I could still enjoy the atmosphere if he fell asleep too.

I will try to book Mason in to Harmony Barbers for a haircut … and hope he enjoys it more than last time!


Offsite Things to Do
We hope to visit Celebration and walk around the lake, and maybe catch the market too. Does anyone know if they decorate the houses for Christmas or Thanksgiving as they do for Halloween?

Lots of shopping at the Outlets and hopefully Mall at Millenia so we can visit Cheesecake Factory too.

I was thinking of a trip on the Orlando Eye and the new Sealife Aquarium too.

Scott and I always plan a day at the beach but have never actually got there so maybe this time we can fit a beach day in too, perhaps Clearwater so we can then ride Little Toot and search for dolphins!
Mason enjoys playing in the sand so hopefully we can go.


We went to Green Meadows Farm in May which was a lovely morning, and now Mason LOVES tractors I think we will visit again if we can find a coupon.


So lots of ideas which I need to put into a plan … Exciting times! Next on our to do list is to create a Dibb plan, renew our Fair FX cards and sign up for offsite restaurant coupons.

Thank you for reading along … TTFN!
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Old 7 Sep 15, 04:10 PM  
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LaurenYorkshir
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Great start Looking forward to reading along. It is such a shame about seat plus as I think it is a great benefit when travelling with a little one not quote at child age.
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Old 7 Sep 15, 08:04 PM  
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Love the picture of Mason in the Stitch top in the play gym, so cute.

We're doing the Christmas Minnie meal too, most stress I've ever had trying to get an ADR but really looking forward to it.

It will be so nice to see how differently Mason reacts to everything now that he's a little older.
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Old 7 Sep 15, 08:19 PM  
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Sounds like a wonderful trip Emma! Mason is so cute and looks such a smiley, happy boy! Looking forward to reading your trippie x
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Old 7 Sep 15, 08:27 PM  
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Lisa29
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How exciting that you have another trip planned! Mason is so adorable, I love the photos of him in the different Disney outfits.

We had seat plus in 2013 for Kaley, it is so handy and such a bargain. I can see why they are getting rid of it cos it is so cheap but it's still a shame. What a great bargain on the PE flights too. That will be helpful for coming home.

We stayed at Movies our first time on site. They are big resorts, obviously basic compared to the deluxe resorts but will be a good base for you.

For the plane for Mason, if there are any little toys he likes (the fisher price little people figures, small cars, etc.), it may be worth taking a few if it may keep him amused for a bit.

I love the places you are hoping to eat at. Hope you manage to get a Barbershop appointment again, I love the experience there.

If he's ok sleeping in the pushchair I'd definitely go for MVMCP! xx
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Old 7 Sep 15, 08:53 PM  
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Fab pre-trippy so far Emz, hopefully we will get to catch up with you this year 😀 xx

Edited at 11:10 PM.
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Old 7 Sep 15, 09:00 PM  
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Awww so glad you started a pre trip

i did see on FB that you had another trip planned, love the pics of mason, he is gorgeous.

our little princess will be 19 months when we go so i am looking forward to seeing how mason fares at 17 months. i might have to steal some ideas on how to occupy her
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Old 7 Sep 15, 09:56 PM  
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Aww can't wait to read your trippie now Emma. Mason is growing up so fast! looking forward to hearing more of your plans x
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Old 8 Sep 15, 12:38 PM  
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lady emz
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Originally Posted by LaurenYorkshir View Post
Great start Looking forward to reading along. It is such a shame about seat plus as I think it is a great benefit when travelling with a little one not quote at child age.
Thanks Lauren, it is a great benefit!

Originally Posted by collybird View Post
Love the picture of Mason in the Stitch top in the play gym, so cute.

We're doing the Christmas Minnie meal too, most stress I've ever had trying to get an ADR but really looking forward to it.

It will be so nice to see how differently Mason reacts to everything now that he's a little older.
Hehe our little cheeky Stitch!
I was very lucky with the Christmas Minnie meal taking an ADR from someone who was cancelling, but I can imagine what you went through ... I am sure it will be worth it
We really hope he still loves the characters! But yes it will be great to see now he can walk too. Fingers crossed it's all ok!

Originally Posted by ppodangel View Post
Sounds like a wonderful trip Emma! Mason is so cute and looks such a smiley, happy boy! Looking forward to reading your trippie x
Thank you He is a very happy boy, we are lucky!

Originally Posted by Lisa29 View Post
How exciting that you have another trip planned! Mason is so adorable, I love the photos of him in the different Disney outfits.

We had seat plus in 2013 for Kaley, it is so handy and such a bargain. I can see why they are getting rid of it cos it is so cheap but it's still a shame. What a great bargain on the PE flights too. That will be helpful for coming home.

We stayed at Movies our first time on site. They are big resorts, obviously basic compared to the deluxe resorts but will be a good base for you.

For the plane for Mason, if there are any little toys he likes (the fisher price little people figures, small cars, etc.), it may be worth taking a few if it may keep him amused for a bit.

I love the places you are hoping to eat at. Hope you manage to get a Barbershop appointment again, I love the experience there.

If he's ok sleeping in the pushchair I'd definitely go for MVMCP! xx
Thanks Lisa. I can't resist buying him all the Disney clothes! I will keep dressing him up until he is old enough to say no haha.


Good to hear you liked ASMu. We don't usually spend much time in our room so hoping it is ok. make the most of the magic!


Good idea to take some small cars, he loves anything with wheels but tractors are his favourite hehe. Will add those to my list.


I think you are right on MVMCP, I might get the tickets and then give them to Scott for our anniversary in October actually, 2 birds and all! lol. xxx

Originally Posted by bexlee1 View Post
Fab pre-trippy so far Emz, hopefully we will get to catch up with you this year 😀 xx
Thanks Becky, we will definitely meet up over there. Let me know your plans xxx

Originally Posted by Dory17 View Post
Awww so glad you started a pre trip

i did see on FB that you had another trip planned, love the pics of mason, he is gorgeous.

our little princess will be 19 months when we go so i am looking forward to seeing how mason fares at 17 months. i might have to steal some ideas on how to occupy her
Thank you, will be happy to help in any way we can and will definitely report back!

Originally Posted by tnkrbell View Post
Aww can't wait to read your trippie now Emma. Mason is growing up so fast! looking forward to hearing more of your plans x
Thank you lovely x
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Will We Make A Rope Drop?! - Apr/May 2013
Mr & Mrs V's Wishes Wedding and Disneymoon - October 2012
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Old 8 Sep 15, 01:32 PM  
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Wow, sounds like you're going to have an amazing time, I would love to go at that time of year to see all the Christmas decorations.

Hope you have a wonderful time and Mason is absolutely gorgeous
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