PTR - my first one...let's see how this goes! T MINUS 18 days and counting!!

[rhondac]

I've been really enjoying all the PTR and TR's on this board so I thought I'd do my own.

Introductions...I'm Rhonda (mom to 3, I love all things Disney), dh (who puts up with my fascination for the disneyworld webpage), ds K just turned 8yo, dd J who is 4.5 and our baby dd L who is almost 16 months.

I have a few Disney trips under my belt - first time when I was 12 years old, then I went again as a teenager with my family, and at 20 with just my Mom. Then DH and I took a trip there shortly after we were married, my sister was working in Epcot at the time and I wanted to visit her.

Then I decided to plan a family trip, we had 2 kids at the time and were planning a March break trip...that is until I discovered #3 was on the way and due at the end of March! Decisions, decisions - we decided to move the trip to Nov 2007 while I was pg, much easier to go with 2 kids while pg than with a newborn. It was a wonderful trip - ds was 6yo, dd almost 3, lots of fun! We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and I loved the resort.

Once we got home I was already itching to go back! Once L turned 1yo I started looking at packages and pricing out airfare. I found a fantastic package deal including airfare, with the free dining and after lots of talking and talking and talking about this great deal and how much fun it would be, DH finally caved :-)

So here I am, planning our second family trip to Disney World, the planning is definately one of my favourite parts of a Disney trip, so many fun things to plan out ahead of time! We are going August 31-September 7, staying at POP, and we have the free dining package (yay!).

[rhondac]

We live in Ontario and are flying to Orlando, using ME to get to POP and relying on disney transport for our trip. Our last trip the arrival flight time was horrible, so I'm excited about our flights this time because they are MUCH better. We arrive at MCO around 1pm on Monday, August 31.

I'm assuming it will be around 3:00-3:30pm when we arrive at POP using ME. I'm hoping to do online check-in but not sure if I can. I didn't book my package through Disney, I did it together with my flights through the airline vacation planning group. I do have a disney reservation number from when I made my ADR's, so I'm hoping I can use it to do online check-in - I'd rather avoid a long lineup to checkin and be able to get to a park ASAP for our first evening!

Once I had the trip booked my planning began...planning out our days so I could book ADR's according to which park we will be in that day. I opted not to do park hoppers this time. We had them on our last trip but only hopped once or twice. It really wasn't worth it for us, with the little kids hopping definately seemed like more hassle than it was worth. But without park hoppers I had to be very careful planning our days for parks as I had specific character meals I wanted.

After much tweaking I finally decided on a plan, and a backup plan which includes a few extra ADRs just in case ;-)

So here's the current plan (and it will likely not change as I have ADRs which pretty much dictate our park days):

Monday - travel day, HS evening, quick service dinner at Pizza Planet (I have a 7:55 ADR at Chef Mickey's but I'm fairly certain we won't be using it, I have another one booked later in the trip for a much more reasonable time, I just don't think a late dinner is going to work for us our first night)

Tuesday - AK day, 8:15am reservation at Tusker House for Donald's Breakfast Safari. We've never done this meal before so I'm excited to go, I'm excited to have a character meal our very first morning at Disney, and I'm mostly excited to be in the park before opening. Hours this day at AK are 9-5 so we'll need every minute in the park to get everything done as this is our only day at AK. I'm not sure what we'll do this evening once we leave the park. With the park plan I have for this day I'm hoping we'll be done by the time the Jammin' parade starts, then head out of the park after the parade to beat the crowds who will likely be leaving at 5 when the park closes. We'll definately go back to the resort for a swim, then either hang out at POP for the evening or if we have a lot of energy we'll head to DTD for quick service dinner and shopping.

Wednesday - MK day!!! I can't wait to walk down main street. We have lunch ADRs at CRT for 12:15. J is very excited as she is really, REALLY into princesses now (our last trip she wasn't quite 3 and hadn't hit the princess phase yet). I will be bringing her snow white gown with us. She does have a cinderella dress but it's more of a winter dress - long sleeves, very thick fabric so it's bulkier to pack plus will be warm for summer weather. Her snow white dress is really cute and lightweight. I'm not telling her though, I know if I tell her beforehand she'll want a Cinderella dress. This way I'll just say on the way to the castle "by the way, I brought your beautiful snow white princess dress to wear at lunch" and she'll just be so excited to be going she won't care. Park hours this day are 9-9. According to Disney calendar no Spectromagic this night, but Wishes is at 9pm. So the plan is to stay for fireworks. Not being able to see Wishes on our last trip is the only regret I had about the trip so I'm definately seeing them this time! Yes, it will be a long day at the park, and no I don't plan to go back to the resort. I do plan for us to take breaks, I've planned the day out so we have some downtime, plus the CRT lunch in the middle of the day will give the kids a big break I think.

Thursday - Epcot day, ADRs at Garden Grill with Chip and Dale at 4:30pm. We'll do a quick breakfast at our resort and get to the bus stop early I hope. One of the things I'm really looking forward to here is the Kim Possible missions. It's new since our last trip and is something I think my 2 big kids will absolutely love. I'm hoping to do a few missions between our 2 days at Epcot.

Friday - HS, no ADRs this day. Park hours are 9-7 although I'm hoping we have everything done by the time Block Party Bash starts so we can head out after the parade. Maybe DTD this evening. It depends on Tuesday, if we already did DTD on Tues evening then tonight is a maybe. If we haven't done DTD yet then I'd definately like to head there for quick service dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express and do shopping.

Saturday - MK day again. Early ADRs for Crystal Palace at 8:20 before the park opens. I've never been in the park early for breakfast (last trip we did dinner at CP) so I'm looking forward to walking down main street in the early hours. I have a picture in my mind I'd love to get - all 3 of my kids walking toward the castle - we'll see if it comes to fruition. First we'll do the areas of MK not yet done on Wednesday, then re-do things we all liked best. Dinner ADRs at Whispering Canyon, I think the kids will enjoy the boatride to WL. After dinner we'll head back to MK and hopefully see spectromagic. It will have been a loooong day for us all at this point, hence the hopefully. We are definately not staying for wishes at 10pm though, the plan is stay for spectro and get back to the resort to sleep!

Sunday - our last full day at Disney, I'm already sad just thinking about it. Today is our second Epcot day. The plan is to hit anything we missed the first day and if time permits redo favourites. We have ADRs for Chef Mickey's at 5:00pm. We'll take monorail from Epcot to Contemporary for dinner. Not sure if we'll head back to Epcot or not - if we are tired we'll go back to POP for the night, if not we'll head back to Epcot and catch Illuminations.

Monday - time to go home. Our flight is around 2:00pm so we'll have time for breakfast and a swim, then it will be time to finish packing and get on ME to the airport.

Well, I think I've outlined enough. I actually have very detailed plans for each day, outlining rides and areas of each park we'll be hitting at different times of the day. Yes, I'm a bit obsessed with the disney trip planning!

[rhondac]

Only 1 month to go, it seemed so far away when I booked the trip and now it's coming up fast.

I've spent the last couple of months planning the details of our days at the parks - making ADRs, which days to be at which parks (avoiding EMH due to no-park hoppers, touring plans), planning each day in detail to make sure we hit everything we want to see.

Now the trip is getting closer so I need to focus on the travel down there - packing lists, picking up little things for the kids to keep them occupied on the plane/in hotel room/in lineups. I've already picked up a few things - colouring books for L, tinkerbell activity book and some disney crosswords for J, reading books for K. I want to plan some fun things to keep the kids occupied in lineups - I've already told K about the hidden mickey's and he's excited to look for those. I was thinking of googling some Disney facts/trivia and making little info cards and games to keep in the backpack - I list 4 facts and the kids try to figure out which one is true, that sort of thing. Anyone have any suggestions? I'd love any and all ideas.

I also want K and J to each do a little journal while on the trip, nothing big, just write a blurb about each day - their favourite thing, etc. I'm going to try to find some Disney character notebooks at the dollar store.

Clothes...I have 1 boy and 2 girls, while I wouldn't call myself a total matchy matchy person, I do like the kids to coordinate, especially when pictures will be taken (there will be lots of pictures taken!). K's clothes aren't much of an issue - navy, brown and khaki shorts go with pretty much everything. The girls have some outfits which coordinate, don't match exactly but are from the same line at gymboree so the colours work well together. Being the absolute planning dork I am, I'm trying to coordinate their outfits with who we will be meeting that day character wise. Last time we went to Disney I packed the kids outfits in large ziploc bags, a complete outfit in each bag, labelled for which day. It worked out really well and I plan to do that again...so much easier to just grab a bag and tell K and J to get dressed than going through the suitcase trying to find the right t-shirt.

[rhondac]

The pre-trip shopping has begun! I love to buy things for a trip - little things for the kids to keep them entertained. And I especially like to get deals so we avoid spending too much on souvenirs for the kids (you know, so *I* can spend more on souvenirs at Disney LOL).

Today I found a really cute light up cinderella necklace for a steal at 2.49. It's a cinderella figurine, you presh a button on front and it stays lit up for a little while. I figure this will be perfect for J during spectromagic. I want to pick up some glow sticks to bring for K. They had an Aurora necklace too and I'm almost wishing I'd picked it up - even though L is only going to be 17 months I think she'd like it. Hmmm, I think another shopping trip is in my future next week.

I also started picking up little things for the baby - disposable sippy cups for milk - she has a SIGG sport cup and kleen kanteen sippy but we'll use those for water. Disposable snack cups to fit on her tray, disposable bibs (I'm not exactly an environmentally friendly traveller, am I?).

And I've started stockpiling snacks to bring - mini boxes of cereal, snack packs of goldfish crackers, granola bars, little raison boxes, juice boxes, soy milk tetra packs, L's baby cereal bars which she appears to be addicted to. We do have the free dining plan but my kids are all about snacks throughout the day, they don't seem to eat a lot at meals but rather graze as the day goes on, so I want to be prepared without having to use up all our snack credits - I'd like to save those for fun things like mickey ice cream bars and frozen lemonade!

[rhondac]

Haven't been around - we took a mini vacation to Niagara Falls while dh was on vacation from work!

[rhondac]

Hmmm, I tried to post some pics but it says I need at least 10 posts so I'm adding some...

[rhondac]

And another

[rhondac]

And another...

[rhondac]

Another

[rhondac]

And one more!

[rhondac]

We went on a mini-trip this past weekend to Niagara Falls. At first I was annoyed at my kids - within the first hour they were super annoying with asking for absolutely everything they saw! I told them I'm not taking them to Disney if they are going to act like that when we get there (Dh was scared - I told him the baby and I would go by ourselves LOL). But they both calmed down, and were very appreciative of the things we did do, getting to stay in a hotel, playing games, going to Marineland, etc so it was all good.



http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8020422.jpg


I made each of the kids their link chain, they were both asking about having one. K's is Mickey themed, J's is princess and they are hanging in their rooms, they enjoy taking a link off each morning. On each link I wrote something to look forward to at Disney (give Mickey a hug, each lunch in Cinderella's Castle, visit Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow, Expedition Everest, etc).

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050599.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050601.jpg


And I've started organizing the disney stuff I'm accumulating for each kids. So far J is in the lead - she's so easy to buy for...princess stuff, plus she's the perfect age for activity books, etc. I have a few reading books for K, and some baby stuff for L but I need to get a few more things to even it all out!

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050605.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050606.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050607.jpg

[rhondac]

When we took the kids in Nov 2007 we didn't do autographs. I just didn't really think about it, J was under 3 and I don't think would have really been into it yet.

This time however I really want to do it. I'd like to get the kids each an autograph book with spots for pictures so we'll do pics with each character to put beside the autographs. I believe they are available at DW in the resort gift shops? We get to POP late afternoon and are heading to HS right away, I'd like to buy the books at POP when we arrive in case we meet any characters at HS that evening (K would love to meet the Incredibles!). The other thing I'm considering is making autograph books for them out of an 8x8 scrapbook. We'll see how ambitious I feel before we leave!

I've already started my sharpie collection, so we have the right colour for each character to sign with :-)

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8050608.jpg

I think I have all the colours we'll need for princesses, tinkerbell, mickey, minnie, goofy, donald, etc.

Any tips for getting autographs? We'll be getting most of them at Character meals - we are dining at Donald's breakfast at Tusker House, Garden Grill with Chip 'n' Dale, CRT, Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's. We are also planning to visit Pixie Hollow, and possible the princesses in Toontown (depending on which princesses we see at CRT). And I'd love to meet Mary Poppins, I believe she's in the UK at Epcot? K really wants to meet Stitch, we saw him last time at Ohana Breakfast which was so much fun but I just couldn't fit it in this time. I believe we can meet Stitch at AK so I'm hoping we do that on our second day, which is our only day at AK. I'm not sure if there are any Stitch meets at other parks, but I should find out before we leave just in case we don't see him at AK, as that is the only one K has specifically requested. J will be seeing all her favs - princesses and fairies - so I want him to meet Stitch. I'm hoping L doesn't mind meeting Pooh and friends. Our breakfast at Crystal Palace is near the end of the trip, so she will have seen lots of characters at that point, hopefully she's willing to get her picture taking with Pooh.

[SilverL]

I love the countdown links you made for your kids. So cute!

As far as autographs go, if there are specific characters your kids really want to meet, check Steve Soares' website for the character greetings times and make a list before you go. I think these are published on the times guides in the parks as well, but it's been a while. :confused3 Character meals are the best way to do autographs because you're killing two birds with one stone and eliminating line time, but not all characters are at the meals.

Try to catch characters as soon as they come out if you're looking for them in the parks. They don't always stay out long enough to visit with everyone in line, and if there is no line, the experience can be awesome. We ran into Captain Hook and Smee early one morning right after riding POTC. My little sister's friend had bought a "My Boyfriend is a Pirate" pin and Smee decided he was her boyfriend. They goofed around with us for 10 minutes or so. They stole our sunglasses and posed with them, fought with each other, and all the while Smee kept insisting he was her boyfriend! We have a hilarious series of pictures.

[rhondac]

Thanks - I stole the idea of the Mickey one from a PTR I read on here, then my dd wanted princess so I did the crown for her. I was going to do just one family link chain - but they each have different things they are looking forward to, this way each thing on their chain is something they specifically will be looking forward to doing (my son is not a princess fan - he was so mad I caught a pic of him with Jasmine last time LOL).

Good tip on the Steve Soares website, I'll definately look there before we leave and make a list of where/when for each must-see character. I love the character meals, we did 3 of them last time and are doing 5 this time because it is such a great way to meet the characters. Plus my 17 month old doesn't have any credits on the dining plan, so character meals are the best way for us to go as they are mostly buffets/all you can eat so it makes it easier to get her a plate of things she'll like (whereas at other sit downs I need to make sure to order something she can safely share).

How fun about the character interaction. I've read so many stories like that on here, princesses walking with little girls holding their hands, etc. I would love to have something like that happen with us on our trip, I'm a picture-taking fiend and would just love to get something like that on camera with my kids!

[SilverL]

We had fun with Mulan and Mushu in the China Pavilion last time too. We were pretty lucky with the characters. My sister and her friend were around 13-14 at the time and didn't care to wait in lines for characters, but we always happened upon them when there was no line. Arriving at the park early helped for sure. We ran into Mexican Donald and Belle. We did wait for Stitch, I think. They love Stitch.

When I was much, much younger, my family took a trip to Disneyland. I stood in line waiting for Pooh and carefully drew a honey pot on a blank page of my autograph book. I wanted him to sign inside the honey pot and didn't realize that it was too small for them to do that. When it was finally my turn, I handed my book to Pooh. He spotted the honey pot and proceeded to spend the next few minutes licking my autograph book until the handler CM finally convinced him that it wasn't a real honey pot. You never know what they're going to do!

[rhondac]

so I had a realization the other day. As a family we now have quite a selection of aluminum bottles (kleen kanteen and SIGGs mostly). However we now have one less due to little L and her stroller. She had the cutest SIGG bottle, which was my favourite (used to be J's), it has a great twist sport top which was perfect for her. We were in Niagara falls, it was on her stroller, and now we no longer have the bottle, ARGH! I knew something like this would happen, I was always checking it, putting it back in the cup holder on her tray, etc. And in the mall or on the way to the park it isn't a problem because I easily notice if it falls overboard (aka gets thrown overboard by a certain toddler). However with the craziness that is Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls I obviously did not notice and now it's gone. My first thought was I need to buy another one before we go to Disney, then I realized the same thing might happen there! But it is going to be HOT while we are there (first week of Sept), and seeing as she doesn't talk yet I really want her to have constant access so she can drink whenever she needs water.

So, I figured the easiest solution was more disposable sippys. I had picked up a batch to use for milk in the evening as they are easier to rinse out than her avent ones I use at home, and if I don't get a chance to rinse and it gets gross then I just toss. Yesterday I picked up another batch (different colours to keep milk/water ones separate). I'll use those on her stroller tray for water. I do like the aluminum water bottles for safety (the evils of plastic and all LOL). But these sippys are BPA free, plus I figure I'll bring a bunch of our alum bottles, fill them at the resort in the mornings and keep them under the stroller (we go to the amusement park near our house and when I do this the water actually stays cool all day). Then I can just fill up the plastic sippys on her tray throughout the day so she has constant access to refreshing, cool water.

Wow, that was a long post all about sippys LOL! I'm just concerned about her staying hydrated while we are there. She will be almost 17 months but she absolutely refuses to talk (no other developmental delays, she understands everything we say to her, she uses sign language a bit to communicate and other ways like pointing, etc - I think she's just stubborn and doesn't want to talk :rotfl:). At least my big kids can tell me when they are thirsty or feeling blah because of the heat.

I keep reading about those cooling fans to attach to baby strollers to keep them cool. Anyone have experience with those? Should I get one beforehand or are they available at Disney?

And another question about water - anyone with experience at POP who can answer this would be great - are there water dispensers in the food court I can use to fill our bottles in the morning? Is the water decent? (taste good? I'm a picky water drinker). Is there an ice dispenser? I don't know if I'm better off waiting until I get to the parks and having a CM at counter service fill them for me.

[rhondac]

details, details...

I am trying to make sure we aren't super rushed while we are there, but on the other hand I'm trying to make sure we do everything, sooooo, I have a plan for each day in the park. Some of them I think are overly ambitious with 3 kids including a young toddler. But I figure I'll make the plan, we'll do what we can and if we don't do it all, I won't get stressed. Mostly the plan is to make sure we aren't criss crossing around the parks. Here's our plan for Hollywood Studios our first evening. It's evening EMH but I'm not sure how late we'll want to be here so it's very likely not all of this will be done our first night. We have another full day at HS later in the week.

* take bus from Pop to HS, arrive at park 4:30-5:00pm? This all depends on how long it takes to get to POP on ME, and how long it takes to check-in...I'm hoping to do online check-in before we leave to make the process as fast as possible once we arrive at Pop.

* HSM3 show? K, my 8yods, loves the HSM movies, he's all about music and thinks Troy is very cool. It would be nice to arrive at the park just before this starts and get to see it when we walk into the park but if not we'll have lots of oppty to see this later in the week when we spend a full day at HS

* streets of america, honey I shrunk the kids playground - my kids loved HISTK playground last time so we'll head there, they will have just spent a good part of the day in airport, airplane, on ME bus, on bus to HS so running around a playground seems like the best first stop for us

* quick service dinner at Pizza Planet - definately a must for K, he was a big Toy Story fan when he was little. I don't think J has seen the movies so I'll need to put these on our list of movies for disney movie nights leading up to the trip so she's familiar with the characters, I think she'll really like them

* Epic stunt spectacular? I'll need to check the times of this before we leave, I believe Steve Soares usually has times guide info a week beforehand? Dh and K want to catch both this and the Indy show at HS, so I'm hoping they can do one this evening, the other later in the week when we are at HS

* Muppet Vision 3D - we didn't see this last time, I haven't seen it since dh and I went in 2000, I really want to see it this time around and I think both K and J will enjoy it! Likely dh will hang out with L outside while we are in here.

* animation Courtyard for magic of disney animation, playhouse disney dance party - I've been reading about the disney dance party in HS on EMH nights, anyone know about this? Is it still on? It looks like something all my kids will love so I hope so! I thought dh or I could take K through disney animation while the little kids party it up with the playhouse gang

* toy story mania - since it's evening EMH I'm hoping we can ride this, but if the lineup is too long we'll wait for later in the week

If we can get all these done our first evening I will be VERY happy. Even if we do TSM this evening I will want to do it again later in the week, it will be the first place we head on our HS day.

[SilverL]

I'm not sure about misting fans that attach to strollers, but I have a spray bottle mister fan that is really really nice when you're there in the hotter months. You can buy them at Disney, but they're way overpriced. Take a trip to Walmart or some such store and pick one up for much cheaper. Oh, and don't forget PONCHOS! Last time we bought some nice, non disposable ponchos that had little drawstring bags in which to store them and they were fantastic. Don't forget one for the stroller!

Also, I'm pretty sure that FastPasses for TSM will be gone by the time you arrive that evening and lines will be insane. You could wait in the line if you want, but you could also make sure to get there early on your HS day and eliminate the wait. TouringPlans says that you can get the most done in the first two hours the park is open, so when I figured out our park strategies, I made sure we hit all of the popular rides first.

[rhondac]

yeah, I wasn't sure about TSM during evening EMH. The regular park hours end at 7pm, EMH that night until 10pm. I'll run over to TSM right when we get to the park and hope they still have fp available for later in the evening.

And yes, ponchos, thanks for the reminder...I need to add that to my packing list I have started! I don't want to spend a ton of money on Disney ponchos, I'd rather buy cheap ones before we leave.

[rhondac]

Day 2 - our first full day at Disney - Animal Kingdom! park hours this day are 9-5.

* ADRs for Donald's Breakfast at Tusker House for 8:15am - this means an early wake up but the benefit is we are in the park super early. I'm really excited about this meal, how fun our first morning at Disney the kids get to meet some of their fav characters. J has been really excited about meeting Daisy Duck! I'm hoping we don't have to wait long to get seated because I don't want to rush through bfast but want to be done shortly after 9 so we can get over to Kilimanjara before a lineup starts

* first stop after breakfast is Kilimanjara safari - hope to get on without a huge lineup

* next is heading over to Asia - grab fastpasses for Expedition Everest (if the lineup isn't too long we'll just wait but likely by this point will need fastpasses)

* once we have EE fastpasses we'll head to Dinoland. I'd like to catch the first showing of Finding Nemo (we missed this last trip) so we'll get in the lineup. Once out of here we'll visit the boneyard (K loved this last time!). Then Tricera Top Spin...if it's time to use EE fastpasses dh or I will take K over, the other will take the girls on Tricera Top Spin (J is too small for EE, this will make her very sad so that's why I'm planning for her to be on another ride at the same time).

* then Discovery Island - lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, and meet Lilo & Stitch

* back to Asia for maharaja jungle trek and flights of wonder show

* by now it's time to get a spot for jammin' jungle parade!

And now we've done everything in the park that's on my list. We saw Festival of the Lion King last time, so I don't feel a strong urge to see it again (although it was a great show!). My kids are big fans of 3D movies, I might be able to get them into Muppet Vision 3D at HS, but not even going to try It's Tough To Be a Bug even though they love the Bug's Life movie. We are also skipping Dinosaur.

My plan is to leave the park just after the parade, go back to Pop and have a swim in the pool.

Then we'll either have dinner at the resort and just wander around the paths and have an early night, or head to DTD for dinner (I'm dying to try Wolfgang Puck Express!) and do some shopping. I *think* we'll be able to do DTD esp after having a swim to have down time and energize everyone, but we'll see, I don't want to push the kids too hard, it is a long week of late nights. K is fine, he's a night owl so staying up late isn't a problem for him. And L should be fine as she'll just sleep in the stroller as needed. J gets kind of whiney when tired, what will help is we are bringing the stroller which has a little bench seat/stand on the back so she can stand or sit for a break throughout the day and evening.

[rhondac]

just realized I did a typo in my AK post - I said my kids are big fans of 3D movies, I meant they AREN'T big fans, which is why we aren't doing Tough to be a Bug.

[rhondac]

just thought I'd post a pic of my 3 munchkins and myself - here we are last weekend at Marineland on a ride. K, my ds, is forever making funny faces in pictures LOL. This was one of the few rides my littlest one could ride - she sat all by herself and squealed with joy the whole time. She does the same thing when I take her on rides at Canada's Wonderland. The thing is at those 2 amusement parks there are very few rides she can go on, which is why I'm so excited to take her to Disney in a few weeks - there will be so many things she'll be able to ride. I'm making sure to plan our days so we hit areas of the park which are toddler friendly during morning or really late afternoon when she is wide awake (fantasyland, toontown) and specific rides/shows at parks (playhouse disney at HS, triceratop spin at AK). I figure we can do other areas of the parks early afternoon when she is hopefully napping peacefully in her stroller.

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8030478_trim.jpg

[rhondac]

I had to go to TRU last night to get a baby gift for a shower, also to get a refund as the carseat I only just bought for L is now on sale for $40 less than what I paid (that's worth a trip to the store for a price guarantee!). So I received TRU gc for $40 and proceeded to spend a lot more than that :rotfl:

I bought a gift for my friend, and yet another pink bunny for L...she has 3 of those pink bunny blankets - you know little lovey type things, it's like a tiny blanket with a bunny head? the 3 she already had were from wal*mart, very soft, she took a liking to the one I had picked up a long time ago, using it for naptime and bedtime (goes to sleep rubbing it's soft ears, awww). So I picked up 2 more so we have spares when they are being washed, etc. Then last night at TRU she fell in love with a pink and cream pink bunny from the organic cotton section. I'm a total sucker for organic stuff so of course I picked it up, I'm sure we will have a whole litter of soft pink bunnies by the time she outgrows them :)

I also looked for the aurora light up necklace I saw last time. I picked up the cinderella light up necklace for J and wished I had bought another for L since she will enjoy having a button to press and light up. They didn't have Aurora, but they did have Snow White so I got that one. I'll give J her choice and give the other to L. Now I just need to pick up some regular glow sticks for K and I'm all set for evening fun at MK during spectromagic! Let's see, 2 princess light up necklaces for $6, some glow sticks from the dollar store...I think I'll end up with fun stuff for all 3 of my kids for less than the cost of 1 thing at MK, what do you think? Cost savings plus I just love shopping before a trip, what's better than that?:cheer2:

Oh and another fun find - we were recently at a park with petting zoo, playground, etc for the kids. That particular weekend there was a little fun fair going on (we didn't know that until we arrived). There were booths for parents to visit and they were giving away stuff - small reusable bags (I love bags, I admit it, I never turn down a free bag), filled with coupons, etc. But I also scored free a few travel sized burts bees baby soap and lotion (perfect for the trip!), travel sized toothpaste for dh and I, travel sized body wash for myself, and the most fun was a free Wall-E shirt that fits K perfectly!! It has a cute picture of WallE on the front, it will be perfect for Disney.

I can't believe in only 3 weeks I'll be getting everything packed. We leave on a Monday, the weekend before we leave is super busy...I have a baby shower on the Sat afternoon, then dh and I will be at a wedding reception Sunday evening (my parents will come to the house to babysit). Also, I will have just started back at work for 2 weeks so life will be busy around here as we all get into routine with the new nanny...she just started this week and is AWESOME :yay: My plan is to set out our bags on the spare bed a week before we leave, and pack up stuff as it gets cleaned so I don't have to be up all night the night before we leave packing!

[rhondac]

more details...

Day 3 - MAGIC KINGDOM here we come! OMG, I'm so excited, I just love this park.

* plan is to be up early and there at park opening (we never once made it last trip on any days to park opening so I really want to try this time). We will have had a day at AK the day before and possibly DTD for dinner but I don't want to make a late evening the day before specifically so we can get up early today

* quick bfast at POP, then onto the bus to MK

* head right away to Fantasyland - we are spending the whole morning here...hope to do Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Pooh's playful spot, Small World, Peter Pan, Carousel before lunchtime, think this is doable? I'd also like to do Mickey's Philharmagic (another one I missed last trip that is on my must-do list this time). But I can do that one after lunch if we don't get to it in the am.

* just before lunch dh or I will run over to Splash mountain to get FP for the afternoon

* at noon we head into the castle for LUNCH AT CRT @ 12:15 - J is going to burst with excitement!! We get a photo package with the lunch and right now my plan is to have just J with Cinderella for the pic. I always hate myself in pictures, L never looks at the camera, K hates being near princesses so he'll make a silly face and dh doesn't care. So, we'll do the package photo with just J and Cinderella. I'll find a nice frame at Disney to put in her room with the picture. I'll also have dh take one of us 3 girls with Cinderella on our camera.

* after lunch I want to do philharmagic if we didn't do it beforehand

* then onto Frontierland - Splash mountain, country bear jamboree, tom sawyer island, thunder mountain (most likely get FP for thunder mtn to do it later)

* watch 3pm parade from Frontierland

* Adventureland - tiki room (I love this one LOL), magic carpets, POC, jungle cruise

* quick service dinner at Columbia House

* back to Frontierland/Adventureland after dinner to use FP and finish what we didn't do in the afternoon

* take the railroad around to ToonTown

* do whatever we have time for here (we will be back to this area first our next MK day so I'm not worried about getting anything done here this evening). The only thing I'd like to do is Barnstormer as I know J will love it.

* wishes is at 9pm this night, so we'll watch wishes then head back to the resort

This is going to be a looong day for the kids as we will be at the park for 12 hours. But we have the long lunch in the middle and we'll take lots of breaks for snacks. Another thing on my must-do list for this day is a Dole Whip...haven't tried one before, must find out what all the hype is about!

hopefully at the end of this day we will have done most/all of Fantasyland, Frontierland and Adventureland - that's the plan.

[beyondblessed]

Subscribing! I can't wait to read about your trip. You're so lucky - you are down to just days!!!

[rhondac]

Thanks! You are lucky to be staying at Poly, it's my dream to stay there someday.

I'm heading over to check out your PTR!

[rhondac]

another picture from our Niagara Falls mini-vaca, since it's Disney related. In the midway J spotted this little ride, both girls climbed in

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/P8040542.jpg

[rhondac]

So far we've been to HS, AK and MK - that means day 4 is for EPCOT. I love this park, I was pleasantly surprised on our last trip how much there was for the kids to do here. There are things we didn't get a chance to do, and new things which are all on my must-do list for this trip, as well as some perennial favourites of course!

* quick breakfast at POP and head to the bus, since the day before will have been long and late at MK I'm not sure how quickly we will be up and moving but I want to be at the park by 9:30 at the latest

* first up is the Seas! There are many things here for all 3 of my kids to enjoy so I want to go here first thing...Nemo ride, Turtle talk with Crush, seeing all the aquariums, getting the kids started with the kidcot stations (my big kids absolutely LOVED kidcot stations last time).

* next we head to innoventions, check out some of the exhibits and sign up for a Kim Possible mission. I am SO looking forward to these, it is new since our last trip and I know K and J are going to love doing them, I hope to do 2 or 3 throughout our two days at Epcot.

* counter service lunch - not sure where yet, somewhere in the world showcase, and something light as we have early dinner ADRs.

* In world showcase first up on my list is Canada, UK and France. On our last trip we didn't have much time at the countries, and it was mostly at night. I want to see the gardens, do shopping, see the movie in Canada pavilion (love the new updated movie, we saw it last time). I'd also love to see Mary Poppins in the UK...it is one of my favourite movies, K and J both love the movie as well and know all the songs.

* head over to The Land, either line up for Soarin' or get FP to do it after dinner

* dinner at Garden Grill, 4:30pm ADRs - my ds is really looking forward to meeting C 'n' D, we have the DVDs and they are well watched in our house.

* next up is Imagination!

* after this we'll either call it a day and head back to POP, or visit a few more countries in the world showcase

So that's our first day at EPCOT!

[rhondac]

Day 5 - back to HS, no ADRs this day which is kind of nice, just go with the flow for food

* first thing as soon as we hit the park, TSM - ideally I'd love to get fp and get in line so we ride it twice.

* next is playhouse disney live on stage, I want to catch a morning show because this is something L will really enjoy, and hang around animation courtyard (maybe see characters?, take K to magic of disney animation)

* quick service lunch I'd like to go to Starring Rolls, I've read the sandwiches are good plus it's close to the theatre for Beauty and the Beast which is where we are headed after lunch

* I don't really have a plan for the afternoon - dh and K will want to do the stunt show, I'd like to see if K and J will go on ToT. And of course we'll watch the block party bash!

* if we are done here early enough I'd like to head to DTD. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get to DTD from HS - so far it seems taking the bus to Saratoga Springs and walking to DTD from there is the easiest/fastest? Anyone else have suggestions for quickest way to get from HS to DTD?

I can hardly believe by this point our disney vacation will be getting close to the end :eek:

[rhondac]

Day 6 we are heading back to MK, hooray!

* We have 8:20 ADRs at Crystal Palace :yay: I'm so excited to be in the park before opening, walk down main street. And I'm excited to see L with Pooh and friends. Since we'll have met many characters already during the trip, hopefully she'll be comfortable to get a nice pic, but if not oh well. This was our first char meal last trip and J was absolutely terrified...here's a pic of how she was meeting Pooh and friends

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/IMG_6722.jpg

But later in our trip she was much better, here she is when we all posed with Mickey at Ohana bfast

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/IMG_6830.jpg


* After breakfast we'll head over toward Toontown to be there for rope drop and get into line to meet Tink! After visitin Pixie Hollow we'll do the rest of toontown...Mickey and Minnie's houses, Barnstormer, play area

* Then onto Tomorrowland - speedway, TTA, Monster's Inc laughfloor, Buzz Lightyear

* By now it's time for lunch, likely Cosmic Ray's since we'll be right there, we enjoyed lunch there last time.

* No specific plans for the afternoon - do anything we missed or re-do favourites, try to catch the block party parade

* 5:30 we head to the dock to take boat to Wilderness Lodge, we have ADRs at Whispering Canyon for 6:30pm. I want to wander around the resort a bit while we are there

* back to MK to catch spectromagic at 9pm, then back to resort to sleep!

[Sunset Cliffs]

I followed your PTR link over and wow! You have done a lot in a short period of time! I only have a couple of suggestions for now because it seems like you have really thought your days through.

1. For FPs - you may want to get them earlier than when you think. When we were there in June, a lot of the FP were gone by 1:30 in the afternoon, or there would be a 6 hour gap in time. I know the parks will be less crowded so you might not have this problem, but I just don't want you to miss out on a planned FP because you waited too long to get them.

2. My son (who was 21 months when we went) LOVED the Country Bear Jamboree. Your older kids might not like it, but if you have a FP and are waiting for the others to get back, you might take your youngest to see this. It's a little hokey, but my son loves music & he loves animals so he was in awe by this. :goodvibes

[SilverL]

I'm debating about my TSM strategy---trying to figure out if it's best to get FP and then ride or vice versa. I think I'm leaning for riding it first and then getting the FP. I have a feeling if I wait in line for 10, 15, 20 mins for a FP and then try to ride, the standby time will shoot up. However, if I ride right away, the FP mania might have died down by the time I get off the ride. Just my theory.

We have a dinner reservation at WCC too! I'm so excited. A lot of people say that the food isn't fantastic, but when we went there for breakfast on our last trip we had a great time. My little sister's friend asked for ketchup, not knowing what she was getting herself into. Sadly, we took no pictures. This year I'm going to be the weirdo in the restaurant with her camera, snatching DH's plate away to take a picture of it before he dives in.

[1stvisit0909]

awesome ptr! Makes me want to ramp mine up a bit. :-)

I ordered autograph books from the disney website, they were 6.95. Not sure how much they are a the parks. We wanted to be able to hit the ground running.

[rhondac]

I followed your PTR link over and wow! You have done a lot in a short period of time! I only have a couple of suggestions for now because it seems like you have really thought your days through.

1. For FPs - you may want to get them earlier than when you think. When we were there in June, a lot of the FP were gone by 1:30 in the afternoon, or there would be a 6 hour gap in time. I know the parks will be less crowded so you might not have this problem, but I just don't want you to miss out on a planned FP because you waited too long to get them.

2. My son (who was 21 months when we went) LOVED the Country Bear Jamboree. Your older kids might not like it, but if you have a FP and are waiting for the others to get back, you might take your youngest to see this. It's a little hokey, but my son loves music & he loves animals so he was in awe by this. :goodvibes

Yes, I have been obsessing just a bit :rolleyes1 about our trip. I go back to work in a week so I won't be able to do much the 2 weeks just before our trip, which is why I'm reading/planning everything now, doing all the trip shopping, etc.

Good tip on the FPs, I think I will try getting them earlier just to make sure. I also wasn't sure about FP and baby swap, did you do baby swap with Dylan on your trip?...I just don't know if to ride Splash Mountain I need 4 FPs for us and the 2 big kids, or just 2 then we get a rider swap for the other 2 to ride? If I can get away with just 2 then the FP system will be much better as I can get FPs for 2 rides at the same time as long as they aren't rides L can do. Country Bear jamboree sounds like the perfect thing for L while big kids are on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain (we didn't do the jamboree last time, I haven't seen it in years so even I wouldn't mind watching it!).


I'm debating about my TSM strategy---trying to figure out if it's best to get FP and then ride or vice versa. I think I'm leaning for riding it first and then getting the FP. I have a feeling if I wait in line for 10, 15, 20 mins for a FP and then try to ride, the standby time will shoot up. However, if I ride right away, the FP mania might have died down by the time I get off the ride. Just my theory.

We have a dinner reservation at WCC too! I'm so excited. A lot of people say that the food isn't fantastic, but when we went there for breakfast on our last trip we had a great time. My little sister's friend asked for ketchup, not knowing what she was getting herself into. Sadly, we took no pictures. This year I'm going to be the weirdo in the restaurant with her camera, snatching DH's plate away to take a picture of it before he dives in.


I'm looking forward to WCC too, we've never eaten there. I keep reading they do things when you ask for ketchup, etc but I have no idea what!? My 4 yo loves ketchup on almost everything so I'll be sure to have her ask.

awesome ptr! Makes me want to ramp mine up a bit. :-)

I ordered autograph books from the disney website, they were 6.95. Not sure how much they are a the parks. We wanted to be able to hit the ground running.

Aw, thanks!:) Unfortunately shipping to Canada makes ordering things online from Disney not worthwhile. But I still might make the books, I'll take a trip to Michael's this week.

[rhondac]

Day 7 - our last full day at Disney *sigh* We return to Epcot this day (although dh keeps insisting this is an "open" day for whatever we want as we don't have ADRs at Epcot - technically he's right but I know for a fact we will want another day at Epcot, so I'm calling it an Epcot day :) )

* in the morning I want to hit Future World things we missed earlier in the week - Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Innoventions. I might want to do Soarin' again, if so dh or I will run over first thing to get FPs and we'll head over later to ride.

* register for KP mission, I'm almost certain the kids will want to do another one of these

* world showcase for lunch, not sure where, this is one of the few meals I don't have planned out!

* world showcase - want to do Gran Fiesta in Mexico (another thing we missed last time), and just walk around the other countries we missed earlier in the week.

* at 4:00 we get on the monorail for dinner at Chef Mickey's @ 5:00! I originally wanted to do this our first night at Disney, but was only able to get a very late dinner time, so at the time I made this one as a backup. Well, the more I thought about it a late dinner really wasn't perfect for our first night, then I changed our first afternoon/evening from MK to HS so getting to the Contemporary became a hassle, whereas we can just eat at pizza planet and enjoy EMH at HS, it makes for a more relaxing first evening, and allows us extra time at HS (we only have 1 other full day there). So while I was disappointed with this ADR at first, now I'm excited to have this for our last evening, plus it's such a great time the kids will really get the most out of it.

* after dinner we'll prob head back to Epcot (no park hoppers so it's either Epcot or nothing). The other thing I have in my head is riding around and touring the monorail resorts. Wishes is at 9pm this night I believe, we could have a relaxing dinner at CM, tour Grand Floridian (I'd love to see this resort), head over to Poly to walk around a bit and watch wishes from the beach. I'd be more inclined to do this if our ADR were just a tad later, I'm just worried we'd have trouble filling 2.5-3 hours between dinner and Wishes. The other option is head back to Epcot to do a few more things and watch Illuminations. I definately want to see one of the fireworks shows, it's our last night at Disney for goodness sake!!

The following morning we aren't doing a park. I'm guessing ME pickup time will be around 10:00-10:30am - we'll have time for a swim, finish packing, walk around the resort a bit and say "see ya next time" to Disney :sad2:

[SilverL]

If you want to know what they do at WCC, highlight the text below and read on. Otherwise, definitely ask for ketchup.

Notes from AllEarsNet:

Rumor has it if you want to "enhance" your experience -- try one or more of the following. IMPORTANT -- these are just suggestions! Depending on how busy the cafe is, servers may not be able to engage in tomfoolery!

PLEASE Note: It has been brought to our attention that someone reprinted this list and then got very upset with their server when all of the items mentioned below were not part of their dining experience. PLEASE don't expect your server to do this entire list or even anything from the list! it is merely a recap of what has produced some interesting antics from previous guest experiences. Whispering Canyon is a themed restaurant and chances are your server may engage in some tomfoolery. But please use this only as a guide for possibly having fun and not a list of expectations! Thank you!

Wear a Hat or T-Shirt from Universal or Sea World
Tell your server you spent the day at an attraction outside of WDW
Tell the server whose birthday or anniversary it is
Have your kids "egg him/her on"
Have one of the males in the group ask where the restrooms are
Claim your straw is not long enough
Chew gum
Ask the server where you can buy some chewing gum in WDW
Ask for ketchup -- but be ready for a little exercise and team building!
Order a soda for breakfast.

Note from me:

When we went, our server threw our straws at us. They holler back into the kitchen and back and forth at each other. They have hobby horse races and twirls napkins around. If you ask for ketchup, they will typically announce it to the entire restaurant and make every table bring you their ketchup bottle. So you'll end up with an entire table full of ketchup bottles. It's a LOT of fun!

[rhondac]

TO DO list...

I feel pretty good about what is already done...ADRs are set, plan for each day outlined, good start on shopping for kids stuff, travel stuff, etc.

This week I want to finish up the shopping, I still want to pick up a few odds and ends for the kids, plus ponchos and more travel stuff. I go back to work next week (yes, that's right, I go back to work after my 18 month maternity leave, work for 2 weeks then leave for a week at Disney...makes going back to work a bit easier! :)).

I'm going to Michaels this afternoon to check out scrapbooks and decide if I want to make books for the kids as autograph books, or just buy there. If I do make them I'll keep it a surprise for the kids until we get there, I've already told them they need to use their money to buy autograph books. They've each been earning "Disney Dollars" - if they cleanup without being asked, try a new veggie at dinner without complaining, are extra cooperative on a shopping trip...things like that they earn dollars to spend at Disney. I figure I'd be giving them money to buy souvenirs anyways, I may as well get some good behaviour out of them before the trip :rotfl: So far they are each around 43/44 dollars so they are doing pretty good! Plus I'm sure my Mom will give them each 5-10 to spend, she always gives them a little something before we go on a trip for spending money. I will supplement their spending money if there is something they really want. But I figure this way if they have earned most of the money they are spending they will be more thoughtful about how to spend it rather than just asking for everything in sight. I can't wait to shop for L though, I just love having a little one where *I* still get to pick her stuff :goodvibes:

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I just found this and after reading through your first few pages I thought I would jump in and say hi to a fellow Ontarioian. If you don't mind me asking what city are you from? Also I'm going to be thee at almost the same time.

[rhondac]

I just found this and after reading through your first few pages I thought I would jump in and say hi to a fellow Ontarioian. If you don't mind me asking what city are you from? Also I'm going to be thee at almost the same time.

Hi!! I'm assuming you are from East York based on your username. Dh I lived there briefly in an apt near Danforth. Then we lived in North York for years, which I loved. Now we live north of the city in Richmond Hill.

Are you going to be at POP at the same time? Be sure to wave if you see me :) Dh will think I'm nuts though, I've told him about the Disboards but he doesn't know I'm doing a PTR or that I'm posting away on here :rotfl:

[rhondac]

well I had fun at Michaels yesterday buying Disney stuff! I had debated getting the kids scrapbooks as opposed to autograph books at Disney. When I got to Michaels I saw they have the nicest Disney 8x8 scrapbooks and I just couldn't resist. It will be so easy to add a few pages and have this as a memory book, not just an autograph book (it will have autographs alongside pics of them with the character, plus we can add some of their fav pics from the trip...them on a ride they loved, things like that). I just think this will be a nice thing for them to put together when we get home and to have to look through. I have a book from our first vacation I ordered from shutterfly which they both still love looking through. They both LOVE the ones I got which is nice, J's is cinderella and K's is mickey. I didn't pick one up for L, not sure if I will, haven't decided.

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/IMG_5988.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/IMG_5990.jpg

The only thing I don't know what to do for getting autographs...do I want to take the whole book in the park each day, take the sheet out of the page protector to have them sign? Pre-cut a bunch of squares of scrapbook paper to have each char sign? (then I'm worried we'll lose one if they are loose). Or what I'm thinking is pick up 2 spiral bound notebooks, with decent paper (if I can find such a thing), get the autographs in there then when we get home cut out each page and put in the scrapbook. This seems like the easiest option, as long as I can find notebooks with decent paper.

I also had fun at the $1 and $1.50 bins - I picked up a batch of glow bracelets so now we are set for evening fun (these plus the light up princess necklaces I have for the girls), a sudoku book for K to keep him entertained at airport/on plane/in hotel (I taped one of our mickey pencils on there for travelling), and some little keychain bubble packs which I'll bring to the park to keep L occupied while waiting for others to go on rides, or for waiting at the bus stops (do you think people will mind at the bus stops if we are blowing bubbles??).

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab95/rhondac_04/IMG_5991.jpg

Now I feel good with what I have, I only need to pick up rain ponchos!

Next week I can concentrate on just getting back into routine of getting out the door in the morning for work, it's been a year and a half I've been home with the kids on maternity leave so it will definately take some getting used to for sure!

[SilverL]

I wouldn't mind if kids were blowing bubbles away from me at a bus stop. I've had kids blow bubbles *at* me and get the sticky soap all over me and my stuff before.

If you can't find a notebook with the kind of paper you'd like, what about making your own by punching two or three holes along the side and using metal rings?

[rhondac]

I wouldn't mind if kids were blowing bubbles away from me at a bus stop. I've had kids blow bubbles *at* me and get the sticky soap all over me and my stuff before.

If you can't find a notebook with the kind of paper you'd like, what about making your own by punching two or three holes along the side and using metal rings?


Well, I probably wouldn't let the kids actually blow them, it would be me blowing them around my kids to keep them occupied, mostly the 17 month old who you can imagine isn't going to like just waiting around, but chasing bubbles is one of her favourite things! I figured the bubbles will even come in handy around the resort.

Good idea on making something, I can cut squares out of my scrapbook paper and make a little book. Hmmm, I'll have to figure out exactly what I want to do for autographs before we go.

[ScotsMinnie]

All caught up!!! Loving your plans so far! Not long to wait now.

[rhondac]

I was shopping today and found a cute clip on drawing thing which will be perfect for L in the stroller. We had something similar for J when we went in 2007 but hers was just a cheapo thing which was useless after the trip but she did love while in the stroller. This one is a bit nicer and has a lanyard which I think will be good.

http://www.mastermindtoys.com/store/product.asp?rd=99021793&product%5Fcode=85853&cat=0&brand=189&subcat=1057&page%5Ffrom=search%5Fresults%2Easp&link%5Fname=Search+Results&page=1&age=none&price=0&keyword=julia&category=0&search%5Ftype=exact&agecat=0&MSCSProfile=J0VSTGGKNUV19JH3TCHJ3TEKPVP0AE4F

As I've mentioned I go back to work next week *gulp*. So far things are going great with the nanny, all the kids adore her and she seems very competent (she used to work in a daycare so had lots of experience with little kids). And most important she seems to genuinely adore my kids. But next week will still be an adjustment for everyone, so I'm planning to give the kids each a little gift in the middle of the week...something for the trip. L's will be what I posted above, not sure about the big kids, prob something from my stash for J and I need to still pick up brainquest cards for K.

Both big kids have been talking about their scrapbooks I picked up a Michaels, I think making those memory books for them after the trip will be lots of fun, they'll love looking at them. Esp since this will be our last Disney trip for a while, not sure I'll be able to convince dh to go back before L is 3 or 4 so it will be 3 years at least.

[rhondac]

So I have a new Disney thing to research - pin trading! K must have seen something about it somewhere (not sure where?) and was asking about the lanyards around the neck and pins, he didn't know details. So I told him all I know - people where lanyards with pins attached, when you see a CM with pins you can ask to trade with them, he was very intrigued. I hadn't planned to pursue this, but figure why not? The kids have each earned 45 disney dolalrs (their spending money) so far, and I'm sure it will be 50-60 by the time the trip arrives. Since I now have their autograph/memory books and they don't need to use "their" money for that (I use "their" because technically it's still mine, I've just managed to get some good behaviour out of them :rotfl:). I figure they can use some of their spending money to buy pins for trading. I just don't know if I should try to find lanyards before we leave? Are they readily available at the park? What about pins? I think I'll check out ebay, maybe find a few for them to start with, and they can add more once we arrive? Of course if K is doing this, J will want to as well so I'm just assuming it will be both :) Anyone with experience buying pins on ebay? I don't want to go that route and end up with pins not valid to trade, I believe they have to be stamped on the back in order to trade, right? That's the extent of my pin-trading knowledge!

Oh and something else I just discovered is the build your own My Little Pony thing similar to Mr. Potato Head. I didn't even notice it when we were there in 2007. We did the Mr. Potato Head box on that trip which was great, we have lots of fun disney pieces. J is just starting to get into MLP so I think this will be lots of fun for her.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Hi!! I'm assuming you are from East York based on your username. Dh I lived there briefly in an apt near Danforth. Then we lived in North York for years, which I loved. Now we live north of the city in Richmond Hill.

Are you going to be at POP at the same time? Be sure to wave if you see me :) Dh will think I'm nuts though, I've told him about the Disboards but he doesn't know I'm doing a PTR or that I'm posting away on here :rotfl:

Yes to all of your questions, if you want to see what I look like and read about my trip check out the link in my sig.

[rhondac]

bah - I was just refreshing and noticed something happened to my photobucket account so no pics are showing...it's too late at night, I can't be bothered to try to fix it right now!

[rhondac]

My window crashed twice while I was playing around on photobucket so I give up, no pics for now, I have no patience for these things :rotfl2:

I was browsing around on ebay last night for lanyards and pins. Not sure what to do, I found some good deals but I'm concerned about getting them in time for our trip. I've had issues in the past with ebay items taking a loooong time to ship to canada. The lanyards I found are very cute, and less than $5 each incl shipping, I don't know how much they cost in the park though so I don't know if that's a good deal? And it looks like I could get 8-10 pins (3-4 for each kid) for around $10, which would get them started at least. What to do, what to do. I might go ahead and get the lanyards and the pins which are ending today so they should ship early next week, then just cross my fingers. We'll see how much of a gambling mood I'm in!

[SilverL]

I've been looking at Pin stuff on Ebay as well for my DH.

If you're worried about it taking a long time to arrive at your house, why not ship it to your resort with your name, check in date, and ressie #?

[rhondac]

Well, after surfing and showing the kids some pics I've decided I'm NOT pre-buying the lanyards and pins. J kept changing her mind about the lanyards, K was waffling as well. The last thing I need is to buy them beforehand, have the kids see the selection at DW and change their mind. Soooo, we will do that when we get there, this way they can make their selection from what is there and be happy with it. Plus one less thing for me to worry about arranging before the trip.

Yday we were at the library and I took out a few Disney planning books - well after skimming through and looking at touringplans.com again I've decided to rearrange some of our days. I'm not re-arranging which parks we'll be at (yet, I"m sure I'll consider that at some point, I'm never happy :rotfl:). I know I'm obsessed with the park planning but I just want to make sure the kids see everything they want (and with the age ranges I have that's pretty much everything!), without criss crossing around the parks. So I'm re-evaluating a few of the days, the AK day and our first MK day for sure I will be rearranging the order we see things. I really want to do Toontown our first day at MK rather than our second MK day so that means moving around the Frontierland/Adventureland stuff. And AK I just don't think it works the way I have it, so I'll be working on that one. I think I just like to plan, so when I think I have it all set I get antsy, that's prob why I'm feeling the urge to re-arrange the plan!

Once I start back to work next week there will be little to no free time for me on the computer so don't expect much from me before the trip. I'll try to do a TR after we get home, although not right away as we get back just before school starts we we'll all be busy those first few weeks getting our schedules organized and running smoothly.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Just stopping by to see if there was anything new posted here.