Will We Manage to See and Do It All?!?! - Sept. 25/Oct. 1st. - First PTR

[The4bits]

This is my first PTR and I'm very excited to have a place to write out all my questions and plans and get some feedback.

This will be our second trip as a family. We visited previously in April of 2008 for our DD's 4th birthday and had a fantastic time. So this year I walked into the room one night and just announced to DH that we were having a Disney vacay this year. :rolleyes1 He looked at me and said "Oh, really!" But he usually warms up to the idea.

Our vacation will be September 25th - October 1st, 2010. 8 months away. Not sure how I'm going to make it, I think that's the main reason I'm writing this PTR.

Wanna meet my cast?!?!

First there's me... Hollie (33... 34 at trip time) I am a SAHM and love being with my kids. I love scrapbooking, photography (which I do for part time employment), everything Disney and I absolutely love planning events and vacations. My favorite characters are Goofy and now Princess Tiana.

DH Jeff (42... 43 at trip time) He is an employee of AT&T in the IT Department and I can never remember his title. He says it's "Project Manager" and between you and I, I have no idea what that means. But he works hard so we can take these trips. He enjoys a nice, relaxing trip. He's more of a beach person, he really puts up with me and my Disney addiction. His favorite character is Goofy, if he really has to choose one, which I told him he did for my PTR. :laughing:

DD Lillie (5... 6 at trip time) She is a head strong, emotional little girl. She is 5 going on 15. She’s my buddy we go everywhere together and love spending time together. Lillie goes with the flow, hardly ever whines. She loves dress up, princesses, fairies, AG dolls and Barbie. Her favorite Disney character is Belle.

DS Jackson (3… 4 at trip time) He is all BOY!! He’s rough, obnoxious but yet caring and snuggly. He’s quite a mix. He’s also our whiner. If he gets tired the whole group is going down with him. His favorite Disney character is Mickey Mouse.

Here’s a picture of all of us from our Christmas card
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/20091025-DSC_0281.jpg

I cannot wait to get started on this here PTR. I have a lot to say and a lot of time to say it ;)

In fact, I can’t wait to update what I’m thinking so far for ADRs and my day plans. Plus, I can show off our pictures from our trip in 2008. The kids were so little when I look back. Only 2 and 3.5/4, looking forward to sharing those memories and reliving them.

[MHTeacher]

Oh, wow, I get to be first? :woohoo: I followed your link over from your post on my PTR. Can't wait for all your planning.

You have a beautiful family. :goodvibes

[The4bits]

Oh, wow, I get to be first? :woohoo: I followed your link over from your post on my PTR. Can't wait for all your planning.

You have a beautiful family. :goodvibes

Ah, thanks you're so sweet. This is fun!!

[The4bits]

Our plans so far for this vacation are….

Saturday, Sept 25th – fly into MCO from the Lou with a 2 hour layover in ATL – it will be the first time the kids have ever flown, so needless to say they are super excited. :banana: In fact the title was a direct quote from DS when I told him we were flying, kids say the cutest things.:love: I found $74 airfare (one-way) to Orlando with AirTran. Then we check in to Pop Century.

Sunday, Sept 26th – Transfer to Wilderness Lodge, yeah so excited,:banana: it’s at the top of my resort list. Then off to visit MK and possibly the MNSSHP

Monday, Sept 27th – Visit DS with some hopping

Tuesday, Sept 28th – Visit Epcot with some other hopping

Wednesday, Sept 29th – Re-visit our faves and sadly :sad: check out of our home away from home. Then we will rent a car and drive :drive: to Daytona Beach (to appease my DH).

Thursday, Sept 30th – Beach day

Friday, Oct 1st – Check out of hotel and drive back to Orlando, drop off car at airport and fly home. :sad: Still have yet to find a flight home but once they release the dates I will on top of it.


Soon to come… ADR’s!! I have to wait till March 23rd but I’m going to be fully prepared. :thumbsup2

[kcandbella]

I just found your PTR and it caught my eye because I live in the St Louis area too! We are on the IL side but in the metro area. Can't wait to hear more about your plans! :goodvibes

[The4bits]

I just found your PTR and it caught my eye because I live in the St Louis area too! We are on the IL side but in the metro area. Can't wait to hear more about your plans! :goodvibes

WELCOME. Thanks for stopping by. I have a couple friends in the Metro East (Fairview Heights), DH grew up in Mascoutah, my mom lived in Belleville for a while and we still have family in Highland so we are familiar with all of Metro East area :). I see that you have a PTR too. I'll have to head over and check that out. Can't wait to read all about your trip.:surfweb:

[MHTeacher]

That's so sweet, how your son said his dream was coming true. :goodvibes Have you stayed at WL before? You will love it :love:! It is one of my favorite resorts, but since we are now a family of five, we have to stay at other places.

[The4bits]

That's so sweet, how your son said his dream was coming true. :goodvibes Have you stayed at WL before? You will love it :love:! It is one of my favorite resorts, but since we are now a family of five, we have to stay at other places.

Nope this will be our first time. SO EXCITED!!! Last time we stayed at the Beach Club Villas in a studio. We're most excited about being closer to MK. My dream resort is the Polynesian but it's a little more than our room at WL so maybe next time :)

[MHTeacher]

You will love it! There's a boat ride to MK, that your kids will enjoy. It's a fun alternative to the bus to MK. It's just a beautiful resort. :goodvibes

[Charlefours]

Hello! :wave2:

Found your PTR tonight and I am subbed! My family is going September 11-18th :)

WL--my dream :cloud9: resort! Some day :goodvibes we will stay there!

[The4bits]

Hello! :wave2:

Found your PTR tonight and I am subbed! My family is going September 11-18th :)

WL--my dream :cloud9: resort! Some day :goodvibes we will stay there!

Thanks for stopping by and subbing. It was my dream resort too, so happy. I've heard it's a great resort for kids.

[The4bits]

I was going to do some sort of mini TR in this one of our trip in 2008. Just pictures and small tales but last night while on photobucket I got a trojan. YUCK!!! :headache: So I'm hoping someone might know of a different photo site I can use for the boards? :confused:

[Charlefours]

I was going to do some sort of mini TR in this one of our trip in 2008. Just pictures and small tales but last night while on photobucket I got a trojan. YUCK!!! :headache: So I'm hoping someone might know of a different photo site I can use for the boards? :confused:

I know quite a few DISers who use SmugMug (but it is a pay service). Have you tried Flickr yet?

[The4bits]

I know quite a few DISers who use SmugMug (but it is a pay service). Have you tried Flickr yet?

Thank you, I'm a member of flickr so I will try that tonight.

[The4bits]

I've been reading the UG and I've gotten to the Magical Express section. I gotta say I'm a little worried about losing my luggage. How many of you has this happened too? The book says you can pick your luggage up before you move to the ME line. Has anyone done this before? Or do you just trust in Disney?

Can anyone tell that this is my first time flying with my kids?! :rotfl: I'm a little nervous but plenty of time to work it out.

I'm also going to ask for a room upgrade when we check in. I'm not really interested in a different view but more interested in the bunk bed rooms at WL. That would be so nice to not have to sleep with a kicking child. :rolleyes1

Also trying to figure out our Sunday day/night. It will be our first real park day so we're going to do MK. We're going to do the park hardcore in the am and then back to the hotel to rest/pool whatever. Then go back for BBB appt and First Mate appt, then dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. That's a lot to get done before we do the MNSSHP. :eek:

Not sure if we should eat first then appts then MNSSHP. Just won't know for sure I guess until I make appts and ressies on March 23rd.

I have a splitting headache tonight so not much Disney planning going on. I'll resume tomorrow hopefully. No days off :lmao:

[MHTeacher]

I've been reading the UG and I've gotten to the Magical Express section. I gotta say I'm a little worried about losing my luggage. How many of you has this happened too? The book says you can pick your luggage up before you move to the ME line. Has anyone done this before? Or do you just trust in Disney?

We have used ME, and our luggage was not lost. It all made it to the room, safe and sound! :) However, your luggage may not show up for 3-4 (or more) hours after you arrive at your resort. So I would pack anything you may need for that day/evening/ in a separate carry-on bag and take it with you on the ME bus! :thumbsup2



Also trying to figure out our Sunday day/night. It will be our first real park day so we're going to do MK. We're going to do the park hardcore in the am and then back to the hotel to rest/pool whatever. Then go back for BBB appt and First Mate appt, then dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. That's a lot to get done before we do the MNSSHP. :eek:

Not sure if we should eat first then appts then MNSSHP. Just won't know for sure I guess until I make appts and ressies on March 23rd.

I have a splitting headache tonight so not much Disney planning going on. I'll resume tomorrow hopefully. No days off :lmao:

Don't have a headache---Disney Planning is the next best thing to the trip itself! :)

The one thing I think of here is if you eat before your BBB and FM appts., your meal could take longer and you miss your appt. That wouldn't be good!

We did MVMCP a few years ago, and decided to just eat CS during the night, because we didn't want to take up party time for a sit down dinner. Have you thought about that option?

[The4bits]

Don't have a headache---Disney Planning is the next best thing to the trip itself! :)

The one thing I think of here is if you eat before your BBB and FM appts., your meal could take longer and you miss your appt. That wouldn't be good!

We did MVMCP a few years ago, and decided to just eat CS during the night, because we didn't want to take up party time for a sit down dinner. Have you thought about that option? [/QUOTE]


That's a great idea. That way the kids are all dolled up and if I make the ressie for right when the park switches to the party, everyone else will be clearing out while we eat. Thanks a bunch. :thumbsup2

[MHTeacher]

You're welcome---I hope all the appts./ ADRs work out for you!

[The4bits]

So DH and I were talking and we decided that a side trip to Daytona Beach would cost more than we wanted. So instead we added just an additional day to Disney. :cool1:

So very excited. :cool1: So in all we are spending 5 nights and 6 days in WDW with a 5 day park hopper. Yeah we have to leave FL sooner than we originally planned BUT one more day at Disney is AWESOME!!!

My ADR reservation date is March 30th, no idea why the first CM told me March 23rd but a few days won't kill me, or will it :confused3.

I also figured out that if I use Mozilla instead of IE I can use photobucket. :banana: It's a great night. With that said... here's a favorite Photopass picture from 2008.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/image056.jpg

DD hugging DS in front of the Studios but DS totally does not like her touching him :lmao:

[MHTeacher]

:cheer2::cheer2:YAY:cheer2: for an extra night at Disney!

The picture of your children is precious---your children are beautiful! :)

[The4bits]

:cheer2::cheer2:YAY:cheer2: for an extra night at Disney!

The picture of your children is precious---your children are beautiful! :)

Aw thank you. I think so too ;)

[The4bits]

This year so far in STL we haven't had a ton of snow. Just a few dustings. That is unless you live in the outer parts, the suburbs. I'm in the city. In fact today we are supposed to get 3 to 5 inches, well until we woke up this morning and now it's 1 to 3 inches. Sigh, I think I could be the weather girl here in the Lou. This is what the radar looks like right now.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/radar-snow2-5-10.gif

As usual we are right in the middle with just rain. But it will be here shortly and hopefully I won't be eating my words. :rolleyes1

Last night I got to the section in my UG on Dining. Love this section. It's so in depth and I am ready for my park hours and then ADRs. But it's a while away. I do know we are on the dining plan so we'll have 5 table service meals. Now I'm just tryin to decide what are the big ADRs we want to make. My list is bigger than what our dining plan will allow :confused3 of course.

We could pay out of pocket for one or two but.... I don't really want too ;)

Here's the list of places we would like to eat:

Kona Cafe - for breakfast
Whispering Canyon Cafe - since we are staying there
Akershus - for dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern
50s Prime Time
Chef Mickey's
Hoop De Doo Revue
Tokyo Dining or Teppan Edo - since hubby is 1/2 Japanese he would like to try it out and see if it's any good
Ohana
T-Rex

See it's quite the list. Not sure what I'm going to do yet :) I'll figure it out, there's plenty of time.

The one thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how we will get to Polynesian. Do we take the boat at WL to the TTC and then take the monorail to the hotel? Just something on my mind.

A little later I hope to do a recap of 2008, may be stuck in here with snow which would be nice :yay:

[PrncessA]

This year so far in STL we haven't had a ton of snow. Just a few dustings. That is unless you live in the outer parts, the suburbs. I'm in the city. In fact today we are supposed to get 3 to 5 inches, well until we woke up this morning and now it's 1 to 3 inches. Sigh, I think I could be the weather girl here in the Lou. This is what the radar looks like right now.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/radar-snow2-5-10.gif

As usual we are right in the middle with just rain. But it will be here shortly and hopefully I won't be eating my words. :rolleyes1

Last night I got to the section in my UG on Dining. Love this section. It's so in depth and I am ready for my park hours and then ADRs. But it's a while away. I do know we are on the dining plan so we'll have 5 table service meals. Now I'm just tryin to decide what are the big ADRs we want to make. My list is bigger than what our dining plan will allow :confused3 of course.

We could pay out of pocket for one or two but.... I don't really want too ;)

Here's the list of places we would like to eat:

Kona Cafe - for breakfast
Whispering Canyon Cafe - since we are staying there
Akershus - for dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern
50s Prime Time
Chef Mickey's
Hoop De Doo Revue
Tokyo Dining or Teppan Edo - since hubby is 1/2 Japanese he would like to try it out and see if it's any good
Ohana
T-Rex

See it's quite the list. Not sure what I'm going to do yet :) I'll figure it out, there's plenty of time.

The one thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how we will get to Polynesian. Do we take the boat at WL to the TTC and then take the monorail to the hotel? Just something on my mind.

A little later I hope to do a recap of 2008, may be stuck in here with snow which would be nice :yay:

I love the pic of your kiddos! Too cute!!!

Great list of ADR wishes! We were thinking about the Hoop Dee Doo but not sure if we want to give up park time. LOL

As for getting to the Poly we had a very early ADR at the GF so we took a cab, was just easier and faster for us. The boat at the WL will take you directly to the MK not the TTC but you can still jump on the monorail. We found that the boat to the CR was a bit more reliable when we were there, so based on that experience I would say you could take the boat to the CR and jump the monorail to the Poly.

You will love the WL!

[MHTeacher]

Your dining possibilties sound delicious! :cheer2: Remember that the Hoop-de-doo is 2 TS credits.

I agree with PrincessA---To get from the WL to the Poly you would have two options:

1. Ride the boat to the MK. (When we were there, the boat goes over to FW after if picks up at WL, so that would have to be factored into your time planning. This may be different now. ) Board the resort monorail. Ride to the Poly.

OR

2. Take the bus from the WL to the MK. (When we were there, we never had any bus problems). Board the resort monorail. Ride to the Poly.


Of course, you could take a cab as PrincessA mentioned. It wouldn't take more than 5 minutes to get there that way!


May it snow, may it snow (at your house....not mine!)

[The4bits]

Your dining possibilties sound delicious! :cheer2: Remember that the Hoop-de-doo is 2 TS credits.

I agree with PrincessA---To get from the WL to the Poly you would have two options:

1. Ride the boat to the MK. (When we were there, the boat goes over to FW after if picks up at WL, so that would have to be factored into your time planning. This may be different now. ) Board the resort monorail. Ride to the Poly.

OR

2. Take the bus from the WL to the MK. (When we were there, we never had any bus problems). Board the resort monorail. Ride to the Poly.


Of course, you could take a cab as PrincessA mentioned. It wouldn't take more than 5 minutes to get there that way!


May it snow, may it snow (at your house....not mine!)


Sometimes all the decisions are overwhelming :scared1: I took a little break for a while but I started looking at old pictures again and it starts the heart racing ;) Thank god I started this PTR I can always come back and see what people suggest. Thanks ladies.

I forgot the Hoop De Doo is 2 TS. Thank you for bringing that do my attention.

[wigdoutdismom]

Hi there! Came over from Michelle's thread and heading back read about your plans!

[The4bits]

Hi there! Came over from Michelle's thread and heading back read about your plans!

Welcome.Thanks for stopping by. I was MIA for a while but plan on posting soon.

[The4bits]

Life got a lttle busy for a while there. Yes we did get some snow. About 3 inches and more today. It's starting to bug everyone here in the Lou but I love it. I enjoy the snow covered ground and how pretty it makes everything. No complaints here.

Yesterday (2/13) was my 11th anniversary. We celebrated on Friday night by going out for a yummy dinner with friends. Then last night we went to another couples house for dinner and today, V-Day, we are going to my mom's. Busy busy weekend. But it's always a busy month.

We have a huge Mardi Gras celebration here but we haven't celebrated that way in quite a while. Hope you all have a nice Valentines Day.

[wigdoutdismom]

[quote]Here's the list of places we would like to eat:

Kona Cafe - for breakfast
Two words....tonga toast!
Whispering Canyon Cafe - since we are staying there Oh I hope you have a ketchup eater.....:rolleyes1
Akershus - for dinner[quote] My 10 year old couldn't get enough of the cold buffet, he loved it!
[quote]Liberty Tree Tavern Yankee Pot Roast!
50s Prime Time Fried Chicken yumminess!
Chef Mickey's I hear breakfast is the best, but it's really about the characters, right?:goodvibes
Hoop De Doo RevueAnother that is about the show, I wasn't crazy about the food here except I loved the fried chicken, cornbread and mashed potatoes.
Tokyo Dining or Teppan Edo - since hubby is 1/2 Japanese he would like to try it out and see if it's any goodWe have been to TE and will go back!
OhanaBreakfast or dinner? Dinner is a giant meat fest but we love it! Anxious to try the breakfast there!
T-Rexhaven't been to this one.



The one thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how we will get to Polynesian. Do we take the boat at WL to the TTC and then take the monorail to the hotel? Just something on my mind.
Just get yourselves to Magic Kingdom and then take the Monorail to the Poly!

Awesome that you scrapped the beach day!

Adorable photo pass picture of the kids, I love the expressions!

[MHTeacher]

:love: Hope you had a happy anniversary! :love:

[The4bits]

:love: Hope you had a happy anniversary! :love:

Thank you we did, it was nice.

[The4bits]

This holding pattern is driving me nuts. Nothing to do planning wise. Thank god for the DIS boards.

I feel so unamerican but I'm so over the Olympics. Eating up my regular TV time with sports I could care less about. I do like curling but that's about it. Told you, unamerican.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Disney Live show here in St. Louis and the kids are really excited. I guess I'm excited too, more so for them. I received the tickets for free just for blogging about the show. It's a pretty nice deal. We are also going to see the Disney on Ice Celebrations show in March. Sometimes my blog has the best rewards. :banana:

I really do want to start a mini TR for our last trip. I keep saying that but I have to pull all that information out of the memory vault and it's exhausting to think about. :)

I don't know if I mentioned this but I am working on becoming a professional photographer and I have an opportunity to work with two successful photographers this coming Sunday to help with a triplet newborn session. I'm waiting to hear so I'm excited about that and then on Monday I have a maternity session which I'm excited about. Lots of work coming up, maybe that will take my mind off of my countdown.

What was I thinking planning the trip so far in advance (the great price and low crowds maybe). I'm the most impatient person ever. :rotfl2:

[Charlefours]

I've been reading the UG and I've gotten to the Magical Express section. I gotta say I'm a little worried about losing my luggage. How many of you has this happened too? The book says you can pick your luggage up before you move to the ME line. Has anyone done this before? Or do you just trust in Disney?

Can anyone tell that this is my first time flying with my kids?! :rotfl: I'm a little nervous but plenty of time to work it out.

I'm also going to ask for a room upgrade when we check in. I'm not really interested in a different view but more interested in the bunk bed rooms at WL. That would be so nice to not have to sleep with a kicking child. :rolleyes1

Also trying to figure out our Sunday day/night. It will be our first real park day so we're going to do MK. We're going to do the park hardcore in the am and then back to the hotel to rest/pool whatever. Then go back for BBB appt and First Mate appt, then dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. That's a lot to get done before we do the MNSSHP. :eek:

Not sure if we should eat first then appts then MNSSHP. Just won't know for sure I guess until I make appts and ressies on March 23rd.

I have a splitting headache tonight so not much Disney planning going on. I'll resume tomorrow hopefully. No days off :lmao:

Throwing IMO, so here goes: ME--we used it the first year it was out and never had any problems other than we did not get enough luggage tags. If you do not have a tag, it does not get picked up so keep that in mind! Like others mentioned, you also need to plan on having anything you need the first day (change of clothes, swimsuits, costumes if you are bringing your own).

Good luck with the upgrade!! :wizard: hopefully there will be some Disney Magic for you. :goodvibes

MNSSHP--we are planning a big lunch and then CS during the party instead of eating that night. We will either eat at the resort before heading over or once we get there.



Last night I got to the section in my UG on Dining. Love this section. It's so in depth and I am ready for my park hours and then ADRs. But it's a while away. I do know we are on the dining plan so we'll have 5 table service meals. Now I'm just tryin to decide what are the big ADRs we want to make. My list is bigger than what our dining plan will allow :confused3 of course.

We could pay out of pocket for one or two but.... I don't really want too ;)

Here's the list of places we would like to eat:

Kona Cafe - for breakfast
Whispering Canyon Cafe - since we are staying there
Akershus - for dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern
50s Prime Time
Chef Mickey's
Hoop De Doo Revue
Tokyo Dining or Teppan Edo - since hubby is 1/2 Japanese he would like to try it out and see if it's any good
Ohana
T-Rex

See it's quite the list. Not sure what I'm going to do yet :) I'll figure it out, there's plenty of time.

The one thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how we will get to Polynesian. Do we take the boat at WL to the TTC and then take the monorail to the hotel? Just something on my mind.

A little later I hope to do a recap of 2008, may be stuck in here with snow which would be nice :yay:

Great choices!! From what I have read, WCC has better BBQ than the HDDR so unless you really want to use 2 TS credits, you could get similar food (and supposedly really yummy) at WCC.

Are you a fan of Norwegian inspired food? That is what Akershus is at night so I just thought I would mention just in case. We are planning breakfast there with the princesses. :goodvibes

Looking forward to seeing what you decide!!

Love the picture of the kiddos from your first trip--priceless!! Yay :yay: for getting photobucket to work! I use Firefox.

Good luck with your photo session!

[wigdoutdismom]

The photography sessions sound exciting! Keep us posted. The triplets sound like they could be really interesting!:goodvibes

[kcandbella]

Thanks for the tickets to the show last night! We had a really good time!! :goodvibes

[Arielssister]

I am excited to read this PTR! You have a lovely family and I love the name Jackson (our 1 year old shares that name.) :) I need to ask since I use Photobucket: what is a Trojan?

[Sleepingbooty]

Hey there neighbor!

I got my computer virus when I was using photobucket as well. After having to completely reinstall windows, I'm following my computer-savvy brother's advice and using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. I was afraid to go back on photobucket, but I eventually did, and no problems so far.

Looking forward to more of your ptr!:thumbsup2

[The4bits]

Busy with everything but vacation updates.... lol :rotfl2:

Yes I was picked for the triplet photo session. :cloud9: It was awesome. Wanna see the pictures you can visit this link here (http://freshartphotography.com/2010/02/emma-jack-and-grace-st-louis-triplet-newborn-photographers/). It was an incredible experience and if you read the post... yes, I did have a newborn pee in my hand. :rotfl:

Thanks Charlefours for all the awesome comments.

And to answer the questions about Photobucket, I do exactly as Sleepbooty said, I use Mozilla Firefox. It's easier and there are no trojans when going that route.

Arielssister: A trojan is a virus basically that downloads spyware on your pc.

Sorry I responded to everyone's questions this way tonight I am super tired and still have a bunch of maternity photos to edit from today's session before I go to bed.

I think this Spring/Summer might zoom by if I stay this busy with my new business :goodvibes. September will be here before I know it. ;)

Have a great night everyone.

[The4bits]

Thanks for the tickets to the show last night! We had a really good time!! :goodvibes

I'm so glad you liked it. Were your seats good? Ours were pretty high up but free is always a good thing ;) so I'm not complaining. I thought it was kind of a different show. I'm really looking forward to Disney on Ice coming in march. That will have Tiana and the ice shows are always so much more fun. If I get any info on that show I'll pass it on. Sometimes it pays to blog :thumbsup2

[MHTeacher]

The triplet pics were so sweet! :goodvibes I know you really enjoyed working with them!

[kcandbella]

I'm so glad you liked it. Were your seats good? Ours were pretty high up but free is always a good thing ;) so I'm not complaining. I thought it was kind of a different show. I'm really looking forward to Disney on Ice coming in march. That will have Tiana and the ice shows are always so much more fun. If I get any info on that show I'll pass it on. Sometimes it pays to blog :thumbsup2

Yeah, we want to go see that one for sure. How do you get free tickets just by blogging? Our seats were pretty high up but we could see everything. I thought the show was cute. Bella really liked it. We had a good time!

[Arielssister]

And to answer the questions about Photobucket, I do exactly as Sleepbooty said, I use Mozilla Firefox. It's easier and there are no trojans when going that route.

Arielssister: A trojan is a virus basically that downloads spyware on your pc.


Have a great night everyone.

Thanks for the infor and help! I will have to look into Mozilla Firefox. :)

[wigdoutdismom]

Oh my goodness, those triplets! Just adorable!

[The4bits]

When I sat down to start planning this trip at the end of January I was sure nothing would take me away from all the planning and that we would have nothing going on.

If only that were true. We have something going on every weekend from now until the end of May. This includes two baby showers, two wedding showers and a bon voyage party for my brother. I just happen to be planning 4 of these events. :confused3

We went and saw Disney Live last weekend and we thought it was just okay. My kids liked it but it was a pretty goofy show. I think it's definitely for the younger set (even younger than mine). We are going to see Disney on Ice next Wednesday and that should be better. My DD is very excited about seeing Princess Tiana. Here are some pictures of us at Disney Live

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/DSCN3649.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/DSCN3613.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/DSCN3606.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/DSCN3641.jpg

That night we were still in the Disney mood so we decided to have a Disney movie night. We were already having a "Hawaiian" type of meal so we decided to watch Lilo and Stitch. We haven't seen it in forever. We had a lot of fun. We all wore leis and DD entertained us with a hula dance. Poor DH fell asleep but it's fine, he's not much of a Disney movie fan :laughing:

In other planning news our flights have changed three times. I was just accepting the changes until today's change. They had us in Atlanta for 5 hours. Um, no that won't work. So I called and I found out that if they change our flight we are allowed to change it to any other flight that day without an increase in price. :dance3:

That made me very happy. So now we are on a flight that arrives in MCO at 11:52 am. :woohoo: The lady on the phone told me since it's still a while away we will probably experience more changes. So I'm going to wait and hold out for the non-stop flight. Wouldn't that be heaven?! :littleangel:

This is a long update, sorry. I'll stop now but this is the month of our ADR date. :yay: It's March 30th so we only have a couple more weeks. :yay: I guess I'd better start thinking about what we're going to do. :idea:

I've been sewing a lot for my DD and for the trip so I'll be back with pictures of that soon. Probably more like a week, since that's my track record :rotfl2:

[The4bits]

Wow that first pic is HUGE. Sorry about that :goodvibes

[MHTeacher]

Great news on your flight change---getting to MCO before noon sounds great !

ADRs this month :yay: I'm sure you have figured out where you want to eat and when, already, so now it's just a matter of waiting.......popcorn::

Lilo and Stitch is one of my favorite Disney movies! I love the idea of doing a Hawaiian style night, and watching that movie. I'm definitely going to do that on one of our countdown nights! :thumbsup2

[Charlefours]

I hope you like DOI better than the Disney Live. :goodvibes

Yay for flight changes that make more time in Disney!! I sure hope your flight keeps changing for the better. Looking forward to seeing the clothes you have been sewing. I hope I get a chance to do some after I get back this weekend.

I am so excited ADRs are this month too!!

[wigdoutdismom]

We typically get into Orlando around 12:30 and it's nice to be able to enjoy a park on your first day!
It was interesting, flying out of Wichita, we can't seem to get decent airfares so we thought about driving to Orlando for Spring Break, then we found great airfare out of Branson, MO. Non-stop flights! Oh well, we drive 5 hours to get there....:lmao:

[Sleepingbooty]

That night we were still in the Disney mood so we decided to have a Disney movie night. We were already having a "Hawaiian" type of meal so we decided to watch Lilo and Stitch. We haven't seen it in forever. We had a lot of fun. We all wore leis and DD entertained us with a hula dance. Poor DH fell asleep but it's fine, he's not much of a Disney movie fan :laughing:


:lmao: Sounds exactly like my husband. Not that he doesn't like Disney movies, but he absolutely cannot watch a movie on the couch without falling asleep! I guess that's what happens when you get up at 5:30 everyday.

So, what airline are you flying? Are you going out of Stl? We typically fly Southwest, so I haven't gotten our flights yet. Just for the heck of it, I did a orbitz search for flights so I could see what the other airlines are offering - OMG, what happened to all the flights to MCO? There were about half as many flight times as I'm used to seeing - and only one nonstop! What's up with that??!!

[The4bits]

:lmao: Sounds exactly like my husband. Not that he doesn't like Disney movies, but he absolutely cannot watch a movie on the couch without falling asleep! I guess that's what happens when you get up at 5:30 everyday.

So, what airline are you flying? Are you going out of Stl? We typically fly Southwest, so I haven't gotten our flights yet. Just for the heck of it, I did a orbitz search for flights so I could see what the other airlines are offering - OMG, what happened to all the flights to MCO? There were about half as many flight times as I'm used to seeing - and only one nonstop! What's up with that??!!

Hey Rebecca, sorry it took me so long to comment back. Life's been crazy. We are flying AirTran down to MCO and yes we are flying out of STL. We are going to fly back on Southwest because of the later flights out and not having to get back too late into STL. Southwest rocks!!! Did you see that they released their dates. You probably have. Like I said I have to get caught up on everyone.

[The4bits]

Yes it's almost been a month since I have updated on my PTR. What is wrong with me?!?! Busy!!! Who knew that my life would become so busy in March. It's so busy that I don't have a weekend open at all from now until mid May.

But I did have to come on and say that I am super excited because our ADR date is NEXT WEEK. :yay: The 30th to be exact.

So I made my DH sit down and give me a full 30 minutes of undivided attention so we could pick the places we wanted to eat. Here is our plan as of right now....

Sun, Sept 26th - (rough draft still figuring out but definitely the park and dinner) EP and have dinner at Akershus Hall

Mon, Sept 27th - (rough draft still figuring out but definitely the park and dinner) DS with dinner at Chef Mickey's

Tues, Sept 28th - MK we'll take a break then come back and participate in the BBB and First Mate, have dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and then MNSSHP - this is gonna be an awesome day. Super excited. :yay:

Wed, Sept 29th - Kona Cafe for breakfast, then DS again, take boat to Teppan Edo in EP, then back to DS for Fantasmic

Thurs, Sept 30th - MK or EP - whatever till we have to be at airport.

Things are starting to come together and if life keeps up like it is now our vaca will be here before we know it. :cool1:

Now I'm off to catch up on some favorite threads. It may take a while. :rotfl2:

[MHTeacher]

Sun, Sept 26th - dinner at Akershus Hall Having breakfast there for the first time in May

Mon, Sept 27th - dinner at Chef Mickey's Had dinner there a few years ago, going for breakfast during our May trip

Tues, Sept 28th - MK we'll take a break then come back and participate in the BBB and First Mate, have dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and then MNSSHP - this is gonna be an awesome day. Super excited. :yay: This sounds like such a fun day! We've had dinner at LTT--Your kids will love it!

Wed, Sept 29th - Kona Cafe for breakfast, then DS again, take boat to Teppan Edo in EP, then back to DS for Fantasmic Love Kona for breakfast--eat the Tonga Toast-----Trying Teppan Edo for the first time during our May trip


:thumbsup2

[wigdoutdismom]

Yes it's almost been a month since I have updated on my PTR. What is wrong with me?!?! Busy!!! Who knew that my life would become so busy in March. It's so busy that I don't have a weekend open at all from now until mid May.

But I did have to come on and say that I am super excited because our ADR date is NEXT WEEK. :yay: The 30th to be exact.

So I made my DH sit down and give me a full 30 minutes of undivided attention so we could pick the places we wanted to eat. Here is our plan as of right now....

Sun, Sept 26th - (rough draft still figuring out but definitely the park and dinner) EP and have dinner at Akershus Hall

Mon, Sept 27th - (rough draft still figuring out but definitely the park and dinner) DS with dinner at Chef Mickey's

Tues, Sept 28th - MK we'll take a break then come back and participate in the BBB and First Mate, have dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and then MNSSHP - this is gonna be an awesome day. Super excited. :yay:

Wed, Sept 29th - Kona Cafe for breakfast, then DS again, take boat to Teppan Edo in EP, then back to DS for Fantasmic

Thurs, Sept 30th - MK or EP - whatever till we have to be at airport.

Things are starting to come together and if life keeps up like it is now our vaca will be here before we know it. :cool1:

Now I'm off to catch up on some favorite threads. It may take a while. :rotfl2:

Akershus.... We loved the cold salad buffet especially our son! The cold cuts, cheese, and fruit!

Chef Mickey's always fun, fun, fun!

Liberty Tree Tavern great dinner we love it there!

Kona Cafe... Tonga, Tonga, Tonga.....

Have fun at Teppan Edo!

What time do you have to be at the airport? Is DME picking you up?

[Sleepingbooty]

Hey, don't feel bad - I've been out of the loop for a while, too! I think your ADRs look good! I was able to get mine last week (or was it the week before?) and my TA got us everything we wanted! Oh, and in case you haven't been over to my PTR, I got a FANTASTIC deal on Southwest!

[MHTeacher]

popcorn:: Just checking in.

[The4bits]

I need to learn to say NO. I have been so busy because of my inability to say NO that I haven't even thought about Disney (gasp) :scared1: Luckily my daughter is graduating from Kindergarten this week so my time at school being needed will decrease. :cool1: I'm so ready for summer. We are heading to Chicago at the end of this month and I kind of wish we weren't going. It's going to be expensive and all that money could go towards paying off Disney. But a promise is a promise and we made one to our daughter that we would take her there for her birthday. :confused3

So recently I received an e-mail that kicked me back into high gear Disney planning. :banana: Can you believe I didn't realize that free Disney dining had been released for my dates?! The horror. :sad2: So I called tonight to make our dining plan a free dining plan but sadly they did not have a free dining plan for a 4 night stay with a standard view at the Wilderness Lodge. So we checked 5 days because we were considering a side trip to Universal for Harry Potter and some superheroes and who doesn't LOVE an extra day

For the extra day our package would have gone up $40. It doesn't seem like much but we were hoping for the package to decrease in price. Wrong way. So we changed resorts and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. We went from a Deluxe resort to a Moderate resort. We are now staying at Port Orleans - Riverside. I know it's a wonderful resort and I'm still excited, we're saving money too, which is good. But I'm still a little apprehensive.

The money we are saving on a room and dining we can afford another day and tickets to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Or that's the plan anyway.

We still don't have a flight home because all flight prices have gong up. I still haven't purchased our tickets to MNSSHP but I do have all of our reservations made for dining. :goodvibes

I just need to get my stuff together and get back on the bandwagon. Hopefully I made the right decision. It just feels like I sold out.

[Sleepingbooty]

I think you made a great decision! We absolutely LOVE Port Orleans! And the extra day will be great. We too are going to spend a day at Harry Potter. The kids don't know it yet;) Did you make your ADR's yet? I just made some on Friday for a client (I have 3 now!:woohoo:) and I was a little surprised at the difficulty of getting some at normal times. It wasn't like we were going for Le Cellier or anything, either. One good thing- the crowd calendar predictions have gone WAY down!

[Charlefours]

I'm sorry you are not happy about moving down to a moderate. The DDP offer released to the GP said five nights on everything I read. POR gets great reviews, so hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised. :goodvibes:

Did you get the ADRs you listed above? I sure hope so!!

[The4bits]

You just keep coming back and I always leave you hanging :)

Like I said earlier I am back in planning mode but unfortunately I am in full on budget mode. I have to save, save, save. So I'm a little down in the dumps because instead of running out and buying stuff for the trip whenever I can... I'm saving and trying to get work.

What set us so off schedule??? We had promised our daughter a trip to Chicago for her birthday so she could spend her money at the American Girl store. She had over $200. So we went this past week and Chicago is expensive. It really cut into our trip savings. I still have about $1365 to save before August, plus still buy return airfare. Sigh.

Enough about all that. It's depressing and I don't want to bring anyone else down.

I'm very excited now about POR. I've been doing lots of reading and viewing pictures and we are getting excited about staying there. I do have all of our reservations made. So here's all of our info thus far.

Saturday, September 25th
We arrive at 11:50 am via AirTran (they changed my flight AGAIN but only by a few minutes) :yay:

We will check into POP and hang out. If our room isn't ready we'll have lunch at the food court and then head for DTD and walk around til we get word of our room but if it is ready we'll eat and then swim. We have an ADR at T-Rex right now for 3:30 I will try to change this the closer we get to later but if not we'll have a light snack and then have linner (lunch/dinner) at 3:30. Not perfect but we'll go with the flow.

Sunday, September 26th
We check out of POP and check into POR. Some of you may be wondering why POP first - well we really want to check the resort out and see if it's a good way to go for impromptu visits. :thumbsup2
I think we will take a cab from POP to POR, taking a cab will save us from lugging all our luggage on the bus to DTD and then catching the POR resort bus.
After we drop all our stuff of at POR we explore a little and then hit EP. My hubby and I love EP and we've never done Soarin and now that the kids are big enough they can do it with us. YEAH!!! :woohoo:

I actually just had a thought - what if we left our stuff in our room at POP till check out time and made sure we hit EP at rope drop. Did Soarin and Test Track, went back to our room to check out and then check in to POR then head back to EP with the knowledge that we got to do what we want... Hmmmm. Just a thought. What do you guys think?

That night we have an ADR at Askerhus Hall at 5:25 pm. :cloud9: It's too far away now but Lillie will be thrilled when the time comes because she loves Belle.

To break up all this "talk" here's a picture of the kids meeting Dale as we walked in the back entrance at Epcot from Beach Club in 2008

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%202008/DSCN0720.jpg

My babies were so little "sniff" Okay back to the plan

Monday, September 27th
Disney's Hollywood Studios day. Since it's all about my guys this trip (birthdays) we decided to do DHS first because Jack loves this park :dance3:

We have an ADR at Chef Mickey's at 5:25 pm. Great time for us. :woohoo:

Tuesday, September 28th
MK DAY - a day we'll be waiting impatiently for. :yay: We plan on being there at rope drop because at 9:25 am jack has an appt at Pirates League and at 9:40 am Lillie has an appt at BBB.

We have an ADR at 4:25 pm for LTT and as of right now we won't be going to MNSSHP - too expensive. :sad1: But if I get a lot of work maybe it'll be possible. But right now there are too many other things that we would like to do.

Wednesday, September 29th
A day to do whatever we want. I'll decide when it gets closer but we could do more MK, EP or even AK (we're not huge fans of AK though).

We have two ADR's this day... Kona Cafe at 8:55 and Teppan Edo at 5:30 pm so we know we'll be at EP that night.

Thursday, September 30th
We are leaving WDW property for the day and going to Universal's IOA for the day. We know that Jack will love to see the Marvel heroes and Jeff and I secretly cannot wait to see Harry Potter. No ADRs.

Friday, October 1st
We will be checking out this day, so no ADR because we will be out of table service credits anyway so just snacks and quick service for us. We will definitely be ending our trip with a visit to MK and hopefully be catching a late flight home. I'm hoping for 6:00 or so but prices are still up so we're (un)patiently waiting to book our flight home.

Then the sad march home happens. :sad1:

Every day that ticks by we get that much closer just wish we could really do it the way we want to. But we will still be at Disney and isn't that what it's all about.. Not all the other small things. Sure they add to the experience but my kids won't be sad because they will still be at Disney. Who's to say this is our last time there ;)

[The4bits]

Akershus.... We loved the cold salad buffet especially our son! The cold cuts, cheese, and fruit!

Chef Mickey's always fun, fun, fun!

Liberty Tree Tavern great dinner we love it there!

Kona Cafe... Tonga, Tonga, Tonga.....

Have fun at Teppan Edo!

What time do you have to be at the airport? Is DME picking you up?

We have to be at the airport about 4:50 am - UGH!!! Yuck. But we can sleep on the plane :laughing:

[The4bits]

I'm sorry you are not happy about moving down to a moderate. The DDP offer released to the GP said five nights on everything I read. POR gets great reviews, so hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised. :goodvibes:

Did you get the ADRs you listed above? I sure hope so!!

I'm actually feeling really good about the Moderate decision. It was the right one and I'm super psyched to be staying in an awesome hotel.

We got almost all the ADRs we wanted. Our T-Rex one is really early so we'll see about that but that's the only one. SO YEAH!!! Plus I've already changed our BBB and Pirates League ressies to the am. They were in the pm. Things are going well in the ADR dept.

[The4bits]

I think you made a great decision! We absolutely LOVE Port Orleans! And the extra day will be great. We too are going to spend a day at Harry Potter. The kids don't know it yet;) Did you make your ADR's yet? I just made some on Friday for a client (I have 3 now!:woohoo:) and I was a little surprised at the difficulty of getting some at normal times. It wasn't like we were going for Le Cellier or anything, either. One good thing- the crowd calendar predictions have gone WAY down!

Clients... that's awesome. I really do need to just sit and read your whole PTR from start to finish again. Feel like I'm missing out on so much. Seems like my e-mail doesn't notify me of updates if I don't visit the DIS that day. :sad2: I know how I'm spending my Memorial Day.

We got pretty good times except for T-Rex I was even so busy that I missed our 180 day :scared1:

So psyched that our crowd numbers went down. That's so awesome. 1's :woohoo:

[Sleepingbooty]

Hey there, glad to see you back on the Dis!

About your check out of Pop/into POR day - why don't you go ahead and check out early, and have luggage services transfer your bags over to POR for you? Then you can still make it to Epcot by rope drop. And when you feel like taking a break for the day, head over to POR and check in. Easy Peasy!

Hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. We actually got pretty good weather here in St.Louis for once! Just got back from the pool and we are heading to a bbq later. Looks like the rain is staying away :thumbsup2

[The4bits]

Hey there, glad to see you back on the Dis!

About your check out of Pop/into POR day - why don't you go ahead and check out early, and have luggage services transfer your bags over to POR for you? Then you can still make it to Epcot by rope drop. And when you feel like taking a break for the day, head over to POR and check in. Easy Peasy!

Hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. We actually got pretty good weather here in St.Louis for once! Just got back from the pool and we are heading to a bbq later. Looks like the rain is staying away :thumbsup2

Hi Rebecca - Love that!!! I didn't know that we could have our luggage sent over without us. :idea: Disney is awesome. You're right Easy Peasy. :woohoo:

I'm so jealous that you became a TA for Disney. Always been a dream of mine. You will rock at that job though with all your organization skills. The farthest I go.... an Excel spreadsheet with everything broken down including prices :laughing:

The STL weather is great this weekend, we did festivities yesterday. Have a great day.

[Charlefours]

I'm actually feeling really good about the Moderate decision. It was the right one and I'm super psyched to be staying in an awesome hotel.

We got almost all the ADRs we wanted. Our T-Rex one is really early so we'll see about that but that's the only one. SO YEAH!!! Plus I've already changed our BBB and Pirates League ressies to the am. They were in the pm. Things are going well in the ADR dept.

I am glad you are happy with the way your trip planning is unfolding!! :thumbsup2

[The4bits]

We have one flight. Just one. I really don't feel like walking home from WDW :lmao: or renting a car and driving for that matter.

When I booked our flight down it was the perfect price. I only paid $381 for all 4 of us. Unbelievable!!!! But now I am getting antsy and I really wish we had our flight home already. AirTran prices aren't that bad at $97 but since I got our flight down for so cheap I really want to wait. Plus I prefer to fly home Southwest because the flight times are better. Southwest right now is at $142. Yikes.

I guess I'm being a little spoiled with the $381 price and should have booked when AirTran was low. I know I have plenty of time but I'm not a open ended kind of person. I like things all done and tied up in a pretty bow. :rotfl2:

Patience is not a virtue I possess. :sad2: Just venting.

[The4bits]

OMG OMG OMG I just realized that my countdown says 3 months.... NOT 4 months. I know it's still a long way but sigh so happy. :goodvibes

17 weeks. This Thursday we are going to start our weekly Disney movie countdown. So excited for that too. We are starting with Lilo and Stitch. Pics to come (probably). My track record isn't that great. :lmao:

Here's a pic of our trip in 2008

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%202008/DSCN0749.jpg

[Sleepingbooty]

Do you have Southwest's "Ding" app installed on your computer? If not - do it! I usually find good Ding fares about 2 to 3 months out from the trip. So, anytime now!

[MHTeacher]

Big changes around here while I was gone.----Hope you are feeling better about them. We've stayed at POR a few times, and it is a pretty resort. :) My big kids enjoyed the pool. Do your research, and put in a building request, because POR is very large, and you could be doing a lot of walking.

[The4bits]

Do you have Southwest's "Ding" app installed on your computer? If not - do it! I usually find good Ding fares about 2 to 3 months out from the trip. So, anytime now!

I do and I check AirTran everyday. Southwest was down to $97 today so we're getting there. Just being REALLY cheap. :lmao: If I could afford it, I would just hire you. Definitely next time we are headed to WDW.

Big changes around here while I was gone.----Hope you are feeling better about them. We've stayed at POR a few times, and it is a pretty resort. :) My big kids enjoyed the pool. Do your research, and put in a building request, because POR is very large, and you could be doing a lot of walking.

I will do that. I need to get on that actually. :thumbsup2 Time is ticking away. Quicker than I thought it would.

[The4bits]

17 weeks and so we started our Disney movie countdown. One a week until we leave. :cool1:

We chose Lilo & Stitch first since it's one of our favorites. The kids used to love to watch the cartoon, not so much anymore but they are pretty special none the less. :goodvibes

First my hubby and I made dinner. We made chicken kebabs with an asian sauce (hoisin, honey and soy sauce - or something like that), stir fry rice and a side of broccoli/cauliflower. For dessert I was going to make either a chocolate lava cake or pineapple upside down cake but my friend had her baby the same day so I was at the hospital. Instead I stopped and bought some lemon meringue pie slices and french silk pie slices on the way home.

We decorated the table with leis, a palm tree centerpiece, the movie, the Lilo & Stitch figurines from the Disney store and two tiki plastic glasses from the dollar store. It was very festive. Even the dog got in on festivities.

Our table
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4722.jpg

The kids
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4731.jpg
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4732.jpg
oh and the dog...
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4734.jpg

a closeup of our favorite movie characters
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4737.jpg

After dinner we made hula skirts. It was so easy. I took some ribbon and cut it to fit around the kids waist. Then we took green tissue paper cut into strips and taped them to the ribbon. They were so cute and the kids had so much fun.

The kids in their skirts. I helped Jack make his but Lillie did hers all on her own.
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4749.jpg

We watched the movie and ate our desserts, my hubby fell asleep. It was so much fun. We can't wait for next week's movie countdown. We think it's going to be The Lion King.

Sidenote - today I tried to book Ohana for dinner on our trip. We really want to try the yummy dinner but nothing was available the whole trip. :sad2: So I will keep trying. Maybe someone will cancel. :confused3

[The4bits]

Holy big pictures!!! :scared1: Sorry guys will make smaller next time. :thumbsup2

[MHTeacher]

Movie night sounds like fun! I love "Lilo and Stitch", and I love that your dog even got in on the festivities! :laughing:

Don't worry about the size of your pics. I didn't think they were too big. Personally, I like them big---I can see them better! :thumbsup2

[The4bits]

So... since there is free dining being offered while we are there... we were thinking of upgrading our dining plan. There are so many TS restaurants that we want to try. But here is my dilemma...
#1 can we even upgrade? Will it be free? Does my package stay the same price?
#2 will we spend too much time eating? We want to try to add Ohana (which is sold out but I'll keep trying), HDDR (which would be 2 TS and that's fine) I would like to try another TS in Epcot

I would really appreciate any tips, experiences or advice any of you have. Thanks. :goodvibes

[The4bits]

Still haven't decided on the dining plan. I could call but I think they call them too much :lmao: Thought I would share my scrapbooks I made of our 2008 trip.

I made two of them. The first one is all the characters my kiddos met. I took their autograph books and scanned in the autographs then printed them out smaller and added a picture of them with that character. I think it turned out really cute. I did separate them into sections with tabs. There are Princess, Pixar and Mickey and Friends sections.

Here's the cover (bought at Target)
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4769.jpg

First page
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4770.jpg

and so on...
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4771.jpg

First page of Princess section
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4772.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4773.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4774.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4775.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4776.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4778.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4779.jpg
okay well Mushu isn't a princess but I'm not sure where else I would categorize him :rotfl:

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4780.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4781.jpg

Tinkerbell isn't a princess either but this year's scrapbook I hope to add a fairies section. Hopefully I'll fulfill Ms. Lillie's dreams of meeting them.
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4782.jpg

Next Post...
Pixar Friends

[Sleepingbooty]

I do and I check AirTran everyday. Southwest was down to $97 today so we're getting there. Just being REALLY cheap. :lmao: If I could afford it, I would just hire you. Definitely next time we are headed to WDW.

I know what you mean - what happened to the days of $69 each way, right?


First my hubby and I made dinner. We made chicken kebabs with an asian sauce (hoisin, honey and soy sauce - or something like that), stir fry rice and a side of broccoli/cauliflower. For dessert I was going to make either a chocolate lava cake or pineapple upside down cake but my friend had her baby the same day so I was at the hospital. Instead I stopped and bought some lemon meringue pie slices and french silk pie slices on the way home.

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard!:worship:

Sidenote - today I tried to book Ohana for dinner on our trip. We really want to try the yummy dinner but nothing was available the whole trip. :sad2: So I will keep trying. Maybe someone will cancel. :confused3

Definitely don't give up - people do cancel!

Holy big pictures!!! :scared1: Sorry guys will make smaller next time. :thumbsup2

I think they're fine, I like them big too - as long as you don't have to scroll the page over to read everything, then they're not too big.:thumbsup2

So... since there is free dining being offered while we are there... we were thinking of upgrading our dining plan. There are so many TS restaurants that we want to try. But here is my dilemma...
#1 can we even upgrade? Will it be free? Does my package stay the same price?

Yes, you can, you just pay the difference.

#2 will we spend too much time eating? We want to try to add Ohana (which is sold out but I'll keep trying), HDDR (which would be 2 TS and that's fine) I would like to try another TS in Epcot[/QUOTE]


Well, it depends - you can definitely use up some credits on 2TS places. And really - can you spend TOO much time eating?;)

[The4bits]

You saw the Princess section of my scrapbook now onto the Pixar section.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4783.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4784.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4785.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4786.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4787.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4788.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4789.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4790.jpg

We really hope to meet Lightning McQueen this year, or Cha chow as my son calls him. :)

Having a lazy Saturday. Was thinking of going to church tonight instead of tomorrow since I have to work but not feeling very motivated. One Sunday missed shouldn't hurt. ;)

Nothing really on the planning front today. Not feeling it, super tired. Stayed up late last night watching Leap Year. Cute movie.

Just looking forward to updating my blog and hanging out on Dis today while hubby watches soccer. Have a great day everyone. :thumbsup2

Up next.... mickey and friends part of scrapbook

[MHTeacher]

I love that you put the autographs in the scrapbook.

[The4bits]

The last section of my kiddos scrapbook is of course Mickey and Friends.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4791.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4792.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4793.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4794.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4795.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4796.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4797.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4800.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4801.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4802.jpg

and finally the wrap up. Just a list of characters each of us wishes we had found while on our trip.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4803.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Scrapbooks/DSCN4804.jpg

[Sleepingbooty]

Um, can you just do my scrapbooks for me? Those are seriously good! I thought I'd given it up in favor of digital, but yours make me want to get back into it!

[The4bits]

We went today to see Toy Story 3. We LOVED it. :love: It was truly fantastic. I actually cried (please tell me I'm not the only one who cried). We will be going back to see it again, but this time in 3D!!! :3dglasses

Totally 3 thumbs up :thumbsup2:thumbsup2:thumbsup2

I always think Pixar does a great job. Anyone else excited to see Tangled. Should be a great one too. :woohoo: Great way to get psyched for our trip. :banana:

A pic of the kids today...

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/IMG_2232.jpg

[The4bits]

Thursday, June 10th we had a Meet the Robinsons movie night. We had a lot of fun. This used to be my DS's favorite movie 2 years ago but he hasn't watched it much since.

We had spaghetti and meatballs (no food fights with meatballs though) :lmao: and I was going to make some sort of pb&j dessert but nothing really sounded all that great. So instead we had nilla wafers with peanut butter and banana sliced on top. Very good. Not so much like the movie but still very good.

Before dinner we made Lewis hats. Basically I cut yellow construction paper in half with a ragged edge and then punched holes in the ends and tied them onto our heads with yellow ribbon. Then the kids said they needed glasses so we took some old 3D glasses and punched the lenses out. Voila Lewis glasses (or close enough).

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4876.jpg
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4877.jpg

Decorations weren't much, just the Meet the Robinsons figurine set and the movie.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4878.jpg

After dinner we played Lewis baseball. I took another piece of construction paper and drew bases. We would roll the dice and a 1 = first base, 2 = second base, 3 = third base, 4 = home run and 5 & 6 were strike outs.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4889.jpg
(gotta love the spaghetti mustaches)

Finally movie time. I like this movie it's pretty different at times but it's a great movie all the same. At the end when he realizes his family to be is standing in front of him it always makes me tear up.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4893.jpg

The quote at the end by Walt Disney is awesome and I love how they fade all the words out except for "Keep Moving Forward".

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4894.jpg

Now in case you were wondering what my DH does during movie nights....

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4891.jpg
Yes that's right, he sleeps. Through each one. :confused3 Guess we can't all love disney as much as us. :love:

[trinaweena]

Hey just found you PTR, looking foward to reading about your upcoming trip!

And yoour not the only one who cried at toy story 3!

[MHTeacher]

Now in case you were wondering what my DH does during movie nights....

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/Disney%20Movie%20Nights/DSCN4891.jpg


:rotfl2: Now, that's just funny.

I was going to say that I've never seen this movie, and apparently, neither has your DH! :laughing:

[Sleepingbooty]

The Meet the Robinson's movie night costumes were adorable! I loved that quote at the end too - I'd forgotten all about it. I need to see that movie again, I guess!

No, you're not the only one who cried at TS3 - I did too! What a great movie! We'll be seeing it again too, because my hubby didn't get to go with us. I'd like to go out to the drive-in in Belleville if its still playing out there.

[The4bits]

Fall off the face of the earth much???!!! Why yes, yes I do. I have been working so much lately that I have lost track of everything else around me. Dis boards, housework, the summer.

We received a letter last week informing me that school starts on August 16th. Wait - what!!! No it couldn't be nearing the end of my kids break already. I'm so sad. I'm one of those mothers that likes to be with their kids. ;) Plus my baby girl (6) is starting first grade. Which means school everyday, all day. Not sure I'm going to make it. :confused:

sigh... in Disney planning news. I am now working with the fabulous Sleepingbooty to plan my trip. It's been great and thank god someone is thinking about my trip. :goodvibes Like I mentioned I have been working non stop lately. Which is great because I'm saving money to pay off the trip. That's the best part. Sleepingbooty has been on top of everything for me and it's so appreciated. :cloud9:

One of our big changes - WE UPGRADED TO DELUXE DINING!!! I know. It appears I can't make up my mind. But this way we can eat all the places we want (well almost). Sleepingbooty is keeping an eye on some reservations for me but as of right now I'm so happy. :love:

We have had a movie night every week and I really need to get those caught up on here but I am just a little lazy lately because when I'm on the pc I'm usually editing sessions. We've had a Lion King night, a Little Mermaid night and a Three Caballeros night. Tomorrow night is Chicken Little. Bet you can't guess what we're having for dinner. :lmao:

I don't have any sessions scheduled for July or August as of right now. Good for catching up on life, bad for creativity and finances but that means I will catch up here. :thumbsup2

[Sleepingbooty]

We have had a movie night every week and I really need to get those caught up on here but I am just a little lazy lately because when I'm on the pc I'm usually editing sessions. We've had a Lion King night, a Little Mermaid night and a Three Caballeros night. Tomorrow night is Chicken Little. Bet you can't guess what we're having for dinner. :lmao:


Oh no, please tell me you didn't EAT chicken, while watching Chicken Little!!!:lmao:

I remember when one of the girls was little (probably Jenna, it seems so long ago), when she finally figured out that the 'chicken' she eats comes from those animals called chickens. She was like, "Oh, that's why they call it chicken!" :goodvibes

[MHTeacher]

Deluxe dining sounds fabulous!

[The4bits]

Yeah no excuses. Just absolutely no excuses. Been gone for over a month. We've had a lot going on around here though.

We recently cleaned up our house and moved a lot of stuff out of our house (well technically it's a duplex) so that we could place a for sale sign in the front yard. So that's been eating up a lot of time. We're trying to decide where we want to look for a house and what school the kids will go to. It's exhausting and I might be a little crabby because of it. Too many decisions and hoping that they are always the right now.

School started for my daughter 2 1/2 weeks ago and she is loving it which is good for everyone because if she's not happy no one's happy. :rotfl:

My son will start back next week and then I will have a little time to myself :woohoo:. I wonder what I will do :confused:, don't worry I know I can think of something. (Sleepingbooty - how about that coffee meet-up??)

So 24 days to go until we leave. Finally I am able to focus on the trip instead of the house and start planning things out. I am a list maker so this is right up my alley.

I made a packing list and who's going to carry which bags on the plane so that's a relief because I am a little worried about everything going smoothly at the airport. First time flying with kids and I'm a nervous wreck. I just don't want to be in anyone's way.

I started perusing Creative DISigns today looking for some t-shirts designs for my son. He wants a Star Wars (which I have), Phineas and Ferb (which I found a picture and I'm just going to put that on a shirt), Pirates something (found his name with Mickey pirates) and now Toy Story 3 (having trouble finding something perfect for Toy Story). I haven't thought much about my daughter and what she's going to wear. She has a couple shirts and a dress but nothing major yet. I was hoping that it would get cool here before we leave so I can pack summer clothes as we get further in the month. But it looks like it might be a warmer September than I was hoping for.

So I really don't have much to do before we leave. Buying an extra memory card and battery (wish it was a whole new point and shoot - but DH said NO), make some t-shirts and find Disney gift cards for the kids. That's about it. Nothing left but to sit and wait. I'm not so good at that part but it'll be here before you know it.

[Sleepingbooty]

Oh, I won't make you feel bad - I've been a Dis-slacker, too. So much going on. I need to take some pics of the t-shirts we did over the weekend and post them on my PTR. They turned out pretty cool. I did the reverse tie dye thing.

Glad to hear things are coming along on the house.

Yes! Lets get together for coffee soon!

[The4bits]

I think I'll hang out on the DIS today. I need some pepping up and I really need to start getting jazzed about the trip. 18 days till we leave. OMG. Really everytime I say that... that's nothing at all. See being on here really gets you going. :goodvibes

I've been really hard at work on the kids t-shirts. I just have to make one more trip to Hobby Lobby to get an embellishment for DD t-shirt and then I have to see if the tie-dye/mickey head effect came out on my shirts. They are starting to annoy me because it's not working the way I thought it would in my head. But not much does. ;) Oh and I forgot I am waiting on one more Creative DISign from Millipie and I'll be all done. :thumbsup2

My hubby and I do not have any shirt designs because #1 he wouldn't wear it and #2 I'll just buy a shirt down there and then wear it on my last day in the parks. We did buy a whole lot of t-shirts from a company here in STL by the name of STL Style. I was telling the owners that we were headed to WDW and that I would wear my Forest Park t-shirt to MK and have our photopass picture taken in front of the castle. He told me that if I did that and e-mailed to him he would put it on their site. That's pretty cool. :cool1:

So not much else going on. I have to work this weekend (shoot a wedding) and that money will buy our MNSSHP tickets so that'll be an excellent thing. Oh and I guess I could show you our countdown to WDW.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/IMG_2558.jpg

and a close up
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx24/hjtorbs/IMG_2559.jpg

I basically just print out 30 copies of a Mickey head and split them between the kids (ok I did a couple) and let them color them however they want. I go through and number them and they take one down each day. They really like it and there is never any fighting about whose turn it is because they know which ones they colored. :woohoo:

One last thing before I go... I might have talked my extended family (us 4, my mom, my bro, my sis in law and their baby) into going back in 2012. So excited to think about that. We would go in November so YEAH!!! :banana: I might have another ticker before I know it. :dance3:

[The4bits]

OMG I accidentally added a day to my countdown. I only have 17 days - NOT 18!!! I need to pay more attention to what's going on. :rotfl2:

[Sleepingbooty]

Hey Hollie! How'd the shirts come out?

[The4bits]

Hey Hollie! How'd the shirts come out?

I haven't had a chance to do them yet. We've been house hunting two nights and tonight I am working for it may not be until this coming week. I'll let you know though.

[The4bits]

So the list is ever growing.... Here's a look at the things I want to tackle before we leave.

- get a dog sitter (yeah this is URGENT) :eek:

- get my hair cut and colored, appt next Wed. It should be against the law to have as much gray hair as I do at 34.

- add water electric parade to our to do list and keep it a surprise :thumbsup2

- buy halloween tickets, should do this tomorrow

- upgrade BBB appt, tomorrow also

- buy new camera and extra battery plus memory cards so I don't have to lug my laptop to Orlando

- make sure we have travel size tolietries, a little worried about the new flying rules. Need to wrap my head around those. :confused:

- start packing the "entertainment" carry-on for the kids or if not packing it then at least make a list and decide on which bag to carry

- buy new Disney purse (wanna see http://www.ebags.com/product/overland-equipment/placer-shoulder-bag/140201?productid=1368564) I have the Donner bag currently in lime and it's awesome but this is a little smaller so not sure if I should or not but we'll put it on the list

- get daughter's teacher on board with sending her assignments :teacher:

- finish t-shirts for the trip

Ok well at least that's a start. Because this is how I feel.... :scared1:
With a house on the market, a dog that has no sitter and a jumbled brain. I feel like I should probably start packing now.

I met today with our travel agent (Sleepybooty) and she gave me some awesome stuff for the kiddos and a planner for ME. It's awesome. I've already read it a couple times today. It's perfect size for my purse while at WDW so I can have it with us at all times. One less thing to worry about and that makes me ecstatic. :cloud9:

[The4bits]

So tonight I bought our Halloween tickets (yeah). We loved the Pirate and Princess party when we went 2 years ago and I KNOW this party will be better so we are super excited. Plus it could be even less crowded then when we went to the P&P party in April.

Then I can also cross off the upgrade to DD's BBB appt. She is now going to have the pleasure of the Castle Package. She is going to freak and I love it. :love: She can pick out her Tiana dress and shoes and that's the night we are going to MNSSHP. So she'll be all set.

One other thing I don't want to forget to do - Henna tattoo in Epcot. Love the Henna tattoos. If I can't get the real thing, this is the next best.

[MHTeacher]

One week to go! How excited are you?

[The4bits]

One week to go! How excited are you?

Beyond excited. Thanks for stopping by again :goodvibes the week cannot fly by fast enough (even though I have a ton of stuff to do) :rotfl:

[The4bits]

I am desperately trying to finish up some editing. I shot a wedding two weeks ago and I told the bride she'd have them by Friday (tomorrow). SO instead of packing and getting ready for the trip I am knee deep in wedding photos. UGH. I just want the fun to start. :thumbsup2

2 DAYS!!! Can't believe it!!! SO excited.:banana:

[MHTeacher]

Well, I guess you are at Disney by now, enjoying your first evening!

Hope you have a magical week! :)