IDK what the heck I'm doing, but here's my PTR!

[firecracker725]

I've never been to WDW, but I have wanted to for what seems like forever. As my husband and I were trying to decide where to go for spring break (I'm an elementary teacher, and he's a grad student at UGA), we just weren't all that excited about dragging our 2 year old daughter all over Charleston or Savannah.

I suggested that we stay home, save our money, and take a bigger vacation during the summer. We discussed several places, but I noticed that many of my friends and aquaintances were planning SB trips to Disney. This made me wonder what kind of deals were to be had, so I checked it out.

I found a pretty nice deal on Travelocity for 5 days under $1000, and that convinced the hubs that Disney was do-able. He's been twice before, so he wasn't as anxious to get there as I was, but he's all about a good deal. At the suggestion of another website, I contacted a travel agent who pointed out that I could get 6 nights with 5 day park hopper passes for around $1,300, but also receive a $300 gift card to spend at the parks. This was slightly better than the Travelocity package, and we KNEW we'd spend atleast $300 during our stay.

The hubs was sold. I booked our package. I wasn't at all excited....I was obsessed! I created an Excel spreadsheet listing the parade times, park hours, and EMHs. I began to plan what parks we'd visit on what days, then I added a few ADRs.

I'll admit, I had some serious reservations about taking a two year old to WDW. Thankfully, my MIL offered to go with us as a "nanny". She's been twice before, and loves Disney. I'm so excited that she's joining us.

Onto the specifics...

The Cast:

Me--Crystal, 32
The Hubs--Ben, 30
Our Daughter--Avery, 2
The MIL--Terri, 50 something


The Setting:
All-Star Music Resort, May 25-31

The Menu:
This is where things get sketchy. We're on a very tight budget, so I plan to bring our mini-fridge and a cooler to brown bag it as much as possible. Nearly all breakfasts will be in the room (cereal and fruit anyone?). Many lunches will consist of sandwiches back at the resort followed by toddler naps. We'll have our car, so we're planning on several dinners off-site. I have made a few ADRs:

Trail's End 5/25 Dinner
Crystal Palace 5/27 Dinner
Chef Mickey's 5/31 Breakfast



The Plan:

Day 1: Magic Kingdom (morning) Animal Kingdom (afternoon EMH)
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Epcot
Day 4: Hollywood Studios
Day 5: Whatever we need to finish, likely AK and Epcot


So that's it! I am so looking forward to sharing my first trip to WDW with my little girl!

[firecracker725]

:dance3:

Edit: Nevermind...figured it out

Will post pictures of my little princess soon.

[mommytothreeboys]

I believe you have to have a minimum number of posts before you have permission to post pics. Check the technical support forum....I could be wrong! I can walk you through the process once you are able to post pics!

Oh....HI! :wave: I read your first post earlier, but didn't comment at the time. Your trip sounds great! A newbie! :thumbsup2 My brother and sister-in-law are taking their girls for the first time this August. I've been trying to help as much as possible without totally freaking them out!! :laughing:

I'm reading along! :goodvibes

[mommytothreeboys]

I found this.....it has video tutorials to help you post pics! Probably much better than I could do!

How to Post Pics (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1947588)

:) :) :) :) :)

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm here!!! Fun beginning. Do a countdown of posts so you can post pics (like 3,2,1, here ya go!)

[firecracker725]

I hope...

[firecracker725]

this doesn't...

[firecracker725]

annoy too...

[firecracker725]

many...

[firecracker725]

people!

[firecracker725]

Ready...set....

:wizard:

[firecracker725]

Here we are! :cheer2:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj196/cwyser/Avery%20March%202010/100_1291.jpg

[Tnkrbelle565]

Nice job!!!!! :thumbsup2

You guys are so cute!!!!

[julezdisney]

:wave2: Hi Crystal! I thought I'd jump over to your TR since you jumped over to mine! :goodvibes:

Travel plans sound great so far... you are a "natural" DIS-er!

[firecracker725]

:wave2: Hi Crystal! I thought I'd jump over to your TR since you jumped over to mine! :goodvibes:

Travel plans sound great so far... you are a "natural" DIS-er!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll admit, I was very intimidated by all the cute signatures and quotes, but I think I've caught on a bit.

Nice job!!!!! :thumbsup2

You guys are so cute!!!!

Thanks!

[firecracker725]

Since Christmas, Avery :cutie: has been OBSESSED with Max & Ruby. :happytv: Seriously, it's the first thing she wants when she gets up. She also enjoys Sesame Street. In fact, we had a Sesame Street themed 2nd birthday party for her. However, I just couldn't get her interested in Disney shows. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh were just background noise during her extended "reading" sessions. The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, and Alice in Wonderland all ended in complete meltdowns :sad: approximately 3 minutes in when she realized it wasn't "Nats (Max)".

We had no clue what to do. :confused3 I knew she would enjoy WDW without knowing which character was which, but I felt like she HAD to know atleast a few. :idea: Then it hit me....BOOKS!!! Before Avery was born, we read to her. When she was lying in the NICU, hours old, we read to her. She has shunned all sorts of glitzy, noise-making toys in favor of her growing book collection. The MIL ("T") has supported this by buying books for every holiday and occasion. It doesn't hurt that her mommy :teacher: has a good knowledge of children's literature either. Before there was Sesame Street or Max and Ruby, there were books about them. This is where we'd have to start.

I started slowly. She had one Disney babies book that came in a package of Huggies. I read it to her over and over. She began to show interest in Mickey after a few readings, so I exposed her to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She wasn't much into it, save for the hot dog dance. That...she loved! It was a beginning. During my school's book fair, I found a Snow White paperback. It was long, but she sat through the whole book.

I'm happy to report that our strategy is working beautifully. :cheer2: Avery loves Mickey and Minnie. Ben snagged some really awesome princess and ::MinnieMo jammies at Kohl's, and she's really picking up on the characters. Last night, we bought her a little "suitcase" of MMCH books. She was so excited that she wanted to sleep with them. It was ridiculously adorable. :cloud9:

[Mombits]

YOu and your daughter are a cute pair! It sounds like you have a great plan. Bringing a mini-fridge is awesome! I wish I could drag one of those on the plane! Yay for MIL agreeing to be the nanny. Hopefully you can get a good mix of alone time with the hubs and family time with MIL and your cute little DD. We are on the dining plan and we got the hoppers and I do plan to use them, but we'll see how it goes.

[Mombits]

I bought into the Disney book club when my DD was probably one. So we have all the older Disney books. I have been re-reading those to my kids too. Donovan will sit thru them, Hannah, not so much. However they both have a pretty good knowledge by now of who most of the characters are. I am sure they might be one or two we are scratching our heads over, but it'll be OK. We just won't have to stand in line for those:)

Maybe you could hit the library and get some Disney picture books there. Less of an investment but still broadens her character horizons.

[Disneychix]

The pic was worth the wait :)

My DS loves reading too and we are from a family of teachers so he gets TONS of books!
Your trip sounds amazing! I wish we lived closer so I didn't have to pay for airfare. $1300 sounds very reasonable!

[firecracker725]

YOu and your daughter are a cute pair! It sounds like you have a great plan. Bringing a mini-fridge is awesome! I wish I could drag one of those on the plane! Yay for MIL agreeing to be the nanny. Hopefully you can get a good mix of alone time with the hubs and family time with MIL and your cute little DD. We are on the dining plan and we got the hoppers and I do plan to use them, but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks! I wondered if bringing the fridge would make me look like a huge idiot-cheapskate, but then I figured that the $70 I saved was worth any negative reactions I might receive.


The pic was worth the wait :)

My DS loves reading too and we are from a family of teachers so he gets TONS of books!
Your trip sounds amazing! I wish we lived closer so I didn't have to pay for airfare. $1300 sounds very reasonable!

Thanks for joining in. It won't be the shortest drive ever (7 hours), but it's way cheaper than flying with all the luggage we'd need.

[firecracker725]

One of the things that has been bugging me about our trip is internet access. I am really not willing to pay what Disney is asking, but I'm also unwilling to go 6 days in a really overwhelming place without access to the net.

My potential solution (and I'm totally open to input here...) is to upgrade my AT&T Wireless service to an unlimited data plan during the month of May. Though I do not have a "smart" phone, my Samsung Propel has a decent browser and a GPS feature that would come in quite handy while away from home for a week.

Of course, we'd have our laptop for the times we're off property and able to get a free connection (Panera?). So what do you guys think???

[firecracker725]

As I sit here with 17 third graders, I'm dreaming of WDW. We have 7 more instructional days and two post planning days, I'm very busy wrapping up end of year tasks. BUSY!!!

[firecracker725]

I'm on :cloud9:

I'm just about to check-in online! I still can't believe we're going to Disney. It seems like just yesterday that I started planning all of this, and now it's almost here!!! :cheer2:

I can't even tell you how much I need to enter a make-believe world right now. So much has happened in these past few weeks, and I have really been put through the ringer.

On a Tuesday evening my mother was admitted to the hospital for a possible stroke. After extensive testing, her doctor diagnosed her with cancer. They couldn't find a primary tumor, but she had METs in her brain. So, my husband, our daughter, and I made an emergency trip to Mississippi on Thursday to accompany her to an appointment with an oncologist on Friday. He ordered a PET scan and several other appointments for the following Wednesday.

While we were at my mother's house on Saturday, an F1 tornado struck the house. There was moderate roof damage, and two 30 year old trees fell on the powerlines, causing quite a bit of damage. Electricity wasn't restored until Monday.

Ben couldn't miss any more school, so we all left on Sunday. I teach 3rd grade, and we were in the middle of testing. I couldn't really afford to take much time off, but I also needed to be in MS for all of my mother's appointments on Wednesday. So...I left immediately after school on Tuesday, attended the appointments on Wednesday, and then drove back to GA on Wednesday night. Crazy, right? Well, it doesn't end there. popcorn::

My mother didn't have cancer. It was inded a stroke. Not that a stroke is anything minor, mind you. We didn't think it was "good" news, but it wasn't quite as devastating as the big "C". She has since had a follow-up MRI which confirmed the stroke. Her neurosurgeon wants to follow up again in 8 weeks to determine if surgery is warranted. I have a feeling he'd like to operate, but the area is near her motor strip, and surgery could possibly do more harm than good.

That's enough, right? Well, apparently I've p'd off the heavens big time because I got into a car accident on the way to school on that following Friday morning. Some idiot decided to bust a U-turn in front of me while we were both going full speed. I broad-sided him, and he drove off. They never caught him, and though I have damage, I'll have to file it on my insurance and pay the $250 deductible to have it repaired.

Keep in mind, that this ALL occurred within a 9 day span.

Bring on the magic...I certainly feel that I deserve it!

[Disneychix]

OMG! That is a string of unfortunate events! I'm sending good thoughts for your mother. How scary!
Enjoy your vacation! Take it easy and soak it all up! :)

[firecracker725]

:woohoo: Single Digit Dance!!!! Only NINE more days! :woohoo:

So I was looking over my originial plan, and I realized that I've made some changes since then.

Day 1: We'll be driving, and the MIL will be flying. We expect to arrive around 4 p.m., but the MIL's flight doesn't get in until then. I originally planned dinner at Trail's End, but I think I'm going to CXL in favor of Downtown Disney.

Day 2: We were originally going to start at MK, then move to AK for EMH, but we decided to just make that whole first day an AK day so we won't be teased by the fabulous MK only to have to up and leave in the middle of the day. We'll grab a quick dinner, then the MIL and DD will head back to the resort while the hubs and I go to DHS to see Fantasmic. We feel that it would be too much for the DD, and since the MIL is there, we might as well take full advantage.

Day 3 (Thursday) will be all day at MK with a nap/cool down in the middle of the day. Actually, we're planning on doing that every day. I have no intention of keeping my 2 year old from her nap, and I just don't feel she'd rest all that well in her stroller. We have an ADR for dinner at Crystal Palace, then we're going to watch Spectromagic and Wishes. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep the DD up for those.

Day 4 is kind of a flex day. There's no official plan, though I hope to spend a good bit of time at MK. This will be the MIL's last park day, as she will be leaving on Saturday, so DH and I might try to stay awake for EMH at Epcot.

Day 5: We plan to hit DHS for EMH. We're probably least excited about this park in general, so we may try to head over to Epcot in the afternoon.

Day 6: Epcot..all day.

Day 7: Departure day :sad1: We have an ADR at Chef Mickey's for 7:10, so we'll be full on the ride home.

Part of me wants to plan everything down to the minute, but the mommy in me realizes that two year old's don't always do what you expect them to do, so I'm trying to be flexible..something that doesn't come naturally for me. We'll see how it works out. :scared1:

[creativeamanda]

You know often, overplanning is better than under planning. Of course, I might be a bit obssessed with my trip.

Congrats on your trip--it sounds very similar to our first trip--2 onsite meals (Trail's End--which is very reasonable with pricing, and Crystal Palace.) We had a cooler of food, took snacks and such into the parks, and ate one meal onsite (cs) daily. We went offsite for one breakfast. It was still the best trip to that date.

Have fun!

[firecracker725]

School ended for me today. :banana:Yippee! Now I can devote all my time to packing and planning for our trip which is in 4 days!

Sadly, I have lost our camera. I think it got misplaced in all the chaos surrounding our emergency trip to Mississippi. This means that we'll have to buy another, so that adds to the budget and crazyness of trying to prepare for this trip.

I can't even tell you how excited I am. I'm laying out the suitcases tonight, so I can start packing them over the weekend. The hubs has a conference this weekend, so I'm going to be alone with our daughter, but I'm determined to make a dent in the preparation. :cool1:

[therussells08]

Hi from another teacher! :teacher: I'm sorry I'm late to your PTR but I hope you guys have an awesome first trip to WDW! I can't wait to hear all about it when you get home!! :)

Your daughter is gorgeous, BTW!!

[firecracker725]

Hi from another teacher! :teacher: I'm sorry I'm late to your PTR but I hope you guys have an awesome first trip to WDW! I can't wait to hear all about it when you get home!! :)

Your daughter is gorgeous, BTW!!

:wave2::welcome:

Thanks!

[firecracker725]

OMG! That is a string of unfortunate events! I'm sending good thoughts for your mother. How scary!
Enjoy your vacation! Take it easy and soak it all up! :)

Indeed. Thanks so much. I'm just so excited to be going.

You know often, overplanning is better than under planning. Of course, I might be a bit obssessed with my trip.

Congrats on your trip--it sounds very similar to our first trip--2 onsite meals (Trail's End--which is very reasonable with pricing, and Crystal Palace.) We had a cooler of food, took snacks and such into the parks, and ate one meal onsite (cs) daily. We went offsite for one breakfast. It was still the best trip to that date.

Have fun!

Food can be a serious budget buster. We're determined not to break the bank on something we'll have nothing (save for our waistlines) to show for.

[sl_underwood]

We will be there at the same time, staying at CBR.