Kids 1st trip-an ever changing PTR-Update: 12-21 Itinerary 6.0 is now done

[JPFamilyMom]

Ok so I've tried this PTR thing before but our trip just never happened. Now with DH's new job and us in a new State this is actually going to happen. And there is the possibility of a bonus mini trip to Disneyland in store for us in December since my cousin is getting married in Anaheim- how could a DISer possibly go all the way to Anaheim and not go see The Mouse? They can't, so if we go to the wedding in December than we go to the Land for sure. Our trip to the World will happen in March 2010.

So on to the cast of characters:
Lets start with Me, I'm the Mommy -Jessica, the main Disney fan in my family though my DS(4) is starting to race for biggest fan. I'm 31 been to the world only once for my honeymoon, wish I could've been more times and certainly have several trips planned in our kids and my future. I have however been to Disneyland more times than I can count since I mostly grew up in California and I've been going since I was a baby. Here I am with my baby:

Next in the cast of travelers is my DH- not such a Disney fan, but doesn't want to miss out on any adventures the boys have. Paid me the best compliment the other day in saying that in all the mother-child interactions he has seen, I'm the best mother. Ok, well he is 38 and a high school teacher and football coach. Football to him is what Disney is to me. So it's nice we each have our thing.Here is DH and I on our honeymoon

more to come...

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Yay! I'm the first!!!! Now going back to read.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Yay! I'm the first!!!! Now going back to read.

Wow that was fast, welcome I didn't write much, lol

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Our Story…Our Fairy tale wedding…
So I’m originally from California and my DH is originally from Pennsylvania and we met in Las Vegas of all places.


No it wasn’t a weekend fling or anything; we both actually lived there for several years. We were both substitute teaching for the school district, him because he moved to Las Vegas in the middle of a teaching year and was waiting to get hired on as a regular teacher and me because I was still working on my teaching degree (btw I’m still working on my teaching degree, that is what happens when you get married and get preggo on the honeymoon). So we met and six months later we were engaged and ten months after that we got married. It was a fairy tale themed wedding, complete with Disney princesses, castles, tiaras and other themed Disney fairy tale symbols as centerpieces.

Then we jetted off to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon, my choice of course.

I always knew I would honeymoon in the world, it was just a matter of convincing the man I married, and lucky for me my DH is easy going. And although he still bugs me to this day about jumping on the bed too early in the morning for a honeymoon, he is willing to travel back to the World with our kids (though he still thinks I’ll be the one jumping on the bed in the morning). I was less informed then, I didn’t know about making reservations or any special tips for visiting the park, I’m happy to now be more informed and to call myself a DISer, surrounding myself with other like minded people.

We stayed in the All Star Sports Hotel, we had park hopper with the water park, etc on it, dining plan, and at the time they had this like honeymoon type package so we also got a couple golf session (we had a choice between golf, Cirque Du Soleil, or couples massage- we golfed since I got to pick the location of the honeymoon, DH got to pick our extra activity). And we also got a carriage ride included in our package complete with champagne which neither of us drinks- so we just had water.

Excited to take my two boys to the World in 2010…. Up next a little about the kiddos

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY!! You started a PTR!! I'm in! It was so good to meet you last week, Jessica!! It's nice to know a DISer who lives in the same place!!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Awwwww, you guys are too sweet. Quite the fairy tale indeed

Waiting for more! I wanna meet the kiddos!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

YAY!! You started a PTR!! I'm in! It was so good to meet you last week, Jessica!! It's nice to know a DISer who lives in the same place!!

It was great meeting you too. Yes indeed, I've never met a DISer before, you are my first, so that was fun

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Awwwww, you guys are too sweet. Quite the fairy tale indeed

Waiting for more! I wanna meet the kiddos!

Thanks, I was going to wait until Saturday to post about the kiddos, but maybe tomorrow (I just don't want to run out of things to write about)

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Ok so I left off with our honeymoon, well a month later we found out I was pregnant so in March 2005, baby made three.

(remember my husband is from Philly)

My DS Jack is 4 years old now, where did the time go. When we go in March he will still be four, he doesn’t turn five until the end of March. He is a very active high spirited boy. He was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in January of this year, and was in a self contained class this past school year for pre-school. He has made great strides with his speech and occupational therapy for sensory issues, and we are getting ready to put him in a “regular” daycare or pre-school setting this next school year. See we just moved as previously stated, so we don’t know exactly where to put him yet, since we have the possible trip to California in December and then our WDW trip in March.

He has already visited Disneyland two times and is VERY excited to visit Mickey’s castle in Florida, you see the castle at MK isn’t the castle of a princess in his world- it belongs to the big cheese. We have never gotten to ride on Dumbo, and we have plans to ride that first. We have gone through the phase of LOVING Cars (still does), Mickey (still does), and he has now moved onto Phineas and Ferb…. And most recently Spiderman (I know not a Disney character, but his newest obsession). Aside form Spiderman… he LOVES all things Disney like me.

And then once again we got the crazy idea in our head that we wanted one more… So baby made four…

(had to add one philly pic)

The baby formerly referred to as Baby Joey by all in the family (we are trying to get away from that since he is one and a half now and not such a baby anymore). He will be two when we go to Florida in March (his b-day is in February). He is all smiles almost all the time. And he currently loves all things Mickey. We have two Disney sing-a-long DVD’s, one of which is his favorite, and he will sign Mickey (we do sign language with him- I learned some for my Jack when he didn’t talk at all, and so have used it with the baby too, we came up with a sign where he puts his hands up on his head and wiggles them to make Mickey ears-this is how we know he wants that video) when he wants to watch. My DH is ready to throw the DVD out because he is tired of hearing the same songs over and over every day. I told him we’ll just have to get more then, we used to have more but Jack has worn the others out so much that we finally had to throw them out, and Joey just started watching tv this summer. I’ll be anxious to see how he does with characters the first time since brother Jack didn’t do so well on his first trip. I think it’s easier when you do have a big brother though, if Jack does ok, then I think Joey will do ok.

Up next….other participants in this Florida adventure

 

[ladybugmom]

I love the pics! Go Eagles!! I'm a big fan of all of the Philly teams. My dad grew up right across the river from Philly in Cherry Hill, NJ--so I grew up rooting for all of those teams! I've even been to several Phillies and Eagles games!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Your pictures are beeeeuuteeful ! Eagles fans eh? We're a Bills family! Great to hear Jack's progress and good luck with the school system. Be firm!

Excellent choice for your first ride and I hear you about the worn out Disney Sing-a-Long movies. We've had to scotch tape some movies back together on more than one occasion and I'm pretty sure we have most of them.

My boys are a little farther apart than yours, but Demetri worships Alex and wants to do everything he does! Isn't that the BEST?!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Thanks ladies for the comments on the pics.
My husband will be jealous you've gone to so many games, he has only been to a few I think. He played football, so they were always busy with his games.

I wish I could scotch tape our videos back together, but they are mostly so scratched that they skip.

ok a bonus update coming up cause we went to the zoo yesterday...

 

[JPFamilyMom]

So we went to the local Zoo yesterday and we had great fun, and I got some insight into how our trip could be... the good... and the bad....and the in between

Here we are at the start of the day:

Jack insisted he keep his backpack on (I had a little car, tissues, a little book, and a gatorade in it for him)

Here we are on the train, Jack holding his ears, not a big deal, he is at least still smiling, but the noise was just too much for him:

Here is everyone still happy, but starting to get restless as we near lunchtime:

Then we went past a carousel and lucky for us there was no line, we went during the week, so Jack loved riding that and this is what Joey did (he'll have to get use to it since he will probably do that part of each day while DH and I take turns on rides with Jack that Joey can't ride):

**side note here: carousels make me sick, that is why Joey couldn't ride this time, he'll get to ride the one in MK

Then we grabbed some lunch and there was a water fountain that kids were playing in, so we decided to let the kids wet their feet Jack is on a restricted diet due to possible adhd associated with his Autism Spectrum Disorder, and hot dogs and anything with red dye are on the no no list, but today I let him have them (more on this at the end of our day)
This was the result of getting feet wet:

Lucky I always pack a change of clothes, so I have it noted to take two outfits a day for my boys instead of just one outfit per day as originally planned.

At least I think they will enjoy seeing animals in AK, we will be able to do those trails

Jack was feeling very brave this day.... he even went up to this Bear five times... has me feeling good about interactions with the characters on this trip:

And then he saw this cool viewing area, but we couldn't see anything:

By the fifth trip back to the bear he starting looking like this though (and we knew it was time to head home):

At this point he needed to take his shoes off and be bare foot, and if any of you have children with sensory issues you may understand this, he had to brush his feet and legs with his sensory brush at this point. He did this while we headed to the front.

He was fine but irritated most of the way home, and then when we got home, he lost control, I think the hot dog and red dye went to his head, so he ended up in a big time out where he crashed hard and woke up in a better mood thank goodness.

So lessons learned:
1. On our trip to WDW he needs to stay on his special diet
2. We must carry all sensory brushes with us everywhere we go
3. He'll need some quiet time in the middle of the day to prevent full out meltdown
4. Changes of clothes will be necessary to take with us wherever we go for those unexpected events
5. Will be looking into earplugs for Jack participating in louder attractions


still to come... the other members of our traveling party
and 4th of July is this weekend, so we are still deciding if we are going to the fireworks or not- we have not had good experience with them in the past, but I don't want to miss out on our trip- so will be trying to condition Jack to tolerate fireworks (as learned from Mickey_Mom)

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I can't see your pics yet but it sounds like this trip was a fabulous way to have a trial run so to speak and get some great lessons out of it.

Ariana was the same with her backpack for school.

How does Jack do with the earplugs? Would he tolerate them longer than just for loud attractions? I don't mean all the time, and Ariana doesn't have a sensory issue so I'm not totally familiar with it, but perhaps the lower decible level would help keep him calmer for longer periods of time? When Ariana gets restless, she likes to hold little figurines. Keeps her hands busy and helps her focus but still participate in everything around her.

I'll look for your pics later today!

 

[jessters7]

I'm in! You have such a beautiful family! I especially like the minnie & mickey pic of you guys! Soo cute!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

I can't see your pics yet but it sounds like this trip was a fabulous way to have a trial run so to speak and get some great lessons out of it.

Ariana was the same with her backpack for school.

How does Jack do with the earplugs? Would he tolerate them longer than just for loud attractions? I don't mean all the time, and Ariana doesn't have a sensory issue so I'm not totally familiar with it, but perhaps the lower decible level would help keep him calmer for longer periods of time? When Ariana gets restless, she likes to hold little figurines. Keeps her hands busy and helps her focus but still participate in everything around her.

I'll look for your pics later today!

Yes and this was a trial run without DH, things will go smoother with an extra hand. I had my family there but it's different... you know?
I'm not sure how he will do with earplugs, he still hasn't made it through a hearing test successfully, at least not when they put those things in his ears, but I'm hopeful. But I'll figure something out if he doesn't take to them.
I had the car to try and keep him calmer, but it was just too much in one day. We'll be making several trips to the zoo before Disney (we are going to become members, and I'm planning a trip almost every week) that should help him learn how to adjust to things.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

I'm in! You have such a beautiful family! I especially like the Minnie & Mickey pic of you guys! Soo cute!

Thanks for joining and thanks for the compliments. the Minnie and mickey pictures of us is my FAVORITE so far. I'm planning a peter pan/Tinkerbelle picture with the baby this Halloween. I don't know if they make Peter Pan costumes that small, but I'll make it if not, I'm on the search for green shorts and matching shirt every time we go out. enjoying your report too

 

[Stephie77]

i just read through your ptr. your kids are sooo adorable!! i am so excited for you guys to go disney. that is so funny you met your DH in vegas!! my DF lived in vegas for 5 years also and then came back to NY where i met him. you all look so happy and jack looked so cute at the zoo and like he really enjoyed it. i am sure your trip will be ok, you seem prepared with what needs to be done for your kids. as for the DP, now that i read your ptr i understand why you asked me the question about how loud it is. no matter where you stand in the park, the sound is basically the same for wishes. it is about 20-25 mins long and mainly fireworks and disney music at the same time. if you can get earplugs(if jack will wear them) i think it i will help. i know it is hard with an autistic child (my sister is an OT and works with many autistic children and my friend's son it autistic also) but do you think if you try to get him use to the plugs before you go it will help? I hope so b.c it is a great show and wonderful disney music along with it. i am sure they would love the music since they love the disney dvd you have. i am excited to here more about your planning and trip! def make reservations now though b/c we tried to make reservations at some places months in advance and it was all booked. chef mickeys(at the contemporary), crystal palace in MK and ohanas at the polynesian(for breakfast-my fav) and they have the characters for example are always booked! they are both worth going to. can't wait to read more!!! if you have any questinon at disney world, feel free to ask i am now a dis-pro and if i don't know my DF does!

 

[Stephie77]

Thanks for joining and thanks for the compliments. the Minnie and mickey pictures of us is my FAVORITE so far. I'm planning a peter pan/Tinkerbelle picture with the baby this Halloween. I don't know if they make Peter Pan costumes that small, but I'll make it if not, I'm on the search for green shorts and matching shirt every time we go out. enjoying your report too

i have seen the peter pan costume at the parks for babies. i am sure if you search online you will find it! love the mickey minnie picture-so adorable!!!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

i just read through your ptr. your kids are sooo adorable!! i am so excited for you guys to go disney. that is so funny you met your DH in vegas!! my DF lived in vegas for 5 years also and then came back to NY where i met him. you all look so happy and jack looked so cute at the zoo and like he really enjoyed it. i am sure your trip will be ok, you seem prepared with what needs to be done for your kids. as for the DP, now that i read your ptr i understand why you asked me the question about how loud it is. no matter where you stand in the park, the sound is basically the same for wishes. it is about 20-25 mins long and mainly fireworks and disney music at the same time. if you can get earplugs(if jack will wear them) i think it i will help. i know it is hard with an autistic child (my sister is an OT and works with many autistic children and my friend's son it autistic also) but do you think if you try to get him use to the plugs before you go it will help? I hope so b.c it is a great show and wonderful disney music along with it. i am sure they would love the music since they love the disney dvd you have. i am excited to here more about your planning and trip! def make reservations now though b/c we tried to make reservations at some places months in advance and it was all booked. chef mickeys(at the contemporary), crystal palace in MK and ohanas at the polynesian(for breakfast-my fav) and they have the characters for example are always booked! they are both worth going to. can't wait to read more!!! if you have any questinon at disney world, feel free to ask i am now a dis-pro and if i don't know my DF does!

Steph, thanks for the tips. We have awhile to figure out what we are doing in regards to fireworks, Mickey_Mom sent me some links for information on headphones and earplugs, we are still looking for a good pediatrician in our new area, but think we finally found a school that would suit ours and our sons needs, just farther than we had planned on driving, so we'll see.

ok, time to introduce you all to the rest of our travel party.... so I can finally get started on our planning....