Disney World? Nope! It's Worley World! Our 2011 Disney Adventures! *Updated 4/25/12*

[eecteacher82]

Hi everyone! Welcome to our year long WDW Trip Report! This is our second set of WDW passes! Our first set we got in September of 2009 when we upgraded our tickets to Florida Resident Seasonal Passes. That set expired in December of 2010 and we got our new set in February of 2011. We decided to stick with the seasonal passes instead of the regular annual passes since we don't really want to go during any of the times that are blacked out anyways.

So, who are we you might ask? Here is your cast of characters for this year long TR:

Me, Me, Erin. A 29 year old, former kindergarten teacher turned stay at home mom to my princess Olivia and wife to my DH. I have loved all things Disney since my first visit when I was 4. I was born in Wisconsin and moved down to Florida when I was 8 and have been here ever since. We live about 1.5 hours from the mouse on the west coast of Florida, just south of Tampa. I am the total anal Disney planner and start planning the next big trip on the way home from the last one!

DH, Toby. A super hard working 25 year old daddy to Olivia! Toby works extremely hard so that I can stay home with Olivia! Toby will be the first to tell you that I am totally obsessed with Disney, although he does not share in my obsession (yet!). We went to Disney while I was pregnant with Olivia and I have been dragging him along ever since. He says Disney is just "ok", but while we are there he is having a blast and loving every minute of it.

DD, Olivia. Our 3 year old princess who, like me, loves all things Disney! She is our little miracle baby. Olivia was born at just 32 weeks, weighing 4 pounds and measuring 16 3/4 inches long and spent 3.5 weeks in the NICU more than an hour away from home. She made a total turn around, and now you would never know (other than being a bit on the small side) that she was a preemie! Olivia loves every minute of our Disney trips and asks on a daily basis to go back!

So, now that you have the basics, I will get started on writing the fun stuff!

For some background reading:
Olivia's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza! DDxP,BBB and PP!Oh my! Our 12/10 TR! **Finished**

 

[eecteacher82]

Handy Dandy Chapter Links!

Day 1: February 27, 2011-Sunday
Let's get this year started!

Day 2: February 28, 2011-Monday
Wake Up. Eat. Check-in!
A DHS Morning
Enjoying POR!

Day 3: March 1, 2011-Tuesday
Time for some Animal Kingdom
DTD for some grub!

Day 4: March 2, 2011-Wednesday
Magic Kingdom time!
Olivia's afternoon and evening plans

Day 5: March 3, 2011-Thursday
Breakfast in the Big Easy and a relaxing final day

Day 6: April 10, 2011-Sunday
Time for a quick girls trip!
Special snacks, hula hoops and glow bracelets!

Day 7: April 11, 2011-Monday
A morning of animated fun
Finishing up our girls trip

Day 8: May 29, 2011-Sunday
We need a Disney fix!
Mommy, can we PLEASE see if I'm big enough?
Well, was she tall enough???
What's for dinner?
Looking around the Lodge

Day 9: May 30, 2011-Monday
[URL="http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42994120&postcount=145"]The WORST morning ever!!!![/URL]
The worst morning ever is turning into the worst DAY ever!
Lunch Time!
DHS Fun!

Day 10: June 10, 2011-Friday
A short trip with a purpose!

Day 11: June 11, 2011-Saturday
It's Dancing Time!...or is it?

Day 12: August 20, 2011-Saturday
Time for another girls trip!
Time for some adventure!

Day 13: August 21, 2011-Sunday

Day 14: August 22, 2011-Monday

Day 15: August 23, 2011-Tuesday

Day 16: October 16, 2011-Sunday

Day 17: October 17, 2011-Monday

Day 18: November 12, 2011-Saturday

Day 19: January 8, 2012-Sunday

Day 20: February 17, 2012-Friday

Day 21:February 18, 2012-Saturday

Day 22: February 19, 2012-Sunday

Day 23: February 20, 2012-Monday

 

[jc040404]

Am I first???? So excited about your new TR!!

Title is adorable!

 

[eecteacher82]

Am I first???? So excited about your new TR!!

Title is adorable!

You are indeed first! I wish I could say I had some great prize to offer, but I have nothing! I'm glad you like the title....I had a heck of a time thinking of one, and I'm still not even sure I like this one!

I should have a "real" post up tomorrow!

 

[sahm2two]

looking forward to reading all your adventures this year

 

[Tinkermom76]

I'm here too!!!!!

 

[pinkxray]

I just found your last trip report and spent a bit of time this morning reading through it. Olivia is so adorable

I'm in from the start on this one.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like the title..it seems that mine didn't make it haha. I guess I better start thinking of one for myself assuming I move down that way and will be going as often as you guys!!

 

[blessedby3]

I'm in for this one too! I sure wish I could have a year long trip report
I just live too far away to go all year long

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm here!!!!

 

[Corrine 1973]

I have been reading TR's to get ready for my upcoming trip and ran across yours. I can't wait to read more.

Your DD is so adorable, a true princess

He have a small thing in common. My youngest son was also a miracle baby. He was born at just over 26 weeks and weight a little over 2 lbs.

 

[eecteacher82]

looking forward to reading all your adventures this year

Glad you made it! I'm really excited to have a year long TR! We have already spent 7 days at WDW since the beginning of March, and we have another couple planned in the next month...guess I better get to work on this!

I'm here too!!!!!

Yeah! So happy to see you here!

I just found your last trip report and spent a bit of time this morning reading through it. Olivia is so adorable

I'm in from the start on this one.

Glad to have you! Hopefully you enjoyed the last TR and will like this one as well!

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like the title..it seems that mine didn't make it haha. I guess I better start thinking of one for myself assuming I move down that way and will be going as often as you guys!!

I knew you would be here! Let me tell you, your title still isn't out! I'm not sure if I like this one enough to see it for a whole year, so I might change it! I'm so excited that you will be down here! You will definitely have to come down here so we can go to the Oyster Bar!

I'm in for this one too! I sure wish I could have a year long trip report
I just live too far away to go all year long

Honestly, WDW is the ONLY good thing about living in Florida as far as I'm concerned!

I'm here!!!!

Yeah Kristine! I figured you would make it over as well (well, I was hoping)!

 

[exwdwcm]

I'm here Erin! Can't wait!

 

[arubio0801]

I'm in too!!!

 

[eecteacher82]

I have been reading TR's to get ready for my upcoming trip and ran across yours. I can't wait to read more.

Your DD is so adorable, a true princess

He have a small thing in common. My youngest son was also a miracle baby. He was born at just over 26 weeks and weight a little over 2 lbs.

How exciting that you have a trip coming up! We have never done a SWW, and I think I will probably wait until Olivia is older (and have more time to prepare for the chaos) before we try one!

Thank you, we think Olivia is pretty cute too (but all parents think their kids are cute right?).

Wow, 26 weeks! I can't even imagine that! How long did he have to spend in the NICU? Isn't it amazing how resilient the little, tiny babies are?

I'm here Erin! Can't wait!

Hi Michelle! Glad to see you here! I was trying to get an update done today, but my SIL popped over, so I was distracted. I'm REALLY going to try not to let so long go between updates like I did on my Dec TR!

I'm in too!!!

I'm glad to see so many familiar faces from my last TR over here!

 

[Corrine 1973]

How exciting that you have a trip coming up! We have never done a SWW, and I think I will probably wait until Olivia is older (and have more time to prepare for the chaos) before we try one!

Thank you, we think Olivia is pretty cute too (but all parents think their kids are cute right?).

Wow, 26 weeks! I can't even imagine that! How long did he have to spend in the NICU? Isn't it amazing how resilient the little, tiny babies are?

He was in the hospital for exactly 14 weeks but actually had a pretty uneventful time while he was there. Most of that time was spent growing, learning be out of the incubator, and learning to eat. He had the most problem with the learning to eat part and came home with a NG tube that I needed to learn how to place.

It is amazing how resilient these tiny babies are. They go through so much just trying to get through the first weeks of life that alot of us grown ups take for granted. It has definatly given me a diffrent look on life.

I didn't know about SWW when I first booked the trip so hopefully it will not be to crazy. My DS is going to be nine (just me and him this trip) so I think we will be OK. Taking all the kids (DS9, DD5, DS3, and DS1 (preemie)) would have driven me absolutly crazy in the SWW madness.

 

[eecteacher82]

Day #1 February 27, 2011

Yeah, finally! We are heading back to WDW after almost 3 moths!!!! Let me tell you, it was 3 months of torture!

Wait, let me back up a bit. How did this whole year start? I knew that we wanted to get passes again, since we had such a great year with them in 2010, but I also knew that we wouldn't be going back to WDW until at least mid February of 2011, so I decided that, even though it would be a bit cheaper, I didn't want to renew our passes (that expired on 12/28/2010) and essentially lose those two months of time, so we decided just start fresh. Also, Olivia would be getting her very first pass this year! So, I bought our new passes online the night before we left for our trip. The total for the 3 of us to get Florida resident seasonal passes was $800.48. I printed the voucher and tucked it away so we could trade it in for our actual passes when we arrived.

This trip:
We decided to take a little spring getaway and try a new hotel! After lots of drama (the full story is in my Dec TR), we were booked for one night (2/27) at the Radisson-Celebration with an awesome rate I got on Priceline ($38 for the night), and the next 3 nights were at Port Orleans Riverside!!! I used the PIN code I got, so the rate for that was $113 a night.

Ok, I think that catches you up!

Sunday February 27, 2011
This was actually a work day for me (I work in the church nursery on Sunday morning and nights, and Wednesday nights), so I woke up around 7:30, got ready and headed to church. I finished up around 12:45 and headed home to feed Olivia lunch and finish up the last minute packing while Toby was out with a buddy of his.

By 5:15 we were finally on the road! Other than an accident about a mile from home that slowed us up, we made pretty good time and arrived at the Radisson to check in at 6:50. After the quick process, we headed up to the room to drop of our overnight bag and meds that had to be kept cold before heading back out to Downtown Disney!

**I'll warn you now....I don't have a single picture from this night, so I will just get it all over with in one post**

When we arrived at DTD, it. was. packed! It took a good 15 minutes to find a parking spot, and that ended up being all the way over by Planet Hollywood! Our goal at DTD was simple-trade our vouchers in for our new passes! Sounds easy right? I wish! After making our way all the way over to Guest Relations and waiting in the l o n g line, we get to the counter, only to realize that Toby left his wallet (with ID) in the car! We had to walk all. the. way. back. Ughh. After the trek to the car and back, I was just hoping for a shorter wait this time! I was in luck, there was only 1 person in front of us! After a few minutes we had our new seasonal passes in hand! Olivia is Goofy this year, Toby is Donald, and I am Pluto.

The original plan was to grab dinner at DTD, but with the massive crowds and the fact that it was already about 9:00, we decided to just hit up a drive thru on the way back to the hotel since we were planning on getting up early anyway, it was probably better to head back. So, we ended up at McDonald's and we all ended up getting nuggets.

After eating and getting ready for bed it was about 9:45, so I put Olivia down. *Funny story here. Neither one of us like sharing a bed with Octopus Olivia, so we just pushed the queen beds together and made one giant bed and stuck Livy in the middle!* At 11:30 Olivia was still wide awake. Her allergies had really been acting up, so she had been doing a lot of coughing, and at 12:30 after all of us finally falling asleep, Livy's coughing got best her and she got sick. After about an hour of the coughing/getting sick cycle, I finally calmed her down and we were asleep for the night just after 1:30.

Up next: Our first "real" day of 2011!

 

[eecteacher82]

He was in the hospital for exactly 14 weeks but actually had a pretty uneventful time while he was there. Most of that time was spent growing, learning be out of the incubator, and learning to eat. He had the most problem with the learning to eat part and came home with a NG tube that I needed to learn how to place.

It is amazing how resilient these tiny babies are. They go through so much just trying to get through the first weeks of life that alot of us grown ups take for granted. It has definatly given me a diffrent look on life.

I didn't know about SWW when I first booked the trip so hopefully it will not be to crazy. My DS is going to be nine (just me and him this trip) so I think we will be OK. Taking all the kids (DS9, DD5, DS3, and DS1 (preemie)) would have driven me absolutly crazy in the SWW madness.

Olivia only spent 3.5 weeks in the NICU, but let me tell you, it was tough! She was in a hospital a little over an hour away from home, and we went to see her everyday, so we were so glad when we could finally bring her home! Livy had a hard time learning to eat as well. She had some intestinal issues at the very beginning, so she wasn't even allowed to eat until she was about 12 days old. After a few days she finally got it and they were able to take out the NG tube (so glad I never had to do that)!

I bet you and your DS will have an awesome time! He is as such a fun age for SWW!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Wow! That is a crazy first night!!!!!!

DTD can be NUTS on Fri, Sat, and Sun. When I lived there, I NEVER went to DTD on those days unless it was something I needed badly and I would always go early in the morning!! I don't blame you on McD's haha. Was it the one across from DTD?? You can count that as a "disney McDs" hehe.

 

[disneymegs]

I'm new to your report! DTD is insane at night. I'm a FGIT at the DTD BBB and when I'm there til 10 some nights, the World of Disney store is mobbed!