Double the Redheads and you double the fun...a short March PTR. *UPDATE 2/21*

[KTgE]

So, welcome to my first report of any kind. I've been a lurker for quite sometime and decided to start posting. Hopefully, I've figured out how to do this...if not stay with me and I'll try. Ha. Our dates are March 2-10 and we are beyond excited and ready to go! I've been planning for months and I think we've gotten everything the way we want it.

Anyways, my husband and I have been married almost six years and we have two kids. Our last trip was in late March last year when I was 30/31 weeks pregnant. We are looking forward to heading back for a week long adventure with two kids in tow and my husband's family and my older sister is joining us for the ride. It should be quite the adventure!

My husband is in sales, is a huge sports buff, and a wonderful father/husband. This photo is quite fitting since he's named Andy and I snapped it on our last trip...

My name is Katie and I'm a stay at home mom now. I use to be a teacher but have traded the classroom for two kids, a large dog, and various remodeling projects on our 1945 house. We love working on our house and have loved living in an old home.

And our two kids are both redheads...if you hadn't gathered that from the title. Honestly, when I was pregnant this last go around we really didn't think we'd wind up with a second redhead but sure enough she was and is! It's just like her brother's and we get asked about it everywhere we go. We LOVE it.

Our son is ALL about Disney. He just turned three and he's turning in to quite the seasoned pro. He can tell you his favorite rides and his favorite things to do. He loves it all characters, rides, fireworks, atmosphere, etc. And he has quite the eye for hidden Mickeys. This will be his third trip to Disney World...he's also spent one day at Disneyland. We joke that we've created a (good) monster!

This will be our daughter's very first trip (outside the womb!) She'll turn 9 months old while are there. She loves anything her brother loves and is a very easy going baby. We hope she loves it as much as her big brother does.

For this trip we'll be staying off-site with my MIL's timeshare with Marriott. Along for the ride will be Andy's mom, both of his sisters...one is married, our two nieces that are the same ages as our kids, and my older sister who had a season pass this year and wanted to squeeze in one last trip. Seven adults and four kids 3 and under. Again, it should be quite the adventure. I have lots of details to post about...like most people on the DIS I'm quite the planner! Stay tuned...

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

The title of your PTR got me. I'm a redhead . My mom has brown hair and my dad is blonde Looking forward to reading!

 

[KTgE]

The title of your PTR got me. I'm a redhead . My mom has brown hair and my dad is blonde Looking forward to reading!

Ha...do you get asked about where it comes from? In the winter my husband has a beard and his beard is reddish. My dad's hair color was the same as our kids till he was in college. So, when my husband doesn't have the beard or I'm out with them by myself I get asked all the time where it comes from. Never a dull moment.

And thanks for joining in on the fun...

 

[KTgE]

Growing up we both were able to experience Disney with our families. Andy went twice and I went three times. (Once was for my cousin's MAW Trip during the 25th Anniversary.) We married in the spring of 2006 and thought one day we'd do Disney but it really wasn't on our radar.

In the spring of 2010 we went to southern Cali for a week with Andy's family and the family timeshare. We decided to spend a day at DL...did as much as we could but didn't see everything We went and ahead an amazing time. AG was 13 almost 14 months and he absolutely LOVED it. This little snapshot is proof:

Well, afterwards we thought we should investigate a trip to WDW.

That summer Andy's sister called to say they had a week of their timeshare and they booked a trip to Disney...for the week after Thanksgiving...would we like to go?! Yes, please! So, that summer we began to plan like crazy! We both became pregnant with our second children and then went off to the World for a week. Since we were there so long and live in GA we opted for Annuals. We bought a Tables in Wonderland card as well. Despite our immediate family getting sick we had a great trip. We planned a long weekend for the spring at POP! as a last hurrah before we became a family of four. For that trip my older sister tagged along and we had a great time. AG was in heaven and he was so excited to be back at Disney World.

In the summer our daughter joined us and we began planning a return trip for the fall. In the middle of all of that Andy's mom announced we had a week of the family timeshare we needed to use and we all decided we wanted to go back to Disney for March 2012. So, we began working on that trip while juggling the fall trip. Well, right before we left in October we all got sick and I was not up for trying to juggle a newborn and being sick again at WDW. So, we canceled at the last minute. I was bummed but it was the right choice.

And that leads us to now...our next trip is two weeks away and we are so ready. AG asks daily if it's time to go to Disneys. (Yes, he likes to add the 's' at the end! )

For this trip we are offsite, again. We'll actually be returning to the same place we stayed in our December '10 week long trip, Marriott's Grande Vista. This time we'll have a 3-bedroom villa that sleeps 12. It should have plenty of room for 7 adults and 4 small kids to move about. And while it's not onsite it's not far. We were less than 10 minutes from the resort to the different parking lots at WDW. Even if we were on-site we'd still drive...I think it's easier with our small kids than having to navigate the bus system. Since we have an AP we don't have to shell out the cash for parking...if we didn't have free parking we probably wouldn't drive onsite.

More to come...lots and lots of ADRs and park itineraries to share.

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

Ha...do you get asked about where it comes from? In the winter my husband has a beard and his beard is reddish. My dad's hair color was the same as our kids till he was in college. So, when my husband doesn't have the beard or I'm out with them by myself I get asked all the time where it comes from. Never a dull moment.

And thanks for joining in on the fun...

I probably got it more when I was younger, not so much anymore. What IS funny is that although my dad has blonde hair, his beard is quite reddish too!

 

[KTgE]

Goodness me. So, I started posting and then came down with a sinus infection and our youngest is sick with her first ear infections plus nasty congestion. Needless to say, I've had my hands full for a few days. Whew...I think we are on the mend! Hallelujah because I do not want to Disney sick, again.

So, like any organized Disney planner I've had ADRs booked since the fall and have since been tweaking them whenever needed or our plans changed slightly. For example, today I was able to move up our Crystal Palace ressie our first morning by 20 minutes. Which works better for how I have the day mapped out in my mind. Our style is breakfast on the go (unless we have an ADR), one quick service meal, and one table service meal. And sometimes the quick service meal gets dropped depending on how the day is structured.

Here we go...

FRIDAY, March 2nd
--At this point I have nothing scheduled since this is arrival day and I'm not sure, yet, when we'll arrive. Still finalizing things on this...I'll explain more in detail later this week.

SATURDAY, March 3rd
--Early morning ressie at Crystal Palace to kick off our vacation. I'm looking forward to being there before the park opens and hopefully, getting some good pictures of the kids. This reservation will just be us and the kids along with my sister...the rest of the party, minus one, will arrive later today.

--AG has a hair cut later in the morning at Harmony Barber Shop.

--Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe...we'll hop over from our day at MK and we'll meet up with the rest of our group who will have just arrived. This is a first for everyone in the group and I'm super excited to see the Wilderness Lodge. (I really want to stay here at some point!)

SUNDAY, March 4th
--Dinner at Via Napoli...a first for the whole group.

MONDAY, March 5th
--AG is suppose to be a pirate for the day and has an early morning appointment right when the park opens at the Pirates League. We'll see if he goes with it...he loves watching the planning DVD and sometimes he talks about becoming a pirate and sometimes he says that it looks scary. Ha. I read somewhere that maybe we should take him by a day or two before so he can scope it out...I'm hoping to remember to do this on Saturday.

--Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern...half of us have eaten here and are looking forward to returning. The other half are looking forward to eating here. We love spending time in Colonial Williamsburg, my MIL's homebase for one of her timeshares in Williamsburg, and so we have a soft spot for the LTT. I know that the rest of the party will love it too.

TUESDAY, March 6th
--FANTASMIC! Package. At the moment I have two different packages...I need to take a poll with the group and cancel one. We have Hollywood and Vine for one and Mama Melroses for the other. If anyone has an opinion...please share. I'd love some advice. The only TS place we've done is 50's. The only thing that is swaying me is that Hollywood and Vine is at 3:40 while Mama's is at 1:20. Mama's seems like a better fit with us having four small children.

WEDNESDAY, March 7th
--This day we are splitting up...my MIL really wants to be in EPCOT since it is the start of the Festival. So, half the group wanted to eat at Akershus and the other half decided on the Rose and Crown. We'll be at the Rose and Crown. Two reasons for this...1, Andy really wants us to save Princess meals till Avi-Kate is older so she has some memory of them. Which I'm fine with...they aren't cheap...if we are going to spend the dough let's do it when she's ready. 2, we ate here on our Christmas trip in '10 and loved it...Andy is a huge English Premier League fan and so he really wanted to eat here again.

--Four of us, the ones with children, are scheduled to have dinner at Le Cellier for the evening! So, we are handing the kids off to extended family to have an enjoyable kid free meal. I'm not sure if the kids will stay in the park or if they'll head back. I'm sure this won't be decided till we are on the trip. I kind of would like to head back to the Villa late in the afternoon so we can change for dinner...go all out! It's not every day you get to eat a nice meal kid free. So, we'll see. Either way it'll be a nice treat and I'm very much looking forward to it.

THURSDAY, March 8th
--No ADRs for this day for the whole group...people will probably split and hop from park to park. I know my MIL will head to EPCOT...we'll probably take the kids back to MK just because AG loves it so. Not sure what everyone else will do.

--I do have a ressie for 2 at Le Cellier for anyone else in the group that wants to eat there. If not, I'll cancel it mid-week.

FRIDAY, March 9th
--Chef Mickey's for Breakfast! I thought this would be a fun meal for our last full day. AG LOVES the FAB 5 (and Daisy!) so I know he'll love this breakfast. I haven't eaten here since I was a little girl...so I'm looking forward to going back. Afterwards, we'll split up for our last day to do our favorites.

--Lunch probably won't happen this day if it does we'll grab something at ESPN. The Braves play the Mets at 1:05. We plan to take AG to the game because next to Mickey and all things Disney he is a sports fanatic. He loves all sports but his favorite teams are the Braves and the DAWGS. He's looking forward to seeing his favorite players...Chipper, McCann, and Uggla.

--Our last meal is at O'hana! We are all excited about this reservation. I scheduled it early enough that we'll be able to sneak back to the parks for WISHES or Illuminations if we want. Or we may be so wiped from the week that we drag ourselves back to the Villa to pack up and go to bed. We'll see.

I'm quite pleased with what we have lined up. It's going to be a great week with lots of good food. Next up...our basic park plans...