Jan '12 It's Cold, Let's Go to Disney!!(NEW 3/27 EP, DHS, AK & Pouts)

[Marshay]

YAY...You started!!!

Glad train ride was still fine with snowbirds

That other lounge looks cool

That cardboard train looked so real

I know...finally! I'm still waiting for my PP CD but figured I could start our traveling days awhile.

It was really weird not having any friends for the girls to play with. It turns out there were some kids on board but they must have been in coach b/c we never saw them in our dining or sleeping cars.

Yeah, the cardboard train turned out really good. I'm planning to use that as a background page for my photo book.

love the Gymboree!

Me, too! I had bought the girls that line when it came out, what 2 years ago now? But only gave it to them as Christmas presents this past Xmas, b/c I wanted them to keep things clean for our Disney trip.

I was glad when the sizes I guessed on fit them, since I was planning 2 years in advance. But generally I've been able to double the age to get their size.

 

[dara00]

Me, too! I had bought the girls that line when it came out, what 2 years ago now? But only gave it to them as Christmas presents this past Xmas, b/c I wanted them to keep things clean for our Disney trip.

I was glad when the sizes I guessed on fit them, since I was planning 2 years in advance. But generally I've been able to double the age to get their size.

I think that line came out fall of 2010, so wow on your planning ahead! double the age to get the size - so your 3 yr old wears a 6?? My almost 7 yr old wears an 8 in gymbo tops and dresses and a 7 in bottoms, and my 4 yr old wears mostly 4s, sometimes 3s. But we've already established that he's a shorty!

 

[Marshay]

I think that line came out fall of 2010, so wow on your planning ahead! double the age to get the size - so your 3 yr old wears a 6?? My almost 7 yr old wears an 8 in gymbo tops and dresses and a 7 in bottoms, and my 4 yr old wears mostly 4s, sometimes 3s. But we've already established that he's a shorty!

Yeah, Rachel is wearing 10s (soon to be too small) and 12s. I'm really sad b/c this will be her last year to wear Gymboree clothes. I really like how I can match up the colors w/o having them wear the EXACT same thing. I know it sounds crazy but I'm going to miss shopping there for both of them.

Elizabeth is wearing 5s right now and I just roll the sleeves a bit. I'll switch her over to 6s in the spring/summer. Now they also live in leggins...if I got actual pants or jeans, then I would have to downsize. But we find leggins the easiest to wear.

 

[dara00]

I understand! I have other obsessions aside from Disney and one of them is Gymboree! I actually match my 2 boys and sometimes try to match my girl's colors with theirs too - holiday lines work great for that! Too bad your bigger girl is almost out of Gymboree - I think I'd cry!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh the fun! When I was a little girl we lived in a town that was at that time a retirement town. Those old people can be mean. So speaks the voice of experience.


Poor Elie.

 

[Circusgirl]

It is super fun that your girls will have the memories of riding the train overnight! I have great memories of going across the country with my mom. My only regret was that I never got to sleep in the top bunk in the little compartment.

 

[Marshay]

I understand! I have other obsessions aside from Disney and one of them is Gymboree! I actually match my 2 boys and sometimes try to match my girl's colors with theirs too - holiday lines work great for that! Too bad your bigger girl is almost out of Gymboree - I think I'd cry!

If I had boy/girl, I'd try to match them too!!

Oh the fun! When I was a little girl we lived in a town that was at that time a retirement town. Those old people can be mean. So speaks the voice of experience.

Poor Elie.

yeah, I'm sure I'll think the same when I am a grandmother-type, too. It was just sooooo weird to be outnumbered like that!

It is super fun that your girls will have the memories of riding the train overnight! I have great memories of going across the country with my mom. My only regret was that I never got to sleep in the top bunk in the little compartment.

Good point! Instead of memories of being stuck in a car and everyone yelling and complaining, we are building fun memories of relaxing on the train.

Ahh, no top bunk? Rachel loves her spot up there...although Elie is going to be vying for that spot soon, too!

 

[Marshay]

Here are a few photos of our room on the train.

Elizabeth's lower bunk bed

Rachel sleeping peacefully on the upper bunk bed

Elie loves climbing up the ladder:

The train was going to be late (again!) in Sanford so after breakfast, we went back to the room and the girls watched a Disney movie on our DVD player and Jerry and I took a little nap. Then we were in Sanford and just had to wait for our SUV.

The girls played on the playground (and we found about 6 other kids there, too, but they must have been in coach or arrived late for the sleeping cars b/c we never saw them until the playground).

Our SUV was #165 out of 207 cars so we did have a bit to wait. After getting our car we stopped a McDonald's for food along the way and a quick stop at Walmart for some perishables.

Then we saw this sign! Yay!!

And we also saw this sign! The skywriter was back....personally, I love this and it helps remind me to thank our Lord for the privilege of being back at Disney.

We checked into OKW.

Now I was not sure about this resort ... but we chose this b/c we hadn't been here before and it was less points than the other resorts.

Although our room was not ready it was on the first floor, Room 1414 right across from the HH --- woo hoo!! ANd it even had a water view. We were thrilled and couldn't wait to see it.

We decided to walk around the resort a bit until our room was ready.

The boat dock area to DTD.

The pool slide

Dolphin decorations

The pool activities had started so we all joined a hula hoop contest...none of us won but we each got a free water squirt toy and it was fun being in the sun.

Even Jerry gave it a try.

We still hadn't gotten the text that our room was ready so we got into our SUV and drove around OKW to the quiet pool which also had a neat playground for the girls.

Finally our room was ready at 4:15pm.

 

[Marshay]

So before we get to the room, I have to tell you about our AP experience. I knew we wanted to get AP for this January trip and for January 2013. I had timed our vacations so they would overlap completely and by the last day...meaning I purchase on 1/21/12 and it expires on 1/21/13.

I had asked on several boards (DIS and Liners) about exactly when an AP expires and was told the above is correct.

Ok, fast forward to the check-in desk and I ask the CM just to be sure about the dates and he tells me, no. If I purchase on 1/21 it will expire on 1/20, so I had to wait until 1/22. Well that wouldn't work for us since I had plans (including a CCG ADR for 1/21 in DHS). Now today was 1/20 but I had planned to purchase tomorrow before going into the park.

So a 2nd CM comes over and says the same thing. I'm trying to tell them that I think they are wrong (in the nicest manner). So they bring over a manager, Stephanie, and she says -- have them get their tickets today and then give them a complimentary pass for 1 day, parkhopper so they can get into the parks on 1/21/13.

Sounds good.

They give me the free tickets and then I buy the AP.

And guess what the expiration date is: 1/20/13 (not 1/19 like they said it would be) so the AP covers me for 1/20/13 and the free ticket covers me for 1/21/13.

Now if I had just waited until 1/21 to buy the tickets, everything would have turned out exactly like I expected and WDW wouldn't have needed to give me the free tickets. But since the CM didn't understand when an AP expires, I got an extra day in the parks...well, evening actually. We hadn't planned to go to the parks tonight 1/20 but now we could!

So Arnold and Joann (CM) said that they learned something new today and would suggest getting the training manual updated/rewritten to say that an AP expires on the same day, one year in advance.

I felt very proud that I not only knew more than the CM but that I was able to help them learn something too.

Go Dis!!

 

[Marshay]

I had gotten restaurant.com gift certificates $25 worth of food for only $2 and decided to give Garden Grove over at the Swan a try since friends of ours went and loved it.

There is a big tree in the middle of the restaurant, lit up.

It was delicious. We were one of only 4 tables occupied at 5:15pm on a Friday night. The characters kept coming around and around ...so much so that we had to tell the girls they had to eat their food and stop getting up all the time!

At first Elizabeth was shy of the characters but by the 2nd time they came around she was going to them and by the 3rd time she was hugging them and the 4th-7th times they were dancing, waving, hugging, kissing, etc.

Friday night was Seafood Night and it was good. Reminded me of Cape May Cafe but perhaps not as many options. However, they did serve a bucket of fried shrimp, clams and hushpuppies ... and each adult got:

Here are some samplings of our meal. Snow crab clusters, mussels, shrimp -- yum!! Also, the desserts were much better than Disney's IMHO.

Smiles and laughs were plentiful at this meal.

After dinner I decided that we should go to Epcot since we were so close and had the bonus day from the AP dilemma earlier. I also bought the TIW card to get 20% Table-service restaurants for this trip and our next one(s).

We went to UK and ran around the maze for 15 minutes or so. The girls loved it. The band started playing Elton John's pinball wizard and folks were singing/dancing. We got a photopass picture in France and then took the Friendship #4 boat back to the Swan/Dolphin and then drove home to OKW to unpack.

Our initial thoughts on OKW were the rooms are H_U_G_E!!! We had a great location, right across from HH and with a water/canal view and also could watch the golfers swing on the other side of the canal.

It was very relaxing (pics in another post) and I felt blessed! I said I will try not to rush us again this trip. Last trip (May 2011) I went for 5 days before going commando...maybe I could make it the whole week this time!

 

[dara00]

what a good idea to use restaurant.com gift certificates!

 

[Marshay]

what a good idea to use restaurant.com gift certificates!

Yep! I think almost all the S&D restaurants are on restaurant.com. On a previous trip we did the same for Todd English's BlueZoo.

Saves a bit of money!

 

[kaoden39]

Elizabeth is losing her toddler face. She is getting be such a big girl.



I think that they definitely need to work with the CMs on things like this. But on the other hand you were blessed with these tickets saving you from having to buy the others.


I love the sky written message too. It is never a bad thing to be reminded to count your blessings.

 

[Marshay]

Elizabeth is losing her toddler face. She is getting be such a big girl.

I think that they definitely need to work with the CMs on things like this. But on the other hand you were blessed with these tickets saving you from having to buy the others.

I love the sky written message too. It is never a bad thing to be reminded to count your blessings.

yeah, Elie will be 3 next month -- no more baby at our house...soon not even a toddler!

Yeah, I was surprised...when even the manager had it wrong, I really started to doubt myself...but I know that many times dissers know more than the CM!

 

[kaoden39]

yeah, Elie will be 3 next month -- no more baby at our house...soon not even a toddler!

Yeah, I was surprised...when even the manager had it wrong, I really started to doubt myself...but I know that many times dissers know more than the CM!

I often think that Disser would make good CMs. But, I will tell you that we bought our APs on February 15, 2012 and they expire on February 14, 2013.

 

[Marshay]

I often think that Disser would make good CMs. But, I will tell you that we bought our APs on February 15, 2012 and they expire on February 14, 2013.

Oh, now isn't that interesting! So DL is short-changing guests by one day! I'm actually quite surprised by this...would think Disney would want to be consistent, either way.

Others have commented that we actually do get an extra day this year -- Leap Day, too.

 

[Trentmom]

YAY, you are on a roll

Ele is getting so big and Rachel looks so grown up..time really does fly

OKW looks really nice


Can't wait to see the room pics

I am glad you got the AP figured out and you helped teach them something

 

[kaoden39]

Oh, now isn't that interesting! So DL is short-changing guests by one day! I'm actually quite surprised by this...would think Disney would want to be consistent, either way.

Others have commented that we actually do get an extra day this year -- Leap Day, too.

Maybe this is a change they made because of Leap Year too. I know the one I got in 2010 expired a year after I got it. Who knows.

 

[Marshay]

YAY, you are on a roll

Ele is getting so big and Rachel looks so grown up..time really does fly

OKW looks really nice

Can't wait to see the room pics

I am glad you got the AP figured out and you helped teach them something

Yeah, I got to do this TR quickly so I can start my Mommy & Me TR soon!

OKW was really nice. I was surprised how relaxed we were.

Maybe this is a change they made because of Leap Year too. I know the one I got in 2010 expired a year after I got it. Who knows.

Strange...maybe they forgot to re-calculate their computer codes for Leap Day...and still just had 365 days.

 

[pld5]

I'm still trying to find the time to start mine, too! I've been trying to finish my photopass book, but the site seems so slow! And we had birthday festivities here for my DS who is now 6!

BTW, I loved this quote from your train ride.

We ate the usual snacks -- crackers, cheese, veggies, fruit ... and I had a glass or eight of wine

So wonderful to meet you, and hopefully soon, you will have my TR to read, too.