My 1st ever PTR - Mickey here we come! Let the crafting begin!

[uscgmouse]

Hi... My name is Ashley and I am a closet Disney Freak!!!! So it only seemed natural that when my husband asked me where we should go on our family vacation I said.... ugh duh! DISNEY WORLD!!!

So 5 months ago I started planning our 1st family Disney Trip. As of today our count down is 3 months and 2 weeks until we arrive at the front gates!

- I recently found out that there is the possibility that we may not be able to go on our trip. Shawn is active duty and the only IT for the United States Coast Guard in the state of RI. He supports over 400 users. Anyways one of his units wants to move offices the week we have planned to leave for FL. So until they set thier move dates our trip is still up in the air. His supervisors won't approve his leave until this is done - So I keep a smile on my face and keep planning - 8/13/12 Just found out Shawns leave was APPROVED!!! We are going to Disney!

So without further ado..... here is the players in what will probably end up being a twisted game of make fun of mom while she plans a great trip and then annoy her the whole trip about how big of a dork she is.


Players:

My husband Shawn. He is being a good sport and going along with my craziness just to please me. However I think he loves Disney just as much as I do!

Peyton - The Birthday boy

Me - Ashley

 

[uscgmouse]

When we first started planning for this trip I made myself a trip planner:

I took a 3 ring binder and divided it into 5 sections:
planning - this has park hours, to do lists and a packing guide
budget - I made a budget sheet for the trip and also have my budget sheets for each month leading up to the trip
reservations - flight info, hotel info & ADR's
Parks: I made some sheets up with dining options for counter service and for a daily outline. I also have a sheet/map of where all the pressed coins are in WDW
Memories: I found some printable sheets for each day that has an area to write in the day, weather, where we ate, and special notes.

Anyone is more than welcome to use any of the sheets I have made:
http://photobucket.com/uscgmouse

 

[uscgmouse]

As of now...I am planning the trip as we are still going on it. I have a TON left to do.

Right off the bat I booked a week at Silver Lake Resort. We get an incredible deal through the armed forces vacation club. I booked a 2 bedroom condo. It comes with full kitchen, washer/dryer the works. It is only 1/2 mile from Animal Kingdom so I am happy. We check in on the 24th so it will give us a couple days to enjoy the other attractions around Orlando before heading to WDW on the 26th.

I was also able to get our plane tickets the day Southwest opened up the calendar. I snagged non stop flights. Since I am cheap and didn't want to pay for a childs ticket. We fly back the day before Peyton's 2nd birthday. hehe

Next up... ADR's this part was really hard!

 

[mommyof3princess27]

YAY! Glad you are going!!!!!!

 

[uscgmouse]

So now that I know we are going to WDW I am so excited! I just can't help myself.

We are not staying on property but we will be close. We are staying at Silver Lake Resort and they are super nice and much much cheaper than staying on property. We get 7 nights in a 2 bedroom condo for $389!!!! We get this deal through armed forces vacation club. Since this deal is available to us there is no way we could justify spending over $1000 to stay on property.

Now that I had where we would sleep I had to figure out where we would eat. Since we don't have the dining plan we will only be doing a few character meals. Let me tell you just to get the couple of ADR's I did get it is a chore. I woke up early every morning to make my 1 ADR!!! My husband thought I was nuts but it is all part of the deal.

Sunday dinner @ TREX DTD
Monday breakfast at Chef Mickeys
Tuesday dinner @ Biergarten
Wednesday dinner @ Whispering Canyon Cafe
Thursday dinner @ Boma
I thought since we will be on the schedule of my 23 month old son it would just be too much to have more than 1 ADR a day.

I still need to find some good CS places to eat throughout the day.... any suggestions?

 

[lbuzz52]

So now that I know we are going to WDW I am so excited! I just can't help myself.

We are not staying on property but we will be close. We are staying at Silver Lake Resort and they are super nice and much much cheaper than staying on property. We get 7 nights in a 2 bedroom condo for $389!!!! We get this deal through armed forces vacation club. Since this deal is available to us there is no way we could justify spending over $1000 to stay on property.

Now that I had where we would sleep I had to figure out where we would eat. Since we don't have the dining plan we will only be doing a few character meals. Let me tell you just to get the couple of ADR's I did get it is a chore. I woke up early every morning to make my 1 ADR!!! My husband thought I was nuts but it is all part of the deal.

Sunday dinner @ TREX DTD
Monday breakfast at Chef Mickeys
Tuesday dinner @ Biergarten
Wednesday dinner @ Whispering Canyon Cafe
Thursday dinner @ Boma
I thought since we will be on the schedule of my 23 month old son it would just be too much to have more than 1 ADR a day.

I still need to find some good CS places to eat throughout the day.... any suggestions?

congrats on the first trip and on the leave being approved!

at DTD- i like Earl of Sandwich!
at MK, i like quite a few of them... Pinocchio's Village House, Pecos Bills, Columbia Harbor House, Casey's
at DHS, nothing stands out to me. Pizza Planet should be fun
at AK, Yak and Yeti counter service has huge portions
at Epcot, we like to eat at different places, based on what we are craving, around the world showcase.

 

[uscgmouse]

In the last week I have changed ADR's a few times. I spent some much time before my 180 days I really thought I would be good until trip time. Boy was I wrong. I hate to second guess my decisions but reading the reviews and people experiences makes you do that....

So now 3 months out this is where we are at:

Trip outline:

Sunday - DTD to see Santa and shop! Dinner @ Trex or Wolfgang Puck Cafe

1st day at parks:
- Chef Mickeys for breakfast
- Magic Kingdom
- back to hotel for nap and rest time
- back to MK for 5pm 1st hair cut at Barber shop
- QS dinner at MK
- Stay for electrical parade and wishes

2nd day at parks
- breakfast at hotel
- meet grandma at Epcot
- back to hotel for nap/rest
- dinner @ Biergarten
- stay @ Epcot for illuminations

3rd day at parks
- breakfast at hotel
- MK for rope drop
- back to hotel for nap/rest
- dinner @ Sci-Fi drive in
- DHS for Osbourne Lights

Final day at parks
- breakfast at nearby buffet
- AK for rope drop
- lunch at Flame tree bbq
- back to hotel for nap/rest
- dinner @ Boma
- head to park of choice

- I am a little worried about only going to DHS for a few hours. There are only a few things we want to ride.
- Rock and roll rollercoaster
- Toy Story Mania
- Honey I shrunk the kids play area

Do you think we will have a chance to ride Toy Story Mania in the evening?

 

[uscgmouse]

Totally off subject but I wanted to share...

Since we are not coming home from Disney until the beginning of December I have to work on getting my Christmas presents together over the next few months.

A lot of the small things I give are homemade gifts. One of my new favortie things to make are coasters. Super easy and fun to make.
Here are 3 sets I am finishing up today.

 

[AuroraNJ]

Hey Ashley! Glad to hear you're plans are on track and you'll be going to Disney!

My fav counter service in MK is Casey's on Main St although it can be very congested at times & getting an actual seat there is difficult sometimes. I like Pecos Bill in Adventureland because they have a nice fixins bar there with sauteed mushrooms which I love lol Cosmic Rays in tommorowland has the standard burgers & hot dogs, chicken nuggets but also grilled chicken sandwiches & a roasted chicken meal & there's plenty of seating there. Just a suggestion....The Plaza restaurant on Main Street is a sit down meal which you would need to make an ADR for which may not be that difficult especially for a late lunch or something but their prices aren't that much higher than counter service & it would be a more relaxing experience for you plus the ice cream sundaes are great!

BTW...I love your coasters! How creative!

 

[uscgmouse]

I have been working on getting outfits made for ds for Disney. I finished two. This was my first try and hand applique. I am surprised at how good they turned out.

Today while out I grabbed a few Disney items to use on the trip. I found Cars snack bags, Toy Story paper lunch sacks and grabbed some glow sticks and some Phineas & Ferb tissues.

Oh!!! Best of all Peyton's backpack came today! I have been searching all over for a small backpack that he can wear in the airport and something that can hold all his toys and such.
I found this great bag on ebags. It is perfect size. It is called pack n snack. It has an waterproof front pocket for snacks. It is the perfect size and best of all it was only $19.

More to come this week!!!
I have t-shirts to make!

 

[starann]

joining in....

Cute stuff you are making!!!

So glad your DH's leave was approved!

 

[uscgmouse]

joining in....

Cute stuff you are making!!!

So glad your DH's leave was approved!

Welcome! I am a newbie at the pre trip reports.... LOL hopefully it isn't too boring!

 

[uscgmouse]

Happy Labor day everyone! We decided to stick around this weekend and do a whole lot of nothing. However that doesnt work for me.... hehe

While hanging out this weekend I busted out the iron and sewing machine and worked on finishing the outfits for our Disney trip.

I found a tutorial here to make a smock/bib. I figure this will be great for covering up all the nice outfits I have been working on during meals.

I also made an outfit for P to wear to Sea World

I also took a little time to iron on all the appliques I bought on Etsy to finish our matching outfits! I know I am one of them!

Animal Kingdom:

Donald Duck:

Mickey Mouse:

Tye Die Mickey shirts:

Epcot shirt for P:

Some sweet Disney finds...

I just have 1 more applique to iron on and I am DONE with clothing for the trip.

I know that some people think I am nuts for having matching outfits but I like to think of mine more of coordinating. I have no idea when the next time will be when we get back to WDW so I am going to go all out!

 

[uscgmouse]

Sometimes I think that it is silly to be writing a pre trip report but then I think.... how else am I gonna keep all my info straight when I am pulling guilt trips on my family later down the line.... "do you know how much work mom put into your 1st trip to Disney?"

We are about 10 weeks out and I am excited and nervous. So to make things worse I joined a team with the Great American Bake Sale and we are having out 1st bake sale this Saturday. So now my kitchen is covered in cupcakes and cake pops. I have 2 days to ice the cupcakes and dip the cake balls in chocolate and decorate.

So instead of getting busy with that I am lurking around the DIS.

I have a few things on my to-do list:

-Plan toys and activities for P on the plane ride. It is only 2.5 hours direct flight from Providence to Orlando so I won't need a ton. I am just worried that he is going to want to run up and down the isles of the airplane.
I am trying to get my hands on a digital copy of toy story to put on my phone so he might sit still for a while.

-I need to pull out the suitcases and dust them off. I am not sure how many we will take but since we are flying SW I believe we get 2 checked bags each. We will have a washer/dryer in our condo so that will hopefully keep me from over packing.

- Figure out what we are doing with our lab Sadie. I have a reservation for her to be boarded but I had a neighbor offer to watch her. I think she would rather be at home than in a dog run but I am worried about her getting enough attention.

- Pull my hair out and scream! I can do this I can do this!!!

 

[uscgmouse]

With help from this thread
I decided to make my own luggage tags for our suitcases. I have been trying to make some but just didn't seem to like any of the ones that I finished.
So today with a little time during P's nap I was able to crank these out. I was surprised to find the baseball card sleeves at my Walmart. They were hiding behind the register that sells cigerettes. They were only $2.50 for a pack of 35. All the other stuff I had at home. On the backside I printed our last name and phone number on return labels and stuck them on. They are so darn cute!

 

[uscgmouse]

I just spent a hour reposting all my pics. For some reason today I decided to organize my photobucket account and in doing so it made all of my links invalid. LOL Who knew!

We are around 66 days out from our departure and I feel like I am pretty ready. Last week I bought some Disney giftcards to use at meals and to use in the parks. I would like to get a few more before we leave.
I have all of our Disney clothes ready to be packed and just have to worry about what else to pack along with them.

I am sure there is something else I can do for the trip now but we went apple picking today and I think I am going to make apple crisp! Have a great night!

 

[megveg]

I'm in! I absolutely LOVEEE all your shirts! All of them are so cute!! Cant wait to hear moree !

 

[reyasmommy]

SCORE....... On your hotel stay!!! We've stayed off site our last few visits because it's SOOOOO much cheaper, plus more space. This year we're spending WAY more money then we should and staying on site. ((Resort hopping)) Sometimes my heart stops when I think about how much money we're spending, but I know the kids are going to have the time of their lives and I really wanted them to experience staying on Disney Property.

ALL of your clothes are SUPER cute. I wish I had one creative bone in my body, but I don't.

 

[starann]

Meant to respond the other day (so you knew you weren't talking to yourself!). Your projects are great!!!!! Maybe if I spent less time on the DIS I'd spend more time cleaning and getting my sewing room ready!!! LOL!

 

[uscgmouse]

Thanks!! I have been a little off this last week. I have been wanting to make a few more sippy straps for our trip. However I lost one of the tiny tiny plastic pieces to my snap plyers and now they won't work! Ugh

We did however leave the house this weekend.... big deal for us! The weather was beautiful so we went out and picked some apples. They are very yummy. They always seem to taste so much better when you pick them rather than buying them from the store. Must be the extra work of picking them.