STLMickeyMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
hello! thanks for stopping by my trip report
first trip do-over, the TR: or.....sorry, i got stuck in a tour group!
i'm glad you're here! if you'd like to read about all the pre-trip planning and why we needed a do over (like anybody needs a reason to go to disney, right?
), here's a link to my PTR, first trip do-over.
i'm glad you're here! if you'd like to read about all the pre-trip planning and why we needed a do over (like anybody needs a reason to go to disney, right?
), here's a link to my PTR, first trip do-over.we just got back from our trip--which was january 5-11, 2014. on this trip, was myself, my DH and our two daughters.
this is my DH, Rich.
we've been to disney 3 times together, this being our 4th trip. we've been together for over 13 years, married for 9. he even proposed at disney!
our oldest, hannah, is 6. this was her second trip. she is in kindergarten and loves it--she's such a smartie! she is my little ray of sunshine and a happy, friendly, sweet girl.
our youngest is madison. she just turned 4 at the end of december. this was her second trip also. maddie goes to preschool half days, mostly because i'm not ready for her to go full time yet. she is silly and sweet, a little shy at first, and my cuddly baby girl.
and me, Lori (that's me in the picture with Hannah). i was so excited to plan this do over trip. our first trip with the girls was very crowded and less fun then we had hoped and this trip was a perfect do over for us!
some warnings before i start......
i was a very bad DISer and did not take very many food pictures. usually we were just too hungry and i would forget until we were halfway through our meal. also, it's hard to get a picture with two kids (and a husband
) who are ready to eat!i am having some issues with our photopass pictures, so i don't have them yet to use. i am using pictures from my phone, which i used the whole trip to take pictures. i hope they are ok!
i did not take notes on the trip. i planned to. i bought a notebook. i had it with me. i had good intentions, really I did! i was just too busy enjoying the trip and too exhausted at night
to write much down. i have a few notes on my phone and am relying on pictures to jog my memory. bear with me--and if anything doesn't make sense, you'll know why!i also wanted to add a few things right away for anyone who may be going soon, and because i don't know where else i would remember to put them, here they are.
**we used our magic bands for everything and they were awesome!! we had no problems at all with them. we used them to get on the magical express at the airport, to get food (snacks in parks, table service and counter/quick service), to get into the parks, for our fast pass stuff, to make room charges, and for our photopass pictures. they were great and, even though i was worried about how they'd be, i really enjoyed having them.
**i bought the regular photopass option before our trip. now they have the memory maker. if you're still up in the air, i'd say get the memory maker. if you buy it before your trip, it's $149 and includes all pictures, ones the photopass photographers take, ones at meals, and ride photos. i didn't think i would want any of those extra things, and didn't want to spend the extra $30 for it. well, i could have saved us $40 because we ended up buying our pictures at two of the character dinners we did. each of those was $35, but would have been free if we'd had MM. also, we did the pirates league and could have had those pictures too. instead, we just took pictures ourselves and didn't buy the photos they took, even though they were SUPER cute! if we had gotten the MM, all of those would have been included....live and learn!
one other thing about pictures--i don't know if it was the time of year, the weather, or what, but i did not see very many photopass photographers out. and the ones out had lines, sometimes kind of long. i was sort of bummed not to get more pictures for our money.
**last, fastpass plus and mydisneyexperinece.com were great! i changed fast passes in the park and checked times and used maps with no problems. it was a really nice thing to have on my phone. i also really liked having the fast passes set up before hand. i really didn't think i would like it, but it worked out super for us!
**we used our magic bands for everything and they were awesome!! we had no problems at all with them. we used them to get on the magical express at the airport, to get food (snacks in parks, table service and counter/quick service), to get into the parks, for our fast pass stuff, to make room charges, and for our photopass pictures. they were great and, even though i was worried about how they'd be, i really enjoyed having them.
**i bought the regular photopass option before our trip. now they have the memory maker. if you're still up in the air, i'd say get the memory maker. if you buy it before your trip, it's $149 and includes all pictures, ones the photopass photographers take, ones at meals, and ride photos. i didn't think i would want any of those extra things, and didn't want to spend the extra $30 for it. well, i could have saved us $40 because we ended up buying our pictures at two of the character dinners we did. each of those was $35, but would have been free if we'd had MM. also, we did the pirates league and could have had those pictures too. instead, we just took pictures ourselves and didn't buy the photos they took, even though they were SUPER cute! if we had gotten the MM, all of those would have been included....live and learn!
one other thing about pictures--i don't know if it was the time of year, the weather, or what, but i did not see very many photopass photographers out. and the ones out had lines, sometimes kind of long. i was sort of bummed not to get more pictures for our money.
**last, fastpass plus and mydisneyexperinece.com were great! i changed fast passes in the park and checked times and used maps with no problems. it was a really nice thing to have on my phone. i also really liked having the fast passes set up before hand. i really didn't think i would like it, but it worked out super for us!
OK--that all being said, let's get on with this TR! sit down, buckle up and, what the heck? dance if you feel like it!
thanks for reading!
man, you found this fast! 
yay! no double posts and my computer is giving me fits today too....what's the deal?!?
I am excited to hear about the trip, and will be patiently waiting whenever you find the time!
