Watch out, the Aussies are coming! A September 2015 PTR *update 6/20*

Hi everybody,

This is my first time doing a PTR, so bear with me please! I'm loving reading other PTR's and TR's, and since Disney has become my life at the moment I figured this would be a good place to put my thoughts.... especially since my husband is sick of hearing about it all haha!!

The Cast!!!!

Kristen.... yep that's me!!!

So about me..... I'm 29 (not for long... this is a birthday trip for me!) and was born near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I moved to Australia when I was 20 and have lived here ever since.
When I was younger my family would take frequent trips to WDW, and once to DL. Last family trip was when I was 10. I have since been to DL with my husband in 2009, and we went to WDW in May 2013 when our daughters were 3 and 8 months old. My mom and niece also joined us on that trip.

Colin

My husband is 31 and was born and raised in Geelong, Australia. His first Disney experience was in High School, where he went on a school trip to Japan and spent a day in Tokyo Disney. He has since been to DL and WDW. He was convinced that nothing could beat Tokyo Disney, but has changed his mind since going to WDW. He still says Tokyo is better than DL though!

Miss P

She will be 5 for this trip! She turned 3 on our last WDW trip and remembers it all. She loves everything Disney Princess, and can't stop talking about all the characters she wants to meet this time that she missed out on last time. She is also looking forward to being able to go on some bigger rides this time since she is taller, and has even said she will try out ToT!!

Miss M

This kid lives and breathes Elsa and Anna! She was 8 months old for our last trip so doesn't remember any of it, so this is more like a first trip for her. She will be turning 3 while we are WDW and I know she is just going to LOVE everything.

Miss A

This is my niece (older girl in the photo!) and she lives in Toronto. She is 12, and seems to get lucky when I decide to go to WDW because I seem to be able to convince my sister to let her come along! She's really into Pin Trading when she's there, so that's something we enjoy doing together

Gail

This is my mom, who also lives near Toronto. She likes to come along and experience the magic of Disney with my kids. I'm down with that, it means I have a babysitter when Colin, my niece and myself want to do late nights at the parks!

Harvey
This is my stepdad, who also happens to be turning 70 just before our trip. I haven't previously been to Disney with him, as we don't really get along very well. Could make for an interesting trip, but my mom asked if he could come and I said yes. It's Disney, can't deny it for anybody! I don't have a picture of him though

Possible Additions
My best friend from Canada may be joining us with her 2 year old daughter and her husband, but they haven't booked yet so it's still uncertain whether or not they are coming. I have been booking my ADR's as if they are coming though. I will update on them once I find out if they are coming We would be celebrating her 30th birthday as well (2 weeks after mine!)

Sorry for the size of the photos! I will get better.... I promise!!

The W's!

When
We are off to WDW mid-September for 6 nights! We chose this time of year mainly because we are coming from Australia to visit my family in Canada, and it just worked out to be these dates that worked best. I also knew FD generally runs at this time of year so was hopeful for that to try and save some money. We only decided to do this holiday a couple of months ago, and booked Disney about a week before our 180 ADR booking time! It's all been a bit of a whirlwind really!

Why
It's Disney.... why not? If you're over on the same side of the world as Disney World then of course you're going to go to Disney.... right?
We are all Disney lovers, and I want the kids to be able to enjoy it as much as possible while they are young! I want them to have the memories of Disney that I have!

Just remembered there is some celebrations happening for this trip!! I turn 30 (!) a few days before we arrive, so will be celebrating that, and Miss M turns 3 on our departure day!

Where
We have switched resorts SO many times while planning. We originally started off in CBR because we wanted to try something different. Then when FD was released CBR wasn't available for my dates so we switched to ASMu resort and upgraded the DP. THEN CBR became available so we switched back to there. THEN we had to switch our dates and had to switch to POP, and finally, POR became available for our dates so we switched to there. We stayed at POR last time and really loved it, so are happy to be staying there again. Looking forward to checking out the boat to DTD too! I've since noticed that CBR has become available for our dates with standard rooms available, but I think I'm really looking forward to POR. It basically comes down to CBR pool vs. boat to DTD. That and I don't think I can be bothered switching again. I'm holding out for a Standard room at POR to become available..... we are currently booked in a Garden Room (2 rooms booked)

Another thing is we have only booked for 5 nights so far. I need to book for our first night as we arrive at MCO at 9pm, and think we will book a night at ASSports and then transfer the next day.

How (are we getting there)
So, we've recently booked a flight with Southwest Airlines out of Buffalo, NY for what I think it a good price. I'm not very happy about the current exchange rate though. It's not working in my favour We will drive from Toronto to Buffalo the day of our flight, have some lunch at an Olive Garden (YUM) and then get ready for our flight at 6pm. We arrive at MCO at 9pm. Then of to DME for us!
When we leave Orlando we are flying Delta to LAX, then straight back to Melbourne, Australia from there!

Keeping this post open for links when I add more posts

Great start to the report! I'm so excited to plan along with you!

Woot! Following!

I'm here! Great start, I am excited to follow along! We'll be at POR the beginning of September!

Hi, joining in! Your PTR looks like it's off to a great start!

Your girls are adorable!

Looking forward to hearing your ADRs and plans!

ADR's
Here are some of the ADR's I've made for our trip. We have 5 nights booked with free dining, so one of these will have to be OOP. Any ideas what might be cheapest? I will list our QS dining in the posts about my park days.

September 13
Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic lunch- 2:25pm
Ideally I would like to find something earlier for this meal, but I'll take what I can get right now. I will keep searching though, it's just hard finding reservations for 10 people. This one is currently 2x tables of 5, hoping we can be seated close to each other!

September 14

BOG Breakfast- 8:05am
This is the newest addition to my ADR's, and one I'm very excited about. I really wanted a lunch here but was unable to get one, but now that I have a pre park opening breakfast I think I'll keep this just to get into the parks early! Originally I had an 8am BOG booked for 9/17, but then I realised that there are early EMH at MK that day, SO I've switched park days!!!

Whispering Canyon Cafe- 5:20pm
I've wanted to eat here since I saw a clip about it on a Disney TV show. I had booked to go on our trip in 2013, but there were complaints about leaving the park to go here and it being too difficult. I've since done my research and found it's not hard to get here at all. So excited to experience it! We'll probably go to whispering canyon from our resort after our afternoon break, and then head back to MK after dinner for the parades and fireworks!

September 15
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique- 1:20pm
Peyton and Mackenzie are getting some princess makeovers at DTD. I've purchased their Elsa and Anna dresses from the disney store during their recent online 40% off sale so they will be popping them on to complete the transformation. I'm worried that little Mackenzie may not enjoy having people touch her hair, but I'm willing to give it a try. She does like getting her hair done at home and at daycare so fingers crossed!

Akershus- 3pm
Having a late lunch with the princesses after the makeover, and then heading on over to MK for MNSSHP!!

September 16
Coral Reef- 5:35pm
I thought this would be a cool place to eat among the fish. I'm not a seafood person, but the steak with cheddar mashed potatoes sounds pretty darn good!

Beaches and Cream- 9:30pm
Thought I would try out a sundae after Illuminations. Have booked this for just Colin, Abby and myself. After some thought though, I'm wondering how I will get back to POR after this, as Epcot will be closed so I won't be able to get to my resort bus. Possibly a taxi I guess. Also trying to decide if this is something we should do earlier in the day (maybe after lunch?) with all of us together so the little kids can enjoy it too.

September 17
1900 Park Fare- 4:40pm
I was originally worried that this reservation would be too early for us, but after hearing that there is often a wait to get to you table, I think this time would be okay. We want to be back at MK for the Electric Parade and Wishes. This is another reservation where I've had to book 2 separate tables.

We are hoping to snag a BOG lunch on this day. Probably as early as possible. Would also accept a late breakfast if they become available. Fingers crossed!!!!

September 18
This is our departure day and also Mackenzie's 3rd birthday. We currently have an Ohana breakfast booked at 10:30am, but I'm hoping to get a brunch reservation at Chef Mickey's instead! They are going to be released anytime now so fingers crossed!!

So there we have it, our ADR's. There is so much more I wish I could add, but alas there is no time (or money) for that. I am pretty bummed Liberty Tree Tavern is closed for renovations while we are there. It's one of my favourites

Stay tuned for updates on my park days, Family Movie Night and to find out whether I got my Chef Mickey brunch reservation!!

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I GOT THE CHEF MICKEY BRUNCH!!!!! 11:35AM ON SEPTEMBER 18. SO FREAKIN EXCITED!

I've seriously been stalking the website since midnight hit at WDW. Thank goodness it's only early evening here and I was awake to catch it!

I'm in! Your plans sound awesome! I love POR so I know you will have a great time there. You could hop on a DTD bus after Beaches & Cream from Boardwalk & then hop a boat back to POR but

Whoops posted too soon! That could take like an hour to hour and a half between waiting for the bus & transfers. A can would be ideal.

May 23 2015, Family Movie Night #1!

So we have started our Disney Family Movie Night's in order to get the girls familiar with a lot of the Disney movies. Peyton picked this weeks movie, and she went with:

That's right! When I told her we were going to start doing movie nights she instantly said she wants Tangled first!

Now, I don't get all creative with the meals and stuff, because I'm really just not a creative person, and I don't have the time at the moment. I'm a Registered Nurse and worked an early shift today so it was a struggle to even make dinner tonight haha. I just wanted to sleep!
I decided that I would try out making a 'Rapunzel hair' spaghetti carbonara.

It turned out to be really quick and easy to make. I had wanted to make some braided garlic breadsticks as well with some pre made pizza dough from the supermarket, but our local supermarket no longer sells pre made pizza dough, so normal garlic bread it was!

Here is Peyton showing off her Rapunzel hair

And Mackenzie enjoying her meal. This kid could eat pasta for days!

Overall the meal was a success, and the kids told me they really really liked it!

After dinner we made some popcorn, mixed in some M&M's and all cuddled on the couch to watch Tangled!

The girls both lasted through the movie and seemed to really enjoy it. Peyton has seen it multiple times, but I'm not sure if Mackenzie has seen the whole thing before. When I was putting the girls to bed tonight Peyton told me that she really enjoyed movie night and gave me a big hug. Such a really nice moment!

I've asked Mackenzie what movie she wants for movie night next week, and she has requested Cinderella! Love a good classic!

**So so sorry for the size of the photos again. I thought I was making them smaller in photo bucket but clearly that didn't work. I don't know what to do apparently**

Sounds great Kristen!

Following along! Us September peeps have to stick together!
I know you said you weren't creative (neither am I most of the time) but those countdown chains I posted were a breeze to make. Everything was patterns to print out and then cut, if you have a paper cutter that would make it even faster!
Yay nursing! My dream when I was in nursing school was to move to Australia and be an RN there! I was a NICU nurse for 2 years, a baby catcher for 2 more, then pediatric med-surg, now I'm in IT and love it!

stitchfan75 said:

Following along! Us September peeps have to stick together!
I know you said you weren't creative (neither am I most of the time) but those countdown chains I posted were a breeze to make. Everything was patterns to print out and then cut, if you have a paper cutter that would make it even faster!
Yay nursing! My dream when I was in nursing school was to move to Australia and be an RN there! I was a NICU nurse for 2 years, a baby catcher for 2 more, then pediatric med-surg, now I'm in IT and love it!

Click to expand...

Haha Yay to september trippers that are nurses!! My dream is to be a baby catcher in Canada or America, just need to figure out the best way to go about doing that. I'm in Palliative Care for another month, then off to the OR for 6 months

Probably time to do another post on here about my trip!

Plans sound GREAT....sounds like a lot of fun!!!

Quick Movie Night Update!

So since our first movie night we have had 3 more!! Can't believe how fast 4 weeks goes!! I didn't do anything particularly exciting so didn't really take photos, but the kids are really enjoying sitting as a family and watching movie nights! We take turn picking movies each week which also makes it fun because everybody likes different things. Here is what we've watched so far:

Week 1 (Peyton's pick)- Tangled
Week 2 (Mackenzie's pick)- Cinderella
Week 3- (Daddy's pick)- Toy Story
Week 4- (Mommy's pick)- Pocahontas

We are back to Peyton's pick tomorrow night, and she's chosen Frozen. She's decided she wants fish wraps for dinner, but I might try and come up with something Frozen themed for dessert. Depends on how I feel after work tomorrow morning haha.

Let's start from the very beginning......

I've been ummmming and ahhhing about where to start this PTR. Do I start at the start of our Disney trip or from when we leave Australia. I've decided to do our whole journey from Australia since that is all part of our holiday and our journey to Disney World!

We are flying out of Melbourne International Airport at 6am on 8/28. I don't know why I thought 6am would be a good time to fly out... I don't think I was really thinking straight to be honest. We will need to leave our house in Geelong, Victoria at 3:30am (!!!!!) so we can make it to the off site car parking by 4:30 and check-in at 5. I don't think checkin will open any earlier than that to be honest. We have a domestic flight first and they generally don't open their checkins early in the morning.... I know this from experience. I guess the good thing about leaving in the middle of the night is that the kids will be tired for our 15 hour flight and will hopefully sleep a lot!!

So, we fly Virgin Australia from Melbourne to Sydney at 6am, arrive in Sydney at 7:25am. This is where we will have to switch from the domestic to the international terminal and go through immigration. Our Virgin Australia flight leaves from Sydney at 9:50am. This is when we'll get settled on the plane, the kids will watch some shows on their seat TV's or iPads, and after some food they will hopefully drift off to sleep for a long while. I'm feeling positive that this is how it's going to happen hahaha!

We arrive in Los Angeles at 6:30am on 8/28!!! We gain a day!! Woo hoo!!

We'll collect our luggage at this point and take a shuttle over to our hotel. I booked a mystery deal through hotwire and got the Concourse Hotel at LAX.

Not the best reviews but it will do! We're hoping they take pity on us and let us check in early so we can get a proper rest and shower. After this we'll go pickup a rental car. I haven't booked the rental yet because I'm not finding ANY good deals for LAX. Anybody have any tips they want to share? Doesn't help that I need 2 car seats with my rental, but I've always gotten cheap rentals at LAX!

We don't really have a plan for the day. We'll be catching up with my friend that lives in LA, so hopefully she will give us some ideas. I've been having stuff I've purchased from the Disney Store sent to her to save on shipping so I'll pick that up from her too. I'm also attempting to have my Magic Bands sent to her so I can grab them too, so fingers crossed they will be delivered at this point (2 weeks before we arrive at Disney). I really wanted to spend the day at Disneyland, but DH has said no

I think what we'll probably end up doing is spending time in the Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier area.

I definitely want to get some In N Out Burger too! Maybe hit up a Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden if I can find one too! Anybody in following along from So Cal or that has been there? I'd love some tips on what to do!

After our day spent in the California sun eating some food, we'll head back, return the car and get some sleep before our flight the next morning!

I'll continue this in the next post......

Welcome to Canada!!!

The date is now 8/29, and we are in for yet another early morning wakeup call

We are flying Delta this time, departing LAX at 6:45am, arriving in Detroit at 2:12pm for a short stopover. We depart Detroit at 3:30pm and arrive in Toronto at 4:44pm!

One of the best feelings in the world for me is flying into Toronto and seeing the city from the sky. I get so happy and kind of teary! I can't believe I've lived outside of Australia for 10 years now, and I desperately want to move back.

Usually when we arrive in Toronto we go straight out for dinner, so we'll probably continue with tradition and do that! Then it's off to my sisters house in East York (suburb of Toronto) where we will all crash due to some ridiculous jet lag!

I won't do a day by day trip report for while I'm in Canada, but I will outline some of the important things I'll be doing during my time here. Of course I'll be visiting friends and family, but let's see where I'll be going.

We'll be going to visit a friend and her 2 daughters out in Niagara Falls for a day. Will be nice for my kids to finally see the Falls! I've never done Maid of the Mist so I'ld like to give that a try too! Maybe I'll even get a chance to go do some shopping at the outlet mall in Buffalo across the border!

On 9/2 Colin and I will be meeting up with a couple of my best friends and their partners for a day at one of my Favourite theme parks (besides Disney World of course!). It honestly has the best roller coasters!! If any of you have been to Canada's Wonderland then you know. It's amazing. I can just taste the funnel cakes now!
Meet Leviathan.... I just about poop my pants going UP the hill on this coaster! The 2 big coasters at this park don't even go upside down, but they are HUUUUGE!

I'm from a small town 3 hours north of Toronto in cottage country. I'll be going up there to stay with my best friend for Labour Day weekend. We'll relax and hang out by the lake, and go to the local fair. It will be so nice to be back up there in the summer and enjoy everything the Haliburton Highlands has to offer!

I'll also be celebrating my 30th birthday in Toronto on 9/10. Not sure where I want to go for dinner. I was thinking Medieval Times, but my sister isn't super interested. Any Toronto people have any suggestions?

Finally one of the last main things I want to do while I'm home is go to a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game!! I grew up going to their games and I really enjoy them.

That's my list of all the main things I want to do while I'm in Canada. Between these things and visiting family I'll have a pretty full on 2 weeks!!

Next up...... We're going to Disney!

September 12, 2015- Day #1!

We're Going to Disney!!!
This will be a bittersweet day for me. I'll be leaving Canada for the last time in probably a year, but I'M GOING TO DISNEY! We will be driving from Toronto to Buffalo, NY in the morning and having some lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I'm hoping if we leave early enough we might have time for some outlet mall shopping but we'll see. I'm super excited to be eating at the Cheesecake Factory though! It's one of my favourite restaurants and it's one we don't have in Canada!

From lunch we will be heading to the airport to check-in. Originally our flight was booked for 6:30pm, arriving in Orlando at 9pm, but we changed it last week as some of the flight prices came down so we could afford to pay the small difference to get an earlier flight. We are now departing at I think 3:50pm, arriving at 6:30pm! Much better!! I've never flown Southwest before so I'm interested to see what it's like. Just hoping we can all sit relatively close together!


Now to decide whether we pickup our bags or let DME do it. Maybe you all can help me with this decision? Here's the story:
So our flight arrives at 6:30pm, but sometimes it can take DME 3-4 hours to deliver bags. We're hoping to be asleep by then, and I'd like to be organised for the next morning. Also, we are switching resorts the next morning so will have to be up extra early to take our bags down to bell services so they can be transferred to our new resort. I think I'm leaning towards picking up our own bags. What's an extra few minutes to pick up bags in the scheme of things? It's not like we are going to a park that night.... although now that I think of it that could be an option too.... uh oh.

OK new question haha. Do I take my husband a niece and go to Epcot that night to watch Illuminations? This would mean we don't have to worry about seeing it on our Epcot day and can probably enjoy our resort more then. ugh decisions. I wonder if it's worth the extra day of ticket!

Anyways, I went off on a bit of a tangent there... I apologise.
So where was I? oh yes, our flight arrives at 6:30pm, we likely get our bags. Down to DME and we are off to..... ALL STAR SPORTS RESORT!!

Colin is into basketball so I'm hoping to stay in this section... not sure how far it is from the main building though.

I found what I think to be a good deal on this resort through Orbitz, so I booked it for one night. I think I paid $82(USD). I was hoping to try and get an extra night at POR for the first night and add it to free dining, but there is nothing available at the moment so I'll just wait and see. I was doing it this way to save money, but with the meals I have booked I would only be saving probably $20 so I think I'd be happier to pay that and save the move. I'll keep an eye out for an opening!

So we'll head to the resort, check in, and drop our bags at our rooms. This is probably the point where we will pickup our stroller too. I'll have my baby jogger city mini single stroller with us anyways, but I would prefer to have a double. Peyton is 5 and I think she will want to sit in the stroller at times and will get tired from all the walking. I'm still looking at where to order from but it will probably be Kingdom Stroller.

We'll probably have one of the adults stay with the kids while the others drop the bags off, then we can all have some dinner at the food court. After this we'll get to our room and get stuff sorted for the next day, get the kids to bed, and either the adults can sleep too or some of us will go to illuminations if there is time! haha!

I've just realised I haven't had a look to see what's on offer food wise at All Star Sports. I think I'll check that out now!


Day 2 won't be far off.... I promise!!!