Giving Santa his Mickey ears! Our toddler's 1st trip!-UPDATE:We're back! Pic inside

[tofubeast]

Table of Contents
1. Intro (just keep reading!)
2. My for Mickey ears and my couture hat!
3. An Embarrassing Confession
4. Survey for you! Please respond!
5. Photo Shoot w/ Mickey Shirts!
6. Results of Toddler Ride/Attraction Survey!
7. Photo Show & Tell: Favorite EPCOT Entertainers
8. Need your opinion on a Fantasyland Touring Plan
9. Photo Show and Tell: WDW Food!
10. My Disney Bucket List
11. Praise/Bash my Touring Plan & ADRs
12. Day trip suggestion outside the World - Mt. Dora
13. We have ADRs!!
14: Photo Show & Tell: My Disney Pins
15. Getting My Shop on at the Disney Character Warehouse!
16. DD's First Haircut will be at MK!
17. Photo Show & Tell: Brief visit to the World - Sept 2011
18. Twas the Night before BoG ADR
19. We are dining at BoG!!
20. Another Visit to the Disney Character Warehouse and My Exciting News
21. My Review of Shoes for Disney
22. Disney Snacks or Bust
23. Challenge: Which is Which?
24. Photo Show & Tell: Some Favorite Pictures of WDW
25. Photo Show & Tell: Fall Fun in Florida!
26. One More Day!
27. Photo Show & Tell: Packing for my DD
28. Two Weeks Away!
29. One Week till Disney!
30. Sharing Our Itinerary!
31. You know you are officially ready for your Disney trip when...
32. Our Toddler Graduates Disney Parks University!
33. We leave TOMORROW!!
34. We're Back! Time to turn this into a TR!

Cast of Characters

That's Hubby and I back in 2007 taking a fun pic in front of the castle.


Here I am, the author of this trip report. You will get to know me as time goes by. You will see that, like many of you, I am a Disney nut. Here I am back in '09, finally getting to enjoy a ride in the front car of the Monorail. Observe Disney nerd face. I am proud of said label. I know that in this safe area of the internet, a woman in her mid 30s proudly wearing her Mickey ears will not be the subject of teasing!


Here I am back in the 70's. While others were out disco dancing, I was busy being a Mouseketeer. It was here my 'obsession' with Mickey ears started. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was fortunate to spend much time at Disneyland. While I may live in South Florida now, DL (before it was ever DLR) will always be my home park. Though, I still love WDW, and I'm happy to be only a few hours away!


This dude is my awesome husband of 7+ years. While he enjoys visiting the Disney parks, he is not as uber enthusiastic as me. Still, he has fun, and Disney bring out his more playful side. I have a feeling that now that is a father, he will be wanting to visit WDW more often. Here he is during our last visit while on the Behind the Seeds walking tour at EPCOT Center.


Our last *real* trip to WDW was back in 2009. I was fortunate to go three different times that year with DH, friends, and my mother. DH and I spent a romantic anniversary while at the World.


But during our visit, we both had a nagging feeling inside. Something was missing. I couldn't put my thumb on it until DH said it out loud. While outside The Living Seas at EPCOT, I observed DH staring at a father and his young child. He looked at me and said, "I'm ready. I want to come back here next time as a dad." It was a sweet moment.

Flash forward to Valentine's Day 2010. I stared down at a pregnancy test telling me our lives were forever to change. Cupid sure gave us one heck of a gift that day!

As the weeks of my pregnancy sailed by, we realized we were going to be parents. We were happy, we were freaked out!


Before Halloween 2010, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. We brought her home to her nursery, fittingly decorated with Shag's 50th Disneyland prints. My friend went to Disneyland and got us some infant ears for little Miss J. A future Dis'er was born!



Miss J will be just over 2 years by the time we make our trip. We are so elated to see the parks through her eyes. While I know she won't remember a thing, it will all be about living in the moment (and taking LOTS of photos!). It will hopefully be the first of many trips ahead. This trip report is dedicated to her. She will make this trip so special for us.

Here's my little Mouseketeer at 7 months old. She wasn't in the best of moods when I took this pic, but I still love it. She now treasures that stuffed Mickey.


And here's a more recent pic, at nearly 2 years old.


Trip Info

We will be staying at BCV the 2nd week of December. This is my second time staying at a DVC resort. We rented points from a DVC owner. (More on that later.) We also added another night to our trip. We will be staying one night at AoA in a Little Mermaid room. I am excited to get a peek at this resort as well.

As I was setting the dates, I realized that we will be there on 12/12/12!! [B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Red"]. What a fun date to spend at the World!

While I have been to WDW pretty much every season, this is our first time we will see it during the holidays. We are super excited. Please come join us as we plan our trip. I am open to your suggestions, tips, and ideas. If some of you have traveled with toddlers, I would love to hear your feedback too! We have always been commando style in how we tour the parks, so this will be a different type of trip for us. We've seen most of it all anyway, so this trip is more for Miss J.

**If you want to know a little bit more about us, feel free to view my other trip reports. The links are in my signature.**

[MrsFerrell]

Hey if its going to end might as well end it the right way!! Subbed :-)

[sunnyday123]

Spool hooo!

[Elleshoodat]

I'm here, I'm here! Your daughter is absolutely adorable, and I am loving your storytelling so far. And you are so right -- there's no better place to be if the Mayans are right. I can't wait to read more!

P.S. My DH is a Mets fan, too!

[pinkxray]

I'm joining in for the planning.

Your daughter is too adorable!

[Alice's Mom]

Looking forward to all the details.

[tofubeast]

Welcome!!


Welcome aboard tofubeast's Walt Disney World Trip Report Monorail, our Highway in the Sky to the Magic Kingdom. For those of you standing, please hold on to the handrails throughout our journey and stay clear of the doors. For the comfort of others, no smoking please. Thank you.

Originally Posted by MrsFerrell

Hey if its going to end might as well end it the right way!! Subbed :-)

My sentiments exactly. I tend to poke a little fun with the whole 12/12/12 thing while at the parks. I might even being soliciting my PTR readers for a little creative help in the near future. Stay tuned!

Originally Posted by sunnyday123

Spool hooo!

Yay!! I love the enthusiasm!

Originally Posted by Elleshoodat

I'm here, I'm here! Your daughter is absolutely adorable, and I am loving your storytelling so far. And you are so right -- there's no better place to be if the Mayans are right. I can't wait to read more!

Thanks so much. Glad to have you along for the ride. You are going to be my inspiration since you are traveling with a toddler before me. I can't wait to see how your trip planning unfolds!

Originally Posted by pinkxray

I'm joining in for the planning.

Your daughter is too adorable!

Thanks so much! I will post some 'happier' pics of her in the near future.

Originally Posted by Alice's Mom

Looking forward to all the details.

Why look who it is! Hey everybody...see the cute Mickey beanie ears my daughter is wearing in the picture I posted? This little sweetie is the one who got them for me!! xoxoxox




So happy to have you guys on board! Now hold on tight. We are in for a ride. Will it be an E TICKET? Well, time will only tell.

[DizNee Luver]

I just realized we'll be there over that date too!!!! I have to agree.....might as well be on a trip of a lifetime when it all ends!!!! Subbing & following along...will be fun to see if any of our plans overlap!!!

[MrsFerrell]

Okay your mouse ears... did you buy them sparkly or did you sparkle them yourself???

[oboedm]

Signing on! Can't wait to hear more!

[tofubeast]

Bienvenidos new Dis pals



Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas!

Originally Posted by DizNee Luver

I just realized we'll be there over that date too!!!! I have to agree.....might as well be on a trip of a lifetime when it all ends!!!! Subbing & following along...will be fun to see if any of our plans overlap!!!

Yay another fellow 12/12/12'er!!! Maybe the Mayans were talking about another world. Surely not Walt Disney World!

Originally Posted by MrsFerrell

Okay your mouse ears... did you buy them sparkly or did you sparkle them yourself???

I was going to save my ear hat discussion for another time, but I think I will post about Mickey ears in just a bit. And yes, they are sparkly, and yes, I did them myself.

Originally Posted by oboedm

Signing on! Can't wait to hear more!

And more I shall bring. That is if you don't get sick of me by 11 months from now!

[tofubeast]

My for Mickey Ears!

I posted some of this in a previous trip report, but I thought I would add it here with some new additions. I have always been a Mickey ears kinda girl. I so wish I had my original pair of ears as seen in that young pic of me posted in my first entry. So as a little girl, I watched the 70's version of the Mickey Mouse Club and still love watching old clips of it on you tube. I also watched my mom's MMC (50's era) back when the Disney Channel had shows I used to care about. I also love looking at various old Disney hats on ebay and have decided to start a collection. It's pretty small right now, but here you go!



One of my favorite ear hats was designed by Shag. He did these for the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I doubt I will actually ever wear this hat. I love this artist, so when I scored a signed box with hat, I was quite happy!



I picked these up last Fall during a one night stay at WDW (no parks that visit). I just had to get something to mark the 40th Anniversary of the opening of WDW.



Ya think I will be wearing these come our December trip? I think that's a given!



I even liked wearing ears in the virtual world. I used to love playing Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom (RIP). We got to wear some cool hats on there as well. That's me on the right in a room I designed. (Nerd alert)



EDIT: Recent online purchase! I was reading a TR where the people had purchased these vintage style Mickey Mouse Club ears. I just HAD to have one for me! They come in Mickey and Minnie style, and I guess the bow makes it obvious which style I purchased.



So while perusing another Disney related message board, I saw a thread about "blinging" out your Mickey ears. People were inspired by these hats that were on sale awhile back.


This one sold online for $1200!


And this sold for $1500!

Back when I had ENDLESS free time (i.e. The era PRE baby), I decided to do up my own ears! I purchased some Disneyland ears online and ordered Swarovski beads. Here I am putting each flatback crystal on the ears:



It took quite some time, but in the end I put about 500 Swarovski crystals on each ear. Good thing I have patience! And here is the final product:



The lighting in the picture is not all that great, but those ears sure do sparkle!! I will admit that this wasn't the cheapest craft I have ever done. A hat can be made with way cheaper crystals and have the same effect. You can also cut down time in putting this together by using bigger crystals.

I also found a pin that matches my ears, so of course, I just had to have it for my pin lanyard!



And there you have it, my attempt at Disney couture!

[DizNee Luver]

I give you a lot of credit having the patience to do that.......just tonight I was replacing 4 rhinestones on a shirt & cursing the whole time.....I can't imagine putting 500 on an ear....I would have gone batty!!

Beautiful though!!!

[oboedm]

Love the ears! I don't think I have that much patience, so you definitely won't see me bedazzling something!

[Elleshoodat]

Those are awesome! The pin, too. And, I have to say, so much nicer than the $1,200 ones!