If You Hint Enough, It May Come True - July 2017 WDW Birthday PTR

[cinderella crazy]

It’s been so long since I wrote a PTR that I began to believe that I’d never write one again. . .obviously something’s changed my mind. LOL!! Maybe it’s the fact that without it I don’t feel the same build up with our trips, or maybe it’s because I miss looking back on the process of planning them, or perhaps it’s due to me realizing that between now and when my kids reach adulthood isn’t as far off as I once thought (I have to remind myself that my kids are not the little bitties they once were). Whatever the reason, I’ve got a renewed desire to write a new PTR for our upcoming trip and I hope it will be somewhat entertaining for others to read!


But before I jump into the deep end and start yappin away about our plans, let me introduce you to our group that’s going on our July birthday trip.


First there’s me, Alicia and my beloved DH of sixteen years, Mike:

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I’m a stay at home mom but I keep busy serving on three PTA/PTSA boards (One for each school my kids’ attend and at county level). You might be staring at that number and saying to yourself “Three?!” Yup. Three. Am I crazy? Yes, but that’s beside the point. LOL! I love it though and it’s a great way for me to be involved at my kids’ schools and I’ve met some great people along my PTA journey. When I’m not PTAing (just go with it. I make up words all the time) I like to read, write, travel, relax on sandy beaches (one reason I like to travel so much), and help my DH plan family Disney Trips.

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Mike is my very patient and supportive partner in crime. After sixteen years I’m still pinching myself that I get to do life with him and that he is as much of a Disney fanatic as I am. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to spell or do math (He’s my walking dictionary and calculator) and I wouldn’t smile or laugh half as much as I do. He plans the brunt of our trips: researching resorts and prices, making dinning reservations and spreadsheets for everything. He is the reason that every Disney trip we’ve taken has been fun and successful (even though we’ve faced babies that wake up at 5 am, tropical storms, stomach bugs, freezing temperatures, spring break crowds, etc).

When he's not working hard he likes to read, hike, camp, plan Disney Trips, and every once in awhile he plays a video game or two. . .but that's rare.


Then there’s our two little ones. . .

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. . .I mean kids. Y’all, they won’t stop eating and growing!!! I keep telling them I’m going to find a way to smoosh them down and make them small again but they refuse to believe me, rolling their eyes at me like all preteens and teenagers do.

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Our oldest is Alex. He’s your typical thirteen year old. On my last PTR I was wondering if he would be brave enough to ride ToT (and he did) and was a boisterous, hyper eight year old. He’s still as funny and hyper as he was then, but he’s transformed into a responsible and driven young man who’s earned his junior black belt in karate and is working towards becoming an Eagle Scout (like his dad). He's a big fan of watching sports, playing games on his tablet or laptop, listening to music. . .your typical thirteen year old. Lol!

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Then there’s our youngest, Lauren. She is the reason for our birthday trip. We’ll be celebrating her eleventh birthday while we’re at Disney and she’s super excited about it! A lot has changed for our sweet girl since the last time I did a PTR. A month before our 2014 Disney trip, Lauren was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Bombarded with learning how to count carbs, giving her insulin doses, and wrapping our heads around the fact that she has a lifelong disease that she will battle for the rest of her life, we wrestled with the idea of canceling that 2014 trip. But her doctors convinced us that it would be good for all of us to go, and I’m sooo glad we listened. Was it stressful? Yes, but it was one thing that helped us realize that everything was going to be okay. Today, she’s a very active and creative ten year old. She loves taking karate and has a bedroom full of notebooks that she’s filled with drawings and stories.

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Joining us will be my Mom, Lynda. She’s been on many Disney trips with us and we’re excited that she’s coming again! It’s always heartwarming to experience not only Disney through the kids’ eyes, but also hers. She provides that much needed calming presence in our group, putting things in prospective when people sometimes get tired or disappointed when they don’t get to go on a ride or take a picture with a character. She’s also fun to watch and listen to on the rides. Especially the tea cups!! She laughs and laughs as they spin faster and faster and I try every time to get her so dizzy that she can barely walk out of the cup when the rides over.

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So that’s us! A family of Disney fanatics like so many others here on the DisBoards. Like I said before, it’s been awhile since I’ve written a PTR but hopefully I’ll do it justice. If you decide to follow us along our journey, I hope you’ll say hello, ask questions, and give suggestions!


I’ll be back soon with more backstory on how this trip came to be and also our not so finalized plans.


PTR Posts
If You Hint Enough, It May Come True
The Where and When
Disney Night #1 - Chef Mickey's

 

[cinderella crazy]

I forgot to warn that I love to post pictures so a lot of my posts tend to be picture heavy. I'm just one of those people that likes to see what someone's talking about. So now you've been warned.

If you hint enough, it may come true.

“You know honey, we’ve been to Disney on Alex’s birthday and your birthday but never for mine or Lauren’s. . .”

That’s how the hint goes, or at least something similar to that. You see, Mike’s birthday is in March and Alex’s is in November which are months that are in the mix when we usually plan a WDW trip. But Lauren’s (and my) birthday is in July when it’s hot and really, really, really crowded. And that has always been the excuse that we’ve told ourselves about why we haven’t gone to Disney in July. And most of the time I’m okay with it. But then I look through old photo albums and I see a picture of Alex celebrating his first birthday while we stayed at the WL. . .

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Or I scroll through pictures on my phone of Mike’s 40th Birthday trip when we stayed at (AoA). . .

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And I start to think, It’d be nice for Lauren to look at pictures of her celebrating her birthday in Disney. . .”You know honey, we’ve been to Disney on Alex’s birthday. . .” And we revisit the idea of going to Disney in July and remind ourselves of the heat and crowds. Things that don’t bother some when planning trips, but we tend to like going during slower times of the year and having experienced the heat during several May trips, we couldn’t imagine how we would fare against the July heat. Two things finally swayed us to give it a go.

One, last year the National PTA Convention was held at the Dolphin Resort from June 30-July 3. While I went to workshops and meetings, my hubby and kids went to the parks and crammed in a little Disney trip. I will say that I did get to ride ToT once (which is my favorite ride), so I was okay.

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But going right before the 4th of July when crowds are supposed to be insane, and hearing how many rides they went on since it wasn’t as crowded in the mornings or how they were still able to beat the July heat the same as we usually do on our May trips. . .suddenly a real trip to WDW in July didn’t sound so crazy! “You know honey. . .”


Two, we decided to go on a cruise. Now I know. You’re thinking: “How does going on a cruise have anything to do with you planning a trip to Disney?” If you knew our family, you’d know that planning a cruise always turns into cancelling it to go to Disney. I have seriously lost count how many times we’ve booked a cruise (a non-Disney cruise) and have then cancelled it to go to Disney. One of my previous PTR is even named after our inability to stick with a cruise, titled: I Could Have Had a Cruise. Instead, I’m Going to WDW!”

It’s not that we don’t like to cruise. It’s actually the opposite! I love them! Watching the waves on the endless ocean, sitting on a beach in another country, exploring a different city or town. . .

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It’s something that I look forward to. But so far it’s something that Mike and I have only done as a couple and then we come home and share stories and pictures with the kids and they say, “We want to go!” So we start planning a family cruise. Then something happens. One time it was that we planned to stay 2 nights in Disney before a seven night cruise and we realized how much we would miss not riding certain rides or walking down the familiar paths in each park. This time, it was flooring.

Of all things, flooring became the deciding factor for us switching from a cruise to Disney. Well, that and budget. You see, thinking that we would never go to Disney for Lauren’s birthday, I suggested us going on a cruise instead. The kids were all excited! We booked a cruise along with my mom, and then Mike started to do the math: excursions, drink packages, picture package, clothes needed. . .When he showed me the total I about flipped out. And then he mentioned how Disney would be way more doable and that we could even replace our nasty downstairs carpeting with new flooring. . .

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If you hint enough, it may come true. And in this case it was twofold!


Lauren loved the idea of going to Disney for her birthday and Alex and Mom were more than happy to go on another Disney adventure, so the next day Mike started to research and now the dream of going to Disney for Lauren’s birthday will come true (and so did my dream of having new flooring)! So we’ve once again cancelled another family cruise and are thrilled to be returning to the happiest place on earth!

 

[cinderella crazy]

So now that you know the who and the why, how about I tell you about the when and where!

The Where: Caribbean Beach Resort

We are excited to be returning to the CBR! We’ve stayed here one other time in May 2009 and having enjoyed our stay (besides the tropical storm that drenched us, which wasn’t so bad with ponchos), we decided to return.

We did waiver in our decision for a moment when the announcement was made that the Old Port Royale Centertown (or as we called it the last time we stayed there, the OPRCT) would be closed for renovations. Questions flooded our minds like: “where will we get snacks?!” Or “will there be somewhere to refill mugs?!” Then there was my main concern: “Can I still get a Bounty Platter?!” I have priorities, y’all!

But the enticements that Disney offered made any inconveniences of the OPRCT being closed worth it. Especially when Mike reminded me that we could drive over to AoA and grab snacks from their amazing food court. So that’s where we’ll be staying, but when are we going?


The When: July 15th-25th

July 15th – After leaving our home before the sun rises, we’ll arrive at a hotel around (Disney Springs) or as I like to call it, Downtown Disney Springs (because I am forever purposely calling things by the incorrect name and I’m still haven’t wrapped my brain around the fact that they changed the name). Our hotel this first night is Delta Hotels which is a Marriott hotel (pics can be found here). Our first Disney meal will be that night at T-Rex.

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July 16th – Our first morning at Disney we’ll stick with our tradition of eating breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, check into CBR, and then that evening head to Epcot for some sausage and sauerkraut at Biergarten.

July 17th – Magic Kingdom day! We plan on eating at Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch (which I’ve never eaten at) and have an ADR for Crystal Palace that night.

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July 18th – We’ll spend the morning in Animal Kingdom, eating lunch at Yak and Yeti and then move to DHS for the evening. We can’t wait to have someone tell us to get our elbows off the table or to get off our walkie talkies (cell phones) at 50’s Prime Time.

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July 19th – Back to the studios we’ll go and enjoy lunch while watching clips from ABC shows at the ABC Commissary. We’ll trek to Epcot this night and eat at another of our favorites, San Angel Inn.

July 20th – Beach Day!!! Cocoa Beach here we come!!!

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July 21st – Because MK is one of our favorites, we’ll visit it again and have lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We’ll finish the day in AK and go to a new restaurant for us, Yak and Yeti.

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July 22nd – Epcot Morning! I’m excited that we’ll be returning to another of our favorites, Sunshine Seasons! Then we’ll head to Magic Kingdom and have dinner at Be Our Guest.

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July 23rd – Our last time at DHS. We plan to eat lunch at Backlot Express and finish our day in Epcot with dinner at Coral Reef.

July 24th – Our last day at WDW! We’ll start at MK, eat lunch at Cosmic Rays, and then switch over to Epcot and have dinner at Teppan Edo. We'll return to the Delta Hotels this night too.

So that’s the plan. . .at least for now. We’re known for changing our plans, a lot of times without any warning, but I’m hoping that this is pretty close to the final draft. I’ll go into more detail about each day in later posts, but I wanted to go ahead and give an idea of what’s to come.

Up next, our first Disney Night for this trip: Chef Mickey’s Night!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Well, it looks like we finally decided where we'll stay the night we drive down and on our last night in Disney. There's a story about why we aren't staying at CBR on our last night but I'll save it for later. Anyway, we'll be staying at Delta Hotels, close to Downtown Disney Springs (maybe some day I'll call it by it's right name but today ain't that day).

Here's a couple pictures I found on their website:

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I believe it's a newer hotel which I liked and the rooms look nice. . . This is one of those things that hubby usually researches, he tells me the hotel ratings and shows me the pictures and then I just trust him to book a good hotel. Honestly, it's just a place to lie our heads down on the front and back end of our trip so as long as it's clean and the beds are halfway decent, I'm good to go!

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[LilTinkFan]

Hello! I am planning a two day whirlwind adventure. Right now I will be at AK on the morning of the 18th too. Love all the pictures!

 

[DLfan4]

following along. we are planning to in July as well.

 

[allaboard]

We are going to be in Orlanda from the 17th - 27th, and at WDW from the 20th-27th ... and can't wait! Your plans look great and we will be at some of the same restaurants it seems!

Our plans include: The Boathouse for our first dinner at Disney Springs this time. Yak and Yeti at AK, Skipper Canteen at MK, Mama Melrose at HS, Rose and Crown at EPCOT, and then Teppan Edo at EPCOT We are staying at Old Key West Villas, a first for us to stay there!! Not planning on quite as much park hopping as you have planned, but a little between HS and EPCOT.

ENJOY !!!