Jedi, Princesses and Disney Geeks...Oh My!! The Sweet Sixteen go to Disney!6-11 New

[GoofyJediMaster]

Alright...I just said we have 42 days left. I was trying to post and talk on the phone at the same time while working on little sleep. I was on the phone with my DW, DB and SIL. My SIL has 42 days of school left, not 42 days until our trip. Wishful thinking! I guess this means I need to get countdown ticker. Can I just borrow some pixie dust and move us ahead 2 months? Anyone have some I can borrow? =)

 

[belle8306]

Glad to hear you had a good time on your cruise! Can't wait to hear about it. I would like to go on a cruise some day...my MIL would like to go on a Disney Cruise using DVC points...but they are so expensive...maybe when DS is a little older and would be able to remember and appreciate it since that would most likely be a once in a lifetime type thing!

It was a lot of fun! I would LOVE to do a Disney cruise but like you said they are really expensive. Maybe someday will do it. I would like to go back and visit more islands.

 

[belle8306]

Alright...I just said we have 42 days left. I was trying to post and talk on the phone at the same time while working on little sleep. I was on the phone with my DW, DB and SIL. My SIL has 42 days of school left, not 42 days until our trip. Wishful thinking! I guess this means I need to get countdown ticker. Can I just borrow some pixie dust and move us ahead 2 months? Anyone have some I can borrow? =)

I wish it was only 42 days! I guess on the bright side, we have a lot to get done before we go so we will have more time to do it all. Get ready to do some planning this weekend!

 

[belle8306]

I finally have some cruise photos to share. The first day of our cruise we went to Nassau, Bahamas. We did an excursion tour of the island. These pictures are from that tour. Part of the tour included a stop at the Atlantis resort. It was so pretty!

This picture was taken outside of Atlantis.

This is a picture of the resort.

This was our ship.

I love how colorful all of the buildings are.

A great view of the city.

Our tour guide said that to stay in the suite that looks like a bridge it is $24,000 a night.

That is all I have for tonight. Hopefully, I will have time to post more this weekend.

 

[dismagiclover]

Your cruise looks wonderful! I'd love to try a cruise someday, but I'm afraid I'd get seasick which would pretty much ruin the whole experience

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok, I'm finally back. I've actually had this update written since Saturday night. However, just as I was getting ready to upload pictures to photobucket...Will woke up with a fever. That was the start of it...by the time we could get him in on Monday, the doctor gave him antibiotics for bronchitis and a strep infection Poor kid! At one point her ran a fever of 102 degrees with both Tylenol and Motrin in him...and this was after 24 hours of antibiotics...apparently, he had it bad. He's on the mend now, thankfully. But so much for me getting a whole bunch done this week.

And why, you might ask, did I assume I'd finally have free time???

It's spring break!!!!!!

Yes, I'm just a little excited...hahaha. Of course, it's almost over now, but I haven't been at work in six days. That's enough for me! I know, I know - most working adults don't get an automatic spring break. Well, that's just one of the perks of my job. Sometimes they're few and far between, but there are perks.

Anyway, the last time I was actually here to make an update, we'd finished up day 1 of our drive. We'd made it south of Atlanta somewhere and stopped at a hotel for the night. The kids will be in bed at a decent time if I have to stand on my head to get it done , and I will probably have to check in on my master's degree classes since I won't have internet access daily at WDW. Then it's off to bed for DH and I as well, because if all goes to plan we'll be up around 6 the next morning. I'd like to be up, showered, dressed and breakfasted by 7:30 so that we're on the road by 8. We'll stay somewhere with a free breakfast - it just works better that way. We might even eat in the room so that it doesn't matter if Will is wandering around while he eats. Ice the cooler back down, and off we should go!

Back on the road after fueling up, I'm hoping we can drive a good four hours or so straight before we stop for lunch again at a rest stop. I might be able to get away with a shorter break than on Friday, since I can tell them that the faster we get back on the road, the faster we get to Disney. Though I'm sure we'll have to stop a few times for a slushie - Jack is in love with blue slushies right now, as you can see from this picture of him slurping one up...

Anyway, my hope is to pull onto Disney property at 2:00. At that point, we'll hopefully be seeing this!!

(I didn't take this picture - it and all the other CBR pics came from the DISboards or the CBR pics thread. This one belongs to UGAFan0829)

And this...

(photo by Mickeystoontown...thanks, Lisa!)
Hopefully, we can get into our room...

(Photo courtesy Pete Warner from the DIS)

and maybe even try out the pool (I'm not sure why I didn't snag a picture of that!) before the rest of our group comes in. Everyone in our group except for Cousin Norah and her goddaughter are coming in later that evening. We have a one-night room-only ressie before our package kicks in, but we're hoping to be able to stay in the same room for the length of our stay. I might even have some time to unpack and get us all settled in!

My mom and aunt, my MIL and FIL, DH's grandma and great-aunt, and his uncle are all flying in on the same flight (which wasn't planned, by the way - they booked in two separate groups!) and should land around 3:30. By the time they make it through Magical Express and check-in, I'm guessing it will be around 5. We're hoping to just let them drop off their things, take a quick look around, and then board a bus for DTD. We're very excited about the idea of not having to run off to a park the day we get there just because we only have four days and won't be able to cover everything if we don't. DTD has lots of options for dinner (I'm thinking Earl of Sandwich, since our DP credits won't be available until Sunday), plus we can shop! I'm thinking a treat from Goofy's might taste pretty good after a long couple of days on the road! Plus, we've promised to buy the kids one thing - a new Disney "huggie" as Jack calls them. We've bought them each a stuffed animal each time we've gone, and we like getting them earlier in the trip so that they're waiting for us when we come back from the parks. Plus, that means fewer of the stuffed toys from home have to make the trek down with us....there is a method to my madness!

We won't stay out too late, though, because Sunday will be our first full day in the parks - and the very last day of Star Wars Weekends for 2010! DH has said repeatedly that we HAVE to be at the park before rope drop to see the little spiel the stormtroopers do with the crowd. Plus, some of his favorite personalities are there that weekend, so he'll want to grab some fastpasses (more on that later). I'll probably stay at the resort with the kids while Bryan takes my mom and aunt - and probably his mom, grandma, and great-aunt - to WalMart to stock up on water and breakfast things for the room (a seriously awesome benefit to driving is not having to find a place in our luggage to pack the cereal, bowls, spoons, poptarts, etc, or have water shipped down). Then it will be early to bed (or as early as possible for us, with all we want to do) so that we can hit DHS bright and early!

Shelley, I know you guys are coming in later - what time does your flight get in? We're excited that Tim and Shelley will be there to start the day with us on Sunday, since they bought their tickets and now have an official arrival time (even if I don't know when that is!). Ok, that's probably enough information for now...but I was looking back at our original posts with DH (hi, Bryan! Glad to see you dropped by finally! ) and realized that the pictures of the kids are pretty darned dated, so I thought I'd do some updating.

Will enjoying his Mickey Mouse ride-on airplane - his favorite Christmas gift, by far

All three of the kiddos cheering on the Colts this past season

All five of us at our school's Holiday Luncheon


Be back soon...sooner than last time, I promise!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Great pictures, Shelley...we must've been on here at the same time! Can't wait to see more of them this weekend!

Hey...those buildings look a bit like the CBR buildings...you'll be right at home.

 

[belle8306]

Hey Jen, Great minds think alike!
We are getting into Orlando Saturday at 6:something p.m.. I still need to add a night to our stay since we are coming in earlier than we had planned. Your plan looks good. I am thinking that once we get checked in at the resort we will eat dinner at the food court at CBR. Maybe do some swimming or just hang out and talk with everyone for a while. I didn't even think about the benefit of being able to go to the store and stock up on breakfast items and water. I may be sending Tim along for the Walmart run. We are looking forward to seeing you guys this weekend. I am sure there will be plenty of time to do some planning and you guys can see our cruise pictures. We took a ton! We really need to go to Archivers again soon so I can get this trip scrapbooked before my next one.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Well, get your calendar ready, because it'd be good to at least start scrapbooking the last Disney trip before this one!! See you soon!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Your plans for the beginning of your trip sound great! I love all the great pics from both the cruise and the updated pics of the kids! I am glad to hear Will likes his Mickey Airplane. I was looking at that to give DS for his first birthday in a month!

 

[dismagiclover]

Your plans sound great! And you definitely want to be there bright and early for SWW. Those lines get long quick!

 

[belle8306]

Your plans for the beginning of your trip sound great! I love all the great pics from both the cruise and the updated pics of the kids! I am glad to hear Will likes his Mickey Airplane. I was looking at that to give DS for his first birthday in a month!

Thank you! Hopefully, I will get more up this weekend.

 

[belle8306]

Time for another cruise update:

We came back from our tour and did some shopping at the straw market.

We went back to the boat.

This is a blurry picture of the inside of the ship.

We ate lunch at Johnny Rocket's on the ship.

That night they had a dance party by the pool and a buffet. The next morning we went to Coco Cay. The water was so blue!

We explored the beaches. We also went snorkeling which was a lot of fun. The cruise line owns the island so they provide a BBQ and that was nice to not have to go back to the ship to eat. They had a lot of stuff to do on the island. It was beautiful and relaxing!

That is all for now!

 

[belle8306]

We need your ideas! Jen and I are putting together small newsletters to update our group on important things they need to know about Disney. Jen had a great idea to send out a newsletter called "The ten things I would never go to Disney without". If you have any items that you think we should add to our list please give us your suggestions. Some of our traveling companions haven't been to Disney in a long time and some are first timers, so any ideas are appreciated. Thank you!!!!

 

[dismagiclover]

It may seem obvious, but for our family we'd never go to Disney without sunscreen. We're all a tad bit on the pale side.

 

[belle8306]

It may seem obvious, but for our family we'd never go to Disney without sunscreen. We're all a tad bit on the pale side.

That is something you don't want to forget. Last June, my DH and I brought the spray bottle sunscreen to WDW. Somehow in the suitcase the spray nozzle got broken and we had to go buy the overpriced sunscreen at the gift shop.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

camera ( seems obviouse, but i bet alot of people forget them) with extra memory room.

good walking shoes.

trading pins

 

[belle8306]

camera ( seems obviouse, but i bet alot of people forget them) with extra memory room.

good walking shoes.

trading pins

Great ideas! Thank you for adding to our list!

 

[belle8306]

Back to the cruise. Our third stop and my favorite of our trip was Key West. We went to the top of the boat and watched as we docked. Here is a picture from the boat.

That red building is an art museum. It was a good landmark for us to find our way back to the boat. Here are some bikes for rent.

This is a closer picture of the art museum and a statue near it.

This is the Conch Train. You can take a tour of the island by riding on it. We went on a tour by taking a trolley ride.

We went by Ernest Hemingway's house.

I love this lighthouse.

This was from my favorite store The Shell Warehouse.

This was on our tour. It is the southernmost point in the United States.

That is all for now. I still have more pictures to share. Have a nice Saturday!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

I love the cruise pics! Everything looks so beautiful!

Some things you might want to include on your list:

Gum (since they don't sell any at Disney)
Basic first aid items (tylenol, baindaids, neosporin)
Mister fans

Those are a couple off the top of my head. Hope that helps! The newsletter sounds like a great idea!