March 2016 PTR - How do we keep this a secret? -Uptd The Surprise!!! Pg 8

[Jasperann]

Thank you for joining in on the fun! My name is Amy and this is my first ever pre-trip report. This trip has been in the works since my last trip (March 2015). We booked it a day after the dates opened. This is a special trip because we are surprising 3 of our 4 kids. We have surprised them once before (for our second trip), but they really didn't understand... and it was almost a complete fail. But a really funny story now, which I might share along the way. But because it is a surprise trip I really need an outlet for my plans... that is where you come in!

Where are we staying? When are we going? Why are we going? (Silly question) WHO are we? I will answer all of that in this post, then we can get to the fun stuff. PLANNING!!!


The where:
We are staying at the Art of Animation and have chosen to stay in the Finding Nemo Suites. We had started off as Club level at the Boardwalk and then Club level at Wilderness lodge, and we changed to the Suites for a number of reasons. The main one being our kids have wanted to stay here since it has been built and the secondary reason is the separate sleeping areas, we've been spoiled with our DVC membership.

The when:
March 8th-16th!!! We love this time of year. And it is funnily enough the same exact dates of our very first trip to the World! We didn't realize this at the time of booking, it came about when my very smart 11 year old DD told us. She was really little our first trip so I'm not sure how she remembers.

The why:
Our oldest DD is 19 now and in her second year of College. Since we want to include her and we do not want to go in the summer we had to go for a week that has her spring break in it. She will only really miss one day of school with how she created her schedule for the winter/spring semesters. She does have an online class on Friday that she will need to take the time to attend. We weren't sure how much class she would miss when we booked but we planned it for leaving on Tuesday so that the max would be two days for each. My younger kids will be missing school, but since they are very good students (my middle DD's both have straight A's without much effort) and my DS does not get 'grades' yet, but I've talked to his teacher already and she just wants a journal completed while we are gone. Which we do anyways.

Now on to WHO we are:
We are a family of six and we've been to Disney as a family 4 times, a few of us have been a bit more...


Eric and I -- Crappy picture... trying to find a different one.
Me the 30 something Mom (Seriously I have to do the math to figure out how old I am, I stopped counting at 30). I went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot as a child enough to remember my trips there. We also went to Florida every summer for 2 or 3 weeks on vacation when I was growing up. So of course I want my kids to have a love of the state. Although for the longest time my 12 year old thought my mom and step dad lived in Disney World because she thought ALL of Florida WAS Disney.
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom & Epcot

Favorite Character: Dale… Don’t tell Chip
Favorite Movie: Oliver and Company
Favorite Princess: Merida
Favorite Villain: Hook
Favorite Ride: Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite Show: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Table Service Restaurant: Ohana's
Favorite Counter Service: The Mara, it used to be Casey's corner but the cheese sauce is gone. Boo!
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk Inn

Eric my 30 something hubby, he humors us by going on at least one Disney trip a year. I do think it has grown on him though. Enough at least for us to take an adult only trip last March! Which was a completely different trip for both of us. He is also the love of my life, seriously, in my 7th grade year book (the year we met) I wrote next to his picture that I would marry him someday.
Favorite Park: EPCOT or Animal Kingdom
Favorite Character: Jack Skellington
Favorite Movie: Toy Story and Nightmare before Christmas
Favorite Princess: Pocahontas
Favorite Villain: Hades
Favorite Ride: Rockin Roller Coaster
Favorite Show: Electric Parade (in Magic Kingdom) or any of the other Parades
Favorite Table Service Restaurant: Be Our Guest or Ohana’s
Favorite Counter Service: Cosmic Ray’s
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk Inn (Animal Kingdom Lodge was a close second)



Brittany my 19DD, she is going to school for Technical lighting and wants to eventually move to Florida and work for Disney. On her graduation trip we actually talked to one of the professional interns at Beauty and the Beast and he gave her a lot of great tips. She hopes to do the Disney College program next year.
Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios (this was due to Art of Animation classes, so her new favorite is probably Magic Kingdom)
Favorite Character: Chip and Dale
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Princess: Belle
Favorite villain: ... I'm not really sure, maybe Gaston, she turns pretty red while talking to him.
Favorite Ride: Any thrill ride
Favorite Show: Fantasmic!
Favorite Table Service: Crystal Palace Breakfast
Favorite Counter Service: Cosmic Ray's
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk


Emma my 12 year old DD, she has already planned out what dorm she wants to stay in and what job she wants when she does the Disney College Program. She however has not decided what she wants to be when she grows up. Priorities.
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom tied with EP-A-COT
Favorite Character: Goofy
Favorite Movie: Inside Out
Favorite Princess: Cinderella
Favorite Villain: Gaston
Favorite Ride: Peter Pan’s flight
Favorite Show: Fantasmic!
Favorite Table Service Restaurant: 50s Prime Time
Favorite Counter Service: Casey’s Corner
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk Inn


Kelsey my 11 year old DD, this is my drama child, she can find something to argue about in everything. For real. Sometimes she is right though, so there is that. She has a great future in debate, and is smart enough to be anything she wants to be. At this moment she wants to do hair and makeup for theater shows or movies.
Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios
Favorite Character: Sully (Who we have never met.. probably should change this on our trip )
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Princess: Ariel
Favorite Villain: Maleficent
Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite Show: Indian Jones
Favorite Table Service Restaurant: Ohana’s (Dinner)
Favorite Counter Service: Casey’s Corner
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk Inn


You can't tell by his face but he is terrified of the carousal... we have to bribe him to ride it.
Xander my soon to be 9 year old DS, this is my scardy cat. He is scared of the unknown, so riding new rides is a struggle for him. We often bribe him with buying him a pin or something to get him on rides for the first time. This has made him realize he loves, Splash Mountain, Test Track, Star Tours... and not so much Tower of Terror. Yes we are those parents, pushing a child to get onto a ride they are scared of... but we know he will love, well with the exception of Tower of Terror.
Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios
Favorite Character: Stitch
Favorite Movie: Inside Out
Favorite Princess: Aurora
Favorite Villain: Darth Vader
Favorite Ride: Star Tours tied with Test track
Favorite Show: Fantasmic!
Favorite Table Service Restaurant: 50s Prime Time
Favorite Counter Service: Casey’s Corner
Favorite Resort: The Boardwalk Inn – Animal Kingdom Lodge, he totally picks his resorts for the resort slide, even though he takes a while to warm up to the idea of going down them, once he does it doesn't stop.

Now that you know about us, I will tell you about our plans!!

 

[Jasperann]

For links

The Surprise
Travel Day
Day #1
Almost ruining the surprise #1
Day #2
Dessert Party thoughts
Day #3
Disney Waffle Recipe
Day #4
Revised Day #1
Day #5
Fast Passes made for first four days!!
Almost ruining the surprise #2
Daily life and Disney Bounding
Shopping and a little change to the surprise
Disney Bounding on the Simpler side
Surprise? What Surprise?
DD12... she knows and a Life update
Day #6
More shopping and finding things I forgot
More shopping and finding things I forgot part 2
Disney Bounding part 2
Flight changes
More shopping... will I ever stop?
Day #7
Final day!!!
Little stuff
Magic Bands arrive!

 

[Jasperann]

The surprise:

First let me share how we surprised them the first time (for our second trip). We had told them for months that my oldest DD and I were going to go to Disney on our own. Since they had been SO young our first trip and I knew we missed so much that my oldest had wanted to do but couldn’t with the young kids. And at first the trip started that way. Then the guilt started in… Why would I leave my other kids at home? Could I really break their hearts like that? The answer was not on this trip… (We did eventually do a mom and daughter trip for her graduation gift.)

So the trip evolved to include the whole family and my hubby already had the time off because he was going to be home with the kids. We were leaving the day after my then 5 year olds birthday (Kelsey). So I thought that would be a great way to do it! Put it in her birthday card! She was reading pretty well by that time and she could read it out loud. I searched high and low for the ‘perfect’ birthday card. I found it in a Tinkerbell card that when opened sang ‘You can fly’. Tinkerbell was Kelsey’s favorite character at that time so I knew she would love it.

Well the time came for her to open it. It was the last thing she was to open at her party. So she opened it and when it didn’t have money in it promptly put it down to pick up her gift… We had to say, ‘Wait, read it out loud!’, so she picked it back up and started to read it. She got to the end and looked up at Brittany and myself and said, ‘you don’t have to rub it in my face that you are going to Disney! That’s not nice.’ We were like, ‘read it again.’ At this point Emma seemed to kind of get it, and Xander was in his own little world. So she read it again and she looked back at us and said ‘why does it say we are going too?’ Uh… because you are! After that little conversation the girls started squealing and jumping up and down. Their brother just watched them.

We laugh about it now, but it was a near failure.

Which brings us to this surprise trip. We have debated how to surprise our three youngest with this trip. So I will share a few of our ideas. I think we’ve settled on one, but it keeps changing so maybe not. The girls have often said how they wish we could surprise them again…

Our first idea was to have a scavenger hunt the Sunday before we leave (we leave on Tuesday). I thought of making a video with Agent P and having them do a scavenger hunt through out our house for clues. The problem with this method is I work 10 hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of that week. So that idea was out. Although I still LOVE the idea! Sigh, maybe with grandkids. LOL

Our second idea was to wrap a box with the balloons and travel information for Christmas. Since we won’t be going for so long after that, we decided it wouldn’t work… that it wasn’t ‘really’ a surprise.

Our third idea, which seems to have stuck, is a little more elaborate. The morning of the 8th we are going to get up and take the kids to school with plans to pick them up for a ‘Dentist appointment’ before lunch. After dropping them off we need to come home and put the bags in the van, if I don’t do it the day before. Then take our fur babies to the boarder. Go grab our oldest from school (about a half an hour away). Then drop my hubby and my oldest off at the airport with all our stuff and run back to the school to get the kids.

Now here comes the tricky part, Eric and I almost always go and get the kids together when he is off work at the same time as I am… so they are going to question why he isn’t there. Well not ‘they’, really my very observant Kelsey will question why he isn’t and it will put a spot light on it. So we’ve come up with another tiny white lie that he is at the auto shop getting my tires fixed. They will accept that.

Shortly after getting the kids Eric is going to call me with his work phone (which isn’t saved in my phone so has a generic ring) and he will ‘cancel’ their dentist appointment. Well since I already have them out of school I will just take them with me to get tickets for another trip from the airport… This part has changed… I travel often for work so I plan on telling them that I need to run by the airport to check on my flight for a ‘work trip’ the next day. The only snag in this plan is parking in Long Term… because once again my very observant 11-year-old DD will notice. So I have to act like it was a mistake and just brush it off. It’s going to be hard without smiling from ear to ear.

Once in the parking spot and headed into the airport I plan on calling my DH to alert him to the fact that we are at the airport and I will see him when I get home. IE off the elevator where my oldest DD and him will be waiting with our carry ons, with Mickey ears attached and video camera to record the reaction to finding out we are going to Disney.

It is going to be Epic and I can’t wait to see how they react. I’m sure there will be crying and screaming and shock. Eeek!!

Have any of you ever surprised your kids? How did it go?

 

[ljcrochet]

We have surprised them once before (for our second trip), but they really didn't understand... and it was almost a complete fail. But a really funny story now, which I might share along the way. But because it is a surprise trip I really need an outlet for my plans... that is where you come in!

Exciting!
Your last surprise story is funny. We had tried to surprise my girls once when they were 4. We said we are going to FL to visit Pop-Pop and T. THis was the girls 5 or 6 disney trip and more than half of them had been with them, they had no reaction when we landed in orlando instead of southern Florida.

My younger kids will be missing school, but since they are very good students (my middle DD's both have straight A's without much effort) and my DS does not get 'grades' yet, but I've talked to his teacher already and she just wants a journal completed while we are gone. Which we do anyways

I can't believe you already spoke to the teacher, we are going soon and have not spoken to the teachers. I meant to at parent teacher conferences, but both girls conferences got hijacked with 5th grade committee stuff. I'm one of the co-chairs of the 5th grade committee as well as yearbook chair

Once in the parking spot and headed into the airport I plan on calling my DH to alert him to the fact that we are at the airport and I will see him when I get home. IE off the elevator where my oldest DD and him will be waiting with our carry ons, with Mickey ears attached and video camera to record the reaction to finding out we are going to Disney.

That is a great way to surprise them. We are thinking about surprising my girls for our upcoming Disneyland trip. We were thinking about telling them we are dropping DH off at the airport for a work trip- but not sure how to handle the dogs and the luggage. Unless we tell them we are going with him on his work trip.

 

[Jasperann]

Exciting!
Your last surprise story is funny. We had tried to surprise my girls once when they were 4. We said we are going to FL to visit Pop-Pop and T. THis was the girls 5 or 6 disney trip and more than half of them had been with them, they had no reaction when we landed in orlando instead of southern Florida.

Awe! I think if I had promised my girls to see Grandma and Grandpa they would have just thought we were going to be at Disney. LOL Until my mom passed away every trip we went on they came to visit us, which is why my kids thought that they lived in Disney. It was so funny when we realized that they thought that.

I can't believe you already spoke to the teacher, we are going soon and have not spoken to the teachers. I meant to at parent teacher conferences, but both girls conferences got hijacked with 5th grade committee stuff. I'm one of the co-chairs of the 5th grade committee as well as yearbook chair

Yeah, I brought it up at parent teacher conferences. We will be on our trip for the next conferences. Well we come back the day they are being held, so that was a little to late. I didn't want to forget to talk to her and it was the perfect time.

That is a great way to surprise them. We are thinking about surprising my girls for our upcoming Disneyland trip. We were thinking about telling them we are dropping DH off at the airport for a work trip- but not sure how to handle the dogs and the luggage. Unless we tell them we are going with him on his work trip.

We thought of that too. Telling them that they are going on a work trip with me, but I'm sure Kelsey would figure it out. She is a born detective.

 

[Jasperann]

Travel day:

We fly out of DTW at 2:30pm on the 8th. I’ve already shared our surprise plans in the last post. I’m hoping to be through security by 1:30 at the latest. With Eric and Brittany checking our bags it will make this more than possible. We will probably grab a sandwich (there is an Earl of Sandwich in our airport now so we might go there, yum). Our flight is supposed to land by 5:03pm. I am hopeful it is on time. With March weather you never know.

We will be taking Magical Express, I’m hopeful we will see this sign by 6:30:



With the new direct to room check in I hope we get a text telling us our room so that we can bypass the front desk. We will drop our stuff off in the room and then I’m sure our stomachs will be begging for our first day meal.

Casey’s corner a family favorite. YUM! Sad about the Cheese sauce though..




Since we will probably not arrive to MK until 7pm I plan on having our first FP scheduled for 6:45-7:45, followed by a second FP, and then our third FP for the parade at 9:00.

After our bellies are full of Disney food goodness, we will be off to our first Fast pass.

Can you guess what it is? It is our first ride every trip. We are a family with traditions darn it and they will not be deterred.



If you guessed Buzz then you’d be right. We are also very competitive and we ride this ride multiple times each trip. The only time I won was when our ride stopped and I maxed out my points.

That picture is a picture of my three youngest on the last trip we surprised them. They were so tiny. Where does the time go?

After we ride Buzz we will probably have a FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Peter Pan. It all depends on what is open when I do FP+. But I am not sure how the times will match up so there is a possibility of doing Monsters Laugh floor or another smaller no wait type ride. People mover is always a good one. It always makes me so excited for our trip when we do it at the start of our vacation.

After our second FP we will just take in the park. Maybe do some of the card game, so we can pick up cards on the way out or over by the Christmas store.

We will finish our night with the nighttime parade, because my hubby loves it. We might stay for Wishes but we have another night to do this so it depends on how tired everyone is.

I've run out of time for today, so I will be back with more updates later.

 

[Jasperann]

First full day:

Okay so our first full day is March 9th. I have us starting in Epcot. I really want to be there for rope drop so that I can see the Fountain opening show they are doing now. The Fountain really captivates me for some reason. (And a couple of my kids.) After the show we will join the mad dash to Test Track, probably a little late, behind the people that are not captivated by the fountain so early in the morning.

I think we will probably have a little wait when we arrive at Test Track. I’m okay with this, since we are not doing Fast Passes for Epcot this trip. Without Soarin being open we really do not need them. So I’m saving them for our second park of the day!

We have a breakfast ADR with two of our favorite characters for 10:20am. This ADR is the whole reason I added on the dining plan to our package… because it would be cheaper. LOL Right. Cheaper.

After Test Track we will make our way over to Garden Grill!

I cannot wait to try the waffles with nutella syrup! YUM! I didn’t know about the syrup until after I booked the breakfast. We are going because I’ve always wanted to eat at Garden Grill because Chip and Dale both meet there and they are a must for us (sometimes a few times a trip), but dinner really does not appeal to all of us.

After breakfast the plan is to do the majority of Future world. We must ride Figment or my son will revolt. If we didn’t ride anything after Test Track, which lets face it, is a possibility with the wait over there sometimes, and the games that tend to take my kids attention away for a little bit. Then we will ride Living with the Land right after breakfast, another must for our family.

We did the behind the seeds tour a few trips ago and that was very interesting. The kids even loved it. My hubby is the one with the green thumb in our family so he is the one that has used some of the ‘tips’ to create very green plants in our house. (He waters them with our fish tank water.) They really thrive.

But back to the trip...

After seeing the huge lemon and trying to find any hidden mickeys we have missed on previous rides we will head over to The Seas. I figure it will be about 12:30 before we are finished with Nemo and the fish tanks. Then FINALLY (according to my son every trip) we will ride Figment. Then walk over to the international gateway and hop on the boat to our next park!

Hollywood Studios!

Yay!

We will probably be arriving around 2 or 3, so I will make our first FP for …

I love this guy, he is so fun!! (this picture is not mine)

Probably scheduled for 2:30-3:30. That should give us enough time to get there just in time. It is another must for my son and one of my younger girls, although it makes my oldest DD . So she will sit this one out. Probably with a mickey head pretzel, she could live off of those.

I want to make our second FP for 3:30-4:30, or as close to that as I can get, for Toy Story Mania. I have mentioned that our family is very competitive on Buzz, well this Toy Story ride is no different and I usually get off of it with my arm hurting from pulling the gun so much.

I never win though. That usually goes to my oldest DD, she is going to school for lighting technician and is an expert on the spot light, so that is probably why she excels at the game. At least that is how I make myself feel better. My hubby comes in a close second and they should really ride in a car together, they would probably rock it even more. But my daughter loves to beat ‘me’, so I get stuck with her . I did ride with my son once and he also beat me, so maybe I’m just really bad at the game . Or he could just have lots of video game practice… I think I’ll go with that one next time.

After being beat into the ground on Toy story, we will head in the direction of Tower of Terror, which will be our next FP. However since I’m sure we will make it for the start of our Toy Story FP we will have some time to kill. So we will probably pick up a snack, because I’m sure we will start to get hungry by this point. A lot of times when we have a buffet/family style breakfast we do not tend to eat again until 4 or 5, and that is with a pre park ADR. But we have a big dinner for 7pm that we don’t want to ruin so we will just get a small snack to tide us over.

Maybe check out the new launch bay and see if any Jawa’s are out trading. We have a couple HS days so it isn’t a must do this first day. Hopefully our next FP time will be 4:30-5:30. I love it when they line up like that, but sometimes they don’t, so I will be prepared for that too. Whatever time it is we will arrive at the start of the FP time, I may try to bribe my son onto this ride depending on his mood at this point.

(He does love the Mickey bars...)

He has rode it in the past and said he liked it but never wanted to do it again… If I can’t get him on it then two of us will stay back with him and wait for the others and then the two of us and one of the others that wants to ride again will go in the FP line with his unused FP and our unused FP and ride.

After that is complete we will make our way to the buses, because we have a very yummy dinner to make it too!

Ohana!

We love this place. Well at least four of us love this place and that is good enough for us. The other two will just have to order the chicken nuggets or something. I know my son got a hot dog (which is not on the menu) last time we went, and his own hot fudge sundae. So they will not go hungry. And maybe they will decide that it looks good this time and eat what they bring to the table. One can hope anyways.

Since our ADR is for 7pm, after we are finished eating we might go over to MK and catch the fireworks.

I know they have extra magic hours this evening, but after our full day we will probably be too tired to stay for them (well most of us will be anyways, my oldest DD may choose to stay.)

After a wonderful day we will head back to AoA and crash (after some showers).

I have to say that writing out my plan is really helping me get a bigger picture. So even if no one follows along, I’m happy that I’ve decided to do this. I know that on our first full day we have a lot of travel time in there, but we are okay with that. We know going in. Now if it were a first trip I would probably be freaking out. The day of, because it would take that long for me to realize what I’ve done.

Flashback to our first trip:

On our very first trip we drove down (almost 24 hours in the car with our 4 kids and my 18 year old cousin). I had planned and planned on the boards for that trip. We were staying 6 days, camping in a tent at Fort Wilderness. I got all the ‘must’ do ADRs and all the pre-park meals because of the tips on the boards. I had my binder that I had poured over more hours than I could count . It was ALL planned out… or so I thought. That didn’t take into account arriving almost a full 12 hours before planned (9pm at night). We booked another night at the campground and we were putting up our brand new tent in the dark. Oh how fun that was. LOL Then trying to make those early, early, early ADRs after a few days was near impossible with my commando style touring of the parks.

On the third day I couldn’t wake up three of our group for our breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, so we left them sleeping and went without them. (My cousin stayed behind with the two that wouldn’t wake up). My hubby came back to our van drained of all power; the little kids had gone in it and watched movies on the DVD players we had hooked up. And it killed the van. All of that happened while I took the older two girls to MK to wait for my hubby while he got the rest of our group; only my phone was almost dead… so we didn’t actually find each other until after 2 or 3.

I had a melt down (full red face and tears) in the middle of Adventure Land over missing SO much of my plans. While showing my hubby my precious binder, needless to say, he took my binder from me and deposited it into the nearest trashcan. And we found that we like to tour the parks at a much more relaxed rate and we love to take in the little details. The rest of our trip turned out to be very magical. It really taught me to love Disney. It also helped my hubby to like it. He does not like the commando touring style at all.

I should probably go wrap some Christmas presents or something... Haven't even started!!

 

[ljcrochet]

I have to say that writing out my plan is really helping me get a bigger picture. So even if no one follows along, I’m happy that I’ve decided to do this. I know that on our first full day we have a lot of travel time in there, but we are okay with that. We know going in. Now if it were a first trip I would probably be freaking out. The day of, because it would take that long for me to realize what I’ve done.

I'm enjoying reading your plans. I know that writing it out helps get me organized. I think i'm talkin to myself in my PTR as well.

It was ALL planned out… or so I thought. That didn’t take into account arriving almost a full 12 hours before planned (9pm at night). We booked another night at the campground and we were putting up our brand new tent in the dark. Oh how fun that was. LOL Then trying to make those early, early, early ADRs after a few days was near impossible with my commando style touring of the parks.

This is too funny.

We drove down last year, wound up arriving the day before our reservation as well, but in the early afternoon. One of my girls were worried we wouldn't have a place to sleep. We didn't want to pay the cost for AKL so we stayed at ASmovies for one night. We did online check in while standing in a huge line to check in.

 

[Jasperann]

I'm enjoying reading your plans. I know that writing it out helps get me organized. I think i'm talkin to myself in my PTR as well.

This is too funny.

We drove down last year, wound up arriving the day before our reservation as well, but in the early afternoon. One of my girls were worried we wouldn't have a place to sleep. We didn't want to pay the cost for AKL so we stayed at ASmovies for one night. We did online check in while standing in a huge line to check in.

Our kids had similar thoughts. We probably would have been better off renting a hotel room for the night. Putting up a tent in the pitch dark after driving for 24 hours with a grumpy hubby was not a good mixture. Especially with my oldest DD, my cousin, and I erupting in fits of laughter while putting the tent up. It didn't make him any happier. LOL

 

[Jasperann]

The Surprise was almost ruined... by me. It is an on going joke with my hubby that it will be me that lets the cat out of the bag. Since I can not stop talking about Disney. Which in a round about way is a good thing, because when I talk about Disney it is normal.

Anyways, it was dinner time and Eric and I had been having a conversation this morning over breakfast (after the kids were at school) about maybe getting an ADR for Cinderella's Castle for Breakfast. We have always held back on doing a meal in the Castle because it just is not food that two of my kids will eat. Really though they do not eat much food that could be considered adventurous or sometimes even 'normal'... so them not liking the food really doesn't hold us back from going places anymore. They can always get the pizza or nuggets they want later.

So at dinner I brought up the fact that I looked for an ADR for the meal today... Uh... Right... So Emily my Disney girl 'knows' ADRs have to be booked at 180 days, and she is pretty good at math, so she right away was like 'How are you looking up ADRs for our trip in 2017?' -- That is what we say we are talking about when we talk about what we are going to possibly plan for our next trip. Clever, I know.

In response I'm sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights ... Uh... ... 'I was just doing a what 'if' search. To see if any would be open if it was already 2016 and we were looking for 2017.' Nailed it! I hope.

She took my response at face value, if not a little confused. When she realizes we have a trip she just may have trust issues for the rest of her life. I'm really surprised my DD detective didn't join in the conversation, with her 'theories', which are pretty accurate.

After all of that I do not think the surprise is ruined, and I did not book the ADR for Cinderella's Castle. There was a pre-park one and everything... Oh well... maybe I'll change my mind again and book it.

 

[Jasperann]

Day 2

Thursday, March 10th, our second full day. It will be an early morning; we have a pre-park ADR for 8am at Magic Kingdom. We are trying Be Our Guest. We’ve tried lunch and dinner on previous trips, and thought breakfast (especially on the dining plan) was a good idea. I have a few ideas on what I want to order.

or

Those amazingly mouth watering pictures are not mine (I can not take such amazing pictures in that place)... but they really make me wish I've had both. They look so good!

After we are done with breakfast we plan to line up near Seven Dwarfs Mine ride to get in an early ride. I’ve heard mixed reviews on how they are handling the crowds from Be Our Guest. If they really do hold people back until the crowd from the front of the park gets back there, then we may just go over to Peter Pan. We will spend about two hours in Fantasyland doing some rides/shows.


I plan on having our first Fast Pass for Pirates, probably 10:00-11:00. We will plan to be there a little towards the end of the FP time. Our second FP will follow at 11:00-12:00 for Big Thunder Mountain. Then we will eat lunch somewhere and have a third Fast Pass for Jungle Cruise or Splash Mountain 12:00-1:00. I’m kind of leaning towards Jungle Cruise, but I’m not sure yet. I have Splash on my spreadsheet…lol


We will do our third FP and then grab another one for later (5pm or 9pm). Make a quick stop at one of the card places to open the game if we haven’t already done so, and then stop at the firehouse for another set of cards on the way out.


It’s time to go spend some time in the Big Blue Pool!! We should be in the pool by 2pm if travel works out okay. The kids will want to spend a while here, but we will need to be back in our room by 4pm to change and go back to the Magic Kingdom to get a boat to Fort Wilderness for Hoop Dee Doo! It is our first time for this show/meal. I’m looking forward to it. Emily actually asked to go here on our next trip, so it is like a tiny surprise for her.


After the show we will be going back to Magic Kingdom and if we have not seen Wishes yet, we will see it this evening. We may have a FP booked from earlier (wishful thinking - Unless I just make our third FP for Wishes ), probably Buzz or maybe one of the meet and greets if they are open. MK is open until 11pm and we may stick around until closing. With the easier day it is possible even with the early wake up. Our next day is pretty laid back in regards to Disney days, and we could sleep in if we wanted. (We do not normally sleep too late at Disney…)


In all my planning this day really hasn’t changed much. Although this is the day I almost switched for the Castle... Which still may happen.

We know we want to do some pool time if it is warm enough (and or not raining) and that we have Hoop Dee Doo. So Magic Kingdom is the only park we will be in for this day. I have a couple other days where our plans have REALLY altered… lol And I’m sure they could change the day of too, since we often do that too.


We play bus roulette in the morning and go to the first park that a bus comes for when we are farther into our vacation. It is an adventure.


On our last trip it was an adult only trip with my hubby and I and on our first day we waited for a Magic Kingdom bus for about 40 minutes before just getting on an Epcot bus and then going in riding Space Ship Earth and turning around and hopping on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We finally ate at Casey’s corner, and then rode a few rides and even made it for our first Fast Pass time. I love knowing how to make it around the world.


On our first few trips we had no clue that Epcot had a back exit. Well, I ‘knew’ that there was one, I just could not find it for the life of me… Then we stayed at the Boardwalk and the mystery was solved and we were mystified that walking from Epcot to Hollywood studios was a possibility.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Holiday!

 

[Jasperann]

So today I have a lot of down time. Really I have a lot of down time until I go back to work on the 4th. I'm on vacation until then. But down time leads to trying to tweak our plans. I actually just went to the Disney site and found out that there are Dessert party available for Wishes on our first night, for $330.00 for our family... Eeek! I really really want to do a dessert party but every time I think of doing it I price it and it just doesn't make sense when for a fraction of that amount we could buy what ever sweet we wanted and see Wishes for free.

When I brushed aside my excitement at some space still being open I got curious and decided to check for the other dessert party for the Saturday we will be there at Hollywood studios for the Star Wars fireworks... and... there was open space for that one too, for the small price of $384.00. Double Eeek! I am not sure I will ever do a dessert party for those prices. It just costs too much for my family of 6.

That is a little depressing. But in reality I would rather spend that kind of money on other stuff at Disney. So I guess the Dessert parties will not happen for me or my family any time soon. I honestly think the same thing happens when I think of eating in the castle and knowing my family will not eat half of what they offer. I just can not justify spending that kind of money when I know we would be happier with other stuff.

We actually make our own dessert party for Illuminations. We grab a drink of our choice and a few desserts from around the world (mainly Germany caramel shop) and we do not usually spend more than 80.00 for the 6 of us and we grab a spot and eat our sweets as we wait for the show. So we could probably do the same for Wishes and the Star Wars fireworks. Really we will probably be too full for the Star Wars one because we have H&V that evening at almost 6pm so we will have just ate.

Have any of you done the dessert parties? What did you love about them? Anything you didn't love?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in! We too are surprising our little one in march with a trip. unfortunately it will just be a quick one though. Hope you were able to get the discount on your room that was released this morning.

 

[brb1006]

What characters do you remember meeting at the Magic Kingdom or any where at WDW?

 

[Jasperann]

Joining in! We too are surprising our little one in march with a trip. unfortunately it will just be a quick one though. Hope you were able to get the discount on your room that was released this morning.

I have found that I am way more excited for this trip, because of the surprise, than I have been for any other trips. And I'm pretty excited for all the other trips. My TA was able to get the discount, I'm not sure how she managed it though because we arrive before the discount starts (but are there when it does) and I know in the past that it was not something that was allowed. You had to have your start day during the time for it to be applied. But I have the e-mail that proves she did it. Saved a little bit of money! Actually since she keeps applying the discounts we have saved about 700.00. Which is pretty good.

What characters do you remember meeting at the Magic Kingdom or any where at WDW?

Hi!

I think the characters that made the biggest impact on me are Chip and Dale because when I was a kid and we went they played with me a long time (this was before lines for characters when they would wander around the park on there own). I had a hat on and they played keep away. It was a lot of fun. One of my girls has had almost the same experience with them. Another random character meet I remember was some type of robot at Epcot (sort of like Push in tomorrowland), he was talking to the crowd and my sister was holding my nephew (I was maybe 11) and the robot came over to us and asked if he was attached to her hip and carried on for a while with us. We laughed a lot.

More recently it was again Chip and Dale, my oldest and I decided to wait in line for them without our family (smaller groups get better interaction) and Chip and Dale started arguing over us like we were nuts, they spent a long time with us, probably 5-10 minutes... and then when it was time to for them to leave Chip grabbed onto my daughter waved goodbye to me and started walking away with her. She was all kinds of red, but it really cemented her love for the pair.

Do you have any memories of meets?

 

[rideswithchrist]

I LOVE the surprise element, we told our kiddos we would not be going to disney next year but we are surprising them in September too! We will be driving there so we going to be planning on HOW to surprise them without spoiling it

 

[Jasperann]

I LOVE the surprise element, we told our kiddos we would not be going to disney next year but we are surprising them in September too! We will be driving there so we going to be planning on HOW to surprise them without spoiling it

I have always loved the surprise element when I read other peoples TRs. I just end up tearing up and crying happy tears for the family. So I fully expect I will do the same this time around for my kids. LOL

When we surprised our kids the first time we were driving down too, so we decided to surprise them the day before. It made for a very long drive. I think if we did that again we would have to come up with some other surprise.

My middle girls often say they want to be surprised again, so I'm hoping that this one works out the way it is planned... but then things rarely do work out the way they are planned. At least I have still managed to keep it a secret. 70 days and counting!! Only 10 days until Fast Passes can be made!! Eeep!! It is going to fly by now!

 

[Jasperann]

Day 3

Friday, March 11th

We are planning on going to Animal Kingdom on this day. The park is open until 6:30, when we get here at park opening we are normally done with the park no later than 3pm. So I figure even if we get a late start that we will still have tons of time. I plan on making our FP reservations starting at 10 or 10:30, because even with a late start I know we will be here by then. Our family seriously does not know the meaning of sleeping in.

Our Fast Passes are pretty much the same each time at AK. We get a FP for the Safari, Kali, and Everest. Sometimes we add in Finding Nemo or Lion King. I really love the seats at Finding Nemo, but there really is no bad seat in the place. So it isn’t a must.

My kids (and myself) are scared of Dinosaur so we do not normally ride that one at all. Although I have talked one of my kids into riding it with me again, I need to face my fears. LOL She actually rode it when she was six with her dad and then went on it again with me, because I had never been on it. When we got off I was like “WHY did you ride that again?!?! It was TERRIFING!” Her response was “I kept my eyes closed the whole time, and you had never gone on it.” My sweet, sweet girl… We have not been back on it since, she is twelve now. It’s time.

My oldest and one of my middle girls (not my twelve year old from above) like to ride Primevil whirl. We laugh like crazy people the whole time. I’m not sure what it is, but it is probably the fact that it’s like an evil version of a Tilt-a-Whirl and we also find those amusing. Which is funny because I cannot ride the Tea Cups if anyone touches the wheel in the middle, I would end up sick the rest of the day. But we will wait in line to ride the evil roller coaster, if it isn’t that long of a wait, and my hubby will take our son and our other daughter over to the play area. We will meet them after.

Back to our plans for the day… Well, with AK we really do not have ‘plans’ we do what we find as we find it. If we see a character with a short meet we do it, if an animal trail catches our attention we do it, if we decided to go to the animal hospital type thing we do. Which we often do, I think it’s because we have SO many animals at home and the kids love to see if there is anything they don’t already know. Usually they know everything.

My hubby has a million snakes (not really it’s more like 50 or 60 right now), he breeds them, and so the kids have lots of experience with the snakes. We also have a lot of small furry rodents due to him breeding them to feed the snakes. We have rats, mice, and African soft furs (these are adorable, but scared of everything). We also have a pet Chinchilla, 3 cats, 2 guinea pigs (they are my daughters) and 2 beagles. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, we have a few gold fish that my daughter brought home from a science class… and they must really like their tank because they just keep getting bigger and bigger…

...

...

...

Are you over your shock now? It usually takes people a few minutes to get past the fact that we live in a house with so many snakes. LOL Believe it or not, I use to be deathly afraid of snakes, and I fear it was me getting past my fear that opened the door for my hubby to start breeding and selling the things.

Anyways, after we are done with petting the goats (which we do not own, but my mom did while she was alive, she had a few on her farm, as well as a few geese and a peacock). We will probably head towards Flights of Wonder. It is a family favorite and a must do. We’ve been picked for different parts of the show, my hubby has been picked to photo the owl twice and now that he knows the way to get picked I have to hold him down so other families get a chance. On our last trip we were sitting there watching the show and the next thing I realize is my hubby is walking up on stage… I don’t know where I was when he was jumping up and down to be picked, but I do know I was shocked to see him on the stage. He was sitting on the other side of my kids, so he probably planned it.

Although looking back at the pictures I have realized that the owl they use is different each time. The other picture is a white faced barn owl and this one is not.

It may be lunchtime by this point and we are planning on doing a walk up at Yak and Yeti. We have the laundry’s card and do not have to have an ADR to be seated. We typically only have to wait 15 minutes for a table. It’s nice, but sometimes I feel guilty (especially when people try to walk up and are told 2 hours), even though we paid to have the ability to do so. It is freeing not needing to be at the place at a certain time. So it is money well spent (that technically you get back on your next purchase). Although last time we went we ended up at Yak and Yeti prior to the bird show so it may go that way too.

After lunch we will do another FP for Everest or Kali. My girls would ride Kali over and over and over again, and they have. Especially on the chilly days that no one else wants to go on it, they will go from the exit to the entrance over and over again. We will happily shoot at them with the water as they go by. The downfall with this is that they usually want to go back to the room and change, if it is cold. With my oldest now 19, they probably could go on their own and we can meet up with them later. After they are done we will do the animal trail near Kali if they are staying (even if they are not those of us that are dry will do it). Then make our way to Everest or Finding Nemo. We normally do a circle of the park, and we do Nemo or Lion King on one day and the other on the second partial day.

Assuming my family will not leave me to go back to the room we will continue on with our day and finish up in Dinoland or with It’s tough to be a bug, which is loads of fun as long as you do not have a toddler that is scared easily with you… I feel so bad for those little kids that end up clutching at their parents in terror. We have thankfully never had that problem and we end up laughing a lot, maybe having a few startled screams (those dang spiders). I also was stung for the first time on our last trip because I completely forgot when it was going to happen and didn’t sit up in time. I’m pretty sure I swore. It hurts!

After we are done for the day we will head back to the resort and either swim and relax or make a trip to Disney Springs aka DTD. It depends on the weather. We might do both. If we go to DTD we will do a walk up to T-Rex for dinner and some shopping before going back to the resort to crash. If we swim we will probably just eat at the resort, or maybe even head out to Epcot and grab some stuff from the booths. I guess it depends on the time and weather.

One year we had such horrible rain (it was actually our first trip and the same dates) that if I were to write a Trip report for that I would have named it swimming out of Animal Kingdom. We had gone into Finding Nemo to a light drizzle and when we emerged it was down pouring. I had never seen rain that heavy in my life. We could barely see two feet in front of us and finding our waterlogged stroller was oh so fun… I’m pretty sure it floated out along with us. The rain was up to my mid calf area and I had to take my flip-flops off because they kept trying to float off my feet. My girls were so tiny that they were wading through the water that was almost past their knees. It was an experience for sure. LOL I think it wouldn’t have been as bad if we weren’t staying in a tent and if the rain hadn’t been so cold. They did have some cast members out with brooms… not sure what that was going to do to the river on the sidewalks. I was just glad no gators were around.

We’ve also had a similar experience in Epcot, but the water wasn’t as deep. It was maybe just past my ankle. We had been in Innovations and when we went to leave the rain was crazy, so we stayed for a little longer. Maybe 15 minutes later there was barely a sign that it had rained that hard. There were CM’s out with brooms that day too. It was a very warm day at Epcot that day, with the rain on and off. We actually were walking around the WS when it started to drizzle a little later and my hubby was like ‘I could handle the rain like this all day.’ And not even a minute later the heavens opened up and we made a mad dash into the stores in China. We ended up with really cute (and cheap) umbrellas from that little store. The kids still have them. So now we always say we need to go buy umbrellas from China if it starts raining. I don’t think we spent more than 20.00 for all of us to have one. Much cheaper than the ponchos and much cooler, I can’t handle the sauna the ponchos become during the humid and warm days it rains.

How do you handle the rain at Disney? I actually love it when it rains because it clears the parks out.

 

[Jasperann]

Not sure if any of you are interested in recipes, but this morning (for Brunch really) I made some waffles that said they are the same recipe that they use in Disney for them. They were pretty good. I found the recipe on theDisneyChef if any one wants to see the blog post about it... I will share it here:

Mickey Waffles
4 Eggs, separated
1-2 Tablespoons sugar (I would go with more they were not that sweet with 2)
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter or margarine, melted and cooled to room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla (you can never have too much!! lol)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat egg yolks in a large bowl until the sugar is thoroughly mixed and the yolks are thick and sunny colored. Add the milk, cooled melted butter, and vanilla extract and stir until combined. Then add all at once flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well, but be sure not to over mix (over mixed batter will be frothy with lots of bubbles). If the mixture is too thick, add more milk until the mixture is like 'thick pudding.'

In a separate bowl, using a mixer, beat egg whites until stiff (like meringue). Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not mix.

Bake with a waffle maker (we used out Mickey mouse one). They are very fluffy and they expand while cooking.

My family did say that they were just like Disney waffles. I thought they were good... I do not normally eat Disney waffles so I can not compare them..

If you try them you will have to let me know how they are!! I did add more vanilla than it called for and should have added a little more sugar. I love making Disney foods at home!

 

[rideswithchrist]

To see if there is something your kiddos don't know, have you been on the train to Rafiki's Wildlife Express?
we missed it but I thought my kids would really like it so we are going to plan for it this year. My 8YO adores animals and is always reading about them.