Our "Big Summer Blowout" ~ Packed with Celebrations & Surprises!

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Woo Hoo!




TRIP DATE ~ August 19 - 30, 2014.
(Originally planned for April, but that’s a story for another time… )

Our Big Summer Blowout is filled with
milestones, reasons to celebrate,
and lots of surprises for my family.
Love the planning!
[FONT=“Arial”]


The Cast of Characters[/FONT]


Here we are on our last trip in 2010
​

* Me ~ Disney loving mom of three, who is celebrating one year of being cancer free!
Disney Trip # 11 {First trip at age 6 ~ 1975}

* DH ~ who doesn’t love Disney as much as the rest of us, and who doesn’t know our trip is a Big Summer Blowout 12 days long…
Disney Trip # 9 {First trip at age 9 ~ 1977)

* DD 15 ~ who is looking forward to Disney Bounding for this trip! As a teenager she can be very hard to please, but she loves our family trips to Disney.
Disney Trip # 7 {First trip at 18 months ~ 2000}

* DD 13 ~ who is the 2nd biggest Disney fan in the house. She helps me plan, but she is in for a big surprise ~ We will celebrate her 14th birthday at Disney. More about that later….
Disney Trip # 6 {First trip at 8 months ~ 2001}

* DS 12 ~ who loves Donald Duck, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, technology & imagineering…
Disney Trip # 5 (First trip at 10 months ~ 2002)



LINKS & UPCOMING POSTS ~
* Our Countdown Calendar ~ Hooray Double Digits!!
* We Are Going When!? We Are Staying Where?!
* Do you know what Disney Bounding is? (Pictures ~ post 15)
* It's like an ADR Wizard...Website that lets you search for blocks of dates! (post 18)
* Our ADR's
* Making FP + Plans
* Plus Some Super Surprises…And Lots of Photos…..

2005


2010


April 2013
Shortly after I was declared "cancer-free" which is the reason for this trip...

​

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Less than 100 days until our "Big Summer Blowout!"

We are counting the days until we depart of August 19!

Here's the countdown calendar my DD13 helped make...
(I also plan on making a 25 day countdown calendar with trading pins...I will post a picture when it's finished).

 

[freckles04]

The picture of Oaken that greeted me when I opened this thread got me laughing. Very cute & clever!

You have a lovely family. Congrats on being 1 year cancer-free. A friend of mine just got diagnosed with breast cancer and had her first chemo today. I am hoping that she will be where you are soon.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

DS at All Star Movies in 2004...Where will we stay for this trip?

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

We Are Going When?!
This trip was first planned for April 2014, during spring break, to celebrate being one year cancer free. After using too many snow days this winter, our spring break was shortened. So, I rescheduled the trip for AUGUST 19 – 30, 2014. Now, I will be 1 year and 4 months cancer free for the trip…Even better!

We Are Staying Where?!
Or Way Too Much Hotel Hopping Before We Even Arrive...

Booked: The Dolphin ~ April 2014
* Thought my DH would like a hotel that was a little “less Disney”

Switched to: Port Orleans Riverside ~ April 2014
* Panicked about whether or not I could book Fast Pass + from the Dolphin so I switched to POR

Switched trip dates ~ Port Orleans Riverside ~ August 2104
* Spring Break was shortened because of too many snow days so I rebooked the trip for August

Switched to: All Star Movies ~ August 2014
* Great deal so I booked two rooms so we could get 4 beds & 2 bathrooms cheaply!

Switched to: Pop Century ~ August 2014
* Switched again, another good deal with United miles…


So, as of now, AUGUST 20 – AUGUST 29, I believe we will be staying at...

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Thanks for joining in freckles04! Sending positive energy to you and your friend. Planning my trip helped me get through everything, giving me something specific to focus on when I was feeling down. It helped my kids, too. Now we can't wait to celebrate!

 

[mamamaleficent]

Joining in...Your countdown is very cute and what an exciting thing to be celebrating. Congrats on being Cancer free!!!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Thanks Mamamaleficent!

And to the DIS boards!!

 

[Denovagirl]

Wow! Congrats on being cancer-free, what a great reason to celebrate with a trip!! You MUST get a "Im celebrating" button to put that on!!

Pop! Wooohoo! What fun!!

Cant wait to see more plans!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

So Much to Do, So Much Fun to Plan!!

DONE...
* Hotel Reservations - POP ~ August 20 - 29
* Most ADR's (Tentative itinerary coming soon...)
* Park Passes purchased (7 day park hoppers)
* Memory Maker purchased & linked on MDE
* Wishes Dessert Party booked as a surprise to thank my family for their love & support!

TO DO LIST...
* Finalize ADR's (Need to add 'Ohana!!)
* Finalize Magic Bands
* Choose which water park
* Upgrade park passes (Water Park & Disney Quest...)
* Consider ordering a cake for our 21st anniversary? for DD's 14th birthday?
* Consider arranging for a welcome basket delivery
* Book a mini photo session (?)
* Plan surprises & gifts We've always done Tinkerbell gifts, so why stop now? But now that they are older, I have to get more creative...

PRE-TRIP PROJECTS
* Plan family movie nights
* Plan Disney Bounding shopping trip with DDs
* Plan homemade t-shirt projects
* Finish Disney trading pin count down calendar
* Make trip buttons for our celebrations ~ 21st anniversary, 14th birthday, 1 year cancer free...
* Make autograph books?
* Other??

My girls want to celebrate my one year anniversary, so I'm thinking of making some type of button. Here's a first attempt at a design...Maybe something like this for one day that we are there...Maybe for the Wishes Dessert Party since that's my night to celebrate with my family.... (The rest of the celebrations will be for my DD's 14th and/or our 21st anniversary. So nice to have so many good things to celebrate )

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Thanks for joining my PTR Denovagirl!

I'm following yours...love the photos and the crafts....I'll be adding what I can!

 

[annegirl]

Joining! Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary! I am excited to see the rest of your plans.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I am following along. We will be checking into POP right after your family leaves (August 31st).

I love the Tinker Bell pin you are working on. Congrats on your 1 year anniversary.

 

[Alysa]

LOVE your trip report!
Congrats on being cancer free!
Love the photos of you and your adorable kids. Great one with Pooh and Tigger. Love the countdown calendar. What a great idea using pins on the 25 day one! Can't wait to see a photo of that!
Questions: What is Disney bounding? And what is a memory maker?
How great about the fireworks cruise, I always wanted to try that!
Love it! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Annegirl, Oregon Mom to WDW & Alysa!

Thanks for joining and thanks for the congrats and well wishes

I will be adding more soon, and answering more questions...

Up next...The answer to Alysa's question: What is Disney Bounding?!! (with pics)

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

So what is Disney Bounding, you ask?

Well, my teenage girls taught me about it. They discovered it on Pinterest. It is putting together fashionable outfits inspired by Disney characters...or even rides or parks....So, since my girls love to shop for clothes and have pinned so many cool Disney Bound outfits on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun to shop and put together our own Disney Bound outfits for the trip! They still like character t-shirts, and will have a few for the trip, but I know they would prefer making up their own fun Disney inspired outfits.

Here are some examples from Pinterest. They are just to give you an idea of what Disney Bounding is. We will be getting shorts or sun dresses because we are going in August, and sandals just for dinner or sneakers that will work for the parks....

If you want to see more, go to Pinterest or google images and search for Disney Bound outfits. Enjoy!!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Those outfits were great. I will have to look for more. I had no idea. I would rather buy my kids something they might wear again outside of a Disney Park.

 

[Alysa]

So cute! My daughter would love that! I'll show her when she gets home today!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Have you seen this site yet? Great ADR search site...

Soon I will post our tentative itinerary and our ADR's, but in the meanwhile, I wanted to share an ADR search site...

Have you seen this yet? It's a site that will search a block of dates for ADR's! This is cool! It's like an ADR Wizard!!!

http://********************/diningSearch.php

If the link doesn't work, it's (without the spaces):
http:// disney dvc res ale .com /diningSearch .php


I’ve got Be Our Guest & the Wishes Dessert Party….
I need pixie dust for ‘Ohana!

I adjusted my dates for my trip, and ended up losing 'ohana on our last night...Well, it turns out that's a really hard meal to book so I am having trouble re-booking it for another night. I'm using the link above to search for more than one day at a time, hoping to add a night at 'ohana to this trip!



Hope this helps someone else. Enjoy!

 

[Emilyswish]

Joining in!

Love the Disney Bounding outfits!

Congrats on being cancer free!

We will there during the same time.