1st family WDW trip EVER! June 2018

[VandVsmama]

I think that I'll probably switch around our Epcot day so that we'll go to the Japan pavilion in the evening at some point.

The microscopic shorts really are annoying. On top of that, I'm kind of done with all of the shirts that have the shoulders cut out. My kids hate those shirts yet so many girls' clothing departments seem to have them. AND they equally can't stand girls' t-shirts that are tight and stick to them like glue. They say that it ends up feeling a lot hotter than it actually is.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I think that I'll probably switch around our Epcot day so that we'll go to the Japan pavilion in the evening at some point.

The microscopic shorts really are annoying. On top of that, I'm kind of done with all of the shirts that have the shoulders cut out. My kids hate those shirts yet so many girls' clothing departments seem to have them. AND they equally can't stand girls' t-shirts that are tight and stick to them like glue. They say that it ends up feeling a lot hotter than it actually is.

No joke. I've been slowly picking up pairs of shorts for my 10 and 13yo for our June trip, and they are not fans of the short shorts either. They hate Justice with a passion. Plus they can't even wear them to school (well, if the dress code were actually enforced anyways, my kids are rule followers) They really like the ones at Target, they have short that is not booty short, and they have the slightly longer ones too. Also, Columbia makes an outdoor short for youth that is somewhere between booty and Burmuda, and they are perfect for Disney. They are quick dry material, super light, and very comfortable. I found them at Dick's here in Gilbert, but Amazon sometimes has them too.

I go a little crazy making t-shirts for our trips, so the shirts aren't an issue for us. I get nice light t-shirts from Amazon (Bella+Canvas) and Disney them up.

 

[VandVsmama]

9 more days of the school year! Yahoo! YDD is going on 3 days in a row of field trips next week while the older kids are taking end of year exams. Then starting Thursday of next week, their 'project week' starts. This weekend is, in a way, going to suck because ODD has tons of studying to do for next week's tests. But I promised YDD that she and I would do just a mother-daughter thing and last weekend was ODD's turn on Saturday evening. So this weekend is me & YDD's turn. I don't know yet what we'll do. Probably go out to eat somewhere and I'll take her to the mall to buy her something special or something like that.

Our magic bands arrived day before yesterday! I'm going to be sure to pack them in my carry-on bag so they don't go missing or misplaced. I've already put all of them in a ziplock bag and they're sitting on our kitchen counter.

The kids' school has assigned a summer reading book for each grade. I thought, "OMG, seriously? Can we just get through this school year first?"

DH said that he expects that he'll be bringing home a fair amount of convention "swag," so he wants to bring a 2nd suitcase just for that. Um ok...? I told him that I'd recommend he pick a bag that's collapsible/softsided and that he can put it in his regular suitcase. But knowing my DH, who always overpacks, he'll fill that 2nd suitcase half with clothes and he won't wear all of the clothes.

3 weeks and counting! 3 weeks from tomorrow and we will be on a plane to Orlando!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Our magic bands arrived day before yesterday! I'm going to be sure to pack them in my carry-on bag so they don't go missing or misplaced. I've already put all of them in a ziplock bag and they're sitting on our kitchen counter.

I ALWAYS stress about this! I also worry that they will get lost in transit too. Oye.

The kids' school has assigned a summer reading book for each grade. I thought, "OMG, seriously? Can we just get through this school year first?"

When did you kids get a serious summer reading list? Our school just suggests you keep reading over the summer. I kind of wish it was a hard list, it would make it easier for me to get them to read the books.

3 weeks and counting! 3 weeks from tomorrow and we will be on a plane to Orlando!

YEAH!!!! So excitied for you!!!! It will be the slowest but probably the quickest 3 weeks for you!

 

[VandVsmama]

When did you kids get a serious summer reading list? Our school just suggests you keep reading over the summer. I kind of wish it was a hard list, it would make it easier for me to get them to read the books.


YEAH!!!! So excitied for you!!!! It will be the slowest but probably the quickest 3 weeks for you!

The summer reading list is basically just 1 book per grade level. Apparently, they're going to be doing some assignments at the start of the next school year based on each grade level's book. I'm going to purchase the books before our trip since we'll have many hours in planes and airports, so we will have time to kill. The school uses this website called Parent Square to send out announcements so yesterday, they posted the reading list on there.

 

[VandVsmama]

Disney & life update!

Today is the last day of ODD's tests at school. YAY! Yesterday she had a really tough test in 1 particular subject and we got word from the teacher that she did fine. We went out for dinner yesterday evening to celebrate. SO proud of all of her hard work. It was a really good 'life lesson' sort of experience for her...having to work your butt off for something. It's one thing to have your parents lecture you about it. It's something else entirely for you to actually go through it and learn that by experiencing it yourself. YDD has also dramatically brought up her math grade, so we are super proud of her, too. It's a pretty darn good end of the school year. School gets out a week from tomorrow. DH is chaperoning YDD's class on a field trip today. Say your prayers that he will survive. LOL!

Our magic bands for our 1 night stay at AKL arrived 2 days ago. I'm going to put them in a separate ziplock bag labelled as being for AKL so we don't get them mixed up with our other magic bands.

DH, who usually is sort of 'meh' about Disney trips, is starting to get excited. I can tell because he keeps talking about it. :-D

So we'll have a lot to celebrate on our trip! An awesome end to the school year. DH's birthday, YDD's birthday, ODD's birthday. our first WDW trip. MY first visit in 40 years!

 

[VandVsmama]

I changed an ADR again! Now we are down to the following:

• Sun 6/10 - Hoop Dee Doo at 6:15 pm
• Mon 6/11 - Via Napoli at 11:35 am
• Thurs 6/14 - MK fireworks dessert party
• Fri 6/15 - Boma at 5:50 pm

I'm going to use mobile ordering for all of our in-park QS meals to reduce the wait time. I know that WDW is often all about ADRs and TS restaurants, but I don't really want the focus of our vacation to be around dining reservations.

2 more weeks until we leave! I'm ready to leave now. So burned out.

 

[Monykalyn]

Our magic bands for our 1 night stay at AKL arrived 2 days ago. I'm going to put them in a separate ziplock bag labelled as being for AKL so we don't get them mixed up with our other magic bands

Just so you know-if they are linked to your account (and staying onsite they are automatically linked) the magic bands are interchangeable. I have nearly every color and switch to match my clothes LOL!

So close now! We leave a week from tomorrow. I need to start getting stuff together...

Hope you enjoy Hoop Dee Doo-we are staying at the Fort and I thought of booking this-the reviews are almost unanimously great.

 

[VandVsmama]

Oh boy, now we are less than 2 weeks away from our departure! I am really burned out right now, so I am REALLY looking forward to this vacation. Work has been so busy and will continue to be right up until the day before we leave.

I'm happy to report that DH survived the field trip chaperone experience. He took a looooong nap after he got home from it. HAHAHA!!

Originally when I started planning this trip, I was going to try to cram in as much fun every day for the entire week. But we're from Arizona and I'm not used to sweaty crock pot weather, so I pared things way back. I am pretty certain that the high humidity will wipe us out by lunch time every day. And I don't want my family to feel like this vacation is like a long death march or something.

so here's some of the things I've kicked around in my trip planning...either kicked them around here in this PTR or kicked around the idea in my head:

• horseback riding at Ft Wilderness - kind of pricey per person. But the time of day was the killer on this one. It's in the afternoon. Bleh.
• The Void at Disney Springs - I had us signed up to do this at Disneyland back in March, but I cancelled it so we could use the $$ for WDW instead. If we had done this at DS, it would be on departure day. I don't really want to be wandering around an outdoor mall on departure day. I'd rather take advantage of pool time at AKL instead. Plus, we'll be back at Disneyland again in the future and we will do The Void at that time.
• tea at Grand Floridian - I considered this for just me, ODD, and YDD. But it's too expensive and my kids will hate most of the food.
• breakfast, lunch, or dinner at Ohana - the food is just not that appealing to us for any meal. Plus, I despise bread pudding. My kids hate desserts with caramel. So it would be money down the drain just to see Stitch. Bleh, no thanks.
• Chef Mickey's at CR - I'm not interested in getting food poisoning and I don't want to pay that huge price tag for a Mickey meet & greet. If we have time to meet Mickey in 1 of the parks, that's great. But not meeting him is not going to ruin the entire trip.
• Be Our Guest - we are just not Beauty & the Beast megafans. And after looking at the menu for BOG, there's not much that my kids wold eat. So forget it.

One thing I just read about which doesn't cost that much is a wagon ride at Ft Wilderness. Looks like it's $12/person, first come first served, and they do it daily at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. That's probably doable and it would be nice for an evening when we're burned out on park time.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

You are getting close!!!! So exciting!

Be Our Guest - we are just not Beauty & the Beast megafans. And after looking at the menu for BOG, there's not much that my kids wold eat. So forget it.

We loved the restaurant itself, it is beautiful!!! But the food is just ok these days... meh.

breakfast, lunch, or dinner at Ohana - the food is just not that appealing to us for any meal. Plus, I despise bread pudding. My kids hate desserts with caramel. So it would be money down the drain just to see Stitch. Bleh, no thanks.

Ohana is pricey, if the food doesn't appeal to you it is def not worth it!

 

[VandVsmama]

We are getting closer every day! YIPPEE!! I dragged out my suitcase this morning and took inventory. Put our magic bands in my travel purse (labelled in a ziplock bag). Squirreled away some laundry detergent pods in a ziplock bag because I'm going to do laundry halfway through the trip. Today is the kids' last day of school, so they are pretty happy campers!

 

[Monykalyn]

I think you are pretty smart to pare back-especially if you don't think food will appeal to you. The afternoons get H-O-T and the humidity can just wipe you out.
There are places to meet Mickey in every park-the character outpost at DAK often times has shorter waits (just keep an eye on wait times).

We leave Saturday. Not ready, but oh well!

 

[VandVsmama]

Well, I cancelled another ADR. This time for Boma on Fri 6/15 for dinner. Since both of our kids will be considered adults on this trip, I just wasn't interested in paying $50-$60/person for a buffet. Even if the food was fabulous. Meh. I mean, once you figure in tip and tax, then we're looking at ~ $280-$310 or so for just one meal.

So we're probably going to eat dinner at Mara that evening instead. It'll be easier financially and then we'll have a little extra in the budget for a nicer souvenir. Now our ADRs consist of:

Hoop-Dee-Doo for dinner on Sunday - prepaid
Via Napoli for lunch on Monday
MK fireworks dessert party on Thursday - prepaid

The rest of our meals will be QS.

YDD's birthday is before our trip and she's getting a lot of Disney gift cards from family members. ODD has some Disney gift cards coming her way, so both kids are going to be all set with spending money!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Well, I cancelled another ADR. This time for Boma on Fri 6/15 for dinner. Since both of our kids will be considered adults on this trip, I just wasn't interested in paying $50-$60/person for a buffet. Even if the food was fabulous. Meh. I mean, once you figure in tip and tax, then we're looking at ~ $280-$310 or so for just one meal.

We love BOMA but I don't blame you with the kids being considered adults. I am having this issue with our next trip. It is a lot of money. You will have a great time regardless!

 

[VandVsmama]

So my kids made out like bandits with $$ and Disney gift cards for their birthdays from extended family. ODD wants to get a Disney parks-exclusive bead for her Pandora bracelet. She got the bracelet in March when we went to Disneyland with my sister. She'd saved up all of her spending money for the entire year in order to get it!

YDD has decided that she's going to be on the hunt for Stitch stuff...pins, toys, a sweatshirt, backpack.

This evening, DH got into Disney trip mode and asked me if there was anything else we needed to buy for the trip. Nope, I don't think there's anything else we need. I've got all of the Frogg Toggs, our hand-operated fans, the 2 battery-operated fans, etc., etc. DH usually overpacks. He decided that he was going to bring a bunch of extra underwear. I talked him out of it. 5 days' worth of clothes only, honey, because I'm doing laundry mid-week. After today, there's just 5 days left until we leave! We depart next Saturday!

 

[VandVsmama]

I was poking around on another WDW trip planning website where they have copies of the various resorts' activities calendars posted. I took a look at the one for ASMusic for May and it looks like they do Mickey t-shirt tie-dyeing! Pete on 1 of the recent DIS Unplugged podcasts talked about this, how it costs $20, it was fun to do, and how it was such a great souvenir to take home. I told ODD about it and she's really excited about doing this. If the ASMusic activity calendar for June is similar to May, then it looks like they'll offer the tie-dyeing a few times during our stay!

The AKL also has some great activities on their activity calendar so I doubt that we'll be bored during our last day before we have to leave for the airport!

Here's where I found the info --> http://www.themouseforless.com/walt-disney-world/resort-hotels/poolside-activities/

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

So exciting!!!! Have a great trip!

 

[VandVsmama]

OMG, I just saved $100 on our car rental!!!!!

I've been following a June 2018 car rental thread on the Transportation board and over the past few days, several people have posted on there that they've been checking the car rental rates and were able to snag better deals, especially through Costco Travel.

Our original car rental reservation is through Costco Travel. I reserved it a couple of months ago through that website for a Budget rental car (plus I have 1 of those Fast Break memberships). 2 months ago, it was a good price at $249 for a intermediate/standard sized car for a Saturday-to-Saturday rental.

But HOLY COW PEOPLE, now the price is $142 for the week, including tax! So just a smidge over $100 off!

 

[TeamDP]

Your trip is so close! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back! And what a great deal you just got!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Have a great trip!!!!

Can't wait to hear all about it after!