2 or 3 TRIPS in 2012! Celebrating my bday DISNEY STYLE - 3/12 & 11/12 and ?? PTRs!

[kittylady1972]

I'm apparently old, because I found you, but couldn't find an option to friend you.

Anxiously waiting to see what you did ... again.

Well perhaps you will figure it out. I haven't added anybody in a while myself, so I couldn't tell you. I usually just approve (or not) those that try to friend me. You still have some time!

And the update is here now!!!

 

[kittylady1972]

The PROBABLY NEARLY FINAL March 2012 Plan!

So I mentioned to DH last night that I had a new and improved schedule up and available to him via Google docs. I'm doing all of my updates there now so that I can keep them in sync with all of my computers and devices that I use to do my internetting!

For some strange reason he still refuses to even look at it. I mentioned my plan to try to do all four parks in ONE day! His response? That was a lot of time wasted to travel between parks. Yes, yes I know...but he also knows this is MY trip and he is just along for the ride!

So here we go...the MARCH 2012 PLAN!

SATURDAY MAR 3: Get the kids settled over at their grandparents' house. They will spend the days there for the weekend and will be coming home in the evenings to sleep so we won't be packing much. Leave detailed kid instructions for them. Depart for airport around 5:30pm for our 7pm flight. Arrive at MCO at about 9:30pm, head down to pick up rental car and hit the road for Disney! Arrive at Boardwalk, check into room and either hit the Boardwalk and Jellyrolls that evening or head over toe MK for a while since it's open until midnight. Most likely we'll just wander Boardwalk and maybe do Jellyrolls though!

SUNDAY MAR 4: Head to the Boardwalk area for a quick breakfast and then WALK over to Hollywood Studios, arriving close to 8:30am or so. Plans will be to ride TSM at least twice, ToT, Star Tours (at least twice if I can handle it) and RnRC. Lunch is at 12:30pm at 50s Prime Time Cafe. After lunch, more time to do any rides we missed or want to do again and then take boat over to EPCOT! Ride whatever we can do there, get FP for Soarin' later that day, maybe to TT and the Innoventions stuff. If we are hungry around dinnertime, we'll wander over and try to do a walk-in at Marrakesh (never been there) no later than 6pm. Around 7:30pm we will report to Rose & Crown Pub for our reservation that evening. Request and hopefully GET a table outside on patio to view Illuminations! DH will order his Sticky Toffee Pudding and probably proclaim it not as good as the one he had in England a few months ago! Once Illuminations is over, wander out to the monorail and hop over to Magic Kingdom which is open until 2AM! Do a few rides there and hang out for a while, maybe until midnight or so, then I guess take a bus back to Boardwalk!

MONDAY MAR 5:Catch a bus over to Magic Kingdom no later than 7:30am. We must report at 8:15am or the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Tour and then lunch at Columbia Harbour House. We can do a little more time at MK or head back to our resort to rest for a bit, maybe hit the pool. By 5pm get cleaned up and walk over to Flying Fish Cafe for dinner. After dinner, walk or boat ride over the Hollywood Studios (open til 11pm) to do maybe a ride or two on Star Tours and Tower of Terror at night! Head back to resort.

TUESDAY MAR 6: Head to Hollywood Studios in the morning and do a few rides or just relax there. Have some breakfast, watch some shows. Catch a boat over to EPCOT by noon. Grab FP for Soarin' or TT and ride a few things if possible. Around 1:30pm make our way to LeCellier and see if they will take is in early for lunch (which is actually a 2:45pm ADR). Fingers crossed we get in a bit early but if not we'll hang out and have a few drinks in the area and explore World Showcase. After LeCellier, walk back to resort. Relax for a bit. Around 5pm, drive over to Animal Kingdom. Ride Safari and EE...try to ride EE at least once after it gets a bit dark! AK closes at 7pm, then drive over to Magic Kingdom and do a few rides there and hang out. Depart MK no later than 10pm (closing).

WEDNESDAY MAR 7Drive over to EPCOT arriving by 8:15am. Must check-in at front by 8:45am for our 9am Segway tour. Ride around a Segway on our two-hour tour. Once it's complete, walk back to our resort and over to Beaches and Cream for lunch. By 2pm, head over to Atlantic Dance Hall on the Boardwalk for DVC Welcome Home. After that 1-hour presentation, walk back to our room and then drive over to MK. Head to The Plaza for our 4:15pm dinner reservation. After dinner, check out a few MK rides and then head over to Tomorrowland Terrace by 7pm for Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party! Once that is done, explore MK and do some browsing or shopping before heading back to our resort.

THURSDAY MAR 8Happy Birthday to me! Pack up our stuff and check-out. Drive over to MK by 7:30am to be there for 8am opening and have breakfast at Main Street Bakery. Then wander around MK for a few hours. Leave MK around 12pm and drive back to our resort. Park car at resort and then walk over to EPCOT. Lunch at Chef de France at 1:30pm. Once lunch is over, wander around EPCOT, more shopping and such, and then leave park around 4pm. Head to airport and hang out there until our 6:35pm flight home!



So what do you think? Does anybody read this thing really or have I chased everybody off??

 

[Lidian]

Sorry that I chased everyone off.

I'm still here. Your plans look crazy. But in a good way. I'd love to try 4 parks in one day! I'd love to try 2 parks in one day.

It's your trip, so you plan it out however you want to do it!! My DH won't believe anything I say about the trip, because he figures I'll make changes on the spot while at WDW.

 

[kittylady1972]

Sorry that I chased everyone off.

I'm still here. Your plans look crazy. But in a good way. I'd love to try 4 parks in one day! I'd love to try 2 parks in one day.

It's your trip, so you plan it out however you want to do it!! My DH won't believe anything I say about the trip, because he figures I'll make changes on the spot while at WDW.

Hey that's okay...thanks for being BRAVE and hanging in there with me! I probably don't have any other readers really...it's just me talking to myself (and you) here. And I'm okay with that!

We've done two parks in a day and we've probably even done three before. I'm sure we have not done four though...so we'll see how it goes. I won't be horribly devastated if it doesn't happen. I do have that planned for the end of the trip and knowing the bad physical shape we are both in right now...I don't need us coming home dead!

Your DH sounds A LOT like mine but at least they both just take it in stride!

 

[Lidian]

Hey that's okay...thanks for being BRAVE and hanging in there with me! I probably don't have any other readers really...it's just me talking to myself (and you) here. And I'm okay with that!

We've done two parks in a day and we've probably even done three before. I'm sure we have not done four though...so we'll see how it goes. I won't be horribly devastated if it doesn't happen. I do have that planned for the end of the trip and knowing the bad physical shape we are both in right now...I don't need us coming home dead!

Your DH sounds A LOT like mine but at least they both just take it in stride!

We can just use your PTR as an IM center.

I've never had hoppers before. We just can't justify the price. Well, I can, but DH can't. I'd just like to have flexibility, so if one park is crowded, we can go to another, and not have to worry about what park our ADR is located in.

Yep, our DH's can take things in stride!

 

[kittylady1972]

Call it an illness, an obsession, a sickness...whatever...I'm a Disneyholic

So the more I started thinking about our trip...ok maybe obsessing just a little bit...the more I started plotting and you know what that means right???

MORE CHANGES!

You can just ignore that graphic I posted here...it's no longer any good of course. That is you Lidian...since I don't know if anybody else has bothered to try to keep up here. They are probably just waiting to read the ACTUAL trip report rather than the mad ramblings of the likes of me!

So I decided the four park attempt should be earlier in the trip. And I decided I wanted to try a dinner at Sanaa after reading another TR. And I decided I wanted to try an early morning at AK. And so...many more changes!

Stay tuned...don't have time to update them all right now. I'm heading home and off to play some tennis this evening! Gotta get that exercise in so I can not feel AS guilty about these extra meals I've scheduled!!

 

[Lidian]

Call it an illness, an obsession, a sickness...whatever...I'm a Disneyholic

So the more I started thinking about our trip...ok maybe obsessing just a little bit...the more I started plotting and you know what that means right???

MORE CHANGES!

You can just ignore that graphic I posted here...it's no longer any good of course. That is you Lidian...since I don't know if anybody else has bothered to try to keep up here. They are probably just waiting to read the ACTUAL trip report rather than the mad ramblings of the likes of me!

So I decided the four park attempt should be earlier in the trip. And I decided I wanted to try a dinner at Sanaa after reading another TR. And I decided I wanted to try an early morning at AK. And so...many more changes!

Stay tuned...don't have time to update them all right now. I'm heading home and off to play some tennis this evening! Gotta get that exercise in so I can not feel AS guilty about these extra meals I've scheduled!!

 

[kittylady1972]

Boy I sure hope Lidian's okay!!

Ok I updated that schedule graphic...see?

Really the changes weren't that drastic. Most of the days remained the same for the most part. I just decided our attempt at four parks in our day would be better on the first day than towards the end of the trip. PLUS I managed to squeeze in a few new ADRs as well.

So arrival day remains the same...we arrive, and perhaps we hit Boardwalk that evening. I don't think we'll venture out to a park. Maybe Jellyrolls if we are up for it.

Our first full day is packed full of stuff now! I decided we'd hit Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning now instead of Hollywood Studios. I looked into having a meal at Tusker House that morning since I REALLY want to try it...but that wasn't happening.

However what did come up as available, for breakfast, was Rainforest Cafe. I had to search to find a menu...and then I noticed it showed Tonga Toast! Is it the same as the Polynesian? Probably not, but I think I might have to try it anyway! So we have an early breakfast scheduled there before the park opens. We might not quite make rope drop at AK...but that's okay! We'll have full bellies when we do hit the park!

So we'll spend a few hours at AK, do the safari and EE and maybe a show. We will leave the park around noonish or so and then come back to our resort.

We will park and then either take the boat or walk over the HS after that. I know it will be too late to even think about TSM...but we'll check the FP return time. We might do TOT and RnRC and basically ride until we are hungry again. We have moved back our 50s Prime Time Cafe lunch to 2:20pm but I'm hoping we'll be there a bit earlier and try a walk-in. We'll have lunch and then do whatever else we want to try, maybe head to animation and do a drawing. I'm thinking by 4pm or so we'll head over to EPCOT via boat.

At EPCOT, we'll probably just explore the World Showcase area for a while, take some time to see stuff there. By about 6pm or so, I figure we will make our way over toe Marrakesh and try a walk-in for dinner there. After dinner, we'll head over to the UK where we'll check-in for Rose & Crown Pub for drinks and dessert and hopefully a patio table to view Illuminations!

Once that's over...well the MK is open until 2AM!!! So I think we'll hop on the monorail and head over to MK to put in a few hours there, thus completing our four parks in one day on our very first day!

That brings me to my only other change...and that's for our Tuesday. I now have no intention of doing all four parks that day, even though it's still there. However we might end up doing three of them. We'll do Hollywood Studios early morning to ride TSM, we will head to EPCOT by 1pm or so to go to LeCellier for lunch. After that, we may head back to our resort for a while. Around 5pm or so we will head out to Animal Kingdom where I want to try to ride EE late in the evening, as close to 7pm closing as possible. Once that's done, we'll leave AK and head to the AK Lodge (Kidani) and we will try dinner at Sanaa. I'm not an adventurous eater, so I may end up getting something back at our room instead but I figured we'd give it a try!

We'll probably leave from dinner and then head back to the room without a stop at MK. After all, I'll spend another evening at MK the next day for the Wishes Dessert party!

So I think that's it...nothing major but I like this plan a whole lot better...for now!

 

[DMGeurts]

I am not sure how I missed your PTR... I will be back later to catch up...

D~

 

[kittylady1972]

I am not sure how I missed your PTR... I will be back later to catch up...

D~

Yippee I now have TWO readers! Welcome and buckle up!!!

 

[Lidian]

I am not sure how I missed your PTR... I will be back later to catch up...

D~

D, stop following me. I can't go anywhere without you showing up.

Now I have to go find another PTR to talk about you on.

Yippee I now have TWO readers! Welcome and buckle up!!!

Huzzah!





Your plans look good! I so want to go to Jellyrolls, but no one to go with. Plus, I'd probably fall asleep.

Out of curiousity, if you don't get a patio table with a view, what are you going to do? (@ R&C) Do you just not linger and go hope for a spot somewhere else? I'm asking, just out of curiousity. Fingers are totally crossed you get a view! I've never been to R&C, so not sure about IllumiNations viewing. Plus, I won't be upset if you join us on the 8th at the DISmeet.

 

[kittylady1972]

Your plans look good! I so want to go to Jellyrolls, but no one to go with. Plus, I'd probably fall asleep.

Out of curiousity, if you don't get a patio table with a view, what are you going to do? (@ R&C) Do you just not linger and go hope for a spot somewhere else? I'm asking, just out of curiousity. Fingers are totally crossed you get a view! I've never been to R&C, so not sure about IllumiNations viewing. Plus, I won't be upset if you join us on the 8th at the DISmeet.

Yes I'm not sure we'll stay awake for Jellyrolls either, but we'll see what happens. I'd love to try it out!

Hmmm...good question I guess I am refusing to allow myself to think about that possibility! However we will probably still just watch from R&C that night. I thought the DISmeet was March 8th? I'll be on a plane back home by that time or I'd definitely stop by and say hello!

 

[kittylady1972]

So I continue to work on an early June trip with DH and he's not fighting me at all...which is a good thing! I finally got around to filing our tax returns today so I'm looking forward to that money. We are planning to pay off one bill we have and then I'm thinking of putting the rest away to help pay for both this trip next week and part of the possible June trip.

I found some old photos from when I took DS8 back in June of 2008. How cute are these?

So I've priced out the trip and it's more than I'd like...but not totally unreasonable. I'm looking at a day at Hollywood Studios, a day at a water park and a day at Sea World. Plus a guy that I work with has a timeshare off-sight near Disney that he's willing to rent me for cheap as long as it's available. That would be awesome!

No new changes to the March trip for now...of course it helped that the WDW site was down yesterday for much of the day so all I could do was price out tickets...for my next next trip!

I may have to update my food budget with the new places though, but other than that I think I just MIGHT be done with changes!

Can't believe that just a week from tomorrow I'll be at the land o' mouse!!!

 

[Lidian]

Yes I'm not sure we'll stay awake for Jellyrolls either, but we'll see what happens. I'd love to try it out!

Hmmm...good question I guess I am refusing to allow myself to think about that possibility! However we will probably still just watch from R&C that night. I thought the DISmeet was March 8th? I'll be on a plane back home by that time or I'd definitely stop by and say hello!

Okay, your plans just get me all confused, but you're right. It's on the 8th and you'll be heading home.

Love your SWW pictures! I'd love to get a picture with an Ewok. DH says they're the biggest mistake SW made ... but I love Ewoks!!! I'd stand in line for a pic with an Ewok ... but not for Bubba Fat or whatever his name is. Yeah, you can tell I'm a fan.

 

[kittylady1972]

Okay, your plans just get me all confused, but you're right. It's on the 8th and you'll be heading home.

Love your SWW pictures! I'd love to get a picture with an Ewok. DH says they're the biggest mistake SW made ... but I love Ewoks!!! I'd stand in line for a pic with an Ewok ... but not for Bubba Fat or whatever his name is. Yeah, you can tell I'm a fan.

Sokay I know you have plenty to keep track of with your own trip to worry about keeping MY trip straight. I think the Ewoks are adorable too!

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok so I think we will now attempt to squeeze in ONE MORE THING on our trip. DH is going to do the Exotic driving experience and it will be my belated 40th bday gift to him. He turned 40 in October of 2010 and the plan was for him and two other guy friends, who turned 40 that year as well, to go on a MANCATION. It never happened so I figure we will just celebrate a bit late.

There are a few days we can fit this in on our short trip without too many changes. I haven't decided if I will stick around to watch him or just do my own thing. We will see.

It may mean I flip flop a few other things but nothing major. I have a few more days to decide.

 

[Lidian]

Sokay I know you have plenty to keep track of with your own trip to worry about keeping MY trip straight. I think the Ewoks are adorable too!

No, I just can't keep my own trip straight, let alone, try to follow along with someone else's plans.

 

[kittylady1972]

THREE MORE SLEEPS TIL DISNEY!

I know it's been a few days but life decided to throw some extra curveballs my way and now that I've managed to process them, I'm back. First we had my sick senior kitty who I took to the vet last Thursday. After some IV fluids and an antibiotic shot, he appears to be doing much better. That and the full senior kitty bloodwork were of course not cheap, but necessary for my peace of mind. Hopefully he continues to improve.

On top of that, we left the kids behind to head south to NC for my mom's surgery, which was Monday morning in SC. Unfortunately that did not go as well as planned. It wasn't the worst that we could have expected, but they were unable to remove the tumor in her lung. Cancer really does suck and I hate seeing her go through this AGAIN. She is still in the hospital and trying to heal from the lung surgery and hopefully we'll know in a few more weeks, once she meets with her oncologist, what her next steps will be to hopefully remove this cancer.

Unfortunately things like this make me put my own life in perspective and thinking about mortality is just not a lot of fun. I'm trying to remain strong and positive but those negative thoughts still sneak in and just take me down. Needless to say, I really need my happiest place on earth right now more than anything and DH is threatening that I WILL be happy next week or he will hurt me. Not really...but you get the point.

NOW about the trip. I mentioned before that DH is really wanting to do the Exotic Car experience there and I am very happy to give that to him. I honestly don't feel a need to stick around and watch, but he seems to want me to do that so I probably will for him. We have not booked it yet and right now availability seems to be pretty open. The only options for him would be Sunday or Tuesday, so we are going to check the weather while there and play it by ear.

What did that mean for my plans already? Well I removed our meals on Sunday...breakfast at Rainforest Cafe and lunch at (don't cry Lidian!) 50s Prime Time Cafe. I really think we would be okay walking in to any of these, especially based on crowd predictions for Sunday. So I'm willing to risk it.

I also decided to go ahead and purchase the Lines App and Touring Plans membership, based on the discount link sent out via Mousesavers this week. I figured it would be handy for this trip as well as November, and if we go in June as well. I really like it so far.

Nothing else has changed other than our plans for morning to afternoon on Sunday and Tuesday. We are really going to play it by ear and plan a few things as we go and I honestly think we'll be okay with that. Somehow things like food are just not very important to me right now and part of me even kinda wants to take the kids out of school and take them with me just to keep them close for right now. No it won't happen...but it's so very tempting.

DH is still on board with our June trip but I have also considered that we might leave it up to a family vote. We may ask the kids where they want to go and then surprise them. DH has said that worst case if we don't do SeaWorld in June (which I'd kinda like to do) then perhaps we'll do it on Thanksgiving Day for our November trip. I actually kinda like that plan as well.

Anyway, we are all checked into our resort, plane is still booked, rental car is still booked and hasn't dropped again, and dining is pretty much done. I really, really, REALLY don't anticipate any more changes in our plans right now.

 

[kittylady1972]

TWO MORE SLEEPS TIL DISNEY!

I can't believe how close we are to this trip. My state of mind is a bit better today than it has been so hopefully my husband won't have to make good on his promise to "hurt me" if I'm not happy next week!

Last night we went out to dinner and we decided to take a little family vote regarding our summer plans. We thought we'd like to see what our kids would consider their favorite place for a family vacation. The rules were that we'd have to be able to drive to it. We wanted it done anonymously because we knew if one person mentioned what their favorite place might be it would certainly influence the others. We asked each child to write down three choices. So here were our results:

The top one there...that belongs believe it or not to my oldest child - my 11 year old son. Now keep in mind SeaWorld is a place he has not been since he was very little...but apparently he still remembers feeding the dolphins there. It probably helps that we have photos of that! Then of course there is DisneyWorld and Universal Studios. Definitely our kid!

Bottom right belongs to my youngest - the 7 year old son. Pretty sure he means Disney and not Dinsey but glad that it ranked first. Then there is Six Flags and King's Dominion. Can you tell we spend a lot of time at amusement parks here? Back in August we did a whirlwind trip that included 2 days at King's Dominion and then a day at Carowinds. DS7 was able to ride a lot at King's Dominion but when it came to Carowinds they were much more strict with their height limits so he rode less there. He loved KD.

So that leaves bottom left and my DD9. She has Wonderworks (in NC), Busch Gardens and Hershey Park on her list. We just did Wonderworks back in December for the first time. It's actually in Myrtle Beach, SC, but since we are down there quite often (that's near where my parents live) I'm sure we'll do it again. She loved the ropes course there! We have not done Busch Gardens in a while but she still remembers that it was a planned trip two years ago for her birthday that we had to cut short when somebody broke into our house and burglarized it. Yes 2010 was not a fun year. We live about an hour away from Hershey Park and last visited there back in 2010 as well but that's a day trip for us and we had already planned to visit there once this year.

Anyway this was the information we wanted in order to plan our summer and now our June trip may end up being a Florida trip but not necessarily Disney and that would be okay too. We are now thinking of doing Sea World and maybe Busch Gardens instead, since we've never been to the one in Tampa.

For right now, we can return to our immediate trip which really has no changes that I didn't already mention yesterday. I'm really not planning on making any changes at this point. I have yet to start packing but that's on my radar for tonight maybe!

 

[Lidian]

You could do WonderWorks in Pigeon Forge and come see me.

That's precious that they took votes and came up with some great suggestions!