2 Weeks to go and starting my first ever Pre Trip Report

[Cllong75]

I have been inspired….. In reading a couple of very entertaining trip reports/pre trip reports, I have decided to start my own pre-trip report. I love the DIS and the amount of information that people share. Initially I thought against writing this as I figured no one would read it, but then I thought who cares. Of course I hope people read it, but even if they don’t, it will be great for the kids and I in a few years.

You will notice that I don’t have many posts under my name as I am more of a lurker than I am a poster.

About 10 years ago, my mom decided to take my two nieces who were 4 & 6 at the time to Disneyworld and she asked me to come along. Since then, this has become a tradition to take each of the grandkids, and now its time to take the 2 youngest.

Anyhow our Cast of Characters includes….

Me, my name is Christy, I am 35 years old and I swear I would live at Disneyworld if it were at all possible. I am a Human Resources Manager for Embassy Suites Hotel and I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world, Richie. We unfortunately do not have children, so we spoil our nieces and nephews rotten and then send them home. I love to travel, spend time with family & friends, spend time on the lake, play volleyball & softball, and I love to read.

My mom, Linda who by all legal rights is 55; however she doesn’t look her age and is often confused as my sister instead of my mother. I definitely got my love for Disney and kid at heart mentality from her.

Next up is my nephew Tate, who is 6 years old and he is the funniest kid ever. He never ceases to amaze me with the stuff that comes out of his mouth. He is a ball of energy and is all boy, as fearless as they come.

Finally is my niece Ashlin. She just turned 5 last week, and although she knows we are celebrating her birthday at Disney, she has no idea what that means. Ash has never met a stranger and will talk to anybody and everybody who will pay attention to her so I’m sure standing in lines with her should be interesting.

We took a big family trip in 2005 and at the time Tate was 20 months old, and Ashlin was only 3 weeks old so for all intensive purposes this is both of their first trips.
I will talk more about past trips in a bit.
Next up:
The plan

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I'm in... can't wait to hear more!!

 

[Cllong75]

So every time we go we try at least one new thing, but this year we are making an effort to try lots of new stuff, starting with when we leave Des Moines. This will be the first time we take a direct flight and I am VERY excited to not have to deal with the whole changing planes/layover mess.
We are leaving Saturday September 11th at 10:30am and will arrive in Orlando at 2:00pm. We will be at Disney until September 18th.
Our second "first" is our hotel. This year we are staying at Pop Century. As a child of the 80's, I'm very excited to see this hotel.
Just a run down or our preliminary plans;
9/11
Arrive at Pop and we have ADR's for Chef Mickey's (another first)
9/12
We are going to spend the day at Magic Kingdom and have ADR's for Tony's (a first)
9/13
ADR's for Tusker House breakfast and then spending the day at Animal Kingdom, we'll play it by ear, but we may go to Magic Kingdom in the evening to watch the parade/fireworks. Otherwise we'll just go back and let the kids swim and relax
9/14
Back to Magic Kingdom where we have lunch ADR's for Crystal Palace
9/15
Typhoon Lagoon & Downtown Disney/DisneyQuest, we don't have ADR's yet for this night, but it will probably be Planet Hollywood
9/16
Hollywood Studios to ride TSM for the first time, we have ADR's for 50's Prime Time and then will watch Fantasmic
9/17
Epcot today and we will do the Kim Possible Mission for the first time, and then we have ADR's for Whispering Canyon
9/18
We leave early for the airport to come home

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Sounds great! I am so jealous of you going in LESS than 2 weeks!!!!!! That just isn't fair!

 

[Cllong75]

Well the kids are here this weekend, and as soon as I picked them up yesterday they told me how many days were left on their calendar. I'm a little nervous about Tate, he gets sick easier than any kid I've ever met, and when I say sick I mean he throws up, and then he's fine. He does this whenever he gets super tired, or if he eats too much and is too excited. You now the epidemy of being at Disney. Last night we went to Pizza Ranch and he ate 3 pieces of pizza, one piece of cheese bread, a few croutons and a very small cup of ice cream. At 3am last night he wakes me up, runs to the bathroom and gets sick, grrr!!! This is going to be fun!!!!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Oh no! That stinks. I know how you feel though. My DS has some health issues and he seems to get sick all the time...especially when it is least convenient.

 

[onescgirl]

Your niece & nephew are so cute! It sounds like ya'll are going to have a great trip!

 

[Cllong75]

Your niece & nephew are so cute! It sounds like ya'll are going to have a great trip!

Thank you, I think so but I'm a little biased , you kids are beautiful!!!

 

[Cllong75]

Oh no! That stinks. I know how you feel though. My DS has some health issues and he seems to get sick all the time...especially when it is least convenient.

Usually, if he's overtired and then eats and is overly excited or whatever, he'll throw up when he's done eating and then he's good to go. Usually just trying to limit how much he eats and not let him have a bunch of junk works so hopefully he'll be fine, but I'm expecting it at least once

 

[Cllong75]

So I thought we'd take a little trip down memory lane and I'd give you all a little history on my Disney trips.
People around here think I've been lots of times and I know all things Disney and while I do know alot (Thanks to Dis and doing my research) and I love helping them plan their trips, I don't think I've been there much at all. In total I have been to Disney 5 previous times.
Our very first trip was in 1985, the trip included me, my little brother Jeremy (his kids are the ones coming on this trip), my mom and her boyfriend at the time. I was 10 and Jeremy was 7.
I remember a few things about this trip but not alot, but here is what I do remember...

We stayed off property and took a bus to/from Disney.
I remember going swimming at night in the pool.
I don't know why, but I can really remember riding 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for some reason.
I remember that I bought my first plush Mickey at the hotel gift shop we were staying at and it was a baby Mickey in a little blue outfit with a bib.
I remember going to a dinner where my mom and her bf had german beer, I asked my mom about this and it was apparently at the german restaurant in Epcot, I'm not sure if it was Biergarten then or not.
I'm sure if I thought long and hard I would remember more, but that is all I can think of for now. I did dig out an old album and here are a couple of horrible pictures from that trip
This is my brother and I with Tigger

and one with my mom included, with Pluto

oh my goodness do our outfits crack me up

 

[Cllong75]

So skip ahead about 15 years....
My mom decided that she wanted to take my oldest neice to Disneyworld, Kelsey at the time had just turned 7. My dad really had no interest in going back at the time and suggested she see if I would be interested. At the time I didn't know enough to have the Disney bug I do now, but of course I wanted to go. So we booked the trip for the 3 of us, I can't remember exactly but it was like March or April and we planned to go ahead and take Kelsey out of school and go in September.
About a month or so after we booked, my mom started feeling guilty and decided to also take Kelsey's little sister, Caylie who at the time was 4 1/2 when we went. Mom was a little worried that Caylie would be too young to enjoy it. Boy were we wrong, she was the perfect age for it.
I don't remember the dates but we went Saturday to Saturday and stayed at All Star Movies. The hotel is so much fun and we spent a few hours that week walking around enjoying the theme and the girls loved the pool. They loved swimming over and getting water "dumped" on them by Mickey.
We had so much fun on this trip and to this day the girls, now 14 & 17 still watch their Disney video often. Here are a few pictures from that trip....

Waiting in line for It's a Small World to escape the rain

Kelsey with Meeko

Caylie with Alice, I can't believe how tiny she was back then

The four of us at Epcot.

In 2002, we took the girls back to Florida but did Universal, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld.
I will say that we still had a blast, but it wasn't Disney.

The girls with Seuss

 

[Cllong75]

Just returned fom a weekend at the lake house, couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. Now home for a super busy week before we leave on Saturday.

So back to the recap....
Our next trip to the world was in 2004. Again it ws myself and my mom, this time with my nephew Brandon who was 7, and my nephew Devin who was 4. On this trip we stayed at All Star Sports and for the first time we tried out a waterpark. We also took the boys to Seaworld during this trip. Brandon & Devin are my younger brothers two step boys, but they have been with him since they were 2 & 4, but they had never even so much as been to the amusement park in our hometown so taking them was truly an amazing experience. They LOVED every minute of it, however Devin could have stayed in the pool the entire time and would have been just as happy. I for the life of me can't find my pictures from that trip except for the ones we took with the disposable camera at Typhoon Lagoon.
Here is Brandon,

And here is Devin, he loved the wavepool. The waves would knock him over and he would laugh and laugh, and do it all over again.

I do have one more from outside the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

I love these pictures because since Dev is growing up he is so skinny now and he has lost his cute little chipmunk cheeks.

The next trip we took, was the following year, September 2005.
This time we stayed again at All Star Sports and it was the first time that we enjoyed the Disney Dining Plan, and even better it was free.
Our cast of characters this time was again, myself, my mom, my DH Richie, my younger brother Jeremy, his wife Jenny, their 3 boys, Brandon again who was now 8, Devin again who was now 5, Tate who was 20 months and baby Ashlin who was only 3 weeks old, finally was my SIL's dad, Papa.
It was so much fun having the big group and it made it so easy with the 2 little ones, but it also took the most planning and was the most exhausting. I can't remember the exact dates, but we left on a Friday and returned the following Saturday. This time we skipped a waterpark, but did spend a day at Seaworld and a day at Universal Studios. Here are some pictures from that trip...
Tate & Brandon, he was so tired

Devin being Dev

My mom with Brandon, Devin & Tate

My sister in law Jenny & Ashlin meeting Cinderella

Grandma & Tate at Playhouse Disney

Little Miss Ashlin

Tate

One more of Tate is Minnie's house

Brandon

The 3 boys

All 4 kids at Seaworld

Brandon & Mickey

My brother trying to convince Tate that Chip (or Dale) is okay

Devin, Donald, my dh Richie, and my mom

and finally one more of Devin

 

[Cllong75]

The last trip to Disney was in January of 2008. Although I still had a great time and loved it, this was my least favorite trip. It was myself, my mom, my Aunt Jan and my Uncle Chres. My aunt Jan is so much like me and my mom in what we like to do and stuff, but my Uncle is the epidemy of a grumpy old man. He complains about anything and everything and since my Aunt has a pacemaker, he acts like she's an invalid. It's very annoying and him and I butt heads ALOT.
That aside the trip was still fun.
This was the first time we had ever went in January and the first weekend we were there was Marathon Weekend. The crowd level was perfect and the weather during the day was beautiful, but it was pretty chilly during the day.
Anyway, we again did the dining plan and we stayed at All Star Movies again. It's a completely different experience traveling without kids.
Here are a couple of pictures from that trip.
My mom with the grumpy old man

Aunt Jan & Uncle Chres

Me & Mom

Aunt Jan with her favorite man

Next up... our days
Only 3 left

 

[Cllong75]

Saturday
My brother is planning to bring the kids to my mom's on Friday evening after school so they are already there and can sleep in as long as possible on Saturday (fat chance) I unfortunately have to go into work to close out our payroll, and because I want to make sure I'm not late, I am going in at 4:30am It usually takes me about an hour and a half to 2 hours, but it never fails and for one reason or another I don't get out on time so I figure i'll go in at 4:30, worse case scenario I'm out by 7:30, I can come back home, get anything last minute I need and then my dh will take me to my moms and I can be there by 8:30 to make sure she doesn't need any last minute help with the kids. Our flight leaves at 10:30 so we will leave my mom's around 9:15. It will be a busy morning before we ever get to the airport!!!
We land in Orlando about 2:15 Saturday afternoon, so I imagine by the time we catch the ME and get to the hotel is will be around 3:30.
We will probably just walk around the hotel for a little bit and take pictures, etc before we head out. We have dinner reservations at 6:40 at Chef Mickeys. Magic Kingdom will be closing at 6pm this night because of the Night of Joy concert so I'm thinking we will take the bus to Epcot and then take the Monorail to the Contemporary.
This will be our first time ever to Chef Mickey's so I really don't know what to expect but that's okay. We don't have any other arrival day plans. After dinner we will make our way back to Pop and probably relax awhile and get a good nights sleep so we are well rested for our first park day.
Full Day One ~ Sunday
The plan is to get up, and have a small bite in the room, probably a couple donuts, a bagel, something like that and be at Magic Kingdom at rope drop. We are the time of people that we plan as far as what day we will go to what parks, for the most part we plan our table service meals, etc but we don't really plan down to what ride we will ride at what time so for now, my plan is to make our way straight to Fantasyland to ride some of those things that are really crowded later in the day and then go from there. We'll plan to watch the afternoon parade and see as much as possible before our 6:00 dinner reservation at Tony's Town Square. After dinner we plan to go ahead and head back to Pop. Depending on how tired the kids are we may swim for a little bit before calling it a night.
Must do's for day one....
Peter Pan's Flight
Philharmagic
Parade
Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Haunted Mansion

Monday
Monday morning we will be up failry early again as we have a breakfast ADR at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom before the park opens. I have done this breakfast twice and I have really enjoyed it both times. Both times we have been there, the characters really spend a good amount of time at each table and the juice they serve is soooo yummy
After breakfast we will most likely head straight to the safari which I know the kids are going to absolutely love. After the Safari we will make our way across the park enjoying the attractions and animals. We always seem to get done with Animal Kingdom fairly early so we will head back to Pop mid afternoon for a rest/swim and then play it by ear. If the kids are rested and not to terribly tired the plan is to head back to the Magic Kingdom to see the evening parade and fireworks before calling it a night.
Must dos for Animal Kingdom
The Safari
Expedition Everest
It's Tough To Be A Bug
Festival of the Lion King.

Unfortunately we will probably skip Dinosaur because I don't think Ash will like it and I don't want to scare the crap out of her. I don't know maybe Nana & Tate will do it alone, we'll see. We will also most likely skip Nemo the musical because, please don't shun me, I enjoyed seeing it once but I wouldn't want to sit through it again.

Tuesday
On Tuesday, the plan is to let the kids sleep in a little bit and then head to our 2nd day at Magic Kingdom. We have a lunch reservation at Crystal Palace so depending on what time we get to the park we may just take a train ride, do a little shopping and then after lunch catch the things we missed on day one. We will probably head back to pop early evening, let the kids swim for a bit and then get a good night sleep.

Next up... The rest of the days

 

[Cllong75]

Well we leave tomorrow morning so I thought I'd finish this up before I head to work. I probably won't have time tonight as I haven't even started packing myself yet, but I did get the laundry done last night.
So anyway,

Wednesday
The plan for now is to go to Typhoon Lagoon for a couple of hours. I love swimming and the water as do my mom and the kids, the only problem wth waterparks is that Ashlin is not big enough to do alot of the slides, but I know they will love the wave pool, and I love the lazy river and then there is always the kiddie area. We had went to TL in 2004 when we took my other 2 nephews and somehow completely missed the shark reef area so I am really looking forward to seeing/doing that. We will probably only spend a couple of hours at TL and then the plan is to head back to Pop and rest a little bit and then head to Downtown Disney for some shopping/dinner & DisneyQuest. Tate is a video game freak as most 6 year old little boys are so I know that he will be in absolute heaven at DQ. The forecast this next week calls for rain, rain, and more rain but the thing I've learned about Disney is that 1st of all, there's still plenty to do when it's raining and secondly it usually rains for 10 minutes and it's done for awhile. The only plans that the rain may hinder is our trip to TL and if it does we'll adjust accordingly with maybe some time at a park.

Thursday
We are headed to Epcot, my mom would skip Epcot all together if it weren't for Soarin but I think she's crazy. We don't really have a plan of action for Epcot but we are planning to have the kids to the Kim Possible mission and I am looking forward to strolling around the world. I know this is so bad, but we've usually just walked around the world and have never really explored so I am looking forward to really seeing the countries and all the character opportunities. We did not make and ADR's for Epcot because where we really wanted to go was booked so instead we are having dinner at Whiispering Canyon. The food is decent but the atmosphere is so much fun it makes up for what the food lacks.
Must Dos...
Soarin
Nemo
Test Track

Friday
Booo our last full day at Disney. We will be going to Hollywood Studios today. I am very excited to ride TSM as this was not done the last time we were there. Tate swears that he is riding ToT but we'll see when we get there. Our plan for HS is to get fastpasses for TSM right away and then just go with the flow from there. We must catch Lights, Motor Action, I've seen this now 3 times and could care less if I see it again, but I know Tate will love it. The same can not be said for Indiana Jones, we will be skipping this show. Don't get me wrong it is a great show, but it is exactly the same as it was in 2000 and every other year we have ever been and I don't know if Ashlin will sit through it before she gets bored. I am really bummed about Star Tours being closed as Tate is a Star Wars nut, but fortunately we found out about this quite awhile ago before we talked to him about ST so he doesn't even know it exists. He would have been heart broken. We have ADR's at Prime Time for dinner, I know this place gets alot of mixed reviews, but I absolutely love it. The atmosphere is so much fun, especially if you have a server that really gets into their character. We will end the night with Fantasmic before heading back to Pop for the night.
Other must dos...
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Great Movie Ride
Beauty & the Beast (this is Ashlin's favorite)

Saturday
Unfortunately because we wanted the direct flight, we won't really be enjoying Disney today, we will be on the ME by 8:30 to begin our Trek back home.

Well that is what I have, I really didn't get any followers but oh well, I enjoyed writing this so I'll be back to do a trip report with I'm sure a TON of pictures as well as doing a Dining Review.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I am sorry Christy! I have been following your report. I am awful with comments though. I am sure to read every time you updated though. Hope you have a wonderful trip. Hope you do a TR when you get back...if so, I promise to be better about comments!