5 days on $1300!?! Did we do it? - a July 2011 TR - update 2/15: Link to new PTR!

[RyansMommy1]

she is too cute!!

 

[ksl5f123]

Great update, I wish I was young enough to go to the BBB! lol!

Adults can do it. Not that I would have the courage to walk around in public made up like that....

 

[ksl5f123]

I thought I had responded right before the YES post... Maybe I am going crazy!! I really have been reading along...Promise!!!

The YES program sounds so awesome!! I think it is so cool to combine fun vacation stuff with learning experiences! We try to do this all of the time although we are more like major history buffs and that is usually the route we take. Sorry it isn't science! Maybe you won't be too disappointed in me!!

Love the BBB pictures! What a beautiful little princess!!

I just figured life got in the way of your DIS time.

The YES program was incredible. It made the trip extra special since we did it right at the start the lesson carried over for the rest of the trip.

I'm not disappointed in you at all. My mom is a big history buff, so all of our travel when I was a kid was of that nature. I have been to at least a dozen Civil War battlefields, Valley Forge, Williamsburg, etc. I actually am looking forward to taking the kids to all of those places too.

Thank you for the compliment on the princess.

 

[ksl5f123]

she is too cute!!

Thank you! She looks so different with her hair up than with her normal long curls, but she just adores having "princess hair".

 

[ksl5f123]

Just a quick aside... My baby started preschool today. I am home alone for the first time in 8 years.

Doesn't he look excited:

I'll try to post another update tonight or tomorrow.

 

[teekathepony]

What a cutie! Yes, he does look excited! I hope he has a great time in preschool!

 

[sherylcin]

BBB has to be one of Disney's very best ideas ever! My DGD's love that place! Your daughter looks adorable and very princessy. I see she wore the nightgown. It looks very cute actually and probably was waayyy cooler and less scratchy than the actual costumes are! Know what you mean about the glitter! It gets EVERYWHERE!!

For future info, I have to give a plug for the Pirate League for boys. My two DGS's became pirates on our trip in January and it equals BBB in experience. I think both are "worth" the money.

 

[ksl5f123]

What a cutie! Yes, he does look excited! I hope he has a great time in preschool!

Thank you! He was thrilled once we got there. The morning was a little rough. He had a great day!

 

[ksl5f123]

BBB has to be one of Disney's very best ideas ever! My DGD's love that place! Your daughter looks adorable and very princessy. I see she wore the nightgown. It looks very cute actually and probably was waayyy cooler and less scratchy than the actual costumes are! Know what you mean about the glitter! It gets EVERYWHERE!!

For future info, I have to give a plug for the Pirate League for boys. My two DGS's became pirates on our trip in January and it equals BBB in experience. I think both are "worth" the money.

I love BBB! Yes, she went with the nightgown. My thoughts on that in the next post. The girls love the glitter and last time it lasted for months, but this time the pure volume of it was completely over the top!

I will have to keep pirate's league in mind for when DS3 is a little older. Right now, he wouldn't sit still. Maybe in a year or two...

 

[ksl5f123]

When we last left off, we had just finished DD5's princess makeover at BBB. From there, we headed over to the Tinkerbell's treasure store for the photoshoot. We had never done this before. In July 2010 when both girls went to BBB, there was a line and we would have missed rope drop if we stayed. This time, it was around noon and there was nobody around.

The photographers in there were fabulous! They were very playful with the girls which allowed them to get some really wonderful pictures.

As you can see, we ended up with the $8 nightgown.

Was it the right choice? I don't know. On one hand, it was a cheap solution to our problem. It was comfortable and cool. There was no “scratchy” issue. She still looked cute and she was VERY happy with that “dress”. On the other hand, it was a nightgown and it looked like one. Are we now one of the families that people talk about on the DIS that allows their kids to wear strange stuff to WDW? Probably. Should I worry about that? I don't know. What do you all think?

Anyway, on with the pictures:

Same picture as above with a different border:

The photographers tried really hard to get DD7 to get in the picture. She did her shy act and ducked behind me. This caused the photographer to get into the curtains to hide also. He played around with her for at least 5 minutes trying to get her to relax and get in the picture. No matter what he did, she wouldn't go for it. Oh well.

By the time we were done getting our pictures, we were all really hungry. We had considered packing our lunch and having it in the cooler in our car. I am glad we didn't. It was late, we were hungry, and the walk out to the minivan probably would have been more than we could take. So, I gave the girls 2 choices for food – Columbia Harbour House or Cosmic Rays. They chose CHH. Since we had to pass it on our way, we grabbed a fastpass for Peter Pan with a return time of 2 PM.

There was a short line at CHH when we arrived at 12:30 PM. We ordered the adult chicken and fish combo basket with fries, one kids mac & cheese with applesauce, grapes, and chocolate milk, and two tap waters. The downstairs was completely full, but there was still plenty of seating upstairs. We got a table right next to the stairs. Our mantra for this trip was “all food is share food”. This meant that anyone could eat anything. There was no “my grapes” or “your applesauce”. So, everyone ate some of everything and nobody left hungry. Before leaving CHH, we made use of the restrooms that are upstairs. They were extra clean and with no line.

After lunch, we still had some time before we could use our Peter Pan fastpass, so we were off to Tomorrowland.

 

[reelmom]

I'm curious to see if you were able to stay within budget. I am planning on taking the kids down to Disney a few days before DH and my Mom arrive. Money is the only thing stopping us and I hope I can learn a few tips from you. I think the BBB pictures of your DD are adorable. I can't tell that she was wearing a nightgown. It looks like a super cute dress to me.

 

[ksl5f123]

I'm curious to see if you were able to stay within budget. I am planning on taking the kids down to Disney a few days before DH and my Mom arrive. Money is the only thing stopping us and I hope I can learn a few tips from you. I think the BBB pictures of your DD are adorable. I can't tell that she was wearing a nightgown. It looks like a super cute dress to me.

Hello! I will try to give the best tips I can. I was worried about being alone with the girls at Disney, but we did really well.

Thanks for the BBB compliment. I think she is cute too. I am glad you think it didn't look too much like a nightgown. I was just super self-conscience about it.

 

[ksl5f123]

First, one quick thing that I forgot before. Now at BBB, the girls get to choose stickers from their favorite princess. When DD5's FGIT asked her favorite princess, she responded, “Rapunzel”. The FGIT informed us they didn't have any Rapunzel stickers so DD5 chose Snow White instead. As we were leaving BBB, DD5 and I were talking about how maybe next time when we come they will have Rapunzel stickers. Another CM overheard us and told DD5 that the reason they didn't have any Rapunzel stickers was because Rapunzel wanted to design them herself and she wasn't finished painting them yet. DD5 LOVED that answer!

Alright, on to our after lunch touring. From CHH, we made our way over to Tomorrowland. We grabbed a set of Buzz Fastpasses when we got to Tomorrowland.

The girls chose to do the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor first. The last several times we had seen this show, they had selected a little girl in the audience to be Boo. DD5 really wanted to be Boo. So we made our way to about the 3rd row and as close to the center as we could to increase her chances. Wouldn't you know, on this day they didn't do that part! DD5 was not pleased.

To cheer her up, we headed off to her favorite attraction – Carousel of Progress. She chose to sit in the very front row which actually is not the best place to sit in this theater. It is kind of like sitting in the front row of a movie theater – my neck says “ouch”.

After singing about “A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow...” it was already time to use our Buzz Lightyear fastpasses!

You may notice that she still has on both the sash and the sticker on her face. This is a big change from last year where neither of those things lasted 30 minutes. It is really amazing the difference that a year makes! Last year these things really bothered her but this year it was no problem.

It was now about 2:30 PM. We decided to make our way over to Liberty Square to see the parade. We stopped at Sleepy Hollow and DD5 got a cup of chocolate ice cream and DD7 got an ice cream cookie sandwich. I knew that DD7 wouldn't be able to eat all of hers so I didn't order anything. We found a spot to sit down in front of the Liberty Tree Market so that after the parade went by we could just turn around and head back to Fantasyland.

We sat down and started to eat our ice cream just as it started to rain lightly. We pulled out our ponchos and stayed put. At about 3 PM, they announced that the parade would be delayed due to the rain. The general consensus from people around us was that the rain didn't look too bad and it probably wouldn't be long. Luckily, we were right to stick it out and the parade started at about 3:15.

I am going to try to post some parade pictures in my next post, but once again I let DD7 have the camera and she didn't realize she was in video rather than picture mode so I have about fifteen 3 second videos.

 

[teekathepony]

Great update, love the answer about the Rapunzel stickers. Too bad they didn't pick a little girl at Monsters, but it sounds like you still had a good day!

 

[sherylcin]

The pictures from the BBB Photoshoot are precious!! Too bad your DD7 wouldn't get in the pictures but that's how it goes sometimes with kids! I think what you have done is created a wonderful memory. Don't be surprised if this becomes one of her favorite memories of all of your trips.......wearing her "nightgown dress". She looks so happy and that's all that really matters. Who cares what anyone else thought about it.......(as I tell myself on vacation) I'll never see these people again anyway!

The rest of your day so far sounds great! I like the "all food is shared" idea. CHH upstairs is a really great place to have a little quiet and some good food! Can't wait to read the rest and see how you kept expenses in check.

 

[TinksThree]

I just figured life got in the way of your DIS time.

I'm not disappointed in you at all. My mom is a big history buff, so all of our travel when I was a kid was of that nature. I have been to at least a dozen Civil War battlefields, Valley Forge, Williamsburg, etc. I actually am looking forward to taking the kids to all of those places too.

This time...life has gotten in the way... We adore Williamsburg and this is probably our Spring Break destination! I have been in heavy planning mode!!

I don't think the gown looked much like a nightgown. I mean it could, but there are things I see people wearing that isn't night clothes but really should be! Besides it was cute and she was comfy and happy..and that is what matters!

Love CHH...Carousel of Progress...and the parade location is our favorite spot to catch the parades!!

Also love the pictures...such a beautiful keepsake! Too bad DD7 didn't want to join in!

 

[lbuzz52]

thanks for the details on the Yes program! sounds like a lot of fun!
add me to the list of those curious to see how the budget breaks down. Love the bbb photosession!

 

[ksl5f123]

Great update, love the answer about the Rapunzel stickers. Too bad they didn't pick a little girl at Monsters, but it sounds like you still had a good day!

I love the little "stories" like the one about the Rapunzel stickers or where the characters are going when they take a break. It just makes Disney special and really lets you get into the magic.

I don't know why they didn't do the Boo part. We have seen it several other times and they have always done it before.

 

[ksl5f123]

The pictures from the BBB Photoshoot are precious!! Too bad your DD7 wouldn't get in the pictures but that's how it goes sometimes with kids! I think what you have done is created a wonderful memory. Don't be surprised if this becomes one of her favorite memories of all of your trips.......wearing her "nightgown dress". She looks so happy and that's all that really matters. Who cares what anyone else thought about it.......(as I tell myself on vacation) I'll never see these people again anyway!

The rest of your day so far sounds great! I like the "all food is shared" idea. CHH upstairs is a really great place to have a little quiet and some good food! Can't wait to read the rest and see how you kept expenses in check.

Thank you for the comment on the pictures. I really enjoyed doing that. I probably should have last year. Oh well.

I appreciate the reassurance about the "dress".

The shared food concept was really important. We couldn't have made it work any other way.

We love CHH and sitting upstairs made it even better.

 

[ksl5f123]

We adore Williamsburg and this is probably our Spring Break destination! I have been in heavy planning mode!!

DH and I lived in Virginia for several years. We used to love to go to Williamsburg. I think my girls would enjoy it, but DS is still too young.

I don't think the gown looked much like a nightgown. I mean it could, but there are things I see people wearing that isn't night clothes but really should be! Besides it was cute and she was comfy and happy..and that is what matters!

Thank you!!!! Yeah, I guess I have seen worse...

Love CHH...Carousel of Progress...and the parade location is our favorite spot to catch the parades!!

Also love the pictures...such a beautiful keepsake! Too bad DD7 didn't want to join in!

It was the perfect parade spot. The photographers were so good getting DD5 to pose. They tried hard with DD7. She even remembers that he spoke to her in a voice that "sounded just like Mickey Mouse!"