A 1st Trip, 5 Years Together, and 2 Tagalongs. Our Last Minute Vacation, Sept 2011.

[RooRach0906]

Ok, this is my First pre-trip report ever. I am so beyond excited as of yesterday we are booked for our very last minute trip. Our dates 9/14/2011-9/18/2011
Lets start with Introductions.

Me ~ Rachel, a 27 year old stay at home Mommy, who is obessed with all things Disney esp Disney world. I love Roo, my favorite character ever and Stitch. (I can not spell, just letting you be aware)

DH ~ James, 26 year old hard working and proud Daddy, I convince him to go to Disney on our Honeymoon and he enjoyed it so much! He is the main reason for the trip because 1) It was his idea and 2) well he makes the money! LOL We will celebrate our 5 year anniversary while there!

DD ~ Annabelle, our 15 month old princess, She loves Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Little Eistein. She is very independent for her age and surprises me everyday. She has done one day at MK and one in my belly. :0) So this is her first REAL trip! (She will turn 16 months while there.)

DSis ~ Becky, a 32 year old single mom and an awesome sister. She loves everything to do with Aladdin esp Abu. She has not been back to Disney World since 2003 and is the only one in our family who loves it but hasn't been back and it was killing her. She is also a brownie leader hince the Tagalongs. (Me and Becky)

DNiece ~ Penelope aka Penny, she is 8 and loves Pirates and Tinkerbell (at least right now). She has only been with her mom to Disney when she was 5 months, so she is beyond thrilled that we are going!

 

[RooRach0906]

We have been planning for over 6 months now, that we would all be going December 2012, we were going to rent points from our other sister and save up. This would still have Annabelle be under 3 and Penny was still going to be a child. Well when James, Annabelle and I went on vacation in May with his parents it went very very bad. I will just say it caused a lot of stress and we did go one day to MK but couldnt enjoy it because of the others. (I dont count that day for Annabelle) That whole trip we kept saying I cant wait until our next trip it will be so much better. We get home and start massively planning for our trip. Well lately James has been super stressed from his job and feeling the need to get away since our other vacay was not a vacation, so about 2 weeks ago, when he heard about the Free Dining offer he said, "Lets go to Disney in Sept" I was Wooohooo in my head but I know my husband and until it is booked it is not a guartee(sp?). Well I told Becky and she was a little bummed, so I asked if she thought she could do it in December with Free Dining, she said yes with such and such dates, I checked them and no good plus the flights were a lot more. I then said well what about Sept, she thought about it and said she thought she could. Now, I told her we needed to run it by James. Penny and Becky came over Sunday and surprise James brought it up, why dont you guys go with us this year. WOOOOHOOOOO So I asked James if he was serious, he said to my surprise as long as I can get the time off. Monday morning he texted his boss and he gave us the green light!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called Becky and sang "I'm going to Disney World, I'm going to Disney Woooorlldddd!!!" (This is a song from a Disney ad) She was ecstatic!!! We coming Disney Sept 14, 2011 GET READY!!!

 

[dvcmom72]

Hey there!
We will also be down in September...the 11th through the 17th!
I saw your daughter loves Little Einsteins so I have to ask, are you planning on doing the character meal (breakfast or lunch) at Hollywood & Vine?? Leo and June are there...as well as Handy Manny and Oso.
My little guy is obsessed with the Little Einsteins (specifically Leo) and last year this lunch WAS the highlight of the trip. He was SO excited...he was dancing with Leo the entire time.
I too just started my first pre-trip report today...very excited!
BTW...the title of mine is "5 weeks till we Hot Dog Dance with LEO"...LOL

 

[RooRach0906]

Hey there!
We will also be down in September...the 11th through the 17th!
I saw your daughter loves Little Einsteins so I have to ask, are you planning on doing the character meal (breakfast or lunch) at Hollywood & Vine?? Leo and June are there...as well as Handy Manny and Oso.
My little guy is obsessed with the Little Einsteins (specifically Leo) and last year this lunch WAS the highlight of the trip. He was SO excited...he was dancing with Leo the entire time.
I too just started my first pre-trip report today...very excited!
BTW...the title of mine is "5 weeks till we Hot Dog Dance with LEO"...LOL

Hey thanks for joining! Yes we are doing lunch at Hollywood and Vine on the 16th! It is our only character meal, I was just so glad it wasnt booked! I will check out your PTR.

 

[RooRach0906]

Becky and Penny are mainly coming with us because Becky would never be able to afford a Disney vacation by herself! James and I really felt horrible for her always having to hear about everyone else going, we also enjoy having her around because she is crazy and FUN!!! so we told her a while ago we would help her out and she could join us on a trip.

Becky also informed me that when she told Penny we were definately going (over the phone) she ran into the living saying NANA NANA NANA NANA WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY!!! WE ARE REALLY GOING!!! (Becky and Penny live with our parents)

Ok so we booked 9/14-9/19 at CBR Pirate Room, 6 day Park Hoppers, and free dining! Yes I know we will be packed in like sardines and we will LOVE it or at least make the best of it! Becky and Penny really wanted the Pirate Rooms and since its more of a once in a blue moon trip for them we went with it!

We will be flying in on 9/14 our flight departs at 7am and arriving at 8:56am. We will getting up at about 4:00 and leaving at 5am getting our parents to drive us to the airport, we live about an hour and half from it.

We will take ME and check in at CBR and probably check out the resort a little and then head to a park.

Here our Dining Reservations

9/14 Biergarten 5:20
9/15 Tusker House 12:30 also planing Rainforest Cafe for dinner
9/16 (Our 5 Anniversary and Annabelle will be 16 months) Hollywood and Vine 12:30
9/17 Grand Floridian Cafe 5:30
9/18 San Angel Inn 5:15
Pretty good times considering they were booked 35 days before the trip.
We have never done any(except RFC but it will be a 1st for Becky) of these resturants and are excited to try them out and all except San Angel Inn were our 1st picks!

Becky has agreed to hang out in the room on the night of the 16th with the girls so James and I can go to Epcot, his favorite park and also open til 12am, for our anniversary. I love my sister , lets hope it stays that way.

We are leaving the 19th open to anything and thinking ME will pick us up around 6ish, Our flight is at 8:56pm to come back.

Hope I am doing good so far. Let me know any feedback you have please!

 

[RooRach0906]

I'm working on our grocery order and which stroller to take as well as other things! Any opinions out there? We were thinking gardengrocer but its so expensive, we have to have lactose free milk because Annabelle has to have it. I am also trying to decide between our

graco metrolite stroller

or

first years jet stroller

what do you guys think???

 

[dizney chick]

Congrats on the trip. I would love to do a last minute trip, how exciting. But now my kids are getting older and have their own activities its hard to plan a spare of the moment trip. I can't complain though, I am going next month too.

I have taken several trips to Disney with a stroller and would definitely go with the second stroller. It will be much easier to move around with esp. on the Disney buses. And the second one will also take up less hotel room space.

Can't wait to hear more

PS: You are so sweet to take your sister and neice along

 

[RooRach0906]

We recieved our ME things today!!! So excited!!!! I called Becky and she was

 

[RooRach0906]

Congrats on the trip. I would love to do a last minute trip, how exciting. But now my kids are getting older and have their own activities its hard to plan a spare of the moment trip. I can't complain though, I am going next month too.

I have taken several trips to Disney with a stroller and would definitely go with the second stroller. It will be much easier to move around with esp. on the Disney buses. And the second one will also take up less hotel room space.

Can't wait to hear more

PS: You are so sweet to take your sister and neice along

I never dreamed I would be able to take a last minute trip, it does make it a little more exciting.

I was thinking the smaller would be too but James thinks the Graco because it has more of recline.

Thank you, I love that we can give them a lil ahead of time!

 

[RooRach0906]

These are in no particaticular ordered

RIDE ~ WHO IT IS FOR

MK
Tiki Room ~ Becky, Penny, Me
Magic Carpets ~ Becky
BTMR ~ Penny
Dumbo ~ Annabelle
Tom Sawyer Island ~ Becky and Penny
Buzz ~ Becky
Astro Orbiter ~ Penny
IASW ~ Annabelle
Mad Tea Party ~ Becky, Penny, Me
Tomorrowland Speedway ~ Penny
Pooh ~ Annabelle
Wishes ~ Becky (has never seen!)

Epcot
Maelstrom ~ Penny
Misson:Space ~ James, Penny
Nemo ~ Annabelle
Turtle Talk ~ Becky, Annabelle
Kim Possible ~ Becky, Penny
Soarin' ~ Becky
Test Track ~ Becky, Penny

HS
TSM ~ Becky
DisneyJr ~ Annabelle
Muppets ~ Becky
StarTours ~ James, Me
Fantasmic! ~ Me (My Fav Fireworks)

AK
EE ~ Becky
Kali ~ Becky, Penny
Camp Minnie Mickey ~ Annabelle
Primeval Whirl ~ Becky

Like to Do
Carrousel ~ Annabelle
PhilarMagic ~ Annabelle
Splash Mountain ~ James, Penny, Becky, Me
Space Mountain ~ James, Becky, Me
Gran Fiesta ~ Annabelle
Boneyard ~ Annabelle
KS ~ Annabelle

As you can tell we are letting Becky and Penny run the show when it comes to rides, James and I both feel that since we will be back more than they will, we can take a backseat this trip. Of Course anything that is labeled Annabelle, Mommy picked for her, and all except MK there is only 1 thing in each park for her, anything I should try to add to the like to with Annabelle???

I should add tho, that Penny must go to Pixie Hollow and see Tinkerbell and Annabelle must go see Mickey, hopefully at every park!

 

[dizney chick]

You plans look good. In all my trips I have never been to the Tiki Room. So it's a must do on my list too.

 

[Disneychix]

Hi! Just read through your PTR! That's awesome that you are able to plan all this 35 days in advace AND take your Dsis and DN with you!

If you are able to go out and celebrate your anny with your DH check out some of the restaurants with Bar areas. They will serve you right at the bar! We've even seen people do this at Cali Grill!

My vote for the stroller is the Graco. I cannot say enough about how nice it was when we took DS on his first trip and I made DH bring the big Evenflo. Ours had a snack tray and cup holders and the sunshade was soo nice! The basket was perfect to stash all our stuff. And of course the recline for when DS napped. (he tended to fall asleep a lot because of the heat and he likes to sleep!) For the few mins of discomfort on the bus I think the bigger stroller is worth it.
I'm jealous that your countdown is 1 week sooner than mine

Happy early Anniversary!

 

[RooRach0906]

You plans look good. In all my trips I have never been to the Tiki Room. So it's a must do on my list too.

I have never been either and since it was just redone back to original kinda show, Im excited to see it!
I have also never done Astro Orbiter, but I have decided to save it until Annabelle is older and it can be our first flight together.

 

[RooRach0906]

Hi! Just read through your PTR! That's awesome that you are able to plan all this 35 days in advace AND take your Dsis and DN with you!

If you are able to go out and celebrate your anny with your DH check out some of the restaurants with Bar areas. They will serve you right at the bar! We've even seen people do this at Cali Grill!

My vote for the stroller is the Graco. I cannot say enough about how nice it was when we took DS on his first trip and I made DH bring the big Evenflo. Ours had a snack tray and cup holders and the sunshade was soo nice! The basket was perfect to stash all our stuff. And of course the recline for when DS napped. (he tended to fall asleep a lot because of the heat and he likes to sleep!) For the few mins of discomfort on the bus I think the bigger stroller is worth it.
I'm jealous that your countdown is 1 week sooner than mine

Happy early Anniversary!

Thanks for joining in. Im very happy that DH and I could do this for my DSis.

We will be able to celebrate because DSis aka Becky has already agreed to watch our baby girl. I will talk to DH about the resturants idea. I hadn't ran my idea of us going to Epcot yet really, I was planning on going there and letting him get all those different drinks, around the WS, that he hasn't been able to get yet. Our honeymoon he was 20 then our last anniversary trip, while in Disney, I found out on our anniversary that I was prego, so being a nice husband he only got 1 drink because he didn't want to make me feel bad or worse I guess since I was nausea almost the whole time. I still had a great time tho because I was in Disney

I have started thinking Graco too, oddly enough, for the reasons you said.

Just think tho, when I get back you will be going, and then I will be jealous. Plus you are stay at SSR and We that resort!

Oh and thank you very much for the Anniversary wishes!

 

[RooRach0906]

I went shopping yesterday for groceries and got a few things for the trip.

Annabelle a shirt, isnt it cute??

A few small things, I knew were definately needed (see the small hand)

Some snack and morning breakfast (got these on clearance)

Had to give them a try

I say it was pretty successful!

 

[RooRach0906]

We got more Mickey Mail today, our reservation things and luggage tags!

I am wondering if I should take off my dinner ADR on the 18th and make a lunch ADR on the 19th??? Do you think we would have time for a lunch TS??? Our flight leaves at 8:59. We are also leaning more towards taking the graco stroller, backpack, small diaper bag, and the insulated snack bag(for Annabelle's milk cups).

I am getting Annabelle's mealtime things

For the Tables (We have a Tiny Diner and they give you these at chickfila when you order a kids meals so we have been saving them)

Bibs

How I am packing them for the day

These are for the room.

Am I missing anything for mealtime???

 

[Disneychix]

We got the disposable bibs and the table toppers too! (nice job on getting them for free!)

Pack some dish soap or those pre-soap filled sponges for cleaning our cups and stuff in the room.

You will def have time for an early lunch ADR on your last day. Even if DME comes at 5:30 I would think that would be plenty of time to fit lunch in.

 

[Princess.Rachel]

Hi! I found your trip as well!!

Your plans sound great! I can't wait to hear how the room at CBR is!!

I think the graco stroller is perfect! We finally decided on our Graco too!

Your post reminded me that I have to go buy the table toppers! I totally forgot! Thanks

Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[RooRach0906]

We got the disposable bibs and the table toppers too! (nice job on getting them for free!)

Pack some dish soap or those pre-soap filled sponges for cleaning our cups and stuff in the room.

You will def have time for an early lunch ADR on your last day. Even if DME comes at 5:30 I would think that would be plenty of time to fit lunch in.

Thanks! Oh yes, thank you for reminding me, I have to ask DH, where the little bottle of dishsoap is (We had some leftover from our timeshare stay in May.)

Hi! I found your trip as well!!

Your plans sound great! I can't wait to hear how the room at CBR is!!

I think the graco stroller is perfect! We finally decided on our Graco too!

Your post reminded me that I have to go buy the table toppers! I totally forgot! Thanks

Can't wait to hear more!!!

Thank you, Im excited about CBR, we were going to stay there last time but DH surprised me a few weeks before we left and upgraded us to CR.

 

[RooRach0906]

Yup went to Target again and did some more shopping lol!

More of the Applesauce snack that way we have some for breakfast and some for snack and I have different kinds!

Things to keep Annabelle entertained on the plane! I had the toys at the top but bought the four books in the dollar bins! (Love me some dollar bins)

Another dollar bin find ~ My notebook to write things down for my TR when we get back

Belle Shirt for my Princess Belle

I also did some online shopping...

and got myself a swimsuit!

I called Disney to see if they could have Annabelle Lactaid Milk at the gift shop when we arrived, so that I could order it from them. We looked at Gardengrocer.com but it wasnt really going to work for us. I talked to the manager of Caylopso Cay and he was able to get it special ordered to the store for us and it will be there when we arrive He definately went out of his way but always sound cheerful about helping us! This is why I LOVE Disney! Its the little things that make a BIG impact! So yup I feel like we have already had some pixie dust!

Now I am trying to decide to do or not to do
Decorating our Window??? I have some things I could use but I really dunno what do ya think??? Also Should I laminate a Lime Green Mickeyhead with my DIS name to put on my bag??? :
I was also thinking about writing a letter about the milk thing and giving it to them when we got there, should I?