A Birthday Trip for a New Life - NEW UPDATE - 1/29

[DisDreamz]

Well after reading a bunch of trip reports and pretrip reports, I've decided to conquer one of my own.

So on to the cast:

Me - (S) - soon to be 36

This is a special trip for me. I began planning the idea of going to WDW for my birthday in March 2008, the day my husband decided to tell me (at a therapy appointment that he'd dragged me to) that he didn't think he wanted to be married anymore. This has been a LONG year, but soon I was planning a trip to the World to celebrate the new life that was ahead of me.

DD1 (Minnie) - 15

Minnie is not your typical teenager. She and I get a long great and she's really helpful with her brother & sister. She loves Disney as much as I do. She's also a drama queen, having been in multiple local shows since she was 3.

DS (Jack...as in Skellington) - 10

Jack is your typical 10 yo. He loves TV and video games. Unfortunately he's not much of a Disney fan, but he puts up with it. He plays soccer, swims, and is going to try track in the spring.

DD2 (Tink) - 7

Tink is a ball of energy and is 7 going on 14. She's the teenager of the family with the requisite moodiness and attitude. Thankfully she does love Disney which will hopefully keep us all happy during the trip. Her newest love is cheer and you can usually find her doing back handsprings around the house and yard.

We're back!! Now it's time to start the Trip Report. I'm working on going through the almost a thousand pictures we took.

 

[DisDreamz]

So once it was determined that we were definitely going to WDW it didn't take long for me to decide when. My birthday is January 6 and the kids have that week off school (which is when we usually go to DL where we have APs) so I thought perfect.

After figuring our how long we wanted to stay, how much it was going to cost, etc. I decided we were going to visit from Sunday, January 4 - Saturday, January 10.

Then it was on to where to stay. I knew we wanted to stay on property, but where? After doing some research (and looking at the finances which are extra tight), I decided that we'd stay at Pop.

 

[DisDreamz]

So here's our itinerary, if anyone has any comments or suggestions let me know!

We're actually leaving January 3 at 10pm and getting to MCO at 6am on the 4th. I partially did this because of cost and also because it was a way to give us another day without staying during the holiday season. At the time I made the reservations I thought it'd be do-able, but now I'm a bit terrified of the lack of sleep on the first day. Luckily I have it planned that we're going to almost all the parks twice so if we end up too tired to go to the park on Sunday we can skip it (we just need to entertain ourselves until a room becomes available).

So our current plans are:

Sunday: (after landing and checking into the hotel)
Disney Hollywood Studios
ADR 50's Prime Time Cafe 11am
head back to the room whenever it becomes available (hopefully before 4pm) for a short nap
ADR Chef Mickey 5pm

Afterwards we'll probably go back to the hotel to go to bed, but on the off chance that we have a bit of energy left I would love to head back to DHS to see the last showing of the Osborne lights (I'm not counting on it though).


Monday:
Epcot (I'm hoping that we'll have adjusted quickly to the time change so that we can get here at rope drop, we're not usually morning people which is the other reason I thought the losing a day might not be a bad idea)
ADR LeCellier 2pm
If we have the energy we may head to DHS for EMH after dinner.


Tuesday: (my birthday!)
Magic Kingdom
ADR Cinderella's Royal Table 8:55am (park opens at 9am that day)
take the monorail over to
ADR Grand Floridian Cafe 8pm


Wednesday:
Disney Hollywood Studios
ADR Brown Derby 7pm


Thursday:
Depending on how we're feeling we'll probably either sleep in on this day or go to MK for EMH.
Epcot
ADR Coral Reef 12pm


Friday:
Animal Kingdom in the morning
This is our least favorite park so it's unlikely we'll spend a whole day here. If it weren't for the changes they've made since the last time we went (in 2001) we'd probably skip the park completely.
It's likely we'll head to Magic Kingdom after lunch
ADR 1900 Park Fare 8pm
If we have the energy we may head over to Epcot for EMH.


Saturday:
This day is pretty open, we'll check out of the hotel
ADR Chef Mickey 11:30am
We may head back to MK or Downtown Disney or just around to look at the different resorts.
We leave at 6:50pm

 

[Gisele]

It sounds like one really fun and exciting week for you and your family. I hope that everything goes as perfectly as possible. You probably already know this, however if not, one can receive complimentary admission for one day at either Dl in Ca. or WDW on their birthday. Perhaps that can save you some money. Then there is the on line sweepstakes game, that Disney has. Do you know about it?

And.................HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!......I know a bit early, but that is o.k.

Now you all have an awesome time, you hear.

I am sorry to read of your husbands decision. Perhaps he will continue couples therapy, and realize that it would be in his best interest to stay married. I wonder at times, how it can be, that people can love each other well enough to marry, have children, be married for as just an example 10 or 20 years, but then one spouse or both will decide to end their marriage. I just find that situation to be rather confusing (I am not judging, just wondering, I am not married, perhaps that is the reason why I have a hard time figuring these sorts of things out, maybe not?) Maybe his choice will end up being one of your best birthday presents, never know. You just might find some great single guy at WDW. Now that would be awesome, in the event that you may be interested in that possibility.







~~~~~~~~~~~~ Merry Christmas! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kristine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[stitcharoo]

wow!
i bet your kids are so excited, and you too!!

not too far away now!

 

[DisDreamz]

You probably already know this, however if not, one can receive complimentary admission for one day at either Dl in Ca. or WDW on their birthday.

Yep, I did know about this and am so excited. Since we were already planning on going on my actual birthday it's just a bonus. Now we may go to DL on my oldest daughter's birthday though (luckily for us it's a Friday and it happens before our APs expire so I don't have to pay a ton for us all to go ).

Now you all have an awesome time, you hear.

Thanks Kristine! We've been going through a lot the past couple of months (and now I find out that EX may be taking the kids to Iowa from Dec. 26 - Jan. 2 which I'm stressing over--I don't mind him taking the kids to see his family, it's just that it's so close to our trip which I've been planning for over 6 months ). Only 16 more days!!!!

As for meeting a single guy, it's not high on my agenda (I'm just trying to improve myself and work on making myself happy), but I wouldn't be opposed to it if by some chance the right guy came along. EX actually thought he could go with us even though he already has a girlfriend!

 

[Gisele]

He already has a girlfriend, wow (Sigh, not a good one either) I am sorry to read that. It makes me wonder if before he had made the counseling appointment, he already had said girlfriend. It really would not surprise me in the least. Sometimes, people do go through a kind of mid-life crisis. Perhaps this is what is happening to him? If it is,it is very possible, that he will change his mind about things, and either no longer be interested in a divorce or if that has already taken place, then he may be interested in getting back together again,all the same. I have learned of many stories over the years, of this sort of thing happening, to either a husband or wife. The former husband can be very regretful, and remorseful, and wish to be back with his family,including former spouse. Anyway, I just hope for the sake of yourself, and your children that everything will work for the best.
It is very important for people to work on being the best that they can be. I know, that I have much to still work on for myself. I am not too happy of a camper, as it were with a number of aspects of my life. So I need to come up with a better game plan, some how some way, before my number is called for the great beyond. I am trying to get away from the thinking, oh,one day..........no, not necessarily. I quite rather dislike to say the least, that expression. Because that is problem, so many people thinking oh, there is time (Maybe not) for one never knows when the next day, will be the end. Not to sound depressing nor negative, just something to think about for us all.


Wishing you the best for the rest of this year, and for 2009!







~~~~~~~~~~~~ Merry Christmas! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kristine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[DisDreamz]

Look what Santa brought!

For Minnie:

You can tell that she likes pirates.

For Jack:

For Tink:

For ME!!! (actually not from Santa, but from my mom--I was so excited!)

It's E-ticket ride pins! I love it and plan on adding more pins from my favorite WDW rides. Plus I also have 2 It's a Small World LE pins (my mom bought me one and I had already bought it for myself because I liked it so much).

 

[DisDreamz]

We're pretty much all packed (just have to convince Jack and Tink to shower and pack the toiletries) and we'll be on our way tonight!

I ended up not having enough time to make autograph books. EX was originally taking J & T to Iowa from 12/26 - 1/1, but ended up not going for various reasons (while I'm happy they didn't go, I was worried that they'd end up missing the trip not to mention them being exhausted from all the travel) which meant that I didn't have as much free time as I originally planned.

I did manage to do 3 sets of t-shirts with some great DiSigns. Plus I printed out some journal pages for us to fill out (took more than 2 cartridges of ink ).

Between the 4 cameras, I think we'll have a ton of pictures for the trip report!

 

[Gisele]

WOW, those are really nice pin collections.
How cool is that? Totally cool!

It would be nice to see what you have created for WDW. Will you be posting pictures? I like seeing t-shirt designs and other crafty things.

How exciting! Tomorrow is the day! YAY!

 

[OhMari]

Have a great trip.
I'm moving you over to our regular TR boards.

 

[DisDreamz]

January 3, 2009

It was a long day. The anticipation was the worst part though. We had the red eye which meant that we spent the whole day thinking about our trip before it was finally time to leave.

That's when the real fun started . The original plan was that my mom was going to take us to the airport, but when EX got back from his un-trip (he was supposed to go to Iowa with 2 of the kids and--I later found out--his girlfriend, but he rethought her coming and uninvited her--for me, he says--which caused a whole lot of drama and he ended up not going at all) he said he really wanted to take us. So I called my mom and told her she didn't need to take us, but that we could still go to dinner together before we left.

Shortly before she was supposed to come over for dinner, EX came over with the kids and said goodbye--he wasn't taking us! He had made other plans. Thankfully my mom was still able to do it. We went out to dinner and then it was time to hit the road for the airport. We were all exhausted so I was hoping sleeping on the plane wouldn't be out of the question.

Once we got on the plane (after waiting the requisite 2 hours to board) Tink quickly lay down on Minnie's lap (we were seated with Minnie between Tink & Jack on the right side and myself on the aisle on the left side) and was asleep in minutes. Shortly afterwards Minnie put her seat back and she too was asleep. Poor Jack had the aisle seat and it took him quite a bit longer to get comfortable enough, but he did get a little sleep. Then it was my turn. My seat back would not recline and their was a mom with 2 little girls behind me that just wouldn't let me sleep (the girls constantly whined and complained the whole flight and the one behind me keep kicking the back of my seat).

We arrived early and made our way sleepily to baggage claim. It wasn't hard to find our bags then we went to get our rental car. Boy what a ripoff! Over $300 for a compact (real compact at that, we could barely fit the 4 of us in the car with our 4 bags ) with no power anything! I didn't even realize they still sold cars without power windows and door locks. I'm still debating whether next time I should bother with a car. On one hand I think a car came in handy to get us around quicker than the bus system, but for the price I paid I probably could have taken a taxi instead. If I do rent a car, I'll definitely be paying extra to upgrade to more than a compact. Also I'll try to fly first class if I take the red eye.

We left the airport and headed for the hotel. For whatever reason we didn't enter at the WDW sign, we caught a peak of this:

We checked into the hotel, did a quick clothing change in the bathroom, and made it to the Studios before opening! We took our picture of the kids in front of the Xmas tree (I'm glad I got these when I could because halfway through the trip they started taking them down)

We waited for rope drop (with the rest of the crowd) and then headed to Toy Story Mania. Interestingly most people were getting FASTPASSES so the line wasn't too long. I really like the queue here, so much better than DL.

 

[DisDreamz]

Then went to Tower of Terror for FASTPASSES quickly followed by a ride on Star Tours before our 50's Prime Time ADRs. After the ride we were quickly fading fast so we meandered around until lunch. We had a short wait and then were led to our table by one of the oldest "Mom's" in the place and were waited on by "Cousin JL" who I think knew we were too tired to play. The food was okay, but I think I was too tired to enjoy the atmosphere.

Tink's salad which went untouched. She's more of a caesar girl so I think she was looking more for the croutons .

Jack loved the Chicken Noodle Soup.

Tink liked the Chicken Nuggets and Fries.

Minnie loved her Chicken Caesar Salad. The chicken was a moist breast.

Hmm, do these look different than the other plate? Because Jack said they were the most disgusting thing he ate and he pretty much refused to willingly eat Chicken Nuggets the rest of the trip because of the experience.

I had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes (no gravy) and green beans. The meatloaf was good with ketchup (EX and the kids don't like meatloaf so I never get it), the mashed potatoes were really good, but the green beans tasted like they were straight out of the can.

 

[DisDreamz]

After lunch we headed for Rock N Rollercoaster.

We convinced Jack to give it a try (he's not a rollercoaster rider) and the wait wasn't too long. Standing in line Jack was nervously wondering wether he should go on or not. Even up the point when we stopped into the car he was debating--it completely freaked me out. During the ride I kept hearing screaming next to me and I was convinced it was him, but it was Tink who likes to scream for the fun of it!

Jack loved it though and couldn't wait to go again!

After this we were all so tired we decided to see if the room was ready--it was. We had a room in the 50's building (1149).

We took a little nap and then it was time for dinner.

 

[DisDreamz]

We head over to the Contemporary for Chef Mickey's, got our picture taken and sat down to eat.

The place was packed, amazing since we had the first ADRs of the night, but the characters whipped through. I missed Mickey AND Minnie (I came for the food afterall, but really I was gone less than 5 minutes!!), but thankfully the kids didn't.

The food was great as usual.

Tink's macaroni & cheese and chicken nuggets.

Minnie's plate of something (peel & eat shrimp and I think that's a corn muffin).

Jack's cheese pizza.

Jack's Chicken & Rice Soup--I think he liked it

The Tomato Cucumber Salad was delicious. The pasta salad on the left was really boring and the cheese potatoes were really good. The thing on the right is Chicken Pot Pie soup which was weird. It was a piece of undercooked crust covered in cream soup.

Minnie loved the green beans, she even went back for seconds. She liked the salmon okay although I think she would have preferred it without the sauce and of course the same cheese potatoes I had.

Jack has some ice cream.

I tried the green beans and would have liked them better without the onions. The mashed potatoes were delicious as usual and the ravioli was boring.

Tink enjoys her ice cream.

Minnie liked the chocolate chip cookie.

My dessert plate. Chocolate cake with some kind of sauce. Rice Krispy Treat. Chocolate Moose Mouse. All delicious.

Napkin waving!

 

[DisDreamz]

After dinner Jack really wanted to go back to the Studios to go on Rock N Rollercoaster (and I wanted to catch the last showing of the Osborne Lights), but unfortunately it was already 6:30 by this point and I didn't think we could make it from the Contemporary so we headed over to Magic Kingdom instead for Extra Magic Hours.

It's hard to get a good picture after dark.

It was pretty crowded, but we were able to ride Buzz Lightyear and see the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and Carousel of Progress (which I dozed through).

We watched Wishes while attempting to wind our way back to the monorail (it was much harder to leave during the fireworks than DL). We finally made our way back to the hotel and quickly crashed.

 

[DisDreamz]

WOW, those are really nice pin collections.
How cool is that? Totally cool!

It would be nice to see what you have created for WDW. Will you be posting pictures? I like seeing t-shirt designs and other crafty things.

Thanks Gisele. I added a bunch of new pins to my collection (I have pins for pretty much all my favorite rides) and Tink really got into the pin trading during the trip (the other two are more into collecting, they didn't trade at all).

I'm sure you'll see some of the shirts because we wore all three sets (and I take tons of pictures). All the Disigns were from the creative people on the DiSign board (I actually had someone come up to me at the park and ask me if I was Erin, I think she thought I was the person who designed the shirt!).

We didn't even end up really using the journals (we started out good, but after the first day we never used them again).

 

[DisDreamz]

Today started with a knock on the door--it was hotel management! Someone had knocked the phone off the hook, so our 7am wakeup call turned into an 8am wakeup knock.

I decided not to wake the kids up immediately and enjoyed the silence. Jack and Minnie woke up easily, but Tink refused. By the time we convinced her to get up, dressed, and drove over to Epcot it was 10am! (so much for getting there are rope drop )

We drove through the ticket booth and parked in Journey.

We'd soon find that taking pictures of where we parked was super important. The rental car was very non-descript and it didn't have an alarm (which is how I find my car at home, beep the alarm and it doesn't take long to find the car ).

Then we headed through the entrance to one of our favorite parks. Our first view:

Then we made a beeline for Test Track.

The line wasn't too long and we all really liked the ride.

The queue was really interesting, we rarely had a long wait any of the times we rode this, so each time we saw something new.

Next up....

World Showcase!

 

[DisDreamz]

We finished Test Track slightly before 11am so decided to tackle World Showcase! First up, a trip to the store to buy a passport.

On a side note, I was originally going to make custom passports that I found here on the Dis, but ended up running out of time. Minnie & Jack decided that they didn't want to do it (Minnie had done it the last time we came when she was 8 and Jack just isn't into that sort of stuff).

Then it was time to take care of business--tree time!

 

[MinnieMommy]

I'm enjoying your trip report! Can't wait for more!