A Host of Hokies Head Back to the World!!!

[mickeygirl14]

Well, here it is. My first attempt at a PTR.

Introduction:
Who we are:
DH – Caleb: Hard-working Dad who needs a vacation
DD8 - Hannah: Spunky, thrill-ride-seeking, sweet and smart baby girl
DS5 – Jack: Very excited about “growing up to 6” very shortly; not quite as adventurous as big sister, but loves all things Disney
Me – Kelly: Stay-at-home Mom who also needs a vacation and also loves all things Disney

When we’re heading to the WORLD:
September 17th, bright and early, staying for 7 nights

Where we’re staying:
Contemporary – We (well, DH and I) are very excited about our first deluxe stay. We stayed at POFQ for our Disneymoon and swore then we’d come back one day and stay deluxe. Finally made it!

Fun Vacation Tidbits:
• We scored Wishes Dessert Party Ressies for our first night!
• We also scored a Fantasmic Dining Package at Brown Derby for our second night!
• Headed back for MNSSHP on the 20th!
• Whole family has Pirate’s League ressies before MNSSHP!
• Upgraded to a MK view room at CR!

(And yes, if you haven’t noticed by now, I LOVE exclamation marks! I really think we don’t use them enough .)

This will be my 7th trip to the World, DH’s 4th, and the kids’ 3rd trip. We are all really excited – the kids keep asking if we’re close enough to make our countdown chain yet. (We make Mickey ears with the number of days left and line the stairway.) I told them we could at 30 days. I’m trying to keep them entertained with the Disney travel shows and the vacation planning DVD. I swear, Jack could watch that planning video ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! This may be our last trip for a while (I’m crossing my fingers and saying prayers that it’s not so!), so we’re trying to squeeze in as much fun as we can – one reason we decided to splurge for a MK-view room at CR. I cannot wait to look at the castle from our room!

Here’s our ADRs for this trip:
Sat, 17th – Wishes Dessert Party
Sun, 18th – Brown Derby (Dinner)
Mon, 19th – Garden Grill (Dinner)
Tues, 20th – 1900 Park Fare (Breakfast)
Wed, 21st – Sci-Fi (Lunch)
Thurs, 22nd – Tusker House (Breakfast), T-Rex (Dinner)
Fri, 23rd – Les Chefs de France (Dinner)

We’ve done Garden Grill (one of our favs), T-Rex (LOVE it!), and DH and I did Brown Derby on our honeymoon, but all of the others are new experiences for us. Hoping we chose well. :thumbsup

Well, that’s all for now…I’ll write more if anyone is interested.

 

[dizney chick]

I am interested!!! Tell me more,Tell me more. I'm listening
We are staying at AKL villas but would love to do CR someday. And good idea doing the pirate experience before the party. We did MNSSHP one year and it was great!!! Sadly we leave right before they start this year. Oh well just another reason to go back!!!!!!!!

 

[ZFamily5]

I'm totally in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

 

[mickeygirl14]

I am interested!!! Tell me more,Tell me more. I'm listening
We are staying at AKL villas but would love to do CR someday. And good idea doing the pirate experience before the party. We did MNSSHP one year and it was great!!! Sadly we leave right before they start this year. Oh well just another reason to go back!!!!!!!!

Thanks dizney chick!!! So glad I'm not alone here talking to myself, but I do it everywhere else, so why not? I cannot wait to hear about AKL - is this your first stay there? That was our other choice - only reason we went with CR was the monorail. We too love MNSSHP - had a ball last year and it was the kid's favorite part of the trip. And it was great because we totally surprised them with it. They had seen the commercials on the planning video and the website and wanted to go and we told them it was too expensive. Then we took them out to eat that afternoon and surprised them with the tickets and a trip to the BBB for Hannah and the Pirate's Leauge for Jack. Hannah seems to have outgrown her princess days, and Jack had so much fun at the PL - we all decided to do it together this year.

I'm totally in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

Thanks for joining in ZFamily5! And I love that you guys are "Thing 1", "Thing 2" and "Thing 3". Here's a picture of my "Thing 1" and "Thing 2"!

 

[ZFamily5]

Your Thing 1 and Thing 2 are adorable!

 

[mickeygirl14]

ZFamily5 - Thanks! I do love my little Thing 1 and Thing 2!

 

[mickeygirl14]

So, I'm back finally...it's been a hectic week with not a lot of time to just sit down and think. Ever have those weeks? I do love the summer and all the fun that comes with it, but boy am I looking forward to the kiddos going back to school!

So, every morning, I give my family the updated countdown to our trip...Today, we're at 48 days. Still seems so far away, but I know once school starts in 2 weeks, it'll fly by. I actually scored a Crystal Palace breakfast ADR for our last morning - this is a tradition for us. I thought we'd skip it this year in favor of a different TS meal earlier in the trip, but I got so sad thinking of not going to MK early to an almost empty park on our last day, that I started hitting the ADR site. For 2 weeks, NOTHING...my heart was breaking. (You know how it is when you finally set your heart on something!) Then, a few days ago, one opened up! It's not quite as early as I'd like, and I'll keep trying to see if I can get an earlier one, but I got one!

So, now I'm working on putting together the goody bags for Hannah and Jack. So far, pretty good, I think. I've got some miscellaneous trinkets and light-up stuff in there, new autograph books, rain slickers, new pins and I'm trying something new this year. I've got a gift card for each of them for spending money. I'm hoping that helps control the "I want that!!!" every time we walk through one of the shops.

I'll keep adding to the goody bags - I'm always finding something I want to add to it. Last year, I found these great glow sticks at the $1 bins at Target. They were giant glow sticks that had a heart, or a star on top for the girls or a sword handle for the boys. Really cute...haven't been able to find them this year. And I'm thinking of buying a Disney music CD (the Sherman Bros. music) to listen to on our drive down. We'll drive DH crazy by the time we hit Georgia!

Well, that's it for this installment...next up - trying to figure out how to get DH to wear a matching family t-shirt (which he ADAMENTLY refuses to do), to make them anyway for the kids and me, and to get through Jack's birthday party! (Hannah just had hers...a sleepover...fun, fun, fun for Mama, 8 yr-old girls refusing sleep and giggling all night.) Jack is so excited about his birthday, I'm hoping he's not disappointed when he wakes up and figures out that he's not all grown up that morning!

I've included some pictures from our last trip - Hoping for as much fun this time as last year!

 

[dixie06]

Hey your kids are so cute cant wait to hear about everything you have planned i have a PTR also maybe you could help me with mine lol its called Billys first visit. so excited to see what you do next

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

Checking in!

I know exactly the wands you are talking about-we get them for camping and WDW as well. I hope you are able to find the ones you want!

We have family that lives outside of Charleston in Isle of Palms. Sadly for s we tend to travel in August so when we go to Charleston it is HOOOOTTTT!

We have gone in September but this year will travel for Thanksgiving. (my pre-trip is in my siggy). I hope you have weather that is not TOOO hot! and good luck with he matching t-shirts-we have never done matchy matchy but I like to coordinate for pictures.

 

[ZFamily5]

The Michael's store by our house has coloring books and glowsticks for $1...not sure if yours would too, but it might be worth a shot!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Hey your kids are so cute cant wait to hear about everything you have planned i have a PTR also maybe you could help me with mine lol its called Billys first visit. so excited to see what you do next

Thanks - and thanks for joining in! I will definitely check out your PTR!

Checking in!

I know exactly the wands you are talking about-we get them for camping and WDW as well. I hope you are able to find the ones you want!

We have family that lives outside of Charleston in Isle of Palms. Sadly for s we tend to travel in August so when we go to Charleston it is HOOOOTTTT!

We have gone in September but this year will travel for Thanksgiving. (my pre-trip is in my siggy). I hope you have weather that is not TOOO hot! and good luck with he matching t-shirts-we have never done matchy matchy but I like to coordinate for pictures.

So glad someone else knows those wands - they were so cute! Yes, Charleston is VERY hot and HUMID in the summer. I would definitely recommend visiting your family in the spring or the fall...it's great then. We really like Disney in Sept - the weather doesn't bother us (we're used to the heat and humidity!) and you can't beat the crowd levels. I have told DH that I would like to see Disney for Christmas one year though. Although, I do NOT do well with crowds, so that may not be a great idea. I've never done the matchy-matchy (love that term BTW!) either, actually never even given a second thought to our outfits coordinating, but have seen so many cute family pics with such cute shirts, I'm thinking I may try it this year. I'll definitely take a look at your PTR! Can't wait to hear how it is for Thanksgiving!

The Michael's store by our house has coloring books and glowsticks for $1...not sure if yours would too, but it might be worth a shot!

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, the closest Michaels for me is about 45 minutes away. I may just have to make a trip that way one day when the kids go back to school.

 

[ZFamily5]

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, the closest Michaels for me is about 45 minutes away. I may just have to make a trip that way one day when the kids go back to school.

That stinks! Our's is only about 10 minutes away, so it's a little easier to run over there. There's also a website called deepdiscount.com that has lots of CDs and DVDs and some books you're kids might like.

 

[mickeygirl14]

Scored an earlier ADR at Crystal Palace for our last morning...well, it's only 15 minutes earlier, but 15 minutes is 15 minutes, right?

 

[ZFamily5]

Scored an earlier ADR at Crystal Palace for our last morning...well, it's only 15 minutes earlier, but 15 minutes is 15 minutes, right?

That's great!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Ok, so we're getting closer and closer to the big day! The kids are so excited and Jack gets up every day and wants to log on to the Disney website to see exactly how many days we have left. He does not trust me to tell him the right answer - he wants to see for himself.

It's been a busy couple of weeks here - school starts tomorrow morning. New school for Jack - he's transferring in from another school. So, being the overprotective mom that I am, I'm worried. But he's such a sweet kid and so much fun, I know he'll be fine. Hannah is excited about a new year, as always. She loves school...and her competitive gymnastics practices start tomorrow afternoon. Lots going on for her.

So, I finished our 30 day countdown calendar this week...Jack helped. Hannah had gone away for her first ever "away" camp for the week. I was a nervous wreck the first day, but she called the first night and was having such a great time. It was a good experience for her. So, anyway, Jack and I needed something fun to do and channeling our energy into our Disney trip seemed logical. Here's a pic...you'll notice that the countdown starts at 29 days - because the last morning is "day 0" when we head out. And each day has a Disney trivia question. They can be Disney movie related or WDW related...should be interesting.

I'm working on "tweaking" our ADRs...I'm not sure about the Tusker House breakfast and thinking of cancelling the Sci-Fi since I got the Crystal Palace ressies. Not sure what to replace them with though...any suggestions would be welcome! Here's our itinerary:

Sept 17th: Arrive around 3pm, check-in, QS meal for late lunch/early dinner and then dessert party at 8pm at MK
Sept 18th: Epcot - FW for first part of day and then heading to HS for Fantasmic dinner at Brown Derby and then the show that evening
Sept 19th: Epcot all day - planning to spend a good portion of the day in WS, ressies at Garden Grill that evening
Sept 20th: Taking the morning easy - late breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (do I want to keep this one??? Not sure), then ressies at the Pirate's League for all of us and MNSSHP that night
Sept 21st: Off to HS for the day; Sci-Fi ressies for lunch...thinking I'm going to cancel this
Sept 22nd: AK - breakfast ressies at Tusker House (we just seem to have a lot of breakfasts...not sure about this one.) Dinner at T-Rex in DTD that night.
Sept 23rd: Not sure where exactly we're headed this day, but we'll end up in Epcot WS that evening for dinner at Les Chefs
Sept 24th: Breakfast at Crystal Palace and then a last look around MK before heading home

So, any thoughts or restaurant suggestions would be welcome...I'm just really torn. Almost surely going to cancel Sci-Fi (don't think Jack in particular would like this) and probably Tusker House. What to replace one or both with though is the question. Places I'd like to try: Whispering Canyon, California Grill (worth paying OOP with kids???), Flying Fish (worth paying OOP with kids???), The Wave, Teppan Edo, maybe Sanaa or Boma? Help!!!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Hello there! I'm joining in! Your title caught my eye because I am a Hokie too!

Your kids are so cute! I love that your son thinks he will be grown up at 6. That's precious!

I love the countdown calendar that you made, and I think the Disney trivia questions are a unique addition! Great job!

Your plans sound great so far, and I wish I had more to contribute with ADR suggestions, but I haven't been to many of the TS restaurants.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Hello there! I'm joining in! Your title caught my eye because I am a Hokie too!

Your kids are so cute! I love that your son thinks he will be grown up at 6. That's precious!

I love the countdown calendar that you made, and I think the Disney trivia questions are a unique addition! Great job!

Your plans sound great so far, and I wish I had more to contribute with ADR suggestions, but I haven't been to many of the TS restaurants.

Can't wait to read more!

PrincessAmongPrinces! So glad to see another HOKIE on here! We're originally from VA - grew up just down the road from VT and while I love the beach and the Charleston area and it's home now, every time I make that drive up I-81 up Christiansburg mountain thru the NRV, I get a little homesick. Yes, DS is quite the cute one...I have a hard time not spoiling him. He can bat those LONG lashes at me and it's so hard to say no to him. I actually picked up the trivia question addition to our countdown on some other threads. Lots of really creative people on here that un-creative people like me can "borrow" ideas from. Thanks for joining in!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Just got our package from AAA in the mail!!! 31 days and counting...but I've been doing that since 195 days!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Well, after an OVERwhelming response lmao to my call for dining suggestions, I cancelled Sci-Fi and booked the GF Cafe and Kona for dinner that night. Gonna cancel one, but can't decide which. Kona is DH's choice, but that is 7:50 ADR and I didn't want to eat that late that night. GF Cafe is at 6:30...so back to square one. Any thoughts?

So, school is back in session and the kids are trying to get back in the swing of things. I think it's been harder on Jack because he had to switch schools this year...so new school, new friends, new teacher. And then he's going to miss a week for Disney. I'm thinking this will be the last of our September trips, which makes me . One plus right now is that I'm not having any trouble getting them out of bed - all I have to do is ask if they're ready to go and pull out the Disney countdown trivia question for the day. Works like a charm!

On another note, I just found out that my DB and DSil are heading to Universal and we might overlap at least one day in the Orlando area. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to be able to meet up because of our Dessert Party ADRs. and as hard as I had to work to get those, I don't think I can bring myself to cancel them! Maybe we can see them for breakfast or something before they leave. Also, I just got the Epcot passports I had printed - they look awesome! I was so excited about how well they turned out. I used a DISigners Epcot passport DISign and had it printed into 8x6 a spiral-bound photo book. Adding those to their goody bags. Even DH was impressed with them.

Well, the countdown continues - I swear I'm more excited than the kids. Here's hoping no hurricanes that week!

 

[mickeygirl14]

Okay - I'm officially done "tinkering" with our ADRs. DH is already tired of this vacation and we're 3 weeks away!! So, here's what I did...

Sat - Wishes Dessert Party
Sun - Brown Derby (Fantasmic! Pkg) dinner
Mon - Garden Grill dinner
Tues - 1900 Park Fare breakfast
Wed - Chefs de France dinner
Thurs - Tusker House breakfast, T-Rex dinner
Fri - Hoop-de-doo Musical Revue dinner
Sat - Crystal Palace breakfast

DH was much happier when I told him that he now gets unlimited beer at the HDDR! He's pretty excited about that whole show. Like a good DISer, I cancelled all of my extraneous ADRs. We're super excited and I hope it'll be a great week!