a mini 2 day trip - who knew there was so much to plan!

[Tink_83]

So this is my first pre-trip report and I’m new here to DIS boards but I have a love of Disney that started as a child and continues on; DH not so much. Anyway, I’m writing this pre-trip report for all those out there who are like me and planning a short trip to Disney; I’m talking 2 days one park each day kind of short.

The actual trip was supposed to be for me to see my DGM who lives in Jacksonville, she has dementia and it is getting worse so before she gets to a point where she doesn’t remember me I wanted to go down and visit. But of course I also wanted something that would take my mind off of things for a little while; which lead me to my 3 night 2 day mini trip to Disney World (I mean we are already going to be in Florida so why not?!).

Anyway onto who all is coming: DM a Pooh bear fanatic, DSis Liz a Tigger fanatic, DB Mike not really a Disney fanatic but he wanted to spend time with us (isn’t that sweet?), DSis Mary a Stich lover, DD 4 ½ currently a princess du jour fanatic, and me who loves Tink!

Travel dates: End of March for 2 days.

Staying: We are staying offsite at the WBC (and looking forward to it) and we have a throw away campground site for the night straddling our two days. I know that some people who camp really hate this practice, but in our defense we are only going for two days…

ADRs: We have the GG in Epcot booked for 8 am our first day! And Via Napoli for an early dinner at 4:30. On our last day out I have the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno booked for just DD and me; it’s sort of a nice Mommy-Daughter breakfast before the baby comes!

Other facts: I’m currently pregnant and will be 21 weeks when we are at Disney. This has caused me to have to plan extra hard for this trip because I can’t do roller coasters, DM doesn’t like them, but my siblings want to go on the coasters and DD is a coaster fanatic! Let’s just say for someone who is trying her first attempt at touring plans it’s been a little intense; but I’m an over planner so I accept and welcome the challenge!

 

[Tink_83]

Well part of the fun of Disney vacations for me has become obsessively checking (like once a day) to see if I can get slightly better ADRs. I was able to get Via Napoli at 6:10 which means we now have a normal dinner time, yay!!! Super excited about that (plus it almost feels like you've won something when you get the ADR you want within the 30 day count down). Anyway, I've now been able to finalize my touring plan for Epcot and it does seem to be coming together nicely. I just have to tweak the touring plan for the Magic Kingdom and then start really working on my packing lists (for the trip and what to bring to the park).

Also, our magic bands arrived!!! Super excited to try to decorate them this time around. I'm planning to try something simple, so probably just sparkly nail polish and call it a day (I'm not really very artistic, but I do appreciate looking through photos of what everyone else has accomplished with theirs).

I've also considered other little things I can do with DD to get her excited about the trip. We have a count down to Florida calendar going (I like that over the Disney count down because I want her getting super excited about Disney the week before we go; and not a month before we go and then get tired of begin excited about Disney). I also have a mickey muffin pan I got a few weeks ago so I'm going to make mickey shaped muffins for breakfast this weekend. Last weekend we used the mickey sandwich cutter to shape the french toast (that was a big hit as well, that and the PB&J DD has been devouring, for breakfast!?!?).

The final challenge is convincing my family that we need to be at the parks for rope drop because a) my touring plans depend on it and b) I'd like to experience rope drop at least once! I figure a short two day trip is a good one to do the commando style because it's not like 4 or 5 days of just going all out. Anyway, I have a lot of cajoling to do to get my family to leave the WBC by 7 am each morning, but I'm working on it!