A Mom, a Dad and a Princess! Trip for 8/23/08

[Renee845]

So I have been inspired to write a pre-trip report! Please be kind, I have no idea what I am doing. I am just getting more and more excited by the day and I feel like I am going to EXPLODE! We are going to be going from August 23 to August 31 to celebrate my daughter’s (Julia) 5th b-day and her beginning Kindergarten (ugh, don’t even get me started on that! ).

We basically decided to take this trip now rather than before or later because at this point in her life, Julia IS a princess, she lives and breathes it and I think in her mind, she is Cinderella, there is nothing I want more in the world than to bring this magic to her, at an age were magic really feels like MAGIC!

Also, we feel like this might be our last chance as a family of 3, we have been talking about baby #2 and I think we are going to try shortly after the trip, so it will be AWHILE before we have another chance to get there.

Lastly, money, as many of you can relate, does not come easy for us, we get by as best we can but very rarely do we have anything left over for much else, this trip is about 100 times bigger than our honeymoon ever was! We will be married 10 years next May.

 

[Renee845]

So, the cast is as follows:

Me (aka Mommy, aka Renee), 36, this will be my first trip to Magic Kingdom!! I have been to Epcot, well over 10 years ago (maybe closer to 15) but never got to see Mickey. I think I may be more excited that Julia, when I think about all the things she is going to see and experience I just get so emotional, I know the first time I lay eyes on the castle I am going to cry like a baby! I am so thankful that we are planning this trip, it is truely a dream come true for me!

Larry (aka Daddy, aka Larry), 37, he tells me that he has been there once when he was very small, I am sure he remembers next to none of it. He will no doubt be dubbed “Grumpy” before the trip is over, he does not travel well and I can see him making me nuts! The breaks we work in might be more for him than for Jules. A final note on Larry, I think he may be somewhat hesitant about this trip, about 10 years ago or so, his only sister (10 at the time) was killed on the way to Disney, his family was in a major car accident on the way and never got there, for this reason, I don’t really talk to his parents about our Disney plans.

Julia (aka The Princess), will be 5 on August 23. I will be getting pictures of our beauty on here soon, but since I am starting this at work, the pictures will have to wait. I guess I should note that Julia was a month premature, she is prefect in every way but a bit of a peanut, you would never know it by looking at her and her mouth MORE than makes up for whatever she lacks. It also helps that her Daddy is 6’4” – I, however, am 5’2”.

 

[Renee845]

I guess the best way to go about this – remember, I have no idea what I am doing- is to lay out all our plans. Of course, I welcome any comments and suggestions. If you think I have missed a piece of magic somewhere along the way, please make sure you let me know about it!

You will come to see that we have about every character meal known to man scheduled, I want to personally thank Disney for the free dining plan , without it, we would be pretty much eating fast food for the entire week no doubt!

So to begin at the beginning, we will be leaving on our flight (6:30 a.m.!!) from New York (now when I say NY, I don't mean "The City", we are about 2 hours up from there, more "suburban") to Orlando on Julia’s actual b-day. Needless to say, this will be her first plane trip! She is excited about it. Me, scared to death!! I have only been on a plane 2x before in my life, both of which being before 911 and while that has been many years ago now, I am still scared. I did not fly well before then, and NOW?? Oh boy. I am seriously considering going to the doctor before our trip for some “help” in getting through it. Obviously, I can’t show Julia how scared I am so that is going to make it even harder. We are flying Jet Blue and I am sure I am going to be very thankful for the TV’s.

We had considered doing the train thing, but quite frankly, I am I very impatient person and there is just no way I can sit on a train for that many hours! While it would be nice to have a car there, I would really rather get there FAST!

 

[Hedy]

Lookig forward to more:
What adr's do you have?
Where are you staying?

 

[Renee845]

Lookig forward to more:
What adr's do you have?
Where are you staying?

Here come the details!

 

[Renee845]

Now for the fun part!
8/23/08 – Julia’s b-day

We should arrive in Orlando around 9:30 or so (3 hr. flight). We are taking the Magical Express to our first stop of All Star Movie Resort. We had originally planned to fly out the next day (sun) but oddly, the plane tickets were cheaper to fly out on Sat. so once that was discovered we added a day in All Star and will make a transfer to the Coronado Springs the following day for the remainder of our trip. When we first planned the trip we were going to stay at the Movie one the whole time but in the ended decided to spring for a little more money and go moderate.

Once we get there and get settled we are heading for an afternoon at Downtown Disney to see the sites and just ease into the World at our own pace, like I said, Larry does not travel well and I think rushing into a park would be a BAD idea. I am super excited about the scrapbooking store there! I am a big “scrapper” and when I think about the things I am going to create once our trip is over I get giddy!! It will definitely help with the post-Disney blues I’m sure.

I am going to arrange to have a bouquet of balloons waiting in our room with a princess crown for Julia, I am going to have the card be an invitation from Cindy herself asking Julia to join her for dinner at 1900 Park Fare, believe it or not, this was the hardest ADR I made! It took me weeks to get in there!! (and we have an ADR for the Castle later in the week!)

So we will have dinner with Cinderella and the gang to celebrate her b-day and I am going to order a cake for her big day, we have reservations for 7:20 and I am hopeful that we will be able to catch the fireworks at MK after dinner.

 

[Hedy]

My family's flying 1 week before you are, and they're flying in a day early as well, for the same reason.
I really liked 1900 Park Fare for breakfast.
I'd think CSR would be fun with its pool and playground for Julia.

 

[Renee845]

8/24 – Sunday

First, we have an ADR for the Lilo & Stitch character breakfast at the Poly (in a perfect world this is where we would be staying!) I am definitely looking forward to checking it out!

After breakfast we are going to start quest for Mickey at the Magic Kingdom! I have it laid out for this day as follows:

Frontierland
Larry is going to want to go on Splash Mt. and Thunder Mt. I wish I could but I am a big chicken and as much as I would like to experience this, I don’t think I can, it does not help that since Julia is so little, we will have to ride separately so I won’t have Larry to cling too!

See Country Bear Jamboree
Woody’s Cowboy Camp

Head to Adventure Land
Jungle Cruise
Aladdin
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tiki Room

No doubt we will be keeping our eyes peeled for characters, Julia is super excited about the concept of autographs and I am super excited about the photo opts!

 

[Renee845]

We are either going to have lunch here or head back now, hopefully, all arrangements to transfer our stuff from Movies to Coronado went smoothly and I am sure I will be anxious to get us settled.

One more thing you should know about me, I am a total control freak and a bit on the obsessive side so I have everything written down and lists like you would not believe!!

Once we are all settled and possibly refreshed from a dip in that awesome looking pool, we are heading for Ft. Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Do Review at 5:00, if we have enough time, we might check out the pony rides for Julia.

After dinner I am hopeful to catch the campfire sing a long with Chip and Dale at 7:00!

 

[Renee845]

8/25 is Epcot day

Princess Breakfast in Norway, of course, after all, our quest is more for the Princesses than it is for Mickey! Not that we don’t LOVE Mickey!!! Julia will have her Cinderella dress with her (and at least one more no doubt because I am a sucker), I have also made it known that this is Julie’s b-day week!

From here we are going to tackle as much as we can. Larry is a NASCAR freak and he cannot wait to go on Test Track! So that will be our first stop, no doubt after all those princesses he is going to need a shot of testosterone!

The Living Seas is our biggest priority here in Epcot, so I think after Larry breaks the sound barrier this will be our next stop:
Seas with Nemo & Friends & Turtle Talk with Crush

We have an ADR for the Coral Reef for lunch, I am really, really excited about this one! I have made arrangements to have a scuba diver hold up a sign in the tank to read “Happy Birthday Princess Julia!” I am sure that is going to just blow her mind! I am also looking forward to the menu the manager Debbi is going to make with the photos of Julia I send to her.

 

[Renee845]

After the two big things are out of the way we want to check out the following:

Universe of Energy
Club Cool
Innovations:
Spaceship Earth

What? No Soarin??? Yeah, well, this goes back to the chicken/motion sick person I am, I am not sure if I would have anxiety issues with Soarin or not, I guess I may change my mind once we get there, depending on the doctor visit!!

After we hit our “must do’s” we are back to the CSR for some R&R before dinner.

We have an ADR for the Crystal Palace tonight, I also made sure they were aware that we had a b-day girl so we are looking forward to a nice surprise there.

This is going to the be the night of the Spectromagic parade so we are going to stay close to Main Street after dinner to catch the action and the fireworks!

 

[Renee845]

To be continued soon, I feel like I should get SOME work done!!!

 

[Renee845]

Ok, so where was I? The next day is
Tuesday - 8/26

Magic Kingdom Part 2

We have an ADR for the supercalifragulistic breakfast at 10:25, I was originally upset that I could not get an earlier time but the more I thought about it the better I was with it. I thought the entire morning would be lost, but instead, we are going to use it as a nice morning break!

We hope to be there at rope drop so we can tackle Fantasyland, I think the only two things we are not planning on going on are the teacups (too much for me!) and Snow White (too much for Julie I think), so we have a lot we want get done before breakfast!

After our trip to the GF we are heading back to MK so we can go to Liberty Square, we also want to make sure we see the parade today!

After the parade and depending on our stamina we are going back to CSR to get ready for the Spirit of Aloha dinner. I have to tell you, with all the mixed reviews I am really worried about this one! I sure hope it is worth the money!!! I have to imagine that Julia will enjoy it.

So that is our Tuesday, seems like not much on paper but I have all the rides and stuff listed on my actual travel plan so I guess that is why it looks so small to me!

 

[Renee845]

Wed. 8/27

Hollywood Studios!

ADR for Character Breakfast at Hollywood & Vine

After breakfast I am sure we are going to make a b-line for the Rock & Roller Coaster, Larry is really looking forward to that one, however, is it safe to ride this just after breakfast???? Better him that me!!!

Once we get R&R and TOT out of the way for Larry are plans are just to explore the whole park making sure we take it all in. Of course, the big ones for Julia are Beauty and the Beast and Voyage of Little Mermaid, she has seen both these shows on Broadway but you know as well as I do that we need to see each of them at least once!!!

We then have an ADR for Mama Melrose at 4:50 – the Fantasmic dinner package

I guess after dinner we will either go back to the room for a bit or wait until Fantasmic starts. I am really looking forward to this show but a little worried about how Julia is going to take it, I hope she does not get too freaked out.

 

[Renee845]

Thursday 8/28
Animal Kingdom Day!

Our hope is to get here for the rope drop, we have been going pretty hard each day now so I am not sure if we will have the stamina.

Once we get there, Larry is going to make a run for EE, this is another one of those rides that I wish I could find the nerve to go on, it just looks so awesome!! If you have not done it yet, I highly recommend checking it out on U-Tube, that Yeti is just so real looking!!

While Larry is taking his chances with the Yeti, Julia and I will go to the Bone Yard and wait it out. After that we plan on hitting the Safari and all the other animal trails, etc.

We have no ADRs here, I am thinking we are going to end up having lunch at the Flaming Tree but I just have no idea.

Julia has made it VERY clear that we are not leaving without seeing Nemo, the Lion King and Pocohontas – who could blame her really???

For Dinner we have ADRs at the Whispering Canyon Café – the other deluxe we would have stayed at had money not been an object. This one was Larry’s first choice. We are really looking forward to dinner here!

After dinner we want to walk around, check out the geyser and hopefully catch the water pageant, who knows, maybe we will be able to catch the fireworks too!

 

[Renee845]

FRIDAY 8/29
Magic Kingdom Pt3
Another big Princess Day!

We have an appt at the BBB for 8:40 a.m. to prepare for our big breakfast at the Castle! Julie is beside herself with excitement on this one! She is going to get the hair, make-up and nails done. I have no doubt in the world that I am going to end up buying her a new dress, but we will jump off that bridge when we get to it!

After Julie turns into a Princess we head for breakfast with Cinderella! I am really excited about this one, I get chills when I think about it!!!

Once breakfast is over and we come down from the clouds, we will spend the rest of the day at MK hitting all the things we have not hit from our “must do” list.

Back to CSR for R&R

We plan on spending the evening at Epcot touring the Worlds. We have an ADR for the Biergarten in Germany (Larry is mostly German and I thought he would really enjoy the food), plus I think this would be the best place for Julia.

After dinner we will continue World hopping and end the night with Illusions!

 

[Renee845]

SATURDAY
8/30

Our last day at Disney and our ultimate hopping day!

We have an ADR with Chef Mickey at 10:25 so hopefully we will be able to catch up on
some sleep in the morning!

After that we will see if we have seen everything on our to do list and plan the day accordingly. I am guessing some time will be spent in Animal Kingdom seeing any of the shows we might have missed. Julia is a big animal lover so I am sure she is going to want some time back with the animals.

We have an ADR at the Sci-Fi Drive in Hollywood for a late lunch

After that I think our plans are to play some mini-golf and maybe a stroll on the boardwalk. So sad we are leaving the next day!!!

 

[Renee845]

Re-cap our ADRs

8/23/08 – Saturday
1900 Park Fare for dinner
8/24/08
Lilo & Stitch character breakfast at Poly
Hoop De Do Review
8/25
Epcot Princess Breakfast
Coral Reef for lunch
Crystal Palace for dinner
8/26
Supercalifragelist breakfast at GF
Aloha Dinner Show
8/27
Hollywood&Vine character breakfast
Mama Melrose – Fantasmic dinner package
8/28
Whispering Canyon Café for dinner
8/29
Breakfast at the Castle
Biergarten dinner in Germany
8/30
Breakfast at Chef Mickey
Sci-Fi Drive-In for lunch

I tried to work in as many different character meals as I could and I wanted a chance to check out as many deluxe resorts too – overall, I would say we did pretty well there!

 

[Renee845]

So that is our trip plan in a nutshell, funny, I don't feel any better! I was hoping if I got it all down on paper it would stop jumping around in my head! I am not really sure if I did this right, considering it is a pre-trip, it is not like I can give you any photos or incidents or examples of magic YET..... I will put some pictures of my dd on here for all to see. I get the feeling the actual trip report will be much more fun to read!