A Newlywed's Very Merry PTR! December 2013 Complete!

[CtinaDitty]

Yay!! Congrats on buying MVMCP tickets! I absolutely love that party, you are going to have an amazing time

Thanks! I'm so excited!! It's one of the must-dos for a Christmas trip! It's always a highlight for me!

 

[CtinaDitty]

Hey everyone!

Welp, I’m another year older! My birthday was Thursday and it is the first time in approx.. 103 years that it snowed in May. My birthday broke a record for coldest May 2nd ever in Kansas City history with temperatures in the 30s along with 2-3 inches of snow. Here is a picture I sent to my parents who were on their way to the Florida beaches.



YUCK. I was born in May for a reason, so I didn’t ever have to deal with snow on my birthday. Tornadoes, sure. Happens all the time, but not snow! Blegh!

How did we celebrate? We went to see Iron Man 3 at midnight with a group of our friends. It was great! Friday, DH and I celebrated at home just the fur-babies and us.



Our Boston Cream Cake from our local Price Chopper!



DH and I just got back from a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks! It was such a great trip for us to get away from everything for a little bit and we had some great moments that I just have to share with you. SO, welcome to my first non-Disney MINI-TR of two that I will be sharing with you during this PTR. Enjoy!

Day 1, Part 1: The Land of the Lost

DH and I woke up about 7:30 A.M. on Saturday morning ready to throw some overnight items into a bag for the weekend trip. We were staying one night at the Camden at the Lake Resort and were excited for some “us” time. We have both been so busy that we haven’t had a lot of time for just the two of us so we were ready to finally get that. We were planning on leaving the house at 8:30 A.M. to grab a bite to eat from the local McDonalds before heading on our way the three and a half hours it took to get there. DH practically grew up at the Lake of the Ozarks. They had a cabin there and would spend every weekend there. My first time there was with him and a friend of ours a few years ago. In a way, it’s kind of like our relationship with Disney, but backwards. Disney is my thing; the lake is his. I introduced him to Disney; he introduced me to the Lake. The Lake is a place where you apparently have NO schedule which is hard for me to deal with. Even when I go to the beach I have a time that I’ll go up from the beach to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner. Do you have that at the lake? Nope. Nada. That much freedom doesn’t work well with me! Haha!

We had some reservations about even going to the lake this particular weekend. The weather wasn’t going to be great lake weather, which limits a lot of the lake activities you can do. Saturday’s high was supposed to be in the mid-50s and it made it to about 50 degrees. Sunday, the high was supposed to be in the mid 60s but we came home before that high would have even become reality. Even looking at the temperature now it’s only 59 degrees there. Not ideal lake weather, but we made the most of it.

On the way to the Lake you end up seeing some pretty interesting/cool/weird things. One of the first things we saw through the scattered rain showers that seemed to be following us everywhere was this really neat water tower!



Not sure what city it belongs to but it was pretty neat looking. Credit to DH for a lot of the scenery pictures by the way. I did all of the driving so it wouldn’t have been safe for me to take pictures. He knew I was going to make a mini-TR with these pictures so he tried pretty hard, bless his heart.

After about three and a half hours of driving we finally made it to Osage Beach. This meant we were very close. I couldn’t help but notice how many of the towns at the Lake were named after beaches (Osage Beach, Sunrise Beach). My entire family was currently at Indian Rocks Beach, FL so this depressed me a TINY bit because I so wanted to be there. We were about twenty minutes out when we noticed a lot of detour signs talking about a car show. Well, we ended up taking some pretty interesting side roads to get around that car show, but at least we got to see some cool cars (sorry no pictures). After being lost for awhile, taking roads that you could have sworn would lead you straight to the lake, we finally made it through the detours and up the long winding drive through the trees to our resort (every road around here is like this one)!



Our resort was right on the lake. We got checked in and headed down to our room. Our room was on the third floor but we seemed so high up! Here are a few pictures of our room. It was HUGE and beautiful!









Cool thing about this shower is it had a shower head on both sides of the shower so you were hit with water from both sides. One of the best showers I’ve ever taken. I want one so badly now!! Lol!



Our gorgeous view!





This fireplace wasn’t real but I still loved that we had it there. I love fireplaces. I love how relaxed they made me feel and since this weekend was all about relaxation, it fit right in!



We were finally here and so excited!



We decided that the first thing we would do since the weather wasn’t great would be to visit Bridal Cave. The three times I’ve been to the Lake I’ve always wanted to go there. Well, it was only about a 35-minute drive or so from our resort so we decided today would be a great day to do it. Off we went to one of the highlights of our trip!

Up Next: Day 1, Part 2: “Hope you don’t mind bats!”

 

[CtinaDitty]

Up Next: Day 1, Part 2: "Hope you don't mind bats!"

The theme of the first day seemed to be getting lost every chance we had. Our GPS is affectionately named Judy. It's a long story, but when GPSs first came out, I was around nine years old. We were in Columbus, OH for the National Soccer Indoor Championships. My dad decided it would be funny to drive into a parking lot and start going in circles to get the GPS mad at us! I'm not quite sure where they got the name Judy, but it stuck. Now, every GPS in my family is named Judy. So, if you hear me refer to Judy, I'm referring to our GPS.

The roads it seems have changed a lot since I purchased my car last September. Judy kept telling us to turn at the wrong places or make turns into the lake or rock walls. At one point I thought she was going to start sparking and shouting profanities! I'm sure you've all heard the common phrase Calculating Route. Judy kept saying this about every 5-10 seconds until finally she got snarky with us and said The route is re-calculating. At one point I think she even gave up on us because she thought we were driving threw the lake and figured whats the point? Lucky for us, we made it there unscathed with tears of laughter streaming down our faces. We felt so silly for conversing with our GPS and laughing at her confusion, but we were having a great time when it could have completely gone the other way.

Pulling up to the road wed turn onto to take us to Bridal Cave brought me a familiar sense of longing.



Yup, you saw it correctly. We were turning onto Thunder Mountain Road. Thunder Mountain was my very first roller coaster and its one of my favorite things about Disney. To be seeing this word here made me long for Disney so much but it also put me in an even better mood!

We pulled up to the Guest Center at the Cave and walked around a bit. I had to get my fill of pictures with Thunder Mountain because it was everywhere!







Bridal Cave got its name due to two geologists wanting to get married here forever ago. Their wedding bands were fashioned from meteorites. This is one of the largest caves in the United States. In fact, this cave has the longest wall of a certain type of stalagmites in the world.

We bought our tickets and were told we had about a twenty-minute wait before the tour began. So, we took our time to act like complete tourists, enjoying the scenery.






Continued Next Post...

 

[CtinaDitty]

We met our tour guide and he made the comment, Hope you dont mind bats! Lucky for him, Im very used to bats. My parents have woods in their backyard and when we go swimming there during the summer we get dive bombed by bats all the time trying to eat the mosquitos on top of the water. We found out there were a whopping TWO bats that he knew about. What were we going to do?! We were shaking in our boots. Bats... Why did it have to be bats?



Ill tell you a few things about our tour experience and then Ill just post the pictures. This tour was extraordinary and it normally lasts about an hour. Our tour guide was close to our age and I found out during the tour that he was a Muppet fan! I kid you not, in one of the most beautiful caves in the world we were singing, Lifes a Happy Song and Man or Muppet. It reverberated off the walls. What a cool experience it was. We talked about Muppets Take Manhattan (his favorite Muppet movie) and I was able to let him know that the Muppets were currently filming a new movie. He was very excited! Alrighty, enough about the Muppets. Here are some pictures from the breathtaking tour we took into the darkness of Bridal Cave.









This is the wall I was telling you about. Its the largest of its kind in the entire world and Missouri gets to call it ours!







On the other side of this wall there is a natural lake that is as large as two football fields. Isnt that just insane to think about??





This is a natural formation in the rock of the cave. Doesn't it look like an angel??









The cave, from what they have explored, goes on another half a mile. We ended up finishing the tour. I was on cloud nine. It was such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed I was able to experience it! To finish off feeling like tourists we decided we wanted to smash a geode. A geode is a formation of rock that forms crystals inside. We put the geode into a machine and cracked it open! Ours turned out beautiful and all of the workers were really impressed with it! Im a geology nut so this made my day!



We left after that and decided we would try and get something to eat. Of course, we got lost trying to get back but it led us to some amazing sights we had never seen before.



The Testicle Festival is where everyone gathers around to eat pig testicles. Its June 1st if youre interested! Haha!



Im not going to lie to you& We got lost and ended up seeing this. Then we didnt get a picture of it. We kept going, saw the car show detour and decided to turn around mainly so we could get a picture of this billboard. We knew no one would believe us if we didnt! Gotta love Missouri!

We stopped to eat at a place called Rizzos.

I had a ziti type pasta.



It was just all right. The cheese had a weird texture I just couldnt wrap my taste buds around.

Devan had the Chicken Spiedini. It was good though he thought it could have used more sauce, even pesto sauce.



We paid our bill and headed back to the resort. We ended up watching two movies, including Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was actually a pretty interesting movie, not half bad! We decided we were too comfortable to go back out for dinner so we just decided to order room service.

I ordered the Blackened Chicken and Apple Caesar Salad.



It was quite large but there werent enough apples and it had a weird taste to it.

Devan ordered the Stuffed Pork. He thought it was pretty good!



After that we watched some HGTV for awhile and hit the sack. We were tired from an awesome day.

Up Next: Day 2: Judy is Fired

 

[CtinaDitty]

Today was the day we returned home. I was ready to go, mainly because I knew we were leaving and I was the one who was going to have to drive. Not to mention, I missed our puppies. Devans dad and step-mom were taking care of them for us. We woke up around 7:30 (internal alarms, blegh) and got everything packed back into our bags (the Weekender from Vera Bradley is an AWESOME bag for weekend trips, FYI), and decided to relax on the balcony for a bit to kill some time. It was very nice. The water was about as placid as the lake gets and it was nice and quiet.





When 9:00 rolled by we went and checked out of the hotel. The woman at the front desk was nice enough to recommend an all-you-can eat restaurant, and you all know how much we love buffets! It wasnt a buffet, but a menu where you can order a selection of things as many times as you want for $7.99. Not bad at all!

After this we went to Petco to get something for Devans dad and step-mom for watching our dogs for us. They just adopted a dog from the pound last week after their other dog was stolen and we got him a couple of toys and some all-natural fruitables. They are awesome dog treats made up of fruit. They even smell like fruit! We got our pups new mats for their kennels at Home Goods and Devan even spotted a Hidden Mickey!



We then drove to the other side of the lake to see if Devans favorite childhood eatery was still open. We drove there hoping to bring home their ginormous funnel cakes, but it wasnt open. The number was out of business so were not sure if Scottys is even around anymore&



Devan was a little bummed as was I





and thats when we decided it was time to head home. Of course there are a million back roads that you can take to get from The Lake of the Ozarks to our home, but Devans phone GPS and Judy couldnt agree. We felt they were competing with each other to see who would become the official next time we take a trip. Devans phone Judy finally flipped out and became completely lost so we had to rely on my car.

The roads were very hilly. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. It actually made me a little sick to my stomach for a little bit.



Somehow we made it home and made great time. I listened to my Disney Pandora channel the whole time while Devan slept for the last hour.




When he woke up he said, Chrissy, whyd you let me do that? Now my neck hurts. Great to know its my fault, honey.

We pulled into the garage and I sprinted up to Laila and Ellie. They were so excited to see us! I love how excited dogs get to see you when you get home, even if youve been gone 20 minutes.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-TR. Ill be doing another one when I go to Colorado. TRs arent as fun to write when Disney isnt involved, but at least it made appearances in there! Lol.

We are now under 7 months and we make ADRs in one month exactly!

Have a great rest of your weekend and Ill talk to you later!

 

[CtinaDitty]

I noticed today that the December 2013 Park Hours were released on a special link I discovered on the DIS. I've been waiting for this moment so I could really schedule ADRs. I actually squealed with delight!

So, here are the park hours for the days we are vacationing!



The worst part about going in December is that the parks don't tend to stay open as late. Plus, due to the MVMCP, MK closes early often. Lucky for us, one of our favorite parks, Epcot, is open until 9:30 P.M. every single night (plus one night of EMH).

Here is a glimpse of my first attempt at a schedule. Obviously, it is open for change due to when I get the KTTK tour sheduled and when we want some DTD time in there, but it's only my first attempt. I have a good 6 1/2 months to figure it out.



I think it looks good so far. I'm fairly certain those are going to be the places we eat at. Devan's not a big breakfast person and I've heard such amazing things about Capt'n Cooks. Plus, we'll be at the Poly so I figure we might as well eat there!

I'm about ready to destroy my laptop because Microsoft Word is malfunctioning and won't save the schedules I've worked uber hard on tonight!

Anyway, I'd better get to bed. It's almost 10:30 P.M. and I have to be up at 5 A.M. to work out!

Have a magical day, everyone!

 

[Disneymoon2013]

Instead of using Word, use Excel. It will be easier! Also, if you don't have MS Excel, you can use it in Google Documents (Google "Drive" now) for free.

I used this template: http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/disney-vacation-planning-spreadsheet.html

And we're going to WDW for the exact same week, and we're also flying Southwest Airlines

 

[CtinaDitty]

Instead of using Word, use Excel. It will be easier! Also, if you don't have MS Excel, you can use it in Google Documents (Google "Drive" now) for free.

I used this template: http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/disney-vacation-planning-spreadsheet.html

And we're going to WDW for the exact same week, and we're also flying Southwest Airlines

The only reason I didn't use excel is that I had all of my planning on this word document and didn't want to have to import a schedule, lol. I was being lazy. Sometimes our Word does malfunction and won't let me save stuff and it's always during my Disney Planning Session! Lol! I love using google docs, or what's known as Drive now. I may have to start using that again.

I love that I've run into so many people going when we are! Maybe we will all see each other! If you find cheap flights for Southwest, let me know. They're all above $200 right now one-way and I'm hoping for a sale that brings them down into the low $100s.

 

[CtinaDitty]

Instead of using Word, use Excel. It will be easier! Also, if you don't have MS Excel, you can use it in Google Documents (Google "Drive" now) for free.

I used this template: http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/disney-vacation-planning-spreadsheet.html

And we're going to WDW for the exact same week, and we're also flying Southwest Airlines

OH! And that template... That's a dangerous combination if my husband ever wants to see me again! HAHA!!

 

[CtinaDitty]

Okay, so yesterday DH and I were walking to the mailbox to get our mail for the day and when I opened the mailbox I noticed we had a letter from Disney!







When I looked at the front where they leave a clear spot so you can see the name and address I could also see the letters PIN and the start of some numbers. YES!!! I literally started jumping up and down and shreaking! The neighbor kids were out and looked at me quite funny, especially since I was screaming "WE GOT A PIN!!! WE GOT A PIN!!! OH MY GOSH!! WE GOT A PIN!!!!" I didn't hesitate to open the PIN to see what offer was available! Low and behold, it was Free Dining, which is great for us because we had already purchased dining. This was going to save us a good chunk of change!

Now, here is for my other surprise! My parents ended up getting a 4 night vacation for $150 from Hilton or some place like that as long as they participate in a tour. So... They're going to be at Disney the second half of the time we are there! Plus, they're bringing my sister, her boyfriend, and their baby (who has started having laughing fits, by the way! SO CUTE)! So, they were going to be leaving Sunday, with us leaving Saturday. My dad wanted us to be able to stay as long as they did so he worked out a deal with me to where we.....

GET TO STAY AN EXTRA DAY!!!!!!!! Yes, it's true!! Instead of leaving Saturday, we are now leaving Sunday!! WOOT WOOT!!! Though, now we are going to have to figure out our dog situation since most of our family will be there with us! Lol. If only Laila and Ellie could come along.

Anyway, tomorrow marks the 180 day point and we get to make Dining Reservations and tour reservations!!! Woot woot! So excited! I've got a lot of work to make them almost perfect tonight. I'm not going to lie, I've heard since Disney updated to this new website that making ADRs is a lot of trouble... So, we'll see.

Have a magical day (if you're still following along that is! )

 

[cbcrockett]

How exciting! That's alot of fun news for one update!

Hope that all of your ADR's go through ok!

 

[CtinaDitty]

How exciting! That's alot of fun news for one update!

Hope that all of your ADR's go through ok!

Thanks so much! I actually was late getting ready for work this morning because I just couldn't wait to share this with you all!

 

[Marsheliz]

YAY on the free dining and that you got it even though you already booked...

We are going in September with the general public free dining offer but I wanted to postpone until October or November, maybe even December but cant pass up the free dining...

I am glad that I found this, I loved your disneymoon trip report!

 

[CtinaDitty]

YAY on the free dining and that you got it even though you already booked...

We are going in September with the general public free dining offer but I wanted to postpone until October or November, maybe even December but cant pass up the free dining...

I am glad that I found this, I loved your disneymoon trip report!

We are trying to go to the Food and Wine festival the end of September but if flights don't get cheaper it's not going to happen. September should be beautiful! Wonderful weather!!

Aw, thanks! I can't wait to write this TR! I keep thinking of things I want to put in it and I haven't even taken the trip yet! Lol.

 

[CtinaDitty]

HAPPY SIX MONTHS TO US!!! As well as anyone else leaving December 2nd, as I know there are quite a few of us Ive ran into!

Today marks six months, well 180 days (5 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days ) until we will be at Disney. In fact, six months from this moment my hubby and I will be strolling the streets of Magic Kingdom. We will be surrounded by people there experiencing love, happiness, and most important of all& MAGIC. Yes, at this moment Im pretending that no one ever runs into frustrating moments while at the Happiest Place on Earth. (Ahem, forget my Disneymoon TR doesnt exist for the moment. Were basking in the magic of Disney.)

*bask*

Okay, enough basking. For now! Last night I knew that with the new website, making dining reservations would be a LOT harder than it was last year. Well, I made sure I had the website pulled up last night along with an order of importance regarding our ADRs (BOG, anyone?) and went to bed. This morning I woke up, tried to make a dining reservation and their website wasnt working. Of course. So, I called Disneys Dining Line and waited on hold for about 25 minutes or so when I was supposed to be getting ready for work. Finally, someone answered and she was able to help me make my ADRs. I knew it was a long shot, I even told the CM that it would be, but I asked her if BOG would be available Thursday, December 5th. Of course, its completely booked our entire stay. I tried calling on my way home from my short day at work (8-2:30) and it was still booked. Im afraid if I really want a dinner ADR at BOG Im going to have to call daily to see if there have been any cancellations. If worst comes to worst, we can just eat there for lunch. My parents, my sister, her boyfriend, and my baby nephew will be there too for that day so well have to see if the line for lunch at BOG is too long. Without further ado, here are the rest of the ADRs that I made.

Arrival Day: 12/2 Liberty Tree Tavern 5:45 P.M.
12/3 Brown Derby 5:05 P.M.
12/4 Rainforest Café-AK 12:15 P.M.
12/4 Ohana 8:20 P.M.
12/5 MVMCP-Hoping for BOG
12/6 Garden Grill 6:15 P.M.

We also made our Tour Reservation for the KTTK Tour at 8:30 A.M. on 12/3! I loved that we were able to use our Disney Visa discount for this! It saved us 20%!!

So, overall, Im pretty excited! Weve never eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern, Garden Grill, or Ohana so theres a little adventure for us!

If you read my last update, youd know that my parents will be joining us the second half of our trip. Theyre arriving Wednesday night, I believe so we probably wont see much of them until Thursday unless they stop by our hotel for a bit to say hi! Theyll have Pippin so it might depend on how cranky hes being after traveling all day.

Anyway, its been quite a day. Im waiting on my friend to come over so we can finish her wedding favors. We were up until almost 10 P.M. last night and got through quite a bit. I was hoping shed be over by now, but she said shed be over closer to 8 P.M. Im hoping we can still at least get some Friends episodes in!

So, I feel like I havent shared any pictures in awhile. So, if youre still here after this novel of an update I hope you enjoy a few pictures from the Homestead!

This past weekend, I ran the Color Run 5K with some friends of mine. I actually ran this 5K last year two weeks before my wedding and it was my very first. The whole point, if youve never heard of it, is that each K you run, you enter a checkpoint where you have people throw paint on you. Its a special chalky type of paint. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures. My shirt will never be white again. Oh, and these pictures are after I had excess paint blown off with a leaf blower! Lol.







It was actually quite a cold morning. Completely opposite than it was last year.

Weve also had QUITE a bit of rain. During the tornado outbreaks that occurred in the Midwest, we ended up with more flooding and hail than tornadic weather. Our backyard actually flooded quite a bit.





Of course, I have to provide two adorable pictures of Laila and Ellie.

This is how I woke up the other day. I was completely stuck and didnt want to disturb Ellie who was sound asleep.



Heres Laila, who I still think has one of the most beautiful smiles Ive ever seen on a dog.



Now, Ellie did have quite a traumatic weekend. She ended up spraining her ankle again. Devan made her a make-shift splint out of an amazon box and prewrap.



Devan had to carry her to her bed on the floor, where she didnt stay long. She wanted to be on the bed with Mommy and Daddy.



My last picture Ill share with you all is a picture of my kitties enjoying the great outdoors. Yes, I have a kitty tent and my kitties love it out there. You can even see Ellie in the background smiling.



Thats all I have to share with you today! Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on how in the world to swindle your way into a BOG ADR! Lol!

Later gators!

 

[PeaceLuvTheMouse]


Cinderella's Royal Table: I was actually very disappointed with this
meal to the point where I don't feel the need to do it again before we have
kids. It's an amazing experience, especially for kids, but the food was
mediocre and the selection was very small.

So sorry you were disappointed in Cinderella's Royal Table I've never been for dinner, but I have gone for breakfast a few times & it has been fabulous every time! This could be another one of those restaurants that it just depends on the time of day you go.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! I've always wanted to go to WDW at Christmas time.

 

[Marsheliz]

I don't know how anyone is getting into BOG- I have tried so many times.

Your yard is so big and so pretty!!

We have a trip booked for September but I am wanting to change it to either middle of October or the Saturday after Thanksgiving... I guess the decision is either MNSSHP or MVMCP? I just feel like doing it in September is not going to feel like Halloween.. Anytime after Thanksgiving, is Christmas

 

[MarlaSingersLaundry]

I'm loving your pretrip report! We will be there the same week as you!!! We arrive November 30 and leave Dec 7, staying at the Villias at the Grand Floridian. We'll be neighbors! I looked at your itinerary and it doesn't look like any of our days overlap at this point. I am so excited to go, Christmas is the best time at Disney!

We did the KTTK tour a few years a go and LOVED it! A good value for the amount of tour. Plus you get a nice pin at the end! We are doing the Wild Africa Trek and the Holiday D-Lights tours. We did the Wild Africa last Dec., and had a great time. My Aunt, uncle and cousin are coming this year as well and wanted to do it.

If you really want to go to BOG, just go! We went in Feb., no ADR. We had to wait about 25 min in line. Just get in line right when it opens for dinner. You might have to wait a little bit, but I am sure you will get a table. I don't anticipate our week being busy. I'm completely jelly you got a Kona ADR. I tried and couldn't get one. I miscalculated and then forgot when our 180 day mark was. But I did get everything else that we wanted.

I am so glad you received a PIN! As many times as we have gone, we haven't ever received one. Congrats on your weight loss! You look great!!

 

[CtinaDitty]

So sorry you were disappointed in Cinderella's Royal Table I've never been for dinner, but I have gone for breakfast a few times & it has been fabulous every time! This could be another one of those restaurants that it just depends on the time of day you go.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! I've always wanted to go to WDW at Christmas time.

I've been to WDW, I think... 3 times at Christmas? It's always my very favorite time. The weather is nice, the decor is great, plus I think people are just in better moods because it's that time of year! I think if we had kids, I'd enjoy CRT more. I also think I had these huge expectations of it, since I'd been trying to go for such a long time, and it just didn't live up. Had I gone in with a level head and had DH enjoyed his food more, we probably would have liked it more.

I don't know how anyone is getting into BOG- I have tried so many times.

Your yard is so big and so pretty!!

We have a trip booked for September but I am wanting to change it to either middle of October or the Saturday after Thanksgiving... I guess the decision is either MNSSHP or MVMCP? I just feel like doing it in September is not going to feel like Halloween.. Anytime after Thanksgiving, is Christmas

Ah, thank you! When we built our house last year we looked for the lot with the biggest yard and we ended up getting that. I'm so happy we did too because our puppies love it and when we have kids some day it'll be a great yard for them to run and play in. Plus, it's a great yard for entertaining.

September would be a great time to go weather-wise. I've never been during that time of the year! The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we'll be there! Haha! I've wanted to do the MNSSHP for awhile. It looks like it should be fun! Whatever you do, you'll have to write about it. If you end up going when we do and see me, call me out!

I'm loving your pretrip report! We will be there the same week as you!!! We arrive November 30 and leave Dec 7, staying at the Villias at the Grand Floridian. We'll be neighbors! I looked at your itinerary and it doesn't look like any of our days overlap at this point. I am so excited to go, Christmas is the best time at Disney!

We did the KTTK tour a few years a go and LOVED it! A good value for the amount of tour. Plus you get a nice pin at the end! We are doing the Wild Africa Trek and the Holiday D-Lights tours. We did the Wild Africa last Dec., and had a great time. My Aunt, uncle and cousin are coming this year as well and wanted to do it.

If you really want to go to BOG, just go! We went in Feb., no ADR. We had to wait about 25 min in line. Just get in line right when it opens for dinner. You might have to wait a little bit, but I am sure you will get a table. I don't anticipate our week being busy. I'm completely jelly you got a Kona ADR. I tried and couldn't get one. I miscalculated and then forgot when our 180 day mark was. But I did get everything else that we wanted.

I am so glad you received a PIN! As many times as we have gone, we haven't ever received one. Congrats on your weight loss! You look great!!

I think I'm going to know every single person going at this point the time we are there! Lol! I've run into so many people through this PTR and I love it! I'm actually going to have to look at our schedule again because of the surprise I'm revealing on my next update I'm hoping to get to tonight. So, maybe after that our days might overlap some! Maybe I'll see you on the bus rides somewhere!

I'm so glad to hear a first hand experience of KTTK. I agree, when I looked at the tour and then the price, I was shocked! I expected something like this to be a lot more expensive. Plus, with our Disney Visa discount, we saved 20%! Even better!! I'm so excited to do it! I actually thought the Holiday D-Lights Tour looked really interesting, but DH said one tour this trip so I chose KTTK. We did the Wild Africa Trek on our honeymoon last July and LOVED it. I had so much fun. We went early on a July morning and the weather actually wasn't terrible, which I think made it a lot more enjoyable! It looks like we are both going to end up there with family. What a fun trip for the both of us!

I don't think we got a Kona ADR. Are you talking about 'Ohana? I was surprised by how busy it was to get one. I called at 7 A.M. on our 180 day mark and they said the earliest they had available was 8:20 P.M. It kind of messed up what DH and I were going to do that night, but oh well. I might be able to see if I can get the rest of my family added to it, but I'm starting to doubt that.

I'm thinking, with regards to BOG, that we are going to definitely have to try it at lunch, but I'm also going to keep trying to see what we can get. I do have to mess around with my ADRs a little bit with the change that was just made that I'll reveal in my update, but I'm sure everything will work out fine. If not, it wasn't meant to be!

We've only received a PIN once and it was great timing. It was our first trip together to the World and it was actually Devan's very first trip EVER! We were like... 19 or 20 I think and this made it much easier for a group of four college students to go. We stayed at a value resort but still, money is money. The more I can save, the happier I am!

Thank you about the weight loss! I wish I'd never gained it in the first place but it did. I still have about 20-25 pounds I'd like to lose and I'll get there at some point.

 

[CtinaDitty]

Edit::: I apologize in advance for the ginormous pictures. I'm too lazy to make them smaller as my bedtime was over an hour ago.

I've titled this post that way for a reason. I'm sure we all wish we could spend more time at Disney, especially when we know we have a trip coming up. I always want to add more days because, in my opinion, you can never have enough time at Disney World. You read in my last post that we were getting another day at Disney and I was so excited! Southwest Airlines was having a 72 hour sale and I really wanted to get our airfare out of the way. The day we leave for Florida is the Monday after Thanksgiving so flights were pretty expensive ($200 range one way). The day we were coming back, the flights were also, of course, not on sale. However, if we left Monday instead of Sunday, we could save about $250 on airfare. So... Guess what we did?? We decided to purchase a Monday flight and booked an extra day at Disney World!!! Yes, so in one short week we went from leaving on Saturday to leaving on Monday!!! THAT'S TWO EXTRA DAYS!!!

I just can't believe it! So, we ended up moving our stay at the Polynesian back one day, so the day we arrive will still be Monday, December 2nd but we'll be checking in to All-Star Movies and then moving to the Poly Tuesday, December 3rd and staying there until we check out for good on Monday, December 9th! It's going to be so great! This means I have some more planning to do and I'm so okay with that! We are now 168 days away! That really doesn't seem so bad! I can't wait to start our 100 day countdown!

We are currently on 32 days for our Colorado countdown. I cannot wait! I'll have to tell you all more about it the closer we get, maybe two weeks from now or so.

First of all, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I was lucky enough to celebrate with my family playing our new Father's Day tradition of putt-putt and then we went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. Here's a picture I made up for my yo-ho singing, silly joke telling, Thunder Mountain riding partner for life.



I love him and he's the best dad I could have asked for!

Two of my best friends got married this weekend. Here are some photos from their beautiful day that I was honored to be a part of!

Here is a picture of my beautiful friend. Doesn't she look breathtaking?



A funny story from the day is that we ended up having a downpour during the girls' pictures. Luckily, all of the pictures were planned to be inside the church anyway. When we came back into our room from taking pictures, we noticed there was a lot of water on the floor. At first, we thought maybe a water bottle had been knocked off a table but after further investigation we realized the base boards were leaking water from the rain outside. We ended up being moved from that room to the church's child library. Now, the bride is a fellow Disney movie fan. She will randomly send me Disney movie song quotes and have me finish them. This library ended up having DISNEY books, so we each got one out and ended up with this picture:



We ended up having a very in depth conversation about Bambi because that's the book Bri (the bride) was reading. It was a fun way to pass the time.

Here's a couple shot of the girls.







The entire wedding party (minus one groomsman)


Here's me, my New York friend, and the Groom whom I actually introduced to the bride!



My New York friend and I after a night FULL of dancing!



Here's one of me and the DH enjoying the wedding!



Overall, the wedding was an absolute blast. It was a long day but it was great to see two of my best friends get married. We were lucky enough to hang out with them today and help them get their gifts to their apartment before they leave tomorrow for Cancun. I know they're going to have a blast.

We both felt bad for the puppies because they were kenneled a lot this weekend. When you're involved in the wedding party and you're as close to the bride and groom as we were, you spend a lot of time away from home the last days before the wedding, not to mention the wedding day. So, we tried to spend as much time with them as possible. We had the get-together with our New York friend who moved to New York for grad school a year of go,



the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday,



and then the wedding Saturday.
Laila was really missing her daddy as you can tell from this picture:



Ellie was just being cute as usual.



We are lucky to have Ellie today as she had a "near death" experience the other day. I am SOMEWHAT exaggerating but if we weren't paying attention something bad could have happened. Here's the story. My parents have a pool and Laila LOVED swimming in it last year when she was a puppy. We decided to take them over there since Ellie had never been swimming before and we thought, being the athletic dog she is, that she'd love it! Well, when we got there Devan threw a ball bouncing towards the pool and Ellie went running after it and dove into the pool. She ended up being head down in the water and couldn't figure out how to get back above the water. I went and grabbed her, brought her back up, and she was choking on the water, completely terrified. I was holding her while she was somewhat panicking when my dad came out letting out their five small dogs who were barking madly. Ellie, while panicking, also wanted to see all of the dogs so she started kicking her legs and trying to push off of me and it left me with these GORGEOUS marks on my legs:



They're nice and bruised now and I look like I was attacked by Wolverine. She slowly learned to trust the pool somewhat, even jumping in on her own twice, but she is a TERRIBLE swimmer. Laila, on the other hand, never wants to leave the water once she's in and will jump in if you try to take her back out. It's really cute. She'll swim with you too! Here are the girls after a "fun" day of swimming!



I love this picture of Laila because to me it seems like she's smiling with the attitude of "Yeah, I'm an awesome swimmer and I know I'm cute"



Overall, it was a great weekend and it went by too fast. I'm not ready for the next week but I guess it will bring us closer to Colorado and I cannot wait. We are one month away from our first wedding anniversary and it's been an amazing year.

Later gators! Have a magical start to your week!