A Northern Family's Southern Getaway -Take 2 Jan 2010 PTR Updated 1/15 SNACKS

[Disney Mommy 3]

OH NO!! What curse? I think that you need to do it!!!

 

[Lizziejane]

oh, I think I would have had a heart attack !! What airline are you flying on? This is always a major concern for me when travelling in winter especially - an airline that has limited flights. We are paying through the nose for flights out of Winnipeg, but with United, there are like 5 flights per day. We could have flown from Fargo (4 hour drive south) for half the price, but they only fly down to Orlando twice per week. All it would take would be one good winter storm, and half our vacation would be gone.

Annnnnyway, I'm so glad it all worked out for you. I hope you manage to rearrange your ADR's without too much trouble. Your dates are almost identical to ours - we head down a day earlier than you.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

good thing you caught that so early!!!! I am glad you got vouchers too!!! How cool!!!

Yes, it IS VERY COOL!!! It's like having another trip to go on! Wait, it is EXACTLY having another trip to go on! Hmmm, how will we ever find a place to use that credit???

So happy were able to change. That may show us how less crowded we expect this time of year to be. I need to also book my ME! I should try to accomplish that asap.
I did book my flight last week, paid for done deal! No turning back!

Glad you got your airfare done! ME should be no problem, just call them up and book it!

Here's hoping that the crowds are small and non existent!

oh, I think I would have had a heart attack !! What airline are you flying on? This is always a major concern for me when travelling in winter especially - an airline that has limited flights. We are paying through the nose for flights out of Winnipeg, but with United, there are like 5 flights per day. We could have flown from Fargo (4 hour drive south) for half the price, but they only fly down to Orlando twice per week. All it would take would be one good winter storm, and half our vacation would be gone.

Annnnnyway, I'm so glad it all worked out for you. I hope you manage to rearrange your ADR's without too much trouble. Your dates are almost identical to ours - we head down a day earlier than you.

We are flying Suncountry. When I booked our flights, they were flying every day at least 1x if not 2x a day! I guess they have just made some recent changes to their schedule and had not gotten to our reservation yet. Because I found it first, we were given $400 for another trip!

Now we don't have to worry about the girls going to school on the Monday because we will be leaving to drive to Minneapolis on the Sunday!

 

[cdhale]

I'm here! I'm here! Sorry it took me so long!

You and DH are so darn cute. I'm really enjoying the dual posting. My Dboyfriend (Dbf?) refuses to come with us, so I get to torture him with the details... every ADR, every park, our favorite rides, etc. He doesn't know what he's missing!

Cheryl

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I'm here! I'm here! Sorry it took me so long!

You and DH are so darn cute. I'm really enjoying the dual posting. My Dboyfriend (Dbf?) refuses to come with us, so I get to torture him with the details... every ADR, every park, our favorite rides, etc. He doesn't know what he's missing!

Cheryl

Hey Cheryl! Thanks for coming over to join us! Our last trip was Ken's first time and I think I have convinced him that Disney is a great place to take a vacation! After all, he did agree to go back again! You and your girls will have a great trip together! Hopefully this time without any illnesses!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm really glad your change in flights worked out so well for you!!
Sun Country changed our flight too - but just by a half an hour. I'm going to keep checking right up until we fly!
Looking forward to your next day!! I had forgotten last trip was Ken's first! Guess he liked it, eh? (a little Canadian lingo for you!)

 

[Monny2AE]

MAJOR TRAVEL CHANGES

Well, not too Major, nothing that couldn't be fixed! Here's the Story...

I had not yet booked out MAgical Express and thought I would get that done today. So, I went into my email to retrieve our reservation numbers and then proceeded to check our flight schedule. Good thing I did! I did a triple take when I saw that our flights had been changed to different days!!! Our airline now had us travelling on the 25th and 1st!

Needless to say, I very quickly called them up to see what the deal was. A very nice customer servie rep told me that due to a scheduling change they were no longer flying on Tuesdays! WHAT??? She said I could accept the change or cancel. If we chose to cancel we would be given a full refund. If we chose to work around the changes we would be given 4 $100 vouchers good for any flight on the airline AFTER this current trip! What do you think I chose to do?

I said to leave us where we were for the time being, that I would try to change our resort reservations and get back to them. So, I immediately called Disney. Hoping against hope that there would still be availabllity at POFQ for the new dates. A very nice CM, I think his name was Vance, reassured me that indeed there was still availablilty and quickly made the changes AND booked our magical express.

I again called the airline to affirm the change and to confirm our mailing address for the mailing of the vouchers! As I got off the phone, it dawned on me that I would now have to rearrange our park days a bit AND change some of our ADRs After a quick check of the crowd calendar, I was releived to see that I could still keep most of them AND I wouldn't have to give up my coveted Le Cellier!

So, after all the phoning and rearranging, Here is our NEW (and I think, slightly improved) January 2010 WDW Northern Family Vacation schedule......














Jan 25th - Feb 1st!

You thought I was gonna give up some detail didn't ya? Not yet my friends! Revealing too many details would ruin the point of the PTR!

You already know our plans for our arrival day and very soon, maybe tomorrow, I will post the plans for Day 2!

WOW!!!! You think they could have given you some notice that they were no longer flying on Tuesdays! What a way to find out! I'm glad it all worked out and you know those vouchers are just ensuring another trip to Disney in your future!!!! Good thing you get to keep LeCellier or we may have missed out on meeting each other!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I'm really glad your change in flights worked out so well for you!!
Sun Country changed our flight too - but just by a half an hour. I'm going to keep checking right up until we fly!
Looking forward to your next day!! I had forgotten last trip was Ken's first! Guess he liked it, eh? (a little Canadian lingo for you!)

WOW!!! You even said it correctly! I am VERY impressed! I guess Minnesotans ARE almost close to Canadian, eh?

Yup! He sure did! I think I will keep checking on our flights too!

Next day will be up tomorrow I promise! Had a last minute Dr's appt today and then the little girl I babysit decided today was the day she wasn't going to nap! Grrrrr

WOW!!!! You think they could have given you some notice that they were no longer flying on Tuesdays! What a way to find out! I'm glad it all worked out and you know those vouchers are just ensuring another trip to Disney in your future!!!! Good thing you get to keep LeCellier or we may have missed out on meeting each other!

Not sure where we will go just yet! Maybe Disney, maybe not! Maybe a family trip, maybe a couples only trip, maybe a solo trip for Mommy! We shall see! We will have $400 to put towards any trip we want! SWEET!!

 

[disney<333]

I'm here!
You have a gorgeous family. My oldest DD's name is Emily too.
You are going to love POFQ! Bummer about the airline not telling you about the travel changes, but I'm glad everything worked out well. We went one January and loved it, but now Dh always is so busy with work in January it would be hard to go then.
Barbara

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I'm here!
You have a gorgeous family. My oldest DD's name is Emily too.
You are going to love POFQ! Bummer about the airline not telling you about the travel changes, but I'm glad everything worked out well. We went one January and loved it, but now Dh always is so busy with work in January it would be hard to go then.
Barbara

Hey Barbara! Thanks for joining in! Glad to have you here! We are quite excited about our trip! POFQ looks absolutely lovely - I can't wait to see it!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

DAY 2 PLANS

Well, with the change in air travel and consequently, the change in days, we will now be going to DHS on our second day. Here are the plans I have so far....

hopefully we will be able to wake up around 7am. Do all the necessary getting ready for the day things, grab a pop tart or granola bar and head for the bus by 745am!

I want to be as close to the front of the herd as possible for the run, er, I mean, walk to TSM!!! I am sure that Ken would love to have a better view of the opening show at DHS as well! He LOVED the streetmosphere characters last time! He was even fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with one of the "rising stars" on one of our days there! He was thrilled!

The TSM plan is thus...I will walk as quickly as possible to the FP machine, grab some FPs for all of us and then find my family (who will already be in the standby line waiting for me) and we will ride our favourite ride together!

After the TSM madness, we will head down Sunset towards the dreaded Tower of Terror! This was one ride that my dear husband had his heart set on riding last time but was unable to ride because of scheduling issues. I am determined that He will ride ToT at least once this trip. More if possible! I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ride this AT ALL!

Once Ken has had his fright for the day, we will continue on to Rockin' Roller Coaster! Now this I do want to ride! Emily does too! Natalie will not be able to ride because she will not yet be tall enough! Not that she would ride it anyway! A bit yellow, my little girl is! Oh well, we will get a baby swap if they have 'em and Em will get to ride twice if she wants!

After we have rocked our brains out, we will probably be ready for a small snack of some sort. So we will probably head over to Starring Rolls and find ourselves a treat! Ken is determined that He will have, AND finish, one of those gargantuan cupcakes! Check out this link to see what I am talking about -

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2009/10/05/you-wont-believe-this-snack-butterfinger-muffin/

After our snack we will most likely head over to do Star Tours. Natalie has recently watched ALL 3 of the original Star Wars movies and is actually excited about going on this ride!

This will be followed by some Muppets and if we have enough time before our 12:45pm lunch at Sci-Fi, we may play at the HISTK playground for a bit!

After eating, we will probably be ready to hunt out some characters so I think we will head to the Animation Courtyard to see who is hanging around! Both our girls really love to draw so I think we might even do the tour if they feel like it!

Somewhere in there we will definitely be using our FPs for TSM and possibly be getting more depending on the return times. If it is really late we will probably pass.

I really would like to see the Indiana Jones show and I think there is one at 4pm so this will be the last thing we do before heading out of the park for the day!

We will return to POFQ for some down time and then I think we will head over to DTD for the evening! Last year the girls had so much fun playing in the fountains, they really want to do this again! They also want to play at the Lego store and browse through the World of Disney and Once upon a Toy!

We will most likely grab some supper at either Wolfgang Puck Express (I've heard it is REALLY good) or Earl of Sandwich (I am very curious to try it). We will most likely head back to POFQ by 8:30 or so to get the girls to bed.

So ther you have it - Day 2 plans, what do you think?

Oh just for visual appeal, here are some pics from our last encounters at DHS!

Up next - Day 3 plans

 

[disney<333]

Sounds like a nice plan! That cupcake is oh my gosh.
Do you know what time Starring Role closes? On my trip the park closes at 8 and we're seeing Fantasmic at 8. So, while the crazy herd leaves I would love to stay and get that cupcake before facing the devil for the boat back to the resort.
I love the DHS pictures! The one with the girls covering their face is too funny.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

your plans look great!! We are hoping to get to DHS early one day too solely for TSMM! we are not big coaster or thrill ride folks, so we don't do too many rides. The only reason we are there more than half a day is the shows - you can't see them all based on the schedules!!
I want to try Earl too! It's very reasonably priced so we'll probably do it OOP before our package kicks in. We have one room only night at the beginning.

Are your girls still into autographs? You can get some good ones at DHS. I think some are more rare too.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hey~ your day looks good!! Oh my word!!! That Cupcake!!!! I don't think I could eat that thing.....toooo big!!! Now,...that giant Mickey shaped Rice Krispie Treat I am gonna try!! I hope we all get to ride Toy Story over and over!!!!!!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

your plans look great!! We are hoping to get to DHS early one day too solely for TSMM! we are not big coaster or thrill ride folks, so we don't do too many rides. The only reason we are there more than half a day is the shows - you can't see them all based on the schedules!!
I want to try Earl too! It's very reasonably priced so we'll probably do it OOP before our package kicks in. We have one room only night at the beginning.

Are your girls still into autographs? You can get some good ones at DHS. I think some are more rare too.

We did all the shows that the kids wanted to last time. We did Beauty, Little Mermaid and Lights, Motors, Action! We would have done them all in a single day except that VOTLM was closed on our first day. The girls really aren't interested in seeing any more shows this time around but I want to see Indiana Jones - cause it's a memory for me of trips when I was a kid AND I know that Ken will like it!

Yes, they ARE TOTALLY into autographs! They often look at their book and decide who's autographs they still need! I think some that are on the list are Lilo, Mary Poppins, Alice, Fairy Godmother, Chip and Dale and Dug from UP!

Hey~ your day looks good!! Oh my word!!! That Cupcake!!!! I don't think I could eat that thing.....toooo big!!! Now,...that giant Mickey shaped Rice Krispie Treat I am gonna try!! I hope we all get to ride Toy Story over and over!!!!!!!

There is NO WAY that I could even imagine eating something that huge! I would so totally hurl! My dear sweet husband is blessed (or cursed - not sure which) with both a HUGE sweet tooth AND a cast iron stomach! He can pretty much eat ANYTHING he wants and never has any issues. Lucky guy!

As far as TSM, we should be able to ride it at the very least twice! I can just hope for 3 though right? I think four times would be pushing it!

 

[Firestarter]

day 2 plans

well, with the change in air travel and consequently, the change in days, we will now be going to dhs on our second day. Here are the plans I have so far....

Hopefully we will be able to wake up around 7am. do all the necessary getting ready for the day things, grab a pop tart or granola bar and head for the bus by 745am!
[/b]

ok, i'm on frickin' vacation lady! Seriously. Sigh. Ok, you want to be at the bus by 7:45, here is how it works:

6:59 Snooze alarm
7:06 Wake up to second alarm in panic
7:07 Kim starts her shower
7:20 Kim gets out of shower
7:21 Kim wakes up kids and ken
7:22 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:23 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:24 Break up fight between kids.
7:25 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:26 Threaten to dress kids.
7:27 Ken goes for shower.
7:29 Ken gets out of shower (still remember how to do that from being on ship)
7:30 Ken starts to do his hair
7:31 Ken realizes he has no more gel and searches for hat
7:40 Ken finds hat
7:41 Nag kids out of the door
7:42 Realize a child forgot a sock
7:43 Mad sprint to bus depot
7:45 Arrive at bus depot
7:50 Bus arrives

I want to be as close to the front of the herd as possible for the run, er, I mean, walk to tsm!!! I am sure that ken would love to have a better view of the opening show at dhs as well! He loved the streetmosphere characters last time! He was even fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with one of the "rising stars" on one of our days there! He was thrilled!

That show was soooo fun. I love interacting with cast members who can talk. Eeyore was no fun, even though I had the killer line of "did you know your name was onomatopoeia?" Yet I understand the importance of getting to toy story mania. It's up there with getting in the front row to meet the Queen.

the tsm plan is thus...i will walk as quickly as possible to the fp machine, grab some fps for all of us and then find my family (who will already be in the standby line waiting for me) and we will ride our favourite ride together!

After the tsm madness, we will head down sunset towards the dreaded tower of terror! This was one ride that my dear husband had his heart set on riding last time but was unable to ride because of scheduling issues. I am determined that he will ride tot at least once this trip. More if possible! I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ride this at all!

Wuss. I missed riding the tower of terror because none of the other rides caused me cardiac difficulties. Save Spash Mountain. How anyone can enjoy a ride you're not tied to is beyond me.

once ken has had his fright for the day, we will continue on to rockin' roller coaster! Now this I do want to ride! Emily does too! Natalie will not be able to ride because she will not yet be tall enough! Not that she would ride it anyway! A bit yellow, my little girl is! Oh well, we will get a baby swap if they have 'em and em will get to ride twice if she wants!

Probability of Emily wanting repeat: 100%. Is it wrong that I want to do this on the ride? (be sure to mouse over to see the alt text):

My idea of roller coaster fun



after we have rocked our brains out, we will probably be ready for a small snack of some sort. So we will probably head over to starring rolls and find ourselves a treat! Ken is determined that he will have, and finish, one of those gargantuan cupcakes! Check out this link to see what I am talking about -

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2009/10/05/you-wont-believe-this-snack-butterfinger-muffin/

I have 3 words: Mmmmm^3


after our snack we will most likely head over to do star tours. Natalie has recently watched all 3 of the original star wars movies and is actually excited about going on this ride!

As opposed to last year where she had panic attacks just looking at the queue display.


this will be followed by some muppets and if we have enough time before our 12:45pm lunch at sci-fi, we may play at the histk playground for a bit!


I loved the muppets. Maybe it's a surprise but I enjoy their humour. "I did not expect this disaster!" "What sort of disaster did you expect?" True Genius


after eating, we will probably be ready to hunt out some characters so I think we will head to the animation courtyard to see who is hanging around! Both our girls really love to draw so I think we might even do the tour if they feel like it!


She says hunt but it's more hide and seek than counterstrike. I wonder if there would ever be a paintball round in Disney. Must send in that suggestion...


somewhere in there we will definitely be using our fps for tsm and possibly be getting more depending on the return times. If it is really late we will probably pass.

I really would like to see the indiana jones show and I think there is one at 4pm so this will be the last thing we do before heading out of the park for the day!

SIGH More cool 80's movies to watch with the kids. Both Indiana Jones movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Thank goodness they only made two, and they were both great.


we will return to pofq for some down time and then I think we will head over to dtd for the evening! Last year the girls had so much fun playing in the fountains, they really want to do this again! They also want to play at the lego store and browse through the world of disney and once upon a toy!


You neglect to mention making a lightsabre. For each child. And me. Especially me.


we will most likely grab some supper at either wolfgang puck express (i've heard it is really good) or earl of sandwich (i am very curious to try it). We will most likely head back to pofq by 8:30 or so to get the girls to bed.

So ther you have it - day 2 plans, what do you think?

I like it. It could use rocket boots, but what couldn't. When I die I want to either die wearing rocket boots or have them put on me afterwards.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

ok, i'm on frickin' vacation lady! Seriously. Sigh. Ok, you want to be at the bus by 7:45, here is how it works:

6:59 Snooze alarm
7:06 Wake up to second alarm in panic
7:07 Kim starts her shower
7:20 Kim gets out of shower
7:21 Kim wakes up kids and ken
7:22 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:23 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:24 Break up fight between kids.
7:25 Tell kids to get dressed.
7:26 Threaten to dress kids.
7:27 Ken goes for shower.
7:29 Ken gets out of shower (still remember how to do that from being on ship)
7:30 Ken starts to do his hair
7:31 Ken realizes he has no more gel and searches for hat
7:40 Ken finds hat
7:41 Nag kids out of the door
7:42 Realize a child forgot a sock
7:43 Mad sprint to bus depot
7:45 Arrive at bus depot
7:50 Bus arrives

Oh my dear sweet man! You don't think you will be able to get up at 7? Even when you will have been in bed since 9:30 the night before?

Sshhh! This is my dream fantasy! Of course the children will not be fighting! Who ever heard of such a thing? Children fighting while on vacation!

Don't worry dear, there will be NOTHING forgotten during this vacation AND you WILL be fully stocked with hair gel!

 

[Monny2AE]

I'm rooting for you Ken!!!! You can do it- perhaps the girls can nibble a bit to help.

I giggled out loud at the kid's fighting on vacation. Last trip DH took pics/vidoe of all the kids he saw throwing temper tantrums. He enjoyed the irony of being in the happiest place on earth while watching a mom pick her jelly legged screaming 2 year old up off the ground.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I'm rooting for you Ken!!!! You can do it- perhaps the girls can nibble a bit to help.

I giggled out loud at the kid's fighting on vacation. Last trip DH took pics/vidoe of all the kids he saw throwing temper tantrums. He enjoyed the irony of being in the happiest place on earth while watching a mom pick her jelly legged screaming 2 year old up off the ground.

Hmmmm Both my girls have a serious love for chocolate! I think that they will have to fight their father for a bite - cause I do believe he will be able to eat it ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Maybe it was just me being in a bubble again, but I really didn't notice too many unhappy families! I think I saw a few tired kids but I really didn't see any examples of "uneffective" parenting!

The one thing I DID notice was so many BIG KIDS in stollers The girls even noticed it too! They saw a boy who had to be at least 10 yrs old sitting in a stroller and asked why such a big boy couldn't walk when they were walking? I didn't have an answer for them!



ANYWAYS - Should have DAY 3 plans up by tomorrow!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I was noticing that you drive down from Thunder Bay. Have you ever looked into the airline Allegiant Air? They have a direct flight from Duluth and like any airline they sometimes have some pretty good deals. It would save you some drive time if your planning on anymore trips in the future.