A Pre-Trip Report...July adventures in the World...LOTS of Shopping updates!

[Artist]

ETA: Warning,Danger, Will Robinson, the first few posts are a bit rambling...stick with me, I promise they get shorter and have more pictures and witty comments as they go on!
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Ok, folks. Longtime lurker first time pre-trip report poster.
I have been wondering how far in advance is too far in advance
to start a PTR. I LOVE reading others TRs and PTRs and really
really wanted to start my own. But, I resisted thinking “It’s way
too early” and “Would people really care about what you bought,
the ADRs you changed repeatedly and how much your DH makes
fun of you for your DIS addiction”?
Then, last night, I found some PTRs for trips that will be taken in September!
And those people already had pages of comments and
posts! Well, I’m going in July, so maybe it’s about time I join the
club! After all, it’s only 109 days until we are there! Can I use any
more exclamation points!!?

So today I spent the morning photographing all my paraphernalia,
Disney paraphernalia, that is! Then, I set up my very own photobucket
account. Then, I spent several hours pre-editing the photos-
blurring out my kids names, deciding which ones to keep and which
to delete, loading up the photos to photobucket, editing them,
then deleting them from my laptop (so the kids don’t see pictures
of all the goodies I already bought them!).
Now, I’m ready to start my PTR! Oh, I’m so excited. I hope I get
some readers. Maybe I can develop a cult following like Winkers
and Jordon (I Flat Winkers). Or, maybe I’ll just enjoy the
ability to “talk” about the trip…my DH has heard me discuss the
minute details repeatedly, and while he is good-natured about it,
he really isn’t that interested in the details. He leaves those up to
me! (Which is better for me, as I am a bit of an obsessive planner).
Oh, right, I’m supposed to introduce us first, aren’t I?

Ok, so the cast of characters….

Me- Danielle- age 35- mother of 2
beautiful kids, creative-type, driver on Brownie trips, cheer-er at
Soccer games, and part-time Director of Education and Development
for a non-profit art facility. I should mention that I lived in Florida
for the first 10 years of my life. I may have gone to WDW during
that time, but I don’t really have any memories of it. Then, when
I was a teenager, living with my Dad and Step-mom, my Step-mom
took my little brother (half-brother) to WDW while my sister and I
were visiting our Mother in Florida. We came to visit for a day, and
we went to…. Universal Studios! They were staying 10 days at the
GF, but did we get to a Disney theme park on the one day we were “invited”?
No. Can you tell I’m still a little bitter about that? Anyway,
enough about me…

DH- age 34 (I’m 11 months older and
he loves to rub it in)- great Dad and Husband, also a creative-type,
“sorta- coach” for the mites soccer league (like a parent helper with
the 5 year olds), High School art teacher, art club advisor, stage crew advisor and
prop maker, house and yard fixer upper, and all around
great guy. Has been to Disney and Epcot with his family when he was younger.
Remembers it. Has a great vintage autograph book signed
by all the characters he met.

DD-age 7- My smart and sweet and beautiful
little girl. In first grade. Does Brownies, Ballet and Soccer. Has
been as obsessed with planning this trip as I am. Read the entire
Unofficial Guide for Kids. Randomly tells me facts like the height of
the Tower of Terror or the speed of Space Mountain. Likes me to
read her trip reports before bedtime. Up until last week, she planned
to ride all of the thrillers- then we watched “Modern Marvels Walt
Disney World” and she changed her mind.

DS-age 5- In pre-K because his birthday
is in September after the cut off date for Kindergarten- he’s smart-
yes I will brag about my children here!-he reads already-and is my
own personal combination of Donald Duck and Roo. One moment he
is my sweet, lap sitting, snuggler. The next he is pitching a fit about something…
usually something silly like he can’t find the striped socks
he wants to wear. He is really looking forward to our trip. But, says
he does not want to meet any princesses- only princes. I keep telling
him that he’s so cute the princesses will all want a hug, but he’s
determined to only meet princes- and characters of course.
His new favorites are Chip n Dale.

Well, this post is getting a bit long…but I want to end with a cliffhanger.
How about these…
…coming soon, on my PTR:
-Details on the Florida Extravaganza (hint, it includes more than just
WDW!)
-A little background on the last time we went to WDW
-Find out what we are celebrating at the World!
-Discover what surprises I have arranged for my family!
-Will I make up names for DH, DD and DS?
-Some pictures!
-And more use of exclamation points!

Thanks for reading!

Links to PTR posts
Episode #2- More Rambling
Episode #3- Our first trip to WDW
Episode #4- A New Hope
Episode #5- Planning bug attacks! And the start of my shopping confessions
Episode #6- Mama's got a brand-new bag
Episode #7- Of Scrapbooks and Spacemen

 

[Artist]

See, I’m posting the next post right away!
The details:
We are going to Florida for almost 2 weeks.
July 14-25th …yes, Hot, humid, sweaty, afternoon thunderstorming July. Remember, DH is a teacher, so summer is pretty much the only time he can go. He gets one “personal” day per school year. Once he took an unpaid day and they charged him for the sub as well as for the day he took off. One day off cost almost $700 dollars! His bi-weekly check wasn’t much more than that then. The math seemed very suspicious to me.... anywhoo…
We’re flying in (Southwest) on Monday.
The first 3/4 days in Florida we will be visiting my Mother and my BIL/SIL/DNs in the “Space Coast” area. We are there twice a year- usually in the Summer and at Thanksgiving. We are planning to buy my Mother’s car from her (I need one with 3 rows of seats) and drive the remainder of the trip.
Thursday is a travel day to the Keys- 6-8 hours in the car.
The next 3-4 days of the trip we will be in the Keys- celebrating my Aunt and her husband’s 10th anniversary…which also happens to be a few weeks before our 10th anniversary! When my Aunt got married on the beach 10 years ago, a few weeks before my own wedding, DH and I decided to make the trip to the Keys a “pre-honeymoon”- we went parasailing, rented a Mustang Convertible (we referred to it as “The ‘Stang” the whole trip), had nice dinners and romantic walks on the beach, etc. A few weeks later, on our own honeymoon we went to Cape May (The Shore, as we say) to a condo my uncle loaned us. It was fun (and cheap!). Anyway, my whole family is going back for a “grand gathering” in the Keys to relive the fun times from the wedding 10 years ago. My aunt is hiring the same steel drum band that played her wedding and throwing a catered beach feast similar to her reception. So we will spend a few days there snorkeling, swimming and sunning it up. Of course, 10 years ago we had no children…luckily Grammy has offered to babysit one night so we can go out and relive the pre-honeymoon days.

THEN…FINALLY….WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! We will be driving up from the Keys on Sunday and staying in some “regular” hotel for a night then we will check into our Cabin at Fort Wilderness on Monday morning. We are staying for 5 days/4 nights and have the Deluxe Dining Plan. I will confess to being a bit of an obsessive trip planner (gasp!): I have a “pseudo-binder”, park days plan, touring plans (thanks, Tour Guide Mike!), I scanned and customized the PassPorter maps, and I made my kids Personalized Epcot Passports. I’ve also been shopping: I’ve spent more money than I care to admit to DH. I am getting us ready for the first vacation- since our honeymoon- that doesn’t involve sharing a rented house with or visiting family! See, we are getting the family obligations out of the way first- and then, for the first time ever, we get to do what WE want to do. We don’t have to accommodate anyone else’s plans we <insert screeching brakes sounds here>
…we might invite my Mother to come spend a day at the parks with us….and we might invite my BIL/SIL/DNs to come spend a day at the parks with us….(After all they only live 40 minutes away)…ok, honestly, my Mother already stated she is hoping to come spend a day at the parks with her grandbabies…and we really like my BIL/SIL/DNs and would have fun at the parks with them…so this is probably a done deal already…
…and we are only going to be there for 5 days….
Sigh.
We might be setting ourselves up for an “adventure”! (See, I’m an optimist, I’m not gonna admit that accommodating other family members is not quite what I had originally planned). I’m going to consider this an advance plan to convince DH that we need to plan a “bounceback” trip for next year…so we can do it “just ourselves”…I’ll keep you posted on that plan, I’ve been dropping hints like crazy but he always replies with “Let’s just take this trip first then talk about it”.

Ok, well that’s enough for this post. I actually have to go on hotwire and find a “regular hotel room” for the pre-Disney night. I just came up with that plan this week and changed our reservations in the keys this morning…so more later! I promise I will actually include some pictures….

 

[BeeBopp]

Yeahy, I'm your very first reader! Great start to your PTR. Your plans sound GREAT...keep it up!

 

[pajules]

Yeah, another PA girl If I remember correctly Langhorne is where Sesame Place is right?

Good luck on your PTR, you're already off to a great start.

Even though Disney is your main destination I must say I am jealous of your visit to the Keys. I went for the first time last year and it. If it weren't for the LOOOOONG drive I would try to go more often, but I'm trying to convince my BFF that it would be a great location for a girlfriend's getaway weekend.

By the way, I go "Down the Shore" too. Ocean City is where I usually go to visit since BFF and her family live there. Her hubby is OC native. I am what they like to call a "Shoobie" which means tourist. But growing up we always went to Cape May and I have spent numerous days on the walking street.

Can't wait to continue reading about your trip, you're much more organized than me.....

 

[Native NYer]

Joining in!!!

 

[Artist]

OOh! Three readers! See what happens when I go to WORK for a day!
Now I'll have to get on it for my next installment.

BeeBopp Your Doggy is so cute!

PAJules: That's right- Sesame Place is in my town- the kids and hubby get season passes- me, not so much. There are way too many examples of bad/negligent parenting there and my boy is a wanderer...so I'm always so stressed out keeping an eye on him when we go. Hmmm. How will this effect me going to Disney you might ask? I've got a plan: Valium.
No, just kidding. I'm hoping lots of good planning and tour guide mike will help. Plus Disney magic.
PS I'm a shooby too, although as a kid I spent summers down the shore and my "local" friends would tell me it's ok to be a shooby.

NativeNYer: Yay! I have been reading your PTR too. I'll agree with everyone that your brother and nephew are both super cute!

Welcome friends...a new installment will come this weekend. With pictures!

 

[Queenie122]

Great report - keep us updated! And yes, we want to read all your plans, so we know we're not the only crazy ones rearranging ADR's and buying all kinds of stuff for the trip!

 

[jmskinner]

Ok, you hooked me also. So you are 11 months older then your DH, I am 8 months older and mine doesn't let me forget it either.

I had to laugh when I read your comments about family maybe coming. We had my MIL and BIL at our first trip in 2006. I wanted to strangle my MIL by the end of the trip. We are going in June and our plan is just that. We are going back, just us!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Artist]

More readers! Hooray!
Queenie122 I am always glad to hear about other's crazy ADR changing and wild Disney shopping...you're right, it does make me feel "not alone"
JMSkinner: My Mom is wonderful...but a little self-absorbed. I haven't lived with her since I was 10. I am quite sure a day in the parks with her will make me a bit batty. I'm trying to figure out which park and which day to invite her to, in order to cause me the least amount of stress! I'm thinking the last day maybe, since everything we really want to do we will hopefully have done by then. It's our "extra" day. We'll see how that pans out.
Thanks for tuning in.
I plan to post an update today...just as soon as I make some changes to my "pseudo binder"!
TTFN

 

[Artist]

PTR Part 3

Our first family trip to the Magic Kingdom

I thought a little background on our last trip to WDW might be a good place to start today. As I mentioned in previous posts, I lived in Florida for the first 10 years of my life. My Mom still lives there, as does DH’s brother and his family, who live about a half hour from my Mom. They all live in the “space coast” area, about 40 minutes from Orlando. We go to visit twice a year- in the Summer and for Thanksgiving. Way back in 2004, when the kids were almost 4 and almost 2, my daughter had been bitten by the “Princess bug”. She LOVED all things princess (and she still does). Now, since we were in Florida already, and only 40 minutes from Orlando, I decided it would be a good idea to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom so she could meet the Princesses. Remember, I have little to no memory of ever being at MK, but I had heard some stories about how expensive it is, how long the lines were, etc.
Now, to really set the stage, I should mention it was August. And really, really HOT. But, my little girl was gonna meet some Princesses!
Our plan was pretty basic: drive over, pay through the nose, ride any rides that had short lines and meet some princesses. The kids were still both so young they needed naps. We planned to stay a few hours.
The reality: it DID cost a fortune. We rode 1 ride: the carousel, because everything else had a line the kids just wouldn’t be able to take, and we met 1 Princess. DD was terrified of the witch scene in the Mickey show in front of the castle. And it was really really hot. Because we went in with low expectations, it was perfectly fine. DD was thrilled to meet Aurora. Here, a picture:

And another:

(By the way, notice the disgusting sweat stains on the front of my shirt- gross- and I was about 20 pounds thinner then)
..did it work? This is my first attempt at a photobucket insertion..

So, after that hot, sweaty and exciting day trip, I knew I had to do better. I mean, sure we did what we set out to do…but there was so much MORE!

But, life being what it is, we did not have the time (or the money) for a long resort vacation for 4 more years….DH and I both went to grad school, the kids were both at a pricey Montessori pre-school, and we we sold our house and bought a new one…the timing just wasn’t right…

Until now! Last summer DH found out he would have an extended Christmas break from school, due to construction at the school. I saw one of the $1600 Disney vacation commercials…and I started trying to convince him to go for a week at Christmas. But, we had just moved into our new house and he wanted to just hang around the new place over x-mas and not go on vacation. He appeased me with “maybe next summer”.
I took him at his word and started pricing vacation packages to Disney.

Coming up…why a cabin? Why DxDP? Meet pseudo binder, new binder and my “final” ADRs (I hope!)

Thanks for reading!

 

[5dwarves]

(See, I’m an optimist, I’m not gonna admit that accommodating other family members is not quite what I had originally planned). I’m going to consider this an advance plan to convince DH that we need to plan a “bounceback” trip for next year…so we can do it “just ourselves”…I’ll keep you posted on that plan, I’ve been dropping hints like crazy but he always replies with “Let’s just take this trip first then talk about it”.

Okay, okay...I am totally hooked. First of all, I am an uber planner too...I had pronged pocket folders for each park complete with labels, tab dividers and page sheet protectors with my details for each location. Your "pseudo-binder" has peaked my curiosity! Secondly, I love that you haven't gone on your first trip yet, and you are already laying the foundation for your bounceback trip...YOU GO GIRL!

Absolutely positively take Grandma! Make sure it is on the day you take your little ones to BBB so that Grandma can ooh and ah over the makeovers and decide she can't live without the photographer's pictures. I am sure she will share!

Looking forward to more.


~Elisa

 

[Artist]

5dwarves- are you psychic? I haven't even gotten to the surprise BBB appointments on my PTR.
Spooky!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[5dwarves]

5dwarves- are you psychic? I haven't even gotten to the surprise BBB appointments on my PTR.
Spooky!

Thanks for joining in!

Nope...not psych-IC...pscyh-O maybe...all depends on who you talk to.

 

[Artist]

Psych-o!

 

[5dwarves]

Psych-o!

Yes, given your writing style and sense of humor I thought you might appreciate that.

 

[Artist]

A quick little update:
I mentioned to DH tonight (again) that we should plan for an extended trip to WDW for summer 2009 and he's on board! Whoo-hoo! I'm hoping for a bounceback offer (I've heard of those and they sound great! I wonder if they offer them to cabin-dwellers?)...and if we plan to go in late August, right before school, maybe we can get free dining. Then I can justify a 9 or 10 day trip!
Shhh... maybe I'll try to surprise the kids next time!
Anyway, I'll probably post another update Tuesday, since I have to WORK tommorrow.

 

[Artist]

PTR episode 4: A new hope

In the last episode I described our first family day trip to the Magic Kingdom…hot, sweaty, expensive and not much riding of rides. While it met our plan at the time, I knew we needed to do more…

When I began to plan our upcoming trip I started at the DW website, pricing vacation packages. I was looking for suites. I had a hard time figuring out what would work, and I hadn’t found the DIS yet to get more info.
When we travel with our kids, we need a suite for several reasons:

1. The kids will not fall asleep if we are in the same room watching TV or doing whatever we want to do after 8:00 (which is our usually very firm bedtime for kids) for example: Once we thought we were getting a suite and it turned out to be a hotel room with a kitchen in it. So we sat in silence, with the TV on closed caption, and it still took 2 hours for the kids to go to sleep. We eventually duct taped a sheet to the ceiling to make a “wall” next to the bed for the remainder of the stay! Not our best hotel experience.
2. When we are on vacation, which we pay money to do, my husband and I might want to engage in “adult” evening activities, like “snuggling”. And there is NO WAY I would do that with my kids in the same room.
3. My kids are very high energy and we just need more room when we travel with them. We try to go first floor for the same reason, we don’t want guests below us complaining…which has happened to us in the past.

So we always try to find hotels with suites when we travel. Usually this works out great- although there have been a couple really weird arrangements that qualified as a “suite” with the hotel.

On the DW website, I found the Fort Wilderness cabins and got very excited- More than a suite, it’s a whole little house! And the kids really wanted to stay in bunk beds like they saw on the Disney DVD. I also liked that they could be as loud as they wanted and not likely to disturb the neighbors. Then DH found out he could rent a golf cart for toolin’ around the grounds and it was a done deal. Later, after finding the DIS, I discovered there were other options for us- but for this trip, we’re sticking with the cabin (it’s all about the golf cart). Maybe for our “bounceback trip” (which I have decided we are absolutely taking next summer…and have now convinced DH of this too!) we’ll stay in one of the other places on property that would suit our need for separate sleeping areas. (Anyone wanting to throw out ideas now is more than welcome to do so!)

So, a cabin for us. Then I checked out the dining plan. I really liked the idea that it would be paid for up front. At home we don’t go out to nice dinners very often. And even then it’s usually TGI Fridays or something similar, since we know the kids will also like it. We took the kids out to Red Lobster last year and afterwards they said they hope we never go back there! They just weren’t into the kids menu there. We also don’t go out very often without the kids. My in-laws are our usual babysitters, but since they help out during the week with my son we feel bad asking them to watch them on weekends. So looking at the DDP was like waving steak in front of a hungry lion! I got really excited about the idea of eating out at all those nice restaurants and knowing there would be something the kids would like on the menu, too. And of course, there are the character meals! Whoo-hoo. The regular dining plan did not appeal to me nearly as much as the deluxe, mainly because there were some 2-TS meals I want to do. I priced things out and I think it will be a saving
s for us, as I like appetizers and desserts when we go out.
So our vacation plan is:

5 days and 4 nights in a cabin at Fort Wilderness (with Golf Cart rental!)

Deluxe Dining plan, with ADRs for:

Coral Reef (dinner)
Hollywood and Vine (late breakfast we are calling it brunch)
Brown Derby (dinner F! package)
Crystal Palace (lunch)
Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner) I am reconsidering this one, heard some bad reviews- but not sure where else in the MK we should go? Looked and Tony’s but, eh, not so excited…any suggestions?
Akershest Storybook Breakfast
Chefs De France (lunch) The kids really want to eat in France because they took French in pre-school
Hoop Dee Doo Review
CRT (late breakfast- again, call it brunch) –this is a surprise for the kids

I changed these around at least 3 times. Can’t believe I got CRT at all since it was way past 180 out. I know there are much better choices at some of the resorts, but I want to try and keep things simple and not go driving (or bussing, or monorailing) all over the place. I am trying to make sure we have some time for swimming and golf cart joyriding, plus parks. Maybe next time we can have those fantastic meals at the other resorts that look so good in the dining reviews.

Well, I wanted to introduce my pseudo-binder, new binder and misc. planning stuff in this post, but it’s getting long and I have to pick up the kids and take the boy to karate. So, if I have time tonight I’ll post more.
Since I didn’t post photos in the report, here’s a picture of my princess and pirate

…my son always seems to have food on his face! Here you will notice a chocolate mustache.

Stay tuned for more planning mania!
Thanks for reading.

 

[Artist]

PTR Part 5- catching the planning bug

Now that all my loyal readers are caught up with our history and basic plans (there are some loyal readers out there, right?) I want to introduce you to my little friend…

pseudo-binder!
Yes, I realize this is “only” a 2-pocket folder. But, notice the beautiful Disney designs my kids drew on there…that black spot is the castle...can't you tell? And see how my DD corrected her spelling of “vacation” on the bottom? I'm not sure where her original spelling came from, I tried to make a joke here but it got censored, so make up your own joke about "F**shin". I am emotionally attached and I used this folder for quite some time to store all my planning stuff. I love it so much that when I converted over to a “real” binder recently, I kept it in there. Just cause.
Here’s the new binder

I got the cover art from the DIS boards. Now, as an artist, I am a little disappointed with myself that the art is a little cut off on the cover. But it’ll do for now.
There are lots of papers, lists, spreadsheets in the binder. I also kept all the slips of paper with my notes from making ADRs (I’m paranoid I will transpose it incorrectly into a spreadsheet!) You can see the slips here on the right

I have changed our ADRs at least 3 times. I am still tinkering with them. I am so tempted to try out one of the resort places, but I really am trying to keep the days simple. Not sure what to do yet. If I could stop reading DIS dining reviews I would probably be better off!

I have also planned several surprises for my family. I requested personalized menus and a diver at the Coral Reef to surprise DH. We decided to celebrate our 10th anniversary at little early with this trip, since DH usually goes camping with his “boys” on our anniversary weekend. Which I'm fine with, but our 10th deserves a little something special.
Here’s a picture from the wedding that will be on the menu:

We look SO young there. And thin. And maybe a little buzzed. And that was the last time I ever sported bangs.
I was very impressed with all the cool Disney-esque message suggestions the manager at the Coral Reef had for the diver.

Another surprise- for the kids- are appointments at the BBB. My son will get the “cool dude” and my daughter the “coach package” (I think that’s which one- it’s the $50 one).
Third surprise is a breakfast at CRT on our last day. Both the BBB and the CRT are things the kids saw on the planning DVD and talk about. I keep telling them “It’s really hard to get those…” so they have no idea that we will be doing them.
And I plan to have “Tinkerbell” leave some gifts for the kids (…can’t... stop... shopping…)

Sorry this picture is blurry. Yes, Eagle Eyes that is a Spiderman lanyard/wallet at the top. I am aware that Spiderman does not live at Disney World. But my DS loves Spidey and specifically asked for that very lanyard. He doesn't know I got it, but he will be very happy to see it.
I am more excited about this trip than the kids are!
I made these cool epcot passports using the DIS design boards…

Of course, I had to buy those stickers you see in the picture because they matched- and I had to buy a corner paper punch and a small paper cutter to make them look good- I can’t cut straight to save my life! So these passports probably cost more than buying them at Epcot would, but they are so neat!

In my next installment I'll post more pictures of the results of my inability to stop shopping...

Now, dear readers, I have a question for you… Do you know about the “lime look”? I had been seeing references to it in TRs for a while, and just the other day read a TR that specifically described it. Well, it cracked me up because we do that to our kids all the time! And now I am wondering if I give the “lime look” to other dissers I see in the parks if they will think I’m crazy. So how many of you out there know it and would respond in kind?

 

[irky416]

I'm in. I'm all about the shopping and pics make it even better!

 

[Artist]

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be posting more pictures of my shopping results real soon. I'm happy to have some response...I was starting to think I was typing to myself!
Also glad to have another chronic shopper on board!