A Smile in my Heart–Magical Week of Friends,Fun & Freezing-10/28-COMPLETE!

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Sorry about that itching, Nicole! You really should get something for that!! I hope you can go do something Disney-related while there though.....Downtown Disney? Monorail ride? Resort Meal? Whatcha heading there for?? Inquiring minds want to know....

Meeting some friends for the weekend. We're staying at the Sheraton that Monica stayed at. Our friends are not "in the know" yet as this is their 1st trip to Orlando... they want to relax for the first couple days of their vacation so they aren't headed to a park until Monday. Newbies.

We will go to DTD for sure... I don't care if they want to go or not!

UPDATE:
I really wanted to update this weekend, but as is usual....life got in the way! My mother-in-law fell and broke her leg and her hand and now has two casts she is dealing with. She picks the kids up from school and keeps them until I get home from work, so that is something we are trying to get figured out. Right now I'm bringing them back to work with me, but that can't go on forever! Especially since my workload is ridiculously large right now!

On the bright side (at least I hope this will still be happening...) I MAY be going to Orlando for a users group meeting for our accounting software we use at work. The conference is in May and most likely my Mom will also be going (family business). She really wants to stay at Disney and not at the Gaylord where the conference is, so I will keep you updated if we do decide to go and where we end up staying! I will be so excited to get to go back to the World!!!

I saw this on FB... sorry about your MIL's accident. I hope she mends quickly! I say put your kids to work!

And I like your mom... she's awesome! Can I have her?

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

So I was behind a few updates but at least it was all still the same day. All caught up now!

Holy Moly is right about your PP group shots! Wow! They were great!!

Glad the kids are all having such a fun time together. And I think the adults are too!

Can't wait to hear more!

And on a possible May visit!!

 

[mom2mek]

Anyone notice something shiny and new in my signature????

Sara

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Sara's got a new ticker!! DO TELL!

 

[mom2mek]

A tangled web I weave!!!

It appears I will be making it down to Disney next month with my mom for a work-related trip! My mom was the one who suggested we stay at Disney instead of the Gaylord Palms Resort where the conference is being held, so who am I to argue, right? That would be disrespectful!

What's really funny is that my Mom is heading down to Disney and staying at the Poly at the end of THIS month too! This was the trip that she and my step-dad booked using the bounceback offer in February after joining us on our trip (I haven't made it to that part in my report yet....look for it in, oh, I don't know....6 months or so ).

Obviously, they fell in love with the Poly and decided to go back so that they could experience some of the Flower & Garden Festival. So Mom will be down there for 4 days - April 28 - May 2 - and then going back with me on May 15. I got the bright idea to suggest to her to get an AP so that she would be eligible for the AP discounts for our trip and low and behold....she thought that was a great idea! Disney math at its finest!! So we were able to book the Poly, lagoon view, for about the same as Gaylord Palms. Kind of a no-brainer, huh?

Now if only I could figure out how to get some of my classes done earlier in the day so I have more time for Disney! Right now it is looking like I will be in classes Sunday through Wednesday until 5:30. But I will have Saturday, the 15th, and Thursday, the 20th, plus a few hours in the morning on the 21st for all Disney....plus the evenings of the other days!

I'm so excited!!!

Sara

 

[MickeyisBeast]

That's so awesome!
I love the Poly, it's amazing
So cool that you get to go back!

 

[OhioTony]

Well you really will have to figure out a way to get out of those classes WAY early. You won't be able to concentrate anyway. Your brain will just keep repeating.." must see castle. must see castle" and you won't learn a thing!

 

[BippityBoo]

HOW LUCKY ARE YOU?! Trips so close together!! Love that you and your mom can spend some time together in Disney Can't wait to read about your trip!!

 

[kaysmommie]

So happy for you Sara It will be nice to squeeze in some fun time at Disney with your mom. on staying at the Poly too! Glad it all worked out.

 

[cdotla]

Whooo hoooo!!! Great that you will be going back so soon! And we will actually be there the same time as your mom!

 

[MeMom]

It appears I will be making it down to Disney next month with my mom for a work-related trip! My mom was the one who suggested we stay at Disney instead of the Gaylord Palms Resort where the conference is being held, so who am I to argue, right? That would be disrespectful!

Never disrespect your mother when it comes to anything Disney.
No, no, no!

Staying at the Polynesian - not too shabby.

Jill and I and the girls are going for Mother's Day weekend. I can't think of a better place to be on Mother's Day.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Yea, you are going back to Disney! How fun. I think there would be nothing better if you are going to have to work then to actually go home to disney!

Have fun,
Erika

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

Gotta love Disney math!!!

 

[kcandbella]

Woo hoo!! You are going to have so much fun!

 

[mom2mek]

Thanks everyone! I'm very excited to be going back so soon but a little overwhelmed about what kind of park planning and ADRs I can do beforehand. I'm open for advice!

We will have the majority of Saturday, May 15th to be in the parks (arrive around lunch time) and then the evenings of Sunday, the 16th through Wednesday, the 19th. Then all day on Thursday, the 20th, and the morning of Friday the 21st. Our flight leaves on Friday at 3:30, but we will have a car so we will probably just have to leave Disney around 1:00 or so.


The AK and DHS don't have too many late nights unless we do EMH (which we usually avoid like the plague), so it looks like we might have to do some of those if we want to see those parks. I have done EMH at AK before with Shawn last May and it wasn't bad at all.


Here are some preliminary thoughts:


* We arrive on 5/15 around 1:00 – we could go to Epcot (I really want to catch Flower & Garden stuff) – could plan a meal here and stay for Illuminations. Or we could dump our stuff in our room and head to the MK for the rest of the day. I’m leaning towards the latter! LOL! MK is open until 11:00 and has Spectro this night, but it is a Saturday, so it could be ugly crowded. What would you do…..????

* 5/16 – we have class till 5:00 – could do DHS for their EMH at night; however I’m not sure I can sway my Mom over for this though. I’m not even sure I would want to either. Any thoughts on what evening EMH are like at the Studios? She wouldn’t do ToT and neither of us ride RnRC and I’m sure TSM fastpasses will be long gone, so that leaves shows and atmosphere basically. And by the way…MK closes at the un-godly hour of 5:00!!! Some kind of travel agent special event or something! (Makes me think that EMH at the Studios will be even MORE crowded…). The other option for this night would be Epcot. A nice meal and Illuminations sounds good to me! Plus I would JUST make it in time to see the Flower & Garden Festival which ends this day!

* 5/17 - class till 5:00 and then we could attempt EMH at the MK – they go from 10 until 1:00 (if we could last that long…probably not). The hours of 6:00 – 9:00 will be pretty crowded, but after that it should be good, right? I have no idea.

* 5/18 – class till 5:00. There are no parks with EMH in the evening this night. MK is open until 9:00 so we could go there or we could go to DTD and do some shopping. The night before would have been late and we would have been in class early this morning after that late night, so taking it easy might be a good idea. Think I can talk my mom in to going to La Nouba??? LOL!

* 5/19 – class till 5:00 – then we could check out EMH at the AK possibly. They only go until 8:00 but that would be our only chance to see AK this trip! I really hope to get there in time for my Mom to see FOTLK since she has never seen it before. She wouldn’t ride Everest with me, so it would basically be for that show, the safari (if it is even open which it probably wouldn’t be) and atmosphere. Maybe dinner at Boma???

* 5/20 – FREE from classes!! This would be really hard for me (and I have no clue if my Mom would go for this or not) but the MK has early morning EMHs – which we could totally do – but then hop somewhere else OR we could just do Epcot this day. if we did this I would definitely do the arrival day at the MK. What do you think? MK for early morning EMH and then hop to Epcot, or just go to Epcot for the day?

* 5/21 – the Magic Kingdom from rope drop until 12:00. Then leave to get to the airport.


Right now I’m leaning towards MK on arrival day, Epcot for the evening on the 16th, EMH at MK on the 17th, off on the 18th (or MK), EMH at AK on the 19th, Epcot on the 20th, and MK for a few hours on the 21st.

That gives us one full day plus an evening at Epcot; 2 half days at MK plus an evening of EMH at the MK, and 1 EMH evening at the AK plus some downtown Disney and shopping time!


MK: 5/15 – 2:00 – 11:00
5/17 –5:30 – 1:00 AM
5/21 – 9:00 – 12:00

Epcot: 5/16 – 5:30 – 9:00
5/20 – 9:00 – 9:00

AK: 5/19 – 5:30 – 8:00

DTD/shopping: 5/18 – have a Boma reservation at 6:20 that I made last night and I guess I could keep if I can’t get one on the 19th.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions???

 

[mrsksomeday]

No suggestions, I just wanted to say congratulations on getting to go back .

 

[KathyRN137]

It appears I will be making it down to Disney next month with my mom for a work-related trip! My mom was the one who suggested we stay at Disney instead of the Gaylord Palms Resort where the conference is being held, so who am I to argue, right?

Awesome!! What could be better??

I got the bright idea to suggest to her to get an AP so that she would be eligible for the AP discounts for our trip and low and behold....she thought that was a great idea! Disney math at its finest!! So we were able to book the Poly, lagoon view, for about the same as Gaylord Palms. Kind of a no-brainer, huh?

Okay, Okay! THAT certainly makes it better!!!

Congratulations on your new ticker!!!


Kathy

 

[martinolichfamily]

All caught up now....great updates!
Yay for getting to go back to WDW!!

 

[lam712]

I'm finally caught up! I loved your report on AK! We spent a lot of time watching the tigers on our trip, we probably would have stayed longer but it was so hot I was tempted to jump into the pool with them.

The group Photopass photos are awesome. We love the Lion King show, too and can't believe we skipped it on our first several trips to AK! Our last trip was our first experience with Boma and we really enjoyed it. There were lots of options for everyone- my not so adventurous hubby and youngest son, my vegetarian daughter, and my oldest son and me who like to try different things.

The photos of Katie and Megan are hilarious and you can tell all the kids had a wonderful trip. What great memories for all of them!

PS. Congrats on your work related return trip. I am SO jealous!