A Surprise fit for a Princess...A Pre-Trip Report

[Dancegrl624]

Episode Ten: CRAZINESS!!!

Hi everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed your New Years and are having a great 2009 so far. 5 days in and I'm feeling good! Today, I'm in the teens....I leave in 19 days!!!!! I'm so excited, but I'm going CRAZY!! Of course I want time to move along at a quick pace, but I feel like I'm running out of time. Anyways....I thought I'd come on here to share my crazy life with all of you right now. I need to write it all down so it gets out of my head. Now, where to begin?

Let's begin with the purchases that I've made lately! On Friday, I finally convinced my DH to let me buy new luggage. We bought ours in 2003 and it's just getting old. We only have 2 rolling suitcases and I knew that I wanted 3 for this trip. So, I bought a nice 6 piece set from Kohl's for $59.99. Great deal! It's a nice bright blue so hopefully it will be easier to spot on the luggage carousel. We need one suitcase for my DH and I and one for our DD. The other one we will use to pack up some snacks and such. That way, we'll have an empty one for when we come home. We will need it for all the stuff we'll probably end up buying!

Just a few minutes ago, I ordered some crocs for my DD and myself. I orderd the black and red Minnie Janes for my DD and the black Baja flip flop for myself. I adore flip flops so I thought I'd buy some with some arch support for wearing around the parks. I also orderd the "Guide to the Magic for Kids" for my DD. More about that in a little bit. I'm in a bit of a panic about the shipping for these items. The crocs website is undergoing a wall to wall inventory until the 8th. So, they won't be shipping anything until the 9th. This is good because they're giving free shipping, but it says it may take up to 10 business days to get your shoes. So, they'll start shipping on the 9th. This means I'll get them by the 22nd or 23rd (can't forget about MLK day). We leave on the 24th!!!!! I better get them before the trip or I'll be so upset. The book takes 1-2 weeks. Ok, one week is next Monday or Tuesday and two weeks is the 19th or 20th. Boy, I'm cutting things close!

I made my ressies for T-Rex today and I'm super excited. Our DD really loves dinosaurs. We'll most likely let her Build-A-Dino there too. I also called Disney dining today to switch up our Akershus ressie. My DH and I were a little uncertain of the lunch menu, so we decided to do breakfast instead. Their system was acting crazy today, so I had to call back a few times. They did get me down for breakfast, but the CM could not cancel my lunch due to the problems they were having earlier. I guess I'll have to call back tomorrow! I also called our hotel to verify our reservation. Since it's my parents timeshare, I have a guest certificate. All of my paperwork that my mom gave me is from our original reservation for February. All I have for Jan is a letter with our dates on it. The woman at the hotel reassured me though telling me all I need is my driver's license. Whew! I got myself all worked up!

Sometime this week, I'm going to start writing down a packing list. I need to get it out of my head! I could not get to sleep last night because I was thinking of all the things to pack. Thank goodness I have 19 more days to get organized. Oh yeah!!! I got my park tickets from UT on Saturday! It feels so good to have them in my hands. It makes it so much more real!

Surprise Time!!!! We figured out how to do the big surprise! Like I mentioned, I just ordered the "Guide to the Magic for Kids". We plan on waking her up the morning we leave and giving her the book. If she doesn't figure it out, the pretend boarding passes will be inside the book. Page 21 Post 310 This is the link to our boarding passes that were DISigned for us. Aren't they adorable?? I just printed them out today. What do you think of our idea? I know she'll be so excited. Just tonight while I was giving her a bath so asked, "Can we go to Disney again someday?" My DH was in the other room and said "Of course we can!" She then asked if we could go this February on her break from school! I said, "No way. It takes a long time to plan a trip. Maybe next year on your Feb break, ok?" My DH then told her to start saving her money! She is going to FLIP OUT!!!

What else have I been up to lately...oh yes! My dance team had our first game on Saturday. Our lacrosse team won! It was the home opener and they revealed the Championship Banner. It was so awesome, it gave me goosebumps! They played a nice video of past championships (from the 90's) and then footage from last season. It was so cool. That game was a lot of fun and we looked awesome performing all of our dances. Here's some cool links if you want to read about the game! http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/539688.html
Pictures of me and my dance team!

I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading my long rant of craziness. It feels good to get it all out. I really do feel like I'm losing my mind lately. I have to work tomorrow, so it will be nice to do something besides obsess over my trip. Later!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Great ideas, love your surprise for DD and great deals on the luggage and shoes, Meghan!!!! Hope they come in time, but they sound like they should. Keep us posted!!

 

[trixiequilts]

I'm in a bit of a panic about the shipping for these items. The crocs website is undergoing a wall to wall inventory until the 8th. So, they won't be shipping anything until the 9th. This is good because they're giving free shipping, but it says it may take up to 10 business days to get your shoes. So, they'll start shipping on the 9th. This means I'll get them by the 22nd or 23rd (can't forget about MLK day). We leave on the 24th!!!!!

FYI: I placed a Crocs order online on 12/30 and I received them already today. That was...7 real days (not business days) with a holiday thrown in. So there's definitely a chance! Granted, they weren't in a shipping freeze at the time. Hopefully you'll get yours before the trip.

 

[Dancegrl624]

FYI: I placed a Crocs order online on 12/30 and I received them already today. That was...7 real days (not business days) with a holiday thrown in. So there's definitely a chance! Granted, they weren't in a shipping freeze at the time. Hopefully you'll get yours before the trip.

Good to hear! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll come in time. It says that they'll be shipped in the order that they were received. I'm hoping that not many people placed orders before me.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Great ideas, love your surprise for DD and great deals on the luggage and shoes, Meghan!!!! Hope they come in time, but they sound like they should. Keep us posted!!

Thank you very much. I'll definately keep everyone posted!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the little boarding pass idea for your surprise!! So cool! I can't wait to hear about how she reacts! Maybe I'll see you at WDW and you can tell me then!

 

[Dancegrl624]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the little boarding pass idea for your surprise!! So cool! I can't wait to hear about how she reacts! Maybe I'll see you at WDW and you can tell me then!

I would love to run into you at WDW! I'm really hoping to meet some Snowbirds during the week. I'm definately going to have to have my camera handy during the surprise!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Disney Mail

Ok. So I go to get my mail today and what do I see?? My "Guide to the Magic" book had arrived! (Oh yeah. Our Disney Rewards Card came today too. Not nearly as cool as the book). I ordered it Mon night and got it today. Incredible!!! So I open it up and inside is a little mini Nemo activity/sticker book and some sort of Toy Story markers (I haven't fully investigated them yet). I was bouncing up and down. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, an even better surprise idea came to me. I ran if by my DH already and he thinks it's great.

I plan on putting all of these items, plus the boarding passes, into a gift box. I will put the boarding passes at the very bottom, then the book, then the little gifts on top. I have leftover Princess and Tink wrapping paper from Christmas. My DH and I will wake up early on departure day, shower, get dressed, etc. Then, we'll go wake up our DD and give her the gift. We'll tell her that Mommy and Daddy found it in the very back of their closet and forgot to give it to her on Christmas. We'll say that we bought it a really long time ago (we've been planning this trip since the summer!) and it got buried under other stuff. That way, we don't have to just hand her a book at 4am and she won't question the whole me holding a camera thing. I'm so super duper excited about this!!!!! I wish we were going tomorrow! Alas, we have to wait 16 more days.

Tomorrow, I plan on buying some M&M minis so we can eat them and fill the tubes with quarters and pennies. I think our DD will enjoy making the pressed pennies. We also still need to write a letter to the school. I was just talking to another mom from my DD's class and she said she took her daughter out for a week last year. They were really great about it and gave her the week's worth of work. Excellent! That's what I like to hear! Next week, I plan on buying some travel sized items that we need. I love that aisle at Target! There's just something about small versions of the things I use everyday that intrigue me. I'm also hoping that I get scheduled to work both Tuesday and Thursday. It will keep me busy (and I'll be making money which is always a good thing). I have Friday off because we have another game (Go Bandits!). THEN, the week of the 19th, I will start packing. Well, not until Tuesday since my DD doesn't have school on the 19th for MLK day. I'm hoping I don't get scheduled to work that Friday (23rd) because I'm sure I will have tons of last minute things to do. I'm a very big procrastinator. However, I like packing last minute and all at once so I know that I have everything. I typed up a nice sized packing list last night that I'll print out. I like to be able to cross things off. We'll of course have last minute things to pack Sat morning (toothbrushes, shampoos, etc). Sorry that I'm rambling. I'm just so excited and everything is just spilling out of my brain. I'm sure what I've just typed must sound like a huge run on sentence that doesn't make much sense. Again, sometimes I just need to get things out. Thanks for staying with me!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Love the new surprise!!! And your DD will, too!! I can't wait to see the pics of it.

Your trip will be here before you know it, afterall, this week is almost over and they just fly by...especially when you have so much to do!! I"m with you, packing last minute is the way I operate, too...I find it easier and find myself not digging stuff I didn't think I needed out of my suitcase...especially this time of year when you need a little bit of everything for the weather in Disney!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Love the new surprise!!! And your DD will, too!! I can't wait to see the pics of it.

Your trip will be here before you know it, afterall, this week is almost over and they just fly by...especially when you have so much to do!! I"m with you, packing last minute is the way I operate, too...I find it easier and find myself not digging stuff I didn't think I needed out of my suitcase...especially this time of year when you need a little bit of everything for the weather in Disney!

I just like packing all at once. If I did a little at a time, I think I would lose my mind!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Photos

Ok, so I posted some of these photos on the Snowbirds quite awhile back, but I thought I'd post them here. These are some purchases that I've made for the trip.

I bought this tank at Target on the clearance rank. I got the XS for my daughter and the XL for me! (I do fit in the girls department)

Here are 2 of the shirts Santa brought our DD. Cindy is her favorite princess!

These are the other two shirts she got for Christmas

And these are my shirts! I just love my girl, Tink!

This is the sling backpack I also got at Target. I also received a Vera Bradley hipster in Pink Elephant for Christmas from my parents. I'll alternate between the two bags, so keep your eyes peeled for me!

Got this nightgown at Kohl's yesterday for my DD. Cute!

Can you tell that I live at Target? Got this there today for $3! I'm going to put my photopass card in the clear window and then use the other side for my Disney Visa, Disney rewards card, license, park tickets, etc.

Ok. One last photo. This is my new haircut. My hair actually looks much darker than it does in this photo. It's pretty much black (it was supposed to be chocolate brown with gold tones). It's much shorter too. I had to lose an inch and a half to make my longest layer all the same length. I also got my layers cleaned up.

That's all for now!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Meghan!! LOVE the new "do" and all the goodies you're bringing...adorable!!! You're getting there girl!! just a few more days......

 

[Dancegrl624]

Meghan!! LOVE the new "do" and all the goodies you're bringing...adorable!!! You're getting there girl!! just a few more days......

Thanks! It's just taking me awhile to get used to it. Even when I just get a little bit cut off, it looks much shorter. Since I have curly hair, it curls up SO much when the dead ends get cut off.

 

[Monny2AE]

I took so long reading and catching up on all 5 pages that I got kicked off the DIS
I love your story of how you and dh met- your family is beautiful!
Princess Madison is going to be so excited when you surprise her!!! I can't wait to read your TR when you get back to see how her surprise goes...oh wait perhaps I'll just ask you when I see you at Crystal Palace or Fantasmic

 

[Dancegrl624]

I took so long reading and catching up on all 5 pages that I got kicked off the DIS
I love your story of how you and dh met- your family is beautiful!
Princess Madison is going to be so excited when you surprise her!!! I can't wait to read your TR when you get back to see how her surprise goes...oh wait perhaps I'll just ask you when I see you at Crystal Palace or Fantasmic

Thank you for your kind words. I love my family very much. This surprise is going to be amazing and I can't wait to share it with everyone. I really hope we do bump into each other!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Our Plans Revisited

Hey there! I've made a few changes that I thought I'd share with you. I have some more details to add as well. Ok, time to go over my plans again! Hooray!

Jan. 24th - Travel day
No huge changes here (thankfully!). Our flight hasn't changed and I hope for good weather leaving Buffalo. So, we still land at 1:20pm. From there, we'll be gathering our (new) luggage, picking up our rental car and heading over to the hotel to see if we can check in. I found out a fellow Snowbird will be landing about 25 minutes after us! I will definately be keeping my eyes peeled for her and her family. For dinner that night, we now have a ressie for T-Rex at 6:30pm. I am beyond excited for this! Our DD is going to love it! Of course, we will be letting her Build-A-Dino. They are so cute. I'm hoping my fellow Snowbuddie can get a ressie there too. How awesome would that be?!

Jan. 25th - Epcot
Like I mentioned in a previous update, we changed our Akershus meal to breakfast. Our ADR is now for 10:05am. My plan for this day is to try to hit up Soarin' first thing (or at least grab fast passes). I don't know how much time this will take, but we need to head over to Norway around 9:45 I think. After breakfast, we'll go back to FW and finish doing what we want to do. We plan on doing the character meet and greet at Innoventions West for our free 5x7 (with our disney visa). That's between 1:30 and 4:30pm. I don't want to back track, so we'll probably hang out in FW until then. After that is all said and done, we'll head over to WS. Then, we'll have all afternoon to explore WS because we're staying for IllumiNations.

Jan. 26th- MK Day One
Disney has decided to change things around on me. Originally, SpectroMagic was scheduled for Mon and Wed (our 2 MK days). Now, they moved their AM EMH to Thursday, and now Spectro is Mon and Thurs. We now have no choice but to stay for Spectro and Wishes on Monday. No big deal, but I'm worried that the park will fill up that night due to PM EMH. It still can't be as bad as the summertime when we've usually gone, right? I'm not worried about hitting up everything we want to ride that day since we'll still have Wednesday. I've decided that I need to ride Space Mountain one last time before they refurb it. We also HAVE to visit Pixie Hollow!!!!!

Jan. 27th- AK
No real set in stone plans for this day. I think we may hit up Flame Tree Barbeque for lunch. I've heard such wonderful things about it and my DH and I ADORE bbq!! I'm really looking forward to experiencing AK for a first time as a family. It's going to be awesome.

Jan. 28th- MK Day Two
We have our early ADR at CP. Yea! I'm super pumped since this is no longer an AM EMH day. Woo hoo!!! We'll hit up whatever we didn't get to do on Day One and ride things that we want to do again. Also, I have decided that we will get our DD's 1st haircut at MK. Yes, she is 6 years old and has never even had a trim! I think that it will be so awesome to get her 1st haircut at the most magical place on earth! If she wants the colored gel and Mickey confetti, we'll definately let her get it. I don't know which day we'll get this done. Whenever we have time! I cannot forget to buy myself a Dole Whip on this trip. They are a MUST! So yummy and refreshing.

Jan. 29th- DHS
This day should be pretty relaxing. We have to do TSMM (hopefully more than once) and I definately need to ride ToT and RNRR. Other than that, we'll ride the Great Movie Ride, watch Muppets, most likely watch the Beauty and the Beast show (I've never seen it!).....don't really know what else. I think Star Tours is too intense for her. I'd like to see Lights, Motors, Action as well. I've seen the Indiana Jones stunt show a million times, so it's not a must see. Voyage of the Little Mermaid won't be open and Backlot Tour is down as well. I don't like the new version of Sounds Dangerous and it's not open anyways. I'm hoping for some character interaction for sure.

Jan. 30th-?
Most likely, we'll go back to DTD. I LOVE it there. I'd like to make my own t-shirt at Design-A-Tee. It just looks like so much fun! We'll also buy whatever else we'd like that we didn't buy during the week. I'd like to hit up the scrapbooking store since I plan on making my first scrapbook after the trip. My mom is going to show me how to do it! We could probably go to a park for a few hours if we want to. We do have 7 day tickets after all. We'll just play this day by ear.

I guess that's it. Sorry if I repeated a lot of stuff that I've already posted. I'm just so excited!!!! 13 days and counting!!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Yay, 13 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a great plan of attack!! And how neat to get your DD first haircut in MK!!! That will be so special and magical for her! Can't wait to see the pictures and see what she decides to do with her hair...that will be so cute!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hey Meghan~ I haven't gotten over here for a couple of days!! Shapin up nicely! Love the boarding passes--can you give me 'how to's' ? Since we are surpising our kids too, I would love some for my little chicks!!!!!

Wanted to give you a tip of something I do-you mentioned packing toothbrushes and shampoo last minute. At Target(or Wal-Mart) they have on that 'tiny' aisle, little clear containers with lids. I get those then fill them up with sh and cond. for me, and another set for the kids. Then just label the bottom with a sharpie. You can get small toothpastes and cheap toothbrushes over there as well. That's just one more thing you can pre-pack. I do that with my face cleanser, toner, anything I can squeeze out into one of those little clear bottles!!Then, if you use all of it by the last day, just throw the containers out if you don't have room to repack them and you aren't bringing a whole bottle of shampoo and stuff. Which gets heavy when you are packing.

When you get fastpasses for Soarin' give yourself plenty of time for your breakfast ADR-it takes a bit of time to get in there and go to Soarin' and get the FP---then it's a hike back over to Norway! I always forget how long it actually takes to walk around that lake!!!!! OH, I am gonna call today and get ressies for T-Rex if I can!!!! I really like your hair cut-and how cool that Meghan is cuttin' hers at Disney!! I may get my little girl just sparkly and confetti!! do you have to have an appt.?

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hey Meghan~ I haven't gotten over here for a couple of days!! Shapin up nicely! Love the boarding passes--can you give me 'how to's' ? Since we are surpising our kids too, I would love some for my little chicks!!!!!

Wanted to give you a tip of something I do-you mentioned packing toothbrushes and shampoo last minute. At Target(or Wal-Mart) they have on that 'tiny' aisle, little clear containers with lids. I get those then fill them up with sh and cond. for me, and another set for the kids. Then just label the bottom with a sharpie. You can get small toothpastes and cheap toothbrushes over there as well. That's just one more thing you can pre-pack. I do that with my face cleanser, toner, anything I can squeeze out into one of those little clear bottles!!Then, if you use all of it by the last day, just throw the containers out if you don't have room to repack them and you aren't bringing a whole bottle of shampoo and stuff. Which gets heavy when you are packing.

When you get fastpasses for Soarin' give yourself plenty of time for your breakfast ADR-it takes a bit of time to get in there and go to Soarin' and get the FP---then it's a hike back over to Norway! I always forget how long it actually takes to walk around that lake!!!!! OH, I am gonna call today and get ressies for T-Rex if I can!!!! I really like your hair cut-and how cool that Meghan is cuttin' hers at Disney!! I may get my little girl just sparkly and confetti!! do you have to have an appt.?

Thanks for all the great advice Shawna. I love the travel aisle at Target! I bought some stuff over there the other day. I went a little overboard! I did buy some little plastic bottles that I may put my shampoo and conditioner in. For my DH and DD, I bought small shampoos for them that double as body wash. Awesome! I haven't been to Epcot in so long! We will probably head over to Soarin', grab fastpasses and then head over to Akershus. I hope that will work! You should totally try to get a ressie for T-Rex. That would be awesome. You don't have to have an appt for the barber shop on Main Street. I heard that it gets pretty busy and to get there early. We'll go whenever we have the time though.

As for the boarding passes, all you have to do is post a message on that thread. I just put what names we wanted, where we're staying, what day and time we're leaving and what character I wanted. Then, once she makes the passses, she'll post on the thread. Then, you click on them and save them onto your computer. I just printed them out after that (I had to fiddle around with the size a bit to get the size that I wanted). It was very easy to do.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Okie Dokie! Thanks girlie!!!! I will try to do that this afternoon!!!