**A YEAR in the Making of a Disney Trip-Sept. 2011**9/28 TR Link Added!**

[MissLiz]

Great job on the shopping! I haven't even started yet. Ugh!


I've been so busy trying to find things for our cruise that I haven't even thought about Disney shopping. I'll get there....hopefully.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Just wanted to let you know you inspired me to start my shopping I wrote a list (I know you'll be shocked by that) and divided into how many paydays until we leave and that's how many things I have to buy each payday....I don't even know if that makes sense I went to Walmart (I love Target but won't make it to the states until May) and bought a few things...razor, wetones, toothbrushes, deodorant and hairspray!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Great job on the shopping! I haven't even started yet. Ugh!


I've been so busy trying to find things for our cruise that I haven't even thought about Disney shopping. I'll get there....hopefully.

But you're going on a CRUISE! I think you can be forgiven.

Just wanted to let you know you inspired me to start my shopping I wrote a list (I know you'll be shocked by that) and divided into how many paydays until we leave and that's how many things I have to buy each payday....I don't even know if that makes sense I went to Walmart (I love Target but won't make it to the states until May) and bought a few things...razor, wetones, toothbrushes, deodorant and hairspray!

Queen, that is AWESOME! It makes total sense to me. I think that's a brilliant strategy that I might steal! Canada doesn't have Target? Well, hubs and I thought about moving there, but I guess that's out of the question now!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Queen, that is AWESOME! It makes total sense to me. I think that's a brilliant strategy that I might steal! Canada doesn't have Target? Well, hubs and I thought about moving there, but I guess that's out of the question now!!

No we don't have it YET, but it is coming .... I believe in 2013!! I cannot wait!!!

 

[PISCESANGEL]

Subbing- your children are absolutely precious.

Great planning so far!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Since you've been planing this for a year and still have 5 months to go, do you find that you change your plans the more you thing about them? In just the past two days I've gone from just about to buy my Auto Train tickets to looking back at airfare!

I might need to look into window clings.

D4D

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Since you've been planing this for a year and still have 5 months to go, do you find that you change your plans the more you thing about them? In just the past two days I've gone from just about to buy my Auto Train tickets to looking back at airfare!

I might need to look into window clings.

D4D

Not too much. I add things, if anything. I did have to make some changes when I realized that MNSSHP dates were not going to be on Saturdays this year, but just about everything else is set in stone...mainly because we're creatures of habit!
Nothing gets taken off our list or switched around much, but I do find myself wondering things...can we do BBB? an expensive date night? waterpark?

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Subbing- your children are absolutely precious.

Great planning so far!

And thank you!
Looks like you're going back soon...lucky!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

ADR time is upon us!
Ahhhh..... My 180 day mark is THIS MONDAY (March 21), and that means it's a mere six months until we're back in our happy place.

I've made lists. I've crossed things off, rearranged, added places I'd never before considered, and now I've come up with the places for which I'm going to fight--er, the places I want to eat.

Keep in mind that we're on the Disney Dining Plan, the regular version, with eight table service credits each. We upgraded from QS, and we don't have the time (or sanity) to do deluxe with three kids. We're going to have a couple of meals OOP, as you'll see below. Breakfasts will mostly happen in our hotel room with things we've packed, except for one very important exception. To make things more interesting, we do not have park hopper tickets, so our park days pretty much have to be set based on our food.

Here are our picks, and keep your fingers crossed that all works out on Monday!

Saturday (Arrival Day/Magic Kingdom)
Breakfast--At the hotel, as most days will be. Hopefully this one will be of the free continental variety, as we'll be stopping Friday night and staying at a non-Disney hotel.
Lunch--Counter Service, at hotel or MK.
Dinner--Cinderella's Royal Table. A pretty good start to the week, I believe. We went for a late breakfast/early lunch last year, and the character interaction was wonderful. Not to mention YOU'RE INSIDE THE CASTLE! The view's pretty good, too.
Juju with Ariel:

Bebo with Snow White, her favorite:

Sunday (Magic Kingdom)
Breakfast--Crystal Palace. It is no secret that this is my favorite character dining experience. Pooh AND a buffet? Perfect for my family.
2009:

2010, Bebo's not quite sure about all this:

Lunch--CS
Dinner--Chef Mickey's. We've never been here, but again, we love buffets. My kids are wild, and they really don't like to wait around for food very much. Dinner with the Fab Five will be a good opportunity to meet them without standing in line, and Juju wants to be a chef when she grows up and is excited about seeing Mickey in his chef gear.

Monday (Epcot)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--Akershus. This is probably my girls' favorite place.
Juju's first princess encounter, 2009:

2010 (Love that Bebo's fitting in the costume Juju wore the year before. And see how she's looking at Snow White...that's love.)

Dinner--Coral Reef. If you haven't read our disaster story about Coral Reef, go back and read it near the beginning of the PTR. You will then understand why I feel the need to get it right this time.
2009, a picture just to prove we were there, and not that we had a good time. We didn't.

Tuesday (Animal Kingdom/MNSSHP)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--Rainforest Cafe (OOP). We've been to the one at DTD, but never this one. Honestly, if we don't make the ADR we will cancel it. I don't want to feel rushed when we can just eat there later on at DTD if we want. Plus, we usually don't eat big lunches and will only be splitting an appetizer plate for the adults. It's all about the atmosphere.
This was our friend during the meal last year:

I love the looks on the girls' faces in this one. I have no clue what all the excitement is about:

Dinner--CS at MNSSHP

Wednesday (Magic Kingdom)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--CS
Dinner--CS

Thursday (Hollywood Studios)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--Sci-Fi Dine-In. This is a joint choice of Brandon and Juju. They both love sci-fi movies, and everyone wants to sit in a car. I just want a milkshake.
Dinner--Mama Melrose's, Fantasmic! Package. Another first, but we want the special seating so we don't have to line up to take Juju to her first Fantasmic! viewing. Plus, all of us like pasta. Win.

Friday (Blizzard Beach/Date Night/Epcot EMH)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--CS somewhere. Might be BB, might be hotel.
Dinner--Pizza OOP for kids and Mamie.
LE CELLIER for Brandon and me!!!! Also OOP. The two of us will then enjoy evening EMH at Epcot. Alone. When you have three kids ages five and younger, the prospect of this is VERY exciting!!

Saturday (Magic Kingdom)
Breakfast--hotel room
Lunch--CS
Dinner--CS

And there you have it, my dream ADRs. Of course, things are always subject to change, but the only thing I could see changing would be Blizzard Beach on a different day if it's storming.

Monday morning I will be at my computer before 6 o'clock, ready to try the online system. If that doesn't work for me, I'll have my phone with me to start calling at 7.
Stay tuned to see if it all works out, and please KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!!

 

[Kari-B]

Your ADR plans look great and is a nice variety!

 

[MissLiz]

Your ADRs look great!

I'll be at the computer on Sunday, bright and early trying to get our ADRs, but that's only because we are driving through on Friday instead of stopping.

I'm hoping that we can head out around 11am on Friday and get to AKV by 7pm at the latest. I'm also contemplating adding another night on at the end of our trip. I just can't decide.

 

[pinkxray]

Your adr list looks awesome!

Your trip sounds like so much fun with all of the character meals.

Le Cellier for two. Perfect

Fingers crossed you get everything you want.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Your ADR plans look great and is a nice variety!

I am praying that it's as good as I'm building it up to be! Lots of new places this time!

Your ADRs look great!

I'll be at the computer on Sunday, bright and early trying to get our ADRs, but that's only because we are driving through on Friday instead of stopping.

I'm hoping that we can head out around 11am on Friday and get to AKV by 7pm at the latest. I'm also contemplating adding another night on at the end of our trip. I just can't decide.

We're really hoping to make it to Disney on Friday night, but I just couldn't count on it. I think we'll be leaving at about noon on Friday, but our family tends to make lots of stops. Lots. Sigh...

Your adr list looks awesome!

Your trip sounds like so much fun with all of the character meals.

Le Cellier for two. Perfect

Fingers crossed you get everything you want.

Thanks! I'm really excited about Le Cellier, but even more excited because we'll be alone!

 

[MissLiz]

We'll probably be just a little ahead of you on Friday. lol

We used to stay off-site on the first night because we never knew what time we were going to get there and then went first thing in the morning to the Disney resort to check in, but we decided not to do that this time.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Your ADR's look great...I love how many character meals you have planned!! Thanks for sharing past pictures...so precious! There is nothing cuter than little girls in their princess dresses...who am I kidding, if I could get away with it, I would wear one

 

[PirateKate]

All those character meals sound like a lot of fun! I hope you get all the days you want.

Have you ever been to Blizzard Beach with a toddler? We were trying to decide if it would be any fun to go with our boys. I've never been to Blizzard Beach and I'm not sure how much there would be for them to do or if we'd all be bored after twenty minutes at Tike's Peak.

 

[inkedupmomma]

Be warned, the online system SUCKED last week Also, I had a heck of a time getting CRT! I got it, but had to call back 3 times. Systems for CRT were down the day of my ADR window

I almost cried.. then I got it and it was all good! Great looking list! we are doing a lot of the same places you are!

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Your ADR's look great! My family love's a good buffet too so I'm focusing on those as well. I'm still troubled by which ones to include!

I think your kids will LOVE Chef Mickey's! Lots of character interaction, napkin twirling, and good food. The food isn't as "sophisticated" as my DH would like so I haven't added it to my ADR list yet; I went with Ohana's instead. But there's still time to add it!

Hey! Do you what nights MNSSHP will be this year? Is that public knowledge? I haven't seen anything yet.

D4D

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

We'll probably be just a little ahead of you on Friday. lol

We used to stay off-site on the first night because we never knew what time we were going to get there and then went first thing in the morning to the Disney resort to check in, but we decided not to do that this time.

We'll do our best to catch up with you!

Your ADR's look great...I love how many character meals you have planned!! Thanks for sharing past pictures...so precious! There is nothing cuter than little girls in their princess dresses...who am I kidding, if I could get away with it, I would wear one

I would, too! All the excited girls are so cute in their dresses. Since this is my first experience with a baby boy, I think I'll have to get him something Prince Charming-themed.

All those character meals sound like a lot of fun! I hope you get all the days you want.

Have you ever been to Blizzard Beach with a toddler? We were trying to decide if it would be any fun to go with our boys. I've never been to Blizzard Beach and I'm not sure how much there would be for them to do or if we'd all be bored after twenty minutes at Tike's Peak.

We went to Blizzard Beach in May with the girls (and me hugely pregnant). We didn't get to do all the big slides, but we had lots of fun at Tike's Peak, the wave pool, and the lazy river. We were actually done with the park by then and left (there about 3-4 hours), and we felt like we got our money's worth. Hoping to do more this time, though!

Be warned, the online system SUCKED last week Also, I had a heck of a time getting CRT! I got it, but had to call back 3 times. Systems for CRT were down the day of my ADR window

I almost cried.. then I got it and it was all good! Great looking list! we are doing a lot of the same places you are!

Oh, gosh! I cannot stand the anticipation. It better work for me! And if can't get CRT, I might as well move out of my house, because my family will disown me!

Your ADR's look great! My family love's a good buffet too so I'm focusing on those as well. I'm still troubled by which ones to include!

I think your kids will LOVE Chef Mickey's! Lots of character interaction, napkin twirling, and good food. The food isn't as "sophisticated" as my DH would like so I haven't added it to my ADR list yet; I went with Ohana's instead. But there's still time to add it!

Hey! Do you what nights MNSSHP will be this year? Is that public knowledge? I haven't seen anything yet.

D4D

We are not sophisticated at all...maybe I shouldn't admit that?? I'm really just as excited about it as my kids are!

As for MNSSHP, the nights are Tuesdays and Fridays, though I'm not sure of the first and last weeks. I know it's at least a good portion of September and all of October.

 

[TinyDancer]

How did I get so far behind???

I LOVE the Alice shirts! Those are adorable! You need blue tutus to go with them!!