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

[Queenofallthings]

That sounds like a great day! Hey, if you decide to live near the GGS stand...I'll be right there to be your neighbor

 

[Erinmc3]

Mon 9/19 is our tentative date for Epcot as well. I saw that the crowds were predicted low but did NOT see 0.5?!? That would be NICE .

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Hooray for Sawyers first steps!!!!!!!!!!!

Your Epcot day sounds like so much fun! I love your warning in advance that you have to keep up or be left behind!

How sweet that you'll be getting the haircuts at Harmony Barber Shop. I've seen pics of them doing really cute things for the first haircut and such!

 

[MissLiz]

Great update!

We are at MK that day for an early CRT breakfast. It's also the day we move from AKV to BLT. I have mixed emotions about that because I love, love, love AKV but the convenience of BLT is going to be amazing.

Just a thought...while you ride Mission: Space, Brandon can take the kids to play in the little play area at the end of Mission: Space. Have you ever noticed that? It's in the big room with the video game thing, but it's tucked into a little nook. It's a climbing area with tunnels and steps and noise makers.

You just go into the building through the shop, go down the hall that makes you feel like someone is going is going to stop you and tell you that you can't go that way, and then out into the big room that you walk through as you exit M:S. The play area is on the right side toward the back.

We always take our little one there while one adult and DD8 ride and we usually have to drag her out of there afterwards.


Your Epcot day sounds a lot like ours. I love baby swap!! Of course, DH laughs at me that I always want to ride Journey Into Imagination within an hour of opening so we don't have to wait in line. Uuuuh, there's never a line...ever. But I still put it at the top of the list to ride immediately.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

That sounds like a great day! Hey, if you decide to live near the GGS stand...I'll be right there to be your neighbor

See, now that I know I won't be alone, I can definitely move there without trepidation!

Mon 9/19 is our tentative date for Epcot as well. I saw that the crowds were predicted low but did NOT see 0.5?!? That would be NICE .

I really have no clue how to even begin to fathom that low crowd level. I looked up the historical crowd level of what the park was last year when we thought it was absolutely empty, and that was a 3.8! My mind is already blown. Maybe you'll be among the couple of people we pass that day.

Hooray for Sawyers first steps!!!!!!!!!!!

Your Epcot day sounds like so much fun! I love your warning in advance that you have to keep up or be left behind!

How sweet that you'll be getting the haircuts at Harmony Barber Shop. I've seen pics of them doing really cute things for the first haircut and such!

Thanks!
Um, yes. We have to walk with a purpose when at WDW, and let's just say that last time she went, she didn't quite get that. When we went on our next trip without her or any help, we somehow managed to make every single rope drop...not pointing fingers or anything...

Great update!

We are at MK that day for an early CRT breakfast. It's also the day we move from AKV to BLT. I have mixed emotions about that because I love, love, love AKV but the convenience of BLT is going to be amazing.

Just a thought...while you ride Mission: Space, Brandon can take the kids to play in the little play area at the end of Mission: Space. Have you ever noticed that? It's in the big room with the video game thing, but it's tucked into a little nook. It's a climbing area with tunnels and steps and noise makers.

You just go into the building through the shop, go down the hall that makes you feel like someone is going is going to stop you and tell you that you can't go that way, and then out into the big room that you walk through as you exit M:S. The play area is on the right side toward the back.

We always take our little one there while one adult and DD8 ride and we usually have to drag her out of there afterwards.


Your Epcot day sounds a lot like ours. I love baby swap!! Of course, DH laughs at me that I always want to ride Journey Into Imagination within an hour of opening so we don't have to wait in line. Uuuuh, there's never a line...ever. But I still put it at the top of the list to ride immediately.

I have heard rumor of this Mission: Space play area, but I've never seen it! I think that's the perfect place for them if it has all that cool stuff!
I think BLT would be amazing. Next trip, we're going to try for a monorail resort for at least the first part of the trip. Julia wants the new Princess-themed rooms at POR as well, and it'll be the only year we can fit there since Sawyer will still be 2.
Here's a confession: I love Figment. I know, I know, they've changed it, the original was so much better, blah, blah, blah... still love him. I understand you wanting to ride immediately!

 

[MissLiz]

I love Figment, too! I understand that the original was better, yeah, yeah....but my first ever trip to WDW was in 2004 so I can't compare the two. In my opinion, it's a cute ride, I love to sing the song and dance and Figment is a cutie-patootie!

Of course, we also love Living With The Land and ride it multiple times while we are there.

We enjoy Maelstrom, but it's mainly to giggle through the whole thing from the psycho-looking kid on the mural in the line to the trolls in the middle to the greeting at the end of the ride. We've ridden it way too many times!

But definitely check out the play area. I think there has only been one other kid there once when we've been in it. Usually, it's just me and my little one.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

We enjoy Maelstrom, but it's mainly to giggle through the whole thing from the psycho-looking kid on the mural in the line to the trolls in the middle to the greeting at the end of the ride. We've ridden it way too many times!
.

Well, I can never get enough of psycho-looking kids!

 

[MissLiz]

Well, I can never get enough of psycho-looking kids!

Oh, trust me, you are going to giggle when you see it!

 

[PirateKate]

I bet Sawyer was so proud of himself for taking his first steps. That's great. I know Landon became a lot more cheerful once he could walk.

Epcot day sounds perfect. I hope the kids nap nicely in the stroller for you. An afternoon of WS with a .5 crowd level would be wonderful.

The inside of the Mexico pavilion is beautiful. Definitely worth seeing, if you've never gone in before. And the Maelstrom is fun, too.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I bet Sawyer was so proud of himself for taking his first steps. That's great. I know Landon became a lot more cheerful once he could walk.

Epcot day sounds perfect. I hope the kids nap nicely in the stroller for you. An afternoon of WS with a .5 crowd level would be wonderful.

The inside of the Mexico pavilion is beautiful. Definitely worth seeing, if you've never gone in before. And the Maelstrom is fun, too.

He WAS proud of himself...until he decided that walking kind of scares him. Now he will take a few steps and sit down. I'm okay with that, because that means he'll be a baby a little while longer.
I'm going to see more of WS this time for sure, whether they're sleeping or not!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

So Sawyer turned a year old on Thursday. Can you believe the baby who was two months old when I started this PTR is now a year old!?! I know I can't. The time has just flown by and he is one amazing little boy.

On Friday we had everyone over for his birthday party. Of course it was Mickey (or as he calls him, "Minn-uh") themed! I think he had a lot of fun, and we had a lot of fun watching him. Thought I'd share a few pictures of his big day. Photobucket is messing up the sizing, so sorry some are huge and some are small.

Balloons mean party time!

Napkins:

Sawyer ready for dinner (chicken, baked beans with the sauce washed off for him, and the rest of us had chips also), and Julia arranging some decorations:

The cakes I made. A 1 to match his decorations, and a Lime Green Mickey Head smash cake! Okay, it was more pastel, but it's the thought that counts! Yes, that's Disney font. And yes, it's all melted looking because our air conditioner was broken the night before when I was decorating it and didn't get fixed until the morning of the

Smash cake:

I made him a onesie and forced him to wear a party hat, which he ended up liking!

His one candle, and Julia ready to "help" him blow it out.

Is this what you do with it??

Mmmmmm!

What was left of the smash cake. And one happy one year old!

 

[JaxJags08]

Happy Birthday Sawyer! Our babies do grow up way too quickly. Great job on the cakes - very cute!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAWYER!!!!! He looks SO happy enjoying his cake!

 

[inkedupmomma]

happy birthday lil man! hope you handled it Ok momma bear! idk if I ever told you this, but Sawyer is on my "next" baby name list!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Happy Birthday Sawyer! Our babies do grow up way too quickly. Great job on the cakes - very cute!

Thanks! And yes they do! I cannot believe he's already a year old, and I really wish he'd quit trying to be such a big kid and stay a baby a while longer!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAWYER!!!!! He looks SO happy enjoying his cake!

He was! He loved it once he figured out he was supposed to eat it.

Also, just so you know, I thought of you tonight. Or really, I thought of Wingnut. I was watching "The Golden Girls," and it was an episode where Dorothy had a Morton's Neuroma--isn't that what he had/has??

happy birthday lil man! hope you handled it Ok momma bear! idk if I ever told you this, but Sawyer is on my "next" baby name list!

Well, I handled it. Not sure I handled it well--that's my baby! He can't possibly be this old already! Thanks for the birthday wishes on behalf of Sawyer.
(And Sawyer is a great name, if I do say so myself.)

 

[MeMom]

Yesterday, Sawyer took his first steps! I was all YAY and all weepy at the same time. This is my baby, guys. And suddenly he's not such a baby. And a week from today is his FIRST BIRTHDAY. Mama sadness, folks. Bittersweet for sure.


Mamie will, in the mean time, be strolling Sawyer over to grab some FPs for Test Track.


After lunch, it's Maelstrom time. I've never ridden it, but it's close to Akershus, so why not.

Another ride I have yet to do but feel I must is the Three Caballeros inside the Mexico Pavilion. Come to think of it, I've never actually gone inside the Mexico Pavilion!!

Congratulations on those first big steps for Sawyer!

It's kind of handy to have a Mamie (or a MeMom) to go and get the Fastpasses and Baby Swaps to expedite matters.

I hope you like Maelstrom and Three Caballeros. I think you will like the Mexico pavilion. It is nicely themed.

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Love the squinty-eyed smile!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Congratulations on those first big steps for Sawyer!

It's kind of handy to have a Mamie (or a MeMom) to go and get the Fastpasses and Baby Swaps to expedite matters.

I hope you like Maelstrom and Three Caballeros. I think you will like the Mexico pavilion. It is nicely themed.

Love the squinty-eyed smile!

THANKS!!
You are right--it's helpful to have her run for FPs and to watch the babies while we ride! We do lose a little time when we wait for her to rider swap, but the FPs more than make up for that. Plus, the extra hands just to wrangle the kids are priceless and they all love her so much, just like your grandkids!

 

[jp'smommy]

Wow. It sounds like you have had a lot going on! It looks like the birthday party was a huge success! Very very cute.
Congrats on his first steps. That is so exciting.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Wow. It sounds like you have had a lot going on! It looks like the birthday party was a huge success! Very very cute.
Congrats on his first steps. That is so exciting.

There's always a lot going on in our household--that's what makes it fun! Thanks, it really was a success. "Minn-uh" is really the only thing he recognizes and loves (besides me, haha!), so it was a no-brainer what his party theme would be. He had a lot of fun, and so did we!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Also, just so you know, I thought of you tonight. Or really, I thought of Wingnut. I was watching "The Golden Girls," and it was an episode where Dorothy had a Morton's Neuroma--isn't that what he had/has??

That is what he had! Good memory!!! Actually, it just flared up again a couple of days ago...but at least he wasn't slated to push a wheelchair through WDW during it this time!!