All of my past trips have been a rehearsal for this one

[tink76]

DD's first trip!


Hi! I have never done a PTR/TR report before and I am so excited to be doing one! Our trips are usually planned only a couple months in advance but this one has been 2.5 years in the making.. . .
I wasn’t going to start the PTR until a little closer to my trip but then I realized now is when I am making all my decisions, now is when I am going to need help and I am already beyond excited and need people to share the day to day thrills with!
I guess I should start off with the cast. . .

DH (Nick) and I (Amber) on our trip in 2005

DD (2) We have been waiting (okay I have been waiting) since the day I found out I was pregnant to take DD to WDW. DD is a HUGE Mickey and Minnie fan, she also loves Tink and Ariel. These are from her 2nd birthday.

My Parents will also be joining us on this trip, my Mom is a Disney lover and never thought she would get my Dad back there after all the trips we took when we were younger. But he couldn’t/wouldn’t miss his granddaughter’s first trip so they are coming with!

The first picture is my Mom and I in 2006 when I was pregnant with DD. (not the best pic of either of us, I will look for a better one later)
The next is my Dad and DD
Sorry I can't get these to resize

There may also be 3 more people in our cast but nothing is booked so I am not going to add them right now. They would be my Godmother and her cousin as well as Nick's cousin. They wouldn’t be staying with us but would be included in a lot of our plans.

 

[tink76]

On to those plans. . .
The dates: Sept. 22nd- 30th
First you should know I have issues with changing our resort. It drives Nick crazy but he goes along with what I do. We started out as 6 nights @ WL I then played around on the website and asked Nick why don’t we add 2 nights before our package @ POP and just explore the resorts go DTD etc. He was for it, so we added 2 nights @ POP.
Next thing you know we get the Pin for Free Dining, hooray! So I said it would be silly to miss out on free dining for those first 2 nights so we changed it to 8 nights @ WL.
In the meantime my parents were booked at the POLY for 5 nights. Well. . . I was feeding my addiction known as the disboards and found out they were taking ressies for BLT. This was right around Valentine’s Day and we went out of town for the weekend with DD. After dealing with being in the room with her while she went to sleep at night we decided that we would REALLY like a suite or villa for at least part of our trip. So I got on the phone to my mom and asked if she would be interested in getting a 2 bedroom Villa @ BLT. She said she would do what we wanted, I knew it was hard for her because she LOVES the POLY and always stays there. My Dad on the other hand was all for it. He was going because of DD and loved the idea of staying with us too. Plus with the 2 bedroom villa we wouldn’t be on top of each other, we would still have our own space. So I got on the phone and changed it again. Sept. 22-27 BLT 2 bedroom villa MK view!
Now Nick and I still wanted to stay a couple more days just the 3 of us but with the upgrade to BLT we really needed to look at a moderate for those last 3 nights. We decided on CSR. We stayed at POR before and really liked it but thought we would try something new.
This is all still set but. . . I came across something else. My birthday falls during those last 3 nights. I was looking around and found that the Swan/Dolphin has a promotion to stay free on your birthday plus they had a discount rate at that time. . . so I booked the Dolphin
So here is where we stand
Sept 22- 27 BLT
Sept 27- 30 CSR or Dolphin

I will make my decision soon, the only way we will stay at CSR is if Free Dining comes out with some other additional promotion, gift card etc.


I will leave it at that for tonight. Sorry if I rambled, I just have so much to say! I hope you will join me on my journey to the World!

 

[annabean]

2.5 years? Wow! Lots of time for fun planning! hehe.

MK view at BLT sounds heavenly! We stayed at the Contemporary in 06, pre BLT... we love it so much! The monorail is so convenient and walking to MK is the best, especially at night when the lines for the buses are super long!

 

[tink76]

2.5 years? Wow! Lots of time for fun planning! hehe.

MK view at BLT sounds heavenly! We stayed at the Contemporary in 06, pre BLT... we love it so much! The monorail is so convenient and walking to MK is the best, especially at night when the lines for the buses are super long!

That is one of the things I am looking forward to. Walking to MK. That way if my parents or Nick want to sleep in I can just take DD and go and then easily come back and meet up with them. I am glad you enjoyed CR. We have never stayed there but I am looking forward to being right there. We plan to eat at Chef Mickey's so it will be nice to be so close for that too.

Thanks for reading!

 

[tink76]

With ADR’s being 90 days in advance I have plenty of time to plan them out. This is actually good because I am not just thinking about Nick and myself this time. DD is 2 so she is free at buffet’s so we would like to have a couple of those, plus we would like to have a couple character meals too. The next obstacle is my parents, I told them that I would plan out our ADR’s with them in mind however I don’t want them to feel like they need to join us for all our meals. So I will let them know what we are doing and they can choose to join us or do their own thing. If my Godmother and her cousin come I will do the same for them. If Nick’s cousin comes she will most likely be with us for most that we do those first 5 days. She would also being leaving after 5 days, the same as my parents.

As of now this is what I am thinking, this is a complete rough draft. If you have any ideas that you think might be better for us please let me know! The last 3 nights are a little different if we end up at the Dolphin because you can’t get the dining plan so we may not eat sit downs all those nights or at least pick cheaper ones.

Sept. 22nd – Arrival Day
Chef Mickey’s for Dinner

Sept. 23rd- O’hana for Dinner
Sept. 24th- CRT breakfast (Just my Mom, DD and me) oop
Tutto Italia for Dinner

Sept. 25th- Maybe Boma? Coral Reef? What do you think? Another thing we were considering is Mickey’s Backyard BBQ we would have to figure out credits because this would take 2 but it looks like fun. Plus we would have to do this on the 24th since it is open Thursday and Saturdays. Anyway, we have hoppers and we will be going back to the hotel in the afternoon so it doesn’t matter where dinner is. Do you any ideas for a place we may all enjoy?

Sept. 26th- The Wave for Dinner (Nick, DD and Me) this one is also up in the air.
California Grill for Dinner (my Parents)

Sept 27th- My Parents and anyone else who might join us leave
Nick, DD and I switch resorts

Crystal Palace breakfast oop

Things get tricky here. If we stay at CSR our plans will be different than if we stay at the Dolphin

Dolphin/CSR

Sept 27th- Beaches and Cream/ Rose and Crown

Sept. 28th- Sci Fi/ Captain’s Grill

Sept. 29th- This is my birthday and our last night. I don’t know what I want to do yet. We always spend our last night at MK but it is MNSSHP. I might go earlier in the week with DD and my dad but Nick has no interest in going. So I am thinking we will spend our last night at Epcot, my second favorite. Any ideas?



These are all just ideas, please let me know if you think something would work better for our group, or if you think there is something we shouldn’t miss.

Thank you so much! I know I will change these a lot and really need your help picking the best. If it helps Nick would eat steak almost everyday if available, me not so much.

 

[tink76]

I noticed I didn't tell you much about who we are. My name is Amber I am a 32 year old SAHM and the Disney lover in our family. However, I have been training my daughter well I am married to Nick, 33, he tolerates Disney but says that he gets to pick the next vacation we go on and then we can go back to Disney. I guess I should be happy that he agrees to keep going back. We met in 2000 and went on our first Disney trip I believe in 2002. We stayed at one of the All-Stars I can't remember which. We had a good time but I couldn't understand how he didn't love it as much as I did. For some reason I thought he would walk throught the gates and be in awe, he wasn't. He thought it was fine. I have since learned he won't ever share my love for Disney but I have found things to make it better for him. In 2004 we got married, I wanted to get married at Disney but both Nick and my mom talked me out of it. Then I wanted to honeymoon there, again a no from Nick. So we compromised, Aruba for our honeymoon but a trip to Disney in 2005. This time we stayed at POR a much better choice for Nick because he wasn't submerged in the magic 24/7. We also had the DDP for the first time. This is what somewhat won him over. He loves to eat and the DDP allowed him to do that. That second trip was much better.
In 2006 I got pregnant with DD, that fall my mom and I decided to go back to WDW. We stayed at the poly. Growong up we stayed there many times and this is my mom's favorite hotel. It was a great trip and all I could think about during this trip was the trip we would be going on in Septmeber 2009! I can't believe it is almost here.

DD is now 2. I thought I would share some of her birthday pictures since it was a Disney theme it isn't completely off topic
My mom made her ears, I just added the bows and glued them onto alligator clips. It's hard to believe but she kept them on the whole time. You can tell in the last picture they are starting to droop. I plan to take them and the dress (which we got off ebay, an obsession I will talk about later ) along on our trip for Chef Mickey's.

Sorry I am having trouble getting photobucket to resize.

 

[tink76]

I was think of making DD an autograph book for our trip. DO you think she is too young for one? Do you think she would enjoy it or do you think it will just be better to take pictures with the characters.
I will have to think about it. Anyone have any experience with 2 year olds and autograph books? Thanks!
She will actually be a little older than 2.5.
Thanks!

 

[annabean]

Your dd is so cute! hehe.

Love all of those restaurants! Lots of my favorites in there! Boma or Coral Reef? mmm... tough choice, I like both! If your family feels adventurous, go for Boma. The BBQ sounds like fun too! It's something I've been wanting to try for a long time! If your evening if free, maybe BBQ will be more fun... it's not just a dinner but a dinner and show! hehe.

I'm not sure if 2.5 year old will handle autographs well but it doesn't hurt to try. The books are pretty inexpensive no? You can take pics and try the autograph book too!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Your DD is adorable! Love all the pictures and especially love the home-made Mickey ears! Your plans so great so far.

 

[Reese'smom]

I'm in! Your little girl is so cute! I love her birthday pictures! My little girl is only 19 months so I'm not the best to answer you about autographs. I'm thinking she might be a little young, but who cares? Go for it! I look forward to reading your PTR! We're going in Sept. as well, but I think we're there 2 weeks before you.

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Just subbied!

Love your plans so far! I'm normally so finicky about picking resorts and change my mind, too. But, we're a bit restricted this time since we're paying for my parents. One resort pick, and that was it. Haha.

We don't want kiddos any time soon (I need to finish law school first), but I'm already excited about taking them to WDW! I can definitely relate!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[tink76]

I'm in! Your little girl is so cute! I love her birthday pictures! My little girl is only 19 months so I'm not the best to answer you about autographs. I'm thinking she might be a little young, but who cares? Go for it! I look forward to reading your PTR! We're going in Sept. as well, but I think we're there 2 weeks before you.

Thanks! I don't know if you can notice but she has a black eye ugh! Oh well adds some character to the pictures. I am thinking I will try it. We will see how she does.

Just subbied!

Love your plans so far! I'm normally so finicky about picking resorts and change my mind, too. But, we're a bit restricted this time since we're paying for my parents. One resort pick, and that was it. Haha.

We don't want kiddos any time soon (I need to finish law school first), but I'm already excited about taking them to WDW! I can definitely relate!

Can't wait to hear more!

I have such issues changing resrts. We usually book pretty close to the date we are going so I don't have time to switch. This time we have plenty of time so I keep switching! i am sure we will be fine where ever we wind up.

Your DD is adorable! Love all the pictures and especially love the home-made Mickey ears! Your plans so great so far.

Thanks! We had fun making her ears

Your dd is so cute! hehe.

Love all of those restaurants! Lots of my favorites in there! Boma or Coral Reef? mmm... tough choice, I like both! If your family feels adventurous, go for Boma. The BBQ sounds like fun too! It's something I've been wanting to try for a long time! If your evening if free, maybe BBQ will be more fun... it's not just a dinner but a dinner and show! hehe.

I'm not sure if 2.5 year old will handle autographs well but it doesn't hurt to try. The books are pretty inexpensive no? You can take pics and try the autograph book too!

Hi, I am now thinking we may skip the BBQ just due to time. But who knows, I am sure things are going to change a lot by the time I make my ADR's.
I think I love the planning almost as much as the trips!

 

[vleeth]

Each kid is different, but prepare yourself just in case she is scared of the characters. Our last trip my DD3 was 1 yr 9 months and wouldn't go near any of the characters. She would see them from far and get excited but when we got within 3 feet she wanted out.