Always Let Your (Preschooler) Be Your Guide. My First Trip Report! COMPLETE

[JAMIESMITH]

I'm interested in that pretrip report! You'll be in Disney World for my wedding anniversary (a time I'd love to go!)

 

[Bethislucy]

Yay!!! glad things worked out.

 

[Caretames1]

YAY for good news! I'm interested! Can't wait to see the plans!

 

[merbobear]

I was excited to see an update in this thread today! I knew I never emptied out my old subscriptions for a reason I am definitely in for a PTR!

 

[Queenofallthings]

So happy that you are able to make it down! Please do a PTR, would love to hear all about your plans!

 

[danielle79]

I’d like to post another installment-- a "wrap up" of sorts listing our favorite things, sharing photos of Mads and Uncle Cory with their souvenirs, and sharing our tentative plans for the next trip, but in case I don’t get to it very soon…

I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who read along, commented, and lurked. I am a pretty shy person in “real life” so doing a TR was a bit of a departure for me. I was nervous that no one would read or care. I am very touched that so many of you did. This is such a nice community of people to share with, and I look forward to reading about all of your future trips and plans. It may sound silly, but I feel that after doing this TR I have some very nice new “friends” here on the DIS.

Thank you so much for letting my share our trip with you friends, I look forward to doing my next TR --Kindergartener VS. The World.

I read, I loved and am super happy you shared your trip with us! The salami part made me laugh, because when we were there Feb 2011 i am pretty sure that is all my middle daughter ate for lunch, she shares your love of salami! Super cute pics! Have a great trip coming up, hoping to be planning an early 2013 trip for the fam, but just a new house in May. . .so we'll see!

 

[danielle79]

I’d like to post another installment-- a "wrap up" of sorts listing our favorite things, sharing photos of Mads and Uncle Cory with their souvenirs, and sharing our tentative plans for the next trip, but in case I don’t get to it very soon…

I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who read along, commented, and lurked. I am a pretty shy person in “real life” so doing a TR was a bit of a departure for me. I was nervous that no one would read or care. I am very touched that so many of you did. This is such a nice community of people to share with, and I look forward to reading about all of your future trips and plans. It may sound silly, but I feel that after doing this TR I have some very nice new “friends” here on the DIS.

Thank you so much for letting my share our trip with you friends, I look forward to doing my next TR --Kindergartener VS. The World.

I read, I loved and am super happy you shared your trip with us! The salami part made me laugh, because when we were there Feb 2011 i am pretty sure that is all my middle daughter ate for lunch, she shares your love of salami! Super cute pics! Have a great trip coming up, hoping to be planning an early 2013 trip for the fam, but just bought a new house in May. . .so we'll see!

 

[TanzUnited99]

that's great news!

I'm happy that the trip is going ahead and let me know when you start your PTR

 

[disney ny]

I really enjoyed your trip report and am glad you were able to justslow down and let Maddie be your guide. It seemed like you had a wonderful time and your daughter is precious. I will have my own daughter here in a few weeks and can't wait to have a princess to go with my little prince. I can't wait to do the Bippity Boppity Boutique!

 

[shan23877]

Good luck with the mortgage broker. I hope everything works out. No matter when you go next, you will have a great time. There is never a bad time to go. If everything goes well for us, we are still hoping to get to Dl in June this year (depending on DH's new job) and back to WDW in October 2013. Here's hoping for both of us.

Thank you so much! We had really good news from our mortgage guy, in fact, we can look at houses in a slightly higher price range than we thought. Now comes the really hard part-selling the house we have now. I booked the April trip mere hours after we met with him too I so hope that you can make the DL trip, I'd love to go there someday. New jobs for both of our DHs this year-makes for a lot of work for us huh?

Gah!! I have somehow kind of missed your new trip news!! I knew you were planning on going again in Spring, but weren't sure when. WELL, I am very much considering an annual pass of sorts that would keep me going down. I was planning a late May trip to the world, and an early March trip to DLR, but am considering around different times. Who knows, we could end up there the same week!

We'll be there in April, probably not at the same time I'm so glad that we'll get to take DD in the middle of the madness that has become life

I'm interested in that pretrip report! You'll be in Disney World for my wedding anniversary (a time I'd love to go!)

Thanks! I'm gonna do it.

Yay!!! glad things worked out.

Thank you! Me too!

YAY for good news! I'm interested! Can't wait to see the plans!

Great! I'll have an update up tonight!

I was excited to see an update in this thread today! I knew I never emptied out my old subscriptions for a reason I am definitely in for a PTR!

thanks for sticking with me!

So happy that you are able to make it down! Please do a PTR, would love to hear all about your plans!

yay! Thanks for hanging with me!

I read, I loved and am super happy you shared your trip with us! The salami part made me laugh, because when we were there Feb 2011 i am pretty sure that is all my middle daughter ate for lunch, she shares your love of salami! Super cute pics! Have a great trip coming up, hoping to be planning an early 2013 trip for the fam, but just a new house in May. . .so we'll see!

I bet your DD and I would get along great. I'm eager to see if they have salami for breakfast...

that's great news!

I'm happy that the trip is going ahead and let me know when you start your PTR

Thank you!! Tacking a PTR on the end of this bad boy.

I really enjoyed your trip report and am glad you were able to justslow down and let Maddie be your guide. It seemed like you had a wonderful time and your daughter is precious. I will have my own daughter here in a few weeks and can't wait to have a princess to go with my little prince. I can't wait to do the Bippity Boppity Boutique!

Thank you! Congrats on you upcoming edition! BBB is soooo much fun, only 3 years until you can take your little princess!!

 

[shan23877]

Hi everyone! Thanks for the interest in a PTR, I'm gonna tack one on right here!

A little back story--DH was offered a new job back in November which would have us moving to the Chicago suburbs (about 100 miles from where we are). However, the new company didn't get their package and offer ready for him until the last week of January. Since I obsess over things like this, I had already imagined the stress of the potential move and suggested to DH that we try to sneak in a vacation before he quits his current job. He finally came around, but we didn't want to book the trip until we knew for sure what was going to happen.

DH accepted the new job at the very beginning of February but told his new boss that he didn't want to start until after the bonus checks are issued at his current job. Luckily the new employer agreed. We still weren't sure that we would make the trip because we had heard horror stories about mortgage requirements these days. We were afraid that we'd need every penny to put down on the new house.

This past Thursday we sat down with our mortgage guy and found out that the horrible things that we heard weren't true at all



***********************************

As I type I am surrounded by wet paint and packing materials. In the past 10 days DH, DBrother, and I have repainted every room in the house (except DDs room-it got pained Disney purple last year), refinished the walls in the bathroom upstairs, and have redone the floors in both the kitchen and bathroom (and I have the bloody knuckles to prove it - I look like I've been in a street fight ). We've packed up every framed photo in the house, and tomorrow I am tasked with getting DDs room in "show-worthy" order. This is a little girl who loves playing in her room or the family room and has no favorite toys- they're all her favorites! I am sad for her that many of them have to be shuffled to a make-shift playroom downstairs and that the vast majority of her stuffed animals have to be packed away. I know that little kids are resilient though, and she is really pumped to help design her room in the new house. She does understand that this is temporary.

And DH finally agrees that after all of this work that a vacation is in order! Good thing since I already booked it...

 

[shan23877]

This trip will be April 22-29. We're taking DD out of school since this is likely the last time we'll be able to justify doing so-she starts kindergarten next year.

We had originally planned to stay at CBR because we could get such a good price with the spring room rates. However, I waited so long to book the darn thing that the only discounted rooms available were pirate rooms. Maddie does not like pirates much, and as it turns out staying in a regular room non-discounted is the same price as the discounted pirate room.

So, we booked CBR anyway. We did consider going back to POFQ because we really loved it, but by the time we booked I was excited to try something new. DH wants to spend more afternoons at the resort, and we both agreed that CBR looks like a lot of fun to explore.

We decided before the last trip ended that this time we'd do DxDP in order to get our character meals in at breakfast time. We're not usually big breakfast eaters, but on vacation it's necessary. Since breakfast food is pretty standard, we figure that we'll do most of our character meals then, and free up the rest of our days for better dining options

I did plan out our meals as soon as there was a possibility of a trip, and was able to make the vast majority of our ADRs before we booked. I was pretty lucky too, got all of the places that we want, and near the times we wanted

We are doing BBB again, and probably going for the full monty there. They're only little once right?


And..... we're planning to surprise DD! With so many changes taking place right now, even this vacation is a little uncertain. My heart would break into a million pieces if we told her that we were going and then had to back out on her. I'm not really sure how we'll tell her yet, but it's bound to be tons of fun no matter what we do. I bought her several new T-shirts for her birthday from Disney Store, so I won't need to buy her many new things to wear, which might tip her off. As of now, we plan to save the packing for the last minute so that she won't notice that some of her favorite shoes and skirts are missing.

That gets us all up to speed, next time I'll share our plans for DAY 1. Thanks again everyone for sticking with me and joining in the PTR!

 

[mya1k9]

So happy to read that your going again!! I never replyed much but really enjoyed your TR and can't wait for the next one!! Have fun planning...

 

[MickeyMoguls]

I reall yenjoyed your trip report and look forward to reading your next one!

 

[merbobear]

Good luck with selling the house, hopefully you will get a buyer pretty quickly! We surprised dd last year for her first wdw vacation. We got her up and went to the airport and played up the fact that she was at the airport and going on a plane. She was excited just for that lol (she was 3). When we got to our resort, we started asking her where we were and she kind of knew...but when we got to MK and she saw the castle, the surprise really sank in. Our surprise would not work for you as your dd would know something was up since she has been before lol... But I also made a shirt that read "My mom & dad just surprised me with this trip to Disney World!" which was fun. Look around on youtube..there are tons of surprise videos for inspiration!

 

[Queenofallthings]

As hard as a secret is to keep, it's worth it in the end! I've only pulled it off once and it was beyond amazing! I had to do what you're doing...leave everything for her until the last day! So excited to hear all about the rest of your plans!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

That is awesome news!! You know I'd love to read along with your PTR!

 

[ronnmel]

Awesome! So many great news : the new job, waiting until after bonus, good news on the mortgage, and of course all the things related to the Disney trip like the ADRs and staying at CBR! It's such a beautiful resort! And I love the idea of keeping it a surprise! Ron hopes to do that with our kids one day.

 

[katt789]

Yay for another trip!!!! That's too bad that we'll be missing each other by literally 2 days!! Although nothing of mine is booked yet, and it's very possible to move stuff around I'm excited to hear all the plans!!

 

[kmedina]

I am glad that you got great news from the mortgage broker, and that all is well with you. Annual bonuses are very nice, so it is good he gets to receive his before swiitching. Your trip sounds awesome. Maddie will have a great time this April. It is nice that you are planning a trip amongst all of the changes for her, and that your move takes place before she starts Kindergarten. It will be a nice break for her.

I am glad you are doing another trip report. I enjoyed the first one so much that I am happy to read the next one. Yes, starting new jobs do create a lot of work. We bought our house during the boom in 2005, so we are stuck here for a while. It is worth way less than 1/3 of what we owe. Good luck selling yours. Hopefully, you are not upside down.

I am finally about to start my trip report. I will PM you when it is ready. Sorry it took so long. Life has been a little hectic but looks like things are finally slowing down. DH is enjoying his new job so far.