At Least We Are All Tall Enough For Barnstormer! A June 2017 PTR...updated 6/1

[ArielSRL]

Thanks for the link. You're are really cool. I'm still looking through to see what I want.

No problem! It took me a few days to pick out what I wanted!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Yeah, for fast passes! Sounds like you have a solid plan!

Can't wait to hear what else you are planning.....

 

[ArielSRL]

Trip Items

I'm back...again! LOL. So I figured I would do a couple separate updates, one of the stuff I have bought recently and then another for all the changes. First, I'll post a few photos of some things I bought for the trip:

First is my knee brace. I have a much more sophisticated one that I wear when I work out but that is not going to work for Disney. I'm hoping I don't have to wear it all the time, or maybe not at all...but my knee still bothers me when I am on it a lot so I figure I better be prepared.


Here's some magic band decals I got from an etsy shop called Thimble and Threads. Some for our old bands and some for our new bands. I did not get Will any because I doubt he wears his band. I'll probably either wear his or carry it and I bought him some Cars bracelets to wear if he wants to feel like us. But last year, he had no interest. Also, some sleeves for water bottles for Chad and I. Last year, we took a cooler in but I'm trying to avoid more bags than necessary, so I thought these might be useful. Oh and I got a couple micro towels for miscellaneous use.


I got two of these fans for the boys. I thought about stroller fans but these seemed better and can be used outside of the stroller, like in lines.


These I got for the Star Wars dessert party since I heard it can be tough to get a table and the kids can't reach the tables anyway, so we may sit on the benches close to the party and this would help with holding both our drinks and our food.



Here's the March Magic shirt I picked up for DH. He loves Figment and 83 is on the back...the year Epcot opened and the last time my DH visited Disney!

I also ordered a custom park bag. We will definitely be taking in a back pack and probably the backpack diaper bag. However, I remember how hard it was to sift through all that for specific stuff...so I wanted something a little smaller and more accessible, as well. So it will be in the style of the bag below:

But the character/design will be Maleficent:

The bag will be shades of purple with green stitching and black metal accents. I'm super excited! I love ALL the pockets!

I also got the boys a few more tank tops because it is just so hot! I did go through their clothes and they have a ton, so we are probably good to go. But most are t-shirts as opposed to tank tops.

I also ordered one pair of ears for myself, fairly universal in style and color. I may order one more once those come in but I may not. I'll post a photo once they come in.

I can't remember if I mentioned that I bought two more skorts from Academy. I bought another black one in the same style as I have and then a white one in another style. So now I have 6. So maybe I can get away with doing laundry a little less on this trip, which is good since we won't have the W/D in the room and I'll have to haul it all down to the laundry room.

I also ordered some more packing cubes today because they were $10 for 4 large ones.

I *think* that may be it. I've bought some sunscreen and some stuff to occupy the boys during the car ride. I bought Will a hat. I am trying to imagine my boxes upstairs in the guest bedroom and what all is in them. If I remember anything else, I'll add it to any new updates.

So, since it is almost midnight, I think I will hold off on the next update about all the changes until tomorrow night.

Thanks for reading!

Up next: Ramblings

 

[AZMermaid]

I just put those fans on my wish list! I've been buying here and there as well.

 

[ArielSRL]

I just put those fans on my wish list! I've been buying here and there as well.

The reviews were pretty good...so I hope they work out! The boys tried them here and seemed to like them! What all have you bought?

 

[AZMermaid]

The reviews were pretty good...so I hope they work out! The boys tried them here and seemed to like them! What all have you bought?

Way too much clothes! But thought I was done, but we are doing a coordinating/ not matching Donald Duck day. I think my daughter's shirt, which she had already, is gonna be too small. So now I'm piecing together a Disney bound look for her. I just bought her a white skirt.

I had a few $3 off Bananna Boat coupons so I bought two cool mist sunscreens to bring with us in the park. I also snagged a couple of travel size creams with coupons. The rest is in my garden grove order.

I bought blister bandaids. Hopefully I won't need them! I plan to get moleskin too.

Shoes. Lots of shoes. I just bought the kids new Skechers. I bought crocs (traditional for my son, Anna and Elsa sandals for DD, which she now wears non stop. I'm paranoid she's gonna wear them out!). My sons were too small so I gotta go return them. I bought Keens and Tevas for me and I've been trying to break them in. I also bought Sanuks, but I prob won't bring them.

I think that's it. I'm opening my mind to a fanny pack! But I'm not there yet!

 

[Raeven]

I love than fan necklace! I may have ordered one for myself to see if it helps

 

[ArielSRL]

I love than fan necklace! I may have ordered one for myself to see if it helps

I'll probably regret not having one for myself!

 

[ArielSRL]

Way too much clothes! But thought I was done, but we are doing a coordinating/ not matching Donald Duck day. I think my daughter's shirt, which she had already, is gonna be too small. So now I'm piecing together a Disney bound look for her. I just bought her a white skirt.

Yes this is me. I have all my stuff from last year and have bought more. I'll need to actually figure out days and outfits soon. We do two outfits a day bc we get so sweaty! My boys matched a lot more on last year's trip but I just bought a whole bunch of stuff on clearance at the end of summer so they won't match as much this trip. They may have 3 matching tops this year and that's it.

I also snagged a couple of travel size creams with coupons. The rest is in my garden grove order.

I get the Walmart and Target beauty boxes so I have a bunch of travel size stuff but I'll go to Walmart or Target that week before to fill in whatever we don't have.

I bought blister bandaids. Hopefully I won't need them!

I bought those last year and we never used them! So I'll have them for this year.

Shoes. Lots of shoes. I just bought the kids new Skechers. I bought crocs (traditional for my son, Anna and Elsa sandals for DD, which she now wears non stop.

My boys wear Crocs non stop too so I have several pairs of those for them. They don't walk that much bc they ride in the stroller so I'm not as worried about their shoes.

I bought Keens and Tevas for me and I've been trying to break them in. I also bought Sanuks, but I prob won't bring them.

I wear Crocs sandals and they do fine for me. I have several colors of the style I wear, so I just go with those. I guess DH will wear sneakers.

I'm opening my mind to a fanny pack! But I'm not there yet!

Haha. I can see where it would be useful. That's what my little cross body park bag will be for.

 

[AZMermaid]

We are going stroller free, which makes me a little nervous, but we are willing to rent if needed. We didn't use one last summer in DL, but that was 5 days, this is 7.

DH got me a Minnie Dooney cross body.... so I have to wear that or he will flip- haha!

 

[vamassey1]

I think I need to get all 4 of us one of these.

This is super cute. I picked up a new small size back pack from Vera Bradley last month for me. It's not too big but will hold my camera and extra lenses.

You're so much better prepared than I am. We told Danielle about the trip now so we'll be doing lots of planning and purchasing.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Here's some magic band decals I got from an etsy shop called Thimble and Threads.

I want to order some of the decals this time. Have you used them before? Do they stay on?

I usually pack at least one Brita water bottle with the filter in it, to help remove some of that strange Florida Water taste.

These I got for the Star Wars dessert party since I heard it can be tough to get a table and the kids can't reach the tables anyway,

So, not this past trip but the one before we did a Star Wars Dessert Party. And we lucked out and there was no one at the party who needed to utilize the handicap table, so the girls were able to use that. They should come in handy!

 

[ArielSRL]

We are going stroller free, which makes me a little nervous, but we are willing to rent if needed. We didn't use one last summer in DL, but that was 5 days, this is 7.

DH got me a Minnie Dooney cross body.... so I have to wear that or he will flip- haha!

Good luck on the no stroller thing! Mine are just too young.

And yes, you have to use the Dooney! Lol. I have a Dooney tote that I bought for myself for my bday. I carry it every day. Though I'm seriously looking at a Harvey for my next purse purchase.

 

[ArielSRL]

I think I need to get all 4 of us one of these.

I should probably bite the bullet and get two more.

This is super cute. I picked up a new small size back pack from Vera Bradley last month for me. It's not too big but will hold my camera and extra lenses.

I'm sure it's perfect!

You're so much better prepared than I am. We told Danielle about the trip now so we'll be doing lots of planning and purchasing.

I just enjoy the planning so much (aka I'm obsessed...lol). It has taken the place of my reading and my watching TV time!

How excited was she? I can't wait to hear more about it! PTR?

 

[ArielSRL]

I want to order some of the decals this time. Have you used them before? Do they stay on?

I have not used them before. I just applied the old ones to the old bands this afternoon so I'll let ya know how well they stay on.

So, not this past trip but the one before we did a Star Wars Dessert Party. And we lucked out and there was no one at the party who needed to utilize the handicap table, so the girls were able to use that.

Oh, that would be nice! We'll see how it plays out.

They should come in handy!

Yeh I saw a recommendation for them on the Star Wars thread awhile back and had them saved in my cart for awhile.

 

[vamassey1]

I should probably bite the bullet and get two more.

I ordered 4 today, one in each color. Now to get lost of AA batteries.

I'm sure it's perfect!

I hope so. For a while they didn't make the smaller backpack. I have the old one but my new camera doesn't fit. When I saw it in the store I was trilled but not enough to pay $88. Luckily when we were in Kenner last month they had 25% off everything.

I just enjoy the planning so much (aka I'm obsessed...lol). It has taken the place of my reading and my watching TV time!

How excited was she? I can't wait to hear more about it! PTR?

I need to spend more time planning. I wish I had time for a PTR. We had a lot of fun last night sharing what we had planned so far. Danielle loves planning out her outfits for each day.

 

[ArielSRL]

I ordered 4 today, one in each color.

Hopefully they work great! I just need to go buy two more!

When I saw it in the store I was trilled but not enough to pay $88. Luckily when we were in Kenner last month they had 25% off everything.

I can understand that. Glad you got the 25% off. The one I ordered was $65 plus shipping. But I had actually seen similar ones (though quilted) from a different seller and she sells hers for around $200. I just can't justify $200 so that is when I asked the other lady, whom I know from a Mom's group I was in. Score! $65 is a great price compared to $200.

We had a lot of fun last night sharing what we had planned so far.

Yay!

 

[ArielSRL]

Ramblings

Okay, so this update is just going to be a bunch of ramblings of things that I thought were worthy of mentioning. Mostly changes I have made to my plans. I feel like we are fairly firm on most stuff at this point. Disney should extend MK hours and once they do I can finalize but that could be as late as mid-May. Maybe even later if they change opening to 8am. But with them opening AK at 8, I'm wondering if they will do that with MK or not. I'd be fine with 9am but I'll make do either way.

Hopefully I will remember all the changes I have made but, most likely, I won't...lol. Like after I posted my update last night about stuff I had bought, I remembered something else I bought and said to myself that I would just put it in the update for tonight, but of course, I forgot what it was already! HA!

I did end up going just now and ordering 2 more fans. I figured why should the kids be the only ones? And they are fairly compact and not very expensive, so why not. I'd hate to wait until closer to the trip and they be out of stock. Which happens a lot with the stuff I don't order right away.

Okay, so just thinking about our plans...arrival day looks the same. I'll get up stupid early to get ready and drink a lot of coffee and finish loading the car. Chad usually works late on Friday nights so I won't make him get up too early and I'll take first shift driving so he can sleep more. I hope the kids sleep more as well. But, they'll be excited like me, so who knows. Probably none of us will sleep the night before so we will be running on pure adrenaline at this point. Breakfast stuff in the car (granola bars, pop-tarts, dry cereal, whatever). Stopping around 11am for lunch. Should be around Lake City, FL. Then onward to WL. Shooting to arrive between 1-3pm. Google maps says 6 hrs 45 minutes, so with stops 7-9. Look around, get settled, pool time, dinner from Geyser Point (maybe at the pool), then Disney Springs - and I have a whole list I want to get to there. Hoping to head there around 6, back to WL by 10.

And already DH is complaining. He doesn't want to swim then have to get ready to go to Disney Springs. Well, then don't swim. Just sit and watch the kids! I may not swim, either. I'll probably be ready for a beverage at this point! Who am I kidding...not probably...definitely. Anyway, I love how he chimes in about plans now...after they are all done and stuff.

Sunday is still at MK. I'm planning to get up around 6 and have my coffee and get myself ready. Get Chad up around 6:45, boys up around 7. Out to the bus between 7:15-7:30. Arrive at MK around 7:45 or so. I don't think I changed any plans much for this day except I decided we will definitely do Happily Ever After. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do Once Upon a Time on the same night because it is a lot of waiting around for the boys, but since I took away one MK night, I don't want to have to wait for a show on our only other MK night. So if we watch it, it will be this night...but that's a big if. I'm just not bowled over by what I have seen and if the boys are over it, I'm not going to pitch a fit to stay. If it was CtM, different story. But it isn't.

Epcot/DHS is the next day. I don't think I changed much on this day either, but I had not finished planning the DHS portion of the day and I have that done now. I probably won't post any more touring plans until it gets closer to the trip and plans are finalized. But basically I have Muppets, GMR, Launch Bay, and the Star Wars Dessert Party on this night. I wanted to do PizzeRizzo for a light and early dinner but we won't get to DHS until 5 and I hear they close around 4. Boo hiss. I'll work on that issue later once it's confirmed. Oh and I'm a little worried with timing and Soarin at Epcot because we have to do two rides (bc Will is too short) and then make it to Garden Grill on time. So if Soarin takes too long, we may have to push one ride til after GG. But we will get it figured out once that time comes.

Next day is back to MK. Starting out in Tomorrowland, BOG lunch, doing some Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland after the break. I had originally wanted to try to push BTMRR to 10 and try to see some of the fireworks while riding, but because I took our Friday night at MK away, I need to make it back over to Tomorrowland to do People Mover around that time, as well as Speedway again. So, I'm shooting for 9 for BTMRR. I hate to keep the kiddos out too late but this will be our last nighttime in MK, so I am going to make the most of it. Good thing is, it shouldn't take us too long to get back to WL from MK and waiting until after the crowds disperse from HEA might be a good idea anyway.

Wednesday is AK day (originally Epcot but we discussed my reasons for changing it a few updates back). None of it works out perfectly though because now AK opens at 8. I'm going to shoot for getting there and through the gates around 8:45, but we will see how that works out. I had made my plan based on possible tiering and now we all know there will be some restrictions with the Pandora rides but not really a full tiering system. So that helped me out with my scheduling as I was able to keep ROL on this night. I did have to move some stuff around though, because Disney took away the 10am Lion King show that we were going to see. So now, instead of doing the Safari first thing, we are going to do Character Outpost, Kusafiri, then the Safari. So I booked a FP for it in case the lines are long by then. Then we will look around Pandora and Chad can ride Flight of Passage, we'll do FotLK at 11, lunch, then Nemo at 1, then head to our break. Sanaa at 5:35, back to AK for Triceratop Spin, The Boneyard, ROL, EE for me, and the Tree Awakenings. Then head out.

Thursday is Epcot again. Shooting for 8:45 again. It is AM EMH there, but I won't push for us to get there any earlier. Doing Character Spot, Nemo, Turtle Talk, exploring the tanks, Club Cool, Les Halles, American Adventure, FEA, Gran Fiesta, then break. Back to explore WS some more, Via Napoli at 6:20, maybe more exploring and Illuminations. Do they still do the Kidcot stations here? If so, I'd love for the boys to take part.

Friday is MK/AK. We will be taking part in AM EMH. Yay! Doing Fantasyland until right before 9 then heading over to do Splash. It will take awhile with Rider Swap, so I'll take Will to Pirates (or a nearby character meet) while he and I wait. Then Chad can let him play in the little Splash play area while AJ and I take our turn. Then we'll watch the Muppets show, maybe do HM or IASW, then head out for the Poly and our 'Ohana ressie which I moved from 11:15 to 11:40 to give us more MK time. After 'Ohana, we'll monorail over to the Contemporary for some Contempo cupcakes, then a boat back to WL for our break. Whispering Canyon for dinner at 5:15, then over to AK for a dusk safari and Na'vi River Journey, along with exploring Pandora at night. I also have It's Tough to Be a Bug here bc I couldn't fit it in on the full AK day. Not too late of a night, hopefully because we will have an early day the next day.

Saturday is our last park day and it is at DHS. I did not have this planned out until last week. But basically the PPO ADR at H&V - signing up for JTA beforehand, then the actual Jedi Training - I want to do this first thing before it get sweltering and has a chance to rain, Star Tours for Chad and AJ, Meet Olaf, TSMM, One Man's Dream, Indy, then ToT for me. Stopping by Trolley Car Cafe for some cupcakes and/or some grab and go lunch items, then a break. Back around 5 for CharacterPalooza, Disney Jr, Little Mermaid, then some repeats along with dinner. Head to Fantasmic and I'll try to do ToT again right before we go in to wait. I ended up dropping our Beaches & Cream here because they have moved CharacterPalooza inside DHS, as opposed to the front gates, so it was going to be too complicated to come in and do that and then go back out for B&C and then back to DHS for Fantasmic. So we'll just do a QS (though DHS is the worst for that) and save some money.

Sunday I still have the ADR for Trail's End and I don't have any plans to cancel but I have not finished my food budget yet...so we shall see. It also just depends on how we feel the night before about keeping it. It is departure day so we may want to linger or we may not.

So, there ya have it...a synopsis of my plans, including any changes to the originals. Thank you if you actually read the whole thing and no worries if you didn't. It was more to help me get my thoughts organized and out of my mind. My brain has not shut down in the last two weeks with all this stuff. So it was nice to clear my head of it.

And now it is bedtime again. So, good night and I look forward to any replies!

Up next: Food Budget Done...

 

[kastoney]

Congrats on getting all the fast passes you wanted. I never thought of booking another room to get a jump on them, but I remember the days of having to get up right before midnight so we could get mine train! Great how you can take advantage of rider swap though and be able to book more than 1 of the Tier 1 attractions. Wish we had thought of that when Casey was still too little to ride the big stuff.

Loving the figment shirt you got for your hubby. I'm a huge original Journey Into Imagination fan too. Bring back dreamfinder!

 

[ArielSRL]

Congrats on getting all the fast passes you wanted.

Thank you!

I never thought of booking another room to get a jump on them

Like I said, I never thought of it either! But then I read about it on the Pandora thread and someone mentioned it in a PM to me.

but I remember the days of having to get up right before midnight so we could get mine train!

Too funny. I am a night owl so I liked the midnight booking time! I just stayed up bc it's not unusual for me to stay up that late. And it was during Spring Break last year so no school/work the next day!

Great how you can take advantage of rider swap though and be able to book more than 1 of the Tier 1 attractions. Wish we had thought of that when Casey was still too little to ride the big stuff.

Yes it definitely has its advantages. But I just kind of wish we were all tall enough so we could all ride together and just ride it through one time. As it is, we have to do two cycles through all those rides! Which can take up a lot of time.

Loving the figment shirt you got for your hubby. I'm a huge original Journey Into Imagination fan too. Bring back dreamfinder!

Yeh, I wonder what DH will think of the ride and pavilion this trip. Will he remember it was better before?