Attacking the world with a 3 year old and a toddler!!

[kristinanderic]

Well, I caught disney fever one day when I got a PIN code in my mailbox. I won't be using that code because it was good for free dining back in september...BUT nonetheless we are going to the world!!! One evening I brought it up to my DH that I really thought we needed a vacation...I mean with the stress of work and kids...we needed to get away!!! Amazingly he was VERY easy to convince.

So....let me indroduce us.

I am a 26 year old disney nut. Love disney! I have been on numerious trips as a child and I love going back. I am a over obsessive planner, which I will probably scale down on this report just so that you don't think i'm OCD...ha ha.

Hubby is 31. His family vacations as a child were camping...so he thinks Disney is GREAT! He loved seeing DS1 on back in 2007 react to the characters and can't wait to experience that with DS2.

DS1 (Austin) He is 3 and is currently in pre-k so I will have to pull him out of school for the trip. He is VERY over active and keeps me on my toes ALL THE TIME! We love him dearly, I'm just not sure how well we will be able to keep up with his energy!

DS2 (Alex Jo) He will be 13 months old at the time of the trip. He is our calm child and I love him soooo much for that. He has been sleeping through the night since he was 10 days old. He's a go with the flow type baby.

 

[stitcharoo]

sounds good so far.

i hope you write more, i'll read! haha
i love how your sons are different, how one is always keeping you on your toes and the other one you can relax with. its a good balance, don't you think?

 

[kristinanderic]

I will be writing more soon, kinda disappointed that I posted photos and they won't work. I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong. :-(

 

[kristinanderic]

YAY! I got the pics figured out.

I originally booked our airfare back in September, I was playing around on the southwest site and got flights from St Louis to Orlando for $99 each way. I jumped on it and bought them. I'm still kinda hoping I can get them cheaper. We currently have 3 seats since the lil guy will sit on my lap.

We are also booked at the POP for the buy 4 get 3 more free deal! Plus dining.

I'm also checking out car rental rates because we are needing to rent a car this trip since we have non-disney things planned. Which I can go into detail about if you want....I mean I'd hate to bore you with non-disney things. We decided it would be easiest just to stay at POP and drive to Tampa and back for the day then it would be to pack up and repack, ect. Plus with the 4/3 deal its practically free anyways...RIGHT?

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Details are never boring. I love reading about all of the little things people plan into their trips to make them extra special.
Your boys are so cute.

 

[kristinanderic]

Ok....well here is some bits of information

Right now our flight is booked to leave St. Louis at 8:50 and arrive in Orlando at 11:50pm. I have decided that with two children who are going to be sleeping and CRANKY that I need to change flights. HOWEVER if I change flights right now I will have to pay because the flights are now more expensive then when I booked. UGH...so I have been getting on SW everyday to see if they are the same/lower so that I can switch.

so...right now he is what I kinda have planned:

Friday: Depart STL and arrive at MCO

Saturday: relax a bit, meet up with some friends that live in Orlando

Sunday: MGM

Monday: Leaving disney for a offsite adventure

Tuesday: Magic Kindom

Wednesday: Going to Tampa for a Convention

Thursday: Beach? Theme Park? Better suggestion?

Friday: breakfast and leave for home

We will have base tickets for 7 days, I plan on making these non-expiring passes and we will have 5 days left on them when we leave for home to use on our next trip (with any luck next year!!)

We got the Dining plan because even though we are going to be offsite a few days we thought that we would still be eating enough meals to make the plan worth it. Any suggestions? Ideas?

 

[kristinanderic]

Details are never boring. I love reading about all of the little things people plan into their trips to make them extra special.
Your boys are so cute.

Awww, thanks so much!! I will be adding more information soon. I have a notebook with scribbles all over in it trying to plan the vacation I'm a little unorganized right now.

 

[kristinanderic]

That was DS1 (Austin) on our Disney vacation in 2007. He was 18 months old at the time and not nearly as active then as he is now. He slept A LOT on the trip.

Seriously though...I do have a FEW photos of him awake on the trip. HA HA!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

What a cutie.

 

[kristinanderic]

What a cutie.

Thanks so much!

 

[kristinanderic]

I found some cute matching shirts for all of us on disneyshopping.com I bought some for all of us so we can match on our trip! I'll post pics when they arrive. I plan on giving them to everyone on Christmas.

Our old neighbors recently moved to Orlando so we are in the works of scheduling something with them while we are in Disney. I am trying to get us all into the Hoop De Do or Whispering Canyon Cafe.

My parents are also talking about going down to Florida during the same time period, so if they do I am sure we will be meeting up with them also.

Coming soon....my dining plans

 

[kristinanderic]

Ok, my original intent was to wait until a ding or something came along to change the flight (southwest doesn't charge to change flights), but I am getting nervous and I don't want to wait anymore, so I am gonna change our flight and just pay the $30 difference ($10 per person.) I think it will ease my mind about the trip and I won't be worried anymore about arriving in Orlando near midnight....especially with kids so little. If it was just me and my DH and I would have no problem doing it.

 

[kristinanderic]

OK, so the flight has been changed. Here is my current itenerary:

Friday:
I plan on sending my son to school today and picking him up around noon and heading to the airport. This will give me and my husband some time to get final touches done and packing while he is occupied for a few hours. We are already pulling him out for 5 days, I thought he could at least go a half-day today.

Our flight departs at 3pm and arrives in Orlando at 6:20pm.

We have a mid-size SUV rented thru Alamo.

We plan on checking into Pop Century, get dinner from the food court using our dining plan and settling in tonight.

Saturday:

We have breakfast reservations in the morning for Chef Mickeys.

Ride Monorail around the resorts.

My husband wants to do the Sea Racers, then we plan on heading to Fort Wilderness. My parents used to stay here all the time when we were kids. So I like to revisit, check out the trading posts, ect. We will be taking the kiddos to the petting zoo.

We have reservations for the Hoop De Doo with our friends from Orlando.

If we still have energy we plan on going to the Campfire & Movie in Fort Wilderness.

Sunday:

We will be visiting Hollywood Studios today. We have breakfast reservations for Hollywood & Vine.

Our "goals" for the day will be Toy Story Mania, the Cars Characters, Rockin Rollercoaster (for DH and I) and the Muppets. We also plan on catching the block party...(any good suggestions where to view it???)

We have dinner reservations tonight at the Wispering Canyon Cafe with our friends from Orlando.

Monday:

Originally we planned on going offsite today for a big flea market, however it is still undertermined if we will be going or not.

I have Chef Mickeys dinner reservations.

Tuesday:

Magic Kingdom

We have reservation for Crystal Palace today before the park opens because I really want to get the kids pictures in front of the castle without other people in the way

Wednesday:

Going to Tampa for a convention. Possibly meeting up with my parents and other friends of ours in the evening.

Thursday:

We have been discussing going to Cocoa Beach. Not sure if we want to persue this or go to Epcot (I really love Garden Grill AND the countries). So...today is still up in the air!

Friday:

Breakfast at Ohana

Go home

 

[kristinanderic]

Anyone reading this?? Lurkers please post!

 

[kristinanderic]

Anyone?

 

[kristinanderic]

Apparently I'm pretty boring....oh well...I always knew this.

With my christmas shopping now done, I'm back to be focussing on disney! I am looking at my itenirary and I am thinking I am going to make some changes. Anyone want to help with some dining choices??

Right now I have us eating at:
Chef Mickeys (for breakfast)
Hoop De Doo
Hollywood and Vine
Whispering Canyon
Chef Mickeys (for dinner)
Crystal Palace
Ohana

I'm thinking about eliminating Chef Mickey's for Dinner and Ohana. Any suggestions anyone?

Also we are thinking about scratching the beach day and doing epcot instead. If we do that I am gonna go to the Garden Grill (I LOVE THAT PLACE).

ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE APPRECIATED!!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hi Kristen, Just found your pre-trippie. Looks like you have some great meals planned. I would go to Epcot on the day you are undecided, just my opinion though, also are you not going to Animal Kingdom?

 

[kristinanderic]

Hi Kristen, Just found your pre-trippie. Looks like you have some great meals planned. I would go to Epcot on the day you are undecided, just my opinion though, also are you not going to Animal Kingdom?

Our last trip we did all 4 parks and we were completely exhausted, that is why we had just wanted to do two this trip....but we are considering Epcot.

Thanks so much for commenting!! I thought I was all alone here!!

 

[portocall]

I would go to Epcot Thursday. Cocoa Beach is nice, and if you really want to do the beach it would be alright. But I would suggest waiting until the little guy is a little bigger and hit Kennedy Space Center as well. Maybe wait until you see what the weather will be, the beach on a rainy day isn't as fun...

 

[kristinanderic]

I would go to Epcot Thursday. Cocoa Beach is nice, and if you really want to do the beach it would be alright. But I would suggest waiting until the little guy is a little bigger and hit Kennedy Space Center as well. Maybe wait until you see what the weather will be, the beach on a rainy day isn't as fun...

I think that we have decided to skip the beach...my husband and I decided that we are gonna see how tired and exhausted everyone is before we make definate plans that day...we may just end up at downtown disney and the pool!!