Blended O'HANA: lights, water fountains, and characters OH MY!

[luvpoohandcompany]

Your plans sound great but yeah sometimes it's hard to get the balance between enough and too much planning time. I'm looking forward to hearing how things actually worked out

 

[mFont23]

That's crazy that all those rooms were booked up over 6 months in advance. I've heard people say things like that, but I guess I never really processed that. Must've drove you crazy trying to figure out your plans.

soooooo crazy. especially since we were banking on comparing prices of the value resort to the moderate with the discount, only to keep checking and have NO values available and the discount for the moderate was NOT AVAILABLE.

We were there that same time frame with the UCA Cheer Nationals at All Stars, 2/7-2/13. All Stars was packed with cheerleaders. Was this the same time you were there? Looking forward to reading about your trip!

YES!!!!! That's when we went. We had cheerleaders cheering and the Brazilian 15 year-olds. So I get why it was blocked out and booked. BUT DANG!

 

[pkondz]

Here!
Back to read later....
I think I have about 10 to catch up on first!

 

[mFont23]

Planning, Changing, More Planning, Some Magic, More Changing, etc.
[ part 2: dining]


Okay, quick recap.
When we left off, this was the plan:

Friday- fly to disney 9am, lunch layover in Atlanta, arrive in Orlando 3pm. Staying at Port Orleans, Riverside. Room Only
Saturday- switch to Pop, enjoy a park
Sunday- park
Monday- park (Gia would come with us and leave with her mom)
Tuesday- park all together (dance stuff)
Wednesday- park all together (dance stuff)
Thursday- fly back home, take it easy!


Next step was deciding where we wanted to be on each day so that we could start working on our DINING PLANS!!!!!! Planning for Disney is always fun, but our conversations quickly go from “okay this is a good time of year” to “so where do you want to eat?” Food. I just love food. Like, here are some pictures that describe how I feel making Disney Dining Plans.

Another thing about this trip is that I was the one planning it this go around. I got to make the decisions, I got to book the plans, and everyone just had to show up. Now don’t get me wrong, I planned things with everyone’s best interest in mind. But since I got to plan it, I was able to leave room for MAGIC and SURPRISES! That, and my husband doesn’t really care, Ashley said she didn’t really care, my Mom cared but was my wingman, and Gia cares too much only when she knows too much.


When I was indecisive on things, I’d show G my 2 options and let her pick. But asking for her opinions on things or MENUS is just a terrible idea. She may only be 8, but she’s a worrier and an over-thinker, and her worst enemy is having too many options. I know what she loves, and she trusts my judgment when she knows there aren’t too many options. Really, it’s an exhausting game to play. And usually-- food-wise-- ends something like this.

So, yeah. Let’s get to planning! We figured out where we were going each day and the night before we could make dining reservations, Mom came over and we basically made a fantasy-football-draft-esque plan to make our reservations the next day.


So in August, we made the first round of reservations. Mom actually made them. I had both kids that day and mornings were (and are) a bit chaotic.

Friday- room only, so let’s just eat out of pocket at the hotel and take it easy.
Saturday- Animal Kingdom. I want to try BOMA!
Sunday- Magic Kingdom. Crystal Palace Breakfast, never done it before! And Be Our Guest counter service lunch.
Monday- Epcot. Coral Reef Lunch (JP loves aquariums)
Tuesday- Magic Kingdom (anticipated dance workshop day). Ohana, with Gia’s mom.
Wednesday- DHS (anticipated dance performance at downtown disney) Minnie's Seasonal Dine Dinner at Hollywood & Vine with Fantasmic Dinner Package, with Gia’s mom.
Thursday- fly home


That was round 1, now it’s September. Then Ashley was able to add David and Christian to their trip and add on Monday in the parks. So we had to adjust our dining plans. Not a big deal, but it did change some things. First of all, the Ohana reservation we had is basically IMPOSSIBLE to get or recreate. So to accommodate the larger table, we just changed it to a reservation at Kona. It was just important to me for Jimmy and I to bring the kids to where we got married (Poly) and our other Magic Kingdom day was jam packed already. We turned our Coral Reef lunch into a Coral Reef Dinner for all of us. And lastly, we changed the Fantasmic dinner package to a breakfast with Rapunzel and Ariel on the Boardwalk.


So, let’s review:

Friday- room only, so let’s just eat out of pocket at the hotel and take it easy.
Saturday- Animal Kingdom. I want to try BOMA!
Sunday- Magic Kingdom. Crystal Palace Breakfast, never done it before! And Be Our Guest counter service lunch.
Monday- Epcot. Coral Reef (was Lunch) dinner with gia’s mom and family (JP loves aquariums)
Tuesday- Magic Kingdom (anticipated dance workshop day). (was Ohana), Kona, with Gia’s mom and family.
Wednesday- DHS (anticipated dance performance at downtown disney) (was Minnie's Seasonal Dine Dinner at Hollywood & Vine with Fantasmic Dinner Package), Rapunzel Boardwalk Breakfast with Gia’s mom and family.
Thursday- fly home



That was round 2, still September. After some thinking and moving ideas around, I just didn’t feel right trying to be nostalgic about our wedding (on Valentine’s Day) with Gia’s Mom and them there. So I cancelled the Kona reservation, and ended up making us an Ohana reservation for Breakfast on Sunday! But we still wanted to do Crystal Palace and still needed plans for Valentine’s Day with Gia’s mom’s side. So we made a dinner reservation for us all for that Wednesday at Crystal Palace! The last thing we did was switch our Tuesday and Wednesday plans and cancel the Rapunzel breakfast because we weren’t sure of the time of Gia’s performance and dance plans. We ended up not having any meal plans on that Tuesday because with her performance, and not knowing the time, we wanted to feel free to move around. In exchange of that, we still wanted to see Princesses, so we booked a brunch at the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway on our Epcot Day. That way, Gia’s mom would be coming to meet us shortly after our brunch, and it would hold us over to play in the park until our dinner late that night all together at the Coral Reef.


So, let’s review again:

Friday- room only, so let’s just eat out of pocket at the hotel and take it easy.
Saturday- Animal Kingdom. I want to try BOMA!
Sunday- Magic Kingdom. (Was Crystal Palace Breakfast) Ohana character breakfast And Be Our Guest counter service lunch.
Monday- Epcot. Princess Storybook Brunch. Coral Reef Lunch dinner with gia’s mom and family (JP loves aquariums)
Tuesday- (was Magic Kingdom (anticipated dance workshop day) ). DHS half day, dance performance that evening. No reservations. (was Ohana, then Kona) with Gia’s mom and family.
Wednesday- (was DHS (anticipated dance performance at downtown disney) )Magic Kingdom, dance workshop day (was Minnie's Seasonal Dine Dinner at Hollywood & Vine with Fantasmic Dinner Package, then Rapunzel Boardwalk Breakfast) Crystal Palace character dinner with Gia’s mom and family.
Thursday- fly home


That was round 3, now it’s October. When they released the Festival of the Arts info, I was HELL BENT on seeing someone perform. Totally my thing!! So I moved our Coral Reef dinner reservation to a Coral Reef, festival of the arts seating, reservation. Buuuuuuut I quickly cancelled that when I realized how badly I did NOT want to be married to more plans with a baby in tow. That became a common thought of mine throughout the planning, and more-so on the actual trip.


Fast forward to February 2 (we left February 9). The final call. Here I am putting together our itinerary and things that are going to be going on in the parks at certain times, things we want to do, places we need to be with times, etc. And I just kept getting annoyed with the idea of having to leave the park to go to Boma on our Animal Kingdom day. I weighed some pros and cons and there was an opening first thing that morning for the character breakfast at Tusker House. I didn’t tell Gia about most of these changes, it was all basically going to be a bit of a surprise. And it was REALLY fun that way! We actually considered cancelling our Be Our Guest lunch as well, just to not be “married to plans” but figured we would decide based on how the kids responded to the trip. That was one thing Jimmy really wanted to do, so I didn’t want to cancel it if we didn’t have to, but we would have to work around lots of plans and times that day. You’ll get to see how that worked out later.


FINAL PLANS, GOD HELP US:

Friday- eat at the resort
Saturday- Animal Kingdom: Tusker House Character Breakfast
Sunday- Magic Kingdom: Ohana Character Breakfast, Be Our Guest Counter Service Lunch
Monday- Epcot: Princess Storybook Breakfast (10:30am), Coral Reef Dinner (8pm for both families)
Tuesday- DHS half day, downtown disney for dance performance. No dining plans.
Wednesday- Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace Character Dinner (6pm-ish) with both families


We also went ahead and booked something we had never done and were SUPER excited about. We booked the fireworks dessert party with Plaza Garden Viewing for the Sunday night. Something special for us to do with the kids before Gia’s mom’s side got there.


In the end, I wanted to make plans that were conducive for everyone. I wanted things the kids would enjoy, things we hadn’t tried, at times that worked for us (that’s a whole other problem), and I wanted it to be easy to get to and from where we needed to go when we needed to go. But I also wanted things to be special. When all is said and done, I’m super happy with how it all turned out and I’m glad we made all the changes we did. We ended up with more breakfasts than anything. My Dad would LOSE HIS MIND because that is PRIME RIDE TIME in his book. But kids are morning people, and they deserved to enjoy it. Plus, it was a great way to start our days with that excitement of characters and a good meal.


Next up: OUTFIT PLANNING! Because that’s DEFINITELY a thing, now.

 

[Stasieki]

I went into our Feb 2018 trip with soooo many dining reservations. All because I didnt' know which days/times we would be free from cheer stuff. In the end I think we fit all our wants in, but it was super stressful holding on to extra reservations. And I felt guilty holding onto them.

 

[vamassey1]

Your plans sound great but yeah sometimes it's hard to get the balance between enough and too much planning time. I'm looking forward to hearing how things actually worked out

So true. If you don't do some planning you end up not getting much done in Disney, if you do too much planning you set you self up for frustrations when things don't go as planned.

Here!
Back to read later....
I think I have about 10 to catch up on first!

Ponzi! We're not too far into the report so you won't have much to get caught up on here.

 

[vamassey1]

Planning for Disney is always fun, but our conversations quickly go from “okay this is a good time of year” to “so where do you want to eat?”[/QUOT

I think we spend more time planning where to eat that planning anything else.

I got to make the decisions, I got to book the plans, and everyone just had to show up.

This was Michelle's trip to plan. I think I taught her well.

Mom actually made them.

Yeah, and after all the changes the only things we kept were "Be Our Guest" and the Fireworks Dessert Party.

We booked the fireworks dessert party with Plaza Garden Viewing for the Sunday night.

I was soooo looking forward to this!

 

[glennbo123]

Following along! I have followed your mom’s reports for many years!

 

[vamassey1]

Following along! I have followed your mom’s reports for many years!

Glenn! I'm so glad you made it here. We're just getting started.

 

[mFont23]

And I felt guilty holding onto them.

We did this. there was more than one time I was like, "Mom. Cancel that one. Let someone else have it."

Following along! I have followed your mom’s reports for many years!

Yay! Thanks for being here. I promise it'll get more fun soon. The planning stage was just so extravagant.

 

[mFont23]

Planning, Changing, More Planning, Some Magic, More Changing, etc.
[ part 3: outfits!]


Guys… I apologize in advance. The outfit planning is kind of MY THANNNNNG. And it’s not particularly masculine. But it is FUN!


Since I was a kid, I realized that we took pictures at every major thing in our lives and those pictures would stick with us forever. While I wish I would have realized that BEFORE “the lost years” (middle school, back when kids were still awkward), I know this now. SOOOOOOO I have a tendency to be super EXTRA in anticipation of that. Outfits, accessories, etc. I probably put WAY too much thought into it. I like colors, everyone to be in different things, and quite frankly-- attention.


Also, I don’t do matchy-matchy. Can’t. Won’t. I like to call my style more of a “Destiny’s Child” approach. Where we match and look cohesive, but no one is in the same thing.


When we were younger, we just wanted to be comfortable. Then as we got older, we wanted to look cute in Disney. THEN we got into the idea of “oh, I’m going to wear this cute giraffe print scarf to Animal Kingdom.” Next thing you know, we shop with “oh, this is SO a DHS outfit” in mind. Going into this trip, I didn’t want to be like everyone else that makes t-shirts or family shirts. We have the ability to do it, but I don’t like doing just what everyone else does. I swore I was going to be more creative than that. Yeah, that didn’t happen. I tried, but it’s hard to find things everyone likes, will wear, that is cohesive, fits, and works with our theme and the weather. It ended up being easier to find shirts in colors/sizes/materials that would work and iron on what we wanted it to be. Oh, and Gia likes to do exactly what I do… and I DONT DO MATCHY-MATCHY. So I had to find a way around that. Rough life, right? My stepkid wants to be just like me, and I’m too stubborn to be matchy-matchy. LOL


So we collectively (note: collectively never means Jimmy. He said he would wear whatever I told him to) decided we would have themed days, and work from there. Now Gia doesn’t wear real pants. Never has, possibly never will. She’s very particular about how things feel and fit. She’s a leggings girl, and since having the baby, so am I. Luckily, we were going in February and the weather should be leggings-worthy. So that’s how we planned our themes.


Friday: Travel Day. This day we can be matchy-matchy. But don’t get used to it. I found a cute design on Etsy. Mickey aviators! And I could just change the color and names on each of them. Boom! Done. SUPER CUTE! It wasn’t super easy to make, but it wasn’t hard. And we learned that most of the materials I liked aren’t very vinyl-friendly. Whoops. We also got the kids some Disney jammies because we had planned to wear them to the movie on the lawn... more on that later.






Saturday: Animal Kingdom. We could play around with this. We could do animal print stuff, safari stuff, Pandora stuff, Lion King, or Jungle Book. Gia and I even had tribal tattoos on our arms. Mom actually bought a khaki romper for JP right after he was born. It has dinosaur bones all over it, and she got it in a 12 month size with the anticipation he would wear it in Disney. Looking back, I still don't know how he stayed in that one outfit the entire day.




Sunday: Magic Kingdom. We were going to be doing breakfast at Ohana this day. Gia originally wanted us to all dress Moana-themed. She wanted to wear the costume, Dad wear his “demi-dad” shirt, me make a shirt like the heart of Tefiti, and we were going to cover a onesie in feathers for JP to be hei-hei. Even though it’s not Moana-themed, that’s what my girl wanted and that’s what we were going to do. Then she decided she was “over it” and we moved on. We started thinking we would do characters and “disney-bound”. I even had a whole Goofy outfit put together and JP was going to be Donald. One thing led to another and the easiest thing to do seemed a “Mickey Day!” This ended up being SO CUTE!!!! Oh, and a week before we left, weatherman said it was going to be in the 80s all week. So while Gia had planned to be sorcerer Mickey…. I got her a Minnie short sleeved shirt as a back-up (that she ended up wearing twice on the trip). Thank you, Amazon prime and your 2 day delivery! Jimmy wore a shirt I had always wanted for him. It's Mickey with muscles!!! I went with the mean girl anthem, but with a Disney spin "I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a Disney mom". Mom did her disneybound and she looks stinkin adorable! So proud of her, she never takes the time for herself to be as cute as she can be; too busy taking care of everyone else. JP's first outfit was an "original mouseketeer" onesie that he pooped through before we got to the park. Then he moved to Hipster Mickey that he peed on while getting his diaper changed at Be Our Guest. And that was it for the outfits I had packed and readily available... so then we bought his clothes (and a mickey toy that he puked on while chewing on it in the store). We bought Gia another shirt, too because, you know, kids (and ice cream).





*on the hunt for more clothes*



*yay new clothes*



...had to sneak this picture of G with chocolate ice cream down her white shirt. She was not happy.



Until she got new clothes, too!

(continued in next post)

 

[mFont23]

Planning, Changing, More Planning, Some Magic, More Changing, etc.
[ part 3: outfits!]

Continued.


Monday: Epcot. We had the Princess breakfast this day, so we had a royal day. We also had dinner planned at the Coral Reef. I was so mad I couldn’t find a Nemo onesie for the baby in his size. He ended up playing in so many fountains and changing so many times a day that we got good pictures in the morning, and the rest was a crap-shoot. I will say, all of his back-up outfits were Mickey shirts and shorts from Target. That’s basically all he wears now to daycare. They probably think I’m crazy. My princess is Belle! So I would do something with that. Gia’s room is Little Mermaid, so she was hell bent on mermaid scale-looking leggings. Mom’s a Snow White, so she decided on some more Disney-bounding. I was so proud of her!. JP had THE CUTEST OUTFIT EVER as Prince Charming. Thank you, Etsy! Jimmy’s big thing was his “wine, wine, wine” shirt (as seen in my first post). And I made myself a sweater with “Finding Vino” on it to wear that evening, that I have no pictures of and actually can’t find in my house, either.

JP (Prince Charming) and Cinderella.

Minnie and her Princess, Snow White.

Me with my Princess, Belle. (outfit complete with Rose choker from Hot Topic-- yep, i went there)


And I was so sad Ariel wasn’t at this breakfast, but here’s a better look at Gia’s outfit for the day. We made the shirt and went through 2 Amazon returns and a ton of shopping to get the leggings just right for her. I told you she was picky!

Tuesday: After Monday, Gia would be with her Mom. I was happy to provide her with whatever outfits she wanted, even invited her mom to participate with us, but we all just kind of winged it from there. Plus, she had her dance t shirts to wear in between. This day we would be at DHS in the morning and Disney Springs that evening for her performance. There were a lot of different ways to do this one, too. Villains, Star Wars, Pixar OH MY. I found a Maleficent kimono that I was going to wear, so help me God. My sister always called me “evil M” growing up and donned me the character Maleficent. I also found a “Yoda Best Dad Ever” shirt for Jimmy. Oh, and this was Mardi Gras day… thus, the beads.

More than anything, we were focused on our outfits for her performance. We wanted to present a united front and be really supportive since we were all there for Gia. I suggested I make everyone shirts. This was not an easy task, but IT WAS SO CUTE! We didn’t get a picture all together, and I’m still sad about that. But the shirts say “Gia’s Ohana” and Dad’s side got a blue flower and Mom’s side got a pink flower. We also put our names on the back. Even the babies got one that said “Lil Bro”.

More coming....

 

[mFont23]

Planning, Changing, More Planning, Some Magic, More Changing, etc.
[ part 3: outfits!]
Continued Some More. Last One, Promise.

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom on VALENTINE’S DAY! Mom found a shirt with Mickey and Minnie kissing on a trip to the Disney Store in New Orleans months before the trip. So she was good. I ended up coming across a red Mickey shirt for JP with a kiss on his face and a “Mommy” heart tattoo on the back. Couldn’t pass that up. For Jimmy and I, I let him pick from a few options. Either he could wear something to look like Gaston and I would be “his little wife” or we could do Lady and the Tramp, eating spaghetti. He chose to go the Italian route. That was a shirt I would end up making. Ashley said she wanted to do a Wall-E thing for her and David and have the kids in little robot shirts but Gia wasn’t having it and I don’t know if David was super into it, either. Gia had her aunt make her a shirt that she designed in her head. She’s really smart and creative, like that. It’s an infinity with Mickey and Minnie on it.

Thursday: traveling home… whatever is clean.


Next update: Packing is a B!

 

[jwwi]

Great start to the report! I love the Ohana shirts, adorable. I,like your Mom, love to go be an extra set of hands with the grandkids. Really enjoy seeing how the plans work out.

We were there at the same time, MK 2/13, AK 2/14. The weather was beautiful.

 

[Stasieki]

Oh I love those Ohana shirts so much. I'm learning so much as I'm helping plan a trip for my brother in law and his daughter. They have decided to go with his ex and her new husband so they can both be there for their daughters first trip.

 

[mFont23]

The weather was beautiful.

It was!!!! Rained for maybe 5 minutes on 2/13, just enough to cool down. Then Vday was gorgeous, with a little chill that night (finally). It was beautiful! Definitely not what we had anticipated, but beautiful.

They have decided to go with his ex and her new husband so they can both be there for their daughters first trip.

THIS IS AWESOME!!!! I am so excited for them. I'll be honest, I wasn't thrilled about it, but we ended up having the BEST time. If you have ANY questions or suggestions, please DM me any time. If our experience can help anyone, then it gives my time just a little more meaning.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi joining in. I remember reading your wedding trip report.It was just beautiful. What a wonderful blended family you have. I look forward to reading all about your trip.

 

[jchurch0409]

Following along! I can't wait to read more! It is great what you did for Gia. I come from a blended family and my parents always did vacations together whenever we could. It was nice not having to pick!

 

[cinderaimee]

Following along! I love your blended family and I think it's wonderful you all were able to do the trip together. My parents are divorced and we still do all the holidays together with their new partners and it's great for us kids to not spend out holidays between houses or feel like we're choosing one parent over the other.

Loving your report so far and can't wait to read the rest!

 

[mFont23]

Hi joining in.

HELLO, HELLO! Welcome.

It was nice not having to pick!

it's great for us kids to not spend out holidays between houses or feel like we're choosing one parent over the other.

Hearing from people like you makes my heart happy knowing we are doing the right thing.

Loving your report so far and can't wait to read the rest!

Thank you! More fun to come!