A little background before we begin. We last went to Disney World in January 2007 to celebrate Julia’s 5th birthday. She turned 5 while we were there, and she had a truly magical birthday week. Emma was just 18 months old, but she seemed to have fun too. Here are some picts from that trip, almost 2 years ago. Julia was newly 5 and Emma was just 1.5.
Epcot
MK
Julia the Birthday BBB Princess
Julia meeting characters
Minnie must have told a really good joke!
And my favorite picture from the whole trip!
We had thought about going again when Emma was 4. But in March, Michael landed a new job which included some nice bonus money. We both looked at one another and said, “We can go back to Disney World!”
So, with just over 6 months to plan (and secure those elusive ADRs) we decided to go for it. Although I could (and did) easily plan this trip myself, we decided to use a TA recommended by a friend.
Travel Magic in NJ handled all of our arrangements for us, and they made the nerve-wracking call for ADRs 180 days out. It was nice to have that element take care of, that’s for sure! They did a great job, and even helped us secure an upgrade closer to the time we were to leave. I also joined Tour Guide Mike for the first time, and I’m so grateful for all of the wonderful information that I learned. My only glitch was that Disney was quite late releasing the October schedule, which meant that TGM didn’t have his best days out before we hit the 180 day mark. I used last year’s schedule to plan our days and our meals, and my educated guesses were spot on, thank goodness! We also decided to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday, October 7th. We decided to forgo the Park Hoppers since the
MNSSHP tickets were such a large expense.
We booked a room at the Contemporary so we could be on the monorail. We figured this would be much easier with two small children and mid day breaks. The last time we went to WDW we stayed at POFQ, which we loved. But we didn’t love the bus system, so this time we were determined to be on the monorail. The Contemporary is not exactly my ideal in terms of theming, but since it’s the cheapest of the monorail options, that was what we decided upon.
So, now that the resort was chosen, the plans made, and the ADRs booked, I was able to lay low for a bit. I spent the summer perusing TGM and the DisBoards, making daily itineraries, and shopping for our trip. Thanks to the DisBoards, I bought a Baggallini messenger bag – which I totally love. I used it throughout the summer as well. It came in handy on our trip to Storyland and Santa’s Village in NH. I got our ponchos, some Body Glide for our feet, character tee shirts (which I normally don’t allow), and little treasures for Tink to leave for the girls each morning. I also came up with ideas for custom outfits that I wanted the girls to wear during our trip. My mom made princess twirl dresses, I ordered Tink outfits on Etsy, Minnie dresses on Ebay, and a friend made one special Giselle set for Julia. I know I went overboard on the clothes, but I consider it my hobby. It makes me happy to see my girls looking pretty!
In mid August, it was time to pay our balance in full. My TA called to let me know that there was a chance to upgrade to the Poly for about the same rate. Unfortunately, by the time we touched base, the Poly was no longer an option. BUT she was able to get us into the Beach Club for the same rate. So we changed our ressie to the Beach Club, and I was pysched. The pool is amazing, and I knew the girls would LOVE it. Plus we could walk to Epcot, and we had 2 days planned there. AND we could take in the boardwalk which I had not included in our original plan, so I was really excited!
The TA was still going to try for the Poly at the reduced rate. It would be an easier location for us with 3.5 MK days. But I was very happy with the idea of the Beach Club.
About a week later, my TA called with the good news. We had gotten the upgrade to the Poly! I was really excited about this location, as it would be so convenient. And the rate was very nice. The BC would have also been lovely, but the Poly was just so perfect for us. So YAY us!
Then I hit a small snag. I ordered these cute light up witchies from Costume Express for the girls’ Halloween/MSSSHP costumes. Unfortunately, I learned that they were both backordered til 9/30. Since we were set to leave on 10/05, I got pretty very nervous. I called the company and requested overnight delivery. Luckily, they arrived with about 4 days to spare ....
Wanna see?
Oooh, and they have LED lights too. They look SO COOL at night!
With about a week to go, I placed my Garden Grocer order and had all of the Tink Treasures ready. I printed out little notes from Tink, invites for all of our special events, and my daily itineraries. (Just a little thing!) But my printer was not working!
DH was able to fix it when he got home from his business trip. But I was seriously freaked for a few days there!
I have to admit that part of the reason I got so backlogged in September was that I got sucked into the
Twilight series of books. I read all four books in the course of a week, and lost some precious WDW planning time. But it was all worth it, for Edward Cullen. Ahhhhhhh.
OK, back to life....!
Oh, I didn’t mention that we kept the trip a secret from the girls for SIX MONTHS!
Michael and I decided to tell them about the trip the day before we left.
Michael did an amazing job with a Power Point slide show to reveal our trip. He put together pictures from our last trip, set to music (A Whole New World, It's a Small World, Where Dreams Begin, Lion King.) Then we had some text that we made Julia read aloud on different slides. (He used the Disney font too.) These slides were accompanied by the song
"Flying" from the 2004 Peter Pan live action movie. (This is often used in WDW commercials.)
Did you have fun at Disney World?
Would you like to go again?
Well, get ready....
We're going to Disney World...
TOMORROW!
Then we had some slides of the Poly, WDW dressed up for Halloween, and some other things that we will be doing. These had the songs “Be Our Guest” and "Ever After" from "Enchanted."
The girls were SOOOO excited! :cheer :cheer :cheer :cheer They went absolutely bonkers for the rest of the day, just running around and screaming. :doh :crazyguy It really is worthwhile to keep something like this a secret from the kids. I think it makes it even more special. I gave them character tees to wear on the plane, as well as the book
Guide to the Magic for Kids. It's a nice guidebook with spots for Julia to write down her thoughts and experiences. She enjoyed reading it on the plane and in the hotel.
The rest of the afternoon was spent packing (no longer in stealth mode since the cat was finally out of the bag!) and getting pumped up. It was definitely one of those “I’m too excited to sleep” nights!
Up next, arrival day!
Will the girls (and our fellow travelers) survive the flight? Will our plane land on time? Will we make it to the Magic Kingdom? And WHEN will our bags arrive from the Magical Express? Stay tuned....
We have to be up crazy early for a BBB appointment in the castle at 8am. The park doesn't even open til 9, so this will get us right into Fantasyland at opening. Then we have lunch in the castle, and later, we have dinner with Cinderella and the stepsisters at the Grand Floridian. Saturday is our last day. We have time for another MK morning and lunch with Pooh before we head back to the airport on the Magical Express. 
Mom, Colleen (me) age 30-something, former librarian, current SAHM, and Disney planning fanatic. 
Dad, Michael - exactly 9 months younger than me (which he never fails to remind me!) Could care less about planning, but (wisely) says that he trusts my judgment. Oh, and he's a pirate. 
ARRRR! 
