Brenna-belle's adventures at Disney - Pre TR!

[MistyD]

Hello to everyone in Dis-land!!

This is my first attempt at a Pre-TR so I hope everyone enjoys it! We will be leaving home 12/5 and will be checking in at POFQ 12/8 after a couple of days at Universal. We will be at MVMCP 12/9 and be returning home 12/16.

A little background on our motley crew…

DH – a DisFreak that I am responsible for creating
Me – a DisLover
DD – 2 ½, Brenna, whom we have called Brenna-belle since the day she was born
BFF – we have been friends for over 20 years and are using this trip to also celebrate our “friend-a-versary”.
BFF DH – a great guy that seems to have lost his “inner child”…we will find it GUARANTEED!

My DH and I got married April 2004. In planning our honeymoon we didn’t really know where we wanted to go. A friend of mine had honeymooned at WDW and had told me what a great time they had so I suggested it to then-fiancee. Neither of us had ever been to WDW so it was settled....we bought our wedding ears and were ready to go!

Being newbies to WDW we had NO IDEA that going the week of Easter was one of the most crowded of the year. We had nothing to compare it to so we didn’t think it was too bad. Sure it was crowded but we had a fantastic time! We stayed at CBR and had a wonderful water-view room. We wore our bride and groom ears everywhere and got lots of special attention, our own log on Splash, free fast passes, a wonderful family even sent us champagne one night at dinner at Ohana! It was a magical, fantastical time for us!

Stay tuned... more to come!

 

[MistyD]

Almost at soon as we got home DH was ready to go back, I said we would “sometime”. Well that SOMETIME ended up being 8 months later in December 2004! I had really wanted to stay at WL but thought it was out of our budget. DH surprised me and booked WL! We were there during “value” season so it WAS in our budget…these Disney folks really know how to get people hooked don’t they?

WL was everything we thought it would be. Just beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations up and the resort was just perfect. Loved it! We had a wonderful time, naturally, and really enjoyed MVMCP. We did a sleigh ride at WL and did Hoop-de-Doo this trip, it was fun. The weather was so unpredictable, it was 80 degrees most days but much colder in the evenings.

When we got home from this trip DH started hinting around about the NEXT trip! We decided to try for October 2005 for MNSSHP. DH’s Dad lives in Boynton Beach FL so we decided to visit with him and then drive up to Orlando. All was well until a little hurricane named Wilma reared her ugly head! We ended up hearing from FIL that they were closing the West Palm Beach airport and if we didn’t leave a day early we probably wouldn’t get in! So we call American Airlines and they changed our flight for us. We had to get everything together ASAP and flew out the next day. We rented a car at the airport and drove to FIL’s house. We stayed there a couple of days, visited the beach and had a good visit. We decided to drive up to Orlando a couple of days before we had originally planned just because we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to get there if we waited much longer due to the weather. We luckily found a room at Red Roof Inn for a couple of nights and ended up going to Universal before checking into WDW.

The day we checked into WDW the parks had been CLOSED! We got to POR and the lobby was PACKED with people. Mickey and gang were in the lobby entertaining and it was so loud and crowded! The parks ended up opening later in the day but we had a room-only ressie for that day. Once the hurricane blew over the weather was so pretty! We actually ended up going to Wal-Mart to buy a sweatshirt and some long sleeves because it was much cooler than we’d expected. We talked to FIL and found that he had lost his car-port and part of his sun room roof on his house in the storm. Luckily everyone was safe and sound though. We ended up staying at POR only one night and changed to POFQ. We loved POFQ! Here is a link to the TR my DH posted for this trip!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=955720&page=0&highlight=pac+man

 

[MistyD]

During the time we were planning this October 2005 trip we were also working on another project…a baby! While we were on our trip DH kept saying to me “I think you are pregnant” and I would say “I think you are crazy!” Well… the day we got home from our trip I took a test and I WAS pregnant! We were shocked, happy, excited, scared…all of those!

After a pregnancy filled with high blood-pressure and eventually 2+ months of bed rest our little Brenna Claire was born! She arrived June 29, 2006 weighing in at 5 pounds 7 oz. She was a peanut! We called her Brenna-belle from the day she was born. Now she’s called Brenna, Belle, B, or Miss B a lot! Her Daddy had already bought her first Minnie ears for her to wear even though it would be a while before they would fit!

Brenna in her Build-A-Bear costume!

We started thinking about when we could take Brenna to see Mickey for the first time. She LOVES Mickey! Here are her 2nd birthday pics..

We figured before she was 3, while she was FREE, would be a great time! So December 2008 it is! We were making our tentative plans and started thinking about how fun it would be for my BFF and her DH to join us! BFF was all for it, her DH took some convincing but finally it all came together… they are coming too!

BFF and I have been friends for over 20 years and have never taken a REAL vacation together. There have been many many road-trips but never anything longer than a weekend. They have never been to WDW so we will get to introduce them to it all, we can’t wait!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Yeah! I'll be the first to post!

Sounds like a fun trip! Cute pictures!

I'm on board!

 

[disneydreamin247]

Your DD is absolutely adorable!

 

[bellasmommy0]

Great start, cant wait to hear more. Your DD is adorable!!

 

[MistyD]

In March 2008 we booked our flight and vacations. Due to work schedules we were leaving 12/5 on the 7:40pm flight from DFW to MCO. I wasn’t too happy with getting into Orlando so late with DD but it was out of our hands… or so we thought! We got an email from American Airlines in July that our flight had been changed to 5:00! That was going to be hard, DH couldn’t get that day off and wouldn’t get off until 4:30! We decided not to worry about it right now, a lot could happen between now and December. Then last week we got another email from AA that our flight had changed again… now we leave at 4:45! And it worked out that DH’s work schedule changed so now we have nothing standing in our way! Woohoo!!

We have made all of our ADR’s, we are on the basic DDP. We did DDP our last trip and loved it. I know they’ve made some changes to it this time around but I think it will still be best for us. In October 2007 I had Lap-Band surgery so I don’t eat as much as I used to so I will be sharing meals with DD! Works out great!

We are staying at POFQ again this trip and will be taking DD to MVMCP on 12/9… we can’t wait! Our touring plan is pretty much complete, I keep a spreadsheet of our schedules that comes in handy but gets lots of tweeking during the planning phase!

 

[njdisneyfreak]

I'm so glad you went with all our suggestions and began your own PTR!!! Great start. I loved all the details, and you had some eventful times on your trips. Your little girl is absolutely adorable. You might want to put a link to this PTR on the bottom, so everywhere you have a post, people can go to it. I can't wait to hear more.

 

[Becx N Gav]

For some reason I thought I'd posted on here just wanted to say your DD is a sweetie I love the name MissB - my Mum called me BeckBoots, not sure why but it's unique!

Can't wait to hear your plans, we're also there in Dec and I'm on the prowl (in a nice way) to find some Disers while we're there - I'm not that weird promise

But seriously sounds like you 3 + 2 are going to have a fab time and I love that they keep bringing your flight time earlier - more Disney time

 

[MistyD]

85 days until Disney! Every day DH says "Can we get on the plane now?" Sadly I have to tell him today isn't THE day.

We have been trying to prepare DD for the trip. We have watched the planning DVD with her a few times. I still can't make it through the dang thing without crying! Seriously... how am I going to make it through this trip when watching her excitement at the DVD makes me cry? I will cry when she sees Mickey, cry when she sees Rella, cry when she sees Goofy... this will be the Year of a Million Tears!

DD loves loves Mickey and we are so excited to take her to Playhouse Disney, she will love it. She's also developed a love of Barney, DH and I aren't too thrilled with that! LOL! However if watching Barney buys me 30 minutes to get dinner ready I can't complain too much! We are going to take her to the Barney show at Universal and I think she will FLIP OUT... unless she screams her head off and gets scared.

Brenna hasn't had much exposure to costumed characters yet and unless we want to brave Chuck E Cheese, which we don't, I don't know how we can prepare her. Last year at Christmas she was 18 months old and I knew that was prime "Freak out with Santa" time. Before we took her to see him we read a Santa book, talked about him...she was very excited about Santa. Fast forward to the mall, the weekend before Christmas. We are standing in line when Santa starts walking towards his chair. She is WAVING Waving waving... no more waving. Suddenly she is rooted to the ground. DH picks her up and puts her in Santa's lap... and this was the result.

I think this is the MOST hilarious pic ever! I still LOL every time I see it! This is one that she will hate me for when she's older.

I am having the most adorable Minnie custom made for our trip, I can't wait to get it. I will be sure to post some pics when it gets here!

 

[crow11ad]

Well I will post too. Yes I am the DW and I know we can't wait to go. All I saying is that Jaws better not be closed and someone owes me a tot ride along with a ee ride. LoL. Let's see last time Pac-Man came along. Hmmm can that be topped?

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Can't wait to see the costume! I hope she handles seeing the characters well, but I've been at WDW plenty of times when kids don't react well to the characters. What seems to work, is to have one of the parents stand next to the character, with the child in the arm that's furthest away from the character. Seems to work every time, just in case you need this technique.

Also, don't worry about crying. I'm a grown adult, with no kids, and every time my DH and I are at WDW, I have cried numerous times. It's part of loving WDW. Can't be helped.

 

[MistyD]

Obviously I haven't done the greatest job keeping up with this PTR! LOL!

Well, let's see... since I last updated what has happened?? Not much! I did get a new toy to take with me to Dis..

I have been wanting a DSLR for a long time and just couldn't take Brenna on her first trip without one! And I got it FREE.... sort of! My Dad passed away 9 years ago and we found that he had left money in an account! My brother, sister and I got to claim it so I used my part to get the camera! I know he would love that I used it for something like that.

A couple of weeks ago we had family portraits taken, I'm talking the WHOLE family! Mom, sister, brother, SIL, niece and nephew along with DH, DD and myself. They were great! We threw a couple of extra outfits on DD while we were there..

I can't wait for Brenna to wear her customs at WDW! A very gracious friend loaned us a Cinderella and Tink custom to wear too!

Today DH and I hit the Dollar Tree and grabbed a few things for the trip. We already have a suitcase that we have been throwing things into. I am going to have the hardest time packing for DD. When I say she has a TON of clothes I am not exaggerating. She has a VERY generous aunt that buys her lots and lots of adorable things! I think I will have to wait until later when we can get forecasts to see what will be acceptable for the weather when we are there.

If anyone is actually reading this I will try to update more often!