Bring me my coffee, guide book, and Dis and let the planning begin!

[xoprincessmomxo]

Hello to whomever stumbles upon my little pre-trippie! I've been sipping my morning coffee, surfing the net (does anyone still say that?), and enjoying the relative peace and quiet of a two hour school delay morning due to the snow storm that hit yesterday. I was hoping for a full day out, but I'll take the delay!
I have been planning for this Disney Vacation ever since my husband in our dating years promised to take me to my favorite place in the World. I am pretty sure that I actually told him I could not be with someone who refused to enjoy the magic of Disney World with me. Unfortunately, money has always been tight for us and our (my) dreams of Walt Disney World always took the back burner to more pressing issues like how to pay the light bill or make our rent payment. But now, after nearly 8 years of being a couple, almost 2 years of marriage, and 3 children later....We Are Going To Disney World!!! So....let me introduce ourselves:

First up our Girls!!!

Zee-DD11= Zee is my husband's daughter from a previous marriage. I've known her since she was 2. She only gets to visit us 2 weekends a month (though we have joint custody with her mom. Go figure? ) She has grown up so very quickly this past year! She is compassionate, and wise beyond her years. She is beginning to get just a hint of that teenager attitude, but all in all she is a sweet, kind girl. She is a great big sister to the two little ones and is always there to lend a hand when needed. She is up for any ride and is most looking forward to RNR! She has a fondness for Alice Cooper...

Ariel-DD6= Oh, what can I say about my little Ariel? Well, her favorite princess is Ariel and it fits. She is beautiful, smart, and incredibly STRONGWILLED! She sings, dances, and acts and has dreams of being a performer! She is very sensitive, and is hesitant of anything remotely scary! It could be the fact that her dad took her in a haunted house when she was 2 that she still talks about. Her favorite singer: Ashley Tisdale.

Pollyanna-DD 1 1/2= aka Polly. I've chosen Pollyanna as her name as she brings cheer wherever she goes. She is rarely angry, although she is full of "vinegar" as Grandma would put it. She even wakes up happy. She loves dancing and beating up her dolls. She can only stand to be loving for so long before she throws them to the ground and laughs. Her favorite Disney movie is "Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas" and her favorite music is: anything with a dance beat.



Sully- my husband 30= I picked Sully as his name as they share a common trait: lots of hair! I met my hubby when I was 18 at one of his shows. Yes, he's a former rock n' roller (big suprise, huh?) that has slowed down a little in this past year and now concentrates on his day job with a few guitar students on the side. He's never been to WDW. In fact, before I began broadening his horizons, he'd only been to our state's one amusement park. And that is really just an overgrown carnival! Since then, I've taken him to Silver Dollar City and Worlds of Fun as well as a few water parks. But none of those can even come close to what Disney World is. He loves roller coasters, but is afraid of heights! He thinks he will enjoy the water parks most of all.



And Finally....




Me-27= I am first and foremost a mother, but I do work part time at a coffee shop I helped open with my sister. We live in a tiny town (around 5,000 people) in the middle of cornfields and soy beans which is the most beautiful sight when you grew up on the money those generated. All of my immediate family lives here or near here: my sister and her family, my brother lives a 1/2 hour away, and my grandparents live here. I was lucky enough as a child to go to Disney World many times. My dad's two Aunts lived in Florida growing up and my dad's cousin worked at Disney World for a few years. The last visit we made was in the early 90's and we had free admission to all the parks because of her. If we hadn't gotten in free, we wouldn't have been able to go. My fondest memories are of our vacations spent in Disney World.


Well that is the cast of characters. Our dates are August 4-16, 2008. We are staying at the All Star Movies. I will be sharing both my planning of the trip as well as some memories of past trips. I am so excited to share the magic of Disney with the people I love most in this world and I am hoping to convince my husband that Disney is not just for kids. (I'm hoping beers at Epcot will help to change his mind.) But, now I am off to get Ariel ready for school. Darn those half hearted blizzards....

 

[Momof2princess]

Great start to your pre trippie.

Your DD11 sounds like my DD8. Don't you just love that touch of teenage attitude

Can't wait to read more.

 

[stagemomx3]

I gotta love anyone that puts coffee in their title!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Yay! Readers.

Momof2princess= Welcome! That teenage attitude is really starting to grate on my craw...The sighs, the rolling of the eyes, and then doing both of them together. Unfortunately, at my house I'm the only one to reprimand her for it, too. Dad is both oblivious to the fact and completely out of his league with scolding girls. Poor guy, there is so much estrogen running rampant in this house, he pretty much just has to duck and cover. A few weeks ago, after taking Zee back to her mom's house, he came in and had the worst look on his face. I asked him "what's wrong?" He looked at me with this mixture of panic and dread and said "She's starting to, uhmm....she's well..."He stumbled around for awhile untill he finally said "She's getting hips! And I don't like it." I was about rolling on the floor laughing. He kept saying "that's not funny". I assured him it happens to all girls. Big ol' dork, he is.

Stagemomx3= Coffee = I grew up on coffee! And now I work around coffee. It's terrible when I can have as many Americanos a day as I want! Yum. Welcome to my pre-trip report!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

So, I've all ready stated that we will be vacationing from August 4-16. 10 full days of Disney fun and two days for traveling. We are flying Northwest Airlines out of Des Moines. This, too, will be a first for my husband and children. Sully has only been in a little sight seeing plane in Alaska. Quite a difference between that and big old passenger plane. I've read stories about people who freak out on planes at high altitudes and try to escape. I am praying he's not one of those.
My plane traveling experience is not so vast either. Up until I wasa around two years old, my family always flew to Florida when we traveled. Unfortunately, I ruined that for everyone. I was a lap baby. And a good one at that. I was quiet, content, happy. It was the early 80's and jumpsuits were the fashion. My uber stylin' mom had on her new denim jumpsuit on for the flight. The flight was around 2 hours long and within 10 minutes of takeoff, I had proceeded pee through my diaper and al down the leg of my mom in her new denim jumpsuit. Needless to say, denim doesn't exactly dry quickly! She was still soaked by the time we made it to the airport where our loving Aunt and Uncle were there to meet us. Now, I hope that Polly's diapers are a little more leakproof as she is my lap baby this trip.
My other flying experience was from about 3 years ago. My sister and I traveled to Washington to my brother's wedding. The jet lag lasted for the whole three days I was there! Not fun. So, I am hoping that the jet lag will not be as prominent this time!
As for the girls, I have no idea how they will take flying! I am praying that they are all quiet, little angels! With my luck, we'll be the family kicked off the plane as Ariel will run through the aisles screaming and Polly will be wailing and kicking seats. I'll be pleading with security: They are good girls I promise. You can't kick us off. We're going to Disney World! No...no...no...

Ok, it's time to take Ariel to dance. I'm her very under paid chaufeur. And cook as tommorrow is her birthday and she needs 27 cupcakes/ cookies and drinks. And my husband wonders why I'm so tired all the time...

 

[DWGal210]

Great start! I'll be reading...

Hey, I am in Iowa too (Cedar Falls); hi neighbor!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

DWGal210= Hello back at you neighbor! Go UNI! My mom was a UNI alumni and always had fond memories of living in that area. You guys have had quite a bit of snow up there, too, haven't you? We are all so ready for spring around here!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Searching for plane tickets is a daunting task when you've never done it for yourself before! I had no clue that flight prices fluctuate the way they do. Seriously, it should be a set price for every flight. That would have made my life so much easier. Well, after checking all of the comparison sites, (William Shatner's being my favorite) we found that the prices were no different than the ones on the actual NWA site. The best/ cheapest we could find? $348 round trip. A person. No children's prices. It's just a plane. Shouldn't it be like a bus? Put in your 2 quarters and off you go? No such luck! Well, me being the flying novice I am, we booked it and are pretending to ourselves it's a great deal.

"This trip is really getting expensive, honey," my husband said one night.

I looked at him with my sad puppy dog look, "But it's been two years since we've been on vacation and we had to get our plane tickets NOW! What if we had our whole trip paid for with no way to get there. And then....we'd have to DRIVE!"

Enough said. He was now content with the nearly $1800 we spent on plane tickets. Did I mention that I did expand what our original plans were, just a little? Well, when we started planning this trip it was to be one week long. We'd order groceries to be delivered and spend a minimal amount in the parks. His only condition was we had at least two days at the water parks.
Well, in order to enjoy the water parks as well as the theme parks we'd have to stay longer than a week. And the convenience of the dining plan was just the ticket for us. I had to eat in the big pyramid. And he agreed. Also, I was in charge of booking. He gave into most of my plans. He also wanted to go to La Nouba. So up went the price as well as my leverage. Well, La Nouba is very expensive and I'm letting him go with the two older girls while the baby and I rest. The only thing I didn't get was an upgrade in hotels. I tried to explain the virtues of staying at a moderate. And Port Orleans Riverside looked pretty cool. But, alas, he wasn't having that. All we need is a bed and a bathroom. So, we finally "agreed". Mostly. And we booked it. YAY! And then it was time to make ADR's! AGHHH!

 

[stagemomx3]

Ok, it's time to take Ariel to dance. I'm her very under paid chaufeur. And cook as tommorrow is her birthday and she needs 27 cupcakes/ cookies and drinks. And my husband wonders why I'm so tired all the time.

Happy Birthday to Ariel.

 

[DWGal210]

DWGal210= Hello back at you neighbor! Go UNI! My mom was a UNI alumni and always had fond memories of living in that area. You guys have had quite a bit of snow up there, too, haven't you? We are all so ready for spring around here!

I graduated from UNI too - Go Panthers!

And yes, we have had more than our fair share of snow...I'm so ready for spring and summer!!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Happy Birthday to Ariel.

Thank you! She had a wonderful birthday. I can't believe that she is 6 years old! I'm starting to feel so old...

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I graduated from UNI too - Go Panthers!

And yes, we have had more than our fair share of snow...I'm so ready for spring and summer!!

It's finally starting to melt around here, thank goodness. Hopefully the weekend will stay nice and speed up the drying process. Perfect snow for snowball fights...a favorite past time around here.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

So, I thought that I would post a more updated picture of my daughter's Ariel and Polly. This was from Christmas of this year:

It took 13 tries to get one where they were both smiling. By the end of that photo session, I was not smiling. Not at all.
I have decided that on this vacation, I am just as excited about the food as the rides! My husband gave me free will to chose wherever we would eat with the condition that we did a few buffets. He's a buffet junkie. He likes bulk loading. Like my grandpa. At buffets, you get your money's worth. Me on the other hand, I despise buffets. But for the good of the family, I have decided to include a few. The princess meals were also a must as, well, with three girls you just have to! I also let Ariel choose one of the meals at MGM as none of them (besides the Brown Derby but we didn't have enough credits for a two credit service) looked that appetizing. She chose the one with the "funny kitchen and old tv's". Prime Time Cafe. I don't think she really gets it, but she is sure it will be hilarious!
Growing up, we didn't do a whole lot of tableservice meals. I remember my mother saying they went to the belly dancer meal and it was too spicy. The Mexico meal and it was too spicy. The nacho cart was too spicy...well, you get the picture. She wasn't the most adventurous eater in the world! A far cry from my husband and I where the spicier the better.
My most vivid memory was from, I believe, The Coral Reef. I could be wrong, it's been a long time. I just remember it was a seafood place on vacation. My dear dad, attempting to gross out my mother and I, ordered frog legs. Blech. They brought out these crusty, chewy, undercooked fried legs and the look on his face was priceless. Knowing that mom would kill him if he didn't eat them, they were expensive after all, he chewed and chomped his way through every last one of them. All the while looking like they could come back up at any moment!
We also used to eat at a character breakfast. I'm thinking it was on the Empress Lilly. Here are some pictures from a breakfast in 1982. The quality is not very good as they are pictures taken of pictures from an album.

This is my mom, not Mary Poppins...although the dress might suggest otherwise!

Pluto becomes my new best friend. The sticker on his nose says "Hello. My name is PLUTO"

Minnie and Me

Ahhh....memories. Too bad I don't remember that trip at all. Just like little Polly. At least I have the photos to look back on and I look pretty darn happy in most of them!

Next up: My ADR's...and Will We Eat In The Castle???

 

[BrittBritt]

That frog legs story is too funny! Why oh why did he order them???
You have a beautiful family, and it sounds like this will be a great trip.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

That frog legs story is too funny! Why oh why did he order them???
You have a beautiful family, and it sounds like this will be a great trip.

My dad is a nut. There are so many great stories about my dad and wild antics. Of course, most of them at the time were just out right embarassing! Glad I can now look back and laugh at them.
Thank you for the comment. I am so excited for this trip, it's making me nuts!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

When I got the go ahead to book the vacation with the dining plan, I immediately dove right into planning where we would enjoy our Disney meals! Would we eat in the castle? Or maybe at the Sci Fi? Who knew that there would be so much work that would go into coordinating meals? I read and re-read my guidebook dining pages about a gazillion times. I visited the food porn threads daily. I read dining review after dining review and looked at picture after picture. I'd come back with a new list every day and say "Honey, what do you think about this list?". And my dear hubby would say "I don't care".
It was finally the big day I could make most of my ADRS. And Cinderell'as Royal Table was the #1. I woke up at a quarter to 6 in the morning, grabbed my phone and my coffee and got my dialing finger ready. My husband walked past as he got ready to go to work and said "Thank God it's the day because you are driving me crazy about AD- whatevers." I shot him the "shut up I'm busy with Disney look" and he went about his way.
Luckily, I got the nicest Disney Dining Receptionist ever! Her name was Fran Ramirez and we got every ADR we wanted at nearly every time we'd hoped for! Yay! So Here's my list!

August 5th: Cinderella's Royal Table for Breakfast

August 6th: San Angel Inn for dinner

August 7th: Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner

August 8th: Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package

August 9th: Coral Reef for dinner

August 10th: Boma for Dinner

August 11th: 50's Prime Time Cafe for diner

August 12th: Crystal Palace for breakfast

August 13th: this will be our counter service only day. Hoping to try Wofgang Puck express.

August 14th: Princess Storybook Norway dinner

August 15th: Kona Cafe dinner

August 16th: 1900 Park Fare Breakfast and go home.

We chose to do the Princess Storybook at Norway for dinner hoping we have a better chance of seeing Ariel. So keep your fingers crossed for us! I can just picture Ariel going up to Belle and saying: Well, you're ok but you're definitely not as pretty as Ariel!
And our Kona dinner I debated on a long time! I tried to convince my hubby to save a credit and we would do California Grill but neither of us like sushi which seemed to be the main dish. Can't justify using two credits just for the view! And then we thought about Ohanas, but the reviews just kept getting worse and worse. So, Kona it is! I'm really excited to see the Poly. We went to the luau (sp?) once when I was young but I don't remember it.
I've never been so excited about food before it's scary. But now that the ADR's are done, I can go on to worry about something else. Like planning the days and what touring plans we'll use. Or should we make up our own?

 

[BrittBritt]

I'm jealous of your ADRs for 3 reasons:
1. Your DH doesn't care where you eat.
2. CRT!!!
3. You're getting to do character meals---No amount of convincing could persuade my DH to want to do one.

Isn't it sick how much time one can put into planning a trip to Disney?

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I'm jealous of your ADRs for 3 reasons:
1. Your DH doesn't care where you eat.
2. CRT!!!
3. You're getting to do character meals---No amount of convincing could persuade my DH to want to do one.

Isn't it sick how much time one can put into planning a trip to Disney?

That's too funny! In my house, I'm the one who could do without the character meals (other than CRT), but my husband wanted to make sure we included a few for the kids. He honestly thinks that this trip is just for the kids!!! And it is really disturbing how much thought and time I put into planning for this...Now if I could only put half as much effort into cleaning my house...But that's a whole other story!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Every Sunday morning before church, I drive the girls to there Sunday School classes. It's always a little stressful getting ready for church. I end up letting the girls stay up too late on Saturday night, and then finding clothes, getting them fed, and finding Bibles takes it's toll on my personal mental health...But the drive to Sunday school always relieves the ill will.

I always plan it so that we have about 15 minutes of free time in the car before we actually have to be at the church. So, I casually ask the girls:

"What should we do. It's too early for Sunday school"

And in perfect union both Ariel and Zee shout "Drive around and talk about Disney World." Oh I have them trained so well. We drive around and talk all things vacation. What rides we want to go on first, what characters we want to meet, the slides at the water parks. It's wonderful. Zee always talks about how much crazy fun she'll have on RNR. Ariel talks about meeting who else but Ariel in her grotto. I talk about taking them on my favorite ride It's A Small World. And then we sing...we sing the theme song to IASW. We sing Zip A Dee Do Dah and How Do You Do (mighty pretty greeting). It's mornings like this that I am so thankful to God for my beautiful family, for the joys that I have in this life, for the happiness that these girls bring me on a daily basis.

Just to give you a little background on our precious Zee...she lives with her mother and step father about an hour and a half away from us. The only vacations that she goes on are with us. In fact, she has never even stayed in a hotel with her mother. And it's not for lack of money....it's a placement of priorities. We do our best to enrich her life with all the positive experiences that we can. This might come into play later so I figured I would just get it out in the open now.

Well, I am off to get Ariel ready for school. I'll continue on possibly later today. Unless of course....I get to that house cleaning I mentioned earlier.

 

[ariel2007]

Hey just found your pre-trippie and its fab so far. Sounds like you are all going to have a wonderful vacation and have some great ADR's planned - we have either done or are doing most of them but unfortunately being just me and DBF we didnt really fancy doing the princess ones .

I love your Sunday ritual, it sounds like me, any excuse to talk about Disney and I'm there. Your girls are gorgeous and it sounds like Zee is very lucky to have you. I have a step-brother who was much the same when our parents got together 16 years ago - he had never been on a proper holiday and was only ever fed junk food at home so my Mum soon changed that and took us on some wonderful holidays, our first being Disney .

Its great to find some other fab pre-trippies to read when I'm not writing my own. Cant wait for the next installment