Bringing the Magic Home for Christmas! - Update 9/6 Lots of updates!

[newtodis]

I couldn't come up with a snappy title - I'm just not so good with those kinds of things so it is what it is. We're bringing home our Disney magic for Christmas this year.

Like so many other families, it's been a long year. Our last trip to Disney was September 2009 and it feels like years ago. It's been a long year to say the least and we need a bit of magic back in our lives. Thankfully it's been nothing terrible along the way and nothing we can't handle which is a blessing.

So, who's going on this trip you ask?? Well, let me just tell you! And, you get to see what all of our little mugs look like and the snow we recently had here in the south!

Myself - 28, total Disney lover. I'm the "ultimate" planner and am always planning a trip in my head. Disney is truly my one "happy place" that I can relax at. I'm always going in my "real life" between working full time, being a mommy full time, taking care of the house, being president of our Auxiliary group, PTO and a long list of other things that always get tossed into the mix. I look so forward to our trips and cannot wait for November. It will not get here soon enough!

DH - AKA Dan, Daddy, Dada, basically answers to anything! He loves Disney too but out of my family, I think he loves it the least - the boys and I have him beat out I'm pretty sure.

DS5 - AKA Corbin, Corb, Big One, Terbin (his little brother's name for him). Corbin really loves Disney and is getting into the "big kid" rides but is still staying with the "safer" rides. He's a lot like his mommy and, most of the time, puts a lot of thought into diong something before he actually does it. This is also Corbin's first year of school and the consistant report we've been getting from his teacher is that Corbin is a "lady's man"...he's already married to a girl he rides the bus with - Em (but only Corbin and I can call her Em....it's Emily for the rest of y'all! LOL) because when you kiss someone on the lips it means that you're married and you can't kiss anyone else any more! I'm telling ya'....this kid's well beyond his years in some of the things he says and can get us all rollin on the floor laughing.

DS3 - AKA Carter, Carterbug, Little One. Carter loves Disney as well and his favorite character at the moment is Stitcha (Stitch with a "ya" on the end). He asks just about every day or every time he sees a Disney commercial when we can go to Mickey's house again.

We're also going along with some friends on this trip as well. We work with them and hang out outside of work so it should be a great time.

DF1 - AKA Randy, Stanley, again pretty much answers to whatever! He works in my office and I'm the one who started the nickname Stanley when he started working here. He loves my kiddos which is great and they love him too.

DF2 - AKA Marcia, Marcia May, Miss Marcia, Mommy. Marcia and I pretty much clicked when I started working with her several years ago. She's a wonderful friend and we're a lot alike so it should be "fun times" as she would say. This is Marcia's first trip in many, many years.

DF3 - AKA Brett, Marcia's son. Brett's a great kid and helps so much with my boys when he comes over to the house. This will be his first time going to Disney!!

DF4 - AKA Elyssa, Randy's daughter. Unfortunetly I don't have a picture of Miss Elyssa. She's a wonderful young lady and this will be her second trip to Disney!!!


Index

Page Post
1 1 Who's who
1 2 Why the trip?
1 3 Where are you staying??
1 4 What are you doing??
1 5 Where are you eating?
1 15 "To Do" list
2 16 Menu list
2 17 Food to pack
2 18 Bags to pack
3 32 Pantry List
3 33 Tentative Trip Plan
3 35 Gift Baskets/Cake Chatter
3 41 Non food stuff to buy
3 42 Cooler Stuff to pack
3 43 House stuff to pack
3 44 Park Bags stuff to pack
4 46 Added a Traveler!!!
4 55 Pics of Supplies Already Purchased
5 65 Sea World mini-trip plans added!!!
6 87 Changes, changes, changes
6 88 Trip plans and ADRs
6 89 Welcome Baskets and Autograph Book updates

 

[newtodis]

So now you know who's going....why are we going?? Aside from just loving Disney in general, this trip was a gift to Marcia for Valentine's Day and her birthday - which happen to be the same day!!

We (Randy and I) revealed the surprise by taping a wonderful DISign (below) inside her birthday card.

She thought she was just coming over for a nice birthday dinner - which we had - but we did the night a bit backwards. We started off with her card to announce the trip and I handed Dan a packet of papers and said "look at where they're staying!!". On top of the papers was this:

YAY!! We're all going to Disney!!!

In case the card didn't say it, we made sure the cake said it as well:

Now that everyone was very excited about our upcoming trip, Marcia got to open her gifts: a Disney "survival" kit and travel bags for everyone in her family. I also made her a copy of my Disney binder which is HUGE so she's got lots of reading material!

Randy and I picked November 27 - December 4 for the trip for several reasons. We'll be there after the holiday rush of Thanksgiving but still get to see the Christmas decorations, his daughter will be here for Thanksgiving and he'll be able to get her back to her mom's before school on Monday when we get back and hopefully not too much will be going on at work or school while we're gone.

 

[newtodis]

Due to our large number of people in our group, we're currently looking at renting a house for our stay: http://www.orlandovillas.com/florida-vacation-rental-388.aspx. It's got more than enough room for everyone to hang out and have space away from each other when we need it.

Our family's stayed off site before so we're ok with that. We'll have APs so we won't need to worry about the daily parking fee and Dan and I can split up so neither vehicle will need to worry about paying for parking which is pretty nice. I'm also debating joining AAA to be able to park at the front of the lot. Yes I know that's crazy but the small fee to join for the year might just be worth it to me!

My only concern with staying off site is the possibility of free dining which could save us some money if we ate all of our meals at the parks. The benefit of staying off site having the additional space, pool just for our use and being able to make our own food. I think I'll be ok with staying off site. It will just drive me mad that we're paying for meals while people are getting them for "free" (I know it's not really free). And who knows...they may not even offer free dining this year - I hate to say it but that's what I'm hoping for if we don't stay on site!

We'll be getting to Disney in our own vehicles since we're only about five hours away which is not a long drive at all. We can check into the house at 4 which gives us plenty of time to unpack and have some fun that evening both at the house trying out the pool and hot tub and around the "World".

 

[newtodis]

It's hard to say at this point what our plans are without having the park hours or anything out right now. We're going to have a few "Disney nights" to hash out some plans and stuff along the way and get a general idea.

I'm the kind of traveler (remember I'm a planner....which means I'm also a list maker....) who needs to know where I'm going each day. This means lists of things to do in each park, park hours, show times, packing lists, lists on top of lists. (For those who are also list makers, I'll be posting my various lists along the way! ) I don't need to plan minute by minute but I do usually have a general idea of what parks we're going to on which days. I'm able to swap things around if weather changes or whatnot. I just figure that if I'm paying all this money to go to Disney, I'm gonna get my money's worth and make darn sure I'm not spending all my time standing in line or anything. I like to use my time wisely.

My thought is for our first night there to be there by 4 (which means leaving by 10 which should be no problem at all) to get into the house and check it out. I know my kids will want to head for the pool and game room. This should give us adults (we'll probably swap - have the guys haul everything in and the girls organize it) time to get stuff in and put away. From there, we'll either have dinner at the house or head to one of the resorts or DTD for something. My "plan" for the evening is to watch the water parade and Wishes from the beach at the Poly as this is where we'd stay if I could ever part with enough money to be able to afford it. Dan says we'll stay there one day...I just don't think I'd have a good time knowing how much I spent to stay there! Staying at a monorail resort would be wonderful though!

Because we still need to figure out some details, I'm not sure if the other half of our group is leaving Friday or Saturday. We were in the excitement of gift giving and surprise sharing that we haven't gotten to the details yet! I'm planning Sunday through Wednesday to be our "major" touring days which will leave them Thursday and possibly Friday for any "redo" rides.

When our family goes, we always go to a differen park each morning, take a break and hit another park in the afternoon. Our "must dos" for my family are:
MK - Buzz Lightyear ride, TTA, pretty much everything in Fantasy Land, Barnstormer
DHS - TSM, seeing McQueen and Mater
E - Nemo ride, Soarin'
AK - Safari ride, Lion King show

I know things will be different traveling with teenagers and hitting some of the "bigger" rides which shouldn't be a problem getting to.

Our family will probably also attend a MVMCP one night while we're there. We've done a MNSSHP before and had a great time so I'm sure we'll enjoy this too.

 

[newtodis]

I think this will be one of our first "Disney night" topics. I'm an ADR maker as well as changer along the way. I generally try to make our ADRs for breakfast because that's the meal my boys eat the best and they're always up at like 5:30 so it gives us something to do in the morning before the parks open. I also try to make them prior to the park opening so we're already inside the park when it opens. I love pictures of an empty main street and castle without people in front of them.

This time, we're trying to hit the following:
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's
Ohana
CRT
Tusker House

(I wasn't kidding about me and my lists! )

I love the character meals and feel the price is worth it because the boys actually eat and get to see the characers which is awesome. We've done them all before but Ohana. I thought we'd try that one this time because Stitch is there. Carter loves seeing him in the park so having breakfast with him should be pretty darn awesome!

I don't know if we'll do all of them or what I'll actually be able to get once I'm ready to make ADRs so we'll just have to see.

Other than some snacks and maybe a counter service meal here or there, we'll be doing most of the cooking at the house at this point. I've got a list - can you believe it - started of things I need to watch for to go on sale and start picking up along the way.

In addition to my OCD about planning and list making, I'm a super cheap person. I generally don't buy things unless they're on sale and I have a coupon. For this reason, I have an entire closet of my house dedicated to my "stockpile". This will really come in handy for this trip and keeping everyone fed and full instead of hungry and grouchy!

 

[newtodis]

Ok...you're in for a special treat! You're getting a two for one deal on this PTR! Not only do you get to help me plan my trip, but also my vow renewal ceremony in about six weeks!

Here are the basic details as they stand right now:
Our five year anniversary is Friday, April 16 so we're going to head to the Disney Resort on Hilton Head Island and check into our one bedroom villa there. From there, we're either gonna head to the beach house or just do a very small ceremony on the resort property on the water. Then, we'll do some pictures (not sure how many because it will probably be getting pretty dark so bad lighting) and head back to the villa for cake and some kind of food (still have to figure out if it will be dinner, apps or something easy like pizza). Should be a fun night if nothing else. We could just do the beach ceremony and come back to the house I guess too if we wanted to save the money. I just wanted to try and do something special and out of the ordinary. Traffic will also be a bit rough as the tourists will be here and it will be a Friday evening. The other thought was doing the ceremony and then going someplace to eat afterwards. My only problem with that is that myself and one of my good friends (Marcia!) can't eat too many things due to allergies and such so that makes it harder.

So that's the fun "in the mean time" planning that I'm working on hopefully this weekend. Once we're done with this little event, we've got DS5's birthday party before we head to MI for a week then come home to rest and save our pennies to go to Disney!

Not much planning on the trip side of things yet. We're having our first Disney night next Friday night so I also need to get a menu planned for that as well. We're just gonna go over the "basics" our first night and make sure we all stay on the same page throughout the planning.

We also got our Disney maps in the mail from the Disney site. We'd previously gotten the brown ones (before there was an option) and loved the quality of them. They've held up very well with all of the kids looking at them - which is a lot of looking! This time I ordered the Dumbo ones and they're adorable! Perfect kiddo maps!! So perfect in fact, that Carter took them for show and tell this morning and wouldn't let any of the kids see them!

 

[reyasmommy]

Hi…

Some cute boys you got there. Kid’s say the darndest things, don’t they? My DD cracks me up and a daily basis. ((She’s almost 4)) I have a baby boy too and can’t wait to see his personality come through.

Your plans look great. What a wonderful birthday gift to give your friend…. I would be jumping up and down screaming at the top of my lungs. And the cake was AWESOME!

If you’re a AAA member you get to park closer? I didn’t know that. I might have to join AAA too… My membership just ran out, but would be worth it to renew.

We’re staying off site this year too… It only made sense, since there is 8 of us. I of course prefer staying on property, but I’d rather have more space for us to stretch out. Plus we have a baby and having a washer/dryer and dishwasher will be a life saver.

Look forward to reading more.

 

[newtodis]

Hi…

Some cute boys you got there. Kid’s say the darndest things, don’t they? My DD cracks me up and a daily basis. ((She’s almost 4)) I have a baby boy too and can’t wait to see his personality come through.

Your plans look great. What a wonderful birthday gift to give your friend…. I would be jumping up and down screaming at the top of my lungs. And the cake was AWESOME!

If you’re a AAA member you get to park closer? I didn’t know that. I might have to join AAA too… My membership just ran out, but would be worth it to renew.

We’re staying off site this year too… It only made sense, since there is 8 of us. I of course prefer staying on property, but I’d rather have more space for us to stretch out. Plus we have a baby and having a washer/dryer and dishwasher will be a life saver.

Look forward to reading more.

Thank you very much. They are pretty adorable! Kids really do say the darndest things. Last night, we took the boys to a musical at Corbin's elementary school and when it was done, I asked what the best part was. His answer? "I got to eat popcorn and cookies, drink Sprite and you offered to take me to the bathroom." I swear. Everyone around us was rolling on the floor! Not "the kids did good" or "it was fun" but I got to eat junk and I have no clue where the bathroom part came from! I guess we don't offer to take him at home - it's just us so we know no one wants to steal him there!

Thanks! I know I think I'd be freaking out too if I got a trip for my birthday!

Here's a link about the parking - it's down at the bottom of the page: http://allears.net/pl/parking.htm. Now I also feel like I need to say we've never really had "bad" luck parking - especially in the mornings, we're usually pretty close. I've also read on other links and need to investigate if this is still the case but that there are special viewing areas for different things and discounts when purchasing items (http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/wdwguide/3_Tripplan/budgeting/aaa_perks.htm, http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1982824). I'm just nervous that those seem a bit older so, like I said, I need to do a bit more investigating before I commit 100%.

I see your ticker says you're leaving in 6 days. Have an awesome time!! I wish we were going now! I'm so in need of a vacation!

 

[reyasmommy]

Thank you very much. They are pretty adorable! Kids really do say the darndest things. Last night, we took the boys to a musical at Corbin's elementary school and when it was done, I asked what the best part was. His answer? "I got to eat popcorn and cookies, drink Sprite and you offered to take me to the bathroom." I swear. Everyone around us was rolling on the floor! Not "the kids did good" or "it was fun" but I got to eat junk and I have no clue where the bathroom part came from! I guess we don't offer to take him at home - it's just us so we know no one wants to steal him there!

Thanks! I know I think I'd be freaking out too if I got a trip for my birthday!

Here's a link about the parking - it's down at the bottom of the page: http://allears.net/pl/parking.htm. Now I also feel like I need to say we've never really had "bad" luck parking - especially in the mornings, we're usually pretty close. I've also read on other links and need to investigate if this is still the case but that there are special viewing areas for different things and discounts when purchasing items (http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/wdwguide/3_Tripplan/budgeting/aaa_perks.htm, http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1982824). I'm just nervous that those seem a bit older so, like I said, I need to do a bit more investigating before I commit 100%.

I see your ticker says you're leaving in 6 days. Have an awesome time!! I wish we were going now! I'm so in need of a vacation!

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll check it out!

Yes, we leave in 6 days. This trip has been 2 years in the making, so it's been a long, long, wait. We wanted to wait until I had another baby.
_______
Baby Jayden is now 10 weeks old, so we're finally on our way!

My DD says the funniest things too... Lately if I ask he to do something, she almost immediately responds with " Two minutes-- Just give me two minutes"" .... I'm starting to think that I say that WAY to much to her and it's caught on. But ever since I've had the baby, it seems like I always need an extra two minutes for something .

She also tells me at least once a day that's she's going to marry a prince. When I ask her if I married a prince, she says..... ""Ummmmm NoOOO..... You married Daddy""

 

[newtodis]

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll check it out!

Yes, we leave in 6 days. This trip has been 2 years in the making, so it's been a long, long, wait. We wanted to wait until I had another baby.
_______
Baby Jayden is now 10 weeks old, so we're finally on our way!

My DD says the funniest things too... Lately if I ask he to do something, she almost immediately responds with " Two minutes-- Just give me two minutes"" .... I'm starting to think that I say that WAY to much to her and it's caught on. But ever since I've had the baby, it seems like I always need an extra two minutes for something .

She also tells me at least once a day that's she's going to marry a prince. When I ask her if I married a prince, she says..... ""Ummmmm NoOOO..... You married Daddy""

Have a great time!!! Wow 10 weeks at Disney. I can't wait to hear how that goes! At least they're "easier" at that.

That's too funny about the two minutes! Yesterday I made everyone help pick up the house so I'd finished folding the laundry and helping the boys pick up their room and had sent them out to pick up the playroom and I sat down on the couch for a minute. Corbin walked past and said "we're cleaning mom. That doesn't mean you can just sit on the couch!". Seriously? You are my child!

Corbin's already married - because "if you kiss on the lips, that means you're married and in love". So, because the big kids on the bus dared him to kiss his best little friend Emily, they're now married!

Have a great time on your trip!!! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

 

[newtodis]

Ok we're less than a month into planning a trip that's not happening for nine months and we're at change number one already! Lucky us, we're adding three nights to the beginning of our trip! That now makes our trip dates

Nov 24 - Dec 4​

Couldn't ask for much better than that!! Hopefully this will give us a day or so to enjoy the house and spend some time together outside the parks. I don't know just yet if our friends will be coming down that soon or not. They're still planning on Nov 27 which is fine.

Now I have a new 180 day mark to make ADRs for so I've got to figure that out. I don't think we'll do any of the parks on Thursday just because they'll be so darned packed! That also means I'll need to do a LOT of my Christmas shopping before we leave (I pretty much shop all year long!) or on line Black Friday morning.

We may try and hit the parks a bit to do things like some shopping or just hanging out before they get super busy on Friday and Saturday. I'm also thinking we're going to try and get in a few ADRs before our friends get there if they don't want to do all of them with us.

My other thought is going down on Thursday and using Wednesday night to pack. I'm worried I won't have enough time to get everything packed working Monday through Wednesday and leaving right after work on Wednesday. I normally would use the weekend before to get everything done BUT that Saturday is Carter's birthday.

Normally I wouldn't worry, we'd have a few people over for some cake and call it good. Well Carter started "school" (day care) this year so he's got a little class of friends to invite and the kids in the neighborhood. I'm thinking to keep our cost down (less on the party, more on Disney!) that we'll just get a jumpy for the yard and have cake and popsicles (we don't genereally do ice cream with our cake - it just gets too messy).

So, with the great news of adding three nights to our trip comes the stress of planning for three more days and our trip down when probably millions of other people are traveling as well.

I'm also going to keep looking for another house too. The other two families we invited don't think they'll be able to go so it's just gonna be our families. I've paid our deposit but loosing the $150 to find something cheaper in the long run might just be worth it. And, if I don't find anything, at least we've got something which is better than having nothing!

Off to waste a bit of time this morning and house hunt!!

 

[newtodis]

Ok, we've decided to stay in the house we originally planned on. I found tons of other houses but couldn't find a comparable price to what we're already paying. I also checked into renting DVC points hoping I could get a deal there but no such luck unfortunetly.

I've also updated my ticker in my signature to account for the extra few days we'll be at Disney!!! I could leave tomorrow I think!

I'm hoping for some planning time this weekend so I can post some of my lists and things for those who would like to use them. I had tons of links on my computer before it crashed so now it's a hunt for the links and trying to remember where everything came from.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

That is our favorite time of the year to go!

Kids are funny aren't they! It never seems to amaze me that no matter how much I think they are not listening to me, they always seem to repete the things I say!

 

[newtodis]

That is our favorite time of the year to go!

Kids are funny aren't they! It never seems to amaze me that no matter how much I think they are not listening to me, they always seem to repete the things I say!

Yeah I love Christmas anyways and we were there a couple of years ago so I can't wait to go back!!!

Kids are hillarious! My oldest had two magnets in his had this morning and said "look mom! they're like magnets!" because they were sticking together. I almost fell off the couch laughing at him!

 

[newtodis]

Alright - I told you I love lists so here we go!

Let's start with my "To Do" list as it stands right now (I'll update as we go along)

*Get van cleaned out
*Get oil changed
*Figure out how to pack the van
*Finzalie touring plans (this will change until we get back from the trip! )
*Make list of ideas for meals (this one's a work in progress right now)
*Make info cards for each park
*Make countdown calendar
*Update first aid kit
*Charge camera battery
*Do laundry
*Pack Dan
*Pack Lynn
*Pack Corbin
*Pack Carter
*Pack food
*Pack cooler
*Get dvd player fixed in the van (there's another dvd stuck in it )
*Bake stuff in advance
*Get ice for cooler
*Get more mister fans (might not need them but don't want to hear fighting about who has one and who doesn't!)
*Sign up for freebies (travel sized to take with us!!)
*Decide what stroller's we're taking (double, single and umbrella are the options or just renting from Disney)
*Grocery shopping
*Make grocery list of stuff to get once we get there
*Decide on "treats" for everyone
*Get a backpack for the parks (need to do some research to figure out what's best)
*Pay off house
*Get annual passes
*Make ADRs
*Order custom cake (for Carter's birthday and just celebrating the trip in general)
*Plan Disney nights
*Find DISigns for t-shirts
*Make t-shirts
*Make activity books for the kids
*Make passports for EPCOT
*Make autograph books
*Get costumes for the kiddos to wear to the park (we've got Buzz and Captain Hook - hoping to score more after Halloween or at garage sales this summer)
*Get another memory card for the camera

That's it for now...I'm sure there's tons that I've forgotten

 

[newtodis]

Here's the current list of meal ideas that I've got. I'm taking one cookbook with me and that's a book my mom made me several years ago with copies of various recipies taped into an address book that I've added things to along the way. It should cover us for the basics but I'm still looking for some more ideas.

Breakfast
*Poptarts
*Cereal
*Pancakes
*Cinnamon rolls
*Muffins
*Waffles

Lunch
*Sandwiches
*Pita pizzas
*Grilled cheese
*Pizza rolls
*Leftovers
*Sloppy joes

Dinner
*Hot dogs/burgers
*Chicken nuggets
*Pizza (make your own)
*Quessadillas
*Sweedish meatballs
*Spaghetti with meatballs
*Tacos/nachos
*Broccoli, chicken and rice cassarole

Snacks
*Chex Mix
*S'mores
*Brownies
*Cannoli dip and chips
*Popcorbin
*Fruit and veggies (we can't eat junk ALL the time! )

That's what I've got for now...Please make some suggestions on super easy things to make. I'm trying to make sure I've got a little bit of variety but no one's super picky (except me). Marcia's allergic to pepper so we'll keep that in mind while we're cooking. Corbin's allergic to peanuts, shellfish, eggs, potatoes, grass, trees, dogs, soy, cockroaches and some other stuff. He knows what he can and can't have which is great. Thankfully we've never had a problem (knock on wood) so hopefully it won't happen while we're on vacation. Thankfully Randy and Dan are both trained medical professionals so we're safe.

 

[newtodis]

Alright...yet another list. Here's my pantry/fridge list. What am I missing????

Pantry (anything I don't need to take in a cooler for my list)
Oil
Salt and pepper
Seasoned salt
Italian seasoning
Mushroom soup
Egg noodles
Bread - white and wheat
Mac and cheese
Goldfish
Chips
Poptarts
Cereal
Spaghetti noodles
Spaghetti sauce
Pancake mix
Syrup
Cooking spray
Peanut butter (yes Corbin's allergic but it will be ok - I promise!!)
Jelly - 2 kinds
Graham crackers
Chex Mix
Cannoli dip chips
Muffin mix
Kool aid
Pretzels
Nilla wafers
Hot dog/burger buns
Sloppy joe mix
Marshmallows
Chocolate bars
Water bottles
Brownie mix and frosting
Fruit snacks
Pop
Juice boxes
Gatorade
Mini pitas
Pizza sauce
Coffee
Hot cocoa
Tortillas
Tortilla chips
Cheese wiz
Popsicles (ice pops that we'll freeze when we get there)

Cooler list
Chicken breasts
Hamburger
Shredded cheese
Pepperoni
Ham
Bacon
Sausage
Milk
Eggs
Yougurt
Lunch meat
Cinnamon rolls
Sliced cheese
Jello
Cannoli dip (or the ingrediants to make it there)
Tub butter
Stick butter
Biscuts
Ketchup
Cheese sticks
Chicken nuggets
Ice packs
Hot dogs
Meatballs
Veggies
Veggie dip
Fruit

 

[newtodis]

Ok...yet another list. How am I going to get all this stuff there???

Pantry tote - anything that doesn't need to stay cold
Paper products tote - pretty much what the name says - paper towels, napkins, laundry soap, dish soap and the like
Cooler - anything that needs to stay cold
Pool bag - pool toys and the like
Park bag - ponchos, change of clothes, first aid bag, stuff like that
Bathroom bag - all the toothbrushes, toothpaste and everything else
My purse - only for traveling - it'll stay at the house while we're there or in the van
Diaper bag - again, only for traveling
Toy bag - the boys get one small Cars suitcase to pack toys for them
Camera bag - we never leave home without my camera
Cars bag - (can you tell our boys love cars???) This is where I'll store the beach towels and such. This will be our "dirty clothes" bag while we're there
Suitcases - the boys will share one and Dan and I will share one to save space

It doesn't sound like that much but that van will fill up very quickly! We'll also take the double stroller (purchased two years ago the day we left for our very first Disney trip and on every trip since then!). I'm debating between taking the umbrella stroller, our other single stroller (we usually take the double and single) or renting a Disney stroller while we're there. Corbin's going to be walking more but I'm pretty sure (he's told me several times he's not walking at all! ) that he'll still want to ride in a stroller a bit. Since we're not doing Disney transportation or anything, we don't have to worry too much about fitting on a bus or anything.

 

[newtodis]

Our first Disney night is this Friday. We're going to all get on the same page and try to figure out if there are any "must dos" for anyone and make sure we can plan accordingly to get everything done. With the time we'll have at the parks, I know we'll be able to get everything done with little wait times and lots of fun!!

Right now, we're planning on getting to the house on Friday and getting some sleep. Thursday morning we'll get up and head to the MK for a couple of hours if it's not too crazy. Then we'll head back to the house, make Thanksgiving dinner and hang out in the pool for the rest of the day. We'll do the same Friday morning - head to the MK (more thank likely) for a couple hours then back to the house to hang out. Marcia and Randy and the kids will be down either Thursday night or Friday night. Whatever night they get in, we'll head to the Poly to watch Wishes from the beach and ride on the monorail. Saturday will be another "lazy-ish" day getting up, heading to the parks and back again in the evening. The "hardcore" touring will begin Sunday morning with hitting a park in the morning, resting in the afternoon then back again in the evening.

Our family wants to check out Spectro and Wishes one night, attend a MVMCP and check out the Osborne Lights. Other than that, our nights are pretty open. That means we might have an "early night" one day during the trip and see how long we can hold out at the parks during the day then just head back for an early evening. Nothing wrong with an early evening one night!

We're also talking about maybe doing a Wishes cruise one night - depending on if I can get the reservations. I think it'd be a great time for us to do something really special. Maybe even order a custom cake to eat on the boat!!

Yes I'm fully aware our trip is like 8 months away and that so many things will change between now and then. That's part of the fun and stress of planning a trip so far out!

I want to make the boys a little activity book with pictures and games and stuff to keep them busy while we're waiting for meals and stuff. I also want to make Brett and Elyssa passports for EPCOT since the boys will do the Kid Cot stations.

We're also thinking about taking the boy's equivilent of princess dresses - old Halloween costumes! We've got Buzz and Captain Hook and I'm sure I'll find some over the summer at garage sales and get a deal after Halloween if there's something special we're looking for. Maybe that will get my little angels some extra pixie dust during our trip. We always get so many compliments on the custom t-shirts I make with the DISigns from the Creative DISigns board that I think it's ok to do the costumes this time.

I'm also looking for some cheap, fun things to put in a basket to be at the house (probably two baskets or maybe three) for our friends when they arrive (one on each of their beds). Aside from the passports, I'm going to try and make the kids all autograph books for the trip and at least one custom shirt to wear on the trip. I'm thinking about possibly picking up some Disney dollars when we get there for them to spend on their trip but other than that I don't know.

I also need to come up with a great idea for a custom cake. Since this is a birthday gift for my dear Marcia, I'd like to celebrate that somehow. We're also getting there four days after Carter's birthday and leaving 11 days before my birthday so there's lots to celebrate. Maybe and "Un-birthday" theme??? It's also our first trip together and Marcia and Brett's first trip so we have that to celebrate as well. I'm thinking about planning a lunch at the Grand Floridian since we've had cakes from there on previous trips and they've always been amazing! I just don't know what kind of design to go with. I'm thinking probably a 10 inch cake (leftovers are great!) with buttercream icing (Marcia's favorite) and white cake (my favorite!). The reason I picked lunch is so that we can just take our leftover cake right back to the house from our lunch.

Alright...it's time to start dinner and get back into the "Mommy mode" and get everyone on track to be in bed on time. More updates to come soon! I welcome your suggestions, thoughts, comments. Help me plan an amazing trip for my family and friends!

 

[newtodis]

Ok I've been checking out the custom cake thread here on the DIS and would like to incorporate the chocolate monorail (we already have the castle from another trip), the character stamping (I prefer silver) and something a bit Christmas-y (I love the pointsettias in some of the pictures). I don't want to break the bank but I'd love something truly memorable. If we all go to breakfast at the castle, I'll get the mini castle cake for Marcia and Elyssa there and pirate chests (if they still make those) for Brett, Corbin and Carter. I so want to have breakfast in the castle again so I'll be calling daily to get the best ADR we can get for that one!

I've also got my hubby on a mission to collect more Mickey paint samples from Home Depot (I've already been once!) so we can make a countdown calendar one night (at least start on it and we can all finish on our own time frame). Another Disney night we'll make poster boards for our rooms (each of the kids can make their own and the adults will just make one to share). I've got a bunch of Disney pictures I've printed out in the past and will find some more to print. I've also got a couple of the Disney cricut cartridges that we can make some decorations too. That way we'll know who's in what room and give everyone a bit of creative leway to help decorate the house a bit. I've got all kinds of fun stuff we can use!

I'm so ready to start planning more and more for this trip. It's super hard waiting so long to be able to do things! I can't wait for park hours to come out and start making ADRs and other things!! I'm also going to send a message to a friend to see about getting some park maps for the kids to look at and make notes on as well as use for our decorating project. I think the kids will like that.