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

[newtodis]

I've been fiddling around with various arrangements this morning using last year's park hours trying to get some ideas for this year's hours. I'm not 100% sure on the combination just yet. I've been trying to sign up with TGM all morning long and keep getting an error message.... I finally have time to focus on this and I was so looking forward to it but no luck yet this morning....

Anyways, in my planning, I was trying to figure out how many to make ADRs for and I realized we're a group of 9. If my memory serves me correctly, that's a Grand Gathering. So now I've got myself a new project - looking into the details of being a Grand Gathering. I don't know that we'll do anything special but I'm looking into it none the less. I haven't really looked into them before so I'm not super familiar with them but hopefully I will be soon!!!

ETA: Ok...we get none of the Grand Gathering perks because we're not staying on site. Bummer!!!! So much for having something else to plan!

 

[newtodis]

Ok my goal this weekend is to sit down and add things to this PTR!

I've got lots of plans running through my head and so many other things swimming around right now that I've got to get it written down.

I've also got to come up with a great class treat idea for Star Wars...

More pictures and updates to come soon!!!

 

[newtodis]

Alright....I know it's been a while and I'm really sorry for that. So much going on between work and home that things have been busy to say the least! Let's see if I can get us updated so I can get to some updates for the trips!! (Yup, I said trips with an "s")

I pretty much left off with Easter details...let's see if I can remember what's happened since Easter.

Dan and I celebrated our anniversary pretty quietly on April 16th. He went to the Heratiage golf tournament that weekend and had a good time with his friend.

Corbin's beein playing baseball one or two nights a week along with practice so that's kept us busy. He hit a "home run" at his last game and was so very excited! He's really getting into it this year and it's so funny to watch.

Our Auxiliary has decided to host a breast cancer walk in October so I've been crazy busy looking for sponsors for the walk and donations for silent auxtion baskets to bid on the day of the walk. Organizing that is like a full time job in itself most days!

Work has been pretty busy because we're almost to the end of our fiscal year...that makes a ton of extra work for me being the "finance" person at my job.

Corbin decided to have his birthday at school yesterday since it's during the summer and he wouldn't be able to celebrate it on his actual birthday. He had a good time with his friends which was nice to see.

After we celebrated at school, Corbin and I headed back to the allergy doctor. The boys and I have spent the last couple of Fridays there getting them tested. Corbin's still my "bubble boy" who's allergic to almost anything you can think of (trees, grass, weeds, peanuts, shellfish, cockroaches, dust, mold, potatoes, carrots, garlic, eggs, soy, dogs, cats, horses...I'm sure there's something that I forgot). Carter has a couple of small things but he really missed the allergy boat. In an attempt to help "correct" some of the environmental allergies, the doctor suggested allergy shots over a series of 4 years but the effects of the shots should last about 25 year. I decided this was a fair "return on investment" and we decided we would start the shots. I kind of delayed the shots for a week because of baseball games and practices and meetings I had after work. Well, enough was enough and it was time to get the shots. I figured if I was leaving work early to celebrate a birthday, I might as well take him to get the shots done. I'm sorry to anyone within a 5 state range that heard him screaming - even when the poor nurse tried to put bandaids on! Thank goodness she was amazing and just laughed and joked with him. I'll probably get a bill for her hearing aids.

Corbin had another baseball game this morning so we were up and busy with that. My goal was to come home and go grocery shopping while they napped. Then, laying on the couch, a nap for me sounded better. Unfortunetly, I only slept for about half an hour and I'm still avoiding grocery shopping as you can see. I haven't been in so long so I know it's going to be a HUGE job so I'm just avoiding it. I have to go and I have to go soon since Dan's got to work tonight....ugh!

If I wasn't busy enough already, I then got elected as the president of Corbin's school's PTO. We "changed over" to next year's board already this year and we are in charge of organizing this year's end of year activities. It's a lot to take on but I'm so thankful to be able to be involved in my kid's stuff. I'd love to hear any ideas or suggestions anyone might have!!!


Now on to trip updates.....I STILL haven't sat down to figure out ADRs and I have to so soon. For Mother's Day Dan got me a Passporter so I need to look through that as well and get it registered on their site. I've always looked into possibly writing an article for them about our upcoming trip. I love to write (when I can find the time) - especially about Disney! So we'll see if I come up with an awesome idea to write about...

Dan's been talking left and right about trying to fit in a Sea World day on the upcoming trip. I'm not a Sea World fan - I love animals but can see most of them at local zoos and/or aquariums. It just seemed better to spend the money and time at Disney since I know we love it and we all have a good time. Well, we *almost* booked a last minute weekend at Sea World a couple of weeks ago on a rare weekend when we didn't have ANYTHING to do all weekend (except things like housework, laundry and that other fun stuff). Well, I talked myself out of it and we managed to find things to do here.

Since then, I've determined that I'm in desperate need of a vacation so back to the Sea World website I went. We're budgeting for APs for Disney for our trip and knew we couldn't get them yet to be able to go to Disney this soon. So, on a whim, I booked us a condo and bought Sea World passes!

We're heading to Sea World for Memorial Day weekend!!!​

In the next post, I'll post my "plans" (if you can call them that) for our upcoming mini-trip!

 

[newtodis]

Alright....a quick update then off to the grocery store I must go to be able to make dinner tonight.......

I have jury duty on that Monday morning before the big weekend. I'm praying that I know something about the case and can't sit on the jury. I don't mind doing it, just not before a holiday weekend. That Tuesday I have a big meeting about our breast cancer walk that I really can't miss. Wednesday and Thursday right now I don't have much planned but that will fill up quickly! One night we will need to do laundry and pack. I also like to try and get the house cleaned up before I leave to come home to a somewhat clean house.

Friday night after work (praying for no jury duty!!) we will jump in the car and head for Orlando. I got a one bedroom condo on hotwire for $62 a night. I'd been watching it for a couple of days and they jumped from $59 to 62 so I booked. I don't know if I should have waited or not. I haven't been back to look...We'll check in Friday night and hopefully get a good night's sleep and be ready to head to SW in the morning!!

Saturday morning we'll have some breakfast at the condo then head over to SW, which opens at 9. We bought passports so I'm hoping we love SW! We're committed now... We'll need to turn in our papers and get the actual passports which I'm sure will take some time. I've also purchased the parking pass on line but am thinking that was silly since passport holders get a discount on it...I've got to see about getting a refund for that.

I'm planning on us spending the whole day at the park (9a - 10p) to see how they'll do if we want to spend a whole day at Disney later this year. We'll be able to come and go with the passports so if it's too much, we'll just go and rest. I want to see the shows offered at night. From some research, it looks like a lot of shows and looking at animals so we'll see how the boys do with that.

We will probably also do the "all day dining" on Saturday if we're there all day. I'm sure we would get our money's worth staying all day. I'm also debating renting one of their double strollers. They look like the ones at Disney so we'd have room for our bag and Corbin to strech out or Carter to nap in if he needed to.

Sunday we'll head back to SW and see anything we missed or have to "do over" from Saturday. We'll have breakfast and lunch at the condo and rest for a little bit. We're still up in the air about Sunday evening. We're either going to eat an early dinner at the condo or out that night. The "plan" for Sunday evening is to head over to Disney and resort hop a bit, possibly eat at one of the counter serivce places from a resort, ride the monorail and watch Wishes from the Poly.

Monday morning we're checking out of the condo and heading back to Disney for a bit before it's time to head home. I scheduled breakfast at Cape May Cafe that morning and have ordered Corbin a Star Wars cake for after our breakfast. It will be an awesome breakfast - a great way to see some characters without actually going into the parks. We'll probably head over to DTD for a bit after breakfast for a bit then back home.

Not too much going on but a nice break for sure! We'll be trying new things with SW for sure and new stuff at Disney too! We haven't eaten at Cape May before and we haven't had a Star Wars cake before. Of course, we'll have enough left over cake for days to come. The smallest cake they would customize was a 10" which is HUGE. BUT, it will be cute! I have faith in that! The chef's called to confirm the order - white cake, white buttercream (mommy's favorite and the flavor we've had in the past so I'm "comfortable" with it despite all of Corbin's allergies) with a Star Wars theme. It will also have a white chocolate Jedi Mickey on top of the cake. I cannot wiat to see this cake!!!

Alright....I must go to the grocery store now. More updates to come soon!!

 

[newtodis]

Alright...in looking over the schedules today, here's what I have determined for our "touring plan" right now:

Friday
Leave as soon as we get out of work and get the kids - hopefully by 6 at the latest.

Saturday
Be at Sea World by 8:30. This should give us time to "trade in" our passport e-tickets for acutal passports, do the child id bracelets and get a park map and show times.

First thing we're heading for is the dolphin feeding. From there we'll check out Turtle Point, Sting Ray Lagoon, Alligators and Manatee Rescue. Then we'll head over to Penguin Encounter and Pacific Point Preserve. A lot of animals but we'll be in that area of the park and it's easier to see them as we come to them instead of criss-crossing and missing something later.

Our first show will be Elmo and Abby's Treasure Hunt at 12:45. We'll probably do lunch before the show or get something to take into the theater to eat while we're waiting for the show to start.

After the show we'll head over to Shamu's Happy Harbour to play for a bit until we have to be at Shamu Stadium for the 2:30 Believe show. I'm trying hard to talk the boys - all three of them - to sit in the "splash zone" during the show!!

From there, we'll head back towards the Shark Encounter until the 4:45 A'lure show. The only other things scheduled for the evening are the Sea Lions Tonight show at 6:45, Shamu Rocks at 8:00 and Reflections at 9:50. Of course we'll have to fit dinner in there somewhere and snacks along the way.

Sunday
Sunday morning we'll be back at 8:30 to get new child id bands and new maps. When the park opens at 9, we'll head to whatever we missed or was the favorite before. Our first show of the day will be Blue Horizons at 11:30. We're also going to try and see Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island at 12:45. That means we'll have seen every show offered other than Pets Ahoy. If the kids want to see it and we've got time, we'll check it out. If not, I won't be heartbroken.

We'll head back to the condo for a bit to rest and have lunch. Once we're well rested, we'll head over to AKL for a bit to see the animals. Around 7, we'll head over to the Poly to ride the monorail to the other resorts and check them out a bit then back to the Poly to watch the water parade and Wishes from the beach.

Monday
Monday morning we'll be up and at 'em early (the boys always are!) to be at Cape May Cafe by 7:30 for our ADR. Once we're done with breakfast, our server will bring out Corbin's Star Wars birthday cake and we'll celebrate. No one knows about my surprise just yet so it will be awesome!!! I'm still debating what to do with the extra cake. I know there will be a ton. I had to get a 10" cake to get it "customized". We'll either share it with the tables around us or pack it up and bring it home with us or a combination of both since I'm sure there will be a lot of cake left over!

Thankfully after breakfast, we're headed to DTD for a bit of shopping and playing in the fountain before heading back home. I'm going to bring an extra cooler to put the cake in if we bring it home to make sure it doesn't melt.

Sounds like a busy few days but I think it will really be a good time! Randy's actually mentioned he and Marcia possibly coming along as well. We'll have to see if they're able to or not. We're all in need of a vacation and what better way to spend a long weekend than in Orlando???

So.....give me your ideas, thoughts, suggestions and feedback. We've never done Sea World before so it's a whole new thing for us. I'm looking most forward to the Monday morning because that's what I'm comfortable with. I've looked and looked for Sea World info and it's just not out there like Disney info so it's certainly making planning much harder!

 

[mrsksomeday]

I am loving your PTR .

OMG, your binder is huge, I am such a slacker compared to you. I love your lists, you are so organized. So sorry your spreadsheet did that to you. I am always so paranoid about that happening to me.

TSM is our favorite too! We just love it. Good luck with getting everyone out of bed. I like all your ideas for autographs, so creative. Great ideas for the gift baskets!

As for time wasters in line, I wouldn't do bubbles, some people are allergic and I wouldn't want someone freaking out on you.

I knew you could get the slipper at CRT, I didn't know about the mini castle cake, now you have me thinking about our CRT dinner.

I am so sorry about the things you went through growing up .

The baseball and bowling pictures are adorable. I loved the Disney cake, so cute!
How great that you got a Mickey's Moms party in a box!! I am impressed with all the Disney loot you have! Amazing stuff.

I hope your hinting around gets you the Ipod Touch, my son loves his.

Congrats on the Sea World Trip! Ohhh love the idea of resort hopping at Disney and watching the fireworks on the Poly beach. Good idea!

I can't help you with anything about Sea World, never been there. I am so happy I read this today and will be keeping up with it.

 

[newtodis]

Here's my update from last night before the power went out:

I am loving your PTR .

OMG, your binder is huge, I am such a slacker compared to you. I love your lists, you are so organized. So sorry your spreadsheet did that to you. I am always so paranoid about that happening to me.

TSM is our favorite too! We just love it. Good luck with getting everyone out of bed. I like all your ideas for autographs, so creative. Great ideas for the gift baskets!

As for time wasters in line, I wouldn't do bubbles, some people are allergic and I wouldn't want someone freaking out on you.

I knew you could get the slipper at CRT, I didn't know about the mini castle cake, now you have me thinking about our CRT dinner.

I am so sorry about the things you went through growing up .

The baseball and bowling pictures are adorable. I loved the Disney cake, so cute!
How great that you got a Mickey's Moms party in a box!! I am impressed with all the Disney loot you have! Amazing stuff.

I hope your hinting around gets you the Ipod Touch, my son loves his.

Congrats on the Sea World Trip! Ohhh love the idea of resort hopping at Disney and watching the fireworks on the Poly beach. Good idea!

I can't help you with anything about Sea World, never been there. I am so happy I read this today and will be keeping up with it.

Hey there!!

I actually "updated" my binder and split it into two seperate ones - one specifically for trip planning and one for basic Disney information. Plus I have the Passporter binder now too I love my lists! It makes me feel a little bit more prepared and hopefully helps me from forgetting things.

I didn't even think about someone being allergic to bubbles in line! Thanks for mentioning that. We've never really had a problem with the boys waiting thankfully so hopefully we won't need too much entertainment.

The mini castle cake is BEAUTIFUL!!! I got one at the GFC for my DMIL in Sept 09 and she loved it!!! It was the perfect size for her - I think she ate almost all of it and of course DH had to try a bite too! I had ordered her the cheesecake kind (the choices were vanilla or chocolate cake or cheesecake). We packed up the castle and I just actually threw it out about two weeks ago.

The hinting hasn't worked yet for the iPod touch so I'm gonna keep hinting at it...hopefully soon! It would be great to have for the car ride to MI!!

I'm starting to look forward to Sea World. At first I wasn't too sure about it but now I'm kind of excited! Hopefully we'll all have a good time!! Of course I'll take a lot of pictures!

I like the idea of resort hopping to get a taste of Disney without actually going to the parks. I'm planning for AK to see the animals, ride the monorail from the Poly to GF and check that out since DH wants to stay there one time and back to the Poly for the water parade and Wishes (my all time favorite Disney thing - fireworks and the castle!!!).

Carter is THRILLED and keeps telling people he's having breakfast with Goofy and getting splashed by Shamu so he's getting excited for the trip too which is good. Corbin is keeping track of how many sleeps we have before we leave - a great math lesson!

I am lucky enough to have jury duty tomorrow. I spent the day yesterday cleaning the house up and today getting the boys and stuff I could packed up in case they need us all week long. I'm hoping that they won't want me the whole week if at all. I don't know why they have a trial scheduled the week before a holiday weekend anyways...I'm sure all these high paid lawyers want their long weekend too!

I don't know if I'll get to update again before we leave but once we're back, I should be able to start updating. I'll write as we go along and be able to copy and paste it here and insert pictures once we're home. That's the plan anyways.

Corbin has 13 days of school left this year and he's so ready to be done for the summer. Mommy is too honestly. It will be nice to have the kids both at the same place to make the amount of running around mommy does each day less at least for the summer.

 

[newtodis]

Well no jury duty today!! I got passed over for two different trials!! They still have one jury so I'm not out of the woods yet....but I'm holding out hope!

Four more sleeps until Sea World!!!!

 

[newtodis]

Ok I need to find a night to figure out our ADRs and trip plans!!! If my math's right (hopefully it is since it's what I do every day!!), I have to make my ADRs on Friday morning! If I remember right (it's been way too long since I've had to plan out and make ADRs), I can only make them 180 days from the day I'm actually making them so I'll have to get on line or call every morning for the days from Friday. I've got to get this figured out before we head off to Sea World this weekend!!!

My only "must do" is CRT one morning - preferrably before the park opens. I'd also like to do TH - again before the park opens. The rest I'll fit in wherever. I've got to try and get a Stitch breakfast. I tried for this upcoming weekend and it was booked solid.

Hopefully after Thanksgiving things will calm down and I'll have awesome luck and get whatever we decide we want!!

 

[ethansmommy]

Ok I need to find a night to figure out our ADRs and trip plans!!! If my math's right (hopefully it is since it's what I do every day!!), I have to make my ADRs on Friday morning! If I remember right (it's been way too long since I've had to plan out and make ADRs), I can only make them 180 days from the day I'm actually making them so I'll have to get on line or call every morning for the days from Friday. I've got to get this figured out before we head off to Sea World this weekend!!!

My only "must do" is CRT one morning - preferrably before the park opens. I'd also like to do TH - again before the park opens. The rest I'll fit in wherever. I've got to try and get a Stitch breakfast. I tried for this upcoming weekend and it was booked solid.

Hopefully after Thanksgiving things will calm down and I'll have awesome luck and get whatever we decide we want!!

Your right with making your ADRs, because your not staying on disney property you will have to make the ADRs daily. I feel bad for you, that is going to be such a pain. I hope you get everything you want!!

 

[newtodis]

Your right with making your ADRs, because your not staying on disney property you will have to make the ADRs daily. I feel bad for you, that is going to be such a pain. I hope you get everything you want!!

Yeah I'm debating trying to wait until like Saturday morning since we'll be in Orlando and people will be in vacation mode (and hopefully not the Disney kind!!). As long as we can get CRT one morning, that's all I really care about...I can keep calling and checking, calling and checking. There will be lots of time to swap ADRs.

Alright....ONE MORE SLEEP until we go to Sea World for the weekend!! I cannot wait!! Tonight I've got to make sure we're all packed and get the car packed. I'm not nearly where I want to be. I'm hoping to update once more before we leave....

 

[newtodis]

Alright, 2 suitcases, a tote, beach bag, air matress, stroller and blankets/pillows all packed up in the van. I've called and confirmed our ADR and the surprise cake for Monday. I also spent 31 minutes on hold with Sea World after trying for an hour to get through (tip: when it asks you to enter your phone number, enter ALL ZEROS...that was the only way I could get through to a person) to talk to someone for three minutes. I now know that I can take in water bottles, to talk to a chef at the restraurants about Corbin's peanut and shellfish allergies to get a seperate meal, to go to the Shamu Emporium to get an autograph book and got my prepaid parking pass refunded because we didn't need it with our annual passes we purchased.

The kids are thrilled to be going tomorrow and it was hard to get them down tonight. We still have a few things to pack in the morning but it's all pretty much done and already in the van! I'm sure tomorrow with d-r-a-g at work, especially since I've got a meeting at 3:00 that I have to stay for.

Wanna start betting on what I'm going to forget this time? I always forget something...it's just a matter of time to figure out what it is this trip.

I can't wait to come back and fill y'all in on how great it was (I'm trying to be positive - I have very high expectations) and share the hundreds of pictures I plan on taking. I'm so looking forward to Monday morning - I hope it all goes smoothly and Corbin gets an AWESOME birthday cake.

 

[newtodis]

Ok we're officially on the road! That's almost an hour ahead of the goal so that's awesome! Traffic's not too bad yet thankfully and hopefully we'll miss most of the rush hour traffic. I will try and update as we go along but it will be from my blackberry since I refuse to pay for internet for two days...so pardon the spelling erros and spoardicness and we'll be ok!

We just got into GA! One more state to go!!

 

[newtodis]

Alright we made it through a date at Sea World! We were in the parking lot about 8:15 this morning and there were already several cars there. By 8:35 when they started letting people in to park, there were quite a few cars there. We paid for the preferred parking which was totally worth it! We were about four spots from the entrance which was so worth the $10 we paid.

From there we sprayed everyone down with sunscreen and headed to trade in our e-tickets for our passes. I was a bit disappointed here - this seemed to be one of the last areas to open up (I guess I thought if I was a "passholder" I should get some kind of special treatment...not wait until everyone else was in line getting their bags checked and everything before the teeny, tiny room they swapped our papers for tickets was open).

Tickets in hand, we zipped through bag check and scanning our tickets. We heaed straight to feed the dolphins. On the way, Shamu came out so we had to stop and meet him in person!! I took Corbin and looked for a autograph book in Shamu's Emporium (which we found for about $6 which I thought was reasonable) while Carter and Dan headed off to rent a stroller. We'd decided to rent a double stroller so the boys would have room to spread out and rest if needed. They both wound up in the SW stroller and I put our bag in the stroller we brought. It was the best $17 we spent today!!!!

**The good thing I learn about having the passport is that it seems like you get a discount everywhere which is pretty great. (We used it on the stroller and several other times today.

It's just about bed time....as you can see, we didn't make it until 10 tonight at SW. It rained twice while we were there today so we packed it in a bit early. It was actually getting pretty chilly on our way out.

We did the all day dining and totally got our money's worth - I've never seen my kids eat so much in my life! They ate three full meals at the park (we ate breakfast at the condo before we left) and at least one snack while we were there.

We fed dolphins this morning which was amazing!! I actually bought two pictures on the way out ($20 for the first one and $10 for the second and both came with a frame so I didn't think it was too bad) which were pretty cute!

Overall, I think we all had a good time. The boys all said they had a good time which is what matters. I almost made it through the entire day without tears - something I can't say for a Disney trip. I did tear up though when they did the military tribute at Believe tonight for Memorial Day.

Alright....headed off to bed to try and get two kiddos to sleep so we can crash too! I'll add pictures as soon as I can. We are planning a "break" tomorrow so i should have some time to add them. We're heading back to SW in the morning to watch the Blue Harbour show and do some more of the Happy Harbour rides (Corbin rode up front all by himself tonight - Carter and I were behind him!) them back to the condo to rest for a bit before heading over to Disney to resort hop for a bit - probably AK to see the animals then the Poly to ride the monorail and walk around.

Have a good night! I hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend! We are!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Sounds like you are having a great time! Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[newtodis]

Sounds like you are having a great time! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hey there! Hope you're having a great weekend!!

We are having a good time! Headed back to SW this morning to see Blue Horizons and Believe again (the boys wanted to sit in the soak zone-they got SOAKED in the first show and stayed dry the second time). We also hit Happy Harbour again and rode with the kids on a couple of rides then let them play in the water for a bit before we left.

Carter came back and napped at the condo while I hang out and Dan and Corbin played mini golf here at the resort. Corbin came back VERY excited to tell me about his hole in one he got!!! Yay Corbin!!

I just scanned through the pictures we've taken so far and there are some cute ones! Can't wait to get them up and share them with y'all!!! Carter screamed like a little girl both times on the Shamu roller coaster and I had to laugh at him the entire time!! The pictures are so freaking funny!!

We're headed over to AKL in about half an hour to see the animals then to the Poly to hang out for a couple of hours. It should be a fun night. We had a good time at SW but it's really not Disney...no comparision for me at all. The staff wasn't nearly as friendly - there were a couple who were friendly - and the theming just isn't what we're used to at Disney. It was nice and we'll go back with our passes but it's not a "must do" thing like going to Disney.

I'm getting SO excited to head to Disney tonight and have breakfast with Goofy in the morning. I still have to pack tonight and get everything out in the van. It shouldn't be too bad. I actually didn't bring a lot this time for a change.

Also, for those interested, so far I've noticed that I forgot the following: a container to pack the cake in tomorrow, a night light, my visor, baby wipes and the point and shoot camera. At least it was nothing major!!

Alright, time to change clothes and head to DISNEY!!! I love free internet at the condo to post some updates!!

 

[ladybugmom]

Hi Lynn!! I just found your PTR and wanted to say hi! We're going to be in WDW Nov. 27/28-Dec. 4/5 (still working on dates) and we're staying at WL!! Can't wait to be there to see all of the Christmas decorations!!

 

[newtodis]

Hi Lynn!! I just found your PTR and wanted to say hi! We're going to be in WDW Nov. 27/28-Dec. 4/5 (still working on dates) and we're staying at WL!! Can't wait to be there to see all of the Christmas decorations!!

Welcome! I'm hoping to get some pictures up tonight. It's a busy week - field day today, school-wide end of year picninc tomorrow night, Corbin's gymnastics performance and baseball game Saturday, Dan leaves for Myrtle Beach on Sunday, Corbin's class picnic Monday, his kindergarden graduation on Wednesday and Dan comes home on Friday - just in time for a birthday party on Saturday.

I'll get our mini PTR up ASAP. I've also got to figure out our park plans and start making ADRs....I've really sucked at making them this time. I will have to be diligent about calling to try and change to get what I want. It's just a crazy busy time of year....should have thought about that when we started planning this trip!

We've also got a couple of additions to our trip so I'll get those up as well.

I've also got to try and get Corbin's birthday party plans together as well as our trip to MI. We found out that friends who thought they were unable to have kids are now 31 weeks pregnant - they had no idea until yesterday!! The best part??? They just adopted a beautiful baby in December and will have another one in August!! I'm trying to get them some hand me downs from friends to take up to them when we go. We were excited to go meet their new little addition and now we're excited to see her baby belly!

 

[newtodis]

Alright, I wanted to try and get our SW TR up and get some of our plans up while the boys are sleeping. We made it through two baseball games this morning and last night's End of the Year Picnic so I'm enjoying a little bit of peace this afternoon.

It just hit me last night Dinsey will be here before I know it and I don't have a lot of planning done. I spent Thursday night trying to figure out where we're going and what we're doing while we're in Disney.

On to our SW trip!

I had a meeting at work Friday afternoon at 3 and tried to get out as quickly as I could after that to get the boys. Our neighbor girl got Corbin off the bus so I didn't have to worry about going and getting him from his after school program. I finally got out of the office about 4:30 so my neighbor (who I was giving a ride home) and I went to get Carter then headed home to get the kids and get on the road. Dan was already home so we were all ready to go.

We got the boys into pull ups (just in case!), filled up the cooler and hit the road!! We were on the road about 5:10 which was about an hour earlier than I'd planned to.

Before long the boys were ready to stop for dinner. They picked their most favorite road trip place - McDonald's! We rarely eat fast food (mostly because there's nothing around here but Wendy's) so it's a big treat to stop and eat at McDonald's while we're on the road!

After our quick stop, we were back on the road and headed to Orlando!! The boys finally crashed in the back seat just before we got into Orlando.

The condo was easy to find and the kids and I waited in the car while Dan went and checked in. The condo was pretty nice for the price ($62/night from hotwire) but we certainly could have used something bigger (or at least another bathroom).

We woke up Saturday morning ready to head off to SW. We had breakfast at the condo (the boys had pop tarts) and loaded into the car and headed over to SW. It wasn't a far drive which was great! We didn't have to pay for parking with the annual passes but we did pay the extra $10 for preferred parking. I wish we were able to park this close at Disney!!! We were literally about 4 spots from the entrance which was AWESOME! Best $10 we spent both mornings for sure!!

We had to wait in line to exchange our e-tickets for our annual passes. I was a bit disappointed that I could have walked in that morning and bought tickets from a vending machine or the ticket window without having to wait in line. I guess I'm just used to Disney having some "perks" for the passholders and not having to wait until the park's open to take care of things. I appreciate that Disney can do a lot in the half hour or so before the park opens.

Once we got our passes, we headed over to get in line to have our bags checked. I barely had by bag up to be checked and I was told everything was fine. Now I'm glad I didn't have a hassle about what was in my bag, but I'd appreciate at least a little effort into checking the bags. Dan had the same experience since he had a bag too (I had our regular canvas bag that we take to Disney and a beach bag with swim suits and towels in case we wanted to play in the water).

The ticket booths were a lot like Disney - you lay your ticket down under the scanner thingy and put your finger on a scanner. They're pretty tall and Corbin had a hard time reaching up there and holding still enough for the scanner part to work.

We were finally in the park!! On the way in, there were a couple of photographers there to take pictures with the whale and penguins on the wall (you were able to purchase the photos if you wanted). We passed on that and headed over to meet Shamu!! Thankfully I took pictures with my camera because the pictures their photographer took some how didn't make it onto the card they gave us (we didn't look at the pictures until on our way out of the park).

From meeting Shamu, Corbin and I went into the gift shop to get an autograph book. They were priced about the same as Disney ($5.95) but not the same quality I didn't think. It was basically a wire-bound book with sea life on each page (like in the background).

While we got the book, Dan and Carter went to get a stroller. We'd agreed before we left that we were going to try and see how we did with only one stroller this trip and try out the "new" stroller I'd purchased at a garage sale this spring. The good thing about the SW passes is that they seemed to get us a discount just about everywhere (most places were 10% I think). We got a double stroller to make sure we had enough room in case one of them wanted to lay down and rest while we were looking at things. I could have left our stroller in the van - both boys rode in the SW stroller pretty much the entire day! Our stroller was more like a shopping cart that I put one bagin the seat of and one on the handle so we didn't have to carry them.

(contd in next post)

 

[newtodis]

Once we had the strollers, we were on our way!!! The first place we headed was over to feed the dolphins. This is something that was a "must do" for us. There was a line already started but we were towards the beginning of the line which was good. We were also very close to the sting rays so the boys could check them out while we were waiting. Before long, it was time to feed the dolphins. Everyone was told that anyone entering the dolphin feeding side would have to purchase a "tray" of fish (the tray is a white container that holds about 6 fish) for $7. Kids under 3 weren't charged for a tray and again here we got a passholder discount (10% I think - Dan was paying while I was rangling the boys). Once we entered, we waited again while the group in front of us finished. Before we were allowed to go down to the pool the dolphins were in, we were given a brief rundown of the rules while we were in the area. It was very hard to hear so I think this could have been done better - especially for the safety of the dolphins.

Once we entered the area, we all had to stand along the back wall of the area and listen to more rules (it could have been the same ones - I couldn't hear the first time). Basically, don't hurt the dolphins or take anything up to the pool that could fall in. At that time we walked up to the pool and waited for the fish to be brought out.

The boys weren't too sure at first but once the dolphins realized they had food, it was on!! The look on Carter's face was absolutely priceless!!! Dan held him up kind of on his belly on the wall (that was SW's suggestion) and the dolphins came right up. Corbin thought the fish were kind of gross but he even got into it.

All too quickly, our turn was done. We got 5 slips of paper that meant our picture had been taken while the boys were feeding dolphins. I was excited to see them but we waited until the end of the day so we didn't have to wrorry about toting them around the pack if we purchased anything. The kiosks are right behind the area to feed dolphins - they were kind of hard to find since we didn't go out the way we came in.

From there, we headed to the manatee rescue area. Dan walked through with the boys while I went back to make sure we didn't have to look at the pictures right then - we'd heard a couple of different things so I wanted to double check. I was told they'd be there all day so we continued along our way.

On my way back, I saw the flamingos going for their walk.

The boys had already walked through the manatee rescue area and said I didn't miss anything so we moved on to the alligator area. This looked like a typical zoo exhibit for me. They were all very small gators - we have huge ones in our back yard so the boys weren't too impressed with this part.

From there we started to try to figure out which shows we were going to at which times. We headed to the aquarium inside the boat ride (I don't remember the name - SW's version of Splash Mountain). It was very cool - the floor and ceiling both had glass in them to be able to see the fish swimming around. It was also a great break from the heat. Thankfully it was kind of an over-cast day which is great for me and my sun allergy.

From there, we headed over to see the Penguin Encounter. Carter was really looking forward to this (he likes the Penguins of Madagacar cartoon). Again, this exhibit reminded me a lot of a zoo. It was nice but nothing "amazing" or over the top to stand out from other exhibits you could see anywhere.

After the penguins, we walked through the turle exhibit - again, very zoo-like. The turtle were HUGE and it was cool to actually see one swimming in the water instead of just laying on the bank like we usually see.

********insert turtle pictures here

The boys were starting to get hungry and we'd already agreed to do the all day dining plan. The places opened at 11 so we started heading towards the restraurants. We stopped at the dolphin nursery to see the baby dolphins. They were cute and swam around and splashed people.

After we saw the baby dolphins, we headed to ((((insert name here))))) to get lunch. We were one of the first people in line since we were there when they opened. This gave us a chance to try and figure out what was included in the dining plan and what wasn't. Dan had chicken parmagna (sp?), the boys had hot dogs and I had fish and chips. Dan got jello as his additional side at Carter's request and I got chocolate cake as my side at Corbin's request (we confirmed it was peanut free and safe for him!). We went through the lines and over to the check out area where we got our arm bands for the dining plan. Again, we got another discount for having our passes. It pays to ask everywhere you are!

Overall, the boys ate pretty much everything on their plates. I thought everything was a really decent portion size for the prices. They're inflated because they can being insde a theme park but it wasn't too terrible. Dan liked his meal and I loved the fish and chips. It was very crunchy and just good over all. The boys loved the jello and the cake. I don't eat jello (I don't like things you don't have to chew. For those who are new, I'm a very picky eater!!) and I tried the chocolate cake and thought it was terrible. I'm not a chocolate fan in general but it honestly almost made me vomit it was that bad (sorry if that's TMI). The boys liked it though so that's great.

We decided we needed another drink before we left so we got back in line to get drinks and Dan and I got the boys a cup of strawberries each to snack on while we were headed to our next exciting adventure. It turned out that my boys were bottomless pits today! It seemed like they were eating every time I turned around!!!