Sorry to interrupt the SW TR. I've been working most of the day and Thursday night trying to figure out where we're going and what we're doing. I just found out this morning that Randy and Marcia and their kids are coming either late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Randy's mom Nancy is now also coming on the trip with us which brings our total to 10!!
So, I finally joined Tour Guide Mike (we'd used them before when we went in Sept and Dec of 2008) just to have a guide for the best and worst day suggestions. It was pretty right last time we used it so we're giving it another shot. I'm feeling a lot of pressure on this trip to make sure everyone's rides/goals are accomplished. I know that's not always possibly but with so many newbies, I want them all to love it and keep going back like we do!
Here's what I have so far....I just spent the past couple of hours trying to juggle some things around to make sure we've got enough time for them in each of the parks. Without really knowing at this point what everyone wants to do, I'm just trying to fit in all of the popular rides and hoping for the best. I'm usually pretty flexable and can fit things in pretty well.
I don't want to run anyone ragged on the trip but I want to make sure they all have time to do the things they want to do.
11/24
We'll hopefully be on the road by 6 at the very latest, which would put us in Orlando by 11 at the very latest. I would love to be out earlier (I'm hoping for noon) to get us there sooner to check out the house.
11/25
I was planning on not really doing any parks for any length of time on Thanksgiving just because of the crowds. Well, we're going to give DHS a shot and ride TSM (our favorite ride!!). We'll stay for a couple of hours - until things get too busy for us. There's not a ton of things we do there so it will pretty much be an in and out park for us. I have on my list to bring stuff to make Thanksgiving dinner...we'll see if I go for that or not!
The kids don't eat any of that and I could take it or leave it so we'll have to see how I feel.
When we're done at the park, we'll head back to the house and rest for a bit. If we're feeling up to it, we'll head to AK for a bit. If we're not at DHS very long, we'll head straight to AK to ride the safari and whatever else we want to do quickly then go back to the house.
Since we'll have a pool and hot tub at the house, I want to try and make time to use it and take advantage of the shorter "winter" hours for the parks. I also know how much water tires you/us out so I don't want to over do it either. Corbin has exzema anyways so he can't spend a bunch of time in all that chlorine.
11/26
I've got an ADR for 8:10 at Crystal Palace. The boys most favorite thing in the world for breakfast is "triange cinnamon toast". From there (haven't decided if we'll keep this ADR or not just yet....), we'll explore the MK for a bit. I want to try and get a "lay of the land" before we bring our guests back. I want to make sure I'm familiar with the construction and what's open/closed. We'll do whatever we want this morning then head back to the house to rest.
After we rest for a bit, we'll head back to the MK for Spectro and Wishes (my all time favorite Disney thing I think!). Marcia and Randy will either arrive later this afternoon/evening or tomorrow morning. If they arrive, I think they'll just hang out at the house for the evening.
11/27
I've got an ADR for Tusker House for all of us at 8:10. When we're finished, we'll head out into AK and take on as much as we can. I'm thinking: Safari, Everst (ride or FP for later), Camp Mickey Minnie, Lion King Show, Triceratop Spin, Primevil Whirl. Once we're done with that, we'll head out. I want to be out of the park by 1:00 at the latest.
After some rest, we'll head to DHS. I'd like to be back by 4:30 to give us some time to check out the Annimation Studio and Playhouse Disney before the Osbourne Lights. If we have time for other things, we'll do whatever we can but still giving ourselves an hour for the lights.
11/28
I've got ADRs for all of us at Crystal Palace at 8:10 (see why I wasn't sure about keeping the earlier one???). After we eat a yummy breakfast, we'll explore the MK. I want to hit as much as we can since this will be our first morning at the MK. I want to hit as many as the following as possible: Dumbo, Small World, Peter Pan, Philharmagic, Snow White, Pooh, Tea Cups, Space Mountain (ride or FP), Barnstormer, Buzz, TTA, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash Mountain (ride or FP), Thunder Mountain (ride or FP), Tiki Room, Magic Carpets, Haunted Mansion. I want to be out of the park by 2:00 to give us time to rest.
Tonight's an Epcot night. I want to be at the park by 6:00 and depending on lines we'll hit Soarin', Nemo, Character Spot, Living with the Land and start into World Showcase.
11/29
Ohana's will be waiting for all of us at 7:50 this morning. Ideally, I'll talk Dan and Randy into driving from the Poly to EPCOT or parking at Epcot (I don't think the lot will be open that early) or the TTC to just ride the monorail from breakfast to Epcot for the morning. Hitting Epcot in the morning will give us time to hit Soarin', Mission Space, Test Track (all either riding or FPing), Character Spot and Nemo (Carter's favorite). I want to leave by 12:00 since we'll have had a bit of an earlier morning and were just at Epcot the night before.
After a rest, we'll head back to DHS to check out the Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Tower of Terror (ride or FP depending on the line), Rockin Roller Coaster (ride or FP depening on the line) then over to the Osbourne Lights again.
11/30
This morning we're going to start at DHS to be able to get in some of the bigger rides - TSM, ToT, RRC. Once we get the rides in or get fast passes, if we need a break we'll check out the Beauty and the Beast show. I'd like to be out of here by 12:00 if possible.
We'll be going to the
MVMCP tonight. I want to be in the park by 5:00 at the latest. That gives Randy and Marcia's group a couple of hours in the park to fit in whatever they want before the party starts (I don't know if they'll buy tickets to this event or not).
12/1
Another morning at DHS to hit the thrill rides if we need it. Once we're done with TSM, ToT, RRC, we'll head to the stunt show. Again, I want to try and be out by 12:00 if we can.
Tonight's our MK night. I want to be in the park by 3:00 to give us some time to do stuff in the parks before we watch Spectro at 7 and Wishes at 8 (not loving the early hours!). I want to be on the street to watch Spectro at 6 then move to the bridge to watch Wishes (I love Tink flying over our head!!). That only gives us three hours to fit in rides and everything else. Not all of us need to be at the parade spot right at 6, but a good number of us will need to be to save enough space. I can only imagine how crazy it will be. I'd love a Spectro after Wishes tonight especially if Wishes stays at 8.
12/2
Another AK morning to ride the safari again and Everst (ride of FP) and try to see the Nemo show. We'll stay here as long as we need to so that whatever they want to ride gets fit in.
After we rest a bit, we'll head back to Epcot to try and fit in whatever else they want to ride. I want to make sure my boys have a picture with Santa. He looked amazing last year and it makes a great Christmas card!!
If there's another park they want to try and get to so they can "re do" any favorites, we'll flip flop things around to fit in as many as we can.
I've been planning an hour to get to/from the parks to try and make sure we have enough time. I'm not sure how long it will really take but there's always travel time-even just getting into the parks from the parking lots. We always drive to the parks regardless of where we're staying. It's just way easier for us.
I have to get some ideas for everyone's welcome baskets. I want there to be something nice on everyone's bed but nothing too extreme since I have 8 baskets to make (Randy's mom Nancy, Dan's mom Carolyn, Dan, Corbin, Carter, Brett, Elyssa and Randy & Marcia).
I got a copy of the newest Disney Character Encyclopedia at Corbin's book fair at school so we'll have that to use for autographs. I also want to have a shirt, pillowcase, matte for a picture frame and autograph books available for the kids (especially the big kids
).
I want to have another Disney Night and go over our plans as they stand right now. I know they'll change several times over between now and then. I want to make sure they know we're not going to run ragged but to trust me and the amount of time I've put into researching the different options and have chosen the best times for everything we're going to do. I also want to make sure that whoever's getting ADRs uses everyone FPs when we're getting them that way those who want to ride can more than once or we can split up and get FPs for more than one thing at a time depending on what we're needing FPs for. I also want to make sure they're up and at the parks super early to get as much done as possible. I'm super worried that they're going to look at the plans and say "that's too much" or "I'm on vacation-I don't want to run around" or whatever. It's hard to understand if you haven't been there before. I don't like to rush around either but I hate standing in line when I don't need to. I'm kind of serious about my Disney
We can go together for as much as we want and we can split up whenever we want too. We'll each have our own vehicles so we can come and go as we please.
I'm also a little worried about them the night we do MVMCP if they don't stay with us. I hope they'll have a good time doing whatever. My suggestion to them will be to park at the TTC, monorail to MK to hang out for a couple of hours with us until they close the park to non-partiers. From MK, monorail to the Poly (or GF or CR) to check them out a little bit then back to the Poly to watch Holiday Wishes from the beach. I love watching fireworks on the beach. It's not the same as watching it in person but it's still fun and relaxing-especially when it's fireworks you wouldn't normally see. If they don't want to do that, they can either hit another park or go back to the house and hang out.
I have to keep trying to get an ADR at CRT. I had one for the 28th but I didn't want to pay the $500 for ADRs right now until I'm sure it's going to work for us. Last time we made ADRs there, they just took our credit card number to hold the ADR - it wasn't acutally charged. I was using the online system and it asked for the amount in full when booking so I guess something must have changed. I want to call about it and see if they'll hold it or if they charge the full amount. If we have to pay up front, that's fine. It's the one place the boys both said they wanted to go to which shocked me.
I've got to update my grocery list to accomodate meals for 10 people for at least 7 nights while everyone's there. Our "plan" right now is to have breakfast out in the parks a few mornings then either bring lunch with us or grab a snack at the park before we head back to the house. Then before we go back to the park, eat lunch at the house or an early dinner and grab a snack at the parks later. We'll probably do a couple of counter service dinners just because of the variety and fun of eating at the parks.
I've also got to figure out when/where we're going to have a cake. I want a winter/celebration/birthday/fun cake at one meal. If we eat at the castle, I'm going to do slippers for Marica and Elyssa and mini castle cakes for Nancy and Carolyn. The boys will just be out of luck I guess. They'll eat whatever we don't eat off our plates so they'll be fine.
Dan will eat part of his mom's cake and Randy will eat part of the other girl's stuff!
I feel like I still have so much to do. I just can't do too much right now. I'm slammed pretty much until we go:
June - end of school, end of our fiscal year at work
July - beginning of new fiscal year at work, familiy visiting over July 4th, Samantha's dedication at church on 7/4, Corbin's party on 7/10, MI trip 7/16-23, school registration 7/26-28
August - Back to school!
September - Back to School Nights (I have to go to both and speak about the PTO since I'm the president this year), pancake breakfast for the fire department on 9/11
October - breast cancer walk for the fire department on 10/9 (I'm heading this up), big school fundraier on 10/29
November - Carter's birthday and party 11/20, Leave for Disney 11/24
December - Come back from Disney 12/4 - also on 12/4 is our community Christmas parade (the FD has a huge part in the parade and the school will have a float in the parade too), our work Christmas party (I'm on the committee to plan), Breakfast with Santa (our Auxiliary plans this - I'm the president of that too) for the FD kiddos before the parade.
So as you can see, there's just a ton of stuff going on along with life in general like work and just having kids. I want to get as much planned out now as I can so I can budget for everything and figure out what I need and where I can get it.
Dan also mentioned wanting to do a tour this trip so I'll have to try and find a tour for him (and maybe Randy) to do one day. If Dan's mom comes for sure, I'm not worried (unless his mom does the tour with him for some mom/son time). I'll have Marcia to help me with the boys. They really do well and are familiar enough with Disney that they usually know where we're going so I don't get too worried. Bathrooms and meals are tough sometimes but other than that we should be ok. So I need suggestions on tours that you've done or want to do. Which ones should I look into and which ones should I scratch off the list?? I don't want to ask Dan too many questions so he doesn't figure out what I'm trying to do. He knows I'm sneaky so he'll know I'm up to something!
Alright...I need to go crash. I'm hoping to get the rest of my SW updates up first thing in the morning. I have to go grocery shopping so Dan has some stuff to take with him on his trip next week. He's taking the laptop with him next week so I won't be able to update a bunch until next weekend. It's so much easier to curl up on the couch or in bed than sitting at the computer desk!
It's off to bed for me...hopefully my rambling made sense tonight!
ETA: I just looked this over and realized I didn't really finish the plans. I guess I'm already half asleep!
Marcia and Randy are planning on leaving Friday morning to get back to their house then his mom and daughter back to their house. That leaves Friday (12/3) all on us. We're planning DHs in the morning and AK in the evening. Depending on what we get done or have missed, we'll flop around to other parks to make sure we get done what the boys want to do before we leave.
12/4 We'll hit the MK in the morning - we always start at finish at the MK (I'm feeling bad about not starting at th MK this trip!) and I have to get a frozen raspberry lemonade before we leave. I could drink them by the bucket - I LOVE them!! I know MK will be busy with the potential parade taping so we'll just avoid Main Street as much as we can. From there we'll go to DTD (like always) and do our shopping then head home.
I've also got to find DTD time while Marcia and Randy are there. Maybe one night use girls will head down there to shop and hang out. Or, we'll leave the kiddos with the grandmas and the adults will go out!
Ok, I'm really off to bed now....my kids get up way too early in the morning!
I'm a little upset to say the least. I'll get everything retyped and get it in here later tonight or tomorrow morning. I've got to get some cleaning done and Dan's leaving to go to Myrtle Beach for the week tomorrow afternoon so lots still to do. Sorry for the delay!!
I'm not going to start buying food and that kind of stuff until we're back from MI. That gives me three months to stock up on stuff and get everything together. 
By this point, I probably won't be able to contain myself! 
As of this morning Carter's 40.5 inches tall and he's THRILLED to be able to ride Soarin' this time!! That's all he's talked about this morning. 
I want to head that way about 7 or so to give us time to ride around the monorail resort loop and check out the other resorts. That should take a couple of hours. If we're back at the Poly by 9 for the water parade and fireworks, that would be great!! Of course, it'll be back home to bed after the fireworks.
