Bust out the pixie dust, cause this time we're flying! A Jan 2011 PTR. Updated 17/11

[jenjolt]

I'm with you on the Weight Watchers thing!!! Maybe we can exchange ideas and recipes sometime!! I'm at the point where I'm kind of stuck so I have fallen back into old habits and that is not good!! I don't want that! I want to lose another 20 by my trip too...so far have lost 15lbs....

YAY for having a night for yourself and DH, hope you have a great anniversary!!

Hope your book gets there soon!!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

DH just signed up for the 5K at Epcot on January 7th!! He's going to miss the awards ceremony on Sunday cause we leave on the seventh and can't change our flights but he doesn't care about that.

Basically, we'll get up crazy early...(the race starts at 7 am) head over to Epcot to watch his run, go back to the hotel so he can shower and change, gather up our stuff and check out, leave our bags with bell services and then go do something until we need to be back for the ME ride to the airport.

We've also discussed the fridge swap and I think we are going to back out of it. We won't really need it, except perhaps for milk and the occasional leftovers (which DH doesn't believe will exist!! ) and it seems like it might be too much of a hassle for a minor convenience. If we weren't doing the dining plan we'd be all over it, but since we are...it's not really a necessity.

I'm going to do the proper update in a subsequent post.

TTFN!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

I'm with you on the Weight Watchers thing!!! Maybe we can exchange ideas and recipes sometime!! I'm at the point where I'm kind of stuck so I have fallen back into old habits and that is not good!! I don't want that! I want to lose another 20 by my trip too...so far have lost 15lbs....

YAY for having a night for yourself and DH, hope you have a great anniversary!!

Hope your book gets there soon!!!

I'd be happy to exchange ideas and recipes with you anytime! Great job on losing 15 pounds so far!!

You should check out the Skinny Island WISH thread. There's a great gang over there trying to slim down and several of us are doing weight watchers. We have a lot of fun and can always use more members!!

Thanks for the well wishes about my anniversary and my book coming soon.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Day Six
Thursday, January 6th
Epcot

Okay, so I already KNOW that we are going to be spending an inordinate amount of time in Japan because my kids have recently discovered Pokemon.

DS has already told me that "next time" he wants to spend most of his spending money in Japan on Pokemon items.

Historically, we've done Future World first to our full and complete satisfaction and then headed to the World Showcase until we're ready to throw in the towel and there's no reason to suppose we are going to do things any differently this time.

We have a lunch ADR at Coral Reef followed by a dinner ADR at Tutto Italia.

Soarin' in Future World is a must, as is Mission Space. I'm still trying to talk them into Test Track. We'll also do Living with the Land and the Nemo ride at least once and Spaceship Earth probably twice. And of course, we'll be hitting up Innoventions. My kids are giddy about that silly piggy bank game so we'll be doing that one for sure.

Cool Club is on my to do list for next time as well as hitting the Captain EO show. These will both be new experiences. Also, if I can manage it...I'd like to do a Kim Possible mission...I think my kids would really enjoy that.

I'm fairly certain we'll skip Figment, Circle of Life and Ellen's Universe of Energy. Been there, done that...not terribly impressed.

We don't shop much while in the World Showcase so once we've finished with future world, we'll head counterclockwise around the world stopping in Japan for sure and again in China for something I want to get. I'm thinking a fan and some chopsticks maybe but I'll see when I get there.

I know we are going to ride the Donald ride in Mexico and we are going to be getting some treats in Germany and Norway (these places have been neglected shamefully by our family every Epcot day so far ) but I'm not sure about what else we'll do when we are there. It all depends on our moods at the time. I'd like to check out the American Adventure but I don't know how the rest of the family will feel about this one. I suppose I could always insist.

We will definitely be skipping Illuminations though. We saw it on our first trip in 2009 and I was thoroughly bored. DH wasn't impressed with it either so it's not something we're planning to repeat any time soon.

I guess that's about it. Oh! There will be an obligatory pose with the troll! It's a tradition we started in April. I'm excited about doing again this time so as to showcase my recent weight loss but DD said the troll was our boyfriend and was determined to pose with it so it's something we'll do each time to show the passage of time.

Here's April's photo:

So, once we've had enough we'll head back to the resort to pack up because this is our last full Disney day and we fly home around dinner time on day seven.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I did go ahead and cancel the fridge. I sent a message to the owner telling her that we were backing out of the fridge swap. She was pretty classy. She sent me a PM back telling me no problem and that it happens all the time. I felt bad about the inconvenience but relieved that I no longer have that particular obligation.

Today DS and I walked up to the nearby mall so he could spend some of his pocket money at the dollar store. He walked the entire 4 miles (round trip) without complaint although he was definitely losing steam on the way home. He told me his feet were starting to hurt. While at the dollar store I found travel size sunblock so I grabbed a couple of tubes.

This was one of the last things I had been worrying about. Since we’re doing carry ons only for the flight, we can’t bring a regular bottle with us. Initially, I thought…no problem…we’ll buy some when we get there and then I realized that we’d have to leave the bottle there cause we wouldn’t be able to bring it in our bags for the flight home either. Not a HUGE deal, but I was hoping not to have to pay the inflated park prices for a bottle that would have to be tossed (or given away perhaps) six days later. I’m too frugal for this to sit well with me, although I was resigned to it if it was our only option.

So, I got as far as wondering whether or not it would be possible to find some smaller sized tubes but didn’t actually LOOK for any during my recent shopping trips. Then I just happened to spy them while DS was perusing some nearby merchandise and I snatched them up.

I got a regular tube and a “just for kids” tube but the only thing I’m not crazy about is that it’s only SPF 30. I try not to buy less than SPF 45 and I prefer to get SPF 60, so it’s a bit low but at least it’s cheap and can be safely conveyed to and fro in my carry on luggage.

So that was an exciting little trip related surprise for me!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

DH's 5K is throwing our Epcot day all out of whack!!

I haven't had a chance to speak with him about it yet but he needs to go pick up his items from the Expo at the WWoS on the Thursday between 12 and 8 pm. I'm not really interested in losing valuable park time to trek over there with him to go and get it so I'm really hoping that he'll offer to go on his own.

Oops!! Just grabbed him now and let him know the situation. We moved up our dinner reservation so we can leave the park by six and he can register and get his goodies at that time. I don't imagine that the kids will want to accompany him (and truth be told he likes to have a little adventure himself every now and then and this might be his only opportunity) but if they do want to go check it out we'll come along for the ride.

If the weather cooperates (and they don't want to go) we'll be in the pool or at the playground and if it's too cold for that we'll probably check out the arcade or possibly even head over to DTD if we're REALLY interested in an adventure. Of course, if we're pooped, we'll just chill out in our room and watch some t.v. This will be our last full day at Disney and we might not have anything left in us by then.

Now I just have to figure out how to get to WWoS so I can let DH know!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

68 days and counting!!

I was chatting with DS the other day, trying to get a feel for what time of the year he was interested in going to Disney again (gotta keep throwing them off the scent) and my exact phrase was "when do you think we are going to be able to go to Disney again."

To which he promptly responds, "January 1st I think."

Did I blow the secret somehow?

Upon further questioning it was revealed that he suggested that date because he knew that we would not be going in 2010 and January 1st is the 1st day of 2011 and therefore, the absolute soonest we COULD go again!!

Phew!!

The secret is still safe.

So far.



I'm trying to figure out what I can do during the month of November to keep the excitement level alive. December will be so busy with Christmas related stuff that the time will pass quickly enough but November is my least favourite month so I've got to think of something fun to do to make the time seem to pass quicker!!

Any suggestions??

 

[mblaesing]

We are going to be there on Jan 2 thru the 7th for our first trip ever!!! We are also staying at POP. My kids are 10 an 6 and have no idea that we are going. We are going to surprise them for Christmas.

We are from the Detroit Area and also flying out of Detroit Metro!!!

Misty

 

[stayhomemom77]

HOW FUN!!

We're on the 6:20 pm flight back...how about you??

 

[BrittanyBB]

I must say I have quite enjoyed myself reading this thread. I have even actually laughed out loud at points, which makes me look crazy to DH.

We too have a trip planned for January and can not wait. However, after reading your plans, I am thinking I need some adjustments for mine!

You'll have to keep us updated on the kids reactions Christmas morning. It will be quite the exciting household!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Hello fellow Canadian!! So glad to have been a source of fun and mirth. I laugh aloud at TR and Dining Reviews so much that DH has stopped asking, "what's so funny."

 

[stayhomemom77]

DH and I decided to spring the surprise on the kids on Boxing Day rather than Christmas morning. We chatted about it the other night and figured that will all the regular excitement that Christmas brings, the trip might prove too much for them and either lead to hysteria OR they'd be underwhelmed and I'd be the one in hysterics.

We ALWAYS take it easy on Boxing Day so we thought that after a good night's sleep and a good breakfast and the chance to play a bit with all of their new toys they'd be in a better frame of mind for this particular surprise.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I made some more changes!!

I've been studying the menus for quite some time and been feeling guilty that we said no to DD on the breakfast request at Chef Mickey's, so I switched some stuff around so she can be accommodated.

DH doesn't know yet but I don't think he'll mind. We'll be eating breakfast foods but our ADR is really just an early lunch time.

So here are our dining plans:

January
1. dinner at Everything Pop
2. lunch at Sci Fi, dinner at Starring Rolls
3. lunch at CHH (hopefully), dinner at Ohana
4. lunch at Chef Mickey (at 11 am so breakfast food), dinner at Kouzzina's
5. lunch at Yak & Yeti CS, dinner at WCC
6. lunch at Coral Reef, dinner at Tutto Italia
7. lunch at WPE, dinner on the plane (hopefully from Earl of Sandwich, likely OOP)

Did ya notice that we now have 7 ADR's instead of 6?? That was not a mistake. I decided that I don't want a burger at Sci Fi...last time I got full just on the milkshake, so I'm going to get a chocolate one again next time and just get the BLT soup from the appetizer menu and pay OOP for it.

Also, I thought the Kouzzina spreads sounded intriguing and decided to add that to my meal. Then I remember Sanaa from last year...I was so stuffed I could barely walk and I didn't eat all of my food by a long shot. That was because of the hummus and bread. So, I'm just going to order the spreads as my entree and nibble a bit off of DH's plate.

That means that we have 2 adult TS credits left over to use on another meal. So, I decided to pay for the kids OOP at Sci Fi too.

BINGO!! We can add WCC back in to the mix and I get to try the dinner skillet this time (we ate there at lunch last time) and there should be lots of shenanigans happening this go around. Also we should be able to actually check out the resort (didn't have a chance last time cause we got lost and were late) and the kids can play with the Lincoln logs again!

And it's only going to cost around $40 OOP! If I happen to be really hungry at our Sci Fi lunch I'll just pay OOP for the burger and fries and get water to drink instead of the milkshake. (I drink water EVERYWHERE I go, except when on the Disney dining plan ) That's about $2.20 more than the milkshake and the soup so I don't have to dig too much farther into the pocket to cover it.

 

[stayhomemom77]

The kids earned themselves some Disney dollars this weekend for good behaviour and this morning I was counting them to see how many each one has earned thus far.

DS has 13 and DD has 11, in case you care. I have enough for each of them to have 20 total.

This prompted DD to volunteer the information that she wanted to go back during Christmas vacation. The kids have seen a couple of home videos of the Osbourne Lights and it's really stayed with them. DS was quick to say that he too wanted to go over Christmas break especially for the lights. He then jumped in with, "you mean Christmas in 2011 though, right? 'Cause we can't go for this Christmas."

She did agree that's what she meant but judging by the look on her face, I think she was intending to suggest we go this Christmas.



She's going to be so freakin' stoked when we tell her we ARE going to get a good taste of a Disney Christmas in January!!

I'm starting to think all this waiting and the big surprise build up might be worth it after all!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Fifty five days and counting!!

Just popping in to report that I got myself a new travel toothbrush set, complete with a mini toothpaste and a little container of dental floss. I stayed over at my sister's place last weekend and my travel toothbrush was looking PRETTY rough. I brushed rather reluctantly and vowed to get something new before our January trip.

I'm quite shocked I actually remembered to do it at the first opportunity quite frankly. Usually, I have to forget about these kinds of things AT LEAST three times before they make it onto my shopping list.

Also, I got a look at the Kouzzina spreads on someone's TR and it's actually pretty small. I don't believe it would do as main course substitution after all. So, I figured the best thing to do would be to just make the entire Sci Fi meal OOP...for all four of us.

I'm thinking we'll just get 2 of the burger meals and split them. DH isn't a big fan of french fries and DS won't touch the burger so they can split one meal and DD and I will split the other. Then we can just use snack credits afterward if we are still a little peckish!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

One of these days I'm going to stop fiddling with our ADR's!

Things have changed SEVERAL times today but as it stands now, here are the eating plans:

Jan 2 Sci Fi
Jan 3 Ohana
Jan 5 Kouzzina
Jan 6 Coral Reef
Jan 6 Tutto Italia
Jan 7 Chef Mickey's

I decided that an early lunch on departure day that was at a buffet might be a good idea. Our ressies are for 11 am.

So we're back to six again, as you can see. I just can't seem to fit a seventh in anywhere, as we want flexibility on our non park day (Jan 4th) because we don't really know what we are doing yet. We thought it best to leave the day free of ADR's so that our options are wide open.

I had (and subsequently cancelled) ADR's at WCC, Planet Hollywood and Tusker House and I nearly booked something at Yak and Yeti and Raglan Road but then changed my mind.

I am harbouring a secret desire to remove that non park day entirely. We can upgrade our ticket for like $12 and get the extra day or we can pay in excess of $30 for a round of mini golf. Financially this would be the cheapest option all around and we could do one of the parks for four or five hours and then heading out to check out the other resorts and DTD after that.

The water park seems to be out of the question at the moment. I just don't think the kids are old enough/brave enough to take advantage of all the attractions there even if the weather were to cooperate!! And it would be waaaaay more than $12.

Since it's around half the size of the trips we usually take (no long exhausting drive there and back and no cruise or other theme parks added on), the park hours are shorter at that time of year and the temperatures are much more comfortable, I think we can easily accomplish this.

Getting DH on board will be tricky...I think I'll leave it as is and upgrade (if the family goes for it) when we get there. Personally, I'd vote for Epcot or MK as our "bonus visit" park because AK and HS are easily accomplished in one full day, but we could always spend more time at the first two.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Paid the balance of the trip on Monday (and by that I mean I charged it to the cc ) and jogged up to the bank yesterday to change over all the money in our Disney jar into USD!!

Mother in law called me today to let me know what she's got for the kiddies so far for Christmas. I was thrilled (and relieved) to learn that she got them each a Disney gift card. Whew!! I was starting to stress because 20 Disney dollars isn't going to go to far in the way of souvies and the kids just can't seem to save any of their spending money for a trip that is "sometime" in 2011.

So, that's one worry off of my shoulders at least!

I know it's going to be a few weeks yet, but now that we are only 45 days out, I'm excitedly expectant about our stuff coming in the mail.

And....











don't kill me.....













I made a couple more dining changes.



I couldn't help it!!

First of all we changed around our rest day and so, naturally the ADR's had to change as well. Then I had trouble getting the restaurants I wanted for the times I wanted (gee....wonder why??) so things had to be wiggled around a little more. And, once again...we are back to seven ADR's and we'll just pay OOP for Yak and Yeti. I want to get a couple of the appetizers as my entree and the kids meals are a bit cheaper (according to AllEars menus) than the other restaurants we are patronizing, so it makes things easy just to do the entire thing OOP instead of piecemeal like I was planning before.

So...yet again...here are the plans:

Jan 2 Sci Fi
Jan 3 Ohana
Jan 4 Yak and Yeti
Jan 5 Chef Mickey, Kouzzina
Jan 6 Coral Reef, Tutto Italia

A little TS heavy on the latter two days but we'll just have to suck it up and deal. I don't mind so much in Epcot (we've done this before) and of course on our rest day, we don't have anywhere to rush to so it's just fine. Chef Mickey's is a brunch and Kouzzina's is an hour later than we normally eat at home so it should be just fine.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Eventually, I'm going to have to stop making ADR changes because I'm going to run out of time.

I became desperately unhappy with the way things stood after this last round of changes (it usually takes a day or two before that sets in) so I decided to take a fresh look again this morning. I was stymied at every turn trying to fit Chef Mickey's in somewhere so eventually I gave up and started looking at Tusker House instead.

I couldn't possibly begin to take you though my thought process while I researched and fiddled so I'll just post how our ADR's currently stand:

Jan 2 Sci Fi lunch
Jan 3 Crystal Palace breakfast, Ohana dinner
Jan 4 Tusker House breakfast, Kouzzina dinner
Jan 5 Tutto Italia dinner
Jan 6 Coral Reef lunch

Once again we have 7 TS meals so once again, Sci Fi will have to be OOP but I'm really, really happy with the way things stand...and DH says to just leave everything just the way it is.

Jan 5th is our "day off" from the parks but as you can see, we have an Epcot ADR scheduled on that day. I'm going to upgrade our tickets to allow for that but I've heard that's a simple process. DH just indicated that he was pleased with that change since it means that we can dine around the world for dinner on the 6th and then he suggested we dine around the world for lunch on the 5th!! Awesome!!

I'm so excited to hear that...Epcot is my favourite park and I'd love to spend a day and a half there which is exactly what will happen if we do what he suggests.

Okay, so...I know I've said this many times before but...I think this is the last time I'll be changing out dining reservations!! (I hope!)

 

[Mndisneygirl]

You crack me up with all your changes!!
I like the way your DH thinks about dining around Epcot!! I always want to do the same!

We've enjoyed our meals at some of the same places. Have you eaten at any of them before? I'd still like to try SciFi someday.

Tusker House - great breakfast! Going back next trip early before park opening
Tutto Italia - we had a great lunch there a year ago
Coral Reef - just had a nice lunch there in July
Crystal Palace breakfast - love it!!! Great atmosphere and characters. We went into the park early with this one too. Awesome to get a castle pic on the way in with NO other people in it!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Hey Sheree!!

Yeah, in the beginning I was adamant that we would only do one TS per day and that our Epcot day would include sampling a variety of cuisine from around the world showcase. Then when DH suggested we comply with DS's request for Coral Reef I was disappointed and reluctant. We didn't do that in April because we doubled up our TS on our two Epcot park days (Coral Reef and Teppan Edo lunches followed by Le Cellier and Chef des France dinners).

I don't mind a TS breakfast and a TS dinner but doing two meals back to back is just too much food for me!! DH eats cereal most days so he's not overly excited about the two character breakfast buffets but he knows the kiddies will be happy so he's fine with it!! Breakfast is my favourite meal, so I'm ecstatic...I get eggs, bacon, sausages, pastries, potatoes and fruit in any quantity I wish TWICE on this trip!! I'm thinking that I can likely go from breakfast right through to dinner with only drinks to sustain me in the interim and of course I'll have snacks credits to use should I need them. It'll save more QS credits for the Epcot days!

I'm terribly excited now that we are back to the original plan AND that DH himself suggested that we do it not once but TWICE...so our day off is really going to be a half day at Epcot. (I talked to Ross at Disney reservations a few hours ago and upgraded to a 5 day base ticket and paid the $21 difference already so it's a done deal!! )

Besides the four listed above, we have dined at the following places already:

Sci Fi
Whispering Canyon Cafe
1900 Park Fare
Ohana
Yak and Yeti
Boma
Sanaa (just Mom and Dad)
CRT

So we're doing Coral Reef, Sci Fi and Ohana for the second time and Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Tutto Italia and Kouzzina are new ones!!

The only other restaurants on my wish list are Biergarten and Akershus but the kids might be too old to eat with the princesses next time we go (2013 most likely and DD turns 10 that year) so I might have to do without that one entirely.

Incidentally, our ADR for Crystal Palace was an early one...8:15 am so we'll be in for early entry too!! Can't wait!