Can I Really Keep My Mouth Shut For The Next 6 Months? Update 6/4 Link to TR

[Lidian]

Thanks so much for reading! I'll definately be taking lot of pics to share with you for SWW, I think I took close to 1500 pics last trip, I'm one of those people that will take a dozen shots of the same thing until I get the perfect shot! Maybe you can try to conince your DH to extend the trip a bit

Your going to love POP, we really enjoyed it!

I've already tried to convince DH for an extension. (We can't come any earlier because of his friend's wedding, but tried to get him to stay longer.)

He says its not worth it. Maybe if he could take more time off (since we drive, he wants to have time to rest before he goes back to work) ... maybe next year.

But I do look forward to seeing all 5 million pictures of the same thing!

I saw a POP Scavenger hunt on another thread, so I think me and the kids will do that on arrival day if DH needs to nap and we're not up for a swim. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Becc1]

I've already tried to convince DH for an extension. (We can't come any earlier because of his friend's wedding, but tried to get him to stay longer.)

He says its not worth it. Maybe if he could take more time off (since we drive, he wants to have time to rest before he goes back to work) ... maybe next year.

But I do look forward to seeing all 5 million pictures of the same thing!

I saw a POP Scavenger hunt on another thread, so I think me and the kids will do that on arrival day if DH needs to nap and we're not up for a swim. I'm looking forward to it.

Where did you find a scavenger hunt? That sounds like fun! My DH is the same way about work, he likes to have a day of rest before returning after a vacation. BTW I am in process of reading your PTR, unfortunately I've got 3 sick kids at the moment so I only get like a paragraph at a time before someone is beckoning me, lol.

 

[Becc1]

Okay, I think I may have a problem, I may possibly be addicted to theme nights My kids and I have been stuck in the house sick for the past 2 days so to have a little fun we've done some mini theme nights. With the release of Bambi yesterday we had Flower cupcakes (yes I know they look more like bears, lol) and the kids did coloring pages. And for Dr. Seuss's birthday we read lots of books, watched both of The Cat in the Hat movies and made The Cat in the Hat hats. For dinner we had Green Eggs and Ham and cheese frittatas, pancakes and drank Pink Yink Ink Drink (strawberry milk). The frittatas look a little frightening with the dye but they were yummy!

I swear they were good, they just look like green slime,

My next update I will finally get around to Day 2 of our trip, I wrote it all out the other night and then accidently hit the back button and it was all gone, I wanted to cry! I do possibly have some exciting news, my SIL asked me about Disney yesterday, her and my BIL are back to thinking of coming for a couple of days You do not know how happy this would make my kids, they LOVE their uncle. And my MIL would be in heaven to have her whole family down there. They were going to talk about it and get back to us. We are going to Altlantic City for the night with them next week so DH and I will put the pressure on them to go. I went ahead a bummed a few ADRs up to 10 people just in case they decide to come!

 

[Becc1]

Okay, back to planning. I get a bit carried away with the theme nights, although I must admit they are a huge distraction from my obsessive trip planning. Because instead of planning for the trip, I am planning for theme nights! I think the nights are going to be something we continue in my house long after our trip. My kids are even in on it now. The other day at Michaels, Sam kept picking up things and saying "oh we could use this for this night" and whenever we watch a movie now the kids are like what craft are we doing, lol. I think I've created a few monsters!

So on with park day 2. My favorite park, Magic Kingdom! I am very excited because this is the first time for early entry for our breakfast ressies at Crystal Palace! Hoping to get some good shots of the family in front of the castle! After breakfast we will head straight over to the Rapunzel meet and greet. I've read how crazy the line can get over there so I am hoping to get into the first session. My boys actually like princesses so I know they will want to do this but I am a bit worried because of all of the pictures I've seen of this M&G I haven't seen any boys. I hope they won't see that it's all girls and not want to go in. After Rapunzel we are winging it, I have promised not to be the crazy minute to minute planner for this trip so plans are wide open until dinner ADR's at Chef Mickey's. I am assuming we will go right to Fantasyland and ride Dumbo as our first ride and then continue on through Fantasyland but I'm going to go with what everyone wants. In the past I've always scheduled a midday break for us to go back to the resort and swim/rest but we always end up staying in the parks. I am going to try to get us to break again but we'll see what happens. After dinner we will head back to MK for the parade and Wishes and then maybe rides a few rides.

Basic Plan for the day

6:30 am - wake up call
8:05 am- Crystal Palace
9:00 am- Rapunzel and Flynn M&G
12:00 pm- lunch at CS, probably Cosmic Rays
3pm-5pm - possible break ??????
6:30pm - Chef Mickey's
8pm - back to MK to grab a spot for parade and Wishes
11pm - park closes, not sure if we'll make it to closing but I know the big boys want to ride some things in the dark so we may stick around.
11:30pm - back to resort to pass out a get a few zzz's before the next early day

Goals for this day

Get a great family shot in front of castle
See Rapunzel and Flynn
See Tiana and Naveen
Get a Dole Whip
Watch Mainstreet Electrical parade and Wishes

 

[Becc1]

Day 3 Epcot

Because my BIL and SIL may be coming on this day I have made 2 different sets of plans for day 3 but for the time being I'll just tell you all about the ones with just the 8 of us. I'd like to get to the park for rope drop, this will be day 3 of my DN having to wake up early so I am hoping we will have no issues. My BIL and SIL own a pub and their hours along with their DD is drastically different than most people. For them to wake before noon is a rarity, I warned my DN of the early mornings we will be having and she promised it wouldn't be an issue so we shall see

So rope drop at 9am, head over to TT, for some reason TT is always our first ride at Epcot. We will then work our way around Future World and end up over at The Land around lunchtime for lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Again I will plan for a break but we'll see if we make it out of the park. If we do leave it will probably be between 1-4 and then back to the parks by 5pm where we'll do some more in Future World before heading over to the World Showcase for dinner.

Orignally I had plans for us to have lunch at Le Cellier but DH, the person who has been dying to eat here, decided that he is not crazy about the lunch menu and theres no way we are using 2 credits for dinner. So we now have ADR's for Tutto de Italia at 6:40. I am hoping that we will be out by 8pm so we can snag some good spots for Illuminations. My DS Sam loves this show and I mean LOVES. The first time he saw it back in 2008, he was crying tears of joy through it, he kept saying this is so beautiful, I am crying because I'm so happy! I have pictures of him sitting on my DH's shoulders bawling, lol. Now my DS is a pretty sensitive kid but I think the exhaustion of a full day at the park may have had something to do with it all but it was adorable!


Picture of Sam during Illuminations back in 2008

Basic Plan of the day

Breakfast in room
9:00 am - Rope Drop
9:00 - 12:00 - Future World
12:00 - Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
1:00-4:00pm - Break at POP ????
5:00 pm - Back at Epcot for a little more FW
6:40pm - Tutto de Italia ADRs
9:00 pm - Illuminations

Goals for this day

See the Faries (hoping they will still be here in May)
Get Ben to ride TT, last trip he backed out at the last minute but after watching countless You Tube videos he now says he will ride it
Ride Soarin with Emily, she is so excited that she is tall enough now!

 

[Lidian]

What an adorable picture!!! It's soo touching! I love it!

 

[Becc1]

What an adorable picture!!! It's soo touching! I love it!

Thank You, it's one of my favorite pictures from that trip

 

[Corrine 1973]

Just started reading your PTR and I am loving it. I just adore your Disney Movie Nights. I did something like that before our Wish trip in 2009 but since I am only taking my oldest son this year I didn't know about doing full on movie nights for all the kids. So I just seatled on watching a movie once a week, which became twice a week when we got the new movie from Netflix.

We seem to have a lot in common. Both mom's with four kids. Three boys and one girl. We will both be at Disney at the same time (we are going May 29-June 3) and we are both staying a Pop.I got a prefered room because my son has Cystic Fibrosis and can't do all the walking.

We will be doing SWW on the 3rd (got late flight just because of it) and Liam is very excited about it. Don't know if you know this but they have changed the way they pick kids for the Jedi Training. You go to the stage when you get there and sign up at a time slot for the kids. Just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't show up and find out all the slots were taken.

Looking forward to reading more and hope to see you at Pop.
Corrine

 

[Becc1]

Just started reading your PTR and I am loving it. I just adore your Disney Movie Nights. I did something like that before our Wish trip in 2009 but since I am only taking my oldest son this year I didn't know about doing full on movie nights for all the kids. So I just seatled on watching a movie once a week, which became twice a week when we got the new movie from Netflix.

We seem to have a lot in common. Both mom's with four kids. Three boys and one girl. We will both be at Disney at the same time (we are going May 29-June 3) and we are both staying a Pop.I got a prefered room because my son has Cystic Fibrosis and can't do all the walking.

We will be doing SWW on the 3rd (got late flight just because of it) and Liam is very excited about it. Don't know if you know this but they have changed the way they pick kids for the Jedi Training. You go to the stage when you get there and sign up at a time slot for the kids. Just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't show up and find out all the slots were taken.

Looking forward to reading more and hope to see you at Pop.
Corrine

Thanks so much for reading! I just read your PTR, we should really try to meet up at POP at some point, we'll also be at DHS on the 31st together too. Did you request any specific areas at POP? The rooms we had on our last trip were great for us, back side of the 70's building, directly across from the playground. It was an easy walk to everything!

When is Liam going to do the Jedi Training? I was thinking that on the SWW the training sessions would be nuts so if I can get my DS Sam to wait until our second day at DHS to do it I will. I will definately have my DH run and sign Sam and Emily up though so we get them a spot!

 

[Becc1]

Our theme night this week was The Lion King. Sammy has really been pushing for this one because he knew we would have ribs as our main course and my kid loves him some ribs We started off the afternoon by watching the movie, movie snacks were twigs (pretzels sticks) and chocolate covered bugs (edamame). After the movie the kids did some animal puzzles and a craft. For dinner we had Simba's favorite zebra ribs, Pumba's pasta salad, Timon's tater tots, Tree of Life broccoli florets and biscuits. For dessert we had Lion paw print cookies and Rafiki's banana pudding. I set up a safari hunt for the kids in our basement so while I was cleaning up after dinner I sent the kids downstairs with binoculars and a camera to find the animals. I have to download the pics from Ben's camera because they are pretty funny! Before bedtime Ben and I started a Simba puzzle that I finished up. It was a fun night, I just got a new camera so I had fun trying it out!

Some printouts that Emily colored

Sam's ready for the safari

 

[Corrine 1973]

Thanks so much for reading! I just read your PTR, we should really try to meet up at POP at some point, we'll also be at DHS on the 31st together too. Did you request any specific areas at POP? The rooms we had on our last trip were great for us, back side of the 70's building, directly across from the playground. It was an easy walk to everything!

When is Liam going to do the Jedi Training? I was thinking that on the SWW the training sessions would be nuts so if I can get my DS Sam to wait until our second day at DHS to do it I will. I will definately have my DH run and sign Sam and Emily up though so we get them a spot!

Definatly going to Jedi Training on the 31st, I don't want to take the chance on the SWW. I am going to try to get him into the parade for SWW. I hear if you go to guest relations first thing in the morning you can get the into the parade.

We are going to try to be at the rope drop for the parks, so I am sure we will see each other on the 31st.

I don't know about pop, should I call and ask them where we are and request 70's. Even though this is not our first trip to disney it is our first time staying at one of the resorts. So this will be all new to me. Any advice would be great.

 

[Becc1]

Definatly going to Jedi Training on the 31st, I don't want to take the chance on the SWW. I am going to try to get him into the parade for SWW. I hear if you go to guest relations first thing in the morning you can get the into the parade.

We are going to try to be at the rope drop for the parks, so I am sure we will see each other on the 31st.

I don't know about pop, should I call and ask them where we are and request 70's. Even though this is not our first trip to disney it is our first time staying at one of the resorts. So this will be all new to me. Any advice would be great.

I would definately tell them about Liam's codition and ask to be put in a room with an easy walk to everything. We drive so where they put us was a very short walk to the parking lot (I think it was the 90's lot), short walk to the Hippy Dippy pool and also to the food court.

 

[Becc1]

On with Day 4. Since this is Memorial Day we tried to choose the park that we thought would be the least busy. It also helps that it's a EMH day and we love the AM EMH's at AK. The plan of course is to arrive at 8am, then head straight away to Kiliminjaro Safaris, and then the Pangani Trail. After that we'll make our way around the park, Camp Minnie Mickey for characters and FTLK, ITTBAB (after watching a Bug's Life, the kids are excited about this), Dinoland for Dinosaur, Triceratop Spin, The Boneyard and maybe Nemo. And then to my DH's favorite place Asia for his favorite ride Expedition Everest, at some point in the morning he and DS15 will work their way over there to grab FPs. I would like to make our way over to Rafiki's Planet Watch also if time allows, we have skipped it every trip so far but I think the little ones would enjoy it. This is an early day for us, I think we left AK on our last trip before 3pm, with the AM EMH's we really were able to get alot done, plus it was ungodly hot on that day so we were ready to head back to our hotel for a swim. I figure we will be done by 5pm at the latest, the park closes at 7pm.

Lunch and dinner plans are still kind of up in the air. I have 2 sets of plans and we haven't decided which we'll do yet. The original plans for lunch were to eat at The Yak and Yeti CS, we ate here on our last trip and loved the food, the portions are huge, it's a great deal! And then for dinner we have ADR's at 7:45 for Boma's. We ate there back in 2002 and loved the food there as well. We fell in love with the AKL back in 2002 when we stayed there and want to show my MIL the resort.

But then I got to thinking and realized that I had not included any time for us to visit DTD and to eat at our favorite sandwich shop Earl of Sandwich. Plus Sammy loves the Lego store and I expect he'll want to spend a good portion of his money there. So then I came up with the second set of plans. I made lunch ADR's at 12:30 for the Yak and Yeti TS restaurant, we've also eaten here and liked it alot. Then after we are done with AK for the day and have gone back to the resort for showers and to change we'll head over to DTD to shop and have dinner at Earl of Sandwich. As much as I was looking to eating at Boma's, I am leaning towards our second set of plans. This is really the only day we would get to go to DTD, we usually visit it on our first day at WDW but because of SWW we'll be going to DHS instead. Also I would be bummed if I didn't get to the Christmas shop for an ornament and I love the kitchen store. DH also prefers this set of plans so this is most likely what we'll end up doing.

Basic plans of the day
8:00am - EMH's at AK
10:00am - try to make first FTLK show
12:30pm - Either Yak and Yeti CS or TS
5:00pm - leave AK
7:45pm - possible ADR's Bomas or Earl of Sandwich CS

Goals for the day
Get my MIL on EE
Watch Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade (we've never watched it)
Take the train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch

Some pics of our last trip to AK

A few bugs I found inside the Tree of Life

Christian and Emily after riding Kali River Rapids

Meeting Br'er Rabbit

 

[Becc1]

Day 5 Disney Hollywood Studios

Day 5 will be our second day at DHS, I am excited about this because we have never done 2 days here and although I know some people say they easily get everything done in 1 day I really feel like 2 days is more practical for us. Our day will begin at ropedrop, because we get GACs for both Ben and Sam there is no need to do the mad dash to TSM. Instead we will do the mad dash over to TOT and RRC. Sam is tall enough for RRC this year and he is very excited about riding it, also Emily is tall enough for TOT and she can't wait to ride that! Ben is no thrill junkie so he will probably sit these out with his Granny while we ride.

From there we will work our way around the park. I am hoping to get a show in on our first day here so today I'd like to see whichever show we missed. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites and we missed it last trip so this year it's a must for us. Lights Motor Action was a let down for me for various reasons so if my DH and DS's want to see it I may let them go and Emily and I will skip it. Something new for us will be the Animation Academy, my DN is a great artist and I know she'll love this. Another must for us today will be to see Woody and Buzz, we have met Buzz several times but have never met Woody. Another must is Jedi Training for Sam and Emily, Ben is my shy guy and he says he doesn't want to do it but maybe once we get there he'll change his mind.

Lunch for us will probably be Pizza Planet just because we've eaten there every single trip and the kids love it. Dinner ADR's are at 50's Primetime at 5:15pm. We love this restaurant and even though last trip we had a horrible server we are hoping that this year will be better. Everyone loves the food so we thought it was worth giving another try. The pb+j milkshakes are enough to make me go there

We will end the night with Fantasmic. Originally we were not going to go but since my DN hasn't seen it since 2002 we felt like we should take her to see it.


Basic Plan for the Day

9:00am - Ropedrop
TOT, RnR
Beauty and the Beast
Animation Studios
Jedi Training
Star Tours
Muppets
Buzz and Woody
TSM
3:00 pm - parade
5:15 pm - 50's Primetime
9:00 pm - Fantasmic

Goals for the day

Meet Woody
See Beauty and the Beast show
Jedi Training


A few pics from our last trip to DHS

Chris and Christian on TSM

 

[Corrine 1973]

Day 5 Disney Hollywood Studios

Day 5 will be our second day at DHS, I am excited about this because we have never done 2 days here and although I know some people say they easily get everything done in 1 day I really feel like 2 days is more practical for us. Our day will begin at ropedrop, because we get GACs for both Ben and Sam there is no need to do the mad dash to TSM. Instead we will do the mad dash over to TOT and RRC. Sam is tall enough for RRC this year and he is very excited about riding it, also Emily is tall enough for TOT and she can't wait to ride that! Ben is no thrill junkie so he will probably sit these out with his Granny while we ride.

We will end the night with Fantasmic. Originally we were not going to go but since my DN hasn't seen it since 2002 we felt like we should take her to see it.

I am loving your plans. Keep an out for us because we'll be around.
Liam doesn't like thrill rides either so TOT is out for us.Someday I'll get to go on it.
Question? I see you are not getting FP for TSM because of the GAC. We did get in the FP lane in 2009 with the GAC but it was the special Wish Trip GAC, will we still get in the FP lane with a the GAC we get this year? (Liam will be in a wheelchair/stroller for endurance and can't wait in heat.) Plus any other advice you can PM (don't want to clutter our PTR's) about the GAC would be great. TIA!!!

 

[Becc1]

I am loving your plans. Keep an out for us because we'll be around.
Liam doesn't like thrill rides either so TOT is out for us.Someday I'll get to go on it.
Question? I see you are not getting FP for TSM because of the GAC. We did get in the FP lane in 2009 with the GAC but it was the special Wish Trip GAC, will we still get in the FP lane with a the GAC we get this year? (Liam will be in a wheelchair/stroller for endurance and can't wait in heat.) Plus any other advice you can PM (don't want to clutter our PTR's) about the GAC would be great. TIA!!![/QUOTE

I'll PM you about the GAC

 

[Becc1]

Our latest theme night was The Incredibles. The kids have been waiting for this one awhile. As always we started the afternoon off by watching the movie first, then while I was finishing up making dinner they made superhero masks. Dinner was Super "Hero" sandwiches, Dash's fast fries, Elastigirl's pasta salad and for dessert Frozones's frozen treats (aka Italian ices). Over dinner we all discussed which super powers we would like to have, Ben and Emily want to be super fast like Dash, Sam wants to be super strong lke Mr. Incredible, mommy would like to be able to turn invisible like Violet so I could get sneak away for some quiet time, lol. I was going to take them outside for some races but Emily wasn't feeling feeling well so instead we ended the night by doing some Incredibles coloring pages and watched Snow White.

 

[momabaarjo]

I have been following you for a while and thought I would stop in to say hi! I am enjoying your movie nights...we are starting our first one tonight! Our trip is not until Christmas...and I am trying to keep my mouth shut until then! Kids are getting to plan the trip, but they think it will be for August 2012!

I am having the sam Boma issues...I so want to go there but there is so many places I want to go to and take my family to! We are also making DHS a 2 day park...one day on F! and another day no F! scheduled day! The kids love playing TSM on the Wii...just not thrilled with the running of the bulls issues!

 

[Becc1]

I have been following you for a while and thought I would stop in to say hi! I am enjoying your movie nights...we are starting our first one tonight! Our trip is not until Christmas...and I am trying to keep my mouth shut until then! Kids are getting to plan the trip, but they think it will be for August 2012!

I am having the sam Boma issues...I so want to go there but there is so many places I want to go to and take my family to! We are also making DHS a 2 day park...one day on F! and another day no F! scheduled day! The kids love playing TSM on the Wii...just not thrilled with the running of the bulls issues!

Thanks so much for letting me know your here! I've been getting a little paranoid thinking that noone is reading, lol. What theme night did you guys do last night? My kids have compiled a long list of movies that want to do so I'm thinking after our trip we will do one a month.

It's hard not telling the kids about the trip isn't it? I have almost given it away so many times, on the 1st of each month so far this year Sam has come to me and asked if we were going this month!

I am still torn over Boma's. It doesn't help that my DH just tells me to decide!

 

[Becc1]

The only downside for us of not flying is keeping the kids happy for 14 hours, DH is the driver and I am the provider of the entertainment. Along with the usual Nintendo DS's, PSP's and portable dvd players I also collect goodies for our trip. In 2008 we took the autotrain to Orlando. To keep the kids entertained for a 17 hour ride I bought them each a backpack and filled them to the brim with things to keep them busy. In 2009 I just had a bag of stuff in the front with me that I would pass out to them as they got antsy. This year I got the idea for the state line goodie bags over on the families thread. We will pass through 5 state lines so I'm going to make each kid a bag with a treat and a snack and give it to them when we go through that state. This will hopefully give them something to look forward to and help pass the time.

I'm going to start each child off with a reusable bag from the Disney Store (I got DDs yesterday when I preordered Tangled), in it will be their Nintendo DSs and a couple things of each of theirs that they can't live without for a week (toys, books, etc.) They will also have their autograph books my MIL got them for Christmas and pin lanyards that I got them. I'm going to get a lot of pins from ebay and give them 2 in each bag to fill their lanyards up on the way down. I don't think they'll want to trade the pins so I probably won't even tell them about the pin trading. The first state line we pass is into Virginia and it's only about 45 minutes away so the first snack will probably be a mini box of cereal and a muffin for breakfast. The rest of the snacks will be goldfish, fruit snacks or mini bags of chips. I'll have a cooler with juice boxes, water and fruit to snack on as well. I've picked up alot of things for the bags so I am considering making them bags for the ride home as well. The only downside of that will be an extra bag of stuff taking up space in the hotel room.

Here's what I got so far, I actually have more but some things were a bit big for the bags I bought so I put that stuff aside for Easter baskets.

Autograph books, the lanyards and the bags I will use for the goodie bags

Emily's stuff

Sam's stuff

Ben's things

I haven't forgotten about Christian, being a 15 year old boy he doesn't really need a treat bag and he will only have 2 hours of travel since he is flying with my MIL and DN. So I am going to put a couple of sports and game magazines in his backpack and a new Nintendo DS or PSP game.