CAN'T A GIRL GET SOME READERS? Pic Heavy PTR: 2 DAYS TILL WE LEAVE!!! Update (9/9)

[PrncessA]

Quick update since it has been a very long day!

DH had extensive ( and I mean extensive) dental surgery today so he has been out of it all day. Before he went in he reminded me to call the ADR booking and see if Fantasmic was available, lol. Boy I love that man! In fact it was one of the first things he "ask" me when he got out of surgery. And by ask I mean wrote down on a pad of paper.

So about 15 mins into his surgery and I called and amazingly got an ADR for the only Fantasmic show during our stay! Of course it is at the Brown Derby and that is a 2credit meal but that is fine since I had decided to cancel our ADR for CRT because not missing Wishes and Spectromagic is more important to me than CRT. We have an ADR for Akershus so I am not worried about lack of Princesses. Plus DD wouldn't get the wishing star or wand like DS and she would notice. So we will hold off on CRT till our next trip.

I was so preoccupied today that I put the kiddos to bed without letting them pull off a Mickey head. DS ran out of their room yelling "MOMMY WE HAVE DO THE COUNTDOWN!!!!" He told my mom all about it today when she came to watch them. He has no idea what the "big surprise" is but he can't wait.

 

[Raecheal]

i'm taking it everything went well with DH's surgery? I love all the surprises you picked up.. that's a lot of things!!!

Your ADR"S look great..congrats on getting ADR's for the Fantasmic show.

 

[PrncessA]

i'm taking it everything went well with DH's surgery? I love all the surprises you picked up.. that's a lot of things!!!

Your ADR"S look great..congrats on getting ADR's for the Fantasmic show.

Thank you! DH is doing good, sore still but he is recovering fast. Says he wishes Disney was tomorrow. Don't we all!!!!

 

[PrncessA]

Update:

So I am waiting for our Disney packet to arrive.... not sure when to expect it since we booked so late before our trip. Question... Since this is our first trip I have no idea what to expect. What all comes in your package that you get in the mail. We aren't doing ME, do we still get luggage tags?

Went shopping today for new sneakers for DH without him since he is still recovering. Got him a pair of Skechers and of course had to look for some for me. I am NOT a sneaker wearer, I have exactly ONE pair that I use when I work out. I work at a gym and I wear flip flops every day. I am would live year round in flip flops if the weather allowed me to. But alas I live in the Windy City and winters here FREEZE. Still you will catch me wearing flip flops if there is no snow on the ground.

But I digress.... as I was saying I picked up both of us a pair of sneakers. I didn't try mine on as I am a firm believer in trying on at home and returning. Don't know why, it takes more time and energy. But I don't like pressure of sales people, and they seem to single me out. Case and point...... So I am paying for my shoes and the sales guy asks me if I want socks. No thanks..... I ended up buying socks. Granted they were moisture wicking socks that I needed anyway, I just had no intention on buying them. Turns out that is the only thing I will be keeping from my trip. Both mine and DH's shoes are tight in the toes, so back I go tomorrow. Maybe I will try them on tomorrow.

I have also moved around some ADR's so that we are going to EPCOT our first day since they have EMH's and that gives us a full day off in the middle of our trip to lounge and go to DD to shop!! I added a early dinner at Raglan Road since DH is a huge Irish Beer lover!

DS has been told no less than 10 times about our trip from different sources and he still is clueless. Again... don't we all wish we were that carefree. They are on a huge Little Einsteins kick right now, which is weird since they weren't big on them before. Thank goodness I booked a character meal at H&V! They will love it!

On another front I was examining our movie collection and noticed a few important movies they kiddos need to see were missing. So I went on Ebay to get them since Disney is FANTASTIC about pulling movies of the shelf before I get them. So I choose one..... then two... then three... then four... and before I know it I am at $100. And there are still more I want. Don't be fooled we are huge DVD collectors(see photo in first post) and have dozens of Disney movies but not all of them... that's what I want. LOL So I come across a Disney Collectors set of movies. 174 of them to be exact.... and it included all of the ones I wanted... and everything we already owned. So that was purchased a couple of days ago from a wholesaler, why pay a middle man. And all of our current DVD's will be sold on Ebay or Disc Replay to eat about half the cost or so. It doesn't come with individual cases for the movies but we keep the kid's movies in a cd book so that isn't a problem for us.

 

[reyasmommy]

Enjoying your TR!!! Everything looks GREAT! You're doing an excellent job.

I wanted to mention that I think your DS would LOVE pin trading. When I took my DD to Disneyland last year she was 2 1/2 and enjoyed it. When we take her to WDW in March she'll be 2 weeks shy of her 4th birthday, so I know she'll understand and enjoy it even more.

I'm also up in the air about the autograph books?!?! I didn't do it for our trip last year because she was terrifed of all the costumed characters and wouldn't go anywhere near them, so obviously she didn't care for their autographs. I'm hoping she will have grown out of her fear for our upcoming trip since she'll be 1 1/2 years older?!?!? I might still get one for the princesses though since I know she'll be into meeting all of them.

I understand your love of flip flops.... i wear the same black pair every single day... I cry when the snow comes and I have to wear closed toe shoes.


Well, you've gotten me in the mood to do some Disney shopping... think I'm going to go hit the mall!!

I look foward to hearing about your trip!

 

[gingerfeathers]

Love your report so far! Looks like you're going to have a fabulous time!

We're arriving the day after you. Very excited!!

 

[SilverL]

I live on the coast of Washington where it rains all the time and I still wear flip flops, even in the winter

You are going to get a booklet with the terms and conditions of your package, as well as vouchers for 30 mins at a resort arcade, $15 off at Planet Hollywood, etc. Along with this, you will get the commemorative luggage tags. Don't worry. The tags that come with the ME booklet are yellow sticky ones so that the ME people can identify it. They're not real luggage tags.

 

[PrncessA]

You are going to get a booklet with the terms and conditions of your package, as well as vouchers for 30 mins at a resort arcade, $15 off at Planet Hollywood, etc. Along with this, you will get the commemorative luggage tags. Don't worry. The tags that come with the ME booklet are yellow sticky ones so that the ME people can identify it. They're not real luggage tags.

Great! Thank you!

I have almost gave in and thought about making a signature album. I was also thinking about cutting up some of the fabric I bought to make new curtains for their room and making character squares for signatures and backing them for curtains. Thought that would make their curtains "special". Guess it all comes down to time......

I printed all of our mousekeeping and server envelopes today. We are eating at alot of buffets so tips are a little simpler. I have got our days 75% finalized but I haven't even started our touring plans. My plan is to try and follow a touring plan for MK since there is SO much that I want the kids to do, focusing on the mornings and evening and relaxing during the afternoons.

FINALLY got some mail today. I have been ordering and ordering online and nothing had come yet. I received the Misty Mates and Arctic ties today and although it was freezing here today I can see how the Misty Mates work. Also got the the Shanrene bracelets in the mail today, VERY FAST!! I ordered them Wednesday evening, that is some fast service. They are fantastic and the kids will love them. Orange for DS and pink for DD, w/ their names and "if lost call *********". Great products!!!

Ethan was in a very lovey mood today and sat on my lap while I was online. He is all about Disney and we watched some of the rides on YouTube, he is a little iffy about going too fast, but when I told him I would hold his hand he became very "cool" and said he could do it all on his own.

Since we are flying for the first time we are trying to teach him about it. So today I ask him where Disney World was and he said "far far away". So I told him we had to fly to get there and he ask if the plane would turn sideways and we would fall out. It was too cute. So we showed him a few videos on YouTube of planes taking off, from the outside and out of the window of planes. He was so excited about how high they were above the ground. So we will see how he takes flying when it comes down to it.

I am addicted to The Dis more than ever! DH is amazed that I can find so much to read on here! I am amazed he hasn't researched at all! LOL

 

[MomTo4+more]

Hello from a fellow Chicagoan! We are in the city. I am taking my kids to Disney for the first time in November thanks to Make-A-Wish! It's been so ery fun planning and preparing for it!

What are the Mickey Heads at Home Depot? What section of Home Depot are they found in? I still don't have a countdown calendar, and I need to make one!

An option for the autograph book is taking unlined notecards with you. You could gather signatures and then add stickers and decorations when you get home. Put them in a small photo albomu. Voila! You have an autograph book. Then you haven't spent much of anything if it turns out your kids just aren't into it.

You have lots of fun ADRs planned! Have you checked out the Disney outlet at Gurnee Mills yet? They had super deals there several weeks ago.

Thanks for sharing your excitement with us!

 

[PrncessA]

Hello from a fellow Chicagoan! We are in the city. I am taking my kids to Disney for the first time in November thanks to Make-A-Wish! It's been so ery fun planning and preparing for it!

What are the Mickey Heads at Home Depot? What section of Home Depot are they found in? I still don't have a countdown calendar, and I need to make one!

An option for the autograph book is taking unlined notecards with you. You could gather signatures and then add stickers and decorations when you get home. Put them in a small photo albomu. Voila! You have an autograph book. Then you haven't spent much of anything if it turns out your kids just aren't into it.

You have lots of fun ADRs planned! Have you checked out the Disney outlet at Gurnee Mills yet? They had super deals there several weeks ago.

Thanks for sharing your excitement with us!

Don't ya just love the weather here this year? We have taken the kids swimming only a handful of times this year! I was thinking today (as I froze) that I could not wait to be sitting in the sun at the pool!!

The Mickey heads are in the paint section. They are actually paint chips for disney colors. They are great to decorate with! Don't forget to pick up extra lime green ones for the Dis!!


I cannot believe that I didn't think about driving up to Gurnee!!! We went to the Aurora outlet mall today but they don't have a Disney outlet. FANTASTIC sale at the Children's Place. Nearly everything was $2.99! Too bad I couldn't find many clothes to fit DS, 3T and 4T seems to go fast there.

Congratulations on your trip! I hope that you have a magical time!

 

[PrncessA]

IT'S OFFICAL WERE GOING TO DISNEY! Got our welcome packet in the mail today!! I was so excited that I dropped all the bags I was holding the moment I walking in the door so I could rip open the envelope!! LOL

After being completely confident in the fact we had booked a standard view room I came across the "Wilderness Room View Photo Thread" and after seeing the pic of the standard view where you can only see roof I was rethinking it.... I LOVE the courtyard views but I don't think I can make myself pay another $300-400. My plan is to wait and see what our view is like and if we get that view I might pay the extra...... Is that possible? I have heard alot of upgrade stories at the WL, is it more likely if I pre-check-in online or if I wait and check-in at the WL? I don't expect an upgrade, but it would be a nice little icing on the cake. Either way we are at Disney and happy!!

Ended up buying a new pair of flip flops for Disney today (my favorite saying right now). I went in to look at the kiddos some Disney Crocs ended up with 2 pair of Capri Crocs for me and none for the kids. The didn't have ANY Disney ones in their size. I can't believe how much Jibbitz are in the Croc stores. $2.50 per peice! I bought a lot of 10 Disney ones on ebay last month for like $2 shipped. Also picked up 4 more ponchos at Wal-Mart. They are cheap enough for me not to care if I throw them away after use.

Wooo hooooo!!!!! We are gettin' close!

 

[kmab00]

Hi there! I found your PTR on the WL Q&A thread!

We've been to Disney many times before but this will be our first time staying at the WL. We'll be there September 13-20 so our trips will overlap!

How exciting for your kids! I know they will have a blast! It's SO close!!! I'm super excited!

 

[PrncessA]

Thanks! We are so excited as well!!! I hope your trip is magical!!

 

[beyondblessed]

You lucky lucky girl - less than 2 weeks to go!!! I'm caught up on your PTR and waiting for more!

 

[PrncessA]

Welcome to the house of the undecided!! We are about to change our minds on transportation for the 45th time and it is driving me nuts!!! Wanna watch?

One of my worries is our transportation to our early morning ADR's.... and after asking in the WL thread I am was convinced that my fears were correct. Since this is our first trip we are novices at the simple things such as transportation. DH was/is excited about the idea of not getting behind the wheel of a car for an entire week. We always drive to all of our vacations so this is a real treat for us. I booked our Tiffany Van last week and we were all set for not driving.

Then it hit me that we would have so many early ADR's and the buses might not be running that early. And how in the world do we get to the GF at 8:05am? Now my first thought was do we NEED early ADR's? I thought about biting the bullet and committing myself to hours of rearranging touring plans, nap times, ect..... then PRAYING that pixie dust would hit again and the ease of our first ADR search would hit us again. Then I thought about the kiddos.....

Let me tell you about a nice little weekend trip that we took them on a few months ago.... Trying to escape the NEVER ENDING winter of Chicago, we booked a room at a local indoor water park. Thinking that our up at the crack of dawn children would amazingly sleep in the next morning since they would be exhausted from the entire day at the water parks they day before, we planned on a late morning. Our glossy picture was of sleeping in, eating breakfast in our room and returning to the water parks when they opened at 11am. Our reality was the not wanting to go to sleep at just past their regular bed time, waking up at the crack of dawn ready to go go go. And by crack of dawn I mean 6am wide awake, ready to go full force. So after breakfast took all of 5 minutes they were BEGGING to go.

Only a parent trying to keep a children happy in a hotel room for 4-5 hours would know the PAIN we went through. They knew what was downstairs and didn't care it wasn't open yet. Needless to say when we finally did get back to water parks everyone was grumpy after only an hour or two they were ready for their naps.

Repeat parts of this with our summer trip to family. This time we did however learn a few lessons. We allowed them to stay up longer at night, in hopes of late mornings. Again no such luck. They woke up with the sun everyday, but at least we had made plans for the mornings. But we would nearly always skip arranged naps in favor of outings. This again turned out to be a downfall. DS will sleep anywhere, always would. DD very seldom sleeps in the car and she has never slept in a stroller. She is way to interested with the goings on around her.

Lessons learned: No matter what time they go to sleep they are up at dawn. Naps at least for DD at the hotel are a must. Food keeps um happy.

Moral of the story is we are keeping the early ADR's lest we risk the wrath of the early risers. This also gives us a easy breaking point in the early afternoon for naps, which is a must have. So renting a car or cabs are becoming more and more important.

So I started looking into renting a car. WOW is all I can say about the prices. We rent cars all the time for trips and we have never paid that much for a rental! But with van, tips and taxi's it becomes almost even, with the rental coming out a bit more expensive. Then comes the fact that we would have to bring DD's car seat with us, which we wanted to avoid, and the simple fact that DH doesn't want to drive on this vacation.

I left the final decision up to him and he chose taking a taxi when we need it. So there it is....

Now that was a lot of buildup to a lame climax.

On other fronts our plans are sailing along swimmingly. We made a trip to a Disney Outlet last week, due to construction a 45min trip took us over 2 hours to get there. Big let down when we got there they were completely out of all little boy shirts. I did manage to find DD an adorable Aurora dress and DS a Mickey outfit. And got DH and I t-shirts, of course grabbed the WRONG size for myself and now I have to find out if I can return it to the closest Disney Store instead of trekking 2 hours to the outlet....

I also keep getting mail in regards to our upcoming trip. Not that I am complaining. We have gotten another welcome packet with maps (not the customized maps, we already had those) and info about dining ect. This packet kept saying "Welcome back to the WL" or "Glad you are returning", strange to us since this is our first trip.

Now for the great news......

WE ARE TWO DAYS AWAY FROM ONLINE CHECK-IN! The anticipation is gettin' intense! At this exact moment less than two weeks from now we will be at WL taking naps.

I still have last minute shopping to like toiletries, batteries, sunglasses straps and a new fanny pack. But the majority is done. Wow I can't believe we are almost there.

 

[PrncessA]

Not really an update but.... http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=33417211#post33417211.

 

[PrncessA]

Only 4 more days according to our countdown. DS told me today that he wants to be a bird so he can fly.... to Disney World of course. If he only knew what he was counting down to!

We are almost done with our prep and the excitement is growing all around. We have pre-packed and checked and rechecked lists. In fact tonight I am making a final list of things that need to be done. Wow, final things... it is getting close!!!

On the Disney front things have changed around a little. ADR's have been moved from time to time and day to day until today we realized that only two days of our seven day trip we were going to use park hoppers. Knowing how much $$ park hoppers added to the total I looked to see if our Hollywood & Vine ADR was available on the day before, and it was. So after DH and I talked we decided to downgrade our park hopper tickets to 6 day base tickets.

*gasp* I actually got DH to sit down and go over our plans for the week and give me his opinion. It was nice to have a second opinion on things and realize possible problems. In the end our two days that were park hoppers were changed to a DHS day and a 1/2 resort sleep in day and 1/2 MK day. And I am very happy with it.

Our schedule:
Day 1:Fly down, arrive at noon, Epcot- ADR's: Akershus, Biergarten
Day 2: MK- ADR's: Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern
Day 3: DHS- ADR's: Hollywood & Vine, Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic Package
Day 4: Resort Morning, MK evening- ADR's: WCC, Plaza
Day 5: No Parks Ethan's Pirate Cruise and DD- ADR's: EARLY 1900PF, WCC, Raglan Road
Day 6: AK- ADR's: Chef Mickey's, Tusker House
Day 7: MK, Fly out late- ADR's: Ohana's Breakfast

That's right folks I got an OHANA'S and I am happy happy happy!!!!!!!! It was the only ADR on the pixie dust blessed trip that I wasn't able to get right away. We have nothing but luck with planning this entire trip and I could not be happier. DS has been learning how to say hello in different languages, it is too cute. He already knew a few thanks to Noggin! German (Toot and Puddle), Chinese (Kai Lan) and Spanish (Dora). He had French and Italian almost down.

I shipped out a box Thursday of heavier items or items I was worried about packing. Some toiletries, glow sticks, tinkerbell surprises, ponchos and a few other things. Packing seems daunting right now.

I also finished our Tie-dye Mickey shirts today and am pretty happy with the results. They were an adventure to say the least. I will include pictures at the end of the post of the damage done and the finished products.

Our countdown has been aided the past week with a movie a day. So far we have saw Wall-E, Beauty and the Beast, Treasure Planet (DH's fav), Tinkerbell and Lilo & Stitch. Can anyone believe that DH had never saw Beauty and the Beast before. Tonight was the first time, I had no idea. Up this week will be Lion King, Nemo, Aladdin and most likely Cars or Snow White. All leading up to the main event!!!

I'll leave you with these hilarious pictures..... If you need any reason why DD is tie-dyed read the thread linked right above this....

FLOOR

FLOOR AFTER CLEANING W/ OXY CLEAN

AFTER MIRACLE CLEANER FROM WORK
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33471633&postcount=37
DD AND DS SHIRTS

MINE AND DH'S SHIRTS

 

[PrncessA]

2 days till we leave and I can't stop moving ADR's. Since our trip was SOO last minute I only had the last month to get my ADR's settled. Well now I can't stop moving them around. We have been so lucky with getting everything we wanted from Akershus to CM to Ohana. But not only that I have changed Akershus 4 times and now it is on a completely different day and we got rid of park hoppers.

This morning I finally was able to get a Chef Mickey's for dinner on a MK day and now I am trying to get a Tusker House breakfast for our AK day. Originally it was a CM breakfast (which I will keep if we can't get TH) but I have heard such good things about TH.

Why does Disney give us so many options and chances to change our minds? It's like going to Baskin Robins and having to choose between 5 different kinds of chocolate ice cream. Who needs that many choices? Not me, I would be happier and less stressed with one plain ole choice of chocolate. As it is I end up picking the weird peanut butter fudge chocolate that ends up being nasty and wishing I had stuck with my original choice of chocolate.

I remember (my last theme park memory) going to Kings Island in Ohio with my mom and sister when I was 18 and although most of the trip was filled with "No I want to go here." I do have a bright memory of the "food" that they served in a HUGE cafeteria. It was disgusting and crowded and inside a large building that could have doubled for a airline hanger for all the decorations they had put up. I am now married to a man who LOVES to eat and I don't hate it either, both the kids are pretty fond of it as well. That memory has caused me many hours of fretting over our dining plans for the upcoming week along with horror stories of not being able to tour on the fly and still get walk up seating.

The point is not only are there too many options for me at DW but I have went overboard trying to choose between them. Right now I am trying to choose between Liberty Tree and Plaza for Dinner..... stay tuned for the dining saga.........

 

[dax248]

Hi! Subscribing! As a local, just wanted to say, "Welcome to Disney!"

The shirts look amazing, by the way!

 

[SilverL]

Do you prefer family style or a la carte? LTT is family style, I think. Kind of like a thanksgiving style dinner.

You might be over thinking with the rescheduling