Can't Believe He Said YES!

[disneywatcher]

As you can tell from the title, this trip is very much a to me! You see Last year was my first ever trip to Walt Disney World. It was supposed to be the 10 year Anniversary trip of a lifetime for DH and I however,
The Army decided to hold him in Colorado when he had requested leave for so I went with my DSis instead. Dont get me wrong, it was a great trip and we all had a good time, it just was off to be celebrating our Anniversary sans the man in my life.

Which brings me too.....

THE CAST!

That's Me~Amanda aged 22 (for the past 10 years). I love everything Disney and my favorite character is Stitch!
DH~Marc aged 35, currently deployed to Afghanistan and desperately in need of a GREAT time and some Disney Magic! I seriously hope to convert him over to the Mickey Side on this trip!

DD1~Meghan (dressed as Provincial Belle) is going to be 10 on this trip. She wanted nothing to do with Disney before our 1st trip and now is anxiously looking forward to our return! She loves the pool at the Wilderness Lodge and Tigger.
DD2~Hailey (Dressed as Cinderella) Age 6. There was little to NO pushing and prodding when it came to her wanting to go to Disney last year and the resistance was just as low this year. Her favorite Character is Cindrella and she constanly tells us she's a princess.
DD3~Gillian (Dressed as Snow White and stuffing her gob with fruit) Age 2.5 on this trip. She loves Daisy Duck and has never met a grape she didnt like. She was instrumental in choosing our vacation local this year (I will explain later).

THE PLAN!

Drive to VA prior to DH's arrival in DC to stay with my mom for 3 days before flying out of Regan National Airport on the 14th.
8 Days 7 Nights At the Wilderness Lodge, Bunkbed Courtyard View Room
Deluxe Dining Plan

HOW IT ALL CAME TO BE

DH always asks for his R&R leave around our Anniversary (we were spoiled the first 2 years of our marriage with no deployments) and this year we had originally planned to keep it low key. Spending time at my folks house (They him so much!) and then spending a week down in Williamsburg VA going to visit the historical sites and Busch Gardens. Grudgingly I began planning that trip that is until the Disney vacation commercials came on. You know the ones, narrated by Susan Sarrandon, showing a happy family in yellow shirts? It was at that time that Gillian started to grin wider then ever before...she came up to me on the couch and started to slap my shoulder.
Gillian "Momma! Momma! MOMMA!"
Me "What sweetie?"
Gillian "Disney World! GO BACK!"

So in the back of my mind the idea was placed. It wasnt until after we got told how much our tax return would be did the seed fully start to grow out of the ground so to speak. Now I just had to think of a way to sell it to DH.

First I called the Disney Reservation line to get a quote, find out what offers we were eligable for and so on. Bonus, the time we wanted to go put us directly in the Military Discount time frame!

Then I started to look into how far it would be to drive to Florida from my mom's house....It was less then 24 hours that much I do remember and I started to get excited. DH called that night and I started to pitch it to him:
Me "So honey, the kids and I dont want to go to Busch Gardens this year..."
Him "Where do you want to go then?"
Me "I want to go X hours south of VA!"
Him "What's X hours south of VA?"
Me "Florida!"
Him "You want to go to Disney World?"
Me "YES!"
Him "Ok Sweetie, goahead and book it, I dont care where we go so long as I get to spend time with you and the girls."


I immediately contacted a TA because I'd never gone that route before and got a great lady who was an immense help!

She told me the best way to go about getting our park passes
(MWR on post) and took down which ADR's I'd like to have. Then we set up the payment plan.

 

[mickeygirl14]

Doing the happy dance for you guys!

 

[disneywatcher]

Doing the happy dance for you guys!

:banana:Yay I got a post!

 

[disneywatcher]

Apparently the dancing bannana did not want to cooperate with me tonight.
Lots of things have happened since I booked our vacation in Feburary.

1. After much thought regarding flights from Afghanistan and NOT knowing exactally when DH would arrive in DC/VA we decided to fly out. This ment parusing several online travel sites. In the end Orbitz won out (who can resist the price assurance gurantee?) Tickets for the 5 of us round trip under $1000.00. Also if someone books that flight for cheaper we get a refund when we get back from the trip...who can beat that?

2. I have become crafting crazy! Case in point:

So far I've made 5 of these shirts for my entire family. Ok so DH's shirt is lacking the bows and the bling but still

This is the first shirt out of 4 I have made for myself and my DD's I would already have the other 3 done if the fabric store hadn't run out of this fabric. I will be ordering it online though very soon!
3. ADR's have been made and changed

7/14 After checking in we will be having lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. I LOVE this place, the food was excellent and I loved our server! He was a hoot!
Dinner~ Crystal Palace. I'm thinking this will become a tradition for us when it comes to our first dinner in the parks. We ate her on our first trip to get Meghan her Tigger Fix.
7/15 Breakfast~O'hana. Also another tradition were sure to start. I mean really how can you resist

I appologize for the mostly eatten skillet, it was morning we were starving and it was to good to resist!and

I mean really!
Dinner~ 1900 Park Fare. This is a first for us, well dinner wise. We've been here for breakfast before and have it scheduled for later on in the week...I am just happy I get strawberry soup twice on this trip.
7/16 Breakfast~ Chef Mickey's. Originally this was Kona Cafe but after a few days of thought it was decided that going to the Poly 2 mornings in a row would be odd. This is also a first for us but I've heard good things!
Dinner~ Garden Grill. Also another first for us.
7/17 Breakfast~Whispering Canyon Cafe. Again I'm after the food and the hyjinks!
Dinner~ Liberty Tree Tavern. This is another first for us. I've heard both good and bad things regarding the food here but only time and our taste buds will tell.
7/18 Breakfast~ Akershus. The food, service and character interaction made this a "not to be passed on" for me and the girls. I wanted to squeeze in CRT but the girls said maybe another time.
Dinner~ O'hana. Meghan and Hailey both begged and pleaded for this one (not that they really had to I wanted to go back myself) but what can I say I'm a sucker for some grilled shrimp!
7/19 Breakfast~ Tusker House. This was by far one of our favorite meals on our first trip. For me it wasnt about the food (but LORD was it DELICIOUS!) it was about Gillian finally warming up to full costumed characters!
Dinner~ 50's Prime Time Cafe. Yet another first for us. I was bouncing back and forth between this place and Sci Fi Dine In but we wanted to try something new (and besides maybe we can get into Sci Fi for an early lunch)
7/20 Breakfast~ 1900 Park Fare. 2 words...Strawberry Soup!
Dinner~ Rose & Crown. My mom actually suggested this one. They had stopped by the bar on their last trip and had some of the appetizers but were not lucky enough to get a table. I read the menu off to DH and he said he'd like to try it.
7/21 Breakfast~ Kona Cafe. Sadly this is the day we leave to fly back to my Mother's house. I think some Tonga Toast should put me out of the sad rut of it all.

If you noticed we have NO lunch ADR's. This is because Marc said he didnt want to rush around the parks to get to meals and miss out on the fun. Me with my steel trap mind though made up cards of all our ADR's with notes on how to get from point A to point B with side notes on the back for CS or TS places we might want to have for lunch.

What number am I on again? Scrolling up to double checkOh that's right!
4. Bags have been packed and unpacked and with each packing and unpacking I have made notes of items I need to buy or pack.

Now we are 113 days out which I know to some seems like a lot but I realized that I will be doing the double diget very soon! I can also only wonder what else I might get myself into before the drive to VA day comes!

 

[aspiringprincess1]

Yay for booking your trip and ADRs! I can't wait to see what other organizational tips you have! Those cards sound practically perfect!

 

[mickeygirl14]

LOVE the shirts with Tink! Very cute! Sounds like some great ADRs - you'll love Garden Grill. It's one of our favorites.

 

[disneywatcher]

Yay for booking your trip and ADRs! I can't wait to see what other organizational tips you have! Those cards sound practically perfect!

I need to get pictures of them to put up here too! I might re-do them though to include rides that we must hit up on those days and which rides we need to get FP's for Thanks for following along!

LOVE the shirts with Tink! Very cute! Sounds like some great ADRs - you'll love Garden Grill. It's one of our favorites.

Mickeygirl~ I would love to hear about Garden Grill! I wanted to try this on our first trip but we didnt get a chance. This time were spending as much time in Epcot as we can though so my lovely TA got us ressies here! Thank you to you as well for following along!

 

[disneywatcher]

I've had these ready to go and hiding in our suitcase for a while now but I get so excited when I look at them that I just had to share!

These are the gift cards I ordered for the kiddo's to use in the parks. Each one has their favorite princesses on them. They are shown in order of age...Meghan-Belle, Hailey-Cinderella and Gillian-Snow White

This is one of the two LGMH's I've made for our back pack and stroller (I appologize for the glare off the laminating and it shows up in the next few as well)

The only character ticket we have. I took pictures of the other kind (shown in the bottom half of this picture) but for some reason the upload of them failed

This is the back of one of our park schedule cards, and part of the reason why I'm thinking of redoing and adding more to them. I have the worst handwriting

This is the front of one of the planning cards. I the Disney Script, and I think I'll be using it for every planning part of this trip

According to my little "Disney Suitcase Countdown Ticker" (got it off the WDW website) we have 109 days left until MCO which means 10 until the Double Diget Dance! I'm also using the same counter to help me figure out when I'll get to hug DH again and that is @ 106 days!

Before I started to type this PTR, we had a ~slight~ hiccup with DH's leave dates. He swore he told his higher up's he wanted from the 10th until the 25th of July but somehow he got issued the 21st of July till sometime in the begining of September
On the upside some Single Soilders were assigned the 7th/10th until the 21st/25th. DH informed his higher up's that the dates he was given would not work and they said he could trade with one of those 2 soilders if they would agree to it. As luck would have it, one of the soilder's agreed to trade his dates with DH's I seriously have to come up with a present for DH to hand to that gentleman when he get's home from leave so I'm thinking a cool park item and am open to any ideas if y'all are willing to share.

I also have to get some presents for our Cousin's back home in KS. We havent really seen them since my DFiL's funeral 2 years ago. One cousin loves Tigger so I'm thinking about buying a Tigger shirt and having The Bouncy One sign it for her. Then there is her DD and DS (ages 3 and almost 1 year old). I know the DD anything Princess but the little guy is to young yet to say what he likes Disney Wise.

Reciently one of our other Cousin's just had her 1st Baby (a boy weighing 8lbs 2 oz ) So I'm hoping to get him and his Momma both something. I'm open to ideas there as well as currently I'm drawing a huge blank

On my next update I'm hoping to have one of our AK shirts ready to show. I've been so busy with the kid's school and working on loosing weight I havent had much time to work on them but this week I will sit down and put my sewing machine to it!

 

[cadek]

Followed you from the July thread. Wonderful planning. I couldn't imagine making all of those ADR's! I'd obsess and overthink it!

You are very creative! I admire the clothes you've made. It's not my area of skills.

 

[ccgirl]

I actually had a tear in my eye when I read your DH can go with you all. I am such a sap! Thank you SO MUCH to your DH and your entire family for his service. It is because of your unselfish act that we all live the great life we do!

Anyway, you are super talented! I have a hard enough time with the iron ons from the Creative Disigns.

Can't wait to hear more. Your ADR's sound AWESOME!

 

[disneywatcher]

Followed you from the July thread. Wonderful planning. I couldn't imagine making all of those ADR's! I'd obsess and overthink it!

You are very creative! I admire the clothes you've made. It's not my area of skills.

I actually had a tear in my eye when I read your DH can go with you all. I am such a sap! Thank you SO MUCH to your DH and your entire family for his service. It is because of your unselfish act that we all live the great life we do!

Anyway, you are super talented! I have a hard enough time with the iron ons from the Creative Disigns.

Can't wait to hear more. Your ADR's sound AWESOME!

Thanks for comming over guys!

I found the tie dye shirt instructions onlineand just spruced them up a tad more for the girls and I. The Tinkerbelle sundress shirt I got the idea from when I found the fabric (it came with the elastic already in the chest). It took me over an hour to figure out how to reverse the letters for iron on transfers (those are used on the shirts i'm currently working on)

I'm really glad that DH is getting to go on this trip too. We were discussing a major point of arguements for us on vacations regarding theme parks (maps and knowing where to go) and he said since I've been there before he's just going to follow my lead


Now I know I keep changing my font color so please bear with me, I'm trying to find the right color to suit my mood. Reciently I found out the Soilder who gave his leave dates to my DH would have been celebrating his birthday while on leave so that REALLY puts the pressure on me to find a GREAT Thank You/Birthday gift. Not sure if a T-shirt would cut it for this guy so now I'm on the look out for cool gift ideas....maybe I'll get him the original Tron with the new Tron movie and a Tron Shirt?

 

[cadek]

Reciently I found out the Soilder who gave his leave dates to my DH would have been celebrating his birthday while on leave so that REALLY puts the pressure on me to find a GREAT Thank You/Birthday gift. Not sure if a T-shirt would cut it for this guy so now I'm on the look out for cool gift ideas....maybe I'll get him the original Tron with the new Tron movie and a Tron Shirt?

Oooh, I personally like the Tron idea. I'm anxiously awaiting mine. I hope it's worth it, I've never seen either. I think the Tronorail and just because it's Disney is why I'm obsessed with it!

 

[hollybearsmom]

I'm here for the ride! Anxious to see what shirts you design too.

 

[disneywatcher]

Oooh, I personally like the Tron idea. I'm anxiously awaiting mine. I hope it's worth it, I've never seen either. I think the Tronorail and just because it's Disney is why I'm obsessed with it!

I havent seen the original Tron in AGES! I cant wait to see what they do with the new one and I hope the Tronorail is still there in July!

I have access to DH's Facebook page (which incidentally is where he told me to go look for information on this guy ) and all I got from it is the following:

1. From Texas and loves UT Austin (HOOK 'EM HORNS!)
2. His Birthday is July 16th (one day after our Anniversary)
3. He likes to go mudding (off roading)
4. He has a girlfriend who if I knew would be a great source of information

I went to the Disney store to look for Tron Tshirts and they didnt have anything that really "Jumped" out at me. I did however find a UT Shirt with Mickey on it so that's really looking good to me. I'm still going to get him the 2 movies though because even DH told me it's rather boring out there and he has already watched the movies I sent him 3x over or more.

After we get back from dinner tonight I will be posting pictures of my DD's in the dresses I bought for them to wear for pictures near the WL spring start. They are so pretty! I also still have to find a dress for myself...I was bidding on this beautiful wrap dress on ebay but unfortunately I lost it But this means that I can now try on dresses. Besides I've been loosing weight! I might drop more between now and the begining of July so I could go down a size!

 

[disneywatcher]

I'm here for the ride! Anxious to see what shirts you design too.

I appologize for being so rude! I forgot to welcome you before I posted a reply/update combo! Welcome for the ride Hollybearsmom!

 

[disneywatcher]

Here are the dresses! I just realized that I have to buy some sandals for my youngest though

I appologize for the shadow on the 1st and 2nd pictures, my elbow got in the way.

 

[momabaarjo]

What beautiful daughters you have! I grew up in a family of 3 girls... What a great trip for your daughters...I love the quote that your dh just wanted to spend time with his girls for his leave. Bless him and bless your family for what they do for this country!

 

[disneywatcher]

What beautiful daughters you have! I grew up in a family of 3 girls... What a great trip for your daughters...I love the quote that your dh just wanted to spend time with his girls for his leave. Bless him and bless your family for what they do for this country!

Thank you for the compliment DH is more then ready to see how big his girls have grown because as he says, pictures are not as good as real life

 

[hollybearsmom]

I love the photos in their dresses! They are so pretty.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Joining in.

Loving all the PTR so far, especially all the ADR's. I had originally planned one ADR for our trip so choose QSDP, but after making two more ADR's and reading about every one elses ADR plans I upgraded to DDP and am very happy to get ADR's for Boma, CP, and Coral Reef. Liam is not to sure about CP, but I am sure he will love it once he is there. He love tigger.

I am so glad that your husband was able to be with you guys for this trip, how incredible that this other soldier switched with you. I have no advice about what to get him, but if his girlfriend is also on FB maybe you can send her a PM and ask her advice?