Celebrating 2 September Birthdays at Disney!! UPDATE 9/23 One more sleep!

[ptcrn]

Ok, I am giving a PTR a try. I attempted a TR last year and sadly never made it past Day 1, so I don't make any promises! But, we only have 42 days left until the trip, so it can't be too hard to keep up with this one!

I am Jen, 34 year old stay at home mom and part time nurse. I love all things Disney, scrapbooking, reading, and my son! I have been to Disney countless times, and took DS last year with my mom.

My husband Gerry, also 34, is not so in love with Disney. In fact, if I had to label him, he would be known as a “Disney Resister!” His last trip was in 2004, the year before we were married. The ONLY reason he is going back is to see Disney through his son's eyes. He is hoping it will be more fun now!

Our little boy, David, who will turn 3 on this trip. He is full of energy and fun. Loves Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen, Mickey Mouse... and pretty much all Disney movies that he has seen! We go through periods where we'll watch, say Ratatouille, every day for a week, then Bugs Life, on and on- you get the idea! This will be his 2nd trip to Disney. He starts preschool in 3 ½ weeks, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! It's only 2 days a week for 4 hours, but this will be the first time he's done anything like this without me and I'm a little nervous!

This trip came about because, well, we just HAD to go back! I knew I could talk DH into it, given that David had a great time last year and DH missed it. So, when to go? I have always heard September is great crowd-wise, and we really wanted to go during free dining. Also, David's birthday is the 26th and mine is the 30th. So we decided we would make it a birthday trip and go a couple days early so Dave would still be free!

 

[grafxgirl]

We take our 2 kids to WDW every year for their birthdays. They are Sept 9 and Sept 10. Don't forget to let the Disney representative, who you make your reservations through, know it is your birthday and your son's birthday. They usually give out little certificates and buttons to wear all week. The cast members will be saying "Happy Birthday!" all the time. Our kids have also received special desserts and cast members singing to them each night at dinner.

 

[ptcrn]

We take our 2 kids to WDW every year for their birthdays. They are Sept 9 and Sept 10. Don't forget to let the Disney representative, who you make your reservations through, know it is your birthday and your son's birthday. They usually give out little certificates and buttons to wear all week. The cast members will be saying "Happy Birthday!" all the time. Our kids have also received special desserts and cast members singing to them each night at dinner.

Thank you for the tips! I did note our birthdays on our ADR's, and I definitely plan to pick up a birthday button- at least for my son! I know they don't have to do anything special for us, but if a little pixie dust gets thrown our way, that would be cool!

 

[ptcrn]

Here are some pictures from our trip last year.

Dave's first haircut. The photopass photographer took like 88 pictures!!

 

[ptcrn]

The Plans

Day 1- Friday 9/24. Gerry is planning to work this morning and hopefully make it home a couple hours before our flight (he works 2 1/2 hrs away). Our flight leaves at 3:50 and we have a layover at JFK right around dinnertime. Then we should get into MCO about 9:45.

Here is my first dilemma. Should I let ME get our bags, knowing we won't get them until sometime the next morning? We did this last year and I honestly can't remember what time we ended up getting our bags. I'm guessing it will be fine, cause we are going to want to sleep in anyway. What if our flight is 10 min late or something? Will they pick them up if it is right before 10 pm? I wonder how strict their cut-off is.

So then we take ME to Port Orleans Riverside, where we are going to request a room in Alligator Bayou, on the first floor. Ideally I would love something in buildings 14 or 18, close to the food court, but I'm not too picky. I just want 1st floor with the stroller since they don't have elevators.

I'm so excited to stay at POR!! I've stayed there twice before and it is my absolute favorite resort! Of course, I've never stayed at a deluxe. The grounds are so beautiful and relaxing. I love early morning walks there.

One thing I have never done is the walk over to the French Quarter. I definitely plan to do that this trip so we can get some beignets!! I have never had them, but I've read so much about them on others' reports and they look delish!

Other things I'm looking forward to are the boats over to DTD, and maybe doing a surrey bike ride - can little kids do this? My DH likes a lot of down time during vacation- no commando touring for him - so we are planning lots of time at the resort. We will probably come back every day for a nap and swim time after lunch, and we are going to have a couple of "down days" or at least half days.

 

[ptcrn]

Day 2- Saturday 9/25. Wake up in Disney!! We will probably sleep in a little and eat breakfast at the food court. I am planning to order from Garden Grocer for some breakfast things, but I think I'll just have it delivered today- don't want to deal with unpacking it the night before! Plan is for a low key morning, walk around the grounds, maybe use the pool.

Then we are going to head to DTD for lunch! I would like to eat at Earl of Sandwich, or maybe Wolfgang Puck Express. We then have ADR's at T-Rex for dessert at 12:30. I didn't want to pay OOP for a whole meal here, but I know David would love eating with the dinosaurs, so hopefully it will be okay that we just want dessert! If it doesn't work out or we don't feel like eating dessert at that point, we can just go to the little play area they have there, and stop by Build-a-Dino. David will have some gift cards from his birthday and I'm guessing he may want something from there! Oh, I just thought of something- I'm sure you can't use Disney gift cards at Build-a-Dino, can you? Oh well, I guess we can just budget for it if he decides he wants one.

Next we'll head back to the resort for pool and/or nap time. I really hope to build this into our routine every day. David is used to taking a 2 hr nap after lunch every day, so I know he will need it even more on vacation! I just worry that he will fall asleep in the stroller before we get back. I guess we'll just roll with it and adjust as necessary! Honestly, I think my husband will need the break just as much as Dave will!

Then on to our first park of the trip- Animal Kingdom!! I originally was going to have this as a no-parks day, but I got to thinking... 8 day tickets are only $5 more than 7 day tickets- no brainer! I should backtrack here to say that we did the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion (I made blankets for the Project Linus foundation for both DH and I), so we will be able to take about $87 off each ticket. So once I decided to get 8 day hoppers, you will soon see that our other "no park" day became a "just one park for a few hours" day! And I knew it would take a while to convert our GAD tickets, so it will be much easier to do this today when we have tons of time, instead of in the morning when we are wanting to get into MK as early as possible!

So... back to AK! I really don't have any firm plans here. I would like to see either FOTLK or the Nemo musical so that we don't have to try to fit both in on our full day there. None of us have ever seen Nemo and I think DS is the only one who hasn't seen the Lion King. Nemo is a must do on this trip- David really loves the movie! Then if we have time, maybe we'll do the safari or the train to conservation station. We will probably only have 2 hours here, as the park closes at 5. Does anyone know what the latest Nemo show is when the park closes at 5?

At 6 pm we have reservations at Boma for dinner! I am so excited to try this- we've never eaten there. I am trying to do lots of buffets for David so we can get our food quickly and get out! He is usually pretty good in restaurants, but you know 3 year olds! It all depends on the mood of the minute! After dinner we will walk around AKL a little bit and then go back to get to bed early- the next morning is an early day!!

 

[ptcrn]

I just had to come in to say..... 30 days!!!!



Not that anyone is reading this, but I will try to post pictures tomorrow of our countdown calendar. I am having trouble getting pictures on my computer- I either need more memory or to clear off some stuff!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Found your PTR tonight and sure am enjoying it!!! You're little man is so cute!

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans!

 

[ptcrn]

Found your PTR tonight and sure am enjoying it!!! You're little man is so cute!

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans!

Hooray, a reader!!!

Looks like you are going just before us. I will have to stop by your PTR! Thanks for reading!

 

[Dancegrl624]

We are staying at Pop from Sept 22-29th. I love reading other Sept PTR's! Mine has been going on for quite awhile, but I started posting my day-by-day plans. I have chapter links in my first post if you're ever bored! Your DS is such a cutie pie!

 

[ptcrn]

We are staying at Pop from Sept 22-29th. I love reading other Sept PTR's! Mine has been going on for quite awhile, but I started posting my day-by-day plans. I have chapter links in my first post if you're ever bored! Your DS is such a cutie pie!

Hi there! I think I have seen you over on Kristen's report. Maybe we will run into each other at some point- I think I remember that we have a few days we will be in the same place! I'm so excited that it is coming up quickly!

I will be over to your PTR!

 

[ptcrn]

I can't believe it has been so long since I've been in here! Things have been busy, busy- getting ready for DS' first day of preschool, weekends away, and getting ready for Disney!

17 days!!!! We are in the teens!​

I finally got my computer issues worked out and can now post pics of our countdown calendar. I borrowed ideas from a lot of threads on here! David loves taking one off every day, though I'm not sure he really "gets it," you know?

Peeking ahead

Here's David taking off the first day

He is having fun with it. I used the Home Depot Mickeys and stickers underneath that we got free in the mail, so it was cheap to make!

I'll try to get our next day up soon!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I love your countdown calendar!!!!

 

[ptcrn]

I love your countdown calendar!!!!

Thank you, it was fun to make! I haven't commented yet over on your PTR, but I've been reading and wanted to say your daughter is beautiful!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Thank you, it was fun to make! I haven't commented yet over on your PTR, but I've been reading and wanted to say your daughter is beautiful!

I miss doing those things now that Jasmine is older....makes me sad....they really do grow up way to fast! Thank you so much for your sweet comment!

 

[ptcrn]

My baby started preschool today! I cannot believe he is that grown up already. It seems like the days are just flying by. He had a great time, and didn't want to leave when I got there to pick him up! He has never been to daycare or anything, so I was a little nervous about how he'd react to my leaving him, but he did great! He'll go on Tues/Thurs just for 4 hours, which is just enough time for me to get some errands & household stuff done.

Here are some pics from the proud mama!

This is his "I'm scared" pose!

Then he figured out he could jump around like a goofball!

 

[ptcrn]

Ok, now back to Disney! On with The Plan

Day 3- Sunday 9/26. David's 3rd birthday!

We are spending the day at MK. We have a Chef Mickey's ADR for 7:30 AM- yikes! We are not "get up super early" type people, I'm not sure what I was thinking here! Hopefully we will make it on time and I'm guessing an hour + for the meal. Rope drop is at 9, maybe we'll make it by then or shortly after.

I hope we will get to see this!

We will take a break mid-day to nap and use the pool, then back to MK. I really want to see Wishes at 8 and MSEP at 9. There are EMH from 8-11pm that night, but I can't see us lasting that long!

The only other thing I would love to do this day is the Wishes Dessert Party. Originally they didn't have one scheduled, and once they added it it sold out quick! So I keep calling every day to see if there have been any cancellations, but no luck yet. I'm not really sure its worth the extra money anyway, so it'll be fine if we don't get to go. Plus, I don't know if its a great idea giving a 3 year old all that chocolate just before bedtime!

Must do's for MK-

Buzz Lightyear
Dumbo
Speedway
Mickey & Minnie's houses
All 3 coasters for me- not sure if DH will want to do these or not!
POTC

We have a couple more days at MK too, so I just want to go with the flow and go at David's pace. If he wants to play for hours in Donald's Boat, so be it!

 

[Dancegrl624]

What cute pics of your DS's first day of school. Isn't it great when they don't want to leave school? Makes you feel pretty good about leaving them there.

I too am excited for 9/26. We have an ADR at Crystal Palace at 8:15am, we'll hang out at MK for a bit, take a break at Pop and then come back for EMH!

 

[ptcrn]

What cute pics of your DS's first day of school. Isn't it great when they don't want to leave school? Makes you feel pretty good about leaving them there.

I too am excited for 9/26. We have an ADR at Crystal Palace at 8:15am, we'll hang out at MK for a bit, take a break at Pop and then come back for EMH!

Maybe we will see you at MK! Say hi if you happen to see us!

 

[ptcrn]

14 days!!! ​

2 weeks from today we will be on the plane, barring any delays! I'm so excited!

I feel like I have so much left to do still. I am a list person and have a ton of different ones, but I need to condense it down to one TO DO list! I did pre order our photopass CD today, one thing checked off the list. And our flight prices went down, so I got a credit today of $172 towards a future flight! I spent about 30 min on the phone with JetBlue, they were having some kind of trouble with their computer system, but it was so worth it!