Chronicles of the DDP Eaters, the Princess, the Slugger and the Family PTR w/ pics

[crystalcml]

Hi there everyone! Welcome to my very 1st PTR/TR. Let me welcome you to our story. You are embarking on a journey with a Princess, a Slugger our Disney OCD Mom and our favorite Aunt and Uncle, taking a joint family trip to the World. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Background-
Crystal, Brandon and Mary this is our 3rd year in a row vacationing at WDW with the dining plan. For my Aunt and Uncle, they have been on numerous trips and this is their 2nd time using the DDP. This is our first time going together. We are staying at the same resort Pop Century (of course) and utilizing the DDP so we will be having lots of yummy suppers together. We are leaving frigid (not really, but people seem to think its cold here year round) Minnesota Saturday September 27th, 2008 and returning Friday October 3rd, 2008.

The Cast:

Princess Crystal -26-

Loves anything and everything baseball especially the Minnesota Twins, Disney World and anything fun. Favorite princess is Jasmine. Likes the magic of Disney to be just that, magic. Will not do KTTK tour as it may ruin the magic. Is a really picky eater but will try most things once. Favorite WDW restaurant is Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner.


Slugger Brandon -11-

Typical 11 year old boy. Likes fast rides, science, magic and any behind the scenes info he can get his little hands on. If he knows how a ride works or any of the special effects it has, plug your ears if you don't want to know because he is 10 seconds away from blabbing the secrets. Likes to eat but not willing to try new things. His favorite WDW restaurant is Whispering Canyon Cafe.

Disney OCD Mom (Mary) -55-
Mother to Crystal and Brandon. Has and obsession with WDW. She will cry everytime she sees the Castle (regardless if it's on TV or in person). She wears a handy dandy bottle holder, camera, pin trading lanyard and a fan all around her neck. Doesn't like roller coasters but will go on them if we drag her. Will eat just about anything. Always willing to try something new. Favorite WDW restaurant is Coral Reef.

Favorite Aunt Bonnie -52-
Has 2 grown children of her own. Has been on multiple trips to Disney both Land and World. Loves thrill rides and stage shows. Not really a picky eater and will try new things. First trip to the World with us. Favorite WDW restaurant is Le Cellier.

Favorite Uncle Greg -52-
Favorite Aunt Bonnie's husband. See above. Also likes golfing and relaxing a bit. Not really picky. His favorite restaurant thus far is the character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern.

Pre Trip Report-
As of today, we are now at the 56 day mark till our trip and already things are starting to go downhill. Let me tell you that I am not a fan of cutesy matching things or having things dangle from your neck or any of that stuff when I am in WDW. My lovely mother is the dire opposite and I consider her to be one of those and it can get embarrassing.

Well the embarrassment just got worse. My lovely Mother and Aunt have decided that it would be really cute if all 5 of us wore the same shirts. Arrrggghhh, are you serious? I offered to wear a Minnesota Twins jersey and they can all wear Minnesota Twins shirts but that didn’t go over to well. Then my Mother saw these beach towels on the Disney website and decided that all 5 of us needed those too. So now we have matching t-shirts and matching beach towels. I am trying to figure out what other form of embarrassment/punishment she is going to come up with. I still love my Mom and think she is the greatest, but tacky tourist I am not.

The infamous shirt- My mom really wanted the lime green but my aunt didn't so they decided on the navy blue.

The infamous beach towel- This is actually not that bad as you can conceal it at any time!

Stay tuned more to come…….

Chronicles of the Matching Buttons

Chronicles of the DDP Eaters....The Itenerary

Chronicles of the Flight Changes

Chronicles of the Crippled and another flight change

Favorite Uncle Greg's 10 days to go response

 

[crystalcml]

In my earlier post I talked about my Mom and Aunt wanting us to wear matching shirts and that we have matching towels. Now my Uncle is in on it and wants us to wear these matching buttons. He said he found 5 of them in his basement. They are old buttons from McDonalds that say something about Minnesota and the M in Minnesota is shaped like the McDonald's M . Oh joy, I can't wait.

Stay tuned for our itenerary!

 

[crystalcml]

Ok I have finally finished our DDP itenerary. I have to tell you that I am super excited! I loving planning things and what not. My Uncle on the other hand doesn't want in his words, "whole vacation planned down to the minute". So this is what I have come up with. This is rough and I'm sure it will change quite a bit but here it is:

Arrival - Pop Century
Magic Kingdom
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Early breakfast at Crystal Palace
Dinner at Wilderness Lodge's Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Lunch at Flametree Barbeque
Dinner at Wolfgang Puck

Day 4 - EPCOT
Lunch at Coral Reef
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Day 5 - Waterpark day (Not sure which one yet)
Evening either EPCOT or Magic Kingdom

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom
Lunch at Cosmic Rays
EPCOT
Dinner at Le Cellier

Day 7 - Early morning breakfast at Pop
Then we have to catch the Magical Express back to the airport

Stay tuned for more............

 

[crystalcml]

Hi all,

We just recieved our trip documents in the mail last week. How cool is that? I 3 1/2 weeks we will be on our way to the world!

With all of that excitement, we got a call today from Disney stating that our returning flight time has changed yet again. This is the 3rd change in our returning flight time so I am a little nervous. We were supposed to leave Orlando at 1pm and return to the Twin Cities at like 3:30pm. They told me today that our flight has been changed so now we don't leave Orlando until 7:15pm. Now as much as I love Orlando and I think it will be cool getting to stay almost an extra day basically, I am miffed at the airline. That is a lot of changes to one flight. Argh! Why can't things run smoothly sometimes? Well I guess I really can't complain.

Talk to you all soon!

 

[crystalcml]

Hi everyone,
Just checking in. We are officially down to the 2 week mark. I have been running around picking up odds and ends and making lists lately. It's time to break out the luggage and vacuum it out. I can start washing and packing next weekend already! Sheash has the past year flown by fast. We booked this trip when we were in WDW last September.

As excited as I am, we have hit a couple of bumps in the road. My Uncle broke his foot, my Aunt's back has been hurting her and my mom has foot troubles that have gotten worse for her in the past month or so. I told them all that if need be, my brother and I would be glad to push them around the world in wheelchairs. We also got a call last week that our 1pm return flight has been changed to 7 something pm.

Even with the bumps in the road, I am still super excited for this vacation with my family!

I will update in about a week! Happy planning!

 

[tink1957]

It sounds like you're going to have a great vacation despite the bumps. On our first trip my Nephew had a motorcycle accident the night before we left, I just stopped on the way to fill his painkiller prescription & we were fine, he had to take more breaks than he normally would but he still had the time of his life. On our second trip DD & I both got the flu, but we just took Advil & still managed to have fun, after all we were at Disney World at Christmas & we were not going to let anything spoil it.

Have a magical time.

 

[crystalcml]

It sounds like you're going to have a great vacation despite the bumps. On our first trip my Nephew had a motorcycle accident the night before we left, I just stopped on the way to fill his painkiller prescription & we were fine, he had to take more breaks than he normally would but he still had the time of his life. On our second trip DD & I both got the flu, but we just took Advil & still managed to have fun, after all we were at Disney World at Christmas & we were not going to let anything spoil it.

Have a magical time.

Sorry to hear about your nephew. I'm glad everything worked out for him and for your vacation!

Thanks for the encouragement! I think we are going to have a lot of fun no matter what pace we take on the world!

 

[vdarrell]

Sorry to hear of the changes,this coming frm someone who has had the same problem.
Our flight times have changed 5 times since we booked in March for our Dec. trip. We have even had to pay $100. to have our trip plans revised since they couldn't accomodate us according to why we booked an early flight to begin with so we added an additional 2 days. As for leaving I love the fact that we leave late just one more day in Disney. What worries me is we still have almost 3 more months to go so I'm hoping there isn't anymore changes.

Here's some and prayers being sent your way that you and your family will have only magical moments from here on out.

Enjoy

 

[gablarson]

This Is The Poor Crippled Up Uncle. I Still Think That I Can Run Crystal Into The Ground At Wdw.
Its About Ten Days Before We Leave And We Are Already Worried About How We Are Going To Fit Our Luggage.
I Hate Planning. It Seems Like It Always Works Out In The End Anyway.