Crossing Our Fingers and Toes! A July 2021 PTR

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2 Weeks!

I haven't updated here in a couple of weeks - sorry about that! With the end of the school year and a few family/extended family related things going on right afterwards I haven't had the time to sit down and update here. I've basically just refreshed the News board every day to see if there's anything important for my trip to read up on.

Let's see, what's happened in the last couple of weeks?

- Kristen and I made our hotel reservations for our drive so we didn't need to worry. On the way down we'll be leaving here and heading to New Brunswick for the night, then we'll head down to Savannah on Friday and stop there. Saturday we'll be pulling into the Boardwalk!!! Our drive home we'll be stopping in our trusted Roanoke Rapids, NC.

- I did start to pack a little! I didn't want to do too much until this week because I needed to use my overnight bag last weekend and I wasn't sure until yesterday if I'd need to go back to Connecticut at some point this week or next. I've packed my Disney-specific t-shirts and pulled out the shoes that I'm going to bring with me (I'm bringing SO MANY shoes! I normally only take a couple but with our trip being longer than the trips I've been taking recently and our having a few nice dinners I felt it made sense to bring a few extra shoes in case my feet hurt/so I could dress nicely). I also packed up the toiletries I won't need before we go like my travel-size stuff, and I restocked the little "first aid" pouch I bring with me with Tylenol and dramamine and Tums. I was going to pack a bit more this week but with the heat wave I haven't had the gumption to do anything. Today I'll probably do a little bit more.

- we're going to have an "arts and crafts" day on Monday. We bought matching fans during Prime day so we're just going to put our initials on them so we can easily grab our fans and we had already bought reusable water bottles for the car that we're planning on putting our initials on. We'll also use this day for people to try out my car a little bit and get used to driving it. We're also going to take a little bit of time finalizing what we need to buy for the drive, like specific snacks, drinks, etc.

I'm going to be honest, it feels so surreal to be gearing up to go in two weeks! I started planning this trip last July and even when we booked in January of this year I half-expected having to cancel by April. The fact that it's JULY and we're leaving in 14 days??? I'm still in shock!

 

[sheri18]

You did great with the ADR’s, we just booked a few weeks ago and having a hard time...being 7 of us most nights, then 10 a few nights is a job in itself to find reservations..

 

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You did great with the ADR’s, we just booked a few weeks ago and having a hard time...being 7 of us most nights, then 10 a few nights is a job in itself to find reservations..

Thanks! We had that same problem last time we did a long trip as we were a party of 7 and I know now it's even harder. Hoping for the best for you!

 

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1 Week!

We leave a week from tomorrow! Which means....I'm sitting here pretending to pack while I wait for my laundry to dry while I'm really just sitting on my floor with packing cubes strewn about the bedroom lol.

I did actually pack last night, but I ended up overpacking and since we're taking a car it's a lot harder to justify overpacking. I ended up giving up at around 10 because my back was killing me and today I'm redoing my packing to try and redo my packing to make it make more sense. I've currently cut two pairs of shoes, was able to put my toiletries into a smaller bag, and redo my bulky items (dresses, bathing suits, etc.) to fit into one bag. It's not perfect but it's something!

I still need to pack undergarments and shorts. The undergarments are in the wash and the shorts are behind me, waiting patiently to be packed but I've been putting them off. I'm just comfy on the floor and am not sure if I can get up at this point.

Tomorrow I should clean out my car. Friday we're going to run to the local big box store to grab a case of water and a few snacks for the car ride. We figure we'll do a grocery run while down there for Powerade and other things. On Monday we did some craft stuff for our trip which was great!

I'll probably update once more before we head on out - anyone in the path of the hurricane stay safe!

 

[sheri18]

Can’t wait to read more..what type of crafts did you do? Have a safe trip

 

[LifeTheDisneyWay14]

Hello all!

It's been a while since I've actually focused on a PTR. My last couple of trips were planned so quickly I didn't really have the opportunity to make PTRs and then 2020 all of my plans kind of...well, collapsed.

And maybe this trip will too? But we're talking about it more realistically now, so I need a place to share my planning brain and revel in the potential trip. So we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will happen! I know a lot of people have safely gone to Disney during the pandemic but because of jobs and other factors for us it just isn't a feasible option if things remain the same. But no matter what we're being hopeful!

So, since it's been a minute since I posted here, hi! I'm Elle!

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I'm a 30-something who loves Disney (obviously). I'm an AP holder and usually go down to Disney multiple times a year, usually on breaks. When I'm at home I'm a middle school teacher. This year has been....tough to say the least, so I'm very much hoping that we can do this and go down for a trip.

My partners in crime are some familiar faces for anyone who's read through any of my other more recent trip reports.

First up we have Liz:

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Liz has been one of my best friends since we were kids. She's a former CM who loves Belle and Big Thunder Mountain. When she lived in Florida we would take time out to see her and ever since she moved back up she's been a near-constant member of my travel party.

Next up is Jill:

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I've known Jill for a little over 10 years. She's one of my good friends and we've gone to Disney together three times, though she's gone multiple times before.


And finally, we've got Kristen:

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Kristen is the newest member to the Disney crew. Her first trip was in 2018 when we went as a big group. She's a Cinderella lover and while she and I haven't known each other as long as I've known the other two she is also one of my absolute best friends. She's also the person I use to bounce planning ideas off of, because she may not have the experience but that helps because she can't help me think things through more logically.


For our trip this July that we're really planning in earnest now (even though we haven't made any definite decisions yet) we'll be staying at Coronado Springs. Our plan right now is to be there from July 17-25 with our park days being July 18-24.

Oh, why you might ask?

Well, unlike any other year we're actually planning on driving down. We've been talking about doing a road trip for a while. I did one about 11 years ago to Disney and I loved having the freedom to come and go as we pleased but I did not love that I drove the entire way (bad planning meant that we had to use my car at the time, which was standard and only I could drive it). This time though while we'll be using my car again we'll be able to switch off easier and three out of the four of us have done the drive before so we are at least familiar with the drive.

I mean, it'll be long, like 19 hours long, but it'll be fun if we can do it!


So, hopefully I'll do better with this trip report and we'll be able to go so I can update this with good news over the next few months!

I love your sparkly pink ears, I have the matching backpack!

 

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I love your sparkly pink ears, I have the matching backpack!

They're my favorite go with anything ears!