Disney by Design! A PTR and planning thread for AoA Cars August 2012

[Sandi S]

My name is Sandi and I am a Disney freak! I'm married to a wonderful man, who is not the Disney freak that I am, but loves me enough to have let me go twice without him (LOL - not like I needed permission!).

Chris and I went to Disney in June/July 99 and stayed at All-Star Music. This was our "honeymoon" albeit 11 months after out July 98 wedding. We were both teachers and did not have time to go before then. While we spent 10 days at Disney, our house was under construction, and I had my 27th birthday at the parks. (I actually have had 4 birthdays now at Disney parks - yay!) We had fun, but he didn't have the burning desire to return that I did.

We had our first child, Matthew, in September of 2000 and our second son, James (aka Jamie) in February of 2002. I very much wanted to take them to Disney as soon as they were big enough to have any appreciation of it. I planned on summer of 2004 since we would have a 2 1/2 year old and an almost 4 year old at that point. I also knew we wanted to try for another baby and I did NOT want to do Disney while pregnant. My husband ended up skipping the trip to teach summer school and I went with the boys, my mom, and my uncle. We had a week of fun at Pop Century and learned all about strollers and rider swap...lots of work, but very fun.

The next April, I gave birth to our third little boy, Benjamin, and two years later in 2007, our family was completed with a sweet baby girl, Gracie. I didn't expect we'd get anywhere near a Disney park for awhile after that for reasons of both money and just plain inconvenience.

My crew - late 2007:

Life is funny though, because I ended up with an amazing opportunity in 2009.

To be continued...

 

[Sandi S]

In 2009, I had the opportunity to attend an NEA education convention in San Diego as a representative from my school district and I didn't want to leave the kids behind - esp. since DD (then 2) was still nursing at night. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to show the kids new things - including Disneyland.

So, since my husband couldn't get off from work for this, my mom and I traveled almost 6,000 miles in my Toyota Sienna with 4 kids (2,4,7, & 8 at the time). It was a lot of work, but an amazing experience. We were able to visit friends in person we had only known online, crossing the country from central North Carolina to Arizona via I-40. We drove to almost Memphis, TN the first day and then on to Amarillo, TX the next, stopping at a Route 66 museum on the way. Then, we headed to Flagstaff with a stop at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert in AZ. We spent the next day at the Grand Canyon and then traveled on to Las Vegas where we stayed two days with my mom's childhood friend. We then traveled on to Anaheim, CA where we checked into the Ramada down the street from DL.

We were able to walk to both parks and the Downtown Disney area! The first night when we arrived, we had dinner at Chef Mickey's in the Disneyland Hotel with some online friends with children the same ages as my youngest two. It was awesome - although my baby girl was kind of freaked out by the characters.

We spent the next day - my 37th birthday! - in Disneyland Park (yay - I got the free birthday deal!). My older two boys managed to hang with me and ride until past midnight after we had taken my mom and the little two back to the hotel around 8pm.

Freaky side note: Ran into a group of teens from my NC town that knew me (I teach) on Main Street USA and a co-worker driving their van near my hotel later that night. Weird...

The next day, we did the rest of DL and then went over to Calif. Adventure - oldest DS hung out with me that night after the rest went back and we rode his first coaster - California Screamin' and even went back to DL to grab a few last rides on Space and Splash Mountains.

After our Disney time, we headed down to San Diego where I had to be at the convention for the next 4 days. The evenings we used to visit the San Diego Zoo, Wildlife Park, Coronado...lovely!

When we left San Diego, we drove East on I-8, I-10 to Tucson where we spent the evening at an old West village and my oldest got to be in a stunt show as a volunteer. We drove on to NM that night and stayed there. The next day we drove from NM to San Antonio, TX - somehow it took forever to get through the El Paso area...

The next day we spent the morning at the Alamo and then went on to Houston. We met up with friends in Beaumont, TX before heading on through Louisiana and over to Gulfport, MS where we stopped. From Gulfport, we spent a morning at the beach, then went on to Mobile, AL (where I got to do a little fabric shopping!) and up through Birmingham and over to just west of Atlanta.

The next day in Atlanta, we spent the morning at World of Coke and visited Stone Mountain in the late afternoon/evening. We again got to meet up with friends and had a wonderful time. The laser light show at Stone Mountain was nice (but no Illuminations!). We spent that night just east of the city.

Finally, we drove up from GA, through SC on I-85 and into NC near Charlotte. By the time we made it home, we had traveled 5832.9 miles and only about 2-3 of those miles were doubling back on our original path!

...and I should add that our car was so funky-smelling my husband asked why it smelled like a brewery.

I took about 1500 pictures over the trip and ended up making a book through Blurb. I have it set up that anyone can preview it, so if you are nosy or curious, here you go! It covers everything from my pre-trip sewing to the aftermath when we got home. I plan to do a book like this again for this upcoming vacation.

 

[newtexan]

jumped over from lurking on the disboutiquers thread
cute kiddos
can't believe you did such a huge trip!
looking forward to the stories to come

 

[ivey_family]

I'm hopping over from the DisBout thread. I can't promise I'll keep up with everything, but I will pop in from time to time.

What an awesome trip! Your kids looked like they had a wonderful time which is a big accomplishment on such a long journey!

I can't wait to see all your gorgeous creations for this upcoming trip!

Regards,
C.

 

[Sandi S]

I(

jumped over from lurking on the disboutiquers thread
cute kiddos
can't believe you did such a huge trip!
looking forward to the stories to come

I am guessing from your screen name you are in Tx...w had an incident on I-10. My then7 y.o. DS needed a bathroom, but the next possible toilet was a rest stop 20 miles away. I had to pull over and let him poop in the scrub brush. W now joke he didn't mess with Texas, he messed on Texas.

When we finally got to the rest stop, we were thrilled to discovera warning about snakes and no roof over half the bathrooms. Spectacular...

 

[DMGeurts]

I am totally here Sandi!!! I can't wait to hear all about your plans!

D~

 

[Sandi S]

So far, this is the itinerary I have planned and what I have made so far...:

Sat. 8/4 - drive from NC to Altamonte Springs, FL
Sun. 8/5 - check in @ AofA, Hollywood Studios 9-2/check-in & pool/Magic Kingdom 6-12
Mon 8/6/12 - EPCOT 9am-9pm
Tues 8/7/12 - Blizzard Beach (9am - 8pm), Animal Kingdom (9-7), Downtown Disney - including Disney Quest

Weds 8/8/12 - Magic Kingdom 9am - 11:45am Crystal Palace - 10pm

Thurs 8/9/12 Typhoon Lagoon (9am)/EPCOT - 4:35pm Garden Grill - 9pm
Fri 8/10/12 Hollywood Studios - 4:30pm Sci-Fi Dine-In (9-9), revisit Disney Quest
Sat 8/11/12 Animal Kingdom(9am) /Magic Kingdom - 10pm

Sun 8/12/12 - Hollywood Studios - 9am/Magic Kingdom - 10pm (EMH til 1am)

Mon 8/13/12 Water Park (9am-8pm)/EPCOT - 9pm
Tues 8/14/12 - check out of AofA - Magic Kingdom (9am-10pm) - stay in Daytona Beach @ night

Weds 8/15/12 - Daytona Beach, drive home to NC

 

[smile5sunshine]

Hi Sandi! Just stalking you from the Disbou thread Can't wait to read about all the unfolding FUN!

MY goodness that was a MONSTER of a trip! I'm glad that you had your parents there to help you out! I've made a shorter (half country trip) from NC to El Paso and then we travel twice a year between Southeast TX to NC and OH (we make a triangle), so my kiddos are used to long hauls in the car, but your trip just takes the cake!

I just LOOOOOOVE all you've made so far! the Ariel dress turned out so stinking cute!

August is getting closer by the day! YIPEEEE!!!!

Sunshine

 

[newtexan]

Such cute customs you've made.
Amazing talent!

Plans sound busy but good.

 

[Sandi S]

Another bunch of custom trip wear...Mickey board shorts (and DH might be getting a pair as well!)

Plus, this Mickey tee

We also were fortunate enough to knock out some more money off the trip (thank you, Disney Visa!) and I got my Mother's Day gift, a new Nikon D3100, that will be wonderful to have along.

Life is good!

 

[Sandi S]

My aloha dress! The pattern is from an old Burda (circa 1994) and the appliques are from Sweet Pea (Minnie) and Bows and Clothes (Mickey).

 

[4monkeys]

Just saw this.. I had to jump over from DISBOUTIQue as well... Your customs are great.

 

[Sandi S]

Just saw this.. I had to jump over from DISBOUTIQue as well... Your customs are great.

Thank you! Here is my latest completed outfit - will be perfect for when we go to DHS and have the kids do Jedi Academy.

I also finished a Bolt shirt, a Yoda shirt, and Buzz shorts for Benjamin.

Next up includes a Goofy-themed shirt for my 10 y.o. DS!

 

[Sally]

Popping in from DisBou... incredible clothes, you are so talented.

 

[Corrine 1973]

Goodness, I think I might be the first person to comment who did no come over becasue of Disboutiquers. I have been on there from timeto time, but I admite I have not been there for awhile. But seeing all of your great creations just reminds me of all the work I need to do for my trip with my DD next May. so many outfits, so little time.

Your customs are just amazing. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

 

[Sandi S]

I've got some more Disney swag to share for my older two sons...

And here's a peek at a polo from Old Navy on the hoop to become a Disney custom for DH!

I currently have a shirt for myself on the machine - mine will have a Mickey & Minnie design on a white v-neck tee.

We are also getting the kids in shape for the trip - DH took them to the NC Zoo today. It's a huge zoo and rivals Epcot for the amount of walking. They did great. My youngest son was especially excited to see the giraffes. He has always loved them, so when I work on his stuff for Animal Kingdom, there will be a Disney-themed giraffe involved!

 

[Sandi S]

A little over two months and I still have lots more to make and plan, but I have spent Memorial Day weekend stitching out stuff, cutting fabric, and picking up Disney fabric on sale!

For DH (polo) & me (M&M tee)

...and adding to my stash of cute fabric:

Quite a bit of that was on sale at Joann's and the two Toy Story fabrics as well as the blue princess print and the Little Mermaid fabric and red Cars print were clearance bin at Walmart. I'm really excited to get the Brave print fabric. I want to use that in time for the movie opening in June!

I also got some good deals on shirts I plant to stitch out on for DH, so that was another score for the day!

I still have DS's Goofy shirt to sew, as well as 4 Mickey print camp shirts (3 boys + DH!), a Disney ice cream-themed outfit for DD (think Mickey bars!), and even a couple of non-Disney projects. I just sat there and cut yesterday...and even got all the interfacing needed for each project fused. For my next trick, I will sew it in an assembly-line fashion (for the shirts) and in an order that requires fewer thread changes for the rest.

Of course, throwing a wrench into this is the opening of the pool. Luckily, this will be balanced out by the ending of the school year and my time off from teaching. (Which, for those of you jealous of my schedule, remember I am a ten-month employee. I do not earn a check those two months, so I have to save ahead, even while working an average 50-60 hours a week during the school year...rant over.)

 

[4monkeys]

LOVE the boys shirts. So crafty!! Where do you get your applique designs?? I just purchased a machine... So I am making my list!!

 

[Sandi S]

LOVE the boys shirts. So crafty!! Where do you get your applique designs?? I just purchased a machine... So I am making my list!!

frou frou by heather sue
miss kenzie mac
sweet peas place*
bows and clothes*

(The last two require password access.)

 

[Sandi S]

My guys - hubby helped me picked out which Mickey everyone got!

Here's my daughter's Mickey ice cream outfit:

Our trip is less that two months away, school is out, and it is time for the serious planning and sewing to get under way!