Disney w/ my girlfriend and my parents for 7 days. Woop woop! April/May '09

[TeaForTulips]

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[DISNEYJAZZ]

jumping onboard for the trip report ride! i know you will both have a great time! and in a few years when you go with your dneice & dnephew you will have an even greater time! can't wait to read your plans...you will get tons of info and great ideas here,i know i did!

 

[TeaForTulips]

jumping onboard for the trip report ride! i know you will both have a great time! and in a few years when you go with your dneice & dnephew you will have an even greater time! can't wait to read your plans...you will get tons of info and great ideas here,i know i did!

Thank you so much! I really thought my sister was more than likely going to be the only one to reply to this.

I was excited to see your post!

I know we'll have a great time and when I worry I just remember that even when things go wrong @ Disney it doesn't kill the magic.

I have a HUGE list of 'things to do' this weekend, but I will post again either Monday or Tuesday with more pre trippie things. My house has become a complete wreck since christmas/sister and parents wedding anniversaries/girlfriends birthday/vacation/etc ... gotta get on it before i go crazy!!

 

[Trista_Daisy]

Hooray for your Pre Trippie, Sister! I'm jumping onboard even though I will probably cry everytime I read an update b/c I can't go! =(

 

[TeaForTulips]

Hooray for your Pre Trippie, Sister! I'm jumping onboard even though I will probably cry everytime I read an update b/c I can't go! =(

Dont cry sister ... you will go soon.

Besides I will bring you back lots of goodies for you and my squishies. And my brother in law. So you will be prepared with some new disney gear when you go? Thats friendly yeah?

Lub ya! Give Pierce and Hallise a squeeze for me!

 

[TeaForTulips]

So I forgot to bring the cord to connect my camera to the computer @ work, so no pics to put up today. le sigh. I will do them tomorrow.

Some good news is that Jen is starting to get excited. Yay!

I am pretty on schedule with my pre-trip planning. I will post some pics in regaurds to this tomorrow. What I am currently trying to figure out is how much money to budget for food... I'm having a hard time figuring this out because I dont want to have ALL of our places to eat planned.

Question to anyone reading this: How did you budget money for food w/o the dining plan?

At first I was thinking about $10 per meal per person, but there will be a few nights when we have nice dinners. Example, my mom wants to eat at Rainforest Cafe. Its became a sort of tradition and there are some funny stories that happened there.

Pause for quick story, please feel free to skip.

We are a funny bunch in that sort of way where 9 times out of 10 you had to be there? But we usually have all those near us laughing with us... so we were eating at The Rainforest Cafe. You know how they have those Volcano Cakes? (@ least they did...) Everytime a waiter/ess brings one out they shout "Volcanoooo!!!!" and all the other employess shout it back. Well, my dad would randomly just shout out "Volcanoooo!!!" for no reason and all the employees would chime in. It was hilarious and all the tables around us were getting a huge kick out of it. This happened for a while until a waiter finally caught on. We would have ordered the cake but I am allergic to caffiene and can not have chocolate. So thats one of our little stories.

Ok.. back to topic. We are trying to budget how much we will need for food and that is really hard! Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated...

Places wanting/trying/considering to eat:

Boma Breakfast
Whispering Canyon (maybe?)
Rainforest Cafe
Earl of Sandwhich
Wolfgang Puck Express
Cantina de San Angel (watch Illuminations)
Fultons Crab House

Again, not trying to plan everywhere we eat. Thats a few Im interested in though...





To be continued tomorrow.

 

[msce2]

On new years eve my sister and I spent most of the evening watching the Disney marathon on the travel channel.

My kids and I spent New Years eve watching this as well. It was great!!! What a way to get in the mood for WDW in 09.

BTW your nephew is adorable.

 

[TeaForTulips]

My kids and I spent New Years eve watching this as well. It was great!!! What a way to get in the mood for WDW in 09.

BTW your nephew is adorable.

Thanks so much! I love that little boy...

Spending New Years Eve watching Disney things was a great way to bring in the new year!

_______________________________________________________________​

OK... so Im sure all you other obsessed planners will understand this. I have only recently come to realize what an obsessive planner I truely am. I'm sure this feature is a good thing in the long run, but at times no so much ...

Like many, I'm sure.. I check the Disney sites almost daily. You've prolly seen the recent updates to the Disney site. While these look very friendly I am so upset they messed up the calendar! I have already lost patience that the May hours were never posted, but now with the updates the April hours are gone. I'm hoping this will be resolved very soon. I believe I will be able to make ADRs around Jan 24th and Id like to have a layout of my schedule for this.

I have spent most part of the afternoon debating on if we should avoid the Extra Magic Hour parks... I get mixed reviews.

New question for readers: Did you go to or skip extra magic hours? Results?

Alright.. had to vent that somehow.
More tomorrow!

 

[Trista_Daisy]

I forgot all about the volcano story! Dad is SO funny!

Don't Stress, Sis! I'm sure you will be able to get your schedule all in order in time for ADRs! Don't stress too much about it!

 

[TeaForTulips]

Alright... so this is the first time we'll be staying on property. Even though we will be at All Stars Music and I know it isn't the nicest disney hotel - I'm still very excited. With all of us needing to keep up with our 'Key to the World' and all that I found these on ebay...

From top to bottom they are my Dad's, Mom's, Jen's, then mine.
Even if we don't use them I thought they were cute... maybe someone will get some pins. Who knows... but they have a zip closure on the little pouch so I thought they were friendly.

I've been trying to do lots of reading and have these books on top of all the online resources...

I'm hoping to bring the dining guide with us to help pick places to eat w/o too much planning before hand.

After much research I've decided (almost 100%) that we are gonna skip the park that ha the Extra Magic Hours of the day. Which makes the scheduling not quite the way I'd like it to be... but I'm sure itll be fine and we'll manage. I made a spreadsheet with all the hours and details of each park for each day and which day we were going where... soo I've had to change it around. I liked it better the first way but it had us attending EMH. Oh well. I mean it's Disney. You can't go too wrong yeah?

 

[TeaForTulips]

So I have become an addict on the DISigns Thread. Anyone ever go there? So fun! Everyone is so kind and they make the cutest things! Here are some of the shirt (or other misc items) ideas I have found so far...

for me and mom

for dad and jen

me and jen

mom and dad

wall-e ... gotta love him

dad loves LSU

jen loves green bay packers

and lastly ... the castle.

too cute yeah? yay for fellow DIS'ers! check out the DISign forum if you like 'em.

 

[TeaForTulips]

Warning - OFF TOPIC

Although I have started working on my lists for disney (i am big on lists)... I will post them later, but I wanted to take a moment to give kudos to the Disney Mom Panel. I read the site daily, I ask some questions now and again, etc. Today I was going over all the new questions and I came upon a question asking about 'Gay Days' at WDW. A mother was concerned about this event occurring during her stay and wanted an opinion since she has three small children. Mom Panel member Anna S. answered her and it was such a joy to read. Even though this event is not sponsored by Disney it is lovely to know it is accepted. Just like Disney now allows gay and lesbian couples to have commitment ceremonies. Yay Disney! Yay Anna S on the WDW Mom's Panel!

If you want to check it out here is the link:
http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/questions.aspx?where=home&sort=&page=2&qid=27034&pid=94&cid=97

 

[littleboss]

I thought I would chim in here. I see we will be in Disney at the same time! I will be our first time to the magical place that I'm so stinkin crazy over. How can someone be crazy about something they've never done but I am. I would first of all like to comment on the frustrations we share on the May calendar and also the dinning issuesthat are so frustrating to me. I feel like time is ticking and they are slowing us down Right!!?? Don't they know we need things to do while waiting for ourbig vacation. BTW do you know that Space Mountain will not be running while we are there? Okay I'm rambling on ( maybe I should start my own PTR so I can vent even if its to myself).

 

[TeaForTulips]

I thought I would chim in here. I see we will be in Disney at the same time! I will be our first time to the magical place that I'm so stinkin crazy over. How can someone be crazy about something they've never done but I am. I would first of all like to comment on the frustrations we share on the May calendar and also the dinning issuesthat are so frustrating to me. I feel like time is ticking and they are slowing us down Right!!?? Don't they know we need things to do while waiting for ourbig vacation. BTW do you know that Space Mountain will not be running while we are there? Okay I'm rambling on ( maybe I should start my own PTR so I can vent even if its to myself).

I'm so glad you posted! Please ramble on as much as you like. I truely don't mind, enjoy it really.

My g/f has never been to Disney either... not even into all things Disney like my family, but she is finally excited for it! I understand how you can be so crazy over it even though you've never been. It's been over 5 years since I've been, so Im going nuts!

Are you doing the dining plan? I ate having to plan where we are going to eat and when. I know it would be risky but I'm thinking about not doing any ADRs.

I have this spreadsheet on the parks and I've been trying to figure out what park to do what day. That has now started to stress me out. I dont know why... at first we were wanting to do the Extra Magic Hours. Now I think we are going to avoid them. So tricky...

Id love to hear more about your trip! If you do start a PTR please give me the link! Are you staying on property?

About space mountain.. I did notice this yesterday. How can they do this to us? The Hall of Presidents will also be closed to add Obama. Im super excited for the new president but does he really need to be added so quickly?? Even if I could get past it, it still upsets me because it is Jen's first time. These were both 'must sees' on my list for her! I know it must be too awful since it will be your first time too!!

Hope youre having a magical day!

 

[TeaForTulips]

Thanks to my lovely Dad being a member of AARP we found a really good deal on a van to drive to Disney. Its only about a 14-15 hour drive but we want to pack a cooler and be able to have enough room to be comfy. Jen says she also needs enough room for all the disney things she plans on buying! She has come to the disney dark side as my sister would say! She always told Jen to come to the disney dark side... we have disney cookies. Maybe you have to know her to really think thats funny... I apologize if that seems to be true as you are reading this.

Anyway ... we found a chevy uplander for $660.00. From what I have been pricing on vans this is def a good deal. It seats 7... so with 4 of us Ill think well be good.

We're also gonna prolly head back to the van for lunch some days. Pack a lunch in the cooler that morning.. Save money on lunches which we eat very light and spend more on nice dinners. Might work, might not.

The last long trip we went on we brought a dvd player.. the one with dual screens you know? I thought it would really help the trip go by, but I think it gave me a headache which is not good. (i get chronic headaches and migraines) Has anyone else found that watching a movie in the car gave them a headache? It might have been a coincidence but Im nervous to try again. When I get a headache it doesnt go away for a really long time or it turns into a migraine.

I'm really excited the trip is turning out to be not as pricey as we all thot it would have. We were already planning on staying 6 days but with the promo that came we're staying 7 days and it turned out cheaper.

Trip cost so far:
7 day pckage with park hopper @ All Star Music (4 adults) - $1783.36
Van rental - $660
Gas estimate - $200 or so...
Hotel for Friday night - ???
Food Budget - no idea...
Spending Money - all the money i can save!

Things to do today:
-check out crocs website ... apparently there is a sale going on.
-continue checking ebay for my vera bradley hipster bag
-oh yeah... and work!

 

[carissanboys]

Hi Tarah First off - glad you came out of lurkdome! PTRs and TRs are a lot of fun and the main thing I spend my time on here on the Dis.

You had Boma for breakfast on your list and I highly recommend it. We've been there twice and loved it. And it's so much fun afterwards to go out back and hang out and watch the animals or look for hidden Mickeys.

We drive to Disney as well. I love to drive.

Lovin' all of the t-shirt designs!

 

[Trista_Daisy]

Thanks to my lovely Dad being a member of AARP we found a really good deal on a van to drive to Disney. Its only about a 14-15 hour drive but we want to pack a cooler and be able to have enough room to be comfy. Jen says she also needs enough room for all the disney things she plans on buying! She has come to the disney dark side as my sister would say! She always told Jen to come to the disney dark side... we have disney cookies. Maybe you have to know her to really think thats funny... I apologize if that seems to be true as you are reading this.

Anyway ... we found a chevy uplander for $660.00. From what I have been pricing on vans this is def a good deal. It seats 7... so with 4 of us Ill think well be good.

The Disney Dark Side rocks! Ha! And that van is HUGE! 7 Passengers you say...? So room for me, right??

And I truly think you guys should steer clear of the AM EMH but take advantage of the PM EMH. That has been the tip I have seen around. But hey, just a thought. And I think you seriously SHOULD make ADRs for any places you KNOW you want to eat. Walk-ups the time of year you are going could be bad and you don't want to waste time at Disney standing around waiting to eat. And CS the whole time would be no fun! Know what I mean, Jellybean?

PreTrip is looking good so far, Sis!

 

[TeaForTulips]

Hi Tarah First off - glad you came out of lurkdome! PTRs and TRs are a lot of fun and the main thing I spend my time on here on the Dis.

You had Boma for breakfast on your list and I highly recommend it. We've been there twice and loved it. And it's so much fun afterwards to go out back and hang out and watch the animals or look for hidden Mickeys.

We drive to Disney as well. I love to drive.

Lovin' all of the t-shirt designs!

Thanks so much! We're not huge breakfast eaters and Im not sure if the type of food will appeal to everyone in my group, but I really want to try it. I've heard great things.

I don't mind the driving to disney. I enjoy being a passenger. Theres lots of perks for us to drive... cheaper than flying for sure, but also because we can stop places along the way. My fave spot in FL other than Disney is Santa Rosa Island (pensacola beach). We lived in Jacksonville and Pensacola so stopping along the way is really enjoyable. I love the beach.

I will have to get caught up on your PTR! It will help my day go by at work.

Thanks again! My PTR hit two pages! Haha. Yay!

The Disney Dark Side rocks! Ha! And that van is HUGE! 7 Passengers you say...? So room for me, right??

And I truly think you guys should steer clear of the AM EMH but take advantage of the PM EMH. That has been the tip I have seen around. But hey, just a thought. And I think you seriously SHOULD make ADRs for any places you KNOW you want to eat. Walk-ups the time of year you are going could be bad and you don't want to waste time at Disney standing around waiting to eat. And CS the whole time would be no fun! Know what I mean, Jellybean?

PreTrip is looking good so far, Sis!

Aw sister... I wish you could go real bad! When you and Mario go, Im sure we will all be able to go with you. Marios 'rents can watch the kids!

I just hate having everything so planned... I guess I will try to make some ADRs for the places I know we want to eat... still torn about the day to day schedule... Ill have to take a closer look at it again.

Thanks sister!
See you at lunch! Hehe.

 

[carissanboys]

When we eat "breakfast" somewhere, we always go with the latest seating they have and think of it as lunch.

As to EMH - on our first trip we stayed at Shades of Green and were able to utilize EMH. Personally, I found going to MK the morning they had it was great. We got so much done in that first hour. We never did an evening one.

 

[littleboss]

I'm so glad you posted! Please ramble on as much as you like. I truely don't mind, enjoy it really.

My g/f has never been to Disney either... not even into all things Disney like my family, but she is finally excited for it! I understand how you can be so crazy over it even though you've never been. It's been over 5 years since I've been, so Im going nuts!

Are you doing the dining plan? I ate having to plan where we are going to eat and when. I know it would be risky but I'm thinking about not doing any ADRs.

I have this spreadsheet on the parks and I've been trying to figure out what park to do what day. That has now started to stress me out. I dont know why... at first we were wanting to do the Extra Magic Hours. Now I think we are going to avoid them. So tricky...

Id love to hear more about your trip! If you do start a PTR please give me the link! Are you staying on property?

About space mountain.. I did notice this yesterday. How can they do this to us? The Hall of Presidents will also be closed to add Obama. Im super excited for the new president but does he really need to be added so quickly?? Even if I could get past it, it still upsets me because it is Jen's first time. These were both 'must sees' on my list for her! I know it must be too awful since it will be your first time too!!

Hope youre having a magical day!

Yes we are doing the dining plans beings I have 4 children I must make sure we get to do some character meals and such. We will be staying at POP, it will be a test beings my husband can't go so I decided to bring my mom instead and don't get me wrong I love her to death SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!! Any ways I think I will start my own PTR soon I will have 3 days off soon and will have some free time.