Do I really get a do-over?

[carrie6466]

Okay. I was able to get an 'Ohana dinner this morning for 5:45 on 12/15. I've been dying to try this dinner.

Then I realized that is the only day we're going to be able to see the Main St. Electrical Parade. At 7:00 p.m. I know we won't be done on time to make the parade. So now I have a decision to make.

Do I keep the 'Ohana and skip the parade? Do I cancel 'Ohana and try for it on another trip? My other choice is keep Tony's Town Square, which I was about to cancel when I realized this. My Tony's is also for around 5:40 or so. The difference there is I am relatively sure we'll be done on time for the 7:00 parade and we'll already be rightthere.

Any opinions? I'm going to cancel one tomorrow. I'm just not sure which one yet.

 

[carrie6466]

Well, we still haven't made a decision on whether to do 'Ohana or hang around for the parade. I am leaning towards the parade, since it's the only night we'll be able to see it.

I notice there are a few people just lurking around. Don't be shy, help me decide!

I went out this weekend and got another Christmas present done and a few odds and ends for the trip. I was going to start gathering what I do have with the intentions to start packing next weekend.

But...we had a flood in March. And it involved a lot of water damage and insurance and plumbers, etc. We had gotten a lot of it fixed, and were now ready to rip up the floor in the hallway to lay down the wood floor. A day or two worth of work, no big deal. Except...I live in a house built in 1945 that has no basement. The floor tiles we pulled up are laying on the cement slab. The one that had mold on it when we pulled up the tiles. So, back to Home Depot for remover and Killz paint before we can do anymore work. But wait, let's see if we can find where it's coming from before we do that. Pull out the bathroom vanity. Find another leak that they missed in the great plumbing expedition of 2010. Great, now no sink in the bathroom and no floor in the hall. I'm having Thanksgiving at my house, btw. Karl is going to try to fix it. Hopefully, he can and we can avoid another huge plumbing bill

 

[aksunshine]

And just because I can't leave well enough alone, I've changed some more ADR's around. Thanks to the pictures in Alicia's trip report ::waves:: as well as the rumors about plum wine I've made a reservation at Teppan Edo for 12/15.

So now instead of Chefs de France at 4:20, here's the 12/15 revised meal schedule:

8:55 am The Wave
1:40 pm Chefs De France
7:40 pm Teppan Edo

I may just cancel The Wave all together. I only took it to try to use up a meal credit. We can always just use a snack credit or two for breakfast that day, because I think we'll have plenty to eat LOL

Happy to help!!!!

 

[aksunshine]

Mold is NO FUN!!! I am so sorry....


I REALLY like the dinner at 'Ohana. BUT!!! If you really want to see the parade, Tony's is good! We ate there this trip and I was quite happy with it!

PS- We ate at Les Chef's last year and were EXTREMELY disappointed.

 

[carrie6466]

Mold is NO FUN!!! I am so sorry....


I REALLY like the dinner at 'Ohana. BUT!!! If you really want to see the parade, Tony's is good! We ate there this trip and I was quite happy with it!

PS- We ate at Les Chef's last year and were EXTREMELY disappointed.

No, not fun at all. thanks!

I really want to try 'Ohana, but we ate at Tony's last year and enjoyed it. We ate at Les Chef's before, too, and really liked it. But I eat a lot of chicken. I'm not a daring eater lol. We've now switched Les Chefs to lunch instead of dinner, because of Teppan Edo.

I have myself completely messed up over all these reservations now! Karl has decided he doesn't care what I do with any of it, as long as Hoop Dee Doo stays.

I did get the rest of my Mickey mail today

I also bought 4 more Christmas presents. I am hoping to be done shopping for everyone besides my kids and husband before next week. The week after I will finish up my immediate family and then get everything wrapped and cards done.

 

[carrie6466]

Been a few days and I still haven't changed much. We've decided we'll see the parade this time, so unless they add another one between now and then, 'Ohana is out.

There are 25 days left. I haven't started packing yet, but I have started gathering. As in the hats we bought last year, sweatshirts we bought last year (we got we a lot lol), pins, clothes we aren't wearing between now and then that I want to bring with us, a few tshirts that I bought, etc. I'm hoping the suitcases will make their way out of the garage into the house sometime this weekend.

Although, now with the hallway and the bathroom in pieces and Karl just working on them after work with Kyle's help, I don't see much happening on any front but that one until he's done. Hopefully by Thanksgiving, because it's supposed to be here. Yep, here.

I did solve the problem of dinner our first night. I managed to get an ADR for Hollywood and Vine at 7:15. I figure we should be able to make that. We arrive at MCO at 3:00.

I have a few more pictures I want to put up, but maybe tomorrow, photobucket is doing nothing other than causing me grief tonight.

 

[carrie6466]

I promised a few pictures yesterday, so I am going to try once again to post them.

Pouty girl who doesn't like to wait for things to start. This was at DHS waiting for Osborne lights:

Her favorite ride in MK (most days) TTA. I told her to give me a nice smile. This is her interpretation of that LOL:

My favorite castle picture I took from the whole vacation:

And last, but not least, a Christmas tree made of gingerbread at the Contemporary. We saw it while on our way to Chef Mickey's for dinner:

I now have everything I need for the trip. I think. I bought the last few things in Target this morning. I have to dig out a backpack, from the many Kistina has, that she won't notice missing. Then I will pack it. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but I really don't care anymore. Everyone is going to be layered. I bought some long sleeved tees to go under short sleeved ones. I got leggins for Kris to wear under skirts. We have sweatshirts and down vests, which we'll need when we leave here. We may need them there, who knows. I have gloves, scarves, hats. I have shorts and capris. I have toiletries. I have ziploc bags. I think I am packing enough for anything short of a nuclear war.

And it's all going to fit in the one bag each we are alloted (by JetBlue) and will be less than 50 lbs. I don't plan on buying much of anything this time around, so the suitcases do not need to be half empty.

On the Christmas shopping front, outside of the immediate family, I only have two gifts left to buy and 2 gift cards. Then I will finish my dd and dh. My ds I won't shop for until I return, because he is staying home. I know he'll peek LOL.

 

[Tinkermom76]

Hey just found your PTR from the Dole Whip meet group so I am heading back to read!

 

[carrie6466]

Hey just found your PTR from the Dole Whip meet group so I am heading back to read!

I love it when I'm not talking to myself

I would have liked to make the Dole Whip meet, I just can't fit it in! Are you as excited as I am?

I got the suitcases into the house, I think I'm going to put a few things in them tonight, just because

 

[PirateKate]

Wow, I am very impressed with your plans. I sort of have an idea that I might should do some Christmas shopping before our trip and that I should look at the boys' clothes and see what they need, since I am sure Carter doesn't have enough clothes and start to think about packing. Two weeks out and I haven't done any of that.

I love Ohana! I haven't seen the MSEP. I sort of suspect I will prefer SpectroMagic. If I was going to pick between the two, I would go to dinner at Ohana.

 

[carrie6466]

Wow, I am very impressed with your plans. I sort of have an idea that I might should do some Christmas shopping before our trip and that I should look at the boys' clothes and see what they need, since I am sure Carter doesn't have enough clothes and start to think about packing. Two weeks out and I haven't done any of that.

I love Ohana! I haven't seen the MSEP. I sort of suspect I will prefer SpectroMagic. If I was going to pick between the two, I would go to dinner at Ohana.

Thanks!

We talked about it again last night and I think we're actually going with the parade. Kristina absolutely loves parades, so we figure that would be our best bet. Boohoo. We are doing breakfast at 'Ohana, maybe next time we'll get to do dinner there. At least we're trying a few places we've never eaten before, so I'm excited about that!

I almost had a heart attack earlier. I was checking on reservations and I didn't see my CRT on the list. So I entered the number manually and it said 'cancelled'. OMG what did I do now???

Turns out, nothing. I forgot that when I changed CRT from 7 people to 3, they had to rebook my ADR 5 minutes earlier for some reason, so they changed my confirmation number. I really need to stop tweaking these ADR's before I cancel something I wanted to keep.

Karl said today that we really only need 2 suitcases. It's just the two of us and one little girl...he says. How am I supposed to pack all that stuff in two bags? That each weigh less than 50 lbs? I know...I'll leave most of his stuff home

Side note here: I'm still trying to decide on how to tell Kristina. So far, we are telling her on 11/29. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Tinkermom76]

Ok I finally read through the whole thread!

Last time I went I was a coffee drinker and now I have switched to tea, so you think I should bring my own tea bags? Will the hot water at the restaurant count as my drink I wonder?

You are correct there is no storage at CR... sort of.
There are a couple drawers and there are 3 I think in the closet. The suitcases will fit in the bathroom, wierd I know but they will go in where the toilet is, you will see what I mean. I brought a shoe rack that hangs, I got one at the dollar store and we put all our "counter stuff" in it. It hangs well on the bathroom door

Looking for dining reservations... have you checked the Dec canceled ADR thread.. I got lots from it when I changed my dates

I have not eaten at Ohana or Tony's so I'm not much help but we are having breakfast and dinner at Ohana this trip

 

[carrie6466]

Ok I finally read through the whole thread!

Last time I went I was a coffee drinker and now I have switched to tea, so you think I should bring my own tea bags? Will the hot water at the restaurant count as my drink I wonder?

You are correct there is no storage at CR... sort of.
There are a couple drawers and there are 3 I think in the closet. The suitcases will fit in the bathroom, wierd I know but they will go in where the toilet is, you will see what I mean. I brought a shoe rack that hangs, I got one at the dollar store and we put all our "counter stuff" in it. It hangs well on the bathroom door

Looking for dining reservations... have you checked the Dec canceled ADR thread.. I got lots from it when I changed my dates

I have not eaten at Ohana or Tony's so I'm not much help but we are having breakfast and dinner at Ohana this trip

I have never brought my own tea bags, just because I've never thought of it before I left home. This time I thought of it. I don't know if they'll charge for the hot water. I'd say no, but not sure. I'm doing the meal plan so I'm hoping they'll bring me hot water and a juice or something. I guess we'll see

I have been checking the cancelled ADR thread every day. I think I'm done changing. Yesterday's close call where I thought I accidentally cancelled CRT was enough for me. I will just have what I have now and be happy with it

I did get to Home Depot today. I did take some alien green mickey paint chips. I did look around to make sure no one noticed. Yes, I am that paranoid.

I'm also thinking of going to the dollar store this week and getting a tiny (maybe 18") Christmas tree and decorations to put up in the room. I think Kristina would like that, since we are not going to be home with our decorations and she loves to decorate. I don't know yet. I depends on how full the cases will be I guess. I figure if it's dollar store stuff, I can just leave it when we go home.

I'm going to laminate some mickey head tags now. Thanks for showing how to 'laminate' them in your PTR

 

[Tinkermom76]

I have never brought my own tea bags, just because I've never thought of it before I left home. This time I thought of it. I don't know if they'll charge for the hot water. I'd say no, but not sure. I'm doing the meal plan so I'm hoping they'll bring me hot water and a juice or something. I guess we'll see

I have been checking the cancelled ADR thread every day. I think I'm done changing. Yesterday's close call where I thought I accidentally cancelled CRT was enough for me. I will just have what I have now and be happy with it

I did get to Home Depot today. I did take some alien green mickey paint chips. I did look around to make sure no one noticed. Yes, I am that paranoid.

I'm also thinking of going to the dollar store this week and getting a tiny (maybe 18") Christmas tree and decorations to put up in the room. I think Kristina would like that, since we are not going to be home with our decorations and she loves to decorate. I don't know yet. I depends on how full the cases will be I guess. I figure if it's dollar store stuff, I can just leave it when we go home.

I'm going to laminate some mickey head tags now. Thanks for showing how to 'laminate' them in your PTR

I love the way I laminate the Mickey heads!!!

 

[carrie6466]

Here you go, my laminated mickey heads. I also got some in a more 'Christmasy' green and red and am thinking of doing a red/green ornament type thing to decorate the stroller or something. The stroller we don't want to give up cause it's a great stuff carrier. And we really don't mind pushing it around. And yes, our 7 year old does still sleep in it. And hide in it when there is too much stimulation for her. She pulls the hood down and makes it a cave. It's good up to 75lbs. We have 24 lbs to go

 

[Tinkermom76]

Those look great!!!

I say go for decorating the stoller, a couple of days that I am there we will be getting a stoller for my 6 year old... too much for her the days we go all day

 

[carrie6466]

Thanks!

I just got an email that friends of my parents are going to meet up with us on 12/17. I really wanted to try Via Napoli. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to now, because I really want to meet them up with them, too. We always meet up with them when we go down.

One of the couples we usually meet with will be in NY already, so we'll see them when we get back home. The other couple will be there. I tried to get another ressie for 5 for that day. No go. Matter of fact my two choices at the moment for dinner for 5 at Epcot are Morocco and China. Neither of which is my favorite.

I'm not making any changes yet, until I hear from them definitely. It's nice for Kristina, because my parents would never go, so it's the next best thing. My parents are friends with three couples who live within a 2 hr drive of WDW. Two of the couples meet us just about every trip. We call the the pseudo-grandparents ROFLMAO My dad is an only child. He's got three great friends from when he was a kid that were like our uncles as we grew up. These are the three gentlemen who now live in FL and, of course, their wives.
I've even posted pictures on facebook with the 'borrowed' grandparents

 

[carrie6466]

I have been kind of busy with Thanksgiving stuff and Christmas shopping and taken apart bathrooms and hallways! Anyway

I no longer have to make a decision between 'Ohana and the MS Electrical Parade, because I was able to get an 'Ohana reservation on the night we arrive at 5:45.

So the day 1 itinerary is looking like this:

Flight lands at 3, ME to Contemporary (hopefully by 4:30, 5:00?), check in, head to Poly for dinner. Then on to DHS to see Osborne lights. I read that the hours at DHS have been extended by an hour, so with EMH it should be open until midnight. I figure we should be ok, because our flight isn't until noon, so we don't need to get up very early. To be at the airport for 10:30 we need to leave here by 9:45 or so. I'll be happy to just go see the Osborne Lights and call it a day

I really don't have any day planned in detail except the 16th. And that is only because we have a lot scheduled for that day. We pretty much show up at breakfasts and dinners whenever I could get them and wing it in between. Now that Kristina is really reading, I think I'm going to print out my list of what parks/what meals/what days and give her a copy.


Being on the autism spectrum has provided some interesting moments, for sure. First thing is as we walk through the gate Kristina must get a map. It doesn't matter that she knows it by heart. She must have one or ten

She has a few 'must-do's at each park and we do them in a logical order. She has a certain ride she likes to do first in each park and then we make our way around from there. Test Track at Epcot. Peter Pan at MK. TSM at DHS. We cannot deviate

We are usually okay as long as no one accidentally touches her We actually had to get off the line for the Laugh Factory the first time we went, because after waiting 20 or so minutes, a man behind us reached back and thought he was reaching for his child. He touched her arm before he looked back. She had a meltdown of epic proportions. I had to take her out. It was 2 more trips before she'd go back.

Last December we went to the Country Bear Jamboree. The CM was giving her opening spiel about sitting in your seats, lights going down, etc. At the end, she said something (joking, of course) about the bears eating you if you left your seat. Kristina, being the literal creature that she is, leapt from her seat before I could get a hand on her and ran out of the theatre. We haven't been back to the Country Bears. Somehow, I don't see a return trip any time in the near future.

 

[carrie6466]

So, we've decided not to wait until Monday to tell Kristina about the trip. We're sending her on a treasure hunt to find puzzle pieces. I made a jigsaw puzzle out of the picture of the castle I have with the icicle lights.

On the back I wrote a note telling her when we are going and where we are staying.

I've put a few pieces in each of six envelopes, that we are going to hide in various spots. The last envelope will be inside her Cinderella Castle playset. After she puts the pieces together, I'm going to have her tape them together and then turn it over to read the note. I hope this works better than the last time we tried to surprise her

In addition, we did manage to (mostly) get the bathroom finished, the hallway floor finished and host Thanksgiving dinner. I also managed to almost finish Christmas shopping. All I have left to do is get something for my FIL, my SIL and DH. I need to get DS one or two more things and that is it. I'm going to wrap and start packing this weekend.

As soon as Kristina knows about the trip, I am going to move the suitcases and put all my wrapped gifts where they were. It's a plan anyway.

I also did make a few more 'decorations' for the stroller. They are the three on the bottom. All are red on one side and green on the other

Two weeks from tomorrow. I'm getting excited!!

 

[carrie6466]

So we had our treasure hunt after dinner. Kristina found all the puzzle pieces. We put them together, taped them, turned it over and she read the note.

Then she asked if it was true. Repeatedly. After we assured her it was true, this was the reaction:

Such a better reaction than last year! She's really excited to show her daddy everything he missed by not being with us last year.

On a side note, Karl has been discussing that he thinks we've been going to WDW too often and he doesn't want to plan another trip there for a while. Kristina's reaction to this was "It's been so long since we were there last time." The difference in perspective of a 7 year old and a 45 year old LOL