Dude: The Return...Yep, We're going back

[camelotcats]

Well, It's been over 2 years since I have been on the DIS. It became too easy to worry about life and not think about this magical forum. In the past 2 years, we moved from New York to Texas, I got a new job as a Special Education Math Resource teacher (hello 60+ hour work weeks), I didn't sew any outfits for years (bye DISBoutique), Too many people going back to that magical place and no trips on my horizon (hello jealousy), the great blowout that drove many of my friends away (hello Drama, goodbye too many of my "regular" reads), etc.

In fact Disney hasn't even been a consideration for us since the first awesome Ip-Dip meet-up of 2008.

Well, no more!

This will be the fall that my little man (and oldest child) turns 10. 10 is a big birthday in WDW, as I'm sure we all know. So, DH and I had a little chat and decided that the "disney bank" was full enough, and we were (read: he was)ready to return to the most magical place on Earth.

This year, we are planning some new experiences and looking forward to returning to some of our personal "zones of comfort." all of which will come soon!

So let's begin with the introductions of our cast of characters, I will fire up the dusty old photosharing site, and we're off:

Me: Angela, The Dude: 35. Native New Yorker currently living in Houston, TX. I am the author of this PTR, and am VERY chatty. Don't believe me? Check out our old PTR and TRs. CHATTY. Like I mentioned, I am a Special Ed. Math teacher, and have been away for a while.

DH: Davis, HHBG (hunka hunka burning geek): 37. This is a picture of him sleeping on our last trip. all he did was nap that trip. He has been warned that this behavior will not be tolerated in 2012.

Ok, not current, but a classic:

DS: Spencer. Currently 9. Has Asperger's, and is VERY bright. Always a good source of interest, entertainment, and exasperation. Very literal.

and his sister:

DD: Brianna, currently 8. quite the drama queen. She's now way taller than her brother, and claims to be over the princesses; yet she is ticked I am not going to be abl;e to make her dresses this year (more on that later).

OK, this is getting long. More particulars next time.

 

[winkers]

Yay!! I'm so glad you're back!

 

[amandaw]

Joining in!

I bet my DH would nap like that in Disney too if I would let him!

Love that picture of your kids with Jasmine. Too funny!

 

[camelotcats]

Yay!! I'm so glad you're back!

Me too!!

Joining in!

I bet my DH would nap like that in Disney too if I would let him!

Love that picture of your kids with Jasmine. Too funny!

Yep. He's NEVER going to live that down.

 

[camelotcats]

So, again this year, we were thinking about visiting my BIL and his family in London. (This was the plan the LAST TIME we went to WDW, BTW). Unfortunately, with the Olympics being in London this year, his response was "NO WAY!! WE will not be in London this summer!!"

Plan B was for HHBG and I to go to Iceland, and leave the kiddos with his parents. Well, they told us no, too. They had visitors in from Tasmania this Spring and blew all of their vacation time. They didn't want the kiddos when they would just have to toss them into daycare. Understandable.

That's when I got a mailer from Disney letting me know about their spring booking specials. Hey, look at that: the specials run into the two weeks after we get ot of school!! Hmmm....

So, I priced the trip. I priced it for ASMu, POFQ, YC, and AKSavannahView. We had stayed at AK before, and loved it there, but we had also loved ASMu the weekend HHBG and I went to Disney sans kiddos.

I gave HHBG the numbers and figured he'd cut them down again.

Then, a funny thing happened:

He got on his computer and began running other numbers. He began looking at driving directions and travel times. He began looking at prices for the OTHER trips we had toyed with. Then he asked me for my Disney Log-in. I figured he wanted to see for himself, and gave it to him.

Next thing I know, he hands me a paper with some dates and tells me to make sure one of our dinners is at Flying Fish.



Once I recovered from the "What? Huh?" moment, I got online, started looking at new restaurants we had never eaten at, made a few hard decisions, and got down to making ADRs.

Then I looked more closely at his dates.

He had booked us at ASMu from June 8-18. 10 days. 8 days for Disney, 2 for driving. Woah.










When I questioned him about it, he said it wasn't much more money, and then we can avoid some of the crowds during Star Wars weekend, and go on other people's travel days.

HHBG is learning....strong in the DIS he is......

Coming Soon: There are all kinds of new restaurants since we were at WDW in 2008, so what ADR's did we make?

 

[BrerMama]

Great start! We'll be there for just a few days of overlap... Disney is going to be a rockin' place in mid-June!

 

[BrerMama]

P.S. Is your husband reading a Nora Roberts book in that photo? I really like her books, and couldn't help but notice...

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Welcome back!

I hadn't realized its been that long since everyone kinda went away.

But I'm glad your back and I'm ready for a great read!


-Tracy

 

[camelotcats]

Great start! We'll be there for just a few days of overlap... Disney is going to be a rockin' place in mid-June!

P.S. Is your husband reading a Nora Roberts book in that photo? I really like her books, and couldn't help but notice...

It's actually a Jayne Ann Krentz book, and it's mine. I put it there and took the picture as blackmail.

Welcome back!

I hadn't realized its been that long since everyone kinda went away.

But I'm glad your back and I'm ready for a great read!


-Tracy

Yeah, it's been a while, and quite a ride on the rollercoaster of life.

 

[camelotcats]

ADR...ADR...Who's got the ADRs?

When we last saw our intrepid travelers, we had learned who they are and how they got to the point of going to WDW. If you recall, it was time to look for ADRs.

HHBG had already put in his Flying fish "request" (OK, Demand), so I decided to ask the kiddos for some requests...to say they were unexpected would be true, though, I admit, they were not a huge surprise.

The requests:

Brianna: Chef Mickey's
Spencer: Somewhere with animals or Sushi

No princesses this year? Nope. The Little girl informed me that she is "so over the princesses", and wanted to go to Chef Mickey's instead. (then in the same breath asked me to make her new dresses for the trip....no hypocrisy there, munchkin.)


So, I set about to make some ADRs....

SIDE NOTE: How awesome is the new online ADR system??? SOOO much easier.

When I got online to research restaurants, I saw all of these new places. WE LOVE trying new places. Of course, the kids saw T-Rex and BOTH were clamoring to go, but they were booked up THE WHOLE TIME WE WILL BE THERE. oof.

Side note 2: Yes, we checked the crowd calendar. 6s, 7s and 8s. More than we would like, but we'll live.

So, what did we decide, and why??

Our ADRs (so far):

Friday 6/8 - (Travel Day) CS at ASMu
Saturday 6/9 - Chef Mickey's for Breakfast
- Sanaa for Lunch with an animal specialist (a surprise for my son)
- TEppan Edo for dinner
(This is a very food-heavy day....hmm...)
Sunday 6/10 - Brown Derby for dinner
Monday 6/11 - Flying Fish for dinner
Tuesday 6/12 - Kouzzina for dinner
Wednesday 6/13 - Paradiso 37 for dinner
Thursday 6/14 - Restaurant Marrakesh for dinner
Friday 6/15 - Le Cellier for dinner
Saturday 6/16 - 'Ohana for dinner
Sunday 6/17 - Bongos Cuban Cafe for dinner
Monday 6/18 - Travel day

The only places on this list we have eaten at before are Flying Fish and Chef Mickey's. EVERYWHERE else is new for us, so any suggestions or mini-reviews would be awesome.

Soon: my typical packing rant, AKA "how we roll."

 

[amandaw]

Looks like y'all have some great ADRs!

That lunch with animal specialist sounds very interesting!

I can't remember if you said this in the post or not but for TRex, did you try calling the restaurant directly? I hear the online reservation system doesn't show everything that TRex has available.

 

[winkers]

We tried Kouzzina on our last trip and LOVED it! I've heard some not so good reviews but the group of us that went all enjoyed it.

Marrekesh is another of my favs.....the food is great and the male cm's usualy look like they jumped out of a magazine.....not that, that has anything to do with why I like it there.

 

[BrerMama]

Ditto about calling T-Rex direct.

Your ADRs look very adventurous!!

 

[camelotcats]

Looks like y'all have some great ADRs!

That lunch with animal specialist sounds very interesting!

I can't remember if you said this in the post or not but for TRex, did you try calling the restaurant directly? I hear the online reservation system doesn't show everything that TRex has available.

I saw it online, and knew my son would LOVE IT, so I booked it. We haven't actually told him about it, yet. The kids just know e ware going o the AKL for lunch.

I will try calling T-Rex. Thanks! The problem is, which meal would we replace?

We tried Kouzzina on our last trip and LOVED it! I've heard some not so good reviews but the group of us that went all enjoyed it.

Marrekesh is another of my favs.....the food is great and the male cm's usualy look like they jumped out of a magazine.....not that, that has anything to do with why I like it there.

I'm glad you liked it! We have wanted to try Marrakesh forever. We even had ADRs there the first time we went, but cancelled them because we were really tired that day. This year, it's actually going to happen.....probably.

Ditto about calling T-Rex direct.

Your ADRs look very adventurous!!

Thanks!

We are adventurous eaters. We see the "100 Things to eat before you die" list as a challenge.

 

[camelotcats]

Travel Discussions

So, this morning found us sitting around with me feeling sorry for myself. I have to have more surgery on the hand I injured in 2010, and I'm not too thrilled about it.

To get my mind off of things, HHBG came over and asked me what I thought about our travel plans for the trip. Originally, we had planned to drive straight through on Friday, getting in late, then driving straight home at the end. HHBG definitely wants to stick with the driving straight home part, but wanted to know if we wanted to leave Houston a day or two early and stop along the way. The only problem is, other than New Orleans, I don't really know where we would stop.

Decisions, decisions....

 

[amandaw]

I'm sorry to hear you have to have more surgery on your hand. Hope all goes well!

As for a stop along the way.....what about a beach location in the panhandle?

 

[camelotcats]

Well, surgery went as well as can be expected, and we are in the final stretch for planning. School is out, and the kiddos have been instructed to start making sure all of the clothes they want to bring are clean....so of course they're watching cartoons.

We have decided to "wing it" as far as stopping is concerned. This is a concession to hhbg who likes Disney but doesn't like how we have to schedule everything. So, Thursday, we are going to pile into the car and go. When we're ready to stop, we'll find a hotel. I'm not a huge fan of this idea, but hey, it's one night. We'll live....hopefully.

Hhbg also suddenly wants to decide if universal is an option. Probably not this trip, but we'll see.

I can't believe we leave in 3 days and aren't packed or anything. It's a whole new world.

 

[amandaw]

Well, surgery went as well as can be expected, and we are in the final stretch for planning. School is out, and the kiddos have been instructed to start making sure all of the clothes they want to bring are clean....so of course they're watching cartoons.

We have decided to "wing it" as far as stopping is concerned. This is a concession to hhbg who likes Disney but doesn't like how we have to schedule everything. So, Thursday, we are going to pile into the car and go. When we're ready to stop, we'll find a hotel. I'm not a huge fan of this idea, but hey, it's one night. We'll live....hopefully.

Hhbg also suddenly wants to decide if universal is an option. Probably not this trip, but we'll see.

I can't believe we leave in 3 days and aren't packed or anything. It's a whole new world.

Glad to hear the surgery went well. And now you leave in 3 days! I'm sure all the packing will come together!

 

[camelotcats]

Glad to hear the surgery went well. And now you leave in 3 days! I'm sure all the packing will come together!

Awww...Thanks.

It just doesn't seem to have sunk in yet that we're actually going.

 

[camelotcats]

Well, since I should be straightening up the house in anticipation of leaving in 2 days, I have decided to write another post.

I was thinking about all of the packig guides that people post for Disney, and how we never seem to use/need 9/10ths of what they suggest. Maybe we're just the unprepared family, maybe we're just low maintainance, I dunno, but I am going to let you know our "stripped down" packing plans, both for our upcoming 12 day trip and for a day in the parks.

Packing list:
1. Small first aid kit containing:

• bandaids
• neosporin
• ultraglide
• advil cold and sinus
• advil
• excederin
• calamine
• Sun block, both the lotion and a stick that can fit in a pocket
• glasses repair kit
• glasses cleaners
• my prescriptions

2. 12 super lightweight tee shirts each (The ones from old navy work great)
(The kids choose their own shirts.)
3. 6 pair of either cargo pants or cargo shorts.
(The kids get a pair of shorts for each day)
4. One "nicer" outfit (Usually a dress shirt and slacks) for nicer dinners
5. 2 pair of comfortable shoes that you know won't give blisters or start to hurt after walking all day.
6. 1 pair of flip flops or pool shoes.
7. 2 swimsuits with a coverup and hat
8. underwear and socks for all days.
9. sunglasses
10. Toiletries
11. Electronics (including cell phones, ipods, digital camera, etc) and their chargers.
These are especially important for road trips. They keep the kiddos quiet.
12. Since we're driving, we'll probably toss some bottles of water and snacks in the car, too, to cut down on stops.

For the whole family this will all fit into two checked bag- size suitcases or four carry ons with plenty of room for souveniers. Usualy the kids insist on each bringing their own bags, and will toss in a blanket or toy. The shoes, by far take up the most room, but we have learned that we need 2 pairs each. Too many times, one pair has issues, or gets wet, or something.

The first aid kit has travel sizes of all of the meds except my prescriptions. It is all in an old travel shave bag of HHBG's.

For the parks:

1. Sunblock stick for touchups
2. Wallet
3. Sunglasses
4. Cell phone
5. Digital camera (IF we remember it)
6. Ziploc bags to put electronics in if we are going to get wet.
7. a small bag or pillbox with my prescriptions, some pepto, and 3 or 4 bandaids in it.
8. Lip balm. One for me, one for the kiddos

All of the above will fit into a pocket of my cargoes (Except the sunglasses which are on my head or on the front of my shirt). If we don't bring the camera, everything will fit in jeans. This way, there is no need to go through the bag check, making getting into the parks that much easier. We also don't have to worry about putting the bag down and leaving it (which we have done), or figuring out where to stash it on rides.