Family Vacation: We Must Be Crazy - A November PTR **11/06 - Conclusion!**

[Steppesister]

I looove planning things, so any excuse I get is good by me And since we're not on the dining plan, we like planning our meals a bit more precisely to get a good idea of how much money we're expecting to spend.

A lot of them are favorite of ours, so if you have a chance at some point, I definitely recommend them Some are new, because we do like trying out new things, but it's so hard not to go back to places we know we can count on to have great food!

I knooow it's getting so close! Today is exactly 50 days out!

HAHA! I should have added that we've tried many more that ARE on there. You'll love them all! My goal is to try to hit up at least an equal number of new places and fewer old favorites so we have NEW favorites. LOL!

 

[MarieLightning]

My trip is slightly earlier than yours, and I'm reading your report getting so eager for you, and I had to go, oh yeah, I'm going to.

Glad FP didn't give you too much trouble! I couldn't imagine doing it for that many people. I had stress for two people! I may see you at 7DMT! Our FP+ overlaps for 10 minutes. You seem much further on your day to day planning! After FP, I'm just letting everything figure itself out...hopefully!

It's so exciting! I wish ours was sooner, and obviously I know you'll have an awesome time!

It was definitely a relief to be able to grab everything for the two of us at once, and then just go back in and copy it all. I'd probably have been a lot more stressed out otherwise. If you do definitely speak up, we love meeting people! And we don't typically plan things out quite so specifically, so I'm not sure how well we'll follow it at all - really, it's just to make sure that if we have plans in Frontierland and then Adventureland, we don't just head off to Tomorrowland between the two and instead find something to do in the same area.

HAHA! I should have added that we've tried many more that ARE on there. You'll love them all! My goal is to try to hit up at least an equal number of new places and fewer old favorites so we have NEW favorites. LOL!

Good to hear! I'm definitely looking forward to pretty much every pick we've made (well, a couple I don't care quite so much, but you know, Disney food is Disney food!)

We need to try and do that, find a balance between old and new, but it's so hard to give up on the places we love. I think my wife might just stop speaking to me if I ever suggest not eating at Teppan Edo.

(And I just got the confirmation of that just by typing those words and having her read it over)

 

[MarieLightning]

Disney Movie Countdown - Part 2

This week, as planned, we continued on with our Disney movie countdown!

It's probably one of the few weeks until November when we'll be able to actually watch a movie every single day, except for the weeks when I'm working a later shift, but in the meantime, we've made good progress.

Here is how it went down from last Sunday until yesterday!

Originally, One Hundred and One Dalmatians was on that list as well, but as it turns out, it wasn't on the proper shelf of movies. So, whereas in the midst of packing I've left the Disney movies untouched for the time being, that one ended up getting packed away. We replaced it with another movie, which we added further down the list (thanks to Netflix!)

Amber also continued on with her weekly Facebook post.

We may not do the safari ourselves this time around, but I know the rest of the family will enjoy it for sure!

Getting closer!​

 

[Steppesister]

Then you definitely should go to Teppan! LOL!

Great line up of flicks. Of all you have ready, Mary Poppins is my favorite! I remember watching it in the theater when I was a very little girl with my grandma. Ahhhh....

 

[deedee2177]

Ugh! How did I get so far behind?? All caught up now! The plans look great so far, I like that you and Amber will be able to spend some time just the 2 of you before the family joins. I CANNOT believe you are having to pack and move before your trip...I would be so stressed!! I guess you can look at it that it will probably help the time go by faster.

 

[MarieLightning]

Then you definitely should go to Teppan! LOL!

Great line up of flicks. Of all you have ready, Mary Poppins is my favorite! I remember watching it in the theater when I was a very little girl with my grandma. Ahhhh....

Yep, can't get out of it (I love as much as she does though, so I'd probably react the same if she made a similar suggestion)

We do love us some great Disney movies! I'd actually never seen Mary Poppins until pretty recently (Shameful, I know). Somehow, my parents never bought it or rented it when I was little. Instead, as far as live action/animation combo, I grew up on Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Ugh! How did I get so far behind?? All caught up now! The plans look great so far, I like that you and Amber will be able to spend some time just the 2 of you before the family joins. I CANNOT believe you are having to pack and move before your trip...I would be so stressed!! I guess you can look at it that it will probably help the time go by faster.

Thanks, I'm hopeful the plans will turn out to work fine! And it'll definitely be nice to have a few breaks here and there from family time.

Moving is getting a bit crazy with how much stuff we have, but we've been doing packing a little bit at a time so that helps. And then, we'll have lots of helpers for the actual move so that's definitely good And that's what I'm hoping, that time will pretty much just fly by!

 

[MarieLightning]

Making A Schedule: Day 3!

Here comes the schedule for day 3, which is really day 1 with the family!

This is probably one of the most ambitious days I've written out. Again, this is very much a broad guideline to make sure we don't end up all over the place. If we follow 50% of it, I'll be surprised

The next couple of weeks are gonna be pretty crazy for us - tomorrow, I'm leaving for Halifax for work, just for a quick product launch so I'll be back on Thursday. Then, we're still in the midst of packing, and October 3rd is the big M Day, so that'll be pretty intense.

Anyway, nothing better to make the time pass than busy times!


Day 3 (November 8th)
Magic Kingdom

Wake up at 7. Give boys something to eat. Be out of room by 7:15. Walk across parking lot and head over to the All-Star Sports!

Tell family to be there by 7:15 so they will be there by 7:30 (not that they're necessarily always late, but you know - be prepared!)

Check in at desk. Leave bags with bell service people equivalent because there's no way room will be ready by then.

Hopefully, be in line for a Magic Kingdom bus by 8!

Watch welcome show, if all goes well.

Head straight to Enchanted Tales with Belle - standby line, because the family has to see the inside of the cottage!

FastPass+ for Rapunzel & Cinderella at Princess Fairytale Hall, between 9:20 - 10:20. Meet as soon as done with Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Go meet Merida.

FastPass+ The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, between 10:25 - 11:25 - ride right at beginning of time window.

Head into New Fantasyland, toward the Circus area. Ride Barnstormer.

Make way back toward Fantasyland. Watch PhilharMagic.

Head to Adventureland.

FastPass+ Jungle Cruise, between 11:25 - 12:25 - ride at beginning of time window.

Make 4th FP+ selection for Space Mountain for those who want to ride it. Get around parade time as we will skip it this day.

Explore Adventureland until people get hungry.
Go to the Tiki Room for the first time since 2012!
Ride the Magic Carpets.
Standby Pirates of the Caribbean. (This will actually be first priority, if people are saying they want lunch soon after Jungle Cruise, but if there's more time to walk around, we'll make it last because of location).

Have lunch at Peco Bill's Tall Tale Inn. Take time to sit down, relax, enjoy, take a breather, get everyone's feet a rest.

Head toward Liberty Square. Ride standby for Haunted Mansion.
See Hall of Presidents for the first time.

Head to Tomorrowland.

Hopefully be able to ride Space Mountain by then, with spiffy FastPass+. Send rest of non riding family to the PeopleMover.

Try to get a FastPass+ for meeting Talking Mickey, ideally from 5:30 - 6:30.

Stay in Tomorrowland between FastPasses. Ride Buzz Lightyear, if wait is not ridiculous (FastPass+ this one is nothing available for Talking Mickey) and everyone is willing to do that wait. Watch the Carousel of Progress. Watch Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Ride the PeopleMover again. Do not go on Stitch's Great Escape. Ride Tomorrowland Speedway if there's time.

Head back to front of the park. Meet talking Mickey (if possible).

Be hushered out of park by 7 at latest, because our first day falls on a Christmas party night, but we couldn't not start with the Magic Kingdom amiright?

At this point, possibly split up depending on how family is feeling. They may be completely done for the day, if so, tell them they can have dinner at the food court back at the resort, let them know about Movies Under the Stars if they're in the mood for it.

For those who are not ready to head back yet, jump on Monorail!

Head over to the Polynesian Resort.

Eat dinner at Captain Cook's.

Relax on the beach until Christmas fireworks start. Watch fireworks.

Jump back on Monorail. Head back to Magic Kingdom.

Get in line for bus back to Resort.

Crash for the night!​

 

[Steppesister]

I'd actually never seen Mary Poppins until pretty recently

GASP!

See Hall of Presidents for the first time

DOUBLE GASP!

They may be completely done for the day

Triple gasp!

LOL! Just kidding! So many firsts... how terribly exciting! I see many smiles on the way!

 

[MarieLightning]

GASP!

DOUBLE GASP!

Triple gasp!

LOL! Just kidding! So many firsts... how terribly exciting! I see many smiles on the way!

I know, I definitely should have watched Mary Poppins sooner. Especially since without the nostalgia of childhood, I was a little weirded out by it the first time I watched it

And my excuse for skipping out on Hall of Presidents before now is that I'm Canadian But I'll definitely be curious to check it out.

I know, how can anyone really consider their Disney day over at 7 pm on the very first night! But I figure with a 3 year old, there'll be more need for resting breaks than usual.

This is one of the reasons I love Disney so much. Even after four trips, we still have new things to look forward to! I'm definitely hoping everyone will enjoy themselves

 

[Skip3key]

Very excited to find you guys! We will be there Nov 9-15 2015 ourselves and would be fun to cross paths and meet some other Disers! We were married at Disney and had 50 of our close family there, and I can tell that Disney with extended family was quite an experience! We are going top start a pre-trip report, but haven't gotten around to it yet- maybe tonight... But we did make a Wedding trip report that you can find over in the Wedding forum if yall are curious!

http://disboards.com/threads/eva-an...y-and-california-grill-and-chip-dale.3402476/

 

[MarieLightning]

Very excited to find you guys! We will be there Nov 9-15 2015 ourselves and would be fun to cross paths and meet some other Disers! We were married at Disney and had 50 of our close family there, and I can tell that Disney with extended family was quite an experience! We are going top start a pre-trip report, but haven't gotten around to it yet- maybe tonight... But we did make a Wedding trip report that you can find over in the Wedding forum if yall are curious!

http://disboards.com/threads/eva-an...y-and-california-grill-and-chip-dale.3402476/

Awesome, I love finding people going at the same time as us as well! We will most likely (aka, if I get to the point of making it) have a lime Mickey on our bags, so that should make us easier to spot

Oh wow, that's a lot of people! I'll definitely have a look at that TR. We would looove to have a Disney Vows Renewal ceremony, maybe someday we'll be able to!

 

[MarieLightning]

Disney Movie Countdown - Part 3

Well, this has been an interesting week!

We had to do a bit of catching up as far as movies went, because we were not able to watch one on Wednesday, but let's pretend we did

It was definitely nice to get a small break from actual work this week though, and I enjoyed Halifax. The hotel we were staying at was great, and it was right downtown, only a few minutes' walk from the water side, so although we didn't have a whole lot of time to actually explore (it was, after all, a work related trip) we still got to check out around the place a little!

As it was, it was a pretty easy work related thing. Our reason for being there was basically to present our product, talk of promotions and answer any questions travel agents may have. There were other travel suppliers as well, from hotel chains and cruiselines and such, and we were all set up in the hallway and the reception room. Travel agents came through, picked up flyers and brochures, asked questions and then moved on to the reception room where there was a presentation given. We were told we'd be there from 5 to 9, and although that was technically true, by 6:30 everyone had pretty much moved on to the room for the presentation and all the other suppliers started packing up.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting, snatching candy out of the candy bowl Sandals had on their table, listening to bits and pieces of the presentation (which did include a short show with a couple of musicians), eating hors d'oeuvres and cupcakes, and basically just waiting to be able to head out for dinner.

A few of the girls stayed back on Thursday, as they had an early evening flight home, but I decided to come home in the morning so I'd get home a few hours before Amber left for school. As it turns out, I probably could have stayed behind as well as I was so tired that I spent a good part of that time napping, but oh well. It was still good to be home!

Packing has been going great as well, we did a pretty big chunk of it. Honestly, all that's left is clothes in our drawer (which will stay in the drawers anyway when we move it all), and a few last minute things we can't really put away yet, like the alarm clock, our electronics, a few toiletries, etc.

All in all, it's been a pretty great week, and what's best is it's gone by fast! So, let's hope it keeps going that way, because we have a looot of things to look forward to!

​

 

[deedee2177]

With as busy as you two are the time is going to fly by!!

 

[MarieLightning]

With as busy as you two are the time is going to fly by!!

That's definitely the hope!

 

[MarieLightning]

Making A Schedule: Day 4!

Here's the next day on the line up - our first Epcot day of the trip!

Epcot days will probably turn out to be a lot more easy going than the others, because so much of it is just walking around the World Showcase, enjoying the sights and the atmosphere, and exploring!

As such, our plans are a bit more specifically made for the morning, but the afternoon, not quite so much.

Day 4 (November 9th)
Epcot

Be up around 7:30. Meet up with family by bus line at 8. Get in line for Epcot!

Head straight to Soarin'. Get in Standby line.

Sigh longingly for Strawberry Shortcake, but bypass because everyone else will most likely have already eaten. (Or maybe go grab one regardless, because you know, it's Strawberry Shortcake. People can wait.)

Ride Living with the Land.

Use FastPass+ for Character Spot, between 9:10 - 10:10.

Make way to the Seas. Ride The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Look around at fishies for a bit.

Use FastPass+ for Turtle Talk with Crush, between 10:10 - 11:10.

Make way aaaall the way across to Test Track! Use FastPass+ between 11:10 - 12:10.

Make way toward World Showcase for lunch. Head to Mexico pavillion for food at La Cantina de San Angel. Make use of inside seating!

Start exploring the World Showcase. Try to do as little back and forth as possible, but keep in mind potential shows and character meets in each country.

Most important to see/do:

• The Voices of Liberty / The American Adventure
• O Canada / Lumberjack Show
• Meet Winnie & Tigger
• Meet Belle
• Agent P World Showcase Adventure with the boys

Split from family around 4:30. Special plans to the evening! (Stay turned for TR Well, I'm allowed to have some spoilers, right?)

Have lots of fun, eat lots of food. (Family will probably eat in Germany).

Meet back with family for IllumiNations. Give Amber tissues.

Follow crowd out to the exit. Get on bus back to resort. Go to bed!​

 

[Steppesister]

Just glanced briefly over the plans, and I gotta say I'm pretty excited you have plans to see VOL and the Canada show; both are beyond fantastic and I absolutely was spellbound during them. ONe of my other faves is Living with the Land. I did the behind the Seeds tour last time around, and I loved every minute- totally worth the price!

 

[Li Li]

"Give Amber tissues" LOL!

We might see you that day as we are planning to hit F&W that Monday in the hope that Monday will be lower crowds.

 

[MarieLightning]

Just glanced briefly over the plans, and I gotta say I'm pretty excited you have plans to see VOL and the Canada show; both are beyond fantastic and I absolutely was spellbound during them. ONe of my other faves is Living with the Land. I did the behind the Seeds tour last time around, and I loved every minute- totally worth the price!

We've only ever caught the end of VOL, so I'm very excited to get to see it all! They sound amazing and the full show must be incredible, somehow our timing has just never been good enough for the whole of it. And we are pretty big fan of O Canada, myself being Canadian and Amber being an aspiring Canamerican We actually know the ending song by heart, because last time we went this group of drunk people (it was F&W time) sang it all and we decided we should not be outdone by drunk Americans! (Just kidding, they were really pretty funny. But we did still learn it by heart, because it was on the Magic Kingdom album I bought).

We really want to do Behind the Seeds! Someday we will for sure, we may wait until we go back with our friends. One of them, Veronica, studied Botany and she loves all kinds of plants. She actually just bought a tiny little carnivorous plant that she refers to as her new baby. So you know, I think she'd be down for that

"Give Amber tissues" LOL!

We might see you that day as we are planning to hit F&W that Monday in the hope that Monday will be lower crowds.

She really does need them! If I dare listen to the even just the music for IllumiNations while we're at home, she tears up. The world coming together as one really touches her!

Great! We will have sparkly green Mickeys hanging from our bags, most likely, so if you see us please say hi! I hope the same as you, that Monday will be lower crowds for Epcot. It was looking good on the crowd calendar, but everything's been so all over the place this year that I decided to expect the worst and hopefully be pleasantly surprised

 

[MarieLightning]

This is a small personal happenings interlude, so feel free to skip ahead for your regularly scheduled Disney trip planning! I was originally planning on combining both together, but it turned to a novel, so now you get two updates!

Packing Our Lives Away

We are on the eve of a crazy weekend, guys!

Tomorrow is moving day!

Tonight is the night everything gets packed up. My cousin works for a private recycling company, and he is able to borrow his work truck to help us out with this, so no need for multiple trips or movers. Yay!

As such, tonight my dad and he are driving two hours North to my Aunt and Uncle's house, where our fridge, stove, washer/dry, couch and armchair currently are (they were sold/given to us by their nephew/neighbor).

While they're gone, Amber and I (probably with my mom) will go to Walmart, because like two or three years ago a cruiseline at work had an incentive that we were getting a 50$ gift card for each balcony we sold on a specific sailing and I lucked out and booked five, so since then I've had a 250$ Walmart giftcard that's been saved specifically for our first grocery bill. Obviously we won't get it all - we can't get things that need to be kept in the fridge or freezer as it will take a while for the fridge to cool down once we get it plugged. But it'll still cover a looot of stuff, so that's good!

Then, my Dad and cousin will drive back down - we'll unload the washer and dryer as we don't actually have a place to hook those up in our one bedroom, but since their nephew was selling the load of the four appliance for 250$ my parents thought we should get them anyway and they'll store them for us until we get a bigger place.

Once that's done, in goes the rest of the furniture (bookshelf and DVD shelves, drawer, coffee table, dining room table, chairs, and bed) and all the other boxes of things we own (ie - too much). Thankfully my brother bought a new bed when he moved out, so his old is still in his old bedroom and we won't have to sleep on the floor

Then tomorrow morning, it's up bright and early so that we can get in as soon as possible, since not only is finding parking a pain in Montreal, our street is a one way street, and we may not be the only ones moving so if someone's gonna be blocking the street it's us. Just kidding. (Except not, we may have to and this is something that has been giving me great anxiety for a few weeks now. My friends say it's the Canadian in me showing).

It's very stressful and exciting and a bit scary. I'm 26 years old, so obviously it's high time I went to live on my own. But I've lived here for my entire life. My dad built this house and finished it up while my mother was pregnant with me, so by the time I was born, it was ready to go. I've never lived anywhere but here. The longest I've been away was the six months I spent in the States when Amber was sick.

It's a big thing and I don't really know how I feel about it. I have a hard time anticipating those kind of things. I guess maybe I'm just taking it in stride because it's been a long way coming. I'm looking forward to having our own place, being able to live in it as we want, being a couple by ourselves. I'm a bit worried about money, but I think we'll pull through. I'm a scarredy cat who gets nervous when my parents are away for the weekend and we're home alone, so I'm not sure how I'll handle the first few nights sleeping in a new place.

But this is how things go and it's high time my parents were empty nesters. We've stayed far too long. They would have kept us longer if we'd needed, I know it, but it's obvious that it was starting to get heavy on them too.

So that's it! Tomorrow, new city, new place, new responsibilities, yikes!​

 

[MarieLightning]

A Little Bit Of Pixie Dust

Now that I'm done babbling about silly adult stuff, here comes the Disney update!

Almost three years ago marked our very first trip to Disney. We've gone with friends, with family and then just the two of us twice.

One of the things that makes this trip very different from any other we've taken though (granted, there's a lot of things, but still, this is a big one) is the fact that we are going with children.

We have never gone to Disney World with children.

Now, I'm obviously not in the camp of 'Disney is for children' thinkers. Clearly. Disney is for everyone who wants to make it theirs.

However, I do think there's gotta be something really special to watching the magic unfold in front of children's eyes. Boston and Ramsey are a bit older, they'll know some of the trade secrets (like, the fact that Mickey Mouse has many friends). Even then, some things will still be more magical to them than what I could probably aspire to understand, no matter how much magic and happiness Disney brings me.

And for little Elsye, it'll be real.

As such, I've just been wanting to make this trip really special for them, as much as I can. Obviously I don't have control over it all, and I am far from having unlimited funds of money.

I had seen, however, people talking about things such as TinkerBell gifts many times before. I toyed with the idea, first thinking we could just give them a goodies bag at the start of the trip and call it good.

Then, Disney had a 40% off sale and we went to the Dollar Store and we were done for.

So here is the few things we have assembled to make for our Tink Gifts for the kids!

Some of them will still be given at the beginning of the trip, and then we'll divide the rest to give one present each morning.

Most of them are fairly small things, and then we got a couple of slightly more special treats. I hope they'll enjoy it all

So here we have

A kite (from our Springtime With Roo DVD purchase) and... A Platapult? Platypus Catapult? Whatever it is called, it came with a Phineas & Ferb DVD and it can be built into, well, you figured that out.

A not too horrendously decorated Autograph Book to share (it doesn't really show on the picture, but it does glitter!) and some glow sticks! We're actually recycling those glowsticks - we bought them before our October trip, wanting to pass them out to strangers like kind souls that we are, without realizing that we're both pretty socially awkward with strangers. We ended up using a few for ourselves and handing a couple over to the girls sitting directly next to us while waiting for the Halloween parade.

Stickers and Temporary Tattoos! (Hopefully they'll let us borrow a couple of latter ).

Drinking cups (or toothbrush holders while at the hotel!) and magic towels!

Trading pins, and a few hair bows for Elsye (from our Magical Ribbons stash, they're not some we ever really wear so we figured she'd look adorable with them).

A few playing figures (which were actually decorations on my 18th birthday cake - thanks parents for knowing me so well), foam balls and a couple more hair bows.

A night light and a couple of spinning tops.

Thus concludes our Dollar Store haul! (And a few things we had previously gotten as well).

The rest of the gifts are some we've purchased on the Disney Store directly, which were shipped to Amber's family in Michigan, so we won't get a hold of them until the night before.

I've still captured a few screenshots to show them off, though!

First, we've got Tsums!

Minnie for Elsye, and Chip and Dale for the boys (haven't established yet which for which - I'm thinking probably Chip for Boston, and Dale for Ramsey, because Dale seems so mischievious and Ramsey definitely is the more mischievious of the two!).

We also got these Cars cards, which is a Matching game.

Then we got these Iron Man walkie talkies for the boys (the eyes light up in the dark, which is just a bit creepy, but I'm sure they'll be enjoyable regardless).

And finally, we got Elsye this Rapunzel toddler doll. I love those dolls, with with the Animator's collection, I think I probably have enough on my plate. Still, I hope she'll love it!

The last two are the only things we're really sure of how we'll do, because they are last day presents. They're a bit bigger/cooler things than the rest (in my humble adult opinion), so they seem like a perfect last day gift, and also I figure if Elsye does insist strongly to bringing her doll along (I hope not, but you never know), it'll minimize the amount of time she has to potentially lose it in the parks.

So that's it! It was really fun going through all the options available and trying to find neat things the kids will enjoy. I also do hope it'll lessen the load on Aunt Sarah and Uncle Butch as far as begging for souvenirs go!​