first trip do-over

[STLMickeyMom]

@STLMickeyMom

Thank you for your positive response! I feel like my post could be interpreted as insensitive. Let me be perfectly clear...ANY package that includes staying on-property is magical. Period.

Years ago, we stayed at All Star Music and had a lot more fun than we did at the moderate "Coronado Springs"...for some reason we hardly have any memories of that trip.

"Oh heck...let's just stay at the Polynesian!" Was it a financially smart decision...no...but we're gonna roll with it. We sacrificed flying to do it as well and will just drive to make up the cost difference(yuck).

oh, I didn't get insensitive from anything you said....no worries! really, I agree, any stay in Disney is great! we already have plans to go in 2017 with friends and stay at art of animation. maybe that will be our go-to place to stay and we'll try other places when we can afford it.

my husbands boss is a Disney fanatic and gives us lots of great advice. he said not to stay at Coronado springs cuz it's also a business resort--like lots of people are there for work related stuff. he said they're not always very "Disney" and not as fun as the people at the other resorts. I don't know cuz we've never been, but maybe that's why you don't have any memories of it.

I would love to stay at the poly.....or the contemporary.....or the beach club....or the grand Floridian, just to say we've been. I can't wait to hear how it is! we're going to do the o'hana breakfast this trip, I plan on wondering around the poly and enjoying it while we're there!

I hope you don't have a long drive to get there! my husband suggested driving for our last trip, but I can't see it working for us. it'd be a crazy long drive for us with a 6 and 4 year old (I just imagine lots of whining and "don't make me turn this car around"s ) . plus, I feel like we waste 2 days of our vacation time driving. although it is sort of nice to have a car while you're there, i'd gladly trade it for flying a couple hours.

do you have a ptr or tr anywhere?

 

[STLMickeyMom]

a day in Hollywood studios.....since we're up watching movies late tonight (my husbands request for father's day), I thought i'd add some more on here while we're all chillin'.

Hollywood studios is my second fave park (after MK, of course!). I don't know why but I just LOVE it! we'll do all our favorite rides--rockin' rollercoaster, tower of terror, little mermaid, star tours, and muppet vision. we'll probably send my husband on the toy story mania run for fast passes. (I just got a used copy of toy story mania for the wii for the girls....and my husband and me, let's just be honest! )

in my notes, I have a bunch of character meets jotted down. I have times for seeing buzz and woody, mike and sulley, mr incredible and frozone (more for my husband than the kids!), jake, green army men and mickey in his sorcerer's outfit (may be my favorite). I guess we'll see how many we get to.

the girls want to see the beauty and beast show. we skipped it last time. we might try to get to the Disney jr show too.

I am hoping that Hollywood will have extra magic hours in the evening while we are there. they have a Disney Jr dance party the nights they are open late that I think our girls, if they can stay awake, would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

i'm going to try to get an adr for 50's prime time café. last time we did sci fi drive in which we all liked too (I thought the girls might be scared of the movie clips, but they thought they were hilarious!). I just keep reading about 50's and how fun it is and want to try it out. besides, their menu looks tooooo yummy! I also have written down pizza planet, starring rolls, and a mickey shaped pretzel from pretzel garden.

we haven't decided about fantasmic. my husband's not crazy about it, but I love it. I guess we'll see how everyone's doing that day.

oh, I almost forgot. I don't know what it's called, but i'd love for DH to do the drawing class where an animator talks you through drawing a character. my husband is an awesome artist, even though he doesn't think so. i'd love to see what he'd draw in that class.

wow, that seems like a really full day! but I can't wait for it, all the same!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

i think i finally figured out how to post a picture, so i thought i'd post some from our last trip!
on our first night we had dinner at chef mickey's and then did the pirate cruise that leaves from the contemporary. it was a lot of fun!



so this is my cute little family! well, capt hook and mr smee aren't actually family members......but that's my husband, our oldest daughter H (she was just 5), our youngest daughter M (she was not quite 3, VERY tired and not having anything to do with capt hook!) and me.



we LOVED the teacups!! our girls still talk about how fun it was and love to watch the video of themselves on it. aaannnnd....they always bring up how someone threw up in one of the cups while we were waiting and how we should not sit in the yellow cup! aaahhhh, the memories we made!



the girls dressed as princesses, but not exactly acting like princesses. this is one of my favorite pictures!


and this isn't from disney, but last halloween. i think it's cute, so i'm adding it anyway. our girls as minnie!



so, that's good for now! so glad i finally figured this out!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Hi
Just stopping in to let you know I am following along! I am from the STL area too, so hello neighbor!

I am really enjoying reading about your plans, sounds like you have a great plan so far!

We (by we I mean me) also had a hard time choosing a resort! We changed about 5 times! Yikes! We finally settled on the Poly, our first deluxe. We stayed in a moderate first, then value and now deluxe. I keep joking with my DH once I go poly, I will never go back. But, lets face it...I would sleep in my car as long as it was on Disney Property! So, next time, I will be fine with what ever we can afford!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[kennythepirate]

also, I love kennythepirate.com for info on character meets.

Thanks, glad it was a help to you!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

a day (really 2) in magic kingdom.....oh, magic kingdom! our favorite park!! we always do two days here because there is always so much we want to do, then do again, then come back later and do one more time....

i'm not even going to list all our must do rides, because almost every one is a must do. I will add some things that we've never done: the astro orbitor, the peoplemover, enchanted tales with belle, the barnstormer--all on the "must" list this year.

some other things we'd like to see this trip:
captn jack tutorial--we saw this last year. jack was sooo good and he interacted with our girls specifically, which made their day and cracked me up. he was a perfect jack sparrow.
the casey's corner pianist
dream along with mickey
main street electrical parade

food:
i'd like to do an early breakfast at crystal palace. we at there last year twice and loved it!
i'm going to try really hard for an ADR at be our guest. can't wait to see that!
Tortuga tavern smelled so good, but was closed when we were finally hungry. we are so getting there this time
of course.....dole whips!!

we are planning on a few character meets here (i'm trying to spread them out around the parks to avoid spending a whole day waiting in lines and annoying my husband ):
tinkerbell and the fairies--the lines last time were never under 60 minutes so we had to skip it. I already promised the girls we won't skip it again (my plan is to run there after breakfast at crystal palace)
tiana (and Naveen?)
mickey (of course)
Minnie and daisy at pete's sideshow
Rapunzel (fingers crossed that by some miracle maybe Eugene will be with her?)

pictures I will not leave the park without this time:
family pictures in front of the castle and with mickey
family picture in front of the castle at night
pictures of the girls on the teacups

i'm thinking about taking the girls to the barber shop while we are there for mickey hair. they will put it up and sprinkle all sorts of confetti on their heads. messy, but it looks sort of fun. I was thinking about trying to find a fancy mickey clippie (tinkerbell gift?) that they could put in their hair too.

and, because I don't think I've mentioned this yet, we are going to do the photopass cd this time. we didn't do it last year, and actually we didn't have the PP photographers take a lot of pictures, but the ones they did take were great. paying for them was not! I only ordered 2 different pictures (so 4 4x6's cuz they come in sets of 2) and it was about $30. I think it'll be a way better deal to just pay for the cd, have the PP people take pics for us--can't wait to ask for some magic pictures!!--and just have them to print as we want. that's the plan for now anyway.

so all of that fun will be split up between the two days. can't wait for our trip to get here (199 days to go as of the day i'm writing this! )

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Hi
Just stopping in to let you know I am following along! I am from the STL area too, so hello neighbor!

I am really enjoying reading about your plans, sounds like you have a great plan so far!

We (by we I mean me) also had a hard time choosing a resort! We changed about 5 times! Yikes! We finally settled on the Poly, our first deluxe. We stayed in a moderate first, then value and now deluxe. I keep joking with my DH once I go poly, I will never go back. But, lets face it...I would sleep in my car as long as it was on Disney Property! So, next time, I will be fine with what ever we can afford!

Can't wait to hear more!

HI!! I'm so excited someone from STL found me!

Yes, I'm a total planner! But, we'll just have to see how things work out. Last time I planned the trip, it was a lot closer. This time all the waiting to see when EMHs are and what the hotel rates will be and what our plane schedule will be is driving me nuts! I'm thinking I may make a room only res this weekend.

I am so jealous that you get to stay at the poly!! Have lots of fun for us too! I totally understand-I'm afraid we'll be to used to the fancy shmancy POR and never want to stay anywhere else. Although I can't wait to stay at AoA. Maybe that will be our home away from home!

Well thanks for following along! hopefully I'll be adding some more trip info soon (like adrs!!!)

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I found the cutest bubbles at walgreens today! had to grab a few for our trip. you push on the bottle and the wand comes up so you can blow, then the wand goes back into the bubbles and you push it back up to blow again. hopefully less messy than other bubbles! plus, Disney themed, so of course we had to have them (and only 99 cents?!?)!


aaannnnnddd....we saw monsters university yesterday! I have to admit that I didn't get to pay full attention to it because M was not feeling well and I was worried about her most of the time. but, what I did see was very cute. H, our oldest, really liked it and I can't wait to take my MIL. she is a monsters inc fanatic. hopefully I can pay more attention then. I did get to watch the short before it, the blue umbrella. LOVED it!! worth going again just to see the short!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Oh we totally need some of those bubbles! I really want to see Monsters U! I have a year or so before DD will be ready to go to the movie theater, so we will have to wait for DVD. But I love Monsters Inc, and the new one looks so cute!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I JUST MADE OUR FLIGHT RESERVATIONS!!!
yea.....i'm a little excited! this is the first thing we've done for this trip and it just made it seem like it's really happening--we are really GOING TO DISNEY!!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

final (?) schedule.....so thanks to DISer ROBO (thanks again!), I got a schedule of extra magic hours and park hours for January. it was exactly what I needed to plan out our days. I won't go over what we're doing every day again, but I will tell you where (I think) we'll be each day.
sunday is our arrival day. we are going to Downtown Disney for dinner and to shop and walk around. maybe do the hot air balloon!
Monday we'll have our 'ohana breakfast, then go over to animal kingdom
Tuesday will be magic kingdom
Wednesday (my birthday! ) will be epcot
Thursday is magic kingdom day #2
Friday is Hollywood studios (they have evening EMHs that day! i'm so excited for the Disney jr dance party! our girls will love it!)
then Saturday it's back to reality....
of course, I haven't made any ADRs yet, so things could still change, but I hope everything works out.

we've also decided to add the fireworks and dessert party at tomorrowland terrace to one of our MK nights. i'm also debating doing the pirates league for the girls. haven't decided on that one yet, although it is much cheaper than BBB.

I also got some super cute ribbon in the mail today. I am going to make some bows for the girls hair. thanks to DISer Jackiemarie21, I checked out a website called youcanmakethis.com and got some extremely cute patterns for a dress, a romper and some capris to go with tshirts for the girls. now I just have to find some cute fabric so I can get sewing! good thing I have plenty of time to finish everything! when I get something done, i'll post some pictures!

I think that's all for now. for anyone following, feel free to comment whenever....or just keep reading along. more to come soon, I hope....waiting for 2014 pricing so I can book our package!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yay for Disney sewing! I am having withdrawals since I have all of my DD's outfits complete for our trip!

The plan looks great. I really want to try the dessert party some day, so I can't wait to hear what you think of it. I like the make overs at pirate's league better than BBB. I don't know why I just like them better and if they are cheaper, that's a win-win!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Yay for Disney sewing! I am having withdrawals since I have all of my DD's outfits complete for our trip!

The plan looks great. I really want to try the dessert party some day, so I can't wait to hear what you think of it. I like the make overs at pirate's league better than BBB. I don't know why I just like them better and if they are cheaper, that's a win-win!

I know---I love sewing stuff for the girls! i'm afraid i'll start too soon though and they'll outgrow it all!

i'm pretty happy with our plan. I didn't realize that the parks close a lot earlier in January. i'm actually kind of happy because it'll give us time to get more sleep and do a little swimming! and see yee haw bob at our hotel. supposedly he's hilarious.

I think the things at pirates league look cuter, too! i don't really like the princess hair--it looks so uncomfortable. i think we are much more pirate princess and mermaid people! i'm sure we'll end up doing it....i have a hard time saying no to the kids when we're on vacation!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Disney playlist.....i'm looking for some suggestions from anyone reading this....i want to make a new Disney playlist to listen to with the girls before our trip. i know there's lots of fun remakes and things we haven't heard, so i thought i'd ask on here. suggestions???

 

[STLMickeyMom]

clippies!.....I got some cute Disney ribbon the other day and was so excited I had to make the clippies out of one of them for the girls. they are going to wear them with these shirts (that I got on sale! I also have a matching white shirt for me and blue shirt for DH). i'm also going to make some cute capri pants for them to wear with these shirts, but I haven't gotten to the fabric store quite yet.




i'm also getting ready to order some chiffon to make pettiskirts like this for the girls:


from the website, makeit-loveit.com

i'm going to make some a little princess-y and DH will wear his princess protection agency shirt. then i'll make another one for them to wear on the day we do the pirates league. can't wait!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

clippies!.....I got some cute Disney ribbon the other day and was so excited I had to make the clippies out of one of them for the girls. they are going to wear them with these shirts (that I got on sale! I also have a matching white shirt for me and blue shirt for DH). i'm also going to make some cute capri pants for them to wear with these shirts, but I haven't gotten to the fabric store quite yet.




i'm also getting ready to order some chiffon to make pettiskirts like this for the girls:


from the website, makeit-loveit.com

i'm going to make some a little princess-y and DH will wear his princess protection agency shirt. then i'll make another one for them to wear on the day we do the pirates league. can't wait!!

Love the bows! My DD is going through a phase where she won't wear bows all the time I am hoping she grows out of this soon! Gotta love the independent two year old!

When you make your chiffon pettiskirts do you have a ruffler foot? I have made three of them and they are very time consuming! The ruffler foot makes it much easier. If you don't have one you can get them pretty cheap mine was like $15 but worth every penny. The first pettiskirt I ruffled by hand and it took forever and was so tedious. They are so precious though! I can't wait to see the outfits! It will be so cute with your DH in the princess protection shirt. You will want to take lots of pictures that day!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Love the bows! My DD is going through a phase where she won't wear bows all the time I am hoping she grows out of this soon! Gotta love the independent two year old!

When you make your chiffon pettiskirts do you have a ruffler foot? I have made three of them and they are very time consuming! The ruffler foot makes it much easier. If you don't have one you can get them pretty cheap mine was like $15 but worth every penny. The first pettiskirt I ruffled by hand and it took forever and was so tedious. They are so precious though! I can't wait to see the outfits! It will be so cute with your DH in the princess protection shirt. You will want to take lots of pictures that day!

I think big bows are super cute and make them for the girls a lot....too bad I can't wear them myself!

oh, I remember age two.....just wait til you get to 3....

no, I don't have a ruffler foot. I've made ruffles before for skirts and dresses and keep thinking I should buy one, but just haven't yet. I just adjust the tension and make the stitch length really long and it ruffles up the fabric really nicely. and, I've never made a pettiskirt before, so it will be an adventure. I found that tutorial that looks super easy to follow, so i'm just gonna dive in and give it a shot. we'll see how it goes.... I hope they turn out though because I can just see all the cute pictures we could take that day!! so excited!

hey--this is totally non-Disney related--but can I ask you about using elastic thread? one of the patterns I downloaded from you can make this uses elastic thread for shirring. I've never used it before and am unsure about trying it. when it says to handwind the bobbin, do you pull it tight or wind it without pulling? is shirring hard to do? i'm a little nervous about it....thanks for any advice!

 

[dmoore718]

Hi!!!! We were there that same week this year!!! It was fabulous!! Even when we would walk into MK and it would seem crowded...we would get back to the attractions and there would be like 10 min. waits! It was FAB! We lucked out on the weather this year, sunny and 80 everyday! You will have a great time! We are planning the same week in 2015.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

We were there that same week this year!!! It was fabulous!!

hi! that is so exciting to hear!! we've never been in January before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I just made our resort res tonight and was already super excited when I saw your post--more great news. now i'm even more excited! I think it's going to be an awesome first trip re-do!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I love shirring, it is really fun and fast! I would recommend you google shirring with your brand of machine. It seems like each type of machine has a few tricks that makes shirring easier. When I hand wind my bobbin I don't pull it tight. It takes a few practice tries but, once you get the hang of it you won't want to stop! It makes the best summer dresses for little girls!