For the First Time in Forever...we finally get to go back!! a pre trip report

[AprilRenee]

Flights:
So I keep reading about this Southwest "50,000 free points when you open a credit card" offer and I think we're going to go for it.
You have to put $3,000 on the card in the first 3 months but we can do that just by paying some monthly bills with it or using it for Andrew's side job (building a theater set for a private high school. We usually put $3,000-5,000 on our credit card and get reimbursed for it.). It has a $99 yearly membership fee as well.

I priced out some dummy flights and it will be about 52,000 points for the 3 of us to fly round trip to Orlando. So for $99 (plus $25 in flight fees) we can get 3 round trip tickets to orlando. Sounds like a DEAL TO ME!!

And then I'll just cancel the card after our trip before we get the second yearly fee (or possibly just continue to use it cause the point accumulation is better than our Disney CC and we could earn money for flights...so both CC would save us money on trips just in different ways)

So that's my plan for flights. I always plan to use southwest going to orlando anyway unless we get some bizare great deal from someone else.
Like the last trip when I found a really awesome $100 round trip deal from Delta (I think it might have been a glitch but whatever!! it was $200 total for our flights!)
And then that time we got stuck in ATL we used Airtran scared but Airtran IS southwest now...soooo... yep!

 

[AprilRenee]

And now a Caden update for those of you who were following along from when he was tiny. Or a "hey this is my kid" update for the newbies!



This was his Christmas outfit! My brother (Oliver, the middle one) wears suspenders and bow ties 90% of the time so he loved it!! Lol



This is just one of my favorite pics of him from recently. I love these PJs!



"hugging" Sofia and Doc at the Disney Store the other day LOL



This is his current obsession, his choo choo choo's and his suspenders. He's been wearing those suspenders for 3 days now. He brings them to me in the morning and stands in front of me trying to put them on himself til I help him. Hahaha! Even funnier considering he threw a HUGE fit when I put them on him on Christmas! SUCH a toddler!!


He really is such a toddler now. He seems so grown up to me! He eats at the table with us using real plates and silverware and real cups with no lid. He is talking a TON more now. I love that he can usually tell me what he wants or he can at least get enough out that I can figure it out. He LOVES playing with the ipad (we're so techie in this house that I gave up keeping it away from him a long time ago). He can open it, swipe through to his favorite apps (disney jr!), select the show he wants and pick his episode. He also loves this Endless Reader app and has learned SEVERAL letters from playing it. Like I can hold up the letter and he tells me what it is! "O" is his favorite, so whenever he doesn't know the letter...it's O.

 

[Dugette]

Back later when I can type (eating lunch now). Great updates!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Wow those hoodies are AWESOME! I may have to try and copy one or a few of them. They would be perfect for a Jan trip!

Why should the girls get all the fun? Boys can dress up in Disney too! And you picked pretty manly things, so I think that is a great plan.

Not sure about the Pop, but we put Charlotte's pack and play in the bathroom at the poly. It is so hard to get her to sleep in the same room as us. In the bathroom she went right to sleep just like at home! I kept having nightmares that she somehow climbed out of the pack and play and turned on the water and drowned though. I had the monitor and I am not kidding when I say that every night I slept with it in my hand so I could make sure she was not drowning while I was sleeping. (I have a crazy imagination!) Luckily we have no problems with Charlotte staying in her crib or pack and play (even now) so it was a pretty easy solution.

I have considered the southwest card deal too! I mean we are pretty set on driving but, i keep thinking how much more convenient it would be to fly... if I can get a good deal it would be so much easier.

Sounds good so far!

Love all the Caden pics, he looks so much more like a boy than when we met up last time! He is a cutie pie.

 

[AprilRenee]

Wow those hoodies are AWESOME! I may have to try and copy one or a few of them. They would be perfect for a Jan trip!

Right?? At first when I saw them I was like "I have to buy him one!" then I saw the price and almost died and decided I'd just have to make it myself. LOL

Why should the girls get all the fun? Boys can dress up in Disney too! And you picked pretty manly things, so I think that is a great plan.

Yay!! And yeah, I'll put him in "guy" costumes! If he ends up with a favorite guy character by our trip I'll make him that costume too or instead of one. Unless it's still Agent Oso...I'm not making a stuffed bear costume! lol

Not sure about the Pop, but we put Charlotte's pack and play in the bathroom at the poly. It is so hard to get her to sleep in the same room as us. In the bathroom she went right to sleep just like at home! I kept having nightmares that she somehow climbed out of the pack and play and turned on the water and drowned though. I had the monitor and I am not kidding when I say that every night I slept with it in my hand so I could make sure she was not drowning while I was sleeping. (I have a crazy imagination!) Luckily we have no problems with Charlotte staying in her crib or pack and play (even now) so it was a pretty easy solution.

LOL!! I'm almost positive I can't fit him in the actual bathroom cause the door opens in... but I'm kinda determined to get him in the sink area. The lady who answered me on the POP FAQ was like "that's a pretty small area...just put him by the table and chairs (by the door)" which totally defeats the purpose!! I don't want him in the room with us! Maybe I'll make him a curtain and figure out some way to curtain off a corner of the room using command hooks so he can't see us.

I have considered the southwest card deal too! I mean we are pretty set on driving but, i keep thinking how much more convenient it would be to fly... if I can get a good deal it would be so much easier.

I'm not gonna lie...it makes me kinda nervous. Sounds too good to be true. But people keep reporting that it's successful and no problems. Like really, I haven't read about a single person who's had an issue. I'm just waiting for this "life change" to play out so I can nail down dates. I'd hate to have to pay the yearly fee twice cause DH couldn't take off during the dates I currently have planned.

Love all the Caden pics, he looks so much more like a boy than when we met up last time! He is a cutie pie.

Thanks! And yes! He's so much more grown up it seems. Like that crazy meltdown he had? yeah, now it would have been a tantrum but those are over in 30 seconds and don't require me to leave so he can nap. AND nap time has moved to 1pm (which is SO much nicer!)
We need to have another play date!! Lori and Annie join in here!! When do we wanna do it!?

 

[Dugette]

I'm so glad you enjoyed my PTR so much and got inspired to start your own!

Yay for lake view at Pop! I hope you can get it. Plus, if I remember right, it's pretty close to the main building also. I just searched around and found my post from 2011 where we walked around to the lake view side of the building (second half of post): http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43441236&postcount=76 Makes me think you may want to request 4th floor of that building? But I haven't looked into anything, so do whatever is recommended.

I could swear I've seen a TR with a pack 'n' play in the sink area, but I'm not positive. I just think it would be tough if you wanted to use the bathroom or sink and he was sleeping right there. Of course, being at WDW will probably wear him out sufficiently to sleep through about anything.

Can't wait to see all the costumes and hoodies! I have absolutely zero talent in that area, so I'm in awe!

We've thought about that Southwest deal before too, but never pulled the trigger on it. Mostly because we never fly Southwest and have had good luck getting free/cheap flights in other ways.

I cannot believe how grown up he is!!!! Wow. My mind is boggled.

 

[AprilRenee]

I'm so glad you enjoyed my PTR so much and got inspired to start your own!

Yay for lake view at Pop! I hope you can get it. Plus, if I remember right, it's pretty close to the main building also. I just searched around and found my post from 2011 where we walked around to the lake view side of the building (second half of post): http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43441236&postcount=76 Makes me think you may want to request 4th floor of that building? But I haven't looked into anything, so do whatever is recommended.

Thanks for the link!! Yes I'd really like 4th floor if we can get it. I'm not sure how many requests we can put on our room. honestly, I've never done requests before cause I've always booked thru a TA. I've asked her to put king bed request in and we've always gotten it. Though I feel like once we didn't and I just asked about it and they moved us during check in. The first priority is a King Bed through, cause we hate hate hate sleeping in doubles! lol And this is probably the last time we can ask for one. :-(
So I guess I'll ask "King bed, lake view, 3rd or 4th floor"

I could swear I've seen a TR with a pack 'n' play in the sink area, but I'm not positive. I just think it would be tough if you wanted to use the bathroom or sink and he was sleeping right there. Of course, being at WDW will probably wear him out sufficiently to sleep through about anything.

Yes, someone else just commented on the pop thread and said they are sure they've seen someone put a pack n play in that area before. So I'm just gonna go on the assumption that we can do it and if it ends up that we can't, i'll come up with plan B. Or just deal with waking up at 6 am every morning. The issue is, he stirs around 6am in the morning most mornings. If he is alone, he goes back to sleep til 8. If he sees me, it's party time and he wants up. I don't want to wake up at 6 am every morning!!! I don't do mornings! lol
(granted...I guess 6am is 7am disney time...and that's when we'll need to get up to make it to rope drop. So this may work out fine...I just have no idea what to expect from a kid a year before we get there! lol

Can't wait to see all the costumes and hoodies! I have absolutely zero talent in that area, so I'm in awe!

I'm so excited to get started on them. But again...it's a year away. What if I make the wrong size??? argh!

I cannot believe how grown up he is!!!! Wow. My mind is boggled.

I know!! I should take some video and post it. He's grown up so much between 18 months and 21 months. He's definitely "almost 2" rather than "1 and a half" It's really crazy. And making me really excited for the next year. He's getting to be so fun! I can't wait til we can have conversations!

 

[anniebabymu]

We have a Southwest credit card, but it's perfect for us! My husband is in sales so had to take people out to lunches and all that jazz... so he puts everything on the card and pays it off when he gets his "expense" check! Pretty much like getting "free" points!

 

[AprilRenee]

We have a Southwest credit card, but it's perfect for us! My husband is in sales so had to take people out to lunches and all that jazz... so he puts everything on the card and pays it off when he gets his "expense" check! Pretty much like getting "free" points!

Awesome!! That's how it is when my DH builds the high school sets. We've gotten $230 in disney points in the last 2 years just from using the CC on those shows. It's awesome!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Oh I said something about how much I'm enjoying doing a PTR. I never really had any desire to do one til I read Dugette's and enjoyed it so much. And now that I've started mine, I'm LOVING it. Andrew is perfectly happy to listen to me ramble on about my plans and thoughts but I don't think he ACTUALLY cares about it all that much. He loves Disney World and he always replies and acts interested...but i don't know...

I've decided we definitely want to stay at POP.

Yes...I have a boy...but he was so darn cute in that peter pan costume!!! How can I NOT dress him up a few times?

lol--that's the same reason i started mine. even thought he loves it, it's like my DH has a limit on how much Disney he can listen to, and then i can tell i lost him! i love it here too!

we've never stayed at pop. i was actually considering it for our next trip, but now DH is the one who got spoiled at POR and wants to try somewhere else.....geez! so i'm obviously not any help on the sleeping situation with fitting in a pack n play, but here's what i do know. our kids are so exhausted when we get back at the end of the day that we could prop them up in a corner and they'd be fine until we woke them up the next day. sure, stick a pack n play in the bathroom area, but it's possible you may be able to just put him in a bed and he'll be fine. really--we put ours to bed when they were the age caden will be and then talked, took showers, watched tv, whatever and they didn't budge.

i love all the costume ideas! they sound cute and comfy! yellow chucks?--too much cuteness! can't wait to see what you come up with for the hoodies. those are seriously too cool!!

loving all the pictures! suspenders!!! buzz pj's!!! hugging Sophia and doc!!! he's adorable! and looks so much bigger then when we all got together!

 

[kP72]

Your boy is adorable! Spoil him while you can!

 

[AprilRenee]

LOL Or maybe I'll just buy a Buzz Lightyear hoodie

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Lighty...ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2AGSI5FHCF3TV

Man! I kinda wanted to make it but for $30 it probably makes WAY more sense to just buy it. It'll cost me more than $30 in time and materials.

Guess I'll just have to make one for myself!!! LOL

 

[AprilRenee]

lol--that's the same reason i started mine. even thought he loves it, it's like my DH has a limit on how much Disney he can listen to, and then i can tell i lost him! i love it here too!

That's how Andrew is too! He loves Disney but after I talk to him for a while it's like he glazes over LOL

we've never stayed at pop. i was actually considering it for our next trip, but now DH is the one who got spoiled at POR and wants to try somewhere else.....geez! so i'm obviously not any help on the sleeping situation with fitting in a pack n play, but here's what i do know. our kids are so exhausted when we get back at the end of the day that we could prop them up in a corner and they'd be fine until we woke them up the next day. sure, stick a pack n play in the bathroom area, but it's possible you may be able to just put him in a bed and he'll be fine. really--we put ours to bed when they were the age caden will be and then talked, took showers, watched tv, whatever and they didn't budge.

That's a good point. He probably will be totally wiped out. And honestly, he's going to be a year older than he is right now, I keep forgetting that. In another year I probably won't have to be so obsessive about his sleep. Honestly, I could probably relax more right now too. LOL He has been sleeping thru the night for a year and a half. haha I don't know why I'm still so worried about it. (although that 6 am wake up when we're out of town just about kills me...when you're used to 8 or 9am wake ups, 6 am hurts!)

i love all the costume ideas! they sound cute and comfy! yellow chucks?--too much cuteness! can't wait to see what you come up with for the hoodies. those are seriously too cool!!

Thanks! I'm kinda excited about my plans. I wish I could start now. And yes, won't yellow chucks be so cute!?! And he already has a set of mickey ears with his name on the back (from his 1 yr photos).
And yes, I figure the only way I'll get him to wear his costumes is if they're comfy.

Your boy is adorable! Spoil him while you can!

Thanks! We're working on it! lol

 

[jc040404]

Hi!! I feel like I haven't heard from you in FOREVER!! nice to see you!! How are your boys? I think we need a real life update on your rather quiet trip report! with pictures!!

My boys are great. Thanks! I didn't get far with that TR, huh? I kept thinking of starting one for the current AP year, but things always get too busy. I am lurking a bit more on the DIS lately. So much is changing at WDW and I can't keep up with the FP+ stuff! Glad you started your PTR though!

And yeah, I've pretty much decided Pop it is. Someone suggested requesting a lake view room and I've been looking at some pics and getting really excited about the idea. Pop AND water! Done!

Perfect idea!

And yes, so sad that Oso is gone even though I think my toddler may be the only one still watching it. He's obsessed. All day long I hear oso? Oso? As he brings me the iPad asking to watch it. Haha.
And yeah, I think it's doc, Sofia, Jake, and handy manny now. (I love doc too!! It's a fun show!)

He's too cute! My silly kids don't watch any Disney Jr now. I miss it! It's so silly, but John & I have watched Doc a few times after the boys were in bed. I just love the songs from that show!

Yes the title is from frozen. Every time I close out of this PTR I get it stuck in my head. Do you wanna build a snowman is my favorite one though!! "It doesn't have to be a snowman!" Is my favorite line. I sing it with my lips all squished up too. Lol

That song makes me so sad though, especially the squishy lips part. I start to miss my oldest little sister too much. My favorite is Let It Go, but only the movie version. I haven't heard the Demi Lovato version. I LOVE Elsa!


That Southwest deal sounds awesome! I've seen threads about it, but never looked into it. We don't exactly do much flying, but I'm headed to Ohio this summer. Hmmmm.. Great deal for your trip!

Caden is too cute in that bow tie! Love it! The fact that he wants to wear suspenders now is awesome. He looks too grown up though! I can't believe how much the little guy has grown!

Your plans are sounding great. I would really relax about how sleep will work out until it gets closer. Caden sounds AMAZING when it comes to sleep. My boys were not good sleepers at all and I'm always in awe of those that get a full night this early. What did you do?? Geeze, we're having trouble getting Blake to stay in bed when bedtime comes now. He's five! He'll think about random stuff and have to come share it with me. Anyway, we stayed at Pop earlier this month and I just can't remember the size of the area by the sink. I don't know who posted it, but I agree that just putting him in bed while you go about your business might turn out just fine. We've been doing the same for ages at Disney.

Oh, you can choose two requests when you do online check in. I know I've read about faxing with more detail, too. Hope it works out!

This probably made no sense and I know I forgot something I wanted to comment... Blake came out twice to talk to me about something "really super important!!" that so wasn't remotely super important and then I forgot I was even on here until just now! It's been a long weekend!

 

[Denovagirl]

Joining in!!!! Love all your plans so far!

Some random thoughts...

I wonder if we should do the Hollywood and Vine breakfast/lunch...Caden LOVES Disney Jr. and would love to meet those characters I think (stinks that Special Agent Oso is gone..that's his favorite right now) But I wonder if he'll still be really into Disney Jr in another year. I'm guessing he will. hmmm....
But I think I might just rather wait in line to see Jake....

My 5 year old STILL loves Disney Junior, so I am sure he will, and he'll probably be more into the new characters, Sofia, Doc and Jake by then too because they seem to be showing waaaaaay more of them on tv now than the others! The thing that stinks about waiting in the lines for the Dis Junior characters was that they only had 2 out at a time and they were separate lines and I never once saw a short line, maybe because the lines were right by the place they hold the Dis Junior show in?? I dunno...oh, but you should add the Disney Junior Live show to your plans if you haven't already, my 14 month old and then 4 yo LOVEDDDDDDDDDD that show like crazy style! It was so fun with stuff falling from the ceiling and all the songs from the popular shows, and you just sit on the floor and the kids all dance! Too cute!

I think Nemo might be too much for him to sit through but maybe not. And we can see all the animals at our local zoo. The STL zoo is one of the best zoos in the world so AK's zoo aspects aren't really a draw for us.

Again, my then 14 month old sat through all the shows we did at Disney just fine, so he may do better than you think!! You could always sit in back so that if you need to make a quick get-away you can!

 

[AprilRenee]

My boys are great. Thanks! I didn't get far with that TR, huh? I kept thinking of starting one for the current AP year, but things always get too busy. I am lurking a bit more on the DIS lately. So much is changing at WDW and I can't keep up with the FP+ stuff! Glad you started your PTR though!

Good! I'm glad they're doing well! How old are they now? REALLY old? Has Blake started school yet? (or not THAT old?) lol

Your plans are sounding great. I would really relax about how sleep will work out until it gets closer. Caden sounds AMAZING when it comes to sleep. My boys were not good sleepers at all and I'm always in awe of those that get a full night this early. What did you do?? Geeze, we're having trouble getting Blake to stay in bed when bedtime comes now. He's five! He'll think about random stuff and have to come share it with me. Anyway, we stayed at Pop earlier this month and I just can't remember the size of the area by the sink. I don't know who posted it, but I agree that just putting him in bed while you go about your business might turn out just fine. We've been doing the same for ages at Disney.

yes, he's a miracle sleeper. I attribute it all to the Miracle Blanket when he was tiny. And a WHOLE lot of sleep training when he was 4-6 months or so. But he is a kid who LOVES his sleep. I got very lucky. I'm kinda scared to have another one.
And yes, I need to just chill out. LOL I don't normally freak out about his sleep (anymore). I was kinda a natzi about it his first year of life. But I've really relaxed lately cause variations in bedtime etc don't mess him up anymore. Used to be if he went to bed at 8pm he slept til 8am. If he went down at 8:30p he was up at 6:30a or 7a. WHAT?? Weird kid.

Oh, you can choose two requests when you do online check in. I know I've read about faxing with more detail, too. Hope it works out!

Cool!

Joining in!!!! Love all your plans so far!

Welcome!

My 5 year old STILL loves Disney Junior, so I am sure he will, and he'll probably be more into the new characters, Sofia, Doc and Jake by then too because they seem to be showing waaaaaay more of them on tv now than the others! The thing that stinks about waiting in the lines for the Dis Junior characters was that they only had 2 out at a time and they were separate lines and I never once saw a short line, maybe because the lines were right by the place they hold the Dis Junior show in?? I dunno...oh, but you should add the Disney Junior Live show to your plans if you haven't already, my 14 month old and then 4 yo LOVEDDDDDDDDDD that show like crazy style! It was so fun with stuff falling from the ceiling and all the songs from the popular shows, and you just sit on the floor and the kids all dance! Too cute!

Oh yeah! Disney Jr show is top priority!
And I think we may need to just go for the Hollywood and Vine meal...lol.

Again, my then 14 month old sat through all the shows we did at Disney just fine, so he may do better than you think!! You could always sit in back so that if you need to make a quick get-away you can!

Cool. Yeah, this is another thing I don't know why I'm freaking out about. He sat through all of Frozen in the theater. And I teach musical theater and he has come to some of our small shorter showcase performances and he's completely enthralled. He's gonna be fine. haha. New motto for this trip..."Momma's gotta chill out!" lol

 

[twinsouvenirs]

haha I don't know why I'm still so worried about it. (although that 6 am wake up when we're out of town just about kills me...when you're used to 8 or 9am wake ups, 6 am hurts!)

I feel your pain but in reverse--I just want to sleep in on vacation - till 7 - and somehow the twins always sleep poorly and wake up early!!

 

[AprilRenee]

I feel your pain but in reverse--I just want to sleep in on vacation - till 7 - and somehow the twins always sleep poorly and wake up early!!

Ooh bummer! And then you have 2 to wrangle!

And lol at your screen name. Were the twins really a souvenir?

 

[AprilRenee]

Ok so I found out about this thing online called "disneybound" where you dress in modern clothes but kinda hint at a Disney character (or how that character might dress if they were in modern day, same colors etc). So I tried it out the other day just for fun. Lol can you tell who I am?





(brown boots, "blue" pants, black shirt with gold necklace, maroon cardigan, pigtail braids)

I wore it to work and it was kinda awesome like I was in a princess costume and no one would ever know I did let a few of my students (8 yr old girls) in on the secret and they thought it was awesome! Lol





On another topic, Caden's 2nd bday is coming up soonish (April 18th) and every time I get a good idea for his "big" gift, one of our parents buys it for him. Lol

We were gonna do a brio train track set. Mil got it for him for Christmas.

So then we were gonna do a tricycle. My dad gets him TWO at an estate sale, one for his house and one for ours *facepalm*

So after much thought, I remembered that Disney on ice is coming this month and decided we were going to do disney on ice tickets for his birthday and just go early (he won't know!). And then on his real bday we're gonna get him Frozen DVD and maybe a few small toys (cause I have a baby shopping problem and really try to resist buying him toys all year. So bday and Xmas are my chances to get him some new fun stuff.)

So anyway now I'm all excited about it! We're going on the 27th of feb and I was able to get $10 opening night tickets. We're like 15 rows from the ice in the bottom section. So he'll be able to see really well! and since tickets were cheap I got him his own seat so we could spread out a little.
I think I'm going to get him a light up spinner on eBay or at the Disney store (I've read they're $20ish at the event and I know I can get it for $10ish at the Disney store).
And I think I'll put him in his Peter Pan costume! the show has 4 stories and Peter Pan is one of them! So it'll be perfect!
He did really well seeing Frozen and loves Mickey Mouse and is starting to get into Peter Pan too. So I think he's going to love it. I think I'll try and show him the other movies featured too or at least read the books so that he's familiar with the characters before we go. Anyway I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I know who you are!! With the name of you PTR you couldn't be anyone else but Anna! That's an awesome idea and you did a great job!

I know how it is with presents and family. Our family gets the girls things all the time (like every holiday is a reason for gift giving). It sort of makes it hard to find anything left to get them!

I think the Disney on ice tickets are a great gift! And so close! That's awesome!