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

[STLMickeyMom]

oh...mY...GOSH! those shoes are so awesome! I am totally in love with the toy story ones! you did a fabulous job--caden will love them! and....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CADEN!!!​

can't wait to see pictures! have a great weekend!

 

[Dugette]

Happy birthday, Caden!! Wow, time sure flies. I feel like it was just yesterday that you were waiting for him to make his appearance. Can't wait to see pictures from the Mickey party. I bet he'll have a great time at the transportation museum. And awesome shoes! Some DIS-ers are quite crafty and talented, wow.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Happy Birthday Caden!
I hope you guys had a great day and a great party!

Your shoes are awesome! I love them especially the toy story ones! So so so cute. They will like great with Caden's Buzz shirt!

I am totally impressed!

 

[anniebabymu]

Happy Birthday Caden!!! Sounds like you had a super fun day planned today! A little boy's dream!

FABULOUS job on the shoes!!! I don't think I have a steady enough hand to do that! Amazing!

 

[jc040404]

Silly Caden. He doesn't realize how awesome those letters are! Toddlers and pictures are such fun sometimes, aren't they? I do really love all the nifty stuff you make though. The Buzz & Woody shoes are awesome! I want a pair!

Happy Birthday to Caden! (Even though I seem to be a little late!) I can't believe he's two already!!

 

[AprilRenee]

Thanks everyone!! Birthday pics coming soon!!

And Jessica!! You're alive!! I just the other day noticed that your trip reports were all deleted and I was scared you left forever

 

[AprilRenee]

Well I failed...I'm a terrible updater! Doesn't help that 90% of my followers are on FB (Hi STL Dis friends!!) and so they see my daily updates there LOL Dugette...I almost friend requested you after we emailed...cause I had your real name. But then I didn't want to be a creeper! LOL

Anyway...so I owe you guys some birthday pics!

This was morning on his bday. we got up early to open gifts before Andrew left for work. He liked them all but Buzz was DEFINITELY the hit! And he still makes this face just about every time he sees his Buzz toy. By far his favorite toy right now Mommy was so happy!


Then I got him dressed and tried for a Mickey update photo...this is what we got I gave up. He was crying and I wasn't up for the fight!


THEN we had a fabulous wonderful fun day at the Museum of Transportation. We rode the train, wandered thru the giant trains, and played in their Imagination Station area. It was a beautiful bright room full of train tables and exploritive toys. He was in HEAVEN!


That night we had dinner with the in-laws who came in town for easter and his party.

Next day was his mickey mouse clubhouse party! I had SO much fun planning every detail of this. I made his birthday cupcakes and the cupcake toppers!












We practiced singing happy birthday and blowing out candles every day for the month of April and it totally paid off. He just LOVED being sung to and then blew out his candles like a champ! I was so proud of him!!


And then he ate his cupcake and he loved it!! So much I think he had 3 that day....it was his birthday! lol



And his big birthday gift was this awesome car. He LOVED it and that made mommy so so happy!


all in all it was a fun fun weekend and everything went just fabulously!

 

[AprilRenee]

Ok and then you get a trip update too!!

Today DH and I discussed our trip and I asked him what order he would like to do the parks in without taking recommended parks into consideration (since I don't have that info yet...UGH!!! Why must I wait til July!!! I need park hours and recommendations NOW!!!) Anyway, Andrew totally wanted the same order as I had planned! LOL No wonder I love him!

So here is a basic prelim of our trip. All subject to change and adjust based on recommendations and crowd predictions

Sun arrive at 1 (hopefully), settle into hotel, Caden nap 2-5ish
Chef Mickey at 6-7:30
Watch Wishes @ 8pm with FP
Ride some rides (Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Wishes FP+)
Small World, Dumbo
Magic Kingdom open til 12 or 1

Mon – Epcot (4 with morning EMH at 8)
Sleep in a little, arrive by 10?
(FP+ Soarin, Turtle talk, Seas with Nemo)
Explore the world showcase
Stroller nap?
Dinner at Tepan Edo around 6
Stay for Illuminations

Tues – MK (4)
Rope Drop
(FP+ Anna/Elsa, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales with Belle)
BoG FP for lunch 12pm
Nap at hotel at 1, pool time
Whispering Canyon for dinner 5-6:30
Ride rides during wishes (be in Fantasy Land!)

Wed – Hollywood Studios (8?)
Rope drop for TSMM and meet buzz and woody
H&V late breakfast 10:45
(FP+ TSMM, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours)
Stroller Nap if possible
Pizza Planet dinner
Fantasmic at 7

Thurs –Sleep in a little, AK, then Downtown Disney
(Safari, Lion King, Nemo FP+)
DTD for lunch at WPE and shop while Caden naps in the stroller
Boma for dinner at 6
Watch animals on the savannah after dinner

Fri – Open for whatever we wanna do (MK 5, EP 3, HS 6, AK 4)
Ohana for dinner 6:30

Sat – Magic Kingdom
(Back to hotel at 2:30, Flight at 5:30 most likely)


In other news...I almost have my out of pocket $$ (the stuff I need beyond CC rewards etc) all saved and ready for packages to come out in July!! I'm so excited!! I also need Southwest to release flights for Jan...and my work to say when Christmas break ends so I can make sure my dates will work!

It's all coming together!!! Woooohoooo!!!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Awesome updates! I think your plans sound great. I like that you have some rest time/sleep in days planned in. I always want to do tat (it is a vacation, after all) then start to feel guilty that we're missing disney time.....

 

[AprilRenee]

Awesome updates! I think your plans sound great. I like that you have some rest time/sleep in days planned in. I always want to do tat (it is a vacation, after all) then start to feel guilty that we're missing disney time.....

Not gonna lie. It's kinda killing me to do that. Lol. But we like to go until we drop and we just feel like that's not gonna work with a schedule driven child who may or may not lose his mind from lack of schedule. We. Don't. Know!! I feel hopeful that he will just nap in his stroller but I think he's going to need some bed naps in there too. So I tried to do it every other day or so.

So if I put it in the schedule I will feel better about actually taking those breaks (as I am also a very schedule driven person and not very flexible once plans are made! Lol). And if Caden is doing great and is good to go go go then we can always add more. It'll just be easier on my emotions to add rather than take away plans.

 

[Dugette]

Happy to see the updates!

Love how excited Caden is over his Buzz Lightyear!

Really cool birthday party stuff. Glad it went so well and Caden had a fun day.

Plans sound great. I like that your trip is long enough to have some down time built into the schedule (much harder for me with this 3-night trip coming up). I think it's smart to set it up so that you can add to the plan rather than take things away. Hopefully he'll nap well in his stroller. On our last trip, we weren't sure what Izzy would think of that, but she ended up napping much better in her stroller than in the room, so I'm hoping that holds up on this upcoming trip too. It's nice to have that "off time" to wander around and look at things while they're sleeping.

 

[AprilRenee]

Hopefully he'll nap well in his stroller. On our last trip, we weren't sure what Izzy would think of that, but she ended up napping much better in her stroller than in the room, so I'm hoping that holds up on this upcoming trip too. It's nice to have that "off time" to wander around and look at things while they're sleeping.

I'm really optimistic about the stroller naps. He took a decent nap in the stroller at Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and last Monday he took an hour nap in the stroller at the STL history museum, transferred to the car, then transferred to the bed and slept til 5 Bahahahaha It was seriously impressive! We went to the very hot zoo before the history museum so he was WIPED OUT!

We just have to get to the point where he will nap in the stroller without a meltdown first...did she have a toddler metldown before every stroller nap or did she just konk out?

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yay! An update! I have to admit I read this the other night and said to myself, ill comment later, and just remembered this morning!
I can't believe how fast time is flying you are getting so close to your trip! It will be your ADR day in no time!

LOVE all the Caden pics! Every time I see one, he looks more like a handsome boy and less like a baby! Where does the time go? The party was cute! Love your cupcakes and decorations! Great job!

 

[Alysa]

Love all of it! Caden is adorable. Love the hoodie and the shoes and the costume! Our boys are almost the same age. Mine is a Mickey/Cars/Thomas train fan too. I may have to steal that adorable birthday party idea. How did you do the letters? Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Dugette]

We just have to get to the point where he will nap in the stroller without a meltdown first...did she have a toddler metldown before every stroller nap or did she just konk out?

We tried to let her just get super sleepy (vs. scheduling a nap) and when she was starting to nod off, we reclined her. The reclining usually resulted in a minute of protest, but then she'd drift off to sleep, especially if we kept moving along. She is also a very good car sleeper, so that movement seems to help her a lot.

Glad he's doing well so far!

 

[AprilRenee]

Love all of it! Caden is adorable. Love the hoodie and the shoes and the costume! Our boys are almost the same age. Mine is a Mickey/Cars/Thomas train fan too. I may have to steal that adorable birthday party idea. How did you do the letters? Looking forward to reading more!

Steal away! I found a bunch of decorations at the dollar tree!! I was so excited!

For the letters, I got the idea on pintrest and went to Joanne fabrics and got the letters. They're just made from cardboard. I found them in the paintable sections where they have wooden things to paint.
Then I painted on the designs and printed off the ears, bow, hats, etc on card stock using a file I created on Photoshop. If you'd like the ears/hat/bow file, PM me your email address and I can send it to you. That way you don't have to figure out the sizing etc.

 

[AprilRenee]

We tried to let her just get super sleepy (vs. scheduling a nap) and when she was starting to nod off, we reclined her. The reclining usually resulted in a minute of protest, but then she'd drift off to sleep, especially if we kept moving along. She is also a very good car sleeper, so that movement seems to help her a lot. Glad he's doing well so far!

:

 

[jc040404]

His party is so cute! Caden's adorable with his Buzz. He looks so excited! I remember feeling so bad when I bought those for my boys. They both went straight for Buzz, totally ignoring Woody. Poor cowboy. Buzz is cooler though!

Your plans sound great. How awesome that your ideas were the same! I hope Caden naps well in the stroller for you. Going back to the room rarely seemed to work for us, so I LOVED stroller naps in the parks. I bet he'll do great.

& yep, I'm still alive! I gave up on the TR stuff and just haven't spent as much time as I used to around here. I do love reading the DIS though. Tomorrow is our big birthday at WDW again. The boys are turning six and eight years old somehow.. Crazy!

Looking forward to reading more about Caden's first visit!

 

[AprilRenee]

His party is so cute! Caden's adorable with his Buzz. He looks so excited! I remember feeling so bad when I bought those for my boys. They both went straight for Buzz, totally ignoring Woody. Poor cowboy. Buzz is cooler though!

Your plans sound great. How awesome that your ideas were the same! I hope Caden naps well in the stroller for you. Going back to the room rarely seemed to work for us, so I LOVED stroller naps in the parks. I bet he'll do great.

& yep, I'm still alive! I gave up on the TR stuff and just haven't spent as much time as I used to around here. I do love reading the DIS though. Tomorrow is our big birthday at WDW again. The boys are turning six and eight years old somehow.. Crazy!

Looking forward to reading more about Caden's first visit!

Wow 6 and 8!! So grown up! You should post a pic! I want to see them!

 

[AprilRenee]

Ok little update cause Caden seems to just be so much bigger these days. Even more than his birthday!

This was at JackieMarie's daughters bday party! We had lots of fun

Caden LOVES carousels! We ride one every chance we get!

and just a random family selfie we took today


And my big boy at the park the other day


And this was during his 1 hr obsession with the mouse ears. LOL He normally won't let me put anything on his head but for an hour he walked around with those on his head haha and now he pulls them off immediately if I put them on. toddlers





And THEN a little trip planning. Found this at old navy yesterday for $2.50 in the clearance rack!! Totally worth running over if anyone is looking for some disney shirts. They had a buzz one, woody one, and monsters inc. This one was my favorite though and I figured it would be PERFECT for animal kingdom! So 1 trip shirt done! I got it a size up hoping it'll be right for our trip. I think it should be good.


Plus I have all my $$ saved up for our trip. I just need those stinking packages and deals to come out. I'm pretty sure I am going to go ahead and book somewhere so I can get our ADRs with the 180+10. Do you know if I need a full 7 day reservation or if I can just do a 1 day reservation and still book +10? I've never done my own ADRs!

Had a little wrench thrown in the plans today when i looked at my school calendar to discover that we're starting classes the monday after new years. Last year our first monday was the NEXT week. So now I have to figure out how many classes I'm willing to miss. I was fine missing my wed and sat classes, but the mon classes will be rehearsing for our musicals and I really wanted to avoid missing those. But that means our trip has to be shorter or I have to get a sub for those classes...BUMMER!!