Getting Ready for the BIG 4-0 in WDW - A July 2011 PTR TR Link 7/17/11 Pg. 6

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

I have been a Disney freak since the first time I watched the Mickey Mouse Club at my grandparents house on their black and white TV in the early 1960's. Our first time to WDW was in 1985 and we have been hooked ever since so naturally we wouldn't think of celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary anywhere else. I have to thank my daughter for planning the majority of this trip.

The players:

DH- Rick just turned 63 but man he does not look or act it. He is a big kid at heart.

DD- Danielle a lot of you know her as IheartDDuck on the dis. The most wonderful daughter and person in the world. Last year she surprised us with plane tickets to Paris. AWESOME.

DS- Chris only gets excited when he talks about WDW otherwise he can be a bit boring. We call him Eeyore...... can you guess why....

DS- Jason a total goof hasn't grown up yet. A bit of a space cadet....

DDIL- Sara who is finally getting used to our crazy family after being married to Chris for over 10 years.

DGD- Riley a 30 year old in the body of a 5 year old. She loves WDW and is very excited to go again.

DGS- Joaquin is the goofiest kid around. He is 3 years old and is a card. He loves Star Wars and dances to the music of Hawaii five O.

and me...... don't really know what to say about myself. Goofy yes for sure. that is the one thing that kept me sane for 40 years of marriage. I was born in Belgium and moved to the US when I was 15 with my parents and older brother. Didn't speak a word of English..... that was fun....

And now the dates of our trip July 9th to July 15th...... Yes i know you probably think... are you crazy going in the middle of the summer.... Humid, hot, sweaty..... Yep I know but it was really the only time that we could all go together....

Where are we staying..... Bay Lake Tower.... Can you believe it We couldn't believe it ourselves we booked 3 rooms on the Lake view side.... that is just the icing on the cake for me because I really wanted to stay there.

Up next.... Our itinerary and pictures of all of us

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm here mama! And ready to help you with all of the gory details!

 

[IheartDDuck]

All right, I am officially hijacking this PTR!!!!

I'm home sick from work today, so I figured what better to do with my time than to DIS!

This trip is for us to celebrate the 40 years of wedded bliss that these two lovely people have enjoyed:

Rick and Jackie

Beautiful people, right?

Here are current pics of them.

Dad

Mom

The three of us

It's hard to believe that they've managed to put up with each other for 40 years, but they surely have. And from it, they have managed to have the greatest daughter on earth (if I do say so myself! *cough*)

Me - Danielle - Will be 30 when this trip takes place....YIKES!!!

Mom and I

Also along for the ride are:

DB - Jason - 33

Jason is, well, Jason. I have no word to adequately describe him.

D-Nephew - Joaquin - 3 - Jason's son

This picture does him absolutely no justice.

This one does though

DB - Chris - 35

This was a picture of him trying sushi for the first time. Kind of gives you a clue, right?

DSIL - Sara - 30

How she puts up with Chris.....I just don't know.

D-Niece - Riley - 5

She's a little princess, but truly believes that she is 30 years old already. Slow it down little one, slow it down!

And that's our motley crew! Stay along for the ride, it will be lots of fun!

Up next: Itinerary, itinerary. Who do you think was put in charge of the itinerary?

 

[TanzUnited99]

Am here and subbing!! It's been nice meeting some of your family on your TRs and am looking forward to reading about your big family trip.

on your mum and dads 40th anniversary and getting to stay at BLT - it sure looks great!!

 

[brdlyleon]

I'm coming along!
Following your daughter's TR now and you have such a wonderful family!
Can't wait to hear what y'all have planned!

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

All right, I am officially hijacking this PTR!!!!

Up next: Itinerary, itinerary. Who do you think was put in charge of the itinerary?

Hey who said you could Hijack my PTR I do have to say that it is a great hijack so far :dance3:.

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

Am here and subbing!! It's been nice meeting some of your family on your TRs and am looking forward to reading about your big family trip.

on your mum and dads 40th anniversary and getting to stay at BLT - it sure looks great!!

Welcome to my PTR or should I say my daughter's PTR
I sure am excited to be staying at BLT. Can't wait.

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

I'm coming along!
Following your daughter's TR now and you have such a wonderful family!
Can't wait to hear what y'all have planned!

Thanks for joining my PTR... Do you hear that Danielle

Thank you so much for the very kind words. I know that I have a great husband and for sure wonderful kids. I count my blessings every day

 

[IheartDDuck]

Hey who said you could Hijack my PTR I do have to say that it is a great hijack so far .

What can I say? I'm a good hijacker. Plus, I already HAVE a photobucket account. Need to get you set up with one of those.....

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm enjoying the other trip report so I'll hop on board this one too.

 

[irishdancer86]

Hello, I'm in! nice intro photos, the photo's of the little ones are so cute!

I'm guessing your brother/son Chris isn't on the disboards?!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip, three rooms at Bay Lake tower, what an amazing start!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Joining in on this one too!! Sounds fabulous!!!!! Congratulations on 40 years!!! My parent and DH parents both celebrated 40 years in 08! 40 years of marriage is definitely something to be proud of!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'M HERE!!! Thanks for the link Danielle! I love WDW in the summer time! We always loved the fact that the parks are open till 2am/3am and we take advantage of afternoon breaks/pool time!!!! Gotta love the monorail resorts

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

I'm enjoying the other trip report so I'll hop on board this one too.

Glad you are joining in.

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

Hello, I'm in! nice intro photos, the photo's of the little ones are so cute!

I'm guessing your brother/son Chris isn't on the disboards?!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip, three rooms at Bay Lake tower, what an amazing start!

Glad you are joining in on my PTR. You are right Chris is not on the DIS.
My husband Rick acts younger than he does. One thing for sure Chris is as hooked on WDW as we all are.
We were surprised for sure that we got Bay Lake Tower for sure. It was our first pick on our list. Still can't believe it:cheer2:

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

Joining in on this one too!! Sounds fabulous!!!!! Congratulations on 40 years!!! My parent and DH parents both celebrated 40 years in 08! 40 years of marriage is definitely something to be proud of!

Thanks for joining and

Thanks for the Congrats. And congrats to both of your parents too for their 40 plus years of marriage. It is an accomplishment for sure. I still can't believe we have been married 40 years. It sure doesn't seem like it. I wanted to do something special for such a big day and what better thing to do than celebrate with your family at WDW.

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

I'M HERE!!! Thanks for the link Danielle! I love WDW in the summer time! We always loved the fact that the parks are open till 2am/3am and we take advantage of afternoon breaks/pool time!!!! Gotta love the monorail resorts

Thanks for joining in and

We haven't been back to WDW in the summer since 1985 so it will be interesting to see how we deal with the heat and humidity
We are also going to take afternoon/pool breaks for the kids. I am sure we will all need a break.

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

We are planning to fly in on Friday night and possibly stay at POP or off-site. We do have a car rental booked at this point. However if we cannot get affordable flight we may drive to WDW. Chris, Sara and Riley are driving down so we don't have to worry about them.
Jason doesn't know yet if he would rather fly or drive with us. He worries that it may be rough with Joaquin.

the hope is that all of us will be at BLT around 1 PM. After checking in and purchasing the Quick Service Dining Plan dumping luggage in the rooms we will be off to have lunch at the contempo Cafe. This will be a first for everyone. Then off to the Magic Kingdom using our super secret walkway

Since this is our first summer visit since 1985 we will do a crowd check to see what we will be doing. If the lines are busy we will check the attractions that have shorter lines. For me just being there with the whole family will be awesome.

Our dinner will likely be at Cosmic Ray's. Very good place for a big variety of foods. Some in our group are a bit picky so that will be a big help to have this much to pick from.

Pickiness and flexibility are the 2 reasons that we decided to go with the quick service plan. There are little ones, picky ones who don't eat a lot and off course some who are trying to lose weight .....ME. Normally if it was just Rick, Danielle and myself we would go for the regular dining plan. however you will see in our itinerary that we do have a couple OOP dining reservations. Our plan after this, since it will be a long travel day for many,is an evening at the pool.

Very much looking forward to taking advantage of the new pool at BLT.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Right, so here's the rundown of our itinerary, Danielle style. Actually, it's just a way for me to show everyone the work that I put into our itinerary.

The itinerary being my responsibility happened quite strangely. You see, some people (Chris, *cough*), have told me that I like to control things, especially on vacation. I have no idea where that comes from. So, my plan on this trip was to take a step back and we all build the itinerary together. Well, I was discussing potentially scheduling an intimate dinner for mom and dad (which was essentially kiboshed by mom and dad by the way).

Anyway, I emailed Chris to ask him if he had thoughts on which day it should be. He says:

Chris : "What's the itinerary?"

Me: "Um, haven't made one yet. Thought we would be doing that together."

Chris: "Oh."

Me: "Um, would you guys want to get together to kind of hammer one out? Or do you want me to do one?"

Chris: "You can just do one. It's hard sometimes for us all to get together."

Let it be written and let it be said, I was VOLUNTEERED to do the itinerary. And if ANYONE says I'm controlling.....well.......I'll just put on my angry eyes! I know it's not really angry eyes, but the pirate looks mad.....

So, here is my beautiful spreadsheet (yes, I made a spreadsheet) for day one. Nothing too fancy.

Parks highlighted in green are considered to be ideal per the crowd calendar. Very simple. Green means go, red means stop. If it's not highlighted, it's neither here nor there.

I also listed if a park has EMH, what the crowd level projection is supposed to be, etc.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Thought I'd join in!