Gianna's First Of Many WDW Trip March 2013!! PTR

[Dream426]

It all started with a conversation Jon and I were having in October. What can we do for our family that would be a nice distraction. We had gone through so much since we got married in April 2008, even before, that we wanted to think of something really special for our parents.

In December of 2008 my FIL passed away and then July of 2009 my grandmother passed away. It was very hard for both of us as well as our family. My FIL was so young and it happened so fast and out of no where. My grandmother was like a second mom to me and I was very close with her as was Jon.

We decided what better thing to do was plan a Disney World and a Disney Cruise for the family. So I got quotes and we were on our way to planning. We booked it in October but decided to make it a Christmas present that we had to keep a secret for too long. The only other person who knew besides me and Jon was my SIL who also came on the trip. We surprised my mom and dad and my MIL. I had got all these things to put in a Disney box for them to open on Christmas. I made magnets from the Disboards for everyone and put them in the box. I made a book that they had to read after pulling out all of the things in the box which were pens, magnets, ornaments, Captain Mickey etc. Here is a picture of the cover of the book I made.

Our trip was from August 19th-26th. When everyone opened their boxes they all kind of looked like what is this. My dad got it right away. My mom thought it was a joke. My MIL thought we were going on the trip and she was going to babysit out dog Rocky. It was actually really funny. Everyone was excited though and couldn't believe we did this. We told them we would be staying at the Grand Floridian and staying in the Roy Suite on the cruise which I could not wait to stay and my mom was just as excited because she always wanted to stay in the royal suite on the cruise.

As I mentioned this turned out to be even more special this trip because right after we got home, a couple months, my father ended up getting sick and passing away that following April. It was our last vacation we had with him and I am so glad that we planned this trip and didn't decide not to do it. I will never forget it and glad to have the memories.

Up next the starting our vacation the night before we left for a very early flight.

 

[momabaarjo]

What a great reveal! I love that you were able to take a special trip and have memories with your FIL!

 

[Dream426]

What a great reveal! I love that you were able to take a special trip and have memories with your FIL!

Thank you. I just wish I got it on video or pictures. I was so excited I forgot to do it..haha I had been waiting and keeping that secret for so long.

It was actually my father who came on the trip. My FIL had already passed away before the trip. It has been a rough few years for us.

 

[Dream426]

Ok so let's get this 2010 trip started. I was working at a camp that summer and took the last week off for the trip. The few days before we left I went to run all my last minutes errands. The night before we all stayed at my parents house because it is closer to the airport since we had an early flight.

We started our vacation that night by going out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants Benihana. It was my MIL and SIL's first time and we were excited to bring them there to start off this amazing trip. Sorry no pics from this either. We had to get home early since we had to be up at 2:30-3:00. As soon as we got home I went straight to bed. I was nervous I wouldn't fall asleep at all. Jon I don't think slept. I did fall asleep and the next think I know I wake up at 1:30 and he isn't in bed. Him and my dad had already showered and were sitting and talking and got coffee from Dunkin Donuts across the street. I thought they were nuts. I mean of course I was super excited for Disney but I was getting as much sleep as I could. I fell back to sleep and woke up at 3:00. Our flight was at 6:00.

We had the car service pick us up at 3:30. We thought we were the only nuts leaving at this time but there was two other people in the van as well. I was still half asleep with my cup up coffee. We piled all of our luggage into the van, which I did not think would all fit because we had so much. It did all fit. We got to the airport in 20 minutes, check our baggage in and went on our way to security. We of course stopped to get food since we didn't have breakfast. Jon got a sandwich though. I need to eat breakfast that early. Here is Jon eating his sandwich while we wait to board.

Finally it was time to board. My mom is not a great flyer and neither am I. We took 2 Xanax but it didn't seem to help. She did manage to take a picture of me, Jon and my SIL before we took off though.

It was an uneventful flight. We got to Orlando early like we always do. We went to the monorail and then on to the Magical Express to the Grand Floridian. I had to check everyone in since it was under my name. Here are the first shots of the GF as we walked in to check in.

Here is where everyone waited while I checked in:

It was taking some time so Jon decided to go watch some cartoons on the couch:

I think that little girl kept giving him dirty looks.

It took some time because the Disney cast member was doing something very special for us.

Up next what was the special treat the cast member was doing?

 

[momtoARQ]

You left me hanging!

 

[Dream426]

You left me hanging!

Welcome!! I know I am sorry. It is so hard to update during the week with working and then by the time my daughter goes to bed my dh and I try to spend a little time together. I am def. going to update today. I am going to try to get it in now before my daughter wakes up but it might not happen because she will probably be waking up soon. There will def. be an update today though.

 

[Dream426]

While checking in the cast member was working on the computer and finds our reservation for 2 standard rooms. We didn't book anything extra like the lagoon facing the Magic Kingdom which I love and usually book but it was just so expensive. After awhile he goes ok you are all set. You have been upgraded to a two bedroom suite facing the Magic Kingdom.

I couldn't believe it. On top of that the room was ready also. At 9:00 in the morning we get upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite and it is ready. What a great start to our vacation. I said to my family you have no idea what a huge upgrade this is. Here are some pictures of our suite:

The living room:

The bedroom with the King size bed. This had a bathroom as well. There were 3 bathrooms in this suite. I don't even have 3 bathrooms at our house.

We had two balcony's where we watched the fireworks one night:

One of the sinks outside of the bathroom:

Here is the other room with the 2 queen sized beds:

We hated to leave this room at the end of our Disney World portion of the trip. I am really hoping to get upgraded again. What are the chances of that happening a second time.

Up next our trip to Epcot

 

[Dream426]

Work was slow yesterday so I worked a little more on our ADR's. Still not a 100% but I am hoping to be done by this weekend and I will post. We are at 199 days so in a couple of weeks will be 180 days and I want to make sure to get my reservations in especially for Be Our Guest. My only issue so far is that I didn't want to make dinner reservations our first night there because I wanted to give my daughter time to rest and get used to being somewhere different and everything but I don't think that is going to happen. I think I am going to have to make one of our Epcot reservations the first night since that is the park we will be in the first day. We will see what I can do this weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I sent in for the customized maps. I always do this every trip. They arrived yesterday and I got so excited when I saw the envelope.

Next up I am hoping to post our ADR's and another update from our trip from 2010 with our first night in Epcot.

 

[Dream426]

I think I finally have my ADR's done. I have a couple more weeks to tweak them if I have to but I think they are pretty set. We couldn't really do all the once we wanted because I think it would have been too much to do for my daughter and I tried to pick the ones with entertainment.

Monday:
Biergarten: 5pm

Tuesday:
Be Our Guest: 5pm
Wishes: 8pm

Wednesday:
Chef Mickey's: 9am
Sci-fi: 5pm

Thursday:
Cinderella's Royal Table: 9am
Coral Reef: 5pm

Friday:
Crystal Palace: 9am
50's Primetime Cafe: 5pm

Saturday:
Raglan Road: 5pm (probably)

I worked on this for so long yesterday. My other dilemma is getting a carseat or the CARES harness for the plane. Has anyone not used it? It is only like a 2 1/2 hour flight.

 

[Kristi391]

OMG! That suite was beautiful!!!

Glad you got your maps. I got mine a few weeks ago and yours look more sophisticated than mine do...ours look very cartoonish (which I am fine with) yours look more antique-y! Isn't it awesome when you get Mickey Mail???

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I was drawn into your PTR because I too have a Gianna who will be going on her first WDW vacation next year! Your Gianna is too cute. I love the clothes you found on Etsy -- so sweet!

Wow, I can't believe you were upgraded to a suite -- facing the Magic Kingdom, no less! What a dose of pixie dust.

Definitely gonna be keep up with this one.

 

[Dream426]

I was drawn into your PTR because I too have a Gianna who will be going on her first WDW vacation next year! Your Gianna is too cute. I love the clothes you found on Etsy -- so sweet!

Wow, I can't believe you were upgraded to a suite -- facing the Magic Kingdom, no less! What a dose of pixie dust.

Definitely gonna be keep up with this one.

Welcome!! Thank you for joining in. Looks like you are going a couple of months after us. Love the name Gianna. Seems to be more popular lately..haha I go a little crazy with the outfits. Hoping to order them buy the end of the year to get them on time.

Yes the upgrade was amazing!!! I would love to have the upgrade again. I didn't really expect it last time because we went during the summer and I figured nothing was available. So hopefully we can get it this time during the slower part of the season.

OMG! That suite was beautiful!!!

Glad you got your maps. I got mine a few weeks ago and yours look more sophisticated than mine do...ours look very cartoonish (which I am fine with) yours look more antique-y! Isn't it awesome when you get Mickey Mail???

I ordered them for free on the Walt Disney World website under my reservation. You can mark your favorite attractions and rides and they send you stickers to mark more. I love these maps.

 

[Dream426]

Ok someone needs to stop me. I can't stop buying outfits and I know I am going to buy so much more. I am addicted. I bought two more outfits for my daughter and got myself a pair of pajamas.

How cute is this skirt!!

My pi's!!! I love and am obsessed with pajamas.

I really need to stop buying because 1 I need to buy the outfits on etsy and 2 all the outfits are red...haha But I can't help myself. I couldn't pass up the price of these outfits and I just fell in love with that skirt.

 

[momabaarjo]

Way too cute...she is going to be the best dressed little girl at WDW!

 

[TinkyCheeks]

Oh my gosh, those are so cute. Babies R Us has this absolutely adorable red Minnie Mouse headband that would look so cute with those outfits.

I'm obsessed with pajamas too. Cute and comfy, what's not to love?

 

[Dream426]

Way too cute...she is going to be the best dressed little girl at WDW!

It is so dangerous. I can't help myself and I still have 6 months to go.

Oh my gosh, those are so cute. Babies R Us has this absolutely adorable red Minnie Mouse headband that would look so cute with those outfits.

I'm obsessed with pajamas too. Cute and comfy, what's not to love?

I am going to have to go to Babies R Us this weekend to check it out but that could be dangerous because they have Disney outfits there as well.

 

[Dream426]

So our first stop was Epcot. It is a tradition of ours for some reason to always go to Epcot the first day. I look forward to it every time. Once we checked out our suite we were on our way.

Leaving our building

We hopped on the monorail and took it to Epcot. Walking through the main lobby of the GF and up the stairs to the monorail and one of my absolute favorite things today. It was great to be there and I was happy to back there. Taking the monorail for the first time on the trip, besides the one at the airport, just makes it seem so much more real. Before we knew we were in Epcot.

We didn't take too many pictures this day. I honestly think we were exhausted from getting up early we forgot to take pictures. We did all the usual rides and did a lot of walking around. We had reservations at the Biergarten that night and I know my SIL really wanted to see Illuminations.

My dad ended up going back to the hotel after dinner because he was exhausted. Everyone else tried to wait it out to see the show but my husband, mom and MIL ended going back as well. That left just me and my SIL to see the show. I have seen it before but this was my SIL's first time in Disney World and seeing the show that I didn't want her to miss it.

Now the plan was once the show was over we would head back to the hotel as well but I guess we got a second wind and so how the park wasn't crowded we started hitting the rides again because there was no wait. It was great.

We finally headed back so we could get to bed and wake up in time for breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Here are some pictures we took walking back into our building.

Nothing special with this update. It took me forever to get it up though. Next up is Chef Mickey's and wondering who is more goofy my husband or Goofy himself.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

Sounds like a fun day. I could sit in Epcot and watch that fountain for hours. How did your SIL like Illuminations?

 

[hurleysweety]

Stumbled upon your PTR and am loving it so far! You sound like me a few years from now. I look forward to writing about my child's first trip someday. Also love all the cute outfits! No girl can have too may clothes, right?

Also looks like the 2010 trip was awesome - what a great way to start a vacation with an upgraded room and ready at 9am! Can't wait to hear more about that too.

 

[Dream426]

Sounds like a fun day. I could sit in Epcot and watch that fountain for hours. How did your SIL like Illuminations?

I could do that also. My SIL really enjoyed it. We got a great spot to watch the show.

Stumbled upon your PTR and am loving it so far! You sound like me a few years from now. I look forward to writing about my child's first trip someday. Also love all the cute outfits! No girl can have too may clothes, right?

Also looks like the 2010 trip was awesome - what a great way to start a vacation with an upgraded room and ready at 9am! Can't wait to hear more about that too.

Thank you for joining in. A girl can never have too many clothes. I always feel like I have nothing to wear and DH begs to differ.