Going Down the Bayou for Baby's First Trip Aug 26th to Sept 3rd PTR

[nadira36]

Welcome!!​

I'm so excited about this trip! It's not my first, nor even my first child's first. It's our fourth (yep 4th!!) baby's first trip! And it's going to be Magical.​

Though there's much more to this trip than just baby's first trip, but more on that later.​

First, the introductions!​

DSCN5126 by nadira36, on Flickr​

This is our family!

Or at least what we had of it during our last trip. We're a homeschooling family, and we use each trip as an opportunity to invite our children to learn about something new and interesting. Just wait until you see what we're woking on this time!

We're also a (very strict) gluten-free family, also corn-free, but not as strict about that on vacation.

First up, Me! I'm Sarah and the number one driving force behind our yearly trip south of the boarder. ​

Oh yes, that reminds me. We're Canadian. Though I grew up in FL, which is certainly a driving force behind my obsession, er, I mean Love for Disney.

Picking one favourite at WDW is never easy for me, and each trip I find myself with a new favourite something or other.

Then comes DH. Ryan never knew quite what hit him that first time I told him we were going to WDW. He fought, oh boy did he fight! ​

"But I don't like rides."​

"It's a kid's place, we won't have any fun." ​

He now helps plan, or at least starts conversations with, "It's been a really long time since I had a Dole Whip…"

If he doesn't get back on MS this trip I think he may cry. We would't want that to happen, now would we?

Our oldest DDs first trip, the one in the Jasmine costume, was the same as Ryan's first trip - she was 9 months old and was hilarious. Now at 7, Ella's still hilarious, but her Disney style's changed quite a bit. She's really looking forward to designing a car and commercial at test track, but she'd rather not ride.​

DSCN4878 by nadira36, on Flickr

Next up, Rapunzle in the picture is our sweet feisty Agatha. Oh this child is a girl after my own heart. She practicing stretching everyday. She needs to grow 1.5in before our trip in order to ride RnR. Right now BTMRR is her favourite ride.​

DSCN4867 by nadira36, on Flickr

The little sleeping beauty in the photo is our darling Cordelia, don't let those baby blues fool you, she kick ya in the shin if she thought you so much as glanced at her Mickey Bar, or stuffie, or pins, or ear hat - you get the idea? Last April she just managed to grow tall enough to ride The Great Goofini's Barnstormer! She was so excited!​

DSCN4925 by nadira36, on Flickr​

She was less excited after riding. But this trip, she's determined to grow big enough for BTMRR. And she just might do it.



And this brings me to the last person hidden in that picture. No, not Mickey. You KNOW him already! I mean our baby. I was 20 weeks pregnant last April happily expecting our first baby boy

DSCN5238 by nadira36, on Flickr​

Introducing to the World for the first time: Master Brom.

Bonus points if you can figure out where his name's from. So far the only person to figure it out without a hint was my dad, guess where I get my love of Disney from?

Our little Brom will be getting a lot of special attention while he's down there, I'll fill you in more later. For now I'll just say, his favourite toy is his 'baby's first Goof' (Hmm, just realized I don't have a pic of him with it)

So here's this one instead:

DSCN5392 by nadira36, on Flickr​

That's it for now. There'll be more introductions later, we'll be meeting up with my cousin and some of her family while down there. She lives the next town over, but we see each other in FL more often than here

We'll also be traveling, to some extent, with another family.

Possibly another cousin. And, possibly some friends and their family. Plus we'll meet up with some old HS friends of mine and their family. Going to Disney is about friends, family, love, laughter, and magic. This PTR will give you a glimpse of what that means to us.​

Thanks for joining me! See Ya Real Soon!​

 

[nadira36]

COMPANIONS

My cousin, Mel's had a long painful journey to this trip. She's postponed her trip 3 times over the past year and a bit to undergo chemo, radiation, and surgery to beat breast ca. Now she's healing up, regaining strength so she can take on the world!

We'll be staying at the same resort so we can spend time together. Between her crew and our crew, and the other crews coming and going, park days likely won't be the easiest for the children if we all stuck together.

With Mel, will be her DH Ryan (yep, same as my DH lol), and one of her children, Kaleb. He's a fun, energetic boy, who is definitely his own drummer, heck his own band at times. But he's not the only 'band' along on the trip, so for everyone's sanity we'll keep in park get togethers very low-key, low expectation, and with the understanding that if someone needs to stop, or go, no one will be upset or hurt about it.

The next family who's definitely joining us for bits will be D.D. her estranged husband, K.and their children, S.S., and K.K.. They're also homeschoolers, and this is their first trip to FL. They're excited, I'm excited. The kids're excited. It's a good thing summer and camping's between now and then, otherwise the kids might explode before we leave.

Possibly Joining us are the VanBs. Another family of 6, J & R and their children P, who'll 8 soon, A, who'll be 6, and R & N, Who'll turn 2 right after they return home. We've traveled to WDW with this family two other times, and hope to make it a third!

For one day my HS friends, Mr. and Mrs. T, and their two boys, K & J will join us, at the very least for dinner, but hopefully earlier as well. We've been blessed to be able to see them every trip for the past 6 trips and can hardly wait to see them again!

And last, but not least, my sister and her family may meet up with us. But that's up in the air. The last two trips, they've been unable to meet up on property, and we don't leave property for various reasons. Hopefully this will be the trip we can re-unite for each of us to meet our nephews for the first time!

DATES

My cousin, and the VanBs, both have children in school, so even though we'd prefer to travel in sept when the crowds and cost, are a little lower, we're traveling at the end of August. We've done it before and loved it, so I'm sure we will again.

DH gets off work on the morning of the 25th, we pack that night, and leave bright and early the next morning. Okay, bright may not be the right word, the sun won't be up until just before/after(?) take-off.

We could stay for up to 2 weeks, but in an effort to save money, we took the dates of the best flights and are staying only until the 3rd.

RESORT

Choosing a resort has been difficult. We have our favourites, Animal Kingdom Lodge is our hands down favourite, but The Poly and AoA are pretty close in the eyes of our children. Those we'd love to try, We've longed to stay at BC for a while now, and if we get a good enough code…maybe this trip, or next.

In the end it came down to $ and being closest to as many of our companions as possible. Port Orleans Riverside is cheaper than a one bedroom at AKL or a standard at BC, so this trip we'll find ourselves in a moderate. For the first time since our family's first trip in 2007.

I'm a little nervous about it actually. Technically our family of 6 is allowed and can fit b/c our youngest is still less than 3. But we have a large double buggy and 6 people to fit into a room. The next 5 months will be spent figuring out the best way to pack and store everything into as small of a space as possible.

After several trips staying deluxe or in an AoA suite, I think we'll notice the size. But we won't let that stop us from enjoying ourselves or the resort. We'll be at Disney, in a resort we've never stayed in before.

Cordelia is super excited about staying in a 'Tiana room'. My pale, Blue-eyed little one, with straight blond hair, wears her Tiana dress day-in and day-out insisting we call her Tiana, though sometimes she'll settle for Princess, or your majesty. Rule number one: Don't argue with the 3 yr old.

COMING UP NEXT

Now that we've booked our resort, with the memory maker discount, we need to plan our park days and ADRs. I'll fill you in as soon as I have a better idea of what we're doing!

In the meantime, what's your favourite WDW restaurant and why? Our family has to work around our dietary needs, so some restaurants are a no-go right off, but most restaurants on site have been fabulous!

​

[/FONT]

 

[nadira36]

Links

Adding this post before I get too far and forget (again)

 

[nadira36]

Oh decisions!

D.D.'s considering switching to AKV instead of POR. Oh we LOVE AKL/V and even though it's quite a bit more expensive without a better discount, we're very tempted to switch too. Heck, we're tempted to switch to force them to switch!

But my Cousin wouldn't be switching. So there'd be more traveling to visit her, but D.D.'s daughter S, is ella's best friend so I think it'd be better to be close to them for the morning and evenings and travelling to be with my cousin instead of the other way around.

This is supposed to be a budget trip, but we're also planning to spend a fair amount of time in the resort. Save money, but stay in a smaller room, and only have QS for BF or switch resorts and enjoy Boma's fabulous breakfast buffet several times in one trip?!?!

I can't make up my mind which option is better for us this trip.

Which would you do? Money wise we can do it, it just means we'd have to do less with our yard this year than we planned, or DH would need to work more OT (which may not be possible). We could save the money to switch but there'd be no left over after the trip. If we stay at POR, then we'd have more money to spend on yard stuff at home, and/or money left over in savings after the trip. Neither options makes or breaks the bank. But AKV is certainly tighter on the bank.

 

[nadira36]

Active planning has been put on the back burner for a while, Dh's grandpa has been sick and recently passed away. I've also had some health issues that hopefully turn out to be minor. Unfortunately my Dr says I need to cut out caffeine and wine until we know more. And my sweet Brom boy has a big lump on him that he shouldn't have. (Seriously how many things can hit one family at once?) So the past 2 weeks have seen us int he hospital for one person or another way more than I'd like.

But some positive news: Our trip is paid off! For the first time since I became an adult and had to pay for these things myself, our trip is paid off before we leave and none of it will need to be on credit! It feels so good.

And some more awesome news: Brom's saying 'mama' and 'dada' now quite regularly

 

[BudgieMama]

Subscribing so I can follow along (Clare on the August FB group!)

 

[DMGeurts]

I am here! Looking forward to following along.

Admittedly, I have only read your first post... But I have comments for it, so I figured I'd stop back later when I have more time, and read more...

First of all - your girls are adorable... I love their names... Just precious and timeless. And I cracked up at your description of Cordelia - LOL I love her SPIRIT!!!

Brom is adorable, but gosh - I consider myself a Disney fanatic, and I am stumped about where you took his name from. I hope you'll tell us.

Finally - I'd love to hear more about how you all eat. I have recently started eating a "no wheat or sugar" Paleo/Primal diet - and I love it. Although, my way of eating is more by choice than by necessity... but the changes in my body/appearance/way of life have been nothing short of amazing. I am a bit nervous about how I am going to make it work while in Disney...

Anyways... Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts... Going to go sit outside in the sunshine and hopefully read the rest.

D~ <---- Dorine from the Aug 2014 FB group.

 

[nadira36]

Yay! Readers!

Subscribing so I can follow along (Clare on the August FB group!)

Happy to see you here!

I am here! Looking forward to following along.

Admittedly, I have only read your first post... But I have comments for it, so I figured I'd stop back later when I have more time, and read more...

First of all - your girls are adorable... I love their names... Just precious and timeless. And I cracked up at your description of Cordelia - LOL I love her SPIRIT!!!

Brom is adorable, but gosh - I consider myself a Disney fanatic, and I am stumped about where you took his name from. I hope you'll tell us.

Finally - I'd love to hear more about how you all eat. I have recently started eating a "no wheat or sugar" Paleo/Primal diet - and I love it. Although, my way of eating is more by choice than by necessity... but the changes in my body/appearance/way of life have been nothing short of amazing. I am a bit nervous about how I am going to make it work while in Disney...

Anyways... Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts... Going to go sit outside in the sunshine and hopefully read the rest.

D~ <---- Dorine from the Aug 2014 FB group.

Ahh thanks for your sweet words. I do think all of my little ones are pretty cute, but I may be partial - and yes, your word, spirited, aptly describes all of them, but especially Cordelia And I wouldn't change it for anything. But man my shins do get sore after a while

Dining at Disney is a special treat for us, I'm so excited! And will be talking about our ADRs shortly. Feel free to ask any questions about our diet, this is our 5th year being gluten-free, and this will be our 6th trip to Disney being gluten-free.

Brom Bones. Villain, or just misunderstood? Who knows. What we do know is MNSSHP is our favourite event at WDW. It just seemed fitting that our sweet angelic little boy's name would be a tip of the hat to our favourite villain.

Figured it out yet? g


One more hint:

tumblr_lmpk2ayV111qd3fqao1_500 by nadira36, on Flickr

 

[nadira36]

Each year we try something a little different. Hoping beyond hope that we'll find the perfect touring plan that works for us. And by touring plan, I mean fly by the seat of our pants while hoping to see and do as much as possible.

We always go into each trip prepared to not see and do everything, and every trip we leave happy with all we managed to do. So we must be doing something right.

I'm sure this trip'll be no different. However, as many other people are, we're worried about how FP+ will change things. This is the first trip we'll take advantage of the morning EMHs. For various reasons (sleep) we've never made it early enough to the parks. But this time we will!

So on August 26th we arrive at MCO way later than we'd like, catch some Zs, and hope to get up bright and early the next day to head to AKs EMHs.

26th: Arrive
27th: AK
28th: MK
29th: EP
30th: HS
31st: MK
1st: This day is up in the air depending on whether it's a party night or not.
2nd: MK
3rd: Head for home

Even leaving the parks for a swim each day, I'm sure we'll manage to get plenty done in this time. Though how we'll feel with the early morning wake-ups, that's an entirely different story!

 

[DMGeurts]

I love MNSSHP - is it our favorite event. We hope to get back in the fall again some day where we can do it again.

Brom Bones... Hmmm... Must go google... Ahhhh - Legend of Sleepy Hallow... HOw sad is it for me to admit that is a movie I have never seen. I love that you took your son's name from a Disney character.

LOL - at your sore shins... I would hope - by now - they've become resilliant from the years of abuse.

Your plans look great - with 3 MK days and a possible 4th if you get to do MNSSHP. Since it's so hot when we go in Aug - we've decided that the water parks are "must dos" for those summer trips. And I dont' think there will be a MNSSHP while we are there - I think we leave for home just a bit too early in the season.

D~

 

[Heidi K]

Your baby is so cute! (and the girls are, too) Did you decide on a resort? I didn't see if you're sticking with POR.

 

[nadira36]

I love MNSSHP - is it our favorite event. We hope to get back in the fall again some day where we can do it again.

Brom Bones... Hmmm... Must go google... Ahhhh - Legend of Sleepy Hallow... HOw sad is it for me to admit that is a movie I have never seen. I love that you took your son's name from a Disney character.

LOL - at your sore shins... I would hope - by now - they've become resilliant from the years of abuse.

Your plans look great - with 3 MK days and a possible 4th if you get to do MNSSHP. Since it's so hot when we go in Aug - we've decided that the water parks are "must dos" for those summer trips. And I dont' think there will be a MNSSHP while we are there - I think we leave for home just a bit too early in the season.

D~

I'm always surprised at the number of Disney fans, particularly the ones who love MNSSHP, who've never even watched the Legend of Sleepy Hallow.

Cordelia's name is also from a Disney movie - but I won't make you guess unless you're 60 or older, or like me and just love ALL disney movies that much, you won't know the movie. "The Happiest Millionaire" the daughter in the movie is Cordelia - Cordy for short.

Your baby is so cute! (and the girls are, too) Did you decide on a resort? I didn't see if you're sticking with POR.

Aww thanks We're still debating.

As of right now we're booked at POR, but if a good special comes out, or our friends want to switch resorts, then we might still go to AKV.

 

[DMGeurts]

Yah... I think I need to make that movie a priority.

When I first heard Cordelia's name, it actually made me think of American Girl... In the Samantha movie - Samantha's aunt is named Cordelia... Such a beautiful name.

D~

 

[nadira36]

What do you plan to do for your birthday?


I plan to go toMNSSHP


The first MNSSHP will be Sept 1st and we're gonna go!

It does mean a quick change in park plans. We'll do our second AK day on the 31st, and do a late start on the 1st at MK.

We originally thought we'd just go to AK in the AM and then head over to MK for the early party entrance, but that won't work b/c our girls want to be for this year's party. And Mommy doesn't have the special touch the FGMiT do.

I was so worried that there'd be limited reservation times left, but I was lucky, and even with a late afternoon call, I managed to get all 3 girls in for the same time, after lunch!

(oh and if you're interested, they were pretty much wide open the entire day)

 

[DMGeurts]

Awesome!!!!!!! So glad you were able to get your reservations for the girls to be Princesses! That is going to be such a FUN party for them!

So, what are Mom, Dad and Baby Brom going to be for MNSSHP?

D~

 

[nadira36]

Awesome!!!!!!! So glad you were able to get your reservations for the girls to be Princesses! That is going to be such a FUN party for them!

So, what are Mom, Dad and Baby Brom going to be for MNSSHP?

D~

I'm so excited - things are lining up perfectly for us!

Though I've no idea yet what Ryan, Brom and I will be.

I'm thinking we could dress Brom like Terence (Tinkerbell's friend), or maybe as Christoph. I'm not sure yet. I'd welcome ideas.

I'd really like to dress as a Princess this year. Last party DH and I were Minnie and Mickey, but I want to be a princess this year too. I want some sort of family theme - the three girls will likely all be Elsa. So I could go as Anna, Ryan could be Christoph, Brom could be Sven or Olaf.

Ryan will dress as whatever I ask him to. It helps that I've never asked him to dress as anything too outlandish, yet.

 

[nadira36]

I know we need nothing to get us more excited for Disney, however sometimes it helps to find something to help us stay excited about being home!

This trip, we're trying movie theme nights to see if it helps keep everyone in better spirits while we wait for our Disney trip.

Our first ever Disney theme night was a success! As soon as "The Pirate Fairy" was out, we had to have it! Our girls were super excited to each it and we thought it'd be a great movie to do an entire theme night around.

Everyone dressed in something that was either 'pirate' or 'fairy' or both, we enjoyed some fun foods, did some crafts, and washed the movie.

I don't have pictures of the costumes, I'm not sure why. Probably b/c I never remember to pull out my camera But I did snap some of the decorations:

For crafts and activités, we had colouring pages and mazes. I also had popsicle sticks to make fairy houses out of. But the kiddos didn't seem to keen on sitting still long enough to craft.

Does anyone lee do anything to help pass the time until your trip finally arrives?

 

[nadira36]

The past few weeks have been really rough. I've been having heart problems - hopefully nothing serious, but serious enough that I've been told not to do anything - stay calm they say. So easy with a young baby and 3 bigger kids. But I've been trying.

In the meantime I have reservations made!!!

We have a great line-up this year. We managed to get ADRs at so many places we love, as well s a few new ones.

Our flights ge in pretty late, so our first meal will be on the 27th.

August 27th: Tusker House Lunch - we LVOE their GF Naan bread. Really looking forward to it this trip! They also usually have these nice little chocolate cups filled with strawberry mousse - seriously I think I ate more dessert and bread here than any other food on the menu.

Raglan Road Dinner - This is one of our favourite places to eat. We can never make up our mind in advance what we want, so far we've liked it all. But the 'It's not bleeding' Chowder" is one of the top on my list.

August 28th: Crystal Palace Lunch - We're going to meet the characters. That is All.
Boatwrights Dinner - Looking forward to trying a new place.

August 29th: Akershus Brunch - This is DH's favourite character meal. The food's pretty good too.
Kouzzina Dinner - may change this due to it closing shortly after our trip. But I really enjoy the fisherman stew.

August 30th: Hollywood & Vine Lunch - this is the girls' number one favourite place to eat. Princess Sophia AND Doc McStuffins in one place. I can hear the squeals from here!
California Grill with Mr & Mrs T - So excited to try it finally! And our reservation is perfect timing for fireworks viewing after the meal!

August 31st: Tony's Lunch - Second top choice from our girls. They never eat the food, but they LOVE this place.

September 1st: BBB for 1 Princess, 1 fairy, and PL for one pirate Fairy
CRT Early Dinner
MNSSHP

Such a wonderful way to spend my birthday! I can hardly wait to see my 4 little munchkins all dressed up! This year, the girls decided we're doing a fairy theme. The pirate Fairy has been a hit. However, Cordelia will be Elsa. B/c Elsa's so strong and powerful. Agatha's going as Zarina - after she becomes a pirate. Ella's Going as Zarina before she becomes a pirate, Brom's going to be Terrance, and Ryan and I will be Lord Malori and Queen Clarion. Now we just need to get those costumes all made!

Sept 2nd: 'Ohana Breakfast -may change this depending on construction.
BOG Dinner - It's a must try and we found the perfect ADR time, so I can't pass it up.

Sept 3rd: Chef Mickey's Just prior to boarding ME

That's our current list. We may change Kouzzina and 'Ohana as I said above, but only if we absolutely have to, since we really enjoy both restaurants.

We're really excited to try Cali Grill for the first time, I've wanted to for several trips, but have never been able to get reservations at the proper time before.

Now I just have to decide if we want to order a cake for my birthday or not. We've ordered one each of the last 3 trips, but this time we really want to try the desserts at Cali Grill, and a cake just doesn't work at the other meals.

Only the GF and CR can accommodate the GF cakes. So we can't order one just anywhere.

 

[nadira36]

It's a momentous day! only 99 more to go until Disney! I can't believe I missed our 100 countdown, I seriously thought we still had 114 to go.

But life's been busy. We found our dream home put in an offer, and it's been accepted, the bank says go ahead, so now we have to sell our house (purchase is condition of the sale).

We've been patching walls, packing, tidying, life's been busy as I have to randomly pack 4 children and a dog up for showings. And we've been dreaming about life in our new home.

On top of that, Brom had an MRI to investigate a big lump he has on his side. We find out tomorrow what it is. He also started pulling himself to stand, and cruising along furniture. He may have taken a first step or two as well, but we've managed to close our eyes just in time. If we didn't see it, it didn't happen, right?

 

[ariane37]

Hi there Was going to respond to you over on the August 2014 page since we both arrive the 26th, but then I noticed you had a PTR! Love it so far by the way

First, congrats on finding your dream home and best of luck selling your current house! We moved almost 18 months ago and it's been great. Lots of work but worth it. Second, I hope you and baby Brom are healthy or well on your way there (FWIW, I did know where you got his name as soon as you mentioned it! One of DS8's favorite Disney movies).

Reading your PTR is reminding me I need to finish making our ADR's! Usually I'm more on top of these things, but we're trying to do a more laid-back trip this time so not planning as many TS meals. As far as your ADR's at new-to-you restaurants, we ate at Boatwright's a couple trips ago (May 2013 I believe) and loved it. We've also eaten dinner at BOG 4x and enjoyed every meal. It's been DS8's #1 request ever since the first time we ate there lol. I hope your adorable princesses enjoy it, too!

96 days to go, right??