Guilt and the Guilty Pleasure – A Single Mom’s April 2011 PTR for a Surprise Birthday

[Tink-erin-belle]

In 180 Days: it will be Thursday, April 7th and we will be having breakfast at:

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Crystal Palace and the Princess breakfast will be lots of fun, too! You are sure to get great pictures with the characters!

 

[dreamsofdisney]

We keep missing you by one day! On April 6th, we'll just be arriving so no parks, just dinner at Chef Mickey's. We'll at MK the day after you (on the 7th) and Epcot a day after, too (on the 8th!)

Sounds like you got some great ADRs lined up and the kids are going to have fabulous birthdays! What more could you ask for?!?

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Crystal Palace and the Princess breakfast will be lots of fun, too! You are sure to get great pictures with the characters!

The characters are my favorite part of going to Crystal Palace! And I meant to mention that the ADR time is before park opening, so we are going to get some great family pictures in front of the castle again! We’ve never been to the Princess breakfast, so I’m really looking forward to that one too!

We keep missing you by one day! On April 6th, we'll just be arriving so no parks, just dinner at Chef Mickey's. We'll at MK the day after you (on the 7th) and Epcot a day after, too (on the 8th!)

Sounds like you got some great ADRs lined up and the kids are going to have fabulous birthdays! What more could you ask for?!?

Yeah, I noticed on your PTR that we have a few of the same restaurants on different dates! So funny! I’m really happy about the ADRs I was able to get! I think the kids are really going to enjoy the table service meals on this trip and I know I will!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hi Erin!!! I'm back and I've got to start working on my trip report, but I've got to tell you, I've missed reading your updates. I'm all caught up now!!! Your ADR's sound wonderful. I tell ya, one of our favorite meals was breakfast at O'hana's. I wouldn't do Coral Reef again, so I wouldn't worry about not having time for that one. We never made it to our Tusker House breakfast as we were out the night before at MNSSHP until 11:30pm!!! I absolutely loved 1900 Park Fare!!! The stepsisters were awesome!

Oh, I've got some news for you.....Peter wants me to start planning next year's trip. YEP, NEXT YEAR'S TRIP!!! Oh yeah, baby!!! I've got him hooked. I have learned that he does not do thrill rides or rollercoasters. Let's see, he did not go on much, but that's ok, I had my Victoria and I tell you that child did EVERYTHING!! She is quite the thrillseeker now!

Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Hi Erin!!! I'm back and I've got to start working on my trip report, but I've got to tell you, I've missed reading your updates. I'm all caught up now!!! Your ADR's sound wonderful. I tell ya, one of our favorite meals was breakfast at O'hana's. I wouldn't do Coral Reef again, so I wouldn't worry about not having time for that one. We never made it to our Tusker House breakfast as we were out the night before at MNSSHP until 11:30pm!!! I absolutely loved 1900 Park Fare!!! The stepsisters were awesome!

Oh, I've got some news for you.....Peter wants me to start planning next year's trip. YEP, NEXT YEAR'S TRIP!!! Oh yeah, baby!!! I've got him hooked. I have learned that he does not do thrill rides or rollercoasters. Let's see, he did not go on much, but that's ok, I had my Victoria and I tell you that child did EVERYTHING!! She is quite the thrillseeker now!

Can't wait to read more!!!

Hi, Ann! I’m so glad you’re back! I can’t wait to read your TR and hopefully see some more wedding pics!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

In 180 Days: it will be Friday, April 8th and it will be Chip’s Birthday and we will be having dinner at:

Whispering Canyon Café!

and I also made a reservation for Chip at:

Pirate’s League!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

In 180 Days: it will be Saturday, April 9th and we will be having breakfast at:

Cinderella’s Royal Table!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Hi, luvmy2babies! Yes, I’m having too much fun with these plans. That is so great that you are taking your kids soon! Have you decided how you are going to surprise your daughter?

I watched some videos on youtube. HILARIOUS! I know I am telling her the day we leave.

We leave on a Sunday on an afternoon flight (1:40) and we only live 30 minutes from our airport, so we'll get up like we do normally and I'll give the children breakfast around 8:30 or 9:00. While she's eating I’m going to lay her clothes out.

I decided to make an invitation for her. After she's done eating I'm going to tell her that since her school is closed all week (first time they've ever done that for Thanksgiving) I thought that we should do something special just the three of us. Then I'm going to give her the card. I haven't decided how it will look, but I did come up with the words.

Front:
You and (brother's name) give me so much joy.
What more could a mom want in a girl and a boy.
I love you so much and I am glad to say…

Back:
SURPRISE!!!
We are going to Disney World
TODAY!

Then I'll wait for her reaction. I will have camcorder in hand. I am expecting either immediate screaming or a blank stare then screaming depending on how it hits her. If it hits her immediately, she'll scream immediately. On Saturday I surprised her with a DVD she'd been wanting and she screamed, jumped up and down shouting "YES! YES!" and almost knocked me over when she jumped into me to hug me. All that over a little $9.00 DVD from Wal-Mart she'd been asking for about a week. She's been asking to go to Disney World for 3 years, so I'm bracing myself for what she'll do that day.

So is your whole trip a surprise or the birthday dinners? I see you've been before so are you telling them before the trip? It's tough getting everything done with the time constraints created by her not knowing, but for sanity's sake, it's best here. She got out of bed and came to my room last night while I was on the phone with Disney requesting a fridge for our room. I must have looked like a monster telling her to get back to bed.

It is necessary though. One night I asked her what she'd want to do if she went there just to make sure her head was still where I thought it was. She told me (characters, castle, etc) which was what I thought. Then she looked at me with wide eyes and asked, "Is it tomorrow?" I told her no, but I wanted to know because it was a big trip and it would take a lot of planning. She walked off to her room with the saddest look.

I talked to a friend yesterday who said they got all the way to the DME bus before they told their children. My child is too nosey for me to pull that off. But I want to make sure it comes out how I want it to. We are on a non-stop flight from home to Orlando. Somebody is bound to ask her if she going to WDW. This way too, she'll be able to start on her activity/memory book on the plane.

I may have missed it in your PTR. Did you decide if you were driving or flying yet?

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I watched some videos on youtube. HILARIOUS! I know I am telling her the day we leave.

I watched some of those Disney surprise videos on YouTube also – they are too funny! The way you have your surprise planned out sounds great! I really like the card idea and the poem is very sweet. I completely understand keeping the trip under wraps for sanity’s sake. On our first trip, the kids asked me constantly for three months or so when we were going to Disney World. It was so cute. They did the same thing for our second trip. Was it just as cute that time? Not so much. My kids sound like your daughter because they will get over-the-moon excited about what I think are the smallest things. So yes, the entire trip is a surprise. I haven’t made the fly or drive decision yet, but as the weeks go on, I’m thinking we’ll be driving. Peak season is super expensive in Disney, so unless we get a PIN for April dates, the kids and I will be going on a road trip again. I’m almost looking forward to driving now because if we do, we’ll have to leave on April 1st. Can you imagine the surprise it will be to tell them they’re going to Disney World on April Fool’s Day? They’ll think it’s a joke!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

In 180 Days: it will be Sunday, April 10th and we will be making our way back home but hopefully we won’t really be sad because we would have had an awesome and memorable trip We don’t have any ADRs for this day since I still don’t know if we will be driving or flying. We wouldn’t have any DDP TS credits left anyway since they would have all been used up by Chip’s birthday dinner on Friday – I paid OOP for CRT on ADR day. Now how was THAT for an acronym heavy sentence?

So far, it looks like we are going to be driving since that is the most affordable option So that means that we will probably have to stock up on food for the road on Saturday night after leaving the Magic Kingdom. On our last two trips, we had quite a few CS credits and Snack credits left at the end of our trips. It worked out perfectly, though because for both trips we went to the CS restaurant in our resort and got sandwiches, cinnamon rolls and juices. We didn’t have to stop for food or drinks at all. On our last trip, we had so many Snack credits left over that we were able to spend the majority of them at Goofy’s Candy Company for treats to bring home! I think that will happen again this year because we are going to have two birthday cakes to eat in 7 nights! That isn’t going to happen! We’ll have to transport at least one of those cakes home – which is another reason that driving will be the most viable option – because I’m not paying that much money for two cakes to go to waste! I think we’ll end up sharing a lot of Minnie’s cake with the wait staff during dinner, because according to the cake thread, even the smallest custom cakes ordered through Disney are huge! Then I think we will just take the rest of the cake, store it in a plastic cake container or something and pick at it for a few days until it is time for Chip’s birthday and HIS cake! <<< I’m not sure if that emote is me laughing or me rolling around on the floor in pain from eating so much cake!

All of this ADR making and cake planning and menu surfing has made me think of the Counter Service restaurants we haven’t tried. To list them all would be totally ridiculous and although I am not above coming off as crazy, I won’t subject you all to that These are the loose plans for trying new snacks and CS meals:

Sat, 4/2 – Arrival Day is DTD day and I think we’ll have lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express
Sun, 4/3 – Minnie’s Birthday is Magic Kingdom day so we’ll probably have lunch at Casey’s Corner (which is a favorite of ours) or try something new and go to Pecos Bill’s Café or Columbia Habor House. It’ll be her choice
Mon, 4/4 – is an EPCOT day and since we have a TS breakfast and a TS dinner, we will probably just get a snack from whatever place is closest. I really want to try Kaki Gori!
Tues, 4/5 – is our Animal Kingdom day and we really enjoyed Flame Tree BBQ for a late lunch the last time, so I’m pretty sure we’ll do that again. I’d like to try some other snacks but unless Taste of Africa happens to get extended from this test run, I think we will have a snack at a different park.
Weds, 4/6 – is another Magic Kingdom day and we’ll probably have the Casey’s Corner/Pecos Bill’s/Columbia Harbor House choice to make for lunch and dinner. And a Dole Whip is a MUST for our snack!
Thurs, 4/7 – is our second EPCOT day. I don’t think I have to even repeat the new thing we’re trying here for lunch, but I’ll list it anyway: Yorkshire County Fish & Chips! We’ll probably go to Sunshine Seasons for dinner since that is another one of our favorite CS places
Fri, 4/8 – Chip’s Birthday is our Hollywood Studios day and we will probably grab something from Starring Rolls and then maybe go back during lunch to get sandwiches and desert. We’ve never been there but I keep hearing that there is great stuff there. Plus, we’ve been-there-done-that with the other CS and snack places in HS, so I think it will be nice to try something different
Sat, 4/9 – is our final Magic Kingdom day and we probably won’t stay in this park all day. We probably won’t have a snack or a CS meal here either since we will have had our CRT breakfast, so who knows where we’ll end up eating We’ll probably end up at DTD to use up the rest of our snack credits, so I would like to try to pop in for a meal at T-Rex. But if there is no availability or if we want more flexibility, we might try Earl of Sandwich
Sun, 4/10 – is departure day so it is unlikely we will go anywhere but the food court at Pop Century to use up any remaining CS credits or snack credits for the ride home

Wow, I’m getting hungry! Too bad my breakfast this morning is going to consist of a Pop Tart and a Mountain Dew! I want a cinnamon roll from a Disney bakery

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Now on to trying new things at Animal Kingdom! You know, we’ve done 2/3 of the attractions here as well. We enjoyed all of them that we tried, although, Chip and Minnie didn’t like Dinosaur in 2009 as much as they did in 2008. I loved it. I’m not sure what changed with the kids in a year, so I might have to convince them to go on it again on this trip. I think the ride is cool, but if they don’t want to go on it, I guess I won’t make them since they have done it twice. I had to do a little convincing in 2008 to get Minnie to go on Expedition Everest. She was glad she did it and all three of us were hooked after our first ride. I also brought the picture! I didn’t buy it to commemorate our first ride on EE. No – I usually never buy those ride pics. I brought it because of the expression on Minnie’s face. We call it her “Terror Face”






I crack up laughing every time I see that. I laugh every time I even think about it Poor baby was only 5 years old – she was clearly scared out of her wits – and she LOVED it!!! We went right back in line and rode again two or three more times in a row!

So…what haven’t we done?

The Boneyard – another playground. Ugh! But the kids will like it, blah, blah, blah Seriously, though, it looks kinda cool.

Festival of the Lion King – I’m ashamed to even admit that Actually, while I am at it, I might as well admit this one too:

Finding Nemo: The Musical – I don’t have an excuse for this or the Lion King. We just never got around to either of these shows I know that all of us will love both of these shows. So they are both a high priority on this trip.

Flights of Wonder – I think the kids will eat this up. They really like the educational stuff.

Maharajah Jungle Trek – in 2008 and 2009 we attempted to do this. Both times, we only got as far as the Komodo Dragon




I don’t know why, but both times, Chip and Minnie wanted to do something else. I think it was the allure of the thrill rides So this trip, I guess I’ll take the customary picture of the Komodo Dragon (in the exact same spot it has been in since the dawn of time ) but then I am determined to make it down the rest of this path!

So that is it for Animal Kingdom. This seems doable since the list is so short. So you know what time it is now! Pictures of My Kids Time!!! They both had their faces painted at AK. Chip is a Tiger and Minnie is a Desert Princess:

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Happy Halloween!!!

I haven’t updated in a while! Fall is my absolute favorite season and the kids and I have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying it. Then you add work and the kids’ school obligations – two weeks fly by in a flash! Let’s hope time continues to fly like this until our trip! I’m sure it will fly, actually, and I will be shocked by it. As a matter of fact, today was the original arrival date for the trip that I had to cancel. I thought I’d be kinda bummed out today, but we have another trip in the works and it will be April before I know it. Plus, it is Halloween today! This is one of my favorite holidays! The kids get all dressed up, we go Trick or Treating and then I get to snag some of their candy! Then it will be Thanksgiving… then it will be Christmas… then it will be New Years… then it will be Valentine’s Day (another candy laden holiday)… then it will be my birthday… yeah, it will be April before I know it. But let’s get back to the present for a minute. Halloween! I have no idea what the kids are going to dress up as because this was their dad’s weekend with them and he said he was going to take them shopping for their costumes. I’m really happy that he did that. I know I talk a lot of trash about him on my posts, but sometimes he can do something nice and I do recognize that. Anyway, since this is my Halloween with the kids, he is bringing them home soon. Then I’ll watch my game (Hail to the Redskins!) and try to get Chip and Minnie to watch too. I just can’t get them into watching football with me! I don’t get it! Then again, I wasn’t into football as a kid either. It wasn’t until high school that I started to appreciate the way the guys looked in their uniforms! Oh yeah, that got my attention! Then, in college, I actually started to enjoy the sport of the actual game. So there is hope for my kids yet. (I guess I should be glad that Minnie hasn’t noticed the football players’ booties in those pants yet ) Anyway, enough about football. The game is coming on soon and I want to get this posted! So, if we hadn’t cancelled our trip and we were in Disney today, this would have been our DTD day – which leads me to this:

Things we haven’t done in Downtown Disney: Shopping!!! OK, that just about sums it up. The end.

OK, seriously, there are a lot of shops the kids and I would like to browse through. Last year on our last day in Disney, I let the kids play in the Lego store and in Once Upon a Toy. They built Lego people and built Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads. They already spent all of their souvenir money and so did I, so I didn’t want to put us through the torture of browsing through shops where we couldn’t buy anything. I set a strict budget and I stuck to it. But we did satisfy our shopping urges by spending the last of our snack credits at Goofy’s Candy Co. Chip got what I can only describe as chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick. Minnie got a cupcake with a TON of frosting on it. I got a German Chocolate cookie with an obscene amount of frosting on it too. We also got so much candy that I can’t remember it all.

Using up all of those snack credits made me feel like I was getting a great deal! Logically, I knew that it wasn’t a great deal since I had already paid for the credits, but it felt like it and that’s all that mattered! Actually, I am a bargain shopper in my day to day life. I’m a coupon clipper. I buy meat in bulk. I know what’s really on sale and what the store is just trying to make us think is on sale. The only thing I splurge on are clothes, shoes, games and toys for the kids. The only time I splurge on myself is when I’m on vacation. I think a lot of moms are like that. Whether married or single, whether the other parent is involved or not, so many moms put themselves last. I’m not complaining. I think that is the way it should be to a certain extent. I would much rather make sure my kids had something they wanted before I had something I wanted. When I’m on vacation, I get to finally indulge myself with the things I want!

I still haven’t done a souvenir list – because it is either truly psycho or truly genius. Either way, I would want to take my time with it! Seriously though, I need to live in the moment and think only about what I’m buying once I am there. I think that part of the reason I want to make a souvenir list is because I want to set a budget for it. I’m so used to budgeting and planning. Planning and budgeting. It has become a way of life and frankly, I’m sick of doing it because I HAVE to do it. Before, I budgeted because I WANTED to do it because I wanted to be smart with my money and be prepared for a rainy day. Boy, has it been raining! I had to budget because of taking the new job – which was my choice. What wasn’t my choice was not getting child support anymore because my ex can’t keep a job. I really resent that. I’m laughing at myself right now because I wrote that as if I made a HUGE revelation. I haven’t exactly hidden my resentment of my ex-husband on my posts! Sorry. Rant over. Thank you for indulging me The point I was trying to make was that I need to live a little! I need to enjoy myself because I deserve it! Souvenir shopping is a part of the vacation that really doesn’t have to be planned.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t given any thought as to what I would like to get once I am in Disney! As I said, we didn’t walk around DTD too much, so I don’t have a lot of firsthand knowledge of what is there. All I know is that I would like to get a box full of Mr. Potato Head parts because I would like to play with that with my kids. As far as what I would get for myself - no idea. I’ll just have fun exploring. I did some research on the stores in EPCOT’s World Showcase (told you I would) and I saw that I could get candy, Christmas ornaments and/or cookbooks in every country! I love all of those things!

Back to DTD. I really hope the weather cooperates because the kids and I have wanted to do Characters in Flight since we saw it last year. I can’t even imagine what everything looks like from up there! I started to read up on it, but after I saw a few pictures of that aerial view, I stopped reading because I didn’t want to spoil the surprise of the experience. I can’t wait!

I really want to see Cirque, but it isn’t practical to try to fit it into this trip. I know the kids will like it too, so it is something I hope to do on a future trip. We have so many other fun things we’re doing, I don’t think the kids will miss it.

The final thing is Disney Quest. Honestly, before I read up about it on allears.net I thought it was just a glorified arcade and I was going to avoid it at all costs! It actually seems incredibly cool and I think the kids and I will have a ball in there!

So, that is it! Our first Disney day/arrival day will be our DTD day and I hope we get a chance to experience all of this fun stuff! So, what time is it? All together now: PICTURE TIME! I don’t have any pictures of DTD from our last trip, but I do have a souvenir photo of the kids from our first trip in 2008. Technically, they are in “costume” so it can be a Halloween picture, right? They took this picture after leaving Star Tours in HS and their heads were superimposed on the Star Wars bodies:



How cool is that?!? I was really happy with how it turned out.
Since we have been doing a lot of activities in the crisp Fall air, let me share a few pictures from last weekend when we went pumpkin picking. The first is me looking like a dork (LOL) but the kids look cute and I love the picture because the kids and I were having a lot of fun that day:



My kitties:





My son and my mom playing Frisbee:







My daughter sliding so fast that I couldn’t get a good picture! :






There were other activities there too:

















Inside the teepee:





Finally, at the end of the day, we picked some pumpkins and squash:







Have a Happy Halloween and don’t eat too much candy (like I probably will)!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Happy Halloween!!!

Fall is my favorite season of the year as well!!! Love all the pumpkin patch pictures!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Thanks, Jackie. We had a lot of fun that day. I hope it's not too cold this weekend for the kids and I to go to a Fall Festival this weekend at a different pumpkin patch. There are so many great activities in the Fall

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

It’s been HOW LONG since I’ve updated this PTR? Sheesh! On Halloween? Wow! I hope you guys will hang in there with me!

Well, it’s funny how life works because I was going to update tonight with some of our Disney movie theme nights. I have been so busy with work and the kids’ school stuff and getting ready for Thanksgiving and it’s almost Christmas and…whew! Suffice it to say, there is a lot going on! I’ve been trying to keep some Disney magic in our lives with these theme nights and we have had a lot of fun…but that is what I’m writing about in my *next* post. So what is my “Major Update” with three exclamation points? As I was saying, it is funny how life works because I decided to eat lunch at my desk today. Then I pulled up mousesavers.com and what was the first thing I saw? Today, Disney released a general public discount on room rates – and the discount included the dates of our stay!!! I had been waiting for a discount ever since I started researching this trip. A Disney vacation during peak season is expensive!

So I pushed aside my microwaved leftovers (hunger be damned!) and I picked up my cell. I called reservations, fully expecting to get a busy signal or to be placed on infinite hold. I’ve heard of how crazy the phone lines could get when a discount got released. I was ready to pick up my work phone and dial in from there too in case I did have trouble getting through to reservations, but I got right through! After confirming my information with the automated system, I was transferred to a CM named Andy. I asked him if the discounts would apply to my reservation and he replied with an enthusiastic, “Of course!” He recalculated the cost of my package and the discount was...eh... it was an OK discount. I expected that, though, since we were staying at a value resort. So the small discount didn’t bother me. I knew why I had really called. I asked how much the package would be if I upgraded from Pop to a moderate resort. Happily, it wasn’t much more! So now, the kids and I are spending our nine day, eight night vacation at...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...


Port Orleans French Quarter!!!




I am beyond thrilled! POFQ was the resort where we were supposed to stay on the trip that got cancelled! Now we will still get to stay there! It is all falling into place! And get this: because of the discount, my upgrade only cost $147.26 more than the original package at Pop! Amazing!!! Can you tell I’m excited?!? I’ve used about ten exclamation points in this paragraph alone

Then I went on the April Code Watch thread and shared the good news. The discount was only on dates through April 16th, but hopefully that info helped someone else waiting for a discount I’m so happy that I got it, but I’m going to keep my eyes open to see if any better ones come along.

Since I can’t tell the kids about the resort change, I’m now planning a Disney movie theme night for next weekend featuring The Princess and the Frog. We have seen this movie at least a thousand times, and I had planned to do this movie in March, but I’m in the mood for Mardi Gras right now! I’d do it this weekend, but I brought a seventeen pound turkey yesterday, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating Thanksgiving leftovers this weekend Speaking of leftovers, my lunch this afternoon was still warm after I got off of the phone with CM Andy. Luckily that pork roast was calling my name, because I was almost too excited to eat!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Awesome that you are going to get to stay at POFQ! We have stayed there twice and love, love, love it!!! It is the perfect place for a spring trip!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

That's soooo awesome Erin!!!! That's where we are staying in September!!! I'm sooooo excited for you and yes, I'm still here....

Hey, you've been waiting on my updates, so I'll be waiting on yours!!!!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

I am taking a break from the roasting turkey for a few minutes! Now that I have stepped away from all of the cooking, I can smell the wonderful thanksgiving aromas coming from my kitchen! Hopefully, my sibs will be here soon, and then it will be time to pull out the turkey and complete the finishing touches for dinner. Since my whole family will be here, I’m going to bring up Disney of course! I want to see if there is a time next year that we can all go on a family trip. As I mentioned before, I think it would be fun to plan a Grand Gathering!

So, thanks for hanging in there with me, guys!

Awesome that you are going to get to stay at POFQ! We have stayed there twice and love, love, love it!!! It is the perfect place for a spring trip!

Thank you so much for that feedback! It looks like a gorgeous resort. I can just imagine what it looks like in the Spring when everything is in bloom!

That's soooo awesome Erin!!!! That's where we are staying in September!!! I'm sooooo excited for you and yes, I'm still here....

Hey, you've been waiting on my updates, so I'll be waiting on yours!!!!

That is so cool you’re staying there next year too! I guess we all have great taste! I think it is such a pretty resort!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!