** Happy Birthday to Me (March '21) and Happy HS Graduation to Her (May/June '21 PTR) [5/8 update]

[kittylady1972]

November 2020...our last trip to the World...for my husband's 50th birthday. It was a fabulous trip you can read about in the links below...and now I'm itching to do another trip. And so...tonight...I've decided to start planning for a very short 2021 trip to celebrate my own birthday...though it's not the 50th yet.

This will mostly be spent at the OTHER parks actually...because we can get some great tickets for those parks good until the end of this year. However right now we have a stay booked a Pop Century though we might stay at Shades of Green instead. I'm just holding off on booking that right now.

I do have our flight down...booked on a Wednesday afternoon with Spirit thanks to some credit I have with them that needed to be used. We'll most likely use our SWA points to return on Saturday evening...but I haven't booked that yet. I have some time.

I'm excited to have SOMETHING in the works for sure, especially as here in MD we are experience our first real snow in a few years. I'm hopeful for a day off from work tomorrow as well. Fingers crossed!

So stay tuned as I refine this trip. It will likely include ONE Disney day with the rest Universal days!

 

[suse66]

So exciting! There is nothing like a birthday spent at Disney!

 

[BellesLibrary]

Even a short trip to Orlando is a great trip! I haven't been to Universal in years since our kids are still too little to ride most of the rides, but I can't wait to get some inspiration for future trips from your report!

 

[kittylady1972]

So still a few weeks out and today I got notified that our outbound flight changed. Good news is that it is earlier so we will have more time on our 3 night trip. Bad news is my doctor appointment that morning will now have to move. No way I can make a 9:20am doc appt and an 11:20am flight. I mean I have been known to push things but even that is risky when the doc is a good 30 minutes from the airport. Oh well...guess it will get moved.

We did book our return flights on SWA with points. So far this trip has only cost us about $20...the SWA booking fee with points.

Nothing else to report. We will likely buy our Universal passes once there at Shades of Green. We might use up one of our previously purchased one day Disney park hopper tickets as well. We will see.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[kittylady1972]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Nice to have you here!!

 

[kittylady1972]

TWO trips in 2021...yeah that is looking like the case now.

So perhaps I'll change this title to a birthday and graduation celebration.

Tonight I have booked a few nights in June for my daughter's graduation celebration. I'm taking her and her BFF who has NEVER been to Walt Disney World. They have both had pretty much NO senior year this year, though they might go back in March of this year...nearly a YEAR after their last day in school...just to get about 2 months of time in the classroom...2 days a week...with partial attendees. It will be interesting to see who actually shows up as it was optional for them to return and my youngest son, who is a junior, chose to stay totally virtual.

There are only about 50 kids total in her senior class...so this will be interesting.

Anyway I'm kinda excited about planning this girls only trip and I think my daughter is as well. So we'll likely do Disney as well as Universal. It should be fun.

So looks like I'm in for two trips now...which I honestly didn't think would happen. While I hate for this "first" trip to be experienced this way for her friend, I know we'll still make the best of it. I'm also considering adding one or two nights at the end of the trip at the beach for fun there.

 

[kittylady1972]

March Update:
Lots happened over the weekend...so let me fill you in on that. Friday night SOG went from all kinds of March availability to NO kinds of March availability. This set me in a panic a bit but since this is my birthday trip I opted to points splurge...and I booked us for 3 nights at Riviera Resort. We really enjoyed our one night stay there back in October but I felt like we didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked...so now that will change. Very excited abou that. We even booked a preferred view. This was our view back in October:


I'm hoping this time to maybe spend time around the pool area or just walking these lovely grounds.

I think I mentioned the flights already...but if not I changed our Wed flight to an even earlier one since our original 12:30pm flight got bumpled to 11am ish so why not now leave at 9:30am instead...since didn't cost anything extra. Positives for COVID times...more flight flexibility! Now I will need to reschedule a doc appointment for that day for sure. I probably need to modify my car rental also. Our return flight is on a Saturday evening.

I'm looking for 1 or 2 ADRs to book...right now I know we want to do La Hacienda de San Angel...because I really have enjoyed our last 2 meals there. So that means we need at least one Disney park day. It sucks that hoppers really only make sense for 3 days or more...but we have an unused 1-day hopper linked to our accounts already. I can't add to it since it wasn't purchase at Disney. So I'm not sure if we'll just add maybe one additional 1 park day (hello Magic Kingdom) or cave and buy another hopper which I said I wouldn't do. With another trip coming up in May/June now I hate that we still can't get APs.

MAY/JUNE UPDATE
So that brings me to our May/June Graduation trip issues. As it turns out, I mistakenly forgot to use my Spirit voucher money for my March booking. That means I now have quite a bit of funds...that must be used BY MAY 31st. I've spoken to my daughter and she has checked with her BFF and they can both leave in May if needed. So now we will fly the Sunday or Monday of Memorial Day weekend instead. I would prefer Sunday...I think they would prefer Monday. We have yet to book the tickets. My daughter really wants to stay at Bay Lake Tower which I have booked for 3 nights (Wed - Sat) but now we are leaving earlier...and there isn't much available at BLT for Sun/Mon/Tues nights. I have Beach Club for Monday only for now...and I've waitlisted Riviera right now for a few nights. I'll waitlist BLT as well but I already have another WL for March and we'll see what happens with that. So no flights or tickets for this trip yet. We've got some time.

 

[kittylady1972]

It's all about the food right???

So I have made a few ADRs for this trip, but as always they are subject to change. I mean, we only have 4 days there, and only 2 of them are full days so how many Disney ADRs do I really need...and also we most likely will only do maybe one or two Disney park days. That makes it challenging.

So I've read good things about Ale and Compass breakfast...so we're trying that. I've read good reviews about Boathouse previously and since there are just two of us...trying that though we get excellent seafood in Maryland so I'm not sure I really need this one. And of course I have La Hacienda which I think I mentioned already as my must-do since I have really enjoyed it.

I have yet to link my tickets properly since I was only hold for 20 minutes yesterday waiting for support for that and finally just gave up. I had planned to try again later in the evening...but didn't. Perhaps this weekend since I need to have at least one ticket in place to make a park reservation and that's the only one I have right now.

I would love to do Cali Grill actually...but can't find anything for that. I also checked into Chef Mickey or Topolino because what adult doesn't want to do a character meal...but sadly nothing. I am very tempted to try Crystal Palace as that's a current option...haven't read about it only that I know it's a family style vs buffet now...and I don't know if characters will be roaming/visible there like other places or not as I haven't really read up about it. We used to really enjoy it as a buffet though.

No other plans so to recap we have:
Room at Riviera
Rental Car reserved (we always rent a car...I want that flexiblity)
Flights booked (flying out Wed morning, returning on a Sat evening)

Still to do:
Buy Universal Freedom passes
Link 1-day Disney Park hoppers in account (they are there but even linked and activated aren't showing as valid)
MAYBE buy another 1 day ticket...will likely do this once we arrive at SOG

 

[kittylady1972]

Happy HS Graduation to Her Trip

So a quick update on the May/June graduation trip for the girl and her BFF. Today we braved the sleet happening here at home to head to the airport...if I haven't mentioned, we live about 15 minutes from the airport...and it is totally worth the trip for me to save $$$ on our Spirit Airlines tickets which are cheaper if bought at the airport. Yes. it cost us $2 to park in the hourly garage...but we probably saved about $60 on the 3 one way tickets. We got there, parked, walked in and bought 3 tickets for a total of about $90. Now I still have to buy our return flights, likely on SWA using some points and $$, but I've got some time as those flights are still kinda $$$ right now for some reason.

Anyway another reason we went there in person is that I got a message yesterday that Spirit had extended the deadline for booking with my travel voucher/credit from May to December...but every time I tried to use the credit online today it still insisted I use it before May 31st. I'm still concerned that the total for the credit should have been a little bit less than what the ticket cost...and yet I ended up owing nothing and she told me I still have quite a bit of credit left which I think is incorrect. We will see how that goes.

Did a quick check on DVC resorts for our timeframe and still need to find a place for us for one night...preferably two nights. I have a 1BR at BLT booked for 3 nights...and 1 BR at Beach Club for 1 night. I would rather do 2 nights at Beach Club or really all 5 nights at BLT but I'm still waiting to see if I can make that happen.

 

[kittylady1972]

The Ticket Conundrum Update

So for the record, total time on my call this morning to Disney Tech Support beginning around 8am was 55 minutes. Here's the scoop for those who don't know already. When you have more than one valid park ticket linked in MDE to yourself...there is a pre-assigned priority on those tickets...but you can't see that. Deactivating/Activating them in the MagicBands and Tickets area does no good. So basically when I bought 1-day hoppers last March, but didn't take that trip, then bought multiple 3-day and 4-day tickets for trips after that, despite deactivating the hoppers...they still got used for myself and DH during our 3-day trip in August and of course we couldn't hop anyway. Bottom line is that they ended up issuing us comp 1-day hoppers that are good for March...and if we decide to visit the parks for additional days and use non-hopper tickets we would have to visit a cast member desk before entering the park to make sure the tickets are prioritized correctly. It does make visiting the parks a little extra challenging in terms of planning...and I'd feel like we would have to hop first or last but not in the middle of doing a single park day.

Anyway all is good for now and I guess I'll pick a day we want to hop for now...make at least an initial park reservation with our one ticket...and see what happens when we go in March. This just might make us mostly do Universal parks instead which we did plan to do as well.

 

[kittylady1972]

The May June Room Quandry

So I was doing a little online shopping this morning...and happened to check my email confirmation of my order (Disney Store) and what did I see but a Welcome message from Disney Resorts. But I didn't make a new room reservation? Ah...but I did waitlist some stuff for March...and now it appears that I got my request.

In an effort to save some points for the May/June trip where we need bigger accommodations I waitlisted a Tower Room at Riviera Resort for my 3-night stay with just DH and myself. It appears I got my request...saving me about 26 DVC points...points that I can now use for May/June. So for NOW I have our 5 nights in May/June in a 1BR at Beach Club (1nt), a 1BR at Boardwalk (1nt) and 3 nights in a 1BR at BLT. Now I'd love to stay all 5 nights at BLT but we really do need the 1BR so the girls get some kind of extra space and I can close the door so they don't have to hear my snoring! If BLT isn't an option for all nights, then I'd be okay with 2 nights at Beach Club...but that's also N/A right now. So I've waitlisted a night at either Beach Club or BLT and we'll see what happens, so at least we only have to change resorts once.

I also ordered a Magicband for my daughter's BFF for our upcoming trip. She's gotta have one, right?

We shall see if this new waitlist comes to fruition. We are just inside of 30 days for our March trip and got this one fulfilled. I'm wondering if we can hope to see more waitlist action around the 30 day mark for the May/June trip...which would mean end of April. Either way I'll keep checking/stalking just in case.

 

[kittylady1972]

When Stalking Pays Off

There is something to say for being so ready for a vacation...and being persistent. Tonight as I was waiting for dinner to arrive I did some checking of rooms for May/June and suddenly I noticed another night available for May/June at Bay Lake Tower. So of course I booked it and dropped our waitlists.

That means for now we will spend ONE night at Beach Club Resort and the remaining 4 nights at Bay Lake Tower. Switching rooms only one time will be good though I actually wouldn't mind staying 2 nights at Beach Club.

I'm thinking of taking a day in the middle of our trip and heading out to Clearwater Beach as the girls would really like to do a beach day. That means we'll spend 2 days doing Universal Parks and 2 days doing the Disney Parks. I think that will be good for us.

 

[kittylady1972]

Closer and Closer

We are now about 2.5 weeks away from our return trip and honestly after this stuff:


and then this one:


I am so ready to see some sunshine. Last week I had two days off from work due to snow and ice (Thursday and Friday) and then we spent Saturday night at a beach about 4 hours away




...but it was around 30 degrees and cold so we didn't spend any time on the beach...we had a great view and we were there to have dinner at a really great Italian restaurant my FIL has been wanting to revisit since we first ate there in July.

This week I might have to work 5 whole days...crazy! Of course they are calling for snow/rain tomorrow morning...and then 55+ degrees on Wednesday. Love Maryland weather.

So tonight I've been reviewing our March plans...and changing them a bit. Here's what I am thinking now.

Wednesday: Arrival around noon...head to Disney Springs where we will have lunch at Wine Bar George...a first for us there. After that, probably head over to Universal to get our park passes activated and hang out there for several hours as they close at 8pm. At some point we'll return to check in at Riviera Resort.

Thursday: Breakfast at Ale and Compass...another first. I also managed to snag Topolino's but as much as I'd love a character meal it is at 10:45am which is a bit late for me considering I was thinking we would hit the Universal Parks around the 9am opening. I'd like DH to hopefully be able to finally ride Hagrid's there...that's the main goal. We'll spend some time there and leave by late afternoon. Maybe we'll try a Disney park this day, though even though hours are extended the parks aren't open that late. Plus I'm thinking we just might try to do a walk up at California Grill that evening. So we'll see what happens there.

Friday: Full-on Disney parks day with a dinner planned at La Hacienda. So I'm thinking we'll hit Magic Kingdom at park opening...and then hang out until early afternoon before we head to EPCOT. Likely spend the rest of the afternoon at EPCOT, having dinner there.

Saturday: Check-out day...plans will be to hit HS or AK in the morning and maybe EPCOT in the afternoon and have lunch there. I've decided not to book a meal and we'll just wing it this day. We will need to be leaving for the airport between 5pm and 5:30pm.

So far that's about it but of course as always plans are subject to change!

 

[kittylady1972]

Wednesday: Arrival around noon...head to Disney Springs where we will have lunch at Wine Bar George...a first for us there. After that, probably head over to Universal to get our park passes activated and hang out there for several hours as they close at 8pm. At some point we'll return to check in at Riviera Resort.

Thursday: Breakfast at Ale and Compass...another first. I also managed to snag Topolino's but as much as I'd love a character meal it is at 10:45am which is a bit late for me considering I was thinking we would hit the Universal Parks around the 9am opening. I'd like DH to hopefully be able to finally ride Hagrid's there...that's the main goal. We'll spend some time there and leave by late afternoon. Maybe we'll try a Disney park this day, though even though hours are extended the parks aren't open that late. Plus I'm thinking we just might try to do a walk up at California Grill that evening. So we'll see what happens there.

Friday: Full-on Disney parks day with a dinner planned at La Hacienda. So I'm thinking we'll hit Magic Kingdom at park opening...and then hang out until early afternoon before we head to EPCOT. Likely spend the rest of the afternoon at EPCOT, having dinner there.

Saturday: Check-out day...plans will be to hit HS or AK in the morning and maybe EPCOT in the afternoon and have lunch there. I've decided not to book a meal and we'll just wing it this day. We will need to be leaving for the airport between 5pm and 5:30pm.

So far that's about it but of course as always plans are subject to change!

There is probably a good reason my family NEVER looks at my Disney planning spreadsheets until we leave or maybe until we are IN Walt Disney World...because of course see the last line above. Now I have a few dilemmas I am dealing with regarding my planning.

Wednesday: So I managed to snag a reservation at California Grill...been wanting to return there for a while now. However it's an early dinner...just after 5pm. That puts a damper on my plans to close to down Universal that afternoon/evening. Plus it doesn't make sense to keep Wine Bar George as well at 1pm. That's just too much. So I will either DROP Wine Bar George, and instead we'll head directly to Universal, maybe eat at Cowfish (I've been wanting to try that place) and then do a few hours at Universal before heading to Riviera for check-in and then heading to dinner at Cali Grill. OR I will try to move Cali Grill to another day or keep to the plan of trying to do a walk-up there on Thursday.

Thursday: Still pretty sure I'll cancel Topolinos. I also might cancel Ale and Compass since I'd almost rather hit Universal as early as possible and then be done with it by afternoon (like 2pm). Then maybe do a Disney park for the evening.

Friday: I snagged a later LaHacienda dinner reservation...so I'm not sure which one to keep (one is 4:45pm and one is 6:45pm)

Saturday: OK this one is MOST exciting...I think we are going to do the Sangria University at 2:30pm this day! Something fun and different for us! I saw it was coming back, I emailed and was told they had an opening and I've forwarded my info to them. Question is...hopefully we will be sober enough to drive to the airport later that day. I'm guessing the whole thing is probably only about an hour or so experience, leaving us time to hit a park for a while, walk around, and be ready to head to the airport around 6pm/6:30pm. I realized our flights are actually later than I though, so realistically we can arrive at the airport closer to 7pm or 7:30pm.

*****************
On another note I also made another change last night for the June Girls Graduation Trip. My daughter really wanted to stay at Bay Lake Tower the entire time. I have to admit, as much as I love the Beach Club/Boardwalk area and and really love the Beach Club Resort Pool, it didn't make a lot of sense to stay there for just one night. We would likely not get into our room until after 4pm and then have to leave the next morning by 11am, really not giving us much time for pool enjoyment. Instead we'll spend time at the Bay Lake Tower pool if necessary, which is nice enough. So we now have a 1BR Lake View room at BLT all 5 nights of our stay. Besides I'll get my fill of the Boardwalk/Beach Club area resorts in just two weeks when we stay at Riviera.

So that's all for my current updates...still subject to change as I work out that March trip a little more of course. You just never know.

 

[kittylady1972]

Crazy is as Crazy Does

I probably should just stop posting...surely you will all consider me crazy...but go figure things have changed again.

So to change my flight to the night before...would cost me an extra $1.14
To change my rental car...would save me about $44
Then to add a hotel for a night...another adds about $80 (plus parking...that's another $23...ripoff)

So really for about another $60 I get to take a late flight, stay another night, get a full day on Wednesday...DONE!

That also allows me to move around some reservations. I'll keep Cali Grill on Wednesday...but move Wine Bar George to Thursday afternoon.

Wednesday: Wake up, check out of hotel near Universal, head to Universal for the day arriving by 9am. Hang there until afternoon. Have lunch at Cowfish. Head to Riviera for check-in and dinner at Cali Grill that night. *NOTE it has just occurred to me that you can actually walk to the Universal parks from our hotel...I've done it before. Since I'm paying $23 to park at the hotel, but it would cost me $25 to park at Universal, at least the first day we'll likely walk there.

Thursday: Early morning breakfast at Ale and Compass...maybe. Head to Universal again for 9am opening. Hang until around 1pm then head to Disney Springs for lunch at Wine Bar George. Evening at Magic Kingdom OR HS or EPCOT.

Friday: Early arrival to Magic Kingdom park. Spend a few hours there. Return to Riviera in the afternoon. Head to EPCOT later for dinner at La Hacienda. Hang at EPCOT or maybe last few hours at MK.

Saturday: HS in the early morning. Leave by 1pm or so and head to Coronado Springs for Sangria University at 2:30pm...graduate from class. Maybe head over to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. I have a Yak & Yeti reservation (have never eaten there) but not sure if we will be full from our experience to eat. Head to the airport around 6pm/6:30pm. I realized our flights are actually later than I thought, so realistically we can arrive at the airport closer to 7pm or 7:30pm.

 

[kittylady1972]

Just a few updates for our very very soon trip.

I got all of our park tickets...then went to make park reservations...and that was pretty limited so it required a change.

Wednesday: Wake up, check out of hotel near Universal, head to Universal for the day arriving by 9am. We'll do Universal from opening until around 2pm. Might have lunch at Mythos or Toothsome. Leave and then check-in at Riviera. Around 4:45pm, head to dinner at Cali Grill. Nothing else planned for the evening.

Thursday: Early morning breakfast at Ale and Compass...maybe. Head to Universal again for 9am opening. Hang until around 2pm then head to Disney Springs for lunch at Wine Bar George. Evening at Magic Kingdom OR HS or EPCOT. I booked a late reservation at Trattoria al Forno for maybe dessert, but we are thinking maybe instead we could explore the Flower and Garden booths and maybe do a desserts around the World.

Friday: Thinking early breakfast at Primo Piatto. Then head to MK for early arrival. Spend a few hours there. Return to Riviera in the afternoon. Head to EPCOT later for dinner at La Hacienda. Hang at EPCOT or maybe last few hours at MK.

Saturday: AK in the early morning. Leave by 1pm or so and head to Coronado Springs for Sangria University at 2:30pm...graduate from class. Then back to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. I have a Yak & Yeti reservation (have never eaten there) but not sure if we will be full from our experience to eat. Head to the airport around 6pm/6:30pm. I realized our flights are actually later than I thought, so realistically we can arrive at the airport closer to 7pm or 7:30pm.
*****************************************************************************

Oh and an update on the Girls Trip...one of my very best friends, most like a sister from another mister, will likely be joining us. We had dinner last night and I happened to mention it and despite the fact that she would have to share the King bed with me she seems excited about joining us. This way we have even numbers of people so the girls can pair up and I won't have to ride alone. Also have some friends from a mom's board who are going to be there...well one friend with her daughter...so we may try to meet up too.

 

[kittylady1972]

We are just days away from this trip...and yet I know it will be over all too soon. Weather next week is looking fantastic so far. Can't wait to be in some sunshine AND warm air, though here in MD we've had some nice days here and there.

I've done some more stalking of ADRs as well as rental car rates...I managed to get a slightly cheaper rental car rate at a competing company yesterday but I may not keep it as the one I'm using allows me to add DH as a driver for free and I have used them more often recently. Oh and I am surprising DH with a new MagicBand when we arrive. I don't know if I mentioned I order this one for myself:



When the package arrived, DH opened it thinking I had ordered one for him also even though he said he didn't want one. He seemed disappointed. So I got him an olive green one for fun. This one I just had to have since I was at the Magic Kingdom during the 25th birthday with the castle was this big birthday cake. That was also DH's first trip...so that means we are celebrating almost 25 years since his first trip (we were there I think in 1997...I'll have to check and try to find photos of us with that castle).

In MAY/JUNE news...I booked return flights for the girls using my SWA points but have yet to book my own. I plan to pay cash for mine and I was really hoping they would drop a bit. June is just really expensive as of right now. I may just book it and if a better rate comes out I'll ask for a refund. Also I bought a MagicBand for my daughter's BFF since they were offering the white one for $5 if you pre-order with your reservation. I actually bought a white one at the Disney Store online but I'm having issues linking it...but it's cooler she will get one with her name on it now. I'll take the other one back and see if I can assign it to somebody else. OH and forgot to mention my trip will likely overlap with Alice (angryduck71) also so we are hoping to meet up at least once!

That's about it....countdown is just 5 days away and between now and then I am doing some pre-birthday celebrating and then actual birthday celebrating!

 

[kittylady1972]

A slight change because this morning I scored a new ADR...maybe you can spot it here. It's not a place that's really for ME but DH will likely enjoy it. We leave in just FOUR MORE DAYS and by this time next week I'll be savoring every last bit of my last full Disney day.

Wednesday: Wake up, check out of hotel near Universal, head to Universal for the day arriving by 9am. We'll do Universal from opening until around 2pm. Might have lunch at Mythos or Toothsome. Leave and then check-in at Riviera. Around 4:45pm, head to dinner at Cali Grill. Nothing else planned for the evening. *Still debating if I really want to keep Cali Grill...I'd love for it to be later.

Thursday: Early morning breakfast at Ale and Compass...maybe. Head to Universal again for 9am opening. Hang until around 2pm then head to Disney Springs for lunch at Wine Bar George. From there, head over to HS for a quick trip to Oga's Cantina. Then hop over to EPCOT to maybe check out the F&G booths for dessert OR leave around 8pm for a late reservation at Trattoria al Forno for dessert instead.

Friday: Early breakfast at Primo Piatto. Then head to MK for early arrival. Spend a few hours there. Return to Riviera in the afternoon. Head to EPCOT later for dinner at La Hacienda. Hang at EPCOT and perhaps hop to MK for the last two hours of park time there (10pm closing).

Saturday: AK in the early morning. Leave by 1pm or so and head to Coronado Springs for Sangria University at 2:30pm...graduate from class. Then back to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. I have a Yak & Yeti reservation (have never eaten there) but not sure if we will be full from our experience to eat. Head to the airport around 6pm/6:30pm. I realized our flights are actually later than I thought, so realistically we can arrive at the airport closer to 7pm or 7:30pm.

 

[angryduck71]

We are just days away from this trip...and yet I know it will be over all too soon. Weather next week is looking fantastic so far. Can't wait to be in some sunshine AND warm air, though here in MD we've had some nice days here and there.

I've done some more stalking of ADRs as well as rental car rates...I managed to get a slightly cheaper rental car rate at a competing company yesterday but I may not keep it as the one I'm using allows me to add DH as a driver for free and I have used them more often recently. Oh and I am surprising DH with a new MagicBand when we arrive. I don't know if I mentioned I order this one for myself:

View attachment 560352

When the package arrived, DH opened it thinking I had ordered one for him also even though he said he didn't want one. He seemed disappointed. So I got him an olive green one for fun. This one I just had to have since I was at the Magic Kingdom during the 25th birthday with the castle was this big birthday cake. That was also DH's first trip...so that means we are celebrating almost 25 years since his first trip (we were there I think in 1997...I'll have to check and try to find photos of us with that castle).

In MAY/JUNE news...I booked return flights for the girls using my SWA points but have yet to book my own. I plan to pay cash for mine and I was really hoping they would drop a bit. June is just really expensive as of right now. I may just book it and if a better rate comes out I'll ask for a refund. Also I bought a MagicBand for my daughter's BFF since they were offering the white one for $5 if you pre-order with your reservation. I actually bought a white one at the Disney Store online but I'm having issues linking it...but it's cooler she will get one with her name on it now. I'll take the other one back and see if I can assign it to somebody else. OH and forgot to mention my trip will likely overlap with Alice (angryduck71) also so we are hoping to meet up at least once!

That's about it....countdown is just 5 days away and between now and then I am doing some pre-birthday celebrating and then actual birthday celebrating!

YAY!!! <3