Heading back to the World after 3 LOOOONG years! A May PTR!

[kadesha]

Hi everyone! I'm Kadesha. I've been a member of the DIS for a long time but have never put together a PTR or TR. After reading so many lately, I am very excited about it! We have been to Disney 4 times in the past. The first was a day trip August 3, 2006 (I refer to this as the day my life changed forever! ), followed by trips in May 2007, November 2008, and June 2009. We LOVE Pop Century, so that's where we have always stayed, and will also be staying for this trip.
Let's get started with some introductions!

Here we are, Kadesha and my DH, Grumpy! Aren't we cute? Yeah, we were in 2007 when this picture was taken! lol! But it's one of my favorites. You almost can't tell that my DH gets tired of going to Disney and is the whole reason that it's been 3 years since we've been there. Yeah, I'm bitter about it.

And now for the kids....

Aly. Hard to believe that she'll be turning 9 right before we go to Disney this year! Her favorite park is Epcot and her favorite rides are Soarin' and Splash Mountain.

Sissy. She has a real name, but I don't think anyone ever uses it. She's been little Sissy since the day she was born. (Which was almost exactly one year after Aly.) She'll be celebrating her birthday during this trip! Her favorite park is MK and favorite ride is Haunted Mansion.

Here's a couple of my favorite shots from some previous trips.

We'll be staying at Pop Century from May 21-May 29. We usually only stay a week, so I was excited to get some extra time in there.

My sister and her 5 kids will also be there for the first 2 days of this trip. All newbies! I am so excited for some of my family to be experiencing the magic! Hopefully someone will understand my obsession and defend me when people get tired of hearing me talk about it!

I've already made ADR's (which I'm constantly changing!), and have some plans made. Those will be revealed soon!

I know May is a long time away, but DH is tired of talking Disney every day with me, so I need people to talk to! I'm also hoping to meet others DISer's headed to Disney during this time. I've never traveled during Memorial Day so any tips on that are welcome!!

LINKS:

INTRODUCTIONS (this page)

TENATIVE PLANS: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43880625#post43880625

PLAN CHANGES AND NEW RESSIES: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44125873#post44125873

 

[justjoannj]

I won't be going in May but I wish I were. I can totally understand how you feel. I LOVE WDW and not everyone can understand that.....and yes they get tired of hearing about it from me. Have a great time! It makes it even better that you will be with people who have never been. It's like your first time all over again.

 

[kadesha]

I won't be going in May but I wish I were. I can totally understand how you feel. I LOVE WDW and not everyone can understand that.....and yes they get tired of hearing about it from me. Have a great time! It makes it even better that you will be with people who have never been. It's like your first time all over again.

I am SO excited for them! We will not be with them on their Magic Kingdom day, but we will be with them on their Epcot day! I am having so much fun helping her plan too!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Hey Kadesha,

I am joining you on your journey to WDW . . . well at least I will be reading along. Me and my son were there last may during memorial day so I will happily help you in any way that I can. We actually went to Epcot on Memorial Day, it was busy but not to crazy. We though it was nice that the CM had the soldiers (past and present) stand up before the American Experiance so that we could clap for them.

Can't wait to read more about your trip and congrats on starting your first PTR.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in !!

May is the perfect time to go ! Looking forward to following along on your journey.

Your girls are gorgeous !

 

[kadesha]

Hey Kadesha,

I am joining you on your journey to WDW . . . well at least I will be reading along. Me and my son were there last may during memorial day so I will happily help you in any way that I can. We actually went to Epcot on Memorial Day, it was busy but not to crazy. We though it was nice that the CM had the soldiers (past and present) stand up before the American Experiance so that we could clap for them.

Can't wait to read more about your trip and congrats on starting your first PTR.

Welcome! We will be at DHS on Memorial Day. I'm somewhat worried as this is also an evening EMH day. I'm just going to be hopeful that it'll be ok. I think DHS is the worst park for crowds though, I hate the layout!!!

Joining in !!

May is the perfect time to go ! Looking forward to following along on your journey.

Your girls are gorgeous !

Thank you so much! We enjoyed our past trip in May, but it was earlier in the month. The girls think May is the perfect time to go, nothing like celebrating birthdays at Disney!

 

[kadesha]

Let's start talking about plans, shall we?

We live in north GA, approx. 8 1/2 driving hours from Disney. I'm sure it'd be a very fast flight from Atlanta, but I'll never know siince I'm too terrified to ever get on a plane. Or any Disney thrill ride for that matter. Want to hear a funny story? Soarin' isn't really considered a thrill ride, but I chickened out of it. My daughter (who was probably 5 at the time) convinced me to go on it. I was so proud of myself sitting on Soarin, buckled up and ready to go! Then I panic. I can't get out of the seatbelt. Anxiety attack begins and I'm let off of the ride before it ever begins. My husband never let me live it down. lol! I just have a really irrational fear of heights.

Anyway--On May 20th Aly has a dance recital, so we'll be leaving late that night and driving through the night. My hope is to arrive at Pop around 10 am. We reserved a standard pool view room, hopefully in the 50's area. Here's the basic plan so far:

May 21: Arrival, swimming at the resort, dinner at T-Rex at 7:00 pm.
May 22: Epcot (this will also be the day my sister and her family will be at Epcot) Dinner at Coral Reef
May 23: Magic Kingdom, dinner at Ohana
May 24: Animal Kingdom, lunch at Rainforest Cafe (we usually skip AK but decided to show it some love this year)
May 25: Epcot, dinner at Garden Grill
May 26: Sissy's birthday!!! Magic Kingdom with lunch at Crystal Palace and hopefully the Wishes dessert party!
May 27: Another Magic Kingdom day, because we love evening EMH and MK is open until 1 am.
May 28: Memorial Day at DHS, dinner at 50's PTC
May 29: Whichever park we'd like
May 30: Departure Day. We also have park tickets this day.

I'm sure you noticed that we do not have park hopper tickets. We used to get them but discovered that we were wasting money because we never hopped. We tend to be perfectly content at one park per day. I am also thinking about adding on one more day so that we can do the evening EMH at Epcot on May 29. I'm not sure if that'll work out yet or not though. We also want to fit in Harmony Barber Shop one day but I'm not sure which yet. This will be the first year that we don't do BBB for the girls. I am sad about it, but they both said they'd prefer to go to the barber shop and get pixie dust. They are growing out of the princess phase.

Well, let me know what you think of my plans!

 

[Moodyzblu]

I think your plans look great ! We're not "hoppers" either. You're right .. it was a waste of money for us since we rarely ever hopped from one park to another.
Your dinner plans all look really good too !

 

[kadesha]

Ok, so there have been some changes since my last update.

Thanks to a FD pin, both my sister and I have extended our trips by a day. So I'll be staying 9 nights and will have 9 days of park tickets. That will put us departing on May 30 instead of May 29! Yay for another full park day!!!!!

I am also getting concerned about my decision to spend the Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day at MK. I really don't have any other option, I'm just concerned about it. On Saturday, May 26 (Sissy's birthday) I have booked Harmony Barber Shop and on Sunday, May 27, I have booked The Pirate's League. We've done the barber shop lots of times but this will be our first time at The Pirates League. We usually do BBB, so this will be a big change for all of us. I will miss walking around the park with the kids dressed as beautiful princesses.

I am also anxiously awaiting the booking window for the Wishes Dessert Party to open up. We'd love to do this on Sissy's birthday!!!

Other than that, I'm just waiting for May!! It seems like so long away!!!! If anyone has any tips about the busy weekend at MK or The Pirates League please share them!!!

 

[reelmom]

Hello fellow Georgian! Looking forward to your trip planning. We will be at POP some of the time that you are there. As of now, we will be arriving May 27th and staying 2 nights before heading over to Universal. We are not planning on any park days. I just wanted to be on Disney property before heading over to the Dark Side. My boys,DH included, have decided they want to do something different this year since there are so many refurbs going on. But if Disney releases free dining for our time frame, I might be able to get them back onboard for Disney. We arrived on Memorial Day last year. We didn't get into the Magic Kingdom until around 3:00. I was worried about the crowds but they weren't that bad. We were able to ride everything and there were still FP's for Space Mountain for a return time of about an hour later.