How My Husband Saved Mother's Day: With a SURPRISE Trip to WDW!/July PTR -We're Back!

[debrapagliasotti]

It's funny, I've scoured the internet and there's not much about the H&V lunch! I am hoping to do a TR as well so maybe I can do a little review

If you like BBQ, you will LOVE Flame tree! If you haven't read this before... follow the signs to "More seating" and it goes down to this little hidden area right on the water. There's a perfect view of Everest and its so quiet. We were there on a VERY crowded day and it was amazing; like we had the whole park to ourselves!

I would love to hear how lunch is at H&V!

I have been waivering back and forth on our Dec trip ADRs and I think I may have to figure out something for Flame Tree for lunch one day. Thanks for the tip about the "extra seating". Thats been my only worry since we are a family of 6, so I had been trying to stick to TS meals only, but I think I am going to do this QS because I always hear great things about it.

I am seriously on with how much DH is getting into this whole Disney thing! He's played the part of the "resister" for the last year and I honestly thought I'd have to drag ol' grumpy-pants back to the World, not quite kicking & screaming, but more mumbling & grumbling.

Anyhow, after my big SURPRISE he comes up with this:

A countdown calendar! I added the hanging method and ribbons but the rest was all DH. I am so proud of him! He's becoming one of us!

We've been letting DS & DD add a sticker every day to the calendar and they love it. We're actually on day 60 now. I had intended to do a Disney Movie Night every 10 days... well it kinda snuck up on me. Soooooo... tonight we're watching Cars (DS's choice) and eating chicken tacos... maybe I'll make the tortillas into cones or something... I've gotta do better next time!

Super cute countdown calendar!

Love Disney dinner & movie nights! We do several of those a month!

 

[disneychic2]

We are planning a trip for November 2013 too!! *Fingers crossed* We convinced three other families to join us so, I hope its still on! We were thinking sometime within the first two weeks of November to hopefully catch both the tail end of F&W and MVMCP.

Have you been in Nov before? When are you going?

We were there in November way back in 2003 for my birthday on the 6th. It was fantastic weather wise and not too crowded. We caught some of Jersey week, so it was a bit more crowded then, but still very manageable.

Not sure when we're going, but thinking the 2nd week of November. If that's not doable, we may swing to the 2nd week of December. We enjoyed the MVMCP when we went in 2010 in Dec. and we absolutely loved the Candlelight processional and the Christmas Around the World stories in the World Showcase.

DH and I ate at H&V for lunch a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. The food is typical buffet food, but we found it to be quite tasty. Good character interaction and fun for the kids as well as adults.

As far as a CS meal at MK, we love Columbia Harbour House. It has a bit more variety and things not normally found on a CS menu such as shrimp (YUM!) and lobster roll and salads. Also, if you go upstairs, you'll find a little bit of a heavenly oasis since a lot of people overlook this area to sit. It is a bit more relaxing than your average CS place.:good vibes

ETA: Love the countdown calendar!!!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I would love to hear how lunch is at H&V!

I have been waivering back and forth on our Dec trip ADRs and I think I may have to figure out something for Flame Tree for lunch one day. Thanks for the tip about the "extra seating". Thats been my only worry since we are a family of 6, so I had been trying to stick to TS meals only, but I think I am going to do this QS because I always hear great things about it.




Super cute countdown calendar!

Love Disney dinner & movie nights! We do several of those a month!

I think Flame tree would be perfect for you guys! I noticed you have little ones, and I know I like the outdoor seating for them. My kids aren't really captivated by food so having the scenery to look at and the little alcove to run around in was nice. I think half of it was under cover and half of it was't but it was all in the shade. We literally had the place to ourselves so we didn't feel like we were bothering anyone letting the kids run free. Also, if I recall correctly, the tables were NOT bolted to the ground so we pushed a couple together. We were also traveling as a party of 6

Thanks for the compliment on the calendar! We're having fun with it Do you have any good ideas for movie nights? So far I've come up with:

Home made pretzels = Tangled
Make your own pizza = Toy Story

Other people always have such good ideas!.... Pinterest, here I come!

We were there in November way back in 2003 for my birthday on the 6th. It was fantastic weather wise and not too crowded. We caught some of Jersey week, so it was a bit more crowded then, but still very manageable.

Not sure when we're going, but thinking the 2nd week of November. If that's not doable, we may swing to the 2nd week of December. We enjoyed the MVMCP when we went in 2010 in Dec. and we absolutely loved the Candlelight processional and the Christmas Around the World stories in the World Showcase.

DH and I ate at H&V for lunch a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. The food is typical buffet food, but we found it to be quite tasty. Good character interaction and fun for the kids as well as adults.

As far as a CS meal at MK, we love Columbia Harbour House. It has a bit more variety and things not normally found on a CS menu such as shrimp (YUM!) and lobster roll and salads. Also, if you go upstairs, you'll find a little bit of a heavenly oasis since a lot of people overlook this area to sit. It is a bit more relaxing than your average CS place.:good vibes

ETA: Love the countdown calendar!!!

Its good to hear you enjoyed H&V! So far I have really low expectations for the food on this trip since we're doing mostly buffets. I figure, that way I'll be pleasantly surprised. Our last trip we pretty much only ate at CS places and we were very impressed. But we're pretty easy to please!

November seems like such a nice time at WDW! I have only ever been in April and July so I have always been there around the crowds and heat. I'm afraid if we go in Nov, we'll then know what we were missing! I would love to see the Christmas decorations though

 

[nannye]

The countdown calendar is so cute!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

The countdown calendar is so cute!

Thank you! I wish I could take more credit for it. This was all DH!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I confess. I suffer from OCDPD. Obsessive Compulsive Disney Planning Disorder. AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY! Anyone else with me?! Give a holla'!

Well, I thought it was about time I started writing down all these plans, schemes and dreams I have swirling around in my head. At least, if I get it down in writing I can see if it somewhat makes sense.

Day -1: Travel Day.
I'm not going to consider this an actual day of vacation because traveling stresses me out. I can't control the airlines, I can't control traffic, I can't control my family. It tweaks out my OCD! Honestly, I'm really not that much of a control freak. But it does get me nervous.

We'll be taking an early afternoon flight which means, coming from the west coast, we'll be arriving at MCO about 11:00 pm (8:00 pm "our time"). I figure once we get our bags, catch the ME, drive to CBR, check in and travel to our room, we probably won't be tucked into bed until 1:00 or 2:00 am. Ya. Awesome.

I may be checking to see if there's an earlier flight available. Not sure if we'll be penalized but I thought I'd check. I'll keep you posted.

Day 1: Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Hooray! Our first day at DISNEY WORLD!! We'll be waking up BRIGHT and EARLY to take advantage of Morning EMH. If I can't manage to change our flight, this is going to be BRUTAL. But at least we're at Disney! Everything's better at Disney!

Like I said, we really want to take advantage of EMH so I expect us to be at the bus stop around 6:30 am. We'll get to DHS and go straight to the Jedi Training Academy queue. I heard from the eversohelpful ROBO, that the queue will probably not open until the actual park opening but that people DO start lining up. This is really a not-to-be-missed attraction for DS so to the line we go!

Commercial break....
DS did JTA last year. It was.... interesting. He was very excited to do it and loved it up until the Stormtroopers came out with their gigantic guns. I thought he was going to pee his pants! The very nice CM who was "herding" the kids on stage took him by the hand and led him across. He was basically frozen in his spot. Then Darth Vader came out. I have no idea where they found this guy but he was LEGIT. I swear he was like 7 feet tall. Do they put Vader on stilts? Anyway, James Earl Jones' voice comes over the loud speaker and asks all the kids to come with him and join the Dark Side. Of course DH yells:

"DO IT JOSH! JOIN VADER!"

Poor DS. He hid in the back corner and wouldn't come out to fight Vader. You could tell he was visibly relieved when Vader left and the Stormtroopers were humiliated. Anyway, when the show was over I could tell DS was really embarrassed. I asked him "What happened, why didn't you fight Vader?" and he says:

"Mom. I am a JEDI. I defeated him with my MIND!"

Crazy kid. So this year I asked him what he wanted to do and, predictably, he wants to. We had a little conversation that went something like this:

Me: Are you SURE you want to do Jedi Training?
J: Yes.
Me: You know you'll have to fight Vader.
J: I know.
Me: You can't just fight him with your mind this time.
J: I know.
Me: There a LOTS of kids who really want to fight Vader so if we sign you up, you've gotta do it. Otherwise, you're taking a spot from another kid.
J: I KNOW!
Me: So, you're really really positively sure you want to do Jedi Training?
J: MOM! YES. I. WANT. TO. DO. IT!

Ok, ok. We'll stand in line and sign up for Jedi Training. We've learned from our mistakes though and we'll be at the show right before his so he can prepare himself for how its going to go. I think he'll do fine. He's a year older and DH has been pounding Star Wars into his brain all year. Boys!

Back to our scheduled programming...
So with two kiddos this time around and only two adults, DH and I will be riding some things by ourselves using the Baby Swap. So I figure while I go wait in line with DS & DD over in the JTA line, DH can do the TSM Fastpass run and go ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. If we still haven't been through the queue, hopefully he can join up with us and we can do tradsies. He can wait with the kids while I go ride RnRC! I missed this on our last trip so I'm hoping I get to go this time! After that, we'll meet up and follow some sort of touring plan.

Bucket List:
Toy Story Mania!
Star Tours
Tower of Terror
The Great Movie Ride
Disney Jr. Live!
Beauty and the Beast
Lights, Motors, Action!
Honey, I shrunk the Kids Playground
Muppet Vision 3D

Anything else we get to do is "extra" in my book. Oh, and DS has decided that he wants to spend some of his spending money on either one of the new Droid Factory R2 droids OR BYO Lightsaber. So, I imagine we'll be wasting... eh hem... spending a little time in Tatooine Traders.

At 1:00 we have our Play & Dine @ Hollywood & Vine lunch ADR! We're surprising the kids so I think they'll be pretty excited to see the characters.

After lunch we'll play it by ear. If we are all dog tired we'll head back to the resort for a nap and maybe a swim. If we can make it without pushing the kids (and lets face it, OURSELVES) over the brink, we'll stay until after the afternoon parade. THEN we'll head back to the CBR.

We thought we'd play Fantasmic! by ear as well. We don't want to push the kids to far on our first day. Especially since we will be going on very little sleep. If we bag Fantasmic! we'll grab a CS dinner at CBR and go for an evening swim and hit the hay early. If we all feel up to it, we'll head back to DHS, grab a CS dinner at the park, do some more touring and see Fantasmic! OR option #3, I guess, would be to get dinner at CBR and just go back to the park for Fantasmic!. We love this show but this won't be our only trip to WDW so, I guess we'll see.

I figure if I have plans A, B & C in my back pocket, we can go with the flow without running into too many surprises. Now, THAT'S the way I like it.

What are your strategies for DHS with preschoolers & toddlers? Anything we shouldn't miss?

 

[debrapagliasotti]

We have done a bunch of Disney dinner & movie nights since this past Oct...just a few of what we have done...

Lady & the Tramp - Spaghetti and meatballs, ciabatta garlic bread, homemade italian ricotta cheesecake

Tangled - Angel HAIR pasta, BRAIDED scali rolls, blue jello w/ orange slices (then I made a sailboat flag and stuck it in orange slice)

Lilo & Stich - Hawaiian marinated ckn, coconut shrimp, Hawaiian rolls, steamed broccoli, rice w/ pineapple chunks, fresh pineapple slices, pineapple upside down cake

Toy Story - homemade pizza, sheriff woody cookies (cutout star cookies)

Snow White - brats, German potato salad, potato pancakes, homemade apple crisp

Up - cheeseburgers, fries, baked beans, grape soda, vanilla ice cream with chocolate bars crumbled on top

Those are just a few of what we have done. There is a great thread on the Dis with all sorts of ideas!

*****************

We have never taken a huge trip like this with little ones, so this is new to us. My kids were 5 & 6 last time we went to WDW, so this will be a whole new adventure for us!

DS11 (will just have turned 11) wants to do JTA. Are there many kids that age who do it or mostly younger ones? He is at the older end of the age
cut-off, so I wasnt sure what to expect.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We have done a bunch of Disney dinner & movie nights since this past Oct...just a few of what we have done...

Lady & the Tramp - Spaghetti and meatballs, ciabatta garlic bread, homemade italian ricotta cheesecake

Tangled - Angel HAIR pasta, BRAIDED scali rolls, blue jello w/ orange slices (then I made a sailboat flag and stuck it in orange slice)

Lilo & Stich - Hawaiian marinated ckn, coconut shrimp, Hawaiian rolls, steamed broccoli, rice w/ pineapple chunks, fresh pineapple slices, pineapple upside down cake

Toy Story - homemade pizza, sheriff woody cookies (cutout star cookies)

Snow White - brats, German potato salad, potato pancakes, homemade apple crisp

Up - cheeseburgers, fries, baked beans, grape soda, vanilla ice cream with chocolate bars crumbled on top

Those are just a few of what we have done. There is a great thread on the Dis with all sorts of ideas!

*****************

We have never taken a huge trip like this with little ones, so this is new to us. My kids were 5 & 6 last time we went to WDW, so this will be a whole new adventure for us!

DS11 (will just have turned 11) wants to do JTA. Are there many kids that age who do it or mostly younger ones? He is at the older end of the age
cut-off, so I wasnt sure what to expect.

Those are great ideas for movie nights! My kids have never seen most of the "old" Disney movies. I really have to go rent those! Some of them are so hard to find though! We tried to rent The Little Mermaid once and no one had it

I think your son would have a blast at JTA. My son was 4 at the time and he was DEFINATELY one of the youngest, if not THE youngest, one up there.

Here's some pictures from last April:

Waiting in line

DS's "class"

Getting his "diploma"

Just because I think he's adorable

You can kind of tell that most of the kids are older. There's a show every 30 minutes and all depends on where you are in line if you will be in a "class" with mostly younger or mostly older kids. Maybe you can eyeball it and if there is a group of older kids try to get in line around them. If he's a Star Wars fan, though, he'll like it no matter what.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Epcot day! I am so excited. I really love this park and I really missed out on it last year. We did a day and a half in Epcot last April and you'd think we would have gotten our fill but because of... eh... life... we never made it past China We did do plenty in the Future World half but my favorite is the World Showcase and I was disappointed that we missed it. My mom was disappointed too. Ah well... that just gave us an excuse to go back!

So this trip we have two whole days planned at Epcot. I am hoping that this first day we can get there at rope drop and hit up Sorin' to "get it out of the way." Don't get me wrong! I LUURVE this ride! I just didn't luurve the line. Since we'll have to do Baby Swap for this one I thought that one of us could take DS on Sorin' while the other takes DD outside to play, then we'll SWAP, and DS will get to go on Sorin' again with the other parent. That's the great thing about Baby Swap. DS gets to ride everything twice! Once his sister is old enough to ride with us, he's going to be SO spoiled!

Anyway, we'll concentrate on FW in the morning and come back to The Land for lunch in Sunshine Seasons. That place is fantastic! We were very impressed with the food last year and when I look at people's dining reports.... the desserts.... oh my. Drool. Then we'll make our way over to the WS to meander. We won't be too big on the films unless we really need to get into some air conditioning! They're totally not DH's thing and unless the kids are sleeping I'm imagining an endless barrage of: "Is it over yet? Can we go yet? Does THIS one have Darth Vader in it?"

My hope is to just enjoy walking around WS and take it all in. Then on our second day in Epcot we can really hit it HARD. (Maybe the new Agent P game will be up and running! ) I love to go into the shops and look for unique gifts to bring home. Once, probably 13 years ago, I found a lady at the American Adventure who was making coins into jewelry. She used a tiny jigsaw looking thing and cut the coins into interlocking shapes. I bought a pair of earrings that were made out of a dime. They were so cool but I took them out at a restaurant in the airport and put them on the tray... then I threw them out. I wonder if she's still there?

Our dinner ADR this night is at Biergarten! I'm really looking forward to this one! Its simple food, so I know my family will eat it with minimal complaint. And I love that there's a polka band. In college, I spent a month in Munich and we would go to the brew houses every night. There's nothing more fun than sitting with a bunch of strangers, drinking beer. Then, hopefully, if we time it right we'll make it out in time to see IllimiNations DH & I love this show. Sigh. Then its off to CBR & bed!

We may go back mid-day for a swim or a nap. If we do, I envision doing that around 3:00ish. Which should give us plenty of time to make it back, cool off and get back in time for our Dinner ADR at 6:30. If we don't go all the way back to CBR, we may take a break and get a sundae at the Boardwalk. Again, we'll see. I've realized that with young kiddos in tow, we'll be playing A LOT by ear. I told DS that if he ever feels "just done" to PLEASE let us know and we'll go back for a rest & a swim.

So, bucket list for Epcot: (in no particular order over the two days)
Sorin'
Living with the Land
Journey into the Imagination
Spaceship Earth
Nemo
Turtle Talk
Character Spot
Maelstrom
Los Tres Caballeros
Agent P. (if open!)
Friendship boat
Karamel Kuche (for a snack, of course!)
Creps de France (for breakfast, of course!)

What's your Epcot must-do attraction? What is the most interesting souvenir you have found?

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We had our second movie night on Saturday! Our first one was super mellow with just me and the kids watching Cars and eating chicken tacos. We all thought we needed to amp this next one up a bit.

We chose Winnie the Pooh and we had a lot of fun with it.

For dinner, I made Kanga's Pita Pouches, Tiggerriffic Macaroni Salad, and Rabbit's Garden Cantaloupe.

For dessert, I made Pooh's Honey Bee Parfaits

We decorated with our Winnie the Pooh animals, book and some Hunny Pots. DS even made his own to add. Can you see the "honey" dripping down the side of his pot?

I tried adding a honey pot centerpiece but that didn't last long...

I think they liked it

After dinner we watched Winnie the Pooh, which is one of my favorites. Its so funny and cute! We had Pooh Bears (Teddy Grahams) and Pooh Sticks (pretzels) to munch on.

We had so much fun that I'm sure we'll continue this tradition even after our trip is over. Can't wait 'till our next movie night!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Day 3: Animal Kingom
It seems like every time I visit Walt Disney World, I have a different "favorite" park. Last April, it was Animal Kingdom. I'm not sure what it was about that park. I have some theories:

1. We didn't rush ourselves. We had already lost most of the morning because my dear, dear husband had lost his insulin pen while riding Space Mountain the night before! Anyway, the amazing CM at All Star Music spent all morning helping us locate a delivery service to fill his prescription. Once we were on our way to Animal Kingdom it was almost noon and we were just in the mood to take it easy. We rode what we could and didn't sweat it if we didn't.

2. My mom took the day "off." Don't get me wrong. It was WONDERFUL to have my mom with us but at that point in the week (it was our last day) we were getting on each other's nerves. It was just nice and relaxing not to have to accommodate another person.

Whatever the reason, we had fun. We rode Everest and ate at Flame Tree BBQ and saw animals. DD said her first words, "kitty cat" when she saw the tigers. It was a good day.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Animal Kingdom. I'm excited to see Festival of the Lion King and Nemo and ride Dinosaur. DS will be tall enough to ride Everest too! I know DD will get a kick out of the animals. She really loves animals!

Animal Kingdom Bucket List:
Expedition Everest
Kali River Rapids
Dinosaur
Festival of the Lion King
Nemo
Bone Yard
Flame Tree BBQ
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Affection Station
Its Tough to be a Bug

I know a lot of people say that this is a half-day park but I'm counting on us staying all day. We probably will just stay at the park and not go back for a nap. We loved the Bone Yard and we'll probably take a break in there and let DS play while DD naps in the stroller and DH & I get off our feet. We'll also take a long lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Hopefully we get to sit in the same quiet, shady spot as before!

After we are done at Animal Kingdom, we'll head over to Wilderness Lodge for our dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe! I am super excited about this ADR. The food looks great and DS is going to be in stitches if we get a good server. I haven't told DH about any of the "antics" either so I can't wait to see his reactions! After dinner we'll probably take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus back to CBR. Hopefully it won't be a super late night because the next day will be our first taste of the Magic Kingdom!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Super cute desserts for your 1st dinner & movie night!! We love our movie nights, they are so much fun.

I have always heard about AK being a 1/2 day park too, but we really enjoy it. We are actually spending 2 days there in Dec. One of our days is followed by dinner at WCC too

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Super cute desserts for your 1st dinner & movie night!! We love our movie nights, they are so much fun.

I have always heard about AK being a 1/2 day park too, but we really enjoy it. We are actually spending 2 days there in Dec. One of our days is followed by dinner at WCC too

Thanks! I'll be posting our next movie night today! We are having a lot of fun with this. I'm so glad I found the Disboards! Otherwise I wouldn't have ever gotten these great ideas!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

With the help of some AWESOME Disers I decided to create my own autograph books for the kids. So, thanks to MarneMouse, OtterPop, ChaosCent and probably a few others I gathered their awesome DISigns for autograph pages and put them into an 8X8 Shutterfly book. They arrived last week and they look awesome! I am super excited! Here they are:

Covers & Name fills by MarneMouse:

Pages by OtterPop & ChaosCent:

 

[Alysa]

Wow! Gorgeous books! Wish we had shutterfly here in Canada!
Looking forward to your next movie night!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We had our second Disney Movie night! We chose Toy Story 2... partly because we couldn't get Toy Story "1" to work... but mostly because we that movie. What's not to love?! Jessie, Bullseye and Karma comes to hit Woody in the face (Buzz: "You are a TOY! ) Anyway, thanks again to handy, dandy Pinterest I got some good ideas for our theme dinner:

Toy Story decor + the fun brochure Disney sent us:

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Salad:

Three-eyed Alien Cupcakes:

We also had home made Pizza Planet Pizza. I didn't get a picture of it but I thought I'd mention it so you didn't think we ate cupcakes and salad for dinner.

Again, it was a super fun night and I can't wait for our next one. I'm still debating: Lion King or Tangled. I also have some craft projects in the works that I'll post as soon as I get them finished.

Thanks for following along and sorry for the long delay between posts!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Wow! Gorgeous books! Wish we had shutterfly here in Canada!
Looking forward to your next movie night!

Thank you!

What??! You don't have Shutterfly in Canada?! That's so tragic! I LOVE Shutterfly. Is it because they won't ship or because of the currency exchange? I feel like I order stuff from Canada all the time!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Day 4: Magic Kingdom
Woohoo! Magic Kingdom day! The Magic Kingdom really feels like the epitome of Disney and I can't believe its going to be four days into our vacation until we get there. I love the Magic Kingdom! I can't begin to express how excited I am for this day. We have so many fun plans!

First up, we have an 8:05 am breakfast ADR for Crystal Palace! I am thrilled to get in before the MK officially opens and walk down an empty Main Street. I have never done this before and I can't wait to get some awesome pictures. This is a new restaurant for us and we are all looking forward to it. We are big Pooh fans and I keep seeing reviews and pictures and the food looks yummy. The restaurant itself looks pretty on the inside too.

After breakfast, I am hoping to be able to catch the opening ceremonies since we haven't seen that before but if not, we might just head over to Merida or the Princesses. I really think the kids will get a kick out of Merida and I know I will too! As for the Princesses, we are on a mission. My niece's 5th birthday is 2 days after I return so we're bringing a birthday card with us to get the Princesses to sign it. She's going to freak! She ADORES the princesses. I love it! After we get M&Gs out of the way, we'll probably head in the direction of Adventureland and do whatever rides we can before...

THE PIRATE'S LEAGUE! We have an 11:00 am appt for DS and we are ALL stoked for this experience. I am a little unsure how long the face paint will last in the July heat but I think the whole experience will be worth the cost and I can't wait to see that Secret Treasure room!

We don't have any of our touring plans laid out yet but DS is tall enough now to ride everything at MK and he LOVES roller coasters so we'll be hitting all the Mountains for sure. I am also totally stoked for the NEW Dumbo queue and The Great Goofini. Toontown had just closed the last time we were there so we didn't get to do the Barnstormer and I have actually NEVER done Dumbo! I know, I know. But it just never seemed that appealing with the long lines it would get. The new queue looks like fun though so I can't wait to check it out. Also, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is DS's absolute favorite ride so we'll ride that as many times as possible. I know people say it gets really long lines but I guess we got lucky last year because we rode it 5 times in a row with maybe a 5 minute wait in between. The line seemed to go pretty fast!

Bucket List for MK:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Jungle Cruise
Big Thunder Mountain
Riverboat
Tom Sawyer's Island
NEW Dumbo
The Great Goofini
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Astro Orbiter
Space Mountain
Tea Cups
Its a Small World
Peter Pan's Flight
Micky's Philharmagic
Haunted Mansion
Tiki Room

I know my list looks pretty ambitious but we do have another half day here so hopefully we'll get to do everything we want. I am also hoping to get my kids' silhouettes done at the Silhouette Shop. I saw where other people did this and I think it would be a great gift for the grandparents too! Since we'll be having a big breakfast I think we'll probably just get a snack midday and do an early CS dinner. I'm not sure where we'll go; probably just wherever we are when we get hungry! MK has some pretty good CS options so I'm not particularly worried about it. I also think we'll have to go back to CBR for a nap and a swim at some point in order to make it until the nighttime entertainment. I will NOT miss Wishes!! Love, love, love that show! Who doesn't?! Anyway, with a perfect beginning (Crystal Palace) and a perfect ending (Wishes) its bound to be a great day no matter what.

What's your favorite thing to do at MK? Do you take a break back at your resort or do an in-park "break?"

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I got a few things in the mail over the last week that made me go *Squeee!!* First, I got a $10 Disney gift card from the points I redeemed from my Disney Movie Rewards. Then we got our vacation packet!! Its really really REAL now! There's no turning back and only 29 days to go!!

 

[shannon47142]

a little late to the party but love your plans so far! What a sweet surprise from your husband! I can feel your excitement thru your posts!!! Oh love your autograph books