How to train your mouseketeer

[CJDisneyMommy]

I seem to be drawn into the PTR's and TR's that involve people leading lives similar to mine. I guess the intro is a big part of a PTR so I'll jump right in

My name is Katie. I'm 23 years old and I work for Pandora Jewelry. I also go to school part time, and am scheduled to graduate from The University of Maryland-Baltimore County on December 22nd with my bachelors in Psychology!!! I'm almost there!!!! I have a 2 1/2 year old son whom I will introduce next, and he is just the light of my life. While being a monstrous two year old, he is such an awesome kid, and a daredevil at that. SO COOL. We all love Disney, and I'm so excited to bring our family back this year.

My son's name is Conner, and he will be exactly 2 1/2 on August 6th. I can't believe we're almost to his third birthday, where does time go?! This kid is awesome. We just took him to Kings Dominion and he loved every single ride we took him on. I was shocked because he was terrified of the boardwalk rides in Ocean City, MD last summer. Conner likes buzz (never says toy story- just buzz..all about buzz lol), How to train your dragon (not disney, but he loves it!), boats, and swimming. He is a very independent child which at times can be amazing, and other times can be absolutely terrifying. Conner recently went missing from daycare, I think because he decided to take a stroll by himself. So that is what I mean when I say terrifying. Nonetheless, my monkey is awesome. This is my Conner:

The last character on this trip is Conners dad, my boyfriend whom I can hopefully refer to as someone else SOON...maybe even as soon as Disney??
I met JR in middle school when I was 10 and he was 13. JR was in the health room trying to go home with a headache (that goober). And I was faking a sprained ankle so I didn't have to play kickball with the stinky boys lol two of a kind we are... Throughout the years, JR and I went our separate ways, but we managed to come back to eachother almost four years ago All of my friends are getting engaged/married now and in the next year or so, and I think we are ready to move onto the next step. I know, I know, in the words of my mother, we should have been married first and then Conner should have been our next step but we like to do things a little differently
Lover:

Our family on our yearly Disney vacation October 2010:

So, there you have it. We are booked to stay at Pop Century September 28-October 4 with park hoppers I'm going to start a play by play in the next few days with all of the plans I have so far, and I can't wait to get some cheerleaders for some of our plans. To keep everyone interested, I'll give you a sneak peek. JR's ex and two boys live in Florida, RIGHT near Disney. Her boyfriend works at Gatorland, and we currently have plans to go there, with all of them. It's definitely going to be interesting.

But aside from the couple of hours we have planned for Gatorland, we have a whole week in Disney. And....I found an Edward Arthur Jewelers business card in JR's car recently.....fingers crossed

 

[myasma]

I'm subbing. Your plans sound really exciting. Can't wait to read more. BTW: Conner is adorable.

 

[ZFamily5]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

 

[mrssmith06]

I'm here!!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

I'm subbing. Your plans sound really exciting. Can't wait to read more. BTW: Conner is adorable.

Thank you! Conner is a beast, you'll see soon enough

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

yayyy!!! thanks for joining in

I'm here!!

Hello!!! Thanks for joining

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Ohhhhhkay, I'm going to have to switch up the font a bit so my new posts will stand out...lets go with...........




BLUE!

And now, on with our Disney plans!!!

DAY 1: Wednesday, September 28th- 70 DAYS FROM TODAY

I haven't booked our flights yet, because I am desperately waiting for rates to drop. Everyone keep your fingers crossed! Right now, they are $84 each way on southwest and $87 each way on airtran. I know, I know, for some of you living elsewhere, these rates are amazing. BUT from Baltimore to MCO, rates were just $69 each way this past May. So, you see my dilemma. While it doesn't sound like a huge jump, it actually makes three round trip tickets go from about 470 to 580. So I would really like to save that extra hundred!

Either way, I plan to fly down on the earliest airtran flight (because the earliest southwest flight is $50 more!), which would get us into MCO at 9:10 am. I have us scheduled to take the ME to Pop Century, but I have to call with my flight reservations after they are booked.

Now for the interesting part:

JR has two kids with his ex, all of whom live in Florida, very close to my magical world. His ex's boyfriend works at Gatorland, and right now, ALL of us have plans to go there. This is interesting because his ex and I have been like fire and gasoline for the past 7 years or so, and we just recently started getting along. Like I'm talking we couldn't speak to one another without wanting to pull eachothers hair out.

I figured we would be at Pop around 11 am, so JR's ex is picking us up right after we check in. I actually think Conner will really enjoy going to Gatorland, and we get in for free, so you can't really beat it. I peaked at their website and there is an aviary where the kids feed birds, gator shows (obviously), zip line, water park, and a couple other things.

After Gatorland, I want to take Conner back to Pop Century so he can get back into the world of Disney. Gatorland seems cool and all, but we're there to be disneyfied! We stayed at Pop last October, and Conner really seemed to enjoy it. Here are a few pictures of our morning/early afternoon on the first day of our last trip.

Conner ready to walk out the door at 4:30 am last year

In line for security

Night night on the plane

Me and Conner on the ME last year

So glad I just came across this last picture.

Can anyone suggest a good stroller for a big toddler? I have loved this stroller for the past couple of years, but Conner is just getting way too big for it. He's 37 1/2 inches tall and weighs 38 lbs. I have a big boy. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!



So back to our first night, I want to bring Conner back to the hotel to swim and go to bed kind of early. I have a feeling he will be skipping his afternoon nap this day, so I want to get him asleep as early as possible because the next morning we wake up bright and early for the parks!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Disneychix]

Hi! My family will be down to the World for the same dates. Maybe we'll cross paths!

I can tell you we had DS in a Peg Perego Pliko 3 the last 2 trips and he did very well. I like it because it has a snack tray/cup holder for the child and it reclines nicley. Pretty good basket and sunshade as well. Plus it folds umbrella style.
I got mine used on Ebay.

 

[ZFamily5]

Your plans sound great! Connor is too cute! Don't know any good strollers.....Connor's going to be tall! My sister is 6 and she's 42 inches tall and 34 lbs.! But then again, she's TINY for her age!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Hi! My family will be down to the World for the same dates. Maybe we'll cross paths!

I can tell you we had DS in a Peg Perego Pliko 3 the last 2 trips and he did very well. I like it because it has a snack tray/cup holder for the child and it reclines nicley. Pretty good basket and sunshade as well. Plus it folds umbrella style.
I got mine used on Ebay.

That sounds like a really good stroller, I'm going to look into it. Thank you! I have a wendy bellisimo umbrella now and I love it, but my kiddo is just outgrowing it way too quickly. Maybe I have a future football player on my hands

Your plans sound great! Connor is too cute! Don't know any good strollers.....Connor's going to be tall! My sister is 6 and she's 42 inches tall and 34 lbs.! But then again, she's TINY for her age!

Oh my goodness, she is tiny! Conner has been at the top of the growth charts since he was about 4 months old. I'm hoping he can grow another inch and a half before Disney so he can go on Splash. Fingers crossed!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

DAY 2 Thursday, September 29th (69 days until our trip!!!)

Conner will be waking us up bright and early this morning (if my plans work to get him to bed early the night before).. but if my plans for an early bed time falll through, I will be waking Conner and JR up at 7am to go to....


THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!

For some reason, I feel weird if my trip doesn't begin with MK as the first park. As much as I love all of the other parks, seeing the castle is just the real "welcome home" to me.

There are early magic hours this morning, so the park will open at 8 am. I would love, love, love to get there for the opening. I know its just some confetti and a couple of fireworks, but I want Conners first park day to begin with some pixie dust

And, if Conner can start eating his darn veggies, and grow another inch and a half, his first ride will be SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!!

My plan is to take us all back to Pop around lunch time so we can grab a bite to eat at the hotel, let Conner swim for a few minutes, and take a decent nap. I want to get back early this night too because none of the parks have extra magic hours at night, so I want Conner to go to bed as early as possible on these days.

I am going to ask JR which park he would prefer to go in this night, but he has to pick between MGM or Epcot. Epcot is JR's favorite, so I expect we will end our first park day with some Illuminations.

On our last trip, we made reservations at a sit down restaurant almost every day, and Conner just didn't do well (especially at lunch). Dinner tended to go more smooth because he hadn't been up as long, but lunch was miserable. I think we will primarily be eating at counter service places on this trip for that reason. If we end in Epcot, JR and I really enjoy the counter service in Japan. I get sushi and he LOVES their teriyaki.

We ate lunch there last year, but I think it would be pretty to eat on the patio at night with the laterns lit up. I always have to go to Japan on my Disney trips so I can see the pearls. I don't know why, but ever since I was a little girl, this was one of my most favorite memories of Epcot. I have a few pearls myself, and might add to my collection this year. Last year, I made a rather expensive purchase in Japan, bringing home an entire sushi set with plates, chopsticks, etc. I love it, but I'm sad to say, I have yet to use the darn thing. I was convinced that I was going to learn to make my own sushi, but that hasn't happened yet.

For the past couple of years, JR, Conner, and I have gone to Disney World with my mom. She usually rents a car and will park it at the yacht and beach club when we go to Epcot. Which means we usually watch Illuminations from the bridge near France. JR and I will not be renting a car, sad to say. I want to be close to the walk way where Innovations is, so we don't get stuck in the hoards of people, but I still want a good seat. Can anyone recommend somewhere we can watch from?

My crystal ball tells me that Conner will probably be asleep by the time we are on our way to the bus or back at Pop, so I hope to have him in bed by like 10:30-10:45. (Dont you like how I consider this an early night in Disney world? The latest, and I mean THE LATEST, he stays up at home is maybe 10 on random weekend nights.

Random thought: I would LOVE to have Conner potty trained by the time we go to Disney. He already uses the potty sometimes, but it's only on occasion. JR's mom and dad have a pool, and Conner was swimming naked this past weekend. The point of this story is, he got out of the pool and went behind a shed in the backyard to take a poop! So I figured if he knows not to poop in the pool, he is ready to stop pooping in his diaper. Does anyone have any training secrets they can share with me? I'm open to anything!!!

Conner swimming in mommoms pool

after the pool lol

So there you have it, day two of our trip is already over. Goodness that went by fast. I hope the actual vacation goes by a bit slower than my PTR!!! Have a good hump day

 

[ZFamily5]

Plans for day 2 look great! We like to go to the Magic Kingdom the first day of every trip too. And it's a really smart idea to schedule a break mid-day. My sisters are older than Connor and it was helpful even for them. Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Plans for day 2 look great! We like to go to the Magic Kingdom the first day of every trip too. And it's a really smart idea to schedule a break mid-day. My sisters are older than Connor and it was helpful even for them. Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Thanks! I've taken mid day breaks since my first trip to Disney...I can't even remember how old I was. Maybe 3? And to this day, I don't think I could make it through the whole day and night without a nap. Theres so much walking and running around that those little naps are a huge help. ESPECIALLY on EMH nights!

 

[ZFamily5]

Thanks! I've taken mid day breaks since my first trip to Disney...I can't even remember how old I was. Maybe 3? And to this day, I don't think I could make it through the whole day and night without a nap. Theres so much walking and running around that those little naps are a huge help. ESPECIALLY on EMH nights!

Sometimes we try and skip mid-day breaks, but sometimes that comes back to bite us! Breaks are a must on EMH nights!!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

I just spent a whole bunch of time on an awesome update, and when I went to post, it disappeared. So disappointing and frustrating. I'm going to need a serious boost to re-do that one.

 

[ZFamily5]

I just spent a whole bunch of time on an awesome update, and when I went to post, it disappeared. So disappointing and frustrating. I'm going to need a serious boost to re-do that one.

It's so sad when that happens! Hopefully you'll find the time and energy to re-write it later.

 

[Disneychix]

Sorry about the lost post!

Day 2 looks good. I originally had a 8:15 adr for Crystal Palace but then decided against it because of EMH. I do think that my mom and I are trying to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour this day. DH will stay with the boys and meet us in the MK after lunchtime. DS hopefully won't mind waiting until the afternoon to get to the MK!

We learned out lesson with TS restaurants our first year of Free Dining. It's really hard with little ones! We still enjoy TS breakfasts though!

Where does day 3 take you?

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

I will get a post up asap on day three...or should I say a REpost. (I'm not bitter or anything ) I've been super busy at work, and the screen on my home laptop cracked. If it's not one thing, it's something else!!!

But on a happy note, as of today....we are

PAID IN FULL​

 

[ZFamily5]

Yay for being paid in full!!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Before I begin day three's agenda, let's look at my countdown: 64 DAYS!!!!!!

I'm hoping this countdown is going to start speeding up a bit. The month of August is going to be slow, but I'm in a wedding on September 10th, so I'm hoping all of this wedding stuff will keep me busy while I wait for Disney.

Day 3-Friday, September 30th


MK 9-7
No wishes
No parade

Epcot 9-9
Illuminations 9
Food and Wine fest starts today=not a good day to hand out in Epcot bc it will be SUPER busy

MGM 9-9
Fantasmic 8:30

AK 9-5
EMH 8-9


So looking at the hours, I think today would be a perfect morning to start off in AK! And I am dead set on getting to the park for EMH...ON TIME! When we get in the park, I plan on running (yes, running----poor JR) to the Safari ride for a FP. If the line isn't too long, we might ride once and save the FP for later. If Conner would start eating his darn vegetables, and grow an inch, our next ride will be the rapids!!! What is it called? I'm having a major brain fart on this one. Anyway, you need to be 40 inches to ride, and last I checked, Conner still had another inch and a half. So, fingers crossed this boy can sprout to 40 inches by September 29th!

When we go to AK with my mom, I always feel like we don't spend enough time looking at the animals on the trail, so I hope to spend a bit more time doing the 'zoo' part of AK. I also want to try out Its Tough to be a bug. Yes, I know, it can be scary. So thats why I plan to sit near the doors! Conner LOVES the movie, so I figured we could give the show a try.

There is a dinosaur that Disney made, who travels from park to park around the world. I can't remember his name to save my life, but I would love to see this guy! He walks by himself. Talk about AMAZING Audio animatronics!

After we explore these foreign lands, we plan to head home so Conner can take a nap. He better get a good rest in because tonight we go to MICKEYS NOT SO SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY!!!!!

I have to say, I have visited Disney many a times, and this time of year is by far my favorite. I love the pumpkins and colors on main street in MK, and the parade is just to die for! The headless horseman is so awesome, and I love how all of the other characters look like the REAL characters. Like Jack Sparroe for example, I might as well be drooling over the real Johnny Depp because they look identical!

I can't wait to let Conner go trick or treating around the rides, I hope he can make it this night. The park is open until 2 am! Also, I need ideas for costumes. We were all pirates last year, but it got pretty hot so a costume that breathes or doesn't cover him up completely would be preferred. I'm open to any ideas!!! He was super cute as a pirate, so I might have to indulge one more year and cut up some shorts & an old shirt.

Well, that's day three!!! I cannot wait, come on September 28th!!!!



Here's a couple of new pictures of Conner:


Conner caught a toad and was absolutely obsessed with it until he dropped it lol

laying on a sleeping daddy

on his way to daycare

feeding some scrazy fishies on our lake trip last month

my cowboy

on our dock at the lake house...boy i miss this place!

JR and I saw Hangover 2 at a drive in movie theatre...this was the diner. How stinkin cute is that?!?

me and conner on the back of poppys boat

Thanks for reading along!!!!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Sorry about the lost post!

Day 2 looks good. I originally had a 8:15 adr for Crystal Palace but then decided against it because of EMH. I do think that my mom and I are trying to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour this day. DH will stay with the boys and meet us in the MK after lunchtime. DS hopefully won't mind waiting until the afternoon to get to the MK!

We learned out lesson with TS restaurants our first year of Free Dining. It's really hard with little ones! We still enjoy TS breakfasts though!

Where does day 3 take you?

What does that tour entail? Is this the one that takes you onto the first floor of the magic kingdom? I have to do this tour at some point in my life. The whole concept of utiladors just amazes me. For so long, I seriously thought it was a myth. But in all reality, the MK really is on the second floor. Talk about amazing! Breakfasts are always the better meals with my Conner, even with a nap, he turns into the beast by dinner time!

Yay for being paid in full!!

SIGHS OF RELIEF!!! now i have to buy the darn plane tickets lol