I am having Disney Withdrawl...Let's GO! 2 months! 4/17

[DisneyMomma09]

I am still pretty new to Dis, but I have been reading lots of PTR's as research to see how everyone does this. We really have lots of our plans made already, so now I just have to wait. But sharing with you all should make time go a little quicker and I can envision our trip as I share our plans with you! There are 9 of us staying at Old Key West from June 17th through June 25th. Let me start with some introductions!

First, a little about me. I am having Disney Withdrawl because I have not been there since November 2008...usually we go once a year. Why so long since my last trip? We had a new baby! We did not want to take a newborn last summer and being a teacher makes it difficult during the school year. So now I have to wait until June.

As I said, I am a teacher. I teach at a private school for students with disabilities. The students I teach are 3-6 years old with multiple disabilites. It is very challenging, but very rewarding and I love working with my students! It is amazing to watch how hard they work to make progress. I also teach dance classes to little kids and take tap and jazz.

I have been married to my highschool sweetheart for 4 years, but we have been together for 11...wow...how did that happen? His name is Dan and he is a professional hockey player trapped in an accountants body. (He works as a corporate accountant and plays rec hockey on the weekends...he is waiting for the call from the Penguins any day now...)

Here is a pic of Dan and I from our trip last November

Last May Dan and I were blessed with a new addition to our family! Colby is our first and only child and the only grandchild on both sides of our family, so he has quickly become the center of the entire family's world. He is 8 months old now and will be 13 months when we go on our trip. We are all very excited to introduce him to the Disney magic!
Colby enjoying his peas!

Colby's First Christmas!

Joining the three of us on this trip are my in-laws. They are members of DVC and are providing the hotel accomodations for us. I am really blessed to have wonderful in-laws and we have traveled to Disney with them several times. We always have a good time! MIL is also a teacher and teaches high school Spanish. FIL is an accountant and is my husbands boss.
MIL & FIL on our June 2008 trip:

My SIL is also a teacher. She lives in St. Cloud, FL (the rest of us live in NW PA) and has an annual pass to Disney. She makes us all jealous because she typically goes to WDW every other weekend.
Here is SIL Katie with Colby

BIL and his girlfriend/fiance are also traveling with us. He is an engineer and she is still in school hoping to go to med school next fall. We are not quite sure what their official status is. They have not made an official announcement to the family and she does not have a ring, but his facebook status says 'engaged' and they are making some wedding plans.
Here they are with Colby

Finally, we are taking my youngest brother with us. He is 18 years old and spends a significant amount of time with us, so he is like part of our little family and it would not be a family vacation without him! He has a whole alphabet of diagnoses: DD, MR, ADHD, PDD-NOS and an anxiety disorder. DH and I took him on our last trip in Nov 2008 and he had a great time! He still talks about going on 'The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness'!
Here he is meeting the Mouse

So that is our travel group. We already have most of our plans made, including hotel reservations, flight information and ADR's. I will get everyone caught up over the next few weeks!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

So now that we have a cast of characters, I can add some of our travel details.

Since my in-laws are DVC members and are paying for our hotel with their points, they have control over where we stay. As long as we are staying on Disney property, I really don't care where we stay. Old Key West is the fewest points, so that is where we are staying. We have never stayed there before, so this will be a new experience for us. We wanted a Grand Villa, but when we called at the 7 month mark, there were none left, so we have a 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom. I am looking forward to staying at a new resort!

Most of us are flying from Buffalo to Orlando. DH is rather obsessed with finding low air fares and checks Southwest and JetBlue frequently, even when we are not planning on traveling. He found some great deals out of Buffalo, which is 1 1/2 hours away from where we live in PA. So DH, DS, DB, DBIL, DBIL's girlfriend/fiance and I are all driving up to Buffalo and then flying out of Buffalo on JetBlue. We actually had our flights before we had our hotel reservations! We could not let the price slip away...

My MIL & FIL are driving to Washington, DC and then are taking the auto train down to Orlando. They think we may want our own vehicle with the baby. We usually take Disney transportation while at WDW. I think it will be nice to have options. As you will see, we have quite a few ADR's at other resorts, so it will be nice to drive directly to the resorts on those occasions.

Finally, my SIL will meet us at Disney. She lives in St. Cloud and will drive over to meet us. Another advantage of having family in the area is she will do all the grocery shopping for us and will bring it with her to the hotel.

So that is how everyone will get to the World and where we will be staying. I hope you are enjoying reading about our plans! Am having fun writing them all out and getting them organized.

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Alright, lets get to some good info...our ADR's! We have a few favorites that we are going to hit as well as some new meals we are going to try. We love character dinning, so we have a bunch of those. I am hoping this will be a good opportunity to introduce DS to the characters. Even if he doesn't want them near him, at least we didn't waste time standing in line to meet them!

Our general plan of attack for the parks will be to arrive early, typically by rope drop, enjoy our time at the park, head back to the hotel to swim and for Colby's afternoon nap, then head to our dinner ADR's and back to the parks. This will be our first time with a baby, so I plan to be very flexible and relaxed abour our park touring this year.

Thursday, June 17th
Crystal Palace @ 6:05

I always love starting at the Magic Kingdom so I can watch Wishes on our first night! I love Winnie the Pooh and friends and DS room is decorated with them. We have eaten here a few times and have enjoyed our meals.

Friday, June 18th
Chef Mickey's @ 5:25

DH and I have eaten here once on our last trip before MVMCP, but this will be a first for the rest of the family. We enjoyed our meal with the fab 5 last November.

Saturday, June 19th
Coral Reef @ 5:50

We have eaten here on each of our trips and always enjoyed it. I know others have not had good experiences here, but we like it. Also, I think Colby will like the aquarium.

Sunday, June 20th
1900 Park Fare @ 9:40 am
Supercalifragalistic Breakfast

Mary Poppins is my favorite, favorite character! We have never done a breakfast while at Disney, but have always wanted to try it. I am super excited about this meal and meeting Mary Poppins!

Monday, June 21st
Sci-Fi Drive In @ 5:55

We have eaten here a few times before and enjoyed it. Not the meal we are most excited about, but our favorite TS at DHS.

Tuesday, June 22nd
O'hana @ 5:30

I am also excited about this. We have never eaten here before and I have heard some good things about it. We are planning on sticking around the Poly after dinner and swimming at the pool and watching Wishes from the beach.

Wednesday, June 23rd
LeCellier @ 6:00

DH and I have eaten here a couple of times, but this is a first for the rest of the family. Since the family loves steak, we think they will like it!

Thursday, June 24th
1900 Park Fare @ 6:00

Cinderella is DH favorite character...yes, you read that right...DH has to get a pic with Cinderella each trip. My in-laws ate here on their last trip and enjoyed it, so this is one of their suggestions. It is a first for the rest of us.

So that is where we are planning on eating. Have you experienced any of these spots before? What are your experiences?

 

[disneylovin24]

Awww, sounds like it will be a nice trip for your little guy's first time

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Awww, sounds like it will be a nice trip for your little guy's first time

Welcome! Thanks for chiming in! My DB who is going with us is a huge Yankees fan...

 

[Bridora]

Thursday, June 17th
Crystal Palace @ 6:05

I always love starting at the Magic Kingdom so I can watch Wishes on our first night! I love Winnie the Pool and friends and DS room is decorated with them. We have eaten here a few times and have enjoyed our meals.

Friday, June 18th
Chef Mickey's @ 5:25

DH and I have eaten here once on our last trip before MVMCP, but this will be a first for the rest of the family. We enjoyed our meal with the fab 5 last November.

Saturday, June 19th
Coral Reef @ 5:50

We have eaten here on each of our trips and always enjoyed it. I know others have not had good experiences here, but we like it. Also, I think Colby will like the aquarium.

Sunday, June 20th
1900 Park Fare @ 9:40 am
Supercalifragalistic Breakfast

Mary Poppins is my favorite, favorite character! We have never done a breakfast while at Disney, but have always wanted to try it. I am super excited about this meal and meeting Mary Poppins!

Monday, June 21st
Sci-Fi Drive In @ 5:55

We have eaten here a few times before and enjoyed it. Not the meal we are most excited about, but our favorite TS at DHS.

Tuesday, June 22nd
O'hana @ 5:30

I am also excited about this. We have never eaten here before and I have heard some good things about it. We are planning on sticking around the Poly after dinner and swimming at the pool and watching Wishes from the beach.

Wednesday, June 23rd
LeCellier @ 6:00

DH and I have eaten here a couple of times, but this is a first for the rest of the family. Since the family loves steak, we think they will like it!

Thursday, June 24th
1900 Park Fare @ 6:00

Cinderella is DH favorite character...yes, you read that right...DH has to get a pic with Cinderella each trip. My in-laws ate here on their last trip and enjoyed it, so this is one of their suggestions. It is a first for the rest of us.

So that is where we are planning on eating. Have you experienced any of these spots before? What are your experiences?

Hi!

Colby is so cute! He is going to have so much fun & you guys are too! Looove the Steelers bib! DH has been a fan since he was little...and now we all are, too!


We went to Crystal Palace for the 1st time last summer & we really enjoyed it. The kids like buffets because they don't have to wait on their food. And it's fun to meet the characters that way, too. The 1st time we went DS was 17 months old. We had a meal at Liberty Tree Tavern & that was when the characters still came around. He absolutely loved them! I've heard great things about Chef Mickey's but have never been there. 'Ohana is a wonderful place--we've been there twice and it was sooooooo good both times, plus it's at the beautiful Polynesian Resort... Really, all your dining choices sound great...DH wants to try Le Cellier sometime for the steaks...

 

[Queenofallthings]

How nice that you all love to vacation together...the more the merrier I always say!!

Looking forward to reading more

 

[disneylovin24]

Welcome! Thanks for chiming in! My DB who is going with us is a huge Yankees fan...

 

[DisneyMomma09]

How nice that you all love to vacation together...the more the merrier I always say!!

Looking forward to reading more

Yes, we have been to Disney twice with DH whole family and we always have a good time! And if they are going to cover the hotel with DVC points, who am I to complain?

Hi!

Colby is so cute! He is going to have so much fun & you guys are too! Looove the Steelers bib! DH has been a fan since he was little...and now we all are, too!


We went to Crystal Palace for the 1st time last summer & we really enjoyed it. The kids like buffets because they don't have to wait on their food. And it's fun to meet the characters that way, too. The 1st time we went DS was 17 months old. We had a meal at Liberty Tree Tavern & that was when the characters still came around. He absolutely loved them! I've heard great things about Chef Mickey's but have never been there. 'Ohana is a wonderful place--we've been there twice and it was sooooooo good both times, plus it's at the beautiful Polynesian Resort... Really, all your dining choices sound great...DH wants to try Le Cellier sometime for the steaks...

Glad you stopped over! My DH has also been a Steelers fan since he was little, so of course Colby has to be a little Steelers fan as well!

Thanks for your input about the restaurants! I never thought about not having to wait for food at the buffets, but that should be perfect with Colby! We love LTT and I think this is the first trip we have not eaten there. But we had to give up some of our favorites to try some new spots!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Well, it's been a while. We have been fighting a cold bug up here and going to bed early. But we are all better now!

So now I think I will start planning out our days with some general must dos for each day. Our vacation officially begins on June 17th, but our flight is pretty early in the morning out of Buffalo, NY. That is about 1 1/2 hours away. We would have to leave our house at about 3 in the morning in order to get there, checked in, and through security in enough time. So right now we are checking out hotel prices around the Buffalo Airport. We will drive up on the 16th and spend the night. That way we can get a little more sleep in the morning. That will be especially nice with Colby. We won't have to mess his schedule up too much and he won't be to cranky on the plane!

We will arrive in Orlando at about 9:30 in the morning. We will be taking Disney's Magical Express to OKW where we will meet DSIL who will be driving from her house in St. Cloud. She will be bringing all of our groceries for the week. Also joining us at OKW are DMIL and DFIL. They are taking the auto train down and then driving over. It is doubtful that either of our rooms will be ready for us, but maybe if we are lucky and we can drop off our carry ons there. If not, we will leave them with bell service to be delivered to our room with our other luggage when it arrives!

Once we all get situated, we will head over to the Magic Kingdom. The first stop will probably be the Barber Shop. We are planning on DS having his first haircut! His hair is already coming over his ears, so by the time we get to June, he is certainly going to need this! We are all very excited about this and have been talking about it since Colby was born! Others in the group may also get their hair cut as well, depending on who needs it. DH has gotten his done here several times. We are definetly planning on seeing the afternoon parade. I would love to be able to stick around for Wishes, but is will be a pretty early morning for all of us, and we still have not been in our hotel room, so we will probably skip it tonight Of course we also have our dinner ADR's at the Crystal Palace!

Everything, of course, will be played by ear. At this point, Colby is on a 2 nap a day schedule. But there are many days when we are doing things when he only gets one nap and is fine. For most of our days, I am hoping he will take his morning nap in the stroller and then we will head back to the hotel for his afternoon nap. DS is pretty easygoing and I think he will do just fine with the schedule changes, but you never know! Fortunatly, we have lots of adults to help deal with him if he gets cranky.

So that is the plan for our first day at the World! Talking about it gets me super excited! We are just over 4 months away. The time should pass quickly, though. We have 3 months until Colby's First Birthday and I have started thinking about how we are going to celebrate that! There will be a rather large party, as DH and I both have large families. Planning that will begin to occupy some of my time so I don't obsess about Disney all the time...

 

[Disneychix]

When we went with DS for the first time he was still taking 2 naps a day. He did fine with sleeping about 30mins in the morning in the stroller. We tried most days to get back to the room in the afternoon for his longer nap. Only 1 day we skipped doing this and he was kind of a disaster by 7pm!

Have fun! Looks like you have a lot of good ADRs!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

When we went with DS for the first time he was still taking 2 naps a day. He did fine with sleeping about 30mins in the morning in the stroller. We tried most days to get back to the room in the afternoon for his longer nap. Only 1 day we skipped doing this and he was kind of a disaster by 7pm!

Have fun! Looks like you have a lot of good ADRs!

That is good to know! Colby is pretty flexible, so I think he should be able to handle it! I think I am most concerned about our first day with the travel. We will be getting up pretty early and he will probably be ready for a nap just as we are arriving in Orlando!

 

[elizablake]

I just found your trip report and enjoyed reading about your plans so far. Your son is soooo cute. Hopefully he will like meeting the characters so you guys can get his first photo with Mickey!

You are traveling with such a big group. Do you guys plan to split up at all? We love traveling with our extended family. My DD is an only grandchild as well so it's all about her which makes traveling easier.

Your ADRs look great. I think you will like 1900 Park Fare. The food was OK but the character interaction was awesome. I know your DH is going to meet Cinderella but the wicked stepsisters might be his new favorites before you leave. All the ladies can get a photo with Prince Charming too. We are going to try Sci-fi, Ohana, and Crystal Palace on our trip in June.

Happy planning.

 

[DisneyMomma09]

I just found your trip report and enjoyed reading about your plans so far. Your son is soooo cute. Hopefully he will like meeting the characters so you guys can get his first photo with Mickey!

You are traveling with such a big group. Do you guys plan to split up at all? We love traveling with our extended family. My DD is an only grandchild as well so it's all about her which makes traveling easier.

Your ADRs look great. I think you will like 1900 Park Fare. The food was OK but the character interaction was awesome. I know your DH is going to meet Cinderella but the wicked stepsisters might be his new favorites before you leave. All the ladies can get a photo with Prince Charming too. We are going to try Sci-fi, Ohana, and Crystal Palace on our trip in June.

Happy planning.

Thanks for stopping by!

I am planning on taking DS to meet the mascots of the local hockey and baseball teams before we go, so I will have an idea how he will react to the characters when we get down there. If not, I have seen others who have gotten good pics at character dinning by having the character stand behind their child at a distance and the child does not even realize! This is always an option!

Yes, we will probably split up at times. Obviously DS will not be able to go on the thrill rides which most of the rest of us LOVE, so we will use the rider swap and split up during those times.

Thanks for the input on the ADR's! I am excited about them all!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

As much as I am a planner and would like to have all of my days planned out before we head down to Disney, we are travelling with a large group and who knows how things are going to work out. Friday morning is one of those times I am not sure what park we might go to. DHS has morning EMH on Friday morning, but I don't think we will be getting out the door quite early enough in the morning to make it there by the time they open. Friday morning will probably be between Epcot and AK. When we were at WDW in June 08, we got to Epcot for rope drop and were the first family at the Character Spot. We got our picture with all the characters together! I think we are going to try to do this again this year, so that is a possibility we might head to Epcot and try that.

Long story short, Friday morning is up in the air. We will probably decide Thursday evening what park we will go to the next morning.

After spending the morning and lunch at the chosen park, we will head back to the hotel. We will spend some time swimming and hopefully DS will nap. Then we will head out to our ADR at Chef Mickey's. After dinner, we will probably head to MK. They have evening EMH, so it will probably be busy, but I mainly want to see Wishes. We will see how Colby does and that will determine how late we stay at the park!

Another exciting thing I am starting to plan is DS first birthday! He is 9 months old, so we are less than 3 months away. I was doing a rough list in my head the other day and there will be more than 50 people invited! That means we cannot have the party at our house, so I have to start looking around at places we can have it! So party planning should occupy some of my time for now and by the time we have his party, it will be just over a month until Disney!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Hi all! Once again, it has been a while! We are enjoying another bout of snow up north here. As of this morning we probably have a new 6-8 inches. This afternoon we are going to take Colby out to play in it! I will post some pics of that later. But for now, here are a few new pics of my baby. He is getting so big...I can't believe how fast he is growing up!

Here he is going under the tunnel!

Riding the stuffed bear at Grandma's and Grandpa's

This is his new favorite thing to do while I am making dinner! All those towels and things used to be in the drawer...

On Super Bowl Sunday...supporting our team even though they weren't playing!

Here he is sharing Daddy's water...good thing there was not much in there!

Finally, he is tasting his first sucker! He got it from one of his friends for Valentine's Day. Even though he had never had one before, he knew just what to do with it! As soon as I opened it he grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth! A little messy, but fun!

So there he is...my little man...we are about 2 months away from his first birthday, we I am thinking about where we are going to hold that. Of course it will be Disney themed...I will have to see what they have at the party store for that. Looking at these pictures, you can see how long his hair is getting! By the time we get to Disney and get it cut it will probably be to his shoulders!

As for Disney planning...nothing much has changed or happened. I have been looking at the dinning review pages and getting excited about trying some different CS spots and I am already planning on what I am going to have for snacks! March will bring our 100 day mark and I have it circled on my calander! It will be here before we know it!

 

[DisneyMomma09]

Here's another non-Disney update...

We took Colby out in the snow yesterday. He loved it! It ended up snowing all day yesterday. All in all we got about 12 new inches of snow from Thursday evening through Saturday.

Here is Colby standing at the door waiting to go out...

Out in the snow!

We did not have a sled for Colby yet, so we used a platic container! We will probably get a sled when we go out today so we have one for next time! When I showed my mom these pics, she reminded me that when I went out in the snow for the first time, they used a diaper box to pull me around in, so I guess this is a little better than that!

Colby's first snow angel! It is kinda hard to make out...

Here is Colby standing next to the shoveled snow so you can see how deep it is!

When we got in the house, I gave Colby some snow to touch since his hands had been covered. Of course it went straight into his mouth! He was not quite sure what to do with it, so it kind of melted and ran back out of his mouth!

Overall, Colby seemed to enjoy being out in the snow which is a good thing considering where we live and how much snow we typically get!

 

[elizablake]

Great photos. I love the snow angel. Colby seems like such a sweet and happy baby. With as much snow as you get, the little guys needs a sled.

 

[Bridora]

Hey! Cute pictures....love the Super Bowl Sunday one of him in his jersey!

Wow! I'm glad you enjoyed the snow...way more than we'll ever get here! I can imagine how much fun we'd have in that much...our town might shut down!

For being that much closer to your 100 day mark!