I love SWW and SW Celebrations...does that mean I am a geek? A PTR of a SW family.

[natebenma]

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures from Star Wars Celebration. It does look like a blast!

Can't remember if I mentioned that I have been the chairperson for the PTA Mother-Son dance for several years and a couple of years ago our theme was "2010: A Space Odyssey" We had a line-up Leia's and certainly no dearth of Darths:

 

[jmskinner]

1 day is not enough for a Celebration. I have been to 3 and there is so much to see.
Might be heading down from Wisconsin for this years Celebration.


Sarah

Hi! Hope you make it! I'm now totally set for two days at Celebration. Just waiting on a schedule so we can make up our minds which days.

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures from Star Wars Celebration. It does look like a blast!

Can't remember if I mentioned that I have been the chairperson for the PTA Mother-Son dance for several years and a couple of years ago our theme was "2010: A Space Odyssey" We had a line-up Leia's and certainly no dearth of Darths:

Love the pics! I bet that was a great night.

 

[thumperjr9]

Thanks so much for sharing the photos of SW Celebration. I am SURE my DS will love it. He will flip over those Lego displays. However, I can't show him the photos till I'm sure we will go. He would be so disappointed if he finds out more about this and then doesn't get to go.

I'm still not sure I want to do a Disney trip in August. There are so many positives for going in August....No school to miss, no homework to makeup, could make it a longer trip, crowds should be a little lower at the end of August, there is a Y.E.S. class my son would like to do and then we will get reduced WDW tickets, and the fact that we could attend SW Celebration. Not to mention it's about the only time we will be able to do a trip this year. So, I guess the only thing that is holding me back is the weather just not sure we can handle the hot weather....especially coming from Western NY. We're just not use to that kind of heat!

I do have a question, is there any reason to get admission tickets for the SW Celebration well in advance? Do they ever sell out? I'm thinking if we go, it would probably be Thurs. or Fri. Will there be much difference in the crowd level? I did see that they offer a reduced convention rate at CSR....one of our favorite resorts!!

 

[jmskinner]

Thanks so much for sharing the photos of SW Celebration. I am SURE my DS will love it. He will flip over those Lego displays. However, I can't show him the photos till I'm sure we will go. He would be so disappointed if he finds out more about this and then doesn't get to go.

I'm still not sure I want to do a Disney trip in August. There are so many positives for going in August....No school to miss, no homework to makeup, could make it a longer trip, crowds should be a little lower at the end of August, there is a Y.E.S. class my son would like to do and then we will get reduced WDW tickets, and the fact that we could attend SW Celebration. Not to mention it's about the only time we will be able to do a trip this year. So, I guess the only thing that is holding me back is the weather just not sure we can handle the hot weather....especially coming from Western NY. We're just not use to that kind of heat!

I do have a question, is there any reason to get admission tickets for the SW Celebration well in advance? Do they ever sell out? I'm thinking if we go, it would probably be Thurs. or Fri. Will there be much difference in the crowd level? I did see that they offer a reduced convention rate at CSR....one of our favorite resorts!!

Your . I love posting pics. I completely understand not showing your son until you know for sure. Might even wait and surprise him. I kept trying to tell Jacob what a big thing this was, but he didn't understand. We even went the Tuesday before to pick up our tickets before the crowds and they were building that huge AT-AT (oh please tell me I got that right) and he still didn't catch on to the size of this event. Finally when we got in that merchandise area it hit him.

Teresa and Sarah might now more about the event selling out. I don't think it will. When we went that Tuesday I asked how many were expected, but nothing was said about it selling out.

The heat can be exhausting, but we try to go in the morning and again in the evening. Lunch in a nice sitdown restaurant mid-day is great to cool-off and then head back to the resort for a swim. Our very first trip was a July 4th weekend and we were addicted, but I did grow up in West Texas. The convention is all indoors and nicely air conditioned. Funny, I think that is the only time we have spent a whole day together and none of us have a meltdown.

 

[jmskinner]

ADR's are booked, so I guess that means we have a plan. I tried just talking to Jonas, but he required that I make a calendar so he could "visualize" it. The man just requires I do more work. But I finally did it and he agreed.

August 18th we arrive at WDW after being in the car 15 hours per GoogleMaps.

August 19th, we will be at MK. They show PM EMH from 9pm-12am, but I have a feeling park hours will make EMH later than that as it gets closer. We have an ADR for WCC for 8pm. Which will give us time to go to the resort and relax and then have dinner and enjoy a night at MK.

August 20 we will be at Epcot where we have lunch at Biergarten at 1:30. I wasn't going to book this one, but Jonas actually asked about it, so I went ahead and booked it. PM EMH at DHS this night, so we might head over there.

August 21 will be at DHS with lunch at 50's Primetime.
If I remember correctly, two years ago when we attended Celebrations, Jacob and I headed over to the Orlando Convention Center and picked up our tickets since we ordered them too late to be mailed to us. We may or may not do that on this day, just depends on when we order our tickets. Don't want to until we know for sure with my work and you never know what might happen in the world that DH gets deployed.

August 22 we will be at AK and probably head over to Tampa to check on the house there.

August 23 we have an ADR at Kona at 8:30am, then check in to Pop. Hoping we will be able to get a room and not have to wait. From there we will head over to Celebrations for the day.

That night we have an ADR for Yachtsman Steakhouse. Jonas and I ate there during our Premium Plan weekend and it was our favorite.

Friday, August 24th will be Legoland. Just learned we can get tickets for $45 through the military ticket and travel office, instead of the $80 at the gate. This works out because we can head back to the resort, relax by the pool and pack since we will have to leave the next day.

Saturday, August 25th will be more Celebrations. And after Celebrations our plan is to hit the road and maybe get to I95 that evening. But, we are hoping that DHS will decide to do something special that night and if so, we will attend that and still get a little driving out of the way.

During the last Star Wars Celebrations is when DHS had "The Last Tour To Endor" and we have so regretted not going into debt and going to that. I know that was centered around Star Tours shutting down, but hopefully the event was so successful, they will do something. I haven't heard anything, but it sure would be .

All of the above restaurants, do not have chicken nuggets so I will have to see if they will make Jacob some. This is why we normally do not do the sit down restaurants. I never mind stopping and grabbing him some chicken nuggets and the waitress at WCC got him some one time, but he doesn't care for the kids version, only the adults.

Something I don't believe I have mentioned is that my Mom and Stepdad have purchased a home south of Tampa they are fixing up. So, they may be joining us at WDW. Not sure if they will stay at the resort, drive over each day, or camp since they have a motorhome. I have included them in all the ADR's except the Kona and Yachtsman.

Here are a few pics of them on KRR, not expecting a thing


This is right after that first lift where newbies don't realize they can get wet.

And after:


And my stepdad trying to make sure I get wet too:


I have also asked Mom if maybe she would watch Jacob and just Jonas and I go to Yachtsman. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise for Jonas?

 

[natebenma]

It is nice to see your plans start to come together.

on the discount for the Legoland tickets. Can't wait to hear about the park.

What a great series of pictures of your mom and stepdad on Kali! The expression on your mom's face says it all! Did they not notice all of the warning signs or people coming off the ride with wet clothes?

 

[jmskinner]

It is nice to see your plans start to come together.

on the discount for the Legoland tickets. Can't wait to hear about the park.

What a great series of pictures of your mom and stepdad on Kali! The expression on your mom's face says it all! Did they not notice all of the warning signs or people coming off the ride with wet clothes?

The only thing that will keep us to any schedule is those ADR's. I still see us bouncing around all the parks.

I can't wait to take pics, need to start that shopping list, probably need one or two more memory cards before we go.

My folks expected to get wet, but more on the rapids. They got caught with that water shooting up after the first lift. You know the one you see stop just as you reach it, only to hit the people closest to the lift once you are off the thing. We all knew they were going to get it.

 

[thumperjr9]

Your plans sound great. That's an interesting thought as far as a Disney Star Wars event....we can only hope.

It looks pretty likely we will be going in August too, so we can attend Star Wars Celebrations. I gave my DS a choice: An August Disney Cruise (Canada) out of NYC with a few extra days in NYC or August trip to Orlando which would include a couple days at WDW and Universal each, a day at Legoland and (of course) Star Wars Celebrations. His choice is Orlando. So now I guess I need to finalize dates so I can get organized with an itinerary. About the only thing I know is we will have to do a PM EMH at MK.....always a must for us!!

BTW I just realized from your last post that your DS is named Jacob. That's my DS's name too and it seems they have many of the same interests...Star Wars, Legos and WDW. Though the one thing they don't have in common is .......chicken nuggets. Don't get me wrong he likes chicken nuggets just fine but it would probably be one of the last things he would ordered. He will pretty much try anything. He loves BBQ ribs at Ak, fish and chips, bratwurst, pot stickers and anything Mexican at Epcot etc....(I could go on and on). I guess we are lucky that way cause I don't really have to worry if there is something on the menu that he will like.

 

[jmskinner]

Your plans sound great. That's an interesting thought as far as a Disney Star Wars event....we can only hope.

It looks pretty likely we will be going in August too, so we can attend Star Wars Celebrations. I gave my DS a choice: An August Disney Cruise (Canada) out of NYC with a few extra days in NYC or August trip to Orlando which would include a couple days at WDW and Universal each, a day at Legoland and (of course) Star Wars Celebrations. His choice is Orlando. So now I guess I need to finalize dates so I can get organized with an itinerary. About the only thing I know is we will have to do a PM EMH at MK.....always a must for us!!

BTW I just realized from your last post that your DS is named Jacob. That's my DS's name too and it seems they have many of the same interests...Star Wars, Legos and WDW. Though the one thing they don't have in common is .......chicken nuggets. Don't get me wrong he likes chicken nuggets just fine but it would probably be one of the last things he would ordered. He will pretty much try anything. He loves BBQ ribs at Ak, fish and chips, bratwurst, pot stickers and anything Mexican at Epcot etc....(I could go on and on). I guess we are lucky that way cause I don't really have to worry if there is something on the menu that he will like.

Maybe we can meet up. How old is your son? I sure wish Jacob would eat other foods, but this started a little after age 3 and we have lots of fights over him not eating, but we finally decided dinnertime shouldn't be filled with that and I fix him what he will eat. The good news is that in the last couple of months he has started to take some bites of pizza. He did this all on his own, even asked for a slice.

Keep me updated if you decide to start a PTR.

 

[jmskinner]

It's Friday night, the DH has said he is going to bed and read, he means "I don't want the TV on". So, I am banished to the office on my PC since Jacob is watching his shows that are DVR'd in the family room. Thought I would post about of my favorite things and trips to WDW. This may be very interesting since I am on my second glass of wine and was pleasantly buzzed after the first.

We took our very first trip to WDW in July 2006. We were planning something special because Jonas was leaving for a year in Iraq, and there was only one week available because of all the training he had to do to get prepared for his deployment. His Mother and Brother wanted to see him before he left and I didn't want it to be a sit around the house type of visit. We were also trying to get Jonas' daughter, Kara, to come see us. Her mother refused at first saying there was family coming to see them that Kara had never seen. I was a little upset with that and then came up with the idea that we all go to WDW. Yes, Kara then got to come with us.

Back track a little, I was the kid that never wanted to go to WDW. It was for babies. I was riding the big coasters by the time I was 6, so I didn't think there was anything at WDW for me. Then came Jacob and I started thinking we should go, but always felt we didn't have the money. Then my BFF did the Disney Cruise with 4 days in the park. We got to see each other right after her trip, and she was showing me her pins and everything. Then she went so far as to have WDW send me the vacation planning DVD. What are BFF's for? It was still a couple of years before we were able to take this trip in 2006.

So this first trip was Jonas, Jacob, Kara, DMIL, DBIL, and me. I had to plan the whole thing. We booked POR, the DDP, Cirque Du Soleil and 6 nights to do it all. DMIL and Kara drove down from NC. We flew from TX. DBIL flew in a couple of days later than the rest of us due to work.

Of course, I had to get as much in as possible, so we had a 7am flight. This is Jacob before we left the house:


And this is my very first picture at WDW


That's Jacob and DMIL. We had lunch at Sci-Fi within a couple of hours arriving at WDW, so DHS was our first park. And I had found the Dis and read all those things to do before a trip, like pack rain ponchos. Which I had packed rain ponchos, but I packed it in the luggage being delivered by ME. Learned my lesson on this day. It poured as soon as we got on the bus to DHS and only stopped about 30 minutes after we had entered the park.


That's Jonas and Kara. Yup, we were all soaked, but you notice we are still happy!

Our first ride at WDW


We didn't stay late this day, we were all very tired after traveling. Our second day was MK


And again, I had followed the Dis, made a plan, but what did we do first thing upon entering the MK? Stood on Main Street looking at a map. I was so embarrassed.

One of my favorite memories, Jacob getting to be the Captain on the Jungle Cruise.


That night we were at Epcot, anyone remember this


I kind of miss it since it was how I first saw Spaceship Earth.

We were back at DHS the next day, anyone remember fighting for a pic with Tater and Lightning McQueen




Back to Epcot where we did this


Another mistake made on this trip was allowing the DH to get a new medication from his doctor right before leaving. On our third day we were at Epcot and his feet really started to bother him and he noticed his legs were swelling. Our Epcot day was cut short and we didn't get to ride Mission: Space or Spaceship Earth on our trip. Don't worry, Jonas was fine. He called the doctors office and they told him to stop taking the medicine.

Next day was an AK day.


So what is so great about this blurry pic of Jacob standing on a statue. I know the child shouldn't be standing on it, but it would have made for a great pic. In case you don't recognize it, it is just as you get off the train. While I was snapping the pic, it seems everyone else decided they didn't want to be there and got back on the train. Didn't bother to tell Jacob and I. Here they are leaving us.


Another favorite pic


Another great memory about this trip is PoTC was closed for refurbishment when we arrived. This was when they put Captain Jack in the ride. Jacob still thinks the movie came first. I will never forget they opened it a day or two early, we really thought we wouldn't get to ride it. We had stopped in the bathrooms right there by PoTC and I hear a lady scream "It's open! It's open! Pirates just opened!" Then I hear a teenage girl "And that would be my Mother" in an embarrassed tone.

We wore ourselves out that week. We woke up to AM EMH most mornings and stayed at MK until 3am one night. Hit all the parks, including TL twice and BB once. And it was July 4th weekend.

One of my favorite memories was walking from our room one day and thinking how much I want to come back. As I was thinking this, Jonas said he hoped that next time we come, we stay for 10 nights. I knew there was a reason I that man.

 

[natebenma]

Great trip down memory lane. I remember that "first trip"- all the things I learned NOT to do at DISNEY I learned on my first trip with kids!

I can't believe how young Jacob looks!

Great picture of him piloting the boat, and I love your story about the surprise soft opening of Pirates.

 

[thumperjr9]

Maybe we can meet up. How old is your son? I sure wish Jacob would eat other foods, but this started a little after age 3 and we have lots of fights over him not eating, but we finally decided dinnertime shouldn't be filled with that and I fix him what he will eat. The good news is that in the last couple of months he has started to take some bites of pizza. He did this all on his own, even asked for a slice.

Keep me updated if you decide to start a PTR.

I should do a PTR/TR...I always think about it, but never do it. Maybe if I did I would actually come up with a plan. In fact our last few trips I have slacked on my obsessive planning. Since we will be doing more than WDW on this trip, I will need to have an itinerary.

My DS (Jacob) is 12, he will be 13 in July. Now that he getting to be a teenager I think soon and he won't want to go on our trips unless he has a friend come with him. Have you experienced this with your son yet? I have hinted to one of his friend's mom that they are due for a WDW trip....we'll see.

If our plans coordinate it would be fun to meet up....sounds like our boys would get along well. Right now I'm not sure what our exact dates will be (though I did book CSR for 8/21-8/28) but may have to change somewhat depending on when I can get the best airfare.

Oh....I showed my DS the SW Celebrations photos and now he's really excited I'm a little nervous about all the merchandise that will be there. He is a shopper/collector and will want to buy everything he sees.

 

[jmskinner]

Great trip down memory lane. I remember that "first trip"- all the things I learned NOT to do at DISNEY I learned on my first trip with kids!

I can't believe how young Jacob looks!

Great picture of him piloting the boat, and I love your story about the surprise soft opening of Pirates.

I will never forget that daughters reaction to her Mom being so excited. Jacob is the exact same way.

I wish I could say I learned everything that week, but sadly I still do things sometime and think "I know better than that!"

I should do a PTR/TR...I always think about it, but never do it. Maybe if I did I would actually come up with a plan. In fact our last few trips I have slacked on my obsessive planning. Since we will be doing more than WDW on this trip, I will need to have an itinerary.

My DS (Jacob) is 12, he will be 13 in July. Now that he getting to be a teenager I think soon and he won't want to go on our trips unless he has a friend come with him. Have you experienced this with your son yet? I have hinted to one of his friend's mom that they are due for a WDW trip....we'll see.

If our plans coordinate it would be fun to meet up....sounds like our boys would get along well. Right now I'm not sure what our exact dates will be (though I did book CSR for 8/21-8/28) but may have to change somewhat depending on when I can get the best airfare.

Oh....I showed my DS the SW Celebrations photos and now he's really excited I'm a little nervous about all the merchandise that will be there. He is a shopper/collector and will want to buy everything he sees.

Let me know if you decide to do a PTR. The last one I did was with my BFF for our trip.

I have wanted to take a friend with Jacob, but he has a hard time making friends.

I'm needing to sit down and see how much all these tickets and food will cost so I make sure to have some money for all those souvenirs. Then there will be the stuff at Celebrations too.

 

[jmskinner]

I forgot to mention the end of our first trip.

We arrived home, I went and got the dogs. Jonas and I found the couch and didn't move until that night when we went to bed. Got up the next morning, found the couch and didn't really move again until we went to bed. Disney fatigue!!!

 

[jmskinner]

Hi! Hope a few of you are still around, sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Work got really crazy, too much catching up on all the shows I watch, and family visiting.

Everyone have a lovely Easter? We had Jonas' Dad and his wife here the weekend before Easter, and then his Mother and her boyfriend came the following Wednesday and stayed a week. Thanks to her boyfriend, Ron, we finally have deadbolts on most of our doors and can use one key to open our doors. Would you believe when we moved in we had six doors to the outside and all six required a different key?

Not much to report as far as the trip goes. Getting super excited, but still over 100 days to go. Does sound like my Mother and Stepdad are going to come for a visit in August and take Jacob back to FL with them, then will meet us at WDW to hand him off and spend some time in the parks with us.

I am thinking of buying 4 day passes to Star Wars Celebration. I know we won't go all 4 days since we will be on the road Sunday, but it is only about $20 more and that way if something is going on Friday, we could get in.

And I am super excited to hear that Chris Hardwick is going to be a special guest host at Celebration, I'll be sure to check out what he is hosting.

Can anyone tell me how the autographing sessions go? We saw it last time, but didn't take the time to get any, but thinking we may this time.

Oh, and I do have big news. For the first time we have enough money already saved up to pay for all the tickets, rooms, and the ADR's. This is a first for us, we usually put some on the credit card.

Hope things are going well for all of you!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Glad you were able to come over and post an update
Hooray for having all the money for your trip with no need for CC
Can't wait to see any more plans you come up with

 

[natebenma]

Glad to see an update! Sounds like things are coming along nicely for your trip. Have you made any decisions about Legoland?

on having the money to pay for the trip OOP instead of with credit.

Sounds like you had a couple of nice (and productive) family visits.

We have had a busy spring of travel.

Mark and I celebrated our 25th anniversary (which was last July) with a short trip (WITHOUT KIDS) to Puerto Rico in March. Did I mention the boys did not go??? It was our first time away with out them.

We were in the Bahamas (Comfort Suites/Atlantis) for 5 nights last week for hte boys' spring break.

And so far, things are looking like a go for Nate's 8th grade graduation trip to Disney. We had a chaperone meeting last night, but I still don't know what flight I'm on, or which parks/YES programs we are doing. We are staying at All Star Movies.

Hope to hear from you again soon.

 

[jmskinner]

Glad you were able to come over and post an update
Hooray for having all the money for your trip with no need for CC
Can't wait to see any more plans you come up with

There really isn't much more planning to do, except what we will do at Celebration.

I am now deciding if we want to get the Photopass+. I love ride photos, but so dislike paying for them. All comes down to my boys stopping for pics which can be like pulling out their teetch.

Glad to see an update! Sounds like things are coming along nicely for your trip. Have you made any decisions about Legoland?

on having the money to pay for the trip OOP instead of with credit.

Sounds like you had a couple of nice (and productive) family visits.

We have had a busy spring of travel.

Mark and I celebrated our 25th anniversary (which was last July) with a short trip (WITHOUT KIDS) to Puerto Rico in March. Did I mention the boys did not go??? It was our first time away with out them.

We were in the Bahamas (Comfort Suites/Atlantis) for 5 nights last week for hte boys' spring break.

And so far, things are looking like a go for Nate's 8th grade graduation trip to Disney. We had a chaperone meeting last night, but I still don't know what flight I'm on, or which parks/YES programs we are doing. We are staying at All Star Movies.

Hope to hear from you again soon.

I want your Spring!!! Sounds like you have had a great time. Would love to go to Atlantis!

Hope you do the YES program Jacob and I did a couple of years ago. Going behind the scenes of Haunted Mansion was very cool. I can't imagine going with a bunch of 8th graders to FL. What an amazing time!

We are planning on Legoland. I'm thinking of going on Friday and if we get done, we could head over to Celebration, or go to Celebration if something good is going on and then Legoland. I feel like we are sort of winging it.

 

[thumperjr9]

Hi, I'm still tagging along, after all, you are one of my major sources of SW Celebrations info!! Congrats on saving up the money for your trip! Just think you still have over 3 months to save up more for all the merchandise you'll want to buy at Celebrations!

Sounds like you guys have lots of time planned for SW Celebrations. We will be doing just 1 day. I hope that will be enough....it has to be enough because we have so much to fit in on this trip. We want to do 2 days at Universal/IOA, 1 day at Legoland, hopefully at least 3 days at WDW (including a YES class), 1 day at SW Celebrations and visit some family in the area.

You mentioned that your son did a YES class that went behind the scenes at the HM. Was that the Energy and Waves class? That's the class that my DS wants to do and I'm hoping we can fit it in our plans.

 

[jmskinner]

Hi, I'm still tagging along, after all, you are one of my major sources of SW Celebrations info!! Congrats on saving up the money for your trip! Just think you still have over 3 months to save up more for all the merchandise you'll want to buy at Celebrations!

Sounds like you guys have lots of time planned for SW Celebrations. We will be doing just 1 day. I hope that will be enough....it has to be enough because we have so much to fit in on this trip. We want to do 2 days at Universal/IOA, 1 day at Legoland, hopefully at least 3 days at WDW (including a YES class), 1 day at SW Celebrations and visit some family in the area.

You mentioned that your son did a YES class that went behind the scenes at the HM. Was that the Energy and Waves class? That's the class that my DS wants to do and I'm hoping we can fit it in our plans.

Sounds like you are planning like us. I wish we could do Universal, Jonas hasn't been since they opened Harry Potter.

We did just one day the last Celebrations and were fine with it, once a schedule comes out, start figuring out what you want to do. Plan a few hours for the merchandise room.

And the YES class we did was the Energy and Waves. Going behind the scenes of HM was a surprise for Jacob. I will tell you, it will change the way you view some of the rides, or at least it did for me.