I wanna go to Izney World! A 1st timer's PTR May/June 2011

[sahm2two]

My PTR got its name from my 2 ½ year old little girl. Every time we talk about Mickey or any of the princesses, her first response is to yell “I wanna go to Isney World!”. We made a countdown chain about a week ago so she would have a tangible way to count down the days. I’ve been doing my best to teach both the girls about WDW so they’ll know what to expect when we get there. This site has been great for that… reading through TRs and showing the girls pictures of people with the characters, and pictures of the rides.
This is my 1st PTR. It’s actually my first time planning a trip to Disney World OR a family vacation. What a 1st family vacation to be planning! We went on one last summer to the beach, but we went with my ILs who did most of the planning (and paying ). This year it’s just the 4 of us!

Which brings me to the cast of characters…

1st is me, Sara- the Mom. I’m 26 and a stay at home mom to 2 beautiful little girls. I’m the planner for everything, but I won’t lie- I love it! I have spreadsheets, lists and a whole notebook of info I’ve gathered from this website, 2 huge books and a couple other websites. There sure is a lot of info out there about Disney! I’ve been to WDW several times, but this is my 1st trip as an adult. My family lived in Orlando when I was 0-3 y/o, and had annual passes, but obviously I don’t remember any of those trips. There were a couple trips in elementary school that I vaguely remember. But it’s been a LONG time. The last time I went to MK, Splash Mountain was just being built!

Next up, DH (Andrew)- the Dad. He’s 27 and works as a retail manager. Not the most glamorous job, but it pays the bills and lets me stay home with our girls. He’s been to Disney World a handful of times, most recently in 2001 as a high school senior on a class trip. So, it’s been a while for both of us!

Next is Alexis. She is 2 ½. She will turn 3 a little less than 2 months after we return from our trip. We thought we’d go once while they were young to take advantage of not having to pay for their tickets! So we wanted to go before July, and the dates we picked we got to take advantage of free dining! Woohoo! Alexis loves all things Princess. Her favorite changes every day, but we have almost all of the Princess dvds and watch them all.the.time. She also loves Mickey and the gang, we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all the time too!

Last, but not least is Kaitlyn. She is 1 ½. She’ll be 20 months when we go on our trip. She’s really just along for the ride. She prefers Barney to anything else (it’s a shame our budget won’t allow for a day at Universal!... or 2, mommy and daddy are big HP fans!) But, she does like all the movies that big sis makes her watch, and she can dress up like a Princess with the best of them She’s a little more adventurous than her sister, so we’re hoping she’ll set the example when it comes to meeting characters and riding rides!




Up next, our itinerary and ADRs!

 

[sahm2two]

Our Disney vacation starts Tuesday, May 31st at 8:30am, BUT our trip actually starts on Friday, May 27th. My extended family always has a family reunion the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so we’ll be going down to Florida for that anyway. We thought it made sense to group that trip with our Disney trip and save a little bit of gas money. It’s not the same region of Florida, but still Florida. We live in north Georgia, so Friday we’ll be traveling down to my sister’s house in south Georgia. We’ll stay the night there and do the family reunion thing on Saturday.
Sunday will be spent with my sister and her family in south Georgia, but we might try to convince my dad that we need to do an immediate family excursion to the beach while we’re near it! If we can work it all out, we’ll stay Saturday and Sunday night at the beach. Still not holding my breath on that, but I think it’d be nice!
Monday, Memorial Day we’ll be driving down to Orlando. We wanted to avoid the crowds at WDW on Memorial Day, but still take advantage of the free dining offer, so that’s the solution we came up with. I know it’ll still be busy… and hot, but we didn’t want to even attempt it with 2 toddlers on Memorial Day!
We’re staying Monday (30th) night with my cousin in Orlando. We’re lucky to have some family in the area, so we don’t have to pay for an off site hotel that night. We wanted to get the most we could out of our vacation, so our vacation starts at 8:30am that Tuesday morning with breakfast at…. Cinderella’s Royal Table!

An overview of our itinerary and ADRs:
*Monday, May 30th- travel, maybe Downtown Disney if we have time after we get settled in at my cousin’s house.
*Tuesday, May 31st- Magic Kingdom. ADRs- CRT at 8:30am and Crystal Palace at 3:30pm
*Wednesday, June 1st- Epcot. ADR at Biergarten at 6:50pm, CS for lunch
*Thursday, June 2nd- Magic Kingdom, ADRs- Chef Mickey’s at 11am and Whispering Canyon Café at 5pm
*Friday, June 3rd- Animal Kingdom, ADRs- Yak & Yeti at 12pm and Rainforest Café at 6:15pm
*Saturday, June 4th- Hollywood Studios, ADR- 50’s Primetime Café at 5:20pm, Pizza Planet (CS) for lunch

I forgot to mention, we’re staying at the All Star Movie Resort. So with the “free dining” we got the quick service dining included, but we decided to upgrade all the way to the Deluxe dining plan for a few reasons. We have 5 full days, but only 4 nights of the package (and thus dining), so we have more meals to account for. Both of our children are under 3, so we don’t have to pay for them, but they’re also not included in the dining plan. So we wanted the extra food (appetizers at sit down meals) and extra snacks to help feed them. Lastly, we’re doing a breakfast at Cinderella’s Table, so that used 2 credits, so even upgrading to the regular dining plan didn’t provide us with all the meals we needed. So… deluxe it is!
So how does it look? I made the ADR for Cinderella’s Table back in November and everything else sort of went around that. Chef Mickey’s was made months ago too, and then just about 2-3 weeks ago is when we decided to upgrade from the dining plan to the deluxe, so I went crazy trying to figure out what other ADRs we wanted.
I’ve only been on this site for about a month or so and it’s SO great. You can really find the answer to just about anything here. I have lots of plans in the works, so I think I’m going to enjoy having a PTR to update to help keep all my thoughts together and help pass the time

Coming up- Touring “plan” and other activities.

 

[TanzUnited99]

I love the title of your PTR and how sweet that it came from your 2 and a half year old daughter

Loving your plans and ADRs - on being able to group your family reunion with your Disney trip! Look forward to reading more

 

[Bridora]

Hey! I'm here and subscribed! I haven't read your ADR plans yet, becuase I'm about to get off work, but I will be back! What precious girls you have! They are going to have a blast, I'm sure...I remember way back when when my kids were still young enough to go free...that was nice!

 

[mrssmith06]

Great PTR so far, looking forward to reading more!! Your daughters are adorable!!!

 

[sahm2two]

yay! people are reading! I didn't want to keep updating without any readers Thanks for the compliments on my little ladies, I think they're pretty cute too

I know I said my next update would be our touring plan, and I might still get to that, but I have another random tidbit to report.

1st let me start by saying that Andrew is a HUGE Star Wars fan So, he was bummed when he heard that Star Tours may not be open when we were going (at one point in time it was just slated to open "in 2011", never said when). So, when we read that it would be reopening May 20th, he was really excited!

Well, reading on here the other day I discovered that we'll be there for a Star Wars Weekend! And we don't even have to move anything around ADR wise because we were already planning on HS for that day. So... I'm not telling Andrew that Star Wars Weekend is happening while we're there! I figure I've involved him in every little detail and he really doesn't even like the planning stuff, he prefers to just go with the flow. So I thought I'd let him be surprised about this

My girls are big princess fans (as am I... did you know that the name Sara means Princess? ), so without really trying they have a Disney themed shirt to wear every day of our vacation. But I thought for the last day I would surprise Andrew and dress them in a Star Wars shirt!

I just started looking for stuff tonight, so we'll see how the search goes. I may end up making them myself if I can find something cute cheap enough. I'm looking on google and etsy.

If I find something tonight I'll come back and post what my idea is, and maybe have some time to start on my touring plan post

 

[sahm2two]

Ok, I gave up looking online. I found a few cute options, but my wallet didn't like the results! $25 for one shirt means $50 total PLUS shipping and they'll only wear the shirt a couple times before they outgrow it, so I really don't like spending that much on clothes for them! So... I've put in a request to the DISigns, hopefully someone will come up with something cute

 

[mrssmith06]

Yeah I couldn't shell out $50 for 2 shirts either!! I seen a couple of cute princess shirts in Old Navy the other day! No, there not online, I looked, lol. But they had a table of character shirts I think they were 2 for $10? I didn't get any but I might end up going back for some!!! I know that's not the same as having a personlized shirt but its an option

Edited: Nevermind I just went back and re read and realized your looking for Star Wars shirts LOL! Sorry!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the plan of surprising Andrew with the Star Wars weekend and how cool that you don't have to make any changes to your plans to incorporate this

Did not know Sara meant Princess - am glad to have found out some more new info on these boards!

Good luck with getting the DISign request - wow that is a scary price for two shirts that will not get worn much

 

[mtgirl29]

Thought I would pop over and say HI and take a look at your PTR. Lookin' good!!!
I love that your daughter says "Izney".....so cute! Your daughters pics are precious!!! DS used to call WDW, Mickey Mouse House....miss those days of him being so little and saying such cute things.
Well, it looks like you are well on your way and cannot wait to read more!! Happy Planning!!!

 

[sahm2two]

Just popping in real quick to say there's a new update coming! Our internet's been down, so I'm on my phone now. The Comcast people are suppose to be coming tomorrow morning to fix it... so be on the look out!

 

[sahm2two]

Touring "Plans"


I use quotes around the word plans because with 2 toddlers in tow, our touring “plans” are going to be very flexible! It’s really just a list of things we really want to do, along with a list of what to do first so we don’t end up trying to ride Dumbo in the middle of the afternoon when the wait is 2 hours

Day 1: Magic Kingdom- extra magic hours 8-9am, park open 8-11pm
Must dos-

Jungle Cruise*
Liberty Belle Riverboat
WDW Railroad
It’s a Small World
Teacups*
Cinderella’s Carousel*
Winnie the Pooh
Country Bear Jamboree
Mickey’s PhilharMagic*
Magic Carpets
Parade
Dole Whip*

Arrive at or before 8am for 8:30am ADR @ CRT
One of us go for Jungle Cruise fast pass while the other is in line for Small World (depending on line time)
Rides- Small World, Carousel, Tea Cups
Get fast pass for Jungle Cruise
Rides if time- Tiki Room
Get fast pass for Pooh if we can yet
Back to hotel for nap/swimming @ 11am
Back to MK for 3:30 ADR @ Crystal Palace (whenever they wake up… catch some more rides if we get back early)
Rides- Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets Philharmagic, Riverboat
Snack in afternoon- dole whip! Aloha Isle
Back to hotel when girls start getting tired, probably around 7, depending on how well they nap. EARLY NIGHT (we have to wake them up at 6am to get to our hotel at 7am, so we’ll all be tired!)

We’ll also stop to see characters if we see a short line, but we’re seeing a lot of characters during meals, so unless the girls REALLY want to, we’ll probably skip most of them. I have a feeling my kids will like the characters from far away, but be apprehensive about getting too close :/

So that’s Day 1. Not a ton on the to do list, the “must do” list is really longer than it needs to be. I listed a lot of things that are just rides the girls would enjoy. The things with *s by them are the things I would be disappointed if we didn’t get to. Main Street Bakery, Dumbo and Philharmagic are coming up on Day 3… stay tuned!

 

[sahm2two]

I went shopping today in hopes to find some stuff we "needed" for Disney I found some good stuff, and while I was taking pics I decided to spread out all the stuff I've been buying here and there for the girls to decide what to give them for Easter and what to save for Disney. Reading a TR recently I saw a mom gave each of her kids a little "welcome basket" in the hotel room when they arrived and I thought that was a really cute idea So I took pics of that stuff too!

Here's a purse I bought for myself. We'll have a big backpack, but I figured a lot of the time it'll be stuffed in the stroller, so I'll want to have quick access to some stuff.

I got sunglasses for me and Andrew. Kmart had them buy 1 get 1 1/2 off, and they were only $8... not too bad! And I've been looking for a thing like this for the car, but obviously not very hard since Walmart has them in their baby section!

random stuff for the girls (either for Easter baskets or welcome baskets)-

And.... my last pictures are of the beginning stages of my planning book. I started reading planning book threads on the tips board last night and I decided I must have one! So I went hunting today. I was SO disappointed in my Michaels. They have 0 Disney stickers in their scrapbook section. None! Not even character stickers in the kid's section. So I went to Kmart (where I bought the purse and sunglasses ) and got some generic character stickers. If I can't find any better stickers I'll just print stuff off the internet, there was a lot of stuff in that thread I was reading last night! Anyway, I bought this notebook/binder thing... looks really neat!

some cute paper and travel scrapbooking stickers

more paper, page protectors and kmart stickers

Hoping to be back tomorrow with Day 2 of the touring "plan"

 

[mtgirl29]

Your MK plans look great! I am with you on getting a Dole Whip. We have been to WDW 2 x and never had one. This is the year!!!

Good find on the sunglasses. I may have to make a trip to Kmart to check it out.

Also, love the purse and all the Disney items for the gals.

Looking forward to reading more!!!

 

[merbobear]

Following you now from my own PTR. Have you looked in Joann Fabrics for scrapbooking materials? The Joann closest to me is a huge store, and they have a section of Disney scrapbook products - papers, embellishments, the scrapbooks themselves, etc. I was in the process of buying some when I realized it would be a lot more cost effective for me to print my pages out on card stock, and just use "papers" that I have found online.

I do think I have seen Disney scrapbook stuff in walmart as well, and Toys R Us usually has a pretty big selection of character stickers.

 

[merbobear]

Our Disney vacation starts Tuesday, May 31st at 8:30am, BUT our trip actually starts on Friday, May 27th. My extended family always has a family reunion the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so we’ll be going down to Florida for that anyway. We thought it made sense to group that trip with our Disney trip and save a little bit of gas money. It’s not the same region of Florida, but still Florida. We live in north Georgia, so Friday we’ll be traveling down to my sister’s house in south Georgia. We’ll stay the night there and do the family reunion thing on Saturday.
Sunday will be spent with my sister and her family in south Georgia, but we might try to convince my dad that we need to do an immediate family excursion to the beach while we’re near it! If we can work it all out, we’ll stay Saturday and Sunday night at the beach. Still not holding my breath on that, but I think it’d be nice!
Monday, Memorial Day we’ll be driving down to Orlando. We wanted to avoid the crowds at WDW on Memorial Day, but still take advantage of the free dining offer, so that’s the solution we came up with. I know it’ll still be busy… and hot, but we didn’t want to even attempt it with 2 toddlers on Memorial Day!
We’re staying Monday (30th) night with my cousin in Orlando. We’re lucky to have some family in the area, so we don’t have to pay for an off site hotel that night. We wanted to get the most we could out of our vacation, so our vacation starts at 8:30am that Tuesday morning with breakfast at…. Cinderella’s Royal Table!

An overview of our itinerary and ADRs:
*Monday, May 30th- travel, maybe Downtown Disney if we have time after we get settled in at my cousin’s house.
*Tuesday, May 31st- Magic Kingdom. ADRs- CRT at 8:30am and Crystal Palace at 3:30pm
*Wednesday, June 1st- Epcot. ADR at Biergarten at 6:50pm, CS for lunch
*Thursday, June 2nd- Magic Kingdom, ADRs- Chef Mickey’s at 11am and Whispering Canyon Café at 5pm
*Friday, June 3rd- Animal Kingdom, ADRs- Yak & Yeti at 12pm and Rainforest Café at 6:15pm
*Saturday, June 4th- Hollywood Studios, ADR- 50’s Primetime Café at 5:20pm, Pizza Planet (CS) for lunch

I forgot to mention, we’re staying at the All Star Movie Resort. So with the “free dining” we got the quick service dining included, but we decided to upgrade all the way to the Deluxe dining plan for a few reasons. We have 5 full days, but only 4 nights of the package (and thus dining), so we have more meals to account for. Both of our children are under 3, so we don’t have to pay for them, but they’re also not included in the dining plan. So we wanted the extra food (appetizers at sit down meals) and extra snacks to help feed them. Lastly, we’re doing a breakfast at Cinderella’s Table, so that used 2 credits, so even upgrading to the regular dining plan didn’t provide us with all the meals we needed. So… deluxe it is!
So how does it look? I made the ADR for Cinderella’s Table back in November and everything else sort of went around that. Chef Mickey’s was made months ago too, and then just about 2-3 weeks ago is when we decided to upgrade from the dining plan to the deluxe, so I went crazy trying to figure out what other ADRs we wanted.
I’ve only been on this site for about a month or so and it’s SO great. You can really find the answer to just about anything here. I have lots of plans in the works, so I think I’m going to enjoy having a PTR to update to help keep all my thoughts together and help pass the time

Coming up- Touring “plan” and other activities.

Something I just noticed about your ADR list - Rainforest Cafe doesn't take the dining plan (well it does - but only for platinum or premium). With the Deluxe DDP you will be paying OOP for your RC meal.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Your touring plans sound great so far! I like the way you have stars next to the must see attractions.

Love all the shopping purchases, especially the shoulder bag

 

[sahm2two]

Something I just noticed about your ADR list - Rainforest Cafe doesn't take the dining plan (well it does - but only for platinum or premium). With the Deluxe DDP you will be paying OOP for your RC meal.

When I did the search for restaurants I clicked on the option to include only restaurants on the dining plan... I guess it includes the platinum/premium? I guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

Animal Kingdom closes at 6 that night, so we had planned on staying till close, then eating. Maybe we'll go to DTD or something

I was going to do Day 2's update tonight, but only if I figure out where I'm using that DP credit now!

 

[sahm2two]

pause from freaking out and trying to find a new ADR to thank you Finding out now is a lot better than finding out after being charged for the meal!

 

[sahm2two]

Crisis averted! Only a small change to our itinerary Instead of Rainforest Cafe at 6:15, we'll be at Boma at 6:25. Andrew laughed at my for being stressed out about it. He's lucky he has me to plan his vacations for him!