If Mickey can celebrate his birthday all year long, so can I ! june ptr

[reyasmommy]

Hello and Welcome !

My name is Deanna …. I’m a 40 year old SAHM who is a lover of all things Disney. I also love reading, watching movies, and long drives in the mountains!

My first trip to WDW was back in 1996 for my High School graduation. ((Wow! I feel old)
I was hooked the moment I walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

Favorite Ride: Soarin





I am the master planner of all of our trips. Nobody usually knows of our itineraries except for me, everything is just a nice surprise for the rest of the family. I never want my husband to have to worry about the details when he’s the one that is working so hard to fund all of our vacations. He just gives me a budget, and I try to plan the best possibe vacation within that budget. This will be my 10th trip to Disney World!


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So, I turned 40 back in July. I admit, I was having a really hard time accepting that I was turning 40, however my husband made sure it was the best birthday I’ve ever had! Actually, he’s made it best YEAR ever! ((I kind of wish I was turning 40 every year!)) He did so by making one of my lifetime dreams come true by taking me on a trip to Paris, Disneyland Paris and London. To top it off when we returned back home, we took the kids on a surprise trip to Disney World, and now we’re going again before my milestone year is gone. I'll be turning 41 just a couple weeks after return home.











Will (DH-43 years old) He loves Disney as much as I do, even though he would never admit it. He loves working out, watching movies, camping and being our sons Den leader in Cub Scouts. He’s the most hands on, amazing Dad to our kiddos. He’ll do anything and everything for them, including taking them to Disneyland and Disney World as often as possible. Along with my birthday we’ll be celebrating our 18th wedding Anniversary, we were married at the Polynesian on June 14th, 2001.

Favorite Ride: Space Mountain







Reya (DD-12 years old) Loves reading, drawing, and watching Voltron with her daddy. She has a heart of gold and is the hardest working person I know. Navigating middle school has been a real challenge for her but she’s doing it like a champion and is an Honor Roll student. This will be her 6th trip to Disney World. Her first time was when she was 16 months old.

Favorite Ride: 7DMT






Jayden (DS-9 years old) Loves video games, swimming, cub scouts, and parkour. He’s the sweetest little boy who always treats others with compassion and kindness. Despite some learning and speech disabilities he’s an amazing student and works so hard to prove himself. This will be his 5th trip to Disney World. His first time was when he was 6 months old.

Favorite Ride: Tomorrow Land speedway


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Our upcoming trip will be 3 weeks long and will NOT consist of just Disney ((I know crazy, right?!?! )) I also know that lot of people on here are not interested in reading about anything that isn’t Disney Related and I promise I won’t be offended if you decide to skip over those parts. I struggled with whether I should even do a trip report based on that, but then I was inspired by my DD to continue on. A few months ago, I was reading through a few of my OLD TR's and my DD asked if she could look at them. Before I knew it, she was on the computer for hours reading and enjoying all of the pictures from our previous vacations. ((some of which she obviously doesn’t remember because she was just a baby)) So, I was reminded that even if nobody else wants to read this, it will always be here for my kids and I look back on, and we’ll be able to reminisce about another adventure we had together. Before I know it both of my kids will be out of the house and we won’t have these special vacations together, so why not preserve the memories?

I do however hope that those of you who have found me will stay, and I look forward to getting some helpful advice, and meeting some wonderful people who share in my excitement, and love Disney as much as I do!

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[suse66]

So fun!! We are going just a few weeks after you. Have fun planning all the awesome details, I am sure it will be wonderful!

 

[reyasmommy]

So fun!! We are going just a few weeks after you. Have fun planning all the awesome details, I am sure it will be wonderful!

Thanks …… Same to you! Planning is half the fun, right?!

 

[reyasmommy]

So..... We are road-tripping to Florida from Colorado. Round trip we will be driving 3,632 miles !!!!! This isn’t our first, second, third or even fourth time driving to Florida. We usually drive because it's a lot cheaper, I like having the freedom of having a car, not worrying about how much luggage we have and just the adventure of seeing the country and spending time exploring with the family. DD was only 1 when we took her on her first Road trip and now she’s going to be 13! Thanks to a TR I wrote 13 years ago it almost seems like yesterday and I love remembering all the little details.

Here’s a couple of pictures of DH and DD. The first picture is of them passed out on our way to Florida and the second one is back in July on the bus after a fun filled day at Magic Kingdom! I love it !

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Latest Itinerary ​

~ May 30th – Drive to Topeka Kansas to stay the night (533 miles 7 ½ Hours)


~ May 31st- Drive to Saint Louis (310 miles 4 ½ hours)

See the Gateway Arch

Play at the City Museum ((One of the coolest places I’ve EVER visited)

Watch the light show at Union Station while eating dessert


June 1st ~ - Drive to Atlanta to stay the night ( 584 miles 9 hours)



~ June 2nd – Drive to Daytona beach to stay the night and hang out at the beach. Staying at the Hard Rock Hotel (405 miles 6 hours)


~ June 3rd – 6th – Caribbean Cruise


~ June 7th-8th – Cabana Bay Resort

Volcano Bay

Sea World


~ June 9th-12th – Royal Pacific Resort

Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios/Disney Spring



~ June 13th- 21st – Animal Kingdom Lodge ((First Deluxe Resort Experience))

Still working on what days we will be where …. Pretty sure I have it narrowed down and I’ll share soon


~ June 22nd – 24th – Drive home (( Chattanooga and Kansas City))


~ Home ☹

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[reyasmommy]

So, during the 2 years I was planning our trip to Europe, I was also planning a surprise trip to Disney World for my kids. I wasn’t able to put as much effort into that portion of our vacation because planning our first trip out of the country was pretty daunting. It was also going to be the first time I had ever been away from my kids for more that 48 hours. It was definitely hard the first couple days and I missed them more than words could describe, but at the same time it was so nice to have some much needed one on one time alone with my husband. To ease our conscience we thought a trip to Disney World would be exciting and a wonderful way for my husband to utilize the rest of his sabbatical. For several months the kids were under the impression that we were going to be taking a weekend trip to Omaha when DH and I returned from London. After landing back in Denver we had less then 72 hours to do laundry, unpack, tie up odds and ends and repack everything for a red eye flight to Orlando.




~ Big shout out to my Dad for watching our 3 fur babies for 3 weeks ~​

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( Hunter, Charlie, Buffy)


Once we were at the airport and found our gate, I pulled out the magic bands and told DS and DD exactly where we were going. Suddenly the midnight flight didn’t seem so bad to them.







To save money we stayed at POP for the first time. I was a little worried, but we ended up falling in love with the place. The rooms are so nicely done and the beds and pillows were some of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on. I’m really happy with our decision and would definitely stay there again in the future.​

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(Jayden approved of the pull down bed- was super comfortable)


My only regret on this short trip was that I barely took any pictures. I think one day I didn’t even take out the camera at all. We were just trying to live in the moment since we had just spent 2 weeks away from the kids and because most of the trip was completely unplanned. I knew what parks we were going to and I had fast passes set up but that was the extent of it.






So, just for fun I'd thought I'd share just a few pictures that I did manage to snap ……..


(DH and DS waiting for our food at Prime Time Café)









To be continued …………..
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[missangelalexis]

Joining in! This sounds like it will be an epic trip! I look forward to hearing not only about the Disney parts, but everything else too

 

[reyasmommy]

Joining in! This sounds like it will be an epic trip! I look forward to hearing not only about the Disney parts, but everything else too

That's very kind, I hope you're not the only one. Road Trips and added activities to our Disney Trips are basically a tradition. We've flown a few times but it's mostly been road trips. We always save the best for last, which of course is Disney.

Thanks for reading, I'm happy to have you!

 

[reyasmommy]

More July 2018 pictures …….













(Watched a couple get engaged in front of spaceship Earth)





(It's a tradition every vacation to eat one dinner meal consisting of ONLY cupcakes)




((DD's and Mine ugly TT Car.... lol )) So much fun and laughter making it!

 

[missangelalexis]

Awesome pics!!

 

[reyasmommy]

I made reservations for our first Road Trip day . ​

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This will probably be the most boring, uneventful day of our trip. Traveling through Kansas is my least favorite state to drive through and there is nothing to see or do. I’m normally the primary driver, unless I’m too tired to keep my eyes open. So, sleeping and watching movies will be the best way to kill the time, we’ll stop often for potty breaks, lunch and walking.





We’ll stop or the night in Topeka Kansas. There’s no special reason for staying here, it’s about 7 hours from home and that seems likes plenty of time to drive the first day.





I got reservations at a Homewood Suites and reserved a one bedroom suite. I figured we needed something a little bit bigger this day so we can spread out a bit since we’ll be pretty tired of each other by the time we’re ready to rest.​

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We will most likely go swimming at the hotel and get some takeout while relaxing after a long day of driving.​

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[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great plan!!

 

[reyasmommy]

Well, I’ve already changed my mind on a couple things and have to cancel our hotel reservation in Topeka. We will no longer be staying there and are now going to leave a day earlier and hit the road right after my DH gets off of work, that way we can have one extra day in Saint Louis. There was just way too much we wanted do there that half a day is just not going to be long enough. So, I’ll have to find a hotel in middle of nowhere Kansas so we can get some miles under our belt once DH clocks out.

However, I have decided on what parks we will do on what days though !

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June



13th – Magic Kingdom (( We always start at MK))

14th- Epcot

15th- Hollywood Studios

16th- Animal Kingdom

17th- Hollywood Studios

18th- Epcot (( Evening Magic Hours))

19th- Magic Kingdom ((Evening magic hours))

20th- Animal Kingdom



We always avoid the parks that have early magic hours, but we do like doing the evening ones. We usually take a break or nap in the middle of the day, so it's nice to go back to a park that's open a little later. I don't like having to get up early for magic mornings and deal with larger crowds.

Now to figure out where we want to eat. We rarely do any ADR's,( this might change as the kids get older?) However, I still like to figure out where we would like to eat ahead of time whether it's quick service or table service. We also like to try something different each time we visit.

 

[missangelalexis]

2 days at each park sounds awesome!

 

[reyasmommy]

2 days at each park sounds awesome!

Thanks...…. We don't usually park hop so we like to spend 2 days at each park.

 

[suse66]

I like having the freedom of having a car, not worrying about how much luggage we have and just the adventure of seeing the country and spending time exploring with the family. DD was only 1 when we took her on her first Road trip and now she’s going to be 13! Thanks to a TR I wrote 13 years ago it almost seems like yesterday and I love remembering all the little details.

We have done a lot of road trips with our crew too! In fact, the twins were 4 months old when we did our first one; 18 hours from Toronto to PEI! We drive east to PEI every summer and have driven to Disney from southern Ontario (25 hours) and last year we drove to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. So fun!

Here’s a couple of pictures of DH and DD. The first picture is of them passed out on our way to Florida and the second one is back in July on the bus after a fun filled day at Magic Kingdom! I love it !

SO adorable!!!

Once we were at the airport and found our gate, I pulled out the magic bands and told DS and DD exactly where we were going. Suddenly the midnight flight didn’t seem so bad to them.

What a great surprise!

To save money we stayed at POP for the first time. I was a little worried, but we ended up falling in love with the place. The rooms are so nicely done and the beds and pillows were some of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on. I’m really happy with our decision and would definitely stay there again in the future.​

POP is a great resort!

(It's a tradition every vacation to eat one dinner meal consisting of ONLY cupcakes)

Haha! We do the same thing but with ice cream!

 

[reyasmommy]

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One, of the reasons I enjoy Road Trips so much, is because I love seeing the countryside pass by! I love seeing the different landscapes and architecture, sunrises, sunsets, meeting new people, eating at new restaurants, shopping at mom and pop shops, and especially exploring quirky roadside attractions. I like doing my research before we leave and I usually know exactly where we’re going to stop and what we’re going to do along the way. Most of the time we just pull over at rest area to use the facilities, and walk a few laps on the paved walkways to get some exercise and stretch our legs. Jayden will get on my cell phone and hunt some pokemon, but at least it gets him up and moving.

Also, on ALL of our vacations, whether it’s Disney or something else we make it a priority to do at least 2-5 NEW things. This can be as simple as trying a snack or meal we’ve never tried before, riding a new ride, eating at a new restaurant or staying at a new hotel. The options are endless!

(Side note: DH has been working hard for many years to buy his “dream” car ((Or truck rather)) He thinks he’ll finally be able to make that dream a reality in the upcoming month or two. If so, we’ll have a brand new vehicle to take on our road trip, with a ton of space for as much luggage I want and hopefully a nice entertainment package to keep the kids occupied! Fingers Crossed!))




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So, Like I had mentioned before, we plan on leaving a day earlier now. We’ll leave once DH gets home from work, hopefully he’ll be able to get off a little earlier than usual?

Road Trip Update


Day 1 ~ Drive to Hays Kansas ( 4 hours 35 mins)​

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I want to be out of the house by 2:00 pm if at all possible

Grab lunch on our way out of the city . Thinking about trying MOD PIZZA for the first time.



On our way out of Colorado I want to stop in a small town called Burlington. I saw that they have an old carousel and small museum I’d like for us to see. It’s only $1 to browse the museum and 25 cents to ride the carousel! It looks so beautiful! Here’s a description from their website:





"Of the nearly 2,500 wooden carousels carved in America between 1885 and the 1930s, fewer than 150 are still in existence. One of the finest survivors, however, can be found on the county fairgrounds in Burlington, Colorado.

The sixth of 74 carousels manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) between 1904 and 1933, the Kit Carson County Carousel is a three-row, stationary (the animals do not move up and down) machine housed in a 12-sided frame building. It is the only antique carousel in America still having original paint on both the scenery panels and on the animals, and PTC#6 is the only surviving menagerie (having other animals in addition to horses) carousel made by PTC. And it's fully operational!"





Some pictures I found on the internet….. I think the kids are going to love this !








I would like to only do one more stop on the way to our final destination. There's a park in a small town, right next to a playground. I'll Just grab some yummy coffee and let the kids run around the park to burn off some energy.

We'll probably arrive at our hotel around 9:30 pm

I got reservations at a Holiday Inn Express





We’ll just grab some takeout somewhere near our hotel, change into our pj’s, and relax before we fall asleep.

NEW: 1. Eating at Mod Pizza
2. Seeing and riding the Kit Carson Carousel



Now, to make a few ADR’s for Disney! I wasn’t going to do any, but the kids asked to go to a few specific ones, so here I go …………….​

 

[reyasmommy]

We have done a lot of road trips with our crew too! In fact, the twins were 4 months old when we did our first one; 18 hours from Toronto to PEI! We drive east to PEI every summer and have driven to Disney from southern Ontario (25 hours) and last year we drove to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. So fun!

SO adorable!!!

What a great surprise!

POP is a great resort!

Haha! We do the same thing but with ice cream!

I think you either love road trips or you hate them ….. I love them! Flying scares me, but we'll do it if we have a short trip or need to be somewhere fast.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who will do dessert only for dinner. lol It started because the kids and I were in Omaha on vacation and I couldn't find anywhere open to eat, we had cupcakes in the fridge, so I figured, why not? I thought I was the worst mom in the world, but it turns out they thought it was the coolest thing ever. So, its become a tradition to do one dinner with nothing but cupcakes!

 

[reyasmommy]

So, our last couple of trips we adopted some new strategies that has helped with the mid-day stress and lunch time crowds.

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#1 We never go to Early Morning Magic hours. We desperately need that extra hour for sleep!

#2 A huge plus to driving to florida and having our own car is that we can go to Walmart or Target and stock up on water, snacks, and breakfast items to store at the hotel

#3 Except for the days that we have ADR’s for breakfast or have a craving for breakfast food, we will just grab something to eat on the way out the door. Such as muffins, granola bars and fruit. We will fill up our mugs and eat while we’re waiting for a bus.

#4 Make it to rope drop and hit out as many rides as we can for the first 1- 1 ½ hours.

#5 Set up fast passes for 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30

#6 Since we had a small breakfast we will have an early lunch. We will go to a quick service restaurant within the first 15 mins after it opens ((around 10:45-11:00 am)) This way there is nobody else there and we aren’t fighting for tables and knocking people over in order to grab one that a family had just left. This was becoming way to much for me and I would get so frustrated by the time we actually got to sit down and eat our food. There is no stress ! We can sit at any table we desire, pull out our phones and order our food, pick it up, eat, and by the time we’re finished everyone else is fighting for our table because it is the lunch rush hour, our bellies are full and we are set to use our first fast pass.

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# 6 We go back to our hotel to nap and swim around 2:00 pm and set up an evening fast pass

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#7 Go back to the park around 5:00 ~ Have dinner, use fast passes or get on whatever we can standby, watch some evening entertainment and try to stay till park closing if our bodies can handle it.

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[missangelalexis]

Really good strategies!!

 

[NJlauren]

Love your trip report title!

We are going to Disneyland Paris this year! Any tips?

Looking forward to hearing a it more!