(Insert Clever Title Here) or 14 Days of Awesome

[iheartwalt]

Eeek! I am trip reporting! This is craziness and unchartered territory for me, so I apologize in advance for boriness, over excitement, made-up words, a general overuse of puns, exclamation points, and smiley faces (admitting I have a problem is the first step, right? ), spelling errors, grammatical errors, errors in judgment, and anything else that may or may not offend you (such as extreme run on sentences).

As this is my first trip report I am just going to strictly follow the outline given in the sticky...although I may decide to throw caution to the wind later but we shall see

* Who is in your party

Starring Roles:

First up there is Holly, that's me! I am in my earlyish 30's and I have loved everything Disney, magical, sparkly, my whole life. I have been to WDW 4 times and DL 1 time (it was only for like 4 hours after a tradeshow I went to for work but, surprisingly I saw a lot of the park). Disney World is my absolutely most favorite place on earth, big smile just thinking about it.

Next we have DH Roger. He is of a similar age and has been to the world a few more times than I have and is an even bigger fan than me. He is really into the history and stuff of the parks...me, not so much but I try to politely listen (or appear that I am listening).

Rog and I both work in health insurance so to say we need a vacation after all the health care reform stuff is the understatement of the (Pop) century!

Last but most certainly not least we have Max our super awesome 3 year old son! He is also a Disney fanatic and has one trip under his belt (brought him last year for "free" while he was still under three and it was amazing!). Every week at the end of his worship music class at church he has to say one thing that he thanks God for, every week without fail his answer is Small World (so cute, but truth be told I wouldn't mind if he said "mama" just once).


If I did this correctly you should be seeing a picture of us here (if you don't see it then I just spent the last hour figuring out and not very well apparently, Photobucket for nothing)

Supporting Cast:

My parents Susan and Ron will be joining us for 3 days in the parks and will be staying at Pop with us (not with us, with us...oh gosh I am getting a little stabby just imagining 4 adults and a 3 year old in one room at Pop) but hopefully near us. They will also be watching Max for one evening so Roger and I can go to Mk together, so excited for that.
My mom has been to EPCOT once a few years back and liked it okay, I am not really sure if she is going to "get it" but I know she will love seeing her grandbaby so happy. My stepdad went to Disney about 2 decades ago (he has a MK 25th anniversary poster in the laundry room from the trip, so however long ago that was...my DH would know...and has probably told me...several times). Ron is super easy going and has an idea of what's in store but I am a little worried about my mom not having fun.

My bestie Ashley. She lives in Tampa and will be staying at Pop for one night and then spending the next day at MK with us. She is super excited! She has been to EPCOT once a few years back (not with my mom) but really wants to really see "Disney" so we are happy to oblige. She will totally get the magic and Max loves her and can't wait to show her all his favorite things.

 

[Capt_Jack_Sparrow]

Very nice pretrip report Dear wife. Can't wait for our trip! Oh and the 25th was in '96, so Ron was there 18 years ago

 

[iheartwalt]

* Your travel dates
Saturday January 25th 2014 -Saturday February 8th 2014 We live in northern Minnesota so missing out on two weeks of dead of winter temps is going to be super fabulous!
Our first trip was like 6 nights and then 8 nights and last year was 10 nights...and each year it is never enough. Hoping 14 nights is the magic amount for us as we don't have the vacation time to do any more than that
We have 10 day (non hopper) tickets so we will have 3 resort days which I am actually really looking forward to.

* Where are you staying
POP Century!
We just love Pop Our first trip as a couple we stayed at Carribean Beach and were really not impressed. Our next visit we did a split stay with Pop and AKL, loved AKL but 14 nights of Deluxe prices are just not in our budget...so Pop here we come!
When Max is older and our trips will be shorter (boooo school) we will probably branch out a little more on our resorts.

Even smiling standing in the lines at Pop (I really did figure out how to post pictures, yay!!)

 

[iheartwalt]

Very nice pretrip report Dear wife. Can't wait for our trip! Oh and the 25th was in '96, so Ron was there 18 years ago

Ugh, I knew you would! Love you!

 

[iheartwalt]

* What Advanced Dining Reservations you have made
We lucked out and got a free dining pin (I have never used the dancing banana before but if ever there was time to use it I think this is it) so we have the QS dining plan which we also had last year. With a three year old who still naps having a sit down meal everyday in addition to having to be back at the resort for a few hours every afternoon would just take away from too much park time so we chose to stick with the QS rather than upgrade.
That being said we do have a few ADR's:
1/29: T-REX for lunch for Holly, Roger, and Max. This will be on our first resort day. We haven't been here before and really want Max to experience the ambiance but we also don't want to break the bank considering we have so many QS credits we could be using. So we are planning on just splitting the giant appetizer tower thing and then going to Earl of Sandwich if we are still hungry. Can't go wrong with appetizers and that should put us only around $30 out of pocket, not too shabby at all.

1/30: Sci-Fi with my parents for an early (4:05...a liiiittle worried about the nap schedule for that day) dinner. Roger and I have eaten here in the past and think everyone will get a kick out of the atmosphere...plus it's good food (in my opinion) and really inexpensive.

2/6: Hollywood and Vine for lunch. Max is a big Jake fan and we booked this before Sofia and Doc were announced and kept hoping they would be added. Yay! I think he is really going to like this one.

2/7: Crystal Palace for an 8:35 breakfast. Max has an egg allergy so I am a little hesitant to do a big breakfast out but having the experience of seeing an empty MK and having him meet "Poo Bee" will be worth it (and everywhere was great last year with his allergies so i am not too worried).

*We save our character meals for the end of the trip as it takes him many (many) days to warm up to the big characters*

Not ADRs but we are also really looking forward to the following new to us things: Lobster Rolls at Boardwalk Bakery (will go there for dinner on one of our DHS nights), bringing Max to Babycakes (we are lucky that he only has an egg allergy but none the less there have been so many times that he has seen cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, etc and we always have to tell him no. So going somewhere like this and telling him to get whatever he wants is really going to be a highlight for me), Citrus Swirl (love Dole Whip floats...and Roger has the shirt to prove it but we are going to try something new...in addition to the half dozen Dole Whips we get ), and also hoping to try out the food trucks at DTD.


* If you have a set itinerary
We do have a set itinerary and we would no matter what but with FP+ I have a feeling we really will be sticking to our plans. We will do 2 days at AK, 2 days at DHS, 2 days at EPCOT, and 4 days at MK.

* Any special plans, events, etc that you have planned
We have a Pirate's League booked for Max (Jake costume is already packed) that he is really looking forward to. We are planning on doing that pirate game thing after as I think he will really like being in character.

On one of our resort days we have a Pirate's and Pals cruise booked. It is only a week into our trip so I am hoping Max will enjoy Smee and Hook but if not I know Roger will...and Max will love the Mickey Bars

(Max and his first Mickey Bar, such a milestone)

Oh and if you are reading this, thanks for taking the time to read this