Isn't it a little early to start a PTR?..Why yes, yes it is.(we are back!12/13)

[thegreggersmom]

I just hope Amelia doesn't scream during the 2 hour flight! I told Dave he would need to do laps with her around the airport terminal so she would be nice and tired for the flight (we leave at her normal naptime). I need to look into this CARES thing...I have heard many mention it.

I hear ya! I am very concerned Gregory will be a monster on the plane. We leave at 9am which is way early for his nap, but since we'll be getting up a little earlier I am hoping things will even out. I am also on an ongoing hunt for activities to take on the plane. Oh, well, since it IS an Orlando flight there is bound to be at least one other child on it with us.

 

[Lamping3]

We still haven't bought our tickets for the MVMCP. We are planning to go on my birthday the 29th I hope it works out, but if it happens to be bad weather I DO NOT want to be there, and if it's a sold out party not sure if we want to go either. Mel and I have discussed it and decided that we were going to wait until closer to time. Just hope we don't end up disappointed! But with our schedule we do have the option to go Sunday, Tues. or Thurs which is good

And BTW your list of 'things to do' on the weekends makes our trip seem VERY close!! I'm so EXCITED and can't wait!!!

I was kinda concerned when the automated system said that night was almost sold out. It is the only night that really fits into our schedule......we were not going until we got plane tickets. I cant believe how time has flown.......already 2 weekends down!

 

[Lamping3]

I hear ya! I am very concerned Gregory will be a monster on the plane. We leave at 9am which is way early for his nap, but since we'll be getting up a little earlier I am hoping things will even out. I am also on an ongoing hunt for activities to take on the plane. Oh, well, since it IS an Orlando flight there is bound to be at least one other child on it with us.

I plan on giving Amelia a dose of benadryl before we board. We are also taking our portable DVD player to use in flight..... I just need to find headphones for her.
Dave and I laughnow because we are glad being seated next to screaming kids at restraunts because it isn't ours!

 

[MagicMomentsMom]

I plan on giving Amelia a dose of benadryl before we board. We are also taking our portable DVD player to use in flight..... I just need to find headphones for her.
Dave and I laughnow because we are glad being seated next to screaming kids at restraunts because it isn't ours!

Here's a set of headphones for little ones--we're getting these for GenevaClaire to use in the park with her ipod if she needs to block out the noise or needs to "escape" some sort of sensory issue.

http://ifrogz.com/proddetail.php?prod=hdphone-tp01

 

[Lamping3]

Here's a set of headphones for little ones--we're getting these for GenevaClaire to use in the park with her ipod if she needs to block out the noise or needs to "escape" some sort of sensory issue.

http://ifrogz.com/proddetail.php?prod=hdphone-tp01

Thanks for the link!

 

[Lamping3]

We got our MVMCP tickets in the mail earlier in the week. It is so exciting because getting this stuff makes everything more "official".

I am currently stressed out because I have a sick toddler on my hands! Yesterday after her nap Amelia woke up with a little rattly breathing. I gave her a benadry and figuered it was because I was doing some cleaning. I figured if it got worse I would give her a nebulizer treatment. After dinner we went to Dave's parents house where she was playing ok but still was rattly. When we got home Dave went to give her a bath and I was planning to give her a neb treatment afterwards. She got worse so quickly.....started breathing rapidly and it was like she couldn't catch her breath. I started the treatment before her bath but it wasn't doing much. We heard the "bark" cough and I knew she had croup. We got her dressed and went to the urgent care her in town (luckily Dave works for the hospital that the urgent care is through and does maintence for their building so as soon as someone saw him they took us back). They gave her a dose of steroids and nebulized saline and before we left her breathing was not as labored. We got her home and she slept through the night well. We set up the pack n play in our room so we could hear her better....she slept....I didn't I kept waking up to check on her!

On a happier note....I just ordered Amelia some new clothes for fall! I have learned that going to the store with her is not fun and that online shopping is the way to go! I got some capris and short sleeves for our trip (I have no idea what the weather will be!) on super sale!

We are almost 2 months away!

 

[Charlefours]

Hello! I am reading your PTR and loving it. Your daughter is beautiful! We are taking our DD for the first time next September for her 4th birthday. I cannot wait!

We were looking at staying at the WL but when more relatives decided they wanted to go too, we had to look at a moderate level to make it doable for everyone. Next time we will have to stay at the WL--it looks so amazing! I will be looking forward to seeing what you say about it come December.

We are also driving it--from Michigan! I know everyone will think we are crazy once they learn that we are but it was going to be over $2,000 for us to fly when it was just five of us now its up to 11. That's not including any luggage fees! Yikes--I rather save the money for fun stuff to do in Disney!!

Looking forward to reading more. (I am only through the first page or two).

 

[Lamping3]

Hello! I am reading your PTR and loving it. Your daughter is beautiful! We are taking our DD for the first time next September for her 4th birthday. I cannot wait!

We were looking at staying at the WL but when more relatives decided they wanted to go too, we had to look at a moderate level to make it doable for everyone. Next time we will have to stay at the WL--it looks so amazing! I will be looking forward to seeing what you say about it come December.

We are also driving it--from Michigan! I know everyone will think we are crazy once they learn that we are but it was going to be over $2,000 for us to fly when it was just five of us now its up to 11. That's not including any luggage fees! Yikes--I rather save the money for fun stuff to do in Disney!!

Looking forward to reading more. (I am only through the first page or two).

Welcome! I am warning you this PTR is pretty boring so far!

We are not driving anymore.....I scored flights for $82 each way per person so that ended up being closer or cheeper than flying....plus we got an extra 2 days in WDW!

Keep watching flights.....they will probably go down closer to your dates. Check to see if Airtran is at your local airport...that is where we scored our cheep flights! If not I highly recommend getting the book "The Next Exit" we found it near the maps at our local Barnes and Noble. It has every exit on each major highway and what is at each exit.....very helpful even with a GPS! You are able to look what is comming at the next few stops before you decide where to stop.

We will probably have to "downgrade" to a moderate once we have more kiddos and we have to start paying for Amelia.....we wanted to stay high on the hog while we could! I am afraid though that we will be spoiled and not want to stay anywhere else.

 

[Lamping3]

I have been away from the boards for a while....well I have been checking things on my phone but it is not easy to post from there. Amelia came down with croup Wed night and we took her to urgent care. She acted better Thursday night until it was time for bed. I was at work and Dave called....she was crying and gasping in the background. Luckily it was almost time for my relief to come in so I waited anxiously and finally got to leave. By the time I got home she was asleep. Dave had given her a breathing treatment and she was fast asleep. We decided Dave would stay home from work the next day because his work is a little more lenient on taking days off for sick kids. Fast forward to 2 am. She woke up again in the same state crying and gasping for air. We did all the tricks took her outside.....in the steamy bath....gave her another nebulizer treatment. Finally in the second round of steamy bath she fell asleep. Dave and I decided that we needed to take her to the ER because she shouldn't be worse that the day before.

Luckily we got the best doctor in the world at the ER. He was soooo nice. He said that her steroid dose was too low for her weight (stupid me I should have checked the dose....but you don't think of things like that). We got her the correct dose and she got a nebulizer treatment of something that she had to stay in the ER for 4 hours to make sure she was ok. Finally we got discharged at 8am and got to go home. Both Dave and I stayed home that day.

Dave fell asleep on the couch and I thought I would take Amelia up to our room to lay down with her (she looked ready for a nap). She says to me "Bugs?" So I picked up our portable DVD player to set on the nightstand so she could watch the movie while I layed down and I dropped it! I have never been so mad a myself......the screen is damaged...it looks cracked but the outside is fine so it must be something with the inner workings. I can't decide if I want to spend the $$ for a new one or not since we are not driving now. We did use it a lot when we are upstairs taking showers or doing something upstairs.

Amelia is doing lots better now and she will be going back to daycare tomorrow!

Hopefully I can get our revised itenary up this week....Wednesday....my day off.

 

[Charlefours]

Keep watching flights.....they will probably go down closer to your dates. Check to see if Airtran is at your local airport...that is where we scored our cheep flights! If not I highly recommend getting the book "The Next Exit" we found it near the maps at our local Barnes and Noble. It has every exit on each major highway and what is at each exit.....very helpful even with a GPS! You are able to look what is comming at the next few stops before you decide where to stop.

I did check Airtran a few days ago, the rates are not that far out in advance. I tried to price out in May and July to check and they are going to be about $700 before checking luggage. That's a lot to add to our budget at this point. I think I will keep an eye out on them just in case. Though DH and I really like the idea of driving it at this point.

I will definitely check out the The Next Exit book. Thank you for the recommendation!

I don't think your PTR is boring! I am enjoying it. Looking forward to the next installment.

I hope Amelia is feeling better now!

 

[Lamping3]

I did check Airtran a few days ago, the rates are not that far out in advance. I tried to price out in May and July to check and they are going to be about $700 before checking luggage. That's a lot to add to our budget at this point. I think I will keep an eye out on them just in case. Though DH and I really like the idea of driving it at this point.

I will definitely check out the The Next Exit book. Thank you for the recommendation!

I don't think your PTR is boring! I am enjoying it. Looking forward to the next installment.

I hope Amelia is feeling better now!

Have you thought about what it is going to cost to drive? We estimated about $300 for gas plus we were staying in 3 hotels on they way down and at least 2 on the way back.....our plane tickets are just under $600 for the 3 of us. Checking a bag is only $15 per bag....(for the first bag.....I haven't found out if it is per person or not) not really that much! So us flying ends up being just at or a little cheeper than driving. We have to stop....Dave has epilepsy so we couldn't make it driving straight through....also we took into the fact that Amelia hasn't been doing too well riding in the car lately!

We were originally excited to drive too.....but Amelia not doing well in the car and being able to squeeze 2 extra days in at WDW made flying seem better.

 

[Lamping3]

Amelia is doing much better! She still has a cough but it is nothing like it was last week!

I have been really busy lately.....we are having a garage sale along with our subdivision Saturday and I have been going through everything in the house. Anyone in need of baby girl items.....I will give you my address!


Now that we have everything finalized with our flight and our ADRs I can write up my schedule!


12/1epart STL noon arrive in Orlando 3pm (FL time). Hopefully we will be able to get to ASMovies by 5pm. Our choices to do this evening include....DTD or explore the Epcot Resorts and eat CS wherever we feel like it.

12/2: ADR Boma 9am, Explore the AKL. Back to resort for nap and lunch. Evening either at DTD or Epcot resorts.

12/3: Check in to WL. Explore WL.....I was thinking about doing the professional photos at WL for family Christmas photos....I need to be calling if this is what we are going to do. Whispering Canyon Cafe ADR 1:55....I am still trying to get something a little later....2:30 to 3:15? MVMCP at 4pm!

12/4: Hollywood Studios.....ADR Hollywood and Vine 8:10am. Studios opens at 9am. We plan on doing just things Amelia can do....neither Dave or I are big riders so we are happy catering to her! Back to WL for nap! Back to Studios for Osborne Lights!

12/5: Epcot Morning. This will be the morning of firsts! Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Seas with Nemo....I have not seen any of these! We also want to see Living with the Land because Dave has not seen this an I haven't since I was young. I also want to Pick a Pearl in Japan for Amelia and I. We have Reservations at the Biergarten at noon. See a little more of WS then back to room for nap. Chip and Dale Campfire 7pm.

12/6: AK morning. Breakfast with Donald at 8:05am. Hopefully with an earlier evening the night before Amelia will be able to last most of the day without a nap. We have lots to see here....especially Finding Nemo...for our Nemo lovin' little girl! Back to room for late nap. We can go to DTD tonight or just relax!

12/7: Epcot again! If we haven't been able to see the Epcot resorts earlier we might start the morning there. As long as we have seen our top do's in FW we will be spending most of our day in WS as soon as it opens. Dave and I looooove WS. Lunch at LeCellier at 11:40. Back to room for late nap. Evening at MK.

12/8: MK finally! We want to concentrate on Fantasyland and be at Toontown when it opens to see Tink for Amelia! Lunch at CHH. Back to room for a nap. Evening plans are checkin out the GF and Poly decorations. Ohana reservations at 7:05pm and then wishes and Electrical Water Pagent on Poly beach!

12/9: MK again! EMH are this morning....I hope we are well rested! Lunch at Kona at 11:10am....I am thinking about making this later? But it might work out ok because then we can go straight back to WL for nap and be back at MK for our last night!

12/10: Checkout.... Our flight leaves at 2:50 which leads me to believe that we will be picked up before noon by ME. We might take one more ride on the monorail and stop at the resorts for last minute souviners!

12/11: Laundryand TR day!

Amelia does well later at night as long as she has had a decent nap that day so hopefully we can escape back to the resort for that to happen! I am also hoping the time change will help us out with MVMCP so we can stay later than hoped. We opted not to buy any more tickets for our arrival day....we won't get there til 5pm...a waste of $$ if you ask me and our 2nd day because there is so much decorations to see at the resorts plus I loooove me some DTD....I remember when it was Lake Buena Vista! Also this gives us a good idea of how Amelia will be with the new "surroundings".

 

[Charlefours]

Have you thought about what it is going to cost to drive? We estimated about $300 for gas plus we were staying in 3 hotels on they way down and at least 2 on the way back.....our plane tickets are just under $600 for the 3 of us. Checking a bag is only $15 per bag....(for the first bag.....I haven't found out if it is per person or not) not really that much! So us flying ends up being just at or a little cheeper than driving. We have to stop....Dave has epilepsy so we couldn't make it driving straight through....also we took into the fact that Amelia hasn't been doing too well riding in the car lately!

As of now, it will be more expensive to fly with having to pay for checking luggage and plane tickets. The first night we will stay over with my dad because we need to pick him up anyways--he is coming with us. So it would be a nine hour drive (1 tank of gas) down to southern Georgia with a hotel stay. Then we will be about three hours from POR. No matter how I kept running the numbers, it seems like it will be cheaper to drive it. I am going to keep a look out on airfare--if we can get a good deal (under $500) than look out!!

 

[Lamping3]

As of now, it will be more expensive to fly with having to pay for checking luggage and plane tickets. The first night we will stay over with my dad because we need to pick him up anyways--he is coming with us. So it would be a nine hour drive (1 tank of gas) down to southern Georgia with a hotel stay. Then we will be about three hours from POR. No matter how I kept running the numbers, it seems like it will be cheaper to drive it. I am going to keep a look out on airfare--if we can get a good deal (under $500) than look out!!

I just subscribed to your PTR....I can't wait to hear about what you have planned so far!

 

[Lamping3]

My garage sale went well this am. I got rid of about 2/3 of the stuff I had up for sale. We had a lot of little stuff including baby things from Amelia....and a lot of her clothes. The majority of the clothes went which I am extremely happy about. I don't want to hang on to that stuff because I HATE clutter! We didn't have anything large. Just some random household items, decorations from when we lived in an apt that do not go with our decor now, and some of Dave's old tool bags and tool stuff. I just have to rant about people though. I am not a barginer. I do not haggle with prices because obviously they have put the prices on for a reason. I had a larger mirror that I had over our couch at one time.....I put $5 on it. This lady kept saying she would give me $2....really? It was a fairly large mirror and it was in perfect condition....just some dust and fingerprints on the glass. She kept this up with everything that we had for sale. It was really annoying. I usually price things pretty low anyway because I want it gone and the stuff I price higher is usually worth more than what I have priced it at. Honestly I have seen much more higher priced "junk" at other sales. Anyway rant over. We ended up making $170 at the sale . That will go into our safe in an envelope for Disney spending cash!

I am off to the Disney web site to check out the picture sessions and see what it will $$$....hopefully we can get one for December 3rd before our MVMCP!

 

[beyondblessed]

hi! I just read your entire trip report and subscribed. I can't wait to read more. We will be in Disney the same time as you - Poly 12/5-12/13.

* Amelia is so stinking cute!
* I LOVE your t-shirts and custom outfits!
* Your count down is adorable!
* I noticed your cardinal game pics - sad night for us fans! boo hoo
* I'm from central IL - but we head 2 hours east to fly AirTran out of Indy (just a tad closer than STL)

There are a million other things running through my head right now but this seems to be all I can get out! haha I'll be back to read more!

 

[Charlefours]

Yay!! I hope I do not bore you to death on PTR!!

Gotta love spending money for Disney! Yay for MVMCP! I am looking forward to hearing reports about that. I am questioning dropping a day off our tickets--right now we have 8 days of park tickets but I am questioning if we will feel up to heading into the parks on Saturday after driving. Also the day we leave. I think dropping at least one day would make sense. Hmmm...what do you think?

The photography session--I think the pictures would be great if you got a good photographer. I remember reading somewhere someone got a photographer that did not care for kids too much (I know, I know--they work for Disney for goodness sake) and she wished they asked for a different one. She said something to effect--don't be afraid to ask for a different photographer since you are spending the money.

 

[Lamping3]

hi! I just read your entire trip report and subscribed. I can't wait to read more. We will be in Disney the same time as you - Poly 12/5-12/13.

* Amelia is so stinking cute!
* I LOVE your t-shirts and custom outfits!
* Your count down is adorable!
* I noticed your cardinal game pics - sad night for us fans! boo hoo
* I'm from central IL - but we head 2 hours east to fly AirTran out of Indy (just a tad closer than STL)

There are a million other things running through my head right now but this seems to be all I can get out! haha I'll be back to read more!

Welcome!!!! Ooohhh the Poly. I would love to stay there!

Yay!! I hope I do not bore you to death on PTR!!

Gotta love spending money for Disney! Yay for MVMCP! I am looking forward to hearing reports about that. I am questioning dropping a day off our tickets--right now we have 8 days of park tickets but I am questioning if we will feel up to heading into the parks on Saturday after driving. Also the day we leave. I think dropping at least one day would make sense. Hmmm...what do you think?

The photography session--I think the pictures would be great if you got a good photographer. I remember reading somewhere someone got a photographer that did not care for kids too much (I know, I know--they work for Disney for goodness sake) and she wished they asked for a different one. She said something to effect--don't be afraid to ask for a different photographer since you are spending the money.

You can't be as boring as me!

You might look at the price difference to see how much the extra day really is. For our trip in 2006 I bought the tickets for my family (parents, sister and BIL and her two sons as well as Dave and I) for Christmas 2005. And we couldn't decide to buy 6 or 7 day park hoppers. When I went out to price them the difference was either 7 or 8 dollars (not per person.....that was the TOTAL difference). I know I have wasted $8 on other things not worth much but I thought it might be beneficial to have that extra day just in case we wanted to go into a park late just to see fireworks or something on our arrival day. Dave and I had an earlier flight so we ended up using all of the days....my parents and my sister's family got in late so theirs was wasted but it wasn't a biggie to me. There might be a bigger difference if you are not getting park hoppers but it would be worth it to check!

I hope we get a good photographer!

 

[punkin413]

hey! i'm *finally* attempting to catch up on everything with all my subbed TRs and pre-TRs. i'm not even attempting to completely catch up - just gonna jump right in! your schedule looks good! you have some great ADRs. my favorite classic character meal is tusker house with donald - you guys will love that one!

 

[Charlefours]

You can't be as boring as me!

You might look at the price difference to see how much the extra day really is. For our trip in 2006 I bought the tickets for my family (parents, sister and BIL and her two sons as well as Dave and I) for Christmas 2005. And we couldn't decide to buy 6 or 7 day park hoppers. When I went out to price them the difference was either 7 or 8 dollars (not per person.....that was the TOTAL difference). I know I have wasted $8 on other things not worth much but I thought it might be beneficial to have that extra day just in case we wanted to go into a park late just to see fireworks or something on our arrival day. Dave and I had an earlier flight so we ended up using all of the days....my parents and my sister's family got in late so theirs was wasted but it wasn't a biggie to me. There might be a bigger difference if you are not getting park hoppers but it would be worth it to check!

I know that the difference is extremely small in the grand scheme of things--I think under $10 for each adult ticket and less for DD's ticket. It may work out to be $20 if we drop down. Hmm...I just looked up in my 2009 Passporter and it says the difference between 7 and 8 day tickets with PH is about $30 per adult ticket! That does not seem right...I think I may jump onto the reservation system and play around with it to see what it says the difference is. If it is the $60 for both adult, that may be worth reconsidering...

So I jumped onto WDW to play with 8 days versus 7 days---not sure where the Passporter got their numbers but for us to drop from 8 days of tickets with PH to 7 days was only $12 difference for 3 adults and 1 child. Totally not worth it because what if we decide to run in the morning on Saturday before we leave to do a favorite ride? I think we are staying the same.