It’s a marshmallow world in WI, but we’ll be in DISNEY world! Dec 2015 PTR *New Nov 17*

[sprousehouse]

Not sure what time you are looking at for the BOG breakfast but over on EASYWDW they posted the 2014 Dec calendar where Disney changed it to all 8am MK openings for the month. they announced the different park hours in August in 2014. (We are going 11/28-12/6 so I've been following everywhere!). So if you were thinking of getting in before park opening that might be something to consider.

 

[Elevationist]

ADR stands for Absolutely Determined to Ram-As-Much-Food-In-As-Possible

I love this!!!

So, its seems a bit silly to share all of my ADRs with everyone before I've even shared our parks schedule.

I was sharing ADRs on my PTR before I even had park hours! I think about food WAY too much....

Thanks to @Elevationist for all of the wonderful advice AND for putting together a wee spreadsheet thing for your ADRs.... I'm going to borrow it! Hope that's okay! I'll bring it back!

Of course that's okay! I love that I could help in some way!

This gif is so freakin' random and hilarious!

Yes, that is a second dinner you see in there. HA. Milk shakes and french fries.

I am always an advocate of 4th Meal!

Awww. This makes my Excel-loving heart go pitter-patter!

Here's what I'm thinking, please chime in if you have additional advice.

1. BOG breakfast
2. Crystal Palace **Super important! Maple loooooooooves Pooh**
3. Ohana
4. Via Napoli
5. Chefs de France
6. Sanaa
7. LTT
8. Sci-Fi Dine in Theater
9. Yak & Yeti
10. Whispering Canyon Dinner
11. 50s Prime Time Cafe
12. Whispering Canyon Bfast

I think this looks about perfect, actually!

DOOOLLEEE WHIPPPPP FLOOOOATTTTTS (and cupcakes)

A girl after my own heart. We could so hang (and eat) together!

Here is a quick compilation of me with a few of my dole whips last year.

That's quite a collection of Dole Whips you got there!!

 

[ariane37]

Hi Kelsey Just found your PTR so I'm joining

Going back to the beginning I have to say I laughed HYSTERICALLY when you mentioned being grossed out by stroller wheels!! My youngest has been out of a stroller for 6 years but those wheels used to make me nauseous and nobody understood why! Glad I found someone else who gets it, even if it's years later lol

 

[Steppesister]

Hi KroseyChica!

I made my way over and will be here as I can. School is done for the summer starting on Thursday AM, so I'll be back then to really join in.

 

[Dugette]

Just letting you know I'm following along! Looking forward to hearing all about Maple's first WDW trip!

 

[kroseycorn]

Things got a liiiiiitle crazy
June 17, 2015​

Soooo... things got a LITTLE crazy. My FIL had to have semi-emergency bypass surgery (after they discovered the blockages he couldn't leave the hospital, but they stayed for about 6 days before they did anything... schedules, you know). He already had one heart attack quite a few years ago (and it looks like he did have a minor heart attack at some point recently), so they sort of knew what to expect, but it was still pretty scary. My husband ended up flying out last minute to lend a hand and I was a single mom for like 5 days. SERIOUSLY, I do not know how single moms do it. I suppose to some extant its just a change in perspective, but I was exhausted at the end of the day. Brian puts the baby to sleep every night and I would get to that point and be like... I'm done. WINE TIME.

But we did all survive, including my FIL who is now home and resting.

ALSO, Maple turned one! So exciting. We ate a LOT of cake. LOTS. Like three cakes. Combine that with all of the drinking (my family came up from Ohio and Michigan), and I managed to gain two pounds in a week. UGH. Because I must, here are photos of my darling daughter and her THREE cakes:

Cake #1 : for professional photo shoot

Cake #2: for actual birthday

Cake #3: HOLY LORD, I asked the bakery for a slightly larger version of her photo smash cake and they gave me this 20lb turkey. SERIOUSLY, IT WEIGHED MORE THAN THE CHILD. We ate cake.

Awww man, I loved that self-serve Dole Whip machine. I read that it is gone now that the Poly has been remodeled??

I think you definitely have the priority order correct as the first two are fairly high demand. I think you should be able to get the rest fairly easily. Although it has been a few years since I've had to make ADR's so I could be wrong!

My ADR window opens in 9 days, you guys are making me feel the pressure to get a list done up. If only the Candlelight Processional narrators were announced it would make planning so much easier!

​

Bummer. Why would they do such a thing?!! I guess I don't need to stay at the poly!

Not sure what time you are looking at for the BOG breakfast but over on EASYWDW they posted the 2014 Dec calendar where Disney changed it to all 8am MK openings for the month. they announced the different park hours in August in 2014. (We are going 11/28-12/6 so I've been following everywhere!). So if you were thinking of getting in before park opening that might be something to consider.

​

Thanks for the tip.... We will probably shoot for the earliest breakfast, since the child is usually up at 5:45!

I love this!!!

I was sharing ADRs on my PTR before I even had park hours! I think about food WAY too much....

Of course that's okay! I love that I could help in some way!

This gif is so freakin' random and hilarious!

I am always an advocate of 4th Meal!

Awww. This makes my Excel-loving heart go pitter-patter!

I think this looks about perfect, actually!

A girl after my own heart. We could so hang (and eat) together!

That's quite a collection of Dole Whips you got there!!

​

My husband knows... you do NOT mess with my Dole Whip Float time. Thanks for letting me steal your ideas... and for all of the advice!

Hi Kelsey Just found your PTR so I'm joining

Going back to the beginning I have to say I laughed HYSTERICALLY when you mentioned being grossed out by stroller wheels!! My youngest has been out of a stroller for 6 years but those wheels used to make me nauseous and nobody understood why! Glad I found someone else who gets it, even if it's years later lol

​

and

Hi KroseyChica!

I made my way over and will be here as I can. School is done for the summer starting on Thursday AM, so I'll be back then to really join in.

​

Schools out!! ... oh, maybe not that last one.

Just letting you know I'm following along! Looking forward to hearing all about Maple's first WDW trip!

WOO HOO!


​

 

[kroseycorn]

OH YEA, 37 hours and 26 minutes to ADRS!

 

[Acrosthec]

You do have to include infants in the head count for ADRs. I found that out last year when we took our eight month old, and they had to scurry to change our reservation at check-in for the restaurant. Even though she's going to be eating off my plate (she'll be 2.5 when we go back, so not old enough for a dining plan), she still is counted as being there I guess.

Also, we're going almost the same days as you - December 16-20! Did you book under free dining? I noticed you talking about budget for your ADRs, but that promotion is running then, so if you could get it you would at least be able to have some table service restaurants with that instead of OOP, and you could choose to use your credits on the more expensive meals.

Have fun!

 

[kroseycorn]

You do have to include infants in the head count for ADRs. I found that out last year when we took our eight month old, and they had to scurry to change our reservation at check-in for the restaurant. Even though she's going to be eating off my plate (she'll be 2.5 when we go back, so not old enough for a dining plan), she still is counted as being there I guess.

Also, we're going almost the same days as you - December 16-20! Did you book under free dining? I noticed you talking about budget for your ADRs, but that promotion is running then, so if you could get it you would at least be able to have some table service restaurants with that instead of OOP, and you could choose to use your credits on the more expensive meals.

Have fun!

We did NOT do free dining. We rented DVC points, and it wasn't possible to change things around after the fact.

Woohoo! Same time!

 

[kroseycorn]

Drumroll for the ADRs, please?!
June 19, 2015
​

So, I did okay this morning with my first 180 day-out booking. I was super excited to jump out of bed at 5:35am to get on right when they opened. AND I FORGOT THAT I LIVE IN THE CENTRAL TIME ZONE. Not even kidding. So I got on, and was opening up windows for all the restaurants and saw there was availability and was like WHAAAA? It was fairly frantic after that! That said I got just about everything I wanted, close to or right on the times I wanted, with a few exceptions. Here's the breakdown:




Ohana was the biggest troublemaker. First there was NOTHING available, then there was a 9:55 (yea, RIGHT! We will have been asleep for an hour, probably!), but finally there was an earlier time and I grabbed it. It's actually even better than 6:30pm -- we can get settled at the resort, go to dinner, and then we can pop over to MK and enjoy a little bit of the evening, but call it a night earlier. If we had gone any later, we might have sacrificed that later time to the GODS OF THE FUSSY CHILD. Who knows?

I didn't realize that Be Our Guest breakfast dates had not yet been extended. I called about this one after I finished online. She said that they just extended dates three days ago through October and has no idea when they might extend for December, but that they likely will. Geez. If anyone has insight on that, I'd love to hear. I'm going to watch it and hopefully can get a time when they open up, but I've never done BOG lunch, so that could be fun too!

I was also unable to find any times at Liberty Tree Tavern. To be honest, we weren't planning on having a BIG lunch here... but maybe a few apps of like, SEVEN ORDERS of Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake because its my favorite. So, it's not the end of the world. But is it scheduled to be under refurb or something? Boo.

And then lastly, I thought that the 180+10 meant that I can just book anything for 10 days after our first day at the resort, but learned that its only +10 if you're staying 10 days. If you're there for only 6 days, its just +6. So, thats't that... I'll just have to wait until June 27? 28? to try and book lunch at Sanaa on Christmas Eve. Anyone have any idea about the potential for that? I just have this feeling that it's going to be so crazy, they won't have anything available! Again, not too big a deal. We're planning to go to AK for the morning and we can always hit up the eggroll cart. Or just eat all of the goodies in the bloody marys I'm going to drank.

All in all, not too shabby! It feels more real now!!!

 

[Elevationist]

That wasn't too bad overall! Grats on your ADRs!

...I still love "2nd Dinner."

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Congrats on getting your ADR's! It's so stressful!

 

[ariane37]

Congrats on the ADR's! As far as LTT, it's currently closed for refurb and scheduled to open........Nov. 20th? BUT, what I've heard is that they aren't releasing ADR's until closer to the re-opening date in case that date gets pushed back. So you may be able to get your Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake when they eventually open ADR's Keep watching!

 

[Steppesister]

WINE TIME.

I KNEW I liked you!

Schools out!! ... oh, maybe not that last one.

​

^ Because obviously you know how to party!

 

[Steppesister]

I really loved Sanaa! If you like food that's a bit ethnic, it's great and the decor is superb! I think you'll really enjoy it!

 

[Dugette]

Glad you got most of your ADRs and good luck on the few you're waiting for!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Hi there! We'll be in the same parks on some of your days but not the same restaurants...ADRs were not as bad as I was expecting!

 

[kroseycorn]

Travel Practice and Unpleasant Mickey Mail
August 9, 2015​

Well, it has been aWHILE! Sorry about that. Things just got so busy! I’m launching my own business, and it seems that there is a never-ending to-do list of magic-making (one more hyphen!). Also, I wish my biz was Disney related, but its not…. but it sort of is because I need to make-a-da-monie for-a-ad-disney, know what I mean? I’m behind on EVERYONES TRs and PTRs… actually, I would guess some PTRS are TRs now! Working on catching up, because I love to read the various perspectives and interesting stories!

We’ve had a few opportunities in the last month and a half to practice traveling with our smaller human. She started walking just a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty much changed the game (she’s been able to walk with you holding her hand for quite awhile… but now she’s FREEEE!). Next up:

THIS IS SO FUNNNNNN!​

So, we’ve learned a few things… and now I’m going to talk about them in more detail. So if you don’t have a child, don’t want a child, aren’t a nanny, hate children OR you have no grandchildren OR you are an alien from space that eats children, you may want to pass on this section. It’s mainly for commiseration.


Car Seat
Our trip to Colorado for a wedding involved a flight, and involved me lugging her car seat (Clek Foonf, 33lbs) through the airport. I decided to gate check it for two reasons: #1 a chance there might be an open seat and I could bring it onboard and clip her — IDEAL for safety and sanity #2 I think its generally understood that things that are gate checked might be handled with a bit more care — or at least they don’t go through the mysterious airport cog of baggage fun.

I had a little green cart that I put it on, and aside from the initial five minutes where it would not stay on the cart (it needed to be flipped upside down), it was manageable. But not the sort of breezy airport traveling that I’d enjoyed in my pre-kid years.

The worst part was getting the 33lb seat INTO the airplane seat. I had to carry it down the aisle (Brian grabbed the cart for me, along with the baby, my purse and diaper bag), then flip it over to get it into the seat. I was the one that watched the installation video and so I got to do it, even though I am not the more capable of the two of us to handle such a maneuver. It was a BAZILLION degrees on our plane and I was dripping sweat. Like hair wet sweat. And I don’t sweat! I’ve run a few road races, and I generally don’t sweat until mile 5 or 6. And in the end, I could NOT figure out the seatbelt (the clip just kept ending up right in the middle of the seat!) and so the flight attendant just told me to put it through the back? If it had been a car, I would have flipped out, but seeing as the alternative is to have her on my lap and the seat felt pretty secure, I just went with it.

I’m considering buying a lighter-weight seat for our Disney trip (a la @duggette backpack seat), but might just do the heavy lifting again and save some money. Anyone have any other recommendations? Have you gate checked your car seat before? That would definitely help. I did buy an absolutely MASSIVE canvas bag at Cabela's to stuff the seat into when I gate check it. Fortunately, we are renting a car, so I will only have to move the seat four times (our car —> airplane —> rental car —> airplane —> our car). I didn’t plan to bring it on the cruise ship… but maybe I should? We aren’t planning to do much in Nassau and will be covered at Castaway Cay. Thoughts?


Pack and Play
I’ve mentioned before that her stroller wheels gross me out. Also worthy of gag reflex have been some of the pack and plays I’ve seen in the rooms. Maybe I AM a germophobe! But we’ve found it relatively easy to travel with our pack and play. It fits in another duffel with some of the extra baby stuff we bring down (diapers, bottles, etc), and sets up easy. And I just like knowing that if something is crusty on the edge, it’s probably because she smeared something on it, and it’s not some other child’s bodily fluids. My mom also got a pack and play for her house, which we frequently visit, and we discovered that its about 5 pounds lighter than our PnP, so we’re going to borrow hers for this trip. I really don’t mind moving it around. IF we somehow managed to bring only carry-ons on a trip with our child (HAHAHAHAHAA! DONT LET GO OF YOUR DREAMS!), I would probably forgo it. But what is one more piece of luggage to pull of the baggage claim and throw on a cart?

One very fortunate development in the last few months is her ability to sleep in the pack and play. Earlier on, we traveled a few times and Maple slept like absolute garbage, which meant that I slept like trash and everything was a horrible, burning cesspool. I don’t WANT THAT TO HAPPEN at Disney. I’m going to be very cognizant of naps and careful to ensure she gets enough sleep. Even then, she’s mostly slept in her PnP in another room, which we will not have the luxury of doing this time. We’ve got a studio at WL, a stateroom on the ship and a two bedroom condo (for four adults) at the beach. During a recent hotel stay, I put her PnP in the corner of the room, wrapped the rooms drapes around her PnP (and a sofa chair, so that she couldn’t pull on it), stuck her sound machine on the floor inside the drapes, and she slept really well.

That said, the room still was really dark and it was hard for us to do anything. We just sat there on our phones drinking some hotel beers. It was kind of boring. For this trip, I’ll probably plan on putting together some trip report notes, taking a nap, or tidying (VERY QUIETLY) our room. My inlaws have offered to take her back for every nap and evening, but I have a feeling that she won’t go down as easily, so it might be something Brian and I have t do initially, and then they can watch her. Regardless, we’ll need to have some snacks and drinks in our room for whomever is on duty!

My PnP setup in our hotel room. The sound machine is on the floor on the left underneath the drapes! She slept really well!​

Bottles/Sippy Cups/Milk
The worst part of traveling for me right now is the bottle. They are super hard to clean and whole milk fat sticks to everything. Just this past weekend at my aunt’s house, I cleaned two bottles and saved one for later. I couldn’t clean inside the vent piece so I just rinsed it and did what I could. When we got home, I opened it up to give it a smell (just to make sure I could put it back in the cupboard), and it smelled! SO disgusting. And there are so many pieces, and they’re bulky, and they are disastrous when dirty. Fortunately, she’s starting to take a sippy cup more often. Everything I’ve read has said that kids need to be weaned sometime between 12-18 months. She’ll be 18 months on the trip, and hopefully we’ll make the full transition by then (even though I just bought 3 new bottles because she throws them in the car and they roll under the seat to become unrecoverable science experiments).

I’m also hoping she might learn how to use a straw, so that we could potentially just get her some water/milk in the park in a cup and she can just drink out of that. I’m not above using the semi-disposable (recyclable!) sippy cups while we go through the parks and just toss (recycle!!) them after a single use. Especially if its super hot, I don’t want to hold onto any milk. Is it easy to find whole milk in the parks? Should I plan to bring a small cooler? How about on the ship? Should I plan to bring a gallon (its just a three night).

Stroller
Our street has been under construction nearly all summer. It’s the worst! It’s not like a nice dirt road or anything either… it’s like a crazy African bush adventure every time I want to go to costco. This last week, they poured new curbs and the drop off from our driveway to the street is now about two feet. So they just blocked off all of our driveways AND THEN LEFT FOR THE WEEKEND. Okay, how does this relate to the stroller? FOCUS, KELSEY. So much anger.

My current street view. Stroller practice: poor.
​

So there is this thing called friction and this thing called inertia. I already have a bit of an inertia problem. Mostly my brain tells me that I should sit and enjoy a cool beverage. Ha. Okay, obviously I like to walk… but hey, I’m being honest. Now, it wasn’t so bad when we had a lovely tarred street to roll the stroller out onto and smoothly run/walk around the block or up to the trails. But there is this source of friction and that is our horrible African bush road in front of our house. And so… I have not walked with her in the stroller in two months. TWO MONTHS! I AM THE LAZIEST/WORST! So, now she kind of hates her stroller and just wants to walk everywhere anyway. Hoping that we can get back into practice once the road is done, but seriously… who knows how long?! Two weeks? Two months? I HATE IT BUT ITS GOING TO BESONICE.

Hopefully we get her back into stroller mode, because I think it will be essential. Has anyone ever traveled with a young child WITHOUT a stroller? How was it? Any fears over stroller theft? Ours is a pretty nice one, but it tends to be covered in graham cracker crumbs and stains. Perhaps a deterrent?

Evidence that she is going to have the BEST TIME EVEN IF EVERYTHING IS HORRIBLE
Okay, so even if I have to carry her chair through the airport and as long as she sleeps like… an hour a day… on our most recent trip to Michigan we visited Frankenmuth, MI (for those of you not familiar with the Thumb region of the Mitten State, it is like a Little Bavaria replete with Glockenspiels and Lederhosen and beer. Brian said over and over “it’s just like Epcot!”) and we went to the beach. Maple had a GREAT time. And of course, the things she loved most were simple, like sea trash on the beach and stairs of any kind. But Bronner’s (the World’s Largest Christmas Store, also in Frankenmuth), TOTALLY knocked her out. She was just… crazy with overstimulation and it was so fun to see. Needless to say, I think she’s going to sleep great at night while we’re in Florida!! Here are some photos of my happy vacationing child... because, obviously.

Maple having the best time at Bronner's Christmas Store, the Bavarian Inn playground (aka the best stairs in the world) and at Lake Michigan in her caftan.​

PLANNING UPDATES


Dining
Just the other day I got my BOG breakfast reservation!!! Now I’m just waiting on LTT to open up (which… it may not? What are people’s thoughts on that? Any rumors?) and starting to think about our day-to-day plans a little bit. I'll share some of that in my next post -- but here is how our ADRs shaped up:

Resort and Tickets
As I stated in my post title, we got some mean mail from Mickey a couple of weeks ago.

Nooooooo!​

I'd seen some rumors of this on one of my facebook pages. We rented DVC points this time around and got regular trip insurance on the side. Well, the points are non-transferable, non-cancelable and you cannot modify your reservation in any way once they’ve been confirmed. On one of the Facebook pages I follow, there started to be rumors of the Wilderness Lodge DVC side undergoing construction starting in October and through next year. I called the rental company — they informed me of what I already knew. No changes. They also said that DVC had not yet confirmed the construction, but we received a letter from the GM of the Wilderness Lodge a week later informing us of the inconveniences that shalt be laideth uponeth during our visit.

Seriously, this selection was painstaking, and now the pool will be closed and the whole backside of the beautiful landscape will be trashed with heavy construction equipment, dirt, walls, NOISE?! When the Poly was undergoing its renovation, I always thought… “those poor suckers who paid full price for their rooms and now vacation in the dust and noise and walls! HAHA! FOOLS!”. Well, yea. Now I’m the sucker.

NOW, many of you might be saying… “GURL, you are going to DISNEY! WHO CARES?!!” I do. Plain and simple. It’s my vacation, Disney has an image of perfecting your vacation, I purposefully selected and paid “full price” for rooms that fit my idea of a perfect Disney vacation. Even though the pool on the DVC side was not as good, we were looking forward to its quiet privateness for a dip (Maple is really only good for a dip or two). AND even though noise won't occur outside of the 9am-7pm time period, Maple takes at least one nap (but with vacation fatigue, maybe two??) a day. Though she doesn't require complete silence, a few loud bangs or major truck beep-age will definitely disturb her, especially in an unfamiliar environment. And its MY VACATION! If I want ugly, I'd stay at Pop Century! (Zing! Apologies to those of you who love value resorts. I love you.).

So I was mad. And I'm still a little mad. The rental company couldn't do anything, so we called DVC directly (as the letter suggests to do), hoping that they might be able to do something. And in my opinion, Disney really did make it up to us. Two complimentary 6-day park hoppers and an extra FP each day!!! Free tickets are a huge help to us right now as I start my business and money is tight!!

So yea, still a bit annoyed, but definitely not as much as before! And really, the best part of the Wilderness Lodge is the main lobby and all of its grandness, and it's overall location. So its just a short walk to the perfect resort that I was looking for. BRIGHT SIDE! BRIGHT SIDE! I'm pretty happy again, and hopefully it isn't too disruptive (and maybe we'll get some free drink vouchers at check in?? DONT PUSH IT, SISTER!).

Anyone have any idea if you can use complimentary tickets towards an annual pass?! We have 6-day passes, and we leave fairly early on the 6th day (planning to head out at 8:30). So I'd like to use the last pass on Christmas Eve when we stop back in. Any idea if the tickets have the same flexibility as regular tickets, that I'll be able to use it later (eg, do I need to use the tickets in 6 consecutive days or no?).

It's getting real. I've got my tickets, MVMCP tickets, airfare, room and rental car reserved. Just need to pay off the cruise and save for meals (of which we have MANY)! Oh, and I need to work on my dole whip fund.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

This is why I'm afraid to rent DVC points even if it saves a ton of money. We found out about this and were able to change to AKL without paying more for a slight room upgrade, and we got to keep our FD. But now we're so far away from everything. I just couldn't risk DS having to nap in construction noise, he slept every day for at least an hour on our last trip. I really thought after the last pool upgrade they would leave WL alone for a little while.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

While it sucks about the construction (I switched out as soon as I heard) that is fantastic about the free park passes!