It's finally *someday* a June 2011 PTR...Ack!! Less than a week!!

[lbuzz52]

I think you picked a great time for bbb. I wish I had been thinking enough to schedule it before a princess meal instead of after.

I forget if you mentioned it- what are you using for touring plans?
You mentioned going back to CHH. Were you not fond of the other MK CS you tried? There is a snack thread And about the only food it lists at caseys as a snack credit is chili and fries.
Sorry the flight costs more but I think it was a good idea. You don't want to start out worn out and unorganized.

 

[debdebdebby13]

I think you picked a great time for bbb. I wish I had been thinking enough to schedule it before a princess meal instead of after.

I forget if you mentioned it- what are you using for touring plans?
You mentioned going back to CHH. Were you not fond of the other MK CS you tried? There is a snack thread And about the only food it lists at caseys as a snack credit is chili and fries.
Sorry the flight costs more but I think it was a good idea. You don't want to start out worn out and unorganized.

We weren't really fond of Tortuga. The others were fairly good, but CHH sounds good since it's not burgers, fried, etc. There will plenty of time for all that, LOL.

 

[debdebdebby13]

Forgot to reply, I am primarily using touringplans.com

We used it last time and it was great so I'll stick to it.

 

[debdebdebby13]

Sooo...

Life is busy, chaotic even. Trying to pack and get ready to move, plus plan a vacation and of course work and family life is SOO busy.

Molly has been sick what seems like nonstop since before Christmas. Allergies have been terrible here, and it's particularly bad right now because we are in a drought. Three weeks ago it was a bad ear infection, since then we still don't think she's been able to hear. This week she was coughing every morning but it would pass and then she'd be okay the rest of the day, but she woke up feeling pretty crummy today (it's always over the weekend, isn't it??). We took her to the doctor, AGAIN, and she now has bronchitis with two crummy looking ears, but no infections. Her tonsils also have tonsil stones so they tested for strep but it was negative.

So, lots of medication later, she is on the mend. I seriously hope this is the end of our winter of illness, I'm tired of it!! She's never been sick like this before.

Tomorrow we'll stay home from church and hopefully sit around and watch movies and I'll get to do lots of work on my trip plan.

I've also got to take pictures of all the loot we've gotten so far, Molly's a lucky girl!

 

[lbuzz52]

So sorry Molly isn't feeling well. Hope it's over soon. I can't wait to see the loot!

 

[debdebdebby13]

Loot is coming Gonna go take pics now.

 

[debdebdebby13]

This is what I have so far. I'm planning to sort of theme the gifts each day, though I guess I should have come up with the themes before I started buying stuff but oh well.

So first we have this Princess Tiana dress up doll, they are the jelly-like clothing, it's really weird. Molly got some for Christmas so we know she likes them.

We'll bring along all the other ones she has, this should keep her busy some of the time. Hopefully we won't lose the little pieces.

This is the bag full of the ones she already has.

We have a Minnie and Mickey

We have a search and find princess book, another thing to help keep her busy while we wait for things like parades, food etc.

Some gloves, a purse and necklace that of course match her Aurora dress she'll wear to our princess lunch at Akershus.

Some eyewear, these will probably be things we give her the first day since she'll need them immediately. I want to add something else to this, maybe a beach towel to use at the pool with the goggles.

A cute sebastian and a princess cup. We already have an Aristocats cup with Marie on it like this and she loves it. I figure we'll get some use out of the cup at water fountains and the like. Maybe I can include the cup in the practical things for the first day.

And last, but not least, her lanyard and pins. I plan on getting probably 4 more pins before we get there.

I definitely plan on getting more. Since it's her birthday trip and we don't ever spoil her, I really want to go all out for this. I need to get shopping for disney shirts for her to wear each day. They have some really cute ones right now at Old Navy, that I plan on getting once they have a good sale!

Of course we won't get all of them, there also a few really cute ones at the Disney store. I'm going to have a hard time picking just 7!!

 

[debdebdebby13]

Trying to figure out how to get from our park to our ADRs when they are at resorts.

June 1st: Whispering Canyon Cafe is at the Wilderness Lodge so we'll go MK to WL by resort bus.

June 3rd: Raglan Road at DTD, is there a bus from AK directly to DTD or would I need to take a bus to the nearest resort and then a bus to DTD?

June 4th: Ohana at the Polynesian. Umm...that's tricky. We'll be coming from Pop. Should we go to MK and then...take the monorail to Poly? Can we take the ferry across the lake...I really don't know, last time we went from Epcot to Poly so we just took the monorail.

June 7th: Kona Cafe also at the Polynesian. It is breakfast, would that effect how I get there? Need suggestions!

 

[debdebdebby13]

Okay, I'm really going to stop now.

First I added the day on at the beginning, just the room so we could pay less to fly in, then I changed our flights to coming in in the afternoon instead of the late evening. Now I saw that I could save money by flying out on the 8th instead of the 7th...of course that means adding a day to the trip...which kind of cancels out the saving of any money...but oh well!!

but we've made at least one ADR over the number of table service we have on the plan before so I can say now I'm just paying for it early and I think really we'll break pretty even.

Yikes, I can't imagine what DH will say when he sees that I added another day!

Our flight that day will leave at 1:55 so we won't really have much of a day, but it will put us getting home at a decent hour and give us a full day the next day...now do I need to change our park plans and dining plans a little so DH can go to SWW...it's a possibility. Maybe I can tell him that was my rational. We could either add an entire day to the trip, food at and all for the same price we could add park hoppers, so I thought that might be nicer.

Okay I'm rambling.

 

[debdebdebby13]

New plans...

June 1st: MK
June 2nd: HS (for Fantasmic)
June 3rd: Epcot
June 4th: HS (for SWW)
June 5th: MK
June 6th: Epcot
June 7th: AK

OR

June 1st: Epcot
June 2nd: HS (for Fantasmic)
June 3rd: MK
June 4th: HS (for SWW)
June 5th: MK
June 6th: Epcot
June 7th: AK

OR

June 1st: Epcot
June 2nd: HS (for Fantasmic)
June 3rd: AK
June 4th: HS (for SWW)
June 5th: MK
June 6th: Epcot
June 7th: MK

...I think we'll go with option 3, we change the fewest days that way, at least I think. Now to see how my dining plans work into that.

 

[debdebdebby13]

June 1st: Epcot (Les Chefs de France)
June 2nd: HS (Mama Melrose Fantasmic package)
June 3rd: AK (Raglan Road in DTD)
June 4th: HS (50's Prime Time lunch, Ohana dinner)
June 5th: MK (Whispering Canyon Cafe)
June 6th: Epcot (Akershus)
June 7th: MK (Kona Cafe)

Whew, I managed to rearrange everything and keep ADRs at the same places but on different days. Now I need to decide if I'm going to keep 50's Prime Time or not.

 

[lbuzz52]

This is what I have so far. I'm planning to sort of theme the gifts each day, though I guess I should have come up with the themes before I started buying stuff but oh well.

you are a patient mommy! these drive me nuts! mostly just becuase Maya can't really do the clothing well by herself.

We have a Minnie and Mickey

Some eyewear, these will probably be things we give her the first day since she'll need them immediately. I want to add something else to this, maybe a beach towel to use at the pool with the goggles.

or pool flip flops?

A cute sebastian and a princess cup. We already have an Aristocats cup with Marie on it like this and she loves it. I figure we'll get some use out of the cup at water fountains and the like. Maybe I can include the cup in the practical things for the first day.

we have the same marie cup!


And last, but not least, her lanyard and pins. I plan on getting probably 4 more pins before we get there.

the pins were one of my favorite souvineers to let Maya pick out at the park- becuase they didn't take much space

I definitely plan on getting more. Since it's her birthday trip and we don't ever spoil her, I really want to go all out for this. I need to get shopping for disney shirts for her to wear each day. They have some really cute ones right now at Old Navy, that I plan on getting once they have a good sale!

Of course we won't get all of them, there also a few really cute ones at the Disney store. I'm going to have a hard time picking just 7!!

they haven't been having major sales lately, but they have had a decent discount of 20ish percent or so online randomly a few times recently. add that to ebates and its not too shabby for currrent season prices. just keep an eye out!

Trying to figure out how to get from our park to our ADRs when they are at resorts.

June 1st: Whispering Canyon Cafe is at the Wilderness Lodge so we'll go MK to WL by resort bus.

June 3rd: Raglan Road at DTD, is there a bus from AK directly to DTD or would I need to take a bus to the nearest resort and then a bus to DTD?

June 4th: Ohana at the Polynesian. Umm...that's tricky. We'll be coming from Pop. Should we go to MK and then...take the monorail to Poly? Can we take the ferry across the lake...I really don't know, last time we went from Epcot to Poly so we just took the monorail.

that is what we have always done from the hotel- but so Mk and then monorail to Poly.

June 7th: Kona Cafe also at the Polynesian. It is breakfast, would that effect how I get there? Need suggestions!

i dont' think it will- they busses are supposed to run early for the early ADR's.

June 1st: Epcot (Les Chefs de France)
June 2nd: HS (Mama Melrose Fantasmic package)
June 3rd: AK (Raglan Road in DTD)
June 4th: HS (50's Prime Time lunch, Ohana dinner)
June 5th: MK (Whispering Canyon Cafe)
June 6th: Epcot (Akershus)
June 7th: MK (Kona Cafe)

Whew, I managed to rearrange everything and keep ADRs at the same places but on different days. Now I need to decide if I'm going to keep 50's Prime Time or not.

While i do love 50's, if oyu are over on ADR's then i might consider dropping it. If it is SWW and you already have a dinner ressie, you might want that time for other shows and rides. i know that for us we were seated late there and it took forever to get through tthe meal.

 

[debdebdebby13]

they haven't been having major sales lately, but they have had a decent discount of 20ish percent or so online randomly a few times recently. add that to ebates and its not too shabby for currrent season prices. just keep an eye out!


i dont' think it will- they busses are supposed to run early for the early ADR's.

While i do love 50's, if oyu are over on ADR's then i might consider dropping it. If it is SWW and you already have a dinner ressie, you might want that time for other shows and rides. i know that for us we were seated late there and it took forever to get through tthe meal.

Thank you for your thoughts! I'm glad the buses run early or we'd be out of luck!

A couple of days ago I got the joy of booking my in-laws portion of the trip. I'm really glad they get to come along for a few days. They will be checking in to POP late Thursday night and then leaving during the evening on Sunday so they'll get to enjoy AK, HS and some of the day at MK with us! They'll also get to go to Ohana with us (if I can manage that!) as well as Raglan Road, 50's Prime Time and Whispering Canyon!

I really think this will make the vacation for Molly. Her grandparents are her favorite people in the world and they are both young enough to really enjoy spending time with her and are able to do just as much as we are.

So...this weekend I'm going to work on putting together daily itineraries. I'm glad I didn't do it sooner or I'd probably be changing it a bit with the addition of MIL and FIL.

We close on our new house in a week and a half!! (May 3rd!!) Our current home is a MESS with boxes everywhere and stuff that is out to be packed, but not packed yet. I'm not a neat freak by any means, but this state of chaos is getting to me. I'll head back soon and post some pics of our new place.

For now it's an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese with Molly and her best friend Matthew and his dad. Their school is out today, but all the public schools are in so it shouldn't be very busy...I say that now anyway.

 

[debdebdebby13]

Sooo...this is what our house looks like right now.

Mass chaos and boxes everywhere.
On a positive note, we found renters for our current home. It is the worship leader at our church and his wife and their little son. They also have another baby on the way. They are a very young family so this place should work well for them.

I promised some pics of our new place so let me see if I can deliver

It's not huge, but it's brand, spanking new, and very nice inside. It's 1607 sq ft with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining, laundry...all that standard jazz, LOL. I am SO ready to close and get moving, but having renters now makes me feel so much relief about it. We were afraid we were going to have to pay two mortgages for a while, while looking for a renter, but now we are good!

Front

Back

Front door

Entry from the inside

Lovely built in book shelf

Living and fireplace

another living room view

yet another view of the living room

dining area

kitchen

Coat closet and Molly

Hallway to bedrooms

One of the front bedrooms, they both look essentially the same. Molly has claimed this one as her own.

Master bathroom (One of the best parts of the house!) It has two big closets, woohoo!

Oh yeah, and the hall bathroom with it's pretty sink.

 

[debdebdebby13]

Now, back to the business at hand, our Disney trip!

I've been talking it up to my DH. Like I said in the intro, he'd be satisfied to never go on a vacation, and to take his days off on our couch. He's not a killjoy or anything, but it's hard to get him truly excited about trips (and spending SO much money!)

I rearranged everything so he could go to SWW...I hope he appreciates it!

So now I've got to put together our schedule for each day. I'm not going to plan it minute by minute or anything but I want to have a framework for what we want to do and when-ish.

Our first day is May 31st, but it is a traveling day, so I'm not planning much. Our flight arrives at 2:15 in the afternoon and I'm hoping we'll make it to Pop by 4pm or so. I will arrange to have our grocery delivery around that time. Then I think we'll take an hour or so to get settled in and rest for a bit. Around 5:30 or so we'll head to DTD for dinner...I'm thinking WPE, we LOVED that last time. We'll eat and then stroll around, maybe shop and head back to POP around 8:30. Dump Molly in the bathtub and hopefully we'll all be snug in bed by 10:00 for an early wake up for our first day in the parks the next day!

So Day 1, now it is at Epcot
Park open @ 9:00am, I'm thinking this will be a day to stay in the front half of the park, we'll save World Showcase for our second day in Epcot, so we can dedicate LOTS of time to each country.

Wake up at 7:00am, eat breakfast in the room
Be at the bus by 7:45-8:00
-First head to Soarin' to get a FP, ride if the standby line is 15 minutes or less (Note to self: figure out how to get to Soarin' since we didn't ride it last time)
-Head to Turtle Talk, exploring the aquariums if we get there before 9:30, after Turtle Talk explore the aquariums some more. During this time someone go get Test Track FPs, get them before 10:30.
- Ride the Nemo Ride
- Ride Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Explore ImageWorks
- Check out Captain EO, decide if we want to ride
- If it's after 11:15 head towards France for our 12:00 ADR at Les Chefs De France, if it's before 11:15 use Soarin' FP then head towards France
- Lunch
- Depending on the time, we can explore France, the UK and Canada on the way towards the front
- Head out for afternoon break, grabbing FP for Mission Space and visit Club Cool on the way out for our afternoon break (it will be around 1:00 or 1:30)

Will this be enough time for everything we have planned for the morning? Should I see if I can move our ADR back to 12:30 or so?

- rest/swim/relax for the afternoon
- around 5:30 head back to Epcot for the evening OR head to the food court for dinner then head back to Epcot
- Have a CS dinner somewhere (where is there to eat in the front 1/2 of the park??)
- Do Spaceship Earth
- Use Mission Space FP
- Use Test Track FP
- Do Ellen's Energy Adventure
- If there is time explore Innoventions
- Find a place to view Illuminations (any suggestions for a good location, is it better viewed from World Showcase? In that case I think we'll wait till our world showcase day).
- home for the night!!

 

[anjalee6]

Your new house in beautiful! Congrats!

 

[mrssmith06]

Congrats on the house, I love it

 

[debdebdebby13]

Your new house in beautiful! Congrats!

Congrats on the house, I love it

Thank you so much! We are super excited!

 

[debdebdebby13]

Here's day 2, give me any advice you can give. I've kind of got a hybrid plan between Touring Plans, TGM and my own creation

June 2nd, Hollywood Studios
Wake up at 7:00am, eat breakfast in the room
Be at the bus by 7:45-8:00 (maybe push things off a little since HS is so close to POP)
-Toy Story Mania for FP
-See Voyage of the Little Mermaid
-Do Star Tours or get FP if the line is more than 20 minutes
-Find a snack since lunch is late
-play at Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set
-Do Toy Story Mania
-Check out the Animation Academy and One Man’s Dream
-
-It should be getting close to lunch time, I think?? Lunch at Mama Melrose at 2:30pm
-See Beauty and the Beast
- Do Studio Backlot Tour
-See Lights, Motor, Action
-Do Great Movie Ride
-CS dinner somewhere
-Time to go see Fantasmic?? If we see a late show, then maybe we’ll shop first)
-home for bed

We’re saving Rock N’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (only DH is riding this one, and DH and I both will ride RNRC) for our 2nd day at HS, we’ll also try to catch some other things we might have missed or ended up not being able to fit in day 1, and DH will also do something Star Wars oriented since that will be what we are there for.)

 

[debdebdebby13]

I've been a busy bee today, I've gotten my plan for day 3 at Animal Kingdom done now too!

Day 3, Animal Kingdom

I'm hoping this plan will work out, this will be our first day with DH's parents in tow. They are typically early risers, but I don't know how well they are going to follow my plan. They do know that I plan, plan, plan and generally have great results, and they aren't control freaks so hopefully they'll go along with me.

Wake up at 7:00am, eat breakfast in the room
Be at the bus by 7:45-8:00
-Get FP for Kilamanjaro Safaris (one person go do this while others continue to step 2)
-Ride Triceratops Spin
-Ride Kali River Rapids, maybe more than once if we want to.
-Walk through Maharajah Jungle Trek
-See It’s Tough to be a Bug
-Ride Kilamanjaro Safari
- Walk through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
-(either before or after lunch go see Conservation Station)
-Lunch
-Visit the character trails
-See Festival of the Lion King
-See Finding Nemo: The Musical
-maybe visit the Boneyard, or leave the park if we are ready, hopefully it will be around 2:00 or 3:00 at this point.
-6:00pm dinner at Raglan Road in DTD and enjoy another evening in DTD
-Try to be on a bus back to POP by 8:30-9:00pm