"Its just that Magical" 4 return to WDW +1!

[ohanaMAMA]

I am early on this pretrippie. I realize. I mean we arent going until September for gosh sakes! But I wanted to get a home base for our trip and let yall in on our planning fun. I love lurking about the pre-trip boards reading all of yours! So.. here we go.

I love reading about your "cast of characters" and getting to know your families. Here is ours!

Cast of Characters

ME! Michele-33 I am a SAHM homeschooler and I love Disney and traveling and planning trips and DETAILS. I am SUPER detail oriented. I think a LOT. My family teases me a little about it. But they are never sad when I have remembered details that make thier trip or holiday extra special. I love my husband very much... but I have a huge crush on Mickey Mouse. I also collect Lilo and Stitch figures.

DH- Steven -37 My sweet husband. Doesnt ride thrill rides AT ALL. Hates heights and totally humors my trip planning and lists and just lets me have my way. He loves his girls and works hard as a Septic Tank Truck driver. He loves photoagraphy, turkey legs and Piglet.

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DD15- Jasmin- Our silly and fun teenager. Jasmin is our honor student who will be missing FOUR days of public school to go to WDW. So, she will have a ton of work to do in our "downtime" and after we return. She is finally past the "Im too cool" stage, and is a teensy bit dense at times. She is brilliant but sometimes misses the more obvious common sense answers. She is looking forward to riding Expidition Everest for the first time. I gave each child a Table Service Dinner choice and she chose Whispering Canyon Cafe.


DD9- Caitlin- My fashionista in training. She is the consumate girlie girl. Loves pink, sparkle, bling, and is an adrenaline junkie. She is homeschooled and wont worry a bit about school work the entire trip. She is finally tall enough to ride EVERYTHING. In past trips she was our little princess. But is smack dab in the middle of the "Im too cool" stage I spoke of. But Im hoping she will let lose and be a "kid" while we are at WDW. Her Table service choice was Le Celier at EPCOT.

DN15- Patience- Not REALLY my niece.. but we call her that. She is actually my cousin's daughter and Jasmin's BFF. She and her mama live next door to us and is a constant fixture at our house. She has had a rough couple years. Her Daddy died in May 09 and has dealt with it so well. We love her so much and are SO excited to take her with us on her VERY FIRST trip to WDW! I cant wait to see it through her eyes. She is SO excited. She will be missing school too.. but she isnt really to worried about it. She is a "live now, pay later" kind of person. LOL. I guess when you lose your Father at that young an age, you learn to enjoy life as it comes. Her Table Service choice was Ohana.

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So thats us.. everyone who's going. now the details.

We will be leaving Dillon SC Wednesday night/thursday morning September 17, 2010. As we only live 8 hrs from Mickey's doorstep. We have always driven. We find that if Daddy goes to bed really early and then we leave home at or around 2:30 am. (and having a trip nazi on board you KNOW we will be leaving ON TIME thankyouverymuch) We arrive at Jacksonville FL at or around 8 am. Just in time to get everyone dressed (yeah. Im one of THOSE mothers who lets her kids travel in pajamas and then scurries them into restraunt bathrooms to change) and enjoy a nice breakfast before finishing our trip. The kids and I sleep and I dont bother my DH while he is trying to drive That allows us to miss the rush hour in Jacksonville and to arrive at Disney refreshed and ready to explore.

We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside and will have the Disney Dining plan. (Im REALLY hoping for Free Dining. RRRREAAALLY!!) I love the idea of not having to think about a food budget on this trip. but I will get into that in a FOOD post

 

[ohanaMAMA]

Planning the FOOD or the ADR's for this trip has been SO super fun. Usually we eat really economically on vacation.When we go to the beach, we get a room with a kitchen and I cook all of our meals. At WDW on past trips we have had Breakfast in the room, counter service for a late lunch and snacks to tide us over until a late (sometimes REALLY LATE) dinner offsite. The only Table service we have ever done is The Garden Grill in the Land at EPCOT. And that was our very first trip when the girls were tiny. Until recently we werent really into ANYTHING new when it came to food. Both girls were very happy to eat chicken fingers at every meal and I was happy with that choice for vacation too. But here lately they have been branching out, trying new things SO when we decided to go to wdw during the traditional "free dining" window I was so happy. I love the idea of not having to worry about a dinning budget. They were really excited when I told them they could each choose a Table Service dinner.

I gave them each a dinner to choose and gave each girl a park or "day" to specifically chose. This served two purposes. One it narrowed the choices a little. There are a LOT of choices to pick over! And Two it made sure that each day of the trip was covered evenly.

This is how our Dining plan is looking so far.I dont know which order these will come in except the arrival and departure days since I dont know times yet as Park hours and specific entertainment schedules havent been released by Disney. But we cant call for ADR's until 3/20 so I have time to get them finalized after the dates are released.

Arrival day-
Breakfast- Denny's or Shoneys or the like in Jacksonville FL.

When we arrive at WDW the plan is to check into POR and ride the boat over to Down Town Disney. Shop around a little and have lunch.Shop a little more and probably have some tshirts made. By the time we are done our room "should" be available. Then DH can rest and the girls and I can swim or explore the resort. (If i know my girls we will be swimming!)

Lunch- torn between Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express. Feel free to give me your suggestions. They both look SO yummy.

Dinner- Ohana. This is DN15's choice. She said she always wanted to go to Hawaii (she pronounced it Ha-why-yuh LOL) and she LOVES the honey corriander wings. I make them at home all the time. I also thought it would be a good way to start out our trip. Id LOVE to time this ADR so we can see WISHES from the beach at the Poly.


Animal Kingdom Day-

Breakfast- I intend to send DH out to McDonalds for biscuits this morning. I will also be bringing my one cup coffee pot since I am the only cofee drinker.(to be unplugged of course when we are not in the room!)

Lunch- Counter Service. Im thinking probably Yak and Yetti counter service since we will be eating BBQ that evening and I dont have any other chinese planned.

Dinner- Whispering Canyon Cafe. DD15's choice. She loves bbq sauce. and ribs and the like. So I suggested WCC. The kids and DH have no idea about the "fun" parts of WCC. I cant wait to see thier faces when napkins start twirling! Im hoping for a later ADR here so we can take our time getting cleaned up from the day at the park and getting over to Wilderness Lodge.

Hollywood Studios Day

Breakfast- In the room. I will have snacks for the girls to take in thier individual packs (goldfish crackers, slimjims, fruit snacks ect) as well as cereal and poptarts or whatever. We will be eating lunch pretty early since we plan to eat dinner early.. so it wont need to be much.

Lunch: I still cant decide on this. We need to eat really early. Some kind of counter service. Im not a big fan of the Counter Services at this park at all.. Would we be smarter to run to DTD to get sandwiches to carry in? I LOVE to be handsfree in the parks so I may just bite the bullet and eat a mediocre hamburger or hotdog.

Dinner- Hollywood and Vine Buffet. We love a buffet. And I have seen mixed reviews of this place. What did you think? We want to try and get a fantasmic package here and time it so we go right from Dinner to Fantasmic. This wasnt anyones choice but there just arent a lot of good choices at HS.

EPCOT day

Breakfast- again in the room. Something like bagels and yogurt and fruit.

Lunch- Counter service. Im undecided here too.. we have always "eaten around the world" at EPCOT. But I think we will likely eat at Sunshine Seasons in the Land.

Dinner- Le Celier OR Chefs De France. Depending on the availablity. This is
DD9's choice. She loves all things "paris" you know all that pink foo-foo eiffel tower ect. So she said she wanted a fancy pants place. I prefer LeCelier. She will be happy with either. I think everyone else would like Le Celier better. So we will try to get whatever ADR we can get there. Unless it would make us miss Illuminations. It is my favorite show onsite and I dont want to miss it.

Magic Kingdom Day-

Breakfast- The very earliest we can get at Crystal Palace. I am really excited to experience seeing MK before ropedrop. DH loves Piglet so he will be thrilled to see him at breakfast. I REALLY wish Liberty Tree Tavern was still doing breakfast. I love the familiy style serving.

Lunch- snacks. I love to eat junk at this park. Dole whip, popcorn, Mickey Bars, turkey legs ect. I plan to save as many snack credits as I can for this days lunch

Dinner- Cosmic Rays. late. I LOVE the fries with cheese sauce here. I have always enjoyed the burgers here and there is a lot of choices available here. I plan to wait until we have completed most of our touring and in time to get in position for WISHES to go eat super.

Departure day-
Breakfast- I plan to let everyone sleep in. take our time packing up and head out to IHOP or someplace there in Orlando before heading out. I guess I could make an ADR at somewhere like KONA or Ohana or Chef Mickeys. But I think Id rather go offsite and have our last "disney" memories be WISHES. Besides. I can get a LOT better deal at Shoneys or some offsite buffet. That way everyone can get full and comfy before we hit the road.

Lunch/dinner- TACO BELL. We dont have a Taco bell in our town so I bet thats where the dinner stop will be. Someplace along Savannah or so.

 

[reyasmommy]

Your plans look pretty great!

Look foward to more.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

As we are getting closer to our trip I am getting more and more excited. Things are all pretty much in place.. and I am expecting "Disney Mail" any day now! Here is a "bullet version" of what I have been up to getting ready!

* The girls and I made Mickey Tie Dyes this summer. They are soooo cute. We are planning to wear them on our Magic kingdom day. I think they will make for a really cute christmas card picture in front of the castle

* Everyone has crocs, and mush flip flops to wear. They have been worn all summer... so they are properly broken in.

* I have made a spreadsheet/info card with all of our ADR #s as well as park info, emergency numbers ect.

* packing lists are complete. I made a master spreadsheet as well as an individual packing list for each person.

* rewards cards were ordered and recieved. I have a $50 Disney card as well as a $25 dennys card to spend.. just for using my debit card the past year. yay! I love free money!

* ADRs are complete. (I will post them separately)

* a basic hidden mickey/ ride secrets card has been made for each park.
* a lanyard for a room key for me has been purchased. If I have it round my neck it wont get missing! ( I am notorious for losing my room key)

* I have been purchasing little odds and ends... a shoe organizer for the room. sewing kits, sunblock. everyones park bags, a cooler, a glasses strap for my dd15 who always misses the finer details of rollercoasters because she is afraid to lose her glasses.

just a few more weeks to go!

 

[ohanaMAMA]

3 weeks, 6 days says our ticker!! yahooooo! Seems like weve been waiting FOREVER!

ADRs.... we have a fantastic TR. I mean she is fantastic. I dont think I am allowed to plug her name here.. but Id probably be willing to tell you her name and agency if you asked me LOL She has been absolutely amazing. She has handled every little detail from helping me to choose a resort to booking.. to rebooking when free dinning came out.. then making our ADRs and getting the ungetable gets on top of it! SHE is awesome. She has also listened to me fret about these ADRs! ha. and made a change this week when I finally talked myself out of one ADR and into another

here goes with our *finalized plan. ha I say that lightly.. as you know things rarely turn out as planned.. but ahhh anyway. this is what I got planned! Its not tooo far off from my original verson way back in February!

Arrival day-
breakfast- Denny's in Jacksonville Fl
lunch- Earl of Sandwich- DTD
Dinner Ohana 6:25 ADR

DAY 1 - Animal Kingdom
breakfast- plans are to shop at Super Target in Orlando after check in
lunch- pizzafari (flame tree is in refurb)
Dinner- Whispering Canyon Cafe-7:50 pm ADR

Day 2 - EPCOT
Breakfast- in the room
Lunch- Sunshine Seasons
Dinner- Le Cellier 4:25 pm (wayyyyy to early for us. but its a hard get. whachoogonnado? )

Day 3- Hollywood Studios
Breakfast- mcdonalds- we will need something good since we have such a late lunch
lunch- 50s prime time 1:45 pm ADR (this is the one I fussed with. we had Hollywood and vine.. but I decided I wanted to sit my fat butt down in the AC and have someone bring me something to eat and to keep my coke coming. not to mention we will be less likely to overeat than at a buffet)
Dinner- I plan to do snacks.. likely a turkey leg...whatever. with such a late lunch I dunno what we will need... maybe a pizza later when we get back to the room?

Day 4 - magic kingdom
breakfast Crystal Palace 8:10 am
lunch.- use up those snack credits. cloud9:can you say dole whip? )
Dinner- Cosmic Rays or Pecos Bills whatever we decide.

Departure day
sleep in.. I doubt anyone will be up in time for breakfast
lunch. Wolfgang puck express in DTD
Dinner... snacks on the road.. maybe taco bell

 

[ohanaMAMA]

wow. time is getting close! We are soooo excited. We have been busy getting things ready. Pretty much everything but the actual packing is finished. I do need to find myself one more paid of shorts this weekend. As I had planned to wear a certain pair, but after a day at the beach in them I have discovered that they are very uncomfy in the hot weather. Cant have that can i? lol

Today I went to SAM's club and picked up snacks for the snack bags. I got

slim jims
salty/sweet granola bars
airheads
cheezits
juice (individual bottles)
kool aid fizzlers
ritz bits peanutbutter sandwiches

anything else we need we will pick up at SuperTarget in Orlando on our arrival day after dinner at Ohana.