How wonderful for you!!! (sweet hubby)
I love DL so very much, but every year going for my birthday is the most special time. Always. Make sure you get a button, the CM's will spoil you with well wishes. Let us know your favorite moments when you get back.
Those tortillas are SO good. Ya gotta have to have a birthday button on so they notice it and give you your packet of tortillas, so that button is essential!
Pixiewings71 - We do not have AP's and already have our tickets for the October trip purchased. I've never purchased AP's before? I have no clue about the process or if I should upgrade our 4 day park hoppers to AP'S?
If you have those tickets in hand, and if you check to make sure now blockout dates will impact your October trip, an AP will almost for sure be worth it overall.
In September, we had a package with 5 day tickets. The value of those tickets, at that time, was 189. We knew we would be back at least ONE day inside 365 (well, 366 days this year!) days from the start of that trip. Adding the 189 and a one day ticket was MORE than the cost of the Deluxe APs, so even though it was a tiny stretch to afford the upgrade during that trip, overall it was worth it financially.
So do the math and figure out if it's a good financial decision! Don't forget to include the 10% discount on most food with a Deluxe, and a 15% discount for most food and 10% discount on most merchandise with a Premium AP.
Do have a character meal on your birthday!! I did on my 29th birthday at wdw, and my boyfirend told them, they asked him who my favorite character was and he told them and towards the end of the meal, Goffy came back with a cupcake with a candle on it, cast members singing happy birthday and A signed character birthday care and posed for pictures helping blow out my one candle. It was great!!
So, I'm back home now. It was an awesome, awesome trip. Certainly had some Pixie Dust with us!
Residence Inn gave us a free upgrade at check-in to the "penthouse".
Went to Character Warehouse!! So glad we went there. Bought a ton of stuff and saved a ton of money!!!
Got my Birthday button at City Hall! Many, many, many CM's wished me a Happy Birthday and that was really cool. Later in the day, my DD said, "You know why they keep wishing you a happy birthday? Because they love you so much!"
Residence Inn surprised me with a b-day cake they left in our little fridge and we found when we returned for an afternoon break from the park!!
Thanks to a tip on the DIS (and I can't remember who made it but I am so thankful they did) we actually won Dream Fastpasses!!!!! So cool!!!!! Although, DS hated it any time someone would ask where we got them. Teen-agers are so fun!!!
Saw the parade and fireworks. Not the best views but still a view and it was amazing!!!
DD got to meet her hero, Buzz Lightyear. She normally runs from the characters but she went RUNNING to Buzz. Two very impatient, silly women literally shoved DD out of the way to get to Buzz first. DD is 4 - these women were easily 40. While we waited for the impatient women to have their pictures taken with Buzz, DD waited so calmly (extremely unlike her) and stood patiently. I think Buzz saw how the women had behaved because he was fairly short with them and when it was DD's turn, finally, he spent a lot more time with her and interacted. It was amazing!!!
And let it be known, I have bragged on myself for obsessing with the DIS. Had I not found this site and read it religiously, we wouldn't have had as an amazing time as we did yesterday. Those Dream Fastpasses are amazing and also doing research before the trip is so valuable!! Another tip on the DIS I had never thought of before is the afternoon break. I hated the idea of leaving the park, even for a moment, but that hour we took to go back to the hotel, eat some surprise cake, soak our feet in the hot tub, escape the madness for a moment or two really gave us a 2nd wind.
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. It was really an amazing birthday and yes, my DH is an amazing man - that's why I married him!!