Laissez les bon temps Rouler...Feb 2010 2/20 MK Last part of the Night updt 9/70 pg65

[PittypatBR]

Scooby9932, Dawn, is doing a TR right now and she is from BR. I have run into several others in recent years on the DIS, but I couldn't give names. There are a fair number from other parts of Louisiana who might join us. I was surprised to find the Louisiana DIS group! I really do miss our Disney store. I have not been to New Orleans, but I miss those great T-shirt closeouts for sure!!

 

[vamassey1]

Scooby9932, Dawn, is doing a TR right now and she is from BR. I have run into several others in recent years on the DIS, but I couldn't give names. There are a fair number from other parts of Louisiana who might join us. I was surprised to find the Louisiana DIS group! I really do miss our Disney store. I have not been to New Orleans, but I miss those great T-shirt closeouts for sure!!

I'll have to find that report. Where do I find the Louisiana DIS group? Is it on the community board? My DH ran into the BR store's manager's husband one day. DH was wearing his Grumpy shirt so he started up a conversation about Disney with him. Anyway he got the lowdown on why the store closed in the mall. When Disney took the store back over from Children's Palace the Mall management required the contract be done. They couldn't come to an agreement so Disney pulled out. It was one of their top performing stores too.

 

[DisneyTiger]

Hey! I'm here!!!! Can't wait to hear more and how the crowds were this past Mardi Gras!! So far so good

 

[my2disneyboys]

Hey - I followed you over here from DisneyTiger's report... I actually remember you from one of her other trip reports! We are staying at POFQ in January- I hope you have some pics to share....

 

[DisneyTiger]

Hey - I followed you over here from DisneyTiger's report... I actually remember you from one of her other trip reports! We are staying at POFQ in January- I hope you have some pics to share....

Are you following me?!?!

 

[vamassey1]

Hey! I'm here!!!! Can't wait to hear more and how the crowds were this past Mardi Gras!! So far so good

I'm so glad you found me. The crowds were really bad. Worse than when we went in 2004, but there were Saints and Tiger fans EVERYWHERE!

 

[vamassey1]

Hey - I followed you over here from DisneyTiger's report... I actually remember you from one of her other trip reports! We are staying at POFQ in January- I hope you have some pics to share....

I love follow the leader! I've read a few of DisneyTiger's reports. Her kids are so cute and she really funny. I do have pictures of the resort. It's really beautiful there and we loved taking the boat to DTD. I wish I had had more time to explore the resort and walk over to PORS.

 

[DisneyTiger]

I'm so glad you found me. The crowds were really bad. Worse than when we went in 2004, but there were Saints and Tiger fans EVERYWHERE!

I know. I've heard it was a little crazy because of President's week But also so glad that so many more people got to see the Tigers and Saints represent!!! GEAUX TIGERS and WHO DAT!!!

 

[vamassey1]

I know. I've heard it was a little crazy because of President's week But also so glad that so many more people got to see the Tigers and Saints represent!!! GEAUX TIGERS and WHO DAT!!!

When you did VOL did they do the states roll call? Very interesting when they did for us.

 

[mmasse5]

Last time we went for mardi gras LSU had justtttt one the national championship, and this time, it was the week after the saints had won the superbowl. it's great way to meet people. OH and not only were the crowds crazzzzzy, but it was freezing the entire time!

 

[DisneyTiger]

When you did VOL did they do the states roll call? Very interesting when they did for us.

No! Bet that was fun!

 

[PittypatBR]

I'll have to find that report. Where do I find the Louisiana DIS group? Is it on the community board? My DH ran into the BR store's manager's husband one day. DH was wearing his Grumpy shirt so he started up a conversation about Disney with him. Anyway he got the lowdown on why the store closed in the mall. When Disney took the store back over from Children's Palace the Mall management required the contract be done. They couldn't come to an agreement so Disney pulled out. It was one of their top performing stores too.

I think someone invited me, but I will have to go back and look for it. However, when I did a search for Louisiana Disser, I found a bunch of posts including this one http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1717467&highlight=louisiana+dissers which lists a LARGE number of Louisiana people and a bunch of BR area. We really should think about a meet of some sort.

 

[PittypatBR]

I found the link - it is on Disfriends at http://www.disfriends.com/group/louisianadisfans?xg_source=msg_wel_group

 

[vamassey1]

I think someone invited me, but I will have to go back and look for it. However, when I did a search for Louisiana Disser, I found a bunch of posts including this one http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1717467&highlight=louisiana+dissers which lists a LARGE number of Louisiana people and a bunch of BR area. We really should think about a meet of some sort.

I'll have to get caught up on that thread. Disney Tiger has joined the this report too now. She lives in Baton Rouge too.

I would love to get together but hopefully we could do it after school lets out. It's a real busy time right now. My oldest is graduating from NSU on Friday and my youngest is still real bust with school.

I found the link - it is on Disfriends at http://www.disfriends.com/group/louisianadisfans?xg_source=msg_wel_group

Very interesting, but do have to say I'm more comfortable with the DIS and it took me a while to get that way.

 

[vamassey1]

Now it's time to go into the When and the Where. Our trip dates were Saturday February 13th thru Sunday February 21st. Of course technically it started on Friday February 12th since that was our departure day and we did make it all the way to Florida that day.

The plan was to send Danielle to school that day and have her think I was going to work. I would stay home and pack her stuff and mine. Dennis would go ahead and go to work at 5 a.m. but take off early to meet us. We were going to tell her she had a dentist appointment and Michelle would be taking her since I had to work. Michelle was going to check her out of school a little before noon. At some point Jada would check Lauren out too and meet up with us at the restaurant where Michelle works. On the way to the dentist, Michelle was going to tell her she had to stop by work. We would be waiting for her as a surprise. During lunch she and Lauren would both be given a present. I have to back track a little here. After our last visit Danielle finally admitted even though she thought she was too old she would really like to do Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and even dress up like a Princess. This is a big deal since for a few years she has thought she was too old to dress up and of course the only place she would do this is at Disney. Sometime before Christmas I got an email about costumes being on sale and she was over my shoulder when I was looking at it. She saw the Belle red costume and said she would really like it to wear at Disney the next time we went. I didn't get it right them but did order it in January and have it shipped to my work. I told Jada and she asked Lauren what she would like to wear when we went to Disney later that year. She picked a Camp Rock outfit. I encouraged Jada to get something else. I knew if Danielle was a Princess Lauren wouldn't be happy to not be one too. Of course Jada was telling Lauren more than I was telling Danielle. She even let her see the package when it came in. Eventually she convinced Lauren to get the Aurora costume and even let her try in on when it came in. She's not as good at being secretive as I am. Okay so one Wednesday while both girls were at dance Jada came over and we wrapped up the dresses exactly the same. Inside the box was an invitation.



The inside of Danielle's invitation said this.



Of course Lauren's said she was leaving the next day. Jada and Lauren were flying out of New Orleans so they would get there the same day as us. They weren't going to stay as long as us either. She was leaving Friday the 19th.

So this was how they would find out about the trip. Of course Lauren already knew about her dress, but Danielle knew nothing. You'll have to wait to find out if this all worked out as we planned.

I almost forgot we hoped to be on the road for 2 p.m. since the car should already be packed. I was looking forward to packing Danielle's clothes without her help, then she would have to wear what I picked out. I know "mean Mommie". She's gotten to the age where we don't agree a lot.

I let Dennis decide where we would spend the night on the way there since he would be doing the driving. He would plan how far he wanted to push himself. We ended up with a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express in Madison, Fl which is past Tallahassee. I would have been happy just to make it to Tallahassee. I had added the comment that we would be checking in late to our online reservation.

Here's our Itinerary

Friday 2/12/10
Be on the road for 2 p.m. Dinner on the road somewhere that wouldn't take long since we're in a rush to get to the hotel.

Saturday 2/13/10
Breakfast would be at the hotel's free complimentary breakfast. We wanted to be on the road by 8:30 a.m. arriving at the hotel around noon. Check in hopefully unload, have lunch in the food court then head to DTD. We would shop and explore. We had a dinner ADR at TRex for 5:30. Jada would be pushing it to meet us but said she wanted to eat with us. Her plane was suppose to land at 3:05. After dinner she was headed back to her resort. We had plans to hit the Magic Kingdom for a little while. This would be something totally new for us. We always hit DTD or the Boardwalk on arrival day, but since it was just a few dollars more for the 8 day instead of 7 day ticket we went ahead and did it.

Sunday 2/14/10
Our first park day would be Epcot and of course it would be rope drop because we're rope drop people. Breakfast at the food court. For lunch we had an ADR at the Princess Storybook Dining for 12:20. Lunch here would be new for us. We've done the breakfast 3 times and loved it but I was worried about the food for lunch. This was also Valentines Day. Dinner would be in the park hopefully at Sunshine Seasons since we missed out back in June. We planned on staying for Illuminations. This was Jada and Lauren's only planned Epcot day and they had never seen it. Michelle had never seen it either. Dennis hadn't seen it since 2002 and Danielle's first time in 2009 wasn't a good experience.

Monday 2/15/10
Magic Kingdom at rope drop. Michelle, Jada and Lauren had never seen the opening show. Lunch would be in the park. The girls had a BBB appointment for 2:10. We also had a dinner ADR for 5 at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. After dinner we would go back to the park to catch Wishes and possibly Spectro. Wishes was a must but Spectro was a maybe. This would also be the only day Jada and Lauren planned on being at MK and it was open til 12.

Tuesday 2/16/10
This would be a split day. In the morning we would hit Animal Kingdom for rope drop. We had an ADR for Yak & Yeti for 12. We planned to leave not too long after that and go to Disney Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day. We wanted to catch Illuminations since it was one of the few nights it would be offered. Jada and Lauren had never seen this. Dinner would be somewhere in DHS. This was also the day we planned to meet Jordan and Elizabeth.

Wednesday 2/17/10
This would be our killer day. We had an ADR for Chef Mickey's for 7:15 a.m.. This was one of the two meals Danielle has said she wanted to do the next time we went. Since we had done breakfast and dinner both once we wanted breakfast again since we enjoyed it more. I tried several times to get the time changed but had no luck. On this day we would split up. Jada and Lauren would spend the day at DHS. They had a dinner ADR for Mama Melrosa and we would go back to Epcot. We had an ADR for Teppan Edo for 5.

Thursday 2/18/10
Back to AK for rope drop. This is Dennis' favorite park and Jada felt she missed a lot on her first trip in 2004. We had a dinner ADR at 'Ohana's for 7:05. This would be Jada and Lauren's last park day.

Friday 2/19/10
Jada and Lauren were flying out at 3:25 p.m. so they would go to DTD and shop a little before taking ME to the airport.
We would be headed back to DHS for the day. There would be no Illumination and the park was closing at 7. We had an ADR for 7:30 at Cape May Cafe. After dinner we planned to go back to DTD to purchase the stuff we saw the first day.

Saturday 2/20/10
Our last park day would be spent at MK with dinner at Tony's at 5:05.

Sunday 2/21/10
Departure day. Since we were planning to drive the whole way back in one day we wouldn't be doing much except for breakfast in the food court.

Now were would we be staying.
We would be staying in our very first moderate, Port Orleans French Quarter! It would be the perfect place to stay for some Louisianians for Mardi Gras. Both Michelle and I were very excited about this. Dennis, not so much. He's been very satisfied with the Values. Well see how it compares. Jada and Lauren would be staying at All Star Sports. At first she had reservations at Pop with the stay for 5 get 2 free. Since she was only staying 6 nights she was only getting 1 free. When they announced the gift card promotion it was a better deal for her so she switched but also had to switch her resort. We had both paid for the dining plan but I was worried about Lauren. She's a very picky eater and doesn't eat much at all unless it's junk food. Both Danielle and Lauren were 10 so they would be on the adult plan. I wasn't near as worried about Danielle. Stay tuned to find out how that worked out.

Up next "Oh dear what's a girl to do?"....

 

[DisneyTiger]

I found the link - it is on Disfriends at http://www.disfriends.com/group/louisianadisfans?xg_source=msg_wel_group

Hey, just I would say hi. Another Baton Rougean here! (Is that how you spell that??)

 

[vamassey1]

Hey, just I would say hi. Another Baton Rougean here! (Is that how you spell that??)

Sounds good to me!

 

[PittypatBR]

Hey, just I would say hi. Another Baton Rougean here! (Is that how you spell that??)

Well Hi, there! It is crazy how many Louisiana people love WDW. My son and his family just returned and on their floor at the Poly there were 4 families from their small school in Lafayette, and none of them knew the others were going! It was their first trip (since my son went with us as a 6 year old) and they are now total converts. They WILL be back!

Maybe this summer we can plan a BR Dis meet at the Mall food court or something. That would be fun.

 

[PittypatBR]

The When and the Where sounded great. What a fun surprise! I'm looking forward to hearing how it all came out and which plans were changed.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Can't wait to hear about the big surprise!