Leaving our cares at the entrance sign, we can pick them up later! or Not!

[karsen11]

Pre-Trip Report
September 27- October 3
A little background information-
Hello and welcome to my very first PTR/TR!!! I have been reading along many of yours for the last three years and I have always wanted to write my own, but for some reason or another it never really came to fruition. This time I am determined!!!
I grew up going to Disney World as a child many times with my large extended family every few years and was always absolutely in love with all things Disney! It was the place that no matter what was going on in my life, I felt happy and blissfully at peace with being who I was! Some of my best childhood memories take place there and I want my daughter to feel that same feeling!
In the 8th grade, we took a trip to Disney World with my family, my Grandmother, and my aunt’s family. It was wonderful and we had an amazing time being together. About a month after being home, my Grandmother passed away suddenly. Those Disney World memories were something that I hung onto and help me get through that rough time. The following year my parents and my aunt decided that our family would go back to WDW to help us prolong those positive memories and help escape from the grieving process a bit. Being in WDW did just that and I am so thankful that my parents were able to give us that gift. Years passed and we had a booked calendar and life in high school and college was busy and trips to the most Magical Place on Earth were not really high on my parents’ radar.
It wasn’t until 2013 that WDW really entered back into my life. My husband, who I’ll be introducing in just a moment was going to a work training in Orlando and surprised me by saying that he wanted to go down a few days early and take me to Disney World!!! Ummmm YES!!!! We booked 3 park days just 18 days out from when we would be leaving. There were no dining reservations for that trip, but I did book 3 FPs using the brand new FP+ technology, although paper FPs were still being used. We arrived the evening of Oct, 18 and stayed through 22. The parks were pretty empty and we were able to do what we thought was a lot at the time. It was a very quick trip, and by the end of just day one, I had caught the Disney bug, and I was hooked!!!
You see, at this time in our lives, my husband and I had some extra stressors and we needed this trip. Less than a year prior my husband’s sister passed away in a very tragic manner, so we were still very much feel the pain of that loss. Throughout the year we had sought comfort in the idea of starting our own family, however as one by one our friends were able to get pregnant without batting an eyelash, we started to wonder what was going on with us? This trip signified the end of us “trying” on our own, as if I was not pregnant this cycle I would be starting to see a specialist. Being in Disney World for that short time was so helpful, as I left all of those stressors at the door and just enjoyed be child like and playful with my husband. I was a breath of fresh air, and I craved more.
Upon returning home and seeing multiple doctors, we learned that we were down to one option of starting a family, IVF- aka “hell”. We struggled through the year in and out of doctors offices, emotionally drained and overall extremely defeated. As we scheduled our second IVF cycle and in February, I told my husband if this didn’t work I needed to return to happy for a little while, so I needed to return to Disney World. In March the doctors pulled the plug on our cycle as my husband’s cells showed them that he may have leukemia. Talk about needing a break!!! We quickly booked a trip to begin the day after schools got out, as I am a Physical Education teacher. That week we also happened to be celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary, so it was perfect. We spent the week in utter bliss, away from stress, doctors, and reality, it was everything we had dreamed of and more. And now I can admit I had become 100% completely obsessed with my new Disney life.
After having what we referred to as “The Summer of Fun” that had kicked off with our Disney World dream vacation, and ended with a cruise to Bermuda, I returned to work and doctors’ visits ready to take on a third and final IVF cycle. And this time, we hit the lottery, as we were announced to be pregnant by the end of September. Joy does not begin to describe how we felt. I spent the following 36 weeks knocking on deaths door due to my body’s uncontrollable need to throw up around the clock. I was sick as a dog throughout my entire pregnancy, but it was a minor price to pay. What kept me going throughout my days curled up in the fetal position on the couch was the planning of a huge family trip to Disney World the following September with my 5 month old in tow! Yes 11 days of non-stop Disney utopia before my maternity leave ended was in the works.
That September trip was nothing short of amazing. It definitely was a different experience with an infant and other family members, since our prior trips consisted of Tom and I only having to worry about ourselves and how many times we could ride each “E” ticket in a row. But we were able to nail down a pretty good system and I have to say I am pretty amazed at how naturally it all came together. The only real bump in the road came when I woke up with a pretty bad sinus infection on our first full day of the trip. Basically the stress of packing, worrying about an infant, and the lack of sleep prior to the trip had my immune system completely down before even getting the chance to enjoy a little bit of our vacation. It was rough, but I was determined to suck it up and not let it rule my dream vacation. It was the trip of a lifetime and I am so glad that we got to have that experience with family and close friends.
Fast forward to my first year as a fulltime working mother, saying that I struggled would be the greatest understatement that I could make. I missed my daughter all day, every day. I can’t begin to count the number of tears I shed just thinking of not being with her while I was at work. She was in great hands with my parents all day, but I still was extremely depressed throughout the year that I had to leave her five days a week. You see, we struggled for her, and now that she is here, she is our world. Tom and I don’t even go out to dinner without her. If we are not at work we are soaking up as much of her as possible, so after five months of being with her 24/7 while on maternity leave, the transition back to working full time was awful. So feeling pretty down, I floated the idea of taking Gigi to Disney World for her first birthday to Tom, and I was beyond shocked when he agreed!!! A quick trip from May 5th through the 10th was booked just a couple months out and we could not be more excited. This would be our first vacation with just the three of us! It was awesome! We had a blast and nothing will ever replace our daughter’s first birthday pictures with a cupcake sitting on Main Street with Cinderella’s Castle behind her. It was sheer bliss! The only issue was, I was coming off the flu and I got a sinus infection a couple days before leaving for the trip. I felt so sick! My body was tired and achy and my head felt like it was going to explode. Apparently the stress leading up to a Disney World vacation attacks my poor immune system and there is nothing else that can be done except to just push through as much as possible. And that’s what I did, I pushed through and made the absolute best of it. The trip was short but jam packed with magic and left me wanting more!
So here we are, all booked for September 27-October 3! This trip will again be just the three of us and it is much needed! We had a very rough summer, as just one week into summer Tom’s dad very suddenly and expectedly passed away. We spent our summer grieving and trying to make it through the best we could, but it was just a huge dark cloud for us and made enjoying anything pretty difficult. Thankfully we have Gigi and she provides us with a great distraction and makes us smile even when our hearts are breaking. Once I was back at work and we were starting to get into a little routine and dig ourselves out of the rut we were in, we got a call that my cousin had also passed away suddenly and expectedly. Talk about insult to injury! If there is any family in need of a little bit of a magical vacation it is us! We need to smile, we need to laugh, we need to let go, and we need to just leave our cares at the Disney World entrance sign, we may have to pick them up on the way back, but at least we know they are in good hands there.
Thank you all in advance for following along with us as we get the much need break we deserve!

 

[karsen11]

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this first post, for some reason photobucket is not working for me...any help that you can pass along would be great

 

[Smposchman]

Hi There!

We also have our dear daughter due to the miracle of IVF. So much of that hellish time has become such a blur, now 9 years later. You never stop looking at them with such disbelief that something that hard came up with something so perfect.

 

[karsen11]

Introductions:

Now it’s time for you to meet our little family of three!

I’ll go first…


My name is Kristen and I am a full time mommy, wife, and physical education teacher. Some people live to work and love their jobs, well not this girl, I strictly work to LIVE! I fund our Disney trips and other vacations, and basically our extras. Hopefully retirement for me is in the near future. Disney is my passion and I absolutely love passing that on to as many people as possible, especially my daughter…my husband says I’m brainwasher her. I am the planner, stressor, organizer, packer, researcher, and over “manager” of any of our trips, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.


Next up is my husband of almost 10 years, Tom. We’ve been together since high school and we’ve pretty much grown up together. He loves Disney too, he’s just not obsessed like his crazy wife, but he puts up with all of my neurotic Disney behavior, which I am very appreciative of! He’s auditor for a large firm and works very hard, so vacations for him are super important. He just wants to relax, go with the flow, and have an all around good time!



Last, but definitely not least is our dear daughter Gianna, or Gigi as we affectionately refer to her. She is the absolutely love of our lives and there is nothing that we wouldn’t do for her. She will be 16 months on this trip and I can’t wait to see her WDW love grow. This will be her third trip to the most magical place in the world, and her first time walking! When we came for her first birthday, she decided to wait until we were at the Orlando airport waiting for our flight home to take her first steps! Talk about an awesome memory. She is now a toddler who pretty much goes 100 miles per hour at all times, which we can’t get enough of. She absolutely loves Mickey Mouse, or as she calls him “dog dog” (he looks like a dog in her little world) and is a huge fan of the rest of the Fab Five and riding all of the rides. She is fearless and fun, and just has a way of making everyone around her smile.

So now that you know the cast and characters we can talk plans!

Coming up, all the details

 

[karsen11]

Hi There!

We also have our dear daughter due to the miracle of IVF. So much of that hellish time has become such a blur, now 9 years later. You never stop looking at them with such disbelief that something that hard came up with something so perfect.

It never stops amazing me!!!

 

[karsen11]

It’s all in the Details!!!
Let’s face it, we are all here because Disney does details like no one else, and in planning a trip it’s all about those little details. Typically I like to map everything out, attraction by attraction down to the minute so that we have an organized starting point. But once we get there, especially now with having Gigi, we go with the flow a bit more. Our touring style is commando with me leading the charge. I like to do and see as much as possible from rope drop to park close. We do not go back to the resort for a break, instead we rest in the parks, like in the Hall of Presidents. Luckily Gigi has always been a good “one the go napper”, and I am praying that this trip is no different. She normally takes a good three hour nap from 10:30ish-1:30/2:00, so it is during this time that Tom and I normally utilize rider swap and do all of the attractions that we love with a height requirement. Gigi travels very well and has always been flexible with her schedule on vacations. At home she is normally lights out for the night around 7ish, but in Disney World she’s still rockin’ and rollin’ as the last firework goes off. I really try to plan around meeting her needs as far as meals and naps go and that seems to work great for us. It will definitely be interesting to see her new form of mobility plays apart in our touring plans.
So here it is, the Master Plan, that we will possibly throw out the window as soon as we arrive, but its better to be safe than sorry.
September 27, Travel Day
Tom will be home with Gigi for the day while I work. They will drop me off at work in the morning, (my work is about 45 minutes from our home and only 20 minutes from our airport, so it does not make sense for me to go home and back track after the work day). I will have everything packed and ready to go, so while Gigi’s down for her nap, he can load everything into the car. My work day ends at 2:45 so Tom and Gigi will pick me up at that time and we will head to BWI Airport for our 6pm flight. I am currently working on packing a little activity carry on for Gigi with stickers and color wonder coloring pads for some flight entertainment. She’s never had a problem flying to Orlando, since thankfully the flight is only a little over 2 hours. We should arrive in Orlando around 8:30pm, and after catching the Magical Express and traveling to the resort, we will probably end up there around 10:00pm. The plan is to just hang out and explore the resort. I’m still trying to decide if we should use our yellow luggage tags for our bags to be delivered like we normally do, or if because it’s later in the evening and we may be exhausted to just take our bags ourselves so that we aren’t stuck waiting on them. We do have a park ticket for this evening, but I highly doubt we will use it, I think that we would be cutting it close to making it there and doing anything worth the extra travel. So the better option will be to spend so time walking around the resort, get organized in our room, and head to bed on the early side so that we are ready for a full day of magic in the morning.
September 28 Day 2- Magic Kingdom
Our first full day will take place at the Magic Kingdom. My goal is to make the Welcome Show, as we just missed it in May, (I had the previously mentioned sinus infection and my body was just moving in slow motion). Gigi has seen it once before, but being that she was only four and a half months at the time, I’m sure she would enjoy it a lot more now. Our first stop will be for a venti starbucks, as it’s our tradition to always start our Disney mornings off with the use of a snack credit for massive amounts of caffeine. Normally we head to Frontier Land first to hop directly on Slash Mountain and Big Thunder, but with Big Thunder being refurbed I think we will head to Fantasy Land first instead. If crowds are as low as they have been, we may try to rider swap Mine Train, but not unless the wait is 20 min or less by the time we get there. If that’s not a good option, I just want to ride as many things without a height requirement as possible so that Gigi gets excited! We have a 9:50 FP+ for Peter Pan’s Flight. At 10:50 I have an early lunch reservation for Be Our Guest, since Gigi will be getting tired and Ill want her to get to have something to eat and sometime to unwind before we lay her back in the stroller for a nap. I would love to push her nap just a bit and use our second set of FP+ that is scheduled for after lunch at 11:30 for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin…but we may have to modify this one on the fly if she’s too tired to make it. While she’s napping, Tom and I have Splash and Space Mt FP+ to use and rider switch. Then we will try and grab some rolling FP+ from that point on. Gigi normally takes about a 3 hour nap, yes, even in Disney World…so my guess is that she will be down until around 2:30ish and then we can hopefully get a few good rides in before taking the monorail to the Contemporary for our first dinner reservation…California Grill is at 5:20. This will be our second time eating here and the view our first time was nothing short of amazing, along with the food too! So we are really looking forward to this one. After dinner we will head back to MK for more rides, our last viewing of MSEP, Celebrate the Magic, and Wishes (My absolute favorite). We always hang out for a little after wishes and walk around, go on a couple rides, and take night time pics in order to let the lines for bussing back to the resorts die down a bit.
Day 3- DHS
So, this used to be my second favorite park, but slowly but surely its becoming my least favorite as so much is closing. I am sure it will circle around again after construction is finished, but right now, I’m a little concerned at trying to make this a full park day. The plan is to head directly to Rock’n Roller Coaster and use rider switch after our caffeine fix has been taken care of at Trolley Car Café. I would like to go to the 10:00am showing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid, as in all of our time spent at DHS we have yet to view this show. Next up we have a FP+ from 10:10-11:10 for TSMM that we will put to good use. After, hopefully grab something to eat (any counter service suggestions? We normally do turkey legs here, but that’s not an option any longer). Then it will likely be ready for Gigi to nap and Tom and I to use our rider switch skills for my favorite ride, Tower of Terror. We have an FP+ for it and Star Tours during Gigi’s nap time. I’m hoping that Gigi is up in time for us to head to Beauty and the Beast for the 2pm showing, but I don’t want to disturb her if she not up so Tom and I may just utilize the single rider line at RnR. Our last FP+ is for Disney Jr. Live on Stage, which I’m am so excited to see with her for the first time. After the show we will either walk or take the boat to Beach Club Resort for our 5pm dinner reservation at Cape May Café. I’m still questioning this dining reservation, anyone want to reassure me that this was a good choice, or should I try a last minute switch up? I really do want to see the Beach Club resort though, thinking that this may be a good option for us next November. After dinner we have plans to head back to DHS and do anything that we can grab a rolling FP+ for or has a short wait time. Really I feel like we will be trying to kill some time to wait for Star Wars fireworks, as these are my husband’s favorite. He thinks that they are hands down better than any fireworks show we’ve ever seen, Disney or elsewhere. After, back to the resort for some sleep.

coming up... Day 4-6
EPCOT, AK, and hopping around

 

[karsen11]

OK, so I am not even sure if anyone is really following along or not, but I'm going to keep going anyways...it's kinda like free therapy
Anyways...
I'm not going to be able to lay out the details for the rest of the trip because, WE ARE ACTUALLY LEAVING TODAY!!!!!!!!!
THAT'S RIGHT


Today we are leaving!!!! I just need to get through work until 2:45 today and then we head down to the airport. We are so ready!
I'll give the brief overview of our remaining plans.
Sept. 27- fly out and spend the evening roaming around Caribbean Beach Resort
Sept 28- MK day, rope drop to Wishes reservations at Be Our Guest quick service for lunch
and California Grill for dinner
Sept 29- Hollywood studios, reservations at Cape May Café
Sept 30- EPCOT food and wine throughout the day and Via Napoli for dinner
Oct 1- AK in am, reservation at Sanna and then head over to MK for evening
Oct 2- Pool morning, EPCOT afternoon, Narcoossees for dinner
Oct- MK until 3pm, then back to the resort for the Magical Express

I can not express enough how bad we need this vacation!!! We're ready to roll!
I will be switching this over to the trip report section when we return and I really hope that you will follow along with what a Magical vacation this is going to be

 

[cinderaimee]

You're there now!! Ahhh! I hope you're having a blast! Can't wait to read all about it!