Let the Planning Magic Begin! UPDATE 2/22 *Past the Point of No Refund*

[deannaf87]

Hello friends!

My name is Deanna (24). I'm married to Daniel (25)

I'm a displaced Texan living in NE Kansas due to DH's Army career. I spent all that time(and money!) getting a Masters in Accounting, but am currently a SAHM lol.

We have two kids...

Audrey 5, is our little Rapunzel fanatic

and Ezra 10 months and lover of all things canine and Mickey Mouse

We will be heading to WDW March 17-March 23, 2013! The kids will be 5 and 15 months.

I REALLY wanted to go at a less busy time, but alas the Army decided my husband's leave dates would be the worst ever.

DH is in Afghanistan right now and will be home early 2013.

We'll be driving to WDW from SE TX where we will be visiting family and dropping off our 6 year old Boxer, Luke. It's about a 16 hour drive we will break up into two days. I routinely drive 13 hours from NE KS to SE TX with two children and a dog alone, so I'm not too worried about the drive with DH.

We have made our reservations at Shades of Green Resort and got an awesome rate of $76/night due to DH's recent overseas deployment.

I made our first ADRs today. We will be having an early (4:50) dinner at O'hana 3/19 and a fabulous breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table 3/22 at 8:15. I haven't decided what, if any, further ADRs we'll make. Open to suggestions!

I've been analyzing touringplans.com and easywdw.com and have come up with a preliminary park plan that goes as follows:

Monday: EPCOT
Tuesday:Hollywood Studios
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
Thursday: Universal (DH is a Harry Potter fanatic!)
Friday: Magic Kingdom

I know that leaves out AK, but we'll catch that next time around. I really feel the need to spend two days at MK with my princess lover.

I look forward to sharing this magical journey with you all!


UPDATES:

Daddy is Home!

Past the Point of No Refund

 

[deannaf87]

Stroller reservation made!

Reserved a City Mini GT Double so DD5 can have a place to rest.

She wimped out on Halloween after one block, so I figured better safe than sorry.

One less thing on my to-do list!

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome!

Born in Dallas and live in KC, small world

 

[deannaf87]

Awesome!

Born in Dallas and live in KC, small world

Haha I was born in the Metroplex area too!

 

[merbobear]

What cute children! My dd will be 5 at the time of our next trip also (in May 2013) and she's a fellow princess lover!

Other ADR's you might look into are Chef Mickey (Mickey & friends), Crystal Palace (Pooh & friends), 1900 Park Fare (Cinderella, the Tremaines & Prince Charming are at dinner). Anastasia & Drizella are a riot at 1900 PF!

I'm subscribing

 

[deannaf87]

Well hello there. Long time no update.

We've been busy!

Daniel returned home from Afghanistan Dec. 29th ( a day before my 25th birthday ) and a whole month and half ahead of schedule.

The kids have been adjusting awesomely to having him back. Ezra was four months when he left and he has been a Daddy's boy since the day Daniel returned....such a relief!

I can't say that much has changed in our trip plans except for our park schedule. Daniel insisted on seeing the Animal Kingdom, so it looks like Epcot is out. Our new plan of attack is....

Monday: AK
Tuesday: DHS
Wednesday: MK
Thursday: Universal IOA
Friday: MK

We decided against making anymore ADRs. We're hoping to go with the flow and maybe catch a few meals outside the parks/resorts. A one year old will really teach you not to make too many advanced plans.

My new priority numero uno is figuring out how we are going to pack a Nissan Altima with 2 car seats, a 70 pound dog, pack and play, and luggage for a month! We'll be headed to TX from KS March 9th, spending a week there and dumping the dog and hopefully a considerable amount of luggage before embarking for WDW March 17-22. Then after our magical experience, it's back to TX until April 6th or so when we have to be back in KS to resume living in Army paradise

Here's our little family on homecoming day.

 

[merbobear]

Congrats on having your family back together!

 

[deannaf87]

Nothing terribly exciting happening on the planning front.

Ordered two water bottles, a lanyard, and an autograph book.

I've become obsessed with WDW. I spend any free time tweaking touring plans, scoping Disboards and easywdw.com, and reading the unofficial guide.

Fairly certain my husband thinks I'm nutty, nutty cocoa puffs.

I know he'll be glad to get away from this for a while though.

23 more days! Which means that resort deposit is now non-refundable. Let's not mess up our plans Army!