Long time planner, first time visitor!

[Denovagirl]

Take a picture of the slip just in case it gives you the slip!

I will!

 

[Denovagirl]

Hooray for Photopass! Ours arrived a week or 2 ago and I was super excited!!! We aren't using DME so no luggage tags for us. (We're taking the autotrain instead of flying.)

Amanda

Wish I didn't have to fly, but it's the quickest I guess! DME is a def perk

 

[solana131]

I had my son write a couple letters to characters (one to Mickey and one to Chip n Dale) a couple of weeks ago. I found an address where, if you send a letter to pretty much any character, they will send back a signed postcard in about 3 weeks. I knew when we got really close, we wouldn't get anymore Mickey Mail or anything, so this way he still gets fun mail from Disney. We should be getting the first one next week. I'll let you all know how it looks

 

[Denovagirl]

I had my son write a couple letters to characters (one to Mickey and one to Chip n Dale) a couple of weeks ago. I found an address where, if you send a letter to pretty much any character, they will send back a signed postcard in about 3 weeks. I knew when we got really close, we wouldn't get anymore Mickey Mail or anything, so this way he still gets fun mail from Disney. We should be getting the first one next week. I'll let you all know how it looks

How awesome! My hubby actually collects autographs, he's always mailing celebrities and I've tried to encourage him to involve the kids and mail the disney characters! Let me know how it goes for sure!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

we're doing the letter writing thing too! I printed off some coloring sheets and they colored the pictures and I wrote a little note. we haven't mailed them yet since we're still coloring, but we're going to send them off so we get something about 3 times before we leave. we are writing to the princess, mickey and Minnie, goofy and Donald. I think that if you write to characters at Disney world you get a little postcard and if you send it to Disneyland, you get a black and white picture. you can find the addresses on pinterest. or I have them here if you want them.

 

[Saralew]

I had my son write a couple letters to characters (one to Mickey and one to Chip n Dale) a couple of weeks ago. I found an address where, if you send a letter to pretty much any character, they will send back a signed postcard in about 3 weeks. I knew when we got really close, we wouldn't get anymore Mickey Mail or anything, so this way he still gets fun mail from Disney. We should be getting the first one next week. I'll let you all know how it looks

Where did you find the addresses? I found one for the princesses but that is all. I don't want to do it for my daughter and not my son - I will feel bad.

 

[Denovagirl]

Where did you find the addresses? I found one for the princesses but that is all. I don't want to do it for my daughter and not my son - I will feel bad.

This is what I had found but I haven't tried it yet...

http://www.couponingtodisney.com/wr...r-and-get-an-autographed-picture-in-return-4/

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Yup, that red slip of paper is very important! It made me nervous in January too and will continue to make me nervous in September! Love the idea to take a picture of it!

Yay for getting your correct luggage tags! Eeep can't believe you guys are so close!

 

[Denovagirl]

It is here y'all! August! I can hardly believe it. Seems like yesterday it was January and I was just starting to plan this trip out. Now here we are today, and in just a few short hours I will officially be 2 weeks away from our trip of a lifetime!



I haven't updated in a bit, but that is mainly because there isn't much to update now that we are sooooo close! But no worry, today you will get 2 updates!!!

I have tied up most everything that needs to be done! I've bought all the items I still needed to get, I've secured all the documents I needed, and I've received all the Mickey Mail I was expecting!

Now is perhaps the hardest time of all, because it's just WAITING!

On top of that I seem to be running into EVERYTHING Disney lately, and it's so hard NOT to buy it ALL! I want everything I find, but really I have no need or use for it, and I could just wait and buy fun stuff at Disney instead, so that is what I have been trying to do.

But, alas, I have failed at several attempts not to buy things, and have found some fun little things. I did pick this up this week-





This adorable little Minnie wristlet/wallet was too cute to pass up! I love it! It holds my phone and some cards and it's all I need. I've been using it since the day I bought it, and I know it will be handy on the trip as well. I found it at JC Penny, in the little girls section. And FYI- they have some other ADORABLE Minnie stuff as well, including a backpack, purses, and clothes! Plus, it was all on SALE when I found it, so yay! It was regular $16, and I got it for $11.99, not too shabby!

In other news, The Box is currently OVERFLOWING! Bahahahaha!

Oh well, what's a girl to do?!



New additions to The Box include some pretty nice ponchos I found at Academy, for $4 each. I like them wayyyyyyy better than the dollar store ones!! Also, these fun little sanitizing thingies-



These are from the dollar tree, they appeared with all the back to school stuff. I didn't even notice them, but my DD did and had to have them. I don't normally use antibac stuffs, I am one of those all natural mama's, but I figure the wipes especially will be nice to have with all the foreign objects we're sure to be touching at Disney, so this could be good for a week! Plus, they're cute as can be!!!

Mostly, what is left to do now is just packing and printing. Printing is really just all my conformations for stuff like groceries, stroller, and Universal stuff. Packing, I have decided, will be done in 3 phases...

Phase 1- Stuff.
This includes most of the things from The Box. Snacks, gifts, all that jazz. I will probably do Phase 1 this week! I am getting antsy!!!

Phase 2- Clothes.
I will most likely wait until a few days before the trip for this phase. I don't want the tees to get to wrinkled beforehand, and our shorts will all take a serious hit when we pack them up. Being in Texas, we need those shorts as a vital part of our everyday wardrobe, so I can't take them out of circulation too early!

Phase 3- Last minute stuff.
Which would be our toiletries and make up. As well as things like the cameras and phone chargers. This will be done the day of.

All in all, I am feeling pretty put together at this point. I don't think I am missing anything obvious. I am most likely going to give Disney a call and verify a couple of confirmation numbers. Mainly, the BBB and Pirates League ones, because they don't show up on the website, and I change the BBB so much I want to make sure I have the right one in my itinerary.

Only thing I think I may NOT finish is the worksheets for the countries. I have only got 7 right now, and they are time consuming to create. But who knows, I will still try to get them done. If not we are still going to learn about each country before we go no matter what.

Other than that, I expect to have everything double checked and ready to go this week. The days are going pretty slow now that we are so dang close, but I have been reading and writing a lot, so that helps hours fly by. Olivia has also taken to looking through her Disney photo book a lot lately and we just re-watched all the parks shows. So I think it's safe to say that we are all one hundred percent ready!!!

It is still so surreal to me though! I know it's coming. I can practically envision every aspect of the trip, yet I still can't believe that I will actually be there in 2 weeks!!!!! I am assuming this is a normal feeling? I think it is mainly due to the fact that the DH and I never had family vacations as kids, and it took nearly 10 years of marriage until we could start doing our own vacations. So to be going somewhere so iconic is just crazy to us. We would always talk, before getting married, about going to Disney, but its the same way we talked about traveling the world and all that, so it seemed more like something you hope for, but don't always accomplish. Now I know that this trip is just the beginning. I can already tell that Disney will become a part of our families lives!!!!

Enough of the heart to heart though... I hope you are all doing great. And for my other August friends, I can't wait to meet you, and I know you are all gearing up like me!! So EEEEEEEP! I am going to work on a 2nd update after this one, so check it out!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Wow, two weeks!!!! I am not even going and that makes my heart jump a little!!!! OMG, I am going to be positively horrendous next year......

 

[Denovagirl]

2 posts in 1 day!!! I am in a DIS mood!!!!

Hehehehehe.

Really, I wanted to solidify my departure day plans. Normally any travel we do is done at some ungodly hour of the morning, so it's usually just a roll out of bed and go type situation. Not this time!! Though I prefer traveling early (mainly so I don't have to wait any longer, but also because it's less crowded) we actually added an extra day on to the beginning of our trip so that we could take the later, non-stop, flight. I figure with the baby it will be so much easier not having to worry about switching planes. So we added the day, and I can now relax!

Okay so here's the plan:

Whatever AM:
Wake up as usual and eat breakfast like we normally do. We will need to do our phase 3 packing, which is all the last minute things. Toothbrushes, contact solution, phone chargers, what have you... Normally the baby takes 2 morning naps, one an hour or so after waking up, one before lunch. Today we will keep her up! Our hope is she will pass out on the plane...however is she doesn't we could end up with a cranky baby. But I doubt it. She is really great about falling asleep in my arms, so praying for no issues there.



10 AM:
Head out to San Antonio. It takes us about 20 minutes or so to get to Chris' mom's house. They live in the same neighborhood as his grandparents too. The plan is to meet up at the grandparents house, because we will leave our car parked there. They live fairly close to the airport, so his grandfather will drive us in our car to the airport to drop us off, then take our car back to their house and pick us up in it when we return sad1. The other half of our party will ride with Chris grandmother to the airport to be dropped off. (We don't all fit in one car) I am sure we are going to stop off and eat first. I am personally hoping for some Canes...


*Image from Google search.

12 PM:
Arrive at the airport and check our bags, get through security, and all that fun stuff...then WAIT. Haha...this should be a fun part of our trip considering we do not have a stroller, and I am sure both girls will be running around. It also seems like the longest wait ever when you are just sitting in the airport. Blah. I do have a secret weapon though. Once we get there I will break out the plane bags I made for them!! They have snacks, coloring books, and fun stuff like that to keep them occupied.



2:40 PM:
TAKE OFF!!


*Image from Google search.

6:20 PM:
Arrive in ORLANDO!!! We are using ME, so we don't need to find our checked bags, we can just go grab a bus and book it to our resort! I have already done the online check in for the hotel...is there an online check in for the ME as well? If so, I hope to do that too.


*Image from Google search.

From here on out we were on Orlando time. Not sure how long getting to the hotel will take, but the only other thing I have planned is to go to our room before the kiddos see it and set out the welcome baskets that I have for them. I want that to be ready when they walk in!



We will most likely just spend the evening checking out our resort and maybe POP...I am certain there will be some swimming. The group has expressed interest in hitting up DTD, but I know we will get to go there another day so it's really just whatever they want to do! I am on vacation by now and sure I won't care!


*Image from Google search.

So that's the hopes for departure day. Here's hoping it will all go smoothly!

 

[Denovagirl]

Wow, two weeks!!!! I am not even going and that makes my heart jump a little!!!! OMG, I am going to be positively horrendous next year......

I can say with absolute confidence that you will! Hah!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That Minnie wristlet is adorable! And perfect for Disney!

I totally have that Ariel hand sanitizer hanging off my bag They have them at Rite-Aid here and my cousin works there so with her discount it cost me a good 80 cents so I HAD to have it

I totally get that surreal feeling! I honestly never thought we'd even get to make our first trip to Disney so when we were there we thought we wouldn't be back for a long time so it was like living in a dream the whole time. Now that we're about to make our 3rd trip in 2 years, I still get that same feeling. It's like OMG this is too perfect? Is it really happening? I think that's part of what makes the planning so much fun. The anticipation leading up to the trip is almost as exciting as the trip itself!

Your girls are too cute. I can't take it. You're going to LOVE seeing them react to all the magic in Disney. I hope you take 100000 pictures-- I can't wait to hear about it when you get back.

It sounds like a good idea to have some time in the morning to get everything ready to go, especially with the kids.

There's no online check-in for ME. Just have that little booklet with the ME vouchers handy. There's a little podium there (if I remember properly). Just hand the person there your vouchers and they'll direct you to the right line!

 

[Denovagirl]

That Minnie wristlet is adorable! And perfect for Disney!

I totally have that Ariel hand sanitizer hanging off my bag They have them at Rite-Aid here and my cousin works there so with her discount it cost me a good 80 cents so I HAD to have it

I totally get that surreal feeling! I honestly never thought we'd even get to make our first trip to Disney so when we were there we thought we wouldn't be back for a long time so it was like living in a dream the whole time. Now that we're about to make our 3rd trip in 2 years, I still get that same feeling. It's like OMG this is too perfect? Is it really happening? I think that's part of what makes the planning so much fun. The anticipation leading up to the trip is almost as exciting as the trip itself!

Your girls are too cute. I can't take it. You're going to LOVE seeing them react to all the magic in Disney. I hope you take 100000 pictures-- I can't wait to hear about it when you get back.

It sounds like a good idea to have some time in the morning to get everything ready to go, especially with the kids.

There's no online check-in for ME. Just have that little booklet with the ME vouchers handy. There's a little podium there (if I remember properly). Just hand the person there your vouchers and they'll direct you to the right line!

Good to know all of this! I love having people tell me if my plans look okay, since it's my first time and all!

 

[AngieTank]

First of all... I am a HUGE h2Oh! drinker too!!! Live on the stuff - ever since I stopped drinking soda. I have a bottle right here next to me - Lemon Lime flavor. <---- I wish I could find a way to ship a case to the resort!

For our 2008 trip, I packed an entire suitcase full of snacks, and put it in our checked luggage (be careful - things like PB are likely to get searched, and will get thrown because it's a "liquid" in your carry on)... The only problem we had, was that I packed waaaaaay too many, and then we didn't have enough room for souvenirs when we came home. LOL

PHotopass+ is actually a CARD that they mail to you... The plus portion is very important - that card must go with you on your trip so they can add your ride/meal photos to it.

I think I answered everything? Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on the pHotopass+ portion.

D~

Have you tried shipping using staples or office max? I know staples is free shipping with a rewards card one OM is free over a certain dollar amount.

 

[babynala]

Love the Mickey wristlet and all the cute stuff for the girls. Those plane bags should keep them busy, such cute ideas in there.

Your plans sound nice and not too rushed for a trip to the airport and being tired from getting up too early. Have you considered bringing an umbrella stroller for the airport? Of course my DS was just way too heavy to carry and he was such a wiggler, I always had to put him in the stroller. I think you guys should be OK since you are traveling with a group so lots of extra hands. I used to get so stressed having to go through security with little ones but once I got passed those metal detectors I was good. Having a non-stop flight will be so much better then having to switch planes and having to transition twice.

Your girls are just adorable.

 

[DMGeurts]

Just stopping by to say hi!!!!

EEeeeeeep!!!! We are soooo close!!!!

Love your first day plans... I think everything will go smoothly for you. I also insist on a non-stop flight when I am traveling alone with the girls, it just makes things so much easier, even if they are much older than yours.

It won't be long now, and we can start watchign the weather...

D~

 

[Jackiemarie21]

How exciting you guys are getting so close Yay!
I know you will have a great time. I am still enjoying your plans and sharing your excitement!

 

[Chicago Mo]

you all have to be going out of your minds!! IT"S SOOOOOOOO CLOSE!!! Finally!!!

your daughters are absolutely adorable! I cannot wait to see pictures of them with the princesses!!!

No there is not a check in with ME..

 

[Denovagirl]

Love the Mickey wristlet and all the cute stuff for the girls. Those plane bags should keep them busy, such cute ideas in there.

Your plans sound nice and not too rushed for a trip to the airport and being tired from getting up too early. Have you considered bringing an umbrella stroller for the airport? Of course my DS was just way too heavy to carry and he was such a wiggler, I always had to put him in the stroller. I think you guys should be OK since you are traveling with a group so lots of extra hands. I used to get so stressed having to go through security with little ones but once I got passed those metal detectors I was good. Having a non-stop flight will be so much better then having to switch planes and having to transition twice.

Your girls are just adorable.

I think you're right with the hands- 5 adults to pass the baby around, and she can walk some too. I don't want to fiddle with the umbrella stroller. I'm getting so excited. About to start the packing tomorrow!!! 10 days!