Longtime lurker finally posts a PTR...8/6 - 8/13 @ POP

[KAMKIM]

Well hello all, my name is Jen and I am a lurker. I've been reading these threads for MONTHS. Our first WDW vacation is coming up fast (3wks and 6 days to be exact) and I couldn't hold my excitement any more,...I had to post a PTR.

So I've never done this before, where do I begin? We will be staying at POP August 6th - August 13th.

The cast

ME 27 I work full time and have 2 active little girls. I do not require sleep, I like to plan and control everything. I love all things Disney, I love taking pictures, shopping, and scrapbooking (typical girl I guess) I went to WDW 1 time with my grandparents when I was ah about 12 or so...

DH 29 He's a great guy, loves to play basketball and is a wonderful father. He is very laidback and generally lets me make the decisions which is fine with me since I'm a control freak. Never been to Disney.

DD 8 She is our oldest, incredibly smart, loves to read, LOVES Disney, she is very mature and sometimes its easy to forget that you are talking to a child and not another adult. She is athletic, loves to play sports with her daddy. She takes guitar lessons and is a Girl Scout. Little bit of a bossy girl and control freak as well (not sure where that comes from ) Never been to Disney.

DD 4 She is our ray of sunshine, the princess, the diva. She LOVES all things girly, pink, lace, flowers, you name it she loves it. She is in dance and will be also be in Girl Scouts in the fall. She likes to play dress up, likes to get into my makeup and most of all loves listening to music. Never been to Disney and will be turning 5 the day we arrive

DM (my mom) wont disclose her real age so we'll just say she's 21 She went to Disney sometime in the early 80's and left me at home So that was the only time she has been there. She watches our kids while we are at work and that makes her almost saint like.

DN (dear nephew) 7 He is like 5 boys rolled into one, always wrestling, making messes, and getting hurt (boy am I glad I have 2 girls lol) He Grandma's shadow and we're so happy he is able to come along with us on this trip. He went to Disney once with my brother and his mom when he was about 2 so he doesn't remember it anyway.

Okay so thats us - let me begin with how this trip came to be. We've always wanted to go to Disney since we've had kids, we planned on going once our first born was out of diapers. As luck would have it, as soon as she was out of diapers we found out we were expecting baby # 2. So then it was - once she is out of diapers - I know alot of people take babies to WDW I just knew it wasn't for us. So anyways, in February I saw the buy 4 nights and get 3 free deal and decided to price out a trip...I added basic magic your way tickets and the dining plan...and I was surprised at how cheap it was. Once I realized you only had to put down a $200 deposit and cleared it with DH we booked! In casual conversation my mom and I were discussing the up coming trip and I mentioned how much fun it would be if her and DN could go too (I should stop here and fill you in on some things, our DN does most of our family outings like amusement parks, Disney on Ice, aquariums etc. with my family and my mom. My youngest DN (2) will probably be joining us on our adventures when he is a little older) So after some convincing to my brother and SIL (who was supposed to go with us but it didn't work out) we were set and booked their reservation too.

We have our airfare through Southwest. After watching prices go up and down since March we booked 2 weeks ago for $140 per person

Here is a break down of our itinerary

August 6th flight leaves Buffalo International airport at 6:50 AM
Due to land in Orlando around 9:30 or so
Taking advantage of ME
Going right to POP to check in
Hopefully our rooms will be ready if not we plan on grabbing something to eat at the food court and going right to MK
ADR The plaza @ 6:50 PM
Spectromagic 9:00PM

August 7th MK again
ADR 9:45 Crystal Palace
ADR 6:45 PM Tony's Town Square

August 8th AK and DTD
no ADR's for this day but planning on doing TREX for dinner at DTD

August 9th
AK
ADR 9:35AM Tusker House with Donald Duck
ADR 5:45PM Trails End Restaurant
Want to check out the Chip and Dale campfire singalong

August 10th
Not sure if we're doing MK or Epcot (I haven't decided if we're doing Epcot at all so I guess we'll just see what happens when we get there )

August 11th
HS
Fantasmic 9:00

August 12th MK
ADR 10:45 Chef Mickeys
ADR 7:05 Liberty Tree

August 13th
Flight leaves at noon

 

[KAMKIM]

Just thought I would add another detail. I have never flown before and am deathly afraid of what my reaction will be once I'm on the plane. I am trying to fill my head with Disney thoughts to get over this but I know the time will come when I will have to board that plane and act like a grown up so my kids dont freak out with me. Any encouraging thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[Nuwanda9]

Your trip is so close!! I bet you and your family will have a time!!

 

[KAMKIM]

We dont have long to go at all now - 27 days. I see you are in Syracuse NY. We took a brief road trip there last summer to see the Jonas Brothers (I have an inappropiate fetish with Joe Jonas ) Oh, and my 8 year old loves them too. We're in Akron NY about 20 mins from Buffalo.

 

[Nuwanda9]

Yep, I'm in Syracuse. The Jonas Brothers were at the State Fair, right? My mind is going blank...I'm sitting here thinking I know I must have gone to a concert at the Fair last year, now who was it?? It was Daughtry! Yes, I'm not losing my mind! LOL!

27 days! That is exciting!!

 

[scoot241]

Just thought I would add another detail. I have never flown before and am deathly afraid of what my reaction will be once I'm on the plane. I am trying to fill my head with Disney thoughts to get over this but I know the time will come when I will have to board that plane and act like a grown up so my kids dont freak out with me. Any encouraging thoughts will be appreciated.

You'll get some mild roller-coaster like sensations as the plane ascends and descends, but nothing bad. You'll have to "pop" your ears using whatever method works for you (swallowing, holding your nose and breathing out your nose, etc.). It's a bit loud because there's a turbine engine on each side of the cabin.

Southwest has good service usually. Complimentary Coke and peanuts.

Just try to relax and enjoy yourself.

 

[KAMKIM]

Yep we went to the state fair, I have never seen so many cars in my life. It was an awesome show and worth the drive!

 

[KAMKIM]

Thanks for the info on Southwest, I didn't realize they served free drinks

 

[KAMKIM]

One more thing to mention - we are planning a surprise return trip to WDW in April 2010 - nothing booked yet but we're hoping to book shortly after we get back from this one!

 

[KAMKIM]

I am the only one posting on my PTR lol anyhoo - I have a question, since we are on the dining plan, and all tickets/hotel/airfare is paid for now how much extra money should I take? We are not fancy pants kind of people so I dont expect to be spending hundreds on souvenirs, but here is what I figured

DD will be turning 5 the day we arrive so she is due to get a gift card for her birthday, I am including this in her souvenir money so its even between the two girls...they each get $100 for spending money so total $140 out of pocket

Probably $100 for gratuities (I prob spelled that wrong forgive me) is this enough? We have 7 TS meals which I was told will have the 18% added because we are a party of 6 total so i figured average $15 per meal for grat?

Dinner at TREX I checked their menu and figure this will be about $80 including tax and tip...so total $320

Now I plan on bringing water bottles and koolaid packets to drink during the day so that is covered....I'm considering buying the souvenir cups at the hotel as well so that is another $52 or so for 4 cups? TOTAL 375. I planned on bringing 700 so that leaves 325 for unexpected expenses. Will that be enough? I know we'll have to buy some snacks throughout the week but am hoping the 2 meals a day on our dining plan covers us....we are used to eating 3 meals a day....any thoughts?

I'm not a big souvenir person and would be happy to get a magnet, hoodie, and keychain.

 

[KAMKIM]

Not much to update anyone on today, but I am headed to Walmart on my lunch to grab some sunblock and mister fans.

 

[Angies1274]

Hi I'll join in. I'm excited to read about all your planning!! We will be at Pop-August 24-27 for our 3rd trip. (bringing along my parents this time, for their 1st trip) You must be so excited --your first WDW vacation!! Your plans look really good so far.
Last year, our trip to Disney was my first time flying as well. I was very nervous but I just kept reminding myself that I was going to Disney and it ended up not being so bad. I actually enjoyed it. Like the OP said it will be loud especially when it ascends and descends and you may need to pop your ears. We always chew gum on the flight and that seems to help. My son had some problems so we purchased Earplanes for him and they helped him alot!!!

I think $100 each for souvenirs are great!! We gave our boys each $50 gift cards last year--plus some Disney dollars and paid for the little extras like the arcade. The dining plan is great and you will get alot of food, so you probably won't have to spend too much more for food. I think what you have allotted for unexpected expenses should be fine. We are not big souvenir people either and we took less than that.

Hope some of this helpsI look forward to reading more......

 

[KAMKIM]

Hi I'll join in. I'm excited to read about all your planning!! We will be at Pop-August 24-27 for our 3rd trip. (bringing along my parents this time, for their 1st trip) You must be so excited --your first WDW vacation!! Your plans look really good so far.
Last year, our trip to Disney was my first time flying as well. I was very nervous but I just kept reminding myself that I was going to Disney and it ended up not being so bad. I actually enjoyed it. Like the OP said it will be loud especially when it ascends and descends and you may need to pop your ears. We always chew gum on the flight and that seems to help. My son had some problems so we purchased Earplanes for him and they helped him alot!!!

I think $100 each for souvenirs are great!! We gave our boys each $50 gift cards last year--plus some Disney dollars and paid for the little extras like the arcade. The dining plan is great and you will get alot of food, so you probably won't have to spend too much more for food. I think what you have allotted for unexpected expenses should be fine. We are not big souvenir people either and we took less than that.

Hope some of this helpsI look forward to reading more......

another reader!! Thanks! Looks like you will be there right after us I'll try to get some pics posted and a trip report done as soon as possible when we get back.

I am so nervous about flying - when we booked our trip I talked myself into being okay with flying and driving was going to cost us more than flying so that was out of the question (not to mention the time it would take to get from Buffalo to FL) but then a plane crashed into a house about 5 miles away from us...everyone on board died...our schools were closed and everything, this increased my anxiety by about a million...probably because it was so close to home..you probably heard about it on the news flight 3407. My girls are not nervous and are looking forward to flying, I dont want my irrational fears to affect them at all.

 

[KAMKIM]

Hi I'll join in. I'm excited to read about all your planning!! We will be at Pop-August 24-27 for our 3rd trip. (bringing along my parents this time, for their 1st trip) You must be so excited --your first WDW vacation!! Your plans look really good so far.
Last year, our trip to Disney was my first time flying as well. I was very nervous but I just kept reminding myself that I was going to Disney and it ended up not being so bad. I actually enjoyed it. Like the OP said it will be loud especially when it ascends and descends and you may need to pop your ears. We always chew gum on the flight and that seems to help. My son had some problems so we purchased Earplanes for him and they helped him alot!!!

I think $100 each for souvenirs are great!! We gave our boys each $50 gift cards last year--plus some Disney dollars and paid for the little extras like the arcade. The dining plan is great and you will get alot of food, so you probably won't have to spend too much more for food. I think what you have allotted for unexpected expenses should be fine. We are not big souvenir people either and we took less than that.

Hope some of this helpsI look forward to reading more......

About the earplanes - now are those just ear plugs? My older daughter has sensitive ears and I am worried about her being in pain (allergies cause her ear drums to swell and causes temporary mild hearing loss) the doc did say the take off and landing might cause her some problems. Where did you get the earplanes?

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I am here! Sounds like you have great plans. I don't have much time to comment now but I will stop back by when I do.

 

[KAMKIM]

Well I went to Walmart today and picked up our sunblock and DVDs for the camcorder (expensive little buggers!) I do need to grab another memory card for my camera because I expect to take a lot of pics while we're there and right now I only have a 1GB so I'm thinking about grabbing a 2GB. I also got the girls disposable cameras to take their own pics...now here is the funny thing, I dont believe my children have ever seen a non digital camera before (these are the times people) so I cant wait until they take a pic and then try to find out where it is LOL I just couldn't see spending money on their own digital camera even a kid one isn't cheap - and these disposables were 2 for $7.00

the one thing on my list I didn't get was the mister fans, they replaced all the pool/summer stuff with school supplies Where the heck are the mister fans!??!?!

 

[Angies1274]

About the earplanes - now are those just ear plugs? My older daughter has sensitive ears and I am worried about her being in pain (allergies cause her ear drums to swell and causes temporary mild hearing loss) the doc did say the take off and landing might cause her some problems. Where did you get the earplanes?

The earplanes are very similar to ear plugs but they made to help relieve the pressure that builds up in the ears during take-off and landing. My youngest son has very sensitive ears also and the earplanes worked great for him. I ordered them through Drugstore.com because that was the only place I could find the children's sizes. Our Walmart only carries the adult sizes and the only other place I have heard they have children's is CVS. (unfortunately, we don't have one near by.)

the one thing on my list I didn't get was the mister fans, they replaced all the pool/summer stuff with school supplies Where the heck are the mister fans!??!?!

Oh no...I was planning to go to Walmart this week to get our mister fans.

 

[KAMKIM]

Maybe they hid them? IDK I didn't have time to go look by the summer pool toys and towels but I dont know that they would keep them over there...seems to me just a few weeks ago they had ALOT left...they must have put them somewhere. I was at Home Depot yesterday and they had something similar, looked like a better quality and was 8.99 ....worse case I guess I can go grab one of those...but it didn't have a strap.

 

[KAMKIM]

Well I pulled out the suitcases and packed toiletries and similar items....I love the feeling of seeing the suitcases pulled out and open...just waiting...

 

[deslynnpatterson]

you are so lucky your trip is coming up so soon your trip details look great so far So you have never been on a plane? don't worry i have been on plans many of times-- and i still cannot get used to flying-- the only thing that really gets me by on the flight is thinking about what i am going to do at the place i am flying too!! I live in Pittsburgh so its only about a 2 hour flight to orlando-- but my family wants to go to Hawaii next year and thats a 12 hour flight-- and i am scared about that already!!! yikes!! Just keep thinking about disney and you should be fine I can't wait to read more-- and don't worry not many people are commenting on my trip report either-- but after some time people will find it just keep leaving updates your trip is so close!!!!!
~Desiree