Magic in the Bayou...POR April 28-May 3

[littlelovebug]

Here we go...my first PTR!! I can now officially join the crew of "non-lurkers!"

Since I've spent the past few hours reading other DISers' PTRs, I'll start off slow with the cast of characters:

Me (30)...Jen...happily married to my high school sweetheart, proud mommy to a beautiful little girl, very amateur photographer, grateful for all the DIS folk for supporting my paycheck by shopping for goodie bag items in Target's dollar section!

DH (31)...Jed...loving hubby and daddy, extremely talented A/V installer, lifetime enthusiast of anything to do with customizing vehicles.

DD (4)...Princess Jilly (aka our "little love bug")...thinks mommy and daddy are "da best," loves anything to do with art, music and television/movies, often fulfills requests to sing "Pants on the Ground."

And finally one of all of us:

More details coming soon!



Jen DH Jed DD4 Jilly

Offsite?? 1984 & 1992, ASports 2001, WL *Our Honeymoon* 2003

 

[beccamarie]

Cute family! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[MikeandSulley]

Super cute! I've been thinking about starting my own trip report, maybe I'll get inspired.

 

[littlelovebug]

Cute family! Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! I'm glad to finally have found an outlet for my trip planning madness! I hope your first family trip is full of magic!!

Super cute! I've been thinking about starting my own trip report, maybe I'll get inspired.

I know!! Isn't it so hard not to share all of your hard work once you read through all of the other trip reports?? Let me know when you start!

 

[reyasmommy]

Adorable little girl you have there. Love the tinkerbell costume!

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Aw! Your little girl is absolutely adorable!

Can't wait to hear the details you're planning for this trip!

 

[littlelovebug]

So, like many of you, I spent a lot of time planning this trip before DH actually gave me the thumbs up to book it...

After months of sulking (but not outright begging...I'm above that...and I knew he would eventually cave...) and a nice tax return, he finally said yes! (What would a PTR be without the dancing banana???)

Immediately I grabbed the laptop and showed him the two resorts I had in mind...my first choice was POR, and my second choice was POP (figured I needed a value in there to soften the blow). Thankfully he agreed with my first choice and I booked online that night!

Here are some of the things I took into consideration when selecting POR:

1) I knew the parks could be a bit of a sensory overload for DD4, and the more laid-back theming of the resort would be a nice break from the bright colors and huge characters.
2) When comparing package prices, it was only about $300 cheaper to stay at POP. With the free giftcard promotion, a moderate comes with a $500 giftcard and a value comes with a $300 one. Using my DIS math, that only comes to a $100 savings to stay at the value, right??
3) I'm a pretty light sleeper and I hear many horror stories about the thin walls at the value resorts!

So my next decision was...to dine or not to dine? When we visited for our honeymoon, I swear we spent about $1000 on food for the two of us, and it's not like we were going out looking for the most elite dining experiences! I figured a dining package would definitely be the right choice for us, and I finally decided on the QSDP. DD4 has an even shorter attention span than most kids her age (I keep waiting for her to get kicked out of her ballet class for making faces in the mirror while the other kids are doing plies... ) which usually equals a rushed and stressful restaurant experience for us. Also, since this is her first trip, I didn't want to rely so heavily on scheduled activities every day. Instead I only made one ADR for Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare (more on why I chose this later...) which we will pay for with our free giftcard! I've invested lots and lots and lots of time into researching the best possible uses for our CS and snack credits, so please let me know what you think when I get around to posting!

Thanks for following along! Hopefully I can post more after Princess Jilly's birthday party tomorrow!

 

[littlelovebug]

Adorable little girl you have there. Love the tinkerbell costume!

Have a fabulous trip!

Thanks! The costume was a Christmas gift this year! Looks like you'll be in the World soon...hope you have a great trip!

Aw! Your little girl is absolutely adorable!

Can't wait to hear the details you're planning for this trip!

Thanks, I think so too, but I am a little biased... I hope to post more details soon! Thanks for reading along!

 

[reyasmommy]

actually we just got back from our trip.. I'm having withdrawls while doing my TR.

 

[cmp1111]

Beautiful family! You've not said when you're thinking of going, but for now, since you've labeled this a pre-trip report, I'm going to move you to that subsection. If I'm wrong, shoot me a PM and I'll move you back!

Thanks so much for sharing! I can't wait to hear more. Love your "Fuzzy Disney Math" (FDM, for short) by the way. My DIS gang would be so proud!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Yall are going to love POR, I'm sure! I've never stayed there, but it's a gorgeous resort.

I love doing the dining plans! It's so nice going on the trip knowing a big portion, if not all, of the food is paid for! Makes it more of that all-inclusive feel.

 

[MikeandSulley]

I've wanted to stay at POR for a while, haven't gotten around to it yet. It looks so beautiful from the pictures. Can't wait to hear more.

Hope Jilly has a great birthday party!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

hello Jen! Thanks for checking out my PTR! Now i'm here to check yours out! You and your family are soo cute! Especially your little princess! yay for POR. As you've read in my PTR, we've extended our trip so we will be experiencing POR as well. I can't wait!! I really want to do a carriage ride! So romantic! I actually BOOKED our flights without telling my boyfriend! lol! I also showed my boyfriend a value (All Star Music) and CBR. He HATED the value! He said "that's for kids". lol!! Good! I wanted to stay in a moderate anyway!

Yay for the dining plan! Can't wait to hear more! (gotta add that in for kicks )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS JILLY! (Can't wait to see pictures!)

 

[deslynnpatterson]

I am joining in Your family is adorable I can't wait to here more of your plans and more about POR

 

[littlelovebug]

Beautiful family! You've not said when you're thinking of going, but for now, since you've labeled this a pre-trip report, I'm going to move you to that subsection. If I'm wrong, shoot me a PM and I'll move you back!

Thanks so much for sharing! I can't wait to hear more. Love your "Fuzzy Disney Math" (FDM, for short) by the way. My DIS gang would be so proud!

Thanks, I did mean to post in the pre-trip report section...rookie move!!

Glad I have your support with the FDM!!!!

 

[portocall]

What a lovely family you have. I love the name of your PTR. We stayed at POR in November, and loved the place. It was easy to get lost there, and I mean that in a good way. It was a more laid back easy going trip than any of previous ones at a value resort. Be sure to take the boat ride to downtown disney one night, it really is fantastic!

 

[littlelovebug]

I've wanted to stay at POR for a while, haven't gotten around to it yet. It looks so beautiful from the pictures. Can't wait to hear more.

Hope Jilly has a great birthday party!

Thank you! The party was wonderful, can't wait to post details!

hello Jen! Thanks for checking out my PTR! Now i'm here to check yours out! You and your family are soo cute! Especially your little princess! yay for POR. As you've read in my PTR, we've extended our trip so we will be experiencing POR as well. I can't wait!! I really want to do a carriage ride! So romantic! I actually BOOKED our flights without telling my boyfriend! lol! I also showed my boyfriend a value (All Star Music) and CBR. He HATED the value! He said "that's for kids". lol!! Good! I wanted to stay in a moderate anyway!

Yay for the dining plan! Can't wait to hear more! (gotta add that in for kicks )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS JILLY! (Can't wait to see pictures!)

Thanks, Keala! Your PTR was motivation for me to do my own! I'm glad we can share our excitement together, since friends, family and co-workers who are not going to Disney often lack the enthusiastic responses...and dancing bananas that we love to give each other! Thanks also for the Birthday wishes!

I am joining in Your family is adorable I can't wait to here more of your plans and more about POR

Thanks so much for reading along! Can't wait to read your TRs and PTR! We absolutely loved visiting WDW in September, and obviously so did you! Congrats on your return trip!

 

[littlelovebug]

What a lovely family you have. I love the name of your PTR. We stayed at POR in November, and loved the place. It was easy to get lost there, and I mean that in a good way. It was a more laid back easy going trip than any of previous ones at a value resort. Be sure to take the boat ride to downtown disney one night, it really is fantastic!

Thanks for the compliment, and for the tip!!

 

[littlelovebug]

I have so many more trip details to post, but I wanted to share a few pics from Princess Jilly's Birthday Party today!! My stomach has been in knots all week because the weather forecast was 70% chance of rain with a high of 45 degrees, but with lots of prayers to my Grandma Carol, we were blessed with an overcast day around 60 degrees!! Woo-hooo!! (Four bananas for her fourth birthday!)

I was also nervous because my best friend and I, both self-proclaimed non-bakers (although she at least owns a rolling pin) decided to tackle the princess castle cake. Ultimately we were almost driven to tears with frustration, and then we were definitely driven to tears with laughter, but everyone said it was adorable, even though it fell apart several times during the car ride over (maybe they were just being nice).

The cookies were also a long story, but basically the glass slippers looked more like fuzzy slippers, but the kids had fun decorating them. I am too embarrassed to show what most of them looked like, so I am just going to post this one that actually has some form to it!

Jilly got lots of goodies...including a Cinderella dress and Disney giftcards...and we had a great day enjoying the company of our friends and family! Oh, and how's this for pixie dust...when she blew out her candles, my dad told her she forgot to make a wish. She responded, "My wish was, 'Dear Mommy and Daddy, I love you so much." So stinkin' cute!

I'll squeeze in one more of her pulling off a number from her Disney countdown calendar. She was excited because this one was marked with her birthday!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just found your pre-trip report link over on Connie's report. I wanna join in on the planning fun too!

Your family is so cute and your daughter is simply adorable. I think you and your friend did an awesome job on the cake.