Magic thru the Eyes of a Mayan Princess October PTR final update 10/7

[Guatemommy]

Hi everyone! I'm a bit nervous as I only joined DISboards a few weeks ago and am not sure if I've earned enough of my ears for a Pre-Trip Report yet, but here goes! I stumbled onto this board as I was looking into booking a Disney trip and have been addicted daily ever since. I find reading everyone's trip reports as well as dining reviews fascinating.

The stars have aligned after a very difficult 2 years and we are finally able to take a long, overdue vacation. This will be the first Disney trip for our DD, who is also known as the Mayan Princess and will be referred to as 'MP' going forward.

Now for the cast of characters:
Maxine (me) 44 - been to Disney about five times - always short, commando-style trips
Andrew (DH) 48 - been to Disney twice - once to MK as a kid, and once with me in 2003
DD (MP) 4.5 - first trip and an avid princess-lover

I wanted to include our pic but am clueless as to how that works, so if someone wants to PM me with instructions, please do. You can see a small version of us in my siggy at the bottom.

Linda, my BFF who lives in FL, will be joining us for 3 days but more on her later.

Our Story - WARNING - this will be long as I am a talker, but trust me, you will love it - it oozes with romance, tragedy and ultimately happiness!

DH and I first met way back in 1979 (I know this is ancient for some of you) in high school. DH was a senior and I was a freshman at a small, private high school in New Jersey. DH was friendly with my brother and by day 2 or 3 of school, he introduced me to DH. I'll never forget it - we were at his locker on the Boys side of the hallway when bro called me over. As soon as this brown-eyed girl caught sight, I was hooked. It was definitely love at first site. Not so much for him - he just viewed me as a kid sister of sorts.

We stayed friendly throughout the year and even after he moved on to college. When I was looking at colleges myself, he offered to let me tag along one day with him to see if I would really like his school - that was just great for me - a sorta-date-but-not-really with my dream man. I ended up choosing his school and we basically hung out my whole freshman year. But again, I did not know that he only viewed me in kid sister way. I just played the shy girl I was and hoped that one day he would figure out he was supposed to ask me out.

He did finally figure that out, but it was 17 years later. No, you do not need to adjust your eyes or strengthen your glasses - you read right - SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER! We basically stayed friends all that time - long after he and my brother lost touch. (Actually, they stayed in touch only because of me all that time). I watched him work his way through relationships - including one very long one and he acted all protective of me through my myriad of boyfriends and dates. Neither of us ever found the 'right one'.

So to speed it up, we finally hooked up as a real couple back in 1997 when I had the guts to finally tell him I wanted more than friendship. Actually, my exact words in the car returning from dinner in Long Island were: "I see you in my life forever - I just don't know what capacity yet. I think we owe it to ourselves to try because it is obvious that we both have special feelings for each other."

We dated for about 4 years until we finally married in 2001. Life was good.

Since then, he has been with me through the loss of my mom to leukemia (suddenly and almost immediately after our wedding), a broken leg, my own bout with cancer, a second broken leg, a hernia operation gone terribly wrong followed by a year of infection and two more surgeries till it was gone, and one final surgery this past month, hopefully the last forever. He is truly my Prince Charming and I know I never would have made it through all this without him.

Now - Janey the Mayan Princess:

I could not carry a child after the cancer thing - I'll spare those details - so we decided that adoption was the road for us and Guatemala was the path to take us there. DH has always been fascinated with the Mayan culture since our first Mexico trip.
As soon as we started exploring options, we knew in our heart that our child would be from Guatemala for many reasons, but since this a DIS board and not an adoption one, I will leave it at that.

We first met our beautiful girl at 3 months in Guatemala, visited again at 7 months and finally came home forever with us at 9 months. There are times I can't remember life before her. She is a wonderful child with a great personality and more than any parent could ever ask for! DH labelled her our Mayan Princess. Some in the Mayan culture believe 2012 is the end of the world - DH believes that is when they will officially crown her as the Mayan Princess that she is.

We are centering our trip around our beautiful girl and all the magic we want to share with her so that is where the name of the TR comes from.

Next post - how I met my BFF, Linda!

How am I doin' so far?????

 

[PixieTl]

Great!!! She is going to have a blast!! Look forward to reading more! I have a friend that adopted a little boy from Guatemala a few years ago, he's just adorable! You have a beautiful family!

 

[Guatemommy]

My BFF, Linda, will be joining us for 3-4 days at the beginning of our trip. Her DH is a real homebody and she hasn't been to WDW in a while, so she is joining us, which is good as it now allows us the time for a long WDW trip. Our FL trips are usually split - half our time visiting them on the gulf coast and the other half spending a few days in a Florida theme park. I will miss seeing her DH though. I haven't seen Linda in over 2 years now because of all my medical stuff, so I am really excited to spend time with her and for her to spend time with Janey. She is like her fairy auntie.

Linda is 18 years older than me and just like my "meant to be" story with my DH, she and I were always meant-to-be best friends. Here's our BFF story:

When I was about 3-4 years old, I used to go with my mom to the hair salon every week. I was fascinated with styling hair and was certain that was what I was going to do when I grew up. My eyes took notes of every part of the process - the hair wash in the sink when you leaned back, the cutting, rollers, hair dryers you sat under, the teasing, etc. The salon - Tint-n-Tone - was the highlight of my week. The peak point was when my mom let them do my hair up in a big bouffant of curls for my aunt's wedding - it was 1969 or 1970 (I know this must make me sound like an antique to some of you young-uns and the hairdo sounds silly, but trust me, I was "all that" in my big-girl hairdo!). I know you think I went off on a tangent, but bear with me, you will see where this all leads to.

Flash forward to 1988 when I got my first 'desk job' - I'd always worked retail up until then - at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. My start date was in between training sessions so for the first few weeks I was stuck doing clerical work and data entry - that was the worst!!! Also, most of the people in my department were considerably older and it didn't look like this was gonna be a fun place for me, but the fact that I had my very own cubicle was interesting. My co-workers were nice enough, but no one was really befriending me and I felt a bit alone. Someone told me "Just wait till you go to training - you will make friends with people your age in class that are in other departments". I ate lunch in the cafeteria all by myself - no one ever signalled to me to join them and I was too shy to ask. Those first few weeks of corporate America really stunk. There was an empty desk next to mine with a nameplate that said "Linda J….." I was told she was in the training class that started before I was hired and that she would be back in the department in a few weeks. I kept praying that she would be a nice, young girl and I would have someone to bond with.

Linda came out on the floor for a training break for a few days to practice before moving onto the next segment. As soon as I saw her, I instantly knew that things would be ok. I figured she was around 30 so the age was close enough for me (I was 22 then). We introduced ourselves and she seemed nice. But when lunchtime came, she already had her 'crew" and off they went. Bummer!!!!
I didn't see her in the caf, but she saw me at the end of lunch all by myself. When we got back to our desks, she said, "I didn't realize you were eating alone - no one should do that. Tomorrow you are going to join us - my sister works here too and since it's Friday we go cash our checks and go out for pizza - OK?".

OK??? More than OK - I was in!!! So we did the usual conversing - where r u from, how old, etc. So we are walking back in to the office and she asks, "Do you remember there used to be a hair salon in your town on Market Street?" I said - "Of course - Tint-n-Tone - my mom went there every week." So Linda says, "I think I remember you from there, say around 1969? Didn't you used to have really long hair? And I think we even did your hair once, right?" I freaked out! How could you remember me? I was only 4 years old?????

So Linda explains that she used to be the wash girl there while she was attending beauty school and she always remembered this little dark-haired girl who seemed fascinated with the salon. She also remembered that the little girl's name was Maxine. She couldn't remember my mom, but she said that the image of this little girl who loved the hair salon had always stayed with her. Yes, yes, yes - that was me!!!!!! After all, how many other long-haired girls named Maxine who were 4 years old went to the Tint-n-Tone every week??

So here we were, 19 years later, sitting next to each other as co-workers - what a small world!! (insert Disney music here). Need I say, we became instant fast friends!!! Linda was already 40 then, looked 30 and had the heart and personality of a 25 year old. I was 22, looked 28, acted 35 (uggh how I regret that I didn’t enjoy the freedom of youth a bit more back then - I was always the responsible one) so the combination was a perfect match!!!!

As a quick aside (yes, yes, I know I digress, but it makes for interesting reading), Linda and her DH have a wonderful story too - they were high school sweethearts, lost touch, he moved to Arizona, and she never heard about him again. Until she was in her 50's, kept checking Classmates.com until he showed up one day. Both were never married, never had kids and now….they are happily married (ceremony was in Vegas in a red sports car at the drive thru chapel ) and back in FL where she loves living after cold NJ for years and way too hot AZ for a year.

Next up - the decision on where to stay, when to go, etc.

By the way, I would really love to attach all the threads to the first post, so once again, I am asking for DISer help - please PM me the instructions if you know how. Thanks!

 

[Guatemommy]

So I told DH that after my last surgery in June, no matter what, I was going to go see Linda as I needed a BFF fix. DH didn't want to leave work for more than a few days and frankly, a weekend local trip just has not cut it for me as a vaca. So I told him if he wanted to go he could, but MP and I were gonna see Auntie Linda by December this year. And that maybe we would do Disney with MP - just a girls vaca. Well, he would have nothing of that so he acquiesced and agreed to a decent-sized vaca. So I have a certificate for 4 nights that I can use at an offsite hotel, but then I felt 4 nights was not enough and a commando style trip with MP was not gonna work. Plus then I'd have to factor the rental car cost, etc, and suddenly it didn't seem like the 4 free nights were such a deal.

So, while I was home this past month recovering from surgery, which went better than any of the ones I have had in the last six years, I was fuelling my creative ideas and decided to look at the Disney site. I saw the free dining option for August, but that was out of the question. So I played with the numbers to see just how much would a trip staying onsite actually cost - this was something I never did before. Well, with the Value resorts, it was actually reasonable. Factor in Magical Express and no need for a rental car (savings there), and maybe, just maybe they will extend the free dining thing, well, this just might work.

We started looking at 5 night stays, but I still felt that commando thing coming on and quite frankly, I am getting too old for that - I need a vaca that has a level of relaxing and enough shopping time to make momma happy (even if all purchases are for the MP - I am still a happy shopper!). Once you get past a 6 day Magic your Way ticket, it is really so little to keep adding days (not sure why I am stating this as you are all more DISexperts than I will ever be!). Then factoring in that I was finding $158 airfares non-stop, well, why not stay even more days???? I originally wanted to go in early December to see the lights, etc. but then I was afraid that it may be too cold for my princessita to swim. I mean, what's a vaca to a 4-year old if you can't swim? So then I thought maybe October - FL weather is still warm but the summer crowds are lessened as is the humidity.

I told DH that if they extend free dining, then we were in. I called WDW on 4th of July weekend to see if they knew that the dining might just be extended and of course they said they never know till it happens. Well, wouldn't you know, the next morning, I log on and there it was - free DDP extended into Fall! That was it - the deciding factor! We would go for a full week for sure!

So now it just came down to Value or Moderate? If only Moderate had bigger beds - I really wanted Coronado Springs but they were not available no matter how I worked the dates. Then I got to thinking, if both hoels have full size beds, then why spend the extra right now on Mod - The MP will like any pool - she is too young to realize that Mods have 'cooler' pools and for the time we will be in the room, the Value would suffice and we could use the money savings to stay a few extra nights.

Voila - I built a 9-night, 10-day trip at The All-Star Music with free basic DDP and an upgrade to reg DDP so we can do character TS meals, etc. Plus I was still able to work the airfares for $158 a piece. The only thing that would have been better was free flights with miles, but I never seem to manage that for FL trips. Out of the All- Stars, Music seemed to speak to me, although I must say I liked the POP look too. I think I felt POP might have been a bit too big for us.

I call Linda to advise of the plans and I knew she wanted to come to Orlando to visit us this time and get in a DIS Fix. She first says she will come for 2 nights at the end of our trip. A few days later she calls and says she will join us for 3 nights/4 days at the earlier part of our trip. She plans on seeing 3 parks with us, wants to skip AK as she liked it when we visited shortly after the park opened, but she didn't need to see it again. She had not been to Epcot or DHS since she and I went in the 90's so she was interested in them. And she wanted to go to MK with my MP so she could see that park thru a young-un's perspective (once again tying us back to my TR name).
Now with only 3 weeks left before I returned to work, I needed to figure out everything Disney - good thing I had found this board. I have been glued to it ever since!

Next up - ADR's!

 

[Guatemommy]

OK, I am soooooo behind the 8-ball as I only booked the trip about 3 months out so how on earth am I ever gonna get everything I want? At first, I started booking, double-booking, triple-booking like crazy just to hedge my best, but then that got too ridiculous way too fast. I rethunk stuff and here is the basic itinerary with the ADR's I can get right now - I think I did ok considering my rookie status and the short planning time.

Day One
Arrive at MCO at 9:45 - take ME to ASMu
Hopefully clear check-in by 11:30 - plan on doing online -check-in so that should help
Go to AK till closing at 5 PM to catch a few things
Back to ASMu to eat at Food Court - settle in early and meet Garden Grocer.

Day Two
Linda comes early AM - yay!!! - get her stuff settled and off to Epcot!
Akershus for princess dinner

Day Three
DHS - No ADRS right now - we may just wing it with a CS meal - not sure yet

Day Four
The great and wonderful Magic Kingdom!
BBB at 2:00 (Auntie Linda wants to give this to MP as a present)
GF for Cinderella Dinner - I really want CRT so we don't have to leave the park, but right now it's not available, but I will keep trying!
Back to MK for Parade - Main St Electric or Spectro (whichever is on that night), followed by Wishes
This is EMH at night till 2 AM, so DH and MP may go back after Wishes and Linda and I may stay to see whatever Linda may have missed earlier in the day as this is her last park day.

Day Five
Probably Epcot - may go in late - by now DH will surely need a late morning. Linda will leave early in the day anyway.
I am praying that I can get Le Cellier for lunch or dinner, but so far no luck - I check every day!

Day Six
Probably DHS as it is one of the two chances we have to see Fantasmic during our stay
Hoping a Fantasmic package opens up for lunch at Hollywood and Vine.
Late ADR at Ohana's

Day Seven

MK again!
Breakfast with Pooh and Co at Crystal Palace
Wishes Dessert Party - this was a request from DH and he doesn't ask for too many particulars, so we are going for it. Besides what little princess wouldn't kill to sit right under where Tink flies???

Day Eight
Chef Mickey's for breakfast - if I can get a ressie for Day Four instead we may switch so Linda can join us before she leaves, but so far, no go.
Haven't decided on a park yet - this is the other Fantasmic night, so we may do DHS if I snag a Fantasmic package here instead
Wolfgang Puck for dinner - the other DH request - we ate here back in 2003 and ate at 2 of his places in Vegas and we just love his food!

Day 9
Probably MK as this was the only night I could get a ressie for CRT. If we can change this to Day 4, the entire day's plans may change - or if MP decides she had enough princess interaction, then we will skip it, but holding the ressie right now.

Day 10
AK one more time
Breakfast at Tusker House

Mind you, we are following MP's lead, so much after Day Four may change depending on her desires. When we were in Sea World with annual passes in 2005, all we heard was "I wanna see Shamu AGAIN", so who knows which direction MP will lead us.

Next up - sharing the news with MP!!!! - What do ya think of the ADR's - too much character stuff? Just enuf??

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

Maxine, I am loving the astral coincidence of reconnecting not just with your high school sweetheart, but with a woman from your early childhood, one with whom you associate a place that seems to have given you a lot of joy to begin with! How wonderful for you all to be enjoying Disney soon with your Mayan Princess (love the title, and I think Disney should get right on that franchise!) I'm sorry to read about your health issues, but I hope - knock on wood - that the worst is behind you.

I'm loving the tangents and the background. A wonderful start to your trip report! I have to read your last two installments tonight when I get home from the theatre!

 

[Guatemommy]

I know some of you are so good at keeping secrets and surprising your kids the night before, etc., but that's just not me. I love to share with MP and she likes it too. I guess discussing upcoming vaca plans are part of our bonding thing. Besides, no way I could keep the secret for 3 months - I would surely burst, so might as well tell her from the get-go.

She has seen some of the stuff on the WDW site so she knew there was a chance that we would go there someday. So once it was all booked, I told her when she came home from pre-school and what joy it was to see her face light up!!!

"You mean we're gonna meet Cinderella?"

"Yes and all the princesses. And you can even eat dinner with them."

"Holy Wacamole!" (I have to explain this - someone at school taught her to say Holy Moly Cow and I just didn’t care for that, so we changed it to Holy Guacamole. Except that the way she says it, it sounds like Holy Wacamole!)

"Oh mommy - I really love you!"

That is worth every penny!

So I went on to tell her all the people/characters we will meet and that she will even get to see her number one - Prince Charming!!!!! She somehow became obsessed with the man when we took her to Disney on Ice for her 4th birthday. I don't know if the skater was so good looking that she now has a crush or maybe she just liked his suit - who knows? But ever since then, all I hear about is this guy. We talk about what we will dream about each night and she always starts with Prince Charming!!!

I explained to her that Daddy is my Prince Charming and that one day when she grows up she will find someone who will be her Prince Charming too. She seems to like that concept.

The issue at hand now is that she has no understanding of what 3 months is. She keeps asking if we are going to Disney next week. I've tried to give her barometers with all the things that need to occur before Disney but it doesn't seem to help.

The DISboards have taught me many things in the few short weeks that I have become addicted to them. I've gotten many tips and numerous ideas, many of which I plan to try and will of course, share here. But the top idea so far, comes from Sassagoula Billy - I have to give him props on this. He mentioned in his TR that Home Depot has paint chips in the shape of Mickey heads to promote the Disney paints. He used them to make a countdown chart. Well, I admit, I stole his idea. I did tell DH where I learned of this, but to others I have mentioned, I have acted like it was my brilliant idea - so Billy, I hope you don't mind!

Last week we were in Home Depot buying a new water heater (this just two days after the fridge stopped running - a bad appliance week in our house, for sure!), I had MP pick out all the colors she liked from the Disney Mickey paint chips. I admit, we took about 70. I'm sure the paint guy knew I wasn't planning on painting with all those colors but hey, they are free!!! When we got home, I had her select the order of the colors, with several white ones dispersed. I made her number each one 1-66 for each day till we go to Disney. I know most people do a 30-day countdown, but I figured this was the best way for her to understand the wait. Plus, it was good practice for her number writing! On each of the white ones, we also added little comments in the ears like Tink Rocks, Can't wait to see Cindi, I love Pooh, Piglet and Tigger too. You get the idea.

MP was so proud of our 'Mickey Project'. It is up on her door and the very first thing she has done every morning now is wake up and pull off a Mickey!

Next up - more pre-trip pixie dust magic moments for MP!

 

[Guatemommy]

Growing up, we never took family vacations. Dad had his own business and the thought of closing was just unheard of to him. We had great fun times, but only day trips. Our first family vacation was when I was 13 - we went to Point Pleasant (a Jersey shore spot) for a whole weekend - woohoo!. By then, Dad had closed his business and he and mom were both working for others so taking some time off was a bit easier. We took a week off to spend in Wildwood (another Jersey shore spot). The only other family vacation was a week-long trip to Niagra Falls and then down to Lancaster, PA (Amish country) when I was 15. All my travelling since then was after I was an adult with my friends, then DH, etc.

I have to say, I made up for lost time as I now have been to 21 of our great states and 16 countries and islands!

So, I really want MP to experience and cherish memories of family vacas before she grows up and doesn't want to hang out with her 'rents anymore. She has been on vacas with us since she was a baby, but now is when her memories begin to last forever so I want this trip to Disney to be extra special. She is at the age where the magic of the place is still really magical and I want her to experience all that joy.
I took my first trip to WDW when I was 23 and while I still felt the castle was sprinkled with pixie dust, my very cynical travel friend did not, so the trip wasn't quite what a first Disney visit should really be.

Anyway, as you can see , I love to digress. So here are some of what we have planned for pre-trip pixie dust for MP, some of which we have already started:

We have utilized the Barilla Character call numerous times - first, Goofy called. We weren't home which upset me at first, but then actually turned out to be better since we were able to save his message and listen to it over and over and over and over……

MP thinks that the hotel must have told Goofy that we were coming - how else could he have known. She also figured out that was how he got our phone number. A few days later, Mickey was supposed to call to wish her a good trip but he never did. Hmmmm… So Mickey was supposed to call again but never did. Hmmm.....

Then she finally got a call from Minnie which we were home for and she was thrilled! Well, only thrilled until she asked us to replay it and since it was a live call we couldn't. Boy was she upset! (Mental note to self - do not pick up anymore when they call from Disney! Let it go to voicemail!)

A few days later Donald called - DH and I still can't figure out what he said, but somehow MP understood him. After that call, she announced that Goofy must be letting everyone know our number.

Then she smartly said, "Hey the only one we need to hear from now is Mickey!" She never ceases to amaze me! The only four characters who call are Goofy, Donald, Mickey and Minnie but she would have no way of knowing that as we have been careful not to sign up online when she is around. I mean, why doesn’t she mention Pluto? Or Pete from Mickey's Playhouse for that matter?

She even surmised that Mickey must be busy and that's why he had not called yet. I explained to her that he runs the whole show in Disney so he is definitely very busy!

Well, apparently the call when Mickey gives encouragement for an upcoming trip must not work because I have tried more times than I can remember and we never seem to hear from him. So the other day DH had Mickey call to say good night and that worked.

I spoke to my BFF, Linda (who is joining our trip for a few days) in FL and she got a few postcards from her local KMart or something and is starting to send them to MP in the mail. MP opens the mailbox every day and looks thru for items that have her name, so it would be hard to fool her with that. Yesterday she got a postcard from Princess Belle who told her to be a good girl for Mom and Dad and that she can't wait to have lots of fun with MP.

Funny aside (or another digression if you must) - Linda is not 'up' on all the princesses so she called the other day to make sure this was Belle before she signed it. She got DH on the phone first and even though he knows, he got nervous and hesitated and said she better check with me to be sure. We wouldn't want MP to get mixed-up magic now, would we?

Next up - even more pre-trip pixie dust magic moments for MP!

 

[Guatemommy]

To review, we've got a Mickey paint chip countdown chart going, MP has received several calls from characters sending encouragement for her up coming trip, Disney postcards coming from princesses (Auntie Linda is sending them).

I was in Michael's the other day looking for Disney lanyards as one DISer said she got, but they didn't have any. I did stumble upon a Disney Princess sticker book for $1 so I got it. I also got a bunch of the sticker packs for $1 each. At the time I figured I would spend about $10 bucks and MP would be able to fill it. Boy, was I wrong!!! As we were putting in stickers, I decided I should count how many left. Hmmmm, 1, 2, 3, 4, 27, 28,119,204…….I will need to spend a minimum of $25 to get enough stickers for the entire book!!!! And that doesn't account for the doubles which we already have 3 of! Somehow, my 'get it - it's only a dollar' thinking has backfired big time! But I must say, MP loves searching the dining room for the elusive sticker pack when she comes home from school and I make her find all the numbers herself so there is a level of learning involved. Well, that's my justification for this extremely costly $1 book anyway!

We have also made our autograph book together based on more DISboard advice. I got a plain photo book and some Disney character stickers. We put a design with letters on the cover to commemorate our trip. In each photo slot, We took an index card and placed a character sticker in it. We will pull out each card when we see the character, have them sign it and return it to its photo slot. This way, MP will know each signature because the character's sticker is on it! I am not one who plans on standing on long lines just to see a character, but we do have many character meals scheduled so we put stickers for all of those that we know for sure we will see. If we see others without long lines, then when we come home, we will get more stickers to match those names. See? Disney has you already spending money upon returning from your trip when you haven't even gotten there yet! I think Walt's middle name should have been "Brilliant" as he has turned his dream into the most brilliant marketing in the world!

Our latest sprinkling of pixie dust came from the Disney store. DH collects snow globes and when we first started dating, he had gotten a few for me as presents - mostly Pooh ones and I just love that silly old bear! Our collection is quite nice and on display in the living room. I spotted mini-globes of the princesses a while back in the store but they were too pricey to buy all of them, so I bought none. We were in the store recently and my always-get-a-bargain thinking was in full gear and I headed straight to a clearance shelf where I found all these mini-globes marked down to only $3.99! They used to be $14.50 each!!!! There are six plus Tink, so DH and I decided to buy all of them. Add in my 20% coupon and they came to $3.19 each. Now that's what I call a bargain!

I have been packing them up in a box with a note from each princess and about once a week I leave the package at the front door before I leave to go get MP from pre-school. She always checks the front door for me to see if we have any packages. Imagine her delight when she realized the box was for her!!!! First one was from Jasmine - my favorite princess and often overshadowed by Cindi, Belle and Aurora. I guess I connect with her because I have Morroccan in my background and the fact that she resembles me the closest. Her coloring is closest to MP too. I was shocked when she decided Cindi is her favorite because she is the farthest in looks from MP. When I was little, I actually didn’t care for all the blonde dolls because they didn’t look like me at all - fair hair, way too fair skin, etc. Once again, I guess that's what marketing does to you!

She was thrilled to receive a letter from Jasmine, who of course, reminded her that she needs to be good for mommy and daddy. She couldn't wait till DH came home to show him! This week she received Tinkerbell. She is really having a good time knowing that everyone at Disney is waiting for her!!!! Of course Tink told her to be good to mommy and daddy too.

I am not sure how I will work out the next 5 deliveries as I am headed back to work tomorrow (after my hopefully last surgery leave ever!). I will have to get a bit sneaky, but I think it should still work! By the time we leave for Disney, she will have a full shelf in her room of mini-globes. Perhaps we will find some special new one while we are there to add to the collection????

Next up - what to do for the penny presses?

 

[Guatemommy]

MP loves doing the penny presses where ever we go, so I took some DISboard advice and got a mini M&M's pack. Since we limit MP's intake of processed sugars, I got to eat all the M & M's - yummy!

I wrapped the tube with white paper and let MP put Disney stickers all around the tube. Now, I stacked the change 2 quarters, one penny, 2 quarters, one penny, etc. Let's see how long it will stay that way! I let MP sort through the mountains of change bags DH accumulates to pick out the quarters. I got a roll of shiny new pennies from the bank so she wil have nice penny presses.

When we were in Lake George a few months ago, we found a penny-press holder, which is already one-third full. I told her she can bring that with us and we can add any penny presses she makes at Disney to it. She is definitely excited and this is a relatively cheap souvenir that actually allows us to buy less stuff later in the day. So far, it has worked when we are on a road trip - we'll see if it will still work when she is inundated at WDW with all their propaganda, um I mean wonderful souvenir items.

This weeks excitement included another snow globe - this time from Cinderella - inside it is Cindi and the prince dancing - I am sure this will end up being MP's favorite!
She also received a call from Goofy saying how proud he was that she was learning all her numbers. We have been doing a lot of practice writing numbers lately so she was impressed that he knew that.

I got to go on a little shopping spree for myself before heading back to work this week and was able to pick up a few capris on a ridiculously cheap sale - all 3 pair plus 2 pairs of socks came to a whopping total of $24.02, so mommy definitely likey this! I haven't bought new ones in several years and mine were kinda "going" if ya know what I mean, so this will be great. It's always nice to have something new when going on vacation. Also, new cotton socks in colors that happen to match some of my vacation tops is an added bonus!

We are still working on our not-so-cheap Princess sticker book I mentioned a few posts earlier. It seems we get at least one double in each packet - it will cost a fortune by the time I complete this book. Oh well, live and learn!

We have also been adding to our present stash for when we are at Disney. Our intent is to give her a new present every day before heading out to a park - things she can take with her there in hopes that we will lessen the need for buying everything in site. I scored a cute little ring/earring thing yesterday at Kohl's for only $3.50 - it is a set of 7 rings (one for each day of the week) that has a different princess on each one. It comes with matching 'sticker' earrings for each ring. MP doesn't have her ears pierced so she will love this!

I almost caved in and bought the $5 Pooh, Tigger and Eyeore plushes they are selling for charity, but they don't seem to have Piglet and I hate not having a full set. Plus they will take up a lot of room in the suitcase anyway.

Our home-made Home Depot Mickey countdown calendar is really a big hit - she just loves watching the sign get smaller and smaller. I love watching her excitement get bigger and bigger!

We'll see what next week has in store for my wonderful Mayan Princess!

And thanks to all who have been reading - I hope it is keeping you entertained.

 

[Chelley00]

I'm loving all the prep you are doing to get MP ready for Disney! Especially since I can't do any of this time since we are surprising the kids!

 

[Guatemommy]

I'm loving all the prep you are doing to get MP ready for Disney! Especially since I can't do any of this time since we are surprising the kids!

Just read your PTR - how you are doing all of that and not telling the kids is amazing!

Just keeping my mouth shut about when the phone calls are coming has been hard enough!

 

[Guatemommy]

OMG - we go to Disney in ONE MONTH!!! Woohoo!!!

Haven't written in a few weeks as I have been swamped with the return to work. Plus how much more Pre-magic can I keep writing about without sounding like a total snoozefest?

This is exactly what happened when I planned our wedding. I was so efficient with the planning, that at one point, I was all-planned-out. I had absolutely nothing to do but wait - wait for my dress fitting, wait for rsvps, wait till the big day and I felt so awful for not having anything to do. Then, of course, as the big day got nearer, all the final things needed to be done and I got back to my happy place where I plan everything well-thought out! I kinda have that feeling now.

MP hasn't been super-behaved lately - she is never really bad - her worst day is most kids' best day, but for her, acting up is not usual so we had to nip it in the bud. So she hasn't received new snow globes these past few weeks and no new mail and boy is she p-----ed! She has gotten very mouthy every evening when we pick up the mail and there is nothing for her. The other day she said - I WANT MAIL FROM DISNEY! (the caps indicate she was yelling which my little MP doesn't do). It's a shame, if she would just stop and realize that if her behavior is better, she would get more stuff. Then again, if she made that connection, she might realize I am the secret gifter and not anyone who lives at Disney.

Well. I decided to finally give her a globe yesterday as she was good over the Labor Day weekend - stayed overnight away from home for the first time ever - stayed at Grandpa's - and was a good girl. And kudos to my 85-yr old dad who took care of her all night so we could have a night out to ourselves. Now if only my mom were still here, then I could leave her with them for a whole weekend once in a while. But I think one night is the most my dad can handle and I am so grateful for that.

So, I was able to stop home for a minute before picking MP up from pre-school and I decided to pack 2 globes for her - Ariel and Aurora - we have been reading their stories recently. Boy, what a surprise this is gonna be for MP ……..NOT!!! She pitched a fit about something ridiculous when I picked her up and she gave me a hard time, totally embarrassing me in front of another mom and she didn’t want to get into the car. Momma don’t play that so she was not going to get a reward after that behavior. I had her look at the package that I left by our front door so she thinks it came from the UPS guy and she saw her name was on it. I told her she couldn't open it since she was not being nice and hopefully when I pick her up later, things will be normal and she can open it tonight.

So with 4 weeks to go, I am pretty ,much ready. I am still messing with some ADR's. I was able to snag a Le Cellier from a fellow DISer, bu the time is not the best. But hey, its still Le Celier on the dining plan before it goes to 2 TS, so I took it. If I can snag a better-timed one, then I will pass this one on to another DISer too.

And I am still hoping and praying that we get a Fantasmic package - No way we will make it on line for over an hour. So, reservation gods, please send down some lovin' for us? PLEASE????? Pretty Please???

I will leave off her and post before we go with our final ADR list!

 

[Guatemommy]

We leave for Disney! I never thought we would finally get to this day! MP could not sleep and is beyond excited!

She has received postcards from Belle, Nemo and Cinderella. Snow globes from all the princesses. Now she has NO MORE MICKEYS on her countdown chart!

Look for our trip report after we return!