Mama Needs a Dole Whip- A February 2016 PTR

[vleeth]

Also, if you have a sams club card you can buy discounted disney gift cards.

 

[missbecca]

LOL!! I understand you! At one point I swore the CM was going to answer the phone and say. "Yes, MercyDisney which resort do you want to switch to now"?
Have you thought about buying Disney Gift cards at Target? You save 5% ifyou have a Target Red card. I know it is not much but when staying at Disney every penny counts. You can pay for your Sit Down Ressies this way.

LOL yay! Someone who understands! So true about every penny counts- I'm trying to get the biggest bang for our buck out of this vacation. I didn't realize you could use Disney gift cards towards paying for sit-down meals. Thats great to know!

 

[missbecca]

Also, if you have a sams club card you can buy discounted disney gift cards.

We don't have a Sams membership but we do have a Costco membership. I think I've seen them there, too. Thanks for the tip!

 

[missbecca]

Well, in the past few months we've changed resorts, ADR's, and pretty much everything in regards to this vacation. And now it looks like our dates will be changing too. ​

Oh Alice... girl I feel you... SO yeah. Due to somethings coming up in DH's work schedule, we've had to postpone the trip again. Luckily, only by an extra 2 months this time, which actually works out ok since it will give us an extra 2.5 months to add to the vacation fund which will be nice. DH and I got to talking about staying deluxe with this extra money and we've settled on either Beach Club or Polynesian. Beach Club has Stormalong bag, but the Polynesian has the monorail. They are both gorgeous resorts so it's going to be a tough call. So some new dates for me to keep in mind:

ADR's: September 1, 2015
FP+: December 30, 2015
45 Days: January 14, 2016​

 

[mercydisney]

Ok so the next time the CM picks up the phone he will answer,"Yes MissBecca, witch hotel will you like switch to now"? This is good it takes away the attention from me. LOL!!

Since you are going in Feb. I would stay near the monorail. With FL you never know the weather and you might not want to swim if get to cold.

 

[vleeth]

It's always so painful to delay a Disney trip.

 

[missbecca]

Wow where has the time gone?! The last time I updated here my ticker was at over 7 months and now we are less than 3 months! Our counter here at home is at 89 days and we are beyond excited! It's finally beginning to feel real and sink in. In 89 days we will be checking in at Caribbean Beach for our very first Disney World vacation!!! Woohoooo!!!! No real changes have been made (shocking, I know!), the amount due continues to get smaller and smaller, and our excitement continues to grow. ​

 

[missbecca]

Oh my poor, sweet, woefully neglected PTR... I truly didn't mean to abandon you so close to this trip! My laptop has stopped working so I've been relying on my phone and DH's computer to do my DIS'ing. Sadly, all of my spreadsheets and planning material are on my laptop so I feel lost without them. But hey- 2 months from today our trip begins!!!


I can't believe that it's getting so close! Only 62 more days to go! What do you do as your trip gets closer? Anything fun? We've started Sunday night Disney nights- we all decide on a Disney movie to watch and make a themed snack to eat with the movie. Didn't get to do it yesterday because I worked all weekend and when I came home last night I literally just crashed. Something about working all weekend is simply exhausting.

Christmas was great- the kids got lots of fun stuff to prepare them for our upcoming trip. My sister sent them Disney gift cards and "Mickey Mail" from Disneyland which was so very sweet. Their Nana gave them little travel cases and Minnie Mouse shirts for my daughters and a Star Wars shirt for my son. Their Papa sent them Walmart gift cards and the kids decided that they would spend only part of them on themselves and the rest purchasing a $25 Disney gift card. So now they all have their own "credit cards" to pay for their own souvenirs! Santa brought them each their own Amazon Fire Tablet which will be amazing for the drive down to Orlando. Up until now we've have a family tablet that they've all had to share. But despite all of the wonderful gifts, it was such an amazing day to just stop and be with my babies and DH. Since I am a retail supervisor, this season has been insane and I feel like I've been working non-stop. So it truly was just so incredible to just stop and be with them for an entire day.

Still working on putting together travel bags for the kids. A few months ago I found some really cute Frozen tote bags in the dollar section at Target. So far I've got coloring books for the girls, new crayons, glow sticks, activity puzzles, and a few Star Wars themed things for my son. Any suggestions on what else to include? Especially for a tween boy? I don't want to OVER do it- they will have their tablets, DS's for the older 2 and the LeapPad for the youngest, we will also have DVDs to watch. I guess I just want them to enjoy the trip and not feel too bored. 12 hours is a long time to be stuck in a seat.

We're also working on putting together border surprises. We will have them for the VA/NC, NC/SC, SC/GA, and GA/FL borders, then again for the trip home. I figure the VA/NC border will be hit pretty early (5am-ish) and the kids may not even be awake enough (or at all) to really want one. Maybe a new movie to watch while they doze in and out of sleep? The NC/SC border is another 2.5 hrs after that, so around 7:30. I'm thinking maybe some minty fresh gum to combat the inevitable morning breath smell. Another 3 hours and we will be crossing over the SC/GA border around 10:30 for a quick jaunt through sweet Georgia and I'm thinking a choice of 1 sweet snack and 1 salty snack for us to share. An hour and a half later we cross the GA/FL border around noon. I'm not really sure what else we could do here, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Online Check In- I can do it in 2 days, but do I really want to? I've read enough on the topic to have a basic idea about it, but I'd love to hear your take on it. From what I understand I would be able to request a village that I'd like to stay at while at CBR, but honestly I'm not really sure what else I would do. It does seem a little strange "checking in" 2 months early, but then again it seemed SUPER strange making dining reservations 6 months early. So I guess that's just all a part of the Disney experience.

So there we have it. It's getting so close!!! Thanks for reading along to any of you still actually keeping up!​

 

[missbecca]

48 Days, y'all!!!! FORTY EIGHT DAYS!!!!!!!!

And we are finally paid in full!!!!!!!!!

Getting so close!!! Finally getting the daily itinerary nailed down, so let's see what we have so far. Haven't purchased tickets yet, so no FastPass plans yet. Those will be worked out soon enough.

Sunday 2/28- Travel Day. We'll leave VA super early, and drive the 12 or so hours south. Arrive to CBR around 4pm, settle in, head over to TTC to activate our military tickets, and maybe grab dinner at Captain Cook's.

Monday 2/29- Magic Kingdom Day! We have a lunch ADR for Be Our Guest on this day and I am so excited for it! Dinner will be QS.

Tuesday 3/1- Epcot Day!

Wednesday 3/2- Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom Day! Lunch ADR for 50's Prime Time Diner, then back to Magic Kingdom where we can hopefully get into Skippers Canteen for dinner.

Thursday 3/3- Animal Kingdom and Epcot Day (and our final park day). Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, Dinner will also be a QS.



​

 

[missbecca]

Holy banana's, y'all... we are less than a month away!!!



Package has been payed in full. Tickets have been purchased. Fastpass+ reservations have been made. Memory Maker has been purchased. THIS IS SERIOUSLY HAPPENING!!!

I have to admit that history nearly repeated itself last week when my Mother had another medical emergency and I was quickly reminded that things can happen at any time, and you need to be prepared for them. So now, since she has moved out here with us this past summer, we are faced with the reality of having to leave her home for a week while we vacation, which is pretty scary for me though she seems fairly confident.

We've pretty much gotten everything that we wanted, with the only exception being those elusive Anna and Elsa fastpass's. I'm sure we will find a time throughout our Magic Kingdom day where there won't be a ridiculously long line.

So let's see- here's out itinerary as it currently stands:

Arrive on Sunday to Caribbean Beach Resort. Relax, enjoy the pool, grab a QS dinner.

Day 1- Magic Kingdom Day
FastPass's for Peter Pan, Space Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Lunch Reservation at Be Our Guest

Day 2- Epcot Day
FastPass's for Turtle Talk with Crush, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth
Lunch Reservation at Biergarten

Day 3- Hollywood Studios in the morning, Magic Kingdom in the evening
FastPass's for Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and Toy Story Midway Mania
Lunch Reservation at 50's Prime Time Cafe

Day 4- Animal Kingdom in the morning, Epcot in the evening
FastPass's for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur

Day 5- Travel home.

26 MORE DAYS!!! I hardly feels real!​