March 2016 PTR - How do we keep this a secret? -Uptd The Surprise!!! Pg 8

[Jasperann]

To see if there is something your kiddos don't know, have you been on the train to Rafiki's Wildlife Express?
we missed it but I thought my kids would really like it so we are going to plan for it this year. My 8YO adores animals and is always reading about them.

We do this quite often. My kids have sometimes found things they don't know. It is always neat when they are doing a procedure and you can see what they are doing and they tell you what they are doing and why. My group is fascinated by that. But then we are also the family that has a season pass to each of the zoos within driving distance around us (Detroit and Toledo) and we go in and see the same things each time and read the same stuff... it never gets old. We love the zoos. LOL

(Are you doing a PTR?)

 

[Jasperann]

Day 4

Saturday, March 12th

This day we could sleep in if we wanted… Which may happen, just because I know by day 4 my kids can be dragging if we go, go, go the first few days (which we kinda are).

We have an ADR planned for 12:20 at Teppan Edo. My hubby and I ‘discovered’ this place on our solo trip. And we really fell in love with it. He wants to try the swordfish next time because he says it looked good… I’m good with my chicken. I’m sure my kids will all get chicken as well (one of my girls may get Shrimp). But I really just want to go back because the noodles were amazing. Which is very strange, because the stuff that was in the noodles are not things I would think would go good with them. My hubby wants to go back because he just loves Japan in general. He was stationed in that area for about 6 months when he was in the Marines, and he just really enjoys anything to do with that area.

I figure that we will probably arrive around 10 am to Epcot, which gives us about an hour and a half for random stuff we want to do. One of those things will be:

Spaceship Earth

The next thing I’m sure will be:
Figment!!!

Our whole family loves this ride, but not as much as my son does. One year we did the Behind the Seeds tour, but he wasn't interested and neither was our oldest. So we sent her off with him to find some stuff to keep them busy for an hour or so. Well the whole hour she indulged him and they rode Figment over and over and over again... Yeah... I don't love it that much. She said they rode it 9 times before she could get him to agree to go back to the Land. She loves her brother...

Then we will walk over to Japan (or catch a boat). Enjoy our lunch. I think with the six of us though we will almost fill up a whole table. I can’t remember if the tables have 7 or 8 seats.

After lunch we may wander through the World Showcase for a little bit, but really we have sometime the next day planned for the World Showcase so it’s not a must. Depending on the kids and the weather we will either make our way back to the front of Epcot and go to the resort to swim or we will make our way to the back of Epcot and head over to Hollywood Studios. I’m saving our FP’s for this day for Hollywood Studios, and we will only have three because I plan on having one of them be Fantasmic.

We discovered that we do like using FP’s for Fantasmic, because lets face it, waiting in that horrible line for the show for an hour or so after touring the parks all day is not what anyone wants to do. However, this may all change once the schedule for the Star Wars fireworks comes out. I know we want to see those and if they are only on the weekend then we may have to do Fantasmic on another night later in the week. So it’s all up in the air… lol

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I want to get to Hollywood Studios by 4pm at the latest. I’m hoping that the kids do not pick going swimming, because I think that it would really eat into that time and we may not arrive until later. However being a realist… it’s swimming… and the kids love to swim. SO I will plan our first FP for 3:30-4:30 and hope I don’t have to push it back. Since I will be using our Tier one FP on Fantasmic that only leaves a few things to FP (or really things that ‘need’ FP’s) our first one will be Star Tours. A must. When you find rides your youngest scardy cat will ride you make FP’s for those rides. LOL Again my oldest will not go on this one, and sometimes one of my middle girls will decide to sit it out too. I think it is just to keep her sister company.

Our second FP will be for Tower of Terror… we will probably do the same thing we did earlier in the week. But I just remembered that there is that dance floor over near there now, so I could go wait over there while those of them that are riding ride the ride and the two that do not ride the ride can enjoy some dancing. Then DH and I can switch out and I can ride with the two that ride with the magic bands of the two who do not. Win win for my daredevils and my scardy cats. Although if we can get my youngest on it earlier in the week and he likes it then we will all ride, because my middle DD will ride it even though she is not a ‘fan’ of it.

In between the FP’s we will be taking in the amazing street performers. We really like some of the shows they put on, and find them really funny. (Don’t throw things, but some of the shows we just don’t care for… I don’t know why... There is the one that they do over by where the hat used to be and it is the whole group and I just can never get into it.)

We will also go over to the Launch bay at some point to see everything. We may save meeting the characters for our full HS day. It is kind of crazy that on my first trip I had it planned down to the rides and shows and the times we would ride each and every single ride or see each show… I had a list (commando) and we would follow it… until I had my adult sized melt down that is. LOL But now in comparison I just decided on our FP’s because if I don’t then we don’t get good ones… and even those (if you decided to read my TR you will find this out) will change the day of.

It feels so strange to plan but not plan our vacations. Maybe it comes with going more than once.

Anyways, the park closes at 8pm this evening, which means even with Fantasmic we will be back in the room by around 10pm and asleep shortly after. Which is good because we have an early morning the next day.

So, since I mentioned it, how much do all of you plan or don’t plan your trips? I mean being on the DIS you probably plan at least a tiny bit and you are reading the Pre Trip Reports so… you must plan some.

With that said... I made changes to our Day 1 plans... Why do things not stay set? I'll share those next.

 

[Jasperann]

Revised first full Day:

I made some changes to our first full day for a couple of reasons... One being when I first made our ADR for 10:20 for Garden Grill, I was not aware that Soarin was going to be closed and I figured we could ride Soarin at park opening and then go on The Land. Then have Fast Passes for later for Test Track. Now that Soarin is 'For real' closed while we are there having an ADR for 10:20 doesn't make much sense. So I looked up Garden Grill to see if there are any prepark openings for it. And there WAS!!! For 8:20am. Not 8:00am but close enough! And I'm sure they will let us in early, we have never had 'almost' empty park pictures here before so I am looking forward to that.

I also decided to use our Fast passes at Epcot this day... in fact we may not make it to Hollywood studios.

Thank goodness I decided this before our fast pass day! That could have been a nightmare!

So after breakfast we will ride Living with the Land because... we are right there and it is a must do for my hubby. I figured we will be done with breakfast around 9:30ish, and I don't see a lot of people rushing to Living in the Land first thing in the morning when Soarin is closed. After that we will Ride Figment!!! Yay! After Figment and some playing around in the end area we will stroll over to Nemo. Not a must, but it's okay. Then we will look around the Seas a little, but we will be back another day so probably not long.

Then we will do our first FP for Character Spot (10:30-11:30)! I'm not a big character person, but one of my girls LOVES Goofy and she MUST meet him. After our first FP we will head to our next FP Spaceship Earth (11:30-12:30). We will probably play around in the exit area for Spaceship Earth for a little bit. Our next FP will be ready by that point and we will head over to Test Track (12:30-1:30). After that we have the afternoon to go swimming and then our ADR for Ohana at 7pm. My kids will love this plan because it gets them into the pool faster and we will have tons of time...lol I love this plan because that means our Magic Kingdom Day will not be broken up and we will stick around the park until we need to leave for our Hoop Dee Doo ADR.

Of course if it is not swimming weather then we will probably go over to Hollywood Studios for a little bit.

I did change my ideas for fast passes for our Magic Kingdom day due to EasyWDW plans. That is actually what I used to create our Epcot plans, I just changed Turtle Talk with Crush to the Character Spot instead.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

So, since I mentioned it, how much do all of you plan or don’t plan your trips? I mean being on the DIS you probably plan at least a tiny bit and you are reading the Pre Trip Reports so… you must plan some.

Using EasyWDW's itineraries and average wait times as a guide I build out our own itineraries that are pretty detailed. (For this upcoming trip I've got 4 different ones going for our one park day!!! LOL) However once we get in the parks we use them more as an actual guide rather than a strict schedule we need to stick too. We have just found that we don't plan well on the fly and too much time and energy gets wasted when we don't have a guide to follow.

 

[Jasperann]

Using EasyWDW's itineraries and average wait times as a guide I build out our own itineraries that are pretty detailed. (For this upcoming trip I've got 4 different ones going for our one park day!!! LOL) However once we get in the parks we use them more as an actual guide rather than a strict schedule we need to stick too. We have just found that we don't plan well on the fly and too much time and energy gets wasted when we don't have a guide to follow.

Us too! We are not the best when we are in the parks, but if we have a general outline then we typically get things done. Otherwise we end up wandering around saying "What's next?" It is a total time killer. Especially with six of us. If I have a general plan then even if my family doesn't know about it I have a general idea of where we are going next. But I did learn my lesson my first trip about going too commando so I don't do that anymore and if something catches our attention then some things will be changed.

 

[brb1006]

My favorite meet and greet memory is meeting Marie during my third visit to WDW on May 1 and 2 of 2015 during my Senior Trip. It was the highlight of my trip and is my most favorite memory of meeting any character at WDW. It even topped my encounter with Minnie at AK back in 2006. I'm not going to ramble to much but let's just say Marie is one of those characters that is very sweet with young and older guests. She even kissed my autograph book! If you see her during your upcoming trip, be sure to keep an eye out for her at the Magic Kingdom. She usually comes out at 10:30am.

 

[Jasperann]

My favorite meet and greet memory is meeting Marie during my third visit to WDW on May 1 and 2 of 2015 during my Senior Trip. It was the highlight of my trip and is my most favorite memory of meeting any character at WDW. It even topped my encounter with Minnie at AK back in 2006. I'm not going to ramble to much but let's just say Marie is one of those characters that is very sweet with young and older guests. She even kissed my autograph book! If you see her during your upcoming trip, be sure to keep an eye out for her at the Magic Kingdom. She usually comes out at 10:30am.

I like Marie too. She always seems to spend a lot of time with the kids when we see her. Although they don't really know her, but they like her. LOL

 

[brb1006]

I like Marie too. She always seems to spend a lot of time with the kids when we see her. Although they don't really know her, but they like her. LOL

Even if most of the visitors don't know her name. I'm just glad Marie is meeting guests and she really shows how much fun she has with guests and children. I always find her meeting young boys to be the cutest.

 

[JoyFaithGrace]

Following along! I am working on my first PTR, but have been a devotee of EasyWDW for years, which I swear is why I passed Disney College of Knowledge so quickly.

We are going in Feb and just added a day at Hollywood Studios, which we weren't planning at all. It will only be a half day but still.

 

[Jasperann]

Following along! I am working on my first PTR, but have been a devotee of EasyWDW for years, which I swear is why I passed Disney College of Knowledge so quickly.

We are going in Feb and just added a day at Hollywood Studios, which we weren't planning at all. It will only be a half day but still.

Welcome!!

I love EasyWDW. He has the best reasons for his plans and they work so well. If you like Lights, Motor, Action before to catch that one last time on your next trip!! I'm glad we will be able to see it one last time. I would have been sad if we missed the closing.

 

[Jasperann]

Day 5

Sunday, March 13th

We will be starting out our day at Magic Kingdom. However after making my Fast Passes for this day I realized that Daylight savings time starts and we will lose an hour. Since it is 5 days into our trip... rope drop may not be possible. Especially with our plans for Saturday evening.

I did make a 9:05-10:05 FP for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Pooh 10:05-11:05, and Buzz for 11:15-12:15. I'm not sure what time we will actually make it to the park, but I'm hoping that it is before the 7 Dwarfs FP is expired. We probably won't really need one for Pooh in the second hour of the park being opened... I just did it because it was there. I might switch it to Space.

After our morning at Magic Kingdom we are going to hop on the Monorail to head to Epcot for the afternoon. Right now I have an ADR for 1:50 for Coral Reef. BUT I'm about 98% sure I am going to cancel it, in favor of going around to the Flower and Garden booths.

I'm just holding off until I can ask my kids opinion, and asking them now... yeah... that would not fly for sure. My DD11 would for sure catch on then. I already think my DD12 knows something because she has now found an Instagram account that is all about Disney food and she keeps coming to me saying I want to eat ... fill in the blank next time we go. Or she will randomly be watching Disney Youtube videos. This morning she was watching 'How to prepare for the Disney College Program', she knows what she wants that is for sure.

Really though for this evening, I do not have any 'plans' besides being in the moment and taking in the beauty that is the Flower and Garden festival. It should be nice.

 

[Jasperann]

Just found out Animal Kingdom's Flights of Wonder will be closed for our trip. At least we will see Light's, Motor, Action one last time.

I've been away from the Dis for a little bit, so I do have lots to share...

I made some changes to days I've already covered... Because lets face it, nothing is safe until after it is done... We change the day of sometimes.

But a few of the things I did was add an ADR for 1900 Park Fare Dinner and Tusker house breakfast To say I was surprised there were openings is an understatement. It's fate!! Right? Tusker house is for 8am on our AK day (you know the one that we were suppose to sleep in... The kids will never know.)

Really those two really do rely on my kids thoughts, because if we do 1900 Park Fare I'm not sure when we will do Disney Springs, although doing Disney Springs on a Friday evening is a nightmare anyways, so maybe we could push it back to Sunday night.

I have also been able to make FP's!!

I will share our FP's for the days I've already done:

Arrival day-

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM - We land around 5:20... so if we make this one we will be lucky.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM - Normally our first day, first ride... so it will be strange not going right onto it.
Main Street Electrical Parade 8:30 PM - 8:50 PM - This is a must do for my hubby and I figure after we watch it we can just head out of the park, because we will all be tired.

1st Full day-

Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot - 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM - I'm iffy on this one (Goofy is my DD12's favorite and we had an amazing meet with him here last year)... I just didn't want to do Turtle Talk with Crush.
Spaceship Earth - 11:35 AM - 12:35 PM
Test Track - 12:55 PM - 1:55 PM

As you can see... I decided to use FP's at Epcot.

2nd day-

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - 9:15 AM - 10:15 AM - Still debating changing this to Peter Pan and then riding 7DMT first thing...
Jungle Cruise - 10:35 AM - 11:35 AM
Space Mountain - 11:35 AM - 12:35 PM - We will grab a fourth FP and then do lunch. Not sure where yet.

3rd day-

Kilimanjaro Safaris - 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Kali River Rapids - 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM

4th day-

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue - 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ - 5:50 PM - 6:50 PM
Fantasmic! - 6:55 PM - 7:15 PM

I'm kind of seeing a little error in my ways... lol How can we get to our fourth full day and NOT ride Toy Story Mania?!? Hmmm, maybe I will swap out Fantasmic for TSM and then go to the second show of Fantasmic (there is always a second show added when we go in March). The reason for being in the park on this Saturday are the Star Wars Fireworks, so that would mean that we may miss the Fantasmic FP anyways...

....


Uh...


Yeah...


I changed it... we are now doing TSM from 3:55-4:55 and TOT from 4:55-5:55.


Do you guys change your plans around this much?

 

[Jasperann]

Almost ruining the surprise take #2

I'm not sure why, but this surprise is the hardest to keep from my DD12. I had thought it would be hardest to keep from my DD11 because she is my super detective...

On January 1st we went and saw the new Star Wars Movie to prepare my kids for all the stuff at Hollywood studios really... lol But my DD12 LOVED it!! I mean she was over the moon with the movie . We had expected that reaction from our DS9, but nope. Anyways we came home and my DD was all about wanting to see the other movies (which we have on our computer). So she binge watched them before it was time to go back to school.

Now that you have that background information, I will get to the real story.

We went out to eat last Saturday night (my DD11 and my DD19 did not join us) and we were talking about random things. When all of a sudden my DD12 started talking about Disney and the things she wants to do next time. I'm all for Disney talk, so we were going back and forth and I was like "OH, Kylo Ren will be meeting in the Launch bay starting next month so he will be there when we go back! You can meet him!" My hubby is sitting across the table from me like , Thanks hubby... thanks a lot... I could see the wheels start to click into place as she thought about what I just said... She KNOWS how often they switch out characters in Hollywood Studios. This is my girl that is obsessed with all things Disney...

...


...


...

"When we go back in 2017-- Moooommmmm that is sooooo far away!!!!" yay! She fell back on her teen angst! She will put it together after the surprise and be like "I KNEW IT!!!"

I would not have been able to talk myself out of that one if she had really dug in her heels and said "They change out characters all the time." I would have then had to been like... well maybe this time is different...


Any bets on if this stays a secret until we want to revel it at the airport? It is getting SO hard the closer we get. I mean my DD11 (she loves to do hair and I'm often a life size model for her to torture... errr practice on.) And I will bring my laptop down to the floor with me to occupy myself while she pulls out all my hair... And I have to consciously not go on Facebook (due to the large number of Disney groups I'm in) and I try to stay away from the DIS, because I only really go on the DIS a ton when I am planning a trip. Although I have 'casually' commented that I'm in 'all' these Disney Groups on Facebook because I miss Disney SO much and I want to see everyone else go on their trips... It's my back up plan in case they notice.

 

[Jasperann]

I have to share something amusing that just happened (about an hour ago)...

My son's 9th Birthday is next Saturday, so I was booking his party for a local Lazer Tag Place and I finished up and closed my laptop with a sigh and I said "Well, I did it, I booked the vacation."

My DD12 immediately starts dancing and goes "YAY!!!"

My hubby raises his eyebrow at me and repeats "Vacation?"

Me: "Uh... no Birthday Party." LOL

My DD12 "That is just as good!"

The vacation really is on my mind a lot lately. These last 46 days are going to be hard. For anyone that cares I only work 23.5 more days between now and our trip... so that means half the time I will be at home... My hubby just told me he has 27 more days. And if you like things like that, I also only have three more paydays (after tomorrow) before my trip too. Eeek!

Between now and then my family has lots to do.

My son's Birthday Party next Friday night, with a possible follow up sleep over... Not sure how 9 year old boys would be at a sleep over since all my other kids are girls.

February 4th - My DD11 has her 1st ever concert

February 6th - My DD12 has a Sol Ensemble (her first one ever)

February 9th - My DD12 has a Music Activity night

February 13th - My DH has a reptile show (he breeds and sells snakes)

February 19th-21st - My DD19 is running a show for theater (she does the lights)

March 3rd - My DD12 has a Pre-spring concert

Since I work Friday-Monday each week, the time will fly by.

I'm not sure when I will have time to go shopping for the kids clothing. I just checked the stores and it seems that Mejier has out boys shorts and spring type clothing already, but the juniors department for my girls does not... however they do have some bathing suits out already and I have told the girls that I was going to buy them each one for summer (not for school use) so that I can put it in my room until our trip. I will have to check at some other stores soon too.

I did make a purchase for my DD12. She is in love with the idea of Disney Bounding, so I am trying to put together some outfits for the girls to wear while we are there. I found this skirt:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZU587VY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I thought it would be good for Ariel if I get her a purple shirt to go with it. If I like the quality of the material I will probably be ordering the Alice in Wonderland one as well. And there is also a yellow one that I thought I could find a blue shirt and red bow to go with it and she could go as Snow White.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I realized that Daylight savings time starts and we will lose an hour.

So I get to play the lets adjust the kid to the new time days before we leave! Fabulous!

But a few of the things I did was add an ADR for 1900 Park Fare Dinner

Oh you'll love it!

yay! She fell back on her teen angst!

Bet that's the first time THAT sentence has popped in your head!

It is getting SO hard the closer we get.

OMG! Tell me about it! I'm just glad that Little MIss knows that we are going out of town. DH and I have to catch ourselves and remember to talk about "Orlando".

Although I have 'casually' commented that I'm in 'all' these Disney Groups on Facebook because I miss Disney SO much and I want to see everyone else go on their trips... It's my back up plan in case they notice.

Smart!

These last 46 days are going to be hard. For anyone that cares I only work 23.5 more days between now and our trip... so that means half the time I will be at home... My hubby just told me he has 27 more days. And if you like things like that, I also only have three more paydays (after tomorrow) before my trip too. Eeek!

Ugh..... don't remind me how little time I have before march! DH and I have so much work to do to get the old house clear before the end of February!

I thought it would be good for Ariel if I get her a purple shirt to go with it. If I like the quality of the material I will probably be ordering the Alice in Wonderland one as well. And there is also a yellow one that I thought I could find a blue shirt and red bow to go with it and she could go as Snow White.

 

[Jasperann]

So I get to play the lets adjust the kid to the new time days before we leave! Fabulous!

Yeah. I guess it could be worse since I work the weekends I would be losing an hour and trying to wake up for work at 4:30am... which would really 'feel' like 3:30am. Gives me a little more time to adjust.

Oh you'll love it!

The last time I made an ADR for 1900 Park Fare my son was still in diapers and he had 'stomach issues' that day and had gone through the two outfits I had packed for him at the parks... we got to the Dinner and checked in and then realized he had soaked through his last outfit. So my hubby said, 'go and enjoy with the girls, I'll take him back to the tent and get him cleaned up.' We were camping at Fort Wilderness, so he had to take the monorail back to MK and then wait for the larger boat so that he wouldn't have to remove him from the stroller, then he walked the mile back to our campsite so that he could leave our DS in the stroller (it was impossible to remove him from it really... yuck). Then he had to clean him up in the showers.

So I really didn't enjoy the last dinner that much because I was worried about how things were going with my hubby. And my phone had died like 10 minutes into the meal so I couldn't get any updates. We really need a do over. I think my hubby will enjoy the menu if not the characters. lol

Bet that's the first time THAT sentence has popped in your head!

Oh yes! Probably will be the ONLY time that sentence will pop into my head. I was so thankful for it that night though.

OMG! Tell me about it! I'm just glad that Little MIss knows that we are going out of town. DH and I have to catch ourselves and remember to talk about "Orlando".

Tonight it was hard again, because my DD12 was like, "Next time we go to Disney I'm going to be able to get into the parks by myself." (Hahahaahaa, right like I'd let her at 14, but that is a different story.) And my DD11 was like "Yeah, I will be able to too." My oldest DD19 and I looked at each other in the dark car and tried not to smile or laugh. And then during dinner my DD12 would not stop talking about what she is going to do with her roommates on her first night of her college program. I'm sure these people she doesn't know yet are going to be happy she is planning it all out right now.

Ugh..... don't remind me how little time I have before march! DH and I have so much work to do to get the old house clear before the end of February!

Moving house is a lot of hard work, but you still have a ton of time. Don't let my count down make you dread it.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The last time I made an ADR for 1900 Park Fare my son was still in diapers and he had 'stomach issues' that day and had gone through the two outfits I had packed for him at the parks... we got to the Dinner and checked in and then realized he had soaked through his last outfit. So my hubby said, 'go and enjoy with the girls, I'll take him back to the tent and get him cleaned up.' We were camping at Fort Wilderness, so he had to take the monorail back to MK and then wait for the larger boat so that he wouldn't have to remove him from the stroller, then he walked the mile back to our campsite so that he could leave our DS in the stroller (it was impossible to remove him from it really... yuck). Then he had to clean him up in the showers.

So I really didn't enjoy the last dinner that much because I was worried about how things were going with my hubby. And my phone had died like 10 minutes into the meal so I couldn't get any updates. We really need a do over. I think my hubby will enjoy the menu if not the characters. lol

Wow what a story! I think your DH gets the prize for that one!

 

[Jasperann]

Wow what a story! I think your DH gets the prize for that one!

He sure does! He is amazing like that though. But that night he went through a lot. I felt bad about it.

 

[Jasperann]

Well I've made another change... I have added Water Parks and More to our tickets. Now I have to figure out where the water parks will fit into our plans. I know the kids are going to want to do them at least twice, and if Disney Quest is still open when we go they will want to do that at least once.

I think for one of the days I'm going to cancel Coral Reef lunch, I was on the fence about it in the first place, and then go to the water park for a few hours in the morning till around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and then spend the evening at Epcot in the World Showcase. And I may make Fast Passes for Epcot, just because I will not be using them in the morning at Magic Kingdom. And I think water parks are open until 5pm, so I was thinking on our first full day we could pack our swimsuits and then go out the back entrance of Epcot when we are done and take the bus from the Beach club to the water park. Then back to our resort around 4pm or so we can get ready for our ADR at Ohana's.

Then for Disney Quest... we will probably go to Disney Springs on Friday night like I had originally planned before making the ADR for 1900 Park Fare. We can eat at T-Rex and play a little bit at Disney Quest. I think the kids will love it.

Have any of you gotten the water parks and more option before? How do you make it work?

 

[Jasperann]

I just went on an Amazon Shopping spree... I can't wait for it all to come. I put together about 6 different outfits for my girls to Disney Bound in. I made Aurora, Snow White, and Ariel for my DD12, and Pooh, Rapunzel, and Cinderella for my DD11. I found some t-shirts at Walmart today for about 3.00 each and they were pretty good colors to pair with some skater skirts and a necklace per outfit to tie them all together.

I also (against my better judgement) got a lot of 50 pins for 40.00. And we all know that some of them will not be tradeable and very much scrappers. But that is okay, I will just toss the bad ones. I probably should have went with the ebay seller I bought from last time. He is a little more expensive, but they are actual park pins still in the package. More expensive, but at least none have to be thrown away. I may still do it. His prices are 50.00 for 25 pins. The problem with him is that I love to collect sets and sometimes the sets he sends are ones I want to collect... so I have no trading pins left.

Anyone else have this problem? Do you like to trade pins?

We seem to only do it a lot when my oldest is with us, she is obsessed and has two big binders that she has pins in. She has even traded with the pin sharks in Epcot. But she is very good at figuring out what is a 'fake' pin and what isn't. She will decide on her collections and trade for the pins in that collection (even if they are fakes) and then she will use the 'fake' ones as place holders until she finds the real one (she usually does this by trading for the same pin every time she finds it and comparing them to the one she has once we are back in the room). It usually takes her a few trips to complete a collection. She has a few that she has been working on for years... She is also a sucker for the mystery trading pins on the cast members lanyards. She can spot them from at least 50 feet away.