May 2011: The kids are getting 3rd visit surprise! Now w/pics!

[mtgirl29]

I can handle any ride so long as its not ToT!!! I think it stems a lot from being in an "elevator". I got trapped in one at my last job (it would break down all the time), so maybe if it wasn't "elevator" themed, I'd do better. I mean, I'm terrified of heights, but I've rode some really tall coasters and they don't phase me one bit.

That water slide sounded like a wedgie waiting to happen. I've not done a water slide (outside of one in a raft) in probably 10 years. I was hoping to hit one of the WDW WPs this year, but doesn't look like it will happen.

DS is pretty apprehensive on rides. He's already told me he's not big enough for roller coasters (but he loves BTMRR) when we were planning our Six Flags trip. I think I can put DD on anything now and she'll be happy! So I'm thankful to have a riding buddy because DH won't do anything with hills, flips, or wild turns. If its considered "thrill", he'll pass. (He'll ride BTMRR, and log flume rides, but that's really about it.)

Her asthma is under control, so long as she doesn't miss a breathing treatment. And its both that's triggering it. If she plays outside, she has to take an additional treatment, and she's having to do a treatment after most days at Gym.

And yes, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger! I'm a firm believer that nothing isn't thrown at us that we can't overcome.

If we lived closer, I'd suggest a bike play-date and maybe he'll feel "pressured" to ride to keep up with Seth. I'm sure he'll get over his fears (whatever they are) in time. Has he explained what exactly it is that bothers him with the bike?

Yes, I would be freaky too about ToT if I had that kind of experience on an elevator.

Which Six Flags do you all go to? We have one here in St. Louis. They have this crazy, spinny Tony Hawk ride and we had DS ride it last summer. He looked so freaked out, I thought he might try to crawl out of his restraints. I don't think he like BMTTR last time, either. He is definitely not our adventurous one. Dh is pretty good about all the rides. He is banking on DD riding RnR with him this year. I hope she goes along with his plan.
DS is totally against Splash Mt, too. we got totally drenched on it. I will have to post some pics from that adventure - Like wring your clothes out wet and now he doesn't like that one either. Well, he is 5 know and we all know that constitutes a big boy...right Seth?

So sorry DD is still struggling with the asthma. Maybe after everything is done blooming she will be better.

DS is starting to ride his bike a little in the livingroom.

 

[Lidian]

Yes, I would be freaky too about ToT if I had that kind of experience on an elevator.

Which Six Flags do you all go to? We have one here in St. Louis. They have this crazy, spinny Tony Hawk ride and we had DS ride it last summer. He looked so freaked out, I thought he might try to crawl out of his restraints. I don't think he like BMTTR last time, either. He is definitely not our adventurous one. Dh is pretty good about all the rides. He is banking on DD riding RnR with him this year. I hope she goes along with his plan.
DS is totally against Splash Mt, too. we got totally drenched on it. I will have to post some pics from that adventure - Like wring your clothes out wet and now he doesn't like that one either. Well, he is 5 know and we all know that constitutes a big boy...right Seth?

So sorry DD is still struggling with the asthma. Maybe after everything is done blooming she will be better.

DS is starting to ride his bike a little in the livingroom.

No, its not fun standing in the elevator ringing the bell and hoping that help is on the way. The elevator would break down about once every couple of weeks - sometimes with people in it and sometimes without (it would just stop running - nothing scary - but being confined isn't so much fun and does make you paranoid about elevators - so I used the stairs 98% of the time).

We go to Six Flags over GA when we go. I can't handle spinning rides, so I'd sit that one out (teacups bother me too). Seth isn't adventurous either, but he LOVED being on a "train" ... so he'd totally do BTMRR this year (watch him make a liar out of me ). DH won't mind if Seth skips BTMRR either. He tolerates it, but he would rather wait.

We rode Splash last year (I don't recall why we didn't ride in 2009), but I don't recall us getting too wet. Actually, I don't recall the splash at all. Maybe I blocked it from my memory. I do know we rode Kali and we were MISERABLE wet. It was bad enough that we didn't want to ride last year (and might skip again this year, too).

I'd love to see your pics! (And Seth definitely agrees that 5 is a Big Boy age )

The biggest thing that bothers me with her asthma is that she went sooo long without having any issues (a little over 2 years). We had to search for the nebulizer (forgot where we put it) when she had to go back on. We were just sure she had outgrown it. The worst part was her not being able to sleep through the night when it all started back up. (She's sleeping fine now.) But I am stressing over how we'll handle things in the parks. We'll just have to take things step-by-step ... but I'm afraid that her inhaler won't be enough and we'll have to lug the neb into the parks. Once the weather stops being so fickle, I think I'll make us all go walking at night to see if I can build up her endurance a bit.

Glad to hear Jay is riding his bike some! Seth has been mad because he hasn't gotten to ride the past two days (weather).

 

[DisneyDee27]

45 days! I'm so excited

 

[Lidian]

45 days! I'm so excited

Major grats on the 45 day marker!!!!

I'll confess, I'm a bit jealous I'm not at 45 days yet.

 

[Lidian]

Just a quick little update (maybe).

I checked the WDW website and saw this:

That's 58 days too many! But at least its finally under 60!

On side notes:
DS went for his 5 year checkup yesterday (perfectly healthy) and the doctor asked about him academically. Which got me worrying ... So I scheduled a meeting with his Pre-K teacher (he attends Pre-K at the local city elementary school - not a daycare facility). We just had a meeting in February and she bragged about how hard it was getting to challenge him and how amazing he was doing. So I got to thinking about when DD was in Kindergarten and what she learned and when. DS will be bored in K! He's already learning things that she learned towards the end of the year (and we'll push him this summer). He's already working on Sight Words and has most of them down. He's learned how to sound out words and he'll be reading well before he finishes Pre-K. So I asked his teacher about being challenged in K, as I didn't want him to get bored and lose interest in school (I'm thankful both kids adore school and hopes it continues).

So DS's teacher suggested a couple of K teachers that she felt would be able to challenge him (and as a friend, advised which teachers might not be the best choice at pushing him). She suggested I meet with one of the K teachers and voice my concerns and let them educate me on how they plan to educate him. I feel a little better now that I have a meeting scheduled with a K teacher, but I am truly worried that there won't be much "new" to teach him once he's in K. I know he'll learn new things (and probably daily), but it will be mostly review and he'll probably get bored.

If there are any teachers who would love to give me a bigger picture, please feel free to offer up your thoughts!

Also, DS said in the car this morning:
Next time we go to Disneyworld, I want to ride the Cartwheels.

I asked him questions to determine what the "cartwheels" are and all I've learned is:
they're multicolored, there's a yellow lever the CM pulls to make them start and stop, you ride circles, and they go slow (you don't touch circles to hold on and you don't get wet)

I thought he was talking about the Teacups or even Kali River Rapids (before he said you don't get wet), but he said no. Any thoughts?

He also said that now that he's 5 and a Big Boy, he can ride roller coasters. He'd never make it through the queue to even get on. He also said that Splash Mtn scared him, but now that he's 5, he can ride it again. I wish that I could tell him that he can ride it in May!

 

[mtgirl29]

Just a quick little update (maybe).

I checked the WDW website and saw this:

That's 58 days too many! But at least its finally under 60!

On side notes:
DS went for his 5 year checkup yesterday (perfectly healthy) and the doctor asked about him academically. Which got me worrying ... So I scheduled a meeting with his Pre-K teacher (he attends Pre-K at the local city elementary school - not a daycare facility). We just had a meeting in February and she bragged about how hard it was getting to challenge him and how amazing he was doing. So I got to thinking about when DD was in Kindergarten and what she learned and when. DS will be bored in K! He's already learning things that she learned towards the end of the year (and we'll push him this summer). He's already working on Sight Words and has most of them down. He's learned how to sound out words and he'll be reading well before he finishes Pre-K. So I asked his teacher about being challenged in K, as I didn't want him to get bored and lose interest in school (I'm thankful both kids adore school and hopes it continues).

So DS's teacher suggested a couple of K teachers that she felt would be able to challenge him (and as a friend, advised which teachers might not be the best choice at pushing him). She suggested I meet with one of the K teachers and voice my concerns and let them educate me on how they plan to educate him. I feel a little better now that I have a meeting scheduled with a K teacher, but I am truly worried that there won't be much "new" to teach him once he's in K. I know he'll learn new things (and probably daily), but it will be mostly review and he'll probably get bored.

If there are any teachers who would love to give me a bigger picture, please feel free to offer up your thoughts!

Also, DS said in the car this morning:
Next time we go to Disneyworld, I want to ride the Cartwheels.

I asked him questions to determine what the "cartwheels" are and all I've learned is:
they're multicolored, there's a yellow lever the CM pulls to make them start and stop, you ride circles, and they go slow (you don't touch circles to hold on and you don't get wet)

I thought he was talking about the Teacups or even Kali River Rapids (before he said you don't get wet), but he said no. Any thoughts?

He also said that now that he's 5 and a Big Boy, he can ride roller coasters. He'd never make it through the queue to even get on. He also said that Splash Mtn scared him, but now that he's 5, he can ride it again. I wish that I could tell him that he can ride it in May!

UGGGH! I just typed a long message and POOF! GONE! Someone (kiddos) took my mouse and hid it, so I wasn't able to copy it. I need to desperately find it.

Hooray for Seth, so glad he is doing so well in Pre-K and healthy to boot.

Not sure what the cartwheels are but PLEASE let me know when you find out. They sound pretty cool!

How tall did you say he is? Jay measured at 46" with his shoes on at his dr. appts. this week. I will, too, have to check to see what all he can ride.

We are making Jay ride Splash this year, too. We told him that he could give it another try and if he absolutely hates it, he doesn't have to ride again (until we go again we didn't tell him that part)

Do you have Parents as Teachers where you guys live? It is an Educator that comes out does a Kindergarten screening on your child. They do it at preschool, too, I think.

Well, better go ahead and post before it disappears again!

 

[Lidian]

UGGGH! I just typed a long message and POOF! GONE! Someone (kiddos) took my mouse and hid it, so I wasn't able to copy it. I need to desperately find it.

Hooray for Seth, so glad he is doing so well in Pre-K and healthy to boot.

Not sure what the cartwheels are but PLEASE let me know when you find out. They sound pretty cool!

How tall did you say he is? Jay measured at 46" with his shoes on at his dr. appts. this week. I will, too, have to check to see what all he can ride.

We are making Jay ride Splash this year, too. We told him that he could give it another try and if he absolutely hates it, he doesn't have to ride again (until we go again we didn't tell him that part)

Do you have Parents as Teachers where you guys live? It is an Educator that comes out does a Kindergarten screening on your child. They do it at preschool, too, I think.

Well, better go ahead and post before it disappears again!

I've had to go on scavenger hunts to find my mouse before as well. But I know its frustrating when you lose a post.

I ate lunch with him today and tried to talk about the cartwheels more, but he didn't give me any new information and was getting cranky because I didn't understand what ride he was talking about. I may let him look through attraction pictures once he gets home, just to see what he's talking about.

He did say he was going to ride the roller coaster with the monster stickers on it, but wasn't quite sure what that one was either. (It was EE.) I wonder if WDW has added a bunch of new rides and didn't inform the moms.

DS measured 44" without shoes at the doctor's office. So he can ride most everything (except RnRC, Primeval Whirl, and an Indy car alone).

Do you have Parents as Teachers where you guys live? It is an Educator that comes out does a Kindergarten screening on your child. They do it at preschool, too, I think.

I'm not real sure what you mean by this. Our elementary school goes from Pre-K to 4th grade (with Pre-K being optional). The Pre-K teacher is a state certified teacher and she does the state Brigance test at the beginning and end of the year for the kids in her classroom as an assessment. When they go for K registration, they sign up for a K screening appointment (done by the K teachers).
(There's also a TON of preschools in the area - but they're usually daycares that offer preschool lessons for 2 hours each day, and one tuition based private school for newborn to age 5. The only place that requires a degree is the private school.) DS's teacher used to teach 2nd grade before she taught PK - and I asked if she was going to teach him in K next year. She's not.

Hope you find our mouse! I'd be lost without mine.

 

[lbuzz52]

So we were in the car and I brought up our trip. (We talk in code when the kiddos are around.)

I asked him what kind of car he wanted me to reserve and he didn't care. (Does anyone have experience with renting a car that they can share? We're looking to rent a car to drive down and back with, but we've never rented one before.)

Anyway, he was all about the car and I asked if he was still wanting to drive back on Friday - and if so, if he's done the math to make sure he wouldn't hit rush hour traffic anywhere since it would be a Friday. He said, "You know, maybe we should just leave out Saturday morning."

So ... we'll take Friday and be lazy. Maybe we'll hit a waterpark. I asked if he wanted to do SWW and he said NO. I asked him where my geek was that I married. He just didn't want to deal with the crowds.

When you rent, make sure you rent with unlimited mileage. Also, even within the same company, you can have much different rates at different local locations. For example, the airport locations lack on all sorts of fees and you could easily pay almost double for the week (depending on airport of course). So check multiple companies. A Full size will only be a few dollars more than a midsize, defintely worth the space. i wouldn't go any smaller than that for a long ride. SUV & minivan are so so high. They also rent in 24 hour periods, so if you rent on monday at 200, return by tuesday at 155 if you only want to be charged a day. after 5 days, it is generally cheaper to be charged for a weekly rate.

i get why the beach isn't relaxing to you! i used to love it. LOVE IT! before i had kids, i used to go with a couple friends and we would rent a sailboat for a week. there is nothing like a boat rocking you to sleep! but on one trip, we got out of the ocean only minutes before an entire school of jellyfish swam by. so i thought, ok, i'll just stick to the sand and boats in the future. but after the first time i had to clean sand out of ears and nostrils, i decided to wait until either the kids were older or i was going in a large group. Maya has been begging to go to the beach though, so that's a big part of why we picked CBR this time.

 

[dtr_angel]

I'm in - your plans look really good so far! I'm very interested to see how you like Tony's. Hopefully it will make it on the list for our next trip. Your kids are so cute, they are going to be so surprised and have so much fun!

 

[Lidian]

When you rent, make sure you rent with unlimited mileage. Also, even within the same company, you can have much different rates at different local locations. For example, the airport locations lack on all sorts of fees and you could easily pay almost double for the week (depending on airport of course). So check multiple companies. A Full size will only be a few dollars more than a midsize, defintely worth the space. i wouldn't go any smaller than that for a long ride. SUV & minivan are so so high. They also rent in 24 hour periods, so if you rent on monday at 200, return by tuesday at 155 if you only want to be charged a day. after 5 days, it is generally cheaper to be charged for a weekly rate.

i get why the beach isn't relaxing to you! i used to love it. LOVE IT! before i had kids, i used to go with a couple friends and we would rent a sailboat for a week. there is nothing like a boat rocking you to sleep! but on one trip, we got out of the ocean only minutes before an entire school of jellyfish swam by. so i thought, ok, i'll just stick to the sand and boats in the future. but after the first time i had to clean sand out of ears and nostrils, i decided to wait until either the kids were older or i was going in a large group. Maya has been begging to go to the beach though, so that's a big part of why we picked CBR this time.

Thanks for the tips on renting!

I had never been before 2009, and I was excited.... until that first fish (or whatever it was) touched me. DH thought I had been stung because I took off so quick back towards the hotel. I'm sure I was a humorous site, but I don't like not seeing what touched me.

The only sand I was cleaning out though, was in the car and suitcases and rubbermaid box. The kids enjoyed the atmosphere, but really were happier in the pool.

 

[Lidian]

I'm in - your plans look really good so far! I'm very interested to see how you like Tony's. Hopefully it will make it on the list for our next trip. Your kids are so cute, they are going to be so surprised and have so much fun!

I'll definitely do a food review after the trip! I'm hoping we have a great experience!

I'm so excited to see the kids faces when we "get lost and pull into WDW for directions".

 

[fadingjamie]

maybe "cartwheels" = tea cups?

[edit] ermm nevermind. you answered my question in the same post.

 

[jm106]

I am excited to catch up with your PTR. We are going at ther same time...getting so close! Off to read the rest
Great planning, I love the new look on disneys site with count down and all. Less then 60 days to gooo

 

[Lidian]

I am excited to catch up with your PTR. We are going at ther same time...getting so close! Off to read the rest
Great planning, I love the new look on disneys site with count down and all. Less then 60 days to gooo

57 days!!!! ​

I'm totally digging the site modifications they've done. I love seeing all my reservations laid out and having the countdown box to keep me excited!

 

[mtgirl29]

57 days!!!! ​

I'm totally digging the site modifications they've done. I love seeing all my reservations laid out and having the countdown box to keep me excited!

Yep, we got one of those emailed to us, too! The kids were literally jumping for joy. I bet it is hard keeping the secret, but in the end you will have some amazing pics and memories. I CAN hardly wait until you tell them, cannot imagine how you and your DH are feeling!!!

 

[KatMark]

I am VERY late to the party, but here now. I've got a lot of work to do today (leaving for Florida on Saturday), but will catch up during lunch or when I get home tonight.

 

[Lidian]

I am VERY late to the party, but here now. I've got a lot of work to do today (leaving for Florida on Saturday), but will catch up during lunch or when I get home tonight.

You're just in time to find out what the elusive Cartwheel ride is!

Yay for trip to FL ... where its WARM! Are you visiting WDW or is it another FL adventure?

EDIT: Nevermind, finally caught up on your PTR and see that you're visiting the beach!

 

[Lidian]

Things have been crazy stressful around here lately. I mentioned that we're geeks, right? So ... one of the video games we play, things are getting crazy in it and it has me all stressed out. On the bright side, some of our game friends will be meeting us for a few days of our vacation! I had to modify our Tony's and Biergarten reservations to include them.

So its like a DISmeet, but I'm the only DISer there.

Both kids had bad days yesterday. By the time DH got home, I was nearly in tears. DS (who never gets in trouble at school) got a note sent home for fighting. I had to sign it, talk to him about it, then have DH sign it and talk to him about it.

So ... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Okay, its out.

I actually typed up a nice Cartwheel post last week, but my desktop crashed before I could hit submit and was tired and cranky and didn't feel like retyping it ... so here I am now.

DS and I talked about the Cartwheel more Friday. I even pulled out my books and let him flip through the pages to show me a picture. When he couldn't find a picture, I told him to draw me one.

All I learned was:
Multi-colored, there's a yellow lever the man (CM) pulls to make it start and stop, it goes in slow circles, you don't get wet, you don't touch circles to hold on, no seatbelts - you just magically stay in your seat , and it has a Mickey face

Most of you are probably:

But I didn't get it. (Let me point out that when I told DH, he knew instantly. )

So I pulled up this picture:

No mom, I said it wasn't TeaCups!

Then I got to thinking maybe he meant a ride at DollyWood.

My first thought was Timber Tower:

No, mom, you don't get wet.

Riiiight.

Dizzy Disk?

It doesn't have a giant Mickey head.



Then I got it.

YESS!! That's it! I wanna ride the Cartwheel next time we go to Disneyworld!



We aren't going to Disneyland anytime soon, so therefore, we will not be riding the Cartwheel (not to mention, Cartwheels scare me). And it took me awhile to figure out where he saw this, but it had to be on one of the Disney 411 clips.

Here's his artist rendition of the Cartwheel:

And yes, it will forever be known as the Cartwheel. (It makes sense, right?)

 

[Moira222]

I am starting at the beginning so rather than reply a zillion times, I'll just reply once to everything

(I actually started replying earlier but lost it all so am going again!) I cut out evertying except what I am commenting on so I don't totally hijack your PTR!

The school calendar claims last day is 5/19 unless they have to makeup snow days. If they push snow days after 5/19, my kids will be absent since they won't make a decision until the end of March and I need to get things planned now.

You are luck with snow days, DD is in school till June 17! We are taking her out for our trip -she will msis 4 days.


EDIT: We are no longer staying at POP, but CSR instead. It is a VERY slim chance we'll hit a park on arrival day. We may come in and grab lunch at the resort or DTD instead of hitting a McDs on the way down.
yahoo for upgrading! I read your wait for a code.

DH pointed out that DD9 will figure out pretty quick we aren't on our way to DollyWood, so we I need to come up with another suggestion for them to think we're doing. I don't want it to be too exciting, so they don't feel let down that we aren't going (the DW thing was fine, since we will have annual passes for it this year and go multiple times). Maybe we'll come up with a boring activity ... but my kids are soo weird, I can't think of anything "boring" that would result in a long drive.

Tell her you are going on a family expedition to a swamp. sort of true since that is how the area around WDW started....

Monday 5/23, we'll be hitting DHS. They're open from 9-10 (with PM EMH).


I'm hoping P&F are available. DS5 and DH are huge fans. This might be the only greet that DH would get involved in. we are hoping to catch P&F too. wish that doofenschmirtz was there!!! the Doof!

We didn't see the Stunt Show the past two years, so we're going to make a point to watch it this year. And we always have to see Indy. DH would be sad if I said we were skipping it this year. I do hope he'll get the courage to play an extra this year. I'd love to film him up on the stage being silly in front of everyone. The kids would LOVE it! You can volunteer as an extra? cool!! MY DH always wants to see this and we are foiled every time.

I think we'll ride The Great Movie Ride again this year, and see if we can find more handprints of stars we love.We are looking forward to doing this for the first time



EDIT: I finally created my "must do" list:
Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground
Disney Jr Live
Indiana Jones - I hope DH will try to get picked as an extra!
Lights, Motors, Action - we've always passed this as it didn't seem like we'd enjoy, but I want to do new things this year!
Muppet*Vision 3D - this is our #1 Must DO!
RnRC
Star Tours
Great Movie Ride
Magic of Animation
ToT - I fear this!
TSM
Beauty & the Beast
watch Disney Rocks
watch Pixar Parade
Jedi Training Academy - maybe both kids will do this!

Katie LOVES the HISTK Playground. its fun and as long as DH stands by the exit, we are good to go!

we will skip Disney Jr live but will try to do the Playhouse Dance Party if they still have it in May.

I am curious about the Star Tours redo, but it will be reopening on our last day at DHS so I am not sure we will be able to get to it, its the start of SWW so we may not want to battle the crowd.

The only other thing you have that we don't is the Jedi Training Academy -- Katie is not into STar Wars.

So we'll visit AK on Tuesday 5/24. AK is open 9-7, but we'll be out by 5ish (so we can get ready for dinner).

Dinner will be at DTD. We have 6:30 reservations at Raglan Road. I'm a bit worried about this one, as after I checked the menu, I didn't really see anything that appealed to me. I know DH would have a hard time narrowing down his choice ... and I'll have a hard time finding something that I think I might like.we just added this to our ADRs and are looking forward to it. I will have a hard time picking because I love this menu!



EDIT: Finally got our Must Do list:
Conservation Station
Cretaceous Trail - never found it the past two years
??? Dinosaur - not sure if I can get brave enough for this, but maybe DH and DD will ride?
Discovery Island Trails - never found this one either
EE
Habitat Habit
??? Kali River Rapids - if its hot and the line is short, we'll do this again, otherwise skip - it was kind of a let down
Kids Discover Clubs
Kilimanjaro Safari
Maharajah Jungle Trek - never found this
Pangani Forest Trail - never found this
??? Primeval Whirl - I hope I can do this, I think I'll watch a few cars first and see how it really goes
Boneyard - never found this
Lion King
Nemo
Jungle Parade
??? Flights of Wonder - if we have time

I was really shocked at how much I have NOT seen at AK in the past two years!!!! I feel awful now.

I can't wait to compare trip reports with you after -- we have lots similar to do here as well! We have seen Nemo, its awesome! and the Jungle Parade was DD;s first ever in her life parade. it was SO COOLto see the look of amazement on her face watching the parade.

Is it sad that I've not finished planning this trip and I'm already trying to book another one for later this year?

No, I'm not addicted. Not at all!

right, no one here is addicited. HI, My name is Mary Ellen and I am a Disney addict.

So planning materials are still away and I'm feeling much better.

I don't know why, but I hadn't really thought about how close our visit will be to our anniversary. Our anniversary is May 19, which is the Thursday before we arrive. We may have to do something special to celebrate once we're there ... but I'm not really sure what we would or could do.
would you consider using the resorts kids club for an hour or two & just have a nice grown up dinner, no kids? or even just use the kids club and a swim or a walk around the resort if you don't want to be too far from them. My DH's bday is the 18th so we are celebrating the heck out of that, but our anniversary is 6/6 and he wanted to try & mix that in as well. I told him I didn't want to take away from his bday.

.....

I've been trying to find a way to get a waterpark visit in somewhere. I just want to do too much this time, and DH won't budge on the days (which I understand).
Have you ever done a water park here? We have not, and aren't this time, but I would think they are fun. I need my butt to be a bit smaller so it fits easily down all those crazy slides first!@!
A lot of our planning will depend on what time we actually arrive at the resort (and how tired DH is from driving).

I've been strongly thinking about adding PH this year. It's not in our budget, but I may be able to come up with the funds to add it if I decide on it. I just really need to decide if I can make it worth the cost to add. I really want to see F! (we've never seen it), but it wouldn't really be cost effictive to add just to see F! I probably won't add until we arrive, just in case we change our minds.

So one of our friends in the FL area said that he'd like to join us in the parks some. I'm looking forward to getting to plan out some things with another person! It's rough not having anyone to verbally discuss this vacation with! I've not told most of our family (because I'm afraid they'll let it slip to the kids). My mom found out, and she's determined to tell the kids. I've begged her to keep her mouth shut, but she keeps trying to drop hints. DS won't catch on, but DD is smart and she'll pick up quickly if mom doesn't stop. I know she means well, but I really don't want the kids to know until we pass through the gate. (So I'm hoping that if there's any signs that note WDW on the way, DD misses them by watching movies or playing games.) BOO for grandma!!! unless you tell DD give her the joy of having something to hold over DS!

I measured DS today. With shoes on, he barely hits 44". Granted, he still has some growing he might do before we leave. So I'll plan for a close 44", but be prepared in case my measuring is off.

Hmm... wonder what all he can ride!

So I know I've jumped ahead ... But this is on my mind right now, and trying to decide IF I'll do this, and which one to do ...

I had planned on using our final QS meal for breakfast at the resort on our last day, and grabbing lunch at a McD's or something before arriving at WDW on arrival day ...

But now I'm thinking maybe grab something once we get to WDW with our QS credit and paying OOP for a character breakfast on check-out day. I know hands down, the kids would flip over dining with characters ... but not sure if DH will be cool with shelling OOP funds for a meal (and I refuse to give up any of our current TS meals in exchange).

Have you looked at the prices of your TS meals? one of them might be a lot cheaper.....you don't have to give it up, just pay OOP for the cheapest meal. it makes no difference for the reservations.

I've narrowed it down to the following (estimating costs based on allears):
1900 Park Fare: $23 A; $13 C
Chef Mickey: $27 A; $14 C (we had dinner here in 2009)
Cinderella's Royal Table: $45 A; $30 C
Hollywood & Vine: $27 A; $15 C (DH and kids had lunch in 2009)
O'Hana: $21 A; $12 C
Tusker House: $21 A; $12 C
Akershus: $40 A; $24 C (had lunch in 2009)

I've said this before, and others may disagree, but I think Akershus is much better than CRT
If we do one inside the park, I'll have to add another day's worth of tickets for us all (which means I should just change my package NOW from FD to Kids Free). If I base it on the kid's picks ... I could eliminate O'Hana. They aren't big fans of Lilo & Stitch (they like them, but would prefer Princesses or Mickey).

I really need to get with DH and see what he thinks. I'd totally LOVE to do CRT, since we've never been there ... but it is a very expensive breakfast.

Staying out of DHS on a Friday AM with SWW might be a good idea ... but then again, it might be good for DH to see some of it. I would have to ask DH.
We are going for the first friday of SWW and are planning to stay only until the crowds irritate us!
If we do a park, we'll do a late breakfast, and get a few last minute rides/sights in before breakfast, and maybe one or two things after. I need to figure out what time we'd hit Atlanta, so I can plan for leaving. This would be easier if DH would let us stay another day.

EDIT: Just spoke with DH, he may extend our vacation by one day! HOORAY! So if this is the case, I'll just book a character dinner somewhere. If we don't leave until Saturday, DH said we may hit a WP on Friday (or I may rework my schedule for the week and do a WP earlier). If we do a dinner, it won't be Chef Mickey's (we didn't care much for the food - and I would prefer 1900 Park Fare over CM anyday). Ugh, I wish I could sit down with the kids and let them help me. They have been HUGE helpers the past two years.

Also, he's considering allowing us to have a 2nd honeymoon next May at WDW! He says he'll consider the bounceback offer (if we have one).

what is a bounceback offer???

Thank you! I am soo excited!! I really wish it was reg FD, but QS FD with an upgrade is still awesome!

I haven't read through but wanted to comment before I forgot what I wanted to say
Great PTR!!

 

[Moira222]

We are in Memphis. Just far enough away to be too long of drive for a weekend trip and too close for the airlines to have reasonable flights LOL. its so pretty on your side of the state.

so i was looking up strange things to tell your kids...

There is a Burt Reynolds Museum in Jupiter, a Coral Castle In Homestead, Dinosaur World in Plant City, and the live mermaid show in weeki wachee. got those from the following list-

50 offbeat Florida attractions

these are hysterical!