Mommy and Jack's 2nd Fall Adventure is canceled!

[DisneyFirefly]

Have fun!

 

[stephielela]

Have fun!

Thanks!!!

 

[stephielela]

We're back. And so begins the vacation blues. Luckily I have a lot going on right now, starting my new job tomorrow!!! That will keep me busy for a while, so updates here will probably be shorter... and less frequent. I do plan on doing a full review of our cruise as well as our couple of days in San Antonio, but I will start off by saying we had an AWESOME time. Everything went very smoothly, and there were no real "issues". It was far more relaxing than our Disney trip, but I definitely had my moments when I was sad we weren't going to Disney instead. Like when we were on our flight to Fort Lauderdale and they annouced that they were continuing on to Orlando. Or when we were in Nassau and the wonderful, beautiful, Disney Dream pulled in next to us... but I thoroughly enjoyed the trip we did take and I am glad we tried something different!

 

[jenseib]

Hope the new job is going well

 

[stephielela]

Hope the new job is going well

The new job is going great... except for it has severly limited my internet time I haven't had a chance to read anything or update basically since I got back. Once things settle down and I am all "trained" and the transition is complete, I should have more free time to DIS, but since I typically don't even bother with my computer when I am at home, this has been a real adjustment for me! I am so jealous of you AEP trip, but I can't wait to hear all about it! I WILL be going next time!

 

[jenseib]

The new job is going great... except for it has severly limited my internet time I haven't had a chance to read anything or update basically since I got back. Once things settle down and I am all "trained" and the transition is complete, I should have more free time to DIS, but since I typically don't even bother with my computer when I am at home, this has been a real adjustment for me! I am so jealous of you AEP trip, but I can't wait to hear all about it! I WILL be going next time!

I hope they do one for the Fantasy...that would be the ultimate...but then I only hope that if Skip says yes again...which means I need to get a clientel and some bookings so he knows I am doing something...which I am surely trying and putting the word out.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hello!!! I'll be coming back to catch up but wanted to pop in and say hi!

 

[stephielela]

I hope they do one for the Fantasy...that would be the ultimate...but then I only hope that if Skip says yes again...which means I need to get a clientel and some bookings so he knows I am doing something...which I am surely trying and putting the word out.

I am crossing my fingers. Listening to all you guys talk about the AEP is what made me decide NOT to change my plans... but more on that later.

I need more clients as well, I have started passing the word a bit to family friends. I am also hitting up coworkers!

Hello!!! I'll be coming back to catch up but wanted to pop in and say hi!

Hello!

 

[tlenzendorf]

I'm glad you have a good trip! Only 4 more months and a few weeks til we Disney

 

[jenseib]

So you are going to WDW then?

 

[stephielela]

I have finally managed to find some time to put together an update. I will have to keep it brief though!

My DLR/WDW Dilemma! I had really been going back and forth about taking a DLR trip instead. I had even started checking out the threads and TR's on that part of the boards... And then I decided to go for it! After all it would be nice to see something different and introduce Jack to a new place. Then the information about the Agent Education Program at WDW came out, and as many of my fellow travel agents decided to go, I was heart broken that I couldn't. I just don't have enough vacation time, and there is no way I can swing two trips so close together. But it was the moment of clarity I needed, because it made me realize how much more WDW means to me than DLR. I have probably been to the parks the same number of times, but WDW just feels like home for me. So the decision is final, we are sticking with our ORIGINAL October WDW plans. Thankfully I hadn't canceled anything yet

 

[stephielela]

We have restarted Disney Movie Theme nights at our house! I am trying to make them even cooler than before. We are all taking turns picking movies, and since my sister is getting to experience them for the first time, we let her pick first, and she chose Mulan.

Our first activity was an obstacle course. This was a pretty big failure, but funny and fun nontheless!
First up was hopscotch:

Followed by wheelbarrow races (which didn't work out) through the cones:

Then horseshoes:

Then golf:

Throughout this time I had "I'll Make a Man Out of You" playing on repeat

Then we went inside for our next activity, painting our names in Chinese!
We had the dumplings cooking while we were doing this.

I found these markers that are made for coloring on windows, so Jack and Katie and Ih had decorated the windows with fireworks

I also made those lanterns, and bought the dragon faces. Jack wore his Chinese jacket that belonged to my dad when he lived in Hong Kong as a little boy, and my mom even wore her robe.

After dumplings we made the P.F. Chang's frozen dinners for 2. They were pretty tasty! As prizes for the obstacle course, I had bought candy for eating while watching the movie

Jack really enjoyed the movie, and the painting. Not to mention coloring on the windows!

This week we are doing Little Mermaid night (my mom's choice)!

 

[stephielela]

After I posted my quickie update about the San Antonio portion of our trip, I got a phone call from our shuttle, sayign they were here early if we were ready! I used SAS transport, and it was $13 per person. I think we tipped him a bunch (we had a lot of luggage), and they were great. I would use them again. We got to the port and got our luggage checked in. We had to wait in a couple of lines, but nothing too bad. They did check our carryons because we were taking wine on board. I think each person is allowed one or two bottles. We all went potty before going through to get our picture taken, since we knew our rooms wouldn't be ready till 1:30 and it was before 1. We got a pretty decent "boarding" picture, I will have to scan it in later!

A play area for kids while parent smake sure their paperwork is ready!

The ship and the walkway from the terminal

On the ship looking back at the terminal

Once we were onboard, we headed up to the Lido deck to the buffet. I immediately spotted a man with sail-away specials, and nabbed one. It was really good. It was called a Fun Ship special I believe. We grabbed some food, but I didn't realize the two lines had different food, so we ended up with Italian food. It was good, but difficult to eat. We were also really hot, so we ate pretty quickly and headed to see our rooms. It was me, my sister, and Jack in one room, and my parents next door. Our room was ready, but theirs wasn't, so we just dropped our stuff in and took a few pictures before leaving to explore.

I had our room decorated with "Congratulations" decorations for my sister. It was pretty cheap and very cute.

The lighting is bad here, but ou get the idea

I felt our room location was great. We weren't too far from the front of the ship, and near a large bank of elevators, and the Camp Carnival (daycare) was two floors up, next to the spa/fitness center. We were on deck 8. We explored a bit, went to the camp and found out where they were having orientation. At orientation they introduced all the counselers, adn they did a few "raffle" prize drawings. At the very end they did a drawing for a "Beary Cuddly" package (basically a do it yourself build a bear) and Jack won!! no one in our family EVER wins, so I was super excited! Plus it saved me $25! All of the other prizes were pretty lame (a pencil kit, a deck of cards) so this was even more exciting.

Then we did our muster drill. I am so glad they don't make you bring your lifejackets anymore! Last time we were on a cruise, Jack was crying so they let us leave the drill before it was over. This was relatively quick and painless though. They give all the kids a bracelet they have to wear the WHOLE time, so that if they are seperated from their parents and need to be taken to a muster station, they know where to take them. After drill we went to our rooms to get ready for the sail away. It was really nice to actually experience this, even though we were at the back of the ship. We took pictures of the other ships as we were leaving, and we even pased the Norwegian Sky, which is the last ship I sailed on. Miami is such apretty area, at least to sail out of!

After sail away we went to unpack. At first I was worried, but we ended up having plenty of space for all of our stuff. The room was set up with two twins, and a pull down bed that lowered from the cieling. I took that one because I didn't want Jack up there, and my sister wanted a lower one, plus most of the decorations were haning over the bed that ended up being hers.
We had balcony rooms, and the balconies were a decent size. The bathrooms were small, but that's pretty much expected (unless you are on a Disney ship). We got all unpacked and headed off to dinner!

Do I look excited enough?

 

[jenseib]

Looks like a fun start. Do they do anything special when you sail? I know on NCL they didn't.

 

[stephielela]

Looks like a fun start. Do they do anything special when you sail? I know on NCL they didn't.

Just a sailaway "party". Music, specially priced beverages, lots of aving at other people. Nothing as cool as on the Dream

 

[photographymom517]

Glad to see you chose WDW!!!

I know you've been there (to DL) a lot of times & it would be a very tough decision to make! Even though I've never been, I'm not sure that I could go to a Disney park without visiting Epcot!!! I definitely want to go someday, but I'd like to wait until the new Cars area is done! I also would have to get a lot of tips from you of other places to visit -- like museums, the zoo, etc. because we're so used to 10-day trips at 4 different parks, I'm not sure what we'd do at only 2 parks! I'm sure there's a lot to do there though!!! I just need to become more familiar with it! This will sound crazy, especially since you've been there so many times, but my main reason for wanting to visit DL is for Toon Town!!!

LOVE your cruise update so far!!!! All cruise ships look beautiful to me!!! Although, I'm especially excited about next year's cruise on the Disney Dream -- but I honestly would love to cruise with any line! The room looked pretty big. I always imagine staterooms being small & tiny -- but it looked fairly roomy! I can't wait to see more pictures of your cruise! Did you take any food pics?

Your Mulan movie night looked like a lot of fun!!! I loved your decorations! You always have such creative ideas -- like writing your names in Chinese! The dumplings sound yummy!

I can't wait to see what ideas you come up with for Little Mermaid! Its one of my favorite Disney movies!!! I used to watch Little Mermaid & Snow White almost everyday when I was younger!!!

 

[stephielela]

Glad to see you chose WDW!!!

I know you've been there (to DL) a lot of times & it would be a very tough decision to make! Even though I've never been, I'm not sure that I could go to a Disney park without visiting Epcot!!! I definitely want to go someday, but I'd like to wait until the new Cars area is done! I also would have to get a lot of tips from you of other places to visit -- like museums, the zoo, etc. because we're so used to 10-day trips at 4 different parks, I'm not sure what we'd do at only 2 parks! I'm sure there's a lot to do there though!!! I just need to become more familiar with it! This will sound crazy, especially since you've been there so many times, but my main reason for wanting to visit DL is for Toon Town!!!

LOVE your cruise update so far!!!! All cruise ships look beautiful to me!!! Although, I'm especially excited about next year's cruise on the Disney Dream -- but I honestly would love to cruise with any line! The room looked pretty big. I always imagine staterooms being small & tiny -- but it looked fairly roomy! I can't wait to see more pictures of your cruise! Did you take any food pics?

Your Mulan movie night looked like a lot of fun!!! I loved your decorations! You always have such creative ideas -- like writing your names in Chinese! The dumplings sound yummy!

I can't wait to see what ideas you come up with for Little Mermaid! Its one of my favorite Disney movies!!! I used to watch Little Mermaid & Snow White almost everyday when I was younger!!!

Hey Hope! I am very "at peace" with my WDW decision. I do want to do DL, but maybe it will ben my 5 year plan? If you decide to do CA at some point, I will be happy to give you pointers. I LOVE CA, I just couldn' t afford to live there anymore

The cruise was great, and the room was plenty big. The ship was older, but still nice. The Dream will be nicer! I did take some food pics, and I will try and finish up day 1 today. I will do day 2 tomorrow, after I have uploaded my snorkeling pics!!

I liked Mulan night a lot. I am having trouble coming up with activities for Cars night though. We had to swap weeks because things got hectic last week, so we haven't done Little Mermaid night. We will do it next week, while my dad is out of town. I already know our activity will be swimming

 

[stephielela]

Today I booked our airfare using our Southwest points. The exact flights I wanted weren't available... which caused me to redo our plans a bit. Now we are departing at 6:20 pm on the 23rd, which means I can work that day. Since we won't have any real time at WDW that day, I added a day to the back end, so now we are coming back on the 28th instead, but first thing in the morning. This means I have to add another night at Pop, and I think I will add another day of tickets too, just in case. I will update later on with my new park days and ADR's!

 

[stephielela]

Well, since I am having to adjust my plans, and since it's been so so so long since I looked over my plans, I figured I might as well start from the beginning! Hey, it's one way to drag out the fun of planning!

Day 1~ Arrival Day
Sunday, October 23rd
The one awesome part of my new job is that my schedule is basically set for 6 months at a time. I know most people are wondering why that's so cool, since most people probably work the same hours all the time, but mine have been changing every 3 months or less for the past 2 and a half years!
I am fully trained and my coutnerpart is hired and will be trained by 7/11, so starting then, I will be working 7-3:30 pm with Mondays and Tuesdays off, for 6 months. I am so happy that I know my schedule for the holidays now, and so we can plan around it!

I went to book my tickets using my Southwest points (I did have to purchase points for both me and Jack to get us to the correct amount, it was $50 each for 2, 000 points, but I figured $100 for 2 roundtrip tickets was almost free!) and of course the 9 am flight wasn't available. I did some looking and some thinking, and decided rather than still taking the day off and arriving too late to enjoy the day anyway, I would work this day and we would take the last flight out, which also happens to be the only nonstop available that day. So I will work until 3:30 and then go home, change, and my parents will take me and Jack to the airport! Our flight is at 6:20, so we will get to the airport around 5. Once we have checked bags, we will go grab some dinner from Burger King probably (there aren't many options in our airport) and take it through security and eat it on the other side, where we will buy our drinks.

Our flight lands at 10:10 pm. I already booked Magical Express, and the CM said not to put the tags on because they won't deliver our luggage until the next day because it's too late. I told him I wouldn't mind them delivering our luggage the next day, since it would be easier to pack our essentials and next days clothes in our carry on than it would be to haul my 3 year old and our luggage to the ME area (that is a looooooong walk!). He said that was fine, so that's what we will do!

I think the food court closes at midnight, is that right? I am hoping to be able to get something to snack on from the grab and go area, but we will pack snacks just in case it is already closed. At least we know our room will be ready . I will park Jack in front of the TV to get in his much needed time with Stacy while he eats a snack, and while I unpack and get stuff ready for the next day! We will hopefully be in bed by midnight.

 

[stephielela]

Day 2~ Epcot
Monday, October 24

Plan A:
This day is tricky. I know we will not get to bed before midnight the night before. I plan on waking Jack up early Sunday morning, and then having my parents make him take a late nap, so he won't be completely wiped out the next day. I really want to make rope drop, so we would need to leave for Epcot by 8 am this day. We will do Future World, grab lunch at Sunshine Seasons, then take a break around 12, go back to Pop and take a nap. I will want Jack to sleep at least 2 hours, so we probably won't make it back to Epcot until 4. We will spend afternoon/evening in the World Showcase at F&W!!! We will have plenty of snack credits to use, and I am going to get Jack a passport so that we can get a stamp in each country so he's not bored to tears. I doubt I will be hungry, but if he is we will grab some chicken nuggets from Mexico and find a spot for Illuminations around 8:15. I will make sure to get some desserty type snacks for us to eat while we wait! After Illuminations we will join the crowd and head back to Pop! Since it's not EMH, everyone will be leaving at the same time, so I fully expect it to take an hour to get back to the resort. Once we get back it will be right to bed! I am hoping to be in bed by 11.

Plan B
IF Jack has not hit the 40 inch mark (meaning he can't ride Soarin' or Test Track, we will sleep in a bit later. I will probably let him sleep until 9 or 10 and then we will get started. Obviously if we are going in so late, we will not take a break at the resort.