My Favorite Week Of The Year: October 17-24! Updated 11/3

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

We are quickly approaching my favorite week of the year! My family and I are heading back to Disney World October 17-24 for the second year in a row. I hope this continues to be a trend for many years to come!

Please allow me to introduce the cast of characters:

My name is Heidi. I work two day a week as a Dental Hygienist and I am able to be at home the remaining days of the week. I love my job when I am there, but I love being at home when I am here. Some of my hobbies include reading, cross stitching, and hanging out on the Dis. I also enjoy running, but have gotten away from it recently. I might have to set a goal to run in one of the Disney events for motivation!

My DH is Stu. He is a Test Engineer/Manager at an agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer. He is one of the hardest working people I know, but I am thankful that he also knows how to play hard. He is an awesome dad and husband. When Stu has a moment of free time he likes to hang out with the girls, hunt, fish, and run. Here is a picture of him running this spring in our local marathon.

My first princess is DD6 and her name is Erin. She is just a fun person to be around. She is smart, athletic, and absolutely hilarious. Her favorite things right now are reading, playing soccer, and being a first grader.

My second princess is DD3 and her name is Ava. She is petite, but what she lacks in size she makes up in attitude. She recently started preschool and she is very proud. Some of her favorite things are reading stories, coloring, and doing puzzles.

Here is my favorite picture from our vacation last year:

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Chapter Links:

The When and Where
Purchases and My First Attempt At Sewing
Schedule
Day 1 Plans
Memories
My baby is 4!
Day 2 Plans
Day 3 Plans
I am having a great day!
Day 4 Plans
Day 5 Plans
Day 6 Plans
Day 7 Plans
Pins
[URL="http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2589718]Link to Trip Report[/URL]

 

[disney<333]

Joining in! I'm so glad to hear you're going back! I loved your last TR!
Your girls are too cute.
Barbara

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Our journey to Disney World will take place on October 17 and will be different for us this time around. We were able to book a DIRECT flight from our city! Typically we would have to go through Minneapolis, Denver, or Chicago, so getting a direct flight was a huge deal. The carrier that does this flight is called Allegiant Air and they only fly two days a week. The other down side is that they fly into Sanford, rather than MCO. Since they don't fly into MCO we will not be able to use Magical Express. We decided to rent a car rather than renting a town car or taking out a loan to take a taxi. Since we will have a car this time we will be able to do a few other things that I will talk about at a later time.

The other big change is that we will be staying off-site this time. Allegiant had a package deal where we got our plane tickets for BOGO free, but we needed to book it along with a hotel package. I felt that the two free plane tickets made up for not being on-site. The hotel we will be at is in the Downtown Disney area, so it isn't even that far offsite. More than likely we will use our rental car instead of the hotel shuttle.

Any advice about driving your own vehicle to the parks and any info about the Sanford airport would be appreciated!

 

[laashley]

Hi Heidi! Saw you on Memom and Jill's tr and headed over. My family is going the 16-21, have to see if some of our plans overlap. BTW the pic of your family opening toontown is wonderful. So many characters at once!

I'll be glad to give you advice on driving to the parks. Even though we stay on property, we usually drive to the parks. It usually doesn't take that long to park and walk or take the tram to the front gates, exception here is MK. One day it took us over an hour from the time we parked at the T&TC to get into the park. So I guess I would say give yourself 20-30 minutes from the main gates to Epcot, DHS, and AK and over an hour for MK.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Joining in! I'm so glad to hear you're going back! I loved your last TR!
Your girls are too cute.
Barbara

I'm so glad that you are joining in Barbara! It took a bit of sweet talking (and a good deal) to convince Stu to go back again, but I think he is just as excited as the girls and I. Thanks for the compliment about the girls!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Hi Heidi! Saw you on Memom and Jill's tr and headed over. My family is going the 16-21, have to see if some of our plans overlap. BTW the pic of your family opening toontown is wonderful. So many characters at once!

I'll be glad to give you advice on driving to the parks. Even though we stay on property, we usually drive to the parks. It usually doesn't take that long to park and walk or take the tram to the front gates, exception here is MK. One day it took us over an hour from the time we parked at the T&TC to get into the park. So I guess I would say give yourself 20-30 minutes from the main gates to Epcot, DHS, and AK and over an hour for MK.

Thanks for stopping in Ashley! I will have to check out your PTR to compare days.

Thanks for the heads up about parking for MK! This is exactly the type of info that I am looking for.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I have made a few purchases to get ready for our trip. One of the things that I am excited to do with the kids is to Pick a Pearl in Japan at Epcot. On another thread I saw a pearl cage that I thought the kids would enjoy. I ordered two of them on Ebay and this is what we got!

The box with the necklaces arrived in this pouch-

Here is a picture of the necklace-

and a close-up of the cage-

On another thread someone mentioned that shipping was free at the Disney Store site over the Labor Day holiday. I figured I might as well get the kids autograph books so we didn't have to find them that first morning at the parks.

I have been stashing away activities for the plane ride. I got most of them at Michaels and Dollar Tree.

For this trip I decided to go a little crazy and try my hand at sewing! I haven't sewn since my sixth grade Home-ec class, so needless to say it has been awhile. For Erin I used a Tiana print and for Ava I used Tink. I also made them each a dress using a Mickey print. I think they turned out cute and the girls are happy with them.

Here is a close-up of the Mickey head print-

27 days to go!

 

[laashley]

Love the dresses for the girls! I think you did a great job!

I really have been debating about pick-a-pearl for Chloe. That is the kind of thing she would love and I know those carriages are a steal. Guess I better get on it!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Love the dresses for the girls! I think you did a great job!

I really have been debating about pick-a-pearl for Chloe. That is the kind of thing she would love and I know those carriages are a steal. Guess I better get on it!

Thanks Ashley! I really enjoyed making the dresses. It was a good project for a first timer.

I showed the girls pictures of the pick-a-pearl and they seem really excited. The carriages really are a steal and the seller had them to me in just a couple of days.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I think I have finally gotten our schedule decided. It is amazing how many times you second guess yourself and change your mind, isn't it? Here we go:

Sunday, October 17-Travel Day
Monday, October 18-Epcot
Tuesday, October 19-Magic Kingdom for DD3 and Myself/Islands of Adventure for DH and DD6
Wednesday, October 20-Magic Kingdom
Thursday, October 21-Going to see the ocean! (This is a big deal for a girl from North Dakota)
Friday, October 22-Hollywood Studios
Saturday, October 23-Animal Kingdom
Sunday, October 24-Travel home

I will give more details of our plans in upcoming posts!

 

[laashley]

Hopefully, we will run into each other. We decided to get park hoppers for the kids and dh and I will have aps, so we can hop too. 19th we will be at MK pretty much all day. Then on the 20th we will head to MK sometime in the evening to see MSEP and wishes.

Yay for sneaking in a day at the beach!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Hopefully, we will run into each other. We decided to get park hoppers for the kids and dh and I will have aps, so we can hop too. 19th we will be at MK pretty much all day. Then on the 20th we will head to MK sometime in the evening to see MSEP and wishes.

Yay for sneaking in a day at the beach!

DD3 and I plan to be at MK on the 19th for as long as she is happy. It is all about her that day! On the 20th our main goal is to see MSEP and Wishes as well.

I am really excited to see the ocean! I never realized just how close it really is from Disney. Since we never had a car while we were there I didn't pay much attention!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

We are so excited to be taking a direct flight to Orlando! Our flight leaves at 10:30 and will take about 3 1/2 hours. I hope the girls do as well as they did last year. They flew like they were seasoned veterans! As long as there are a few surprises in their bags they will be just fine.

We will be arriving at the Sanford airport instead of MCO. From my research Sanford is just north of Orlando and looks to be about an hour drive to Disney. Since we will be driving to Disney at about 4 o'clock on a Sunday, would we be better off taking I-4 or toll road 417? Opinions welcome!

Our plan for dinner that evening is Giordanos for pizza! Giordanos has been recommended on the Orlando threads by many, so I just have to try it out. If I had to choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life it would be pizza. I was able to buy a $25 gift certificate for $3 at restaurant.com for Giordanos. You have to have a $35 minimum order to us your certificate, but it is still a good deal. They serve Chicago style pizza and I can't wait.

After stuffing our faces we will be heading to our hotel. It will be an early night for us because we will be up bright and early for our first day in the parks!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I submitted 4 memories for the new promotion that Disney is running and they have been accepted! Here are the links to the pictures.

http://memories.disneyparks.disney.go.com/#/detail/795
http://memories.disneyparks.disney.go.com/#/detail/864
http://memories.disneyparks.disney.go.com/#/detail/904
http://memories.disneyparks.disney.go.com/#/detail/963

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

We had a great day today celebrating my youngest DD's birthday. It was absolutely beautiful outside, so we spent the afternoon at the local Fall Festival. The girls had a great time playing and picking out pumpkins.

After our fun at the playground we had some family over for dinner and cake. It was a great evening to grill some burgers and hot dogs. It is nice to have some cousins and one set of grandparents that live close to us.

 

[laashley]

Somehow I got a few posts behind. Happy Birthday to Ava! Noah just made 4 a few weeks ago, time passes too quickly!

I am so jealous that it is cool enough there to wear long sleeves. It has been in the 90's here and I am so looking forward to some real fall weather!

As far as the question on I-4 vs. the toll. We take the toll. I don't think the interstate is as bad as it use to be, but the tolls are practically empty. Not exactly sure where the airport is though. We always take 417 into Kissimmee and get off on 192-Irlo Bronson, there is a Target right there that we like to stop at (has good prices on souveniers and we grab snacks and water).

Never heard of Giordano's, but pizza sounds yummy!

How great that 4 of your memories were chosen!!!

Oh, and the picture of your girls hugging is the best! So darn cute and sweet!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Somehow I got a few posts behind. Happy Birthday to Ava! Noah just made 4 a few weeks ago, time passes too quickly!

I am so jealous that it is cool enough there to wear long sleeves. It has been in the 90's here and I am so looking forward to some real fall weather!

As far as the question on I-4 vs. the toll. We take the toll. I don't think the interstate is as bad as it use to be, but the tolls are practically empty. Not exactly sure where the airport is though. We always take 417 into Kissimmee and get off on 192-Irlo Bronson, there is a Target right there that we like to stop at (has good prices on souveniers and we grab snacks and water).

Never heard of Giordano's, but pizza sounds yummy!

How great that 4 of your memories were chosen!!!

Oh, and the picture of your girls hugging is the best! So darn cute and sweet!

Happy belated birthday to Noah!

The weather the past three days has been fantastic. The highs for the day have been about 70 degrees. I am just so glad that it has stopped raining. We were starting to get pretty soggy.

Thanks for the info for driving in. If the toll is empty, I think that will be the way to go! It is nice to know about the Target as well. I Target.

I was pretty excited to see the memories posted. My DH and the girls thought it was fun to see them as well.

It is fun to catch the girls in the moments where they are actually proving that they love each other!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Our first day at the parks will be at Epcot! This will be the only day we will be going to Epcot, so we want to make the most of it.

The plan is to arrive early for rope drop. It is amazing what you can get done if you arrive early. I hope that we can be near the rope so we can see the characters like we did last year. It is such a fun way to start a day!

We plan to head directly to Test Track where we will soon find out if Ava has finally hit that elusive 40 inch mark. We can only hope, but this child just seems to be stuck. I hope she has a growth spurt in the next 20 days!

In Future World our must see attractions are Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, and Soarin'.

When we are done in Future World we will head into World Showcase. Our must see attractions will be the Gran Fiesta Tour, Maelstrom, and a Kim Possible mission or two. I also want the girls to do the pick a pearl in Japan. We didn't spend alot of time exploring the countries last year, so we would like to take some to explore a couple of them more in depth.

We plan to skip Illuminations this year. It just got so late for the girls last year by the time we got back to our room. It worked better for us to get going early in the mornings and to be done by 7, so we will go with what worked!

 

[disney<333]

Your plans sound great!
Happy belated birthday to DD! I'm super jealous you guys are in long sleeves and jeans! It still feels like summer here.
Great job on the dresses. They turned out super cute and I just know the girls are going to look adorable in them at Disney.