Never challenge a DISer to find a deal--a Nov/Dec PTR 11/26: Today's the day!!!

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Yeah, that was a lot of help! But you are doing customs if the tie dye thing works out! Will the whole family wear them or just the girls? I want to make sure we see the Gingerbread House as well. We were at GF on our honeymoon over Christmas '02 and DH assured me that he saw the gingerbread house but I honestly can't remember it. Maybe I was too awestruck by the rest of the place?

Last time we went we did two single umbrella strollers for the boys. At first everyone thought I was nuts, but it worked out really well! We kept them in the room and only took them out if we knew it was a walking day. Then, if we were going to split up, one parent wasn't left with both kids!

The whole family will be wearing the same shirts. I want to do the first set using just the blue and yellow dyes to see how they turn out. If, and that is a big if, they work out well I am going to do another set in Green and Red. Then I just need to find a good spot for a picture while we are in Disney so we can all wear the shirts for our Christmas Card.

In the meantime I am going to do a reverse tie-dye thing. Details are on my PTR. (shameless plug I know.)

 

[Lady Lallie]

That is a good question! I have something like that coming up in my countdown.

Hmmmm.....I think my confession would have to be Tower of Terror. Lots of people seem to love it or at least have ridden once but I am just not brave enough to get myself on it.

Your tie dye shirts came out awesome.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Question for you:

What quintessential Disney "thing" (ride, food, show) have you missed so far?

I confessed earlier to Brooke that we have never seen Wishes before. Also on our "haven't gotten there" list: Mickey bars. DH told me last night he had never been on the Haunted Mansion!

Last time we went was with a 4 year old and a 7 month old, so there are ALOT of things we have missed so far.
Rock-n-Rollercoaster, Soarin, Test Track, Expedition Everest basically every adult type ride.. Since they are girls they also didn't want to do the Haunted Mansion either, and we didn't go to Tom Sawyers Island.

Man, the more I talk about it the more I realize our last tirp SUCKED. Ok, not really. My girls had fun, and the trip was planned for them not me. So will this upcoming trip, but at least now the 8 year old likes roller coasters, and the 4 year old wants to go on them as well. That will make it a bit tricky when there is a ride she can't go on. I have to find another ride that is close to that one and send Olivia there with Mommy while Ally rides with Daddy.

 

[brookelizabeth]

ABC Distributing has the book for $5.95 each! Can you believe it? It looks like it has no one more recent than Wall-E, so you'd be stuck there. Of course, now that I think about it -- that really only leaves Lotso (eww!), Tiana and the Tangled crew out. Hmm... the book is sounding interesting again. I know Doug would love reading it!

I feel the same way about the parties. My kids like an 8:30 bedtime most of the time. While we will push it now and then during vacation they are certainly done by 10:00. I cannot wait for Wishes and the Castle lighting. Does it tell in the times guide when to see the castle lighting?

I love the Tea Cups idea. My boys would LOOOVE that!! We have a couple of bins that will work. Doug is an Animal Kingdom fiend so I was thinking about setting up a safari around the house (or yard) with his plastic animals.

Man! I wish I would have seen that $5.95 price. Though, I just got it off Amazon and had a gift card and free shipping, so it all works out I suppose. I just checked on Lotso and Tiana - I haven't a clue anything about Tangled - so couldn't check them , but you are right - they are NOT in the book. I wonder if Henry will care to meet Lotso even...he'll probably tell him he's naughty.

I don't recall the Castle Lighting being in the Times Guide; however, I am about certain it is maybe 20-30 minutes before Spectro (or MSEP). It seems they do the show, then about 10 minutes later Spectro started. One of my favorite pictures from all our trips is Cinderella's carriage in Spectro heading toward the lit-up Castle. So, so pretty!

Love the idea about the safari too!!! I wonder if the Kilamanjaro Safari script is somewhere online....

What quintessential Disney "thing" (ride, food, show) have you missed so far?

Love your shirts!!! I think they are all very cute. I haven't even attempted the tye-dye yet...it completely intimidates me. A tye-dye dress would be ADORABLE though!!!!

I've confessed it all on my PTR. I haven't had Disney popcorn, ridden HM, made a rope drop or eaten a Mickey Waffle. All are on the agenda this time - we'll see how I do!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

How many pins are the kids carrying in the park on a given day? Do they do lanyards?

The kids have decided they want to keep all the pins they traded for on past trips and get all new ones this trip (think I need to go plant another money tree in the backyard! )

I think I'm going to try the eBay route myself for this trip, but what we did before was get a starter kit for each kid. You can get kits that come with or without a lanyard, we got ones including them. About halfway thru the trip we got them a second starter kit that they split because by then they'd traded for pretty good pins. They kept the ones they absolutely wanted to keep back in the room for fear of losing them so I'd guess they were carrying around ten on their lanyards.


***
All caught up now..... All of your shirts look great! The quintessential Disney things I've never done?

--> never done a single rope drop
--> never had a dole whip
--> never had Disney popcorn
--> never been on the MK ferryboat or been to TSI
--> never had Tonga Toast

..... most of which (no rope drop or Tonga Toast) I'm planning to fix very soon!

 

[moparop]

I have never had a Dole Whip, Seen Illuminations or ridden any roller-coaster all of which I plan on doing this trip!!!

You know, now that I think about it -- I am not sure I have ever sat and soaked in Illuminations either!

The whole family will be wearing the same shirts. I want to do the first set using just the blue and yellow dyes to see how they turn out. If, and that is a big if, they work out well I am going to do another set in Green and Red. Then I just need to find a good spot for a picture while we are in Disney so we can all wear the shirts for our Christmas Card.

In the meantime I am going to do a reverse tie-dye thing. Details are on my PTR. (shameless plug I know.)

That reverse tie dyeing looks cool! Looking for results! Take the Christmas pic on Main Street at the train station and get all the wreaths lined up with the castle in the background!!

That is a good question! I have something like that coming up in my countdown.

Hmmmm.....I think my confession would have to be Tower of Terror. Lots of people seem to love it or at least have ridden once but I am just not brave enough to get myself on it.

Your tie dye shirts came out awesome.

I've ridden Tower of Terror exactly one time. I was there with a bunch of friends and said I did not want to ride. They kept prodding til I finally agreed. One of the guys in the group said I could punch him if I hated it. It was terrifying! I punched him and he complained because he didn't think I could punch that well. I guess he forgot I had three brothers.

Thanks on the shirts! DH wants to recreate those again for this year. I am wondering about new colors?

Last time we went was with a 4 year old and a 7 month old, so there are ALOT of things we have missed so far.
Rock-n-Rollercoaster, Soarin, Test Track, Expedition Everest basically every adult type ride.. Since they are girls they also didn't want to do the Haunted Mansion either, and we didn't go to Tom Sawyers Island.

Man, the more I talk about it the more I realize our last tirp SUCKED. Ok, not really. My girls had fun, and the trip was planned for them not me. So will this upcoming trip, but at least now the 8 year old likes roller coasters, and the 4 year old wants to go on them as well. That will make it a bit tricky when there is a ride she can't go on. I have to find another ride that is close to that one and send Olivia there with Mommy while Ally rides with Daddy.

Yeah, it's funny how different the trips are when you have munchkins along. I cannot count the number of times I have been on Small World and I don't think we have ridden a "grown up ride" in years! Wouldn't change it for the world! I am excited about doing more big kid stuff this time with Doug though.

The story about keeping Olivia happy with Mommy while you and Ally do big kid rides made me laugh. We went with my parents as kids. My sibs and I were 11, 8 and 3. My dad took my bro and I (11 and 8) are on Space Mountain. My 3 year old brother wanted to go too. My mom tried to bribe him with the Astro Orbiter. He hated it, hated that he went, thought the ride was dumb, etc etc. He still hates Disney and I think it's because of this!

Man! I wish I would have seen that $5.95 price. Though, I just got it off Amazon and had a gift card and free shipping, so it all works out I suppose. I just checked on Lotso and Tiana - I haven't a clue anything about Tangled - so couldn't check them , but you are right - they are NOT in the book. I wonder if Henry will care to meet Lotso even...he'll probably tell him he's naughty.

I don't recall the Castle Lighting being in the Times Guide; however, I am about certain it is maybe 20-30 minutes before Spectro (or MSEP). It seems they do the show, then about 10 minutes later Spectro started. One of my favorite pictures from all our trips is Cinderella's carriage in Spectro heading toward the lit-up Castle. So, so pretty!

Thanks for the tip! That sounds just amazing to watch! And the carriage and castle

Love the idea about the safari too!!! I wonder if the Kilamanjaro Safari script is somewhere online....

We did do a Safari --- well, the boys did! more on that in a few! Suffice it to day, they loved the game and have been playing for 2 days now!

Love your shirts!!! I think they are all very cute. I haven't even attempted the tye-dye yet...it completely intimidates me. A tye-dye dress would be ADORABLE though!!!!

You know, I've tie dyed once and it still is intimidating me! I want to do them again. They made cute photos and I loved the look but thinking about it makes my head hurt!

I've confessed it all on my PTR. I haven't had Disney popcorn, ridden HM, made a rope drop or eaten a Mickey Waffle. All are on the agenda this time - we'll see how I do!

I've never gotten to Disney popcorn either! Even though the boxes are on the DDP, I want to do the containers so I can bring them home like the Memom crew to use for other fun things!

The kids have decided they want to keep all the pins they traded for on past trips and get all new ones this trip (think I need to go plant another money tree in the backyard! )

I think I'm going to try the eBay route myself for this trip, but what we did before was get a starter kit for each kid. You can get kits that come with or without a lanyard, we got ones including them. About halfway thru the trip we got them a second starter kit that they split because by then they'd traded for pretty good pins. They kept the ones they absolutely wanted to keep back in the room for fear of losing them so I'd guess they were carrying around ten on their lanyards.

Thanks for all of the tips! I need to get on the ebay thing soon. I am hoping to find one of those lots no one knows about! I can see my kids (especially Liam) being unwilling to trade any of his favorite pins because they are his favorite characters.

All caught up now..... All of your shirts look great! The quintessential Disney things I've never done?

--> never done a single rope drop
--> never had a dole whip
--> never had Disney popcorn
--> never been on the MK ferryboat or been to TSI
--> never had Tonga Toast

..... most of which (no rope drop or Tonga Toast) I'm planning to fix very soon!

Maybe we should eat the popcorn with our Dole Whips on the beach!!

 

[moparop]

Disney Day!!!

On Wednesday, we hit 99 days til Disney! To honor our 99 days, we decided to do a bunch of stuff to hype the boys up for the upcoming trip! When they got up we told that we were going to celebrate our upcoming trip to Disney, but we weren't telling them how long it was going to be before we went until after dinner. The boys kept making guesses about when we were going and were pleased to get our Disney day rolling!

We started off the morning with a little vacation planning DVD. The boys yelled out all of the things they wanted to do and just generally got excited.

While they were doing that, I was busy in the kitchen making pancakes, Mickey pancakes! They aren't quite as good as Mickey waffled, but they are very yummy! I ended up making a huge batch so we had more Mickey pancakes this morning for breakfast too!

Once breakfast was over, I got out coloring pages for the kids. I had found a site online that had coloring pages of the various rides around Disney. The boys that thought this was so fun to do!

With our pictures complete, I pulled out park maps. We found our favorite attractions and brainstormed many things that we were looking forward to doing on our next trip! It was then time for our safari! I told Doug to grab a bunch of his jungle animals out of their toy room and we'd have a safari outside. He asked if he'd be allowed to go outside and hide them. Well of course!! Here's a few photos of the hiding and seeking!

Aileen came outside with us and you can see how much she loves safaris!

Poor girl! It was naptime and I was making her play!

After all that fun, it was time for lunch! We had Mickey shaped nuggests, grapes and crackers, all on our MMCH plates!

With our bellies full and Aileen safely off to sleepyland, it was puzzle time! I bought this at Target on Tuesday. It was a little tricky for the kids, but we had a great time doing it!

Dinner time was Pizza Planet! We had pizza and cupcakes with some not so hidden Mickeys on them!

(I found the directions for the cupcakes on Family Fun. They were super easy and were a major hit!!)

Once dinner was over, the boys had to show Ryan how to do their safari. It was a gorgeous night in Ohio and we all enjoyed being out there!

I told Ryan that he could pretend he was on the Poly Beach here!

I had told the kids that if they wanted to find out how many days til Disney, we needed to head inside and we'd put up our countdown. Throughout the day, I had taken our list of things we were looking forward to doing at Disney and wrote them down on the back of HD paint chips. Then we put them on the door one at a time counting up to our trip. Liam practiced reading numbers and Doug tried to figure out what month we were going in based on what number we were on. When we finally got to 99 everyone cheered!

As we took down our #99, Doug had to read what it was we were excited about doing at Disney. Then I gave him a notebook and wrote that down on our list that says, "99 things we are excited to do at Disney!" (I totally borrowed this idea from IluvXU (thanks Laura!!) We had to have a little bit of learning with our fun!

We ended our Disney day by playing Rummikub as a family! The boys thought the game was a ton of fun!

Doug has decided that although we can't have Disney day every day, we should do a little something each day to get us ready for our trip. I like they way he thinks!

And a quick double digit dance!!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Oh, I'll join your quick double digit dance.... !

Ok, what a fantastic Disney Day! The pancakes, pizza and cupcakes look yummy!! The kids were sooooo cute and your countdown looks great too!

What a fun day

 

[starnightstarsky2000]

I LOVE your Disney start count down day wish we could do this but then we would have to tell DS we are going to Disney.. Your kids are all so cute love how they all got into the spirit of Disney Love Ryan "pretending" to be at Poly and the work sheet of the different rides where did you find that at??? I have done the mickey pancakes but NEVER thought to do a safari that is really cool and letting Doug set it up for everyone major awesome.

 

[eecteacher82]

Wow! What an awesome day!!!! I can't wait until Olivia is old enough to do that fun stuff with! I absolutely LOVE the idea of writing something you want to on each paint chip, that will be a must for our next "big" trip! I can't wait until we can do the double digit dance!

 

[MeMom]

What a fun day! I look forward to seeing the pictures tonight. I am at school now. Disney days are wonderful!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

What an awesome Disney Day!!!! Sounds like every single thing you planned was a big hit. I also love your idea of the pepperonis on the pizza, I'm so stealing that. Easy, yet fun!!!

Great idea about putting the things they are excited for on the paint head chips - and having them write it down too. I'm stashing all this away for when Henry is older.

I've never gotten to Disney popcorn either! Even though the boxes are on the DDP, I want to do the containers so I can bring them home like the Memom crew to use for other fun things!

Me too!! They will make excellent "park buckets" for the sandboxes, water fountains, leaves, rocks, sticks, etc that Henry loves to pick up.

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a wonderful way to celebrate 99 days until Disney!! I love it. What a great, creative Momma you are!!

 

[jillyb]

I'm joining in! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has made a million changes to ADRS and resorts!

We'll be at Pop from 11/19 - 11/27. Maybe we'll see you in the Food Court as we're checking out on the 27th. I'm on TGM too. Are you in the November Vacation Club over there?

 

[DWGal210]

Hi Margaret! I'm Here! I often think I should change my DIS name to AlwaysLateToTheParty,

Your Disney day is just so fun!! What a great idea!! I am actually having a Disney sleepover with my goddaughter next week (who is going with in November). I have some crafts to do, movies to watch, then we're going to do spa treatments on each other. That last one should be interesting.

I'll answers on of your most recent questions....Disney things I have never done:

* Never had a Dole Whip
* Never been on the TTA
* Up until this last trip in December, I had never been on the Jungle Cruise OR the Haunted Mansion. (But don't worry, I took care of those! )

I thought my list would be longer, cause I am always reading the boards and saying, "I need to remember to do THAT next time!" But I'm sure I'll think of more later!

Ciao!
Katie

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

what a fun day!!!!! My kids at school would loveee those cupcakes!! We showed them the Disney Sing Along Beach Day DVD (very cheesy but the kids loved it!) I had jello with hidden sharks in it too which was a hit!

I can't believe school starts on Monday! My kiddos are ready to go..I'm hoping they will let me walk out to the bus to see the kids off! Our kids at the center have PM Kdg!

 

[moparop]

Oh, I'll join your quick double digit dance.... !

Ok, what a fantastic Disney Day! The pancakes, pizza and cupcakes look yummy!! The kids were sooooo cute and your countdown looks great too!

What a fun day

Thanks for dancing with me! It was an awesome Disney day! It was nothing over the top but a lot of little things that made the day special for all of us.

I LOVE your Disney start count down day wish we could do this but then we would have to tell DS we are going to Disney.. Your kids are all so cute love how they all got into the spirit of Disney Love Ryan "pretending" to be at Poly and the work sheet of the different rides where did you find that at??? I have done the mickey pancakes but NEVER thought to do a safari that is really cool and letting Doug set it up for everyone major awesome.

Doug has been begging for a trip for so long and loves all things Disney. So when I brought up Disney Day he was overjoyed. Plus, I put all of my chores aside for the day (other than cooking) and really focused on them. That really helped keep it going. I was not able to find a worksheet of rides, but I had set of park maps that we worked off of to make our lists. In addition to being fun, we got to work on a lot of map skills!

Wow! What an awesome day!!!! I can't wait until Olivia is old enough to do that fun stuff with! I absolutely LOVE the idea of writing something you want to on each paint chip, that will be a must for our next "big" trip! I can't wait until we can do the double digit dance!

Thanks! It really was a hoot to talk, read, and write about Disney all day. There were lots of things that Liam was afraid of before we watched the planning DVD and now he is talking about all sorts of things he wants to do. I highly recommend writing down the things you are excited to do. Each day is a little Disney magic and you have a talking point about the trip. In fact, our plan was to do it each night shortly before bed, but now I am wondering if we should talk it off at dinnertime right after we pray?

What a fun day! I look forward to seeing the pictures tonight. I am at school now. Disney days are wonderful!!!

Disney days are wonderful! I can see why you guys do them!

What an awesome Disney Day!!!! Sounds like every single thing you planned was a big hit. I also love your idea of the pepperonis on the pizza, I'm so stealing that. Easy, yet fun!!!

That is TOTALLY my creative mom goal Brooke! I like things that are easy, yet fun! The kids have no clue as to what took days and what took 5 minutes and they certainly don't appreciate the hard stuff that much more!

Great idea about putting the things they are excited for on the paint head chips - and having them write it down too. I'm stashing all this away for when Henry is older.

Oh good! That's why I shared all of that! I love bouncing ideas off of each other. I had thought about doing the rings like you did and putting the info on rings, but I didn't want to use that much printer ink!

Me too!! They will make excellent "park buckets" for the sandboxes, water fountains, leaves, rocks, sticks, etc that Henry loves to pick up.

Henry will love having Mickey with him to store life's most important treasures!

What a wonderful way to celebrate 99 days until Disney!! I love it. What a great, creative Momma you are!!

We really had a blast! The boys love playing board games but Ryan never did as a kid so he is always hesitant. Everyone gave me the big thumbs up on Rummikub. We played again tonight and it was even Ryan's idea!

I'm joining in! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has made a million changes to ADRS and resorts!

We'll be at Pop from 11/19 - 11/27. Maybe we'll see you in the Food Court as we're checking out on the 27th. I'm on TGM too. Are you in the November Vacation Club over there?

Yeah, just today I was reading about La Hacienda over on the parksblog and started wondering if I should drop Via Napoli in favor of that. Indecisive much?? :lol:

Hopefully, we do see each other at Pop!! If we do, please come over and say! I'll be the frazzled one with three wound up little ones. It'll be a good frazzle though! I am on TGM and in the Nov Vacation Club but have only posted once or twice. I need to start thinking more on nuts and bolts of the trip and get busy over there!

 

[moparop]

Hi Margaret! I'm Here! I often think I should change my DIS name to AlwaysLateToTheParty,

Your Disney day is just so fun!! What a great idea!! I am actually having a Disney sleepover with my goddaughter next week (who is going with in November). I have some crafts to do, movies to watch, then we're going to do spa treatments on each other. That last one should be interesting.

I'll answers on of your most recent questions....Disney things I have never done:

* Never had a Dole Whip
* Never been on the TTA
* Up until this last trip in December, I had never been on the Jungle Cruise OR the Haunted Mansion. (But don't worry, I took care of those! )

I thought my list would be longer, cause I am always reading the boards and saying, "I need to remember to do THAT next time!" But I'm sure I'll think of more later!

Ciao!
Katie

You have totally taken my new DIS name Katie!! I feel like that on so many TRs too! There are so many awesome DISers and just not enough time to keep up with all of them!

The Disney day was a total hoot! You and you goddaughter will have a blast! Be sure to take photos of the spa treatments, they will provide stories for years to come!

Dole Whips and TTA make me think of summer and I could really go for both right now! Think you could sneak a Dole Whip onto TTA?

what a fun day!!!!! My kids at school would loveee those cupcakes!! We showed them the Disney Sing Along Beach Day DVD (very cheesy but the kids loved it!) I had jello with hidden sharks in it too which was a hit!

I can't believe school starts on Monday! My kiddos are ready to go..I'm hoping they will let me walk out to the bus to see the kids off! Our kids at the center have PM Kdg!

That DVD sounds fun! Is that one of the ones with the park characters or is a cartoon? I bet they were ape over the jello! My kids don't normally eat jello, but thrown in something like sharks -- that's a different story!

Let's not talk about school starting on Monday ok? We had the meet the teachers up at the school today and I left in tears. I am sure Doug will have a great year and his teacher is awesome but I am not ready to have a first grader and have so much apprehension about him this year.

 

[MeMom]

We had this climbing toy when the kids were little. They loved it! It was a pirate ship, a space rocket, a clubhouse...all kinds of things throughout the years. It faded over time, but held up well. One side finally got a crack in it, and the kids outgrew it, so we disassembled it and threw it out. Seeing your picture brought back a flood of memories of my kids climbing all over, around, and through ours.

The puzzle is great, and the cupcakes are, too! I enjoyed sharing in your Disney Day. Now that you have done one, I predict there will be more in the future.

 

[Happy Elf]

Loved your Disney Day! What fun! Where did you get the Mickey Nuggets? My kids would love those!!! Your cupcakes look so yummy!