No we can not take the giant penguin home... PTR

[MatoMany]

Good morning!
After years of lurking on this board and reading other people's trip reports Ive decided to jump in and do a PTR of my own. If all goes well Ill even do a TR afterwards

My crazy cast of characters:

The Adults​

Im Heather. I turned 30 last year and Im excited about it. I should explain that growing up all my friends thought 30 was "old" and "the end" I always thought of it as a beginning. My logic was that by 30 you would be well established in whatever you were going to do in your life and you can start having some fun (I was very motivated to get going on a career as a teen/young adult..laughing now since I'm a SAHM). Ive been to Disneyland more times than I can count starting when I was a little girl. I went to Disney World for the first time when I was pregnant with my oldest and have been back many times. My in-laws live in Florida (close to the world) so when we visit them we go to WDW. I lived in FL for 9 months while my husband was deployed and one of the ways I distracted my littles from missing their Daddy was to take them to the parks several times a week. My favorite rides are IASW and the Railroad. If I had to say a favorite character it would be a toss up between Belle and Tinkerbelle. Im looking forward to having 10 days to spend with my family without the stresses at home, Im leaving it all behind and enjoying my kids and husband's company.

The handsome fellow in the picture of me and the kiddos is my husband. I refer to him as Hubster to those that don't know him. Hes an active duty Marine, hes also the one in the family most obsessed with Disney. His favorite rides are POC and Space Mountain. His favorite characters are all villains. Hes looking forward to having time with the kiddos since he works a lot and doesn't spend as much time with them as he would like.

The Little Monster Children (yes, I call my children my monsters, doesn't all loving mothers refer to their children as such )

My oldest, lovingly referred to as Mini Me. She is 7yo and because of the cut off for public schools in the area if she did attend a public school she would be in Kindergarten. I homeschool though and don't attach a grade to the children, I just let them learn as they learn. She loves to be just like her Mom, shes definitely my little shadow. She has started to voice different opinions on things which Im encouraging it, I want her to know its OK to not agree with me as long as she voices her opinion respectfully. She loves princesses, fairies, pirates, climbing trees and playing with babies. Her favorite princess is Snow White, her favorite character is Minnie Mouse. She is really excited to be trying the bigger rides this time since when we were there last she was to small.

My 2nd oldest, we call her Monkey girl because she is obsessed with monkeys, is 5. Shes my emotional child, melt downs are common with this one. She isn't as rough and tumble as her older sister, she enjoys more quiet sports. For example, she enjoys hiking and taking nature walks to see all the animals. Her favorite princess is Rapunzel and her favorite character is Stitch. Shes most looking forward to seeing the monkeys at AK since the last time we went to the zoo is when we lived in FL. She is going through monkey withdrawals.

My 3rd child is my only boy. He is 3yos and is nicknamed the Monster for a very good reason. He is a complete MONSTER. I love love love this boy but he gets into more trouble and causes more issues than the rest of the kids combined. Right now he is really into pirates and LOVES Jake the Neverland Pirate. Hes looking forward to meeting Jake and going on POC. He says he remembers the pirate in the mist in the beginning (he was not even a year old last we went so I think its wishful thinking there but I go with it if it makes him happy).

My littlest is 15 mo and just an absolutely adorably happy little girl. We call her Belly-the-belly-Bella because her favorite activity is eating. If she is hungry the WHOLE world will know it. It is the only time she cries, she can not stand being hungry. To make it easier to type that out Im shortening it to Bella. Other than eating she enjoys playing with her sisters and dolls. She has absolutely no idea what is going on and just knows Daddy got her new dresses and she wants to wear them all but mean mommy won't let her..

There is one other person to add to the report. You won't be able to see him/her but she/he will make a difference in what we can do. In January we found out Im expecting out 5th child, due in September. Pregnancy isn't easy on me but its totally worth it in the end. We are all excited to be adding another family member, the children are already arguing over who the baby is going to play with first and who gets to help pick out their coming home outfit. Ive compromised with them and they get to choose one girl and one boy outfit at Disney World and one of them will be used as the coming home outfit. It just depends on the gender of the baby. The other I might save or I might give it to a friend/family member who needs that gender outfits.

One of the big reasons for the Pre Trip Report is I need to get my bottom moving and get things lined up. We leave in a little over 2 weeks and I haven't even really started planning (other than meals, those are booked!). Need to get moving since after Im done with this trip I get to plan another one for later this year.

 

[THiiNKTiiNKx0]

Following along! You have such a beautiful family and congrats to you on the new addition!! Im expecting as well, mine is due in June

 

[PH7]

Following along too

 

[MatoMany]

Following along! You have such a beautiful family and congrats to you on the new addition!! Im expecting as well, mine is due in June

Thank you and congratulations! Babies are such blessings..

 

[MatoMany]

Following along too

Thank you for following along!

 

[MatoMany]

The story behind the trip
​

2013 was not the best year for my family, not going into any details but it was very hard. It was bad enough that Im contemplating tearing all the pages from 2013 out of my journal and burning them as a way of telling the negativeness of last year not to infect this year.

In January I mentioned to my husband that I really wish we could take a trip just the 6 of us. Now we have NEVER taken a trip that didn't revolve around his family. Even our Honeymoon had his family tagging along. I wanted time without anyone else. Yes I'm being selfish and I don't give a rats behind if anyone has an issue with it. The original plan was to take a week vacation in June to attend a homeschool conference in Virginia. Unfortunately it was quashed because my husband can't take leave during that time. So he asked WHEN could he take leave and was told anytime between January and middle of March. Ok, so the conference was out. Then my husband found out Disney was offering military discounts for their hotel rooms.. Our phone conversation went something like this:

Hubster- "Hey, hows everything"
Me- "Great, whats up" (hubster never calls during the day unless something is up)
Hubster: "What do you think of going to Disney"
Me- "I don't know its expensive"
Hubster: "They are offering great discounts"
Me- "Well, lets look into it and see"
Hubster: "I booked us 2 rooms at Pop Century for March"

Yes, my husband decided to book a vacation, dining plan and all, without asking me about what I thought about it. That is just how he is, he knows Ill roll with it if he wants to do something. Lucky for him I want to go.

Up Next: Things change..

 

[MatoMany]

Can't sleep so I decided to carry on..

I have to admit Im NOT a fan of having two rooms. Having lived in Florida I spent a lot of time hearing complaints from tourists and if I had a dollar for every time I heard "we were suppose to be next to each other but we are on different floors/buildings/several rooms apart" Id have quite a nest egg. It really worried me that our rooms would not be together and I wasn't looking forward to the eventual "I need whatever parent I don't have in this room right this second" crying fits we were sure to have if we were separated. Plus the children are really close to each other, they wouldn't like not being able to share a room (they have never NOT shared a room, even when we tried to give them their own rooms they would sneak back together).

Add in issue number 2. My husband slipped to his family we were going to go down there. They figured that it meant they could spend every day with us since we were there. When we told them we wanted to spend most of the time just the 6 of us but we would love to spend the day with them one day they got really mad. My FIL hung up on my husband and then my MIL called back and pretty much said if they couldn't be with us every day then they didn't care to spend any time with us.
I have mentioned my inlaws live in FL, my FIL works at the food court at Pop. I was dreading going for breakfast and running into him. Im not good at confrontations (yes, I was a Marine, doesn't mean I like to fight with people) and it would have ruined my whole day.

My husband decided to see if he could do something to clear up these two issues and had the idea of booking a suite instead of two rooms. After a quick call he changed our reservations from Pop to Art of Animations. No two rooms and no likelihood of running into someone who will be less than kind to me/my children. Sometimes my husband has the best ideas

So the plan was to drive down on the 6th and stay at AoA until the 14th then drive back the 15th. In the middle of January we found out we are being blessed once again, Im expecting our 5th child. This pregnancy has had a lot of complications (we thought we were losing this precious baby but she/he is still with us) and Im feeling very poor. I have an odd issue in pregnancy that cars make me very ill. I can fly, ride rides, go on trains, buses etc but riding in a car makes me very ill. So after a lot of debate we decided that with the combination of feeling bad to begin with and the motion sickness issue it would be best if I flew out and took two of our children and then my husband can drive with the other two. Then we will all go back together since if I felt bad on the way back I will have the weekend to rest before returning to my normal activities.

So our tenative plans:
My husband will hopefully get off at noon on the 5th. I will fly out that night with my youngest and oldest via the local airport.
I arrive at 10pm on the 5th, Im taking DME to the hotel.
My husband is going to drive the Beast (our rather large van.. its the beast, monster, or huge hunk of junk depending on the day) with the other two children.
He will hopefully arrive sometime in the middle of the 6th.
We will be at Disney from the 6th of March until the 15th of March.
Early morning of the 15th we will load up and take the long trip home.

Up next ADR and to do lists..

 

[MatoMany]

I just realized I never explained the title of my trip report. My youngest daughter is quite in love with anything penguin related. When she was around 4 mo we were at a toy store and she grabbed a penguin stuffed animal off the shelf, my oldest two convinced me to get it for her and she has loved penguins ever since. She loves to look at pictures, have me read books to her, watch penguin cams etc. So when I was talking to the girls about Disney World my oldest remembered seeing large walking penguins.. In case you don't know what she is talking about

(thank you Flickr for the picture )

Mini Me asked if we could get a giant penguin (yes, one of Mary Poppins penguins) and bring it home for Bella. So "No we can not take the giant penguin home" has became a phrase Ive had to use several times over the last month. My littles get strange ideas in their heads.

 

[MatoMany]

I think whoever came up with the term morning sickness must have been a man. If it was a woman it would have been termed "all night, day and morning sickness".. On one hand Im very grateful that Im having issues with morning sickness (none of my losses Ive had any pregnancy symptoms at all) but the other hand not being able to sleep because you are so sick makes things hard.

So, since Im not sleeping I firmed up our ADR. These are it, Im not changing them again unless someone suddenly comes allergic to some food that they have never been allergic to before..

Before I start I have to say that my children enjoy a wide variety of food. From sushi to brussel sprouts. They, also, enjoy trying new things so Im looking forward to having them try things they haven't had before. My oldest is looking forward to some good fish dishes since I don't cook much fish at home.

March 5th- None, we won't arrive until late.
March 6th- ADR at San Angel Inn at 530pm
March 7th- ADR at Coral Reef at 440pm
March 8th- ADR at Tusker House for Lunch (1230)
March 9th- ADR at Be Our Guest 4pm
March 10th-Fastpass+ for Be Our Guest at 1105am-1135am
March 11th- Ohana at 810am for a breakfast date, the Monkey girl and me.
Teppan Edo at 430pm
March 12th- The Crystal Palace at 8am
Liberty Tree Tavern at 530
March 13th- Hollywood and Vine, the Monster and me, at 820am, Sci Fi Drive In at 410pm
March 14th- Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at 8am
Chef Mickeys at 855pm

The two meals that are just one child and myself we are paying OOP, the others we will use the DDP for. Right now the basic plan is to wake up and eat breakfast in the room except for when we have a breakfast ADR then we will still have a snack on wake up (you DO NOT want to be near my children before they are fed in the morning , for the sake of all humanity they will be fed at least something before inflicting them on others) and then we have a meal or so planned for each day. We will get a counter service when complaints of hunger get loud enough. Im also planning on bringing food in with me.

I know it sounds like a LOT of food but one thing with my kids they can eat. A lot. Another thing is they are remarkably well behaved for their age (so everyone from the manager of our local store to their Sunday School teacher tell me) except when they are hungry. So, if they are hungry standing in line for food isn't the best idea. Id rather have sandwiches on hand to give them to munch on rather than having a melt down because of hunger. Any unused counter service meals we have a plan for. Its gotten to be a tradition before going back to redeem any unused counter service meals at Earls of Sandwich and use them as our food on the trip home. It works out really well for us to have that extra food because as I said before my kids run on their stomachs.

Oh and I didn't forget Mini Me in my plans either. Instead of a meal Im taking her on the Behind the Seeds tour. She love the Living With The Land ride and has asked if she can go on the tour before. I figured it will serve as her science lesson for the week

 

[THiiNKTiiNKx0]

Thank you and congratulations! Babies are such blessings..

Yes they are! And thank you as well!

 

[MatoMany]

Ok my to do list for the trip (t minus 14 days):

1) replace shoes.. Everyones shoes. (Mine and the baby's are on order, hubster has taken care of his and the boys so just the older two needed). Break in new shoes before trip. Luckily we take nightly walks with the kids so that won't be to hard. Well, the baby doesn't do the nightly walks but she won't walk much at the WDW so Im not worried about hers.
2) Make dresses (my girls like to match and they have outgrown all their clothing). Have 10 dresses(well shirts for the boy/dresses for the girls) for each planned but I need to see how much sewing time I get.
3) If time and energy Id like to finish knitting my hidden mickey shawl
4) basic plan for each day
5) packing list
6) pack
7) school plans for the week we are on vacation (Im evil, shes doing school on vacation. I love homeschooling, its so portable)
8) get girls new costumes (all ordered)
9) get use to the camera my husband got me for Christmas. I have barely used it, unfortunately, and Im the family photographer on trips.
10) find the charger for my old camera since I promised my oldest she can use it on the trip
11) Find a pet sitter for my obnoxious cat. Im just looking for someone to stop by and feed him since he isn't to social and kind of mean to adults (loves kids, hates adults.. guess he likes to be manhandled). I might ask at church to see if any of the teens want to make a few bucks coming by and feeding him
12) prepack lunches for the week. Trying to figure out how many to make
13) set up snack packs for the van ride down, Im hoping to have time to make a hanger to put between the two children to put snacks/drinks in so the Hubster has less to worry about.
14) clean out and vacuum the Beast, it needs it.
15) the boy needs a hair cut, so does both older girls and me. The kiddos I usually cut myself but the local place has a special for 7.00 kid hair cuts and the two together will be less than replacing my hair cut scissors. A pre trip girls day maybe? My husband cuts our son's hair so I don't have to worry about that.
16) last minute shopping.. supplies are almost always needed
17) If time Id like to make myself a couple of skirts.
18) get a trip journal
19) Clean house and garage so that I don't come home to a mess

Movies to watch with the children:
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Frozen (haven't seen it yet but Im excited to! We are suppose to get the digital form of it on the 25th of this month)
Brave
Snow White (if I can find our copy)
Aladdin
The original Tinkerbelle movie
Rapunzel.
Normally my kiddos watch 1 movie a week (and an occasional tv episode on Netflix) so they will be jazzed to see some of their favorites before we leave.


Ill add to the list as I remember what I have to do. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. Hopefully the kiddos behave and let me get it all done.

Up next: First two days, the easy days.

 

[MatoMany]

March 5th:
My husband has to work the morning of the 5th so I plan on spending that day doing last minute items. Packing the cooler for the trip down, packing snacks, making sure we have all our confirmation numbers etc. I, also, plan on painting the girls nails pretty and putting their hair up in a way that will (hopefully) last through the trip down.
Hopefully he gets off by noon on the 5th. If he does he will be home to help do the last minute clean up and take the kids to the park to burn off some of their energy before the trip. We have to leave between 330 and 4pm for our flight.
We will be flying on

(thank you Flikr for the picture!)
The flight have layover in Charlotte, its perfect actually. Just long enough to get the kiddos food and get to our next plane.
Hopefully we will arrive on time then we will go straight to

(again, photo from Flickr).
Im hoping that we aren't waiting to long before we are on the way to

(Flickr again)

Depending on when we arrive we might check in and pick up our drink mugs from the food court if its still open. If not we will go straight to our room. We have a suite book, might look something like this

Im praying the girls go right to sleep. My oldest has already asked for the table bed, the baby will sleep with me. We cosleep at home so no pack and play needed.

While we are doing all that my husband will be driving.. Its a bit over 9 hours to drive from where we live to Disney World. My husband is great at driving at night (I am not) so hes hoping to be able to get a good potion of the way there while the kids are happily sleeping in their carseats. Hes promised to stop and rest if needed. Luckily both my middle children and my husband can sleep anywhere so Im not to worried about them finding a hotel to stay at..

Up next.. umm the next day..

 

[MatoMany]

March 6th

Im hoping the children sleep in until at least 7am this morning. At home they are usually up by 6am but Im thinking the late night will get them to sleep in some. After showering and dressing we will head here for breakfast at Landscape of Flavor. If we didn't get the mugs before we will now.

Im thinking of taking the food back to our room so we can eat and do my oldest daughter's school work for the day. After the work is done we can play. Im planning on backing our swimsuits in our carry ons and taking them to one of the kiddy water areas around the resort. Not sure which one, it depends on which one appeals to them. If it gets to late or we decide to head back we will go and shower again (super sensitive skin so chlorine needs to get washed off quickly to avoid rashing).

While we are playing my husband will be driving the rest of the way and stopping by Shades of Green for our tickets. We priced tickets several different ways and decided the best way is to get annual passes. We are taking a trip in November as well. We are moving in November back to the West Coast so it will be the last Disney World trip for the foreseeable long future. Its just to expensive to fly or drive all of us out there from the west coast.

Hopefully around the time that the two I have are done playing in the water my husband and other children will be there. If my husband needs to he will take a nap, if not we will all head over to

(yahoo images again)

If my husband takes a nap I will take the kids out to explore the resort and wake him around 330ish and we will head over. Either way we have ADR at
San Angels Inn.


Im hoping to get to Epcot in enough time to ride La Gran Fiesta in Mexico before our ADR but if we don't no biggie. After dinner Im hoping to stop by and get a brochure on what Flower and Garden activities are happening that day. We will probably walk around and see some of the flowers as well. My kiddos are use to taking a walk every night after dinner so I want to do a bit of a walk.

After walking around we will head back to the hotel. Hopefully the kiddos fall asleep in the van so I can have time to unpack and get things organized for the next day.

Next up.. Back to Epcot we go since Epcot is my kids favorite park

 

[MatoMany]

March 7th.

For our first day at Epcot Im thinking of concentrating on Future World. Im separating rides into three category. Cat 1 is rides/attractions we really want to ride. These are the priorities. Cat 2 are rides/attractions we would like to ride but not as much as the others.. Cat 3 are rides that either 1) we can't all go on and aren't a priority or 2) some interest but not a lot.

The 1s
Soarin- we are hoping to get a FP+ for this but we can't do FP+ until we get tickets and we won't have tickets until the day prior. If we don't get a FP+ this will be the ride we go to first. We will utilize baby swap for the younger ones who can't go on it because they are to small (the monster and Bella).
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land- my oldest daughters FAVORITE ride, this one is seriously important to go on because Im surprising her with the tour later in the trip
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush
Character Spot

The 2s
Circle of Life video, the girls love it but not super important.
Innoventions- my oldest is the only one that enjoys this area.. Maybe the Monkey girl will as well since she is older now.
Spaceship Earth

The 3s
Test track- only two that can go on this is my husband and daughter. If my oldest decides not to my husband can ride it as a single rider.
Mission Space- the light side- my daughter is somewhat interested in it but Im not sure if she will make the height. Its boarderline. My husband has no interest in riding it if our oldest can't go on it
Universe of Energy- we enjoy it but its a huge time commitment. We will do this if the kids really want to but won't push it

The plan is to get there at rope drop and stay until the kids ask to go back to the hotel. Hopefully they make it until our dinner reservations. We usually have the kiddos sleep in the stroller since they are famous for waking up as soon as we get back to the hotel and then want to play instead of sleep. Not worth the headache.

 

[MatoMany]

Trip update! I know I said no meal changes but there is one.. My son wants to see Jake the Neverland pirate but no one else does. He also loves Handy Mandy and Doc McStuffin (gasp! A boy likes Doc McStuffin) so Im going to do Hollywood and Vine one morning with him.
We got Fastpass+ for Be Our Guest on Monday so we get to try the lunch and dinner there! Looking forward to trying out both, Im curious as to see if one is better than the other or if there is any difference at all (other than the price of course).

 

[MatoMany]

March 8-
Animal Kingdom!!
The plan is to get there for rope drop so wake and eat breakfast in the room. Hopefully I can get my oldest to do her math and handwriting worksheets prior to leaving. We have ADR at Tusker House for lunch so we have a break planned into the middle of the day.

Our priorities
1s-
Safari- I know this is suppose to be a no-no while pregnant but Ive rode it with 3 of my 4 pregnancies.. My children are..umm..almost normal.
All of the trails- my kids love these
rafiki's planet watch- another of the children's favorites
Triceratops Spins
Jungle parade- one of my favorite Disney parades and the last time we will be able to see it before it goes bye-bye.

2s
Its Tough to Be a Bug
expedition everest for my oldest and my husband
River rapids for my husband and oldest 2 children
Flights of Wonder- might do this while hubby and the girls do river rapids to entertain the younger two
Dinosaur- Oldest and hubster, my middle says she wants to but I don't think it will happen..
Dino dig place- for the younger two (or three) while the others are on Dinosaur


3s
Primeval Whirl- my husband might ride but everyone else can't because of height or health