Now a Trip Report!!! Will We Stay or Will We Go? A Thanksgiving Pre-Trip/Trip Report

We just passed the 45 day mark for our trip and I’m starting to kick things in high gear now. I made another attempt to do a Halloween t-shirt for Alison and this time it came out great. She loved it and says she’s also going to wear it on our DHS day. I don’t plan on making shirts for the rest of us that day so she’ll be the only one in a t-shirt for that park. We also went through all the t-shirt DISigns we’d picked out and decided on the ones we’ll use. I now have something like 12 t-shirts I need to make! :eek: I may have to pare those down because I don’t know if I can manage the expense of the t-shirts, transfers and all the ink I’d need for so many shirts.

Here are pictures of Hannah and Alison in their Halloween shirts:

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Close up of Hannah's shirt:
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Close up of Alison's shirt:
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I also trimmed the Holidays around the World Passports and took them to Staples. I wanted to have them bound like a book but they can only do that for 8x10 books. Instead, they will use the spiral binding at the top. The idea doesn’t thrill me too much but it’s gonna have to do. I’ll be picking those up on Friday and will post pictures when I get them back. I toyed around with making photobooks but whenever I’d insert the pictures on the pages they were either too big or there would be a yellow caution on the picture about the image quality.

I went through my stash of stuff for the trip. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

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Hannah's notebook:
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Alison's notebook:
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My notebook:
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I’m going to have the girls decorate the clipboards and they can use them for their autograph cards when the characters sign them. I also bought some non-Disney Thanksgiving window clings that I’m going to put on our window at Pop. I forgot to take a picture of them so I’ll post those later. (OT: Typing that sentence I thought to myself, taking pictures of window clings so people I’ve never met can see them…how crazy does that sound??!! :laughing:)

Hannah has a Princess Word Search book and I need to make sure she takes it. The girls will also be taking their DS’s…need to get a car charger for those. Since the DVD player in my van isn’t working I also need to see about borrowing a couple of portable DVD players so the girls can watch movies. Hannah has decided what bag she is going to use to carry her stuff in the parks but I still don’t have anything for Alison so need to find something for her.

Halloween: Hannah has decided to be the Mad Hatter this year.

Here’s the costume:

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I bought a few Halloween decorations while I was out running errands on Sunday. I don’t normally do a lot of decorating for Halloween but the girls were whining because others in our neighborhood have started decorating and our house doesn’t look cool for Halloween. :rolleyes: I got a door cover for the front door and some window clings for their rooms at Walgreens. It still doesn’t look cool but it appeased the little beasts! They have some really cute Disney brand Halloween stuff. I may go to the Dollar Store this weekend and buy a few more things for the yard. Hannah wants to put some spooky lights in the magnolia tree in the front yard. :laughing:

I STILL need print out the rest of the autograph cards. Over the weekend I was going to trim the ones I’ve already printed but never got around to it. I may do that during this week. I need to get some pennies and quarters so the girls can do pressed pennies. I’m going to see if I can talk Hannah in to letting me raid her piggy bank for the pennies!

When we’re 30 days out I’ll be doing a daily “this time next month we’ll be at……” post with park, ADR and itinerary information for each day. The girls and I will probably be crazed with excitement when we hit that 30 day mark!

Hannah and I had a good time at “Aladdin”. It was a good show. Hannah was very excited when it got to the part where Aladdin flies in on the magic and he and Princess Jasmine go flying around because she couldn’t wait to hear them sing “A Whole New World”. Then, when the song began she starts singing with them. As we’re walking out of the theater she gave me a big hug and said “I love you Mommy. I wish I could hold on to you forever.” :love: After the show, we stopped at Sonic and got milkshakes. It was a great girls night out! I had a couple of pictures before the show started and some from after the show but I accidentally deleted them. UGH

I went to Target yesterday before work and they had tons of “The Beauty and the Beast” DVDs out. I didn’t have my coupon so I didn’t get one. I went back during lunch, with coupon in hand, and they were almost gone! Glad I went back! The best part…the combo pack I bought came with a bonus CD of the music! Woohoo!!!

That’s all that’s happening right now. Hope everyone is having a great week!
 
I am using the same designs to make 2 books for my girls...I need to finishing cuting and binding it together :thumbsup2

Isn't that passport cute??!! Natalie is an awesome DISigner. Too bad she's not designing here anymore. :sad1:

ladies we need to coordinate too for our Dis meets :cool1: Barbara I need your park days so we can figure out what matches...Jill I know we have a bunch of days similar...we'll have to chat later in Oct and carve out a couple possiblities and exchange cell numbers...I am looking forward to meeting you both and your girls!


I'll send you a PM with my cell phone number. Looking forward to meeting you and your family!

thanks for this reminder...I need to look over our nights at MK and figure out which work best for us to see this...I hope to see it more than once :goodvibes

Now if I just knew the time! LOL I've heard about 3 different times for the lighting ceremony but haven't seen an official time from Disney. Do they even post an official time or is that something that's on the Times Guide every day? :confused3

and happy 50 days back to you....I can't believe we are half way there now :woohoo:

44 days now!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

I can't believe how fast time appears to be moving. I make the final payment on our package next week on the 4th. :banana:

Then I get to do my "Disney Specific" shopping. :goodvibes

Yay for the final payment!!! :banana: :banana: Time really does seem to be speeding up now doesn't it? When we first booked I thought November would NEVER get here. Now it's a month away!!! Happy Disney shopping!

Happy Fifty Days!!! :banana:

Hannah is so cute in that beautiful purple dress!

Thanks Jackie! :goodvibes

Great job Hannah! She looks adorable in her dress.
Hope Alison has fun at the football game. What instrument does she play? I'm sure all the girls will have something to talk about now at the meet.:goodvibes
Emily's favorite part of high school so far is playing at the games. Amy played at one tonight with her middle school and will be playing at her sister's in a few weeks.
Happy 50s days. I must be close, too. Tomorrow we can say next month we're going to Disney World!:dance3:

Would you be interested in a photo pass share for November?

Thanks! :goodvibes Alison was cold and complaining about how long she had to stand so not sure how much fun she had. :laughing: I think the experience pretty much sealed the deal that she won't be continuing in band in high school. She plays the clarinet. There's another night where the middle school band plays with the high school band (different high school). If I remember correctly the band teacher said these are optional so I'm willing to bet Alison will opt out of the next one. LOL

I've already pre-ordered our PhotoPass CD so won't be participating in a share.

Have you pretty much decided to go with a January trip? I would love to meet you and your family but I can understand wanting lower crowds.
 
just trying to update all my links. Computer up and running.:cool1:

:banana: for 50 days

Glad you got your computer up and running and hope you've gotten all your links updated.

Hope you're having a good time in Texas!
 
Trying to kick it into high gear here too. I also have the Disney Princess silly bands for my daughter's Welcome to Disney gift bag. I continue to be amazed at all that goes into this.

Great job on the shirts. Time is so limited here due to our trip being a surprise I'm not sure if I'll get all the shirts done I planned on making. We'll see. Ds has a checkup next week and since he's getting shots I'm taking a day off. I hope to get the pages for our memory books, autograph book and dd's passport printed, put together and over to Staples for binding while dd is in school.
 

Have you pretty much decided to go with a January trip? I would love to meet you and your family but I can understand wanting lower crowds.[/B][/COLOR]
As long as DH can take off then we're going in January. We'll know in about 2 weeks. It's about 95% chance, though.
Not meeting you and your family was one of the first things I thought off and I felt really bad. I'm glad you understand. Hopefully, our trips will overlap again one day.:goodvibes
 
Great update! I love the shirts and the costume. Has Allison decided what she wants to be yet?
Can't wait to see the autograph cards and passport. I'm thinking of doing a photo book at Walmart for the passport.
Where did you get your kooky pens at? I need a Donald Duck one for Chef Mickey's. (All the characters need their own pen to sign with for some reason.)
The notebooks are too cute.
Your trip is just around the corner now.:dance3:
 
Great update! I love the shirts and the costume. Has Allison decided what she wants to be yet?
Can't wait to see the autograph cards and passport. I'm thinking of doing a photo book at Walmart for the passport.
Where did you get your kooky pens at? I need a Donald Duck one for Chef Mickey's. (All the characters need their own pen to sign with for some reason.)
The notebooks are too cute.
Your trip is just around the corner now.:dance3:

Thanks! I don't know what Alison has decided to be for Halloween. She's my stepdaughter and is only with us every other weekend and alternate holidays. She is supposed to be with us Halloween weekend but it's her Mom's year for Halloween. Alison is going to a haunted to house two different nights with a couple of her friends and wants to have a sleep over on the Saturday night before Halloween so we're giving up that weekend with her. Since the weekend we're leaving for our trip is her Mom's weekend we've swapped Halloween weekend with that weekend. Confused yet? LOL

I got the kooky pens at A. C. Moore. I was just there Friday night and they had a bunch of them but I don't remember seeing a Donald Duck pen. I got the notebooks at Target.

It'll be time to leave before we know it!!! :cool1::cool1::cool1:
 
40 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cool1: :cool1: :cool1::banana: :banana: :banana:

I picked up the girls Holidays around the World passports on Friday and they turned out pretty good. Here's some pictures:

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Best part was I only had to pay $6.44 for both of them!

Here's the front door cover and the window clings on the front window:

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Here's the Thanksgiving window clings for our window at Pop:

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I finally got all of Hannah's autograph cards printed and printed out a few of Alison's. I'm going to have to buy more ink before I can print any more. I'm going to trim them down later today. Here's some pictures of some of Hannah's autograph cards:

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I used a combination of Natalie's, Penny's and Heather's designs. I think there may be one other DISigner that I used but I can't remember her name.

We've got a parent/teacher conference with Hannah's teacher on the 13th. That should be interesting!

I typed up a list of the t-shirts the girls and I picked out. It wasn't 12...it was 15!!!! There's no way in this world I'm making 15 t-shirts between now and our trip. I'm trimming it down to about 8. :laughing:

That's about all going on right now. Hope everyone has had a good weekend!
 
You're way ahead of me and we go the same week. I went and got transfer paper today and got home and realized I got light instead of dark :headache:

The outside of the package stated "One Dark Tranfer Sheet Free Inside" and as soon as I saw the word "dark" I thought I had the right thing. Back to Wal-Mart they will go.

Hope the parent/teacher conference goes well.
 
Lots of fun stuff to catch up on. I need to find my way to Walgreen's for some window clings! The Epcot Christmas book is great, and I love, love, love the autograph cards!
 
You're way ahead of me and we go the same week. I went and got transfer paper today and got home and realized I got light instead of dark :headache:

The outside of the package stated "One Dark Tranfer Sheet Free Inside" and as soon as I saw the word "dark" I thought I had the right thing. Back to Wal-Mart they will go.

Hope the parent/teacher conference goes well.

I'm a terrible procrastinator. On our first trip I was printing out autograph cards at work a day or two before we left. :eek: I didn't want to go through that stress again! Plus, I don't have a color printer at my new job :laughing: :laughing:

Ugh on the transfer paper. I've done stuff like that before and it's aggravating.

I think the parent/teacher conference will be OK. The main problem is probably going to be about her chattiness and not following directions.


Oh, I love the Holidays Around the World passports! So cute!!!

Good luck with Hannah's conference this week!

I can't wait to see the storytellers in Epcot! I'm pleased that the passport pages turned out so well.

Parent/teacher conferences make me nervous! :laughing: I know she's doing well as far as her schoolwork/homework (except when she forgets to bring home a math test to be signed for extra points :rolleyes:). It's her behavior that needs lots of work. I know she's just being a typical kid and that she's not the only one but I still feel like a bad Mommy.
:sad2:

Lots of fun stuff to catch up on. I need to find my way to Walgreen's for some window clings! The Epcot Christmas book is great, and I love, love, love the autograph cards!

Thanks MeMom! :goodvibes I'm pleased with how the passports turned out. There are so many talented designers on the Dis and I'm so grateful that they generously share their creations with those of us less talented/creative people!

A trip to Walgreen's would definitely be worth the time with all the cute Disney Halloween stuff they have.



We're in the 30's now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
 
22nd: Arrive and head to DTD and possibly the monorail resort line.
23rd: I had DHS for the day and MK at night but I don't like what touring plans is predicting so I might do MK all day.
24: Epcot and DHS for F!
25: I have MK planned but with what touring plans is predicting I might switch to DHS. Dinner is scheduled for Kona but I have a few ADRs and I'm unsure now. (Separate update about the Turkey Day issue!)
26: AK by day Epcot at night.
27th: 1900 PF breakfast.

thanks Barbara (and thanks Jill for letting us highjack your PTR :laughing:)...I know for sure Wed 24th Epcot will work and Fri 26th AK too....but we'll chat more :thumbsup2

Here are pictures of Hannah and Alison in their Halloween shirts:

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great shirts!


Hannah's notebook:
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Alison's notebook:
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My notebook:
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I have been eyeing those notebooks at Target too


When we’re 30 days out I’ll be doing a daily “this time next month we’ll be at……” post with park, ADR and itinerary information for each day. The girls and I will probably be crazed with excitement when we hit that 30 day mark!

that will be fun reading...can you believe 30 dyas is almost here...I can't!

lot's of great stuff...I'm getting ready to post pix of the autograph books I made I used similar DISigns too looking forward to seeing your finished clipboards!

J~
 
thanks Barbara (and thanks Jill for letting us highjack your PTR :laughing:)...I know for sure Wed 24th Epcot will work and Fri 26th AK too....but we'll chat more :thumbsup2

Hijack away! LOL I don't think Barbara is going in November now though...unless they've decided to do November and January.

lot's of great stuff...I'm getting ready to post pix of the autograph books I made I used similar DISigns too looking forward to seeing your finished clipboards!

J~

I'll be on the look out for your post of the autograph books. Have you been able to find an autograph card with Belle AND the Beast on it? I thought I'd seen one somewhere and now I can't find one to save my life. I can find plenty of separate autograph cards but not one of them together. From what I understand Belle signs for the Beast so it would make sense to have an autograph card with both of them on it. Guess I may need to put in a request. I was looking for a separate Pumba card too but all I could find was one of them together. Maybe Timon signs for Pumba? Or does Timon even sign?? This is all backwards! LOL
 

Parent/teacher conferences make me nervous! :laughing: I know she's doing well as far as her schoolwork/homework (except when she forgets to bring home a math test to be signed for extra points :rolleyes:). It's her behavior that needs lots of work. I know she's just being a typical kid and that she's not the only one but I still feel like a bad Mommy.
:sad2:

Never feel like that! If you could see some of the parents we deal with on a daily basis, you would feel so much better! The very fact that you know she needs to work on her behavior speaks volumes. I have parents who can't possibly believe "their" child would ever be a problem, and some parents who view school as someplace to send their kid for eight hours and don't care what they do there. It is really quite sad. :( Of course, there are the parents who are as wonderful as their children, too. Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that you should never feel like a bad mommy because you aren't! :hug:
 
Never feel like that! If you could see some of the parents we deal with on a daily basis, you would feel so much better! The very fact that you know she needs to work on her behavior speaks volumes. I have parents who can't possibly believe "their" child would ever be a problem, and some parents who view school as someplace to send their kid for eight hours and don't care what they do there. It is really quite sad. :( Of course, there are the parents who are as wonderful as their children, too. Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that you should never feel like a bad mommy because you aren't! :hug:

Thanks Jackie! :goodvibes Clay has her writing a page of sentences for every letter she gets below the line. It's not doing much to curb the behavior but she's getting lots of writing practice! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Just got back from the parent/teacher conference and as of right now she's got straight A's. :cool1: :cool1: We're very proud of her and will keep encouraging her to do her best. We got her benchmark scores for reading and math. She's above average in reading and below average in math so we need to work with her more on her math. One of the problems is she wants to rush through everything so we'll keep stressing the importance of slowing down and taking her time so she understands the problem. Her strengths are: helpful friend, cheery attitude and fast reader. Her needs are: direct focus on schoolwork and improve math computation. Her SRI (lexile level) is 651. I have no idea what that means but I guess it's good! LOL
 
Catching back up. Love the Halloween shirts, notebooks, pens and passport. Everything looks great.

You are almost at 30 days. :banana::banana::banana:
 
Just catching up...
Walgreen's is a treasure trove of Disney goodies. We have shopped to decorate our balcony for the Halloween trip and Christmas trip. So much good stuff!

Looks like your conference went just fine! It sounds like you are supportive of the teacher and that's all most of us ever want. :worship:
We have conferences in another week, then off to Disney!
 












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