Offsite family can't wait for May! updated 5-5-09 *9 more days*!!

[Desiree430]

Hello everyone!

Let me start by introducing myself.... Desiree 25 (26 this month!) and have been to Disney World 6 times in the past. This will be our second family vacation though!

SO - Anthony (28) this will be his 3rd time going. His first time was when I was 19 and he was 21.

DS - AJ (5) his second Disney trip. His favorite park is Epcot! He loved doing the kidcot stations and recognizing which countries he was in. He cannot wait to go back this year!

DD - Adriana (3) second Disney trip. Her favorite memory from last year was the Genie from Aladdin rubbing his nose against hers (Eskimo kiss) now everynight before she goes to bed she says "Mommy, do Genie nose!"

We have never stayed onsite before - my family owns a time share and in the past it was rotated between my mother and her brother and sisters but then my aunt bought her own and we have bought her weeks from her the last 2 years because she had time banked.

SO and I (may 2008)

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DS

dd

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi there !!!! We're going in May too, we'll be there from the 12th to the 19, staying at All Star Movies. Maybe we'll pass each other during the week.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi there! We're going in May also. Great start to your PTR. Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Desiree430]

it was just going to be SO, DS, DD and myself going down to Disney again this year. I was trying to convince my dbff to come with her son and my brother but they just bought a house and my dbff's mother took her son this week for his spring break. So now my other brother is joining us with his DD(12) DS(9) and DS(2) and my mom

It's been hard trying to coordinate our plans though. We are all staying together in my aunts timeshare and it has 2 bedrooms and the living room has a pullout couch so definitily more than enough space for us all. Another bonus....my cousin will be there from the 16-24 with his DD(8) DS(6) and DD(2) and his mother! We only live about 5 minutes from each other now but it will give the kids playmates for the days we just lounge at the resort.

I think everytime I have gone down to Florida I have driven except one year... but I really don't mind the drive at all. Last year we left on a thursday night around midnight. SO did the nighttime driving and then I took over around 6am. The kids slept for most the night and we had movies and snacks for them. Around 3pm we got into Ormond beach and got a hotel room since it was Friday and we didn't have to be in Orlando until the next day so we went to bed early that night and went to Daytona beach saturday morning. Around 1:30 we headed the rest of the way to Orlando to check in.

Here are some pics from the drive and Daytona Beach....

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[Desiree430]

This is the itinerary that I have set for my family. I know my brother might not follow it exactly and it all depends on what he has budgeted for the trip.

May 14- finish up last minute things while the kids are in school and then leave around midnight

May 15thcheck into our resort and unpack, do some grocery shopping and if we are up to it spend some time in the pool if not early night in bed

May 16We have a 2:40 reservation at BBB in Downtown Disney for dd(3) and ds(5) afterwards we have a dinner reservation at 7:30 at 1900 Park Fare

May 17 - open to close at Magical Kingdom

May 18 - *this is the date we wanted for chef mickeys* and then off to Epcot
May 19 - Typhoon Lagoon and then head back to resort for an early night.

May 20 - 7:20 reservation at Chef Mickeys and then off to Animal Kingdom

May 21 - we check out. We are then heading down to visit my godparents and cousins in Miami

May 22- driving to West Palm Beach to visit another relative and cousins.

May 23 - heading back home

The only thing that might change is
1. I am calling everyday to see if something opens up for Chef Mickeys on May 18th.
2. My brother wants to go to SeaWorld Aquatica and since I've been to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon before I don't mind going somewhere different.

 

[Desiree430]

planning and shopping about a month ago so I am just trying to catch it all up on here...

My dd still fits in most of her clothes from last year... as well as my son. But I don't want to take pictures of them in the same clothes they wore last year So that is my excuse for shopping for them now!

I haven't done too bad in spending on them either. I spent about $75 at Old Navy a few weeks ago when they had the 30% coupon and was able to get Adriana a cute dress, capri pants, shorts, 2 tank tops and 2 pairs of flip-flops
I got AJ a pair of shorts, 2 pairs of flip-flops, a hat, and 3 shirts. My bff also got Adriana a bathing suit and a pair of shorts to go with it.

Then the next week I went to Target and they had some cute shirts and shorts for $4! I got Adriana 3 more outfits and for AJ got him Rockband swimtrunks, a red polo shirt, shorts and 3 more shirts for about $50!

Last week I went to the Disney outlet by me looking for a costume for Adriana for the BBB. The one she likes is on sale online but I wanted to check if it was the same price at the store so I didn't have to pay shipping. But it wasn't. I did walk out though with 2 towels for them that were $8 each. Pirates of the Caribbean for AJ and Tinkerbell for Adriana. Also they had t-shirts on sale 3 for $12 so they each got 3 shirts.

This weekend I went to Walmart looking for a suitcase for Adriana and saw these really cute Little Mermaid sandals so I got those. I should be done shopping for them now... but I am a bit of a shop-aholic so who knows!

I will try and take pictures of their clothes and post them!

 

[Desiree430]

So now my brother only wants to do maybe 2 parks and 1 character meal because of his budget. We originally were only planning to do 2 parks and a waterpark when it was just my family going. Then I got an email today for a great deal. Now we are trying to work out numbers to see if it's worth it.

The deal would have us now staying onsite for 5 days/4 night and then at our timeshare for the other days. It's more money since it's for 5 days at the park but you get 5 days! Plus the ddp and the extras. I don't know which way to go now. We really don't need to go to all the parks again. We wanted to do other things this year like SeaWorld Aquatica but it's very tempting!

 

[Desiree430]

impossible for things to just go the right way


My cousin was using one of our cars and paying the car bill....well she returned the car to us because she couldn't afford the payment anymore since she has to pay for her schooling. Understandable but why this month? Now that was a bill we didn't expect - although she did pay part of the month - but that's money were expecting to put away. Now we are stuck with an extra car that is just sitting there and having to pay insurance on it and noone using it. We are supposed to take it to SO mom this weekend because she has a potential buyer for it. I hope it sells and we can get at least $1000 for it.

On top of that SO had to take his car in to get the rear bumper fixed. The inspection guy came to his job (he works for Mercedes) and gave him an estimate of 1000 for the car But our mechanic is going to do it for $400 instead

What else is going to come up? I hope that the car sells so we can have that money as extra cushion. Things usually end up okay in the end but I hate having to be so tight and things not working like they should

 

[Desiree430]

So my mom ordered Adriana's costume for me 2 days ago. I told her Adriana wanted the Cinderella costume when we eat at 1900 Park Fare and the Belle costume. So my mom emails me back the final cost of everything with the shoes and crown but she ordered a Tinkerbell costume I was like Mom, I said Belle as in Beauty and the Beast... she replies - you say Belle and I think "Tinkerbell" So anyways it works out because she then had to call customer service and change the order. In talking to them they gave her the 10% discount for opening a new card and the $5 shipping and a $25 giftcard Which she is going to give to me. So for the 2 costumes and shoes and tiara's it came out to $98.00

So... we are going to give DD the cinderella one in her easter basket along with a towel I got with the princesses, sunglasses and flip-flops and some candy.

For DS we are giving him a new DS game, Bolt, sunglasses, swim trunks, towel, flip-flops and candy.

Figure this serves 2 purposes and they won't get more stuff they don't really need. I also printed out the Journal worksheets and I am putting together that for them for the trip.

 

[Desiree430]

I just got home from work and went to my moms to pick up the kids and the box was there from Disney! I should have told my mom that it was for Easter because she opened up the box and Adriana saw the costumes She was so excited about them that she wanted to try them on.... and how was I going to tell her no I love love love them and so does she

Sorry these pics aren't the best I just quickly took them with my cellphone...

For BBB and dinner at 1900 Park Fare

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[Desiree430]

I wanted to share my daughters school project. Her school is doing an art show at a local private school and there projects had to be made out of recyclables... So we made a princess castle

 

[Desiree430]

getting a reservation for Chef Mickey's when we originally wanted!

We originally wanted a breakfast ressie for Chef Mickey's on Tuesday May 19 followed by a day at Epcot. When I called back in March there was nothing available that day and we took May 21 at 7:20am for Chef Mickeys. I have been calling almost every day since then hoping for a cancellation. I stopped calling about 2 weeks ago resigned to what we had. After reading the May ADR thread on the Dis I decided to go and try and see what happens and we got a ressie for May 19 at 7:05 It's way to early for us but I took it anyways just in case. The day before we are Magic Kingdom from open to close so it's going to be rough getting 9 people ready and out of our condo and get there on time so we will see.