Moving on
Now that my dear friend and her baby boy are joining us, its time to introduce them:
D: aka my sweet friend. Fellow Aquarian, shares my stubbornness and opinionated-ness, totally practical thinker, writes a thank you note for every gift. Takes my passion for all things Disney in stride and completely understands my need for vacation spread sheets. (Taught me all about the wonderful world of spread sheets years ago. TFI.) Will do most anything for dark chocolate.
B: aka Ds son. Soon-to-be 1 year old, big fan of Baby Einstein, any toy with wheels and Cheerios. Shares Leos passion for figuring out the mechanical aspects of things, likely to be an engineer. Enjoys trying to walk and rides in the stroller; hates car rides and naps. No idea what hed do most anything for yet the world is his oyster!
With this being Bs first foray into The World, I knew immediately I had to do something special for the occasion. I checked out the Walt Disney Florist first. They have a cute little package that comes with Mickey ears, an autograph book and pen, pretzels and a chocolate bar. Okay, D could eat the treats, but the autograph book would be lost on B and the ears are child size, i.e. no elastic strap to keep em on a busy 1 year old. I emailed to see if things could be swapped out
. They could replace the autograph book with a photo album, but they dont stock infant ears. They did tell me I could buy those ears in the parks.
Huh? I know Im close, but Im still almost 2 hours away. Theyre, well
there, as in ON Disney property. No one can get a set of infant Mickey ears from the MK to the Florist?
Apparently not, so I moved on. I checked out some other purveyors of fine Disney basketry, but everything was pretty pricey.
In the end, I decided on a DIY method. Ordered a couple personalized items through Gifts of a Lifetime, did a little
Disney Store shopping, and spent some time in the Zazzle custom shop. Ill put it all together in a nice little gift bag and leave it at the front desk for when they check in!
(Sorry - youll have to wait to see just what I included in there. How else to keep my readers coming back?!)
On to the other birthday boy. Now, neither of their actual birthdays fall within our trip. But, thanks to a new schedule, this will be the first year Leo will be spending his birthday with his Dad and not me. Ill admit to some bitterness on my part about this, selfish though it may be. I cant imagine not being with the most important person in my life on the anniversary of his first appearance!
Im thinking I might truly celebrate Leos birthday during the trip with a cake at one of our meals and a little gift-giving at the hotel. Pro: Ill have a chance to do his birthday up with him. Con: hell, in effect, have two birthdays this year, which may be a bit much. I dont know well see on that one.
Meanwhile, true DISer that I am, I just couldnt help but keep checking in on AP rates for the WL. I know, it makes no sense we were at CSR with my friend, why would I want to change anything? I didnt.
Really.
But I
could add another day. Remember how Id shortened the trip to 4 nights after missing so much work to the flu? Well, it turns out I was left with more vacation time that Id figured. So, my Fuzzy Disney Rationale said, there was no reason not to try adding one more night at the front.
Alas, still no AP rate for the WL.
But.
There
was one for AKL.
Only $20 more than I was paying for CSR.
It wasnt available for 5/2 5/5 just 5/1.
I havent stayed at AKL since Dec. 2002 and it was much too cold then for swimming. If we stay there 5/1, we could spend the day at the resort, swimming and animal watching. Thanks to the car seats and eight million accessories our guys need,
(not to mention Grammas 36 outfits for a 6 day stay), D and I would be taking separate cars anyway. We could just meet up the next day, when they arrive.
Before I knew what was happening, my fingers were typing, filling in the blank spaces and clicking on Submit. Resort change #2 complete!
And, since well be right there in the building
. Gramma, you really enjoyed our Boma dinner in Dec., didnt you? Should we eat there again, since well be right there? Yes, please! That would be ADR change #3, if youre keeping track.
Things settled down at this point. I already had our parks planned when I made the ADRs, so that was all settled.
Or was it?
Stay tuned
. Im just getting warmed up!
Can't wait to hear how everything goes; I'm going through some major WDW deprivation and I'm afraid that DL won't be able to cure it.... I am living vicariously through you all! And in keeping with everyone's sentiments, V, you truly are a good friend.
LY/MI
Sneaky girl! 
I love your cliff hanger!
I just love to add extra days!!!
Y'know, I think I inadvertently hit on something here... start out with x many nights. Cancel a night or two. Add a night or two back on.
