Our 2 Bachelors’ Degrees + 1 Masters Degree + 1 MNSSHP + 1 Anniversary + 1 first DCL

[disney212]

My title should have been: " Our 2 Bachelors Degrees + 1 Masters Degree + 1 MNSSHP + 1 Anniversary + 1 first DCL Cruise + 2 Dessert Parties= A Lot of College and One HUGE WDW Trip" but like this TR it a LOT to cram into one place!

Cast:
Me (46)
DH (44)
DS (25)
DD (24)
October 6-12 for us in a 2bd at BLT (these dates were chosen to work around my daughters schedule as a teacher)
October 12-17 for DH & I in a studio at BLT
October 17-21 for DH & I cruise.

Our DS received his Bachelors in May 2011, Our DD received her Bachelors in May 2012 and our DS (same one) received his Master in May 2013, WHEW that was a lot of college in a short time! DD is planning on going back for her Masters in January 2014!

Unfortunately when DS graduated in May 2011 I was undergoing major health issues and didnt do a trip so I promised a trip when he got his Masters, when DD got her degree in May 2012 I was recovering from two major surgeries so we did a nice relaxing week at HHI since I wasnt up to much and promised a combined trip when DS got his Masters and I was recovered. Well it is now 2013 and I am recovered (yippee!) and they held up their end so it is our time to hold up ours! Throw in a anniversary cruise for DH & I and there you go! It is the perfect time in our lives to do this. Neither DD or DS are in serious relationships, they both live close and I can foresee this being the last major family (just the 4 of us) trip.

Hang on, its going to be an fun but expensive ride...

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[dreamerchic33]

sounds great! i am in!

 

[lovin'fl]

I'm in too!!! We, DH and I, will be at BLT for our 1st ever sans kiddo trip to WDW (Oct 15-18). It will also be our 1st ever stay at BLT (though we did stay a couple nights at the CR several years back...and LOVED it there). I also have been talking up a 3 day DCL cruise to DH, but so far no bites...booo. So, I am kind of curious what your plans are for the second leg of your trip once your kids leave. Did you make any ADRs? Are you doing any of the MNSSHPs?

We plan to fly in on the 15th and go over to Epcot to enjoy F&W. The morning of the 16th we may hit HS for rope drop and then shoot back over to Epcot for more F&W (but we may skip HS as it's not our fave park). I may try to get DH to head to the Top of the World lounge one of those 1st 2 nights to see the MK fireworks and have a drink. On the 17th, we have tickets to MNSSHP and plan to do AK for rope drop and then head over to the Poly for our only ADR at Kona for lunch. We will head to MK around 5-6ish for the party.

Anyway, look forward to following your TR...thanks for sharing.

 

[disney212]

Following along!

Welcome!

 

[disney212]

I'm in too!!! We, DH and I, will be at BLT for our 1st ever sans kiddo trip to WDW (Oct 15-18). It will also be our 1st ever stay at BLT (though we did stay a couple nights at the CR several years back...and LOVED it there). I also have been talking up a 3 day DCL cruise to DH, but so far no bites...booo. So, I am kind of curious what your plans are for the second leg of your trip once your kids leave. Did you make any ADRs? Are you doing any of the MNSSHPs?

We plan to fly in on the 15th and go over to Epcot to enjoy F&W. The morning of the 16th we may hit HS for rope drop and then shoot back over to Epcot for more F&W (but we may skip HS as it's not our fave park). I may try to get DH to head to the Top of the World lounge one of those 1st 2 nights to see the MK fireworks and have a drink. On the 17th, we have tickets to MNSSHP and plan to do AK for rope drop and then head over to the Poly for our only ADR at Kona for lunch. We will head to MK around 5-6ish for the party.

Anyway, look forward to following your TR...thanks for sharing.

I am a HUGE planner and I planned on including all the answers as I go along. Thanks for joining up!

 

[disney212]

Sorry it was a few days since my last update, with the holiday weekend and family visits life got in the way.

This will be the first time the “kids” have been since they were in high school. My DS told me the other day that last time we took him even though he acted like he was miserable and would rather be anywhere else that on the inside he was trying not to jump up and down and yell yippee (so there is hope for folks whose kids are too cool for Disney). My DD is very excited too but she never “lost” that excitement for anything Disney. She is a middle school teacher and is using our upcoming trip in some of her lessons and will be bringing back a few surprises for her students.

We have 2 ADR’s that the kids know of (The Plaza, 50’s Primetime Café) and a few surprises up our sleeves too. We are going during F&W Fest so we didn’t want to go overboard with the food. We booked a surprise dinner at the Garden Grill (character meal!) as they family has always enjoyed The Land ride and the kids used to talk about wanting to peek in the farmhouse windows. DH and I ate there last December and enjoyed getting a peek in the farmhouse. I should also say that my DS is gluten free and we chose the dining based on gluten free reviews we read. We are doing The Plaza on MNSSH party night, it will be the kids first time and Halloween is my DD’s favorite holiday. She already has 5 costume’s picked out and has yet to decide on the final winner (let me state that she is also the drama teacher and very theatrical), she is tiny with long blond hair so I keep encouraging Alice in Wonderland. My DS thinks he will go as Beaker from the Muppets. He is very tall and thin and figures with a white lab coat, spiking his hair up and putting in red spray (he is a dark blond) that it is a pretty easy costume (ease is very important to a 25 year old guy), his sister is the one helping him with it. I wanted him to go as Indiana Jones (one of his favorite movies and attractions at the park) since his profession is historian and he works as a Museum Curator, it would have been perfect but too much work. Maybe DD can convince him! DH and I will be going dressed in 1950’s garb. I will be sure to post pictures on my TR once we have returned. We did realize that DH & I will get to wear our costumes again since there is a Halloween Party on the cruise (that was a complete surprise since we booked the cruise a year ago!)

DH and I tried to come up with something we could do as a celebration that wasn’t dinner. DS doesn’t care for rides that leave the ground and anything that spins (he still tells everyone how I risked his life by taking him on BTMRR) and DD is a thrill ride junkie. That limited our choices, we came up with the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party! Both the kids love sweets and they can accommodate DS’s gluten allergy so I impatiently waited until the October reservations opened up (checking the wait thread on this board multiple times per day). When it opened up I grabbed a slot for 4 and while I was on the phone I figured it would also be a nice surprise for my DH for our anniversary. We went to our first party last year and he really enjoyed the desserts and loved nothing having to fight for a seat to see the fireworks (so it will be a nice surprise for him too). . MNSSHP is DH and my favorite thing to do at WDW! Yes, we do participate in the trick-or-treating. Last year we took the candy home to the kids and now they are excited to do it. My son said he is excited to do it too, he turns back into an 7 year old when we are at Disney. The great thing about Disney is that we can all be 7 year olds again (except at F&W where I want to be at least 21 due to the yummy adult beverages) but more on that later!

 

[disney212]

We arrive at MCO on a Monday at 12:58pm and will grab ME to our resort, we figure by the time we get to BLT (we are DVC members and this is one of our home resorts) and get settled that it will be close to 3. As I mentioned in my previous post my DS doesn’t enjoy any rides that leave the ground, this is particularly true of the airplane ride (mind you he is a historian and travels to Europe a few times a year so he is very well acquainted with air sickness) and knows that it will made him ill so he may be down and out the day we arrive (fingers crossed the new anti nausea prescription works), I am also getting him Seabands so we are pulling out all the stops to keep him well. If not he can just meet up with us when he is feeling better. We figure we will check into the hotel and take the monorail over to F & W and start the feasting! We do not have any formal plans the first day once we arrive.

TIP: I actually make credit card sized laminated cards for everyone for each day of the trip. On the front of each card is anything important that day so there could be airline reservations, ADR’s, hotel confirmations and on the back I put the park hours anything specific to that person’s trip, spa appointments and stuff like that. This way you only need one per day (I also save mine and use them in our photo albums to show what we did that day – dorky I know)and they are compact, water proof, easy to carry in a pocket or wallet. That way if we split up everyone knows if we have an ADR and what time they need to be there. I did put the times of the surprises on their cards so they know they will need to meet back up with me. I will try to post a picture when I have to upload one to Photobucket!

On a fun note I have been giving them “clues” as to their surprises. Example: I put a picture of an Acorn (representing Chip & Dale) + a picture of Farmer Mickey + a picture of veggies from The Land and that is the clue for our Garden Grill dinner! We may be adults but our family enjoys doing silly stuff like that! Heck, we even have Disney Theme night dinners ! Our last one was Frankenweenie and our activity was pin the tail on Frankenweenie (we all had a ball and enjoyed laughing at each other). Our next one is a night at EPCOT and we will enjoy food indigenous to the different countries in EPCOT and our activity will be Disney trivia. Even my 68 year old dad loves coming to our Disney dinners and yes, I do decorate in the theme but more in the adult style. For the Princess and the Frog we did Mardi Gras colors and decorations (on clearance from the Dollar Tree) and enjoyed Hurricanes as our beverage that night (there are positives to having your children grow up!).

 

[Dis_Yoda]

We'll be at BLT the same time as you (we are there Oct 4th to 12th)

 

[disney212]

We'll be at BLT the same time as you (we are there Oct 4th to 12th)

Maybe we will see you. I will have my green Disney212 tag on my bag! Say hey if you see us.

 

[disney212]

We normally eat breakfast in our room and try to keep waters and a few soda’s in there also so we ordered form Garden Grocer for the first time instead of heading over to a store. Since DS is Gluten Free it makes it easier to grab a bite in the morning before heading out. We pick up our rental car this morning. We always reserve using the Car Care Center on Disney property. We ask the hotel to call them and they send a van to pick us up when we want to be picked up and when we return the car they bring us back to the hotel. The last 3 times we have rented our van driver has been the same person and he remembers us!

Tonight is the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party so we are excited to surprise the kids with that. Today is pretty low key, we figure we will hit Animal Kingdom in the morning since it closes the earliest. We will head back to the hotel and grab a swim (depending on the weather) and then head over to EPCOT to hit food and wine again (we don’t want anyone filling up on a big dinner). They know we have a surprise at 8 and that we need to meet at MK. I did ask for a GF platter for my DS so I am very hopeful it will be as good as folks say.

 

[disney212]

Today is our Hollywood Studio’s day. Not sure why but on our last visit with the kids we didn’t’ seem to spend much time there but not this visit. I mentioned my DS was a historian so he is a HUGE Indiana Jones fan (he said that was one of the things that got him interested in history). We are also huge Star Wars fans so HS is right up our alley. I mentioned earlier that DS doesn’t do heights or a lot of motion well. He is adamant about riding the newer Star Wars ride, he was able to ride the old one with no real issues. Our plan is to hit HS and grab FP’s for Toy Story Mania, then head over to Star Tours (one of the benefits of being in our 40’s and having our kids in their 20’s is that everyone can RUN!) before lunch, somewhere in there hit the Indiana Jones show, and dependent on our FP return times we must hit the Extreme Stunt Show. I figure after all the “family stuff” DS and I will let DH and DD go hit their favorites, Rock-n-Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and DS and I will get back in line for another Star Tour ride!

Being in HS also means a stop at the Writers’ Stop for DH and I. it is a tradition that we get a coffee and a piece of English Toffee on each visit. We will grab a light lunch as dinner that night will be at the 50’s Primetime Café. DS is looking forward to Fried Chicken from a restaurant (since he hasn’t had it in years) and they can make it Gluten Free! I did send special diets an email and asked if we could pre-order it since it takes a while to prepare. This will be our first visit to 50’s PTC, I have read good reviews and I know I won’t get into trouble for not eating my veggies. I hear the portions are huge so I may still get in trouble for not cleaning my plate. We plan on leaving HS and heading over to EPCOT for after dinner adult beverages and catch a bit of Sugar Ray at the Eat To The Beat Concert to wrap up the day.

 

[disney212]

I spoke with bakery at the Contemporary and ordered a Haunted Mansion inspired cake for our anniversary. DH loves the HM. They are going to deliver it to our room on our anniversary an hour before we come back for an afternoon rest. I will tell him I need to change shoes or something. I really hope he likes it and it adds some more to his trip. I will be sure to post pictures (if he doesn't eat it first).

 

[disney212]

as you may have read in my last post I ordered a special cake for our anniversary, I was at work daydreaming about our trip and paging through Disney stuff (on my lunch) when I decided to order the chocolate slipper dessert for our anniversary dinner at CRT. DH loves everything about the castle. I hope it ends our anniversary dinner on a special note!