Our Magical WDW Adventure ~ 23 Days of Fun, Food, Cocktails... London Trip 2/8

[CoP Luv]

Thanks hun, did you have a nice Christmas too? Where was it you went again?

Aw so you have another trip to Disney in the works do you? How exciting. I would love to do a girly trip but none of my close friends are in to Disney so can't imagine them shelling out a fortune to come over

Yes, Christmas was great. I was able to get the Wii Fit from DH and it's a lot of fun so far! We went to Cincinnati, Ohio for Christmas week and then we were back to Chicago the weekend after Christmas to spend with my parents, sisters, and grandmother.

I wish DH would want to come with me instead!!!! I have so much fun with him, but he told me yesterday that Disney is a once in about 8 year trip. Since we went in May 2007 last for just a short trip, not a long fun vacation, it will be years before he will go back again. AND the May trip was his idea! Maybe I should stop begging him to go back and he'll come around. It's just so hard not to talk about wanting to go back.

Well, if you ever need a girls trip, just let me know!!!

 

[ariel2007]

Have you started an official count down yet? It will come fast!

Funny you should say that I am just in the middle of making a countdown calender now. It is taking forever to make but once it is done I will post some pictures.

Yes, Christmas was great. I was able to get the Wii Fit from DH and it's a lot of fun so far! We went to Cincinnati, Ohio for Christmas week and then we were back to Chicago the weekend after Christmas to spend with my parents, sisters, and grandmother.

I wish DH would want to come with me instead!!!! I have so much fun with him, but he told me yesterday that Disney is a once in about 8 year trip. Since we went in May 2007 last for just a short trip, not a long fun vacation, it will be years before he will go back again. AND the May trip was his idea! Maybe I should stop begging him to go back and he'll come around. It's just so hard not to talk about wanting to go back.

Well, if you ever need a girls trip, just let me know!!!

I'm glad you had a nice Christmas, do you always spend it with DH's parents or do you alternate? My aunt got Wii Fit for Christmas too and keeps going on about how good it is, I may have to look in to getting it. I got Nick Guitar Hero and that is funny, he gets so into it . How is the weather in Chicago then? We have had a little bit of snow over the last two days but it was there when I woke up. It did snow for about 5 minutes yesterday but only lightly, I want real snow

Thats a shame your DH isn't into WDW as much. I am so lucky with Nick that he loves it nearly as much as I do and he is always up for going. And he is actually getting in to the planning a bit lately, I would have never thought . But on the up side you get to have the girly trips. I might have to take you up on your offer one day

 

[ariel2007]

Counting Down...
...To 23 Days of Fun, Food and Cocktails​

Now since I can officially say "We are going to Disney World this year" and since there is not much more I can do planning wise for the minute I decided it was time to be a bit creative. I have been looking at other peoples countdown calenders for a while and finally decided it was high time I made my own. I didn't really know where to start as I know most people use Mickey head paint chips from Home Depot and since we don't have one around here that wasn't really an option. So I decided to just play around on Publisher for a bit and see what I could come up with. My first thought was to use the Mickey head idea, and thought it would be pretty easy to create but I was wrong, it took forever. And since I had decided I was going to do a month to an A4 page so I could print it easily at home it took forever trying to get that amount of Mickey heads on one page. Then I wanted to color the heads, so went for my standard rainbow colors, I love them and they always look so cheery. But then thought it would be good to do some in Mickey and friends colors, which took forever. There is probably an easier way to do it than how I did, but I am not the most technical of people so did it how I knew how, it only took 2 days . I had to think of 2 more themes as I had 4 months to do, so played around until I came up with ideas I liked. Then came the tedious task of adding all the dates, and then the countdown. This seems like a simple thing but for some reason I kept getting the wrong amount of days, and this happened quite a few times. Eventually after hours of trying to figure out why things didn't match, I finally got the countdown right. Phew and I thought this was going to be a 20 minute Blue Peter job

So after spending a few days perfecting my calender laughing, it is finally finished. So I printed it on photo paper, each page took about 10 minutes to print. Unfortunately the colors didn't come out quite how they were on the computer and nor did the quality but I was fairly happy with the results. I then added some stickers, again to jazz it up a bit. So here it is...

All four months before I added the stickers

And after the stickers. Each month had a different theme, firstly January ~ the only theme here was the rainbow colors and then I just added a few random stickers

February ~ this is the Mickey and friends theme. I used the colors of the 5 main characters for the Mickey heads and then added related stickers

March ~ I used princess colors for this month, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine and Tinkerbelle (yes I know she isn't a princess but I like her colors) and added stickers of crowns, glass slippers, red apples, and roses.

April ~ since we are going to see the mouse this month I used him as inspiration

So there it is. I know it isn't the best or most professional but since it will probably only be me using it its fine. I think I will mount it on the wall so its in prime view for me and then each day I will mark off so I can keep track of how many days I have left. Now I need to find myself another project to help get me through the next 3 1/2 months...

 

[CoP Luv]

OMG!!! I absolutely LOVE it! Great job!

 

[ariel2007]

OMG!!! I absolutely LOVE it! Great job!

Thanks

 

[ariel1025]

Your countdown looks AMAZING!! You can tell that you put a lot of hard work into it.

 

[ariel2007]

Your countdown looks AMAZING!! You can tell that you put a lot of hard work into it.

Thank you so much . Yes it did take a while but at least it was just on the computer so I didn't have to deal with messy glue and stuff too.

 

[disneydusted]

Wow! That looks great! It took hours to make but it was worth it! I think my favorite month is April, something about that Mouse! And knowing that is the month to be there!! We did a chain link starting in January that seemed to take forever to make it to May but it was fun to see it get shorter and shorter.

 

[ariel2007]

Wow! That looks great! It took hours to make but it was worth it! I think my favorite month is April, something about that Mouse! And knowing that is the month to be there!! We did a chain link starting in January that seemed to take forever to make it to May but it was fun to see it get shorter and shorter.

Thank you . Although I was unsure about making one at first I am glad I did as its making it more exciting. April is definitely my favorite month as its only 26 days until we go . A chain link is a great idea, I bet is was really fun to take a link off every day.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Your calendar is adorable!!!

 

[manntra]

Your calendar is brilliant!!! I love it! I was just doing some catching up with you, great to see the year in review too! Hope all is well!!

 

[ariel2007]

Counting Down...
... How to Pass the time Until our Magical Vacation​

This trip was booked with 6 months to go which brought contradicting feelings. Part of me was slightly worried as I am usually used to booking trips about a year in advance giving me plenty of time to plan and research, but also means I have a long time to wait . But the other part of me was glad that I only had to wait 6 months as I am not a very patient person at all, and so far booking only 6 months out hasn't caused any problems in regards to not getting anything we wanted. So now we only have 4 months to wait, but the last 2 seem to have gone by pretty slowly. I cannot believe it was only 2 months ago that I finally got to push that Confirm button and was jumping around the living room with joy knowing I was finally going back to see the Mouse. But maybe thats because I was secretly planning and working on getting this trip the second we got back from our last Magical Adventure . When we planned last years trip we planned lots of things to do to pass the time. From going to see Mary Poppins, Disney on Ice, Sound of Music and Cirque du Soleil, to mini trips to London and Cornwall, it was all a lot of fun, an did work on help passing the time. So to pass the time this time, we have again arranged some fun things and mini trips to make the time go by a bit faster, or seem like it anyway. So far our calender is pretty bare but we hope to add some more fun things to do along the way.

JANUARY

Nick's Birthday ~ Nick's birthday is coming up this weekend but you will have to wait and see what our plans are

---------------

FEBRUARY

Cirque du Soleil's, Quidam ~ We are major Cirque fans after first seeing La Nouba in Downtown Disney. Every time we go to WDW we always go and see it, and it just keeps getting better. Well every January/February Cirque bring a different show to the Royal Albert Hall in London, and we make sure we get tickets. The first year we saw Alegria with a friend, last year we saw Varekai with Mum, Dad and Sophie (we brought them tickets and booked a hotel for their Christmas present), and this year we are going again with them to see Quidam. As of yet we haven't planned anything, we have the tickets but have yet to book a hotel and decide what we want to do in the day. I can't wait, I love their shows

Valentines Day ~ Hopefully we will do something really good. Last year we went to Hard Rock Cafe in London (yes not very romantic I know, but we love it) and then Nick took me to see Sound of Music which I had been dying to see.

Mini trip to Cornwall ~ Every school holidays we try and do something with Mum, Dad and Sophie. Last year in the October half term we went to DLP, Summer we went to Tennessee, May half term and the Easter holidays they came and stayed with us and we went to London and did some attractions and saw some shows, and February we went to Cornwall. Well Nick has some holiday left, and we had such a good time in Cornwall last year we are hoping to go again in the February half term. We just need to confirm Nick can have the dates off and check the apartment is free and then we are set.

---------------


MARCH

Easter ~ hopefully we will go on a mini-trip in the Easter holidays or Mum, Dad and Sophie may come and stay with us in which case we will probably spend some time in London.

---------------

APRIL

The most exciting month of the year because...

"Were going to Disney World"​

​

​

 

[ariel2007]

Your calendar is adorable!!!

Thanks

Your calendar is brilliant!!! I love it! I was just doing some catching up with you, great to see the year in review too! Hope all is well!!

Thanks. And all is good thanks, how about with you?

 

[troobabiee7]

I love the countdown calendar, it's so cute! I love the whole idea of a countdown calendar and everyone's always come out so good, but I don't think I'd ever make one. The time always goes by faster for me when I don't think about it... if I made a calendar, I'd be looking at it every minute of the day and wondering why the time wasn't going by faster

Your trip's so close, I can't believe it! It'll be here before you know it, especially with all the fun things you have planned in the time leading up to it. Cornwall, Cirque Du Soleil, Nick's birthday and Valentine's Day are going to be so much fun, enjoy it all!

 

[ariel2007]

I love the countdown calendar, it's so cute! I love the whole idea of a countdown calendar and everyone's always come out so good, but I don't think I'd ever make one. The time always goes by faster for me when I don't think about it... if I made a calendar, I'd be looking at it every minute of the day and wondering why the time wasn't going by faster

Your trip's so close, I can't believe it! It'll be here before you know it, especially with all the fun things you have planned in the time leading up to it. Cornwall, Cirque Du Soleil, Nick's birthday and Valentine's Day are going to be so much fun, enjoy it all!

Thanks, it does seem like it is coming quite fast now. I think because we usually book so much further out and it seems to take forever, whereas this time we booked and then it was Christmas which made the time fly.

Have you been busy again this week or has it been quieter for you too?

 

[retiredkid]

Awesome job on the countdown calendar!!!

 

[ariel2007]

Awesome job on the countdown calendar!!!

Thanks

 

[troobabiee7]

Thanks, it does seem like it is coming quite fast now. I think because we usually book so much further out and it seems to take forever, whereas this time we booked and then it was Christmas which made the time fly.

Have you been busy again this week or has it been quieter for you too?

I love that, we had a similar situation. We usually book our trips a good year in advance, right when we get back from our last one. But our vacation plans changed so much this past year that we didn't actually decide on Orlando again until this past October, so the time's going by faster that it usually does. Then I think about the fact that there's still 6-and-a-half months left and the time doesn't seem to be going quite so fast But we haven't been there since the summer of 2007 and it seems like just yesterday that we were there, so time really is flying. It's crazy!

This week's been quiet for me, thankfully. Usually I'm always on the go and planning things to do, but after such a busy few weeks around the holidays I've loved just lounging around all week. Tomorrow I'm going with my mom to bring Mike for his toe X-Ray, and then Friday we're all going up to NBC for SNL rehearsals and to do some stuff around the city. I'm looking for a show to see on Sunday, too. We'll see! Do you have any plans for the weekend?

 

[ariel2007]

I love that, we had a similar situation. We usually book our trips a good year in advance, right when we get back from our last one. But our vacation plans changed so much this past year that we didn't actually decide on Orlando again until this past October, so the time's going by faster that it usually does. Then I think about the fact that there's still 6-and-a-half months left and the time doesn't seem to be going quite so fast But we haven't been there since the summer of 2007 and it seems like just yesterday that we were there, so time really is flying. It's crazy!

This week's been quiet for me, thankfully. Usually I'm always on the go and planning things to do, but after such a busy few weeks around the holidays I've loved just lounging around all week. Tomorrow I'm going with my mom to bring Mike for his toe X-Ray, and then Friday we're all going up to NBC for SNL rehearsals and to do some stuff around the city. I'm looking for a show to see on Sunday, too. We'll see! Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Yes its Nick's birthday so I have a few things planned, I'm not telling yet though . Oh good luck to Mike for his X-ray, what has he done? I managed to cut my finger quite badly yesterday so am now finding it hard to type, drive, clean, pretty much most things. I really should stay out of the kitchen, only bad things ever happen when I'm in there . And I want to hear all about the SNL rehearsals, its not a how we have over here and going to rehearsals sound so cool.

6 1/2 months isn't that bad, especially since you are still planning. And I think thats why ours has gone by quicker, because we weren't planning it from the second we got back (well apart from me wishfully in my head ) like before, and we booked it pretty soon after we decided whereas we usually spend months deciding things. I just can't wait now, I'm so excited . Any new plans for your trip?

 

[lmillercrew]

Wow Ariel! Your calendar is amazing!! So much time. It turned out great!!!