Our Pre-trip to Trip report - 5/19/09

[C&G'sMama]

Timon-n-Pumba has inspired me.
First I can't take credit for the agenda, this would be the work of DP (koolaidmoms), I'm not that organized. So here's our schedule
Leave WNY (driving) on Friday April 24th arriveOrlando Sunday the 26th. We don't know where we're staying Sunday night yet
We opted not to get park hoppers this time, it helped to justify bumping up to a mod

Monday the 27th, Check into CBR
head to Epcot - ADRs at Garden Grill
Tuesday the 28th - Animal Kingdom ADRs Tusker House 11:30; possible CS dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express (you know all the times we've gone to WDW, we've never been to DTD)
Wednesday the 29th - G's 6th Birthday at Magic Kingdom, get there for rope drop. We've decided to do the fast pass so we can get on Peter Pan at least once, it's one of his favorites. Lunch at CP Dinner at Pecos Bill (if we last that long)
Thursday the 30th. DHS - ADR at Mama Melrose 1:00; dinner somewhere in the park. If we last we'll go to Fantasmic.
Friday May 1st Magic Kingdom AM Adventure Land/Frontier Land meet TnP for my family's first Dole Whip (my dirty little secret, I've never had one)ADR at CRT 4:00
Saturday the 2nd; EPCOT Early Lunch at Cantina; 4:00 kids to the Neverland Club Moms to Epcot for 5:00 ADR at Le Cellier
Sunday the 3rd - CS at El Pirate y El Perico: 5:30 ADR at CP for dinner;

So that's our basic outline. We're hoping to get in Illuminations, Fantasmic and a couple of parades. We also will have time in the pool and at least 2 days for laundry. So really the only things etched in stone are the ADR's and did I mention Neverland Club, no kids, mommies alone time... and our Dole Whips on the 1st. Everyone is going to pick 2 or 3 "must dos" for each park. DD and I will go on RocknRoller Coaster as she's never been. So we like to have a basic idea but we too can (and definitely will) veer from it.

3 weeks from tomorrow and we're on our wayyy....!!!!

 

[Saxton]

You're driving?! I'm too spoiled - hop on a plane and get there in two hours. Actually, I would like to drive someday when I can take it slow and see things along the way. Sounds like you've got a good mix of planned and spontaneous things.

 

[C&G'sMama]

You're driving?! I'm too spoiled - hop on a plane and get there in two hours. Actually, I would like to drive someday when I can take it slow and see things along the way. Sounds like you've got a good mix of planned and spontaneous things.

We love to drive. We haven't flown down since DD was 18mos old. We had one bad leg of the flight, that was enough to ground us. And with 4 of us it's cheaper. We also take our time, fortunately I am able to take 8 or 9 days off of work to go. We usually leave after school on Friday and stay in Williamsport PA if we go down 15 or Mars PA if we go down through Erie. This time the kids have off the Friday we're leaving so we're going to leave earlier and visit friends in Alexandria. Driving also gives us flexibility for side trips. We drove to Miami back in December for a conference and the day we left decided to stop at Disney on the way. It was right there....

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

Nice itinerary! Sounds like a great trip. I noticed that on the 28th that we will all be at AK and oddly enough have potential dinner plans at Wolfgang Puck Express. I may well get a chance to meet your family before the Dole Whips!

 

[C&G'sMama]

Nice itinerary! Sounds like a great trip. I noticed that on the 28th that we will all be at AK and oddly enough have potential dinner plans at Wolfgang Puck Express. I may well get a chance to meet your family before the Dole Whips!

Cool. We'll definitely touch base before that.

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

Did you see the new AK Picnic in the Park meal option? It looks like a pretty good deal. This link has photos that AllEars.net doesn't.
Animal Kingdom Picnic in the Park Deal

 

[C&G'sMama]

Did you see the new AK Picnic in the Park meal option? It looks like a pretty good deal. This link has photos that AllEars.net doesn't.
Animal Kingdom Picnic in the Park Deal

That looks really good. I want it now... Oh well just a couple of more weeks.
Now I have to start thinking packing. We have a couple of bags of "stuff" for the kids. New CD players for the car, some new DVDs to watch. And then souveniers we've picked up throughout the year either through Disney.com or Target etc. They each get a new "costume" that we got on clearance after Thanksgiving. Yeah I think this weekend I need to pull the shorts and stuff out of the attic.
Yes, we had snow today

 

[C&G'sMama]

One week to go. Yayyy. We went to AAA today and got our maps and trip tiks. Yes, I map quest, but I love maps. They printed out a pretty trip tik that is now in the official trip 3 ring binder in inividual sheet protecters. DP, not me. While the kids were at gymnastics tonight we started 3 x 5 cards for each day with tentative touring plans and notes for the park that day. Once those are done they will be laminated. All of this organizing is DP.

My job for the trip is to gather everything to pack. I have suitcases in the basement with Health and Beauty items, new DVDs, games etc for the car and sourveniers. Tomorrow DD & I are cleaning out the van. We need to head up to the attic to bring down summer clothes, it's time anyway. And I have a load of socks in the dryer ready to be matched. I swear we have over 100 white socks but I am lucky if I can find one matching pair.

Our kids are not picky eaters so we spent some time tonight looking for CS restaurants that have kid offerings beyond Mac & Cheese, Cheesburger, PB&J and Chicken nuggets. We found a few alternatives, but not much at MK.

They already know at work that I'm mentally on vacation, but I'm trying. I'm able to take the whole day before we leave off which will be nice. My hope is to be totally packed by Wednesday so I can spend Thursday cleaning.

TnP, if you read this, how's it goin? you Ready?

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

I am in the process of sorting socks too.

I have my trip clothes set aside, but not packed yet. So far, I have shorts and t-shirts for every day and a spare pair of jeans, just in case. I have sleep and swim clothes including newly broken in New Balance sneakers, Chaco sandals, and swim shoes. I have not gotten my "cosmetics" bag together yet. I wear no make up, but I have sunscreen, medicine, and soap and such for the trip purchased and in various shopping bags & spots around the house.

I have 4 new tires and a fresh oil change. I have gathered my trip music together, however, I need to get some sort of container for the cd's, so that they don't go sliding all over the car. I know my basic itinerary and a game plan. For the most part, I am just going to wing it in the parks. There isn't a whole lot that I just have to do in the way of "popular" rides. I am going to enjoy the shows and the atmosphere.

I am looking forward to meeting up with your family somewhere along the way. Only 4 more work days until my vacation begins.

 

[C&G'sMama]

We're off. It's 4:28 am (Eastern). I need to finish doing dishes and doing the last of the packing. With any luck we'll be out of here in 2 hours. Have a great couple of weeks.

We're goin' to Disney World.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Safe journey!!! Have a wonderful time.

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

I am off today getting all of my loose ends tied up. I drive down tomorrow. I look forward to meeting you guys! I just added your numbers to my phone.

I hope you guys have lots of pixie dust and make some wonderful memories.

 

[TuckandStuiesMom]

Woo-Hoo! Have fun everybody!

 

[C&G'sMama]

We're back. It was great. Sorry we missed TnP but totally understand. I guess that means we have to go back again.

I'm hoping to post some details with photos soon. Hopefully after this weekend. We need to land back into reality which includes throwing a birdal shower on Saturday. But we've already done most of the shopping. We just have to cook and do a few other things.

Quickly, lots of fun, lots of firsts including 1st Dole Whip, 1st time the kids to the Neverland club while moms had their first time at Le Cellier, it was wonderful and while all of the cast memebers at WDW were great we encountered a couple of especially helpful CMs at Le Cellier. We also went to DTD for the first time and went on some rides we hadn't been on before or hadn't been on in years.

Off to bed tonight and back to reality tomorrow.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Well here is our trip

We only have a few photos right now. We still haven't finished unpacking and we are missing a memory card from our camera, it'll turn up

WDW 2009
Down to Disney.

April 24th
We left Rochester at 6:30 am and drove 400 miles to Alexandria Virginia where we stopped for the night to see some friends.

April 25th
Left Alexandria at 8:00am and drove 700 miles to just south of Jacksonville.

The drive was pretty uneventful and the weather was great. As we have usually driven in winter it was a pleasant change to have so much daylight to drive in. Ann (me) kept busy by sleeping; the kids watched videos, read books etc. and DP drove

April 26th
En route to Disney. As our CBR reservations didn't start until the 27th we decided to spend the night off site as we never have before.

We had originally planned on staying at a Hampton Inn in Kissimmee but on a whim decided to get a room at the Nickelodeon Family Suites. This is the first time we haven’t stayed in a Disney hotel. The kids absolutely loved it. DP and I also loved that we had our very own room and the kids had theirs. hotel we stopped at our favorite Publix on S. Kirkman Road. We got a little lost getting there though and ended up on Lockheed Martin Property (oops). A very nice man (security) saw our map and helped get us back on track.

April 27th - Monday
After 3 nights of packing and unpacking I was glad to finally reach our final destination for the week CBR. We have never stayed before. At first I felt very overwhelmed by it. We have stayed at All Stars for years and know the resort like the back of our hands. We had a preferred room in Martinique Building 26. It was worth it for me. Another time I might try another building but with this being a new place for us it was nice to be near the food court and the main pool.

We checked in and headed off to Epcot. We spent most of the evening in Future World, had dinner at Garden Grill and finished up at the UK pavilion watching "British Invasion" and then Illuminations. It was cool. It was the first time we've seen Illuminations in years.

April 28th - Tuesday - GOOFY!!!
We went to Animal Kingdom today. We got there at opening, ran into my niece and her family and then got started. We did Kali River Rapids, and the Safari first thing. This is the first time we've been to the Safari so early in the morning and the animals were very active. The Giraffes were in the road so they had to stop the vehicles while the Animal People got them moving, it was pretty cool. When we finally started moving again we went around a bend and there was a Giraffe standing very close to my side of the vehicle with his tail twitching. We had lunch at Tusker House went to "It's Tough to be a Bug", went to Dinoland. DD and I went on Primeval Whirl for the first time. Then off to see Legend of the Lion King. After that we got a snack and went to see the Characters. This is where we saw Goofy.

When DP and I had our Union Ceremony in 1996 (May25) we went to WDW for our honeymoon. The first character we encountered was Goofy. We ran up and hugged him like we were 10 again. So this time when we went to see Goofy we decided we wanted a picture with just the 2 of us. We told the kids why, while Goofy really hammed it up and hugged us and was great when he heard this. It was a neat moment.

After that we went back to the resort, hung out at the pools did some laundry and went to bed.

Unfortunately the disc we are missing has the photos from the first few days and we haven't ordered the disc from photo pass yet.

But here is a quick preview from later moments of the trip and who we are.
Me and DP with Piglet at the Crystal Palace on the our last night

G (Peter Pan) and C (Tinker Belle) with Iridessa

Ann (me) having my first Dole Whip. It was on our way out of Magic Kingdom at 12:30 am on Monday, May 4th.

So that's the beginning of the trip. Hopefully we'll unearth the memory card from the beginning of the trip soon.

 

[Jeff90]

OH that Dole Whip......I wish I had one right now for breakfast!!!!!!!

And I can't believe you guys have never been to DTD in all the years you have gone! And I thought I missed everything!

I did the samething when I saw Pooh as you did with Goofy.....

Hopefully you will find the memory card...hope to see more!!!!!

 

[Saxton]

Welcome back - you're home just in time for Fall weather! I love that story about Goofy, very cool.

 

[C&G'sMama]

This whole working for a living thing totally gets in the of posting to the boards. Something about being paid to work and not chat on the computer... So I'm trying to squeeze some more time in to post.

I found the memory card... Yayy!!! We had put it in a safe place which is always a mistake, fortunately we found it.

Here are a couple of pictures from the first couple of days.

Mama & G at the Garden Grill on the 27th.

Mommy and Mama with Goofy at Camp Minnie Mickey, our favorite

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Wednesday April 28th.
G's birthday. It was a great day. We got there for park opening. This is not normal for us. It was fun. We got Birthday Fast Passes. Which worked out really well for us. We went right to Fantasy Land and did Peter Pan, the Honey Pots etc. We went to Ariel's Grotto and then on to Tommorrow Land

The kids in front of the Wishing Fountain. This fountain is where we got rid of a lot of "junk" (emotional, not like tires and stuff) in 1998 and were able to move forward with life.

Off to soccer, hopefully I can post more later.

Jeff90 - love the PTR, it's fun to "watch" someone elses plans.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Thursday April 30th

Today was the day we were supposed to go to DHS. We opted for DTD instead. Other than going to PI in 1996 we've never been. We had a good time. I discovered Goofy's Candy Co. It was so good. My favorite was the chocolate covered peanut butter sandwich. We had a quiet lunch (which was a nice change of pace) at Cap'n Jacks and bought a giant Mr. Potato at "Once Upon a Toy" stuffed with pieces. The rest of the day was spent at the resort swimming and doing laundry.

Friday April 30th
Back to Magic Kingdom. DD had never seen the fairies so we did that first thing. It was a 75 minute wait but since it was inside we were okay with that. The kids rode the BarnStormer and then off to Tomorrow Land. Since Wednesday was all about them, we decided today was mommy and Mama's Choice. We did C of P, Country Bears and the Tiki Birds. We also did a few other rides but we stayed out of Fantasy Land today. We had dinner at CRT. After dinner we slowly made our way out of the park and headed back to our resort. We knew we'd be coming back Sunday so we left around 6:00.