Our Unbirthday Extravaganza!!!

kamcole

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
Messages
84
Woo Hoo - we are heading to Disney World!! I've had a blast lurking and reading all types of Pre & Post trip reports so I thought I'd take a stab at doing one myself. I'm having an amazing time planning!! It's so addictive and this board is full of great tips. So I'm hoping you all will share your thoughts and suggestions with me as I outline our planned trip (which has changed a million times over already, LOL).:yay:


On to the details of our Unbirthday Extravaganza!

Our Unbirthday Crew:
1. Me - Mama - I am the trip planner. A project manager by trade - it is a bit of a compulsion to be prepared and have a plan. I love Disney and have encouraged the adoration in my children. I've been to DisneyWorld 5 times - most recently 2.5 years ago. It was fun but being there in August, 5 months pregnant with an 18 month old was a bit hot and stressful - so I have great hopes for this trip.

2. Grammy - Grammy has graciously agreed to be my co-captain for this excusion. She's young and energetic and we have blast travelling together. Grammy is our go with the flow participant. She and I have traveled together on solo trips over the years since my Hubby is not really into travelling; nor the heat.

3. Princess AJ - The pincess diva of the trip is my 4 year old princess junkie. She is extremely excited to be travelling to Mickey Junior as she calls it. AJ loves all things fairy and princess.

4. Pirate B - B is my 2 year old. He loves classic mickey characters, Jake & the neverland pirates and all the Peter Pan crew. He wants to know if Tic-Tock Croc is going to be there??

When is our Disney Memory going to begin?
June 20th! We are staying until June 28th!! OMG 9 days and 8 nights of glorious fun.

How did this all come about? I took a new position (at the same company) last year and it has allowed me the opportunity to attend a few professional conferences. Low and behold when I selected one of the conferences this year - it was scheduled in Orlando just outside of the Disney Resort area!! I originally did not intend to take anyone with me because when I first looked at the air prices it was SUPER expensive (>$500/ticket) which was just not feasible for our family when added into hotel, food, tickets, etc. I mentioned it in passing to my dad as I was a bit disappointed to not take the kids. Unbeknownst to me - he decided to shop around on the net... He called the next day and said -"Did you know that Southwest is now flying out of XXX and the flights are only $225?" Really?? "Your mom wants to come with you and take "her" children (aka MY children) - I'll pay for their tickets and 1/2 the trip if you still want to take them" WHAT! Still want to take them - of course! When I told the DH - he was thrilled that the kids would get to go and he didn't have to (plus a week of peace and quiet to himself).LOL

So why an unbirthday extravaganza - you might ask?? Well this trip is partially a present for my birthday (May) from my dad and we are celebrating my children's 1/2 unbirthday's while we are there. Why would you celebrate a 1/2 birthday?? My kids have birthdays that are only 2 days apart (don't ask me how we managed that ;)) - AJ is 12/22/2008 and B is 12/24/2010. With December birthday's smack dab in the middle of the Christmas/holiday season - it makes it tough to really focus on their birthdays. DH and I really try and encourage others but it has ended up seeming like an endless Christmas. So we thought we'd try something a bit different this year and celebrate their "Unbirthdays!" It seems an appropriate label when traveling to disney world on 6/22 & 6/24 - their exact 1/2 b-days. [So any fantabulous ideas you have for how to celebrate this would be much appreciated! - I'd feel weird getting them birthday buttons since it isn't really their birthday]

So on to the trip details.....
After much deliberation (and I mean ALOT) - we are staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter. I'm feeling really positive about the choice after reading up on the resort threads here. We are going to be spending a decent amount of time at the resort since the kids are only 2 & 4 - too many days at the parks would stress them out and I have to be at the conference on 6/24-6/26 during the day. Grammy and the kidlets will hang at the resort on those days or visit downtown disney. I love the idea of the shared amenities with Riverside and the smaller size so Grammy should have an easier time navigating with the kids.

In the next post - I'll outline our general trip plan and would love some feedback!
 
So here are the plans as the stand currently ....

Little backgound context - We have the Dining Plan (TS,QS,S) from 6/20 - 6/26 the last two days are room only. We were originally going home on 6/26 and I decided to extend the trip for 2 more days due to a change in the conference times. :cool1: Since we're flying out on 6/28 - it wasn't worth extending the dining plan so we'll eat OOP those 2 days. Pirate B has a Dairy Allergy and Princess AJ is lactose intolerant so we'll be carefully selecting dining options.

We have 3 park days with no hopper. We plan on taking afternoon breaks when we do go and thought hopping around would be too overstimulating.

6/20 - Arrival day!! Woot direct flight from cold Northern NY to Orlando. We'll arrive around 10:30 and mosey over to the Magical Express.
  • Arrive at Resort
  • Hang out, check-out the resort and play by the pool
  • Go to Mickey's Backyard BBQ @ Wilderness Resort

6/21 - Magic Kingdom here we come!
  • Arrive Early (kids are naturally early risers)
  • Do Fantasyland and part of tomorrowland
  • Eat at Be our Guest for Lunch
  • Head back for a nap
  • Come back a little before dinner
  • Reservations @ Crystal Palace
  • Watch Electrical Parade

6/22 - Resort day (sort of)
  • lazy morning
  • Breakfast @ Ohana! 9:30
  • Hang at resort or Downtown Disney
  • Lunch/Dinner? something QS
  • Reservations for Pirate Wishes Fireworks Cruise from Contemporary!

6/23 - EPCOT - after much deliberation - we've decided to do EPCOT instead of AK. I've been to both and Epcot is one of my favs. Plus I know the kids will love the Seas, the Land, and doing the Kidcots.
  • Early arrival
  • Seas and Land
  • Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
  • Back for a nap
  • Arrive before dinner and start walking through World Showcase
  • Dinner at Norway (can't miss the princesses)
  • More World Showcase
  • Illuminations

6/24 - Resort day
  • Mama gone to Conference (7:30 -4:30)
  • Hanging with Grammy
  • Check-out AK Lodge & dinner @ Saana

6/25 - Resort day
  • Mama gone to Conference (7:30 -4:30)
  • Hanging with Grammy
  • Dinner @ Cape May

6/26 - Resort day
  • Mama gone to Conference (7:30 -4:30)
  • Hanging with Grammy
  • Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare

6/27 - MK Take 2
  • Early Arrival - EMH
  • AdventureLand and re-ride favorites
  • Lunch @ Cosmic Rays
  • Back for Nap
  • Return for more fun & dinner at Plaza

6/28 - Departure day :(
  • Lazy morning
  • Minigolf @ blizzard beach?
  • AOA for lunch
  • Back to hotel by 4 for magical express
  • Flight home @ 7PM


Random ideas....
  • Making special tote bags with iron-on's and disney stuff for plane
  • Matching trip t-shirts
  • Surprise basket from Babycakes delivered on arrival day?? They have dairy free goodies. Thinking assorted cupcakes & cookies
  • Lanyards and trading pins? or are they too young
  • New disney PJs and swimsuits (needed them anyways)

THOUGHTS??? SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!
 
Changed our plans yet again.... Home sick with the kids and not enough energy to do much other than play with our plans. :confused3

No changes to park days - but I did modify dining reservations and /or plans


MK day1 - skip BoG - I don't think the kids will like the menu and tough with b's dairy allergy. Do Cosmic Ray's instead

Saturday - DTd for lunch & dinner. - earl of sandwich and Wpe?

Sunday & Monday no change

Tuesday- rainforest cafe dinner - I know b will love it and it offsets the major princess dinners I've booked

Wednesday - garden grove character dinner - another b addition.

Thursday - MK day2 - I caved on CrT when a early dinner reservation opened up at 4. Princess a will be In Her glory and I love the idea of eating in the castle.

I think we'll try and grab a light lunch at the plaza or a quick eatery.

Friday - departure day - definitely lunch at Aoa. Both kids will love the theming and I'm thinking about trying to come back next year with my brother in one of the family suites. (Already dreaming about trip 2 before the first is complete. Lol)
 

Thanks! I'm such an over obessive planner and this addictive. Though I'm pretty good at going with the flow if need be once we're there.

I wish I could add a few cast pics but DH and I aren't super comfortable putting pics of the little ones on the net. I may try to add some pics of our art projects this weekend instead.

We made countdown chart a couple of weeks ago to help the kids with the "time concept" - They love getting to take a post it off everyday to reveal a character sticker. We also have a movie list running down the right side of all the movies we want to watch again before we go. It's been a lot of fun.

This weekend - I'm hoping to start working on our "iron-on" projects. I'm making a bunch of t-shirts, tote bags for the kids and I found this great mini-cooler/tote that I'm going to make for my mom.:yay:
 
Wow - life gets busy so quickly. I had to go to Seattle on a business trip and am just getting caught up.

I changed our plans yet again... this is so addictive. I decided to extend our car rental since I need to rent for at least 4 days for my work conference anyway. It will make travelling to some of the resorts for breakfast/dinner a bit easier with the kiddos and I'm hauling carseats down so why not? It's only a $40 difference to rent for the week. I'm picking up the car at the Disney car care center (since we aren't keeping it the whole time) so I still get to do ME and won't have to deal with baggage. Win/Win.:yay:

So... then I changed some ressies since I can make better time driving on a few.

MK Day 1 - Bfst at Ohana @ 7:50 - then we can go straight to MK.
We may do Pinocchio's for lunch (very allergy friendly). I think we'll drive to TTC and take the monorail to Ohana then the Monorail back to MK - kids will love it. Then when we return to MK after nap - we'll just take the bus.

AK Day- Bfst at Tusker House @ 8:15 :cool1:!
I cancelled Chef Mickey's because the timing was making me nervous. We want to stay in AK until we finish sightseeing (rather than come home for a nap and go back) then have the kids rest before a light dinner then on to Pirate & Pals Fireworks cruise. Since they will get snacks on the cruise - I decided a CS meal would be a better option. Depending on how long the kids sleep we'll eat at POR or go to one of the monorail resorts.

6/25 - 1900 Park Fare for dinner
6/26 - Rainforest Cafe for dinner
6/27 - Up in the air -- I need to return the car this night after my conference so didn't want to lock us into a time and we'll be paying OOP from this point on anyway. I think we'll just see what time I get back and how much energy everyone has. Likely go to DTD or stay at POR. Want an early night so we can do Rope Drop for MK next day.

MK Day 2 - thinking about lunch at Pecos Bills - looks like its allergy friendly and we can split some meals. Plus it's in the neighborhood of all the attractions we plan on touring this day. I'd like to eat light since we have an early dinner at CRT (4:00).

6/28 - Still at AoA for lunch -- Only day I didn't change is the one we depart on. LOL :rotfl:

On a non-food related note - We finished all of our custom T-Shirts & Bags! They turned out really well. The rhinestone mickey iron-ons were a pain to apply but are my fav! A few more posts and perhaps I can post some pics.

I'm also thinking about drawing up some Tinkerbell Rules and putting together pixie dust gifts for the kids to receive each day we are there. I've collected some great things on sale and like the idea of spreading it out a bit - plus they are less likely to clamor for every little thing.
 
Current dilemma?

Photopass+ or no?


Well.... I ended up ordering the Photopass+ - it came in the mail yesterday. I looked through and realized the we are eating at 5 of the 8 participating restaurants, doing a couple of the rides and I really want to take advantage of the photopass photographers (otherwise I'll get home with only pics of everyone else)
 














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