Phillies Fanatics are heading to disney 9/09 1st family trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mommyof2Pirates]

Ok so this is my first PTR: please bear with me!

So I have been "lurking" on the dis reports for months now and have finally had time to start my own PTR. I am the lonely planner, cheerleader, and motivator of our trip. My name is lindsay AKA mommy of 2 pirates. I am 30 years old. This will be my 5th trip to disney and I expect it to be the greatest trip yet. My DH and I traveled to disney on our honeymoon 10/2003 and we have dreamed of the day we could take our kids to the happiest place on earth! In 50 days that dream will finally come true

Here I am at the phillies game. As I said we are a family of die hard phillies and more importantly eagles fans! I have to be honest and say that my husband had a huge part in my love of these teams. He has already told my sons if they cheer for any other teams they have to find another place to live LOL. (all in a joking nature of course) I support his love for his teams and he supports my love for disney. We are a match made in heaven.
I am a full-time medical assistant/office manager by day and a mommy, wife, maid, laundry lady, dog helper, chef, and disney planner by night. I enjoy running and sports but more importantly just seeing my children grow up healthy and happy.

DH-aka Mike (31) is a regional coordinator for a large child care organization in our area by day and a daddy, husband, wrestling buddy, aquarium caregiver, softball player, golfer, bed maker, by night. As I said he has a love for the Eagles and Phillies and proudly wears the eagles emblem tattooed on his left shoulder. He had a wonderful time on our honeymoon which was his 2nd disney trip and I know he secretly is excited about going in september too. He has let me do all the planning and says all he wants to do is relax on this vacation. Relax? Does he realize we are going to disney?

DS4 Ryan is our first pride and joy. He is all boy and loves every sport he has tried. He played basketball and tball this year and although we are bias he is an unbelievable athlete already. Future EAGLE? only time will tell. Ryan is so excited for his first trip and has replaced his night time story with the booklet you get from AAA about booking your disney vacation. He loves to hear our plans. He is worried about running into the big bad wolf as this is his least favorite character but he is looking forward to seeing buzz and woody, the cars, mickey and gang, peter pan and captain hook. He loves pirates and swords and would flip if we would have been able to book the pirate room at CBR but that will have to wait until next trip. This is what DH would do if he heard me say that

DS2 Nicholas aka Nick or Nickey. His one little friend from daycare calls him mickey Nick is a complete ladies man. He loves to flirt and is so darn cute sometimes its hard to ever get mad at him. He is very active and loves to do anything his brother does. He loves mickey mouse clubhouse and calls it "hotdog". He says he is going to give mickey 5 and a hug when we see him but somehow I am not so sure of that. He is afraid of most of the characters we have seen so far (sesame place is only 90minutes from us) but we will cross our fingers that disney magic will work on him while on our trip

So continue on my journey with me!
Up Next: HI HO HI HO WHEN AND WHERE WILL WE GO?

 

[oregonmommyof2]

I am here! So glad you started this... It is a fun way to get ready for your trip...

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Ok so as Ive said before we honeymooned to disney 10/2003! All other trips I have had were in june or august. Without much thought I knew sept or october was the time to shoot for! On our honeymoon we got on a bus one night filled with families going to MNSSHP and we both agreed we would bring our children back one day to enjoy this so we settled on 9-20 to 9-26. First decison made without difficulty.

Next was where to stay. We both decided without looking into anything else we would choose from the value resorts since we have 2 young kids who would not know the difference. We spoiled ourselves on our HM and stayed at the AKL savanah view. I plan to return there someday but for now we chose the All star sports resort. (go figure) We upgraded (if thats what you call it) to a preffered room in hopes to not have to walk a million miles to get to the food court and bus stops. I stayed here in 1998 when I traveled with my family and we were put in the baseball building all the way in the back of the resort. It wasnt a problem when I was 18 but unfortunately my body doesnt have the endurance like It use to. I saw that the preferred rooms are in the surf's up building but can sometimes get loud with the pool being right there. Does anyone know if I can request a room in the touchdown buildings I heard they are more quiet. Any advice or suggestions would be great.
Ok so there you have it. All Star Sports- Preferred Room Sept 20 to Sept 26.
Trip booked through AAA and paid for! Reservations set in stone?
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Ok so the more I researched and read about peoples trips I realized the CBR now has pirate rooms! OMG my 4 year old will have died and gone to heaven in this room. Ok so its not to late to change my mind right? So I call my TA at AAA who I have to say was not the most helpful person by any means and has that attitude of well no matter what you do you will have a good time. I leave her a message telling her that I would like to see if we can upgrade to CBR pirate room. The next day at work a coworker says your TA from AAA is on the phone. I immediately go bananas and rush to the phone so excited to hear what she has to tell me. Well CBR is booked totally for the rooms they had allotted for free dining. but she has one other option she wants to tell me about.......She found a room at the AKL savanah view immediatly my eyes widen. It has a queen bed and a bunk bed.......now my heart is pounding this sounds perfect! I say well how much extra will this be (not remembering the cost we paid for our HM) and she says its only another 1600 dollars. I said we will just stick with what we got and good old TA said thats ok you will enjoy it anywhere you stay. Got a love her!

Up Next: Schedules and ADR's

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

thanks so much, I am glad that someone will be listening. Yeah!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Ok so when we first talked about our trip and the planning we tip toed around the idea of driving to disney. We live in eastern PA so I know it was not totally out of the question. I am terrified of flying and do not enjoy it one bit. The thought of taking my two kids on a plane just gave me an upset stomach thinking about it. So one day I mentioned driving to my DH (who hates to drive more than an hour anywhere) but suprisingly he thought it would be a good idea. Save money, see different states, have our own car with us. I immediately thought this was going to be great and I will not have to board a plane. Hallelujiah! So the planner that I am, I started researching the drive and where we could stop overnight etc.

A few weeks later we went to AAA to meet with our TA. Well she said we were crazy to drive with 2 young kids and found us tickets on airtran non-stop from philadelphia for $110 per person round trip. Well my DH said "that sounds great". Me on the other hand I was not so excited. I grabbed at straws trying to find excuses why we should still drive. All of them were completely silly and my DH knew I was just nervous to fly. So we booked the tickets and are scheduled to leave 9/20 at 7am and arrive in MCO at 932am. Ok thats the only part I liked Now my TA did tell me that I would need to go online and book specific seats for a small cost if I wanted to, and that they charge for each bag you check in.

So months later I decide I better go online and get our assigned seats.
#1. I am terrified still to get on this plane so I do not want to have my husband and I seperated one with each kid.
#2. This is the first flight for both of my kids so I know they are both going to want us both there with them. I dont think they will understand why I am in the front with one and DH is in the back with the other.

Ok so I go online and it tells me I need a booking confirmation #. I call my good old TA and she tells me oh we booked a package through disney so you can no longer go online and pick your seats. Just make sure you get there early enought to the airport to check in. Umm our departure time is 7am. We are planning on getting there by 5am how much earlier would you like me to go?

So our decision was to drive to philly on sat. 9/19 and stay overnight at the renissance hotel by marriott. We would be able to park our car there and have a shuttle take us to the airport in the morning. I still plan to go to the airport for 5am and hopefully that will be early enough to get seats close together. Has anyone else had this experience?

So disney vacation package booked and paid for....Check
Saturday night philly hotel stay booked and paid for.....Check
Now onto making the ADR's!

Coincedentally I had off on our 90 day mark!Could not have planned that any better! So i got up early with my list in hand of all my 1st and 2nd choices. I called in using my cell phone not sure about long distance service and I get the recording that they are taking a high call volume and will be with me as soon as possible. Well the minutes are ticking by..............32minutes to be exact and what happens then...............
The phone disconnects. OMG I almost freaked. I am never going to get any ADR's I want. Ok I recompose myself and call back from our land line. I get through to the recording again with no problem and 35 minutes later finally I am taking to a disney employee! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!! She was so cheerful and happy and had to comment on every dining reservation I requested. This made me a little nervous because after waiting an hour to speak with someone I was still biting my nails hoping I got all my 1st choices. Well I did except for one but was able to move the time a little! I also purchased our MNSSHP tickets and she noticed I did not schedule a dinner for that night. I told her I was thinking Crystal Palace but decided not to because I thought it would be to much in one day for the kids. She said they will be fine and that we should schedule around 6pm so that we can walk right out onto main st and start trick or treating when we are done. Then she said she also had CRT available at the same time. HMMMM. Now you know I am the only girl on this trip and I have never been to CRT so I was very tempted to say yes. But in the end I said no thank you thinking of the face I would get from my DH when I told him where we would be having dinner. The more I think of it now and hear everyone elses tales of CRT I should of said yes. I guess that is something will just have to try for next time

So off we will go with the Deluxe DP
to the following dining experiences.

9/20- early dinner Plaza Resturaunt 410p
9/21- breakfast- H&V 805am
lunch- Mama Melrose 1235p
9/22- breakfast- Tusker House 1010am (this was the one I wanted 8am)
dinner- Yak and Yeti 430p
9/23- breakfast- Chef Mickey's 825am
dinner- Cape May Buffet 530p
9/24- lunch- Whispering Canyon Cafe 1235p
9/25- lunch- planet hollywood 12p
dinner- crystal palace 6p
MNSSHP is this night also!

Up Next: The daily Plan

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'll listen too! How exciting you get to take your kids to Disney World. I always thought that must be so much fun.

I don't really like the Phillies since they knocked my Brewers out of the playoffs last year. haha, just kidding! My dad, sister, and I were actually just in Philadelphia at the end of May and got to go to a Phillies game. It was a lot of fun!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hi WDWgirl. Sorry about your brewer's. I wont hold it against you that your not a phillies fan Citizen's bank park is so nice isnt it? We were actually there for the 1st time this summer. Well I am glad your listening. I am hoping to continue my PTR later tonight!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Before I get started on our daily plans I wanted to share our countdown calendar with you. I started it 60 days out from our trip and the kids have a basket of disney stickers to choose from. 60 to be exact. They take turns; one picks out the sticker the night before and the other gets to stick it on the next morning. I am surprised at how well they are taking turns and not fighting over it. Even my DS2 gets so excited when its his turn. It has avoided the unending questions of "when are we going", "are we going yet", etc. We get excited to see how our pile of stickers is getting smaller and the chart is getting more filled. It has been a great excitement builder for our vacation!

Here are some pictures of it:

As you can see DS2 got a hold of the marker and added some scribbles on one of the days. At least it wasnt on one of my walls.

Ok so we are 46 days away and I still feel like I have so much to organize and do. I guess that feeling will be with me until the end. At least I have our schedule some what in order. It is as follows:

Saturday Sept. 19, 2009
12:30pm: DH will take our best buddy Donovan (yes named after the eagles quarterback) to MIL's to stay while we are gone. He is our 6 year old Chocolate Lab.
2:00pm: We will drive to Philly and are staying at the Renissance Hotel by the airport. We will check in and let the kids swim for a while to tire them out. We will have an early dinner and bathtime and hopefully off to bed early. We have to be at the airport at 5am the next morning.

We decided to stay overnight so we can leave our car parked at the hotel for the week (included in our room stay) and to give us just a little more time to sleep in the morning. (I know I wont sleep much anyway but at least my DH will)

Sunday Sept 20, 2009 (arrival day)
I plan on getting up at 315am taking a quick shower and getting ready. I am letting the kids sleep in their tshirt and jogging pants they are wearing the next day so we can just scoop them out of bed and go. (also a quick diaper change for DS2). My DH will probably wake up 10 minutes before we have to leave as usual. So the agenda is:
4am:Check out and run our overnight bag to the car.
430am: Get shuttle to the airport (10min ride)
Grab breakfast and drinks for the plane ride after checking in and getting through security.
7am: plane leaves Philadelphia.
926am: plane arrives in orlando
We will take a quick bathroom stop and change the boys into their shorts.
Head to ME checkin and hopefully not have to wait long to get the bus to All Star sports!

Now after months of worrying about the stroller situation I finally decided on renting one from Orlando Stroller Rentals. We rented the double jogging stroller. I think the final bill came to 90$ and change. Not bad for the week. They should have it delivered to our resort by 11am.

I am hoping this works out. If anyone has either used this stroller or the company I would love to hear your comments.

We plan to eat a quick lunch at the food court and head out to where else but the Magic Kingdom

We plan to hit a few rides hopefully buzz lightyear if we are lucky since that is who DS4 is really into these days. We want to watch the parade and then have ADR's for:
405pm: Plaza resturaunt for an early dinner.

We will then most likely head back to the hotel to settle in and relax maybe a swim and off to bed early.

Monday September 21, 2009 HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DAY
8:05am: H&V breakfast
soon as we are done run as fast as we can to TSM for fast passes or to ride if not a long wait.
1235pm: Mama Melrose
Check out the block party parade: I heard its a not miss!
Go back to resort to rest/nap.
Return to park for EMH.
CS dinner- Any Suggestions?

Tuesday September 22, 2009 ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY
9am: Get to park for rope drop (never did this before)
Ride KS
1010am: Tusker House breakfast
Stay all day (no nap day ) due to the park only being open until 5p.
430pm: Yak and Yeti for dinner.

Wedensday September 23, 2009 EPCOT DAY
825am: Chef Mickeys
go to Epcot from there.
tour Future World
CS lunch- suggestions again?
Go to resort for a break/nap/swim
530pm: Cape may buffet
walk to epcot after tour the countries and watch elluminations

Thursday September 24, 2009MAGIC KINGDOM DAY
get to Mk for rope drop
1235pm: Whispering Canyon Cafe
go to resort break/nap/swim
go back to MK
CS dinner
spectromagic
Wishes

Friday September 25, 2009DOWNTOWN DISNEY/MNSSHP
breakfast at resort
shop DD
12pm Planet Hollywood
go to resort break/nap/swim
6pm Crystal Palace
MNSSHP when finished stay as late as we can but hoping to catch parade and fireworks.

Saturday September 26, 2009DEPARTURE DAY
sleep in and pack
early lunch at resort
get ME 1pm?
4pm-flight leaves orlando
636pm-arrive in philly

Up next: The disney essentials

 

[jana616]

Wow, so glad I found your PTR! You know us mamas of 2 boys have to stick together ! There were so many things I wanted to say after reading everything so far, but I've already forgotten. Hmmm...

Oh! I think with Airtran you can pick your seats 24 hours in advance when you pre-print your boarding pass. You should definitely ask this on the transportation board. Someone will know the answer. Sounds like staying overnight will be nice for you guys since you get to park your car for free. That's great! I'm trying to decide what time we need to get to our airport. We're in Indy, and I know Southwest Airlines says to allow just one hour here (my mom and DH have both allowed an hour recently and were fine). We have the kids, strollers, and a bunch of carry-ons (since I'm too cheap to pay for more than one checked bag!) so I think maybe an hour and 15-20 minutes? Our flight's at 7:10 on a Monday, and I just can't see it being super crowded then, but OMG, can you imagine if we miss the flight? I'd die!

Love your dining choices! Keep checking online for an 8 am Tusker House. You never know what will come up. We had 8:15 but I found an 8 am on there (right around 90 days out though). I also got an 8 am H&V not too long ago, although we changed it to 11 am so we could get lunch out of it too! Your park plans sound great, and I love your countdown calendar! I LOL about your YDS markering it. We are doing a chain made by someone on the boards. Every night we tear one off. Well, YDS climbed a chair, grabbed it, and days 20-23 will never be the same! So I totally get it!

Hope to hear more about your plans soon! Have you made anything or bought anything special for the trip?

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

My DH and I planned a fun day trip for our boys, 1/2 way into it I said wow this is a great practice trip for us so I thought I would tell you about it and share our fun day we had with you. (if anyone is still reading) Otherwise I will just amuse my self

We went to Baltimore, MD inner harbor. It is about 3 hours from where we live. We had tickets for a 9:30am entry to the national aquarium and otherwise we did not have any other specific plans for the day. (this will not happen in disney, sorry DH)

So I got up at 415am to shower and organize the car, dh got up shortly after to do the same. We were ready to go by 510am so we grabbed the kids out of bed, quick bathroom stop for ds4, and a quick diaper change for ds2 and off we went under the moonlit sky. Here is picture of ds4. Since it was so early you would think this was him once he got into the car right?

Nope not the case. Both of the boys were so excited they were talking/singing/fighting the whole drive down. We stopped half way to get breakfast at a mcdonald's in delaware and I changed the boys into their clothes for the day. We traveled on and arrived in downtown baltimore at 845am. We were too early for the aquarium so we walked around and took some pictures.

My ds4 was so excited to see the ships. He thought this was the greatest place ever because of all the "pirate ships" we didnt bother to tell him they werent pirate ships we just went with the theme
After taking some pictures we went looking for the restrooms well you will not believe what we saw instead..............................................

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

we come upon an observation platform that dh and ds4 starts walking into; not paying attention to the fact that I have ds2 in a stroller and cant get him up the 6 stairs to get onto the deck. As I call to him to tell him we have to go around the building I notice this guy standing by the front of the platform with his pants off (no underwear) and starting to unbutton his shirt. I quickly waved my dh to come towards me and I told him what was going on. He couldnt believe his eyes either. By that point the man was totally naked. My dh thought he was going to jump into the harbor. We walked around the back of the building which took about 2-3 minutes if that and by the time we get to the other side here comes the guy except now he has his clothes on. The same ones he had just taken off. We laughed so hard. Thank goodness the boys didnt notice this guy or I would not have thought it was as funny. Thats something you dont see everyday! What a way to start the day.

Well by that time we were able to get into the aquarium. We knew ahead of time we would have to check in the stroller so dh planned to carry our new EAGLES backpack and I had gotten my new purse from ebags.com on thursday so I was trying that out as well. (I will post pics with my disney essentials post to come) We did not forget anything and had everything we needed with us! There are 4 pavillions at the aquarium. The sharks, australia, dolphins, and the rainforest. We started out in the shark pavillion. Our ds4 was talking about seeing the sharks for the past week so we thought he would be excited to start here. Nope instead he started crying saying he was too scared. After some coaxing we pulled (literally) him into the area where you could see the sharks and sting rays from above the water. He realized there was nothing to be scared of and loved it from that point on. We saw the sharks being fed and learned about this huge turtle they have that they found in the hudson river. The turtle had gangrene on one fin and had it removed. They said they are experimenting and may try a prosthetic fin in the near future. interesting! We walked up 4 floor and looked at all different kinds of fish/octopus and yes everyone we even saw nemo and dorothy Here are some pictures from inside the aquarium:

next we were off to see the dolphin show!

We got there about 45 minutes before show time. The kids were starting to get tired and a little crazy This was them saying is it going to start yet? When is it going to start? Is it almost time for it to start? You know how it goes the unending questions that the reply of soon just does not satisfy there intense need for the show to start. Here is a picture of the boys chasing each other around a pole near the line we were waiting in to get into the amphitheater.

and here are some pics of us waiting and a few of the dolphins.

I feel the need to mention about a mishap my ds4 had with his teeth since you can see him up close in this pic. When he was 3 he decided to put a blanket over his head and run in circles. As my dh was yelling take the blanket off your head, he fell into the wall hitting his mouth on our heating baseboards. He knocked his one front tooth loose and cut his whole upper gum. He is now left with a longer crooked front tooth and the one next to it turned grey. He will eventually loose them but I always think of that horrible day when I see an up close picture

nick was so tired I thought for sure he would fall asleep. No luck

Can you see that baby? She was only 1 year old

Here the dolphin was doing a trick even before the show started!

The show was awesome. We sat 3 rows up from the floor in a splash zone. We thought how wet can you get. We even commented on a mom walking by. Her kids were begging her to sit down low. She said no way because I dont want you guys to get wet and ruin your outfits. My dh turned to me and said "how horrible is that, let your kids sit where they want, what is it going to do to them if they get a little wet, nothing." This is what we thought of herright?

Well through out the entire show water did not even come near us. We thought we were fine, these seats are awesome until...................
the dolphin came around and splashed everyone. We were drenched. My ds4 being sensitive started crying. My ds2 was crying hysterically and yelling bad dolphin go away!. Dh and I were laughing hysterically which must of looked horrible to others but what else was there to do. We both later commented that we must of looked like the idiots and not that lady sitting 10 rows up with her kids. and we thought we were cool! We convinced ds4 that it was so cool to get wet by the dolphins and ds2 forgets easily about things that upset him so they still have a positive feeling about the show.

After the show the aquarium was getting so crowded. We checked out the invasion of the jellyfish exhibit (so cool) and headed out.

UP NEXT: lunch and afternoon of relaxing fun!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Wow, so glad I found your PTR! You know us mamas of 2 boys have to stick together ! There were so many things I wanted to say after reading everything so far, but I've already forgotten. Hmmm...

Oh! I think with Airtran you can pick your seats 24 hours in advance when you pre-print your boarding pass. You should definitely ask this on the transportation board. Someone will know the answer. Sounds like staying overnight will be nice for you guys since you get to park your car for free. That's great! I'm trying to decide what time we need to get to our airport. We're in Indy, and I know Southwest Airlines says to allow just one hour here (my mom and DH have both allowed an hour recently and were fine). We have the kids, strollers, and a bunch of carry-ons (since I'm too cheap to pay for more than one checked bag!) so I think maybe an hour and 15-20 minutes? Our flight's at 7:10 on a Monday, and I just can't see it being super crowded then, but OMG, can you imagine if we miss the flight? I'd die!

Love your dining choices! Keep checking online for an 8 am Tusker House. You never know what will come up. We had 8:15 but I found an 8 am on there (right around 90 days out though). I also got an 8 am H&V not too long ago, although we changed it to 11 am so we could get lunch out of it too! Your park plans sound great, and I love your countdown calendar! I LOL about your YDS markering it. We are doing a chain made by someone on the boards. Every night we tear one off. Well, YDS climbed a chair, grabbed it, and days 20-23 will never be the same! So I totally get it!

Hope to hear more about your plans soon! Have you made anything or bought anything special for the trip?

Thanks for joining in. We do have to stick together for sure. A mom of 2 boys is a hard job but somebodies got to do it. Thanks for the tip on air tran I will check out that board and see if I can get any other answers. I am wondering if I can even check in online 24 hours before since I dont have a booking #. I think if I can get assigned seats prior to that day I will only give us 1- 1 1/2 hours before our flight time to get to the airport. With it being early am and all. So I think you will be fine with your plan.

I do have some creative things I am working on and I would love to share it with you as soon as I get it all organized. I too am going to go broke even before the vacation starts. I will post all my new stuff with pics soon.

thanks again for listening!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

After we got all wet from the dolphin splash we decided to break for lunch. We ate at ESPN Zone. I wish I would have taken pictures because the lunch was delicious. We had bacon/cheddar cheese fries with ranch dressing for an appetizer. yummy. The boys had nuggets, carrot sticks, and apple slices w/ caramel dip. I had the yummiest salad ever. Chicken tenders over lettuce, tomoatoes, shredded cheddar mixed with ranch dressing and drizzled with bbq sauce. OMG it was to die for. My dh had boneless buffalo wings which he said were average. The kids did well through lunch so we rewarded them by playing some games up stairs in the game zone. Here are some pics.

After a few games we decided to walk around the harbor. We got rita's and tried the new swedish fish flavor. Oh it was so delicious and so refreshing on a hot day. I still wonder how they get the flavors to taste exactly like the candy. Amazing. Here is ds2 enjoying his.

We decided to take a 45 minute boat tour to relax and hoping nick would fall asleep. We were just waiting for the meltdowns to begin.
Here he is looking just about done for the day.

Well no luck we sat on the first floor inside the a/c cabin on the boat and watched out the window. The kids got their second wind and seemed more energized than ever. Dh and I on the other had were not.

After the boat ride the kids wanted to ride the dragon shaped paddle boats. Unfortunately dh got stuck doing all the paddling. It had to be 90 degrees this day and the sun was beating down like crazy. We had life jackets on and I thought my dh was going to have a heat stroke. The boat ride was for 30 minutes but I think we only made it 10. The worker looked at us funny like something was wrong when we paddled back over to him but we just said thank you we were done. Biggest waste of 16$ ever. The kids liked it though so I guess thats all that matters. Here is us on the boat.

This is what the boats looked like.

We then finished up our day by walking through the shops and picking up some souvenior items that the boys meemaw and pop pop gave them money for. Here is what DH4 chose. Like I said he loves

He walked around the rest of the day with his pirate hat and his pirate gun. I didnt like the fact that my dh let him walk around with the gun. But he said I was being crazy that it was a toy gun and there is nothing wrong with it. I dont know now a days you have to wonder whats the right thing to do about toy guns for little boys. Anyone else have advice?
He enjoyed himself none the less. This pic is great of ds2. It looks like he is praying that the big pirate doesnt make him walk the plank.

We ran into the aquarium to check out the sharks one last time and then we headed home. We stopped at a wendy's for dinner. I am so glad to report that we had no meltdowns and the kids were so happy and well behaved. My ds4 must of told us 5 times that day how much fun he had. I can only hope and pray that disney turns out the same way.

 

[jana616]

Aww, looks like you guys had tons of fun! And that's so great that the boys did so well; you must feel really ready for WDW now! Oh, and I have to tell you, we have that exact same stroller-same pattern and all. I love it...I've bought 3 other singles since then because that one is kind of old and ratty now, but it's still the best one.

Can't wait to read more of your plans!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

thanks. I love the stroller too. We have had it for almost 5 years now. It definitely is beat up and could use a good cleaning. Its funny that are boys are close in age and the same stroller. I am working on my creative projects and hope to post them soon with pics of everything I have bought. Hope your plans are still going well.

 

[jana616]

thanks. I love the stroller too. We have had it for almost 5 years now. It definitely is beat up and could use a good cleaning. Its funny that are boys are close in age and the same stroller. I am working on my creative projects and hope to post them soon with pics of everything I have bought. Hope your plans are still going well.

I hope you know I was talking about MY stroller being old and ratty, not yours! Now I'm all worried you thought I meant yours! I can't wait to see what things you're making-I love seeing other people's creations. I have good intentions, but probably should start actually doing them or it's going to be too late!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

yes I knew you meant your own but mine is too. Another similarity we have . Dont worry I didnt take any offense. I also have so many ideas and I know I will never get to them. Too bad I cant just spend every day doing disney stuff. Why do I have to work full-time Oh thats right my 4 year old reminds me I have to go to work to make money to go to disney world.

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Exciting day today! We got the boys costumes for the MNSSHP. DS4 chose Buzz Lightyear (even though I explained to him it might be too warm to wear, he said he likes being hot) and DS2 is going to be woody. He didnt really have a choice but at his age he is happy with anything. They are really cute and I got 10$ off. We got the buzz goggles and the woody had and gun holster to go with it too. I had 80$ in rewards dollars and a 15$ gift card so we did not have to use any money today DS4 is so thrilled and wants to wear it now but we have to keep reminding him its for disney. Hopefully he can forget about it until then.

My Dh and I would like to dress up but cant decide what to be. Any suggestions? I was thinking I could be jessie to go with the theme but I could not come up with one for dh.

I also worked on packing lists today. I was able to get the kids a lot of summer clothes super cheap in the past few weeks with all the clearance sales so I have all of their outfits packed in ziploc bags and labeled for the days there wearing them. All their stuff fits nicely into each of their carry on suitcases. We got them the cars rolling carry on's. I also got my stuff together although most of it I still have to wear in the next 5 weeks so I did a practice run. Most of my stuff will also fit into my carry on which is a rolling duffel bag made by totes. Dh is very particular about his clothes and how they are packed so I dont touch his stuff. He always over packs and probably wont listen to me when I tell him he doesnt need all the outfits he probably will want to bring. Anyway here is my traveling/packing plan.

DS4- clothes- Cars Carry On
DS2- clothes- Cars Carry On
DS4/2- shoes/diapers/costumes for ds/2- My check in luggage
Me- clothes/shoes- Carry on
costumes/jackets/anything leftover- check in luggage
DH- 1 carry on and 1 check in luggage- (who knows what he will bring)

That leaves us with 2 check ins =30$ one way (I put in my 2 email
addresses to get the 25$ voucher for airtran
which I hope to use for this and DH's 2 emails
to use on the return)
4 carry on's 1 for each of us

We also plan to use a backpack- standard size as my DH personal item- This will be our "diaper bag". Diapers/wipes/change of clothes for kids/sm bottle of sunscreen.

I will have my small purse as my personal item- holds the money/cards etc.
and
1 very small backpack for the kids personal item- this will have their entertainment for the plane.
We got-
2 mickey and gang coloring boards- will take washable markers for this
2 surprise ink mickey coloring books
I plan to get them a set of figures from the disney store. either toy story or mickey mouse club house. These keep the boys occupied for awhile.
and granola bars/fruit snacks.

I am worried about the backpack. Does anyone know if this is considered a personal item especially since we use it as a diaper bag?

Well thats all for now. I do plan on posting some photos of the stuff we bought but I have to organize it all in one place first. Hope your all having fun with your plans. We have 36 days to go! I can not wait. I hope it goes fast.
[/I]

 

[oregonmommyof2]

Back pack is fine for a personal item... We all take our carry on suitcase and a backpack...

I think DH has plenty of option for Toy Story costume!!! He can be Zurg, Little green alien, and Army man, the Prospector... How about Skud!!! The mean dog from next door... He can be Syd... Oh, how about a cup from Pizza Planet???

Okay i think I have rambled on enough...

 

[jana616]

It sounds like you've been busy! I'm impressed you've got the kids' clothes all ready and know what you're bringing for yourself. I still have to MAKE all the boys' t-shirts, so I really need to get moving!!!
I think the backpack is just fine as a personal item. If it makes you feel any better, I think we are each bringing a backpack as our personal item, plus our real carry-on suitcases. I've heard Airtran is pretty loose on what constitutes carry-ons, and personal items are good to go as long as they fit completely under the seat. And have you noticed how huge the carry-on suitcase size is? 55 inches, compared to 45 on a lot of other airlines. That works well for us!
I wanted to mention that people on the transportation board were reporting that you could not use the $25 vounches for baggage fees, at least last I read. I was super bummed because that's exactly what I wanted to do too. If you find out anything differently, please let me know, because I'm only planning on 1 checked bag right now to save $$$!
Can't wait to read more!