Planning another magical 5th birthday

[MarbleBob]

We've had the traditional PhotoPass Package at WDW several times, but we haven't tried the Memory Maker version yet. That being said, we did PhotoPass+ at Disneyland last October. It's basically the same thing as Memory Maker. We didn't do any character dining, so that part was lost on us, but we did get a lot of photos from the rides, and I felt like it was totally worth it.

My kids got very good at spotting the cameras on the rides and making faces (Interestingly, I shared some of the photos on the trip report. One of the photos was of my older two with two random kids on California Screamin'. One of the TR readers spotted the photo and said that they were there the same day with a friend and their kids, and that those were her friends kids. Small world!) Also, on the Tower of Terror ride, there were some real comedians in the photo. A father son looking at a park map, and one random dude with a terrified expression pulling out his hair. We plan to do Memory Maker on our upcoming trip, and I can't wait to see what interesting things we capture

 

[annegirl]

Thank you!
That picture is hilarious. I have never bought a ride photo but now that I think about it that would be pretty fun to have them if they end up funny like that.

 

[Denovagirl]

I love the ride photos so we are def doing MM! One single ride photo is $20 so it's sooo worth it, ya never know when you'll have one you just gotta have!!

 

[MidnightParade]

HelloHello! I followed you over! You're family seems awesome! I myself had a TMNT obsession when I was a kid so I whole heartedly support that! I also am a bookworm(I love the supernatural fiction) and while I haven't played it for awhile I love World of Warcraft!

I think its a great idea to make your own autograph books! I read that the characters really love to see them cause it shows you want them and that you care.

I'm going to make a note of Four J's limited. I love pin collecting so it would be nice to get some pins to trade with and not have to buy them(most of my current pins I can't part with!). Thanks for the tip!

Sounds like your family is going to have a fantastic time so far!

 

[annegirl]

HelloHello! I followed you over! You're family seems awesome! I myself had a TMNT obsession when I was a kid so I whole heartedly support that! I also am a bookworm(I love the supernatural fiction) and while I haven't played it for awhile I love World of Warcraft!

I think its a great idea to make your own autograph books! I read that the characters really love to see them cause it shows you want them and that you care.

I'm going to make a note of Four J's limited. I love pin collecting so it would be nice to get some pins to trade with and not have to buy them(most of my current pins I can't part with!). Thanks for the tip!

Sounds like your family is going to have a fantastic time so far!

Nice! Yes, we have so many people comment on her being so girly girl and then loving the turtles and how one of her shirts is a boy shirt. I'm like "what of it?"
I love supporting them in the things they love and being excited with them.

Thanks for coming over!

 

[annegirl]

I love the ride photos so we are def doing MM! One single ride photo is $20 so it's sooo worth it, ya never know when you'll have one you just gotta have!!

That makes sense. And last time we did end up buying our Chef Mickey's photo so if we did that again that would probably make up the difference.

Thank you for the responses! We will go with Memory Maker!

 

[Denovagirl]

Yay! You won't regret it! We got photos at Chef Mickeys, CRT, Hoop De Doo, BBB, Pirate League and all the rides! It was pretty nifty! You'll
Find yourself starting to do silly things for the ride photos just for fun since you know you get one!

 

[annegirl]

Saturday, while running some errands, I found myself right next to our local Disney store. I decided to go in and look at their pajamas.
I really liked having new pajamas for the girls on our last trip and I wanted to do that again. I really wanted to get Abi some Sofia pajamas but I can never find them in her size. Like most things she likes, they tend to be in the little kid section.
I found a rack with really cute nightgowns. And they had a Sofia one in Abi's size!! And a Minnie in Maddy's size. So I grabbed them. I did not want to risk going back later and them not having her size anymore.

I spent some time at the local Scholastic warehouse sale this week as well. With Disney on the brain, I ended up getting some princess books to use on the trip, a princess cookbook just for fun, a Doc McStuffins book for Maddy, and a book about Walt Disney to use this summer for our reading/writing program. (I don't homeschool past preschool but during the summer I always pick a theme/subject and we do "summer school")
I found the Elsa puzzle in Target's dollar section.

 

[MarbleBob]

Cool! I'm sure the girls will love the princess books, but I got excited when I saw the Walt Disney one!

DW likes to do "summer school" with our kids too. Usually giving them an incentive/reward if they read a certain amount of books.

 

[annegirl]

I know! I can't wait to read the Walt Disney book with them!
I do that too. Last year it was for Abi. She read 100 books and then got to pick a prize. She had to do a book report for each book and they had to be chapter books over 75 pages. It was so much fun.
This year we are going to study different types of writing: poetry, letters, biographies and autobiographies, short stories, longer stories, picture books, etc and then write versions of them.
We will also do some reading incentives again.
I have so much fun doing this kind of stuff with them!

 

[annegirl]

I just added Memory Maker!

 

[MidnightParade]

Yay for Memory Maker! I'm planning on adding it as well! Definitely going to be nice having it.

Love the new jammies!

 

[annegirl]

Do any of you know if I can add someone to a reservation that is not on my friends/family list?

The reason I ask is that I just found out yesterday that my sister in law and her family are going to be in DW while we are there. We probably won't hang out a ton because they have a different vacation style than I do. (meaning they aren't park commando's. )

They are staying at Shades of Green and do not have the dining plan.
The one thing she wants to do with us if she can is to meet us at BBB on Maddy's birthday to have their little girl do it as well. They would also like to go to CRT afterward.

I don't know if I will even be able to get these yet. But I am worried that she won't be able to.

So, even though she doesn't have an account with my disney experience can I add her family to our CRT reservation if I get one? For instance, when I make the reservation putting in a party of 11 instead of 6?

I don't want to waste time having to change the number of people and maybe miss out on the time I want if I try this and it doesn't work. So, maybe one of you know the answer?

 

[Denovagirl]

You can, it'd probably be easiest to do it via phone though!

 

[annegirl]

Okay. Thanks!

 

[annegirl]

Logged on my disney experience at 3:30am and ready to make ADR's.
And then it would show me my entire stay in the drop down box but wouldn't let me make a reservation past my first day- the one day I don't want one.

 

[annegirl]

GOOD NEWS​

It was a stressful time waiting for the phone lines to open up. I had my husband trying over and over again on the website and he was trying different browsers, signing out and back in again, and whatever else he could think of.
Then at five minutes until 5 we both started dialing on our cell phones. I got through first and was only on hold for about 30 seconds.

I told the great CM Linda what had been happening on the website and she got my reservation # and used her magic.

I was able to get EVERYTHING I wanted. We had to do BOG for a night that was our last night and my parents wouldn't be there anymore, but other than that it worked out perfectly. We will try to go to BOG for lunch with them so that they get to at least experience eating in the castle.

After all is said and done, this is what we have:

dinner at BOG
brunch at CRT
dinner at 'Ohana
dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern
breakfast at Akurshus
breakfast at Crystal Palace
dinner at Chef Mickey's
dinner at 1900 Park Fare
dinner at Garden Grill
and two Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointments.

I am SO excited!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I made it over! ON YOUR ADR DAY!!!!

You have a beautiful family!

The girls are precious, and are going to flip out with all the goodies!!!

You haven't said HOW you were going to reveal to the girls they are going to Disney? ya know i am so curious in how everyone else is doing it to tweak my reveal...


So happy for you you got all your ADR'S!!!!

Excited to follow along oh and Hi Terri...

 

[MarbleBob]

Congrats on getting your ADR's in! I love your final list and looking forward to reading about your experiences with them in your final trip report

Yahoo!

 

[Denovagirl]

Woohoo! Your list looks AWESOME! So happy you got all that you wanted! Props to the hubby for helping out too! Mine was snoozing like no tomorrow in the midst of my ADR craziness!!