Planning Baby's First WDW Trip... Before She's Arrived! * TRIP REPORT LINK 6/27 *

Coming over from the Disney Mom's FB page, and I am excited for you. We may be there at the same time as my trip is planned for June 1-8.

I have to add that Hannah is a beauty!! I miss having a little one sometimes.
 
Saw your link posted on Facebook and decided to join in! It sounds like things are coming together for a trip to WDW! I know that you're super excited to take that gorgeous little girl to Disney.
 
Coming over from the Disney Mom's FB page, and I am excited for you. We may be there at the same time as my trip is planned for June 1-8.

I have to add that Hannah is a beauty!! I miss having a little one sometimes.

Welcome! :cheer2: we are very excited about her first trip! Hopefully she'll take to the long trip well! The longest she has done is 3 hours... This will add about 10 to it!

And thank you! We think she's a pretty little girl, but we ARE junta little biased :love:


Saw your link posted on Facebook and decided to join in! It sounds like things are coming together for a trip to WDW! I know that you're super excited to take that gorgeous little girl to Disney.

Welcome welcome! :yay:

Things are coming together! I should have an update later today with some real, concrete plans! Woo hoo! :dance3: :banana: but, that will have to wait until afternoon nap time. Morning naps never last long enough to get everything done around here! :rotfl2:
 
We are officially going! :dance3:

We have picked our for sure dates, June 3-10. I know it's going to be warmer than I'd like and more people than I'd like, but when it comes down to it, Disney is Disney and I'm not complaining! Haha :rotfl2:!

We have to talk with my MIL tonight to get the info on booking the timeshare but I believe we are going to be staying in a two bedroom at Vacation Village at Parkway. Not too far away and looks pretty nice! Mostly good reviews too. Of course, I take most reviews with a grain of salt... Some people complain in reviews about the dumbest things! :confused3

So now, the real fun begins! I have about 3.5 months to plan, plan, plan! DD will be just over 9 months when we go, so I'll need to keep that in mind. And, I have 3.5 months to lose some more baby weight! I'm down to probably 30 pounds less than I was 3-ish years ago, but still 20 pounds heavier than I was before I got pregnant. So... I'd like to be back in all of my right before baby summer clothes by the time we go. Good motivation, yes? :woohoo:

If you'll remember, we are surprising my little sister and taking her with us on this trip as a high school graduation present to her as well. She will be graduating on the morning of June 2nd, and we will be leaving to drive to FL VERY early on the morning of the 3rd.

My mom is in on everything, so I plan to have a packing list to DM a week or so beforehand so she can discreetly make sure my sister's clothes are washed, etc. we don't plan on telling her until right after her graduation! And that's where I need y'alls help! I know I want to wrap a physical box to give to her to open at graduation. So far, I've thought that I may buy a t-shirt (just a cute Mickey/Minnie one, nothing fancy) to put in there, print off a packing list, write a cute little poem (which I would DEFINITELY need some help with!) and maybe ordering the maps from Disney (does anyone know if you can order those if you haven't booked rooms through WDW?). Anyone have any other ideas? I want it to be really great! She's never going to see it coming :banana::cool1::cheer2:
 

We've been in June before. It is humid but the crowds shouldn't be *too* bad that early in June. I think SWW is still going on then too so you guys could check that out :goodvibes

I agree that people complain about the most trivial stuff on hotel reviews. :confused3

Good Luck on your weight loss! I've been doing the same thing. Doing the couch to 10k program and keeping track of my food intake on sparkpeople web site. I've lost about 25lbs so far. I'm finally back to pre-pregnancy weight but I still want to lose another 30lbs.

I think it's great that you are surprising your sister! She's going to be so excited!! Your gift idea to reveal it to her I think is great. And yes you can order the specialized maps w/o having a trip booked. I'd order them now because they can take a month or two to get to you.
 
The past few days haven't been very fun at our house... DD has decided to start teething and the poor thing has just felt miserable. We spent Monday and Tuesday just holding and rocking and snuggling. She didn't want to play or do anything but be held and sleep. But, thankfully, my happy girl seems to be back today! :woohoo:

We have OFFICIAlLY booked our condo for June 3-10! And, I also got the maps ordered for my little sister's surprise reveal box(thanks for the tip Carla!)! :banana: so, I've gotten a couple of things accomplished! Despite the icky rain in our parts today, I was getting stir crazy so we got out this morning and I got a binder to put together all of my Disney planning stuff in. I'm usually pretty organized, but with the wee one AND planning for someone who doesn't know they are going, I want to make extra sure I have all my ducks in a row!

And, speaking of ducks in a row, I must make better use of nap time, get of the Dis and do productive things like :laundy: and make DD's baby food for the next few days so we are ready for a trip to see the grandparents in Nashville for the weekend! :yay:
 
I'm here and subscribing...we're leaving in two weeks and our daughter will turn 9 months old while we are there! Disney is so much fun when they are little. Congrats on getting your dates and reservation booked. Things like that make it seem real. :)
 
I'm here and subscribing...we're leaving in two weeks and our daughter will turn 9 months old while we are there! Disney is so much fun when they are little. Congrats on getting your dates and reservation booked. Things like that make it seem real. :)

:welcome: (a bit late)! Y'all will be there so soon...:dance3:! I'm definitely interested to see how your DD does at WDW as a 9 month old! I hope y'all have a wonderful trip! :goodvibes
 
DD and I had a busy weekend traveling to Nashville to visit my Dad and stepmom (and my brother, SIL and nephew who were in town too!) while DH was working. I'm SO ready for tax season to be over! I'll have to upload some pictures of the little ones playing together... It was awfully cute!

DD and I are headed back to Nashville this coming weekend to see my mom, stepdad and little sister! Lots of traveling! But, I need to get some Disney stuff done!

The next things on my list are to order tickets (I'm buying one from Disney, because I have a few hundred in gift cards) and 2 from Undercover Tourist. I need to decide if we want to do 5 or 6 park days. I know we will NOT be doing hoppers this time, though we always have in the past. With DD, I think simpler is better!

I also want to work on ADRs. We aren't going to eat out much, as I plan to cook in our condo a good bit. But, DH and I will have one night out, my sister and I will have one night out, and en we will all do one dinner out. We will probably do a CS lunch or two as well, for the days we get hungry early and just don't want to fool with getting back to the condo. Planning with flexibility is my motto this trip!

DD is waking up from the morning nap... Hopefully I will be back later with my list of potential ADRs!
 
With all of our back and forth to Nashville (and the packing and unpacking that comes with it!), I've kept busy the past couple of weeks and haven't had much time for planning! :eek:

But it's time to kick it into gear, because we are almost at the 3 month mark! Wahoo! :dance3: My plan is to, over the next couple of weeks, start ironing out some specifics, but, I'm going to list out some general plans and ideas for now!

First, FOOD! Since we are going to be in a condo, and we'll have DD, we aren't going to do a ton of ADRs. I think it'll just be easier and less stressful. But, that's not to say we won't be eating out! My thought right now is that we will do one Character Breakfast, one TS for me and DH, one TS for me and my little sister, one TS for all of us, and build in a CS lunch or two into the budget for whenever we decide that's what we'd rather do instead of getting back to the condo. Here's my list of possible ADRs:

Kona Cafe - Polynesian
Jiko - AKL
Tusker House Donald's Safari Breakfast - AK
Via Napoli - Italy - Epcot*
Tutti Italia - Italy - Epcot
California Grill - Contemporary
Kouzzina - Boardwalk

We aren't doing park hoppers (which I think I've mentioned), so I've looked at more resort dining options so we aren't tied to a certain day to make an ADR. Hopefully that will give us more flexibility with times, since I'm booking closer in!

Next, general travel plans! Our dates are June 3-10. I haven't figured out which parks for which days yet... Anyone have access to touring plans and want to let me in on the best/worst parks for these days? :goodvibes:love:;) I'll probably just base it on avoiding EMHs. I just need to sit down with it. but here is generally our plan!

Sunday June 3: Travel Day (leave 4am, drive Nashville to Orlando)
Monday June 4: Park Day (Hopefully MK)
Tuesday June 5: Park Day
Wednesday June 6: Park Day
Thursday June 7: Park Day
Friday June 8: Park Day
Saturday June 9: Park Day (Possibly traveling home early this day...)
Sunday June 10: Travel Day (drive Orlando to West TN)

We *may* drive home Saturday so that DH has a day to recover before heading back to work. It's a loooong drive, especially with a 9 month old in e car. We haven't made a decision on that yet. We have the condo until Sunday, so either way, it is fine.

Each day in the park, our plan is to be there at rope drop (DD, as well as the rest of us, are definitely morning people) do as much as we can in the morning, but let DD take her morning nap in her stroller. She usually only takes a 30-45 minute nap anyways, and will sleep just about anywhere, so I hope this will work out. I hope to do some practice runs at the mall or the park, etc closer to time. We'll plan to head back to the condo around lunch for food and rest. Depending on how DD does, DH and I will probably take turns staying at the condo with her while she gets a good afternoon nap and maybe a little swim time (if she likes e water), while the other heads back to the park with my sister. Back to the condo for dinner (or meet up for the dinner plan for the night) and maybe back to the park, depending on how DD is doing. She typically goes to bed around 7:30-7:45 at home, but may be later in EST in Orlando, if we don't try to change her schedule. I'm going to try to be as flexible as possible with her and just enjoy! I want to keep her happy and us happy to!

Well, that update was all over the place! Sorry for my complete lack of cohesiveness! :laughing: Maybe next time, I can get my thoughts together before I start typing :rotfl2:
 
I'm still here, I promise! Things have been a little crazy the past two weeks. dH had a virus, followed by strep throat, so I spent a lot of time keeping DD away from him! And keeping myself away from him. thankfully, it looks like it worked, and DD and I have avoided getting sick, but I'm completely worn out from it!

I did manage to make all of our ADR's this week and got everything we wanted, when we wanted them! :cool1:

Hope to do an update this afternoon or tomorrow with the ADr's and the first of our plans! It's coming together y'all... And getting closer! :jumping1:
 
As I mentioned briefly before, I managed to get all of the ADR's we wanted last week! :banana: All of them will be new to us, so that's exciting! Here's the rundown (though I will mention them again when I get to my day-by-day plans, which I should start soon!):

1) Tuesday, 6/5 - Kouzzina (dinner) (me and my little sister)
2) Wednesday, 6/6 - California Grill (dinner) (me and DH)
3) Thursday, 6/7 - Kona Cafe (dinner) (everyone!, me, DH, DD, and little sister)
4) Friday, 6/8 - Tusker House, Donald's Safari Breakfast (everyone!)

I'm pretty excited about these! I pretty much knew where I wanted to go, and thankfully, DH was on board! :laughing: Since we aren't doing park hoppers on this trip, I thought It would be a good opportunity to make our ADR's at resort restaurants. We generally like to eat early, and that works well for DD, so I didn't want that to tie us down to certain restaurants/knock us out of certain ones because I was making the ADR's later. It definitely worked out!:thumbsup2

The only thing I really debated over was the character breakfast. I was going back and forth between Tusker House and Crystal Palace. I decided against CP because 1) little sister has been there before and 2) I feel like we are always wanting more time in MK, but in AK, time is more on our side. Plus, DH loves Donald! I'm really looking forward to it and I hope DD doesn't have a character-phobia! Thankfully, it's later in the week, so we'll know how she reacts.

If DD will keep on sleeping and take a good long afternoon nap, I might be able to crank out our first day plans! Or an update on what I have so far for the big reveal for my little sister! :woohoo:
 
Joining in! I followed your link from your post in Shannon-PixieMama's PTR.

We'll just miss each other during our trips! We leave for home on June 2!

Your little Hannah is a beautiful baby!
 
Joining in! I followed your link from your post in Shannon-PixieMama's PTR.

We'll just miss each other during our trips! We leave for home on June 2!

Your little Hannah is a beautiful baby!

Welcome! It seems like there are a lot of us around here that will be coming and going right around the first part of June. Hopefully, it's just us Disers! :laughing:

And thank you! We are, of course, pretty partial to the little bit :lovestruc. I need to put some new pictures of her up. Hard to believe she's 6 1/2 months now! :eek:
 
Hi, Brittany! Came over from my PTR to yours... yay on getting your trip this year!

And your Hannah is precious :cutie: (And such a lovely name... it's my oldest DD's, too!)

I haven't tried any of your ADRs... but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about California Grill. And for your TH breakfast, if you can manage to get up really early (which I know might be hard to do with the baby) you could book it for 8 a.m. and get in before the park opens! That's on my "Disney Bucket List"... to have an early breakfast ADR and get in the park while it's virtually empty!
 
Hi, Brittany! Came over from my PTR to yours... yay on getting your trip this year!

And your Hannah is precious :cutie: (And such a lovely name... it's my oldest DD's, too!)

I haven't tried any of your ADRs... but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about California Grill. And for your TH breakfast, if you can manage to get up really early (which I know might be hard to do with the baby) you could book it for 8 a.m. and get in before the park opens! That's on my "Disney Bucket List"... to have an early breakfast ADR and get in the park while it's virtually empty!

Welcome! Thank you thank you (about Hannah)... She does have our hearts! :cloud9:

With TH, I did get an 8:20 ADR! The park opens at 9 that day, so we should get some empty AK action! DD is typically an early riser (:sad2:), so that should work out for us! Of course, the best laid plans... :rolleyes1
 
The Big Reveal!

Our actual vacation will start on Sunday, the 3rd, when we leave out of Nashville at an ungodly hour, but I figure I need to start with the day before, with the big reveal to my little sister that she is going to Disney! :banana:

That weekend is going to be C-RAZY! We will be in Nashville for my 10 year high school reunion, my little sister's graduation, and the beginning of vacation... It's safe to say, we're going to be exhausted before we ever get there! :rotfl:

Anyhow, my sister, Cindy, has her high school graduation at 9am that Saturday morning. We plan to give her a gift to open right after graduation that let's her know, "hey, pack your bags, we leave in the morning!", but in a much cuter way!

So far, I have a set of Disney maps that I ordered and a t-shirt that says I <3 ::MickeyMo. I'm also going to make matching shirts for me and her (and a matching dress for DD) that has a Minnie on it. I will also have a packing list in the package for her (which I will have already forwarded to my mom earlier, so that she can sneakily make sure that laundry has been done, :rotfl2:).

The biggest thing, and really the most important thing I think, I have left, is the card I want to do for the outside of the package. I want it to be very witty and poem like, and incorporate Disney song lyrics/rides/etc. I have the first line ready, but obviously need more! So, please feel free to throw out your suggestions!

The first line is: "Zip-a-dee-do-da, Zip-a-dee-a, congratulations, it's your graduation day!"

Things I might like to include are: packing her bass, heading south, waking up very early the next day, driving for 12 hours, the happiest place on earth, the mouse, etc. so any thoughts are welcomed!


 
Sickness has been traveling around our house. I was hoping that I could avoid it and so could the little one, but alas, we are both under the weather :sick:. It's DD's first time with a cold, and I must say, I'm not a fan! But we made it almost 7 months with her staying completely healthy, so that's pretty darn good! :cool1:

Anyhow, I've been slacking, so first, I just want to be a proud momma and post some pics of DD! :love: She's grown so much since the last ones I posted! I can'tbelievethat she'll be 7 months next weekend :eek:

Just hanging out with my toys!
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Learning to stand!
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All ready for church (wearing one of my dresses circa 1984!)
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Rocking her new Minnie sunglasses we got for WDW! And her signature frowny face... I promise she's happy here!
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She loves her Minnie shirt!
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I love my sweet girl! :cloud9:

Next up, our travel day!
 
Travel Day... I think this is the day I'm most apprehensive about! We've never traveled this far with DD, so hopefully she'll do just fine. I'm sure she will though. She is typically a really great car rider on the 3 hour trip to Nashville, and that is with no one in the backseat to entertain her.

Anyhow, we will be leaving from Nashville, which is nice, because Nashvegas is a few hours closer to Orlando than our home in West TN :banana:! The plan is to have the vehicle pretty much completely packed the night before except for last minute toiletries/snacks/etc. we hope to be leaving my mom's house between 4-4:30AM! :eek: Yikes! Now, that's normally not a problem. I'm usually super excited about vacations and I leap out of bed and can be ready to go in minutes. Hopefully the same can be true while getting my 18 yo little sister out the door, DH out the door, and DD, who will be 9 months, out the door! The plan is to have everyone in the car, coffee poured, seat belts on, and I will get DD, change her diaper, put her in her car seat and start praying she goes right back to sleep. :rolleyes1 I think that's the best option!

We'll probably grab some breakfast on the road... Just some drive-thru (maybe Chick-fil-a...yum!... Geez, why do I always want it on Sunday!?!)... Probably sometime around 7:30 (well, probably 8:30, as we will have already hit the Eastern time zone) and somewhere near Chattanooga! If we don't have to make too many stops, we should make it to Macon, GA by lunch time, which is also approximately half way!

If DH has his way, we'll be having lunch at Five Guys there... No complaints here! Side note, but if we are making great time, and DD is doing really well, I might try to convince DH to take a quick detour to see Weslyean College in Macon. My college sorority was founded there and I've always wanted to see it! /end random side note.

The rest of the drive will be spent counting down the miles to the FL state line, then watching for fun billboards and keeping e little one happy, fed, or asleep.

I'm hoping to make it to our condo a little before dinner time. Then, we can hopefully quickly unload the truck and I'll let DH and DD go inside the condo and play, maybe check out the pool and let them both get some energy out while My little sister and I make a quick grocery store run for the breakfast/lunch essentials. Then, it's back to the condo for some dinner and off to bed... Because we've got a big day in the mornign at THE MAGIC KINGDOM! Woooo hoo! :banana:
 
Aw, your little one is precious! I love that she wore one of your dresses to church!

Good luck with getting your sister out of the house at 4 or 4:30. I have two teenage girls--18 and almost 16-and they are slooooooow! Maybe she'll be so excited, she'll have no trouble getting out of the bed! :)

Not sure where you live, but we lived in west TN for three years.
 







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