Planning our birthday trip!

[Jubilee]

The cast includes -

me - (turning 26 on out trip) and a part time working mom/Disney fanatic/raised in S. Florida and wanting to move nearer the mouse... and the beach!

DH - (28) and a chef/restaurant manager... very hard-working and loves letting me plan our vacations months and months in advance. Calls it "research."

DD - (turning 2 a few weeks before our trip) and the most sweet natured little person ever. We just can't believe we were so blessed with this amazing, super-intelligent little being! She is going to be a big sister in January.

We've decided to book WDW next on Wednesday, September 5th - Wednesday, September 12th!

We're also visiting my dad Sept. 3 & 4, so our vacation technically starts, what, the 1st or 2nd, you know.... when you're so excited you may as well be on vacation already? Oh wait, is that the 1st or 2nd of August? It's feeling like it right about now!

My actual birthday is September 5th, and my daughter will have just turned 2 August 16th, so this is a birthday trip for sure. We also have several people coming along, so it's officially a grand gathering as well!

At the time, it'll be:

~my husband, daughter (25 mos.) and myself...

~meeting up with my dad, stepmother and newly adopted sister (2.5 years)

~staying at the same resort with my mom, stepfather, sister (22), brother (20) and brother (10)


We're attending Rock the Universe USF on Friday. I'm not familiar with a lot of the contemporary christian artists, but I am still very excited. We went to MVMCP this past December so I'm hoping this "special event" will also be so enjoyable, even though we've decided on Universal's rather than Disney's! DH has never been to USF so I'm excited for him to see a bit of it also.

We booked our trip the morning of 2/15/07 at Pop Century, 8 day passes, with hopper, added water park and more option, dining plan!! We decided to get the dining plan all week rather than a resort upgrade. Of course it would be great to get it free, but that would just be an added bonus at this point.

In April, added free dining and we upgraded to POR! We also removed water park, fun and more to maximize time and parks, and also because it's too much to cram into a day for a pregnant lady.

 

[Jubilee]

Hopeful schedule:

09/03/2007 M Leave house by 8:00am; we may spend the night in St. Augustine or just drive all the way to Ft. Lauderdale, which would not put us in until, at earliest, 6:00pm

09/04/2007 T Spend day at beach, visiting childhood house, etc. Relaxing day!

09/05/2007 W Leave Ft. Lauderdale by 10:00am, arrive and check-in at POR by approx. 1:30pm ~ explore resort, get settled, shop ~ get ready at 4:15PM for our 5:45PM Raglan Road birthday reservations. Afterwards, take bus to MK to watch Spectro and Wishes!

09/06/2007 R AK rope drop at 9:00am ~ break ~ Magic Kingdom evening, Crystal Palace character dinner at 6:45pm , then either 900pm Spectro, 1000pm Wishes or maximize extremely short wait timrd for rides during this time!

*■09/07/2007 F LOEMH 8am-9am ~ dad day ~ Rock the Universe 4:30pm - 1:30am

09/08/2007 Sa dad day ~ Epcot, Coral Reef 6:40pm dinner with (surprise!) diver sign and personalized menus, 900pm IllumiNations!

■09/09/2007 Su 9:00am rope drop, get tickets for Doodlebops, 9:20am breakfast Play N' Dine (if DD is into characters only), Pizza Planet lunch for the Toy Story lovers, 4:50pm Sci-Fi Theatre dinner, 830p, Fantasmic!

09/10/2007 M Quick breakfast ~ pool or explore resorts and get counter service lunch ~ Epcot, Les Chefs De France romantic dinner alone just the 2 of us 8:30pm!!

09/11/2007 T Park TBD ~ 'Ohana's Dinner 7:15pm, watch fireworks from Poly beach

■09/12/2007 W Very early morning, check out and pack car ~ LOEMH 8-9am ~ Chef Mickey's 9:30am breakfast ~ DTD ~ Grab Earl of Sandwich lunches with remaining CS ~ Leave for home

* denotes Rock the Universe Universal Studios Florida date attending.
■ MK LOEMH


Restaurants we're most interested in dining at during this trip:

PR ~ Captain Cook's Snack Company B / Tonga Toast (CS)
MGM ~ Play 'n' Dine at Hollywood and Vine character B (TS)
CR ~ Food and Fun Center B,L, or D (CS)
GF ~ Gasparilla Grill and Games B, L, or D (CS)
PO ~ Sassagoula OR Riverside Mill B, L, or D (CS)
MGM ~ Sci-Fi Theatre Restaurant L (TS)
CSR ~ Pepper Market L or D (CS)
MK ~ Cosmic Ray's L or D (CS)
AK ~ Tusker House Restaurant B, L, or D (CS)
PR ~ 'Ohana D (TS)
CR ~ Chef Mickey's Character B (TS)
SSR ~ Artist's Palette lunch (CS)
BC ~ Cape May Cafe D (TS)
BW ~ Boardwalk Bakery B or L (CS)
MK ~ Crystal Palace D (TS)
Epcot ~ Les Chefs De France D (TS)
DTD ~ Earl of Sandwich L (CS)


BCR ~ Beaches and Cream dessert - Kitchen Sink share w/ the fam
POLY ~ Tambu Lounge for a Lapu Lapu

Snack & must haves ~ Pineapple Dole Whip, Pineapple Float, Cookes of Dublin fried candybar, gelattos, Norway School Bread

 

[Jubilee]

Restaurants I (remember having) visited on previous trips:

Aloha Isle
Bongos Cuban Cafe dinner
Cantina de San Angel
Cookes of Dublin
Coral Reef lunch
Cosmic Ray's lunch
Crystal Palace dinner
ESPN Club dinner
Everything Pop Food Court dinner
Fountainview Cafe breakfast
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop
Le Cellier Steakhouse lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
Main Street Bake shop
Maya Grill breakfast
Nine Dragons dinner
Pepper Market dinner
Planet Hollywood dinner
Pinocchio Village Haus lunch
Raglan Road dinner
Rose and Crown dinner
San Angel Inn dinner
Toy Story Pizza Planet lunch
Tusker House breakfast

Restaurants DH has visited:

Aloha Isle
Cantina de San Angel
Cookes of Dublin
Everything Pop Food Court dinner
Fountainview Cafe breakfast
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop
Le Cellier Steakhouse lunch
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
Maya Grill breakfast
Pepper Market dinner
Raglan Road dinner
Rose and Crown dinner
Toy Story Pizza Planet lunch
Tusker House breakfast

 

[LadyRob]

Your plans sound great! Little Miss Maggie is going to love Hollywood and Vine. I was surprised at how much my DD was into the characters and the songs. She had a blast!

We are trying Ohana's breakfast next month but I'm not so sure how she's going to do with Stitch. So far, Eeyore is the only character that she's afraid of.

 

[Jubilee]

Ohhh... I'm so excited for Jojo, and Goliath again. It seemed like the only character she liked (wasn't acting scared of) was Goliath. He was making kissy noises.

Eeyore and Stitch are the same color after all, so I hope it isn't that shade of blue that scared her! I think it would be fun even if she isn't crazy about the characters... it seems like a real "wake you up" kinda breakfast

not that happy

not that happy

not that bad!

hopefully the difference between 16 and 25 mos. will be big!

 

[Jubilee]

I love adding to the addiction! Last night I helped my mom book their room for the duration. It felt great adding our name to, "Are you meeting up with another party?" YES, indeed!

They decided to go against the dining plan... mainly because my 10 year old brother is super picky, yet would add a lot of money to have to buy him the dining plan he wouldn't want to stick to. Even so, they are driving so will be bringing a long a lot of snacks. Here's to hoping it's free anyway.

*update* Free dining is on! I spent the money we would've spent on the DP plus a bit extra and we upgraded everyone to POR! We are really excited because it seems so beautiful there. Can't wait now...

 

[Jubilee]

Over the last couple weeks, this really became the trip that almost didn't happen! Last month DH unexpectedly lost his job. It wouldn't have been too big of a deal if it didn't take nearly 6 weeks to find another. My the grace of God and with a lot of blessing from our parents, we will be making the trip, but we will also be working very hard this next month! I am still so excited to be able to go. I think I will start packing next week!