Planning our Magical Memories - 1 day at a time

[adelphisand]

Let's see here.... I've been lurking for a little while (read: months) and finally decided to post a pre-trippie (after I figured out what it was!) . Bear with me, I've never done one of these...

I guess the general outline is Cast members, plans, adr's, thoughts, wants, issues, pictures, video if possible...I think I can handle most of that. (As soon as I'm able to post pictures I will - kinda handicapped because of my post count. )

Ok....cast members - this'll be short.
Me - 26 totally a converted Disney addict! I know shocking isn't it? that I could have *ever* have been anything but! I work for a large bank in the collections department.
Hubby - aka: David 30 - has *always* been a disney addict, even worked for them for a period of time before 9-11. DH works for a large global company in the convention industry as their lighting and sound designer. (Basically, crap goes wrong they call him to fix it.)

Previous visits? DH has been over 23 times...my head spins when I try to recall them all. I went once when I was 7...and then it was a very long 16 years before we returned on our Honeymoon - no plans, no adr's, no tour guides, just a little getaway for 3 days smack in the middle of our honeymoon week. I mean we were in Treasure Island, Fl....How could we *not* go?

And then, we *had* to celebrate our 1st anniversary in Disneyland for thier 50th celebration . We had planned on going back for our 3rd to world, but circumstances prevented us.... His grandfather was pretty ill , so we pushed Disney back until this year so that we could visit Pop-Pop.

This trip is 2 years in the making and almost didn't happen again...
Allow me to elborate a little. His grandparents came to visit for 2 months, (in Vegas! In the middle of our 120 degree heat wave!!) poor things couldn't even leave the house it was so hot from them!! They did however a lot! So Pop-pop losing his mental capabilities leaves a lot of responsibility on the rest of us; more so on my DH.

Every other day; if not every day, DH would work 10+ hours, and then drive 30 minutes out of the way to go help Pop-pop in and out of the shower and make sure they were both ok. (Did I mention gas was about $3 a gallon at this point? ) Now I LOVE his grandparents, but it's hard enough that he's working 70 hour weeks, plus the additional drive time back and forth...I was getting a bit crazy!

DH and I were talking about how the bills never stop no matter how much the both of us are working like crazy, and how we didn't think we'd be able to pull off the Disney trip again this year. So with a breaking heart and many tears we agreed to put it off until next year. (Mind you we had already put down the $200 deposit over a year ago.) So we let it go....

The grandparents leave and life moves on, right? Not so fast! My mother in law (whom I adore!!) said that as a big "Thank You" for everything DH did for Gma & Gpa, and a small part of our Christmas gift, she would take care of our Disney Trip; minus the deposit we had already made. But that we would have to cut it back from 10 days to 7 - GAME ON!

Sooooo...that was a few months ago, and I've been on every board I could find , making notes , looking at the food porn , and totally becoming comfortable that we really are going this year!

Up next...our schedule...issues...can we get the time off?...whose watching the girls? Drama....

 

[adelphisand]

So after Mother in law gave us a budget I went on an Excel tangent . Every concievable arrangment of days for after Thanksgiving to Christmas, making sure we get the most out of the possible days off we needed from work. And we found that Dec 13th-20th would give more weekdays than weekends, and while it's during the holiday season, I'm hoping we get at least a few days of not so crazy crowds. I'll be off from the 12th-the holiday, going back on the 26th...Love extra days off from work! and DH's slow season is the week we are going, so it's perfect!!

Ok...so where are we staying?? Poly of course!! 2004 was at the POFQ, and 2005 was the Grand Californian in CA....so this is going to be a change of pace for us...not only is it Poly, but it's Concierage Poly with the DDP.

So as of right now...praying to the Disney gods that our flights don't change like they have the habit of doing, here's the schedule as it stands...

Dec 12th - fly from Las Vegas to LAX @ 7pm. Then from LAX to MCO after an hours layover we'll get into Disney @ 6am on Dec 13th! (Here's hoping I can sleep on the plane!!)

Dec 13th - AM EMH is MK - Since the parks won't be open when we get there, we figured we could just chill in Concierge for breakfast and coffee!! Quick service for Lunch, and Rose and Crown @ 9pm for dinner with fireworks! (What a great way to start the day! )

Dec 14th - PM EMH is Epcot: B - concierge, L - Quick service, D - Paris @ 7:20pm

Dec 15th - AM EMH is MGM: B - Concierge, L - Quick Service, D - No plans yet.

Dec 16th - PM EMH is MGM: B - Mary Poppins @ 8:50am, L - Cinderella's Castle (was totally able to snag a cancellation!) @ 2:15pm, D - Quick Service

Dec 17th - AM EMH is AK - B - Concierge, L - Garden Grill @ 3pm, D - Quick service

Dec 18th - AM EMH is Epcot - B - Ohana @ 8:30am, L - Concierge, D - Quick Service

Dec 19th -PM EMH is AK - B - Concierge, L - Crystal Palace @ 11:50am, D - Coral Reef @ 8:40pm

Dec 20th - AM EMH is MK - our last day and our flight doesn't leave until 8pm meaning we don't have to be ready for ME until about 4pm.

Ok...the girls we spoke about the last time? They are of the female kind...but they're furry... 3 of them to be exact...And spoiled rotten by DH! Anyways, the oldest has male agression issues - they were all rescues but she was tormented pretty badly. We are blessed with an awesome friend that they love. Our last trip, she stayed at the house, enjoyed the free cable and a stocked fridge and a comfy bed. This time it's the holidays! How do I convince her to stay in town and watch them for us? Easy - we bribe her with offering to pay for half of her ticket home to NH. She declines, but says she'll watch them anyway!! How awesome is that?? So now I can be at peace knowing they're ok while I'm enjoying Mickey and Friends, and they're in the comfort of their home, their yard and thier schedule... Yah!!

Next up - Counting the days....(and maybe the hours too!) (50:05:13:20: left until we see the mouse...)[/B][/B]

 

[Avivasmom]

That was a great Christmas gift from your MIL...and even better at the Poly concierage. Now that tops it all...

You have great plans.. we do weekdays much less crowded.

HUGS!

 

[adelphisand]

Ok...let's see...49 days and counting -

Today I printed the transfers for the tshirts I'm making...Opened the package of Avery transfers and what am I missing? 2 sheets of transfers so I called Avery and they are sending me new ones!! So I have 8 of the 10 I'm doing done....I'll post pictures as soon as I'm allowed to. I have so many to share!

Oh and did you see the little prayer earlier about not having our flights changed on us? Well, guess what?? They changed. Yep, by a whole 15 stinkin' minutes! DH called and tried to see if we could keep the same flights - don't ask me why! Apparently he's unwilling to give up the mouse 15 minutes earlier than what he has too.... SO he spoke with a Disney Addict at Delta, and she bumped us up to non-stop flights both ways! Which totally rocks now!! My ears aren't so good on planes (going to try earplanes this trip) and this saves and extra up/down for me. I'll let you know how the earplanes work.

I'm a total list person - I'm starting a pre-shopping list of things we need, and then will break it down so that we have what we need when we get in since we're going straight to the parks. We won't have access to our stuff for a few hours, let alone our room!

Oh and in yesterday's mail came our letter saying it was all paid and had a zero balance! Wicked happy at the moment.

Now, that dentist appointment on friday is still keeping me up at night!

 

[ashleypmo]

I think your timing will be perfect ! According to the Unofficial Guide to WDW web site, attendance will be really low. Just make sure you check your Times Guide when you get to the parks and check on the nighttime events (wishes/parade/fantasmic/illuminations) because they run a diff. schedule during value season.

I would love to go during the holidays. But my kids really love BB, so we're going in May--but next time around, it'll be the first half of December for sure!

 

[adelphisand]

I think your timing will be perfect ! According to the Unofficial Guide to WDW web site, attendance will be really low. Just make sure you check your Times Guide when you get to the parks and check on the nighttime events (wishes/parade/fantasmic/illuminations) because they run a diff. schedule during value season.

I would love to go during the holidays. But my kids really love BB, so we're going in May--but next time around, it'll be the first half of December for sure!

Thanks for the reassurance Ashleypmo! I'm totally freaking about the possibility of crowd issues. When we went in 2004, it was after veteran's day weekend and we had zero wait for everything!

Never been to BB - not a bathing suit fan and I burn super quick !! Maybe one of these days though...

 

[DisneyDadFaNaTic]

I LOVE the Poly! Everything there is excellent!

To help with the links or pictures. You can upload pictures to the "photos" section of this board. If you will scroll to the top the "photos" link is in the light blue right in the middle. You may have to create your account, I can't remember exactly, but upload your pictures there. Then select your picture after it is uploaded to bring it to its own window then right click on the picture, select "Properties" and copy the address. (It is done the easiest by opening two windows, one to your post, and one to the picture page).

Then put on the front end. Paste your address from the picture.
And put at the end. It should bring your picture up.

If this doens't work or my hints aren't clear enough PM me and I'll send better hints.

I hope this helps! Keep up the good work!

 

[disneymommieof2]

Hi- great so far- I just started my PTR yesterday. YAY!! for the nonstop flights. You should be able to post pictures now- I pretty sure you only need ten posts so you should be good to go. I'm anxious to see what designs you picked for your shirts- did you get them from the DISignsboard. I got tons of them for our trip it was so hard to choose. I gotta ask you- Is your last name Engler?? Mine is- of course I married into it but I see your husbands name is dave, so is my FIL-I just thought it was funny that there was a dave engler on here. I'm sure they are not directly related cuz' I don't think they have a relatives out in vegas. Just a funny coincidence I guess I think that is a pretty slow time of year. so you should be able to do like last time and have very short wait times if any for the rides. Looking forward to an update.....

 

[adelphisand]

I LOVE the Poly! Everything there is excellent!

To help with the links or pictures. You can upload pictures to the "photos" section of this board. If you will scroll to the top the "photos" link is in the light blue right in the middle. You may have to create your account, I can't remember exactly, but upload your pictures there. Then select your picture after it is uploaded to bring it to its own window then right click on the picture, select "Properties" and copy the address. (It is done the easiest by opening two windows, one to your post, and one to the picture page).

Then put on the front end. Paste your address from the picture.
And put at the end. It should bring your picture up.

If this doens't work or my hints aren't clear enough PM me and I'll send better hints.

I hope this helps! Keep up the good work!

I have them uploaded to photobucket so I'll try with that first, I just don't want the same pics in 20 different accounts. We'll see what happens! I'm uploading the pics now.

Hi- great so far- I just started my PTR yesterday. YAY!! for the nonstop flights. You should be able to post pictures now- I pretty sure you only need ten posts so you should be good to go. I'm anxious to see what designs you picked for your shirts- did you get them from the DISignsboard. I got tons of them for our trip it was so hard to choose. I gotta ask you- Is your last name Engler?? Mine is- of course I married into it but I see your husbands name is dave, so is my FIL-I just thought it was funny that there was a dave engler on here. I'm sure they are not directly related cuz' I don't think they have a relatives out in vegas. Just a funny coincidence I guess I think that is a pretty slow time of year. so you should be able to do like last time and have very short wait times if any for the rides. Looking forward to an update.....

Here's hoping on the pic part - I'm uploading them now to Dis and we'll see... The last name is "Engler", and that side of the family originates in NJ/NH so that would be totally wicked if we were related somehow. I agree that the "Engler" side seems to be pretty small.

On the small wait times!!

 

[adelphisand]

According to some fellow dis'ers I should be able to post some pictures...let's see?

Ok...we'll start with the Happy Couple :

Followed by Honeymoon 2004:

Followed by 1st anniversary 2005:

I guess I'll post the furkids after this!

 

[adelphisand]

ok...Furkids...the reason we can't travel anywhere without our most trusted friend watching them!!

Sheila - Shar Pei / Shepard mix @ about 65 lbs, she was a rescue from the ASPCA.

Lucy - Basset Hound/Border Collie/Aussie Shepard mix @ about 45 lbs, and she jumped in the back of our car up on the Mtn. when we were looking for wedding locations.

Ricki - where do we begin with this one? Ok...total Heinz 57 dog. St. Bernard/Blue Heeler/White Lab/Dalmation @ about 90 lbs. She was a total runt - not anymore...

And the biggest kid of them all?? My DH:

He'd kill me if he saw this...Shhhhh!

 

[disneymommieof2]

Pictures are all great- Your fur babies are so cute, we have a friend come stay with our baby while we are gone too. Love the sword in the stone pic- So good!!!!!
So did you get married in vegas?
And our Engler side is from here- MN- But the oldest living generations are a little spread out- AZ, AR, and some still live here. My husbands grandpa Engler had four brothers and four sisters in the family. I have been working on the family tree for all the sides of the family. And I have a copy of the engler side. We'll have to investigate to see if our DH's are related- that would be hilarious to find a distant cousin here on the DIS-

 

[adelphisand]

Ok...so I spent 8 days looking at 100's of designs and figured it would be easier to keep them simple since it is my first time having the match-y shirt thing... Here are the designs I'm using...

This is mine - the small sign is my favorite ride and the following pic is for DH with his favorite ride, we're wearing them on the overnight flight.

We have the Ohana Breakfast so we're going to wear these:

Our anniversary dinner @ Coral Reef - Although after reading on the Dis that you should tell EVERY reservation about any celebration you may have, I may have to do that...

This is for any day...preferably in MK :

And then we are doing MVMCP so I'm making these: they each have our names on them:

Let me know what ya'll think!!

 

[adelphisand]

Pictures are all great- Your fur babies are so cute, we have a friend come stay with our baby while we are gone too. Love the sword in the stone pic- So good!!!!!
So did you get married in vegas?
And our Engler side is from here- MN- But the oldest living generations are a little spread out- AZ, AR, and some still live here. My husbands grandpa Engler had four brothers and four sisters in the family. I have been working on the family tree for all the sides of the family. And I have a copy of the engler side. We'll have to investigate to see if our DH's are related- that would be hilarious to find a distant cousin here on the DIS-

We did get married in Vegas - but at a church - no casino wedding for us... In fact the only thing "Vegas" about our wedding was the after pics we took.

That would so hilarious if we were related somehow...I'll check with DMIL and find out if there is fam in MN...

 

[disneymommieof2]

Cute designs- those ladies over there on the DISign board are so great!!!! I know I spent a lot of time over there too trying to decide what designs to use!!

 

[DisneyDadFaNaTic]

Good work on the Pics!!! I'm glad you were able to figure it out!

Great work on the Pre Trip! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[adelphisand]

It seems like it's right around the corner and yet when I think that we still have to get thru Thanksgiving it seems like it's forever !!

Oh well! What's a girl to do? SHOP! That's right ladies and gentlemen, DH and I hit CVS to put $150 gift card that we earned from my medications to good use!!

See list:

- Dove shampoo
- Dove conditioner
- Head and shoulders shampoo
- Ear plugs for fireworks
- Sensodyne toothpaste
- Tylenol rapid release (I'm so not paying $8.99 in WDW for that! )
- Melotonin so that I can sleep on the plane
- Hair things x3
- New brush
- Lotion
- Makeup remover
- Toothbrush covers
- Crest mouthwast
- Q-tips
- Tums
- Axe body spray
- Lipstick
- Brow gel
- Chapstick (princess's )
- Chapstick (Nemo )
- Hair anti-frizz cream
- Deodorant
- Travel Bags
- Huggies baby wipes (princess none the less!)
- Small package of tissue
- Medical ID bracelet (me)

See pic:

OH!! I was on ebay a couple of weeks ago and found these...

well DH won them and now we get to wear the watches that the recieve when they get married there. They were in pristine condition - never opened, never worn, still had the plastic covers on the dials...totally exicted . (Just have to get a few links removed...)
Here's DH's:

and here's mine:

Still have to order jeans and crocs for me ... The missing transfers came in today's mail from Avery; have to finish the shirts - I'll post pics when they're done...

 

[adelphisand]

Ok..so when I left you we were discussing shirt designs - well I finished them. Except like a total dork - I requested more designs than I had purchased t shirts for - (another trip to walmart for 2 more shirts for MVMCP night). But here are the finished ones...

Disney World or Bust: I put "pixie dust" on the signs and on the castle but only on mine. DH said he was ok without Tink's help.

The Engler Family: I put "pixie dust" on the banner; again only on mine:

Engler Ohana Trip: I outlined the lettering in "pixie dust" on mine:

Our anniversary shirt was put on burgandy which was the main color from our wedding; I put "dust" on the date, our names and on the crest on the castle.

I had a PM asking what books I used for pre-planning - here ya go:

I'll go thru each one...the Passporter - I'm sure we are all aware of this one:

DH bought me the leather binder ring 2 years ago.

Birnbaums WDW 2007

Birnbaums WDW w/o the kids:

EZ Fun guide to WDW:

Birnbaums WDW Dining guide:

But I got more use out of this one: The luxury guide to WDW Resort

So what do you do with your pins after you return home? Ours sat in a plastic box for 2 years until I stumbled across the idea on the disboards . I used disney-ish fabric and covered a cork board with it. After taking off the backs of the pins and arranging them just so.... this is what we have:

I put all of the collectable pins at the top, and all of the big pins you get from character meals at the bottom, along with our luggage tags from previous trips.

Hope you enjoyed today's installment.

 

[adelphisand]

"Am I really going to be able to put everything into just 4 pieces of luggage, and leave room for shopping??"

This was my thought as this arrived:

Just thought I'd share another book that was mighty helpful in figuring out if the dining plan was for us or not. "The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World by Kevin Yee"

This book has 2007 info as far as summary of food selection at EVERY eatery in the parks and hotels, including the cost! It was awesome to go thru and see what we may order and a ballpark of what that may cost us out of pocket for the duration of the trip. There was no comparison for us: we chose the DDP!

Hope everyone is well...seems like it's taking forever for our leave day to get here!!

Time Left as of this post: 36:07:44:12

 

[adelphisand]

Where did I leave off?? Oh yes - wondering if 2 bags were really going to be enough for us? I'm still not sure on this - but we will see. I figure 1 checked bag each, 1 carry on each including the laptop and the camera gear...hmmm...still not sure...but we'll see... (Mental note: must pack empty bag for all of the magical goodies coming home with us).


Pics - tons of pics ya'll!! Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary and now we're off to the land of dreams in just 28 more days!! What a way to close out the year for us! It still feels as if time is just crawling by thou!

Ok...DH was awesome - he remembered what flowers we used from our wedding and had them sent to me at work!

Oh and *THAT* very special package came a few days ago - long before I thought it would!!

and I figured for good measure I'd throw in the MVMCP cards too:

I have the contractors coming by on Friday @ 8am scared to rip out the kitchen light and make it super pretty! I'll post some before and after when they're done. I mean what else is a girl supposed to do when waiting for the waiting to end? Upgrades on the house and shopping will only take me so far....