Robin hood n little john running through the forest PTR April 2011!

[OhdahLolly]

Hello my fellow disboard members!

My name is Sarah. I will be your adventure guide for this PTR! Hold onto your hats and mickey ears. This might get a bit bumpy! There are no refunds, no returns or exchanges. Your emergency exists are above your right hand corner. In the event of an actual emergency (such as lack of dole whip or school bread needed to read this post) click on them repeatedly.


I am 30 year old Disney lover, who fell in love with the world back in '07. Our first trip ever! Nothing has been the same since, and I've spent various time plotting and planning our various returns. As true with any Disney fan! My favorite disney movie is Robin Hood, hence my screen name.

Joining me is my DH of 7 years. He's a computer geek by day, gaming geek by night. Former rehabilitation Disney "hater"! After we went to the world, he was hooked just like I was. He is still not a fan of roller coasters no matter how hard I try, and will just not budge.

Joining us are the two that makes this possible.

My DS who is 4.

This will be his third trip, and he is really excited! He is a fellow diser in the making, just like his mom. He already requests that we look at the food in the foodie threads! He has a love of playhouse disney, winnie the pooh, and most disney related things. Most of all however, he LOVES rollercoasters! Big Thunder mountain is his favorite.

He is looking forward to going on Splash mountain, which I promised him we'd go on together. And even though I am a big fan of rides, I would have to say that I am having a mini heart attack about this!


Next is DD who is 2 and half.

A few days after we check in, she'll turn 3. My baby is turning 3! Where does the time go?

Her favorite movie right now is any of the toy stories. Hard to tell which character is her favorite, as she goes between her two main men. Woody and Buzz!

She loves to play dress up and pretend. And will often go between being a princess and being a pirate. Which makes sense since her first ride was Pirates. I think she has a thing for Captain Jack. Can't say I blame her!


Please forgive the first few pages for not having many pictures. My laptop went DOA after the kids decided to give it a bath. So I am in the process of trying to recover all my lost data!

 

[OhdahLolly]

The when, the where, the why's, the hows!


The whys:

Whenever we think about booking at Disney or have been, it's always been in Oct. What better way to spend our favorite holiday than at MNSSHP?

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to skip last year. The kids didn't really notice so much, but both DH and I were heart broken over it. We talked briefly about planning another trip, but nothing really came together. Until..


On a whim, I decided to check my email for a PIN. I knew I had been getting emails from Disney.. but after our lost trip, I had just been too sick to look at or read them. And then, there it was. A PIN! A great PIN! It expired in a day!

So, DH and I had to talk about it. We were going. No questions ask. When did we want to go? Mmmh, when. Since we missed Oct, we both felt the need to go sooner. We also didn't want to run into a heat problem during the summer months. So what did that leave?

The when
April! Not only our DD's birthday, but DH's birthday would be days before as well.

Sure it's peak season. And my inner penny pincher cringes at the thought. But likewise, it is also worth it to me to not have to put up with hopefully 90 degree temps!

The where

This one was much easier. Where? The Poly! Ever since I first looked on that resort, I knew there was no where else I wanted to stay. On the monorail? Themed like Hawaii? Sign me up!

The hows

We plan on doing something I swore I never wanted to do again after last time. Driving down to FL from IL. With two small toddlers in tow. Over 22 hours of driving straight through!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hi Sarah! I just wanted to say that I'll be along for the ride!

I'm looking at dates in March or April for a birthday trip too! I'd love to stay at Poly but since we were just there in Dec, stayed at WL, went in Oct, stayed at CSR, went in Aug, stayed at YC, went in March, and stayed at POP; I'm thinking that a moderate might be a better option for this trip but oh would I love to stay at Poly like you!!!

Yay for a Pin Code! I get those emails all the time but never with my name on it! I went once with my friend who's last name starts with C, and ever since then, I've gotten things in her name but if I call, I usually have one in my name!

Can't wait for more details!

 

[OhdahLolly]

I might have mentioned this elsewhere, but it's worth saying again. It is never too early to pack! Come on, who's with me?

Usually I start by packing a few things that I might forget later on and start a written list. So by the time we are 1 week out from our trip, I can see everything that's in there, what I am missing, and what still needs to go in. What can I say? Former girl scout here. Now if only they had a packaging way before your vacation is due badge.....

In this case, it was the kids swim suits. Between now and our vacation, we don't plan on hitting the pool or using sunscreen. So it's something that is safe to be filed away for later on. Oh yes. And ye old bed bug proof checker!


Ontop of this, I really wanted to get the kids disney shirts to wear at the parks. I checked out Gap. They had a few but none on sale, and kinda pricey at 22 bucks a shirt. Then I checked out old navy. Jack pot! They had a lot of princess shirts on sale for cheap prices. None of our sizes were on-line of course. Most were in the L-XL. But I knew if we hit the store directly, we might get lucky. And did we!

We scored two shirts.

in the right size

and this one

in a size up. After trying it on her, it will be a good night shirt!

They also had a few mickey mouse christmas ones I plan on going back for tomorrow when I am alone for later on in the season.

They are super light weight, even though they are long sleeved. So tip for all you potential readers out there. Get thee to your old navy if you want to score your dd's some cheap princess shirts!

For now, I am going to wait for the kids to settle down.. then pop in PoTC. It's something we always watch right before our trip since we fell in love with disney on the PoTC ride.. but now, I just can't wait 3 months!

 

[OhdahLolly]

Wooohoo! My first reader!




Oh wow, that's awesome that you guys have got to stay at all those resorts! I am hoping that since Easter is late this year, we'll miss the high crowds and get the good weather. Go go magic weather fairy pixie dust!

Mh. Perhaps a pin? There are a lot of tips and tricks on the Discount Codes and Rates part of the board, if you havent tried those already. Have your partner join you? Double the code chance!

That would be so cool if we could take over the Poly! Really for my husband I think the major reason he is so eager to make this happen is the Dole Whips!

Keeping my fingers crossed for a pin for you.

Hi Sarah! I just wanted to say that I'll be along for the ride!

I'm looking at dates in March or April for a birthday trip too! I'd love to stay at Poly but since we were just there in Dec, stayed at WL, went in Oct, stayed at CSR, went in Aug, stayed at YC, went in March, and stayed at POP; I'm thinking that a moderate might be a better option for this trip but oh would I love to stay at Poly like you!!!

Yay for a Pin Code! I get those emails all the time but never with my name on it! I went once with my friend who's last name starts with C, and ever since then, I've gotten things in her name but if I call, I usually have one in my name!

Can't wait for more details!

 

[OhdahLolly]

So today marks exactly 3 months to the day until we leave for our WDW vacation. Can you tell where my head is at today?

Dining Reservations!

The first thing I did once I booked the trip was booked a couple of these precious babies. However, I didn't book them all. The reason I didn't do this, is it required at the time more planning of which parks and when.. and we still weren't sure if we were going to do the DDP or the DxDDP.

The major decision is this. If we do the DxDDP, we are going to have to downgrade our room. Is that a big deal? No. Not at all. However.. this might be the only time that we are going to get to stay CL. So currently comes the decision back and forth of what we want to do exactly. The sooner the better, so I try to book all the places we want to go!

What I've got so far (which is so lacking!)

Lunch at Le Celliar.

Dinner: 50's prime time cafe

WCC

And Boma



Anymore suggestions?

We are going to be there for 6 days, 5 nights.

 

[OhdahLolly]

Possible change of plan ahoy!

So I am still slacking with my ADRs (I'll wait a moment while you hold your surprise.... lol). But I am currently trying to change when we are leaving and part of where we are staying.

I took a look at everything and decided you know what? These aren't enough days at disney! But what can we do? I can't squeeze staying CL Poly for another few days with a weekend rate. I just can't do it. And you know what? I wouldn't wanna! I'd prefer to do a split stay to get more of the lay o' the land.

If we can find someone to rent DVC points, we can leave early and get there by the 9th. I'd still plan to check into the Poly from 4/13 or 4/14 and likely check out 4/16. So we can have the best of both words. I can finally find out what CL is like, and other resorts.

However I know from last time, that this might be unlikely. It happens when I try to mess with my resort on any trip. It is really close to our days, and I am not sure if there is any DVC open that we'd want to stay at.. SSR is normally open, and it's a great resort! But it is pretty far out from everything except DTD. Which I don't think I wanna do.

So there you have it. I am hoping for some pixie dust here, but in the event that it's impassable (my dear, nothing is 'impossible'.. lol), it is what it is. We'll still have a lovely vacation. We're now at 2 months and change!