Saratoga Springs it's been too long Jan 2013 PTR..

[disney_dreamingmom]

I finally got the chance to sit down and follow the link in your sig (thank you for being the first to post in my first PTR too ) and check out your plans.
We, too, drive from PA! We should share any tips we have for the drive, keeping kids happy, organization and packing, etc!
Love all your plans. We're planning on lots of the same ADR's. Love all the photos too... I'll be subscribing for sure.

 

[jpmom97]

Hi I just found you and love the sound of your plans I've been to both Italy and epcot and will say I think Tutti Italia is closer to what I experienced in the real Italy. Have to admit though I do love them and Mama Melroses too. I think I'd rank them 1st Tutti I 2nd MM and 3rd VN. Hope that helps. Also love Raglan Road though my kids prefer Rainforest

Thank you! Since I am too chicken to get on a plane, Epcot Italy is the closest thing I will ever come to the real thing.

I loved all the photo updates! I am glad that you are able to go for extra days now - that's so awesome!

D~

Thank you! I am so glad we can add those extra days! If we can do the YES program, we can go to the parks more. I don't want to do 3 pool days, even though my kids love the pool, I think they would rather be at a park.

Hello! Followed the link in your sig, caught myself up and am subbing for the rest!

Thank you so much!

I finally got the chance to sit down and follow the link in your sig (thank you for being the first to post in my first PTR too ) and check out your plans.
We, too, drive from PA! We should share any tips we have for the drive, keeping kids happy, organization and packing, etc!
Love all your plans. We're planning on lots of the same ADR's. Love all the photos too... I'll be subscribing for sure.

Thank you so much!! We should share tips for sure! My kids start off great with their DSs and Ipods and then that wears off quick

 

[jpmom97]

I just read that the marathon is going to be 1/10-13. We are checking in on the 13 but not planning to do any parks that day. Will this affect our trip? Do people usually stay after the marathon or do they come early to enjoy the parks? I have a knack for picking the most crowded times.

 

[jpmom97]

So how was your weekend? Mine wasn't too bad. I had to work, it was my husband's birthday, Girl Scout cookie booth, Georgie lost his first tooth and Natalie had a birthday to go to so it was very busy! Monday has come too soon but I have the weekend off, something to look forward too.

Here is Georgie and his tooth!


It feels like he has waited so long for this, so many kids in his class have lost a teeth and now it's his turn! I admit it, I got misty eyed. My baby isn't a baby anymore

The kids also made a countdown for our trip. As of today, it's 301 days Seems like FOREVER until this trip. We cut the Mickey heads out, only 120 right now, with my Cricut using the Mickey font cart @ 2in. I go to my local paint and wallpaper store and ask them for their outdated wall paper books, the paper cuts great on the Cricut, so I used paper from some of those books. We glued them on and we will stamp how many days left on each head everyday. In 120 days I will cut more and the kids can glue them on the back. After that we can do something different on poster board b/c it will only be 70 or less days.

Here it is, it will be on the fridge as soon as I find magnets strong enough to hold it.


You can see I was going to stamp the countdown on each head but then I thought this is going to take forever. We were just going to x out each head but then the kids thought it would be fun to just stamp it each day so starting next week we will do that.

Dh and I actually sat down and we looked at some restaurants. He never does that with me so it was fun. Maybe he's feeling the magic

I also went to Walmart Friday night and they have a ton of Disney shirts right near the Easter candy. I think they were like $5. I am not a huge fan of Walmart, especially since I work for the competition but the shirts were cute. I may go back and pick up a few for Georgie. Also Target has the cutest Mickey and Pooh plates, cups and water bottles. I may treat myself to one with my first paycheck. I will post pictures when I do.

 

[teekathepony]

Ahhh 301 days sounds like a lot now but it will fly by! Love the countdown!

 

[jpmom97]

Ahhh 301 days sounds like a lot now but it will fly by! Love the countdown!

I should have thought before I posted, 3 years is worse than 297 days, sorry about that. Hopefully it will go quick for both of us (well in 3 years my son will be a senior in HS and that makes me sad but happy b/c I told him I would take him on a mom and son trip that year!)

 

[jpmom97]

I wish I had more to update, my PTR is getting boring LOL.

I have been going back and forth now with getting the kids autograph books or getting a pillowcase or tote bag for the characters to sign. The 2 younger kids like to that but my oldest is going to pass on the autographs this time. They do all love pressed pennies though so I will be sure to pack lots of quarters and shiny pennies. Maybe I will just make an autograph book so I have them for scrapbooking.

On my honeymoon, I was so excited to see characters, I ran to them LOL. People must have thought I was nuts but I hadn't been to DW in 20 years! The kids will usually stop for photo's. We have the usual characers so hopefully we can meet some new ones. We really need the following:

I know that since we are going in January, not many characters are out. I hope to meet the Fairy Godmother at the castle breakfast. Natalie really want to meet the fairies, we met the other ones on our last trip. Georgie loves Toy Story and the line was so long for Jesse and Woody on our last trip, so hopefully we can meet them too.

 

[teekathepony]

I should have thought before I posted, 3 years is worse than 297 days, sorry about that. Hopefully it will go quick for both of us (well in 3 years my son will be a senior in HS and that makes me sad but happy b/c I told him I would take him on a mom and son trip that year!)

Ohhh no, trust me, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about your own countdown! I'm just happy for everyone who is going and happy to be counting down with you all. It passes my time even faster
I like the idea of a tote bag to autograph! I don't have any autographs for myself. I've gotten a few for friends, but I love getting my picture with the characters!

 

[jpmom97]

I haven't had too much to update. Nothing new with out trip. DH and I decided to open up a savings account for our vacation money, nice to see him kind of excited for vacation!

I picked up these 2 adorable items at Target the other night. I plan to bring them on our trip.


7.99


9.99

I used my employee discount and red card discount and saved a few bucks. Cute right? I am sure they will go on clearance soon, everything I buy does that

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I haven't had too much to update. Nothing new with out trip. DH and I decided to open up a savings account for our vacation money, nice to see him kind of excited for vacation!

I picked up these 2 adorable items at Target the other night. I plan to bring them on our trip.


7.99


9.99

I used my employee discount and red card discount and saved a few bucks. Cute right? I am sure they will go on clearance soon, everything I buy does that

They're very cute!
Had to laugh about your clearance commentThat always happens to me too

 

[jpmom97]

I didn't forget about my PTR! I am just working right now to pay for this trip My hours are finally increasing so I've been busy! Going to start doing Disney Dinner nights, I think we will do one this Saturday. Will post pictures. I have also made a few more clothing purchases for the trip, will post those when I get them too!! thanks for reading!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I didn't forget about my PTR! I am just working right now to pay for this trip My hours are finally increasing so I've been busy! Going to start doing Disney Dinner nights, I think we will do one this Saturday. Will post pictures. I have also made a few more clothing purchases for the trip, will post those when I get them too!! thanks for reading!

disney dinner night sound like fun

 

[Marshay]

Kitty


​

Joining in!

Just wanted to say that we had a cat that looked so much like yours. Had to put him to sleep in October so seeing your photo got tears in my eyes!

Anyway, love your family! You guys are such a beautiful family. Your plans sound great -- can't wait to get to Harry Potter myself but we'll wait until my girls are older and have read the books.

That's funny that DH isn't the biggest Disney fan but has been to Disney the most!

My DH likes Disney, not loves it, but surprisingly, he is the one that suggested that we buy DVC.

Can't wait to hear more of your plans. We'll be in Disney the same time. We're doing 1/13 - 17 at WDW, then a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream (our first Disney cruise) and then 2 nights afterwards back at WDW if everything goes as planned. We haven't made any ressies yet...still deciding where to stay.​

 

[jpmom97]

Joining in!

Just wanted to say that we had a cat that looked so much like yours. Had to put him to sleep in October so seeing your photo got tears in my eyes!

Anyway, love your family! You guys are such a beautiful family. Your plans sound great -- can't wait to get to Harry Potter myself but we'll wait until my girls are older and have read the books.

That's funny that DH isn't the biggest Disney fan but has been to Disney the most!

My DH likes Disney, not loves it, but surprisingly, he is the one that suggested that we buy DVC.

Can't wait to hear more of your plans. We'll be in Disney the same time. We're doing 1/13 - 17 at WDW, then a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream (our first Disney cruise) and then 2 nights afterwards back at WDW if everything goes as planned. We haven't made any ressies yet...still deciding where to stay.

Thank you for checking this out! I just PM'd you about the FB group. I came here last so everything I asked you, you answered here LOL. I am so sorry about your cat. When I saw your picture of him, I wrote to you about how much he looked like my kitty.

And thank you for the compliments We want to do the cruise too, Dh wants to do that when we save up our points again but I really wanted to go back to DW for Halloween. I am sure I will cave in to DH since he has been such a good sport these past few times we have gone.

 

[Marshay]

Thank you for checking this out! I just PM'd you about the FB group. I came here last so everything I asked you, you answered here LOL. I am so sorry about your cat. When I saw your picture of him, I wrote to you about how much he looked like my kitty.

And thank you for the compliments We want to do the cruise too, Dh wants to do that when we save up our points again but I really wanted to go back to DW for Halloween. I am sure I will cave in to DH since he has been such a good sport these past few times we have gone.

Too funny about the kitties! Yes, they look so much alike! I just showed my 6yo daughter your photo and she was like, "hey, that looks like Butterscotch!"

We actually are doing this cruise on points for DH, DD6 and me ... and then we decided to pay cash for my youngest to save some points so we can spend 2 nights afterwards.

I assume we'll like cruising but if not, then we aren't investing a huge amount of money into it.

If we end up loving it and wanting to do more than a 3 night cruise, then we'll have some decisions to make b/c I don't want to give up Disney for cruising, either!

We are also tentatively planning either late September or early October 2013 for Disney. We haven't been to the Halloween party yet and would like to try it.

 

[jpmom97]

I wish I had more to report! Did everyone see the cute Disney shirts at Old Navy? The Easter bunny brought DD 2, tie dye Mickey and Alice. There is an Ariel one I am going to pick up too.

This pay day will also be the first pay check that will be going straight to savings, except for gas. Hopefully I can stay strong and do it. I love to scrapbook and I love make up so this is going to be so hard not to buy that stuff but it's all for my family and Disney and I love them more than all the other stuff.

We did do a family movie night for the Muppets. We made pizza and ice cream cookie sandwiches. My pictures didn't turn out so great so I won't bore you with them. This Friday is Pirates of the Carribbean On STranger Tides, I have no idea what to make for dinner. I was thinking doing a fish fry or chicken drummie, what do pirates eat? Do they just drink rum LOL?

 

[Marshay]

I wish I had more to update, my PTR is getting boring LOL.

I have been going back and forth now with getting the kids autograph books or getting a pillowcase or tote bag for the characters to sign. The 2 younger kids like to that but my oldest is going to pass on the autographs this time. They do all love pressed pennies though so I will be sure to pack lots of quarters and shiny pennies. Maybe I will just make an autograph book so I have them for scrapbooking.

On my honeymoon, I was so excited to see characters, I ran to them LOL. People must have thought I was nuts but I hadn't been to DW in 20 years! The kids will usually stop for photo's. We have the usual characers so hopefully we can meet some new ones. We really need the following:

I know that since we are going in January, not many characters are out. I hope to meet the Fairy Godmother at the castle breakfast. Natalie really want to meet the fairies, we met the other ones on our last trip. Georgie loves Toy Story and the line was so long for Jesse and Woody on our last trip, so hopefully we can meet them too.

Just wanted to comment that on our January 2012 trip, we had the characters to ourselves!! It was so unusual...they kept coming around and around to our table 4, 5, 5 times!! The restaurants just weren't busy (we did also try to eat at odd times like 5:15pm before the main rush or 9:45am after the breakfast crowd, so that helped.

You can also add Merida (sp) the new Pixar Princess to this list!

I wish I had more to report! Did everyone see the cute Disney shirts at Old Navy? The Easter bunny brought DD 2, tie dye Mickey and Alice. There is an Ariel one I am going to pick up too.

This pay day will also be the first pay check that will be going straight to savings, except for gas. Hopefully I can stay strong and do it. I love to scrapbook and I love make up so this is going to be so hard not to buy that stuff but it's all for my family and Disney and I love them more than all the other stuff.

We did do a family movie night for the Muppets. We made pizza and ice cream cookie sandwiches. My pictures didn't turn out so great so I won't bore you with them. This Friday is Pirates of the Carribbean On STranger Tides, I have no idea what to make for dinner. I was thinking doing a fish fry or chicken drummie, what do pirates eat? Do they just drink rum LOL?

Ooh, I"ll have to go to their site and see the new Disney shirts.

I did pick up a super cute one from Target with minnie in sequins on the front and Mickey in sequins on the back.

 

[jpmom97]

So sorry about the lack of updates! There really is nothing new to report. I joined touringplans.com and have been reading on easywdw.com and trying to figure out which days are better to visit. Jace and I have also changed our dining plans a million times!

The past few weeks we have had Disney movie nights. Our dinners have been centered around the movie. 2 weeks ago we watched Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides This was our dinner


Last week we watched Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp version):

 

[Marshay]

Good theming on your Disney dinner nights!

I'm on Touring Plans, too. They have a nice chat feature on there, too.

 

[jpmom97]

I will check out the chat feature, cool!

I have to think of something for Monsters Inc, this week's movie. We are going to make monster cupcakes but not sure of what else to eat. I would like to be lazy and do pizza since I have to work all weekend but I doubt the kids would let me get away with that, they want to be more creative.