She turned 3, but the DDP's Free, a WL Bounceback PTR

[GrandCalifornian]

Last night I made some more sewing progress. We had picked up a Disneyland popcorn shirt on clearance at the Disney outlet store that just needed to be made into another dress for Allie. She LOVES getting popcorn at the parks so we thought this would make a cute dress.

I also had a Men's 2XL Perry shirt that I got on clearance that I wanted to make a shirt out of for me and I finally got that done last night too.

That's two more items off of the checklist!

 

[kastoney]

Love, love, love the retro popcorn dress. Let me know where I can order it in an adult size : )

 

[happybelle]

What a lucky girl to have a Mom who sews. That retro popcorn dress is amazing.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Love, love, love the retro popcorn dress. Let me know where I can order it in an adult size : )

Thanks! If only I would look as cute in them as Allie... Oh well, that's why I played with the Perry shirt so that I could have something fun too..

What a lucky girl to have a Mom who sews. That retro popcorn dress is amazing.

Thanks! Having cute Disney logo shirts to start from makes it easy.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We are so excited about the trip, and it is almost here. On a long car ride yesterday we were talking about how excited we are for each of our different new ADRs for this trip. When it came to our HS ADR, we both had the same feeling of missing Hollywood and Vine while trying Mama Melrose.

We just aren't excited about Mama Melrose. The food and characters were so good at Hollywood and Vine last year that I'm afraid we'll be wishing we were eating there instead.

During our last trip we basically went to Hollywood & Vine for the characters, and ended up loving it for the food. It was one of the most impressive buffets of the trip.

So we are stuck, do we switch to do Hollywood and Vine again, or try something new?

The funny thing is we don't make many changes. We picked our resort a year ago and stuck to it, and all of our ADRs were decided on before the 180+10 day mark. We have checked and can still get the same time for a lunch ADR at Hollywood and Vine (since fortunatley we're not dealing with super high demand restaurants here...) so we just have to decide whether to make a late swap.

So, what do you think?

 

[Wood Nymph]

I am excited about your trip, too. It was fp read about your trip last year. This time I will get to follow it as it happens.

I would go with Hollywood and Vine. There is plenty of time for Mama Melrose and Allie will only enjoy the Disney Jr characters for a few more years.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I am excited about your trip, too. It was fp read about your trip last year. This time I will get to follow it as it happens.

I would go with Hollywood and Vine. There is plenty of time for Mama Melrose and Allie will only enjoy the Disney Jr characters for a few more years.

So Paul and I were texting back and forth this morning:
M: Hi there
P: We got our PM for the live dining thread
M: I saw on the thread
M: Wood Nymph also replied but I'm sure you saw that
P: Ahh yes, and I think it makes sense. Do the characters while she is into them
M: Yeah she's gonna grow up ....sigh
P: Aww
M: Can I still make her clothes
P: Until she says no
M: That's it. We need another baby!
P: Umm

That's cute, and that is exactly how the conversation went. I do think the switch is a good one, and it will mean we will have four character meals for her to enjoy. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Wood Nymph]

So Paul and I were texting back and forth this morning:
M: Hi there
P: We got our PM for the live dining thread
M: I saw on the thread
M: Wood Nymph also replied but I'm sure you saw that
P: Ahh yes, and I think it makes sense. Do the characters while she is into them
M: Yeah she's gonna grow up ....sigh
P: Aww
M: Can I still make her clothes
P: Until she says no
M: That's it. We need another baby!
P: Umm

That's cute, and that is exactly how the conversation went. I do think the switch is a good one, and it will mean we will have four character meals for her to enjoy. Thanks for the encouragement.

I hope Allie will like to wear your dresses for quite a while. I made dresses for my two daughters until they were age ten or eleven. I even made some matching dresses for their dolls.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I hope Allie will like to wear your dresses for quite a while. I made dresses for my two daughters until they were age ten or eleven. I even made some matching dresses for their dolls.

I hope so too, that's nice to hear about your daughters. Allie has one matching dress set with her baby doll, and I am hoping she gets more into them. I tried sewing some Barbie size clothes because she has many of the Disney princesses, but the little stuff is hard! Prince Eric does have a hoodie sweatshirt I made him though.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I checked another dress off of my to do list last night. Allie picked out the purple fabric for this dress and it came out so cute! I have a feeling it is going to be one of her favorites.

The purple fabric has little crystals embeded in it, which is really cute. It made sewing the edge a little difficult because appearantly the serger doesn't like running into the little crystals.

Allie also picked out the thread color... remind me to never let her pick out thread again, it is a wierd mix of pink and purple but not really one or the other. It looks great with this dress but I don't anticipate using it much.

This is probably the last t-shirt dress before Disneyworld but I did find another Cars t-shirt I forgot that I had so while it isn't on the list, it's sitting on my sewing table.... we'll see what happens

Allie and I walked over to the Post Office today to buy stamps for mailing postcards from Disney. We bought this same set last year. They are forever stamps so if I don't use them all they can go on Christmas cards. We love sending a little bit of Disney back home while we are on vacation.

I also started collecting Disney gift cards from Target with a run at lunch today. We decided that with the extra 5% savings this is how we will pay for most of our AP upgrade for the next year.

With just over two weeks left now the packing has started, and today I started clearing off pictures from my iPhone to make sure I have enough room for the ones from the trip. I tend to take A LOT of pictures.

He does tend to take a LOT of pictures, I can always tell when he's picked up my camera.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We needed one more Disney breakfast fix, so we went to Disneyland on Saturday. With less than two weeks to go before our trip, this was a good way to spend time instead of sitting around the house wondering if it was time to go yet. We got up early and made it to the park just after it opened at 8AM. It is rare for us to be there when World of Disney isn't even open yet.

Besides wanting breakfast I have been itching to take the new camera and put it through its paces at Disney. We got to the park just after opening and decided to walk in through Downtown Disney because the lines for the trams were super long. Once through the gates our first stop was River Bell Terrace. We ordered what I guess by now is our usual. The Steamboat, a Mickey Mouse pancake, and a cinnamon roll.

Since our PTR readers have enjoyed DLR pictures in the past, I figured it would be fun to post some more this time. It is fun to compare DL to MK, both for the similarities and differences. Here is a view of Tom Sawyer's island from above the entrance to Pirates of the Carribean.

After breakfast Allie requested that we do the " Strangers Like Me" house (Tarzan's Treehouse) so we walked through that. It was still pretty quiet in the park so there were only a couple people we had to dodge. Allie cooperated for a couple of good pictures with her daddy too.

After that Allie wanted to walk through the castle, so we did and then she decided she wanted to ride Dumbo. She got Mommy to agree to it too since the line was short.

It is true Dumbo is not one of my favorites due to my fear of heights. I braved the flying elephant for Allie though and we survived. We headed over to King Arthur's carousel after disembarking and walked right on.

Then we went over to see Allie's goats. We found her favorite (named Stitch) and hung out there for a while.

I decided it wouldn't be a bad gig to come back as a Disney goat in my next life.
Next we stopped by the teacups, which Allie is deciding she likes now too.

From there we head over to Small World hoping to ride it and catch the first Mickey and the Magical Map show. We do enjoy Small World, and it is probably Allie's favorite ride. Compared to the WDW version "ours" is longer and has a couple of extra rooms, but has an outside loading area that isn't nearly as nice in the rain.

Or in the sun which is more often the case. Luckily we walked right on that too so we didn't have to break out the sunscreen yet.

After that we saw that they postponed the first Map show, so we still had a couple of hours to kill. We headed to tomorrowland and grabbed fast passes for the Autopia.

We were hungry, so we got lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace to eat while we waited for the fast pass time. We haven't eaten here in years, but the burgers were pretty good, and the fries reminded up of the ones at Roaring Fork at WL, so they were great.

By the time we finished lunch it was time to go ride Autopia and break out the sunscreen. Out timing was working out perfectly so we headed back over to the theater to see the Mickey and the Magical Map show. On the way we stopped to get popcorn and even sprung for the 6 dollar souvenir bucket because I thought it was cute.

It worked out great because we got a lot more than the smaller box, and they gave us an empty one of those so Allie was able to have her own thing of popcorn. The map show was really impressive, as this was our second time seeing it.

Allie loved the show and started to get a little sleepy so she snuggled on my lap for the second half of the show.

After the show ended we decided to make our way out of the park for the day. On the way down main street we snapped this shot.

We weren't in front of the horse, really, it just looks like it. We then stopped by World of Disney since now it was open, but still wasn't too crowded. Then Allie made us walk through Build a Bear even though she had just gotten a new bear the night before at the mall at home. She promised that she wouldn't buy anything, she just wanted to look. She is a shopper.

That's it for our last DLR day before WDW. Stay tuned though because in our next update we'll show Melissa's dress project from Sunday, and it involves something she's never done on a dress before...

 

[Wood Nymph]

Allie looks adorable in that dress. I like the Wilderness Lodge shirt, too.

It's a Small World is long enough at WDW. I'm not sure I could stand a longer one. :

Autopia and Map are foreign concepts to me.

Does Disneyland get really crowded every weekend, regardless of time of year?

I'm looking forward to seeing the dress project.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Allie looks adorable in that dress. I like the Wilderness Lodge shirt, too.

It's a Small World is long enough at WDW. I'm not sure I could stand a longer one. :

Autopia and Map are foreign concepts to me.

Does Disneyland get really crowded every weekend, regardless of time of year?

I'm looking forward to seeing the dress project.

Thanks, that dress is our favorite from last year and we are so glad it still fits.

We used to avoid small world at all cost, but Allie cured us of that and we have learned to embrace it.

Autopia is DL's version of Tomorrowland Speedway, and is basically in the same spot in the park.

The "Mickey and the Magical Map" show is new this year in a theater by Fantasyland. It is next to the walkway to Toon Town... Oh wait, that doesn't help either. We tend to like the out of the way things like that and the Big Thunder Ranch petting zoo and stage where they have community arts programs where local groups perform.

Crowds are definitely worse on weekends, but not too bad all year. This day was supposed to be a 9 out of 10, but we would rate it as a 6 or 7. Just like MK getting there early helps a lot with the crowd levels. Another weird thing is Saturdays are less crowded generally than Sundays because so many guests are locals with APs that have Saturdays blocked out.

Thanks for following along, and we will post the new dress update very soon. Melissa is finishing up the elastic in it right now.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I finished up Allies dress for our Ohana breakfast tonight and I'm super happy with how it came out and I'm excited to share it. I knew when we booked the breakfast it would be fun to make Allie a dress like Lilo's. I bought some red Kona cotton and figured I'd draft my own pattern. Well that didn't work out so well... So after lots of brainstorming I decided that a peasant style dress would work ok. So I sewed one up and then had the epiphany to screen print the leaf pattern instead of having to cut out and sew on each one.

I cut the leaf pattern out of contact paper then put the negative side onto the screen. It worked out great for the couple of leaves I needed.

I even put a couple on a red tshirt for me too!

I like how this one turned out, and it was a creative way to recreate the dress without having to find fabric with that unique pattern. The screen printing worked amazingly well.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I finished up Allies dress for our Ohana breakfast tonight and I'm super happy with how it came out and I'm excited to share it. I knew when we booked the breakfast it would be fun to make Allie a dress like Lilo's. I bought some red Kona cotton and figured I'd draft my own pattern. Well that didn't work out so well... So after lots of brainstorming I decided that a peasant style dress would work ok. So I sewed one up and then had the epiphany to screen print the leaf pattern instead of having to cut out and sew on each one.

The stencil looks great. And the peasant style is perfect for 'Ohana. The dress turned out really nice.

Another weird thing is Saturdays are less crowded generally than Sundays because so many guests are locals with APs that have Saturdays blocked out.

I suppose that is a good reason to buy a Premier Pass.

I think I like the name Tomorrowland Speedway better than Autopia.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I checked the last dress off of my to do list before the trip! The dress for Be Our Guest is done. After coming up with lots of ideas I settled on this simple yellow dress I got at Old Navy and added the Beast's profile to the bottom.







I think it came out cute and is subtle. With only 8 more days to go I'm done sewing before the trip. I am shifting focus to cleaning and packing.

I love the simplicity of this dress. It should be super comfortable, and something she can wear all day. That completes the list, so now all that's left is packing everything up. We will post our plans and a summary of all the different outfits here before the trip.



Bonus Update: Silhouette Dress

Last night while I was working on cleaning up my sewing mess on or dining room table I found a dress blank I had forgotten all about. I had already put my sewing machines away so I decided to just iron these kissing Minnie and Mickey on. It is super simple to do, I traced a copy of the silhouette on freezer paper (any paper works but that's what I use for patterns) then iron one side of double sided fusible interfacing on the fabric you want your design out of (I use Wonder Under by Pellon) then retrace your silhouette on the paper side of the interfacing remembering that it will be mirrored when you cut it out. Cut out the design, peel off the paper and iron on. So easy and so cute! No sewing required. You can stitch around the outside of the design if you want for more durability but realistically Allie will only wear this a handful of times, she has so many clothes.



This was another super quick dress, and I like that I could probably even have enough skill to have done it. It does involve using an iron, but I could probably handle that. The result is cute and Allie loves it. She told Melissa last night after seeing it, "Mommy, you are a great fabric-er." I think she's happy too!

 

[WDWKOOK]

You ARE a great fabric-er, indeed! I love the BoG dress and the Mickey/Minnie, too. It's great that they're themed according to your daily schedule or else it would be hard to pick one - they're all fabulous! Yes, it is time you concentrate now on trip-prep - it's crunch time!

I have to go back and catch-up now. I've fallen behind on your wonderful PTR. With vacations and DD's summer schedule, my own schedule gets tossed around. DD is back to school Tuesday, so maybe I'll even be able to start on my TR soon

 

[GrandCalifornian]

You ARE a great fabric-er, indeed! I love the BoG dress and the Mickey/Minnie, too. It's great that they're themed according to your daily schedule or else it would be hard to pick one - they're all fabulous! Yes, it is time you concentrate now on trip-prep - it's crunch time!

I have to go back and catch-up now. I've fallen behind on your wonderful PTR. With vacations and DD's summer schedule, my own schedule gets tossed around. DD is back to school Tuesday, so maybe I'll even be able to start on my TR soon

We're glad to have you following along. Shh, don't remind Melissa it's crunch time or I might get swept out of the house in the cleaning too... she hasn't gone into tornado mode yet.

We are looking forward to your TR, and enjoying our daily dose of WL on the thread. We will post pictures there during the trip.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The dresses are cute. I've used Wonder Under, too. The stencil turned out great. I love the silhouette stitched to the BOG dress. The dress color is perfect. She'll match Belle.

You didn't get to see the new Fantasyland yet, did you? Dumbo was deserted just before Wishes started when we were there. Everyone left to get a good view of the fireworks. That little roller coaster, the Barnstormer, was a walk on, too, during that time. Allie should love it.

I can't believe your trip is getting so close.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

The dresses are cute. I've used Wonder Under, too. The stencil turned out great. I love the silhouette stitched to the BOG dress. The dress color is perfect. She'll match Belle.

You didn't get to see the new Fantasyland yet, did you? Dumbo was deserted just before Wishes started when we were there. Everyone left to get a good view of the fireworks. That little roller coaster, the Barnstormer, was a walk on, too, during that time. Allie should love it.

I can't believe your trip is getting so close.

We haven't gotten to see New Fantasyland. The walls were still up last time and some people got previews, but not us. I think we are going to stop by on our first day. We are looking forward to the Barnstormer. Thanks for the tip about the timing. I don't think Melissa will ride Dumbo more than once...

We can't believe how close the trip is either. Next Thursday we will have the car packed and just be waiting to head to the airport early in the morning. 7 days...