She's Turning Five at Disney World, a September 2014 PTR

[GrandCalifornian]

Did you know that you can now get a FastPast for the Frozen Sing Along?

Yes, we saw that. We decided not to do it though because we already have our Fastpasses full for our HS day, and we have Fastpasses in other parks for the other time we plan on visiting. It will be neat to get to check out the Frozen stuff in general, and we might sneak back one evening to catch the Frozen fireworks.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Yes, we saw that. We decided not to do it though because we already have our Fastpasses full for our HS day, and we have Fastpasses in other parks for the other time we plan on visiting. It will be neat to get to check out the Frozen stuff in general, and we might sneak back one evening to catch the Frozen fireworks.

The fastpass works perfectly for us because we can ride TSMM, catch the processional and little stage show, hit the 11:30am sing along and be out of DHS by lunchtime. I'm hoping that the predicted low September crowds makes touring all the parks really easy. We plan to catch the Frozen fireworks, too, either outside the park or inside. We should be able to see them from the YC. I see from your schedule that you have a few opportunities to catch the fireworks.

We are also excited to experience Food and Wine for the first time. I love having new stuff to do. We are planning to listen to a couple of the concerts. When we were there in March for the F&G concerts we had a very nice concert listening place at one of the tables outside of the American Pavilion. In was shaded by trees and we could hear the concert perfectly. It was very nice to have shade and real chairs instead of benches. I'm hoping we can do that again this time.

The half marathon is getting really close! Your ten mile run time sounds good. I hope the race goes really well. It feels really good to accomplish such a big goal as a half marathon.

 

[WDWKOOK]

I like that the dogs finally got a more formal introduction as they are a part of the family. I see better now how your dog(s) might have escaped from your brother that time right before you got back. Diesel looks like he might be pretty slow though and easier to catch? He looks like a gentle giant and it's good he has a smarter companion to help him along.

The spreadsheet looks very good and professional. Are you stopping at the GC on your return? Wasn't sure what that meant in the schedule.

Running is lots of fun and can be very satisfying and what better place to do it than DLR. You're setting a great fitness example for Allie. Are you running it alone, Melissa?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

The fastpass works perfectly for us because we can ride TSMM, catch the processional and little stage show, hit the 11:30am sing along and be out of DHS by lunchtime. I'm hoping that the predicted low September crowds makes touring all the parks really easy. We plan to catch the Frozen fireworks, too, either outside the park or inside. We should be able to see them from the YC. I see from your schedule that you have a few opportunities to catch the fireworks.

We are also excited to experience Food and Wine for the first time. I love having new stuff to do. We are planning to listen to a couple of the concerts. When we were there in March for the F&G concerts we had a very nice concert listening place at one of the tables outside of the American Pavilion. In was shaded by trees and we could hear the concert perfectly. It was very nice to have shade and real chairs instead of benches. I'm hoping we can do that again this time.

The half marathon is getting really close! Your ten mile run time sounds good. I hope the race goes really well. It feels really good to accomplish such a big goal as a half marathon.

Sounds like you have a great HS morning plan. Food and Wine should be great, and something totally new for us at Epcot, which we love anyway.

Thanks for the running encouragement. It is getting close.

I like that the dogs finally got a more formal introduction as they are a part of the family. I see better now how your dog(s) might have escaped from your brother that time right before you got back. Diesel looks like he might be pretty slow though and easier to catch? He looks like a gentle giant and it's good he has a smarter companion to help him along.

The spreadsheet looks very good and professional. Are you stopping at the GC on your return? Wasn't sure what that meant in the schedule.

Running is lots of fun and can be very satisfying and what better place to do it than DLR. You're setting a great fitness example for Allie. Are you running it alone, Melissa?

Hi There We've missed you on the WL thread the last few days. It is neat that the dogs finally got introduced. It is funny because they are such a big part of everything else we do, but they are totally left out of going to Disney. Diesel is funny, and not as fast (at least for as long) as Shelby. Then there's also Stitch too, who is our old girl and was Melissa's before we got married. She is 12 and has hip displaysia, but is determined to keep Diesel in his place. She may just outlive him... Our neighbors were scared of Diesel when he was loose, but he was smart enough to stay close. Shelby can be more adventurous, but is smarter too, sometimes just smart enough to get into trouble.

I'm proud of the spreadsheet. It feels funny to plan in that level of detail, but we both really like how it worked out. There's so much we want to do that we wanted to fit things in well, and not have down time trying to decide what to do next. Having the different colors shows the mix of activities well. I actually went back and made similar ones for the last two year's trips just to see what we liked for planning this one. We are planning on dinner at the Grand Californian again on our way home, and this time maybe we can spend a little longer there.

Melissa is running the Disneyland half by herself. It is something she set as a goal so she signed up for it. It was expensive enough that I didn't sign up because I didn't have the desire to do it that she did. Actually I didn't think there was any way I wanted to run that far. We have been doing our training runs together though and I've actually been enjoying it. I rode my bike for the 10 mile run (with Allie in a bike trailer) so we were a mobile cheering squad and water supply, but I have ran the rest, usually pushing Allie in the stroller. Allie wants to get out and run some too, although after a few minutes usually decides the stroller is a better deal. I'll be there at Disney watching what I can, although it looks like Allie is going to spend the weekend with Melissa's aunt. She probably wouldn't be thrilled about getting up at 3 in the morning to go watch Mom run...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Just a quick update, last night we were greeted with a small brown package on our door. Yep, it was our Magic Bands, all in one box this time.


Paul was eager to open them but we had frozen groceries to bring in and Allie to get into bed so I reminded him that his and Allie's would look exactly the same as the AP bands, mine was the only one that was a different color.

I also got a text from my Mom that their bands showed as being delivered, but they didn't have them yet. This led to a conversation with their Post Office where the employee didn't understand how tracking worked. Discouraged, she went home to wait another day. Fortunately today I got another text from my parents, and it showed them wearing their Magic Bands.




So all that's left is sewing and waiting....

And here's a preview of the sewing to come, as Melissa was cutting fabric last night.

 

[kastoney]

Catching up on your latest goings on. We are trying F&W for the first time this year too. We accidentally happened upon the soft opening last year but our daughter was not in the mood to let mommy and daddy partake. Planning an afternoon visit this time and bringing the ipad for her so hopefully we can imbibe.

Woohoo magic bands, must be getting close. We got both our sets last week. Think we see up to 7 or 8 sets now. Think I may just wear them all as a belt ; ). Being all things craft challenged, the hubby is taking the lead on decorations. Plan to try the tattoos and some duct tape too. Good luck to us both.

 

[ach222]

Excited to join in on this PTR - I read your TR from last year and really enjoyed it! Looking forward to following along this time.

I have to add we also have a 'not so bright' giant breed dog, a Bernese Mountain Dog, poor guys, the gentle giants aren't the smartest!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Catching up on your latest goings on. We are trying F&W for the first time this year too. We accidentally happened upon the soft opening last year but our daughter was not in the mood to let mommy and daddy partake. Planning an afternoon visit this time and bringing the ipad for her so hopefully we can imbibe.

Woohoo magic bands, must be getting close. We got both our sets last week. Think we see up to 7 or 8 sets now. Think I may just wear them all as a belt ; ). Being all things craft challenged, the hubby is taking the lead on decorations. Plan to try the tattoos and some duct tape too. Good luck to us both.

Nice to have you checking in. The trips are getting so close. We only have the two sets of MBs, so we aren't approaching belt status yet, although that would be quite an image. We did start decorating them this weekend, and so far we're pretty happy. We'll post pics in an update soon.

Excited to join in on this PTR - I read your TR from last year and really enjoyed it! Looking forward to following along this time.

I have to add we also have a 'not so bright' giant breed dog, a Bernese Mountain Dog, poor guys, the gentle giants aren't the smartest!

Welcome, it is fun to collect new followers right before the trip. We'll have a few updates over the next week or so as we get things done for the trip. Then we'll post a couple pics live from WDW while we are there. After that, look for a new Trip report once we're home, but we'll post the link here.

Yay for mentally slow gentle giants. You don't have to be bright to be a good dog.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

This weekend we made some more progress on stuff for Disney, which is good since the trip is rapidly approacahing. On Friday night, Melissa worked on decorating Magic Bands.

I get slightly obsessed with things when I decide to do them and with Pauls encouragment I decided our Magic bands needed to be custom.

After much research, the process Melissa decided on used a nail polish topcoat applied to a plastic bag, then acrylic paint could be applied, then even a temporary tatoo. Once it dries, it can be peeled away from the plastic bag and stuck to the Magic Band using more topcoat.

I like this method because nothing is permenent until it you want it to be.

For Allie's band, Melissa started by applying some temporary tatoos using this method. She put a heart logo over the mickey head, and it recessed nicely down into the grooves of the mickey logo. Then she trimmed Cinderella and Belle from different temporary tatoos and put one on each side of the band. Finally, she applied some swirly graphics directly to the band using the tatoo.





for the most part I'm happy with it. Once you put the nail polish on the band to adhere the tattoo it starts to get soft so there are some blemishes but Allie sure didn't see them and wanted to wear her band right away and wore it all day Saturday.


For Melissa's band, she couldn't find a temporary tatoo image she liked, so she used a similar process but instead traced an image of Stitch that she found online and brought up on her phone. She then hand painted the details, which was pretty impressive to me.








My painting process is not super impressive, I probably couldn't do it free hand but having something to trace works well for getting the outline perfect.

I thought it was pretty neat, and turned out cool. For my band Melissa painted the white part of a monorail, and the windows in black, with the stripe left clear so that the green from the band shows through. The first attempt resulted in a monorail that was a little too tall, but we'll finish it up with a revised monorail. It really is neat to be able to redo something without cleaning anything off of the MagicBand. We'll post pictures of mine once we get it done.

In sewing news, Melissa got three more dresses done over the weekend, but only one was for Allie. The other two were a birthday present for one of Allie's friends who just turned 5. They are all Disney themed though, so we'll share them here.

I had to take a break from sewing for our trip to sew up these dresses for Piper, when I asked what she wanted for her birthday she asked if I'd sew her a Mickey Mouse dress. It is so nice to have my sewing appreciated, especially by a 5 year old.




Allie's dress is a Planes Fire and Rescue one, since she loves that movie. Daddy really likes it too, especially because we get to play with the toy planes together.


So that's about all for now. We'll be back with more updates as we finish up projects before the race on Sunday.

 

[Wood Nymph]

This weekend we made some more progress on stuff for Disney, which is good since the trip is rapidly approacahing. On Friday night, Melissa worked on decorating Magic Bands.

I get slightly obsessed with things when I decide to do them and with Pauls encouragment I decided our Magic bands needed to be custom.


For Allie's band, Melissa started by applying some temporary tatoos using this method. She put a heart logo over the mickey head, and it recessed nicely down into the grooves of the mickey logo. Then she trimmed Cinderella and Belle from different temporary tatoos and put one on each side of the band. Finally, she applied some swirly graphics directly to the band using the tatoo.
for the most part I'm happy with it. Once you put the nail polish on the band to adhere the tattoo it starts to get soft so there are some blemishes but Allie sure didn't see them and wanted to wear her band right away and wore it all day Saturday.
For Melissa's band, she couldn't find a temporary tatoo image she liked, so she used a similar process but instead traced an image of Stitch that she found online and brought up on her phone. She then hand painted the details, which was pretty impressive to me.
My painting process is not super impressive, I probably couldn't do it free hand but having something to trace works well for getting the outline perfect.

I thought it was pretty neat, and turned out cool. For my band Melissa painted the white part of a monorail, and the windows in black, with the stripe left clear so that the green from the band shows through. The first attempt resulted in a monorail that was a little too tall, but we'll finish it up with a revised monorail. It really is neat to be able to redo something without cleaning anything off of the MagicBand. We'll post pictures of mine once we get it done.

I love how your bands turned out. The heart over the Mickey head is perfect and I love the tattoos on the side. It is adorable.

You did a good job painting Stitch. Those bands are small and painting detail is really hard. Stitch turned out really cute. I can't wait to see what Paul's band looks like.

I worked on my MagicBands this weekend, too. I found some old acrylic bands that my artistic daughters left behind when they moved out. I only painted the two Mickey heads. I can't paint worth a darn but I had a lot of fun mixing colors. I can see where this could become addictive.

The dresses are really cute.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I love how your bands turned out. The heart over the Mickey head is perfect and I love the tattoos on the side. It is adorable.

You did a good job painting Stitch. Those bands are small and painting detail is really hard. Stitch turned out really cute. I can't wait to see what Paul's band looks like.

I worked on my MagicBands this weekend, too. I found some old acrylic bands that my artistic daughters left behind when they moved out. I only painted the two Mickey heads. I can't paint worth a darn but I had a lot of fun mixing colors. I can see where this could become addictive.

The dresses are really cute.

Thanks, we are happy with the bands so far. Our first monorail for my band looked ok, but was just a little too tall. We will paint another one and stick it on the band. It is nice not being committed until we decide it is good enough.

Allie is excited about hers too. We have Anna and Elsa tattoos for her other band, so that will be an upcoming project. It is neat you played with painting yours. With enough extra bands, why not. It doesn't take much to make them unique.

Thanks for the dress compliments. Last night Melissa started on the Elsa dress, and it looks like it will be cute. We'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[kastoney]

Wow, your bands look amazing. So jealous. We hadn't heard about the bag method and the ones we did don't turn out nearly as nice. And stitch looks great, can't believe you painted him. And those dresses. You seriously need an etsy shop. Can wait to see how Elsa turns out

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Wow, your bands look amazing. So jealous. We hadn't heard about the bag method and the ones we did don't turn out nearly as nice. And stitch looks great, can't believe you painted him. And those dresses. You seriously need an etsy shop. Can wait to see how Elsa turns out

Thanks, we are pretty happy with them so far. We haven't made any more progress on the bands, but I (Paul) did go buy more nail polish top coat, which kind of got a strange look from the checker at Target.

We found that we didn't have enough of the fabric we had picked out for Elsa's cape, and we can't find it at JoAnn anymore, but we found something a little different with a snowflake pattern already on it that should work. Hopefully it all comes together in the next couple of days.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Love the MBs and the dresses. My favorites are the Mickey/Minnie dresses - so cute! You did a wonderful job and I admire your creativity and skill. You're really going to need a vacation after all the trip prep.

I don't recall seeing Allie with glasses before? Are they new? She looks very sophisticated in them, but I wonder when Melissa might embellish them

ITA with the Etsy Shop suggestion, but you'd have to quit your day job, you'd be so busy.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Love the MBs and the dresses. My favorites are the Mickey/Minnie dresses - so cute! You did a wonderful job and I admire your creativity and skill. You're really going to need a vacation after all the trip prep. I don't recall seeing Allie with glasses before? Are they new? She looks very sophisticated in them, but I wonder when Melissa might embellish them ITA with the Etsy Shop suggestion, but you'd have to quit your day job, you'd be so busy.

Thanks! The Minnie and Mickey love dresses are neat. Melissa made Allie one earlier this year and it is a favorite. The t shirt dresses are fun because each one is a little different and they don't take too long. Selling on Etsy would be hard though because there is the cost of the shirt, the extra fabric, and about an hour of actual sewing time. There is also a licensing fee to use the pattern commercially... Oh well, they are fun for Allie and her friends.

Allie did get glasses a couple of months ago. She is starting to read at preschool and they help with that. She got Melissa's eyes, which is better than mine because I need glasses for distance. She did not want them at first, but after a FaceTime call with me and looking around she found cute red ones. She loves how everyone thinks they are cute, and does a pretty good job wearing them.

This morning we are up early for the Disnyland half marathon. We'll post an update later with details and results. In the mean time, go Melissa!

 

[Wood Nymph]

This morning we are up early for the Disnyland half marathon. We'll post an update later with details and results. In the mean time, go Melissa!

I wondered why you were up so early.

I hope Melissa has a good race. I can't wait to hear how it went.

 

[WDWKOOK]

GO, MELISSA, GO!

Love your race bib! That's a keeper and at the top right is that a WL…for Wilderness Lodge?

My favorite Jogging Mickey came by to wish you a great run today. I hope your weather was good and you didn't get any cramps or blisters or black toenails or… Are you going to stay around DLR after the race and get a snack or meal?


​

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Thank you both for your well wishes. Melissa finished the half marathon with a total time of 3:19:14, and a pace of 15 min 12 sec per mile.

I am incredibly proud of her. We escaped the crowds at Disney and had lunch with family. We will do a complete race update post with commentary from both of us tonight or tomorrow.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Awesome time and congrats!! I can't wait to hear what you thought!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I wondered why you were up so early.

I hope Melissa has a good race. I can't wait to hear how it went.

Thanks, our long update we'll be up in just a minute. We had a long day but it was wonderful.

GO, MELISSA, GO!

Love your race bib! That's a keeper and at the top right is that a WL…for Wilderness Lodge?

My favorite Jogging Mickey came by to wish you a great run today. I hope your weather was good and you didn't get any cramps or blisters or black toenails or… Are you going to stay around DLR after the race and get a snack or meal?


​

It is funny how whenever we see WL we think Wilderness Lodge. In this case it was the shirt size of Women's large.

The crowds were picking up, and Melissa didn't want to do any more walking, so we headed for lunch with her parents and grandparents.

The jogging Mickey will always be more special now.

Awesome time and congrats!! I can't wait to hear what you thought!

Thanks! As her first race, it was a personal record. . Really though it was great to always be ahead of the risk of being swept.

Now on to our report of the race...