Snow White lived with 7 Men, thats CRAZY! Girls Only Trip-May 2012! *WE ARE LEAVING!*

[kansasdisneygal]

Very excited to post this! First PTR EVER!!!
I will give you the back story on this trip. In May of 2009, my best friend Sam and I went to Disney World together. It was my first trip down to the World and we are both very Disney obsessed. It was an amazing time, so now that we are both out of college and not totally broke, we decided we needed to go back!!

Therefore, we decided to go May 26th 2012 - June 1st, 2012. We are both teachers so going during school breaks is really our only option Oh well! We found the crowds to not be TOO BAD at the very end of May last time.

With that being said, I will say that I am also somewhat addicted to planning before our trips. So, what better way to feed this lovely addiction than to do a PTR!! I hope you can bear with me as I stumble my way through writing my first one of these, but I hope to keep it entertaining!

So, it will be the two of us: Me (Jenn) and my best friend Sam. We are both 23, and will be 24 by the time we go to Disney. Both of our birthday's are in May, so we are using the vacation as a celebration for that!
Also, we do share a lot of the same favorites.
Favorite Princess: Belle
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Ride: Hollywood Tower of Terror
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom​

So, here are a few basic updates to our trip so far:
WHEN: May 26th - June 1st, 2012
HOTEL: Pop Century (we stayed here last time, too)
TICKETS: 7-Day Base Tickets

I will update everyone later on a few of our dining choices and what days we will be going to each of the parks. Hope you read along and enjoy!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!


::TABLE OF CONTENTS::
Brief Summary of Our Days!!
Airfare Rant
Introductions (Yep this is out of order!)
Dining Change!
Paid Off and Decisions!?!?! OH AND COOKIES!
Wardrobe and Accessories!!
Up, Up, and Away! AIRFARE!
Day 0 and Day 1 PLANS!!
Day 2 Plans!!!!!
Day 3 Plans!!
Real Life Update & Day 4 Plans!!
Day 5 Plans!
More Disney items & Day 6 Plans!
MAJOR LIFE CHANGING REAL LIFE NEWS UPDATE!!!!
Birthday and Day 7 (Last Day) Update

 

[kansasdisneygal]

A BRIEF ON WHERE TO SPEND OUR DAYS
So, we have 5 full days in Disney and hopefully two half days on our travel days. We have yet to book our airfare because prices are outrageous right now.

So, here is a rough estimate of how our days will go ((Later, I will write more extensive posts for each day, BUT this will give you a general idea of what will happen...for now...until I change it all haha!))

Day 1-Saturday, May 26th- Travel to Disney
We will use ME from MCO and hopefully check into our hotel and head out to a park. Not sure which one, but probably MK or EP. We have already decided to avoid HS on the weekends because Star Wars weekends will be going on and we are just not into that

Day 2- Sunday, May 27th- Magic Kingdom!!
They have evening EMH til 1am and we always take advantage of these because...well WE CAN!! We also have lunch reservations at Chef Mickey's at the CR. This will be my first character dining experience and Sam's 2nd. We are very excited!!! Plus we can easily travel from MK on the Monorail to CR! We will probably just do a counter service for dinner and catch the Electrical Parade and Wishes. Oh I also want to get a Dole Whip because from what all the DISers say they are AMAZING!!

Day 3- Monday, May 28th- Hollywood Studios!!!!
We will go to HS this day and hopefully avoid the crazy Star Wars people. We can also take advantage of the EMH from 9-midnight! We don't have any TS meals here. It should just be a chill day of screaming on HTT and RnRc as well as shooting things on TSM! I'm also excited to see the LMA show with Lightning McQueen because he wasn't in it the last time we went and I want to see the Indiana Jones show because we couldn't fit it in last time.

Day 4- Tuesday, May 29th- Epcot
This day is FULL!!! Deep breath and begin.... First, yes we are taking advantage of the EMH that go til midnight Who needs sleep in Disney, right?? We have lunch reservations at Akershus at 12:30 and I am SOOOOO excited!! So this will be my 2nd character meal! Then later, we have dinner reservations at Via Napoli at 7pm((which I hear is fantastico...pun intended )) I really want to catch IllumiNations because this is another show we missed on our last trip. But surely we won't be eating for 2 hours.

Day 5- Wednesday, May 30th-
This day so far is pretty open. We are not big AK fans so we are going to save that for our last day in the morning before our flight. Therefore, we have no reservations made to eat today. We will probably still be stuffed from two TS meals the day before though!! My guess is that we will end up at HS or MK on this day.

Day 6- Thursday, May 31st
WAAHH... Last full day.
Again, this is another free day to decide what park to attend. We will probably end up at EP or either HS or MK depending on which one we didn't do the day before. We do have dinner reservations at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the WL. I've heard good things about this place, however; if I see something else or get suggestions for a different place I wouldn't mind changing. Not sure why but I'm really excited for all the other dining reservations except this one. I'm sure its good.... but I don't know

Day 7- Friday, June 1st--Animal Kingdom/ Go Home
We hope to get a late flight so that we have the morning to go to a park. Being that AK is our least favorite, Sam and I decided that spending one of our half days there would be more than enough. Really, we just want to ride EE and Dinosaur. Maybe try to find Pocahontas and catch FOTL. Anyone ever met Pocahontas here or other places?? We really want to meet her but couldn't find her on our last trip. Asked in Epcot, but they said she only appears in the American Pavilion during Thanksgiving time

So thats all for now. I hope my days sound good. If you guys have any suggestions or tips feel free to give them!! Hopefully I can continue to update you on airfare soon and possibly some discounts we can take advantage of--we did get the room discount, but honestly it only saved us a couple hundred bucks...bummer. ((praying for Free Dining))

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Ok, so not really any info yet on our trip but just found out that Test Track will be closed while we are there in May it was one of my favorite rides last time so that kinda bummed me out a little. Oh well, I really want to spend more time exploring the World Showcase this time anyways!!

In other news, airfare prices are still outrageous... Checking everyday waiting for them to fall. We are getting very anxious!!!

 

[kansasdisneygal]

My Airfare Rant:

Why will prices not fall!?!?!? Is anyone else having these problems?? Right now prices from Wichita to Orlando are hanging out at about $366 per person!!! I'm sorry, but I think that's outrageous. I think we will hold out until the last week in March/beginning of April. I've read in many different places that airfare sometimes starts to decline at the 8-6 week out time. Hope this is true. I'd love to pay like $250 per ticket, but at this point if it gets down to $300 I'll be a happy camper.

Hoping to have a little pixie dust thrown our way for these airfare prices!!

In other news, we have started to pay down the trip! YAY! I love logging onto the WDW site and paying a little each month and watching the amount decrease. But maybe I'm just weird

Also, over the past week I have fallen in LOVE with Ohana food pictures and reviews. Should I book it?!?!

 

[MHTeacher]

Hi! Saw your post over on Queen's PTR, and noticed that our trips overlap. We'll be there May 27-June 2.

I am also a teacher ---6th, 7th, 8th grades Math. What about yourself and your friend Sam?

Planning's part of the fun. I enjoy reading what other DISers are planning for their trips!

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Hi! Saw your post over on Queen's PTR, and noticed that our trips overlap. We'll be there May 27-June 2.

I am also a teacher ---6th, 7th, 8th grades Math. What about yourself and your friend Sam?

Planning's part of the fun. I enjoy reading what other DISers are planning for their trips!

How fun! Maybe we will bump into each other!

I am a substitute teacher for the rest of this year. Recently out of college and hoping to find a full time teaching job next year! I really enjoy it. I am going to be a social studies teacher either in middle school or high school. Sam is a 4th grade teacher, this is her first year teaching, and she is also really enjoying it! ((So we are newbies ))

I love reading PTRs for people that are going when we are--so I will check your's out! I'm guessing you are staying at the Poly from your ticker? We are staying at Pop.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Ok, so seeing as how I am new to making PTRs this is a little backwards. But I am going to take some time to introduce you to Sam and I!

This is Sam and I on Its a Small World on our last trip in May 2009.

Here is a little about me: Jenn

I am 23 years old, and will be 24 by the time we are in Disney. Like previously noted, I am a teacher. I am currently substituting in local districts and hoping to get a classroom of my own next year I became Disney obsessed before our trip in May 2009. Now you see, my parents were never ones for big extravagant family vacations like a Disney World vacation would be. So growing up, our vacations were trips to see our Grandparents in Colorado and Kansas. Thrilling, I know.

So, once Sam convinced me we should go to Disney together during college, I loved the idea! I instantly became obsessed with planning our trip and we had a blast. After this trip, we knew it would be a while before we could go back, but we knew we wanted to. Sam was getting married that coming summer (I was Maid of Honor!) and we were both completing our Senior years of college and graduating in May 2010. Well time got away from us, so THREE YEARS LATER (oh the horror!) we are finally going back!!

Ok, so I got on a little tangent there but OH WELL!

Now here is a little about Sam, my bestest friend in the whole entire world.

Sam is pretty much the same age as me. She is 23 now and will be 24 when we go. I am literally 2 weeks and a day older . She is also a teacher and in the middle of her first year of teaching. She teaches 4th grade and loves it, even though there are days that we enjoy a *ahem* adult beverage after school. She is married to a wonderful guy, Victor, who kindly puts up with our Disney obsession.

When Sam asked Victor if he minded that we take our girls trips without him he kindly answered "Of course not, because I know when I want to travel half way around the world to a World Cup with my brother, you can say NOTHING!" haha. He is a jokester. But I think he was serious...

So, now I will share a few of our favorite pictures from our trip in May 2009. They just make me so happy!!

Belle is our FAVORITE princess. I think we met her 3 times this trip. Just a WARNING... we turn into 8 year old little girls while at Disney...

Also, we are superheroes...just FYI

Sully was so nice

Mickey is definitely my boyfriend... Sam can't claim him anymore since she is married

So there is a little more about us. I hope you are enjoying my PTR so far.

Can't wait to be in Disney

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Ok, well its been a while since I have had much to update about, but we are getting so close to our trip we can't even stand it!! We are still waiting to buy plane tickets because prices are starting to fall! yay!

However, the big change that Sam and I made is trading out our Via Napoli reservation to eat at Teppan Edo instead. I have never eaten at either of these restaurants and still would like to try Via Napoli BUT Sam has already eaten at Via Napoli in the past with her husband. So, Sam really wanted to try Teppan Edo so I said WHY NOT!! Also, since we will probably be eating quite a bit for lunch at Akershaus, I started to think that Italian food might be a bit heavy to eat for dinner. Either way, I'm sure the food will be OUTSTANDING! I mean what Disney food isn't??

So, Tuesday night, May 29th, we will be enjoying a Japanese feast at Teppan Edo!! Our reservation is at 7:20. I really really really really want to see Illuminations so I hope that dinner does not last an hour and 40 minutes...surely not, right???

In other exciting news, I have started to make jewelry again (I used to make some in college once in a while) and I'm super excited to start making Sam and I a couple Disney themed bracelets. I will have to post pictures when they are complete!!

 

[MHTeacher]

We're eating at Teppan Edo that very same night! I think our reservation is for 5, so you may be arriving as we're leaving.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

We're eating at Teppan Edo that very same night! I think our reservation is for 5, so you may be arriving as we're leaving.

Oh that would be funny! I'm excited to try it, I like hibachi places so I'm sure it will be just as good, if not better, in Disney

 

[MHTeacher]

Oh, snap! I just noticed that your reservation is for Tuesday night. We're eating there on Monday night! Oh, well...maybe we'll pass each other in the parks.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Oh, snap! I just noticed that your reservation is for Tuesday night. We're eating there on Monday night! Oh, well...maybe we'll pass each other in the parks.

Oh darn! That would have been funny though. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we will!

 

[kansasdisneygal]

I feel like I should reintroduce myself since I've been MIA for a while!! Sorry about that! Spring Break just got over and it was crazy, 4 out of the 9 days I was out of town and the other days I spent with my little brother who was home from college.

Anyways, I haven't updated in a while. Mostly because there hasn't been too much to update about. But now I have EXCITING NEWS:::

WE HAVE PAID OFF OUR TRIP!!!!!!!!!

Sam and I went and bought Disney Gift Cards from our local grocery store (which was offering 4x the fuel points when you buy a gift card) and we used those to finish paying off the trip. This has to be ONE OF THE BEST feelings ever! I think we jumped up and down enough to make us look like total nerds, BUT HEY ITS DISNEY!

Also, I was at Target today, perusing the string cheese selection, (one of my favorite healthy snacks!) when I rounded the corner and to my amazement I found these lovely, delicious, Disney-tastic COOKIES

OMG YUMMM! I bought two packs (24 cookies in each). I figure Sam and I can indulge in one pack on one of our Disney movie nights. I will save the last pack for our Disney Movie Marathon that has become a tradition before going to WDW. Basically what our Marathon consists of is fitting in as many Disney movies as possible the night before our trip and eating junky food (AKA a 10 year old girls slumber party- I SWEAR WE ARE 23!!!) We especially watch the movies we may not have seen in a while. However, seeing as how Beauty and the Beast is our favorite, it is always a MUST WATCH!

In other news, the only part of our trip that has not been decided or purchased are our plane tickets. This stressed me out.

I AM A PLANNER. I MAKE SPREADSHEETS. Do not Judge!! Ok, you can judge a little.

I have read on multiple websites about the 8-6 week out mark being the best time to buy (which we are starting our 8 week out tomorrow), checked the Bing travel thingy that says to Wait/Buy tickets, checked Kayak (and Southwest) everyday, and yet we have not seen a price we had to jump on. I will lay out our dilemma for you:

We have to compare Convenience to Cost.

We live in Wichita, KS. Wichita is NOTORIOUS for being expensive to fly in and out of...don't ask me why! Many times, Wichitans (as we like to call ourselves) drive 3 HOURS to Kansas City to fly. Why? Because KC is MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper to fly out of. Prices in KC have been steadily about $100 cheaper per person than Wichita. We also must take into account that we purchased 7 Day MYW tickets. If we do not get an early flight into Orlando on our first day AND a late flight out of Orlando on our last day TWO DAYS of these tickets will have been wasted. AND... it seems that the early flights out and late flights coming back are INCREASING in price faster than late flights out and early flights coming back.

SOOO, we are trying to figure out if we pay the extra for the convenience of flying out of Wichita and not traveling, OR do we drive the 3 hours to KC. Our only extra expense to KC is gas money for travel. We have friends there that we can stay with the night before our trip and who will take us to the airport (so we don't have to pay parking). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated?!?!?! Hoping for some pixie dust to help us out with our plane tickets!

Thats all for now! If you are reading along say HI!!!!

 

[Sam33]

Following along! I kind of know what you mean about Wichita prices. I have family in Des Moines and it is BRUTAL to fly there. We drive the 12 hours instead, that's how expensive it is. Smaller airports are always the pits. Hopefully you get there early. It's too hard to arrive in Disney and NOT go to a park! Waiting another night is hard.

Hopefully you do a TR! Sounds like a fun trip

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Following along! I kind of know what you mean about Wichita prices. I have family in Des Moines and it is BRUTAL to fly there. We drive the 12 hours instead, that's how expensive it is. Smaller airports are always the pits. Hopefully you get there early. It's too hard to arrive in Disney and NOT go to a park! Waiting another night is hard.

Hopefully you do a TR! Sounds like a fun trip

Thanks for following along!! Airfare is so crazy! We're going to buy within the next 2 weeks, so I've been checking every day! Sam and I briefly mentioned driving would be cheaper but we decided the two day trip would be horendous and we'd probably kill each other before even arriving!
But yes, I hope we get an early enough flight in to go to a park. I'm thinking if our flight lands before 5 it will still be worth it...

 

[cinderella crazy]

Yay! Glad to see you've started a PTR! Gotta go back and read about your plans so far.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Yay! Glad to see you've started a PTR! Gotta go back and read about your plans so far.

Yay! Glad you are here!!
I have started... I am not as organized as I would like to be with this PTR but I'm hoping ya'll can cut me some slack seeing as how its my first one

 

[kansasdisneygal]

I'm so HAPPY that it is April! Why, you may ask??? Well, because this means I can officially say I'M GOING TO DISNEY NEXT MONTH!!!! So exciting!!

Well, for the the past couple months, Sam and I have been obsessing over the details...ok, really I have been obsessing. Sam is more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person when it comes to vacation planning. BUT, one thing we have both truly been obsessing over is our WARDROBE for our trip!! I mean, honestly, who doesn't obsess over what to wear in Disney? You have to find clothes that are comfortable yet cute because you know there will be tons of pictures taken in each outfit you wear! No one wants frumpy pictures of yourselves mixed in with all the Disney gloriousness!

Sam also informed me, from her previous trip with her husband, that she had worn a few sundresses while in Disney and found them to be a comfy, cute, and most importantly cool alternative to the regular shorts and t-shirt combo. So, we both have gone somewhat crazy with buying cute sundresses to wear to Disney!

So, without futher ado, I will introduce you to MY WARDROBE!!!

This cute dress I got at JCPenneys. Its such a fun green zebra-ish print! Its actually funny that this is from Penneys because ever since their whole change in ads and no coupons, I have been disappointed in their selection/prices. BUT, Sam and I went shopping last weekend and I found this! It was only $25!!

This is my FAVORITE dress that I have bought. You can't really tell with it hanging on the hanger, but the skirt is really flowy and the belt sits on your waist and its very slimming and so summery (yes, I am making up words!) I got this dress at Maurices (FAVORITE STORE EVER.) for like $30.

I love my purple dress. I got this dress from Target last year. I forget how much it cost but its so comfy and perfect for summer. This style of dress does not look great hanging on the hanger, but if you've seen people or yourself wearing these you know they are cute. If you haven't seen people wearing them then you are blind. just kidding!

Ahhh...This dress is also from Target. I believe it was $15. I love it. I do NOT wear strapless dresses. But, I loved this one so much that I am going to buy a cute tank top to wear under it so I can still wear a normal bra. That may be too much info BUT for all the ladies out there, I am sure NO ONE wants to wear a strapless bra all day, in the heat. Maybe thats just me tho!

See, I'm not totally boycotting the t-shirt and shorts days. I got this cute t-shirt online from Target (yes I love Target, however; part of this has to do with the fact that I work there part-time along with my substituting and I get an extra discount!) Anyways! I got this shirt on CLEARANCE!!! WOOHOO for like $8!! Its so cute. I plan on wearing it with just a basic pair of jean shorts.

I also plan to take this shirt along with me. I got this shirt at WDW during our last trip in May 2009. I still think it is really cute. I like the patchwork fabric that Mickey is cut out of.

Ok. So there is the basics of my clothing wardrobe. I think its pretty well set. I still want to find a cute tankini top to take.

Here are a few accessories that I plan to also take.

My FAVORITE Minnie Mouse necklace. I have had this forever. Like since I was a little girl. I have no idea where I got it from, but it is very old. Its very dainty and I love it!

My Mickey Ears OF COURSE!! Who doesn't take their Mickey Ears? That has to be a sin if you don't take your Mickey Ears to Disney. Even if you do not wear them.

My Minnie Mouse lanyard that Sam and I made. We made matching ones and I currently keep my spare keys on mine. I also bought this lanyard material:

which I may or may not turn into another lanyard and use it for my KTWC. It was only 99cents at Michaels, so why not buy it??

Yesterday, Sam and I did some errands together. Well, we were headed back to my house to watch a Disney movie (we ended up watching Aladdin) and Sam suggested we stop really quick at Target to get some of those clear elastic hair ties. You might be wondering why?!? Well, as well as obsessing over our wardrobe, Sam and I have been obsessing over our hair. We looked back at our pictures from our last trip and realized how frumpy our hair looked everyday pulled back in a basic ponytail. SOOOO, we have been practicing many different braids and updos so we can have cute hair and be able to do each other's hair relatively quick in the mornings. Thus, the need for the elastics and a quick stop at Target.

Well, of course Target is DISTRACTING! We ended up trying on clothes and wandering. But! We happened upon the backpacks in the luggage area. We knew we wanted a small backpack to take into the parks with us to hold things like: cameras, phones, money, granola bars, park maps, sunscreen, and our only necessity of the bag was that it had a WATER BOTTLE HOLDER on the side. Well, Target being wonderful happened to have most of their backpacks on CLEARANCE this week and we got this nifty backpack:

I'm in love with this backpack. You probably can't tell but its on the smaller side, which is what we wanted. It has the side water bottle holder and a bunch of small convienent pockets. The biggest bonus was that this was 50% off!! It was originally about $47 and we got it (with my employee discount) for about $21!! SCORE!! Don't you just love deals! I even already added my Eeyore and Minnie keychains

Ok, well thats about it for now. I plan on buying a pair of TOMS for the trip too and I found a comfy pair of flip flop at Famous Footwear the other day that I would also like to have for the trip.

I will leave you with a cute little picture of some paperclips my wonderful cousin Lauren got me. She obviously understands my love for Disney and organization!!

 

[PixieMama]

Joining in!

Your title caught my attention... I went on a "Girls Only" trip last September and had SO. MUCH. FUN! It was definitely weird being at WDW without my kids, but I'm so ready for another trip for just the adults (not counting the one I have coming up in October, just DH and I!)

Your dresses are so cute... I think the green zebra-ish one would be perfect to wear at AK! I wore a sundress last year during one evening at Epcot... it was great. Comfy, as well as cool!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Great Disney purchaces! I wore a couple of skirts on our last trip and loved it. It was so much cooler than shorts. I'm thinking about investing in some sundresses this time. Yours are so cute!