Ssshhhh This Time It's A Secret! Dec 2015 pre-trip report

[vleeth]

My original Sept pre-trip report has been changed to a Dec pre-trip report.



Hello Disney Fans,

Last week I decided we are going to Disney! Unfortunately we have to wait almost a year for this trip. Hopefully this pre-trip report will help pass the time.

Here's the family.

Me, Valerie. I love Disney trips almost as much as I love planning Disney trips.





Husband, Dave. Lovingly puts up with my borderline obsessive planning and enjoys the trips.





And this is Hope. She loves talking about and visiting Disney. She looks a bit different (this pic was almost a year ago) because she cut her hair short and got her braces off.

 

[vleeth]

Since we will be at Disney for MNSSHP I decided it was a good idea to make new tie dye shirts. I washed the shirts and pillowcases tonight. Tomorrow I'll start sewing the Mickey Heads. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Chicago Mo]

I'm JOINING!!!

So your keeping this secret for a year?!?

 

[vleeth]

Here's a little more info about us.

Me ~ This will be my 8th trip to Disney World. I've also been on 1 Disney Cruise. I am the only one out of the 3 of us to not celebrate my birthday at Magic Kingdom. Maybe one day. I enjoy planning (I probably said that already) Disney vacations. I'm sort of a stay at home mom. I say sort of, because I babysit my nephew 5 days a week and I homeschool Hope. This is our second year homeschooling and we love it. It's also great to be able to plan trips when crowds are low and not have to worry about missing/making up school work. I also enjoy scrapbooking my trips. I don't like to spend money, so our trips are done on a budget. I have started a quest to lose a bit of body fat before this trip. I'm using an app that keeps track of my calories so I can reach my goal.

Dave ~ This will be Dave's 7th trip to Disney World. He has no interest whatsoever in planning. He will sometimes answer me when I ask for his input but mostly he wants to do whatever makes me happy. After owning our own business for more than 10 years we were forced to shut down. Now he has a job working part time. He was diagnosed with diabetes in June and has gotten back in shape to control his blood sugar. He enjoys riding his bike and spending time with his family.

Hope ~ This will be Hope's 5th trip to Disney World. Her first she was almost 2, then 4, her 5th birthday and 8. We went on our Disney Cruise when she was 7. She will be 10 on this next trip and considered an adult. Hope is very tall for her age and I am very short. We are just about the same height right now. Hope loves bike riding, archery, swimming, animals and chess. I plan to keep this trip a complete secret from her. We'll see how that goes. She's usually the one I bounce ideas off of.

Here are some pics from the last few trips.

This is after getting her first ever haircut. It was so neat to do this at Disney's Barbershop



When she was four we had free dining at got reservations at CRT. It was great!



Watching the parade after getting a hair cut on her 5th birthday.



This is from our Disney Cruise on the Magic.



I really feel like after lasts years trip we need a do over.

Coming up next...a recap from our last trip!

 

[HHMcG]

If our trip happens we will be keeping it a secret, too. Just an added reason why I need The Dis - someplace to spill all the secrets.

Your daughter sounds like mine. Lucy is tall, too. I hope she doesn't catch me by 10 but I'm pretty tall myself. Her shoe size is more likely to catch me though.

Happy planning!

 

[vleeth]

I'm JOINING!!!

So your keeping this secret for a year?!?

That's the plan! And you have no idea how hard it will be since we homeschool and I am with my daughter all the time.

If our trip happens we will be keeping it a secret, too. Just an added reason why I need The Dis - someplace to spill all the secrets.

Your daughter sounds like mine. Lucy is tall, too. I hope she doesn't catch me by 10 but I'm pretty tall myself. Her shoe size is more likely to catch me though.

Happy planning!

Hope passed me up in shoe size a while back. It is helpful to be able to come here and tell you guys the plans. That way I don't burst!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in!

More power to you in the secret department. I suppose you could always sneak Disney into your homeschooling as a way to "Keep the Magic Alive till we can manage to go again" That would allow a gateway into side discussion about a "pretend trip"

Good Luck!

 

[vleeth]

Chicago Mo, you're my first poster!

HHMcG, It's so nice to have company!

Joining in!

More power to you in the secret department. I suppose you could always sneak Disney into your homeschooling as a way to "Keep the Magic Alive till we can manage to go again" That would allow a gateway into side discussion about a "pretend trip"

Good Luck!

That's a good idea, but I think I'll wait to do that when I start to get tempted to tell her. I think if I start that too soon, I'll end up telling her.

 

[sdomino11]

Your family is beautiful! We're planning a trip for Sept 2015, too. I'm not sure I can keep it a secret the whole time though. Before the last trip my family made a rule that before I could begin talking about Disney I had to first ask permission! "Um, are you guys in the mood to hear about the latest ADR I snagged?!" I guess not everyone agrees that Disney fits into any conversation at any time.

We homeschool as well. And I actually did incorporate the last WDW trip into curriculum! We studied Florida, Walt, roller coasters, animation and hotels. It was FUN!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

That's a good idea, but I think I'll wait to do that when I start to get tempted to tell her. I think if I start that too soon, I'll end up telling her.

Exactly what I was thinking. Just have a few lessons on the back burner you can pull out for those times that the excitement just can't be held in.

 

[vleeth]

Your family is beautiful! We're planning a trip for Sept 2015, too. I'm not sure I can keep it a secret the whole time though. Before the last trip my family made a rule that before I could begin talking about Disney I had to first ask permission! "Um, are you guys in the mood to hear about the latest ADR I snagged?!" I guess not everyone agrees that Disney fits into any conversation at any time.

We homeschool as well. And I actually did incorporate the last WDW trip into curriculum! We studied Florida, Walt, roller coasters, animation and hotels. It was FUN!

Thank you so much for saying that!

I've learned to tone it down with most people. I do have a couple of Disney friends that I can call to talk about nothing but Disney, so that helps.

Tell me all about what you did? You did all of this before your trip or some of it during?

Exactly what I was thinking. Just have a few lessons on the back burner you can pull out for those times that the excitement just can't be held in.

And those times will come!

 

[vleeth]

Oh, and sdomino11, so glad you're here!

 

[vleeth]

This will be a more relaxing vacation. We are staying off site. Our only time at Magic Kingdom will be MNSSHP. We will spend one day (hopping) at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Either one or two (maybe even three) of our days will be spent at the Disney Waterparks. We keep trying to get to those but never seem to make it. And we may hit Disney Quest or the Mini Golf.

The issue with my hopping day is the FP+ Soarin/Test Track issue. We can go to Epcot first and rope drop one/FP+ the other. But then AK closes early. If we go to AK first we end up in a long line for one of the Epcot rides. Suggestions???

Also, which Disney Mini Golf did you love? We did the Winterland one and enjoyed it.



My daughter wasn’t the best at it, but we had a really good time.



Our favorite hole was the one with the snowman shooting water.

I'm working on shirts, so I'll post those pics once they are done.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I'd say it depends on how much you want to get done at Animal Kingdom. If its just a couple of rides then I'd knock that out first and then move on to Epcot.

I'm having similar FP+ decisions to make myself.

 

[vleeth]

I'd say it depends on how much you want to get done at Animal Kingdom. If its just a couple of rides then I'd knock that out first and then move on to Epcot.

I'm having similar FP+ decisions to make myself.

We've skipped Animal Kingdom the last couple of trips, so Hope hasn't been there since she's 4 and I really don't think she remembers most of it.

I'm thinking a fast walk through the animals, Safari, Dino, Kali (maybe more than once...it's my favorite,) maybe the Lion King show, maybe the Flights show. So...sounds like half a day.

Epcot we're probably looking at Soarin', Test Track, Mission:Space, Spaceship Earth, Mexico ride, guessing Norway ride will be closed. Depending on where we are in history makes a difference in what countries we spend time in and what shows we watch in the countries. We're also not big fans of Illuminations.

I guess the question is...does it take more time to hop a second time Epcot-Ak-Epcot or does it take more time to wait in the lines for Soarin' and Test Track?

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Joining in! I think this TR (coupled with a lot of Dis) will help to pass the time

 

[vleeth]

Joining in! I think this TR (coupled with a lot of Dis) will help to pass the time

So glad you're here!

 

[vleeth]

My original plan was to do a mini trip report here about our trip from last year. But after I started pulling it together, I realized it would be a long tr so I'll do one over on that side.

I spent a couple of hours last night typing up what we ate, when and where off of my receipts. Then I started typing up the audio notes I made on my phone during the trip. Right now I am uploading over 1000 pictures onto photobucket. So I have quite a bit of work to do. I'm also trying to talk my family into adding their comments as I go. We'll see what happens.

But I really think this will be good. Already it's bringing back so many memories and once the trip report is done we will be able to go back and read over it in the future.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

I can't wait to read the report!

 

[vleeth]

I can't wait to read the report!

Glad to hear I'll have at least one reader!

Although I have to admit, this whole TR idea is harmful to my next years budget. I've been looking at pics and typing up notes and it's REALLY making me want to stay at Pop.

I tell this to Dave and he says that we need to stay at Pop. He is also, not helpful to my budget.