Such a Big Miracle in Such a Little Girl! and Anniversary Celebration *Updated 3/19

[KatMark]

And I pan on getting them all

As you should! I just hope you can find somewhere to pin them all.

 

[blueangel2]

So, how do I feel about all this planning that goes into a WDW vacation: I LOVE IT!!
It give me something to do each and every day while I wait for our trip. I have a type A personality so I do everything in lists, organization charts etc. So this is right up my alley. My dh always laughs at me when we have a vacation planned. Usually, I'll have a list of things that I need to pick up for the trip. A list of places or things to do on the trip. A list of activities to keep the kids busy. A list of what to pack for dh and I. A list of what to pack for kids. A list of things I already packed. And a list of things that I need to do before leaving. And the list goes on an on.

Well my dh can laugh all he wants, but I dont forget anything and we get to see and do everything we want do.

So heres hoping that all this planning will do the same for this trip. Originally I was a bit miffed that I had to plan where to eat so far in advance. But now I'm glad to know exactly what we will be doing, rather than wondering around searching for a place to eat. And FP+ wasn't as bad as I had envisioned it to be either.

So far, one of my biggest challenges, has been coming up with a way to "tour" the parks. My dh and I used touringplans.com on our last trip and it worked great. However on this trip I cannot use one of their pre-made plans. Their plans for little ones include a lot of character greetings, which we will be skipping. We'll see characters at some of our meals, and we already have most of the Disney characters autographs after visiting DL so many times. We will be getting APs to DL this year, so we will be avoiding some of the rides/attractions that we can do at anytime, unless there's a short wait. However, with this being my ds first trip, we have to do the staples like Dumbo, Carousel, and Peter Pan. Though my daughter is only 5, she is a dare devil. This will be her first time meeting the 40" height requirement and she can't wait for BTMRR, Splash Mt and ToT. SO I had a a lot of "tweaking" to do on the personalized touring plans, but I think I came up some day plans that will work well for us.

 

[KatMark]

So, how do I feel about all this planning that goes into a WDW vacation: I LOVE IT!!
It give me something to do each and every day while I wait for our trip. I have a type A personality so I do everything in lists, organization charts etc. So this is right up my alley. My dh always laughs at me when we have a vacation planned. Usually, I'll have a list of things that I need to pick up for the trip. A list of places or things to do on the trip. A list of activities to keep the kids busy. A list of what to pack for dh and I. A list of what to pack for kids. A list of things I already packed. And a list of things that I need to do before leaving. And the list goes on an on.

Well my dh can laugh all he wants, but I dont forget anything and we get to see and do everything we want do.

So heres hoping that all this planning will do the same for this trip. Originally I was a bit miffed that I had to plan where to eat so far in advance. But now I'm glad to know exactly what we will be doing, rather than wondering around searching for a place to eat. And FP+ wasn't as bad as I had envisioned it to be either.

So far, one of my biggest challenges, has been coming up with a way to "tour" the parks. My dh and I used touringplans.com on our last trip and it worked great. However on this trip I cannot use one of their pre-made plans. Their plans for little ones include a lot of character greetings, which we will be skipping. We'll see characters at some of our meals, and we already have most of the Disney characters autographs after visiting DL so many times. We will be getting APs to DL this year, so we will be avoiding some of the rides/attractions that we can do at anytime, unless there's a short wait. However, with this being my ds first trip, we have to do the staples like Dumbo, Carousel, and Peter Pan. Though my daughter is only 5, she is a dare devil. This will be her first time meeting the 40" height requirement and she can't wait for BTMRR, Splash Mt and ToT. SO I had a a lot of "tweaking" to do on the personalized touring plans, but I think I came up some day plans that will work well for us.

I make lists too...after 30+ years, my husband has learned to just let me be.

Dumbo will be much easier now that there are 2 of them. that your daughter can do those thrill rides.

 

[blueangel2]

Sunday Day 1

We will start of our day early in the morning. Our flight leaves at 10:55 am in San Diego, which is two hours away!

We live smack dab in the center of Southern California in an area called the Inland Empire. We live with in 30 - 50 miles of several small airports and international airports. Ontario, Palm Springs, LAX, Long Beach, John Wayne, and Burbank. So why did we pick San Diego which is 100+ miles away? Not only was it cheaper flights, its more convenient You see, Ontario is 15 mins from us but almost triple the price. It takes approx an hour to get to Palm Springs and Long Beach, but they are twice as much money, same with John Wayne and Burbank. So what does that leave us? LAX and San Diego. With two small children, LAX is not something that I wanted to contend with, Besides although it is 50 miles closer, with California traffic, time wise it will be the same. SO San Diego it is!
We will leave home around 7:00 and hit the road so we can get to airport with time to check in.

Then its a 5 hour flight. And we arrive in Florida at 5:00pm. We will load the DME and head for a week of fun. AoA is our destination. We will have dinner at the resort, maybe swim, and catch the evening movie. IF we are still wired then my dh and I might just head over to one of the parks to ride one or two of the rides that my dd is to short for.

 

[alan_renfroe]

So lets recap what we are celebrating:
Personal Triumph: 5 years since a life saving heart surgery on a 4 month old baby

Wedding Anniversary: 35 years of wedded bliss which resulted in two wonderful children happily married that will both be celebrating 8 years this year. And two beautiful grandchildren

First Time Visits: This will be my DS first ever visit to any Disney theme park, and it is the first visit to WDW for my parents and dd. This is also my dd and ds's first plane trip

Could we possibly have more to celebrate...WHY YES!!
My dh's birthday is the last day of our trip. He will turn 34! And it is Mother's Day!

Did we plan it this way on purpose...no. We chose one of the best weeks of the year based on easywdw.com and worked around my mom's work schedule (she's a school employee and has to be there the last week of school). We just got lucky!

Up next: my thoughts on all this planning and a day by day of our tentative plans.

Wow, that's a TON of things to celebrate! Congratulations on ALL of them! We will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary on our upcoming trip!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Sunday Day 1

We will start of our day early in the morning. Our flight leaves at 10:55 am in San Diego, which is two hours away!

We live smack dab in the center of Southern California in an area called the Inland Empire. We live with in 30 - 50 miles of several small airports and international airports. Ontario, Palm Springs, LAX, Long Beach, John Wayne, and Burbank. So why did we pick San Diego which is 100+ miles away? Not only was it cheaper flights, its more convenient You see, Ontario is 15 mins from us but almost triple the price. It takes approx an hour to get to Palm Springs and Long Beach, but they are twice as much money, same with John Wayne and Burbank. So what does that leave us? LAX and San Diego. With two small children, LAX is not something that I wanted to contend with, Besides although it is 50 miles closer, with California traffic, time wise it will be the same. SO San Diego it is!
We will leave home around 7:00 and hit the road so we can get to airport with time to check in.

Then its a 5 hour flight. And we arrive in Florida at 5:00pm. We will load the MDE and head for a week of fun. AoA is our destination. We will have dinner at the resort, maybe swim, and catch the evening movie. IF we are still wired then my dh and I might just head over to one of the parks to ride one or two of the rides that my dd is to short for.

Sounds like a solid travel day! Be sure to get some rest before Day 2!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[blueangel2]

Wow, that's a TON of things to celebrate! Congratulations on ALL of them! We will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary on our upcoming trip!

thanks! and Congrats to you!

 

[blueangel2]

Sounds like a solid travel day! Be sure to get some rest before Day 2!

I am hoping that the traveling will actually make us too tired to go the parks that night. If we get the kids to bed at their 8pm bedtime, thats 5pm in California! YIKES! Hopefully the travel day will help us to adjust to the time difference a little easier.

 

[Magic2000]

Another vote for Yatchsman Steakhouse for the anniversary dinner - or any dinner!!! It is definitely our favorite!!! Their creme brulee is really good too!!

Sounds like a great trip so far!!! Enjoy!!!

 

[anniebabymu]

Wow... thanks for sharing your baby girl's story! It's amazing how resilient little ones are. And your parents sound like wonderful parents/grandparents! So exciting that you have so much to celebrate while you're there! I'm sure they'll appreciate anything you do for them, no matter what it is! We loved the Dessert Party when we went last April... and we even had a less than stellar night for it due to it raining all night :/ We had to book it again for us and my in-laws for this next trip! You guys will have a blast

 

[kimbo0569]

When we started planning this trip over a year ago we fell in love with the Art of Animation Resort. The theme of the resort is just the sort of "disney magical" experience that we are looking to give our children.

We booked a family suite for the 6 of us. I plan on giving my parents the bedroom while my dh and I share the living quarters with the kids. The mini fridge and microwave are an added bonus.

Planning the ADRs wasn't quite as easy. My dh and I had only been to WDW the one time, so we are unfamiliar with the restaurants. We knew that we wanted sit down restaurants that will also somewhat entertain the kids while we eat. My mom and I poured over books and website reviews until we came up with a list restaurants that we felt would work out well for entertainment, as well as restaurants that reflect our taste in food. We have some very picky eaters in our group (my dh and Dad).

We are not big breakfast eaters either, but we are earlier risers. Our plan is to order groceries (breakfast, snacks, water and diapers) to be delivered to the resort. We will have the kids eat breakfast in room and we will grab a bagel or toast before getting to the parks for Rope Drop. Our only planned breakfast will be at CRT...only because my father would not eat anything on the lunch or dinner menu

So the final ADR list came down to Teppan Edo, CRT, Liberty Tree Tavern, Chef Mickey's, Sanaa, and Ohana. I called on our 180 day mark and was able to get each and every reservation that I wanted. Now I hope I will be able to make a BOG Fp+ reservation for lunch...then my culinary aspirations would be complete.

I just finished reading your little girl's story and what a beautiful strong little girl you have! You also have an amazing support system with your family so this trip sounds very fitting. I have two picky eaters in my family as well (dh and my 12 year old daughter) but they loved Teppan Edo and Ohana for dinner is one of our favorites.
Cannot wait to read more!

 

[blueangel2]

Tonight is another Disney Family Movie Night. It is our countdown to Disney! I put in a jar all the movies that would be represented at WDW that we might see on our trip. Whether it be a ride, character, show or restaurant. My dd chooses a movie every week. Then I make a themed dinner and/or dessert for the movie. We have been doing this for a while now.

So far we have watched:
* Tangled featuring Braided golden bread, Salad with purple sauce(ranch dressing dyed purple) and Rotisserie Chicken.

*Bugs Life: Picnic Dinner - Fried chicken, potato salad, fries and for desert: Dirt Pudding with gummy worms.

*Snow White with Poison Apple Pie

*Brave: Merida's Family Dinner - drumsticks and roasted potatoes & carrots, Scottish Shortbread Cookies

* Mary Poppins - this was Christmas Week - just watched the movie

*Little Mermaid - Ursula's Octopus Hotdogs, Sebastian's Sea Shell Pasta, and Flounder's Green Bean Sea weed, Dessert was King Tritans's blue ocean (blue jello w/swedish fish)




*Brother Bear - Koda's Salmon Dinner, Kenai's Tuna Casserole, Rutt and Tuke's Grass Salad, Denahi's Roasted potatoes, Drink - Northern Lights Drink (blue koolaid) Dessert - Bear Paws (paw shaped cookies)


I wish I had taken pictures of the other nights, but going forward I will make sure to take more. This is so much fun for our entire family and it is getting my mom and I caught up on some Disney movies we haven't seen yet. My dd even managed to talk her Papa into coming to the Brother Bear movie night (since its is a boy movie according to her)

So whats on the program tonight? The Incredibles!

 

[anniebabymu]

Love the movie nights! I keep saying that I'm going to start doing something like that... but never get around to it! I bet your kiddos loved it

 

[blueangel2]

Love the movie nights! I keep saying that I'm going to start doing something like that... but never get around to it! I bet your kiddos loved it

It is so much fun...I keep it simple. I have seen some movie nights where they decorate and play games and crafts. I think if I started doing that I don't think I would follow through. Dinner that ties in the movie, that's enough for us. The baby is too little to understand it, but my dd loves it and that's enough for us to keep it going.

For Incredible night we had Super "hero" sandwiches, Chips and Incredible Dip, and Frozone's Family Sunday (ice cream Sunday bar) The ds really enjoyed his bowl of vanilla ice cream, I think this one was his favorite

 

[blueangel2]

Day2

Day 2, our first full day at wdw will be spent at Epcot. I know, I know, I am going against the masses and NOT going to Magic Kingdom first. I have a very good reason for this. My parents really want to see Epcot, and I really enjoyed this park. My fear is that if we see MK first, then Epcot wont seam or feel as interesting to my dd. I know her and I know she will enjoy the different countries, but She will also want more rides like all day at MK. So Epcot on our first day it is.

We will begin our day by feeding the kids breakfast in room while the adults are getting ready. Then we will each grab a toast or bagel and head out the door. Our plan is to be at the bus stop by 8:00 to catch the bus to Epcot. We would like to be at the park for rope drop.

We will of course spend the morning in future world: Spaceship Earth, Test track with FP+( dh and I will get FP+, get swap pass for parents and dd, then they can go) The Seas with Nemo, Turtle Talk, Journey with Figment. By this time it will still be a bit too early for lunch, so we will head left into world showcase Ride Maelstrom and Grand Fiesta and visit China, Norway and Mexico.

We will then take a break and eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons, and then get the baby down for a nap. He sleeps really well in his stroller and my dd stopped taking naps at 2 years old. So we will continue on from here.

We will walk on over to Soarin using my parents' and dd's Fp+, then they will child swap with us. Next up is Circle of Life then we are done with future world and will spend the rest of the afternoon walking the world showcase pavillions. We'd like to try out Agent P's Adventure and we will definetly stop in Japan for the pick-a-pearl. Kaylie will be getting a Cinderella Carriage Necklace delivered from Tinkerbell so she can get her pearl. We will stroll and browse until dinner time at Teppan Edo at 5pm. After than if the kids are done we will head back to the hotel, or if they seem to still be going okay we may just head over to Ft. Wilderness for the Chip N Dale Campfire Sing-along.
Then its off to bed dream of what the next day will bring.

 

[anniebabymu]

Day2

Day 2, our first full day at wdw will be spent at Epcot. I know, I know, I am going against the masses and NOT going to Magic Kingdom first. I have a very good reason for this. My parents really want to see Epcot, and I really enjoyed this park. My fear is that if we see MK first, then Epcot wont seam or feel as interesting to my dd. I know her and I know she will enjoy the different countries, but She will also want more rides like all day at MK. So Epcot on our first day it is.

We will begin our day by feeding the kids breakfast in room while the adults are getting ready. Then we will each grab a toast or bagel and head out the door. Our plan is to be at the bus stop by 8:00 to catch the bus to Epcot. We would like to be at the park for rope drop.

We will of course spend the morning in future world: Spaceship Earth, Test track with FP+( dh and I will get FP+, get swap pass for parents and dd, then they can go) The Seas with Nemo, Turtle Talk, Journey with Figment. By this time it will still be a bit too early for lunch, so we will head left into world showcase Ride Maelstrom and Grand Fiesta and visit China, Norway and Mexico.

We will then take a break and eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons, and then get the baby down for a nap. He sleeps really well in his stroller and my dd stopped taking naps at 2 years old. So we will continue on from here.

We will walk on over to Soarin using my parents' and dd's Fp+, then they will child swap with us. Next up is Circle of Life then we are done with future world and will spend the rest of the afternoon walking the world showcase pavillions. We'd like to try out Agent P's Adventure and we will definetly stop in Japan for the pick-a-pearl. Kaylie will be getting a Cinderella Carriage Necklace delivered from Tinkerbell so she can get her pearl. We will stroll and browse until dinner time at Teppan Edo at 5pm. After than if the kids are done we will head back to the hotel, or if they seem to still be going okay we may just head over to Ft. Wilderness for the Chip N Dale Campfire Sing-along.
Then its off to bed dream of what the next day will bring.

Sounds wonderful! I completely understand doing Epcot first! Our last trip we got to Epcot and into the World and my oldest DD did nothing but complain about being bored. So needless to say, DH and I didn't get to spend much time there! I hope it all works out for you!

You'll have to let me know how the child swap with the FP+ goes and if there are any issues with "splitting" the FP+ between you guys for one attraction and your parents for the other! We're going with my in laws and I would LOVE to do this!

 

[KatMark]

Sorry...I got a little behind (busy with family issues and date weekend with hubby).

I LOVE your movie nights and the food you prepared. Very, very cute.

I agree with your assessment of doing Epcot first. I always recommend that when little children are involved.

 

[blueangel2]

Today is my baby's 5th birthday! Such a milestone for her. We are going to her favorite Spaghetti Restaurant for dinner along with my Mom, my brother and his wife, my MIL and SIL. She's going to be so excited and this weekend is her party!

 

[anniebabymu]

Today is my baby's 5th birthday! Such a milestone for her. We are going to her favorite Spaghetti Restaurant for dinner along with my Mom, my brother and his wife, my MIL and SIL. She's going to be so excited and this weekend is her party!

Happy Birthday Kaylie!!