Surprise! Second star to the right and straight on until morning - almost.

tommygirl79

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
810
Hello all!

Greetings from chilly Indiana! As the cold winter weather prepares to move in, I'm ready to think about our trip back to our second home and write a little about it!

My plan is to continue this trip report from pre-trip status, through to trip report and closing comments and observations. Also, I want to write all of my thoughts so that later on, our girls can read all the information and remember all the great times we had!

So.....everyone think some happy thoughts and let's get this show on the road!

First stop, introductions:

First of all, me (because I'm in control and I say I am :rotfl:)

Gonna go with some nicknames here. Even though I don't often refer to myself in third person, I'll grab the name "Mrs. Potts".

So, here I am:

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I am an early 30-ish stay-at-home mom from Indiana. I am the laundry washer, supper-maker, take-em-to-er, diaper-changer, go-to person of the house. I love to quilt, make hairbows for our girls and have a great time doing just about anything! Super involved in our church and work with high school girls doing some mentoring! Oh, I am hopelessly addicted to Disney. Who isn't??? :confused3

Next up, is my DH, who will hereafter be referred to as "Phineas". Mainly because he watches "Phineas and Ferb" as often and with more enthusiasm than any of our children - and I love him all the more for it. Here he is:

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He's hot, right??? Love him! Anyhow, Phineas is a later-30ish dude who works hard at his new great job at an architectural/engineering firm. He works so hard for our family and is a great provider. More than that, he's the best husband and father any gal could ever ask for! We've been married for 12 years and this will be our 7th trip to Disney World together including our honeymoon. Over the years, he has grown to love our trips to WDW just as much as I do!

Next: our princesses!

First off, Belle. Belle is 10 years old and in the fifth grade! She is super duper smart and loves playing soccer as well as guitar. She is the best older sister to the others and is a huge help in so many ways! She enjoys life and tends to see things in very black/white ways. This is her 6th trip to WDW.

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Next, is Tiana. Tiana is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade! She is smart in her own right, but her joy in life comes from making people smile and doing whatever needs done in order to make someone feel good about themselves. She is super silly and can make just about anyone laugh. She also plays soccer and would like a set of drums soon. Heaven help us! This is also her 6th trip to WDW.

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Last, but certainly not least, is Boo. Boo is almost 2 (will be just barely 2) on our trip. She is our big surprise - and we wouldn't have it any other way! She is full of joy and completes our family in more ways than we could have ever guessed! She's spunky and loves playing with her sisters more than anything else in the world! This is her 2nd trip (3rd if you count in-utero) to WDW.

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Next up: The plans...
 
The plan for this trip:

What: Surprise trip (kinda) for kiddos. Originally, we were going to completely surprise them the day we leave that we are going at all. Unfortunately, I just couldn't NOT talk WDW with them until we left, so we opted to tell them we were leaving in May when in reality we will surprise them when they get home from school that we are leaving right that second and then take off!

When: January 13-22, 2012

Where: Staying at CBR January 14-19 and then resort hopping to WL January 19-21 with 8 day park hopper tickets and free dining!

Why: Well, besides that fact that just like everyone else on the DIS, we need our WDW fix, it's been almost 2 years for our family since our last trip to WDW. And that trip, although a great time, was more about taking the Disney Cruise plus 3 extra days at WDW and it felt as though we didn't get to really enjoy the parks as much. Plus, that trip was with DFiL and his girlfriend so this is the first big vacation for us as a family unit since Boo was born!

How: We will be driving from our home in Indiana. The "almost" part of my pre-trip report comes from the fact that although we would love to be able to keep going "straight on until morning", we usually drive to Valdosta or Lake City when we just can't keep our eyes open anymore and then arrive at WDW in the morning of the next day to check in and make the most of our first day's worth of tickets!

Free dining: I reserved our free dining package the first day they put them out awhile back. Up until this past week, we were only going to be staying at CBR. However, DH got a great new job awhile back and I wanted to surprise him by staying at WL the last two nights. It has always been a dream of ours to stay there, and even though we couldn't get FD for those 2 nights, we did manage to get a 35% off room only rate.

I made all these changes hoping to surprise Phineas with them during our Whispering Canyon reservation on check in day at WL but I decided there was just no way to keep it a secret so I told him - and he is PSYCHED!!!! The girls will not know about the Wilderness Lodge portion of our stay until after I have already checked us in! More on that later!

ADR Plan:

Jan 14 - Chef Mickey - 5 pm
Jan 15 - Akershus - 8:05 am
Jan 16 - Yak & Yeti - 4:45 pm
Jan 17 - Le Cellier - 4:35 pm
Jan 18 - Crystal Palace - 8:05 am
Jan 19 - Whispering Canyon - 2:00 pm
Jan 20 - Mama Melrose's - 4:00 pm
Jan 21 - The Plaza Restaurant - 2:20 pm

The last 3 will be paid OOP.

If anyone has any advice on any of these options/times/dates, let me know!

Up next: The plan to pull off the BIG surprise!!
 
Joining in. You are way braver than I am... driving to WDW in January! I'm nervous enough about weather getting in the way of flights.

You'll love the pre-park opening breakfast at Crystal Palace. My youngest (also nicknamed Boo :teeth:) was 16mo on our Christmas trip and Pooh & friends were her favorite characters of the whole trip, even though at home she was more fond of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And the empty Main Street is just fabulous for photo ops!
 
I'm in. I could never keep Disney a surprise from my dd.
 

Hi, I'm in. We're neighboors I'm in Central Indiana too. Your DD's are so cute!

We drive and normally stop in Valdosta as well. We'll be a few weeks behind you. :thumbsup2
 














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