Tale of Two Princesses...Finally, an update! June 3rd.

[wakica]

Can't help you out with the dining plan question but just wanted to say i hope your foot is getting better. Mine was bugging me sort of like that for a bit too - especially when i would get up in the morning I wasn't sure what it was and figured it was just getting old. LOL. It seems to have gone away though - actually now that I think of it I think it's gone since I've started running so maybe that's helping stretch out the foot more. Now I have other problems such as a bad hamstring. I guess I can't win. LOL

oh and DeVine is on my list too!!! and Miyuki the candy lady

 

[disneydiva16]

Just checking in Great start to your report. Very cool that you are a travel agent. I used to be one also. It is a great job planning other people's trips....I think
Perhaps we will run into each other there. I am also there the same time as wakica

 

[wakica]

Hey, where did you go??

It's not very long at all now until we go

Any more plans to share?

 

[abcangie87]

I'm still here!

I vascillate between being insanely busy and then getting sucked into the Disboards and feeling like time is not moving quick enough! I am soooo ready to go!

I officially cancelled our Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic package and went with the Mama Melrose's option. We also went ahead and did the one-night quick service plan to go with our one night at Beach Club. I looked at menus and thought and thought about it, crunching numbers, etc....we finally decided that since we Wolfgang Puck Express so much, we would just make a point of dragging ourselves out of the pool and going to DTD for dinner that night.

I'm kind of having decision issues on whether we will go to Hollywood Studios or Epcot after we send our bags on our way on Sunday the 29th. I think I read there was some cheer and dance competition that weekend at Epcot, so heading to HS seems like a logical choice to me. However, I would be surprised if we made it there at Rope Drop so hopefully it won't be a 'bust' as far as getting on some things. If we don't get on TSM that first day, I'm sure we'll hit it another day. It might be nice just to hit more of the little kid/less crowded stuff that day. I want to go to the Animation building and do the drawing-with-an-Imagineer thing, go to the Disney Junior on Stage thing, etc. Now of course, if I can get on R-n-R that day, I'll be happy. My FAVE ride.

So, DD4 I think is officially 40" with her shoes on. We are nutso, I gotta tell ya. I made her do some stretching excercises everyday and we have been measuring a lot. Some days we think 'yeah, she's right at 40"' and other days we think 'mmmmI don't know...it's so close!'. So DH made a measuring stick. Like the right-angle ones they have at WDW. And if she has her shoes on (regular Disney princess tennis-shoes) and we tell her to stand up good and tall, there is NO space between the stick and her hair. God willing, we are accurate. We are soooo right on the line, I think it's just going to be a matter of what time of day it is, how tall she stands, how accurate the measuring stick is. I can see us getting on some things, and not on others. So we will just work with her on that.

I forgot that we have 18 VIP Fastpasses to use for this trip. We got them for adding points onto our DVC membership on our cruise last year. If I remember right, you stick them into the fastpass machine and it will give you a fastpass to use immediately on that ride. That'll help a lot, especially if we can't get ourselves to rope drop for Soarin and TSM.

I'm sure you've all seen the 647 threads/debates/rumors about whether Test Track is closing on April 16th. The debate is wide and varied, and as far as I see it, we're in a 'wait and see' mode.... there is nothing on the WDW calendar about it, etc. etc. But the point of mentioning it is that...Epcot is already my least favorite park. If they have TT closed, I would almost consider skipping Epcot entirely. I want to get the fam on Soarin, especially if DD4 hits the height mark for it. My mom and father-in-law will like it I think. It'd be nice to just combine an Epcot Day with an Animal Kingdom day, but I'm not sure how well that will work. Thoughts? I was thinking about going to AK for the morning, and after lunch there, catching a bus to Beach Club, walking over to Epcot, hitting Maelstrom and Three Caballeros (or whatever that's called), using VIP Fastpasses for Soarin, then taking the monorail back home to Bay Lake. Do you think that sounds reasonable? We are usually out of AK by about 1p.m. anyways. I'm not sure what day I want to do this, but it's an idea I'm considering. I just don't know.


So, it's been gorgeous here in the midwest. We celebrated DD8's 8th Birthday with an ice cream social at a local park.

We have this place here called Botanica which is a big gorgeous 'gardens' kind of place. Their tulips are amazing this year. So we took the girls for a morning there for some pictures.

Easter weekend I have been busy at church. We have a pretty big church, and for Easter weekend we had six different services. I worked in the three-year-old classroom on Friday evening, we attended service on Saturday evening, then I worked with the two-year-olds this morning.

I'm usually the family cook, but this year I kind of flaked out on dinner (Dude, we're saving money for a TRIP...I can't buy a HAM!)...so MIL did Easter dinner. I took the deviled eggs and dessert---chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick-- a nod to our 2009 Disney cruise. Easter Sunday was highlighted...or low-lighted...by my DD4 stepping on a board in the tree line at the grandparents' house and having a nail go thru her flip flop. thank GOODNESS it didn't puncture her foot... I'm not sure how that happened..it might have gone between her toes. It was a miracle for sure. Then tonight we found a tic on the same DD's back. Lovely. Makes ya itch.

Finally, thought I'd close this post with a couple of my favorite shots from the last WDW trip, in 2010. They're not amazing by a photography standpoint by any means, but I do just love them.

Thanks for sticking around! Have a fabulous start to your week! oxox

 

[wakica]

WOW you HAVE BEEN BUSY!!!

So, DD4 I think is officially 40" with her shoes on. We are nutso, I gotta tell ya. I made her do some stretching excercises everyday and we have been measuring a lot. Some days we think 'yeah, she's right at 40"' and other days we think 'mmmmI don't know...it's so close!'. So DH made a measuring stick. Like the right-angle ones they have at WDW. And if she has her shoes on (regular Disney princess tennis-shoes) and we tell her to stand up good and tall, there is NO space between the stick and her hair. God willing, we are accurate. We are soooo right on the line, I think it's just going to be a matter of what time of day it is, how tall she stands, how accurate the measuring stick is. I can see us getting on some things, and not on others. So we will just work with her on that.

This made me LOL!!!! i can just envision you - now Sttrreeeeeeetchhhhh! We MUST stretch you out in time for the trip! Bahahaha

I forgot that we have 18 VIP Fastpasses to use for this trip. We got them for adding points onto our DVC membership on our cruise last year. If I remember right, you stick them into the fastpass machine and it will give you a fastpass to use immediately on that ride. That'll help a lot, especially if we can't get ourselves to rope drop for Soarin and TSM.

WOW!!! soooo jealous. LOL

I'm sure you've all seen the 647 threads/debates/rumors about whether Test Track is closing on April 16th. The debate is wide and varied, and as far as I see it, we're in a 'wait and see' mode....

One of the sites I follow has an inside scoop on Cast member scheduling and the schedules officially came out for mid April stating that there was nobody scheduled to work TT and that they had stationed cast members from customer service or something outside of it to answer questions. Sooo, my guess is it's gonna be down.

I'm usually the family cook, but this year I kind of flaked out on dinner (Dude, we're saving money for a TRIP...I can't buy a HAM!)...so MIL did Easter dinner. I took the deviled eggs and dessert---chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick-- a nod to our 2009 Disney cruise. Easter Sunday was highlighted...or low-lighted...by my DD4 stepping on a board in the tree line at the grandparents' house and having a nail go thru her flip flop. thank GOODNESS it didn't puncture her foot... I'm not sure how that happened..it might have gone between her toes. It was a miracle for sure. Then tonight we found a tic on the same DD's back. Lovely. Makes ya itch.

Ummmm, I must know more about this chocolate dipped keylime pie on a stick it's sounds INCREDIBLE!!!!! please do share



Thanks for sharing the photos!!! They were great!

 

[abcangie87]

So, have you seen the national weather forecast for today (saturday)?

Let me show you:

See the red/pink area? yeah, we are smack-dab in the middle of that area. Everyone is just holding their breath to see what the weather is really going to do today.

Our big church cancelled its two Saturday night services. Several area proms are cancelling/rescheduling prom.

I hope the meteorologists are wrong!!

So two weeks from today we will be at Beach Club, hopefully enjoying, well..the beach!

I told DH that i'm feeling a little out of sorts because usually I would be packing, etc by this point but I'm having to kind of play it cool because of the whole surprise factor. I think DD8 is well aware that i would not pack for a 'kansas city trip' two weeks early. Nor do we ever take our big suitcase for a 'kansas city trip.'

Have been staying busy around here to try to get the time to pass quicker. This week, I went to a presentation and book signing of The Pioneer Woman (dot com)....she's one of my favorite bloggers, and I her cookbooks. It was pretty fun to finally meet her!

I am sure we are totally BFFs now.

Can you believe I still don't have my touring plan really put together? I must be on crack.

 

[wakica]

oh my!!! How has the weather been??? I hope those nasty tornados didn't bother coming out to play b/c nobody wants to play with them

I had heard about the warnings and wondered how things went - we have friends down that way too where there were warnings.

anyway, hope you get on soon and let us know you made out ok.

 

[abcangie87]

oh my!!! How has the weather been??? I hope those nasty tornados didn't bother coming out to play b/c nobody wants to play with them

I had heard about the warnings and wondered how things went - we have friends down that way too where there were warnings.

anyway, hope you get on soon and let us know you made out ok.

Well....we survived! It was not a great day for the midwest, that is for sure! We are in Wichita, which took a direct hit from a tornado about 10:15 Saturday night. I've lived here 13 years, and tho we have often 'gone to the basement' because the sirens were going off, last night was the first time we actually 'got in the tub in the bathroom of the basement and hunkered down'... usually we just go into the family room in the basement, but this was so scary! The tornado passed thru on a diagnol path, so it hit about 3 miles west of us, and also about 2 miles north of us on it's track. we were so lucky. No fatalaties here though, thank goodness

My hometown in Iowa had over 5 inches of rain in about 6 hours yesterday afternoon. Water water everywhere.

My aunt/uncle/cousins town in Iowa was hit by a tornado too. The side of town my aunt/uncle are on was completely unscathed. The part where my cousins live had major destruction. They lost trees...but there were some houses in their neighborhood completely destroyed. So sad.

I'll be fine with never going through that again. I got stressed out enough to have to take a hit on my daughters inhaler! DD4 slept thru us getting her out of bed and taking her to the basement. She also slept thru getting put on the couch cushions in the bathtub, and slept thru the whole thing, and slept all the way back up to her bed. Oh to be four.

Hope everyone else had a quiet weekend!

I'm working on my touring plan for the trip, like actually sitting here working on it. I'm having issues.

Better hit the sack. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night!

 

[wakica]

oh wow, that IS scary!! We get tornados here too but not nearly as often as you do down there!!! I HATE them!!!
I'm glad to hear you made it throught the weekend and that dd slept through it all.

Hope your plans are coming along ok. What's stressing you? anything in particular?

 

[vdub322]

Since we will be at BLT at the same time, I figured I would stop in and say "Hi" on your trip report! I hope to do my first TR when we come home. Maybe I will show up in the background of some of your pics!

Hoping for great weather and low crowds!

~Vanessa

 

[mickeyinthehouse]

Well hello!!! I just stumbled across your trip report and wanted to wish you happy travels on your upcoming trip. We are in the Kansas City area so not too far from you. Our next trip is planned for October and we will be spending a few days at BLT so looking forward to hearing how your trip goes. Our trip seems like such a long way away. I'm sure your excitement is building!

 

[abcangie87]

.

Hope your plans are coming along ok. What's stressing you? anything in particular?

I think it is the fact that we are kind of doing two 'three day trips'...we'll have our first three park days to do our own thing, then the last three we'll have my mom and stepdad there and will be trying to show them as much as possible. So I'm having trouble prioritizing what we are going to do when it's just the four of us, and what we probably won't fit in when my mom is with us, etc. The thing that's really putting a kink in it is the whole 'fastpasses at Soarin and TSMM gone early' thing... I'd like to just hit epcot for an evening...but the Soarin FP's will be gone. We could maybe use our special fastpass thingys, but I'm not 100% I can still use that after the FPs are 'sold out'.... Stepdad has never been to WDW and mom has never been to AK....so I'm just having prioritizing issues

Since we will be at BLT at the same time, I figured I would stop in and say "Hi" on your trip report! I hope to do my first TR when we come home. Maybe I will show up in the background of some of your pics!

Hoping for great weather and low crowds!

~Vanessa

Hi Vanessa!! I'm hoping for the EXACT same things I'll be the one with the super adorable DD4 and DD8 lol

Well hello!!! I just stumbled across your trip report and wanted to wish you happy travels on your upcoming trip. We are in the Kansas City area so not too far from you. Our next trip is planned for October and we will be spending a few days at BLT so looking forward to hearing how your trip goes. Our trip seems like such a long way away. I'm sure your excitement is building!

Hello neighbor! We'll actually be flying out of KC for this trip! I have cousins in KC, she works at Children's!

We own at BLT and this is our second stay there, we love it. 'timeshares' are not usually a travel agent's (me) friend, but we LOVE our DVC big time!

 

[abcangie87]

TEN DAYS FROM TODAY I WILL BE DRIVING OUT OF WICHITA TO KANSAS CITY! That means I'm almost to single digits!


I hope to have my touring plan figured out by later today. Ya'll promise to come back and give me some feedback?


I was outside yesterday and noticed that one bush in my {desperately needing attention} flower bed was loaded with butterflies. Got some pretty great pictures of them.

Nice to see spring beauty after seeing spring wrath over the weekend!

 

[abcangie87]

I think I FINALLY figured out the touring plan!

I have been on brain overload trying to figure it out...getting 'it all done' with my mom and step dad, etc. I couldn't figure out how to work getting to Epcot early enough for SOARIN out with an Animal Kingdom day, I could not find a way to work Downtown Disney/Wolfgang Puck Express into our plans with the dinners I already had booked, etc. Plus we wanted some downtime each day for the pool, etc. I was feeling stressed.

So I called my mommy.

And she said that seeing Animal Kingdom was more important than getting all of Epcot done. And that yes they would like some time at DTD. And no we don't have to do it all, that's why they wanted to come with us because she knew we'd show them the highlights and know how to get as much done combined with relaxing.

I feel better.

To make things work the way I wanted, I decided we really needed to give up one of our dinner reservations. We really wanted to do some DTD with them, and for me, DTD just works best in the evenings.

So, wanna hear the plans?
April 28th; Arrive and grab lunch, hang at Beach Club/stormalong bay, go to DTD for dinner at WPE

April 29th: send bags with bell services to be transferred to Bay Lake and head over to Hollywood Studios. get as much done as possible but not go balls-to-the wall. When we have had our fill, we will head over to BLT to see if our room is ready. Swim, nap, whatever. Dinner at 1900 Park Fare, then it's off to MK for the evening. This is an EMH night there, but I'm not sure how late we will be there with a four year old. We've never seen MSEP so I'm hoping to do that.

April 30th: Head over to Epcot to do Future World with the girls. Hotel/pool for the afternoon, then over to HS for Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose's. Never done Fantasmic so I hope the girls don't poop out.

May 1st: Rope Drop at MK (not that we won't make a point of doing that the other days, but I really love the opening show at MK). Dinner at Chef Mickeys, and then maybe over to Epcot or back to MK for the eve. We really want a chill-pace especially at the beginning of the trip.

May 2nd: My mom and stepdad will arrive at the hotel that morning by 830. We will bell check our bags (because we are switching from a studio to a two-bedroom), and we are hitting MK again. Counter service at MK, afternoon at MK or the pool. Cape May Cafe for dinner, then walk to World Showcase at Epcot to hit a few things. May not bother with Illuminations and get lucky to get on Soarin and/or Spaceship Earth on our way out of Epcot since it will be our last stop there.

May 3rd: This was supposed to be Whispering Canyon Cafe night, but I ended up booking lunch at Tusker House instead. We'll do Animal Kingdom for a good chunk of the day, go back to the hotel for the usual downtime, then off to DTD for dinner (at WPE again) and some shopping that evening.

May 4th: hollywood studios, dinner at Ohana's, maybe some MK time, but we want to watch the fireworks from Top of the World lounge at our hotel since it's our last night.

May 5th....come home.


So....all sound doable? good? Have you eaten at Tusker House? Do you know if the lunch has characters? Haven't been able to figure that out. Tomorrow I can do the Single Digit Dance!!!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

So, sitting here watching the Phillies game, I had this overwhelming urge to go check out your PTR and I just realized YOU'RE AT THE BEACH CLUB RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!

I'm soooo jealous!!!!!! Hope you guys are having a blast.

If you went back to the BC after diner at WPE than you are probably hearing or seeing Illuminations right this second!

 

[abcangie87]

So, sitting here watching the Phillies game, I had this overwhelming urge to go check out your PTR and I just realized YOU'RE AT THE BEACH CLUB RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!

I'm soooo jealous!!!!!! Hope you guys are having a blast.

If you went back to the BC after diner at WPE than you are probably hearing or seeing Illuminations right this second!

Lol, I got the email notice on your comment while we were watching Epcot fireworks from our beds! Did LOVE the beachclub!!!! Cant wait to tell you all about it,in the meantime....

Greetings frOm WDW!!! We are having a great time!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

OK, It's been over 24 hrs now since you got home and still no update???

Just kidding. I didn't want you to keep getting email notifications from the real world while in Disney so I stopped posting.

Welcome home, and looking forward to the first update!


b/t/w....my final update may be coming tonight

 

[abcangie87]

Alright, alright. I'm home.

And I'm not happy about it.

From about the moment we touched down back in Kansas, I've been super sick Thankful that it waited till we got home at least.

So I'm not quite functioning enough to write a full update, but wanted to start you off with the link to the surprise video. The girls were more shocked/speechless than off-the-wall crazy. It was pretty classic.

http://youtu.be/kyahkPyFArQ

Let's see if that link works.

And until I recover, that's all you get for now! I hope it's soon, because my birthday is tomorrow, and I do NOT want to spend it on the couch!

 

[abcangie87]

I'm here! And finally feeling {mostly} human again! Maybe now I can get this trip report really rolling.

So in the previous post, I put the link to the video of the 'big reveal' when we told the girls about the trip. It was a really sweet moment. And now, on with the show...

After the big surprise that Saturday morning, we loaded up in the airport shuttle, and were off to wait for our flight. It was our first time flying Southwest, and I had paid for the 'priority check-in' thing so we had a good boarding spot and got great seats all together.


Looking a little tired, perhaps a little nervous (always, before a flight), and still in shock.

DD4 is excited to go!

We had a nonstop flight (AWESOME). When we arrived, our room was not ready yet (typically ready at 3 or 4p.m.). I had prepared for this by packing a swim bag in one of our carryons. So we changed into our suits and flipflops, bell-checked all our other stuff, and were off. By 12:45 we were eating burgers next to the pool. Hello, vacation!


We had flown in a day earlier than originally planned so we could spend one night at Disney's Beach Club resort. It's a Disney Vacation club property and we used our points for this part of the stay too.

It was WONDERFUL I have to say. It even smelled good!!

This may be Hannah's version of heaven. A POOL with a beach/sand bottom. It was WONDERFUL. We hung out for HOURS. They had a huge slide that Brooke went on a ton. I went down the Flying Jib twice....I think the seams kinda hurt your back! Brooke just loved it though! They had a little slide that Hannah went on a ton so I got to play 'catch the four year old', and they had a lazy river.

The kids meals at Hurricane Hannah's come in sand buckets. Very handy I must say. While we enjoyed our meal, the pool area there next to HH was empty. I interrogated a lifeguard about a variety of 'where is this, where is that' sort of things, including "Why is the pool empty? Was there a floater?!" .... to which he looked startled and said "well, uh, yes there was but we got it all taken care of!" Good thing for me that I was too excited to be there to care about a stray floater. I'm sure there was plenty of chlorine in there anyways

Did I mention they had a sand bottom pool? Did I mention it was HEAVEN?

When I was not taking these pictures, I had the camera stowed in a free locker with a few of our other things. And when I didn't have the camera in my hands, I was laying right there in that sandy shallow water with the kids. I was a happy mommy. Hallelujiah.

We got a text that our room was ready just about the time we were ready to get out of the sun for awhile. We headed off to our villa, but stopped to snap a pic with Ariel first. I think I had to threaten Hannah that if she did not LOOK AT THE CAMERA that I would eat her cookie that night at dinner. I'm all about motivation.

We vegged a little while (it'd been a long day already), and then hopped on a bus to go to Downtown Disney for dinner.


We had to have our first stop at Wolfgang Puck Express. Love that place. I got the BBQ Chicken Pizza. It's so yummy.

And,


I had some Creme Brulee to eat, you know?

We didn't hang out at DTD that night, we just ate and went back to the hotel. With the awesome pool area, we had to go swimming again before bed! It was such a great day!!

Now...since this was our only night at Beach Club before transferring over to Bay Lake, I do want to say this.... LOVED IT. We own at Bay Lake, and love it there too, but Beach Club was heavenly. I'm a beach bum at heart, and I just love the decor and atmosphere at Beach Club/Old Key West, etc. The location was nice too. I am a loyal BayLake girl though, but if I could create my favorite spot, it would be this: Beach Club theming and atmosphere, in a tower, on the monorail, with it's pool. Love Bay Lake location and that it's not spread out all over the place, but love the Beach Club everything else too!

Anyways, vacation was off to a GREAT start, and my DH hadn't even irritated me yet! Whoohoo!!! Up next, hitting the parks!

 

[wakica]

I'm back too now and trying to catch up on reports that I'm sooo behind on!!! I loved the reveal and BC looks great!! So did the creme brule by the way and now that I've caught up I have a hankerin for something yummy like that creme brulee. LOL I'll have to settle for a donught though. haha

Can't wait to see and hear more I didn't see you anywhere but who knows maybe we'll be in the background of some of each others pictures?? LOL