The Disney Grump is taking me on a DREAM vacation! TR Link, pg 30

[MeMom]

Sleepy bear, he looks so cuddly doesn't he?

Yes, but those claws are out there to remind you that he's probably not up for cuddling.

I love this first picture with her little pouty face, she was not happy at all that her mama took away her binky so that we could get a picture

She's precious! I know that face well. Bella is a still a paci girl, and when you first take it away, she's not fond of you for a moment. She gets over it and goes on, now that she's older, but she gets the sad face when you first take it away after she wakes up.

I love ALL the zoo pictures. I love zoos!





There's so much to like about your trip post - the lovely Florida welcome sign, that beautiful Disney arch, awesome Animal Kingdom Lodge, hooking up with Jackie and crew, delicious food - so much to be excited about!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great zoo pictures!

Your day one plans sound good. Gotta love Earl of Sandwich. Yum is right!

 

[disneyfan61]

First off your niece is so cute!! Love that smile.

for the dismeet with Jackie & family. I will also be having a dismeet with Jackie & family. It will be our last night & her first night. Very excited!!

Looks like you & Jackie might be having those Margaritas together.

 

[manntra]

Hey Michele

Just noticed your PTR from another thread/post....I must have missed the FB notification.....oh that's right

Well I shall now go back and catch up!! You must be absolutely thrilled to be going on the Dream....and I know that you have some amazing dismeets planned too!!!

Tracy

 

[MEK]

Congrats to Jared's team!

Your first day sounds so great. I think its greats that you are going to meet up with Jackie and family (I know she's not telling Chelsea ). That sounds like such a fun DISmeet! So glad you were able to get the grump to agree to leaving a day early.

You MUST have a rita in DTD. I had the classic and it was seriously a great (and reasonably strong) rita. You will love it.

Jiko - I can't wait to eat there. I have heard nothing but good about that place. If I love it I am taking Denny back in Nov or Dec (or whenever we end up going -please have my contract pass ROFR !!!!!!)

 

[RachelNinja]

Haha, thanks so much for the warning! I squinted my eyes while my heart raced a little in anticipation while I scrolled quickly by!

I love all your plans for the first day, but I'm especially jealous of your orange juice stop!!! We didn't do that last trip, and I don't know when/if we ever will since Howard does not like the driving aspect of it!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Loving your Day 1 plans!! DTD is such a great way to start off a trip! I always do some shopping ahead of time!!! GOTTA Love it!!!!!

YAY for a great DIS meet! I too hope to run into the CP gang!!! I'm sure the kids will get along fabulously!

YUUUMMMMYYY...Jiko is a favorite of mine!!! That filet looks so yummy!!!

I'm really excited for the DISmeet, depending on what you and the Wigd gang have going on that day, maybe you guys can come to DTD too. It'll be fun to see how Justin & Chelsea react to each other, since I think both Jackie and I are keeping this little meeting a secret from them

I ate at Jiko for the first time in May and was instantly spoiled, it was so good!

Awwww... I can hear your fun and excitement in your post! You are going to have a grand time!!! Jiko!! YAY!!!! AND CP and co.... YAY!!!! I am uber jealous of this meet. I hope to meet them in person SOME day.

You are going to have so much fun those days at DTD and the AKL. ENJOY!!!!!

I get more excited with each passing day! I keep looking at the calendar thinking March is almost over, which means we are almost at the 2 month mark! I got to book excursions today, and I can do online check in now too, which I need to get on since it seems as though your boarding group number is now tied to the time you choose to arrive at port during online check in. Not sure how they handle people that don't check in online

Congrats to Jared's team on taking second at the tournament!

Hope you are enjoying your spring break! Ours is still two weeks away and I am so ready for it! If nothing else, I just want to sleep past 5:00 during the week.

Yeay for our DIS meet! You know I am super excited that things have worked out for that!!! I have never had a margarita from DtD, either. Maybe we can do that one together!

Even though we didn't go anywhere spring break has been a nice, well, break! Don was off work too so we got some things done in yard. The big thing was the pool, we drained it and started just a general power wash on Thursday. All day Friday was spent scrubbing it down with an acid wash, every inch of my body hurts from that! It just finished refilling this morning and it looks so sparkly clean, the kids even asked if they could swim - ha! No, it's not quite warm enough for that yet!

Having a margarita while sitting by the water sounds like a great plan to me! I think I'll need a drink after such a long car ride with the kids

Fun trip to the zoo!

And even more fun, a planned trip to WDW!! I think you're going to love that margarita! I'm glad you were able to work out a DIS meet!

Jiko will be a yummy dinner, I'm sure. I don't understand why they decided not to serve the filet with the mac & cheese anymore since it was so popular. But I think I heard that you can still request it.

I've heard those margaritas from that stand are really good, I'm looking forward to getting one!

I was surprised when I looked at the Jiko menu the other day and saw that the filet is no longer being served with the mac & cheese. I probably will ask and see if I can still get it that way

It looks like you had a fun trip to the zoo!

Day 1 in Orlando sounds like a great day! I have got to try Earl of Sandwich this trip. I have read great reviews on it. Wow, that dinner at JIKO looks great. I might need to add that ressie to our July trip.

We have a really nice zoo and aside from the crowds it was a fun day. I'm looking forward to going back out there to see the new elephant enclosure when there aren't so many people around!

Before I ate at EoS for the first time I always wondered what could be so great about a sandwich, it surprised me how good they actually were!

I would highly recommend Jiko, you won't regret eating there! Do you have a PTR going for your July trip? I need to check your siggy.....

Yay on Jared's Baseball team taking 2nd - that's great!!

Love all the zoo pics - boo on everyone having the same idea. The animal pics look cute and make me want to go to our local zoo!

Your niece looks soo cute - love the pouty face and that she already knows how to get her own way

Your arrival day plans sound great! Am also looking forward to getting some yummy food at EoS

How cool to have a DIS meet on your 1st day!! Hope you all have a fab time together and then enjoy rounding off your day with a meal at Jiko!

My niece is the first girl on my side of the family so to say that she is spoiled is a big understatment! She already has her daddy (my brother) wrapped totally around her finger

I love DTD and can't wait to spend our first day wandering around and seeing what items we just can't live without. I'm going to have to try and limit myself though, I want to save most of my souvineer money for the cruise!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I would highly recommend Jiko, you won't regret eating there! Do you have a PTR going for your July trip? I need to check your siggy.....



QUOTE]

Not yet, hope to get one started by the end of this week. We are crazy busy right now with scouts, 4-H, work, you name it!

I am definitely going to do one to include a trip report included from our 9 days last summer at WL.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yes, but those claws are out there to remind you that he's probably not up for cuddling.

She's precious! I know that face well. Bella is a still a paci girl, and when you first take it away, she's not fond of you for a moment. She gets over it and goes on, now that she's older, but she gets the sad face when you first take it away after she wakes up.

I love ALL the zoo pictures. I love zoos!

There's so much to like about your trip post - the lovely Florida welcome sign, that beautiful Disney arch, awesome Animal Kingdom Lodge, hooking up with Jackie and crew, delicious food - so much to be excited about!

I'm pretty sure that Baylee is going to be like Bella and keep that paci for awhile, she loves that thing!

I love going to the zoo too, in fact if it's nice next week I might venture over there by myself while the boys are at school. That way they aren't hurrying me off to the next display, hmmmmm, I think I like that idea

There is a lot to be excited about on this day isn't there?!

Great zoo pictures!

Your day one plans sound good. Gotta love Earl of Sandwich. Yum is right!

No trip to DTD would seem complete without a sandwich from EoS!

First off your niece is so cute!! Love that smile.

for the dismeet with Jackie & family. I will also be having a dismeet with Jackie & family. It will be our last night & her first night. Very excited!!

Looks like you & Jackie might be having those Margaritas together.

DISmeets are the best! I have yet to have a bad one!

I'm all over Jackie's idea of having a margarita together, sounds great to me

Hey Michele

Just noticed your PTR from another thread/post....I must have missed the FB notification.....oh that's right

Well I shall now go back and catch up!! You must be absolutely thrilled to be going on the Dream....and I know that you have some amazing dismeets planned too!!!

Tracy

Hi Tracy!!!! Yeah, I know, no FB Now that you've shammed MEK into joining I guess it's my turn I should have sent you a PM though, glad you found me anyway!!

I am very excited about the Dream, and very excited about who I'm cruising with!

Congrats to Jared's team!

Your first day sounds so great. I think its greats that you are going to meet up with Jackie and family (I know she's not telling Chelsea ). That sounds like such a fun DISmeet! So glad you were able to get the grump to agree to leaving a day early.

You MUST have a rita in DTD. I had the classic and it was seriously a great (and reasonably strong) rita. You will love it.

Jiko - I can't wait to eat there. I have heard nothing but good about that place. If I love it I am taking Denny back in Nov or Dec (or whenever we end up going -please have my contract pass ROFR !!!!!!)

I hope Jackie keeping the secret from Chelsea doesn't come back to bite her later! I still haven't decided if I'm going to tell Justin or not, but boys aren't nearly as hung up on how they look at a particular time as girls are, so I feel confident that I won't be in the doghouse

If those margaritas are strong I'll have to be sure and eat something first!

I can't believe you are still waiting to hear about ROFR! Don't they know you have trips to plan?

Haha, thanks so much for the warning! I squinted my eyes while my heart raced a little in anticipation while I scrolled quickly by!

I love all your plans for the first day, but I'm especially jealous of your orange juice stop!!! We didn't do that last trip, and I don't know when/if we ever will since Howard does not like the driving aspect of it!

This might be the only chance I get to stop for the orange juice, I'm like Howard, I don't like long road trips!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Not yet, hope to get one started by the end of this week. We are crazy busy right now with scouts, 4-H, work, you name it!

I am definitely going to do one to include a trip report included from our 9 days last summer at WL.

I hear ya on the busy stuff! I had planned on starting this PTR earlier but just couldn't find the time until basketball season ended and my duties with the Swish Club reduced!

Let me know when you get one started, I'd love to read along!

 

[KatMark]

Great job on the 2nd place showing in the tournament. Our teams around here just started playing this past weekend and it was COLD!

Michelle, the zoo pictures are great. Mark is upstairs caulking the bathroom tub right now, but I will be showing him the new elephant enclosure/elephant picture. We have two zoos and only one of them has one elephant (too many animal people complaining that they don't belong here with the cold weather after two died--one from old age and one because he got sick).

Your niece is absolutely adorable. I love the "before" and "after" pictures...she is a sweetie.

Your Day one plans sound great. And for a DIS meet.

 

[stace208]

Hi Michelle!
I was very behind but have enjoyed reading and catching up!
Congrats to both boys and their baseball triumphs! Ben has swim team championships next weekend. He qualified for 5 events so that will take up most of our day Saturday but then it's over until next fall. I am looking forward to having a little extra time, to be honest.

Your zoo pictures were great! I love zoos too! Our local zoo is very small but they are opening a new Asia themed section early next month so I am excited to go there. We are also going to Washington DC for spring break and hitting up the National Zoo.

That aquarium in Atlanta looks awesome! I hope you have the time to visit it. Having a fun day to look forward too will help the car ride be more tolerable!

Your arrival day plans are fantastic-nothing better than some DTD food, shopping, and a great DIS meet!

Your niece is adorable! I'm also glad that your stepbrother and his family are safe.

Oh, and no, I haven't started a TR for my Christmas trip...do you think it's too late? Christmas in April anyone???

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I hear ya on the busy stuff! I had planned on starting this PTR earlier but just couldn't find the time until basketball season ended and my duties with the Swish Club reduced!

Let me know when you get one started, I'd love to read along!

I am curious. What is the Swish club? We don't have that here in Ohio.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Great job on the 2nd place showing in the tournament. Our teams around here just started playing this past weekend and it was COLD!

Michelle, the zoo pictures are great. Mark is upstairs caulking the bathroom tub right now, but I will be showing him the new elephant enclosure/elephant picture. We have two zoos and only one of them has one elephant (too many animal people complaining that they don't belong here with the cold weather after two died--one from old age and one because he got sick).

Your niece is absolutely adorable. I love the "before" and "after" pictures...she is a sweetie.

Your Day one plans sound great. And for a DIS meet.

We've had a couple of cold games, but mostly our weather has been pretty nice, I wore capris, short sleeves and flip flops to the ballpark yesterday!

I hope to get back to the zoo in the next couple of weeks so that I can spend more time checking out the new elephant exhibit. It's huge and we only have 2 elephants right now, but one of them is pregnant so we'll have a baby soon!

Yay for a DISmeet, can't wait!

Hi Michelle!
I was very behind but have enjoyed reading and catching up!
Congrats to both boys and their baseball triumphs! Ben has swim team championships next weekend. He qualified for 5 events so that will take up most of our day Saturday but then it's over until next fall. I am looking forward to having a little extra time, to be honest.

Your zoo pictures were great! I love zoos too! Our local zoo is very small but they are opening a new Asia themed section early next month so I am excited to go there. We are also going to Washington DC for spring break and hitting up the National Zoo.

That aquarium in Atlanta looks awesome! I hope you have the time to visit it. Having a fun day to look forward too will help the car ride be more tolerable!

Your arrival day plans are fantastic-nothing better than some DTD food, shopping, and a great DIS meet!

Your niece is adorable! I'm also glad that your stepbrother and his family are safe.

Oh, and no, I haven't started a TR for my Christmas trip...do you think it's too late? Christmas in April anyone???

WTG Ben! Good luck to him on Saturday! I always wanted Justin to be a swimmer, he showed real promise when he was younger taking lessons, but he just wasn't interested.

I love our zoo, it's really nice. The area where the elephants are is supposed to become an entire Asia section as well.

You'll have to take lots of Washington DC notes for me, I think that's where the Grump has decided we are going to go on vacation next year

I need to call my SIL and check on the latest with my stepbrother. She is friends with him on FB (and as we all know, I'm not on there ). He posts updates so that everyone here is informed of how they are doing. I think they are about 80 miles from that nuclear plant, but it's still a scary situation!

I am curious. What is the Swish club? We don't have that here in Ohio.

It's just the booster club for Justin's high school basketball team. I had concession stand duites (helping stock, opening & closing it, and of course working it) during the home games. With 6 teams total between both boys & girls it was alot of work! I still have one more big project to do for the summer basketball camp, but now that the actual season is over I can breathe again! Thankfully we have more parental involvement in the Home Run Club for baseball so I'm not nearly as busy with that.

 

[manntra]

Looks like a fun stopover in Atlanta We used to drive to FL when I was younger....went every Spring Break when I was in school....of course I didn't mind because I was only a passenger....couldn't fathom making the drive now It's about the same distance ~ 21 hours.

So happy that you are going to be able to meet up with Jackie and company Between that and cruising with Dis royalty Miss Anita Wigd you have some awesome meets!!

Tracy

 

[photographymom517]

Michelle your plans look great for June 1st!!!!

I love shopping at DTD! There are so many different stores there. I really need to stop by the Basin next trip. I've never been.

That is great that you were able to move your trip up a day & get to have an awesome DISmeet!!!! I'm sure the kids will all get along great!!! I wish you & Charleston Princess the best while trying to convince the guys to love Disney!

I got a picture of the Welcome sign for WDW last trip but it was through the bus window & from the right side...so it was blurry & I didn't get the entire sign. Guess what my mom did last September? She made my dad pull over so she could get out & take a picture! I can't imagine stopping there, the traffic is so insanely busy!

Your zoo pictures are all amazing!!!! You got alot of great close-up shots! And your niece is absolutely adorable!!! That smile is super cute & I loved her hat!

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Hello! Can I join in on this party? It sounds like a fantastic vacation you have planned, and congrats on twisting your DH's arm into another Disney trip! I know it is hard when the ones you love don't share your Disney obsession. Kinda makes you wonder are you really related to them or not??? But you have a beautiful family, and I am really looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Looks like a fun stopover in Atlanta We used to drive to FL when I was younger....went every Spring Break when I was in school....of course I didn't mind because I was only a passenger....couldn't fathom making the drive now It's about the same distance ~ 21 hours.

So happy that you are going to be able to meet up with Jackie and company Between that and cruising with Dis royalty Miss Anita Wigd you have some awesome meets!!

Tracy

I know, 21 hours is a really, really long time in the car. I hope I make it!

I do have some great DISmeets planned. After missing Anita the last time we were both in WDW together, I'm super excited about cruising with her!

Michelle your plans look great for June 1st!!!!

I love shopping at DTD! There are so many different stores there. I really need to stop by the Basin next trip. I've never been.

That is great that you were able to move your trip up a day & get to have an awesome DISmeet!!!! I'm sure the kids will all get along great!!! I wish you & Charleston Princess the best while trying to convince the guys to love Disney!

I got a picture of the Welcome sign for WDW last trip but it was through the bus window & from the right side...so it was blurry & I didn't get the entire sign. Guess what my mom did last September? She made my dad pull over so she could get out & take a picture! I can't imagine stopping there, the traffic is so insanely busy!

Your zoo pictures are all amazing!!!! You got alot of great close-up shots! And your niece is absolutely adorable!!! That smile is super cute & I loved her hat!

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!!!

Basin is awesome! I can spend a ridiculous amount of time in there smelling soaps and bath bombs

I can totally see me making Don pull over so that I can get a good picture of the sign

Thank for the compliment on my niece, I can't believe how fast she's growing up! I went to the Disney store yesterday and bought her the cutest Minnie Mouse swimsuit and coverup, we tried it on her last night and she looks adorable in it I can't wait till she is old enough for me to take her to Disney!

Hello! Can I join in on this party? It sounds like a fantastic vacation you have planned, and congrats on twisting your DH's arm into another Disney trip! I know it is hard when the ones you love don't share your Disney obsession. Kinda makes you wonder are you really related to them or not??? But you have a beautiful family, and I am really looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!

Hi there! Of course you can join in, the more the merrier, thanks for posting! I know we subscribe to alot of the same TRs, I smile everytime I see your avatar. I'm assuming that's your DD? She is super cute!

 

[SoonerGirl]

We're going to take a little break here from the pre-cruise plans because I'm very excited to report that we have finally been able to book excursions and specialty dining reservations for the cruise! Being first time cruisers we are the last group with access to reservations and I was very nervous that we wouldn't get what we wanted. The day that I was able to make them was Sunday the 20th, and I'll admit it, I was logged on at 11pm my time on the 19th, which was 12am ET on the 20th, to make sure I had the best chance of getting what I wanted.

The biggest thing on our wish list was the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter in Nassau. The island looks beautiful

And I'd love to meet these guys or some of their friends

Not only did we want this excursion, we wanted a specific time, you see we have friends that we are cruising with. Anita & Marc, known around these parts as Wigd & Shocker, and their son Baylor are also on this cruise.

Since they have cruised before they were able to book their excursion a few weeks before I was. I'm happy to report that I was able to secure a spot with the time I wanted, so we'll be able to experience this with our DIS friends - yippee!! We have also put in a request to be tablemates at dinner and I was able to clearly see that our ressies are linked so we should be dining with them as well.

Speaking of dining, that brings us to the next item on the list, Palo reservations

For those of you unfamiliar with Palo, it is an adults only restaurant on board all 3 of the Disney cruise ships. There is a $20 per person surcharge to eat here on the Dream. I was hoping to get one dinner and one brunch. There were no spots available for brunch. However, I did manage to snag a dinner reservation for Don & I for the 3rd night of the cruise. I chose the 3rd night for a reason, I want to be able to experience all three of the restaurants in the regular dining rotation, and being as we are on a 4 night cruise we will have one night that is a repeat. According to my TA, the night you have a repeat is typically pirate night which is currently occurring on day 3 of the 4 day cruises. Now it may shock some of you that we are skipping pirate night, but honestly, none of my 3 boys are into it at all. Since they didn't care about it, I decided that was the perfect night for Don & I have our date at Palo. Plus we should finish with our meal in time to see the fireworks which is really all I care about seeing on pirate night anyway.

After reading Happydog's TR about her recent experience on the Dream, I am definitely not going to give up on the brunch reservation. She had no problem booking several ressies at Palo once she arrived on board. I'm just going to use her strategy and go straight there after boarding to try and get a second reservation.

As of right now we don't have any excursions booked for Castaway Cay. We're kicking around the idea of the stingray encounter, but haven't decided for sure yet.

Neither Don or I have much interest in the spa, so nothing to book there. Which lead me to the final thing on my to-do list, completing online check in so that I could select as early a port arrival time as possible. It seems as though your boarding number is now assigned based upon when you complete your online check in and what arrival time you select. They also only allow a certain number of people to sign up in any given arrival time slot and needless to say the early slots fill up fast! Not sure how they work this since I'm certain not everyone checks in online, but this is what I've been reading. Anyway, it was really pretty quick and painless to do the online check in, my TA had already entered the vast majority of my information so it didn't take me long at all. I got an arrival time of 11:00-11:30, which should work out well, we shouldn't feel rushed at all getting to port that morning.

I'm super excited to have gotten this done this week, the cruise feels totally real now, just a little over 2 months to go!!! I can't wait to see this beautiful vessel in person!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Wow! All of that looks awesome! The dolphin encounter would be the most fantastic thing in the world I could think of! It is something I have always wanted to do and I know my DD would love it. I can't believe that you get to do all of that (and dine) with Wigd and Shocker! How fun! It won't feel like you are dining with strangers at all. I really cannot wait to read all about this!! Please take LOTS and LOTS of pictures for us!