The First Rule about A Surprise Disney Trip, Don't talk about DISNEY!

[disneywatcher]

*Looks around cautiously* Am I alone? Pretty much, our youngest is watching TV on the couch while the other 2 are out of the house for the night....pshew!Ok, I can talk a little louder now! So we arrived for our July trip to find a Bounce Back offer on our dresser, unfortunately the offer was only for this year...not financially feesable for us so we started to discuss next year. 2012! Our first thought was November! I was psyched about this thought...wait let me stop here! I need to do introductions first! How rude of me to start right in and not tell you who all is involved!

Me~Amanda~AKA: Disneywatcher/Jessie~

Yes...that's me being goofy in Mexico! I'll be going on 32 when this trip happens. I'm a Disney LOVER and have slowly begain to instill that crazy need to be with The Mouse at least ONCE a year in the members of my brood!

The Husband~Marc~Aka Buzz~

Soilder, lover of the Toy Story Aliens and has often been known to quote them and say "The claw! It MOVES!" in their cute voice. This will be his 3rd trip to the world with his first being when he was 10. All he remembers is being drug through the parks by his mom and not seeing or doing much. His second trip with us went MUCH better!

DD#1~Meghan~AKA Rex~

She didn't want anything to do with Disney at first. Then she found the pool at the Lodge and discovered the rides and the magic! Although she's not one for thrill rides she did manage to get on Rockin' Rollercoaster our last trip out. I'm hoping this year to include ToT as well!

DD#2~Hailey~AKA: Lotso (but currently trying to find a new name)

Like her current TR nick name, she only looks sweet and innocent. Still though we love her and wouldnt' change a thing about her. Besides she is always re-learning about what magic and Disney can do!

DD#3~Gillian~AKA: Barbie~

Ever perky, she has never questioned the magic! She has had fun on every trip we've gone on so far! This year I'm hoping she will grow atleast 4 inches or more so she can do more with us!

So that's our cast! Now back to why this is sooo super secret!

So originally we planned to do 10 day's in November...ahh MVMCP, decorations, cooler weather and lower crowds!
Just one little snag in our planning: School. Our area does not excuse family vacations as absences and since our little Lotso has a habbit of telling everyone EVERYTHING, we could not tell a lie and get that time excused. So it was back to the drawing board. I was glancing down at my passporter planner when it hit me! Mid to late August! The weather is supposed to start getting cooler and the crowds are supposed to get lower! We also still fall into the Military discount time frame!

So I discussed the matter with Buzz (who is currently deployed as I write this) who says that it's not the heat that bothered him but the crowds! So August sounds GREAT! I even went so far as to look up how much our room only discount would be for that time frame and it WORKS!

So our current plan:

Drive from our duty station in the far North to Disney.
Stay at the Wilderness Lodge again, although this time there is no bunk bed room for us as Barbie will be 3. So it's going to be a Jr. Suite with CL amenities!
Deluxe Dining Plan
10 day park hoppers and purchasing one or two days to do Universal.

Oh and please ignore the ticker, it's there to throw off the girls when they start to read over my shoulder!

 

[B's Marie]

Oh I love it!
Can't wait to hear more! Like the ticker idea, too...

 

[disneywatcher]

Oh I love it!
Can't wait to hear more! Like the ticker idea, too...

Welcome! Always love to meet new people!

 

[disneywatcher]

This morning, when I was discussing going in August with DH most of the conversation occured when I was in our bedroom doing my morning chores (making the bed, getting dressed, brushing teeth...you get the picture) then I came downstairs and was trying to talk about our trip in hushed tones as Hailey was buzzing around the house asking to go to the pool on post. I was trying to ask if we could schedule Akershus when our ADR time frame came in and promptly got told
"First rule about planning for Disney....DONT TALK ABOUT DISNEY!" It was almost like the line from the movie "Fight Club" and it made me laugh I casually told Marc that I would be using it as the title for our PTR on here and he too got a chuckle...not sure if he believed me or not

 

[disneylovin24]

Joining in from your TR

 

[disneywatcher]

Joining in from your TR

To you as well! I need to finish up my July TR before our August trip happens, this I know is part of the DISboard rules and I am working on it slowly but surely!

 

[disneywatcher]

I fully admit: I go to character meals NOT for my children,but for myself! I admit that my oldest child could care less who is coming to the table while she eats and that although she flips out at Prince Charming, my middle child is well not into seeing Mickey at 4 different restaurants. Our youngest LIVES for them just as much as I do though. The one person in our party who does NOT like a little hugging and picture taking during his meals is the DH.

So quietly we have been discussing possible ADR's for our next trip. We will have 10 days to fill with fabu food that The World has to offer us and I had to ensure we got some character love in there! I can now say that I can count our 5 Character meal choices on one hand (but wish there were more I could sneak in). They are:

1.Princess Breakfast in Norway. This is always going to be a must do for me! I love the food, Lotso loves to see her princesses and it get's us into Epcot just a LITTLE bit earlier and nothing beats coming out of Breakfast to ride The Maelstrom!
2.Crystal Palace ~Breakfast will be our meal of choice here this year. It's something we have never done and HOPEFULLY I can talk Buzz into a slightly early morning slot so we can see an Empty Main Street!
3. Tusker House~Breakfast Again puts us in the Animal Kingdom a tad bit early and gives us an advantage in getting to Kali and Expedition Everest!
4. 1900 Park Fare~Dinner again because frankly it was OUTSTANDING watching Lotso turn three different shades of red when she saw HIM!
5.Garden Grill~ Dinner. This is one meal that Buzz ADORED! It was quiet, the rotation of the restaurant made you feel secluded and he got to see our Barbie light up with Chip and Dale!

We will also be adding Hoop Dee Doo to our ADR's as something diffrent as well as a Signature night for Buzz and I. We wanted to go to Artist's Point for an Adult's only meal but well first trip he couldn't make it on and our second was so full of meals that we didn't have the credits. We will on this trip though! So one night he and I will have a babysitter come to the Lodge to keep an eye on our munchkins (although one is almost a teen so I'm not sure if she's still a munchkin) while we go to our dream restaurant downstairs. We will be picking the kids up dinner from Roaring Fork before we go eat though.

There is a 6th Character meal I will be trying to sneak in though and that's Cape May Cafe for Dinner. I am sure I can talk Buzz into it because it has one of his FAVORITE foods...CRAB and it's all you can eat! Sure Mickey and his friends come around in their swimsuits but I was thinking it would be a cool way to end an Epcot day on an EMH DHS or MK night!

 

[disneywatcher]

Murphy's Law: Anything that can happen will happen.

We have been at the same duty location for 7 years now and didn't think we were going to get orders to move until DH retired. DH was told on Wed. that we are going to be moving across the country. With the cost of driving from one coast to another we won't be able to go back to WDW until 2013. The upside is that by then the expansion should be open.

To those of you who came on board to see what would happen I have enjoyed having you along. Until then I will write more near 2013 when we head out.