The Five Musketeers Are Ready to Roll, May 12th to 19th

[angelaernest]

Hello, Everyone.

I am very new to the boards. I have been lurking since last year when we made our first Disney trip.

Our trip is fast approaching and I just need to ramp up the excitement level. I figured I can count on the DIS crew to help me with that!!

Who:
The Five Musketeers: Me (Angela), DH, DD 10, DS 8, and DD 2.5

When:
May 12 – May 19 (Actually the ressie begins the 13th, but we need to hit the road the evening of the 12th to get there.)

Where:
Caribbean Beach Resort (First time)—Pirate Room. Our previous stay was at the Animal Kingdom Lodge June-July 2008.

Why: 12th Anniversary, Vacation, and any other reason that pops up. ☺

We are driving to WDW this time around (15 or so hours). This will test our metal to see whether we are still the road warriors we used to be. Weather and time permitting, we want to take a trip to Daytona Beach and Orlando. Personally, there’s a chocolate factory tour in which I am VERY interested. We will drive our vehicle for a large portion of our on-property time.

The kids are water lovers, so I imagine we will be in the pools. I know they want to go to at least one waterpark. Last year we hit all the theme parks (MK two days). This time around, we’re going to experience other things (Water parks, DisneyQuest, maybe golfing, eating at other resort restaurants). We will also stand on-line for select attractions within the theme parks. The DS 2.5 is now a Playhouse-Disney fiend, so we are going to do as much HS disney stuff as possible. : DS8 and DD10 didn’t have a chance to ride popular rides last year so we will be heading toward: Expedition Everest, Test Track, Mission Space Training Lab, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, and Big Thunder Railroad Mountain.

DH is along for the ride. He will just be glad to be away from the job.

ME: I just want to eat!! Last year we purchased the plus dining plan. This time, it’s deluxe all the way. My DD2.5 eats more than the DD10, so I told DH to make sure we had enough food. DD2.5 gets cross when her stomach is not full. What a difference an “almost year” makes; last year she barely made a dent in our food when she shared with us. Now we are afraid she will eat us all under the table. The buffets will be our friends.

Speaking of food, we have ADRs. My husband thinks I’m crazy but I must always have a plan (even if it changes along the way). I remember those hot days last year when we wished we had made a table service ressie instead of taking our chances and eating at counter services. I even have a few back up reservations in the event our plans change and we decide to eat at a park instead of a resort restaurant.

On to the food:
Hollywood and Vine (Dinner)
Shutters (Dinner)
Cape May Café (Character Breakfast)
Sanaa (Lunch)
Kona Café (Lunch)
Liberty Tree (Lunch)
Spirit of Aloha (Dinner)
Supercalifragilistic Character Breakfast @ the Grand Floridian
Mama Melroses (Lunch)
Hoop Dee Doo Revue (Dinner)
Ohana Breakfast @ the Polynesian
Nine Dragons (Lunch)
Kona Café (Dinner)
Whispering Canyon Café (Dinner)
Coral Reef (Dinner)
Chef Mickey’s (Breakfast)
50s Prime Time Café (Lunch)
Cinderella’s Happily Ever After (Dinner)
Crystal Palace (Breakfast)
Planet Hollywood (Lunch)
Trails End (Dinner)

Please don’t ask me where we will use our 48 snack credits. I was resigned to how we used our credits last year: water, fruit, french fries, and cotton candy….UNTIL I found the list of the sundry 2009 approved snacks things we can buy using snack credits. YUM!

As if I haven’t listed enough food options, I need to get about the business of ordering a surprise anniversary cake for DH. I’d like to celebrate during our dinner at Cinderella’s Happily Ever After. He doesn’t even realize that we will be celebrating our anniversary at WDW. As I said, DH is just along for the ride. He always leaves the details to me.

First order of agenda: SIGN IN ONLINE RIGHT NOW!!! We have entered our 10-day window as of 12:01 am today.

to our pre-trip world. I hope to report to the board during or actual stay. Between now and then, I need to get savvy with uploading the photos and learning how to respond to messages in group form. Have patience with me on that front.[/SIZE]

 

[angelaernest]

I have to admit that this week I have gone through a range of emotions about this upcoming trip.

The kids and DH are all aflutter with excitement and all I can think about is how many household chores remain, in addition to the packing and other last minute things that tend to creep up.

The (or rather my) major issue this week was which stroller we should buy. By today, everyone in the house was about sick of any store that remotely resembles BabiesRUs. In fact, even DD2.5 was sick of test driving strollers in the stores. In the end we chose a Maclaren Volo. She likes it very much.

Now, on to the more important things: that AAA Triptik. We leave Tuesday, 8pm-ish and DH still thinks he KNOWS where we are going to stop along the way. Yeeeeshk! Twelve years of marriage and he STILL never ceases to amaze me. Can we say we will be driving OVERNIGHT and we do not have the leisure of winging it. A MAP!!!! Good thing I'm the ultimate planner around here.

Another development of the week: DD2.5 is now into Little Einsteins. So much for advanced planning. A couple months ago I made an ADR for the Hollywood and Vine character breakfast (Einsteins and Jojo's Circus) then I made a random call last week to see if anyone had canceled for Chef Mickey's. YES! Of course she would want to see her Mickey friends much more than Einsteins, right?. Little did I know that she would turn on Mickey so quickly. Ahhhh, the loyalty of a little one. I guess we'll go to Chef Mickey's and stand on line for the Playhouse Disney show to see Einsteins. The last time we were at WDW the wait for the Playhouse Disney Show was so long we didn't bother. Granted, she also wasn't in love with Playhouse Disney characters last year, so I didn't feel guilty about leaving.

Alas, and await. Gotta get that TripTik done or else I might find myself stranded on the side of a road waiting for the AAA gas service , updating you guys from my IPhone.

I will try to post daily from this point forward as time permits.

I really need to get done with this planning/packing so I can begin to enjoy this trip.

 

[angelaernest]

Today I am feeling a bit more excited. We have decided to leave at 6 am Tuesday the 12th instead of 8pm. This means that we will be in Florida Tuesday instead of Wednesday!! Even more exciting we will be driving during daylight hours. I am not as young as I once was; I was not looking forward to driving through the night.

Just when I thought I was done planning, I have to find a hotel for Tuesday night because our CBR reservation does not begin until Wednesday afternoon. Any suggestions?

We have decided we will awaken early Wednesday morning and go to Daytona Beach for a few hours. That way, we won't feel overwhelmed trying to fit it into our 6 days at Disney.