The Gentile's are Going to DISNEY! PTR 2/26-3/04/13

[TinkerbellM6]

Hello Everyone! I have been a LONG time lurker and have finally joined as an official registered member! Here is the rundown:

I am a 29 year old wife to an amazing hubby, Anthony (27), and together we have two beautiful children, Sophia (5), and Noah (1). I have a self proclaimed obsession with ALL things Disney and we are FINALLY taking our ultimate Family Vacation together after living 4 VERY frugal years due to us purchasing our first home. Now that we have adjusted to life with a mortgage, its time to get down to business with some Disney trips!!!

Some more background info: I am a freelance Makeup Artist specializing in Weddings, and DH is a project manager for a telecommunications company near NYC. I also work in a local restaurant waitressing and bartending for extra cash (AKA DISNEY TRIP FUND $$). We live in PA just over the NY/NJ borders (where taxes are CHEAP ) so essentially we live in the "Tri-State Area."

I grew up visiting Disney every year when we would take our annual family vacation to visit family members living on the Space Coast of FL. We would always do the standard day trips...Sea World, Wet n Wild, Arabian Nights, Universal Studios, and DISNEY! I have countless MAGICAL memories with my parents, 3 brothers, and 1 sister. You can say the MAGIC was instilled in me at a very young age. I treasure the vague memory of when my parents bought me my very first Mickey ears. Fast forward to now, I have continued to vacation there, however now I have been spoiled with staying onsite and there is absolutely NOTHING that tops it. My DH and I honeymooned there in 2008 and it will forever be in my heart, absolutely sublime !!! My daughter took her first trip with us when she was 1 so she is at a PERFECT age right now to absorb the MAGIC. Now that we have our complete family with our little Noah, this is the trip I have been waiting for my whole life. The chance to share these memories with my DH and our children, priceless.

So here I am with a stab at a PTR, I am unsure if I am going to do a complete TR or just Dining Review with little stories sprinkled throughout. I am still new at posting on here so your feedback is appreciated!

I am in love with being on here, its like a secret society of people just like me! Its like the Facebook of Disney Lovers....lol.

Ok enough rambling....here we go!

 

[meggiebeth]

Can't wait to hear about your plans for your vacation! Sounds exciting!!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

After MUCH deliberation and scrolling though countless food/dining posts on here, I have FINALLY made our ADR's for our upcoming trip in Feb/March at the POP. We are doing the Dining Plan and have a 1 yr old son and 5 yr old daughter so most of the ressie's were done with them in mind (who am I kidding....of course I want to meet characters too!!!). Here is the rundown:

2/26 Arrival Day Dinner at 1900 Park Fare
2/27 Dinner at O'Hana (My Hub and I have been dying to eat here and never have in the past, so we are very excited for this one!)
2/28 Dinner at Garden Grill
3/1 Dinner at Crystal Palace
3/2 Lunch at Akershus & Dinner at Chef Mickey's
3/3 Early Dinner at 50's Prime Time
3/4 Departure Day

I felt that dinners were going to get me the best value on the DP plus none of us are huge breakfast buffet people so I didn't want to waste a credit on something that we wouldn't 100% enjoy. I do feel that I have a great amount of character dining established here with plenty of characters and princesses for my very own little princess. Plus the more characters we cover at meal times is less that we have to cover in the parks. I have never eaten at any of these so I am looking forward to our experiences with them!

*I tried to get TRex and Be Our Guest but I don't think a 9 pm dinner will fly with the little ones, we will save it for next time lol.*

That leaves 7 snacks and 7 counter service meals!!! Ohhhh the possibilites....

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Update: I didn't realize that my passes were only 6 days instead of 7 so I have the option to keep a meal and pay OOP or drop one and just grab something quick on the 4th which will be when we are leaving to come home. I would appreciate any feedback! (The restaurant I was considering dropping would be 50's Prime Time but I am still on the fence. )

 

[TinkerbellM6]

I also forgot to add that my aunt, along with my cousin and her family, will be joining us to stay on the Friday night that we are there. (I have family scattered all around Florida ) My Aunt has graciously agreed to watch the kids that night so that my hubby and I can go enjoy some "adult" time with my cousin and her hubby . I am thinking "La Cava del Tequila" and the new "Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar." I am super pumped about the opportunity to try both of these!!!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Today I took a few moments to browse through our honeymoon pics (I actually look at these pics more than the actual wedding pics lol ) . I just LOVE reliving the MAGIC of that trip! I decided to share a few of my favorites, we stayed at the POLY from 9/1/08-9/7/08. It was HEAVEN.

Dinner at Les Chef Des France:

Parasailing over Bay Lake:

Blizzard Beach:

Magic Kingdom:

Margaritas on the Beach at the Poly:

On Our Way to Downtown Disney for La Nouba:

More in the Next Post!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

More Honeymoon Pics!

Downtown Disney: (We Love our Margaritas!!!)

Breakfast in Bed from Kona Cafe (SOOOO expensive but worth it for a treat once in a while ):

Rented a boat to cruise the Seven Seas Lagoon:

AMAZING sunset at the California Grill:

Yumminess!!!

Animal Kingdom Lodge after a super yummy breakfast at Boma:

Hollywood Studios:

Lunch at Hollywood & Vine:

Italy in Epcot (One of our Fav's!!) :

Back again at the Cali Grill (We LOVE this restaurant):

Cheers!:

Saving the BEST pic for last, our Bride and Groom Ears!!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Now that you have see pictures of me and DH, I'd like to introduce you to two HUGE pieces of my heart, our children! I am going to start with the PRINCESS of the family, Sophia, who is now 5 but I want to include pics of her first WDW trip when she was 1 yr old. Sophia is my little Disney Loving counterpart! I am quite proud to have educated her on everything and anything Disney! We love having Disney movie nights (I own pretty much all of them ), dancing to Disney music, and watching classic Mickey cartoons. Sophia is very much a true Princess Lover and enjoys ANYTHING having to do with them. Enjoy!

Here we are back in 2008, this was Sophia's first trip to The World!

Jungle Cruisin:

DH and I in the front row of Splash Mountain :

Her first Carousel Ride:

Dumbo!:

My Cutie!:

And here are some of her NOW, all grown up!:

I have to literally force myself to stop posting pictures!!! Next post you will meet my little guy, Noah!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Time to meet Noah! Noah is currently 12 months and will be 16 months when we take our trip. This will be Noah's 1st trip to WDW. He LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and The Hot Dog song is amongst his favorites!

I am so excited to share this trip with my boy! So many people think that 1 yr is too young for Disney but the memories that you hold on to as parents, are absolutely worth every priceless penny!!!

 

[slabau]

Yay! You are doing great for a first timer! I wouldn't know where to start, i'm still a stalker. lol! And might I just say your baby boy is not too young for Disney, both my boys went at a very young age, DS 10 went at six months and DS 4 went at 8 months. Looking forward to reading the rest of your PTR.

Happy Planning!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I subbed! My daughter (12 years old) and I are doing a Mommy & Me trip in February! Can't wait to read more...and the more pics, the better!

 

[nanhol]

Hi Megan,
I saw your PTR link on the Feb DIS FB page and thought I'd come check it out. I also have a DD named Sophia (she's 9) and a husband named Anthony. I don't know why that gets me excited, but it does! Our Sophie (as she prefers to be called) is our youngest, we also have a DD10 and DS14, and we'll be heading to WDW at the beginning of February.

I am so excited for our trip and love the DISboards because I can quietly feed my obsession with Disney without driving my friends and family crazy! Your trip sounds like a lot of fun--fun and yummy meal choices for the family. We're trying Ohana for the first time in February, too, and I hope it's as yummy as I read!

I love your honeymoon pictures--makes me want to go on a Disneymoon myself...maybe once the kids are grown! Your Friday night out with your hubbie will be a lot of fun--we're going for a family reunion and trying to decide if we should try to sneak away for a couples' night out while grandma & grandpa babysit!

I think you should keep your 50's Prime Time ADR for now. If you decide to drop it at the last minute there's no penalty, so keep it until you're down there. I prefer TS to QS, so I'm biased, but going there and paying OOP won't be the worst thing. You might decide to share a meal (like the sampler) or just do milkshakes and apps, or something--which won't be so hard on the pocketbook!

Have fun planning!

-Nancy

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Yay! You are doing great for a first timer! I wouldn't know where to start, i'm still a stalker. lol! And might I just say your baby boy is not too young for Disney, both my boys went at a very young age, DS 10 went at six months and DS 4 went at 8 months. Looking forward to reading the rest of your PTR.

Happy Planning!!!!

Welcome & Thank you so much!!! I am so happy to be able to "document" our trip so that I can look back and enjoy the memories of the planning and everything! I am so happy you agree with me on the age thing, you can NEVER be too young or too old for DISNEY!!!

I subbed! My daughter (12 years old) and I are doing a Mommy & Me trip in February! Can't wait to read more...and the more pics, the better!

Welcome and Thank you for subbing!!! I am so happy to share my memories with you! I can't wait to do a Mommy & Me trip with my little lady in the future!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Hi Megan,
I saw your PTR link on the Feb DIS FB page and thought I'd come check it out. I also have a DD named Sophia (she's 9) and a husband named Anthony. I don't know why that gets me excited, but it does! Our Sophie (as she prefers to be called) is our youngest, we also have a DD10 and DS14, and we'll be heading to WDW at the beginning of February.

I am so excited for our trip and love the DISboards because I can quietly feed my obsession with Disney without driving my friends and family crazy! Your trip sounds like a lot of fun--fun and yummy meal choices for the family. We're trying Ohana for the first time in February, too, and I hope it's as yummy as I read!

I love your honeymoon pictures--makes me want to go on a Disneymoon myself...maybe once the kids are grown! Your Friday night out with your hubbie will be a lot of fun--we're going for a family reunion and trying to decide if we should try to sneak away for a couples' night out while grandma & grandpa babysit!

I think you should keep your 50's Prime Time ADR for now. If you decide to drop it at the last minute there's no penalty, so keep it until you're down there. I prefer TS to QS, so I'm biased, but going there and paying OOP won't be the worst thing. You might decide to share a meal (like the sampler) or just do milkshakes and apps, or something--which won't be so hard on the pocketbook!

Have fun planning!

-Nancy

Hello Nancy and Welcome!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my PTR!! I am WILDLY excited for this trip and THE DIS is my obsession, I don't really know too many people who are crazy for Disney like me so this is perfect for me to share my enthusiasm with fellow Dis lovers!! That is so funny about the name coincidence!!! I love it actually!!! I get excited over things like that as well.

Our Honeymoon was the most magical trip of my entire life, tons and tons of PIXIE DUST everywhere!!!! I look back on those memories and treasure them with all my being!!

I am a bonafide FOODIE through and through! I actually would like to try out the Deluxe DP on future trips b/c we LOVE table and signature dining. (We spent an obscene amount of $$ at the Cali Grill on our HM lol ) I am def going to keep the 50's PT ressie b/c I really want to try it and I have budgeted quite a bit of $$ to bring for tipping, souvenirs, cocktails, etc.

I am eager to share my memories with you, here and also on the FB page!! Thank you again for joining in!!!

 

[librarygeek]

Congrats on purchasing your first home!! We are definitely in the process of living a bit more frugally and saving for that now...

Your honeymoon pics are great! You are such a cute couple And your children are absolutely beautiful. I have to say, looking at those pictures really makes me want to have kids! (Though it's not in the cards for the immediate future, anyway). So adorable!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

Congrats on purchasing your first home!! We are definitely in the process of living a bit more frugally and saving for that now...

Your honeymoon pics are great! You are such a cute couple And your children are absolutely beautiful. I have to say, looking at those pictures really makes me want to have kids! (Though it's not in the cards for the immediate future, anyway). So adorable!

I am so happy to see you checked out my PTR!!! Thank you! Having children is an amazing part of life, I am so excited to be bringing them to Disney! I am hoping that they love it as much as I do!!

 

[TinkerbellM6]

A while ago I got a fantastic idea on Pinterest to have a gift from a different character waiting in the room for the kids when you come "home" at night. I absolutely love this idea! Not only is it fun for the kids to look forward to each day, but it will save you a TON of $$ on costly souvenirs in the park each day.

Therefore, I took advantage of the great deals being offered on Cyber Monday (11/26). {For those of you who aren't from the US, Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year. It always follows Black Friday which is the biggest in-store shopping day of the year. They both consecutively follow Thanksgiving Day which is on a Thursday.} The Disney Store website was offering 25% off all orders over $100 in addition to free shipping. I had a few things that I wanted to pick up for Christmas so I figured this would be the perfect time to score my souvenir goodies.

I decided to purchase a bunch of the figurine sets that are usually around $12. With all the discounts, I ended up getting each set for $7.50! I picked up 12 sets, all various characters from Disney movies and 2 sets that feature the classic Disney characters. :
My plan is to take them out of their respective boxes and put them all in a big ziploc bag for easier packing. Every afternoon, after our midday break, I will have my hubby take the kids out of the room and I will quickly scatter some of the figurines around the room along with a "note" from a character. This will leave them with a nice collection of figurines to play with each night and to take home with them.

I also picked up a "Belle" costume along with a light up wand and complete coordinating accessory set. I will also be bringing glitter hair gel and other goodies to glam up my princess when we go to Akershus and 1900 Park Fare. I have drooled over those Disney Store costumes for years but can never bring myself to fork over the $45 that they usually are, I scored this one for $22.50. The wand was $7 and the accessories were $12. This will also help sub in for the large bill of the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. (Sp?) I was debating on taking her there but in all honesty, we are doing this trip on a budget so I really don't think we can swing it this time. I think after the beautiful costume and a little dazzling of makeup/hair, we will hardly notice not visiting BBB.

I also want to update that we decided to change our initial plan to surprise them the day we leave. We are going to give them the trip as a Christmas gift instead. It was a heavy debate between my hubby and I but after much thought, I agreed to go with the Christmas gift instead of the traveling day surprise. My hubby pointed out a few very valid facts that make sense. He said that a HUGE part of the trip is the anticipation and excitement leading up to it. We can do a fun countdown calendar, Disney theme movie/dinner nights, etc. Also, Sophia has been begging to go to WDW, so I think telling her on Xmas will be super magical. I plan on buying her a carry on bag, or rolling suitcase, and filling it with all sorts of fun Disney trip essentials. This will include an autograph book and pen from Disney that someone bought us back from their recent trip, our personalized Disney maps, brochures, the complete Belle costume, a countdown calendar, etc. I get butterflies just thinking about her opening it!

That is all for now...only 90 Days until we leave! GAHHHHH!

 

[slabau]

Love it! Your Christmas morning is going to be just as magical as ours. The anticipation leading up to Christmas for me is crazy good! I often sit and think about the reaction my boys will have, the feeling is unreal. December 25 cant get here fast enough! :dancing:

Keep posting, I live reading your ptr.

 

[librarygeek]

I love all of your ideas! I also had a Cyber Monday order, can't resist those sales! And I think doing your own Bippity Boppity Boutique is a much better idea than going there, the prices are kind of crazy! I totally agree that the anticipation of the trip is huge. I know when I went for the first time when I was 8 I was in planning mode for months, reading all these guides for kids that I could get my hands on and finding out everything I could!

 

[sommergirl25]

Subbing in! Your kids are adorable.

I was going to try to surprise the kids the morning of, but ended up telling them this summer! I have loved having my 6 year old help plan things!