The Inlaws are coming, the Inlaws are coming. June 2-12-2011 PTR- UPDATED 10/20

[chicagoshannon]

I'm so excited we're going back to Disney. If you would have asked me 1 week ago if we'd be going back in 2011 the answer would have been no.

I'll start with the cast of characters and move on from there.

First there's my dh Eric. He will be 34 on this trip. This will be his 6th trip to Disney I believe. He went twice as a kid and then not until our honeymoon in 2004 and then twice last year. He pretty much goes with the flow with the planning. His favorite character is Donald.

(that's us on our honeymoon)

that's us May 2009 for Madeline's first trip.

Me (see above pictures). I'm the Disney instigator. I like all of the Disney characters. I'll be 33 on this trip. I've lost count of the number of trips I've taken. I was lucky as a child and was taken to Disney almost every Christmas while growing up. My grandparents wintered in FL so we'd drive down every year to visit them.

dd Madeline- She'll be 4 on this trip. It will be her 4th. She got to go 3 times last year. She loves ALL the princesses but I think the characters she's most looking forward to are the Star Wars ones. She is all about Star Wars thanks to her daddy. We're going for Star Wars weekend which will be a surprise for her. She has an insane memory so if we tell her and for some reason they cancel Star Wars weekends she'll be devastated.

That's her first glimpse of the magic. She had just turned 2.

our October trip building her light saber

a pretty current pic of her and her new brother

our family May 2009

DS- Duncan. He'll be almost 11 months for our trip. He's our little miracle baby/souvenir from our October, 5th anniversary trip. Right now his favorite character is mommy

FIL- Rich. He'll be 67 on our trip. I have no idea how many times he's been to Disney. I know for sure he's been once, probably twice with Eric. I hear he's not much of a ride person so he'll most likely be the designated baby watcher as we go on the bigger rides.

grandpa a couple of years ago. He looks the same.

MIL- Elaine. She'll be a older then me but younger then FIL on this trip I believe she's been to Disney at least 3 times. She loves thrill rides. She definitely won't be the designated baby watcher. Her favorite character is Tinkerbelle.

Next up how this trip came to be.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Madeline loves Disney. She still talks about it daily. We were planning on waiting until 2012 when Fantasyland is done to go back. We were trying to make up our minds as to if we'd go in May for Star Wars or October for cooler weather and lower crowds. We finally decided to for 2 weeks in May for SWW.

Throw in the wrench. Eric wanted his parents to come and I wanted my parents to come. We were trying to decide how to work that. We thought we could ride down with one set of grandparents and they'd stay for a week and then we'd ride home with the other grandparents after they had been with us for a week.

This sounded a bit too complicated for me. We decided to just shelve it for a while. After all we had til 2012 to decide.

Cue the shower. I think best in the shower these days. No kids yelling at me or crying for me. It's pure All of the sudden I was like DUH lets take the IL's in 2011 and my parents in 2012. The reason for the IL's first is that they're both already retired. My mom is planning on retiring in 2012 so we'll go with them at that time.

Now to convince Eric to go a year earlier. All I had to do was mention Star Wars weekends and he was fine with it. It wouldn't cost us much extra money to split our vacation over 2 years instead of just one.

We just got confirmation from the Inlaws this afternoon that they would indeed like to go.

Let the planning begin!

 

[TaylorsLoveDisney]

Madeline loves Disney. She still talks about it daily. We were planning on waiting until 2012 when Fantasyland is done to go back. We were trying to make up our minds as to if we'd go in May for Star Wars or October for cooler weather and lower crowds. We finally decided to for 2 weeks in May for SWW.

Throw in the wrench. Eric wanted his parents to come and I wanted my parents to come. We were trying to decide how to work that. We thought we could ride down with one set of grandparents and they'd stay for a week and then we'd ride home with the other grandparents after they had been with us for a week.

This sounded a bit too complicated for me. We decided to just shelve it for a while. After all we had til 2012 to decide.

Cue the shower. I think best in the shower these days. No kids yelling at me or crying for me. It's pure All of the sudden I was like DUH lets take the IL's in 2011 and my parents in 2012. The reason for the IL's first is that they're both already retired. My mom is planning on retiring in 2012 so we'll go with them at that time.

Now to convince Eric to go a year earlier. All I had to do was mention Star Wars weekends and he was fine with it. It wouldn't cost us much extra money to split our vacation over 2 years instead of just one.

We just got confirmation from the Inlaws this afternoon that they would indeed like to go.

Let the planning begin!

Hi!! ill be First to say Hello look forward to reading more!

ps-i love all the characters too!! we go in 12 days!! and when we get back ill be planning my 2011 trip just like u! lol

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Thanks! for the invite!!!!
can't wait to plan along with you and have some fun along the way
going back to read...
Connie

 

[chicagoshannon]

Welcome Tonya! When was your honeymoon? We were at that same resort in 2004 the last week of October! Have fun on your trip! Do you have a PTR at all?

 

[chicagoshannon]

Connie- thanks for coming by! So glad you're up for reading again. I hope you can squeeze in a trip next year too.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

how wonderful to do a split trips with the parents and you get two years in a row to look forward to! can't wait to hear the plans...
wonderful memory flashbacks in the intro!!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

yeah the memories are awesome. I can't help but remember how HOT it was that May when I look at that family picture of us. I guess we're in for it in June too. haha

After our Feb. trip this year I'll be happy to have the heat. It was sOOOOooooo cold!

 

[my2disneyboys]

I'm in and looking forward to planning with you!! Love all the pictures!!!!

 

[TaylorsLoveDisney]

Welcome Tonya! When was your honeymoon? We were at that same resort in 2004 the last week of October! Have fun on your trip! Do you have a PTR at all?

Oh haaa.. it is a small world after all huh?? lol
we were married oct 11 then stayed there from the 12th - 25th! so i bet we crossed paths at some point!! ill have to upload my pic of us with the Bride and groom hats too.. lol! awesome memories!

As for my PTR.. i had one.. but then erased it after weeks of people reading but NOT ONE response.. embarrassing!! guess im a DIS loser! ROLFOL!! j/k.. i might try one again.. is it too late?? tee hee

 

[TheTravelingCarters]

Looking forward to reading all your plans! We leave in 3 days and I would love to bring back a baby souvenir

 

[chicagoshannon]

When we asked the inlaws to join us MIL originally seemed like she couldn't go. Found out it was because there is a wedding she wants to go to on June 4th. I was a bit annoyed since the wedding is for someone she served on a jury with 5 years ago (so she'd only been with her for like a week or 2). But I know MIL and she makes and keeps friends so easily. Me, I would have just been like see ya and never talked with that person again. MIL keeps in contact with everyone via email. She'd gladly meet someone on the street and hand out her email and put them on her Christmas card list forever and ever. It's just something I've gotten used to over the years. It normally wouldn't have annoyed me but since it was putting our well thought out rotfl Disney plan in jeopardy I was perturbed.

Luckily someone suggested (not sure if MIL dreamed it up or if FIL did) that FIL drive down with us and MIL would fly in on Saturday night after the wedding. So after getting that wonderful news yesterday the trip was set!

The current plan is to leave early on June 2 (like 4am). Hopefully FIL will stay overnight here on wed night so we can have the van basically packed already. We'll spend Thursday night somewhere in Georgia-hopefully Valdosta. Friday morning we'll have a leisurely continental breakfast and then drive the last 3 hours or so to Orlando making a stop at the Florida welcome center of course.

We'll be in Florida from Friday the 3rd of June til Saturday the 11th. Last night we booked our much loved Mariott Harbour Lake. We stayed there last October and fell in love. We exchanged our time share for it. Booked it last night. We need to figure out where we're going to stay on Friday night though. I'm hoping we can book an extra night at Harbour Lake so we don't have to move our stuff.

This time we'll have a 2 bedroom.

We are thinking about maybe adding a day at Sea World while we're there. We'll see.

Eric, Madeline and I will be getting annual passes. Duncan will be free.

The only thing I know for sure right now is that our first day in the parks will be on Saturday for Star Wars weekend! Although depending on where we buy our annual passes we may sneak in a little time at one of the parks on Friday. I want to get settled into the condo though.

Next up... help me figure out some meals!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'm in and looking forward to planning with you!! Love all the pictures!!!!

Thanks for joining! I need to go look for an update on your ptr. I should just set it to email me when there's an update

Oh haaa.. it is a small world after all huh?? lol
we were married oct 11 then stayed there from the 12th - 25th! so i bet we crossed paths at some point!! ill have to upload my pic of us with the Bride and groom hats too.. lol! awesome memories!

As for my PTR.. i had one.. but then erased it after weeks of people reading but NOT ONE response.. embarrassing!! guess im a DIS loser! ROLFOL!! j/k.. i might try one again.. is it too late?? tee hee

It's never to late to start a PTR! I'd love to read it. If you decide to write one or even just a trip report when you get back make sure to share the link with me.

we were married on the 23rd and actually drove to Tampa for the first couple of days of our honeymoon so we just missed each other.

Looking forward to reading all your plans! We leave in 3 days and I would love to bring back a baby souvenir

Yeah our little Duncan was the best souvenir EVER! We weren't supposed to be able to have any kids without help.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

I love the condos you guys have chosen...I remember thinking last year how aawesome it seemed from your pictures. sounds like the plans are starting to take shape and great plans on the IL's sounds like a great plan so far

Connie
Have a great day!

 

[TaylorsLoveDisney]

Welcome Tonya! When was your honeymoon? We were at that same resort in 2004 the last week of October! Have fun on your trip! Do you have a PTR at all?

hi!.. i re-did my PTR.. please go and check it out! LOL!! i if dont get any responses this time.. ill just die of embarrassment! LOL!!

 

[wlwilliams9]

I'm here!! Great start! Can't wait to hear about all of your plans for M and D!

 

[moparop]

Woo hoo! Sounds like a super fun trip! How far is the condo from Disney?

 

[TaylorsLoveDisney]

heres the link..
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2555983



that harbor place is BEAUTIFUL!!! my kids would LOVE that pool!!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'm here!! Great start! Can't wait to hear about all of your plans for M and D!

thanks for joining. Just a couple more months until your trip. I can't wait to see how the baby does on your trip.

Woo hoo! Sounds like a super fun trip! How far is the condo from Disney?

it's right by Seas World and there is an I4 entrance right by the condo. I'm thinking about 10 minutes or so.

heres the link..
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2555983



that harbor place is BEAUTIFUL!!! my kids would LOVE that pool!!!

The pool is awesome. There's also a 2nd pool with a bigger water slide for the bigger kids and adults. They even have a mini golf course!

going to check out your PTR now.

 

[chicagoshannon]

SMALL update.

Last night Eric told me he wants to have he and Madeline dress up for SWW. He wants to be Obi Wan and have Madeline be Ashoka (not sure I spelled that right). I looked at him like he was crazy since we'll be going in JUNE! Lets just say I will NOT be dressing up!

I also want to look into staying at the Hilton Bonnet Creek on that first Friday night. I think we should get into town around noon and thought it might be nice to be able to hang out at the pool that afternoon. I need to check prices though.

I'll be going to the inlaws tomorrow so we'll see if I have a chance to talk to them about what kind of food they might want to eat. They have no idea what they're in for!