The Princess Brigade-A Late Sept PTR!!!

[Shrimpandgrits]

So after two years of reading and reading and reading...I am finally joining the fun! So excited to start my first trip report!!

So here are the facts...

I am a stay at home mama to three girls, currently homeschooling our youngest two! I have been married to DH for 12 years and we reside in the low country of South Carolina...think BEACH!!
I have had the pleasure of visiting Disney 6 times in my life, three of those were as a child and three as an adult. This PTR is to document out next trip which is currently scheduled and booked for SEPTEMBER 25-30!!

I am so excited about this trip. The planning is literally consuming my every waking hour. Hmmm, seems since we homeschool and have a 5 month old my priorities may be out of whack! Ha!!

Nevertheless, I am excited to share our plans as we approach D Day!!

Oh yes, must not forget that the best part of this trip is that we are SURPRISING our oldest girls! Can't wait!

Next up...cast of characters!!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

So who are we:

I am a 32 year old mama. I am consumed by my mothering duties and love every minute of this job! Ok, maybe not EVERY minute, but I am trying to enjoy these days.

DH is my do it all, easy going, super sweet partner and we have been married almost 13 years!!

DD1 is 6 years old. She is such a hoot! Seriously this kid is always into something. She has been to Disney twice and a love of all things Disney related.

DD2 is 5 and is the princess of our family. In all seriousness she believes she is a princess. She has also been to Disney twice and spends most of her time dreaming about the princesses or Alice.

DD3 is our baby and long awaited blessing! She just turned 5 months and already has quite the personality. This will be her first trip to Disney and she will be almost 10 months old by the time we travel!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

In addition to our five we will also be traveling with DH's brother, his wife and their two girls.

*Note this photo was taken on our last trip and does not include their 8 month old, who will be one at time of trip.

And my mil and fil will be joining us as well.

It will be a big group, but we always have a blast together!!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

So why the princess brigade? Well in case you didn't notice there will be 5 little girls in our group!! That is right, 6 adults and 5 girls!! We have our own little group of princesses!!
Their ages at the time of our trip will be 6, 5, 4, 1 and 9 months!

Now that you have the WHO it is time to move on to the WHEN, WHERE and WHY?

WHEN: We will be traveling to disney on September 25. We live just around 5 hours away so we should arrive just before noon. We will be staying till Sunday, September 30. We had originally been planning a Christmas trip in early December, but randomly changed our dates mid planning. We were able to book free dining and that was a big motivator this time around. Most of the other dates that worked well for all of us looked like the will be blackout dates if they do offer free dining for later this year. And... by booking during late September we will be able to attend MNSSHP!!

WHERE: When we were planning a trip for December we had been thinking about CBR or possibly POR. I was more inclined to POR. However, after we changed our dates we started running numbers and looking into POP. We finally decided that POP was the best option. We are so excited! The theming at POP is perfect for our little ones! I know they will love the resort!

WHY: So obviously, the reason...DUH it's Disney!!
Seriously, though, we all took a trip to Disney in 2010 over Thanksgiving. We had such a great trip that before we even got home we were all already planning the next trip. A couple months after we got home my sil got pregnant and shortly after that I turned up pregnant as well.
We both knew it would be best to wait till after the babies were here and a bit older before we traveled back to Disney. So we started planning for December 2012 and of course now we are booked for September. My only concern about changing our dates is that our little one will be under 1 and I will still be nursing. Should be fine, but still something I had not necessarily planned on.

Now that the basics have been covered we can get on with the FUN stuff! The details!!!

 

[Disneychix]

Sounds like Fun!
As I was reading through I was thinking "wow, that's a lot of girls!"

We went late Sept last year when my DS was about 8 months old. It was a fun trip but I will say the baby didn't do too much besides sleep. I think we only took him on maybe 2 or 3 rides as we always seemed to hit the rides when h was napping-and I'd rather hav a napping baby than trying to wake him up for the rides!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

Sounds like Fun!
As I was reading through I was thinking "wow, that's a lot of girls!"

We went late Sept last year when my DS was about 8 months old. It was a fun trip but I will say the baby didn't do too much besides sleep. I think we only took him on maybe 2 or 3 rides as we always seemed to hit the rides when h was napping-and I'd rather hav a napping baby than trying to wake him up for the rides!

I SO agree, a sleeping baby is always better!
This time around we were blessed with a little one who prefers to NOT sleep!!


Thanks for reading along!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

Since we switched our dates a bit last minute we actually just barely missed our 180 ADR window. Before we booked our trip we actually made sure we could still get most of our ADR's.
Here is our current park plan and ADR plan:

**Please keep in mind we are sticking with mostly character meals or something that might be fun.

Wednesday 9/26-Magic Kingdom day (we will just do two CS meals this day, you will see why later)

Thursday 9/27-Epcot day, Lunch ADR as Askerhus

Friday 9/28- Hollywood Studios day, Lunch ADR at 50's Prime Time

Saturday 9/29- Animal Kingdom day, early lunch ADR at Tuskerhouse and since AK closes early we also have a 8pm ADR at 1900 Park Fare

Sunday 9/30- Breakfast ADR at 1900 Park Fare, Back to Magic Kingdom before heading home

Now, I know we may be crazy for attempting to do two sit down meals in one day, BUT we desperately wanted to do BOTH 1900 Park Fare meals and this is the only way we could make it work for now. I think it will be fine since AK has EMH that morning and it closes early. However, my goal is continue trying for a lunch or dinner 1900 park fare ADR for our first MK day. Here's to hoping ...


Please feel free to offer any advice or critique!

 

[Lemurone]

Sounds fun! We arrive on 9/29. Can't wait to compare PTR!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

Sounds fun! We arrive on 9/29. Can't wait to compare PTR!

Exciting!

Off to find your PTR...

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

Just another manic monday around here.
In addition to our Disney trip in September we will also be in Orlando this weekend. We decided to take advantage of a great deal and we are doing Sea World. DH and I did it each once as kids and our girls have never been. Since this is our last week of homeschool and also DD2's birthday week we thought why not!
I am excited!
It will be a fun, quick trip and will give me just enough glimpse of Disney to hardly be able to stand the wait till September.


Tonight I am browsing Etsy. I am looking for matching shirts and outfits for the girls to wear. First, let me tell you I was born and raised in the south and down here we like bows and we like our little girls to match as much as possible. A Disney trip just makes the bow shopping and matching more fun!!
Tune in tomorrow for pictures of my favorite finds. Hopefully I can narrow down the choices and get to buying. With three girls who need 5 days of outfits I need to get cracking!!

 

[Shrimpandgrits]

Happy Birthday to DD2 today! She is five today!!

We are having a low key day, just presents, cake and dinner out. Our big fun will begin Friday as we head to Orlando!!

When I posted last I was busy doing some online window shopping! What fun I had!

My sil and I ended up purchasing all 5 girls these dresses
http://www.etsy.com/listing/99958816/sale-buy-4-get-one-free-custom-made?ref=sr_gallery_40&ga_search_query=custom+disney+princess&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_type=all


The seller has a deal right now, buy 4 get one free! This worked out perfectly for us and I love how special these dresses look. Not too tacky either.
We are thinking these will work nicely for our Epcot day since lunch will be at Askerhus. I already have some of those princess bows that look just like the characters.

I have roughly decided to do halloween disney shirts for our Hollywood Studios day. I am thinking about just buying some appliqués and putting them on t shirts myself for these shirts. Etsy has some cute halloween appliqués.

Love this one:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/76257863/personalized-candy-corn-minnie-mouse

And this one:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/81142551/personalized-ghost-mickey-mouse-iron-on

Just undecided on what exactly to wear on the other days...need to shop some more !!!