The Split Personality Pre Trip Report (May 2015) - Back Home with a Quick Update (5/18)

[DMGeurts]

Love your DHS plans... YOur FPs sound like they are set up perfectly!

And I think eating at FTBBQ is a great option - you will be your B&C later in the trip, I know it.

Good luck getting Matt out of the SW dump shop... LOL

Love all of the stuff you have for the countdown kit! She will LOVE it!

And changing resorts? I am glad it works out better for you - it's soooo expensive to go to Disney, I totally understand!

D~

 

[cajunfan]

Love your DHS plans... YOur FPs sound like they are set up perfectly!

And I think eating at FTBBQ is a great option - you will be your B&C later in the trip, I know it.

Good luck getting Matt out of the SW dump shop... LOL

Love all of the stuff you have for the countdown kit! She will LOVE it!

And changing resorts? I am glad it works out better for you - it's soooo expensive to go to Disney, I totally understand!

D~

I am excited to try FTBBQ! And yes I will have my B&C later.

The dump shop will be a lot easier than the Star Wars weekend gift shop...I am worried about that one!

Thanks for following along!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay for Mickey Mail! Always exciting!

FYI... you forgot to block out your last name at the top of the letter. Thought you should know.

 

[cajunfan]

Yay for Mickey Mail! Always exciting!

FYI... you forgot to block out your last name at the top of the letter. Thought you should know.

It is EXCITING to get Mickey Mail. I can't wait to get those Magic Bands!

I did notice my last name, but was too lazy to go back and edit more.

 

[cajunfan]

Zoe's Arrival Basket

So let me caveat this next section of pictures with a few notes: We have a large family (and Zoe is the only great niece [or nephew]) among us)who like to spoil Zoe (and she is one of those kids who is always excited and never expects things); I have been working on this (and a few other things) since Christmas; Dollar Tree, Joann's Dollar Spot and Michael's Dollar Spot are all my friends.

So on Sunday, Kim, Haley and Zoe are driving from the NOLA area to meet us. They should arrive sometime mid afternoon to evening, depending on when they leave and how many stops they need to make with Zoe. Originally, I thought we would be in HS all day and be staying for Famtasmic! So, we decided to make a gift basket to leave at the front desk for them so they could get their magic bands (since all will be mailed to me). So I have been stashing away finds for 3 months now. In addition, Matt and Sabrina (once she knew she was going) have been adding to the stash. So have family members. So this basket has morphed somewhat. It is now more than a welcome basket, but she will get some things everyday from various Disney friends. But when she arrives, I will have the following in a pretty pink basket (thank you 50% off coupon at Michaels) on the table for her:



Everyone needs rain gear in WDW!



A Princess pin lanyard, a Princess Ring and a Princess Bubble necklace



A Princess Flashlight, Princess Pens and my personal favorite a Princess Pen/Flashlight combo!



Two Princess nightlights (one for each room in the suite)



Frozen stickers, band aids and q-tips



Frozen headband



Cinderella Swim Suit



Princess hat



Really super cool Princess Sticker book (I may need to get a few more of these...at least one for me and one for Sabrina! LOL!)

And who knows what else I may find to add to it...especially with after Easter sales.

I will not be putting the basket together until we get there for packing purposes.

But it will be really fun to see her face when she see it and watch her discover each of her treasures!

I will try to update our Day 4 plans tomorrow night.

Lynn

 

[stacy~**]

I just wanted to stop over at your report after seeing you post on mine.

I love all the princess items you are collecting for Zoe! Those extra touches of magic are the best!

Ohana is a great choice for the first night. That is one meal you need to really be hungry for.

Changing resorts to save money can be a bittersweet feeling. I actually just booked our hotel for May and it was a real struggle to decide between where I REALLY wanted to stay vs. where financially we should stay. You will never regret having that extra money, though!

 

[cajunfan]

I just wanted to stop over at your report after seeing you post on mine.

I love all the princess items you are collecting for Zoe! Those extra touches of magic are the best!

Ohana is a great choice for the first night. That is one meal you need to really be hungry for.

Changing resorts to save money can be a bittersweet feeling. I actually just booked our hotel for May and it was a real struggle to decide between where I REALLY wanted to stay vs. where financially we should stay. You will never regret having that extra money, though!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh I have many more princess things....I know why God gave me a boy...I would have been more broke than I am if I had a girl. This has been a lot of fun. She is the first girl that I have really had the opportunity to buy girly things for....and boy have I...the family went together for her Christmas presents and she ended up with costumes (and some accessories) for all the Disney Store princesses with the exception of Mulan (nothing in her size at the time) and Tinkerbelle (not a Princess but she does want this outfit too).

You are right, I will not regret having that extra money. It will go toward dining on this trip.

Lynn

 

[DMGeurts]

I adore all of the goodies you've found so far... That little swimsuit is precious! I wish my girls would still wear that kind of stuff - although it would probably be a little awkward at their age?

Little Zoe is going to have so much fun!!!

D~

 

[cajunfan]

I adore all of the goodies you've found so far... That little swimsuit is precious! I wish my girls would still wear that kind of stuff - although it would probably be a little awkward at their age?

Little Zoe is going to have so much fun!!!

D~

I don't know...your girls could pull off the look! LOL!

Yes, the store had quite a few really cute swimsuits this year. And they had a 25% swim sale, and with my discount and knowing that Zoe is in the water a lot, let's just say a few more swim suits may be making an appearance! LOL!

I think Auntie Lynn is having a lot more fun than anyone right now...I love being able to shop for girly things!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[cajunfan]

So I was a slacker last night. I came home, cooked dinner, ate and then prepped dinner for Friday night. Then I promptly sat in the recliner, watched a few (okay 1) show I had dvr'd and I was out for the night. It felt so good. And I got to sleep in because I had a Dr. apt this morning! So why am I still tired? Oh, yeah that's right...everything native to TN is blooming right now...is it bad of me to be looking forward to the brief cold snap this weekend? Tonight is a leftover night for dinner, because my seamstress meeting from the other night got moved to tonight. I hope it goes on as planned tonight. I am excited to see what she can come up with for my shirts. She is a little what some people might call "quirky" but she is very creative and talented! If I get home early enough I will get some park plans updated tonight.

Lynn

 

[MattShiloh]

The seamstress, Teresa, is definitely quirky, but funny. I think her hair was bluish green tonight. She is (or was) a professional chef, so walking into her house always makes you hungry because she almost always has something cooking. I think she said tonight she was making some bacon to get bacon grease, because she was planning on making scallops for her daughter and likes to use the bacon grease on them as it adds more flavor. Yeah... I know, everyones mouth is watering now. Bacon. Just the mere mention of it...

Anyhow, Teresa does a lot of dance costumes for her daughter's dance group, but she also does some other really cool stuff, even Disney related stuff. Bacon. She put together this cool Queen of Hearts dress from Alice in Wonderland for someone for last Halloween, and I swear if you didn't know she had made it you would have sworn it was made by a professional Hollywood costume artist for a film. She made me a Jedi outfit, with Tunic, Tabards, everything. It was fantastic.

Best thing though... she is a closet Disney fanatic. She doesn't have Disney stuff all over her house like some people I know... yep, I am looking at Lynn... but she knows all the characters, their backgrounds, bios, etc. etc. etc.

Here is her Facebook page. She has a few pics of some of her stuff she made on there. Bacon. https://www.facebook.com/london4tea

 

[cajunfan]

So we did meet with Theresa last night. I am kind of excited to see where she takes the shirts and some headbands that I had to go with each shirt. I left them pretty much up to her to be creative. I will post what I end up with!

We got home later than I anticipated, so I did not update anything last night.

I worked at the store tonight, but I am going to try to get another update in before going to bed...another day at the store tomorrow (and this one may be longer than usual!)

Some good news before I get to that...I scored a BOG (actually 2) lunch ADR thanks to a post in the Disboards on FB group.

 

[cajunfan]

I started Day 4 plans...I really did then I got really tired and went to bed. I need to go into the store today a lot earlier than I anticipated, so it may be tomorrow before I update! Have a great Saturday everyone!

 

[DMGeurts]

Oooh I am very excited to see what you came up with at your seamstress meeting! I'll have to go check out her FB page.

Bacon... Thanks Matt... I love everything cooked with bacon/bacon grease - preferably both, there's nothing wrong with that. LOL

Looking forward to your day 4 updates! I hope you're having a nice weekend.

D~

 

[cajunfan]

Oooh I am very excited to see what you came up with at your seamstress meeting! I'll have to go check out her FB page.

Bacon... Thanks Matt... I love everything cooked with bacon/bacon grease - preferably both, there's nothing wrong with that. LOL

Looking forward to your day 4 updates! I hope you're having a nice weekend.

D~

Morning D! I am pretty excited to see what she comes up with too.

We were laughing...every time we go to her house, the cooking smells are wonderful! Her FB page really does not show her talent well. Like even the Queen of Heart outfit picture does not do it justice. But I will have Matt take pictures of the things she makes for me with his good camera and good lighting.

I have to get back to Day 4. I am off from both jobs today, but have some shores to do, so we will see how much I can get done!

Lynn

 

[cajunfan]

Day 4 Plans

Today is the first day in the parks for Princess Zoe! And it is an early morning since we have ADRs for:



We need to start our trip off seeing princesses! I have never eaten here. I was a little scared of the lunch and dinner foods (I am a little adventuresome in eating but not too much!), so I chose breakfast. I am looking forward to trying a new adventure. I just wish they still did the photo op with Belle. Oh well! Zoe will get her first princess fix here. I am looking forward to seeing her reaction. She was a little wary of Santa last year, and she flat out sat as far as she could from the Easter Bunny this year (but he was kinda scary looking!), so hopefully she will just be enthralled with the princesses. My sister has been talking up the princess meet & greets and she says that she is really excited. We will find out first thing this morning!

Once we finish eating here, we will do a few short wait line things like Figment, Nemo, Living with the Land and maybe Spaceship Earth. Nothing time consuming, because we are park hopping this afternoon.

We need to be here for noon:



We have FP+ for:

• Nemo, the musical
• Safari
• Festival of the Lion King

We will do whatever else Zoe wants to do while AK is still open. I will leave it up to her. I do have my sister trying to figure out what she may like by going through maps with her. If nothing else, we can either do DTD tonight or rest at the resort and do some swimming. Or we may go back to EPCOT to catch Illuminations. I am just going to leave this night open for suggestions. We will do counter service for lunch (maybe Flame Tree again or Pizzafari...will leave this up to the gang)
Oh, and Tinkerbelle will be leaving Zoe gifts for each night she wakes ups. The first thing we will do, is she will plant some Jelly Beans in a small clay pot. When she wakes up in the morning there will be coordinating flower lollipops where she planted the Jelly Beans. My sister found this idea...love it! She will also have a themed (as much as we could) goody bag each morning. This morning's theme is Minnie Mouse:



Cute bag from Dollar Tree



Ok, I have not found Minnie Lip Gloss yet, but still looking,...so Hello Kitty lip gloss, glow sticks, mickey tissues, and a silly straw



More Minnie stickers and a princess paddle ball set



Minnie Tape



Minnie Charm Bracelet (both this and the tape were Joann's dollar spot finds)



Minnie underwear (by the end of this trip, her mom wont have to wash panties for her but once a month)



Minnie swim suit and sun glasses. (she will also end up with the matching towel since it will be a gift from me to her mom)



Her pixie dust and key to the kingdom for the day.

Lynn

 

[Lidian]

Hello! I hope you don't mind me popping over!

Obsessive Planner... Did I mention spreadsheets?

Yep. Hooked already! Spreadsheets are a MUST! My TA gets spreadsheets of whatever info she needs.

Eeyore and Star Wars go together. Little known fact, Eeyore is in fact, a Jedi.

I can totally get behind this fact!

Spreadsheets are my friends. And glad to know there are others out there like me. They learn to appreciate my spreadsheets once they have traveled with me.

Spreadsheets are uh-maze-eeeeeeng! Even my DH has finally saw that they are more than useful for WDW. I print off all my spreadsheets, along with other important information, and keep it in a 3 ring binder that travels with us to WDW. The binder stays in the room, but I reference it daily so I can make changes as needed and make sure everything falls into place.

Of course once we finish this one, we will hike over to Star Tours. This should be interesting. I am looking forward to seeing the new version (since it has been re-vamped since the last time I was there).

One of my favorite rides! The old ST was good. The new one is awesome! One year, my SW-loving DH begged for "no more rides" since he was getting sick. We rode, I think, 7 times? Most of them were pretty close together. I love that each ride is usually different! (So I haven't had the best of luck with that, but I love the thrill that it could be different!) It's really a lot of fun. Even my kids love the ride!

Sabrina said that she was so small the last time she went on this, they did not tighten her seatbelt enough and she flew out of it. She is a little nervous about going on it. Matt on the other hand, will just be giggly about this one. He is a Star Wars nerd.

I'm not sure how the seatbelts were before, as I don't remember, but it's just a standard lap belt (like in a car). There's no tightening involved, just make sure there's no additional slack. So let her know she can feel safe like in a car!

I am excited to try FTBBQ!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE FTBBQ. And the weird part is, I don't even like BBQ. We ate there one year because DH wanted it (and it did smell good). I got a sammy thinking I could at least eat the bread and the sides. The years we've gone and couldn't eat FTBBQ were sad years (we were eating lunch at TH instead). This year, FTBBQ is ON THE SCHEDULE! So coming from someone who doesn't like BBQ, it can't be bad at all.

 

[cajunfan]

Hi Liddy!

Glad you stopped by! And thanks for all the excellent points!

 

[cajunfan]

Questions/Opinions Needed Folks!

So, I need a new pair of shoes in general and especially for Disney. I have flat feet and need serious arch support. Without it, my knees are in severe pain. Right now the only shoe I have found that I can wear for more than an hour are Merril Jungle Mocs with an orthodic insert in them. I am looking at the following sneakers: New Balance (have worn these before but not in a while), Sauconcy (I need to go try some on in person, but have read good things about them and have different styles depending on your pronation) and lastly, the Sketcher GoWalks. I don't do flip flops or any open toe shoes. I had a pair of Keens that I loved, but can no longer wear them due to my feet and knees. So if you have any of these brands of shoes, what style do you wear? (Especially the GoWalks...there seems to be so many varieties of these. I need to get these soon to break them in!

In other news, I talked to my sister about how Zoe liked her countdown kit. She said that she decorated 4 paper strips and said it was too hard...so my sister, my niece and one of her friends finished it for her.

Lynn

 

[mdsouth]

I think you are doing the right thing about switching resorts. 600.00 is a lot of money. I am sure you probably already priced it out but you might save even more by reserving two standard value rooms instead of one family suite. You would still have two bathrooms and you can request adjoining rooms.

Bummer about dropping Narcooossee's but it is extremely expensive! I have never eaten there either due to the expense.

From my own family experiences on our last trip, I think you will be happy with a few ADRs and the rest counter service meals. We found that the ADRs we had tied us down quite a bit and we often only wanted a quick meal because we were so busy with the rides or wanting to just relax in the pool at the resort and grab a quick bite to eat there.