The "We have one whole year to wait" Now a Trip Report

[stagemomx3]

Ok, after being on hold for 1 hour and 20 minutes and listening to such wonderful songs like "once upon a dream" - twice - someone picked up . How I love that part!! I was able to get free dining, for the lenghth of my stay BUT I did need to upgrade to a courtyard view, so my savings aren't as great as they would have been if I stayed with the woods view, but I still saved over $600 so I am a happy camper!!

Congratulations!

 

[Laura.bora]

So, Ken has discovered what he wants "his" special thing to be (I have Cirque du Soliel, CRT and BBB for Ainsley, Campfire sing a long for Nathaniel). He just discovered the Segway tours. He'll have to go alone, but he doesn't mind. Has anyone gone on either the Epcot or the Fort Wilderness tour?

 

[IkeandMike]

That sounds like a lot of fun. I have never been on one, but I have read about it in several reports. He'll have a blast!!

Congrats on the free dining. I was able to get it too, however, I had to switch from a family suite to two rooms at POP.

 

[Laura.bora]

Well Hello everyone! It's been a bit - and really there is nothing new to share, so I figured it was about time to share something OLD! Time for some blast from the past! So sit back, and enjoy the early 90's pictures!

Ok, so 1st up, is me looking peacefully drugged out of my mind.

If you remember corrcetly, after a small freak out about getting into the back seat for a photo-op, my father said "we're going to Disney World!" instead of cheese. This was our reaction -

Sporting the ever popular ponchos -

At the Poly - you gotta love those clothes!

One of the only pictures at Disney with my Dad. He was always taking the pictures

Shoving our faces with Bon bons while waiting for the Alladin parade to start. I remember this picture very well. I didn't want to have a foolish ice cream headache/this bon bon is too big for my mouth face, so I tried some self control....not so sure it worked!

My favorite spot in MGM

Our christmas picture that year - can I tell you how many people asked my mom why she let us play in the snow in our shorts??

and lastly - Epcot for the first time!

 

[IkeandMike]

Ahhhh you and your sisters are sooooo cute. Great pictures and thanks for the trip down memory lane.

 

[anl]

Followed you over here from the DISign board just read your whole PTR. I love the debt free thing. I'm a Dave Ramsey fan and we too are striving to become debt free. Although, we aren't totally debt free yet, we have come a long way and our trip will be paid for in cash. I always think of the borrower is slave to the lender when I think I NEED something. I love to hear other people's success stories. I love your journal pages as well and I think I'm going to make one for my son. You have lucky little ones to get such a great trip and to grow up in a debt free, God filled home.

 

[Shmu]

I have taken a break from the DIS but I'm easing back now.
Love the old pics.
Our trips are getting closer.

 

[Laura.bora]

HEy Shmu! welcome back! How was your trip?

 

[Laura.bora]

Followed you over here from the DISign board just read your whole PTR. I love the debt free thing. I'm a Dave Ramsey fan and we too are striving to become debt free. Although, we aren't totally debt free yet, we have come a long way and our trip will be paid for in cash. I always think of the borrower is slave to the lender when I think I NEED something. I love to hear other people's success stories. I love your journal pages as well and I think I'm going to make one for my son. You have lucky little ones to get such a great trip and to grow up in a debt free, God filled home.

Dave Ramsey...that name sounds awfully familiar....I just can't place it...I'll have to google it if you don't fill me in! I love the debt free living too. And I LOVE hearing other peoples success stories too - I find it encouraging. Feel free to share how you got to the place where you are striving to be debt free here! And thanks for the compliment on the journaling pages! I know my kids will love it too!

 

[Shmu]

HEy Shmu! welcome back! How was your trip?

Well I haven't been to Disney yet if that's what you mean.
The only trip I have taken is a small road trip with my DS to Alabama for business.
It was FANTASTIC.
I'll post a little about it on my PTR.

 

[Laura.bora]

Well I haven't been to Disney yet if that's what you mean.
The only trip I have taken is a small road trip with my DS to Alabama for business.
It was FANTASTIC.
I'll post a little about it on my PTR.

Yup, the small road trip with your hub....oh wait...your son? I thought it was you and your husband going....well that's not exactly the nice little romantic trip I had envisioned for you!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, so I actually DO have some disney planning updates! I want a woods room. I really really want a woods room. The CM I had before told me I needed to be moved up to a courtyard. I assumed that woods were not avaliable for free dining. I was wrong. So I'm going to keep calling until I get what I want!

The other disney planning update is after my sister in laws wedding (Memorial Day weekend) I am starting geography with Nathaniel. And if you recall, I plan on sneaking a Epcot theme into the geography this year! So, it's like secretly getting them psyched for Epcot. We'll be making lapbooks and games and making a "Great Big Book of Everywhere" I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to post here and to have in the scrap book!

 

[Laura.bora]

So we're back from our trip down to the island for my sister in law's wedding. It was wonderful! She had an outdoor wedding on the beach with a reception following at a nearby yacht club. Nathaniel was the ring bearer and Ainsley was the flower girl - and yes of course I'll share pictures!

Here they are on the beach posing for me!

Here they are walking down the "isle"

Some more poses

Me and Ainsley

And a few from the reception -

Here's Ephraim and my mom

Ephraim with his Auntie Lauren

Kenny and Nathaniel

Cousin William and Ephraim

And of course Kenny's sister - The Bride!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, now that all the wedding stuff is out of the way, on to DISNEY!! 1st off, as of yet, still no luck in getting a woods view, but I'm not giving up just yet!! I still have until September! I signed up for Tour Guide Mike while down on LI and learned TONS of stuff on the site! If you haven't already - I HIGHLY suggest that you subscribe! While I was on here, I noticed Black Out days for Cirque du Soliel......AND THEY FALL DURING MY VACATION!!!!! I try messing with my itenerary, to see if I can make it work, but I'm just not happy. So I resign to the fact that I'll have to miss it....UNTIL.....I happen to notice it's coming to Buffalo the 14th of September! Thats 2 day's before we leave! So the new plan is to tell the kids about Disney Sunday morning and then go to Cirque that evening. We'll spend the evening in a hotel in Buffalo and all of Monday. Then we leave Tuesday morning. I'll have to share the story of getting our flight later - baby is crying!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, well first I'll share why we decided to go with Tour guide Mike. Wednesday is "pay what you want day" at the bronx zoo, so while were on the Island, we stopped by for a visit with the mission of doing 2 things - 1.) Seeing the butterfly exhibit since we were wrapping up a study on butterflies and 2.) Riding the camels (we visited 2 years ago, it was the only thing Nathaniel wanted to do and it was POURING the entire day, so there were no camel rides). We had about 3 1/2 hours to visit the zoo - plenty of time to see a good chink of the zoo.....would you like to know what we asw in 3 1/2 hours??? We saw the butterflies, we rode the camels, we saw the peacocks, we saw the lions, and we saw the monkey house as they were closing it (aka they turned the lights off on us) and we saw the seal exhibit as they made the "The zoo is now closed" announcement. We barely saw anything - we just wandered around aimlessly without any real clue of where we were going, or where to go next. So with that experience, we did NOT want to be spending all this money on Disney only to wander around aimlessly in the parks and not make the most of our time! Within the 1st hour I was THRILLED that I had spent that $18 on TGM! Anyway, as a result of getting my flight (story soon to follow), no Cirque during the trip and some TGM advice, my plans have changed slightly, so I will post my updated itinerary soon. In the meantime....want to see a picture of me riding a camel?? (By the way, if you ever encounter the opportunity to ride a camel, I whole-heartedly suggest yo do so! It was fun!)

And a few of the sights we saw
the butterfly garden

Ephraim loved the few animals we did see

And the "pea Pops" as Ainsley called them kept showing us there feathers!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, so on to the flights..... Do you remember the wonderful FIL I told you about?

and his wonderful wife?

Well, we were celebrating our birthdays while we were down there (Ken and I have birthdays in May around Memorial Day) We had Dad's world famous belgian waffles for our birthday dinner and after dinner Dad and Susan pulled us aside to give us our birthday cards and birthday hugs and kisses and inside was their present to us - OUR FLIGHT! Dad said you just pick out the flight and I'll book it! We had vetoed Airtran because what I was afraid would happen DID happen - they changed their flight time - so that 9am flight now leaves at 4:30pm!!! SOOOO glad I didn't book it yet!! We knew we wanted a non-stop, and Buffalo has more of a choice of non-stop flights. Southwest had the earlier flight leaving at 7:45, but JEt Blue was cheaper. What to do, what to do???? The next morning, we look and low and behold, Southwest has dropped it's price from 119 to $99 EACH WAY!! SO now we call Dad and he books our flights! So now we Leave Buffalo at 7:45 and arrive in Orlando at 10:20! WE'll be in the parks by 12:30! YEAHHH!! And our return flight leaves at 6:50 - so we have a full day in the park AGAIN!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, so here's the updated itenerary....as of right now....who knows if I'll change it again - and how many times!!!

Day 1 - September 16

1.) Flight - Leave Buffalo at 7:45 and Arrive in MCO at 10:20
2.) Wilderness Lodge - We'll check in and eat lunch at the Roaring Forks - OUR VERY FIRST MEAL IN THE WORLD!! I'm sure even mediocre counter service will taste wonderful!
3.) MAGIC KINGDOM - We're heading over here right after lunch and having a lazy day here - we'll definatly make here in time to see the parade now, so we'll see that, we'll go on a few rides, maybe explore Tom Sawyer Island.
4.) Kona Cafe - I changed our reservation to 6:20 because we'll be getting up at 5 am!! I'm thinking we're going to need to be in bed early! I want an even earlier reservation, and will keep trying for between 4:30 and 6. in the event that I cannot secure an earlier reservation, we will head back to the hotel after the parade and nap(hopefully - if the room is ready!) Hopefully a short nap will revive us enough to be ready for our Kona Cafe dinner that night.

 

[Laura.bora]

1.) Epcot - We will be at Epcot for RopeDrop and will spend ALL DAY here. I know this is going to be a lot, but with breaks planned during the day in movie theaters, and for lunch and dinner, I think we can ALL handle it. This will be the most hectic day of our entire vacation. So we'll deal. Besides WS will be a pretty laid back experience for the kids I think.
2.) Lunch -Our lunch break will be over at Beaches and Cream......mmmmmmm No Way Jose! Since there are no resservations, we'll headover mid-day when we start to get hungry and hot!
3.) Dinner - Yachtsman Steak House at 5:40 - I'm really looking foward to this meal!
4.) Illuminations - Perfect end to a LONG day - fireworks and BED!!

 

[Laura.bora]

1.) MGM - We WILL be here for rope drop - it will be hard (mostly on me!) but we will do it - we will be heading home for a nap mid day anyway!
2.) Brunch - We're having Breakfast with JoJo at 11:20. After Brunch, we'll see Muppet Vision 3D and then head home.
3.) Nap, Swim, Shower - That pretty much summerizes my goals for afternoon break. We'll shower mid day so we don't smell like a pool and sweat for the evening! And I can pretty much gaurantee that there will be no bathtime if we try for morning or evening!
4.) Dinner - We'll leave around 5 to go to Liberty Tree Tavern for our 5:40 reservation.
5.) Spectromagic - After dinner, we'll be in the perfect spot at the perfect time to sit down and watch SpectroMAgic!
6.) Home - We will not stay for Wishes tonight, we'll catch it later in the week.

 

[Laura.bora]

1.) Animal Kingdom - Rope Drop morning again! We'll stay here all day since the park closes at 5.
2.) Lunch - Yak and Yetti and 1:30 - We'll probally break around 11 - 12 for a small snack too if we get hungry.
3.) Resort Time - We'll head back after park closing - sooner if we want/need to.
4.) Dinner - Artist Point at 7:10