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

[cjackearl]

Hey Laura! Glad you're back. Can't wait to hear what's been up in the trip planning arena.

 

[Laura.bora]

It's official! We're going to Cirque! We just bought our tickets yesterday! So we are in Section 206 row AA - that would be the VERY FRONT of the balcony! I couldn't have gotten better seats if I tried!! Yeah!

 

[Laura.bora]

So we went for the first time to an amusement park the other day (well, kids first time, obviously Ken and I have been to amusement parks before). It was our Disney test run. Let's see if they like the "thrill rides". Nathaniel rode his first roller coaster ever. I wasn't too sure how he'd do since....well.... he's a wuss Well, we start out slow, and go on the bear trax. I tell him it's just like Goofy's Barn STormer (there I go again planting those seeds again.....or as my husband will just randomly do when I start talking Disney - chugga chugga woo woo - one track mind, get it?? - don't worry, I don't often laugh at my hubby's jokes either ) We start off, he holds on for dear life, seconds later it's finished, and there is no one waiting....do we want to ride again? And Nathaniel gives her a big resounding YES!!!!!!!!!! He lovedit! We rode it 9 times in a row before finally getting off. Then we moved onto some of the bigger rollercoasters. He loved those even more! Then he sees the log flume and I say let's try this! Nathaniel isn't too sure because of the water. He hates water. Especially if it goes anywhere near his face/eyes. He sees a bunch of his friends on, and decides to try it. We jump on in, go down the track to the part where it drops your boat in the water just past the entrance so you can float on your own instead. You know that itty bitty little splash? Nothing even comes up into the boat. It just makes a small splash. Nathaniel sees that and tells me that he doesn't think he's going to like this ride. "It's kinda late now to decide that hun". NEedless to say, he HATED it. We get off it and he says "Well, now I know I won't like splash mountain!" Why oh Why did I bring him on the cheesy log flume! I would have much prefered that his first log flume ride be Splash! I'm going to work on convincing him towards trying Splash mountain again in the upcoming months! We also went on The Spring, which I of course compared to Tower of Terror. In fact, my son called it the tower of terror ride. The only downside of that day which I hope does not replay itself in Disney is that we lost Ainsley! One minute she was there with the group of us, the next minute she was not. Thankfully, a group of our kids (we went with our homeschooling group) was on the "Tower of Terror" and spotted Ainsley from uptop and pointed us in that direction. When my friend found her, she was fine. She said she found her talking to some girl(she was starting to question her on who she was/was she lost etc.). She went happily with Janelle, but when she saw me, she lost it. She was crying and saying she couldn't find me and wouldn't stop hugging me. It was a scary experience for her I guess (I wasn't too nervous, I figured she couldn't have gone far, she was gone for such a short time) Needless to say, she didn't wander off again! Anyway, guess we should think of a game plan in case one of the kids gets lost.

And now for our second "Disney" experience. Our local library kicked off the summer reading program with an appearance of Clifford the big red dog. Clifford came up behind Ainsley, tapped her on the head, she turned around and...... . Poor Clifford had backed her into a corner between a wall and a table and she was PETRIFIED! Her little mouth came open and she wanted to scream, and was so frightened that she couldn't make a sound and then quick as a wink she pops down and under the table she goes, clinging to the librarians legs! As much as my son loves thrill rides, my daughter does not love characters. We might have to rethink the massive amounts of character dining we have planned......

 

[cjackearl]

Oh no, poor Ainsley! I think I might chalk her reaction up more to being surprised and cornered by a monstrous red dog than foreshadowing of her Disney character experience. No Disney character worth their salt is going to give her any more attention than she is ready for.
Did you say where you have ADRs? I'm a wee bit Dorylike in the memory department, so if you already mentioned it, please take no offense.

 

[Laura.bora]

So I went onto the Disboards today and I started noticing the "price increase for X starting NOvember" and I suddenly realized that I have been planning this trip for one whole year now. One whole year. That is a long time to be waiting. I'm down to 62 days. That's it. 62 days and the waiting will be over. 62 more days and I will be sitting on a monorail, headed towards the Poly, hungry to eat at the Kona Cafe. 61 more days and I'll see my kids faces light up when we tell them that their dreams come true today, and we finally get to visit Disney World. I must say, I can hardly believe it. It seems like one big make believe dream. Like something I've day dreamed about for so long, but I can't believe it's actually going to happen. I can't wait!

And as for ADR's, we've changed them, and changed them, and changed them some more! Currently our plan of attack is:

9/16 - head to MK after checkin, and then go to Kona Cafe for dinner
9/17 - Head to MK today again, we'll have lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and take a break mid afternoon (nap time!)Head back to MK that night to see Wishes
9/18 - Today we'll rest and relax at the resort. Lunch at Chef Mickey's!! Our very first character meal of the trip! Tonight, we're going to the 6:00 showing of Cirque du Soliel!
9/19 - Today is our first day at Animal Kingdom! We have a Yak and Yetti ressie for lunch! We'll probally head out after lunch I would think. We'll see. We've got a dinner resrvation for Artist Point at 6:35.
9/20 - Nathaniel's brithday! We've decided to go to Epcot Future World for his birthday. We took Shmu's advice and booked Nathaniel's birthday lunch at the Garden Grill. Then tonight we'll either go back to Epcot to see Illuminations or go and see the campfire.
9/21 - My cousin and his wife are coming out to visit us this day. I've 3 different reservations, so we'll see what we feel like doing that day - but at least I've got something!! Dinner was near impossible to reserve! The ONLY choices were Spoodles or Trails End. WE chose Spoodles. We've also have reservations for Kona for lunch and Whispering Canyon for Breakfast.
9/22 - Ainsley's birthday remains the same. BBB at 8, CRT at 2:10, break for the afternoon, and come back to watch the Spectromagic parade.
9/23 - Today we're going to DHS. We have a brunch reservation at 11:40 at H&V. We'll probally see F!
9/24 - Breakfast at Kona Cafe at 10, then to WS, have a visit with Jose (As in no way Jose!) and the O'hana's at 4:25
9/25 - Breakfast at 9:30 and visit our favorite park. WE need to be back at 4 to catch DME to the airport.

 

[Native NYer]

Great ptr

 

[cjackearl]

Your ADRs look great! Lots of yummy places to eat.

 

[Laura.bora]

Well - My Pre-trippie was looking a little sparse in the picture department, so I thought I'd put up our "pre-disney" trip (aka Seabreeze). My husband and I decided we could have gotten away with Disney a lot more cheaply if we had just convinced the kids that Seabreeze was Disney! It has all the rides the kids were interested in!

"La La's Horse" as Ainsley calls it

Tommorowland Raceway

Pirates of the Carribean (well....it is in a boat....)

Astro Orbitor

The Tower of Terror!

The Barnstormer, with BTMRR in the background

Splash mountain

See - Totally convincible. You were thinking we got to go to Disney early, weren't you??

 

[Laura.bora]

and by the way....

Sniff sniff - Look how big my baby is getting!!

 

[Laura.bora]

NAthaniel finally noticed the growing pile of boxes growing in my closet. He decided he'd be helpful and get them all to the recycable contaner for me. I stopped him and told him thank you but no, I needed them. He gave me this weird look and asked "you need EMPTY boxes?" Yup. I need empty boxes. "What for?" he asks. For your birthday present I reply! The look on his face was priceless! Immediatly the little gears in his mind started turning. What oh What could she be getting me that would fit in THAT BIG OF A BOX???!!??? Oh if he only knew!

 

[Laura.bora]

Ok, people, we are getting down to the end! 54 days left. Time for some bathing suit boot camp! Looking to drop a few more pounds and tone this very stretched out belly! As of last Friday this is what I looked like -

(don't mind the mess in the pantry!)

 

[Laura.bora]

SO I've been calling Disney Dining a bit too much. Today for the second time, I spoke to Basil. On different days. Has anyone else spoken to Basil before? He's got a great voice, like he could be a movie voiceover or something.

 

[Laura.bora]

Woo hoo! I've made my 500th post!

Ok, well onto Disney! So yesterday I went clothes shopping. I was in need of new clothes. My friend gave me a few shirts that didn't fit her, but her favorite color is black so I had an array of black t shirts to choose from, but no other colors. So hubby and I went out shopping! And tonight hubby and I are going out shopping again for him. So I will be posting oh so very soon coordinating outfits that we will be wearing in Disney!

 

[Laura.bora]

Well, remember when I said the hubby and I were heading out shopping for clothes for him? Well, he hasn't had new clothes in a VERY long time. (with the exception of a few winter items that I've gotten him for Christmas - but they don't sell summer clothing in winter). He's always gone without to make sure that the kids had clothing, or I had clothing. Gotta love the leader of my family! Anyway, he had a lot of thread bear and color faded outfits. So we went for our first clothing budget shopping trip in YEARS. We had $130 tucked away so he could get some clothes on clearance when the time came. We figured that would be enough to get a pair or 2 of shorts and a few shirts. And that would be true....except we hit the mother of all sales at Penney's!!! So we bought something like 6 or 8 pairs of shorts for - are you ready for this? - $3.00 each!!! Then we bought shirt upon shirt upon shirt for him, most of which were $3.00 each also! I think the biggest splurge of the evening was $11.00!! At one point I'm pulling shirts left and right off the rack and Ken starts freaking out saying this is going to be too much money!! I then point out, even if I bought one of every shirt on this rack - that still adds up to only $48! Needless to say - Jesus totally blessed this trip to Penneys, and my hubby got that new wardrobe he so desperatly needed! I was so happy for him! He did abundantly better than I did! I should have stopped at Penney's first! Oh well! I was really only in want of color - not need of clothing that one could no longer see through.

 

[cjackearl]

I LOVE hearing about how Jesus honors our reliance on him with blessings like that! I have a friend who needed to be on a very tight budget for awhile, and she kept a journal of all the ways God took care of both the financial needs and even some of the wants of her family when she relied on Him. I often ask her to share her stories with me. Congrats!

 

[Laura.bora]

Sorry it's been a while! But here we are on the final stretch - less than 2 weeks away! 11 days till we tell the kids. 12 days until we are in WDW - hopefully hurricane free!! So what have I been up to? Well, I spent the last week and a half with my family down on LI and had a GREAT time!! The kids spent a lot of time in the pool with their Aunts.

WE celebrated my sisters birthday

Saw my grandparents

And went to the Vanderbuilt Mansion and saw the Planetarium and Dinosaur exhibit

We had a GREAT week and a half...hubby on the otherhand was working at a camp, went horseback riding, lost his keys in a field, was stuck at work for 2 nights because they couldn't get the new key to start the car (we lost both sets of the master) and the other car was in the shop and finally was towed to the dealership where they fixed it. Needless to say, he didn't have as great a time as we did.

So, now that the little family get together is over, I have about 2 weeks before the big day arrives and I've got a VERY long to do list!!

1.) Buy Memory Cards
2.) Buy Film
3.) Buy and Make Disney Luggage tags (if I have time)
4.) finish organizing the outfits
5.) Make autograph clipboards
6.) Make Autograph pages
7.) Make t shirts (3 SURPRISE shirts, 5 matching AK shirts, 3 1st trip shirts and 3 of their favorite DISign)
8.) Assemble the "Guess where we are going tomorrow?" present
9.) Buy Photopass Done
10.) Print notes and invitations DONE
11.) Assemble telling present (Surprise TShirt, clipboard w/sharpee, Letter, Journal)
12.) Make Journal Done
13.) Make Money Envelopes Done
14.) Order a call from Mickey Done - Cinderella for Ainsley, Mickey for Nathaniel
15.) Buy boxes of cereal, PBand J, Bread, Water
16.) Make touring cards and laminate
17.) shop for toiletries
18.) clean house before leaving
19.) buy shoes for everyone (husbands shoes caught fire at camp, I need sneakers, Ainsley lost her sandles and Nathaniel needs to stop growing)
20.) Stop the Mail
21.) PACK!
22.) Print off Steve Soars times
23.) Print off Brad's list of magic pictures Done
24.) Print off Robo's maps Done
25.) Have someone feed Twinkle
26.) Find birth certificates for children
27.) Find bathing suit for Ephraim
28.) Buy Suntan spray
29.) Clean Twinkles tank before leaving
30.) Buy canvas beach bag and make into DISbag
31.) Keep trying for woods view and ADRS
32.) Ship water and food to resort
33.) Make a countdown calendar till kids birthday Done
34.) buy ponchos
35.) Put Sean and Dana's number in the binder - need to find number first!
36.) Reconfirm ADR's
37.) Make Tyedye TShirts
38.) Make squirt bottle t shirts
39.) buy blister stuff (moleskin?)
40.) find MMtubes and fill with pennies and quarters
41.) recheck flight info
42.) Make Epcot Pass ports
43.) buy sunglasses
44.) Buy swimmies - dog ate Ainsleys
45.) Buy disposable cameras for kids

sighhhhhh So much to do!!
20)

 

[Laura.bora]

I thought I should clarify - husbands shoes did not catch fire while ON his feet. He put them next to the fire to dry out after trudging through the fields looking for his keys!

 

[Laura.bora]

So here are some of our matching outfits!

More to come as soon as I decide what goes with what!

 

[cjackearl]

Phew...you came back...I was starting to get a complex. I'd post and you'd disappear! Wow, good planning. I love the matching outfits. On your checklist you mention printing off "Brad's list of magical pictures." What is that? Please share so I can have some magical pictures too! Your baby has gotten so big! He's super darling.

 

[tybrilinja]

Oh my goodness! I just read your entire ptr and it was fantastic! I think you plans sound great and you will have such a fun time. (I"m so jealous...lol)

And.....I love your matching outfits, pictures are going to look so cute with your color schemes....too cool.

I can't wait for more postings......woohoo.