There’s No Turning Back Now! 7/23 - Link to my new PTR!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Your ADR's all look great and Yay for a meal in the castle on your last day! Sounds perfect!!!!

I believe ADRs are easier to get b/c of the new policy that is penalizing people for not showing to ADRs and charging them. It was must easier for me to make mine as well for Jan. after they had started the policy in October last year. It really makes you wonder how many people just made tons of random ADRs so that they could just pick which one they wanted on that day. Kinda selfish, so I get why they started the new policy.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Erin!!! I am just so excited for you that your trip is so close!!! It's hard to be excited when the trip is so far out, but now....look where you are!! I know I've been quiet on the boards lately, but I have been here and following along! What do you think you are most excited for? What do you do when you walk into the room for the first time? Again, I'm so excited for you!

I know, Ann! I’m so excited! My kids and my sisters are getting more excited by the day too! I think I’m most looking forward to just finally being there, you know? I mean, I have had to cancel SO MANY trips and it will almost be a relief to actually be in Disney World! As far as the first thing that I will do when I get in our room…well, I think you know the answer to that question: take pictures! It is so funny, because my kids are so used to me taking pictures of hotel rooms that they know not to mess anything up until I have snapped pictures of everything! When we went to Boston (oh gosh, I still need to do a mini-TR for that trip!) they put our bags in the closet and then pointed out everything that they wanted to capture on film! I’ve got them trained! After I take pics, we’ll unpack, shower and get ready to head out for dinner! I truly cannot wait!

Your ADR's all look great and Yay for a meal in the castle on your last day! Sounds perfect!!!!

I believe ADRs are easier to get b/c of the new policy that is penalizing people for not showing to ADRs and charging them. It was must easier for me to make mine as well for Jan. after they had started the policy in October last year. It really makes you wonder how many people just made tons of random ADRs so that they could just pick which one they wanted on that day. Kinda selfish, so I get why they started the new policy.

I’m so excited for CRT!!! Marissa and I have actually been conspiring to keep it a secret from True because she really wanted to eat in the castle. We were thinking of building it up all week, talking about how we REAYY wish we could eat there, and then surprising her on that last night. We were also talking about getting True a princess type of outfit and putting her hair up in a tiara to really get into the CRT spirit! I wish I could take her to BBB but she is so tall now that she wears a woman's size medium in tops and almost is in woman’s bottoms, so I know she will not fit into any of those outfits at BBB. Plus, BBB has gotten SO EXPENSIVE! It costs an arm and a leg just to do make-up and nails there! Um, no thank you. We’ll make True up in the room in the morning! As far as the ADRs, I think you are right. It must be the penalties now for not showing for them, so people must not be making ADRs all willy nilly Well, that works for me!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Happy Birthday to my little princess, True!




My baby turned 9 today! I had to jump on the boards really quick to change her age because I am OCD like that! Next year, she will be a “Disney Adult” but for now, she is my little girl! Aww, who are we kidding, she will always be my little girl!

 

[micandminforever]

I have a new nephew that will share a birthday with True today. He was born 9:00 this morning 9.6 lbs. 22in., and a cutie.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I have a new nephew that will share a birthday with True today. He was born 9:00 this morning 9.6 lbs. 22in., and a cutie.

Congrats! April 3rd is a good day to be born!

 

[-Hope-]

Your kids birthday's are super close together- must be a fun week at your house!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

We did have a great week! With Coy's birthday being yesterday, not to mention Easter, we had quite a full day! I didn't even get to update Coy's age to 13! Well, at least he was still only 12 somewhere Here's a picture of him from yesterday:



He said he had a great birthday

By the way, today marked 75 days until our trip! Hopefully I'll have an update posted tomorrow!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Time for some Girl Talk! Let’s talk hair! I realized that my hair is much longer than it was on our last two trips. This is another picture of me from True’s 2008 Collection of Silly Pictures of Mommy:



As you can see, my hair was really short, especially in the back. My hair was similar to that in 2009, but a little longer in the front – from the My Favorite PhotoPass Pictures Collection:



I kept it curly the whole trip and I stayed fairly cool. Now my hair looks like this (This is a picture from the 2012 Erin Trying to Look Cute at Work Collection ):



My hair is much much longer now than it was during our previous trips. It is straight in this picture, but I doubt that I would wear it straight in Disney World, simply because of all of the water attractions, the humidity and the summer rain showers! Too high maintenance! I want to look cute, though especially in pictures! I also want to stay cool and having all of that hair on my neck will drive me crazy! So I was thinking that I was stuck with wearing my hair in a curly ponytail piled up on top of my head. It is cute enough in person but doesn’t photograph well - From the Pictures I Don’t Show Often Because My Hair Looks Weird Collection of 2011



Yuck! Coy looks so cute, though! This reminds me, I need to put “Get Coy a Haircut” on my To Do Before the Trip List. If only my curly ponytails turned out like True’s – From the 2011 Father/Daughter Dance Collection:



True’s hair is so pretty and thick. I will probably keep her hair in a ponytail or two for the trip. I wish I could do this to my hair for the trip:



So pretty, right? I found this on Pinterest (originally pinned from here) and I can’t wait to try hair chalking but again, that look wouldn’t work in Disney because the water would make the chalk bleed all over my clothes!

Also, I don’t want my hair to be down because I will be too hot. I saw this look on Pinterest (originally pinned from here)



I liked the look of this Dutch braid when I tried it on my hair! I also tried a variation of Katniss’ hair from The Hunger Games (I am fully aware that I am a big ol’ geek! ) Actually, the French braids were where the similarities ended.



I parted my hair straight down the middle, French braided each side and pulled the ends up into low buns. I liked this look and it kept my hair tidy and out of my way all day. So, what hair styles do you guys have in the parks? Feel free to post pictures! I’m looking for some alternatives to ponytails and baseball hats – which can be a cute look and I will probably rock that style once or twice on the trip I’d like to have some options such as cute little updos that will keep my hair in place, keep it off of my neck and shoulders and will look good in pictures. Not too much to ask, right?

 

[-Hope-]

That last one is super cute! I am usually lazy and do a messy bun. I'm waiting for my hair to be long enough for the sock bun (also from Pinterest) but it's not quite there yet.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I looked up "sock bun" on Pinterest - super cute! What a great idea! Thanks, Hope! I could do that and wear a snazzy headband to tame my fly-aways

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

OK, what is up with the DIS? I just had to edit my previous post because it wasn't MY post! It was something about Taco Bell??? What the heck?

EDIT again - Seriously, what the heck?!? Even this post ended up being something about painting! I'm staying off of the DIS until they uncross their wires! I didn't write either of those posts! I can't remember the last time I was at Taco Bell!!! LOL

 

[Victoriasmom98]

So, Erin's on a rant about hair.....she's so cute! Well, I really don't have much to contribute here. My hair is shoulder length with bangs. A regular ole pony tail is my friend. I do have to get a cut soon just to keep it in good condition. My hair has changed since I've had that lap band surgery. I swear my hair is much thinner and straighter than it ever had been. Ugh! My hair used to be thick and curly like Victoria's but no longer. Actually, Victoria's hair is so thick and curly that in Disney I just let it go wild. She usually wears a head band. Well, Erin, that's my contribution.....not much help, am I???

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. That’s why I am ranting I usually love it, but I hate when it makes me hot in the summers and I usually chop it all off on a whim. I’m a little worried I might get the chopping urge this summer, but I want to grow it out a bit more first because I donate it to Locks of Love. I usually just let it go wild when I wear it curly too, but that won’t work for me in the Florida heat. It’s funny how hair changes over the years. My hair used to be much curlier too but now the curls are very loose. My cousin said hair changes every seven years. I’m not sure how true that is, but it definitely changes. You did help because now I am thinking of getting bangs!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Wow, I had not been in your report for a while so it is going to take me a while to get caught up. Just wanted to mention we have overlapping dates. My two and I arrive on the 21st and leave on the 30th of June. It is getting so close. I’m enjoying the planning.

We have lots of character meals reserved too. We’ll be doing 7. I tell myself my crew is so diverse we need that many: two princess meals (Akershus and CRT) for my daughter, the Disney Junior (Hollywood and Vine) and two Mickey Meals (Garden Grill and Chef Mickey’s) for my Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse obsessed toddler and Crystal Palace and Tusker House breakfasts (love the food and atmosphere at these) for me. Our 8th ADR is at Ohana on our rest (non-park) day.

I hope I did a decent job of mixing breakfasts and dinners. Of 8 ADRs, we have four of each. We don’t do TS for lunch as my son is still on naps and it’d be a waste for him. I have pre-opening breakfasts at 3 of the 4 parks. My CP and Akershus breakfasts are both at 8:30. Hollywood and Vine is at 8:15. I cannot wait to get the pre-opening park pictures. I have not done it, but heard it is wonderful. My Tusker House breakfast is at 8:30 as well, but it ended up being an EMH morning. I’m making the kids character meal autograph books. I got the pages printed out over the weekend, I just have to cut them and get them spiral bound.

Hope you get the family into the matching shirts (unless that is in an update I will read later). I love them. My daughter thankfully enjoys the results of my t-shirt making addiction and my son is too young to care. After I made them for our first trip, I was hooked. I even found someone to make us some for a Sea World trip we took in October. We got lots of compliments on them. Just put in my jiffy t-shirt order over the weekend. That will be my main project for May. For March/April, it’s been getting the children's summer clothes, picking up little stuff for the trip and printing. I’m also making a memory book for each child where dd can write down memories and I can write down stuff about ds. I’m probably having too much fun with it. I earned a shopper's certificate on ebay.

On another note: I had forgotten yours were April babies. My (not so little) little girl will be 9 on the 28th.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hmmm, I'm at a loss for the hair. I put it up when it has been hot at Disney or I just didn't want to mess with it, but then I got Photopass pics that I didn't like b/c my hair was up. I think I'll just wear it down this time with a mickey headband or something b/c pictures are more important than comfort I guess!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm a Hunger Games nerd too. Nothing wrong with that!

I have to straighten my hair each day or I look like a frizzy, curly headed lunatic! I usually just rock the boring ponytail while in WDW.

I like the Katniss look on you Erin!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

OK, what in the world happened here? I somehow got unsubscribed from my own PTR?!?!?!?!?!?!? I think the DIS was having issues ever since that time people’s posts were getting crossed. From what I understood, they had to restore a backup or something – at least that was what I read. Hopefully, all of that is sorted out I subscribed back to my thread after I saw that I missed all of these replies!

Wow, I had not been in your report for a while so it is going to take me a while to get caught up. Just wanted to mention we have overlapping dates. My two and I arrive on the 21st and leave on the 30th of June. It is getting so close. I’m enjoying the planning.

Oh, that is so exciting! I hope we run into each other there!

We have lots of character meals reserved too. We’ll be doing 7. I tell myself my crew is so diverse we need that many: two princess meals (Akershus and CRT) for my daughter, the Disney Junior (Hollywood and Vine) and two Mickey Meals (Garden Grill and Chef Mickey’s) for my Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse obsessed toddler and Crystal Palace and Tusker House breakfasts (love the food and atmosphere at these) for me. Our 8th ADR is at Ohana on our rest (non-park) day.

Our ADRs are very similar! I subbed to your PTR and you have some great choices to go along with your park days.

I hope I did a decent job of mixing breakfasts and dinners. Of 8 ADRs, we have four of each. We don’t do TS for lunch as my son is still on naps and it’d be a waste for him. I have pre-opening breakfasts at 3 of the 4 parks. My CP and Akershus breakfasts are both at 8:30. Hollywood and Vine is at 8:15. I cannot wait to get the pre-opening park pictures. I have not done it, but heard it is wonderful. My Tusker House breakfast is at 8:30 as well, but it ended up being an EMH morning. I’m making the kids character meal autograph books. I got the pages printed out over the weekend, I just have to cut them and get them spiral bound.

The pictures before the park opens are priceless! I’m sure you’ll get some good ones!

Hope you get the family into the matching shirts (unless that is in an update I will read later). I love them. My daughter thankfully enjoys the results of my t-shirt making addiction and my son is too young to care. After I made them for our first trip, I was hooked. I even found someone to make us some for a Sea World trip we took in October. We got lots of compliments on them. Just put in my jiffy t-shirt order over the weekend. That will be my main project for May. For March/April, it’s been getting the children's summer clothes, picking up little stuff for the trip and printing. I’m also making a memory book for each child where dd can write down memories and I can write down stuff about ds. I’m probably having too much fun with it. I earned a shopper's certificate on ebay.

You are quite a shopper! I’ll look into jiffy because I was just going to order our shirts from Hanes. I’m still working on Marissa, but at least Ash is into wearing matching shirts. Coy is starting to back off of the whole idea of wearing matching shirts too, but I am in control of what gets packed, so oh well! I still have to work on the actual DISigns. Hopefully, I’ll get some work done on those soon because we are almost 60 days out! I want to do some autograph books too but I’m afraid that might be a bit ambitious since I haven’t even gotten started on the shirts!

On another note: I had forgotten yours were April babies. My (not so little) little girl will be 9 on the 28th.

April is a beautiful month for a birthday!

Hmmm, I'm at a loss for the hair. I put it up when it has been hot at Disney or I just didn't want to mess with it, but then I got Photopass pics that I didn't like b/c my hair was up. I think I'll just wear it down this time with a mickey headband or something b/c pictures are more important than comfort I guess!

Yes, pictures definitely trump comfort! I think headbands might be my friend this trip too.

I'm a Hunger Games nerd too. Nothing wrong with that!

I have to straighten my hair each day or I look like a frizzy, curly headed lunatic! I usually just rock the boring ponytail while in WDW.

I like the Katniss look on you Erin!

Hunger Games! I like my hair like that too! Thanks!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

More girl talk! Let's talk make-up! I don't wear a lot of make-up in the parks because that is also too high maintenance for me, but the pictures are important and Mama needs to look good! Since I no longer have the natural rosey glow my kids still have, I need the help of some long wearing lipstick, eyeliner and mascara. I use a lip color by Covergirl that is basically a lip stain in one container and a lip gloss in another. It works pretty well until I eat something with oil in it. Otherwise it lasts through most of the day, even while eating and drinking. I'm looking for a good waterproof mascara. I haven't found a great one so far but if you guys have any recommendations, please let me know! What I'm really looking for is a good waterproof eyeliner. If I'm wearing mascara in a picture but no eyeliner, I look like I just woke up! I hate having to reapply eyeliner all day! My sister Marissa showed me one that she uses but for some reason, I felt like it was from Mac or some place expensive like that. Mac is expensive, right? I've mostly brought my cosmetics from the grocery store! Anyway, I should ask her about her eyeliner because it always looks good and it stays put! It's the kind in a little pot and it needs a tiny brush to apply it. Now that I think about it, Marissa may have said it was a regular brand. Hmm... Anyway, do you guys have any suggestions about eyeliner? Of course, there's always the easiest make-up to apply: sunglasses!

Speaking of make-up, my sisters and I were talking about how to make True feel like a princess when she's in the parks. We decided to work together to do her hair each day - True can be a handful when she's not in the mood to have her hair done - and we'll put petty ribbons and bows in it. We may even bust out the glitter! I kept thinking about BBB but since True is roughly five feet tall now (she's an Amazon compared to the rest of her class ) and wearing size 7 in women's shoes, I felt I had missed my chance to give her a couple of hours of pampering. The thought kept gnawing at me but we're getting so close to the trip that I figured it was a lost cause. Then I read the PTR that luvmy2babies is writing and, I gotta tell ya, there must be something special about the week she and I are going down there because she was able to get a spot at BBB recently! I figured I'd give it a shot since I've been able to get all of my ADRs, so I called and got True set up for the Coach package on June 30th! Thanks, luvmy2babies for the inspiration to do this! The only slot at MK was at 11am and our CRT dinner is at 4pm. I was hoping for a 2pm slot, but I'm not complaining! We'll have breakfast at Chef Mickey's, have an hour or so to go to some attractions, then True and I can leave for BBB. I think this will be an awesome way to spend our last park day! I know Coy will have zero interest in watching and waiting, so he can hang out with his aunts while True gets her hair, make-up and nails done!

I am trying to think of what True can wear that day. She's too tall to wear any of the princess dresses and I don't really want to get one made especially for this since I am pretty sure she'll grow out of it before Halloween. This is where I think one of those tutus may come in handy! Maybe I can also make a sparkly princess t-shirt or tank top for her! A combination of pretty and practical

Since the insanity never stops with me, I decided to also take the kids to Pirate's League on our first park day! Coy and True both wanted to go when I showed them the website a few weeks ago, so I called today and got a reservation for them at 3pm. That should give us plenty of park time before and after. My sisters can have some time to ride a few attractions since they probably won't want to wait. Then, later that day, we have that dinner at Garden Grill. I think there will be some precious reactions to my fierce pirates at the table!

I hope that I'm not going overboard here with the scheduling but it can go one of two ways. One way is that these interruptions in our day will help keep me realistic about what we can an cannot do. As you guys have seen, I've been worried about the crowds and not being able to get the full experience that we're used to having. I think that having ADRs and activities scheduled will force us to break up the day so we (read: I) don't keep going and going and going and going without feeling like anything is getting done. You know? I'm not the only one who is neurotic like this, right? Now, the other way that this over-planning and possible over-scheduling could go down is that everything could go crashing down in flames and I'll have an epic meltdown that will put my kids' terrible-two-tantrums to shame!

OK, enough with the crazy lady stuff! I'm happy with my plans. If things don't work out... eh. Oh well. That reminds me that I still owe you guys a Mini TR about Boston! That trip definitely didn't all go according to plan, but we had a fantastic time! I'll have to post about that soon. First, I've got one more Girl Talk post to do! For that one, I promise to stay on topic and not go off in the middle of it to make more changes! At least, I'll try

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Good morning Sunshine!! I just love reading your updates. Your trip is getting so close now! As for makeup, since I was an Avon rep, I still use Avon products. I wear the glimmersticks waterproof eyeliner which seems to stay on really well. It's a pencil and not a liquid eyeliner. I can't seem to make a straight line with the liquid stuff. Sorry I can't help you with knowing what makeup your sister would be talking about. I do know that MAC is expensive as that's the brand you hear the Hollywood set wears.

Oh, you are so lucky that both of the kids are still young enough to enjoy the special events at Disney. I just wish Victoria would be young enough to enjoy BBB, but alas, at 14 she isn't. Also, she's more of a tomboy so to have her in a dress with hair and makeup done? Yeah, not happening. I would like to do the Pirates League, too, but again, I wouldn't be able to convince Victoria to do that. Oh well, I guess it's just regular touring for us!

I don't think I'm going to be making tshirt this year. I made some last year and the Hanes ones just don't fit right on me. I could always go with the Just My Size brand to give me the fit I want, but then that gets expensive. I have bought some regular shirts for the trip, so we'll see. Peter and Victoria's shirts still fit from last year, so they will probably wear those. We'll see.

So there's another episode of Girl Talk? Gee, we've talked about hair and makeup now. What other Girl Talks could there be? Hmmmm... I'll guess I'll just have to wait and see, right??!!! Will be waiting....patiently...ok, maybe not.....

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Can't help with the makeup, I don't usually wear any at the parks b/c it just comes off! Hmmmm, but now that I'm going alone with Rey, I feel like I might want to. I've never looked into waterproof eyeliner, I use the pencil kind and have never had a problem with it coming off.

I love that you have all these special things planned! I cannot wait to hear how they all went, I cannot believe you are just two months out! It seems like you just had to cancel your other trip. I'm so happy for you guys!!!