There's a pirate ship in the horizon, PTR for our return to take over Disney and CBR

[Haley/Hayden Mom]

Well, I decided with just 75 days left till our 2nd ever trip to Disney that it was time to start up the PTR. We are so excited to be getting to stay at CBR this time that both DD's are determined to become Pirate Princesses by the end of the trip. First let me introduce the cast of scallywags, then we will start the report.
There is myself, my name is Amy and I am a stay at home mom/full time college student/substitute teacher for our school system.
Then there is DH Jeff, He is an accountant for a large rehab hospital company here in Alabama.
Next is Haley, she is 10 and is a competition bluegrass fiddler that plays at various events all over the Southeast. Her latest adventure was getting to play the National Anthem at a University of Alabama baseball game.
Then finally there is Hayden Claire age 5 She is our PeanutPrincess as we call her. All Diva, All the Time. Don't let the blonde hair and pretty green eyes fool you, she is meaner than she looks. Just ask her big sister.

Now on to our trip report. Like I said this will be our 2nd trip to Disney and we are giddy with anticipation about the return. On our 1st trip we stayed at ASMusic and the girls loved it. The themeing was great and it wasn't crowded at all. DH dreaded that trip I must say b/c of all the planning I did he said he was sick of Disney and we weren't even there yet. But I must say once we arrived the pixie dust went flying and he had a great time. Sooo fast forward to December, I received an email from Disney Destinations to get 30% per night at a moderate resort and I mentioned it to him and he was sold. So then I started planning for this summer. I wanted the opportunity to at least stay once in a moderate and maybe one day go deluxe before it is over with.

Hotel:
After researching all the different options for the moderate range I settled on Caribbean Beach. I know the girls will love the pool and I know DH and I will like the relaxing atmosphere it projects. We are not really beach people but our girls love the beach so what better place to have fun and a beach than at Disney huh.


Flight:
As of right now we do not have a flight plan b/c flights are thru the roof and DH refuses to pay $300 a piece round trip so we are just sitting and waiting for the magical ding to appear from Southwest to get a good flight. If not it looks like "Mater" (my husbands 07 4 door Tundra) will be our mode of transportation for the 11 hour drive there. At least it has a bed cover so there will be no wet luggage. I hate wet luggage.


Dining:
We will be on the QSDP again and loved it last time since we are not ones that like to be tied down to ressies the entire trip. I did make a ressie for Sci Fi one day to have a belated birthday celebration for both DD's and they are stoked about that. We are too, where else can you get a meal and cheesy b-movie previews at the same time anymore. We are very big into variety of food and the QSDP is able to get myself and DD (5) our grilled chicken salads and DH and DD (10) their bbq so we are all excited. We really liked being able to get 2 snacks a day so we plan on snacking our way thru epoct on a day too.

Guess that is all for now, time to study for finals, YUCK!!! If I can ever figure how to post pics from my snap fish I will asap.

 

[Haley/Hayden Mom]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have been working full time at one of our schools and getting ready for my finals which are next week. Never busy in this house I tell you.
We are that much closer to the 45 day mark and it's time to open the jar of pixie dust. I have already started planning the special treats for the girls surprise bags for the trips and bought the first things yeserday. I went to the school book fair and found the cutest book for each. Since we are at different schools in the system it was easy to find a book they hadn't seen yet. Hayden Claire is getting "My Friend is Sad" a book about a silly elephant and Haley is getting "The Dork Diaries" the girls answer to "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". She has read all the wimpy kid books and loves them so I thought why not.
Airfare thru Southwest is still thru the roof too. $193 a piece to Orlando and $131 a piece back so it really looks like we are driving. So now I'm trying to think of everything we need to pack in the truck for the trip. I know per mapquest the drive is only 9 hours but with a 10 and 5 year old it will probably turn into the 11 hour drive with all the rest stops needed. That and we are leaving out on Friday at lunch to drive most of the way there so it won't be so far of a drive on saturday. Anyone that has ideas of what to pack for car travel I would love to hear your ideas. We have never traveled more that just a few hours and have always packed light but I feel that there is going to be more to pack with this one. The good thing about driving though is that we can get our groceries down there and not have to worry about when it is going to be delivered.
Guess that is all for now, time to get the girlies up for school.

 

[Haley/Hayden Mom]

Well we finally found cheaper flights to Orlando and back to Birmingham. To me it is still expensive paying $1100 for 4 people to fly round trip when we could drive and gas only cost us around $300 but DH made me book it b/c he really didn't want to drive. The only problem with the cheaper flight was that it caused me to have to change our travel dates by 1 day at both ends. We are now going down on June 4th and returning home on June 11th. I really don't think it is going to make a difference except the girls want to do DHS on the weekend and I am having to make them wait till Monday b/c that is when our ressie at Sci Fi is plus it's Star Wars weekend and will prob be uber crowded. This is all for now. After my finals today I will be posting the entire itnerary to get opinions on what everyone thinks and so you all can give me any suggestions to any changes that might need to be made to our touring plans. Have a magical day