"Toddler and Tiara" My Princesses First Disney Trip!! January 2012

[walt's girl]

I like to jump in with both feet. I am completely spontaneous. I throw caution to the wind. I live on the edge and just see where life takes me.

Relationships based on lies never works out, so friend, I must confess... I am NONE of the above!! In fact I am a obsessive planner that likes to google the ending to movies before I watch them because I hate surprises. I am a creature of habbit and find comfort in being prepaired in life... even if my preparation is months, years, decades in advance. Yes, that is the truth.

Now that that is cleared up, lets embark on a beautiful relationship!! I hope you enjoy this planning as much as I do and I look forward to all of your tips, suggestions and general encouragement!!

So now as they say... "Let the Show Begin!!"

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Nitty Gritty
Welcome Home
Crafty Craftyness
Preliminary Itenerary
Ra Ra Ra Remix
Change Resort!?!?!?
Iron Chef: Disney Edition
The Craziness the was August 3rd 2011
ADR's

 

[walt's girl]

In the spirit of truthfulness, I must admit that I have been dreaming of this vacation for a very long time.

I grew up going to Disney World about every 18 months and as I got older I began to anticipate sharing my favorite place on earth with my own children and family. So here is the cast of characters along for the magical ride: My absolutley perfect, amazing and all together wonderful baby girl, "Lo". She will be just shy of 21 months when we arrive in January. My unbelievably sweet husband, "V", who I am secretly trying to convert into a Disney lover like myself. And then there is the planner of the trip and the person that is literally counting down the days already (209) myself, "C".

This will be Lo's first trip to see "THE Mouse". She is such a little ham, loves meeting new people and seeing new places. I'm so excited to see how she reacts to the characters, shows, rides... over all Disney magic. I think she is going to be in love with it all, just like her mommy!!

V has been three times. The first time was when he was about 8 and it was a joint trip to see the World Cup. Being a soccer obsessed little boy, Disney did not prove to be very exciting at all. He has also been twice with me and my family. Once before we were married and once after, both times were a little stressful. My family did the "Dumbo or Die", "Four Parks, Four Days" routine. Do NOT stop, Do NOT pass go, Do NOT soak in the magic. It didn't make the best impression on my laid back, relaxed husband.

I've been too many times to really count, but I think its been about 15 times. I also spent some of my youth living in France and visited Disneyland Paris several times while there... my choir group actually sang at the Grand Opening of the park Yep, Cher, Gloria Estefan and little old me.

The three of us will be driving from Central Texas to Central Florida. With a toddler. Lord help us!! We do plan on breaking up the trip by Driving to New Orleans (9 hour drive) staying with family and then onto Orlando (10 hour drive). It will be a challenge, but I am optimistic that we will all arrive with smiles on our faces... hopefully. Weren't we supposed to be able to teleport by now!?!?!

 

[skier_pete]

OK...you reeled me in with that adorable picture of your daughter! I'm also curious to see how you plan on convincing DH how great it is after two "family commando" trips!

Let's hear those plans!

 

[PixieMama]

Your title drew me in! You 3 make a lovely family... your DD is adorable!

Looking forward to reading more about your plans

 

[ZFamily5]

Subbing! Your DD is super cute! Can't wait to read more soon!

 

[walt's girl]

OK...you reeled me in with that adorable picture of your daughter! I'm also curious to see how you plan on convincing DH how great it is after two "family commando" trips!

Let's hear those plans!

Yes!! I knew the pic of Lo would get me some followers and I do have plans to win DH over... although the long drive might not be the best way to start things out!!

 

[walt's girl]

Your title drew me in! You 3 make a lovely family... your DD is adorable!

Looking forward to reading more about your plans

I hope the title is not misleading... Lo does not compete in pagents. Although I do think she would kick some baby butt I am very blessed with a wonderful little family, thanks so much!!

Subbing! Your DD is super cute! Can't wait to read more soon!

Thank you, I wish I could share her little personality with y'all too. She is a total hoot!!

 

[walt's girl]

It took me a crazy amount of time to choose our resort. There are just so many great options!! I was able to narrow it down by keeping these things in mind... I wanted to stay some place I've never stayed at before, the last few times we stayed at Coronado Springs. It needed to have a jacuzzi because V loves to take a dip after a long day of walking. And it needed to be low stimulation so that Lo would be able to wind down when we were not in the parks. Any guesses!?!?!

I ended up choosing Port Orleans Riverside . Although it was a toss up between Riverside and French Quater. In the end I choose Riverside because of its over all look and I like a bigger resort. The only thing I do second guess is the fact that French Quarter is totally refurbished and I'll just have to hope that my room request is honored at Riverside so that we end up with a refurbished room. Send all your good vibes friends

Since Lo is going to be so young we do plan on taking a trip back to the resort most days for down time. Riverside looks like a wonderful place to spend some relaxing down time!! Now the only thing I need to decide, resort wise, is whether we want to stay in Alligator Bayou or the Mansions. Both will have refurbished rooms by the time we arrive. I also wonder, if we do choose Alligator Bayou, if we can request a room with a trundle bed even though we only have three people. I like the idea of Lo being able to sleep on the trundle rather than a Pack-n-Play. The trundle would be nice and close to the ground. Hmmm. Something to think about.

I also love that we can just hop on the ferry to go hang out at Downtown Disney!!

So from January 24th until February 2nd, 10 days and 9 nights, we will be calling Port Orleans Riverside home!!

 

[ZFamily5]

You'll LOVE Riverside! We stayed there from June 3rd to the 15th (just started my TR) and we loved it! It's so peaceful and the theming is wonderful!

 

[LovelyMouse22]

I'm here! LOVE that pic of your DD! She is too cute! It's lovely from bbc in case you couldn't guess.

 

[DisneyGuess]

I'm here, I'm here! On board from the BBC board!!

 

[Tea4Alice]

We also stayed at POR last July with my 18 month DGD and we loved it.Very peaceful resort.

 

[walt's girl]

We also stayed at POR last July with my 18 month DGD and we loved it.Very peaceful resort.

Oh good, I am so glad to hear that it is peaceful. I thought it would be a good idea to calm it down a bit for Lo in the evenings. I bet you had a wonderful time!!

I'm here, I'm here! On board from the BBC board!!

Wooo Hooo a familiar face, errrr, well I feel like I know you now Thanks so much for joining!! You always have wonderful input!!

I'm here! LOVE that pic of your DD! She is too cute! It's lovely from bbc in case you couldn't guess.

Wooo Hooo again!! Another familiar personality and Disney fan!! Thanks so so much for joining

You'll LOVE Riverside! We stayed there from June 3rd to the 15th (just started my TR) and we loved it! It's so peaceful and the theming is wonderful!

I took a quick peek at your PTR... WOW, you did an excellent job and for such a young lady!! Very very impressive. My sweet little sister is 14, she also loves Disney

 

[ZFamily5]

I took a quick peek at your PTR... WOW, you did an excellent job and for such a young lady!! Very very impressive. My sweet little sister is 14, she also loves Disney

Thank you so much!

 

[readytogotodisney]

I'm here! It's Carriesue from the BBC, I had to come back and subscribe!

 

[Paolicious]

Cant wait to see more. Your LO is oh so cute

 

[Villainess]

I'm in! Low is a cutie!

I really liked the mansions when we stayed there, and walking along the river was quite peaceful!

 

[skier_pete]

We've stayed at POFQ three times and love it...I've avoided POR for two reasons: (1) It's very spread out, and we spend enough time walking in the parks and (2) POFQ and POR share buses, and POFQ picks up and drops off before POR. Therefore, when you are staying a POFQ, you get on the bus first (meaning you actually get a seat) and you get off the bus first at the end of the day, which is also super-nice when tired.

That said, we've gone over to POR because you can use both pools when staying at one, and it is very beautiful and the pool is really nice as well. The play area is nicer at POR than the one at POFQ.

 

[Diegosmom]

Joining in...we will be there for part of the same time...Jan 20-29...probably staying value...

 

[walt's girl]

Joining in...we will be there for part of the same time...Jan 20-29...probably staying value...

Welcome!! I'm really looking forward to going during such a low crowd level time!! We've always gone during Thanksgiving or Spring Break so it has always been packed. Might have to arrange a meet up

We've stayed at POFQ three times and love it...I've avoided POR for two reasons: (1) It's very spread out, and we spend enough time walking in the parks and (2) POFQ and POR share buses, and POFQ picks up and drops off before POR. Therefore, when you are staying a POFQ, you get on the bus first (meaning you actually get a seat) and you get off the bus first at the end of the day, which is also super-nice when tired.

That said, we've gone over to POR because you can use both pools when staying at one, and it is very beautiful and the pool is really nice as well. The play area is nicer at POR than the one at POFQ.

It was such a tough call between the two for us!! I guess I just fell in love with the look of POR... I'll probally be cursing myself at the end of the day when we are dragging our tired butts a mile back to our room.

I'm in! Low is a cutie!

I really liked the mansions when we stayed there, and walking along the river was quite peaceful!

Welcome and thanks so much!! We really lucked out with that little baby girl !! The mansions look beautiful!!

Cant wait to see more. Your LO is oh so cute

Wooo Hooo!! Another familiar personality, great to see you over here

I'm here! It's Carriesue from the BBC, I had to come back and subscribe!

Yipppe!! I'm glad to see you, I joined your PRT as well. Can't wait to see how your planning comes along