Trying to Calm my WDW Insomnia.So..Here's my 1st PTR to let out the excitement!

[akclayton]

Hello All I posted a thread yesterday thinking I was going nuts. It seems that I frequent the DIS Boards many times a day and lay awake in bed at night wondering what I need to change or add or do for our upcoming June trip. My DH doesn't get hyped up about much so I don't have anyone, anywhere to let out my excitement. So, some suggested that I do a PTR to get feedback or to just let it all out. So.. Here I am.. Once again on the boards. Bringing to you or just to myself my June 2012 PTR.

The original plan since September 2011, DH and I were planning on taking our nephew, Matthew (9) and niece, Sydnie (7) for their first ever trip to WDW. We were both super excited about taking them. We went in July 2010 and I was pregnant, it was by DH first trip. I super stoked now that I'm not pregnant because I can ride the super cool rides this trip.

Here's our crazy crew..

Me and DH on our July 2010 trip.

nephew Matthew (9)

niece Sydnie (7)

And this is our original crew ladies and gents.

Original Crew?? Stay tuned for an explantion of why "original"..

 

[akclayton]

DH and I looked at the kids school calendar and our work schedules to try to figure out when to go. We also looked at the crowd level charts. I also googled to see when the gay weekends would be. So, we determined that we would go June 5 through June 12.

So, I started looking at airfare for similar times of travel to plan on how much airfare would be. Luckily, for the flights, before and while I was pregnant, I traveled monthly on Southwest and had 2 free flights waiting to be used. Well, these flights expired but I could purchase them back for $50 a piece. So, with the purchase and extra fees, it would only cost me $120 for 2 tickets. I'll take $120 over $650 any day for round trip. I also messed around on the Disney Vacation planner to get an estimate of the vacation cost. We knew that we wanted to stay at WL. That's where we stayed in 2010 and we LOVE LOVE LOVe it.

So.. we need to make sure my parents could watch our now 15 month old for a week while we took our niece and nephew to WDW. If not, we would need to see if his parents or a relative could. Our daughter was born with a congenital heart defect and at the time of this planning, she hadn't had her surgery yet so we were still a little skeptical of even leaving her for a long period of time. Especially with some of this family. After her surgery, we saw that she was fantastic and everything would be okay. So, this made the continuation of planning easier for me.

Well.. My parents are WDW freaks. They purchased DVC at WL 2 years ago. It took all of a month of them knowing that we were going to WDW and they weren't before they were asking if they could just go with us. We told them no at first. We didn't want our daughter to be in the way of the other 2's' experience. DH got to thinking about it and told me that if they wanted to go, they could go. But, they needed to watch her as originally planned and not make it to where she will interfere with our plans unless we say it's okay. I tell my parents. You can imagine their reaction.
My sister has a son who is 15. They live in Virginia so we don't see them but once a year and it's when my nephew comes to Texas for a month and a half during the summer. My parents told us that he gets out of school on June 17th and that they would like him to come along as well. So.. We agree. He's our nephew. But, now our dates need to change. So, DH and I put our heads back together again. Now, the dates are JUNE 19 -26!!

On top of our original crew.. Here's the rest of the crew.

My Dad and Mom:

My nephew (15) Blake:

And finally our little E (Elizabeth) :

And of course.. Our choice of lodging.. 2 studio rooms unless a 2 room villa comes available between now and then.. WL

 

[akclayton]

I forgot to mention... Throughout the planning dates and all.. I just realized about a month ago that our arrival day is also DH and mine anniversary.. Maybe I'll be able to talk him into wearing an anniversary pin. doubt it though.

 

[akclayton]

Looks like VWL is going to be our home for the week unless a Villa comes open at BWV between now and our travel date. Who can complain? This place is still wonderful..

Here's a pic we took from the boat to MK back in 2010.

My plan is to go opposite of the EMH except for the night time for MK. Please feel free to let me know if I should change anything from your experience or in your opinion. I'm all ears. Seeing that this is my first trip to plan and all, I can still call myself somewhat of a rookie even though I've numerous times to WDW.

Our departure day. We have the 2nd flight out of Houston Hobby via Southwest. I got excited about our flight tickets. I priced tickets the previous year to get an estimate on the airfare. Little did I know that I still had 2 free roundtrip tickets due to my frequent flying for business. One of those was transferable. They had expired but I could pay $50 a ticket plus $10 fee for each to restore the free flight. So, I'm stoked... I get 2 roundtrip tickets not even for the price of a 1 one way fare. I got DH and myself signed up along with DD, niece and nephew.

Our flight leaves Houston at 9:40am
Arrives MCO at 1:00 pm

Then it's all aboard the Magical Express for our arrival to VWL. Can't wait to see this sign.

I don't remember how long the Magical Express trip was. I'm guessing 2 hours? Anybody know? I know that ME stops at Poly and GF before going to WL then on to CR.
Once we check-in and start heading over to the Villas, I want to stop in at the Mercantile and get the kids a First Trip pin and myself an Anniversary pin since I know my DH won't wear one.

Then off to check out our rooms and explore the resort for a little bit. We have ADR's for Trails End Buffet at 6:30. Maybe they will let us in at 6 if they aren't too busy. EPCOT is open until midnight that night so if anyone is up to it, maybe we can get a bus and head over and get some things accomplished. Too bad TT is going to be closed. If we don't go to EPCOT, I've read on the DIS somewhere in all my stalking of the boards that there is a list of Hidden Mickey's that you can get. Can anyone confirm this? List or no list, if nobody wants to go to EPCOT it may be cool to explore the Lodge for Hidden Mickey's. Maybe we can catch the Water Parade and call it a night.

Sound good so far?

 

[akclayton]

Of Course since I've been obsessing over this trip I already have this figured out as well.
So where do you think we are going first?

I have ADR's for CP for myself, DH, Sydnie and Matthew. Blake is too cool for CP apparently. So, he'll sleep in I'm sure and catch up with us later on. I'm SUPER excited about this breakfast. I think it's just a beautiful restaurant. I've never eaten here before but hear so many wonderful things. Plus one of my favorites is going to be there.. DH is NOT looking forward to it. He keeps trying to talk me out of the Dining Plan so that we can only do strictly CS. I MUST Stand My Ground!!!

I'm hoping that since out ADR's are at 8:15 that we can get through with our breakfast to beat the countdown and get to Rapunzel early for Sydnie to get an autograph. If it's past time then we will head straight to SM and ride it and then as long as the kids approve, ride again or get a FP and then head over to Buzz and then catch the Laugh Floor. I love the laugh floor. On our trip in 2010, my DH apparently was going to buy everyone Churros after the show was over. Hilarious. He is shy and hates being on the spot. I still laugh about that.

Once that's over, we can head over to the speedway. I saw on a thread earlier today where Speedway was closed down for a while due to a car jumping the track. Didn't think that was possible until I heard of that news. I wonder what we will be doing???
If our FP is ready we can head back to SM. You never know on those things. I want to make sure we use them wisely with this new system.

I think by this time we will be ready from some good haunts. So.. After Mickey's Philarmagic, which I've never done we can head over to Haunted Mansion. I'm so anxious for the kiddos to get on this one.

Maybe grab a snack.

From here we will have to play it by ear. Depending on the line situation.. We will either stand in line for Splash or get a FP then head off to Adventureland and take on POC and JC.

My parents have an ADR for CRT at 4:25. They don't want to take Elizabeth with them to this since it's a Signature sitting.. I get it a little. They need their time also. So, we will get Elizabeth from them shortly before. I know Fantasyland will be probably be packed but we may enjoy a carousel ride with her and the other kiddos and maybe a Dumbo. IASW usually has smaller lines so we may hit it up as well. Once my parents finish their ADR, we will meet back up with them to give them Elizabeth. We will either continue previous plans I stated if we hadn't gotten to them yet or start on repeat missions to our favorite attractions.

We'll have dinner at either Cosmic Rays or Columbia Harbour House. I love Cosmic Rays Chicken plate. I want to try Columbia Harbour House though. We shall see.

There isn't EMH so we will watch the parade and Wishes and head back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

Where? Stay tuned..

I'm so excited! Can't wait!