redshoe
I've gotta have more cowbell!
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2007
- Messages
- 756
Well, 11 days and counting…time for a pre-trip!
The cast of characters:
Me. 34 years old, and an obsessed park veteran who was raised 45 minutes from Anaheim. I adore wine, Coach bags and coffee almost as much as I lurve me some Disney. Since I’m going to school and working full-time, I have absolutely no hobbies whatsoever, but in my other life I was a scrapbooker and a decent amateur photographer. I also used to knit. I do read constantly, but that’s not so much a hobby as a sanity-keeper. I have not been to WDW since 2003 and DL since before that, and if I don't get my fix soon, there will be PROBLEMS.
This is me:
Son. 8 years old on the 1st, every bit as obsessed, every bit as much a park veteran. Recently did a very detailed biography of Walt Disney for a school project. DVC member through his father, and gets to go “home” on a regular basis, but not so much that it isn’t special to him every single time. He’s a fabulous child, if I do say so myself. Never greedy, always willing to share, and extremely polite. Also, he’s brilliant. Clearly, I know how to make ‘em!
There will be a couple of pictures of Son later in the trip report.
Sis. 12 years old. My younger sister…yes, A LOT younger! A total sweetheart – she’ll be nothing but joy to have along. Not only will this be her first time at WDW, it will also be her first time on a plane. I’m thinking that I and the sister that was born between us must have absconded with all of the extrovert genes before she could get her hands on any, because she and the youngest are pretty shy.
Here’s Sis:
J. My boyfriend of about 4 ½ years. Utterly adorable and, for reasons known only to himself, seems to like me enough to want to keep me around. Owns a business, so he has no hobbies either. Probably has no idea how many Coach bags (and shoes, and scarves, and keyfobs, and hats, and wristlets, and sunglasses) I actually own. Hates coffee and almost never drinks wine. Has never been to WDW either, and I don’t believe he’s very eager to remedy that particular situation…this trip is definitely a case of humoring me! However, he does love DL. We can work with that, no? Also, I have one more sister after Sis who has never been to WDW, and J more or less promised her that she gets to go next time. He’s not one to ever break a promise to a child, so he clearly understands that there will BE a next time!
This is J:
In case you’re trying to follow along with all the zillions of sisters that I’m mentioning, here’s how it goes: there’s me, then another sister who went to WDW last year with an aunt of ours, then Sis who’s going with us, and then the youngest. Got it? Alrighty, then! Onward!!
We’ve all known for months that we were going, except for S. I wanted it to be a birthday surprise for him. He’s a big VMK player (as am I), so I made up a “quest” for him. It was basically a scavenger hunt, and he had to go around the house following different clues to find his present. He had a blast doing it, and said so several times while he was looking!
Finally, he found the prize…some spending money from his grandparents and great grandma, and a Walt Disney World for Kids guide, which he’s been wanting for months, even though he had no idea there was a trip planned. He knew that a very big present was in the works for him, because I had let him know that since his present was so expensive this year, I wouldn’t be able to throw him a big birthday party, and he was fine with that. But he ended up with the party, too, and was thrilled, so all’s well that ends well!
Here he is just after he read the inside flap of the book and realized what the dates I wrote meant:
He hugged us over and over, jumped up and down, and came really close to crying! But he almost immediately voiced concern for Grandma. He had pressed me about spring break plans and really wanted to plan to see Grandma, so I told him that we’d make sure and work something out (which was true…she has to drive my sister down to fly out with us). He had told her this weeks ago, and didn’t want her to be disappointed that they wouldn’t get to visit with each other. When I explained about Sis coming along and that he’d see Grandma both when she brought Sis and when she picked her up, he was even more psyched!
So now that he knows, Son will be getting a countdown card every day up until the day we leave. He got his first one just a few minutes after he found out we were going. They look like this:
Each one has a pin for his lanyard, which he’ll receive on the day we leave, and they’re all in different colors. They were simple to make…cardstock, letter stamps and gel pens, all of which I had on hand. I wrote a “fun fact” on the back of each one (where we’re staying, ADRs, that sort of thing). He’s having a blast with them, waking up early each morning to find the new countdown card, and very carefully lining each new pin up on the lanyard that he got when we bought our park tickets at the Disney Store on Sunday. I had no idea they gave lanyards out for free, or I wouldn’t have bought him one. Oh well!
I also made these for everyone. They’re tiny and flat enough to be carried in a pocket, but hopefully durable enough to last the whole week. They have our complete daily itineraries, travel info, confirmation numbers, EVERYTHING in them. That way, if one of us loses or forgets ours, someone else is bound to have theirs. I used the UG free trip planner to create the pages, and printed them in the smallest format available. Then I cut out the pages and bound them into booklets.
The iridescent one is for Sis, the brown is J’s, the purple is for me, and the blue is Son’s. They don’t look terribly Disney-like, but I think they turned out really nice. The “wax” seals are for decoration, but I also wanted a way to tell which side is the front. And again, these were made with materials that I had on hand (granted, I could probably open a scrapbook store just with my personal supplies, but we’ll overlook that, hmm?). It’s really just cardstock again, glue, scissors, printer paper and whatever you want to add for pretties.
In mine, I wrote on the backs of the pages a personal to-do list for each day, just to set the tone every morning and give me little reminders. It sounds arduous, but when your day’s to-do list consists of riding the boat to the Magic Kingdom, eating a Dole Whip and looking for Lady and the Tramp’s paw prints, you’re definitely on vacation!
OUR ITINERARY:
Friday, March 14: Sis arrives in the early afternoon. Take off work early, pick up Son from school early, take everyone out to lunch. See Mom off, then finish whatever preparations are needed to leave the next day. Probably wind down with a Disney movie in the evening.
Saturday, March 15: Wake up to our traditional special occasion breakfast! Nothing fancy, just Pillsbury orange sweet rolls, but we only ever have them a few times a year, on special days. I might throw in some cinnamon twists, too, just so I can remind myself while I eat them that they’re nothing compared to a warm, fresh churro!
Our flight leaves around 1:20, and sadly doesn’t get in until 9 at night, so we really won’t get to do anything the first day at all. On top of getting in so late, we’re also taking Magical Express. Hopefully we won’t see any of our luggage until after we get back from the parks the next day, since I will personally pummel anyone who tries to bring our luggage to us at 1 or 2 in the morning. For this reason, we’re all going to wear something on the plane that we won’t mind sleeping in, like maybe track pants. Also, we’re going to mail ahead whatever essentials we want for the next morning that we don’t want to put in our carryon luggage, and pick up the package at check-in. The one first-night activity I do have my heart set on is sitting out on our hotel room balcony overlooking the AKL savannah that first night while I drink a glass of wine, so I’ll probably do that after the kids are tucked in and the coffee pot is programmed for the next morning.
Sunday, March 16: Epcot for our first park, with dinner at Le Cellier!
Monday, March 17: St. Paddy’s day in the Magic Kingdom! Cinderella’s Royal Table for lunch, and dinner at Boma. We may make an early night of it and hang out at the pool, or we may go back and see Wishes. Don’t know!
Tuesday, March 18: MGM, with dinner at Hollywood and Vine on the Fantasmic! package.
Wednesday, March 19: Magic Kingdom again! Dinner at Whispering Canyon Café, and definitely not an early night.
Thursday, March 20: Animal Kingdom. This is date night for J and I, with reservations for just the two of us at California Grill!
Friday, March 21: Epcot again, for our final day. Rose and Crown for dinner. It’s Good Friday and the last Friday of Lent (all of us except Sis are Catholic), so I chose R&C specifically for the fish and chips. I almost went with Coral Reef, but J doesn’t eat seafood, so he always has a tough time on Lenten Fridays, and I think he’ll have an easier time finding something at R&C. No way am I fasting, though, what with the walking we’ll have been doing all week long and on Friday itself. The Pope will just have to get over it, I guess, because I refuse to be the girl who fainted on Maelstrom due to lack of food and wonked out blood sugar.
Never once have I claimed to be a GOOD Catholic.
Saturday, March 22: Wake up at an obscene hour of the morning to catch our flight home. I’m pretty chapped that we couldn’t get an earlier flight in and a later flight out, but we’re using frequent flyer miles, so whaddya gonna do? I’m trying to convince myself that it’s for the best because the day before Easter is going to be horrendously crowded, but you know what? It really isn’t working.
So there’s our pre-trip. I’m so excited to finally be posting it!
The cast of characters:
Me. 34 years old, and an obsessed park veteran who was raised 45 minutes from Anaheim. I adore wine, Coach bags and coffee almost as much as I lurve me some Disney. Since I’m going to school and working full-time, I have absolutely no hobbies whatsoever, but in my other life I was a scrapbooker and a decent amateur photographer. I also used to knit. I do read constantly, but that’s not so much a hobby as a sanity-keeper. I have not been to WDW since 2003 and DL since before that, and if I don't get my fix soon, there will be PROBLEMS.
This is me:
Son. 8 years old on the 1st, every bit as obsessed, every bit as much a park veteran. Recently did a very detailed biography of Walt Disney for a school project. DVC member through his father, and gets to go “home” on a regular basis, but not so much that it isn’t special to him every single time. He’s a fabulous child, if I do say so myself. Never greedy, always willing to share, and extremely polite. Also, he’s brilliant. Clearly, I know how to make ‘em!
There will be a couple of pictures of Son later in the trip report.
Sis. 12 years old. My younger sister…yes, A LOT younger! A total sweetheart – she’ll be nothing but joy to have along. Not only will this be her first time at WDW, it will also be her first time on a plane. I’m thinking that I and the sister that was born between us must have absconded with all of the extrovert genes before she could get her hands on any, because she and the youngest are pretty shy.
Here’s Sis:
J. My boyfriend of about 4 ½ years. Utterly adorable and, for reasons known only to himself, seems to like me enough to want to keep me around. Owns a business, so he has no hobbies either. Probably has no idea how many Coach bags (and shoes, and scarves, and keyfobs, and hats, and wristlets, and sunglasses) I actually own. Hates coffee and almost never drinks wine. Has never been to WDW either, and I don’t believe he’s very eager to remedy that particular situation…this trip is definitely a case of humoring me! However, he does love DL. We can work with that, no? Also, I have one more sister after Sis who has never been to WDW, and J more or less promised her that she gets to go next time. He’s not one to ever break a promise to a child, so he clearly understands that there will BE a next time!
This is J:
In case you’re trying to follow along with all the zillions of sisters that I’m mentioning, here’s how it goes: there’s me, then another sister who went to WDW last year with an aunt of ours, then Sis who’s going with us, and then the youngest. Got it? Alrighty, then! Onward!!
We’ve all known for months that we were going, except for S. I wanted it to be a birthday surprise for him. He’s a big VMK player (as am I), so I made up a “quest” for him. It was basically a scavenger hunt, and he had to go around the house following different clues to find his present. He had a blast doing it, and said so several times while he was looking!
Finally, he found the prize…some spending money from his grandparents and great grandma, and a Walt Disney World for Kids guide, which he’s been wanting for months, even though he had no idea there was a trip planned. He knew that a very big present was in the works for him, because I had let him know that since his present was so expensive this year, I wouldn’t be able to throw him a big birthday party, and he was fine with that. But he ended up with the party, too, and was thrilled, so all’s well that ends well!
Here he is just after he read the inside flap of the book and realized what the dates I wrote meant:
He hugged us over and over, jumped up and down, and came really close to crying! But he almost immediately voiced concern for Grandma. He had pressed me about spring break plans and really wanted to plan to see Grandma, so I told him that we’d make sure and work something out (which was true…she has to drive my sister down to fly out with us). He had told her this weeks ago, and didn’t want her to be disappointed that they wouldn’t get to visit with each other. When I explained about Sis coming along and that he’d see Grandma both when she brought Sis and when she picked her up, he was even more psyched!
So now that he knows, Son will be getting a countdown card every day up until the day we leave. He got his first one just a few minutes after he found out we were going. They look like this:
Each one has a pin for his lanyard, which he’ll receive on the day we leave, and they’re all in different colors. They were simple to make…cardstock, letter stamps and gel pens, all of which I had on hand. I wrote a “fun fact” on the back of each one (where we’re staying, ADRs, that sort of thing). He’s having a blast with them, waking up early each morning to find the new countdown card, and very carefully lining each new pin up on the lanyard that he got when we bought our park tickets at the Disney Store on Sunday. I had no idea they gave lanyards out for free, or I wouldn’t have bought him one. Oh well!
I also made these for everyone. They’re tiny and flat enough to be carried in a pocket, but hopefully durable enough to last the whole week. They have our complete daily itineraries, travel info, confirmation numbers, EVERYTHING in them. That way, if one of us loses or forgets ours, someone else is bound to have theirs. I used the UG free trip planner to create the pages, and printed them in the smallest format available. Then I cut out the pages and bound them into booklets.
The iridescent one is for Sis, the brown is J’s, the purple is for me, and the blue is Son’s. They don’t look terribly Disney-like, but I think they turned out really nice. The “wax” seals are for decoration, but I also wanted a way to tell which side is the front. And again, these were made with materials that I had on hand (granted, I could probably open a scrapbook store just with my personal supplies, but we’ll overlook that, hmm?). It’s really just cardstock again, glue, scissors, printer paper and whatever you want to add for pretties.
In mine, I wrote on the backs of the pages a personal to-do list for each day, just to set the tone every morning and give me little reminders. It sounds arduous, but when your day’s to-do list consists of riding the boat to the Magic Kingdom, eating a Dole Whip and looking for Lady and the Tramp’s paw prints, you’re definitely on vacation!
OUR ITINERARY:
Friday, March 14: Sis arrives in the early afternoon. Take off work early, pick up Son from school early, take everyone out to lunch. See Mom off, then finish whatever preparations are needed to leave the next day. Probably wind down with a Disney movie in the evening.
Saturday, March 15: Wake up to our traditional special occasion breakfast! Nothing fancy, just Pillsbury orange sweet rolls, but we only ever have them a few times a year, on special days. I might throw in some cinnamon twists, too, just so I can remind myself while I eat them that they’re nothing compared to a warm, fresh churro!
Our flight leaves around 1:20, and sadly doesn’t get in until 9 at night, so we really won’t get to do anything the first day at all. On top of getting in so late, we’re also taking Magical Express. Hopefully we won’t see any of our luggage until after we get back from the parks the next day, since I will personally pummel anyone who tries to bring our luggage to us at 1 or 2 in the morning. For this reason, we’re all going to wear something on the plane that we won’t mind sleeping in, like maybe track pants. Also, we’re going to mail ahead whatever essentials we want for the next morning that we don’t want to put in our carryon luggage, and pick up the package at check-in. The one first-night activity I do have my heart set on is sitting out on our hotel room balcony overlooking the AKL savannah that first night while I drink a glass of wine, so I’ll probably do that after the kids are tucked in and the coffee pot is programmed for the next morning.
Sunday, March 16: Epcot for our first park, with dinner at Le Cellier!
Monday, March 17: St. Paddy’s day in the Magic Kingdom! Cinderella’s Royal Table for lunch, and dinner at Boma. We may make an early night of it and hang out at the pool, or we may go back and see Wishes. Don’t know!
Tuesday, March 18: MGM, with dinner at Hollywood and Vine on the Fantasmic! package.
Wednesday, March 19: Magic Kingdom again! Dinner at Whispering Canyon Café, and definitely not an early night.
Thursday, March 20: Animal Kingdom. This is date night for J and I, with reservations for just the two of us at California Grill!
Friday, March 21: Epcot again, for our final day. Rose and Crown for dinner. It’s Good Friday and the last Friday of Lent (all of us except Sis are Catholic), so I chose R&C specifically for the fish and chips. I almost went with Coral Reef, but J doesn’t eat seafood, so he always has a tough time on Lenten Fridays, and I think he’ll have an easier time finding something at R&C. No way am I fasting, though, what with the walking we’ll have been doing all week long and on Friday itself. The Pope will just have to get over it, I guess, because I refuse to be the girl who fainted on Maelstrom due to lack of food and wonked out blood sugar.
Never once have I claimed to be a GOOD Catholic.
Saturday, March 22: Wake up at an obscene hour of the morning to catch our flight home. I’m pretty chapped that we couldn’t get an earlier flight in and a later flight out, but we’re using frequent flyer miles, so whaddya gonna do? I’m trying to convince myself that it’s for the best because the day before Easter is going to be horrendously crowded, but you know what? It really isn’t working.
So there’s our pre-trip. I’m so excited to finally be posting it!
