*Update 1/9 - Thrift Store Score!* Four Little Girls and a whole Lotta crazy - A Jan 2017 PTR

[MamaBelle4]

Hi, I'm MamaBelle and I'm addicted to Disney. We haven't been down since Oct. 2014 and we've never stayed onsite. We've rented DVC points and we are bringing the in laws.

Driving. Together. In a 12 passenger van. From Pennsylvania. In January 2017. Heaven help us.

The rest of the crew? Well, we've got PapaBeau, my DH. Innit he handsome?


(He was trying to block his face with my hand)

And here is our brood, from left to right, top to bottom: Katie, Ellie, Ava and Emily:



(Not pictured my sister who is awesomingly coming along and my father and mother in law. This will be their first trip to the World)

As you can imagine, we live in a pink world. We've got our reservations for SSR for 7 nights. We've got (some) time to discuss which ADRS we want to book, and we've got our countdown slowly ticking off days.



(Pic is a couple days behind)

Oh and the kids have their Disney Jars to save their money for souvenirs. PapaBeau and my jars are both still suspiciously empty. We'll have to change that.



Well, this could be interesting! My mother in law has given me the reins for this trip. So I've got to try to make 5 adults and 4 sweet little girls happy (though the girls are the priority).

And this is my first PTR! Hopefully it isn't all so rambling!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Travel Day(s) Itinerary

I will be a busy beaver, running around town, picking up our rental vehicle and probably nipping the eldest two (2nd grade and kindergarten) out of school early, but maybe not, we'll see on that.

Then when I get home, I'll have the vehicle to pack and hopefully my sister will have already dropped off her pooches at our parents' house and can play with the kids while I throw the luggage in.



I saw in someone else's PTR a suggestion for lap activity stations for the kids and I am so piggybacking on that and ordering 4.

Once the car seats are in place where the kids want to sit and everything is loaded down, we will head down to my in law's home in MD.

I would wait to load the luggage, but everything is going to need to be rearranged to accommodate my mother in law's baggage (haha, couldn't resist. She's actually terrific and we get along great). The woman brings her coffee pot and was considering bringing her own TV for her room. She seriously asked me if a 12 passenger van would have enough room.

Just a reminder, there are 9 of us going. So unless her luggage takes up more room than 3 humans, we should be fine. If it does, we may need to schedule an intervention.



Once everyone is packed in and loaded up, we will hit the road for our 14 hour trip. The plan in leaving around 7pm or so is that the kiddos will likely sleep through a large majority of the way so that limits grumpiness and stops.

Hopefully that will put us at SSR around noon, where we will spend the day relaxing and maybe popping over to Disney Springs for a meal or two and some shopping! Maybe cap off the night with getting the kids their ears.

We don't have our days planned out just yet. We are waiting to find out where the EMH hit. Any suggestions on can't miss character meals would be much appreciated! I know we are 100% doing CRT, but the rest is up in the air.

Next updates will probably be centered around this:


My plan to make the kids their princess dresses for character greets! Katie wants Rose, Ellie wants Rapunzel, Ava wants Belle and I think I'm going to give Emily Cinderella.

 

[MamaBelle4]

So my mother in law came up for a picnic last week and brought some coffee filters she couldn't use. Well, we couldn't use them either as they're cone shaped.

I decided they would be perfect for our countdown chain. I've cut them in strips and we've been decorating like mad. The girls are having an absolute blast. Any crafty thing and they're all in.

In order to try to get a rough outline of a loose itinerary, I'm getting everyone to tell me what they're must do attractions are. For Katie, it is everything. Good luck with that, kid.

My husband, the darling sweet man that he is, put me down for TOT. I rode that once in 1998 and it was once too many times.

Here's why, the 12 year old in the very back, desperately clinging to her father and who looks like she may or may not have crapped her pants? Yeah. That's me. (Spoiler alert: I did not crap my pants)



My family is the back row on both sides. Let's take a moment and admire my brothers' glorious mullets, shall we?

In addition to discussing attractions 7+ months before we leave, we have now mostly figured out our dining. CRT, Akerhus, Chef Mickey's, Hollywood & Vine, Tusker House and we are yet undecided on the last.

I know they don't have the best food reviews on here, but I let the girls look at all the TS restaurants and they were unanimous. It is so rare that they agree, how could I turn them down?!

And, last little update, I scored 4 adorable disney shirts from Community Aid (local thrift). Tinkerbell for Emily, Sofia for Ava, Minnie for Ellie and Olaf for Katie. They all loved them!

 

[adudeinblue]

My girlfriend is from NEPA and we are actually planning to go WDW after visiting home for the new years and flying into MCO before flying back to California. Your family sounds sweet and hope to hear more about your trip!

 

[MamaBelle4]

My girlfriend is from NEPA and we are actually planning to go WDW after visiting home for the new years and flying into MCO before flying back to California. Your family sounds sweet and hope to hear more about your trip!

That's awesome! We're South Central PA, close to MD. Hope you all have an awesome trip! (And holiday season)

 

[Whit64130]

Hi! Following along! Looks like a fun trip! We are also going in January. I am going with my in laws and there are 9 of us too. We are sitting down this week to discuss the actual dates and plan out ADR's since it is coming up soon!
Are you using a travel agent for that many people? I can't decide if I need to recruit one to help with all of the big plans.
Can't wait to read more!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Hi! Following along! Looks like a fun trip! We are also going in January. I am going with my in laws and there are 9 of us too. We are sitting down this week to discuss the actual dates and plan out ADR's since it is coming up soon!
Are you using a travel agent for that many people? I can't decide if I need to recruit one to help with all of the big plans.
Can't wait to read more!

Hi!! Thanks for following along!!

We aren't using a travel agent. Which makes me think I might be a touch insane or at least a glutton for punishment! Did you decide when you're going?

 

[MamaBelle4]

So, bright and early on my 180 ADR day, I called WDW to male some magic.

May sound crazy, but all of our table service meals are going to be character meals. I wanted to call early because l, even though we are going during a tourist drought, thought having accommodations for 9 might be difficult to come by.

All of them, no problem. Except one. Of course, I couldn't get CRT. I had the cast member check for my other day we had planned to be in Magic Kingdom. No go. No breakfast. No lunch. No dinner.

Nada. So, I'll be spending the next couple months combing the cancellation boards, stalking the MDE reservation app and praying feverishly.

We've never been to CRT before. I told my little princesses about it and they have their hearts set. Urgh.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Guys, I'm sorry. I knew I'd be terrible at keeping up with this, but I want to do it so I figured I would try anyway. A lot has happened since I last posted.
1st: We got our CRT ADR. Well, kind of. We got one for half our group at 2:10, and the other half at 2:15 and plan to beg to be sat together with the understanding that that may not happen.

So, trucking right along. We are now within our 60 days mark. I woke up bright and early on Tuesday and called that wonderful WDW number. A wonderful agent answered the phone almost right away.

I started, of course, with Epcot.

"Let me guess, Frozen Ever After, right."

Look. I have four girls. YES PLEASE.





So, yeah, Frozen was a MUST DO. And she snagged it for me, which was no easy feat since we are a party of 9 (though only need the fast passes for 8).

And then I heard the *Biddi Biddi Boop* of loss of signal. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I called back immediately. "Your expected wait time is 45 minutes."

NOOOOOOO!!!! Some of you may be wondering why I wasn't scheduling my fast passes online. Well. According to the Disney website, apparently January 30-February 2 (I think) did not exist.

So, while I sat on hold, patiently , I logged on to my MDE and my FEA fast pass was still there. Bless the CM who put it through even though I lost her.

Once I did get through, I was able to get all of my Fast Passes as I had hoped. So our trip (for which we leave in 55 days!!!) looks like this:

Saturday, January 28
Arrive at SSR between lunchtime and dinner time and explore Disney Springs and relax.
Sunday, January 29
DHS
Toy Story Mania
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along
Muppet Vision 3D
HOLLYWOOD & VINE @ 5:35
Monday, January 30
AK
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Festival of the Lion King
Primeval Whirl
TUSKERHOUSE @ 4:50
Tuesday, January 31
Epcot
*Mad dash to Soarin'*
Frozen Ever After
Turtle Talk with Crush
Living with the Land
AKERSHUS @ 5:05
Wednesday, February 1
SDMT
HM
PPF
THE CRYSTAL PALACE @5
Thursday, February 2
Resort/Disney Springs/Recovery day
Friday, February 3
Pirates
BTMR
CRT @ 2:10/2:15
Under the Sea, Journey of the Little Mermaid
Saturday, February 4 (Checkout )
Chef Mickey's @ 12

I think I got everyone in and got everyone exactly what they wanted.

This: better be what I see the entire trip. I'm looking at you mom and dad in law.

Guys. It is insane how excited I am. We were driving to look at Christmas lights today and I put money on our EZ Pass for the turnpike, and I said to my husband, "Don't forget to put the fast pass on the windshield." He looked at me like I lost my darn mind. Which I probably have.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I am getting so excited, like, so ridiculously excited. You don't even know (well, actually, you probably do).

Besides the wonderful Christmastime festivities, our home has been chaotic these past couple of weeks. Why you might ask? Well, I'll gladly tell you.
Streph throat for me, DD8, DD5, DD3 & DD1 (with an ear infection to boot). So we religiously followed our 10 days of antibiotics (the cilin families for me and everyone but DD8 who is allergic and had to take a seriously nasty smelling synthetic).


All seemed well until 2 days ago. DD1 has had fevers up to 103 and we can only keep them down for an hour or two by alternating children's motrin and tylenol every 3 hours. So, first thing tomorrow it looks like a doctor's visit will be on the agenda. (ETA: DD1 still is fighting a double ear infection. And I won't go into full deets, but DD5 also was not doing well, so we took her to the doctor then. Turned out the streph infection moved and was still active, so they're both on a second dose of antibiotics)
Yay.

I digress, back to the Disney planning, preparations and countdowns. You may have noticed that I haven't posted any updates on the gowns I was going to make my girls. Well. Here's the thing. I showed my MIL those dresses as soon as I found them and excitedly told her that I was going to be making them for the girls based on their favorite dresses to wear in CRT.

Less than a month later, I get a text message from my MIL that she picked up princess dresses for the girls to wear in CRT.


Okay. I'm going to just assume that that was an oversight and she didn't remember my plans. Though she does have the habit of stealing ideas and outdoing them, to the point where my SIL will not let her know what she's buying the kids for Christmas anymore. Oh well. They are gorgeous dresses and the girls love them, so that's all that matters.

(DD8, DD5 & DD4 [as of Monday] have one similar to this):

(DD1 has this one):

Slight itinerary modification. Well, when I say slight, I really mean major. Now instead of sending the kids to school on Friday 1/27, we pulled them and instead of leaving at 7pm, we will be on the road by 10am and instead of driving through, we are now stopping in Georgia. All of this is fine with me. It makes everyone more comfortable. The grown ups will get some rest in instead of the kids sleeping all night and us staying up to keep the drivers up which results on the kids being READY TO GO and us READY TO DIE. So, that's a major plus.



So now starts the real preparations. I need to do about a thousand loads of laundry (listen, I have 4 kids and they have more clothes than is reasonable. And they do costume changes). Then I need to take inventory of what we have and what we need. I think we are pretty well set, but I'm pretty sure my oldest needs some Disney duds. She's grown like someone is sneaking MiracleGro in her food.

So, aside from licking this nasty illness that's taken hold over our home, we, well, we have a lot to do, actually, don't we?

I'm pre-exhausted just thinking about dealing with the wrapping paper and packaging massacre of Christmas 2016.


So, for anyone who is following along (if anyone can tolerate my rambling long enough to stick with me), I hope you have a very happy and very prosperous new year and got to ring it in with those who mean the most to you.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Joining in! Looks like we will be there around the same time!! I could never imagine driving. DH and I are going to fly from MN and we are childless, so a little more low key, but also a little less magical. I love reading about the magical trips with little ones

 

[MamaBelle4]

Joining in! Looks like we will be there around the same time!! I could never imagine driving. DH and I are going to fly from MN and we are childless, so a little more low key, but also a little less magical. I love reading about the magical trips with little ones

We are almost there! Just a couple weeks out! Are you counting down too?

I've never been on a plane. I am not against it, per se, but DH is, so driving it is. Plus costs would be crazy with the 4 kiddos.

It's funny, I love reading couple's TRs and making plans for the distant future for DH and me, lol.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello! I am following along! I have 2 girls, 8 and 6, so I am not sure how you are doing it with 4 little ladies! They will have a blast for sure!

Oh and the kids have their Disney Jars to save their money for souvenirs. PapaBeau and my jars are both still suspiciously empty. We'll have to change that.

We do this with the girls as well. At one point, my husband joked and put his credit card in his jar. He said that really that is where it is all going anyway....

I saw in someone else's PTR a suggestion for lap activity stations for the kids and I am so piggybacking on that and ordering 4.

We drove from New Jersey down to Myrtle Beach last summer. I planned LOTS of car activities. One of the biggest hits, was brown paper bags that I numbered and put "surprises" in each. I had the girls draw a number and that was the bag they got to open. They loooooved it! I filled the bags with some dollar store things, a joke book, anything cheap and things I thought would keep them entertained.
Here is a pic of all the bags. I think I had planned on bags for there and back. I don't think we opened all of them, so I just saved it for our next road trip.


Here they are with (2) of the bag goodies.


The other thing I ended up doing that they loved, was I got those bead organizers, put there names on them and some Disney Stickers. Then I filled it with snacks, goldfish, freeze dried fruit, some candy. They loved having there own box and being able to eat "whatever" they wanted. The box held more than I thought it was!


My last tip / trick that worked fairly well, I made activity binders for them. I googled a bunch of things on Pintrest and just printed out a bunch of things to put in the binder. I got clear sleeves and just filled them up with things to do. The big hit for the girls, now that they are old enough to know what a verb and nouns are, was she Mad Libs. I got dry erase markers as well, so they could do them over and over. I can't find a pic of the binder but here are a couple of the things from it.


If you can sew, which I assume you can, since you were going to make the girls dresses, You could make these for your girls. My mom made my girls these just for road trips, but they would be cute with Disney Princess prints.


My girls use them for each road trip / sleepover now. It helps, as they can easily carry in there lovies and pillow into the hotel!

Can't wait to hear more about the trip!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Hello! I am following along! I have 2 girls, 8 and 6, so I am not sure how you are doing it with 4 little ladies! They will have a blast for sure!


We do this with the girls as well. At one point, my husband joked and put his credit card in his jar. He said that really that is where it is all going anyway....


We drove from New Jersey down to Myrtle Beach last summer. I planned LOTS of car activities. One of the biggest hits, was brown paper bags that I numbered and put "surprises" in each. I had the girls draw a number and that was the bag they got to open. They loooooved it! I filled the bags with some dollar store things, a joke book, anything cheap and things I thought would keep them entertained.
Here is a pic of all the bags. I think I had planned on bags for there and back. I don't think we opened all of them, so I just saved it for our next road trip.

Here they are with (2) of the bag goodies.

The other thing I ended up doing that they loved, was I got those bead organizers, put there names on them and some Disney Stickers. Then I filled it with snacks, goldfish, freeze dried fruit, some candy. They loved having there own box and being able to eat "whatever" they wanted. The box held more than I thought it was!
My last tip / trick that worked fairly well, I made activity binders for them. I googled a bunch of things on Pintrest and just printed out a bunch of things to put in the binder. I got clear sleeves and just filled them up with things to do. The big hit for the girls, now that they are old enough to know what a verb and nouns are, was she Mad Libs. I got dry erase markers as well, so they could do them over and over. I can't find a pic of the binder but here are a couple of the things from it.
If you can sew, which I assume you can, since you were going to make the girls dresses, You could make these for your girls. My mom made my girls these just for road trips, but they would be cute with Disney Princess prints.

My girls use them for each road trip / sleepover now. It helps, as they can easily carry in there lovies and pillow into the hotel!

Can't wait to hear more about the trip!

I LOVE the paper bag idea! The girls would absolutely love that! I may have to borrow that idea, may make our trip more pleasant! Your girls are adorable!

The bead organizers a great idea in general. I just bought them little shower caddies like this:

from the Dollar tree. There's room for their drinks, fries and sandwiches when we grab fast food. Theoretically it will keep the mess contained.

Unfortunately for mad libs, only my oldest would be able to really understand and do that, but I do have coloring pages and crayons set in little caddies for them and I plan on putting some more activities in there for them to play with on the way down. They all know the punch buggy game (because I love playing it and get really competitive, pretty sure I bruised my DH once), I plan on teaching them "Pa-Diddle" (you yell that and hit the roof of the car if you see someone with a headlight out) and bought Disney Headbanz for the ride down and back. Hopefully we can keep them entertained!

The pillows/blankies sound great, but I don't think I'll have enough time, too much to do for us to get ready to go. But that's definitely a keeper for next time around (also for slumber parties at Grandma's).

 

[MamaBelle4]

Just a quick little update.

I scored BIG at Community Aid, which is a local thrift store where I live. Mondays, unbeknownst to me, is "Hero day" where they give community heros a 50% discount on all the clothing. This includes teachers, nurses, veterans, police, etc.

It apparently also includes first responders/Maryland Park Rangers, both of which apply to my sister who was shopping with me. Tuesday is Senior Citzen 50% off and Wednesday is "Family" (which means everyone) 50%. Usually I never find decent Disney clothes because everything is so picked through, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay the full price they were asking to get decent character clothes for the kids without realizing my sister was eligible for the discount prior to check out.

I paid $22 for all of this:

DD8's haul:

DD5's haul:

DD4's haul:

and DD1's haul:

(I had to post this separate. This wasn't laid out together as an outfit but she found the dress and I found the leggings... think we found our DHS outfit!):

I will DEFINITELY be going back next week to stock up on some leggings and maybe jeans to pack too. I cannot express how stoked I am about this!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I love the shirts! Especially the Sophia ensemble. So cute!

And the bucket for the girls food and stuff. That will work great as well. I would love to hear how it all worked out. I think we are going to make the drive to Myrtle Beach again this summer. So, i am open to new ideas!

I plan on teaching them "Pa-Diddle" (you yell that and hit the roof of the car if you see someone with a headlight out)

OMG! This was one of our favorite past times in High School. We took it very seriously. And a great game for them to play at night when you can't see as much!

 

[MamaBelle4]

I love the shirts! Especially the Sophia ensemble. So cute!

And the bucket for the girls food and stuff. That will work great as well. I would love to hear how it all worked out. I think we are going to make the drive to Myrtle Beach again this summer. So, i am open to new ideas!


OMG! This was one of our favorite past times in High School. We took it very seriously. And a great game for them to play at night when you can't see as much!

LOL us too!! It often got violent. But I had 3 older brothers and we were all so competitive.