WDW through an 8-month-old’s eyes &10m &13m &16m...New 10/30!

[Imagineer5]

Just found your PTR. Loving it. You little girl is such a cutie. I wanted to ask how you went about booking cypress pointe. We are going with my parents and need 2 off site nights. Originally I was gonna do the nickelodeon suites but it's so damn expensive. The through aaa we found the best western, but this looks like it may be a fun place for my oldest son. I can only book through Expedia unless I'm missing something???
Also how do you go about booking the hauted hay ride? I cant find it on the wdw site. I think I'm having an off day.

Hi!!! Welcome, thanks for coming over! We got Cypress Pointe through getravelop.com which is for government employees. We got the week for $359 or something! IDK how to book it otherwise - maybe give them a call?

I think the wagon ride (the haunted carriage rides are not going on this year ) is still on - you call 407-WDW-PLAY I think? But the hayride doesn't take reservations so that's a moot point. Not sure which you're asking about!

oh ok well either way. As long as you eat you some Boatwrights!

yeah....I sure do hope that you have a great time and not the craptacular time we had! I'm just counting down until our next try at it. Way too far away!

LOL we'll try! But it will get beat out if Be Our Guest is open! (unless we do that for lunch...). Yeah seriously, sickness is NOT something you can plan for (though we do plan to bring a full arsenal of meds just in case). That just royally sucks!

 

[kmedina]

Congrats on getting the car. The Expedition really is one of the nicer looking full size SUVs. I like it. Aria "driving" the boat is so adorable. Those are awesome flower decorations at the restaurant you ate at. It reminds me of the Bellagio. Glad you have your flights worked out.

 

[Imagineer5]

Congrats on getting the car. The Expedition really is one of the nicer looking full size SUVs. I like it. Aria "driving" the boat is so adorable. Those are awesome flower decorations at the restaurant you ate at. It reminds me of the Bellagio. Glad you have your flights worked out.

Thank you! I love it. There aren't that many in this size range (we got the "EL" which is about 2-3' longer than regular Expeditions. There's a Navigator version, and then a GMC Yukon XL, the Suburban, and an extra long Escalade. I think that's it for this length, and we liked the Expedition the best by far. Escalade was nice but ... has a reputation to it and we couldn't bring ourselves to get one LOL ...

I was very happy with our flights in December, esp the early one on Friday. Wish Monday's could be 2 hours later but it'll be nice to get home at a decent time too.

 

[khertz]

Well, Southwest fares opened yesterday!!

We fly in at 9:40AM on Friday 12/7 - giving us basically an entire day at EPCOT!!! We will have to leave the house around 4:15AM to get to the airport. Not too awful, only 45 minutes after we get Aria up in the morning. I am hoping that by then we'll just be able to transfer her to the car seat and she'll continue sleeping, otherwise I'll have to nurse her (which is what i do now at 5am after I wake her up). Guess we'll play that one by ear when it gets closer.

Anyway, we fly home around 1:40 on Monday 12/10. IDK how much time that really gives us to do anything though with ME. I think we have to be at the resort for ME 3 hours before? Is that right? AK has EMH that morning, so we could do that. Or maybe hop over to DTD, which opens around 9:30. Or get to MK at opening at 9, stay for an hour or so, and then head back? It was the latest nonstop flight besides one that got in after 10PM, and with a baby and going to work the next day, that was just not going to work!

Yay for flights!! Bummer you will not have much time on Monday, but at least you are getting a nice little Holiday trip this year.

Aria was ready to drive:

LOVE THIS PICTURE!! I was reading your update last night on DH's laptop and started laughing when I saw it, so he wanted to see what I was laughing at, and even he thought it was funny! DS has taken an interest in "driving" our cars too, which is just hilarious to watch. The other day DH let Paxton into the garage when I came home from work, and as I was getting my stuff out of the passenger seat Paxton came running up to me. I thought he was coming for a hug, but he pushed me out of the way, climbed in the car and over to the driver's seat, then waved to us and yelled, "BYE! BYE! BYE!" We were

 

[Imagineer5]

Yay for flights!! Bummer you will not have much time on Monday, but at least you are getting a nice little Holiday trip this year.




LOVE THIS PICTURE!! I was reading your update last night on DH's laptop and started laughing when I saw it, so he wanted to see what I was laughing at, and even he thought it was funny! DS has taken an interest in "driving" our cars too, which is just hilarious to watch. The other day DH let Paxton into the garage when I came home from work, and as I was getting my stuff out of the passenger seat Paxton came running up to me. I thought he was coming for a hug, but he pushed me out of the way, climbed in the car and over to the driver's seat, then waved to us and yelled, "BYE! BYE! BYE!" We were

LOL that's funny! Love showing the DH's TR's! Too cute about Paxton and the car - that's adorable! One of those fantastic moments you'll always remember. Gosh kids are just so darn cute, I never appreciated it really until I had Aria.

 

[Imagineer5]

Well, tickets for the MNSSHP are purchased! Got the AP discount and have to pick them up at will call. It states you can also get them at concierge? That'd be sweet. Or, can we pick them up when we exchange vouchers for tickets?

Anyway, so I mentioned the Peter Pan/Wendy/Tink costume idea to him and he said "EWW no, that'd mean I would have to wear tights" Soooo guess that's out. I casually mentioned Aria could just dress up (after he stated that we could dress as pirates (what the heck is with his obsession with pirates!?!) and Aria could be a parrot or monkey I like the idea minus how hot it will be).

He liked her just dressing up better, and frankly so do I. So I found this:

I also looked up Boo outfits but they look so darn HOT. So I don't think it's the best idea for Disney (maybe next year at home!).

Belle is my favorite princess, and I think she'd look really cute in it. What do you guys think? It looks nice and cool too, with that sort of top that should let in some air. Plus it's pretty stretchable - she could wear it again in December if we get into the Be Our Guest restaurant!!

 

[kmedina]

Belle is my favorite princess too. I love that costume and hope I have a princess of my own someday to dress up. to getting your MNSSHP tickets.

 

[jenny105]

I think that's adorable! Aria will look so cute. Great idea to use it again for Be Our Guest for your December trip. Belle is my favorite princess too

What's wrong with pirates??

 

[khertz]

I love it!! She will look absolutely adorable in it, and it will be nice and cool for Halloween in Orlando. DH could be Beast?

 

[Joyciemc]

Love that dress for Aria's costume!

Nice work by DH on the boat! Looks great.

 

[MrsTeddy]

I love that costume! I'm thinking hard about coordinating costumes for my little ones, but we won't be at Disney (this year anyways!)

You and DH could just get some cute festive tops to wear!

 

[Dugette]

A couple questions for you all:

Is it okay that I'm combining PTR's now for both October and December? Do you mind, or should I start another PTR for December (probably wouldn't do that, but could just talk about October or something...).

Do you mind the personal weekend/trip updates? The overload of pics of Aria? LOL.

I prefer the combination PTR, as following multiple reports from the same person tends to confuse me. And I love the personal weekend/trip updates and the pics of Aria! Heck, my PTR is pretty much only that type of thing right now. I like the PTR/TRs where I feel like I get to know the people involved and not just which rides they went on. Keep it up!

Also, thanks for the daycare advice. It helps to hear what others have done.

Looks like Aria enjoyed her first boat ride! Cute pictures! Sounds like she also did well at the nice restaurant, so that's a good sign for your WDW trip!

 

[Imagineer5]

Belle is my favorite princess too. I love that costume and hope I have a princess of my own someday to dress up. to getting your MNSSHP tickets.

Thanks!! Yeah I think the dress will work. I ordered it.

I think that's adorable! Aria will look so cute. Great idea to use it again for Be Our Guest for your December trip. Belle is my favorite princess too

What's wrong with pirates??

Thanks! Yeah the Be Our Guest use of the dress would be SO awesome. I can only hope it'll be open by then.

Nothing is wrong with pirates, except that DH ONLY wants to dress as a pirate. For the last 2 years. I thought he might consider dressing as something else this year...

I love it!! She will look absolutely adorable in it, and it will be nice and cool for Halloween in Orlando. DH could be Beast?

LOL That'd be awesome. Yeah I figure the dress will be much more comfortable in Orlando. Maybe we'll do his pirate idea with Aria as a parrot or monkey if we have a party to go to here in MA.

Love that dress for Aria's costume!

Nice work by DH on the boat! Looks great.

Thanks! Yes he did do a great job. He basically did all of it at night after I went to bed, too, since he didn't have any time with Aria awake.

I love that costume! I'm thinking hard about coordinating costumes for my little ones, but we won't be at Disney (this year anyways!)

You and DH could just get some cute festive tops to wear!

Yeah that's a good idea, just something fun. Oooh looks like I need to revisit Etsy. We don't have to wear costumes but could wear some sort of cute disney vacation shirt. Hmmm...

I prefer the combination PTR, as following multiple reports from the same person tends to confuse me. And I love the personal weekend/trip updates and the pics of Aria! Heck, my PTR is pretty much only that type of thing right now. I like the PTR/TRs where I feel like I get to know the people involved and not just which rides they went on. Keep it up!

Also, thanks for the daycare advice. It helps to hear what others have done.

Looks like Aria enjoyed her first boat ride! Cute pictures! Sounds like she also did well at the nice restaurant, so that's a good sign for your WDW trip!

Ok thanks, that seems to be the general consensus. Yeah I love going to restaurants now and learning what works and such. It'll be even better when she can sit in the high chair. She can sit in ours at home now, but I think it is easier than the ones at restaurants.

 

[Imagineer5]

Random non-Disney update, but I've been working on the Holland/Germany/ITALY trip for next April.

Let me preface this by saying we spent 18 days in Italy in April 2010. We had an AMAZING vacation, and since we've been home we have just been dreaming of our time spent on Lake Como (specifically, the town of Varenna). Here are some pictures:

View from our room!

View of the town of Varenna

On a ferry going to Bellagio (a 10 minute ride):

Well, anyway, we planned to end up in Munich, Germany. Which is apparently only a 5 hour drive from Varenna! soooooo I want to return so badly.

Current itinerary is:

3 nights Holland
3 nights Rhine Valley Germany
1 night Rothenberg
2 nights Fussen
1 night Munich (might skip Munich and add 1 night in Holland)
4 nights Varenna

We'll be renting a car when we arrive in Amsterdam, and return it in Milan when we fly home. Has anyone been to Holland or Germany and have any suggestions for where to go?

 

[khertz]

Never been to Europe so I can't offer any advice, but those pictures are beautiful!! We are planning to do the Viva Italia ABD trip in 2014, and we have already started looking at what we want to do in our free time. I am absolutely ECSTATIC to finally get to Italy! Your trip sounds really amazing. There are so many places in Europe I want to visit, but Italy will always be #1 so I went for that when convincing DH because he is not too interested in European travel. I would love to take a vacation like that going to a few different countries and experiencing different cultures over a few weeks. Is Aria going along?

 

[kmedina]

I want to go to Germany someday. That is my biggest genetic mix. I hope you do a trip report for that as well. You are going to have a great time!

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like a great trip! Can we stow-away in your luggage? The Italy pictures remind me of our honeymoon (Northern Italy). So beautiful, I know why you want to go back.

 

[oboedm]

Such a fun weekend outing-- and love the yellow dress for Aria! I don't know much about Europe, but you will probably need to be at ME around 10:40. You could have a couple of hours in the parks with EMH, but that means you are getting up early to pack and get checked in for the flight at the resort, etc. I would almost sleep in a bit, take my time packing and checking in, then having a late breakfast ADR at the hotel.

 

[Elleshoodat]

I love that dress for Aria! Belle is my favorite princess, too. Though it's too bad you couldn't get DH into tights to play Peter Pan.

Your plans are coming together sooo well. Hooray for getting your tickets to MNSSHP!

 

[Leger13]

That's awesome! I'm super jealous! I've never been over seas and doubt I ever will be. DH doesn't fly I'll be doing good to get him over to DLR some day