(WE'RE BACK!!!)First timers to WDW,first time DISers,and a Disney crazed DH!U/D pg12!

[mystikgarden]

Oh man. Here we go again! "I was here first"

Oops. Sorry-this isn't OUR Pretrip Report.

Have at it guys! We can sit back and watch too!

 

[disneyaddicted]

I always get exicited when I hear people are going to Pop for the first time. You will love it, it really is somthing spectacular, I never saw an unhappy kid there. you gotta get the refillable mugs, they pay for themselves by the end of the first day. The bus system is great because Pop has their own which they do not share with other resorts.

 

[mystikgarden]

I always get exicited when I hear people are going to Pop for the first time. You will love it, it really is somthing spectacular, I never saw an unhappy kid there. you gotta get the refillable mugs, they pay for themselves by the end of the first day. The bus system is great because Pop has their own which they do not share with other resorts.

We read your trip report the other day! We Loved the pictures! I'm affraid our DS will hide in the pictures too I'm hoping when we get there he'll feel the


We are getting real excited about POP I think it was a sign that we didn't get ASMO

 

[mystikgarden]

Ok, ummm oh yeah. So we made our trip payment and all of that good stuff. So Pix and I do more research. Thanks again DIS! This is what we decide. We’ll go down a day early tell the kids that our “hotel at the beach” won’t be ready until the next day and we are going to stay in Kissimmee and go to DTD for the day since we won’t be able to go to WDW this year. That will put us leaving Lexington on May 27th and getting there on the morning of the 28th. So we book our hotel (Best Western Lakeside) I hope it’s a good one! I thought we could at least relax by the pool while Pix is resting from the drive down. (I can’t drive on highways, PANIC!!! ) So we want to take Darth to the Lego store and make him and Pix their very own LIGHTSABERS!! So I’m thinking about taking Ariel to do the make your own My little Pony thing. (I’ve heard of this do they still have it? )

So the plan is in motion. We make the big set up and tell the kiddies what’s going on. I’m sure at this point Darth is getting real suspicious! Not the reaction I expected. Darth was like “Yeah that’s cool we get to go to the beach” Ariel “Beach, beach, beach”.

So Pix and I plan every night after everyone is fast asleep which makes for us being up for quite sometime! But hey we are planning the “Trip of a Million Dreams!” And we get to spend quality time together . We start to think about the last day and how hard it will be to leave the park and start heading home. So guess what happens next?! Yep Pix is on the phone at 12:00 a.m. with Disney. He gets us another night and adds the DDP. Yippee! This is going to be the best trip ever!


Ok so days go by and I’m on the DISboards every time I get a chance. I’m reading about ADR’s and pre-trips and trip reports, dinning reviews and menus! Pix and I finally decide to make our ADR’s:

(These all change but more on that later )

May 29th- Dinner Akershus
May 30th- BF Crystal Palace
May 31st- Dinner Sci-Fi Diner
June 1st- Dinner Garden Grill


We where pretty happy about these but like I said they all change! So while I’m researching on here I find the best pre-trippie (timandlesley) and I start to convince Pix that we should look into TGM. THANKS Lesley !! So we talk about it and we signed up! Boy am I glad we did! So many useful tips. I kind of wish we had got this first instead of PassPorter but they are both useful for different reasons! During this time we had four terrible snow days !! So stressing that a little because that puts Darth missing the last three days of school….

Ok guys I started writing this from when we thought of taking the trip until the present we are coming in very close to the present so hang in there with us!

 

[declansdad]

Have at it guys! We can sit back and watch too!

She's just jealous I have more posts.

(just wait, she'll say, "but I have a tag.")

 

[pooksma]

He knows me too well. (I think maybe 12 years of marriage is TOO long)

" But I Have TWO Tags"

 

[pooksma]

Another great installment mystik! Love the shots of Ariel in the snow.

 

[sunlver]

I am enjoying your pretrip report Its so exciting reading about everybody elses excitement.
We are planning on being down there Mid June. Our kids school doesnt get summer break until June 15th. My son is also 12 and doesnt like to miss school. So no more taking him out for vacations

This is my 14th trip I think.. I am just as excited about it as if it were my first. We are traveling with 3 kids 12,7 and 2... I am more excited then they are

Im anxious to read more of your trip report, or I should say pre trip report..Your doing a great job so far.

 

[mystikgarden]

She's just jealous I have more posts.

(just wait, she'll say, "but I have a tag.")

He knows me too well. (I think maybe 12 years of marriage is TOO long)

" But I Have TWO Tags"

you guys are just to funny! I'm jealous of both of you, m ore post and tags!

 

[mystikgarden]

Another great installment mystik! Love the shots of Ariel in the snow.

Thanks! Believe it or not but they had school that day!

 

[mystikgarden]

I am enjoying your pretrip report Its so exciting reading about everybody elses excitement.
We are planning on being down there Mid June. Our kids school doesnt get summer break until June 15th. My son is also 12 and doesnt like to miss school. So no more taking him out for vacations

This is my 14th trip I think.. I am just as excited about it as if it were my first. We are traveling with 3 kids 12,7 and 2... I am more excited then they are

Im anxious to read more of your trip report, or I should say pre trip report..Your doing a great job so far.

I love reading other peoples trip reports too! I get so excited for them
Your son doesn't like to miss school WOW!
I see you have kids the same age as mine! Aren't they so much fun? My DS loves to take care of my DD and she bosses him around and does pretty much anything she wants
I hope you guys have a GREAT time in June!

 

[sunlver]

I love reading other peoples trip reports too! I get so excited for them
Your son doesn't like to miss school WOW!
I see you have kids the same age as mine! Aren't they so much fun? My DS loves to take care of my DD and she bosses him around and does pretty much anything she wants
I hope you guys have a GREAT time in June!

Well its not that he minds missing school...He HATES...all the homework, and in class work that he has to make up. When he was in the younger grades, the homework was easy. He could do all his make up work in a 2 hr period. BUT...the higher grade level he is in, the more work involved, projects, papers etc...so he rather not have to make up all that work.Although I love to go to Disney during off season, its actually nice that the kids dont have pending school work that needs to get done.

My 12 yr old and 2 yr old get along great. He is such a good big brother with her. BUT...throw in my 7 yr old middle child and watch out...

I am really anxious for my 2 1/2 yr old to be at Disney.. I think she will have the best time. She is really into Mickey and all the Disney characters. She was there when she was 10 months old, but pretty sure she doesnt remember it
I think this will be a great age for her to be there, plus she is still free...that always helps too

 

[PIXARdust]

Ok, well, I’ve been charged with writing the next installment of this trip report, so bear with me.

As the time drags on and on and Mystikgarden and I slowly tick off the days towards the trip, it slowly started consuming every waking thought and I found myself on the Dis more and more at work . For me at least. As we poor over itineraries and slowly come to grips with the shear volume of information out there, we realize something. We want the kids to be a part of the anticipation, too! It couldn’t have been that the two of us were bursting at the seams to scream from the rooftops that we were, without a doubt, going to Disney World. Anyway, DW hatches a plan. It will be a super covert operation, but with the proper planning, we would soon be capturing the look of utter shock, joy, and pleasure on our children’s faces as they receive the happiest news it has ever been our pleasure to deliver.

It’s a Friday night, and the kids are in bed. DW comes and sits down with a pen and a pad of post it notes ready to come up with clues leading our children through the happiest treasure hunt they’ll ever experience. We struggle, we fret, we craft the perfect clues. We can hear the excitement and envision the jumping for joy that will ensue the following morning. We go to sleep fighting the urge to wake them up and do it right then and there.

Saturday morning arrives and we eat breakfast and play for a little while when DW looks at me and suggests I take the kids to rent a few movies with a sly look in her eye. I smile to myself and load them up after nonchalantly getting the video camera out and making sure there was a tape in it. You could almost taste the excitement in DW and myself.

As we browsed the movies, the cell phone rings and I’m told that we’re allowed to come home, so I hurry the kids out of Blockbuster after chasing DD around like a maniac as she laughed and ran full tilt through the isles of movies. OT - She always does this at Blockbuster. Just Blockbuster. We don't know what it is about Blockbuster that makes her so hyper.

As we pull into the driveway, DW is sitting on the back porch waiting for us. DS looks confused when we tell him he’s not allowed to go in the house, but DW takes over as I grab the camera. She tells the kiddos that there are clues hidden around the house and yard and that with some of them are special pieces of paper that they aren’t allowed to look at until the end. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.

DD has no idea what’s going on, but she knows something is afoot, and is getting more excited by the second. DS rattles through the clues like a champ, and I capture every glorious moment on tape.

When all the clues are found, they have six pieces of paper that are actually pieces of a puzzle with a picture of Cinderella’s Castle on them and the words, “YOU’RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!” and the dates of the trip. DS puts it together, and looks at us.

“So?”

“You’re going to Disney World!” DW and I exclaim.

“And?”

Click. The camera goes off. Don’t want me strangling my “Too Cool” for anything son immortalized on film for all eternity.

“We’re going to Disney World and that’s all the reaction we get?!” His response? “I thought we were going to the beach.” Our response to that? “What kid would rather go the beach than Disney World?!”

Oh, forgot to mention, after they figured the puzzle out, DW pulled out gift bags for them chocked full of Disney related candy and toys she had put together while we were gone. As all of this is going, DD is happily sitting at the table eating her candy and saying she wants to go to “’Isney ‘Orld” and “See Mickey Mouse!” At least one of them is happy.

Needless to say, not the reaction we were wanting from DS. Hoping to build the excitement level some, we pop in the Disney Planning DVD. Fast forward to that night and we manage to get him to look at what we’ve got planned.

What’s that? Is that a glimmer of excitement in his eye? Half a smile? Maybe we’re getting through to him. When we start talking about ADR’s however, he has something to say. Remember how we had made the ADR at Sci-Fi? That was just for him because he’s a car nut. He said that it didn’t look good at all. That’s fine. I can deal with a few ADR changes. I’m just overjoyed that the Boy is starting to come around and act like a normal 12 year old. At least we didn’t wait until the morning we were supposed to go check into POP to tell him.

So the next night, Mystik and I sit down for some serious ADR revisions. We fought and struggled with it, and I felt it only fair that since DW did 98% of the research for the first batch that I do this one, considering I now know MUCH more about what I’m looking at. Honestly, before, it was so overwhelming I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around it, but thanks to the fine people on this board and the clear and concise way that everything is laid out in the Passporter, I got uncharacteristically organized and came up with a Plan A and Plan B, hinging on if we could get a seat at CRT or not on our last night there. After a little consideration, we decided we actually preferred Plan B without CRT (Because we didn’t want to spend the two Ts’s on it) and this is what we came up with:

Chef Mickey’s (Out of Pocket so we don’t have to worry about getting to POP for our keys before breakfast if we get a slow start) for breakfast the first day and then Concourse Steakhouse for dinner that night. I know, it’s a lot of food for one day, but since it’s our first day, we wanted to splurge a little.

The following day breakfast at Crystal Palace (We’re big breakfast freaks – DW and I hardly actually eat it, but when we do, we go all out). The third night is Whispering Canyon Café for me, because I’m really intrigued by the atmosphere, and then so DD can get her princess fix and to make the last night there as special for her as we can, 1900 Park Fair with her precious ‘Inderella.

Shortly after this DW saw the countdown calendar on Timandlesleys pre trip report and I think, “Hey, I’m a graphics artist, I can do something like that!” The next day at work, needless to say, I got nothing done. Except a brand spankin’ new Countdown Calendar, that is! Thanks for the idea, guys!

So, that pretty much brings us up to current. I know this has been long, and I applaud anyone that is actually still reading. We will continue to keep you all updated with what we’re up to, so stay tuned for me sewing!

 

[mystikgarden]

Well its not that he minds missing school...He HATES...all the homework, and in class work that he has to make up. When he was in the younger grades, the homework was easy. He could do all his make up work in a 2 hr period. BUT...the higher grade level he is in, the more work involved, projects, papers etc...so he rather not have to make up all that work.Although I love to go to Disney during off season, its actually nice that the kids dont have pending school work that needs to get done.

My 12 yr old and 2 yr old get along great. He is such a good big brother with her. BUT...throw in my 7 yr old middle child and watch out...

I am really anxious for my 2 1/2 yr old to be at Disney.. I think she will have the best time. She is really into Mickey and all the Disney characters. She was there when she was 10 months old, but pretty sure she doesnt remember it
I think this will be a great age for her to be there, plus she is still free...that always helps too

I understand the homework thing. I feel bad that my DS is going to miss the last 3 days of school! I'm hoping he won’t miss anything. Going to talk to his teachers soon, to see if he will miss anything.

I just can't imagine having three running around!! You are a real trouper!!

I can't wait for my DD to go also! She's 2 1/2 also. She has just begun to notice all of the characters. Her favorite right now is "Dable Duck"! That's big reason we decided to go this year so it would be cheaper!

 

[mystikgarden]

Good job Pix!!!

 

[declansdad]

Ah to be 12 and cool. Too funny!

 

[MomToAp1699]

Of course I sweetened it up so much he just couldn’t say no! So the planning begins!

Yay! Sounds like fun, Glad you where able to convince him that this was the year! I am as excited for you as I am for me!

Ok! So I got through the other three pages of your trip report and have landed at the end and find I want to edit my orginal response..!

Your Plans sounds sooo exciting and I am glad Pixar has joined in the Dis board fray as well. My husband reads the boards But I think all the Lime green people with their Disney Fanatical Behaviors scare him to much for him to come out of posting obscurity!

 

[PIXARdust]

Ah to be 12 and cool. Too funny!

I know, really. And he's "cooler" than most!

Good job Pix!!!

Thank you, thank you...

Yay! Sounds like fun, Glad you where able to convince him that this was the year! I am as excited for you as I am for me!

Ok! So I got through the other three pages of your trip report and have landed at the end and find I want to edit my orginal response..!

Your Plans sounds sooo exciting and I am glad Pixar has joined in the Dis board fray as well. My husband reads the boards But I think all the Lime green people with their Disney Fanatical Behaviors scare him to much for him to come out of posting obscurity!

It took a little convincing, but here I am, and I love it!

 

[pooksma]

Well done Pix!

 

[PIXARdust]

Well done Pix!

Thanks! Hope you all are still enjoying it!