We're going where?! A First Time Disney Family Vacation PTR

[keagansmommy]

Welcome to a Disney World Newbies Pre-trip Report!

I have been meaning to start one of these since I found the DIS Boards a few months ago
when my family and I decided to plan a Walt Disney World Vacation
but I just figured out how to start a new thread....

Oh Well! I'm here now, so let's start with the details.
This trip started out with just me, DBF Aaron, and DD Keagan (4). We got
our package all together (accommodations, park tickets, dining plan, etc)
and booked and then was hit with the in-laws...

Do Not get me wrong, it's not that I don't want them to go, but it's like
pulling teeth to get any kind of input from them, some would say
"oh yeah! you get to just pick out everything!!" So Not the case,
it's more like you pick what all we will do and everything, but when
it comes time We'd like to change it all.

I have researched and read everything I can get my paws on trying to prepare
for this trip, so I have decided they can do what they want and we
will most likely be following my little princess/diva/tball queen decides
we will do...

Sooo that is how our trip went from three to six, real real quick.

Cast:



This is me, momma bear. I am a full time student working towards
an elementary education degree. I just have to keep telling myself,
just a year and a half more, just a year and a half more. I enjoy
spending time with my family and friends, making as many memories
as I can. I have been to Disney World once, but I don't actually
count it because I was only 2 years old and don't remember a single thing.



This is DBF, Aaron. Boyfriend of 5 and a half years, and daddy to
the princess/diva/tball queen. He is now also an elementary education
major, going back after a long hiatus to allow me to go to school
and working full time to support us. (Thanks! ) He is out
household's Goofy... Always trying to joke and make everyone laugh.
He has been to Disney World twice in his young childhood years and
is so excited to go with us.





This is the princess/diva/tball queen. She is 4, going on thirty-four.
She is the most wonderful child I have ever met. She has
her momma's attitude and her daddy's humor. I have recently
realized that with that attitude, I am in for a very ... for lack of
a better word... interesting teenage hood with this one. She
really is great though. She loves Rapunzel and Donald Duck and even
though at one point she said she would have rather went to St. Lucia
than go to Disney World (it really did happen), I am so excited for her
to experience the excitement and wonder of Disney World. I don't think
she will actually understand where we are going till we get there.

We also will be taking with us:
Nana: DBF mother and Keagan's biggest admirer. Shopaholic She is
also pretty physically disabled but wants to make the trip anyways
whether she can or can't do most things that we will be. She wants
to go to be able to see her little lady bug enjoy the World with the
Big Cheese.

Pappy: or as he likes to be called "Keagan's #1 fan" (can you tell she
is the only granddaughter?) Coal Miner by day, Pappy extraordinaire
by night.

Bubba: or as he is known to everyone but Keagan, Josh aka Uncle Josh.
He is Aaron's little brother, but not so little now considering he is
now 18. This will also be his first trip because shortly after he was
born Nana started getting really sick. We want to make sure he also
gets to do what he would like and hope that he will really have a great time.

It actually turned out to be lucky that Nana, Pappy and Bubba we're
going because Nana recieved a free dining pin (before all of the free
dining was released).
We had to change resorts but that doesn't really matter to us. We
just wanted to go simple on our first trip as to not get too overwhelmed
or get the expectations for future trips too high. hahaha

We are staying at the All Star Music Resort October 27- November 2.
We have 5 day park hopper tickets, and the dining plan.

I have worked on our dining and "touring" plans since the second we
booked this trip. I am also excited to say that whenever we added
the dining pin our trip was paid off! We thought that it would
have came down to the wire, but I guess that if you are REALLY excited
about something, you have little to no problem saving for something.

I have been picking up things for this trip since after Valentine's day,
so I have a lot of stuff to share. (Shirts, toys, travel things, tinkerbell gifts)


The in laws are definitely flying down, and as of now we are supposed
to fly too, just haven't been brave enough to book the flights... We'll
see how that goes because I sort of want to drive so that we can add
a day or two to our trip by stopping at a best friends house for a visit
on the way. But since Aaron will be the one that has to drive it will
ultimately be up to him. Also I have never flown so that makes
me a little nervous.

Also as a heads up, you will probably find mistakes in spelling and
grammer, haha I just really hate to proof read lol. I just type it as
it comes to me and don't look back!

 

[kellygreenjenny]

cute family! congrats on your trip. DH and I are going for our first trip as adults and I'm having as much fun with the planning as I think I will on the actual trip! DH just rolls his eyes at me when I get on the computer now

Enjoy your trip!

 

[GrammyJudy]

Congrats on your first trip
Your daughter is beautiful. We travel 3 generations now and it is A lot of fun and there is always someone willing to stay withba little one who can't ride a certain ride etc. I hope your mil will rent a scooter. I gave into that a few trips ago and it makes all the difference for the whole family. Check out the disabilities board. I am the Grammy and now my husband and I do not do the rollercoaster anymore but we are happy to people watch. We love the shows, parades, fireworks and the restaurants. Any questions I can help you with just ask. We really liked Asmusic...it is our favorite value I think.

 

[keagansmommy]

cute family! congrats on your trip. DH and I are going for our first trip as adults and I'm having as much fun with the planning as I think I will on the actual trip! DH just rolls his eyes at me when I get on the computer now

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you so much! I have
been reading book after book, blog after blog, trip report after trip report,
to get myself ready for this. October can not come soon enough, but I
am like you, I have had a blast planning out our Vacation! lol.

Congrats on your first trip
Your daughter is beautiful. We travel 3 generations now and it is A lot of fun and there is always someone willing to stay withba little one who can't ride a certain ride etc. I hope your mil will rent a scooter. I gave into that a few trips ago and it makes all the difference for the whole family. Check out the disabilities board. I am the Grammy and now my husband and I do not do the rollercoaster anymore but we are happy to people watch. We love the shows, parades, fireworks and the restaurants. Any questions I can help you with just ask. We really liked Asmusic...it is our favorite value I think.

Thank you so much! She Certainly is
our pride and joy! We are excited to go with Nana and Pappy, but also very nervous.
We usually travel about once a year with them to the beach, but with Disney
I'm not sure how they will handle it. I'm glad that Nana especially is going
to go because she has talked about a Disney trip since before Keagan was born,
health wise for her is my biggest concern. She will definitely have to 100% have a scooter.
Any advice on where to rent one, or such? That is the next step I need to work
on for our vacation. DBF is really excited to be staying at ASM because he LOVES
the Three Caballeros, when we started planning this trip, and movie nights (more on that later),
that was one of the movies he tracked down first!
I will definitely be checking out the disabilities board! Thanks for that,
something as simple as that had slipped my mind!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[keagansmommy]

Like I said before I just learned how to create a new thread so I
actually have a lot of things prepared for the trip and have done a lot of things
(movie nights) to prepare for the trip. I had originally planned (complete with a excel spread sheet )
to do different movie every Sunday with a themed meal and activity, starting in the middle of March.
That turned out to be too much when it came down to it, especially until the middle of May
when I still had school and the middle of June when Keagan had Tball games 2-3 times a week.
Aaron also had a major schedule change at work and started working Sundays so we still haven't worked
out how to fit the movie nights so that we can all be there.

So I am totally slacking on the sheer amount of movie nights we have actually done. But still we
have had fun at every single one, and I plan to work in maybe a couple a
week coming up with less "detail". Maybe I'll stick with dinner and a movie before bed.

For our very first movie night we did Lady and the Tramp. I picked this one first because I thought it would be easy to put together. Also Keagan's most
favorite meal of all time is Spaghetti... especially Pappy's spaghetti. Too bad
for this night she would have to eat mommy's hahaha.



We had Tony’s Spaghetti and Meats-a-balls
Jock's Hidden Bone Biscuits
Lady's Italian Salad
Darling's Cupcakes
Jim Dear's Wine (sparkling grape juice haha)



I was really proud of those cupcakes, I am usually a terrible baker.

For our second movie night we chose Princess and the Frog.


We had Mama Odie's Magical Gumbo over rice(I actually made it myself, I had never even had Gumbo
but it turned out delicious, Aaron has even asked me to make it again a couple
times and he is an extremely, extremely picky eater)
Taste Like Frog Leg Chicken Tenders
Lily Pads (sliced Kiwi)
Tiana's Man Catching Beignets
New Orleans King Cake
Swamp Water (party punch with a frog floating on the sherbert like a lily pad)
Keagan HAD to have the Frog in her cup.

We also painted our version of Mardi Gras masks.


Keagan really enjoyed this. Pappy and Bubba came for dinner and a movie,
Nana was sick so she couldn't make it. We all had a great time though and
Princess and the Frog is one of my favorite movies. (you will probably see this
a lot because I can never pick just one favorite movie... I love them ALL! )



I'll post some of the other ones tonight. Ran out of time for now. Thanks to
Everyone who is "lurking" or posting! I just really love being able to share my
excitement with people who really get Disney!! hahahaha

 

[keagansmommy]

Following along.

Thanks!

 

[keagansmommy]

Now I can't remember in what order the next nights went in so I'll just share.

We did The Three Caballeros on Cinco De Mayo- I am really not a huge
fan of this movie but Aaron loves it and it fit.



We had "mexican food fare"
Chicken Fajitas
Beef Tacos
Nachos and Cheese
Spanish Rice
Mexican Soda
Sorry I didn't have clever names for this one, I was out of colored ink and
I didn't have time to make the cute food labels I had made for the other
Movie nights. We had great time even though we really paid no attention to
the movie, cause like I said, I really don't like it.


We also did Toy Story!!





We had Pizza Planet Pizza! That was my attempt of a rocket shaped pizza...
and I realize that the z's are backwards, I was getting really frustrated with that
daggone pepperoni and rushed to put it on and didn't realize what I did till afterward
and it got a little too done... it was still good though! hahaha
We also had cheese sticks and boneless chicken wings.
For Dessert we had "Delicious Hot Schmoe's" Cobbler (smores cobbler)
It was really good, but it is a lot easier to eat when it is fresh out of the oven...

We actually never got to the movie for some reason. That was all right though,
because we have seen it a million times. When Keagan was almost two she
loved that movie, most of the things like the banner in the back and the
Hamm and Green Alien paper bags, were decorations left over from her 2nd birthday!
I made the paper bags!! Cut all the little pieces and painted on the eye balls and
everything!
Photos from that birthday:


She was tired by time these pictures were taken. lol Parties wear two year olds out. hahaha.

 

[Goofy442]

You did a great job on the dinners. Themed parties are a lot of work, I give you a lot of credit for doing it with your busy schedule.

 

[Britard]

Those dinners look like so much fun! I think having the themes really help the memories stick!

 

[keagansmommy]

You did a great job on the dinners. Themed parties are a lot of work, I give you a lot of credit for doing it with your busy schedule.

Thank you! Themed parties are a lot of work,
and if you aren't careful can add up money wise. I try to only use things that
we already have, and sometimes pick up a couple things from the dollar tree.
I figure I'm gonna be making some sort of dinner anyways so maybe I should
make it a little bit more fun. Keagan is getting ready to start preschool in a
couple weeks and two weeks after that Aaron and I have school again so I
am sure parties from here on out are going to contain less detail, but we'll still
have fun.

Those dinners look like so much fun! I think having the themes really help the memories stick!

They really are a lot of fun! The reason I started the
movie nights was because Keagan hadn't seen a lot of the less "mainstream"
Disney movies, especially some of the older ones that they haven't brought
back yet. I wanted her to be at least introduced to the characters so maybe
when we go to Disney she will be interested in the characters.

 

[keagansmommy]

Since this is Keagan's first trip to Disney World I wanted to sprinkle
it with tons of Pixie dust. She is great at travelling so I know no matter how
we decide to travel to Disney she'll be fine, but I still wanted to give her some
things to do. I have seen these little coloring sets at places like walmart, Target, and
even the Dollar Tree and have picked them up when I see different ones,
actually I accidentally picked up one of them twice, but don't tell anyone! haha



There is also a small Jake puzzle in a little tin that I found at the Dollar Tree
and we could do at the resort (if we have time). I also found Disney tissues,
and wipes for the park bag at the Dollar Tree, I LOVE THAT STORE! And also
stickers, who doesn't love stickers.

Also forgot! We got our customized Disney Maps in the mail the other day!!



They are so cute! (I have fixed this picture at least 6 times, but it still stays
upside down )



Bought these after Christmas in the 50% off section! I had originally bought
these to give Keagan with her birthday presents, but I went a little birthday
overboard so... they were supposed to go in her Easter basket... then there
wasn't room in her basket lol. Disney outfits it is then. haha

I also have her 6-7 outfits for Disney that I haven't taken pictures of yet,
but I'll get to it... eventually. I did take a picture of the shirts that we have
picked up for Aaron when the Disney store has good clearance.



And we can't forget mommy! I bought this shirt at Walmart. I don't want
to pay a lot for clothes for us because I'm not sure how much they will get worn
out of the parks. I know, I know, We should be totally open about our
Disney addiction, but we just aren't there yet... Newbie's remember.



In the little box is a necklace we got at Disney on Ice for her to wear when we go.

That's all I have time to share right now! But I will be back!

 

[Britard]

I agree about the Disney clothes. While the kids wear theirs all the time, my husband and myself tend to wear them mainly at Disney. I am a teacher, so I can't really get away with wearing Disney to work.

 

[Goofy442]

You can't have enough things for them to do, whether you are driving or flying. Funny we still wear our shirts, but sadly the kids say we are to old for that.

 

[keagansmommy]

I agree about the Disney clothes. While the kids wear theirs all the time, my husband and myself tend to wear them mainly at Disney. I am a teacher, so I can't really get away with wearing Disney to work.

I am in school now to be
a teacher, so while I could wear the shirts to
my school, I also couldn't wear
them while I am in field experience.

You can't have enough things for them to do, whether you are driving or flying. Funny we still wear our shirts, but sadly the kids say we are to old for that.

I think it is a personal preference. If you want to
wear your Disney shirts, wear them proud!

 

[Goofy442]

I totally agree, it is a personal preference. I find when I do wear any WDW shirt I get people asking about it.
I have never been and then they start asking questions. If I'm not in a hurry no problem, but sometimes I just don't have the time.

 

[keagansmommy]

I have tried to keep the family nights to just dinner and a movie
since Keagan is starting school in just one week.... sad momma right here,
she's not had to go to day care or anything because we have been able to
work our schedules around to make sure some one could always stay home with her.
Anyways.... I have been trying to fit them in a little more but having less elaborate
and that doesn't seem to phase her at all so we'll stick with it.

First we did a Lilo and Stitch Luau!!


We had Brown Sugar Baked Chicken, a family favorite.
Fruit Skewers, (Keagan loved these!)
Corn
Mac and Cheese (it was actually monsters inc mac and cheese, I may have
went a little overboard when I saw it at the store )
Hawaiian Bread
and Pineapple Juice.

I love this movie! Aaron had never seen it, but of course he loved it.
We got some leis at the Dollar store, along with a few decorations.
We had a great time! My tender heart child shed a tear when Lilo was
taken up in the ship and her sister was yelling for her. It hurts my heart to
see her sad, even when I know the movie turns out happy. No matter how
many times she sees a movie she will cry at the same parts. Love her heart.


Our Next movie was the Lion King,



I sort of cheated on this one. We were having some people over for dinner
so I just went with what I had planned to make and made up names for the
food. It actually worked well.
We had Pride Rock Pulled Pork,
Rafiki's Roasted Potatoes,
Crunchy Yet Satisfying Ants on a log,
Zebra Cakes, (cheated again, just zebra cake little debbie's)
and Pumbas Punch.

We had a great dinner. Keagan's got our friends so wrapped around her finger,
what 23-25 year olds guys with no kids or anything do you know that would
eat themed meals and watch Disney movies willingly, no begging necessary?
Well I had a living room full of them.

Tonight we did Peter Pan.
Neither Aaron or Keagan had seen the movie, but I knew they would both love
it, especially with Keagan's love of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.



We had Pirate Ship Pizzas,
Mr. Smee's Mixed Berries,
Gold Doubloons, (I was going to make corn but didn't realize we were out)
Croc Crunch (green peppers, carrots, and celery)
and Tink's Pixie Punch with Pixie Dust (pop rocks)
Keagan always love the punch, she especially loved sprinkling on the "pixie dust."

We really enjoy the family nights, its a time for us to enjoy each other and
relax. Just as I thought too, they both liked Peter Pan! Keagan has informed me
that if she meets Captain Hook at Disney, she is going to call him a Cod Fish!
Love that crazy kid, and also love the fact that she is talking about meeting
characters. I was/am worried that she isn't going to want to interact with them
once we get there.

 

[Goofy442]

She can meet Peter Pan at the 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. My DN got to meet him and he kept following her around. Mind you she was 17 and this was the first time she had seen any characters. Soon you will be in WDW enjoying yourselves.

 

[keagansmommy]

She can meet Peter Pan at the 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. My DN got to meet him and he kept following her around. Mind you she was 17 and this was the first time she had seen any characters. Soon you will be in WDW enjoying yourselves.

Yup just 85 days to go!

 

[keagansmommy]

I am so sorry everyone! These
last couple months have been crazy. Huge changes because Keagan started
PRESCHOOL! She absolutely loves it! Two weeks after she started school, I
had to go back to school so more chaos added to the schedule.

Anyways wanted to do a quick update before I do a bigger update sometime
this week, fingers crossed I don't get too swamped with homework and
stuff.

Of course I have to upload a couple pictures of the tball diva queen....

Here she is before she went to meet her teacher


Oops her diva attitude is showing...

And here she is on her very first day of school!!!



Not a good quality picture, but you can read the sign. And I completely swear
she said exactly that, I asked her what her favorite color is and she
said Pink and with a short pause added glitter.... Boy is she going to
fit in with the princesses!