We're not having a baby so let's go to Disney World. May 2009 PTR. We're HOME.

chicagoshannon

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May 9, 2008
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We originally planned a Jan/Feb 2010 trip to the World. We planned this because we were planning on having a baby in October. We need to do IVF to have kids so it was easy to plan exactly when we'd have a baby. Anyway God had/has other plans so when our IVF didn't work we moved up our plans to go to Disney. For the last few months I've been dreaming of going in May sometime to see the Flower and Garden Festival. We have never been at this time of year. So this was the perfect opportunity.

We'll be there from May 3-15.

Before I go any further let me introduce the cast of characters.
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ME: Shannon (I'm in the green) will be 31 on our trip. I'm a stay at home mom but have my bachelors in nursing and will return to that someday. I love scrapbooking, tv, shopping, and playing with DD. This will be my 14th or so trip to Disney. But will be my first time back since our honeymoon in 2004.

DH: Eric (brown sweater one step up from me) 32. He's a software engineer. Basically he writes computer programs. He tolerates Disney, but says he has to have at least 2 years between trips. He has been to Disney 3 times. He loves video games and TV.

DD: Madeline (cutey in the front of the picture) She'll be 2 soon. This will be her first trip. She loves "Mermaid" and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. She is full of energy. She loves to say please and thank you.

my mom (DM): Carol (in the red sweater at top of step)- she'll be 59 next week. She works extremely hard and puts in way more then 40 hours at her job. She's been there for 36 or 37 years and is so ready to retire but is trying to hold out until she's 62. She deserves this vacation more then anyone. I hope she's able to leave all of her work at home.

My dad (DG for dear grandpa) Dave (he's at the top of the steps) 59. He's the Disney instigator. It's his fault I love it so much. He's a retired social worker. He forced us to go every Christmas from the time I was in 5th grade until I graduated college. He also took us every other September from the time I was 1 or so. He loves Disney but also complains the whole time about the prices. It's pretty funny.

my sister (DS) Kim (in the red sweater next to me) 27- she has yet to decide if she's coming. She's torn. Her DH is a minister and can't (and doesn't really want to) go. But she really wants to come with on Madeline's first trip. She might fly out and meet us there for part of the trip. She wants to make sure there is plenty of sitting by the pool time though.

So that's the cast of characters. Stay tuned for our plans. :cloud9:
 
For the last few months I have been doing research on different places to stay in 2010. Luckily I had pretty much nailed down where we were going to stay at that time so when we decided to move up the trip we could book it. :thumbsup2 I priced out staying at Wilderness Lodge, CSR, and even Fort Wilderness Cabins. I :lovestruc Fort Wilderness. We used to tent there when I was little. I had so much fun at the campfires with Chip and Dale. Dh is NOT a camper. When he was a kid he would always get out of going camping with Cadets. Anyway, I knew tenting was out. Also looking at the cabin we decided we wanted a bit more privacy then it provided. I then looked at the other hotels and decided we'd definitely needed 2 rooms. I love my parents but a week in one hotel room with them would not be fun.

I then started pricing out some condo's. There were good reviews of Windsor Hills. When I priced it out I decided we could stay for 12 nights for less then 7 nights in 2 Disney hotel rooms.

So a week and a half ago when we found out no baby for us, we booked Windsor Hills May 3-15. We'll be staying in a first floor 3 bedroom condo with 2 king beds. I can't wait to sleep in a king sized bed again. DD tends to sleep with us on vacation so it's nice to have a larger bed.

Next up will we fly or drive?
 
Ok well I'm just gonna keep going, even though no one is reading.

Since we are staying for 12 nights we decided it would be worth it to drive. Had we stayed on site we would have only been there a week and would have attempted to find a good price for a flight.

So that was easy. My parents will drive to our house the night before we leave. They have a mini van that we can still squeeze into. We will then leave at around 5am on May 2nd.

We are planning on making a stop around lunchtime at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. I think we're going to try to take the Niagra tour. It's billed as perfect for older people and children. We have both in our group so sounds perfect. :rotfl:

We'll then stop for the night just past Atlanta, preferably in a hotel with suites.

Sunday, May 3 we'll eat the free breakfast and leave the hotel no later then 8am. I'm hoping to pack a lunch that we can eat when we pull into the Florida Welcome Center. :love: We love this place. Free orange juice and all the pamphlets one can carry.

Check in at the condo is 4pm so if we get there before then (which we probably will) we'll stop at the grocery store and maybe Downtown Disney to pick up an annual pass or two. :wizard:
 
I'm a bargain shopper, so last November when the Disney store put their costumes on clearance I bought Alice in Wonderland and the Little Mermaid costumes. I was planning on Madeline wearing one of them for next Halloween.

In anticipation of our upcoming trip I had her try the costumes on. The Ariel costume lasted all of 30 seconds and was deemed "itchy". On to Alice. This is the result.
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She loved it!
 

Your little girl is absolutely adorable!!! Such a cute Alice! :)
Thank you. : )

I'm in - great report so far!

Thanks for joining. :)

I'll update more today sometime. I'm trying to figure out a way to put more pictures in. This will be the first time we have a digital camera in Disney. I'm going to my parents this weekend so maybe I'll have some vintage Disney pics to add next week. :)
 
Here are our plans so far.

Monday, May 4th Magic Kingdom- no ADR's
Tuesday, May 5th off day so probably Downtown Disney and Disney Quest
Wednesday, May 6th EPCOT center (do they still use the center?) No ADR's
Thursday, May 7th another off day we'll either do Typhoon Lagoon or go to Gatorland
Friday, May 8th MGM with lunch ADR at 50's Prime Time unless we cancel that.
Saturday, May 9th off day so either Gatorland or Typhoon Lagoon
Sunday, May 10th Animal Kingdom no ADR's
Monday, May 11th Magic Kingdom Crystal Palace before park opens. :goodvibes
Tuesday, May 12th Off day-- maybe we'll hit up the outlets or do anothe water park
Wednesday, May 13th EPCOT again and probably park hop somewhere
Thursday, May 14th off day
Friday, May 15th leave :sad1:

Our plan, at least for the MK and EP days, is to take a break around 1pm for a couple of hours so Madeline can get a nap. Animal Kingdom day there will be no nap and I'm not sure about MGM day.

I'm trying to decide if I should make an ADR for just DH and I some night and if so where?

Also, I think I'm going to take my mom on the behind the seeds tour on our 2nd Epcot day. She's always wanted to do it! I would also love to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour but not sure that's going to happen this time. That would be something my dad would love to see but Madeline is way too little for the tour so someone wouldn't be able to go.

We'll probably bring our lunch into Animal Kingdom and if we decide to cancel our 50's ADR at MGM we'll bring our lunch there too. We don't like paying Disney food prices if we can avoid it.

next up: What kind of tickets should we get?
 
Great Start! You planned it perfectly with all the off days to give your daughter some "recovery" time lol! She is a cutie! Love the Alice costume
 
I'm joining in! Madeline is so adorable!! How exciting -- her first trip to WDW. I can't wait to have kids and take them for the first time. :goodvibes

Oh, and I LOVE stopping at the Florida Welcome Center too! The free juice and all those brochures...what's not to love?! :rotfl:

Look forward to hearing more!
 
Ok well I'm just gonna keep going, even though no one is reading.

Since we are staying for 12 nights we decided it would be worth it to drive. Had we stayed on site we would have only been there a week and would have attempted to find a good price for a flight.

So that was easy. My parents will drive to our house the night before we leave. They have a mini van that we can still squeeze into. We will then leave at around 5am on May 2nd.

We are planning on making a stop around lunchtime at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. I think we're going to try to take the Niagra tour. It's billed as perfect for older people and children. We have both in our group so sounds perfect. :rotfl:

We'll then stop for the night just past Atlanta, preferably in a hotel with suites.

Sunday, May 3 we'll eat the free breakfast and leave the hotel no later then 8am. I'm hoping to pack a lunch that we can eat when we pull into the Florida Welcome Center. :love: We love this place. Free orange juice and all the pamphlets one can carry.

Check in at the condo is 4pm so if we get there before then (which we probably will) we'll stop at the grocery store and maybe Downtown Disney to pick up an annual pass or two. :wizard:

I'M READING!!!!! who's the guy behind your sister? BIL?
 
Oh my goodness your daughter is absolutely adorable! All you guys with cute little girls make me sad that I can't have another one right now :(

Anyway, everything looks great so far! We will actually be in MK on the 11th as well so if we see you guys we will say hi :)

Its getting soooooo close to May :goodvibes
 
GOOD GIRL!!! :thumbsup2
I had a feeling you'd like her outfit. :) Now I just have to find the movie somewhere for her to watch.

Great Start! You planned it perfectly with all the off days to give your daughter some "recovery" time lol! She is a cutie! Love the Alice costume
Yes I think my parents will need the recovery time too. My dad is no spring chicken. I actually wonder if he'll end up in a ECV before the trip is over.

I'm joining in! Madeline is so adorable!! How exciting -- her first trip to WDW. I can't wait to have kids and take them for the first time. :goodvibes
.
Oh, and I LOVE stopping at the Florida Welcome Center too! The free juice and all those brochures...what's not to love?! :rotfl:

Look forward to hearing more!

The Florida welcome center is the best! We were there last year ( we went to Sea World and Universal) and the had changed it so much since the last time I was there but it's still wonderful.

I'M READING!!!!! who's the guy behind your sister? BIL?
Yes that's my BIL. He's a minister and doesn't want to use his vacation time with the inlaws. Can't say I blame him. :lmao:

Oh my goodness your daughter is absolutely adorable! All you guys with cute little girls make me sad that I can't have another one right now :(

Anyway, everything looks great so far! We will actually be in MK on the 11th as well so if we see you guys we will say hi :)

Its getting soooooo close to May :goodvibes

Thank you. Maybe we'll see you on the 11th.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. :cloud9:
 
Originally we were going to get 10 day non-expiration park hoppers with Water park and more option. We figured we'd use 5 days this trip and then 5 days when we went back in 2012. BUT when we moved our trip up that all changed.

I was talking to my mom and she said that they were most likely getting annual passes. They'd then make a 2nd trip early next year. This got me thinking. Maybe I should get an annual pass and go back with them. Eric was all for it but he didn't want to go back for at least 2 years. So it was decided (I think).

We'll get Eric a 10 day park hopper with water parks and more option. At first I was just going to get him a 7 day but for like $10 more we can get 10 day and that way if we want to run to a park for a show or ride we can. :cutie:

I'll get an annual pass. I think I'm going to go with the Premium pass. We are going to a water park and Eric wants to go to Disney Quest so I think that will make the premium worth it :confused3 I'm still debating that one a bit.

Madeline will be free until end of March next year.

I'm kind of planning a trip for just Madeline and I in the fall. Shh don't tell Eric he doesn't know yet.:angel:

Now I'm wondering what the annual pass looks like. We used to get them for my grandparents and it always took what seemed like forever. We had to wait for them to get their pictures taken. Do they still do that?

The cost of my annual pass and Eric's 10 day pass will be about the same as it would have been if we both got 10 day non- expiring tickets.

Boy do I miss the days when ALL tickets were non-expiring.
 
I have a fantastic camera, Nikon D40 DSLR. Too bad I don't know how to use it. I've had it for almost a year and a half and still don't have it figured out. I love that I can get it to take continuous pictures and that there is almost no delay between pictures. BUT I have yet to do much with it off of Auto settings. I bought a book a while back but have misplaced it. I NEED to find that book and soon! I love the pictures I've seen that other people take.

So today's task is to find that book! I don't expect to be an expert before we go but it would be nice to know how to do some other things.

Now onto videography. I have a camcorder. It's circa 1995 though. Since we no longer have a VCR there's really no point in trying to use it. Besides I don't think it really works anymore anyway. When Madeline was born we briefly considered getting a video camera but decided against it. My point and shoot camera could take brief video's so we decided to just use that. That worked for a bit but then broke. So we've been without video until I got a new phone a few months ago. Too bad I have no clue how to get the video's from my phone to the computer. So back to square one.

We've been doing some research and I think we've decided to get a Sony hybrid camera. It used DVD's and a memory stick ( I believe you just choose which one you want to use at the time) We've read the reviews and it seems like an excellent choice.

Hopefully we'll have a video camera before Madeline's birthday at the end of March. She's doing such cute things now I really want to record her so she can see what she was like. :thumbsup2

I have also joined a photopass share so will get to be in some pictures too. :banana:

So, I have to figure out how to bring a large camera and a camcorder into the parks.

Next: What kind of bag will we bring?
 
I'm in! Your little girl is SO cute. She is going to love Disney World. I'm really pleased that you knew to set off some times for her to relax, so she can REALLY enjoy Disney world without being cranky and tired. Sometimes, people just don't think and I think you did great so far!!!

Good luck with the bag to bring... I always ponder this too!:confused3
 
joining in on your pre trip report. We're going for the first time, statying at all star movies from May 12-19! It's so exciting to PLAN
 
I have 2 bags that I think I'll bring. First one is this from Pottery Barn Kids
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I'm thinking I'll put the adults things in it, poncho's camera, water ect.

And then I have this one
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This is our current diaper bag. It's a skip hop duo. I love it. I hooks right onto the stroller.

I'm sure I'll also bring a soft sided cooler that will fit in the basket under the stroller.
This is our stroller
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It has a small basket underneath.

I am debating trying to find a camera backpack. If I do this I'd want to find one that fit both camera and camcorder in it.


Next up: either the great shoe hunt OR a look back at Disney in the early 90's.
 
I'm in! Your little girl is SO cute. She is going to love Disney World. I'm really pleased that you knew to set off some times for her to relax, so she can REALLY enjoy Disney world without being cranky and tired. Sometimes, people just don't think and I think you did great so far!!!

Good luck with the bag to bring... I always ponder this too!:confused3

Thank you. Taking days off is a must with us. My parents need down time and Madeline will too. She lives by her routine and if we vear away from it for more then a day it's disaster time!

joining in on your pre trip report. We're going for the first time, statying at all star movies from May 12-19! It's so exciting to PLAN

Yes planning is SO fun! I'm gonna go check out your PTR now. :)
 












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