"Where Mickey At" (Planning our October 2012 Trip)

[sharingiscaring]

This is my first trip report (please forgive me as I muddle along). I have been a long time lurker on Disboards and recently joined. I have been planning our October trip for over a year. We have not been to Disney since December of 2009. I was very newly pregnant with our second daughter during that trip and wanted to wait until she was two until we went again. This trip will be a celebration of our older daughter’s fifth birthday, my younger daughter’s first trip, and my MIL and Sister’s first trip staying on Disney property. Our dates are October 17th-October 21st. We will be staying at Pop Century, and we have tons of fun things planned.
Introductions:

Shari (me). I have been married to my husband for eight years and am a stay at home Mommy to my two monkey girls. I have a degree in elementary education and plan on home schooling my children in the future. I enjoy reading, crafting, Harry Potter, planning Disney trips, and shopping.

Andrew (my husband) works both as a retail manager and as a corpsman in the Navy reserves. He also is currently taking online classes in hospital management. Needless to say he is incredibly busy. He enjoys video games, science fiction, Burn Notice, and really is looking forward to having a break for this vacation.

Gracie is our older daughter. She will be turning five during our trip. She is a very social people person and wants to be friends with everyone. She was two during her first trip to Disney and wanted to hug every Princess, kiss Mickey and Minnie on the nose, and see everything. She loved everything and can’t wait to go again. She loves working on art projects, anything glittery, dancing, and her sister.

Ruby D is our baby. She will be two during our trip. She is a Mommy’s girl and is very happy if I am with her. If I am working on something and can’t give her all my attention she has been known to throw a fit. She is a stubborn little girl who is very determined (and smart). She already knows all of her colors, can count to twenty, and speaks in complete sentences. She is excited to “hug Minnie,” but I won’t be surprised at all if she refuses to leave my arms to see the characters. We plan on letting her do exactly as much as she wants to on this trip; I’m sure she will love the cupcakes, dressing up, and rides.
Family Picture:

My husband’s parents (Richard and Mary Ann) will be joining us. They have their own plans (mainly including drinking at the Food and Wine Festival), but they do plan on spending time with the girls and us during the trip. They live in New Mexico so we typically see them once a year (we live in Indiana). They are both retired and very involved in the Senior Community in their town.

My younger sister (Andrea) will also be joining us. She is a veterinary, and my girls and I spend a week or so with her every few months. She loves cats, watching movies, and reading. This will be her first trip staying at Disney property and going to more than one park.

I am still figuring out how to do everything so I will hopefully have links up at some point. Thanks so much for reading so far.

 

[sharingiscaring]

As I was planning this trip I showed Gracie all of the pictures from our last visit. We went during the last week of November/first week of December in 2009 and had a magical time. The weather was perfect, and the parks were not crowded at all. I have my fingers crossed that this trip is the same way. Our trip was a celebration of my husband coming home after a year of medical training for the Navy. We were able to get 30% off our room (Port Orleans Riverside) and use the military deal for our tickets (my husband was free, I was $99 plus $25 to upgrade to Park Hopper, and Gracie was only two at the time). We took a relatively slow pace during our trip and went back to our hotel every day for nap. We let Gracie pick what she wanted to do and took a lot of snack breaks. We stood in line to see Princesses two times, but that's what Gracie wanted to do. We also went to the Christmas Party (Gracie fell asleep in my arms right before the last parade started) and managed to get to each park except for Epcot. Before I start updating details for this trip I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from our last one.

Gracie meeting Cinderella for the first time.

Gracie's favorite character interaction. Belle spent a very long time with her, and you can tell from the look on her face how much she loved her. They had a hugging session before we left.

The one character Gracie wasn't sure about. She didn't cry once the entire trip, but she was ready to leave this place.

Running to meet Snow White and Prince Charming.

Our last day of vacation.

One of the things I am most excited about this trip is dressing two little girls. They like to wear matching outfits and love girly things so I can't wait to see them in their cute clothes. I have a few Minnie outfits stashed away and am planning on buying special things before we go. My next update will focus on our upcoming trip and our resort/dining plan.

 

[shannonkay]

I look forward to the rest of your plans. I'm very tentatively planning a first trip to the "World", as we are local to the "Land". My daughter will be two when we go if all goes as planned. I love dressing my daughter in a themed outfit or costume for Disneyland and I foresee a packing conundrum for Florida!

My daughter has that same doll stroller!

 

[sharingiscaring]

We decided to stay at Pop Century because my sister and in-laws wanted to stay at a value resort and we wanted to try something new to us (we have previously stayed in All Star Movies twice). When we called to book our package we were able to get a 30% off code based on our number of previous visits. Yeah! We booked a package for 4 nights, 5 days, Park Hopper tickets for 5 days, and QSD for 2 adults and 1 child (Ruby D will be sharing off all of our plates). We will be driving from Indiana which is around 16 hours. Our plan is to leave the night before right after supper and drive straight through. The girls will probably sleep for most of the trip as will I. My in laws and sister are flying in the night before so my husband can crash in their hotel rooms when we get there if need be. The way home we will take on a much slower place, and we have plans to stop for half a day at Ruby Falls in Tennessee.

I have quite a few QS places that I want to try, but I am most excited about all the cupcakes I can use my snack credits for. I have a huge sweet tooth and love dessert. I am a very devoted reader of the Disney Food blog and plan on doing their Cupcake Crawl when my daughters are a bit older. For this trip I will stick to eating cupcakes at the parks and possibly trying the Elvis Presley one at the Pop Century Food Court. My list of restaurants we are planning to visit:
Casey's Corner (Magic Kingdom-it just isn't a trip to me until I've had my hotdog and fries)
Storybook Treats (I want to try one of the new waffle sandwiches)
Germany Weinkeller (we have plans to do the wine tasting with my in laws)
Boulangerie Patisserie
Starring Rolls Café
Kusafiri Coffee Shop
Flame Tree BBQ
Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney

We are paying out of pocket during our trip to have breakfast at Chef Mickeys on Gracie's birthday. This was her choice, and she is very excited about it. Her surprise gift will be an 18 inch doll (Wal-mart brand but very similar to American Girl) dressed in a Minnie outfit with a matching Minnie outfit for her to wear.