Who Invited My Mother In Law? A Moderately Deluxe TR All New X 3 & PTR Link 2/3 !!

[cindianne320]

Question for you... Our DS will be newly 4 when we head back to WDW next fall. How do you handle spending money? Gift cards for birthday/holiday before the trip? Or do you just kind of tell her that she has x amount of money to spend, and you keep track?

I know you've mentioned she gets 1 stuffed animal a day- anything else?

Thanks for your help! (Our baby will only be 1, which is how old DS was when we went last.)

 

[RGirl]

I think that it was her favorite day at WDW ever. She was so happy.

I'm not prepared at all for the no princessess/no dresses/no character days. I love the innocence. You're exactly right! (now I gotta convince DH that a trip every year is absolutely necessary )

I'm not at all prepared for it either. I hope you get to go every year! I wish we could! I hope we get at least one more trip filled with princesses and innocence. And then I hope that we both have daughters who continue to love to go with us regardless of how old they are.

 

[shan23877]

Holy cow! I shouldn't be surprised at how long some of the lines for the princess meet and greets are, but my word. That is some dedication you and other moms of princesses have!! We met lots of characters on our last trip, but no princesses (boys didn't care *that* much ) and frankly I would have vetoed an hour + wait anyway.

Those wait times were brutal. Honestly, if it had been any other day and any other character we would have said no. She really wanted to meet Jasmine dressed as Jasmine. Who could blame her? I don't think we met Mickey and Minnie at Town Square this year. Princesses won out over them.

I too love Tiana's dress. It's gorgeous. Maybe next year?

Isn't that dress amazing? She's already made plans for the next trip. As of now, it'll be Aurora, Belle, or Rapunzel.

I tried to get photos from Aladdin (one of Quinn's favorites) and they came out all crooked and blurry. I hate my dumb point and shoot.

I have tons of Aladdin pics! Photoshop you boys into them!

Great photos and great update!! I love seeing all your pics--Maddie must have been just having the time of her life on this royal treatment day. How special!!

Thank you so much! She had the best day, and frankly so did we.

Shannon, I am doing major catch up on your TR (I know you will understand why).

I totally understand Kathy, keeping you in my thoughts.

I've a few comments:

1) I love the BBB photos; this is the one thing I missed about not having a girl (although my DH doesn't....he said he'd be broker than he is now )

Thank you so much! Mark is probably secretly relieved!

2) Gread parade pictures, and love the interaction between Genie and Maddie

3) Great photo op with Jasmine and Aladdin

4) Love the pictures of the new Dumbo...I can't wait to show Mark

We had such a great afternoon, and Storybook Circus is such a great area! I wish that we'd seen both Dumbos operational, but the one that was up is so cute!

5) The princess pictures are very nice...but to me the princesses looked more like the real princesses years ago than they do now

6) Bryan's hat picture fits right up there with Mark's hat pictures. Great job, Bryan.

I've read through your old TRs, so I thought of them when I posted it!

Haha, I guess that is kinda true, but next time! He's usually there after 5pm, so Ive always waited until then to check the m&g out!

We saw him during the day last time (I think) so I was surprised, but Maddie wasn't too upset. Aladdin, Eric, and Charming are her main men.

My favorite Aladdin is the one that's a little skinner, clearly on the whiter side of skin tone, but wears a lot of bronzer, we met him later in this trip, and Ivd met him before, he's great!

I think my favorite ever was the one we met on the first day, but I'd love to see yours. The 1st day Aladdin was just so amazing.

I've seen Tiana get down to the kids level before, I think the hoop in the dress kinda squishes down or somethig, it just irks me when I see pictures of characters standing with small kids. Heck, as a kid, Eeyore squatted down for me, and was now shorter than me, so I squatted down to meet his height, LOL! Guess I've always been like that!

I know what you're saying, I know Maddie really gets a kick out of them coming down to her level to really listen to her. Like I said, most of them do. I do love some of the princess photos from that day (especially the Belle ones) because as her mom I can see how little she looks next to the grown up princess.


Haha! Yes, something to help pass the time in line! Let's get trip planning now! Haha, who knows, maybe by your next trip I'll be friends with some very special people! Haha *fingers crossed* I also seriously dont know how we didnt see each other again, our days were pretty similar! I guess I hit a point of twitterpation and wasnt paying much attention to anything else haha!

I played Draw Something a lot while I waited in line!

By my next trip, I'm sure you'll be friends with a character! Will we be able to skip the line as a friend of the character?

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I'm reading along.

So glad your MIL finally left!

Thanks so much for joining in! I should thank Nebo/Laura/Ponz for plugging me too!

I was glad she left too .

Yay for you guys getting to meet so many of the characters, despite the long lines!!! I don't have much recent experience with character greeting lines, but Bryan waiting in line for you guys doesn't seem like a problem to me!!

Great pics of the New Toontown. The themeing there really does look awesome!

Can't wait to hear about your special dinner!

I think Maddie was really happy with how the day turned out. She met her most important princess friends, and got to do the rides that her Dad and I usually resist!

Storybook Circus is really cute, I am so eager to see Fantasyland finished. I think it's going to be amazing!

Dinner was great! I can't wait to share!

I'm caught up!

I love the updates! I'm glad Maddie got to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. I don't mind one parent holding the line for their kids at all.

Thanks! I don't mind either, but I know it upsets some people. I guess none of them read this TR though!

Chad does not do the tea cups either or other "throw up rides."

I love the Photopass Pics. So good!

I can't wait to read about your dinner!

Bryan HATES the teacups! Maddie always says "Daddy can't spin in circles because it makes his tummy hurt."

Dinner was so great! I can't wait to share!

Thanks for sharing your final thoughts about the trip with your MIL. We are considering having family join us, and it is nice to hear about what makes it doable and what doesn't! I think your idea of meeting up for breakfast and supper and then being appart during the day when travelling with a crowd sounds great!

Thanks! I wanted to share how I was feeling now since I'd been so honest about how I was feeling at the time. We really should have encouraged MiL to take some time to do what she wanted without us. I think it would have made a real difference.

Let me know what you decide to do!

Question for you... Our DS will be newly 4 when we head back to WDW next fall. How do you handle spending money? Gift cards for birthday/holiday before the trip? Or do you just kind of tell her that she has x amount of money to spend, and you keep track?

I know you've mentioned she gets 1 stuffed animal a day- anything else?

Thanks for your help! (Our baby will only be 1, which is how old DS was when we went last.)

I hope this helps:

for the first trip, we encouraged Maddie to do simple things around the house (help clear the table, help wash the car, dust her room, etc. but NOT including picking up her toys and putting her clothes into the hamper) for $1 per chore. We started early so she had saved up $40. We had plenty of souvenir money budgeted, but we wanted to give her an idea of budgeting and saving up for things. While at WDW she predictably wanted us to buy her toy after toy. We made a snap decision to say "no toys" or more honestly "we won't buy anything here that we could buy at Target" So, she bought the toys herself until the $ ran out. She had a really good attitude about it. When the well dried up, she just said she'd save up for it for next trip.

We bought her 1 stuffed animal per day, a t-shirt, a Christmas ornament, and Mickey ears.

This trip was much of the same. She had more $ this time because she'd received gift cards for Easter the month before. Our rule stayed "no toys" (except for the day that dad treated her to something special and the Mr. Potato Head that we'd promised months before the trip.) and she bought the ones she wanted with her money. Grandma did buy her one toy as well.

We again bought a stuffed animal each day, a t-shirt, Mickey ears, and an ornament, a pillow for her new room, and a nightgown (because she needed new PJs. I bought a bunch more from Disney Store when we got back-way better selection and prices).

All that was in addition to the bribes of course!

My best piece of advise would be that no matter how much or how little you treat them to (or how much they're spending on themselves) don't do it all at once. She was really eager to shop on Day 1, and by Day 7 was a little upset that she didn't have any more money to spend. Same with the stuffed animals, by getting one each day she felt like she'd gotten a treat. If we'd bought them all at once she'd have forgotten about our generosity and wanted more.

I hope that helped!

I'm not at all prepared for it either. I hope you get to go every year! I wish we could! I hope we get at least one more trip filled with princesses and innocence. And then I hope that we both have daughters who continue to love to go with us regardless of how old they are.

Me too! I love reading Jaqui's (Queenofallthings) TRs about her and her daughter. Makes me optimistic!

Bryan would like to do WDW trips every other year, but I keep pushing to do them every year hoping to milk the magic as long as I can.

I so hope that you get that trip! It's so special.

 

[RGirl]

Me too! I love reading Jaqui's (Queenofallthings) TRs about her and her daughter. Makes me optimistic!

Bryan would like to do WDW trips every other year, but I keep pushing to do them every year hoping to milk the magic as long as I can.

I so hope that you get that trip! It's so special.

Oh, I don't know that I've seen her TRs. I will have to look! DD and I actually met such a mother-daughter team on the Wonder. It was so cool - I just have to think that they were DIS'ers!

I vote for every year too. Surely, Bryan will listen to me.

 

[shan23877]

Hi everyone! I hope to get an update done tomorrow, but I wanted to share something that I thought you'd all enjoy.

One of my closest friends was visiting from Portland for a few days, so she, Maddie and I decided to go to Brookfield Zoo yesterday. We walked in and Maddie started telling my friend how much she'd like the "Safari Ride that will take us around to all of the animals" and then she said "You'll like it, we'll save the baby elephant"

This is a pretty nice zoo, but apparently it's no WDW, I fear that we've ruined her. On the plus side our visiting friend who's never been to WDW is really interested in joining us for a trip! I guess all that yammering about our vacations has worked! I wonder if I can get a referral fee from Disney...or maybe just an awesome room discount?

 

[shan23877]

Oh, I don't know that I've seen her TRs. I will have to look! DD and I actually met such a mother-daughter team on the Wonder. It was so cool - I just have to think that they were DIS'ers!

I vote for every year too. Surely, Bryan will listen to me.

If we gang up on him, it's gotta work!

You should check out her TRs, they're great! She's commented on here and the links are in her signature. Her beautiful daughter is 19 or so and they seem to have such a wonderful relationship. It gives me hope!

That's awesome that you met a mom/daughter team on the cruise! Maybe she'll pop up on your TR? I've met people before on trips that I think must be DISers, but I'm always too shy to ask.

 

[amandaw]

Hi everyone! I hope to get an update done tomorrow, but I wanted to share something that I thought you'd all enjoy.

One of my closest friends was visiting from Portland for a few days, so she, Maddie and I decided to go to Brookfield Zoo yesterday. We walked in and Maddie started telling my friend how much she'd like the "Safari Ride that will take us around to all of the animals" and then she said "You'll like it, we'll save the baby elephant"

This is a pretty nice zoo, but apparently it's no WDW, I fear that we've ruined her. On the plus side our visiting friend who's never been to WDW is really interested in joining us for a trip! I guess all that yammering about our vacations has worked! I wonder if I can get a referral fee from Disney...or maybe just an awesome room discount?

Love it!

Was Maddie disappointed when you had to tell her that the zoo doesn't have a safari ride like Disney?

 

[shan23877]

Love it!

Was Maddie disappointed when you had to tell her that the zoo doesn't have a safari ride like Disney?

Nah, she took it in stride. Especially when she got picked to be in then dolphin show and remembered that we could "pet" the sting rays.

 

[amandaw]

Nah, she took it in stride. Especially when she got picked to be in then dolphin show and remembered that we could "pet" the sting rays.

That's so great! It sounds like y'all had a fun day there!

 

[RGirl]

If we gang up on him, it's gotta work!

You should check out her TRs, they're great! She's commented on here and the links are in her signature. Her beautiful daughter is 19 or so and they seem to have such a wonderful relationship. It gives me hope!

That's awesome that you met a mom/daughter team on the cruise! Maybe she'll pop up on your TR? I've met people before on trips that I think must be DISers, but I'm always too shy to ask.

Well, I did have a true DIS meet on the cruise that I wasn't expecting, so that was cool. I hope the mom/daughter show up on my report - they were SO Disney, I have to think they must be on here somewhere!

 

[shan23877]

That's so great! It sounds like y'all had a fun day there!

We did! It's a great zoo. Maybe I'll post some pics from the day once I get them off the camera. Right now I'm too tired to get off the couch. We've had guests 4 of the last 6 days! I'm so glad to have had the chance to visit with my girlfriend though. Since she's so far away we rarely get to see each other. It's usually just phone chats.

 

[shan23877]

Well, I did have a true DIS meet on the cruise that I wasn't expecting, so that was cool. I hope the mom/daughter show up on my report - they were SO Disney, I have to think they must be on here somewhere!

That's so great! I can't wait to hear about it! Had you arranged it beforehand or was it a surprise?

I've always been so afraid that I'll be sort of awkward if I ever has a DISmeet, but we did see Katt on the last trip (after I ran away from her at 'Ohana) and it was great!

 

[amandaw]

We did! It's a great zoo. Maybe I'll post some pics from the day once I get them off the camera. Right now I'm too tired to get off the couch. We've had guests 4 of the last 6 days! I'm so glad to have had the chance to visit with my girlfriend though. Since she's so far away we rarely get to see each other. It's usually just phone chats.

I don't blame you one bit. I've been the same way tonight - too tired to get off of the couch. We had a playdate at our house this afternoon with 2 of Reid's friends from school. Imagine: three wild 4 year old boys running & screaming through the house. It had been raining all day. It finally quit raining & even though it was soaking wet outside, we sent them outside to play. I fell asleep on the couch for like 15 minutes while Ed & I were watching a movie.

It's always nice to have those kinds of visits with girlfriends, especially when you don't see them often.

 

[RGirl]

That's so great! I can't wait to hear about it! Had you arranged it beforehand or was it a surprise?

I've always been so afraid that I'll be sort of awkward if I ever has a DISmeet, but we did see Katt on the last trip (after I ran away from her at 'Ohana) and it was great!

We did not arrange it, although we had messaged a few times. They recognized us, and we spent some time at the pool, etc. I will include it all in the TR too.

I would have worried about it being awkward except that I had belonged to a non-DIS board for about 8 years and finally met a friend from there at WDW in 2010 (we planned our trips together over Facebook) - we had been friends for nearly 8 years, so it was not awkward at all - just wonderful!

 

[shan23877]

I don't blame you one bit. I've been the same way tonight - too tired to get off of the couch. We had a playdate at our house this afternoon with 2 of Reid's friends from school. Imagine: three wild 4 year old boys running & screaming through the house. It had been raining all day. It finally quit raining & even though it was soaking wet outside, we sent them outside to play. I fell asleep on the couch for like 15 minutes while Ed & I were watching a movie.

Just thinking about having 3 four-year olds in the house makes me tired right down to my hair follicles! I may not have been able to wait until it stopped raining to encourage them to go out side. I hope that you gets some rest this weekend! You've earned it!

(We are so spoiled with our only children to look after!)

It's always nice to have those kinds of visits with girlfriends, especially when you don't see them often.

It was great!

We did not arrange it, although we had messaged a few times. They recognized us, and we spent some time at the pool, etc. I will include it all in the TR too.

I would have worried about it being awkward except that I had belonged to a non-DIS board for about 8 years and finally met a friend from there at WDW in 2010 (we planned our trips together over Facebook) - we had been friends for nearly 8 years, so it was not awkward at all - just wonderful!

That sounds so wonderful! I'm so glad that you had a chance to do that! I can't wait to hear all about that, and the rest of your amazing trip of course!

If Amanda has her way, maybe we'll all get to have our own DISmeet on DCL one of these days!

 

[RGirl]

That sounds so wonderful! I'm so glad that you had a chance to do that! I can't wait to hear all about that, and the rest of your amazing trip of course!

If Amanda has her way, maybe we'll all get to have our own DISmeet on DCL one of these days!

I'm so glad that Amanda is looking out for all of us!

 

[kmedina]

That is a neat story. Maddie is so adorable. Glad you had a great time and converted someone to Disney. There were chimps on the loose her yesterday, so people got to see some animals for free. We were out a bit yesterday and sadly (or should I say fortunately) missed them. They actually belonged to a citizen, not the rindy dink zoo we have here.

 

[amandaw]

Just thinking about having 3 four-year olds in the house makes me tired right down to my hair follicles! I may not have been able to wait until it stopped raining to encourage them to go out side. I hope that you gets some rest this weekend! You've earned it!

And to make matters more tiresome, my child decided to let every ounce of badness in him shine bright for all to see. I had to put him in time out at one point & he screamed the entire time. He usually isn't terrible, but put him around new people or people he hasn't seen in a while & oh my goodness, he sure can show his tail.

(We are so spoiled with our only children to look after!)

We really are. Ed & I made the decision to only have 1 child for a variety of reasons. Most days, I really do enjoy having only one child. But, there are some days I wish he had a sibling to play with instead of always asking us. Not that I don't want to play with him but I have to get things done in the house as well. And I think it's important that he understands that Mommy & Daddy can't always drop everything just to do whatever he wants.

If Amanda has her way, maybe we'll all get to have our own DISmeet on DCL one of these days!

You betcha! I haven't given up hope!

I'm so glad that Amanda is looking out for all of us!

That's right! I'm just looking out for us. Kids in the club.....Fun chit chat & drinks for the adults!

 

[RGirl]

That's right! I'm just looking out for us. Kids in the club.....Fun chit chat & drinks for the adults!

You really ARE looking out for us. Count me in!!!!!

 

[Lisa29]

That is so cute. My DD thinks that holiday means Disney world! I need to make her realise that isn't always the case!