WL Flag Family Of The Day pics added! - Birthday Magic and Disney Diva Hair.

[DisneyTiger]

Hello everyone! We have just returned from our 8 night trip to Walt Disney World. It was wonderful. There were many magical moments and lots of laughs. This is my third trip report. I love doing these and documenting each moment of our magical vacations. But more than that, I love sharing them with you and making friends along the way. I hope you stick around to read more. I'll try not to disappoint

So... up first, the cast:

Me - My name is Talissa and I am a 33 year SAHM. I have two beautiful children. Aubrey is 4.5 and Brendan (aka Bobo) turned 3 on this trip. They are the absolute joys of my life! Here is a pic of the three of us at the airport waiting for our flight. It's not the best pic of myself but it'll do...

DD- Jason, the love of my life He definitely shares the Disney obsession with me, though he doesn't always admit it. Case and point... want to know what he wanted to talk about on our way home from our trip??? Where we were going to eat on the next one and which days we were going to go to each park. A man after my own hear, I tell ya! Here is is waiting for DME. I think he was more excited than us!

The plan...

3/16 - 3/24 The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. 8 nights of magic! Celebrating DS's 3rd birthday. We did the same trip back in 2008 for DD's 3rd birthday. We stayed at The Beach Club Villas and it was wonderful. We felt it was only fair that we did the same thing for DS's bday

I did a lot of prep work for this trip but I have to admit, not as much as I did for DD's. I was, well, OBSESSED with that trip planning! We had a great trip but I had built it up so much and made so many plans that any time something went even the slightest bit off "plan" I was devastated. Example, I wanted rope drop at MK to be the first thing "Disney" that my kids ever saw. I dreamed about the moment when the train came down in front of the station and seeing their reactions. Well, guess what. We missed rope drop on our first morning there. I literally was in tears. There were other moments like that on that trip. So, I took a whole different approach with this one. I didn't plan like a crazy person. Yes, I made ADR's and tshirts and bought stuff for the plane ride and sent a package ahead. You know, normal things But I wasn't obsessed. We were determined to have a nice relaxing laid back trip, and that's exactly what we did.

Ok, so all of that being said, I'll share with you a bit of the planning process. Another thing I didn't do was a PTR so this will be a mini one

I had been collecting things for a few months for the kids...coloring books, games, pins for trading, new cups for the parks. All that good stuff. Something that I did for DD's birthday trip was collect birthday cards with characters on them. I signed each card as the character and on the day of her birthday, she "found" them all day long throughout the parks. It was really fun so I did the same thing for DS. I also sent ahead a package of items that would just take up too much room in our suitcases... diapers, wipes, sand buckets, snacks, and for us, wine It worked out great and I highly recommend shipping ahead for anyone who is flying. It cost $20 to get it there and it was waiting for us when we checked in. Nice. Here is a pic of the box before I shipped it...

I also did a countdown for our trip starting at 30 days out. Last time, I did a ring countdown but I decided to do the Home Depot paint chip countdown this time. For the life of me, I cannot find a picture of the thing! I KNOW that I took one. Oh well, here are a few pics of the kids taking down some of the numbers...

And the most imporant one.... NUMBER 1!!!

I also made some shirts for the trip with the help of the AWESOME DISigners! I heart them For DD's trip, I went a bit overboard and made shirts for pretty much every day. Not this time. I made a few, just enough. Here they are...

Here are the kids shirts for the plane...

We were going to be there on St. Patrick's Day so I thought this would be a good excuse to all dress the same. I love how these came out...

So, we live in Baton Rouge. About an hour away from New Orleans. Naturally, we are Saints fans. WHO DAT!!!!! So I had to represent...

Then some name shirts for the kids...

And here is Brendan's birthday shirt, front and back...

And of course, a few shirts for myself

I also bought new strollers for the kids. I was in Sears one day and I happen to see these precious Piglet and Tigger strollers. For $25 each, I had to have them! They are our official Disney strollers Here are the kids waiting in the airport parking lot. Too cute...

(Too many pics in this post. It'll be in the next one...)

Other than that, our plans consisted of 8 nights of bliss and a few character meals. We decided not to do the dining plan this time for a few reasons. One, Brendan does HORRIBLY in restaurants. To the point that it's not enjoyable. I cannot even imagine having to do 8 sit down meals with him. Nightmare Also, we wanted to have an open schedule and not be tied down to ADR's. I made only 3 reservations.. Chef Mickey, Ohana breakfast, and Play N' Dine. We would find out later that this was one too many

And that's pretty much the extent of my plannning. Let the fun begin!

 

[__disneygirl]

Hey Talissa.. great start! You have a beautiful family & I love those shirts! Nice job!

Excited to read more

 

[my2disneyboys]

Hey T!! I am here!! Love the report already! I am SO much like you - you have know idea With our last trip I OVER PLANNED and played it up SO much in my head that I spent the whole week not as happy as I should have. So for this trip we are planning.... I have taken a new approach and that is not to say I dont think about it all the time and that I will not do some pretty crazy things... but we have downgraded to a moderate hotel.... no car rental.... decided not to do the deluxe dining plan this time around and instead will keep our mornings free with a little breakfast in our room.... giving us more time to relax... and the main plan is to just relax and enjoy it as much as possible. Enjoy our kids and eachother!

I cant wait to hear more!! I want to see the picture of the strollers you got!

 

[disney2mom]

Hello Talissa! Just found your TR You have a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Hey Talissa.. great start! You have a beautiful family & I love those shirts! Nice job!

Excited to read more

Yay! Thanks for reading along! I like the shirts that I decided on. We got so many compliments on the Saints ones

Hey T!! I am here!! Love the report already! I am SO much like you - you have know idea With our last trip I OVER PLANNED and played it up SO much in my head that I spent the whole week not as happy as I should have. So for this trip we are planning.... I have taken a new approach and that is not to say I dont think about it all the time and that I will not do some pretty crazy things... but we have downgraded to a moderate hotel.... no car rental.... decided not to do the deluxe dining plan this time around and instead will keep our mornings free with a little breakfast in our room.... giving us more time to relax... and the main plan is to just relax and enjoy it as much as possible. Enjoy our kids and eachother!

I cant wait to hear more!! I want to see the picture of the strollers you got!

Ok, I totally know how you feel and that's exactly the attitude that we had on this trip. We had plans but nothing that was totally set in stone. It also helped that we've been before so I didn't have that "have to fit it all in" feeling the whole time. We are also planning on going back in December so that helps too Every time I think about you doing the deluxe dining plan I just don't know how you do it! Obviously your boys are much better at restaurants than mine! But more than that, it's the feeling like you're always running to an ADR. I liked not having to be on a schedule. Now, we probably broke even with the amount of money that we spent of food but it was worth it So glad you're reading along

Hello Talissa! Just found your TR You have a beautiful family. Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you so much! I am looking forward to sharing our trip with you. Thanks for coming along for the ride

 

[coteau_chick]

Woo hoo you started your report. Grace is also horrible in restaurants so we are not going to do the dinning plan next time either. We didn't do it last time for that reason. Another reason is that Grace loves her rice and gravy. She will eat better if it is not fast food. I cooked three meals before our last trip and froze them. We brought our little rice cooker and she ate so much. We mostly ate at counter service but we did have a few table service. She make table service a nightmare. She will be closer to four for our next trip so I hope she will do better. I can't wait to hear all about your trip. Your trip reports are always so fun.

 

[my2disneyboys]

About the Dining Plan.... we are really lucky because the kids are really good when we go out to eat and at Disney you even have less pressure of your kids being good at dinner because everything is so loud and there are kids everywhere! On the last trip we even took them to Cali Grill and it was one of my most special memories!! But, on the deluxe plan you are sitting down for three meals a day most of the time and I liked that when it was really hot and you needed a rest- but in Jan/Feb it is pretty cool and it just isnt needed! This trip we will do the dining plan- basic... and schedule our dinners for around 7pm each night and then for breakfast and lunch we will just wing it.

So December!!?? Why cant you push it off a little bit and come last week in January!!!!???? That would be SO FUN!!!!!!!

 

[Disneychix]

Subbing, Can't wait for more!

Love all the shirts you made!

 

[TeaForTulips]

What cute shirts! Can't wait to read more! Subbing.

 

[twinmom2003]

I am really enjoying your trip report and can't wait to read more!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Woo hoo you started your report. Grace is also horrible in restaurants so we are not going to do the dinning plan next time either. We didn't do it last time for that reason. Another reason is that Grace loves her rice and gravy. She will eat better if it is not fast food. I cooked three meals before our last trip and froze them. We brought our little rice cooker and she ate so much. We mostly ate at counter service but we did have a few table service. She make table service a nightmare. She will be closer to four for our next trip so I hope she will do better. I can't wait to hear all about your trip. Your trip reports are always so fun.

Yay! So glad you're here! I remember you bringing your rice and gravy. Too funny and a great idea! So, when are y'all going back? I didn't know you had a trip planned. Woo hoo!!!

About the Dining Plan.... we are really lucky because the kids are really good when we go out to eat and at Disney you even have less pressure of your kids being good at dinner because everything is so loud and there are kids everywhere! On the last trip we even took them to Cali Grill and it was one of my most special memories!! But, on the deluxe plan you are sitting down for three meals a day most of the time and I liked that when it was really hot and you needed a rest- but in Jan/Feb it is pretty cool and it just isnt needed! This trip we will do the dining plan- basic... and schedule our dinners for around 7pm each night and then for breakfast and lunch we will just wing it.

So December!!?? Why cant you push it off a little bit and come last week in January!!!!???? That would be SO FUN!!!!!!!

I trust me, if Brendan could sit through meals better, I'd be all over the deluxe plan! I was so jealous seeing all of the yummy food y'all ate on your trip! I love Cali Grill but I can no more imagine taking Brendan there than flying to the moon! Someday we'll do it. Maybe he'll be better by December. Speaking of December... I'd love to push our trip back but the whole reason we're going then is for the holidays. It's my absolute fav time to go and my birthday is 12/19 so that's the excuse we're using for going back One day we WILL meet up in the World!

Subbing, Can't wait for more!

Love all the shirts you made!

Thanks! I had fun making them. There will be lots more pics of them! Thanks for reading along!

What cute shirts! Can't wait to read more! Subbing.

Yay!!! Thanks!!! Can't wait to share more

I am really enjoying your trip report and can't wait to read more!

I'm glad you're enjoying my report. I'm having fun writing it!!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Thought I'd squeeze in a quick update before dinner. Tomorrow is DH's birthday so we're going out to eat tonight. A date That never happens and after a week at Disney with a 3 and 4 year old, we could use some adult time

Also, I'd like to share that I just officially booked our trip for December! 5 nights at the AKL villas!!! 12/2 - 12/7. I LOVE the holidays so I'm super excited!!!

Ok, so on to my update...

Here's the pic of the strollers that it didn't let me post earlier...

The day we left...

The plan was to get up and send the kids to MDO. They get out at 1:00 and our flight was at 3:30 out of New Orleans. I was pretty much totally packed so I planned on using the morning to clean my house. And that I did. I cleaned it from to bottom. Nothing worse than coming home to a dirty, messy house. We woke up like normal and thankfully the kids both wanted easy breakfasts - cereal and a breakfast bar! They wore their plane t shirts to school. Aubrey was telling everyone where we were going. She was so excited! Jason got home and we went to get kids from school. After saying our goodbyes we left and got to NOLA in record time. It was quite comical getting all of our luggage inside. I wish I had a pic! The flight was great. Brendan fell asleep right away and Aubrey sang the whole time and entertained everyone.

Our flight had us landing in Orlando at 6pm Disney time. Our plan for the evening was to get to the hotel around 7, eat dinner, have baths then head down to the beach to watch the electric water pageant. Well, this was the first of many things that went off schedule. Which was fine. Remember... LAID BACK! Our flight was fine and on time. We made it to DME with only one hiccup... we went the wrong way! DH and I had a grown up trip back in October for the Food and Wine Fest and when we got to MCO, we did the same thing. We went to concourse A instead of B. We both told ourselves to make sure to remember this for March. Well, we didn't and we went to the wrong side of the airport, AGAIN! Oh well, we actually just laughed it off. After we finally made it to DME and loaded the bus, it took FOREVER for it to leave! Now, I am totally in my "take it as it comes, laid back attitude here" but the kids were now getting really restless and they were starving. We hadn't eaten since lunch back home and it was now almost 7:30pm The bus finally took off and we were on our way. Here is a pic of Jason coloring in one of the kids books. I'm pretty sure he was delirious!

And a pic of the kids watching the movie on our way to the hotel. Nothing gets me more excited!!!

After a quick busride, we walked into this...

Just breathtaking

The girl who checked us in was very sweet. I had been reading up on the resort for the past few days and remembered something about being the flag family of the day. I asked if they still did it and she said yes! She checked the book and saw that there was one slot left – the day we leave! Perfect! I was so excited! This ended up being one of the highlights of our trip but you'll have to stick around to see how it turned out I felt like our trip was off to a great start! We went to Roaring Forks for dinner. We were all starving! Jason got the Wilderness salad, I got the turkey and havarti sandwich, the kids got a pizza and chicken nuggets. No pics. Pretty boring stuff!

After dinner, we went up to our room. Here's a pic of them running down the hallway. Ummmm, Shining anyone???

We walked in, with video running, and I see that it's a handicap suite! That’s fine, if we didn’t have two kids to bathe every night! We called front desk to be moved. I was scared because hotel was full. Was hoping that all they would have for us would be a 1 BR! LOL but no luck. I tried my hardest to keep the kids from messing everything up while we waited for our other room. It's amazing what damage two small kids can do in 10 minutes. We moved to 4th floor to another suite. This one had a tub. The plan was to bathe the kids then go down to the beach for EWP but it was 9:00 by now and the parade started at 9:30. We opted to wait for baths and headed down to the beach. There was a play area so that kept the kids amused while Jason went to get us a beer. Here's a pic of them playing...

The boat dock was right near the playground and as soon as Brendan saw it, he made a B line and I had to chase him down. I had a flashback to a horrible dream that I had had months before. I don't know where we were but in my dream, we were on some kind of a boat dock and Brendan fell in the water and ended up drowning!!! To make it more horrible, I vividly remember that in my dream he had on a long sleeved blue Tshirt - exactly what he had on this night I was freaking out and screamed across the beach at him to stop. There was a group of people sitting out enjoying the quiet and here I come like a crazy person screaming my head off and my child! I apologized for yelling and they all laughed and said it was fine. I caught up with him just before he went in the water. Geez!!! Boys, I tell ya! Jason finally made his way back with the beers. By this time, I really needed one! The parade ended up passing right in front of us. The kids loved it! They danced the whole time.

Here is a pic of Jason and Brendan watching the parade. Don't they look so excited!

We were all just so tired but a very chatty mom came and sat down next to me and started talking. All I really wanted to do was sit there and enjoy my beer but she wanted to chat. She ended up being really nice and we saw them a few more times on our trip. She had a daughter Aubrey's age so they played in the sand while we chatted. She told me that her 18 month old son had broken his leg in two places the day before. Yikes!!!

After a while we went back up to room and had baths. I went to front deck to retrieve our package that I had mailed ahead and got some juice, post cards, and a coffee mug. I came back up and kids were in bed, not sleeping. We took a little time to unpack the box and suitcases. We ended up going to sleep around11:30! What a long day! I set the wake up call for 6:00am. We all fell straight asleep and got some good rest for our next day!

Up next... rope drop, MK, Trex and downtown Disney!!!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Great Update! Men just do not have dreams like that- I do and I tell Wayne and he is always like "why do you dream the most awful things!??" I don't know why except for the fact I am a Mom and I worry all the time about my kids... they are my life!!

Have you noticed in the parade that the music is synchronized with what lights up- for instance under the sea when King Triton lights up, or Peter Pan music with the crocodile, or Pete's Dragon music with the dragon?? I thought that was SO cool!!!!

I hope you have a great date night!!!!!

 

[coteau_chick]

OMG your dream freaked me out. That is too weird. Thank God he didn't fall in. Great update once again you never fail to entertain us. I would love to stay at Wilderness Lodge one day. Next time we are staying at POR again because Courtney is coming and we can stay five in one room. I will get in touch with you when it gets closer so you can be my travel agent. Faron's sister and her family might also come and Courtney's boyfriend and his parents too. If they don't break up before then. They have been going out for almost two years. It will be two years in June. We are planning our next trip for Mardi Gras 2011. In the picture of Brendan and Jason watching the parade it looks like the beer is for Brendan.

 

[onejellyshelly]

Love your TR! It is getting me reved up for my upcoming trip. I too over planed my past two trips. I have done a first in my Disney histroy, I have planned two resorts days

 

[tinkgurl]

Just joining in! We were there the 14-19, so I'm interested to see if we made it into any of your pics!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Joining in!

My mama is from Mandeville, so it's always fun seeing other SAINTS/TIGERS fans!!

And we're staying at VWL in December... so I love seeing your WL pictures!

Your kiddos are absolutely gorgeous! How tall is your son? I'm curious to know if he did Splash or anything like that!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Great Update! Men just do not have dreams like that- I do and I tell Wayne and he is always like "why do you dream the most awful things!??" I don't know why except for the fact I am a Mom and I worry all the time about my kids... they are my life!!

Have you noticed in the parade that the music is synchronized with what lights up- for instance under the sea when King Triton lights up, or Peter Pan music with the crocodile, or Pete's Dragon music with the dragon?? I thought that was SO cool!!!!

I hope you have a great date night!!!!!

Yeah, Jason never dreams period so he thinks I'm crazy when I have ones like this! It really was freaky. Anywho...I did notice the music going along with the parade. Very cute!

OMG your dream freaked me out. That is too weird. Thank God he didn't fall in. Great update once again you never fail to entertain us. I would love to stay at Wilderness Lodge one day. Next time we are staying at POR again because Courtney is coming and we can stay five in one room. I will get in touch with you when it gets closer so you can be my travel agent. Faron's sister and her family might also come and Courtney's boyfriend and his parents too. If they don't break up before then. They have been going out for almost two years. It will be two years in June. We are planning our next trip for Mardi Gras 2011. In the picture of Brendan and Jason watching the parade it looks like the beer is for Brendan.

Oh, I would LOVE to help with your trip. Just let me know and I can keep an eye out for deals for you. Mardi GRas is LATE next year! Weird. You are the second person to say that about the beer looking like it was for Brendan! LOL I promise it was for Jason

Love your TR! It is getting me reved up for my upcoming trip. I too over planed my past two trips. I have done a first in my Disney histroy, I have planned two resorts days

Yay! How exciting. I'm glad I can help with your excitement! I know what you mean about planning resort days. It just seems unheard of but it's so nice. We spent a lot of time at the pool on this trip. So much so that people keep asking me why I'm so tan and if we went to the beach! It was nice

Just joining in! We were there the 14-19, so I'm interested to see if we made it into any of your pics!

Haha! Well, it will be like Where's Waldo if you are in any of them. The crowds were pretty crazy! But keep an eye out. You never know! Thanks for reading along!

Joining in!

My mama is from Mandeville, so it's always fun seeing other SAINTS/TIGERS fans!!

And we're staying at VWL in December... so I love seeing your WL pictures!

Your kiddos are absolutely gorgeous! How tall is your son? I'm curious to know if he did Splash or anything like that!

Cool and Geaux Tigers!!! We liked WL it was beautiful. And thanks for the compliments on my kids. I happen to agree with you Brendan is just over 40". He rode Soarin and Test Track. He could have ridden Splash Mountain but DD didn't want to so we skipped it. We will be doing it in December for sure! Thanks for reading along.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Subbing! Your kiddos are super cute! Looking forward to reading more

 

[DisneyTiger]

Subbing! Your kiddos are super cute! Looking forward to reading more

Yay! So glad you're joining in! I'm uploading pics now for a new post