*~~Yay, I can officially start a PTR! Oct 2013 *~*

[tink519]

We all know that pre-trip planning begins before you even leave from the last trip, or sometimes before . We haven't been since March 2011 (gasp!) but that was our DD4's 3rd trip. We knew we needed to take a little break. Sooo hard. So I looked at the calendar and said, October 2013. It seemed far enough away that DH said yeah that sounds good. Well....we're DVC members and October 2013 is now open to us (we own at Vero) so in the past few weeks we needed to figure out, are we doing this?

Southwest fares came out today and we will be booking tonight! Woohoo!!!!!!

Let the officially planning begin .

 

[tink519]

Ok, it's official! We booked the airfare! Wahoooo! Great fare, $196 rt on Southwest with non stop flights.

Next step is booking the hotel, I can do that on the 10th. We are probably staying at the Boardwalk Villas again. We really enjoyed it there.

It will sort of be another group trip for us. Right now, we will be there solo for the first 3 nights and then brother-in-law, wife and kids will join in on the fun. I think this is a great scenario, a few days for family time and then we can have even more fun with them. I wouldn't be surprised if others tag along, it always seems like one person decides to go to Disney and others can't resist. But we'll see .

I can book my ADR's on April 13th so I'll be working on that over the next few weeks too. We will also want to go to the Not so Scary Halloween Party....not sure when that schedule will come out but will need to figure that into the plan as well.

Time to go find a ticker

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

You must be so excited! It makes it so official when you book the airline tickets. I will be excited to hear your plans.

 

[tink519]

Lesson learned. Never make a ticker with the hotel in it until you actually book the hotel. Boardwalk is booked already for our trip I know it's Columbus Day weekend but I didn't think it would be totally booked the first day of availability. Soooo....we had to make some decisions and decided to go with OKW. It was either there, SSR or AK with Savanna view but AK is significantly more points.

I am a little bummed that we aren't back at the Boardwalk again. But we are going to Disney World so how bummed can I really be? And we have never stayed at OKW. My BIL has and we visited their room once and it was huge. I also really like being closer to DTD, having stayed at SSR for three visits we did miss being able to go over to DTD for a quick shopping trip or dinner.

This will also mean retooling the schedule...not sure we need Park Hoppers staying at OKW, with little ones it ends up being a little too much. So might just figure out a schedule without them and save a few dollars.

Alright, kids are looking over my shoulder and are requesting some Smilies

 

[DisneyKentucky]

Look forward to seeing your plans as we follow your arrival in November. Subscribing.

 

[tink519]

Welcome Riles and Gabe and DisneyKentucky! Glad to have you along for the ride

 

[MommyRobot]

I'm also looking forward to seeing your plans as I'm going in November and I'm a first timer! Gotta learn from the veterans.

 

[tink519]

Welcome MommyRobot! Is this the first trip for all of you? Congrats! That will be so much fun. November is a great time!

 

[MommyRobot]

Welcome MommyRobot! Is this the first trip for all of you? Congrats! That will be so much fun. November is a great time!

It's the 3rd for me, 2nd for DH and my Mom (all in the late 90's except for a work trip I took last year that doesn't really count! lol) and first for my Mom's fiance and DS! I'm so excited!

 

[tink519]

Alright, I am going to take a break from looking at the schedule and figuring out where to eat and what to do and do we need park hoppers for a minute and introduce you to our family!

I am the mom. I am 37, I recently quit my full time job because I just didn't like it anymore. I didn't like the hours away from my family, and the stress just wasn't worth it. I am currently exploring my options that allow me to be home to get my daughter off the bus but also give us enough extra income to plan trips to Disney . My first trip to Disney was with my husband just after we got married but before I was pregnant with my daughter. It was a great get away and I fell in love with Disney. I couldn't wait to go back again.

My husband will be turning 45 while we are there. Yay, a birthday celebration at Disney! I think he would rather be going to Machu Pichu or someplace like that but Disney will have to do for this year. Maybe for his 50th. DH joined DVC with his parents and brother before we were married.

DD will be turning 7 on Halloween, so we will also be celebrating her birthday while we are there. I told her she could pick one place to eat while we are there. She said she wanted breakfast in the castle, lunch at Rainforest Cafe and Dinner with the Step-Sisters at 1900 Park Fare. We'll do our best. Her big night will be our last night, dinner in the castle followed by MNSSHP. It should be a great night.

DS is 4, he will almost be 5 when we are there. To say the little man is excited to go is an understatement. Everyone morning his first words are "Do I have school today?" followed by "Are we going to Disney today?" Sorry, bud. Another 6 months and 27 days to go . What does he want to do when he is there? Go see the animals. And Toy Story. And drive the cars. And see his girlfriend Snow White. I think we can take care of that.

Here are a few photos:
This is from our last trip in March 2011.

One of my favorite photos

And the Lion

 

[tink519]

wow those are some big pictures

 

[MommyRobot]

Love that second picture, it's so cute <3

Good for you-leaving a job that you hate! And good luck with the job search.

 

[tink519]

Good for you-leaving a job that you hate! And good luck with the job search.

Yeah, it was pretty dramatic. In a meeting and walked out, came in and gave my resignation the next day. I had 2 parts to my job, I quit one part immediately, the other part I loved but it was a package deal. I have slowly weaned off of the other since I had more responsibility and there needed to be a transition. I am finishing up my last project now but I would honestly love to continue to do that if I could. It stinks to have to completely quit because the other part wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. But overall I know it is what is best for me and my family.

 

[tink519]

Love that second picture, it's so cute <3

and thanks! I absolutely love this picture. It was a super rainy day, thunderstorms, etc. I actually think we may have seen a bolt of lightening shortly after this and made a mad dash for Hollywood & Vine for our Character Breakfast. So this is why there was no one there and made for a great photo op, especially with the Mickey head t-shirt on (and his Mickey crocs too!)

 

[tink519]

Our Magical Express tags came already??? Don't they unusually come 30 days before? Well excited to have them. Now I just need to not lose them.

So here are the three things I am figuring out:

1. DH's birthday. Need to figure out where he wants to eat dinner and spend the day.

2. Normally our first day is the Magic Kingdom, but that will be a Friday so reconsidering since that will be a party night and I want to be able to see the night parade and fireworks.

3. Park hoppers. We might only end up at Epcot once if we don't get hoppers and that makes me sad.

What to do, what to do....

 

[tink519]

I am a total PTR slacker But the planning continues!

Our ADR day was April 14th, I was up bright and early and was back to bed by 6:15 am. DH made a decision about his birthday dinner choosing California Grill. Too bad I wasn't able to make an ADR because it is being renovated. I am keeping an eye on it, but made an ADR for Artist Point just in case we aren't able to get into Cali Grill which it finally does open up.

The rest of our ADR's look like this:

Day 1: We arrive late so no ADR's, we'll grab something at OKW or if we are up for it we'll head over to DTD.

Day 2: Le Cellier, 6:25 pm -- this is a surprise dinner for DH. He asked about dining here but I told him I didn't think it was a good idea with the kids...I ended up making reservations anyway. I am hoping to keep it a surprise but he already started asking about switching and going to Japan or something like that...so I had to tell him I already have a surprise for him. He doesn't know where though.

Day 3: CRT 12 pm. Celebrating DD's birthday lunch.
Artist Point 5:30 pm, DH's Birthday Dinner.

Day 4: Tusker House, 10:45 am.
Raglan Road, 7 pm --Date night with DH, his brother and wife. No kids, yay!

Day 5: We're either doing H&V breakfast or Sci Fi for lunch. Holding on hope that they add Doc and Sophia to H&V. If not, we'll probably do Sci Fi.

Day 5: MNSSHP!!!

Day 6: La Hacienda, 6:30 pm.

Day 7: T-Rex lunch. I might cancel this...I think DS would love it but I feel like we have so many meals already. We will need to be on the ME at 2:20 pm so might just want to do a quick shopping trip and hang by the pool.

No park hoppers....I think we'll be ok without them.