We're off to see the wizards! Movie day and trip update

[-Hope-]

Hi everyone!

I've made a few posts here on the dark side forums but not many. We've been talking, thinking, tentatively planning and fantasizing about a trip to UO for a while now and I decided that it's time to put some things down in writing.

I was hesitant because my trip is just over a year away (leaving home 9/21/13) and I've noticed that here on the dark side people just don't seem to start PTRs as early as those who are visiting Mickey and the gang. But I'm a planner. An obsessive planner actually. I love making and fine tuning plans only to completely upend everything and make new plans. Hopefully you guys won't get too frustrated with me and my constant plan tweaking!

So, lets get started with a little background about us...



That's me, Hope, on the far right with my mom, Bobbi, son, Jace, and daughter, Kya. This pic was snapped in July 2011 at the American Girl Cafe in Chicago. My hubby likes more laid back (think beach or mountains) vacations so when we want to venture to a theme park or large city we usually take my mom along. My hubby has been to WDW but didn't really like it! Yes, I'm still married to him, even with this unthinkable character flaw. What can I say, love is blind. Anyway... we decided that this trip is definitely more of a Grandma trip than a Dad trip, especially since my mom loved Harry before Harry was cool. It's great fun AND saves us some money since she helps pay for hotels, gas, food, etc.

A little about each of us. As I said, I'm Hope (I know, my username is sooo creative) I teach GED classes part time while I also homeschool my kids. I have a bad case of Wanderlust that just doesn't match up with my budget... but right now time with the kids is more important than traveling to other continents so I make due with finding fabulous places to visit with a classic road trip once or twice a year.

My mom, Bobbi, works at a bank and had always been happy to stay home. We didn't take family vacations when I was a kid and that suited her fine. However, now that I've started dragging her along with the kids and I she's gotten a bitten by the travel bug. She's actually headed out for a cruise with 7 of her friends in just a few weeks only to turn around and go to the beach a week later with my family (hubby and my dad are going along for that trip). I'm really happy that we've been able to share our adventures with my mom and that it has inspired her to go out and find some of her own. She's a typical self-sacrificing, always-putting-everyone-else-first lady from her generation and it's nice to see her doing things for herself. If we had anything to do with that it makes me extremely happy.

My son, Jace, is 13 and pretty much the inspiration behind this trip. He loves all things Lego- still- and I don't think he'll ever outgrow it. He's even looked into conventions for AFoL (Adult Fans of Legos) and researched the degrees and skills he'll need if he wants to work for Lego someday. We've been to the Legoland Discovery Centers in Chicago and Kansas City and he loved them both!



But he's really always wanted to see Legoland. When the new park opened in Florida I figured we could pair it with a trip to WWoHP and he'd finally get his wish. Honestly, none of the rest of us are all that excited about Legoland (though we do enjoy the elaborate builds we've seen in other places) but he's so looking forward to it that we'll make it work. (We may also sneak in a trip to the Lego store at DTD since we haven't seen the new one.)

In addition to Legos Jace also loves sci-fi, gaming and all things technological. He's a self described geek and happy to have that label. He's fiercely intelligent and in addition to inspiring this trip he's also the reason we homeschool.

My daughter, Kya, is 12 and she definitely inherited the wanderlust gene. She dreams of Paris and starts each day with the same question, "Where are we going today?"

She also loves classical ballet, animals and, most of all, her friends. Though she inherited a love of travel from me she definitely got her sense of humor from her dad. She is a completely silly girl who takes most things in stride and never takes life too seriously. She is the perfect balance for me and a reminder not to spend too much time in my head.



So, that's us in a (rather large) nutshell. More about our tentative plans in my next post along with some questions for you experienced dark siders. (Just threw that last smiley in because he has a bowtie and bowties are cool).

[-Hope-]

Table of Contents

Mini shopping update- collapsible water bottles
Decisions, Decisions... On site, partner hotel or vacation rental?
And the decision is...
One Year Celebration: Despicable Me movie night
Discovery Cove??
A different dolphin experience...
Let's go to the beach! Our family trip to Gulf Shores, AL
Back to the Beach- adding some beach fun to our trip to the dark side
Family Movie Night: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
Big, exciting, WDW related news!
Family movie day: Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Ch ch changes... fewer nights, fewer people and a hotel decision!

[couturelover]

I'm definitely not an expert but I'd be happy to talk your ear off!! Looks like you'll be going an AWESOME time of year

[Tink-erin-belle]

I'm here, Hope! I can't wait to see what you have planned!

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by couturelover

I'm definitely not an expert but I'd be happy to talk your ear off!! Looks like you'll be going an AWESOME time of year

I'll be happy to listen!

We love the low crowds and low prices of late September. The heat and lovebugs are another story but it's worth enduring them for the perks of traveling in the low season!

Originally Posted by Tink-erin-belle

I'm here, Hope! I can't wait to see what you have planned!

Yay, Erin! You are the main reason I started my PTR so I'm definitely glad you're here!

[Tink-erin-belle]

Originally Posted by -Hope-

Yay, Erin! You are the main reason I started my PTR so I'm definitely glad you're here!

Well, you know I want to steal your ideas… I mean, plan along with you As far as I am concerned, it is never too early to start a PTR!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OMG, Erin got here before me?!?!?!?

BTW, you are on my FAR RIGHT in the picture, not LEFT...don't want anyone thinking you are your mom!

[Tink-erin-belle]

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

OMG, Erin got here before me?!?!?!?

Hello? Bored at work!

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

OMG, Erin got here before me?!?!?!?

BTW, you are on my FAR RIGHT in the picture, not LEFT...don't want anyone thinking you are your mom!

What are you talking about??? I said I'm on the right.

[couturelover]

Originally Posted by -Hope-

We love the low crowds and low prices of late September. The heat and lovebugs are another story but it's worth enduring them for the perks of traveling in the low season!

Yes, the whole melting thing isn't too bad when you don't have to stand in line for 3 hours!

[-Hope-]

Originally Posted by Tink-erin-belle

Well, you know I want to steal your ideas… I mean, plan along with you As far as I am concerned, it is never too early to start a PTR!

I've actually been thinking about and researching for months- two years out might have been too early, even for me!

Originally Posted by reelmom

I'm in. We have a little bit longer until we return to Universal in October of next year. We were bitten by the dark side bug on our last trip. We stayed onsite and the rest is history. I look forward to planning along side of you.

I'm waffling so much about where we'll stay- onsite, partner hotel or condo?? They all have advantages and disadvantages, especially since we're going at a time of year with low crowds so it's hard to choose! This is definitely one of the reasons I started this PTR- to help me decide!

Originally Posted by JessicaR

I'm in and looking forward to reading all about your planning!

Yay!

Originally Posted by couturelover

Yes, the whole melting thing isn't too bad when you don't have to stand in line for 3 hours!

Exactly!

[BabyEeyore]

I'm here! We really want to go to WWoHP someday. We live 2 1/2 hours away, maybe we can plan a time for us to come down and meet you! Can't wait for more of your PTR.

Oh, and bowties ARE cool! Love the smilie. Ashlyn and I took a picture during our trip to Epcot last week with fezes on. I put it up on my family blog saying "oh, and we wear fezes now... fezes are cool." No one got it.

[-Hope-]

Taking a deep breath and trying this again... I was nearly done with this update when I accidentally left the page and now I have to start over.

So, first of all, I just heard from my mom (our fellow dark side tripper) and she just arrived in Orlando! She and her friends are cruising out of FL to the Bahamas tomorrow. I'm so excited for her but also trying not to think about how close she is to Harry and Mickey right now! So, I'm focusing on the fact that two weeks from this moment we will only be about an hour or so from pulling up to our beachfront rental in Gulf Shores, AL!

I've pulled together a few things for the upcoming road trip and, since many of you road trip to Orlando I thought you might like to see... (Don't you just love how I rationalize this OT post.)



I saw a pin on Pinterest that recommended using these baskets...


to hold food and drinks in the car for easy reach and to avoid spills. They were in the clearance aisle so Jace gets purple but he doesn't mind. He says real men wear pink and purple with pride.

I also picked up these complete impulse buys from the clearance rack...


The beach we'll be at is for the neighborhood, not a public beach, and will be slow since it's October. We should have plenty of room to get these babies up in the air... I've never actually gotten a kite in the air but maybe if we sing Mary Poppins we'll get some all the way in Alabama.

I also picked up these binders for 50 cents each.


I was going to take the printables to Staples to have them bound but now we can reuse these every road trip. And we put in their pencil pouches so they can keep their markers and pens handy.

In the above pic you can see a couple of the printables I included, a scavenger hunt and license plate checklist. There are also close the box and tic-tac-toe templates...


Car Bingo (with 4 different cards for each of the kids) and mazes...


I figured you didn't want to see pics of each page but I also included word searches, vacation themed mad libs, word jumbles and more! Everything you need for a great road trip.

I just googled things like "road trip printables", "printable mazes", etc. One of the blogs I found also had this super cute road trip countdown...


We'll hang the string along the back of the suburban (being careful not to block the driver's view) and as we cross various landmarks we'll pull one card down. For example, when entering a new state, stopping for fast food the first time, etc. The last one we'll pull down is seeing the Gulf!

In addition to the snacks, binders and countdowns the kids will also have their electronics to keep them busy. Wal-mart (which Karen and I call Volde-mart because we hate it) has a program now where they'll convert your dvds to digital copy for only $2 each so I guess I'll be venturing in so we can get iPods and iPads loaded up. The kids also both have various games on their devices as well as the Kindle App and I'm going to buy them each a few new books. Jace requested some choose your own adventure and they have them for Kindle! You just click on your choice and it takes you to it instead of flipping back and forth- how cool is that?!

With all those devices (plus all of our phones) we're going to need to keep this stuff charged. I had a bad experience with a cheap charger once (it zapped my mp3 player) so I don't do cheap chargers. I was at the AT&T store to upgrade Robbie and Kya's phones the other day and found this cool device...




You plug it in at home and it will hold 480 hours worth of charge while you're on the road! It has 5 USB ports on the side and you just plug your stuff in and use the charge from the device to recharge your other devices.

It was a little pricey and I almost didn't buy it but I was already spending so much that day on cases, adding data, etc. that the girl cut me a great deal. We tried it out today with Robbie's iPod and it worked great!

I still need to buy snacks and drinks for the ride but other than that we are all set for the road trip portion of the trip.

And completely OT, having nothing to do with the road trip or UO I just have to share the cool barefoot sandals we got for the beach.




A toe ring and anklet, connected so your feet get a little bling. I just these! I hate wearing shoes so these are perfect for me.

All right, I'm done with all the stuff. Off to make dinner.

[-Hope-]

Well, when I told my mom how much DC costs she decided she didn't need to do that, lol! I may still talk to my dad between now and then to try to surprise her but for now we'll just plan on UO, LLF and DTD.

[-Hope-]

Hi Nicole and

Congratulations on the new addition to your family! that is so very exciting.

I hope we're making the right choice staying offsite. It's really what we want and prefer for our overall vacation experience so hopefully it will be okay as far as lines go. The same week at Disney had very few lines so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If push comes to shove we can buy an EP and still come out ahead so I think we'll be okay.

I've noticed with the line app that the early entry wait times aren't all that great so definitely no worries there (thank goodness- we are NOT morning ppl. We only made rope drop once at Disney and that was only to ensure my son got to do JTA. )

You're so sweet to mention my pics. I photography. Stay tuned for some beach pics- we leave in the morning!