1 Mom, 4 Kids, and a Swell September Surprise!

[ssommerville]

Everything looks great! I LOVE your room decorations and banner! Did you make the banner? Their welcome bags look like so much fun.

Thanks! I did make the banner- I got a make your own banner kit at walmart and just used the letters as a template to cut my own out of cardstock. The great thing is, Theresa helped me cut all the letters out- I usually have a couple little projects going on, so she didn't ask any questions about what I was doing . She's going to get a kick out of it when she finds out she was unwittingly helping with the surprise!

 

[annegirl]

Nice! That is so funny that she helped out and had no idea.

 

[ssommerville]

My kids love, love, love eating at Disney World- whenever we're planning a trip they're always most concerned with where we're going to eat so I had to make sure to plan meals that will make them happy (and bite my tongue to keep from asking for their ideas). I've been checking for ADRs like a maniac and I think I'm finally satisfied with what I have.

9/3 6:20pm Teppan Edo: TJ's favorite

9/4 5:55pm Chef Mickey's: I gave up our BOG because apparently TJ hates the cupcakes there and wasn't very impressed with the lunch we had there last year- I do have a FP for lunch this year, so we'll just give that another try instead of dinner.

9/5 12:25pm Hollywood & Vine: We've had breakfast here in the past and it was pretty good, but with Elliott it's harder to get everyone up and going for early meals so we're going to try lunch this year. This one is pretty much for Elliott to get the chance to see Disney Junior characters.

9/6 11:45am Tusker House: We've only had breakfast here before, so we're going to give lunch a try since I moved my Chef Mickey's from this day

9/7 5:50pm Coral Reef: Another one we do every trip, love the Chocolate Wave

9/8 5:00pm Rainforest Cafe: Decided to do Rainforest Cafe at DTD instead of AK because the time worked out better this way

9/9 12:55pm Liberty Tree Tavern: This is our favorite place for lunch at MK

9/10 5:50pm Garden Grill: TJ really loves Teppan Edo, but I worry about Elliott accidentally touching the grill so we're doing Garden Grill instead. We've done it before and really enjoy it and you can't beat the character interaction.

9/11 No ADRs today, we'll just stick with QS for the day

9/12 5:50pm Crystal Palace: Another one we must do every trip. Savannah loves Pooh and Elliott was so adorable here last year- he loved Piglet and waved every time he saw him.



9/13 10:35am 'Ohana: Another favorite of the kids- I decided to do breakfast and then hit the road rather than going back to a park on check out day

 

[annegirl]

Sounds like some great ADR's!

 

[ssommerville]

I guess I wasn't as satisfied with my ADRs as I thought. I changed Tusker House on September 11 to Rainforest Café. I thought it might be best to not do two buffets with Goofy around since Elliott was so scared of him last year. Plus, TJ loves shrimp and Rainforest Café has a lot of shrimp options for him to choose from so he'll be really happy about that.

 

[ssommerville]

I'm not sure what came over me this past weekend, but for some reason I decided I needed to make changes to our trip plans !

We have 9 day park tickets and I had originally planned to go to MK on our check out day and then drive part way home, but after thinking on it I decided it was too much hassle to get everyone up and packed and into a park on check out day. I hate to be rushed when I'm packing because I always feel like I'm forgetting stuff.

I've decided to use that ticket for a short evening at EPCOT on our check in day instead, which should make TJ immensely happy because we're going to Teppan Edo ! I'll just have to make sure to keep Elliott far away from the grill- I'm hoping the show by the chef will keep him sitting still for a little while. I never worried about stuff like this with the older kids because they were so much more calm and laid back- Elliott goes full force all the time and if there's trouble to get into he, he'll definitely find it.

So, now I have to get all my plans figured out again and I'll post more on those as soon as I can.

 

[ssommerville]

We had a really slow day at work today and I was able to work on some of my trip projects- I managed to get Elliott's sticker book, our autograph book, and welcome cards for the kids finished !

Here's the sticker book and autograph book:





So, here are my plans for September 3

We're driving from NC to Disney- it takes roughly 10 hours from our house depending on how many stops we make. I plan to leave home between 3:30 and 4:00 in the morning- I'm hoping Elliott will sleep for 3 or 4 hours. Once he wakes up, we'll stop for breakfast somewhere with a playground so he can run around for a bit before hitting the road again. We'll have one more stop for lunch and then it's on to Orlando. I'm thinking we should get to Disney between 2:00 and 3:00 that afternoon.

I'm going to drop Savannah, Theresa, and TJ off at Winter/Summerland mini golf and then take Elliott to check into the resort and decorate the room. Then I'm going to take a bus back over to Blizzard Beach to pick the big kids up. Once I get them I want to find a nice area to sit with them and give them cards I made telling them about the surprise.

These are the cards (their Mickey is the same color as their magic band):



I wrote a little poem for the inside:

I know you've been wishing with all of your might
On each and every star in sight

A Disney World trip is your biggest dream
Your yearning to be there is most extreme

I have a happy surprise for you
Your Disney World dreams are coming true!

We're here for ten days and I know you'll have fun
Our Disney vacation has just begun

We're heading to EPCOT for dinner tonight
And then we'll watch fireworks light the sky up so bright

I'm sure you're excited and ready to roll
So grab your magic band and off to the parks we'll go

Enjoy this trip and never forget
That I'll love you forever, on that you can bet

From there we'll hop on a bus to one of the EPCOT resorts and go through the international gateway into World Showcase.

We have a 6:20 ADR for Teppan Edo and then a FP+ for Illuminations.

After that we'll head to the room and get some rest.

 

[ssommerville]

I stumbled across the idea of decorating your magic band and now I have another project to do before our trip- I really need to stop adding to my list of things to do. I did manage to get some cute supplies today and our bands should come this week and I can get started on them- I just hope they look as cute in real life as they look in my mind. I'll post pics when I get them all finished.

 

[ssommerville]

Our first full park day is going to be MK- it's a little weird for us because we always start with EPCOT, but I managed to get BOG for the 4th and decided to switch things up a little bit.

I've based everything on how long our waits were last year- I'm assuming they'll be pretty similar this year, but if not we'll adjust as we go and skip things if we need to. My plans aren't really set in stone, more of just a guide so we're not running all over the place all day.

- Monsters Inc
- Buzz Lightyear
- People Mover
- Carousel of Progress
11:00am Tomorrowland Speedway FP+
11:40am Dream Along with Mickey
12:15pm BOG
- Teacups
2:00pm Winnie the Pooh FP+
- Carousel
- It's a Small World
3:30pm Peter Pan FP+
- Haunted Mansion
- Train (Elliott loves trains)
5:55pm Chef Mickey's

We may come back for the MSEP and Wishes depending on what kind of mood Elliott is in.

 

[ssommerville]

This is our only Hollywood Studios day this trip- we usually do two days there, but we ended up leaving early both days last year so I'm going to see if just having one day works better for us.

9:40am Disney Junior
- Magic of Disney Animation
- One Man's Dream
- Great Movie Ride
12:25pm Hollywood & Vine
2:00pm Star Tours FP+
- Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground
- Backlot Tour
4:15pm Beauty and the Beast
5:00pm Midway Mania FP+
6:00pm Frozen Sing Along FP+
- Pizza Planet
- Muppet Vision

 

[ssommerville]

Well, my phone decided to die the first of the week and I had to get a new one. I'm not too sad about it because I was ready for something new anyway. I got the new phone yesterday and it takes pretty great pics- so now I am seriously considering leaving my big DSLR at home and just using the phone for photos this year. It would feel good not having to carry that big camera around everyday. I'm still undecided though, so we'll see what happens.

Now for my plans

This is our first AK day

9:30am Kilimanjaro Safaris FP+
- Pangani Forest Trails
11am Festival of the Lion King
11:45am Tusker House
- The Boneyard (the kids still love playing here)
- Primeval Whirl
3pm Finding Nemo
- Expedition Everest FP+
- Kali River Rapids FP+

This will be a short day, so I'm hoping we have some time to swim after dinner and enjoy the resort for the evening.

 

[ssommerville]

Our magic bands come today ! A couple more hours at work and then I can start decorating them.

 

[moe10378]

I love that your surprising them!!!! How cool!!!! Following along

 

[annegirl]

Oooooh... can't wait to see what you do with the magic bands. I still haven't decided whether I want to decorate them or not so I really love seeing what people are doing with theirs.

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Our magic bands come today ! A couple more hours at work and then I can start decorating them. http://s1248.photobucket.com/user/ssommerville80/media/surprises/temporary_zps947458fd.jpg.html

Fun!!

 

[ssommerville]

I love that your surprising them!!!! How cool!!!! Following along

Thanks for following! Planning the surprise has been so much fun- it's getting a lot harder to keep it secret though the closer we get to the trip.

 

[ssommerville]

Oooooh... can't wait to see what you do with the magic bands. I still haven't decided whether I want to decorate them or not so I really love seeing what people are doing with theirs.

I was nervous that I would mess ours up because I'm not very artistic- but I decided to just do it. I did Elliott's and mine last night while the kids were watching a movie and they actually turned out pretty well- I'll take some pics when they're all finished.

 

[ssommerville]

September 7 is our first full EPCOT day this trip (this is the kids' favorite park)

- SSE
- Club Cool (the kids love this place!)
10:30am Nemo FP+
- Turtle Talk
- check out the exhibits in The Seas
12:15pm Sunshine Seasons
1:30pm Soarin' FP+ (only the big kids- I don't like this ride at all!)
- Living with the Land
- Imagination (Theresa's favorite- I think she would ride all day if she could )
- Captain EO (the kids love it)
3:30pm Canada- Off Kilter
4:30pm UK- British Revoultion (Elliott loves music, so I'm hoping he'll enjoy seeing the bands this year)
- Boat back to Showcase Plaza
5:50pm Coral Reef
7:30pm Character Spot FP+
- SSE

September 8 is our off day. I'll get laundry done that morning and then hang out at the pool for a while. I originally planned just to do QS meals this day but finally got a 5:00pm Rainforest Cafe ADR so we're going to head to DTD in the evening for dinner and to check out all the shops.

 

[ssommerville]

I finished decorating all of our magic bands ! They took a little longer than I thought they would, but I think they turned out pretty cute.

 

[ssommerville]

Another MK day- yay!

9:30am Jungle Cruise FP+
- Tiki Room
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Splash Mountain (probably just TJ and Savannah, Theresa's not a fan of the drop)
11:30am BTMRR/Small World FP+ (the big kids are going on BTMRR while I take Elliott over to Small World)
- Haunted Mansion
12:50pm Liberty Tree Tavern
- Country Bear Jamboree
3:00pm Parade
- Train to Fantasyland
4:00pm Dumbo FP+
- People Mover
- Carousel of Progress
- Buzz
- People Mover (we love this ride!)