Even Miracles Take a Little Time -A March 2017 PTR-

[mdsouth]

Great photo of your hubby and you!

I agree with you, I would have been frustrated to be at MK with your brother and friends and not having any plans in place.

Your ADR plans look good. I have never been to H & V so I can't say anything about it.

I think your DDs will like all the rest! I think they will get a kick out of the coconut races/parade at Ohana.

BOG for lunch is a nice plan to have just to avoid some of the lunch hustle and bustle while at MK so you may want to do it for lunch on your MK day and then CRT for dinner. I know I was glad we had the ADR and I had preordered our meals ahead of time. It really saved us lots of time waiting around in the lunch lines. It was a nice relaxing lunch compared to the chaos of lunch at Cosmic Rays or Pinochio

 

[jmccoy18]

BOG for lunch is a nice plan to have just to avoid some of the lunch hustle and bustle while at MK so you may want to do it for lunch on your MK day and then CRT for dinner. I know I was glad we had the ADR and I had preordered our meals ahead of time. It really saved us lots of time waiting around in the lunch lines. It was a nice relaxing lunch compared to the chaos of lunch at Cosmic Rays or Pinochio

Good to know about BOG lunch! That sounds wonderful having pre ordered and skipping all the lines and just sitting down and eating. I was worried about maybe having too much scheduled on our MK day with CRT for dinner, but now that you said that, it sounds like a win-win!

 

[MissMaryQC]

I'm so glad the cruise was such fun! My DH would love to visit Alaska, but he hates the idea of a cruise. Men.

I can't believe your so close to ADR day!! How exciting! I feel like that's when the real planning begins.

Your wish list looks great! I hope ROL is up and running by March. I've been absent from the Dis news a bit so I've not really read what the hold up is.

Happy planning!

 

[jmccoy18]

Sleeping Beauty Movie Night

Finally!!!! Sleeping Beauty is my all time favorite Disney movie, hands down! I am so glad DD1 picked it to watch tonight. She said she picked it for me, because its my favorite. What a sweet girl I have! I have loved this movie since I was a little girl and I can quote the entire movie from memory. It drives my DH nuts when we watch it because I say the lines before the characters do I can't help it. I really wish I looked this good in the mornings:

Anyway, here is our menu: (yes I know it says pancakes, but we made a last minute decision to change to waffles instead of pancakes and I forgot to change it on the board...)

Get it? Pink or Blue?

Waffles and toppings: (Strawberries/Blueberries)

My finished waffle: I chose pink, even though my favorite dress is the blue one.

Eggs and Bacon:

Dreamy cookie sandwich:

Our breakfast for dinner was really yummy and such a good fit for the movie, because obviously Aurora would have slept through the day and would want breakfast for dinner. DD1 enjoyed it more than she has in the past. She went through a phase where it was too "scary" for her, but she didn't say that once tonight. DD2 also liked it, especially the forest scenes. She would point to the movie and say "birdie!" whenever she saw one. It was cute.

 

[mdsouth]

You are so creative with the menus for the movies! And what a sweet daughter to pick it because it is your favorite!

 

[jmccoy18]

Planning Update
While nothing much has been happening with the planning while we're are in a state of limbo until the AFS comes out for 2017, a couple big things were decided today. I am an avid follower of the Military Disney Tips blog/website/emails from Steve. He is the one who pretty much keeps me in the know about what is going on with anything military related (discounts, special events, etc...) that goes on at Disney. I received and email today saying that since the AFS was not announced this week like they were hoping that it is going to cause problems with people planning trips for the first quarter of the year and trying to get room discounts. They are now hoping for an announcement by the end of September.

This puts us in a weird spot. Do we say, just screw it and stay at SOG, or book at CBR and hope to get the discount but be willing to pay full price? DH and I talked about it today and we decided that we are going to stay at CBR whether we can get the AFS discount or not. Of course, we would rather have the discount, but we would rather stay at a Disney resort mainly for the DME. With 2 little girls in car seats, the DME is a huge bonus because we don't have to mess with car seats in the airport/rental cars/having parents drive them down. I am talking to my TA friend to see what we want to do about booking and I told both my in-laws and parents about this new little update. So we will see what they want to do.

Some fun news: Aladdin movie night tomorrow!

 

[jmccoy18]

Aladdin Movie Night

Another fun movie night is in the books! I can't remember the last time I sat down to watch Aladdin all the way through. I love this movie, but I think as I have gotten older I find more and more things about Aladdin that really rub me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong there are some redeeming qualities in him such as a hard work ethic, loyalty, and compassion, but I just can't seem to get over the fact that he LIES through the entire movie. I just wish Jasmine would see all the red flags he is throwing in her face!
He should take Genie's advice and

I kept pointing out to DD1 that not telling the truth the first time kept getting him in more trouble. The mommy in me just couldn't let that teachable moment pass by, especially at her age. If she was older I probably would have been talking to her about character traits she wants in a significant other and pointing out that a compulsive liar is not a good one. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now and get on with our movie night.

Our Menu:

Aladdin's Kabobs (DH and I had steak and the girls split the chicken)

Abu's Couscous

and Genie's Baklava

Everything was delicious and the girls especially loved the "honey cakes" as they called them. DD1's favorite part of the movie was when Genie sang the Friend Like Me song. She said she liked the movie and would watch it again, so all in all, it was a win

Our next movie night will be Finding Nemo!

 

[jmccoy18]

Progress and Planning Update!
WOW! A lot has happened in the past few days and they are all very exciting DH and I decided to go ahead and book our room at CBR after talking to my travel agent friend. We just booked our room and not the other two rooms for our parents. We are going to wait until the end of September to book their rooms, hoping the AFS is announced by then. Once it is announced, we will try and get it applied to our room (FX we can do this, or cancel and get a new room with the discount.) We booked our room so we could make our ADRs for the entire trip at 180 days out instead of having to make them day by day. It just feels so good to have that marked off my list! YAY!!!!!

So, since we have our room reservation, we now officially have the DDP and DME scheduled. Next, I have to go ahead and rent our double stroller and figure out what we want to do with our magic bands. I know we have a while to figure them out, but it is fun to think about how we want to decorate them. I think we might order some vinyl decals from Etsy. The only one I have no clue about what I want to do with is DH's. That one will be tricky. I will ask him what he wants, but I'm sure he will say he doesn't care.

I have also been starting to get clothes for our trip. Not for me, but for the girls. We have all the princess dresses, but they usually wear those in the morning, and when we go back in the evening it is some sort of character graphic tee or something like that. Zulliy had some cute Minnie outfits that I picked up. Summer clothes are starting to go on sale here, so I have just been keeping my eye out for some good deals!

 

[mdsouth]

Too bad about the military discounts not coming out as expected. I totally understand your need to to want to get a reservation in place so you can plan the ADRs and other things.

Good for you in your teaching moment with your daughter and Alladin's dishonesty.

 

[mdsouth]

your kabobs look fantastic! My mouth is watering just from the picture.

 

[jmccoy18]

your kabobs look fantastic! My mouth is watering just from the picture.

They were delicious!!!!! In fact, we ate on them for 2 days because it was a lot of meat .

 

[1983DisneyFanatic]

We are going for our girls' 3rd and 9th birthdays the same time as you and I love your family movie night idea. As of now, our trip is still a surprise, but I may start a monthly movie night anyway.

 

[MissMaryQC]

Yay for booking! Even if it's a sorta temporary booking. I can't believe the discounts for y'all aren't out yet.

It is way less stressful to book all your ADRs at once rather than having to get on every day.

And yay for getting some cute clothing for the kiddos!! I'm waiting for some good sales too. Since it's almost always summer down here we usually have to wait until September for sales.

Where on Etsy are you looking for decals? We've never really decorated our bands before... I'm sure my DH would say the same thing about his band as well...

 

[jmccoy18]

We are going for our girls' 3rd and 9th birthdays the same time as you and I love your family movie night idea. As of now, our trip is still a surprise, but I may start a monthly movie night anyway.

Thanks for joining in! Birthdays are the best at Disney! We have all really enjoyed our movie nights and I think we might keep doing them even after our trip and not keep it exclusive to Disney movies. It is nice to have a special family night It is really fun when my DD1 is recognizing characters from the movies when we watch some of the Disney ride videos on youtube. The movie nights have been paying off in her Disney education

Also, come join us on the March 2017 board!

 

[jmccoy18]

Where on Etsy are you looking for decals? We've never really decorated our bands before... I'm sure my DH would say the same thing about his band as well...

Really you can just search for magic band decals on Etsy and lots of stuff comes up. It will give you some good ideas to go with, unless you are really artsy and can paint them yourself (which I am not.) There are some awesome threads about how different people have been decorating their magic bands if you want some more ideas.

 

[jmccoy18]

Finding Nemo Movie Night

This was a fun night to plan. With Finding Dory out in theaters, there was actually a lot of stuff out that we could use for our Finding Nemo night. We weer able to have Nemo Macaroni and Cheese and Nemo goldfish, which made planning a little easier. DD1 told me this was her favorite movie, which is funny because she has only seen it one time and has shown really no interest in it outside of tonight We all had different favorite parts.
My favorite was Nemo's initiation at Mt. Wannahockaloogie

Both of my DD's favorite was with the seagulls. In fact, DD2 learned the word mine tonight **Hold Me!**

DH's favorite was when Gill jumps out of the tank and attacks Darla and she is screaming and the patients in the waiting room are freaking out. lol.

Here is our menu:

Yes, we had fish. Fish are FOOD, not Friends (DD1 said that during the movie)

Nemo Mac & Cheese

Darla's broccoli (We roasted it, so good!!!)

Crush's Turtle Candy (or poor man's turtles) DD1 enjoyed helping to make these

Nemo and chocolate Goldfish

Overall it was another fun night as a family

 

[cbeeindisney]

I LOVE seeing your movie nights- they are so creative!! I love love your Aladdin night! My favorite pavilion is Morocco and the food and dessert were perfect that you did! So exciting about CBR- I would love to hear about it once you finish your stay- I've always wanted to stay there. And you could never go wrong with Zulily for Disney finds- I think I spent hours on there and Etsy getting Mickey wear! Can't wait to read more!

I also wasn't getting notifications- checking into now, hmm..

 

[jmccoy18]

I LOVE seeing your movie nights- they are so creative!! I love love your Aladdin night! My favorite pavilion is Morocco and the food and dessert were perfect that you did! So exciting about CBR- I would love to hear about it once you finish your stay- I've always wanted to stay there. And you could never go wrong with Zulily for Disney finds- I think I spent hours on there and Etsy getting Mickey wear! Can't wait to read more!

I also wasn't getting notifications- checking into now, hmm..

Thanks! Movie nights are so much fun I think we have decided to keep them going even after our trip. Zulilly and Etsy are my go to for cute Disney gear for the girls too!

 

[CaleCakes]

Hi, I'm just joining in. I've really enjoyed reading your posts and the movie nights look so fun. I can't wait for my son to start sharing movie time with us. He is just starting to look at the tv and get interested in cartoons.
I had one of those "my too" moments when reading your early posts about your sister not thinking SoG was Disney enough. I feel the same way, but since Disney was an add on to a trip we are already taking out of FLL we thought it best to keep the costs low this time around. When little one gets older we will go back and stay at a Disney resort. It took a little convincing for me to want to stay there, but I've heard great things and it is so close to the monorail. I'm excited now.
I feel like I'm behind with planning though. We have some ADR made like BOG, Beirgarten, and Tusker house, but that's it really. My friend has been on me to plan fast pass but I don't really know what I'm doing in that department yet. We're 125 days out at this point. I wanted to wing it but she is telling me no way.

 

[jmccoy18]

Hi, I'm just joining in. I've really enjoyed reading your posts and the movie nights look so fun. I can't wait for my son to start sharing movie time with us. He is just starting to look at the tv and get interested in cartoons.
I had one of those "my too" moments when reading your early posts about your sister not thinking SoG was Disney enough. I feel the same way, but since Disney was an add on to a trip we are already taking out of FLL we thought it best to keep the costs low this time around. When little one gets older we will go back and stay at a Disney resort. It took a little convincing for me to want to stay there, but I've heard great things and it is so close to the monorail. I'm excited now.
I feel like I'm behind with planning though. We have some ADR made like BOG, Beirgarten, and Tusker house, but that's it really. My friend has been on me to plan fast pass but I don't really know what I'm doing in that department yet. We're 125 days out at this point. I wanted to wing it but she is telling me no way.

Thanks for joining! We stayed at SOG on our last trip and we really enjoyed it. It is like staying at a deluxe resort for a value price. The rooms are large, they all have balconies, and it is a quick walk to the Poly to hop on the monorail. IMO, I couldn't just wing it. It won't hurt to go ahead and get your FP+, and then if you wanted tow ing it once you got to the parks you can always not use them, but it would be better to have them than not.