"We'll need a suitcase just for your ears!" - A July 2015 PTR *Complete*

[xlsm]

I'm back!!

Here is Chapter Eight...in which we end the school year and I show off my ears.

This week was CRAZY

Last Sunday we went to the movies to see Tomorrowland:



All four of us loved it. It's a long movie, a touch over 2 hours, but it felt like it went so quickly. I wish it had just kept going!!

Monday, the kids were out of school for the Memorial Day holiday. We had a low key day, went and bought new furniture for the back patio.

Tuesday it was back to school...and it was the last week!! Four days were all that separated us from just over two months of glorious summer freedom!!

But, as you probably know, the last week of school is jam packed with activities. I spent most of the week huddled over these:



Boxtops on top of boxtops. Our coordinator didn't coordinate, lol. So, I brought two trash bags full of the little buggers home with me and worked for 7 hours. The next day I set up in the workroom at school and another mom joined me. We worked for 5 hours. Yesterday I set up in the workroom again, left instructions, and throughout the day, several people worked on them. I still have half of a big trash bag left, and they are living in back of my vehicle because I don't even want to look at them this weekend. Like, at all.

(a few PTA moms plan to meet up next week and finish them off.)

Aside from being the 3rd marathon box top clipping session, yesterday was also the last day of school for my kids. My oldest "graduated" from 5th grade, and they had a small ceremony for them, photo montage, and cook out for the families. It was nice! I managed not to bawl like a giant baby. For me, this is a small miracle. So next year I'll be adjusting to a new routine of dropping one off for his last year of elementary school and the other at his first year of middle school. *Gulp*

We came home and there was even more excitement:



My hanging basket of cherry tomatoes, which is loaded down with little greenies, had a bright red beauty clinging to the vine!! She needs a couple more days before picking, but we were all so excited to see it up there. Like I've said before, it's the little things.

All this is totally fascinating, I know.

Don't give up on me yet...I do have something fun to show you:





My newest ears from EarBowtique came in last Friday!!! They are so beautiful!! I can't even handle how much I love them.
We also added on our Memory Maker to our reservation because I'd forgotten to do that earlier and double checked our Magical Express reservations and updated our flight info (we had a flight number change).

I got an email to remind us to make sure we were satisfied with our magic band choices and update colors if we wanted to, because it's getting close to time for them to ship. I still haven't decided what to do with mine. I've ordered a yellow one, and my plan was to do a Snow White theme, but I'm feeling wishy washy. But I figure, if I can't figure out anything specific, I can just cover it up with nail polish like last year!

Thanks for sticking by me! Next update will be our Animal Kingdom day

 

[Newsies]

I want to see Tomorrowland in the worst way! I managed to get my family to see Pitch Perfect 2 this weekend (we had just missed a showing of Tomorrowland), which was also good. It was a movies kind of a weekend, I guess

Aww, it sounds like your children had a lovely last few days of school! How exciting that your oldest is going into middle school!

Your ears are so gorgeous!!! Wow!!!

And I totally understand your Magicband situation. I change mine, like, twice a day... picking just one color and one name is so hard!

Can't wait to hear about Animal Kingdom!

 

[xlsm]

Chapter Nine...in which I will finally get my samosas!! (hopefully)

**Alert...Alert...**
We have survived the first day of summer vacation. I repeat, we have survived the first day of summer vacation
**End Alert**

Right now DH and X are at Boy Scouts, L is upstairs watching his tv shows, and I'm watching Love it or List it and talking to YOU guys


This update is all about our plans for our Animal Kingdom day. I have a sneaking suspicion that we will basically be like the Walking Dead this day. But we must power through!!

This will be us:

(photo credit to deviantart artist neef)

First, our "plan" (like always, aside from ADRs and FPs, it's all basically hopes 'n' dreams):


Saturday, Animal Kingdom:

8:00 am Tusker House breakfast. I’m so excited about this!!
Safari

Everest (FP+ 9:15 - 10:15)

Dinosaur (FP+ 10:15 - 11:15)

Meet Russell and Dug

It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Discovery Island Trails

Meet Pocahontas

Cupcakes at Kusafiri bakery

FotLK

Flights of Wonder

FP Kali (FP+ 2:35 - 3:35)

Frozen Chai at Anandapur Tea Co

Samosas at Mr. Kamal’s


Out of park by 3:30


Back to resort, but leave by 5:40 for…

6:30 ‘Ohana dinner


to MK for evening EMH

Goal - Big Thunder, Splash, and Seven Dwarfs

guarantee - Haunted Mansion and Ariel



We have an 8am breakfast at Tusker House scheduled and I am so excited!! I had a meal scheduled here last year and gave it up. I regretted it from the moment I hit “cancel”, but it just didn’t work with our plans last year.


I am so happy to see this park before official opening time, and to dine with our old pal Donald. After we eat, we’ll hop in line for the safari, and maybe take a walk on the Pangani forest trail. We’ll go visit the Yeti in Asia and then head over to Dinosaur. I don’t think the kids will be able to skip Primeval Whirl or Triceratops Spin, but we’ll see. We’ll check on the line for Russell and Dug and then….drumroll…..It’s Tough to Be a Bug!! This is one of my favorite things. Last year I was so disappointed it was closed for refurb during our trip. I am really looking forward to taking the boys to see it. We’ll then try to hit up the Discovery Island Trails and maybe meet Pocahontas.


We’ll go back toward Africa with hopes of watching the 1:00 Festival of the Lion King (I realize this is ambitious), cupcakes at Kusafiri Bakery, and Flights of Wonder. We’ll use a FP for Kali, pick up some frozen chai at Anandapur Tea Co (an absolute hands down MUST HAVE ITEM), samosas at Mr. Kamal’s, and then leave the park by 3:30.


We’ll go back to the resort for a quick shower and/or swim, depending on time, and then leave the resort again by 5:40 to get to our 6:30 dinner at ‘Ohana. (I'd also like to try to get a drink at Trader Sam's before or after dinner...I really want that Hippopotomaitai!! I don't have to be in the bar, the patio would be fine. Life goals.)


After we slowly roll ourselves out of ‘Ohana, we plan to visit MK for evening extra magic hours. I’ve already told DH and the boys that they don’t have to go with me to this, but I WILL be staying til closing this night. My goal is to ride both SDMT and BTMRR at night...Splash Mtn would be a bonus.

The guaranteed rides will be Haunted Mansion and Little Mermaid.


Our plan is truly wide open this night. I’m pretty sure the kids are going to want to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We also might decide to go meet Tinker Bell.

Do you want to know a secret?? I kind of, just a little bit, hope that DH and the kids don't want to go to MK with me. I would love an evening just to myself here. Plus, I'm probably MUCH more likely to get FPs for the rides I want as a single rider. I feel a teensy bit bad about this, but not TOO bad. I'm definitely planning to close the park. Let's see what ends up happening, though. There's a solid chance I pass out from exhaustion at the dinner table.

I will leave you with a photo of my precious, the frozen chai:



*sigh* I'm in love with this drink.

***Only 42 days til vacation!!***

Next up...DH's birthday at DTD and Epcot!!

 

[ariane37]

We saw Tomorrowland over Memorial weekend,too! DH thought it was just OK (what's wrong with him??) but the boys and I loved it Now we're looking forward to Jurassic World since we're hitting up Universal in a few months like you are!

I completely understand you secretly hoping for some MK alone time Last Feb., everyone refused to get up early with me on day 8 of our 10 day trip for MK morning EMH, so I just went by myself.......those hours were some of the best I've spent in a park! My next quest is the same as yours, PM EMH in MK but my guys are night owls. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you though

 

[xlsm]

We saw Tomorrowland over Memorial weekend,too! DH thought it was just OK (what's wrong with him??) but the boys and I loved it Now we're looking forward to Jurassic World since we're hitting up Universal in a few months like you are!

I completely understand you secretly hoping for some MK alone time Last Feb., everyone refused to get up early with me on day 8 of our 10 day trip for MK morning EMH, so I just went by myself.......those hours were some of the best I've spent in a park! My next quest is the same as yours, PM EMH in MK but my guys are night owls. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you though

I'm making my boys' grandma bring them home early from their trip with her so we can all see Jurassic World together!! We are majorly pumped about it. When they re-released Jurassic Park to theaters for its 20th anniversary a couple years ago, I was so excited to take the kids to see it. They'd watched it countless times on dvd and tv, but the big screen takes it to a whole other level. It made me remember seeing it in the theater for the first time. And Jurassic World looks AMAZING.

Did you see the "meet a raptor" experience they started at Universal? It's just a photo op, but the dinosaur looks pretty good.

Thanks for crossing your fingers for me to get some MK time to myself, I appreciate it! Right now I'd say my odds are 50/50. It helps a little that we're eating 'Ohana beforehand...maybe they'll be too full and tired to go to the park, LOL.

 

[Newsies]

I love your AK plans!!! Looks like you guys are in for a fun adventure

I love going to MK alone. It's really magical and serene, you get to do whatever you want to do and meet all of the princesses you want to meet and ride all the rides you want to ride and DOLE ALL OF THE DOLE WHIPS YOU WANT TO DOLE!!! If you want a night alone at MK, I say go for it

 

[xlsm]

I love your AK plans!!! Looks like you guys are in for a fun adventure

I love going to MK alone. It's really magical and serene, you get to do whatever you want to do and meet all of the princesses you want to meet and ride all the rides you want to ride and DOLE ALL OF THE DOLE WHIPS YOU WANT TO DOLE!!! If you want a night alone at MK, I say go for it

Dole whippers gonna dole whip.

Amen.

 

[stitchfan75]

I started reading this report after following over from the "I left my life behind in 24 hours" thread...then saw your trip from last year so I read that and then came back to finish reading this PTR! (Did everyone follow that...LOL)
Let me start with I LOVE DMB...like with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. I'm partial to the Under the Table and Dreaming days, back when LeRoi was still alive and Stefan was just a baby, Carter will always be the bomb dot com on drums to me.
We are headed to "the World" for our first trip ever in September staying at AKL. Dh really loves the Grand Californian so hopefully someday we can stay at Wilderness Lodge. We settled on AKL during the Fee Dining madness and my 11 year old will LOVE the animals being right there!
Looking forward to following along and I found this:
http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1378/frozen-spiced-chai
I don't know if it will be close to Disney but I may make some and then compare in September!

 

[xlsm]

I started reading this report after following over from the "I left my life behind in 24 hours" thread...then saw your trip from last year so I read that and then came back to finish reading this PTR! (Did everyone follow that...LOL)
Let me start with I LOVE DMB...like with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. I'm partial to the Under the Table and Dreaming days, back when LeRoi was still alive and Stefan was just a baby, Carter will always be the bomb dot com on drums to me.
We are headed to "the World" for our first trip ever in September staying at AKL. Dh really loves the Grand Californian so hopefully someday we can stay at Wilderness Lodge. We settled on AKL during the Fee Dining madness and my 11 year old will LOVE the animals being right there!
Looking forward to following along and I found this:
http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1378/frozen-spiced-chai
I don't know if it will be close to Disney but I may make some and then compare in September!

Um, so that recipe is happening this weekend. Starbucks has a chai frappuccino thing that's just ok, but I have not found anything to compare to my beloved frozen chai. I will try this and hope!!

Welcome to my report and hello to a fellow DMB fan
Their show was amazing. I"m not sure which I enjoyed more: watching them perform or watching the crowd. It was sort of bizarrely magical hearing the crowd singing along under Dave's amplified voice.

I'd like to stay at AKL one day. I know it's beautiful, and I want to eat my way through its restaurants!!


Your first trip to WDW!! That's so exciting!! It's breathtaking. Really and truly. I hope you enjoy every second of your trip!!

 

[xlsm]

Happy Tuesday!!!

My kids went to visit their grandparents last Thursday, and I'm picking them back up tomorrow. I've accomplished a whole lot of N-O-T-H-I-N-G at home over the last week. Well, not totally nothing. We finally hung our lights outside on the pergola:


We had three sets, which wasn't nearly enough, so we had to go back and buy more. Luckily Target still had the ones we needed in stock, since it'd been a few weeks since we bought the others.
Exciting for exactly no one but us, LOL.

Yesterday was a big day though....



!!!!Mickey Mail!!!!

(if you see dog hair in this picture, please ignore it. We have three dogs, and the bigger dog sheds like an unholy nightmare.)

As of today we are 34 days away from vacation. I'm avoiding thinking about packing at all costs. Our magic bands should be shipping soon (only 2 days left to customize, but that was done long ago), and we can pre-order our BOG breakfast in 6 days.

Nothing much else happening on the planning...let's face it, we all usually have everything pretty much set in stone by this point.

With that, let's get to the next day of our trip, another special day, DH's birthday!

Chapter 10...in which much merriment will commence


Sunday, Epcot, DH’s bday
Sleep in
Breakfast ADR 9am at Kona
Downtown Disney
Characters in flight - we have a Groupon for this
Head to Epcot around 3pm
Spaceship Earth (FP+ 2:30 - 3:30)
Test Track (FP+ 3:30 - 4:30)
Mission Space (FP+ 4:30 - 5:30)
5:30 dinner ADR at Biergarten
World Showcase
Illuminations


After a late night at the Magic Kingdom, we’re going to have another slow day on Sunday...it’s also DH’s bday, so we’re doing what he wants to do !

We won’t worry about being up at the crack of dawn, and we’ll take our time getting to our 9am ADR at Kona Cafe. I want Tonga Toast. I want the Macadamia pineapple pancakes. I don't know how to choose between them!! Lilikoi juice and Kona press pot coffee are nonnegotiable, however!

After breakfast, we’ll hop on a bus over to Downtown Disney. I plan to buy many things, LOL!! We also want to do Characters in Flight. I purchased a Groupon for this, so I really hope the weather is on our side. We're all very excited to do this !



We’ll go to Epcot around 3pm. I set up some Fast Passes: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Mission Space. The first two FP times work out perfectly, and we'll probably skip the third (Mission Space) and wander around the World Showcase until our ADR time for Biergarten at 530...just in time for the Oompa band. X is obsessed with pretzels, and he’s looking forward to a neverending supply of pretzel rolls. I just hope that the people seated with us are friendly.


We’ll stay in the WS until time for Illuminations...and I hope we can get a few character meets in, mainly Mulan and Belle in her blue dress. I also want to try and meet Snow White again while we’re in Germany. I want to show her my Snow White ears!

After Illuminations, we’ll take our time leaving the park and enjoy Epcot at night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are all excited about this day. It will be nice to take things slowly and really enjoy our time together. Up next will be our final park day at the Magic Kingdom, and that is always a tough day. I'm usually on the verge of tears the whole time.

Coming soon...final full park day plans

 

[xlsm]

Really enjoying your trip report! Your magic bands look awesome. I wish I were as talented. I just realized that we will be at EPOCT the same day that Thursday, but our plan is to get there around 3:30-4:00 right when you are leaving. Maybe we will see each other in passing!
Your Universal plans look great. It makes me wish we were going back to Universal this year. The first time I went to Universal it was just for the Harry Potter stuff, but I fell in love with it. The Unlimited express was amazing, as well as being able to walk from Royal Pacific to either park. The Despicable me ride, Mummy, Simpsons ride, and Transformers are all such amazing rides... you might find that you really like the rest of Universal more than you thought you would. It has a different vibe than Disney no doubt, but there is a ton to offer. Citywalk is really great too with lots of good restaurants.

I'm not sure how I missed this earlier...when we leave Epcot we'll just yell, "Kaylasmom! Kaylasmom!" at the top of our lungs, and when you guys get there, just yell, "Xlsm! Xlsm!" and maybe we can find each other, LOL!!
i really need to get on making a little tag thing for my bag. I keep mentioning it, but haven't done a thing about it. Maybe that will be my craft next week!!

I love hearing good things about Universal. I'm SUPER excited about it, but nervous since we're inexperienced with it.

 

[eeyore45]

Hi "S"

I saw a post of yours and followed your signature over here... and I can relate to you! (well, not entirely, but my boys, now grown, were in Scouting - and those Box Tops? ::shudder:: just no... ::shudder::: why people hide their lack of commitment and wait till the last minute is beyond me - and its for the kids, it has to be done!

Anyway, I ended up quoting a from your posts here and there! (SO glad I didn't see your ears until its too late for me! roflol - However, I do have 3 Ears, one regular black, one gold for their Golden Anniversary, and one Blue set - the "Dream" ears that we "won"! and like you - WHAT do I do with them?!)

Day 5, Friday, Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, L's 10th birthday!!
We will be getting up very early this day and taking a cab (or maybe uber, depending on how brave we feel) around 6am over to the Royal Pacific Resort to check in and get our express passes. No ADRs for today, but we are considering The Three Broomsticks, The Leaky Cauldron, The Simpson's area, Universal Monster's Cafe (for me), or Mythos. Who knows where we'll end up??

I've read a lot of really good reports on using Uber to get to Universal - Have you been researching Universal? We did it for DD, we did stay at Royal Pacific, we really enjoyed it, we did take a break... The Three Broomsticks was good, get your butter beer inside there - sitting inside with a/c AND looking at all the amazing theming is a must imho! Lines move very quickly, and its well worth it!

lunch AND dinner ADRs booked at Be Our Guest for this day,

Look at that - I also have ads for lunch and dinner - I was just telling dh I have too many adr's maybe I should cancel.... its so hard to decide!

we always pay OOP, as the dining plan does not work out to be a good value for us.

and that's what I did today, I know its not a good value, but honestly when I look at all the TS places we want to eat at, maybe I should rethink this and do the Dining Plan... - so I got a spreadsheet out - and still, we won't save money on the DDP I think at some places we just will eat appetizers and some places we may just want snacks instead of a sit down meal... - and since we don't drink sodas, we don't get a value out of the mugs... but that's just us.

Tour Diagon Alley
Hogwart’s Express to Islands of Adventure
Tour Hogsmeade
Poseidon’s Fury

DD is a HUGE Mythology person, so we did have to have an adr for Mythos restaurant and we did Poseidon's Fury, every post I read said its 'lame' or not worth the time - so I made sure and showed dd some of the reviews because I did not want her to be disappointed - and they were right, but dd said because of her love of Mythology she's glad I let her go! There is nothing like the Forbidden Journey Ride - my 75 year old mother even rode it once! We did a split stay, so our first night at Universal we just walked from the opening gate to Diagon Ally since I've never been there -then we went in and asked if we could just do the tour of the castle, and that was amazing - there is so much to look at and wandering about not in line for the ride was perfect! It was also handy to figure out the locker situation - if you need lockers, taking a picture is very helpful - to remember where you stored your stuff - just remember to delete it afterwards! You didn't list The Amazing Spiderman Ride - with the Express Pass, it was close to the entrance, and no line - it was pretty fun!

I don’t think the kids will be able to skip Primeval Whirl or Triceratops Spin, but we’ll see. We’ll check on the line for Russell and Dug and then….drumroll…..It’s Tough to Be a Bug!! This is one of my favorite things

My kid (DD) is 17, and I know we won't be about to skip those rides - and ITTBAB is our favorite thing too! We also love the screaming of those unsuspecting souls!

we plan to visit MK for evening extra magic hours.

I have that on our list too - but I've also planned a tour or two, so lots of early mornings, not sure about the late night... but I have my fingers crossed!

the bigger dog sheds like an unholy nightmare.

OH how I relate - I bought one of those PetZoom, (my dog is a shorthaired mix Lab/German Shephard... but he sheds like "an unholy nightmare!") I can't tell you how many times every day this spring we have run that brush (it clicks so it gets the hair off faster) through his short hair - how can he have so much hair?!!


Oh well - I guess I should've done my own Pre-trip report!
Just thought I'd let you know I've enjoyed yours - and I really can relate!

 

[xlsm]

@eeyore45 - I'm so glad you found my PTR!

I'm glad you understand the plight of the boxtops!! Ugh!! The whole situation was very frustrating.

As for Universal, we're all excited, and I appreciate your insight. I've read the same reviews for Poseidon's Fury, and was worried, but like your DD, my youngest DS is super into mythology and would be so sad to miss it. And thanks for the tip about doing the castle tour on its own. I know it's available, but I'm not sure I would have done it aside from the ride line. But I know I definitely want to take my time and just look around without worrying about people in line behind me annoyed that I"m holding them up!

When we were planning for last year, I was so excited to take the boys to see ITTBAB. I can't even describe how disappointed I was when it was closed for refurb during our trip last summer. I'm not telling them ANYTHING and will just let them be surprised, LOL. They'll love it and I can't wait!

We ended up cancelling the lunch ADR for BOG...and I was ok with that!! For awhile I thought my family would pick that over dinner. While I liked lunch there well enough to return, I enjoyed our dinner 100 times more. In the end they surprised me and picked dinner. We considered the dining plan last year, but when we looked over menus we knew we would be disappointed trying to conform to the parameters. I like appetizers, and like you, sometimes that's what we choose for our whole meal. We ended up spending well under the amount the dining plan would have cost, and we didn't skimp on anything and ordered whatever we wanted, including alcoholic beverages. I'm excited for people it works out for, but it's not for us.

And my dog
I can't even roll my eyes hard enough to express my annoyance with the fur!! My two smaller dogs don't really shed, but my bigger dog is a weird mix...he looks like an Australian Shepherd (blue merle with blue eyes), but he's built like a Basset Hound, super short legs, barrel chest...but then he has thick wiry terrier hair. It's so hard to manage. I swear I could brush him all day long and the hair would just keep coming. I've considered vaccumming him, but he's such a weird anxious dog, he'd lose his mind.

Anyway, I'm so glad you've enjoyed the report so far and it's nice to "meet" you

 

[xlsm]

Monday.

Another week closer to Disney World

28 days, in fact. Four weeks!!

X left for Boy Scout camp yesterday morning. It was a hard morning for me. I know he'll be fine, but he's never been gone on his own for this long before, so I figure it's natural to be worried. Plus, I'm an expert at worrying, so I'd be lying (laying?) down on the job if I quit now. Nobody likes a quitter.

Friday the boys got to go to work with DH for "bring your kids to work day", and they had a great time. Apparently a lot of kids congregated in DH's office to play with the boys and make things on the 3D printer...poor DH, LOL!! He said he maybe got 10 minutes of work done all day. I told him he'd make a terrible stay at home parent. He agreed.

We also did something else fun on Friday....



Can you guess???

Jurassic World. We are hardcore fans of Jurassic Park movies in this house, particularly me and X. Isn't that jeep the coolest?? I threatened to steal it, it's my dream car.

When we got to the theater, L had to do his normal thing:








Is he the only kid who does this?? He insists on having his picture taken with every movie display that he wants to see

I have also done a little online shopping this weekend. I randomly found some Oswald ears at the Disney Store online, and X was desperately trying to find some last summer. This year it's what he says he has to find first. Well, I figured I'd surprise him with some before we even leave the house. Also picked up a Nightmare Before Christmas tshirt for L.

Then I got all 4 of us lanyards with pouches at Hot Topic: Harry Potter for me, Star Wars for DH, Pokemon for X, and Doctor Who for L. These will be for our Universal/IOA day, to keep our tickets/FotL passes in.

The Disney stuff will be a surprise for both kids, but only X doesn't know about the lanyards because he had already left for camp. I'll post pictures of the loot when it comes in!

Today I did the pre-order for our BOG breakfast. I picked the croissant donut and the open face bacon/egg/cheese sandwich, and two Mickey straws for the kids. I figured we'd all just share, since we get a pastry basket as well, but I'll add something later on for the kids if they decide they want something of their own. X is not a big breakfast fan, and I refuse to pay $12 for the cereal he'd pick (lol).

That's all the update for now, not super exciting, I know! I'll have the next park day update on here later this afternoon or tomorrow.

Have an awesome week everyone!!

 

[xlsm]

**My magic bands shipped today**

Woohoo!!

 

[Newsies]

Aren't those luggage tags THE BEST????

DH's birthday plans look fantastic!!!

Aww, hugs to you for X going to boy scout camp! Scout camp is tons of fun, I'm sure he's having a blast! That's why I'm returning as a counselor Is he going to write you mail?

And no, L is absolutely not the only child who does that. When I'm at the movies with my friends, we take photos with every singly upcoming movie cardboard display. Granted, none of them ever surface the internet, but we take so many. LOL!

ALRIIIIIGHT!!! MAGIC BAND TIME!!!!

 

[xlsm]

Aren't those luggage tags THE BEST????

DH's birthday plans look fantastic!!!

Aww, hugs to you for X going to boy scout camp! Scout camp is tons of fun, I'm sure he's having a blast! That's why I'm returning as a counselor Is he going to write you mail?

And no, L is absolutely not the only child who does that. When I'm at the movies with my friends, we take photos with every singly upcoming movie cardboard display. Granted, none of them ever surface the internet, but we take so many. LOL!

ALRIIIIIGHT!!! MAGIC BAND TIME!!!!

I don't know if he'll write or not...but I had to mail him his pillow today, LOL!! The man at the post office looked at me like I was insane, but I was like, "I cannot let him spend the whole week without a pillow. He will come home in a very. bad. mood. I don't care how much it costs. Do you have anything I can shove this thing into??" He brought out this huge bag/envelopeish thing, I folded the pillow and stuffed it in.

I always wanted to go to camp. The Parent Trap (the original with Hayley Mills) was my favorite movie and it made camp look so fun!! Between that and the Babysitters Club book where the girls were CITs, I thought camp must be the coolest thing. I never got to go, so I still have that dreamy Hollywood idea of summer camp in my mind (I'm a horror movie fan, and one of my favorites is Friday the 13th...somehow that did not tarnish my mental image of camp, although it probably should have!).

I wish you well behaved campers during your time as camp counselor!!

 

[Newsies]

I don't know if he'll write or not...but I had to mail him his pillow today, LOL!! The man at the post office looked at me like I was insane, but I was like, "I cannot let him spend the whole week without a pillow. He will come home in a very. bad. mood. I don't care how much it costs. Do you have anything I can shove this thing into??" He brought out this huge bag/envelopeish thing, I folded the pillow and stuffed it in.

I always wanted to go to camp. The Parent Trap (the original with Hayley Mills) was my favorite movie and it made camp look so fun!! Between that and the Babysitters Club book where the girls were CITs, I thought camp must be the coolest thing. I never got to go, so I still have that dreamy Hollywood idea of summer camp in my mind (I'm a horror movie fan, and one of my favorites is Friday the 13th...somehow that did not tarnish my mental image of camp, although it probably should have!).

I wish you well behaved campers during your time as camp counselor!!

He FORGOT his PILLOW? Poor kid! I hope he gets it soon!!!

Camp is a lot of fun- well, my experiences with it have been. I've been to a couple, but my girl scout one was my favorite.

Thank you! Unfortunately, my camp has a sass problem. I don't know why- we just have a lot of sassy campers, especially the younger ones. Hopefully that's been fixed in the past year I've been gone! Doubt it has, but fingers crossed, right?

 

[xlsm]

Chapter 11...In which everything fell apart (but I put it back together again)

What a morning.

Magic Kingdom hours changed for the week of our vacation, and it threw off our plans quite a bit. Operating hours for both of our MK days now begin at 8am. Our first MK day we had an 8am BOG breakfast, and our last MK day we had an 8:10 Crystal Palace breakfast (that I just got a few weeks ago. *sigh*).
This morning I have been doing some reorganizing of our plans! I cancelled some ADRs, made some new ADRs, and changed a days worth of Fast Pass times...all in about 20 minutes. I feel like a Disney planning rock star

For our first MK day I cancelled our 8:00 Be Our Guest breakfast and moved it to 9:45, because we all really want to try it. We will rope drop that day, tour Tomorrowland and part of New Fantasyland before eating breakfast. After eating, we now have a Fast Pass for Haunted Mansion from 10:05 - 11:05. I figure we'll get there on the tail end of that one, and if we miss it, we'll just reschedule it for later, no big deal. I moved our Splash and Big Thunder FPs to 11:10 - 12:10 and 12:10 - 1:10. After Haunted Mansion, we can do some combination of Country Bears, meet Chip and Dale, pin trade, shop, Adventureland, etc...before heading off for our trip to the briar patch and embarking on the wildest ride in the wilderness.
We originally had a late lunch at The Plaza at 1:00pm. I cancelled it, and rescheduled it for our last MK day.
I was a little stressed, but everything came together perfectly.

Now I guess I'll share our last park day plans at the Magic Kingdom. It was affected by the time change too, but I made it work. I'll show our original plans, and then highlight the changes.
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Monday, Magic Kingdom
8:10am Crystal Palace - Cancelled due to park opening time change
Big Thunder
Splash
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Peter Pan
11:00am lunch ADR at The Plaza (changed from a 1:00 late lunch on our first MK day)
SDMT (FP+ 12:35 - 1:35)
Carousel of Progress and/or People Mover
Space Mountain (FP+ 1:35 - 2:35)
Buzz Lightyear's Spaceranger Spin (FP+ 2:35 - 3:35)
Be Our Guest dinner 6:30

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Monday will be our final full park day, and of course it will be the Magic Kingdom. I had a lunch AND dinner ADR at Be Our Guest booked for this day, but the family unanimously voted to drop lunch and keep dinner. We had both meals there last year, so we’re not missing anything by losing that meal.


We’ll rope drop and head straight to Frontierland for BTMRR and Splash Mountain. Jungle Cruise will probably happen, and of course, our favorite, Haunted Mansion. We’ll also hit Peter Pan, SDMT, Carousel of Progress, People Mover and Winnie the Pooh, as well as any others that strike our fancy.

This day will be pretty wide open, and we’re just going to enjoy our last full day in Disney.
We have a dinner reservation at Be Our Guest, but no other evening plans. We will go where the wind takes us.
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Only one day's plans left to share before this PTR takes a big turn toward shopping and packing and total excitement!

Coming soon...departure day plans!

 

[catmom46]

Ack, thanks for the heads-up! We also had the same CP ADR that day, so I will need to revise our itinerary, too! Hopefully with the same success as you.