We're All Kids Here...A Week to Celebrate Childhood

[mickeyschickie]

I decided that the time has come...we have 34 days until our trip to Walt Disney World, so I have to start a pre-trip report (especially because I cannot wait to go and am running out of things to do right now to prepare for our magical vacation.)

Just the facts:

Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2016- Tuesday, March 15, 2016 (when you are flying with 9 people we did look for the cheapest flights possible through Southwest- that rumor about Tuesday being cheapest is acutally true!!)

Lodging: a 2-bedroom and a Studio @ The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge

The Kid's Roster: Mommom and Poppop (our most experience kids- the type of grandparents that have a treehouse for the grandkids, have a "Neverland Club" under their steps for the grandkids and pretty much live to spoil the grandkids) myself- Nicki and my DH the Farmer (parents of three kids, hard working, have tried and loved quieter vacations and love the National Park Service most of all, but have a soft spot for Disney) SweetCharlotteMae- our eldest young child, almost 14, lives a very Disney-life and is not one bit embarrassed by it, Norrie- the classic middle child, almost 10, freakishly strong and strong-willed, but enchanting nonetheless. Walter- Wall-E, amost 4, his best girl is Minnie Mouse and he can't wait to give her another big hug. NurseTracy- my ex-ish SIL (they were never married, so we never officially had to divorce from her) friends for 15+ years, Katie- my only niece, best friend of SweetCharlotteMae, almost 13, first time visitor to WDW

We have spent almost a year tentatively planning this trip and the last few months making firm plans for transportation, dining, fastpasses, and more. I will be happy to share what we will be doing and will most likely be sharing a Live dining review as well.

Thank you for taking a look, I look forward to everything the next month of pre-trip has to offer!

 

[mickeyschickie]

Dining Plans Preview: (we will be using the traditional dining plan and our table service choices hinged greatly on a 12 year old girl that had never met any characters and a 3 year old boy that loves Minnie Mouse and Disney Jr characters)
Tuesday, March 8-
QS- Be Our Guest Lunch
TS- Chef Mickey's for dinner (a family tradition for our first night, we just can't help ourselves)
Wednesday, March 9- the Farmer's Birthday!!
QS- unplanned
TS- 'Ohana for dinner (the Farmer's favorite place to dine at WDW)
Thursday, March 10-
QS- unplanned
TS- we are splitting up for lunch at Hollywood Studios, half the group going to 50's Primetime and the other half going to Hollywood and Vine
Friday, March 11-
TS- breakfast at Tusker House (our favorite Character breakfast!!)
QS- unplanned
Saturday, March 12-
QS- unplanned
TS- 1900 Park Fare (we can't wait to see Lady Tremaine and the Step-sisters again) our girls aren't so into Princesses anymore, but we thought this would be a fun approach to meeting them
Sunday, March 13-
QS- half of us going to breakfast at Be Our Guest (a first for us!) while NurseTracy and Katie go to church
TS- Hoop De Doo Review at Pioneer Hall (paying out of pocket for this one- see next post for the booking story)
Monday, March 14-
QS- unplanned
TS- Whispering Canyon Café
Tuesday, March 15-
TS- farewell meal at the Crystal Palace

 

[mickeyschickie]

Booking Hoop De Doo Review aka the Day I Cried all day-
I thought I'd share this little store because:
1. It shows just how important this trip is to me
2. It clearly shows just how wonderful the cast members at WDW can be, sadly, I cannot remember the name of the lady that helped me at the call center but I did do the post call survey so her wonderful service would be noted)
The Farmer and I had decided to buy everyone tickets to the Hoop De Doo for their Christmas presents. We were celebrating Christmas with Mommom and Poppop and NurseTracy and Katie on the Sunday after Christmas. Being the procrastinator that I am, I neglected to call and book the tickets until that day. It was very cold and rainy and being out in the country, cell service can be spotty at times, some days, no matter what leg I'm standing on or how closely I press my face and the phone to the window, I cannot make a phone call inside of the house! (No landline make the house feel so quiet and peaceful but can be an inconvenience on cold wet days.) So I was huddled on the front porch in my jammies making a last minute phone call to purchase these tickets. I called Disney Dining and was met by a very pleasant voice, but one that was extremely professional and very good at her job. She got to work right away finding me a table for a party of nine on the date that I wanted. All the while making small talk, she was asking about our trip and what made us choose the Hoop De Doo. As I was telling her our story, she made the comment- "Oh My! You're all going to have such a wonderful time!" I said, "I know." and started bawling. Bawling like my life depended on this trip, bawling because I had been waiting so long to have the relationship with my niece that we have finally gotten to develop over the last couple of years, bawling because my parents have waited 12 years to take this grandchild to WDW, bawling because this stranger was being so nice to me!
As we commenced all the necessary "things" for booking, we got to the point in the process where they ask if you are celebrating anything special this trip- guess what!!! We are!!! LoL- I bawled when I told her that we are there for the Farmer's birthday. "Oh my, you are going to have such a wonderful time." I bawled when I told her that we will be celebrating NurseTracy's birthday (is actually the day after we go home.) "Oh my, you ARE going to have such a wonderful time." She talked, I bawled. But wait, there is one more, we will be celebrating Mommom and Poppop's 40th wedding anniversary, she said again, "you are going to have such a wonderful time" again, and I bawled some more.
This made me think, how many people do this? I'm not this biggest softy in the world, but I couldn't help this, it felt like such a release for me. The last couple of trips, I made all our ADR's online, oh, how I miss the days of calling Disney Dining and having my list of items I want and waiting suspensefully to hear if I was getting what location/time we wanted. There is still anticipation, there is still excitement every morning the week we were 180 days out, but the special brand of Disney therapy is not included in the My Disney Experience App.
Anyway, I got off the phone, made a quick printout that included all the information in a scrapbook page for my niece and my parents and ran off to spend the day exchanging Disney themed gifts and chatting about our upcoming trip togethe

 

[mickeyschickie]

YaY!!! Twelve days from right this moment we will be half-way to WDW!! I have so much to do at this point and while I am off work today and supposed to be doing several loads of laundry (which I am, machine running right now, I promise...) and preparing our taxes for our accountant (coming Sunday after church, eeek!) I am utterly obsessed with living the Disney life. So right now, I am enjoying a cup of tea and some DisBoard Trip Reports. I thought I would update a little to share what has been going on since I last checked in:
1. 3 out of 5 in my household have been circling around different variances of the same cold
2. we all have started packing and/or trying to break in different pairs of new park shoes, without making them look like they are worn in (girls both requested Disney Van's for Christmas and the little guy got a new pair of Mickey Mouse Croc's)
3. Our new WDW promo DVD finally appeared in the mail and we had a very excited family viewing in bed before we all went to sleep trying to dream of WDW
4. Wall-E has become obsessed with the Lion Guard, so I am very excited to take him to the Animal Kingdom
5. I've been working my tail off to get everything ready at work for me to escape for a whole week!
6. I've been listening to many many PodCasts while on the road for work (Dis Unplugged, [of course] WDW Radio, Disney Hipster, MouseChat, Distracted Life, Disney Dream Girls, Magic Memory Keepers [scrapbooking related] and Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW [I unfortunately have a low tolerance for gluten/wheat that really affects my skin and I would like to be able to treat myself on our trip without breaking out into huge scaley patches!]

I still have so so much to do to finish getting ready, housecleaning, packing, dog-boarding, nails need to be painted, I considered twice yesterday at the grocery store buying paper plates and cups to use until we go just to buy a few extra minutes a day, but I just couldn't make myself do it, I never use paper products (except for big parties) so it just seemed too wasteful of resources and money, but I kept circling them, lol.

Tata For Now...too much to do and too little time!
Thanks for Reading!
Nicki

 

[mickeyschickie]

WooHoo!!! We've made it to single digits! Every day Wall-E asks if it's a "Disney day." Not yet buddy, but we're getting there! I got him the Lion Guard DVD to occupy him for a little while.

 

[mickeyschickie]

7 days out...we finally made it to the nitty-gritty of it all, working on my pre-trip checklist of errands, house-cleaning, packing, doggy duties and oh yeah, a little thing called a JOB...bummer that I can't take a week off to get ready for my vacation.
Grocery list is being finalized. We are using the regular DDP, but want fruit and cereal and breakfast items in the room. So I used Strollers and Groceries to rent Wall-E a stroller and of course, have the groceries delivered. This is my first time using a service like this, mostly with the kids, we drive
The kids letters back from the schools approving their trips finally arrived, so I guess they get to go with us. Katie is home-schooled and has been bragging to the other two girls all along that she can go away whenever she wants.
We met up with NurseTracy and Katie on Sunday at Mommom and Poppop's house to be excited together and take care of some last minute details. Mommom and Poppop are going to pick them up next Tuesday morning on the way to the airport and we will meet them all there.
We also picked out our lunch for BOG. Katie loves to research things, so she knew exactly what she wanted to eat right way, which impressed Mommom, because she was the last to pick out her lunch and changed her order a couple of times. The men of the group were in an uproar though, they could not believe we wanted to pre-order our food a week ahead of time and kept cracking jokes about someone pre-chewing it for us as well. But the kids were all excited about ordering and thought it was cool. We went over the meal plan again and I covered all of the table service meals that I had booked, then they asked me about the counter service. I explained that I did not plan that out because we did not need ADR's for them and I didn't want to make all the decisions for everyone for the whole trip. But it turns out, that is what they want, so I will be suffering from decision fatigue for months and the rest of the group will be happily be-bopping around WDW not worrying about a thing but criticizing my bad choices in QS restaurants, lol. I told them that I will narrow it down to a couple in each park and give them the options of what they feel like eating at the time. So we will not just be wondering around hungry and fighting over what to do about the next meal, but I will not also be handing out a typed timed agenda of where we have to be and what we have to eat all week long. I guess I have to have a rough plan ready soon so I can consult with my little research buddy Katie. I was thinking about that yesterday...SweetCharlotteMae claims to live a very Disney life, but she does not do what Katie and I do, we research and dig and obsess while Charlotte just floats along living in the memories of her last trip to the World. She doesn't care what she eats or where, or what park we visit when, she loves it all equally and is just happy to be there. Don't get me wrong though, once we are there, no one is allowed to remove her from the Disney bubble, mess with her experience at all, or get in between her and her next meal. Lol!
Got to go, still too much to do and too little time, but we are getting close.

 

[mickeyschickie]

Wow! Time sure does fly when you are agonizing over minute details of a long-awaited, often celebrated, much debated, (over-rated??? lol) Walt Disney World vacation. I'm exhausted, but can see the glittering vacation starting line in the distance. We took the kids and met up with Katie and NurseTracy last night at the movies to see Zootopia!! It was good, we all had our favorite cute little parts but I feel like we've been watching way to many trailers for it and I am not going to do that with the next highly anticipated movie I go see. When you get over-exposed to it, it just doesn't seem like as much fun. However, overexposure to all things Disney in the pre-vacation planning process has never had that affect on me.
3 days until we prepare for take-off!!!

 

[mickeyschickie]

48 hours until we are in the air!! I went over to Mommom and Poppop's house yesterday afternoon to pay for our dining plan and to help streamline her packing. Mommom's suitcase was in the danger zone for being overweight so we took a couple of pounds out and moved stuff around to avoid any charges.
I got up early this morning to do my nails (just in case they didn't look good enough and I have to redo them, I have time.) this was my first try with any nail art and I found so many cute ideas on Pinterest!
[GALLERY=] [/GALLERY]