Disney Again? November '18 here we come! Shh don't tell my son he doesn't know! 11/21 COMPLETE!

deedee2177 · Oct 20, 2018

3 weeks from today and we will be on the road heading to Disney!!!!

deedee2177 · Oct 22, 2018

We are officially in the TEENS!! 19 days to go!!! :flower1:

I don't even know how that is possible. I think with us so busy the time is just flying by! We are busy until we leave! This weekend with have Trunk or Treat activities at the kids' school and my daughter's dance studio.

Then next weekend my daughter and I are going to a wedding on Saturday, and then the 4 of us are traveling to my parents house on that Sunday to see my family (including my beautiful 1 year old niece/God-daughter). I tried to convince my sister to let me take her on this Disney trip but she said no just because she wants to be with her on her 1st trip to Disney...WHATEVER! (I'm kidding, I completely get that but I still want to take her)!

Then the next weekend we leave. In between all that my daughter has dance practice for her competition teams she is a part of, and a performance she is a part of for her school. My son has karate practices twice a week. I just can't wait to get through these next few weeks of work. Thankfully I took the Friday before we leave off so I can get all packed while everyone else is at school and work!!!

As far as the plans I'm still trying to get earlier times for my FoP and Slinky Dog Fast Passes. No luck yet, but still just grateful I was able to snag them at all because I know some weren't that lucky!

:earboy2:

deedee2177 · Oct 25, 2018

We are only 16 days away...unbelievable! I have started getting clothes together for the trip. It's a bit difficult since Joey doesn't know about the trip. Usually the suitcases would already be done from the attic and starting to fill up. However, with Joey not knowing I can't exactly do that. So, I'm making secret piles in my closet of clothes that I know we will not wear between now and the trip.

I also had a talk with Emma and told her she needs to get things from her Mommy's house together (not sure if I mentioned she is my step-daughter. We hate that term so we say bonus-daughter). We only have 2 weekends left and both are busy. So, I told her to get her suitcase out and start throwing in things she wants to take. I told her she doesn't even need to be neat about it cause I'm just going to wash everything up and repack it anyway. She told me yesterday she wants her own suitcase this time and not to share with her brother...ugh pre-teens!! I'm fine with it since we are driving and not paying any luggage fees. Anything to keep the peace!

Some exciting news to share is that we hit our 180 day mark for our April 2019 trip...that definitely snuck up on me! We don't actually have a reservation yet...we will be doing that once we get back from this trip. So, I have been having to do our ADR's one day at at time, but so far I have had great luck. I'm considering starting another PTR for that trip, but may wait until this November trip is over (but I don't even want to think of that right now).

Hope you all are having a great week so far! Thanks for following along!

AimeeAurora · Oct 25, 2018

Following along! We leave in 2 days and are also surprising our son. He is 5, and has been to DW twice before. We are going to tell him Friday night that we are going on an adventure in the morning (our code for doing something super fun or a road trip), just so he won't lose his mind when we wake him up at 345am! He is NOT a fan of being woken up for ANY reason. Then we'll just see how far we get before he figures it out! I can't wait to see how you surprise your boy!

I couldn't get a FP for Slinky until our last day. Ugh. But I'm hoping we can sneak one in late in the afternoon when we are there.

deedee2177 · Oct 29, 2018

AimeeAurora said:
Following along! We leave in 2 days and are also surprising our son. He is 5, and has been to DW twice before. We are going to tell him Friday night that we are going on an adventure in the morning (our code for doing something super fun or a road trip), just so he won't lose his mind when we wake him up at 345am! He is NOT a fan of being woken up for ANY reason. Then we'll just see how far we get before he figures it out! I can't wait to see how you surprise your boy!

I couldn't get a FP for Slinky until our last day. Ugh. But I'm hoping we can sneak one in late in the afternoon when we are there.

OH MY!! You are there now!! I hope the surprise for your son went well!!! I hope you are all having a very magical trip!

deedee2177 · Oct 29, 2018

Hello All!!

12 days! How is that possible? Less than 2 weeks. So this past weekend in between Halloween activities I did start getting more stuff together. I have a Disney box that I use to throw things in that I know I will need for the trip, but won't be using between now and then. I also took the car in to get an oil change and tire rotation and asked them to look everything over since we will be driving it to Disney (about a 1200 mile round trip). Thankfully, I had them check because we ended up needing a new battery. Hated handing that money over, but much rather do it now then run into issues when we are on the road. Thankfully everything else checked out!

Here's some pictures of the kids from this weekend.

Our trunk for the Trunk or Treat

My Pig in a Blanket and Harry Potter

I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with Trunk or Treat, I had never heard about it until I moved to NC. Basically an organization (school, dance studio, church, etc) will organize the event. People will show up and decorate the trunks of their car. The kids will then walk to each car and get candy. We had 2 of these this weekend. One at the kids school and one at my daughter's dance studio.

I thought I would share a bit about my bonus daughter. I started dating her Dad when she was 3 years old and she is now 12 years old. She is an amazing young lady and she and I have a wonderful relationship. Her Mommy is a huge supporter of our relationship and her Mommy and I talk daily to keep in touch and make sure we are on the same page for Emma.

We had Emma this weekend and she and I sat down to make a packing list for her. She has always enjoyed the planning process so I thought I would start teaching her not just about ADRs and Fast Passes, but also the packing, planning and budgeting that goes into planning a trip.

She had told me she wanted her own suitcase this trip and not have to share with her brother. I told her that was fine. So, we started making the list of things she needed to get together while she is at her Mommy's house, and then this weekend we will bring it all over here so I can repack everything (LOL).

As with any 12 year old girl I reminded her multiple times to start working on this yesterday evening because she is super busy during the week with school and dance (not to mention Halloween) in the middle of the week. Well, yesterday evening I started getting multiple texts and it was Emma sending me pictures of her packing! Now if she would just be that proactive on her homework!

Travel Day outfit

From our last trip, but still fits. Always good for a visit to Hollywood Studios!

My bag!!! And I have been looking for this...little Stinker!

I know this was more of personal update, but we are only 12 days away and I'm pretty content with our plans at this point. OH! That reminds me...Emma out of the blue asked me yesterday if we could eat at The Plaza. Well, of course I can't find a lunch/dinner reservation that works for either of our MK days. So, I will keep trying there, but she understands if I can't get it since she waited to the last minute to mention this...LOL.

Thanks for following along!