Going for Trip #20 Once again just the 2 munchkins & I

dsnycrzy

W/4 kids who has time for anything else but planni
Joined
Apr 16, 2003
Hello all,
Just loving that I get to start another pre-trip report for my 20th trip now. Last year I left behind my 2 older kids and it looks like I may be doing that again. My DS21 decided that his trip in 2015 was his last so he's out. My DD24 stayed home last year for no real reason but said she is not getting left behind again yet she hasn't gotten herself established for this trip either so :confused3:confused3.
Anyway let me introduce myself. I am Linda a preschool teacher:teacher: at a place for the 1st time, I do NOT enjoy. So my last day will be June 23rd. Normally I work for Headstart Programs or in the school districts so when I found out that I would have to work all Easter and Christmas weeks and all summer, I made a call to go back into the district come the next school year. I need to be home to watch my own children during the summer. AND lets not add that my boss told me that I could NOT take me 3 week trip to Florida even when I suggested that I go unpaid so that helped make my decision to leave.



My DD14 will be celebrating a birthday, turning 15 on this trip as usual(we always go in August) and she will be completing her 1st year of high school. She is a Professed animal lover. Becoming a social butterfly, attached to her phone like it was a new limb. Lord help her:worship: She is obsessed with Suicide Squad and especially Harley Quinn.


My DS5 will also have a birthday this trip. He aced kindergarten before the Christmas break. Completely obsessed with Orca Whales, All the Presidents (and can tell you what every president's name is, the order they are in and even some of their wives and how many kids they haveo_Oo_Oo_O) and Composer:scratchin:scratchin. Yeah I have a complete nerd. His conversations have us ALL like:confused::confused::confused::confused: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


This was him last August on our trip and this is what he looks like now getting one of his many awards for academic excellence.


So my trip dates are August 1st to the 24th. We are taking the auto train as usual. This is us last year right after boarding...







So this far this is our plans:
8/1-Auto Train
8/2-Auto Train and Springhill Suites for Sea World (yes my DS needs to see whales:thumbsup2:thumbsup2)
8/3- Springhill Suites/ Sea World Day and Sea World Dine with Shamu:love::love:
8/4- Rest Day at Springhill Suites because I know I will be having interviews and fingerprinting and maybe some trainings right before my trip. Not to mention the normal running around preparing for the trip and preparing my home for 2 hungry "teenagers" at home:rolleyes1:rolleyes1.
:offtopic: My son called me while I was at disney last summer and said "Mom, I'm hungry":scratchin :scratchin :scratchin, yea I must prepare for this madness:rotfl2::rotfl2:.
And after sleeping in,we may venture out to some shops and of course TO EAT:thumbsup2.
8/5- Check-out of Springhill Suites and into POFQ:earboy2::earboy2::earboy2::earboy2: Pool, Lunch, unpack, early bedtime
8/5-8/13 we will be here at POFQ, do most of the disney parks and a few rest days.
8/13-Check-out of POFQ and Check-in to AKL
8/13-8/15 We will be sucking up the scenery here because 8/14 is DD's 15th birthday and this is what she wanted being an animal lover.
8/15- Check-out of AKL and Check-in to ASSP Resort Pool, Lunch, Unpack, Laundry.
8/15-8/21-we will be here at ASSP. Do the
disney parks we missed, school shopping, etc.
8/21- Check-out of ASSP and into Universals Sapphire Hills Resort
8/21-8/24 we will be here and doing US and IOA.
8/24- Check-out of Sapphire Falls and head to the Auto Train

I know I am skating on thin ice as far as ADR's being today is 70 days until we leave:scared::scared:. They are coming soon. I promise!!!
 
Up and getting my munchkins ready for school and discussing the party for this weekend. Party????? Yes every weekend we have a Florida related party. I say Florida because with Sea World and Universal Studios included in this trip, we have to throw some of those in the mix but 90% will Disney parties:love:. I have done a lot of parties and posted them on these boards but these parties are a little different. I have lost 20lbs since March 11th:wishsize2, from 173lbs to 153lbs.
My x-large clothes look like garbage bags on me:rolleyes:. I am now in Mediums:flower1:. So my parties will have a healthy edge to them. The cupcakes that are NOT Mickey Shaped are sugar free with light frosting:). I add many veggie & fruit options snacks so everyone is happy.


Our 1st party was at our 100 day mark and Kash (DS) decided that it should be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse of course.

















And remember that Kashmir loves composers and that kind of classical music so he loved this movie.

 
This party was a 1st for me but Kash wanted a Sea World Party.



















A close up of this lobster shaped pasta that I found at the Christmas Tree Shop.



Again, only mines was a mimosa and theirs were just pineapple juice.


Next up was Tangled and my first lesson of enjoying an adult beverage and preparing the party! I was teased so bad, boy oh boy:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:
 


Hi there! :wave2:

I've been amazed and in awe of your Disney movie night posts for years (still don't know how you do it :laughing:). You are so creative and inspiring. You're an awesome mom and I would love DD3 to have a pre-k teacher like you :thumbsup2. Your kids are adorable (I also have a 15 year old daughter). Wow, your trip itinerary looks super fun. Three weeks - Sea World, Disney, and Universal, wow! :worship:

Sea World is on our bucket list and we hope to get to Universal soon as well. Wish I was at your Moana party! :sunny::flower1:
 
Hi there! :wave2:

I've been amazed and in awe of your Disney movie night posts for years (still don't know how you do it :laughing:). You are so creative and inspiring. You're an awesome mom and I would love DD3 to have a pre-k teacher like you :thumbsup2. Your kids are adorable (I also have a 15 year old daughter). Wow, your trip itinerary looks super fun. Three weeks - Sea World, Disney, and Universal, wow! :worship:

Sea World is on our bucket list and we hope to get to Universal soon as well. Wish I was at your Moana party! :sunny::flower1:
Aaawwww thank you!
 
So my next party was Tangled and we watched a few episodes of Tangled ever after on the Disney Channel. I got a lot accomplished this day so I decided to sip on an adult beverage while preparing this party (I will NOT do that again):drinking1.









So this is the picture that had my Facebook friends bugging and teasing me. I was teased so bad about what this resembled :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:. I was just glad that my kids wanted to eat the donuts. Then the disney FB fan page was telling me all the name misspellings:rotfl::rotfl:. No more drinks while cooking:thumbsup2:thumbsup2.





So that was my tipsy Tangled Disney Party:laughing::laughing:
 


This past weekend we did The Super Heroes for Islands of Adventure. Im still holding on to that 20lb weight lost and this party was perfect.:thumbsup2 Everyone got to pick their power and it was fun pretending to use them. I did not have an adult beverage this time, only had water. I also had no ice cream or candy.:bitelip::bitelip:

















And we did some puzzles.
 
Ok so Im working on my budget:surfweb::coffee:. First let me start by saying that I LOVE showing up to my vacation place with everything PAID IN FULL. So the years I do Universal Im always bummed out because they are not as up on their game as Disney. You can only pay for the first night and the remainder is due upon check-out. I hate that. So here is my budget layout:
Travel:
Auto Train- $776 roundtrip DONE

Hotels:
SpringHill Suites-about $400. Reserving on 6/1
POFQ-$2,016 total. Payments- $1,000, $516, $150, $50- Balance $300
AKL-$588.96 total. Payments- $398.25 (transferred from Savannah room to standard), $90.71-Balance $100
ASSP-$684.68 total. Payments-$350, $84.68- Balance $250
Sapphire Falls $589.28 total. Payment $192.43 Balance $392.85 (will put on a Prepaid Visa along with the $25 per day parking charge:mad::mad:, Visa for $475).

Tickets: from Undercover tourist
Disney 5 day- $381 Adult DONE
Disney 5 day- $381 Adult DONE
Disney 5 day- $362 Kid DONE
Universal 2 day- $210 DONE
Universal 2 day- $210
Universal 2 day- $199
Sea World $85
Sea World $85
Sea World $85
Dine w/Shamu Adult $39
Dine w/Shamu Adult $39
Dine w/Shamu kid $29

Gift Cards
Disney Goal is $900- bought $100 bal. $800
Walmart Goal is $400
Universal Goal is $300 (you can buy gift card from their website:thumbsup2)

My Goal is to have this all paid off by 6/16 so lets see:cool:
 
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Its been over a week so of course we had a few more parties and my payments need to be updated. I love the feeling when you are done paying things off.:banana::cheer2::cool1::dancer:party::woohoo::jumping1:

So now we have:

Springhill Suites Sea World- $388.13 DONE
POFQ- Balance was $300 DONE
AKL- I added a night so my balance was $100 and went to $191 DONE
ASSP is now ASMo- $243 DONE
SF @ UNI was $393- Bought $250 in gift cards from universal site so about $145 left plus $75 for parking

Tickets

ALL REMAINING TICKETS PURCHASED!!!! LAST 2 UNIVERSAL AND ALL THE SEA WORLD AND DINING W/SHAMU.

Gift Cards
$25 disney card so $750
no Walmart yet so balance still $400
and I can't count the $250 in universal cards since they are for my resort stay. so balance still $300.

I'm so excited and this was all before my 50 days until I leave mark.:dancer:party::dance3:

Next Up the 2 parties that have happened since the super hero party. Harry Potter and The Great Mouse Detective:thumbsup2
 
Harry Potter Night! Im not a fan of these movies so this was a bit challenging for me but here we go..








Some of these deviled eggs were avocado deviled eggs, so good.


I made the wall out of a
dollar tree burgundy table cloth and masking tape.


It was fun especially for my older kids because they love Harry Potter.
Next up...a classic!
 
The Great Mouse Detective!!!!!! My older kids used to have this movie in the VHS player for weeks! Although we have it on DVD now, the little kids needed to watch it twice and I was laughing hysterically just like old times:rotfl2::rotfl2:.
First off as detectives, you needed a secret code or your handprint to enter our party. We had badges, suitcases and magnifying glasses to look for clues.






It leaves a hand print behind when you press your hand into it. everyones code was their birthday











So with the Beauty and the Beast movie coming out today, I our party will be that of course. Im looking forward to watching that movie.
 
:cool1::cool1::cool1::banana::banana::banana::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::dancer::dancer::dancer:
I am getting close to my vacation date!! 34 days today!
So far my Resort stays(except for Sapphire Falls) and tickets are all taken care of. I have a total of $725 in Disney Gift Cards. Friday is my next day to purchase gift cards and I am going to get at least a $425 universal studios card to cover the remainder of my resort cost.
I have to get all my ducks in a row within 34 days:woohoo:.
Now my disney parties that I have done so far...
 
Our next party was Beauty and the Beast. So here it is.. I completely loved this movie too.
 
Next Up Is Lion King...










Next we did Cars 3.
 
So we went to see Cars 3 in 3D. I took DS5 and DD14 but I also took one of the kids from my class that I have fallen in love with, he's 3. I didn't expect him to stay still for the whole movie but he was just happy to be out of the classroom with his "Ms.Linda":love:. Here he is while Im at work...

And when I threw him a Spiderman Party...

We went to the movies on Saturday so we did our party on Sunday.
Here we are at the movies...
On a teachers Salary and a disney budget:rotfl2:,I got our snacks from Dollar Tree. They even have Cars toys there so I got them each a Lightning McQueen car and a phone:thumbsup2. I also bought my students little brother the same toys so they wouldn't fight once he got back home. I picked up a huge bag of popcorn, cheese curls and the movies sized candy for all of up. I got the popcorn chips with my water and I brought juices and water for the kiddies.




Playing with their toys until the movie starts.

Ok now our party...

 
So I did similar things from any other Cars party I have done but I just added the new characters.
















The Cheese Curls were left over from the day before and the activities I also picked up from the Dollar Tree.
Next Up is a part of Epcot That I miss so much...
 
With this past weekend being the anniversary of Michael Jacksons death, I started thinking about Captain EO...
This party was interesting because I had no clue what the food items would be. so I googled his favorite foods and that was our foods.

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Showing my age here:goodvibes
:rolleyes1:rolleyes1


 
I was super duper stressed out at the job that I finally resigned from on Friday. To get me through those last few days I wore Disney stuff, played my Disney music channel on Pandora, whenever there was drama, I smiled and said "Hakuna Matata":rotfl2: and right before I left... I switched up and became the happy purple princess. I had my hair dyed red for years but decided on something different.
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This is the day before my last day and my shirt says "I work to support my Disney addiction":rotfl::rotfl:


A few of my Disney apparel before leaving...



My glow-in-the-dark Toy Story Sneaker:lovestruc

And the struggle was extremely real!! Im glad to be home with my munchkins completely in our Disney bubble with our planning! We are even in the beginning stages of planning our very 1st Disneyland visit in 2018:lovestruc:lovestruc
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