I Can't, I'm Not Wearing a Princess Dress! - New TR link!!!!

[khertz]

Can't believe how big Ryder has gotten! It has been so amazing to follow your journey since his birth and to see where he is now.

How exciting that the discount worked in your favor so well! AKL is amazing. I know y'all will love it. We are looking forward to when we can stay there one day again in the future. It's such a beautiful resort! And while we love POFQ too, you just can't beat a deal like that for a deluxe.

 

[natebenma]

Thanks for checking in. I appreciate you sharing about CHD awareness. I am glad the outcome has been so positive for Ryder and for your family. I can only imagine the difficulties and anguish your family has gone through over the past year and a half.

Your friends and I will continue to think good thoughts for you all and also for better planting weather to arrive for your area.

 

[afwdwfan]

First, I'm thrilled to hear that your little one is making progress! He is absolutely ADORABLE in his nine month photos (and Grant would LOVE the onesie - he has a thing for tractors!). I look forward to hearing more positive updates!

Thank you!

I really enjoyed the rest of your January trip! I'm glad your daughter was able to have such a good time with you and your wife, and thrilled she enjoyed the rides!

Thanks. It was a good trip, and it was great to get some one on one time with her and see her enjoy some of the bigger attractions.

I'm also SO EXCITED about you upgrading to Animal Kingdom Lodge! Anika and I stayed there during our 2012 trip and we LOVED it! I know your ADRs have probably been set for months, but all three restaurants at AKL are WONDERFUL and I HIGHLY recommend them! We ate at Jiko in 2012 (and you can read my review in my TR link), Anika and I tried Sanaa in 2015 (the bread service is AWESOME and I highly recommend it!) and Mom and I finally tried Boma in 2016 (and it was well worth the wait - so delicious and I can't wait to go back!). If you can only pick one I would go with Boma - it has a huge variety of choices, including more "American" food for picky eaters. If you can squeeze in a second I would go with Sanaa, get the full bread service, and split some entrees. I would recommend lunch or an early dinner at Sanaa so you have a good view of the animals - they walk right up to the windows!

I know... I really want to try some of the restaurants, but there's just no way to fit them in without having way, way, way too many ADRs. I'm really considering trying to get up early one morning just to see if I can get in myself for a quick breakfast at Boma while DW and the kids are still in bed. I've also thought about going to the lounge at Sanaa some evening just to try to the bread service. No ADRs or solid plans, but we'll see... hopefully something works out!

For the lodge itself, it's so fun to wander around and watch the animals. My personal favorite is the flamingos (located near the pool) - I could watch them for an hour! There are guides throughout the lodge and outside that are thrilled to talk about the animals or their experiences at home. AKL also has a fantastic zero-entry pool with a fun slide - Anika and I loved it!

Thanks for the info! I'm really looking forward to exploring it. We've got a standard view room, but I've used the touringplans room selector tool to request a section of rooms that at least have a partial savanna view. I don't need to see animals from my balcony necessarily, but I'd rather have a standard view of some vegetation than the bus stops or rooftops. We're going to try to arrive mid-day on our arrival day so we can hopefully unpack and use the pool before our dinner ADR.

I look forward to hearing all about your trip! (And also look forward to more updates on your little guy!)

Thanks... I'll try to be a little more present around here, although that's been a struggle the past few months.

I can't show the photo cause my tablet is being a jerk, but the pic of all your kiddos in the gym is adorable; you got a good looking bunch there!

Thank you!

Translation: Parents will be running soon.

Those certainly aren't the most encouraging odds! But I too am so happy you and little Ryder made it through what was, I'm sure, a terrifying time.

It was, but it we made it through!

With all that he has gone through in just a short 10 months I'm sure it makes these normal baby milestones that much more incredible. I'm glad he's doing so well. Enjoy the last few months of not having to chase after him constantly

Thanks! He's already pretty mobile though. He can disappear on us pretty quickly just by crawling.

That is a terrifying statistic, but I'm so happy you guys ended up on the upside. I continue to pray for your family and little one that he continues to make the great progress he has!!

Thank you!

Lots of prayers answered. So happy you're blessed with a beautiful boy.

Thank you!

We all have busy times, and totally understand. Glad to hear that Ryder is doing well and things are moving forward with a nice amount of normalcy in your life. While the planting season is hectic for you, at least it's something you can ground yourself in (no pun intended), year after year and gives you the stability that life goes on, even after a stressful year.

Or it just causes more stress...

10 months old?! Yeah, he sure sounds like he'll be walking and running soon. When the baby become mobile...that's when the kiddos become really fun.

Um... dang, I've really gotten behind. 11 months now.

Sorry to hear it's been tough on the farm. BUT I am glad to hear the family is doing good!

Thanks!

So happy to hear about the family doing well. It is so exciting when they gain mobility... and then completely terrifying when they are into everything.

I feel you on the corn planting. We have been very wet and cold here. We finally finished calving last week and I would like to turn the cows out to fresh pasture but they will destroy it with all the rain we have had. Hopefully this weekend. Oh well there is plenty of baleage left from last year. My FIL has to be chomping at the bit to get his first cutting in though. He likes it done prior to memorial day.

There's been a lot of hay cut and baled here this week. We're finally dried out enough to get back into the fields to plant with some more rain on the way possibly as early as tonight.

Sorry to hear about your planting woes, hopefully everything comes around. Besides the "swamp" you pictured, are you guys in an area that has been hit hard by the floods and storms.

Well, we're making some progress and re-doing some of what we've done. There's still a lot more we need to do, I'll say something about it later. We avoided the worst of all of the weather. No tornadoes or anything... some strong straight line winds, but the worst it did was knock a couple of smaller branches out of a tree. The worst thing to me was the fact that we went from 80 degree temps to 40's for about a week and then back to 80. I've been fighting a horrible cold for a week and a half now. This always happens to me when we have big temperature swings like that.

All of the publicity that Jimmy Kimmel has been getting made me think of your family and I wondered how you were doing. I'm glad to hear things are going smoothly for the most part.

Well, so far so good. We did get a substantial claim denied by the insurance as "experimental" although nothing from his treatment was anything that isn't normally done for the particular condition. The hospital hasn't billed us for that denied claim yet so I'm waiting to see where it goes...

That weather / planting intersection sounds....challenging. I hope you can salvage the season with your second planting!

It's been rough. It's still early though, so we'll see how it goes.

I can only imagine! But welcome back!

Thanks

Who are you? I thought you were a farmer. No farmer ever admits to conditions being perfect.

There it is.

See... We're pretty predictable.

The wettest spots are just now drying out enough that we can drive across them. But we haven't had any rain in the past week. My dad actually made the comment yesterday that we could use a little shower to loosen the ground up where it is dry.

Not good news then...

Not really.

So how bad is it that you have to replant? Is it a major expense compared to a crop that is blighted somehow later on?

Well, it depends... we work with seed companies that guarantee their product. If they deem a replant is necessary, they give us the seed to replant at no additional cost to us. However, we might not get the same variety, quality or size of seed that we originally ordered and planted. Our problem right now is deciding what corn needs to be torn out and where we can just drive through the field and find a dead spot and drop the planter there and leave the good corn. But the thing is, we plant a population of about 34,000 plants/acre and we're expecting over 32,000 to emerge and be viable corn plants. To replant, you'd tend to leave it as is if we had 25,000 plants/acre emerge over most of the field and then we'd just plant the spots that drowned out to basically nothing. But when you're looking at a field trying to figure out how much is out there and the corn is only 2 inches tall, a population of 10,000 and a population of 25,000 don't look much different so it is hard to make the call whether or not to tear it up and start over.

Basically, it is still May... it is early enough that our re-planted corn could do just as well or better than corn we planted early. Or the early corn might do better. We'd essentially be looking at a 1 month difference between planting dates which means that they'll hit all the maturity milestones at different points. If conditions are hot and dry when the early corn pollinates, but cooler and wetter when the late corn pollinates, it could easily do better. There's just no way of knowing. We will plant corn anywhere from mid-April to the end of May/first few days of June here. Basically, the first week of May is the sweet spot on an average year, but your top end yield potential is really determined by how uniformly the crop emerges (which has been a struggle) and then weather at certain junctures in the crop's maturity.

Not much to say is infinitely better than too much to say... of negatives.

Very true.

GREAT!

... or not. Sounds like a really trying Spring, Andy. Such a shame that a lot of hard word (and $$) was wrecked with whacky weather. Hopefully, things are going to turn around now and be more even-keeled.

We shall see...

Glad to hear the family is doing well, though. Sounds like the trip is still moving forward with planning. FP day is always a big deal; anxious to hear about what you got!

Thanks!

Wow, that rain situation sounds brutal. I hope you can get some decent crops from what you already planted and I hope the second planting goes well!

It has been rough. Now it is stressful just trying to decide what to do.

I'm so sorry for the rain hurting the crops. I have to say I learned a lot about farming from your post. Rain and flooding has done a lot of damage in the last year. We live in Baton Rouge, LA and just had the Great Flood of 2016. I personally didn't flood this time around but we did in 1983. I work for an insurance agency and we're still dealing with lost of claims. I'm hoping you get dried out just enough and have a good second planting.

I can only imagine how much of a nightmare that would be for an insurance agency... wow.

I'm happy the family is doing great. We just welcomed our first grandchild on Monday. Babies are so special. Enjoy your little ones.

Thanks! I've been trying to read and catch up with your TR, but I've been struggling just to keep my head above water here... no pun intended. I usually try not to post to a TR until I catch up, but I had to say congratulations to you and your family!

Ugh, I know the feeling!! Although, I feel its much worse in your case it effects your livelihood.

This really felt appropriate.

Now it has been about a week since we've had any rain.

SO much for the rain reversing all the hard work put in thus far.

It was a combination of the rain and the colder temps. I really think most of it would have survived the rain had it not been for a week+ of 40 degree temps to go along with it.

No news is good news sometimes!

an't believe how big Ryder has gotten! It has been so amazing to follow your journey since his birth and to see where he is now.

He's come a long way for sure!

How exciting that the discount worked in your favor so well! AKL is amazing. I know y'all will love it. We are looking forward to when we can stay there one day again in the future. It's such a beautiful resort! And while we love POFQ too, you just can't beat a deal like that for a deluxe.

Yeah, we were really looking forward to POFQ. In a way, it is a disappointment to miss out on some of the fun we had planned there, but I'm excited to see AKL and it was just too good of an offer to pass up.

Thanks for checking in. I appreciate you sharing about CHD awareness. I am glad the outcome has been so positive for Ryder and for your family. I can only imagine the difficulties and anguish your family has gone through over the past year and a half.

Thank you!

Your friends and I will continue to think good thoughts for you all and also for better planting weather to arrive for your area.

Thanks... it's been a struggle!

 

[afwdwfan]

Another life update for you...

Well, the little dude is 11 months now. And I don't have a picture to post. I'll have to try to rectify that for you this evening or tomorrow. He is eating some baby food, although is very picky. He likes to feed himself though so we've tried some Gerber toddler raviolis that he can eat. They're too big for him to chew completely with his 6 teeth so we cut them up into smaller pieces and put them on his tray and he can eat and feed those to himself. He doesn't eat a whole lot of them, but it is something. We're having trouble getting him to gain weight and can't seem to hit the 18 pound mark, but the kid has been non-stop motion ever since he started crawling. He's now trying, unsuccessfully so far, to stand up on his own. But he will grab onto anything he can to stand and play or walk along the edge of the couch, etc. He's still exclusively breastfeeding and working with a therapist to get his feeding/drinking issues sorted out. He has one particular type of sippy cup that he'll use from time to time. We basically were told to just put anything in it that he will drink. We'll put some apple juice in it and give it to him to drink when he wants to. He's drinking anywhere from 1 - 3 ounces in a day. Which is good, but they want him to drink 3 - 4 ounces at once before we can consider taking out his G-tube. I am a little bit worried about this for our Disney trip as staying hydrated in July is clearly a huge concern.

Replanting began yesterday. We have a lot of soybeans with poor stands that we will replant. Those are easy though. We don't have to worry about running in the same rows and don't even necessarily have to plant in the same direction. We can just drive the planter into fields with drowned out spots and plant those driving whichever direction is easiest and for fields where the population is just too thin, we can cut back the rate and plant just maybe 1/2 or 2/3 of the usual population across the field to make sure we have a good overall stand.

Corn is tougher. We have to follow the rows so that we can apply nitrogen later and then harvest it. We have some fields where the corn is up... mostly, just probably not quite the population we wanted. There are spots in fields that are completely drowned out. So we have some fields where we can just drive the field and drop the planter in the spots where there's nothing. For the fields where population is low, we've got to make a decision whether it is adequate to keep what is there or tear it out. That's the type of decision that can make you sick to think about. First of all, when you have a thin population it is really hard to determine what you have over the course of a field. We might check one spot and it is 30,000. Another spot might be 25,000. Another spot might be 10,000. And frankly, when corn is 2 inches tall it is hard to tell the difference without measuring of a few feet of a row and counting plants. So how do you determine where it is thin enough that we need to drop the planter if we drive the field? Or is it overall just thin enough that we need to tear it up and start over? We have already tilled up and replanted around 250 acres that we planted that was just an all around crappy stand. It was an easy call. We've got several other fields that need to be spot planted for sure and we've got a 105 acre field that we just don't know what to do with. There are places where the corn is up and looks great. There is some high ground that just has a thin stand and there is some low ground that was just absolutely drowned out. We've looked at it... multiple times mostly while scratching our heads. We've had a seed rep look at it. He thinks we should spot plant it but he never actually got out of his truck and walked into the field. We have an agronomist coming this afternoon or tomorrow to give us another opinion. It's just hard to tell what is or isn't good enough. A lot of a corn crop's top end potential is determined by seed emergence and population. Clearly emergence has been difficult and figuring out what kind of a population we have has been tough too. Typically we plant about 34,000 seeds/acre hoping for emergence of over 30,000 seeds/acre if there is some stress at germination. The last couple of years, we had great emergence and pretty much all of it came up. To determine a replant scenario we'd leave it if the population is 20,000 - 25,000 but when it is so inconsistent, it is just hard to get a handle on what is actually there and decide what to do with it.

I'm not sure if I'll get it done this week, but I'll be back soon with a rundown of our latest trip planning developments and FP selections!

 

[missangelalexis]

Thanks for the update on Ryder. I am glad he is doing well and will keep sending positive thoughts that he continues doing well on his recovery journey!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hey Andy, great to get an update on the little guy. Hopefully he continues to progress and you all work through the feeding & drinking issues before your trip.

I love all the insight into farming by the way. Being from northeast Canada, there isn't much of an industry here, so it's something I don't have a great understanding about. I have to admit I never really think about where everything comes from at the grocery store or what goes in to getting it there. Just curious, where do you sell most of your crop? Locally or does it ship farther?

 

[MeghanEmily]

Love the Ryder update! Sending prayers and good vibes for his hydration!

 

[amazingact21]

Appreciate the Ryder update. Hopefully, by July, you guys can get him to start drinking more. And if not, perhaps instinct will kick in and help him drink more in the FL heat.

Keeping my fingers crossed your corn and soybeans can cooperate and you can figure out the replanting issues.

 

[pkondz]

The wettest spots are just now drying out enough that we can drive across them. But we haven't had any rain in the past week. My dad actually made the comment yesterday that we could use a little shower to loosen the ground up where it is dry.

Well, it depends... we work with seed companies that guarantee their product. If they deem a replant is necessary, they give us the seed to replant at no additional cost to us. However, we might not get the same variety, quality or size of seed that we originally ordered and planted. Our problem right now is deciding what corn needs to be torn out and where we can just drive through the field and find a dead spot and drop the planter there and leave the good corn. But the thing is, we plant a population of about 34,000 plants/acre and we're expecting over 32,000 to emerge and be viable corn plants. To replant, you'd tend to leave it as is if we had 25,000 plants/acre emerge over most of the field and then we'd just plant the spots that drowned out to basically nothing. But when you're looking at a field trying to figure out how much is out there and the corn is only 2 inches tall, a population of 10,000 and a population of 25,000 don't look much different so it is hard to make the call whether or not to tear it up and start over.

Basically, it is still May... it is early enough that our re-planted corn could do just as well or better than corn we planted early. Or the early corn might do better. We'd essentially be looking at a 1 month difference between planting dates which means that they'll hit all the maturity milestones at different points. If conditions are hot and dry when the early corn pollinates, but cooler and wetter when the late corn pollinates, it could easily do better. There's just no way of knowing. We will plant corn anywhere from mid-April to the end of May/first few days of June here. Basically, the first week of May is the sweet spot on an average year, but your top end yield potential is really determined by how uniformly the crop emerges (which has been a struggle) and then weather at certain junctures in the crop's maturity.

So... tough call... and from what I read later.... sounds even tougher.

Well, the little dude is 11 months now.

How is this possible! He was just born a couple weeks ago!

He is eating some baby food, although is very picky. He likes to feed himself though so we've tried some Gerber toddler raviolis that he can eat.

Good!

the kid has been non-stop motion ever since he started crawling.

He's now trying, unsuccessfully so far, to stand up on his own.

Won't be long now!

I am a little bit worried about this for our Disney trip as staying hydrated in July is clearly a huge concern.

Yeah. I can totally see that. Hopefully he'll start drinking more soon.

Corn is tougher. We have to follow the rows so that we can apply nitrogen later and then harvest it. We have some fields where the corn is up... mostly, just probably not quite the population we wanted. There are spots in fields that are completely drowned out. So we have some fields where we can just drive the field and drop the planter in the spots where there's nothing. For the fields where population is low, we've got to make a decision whether it is adequate to keep what is there or tear it out. That's the type of decision that can make you sick to think about. First of all, when you have a thin population it is really hard to determine what you have over the course of a field. We might check one spot and it is 30,000. Another spot might be 25,000. Another spot might be 10,000. And frankly, when corn is 2 inches tall it is hard to tell the difference without measuring of a few feet of a row and counting plants. So how do you determine where it is thin enough that we need to drop the planter if we drive the field? Or is it overall just thin enough that we need to tear it up and start over? We have already tilled up and replanted around 250 acres that we planted that was just an all around crappy stand. It was an easy call. We've got several other fields that need to be spot planted for sure and we've got a 105 acre field that we just don't know what to do with. There are places where the corn is up and looks great. There is some high ground that just has a thin stand and there is some low ground that was just absolutely drowned out. We've looked at it... multiple times mostly while scratching our heads. We've had a seed rep look at it. He thinks we should spot plant it but he never actually got out of his truck and walked into the field. We have an agronomist coming this afternoon or tomorrow to give us another opinion. It's just hard to tell what is or isn't good enough. A lot of a corn crop's top end potential is determined by seed emergence and population. Clearly emergence has been difficult and figuring out what kind of a population we have has been tough too. Typically we plant about 34,000 seeds/acre hoping for emergence of over 30,000 seeds/acre if there is some stress at germination. The last couple of years, we had great emergence and pretty much all of it came up. To determine a replant scenario we'd leave it if the population is 20,000 - 25,000 but when it is so inconsistent, it is just hard to get a handle on what is actually there and decide what to do with it.

Good luck with that. If it were me, I'd replant.

Because I know nothing about it and can just arbitrarily throw out opinions.

I'm not sure if I'll get it done this week, but I'll be back soon with a rundown of our latest trip planning developments and FP selections!

Standing by!

 

[afwdwfan]

Thanks for the update on Ryder. I am glad he is doing well and will keep sending positive thoughts that he continues doing well on his recovery journey!

Thanks!

Hey Andy, great to get an update on the little guy. Hopefully he continues to progress and you all work through the feeding & drinking issues before your trip.

Thanks. I just hope he'll be more receptive to drinking more when it gets warmer.

I love all the insight into farming by the way. Being from northeast Canada, there isn't much of an industry here, so it's something I don't have a great understanding about. I have to admit I never really think about where everything comes from at the grocery store or what goes in to getting it there. Just curious, where do you sell most of your crop? Locally or does it ship farther?

We raise corn and soybeans. My office job is actually as a grain buyer so I sell most of the grain we grow on our farm to the company I work for. The grain is delivered to a grain elevator that sits on a railroad track. Most of the grain is then loaded on to cars, soybeans typically go to the Ohio River before being loaded onto a barge and shipped off to the export markets. Some of the beans leave here on a truck and go to a processing plant about 30 miles from here. Nearly 100% of our corn gets shipped by rail to a sweetener plant in Tennessee.

Love the Ryder update! Sending prayers and good vibes for his hydration!

Thanks! I hope you have a great trip!

Appreciate the Ryder update. Hopefully, by July, you guys can get him to start drinking more. And if not, perhaps instinct will kick in and help him drink more in the FL heat.

Keeping my fingers crossed your corn and soybeans can cooperate and you can figure out the replanting issues.

That's my hope... maybe this warm weather will start to spur him to want to drink more.

Thanks!

So... tough call... and from what I read later.... sounds even tougher.

How is this possible! He was just born a couple weeks ago!

Seems that way!

Won't be long now!

No it won't.

Yeah. I can totally see that. Hopefully he'll start drinking more soon.

I certainly hope so.

Good luck with that. If it were me, I'd replant.

Because I know nothing about it and can just arbitrarily throw out opinions.

Thank you for the arbitrary opinion.

Standing by!

I'll get there at some point...

 

[afwdwfan]

First of all a few pictures of our 11 month old.

He's at the point where holding still for pictures isn't a priority for him. He was more interested in trying to destroy the 11 month sticker, no matter where we put it... anyway, here he is.












And as for the field we were having a hard time deciding what to do... well, I walked the field and saw areas where there was nothing... and of course other places where the corn looks great. I didn't want to tear up the good corn, so we made the call to make an absolute mess of the field. I took a cultivator in and tore up the corn in the spots where there wasn't a very good stand and left the rest. So we'll still have to drive the planter over just about the whole field, but then just drop it in the ground where there's no corn. We should hopefully be able to get that done today. We're expecting some rain over the next few days, which could be welcome after we finish replants, but I really hope we don't see 2 or 3 inches in about 20 minutes like we had last time. A couple of inches falling gradually over the course of the weekend would be great.

















It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, but they're looking across about a 15 acre or so area that goes about 1/3 of the length of the field that I tore up... You might see some faint green in the background where there's a better stand. It sucks to go tear it up, but when there's just not enough there, it isn't going to do well.

 

[SarahDisney]

Wow ... 11 months. Crazy how fast these little ones grow up. I'm glad to hear he's eating a little, and I hope you can get his eating and drinking up a bit before the trip!

I only understood about 2% of that farming stuff (hey, I'm a city girl, you can't expect me to know these things), but ... I hope the agronomist helps you figure out what to do. It definitely sounds like a tough situation.

 

[pkondz]

He's at the point where holding still for pictures isn't a priority for him. He was more interested in trying to destroy the 11 month sticker, no matter where we put it... anyway, here he is.

I laughed when I saw only one picture that wasn't motion blurred.

He's looking good!

And as for the field we were having a hard time deciding what to do... well, I walked the field and saw areas where there was nothing... and of course other places where the corn looks great. I didn't want to tear up the good corn, so we made the call to make an absolute mess of the field. I took a cultivator in and tore up the corn in the spots where there wasn't a very good stand and left the rest. So we'll still have to drive the planter over just about the whole field, but then just drop it in the ground where there's no corn. We should hopefully be able to get that done today. We're expecting some rain over the next few days, which could be welcome after we finish replants, but I really hope we don't see 2 or 3 inches in about 20 minutes like we had last time

But it probably also felt good to make the decision and do something.

A couple of inches falling gradually over the course of the weekend would be great.

I'll put in a good word for you.

It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, but they're looking across about a 15 acre or so area that goes about 1/3 of the length of the field that I tore up... You might see some faint green in the background where there's a better stand. It sucks to go tear it up, but when there's just not enough there, it isn't going to do well.

I have no idea how big an acre is.
I mean, I know the term. And I know it's "about" a football field... but still.

 

[vamassey1]

Thanks! I've been trying to read and catch up with your TR, but I've been struggling just to keep my head above water here... no pun intended. I usually try not to post to a TR until I catch up, but I had to say congratulations to you and your family!

Thanks Andy! Take you time catching up. We leave for Disney in 2 days so nothing new should be posted by me for a bit. Happy to have you reading along.

He's at the point where holding still for pictures isn't a priority for him. He was more interested in trying to destroy the 11 month sticker, no matter where we put it... anyway, here he is.

He's so stinking cute!!!! I hope he catches on with the drinking before Disney. It's so hot and humid. He really has come a long way.

I've learned so much about farming from you. Louisiana grows lots of corn and soybeans too. The closest I've gotten is just driving past the fields. My Dad had small gardens when we were young but nothing like yours. Both my parents picked cotton when they were young. After looking at your pictures I have to agree that the fields do look dry. I hope you get just the right amount of water.

 

[afwdwfan]

We're currently 51 days out from our upcoming trip. As expected plans have continued to change and morph in some ways.

We are still booked at AKL and will be staying there. That hasn't changed.

Our ADR's have changed somewhat. We've added a few that may get canceled. We really don't know. We have added a second ADR for the Fantasmic Dining Package. We did have an early dinner at Hollywood & Vine, but it was for just after 3 pm. We found availability for a lunch time for 11 there that was a more reasonable time so I booked it too. The characters available for that meal are different at lunch and dinner so we need to figure out if we prefer to see the Disney Junior characters and do the lunch or if we'd rather see Minnie & Friends.

We managed to grab a late breakfast ADR for our AK morning at Tusker House with the Rivers of Light Dining Package.

For lunch when the ladies are eating at the castle, I had originally booked an ADR to Skipper Canteen for the guys. I still have that ADR, but I also grabbed one for the Diamond Horseshoe. While I really want to try out Skipper Canteen, I feel like the menu at the Diamond Horseshoe which includes pulled pork and cornbread, will be much more well received for a group that raves about Whispering Canyon. We also might just cancel both ADRs and just stick to counter service, so we'll see.

Aside from that, ADR's have stayed pretty constant, but I'll recap what we have.

Chef Mickey arrival night dinner
Be Our Guest lunch
Via Napoli dinner
Tusker House breakfast with Rivers of Light package
Hollywood & Vine Fantasmic package - either late lunch or early dinner
Cinderella Royal Table - lunch for the ladies
Skipper Canteen or the Diamond Horseshoe - lunch for the guys.

I also mentioned that DW, the kids and I have a night between our stay at AKL and when we can check in to our place at the beach. I was waiting to see if I could replenish my Disney Visa reward points enough to fully pay for a room before I booked. But then they came out with the summer room discounts and I noticed a couple of the room types that I had my eye on started disappearing from availability. So I went ahead and bit the bullet and booked a room anyway. We could still cancel if we decide we don't want to spend the money, but as of right now, we are booked for one night in a standard view room at the Polynesian to end our trip with a breakfast ADR at Ohana. This part is up in the air and we might decide to scratch some of those plans, but it's currently what we have. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to stay at one of the monorail resorts for the first time, even if it is just for one night to get a little taste of it.

Now for the Fastpass list...

I went with the idea of keeping it simple. We have 11 people. Not everyone can ride everything nor do they want to. But I didn't want to try to manage 5 different FP strategies for this many people so we're just booking the same group of FP for everyone. We can change some later, but I really see us just using the FP and grabbing enough rider swaps to get the majority of our group a second ride on some favorite attractions...

Our first park day will be in MK. Our plan is to hit rope drop to ride Peter Pan and start working our way around Fantasyland.
FP: Seven Dwarf Mine Train, Tomorrowland Speedway, Enchanted Tales with Belle

Our second park day is in EPCOT. We plan to hit Test Track at rope drop and then work our way across Future World. We booked Frozen as a late afternoon FP before dinner in case we want to leave for a break.
FP: Spaceship Earth, Living With the Land, Frozen Ever After

Tuesday will be in Animal Kingdom. We plan to begin in Pandora with the Navii River Adventure and spend some time in the new area of the park before our late breakfast ADR at Tusker House.
FP: Flight of Passage, Kilamanjaro Safari, Dinosaur (my sister's family wants it - I would have chosen Everest)

Wednesday will be our Studios day. I keep getting bitten by not getting to ride RnRC. So I'm giving everyone some incentive to get their butts out of bed and make sure we hit rope drop. Because if we want to ride TSMM, there's no FP! We actually have all 3 FP scheduled during the first 3 park hours so we can then use them for shows.
FP: Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours

Thursday is a flexible day. I envision us returning to EPCOT for morning EMH to hit Soarin and anything else in that park before taking a rather long break. I currently have FP for that evening in AK to do some other things in the park since our first evening there will be for Rivers of Light. I could see us changing this depending on what we get done our first day/evening in AK if we feel like we need to do something else.
FP: Everest, Kilamanjaro Safari, Navii River Adventure

Friday is the last day for Sis and her family. It will be an MK day with morning EMH. I'd like to start in Future World with Space Mountain, then maybe work our way to Adventureland when the park opens to everyone. Our FP includes Tink, which is a priority for Sis, my niece and DD, but we will likely change this one if we can manage to visit her at some point before Friday. I'm tentatively planning this evening as an opportunity to maybe hop back over to DHS to see the Star Wars fireworks. I'm really finding it hard to get to all the parks and have ample time to enjoy all the night time ambiance and shows because there's just so much going on!
FP: Tink, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain

Saturday is our last day. I'd imagine that we'll be in MK most, if not all of the time we're in the parks. I can see possibly taking DS over to DHS at RD if he really wants to do Jedi Training Academy.
FP: Big Thunder Mountain, Seven Dwarf Mine Train, Space Mountain

And that is a rundown of our plans. I'm sure things will change before our trip and during, but we'll just have to see what happens...

 

[missangelalexis]

Great pics of Ryder!

I hope you get the rain that you want!

Wow less than 2 months to go! I hope you get to keep your Polynesian room, that would be nice to experience even if only for 1 night.

Your plans sound great. Glad you're making sure you get on RnRC, I know that's a fave of yours!

 

[KathyM2]

I'm so glad your little guy is doing so well.

We managed to grab a late breakfast ADR for our AK morning at Tusker House with the Rivers of Light Dining Package.

Wait what?? OK maybe I'm a total newb and missed this in my research...but...you can do a Tusker House breakfast and still get rivers of light? Does that mean you just get special seating? I thought it had to be dinner? That's why I booked Tiffins...which I'm excited about to be sure, but I'm not sure I knew the option existed to do breakfast or lunch and still get a package like that?

FP: Spaceship Earth, Living With the Land, Frozen Ever After

Great choices...probably almost identical to mine for our Epcot day.

I can't imagine trying to book FP+ for 11 people...and then having to deal with different people wanting to change them etc...wow...planning for experts!

 

[SarahDisney]

but as of right now, we are booked for one night in a standard view room at the Polynesian to end our trip with a breakfast ADR at Ohana.

So jealous...

I went with the idea of keeping it simple. We have 11 people. Not everyone can ride everything nor do they want to. But I didn't want to try to manage 5 different FP strategies for this many people so we're just booking the same group of FP for everyone. We can change some later, but I really see us just using the FP and grabbing enough rider swaps to get the majority of our group a second ride on some favorite attractions...

That makes a lot of sense. Do things the easy way, get everyone the same thing, and then if people do want to make any individual changes, that can be handled later.

Wednesday will be our Studios day. I keep getting bitten by not getting to ride RnRC. So I'm giving everyone some incentive to get their butts out of bed and make sure we hit rope drop. Because if we want to ride TSMM, there's no FP! We actually have all 3 FP scheduled during the first 3 park hours so we can then use them for shows.
FP: Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours

Not surprised. Not surprised at all.
In fact, I'm guessing that if someone had insisted on getting FP+ for TSMM, that's when you would have broken things up and gotten 10 FP+ for TSMM for everyone else and 1 RNR FP+ for yourself.

Plans look good! I'm sure things will change between now and July (because they always do), but it looks like it's shaping up to be a good trip!

 

[amazingact21]

The plans sound great. I agree with you on Diamond Horseshoe. While I'm sure Skipper Canteen isn't bad....Diamond Horseshoe will probably be better.
I've heard TSMM is very easy to do without a FP now, so smart on you to gurantee yourself a ride on RNRC with a FastPass.

Oh, and since my trip has gone up in flames....right now I'm currently holding a tentative reservation for Shades July 15-21st.

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow ... 11 months. Crazy how fast these little ones grow up. I'm glad to hear he's eating a little, and I hope you can get his eating and drinking up a bit before the trip!

Thanks

I only understood about 2% of that farming stuff (hey, I'm a city girl, you can't expect me to know these things), but ... I hope the agronomist helps you figure out what to do. It definitely sounds like a tough situation.

Well, we figured out a plan... right or wrong. I know most don't know/care/understand, but it's life for me so just sharing some for the ones who are interested and maybe I can teach someone something about what I enjoy doing.

I laughed when I saw only one picture that wasn't motion blurred.

He's looking good!

Constant motion.

But it probably also felt good to make the decision and do something.

eh... kind of? I'm glad it is done I guess.

I'll put in a good word for you.

Thanks. I'd appreciate that.

I have no idea how big an acre is.
I mean, I know the term. And I know it's "about" a football field... but still.

Well, that field has just over 100 acres... this isn't the exact dimensions of this field, but if it is a rectangle 1/2 mile long and 1/3 mile wide that would be about the size of the field. We replanted just over 40 acres of it in all which would be about a 1/4 mile square.

Thanks Andy! Take you time catching up. We leave for Disney in 2 days so nothing new should be posted by me for a bit. Happy to have you reading along.

Enjoy your trip!!!

He's so stinking cute!!!! I hope he catches on with the drinking before Disney. It's so hot and humid. He really has come a long way.

Thanks. He has come a long way. We just need him to push a little bit farther!

I've learned so much about farming from you. Louisiana grows lots of corn and soybeans too. The closest I've gotten is just driving past the fields. My Dad had small gardens when we were young but nothing like yours. Both my parents picked cotton when they were young. After looking at your pictures I have to agree that the fields do look dry. I hope you get just the right amount of water.

Thanks... the right amount is the key. Unfortunately we have no say in it.

Great pics of Ryder!

Thanks

I hope you get the rain that you want!

We're picky. I know it. Nee just enough but not too much!

Wow less than 2 months to go! I hope you get to keep your Polynesian room, that would be nice to experience even if only for 1 night.

It's really coming up soon now! I hope we can do it. I'd imagine we probably will. I want to try to stay in as many resorts as I can so it will be nice if we can mark off 2 more deluxe resorts on one trip!

our plans sound great. Glad you're making sure you get on RnRC, I know that's a fave of yours!

Thanks. I definitely made it a priority. I felt like we'd have better chances with TSMM now that it has a higher capacity too... Maybe I'm wrong, but we'll see!

Wait what?? OK maybe I'm a total newb and missed this in my research...but...you can do a Tusker House breakfast and still get rivers of light? Does that mean you just get special seating? I thought it had to be dinner? That's why I booked Tiffins...which I'm excited about to be sure, but I'm not sure I knew the option existed to do breakfast or lunch and still get a package like that?

Yes... we actually felt like we were getting a little carried away on our ADR expenses so we wanted to do it cheap. Breakfast is the cheapest meal of the day so we booked a 10:50 Rivers of Light dining package breakfast ADR... should give us enough time to get in and visit Pandora for a while before heading over for a character breakfast that comes with Rivers of Light passes. My understanding is that the seating is in the same area as it is for any of the Rivers of Light dining packages.

But short answer, yes, you can book that package for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I'm so glad your little guy is doing so well.

Thanks!

Great choices...probably almost identical to mine for our Epcot day.

I can't imagine trying to book FP+ for 11 people...and then having to deal with different people wanting to change them etc...wow...planning for experts!

Well, I'm really just trying to keep it simple. I'm not going to change any individual selections, but if someone wants to go on their own and do something different, they can do so. We at least locked in some of the hardest ones to get so it does give us that flexibility.

So jealous...

That's the only reason I want to stay there...

That makes a lot of sense. Do things the easy way, get everyone the same thing, and then if people do want to make any individual changes, that can be handled later.

Exactly. I just tried to prioritize getting the ones we know we'll want and won't be able to get later. Everything else can be moved/changed/etc.

Not surprised. Not surprised at all.
In fact, I'm guessing that if someone had insisted on getting FP+ for TSMM, that's when you would have broken things up and gotten 10 FP+ for TSMM for everyone else and 1 RNR FP+ for yourself.

Plans look good! I'm sure things will change between now and July (because they always do), but it looks like it's shaping up to be a good trip!

I don't know that I would have done that. I'd still want to ride with the kids. But it would be under protest.

The plans sound great. I agree with you on Diamond Horseshoe. While I'm sure Skipper Canteen isn't bad....Diamond Horseshoe will probably be better.
I've heard TSMM is very easy to do without a FP now, so smart on you to gurantee yourself a ride on RNRC with a FastPass.

I'm sure I'd like Skipper Canteen. I think my brother in law and I would enjoy it more than Dad and DS. But pulled pork (yes, I know there is better pulled pork than Disney's) is always a win for our group and Disney cornbread is the best. So I'm definitely leaning that direction unless we decide to do QS instead.

Oh, and since my trip has gone up in flames....right now I'm currently holding a tentative reservation for Shades July 15-21st.

Oh no... what happened? I wasn't sure exactly when you were going to travel, but kind of wondered why I'd been seeing you pop up posting around here recently. I thought you'd be way too busy.