"When the calendar ends we're going to Disney World!"

[travelgirl06]

It started with a surprise. A big, birthday surprise. A new princess dress, sunglasses, an autograph book, and new disney shoes along with a countdown calendar announcing the big trip all wrapped up in a Frozen trunk. The grand reveal was intended as the finale of her 4th birthday. As she opened the trunk, excitement was mounting; she tore through wrapping paper like thee was no tomorrow. She found the countdown calendar and we exclaimed her that we we're going to Walt Disney World! And, silence. Absolutely no response other than trying on her new sunglasses. Not exactly the response we were hoping for...

Several days later, right before bedtime, we put another sticker on the countdown calendar. At this point, I'd decided the calendar was at least useful for showing which day was dance class or show-and-tell. I half-heartedly explained again that when we get to the day with the "0" we were going to Disney - cue shrieking, jumping and running around. "When the calendar ends, we're going to Disney World!" she squealed rushing over to tell her little sister. Not exactly when I expected the reaction, but at least the excitement was there!

Now she tells anyone who will listen, the somewhat foreboding, "when the calendar ends, we're going to Disney World!" And I just smile and chuckle at the wonder of her 4-year-old mind and how excited I am to hear the musings of it at Disney World.

 

[travelgirl06]

As the calendar warns we only have 8 days left, I need to get this PTR rolling (obviously that is far more logical than packing!). Let's start with the cast

Me - I am the (over) planner, and grew up going to WDW a little but with non-Disney parents. Luckily going to college in CA and meeting up with a bunch of Disney fans set me straight and I was reunited with all things Disney and got back to WDW as fast as I could. I am very excited to stay at one of my dream resorts (the Poly!!!), eat lots of good food, and be able to ride everything (last trip I was pregnant so had to skip thrill rides).
Favorite character: Ariel
Favorite ride: Soarin'
Favorite park: MK

DH - he grew up with many visits to DL, this intially led to many debates of WDW vs. DL and ultimately a healthy appreciation of the pros and cons of both parks and a good excuse to visit both . He's a transportation engineer by day and majorly geeks out over all things transit - this Disney World Transportation System could be its own e-ticket attraction to him.
Favorite character: Baloo (we won't mention the time we met Baloo and got a photo pass taken and somehow it was lost in photoPass land never to be seen again - he may have asked multiple CMs if there was any way to find it...)
Favorite ride: Big thunder
Favorite park: Disneyland, but of the WDW parks - Epcot

DD4 - Audrey. This kid is creative, silly and a little bit shy with a good dose of 4-year-old sass. She loves all things Frozen (of course) and is excited to ride some big kid rides this trip. She is right at the 40" mark, so we're trying to temper expectations in case she doesn't make the cut-off. She's looking forward to the Casey Junior splashpad because one of the older vacation planning DVDs tells her she "doesn't even need a swimsuit" - the idea of getting wet in NORMAL clothes is fabulous to her.
Favorite character: Anna and Elsa (Rapunzel is close behind)
Favorite ride: Goofy Roller Coaster! (Which she hasn't been on yet...)
Favorite park: MK

DD1 - Natalie. A very ambitious little sister who's always trying to keep up with the big kids. She's been practicing her 2-year-old 'tude lately, and we're excited to see what Natalie thinks of her first visit. Ok, we cheated a little and did "non-Disney Disney" (a no parks visit) when she was 2 months old, but she's never been to the parks and obviously doesn't remember the non-trip. She has no idea what to expect, but is very into the "Disneyland Fun" DVD and we've done lots of "practice fireworks" over the summer, so we think she'll figure it out.
Favorite character: Anna or 'Ella (they're easy to say!)
Favorite ride & park: TBD, but I'll guess Small World and MK

DMIL - Grandma. In all honesty, Grandma isn't a huge Disney fan, but she loves her granddaughters and enjoys traveling and is excited to join us on this adventure. She has 3 boys, so I think a chance to do "girly" stuff is a bit of a treat. She lives out of state, so time together is extra special. This is our first attempt at a vacation together, and we're all excited. She's also offered to watch the girls a little bit so DH and I can do some "date nights" which is awesome and we are very much looking forward to!

DM - Mum-Mum. A flight attendant who's had a hip and a knee replaced this year with the other knee in queue. My mom is joining Audrey and I for some "girl time" before the rest of the family comes and she heads back home. Girl trips are a tradition we started when I was little (with my grandma in-tow on some of them) and we are so excited to start doing them with Audrey (and Natalie, when she's a little older). WDW seems like the perfect gateway for us to start these adventures!

 

[travelgirl06]

General plan
9/3-9/5: Me, Audrey, and DM - "girls time" at POFQ (no parks)
9/5-9/9: Me, DH, DMIL, Audrey & Natalie at the Poly
9/9-9/12: Me, DH, Audrey & Natalie at the Poly

Girls Time
The plan for the girl trip is mostly to relax and spend time together. We don't have park tickets and are trying to have a lot of "ideas" but not too many "plans". I wanted to make sure we were at a different resort than for the "main" trip to help differentiate the two parts of the trip. We picked POFQ due to its compact size, younger-kid-friendly water slide, the live music options at POFQ and POR and the boat to DTD.

Thursday
DM lands around 3, and we land just after 4. We're hoping to catch DME and head to the resort together assuming flights cooperate. I have a reservation for Raglan Road that I'm hoping we'll be up for. - I think it would be a nice way to kick off the trip (I did open table so we have a little more flexibility if we need to adjust plans). After dinner, we might shop a bit or go see YeeHaw Bob. If we're not up for DTD we might just do resort CS and swing by the campfire for a bit or maybe the movie.

Friday
Breakfast: Beignets and coffee (at least that is my plan, if DM and DD want something else that's their loss

Daytime ideas: shopping at DTD, the pool, walk over and explore POR, visit AKL to see the animals/explore resort

Lunch: probably WPE or Earl of Sandwich if we're at DTD, Sanaa or The Mara if we're at AKL or resort food court if we're just relaxing at Port Orleans

Dinner: bluezoo - it's restaurant month and also happens to be DM's birthday month so I wanted to do something special. I am hopeful DD will behave accordingly (she has sat through many a 5-course meal and I usually have a stash of toys in my purse as a diversion just in case). I also like the idea of dressing up a little for this "event"

Evening: DD requested fireworks, so we'll try to see Frozen Fireworks from outside DHS. We'll probably wander around the Boardwalk before or after the fireworks depending on when we finish dinner.

Saturday
No plans. We can catch up on whatever we "missed" or repeat of there was anything we want to do again (or anything new we want to check out!) I could see some pool time or a visit to DTD if we haven't shopped yet (DD is very into our local Lego store and I think she will flip out over that one!)

DM's DME will probably be around 1, so once she leaves DD and I will head over towards the MK resorts. She's obsessed with the GF lately, so we might grab CS lunch there and check it out, plus I'm not opposed to stopping in Basin. We'll check in at the Poly, hopefully do the hula lessons and maybe check out the pool until the rest of the crew gets in.

 

[travelgirl06]

We're down to five days - two "homedays" and three school days in 4-year-old speak (and a busy weekend and busier {but fantastically short!} workweek in parent speak). I actually started organizing the girls' clothes and bought some snacks to take, so I'm feeling quasi-prepared at the moment.

Now, on with the plans!

Saturday (once everyone gets there)
Dinner all together (likely Captain Cooks or something mellow, with a 1.5 year old who just spent 2.5 hours on a plane we are not attempting a sit down restaurant. The plan is to hang out a bit, get the girls adjusted/likely get Natalie to bed and the DMIL will watch the girls a and DH and I will head over to MK. We have fast passes for 7DMT, Space, and Big Thunder and hope to take in Wishes and maybe the parade. EMH are until 2, but we'll see how late we make it.

Sunday - DHS
Audrey LOVES all things Frozen, so when we found out Frozen Summer Fun was happening, we knew it was a must-so. We're typically rope-drop people but with the time change for DMIL and potentially late EMH the night before we'll see how it goes. We have faspasses for TSMM, ToT and Frozen Sing Along, we're also hoping to hit Beauty and the Beast, Disney Junior and RnRC. We'll do a midday break so we stay out later for the Frozen Fireworks and possibly the 2nd Fantasmic (depending on the potential for meltdowns at that point)

Monday - MK
We're all big on MK - so much to see, do, and enjoy! We have two days here, so we'll do some semblance of a touring plan in the morning and then just go with the flow. Faspasses are 7DMT, A&E meet an BTMRR (DH and DMIL) and Enchanted Tales with Belle (me and girls). Audrey has a BBB reservation, but has lately been telling me she doesn't want anyone to do her hair except me, so we might cancel... Lunch is at BOG followed by a resort break. I'm not sure where we'll wind up for dinner, we have enjoyed Pecos Bills and Columbia Harbor House in the past, so maybe one of those? We're hoping to do Wishes, I'm pretty sure Audrey will make it, but Natalie is more of a wildcard - if we wind up watching it from the resort that's fine with me.

Tuesday - EPCOT
EPCOT has morning EMH so we should get there early - given the monorail schedule and bus situation I'm not sure how feasible this is, plus it's day 3 of busy-ness, so we'll see how everyone's feeling. The day's faspasses are Soarin, Mission Space (DH and DMIL), The Seas (me and girls) and Spaceship Earth (I am still struggling t believe that we need faspasses for this). Assuming we get there early enough to have a moderate line I would like to do Test Track too and hopefully Turtle Talk and just enjoying the Seas pavilion. We'll meander around WS and snack or do CS for lunch. We'll head back to the resort and get DMIL and the girls settled in and then DH and I are heading to CA Grill. We did a WDW trip with a bunch of friends in college and this was our special date night, so we're excited to go back. I'm a bit nervous, as last time service was phenomenal so I'm trying to manage my expectations.

 

[travelgirl06]

DMIL flies out relatively early on Wednesday, so the rest of the plans are just the four of us and a bit more mellow. Since it's DMIL's first visit and I want her to experience as much as she can with the girls, the vacation is a bit front loaded, which is fine because the rest of the week is a bit more relaxed

Wednesday - Blizzard Beach/Resort time
We'll start with breakfast at Kona (which we LOVE!) and then make our way to Blizzard Beach. We got one-day water park tickets with our reservation, so I figure w should use them. Given our girls are young, I don't think we'll spend too long there and likely would not have paid OOP for tickets at this point (in a few years, sure). I'm hoping we can all do Teamboat Springs, maybe get Audrey on a few of the double-tube slides with one of us and then mostly we'll just hang out a bit in the kids area and essentially have a "pool day" at BB.

After the waterpark we'll head back to the resort and relax. We have an 'ohana reservation for dinner, which should be fun and then we might check out the campfire/movies at the resort or just turn in early.

Thursday - MK
Back to MK for more favorites/exploration. We have a CRT breakfast reservation, but of course DD recently became obsessed with "Allison Wonderland" and wants to eat with her. I secured a late-breakfast at 1900 so I'm debating which character meal to do/which one to cancel. Thoughts?

We'll probably do a midday break again (coupled with 1900 if we keep that ressie) and head back to the park in the afternoon. We have a First Haircut scheduled for Natalie at Harmony Barber Shop. We did this with Audrey when she was 2 and it was nice. I feel like as a working mom I miss some "firsts", so it's nice to make a big deal out of them when we can . We'll see how the evening shapes up, but we're open to staying for evening entertainment as long as the kiddos are cooperating/happy.

Friday - Animal Kingdom
Honestly, I struggle a bit with going to AK on the last day. I never get really excited about going there, although once I'm there I always enjoy it and then wonder why I was so apprehensive. We have FP for the Safari, a Minnie/Mickey meet and maybe EE? We really like Festival of the Lion King and haven't seen Nemo in a bit, but remember liking it. We're planning a lunch break at Sanaa, which is what we did last time and it worked beautifully a we had a great view of the savannah which is perfect entertainment to keep a little one happy while you eat - and delish food!

In the evening we might go to Fort Wilderness and do the campfire sing-along and movie - unless anyone ha other suggestions? If DTD is enjoyable we could go back there, but given all the construction I want to scope it out first. Boardwalk is another option, but I feel like the fort might be more fun. (It's Night of Joy, so no fireworks at MK)

Saturday - go home
The saddest part of the trip. We're planning another breakfast at Kona and maybe a dip in the pool, depending how early we get up/what time our DME pickup is. I'm also entertaining GF Cafe as a breakfast option for either this day or Wednesday, but I'm not sure if we want to give up Kona, but at the same time I do want to try new restaurants a, which right now our ADR list is not so big on.