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Update 07/20!!! 1 Mom, 2 Kids, 3 Resorts and 6 Parks! An October 2014 TR
- Thread starter Tink-erin-belle
- Start date
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
Found you, FINALLY! I've been DISing from my phone which shows me your signature but doesn't actually link. And then I couldn't find the TR by that name... so then when I hopped on my laptop I followed the link from your post in Karen's PTR and finally found the link to get me here. Nothing like keeping me on my toes! 
Okay, now off to catch up!
Okay, now off to catch up!
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
Okay, I've read about youre crazy travel day and checking in at Cabana Bay (I totally want to stay there on our next trip to UO) but will have to come back to read about your UO day when I have more time. 
You are a ROCKSTAR momma for finding a way to get you and your kids to Orlando on time. Seriously awesome. I'd have done the same thing to keep my kids from being disappointed and the fact that you did it with a short 45 minute nap is even more awesome.
Also, the way you describe Coy reminds me so much of Jace. Gamer and designer, in the process of building his own computer, growing from a clown into a more silent, introspective type, and even some of the social anxiety issues. But I have to say, all of that adds up to a pretty amazing kid.
I'll be back soon to read more!!
You are a ROCKSTAR momma for finding a way to get you and your kids to Orlando on time. Seriously awesome. I'd have done the same thing to keep my kids from being disappointed and the fact that you did it with a short 45 minute nap is even more awesome.
Also, the way you describe Coy reminds me so much of Jace. Gamer and designer, in the process of building his own computer, growing from a clown into a more silent, introspective type, and even some of the social anxiety issues. But I have to say, all of that adds up to a pretty amazing kid.
I'll be back soon to read more!!
a1tinkfans
Spreading Some Pixie Dust Today!
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2006
Great tr OP. I THINK UR REALLY A WONDERWOMAN IN DISGUISE, a super mom. Lucky kids, who are beautiful by the way. Besides being entertaining ur TR is a learning experience for me. Your "mistakes" as you call them about lack of research, is helping me and others to know ahead. ( ie that food plan stuff). You handled so much with Grace...wow! Did you know that entering the halloween party is available to you at 4 pm...we were told we could enter tho the official start time is several hours later. It's great doing the rides with minimal to no wait time, and at least having a bit More ride time (4-7) as well. Enjoying your TR and can't wait for the rest!!
I'm loving your tri report. I'm sorry it started out so rough. The good thing is you are a roll with the punches mom. You rented a car and kept the trip on track. That added a memory you and the kids will laugh at one day. It also taught your kids a valuable lesson. Unexpected things will happen. You can complain about it and let it ruin your plans or you can work around it and still have a great time. Bravo to you as a mom. 
P.S. How did you manage to find $15 plane tickets. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. How did you manage to find $15 plane tickets. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
Ok, all caught up, shew! You guys were just non stop!!
Mmmmm... Butterbeer! I love butterbeer! Looks like your day at UO went pretty well. There are definitely little things Disney does better (though they aren't free, just included in the more expensive prices, lol). But overall we love UO and could never decide which we liked more.
We did MNSSHP on our last night and decided that was no good because we were exhausted. Based on your first night experience looks like mid trip is best, lol! I'm glad you guys had fun at UO and the party, can't wait to read more!
Mmmmm... Butterbeer! I love butterbeer! Looks like your day at UO went pretty well. There are definitely little things Disney does better (though they aren't free, just included in the more expensive prices, lol). But overall we love UO and could never decide which we liked more.
We did MNSSHP on our last night and decided that was no good because we were exhausted. Based on your first night experience looks like mid trip is best, lol! I'm glad you guys had fun at UO and the party, can't wait to read more!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
Hi, Guys! 
Happy New Year! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! My kids and I are and we don’t want it to end! I got to work from home more often, and on the days I went into the office, I was getting home earlier because there was less traffic! So the kids and I have had more time together over the past week or so. We had a really nice Christmas. I actually had FUN shopping this year! I guess it was because I was able to get the shopping done before Christmas Eve this time! 
Among other things, I got True two more dolls for her Disney Animator’s collection – Anna and Kristoff – so now she has three. I wanted to also get Elsa, but when I was ordering it online, it went out of stock JUST as I was putting it in my cart! Grr! 
Oh well. She loves Anna, but she doesn’t like that Kristoff doesn’t have brush-able hair 
I told her that he is my doll then!
Anna’s hair used to be in ponytails! True gives her and her other dolls different hair styles almost every day! Poor Kristoff doesn’t get that much attention, which is why he is mine now
What she was really excited about was that I got us a family gift of a lot more Tsum Tsums to add to our collection. When she saw them, she screamed! I wasn’t expecting that reaction! I got her the Toy Story Tsum Tsums – Bullseye, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Hamm, Alien, and Lots-O:
I forgot to get Stinky Pete! Oh well! I’ll have to order more
I also got Holiday Chip and Dale:
Marie:
And Perry:
True has declared that she will not be sharing the Tsum Tsums with me or Coy! Sorry, kid, but those are for all of us! Well, Coy actually didn’t care He loves playing the game on his phone, but he doesn’t get into collecting the plushies like me and True. By the way, if you play Tsum Tsum, please feel free to add me as a friend! Here’s my QR code:
Or you can add me with my user name _ErinRae_ I try to send out hearts at least once a day because I like getting them in return for the 200 coins I get each time someone sends me a heart! I try to earn/collect 30,000 coins each day so that I can by a premium box! Still no Tink! Ugh!
Anyway, sorry for that rant to all of you who don’t play the game! It’s really fun! And the plushies are so cute! So, back to Christmas… I had the hardest time shopping for Coy! Anyone with a teenager – especially a teenage boy – probably knows what I am talking about! Coy gave me a list of all of these computer parts that he wanted for Christmas, but then he said that he’d prefer to just buy those himself so that he would know for sure they were compatible upgrades. Makes sense… but ugh! Now what do I get the kid??? Luckily, a trip to Michael’s craft store had all of the answers! I was able to get him wooden puzzles, drawing books, a seed starter for carnivorous plants, and cool stuff like that! He really liked everything! Thank goodness, because I didn’t want to buy him more video games and he didn’t want me to buy him clothes! True didn’t want clothes either, and she’s my fashionista! I was able to get her more Rainbow Loom stuff, a knitting loom thing, and other craft projects for her at Michael’s. So the kids and I have been having fun working on their crafts over the past few days.
Some of you may know that we are going to Playlist Live in February. I made ADRs already, but I was waiting for all of the expenses of the holidays to be over before I started making reservations for Playlist
The only reservation I made was for the convention hotel. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, Playlist Live is a convention! It is for YouTubers and fans of YouTubers, and it is held in Orlando. My kids are BIG fans! They met a lot of their favorite gamers, vloggers, and artists when we went last year. If you are at all interested, I posted a Mini TR in my PTR last year:
Playlist Live! Road Trip
Playlist Live! The First 24 Hours in Orlando – Part One
Playlist Live! The First 24 Hours in Orlando – Part Two
Playlist Live! The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Part One
Playlist Live! The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Part Two
Fun in Orlando! - Part One
Fun in Orlando! - Part Two
Fun in Orlando! - Part Three
That reminds me that I need to put chapter links in this TR! Anyway, you may have read that True was very upset that she didn’t get to see Joey Graceffa last year. Well, he isn’t even on the guest list so far this year!
But then I told True that he might not be at Playlist and she didn’t care! She said she’s over him! My, how fickle! Anyway, last year was a disaster for getting parking, so I vowed that we were going to stay at the convention hotel this year. Plus, it would give my kids a chance to meet some of the “YouTube Famous” just hanging around the hotel. So, as soon as I found out the dates for Playlist 2015, I booked a room with my AAA discount at Marriott World Center. Then that was it. Aside from making ADRs, I hadn’t done anything for this trip. Granted, I started planning for the Playlist trip before I even took my kids on the October trip, so I had other things on my plate! So now that the holidays are over, I finally made plans!
I ordered our tickets for Playlist Live on NYE because they were on sale for $99 each through that night. I’m glad I did because they are back up to $137 a piece now! I got the regular tickets for Coy and True and a Parent’s Pass for me. The Parent’s Pass gives all of the same access as the regular pass – so I’m able to go around the convention with the kids – but it also gives me access to the parent’s lounge where I can take a break from all of the screaming teenage girls! They also had snacks, water, and soda there last year and I took full advantage of getting free drinks for me and the kids. I might not need to go to the parent’s lounge as much this year since we are staying at the convention hotel and I can just go up to the room when I need a break, but it’s a nice option to have.
Last year, the kids and I stayed at Pop during Playlist, but we didn’t go to the parks! The horror! The shame! It was nice being in a Disney resort, and it was fun doing things in Orlando other than going to the parks, but it was tough not being able to go to the Magic Kingdom! Epcot! Hollywood Studios! Animal Kingdom! Ugh! We had fun going to Disney Quest and stuff like that, but it wasn’t the same. So I made another vow at the end of that trip that we would go to the parks the next time we went to Playlist! That’s part of the reason I got Annual Passes!
So today (yes, TODAY) I finally booked our WDW resort portion of the Playlist trip! We will be staying at:
Port Orleans French Quarter!!!
I’ve wanted to stay there for so long, and now we finally are! So, the plan is to arrive on Thursday, February 5 and check into the Marriott World Center Resort. We stay there until Sunday, February 8. That is the last day of Playlist Live, so we will go to the convention and then check into POFQ later that day. We’ll be at POFQ from February 8 to February 15. We’ll go to the parks Monday through Saturday.
I am excited! Or, I should say that I am excited now. I have been looking at the crowd calendar for the past couple of months and the anticipated crowd levels keep going up and up. So much so that I considered doing the Disney portion of our trip the week before Playlist! But I couldn’t because I have a contract due at work that first week of February. I was pretty sure I could get the contract all wrapped up before then, but then I saw that there was a Harry Potter event going on at Universal the week before Playlist! There was no way I wanted to get caught up in that madness. I should also mention that I was considering doing a couple of days at Universal in February, too, but it was just going to be too expensive! Plus, it would have been a repeat of three resorts for one trip! So, no. We can do Universal again in the fall. Back to this upcoming trip, I am concerned about the crowd levels that the holiday weekend is going to bring for the week that the kids and I will be in WDW. AP holders can only make FastPass selections 30 days out from their trip, so I am worried we won’t get anything good. I guess I’ll find out next week! I want to tell you guys about the ADRs that I made, but I am afraid it will give away too much for this TR! So, I will be back with another installment of is TR within a few days!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! My kids and I are and we don’t want it to end! I got to work from home more often, and on the days I went into the office, I was getting home earlier because there was less traffic! So the kids and I have had more time together over the past week or so. We had a really nice Christmas. I actually had FUN shopping this year! I guess it was because I was able to get the shopping done before Christmas Eve this time! Among other things, I got True two more dolls for her Disney Animator’s collection – Anna and Kristoff – so now she has three. I wanted to also get Elsa, but when I was ordering it online, it went out of stock JUST as I was putting it in my cart! Grr! Oh well. She loves Anna, but she doesn’t like that Kristoff doesn’t have brush-able hair I told her that he is my doll then! Anna’s hair used to be in ponytails! True gives her and her other dolls different hair styles almost every day! Poor Kristoff doesn’t get that much attention, which is why he is mine now
What she was really excited about was that I got us a family gift of a lot more Tsum Tsums to add to our collection. When she saw them, she screamed! I wasn’t expecting that reaction! I got her the Toy Story Tsum Tsums – Bullseye, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Hamm, Alien, and Lots-O:
I forgot to get Stinky Pete! Oh well! I’ll have to order more
I also got Holiday Chip and Dale:Marie:
And Perry:
True has declared that she will not be sharing the Tsum Tsums with me or Coy!
Sorry, kid, but those are for all of us! Well, Coy actually didn’t care He loves playing the game on his phone, but he doesn’t get into collecting the plushies like me and True. By the way, if you play Tsum Tsum, please feel free to add me as a friend! Here’s my QR code:Or you can add me with my user name _ErinRae_ I try to send out hearts at least once a day because I like getting them in return for the 200 coins I get each time someone sends me a heart! I try to earn/collect 30,000 coins each day so that I can by a premium box! Still no Tink! Ugh!
Anyway, sorry for that rant to all of you who don’t play the game! It’s really fun! And the plushies are so cute! So, back to Christmas… I had the hardest time shopping for Coy! Anyone with a teenager – especially a teenage boy – probably knows what I am talking about! Coy gave me a list of all of these computer parts that he wanted for Christmas, but then he said that he’d prefer to just buy those himself so that he would know for sure they were compatible upgrades. Makes sense… but ugh! Now what do I get the kid??? Luckily, a trip to Michael’s craft store had all of the answers! I was able to get him wooden puzzles, drawing books, a seed starter for carnivorous plants, and cool stuff like that! He really liked everything! Thank goodness, because I didn’t want to buy him more video games and he didn’t want me to buy him clothes!
True didn’t want clothes either, and she’s my fashionista! I was able to get her more Rainbow Loom stuff, a knitting loom thing, and other craft projects for her at Michael’s. So the kids and I have been having fun working on their crafts over the past few days. Some of you may know that we are going to Playlist Live in February. I made ADRs already, but I was waiting for all of the expenses of the holidays to be over before I started making reservations for Playlist
The only reservation I made was for the convention hotel. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, Playlist Live is a convention! It is for YouTubers and fans of YouTubers, and it is held in Orlando. My kids are BIG fans! They met a lot of their favorite gamers, vloggers, and artists when we went last year. If you are at all interested, I posted a Mini TR in my PTR last year:Playlist Live! Road Trip
Playlist Live! The First 24 Hours in Orlando – Part One
Playlist Live! The First 24 Hours in Orlando – Part Two
Playlist Live! The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Part One
Playlist Live! The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Part Two
Fun in Orlando! - Part One
Fun in Orlando! - Part Two
Fun in Orlando! - Part Three
That reminds me that I need to put chapter links in this TR! Anyway, you may have read that True was very upset that she didn’t get to see Joey Graceffa last year. Well, he isn’t even on the guest list so far this year!
But then I told True that he might not be at Playlist and she didn’t care! She said she’s over him! My, how fickle! Anyway, last year was a disaster for getting parking, so I vowed that we were going to stay at the convention hotel this year. Plus, it would give my kids a chance to meet some of the “YouTube Famous” just hanging around the hotel. So, as soon as I found out the dates for Playlist 2015, I booked a room with my AAA discount at Marriott World Center. Then that was it. Aside from making ADRs, I hadn’t done anything for this trip. Granted, I started planning for the Playlist trip before I even took my kids on the October trip, so I had other things on my plate! So now that the holidays are over, I finally made plans!I ordered our tickets for Playlist Live on NYE because they were on sale for $99 each through that night. I’m glad I did because they are back up to $137 a piece now! I got the regular tickets for Coy and True and a Parent’s Pass for me. The Parent’s Pass gives all of the same access as the regular pass – so I’m able to go around the convention with the kids – but it also gives me access to the parent’s lounge where I can take a break from all of the screaming teenage girls! They also had snacks, water, and soda there last year and I took full advantage of getting free drinks for me and the kids. I might not need to go to the parent’s lounge as much this year since we are staying at the convention hotel and I can just go up to the room when I need a break, but it’s a nice option to have.
Last year, the kids and I stayed at Pop during Playlist, but we didn’t go to the parks! The horror! The shame! It was nice being in a Disney resort, and it was fun doing things in Orlando other than going to the parks, but it was tough not being able to go to the Magic Kingdom! Epcot! Hollywood Studios! Animal Kingdom! Ugh! We had fun going to Disney Quest and stuff like that, but it wasn’t the same. So I made another vow at the end of that trip that we would go to the parks the next time we went to Playlist! That’s part of the reason I got Annual Passes!
So today (yes, TODAY) I finally booked our WDW resort portion of the Playlist trip! We will be staying at:
Port Orleans French Quarter!!!
I’ve wanted to stay there for so long, and now we finally are! So, the plan is to arrive on Thursday, February 5 and check into the Marriott World Center Resort. We stay there until Sunday, February 8. That is the last day of Playlist Live, so we will go to the convention and then check into POFQ later that day. We’ll be at POFQ from February 8 to February 15. We’ll go to the parks Monday through Saturday.
I am excited! Or, I should say that I am excited now. I have been looking at the crowd calendar for the past couple of months and the anticipated crowd levels keep going up and up. So much so that I considered doing the Disney portion of our trip the week before Playlist! But I couldn’t because I have a contract due at work that first week of February. I was pretty sure I could get the contract all wrapped up before then, but then I saw that there was a Harry Potter event going on at Universal the week before Playlist! There was no way I wanted to get caught up in that madness. I should also mention that I was considering doing a couple of days at Universal in February, too, but it was just going to be too expensive! Plus, it would have been a repeat of three resorts for one trip!
So, no. We can do Universal again in the fall. Back to this upcoming trip, I am concerned about the crowd levels that the holiday weekend is going to bring for the week that the kids and I will be in WDW. AP holders can only make FastPass selections 30 days out from their trip, so I am worried we won’t get anything good. I guess I’ll find out next week! I want to tell you guys about the ADRs that I made, but I am afraid it will give away too much for this TR! So, I will be back with another installment of is TR within a few days!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
Shew!! I was behind and then you went and posted a million updates! I'm finally caught up!
Your Universal Day looks great! We're going to get to go for 1 day in February and I'm looking forward to Harry Potter! I'm not researching though and after seeing what you went through, thinking I should...but I can't really bring myself to!
Ahhh, Disney! Yes, I can see how the party on the first night might be an issue! It looks like you had a blast though!
What is it about planning for a Universal trip that makes us all procrastinate?
Maybe it is the lack of information out there. There are just so many good Disney planning websites that I think it makes it hard to go digging for the UO info! I hope you have fun on your UO day!
Thanks for letting me know about Zaxbys! Well definitely go there if the kids and I take a trip to Roanoke one day! Im going to hop over to your TR!Loving your report! What a crazy travel day!!! Looking forward to reading more
and thanks! I see you are going to leave for your trip soon. Are you planning on doing a TR? I hope you have fun!Found you, FINALLY! I've been DISing from my phone which shows me your signature but doesn't actually link. And then I couldn't find the TR by that name... so then when I hopped on my laptop I followed the link from your post in Karen's PTR and finally found the link to get me here. Nothing like keeping me on my toes!
Okay, now off to catch up!
Im glad youre here, Hope! You reminded me that I needed to put a link to this TR in my signature!Okay, I've read about youre crazy travel day and checking in at Cabana Bay (I totally want to stay there on our next trip to UO) but will have to come back to read about your UO day when I have more time.
You are a ROCKSTAR momma for finding a way to get you and your kids to Orlando on time. Seriously awesome. I'd have done the same thing to keep my kids from being disappointed and the fact that you did it with a short 45 minute nap is even more awesome.
Also, the way you describe Coy reminds me so much of Jace. Gamer and designer, in the process of building his own computer, growing from a clown into a more silent, introspective type, and even some of the social anxiety issues. But I have to say, all of that adds up to a pretty amazing kid.
I'll be back soon to read more!!
Cabana Bay was so beautiful! We loved it there and Im sure you all will, too. Im either a rockstar or Im totally insane for driving all the way to Orlando
but I am so glad that I did. Im glad Coy suggested it! Yeah, he is a pretty cool kid I think he and Jace would get along well if they ever met! and thanks! Im glad that this is helpful! The mistakes at least make for funny stories later on! The kids and I actually intended to go to MNSSHP at 4, but we were lazy and just took our time doing things that day. Youll see that will be a recurring theme in this TR! I'm loving your tri report. I'm sorry it started out so rough. The good thing is you are a roll with the punches mom. You rented a car and kept the trip on track. That added a memory you and the kids will laugh at one day. It also taught your kids a valuable lesson. Unexpected things will happen. You can complain about it and let it ruin your plans or you can work around it and still have a great time. Bravo to you as a mom.
P.S. How did you manage to find $15 plane tickets. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
and thanks! I still look back and cant believe I rented a car to drive to Orlando on a whim! I hope I am teaching my kids to be flexible when things go awry! The $15 was an incredible deal, and I hope it is something that comes up again one day! It was a special one day deal that Frontier Airlines was doing at Dulles Airport because they just announced that they would start flying from there. I was able to get 3 tickets for $15 each, plus a $3 fee each for pre-selecting our seats. It was awesome! Too bad I didnt get to use those seats, though! Oh, also, that didnt include any checked luggage just one personal item. You should have seen how stuffed our bookbags were with clothes for our trip!
Now I know it is possible for me not to over pack! But I did have to pay for a carry-on bag on our return flight since we picked up a few things on our trip 
Ok, all caught up, shew! You guys were just non stop!!
Mmmmm... Butterbeer! I love butterbeer! Looks like your day at UO went pretty well. There are definitely little things Disney does better (though they aren't free, just included in the more expensive prices, lol). But overall we love UO and could never decide which we liked more.
We did MNSSHP on our last night and decided that was no good because we were exhausted. Based on your first night experience looks like mid trip is best, lol! I'm glad you guys had fun at UO and the party, can't wait to read more!
We really were nonstop! It was crazy! I loved the Butterbeer and I cant wait to try the non-frozen one. I saw on your TR that you guys really had a goof time at UO. Yes, I finally got back to reading it and I definitely should have read it before our trip! You had some good tips in there! Now I want to go to Legoland, too! Yeah, weve done MVMCP on our last day and it was just too much. Then we did it on our first day the next year, but I think it was OK back then because it had only been a year since the last time we were in Disney!
So, I agree, the next time we do MNSSHP or MVMCP we will be doing it mid-trip! 
Victoriasmom98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
That post made me sad........but I'm happy for you! 
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
That post made me sad........but I'm happy for you!
I know
I wish you were still coming! I was looking forward to drinks! And Ripley's! 
Twoboysnmygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2008
Yay Erin! I was wondering if you were staying at Marriott! So were your AAA prices for Marriott as good as the Playlist discount at Marriott? I did the discount, I didn't even look into AAA. 
I'm not getting a parent pass. Sigh. I went back and forth about it for a long time but the only reason I would be getting it would be to take pictures of Savannah when she meets Tyler Oakley. Oh, BTW, they haven't finished announcing everyone that is going to be there, so whoever it is that True wants to meet might still be there...if she changes her mind and cares again!
Anyway, the girls are old enough (14, 14, & 16) to do the convention on their own and my friend is coming with, so I decided against the parent pass. I may regret this when she has terrible pics, but I felt like it was excessive if that's all I would use it for.
We're driving down and arriving Thursday as well! DTD Thursday night, MK all day Friday, Playlist on the weekend, and then we are doing one day at UO on Monday! I've never been and I'm excited for HP, although nothing else at UO really excites me that much so I just still haven't done anything!
Oh and as for FP's...you should be able to get most of what you want, they release more at 30 days. I would do them at midnight though, don't wait until morning on your 30 days! I got everything a bit early b/c I have another reservation at WDW for the half marathon later in the month and that was a loop hole but I still didn't get Anna & Elsa. I don't know why I'm telling you all this here when you already read it in my PTR!
I'm not getting a parent pass. Sigh. I went back and forth about it for a long time but the only reason I would be getting it would be to take pictures of Savannah when she meets Tyler Oakley. Oh, BTW, they haven't finished announcing everyone that is going to be there, so whoever it is that True wants to meet might still be there...if she changes her mind and cares again!
Anyway, the girls are old enough (14, 14, & 16) to do the convention on their own and my friend is coming with, so I decided against the parent pass. I may regret this when she has terrible pics, but I felt like it was excessive if that's all I would use it for.
We're driving down and arriving Thursday as well! DTD Thursday night, MK all day Friday, Playlist on the weekend, and then we are doing one day at UO on Monday! I've never been and I'm excited for HP, although nothing else at UO really excites me that much so I just still haven't done anything!
Oh and as for FP's...you should be able to get most of what you want, they release more at 30 days. I would do them at midnight though, don't wait until morning on your 30 days! I got everything a bit early b/c I have another reservation at WDW for the half marathon later in the month and that was a loop hole but I still didn't get Anna & Elsa. I don't know why I'm telling you all this here when you already read it in my PTR!
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
Those Anna and Kristoff dolls are ADORABLE!! 
POFQ looks like an amazing resort- I can hardly wait to see pics!
I hope you have fun at Playlist- Kya doesn't seem to show much interest in it so I've never looked into it staying on site seems like a good idea.
POFQ looks like an amazing resort- I can hardly wait to see pics!
I hope you have fun at Playlist- Kya doesn't seem to show much interest in it so I've never looked into it staying on site seems like a good idea.
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
Our first Saturday there was a free day. This really was a long vacation, considering that we had two Thursdays, two Fridays, and two Saturdays! I just thought about that! Anyway, we dragged ourselves out of bed around 8 in the morning and we had breakfast at Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation. We didnt want to eat too much because we had lunch plans at Downtown Disney later. On our way to the restaurant, I took some more pictures of the grounds at AoA:
I didnt take any pictures of our food in the restaurant because it was pretty standard fare. Scrambled eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, stuff like that. Breakfast was pretty good, but nothing special. The kids and I were pretty full, though.
I took some pictures on the way back to our room:
The kids and I loved this resort! We just didnt love that we were at one end of the property and the lobby was at the other. It made for a LONG walk home each night and that wasnt the easiest thing when our feet, legs, or backs were tired! If I had rented a car, I would have no complaints about this because we could have just parked close to our room. After making the long walk back to our room from breakfast, we got ready to enjoy our free day!
I didnt take any pictures of our food in the restaurant because it was pretty standard fare. Scrambled eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, stuff like that. Breakfast was pretty good, but nothing special. The kids and I were pretty full, though.
I took some pictures on the way back to our room:
The kids and I loved this resort! We just didnt love that we were at one end of the property and the lobby was at the other. It made for a LONG walk home each night and that wasnt the easiest thing when our feet, legs, or backs were tired! If I had rented a car, I would have no complaints about this because we could have just parked close to our room. After making the long walk back to our room from breakfast, we got ready to enjoy our free day!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
We hung around the room for a little while until it was time to go to our lunch ADR: Rainforest Café! When Coy was little, I took him to a local RFC a few times, but he was three the last time we went, so he didnt remember. True had never been. So they were both really looking forward to this meal. The only thing was, we werent hungry yet because we had a filling breakfast! I tried to change the ADR time to a little later in the day, but there werent any times available on the My Disney Experience app. It literally just occurred to me that I should have tried calling the restaurant directly! Duh! Anyway, since I didnt think of that, we started making our way to the bus stops at AoA so that we could go to Downtown Disney. I hoped that the walk in the sun from our room to the bus stops would help us to gain a little bit of our appetites back! LOL!
It was a beautiful, bright, sunny, warm day. The weather in late October seemed to be almost perfect! That is one of the reasons I want to go back during that time of year again. We could wear warm weather clothes to keep cool during the day, and just add a sweatshirt during the late afternoon/early evening to stay warm. There was very little humidity, but when it was humid, it always seemed to get much better in the evening hours! Being from Virginia, I am used to the humidity sticking around all day and night in the summer, and I absolutely hate it! I know it is that way in Florida in the summer, too, but at least it wasnt too humid any time that my kids and I have visited in the fall. I think I am so focused on the weather right now because it is 37 outside right now and I would rather be in Florida! Oh well! Ill just warm up with my memories!
Once we got on the DTD bus, we had to take a #selfie!
We got to DTD about half an hour before our ADR, so we checked in and walked around for a bit.
True was excited to see a parrot outside of the restaurant, and just had to take a picture!
To my surprise, Coy wanted to take a picture with it, too!
The kids wanted me to take one, but I couldnt stop thinking that there was too strong of a possibility that it would poop on my head! After taking those pictures, True spotted a photobooth and wanted to take pictures there, too. Coy didnt want to take pictures in the booth, so I went in with True:
As we were taking the pictures, our name was called. I thought we were immediately going to our table, but we were just directed to another line. I spotted something in the tree above us:
Do you see that? Heres a closer look:
A security camera! True asked why there was a camera in the restaurant and I responded in my best Roz impersonation, Big Brother is watching. Always watching. Haha!
By the time we got to our seats, we were a little hungry. All of that walking in the heat paid off! LOL! I asked the kids to order appetizers for their entrees because I wanted us to save room for the Volcano! They were more than happy to eat a smaller lunch so that they could have a big dessert! If youve been to RFC, you know that the apps are not exactly small and that most can be shared with two or more people. True ordered the Lava Nachos for Two. The description on allears.net says: a hot favorite - crispy tri-color tortilla chips topped with seasoned ground beef, peppers, onions black beans, corn, and queso sauce. Garnished with cheddar cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo. True ordered it without the onions or the pico de gallo, so you wont see that in the picture below. Coy ordered the Cheese Sticks. From allears.net: Mozzarella sticks lightly breaded, fried golden brown and served with chunky marinara sauce. I ordered the Crustacean Crab Dip. From allears.net: Our creamy housemade dip of tender crabmeat, peppers, onions and tomatoes. Served with tri-color tortilla chips.
After we ordered, True and I took a potty break. She got back to the table before I did. So did the food! But Coy remembered that I wanted to take pictures of the food, so he gathered all of the plates together and took this picture:
He did a great job! We have a food photographer in the making! By the way, he was wonderful about making sure that I got the food pictures that I wanted during the trip. He didnt complain about it when I asked him to always let me take a picture of his food before he ate it! LOL! Anyway, the food was really good and we were full again. Too full to get the Volcano! Oh well. Next time! It was a cute environment, and the kids really liked the sound effects and visual effects, so we will be back one day.
We walked around DTD to window shop and to eventually go to Guest Services to get our APs. I dont claim to know DTD very well, but I was totally lost with all of the construction walls up! We ended up meandering around DTD for about 20 minutes before we found Guest Services. We got in line and only waited about 5 minutes before it was our turn. The cast member looked up my name and saw that the APs were already added to our Magic Bands! I didnt do that! The Disney Big Brother at its finest! I mean, Disney Magic! That was very convenient! The CM gave me the physical AP cards and explained that I could use them for discounts at a lot of stores on property. I already knew that, and the AP immediately started burning a hole in my pocket because I wanted to go shopping with my discount! LOL! But I controlled myself by reminding the kids that we were just window shopping that day. We werent going to buy souvenirs until later in the trip. Really, they didnt need the reminder, but I did because I didnt want to overspend, and I definitely would have if I had started buying stuff on our second Disney day!
We walked to the Lego store and the kids were in their own little version of heaven! Legos as far as the eye could see!
True even tried to blend in with the Lego family:
Trues feet started to hurt her, so we sat down on a bench for a few minutes. She and Coy were joking around about something when I snapped these two pictures:
I saw more plants that I liked, so True stood next to them as I took a picture:
Then she did a silly dance:
As we walked through DTD, we saw Cinderella, and Coy took a picture of us doing a curtsy:
We went in one side of World of Disney:
and out the other:
In between, the kids saw a lot of things that they wanted to buy, but I stood by my decision to not shop that day. True suddenly got very upset that I wouldnt buy her something. I have no idea what it was now (and I doubt that she does either LOL!) but it was enough for her to get a very bad teenager-ish attitude. Ugh! Once she started back talking me, we had to leave the store. I had her sit down so that she could calm herself. She just sat and pouted. After all of these years, she still hasnt quite figured out that that isnt the way to get me to do something that she wants! Haha! So, I just let her sit there until she seemed to be a little bit calmer. Then I thought that she might enjoy going to Basin because she loves bath stuff. I was nervous that she would get more upset because she wouldnt be able to buy anything there either (I couldnt back down from my decision once she had a temper tantrum!) but I decided to risk it. Luckily, I was right, and bath bombs soothed the savage beast! LOL! She, Coy, and I had a lot of fun in that store smelling all of the different soaps and bath products. We would try to make each other guess what was in certain bath products, or we would purposefully find products that we knew the others wouldnt like. Haha! We probably spent about 30 minutes in there, smelling EVERYTHING!
We walked around a bit more after that and I saw a little ring kiosk. I had to take a picture because when I was 19, I had a ring made in MK for my boyfriend. It had his initials carved into it, and he loved it! I was really surprised to see a similar kiosk in DTD for those carved rings! Maybe it had always been there, but I never noticed it before:
At some point, we walked right past Ghiarardelli because we were still too full from our late lunch to get a free piece of chocolate!
It was three hours later! LOL! As we headed out of DTD, I took a picture of another container garden that I liked:
Finally, we went to Days of Christmas and looked at all of the ornaments:
As we headed to the bus stop, I told the kids that I had something else planned, so we werent going to our resort yet. We hopped on the bus to Fort Wilderness!
It was a beautiful, bright, sunny, warm day. The weather in late October seemed to be almost perfect! That is one of the reasons I want to go back during that time of year again. We could wear warm weather clothes to keep cool during the day, and just add a sweatshirt during the late afternoon/early evening to stay warm. There was very little humidity, but when it was humid, it always seemed to get much better in the evening hours! Being from Virginia, I am used to the humidity sticking around all day and night in the summer, and I absolutely hate it! I know it is that way in Florida in the summer, too, but at least it wasnt too humid any time that my kids and I have visited in the fall. I think I am so focused on the weather right now because it is 37 outside right now and I would rather be in Florida! Oh well! Ill just warm up with my memories!
Once we got on the DTD bus, we had to take a #selfie!
We got to DTD about half an hour before our ADR, so we checked in and walked around for a bit.
True was excited to see a parrot outside of the restaurant, and just had to take a picture!
To my surprise, Coy wanted to take a picture with it, too!
The kids wanted me to take one, but I couldnt stop thinking that there was too strong of a possibility that it would poop on my head! After taking those pictures, True spotted a photobooth and wanted to take pictures there, too. Coy didnt want to take pictures in the booth, so I went in with True:
As we were taking the pictures, our name was called. I thought we were immediately going to our table, but we were just directed to another line. I spotted something in the tree above us:
Do you see that? Heres a closer look:
A security camera! True asked why there was a camera in the restaurant and I responded in my best Roz impersonation, Big Brother is watching. Always watching. Haha!
By the time we got to our seats, we were a little hungry. All of that walking in the heat paid off! LOL! I asked the kids to order appetizers for their entrees because I wanted us to save room for the Volcano! They were more than happy to eat a smaller lunch so that they could have a big dessert! If youve been to RFC, you know that the apps are not exactly small and that most can be shared with two or more people. True ordered the Lava Nachos for Two. The description on allears.net says: a hot favorite - crispy tri-color tortilla chips topped with seasoned ground beef, peppers, onions black beans, corn, and queso sauce. Garnished with cheddar cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo. True ordered it without the onions or the pico de gallo, so you wont see that in the picture below. Coy ordered the Cheese Sticks. From allears.net: Mozzarella sticks lightly breaded, fried golden brown and served with chunky marinara sauce. I ordered the Crustacean Crab Dip. From allears.net: Our creamy housemade dip of tender crabmeat, peppers, onions and tomatoes. Served with tri-color tortilla chips.
After we ordered, True and I took a potty break. She got back to the table before I did. So did the food! But Coy remembered that I wanted to take pictures of the food, so he gathered all of the plates together and took this picture:
He did a great job! We have a food photographer in the making! By the way, he was wonderful about making sure that I got the food pictures that I wanted during the trip. He didnt complain about it when I asked him to always let me take a picture of his food before he ate it! LOL! Anyway, the food was really good and we were full again. Too full to get the Volcano! Oh well. Next time! It was a cute environment, and the kids really liked the sound effects and visual effects, so we will be back one day.
We walked around DTD to window shop and to eventually go to Guest Services to get our APs. I dont claim to know DTD very well, but I was totally lost with all of the construction walls up! We ended up meandering around DTD for about 20 minutes before we found Guest Services. We got in line and only waited about 5 minutes before it was our turn. The cast member looked up my name and saw that the APs were already added to our Magic Bands! I didnt do that! The Disney Big Brother at its finest! I mean, Disney Magic! That was very convenient! The CM gave me the physical AP cards and explained that I could use them for discounts at a lot of stores on property. I already knew that, and the AP immediately started burning a hole in my pocket because I wanted to go shopping with my discount! LOL! But I controlled myself by reminding the kids that we were just window shopping that day. We werent going to buy souvenirs until later in the trip. Really, they didnt need the reminder, but I did because I didnt want to overspend, and I definitely would have if I had started buying stuff on our second Disney day!
We walked to the Lego store and the kids were in their own little version of heaven! Legos as far as the eye could see!
True even tried to blend in with the Lego family:
Trues feet started to hurt her, so we sat down on a bench for a few minutes. She and Coy were joking around about something when I snapped these two pictures:
I saw more plants that I liked, so True stood next to them as I took a picture:
Then she did a silly dance:
As we walked through DTD, we saw Cinderella, and Coy took a picture of us doing a curtsy:
We went in one side of World of Disney:
and out the other:
In between, the kids saw a lot of things that they wanted to buy, but I stood by my decision to not shop that day. True suddenly got very upset that I wouldnt buy her something. I have no idea what it was now (and I doubt that she does either LOL!) but it was enough for her to get a very bad teenager-ish attitude. Ugh! Once she started back talking me, we had to leave the store. I had her sit down so that she could calm herself. She just sat and pouted. After all of these years, she still hasnt quite figured out that that isnt the way to get me to do something that she wants! Haha! So, I just let her sit there until she seemed to be a little bit calmer. Then I thought that she might enjoy going to Basin because she loves bath stuff. I was nervous that she would get more upset because she wouldnt be able to buy anything there either (I couldnt back down from my decision once she had a temper tantrum!) but I decided to risk it. Luckily, I was right, and bath bombs soothed the savage beast! LOL! She, Coy, and I had a lot of fun in that store smelling all of the different soaps and bath products. We would try to make each other guess what was in certain bath products, or we would purposefully find products that we knew the others wouldnt like. Haha! We probably spent about 30 minutes in there, smelling EVERYTHING!
We walked around a bit more after that and I saw a little ring kiosk. I had to take a picture because when I was 19, I had a ring made in MK for my boyfriend. It had his initials carved into it, and he loved it! I was really surprised to see a similar kiosk in DTD for those carved rings! Maybe it had always been there, but I never noticed it before:
At some point, we walked right past Ghiarardelli because we were still too full from our late lunch to get a free piece of chocolate!
It was three hours later! LOL! As we headed out of DTD, I took a picture of another container garden that I liked:
Finally, we went to Days of Christmas and looked at all of the ornaments:
As we headed to the bus stop, I told the kids that I had something else planned, so we werent going to our resort yet. We hopped on the bus to Fort Wilderness!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
The kids and I were headed to Fort Wilderness, but they didnt know why. Any guesses? I wont keep you in suspense! We were going to Chip and Dales Campfire Sing-a-Long! I was super excited and I hoped the kids would be, too. I knew the actual sing-a-long was geared more toward little kids, but I thought Coy and True would enjoy making smores and watching a movie outside. I strive to do something unique whenever we go on a trip, and I think that is especially important for places that we visit frequently. I dont want the kids to get sick of Disney World! The bus took us to the Outpost Depot. From there, I wasnt quite sure where to go, so the kids and I headed across the street to where a CM was standing and asked if she could point us in the right direction. This was the first time a CM ever said to me that they didnt know something and didnt try to find out the answer! She just pointed me to a sign and said, You can look at that map there. Seriously? Well, I guess all CMs cant be helpful. There have to be exceptions to prove the rule. I didnt let that bother me, though, and I went to the map to figure out how to get to the campfire.
The kids and I went back over to the bus depot just in time to catch the bus. I want to say it was the orange line, but dont quote me on that. It went through the middle of FW and made stops at campsite locations and cabin locations. Seeing the cabins, True decided that we definitely had to stay in one in an upcoming trip. She and Coy also thought it was cool that so many of the campers were all decorated for Halloween. They also thought it was neat that so many people got around by golf cart! That resort is really spread out, and if we ever do stay there, I would definitely want a car rather than having to take the bus! It was OK, for that night, though. I had to admit that Disney bus transportation really was efficient and effective.
I dont remember how long it took to get to the campfire, but I was glad we got there a little early! The wooden benches were already starting to fill up, and I wanted to snag some seats before we had no choice but to sit on the cold, hard bleachers! We found a bench and as we went to sit down, I told the kids that it was a campfire, sing-a-long, and a movie. Coy seemed excited. True was less than enthused LOL! Coy saved our seats as True and I went to buy a bag of smores fixins. I believe it was $10, and it came with a generous bag of marshmallows, two Hershey bars, a box of graham crackers, a moist towelette, and two sticks:
Now, I am not a camping girl. Never have been and I doubt I ever will be! So the extent of experience I had with making smores was doing it over a little burner at a local restaurant! I never tried to roast marshmallows over a real fire with a three foot long stick! True and I set down everything with Coy at our bench and went over to the campfire, armed with two marshmallows and two sticks. True has roasted marshmallows over a real fire before, so I should have asked her how to do it! I held my marshmallow over the fire and snapped a quick picture of True doing the same.
Before I knew it, my marshmallow was on fire! I lifted it up out of the flames, and I was terrified that I was going to accidentally burn someone! I turned away from the fire and blew the marshmallow out. This was the result:
That wasnt going to be edible! Trues was a little better, but this was only her first try that day:
After that, she quickly got the hang of it and became the designated marshmallow roaster for the night! The sing a long portion of the show started, and we were led in a Chip and Dale version of Bingo. It went, C H I P and Dale and I will never get that song out of my head now! Chip and Dale started walking down the aisles so that kids could get their pictures taken with them. Just so you know if you do go, Chip will be on one side of the outdoor theater and Dale on the other, so you can only get pictures with one of them. I was happy that Chip was on our side of the aisle, because he is my favorite of the two! No offence, Dale! Neither of the kids wanted to take their picture with him, though, so I did!
We listened to a few more songs as we ate our smores, but the kids and I started getting tired. It had been a long day! Fun, but LONG!!! So we left right before the movie started and went to the gift shop by the campfire location. We spotted a penny pressing machine earlier that night, so the kids got a few pressed pennies. Then we hopped on the bus and made our way back to AoA. On the bus, True asked, We have Annual Passes now? So that means we can come here whenever we want? and immediately asked me if we could come back for her birthday. LOL! I had to explain crowd levels and the fact that her birthday is during Spring Break season. Hopefully, the kids and I can spend their birthdays in WDW in about three years when Easter is later and their birthdays fall outside of Spring Break. Anyway, we made it back to the resort, walked the long walk to The Little Mermaid building, and fell asleep right away! We had a big day ahead of us at the Magic Kingdom the next day!
The kids and I went back over to the bus depot just in time to catch the bus. I want to say it was the orange line, but dont quote me on that. It went through the middle of FW and made stops at campsite locations and cabin locations. Seeing the cabins, True decided that we definitely had to stay in one in an upcoming trip. She and Coy also thought it was cool that so many of the campers were all decorated for Halloween. They also thought it was neat that so many people got around by golf cart! That resort is really spread out, and if we ever do stay there, I would definitely want a car rather than having to take the bus! It was OK, for that night, though. I had to admit that Disney bus transportation really was efficient and effective.
I dont remember how long it took to get to the campfire, but I was glad we got there a little early! The wooden benches were already starting to fill up, and I wanted to snag some seats before we had no choice but to sit on the cold, hard bleachers! We found a bench and as we went to sit down, I told the kids that it was a campfire, sing-a-long, and a movie. Coy seemed excited. True was less than enthused LOL! Coy saved our seats as True and I went to buy a bag of smores fixins. I believe it was $10, and it came with a generous bag of marshmallows, two Hershey bars, a box of graham crackers, a moist towelette, and two sticks:
Now, I am not a camping girl. Never have been and I doubt I ever will be! So the extent of experience I had with making smores was doing it over a little burner at a local restaurant! I never tried to roast marshmallows over a real fire with a three foot long stick! True and I set down everything with Coy at our bench and went over to the campfire, armed with two marshmallows and two sticks. True has roasted marshmallows over a real fire before, so I should have asked her how to do it! I held my marshmallow over the fire and snapped a quick picture of True doing the same.
Before I knew it, my marshmallow was on fire! I lifted it up out of the flames, and I was terrified that I was going to accidentally burn someone! I turned away from the fire and blew the marshmallow out. This was the result:
That wasnt going to be edible! Trues was a little better, but this was only her first try that day:After that, she quickly got the hang of it and became the designated marshmallow roaster for the night! The sing a long portion of the show started, and we were led in a Chip and Dale version of Bingo. It went, C H I P and Dale and I will never get that song out of my head now! Chip and Dale started walking down the aisles so that kids could get their pictures taken with them. Just so you know if you do go, Chip will be on one side of the outdoor theater and Dale on the other, so you can only get pictures with one of them. I was happy that Chip was on our side of the aisle, because he is my favorite of the two! No offence, Dale! Neither of the kids wanted to take their picture with him, though, so I did!
We listened to a few more songs as we ate our smores, but the kids and I started getting tired. It had been a long day! Fun, but LONG!!! So we left right before the movie started and went to the gift shop by the campfire location. We spotted a penny pressing machine earlier that night, so the kids got a few pressed pennies. Then we hopped on the bus and made our way back to AoA. On the bus, True asked, We have Annual Passes now? So that means we can come here whenever we want? and immediately asked me if we could come back for her birthday. LOL! I had to explain crowd levels and the fact that her birthday is during Spring Break season. Hopefully, the kids and I can spend their birthdays in WDW in about three years when Easter is later and their birthdays fall outside of Spring Break. Anyway, we made it back to the resort, walked the long walk to The Little Mermaid building, and fell asleep right away! We had a big day ahead of us at the Magic Kingdom the next day!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
Yay Erin! I was wondering if you were staying at Marriott! So were your AAA prices for Marriott as good as the Playlist discount at Marriott? I did the discount, I didn't even look into AAA.
I'm not getting a parent pass. Sigh. I went back and forth about it for a long time but the only reason I would be getting it would be to take pictures of Savannah when she meets Tyler Oakley. Oh, BTW, they haven't finished announcing everyone that is going to be there, so whoever it is that True wants to meet might still be there...if she changes her mind and cares again!
Anyway, the girls are old enough (14, 14, & 16) to do the convention on their own and my friend is coming with, so I decided against the parent pass. I may regret this when she has terrible pics, but I felt like it was excessive if that's all I would use it for.
We're driving down and arriving Thursday as well! DTD Thursday night, MK all day Friday, Playlist on the weekend, and then we are doing one day at UO on Monday! I've never been and I'm excited for HP, although nothing else at UO really excites me that much so I just still haven't done anything!
Oh and as for FP's...you should be able to get most of what you want, they release more at 30 days. I would do them at midnight though, don't wait until morning on your 30 days! I got everything a bit early b/c I have another reservation at WDW for the half marathon later in the month and that was a loop hole but I still didn't get Anna & Elsa. I don't know why I'm telling you all this here when you already read it in my PTR!
You know, I didnt even know there was a Playlist discount! Ill have to call today to see if it is still available and if it is as good as AAA. Thanks for the tip! I can understand why you didnt get the parent pass. I hope my kids dont decide against me roaming around with them this year! I think this might be the last year that theyll let me do that! Ill definitely let you know how getting the FPs goes! I guess Ill be up at midnight!
Those Anna and Kristoff dolls are ADORABLE!!
POFQ looks like an amazing resort- I can hardly wait to see pics!
I hope you have fun at Playlist- Kya doesn't seem to show much interest in it so I've never looked into it staying on site seems like a good idea.
I cant wait to stay at POFQ! It looks so festive! I think Playlist should be fun this year. Count your lucky stars that Kya doesnt want to go! Playlist is cool, but the screaming fangirls can be a bit much at times!
Im excited about staying at the Marriott!
Victoriasmom98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
Love, love, love this update! You have never made S'mores on a campfire before? Too funny!! Good thing you had a lot of mellows to practice with!! And, no offense to you, Erin, but Dale is my favorite!! Actually that works out perfectly --- we can double-date!! Your pics of AoA are awesome. Maybe someday I'll stay there --- who knows! The way DVC works is I could stay there with the same amount of points as Grand Floridian -- crazy, I know, but they want you to stay at the DVC villas instead of the regular resorts so they make staying at the regular resorts a higher point value. Oh well.
Don't you just love all the construction at DTD?? Ugh! Hopefully it will be alot better by the time I go back in September. It seems like the kids (except for True's little tantrum) really enjoyed the trip so far. Teens! Victoria is a lot easier to deal with now that she's almost 17. (Holy crap!! She's going to be 17 in a month!!!) oh, and the Prozac helps, too!! Speaking of that, her doctor has cut her dosage in half last Friday, so let's hope she can deal well with the lower dosage.
Anyways, great update. Looking forward to another one soon!!!!
Don't you just love all the construction at DTD?? Ugh! Hopefully it will be alot better by the time I go back in September. It seems like the kids (except for True's little tantrum) really enjoyed the trip so far. Teens! Victoria is a lot easier to deal with now that she's almost 17. (Holy crap!! She's going to be 17 in a month!!!
) oh, and the Prozac helps, too!! Speaking of that, her doctor has cut her dosage in half last Friday, so let's hope she can deal well with the lower dosage. Anyways, great update. Looking forward to another one soon!!!!
-Hope-
Always dreaming of adventure...
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
Fantastic update! Kya and I are staying at AoA for our trip in November and I'm so excited- your pics are only adding to that excitement!
Love that you try to incorporate new, unique experiences each time as well. That's always my goal too and it also helps keep me from overplanning- gotta save something for next time!
Too bad about the CM not being helpful though. I have a client staying at FW in May and I've been trying to figure out the bus lines and maps so I can help her navigate but was also counting on helpful CMs since I can only figure out so much online. I will be sure to tell her about the campfire and s'mores though! (Incidentally, we used to camp a lot when I was a kid and we have s'mores at the kids annual fall bonfire/hayride as well as when we go to the beach and we still have a hard time perfecting the marshmallows, lol.)
We've always been too full for the Volcano or Earthquake every time we've been to RFC or T-Rex (though we've never been to either on Disney property, always on other vacations). We are planning to split ONE appetizer on our trip so we can finally have that volcano, lol!
Love that you try to incorporate new, unique experiences each time as well. That's always my goal too and it also helps keep me from overplanning- gotta save something for next time!
Too bad about the CM not being helpful though. I have a client staying at FW in May and I've been trying to figure out the bus lines and maps so I can help her navigate but was also counting on helpful CMs since I can only figure out so much online.
I will be sure to tell her about the campfire and s'mores though! (Incidentally, we used to camp a lot when I was a kid and we have s'mores at the kids annual fall bonfire/hayride as well as when we go to the beach and we still have a hard time perfecting the marshmallows, lol.)We've always been too full for the Volcano or Earthquake every time we've been to RFC or T-Rex (though we've never been to either on Disney property, always on other vacations). We are planning to split ONE appetizer on our trip so we can finally have that volcano, lol!
AMVmom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2008
Just read your trip report and love it! I can't wait to hear more! I love the Tsums Tsums my kids are crazy for them! I will have to friend you on Line to play Tsums Tsums but I have to confess that sometimes I skip a couple of days and not play but will try to send hearts; I want hearts for the coins too! Your kids are so cute!
Tink-erin-belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
Hey, everyone. I'm sorry I haven't updated or replied to your comments yet. My younger brother passed away very suddenly, so I haven't been up to being on the boards. David was 38 and he passed away from complications of previously undiagnosed diabetes. Our younger sisters, younger brother, and I are making it through this, and I am so thankful that we have each other for support. It was truly shocking to lose him at such a young age. I thought that we would all grow old together. My sisters, brother, and I were unaware that our great-grandmother was an insulin dependent diabetic. I'm not sure why no one shared that with us before now. Our great-grandmother lived well into her eighties, though, so I think we all assumed she was healthy. She managed her diabetes well, I guess. This has been a wake up call for all of us because we all can't help but wonder if David would still be here if he was diagnosed earlier. I've had my blood sugar checked recently, and so has True, so I'm not too concerned about us, but I'm going to have Coy's checked during his yearly doctor's appointment in April. I think my sisters and brother will do the same. My siblings, parents, kids and I miss David terribly and we're all still struggling with believing that he's actually gone.
My kids and I are still going to Playlist Live, but really, if I didn't have non-refundable Playlist tickets, I'm not sure we would go. Maybe I'll feel differently when we leave in about two and a half weeks. This trip isn't as much for me as it is for my kids, so I wouldn't want to disappoint them. It will probably be good for me to go on vacation. The kids are really looking forward to it. They are at their dad's house this weekend, but we had to choose what YouTube meetups we wanted to do by yesterday afternoon. Playlist is doing things differently this year by having people sign up for meetups rather than standing in incredibly long lines. The lines were the whole reason True wasn't able to meet Joey Graceffa last year and Coy didn't meet the people from Prank vs. Prank. So I hope this reserved meetup system works.
Playlist was supposed to send out the list of meetups earlier in the day on Friday, but I didn't get the email until after I had already dropped the kids off at their dad's. So I had to text Coy to see what two meetups he wanted to reserve. True was already asleep, so I had to wait until the morning to get her choices. True picked about ten, but we were only allowed two! She wanted to meet everyone there! Also, only one of their meetups matched, so I had to ask Coy if he wanted to do his other meetup by himself. Coy was very considerate and decided not to do his Saturday selection so that True could do hers So the kids chose to meet The Daily Bumps (and others in that group) on Saturday, and Prank vs. Prank (and others in that group) on Sunday.
The sign up time was set for 1pm EST yesterday, so I sat with my laptop on my lap ready to pounce as soon as it was time! I logged in, but I kept getting kicked out because too many people were trying to access the site at once. I was able to make baby steps into the site: I was able to log in, but I couldn't make selections; I could make selections, but I couldn't confirm them; I could confirm selections, but I couldn't get confirmation back from the site. It was a little nerve wracking! The good thing was that I was pretty sure the meetups I was signing up for weren't for the super popular YouTubers. As I was trying to make selections, I saw that the meetup for Tyler Oakley was full within the first minute! If you don't know who Tyler Oakley is, just ask a teenage girl! Thank goodness my pre-teen girl didn't want to meet him! She wanted to meet The Daily Bumps more.
True actually has Skyped Missy and Bryan from The Daily Bumps before! She started begging me in early December to donate to a charity that The Daily Bumps were fundraising for so that she could Skype them. People who donated over a certain amount were given an "award" of sorts of a 10 minute Skype call. True begged me for this every day and even said that she wouldn't mind if that donation was her only Christmas present! She gave me details about the charity and explained why it was important to her to donate. She ended up convincing me, so I donated. Nothing like giving a Christmas present you can write off on your taxes, huh?
For a while, I even let True believe that the donation was really going to be her only present. She was actually OK with that! She's a good kid 
Long story short, she had her Skype call with Missy and Bryan a couple of weeks ago, and they actually talked for about 15 minutes. Missy and Bryan posted part of her call (and their calls with other people) on one of their vlogs. Click here if you're interested in seeing it. Anyway, she told them she would be at Playlist, and they said that she could come say hi to them in person! So, naturally, True had to select their meetup. I'm so glad that Coy was willing to give up his so that she could see The Daily Bumps. He's a good kid, too
Very long story short, I eventually got the confirmation that I successfully completed the meetup registration. The kids and I are looking forward to Playlist Live and looking forward to going to Disney after that. Like many people, Disney World was one of David's favorite places on Earth. David and I used to hang out together in the parks while our parents were with our younger siblings. We would ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain over and over again. I remember one night when the park was about to close, he and I rode Space Mountain at least 7 or 8 times in a row I have been thinking about taking some of David's ashes with us on this trip so that I can spread them somewhere meaningful. I have heard of people getting kicked out of the park for spreading their loved ones ashes in Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean! I don't want to get kicked out of the park for this! Maybe I can discreetly spread just a little of his ashes somewhere in the park, but I won't say where since I think it might be illegal How am I going to get him through security? That's something I never thought I would have to plan. How to get ashes through security! I hope you guys don't think I'm being disrespectful of his memory. I have to find ways to laugh, otherwise I'll just cry all of the time. I've been trying to think of all of the good memories that I have of David. The Space Mountain one is one of my favorites, so I think spreading his ashes somewhere in Disney World would be a great way to honor his memory 
My kids and I are still going to Playlist Live, but really, if I didn't have non-refundable Playlist tickets, I'm not sure we would go. Maybe I'll feel differently when we leave in about two and a half weeks. This trip isn't as much for me as it is for my kids, so I wouldn't want to disappoint them. It will probably be good for me to go on vacation. The kids are really looking forward to it. They are at their dad's house this weekend, but we had to choose what YouTube meetups we wanted to do by yesterday afternoon. Playlist is doing things differently this year by having people sign up for meetups rather than standing in incredibly long lines. The lines were the whole reason True wasn't able to meet Joey Graceffa last year and Coy didn't meet the people from Prank vs. Prank. So I hope this reserved meetup system works.
Playlist was supposed to send out the list of meetups earlier in the day on Friday, but I didn't get the email until after I had already dropped the kids off at their dad's. So I had to text Coy to see what two meetups he wanted to reserve. True was already asleep, so I had to wait until the morning to get her choices. True picked about ten, but we were only allowed two! She wanted to meet everyone there!
Also, only one of their meetups matched, so I had to ask Coy if he wanted to do his other meetup by himself. Coy was very considerate and decided not to do his Saturday selection so that True could do hers So the kids chose to meet The Daily Bumps (and others in that group) on Saturday, and Prank vs. Prank (and others in that group) on Sunday. The sign up time was set for 1pm EST yesterday, so I sat with my laptop on my lap ready to pounce as soon as it was time! I logged in, but I kept getting kicked out because too many people were trying to access the site at once. I was able to make baby steps into the site: I was able to log in, but I couldn't make selections; I could make selections, but I couldn't confirm them; I could confirm selections, but I couldn't get confirmation back from the site. It was a little nerve wracking! The good thing was that I was pretty sure the meetups I was signing up for weren't for the super popular YouTubers. As I was trying to make selections, I saw that the meetup for Tyler Oakley was full within the first minute! If you don't know who Tyler Oakley is, just ask a teenage girl!
Thank goodness my pre-teen girl didn't want to meet him! She wanted to meet The Daily Bumps more. True actually has Skyped Missy and Bryan from The Daily Bumps before! She started begging me in early December to donate to a charity that The Daily Bumps were fundraising for so that she could Skype them. People who donated over a certain amount were given an "award" of sorts of a 10 minute Skype call. True begged me for this every day and even said that she wouldn't mind if that donation was her only Christmas present! She gave me details about the charity and explained why it was important to her to donate. She ended up convincing me, so I donated. Nothing like giving a Christmas present you can write off on your taxes, huh?
For a while, I even let True believe that the donation was really going to be her only present. She was actually OK with that! She's a good kid Long story short, she had her Skype call with Missy and Bryan a couple of weeks ago, and they actually talked for about 15 minutes. Missy and Bryan posted part of her call (and their calls with other people) on one of their vlogs. Click here if you're interested in seeing it. Anyway, she told them she would be at Playlist, and they said that she could come say hi to them in person! So, naturally, True had to select their meetup. I'm so glad that Coy was willing to give up his so that she could see The Daily Bumps. He's a good kid, too Very long story short, I eventually got the confirmation that I successfully completed the meetup registration. The kids and I are looking forward to Playlist Live and looking forward to going to Disney after that. Like many people, Disney World was one of David's favorite places on Earth. David and I used to hang out together in the parks while our parents were with our younger siblings. We would ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain over and over again. I remember one night when the park was about to close, he and I rode Space Mountain at least 7 or 8 times in a row
I have been thinking about taking some of David's ashes with us on this trip so that I can spread them somewhere meaningful. I have heard of people getting kicked out of the park for spreading their loved ones ashes in Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean! I don't want to get kicked out of the park for this! Maybe I can discreetly spread just a little of his ashes somewhere in the park, but I won't say where since I think it might be illegal How am I going to get him through security? That's something I never thought I would have to plan. How to get ashes through security! I hope you guys don't think I'm being disrespectful of his memory. I have to find ways to laugh, otherwise I'll just cry all of the time. I've been trying to think of all of the good memories that I have of David. The Space Mountain one is one of my favorites, so I think spreading his ashes somewhere in Disney World would be a great way to honor his memory Share this page
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