The "5 Reasons to NOT GO" Versus "5 Reasons TO GO" Surprise Trip About This Page:

[elbodans]

ok me again...sorry...first i have to say (even though this was already covered)...

YOU MADE THAT CAKE???? wow. i am...amazed. astounded. you are awesome.

second--i'm SO GLAD you found the hat. i swear to god, i was about to google and try to find one for you elsewhere! i love love love those disney commercials (ok, i admit it--i cry. and i don't even have children...) so i'm so excited for the big reveal!

happy planning...now that you've admitted that's what you are doing. as a crazy over planner, i am rolling laughing about your attempt to NOT plan! there's no way i could do that, so i understand why you caved!

[Jessmie]

Originally Posted by dizzparkmom

Thanks for reading everyone! Today's update is coming soon!

Jessmie, The Toy Story Cake was DS's birthday cake last year. Sadly, we only get to make WDW trips every other year or so and last year was an off year. Instead we celebrated his 6th birthday with a huge Toy Story party. This was my first attempt at doing a fondant covered cake/cakes. The hot wheels track, clouds, pictures and wooden fence were all made of gum paste, but the figures were the inedible 'buddy packs' figures and the blocks were real wooden blocks. It was a lot of fun to make, but I'm glad we're doing WDW this year so I can get a break from the cake ordeal!

How old is your daughter? It sounds like she's a big Toy Story fan too! It's definately our favorite around here! Here's hoping for magical trips for both our families! (AND fabulous, not too hot weather!)

Hi - The cakes are AMAZING you did a FANTASTIC job I am so impressed. My daughter would love a cake/s like that. Believe it or not my daughter is 16 and love, love, loves Toy Story. Hope you and your family have a magical time and if I see you along the way I will stop and say hello. If I could get my picture to work on the signature you would be able to see what we look like (been trying for a week now )

[dizzparkmom]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Glad you were able to get some planning done! The new reveal sounds terrific!

Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Congrats on the Disney mail! Good luck with the new reveal!

Thanks! We'll need the Pixies for the reveal...as it's been revised...again!

Originally Posted by chezp

Love the new plans for the reveal!

Just when we thought we had it all figured out...well..I'll explain more below. Thanks for reading!

Originally Posted by shanmac

Good Luck with the new reveal! It sounds great!! Now some that he has enough points to open the box that week! LOL! (That would be my luck!)

Yep. We decided that we'd have to maybe lower our expectations that week...just a teensy little bit to ensure success. Our battles might be picked very carefully that week....however...see below for another revision.

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

Love your new reveal idea! I think it's the best of both worlds!

I clicked on the link to your new camera bag and noticed one of the patterns was called 'Kona Cafe'.

I actually almost got the Kona Cafe print, but picked the black and white ones instead. Now that I've had the black and white one a couple of weeks, I'm wishing I had the Kona One...it seems more neutral.

Originally Posted by OCEANGRLLG

Ol he is goin to be sooooo excited!

Crossing our Fingers!

Originally Posted by elbodans

i only read your first post so far, but i wanted to say...i LOVE your lists! i scoffed at your 'it's only been two years' and then laughed out loud at 'it's been TWO YEARS!'

and you are right--for money spent per day, you can't beat disney. we've spent $120/person on ONE SHOW in vegas--and that's 90 minutes of entertainment. in disney you get FOUR PARKS for what--around $50/day? can't beat that! and it can be done inexpensively-ish.

also--you're going during a GREAT time of the year...i can say this as i'll be there the same week--though i leave for universal on the 11th.

ok--i'm going to go read more now!

Hi! Thanks for reading!!! Our last trip was in the very first week of May '09. We practically melted. Every other day DH and I worry about how bad we'll react to the weather. Suprisingly, none of us do 'well' with the heat (especially the humidity). We complained about the heat in Orlando during an October trip one time and I kinda remember a particularly sweaty evening during MVMCP in '07....so we're hard to please when it comes to the weather. BUT, we'll just have to suck it up! It's DISNEY!

Originally Posted by elbodans

ok me again...sorry...first i have to say (even though this was already covered)...

YOU MADE THAT CAKE???? wow. i am...amazed. astounded. you are awesome.

second--i'm SO GLAD you found the hat. i swear to god, i was about to google and try to find one for you elsewhere! i love love love those disney commercials (ok, i admit it--i cry. and i don't even have children...) so i'm so excited for the big reveal!

happy planning...now that you've admitted that's what you are doing. as a crazy over planner, i am rolling laughing about your attempt to NOT plan! there's no way i could do that, so i understand why you caved!

Thanks for the super kind words about the cake!

I am so super-obsessed when it comes to planning that I think I've crossed the line in the passed - yes, indeed...you can plan too much. I've really restrained myself this time. It's no so much over-planning out of enthusiasm...it's usually over-planning out of the fear of the unknown and unexpected.

NEW Daily Mantra: Must learn to roll with the punches!

Originally Posted by Jessmie

Hi - The cakes are AMAZING you did a FANTASTIC job I am so impressed. My daughter would love a cake/s like that. Believe it or not my daughter is 16 and love, love, loves Toy Story. Hope you and your family have a magical time and if I see you along the way I will stop and say hello. If I could get my picture to work on the signature you would be able to see what we look like (been trying for a week now )

Thank you for the well wishes! I hear you about the signature pictures. It takes me a while to remember how to swap out my sig pictures. Hence the cakes hanging around so long..... I'll have to get a pre-trip group shot and get it uploaded.


Thanks again to any readers. Sorry for the delay in posting.
Updated to follow......

[dizzparkmom]

Well the title of this update says it all. . .

A couple of years ago, my mom's mom moved in with DM and DF. This past December an Aunt and Cousin came to visit with DGM. My Cousin doesn't really live in reality. I don't know where she lives, but it isn't in reality. She had heard from her mother about our trips to "Disney" and started talking to me about "Disney" one day. We've all had conversations with people who think they know something about Disney Parks, but seem to be rather misinformed about practically everything. Somewhere in the discussion was a mention of her husband's mother living in Orlando near "Disneyland" and how she's always wanted to go down there to visit so she could go to Disney's Universal Studios. No matter how much I tried to clear up her misunderstandings, she wasn't hearing me. Fast forward a month later...the phone calls started. Never before had we stayed in touch, but all of a sudden... (Have I mentioned she talks A LOT!...whether you're responding or not!) I tried really hard to be understanding and patient. Thank Gosh we have unlimited long distance on the cell phones!!! One day she mentions the supposed trip we're all taking to Disneyland this summer. SAY WHAT??? What trip? When? Where? She was 100% completely under the impression that we had aggreed that she'd fly out here with her daughter and then we'd all drive to Disneyland together this Summer. Um...... I know my mind probably drifted a little during all of our conversations, but I swear that I never agreed to any trip of any kind with her.

This conversation was a few weeks before DH and I decided to plan a surprise trip for DS. So, it wasn't a complete lie to tell her that we weren't planning any vacations due to the fact that we had just spent a sizeable about of $$$ on new laminate in our Den/Entryway/Hall and were saving up more money to put matching laminate in the Dining/Kitchen area. My cousin seemed really disappointed and went on and on about how disappointed her daughter would be. Honestly...it would never happen even if we did plan it. Her husband gives her no money for anything...it was a herculean effort for him to give her money to visit DGM in December. Once she got out here, she had NO MONEY at all. She kept insisting that we all go out to eat dinner...leaving everyone else to pick up her tab. She refuses to pay more than $30 a night on a hotel room. She truly has absolutely no understanding of the expenses required to take a trip to Disney. Free-loading with my family is NOT going to happen!!! Insert horrible twang of guilt here that hasn't left me since we started planning DS's surprise trip in February.

So, how does all of this effect our plans. Aunt and Cousin have just planned another trip to visit with DGM for Mother's Day. We leave on May 11th. They'll arrive May 6th and stay until the 16th! Remember that horrible twang of guilt I was mentioning... It was bad enough worrying that news of our trip would make it through the family grapevine to my cousin. Now, she's going to be here and has called to talk about all the places she wants me to take her and her daughter while they are here...by the way they are still sooo disappointed we won't be able to take our trip to Disneyland this summer.

How on Earth do we disappear a few days into their trip? DM is the only one who already knew about our trip (DF is too big of a blabber-mouth and was not trusted not to spill the beans to DS ) We had planned on having DM tell DGM about the trip after we had left to minimize her sharing the information with the family grapevine.

This week, I've fessed up with my cousin that we are in fact going to be gone on a trip to Florida while they are here. I didn't go into much detail, but did mislead her a little to make the trip sound more improptu and maybe even a little work related and not so much a trip to Disney. I feel so guilty, but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone mad at me. I was very strict and clear when I told her that DS knows nothing about the trip and that it will be a total surprise for him. We don't want to reveal the trip for him on the Friday before the trip anymore because then he'll go on and on about it in front of my cousin and her daughter when we see them on Mother's Day.

SOOOOOOooooo.......

The NEW PLAN!
Spend wonderful, quality family time with the relatives Mother's Day weekend and maybe even Monday the 9th. Tuesday night, DS will get a surprise delivery on the front porch. (our neighbor will perform a little magic for us ) His special delivery will contain the now infamous 'birthday hat', the 'I'm going to WDW' t-shirt, and a poem from DH and I (still unwritten) rewarding DS with a trip to WDW due to his trememdous growth and acheivements this year. With any luck, we'll get at least a little bit of sleep that night.

Okay. Deep Breath. Moving on from 'Angst Island'!

Wait! Not so fast! Geeze! I know!

DH got an unusual message from his new general practice Dr. last week. Like all unusual messages, it was left on the home phone answering machine late in the day on Friday. By the time we retrieved the message and called back...they were closed. Of course!

After a nervous weekend, DH called the office back on Monday morning to get some very unexpected news. Some of DH's bloodwork (his ha1c to be exact) indicated elevated blood sugar levels. His number was 6.3 and they told him that at 6.4 their office would call him pre-diabetic. DH is 160lbs and 5'10. Admittedly, he's a little softer around the middle and his shoulders aren't quite as beefy as they used to be. The Magic Kingdom isn't the only thing turning 40 this year. However, he doesn't drink soda (not even diet), he doesn't drink alcohol, he's not a big fan of sweets (other than fruit pies - and remember, he had to beg for me to make him pies as his Christmas gift and the occasional fruit smoothie), he'll take a 2nd helping of protein before he even finishes his sides at dinner. So, when the doctors nurse told DH to increase his protein and limit his carbs, you can imagine DH being a little confused. Imagine my thoughts as I started thinking about how this new "diet" plan would integrate itself into our WDW trip. DH's main concern..."My Dole Whips?"

So, now that we've had a few days to research a little and think back on DH's diet a little, we've come to terms with it a little bit. I've reminded DH that when we go out for breakfast, even though he orders steak & eggs, he's also been ordering s short stack with syrup. And, even though he skips the fries when we go out for burgers, he has been drinking strawberry shakes a little more often than he used too. AND...I had to remind DH about all the sugar in the Limeade, Pineapple Juice, and occasional sweetened tea he started drinking years ago when he gave up soda. I also had to point the finger at myself for making so many carboliscious dinners. Although we do only eat whole grains around here, we do get quite a lot of them and our favorite family veggies are potatoes, corn, carrots, peas & green beans. I feel as though I've been poisoning my husband with carbs.

$$$ later, we've been to the grocery store a few times to stock up on high protein, low carb foods for DH. Since his LDL was super low, his HDL was super high, and his triglycerides were super low the Dr. gave DH to thumbs up for a high-protein, high calorie, low carb diet. Unfortunately, that diet isn't meshing with my low calorie, low fat diet I use to manage my families natural tendency to have high LDL and triglycerides. Nor does it mesh with DS's perfectly planned, balanced, 40/30/30, food pyramid based diet. Have I mentioned that DH and DS are absolutely useless (okay, maybe not useless, but definately clumsy and extremely messy) in the kitchen. Planning out and preparing 9 meals a day is really getting to me! Needless to say, the boys are on clean-up duty and are getting very accustomed to loading the new dishwasher. I think I'm also going to put them on coupon clipping duty and shopping duty! I'm seriously considering sending DH to cooking school. The only positive thing to come out of all of this has been DH's new found appreciation for everything I have to do and think about when it comes to managing my own diet/exercise program and keeping DS's diet well-balanced.

They'll be checking DH's bloodwork again in June, so he's accepted that he'll need to be cautious while on our WDW trip. However, I've advised him (from many years of expereince) that denying himself will only making it worse. Maybe he won't be able to get a dole whip everytime we walk through adventureland, but there's no reason why he couldn't split one with DS a couple of times during the whole trip. He'll have to also learn to do what I do with my desert. If I'm feeling like I just need a taste of something, I split it in half. Then, I either give the half to DS or pour salt all over it. Since we'll be doing several buffet's, I do believe DH will enjoy his fill of omelets, bacon and sausage while on vacation. Maybe, I'll give him a bite of Mickey's ear from my Mickey Waffle.

We'll definately be rethinking our trip to Goofy's Candy Co, Starring Rolls, and maybe a few other places. Maybe I should encourage DH to give one of those Turkey Legs a try.

After all the angst of the past week, I'm so happy to see that we've got less than 3 weeks to go until we arrive in our happy place. There isn't anything better than knowing that very soon, we'll leave IT all behind and have 11 whole days to forget that the world beyond the gates even exists. Oh! Sure! The pessimist in me whispers that all too soon, we'll be home and distraught that the trip is behind us. BUT I'm not listening to that voice TODAY!

I've got mousekeeping envelopes to make and Star Tour 2.0 Passports to print! Oh! and I need to work on a new signature picture!

Thanks again for reading!

[southerngirl1014]

Good luck with the new diet. I agree completely denying youself is bad, so tell your DH take everything in stride. The nice thing is increased exercise helps and as we all know you do a TON of walking at Disney.

[Colexis Mom]

[chezp]

with the new diet!

[Cam22]

So sorry about the all the angst this week! Loads of with the diet!

[nalexander]

Goodluck with DH new diet.

My DH is a diabetic and he actually has to cut down on his insulin during our trips to WDW. Remember that all the walking will lower your blood sugar, so DH can have a treat while he is there.

[OCEANGRLLG]

Best of luck with your new diet!

[dizzparkmom]

Wow! We’re inching closer to our two week countdown. I can’t believe how fast this trip has snuck up on us. In the past we’ve scheduled/booked our trips more than 5-6 months out. This trip was booked at just less than 3 months and the time has just flown by. Maybe it’s because it’s a surprise trip for DS and we haven’t had to deal with the “how much longer” now questions every 12 minutes. Maybe it’s because I’ve (unsuccessfully) tried not to plan this trip to death. Maybe it’s because we’ve kept it a secret from almost everyone to ensure that no one accidentally spills the beans. Whatever the reason, we are now on the home stretch and I’m starting to feel the nervous anticipation that accompanies all trips away from home. What will I forget? Will the pet-sitter remember to feed the cat? Is that new neighbor as strange as he appears? Should we have planned more time? Did we make a mistake taking the non-direct flight home just so we could have an extra 2 hours at the parks? Why didn’t we book one more day? Will I be able to sleep in the bed at POP after getting used to my Sleep Number bed at home? Is that sneeze allergy related or is someone getting sick?

For about 5 minutes last night, we thought about planning an opportunity to sneak off to Universal IOA for one morning to experience the Harry Potter area. I told DH it could be added into the trip for under $300 and he enthusiastically announced it would be well worth it based on how much DS has talked about Harry Potter in the last month. DS has made a recent transition to Chapter Books and insists that he can handle the Harry Potter collection. It’s slow and steady, but he’s making his way through it. Needless to say, the Universal commercials give the Disney commercials a run for their money and DS has not failed to notice them. Well, after the buzz of excitement about adding this addition wore off, I had DH run upstairs to check where DS’s height chart was marked. The tack was at 46” (barefoot). Forbidden Journey’s height requirement is listed at 48”. Just to be sure, we ushered DS up the stairs for another measurement under to guise of needing to check his height for his Cub Scout Day Camp paperwork. Unfortunately, the tack didn’t even move ¼ of an inch up the chart. I don’t think his sneakers will add 1 ¾” to his height and it even if it were closer in two weeks, it would be so disappointing to get all the way over there to find out he’s ¼ of an inch too short. Not to mention, I read a few spoilers about the ride and I’m a little worried about DS’s vestibular sensitivity. Since we plan on trying to make another December trip in 2013 or Spring 2014 before DS turns 10, we decided we’d plan on splitting that trip into a joint WDW/Universal extravaganza. (Ohhhh! Something to plan!)


For all of you detail oriented readers, I thought I would update you all on some of the more specific plans we do have. We did have to make ADRs afterall.

Day One: Arrival mid-afternoon, DME to POP, settle-in/explore/swim? No parks. Dinner: Unplanned. Play it by ear. CS somewhere – Maybe DTD for Wolfgang Puck’s Express.

Day Two: Magic Kingdom all day from EMH through Wishes. This is unusual for us. No park-hopping and no mid-afternoon break planned. Will we last? We’ll see. We’re definitely not opposed to taking a break if necessary and we do have the P.H. option. So, we’ll adjust as necessary. NO ADR’s planned this day. We’ll eat CS somewhere when we get hungry. Secretly, I’d like to go to Pecos Bill’s for a Taco Salad, but I’m not going to cry if it doesn’t happen. DS started to warm up to the fireworks noise at the end of our last trip, so we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to check out both the MSEP (which I’ve missed to much, although I do like Spectro too) and Wishes. This being our first stroller-free trip, we’re crossing our fingers that DS will make it at least to the POP bus before passing out for the evening. We’re used to his passing out in our arms on the bus, but aren’t looking forward to carrying all 45 lbs of him to the bus stop.

Day Three: We’ll be heading to Epcot in time for Rope Drop on this day. We have never done rope drop from the front of the park, so it will be interesting to see how our experience varies from starting off from the International Gateway. We’ll move with the crowd towards Soarin’ and play it by ear when we get there. Our main goal this morning will be to explore and enjoy the Flower & Garden Festival since we won’t be back to Epcot before it’s officially over. We DO have a lunch ADR at Biergarten. So we’ll make our way to the World Showcase in time for that and explore the WS before heading back to finish up any F&GF things we missed in the morning. We will have to leave Epcot in the early evening since we have an ADR for FW’s Hoop Dee Doo Review. Both of these ADR’s are new for us and we’re looking forward to giving them both a try. Since we’re looking at more EMH’s the next morning, we’re not planning anything other than heading back to POP for bedtime after HDDR. Depending on how much we get done while touring Epcot in the morning and afternoon, we may leave a little earlier and head over to WL for a little resort tour. We ALMOST planned to stay at WL for this trip and it’s still on our short list for the next trip, so we’d like to give it a little looksy. The closest we’ve ever gotten is passing it the boat to FW. It would be very convenient to then take the boat from WL to FW for our HDDR. Hopefully it works out this way, but if not, no biggie. If we don’t have the time, I think we’ll take the Monorail to TTC, take the Monorail to the MK and then take the boat to FW. If we’re really running short on time, maybe the FW bus from Epcot and then the internal FW bus would be the fastest. ??? Recommendations anyone?


Day Four: Disney’s Hollywood Studios – All Day. Again no park-hopping planned for this day either. Wait? Why did we pay for the park hopper again? Oh! That’s right. I’m paranoid that I’ll want to hop on a whim and won’t be able to since I didn’t buy the hopper. Oh! And we’ve got lots of hopping coming up later in the trip. Not to worry. We’re really like the flexibility having the hopper affords us (Flexibility? Me? Surprisingly, Yes!) Anyway, back to Day Four. EMH at DHS. You guessed it! Toy Story Midway Mania will be our family’s first destination on this morning. On our last trip, we managed upwards of 9 or 10 rides. While we don’t officially have any plans to beat that record, we’re positive it will still be one of DS’s favorites. One of DH’s favorites is Sci Fi Café. We had a so-so experience here on our last trip and I was more than willing to give something else a trip, but DH is certain that this is DS’s favorite too. I can’t disappoint them both, so we’ll give it at least one more visit. Someday, I hope to try Prime Time. Hopefully, we’ll get out of Sci Fi with enough time to find a decently shaded spot for the new Pixar Parade. We’ll be trying to fit in Lights! Motors! Action!, the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and the Beauty & the Beast stage show in between rides on TSMM. We’ve never yet made it to the B&B show. If the times don’t work out, it’s usually the one that gets sacrificed. I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll make it this time. DS has adopted Belle as his ‘favorite’ princess because she loves to read, wears yellow, and isn’t afraid of the Beast’s bad manners and crabbiness. DHS closes at 7pm this night, so hopefully we’ll have some R&R time at POP on this evening.

Day Five: No! It’s going too quickly. Someone slow this trip down!!! I can already guarantee these will be the words overwhelming my thoughts on Day Five. Pressing on, we’ll make our way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom this morning. This will be our first non EMH day at AK. Since we planned another long, non-park hopping day, we decided the EMH wouldn’t be necessary. We’ve got a late lunch ADR at Tusker House. Another new destination for us, I was torn between the Characters and the food. Donald is one of DH and DS’s favorites. Even though we’ll be doing Chef Mickey’s later on, I decided to opt for the character breakfast in lieu of the lunch menu. I’m still not sure if I’ll regret this choice, but I’m not dwelling on it. I made a choice and we’ll just see what happens. Since DH made his diet changes, he’s been eating a lot more bacon, sausage and eggs for breakfast at home. This used to be one of the things he enjoyed about breakfast buffets since it was a break from cereal and oatmeal at home. I’m wondering will he be a so sick of bacon and eggs by the time we get there that it’s not as special for him? Okay. Maybe I am dwelling on it! I dwell on everything.

Day Six: Let the park-hopping begin! We will have officially visited each of the parks already by this point. Since we have a pre-opening ADR at Akershus (for Belle), we’ll be starting off the day at Epcot. If we missed soaking up enough F&GF ambiance, maybe we’ll still get a little chance since the day before was the last day. At the very least, we’ll be able to see how fast those Disney magicians really work overnight. The Phineus and Ferb M&G is supposed to start this day. If we just can’t wait, we might run over to DHS to check it out. Depending on our mood, we’ll decide what to do for the rest of the day. Fantasmic! will have two shows on this day and it will be DHS EMH that night. Or we could go to MK or stay at Epcot. Days like this are why I love having the PH.

Day Seven: If we didn’t head to DHS for the P&F meeting, we’ll be heading back to DHS for some TSMM time and some M&G’s. We had planned on heading over to DTD for a while on this day since we’ll probably have some snack credits to use up from the DDP. With DH’s new diet not allowing so many sweets, I don’t want to torture him with all the evil goodies. The rest of this day will be spent playing it by ear. We’ll undoubtedly spend some time swimming at POP since we move to the POLY the next day. I’ll be packing up a couple of our suitcases with the clothes & items we’ll not need for the rest of the trip and organize the rest for the move early the next morning.

Day Eight: Oy! What was I thinking? We’ve got a super early ADR at Chef Mickey’s this morning and we’re moving from POP to the POLY. We’ll spend the last of our TS credits on this Character Buffet before heading over to POLY to check-in. We’re not sure how we’ll handle transportation yet on this morning. Choice A: 6:45am take a cab from POP to POLY with our suitcases, check-in, store the bags and monorail over to Chef Mickey’s for our 7:30 ADR. Choice B: 6:45am arrange for bag transfer with POP baggage services, take a cab directly to the Contemporary, monorail over to POLY after breakfast and check-in. What time does the resort monorail start?

The rest of the day will be spent at MK and then Epcot using up any remaining DDP credits we have.

I know we’re going to love how easy it is to get to these parks from the POLY. Although, we’ll miss being so close to Epcot as we’ve been at BWI, BC & YC, I’m sure this will be an experience as well. In between park-hopping, we’re planning on settling in at POLY and exploring the pool.

Day Nine: We may or may not be up bright and early this morning for another MK EMH morning. All other plans will be played by ear. DS has a reservation at POLY’s Neverland Club this night and DH and I have an ADR (OOP) at Via Napoli at Epcot. This carb-tastic meal was obviously scheduled prior to DH’s diet changes. I’ve offered to switch our ADR to someplace less carb heavy and more protein laden, but DH has insisted that we stick with our planned carb-extravaganza.

Day Ten: NO! It’s our last full day. It’s inevitable. All great things do eventually come to an end. However, for us, the best is yet to come. For this will be Friday, May 20th. And what happens at DHS on Friday, May 20th? You guessed it. Star Tours 2.0.

When we first started planning this surprise trip for DS, we used the dates from our last trip as a guide and came up with April 27th through May 7th. It didn’t take too much research for it to become obvious how closely we’d be missing the re-opening of the long anticipated, reimagineered Star Tours 2.0. I explained to DH that it was entirely possible that we’d still be able to check out the ride if they offered soft-openings of the ride. I also explained to him that those are sometimes limited to AP holders. DH went off to do a little research of his own and came back (about 5 minutes later) and asked me to PLEASE move the dates out so that we could be there when the ride re-opened. Before we actually booked the new dates, DH checked in with out house/pet sitter and learned that we couldn’t push it out as far as we wanted because he already had his own travel plans in mind. Unfortunately, this left us with absolutely having no other option than braving the new Star Tours on the actual re-opening day. May 20th. With any luck, the force will be with us earlier in our trip and we’ll make it into a soft-opening so that we can avoid what is sure to be a mad-house on the official re-opening day (also the first day of the first Star Wars Weekend of 2011).

Our goals for the day: Star Tours, POLY resort time, anything else we’ve missed throughout the trip.

Our last ADR for this trip is actually a broken tradition from our previous trips. On our last two trips, our first ADR was at Spoodles. Our Family LOVED Spoodles and we were so sad to hear that it was closing. Since the closing of one door usually means the opening of another, we decided to alter our tradition and make Kouzzina the last ADR of this vacation. Hopefully we’ll LOVE it too and a new tradition will be born.

Depending on our experience with Star Tours, we’ll either be enjoying some EMH time at Epcot this night or heading back to the POLY for an early bedtime in case we NEED to make it back over to DHS EMH.

Day Eleven: Heading home! We’ll have to be back at POLY no later than 1:?? for our DME trip back to the airport this day, so we’ll have several hours to have some last minute fun somewhere.

The last couple of weeks, DH and I have lamented how much we both wish we had planned to spend at least one more of our nights at POP. Three nights at the POLY just doesn't seem like enough time. Oh! Well. If we really like it, we'll be back!

[OCEANGRLLG]

Great and very detailed plans!

[nalexander]

Your plans look great.

I hope the force is with you for Star Tours.

[southerngirl1014]

Great plans. And I love talking about planning another trip before I even go on the current one!

[Cam22]

Great plans!