Mother-Daughter 13th Birthday/Princess Half Celebration - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Mother-Daughter 13th Birthday/Princess Half Celebration Trip
Cast of Characters: Only two of us!!
Me: 44, recent Disney convert, DVC member, newish runner, thrilled to have some one-on-one time with my daughter
DD: 13, wants to do it all when we visit Disney, excited to tour the parks without siblings or dad to slow her down
Left Behind: DH, DS (15), and DD(5). (Don't worry - they get to go in April)
When: Tail end of February vacation. We flew down Thursday night, returned Tuesday morning.
Where: Beach Club Villas, deluxe studio What: Ultimate Touring Plan in Magic Kingdom, Princess Half-Marathon, plenty of strolling through World Showcase, The Great and Powerful Oz Disney Parks Meet-Up, Stormalong Bay, and four parks in a day
History:
When DS turned 13, we began a tradition of a parent-child solo birthday trip. DH took DS to Boston (work trip) and then they continued on to Disney World for long Star Wars weekend. I've been counting down the days until it was "my turn" to take our daughter on a trip for her 13th birthday. Of course she wanted to go to Disney World! We planned this so that she wouldn't miss too much school (overlap with February vacation) and so that I could run the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. She has always wanted to stay at the Beach Club (hello, Stormalong Bay) and this seemed the perfect chance to try it.
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Deer Isle Mom
Last edited by deerislemom; 03-20-2013 at 11:22 PM..
Reason: resizing photos
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
The kids were out of school all week.... but I still had to work. Tried to cram 5 days of work into 3, plus pack and get everyone at home organized before we left. I didn't think DH would appreciate having to dig through laundry baskets of unfolded clothes to fish out socks for the kids in the morning (that's my normal MO).
Thursday morning we put the final touches on our packing and were ready to roll! We had two bags to check. One with clothes, and the other with nothing but food. It was a carry-on size bag filled with apples, clementines, a baguette, Luna bars, iced tea mix, homemade chocolate chip cookies, crackers, instant oatmeal, and coffee. PLUS, an insulated lunch box with an ice pack, a variety of good cheeses, and a stick of butter. This was our first time trying to take cold foods and it worked very well. I did not include anything that was highly perishable (no meats) - but the freezer pack was still frozen when we arrived almost 12 hours later. We loved having butter and cheese without paying a small fortune at the gift shop! We got two free checked bags, so there was no extra charge for the food bag.
We live on an island in Maine - connected to the mainland via bridge. In December we scored airline tickets out of the nearest airport. Just a 90 minute drive. DH and our 5 year old drove us to the airport. This saved on parking fees and gave DD a little more mommy time before six whole days without me.
(Here's a photo of the calendar she made to mark off the days until I returned)
Arrived at the airport around noon for our 1:30 p.m. flight. Checked in and then had lunch in the airport diner with DH and youngest DD. Wish I had taken a photo so you could see how tiny our airport is. The one "restaurant" isn't half bad. We had clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches.
After goodbye hugs, we were through security and ready to board. The day before our flight we got an email that we had been bumped up to FIRST CLASS! My daughter is a silver medallion frequent flyer with Delta. That's right - not me, my daughter. (She accompanied DH on a work trip to the Middle East last summer.) Here's a photo of us living the high life in first class.
Last time I flew first class was when we got bumped up on the first leg of our honeymoon 22 years ago. This was just a short flight - no meal - but they did bring me a glass of wine in a real glass and the snacks included Walker's shortbread and Twix bars. Yum!
We arrived in La Guardia after a 60-minute flight and had a two hour layover. I decided to press my luck and try getting into the Delta Sky Club. DH is a member (he's on the road all the time for work) and when we travel with him we get to enjoy the club. We walked into the check-in area, I showed the receptionist his extra card, explained that my husband was the member, not me, and that he wasn't traveling with us on this trip. Any chance we could come in without him? She let us in! Said his membership didn't cover us without him present, but she would make an exception. Woo hoo!
We enjoyed the snacks and a comfortable place to wait (and another free glass of wine!). Headed to our gate just in time to board. Back in economy for this flight, but that was OK as we had big plans to watch the final episode of Downton Abbey. We had a subscription on iTunes and I downloaded the final episode before we left... but alas, it would not play without internet for some reason. Oh well.
We arrived in MCO around 8:30 p.m., stopped by Chick-Fil-A for a quick dinner to-go, and headed to the Magical Express. Had to wait a while, but who cares - we were on our way to Disney World! Stopped by Port Orleans Riverside and the Yacht Club before reaching our destination - Beach Club!
We checked in with no hiccups and made our way to our lovely studio in the Villas section. Our room was great, but we were too excited to take pictures before strewing our things all over the room. I think I have a few photos later on.
A quick change and we were headed for a dip in the pool. Stormalong Bay was closed for the evening, but we tried out the quiet pool and hot tub at the villas.
Great way to end the day - outside in swimsuits - after leaving temperatures in the teens that afternoon.
How sweet to get bumped up to First Class! Definitely a nice finish to the day with a swim in the pool! Can't wait to hear how the Ultimate Touring Plan adventure went.
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Ooooh, first class!! Now that's how you start a trip! Also nice to start your day in winter weather and end it in summer weather.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
The trip report! Yea! I was hoping one was in the works.
Thanks! Took me a while to find the time to start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amy L
Looking forward to reading more!!
Thanks for reading!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlb38
Nice bump up to first class & access to the lounge. Sounds like a wonderful start to WDW
Very fun way to start the trip
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
How sweet to get bumped up to First Class! Definitely a nice finish to the day with a swim in the pool! Can't wait to hear how the Ultimate Touring Plan adventure went.
Starting the Ultimate Touring Plan post next.... it was lots of fun!
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwonathomas
Can't wait to read more!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
Ooooh, first class!! Now that's how you start a trip! Also nice to start your day in winter weather and end it in summer weather.
It was a "magical" day! So fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by a&as mama
I can't wait to hear how the Ultimate Touring Plan went. I want to try it one day when my daughters are a little older.
We had a ball. Definitely a fun thing to do with a teenager.
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