Sarilas' O-fficial Pre-Trip Report -1/2009 (a.k.a. Vacation, Take TWO!) - Page 22 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It's almost here!! Hope everyone is well by then!!
I think they will be; it seems the runny noses are the only real reminders of illness. Thank goodness!
Quote:
Originally Posted by triddle67
I was wondering if we were going to hear from you before you left. I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you- I'm feeling much, much better and I'm so glad I actually WAS able to pull it together before we left! My OCD planner mode has been completely undone by all this sickness and I'm trying to get back in gear.
You will be so glad you are going during that week! We were down there last year at that time and it was so nice, we had barely any long waits for rides!! And it was actually relaxing!!
I love the park hopper, its worth the extra money to me to have the freedom to go to one park for the day and catch an evening show, or do some rides we missed at another park when the crowds clear out. Hopefully it warms up a little bit down there for you!! We'll be there the week after you!!
You will be so glad you are going during that week! We were down there last year at that time and it was so nice, we had barely any long waits for rides!! And it was actually relaxing!!
I love the park hopper, its worth the extra money to me to have the freedom to go to one park for the day and catch an evening show, or do some rides we missed at another park when the crowds clear out. Hopefully it warms up a little bit down there for you!! We'll be there the week after you!!
Oh I'm hoping for low wait times alright. Especially if the weather continues to be as chilly as it is! I'm going to want to keep up a steady pace just to keep WARM!
Too bad we'll miss you by a week- it would have been fun to 'accidentally' run into you!
I just wanted to wish you a great trip because I probably wont be on line if you post tomorrow. Have a great time and I will be thinking about you. I can't wait to hear how everything went.
__________________
Trish ,
Me and the family Magic Kingdom New Years Eve December 29, 2009-January 9th, 2010
I just wanted to wish you a great trip because I probably wont be on line if you post tomorrow. Have a great time and I will be thinking about you. I can't wait to hear how everything went.
Guess what, guess what! My darling husband surprised me on Monday with the one thing I've been absolutely ACHING for since I started planning this trip...
A new camera!
He bought me the one I'd decided on after much deliberation; the Nikon D40, with an 18-55 and 55-200mm lenses! I heart it so much (and have been completely consumed with testing it out since I got it from him). Hopefully this means I will have some amazing pictures for you in a couple of weeks!
This time has really been flying by... but I've got almost everything packed, with the only exceptions being toothbrushes and things that can't go till the last minute, and of course DH's things which he has YET to pick out!
So here's the latest: I called today and canceled a TON of our ADR's. The poor reservationist thought I was crazy, but with the quick service plan on schedule for this trip, I just don't have enough hours in the day for that much FOOD! So I kept four reservations with optimum times for our schedule. Will we use them all? Probably not... but you'll have to wait for the TR to be sure...
What we have as of now is:
Boatwrights for dinner on 1/31. This will be the finale to our day at Animal Kingdom, and it's at the perfect time, as I have a little something planned that requires our absence from the hotel room during dinner time that day... (read on)
Crystal Palace for lunch on 2/1. Our first day of our first time in the Magic Kingdom. Will we keep it? I dunno... we'll play it by ear.
Tokyo Dining for dinner on 2/5. Our family loves Japanese food, and after all those days of quick service I think sitting down to sushi or bento boxes would be a real treat. But will my plan be derailed? Who knows.
1900 Park Fare for dinner on 2/6. This is our only princess meet up this trip, mostly to gauge how Anastasia does around the characters. She's really sensitive to attention (as in, she generally does not like any) but I think everyone would enjoy the interaction here. If I can talk them into it...
I'm really content with these four choices. I have a feeling Crystal Palace may not be kept, and I'm unsure about Tokyo Dining and 1900's draw on my family, but I'm sticking to my guns on Boatwrights. Here's the big secret.
Yesterday I called the Disney florists and at the same, significantly lightened my checkbook. I decided to order the new Mickey's Welcome package from the new in room celebrations! I thought about ordering the GRAND Welcome, except that it comes with an enormous 32" Mickey Mouse plush- how the heck would I get that monstrosity home on the plane?! So I went with the smaller option, which comes with the following taken from the Disney Florist website:
Package includes:
* A festive balloon decoration and welcome banner to set the stage for celebration.
* An autograph book with a personalized Mickey Mouse signature.
* Mickey Mouse footprints leading the way to the welcome gift with a 22" Mickey Mouse plush.
* Inside the large, Mickey Mouse-themed gift box on the bed, several goodies await. (detailed below)
* A character frame featuring Mickey Mouse and the gang with a welcome message personalized to your family.
* And don’t forget Tinker Bell – if you take a peek around, you’ll find Tinker Bell’s shadow twinkling with pixie dust in celebration of your arrival.
Welcome Gift Box
* Inside the large, Mickey Mouse-themed gift box on the bed, several goodies await.
* A pair of Mickey Mouse mitts holds a special “Hidden Mickey” book so you and your group can enjoy a secret hunt around the Disney theme parks.
* Mickey Mouse has also left behind some other playful essentials: a Mister Fan, a glow necklace, a Mickey Mouse buzz wand, some temporary tattoos and Disney character playing cards.
Now, this is all fantastic, but there's only one Mickey plush and I have TWO little girls. Luckily I found out you can order additional stuffed animals to be delivered with your package! So OUR surprise includes a 22" Minnie Mouse plush as well!
But that's not all...
I found this on the website under some Valentine's day offerings and thought the kids would LOVE it as an after dinner treat:
Mickey-head shaped, milk-chocolate candy box. It is filled with delicious white, milk and dark chocolates with Magical wishes from Disney.
It'll be small enough for them to enjoy without going overboard on sugar before bedtime, and come on, it's a Mickey shaped chocolate box! How cool is that?! So I added it to the Mickey's Welcome package, which will be delivered on our day 2, which is really our first full day in Disney. The woman I talked to explained that for these in room celebrations, the Disney deliver 'dream squad' (as she called them) like to wait until at least the day after arrival, so there's no room confusion (if anyone changes rooms or upgrades, etc.) and they like to wait till everyone's in the parks so when we come home it's all set up and everyone's surprised. I think it'll be perfect- we'll be at Animal Kingdom all day, come back to POR to eat at Boatwrights, then head back to our room for the magical surprise!
I also ordered from Garden Grocer today. (I've been busy, I swear!) And the guy just called to confirm my order actually. (Thanks, guy!) They'll be delivering our goodies the evening we arrive, Friday the 30th. I ordered tons of breakfast schtuff, plus milk and juice for the girls AND... drum roll please... diapers. I don't have to haul diapers in my luggage! They'll be there ready and waiting for us, like an old, absorbent friend.
Last but not least on the update front for tonight are a couple of pictures of Tatiana's shirts that I didn't have from Christmas time, because I wrapped them before I took pictures!
Here's her Tink shirt that has the tattoo-ish feel to it. I think it's adorable.
And this one with the hearts and skull, which is not Disney but got the blinged-out treatment anyway.
Speaking of Tatiana... our youngest daughter completely spilled the beans on the Disney surprise a couple of weeks ago by dismantling the countdown calendar! Here is the video that followed, in which our oldest daughter learns that we're not ACTUALLY going to WDW when we told her we were... we're going nearly 3 weeks earlier!
She sounds a little nasally, which I didn't even realize until now... thank God the colds are past us!
Until later...
Happy 2 Days till Disney!
The 6 trains at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are named I.B. Hearty, I.M. Brave, I.M. Fearless, U.B. Bold, U.R. Daring and U.R. Courageous.
The 5 stories of the Japanese pagoda symbolize earth, water, fire, wind and sky.
4 types of Americans are represented in Its A Small World; Cowboy, Hawaiian, Inuit, and Native American.
Each year a horticulture staff of more than 600 plants 3 million each of bedding plants and annuals (not including maintenance of millions of other plants including more than 2 million shrubs, 13,000 roses and 200 or so topiary)
The names of 2 of the approach procedures that all aircraft follow into their arrival at Orlando International Airport are named GOOFY TWO and MINNIE TWO.
This is it, folks! Or more accurately... The time has come, the walrus said...
We leave for Orlando at 6:25 tomorrow morning- You don't even want to know what time I've got to wake up! We've moved on to completely reorganizing all the packing so we have what we need tomorrow before our luggage arrives... and I'm SO excited!
And so the time comes to end this final post, but I cannot WAIT to start that TR and share what we're about to embark on with you all!
Until then, with only 1 day left until our trip...
"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
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