Going Wild Disney Style PTR - April 6-16, 2013 - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Kudos to you for a great report and your super planning skills. This should be an epic trip.
Thanks, my DH teases me about my planning trips. But he knows the trips are much better when we have a plan. So he tolerates me. I do think it is going to be a great trip!
My next post is going to be a little delayed. The kids and I spent the last two weeks at the pool everyday. The pool closed today and the next couple days I have to get the kids ready for school, squeeze in dentist appointments and have them ready to go on Wednesday. I should have lots of time to update then.
I'm sorry again for the long delay in this post. I was waiting till the kids got back to school (went back last Wednesday), but then we have been having a fight with the school. They cut the middle school music program, which devastated Shana. But they added an art class for middle school (which they didn't have last year), which made her a little more happy. But then in the middle of the class on the first day they told all the 7th graders they had to leave the class because it was a mixed middle/high school class and they didn't feel it was a good idea to have middle and high schoolers together (although they tried to put my then 6th grader in a SPED class last year with only her and 5 11th and 12th grade boys). So she has been heartbroken. We are going to get her private music classes with the music teacher and I will be driving 1 1/2 hours (one-way) to take her to art classes in a nearby town once a week.
On top of all that we all got sick the second day of school and this weekend I was very ill and finally last night got rid of my fever. Needless to say it hasn't been a good start to the school year.
So let's move on with the PTR already!
Changes in Itinerary Already??
In the last few weeks I have been starting to layout basic plans with the family. I’ve been having everyone pick their top rides in each park (including Maya when she was here) and I have started putting together basic touring plans in my head to figure out how to fit everything in.
When I started trying to think of how we would tour IoA, I kept running into some major problems. Most of the attractions would not interest Hunter or would even be downright terrifying to him . Although I think he could possibly handle Forbidden Journey, I think he would balk at the last minute. I don’t know how Universal handles ride swap and whether he would qualify being he is tall enough for the ride. Even if they allowed it, when we went to Disneyland in February, he got very agitated anytime he had to wait while we took turns riding thrill rides.
Since we are only planning one day at IoA I was starting to get concerned that it would be a difficult day and that we would not get to visit as many attractions as we would like. I saw us standing in line twice to do Forbidden Journey, and twice for the Dueling Dragons and so on. Our main purpose is WWoHP and although I thought we might be able to see everything there, we probably wouldn’t get anything else in.
This left me in a quandary . I was stuck even trying to think of a way to make this a productive day and not have everyone stressed out tired and irritated at the end of the day. This will be the second day of our trip and would really cause a problem.
Leave it to the children to have the answer!
Hunter got a Lego Club magazine in the mail and came running up to me showing me the coupon for Legoland in Florida. We had visited Legoland in California in February and he loved it. I told him that we weren’t planning to visit Legoland in Florida on this trip because we were only leaving Disney one day and we have already planned to go to IoA for WWoHP. He walked away with his head droopy
Light Bulb!!
So sometimes things take me a bit before the bright idea hits me. I wasn’t sure how dead set Pat was on visiting IoA and WWoHP, but I thought what if Pat and Hunter went to Legoland and the girls and I went to IoA? This would fix all the major problems we were having. Hunter would have a great time at Legoland, and although it’s not Pat’s favorite, he did enjoy Legoland more than I did (I was really bored out of my mind there). The girls and I could go to IoA and would probably be able to ride most if not all the thrill rides we could and wouldn’t have to worry about standing in lines twice (unless of course we wanted to!).
It won’t cost us anymore and in fact it may cost us less if we can find a coupon in a Lego Club magazine before the trip, all we would have to pay for is Pat’s ticket. Transportation will be a bit tricky as we will have a rental car, but IoA and Legoland really are not nearby each other, but we will figure that out.
The only potential issue was if Pat was dead set on going to see WWoHP. Pat likes the Harry Potter movies, but has never read the books. I do know he was looking forward to visiting a new park, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. In Disneyland we did come to the conclusion that our family vacations were going to have to change. We had a lot of problems trying to “stay together” and not split up. Too many tears and it made the trip much less enjoyable (it didn’t help that I was sick the day we hit DL, and was in bed one whole day). So I knew that even at Disney we had planned to let the girls go off by themselves some and to split up at times, so I was hopeful he would be game.
I had to wait for about a week before Pat was able to call me on Facetime (he is currently overseas). I hate talking about anything Disney related with him from overseas, because he tends to get mildly annoyed . He likes going to Disney, but does not like talking about it months in advance. I asked him if he was dead set on going to IoA for WWoHP and he said he would like to see it, but what was I thinking? This was a good sign , if he was absolutely wanting to go, he would have said so flat out. I explained about Legoland with Hunter and we could certainly visit IoA again, when the kids were older if he wanted to do that. He thought it sounded like a good plan. He actually said it would probably make him less stressed than trying to keep everyone happy at IoA, because he knew the problems we had in California.
So, we are adding Legoland to the list of Wild Adventures we have planned. I have told Hunter and he is super excited and his exact words were "I like Harry Potter and it would be cool to see it, but I LOVE Legoland!"
Weight Loss Update: I realized I had forgotten to update on my weight loss. I had a rough few weeks through summer. Busy with the girls at the house and wasn't really tracking and paying attention and I gained a few pounds back. I am back on track now and am now down to 222.5 on my last weigh date. So I have now lost 10 lbs. in 8 weeks, which averages out to 1.25 lbs. per week so that isn't really too bad. I also started running on the treadmill (as did Shana and Hunter), of course the last week being sick we have been off, we will restart next week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sorry you all got sick! Congrats on adding LEGOland!!
I thankfully only get sick about once or twice a year, but when I do I get really sick. I am finally starting to feel much better. Thanks on Legoland, I think it will make the trip special for everyone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
My goodness what a rough start to the school year for you all! Great addition to your plans with Legoland!
It has been a very bad start. Between the problems at the school and being sick, it was a really rough start. Having kids on the spectrum just added to it. We are finally healing and next week should be much better. I know Hunter will have a lot more fun at Legoland than he would at IoA - he is so excited.
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I had no idea after my last update what the next update would be. I thought I might not have anything until after my 180 day dining window. But then we had an unusual change in plans that added another character to our trip.
So let me introduce our newest character:
Alice (A.K.A. Mom and Grandma) –
Here is a picture of us all in 2007, I love this picture. This is our family, a little on the screwed up side. Hunter does not always like to get his picture taken by someone else and this is sometimes what we get. I love it, but others think I'm a little nuts (which I probably am). Grandma is obviously on the far right.
I’m not sure how this all came about, but about two weeks ago I was talking to my mom and she said she was considering coming to Disney with us. I really hadn’t “invited” her, but she has come on many trips with us (2007, 2008 & 2010). Most have been lots of fun and it was helpful having a 3rd adult (especially one that didn’t like thrill rides) along to help out at times. However, the last one she came on was in January 2010, let’s just say it wasn’t really the best trip. Her boyfriend decided to play a bunch of mind games with her and she spent most of the time on the phone with him, which highly irritated us . It was also very, very cold for ½ the trip and she doesn’t do well in cold. Needless to say it was a mess of a trip, even though we had a good time, and it made us think that we would prefer to travel by ourselves.
I’m not sure why she decided to come, other than she may not be able to take trips in the coming years due to financial reasons, but she thought it would be fun. Pat was really not thrilled as he was upset the last trip and didn’t want to do that again. But when I talked to her and found out she would only be there for 4 park days, 2 of which we will either be at IoA, Legoland or Water Parks – none of which she is interested in. It seemed it might be okay. Her first thought was that she would be able to “hang” out with Shana, until I reminded her that Shana would probably be “hanging out” with Maya. Having a 3rd adult is still is a good thing for us as she would be able to take Hunter on rides while the rest of the thrill seeking group could ride the thrill rides. The kids are excited that she is coming and Pat has come around since she will have her own room and two of the days we will pretty much only see her in the evening for dinner
I hope no one misunderstands, we do like my mom and really have enjoyed past trips with her, however, this came as a bit of a surprise. It also made some plans change which I will discuss in a future post.
Once she decided she wanted to come we started looking at room options for her. She is a DVC member, but 2013 is our year to use her points. When she bought in she decided to go a year, let our family go a year, and then my brother’s family a year – so we each get every 3rd year. That is how we managed club level, combining with our points (we want to go more than every 3rd year ). So she didn’t have many points available. She was looking at different resorts that are less points and I asked her if she had looked at the AKV Value rooms. She had never heard of these (this is why I’m the Disney geek, I knew more about her DVC membership than she did). She decided to go ahead and book a value studio.
She will be flying in on Sunday April 7th and leaving the 12th. Since we will be visiting IoA on the 8th, she will be on her own. She has volunteered to play taxi for me and the girls by taking us to IoA and picking us up in the evening . This way Pat and Hunter can take the car to Legoland. Then she is planning to visit Epcot or Hollywood Studios. These are the two parks we won’t be hitting during the time that she is there as we have them scheduled later in the trip. She will also be on her own during the day that we visit the water park. She is okay with this and the only concern for her is getting her scooter in and out of the car. I suggested she take the buses those days, and she might do that if it’s a problem. She can’t lift the scooter by herself and it’s always iffy if there will be someone near the handicap parking that could help or not.
She will be doing a couple of lunches on her own those days. I will post what she decides on once we get those booked.
Weight Loss Update - I had an up and down couple of weeks, I also bought a new scale which is registering slightly lower, but probably more accurate. So even though I'm showing a loss, I may have simply held steady. But I'm going with the new scale weight as that seems much more accurate than my old crappy scale. So my current weight is 217.2. So far a loss of 15.3lbs. I am back on track again and I am running 3 times a week and doing pilates 3 times a week. I'm drinking a lot more water and making better choices. I really want to look great for my 40th birthday!
Up Next: More Itinerary Changes and Booking ADR's!
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Glad your Mom can join you! Congrats on the weight loss!
I know my mom coming along will cause some issues, she already thinks she should be allowed to come up and eat in the club lounge with us, because she is with us, even thought she is not staying in the same room as us, or on club level. But I'm not worrying about that stuff. on the weight loss, I'm really excited.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Congrats on the weight loss!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad it's all worked out for your Mom to join you all! Congrats on the weight loss!
I am glad my DH is okay with it. I like being able to spend some time with her, especially now that we have moved out of state.
also on the weight loss.
I actually gained 1.4 lbs. this week, but mostly because my DH made homemade stuffed sopapillas the night before my weigh in day. I should be back on track next week. I did try on my size 16 jeans this week, I haven't worn them for a long time and they fit perfectly! That made me very happy.
I am anxiously waiting to get our itinerary from the itinerary planning at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and don't know all our ADR's yet.
But I thought I would share something in the meantime that really has nothing to do with our trip. Pat was on a deployment recently and visited many different countries and brought back a few neat things. This is somewhat Disney related as we like a lot of what we like because of AKL, Epcot and other places we've visited. So Pat picked up some really neat things, mostly in Africa and Germany. I think this PTR has been lacking pictures, so let me share some of the beautiful things he brought home.
First, this is an authentic cuckoo clock from Germany. On the hour and the half-hour, the cuckoo comes out and cuckoo's the hours (one cuckoo for the half-hour) and then a song plays and the dancers move around, the water wheel turns and the hiker moves his hiking stick.
Everything else is from Africa - he brought back a few things from other countries, but more standard items like t-shirts and such.
This is a collection of hand-carved wooden animals. There's an elephant, 2 hippos (you will see hippos are my favorite), a warthog and a rhino. The turtle is Shana's, she has a turtle collection. There is also the elephant wall hanging (this one is in another picture as well, didn't realize I got it twice)
Here are some more little hippos he got me. He said there were hundreds of the little painted hippos (they are only about 1 1/2" tall), he picked out the ones he thought I would like the most. The larger one appears as though he is sticking out of the water.
This is a better shot of the elephant wall hanging. The masks and wall hangings are made of different materials and are beautiful.
This is my favorite item Pat brought back. It is my giant hippo, it is about 8" tall and is also-handcarved. It is absolutely beautiful.
These masks are a king and a queen. The king's has a sword on the forehead, but I'm not sure you can see that. The white dots around the face are shells and the different colors are tiny beads.
This is a hand-carved antelope mask. I love this one because it reminds of the costumes in the Lion King Broadway show.
The are made out of bronze and are absolutely beautiful. Pat says he spends a lot of time looking at things to pick out the best mix. I love the mom with the child up in the air.
These are probably the most unique items he brought back. They are made out of spark plugs and again he picked ones that fit our family. I am the one with the purse and the cell phone. Shana is the one reading the book. Hunter is fishing. Pat got himself two a work and a play version. The work is the toolbox and wrench and play is the one hunting.
The next several pictures are wall hangings. They are hand-painted using wax. I cannot believe how beautiful these are, and Pat said they only cost a couple dollars each. We are planning to frame them and hang them throughout the house.
These three are my favorites, I love the colors!
These next two are large, about 2 1/2' x 2'. Pat said that what they do is cut out the individual pictures and then use them to make greeting cards, that they also sell. Pat asked if he could buy the whole "sheet" as he liked them so much and thinks framed they will look great together. I have to agree and I know exactly where we are going to hang them once they are framed.
There are several other things he brought for the kids, but of course they have them put away in their rooms and other places and I couldn't find them for pictures. I will see if I can track them down and post them later if you would like. He got Hunter an African drum and Shana a unique instrument that I don't know what it is called. There were also a few more figurines.
I hope you enjoyed this little off topic update. I will be posting another update soon, once I get all our ADR's figured out. We have had a few changes in planning and we are now under 6 months away! I'm starting to get very excited.
Next Update: More Plans!
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Stefani
Last edited by TuffyCO; 05-02-2013 at 11:33 AM..
Reason: Fixing Photo Links
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. He likes going to Disney, but does not like talking about it months in advance. I asked him if he was dead set on going to IoA for WWoHP and he said he would like to see it, but what was I thinking? This was a good sign 
, if he was absolutely wanting to go, he would have said so flat out. I explained about Legoland with Hunter and we could certainly visit IoA again, when the kids were older if he wanted to do that. He thought it sounded like a good plan. He actually said it would probably make him less stressed than trying to keep everyone happy at IoA, because he knew the problems we had in California. 
and 
. It was also very, very cold for ½ the trip and she doesn’t do well in cold. Needless to say it was a mess of a trip, even though we had a good time, and it made us think that we would prefer to travel by ourselves. 
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