The Past, Present, and Future...an Oct. 2011 PTR

Hi everyone! You all have inspired me to try my hand at a PTR (and hopefully a TR when we return). I feel like I already know a lot of you from reading your reports and your responses back and forth to each other. So, let me introduce myself and my family (the Present part of my title). My name is Amy. I am 37 and a small animal veterinarian. I love to read and scrapbook when I can find time. I have always loved Mickey Mouse, which then led to my love of most things Disney. Here is a picture of me with our youngest son, Owen.

My husband is Brian. He is also 37 and he works at one of our local Best Buys. He loves playing video games and watching sports on TV (especially if it involves his beloved Atlanta Falcons or Louisville Cardinals). He is not so much the Disney enthusiast, but he tolerates my passion for it very well. Here is a picture of him with our daughter, Lily.

My oldest son is Logan. He is 8 and in the third grade. He also loves to read, but he's also really into video games. His current Disney obsession is Phineas and Ferb. Here is a picture of him and Lily from the first day of school.

My daughter is Lily. She is 6 and in the first grade. She's not so much the reader, but she does really love playing video games. Yeah!! (said very sarcastically!) She doesn't have any one favorite Disney character. She loves all of the princesses and Minnie.
My youngest son is Owen. He is 3 and will start preschool this week. His current Disney obsession is Lightning McQueen and Francesco. His true love right now is Star Wars, especially Boba Fett. It breaks my heart every time he asks me if he'll get to see Boba in WDW and I have to tell him no. Here is a recent picture of him at Kings Island.

Up next...the Past part of my title.

 

[TheMouseFan]

The Past..1990

Now, despite my love of Mickey and Disney, I have only been to WDW four previous times (which leads me to the past part of my title). My first trip ever was in 1990 which was the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. My family went on a Disney Cruise, visited the Kennedy Space Center, and spent 3 days at WDW. Here is a picture taken from the Fantasyland Skyway.

Notice how empty it was, and this was either June or July.
Here is a picture from The Land (pre-Soarin').

Again, notice the lack of people!
Here is a picture of me and my brother at Disney MGM Studios.

Notice my teenage enthusiasm in "saving" my brother!
Up next...my Disneymoon

 

[TheMouseFan]

The Past...1998

I would have loved to have been able to have a WDW wedding, but I was still in vet school, so time and money made that impossible. So, we did the next best thing and incorporated Mickey into our wedding and reception. We were married in December of 1998. We ordered invitations with the outline of Mickey's head on them as well as used Mickey themed decorations at the reception. Here are a few examples:

We honeymooned at the CBR in Jamaica building 46. The funny thing about our honeymoon is that we went Aug. 23-Sept.2, 1998. (Notice that we got married in December 1998!) My winter break from school was not long enough, and we were unwilling to pay to be in WDW at Christmas, so we went before the wedding!! Here is one of my favorite pictures of CBR that I took.

Here is a picture of me with my #1 and #2 guy.

I'll let you decide who is #1!!
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we weren't very prepared for this trip and looking back I realize that we missed a lot of things that I wish we had seen. Having said that, we still had a wonderful time. We got to go to the brand new Animal Kingdom, I got to ride Tower of Terror for the first time (which is now my all time favorite ride!), we visited the now defunct Discovery Island, we visited Typhoon Lagoon, we had dinner at CRT, we went to SeaWorld, and most importantly, we enjoyed our time together!

Up next...First trip with the kids

 

[njDizFan]

Great PTR, hope you guys have a great time

 

[fractal]

Nice intro - and I love the "old time" pictures!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Great PTR, hope you guys have a great time

Thanks! I'm sure we will.

Nice intro - and I love the "old time" pictures!

Thanks! I have been thoroughly enjoying your TR which is one of the reasons I decided to try one of my own.

 

[TheMouseFan]

The Past... 2007

Our next trip was not until September 2007. Logan was almost 5, Lily was 2 1/2, and I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with Owen. That trip was all about what the kids wanted to see and do since I couldn't ride any thrill rides anyhow and Brian only rides them because I like them (what a great husband!!). We stayed in the Buzz building of the All Star Movies Resort. The kids absolutely loved the over the top decor of the resort.

We flew in Monday morning and were at Epcot by noon. We hit the Character Spot first. Lily wasn't quite sure what to think of the characters. I had to be in the first picture with her. It happened to be Mickey (what a hardship for me!), but by the time we got to Minnie she was a pro.

Tuesday was spent at MGM. We started the morning at Hollywood and Vine. The kids had a blast with the Playhouse Disney crew. That was the day that Lily developed a huge crush on Woody. She could not stop looking at him and touching him when we got his autograph and picture. It was very cute. I know it is hard to see here, but she is just staring at him while he was talking and signing their books.

Now this is what I call exhausted!!

That is when we decided it was time to head back to the room for a break.

Wednesday was spent at the Magic Kingdom. We started our day off with breakfast at CRT. Both kids loved this meal. In fact, Logan said it was his favorite meal of the trip. This could be why:

He was smitten with Aurora!

Lily took the wishing ceremony seriously!
We explored some and then had lunch at The Crystal Palace. We finished the night with three of the four of us watching Wishes. We could not get Logan to wake up to watch.

Thursday started with breakfast at Rainforest Cafe. We then spent the day at the Animal Kingdom.

Friday we had an early morning ADR at O'hana. All of the early morning ADRs were beginning to catch up to Lily as evidenced here:

We toured the MK that morning, including multiple rides on what ended up being Logan's favorite ride

We then rode the monorail over to Epcot. One of the highlights of our trip was riding in the front of the monorail! Our driver was actually frim the same hometown as my husband.

Saturday was spent at MGM and then we flew home that afternoon.

Up next...our 10th anniversary trip.

 

[TheMouseFan]

The Past...2008

Our next trip was a hastily planned visit in Nov. 2008 to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I would have preferred to go closer to our actual anniversary (Dec. 19), but since Brian works in retail, he had to beg and plead to go when we did (Nov. 4-11). This was an adults only trip. We left the kids at home with my mom and grandmother. We flew in early Tuesday morning and were at DHS by noon. The first thing we did was buy me a heavier sweatshirt. It was actually warmer in Ohio than it was in Florida the first few days we were there!! The second thing we did was:

We rode numerous times this trip as I was unable to ride the previous trip.

This was our "home" this trip:

Brian even made a few friends this trip.

I'm so glad that I got these pictures as we wouldn't get a chance ever again!

While we were there, we saw these two:

Notice how Brian isn't wearing his anniversary pin. He refused to wear it, but he certainly wasn't complaining when we got free Cokes or a dessert because I was wearing mine!!

I was excited to see this for the first time on this trip:

We both enjoyed it and can't wait to see it again this trip.

Our last evening of the trip was spent here:

We enjoyed ourselves, but I'm not sure I would pay to go back.

We really missed having the kids with us, but I wouldn't hesitate to take another trip without them!

Here is the picture we used for our Christmas card that year:

Up next... Our October 2011 trip

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awwww that Christmas card picture is so awesome!!

We're hitting uo MVMCP for the first time this year. I think we will enjoy it and if not, at least we tried it once!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Awwww that Christmas card picture is so awesome!!

We're hitting uo MVMCP for the first time this year. I think we will enjoy it and if not, at least we tried it once!!

Thanks! We really enjoyed ourselves and we are glad we attended at least once.

 

[<3caseyscorner]

I absolutely loved your PTR!!!!!! I love how you touched on previous trips and i REALLY loved the 'old' pics!! Cant wait for your 2011 TR!!!
Also, your children are so stickin cute!!! xoxo

 

[TheMouseFan]

I absolutely loved your PTR!!!!!! I love how you touched on previous trips and i REALLY loved the 'old' pics!! Cant wait for your 2011 TR!!!
Also, your children are so stickin cute!!! xoxo

Thanks so much for reading. The actual PTR part should be up soon!

 

[Todd L]

I love it! We went to The Christmas party a few years back and loved it! Can't wait to read more.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I love it! We went to The Christmas party a few years back and loved it! Can't wait to read more.

So glad you are enjoying it so far. I posted the next part, but it said it had to be approved by a moderator.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Travel Documents

I'm so excited!! I went to AAA today and picked up all of our paperwork including our luggage tags and our DME tags. Only 25 more days!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Mnsshp

While I am waiting for my itinerary to post, I just want to say we are all super excited that we will be attending MNSSHP this year. We are going on Tues., 10/18. We plan on spending the majority of the afternoon at the resort resting so we can try to make it through the second parade. We don't plan on doing many rides, as the kids are more interested in the trick or treating and meeting the characters. Owen will be wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume from last Halloween to the party, Lily wants to wear her Snow White dress and tiara, and Logan will be going as Agent P. We bought one of the tshirts with Perry's face on the front and a fedora, and my mom is making a tail for him. We're not sure what the adults are going to wear yet! Any advice or suggestions about the party would be welcomed.

 

[Todd L]

I'm so excited!! I went to AAA today and picked up all of our paperwork including our luggage tags and our DME tags. Only 25 more days!!

Getting the documents in hand always makes it feel so much more Real!!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Great PTR! cool pictures from past visits. Have a great time!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Great PTR! cool pictures from past visits. Have a great time!

Thanks! I'm sure we will.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Friday, 10/14

Since my itinerary still hasn't shown up, I will add it one day at a time.

Our flight is scheduled to leave Dayton at 7am and land in Orlando at 9:09am.

We will then wander on over to the DME to be taken to All Star Movies where we will hopefully be staying in connecting rooms in a Toy Story building.

We are then planning on hitting DTD. I am trying to decide between Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. I can't seem to find a kids menu for WPE. Anyone know anything about this?

Then we will either explore the resort or play miniature golf at Winter Summerland, depending on how much time we spend at DTD.

We will finish the evening with 5:35 ADR at Chef Mickey's.

Normally Brian and I would spend the day in a park, but last time we brought the kids they were just too worn out from getting up early and traveling, so we thought we would try it this way this time. Besides, if we get there and decide we want to do a park, we can just add an extra day to our tickets!