Pre-Trip It’s been 2 long years… Watch out Disney, here we come! 😉

Hello my fellow Disney lovers!
I’m excited to say that my family and I are going to Disney in less than 3 weeks.
Who’s going? Me (Stephanie) and my dh, Scott

We’re bring along these two monkeys, Cassidy (7) & Chelsea (4). And yes, they drive us “bananas”.

I’m doing this “pre-trip” report for a couple different reasons.
1. I’m super excited to be going to Disney again and want to share my excitement with you all.
2. I have been a part of this forum for a long time and have never posted a pre-trip or trip report.
3. I wanted to see how difficult or easy it would be to do it with pics… so far so good

Okay, here’s what I have planned… the 411, if you will……….
when: Friday, August 13th - Friday, August 20th
where: staying all 7 nights at the always wonderful Swan hotel
why: because we love Disney and can’t wait to spend some actual quality family time together after this crazy past year and a half.
who: see above

enjoy some pics of the Swan (from our trip 2 summers ago)

more to come……
stay tuned

 

[k8einwdw]

Your girls are adorable! Can’t wait to follow along!

 

[KellBelle]

Count me in! We have our first Swan stay booked for week of Thanksgiving. Looking forward to your fun!!

 

[LisaBelle]

Have a great trip! Looking forward to reading about all the fun!

 

[RememberWhen]

The kids are so cute! Looking forward to hearing about the trip!

 

[cfry06]

What an adorable family!! I love your daughters’ names - particularly fond of your youngest’s, as it’s mine too!

We will be down at the same time! Can’t wait - will keep an eye out for you. Look forward to following along on your adventures.

 

[Swissmiss]

Hope you have loads of fun!

 

[Katiekitten]

Count me in! I'm looking forward to hearing what your trip has in store for you.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

To wear a mask, or not? That is the question….. rather, it‘s not anymore….

So, let me be the first to say that as a teacher in southern NJ, I’ve been wearing masks for a while now (hubby and I are also vaccinated). My kids and I have been wearing them in stores and out and about, and they’re fine with them on. This is not to say that I like them, but I do feel safe when my children and I are wearing them.

Okay, so last summer (2020), I so desperately wanted to go to WDW, even with the mask mandate of having to wear them EVERYWHERE practically on Disney property…. However, that trip just didn’t pan out.
So, fast forward to this year. We were happy, but a little anxious about the mask mandate completely making masks optional except on buses, boats, monorail and skyliner. We were anxious bc of the kids and we ultimately decided that we probably(?) wouldn’t make them wear masks in Disney if they didn’t need to….

So, here we are now AND yesterday 7/28, Disney updated their mask policy to mirror the CDC recommendations.

Alright. Okay. Fine. We will indeed wear masks inside, during our trip. Honestly, I’m okay with this because it make me feel safer for me and more importantly my kiddos…. Also, they wear them just fine annnnnd I just bought a whole bunch of colorful disposable ones. Yay!
Enjoy some random mask pics from the past year:

Up next….. Our itinerary

 

[cgersic]

Yay!!! Welcome to trip writing and I'm so in for this! You have a beautiful family.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Your girls are adorable! Can’t wait to follow along!

Thank you

Count me in! We have our first Swan stay booked for week of Thanksgiving. Looking forward to your fun!!

Oh my! The Swan is absolutely breathtaking. We’ve stayed there more 10+ times. It’s quiet (which I love esp with little ones). The pool is gorgeous and the proximity to Epcot and HS cant be beat for the price!

Have a great trip! Looking forward to reading about all the fun!

Thank you

The kids are so cute! Looking forward to hearing about the trip!

Thanks

What an adorable family!! I love your daughters’ names - particularly fond of your youngest’s, as it’s mine too!

We will be down at the same time! Can’t wait - will keep an eye out for you. Look forward to following along on your adventures.

Name twins?!?! Love this! I’d love to run into you there! We’re actually going to be meeting a coworker of mine while there in Epcot on 8/15… she’s never done Epcot the “right way”

Hope you have loads of fun!

Thank you!

Count me in! I'm looking forward to hearing what your trip has in store for you.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Yay!!! Welcome to trip writing and I'm so in for this! You have a beautiful family.

I’m getting the hang of it for sure. It’s a lot easier than I thought. I am going to bring a mini notebook with me to write things down about the trip for my “trip report“ when I get home. I’d love to do a TR while there (live?), but I want to be realistic about going with little ones and focus on them.

 

[Swissmiss]

Your little reindeer are so adorable!!

 

[fizzieee]

Following!

 

[cfry06]

Name twins?!?! Love this! I’d love to run into you there! We’re actually going to be meeting a coworker of mine while there in Epcot on 8/15… she’s never done Epcot the “right way”

Yes! Name twins! Right now on the 15th we plan to be in Epcot in the late afternoon to evening so maybe we will cross paths. We love doing Epcot the “right way” - so fun to meet up with a coworker to show her the way!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

2 WEEKS FROM TODAY, WE’LL BE GETTIN’ OUR DISNEY ON!

So many things to prep and do in the next 2 weeks. I have like 5 different lists going and piles in my bedroom of things. My husband had the nerve to ask me (yesterday) why I was getting my suitcase out so early… … I was like, dude, you can never start packing too early. I mean we’ve only gone together about 10+ times. You’d think he would get it by now. Of course he was totally being facetious. We laughed

The piles consist of thing we NEED at Disney and won’t be able to live without. The Disney Princess bag has our ponchos in it. The cute Stitch bag is Cassidy’s (my oldest) carryon. I will be stocking it full of fun airplane things and yummy snacks. I bought cute float rings for the pool from Dollar Tree. We have Hats, Minnie ears, f@nny packs for everyone (except my husband- the thought is funny). I got those Toy Story f@nny packs from the Disney Store on clearance last year for $6 a piece . I have masks, hand sanitizer, gum, altoids…. The whole nine. Hopefully I’m not missing anything. I’d love to hear what your “must-haves” are.

I also have stuff like printouts of my hotel reservation and airline confirmation. Yes, I have an email with the information but I’m weird and like to have paper copies of things.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Our Plans!

Friday, August 13th
Wake up at 5:45am and get ready for my father in law to pick us up around 7am. I’ll check my “last minute“ list and we’ll roll our luggage out the door with so much excitement.
We are flying Spirit at 10am out of Philly direct to MCO.
Our plan is to catch a cab or an Uber and head on over to the Swan. We are hoping to get there by 2-3pm, check in and go swimming. I also have an Instacart order planned for delivery with some much needed staples for the trip: breakfast items, fruits, uncrustables, cheese sticks, snacks, and liquor/beer among other things.
It will be an early bedtime night… maybe 8-9 at the latest, to be ready for the next morning. We typically put the kids to bed and have a couple adult beverages on the balcony. This will be an every evening thing We always get a balcony for this reason.

First full day: MAGIC KINGDOM - Saturday, August 14th~ park hours 9am- 6pm
This will be our first time going without kids in diapers, needing binkies and whatnot. Our first no “afternoon nap“ needed . We will still take afternoon breaks, but they can be at any time in the day really, so I’m excited about this. We also won’t have to do rider-swap either… Hopefully this will save some time, too!

We will be leaving the hotel by 645am to make ropedrop. The Swan & Dolphin used to use Disney bus transportation and for some reason, they do not anymore They use Mears instead now. So, if we take the Mears bus, we will be dropped at the TTC and have to take the monorail or ferry to the gates (the kids will love the chance to ride the monorail and I haven’t ridden it in years). However, we may go over to the Boardwalk and catch a bus from there. It depends on how the morning goes. Prob a game-time call.
We’ll eat breakfast on the go this morning and pack a lunch. We plan to eat at Pecos Bill’s for an early dinner before heading back to the hotel early for a rest and a night swim. I’m worried about how the mobile order works. I’ve been trying to get hubby and the kids to tell me what they want now by looking at menus and whatnot, but who knows …. Maybe figuring it out a day in advance will okay?

SPECIAL DELIVERY:
Just got our disposable masks in from Amazon! They will be added to the growing pile in my bedroom

Day 2: Up next

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Your little reindeer are so adorable!!

OMG thank you!

Following!

Yes! Name twins! Right now on the 15th we plan to be in Epcot in the late afternoon to evening so maybe we will cross paths. We love doing Epcot the “right way” - so fun to meet up with a coworker to show her the way!

That would be amazing!

 

[RememberWhen]

I also like to have paper copies of everything important. What if I lost my phone or something?!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

I also like to have paper copies of everything important. What if I lost my phone or something?!

True. It just makes me feel better knowing I have it.