Pre-Trip Party of TEN Birthday-palooza PTR

I wasn't going to do a PTR. It almost feels too late to begin a PTR, but this trip is a pretty big deal, so here we go!

Who: Party of 10! :) :)
Me, I'm Ali (sounds like alley) my husband Jim, our kids (Gwen 8 & Ethan 6) my husband's parents, and his sister, and her husband AND their daughters (11 & 5)

What: Our very first vacation all together (big deal)

Where: Off-site vacation home :-(
I can't lie, I'm a little bummed about this, but my MIL is renting the house for all of us, and there's s private pool...maybe I'm not so bummed after all ;-)

When: July 20th-28th

Why: Birthday-palooza!!!
My MIL is turning 70 and WDW is where she wants to celebrate! (VERY big deal!) My SIL is also celebrating her birthday on this trip, but that's more of a coincidence :) (just kidding, birthdays are ALWAYS a big deal)

106 days to go!
 
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MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
IMG_20160425_124125.jpg

Pulled these babies out of the attic today.

86 days to go!
 
MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Airline tickets. Check!

We booked a fight departing Chicago around 9am, which is perfect in my book. I hate waking up at the crack of dawn. If I'm being honest, I'll probably be too excited to sleep anyway, but maybe me kids will be well rested for the trip :-)

We leave Orlando around 4pm
I don't think that gives us enough time to go canoeing on departure day, so I'll have to be satisfied with shopping at Disney Springs. Life is hard ;-)

79 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
MerMom1981 said:
28 days to go & booked FP+ for our first park day!

7/22 Epcot
10:30 am-11:30 am - Behind the Seeds tour
11:55 am-12:55 pm - Spaceship Earth
1:10 pm-2:10 pm - Nemo
4:20 pm-5:20 pm - Frozen Ever After (squeal!)
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Wow! Impressed you were able to get FP+ for Frozen Ever After. I watched the video of the attraction yesterday. It looks pretty cool!
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a wonderful trip!!

We are thinking about staying off park in our trip next year. I've done it before and didn't mind it, so anxious to see how you like it! I'm just worried about driving there and back every day!
 
MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ScarletBegonias said:
Sounds like a wonderful trip!!

We are thinking about staying off park in our trip next year. I've done it before and didn't mind it, so anxious to see how you like it! I'm just worried about driving there and back every day!
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This will be our second time staying off property & we love it. We stayed at the Blue Heron Beach Resort last year, and it was less than 15 minutes drive to the parks.
I haven't mapped the rental house to the parks, but I'm hoping it will be just as convenient as Blue Heron :)

That being said, if I could afford a Disney Deluxe resort, and be right near one of the parks, I would absolutely do it!
 
ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
MerMom1981 said:
This will be our second time staying off property & we love it. We stayed at the Blue Heron Beach Resort last year, and it was less than 15 minutes drive to the parks.
I haven't mapped the rental house to the parks, but I'm hoping it will be just as convenient as Blue Heron :)

That being said, if I could afford a Disney Deluxe resort, and be right near one of the parks, I would absolutely do it!
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The last time we stayed off site was 2005, so it's been quite a long time for us. We stayed at AKL in 2015 which spoiled me, and them CBR in April, but yeah, so much money to be saved, and it'll be nice to have a private, covered, and heated pool!
 
MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ScarletBegonias said:
The last time we stayed off site was 2005, so it's been quite a long time for us. We stayed at AKL in 2015 which spoiled me, and them CBR in April, but yeah, so much money to be saved, and it'll be nice to have a private, covered, and heated pool!
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AKL! Lucky!
My dream resort is Beach Club. Maybe somedsy...

For now, I'll soak it up in my private, covered, heated pool!
 
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MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Fastpasses done!

7/23 Magic Kingdom

10:00 am Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique& Pirates League appointments
10:40-11:40 am Space Mountain
12:05-1:05 pm Buzz Lightyear
12:30 pm ADR @ BOG (4)
12:55 pm ADR @ CRT (6)
1:40-2:40pm 7DMT

6:40 pm dinner ADR @ The Wave
9:10 pm dessert ADR @ Cali Grill

This is going to be a BUSY day!

27 days to go!
 
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MississippiBelle

MississippiBelle

Well-Known Member
Getting so excited for you!! Your children are precious!! Look at Ethan's little glasses :inlove::cry::geek::D Can't wait to see how your trip turns out! The t shirts looked great! I talked my family into getting matching t shirts this year too ;)
 
MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MississippiBelle said:
Getting so excited for you!! Your children are precious!! Look at Ethan's little glasses :inlove::cry::geek::D Can't wait to see how your trip turns out! The t shirts looked great! I talked my family into getting matching t shirts this year too ;)
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Thanks! I think those glasses are the secret to his cuteness ;-)
 
MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 & 4 FP+

7/24
Animal Kingdom

1:20-2:20pm Kilimanjaro Safari
2:55-3:55 pm Kali River Rapids
4:15-5:15 pm Expedition Everest

7/25
Hollywood Studios

10:10-11:10 am Star Tours
11:35 am-12:35 pm Toy Story Mania
12:55-1:55 pm Tower of Terror
3:20 pm ADR @ Beaches and Cream
6:20 pm ADR @ 50's Prime Time Cafe

All 4 kids in our party really want to do Jedi Training. We'll have to wait and see how many FP's we can keep!
 
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MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Booked FP+ for our last park day. It's a little bittersweet

7/27
Epcot

10:05-11:05 am Mission Space
11:15 am-12:15 pm Soarin'
1pm-2pm Pixar Short Film Festival
6:20 pm ADR @ Chefs de France (party of 2!!!)

Hopefully we'll get to the park early enough to standby for Test Track before our MS FP+.
I'm not exactly psyched about my 3rd FP+ of the day, but there isn't a whole lot to choose from on tier 2. I've enjoyed every Pixar Short I've seen, so maybe it'll be fun! If nothing else, it'll be a nice break from the heat!

22 days to go!
 
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MerMom1981

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
jrogue said:
omg LOL that Baymax!!! Super cute!! Yay your trip is getting so close :) :)
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That Baymax was my crazy husband!
It was 90 degrees in Chicago over the weekend, but he still suited up (with an ice pack on his neck) for our little man!
Now that the party is behind us, this trip is coming up so quickly!!
 

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