Shh! Its a surprise birthday celebration for DD! She has no clue. 27 days to go!!!!

Shh! Its a surprise birthday celebration for DD! She has no clue. Updated 4/20.

Welcome to my Pre trip Report. I'm leaving for Walt Disney World in 27 days!!! I'm so excited and I just had to start my PTR. :sohappy:


I love when people comment so please leave comments and let me know you are still with me as I take you along on my journey......

So, without further due, drumroll please.........

while I introduce you to the cast of characters that will be going on this trip....

Me (aka Snow white because I'm very pale and also kind of quiet and timid), 26, obsessive planner of all disney trips , studying to be a wedding/event planner, mom of 2 kids. I love mild rides like pirates, peter pans flight, and the barnstormer, and I adore Wishes and Phillharmagic.

DH (aka the Beast because he is very sweet at times, but can unleash his fury if he gets cranky and doesn't take a nap...plus DD says hes very hairy. lol) Age 27, Pays for most disney trips, but doesn't like it as much as I do, but he tags along and follows my very detailed plans to make me and DD happy. Works in the mortgage department at the banks call center.

DD (aka minnie

) age 6, sweet as can be at most times, but knows how to throw a very un princess like tantrum if she wants too. Loves disney princesses, and anything girly and is a very big help with her baby brother.
Shhh! She has no idea we are going to disney next month for a surprise birthday trip for her where she will be turning 7! I will need your help keeping this a surprise for her so stay tuned!

DS (aka stitch because he is already getting into lots of mischeif (spelling?) even though he is just a baby) 10 months, very very shy with anyone other than mommy, daddy, and sis. He can be a very happy baby at times, but still does not sleep through the night and just learned how to crawl and stand up and is trying to get into every possible thing he is not supposed to be getting into. So, I have my hands full with him. lol.

This upcoming trip will be his very first time to disney!

Arriving on the last 2 days of our trip.................

My Brother in law (aka grumpy)

My sister in law (aka Ariel) She is on the right.

Their DD10 (aka Alice)
In the pic above in the middle.

Their DS7 (aka Donald)

Our trip dates are:

Thursday, May 13 to Sunday, May 16th! Which means I am Just under a month away!

More coming up soon!

 

[Missymoe4]

I love it!! :sohappy:

I cannot wait to hear more pre- and post-trip reports.

Let the adventures of Snow White, Beast, Minnie, and Stich begin. It will be neat to hear about the fellow cast members when they join in.

Keep us informed! I'm sure the excitement of your coming trip is building and building--I know that when I'm as close as you to my departure date, I cannot think of anything besides WDW!

Eagerly awaiting more...

 

[princess17]

I love it!! :sohappy:

I cannot wait to hear more pre- and post-trip reports.

Let the adventures of Snow White, Beast, Minnie, and Stich begin. It will be neat to hear about the fellow cast members when they join in.

Keep us informed! I'm sure the excitement of your coming trip is building and building--I know that when I'm as close as you to my departure date, I cannot think of anything besides WDW!

Eagerly awaiting more...

Yes, I am very excited. Thank you so much for reading. I will post more soon.

 

[disneygirl1]

First off, your children are adorable!!! I am very much looking forward to hear about your plans! I am planning a surprise trip for my DS too!!! We are going to December so its and early Christmas present!!! I plan on telling him on Thanksgiving which is a week before we leave!

 

[princess17]

First off, your children are adorable!!! I am very much looking forward to hear about your plans! I am planning a surprise trip for my DS too!!! We are going to December so its and early Christmas present!!! I plan on telling him on Thanksgiving which is a week before we leave!

Thanks!

You will love December if you go any time before Christmas week. We went in Dec. 2006 and the weather was great, crowds were low, and the xmas decorations were gorgeous.

Thanks for reading!

 

[princess17]

24 days!!!

Update coming up.....

 

[TxNewsies]

Awe - I love your pre-trip report! What an adorable family and a great birthday surprise! I look forward to reading about the trip!

 

[tinybamboo8x11]

What cute pictures!u had wonderful moment with ur family,i'm really jealous:animwink:

 

[foreverbelle]

What a beautiful family...I am so excited for you! We brought our son for the first time this past February for his 1st b-day and had an absolute blast! Take advantage of the baby centers...

I can't wait to read the rest.....

 

[princess17]

Awe - I love your pre-trip report! What an adorable family and a great birthday surprise! I look forward to reading about the trip!

Thanks. I can't wait to surprise my DD!

What cute pictures!u had wonderful moment with ur family,i'm really jealous:animwink:

Thank you!

What a beautiful family...I am so excited for you! We brought our son for the first time this past February for his 1st b-day and had an absolute blast! Take advantage of the baby centers...

I can't wait to read the rest.....

I will surely take advantage of the baby centers for all except MK. The baby center there will be closed the day I visit.

Thanks for reading!

 

[princess17]

So I'm doing laundry today, but I just had to post an update!

First off, I've been buying some stuff online. I love shopping and I happen to love shopping online. Stores are great too but usually I got the DH and kids with me and they get bored so unless its clothing or groceries, I just get on my computer and shop at amazon or walmart. So what did I buy you may be asking....well, take a look....

This was too cute! I love tinkerbelle and I always struggle with getting out our park tickets, fastpasses, etc. especially with kids in tow and bags and a stroller so to make super convienient, I will put all our cards in one spot right around my neck.

If anyone is interested in buying, here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Tinkerbell-Bl...ef=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1271776163&sr=8-3-spell

They also had these lanyards with Mickey, or Minnie.

I also had to get a baby carrier. The baby will be in the stroller a lot but you can't take the stroller everywhere so this will probly be helpful. I only hope he's easy to take out and put into this thing so when its time to board a ride, we will be ready and we won't be holding up the line.

Got this from walmart for 30.00 and only $1.97 shipping. Woo hoo!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evenflo-Snugli-Front-Back-Infant-Carrier-Black/12960879

Besides this, I've bought a 4GB SD card for my Canon S5 but I don't think anyone will be upset if I don't show the picture. lol.

I will also be buying some other things and I will be sure to post the pics.
In addition, I have reserved some special surprises, stay tuned to see what they are....

More in the next post.....

 

[princess17]

So I planned a couple of extra surprises for this trip and I'd love to share them with you....

Surprise #1: DD will be getting her hair and makeup done at Bibbidi bobbidi in the castle. (We've done this a previous trip and she enjoyed it).

Surpise #2: I'm so excited because both my DD and I love desserts so I was so happy to book a reservation for the Wishes dessert party on our MK day!

Surprise #3: DD has no clue her Uncle, Aunt, and 2 cousins will be meeting us on the last 2 days of our trip.

Surprise #4: I just reserved a birthday cake at Ohana's for our last night. I thought this would be a special way to end her birthday trip. It's just a small 8 inch chocolate cake. They said they will try to do pink frosting. I didn't add a character but I'm seriously debating on whether I should call back and change it to add a character. The cake alone is costing me $32 on top of my Ohana bill!

Surprise #5: This surprise is actually for my DH but I've already told him the surprise...See, I don't want him to chicken out so I told him so he could prepare! I reserved a reservation for him to go parasailing! He wanted to do this last trip, but it was too cold so I just had to do this for him! Yes, it is my DD's birthday trip, but it will only take up 1 morning so being the great wife that I am, I had to make him happy and he is super excited!

So without further due, here is my itinerary:

Thursday, May 13:
DD's birthday!
Epcot Day
Breakfast ADR at Akershus 8:25am
Have fun in Epcot!
Dinner at a CS somewhere....looking into sunshine seasons
Must get a strawberry shortcake at sunshine seasons.
Maybe stay until illuminations if the kids can handle it.

Friday, May 14th:
Reservation for Bibbidi bobbidi 8am!
MK day.
Lunch and dinner at CS!
Wishes dessert party 8pm

Saturday, May 15th:
DHS day
DH will be parasailing at 9am then off to the park where we will be meeting up with my Brother in law, his wife, and their 2 kids. DD will be so surprised!
CS lunch
Dinner at the Sci Fi.

Sunday, May 16th:
Breakfast ADR for Tusker house 8:10am
AK day
My Brother in law and his family plan to leave @ park close.
We will be having dinner at Ohana with a special birthday cake surprise!

23 days!!!

So what do you all think? Please share your thoughts....and more coming up soon! Thanks for reading!:wave:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

so many wonderful surpirses! sounds like you all will have a great time and your dd will have an amazing birthday! i would love to be surprised for my birthday and taken to wdw! man, that would be awesome and a birthday i would never forget! make sure you do a trip report when you come back and include lots of pictures of your cute kids! hope all the surprises work out well.

 

[princess17]

so many wonderful surpirses! sounds like you all will have a great time and your dd will have an amazing birthday! i would love to be surprised for my birthday and taken to wdw! man, that would be awesome and a birthday i would never forget! make sure you do a trip report when you come back and include lots of pictures of your cute kids! hope all the surprises work out well.

Thank you so much. I would love it too if my DH or someone surprised me for my birthday at WDW. What an amazing surprise that would be! I hope my surprises for this trip work out too! Hopefully, DD won't find out until we pass that wonderful entrance leading into our favorite place.

I will surely do a trip report with lots of pictures. Thanks again!

 

[Tiggerish]

Your children are gorgeous--your daughter looks beautiful in her BBB picture, and the baby is so cute.

Have a great trip--we overlap on the 15th, but I will be at Epcot that day for the Flower & Garden Festival. I will look out for your trip report when I get back!

 

[princess17]

Your children are gorgeous--your daughter looks beautiful in her BBB picture, and the baby is so cute.

Have a great trip--we overlap on the 15th, but I will be at Epcot that day for the Flower & Garden Festival. I will look out for your trip report when I get back!

You have a great trip too! Hope to see you there. I will surely start a trip report when I get back.

thanks for reading.

 

[princess17]

21 days!! Getting so excited.

 

[princess17]

Update:

After debating and debating and looking at disney cake pictures on another discussion forum, I went ahead and changed my DD's birthday cake order.

At first, it was just a plain 8 inch chocolate cake for $32 but now it is a....

10 inch chocolate cake with dark choc. mousse filling with choc. buttercream icing (we love chocolate! Can't you tell?). I also added a snow white edible image (DD loves Snow white) and kept the inscription.

But, of course the price changed too....

In order to get my choice of fillings and icing and the character, I had to upgrade to a 10 inch...they don't do it for the 8 inch cakes so now it will cost me around $60 incl. tax.

The cake will be too big for us (feeds 16) especilly if my Brother in law and his family leave plus we will probly be stuffed from our dinner at Ohana so I'm definetely bringing the rest home to stretch out her birthday celebration even after we leave disney. Thank goodness we drive and are not flying or I would be so upset about having to leave a $60 cake behind that we will barely eat.

I hope she will love it!

A PTR update coming up!

 

[princess17]

19 days!!!

Just got my park passes in the mail! Yay! They are actually FL resident exchange certificates. When we get to the park, we have to go to the ticket window with the passes and our ID's to prove we are FL residents and then we will get our REAL tickets.

So excited!

I think I may have underestimated how long it will take to drive down and actually exchange our certificates and possibly stop to stretch if the baby gets cranky. I was thinking we should leave our apt. around 6 especially to get to our 8:25am ADR at Akershus, but now I'm starting to think we may have to leave around 5:30ish. (Its a 2 hour, 15 min. drive or so) And what if there is traffic? Morning rush hour! Yikes!

 

[princess17]

So here is some basic info about our trip....

We are not staying on disney property this time around. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE staying at disney resorts but this will just be a short trip, we will be on a budget and DH's bro and his wife will never pay that much to stay at a hotel. Next year, for our 10 day trip, we will be staying on property. Most likely either at Pop century or the Caribbean beach.

So, where are we staying at?

No where that great. It will be the Ramada hotel on US I-92. In fact, when I asked people on the boards, I was told this hotel actually sucks. But, too late we are already booked and paid for and you really can't beat $31 a night plus a fridge in the room and just a short distance from WDW.

Tickets:
We are FL residents and this trip would not have even been thought of if it wasn't for the FL resident dream passes promotion.

The passes let a FL resident get into all 4 parks (1 per day) for only $99. That is a fantastic deal when you consider the price of a 1 day ticket per person.

So, we got some great deals on tickets and accomodations. Counting the 3 of us, (not the baby since he is free), tickets and accomodations cost us under $400 for 3 nights and 4 days at WDW!!!

Can I shop or what?!?!:sohappy:

Here is my budget. Please let me know if I have forgotten anything....

Tickets $340 including tax....Already paid for!
Accomodations $ 125 total for 3 nights (AMAZING!) Already paid for!
Gas (we are driving- 2 and a half hours) $60
Parking fees $50
Rental car $180 (with a 20% discount coupon)
Food $500 including tax
Birthday cake $60
Parasailing $100
Souvenirs $200
BBB $50
Wishes dessert party $70...Already paid for!

Total Cost: $ 1735.00

I didn't include small stuff like bottled water, baby formula and diapers as this is stuff I would have normally bought anyway with or without the trip and I've already purchased a memory card and extra batteries.

Not too bad! Especially with all the "extras" I have included. Plus DH is paying for half of it.

So, did I miss anything important?

Oh yeah, and I'm getting a little anxious about taking a 10 month old. Any tips?