When Does the Fantasyland Expansion Open: A Very Early Pre-Trip Report

Edit: As this PTR spans a year, I have started over fresh. If you want the "short version", check it out here.)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am always planning my next trip. Even when that next trip is a long way off. The only time I am not planning a Disney World trip is when I am actually in Disney World. And even then, there's a good chance I am making mental notes for things to do on future trips.

After our last trip in 2010, I knew it would be a while before we returned. At one point during the trip, my wife told me she would be happy never to return to Disney World again. And she meant it. Since then, her stance has weakened. I got her to agree to a five-year wait. But with the kids' help, she is now ready to go back.

(If you care to read my 2010 trip report for the blow-by-blow, here's a link: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=564728)

Getting my wife to agree to go again was but one obstacle in my way. The fact of the matter is that if we went again today, we would almost certainly have a similar experience that would result in my wife swearing off Disney forever all over again. Obviously, I want to avoid that. The next trip needs to involve less agony and more ecstacy.

So I have vowed to hold off our next trip until the kids are old enough to really enjoy it and to make the trip less stressful. Because as magical as Disney World is, traveling with little kids is stressful. This is probably as good a time as any to introduce you to my family.

I'll start with myself. I've been around the boards for a long time. Obviously, I am a Disney fan. That wasn't always the case. While I always enjoyed Disney animation, I was anything but a fan of the company for many years. But after honeymooning at Disney World in 2003, I slowly became interested in the parks and then the company as a whole. My wife would tell you that I am obsessed although I would argue that she uses that word too loosely.

My wife, Mindy, has always been a Mickey Mouse fan. When I found out she had never been to Disney World, I decided to make that our honeymoon spot. She liked it, but it's not her style of vacation. Mindy likes what she calls a "relaxing vacation". Her ideal vacation involves doing all the things she does on weekends in a hotel room instead of our house. There is a lot of daytime TV and romance novels. I find this kind of vacation mind-numbingly boring and frankly a waste of money. Why leave home if you're just going to watch Judge Judy?

Then, there's our two daughters, Josie and Kara. Here they are on Halloween.

(If you'd care to read about how those particular costumes came about, I've written up the story on my blog here: http://lebeauleblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/post-halloween-update/)

Josie is our oldest. I will probably refer to her as Joey sometimes. That is what we call her at home. This year, she decided she prefers Josie (her birthname) so I try to use that whenever possible. But I use Josie, Joey and Jo-Jo interchangeably.

Josie has been to Disney World 3 times in six years. Her first trip was in 2007 when she was nearly 2 years old. On that trip, she loved the characters but had very little interest in rides. The next trip was in the fall of 2008 when she was 3 1/2. On that trip, her priorities had reversed. She discovered she loved rides but was scared of characters.

Josie was almost five on our last trip in 2010. On this trip, she was okay with both rides and characters. But she had reservations about them both. The things she liked the best were the gift shops, the hotel pool and the vending machines.

For the last few years, we have gotten passes to our local amusement park, Kings Island. I use Kings Island as a kind of training ground for Disney World. Over the summer, I have finally gotten Josie to the point where she enjoys rides and characters. I think she's ready to go back.

(If you'd like to read about some of our KI trips from the summer, here are some links: Opening Day, UK Day, mid-summer trip, Halloween.)

Our youngest daughter is Kara. When we went in 2008, my wife was pregnant with Kara. So, by my math, she has been to Disney World 1.5 times. When we went in 2010, she was not quite one year old. At the time we planned the trip, she was a very passive infant. She was happy to sit in a stroller or on our laps and just take everything in.

But then she discovered crawling. And shortly after that walking. By the time we went on our trip, Kara was a very busy 11-month old. She had to explore everything all the time. Sitting on our laps during the flight or the many bus rides was not an option. Neither was wearing shoes. She took them off and tossed them. We lost one in the airport at the start of our trip.

In short, Kara was a handful. And having both kids in a stroller made the trip a lot of work. The double stroller was heavy and hard to load and unload on the packed buses. Half the time, one of the girls would refuse to ride in the stroller anyway. So then we had to deal with the giant stroller and carrying one of the girls.

With that in mind, I decided that we would be down to a single stroller on our next trip. Also, I would wait until Kara was fully potty trained. No more diaper bags. I think we are down to the single stroller by now. Josie never sits in one any more. And we're close on the potty training thing. Kara has gone on the potty. But it's still more the exception that the norm.

I should also mention that Kara absolutely hates rides and characters. She freaks out whenever she sees anyone in a character costume. She is still traumatized by the time the Easter Bunny came to her school. At Kings Island, she won't get near Snoopy. I bought Kara her first Kings Island pass for next summer. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, she will feel comfortable with rides and characters.

I figure that by late 2012, the girls will be ready for our triumphant return to Disney World. The Fantasyland Expansion should be mostly complete. And my girls will be at a great age for the princess-themed additions (3 and 7 - the target demo really). But there are still a lot of variables that need to be figured out.

We don't yet have the 2012 school calendar. Originally, I was against pulling Josie out of school. But the more I have thought about it, the more open I am to doing it as a one-time option. Josie's a great student and should not have any problem missing a few days. So, the idea is to schedule our trip during a week that her school already has an in-service day scheduled. That way, she'll only miss a few days instead of a whole week.

Then there's the matter of discounts. I plan to go during the off-season, so I figure some kind of discount will be available. But I won't know for sure until some time next year.

One idea I have is to stay at the Little Mermaid rooms in the Art of Animation resort. But before I can commit to that, a few things need to happen. Right now, Disney has yet to make those rooms available for booking. They are meant to be open about the same time as the FLE and should be available for our late 2012 trip. But there's no guarantee.

So, right now everything is still very up in the air. So much so, that some might consider it too early for a pre-trip report. I mean, it's possible the trip may not even happen until 2013! So this thread (at least early on) will serve less as a documentation of trip planning than an open journal documenting my family's preparation for our next trip - whenever that may be.

You can expect to read updates on the girls. For example, Kara has entered a major princess phase out of the blue. I'll definitely keep you up to date on her progress this summer as I try to get her used to rides and characters at Kings Island. And as info becomes available, this will transition into more of a traditional pre-trip report.

As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome. Thanks for reading!

 

[lebeau]

I think 4 is more realistic! Our usual flight gets us in at around 1 and it's usually 3 before we get to the resort. Now we do claim our own luggage (partly b/c I'm a little OCD and can't stand the thought of waiting for my luggage and the fact we have a long travel day so we want our luggage to freshen up before we head out), waiting for luggage adds extra time to the process. If you're using DME for your luggage then you can shave some time off there! My family can usually wait until we hit the resort before we eat... but every family's different and if it means keeping the peace then by all means! We snack on the plane a fair bit but we're ready for a good meal by the time we hit MCO. We just love eating at our resort, it's kind of the start of the vacation (know what I mean)!

I definitely want to go in with realistic expectations. I always seems to underestimate travel time on our arrival day. And I always pay for it.

We'll leave the bags to Disney. Wrangling the kids is hard enough without bags.

Ideally, I'd rather wait and eat at the hotel. Heck, if it were just me I'd snack on the plane and skip lunch. Maybe grab a snack at Epcot to tide me over to dinner. But if there is one lesson I have learned from previous trips its that I have to keep the girls fed.

I am considering just carrying around a box of cupcakes and doling them out whenever someone starts complaining.

 

[jlsHouston]

Anyone who knows me knows that I am always planning my next trip. Even when that next trip is a long way off. The only time I am not planning a Disney World trip is when I am actually in Disney World. And even then, there's a good chance I am making mental notes for things to do on future trips.

After our last trip in 2010, I knew it would be a while before we returned. At one point during the trip, my wife told me she would be happy never to return to Disney World again. And she meant it. Since then, her stance has weakened. I got her to agree to a five-year wait. But with the kids' help, she is now ready to go back.

(If you care to read my 2010 trip report for the blow-by-blow, here's a link: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=564728)

Getting my wife to agree to go again was but one obstacle in my way. The fact of the matter is that if we went again today, we would almost certainly have a similar experience that would result in my wife swearing off Disney forever all over again. Obviously, I want to avoid that. The next trip needs to involve less agony and more ecstacy.

So I have vowed to hold off our next trip until the kids are old enough to really enjoy it and to make the trip less stressful. Because as magical as Disney World is, traveling with little kids is stressful. This is probably as good a time as any to introduce you to my family.

I'll start with myself. I've been around the boards for a long time. Obviously, I am a Disney fan. That wasn't always the case. While I always enjoyed Disney animation, I was anything but a fan of the company for many years. But after honeymooning at Disney World in 2003, I slowly became interested in the parks and then the company as a whole. My wife would tell you that I am obsessed although I would argue that she uses that word too loosely.

My wife, Mindy, has always been a Mickey Mouse fan. When I found out she had never been to Disney World, I decided to make that our honeymoon spot. She liked it, but it's not her style of vacation. Mindy likes what she calls a "relaxing vacation". Her ideal vacation involves doing all the things she does on weekends in a hotel room instead of our house. There is a lot of daytime TV and romance novels. I find this kind of vacation mind-numbingly boring and frankly a waste of money. Why leave home if you're just going to watch Judge Judy?

Then, there's our two daughters, Josie and Kara. Here they are on Halloween.

(If you'd care to read about how those particular costumes came about, I've written up the story on my blog here: http://lebeauleblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/post-halloween-update/)

Josie is our oldest. I will probably refer to her as Joey sometimes. That is what we call her at home. This year, she decided she prefers Josie (her birthname) so I try to use that whenever possible. But I use Josie, Joey and Jo-Jo interchangeably.

Josie has been to Disney World 3 times in six years. Her first trip was in 2007 when she was nearly 2 years old. On that trip, she loved the characters but had very little interest in rides. The next trip was in the fall of 2008 when she was 3 1/2. On that trip, her priorities had reversed. She discovered she loved rides but was scared of characters.

Josie was almost five on our last trip in 2010. On this trip, she was okay with both rides and characters. But she had reservations about them both. The things she liked the best were the gift shops, the hotel pool and the vending machines.

For the last few years, we have gotten passes to our local amusement park, Kings Island. I use Kings Island as a kind of training ground for Disney World. Over the summer, I have finally gotten Josie to the point where she enjoys rides and characters. I think she's ready to go back.

(If you'd like to read about some of our KI trips from the summer, here are some links: Opening Day, UK Day, mid-summer trip, Halloween.)

Our youngest daughter is Kara. When we went in 2008, my wife was pregnant with Kara. So, by my math, she has been to Disney World 1.5 times. When we went in 2010, she was not quite one year old. At the time we planned the trip, she was a very passive infant. She was happy to sit in a stroller or on our laps and just take everything in.

But then she discovered crawling. And shortly after that walking. By the time we went on our trip, Kara was a very busy 11-month old. She had to explore everything all the time. Sitting on our laps during the flight or the many bus rides was not an option. Neither was wearing shoes. She took them off and tossed them. We lost one in the airport at the start of our trip.

In short, Kara was a handful. And having both kids in a stroller made the trip a lot of work. The double stroller was heavy and hard to load and unload on the packed buses. Half the time, one of the girls would refuse to ride in the stroller anyway. So then we had to deal with the giant stroller and carrying one of the girls.

With that in mind, I decided that we would be down to a single stroller on our next trip. Also, I would wait until Kara was fully potty trained. No more diaper bags. I think we are down to the single stroller by now. Josie never sits in one any more. And we're close on the potty training thing. Kara has gone on the potty. But it's still more the exception that the norm.

I should also mention that Kara absolutely hates rides and characters. She freaks out whenever she sees anyone in a character costume. She is still traumatized by the time the Easter Bunny came to her school. At Kings Island, she won't get near Snoopy. I bought Kara her first Kings Island pass for next summer. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, she will feel comfortable with rides and characters.

I figure that by late 2012, the girls will be ready for our triumphant return to Disney World. The Fantasyland Expansion should be mostly complete. And my girls will be at a great age for the princess-themed additions (3 and 7 - the target demo really). But there are still a lot of variables that need to be figured out.

We don't yet have the 2012 school calendar. Originally, I was against pulling Josie out of school. But the more I have thought about it, the more open I am to doing it as a one-time option. Josie's a great student and should not have any problem missing a few days. So, the idea is to schedule our trip during a week that her school already has an in-service day scheduled. That way, she'll only miss a few days instead of a whole week.

Then there's the matter of discounts. I plan to go during the off-season, so I figure some kind of discount will be available. But I won't know for sure until some time next year.

One idea I have is to stay at the Little Mermaid rooms in the Art of Animation resort. But before I can commit to that, a few things need to happen. Right now, Disney has yet to make those rooms available for booking. They are meant to be open about the same time as the FLE and should be available for our late 2012 trip. But there's no guarantee.

So, right now everything is still very up in the air. So much so, that some might consider it too early for a pre-trip report. I mean, it's possible the trip may not even happen until 2013! So this thread (at least early on) will serve less as a documentation of trip planning than an open journal documenting my family's preparation for our next trip - whenever that may be.

You can expect to read updates on the girls. For example, Kara has entered a major princess phase out of the blue. I'll definitely keep you up to date on her progress this summer as I try to get her used to rides and characters at Kings Island. And as info becomes available, this will transition into more of a traditional pre-trip report.

As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome. Thanks for reading!

so.... how are the ladies in your family progressing towards a 2012 wdw trip or a 2013 wdw trip?

 

[lebeau]

so.... how are the ladies in your family progressing towards a 2012 wdw trip or a 2013 wdw trip?

They are ready! Well, at least the two little ones are. Josie tells me she will even ride Splash Mountain with me this time. I suspect she will, but she'll want to be rewarded for it. Kara's doing well at Kings Island this summer. She will ride most rides within her height range and visit with the characters as long as mom or dad (usually dad) is holding her.

We went to the Disney Store last week to buy some dresses. Kara already has a bunch, but Josie is very particular about "itchy" dresses. She won't wear most princess dresses. But she picked out a Princess Merida nightgown which she loves and will most likely wear to the park on the day we visit the BBB.

This morning, we applied the Free Dining Promo to our reservations. Sadly, it meant switching from a Nemo suite to a Lion King suite. No one in the family but me likes the Lion King at all. But you can't pass up Free Dining over room decor. And the pool is still Nemorific.

We're at 115 days and pretty much all set at this point. Just waiting to see exactly what in the FLE will be open in early Nov.

 

[brifraz]

We're at 115 days and pretty much all set at this point. Just waiting to see exactly what in the FLE will be open in early Nov.

We are in that waiting game as well. Heading down mid-November and really hoping for Belle and Ariel to be ready...perhaps praying is a better word.

 

[lebeau]

We are in that waiting game as well. Heading down mid-November and really hoping for Belle and Ariel to be ready...perhaps praying is a better word.

I think you should be fine. If we miss it, I think we'll miss it by a matter of days. Which would be a shame, but I am prepared for it. Everything else just came together making this the perfect time for us to go. So if we miss out on the Mermaid ride, I'll cope.

But, fingers crossed. Hopefully we'll get to see it all. It will probably be a long time before we get another chance!

 

[lebeau]

This past weekend we had a little get-away that I saw as a test run for our Disney trip. We have been going to Kings Island to see how the girls do with rides, characters, etc. But this was our first chance to see how they do on the road. After the trip, I will be re-reading the Unofficial Guide's section on parenting on vacation!

First, way too much background info because that's how I roll. Josie has been playing soccer with the same group of girls for about four years now. They met at a daycare Josie started attending at 18 months old. We have known these girls and their families for quite some time. In addition to soccer, they have also done gymnastics and dance together. We used to engage in all kinds of social activities as well.

The daycare was located close to where I work. But for most of these families, it was close to where they lived. That always meant a lot more driving for us than for everyone else. While we were part of the group, we were on the fringes due to location. The rest of the families saw each other all the time. They lived within walking distance of each other in some cases.

The distance grew when the kids reached kindergarten. Josie went to school near us where my mom was her teacher. Most of the rest of the kids went to the same school in their own neighborhood. Josie dropped out of dance when soccer practices and school made her schedule too busy. The rest of the kids dropped out of gymnastics. We started seeing these families a lot less.

This spring, we reached a breaking point with the soccer team. The girls were practicing twice a week plus games on the weekends. Between school , soccer and gymnastics, something had to give. We informed the coaches we were cutting Josie down to one practice a week. If that was a deal-breaker, we would leave the team. The coaches weren't happy, but they accepted the arrangement.

Soon, we noticed we were being left out of the loop. Practices and activities were being scheduled and we weren't being notified by the coaches. We would get texts from other parents asking where we were. I'll be honest, I don't know how much of this was the coach's fault and how much was Mindy's. Mindy was fed up with the soccer team and got sloppy with scheduling.

I asked the coaches to stop communicating with her and to send notifications to me instead. But they never did. I suspect messages were dropped on both ends of the communications line. All I know is, despite my request to be the point of contact, no one ever communicated with me directly.

Things got a little tense around Josie's birthday. The coaches had decided to enroll the team in a soccer tournament the same day as Josie's birthday party. We asked when the games would be to determine if we could work around the party. But the games wouldn't be scheduled early enough for us to plan around them. So we opted out of participating in the tournament.

The coaches (a married couple) were clearly irritated with us. I suspect they had paid the tournament fees already with the expectation that everyone would participate. Since they didn't clear this with us in advance, they probably got left holding the bag for Josie's part of the enrollment. But if that is what happened, it was poor planning on their part. We actually reached out to them on several occassions regarding Josie's birthday party that weekend.

In the end, the tournament schedule was incompatible with Josie's birthday party. As a result, none of the girls from Josie's soccer team could attend. This was somewhat disconcerting to Mindy and myself. We had rented a farm for the party (see previous posts) and were worried that none of Josie's friends would be there. There was the potential for a nightmare scenerio.

Fortunately, Josie's friends from her new school were able to make it to the party. And really, it was for the best. If both groups had been at the party, it would have been too many kids. But we came to find out that these girls had a soccer team as well. And they had agreed to cancel their game that weekend in order to attend Josie's party. It really gave us pause for thought. The team Josie had played with for years was not nearly so accomodating as the team she didn't play on at all.

For the last several years, we have had birthday party season starting in the spring and running through summer. The girls' birthdays were separated by a matter of weeks. Josie's was usually the first party and then there were parties every week or two through summer. It was a gauntlet that we ran every year. This year, we didn't feel quite so obligated to attend every party.

On several weekends, we were forced to choose between attending a party for one of the kids on Josie's soccer team vs. attending a party for one of the kids at Josie's school. It was an easy choice. We always chose the school kids who had attended Josie's party. We politely RSVP'd if we couldn't make it. Apparently, this didn't sit well with some of the parents.

Mindy had been pretty close with some of the moms on the soccer team. They had Mom's Nights about once a month. But she was starting to feel like she was being pushed out of the group. Her feelings were hurt.

Long story not-so-short, we eventually decided it was time for a change. We had stuck it out with this soccer team so Josie could continue socializing with her old friends. But that didn't seem like a valid reason any more. And the logistics of driving all over the place for practices and games was draining. We decided we would finish the season, one final soccer tournament and then switch teams in the fall.

This weekend was the last soccer tournament. The coaches had arranged to have a block of suites set aside at the Residence Inn for anyone who wanted to stay together. Of course, everyone did. It wasn't exactly a cheap get-away, but I was looking forward to it all the same. Especially because the tournament was in my old stomping grounds in Lexington.

The trip down was uneventful. We found the place and got checked in. We've stayed at Residence Inns before, so no surprises there. All the other families were arriving at about the same time which was roughly dinner time.

This is when something strange happened that would set the tone for our stay. Mindy was starving and she also wasn't feeling very well. As you guys know from previous entries, a hungry Mindy is a dangerous thing. So I was dispatched for food. I was only a couple blocks from the hotel when I got a phone call from Mindy.

She told me that the other families had ordered pizza. When one of the mom's came around to collect the money, she looked at Mindy and said, "I didn't know you were here." Basically uninviting her. Which is strange because I saw her husband at check-in.

The rest of the families had a pizza party in the lobby. We had take-out in our room. I wasn't worried about it. The kids were tired from the drive and swimming in the pool while daddy got their food. We put on a movie and tried to get the kids to bed.

This is the part that has some relevance to the trip. Good lord, it's hard to get these kids to bed when they are tired! They start fighting sleep like their life depends on it. Especially Josie. Obviously, Disney World can be a lot more exhausting than the pool at the Residence Inn. So, we're going to have to carefully monitor that.

More to come...

 

[lebeau]

The next day, we had soccer games at 9am and 1pm. We got the kids up and headed downstairs for the free breakfast bar. Josie was looking forward to making her own waffles. So was I, honestly. I have been on Atkins for quite some time, but decided it would be okay to go carb crazy on this trip.

(Our 100-day countdown actually begins today. So I started walking and got back on track with my diet yesterday. Gotta get in shape for the trip!)

The first game didn't go well. We played an all-star team from out of state. They were bigger and more experienced than us. The ref was a teenager who never blew the whistle. Our goalie took a clete to the head because the girls wouldn't stop kicking even after she had grabbed the ball. No whistle. Our coach stormed the field and demanded a penalty kick which the ref sheepishly allowed. We would have this kid for every game as it turns out.

Not that it mattered. The girls weren't engaged. They played badly. Frankly, the girls aren't very interested in soccer. Most of them don't listen. But their parents insist on signing them up for these tournaments where they are always in over their heads. We got creamed.

Josie was the goalie during the last quarter. She got scored on (as did all the other goalies.) The coach gave them a pretty sharp dressing down after the game. Josie took it hard. She was in tears. I started walking her away from the field before anyone saw her sobbing. I didn't want our "last hurrah" with the soccer team to go down like this.

I gave her a pep talk as we walked back to the car. By the time we reached the car, she was in good spirits. Unfortunately, Mindy wasn't. She was trailing behind us with Kara. When she got to the car, she was spitting fire. Apparently, she didn't realize we had left the field. She remained mad at me until... well until lunch. (Food is always the answer.)

In all the birthday drama, one of the kids had sent Josie a belated birthday present even though she couldn't make it to Josie's party. We couldn't make it to her party either, but we wanted to recipricate the gift. Since we weren't sure when or if we would see this girl again after this weekend, we used the downtime between games to pick her up a birthday present and grab lunch.

Then we headed back to the field for the second game. We lost that one too, but not as badly. The girls played a little harder. The sides were more evenly matched. We even could have won that one. But we didn't. Oh well.

"Oh well" is my attitude, but not that of most of the other parents. One of the parents told his daughter that the loss was all her fault. They shout things at their kids I would never imagine saying in a million years. I don't understand how you can possibly get so worked up about under-8 girls soccer!

After the game, Mindy and the girls went back to the hotel with another family. I was sent to the grocery store to pick up supplies for a team grill-out. I expected to come back to find the girls at the pool. But Mindy was really feeling lousy at this point. She asked if I would take the girls to the pool instead. Which I did because I am not stupid.

I managed to stay out of the pool most of the afternoon which is quite an accomplishment. I just sat back and watched the kids. Some of the parents talked to me. Some were less than friendly. I got the impression that the ones who were angry with us were mostly mad at Mindy for some reason. They at least talked to me. They wouldn't make eye contact with her.

Josie has had a loose front tooth for some time now. At some point, she came out of the pool and asked if I could pull it. I didn't really expect it to come out. But wouldn't you know it did! Josie was really happy... until her mouth started to fill with blood. She started to panic a little. I looked for a napkin or something to stop the bleeding. The first thing that caught my eye was the first aid kit on the wall. I opened it. Empty!

We had to leave the pool to get Joey a tissue. Then we went back to the room to store the tooth for the tooth fairy. I left the girls in Mindy's care while I ran the groceries I had bought down to the grilling area for the cook-out. Mindy was a mess. She stayed in bed through the cook-out.

I brought the girls back down to eat. We brought a plate back up with us for Mindy. She barely touched it. Then we went back to the pool. One of the kids was being rough, so this time I ended up getting in the pool to keep a closer eye on things. I swam with the kids for an hour or so. Then they had an ice cream social. The girls made sundaes and then headed back upstairs for the night.

I expected Josie to fall asleep quickly in anticipation of a visit from the tooth fairy. No such luck. She was tired and cranky. I mentally prepared myself for similar circumstances at WDW in the fall.

The next morning was our last game. We hit the breakfast bar again. Faced another team that was out of our league. Lost badly.

At one point, I heard the coach for the other team instructing his girls to "push them down!" I was annoyed.

Once again, Josie was the goalie for the last quarter. We have a guy who sits by the goal and coaches the girls on defense. But I decided to stand by the goal to provide moral support. I was able to keep Josie's spirits up even though she was scored on several times.

As I mentioned earlier, the ref we had for every game refused to ever call a foul. So the games got kind of rough. One of our girls got tripped in plain view of the ref. No call. Our coach started shouting. Then one of the parents for the opposing team (who I was standing next to because I had moved near our goal) said, "Give me a break. We can't help it our girls are bigger and stronger."

I did something I rarely do at soccer games. I spoke up.

"Well, you've got a coach shouting to push the little girls down. So maybe being bigger isn't the only issue." I said. He actually hid his face. I could hear him grumbling, so I continued. "Look, you guys could walk off the field and you would still win this game. There's no need to be playing this rough." From that point on, the opposing side stopped commenting.

The girls lost their last game badly, but Josie didn't care. We said our good byes and wished everyone luck. I was relieved when I heard the coach talking about all the practices he had scheduled that we would not be required to attend.

I had hoped to visit some of my old stomping grounds while we were in town. But with Mindy sick and everyone tired, we decided to head straight home after the game.

The ending was bitter sweet. We spent close to 5 years with these families. In that time, we did a lot together. I remember our kids growing up together. A part of me will miss them even if I knew it was time to move on.

 

[brifraz]

Sorry to hear about the negative soccer experiences. Having played all my life, coached girls for the past 5 years, and helping run a 700-player league, I would be very disappointed to hear a coach encouraging players to push down opponents. At the U8 age level, even travel team tournaments should be more about learning the game than winning at all cost. My personal opinion is that travel teams, etc shouldn't start until kids are 10 years old. 4-5 years of quality instruction in a less than high stakes environment ensure that kids have skills to play well, not just skills to win (aka push them down style players) and you have parents who have become educated about the game.

By the way, can you come over and work on my daughter's teeth - she's had a couple of 'shark teeth' with the adult teeth fully in behind the baby teeth for over a year now...we've had no luck getting them out!

Regardless, dealing with the exhaustion and illness is good Disney-prep. Our DD8 now is fully aware of the way she acts when exhausted and while she refuses to nap, she knows when she needs down time.

 

[lebeau]

Sorry to hear about the negative soccer experiences. Having played all my life, coached girls for the past 5 years, and helping run a 700-player league, I would be very disappointed to hear a coach encouraging players to push down opponents. At the U8 age level, even travel team tournaments should be more about learning the game than winning at all cost. My personal opinion is that travel teams, etc shouldn't start until kids are 10 years old. 4-5 years of quality instruction in a less than high stakes environment ensure that kids have skills to play well, not just skills to win (aka push them down style players) and you have parents who have become educated about the game.

Overall, our soccer experiences have been positive. Kara wants to start playing so I am sure we will be doubling down on soccer soon.

By the way, can you come over and work on my daughter's teeth - she's had a couple of 'shark teeth' with the adult teeth fully in behind the baby teeth for over a year now...we've had no luck getting them out!

Josie has had a few of those as well. No one was more surprised than me by the tooth extraction! But that puppy was ready.

Regardless, dealing with the exhaustion and illness is good Disney-prep. Our DD8 now is fully aware of the way she acts when exhausted and while she refuses to nap, she knows when she needs down time.

That is how I look at it. I look at almost any excursion as WDW training. (It's no wonder Mindy sees my priorities as warped.)

Last week, I had a day off and took the girls to the zoo. After about 5 hours, we were all pretty drained. The Cincinnati Zoo is wonderful, but very hilly. We had been debating whether or not to take an afternoon break during our day at Animal Kingdom due to the fact the park closes so early. This trip pretty much sealed the deal for me. The afternoon break is a must!

As it turns out, Mindy took the kids to the zoo again yesterday. (We have a pass that expires at the end of the month.) They were having a great time, but after about 5 hours Kara started complaining about her tummy. Soon, she got sick everywhere.

When Mindy called to inform me, I asked her if she had been drinking water. Kara overheats easily and when she does, she gets sick. Sure enough, that was the problem. These are the kinds of things you learn if you take your kids out for "test runs" before the trip.

 

[lebeau]

Recently, Kara has become fascinated by Sleeping Beauty. I don't think she had ever actually watched the movie before. But she watched it at her grandma's house and has been watching it quite a bit since. At first, I was excited about this development. I figured it would enhance her enjoyment of the parks to be more familiar with any Disney story.

What I didn't see coming is that she is scared out of her mind by Maleficent. As far as she is concerned, everything that happened in that movie is real. So by her logic, if Aurora is at Disney World, so is Maleficent. And she is not taking any chances that Maleficent will put a spell on her.

She has started telling me she doesn't want to go to Disney World. She says she is staying home with mommy. Mindy absolutely loves this.

I went into damage control and started showing Kara pictures of all the characters excluding the villains. I have gotten her back on board with the idea of going to Disney World. But it's a fragile situation at this point.

Yesterday, she came home from her grandma's house with a VHS copy of Snow White. We have a DVD copy at home, but she insisted on taking her grandma's VHS copy for some reason. The plan was for them to watch it before going to sleep. Josie watched the whole thing, but Kara refused to go into the same room because she was afraid of the witch.

Fantasmic! ought to be interesting...

 

[brifraz]

Heck, my DD was petrified of Snow White's Scary Adventures until just this last trip at 8yrs old - and only when she had heard that it was going to close. So, we went on it and she still didn't like it so much!

She never had a problem with Fantasmic! because it is far enough away from the audience, the threat is never really up close and personal.

And, if Maleficent is already too real, don't let her start reading Kingdom Keepers!!

 

[lebeau]

Heck, my DD was petrified of Snow White's Scary Adventures until just this last trip at 8yrs old - and only when she had heard that it was going to close. So, we went on it and she still didn't like it so much!

She never had a problem with Fantasmic! because it is far enough away from the audience, the threat is never really up close and personal.

And, if Maleficent is already too real, don't let her start reading Kingdom Keepers!!

To prepare the girls for what they are going to see, I am constantly showing them pictures, videos, etc. They saw a picture of the witch from Snow White's Scary Adventure and were both fascinated and horrified. It gave them both pause for thought about going on the trip. I had to assure them that we would not ride "The Witch Ride". When I told them it was closed and the witch is no longer in the park at all, they both felt better about the prospect of visiting Disney World.

I'm not too worried about Josie this trip. This is her 4th time and she has experienced a lot of what Disney has to offer. I'm going to try to coax her on Splash Mountain this time which I think she will enjoy. I won't both with Dinosaur or Expedition Everest unless she does really well on some other rides first. I figure she will top out around Star Tours level thrills.

Kara is the one I'm worried about. She's just at that age where you can't be sure. Depending on her mood, she can handle things one day and then another day want no part of them. She had been doing well with characters and kiddie rides lately. So I am hoping I have prepared her well for everything she will experience.

I'm pretty much banking on distance from the stage getting us through Fantasmic! It will be my @$$ if Kara flips out!

We'll steer clear of Kingdom Keepers for now!

 

[lebeau]

I have been planning to make a Countdown to our trip for a while now. I bought a poster board about a month ago and I had some ideas. I wanted to make it kind of like an advent calendar where the girls would remove numbers to reveal pictures of things we would do on the trip. I had a vague notion that I could use Post Its to make the numbers easy to pull off.

Then I saw this idea from Alison 1975 and it all came together.

Yesterday, I grabbed a pack of Post Its and numbered them from 73-1. And I selected a variety of pictures to have printed up at Walgreens. I sent Mindy an e-mail showing her what I intended to do. Her reaction was "Oh good lord."

Last night, Mindy took the girls out to dinner after picking them up. So I had a little time to myself. I stopped by Walgreens and picked up my pictures. Then I raced home, glued them to the poster board and covered them up with pre-numbered Post-Its.

I didn't know how many pictures I would need to cover the poster board. So I ordered 30. I had 6 left over. I didn't use any pictures of the girls because they were all over two years old. Plus, we've seen them 100 times. I have used them for photo calendars over the years. To build the anticipation I used pictures of things we would do during the trip. Things I knew the girls were looking forward to.

Mindy and the girls got home. She saw the spare pictures on the table. I had left them out for the girls to look at. The first thing Mindy says when she gets home is "Are you kidding me? You didn't even use pictures of the girls?" So, that took the wind out of my sails a little bit.

I explained my whole "building anticipation" theory and that the pictures were of things we would do on the trip. I said I thought the girls would have fun revealing the pictures a little at a time leading up to the trip.

Mindy said, "I hope this little project turns out half as well as you think it will. Because I think it's stupid. The girls are going to fight about it every night and Kara's going to want to peel off a bunch at a time."

Long story short, the girls were looking forward to pulling off the Post Its all night. We made it part of their bed time routine. They had fun doing it. I stuck a couple of blank Post Its on the board so Kara could pull off more than one. So three of us enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[lebeau]

It's the first day of school! Josie started second grade today. Where did the summer go?

Kara and I were looking at pictures from the Character Pic of the Day thread. She saw several pictures of witches which she was not happy about. Ever since seeing sleeping Beauty, she has been worried that Maleficent would put a spell on her. I told her we were not going to see any witches at Disney World. She responded, "Daddy, don't you lie to me about those witches."

I assured her we would stay away from the witches. So she asked me where the witches live. "Far, far away," I told her. I like to be vague when I can be. She wouldn't have it and demanded a specific location. "They live in the witches' tower," I answered. She thought about it and decided that made sense. The princesses live in the castle and the witches live in a tower. Except Rapunzel who lives in a different tower.

Every time she would see another witch picture, she would look at me warily and say, "Daddy, you better not be lying to me about those witches." So, thanks to everyone who posted witch pictures in that thread!

 

[lebeau]

I got an e-mail from Delta telling me our flight had changed. A sense of dread crept over me. Our arrival date is pretty tight. We arrive in Orlando at noon. I figure we can get to Art of Animation by 1:30, get checked in, grab lunch and get to Epcot by 4. Just enough time to make visiting the park worthwhile. We have dinner reservations at Akershus at 6:30. So if our flight got pushed back an hour or two, it could potentially throw those plans in turmoil.

As it turns out, our flight got pushed up instead of back. So we are now scheduled to arrive in Orlando at 11:30. That's great news as far as I am concerned. Getting to the airport a half hour earlier won't be a problem. And an extra half hour at Epcot mean at least one more attraction. Score! Hopefully we don't get adjusted again - or if we do it's even earlier.

The girls are still having fun with the countdown. 69 days to go.

Kara has started demanding to look at the Character Pic of the day thread. Every now and then, she'll decide she needs to see a video. Surprisingly, she wanted to see a video of "the witch turning into a dragon" last night. So I showed her a clip from Fantasmic. Didn't phase her. I was concerned about taking her to Fantasmic since she is terrified/fascinated by Malelificent. But based on her reaction to the video, I think she'll do fine.

Josie is feeling very brave about what she intends to ride during the trip. "The Yeti" and Dinosaur are still off the table. But she's telling me she will ride Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror. And I haven't even had to bribe her. I suspect Splash Mountain will happen. But I have my doubts about ToT. If she rides that, she will have to be rewarded.

I have been considering adding Photopass Plus. We've never done Photopass before. But if Josie rides all these "big" rides, I will want ride pictures. I'll probably wait to see how they turn out though. Even if she rides ToT, I'm not sure it will make for a picture we will want to keep.

I have also decided to rent a double stroller for our stay. No disapproving looks, please. It's just going to make things much easier on us. The worst part about the double stroller last time was dealing with it on the buses. So, that makes the rental appealing even at the ridiculous prices. And I guarantee that Josie will get lazy/tired at some point. Having a double will mean no fussing, no fighting and no fits. You can't put a price on that.

 

[NewfieFan]

Aw, I think your countdown idea is great! (Do we get to see a picture?) First day of school pic is super cute! I was always under the impression witches lived in towers...
No judging from me - you gotta do what you gotta do! Are you renting a Disney stroller or one from the off-site companies?

 

[lebeau]

Aw, I think your countdown idea is great! (Do we get to see a picture?) First day of school pic is super cute! I was always under the impression witches lived in towers...
No judging from me - you gotta do what you gotta do! Are you renting a Disney stroller or one from the off-site companies?

Countdown - I totally swiped the idea from Alison. So, all credit for it goes to her. Hers is much more interesting to look at than mine. She used multi-colored Post Its where as mine are the pale yellow ones we had lying around.

I took a picture on Day 1, but it didn't take. I didn't have enough light on it. I'm going to take and post another picture, but right now it just looks like a poster board covered in Post It notes. So, I haven't been in a big hurry to take another picture. I'll get one up soon.

Another area where my countdown differs from Alison's is that I numbered my Post-Its sequentially. I figured it would be easier for Kara to find the number to remove that way. But Alison had them scattered about which makes for a far more interesting look as random pictures are revealed.

First day of school - Thanks. I do like that picture a lot. So far, school has been off to a great start!

Witches in Towers - It's funny the things that pop into your head when your kid puts you on the spot.

Strollers - We're going to rent on site. I do not want to deal with collapsing a stroller on the busses. We'll be headed back to the room every day for naps. So that makes 4 bus trips per day minimum. Last time, collapsing that big ol' stroller over and over again and then dealing with it on crowded busses was a nightmare.

 

[brifraz]

Really enjoying the progress toward your trip.

When you rent the stroller, make sure you get the length-of-stay rental. Save a few $$ a day. Some of the stroller rental CMs don't always know about it - at times they are just standard cashiers working there for a shift, so make sure you get a stroller CM who knows the deal!

If you really want to do Everest, tell Josie that our 8yr old first did it at 6, BUT she still closes her eyes for the majority of the ride. She is a coaster junkie already, but knows her limitations. Last visit, we told her about 'disco yeti' and her love of cheesy 70s music got her to open her eyes for a couple seconds - but she still missed the yeti! Her recommendation is Yeti over Tower of Terror. While she loves the drop, the Twilight Zone floor before the drops still freaks her out a bit.

Since our next trip is coming up in late November, I might steal the countdown poster idea from you (or from Allison via you). We have always done a paper ring chain to countdown and let DD decorate each link of the chain. With the number of pictures we have (8 trips with Photopass and the fact that I have two cameras and average over 1000 pics per trip) will make it easy to make a poster full of pics that DW and DD don't remember. It was supposed to be a surprise 40th birthday trip for DW, but they began to uncover evidence and I couldn't keep up the facade.

 

[lebeau]

Really enjoying the progress toward your trip.

Glad to hear it.

When you rent the stroller, make sure you get the length-of-stay rental. Save a few $$ a day. Some of the stroller rental CMs don't always know about it - at times they are just standard cashiers working there for a shift, so make sure you get a stroller CM who knows the deal!

That was definitely the plan. But now I will make sure to bring it up myself.

If you really want to do Everest, tell Josie that our 8yr old first did it at 6, BUT she still closes her eyes for the majority of the ride. She is a coaster junkie already, but knows her limitations. Last visit, we told her about 'disco yeti' and her love of cheesy 70s music got her to open her eyes for a couple seconds - but she still missed the yeti! Her recommendation is Yeti over Tower of Terror. While she loves the drop, the Twilight Zone floor before the drops still freaks her out a bit.

I will probably ride EE whether Josie does or not. But really, I don't have my heart set on it. AK is fairly late in our trip, so we'll see how she is handling other thrill rides and plan accordingly. If she actually follows through with her plan to ride ToT and all goes well, I figure EE will be a snap. If she freaks out on Soarin' or Big Thunder Mountain, I won't even suggest EE.

Either way, we're going to have to use a child swap for Kara. So it won't impact the grown-ups at all.

Since our next trip is coming up in late November, I might steal the countdown poster idea from you (or from Allison via you). We have always done a paper ring chain to countdown and let DD decorate each link of the chain. With the number of pictures we have (8 trips with Photopass and the fact that I have two cameras and average over 1000 pics per trip) will make it easy to make a poster full of pics that DW and DD don't remember. It was supposed to be a surprise 40th birthday trip for DW, but they began to uncover evidence and I couldn't keep up the facade.

I could never pull off the surprise trip thing. I am always looking for feedback to make sure my planning covers all eventualities.

The countdown has been a big hit at our house. Every night, the kids look forward to revealing a little more of the pictures. It took me 20 minutes or so to put together. It has definitely been well worth it.

I have taken a step back from planning for the last couple of weeks. We're down to fine details at this point. And many of those are in flux. I'm hearing conflicting reports about the possibility of soft openings in Fantasyland. Character meet and greet schedules keep changing. Even park hours are a bit up in the air.

I keep getting e-mails from Delta tweeking our flight times. Yesterday, they added a connecting flight to what used to be a direct route on the way back. (grumble grumble)

Before I drive myself crazy, I have decided to step back from Disney World planning for Sept and then get more involved again in Oct when we're only 1 month out.

 

[lebeau]

50 days to go!

I kind of let that sneak up on me. There were a couple of things I meant to do that I forgot about. I got an e-mail from KK this morning letting me know my final payment would be due on Monday. I had intended to pay for that on Disney Visa points. But it's too late for me to get my rewards card in time to do so. Ooops. It's a very small amount, so no worries.

I went ahead and ordered my rewards card anyway so we will have it for the trip. There will also probably be a Disney Store trip in the cards before the trip. For her birthday, Kara got a collection of princess dresses. Josie has never really liked princess dresses. She thinks they are scratchy.

A few months ago, I let Josie pick out a princess nightgown from the Disney Store to wear to the Bippity Boppity Boutique. I wasn't worried about getting one for Kara because she has loads of things to wear. So she got a bathing suit which she needed. Josie picked out a Merida nightgown which she loves and wears frequently. But Kara has to have everything her big sister has, so she wants the same nightgown. I keep putting it off, but I will need to buy her one before the trip.

A few days ago, we pulled off some numbers on the trip countdown that revealed the top of Rapunzel's head. Kara has been obsessed with pulling off the numbers to reveal the rest of Rapunzel for a few days now. Those numbers should be removed tomorrow and Sat. But I am seriously considering rearranging the numbers so Kara can just pull them off right away.

Every morning, as we drive through town to school, we pass a building with two lion statues. Kara tells me that is the Lion King and we will be staying their on vacation (because we are staying in the Lion King suites at AoA).

More to come as I count down the last 50 days...

Follow the last 49 days here.