Pre-Trip When your husband says “I think I’m ready to go back”, who am I to say no? - April 2020 then June/July 2020 now WHO KNOWS 😩 Thanks Corona 😒

Hi everyone! Let’s be honest, I’m probably more shocked than you are that I’m back here so soon! But as the title says, who am I to tell him no?

Who: The cast is currently the same as the last trip....

Myself, my husband George, and our daughter Ryleigh....Except that adorable little peanut has grown just a bit....

We did a Toy Story theme this year too @akneeconnors
We were “that family”....Ryleigh had an entourage...my sister and her husband were the green aliens, my mom was Rex, and my in-laws were supposed to be Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head but sickness left us potato-less for Trick or Treat.

When: Wednesday, April 22nd through Saturday, April 25th
We have always wanted to see the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. We originally thought about the weekend before but it’s the Star Wars Marathon thing and I had no idea how crowds would be considering Star Wars Land is now open. So the following weekend it is! We decided to do Wed-Sat over Thurs-Sun because it’s cheaper to fly home Saturday as opposed to Sunday. Ryleigh is an “adult” according to Southwest so we have to buy 3 seats God bless those of you who fly with more than one child!

Where: All Star Movies, preferred room
I know the values tend to get snubbed but I stayed at them a lot as a kid so I have fond memories of them. My husband and I both really like Pop. However, if you can tell by her Halloween costume, we have a Toy Story lover...especially all things Buzz Lightyear! ASMo has a Toy Story section so it was kind of a no brainer on that one! I can’t wait to see her face when she sees the giant Buzz and Woody...hoping she is a little less indifferent than the last trip!

 

[Spash007]

Hi everyone! Our trip is getting super close!

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Haven’t had much time to update this between competition season for dance, sicknesses galore for everyone in our house (Ryleigh is getting tubes the end of this month ), and just life in general! We had some exciting mail this past week!
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George and I have plain ones because we use our puck sliders on our watch bands. I was browsing the bands you could upgrade to and saw they had a Vampirina band! Naturally, I had to order it for my two year old whose MB does nothing. I’ve been referring to those “moments” and purchases as getting smacked in the face with pixie dust. I currently have more ears for this trip than I have days and head to wear them on We went to our local Disney store two weeks ago and as I walked in I was overwhelmed with “we‘re leaving in two months!!!” I shopped like I was in MouseGear I did pick this up to use as my purse on the plane lol
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Necessities right? I think we’re good on clothes and I keep telling myself that every time I see something cute for Ryleigh We have another competition in two weekends and then I figure I’ll start packing. And by packing in my terms, I mean I’ll wash everything and organize everything but not pack the suitcase until the last minute the night before we leave.

We had a pretty successful FP day and I’ll post our daily plans in the next post!

Sorry to hear about the tubes! Our eldest got tubes, and I know that it can be scary going in, but I'll tell you they worked amazingly well. She recovered pretty much instantly, and didn't seem to be bothered at all afterwards. We actually have to get our son tubes in 2 weeks now, and long story short - after he kept getting an ear infection, we actually pushed for them because we know how well they worked for his story.

And interesting is we get to Florida the day you're leaving! Going to Naples for a few days before WDW, but we also wanted to make sure we got our son his tubes before the flight, because we ended up flying a month or 2 after C had gotten her tubes, and she did perfect that flight. We think the tubes helped to prevent the pressure from building up in her ears at all.

 

[MegRuss626]

Sorry to hear about the tubes! Our eldest got tubes, and I know that it can be scary going in, but I'll tell you they worked amazingly well. She recovered pretty much instantly, and didn't seem to be bothered at all afterwards. We actually have to get our son tubes in 2 weeks now, and long story short - after he kept getting an ear infection, we actually pushed for them because we know how well they worked for his story.

And interesting is we get to Florida the day you're leaving! Going to Naples for a few days before WDW, but we also wanted to make sure we got our son his tubes before the flight, because we ended up flying a month or 2 after C had gotten her tubes, and she did perfect that flight. We think the tubes helped to prevent the pressure from building up in her ears at all.

Thanks for the reassurance about the tubes! Ryleigh gets hers in 3 weeks. She started going to preschool two days a week in October. Since then she’s had 5 or 6 ear infections so the doctor referred us to the ENT. I told the doctor we were flying the end of April and he said it’ll make it much better for her because the ears won’t have to pop. So keeping our fingers crossed! Hoping they help your little guy too!

 

[MegRuss626]

OUR PLANS!!

Tuesday, April 21st

Our flight is a little after noon and we don’t live far from the airport so it won’t be too early of a morning. After our arrival day minor dinner fiasco on our last trip, we have decided to spend our evening at the resort. Thus far, we’ve actually stuck to the plan!! I was EXTREMELY tempted by a reservation for Homecomin buuuuut I refrained. Ryleigh loves the water so pool time and dinner at ASMo is what we’re thinking might be best.

Wednesday, April 22nd

This is our Hollywood Studios day! Our FPs are for A.S.S. (a favorite of Ryleigh’s last time), Frozen Sing-a-long, and Slinky Dog (finally!!). Also on our list, the DisneyJr Dance Party and the Lightning McQueen show because Ryleigh has recently discovered Cars and is a fan! We also need to visit Olaf and Buzz because Ryleigh keeps telling everyone she’s going to meet them. We’ll pop into Star Wars Land and hopefully George can do the single rider line for the Millennium Falcon ride at some point during our day. He’s seen most of the movies (except the last one I think ) and I’ve only seen the first one (payback for making him watch The Notebook or something similar). I found it terribly boring and don’t remember much about it. We have the QS dining plan so no plans on where to eat yet.

Thursday, April 23rd

Magic Kingdom day!!! Any time Ryleigh sees a photo of Cinderella’s castle or when it’s at the beginning of a Disney movie, she SQEALS with excitement!! I’m reeeeally hoping she does it when she sees the real thing. #ImNotCryingYoureCrying Our FPs for this day are for Peter Pan, Small World, and Buzz. George and Ryleigh have been watching YouTube videos so they can be Galactic Heroes!

We have a lunch reservation for BOG because how do you not!? Our plans for the rest of the day are whatever Ryleigh is up for We would like to watch the parade because Ryleigh is a little cautious with characters so I think seeing them from afar will be perfect! I haven’t watched a parade in years so for all you FOF veterans, where’s a good place to watch from? I’m hoping to maybe finally see HEA this year. I had to be a responsible parent last trip and head back to the hotel before it started.

Friday, April 24th

It’s wall day!! Also known as Epcot day! I’m excited to finally get to experience the F&G Festival! I’ve sent my husband the booth menus so he can see what he’d like to try. I’m a pickier eater so I won’t be trying as much. After reading some trip reports, I think a sandwich from Les Halles is on my non-festival list. Our FPs include Nemo, Figment, and Frozen. Other plans include meeting the two characters whose names I hear a million times a day....Anna and Elsa!

Saturday, April 25th

Is it bad that just writing about the last day makes me sad already?? Our flight is later in the day so we are doing the Bon Voyage breakfast. Ryleigh likes to occasionally watch Tangled and The Little Mermaid (my favorite) so I figured this character meal has the potential to work since they are face characters. Never know with a toddler though Since we’ll be at the Boardwalk already I WILL be trying Ample Hills FINALLY! I’ve read about it enough that I need to go!

 

[MegRuss626]

Hi everyone! It’s crazy to think how much has changed since my last post! At this point in the TR, it’s usually “I’ve started packing” but not so much here (not that you would have read that here in the first place...habitual last minute packer). We leave in 36 days but as @Darstarr says “hopeful but not optimistic”. I keep flipping our countdown and making sure we have the things we need but I feel the actuality of the trip happening won’t be known until the last minute. We say we’re going to go until they tell us we can’t. My husband keeps reassuring me “we’re going this year...it just might not be at the time we thought.“ Totally fine until I realized Ryleigh will be 3 the end of June! Per a chat with a CM on WDW‘s site, they won’t honor her age for the original trip despite any closures being out of our control.

While all of this stinks, what’s more important is to stay healthy so we can go if it opens! We braved the masses and did a two week grocery order this past Friday. Ryleigh licked a (disinfected) Walmart shopping cart handle so we have that going for us Anyone else’s toddler start doing everything they warned us not to do as soon as they warned us not to?? I swear she can’t keep her fingers out of her nose and mouth these days! We are staying put in our house for the time being. I’ve been ordering things off amazon to entertain Ryleigh in hopes that she quits asking to go to “mall-mart”. Here’s to our health and that of our fellow Magicians! Hoping we’ll all be back to our happy place soon!

 

[k8einwdw]

Hi everyone! It’s crazy to think how much has changed since my last post! At this point in the TR, it’s usually “I’ve started packing” but not so much here (not that you would have read that here in the first place...habitual last minute packer). We leave in 36 days but as @Darstarr says “hopeful but not optimistic”. I keep flipping our countdown and making sure we have the things we need but I feel the actuality of the trip happening won’t be known until the last minute. We say we’re going to go until they tell us we can’t. My husband keeps reassuring me “we’re going this year...it just might not be at the time we thought.“ Totally fine until I realized Ryleigh will be 3 the end of June! Per a chat with a CM on WDW‘s site, they won’t honor her age for the original trip despite any closures being out of our control.

While all of this stinks, what’s more important is to stay healthy so we can go if it opens! We braved the masses and did a two week grocery order this past Friday. Ryleigh licked a (disinfected) Walmart shopping cart handle so we have that going for us Anyone else’s toddler start doing everything they warned us not to do as soon as they warned us not to?? I swear she can’t keep her fingers out of her nose and mouth these days! We are staying put in our house for the time being. I’ve been ordering things off amazon to entertain Ryleigh in hopes that she quits asking to go to “mall-mart”. Here’s to our health and that of our fellow Magicians! Hoping we’ll all be back to our happy place soon!

We’re booked around the same time as you guys, and I’ve booked a backup reservation for May just in case our April dates don’t work out. This whole situation is just so sad.

 

[MegRuss626]

We’re booked around the same time as you guys, and I’ve booked a backup reservation for May just in case our April dates don’t work out. This whole situation is just so sad.

My plan B is for 3 weeks later in May so she’ll still be 2. F&G will still be going on and I found similar dining reservations times and booked them. Plan C is to leave the day after her birthday because my husband already has that week off work. Hoping I can pass her off as 2 for a couple more days. I’m not usually a rule breaker...quite the opposite actually but I hate to have the added unexpected expense when we can’t control what’s going on

 

[k8einwdw]

My plan B is for 3 weeks later in May so she’ll still be 2. F&G will still be going on and I found similar dining reservations times and booked them. Plan C is to leave the day after her birthday because my husband already has that week off work. Hoping I can pass her off as 2 for a couple more days. I’m not usually a rule breaker...quite the opposite actually but I hate to have the added unexpected expense when we can’t control what’s going on

Sounds like we may be there at the same time either way! Our backup reservation is May 15th-20th.

 

[Darstarr]

Sooooo hoping April comes through! For both of us!!! (And anyone else out there)

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Here is hoping everything goes as planned for you!! It’s such a bad situation. We don’t leave until September which seems like it’s far enough away not to worry, but we also just found out our schools are cancelled until September! So you just never know. Fingers crossed that it ends very soon!

 

[NessNewt]

Fingers and toes crossed for you!

 

[MegRuss626]

Here is hoping everything goes as planned for you!! It’s such a bad situation. We don’t leave until September which seems like it’s far enough away not to worry, but we also just found out our schools are cancelled until September! So you just never know. Fingers crossed that it ends very soon!

No school until September!? Oh my! I’m joining you in hoping this all ends soon!

 

[MegRuss626]

For a little more salt in our magical wounds, this came in the mail this week...

Definitely not the emoji I ever thought I would include with that mail! And how about one more for the road...what’s one thing you wanted to do this trip and made it your mission to get there no matter what...Ample Hills you say....yeahh....about that....

Sent this screenshot to my husband accompanied with a four letter word that I’m not allowed to post here! (Hint...it rhymes with DUCK)

Still haven’t officially canceled but things seem to change by the hour in the world these days. Hope everyone is healthy and haven’t gone stir crazy yet!

 

[MegRuss626]

Well guys.....

My husband and I have been going back and forth on what to do for a few days. The unknown of everything was seriously taking away from the trip excitement we would normally be feeling at this point. Then there’s the rumors that if it opens soon, there could be limits to numbers of people in lines and restaurants plus possibly no fireworks and parades. Then they canceled the Star Wars run the weekend before our trip. After seeing how inexpensive flights are, we decided it was time. I emailed our travel agent and officially moved our trip

Our new dates are June 30th through July 4th. (No meeting up in April now @Darstarr unless you find yourself in Pittsburgh for some reason!) There have been strict instructions given to family members when we celebrate Ryleigh’s birthday on June 29th that no one is to mention the number 3! I’ve been researching for my little fib and most people said they’ve never had a CM question. One or two people said CMs will sometimes ask the child in a casual convo how old they are. Hence, the no #3 rule! I can only imagine how guilty my rule-following self will look every time we enter the park!

So that’s where we are! A summer trip that I said I would never do again after visiting in the fall/winter months. I am the weirdo in the minority....I prefer colder weather So feel free to share your cooling off tips. We’ve already got two stroller fans from our last trip. I’ve been researching the Frogg Toggs. And I remember from summer trips as a kid, midday breaks for rest and pool time at the hotel.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

If WDW is open in June your trip dates overlap with us.

 

[MegRuss626]

If WDW is open in June your trip dates overlap with us.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[Spash007]

Well guys.....
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My husband and I have been going back and forth on what to do for a few days. The unknown of everything was seriously taking away from the trip excitement we would normally be feeling at this point. Then there’s the rumors that if it opens soon, there could be limits to numbers of people in lines and restaurants plus possibly no fireworks and parades. Then they canceled the Star Wars run the weekend before our trip. After seeing how inexpensive flights are, we decided it was time. I emailed our travel agent and officially moved our trip

Our new dates are June 30th through July 4th. (No meeting up in April now @Darstarr unless you find yourself in Pittsburgh for some reason!) There have been strict instructions given to family members when we celebrate Ryleigh’s birthday on June 29th that no one is to mention the number 3! I’ve been researching for my little fib and most people said they’ve never had a CM question. One or two people said CMs will sometimes ask the child in a casual convo how old they are. Hence, the no #3 rule! I can only imagine how guilty my rule-following self will look every time we enter the park!

So that’s where we are! A summer trip that I said I would never do again after visiting in the fall/winter months. I am the weirdo in the minority....I prefer colder weather So feel free to share your cooling off tips. We’ve already got two stroller fans from our last trip. I’ve been researching the Frogg Toggs. And I remember from summer trips as a kid, midday breaks for rest and pool time at the hotel.

So sorry to hear, but we’ve pretty much made the same decision (but for October... ).

We had taken our daughter when she was less than a month away from 3, and nobody asked her age, even when she walked up to scan her band and started chatting with a CM. So you should be fine!

 

[MegRuss626]

So sorry to hear, but we’ve pretty much made the same decision (but for October... ).

We had taken our daughter when she was less than a month away from 3, and nobody asked her age, even when she walked up to scan her band and started chatting with a CM. So you should be fine!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed but almost everyone says it should be fine! October is a fun time!! Food and wine is a good time and the fall decor is gorgeous! Was your son able to get his tubes surgery in? Ryleigh’s was supposed to be this coming Tuesday but they called to cancel yesterday due to the coronavirus

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

We took my daughter for her actual 3rd birthday. We were celebrating her being 3 but she was still free because the day we arrived she was still 2. Disney said it was based on the first day of your trip but I was nervous. No one said a thing AND because she turned 3 we did Bippidi Bobbidi on her birthday and then she ate for free in the castle and nobody batted an eye So rest easy. You’ll be fine with your fib.

 

[Darstarr]

w dates are June 30th through July 4th. (No meeting up in April now @Darstarr unless you find yourself in Pittsburgh for some reason!)

sadly no Pittsburg for me. And I work a lot in the summer so no WDW for me either.
And a funny story: when my youngest was two we booked a trip for July with the extended fam (ie, lots on my mind since I was the planner). When I put my son’s age I wrote 2 totally forgetting his birthday is in June and by trip time he would be 3. I was too embarrassed to correct it once we got there. What kind of Mother forgets her son’s birthday?!?!?

 

[Spash007]

I’m keeping my fingers crossed but almost everyone says it should be fine! October is a fun time!! Food and wine is a good time and the fall decor is gorgeous! Was your son able to get his tubes surgery in? Ryleigh’s was supposed to be this coming Tuesday but they called to cancel yesterday due to the coronavirus

Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that! We got his done on Thursday, and the only change was they only let one parent into the building.