Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[RGirl]

I made it....finally!!

You know I'm excited to hear every little detail of y'alls trip!

Welcome Amanda! It's great to see you here.

Hahaha...you sound like me with all the changing. I can never decide on a resort

I'm convinced that changing things a million times is half the fun of a Disney vacation!

Who is this crazy Shannon person who is trying to force DxDP on everyone? Seriously, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on some of the restaurants. I do hope you enjoyed it!

If you ever need to get a POR fix, let me know I have 100s of photos of it. I love BWI, I think you made the right choice

I still can't believe I went from never doing a dining plan at all straight to deluxe!

No way I would miss it!!!

Yep...FW again, but just for a few nights before the big trip. Since Bill can't get off work until Friday, we'll head down on a Tuesday or Wednesday and just hang out at FW and enjoy all the activities there. The kids love the golf carts, pool, fishing, etc. My parents are going with us again, too. We're trying to get a 2 bedroom villa through Davids Rentals for the remainder of the trip....we'll see what happens.

Can't wait to see how you liked the DxDP!! We've always loved it...works well with the signature restaurants and character dining.

Looking forward to more!!!!
Heather

Oh, that will be so fun! I really need to do a trip where we actually have non-park days planned. Actually, I bet we would really enjoy things a lot more if I did that. Hmmmm

Which resort are you thinking for the villa?

Good for you on doing the deluxe dining....couldn't agree more when it comes to character meals, it makes more sense and you get more meals....sounds perfect to me!

It really did make financial sense, which truly surprised me. But we are big into character dining, so that makes a huge difference, as you know. I was also hoping that it would help with getting us out of the heat pretty regularly each day.

Deluxe Dining! I can't wait to hear all about it! Sounds delicious!

Changes, changes, changes....it seems like every time I read PTRs and TRs here on the DIS that change is a common theme. Changing of ADRs, changing of resorts, changing of dates. I think that I am the ONLY one here that makes a plan and doesn't change. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong.

I'm so jealous...a week and Disney AND a week on a Disney Cruise....sounds just divine. I hope that one day I am able to make a Disney Cruise a reality. Can't wait to read more!

That's so funny! I can't imagine being able to avoid making changes. Of course, I do start planning a trip a year or so before it happens, so I need something to do to make the time pass! I'm terrible when it comes to ADRs - sometimes I change them just for the sake of changing them!

I hope you can go on a Disney cruise one day - they are just wonderful.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Joining! Can't wait to hear about it.

What?! Shannon trying to push DDP on you! Shocking!

Love you Shan!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Just found your report! Looks like tons of fun and can't wait to read more!

 

[WildGinger]

Can't wait for more! Your daughter is so cute!

 

[RGirl]

Joining! Can't wait to hear about it.

What?! Shannon trying to push DDP on you! Shocking!

Love you Shan!

Welcome! Right??? Do you think she gets a commission from Disney???

Just found your report! Looks like tons of fun and can't wait to read more!

Welcome! Thanks so much for joining in!

Can't wait for more! Your daughter is so cute!

Thanks! More coming up very soon.

 

[RGirl]

Counting Down and Packing Up​

So DD and I have a countdown tradition that we do prior to Disney trips. It changes a little every time, but the concept is always the same. She gets to pull off a card each day, and some of them have clues to a present for the trip. I went a little insane (okay, a LOT insane ) this year and bought far too many trip presents - I was just really excited about getting back to WDW! Anyway, we started our countdown several months before the trip because there were some presents that I wanted her to be able to use all summer (like flip flops and such). I simplified from our usual countdown calendar to a simple ring with Mickey heads to pull off. Every Mickey head with a patterned paper had a clue on the back. Here’s what it looked like:

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You get the idea - pretty basic but served our purposes. Finally that never-ending ring of Mickey heads was down to single digits, and we were getting excited! The packing needed to be started, and I did get a little done the preceding weekend before we were to leave. But by the day before the trip, I was in a panic! We were going to be gone for two weeks on two pretty much completely different vacations - I had a lot of packing to do!!!

I only worked a half day the day before we were to leave, so that helped. I left work at about 10:45 (yep - that was a half day since I had started at 6:45 ). The first thing we had to do when I got off work was pack up our dog, swing by the vet for a quick vaccination, and then drive him to a nearby town where he would be kenneled. Just like last year, he refused to turn around for this particular picture.

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But here he is with DD as we told him “See Ya Real Soon!” Actually, you can’t see him all that well here either since he was so excited to be at the Doggy Hotel.

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Here is one from the night before - DD realized that she wasn’t going to be seeing Bubba (his name is Oscar, but she always calls him Bubba) for a long time and was trying to get in as many snuggles with him as possible.

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Then we raced home, me panicking about all the packing I still had to do, knowing that DD had an appointment at the hair salon in just a couple of hours. Miraculously, I managed to finish packing (3 GIANT suitcases and a variety of carry-ons) before DD’s appointment! I couldn’t believe it. I think maybe I got more done that preceding weekend than I thought. DD always gets tinsels in her hair before a Disney vacation - just something we did once and keep doing! Here she is at the salon. (Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I have a picture where you can really see the tinsel - maybe it will show up in one of the pics during the trip.)

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Oh wait! You can kind of see one of the tinsels in this pic.

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After that, we went home painted toe nails, ordered pizza (since we had cleared out the fridge), watched a movie and tried to get to sleep early because we were going to have a VERY early morning.

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Up Next: Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End

 

[shan23877]

Joining! Can't wait to hear about it.

What?! Shannon trying to push DDP on you! Shocking!

Love you Shan!

Welcome! Right??? Do you think she gets a commission from Disney???

Love you too Danielle! And, if you'd like I could sketch out possible ADR for your next trip to show you how to best take advantage of DxDP!

Ohhh! Maybe I should contact them! Commission would be quite nice!

 

[shan23877]

Love everything about this one, the cute dog pics, cute toes, and the fact that you'll be arriving in Disney soon!

 

[Rubygoose]

Following along. Still haven't finished reading your other cruise report yet, but really enjoying it.

I LOVE Willow's Mary Poppins outfit!

 

[RGirl]

Love everything about this one, the cute dog pics, cute toes, and the fact that you'll be arriving in Disney soon!

Thanks babe! It seems like it is taking us forever to get to WDW, doesn't it? Still desperately trying to organize and upload pics and then waiting for the PP+ CD still as well.

Following along. Still haven't finished reading your other cruise report yet, but really enjoying it.

I LOVE Willow's Mary Poppins outfit!

Hey there! So glad you decided to join in. And I'm glad you are enjoying the Alaska TR - that was a great trip.

Thanks! A friend of mine made that dress for her - she wore it on her 5th birthday and had soooo much fun with Mary and Bert.

 

[RGirl]

Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End

Last I left off, we were trying to get to bed early in anticipation of a very early morning. Since our dog who normally sleeps in Willow’s room had already been trucked off to the kennel, I let Willow sleep with me, which was thrilling for her.

We live in a very small town. So we have a very small airport. There are two flights out per day on one airline. Because of this, we had to get up very early - I believe it was exactly 4:23AM. I said, “We’re going to Disney World!” And Willow, slightly dazed, said, “NOW????” I said, “Yes!” and she was up faster than I have ever seen her, yelling and running around like a crazy person.

We got ready and finished loading up the car and were soon heading to the airport. As you can see, we were in the car and ready to head out a little after 5AM!

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And we arrived at the airport a little before 5:30. We had kind of a lot of stuff:

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I don’t think I have mentioned yet how much DD loves meeting characters and getting autographs. Well, for some reason, earlier this year, I lost my mind and decided to make her unique autograph pages for this trip. It was a simple enough idea; I had just gotten a Cricut, so I was basically scrapbooking pages for autographs. However, as time went on, I made the task more and more complicated - trying to match the outfits that the characters wear in each meeting place/restaurant, making sure that we had a page for every character every place they meet, etc. I had lost my ever-loving mind. I mention this now because I am pretty sure that, had I not taken on this project, we would have had one fewer suitcase.

It was a little challenging getting everything from the parking lot into the terminal, but not at all as stressful as it would have been at a normal sized airport. Basically, I would move two bags a short distance, have Willow stand with them, run back and move another two bags, and so forth and so on until we were in the check-in line. Check-in was easy and quick - I was glad I had weighed each of the checked bags and avoided any last-minute rearranging to avoid obese luggage.

Soon we were hanging out waiting for our flight. Someone was excited despite the early hour!

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Our flight left right on time - 6:20, I believe. Willow was excited to do her new Pinkalicious sticker book.

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But in the end, on this short 1-hour flight to Seattle, she mostly just basked in the glory of finally being on vacation, enjoyed her snack (leftover pizza) and juice and marveled at the mountains we were flying over (she was calling them Fudge Mountain from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory):

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I was SO HAPPY to get some coffee!

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Willow LOVES food pics, so she wanted to make sure there was a picture of the cookie she received:

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I tried to get a pic of Willow’s Fudge Mountain, but it didn’t come out that well:

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Someone was still really happy!

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Up Next: Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

 

[shan23877]

You may have lost your mind, but I bet those autograph pages are amazing!

Cute, cute, cute happy girl!

So glad that the luggage schlepping wasn't as bad as you anticipated!

 

[wiigirl]

So cute!

 

[chattadisser]

An OCD scrapbooker...a girl after my own heart!

I just found your TR and I'm joining in! I can't wait to read about your character meals and the cruise.

Christine

 

[rpcvpanama]

Joining in, can't wait to hear how the trip turned out!!

 

[RGirl]

You may have lost your mind, but I bet those autograph pages are amazing!

Cute, cute, cute happy girl!

So glad that the luggage schlepping wasn't as bad as you anticipated!

It makes a big difference to be at a tiny airport with virtually no other people. If I had had to deal with all that luggage at somewhere like O'Hare, I would have cried.

So cute!

Thanks!

An OCD scrapbooker...a girl after my own heart!

I just found your TR and I'm joining in! I can't wait to read about your character meals and the cruise.

Christine

I definitely have some OCD issues. I had never done a scrapbook in my life and then somehow ended up buying a Cricut - it all just spiraled into crafting craziness from there!

Thanks so much for joining! I hope you will enjoy it - I can't wait to share our two weeks of Disney fun!

Joining in, can't wait to hear how the trip turned out!!

Thanks! I hope you will enjoy reading about our trip and hanging out here on my little TR.

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Aww Willow is so adorable! She sure is happy to be on the airplane!

 

[RGirl]

Aww Willow is so adorable! She sure is happy to be on the airplane!

Thanks so much! She sure was excited.

 

[RGirl]

Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

Our flight landed in Seattle right on time, and we took the little train to the proper terminal. Unfortunately, there were no good food options there - I had been hoping to find something we could purchase to take on the plane since the food options once on a plane are not great and we would be traveling pretty much all day. I was a little concerned, but what can you do? We would just have to purchase something during the flight.

We thought we might grab something at Starbucks at least, but the line looked like the one outside TSMM during Spring Break (or at least how I would imagine that line looking during Spring Break). We gave up on that plan too. Instead, we found a seat and just rested - we were starting to feel the effects of getting up so early!

Our good plane karma continued, and this one was actually on time to start boarding. But they were trying something new - they kept making announcements about it. They were boarding the front and back of the plane at the same time and then also letting on people who weren’t going to put things in the overhead before regular passengers traveling with actual carry-on bags. Basically, it resulted in pretty much everyone except us just boarding the plane whenever they felt like it. It was not terribly effective, but we had decent seats, and despite a sold-out flight and being among the last to get on the dang plane, there was still room in the overhead compartment for the one bag that we don’t stash at our feet. Pretty good!

DD was still feeling pretty happy!

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We had a super-fun Melissa and Doug meal sticker book with us, and we took turns creating meals during the pre-electronics portion of the flight. Soon, however, Willow was chilling with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I was powering up my Kindle to start the reading portion of my vacation (I really only ever seem to have time to read on vacation, so I love the moment that I first get to start a vacation book).

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Alaska actually has a pretty decent for-purchase snack menu. Here are some of the offerings:

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We shared the cheese and fruit plate, which was quite nice. I did purchase one or two of the other snacks, but we never got around to eating them! I really thought that we would be more hungry over a 5.5 hour flight.

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The flight was pretty uneventful - just the way I like ‘em! However, has anyone else ever noticed the way people seem to forget completely that other people are sitting in the seats on planes??? You know, like when someone is walking down the aisle to the bathroom and just yanks on the seat tops while going by as though they have no idea that people are sitting in those seats? Well, the woman behind me, grabbed onto the top of my seat when she was getting up, and I swear to you, she ripped out a huge hunk of my hair!

Luckily, that was the only trauma. Miracle of miracles, Willow even took a nap on the plane, which is virtually unheard of for her.

Up Next: Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

 

[shan23877]

I would have gone for the cheese plate too! Looks like Alaskan has nice planes as well as nice snack options. Thank goodness since you had to spend the whole day on the plane.

Yay for books and naps!