Because one new daughter wasn't enough!(Redux)...Sept 11-18 POR

[feezle]

Note: This is my first trip report. Hopefully it doesn't suck. I already posted it once but I didn't like how it started so I'm redoing it. If it seems familiar, that is why.


My daughter Addison was born in June of last year. The debate was on. How old would be ideal for her first WDW trip? We decided May of this year would be ideal. A home pregnancy test decided May would not be ideal...to go to Disney at least.

Fast forward to the present. We are booked for Sept 11-18. We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside in one of the Alligator Bayou rooms. As with most Disney trips, this one has been full of changes. At first, I had one of my co-workers, his girlfriend, and her son going with us. They flaked. Then it was going to be my sister and her boyfriend going with us. They ended up not being able to afford the trip.

Who made the final cut?

My wife and I:

We have been married for 3 years. I work for a software company in Youngstown, OH and she is a stay at home mom.We are both Disney lovers. I have been to Disney 4 times and she has been there 13. Having 2 children 11 months apart has taken its toll on both of us, but it has had much more of an effect on her since she is with them 24/7. What is the cure to being run down? We all know what that cure is. That is what we are counting on!

My mother:

My mother has never been to Disney. We plan on converting her into an obsessed Disney-maniac that spends her free time posting pre-trip reports on Disney forums. She only agreed to go because she wanted to be there for my daughter's first trip. She isn't convinced she will like it. I really hope she does because it will be really difficult to disown my mother. I hear there is a lot of paperwork involved.

Matt 'The Provisioning Tsar':

Matt is my co-worker. He got to go to Disney like 15 years ago thanks to Make a Wish. I was talking about the upcoming trip one day at work and he sounded interested so I invited him along. Why not? We have found that Matt will pretty much go along with anything. I quit running dining reservation changes past him because he doesn't care. He will go where we go. Nothing wrong with that!


And now....for the stars of our show!!!

Addison:

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This Mickey-Mouse-Clubhouse-obsessed 1 year old loves her daddy, fireworks, and cheese puffs. She is a singing(babbling) and dancing machine. Damn you IASW. Why must you be closed for this trip? I really cannot wait for her to see Mickey. I'm really hoping she isn't scared.

I'm guessing she won't be...

Lilly:

Lilly doesn't yet know what she likes. Lets just assume it will be Disney and her daddy.

Lilly will be 4 months old for her first trip to WDW. She is just getting over colic right now and we are hoping to be able to sleep while at Disney. That would definitely be a plus.

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Game Plan:

We have Free Dining. We will also be going to visit my grandmother on the Monday that we are there. This was originally a trip to go see Grandma and show her the babies, but as with all grandma trips, it has turned into a Disney trip with a side of grandma. Too bad she doesn't travel well anymore. We wouldn't have to go off property.

So anyway, our itinerary is pretty basic. We arrive at the best airport in the world around 10:30am on Saturday. We will be checking in and heading over to my Castle for a few hours that day.

Our park/TS schedule is as follows.

Sat: MK - Lunch at The Plaza.
Sun: Epcot - Dinner at Le Cellier
Mon: To Grandma's house we go. Depending on how long we are there, DHS EMH that night.
Tues: AK - Breakfast at Tusker House (pre-park opening)
Wed: MK - Dinner at Chef Mickey's
Thur: DHS - Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package
Fri: Epcot - Dinner at Coral Reef (if we can't get the new place in Italy booked instead.
Sat: MK - Breakfast at Crystal Palace (pre-park opening)

We will be flying back home around 6pm on Saturday.

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Aside from Crystal Palace, I have not eaten at any of these restaurants(my wife has eaten at CP, TH, and The Plaza). I am really excited about the food. This is our first trip on the free dining plan. Prior to this, there was a lot of eating off site and splitting meals. Aside from our trip to Grandma's on Monday, we will be enjoying the luxury of Disney Transportation and will not be leaving property.

Port Orleans Riverside. How did this come about? Well, we have 4 adults and 2 children. We didn't have a choice. That made my wife happy. She has stayed at Riverside before. I have only stayed on property twice (Saratoga and POP). I am not really excited about Port Orleans because it looks bland. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing. My wife has stayed almost everywhere on property. Port Orleans is one of her favorites. I trust her judgment. We are hoping for Yacht and Beach Club next trip.

I have a weird vibe about this trip. I am unbelievably excited, but I'm not sure what I'm excited for. There isn't anything in particular that I am excited to do this time around. I just want to be there. I want to walk around. I am of the mindset that I could go to Disney and not ride a single ride. Just walk around. That totally isn't going to happen and I know that my frame of mind will change when I get there, but for now, I would be content just sitting in the World Showcase and chilling.

I take that back. I am looking forward to playing with Addison in the leaping fountains. They better be turned on this time.


Let the countdown begin!

 

[feezle]

Updated initial post with better pics and more detail. Also removed much of the dry humor because I didn't like the tone it was setting. This is WDW after all.

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Subbing.

What a beautiful family you have. The picture of your daughter with the storm trooper is precious!

I think you should like POR. If memory serves they also have carriage rides there that you can take in the evening. If that doesn't appeal, I've heard good things about the beignet

 

[mousetravel]

My mother has never been to Disney. We plan on converting her into an obsessed Disney-maniac that spends her free time posting pre-trip reports on Disney forums. She only agreed to go because she wanted to be there for my daughter's first trip. She isn't convinced she will like it. I really hope she does because it will be really difficult to disown my mother. I hear there is a lot of paperwork involved.

Subbing!

 

[feezle]

Subbing.

What a beautiful family you have. The picture of your daughter with the storm trooper is precious!

I think you should like POR. If memory serves they also have carriage rides there that you can take in the evening. If that doesn't appeal, I've heard good things about the beignet

Thanks! That is actually me as the Stormtrooper. I'm usually Anakin but I decided to be different that day and wear my wife's armor.

Thanks to our hobby, Addison is pretty used to the costumes and Lilly is getting there.

Addison and "Uncle Vader".

Funny story about Uncle Vader, he and I are good friends and members of the 501st costuming group. His wife and my wife both got pregnant and were 3 weeks apart. We kept joking that it would be cool if they had the babies on the same day because then essentially, Vader would have his twins (I'm Anakin and he is Vader). Well, his wife ended up being late and mine ended up being early so they were born on the same day. They are refered to as the Vader Twins.

Addison and her crew at 2 wks old.

I hope I do like Port Orleans. I can't really see not liking anything on Disney property so I'm sure I'll be fine.

 

[ThePin Princess]

Subbing! The Vader Twins thing is so funny haha

 

[feezle]

Wake me up in 50 days.

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Welcome to you subscribers!

We hit our 45 day mark next week. We have to call in and pay for the rest of our trip. Not a problem, we have $400 in gift cards ready to go.

Lots to do before we go. We got the autograph books from Walgreens for the girls (and my mom ). I need to get to the Dollar Tree to pick up some glow bracelets one of these days.

I have $50 in gift cards for DisneyStore.com and have no idea what to spend them on. I'm running out of time so I better figure that out.

We both bought new crocs for the trip recently. I'm going to miss my Mickey Cayman's but they are getting worn out. But, considering the ones I bought were on sale for 1/4 the price I paid for those at Epcot, I'll deal with it. Anyone ever try using a punch tool to punch Mickey heads in non-Disney Crocs? What will I do without little sunburned Mickeys on the tops of my feet?

We need to get some clothes before we go too. Dani has been pregnant for virtually 2 years and maternity clothes aren't cutting it anymore. My clothes are just all worn out. The girls need some more Disney attire.

I really hope the girls behave during this trip. My dad just took us out to Olive Garden and Addison was so bad. She learned how to screech a couple months ago and she knows exactly when to do it. When we are in a quiet public setting. DDP isn't looking like such a good idea now.

*Mental note...pack duct tape*

She is usually pretty good though. I must say, we make cute babies.

Addy's birthday.

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I swear we didn't push Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on her. (Masters of the Universe may have been my fault...) She goes absolutely nuts when it comes on. Thank God for youtube and the iPhone.

 

[Ennazus8810]

Good start honey, and thanks for not making me sound totally out of my mind with the girls

Is is seriously only 50 days? I have so much to do!

 

[feezle]

I was bored today at lunch so I designed a shirt for our trip. I didn't have all of my pics with me so I used mainly stock images from google. If any of the pics belong to anyone here and they don't want me to use them, let me know.

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I'm probably going to change it around a bit but it's a start.

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Thanks! That is actually me as the Stormtrooper. I'm usually Anakin but I decided to be different that day and wear my wife's armor.

Thanks to our hobby, Addison is pretty used to the costumes and Lilly is getting there.

Addison and "Uncle Vader".

Funny story about Uncle Vader, he and I are good friends and members of the 501st costuming group. His wife and my wife both got pregnant and were 3 weeks apart. We kept joking that it would be cool if they had the babies on the same day because then essentially, Vader would have his twins (I'm Anakin and he is Vader). Well, his wife ended up being late and mine ended up being early so they were born on the same day. They are refered to as the Vader Twins.



I hope I do like Port Orleans. I can't really see not liking anything on Disney property so I'm sure I'll be fine.

That is so awesome! I looked into actually getting the storm tropper gear, but the start up was a little more than I was planning on. It's all very cool!

We are very familiar with 501st. We saw some of our chapter of 501st at the episode 3 premier along with Matthew Stover. Very cool!!

That's awesome about the "twins"!

It's hard not to like anything disney. Everything has its special perks.


Looking forward to reading the rest of your PTR!

 

[Ennazus8810]

Feezle's wife here, kids are sleeping so I had to report that I paid off the trip today 48 days until I feel "at home" again. It has been way to long!

 

[feezle]

Daddy, can we go see Mickey yet?

No sweetheart, we have 43 days to go.


As my wife said, the trip is paid off. Good thing because we are less than 45 days out!

We raided Walgreens and found some good clearance items. We got each of the girls one of the light up spinners......yes she is only going to be 4 months but she needs a light up spinner! They were marked down to $1.50. Addy got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one and Lilly got Tinkerbell. We also got Addison a Mickey head snap bracelet for $1. Throw in a couple of half off Mickey plates and bowls and I would say we did pretty well.

Did some clothes shopping for the trip as well. Getting very excited now!

Watched Toy Story 3 in preparation for the trip. We also watched the Travel channel's WDW special which I had on the DVR (5th time is a charm). Matt is coming over this weekend to watch Lilo and Stitch.

I saw that touringplans.com has their crowd calendar up a bit early and aside from 2 of the days, things look like they should be excellent. Even the days that it is recommending we don't go to the park we are going to, the crowd level isn't high.

That is all for now. Run across that ticker faster Mickey!

 

[feezle]

Got our Magical Express stuff yesterday!

Matt wasn't included...

I called this morning and they are sending us a new package.

I also got an ADR for Via Napoli to replace the Coral Reef. I hope that isn't a mistake.

I picked up a bunch of glow bracelets today as well.

Matt is coming over tomorrow for lasagna and Wall-E.

35 days.

 

[feezle]

Long time no update. We leave tomorrow! No sleep tonight!

No major changes since the last update.

We did decide to do the rental car thing. Got 2 mid-size cars for $86 each for the 8 days. It was going to cost ~$65 for the one day to go to my grandma's house anyway, so for the extra money, it will be well worth it to be able to go off site to get supplies and not have to wait for Disney transportation at park close with 2 cranky kids. 2 cars was $150 cheaper than a minivan, and we will save on gas going to my grandma's because we only have to take the one car. Would have been nice to be able to squeeze everyone into one car the whole time but with the luggage, nobody will fit in the trunk.

We also decided we can cram everything into carry on, instead of having to pay checked bag fees, so having the cars save money there.

Our flight leaves at 6:15 am and we arrive around 10:00. It is going to be a long and busy day. Toyed with the idea of not going to MK that day and just chilling at the resort/DTD. That would however make Epcot our first park and with so many people going for the first time, I just think that would mess up the mojo. So we are just going to take our time (after we rush to our first ADR ) and explore the park at a leisurely pace. Get on the rides with little or no wait and relax our first day there. I figure anything we get done that day is just something we don't necessarily have to do on our full day at MK.

Very excited. I think Addison is too, she just doesn't know why yet.

Mickey Ice Cream Bars....here she comes!

 

[Disneychix]

Just found your PTR!! You leave tomorrow!! Have fun
Awesome deal on the car rentals! Please post a TR when you come home from the Magic!

 

[loritemp]

Just found your PTR!!! You have to post a TR when you get home! Can't wait to hear how the girls liked it. We are planning to take our DS2 when he is 3 months old so I will be looking for some advice

Oh and your family is absolutely beautiful!!!! And I feel the same way about Disney, I can just walk around and people watch and soak it all in and be happy, rides are just icing on the cake!

Safe travels! Enjoy!!

 

[feezle]

Thanks everyone! Will definitely post a TR when we get back. 16 hours 2 minutes til we go! So much to do.

 

[feezle]

Wide awake and ready to roll!