Meet the Millers.... all about Pandora

dawne98

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
HI and :welcome: to our pre-trip to WDW all for Animal kingdom opening of Pandora world of Avatar.

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This is my wonderful husband Vernard and me Dawn we live just less then a hour away from WDW :figment:
We have two amazing princess: daughters Victoria aka Tori who is our oldest and a senior in high school
May 30 is her
graduation day :yay:
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Our little one is Madeline aka Maddie ; she's our horse loving , hunter jumper 3rd grader 9 year old and loves her Duffy the Disney bear she has had him for years he has been on many trips with us to Disney!
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So how did this trip come about?

After a few weeks for talking about what to do for a family vacation.
DISNEY WORLD is where everyone wanted to go!

Okay I need give you more info on why Disney?
My husband had never gone to Disney as a kid and his 1st time to have anything to do with Disney was 4 years ago when we went to Disney on ice, then still no parks we went on a Disney cruise the Wonder in 2014.
Then in 2015 we moved up from Miami to central FL :beach:

It was then that we did a little WDW. We would go to Disney springs for lunch at less once a month and we had a great time doing that. Then in May of last year we Surprised the girls with Epcot!
It's then we got the Epcot after 4 pm passes.
(we also have passes for Seaworld and Aquatica so that's why we didn't get the 4 parks pass then).
Knowing that we wanted to up our WDW pass and drop Seaworld and Aquatica.
Choosing Disney was a no brainer ...

So when I heard that Avatar land was going to open on May 27 that's when I looked into getting a room for Animal Kingdom Kidani village Friday May 26 to Sunday May 28 NO ROOMS!
So we went on the wait list and last week we got it!

After getting the room you know what happens... all the fun of planning the trip!

2nd thing I did was book our ADR's....
The room we have booked is just a studio, if we had a one bedroom I would NOT get the DDP.
However with just a two night stay and it's our family vacation so that means I don't have to cook or clean!

When Tori was little we ( Tori ,my mom, my dad, and I )
would go to WDW once a year.
ON our 1st night we would have dinner at 1900 Park Fare. I wanted to add that tradition
IT's because of our yearly trips that way my dad become a DVCM. That's also how we get our rooms at Disney. My mom say's "Disney isn't her thing anymore!":worried:

I booked a early dinner on Friday for 4:30 PM at 1900 Park Fare I LOVE the Strawberry soup!
I was looking at the parks hours and saw that Magic Kingdom is going to be open until 9 PM and have the new Firework show Happily Ever After pixiedust: after dinner we'll go hung out and see the fireworks before going back and getting in our sleep because on Saturday we'll get up 6:00 am!!!!

Then for Saturday at Animal Kingdom day I have Tusker house booked for 1 pm.
I told my husband I just really want to see the new land and I'm NOT getting my hopes too high on getting on the rides in Avatar land. After all we all know how long the wait was for one ride in Epcot Frozen!
Still hard to get a Fast pass for and still over a hour wait with out a fast pass.
( we have only been on it 2 times the 1st time only because we had a room booked and the other we waited in line at the end of the night; my husband still hasn't gone on it!)

Next thing to do is our fast passes. We have to wait until the 26 .... The wait is long!!!!

I look forward to letting you know more about The Millers!
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I'll join in! You have a beautiful family and I can't wait to read about your plans. I'm also so excited for Pandora to open!
 
I may need to change one of my ADRs to 1900 Park Fare now. I had strawberry soup once on a Carnival Cruise a very long time ago. Loved it! Will be reading along with your beautiful family.
 


IT's Spring Break!
Friday was the 1st day and I had to work 10 am- 6 pm. We did go out to the movies we have a $2.00 movie theater (LOVE IT). Last weekend we saw Moana so cute! Tori told me it's her favorite Disney movie now.
Yesterday I also had to work 10 am- 6 pm. After work we went to Church so I could sleep in today...
SO TODAY we are playing it by ear... the weather report said "rain". We have planed to go to Epcot. :figment: I love Flower and Garden show, I hope the rain is going to stay away.
I was looking at the food & drinks they have and I have to say I do enjoy Moscato I am looking forward to trying Island Grove Blueberry Moscato. Tori, Maddie and I LOVE Potato pancakes so this is a must try Potato Pancakes with House-made Apple Sauce.
At the Garden Rocks Concert Pointer Sisters – “I’m So Excited:flower1:

I would love to get a look at the topiaries. I have a love for butterflies I'll sure to walk through The Butterflies on the Go garden.
Last year when we purchase the Epcot after 4 pm it was at the end of May. Where able to enjoy a few things like the butterfly garden.epcot.jpg


  • I'm also going to ask if we can up grand our passes now "if" we can I don't know what park we'll go to? :earboy2:

Our plan for the week is
Monday & Tuesday I work :sad:
Monday to Thursday Maddie is going to a riding clinic
Wednesday Tori & I are going to Seaworld
Thursday To Disney
Friday to Daytona Beach for a beach day!
Saturday & Sunday I am working again :sad1:

Losing a hour of sleep has like :crazy:
Have a great day!
 
Looks like an exciting week ahead - except for that work stuff lol

We went and saw the butterflies while we were there last week, it really is a cute little set up
 


SOOOOO Spring break was more like WINTER BREAK! It was so cold that they closed the water parks at Disney and Seaworld!
Thursday Tori my husband and I ended up at Epcot for the evening! It was a good time and good food....


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Sorry I can't find the book with the names of everything we eat but I'll get to it and input the info.


After Spring break my husband went to see his mom and help her out in Vegas.... his flight home was late not in until almost 1 am so I booked a room in Orlando. Am so happy I did because his flight was on time but we waited until almost 2 AM for his luggage!
The next day we went to lunch at Disney Springs at
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it was so GOOOOOOD!
After lunch we went to see about getting our Disney passes upgraded and to renew them.
We where able to upgrade from Epcot after 4pm to all 4 parks ::MickeyMo Now we still had time to go into a park so we went to DHS. Then that Sunday the girls and I went to Magic Kingdom!

Now last week was a hard week...
At the end of the year I was told I needed a breast biopsy. It has been two years from the time it 1st showed up on a monogram then for the next 6 months I had to have it done and by the end of last years it showed it growing and with out a biopsy we wouldn't know for sure if it was cancer. SO last Tuesday I had the biopsy and Friday I was told it was NOT cancer! Needless to say we had to celebrate so my husband told me to get dress and get ready to go out! We picked up Maddie from school and soon after that we where walking down Main ST USA!
We had a great time!

I have been working on our trip to AK also.... I need to go for now but
I'll let you in on this one
Saturday May 27 EMH 7am to 8am and then 11PM to 1 am!

 
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Maddie loved her time at the horse clinic here's a few photo's of her doing what she LOVES!
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Okay

We're not doing the DDP because Disney passholders get discounts at a few dining locations. BUT the real reason for NOT going with the DDP si because....
we're going on a Disney Cruise next April!
My brother in law is from Australia and his family is going on a Disney Cruise and they asked if we could make this a big family trip! So we're using the money from the DDP for our down payment.

This is what I am thinking of doing...

Friday
Have breakfast on the way to Disney World at Cracker Barrel (it's a family tradition )
When we lived in Miami we would stop on the way up. Then we moved up to central FL we go only if we're going to stay the night at Disney.

Lunch: nothing because we'll still be full from breakfast

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Dinner: we're going to use the BBQ grill to grill
hot dogs and have
chips with dip, vegs with dip, fruit with dip, and cookies

Saturday
Breakfast in the room bangles with veg cream cheese and fruit ( thinking of getting OJ in the little boxes.)

Lunch We'll have lunch at the QS Yak and Yeti we loved it the last time we went in 2013!

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Dinner
back at
the resort and have my husband grill hamburgers and we'll have the same sides as the night-before BTW my Husband LOVES to grill!

Sunday
breakfast same as Saturday to eat it all up it's check out day :(

late lunch or early dinner
we'll eat at Flame Tree BBQ before going home :(

If anyone has any other ideas I would love the input....

We're in a studio at Animal Kingdom Kidani village, if anyone has used the BBQ grills let me know how it was... thanks


 
A few of my friends at work that are Disney pass holders are going to be able to go into Pandora for two hours on Saturday in a few weeks!
We where not so lucky, however Animal Kingdom is haveing a
Party for the Planet this weekend so I got our Fast passes for It's tough to be a bug, dinosaur and Kali River Rapids.... my husband has never been to Animal Kingdom
I am excited for him and ME lol

 
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Sunday was Family fun day!
We went to Animal Kingdom!
They had a "party for the planet!"
The last time we ( Tori , Maddie, my dad and I) was for the DVC last Sept. We had a SO much fun! then and on Sunday!
This was my husband 1st time at AK and he told me it is his favorite park... his a "animal guy"... This was also Maddie's 1st time going on the BIG rides!
We went on Dinosaur ( am too old for that) I was DONE! Never going on that again! But Maddie and my husband loved it! This can be a ride the two of them can enjoy!
We had lunch at the QS Yak and Yit LOVED IT!
Then we went on Kali River Rapids and YES we are so LUCKY can you say "SOAK!!!!!" Maddie didn't want to get off the ride lol
We ended the evening going on Kilimanjaro Safaris....
I too have to say AK is one of my favorite!
The photo of the day was one where a kid photo bomber lol
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anyone know that kid? LOL
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Next Tuesday is Disney Hollywood Studio for Tori's 19th birthday celebration!
Dinner at Sci fi dine in theater!
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Am off tomorrow then I work until Tuesday and it's going to be long hours!
 
Okay we have had a lot going on!
Last Saturday Maddie was in her 1st BIG horse show and she did great two 2nd and one 5th!
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Then Sunday we ended up at Animal Kingdom again to meet up with a good friend from JR high!
We had a lot of fun and she thanked me for being her tour guide lol
Then on Wednesday we went to Magic kingdom to see Wishes!
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we have only 11 days to go!
 
On Friday the 19 it was Tori's last day of school! My best friend and her family where at Disney world so we meet up with them at Epcot! We went on a few rides and then to dinner in Mexico QS. My husband and my best friends husband went to the tequila bar while the kids and mom's went on the ride.... next time it's going to be the other way around!
In the photo is my husband,me, Maddie, my best friend mother in law and my best friends son then my best friend and her little one and Tori...
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Her big day is May 30 Tuesday....
It's going to be a crazy week
Friday is the last day of school for Maddie!
We pick her up from school and on our way to Walt Disney world FRIDAY get here NOW!
2 nights and 3 days at Disney world!
Then on Monday get things together for Tori's graduation, the graduation is at UCF then we'll go to the Sugar Factory in Orlando for dinner...
Then Thursday we are going to house set for family in Daytona beach until Sunday....
So it's going to be fun and crazy!
I can't wait!
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It never gets old!
 
We had a great time!
One thing that happen was Saturday night I wasn't feeling too good, by Sunday my throat was hurting and on Monday I was at the ER finding out I had Strep throat the day before Tori's graduation day and I could only go to the ER because it was Memorial day.


Lets get to the fun....
Day one Friday May 26

I drooped off Maddie at school because it was her last day of 3rd grd!
Then off to the grocery store after that we packed up the car and picked up Maddie from school!
It was about 11 am ( just a hour later then I wanted ) our 1st stop was to eat breakfast...
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Cracker Barrel!
Soon we saw this... I love seeing this it makes my heart happy!
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next we where at
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The room wasn't ready yet and Vernard and I had gone out the night before and just out a little late all we wanted to do was rest! Tori and Maddie went to the pool and Vernard and I ended up going to a DVC sale and ended up with 3 fast passes each! Our room still wasn't ready so we went to the pool to meet up with our daughters... we order a few drinks, on New Years eve I had Crown Royal apple for the 1st time so I order a drink with that in it.... it was OKAY...
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by the time we had finish our drinks our room was ready!

Loved our room location... we where right over the bus stop walk way, I had ask for a room close to the pool or bus stop... worked out great!
I have to say we missed having a one bedroom!
We cooked hot dogs before going to the park that night... we where told that Friday 8am-2pm they had opened up Pandora for those staying at a Disney resort...
After eating dinner we all got dress for the night and we went to AK we had a FP for The Dinosaur ride and River of lights...


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I had picked up the mama bear and papa bear tops at JCP and we where complement on them a lot....
We are AK!
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Maddie had been asking for the little mermaid bubble thing for a few months she had saved up $50 so the 1st things she gets it that!
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So Vernard went and got a few bubbles for himself lol
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I need to end for now but I'll get the 1st day done soon... have a great day!
 
Friday night AK we had a few FP and one was for the River of Lights night show. We hadn't seen it and I was looking forward to the show!
The FP was great no waiting in line! We did get a few things to drink and eat (popcorn bucket).
We loved the show ( I cried)! It's the best show I think in WDW right now, but I haven't seen the new fireworks show at MK yet....
After
the show we went back to the room so we would be ready for tomorrow opening day of Pandora!
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Saturday opening day of Pandora!
No we didn't get up at 3 AM to get in line... it was about 10 AM when we arrived at AK. The line to get in Pandora at that time was by Rain forest cafe! We had a few FP and we went off and enjoyed our time in the rest of the park.
We did go back to the room after getting soaked on the Kali River Rapids! Maddie and I went to the pool and my DD and DH went down for a nap. Maddie and I also got a nap in after the pool.
We cooked dinner in the room after dinner and shower and dressing for the night we went back to AK for EMH until 1 AM!
We enjoyed a few rides before we went over to Pandora... I was looking forward to seeing Pandora at night! Words or photo's can't say just how amazing Pandora is at night! We didn't go on any rides lines still to long for me to wait in so we did get in two lines our DD's got in one line for the gift shop, yes a line for the gift shop and my DH and I got in the one for drinks!
Maddie wanted to get a Banshee and I wanted to get a opening day pin so we did! We heard that they sold out of the Banshee that night....
The drinks we got at Pongu Pongu
Night blossom the girls loved it!
Mo'ara margarita in a Souvenir mug with a glowing seed it was so good!
MY DH got the green beer!
We also got a few things to eat at Satu'li canteen
A Beef bowl, pods one cheeseburger and veg curry, chicken bowl and chocolate cake... a few more drinks Pandora sunrise a dreamwalker and I hated it! After that it was time to go I wasn't feeling to good and it was pass 1:30 AM! We'll be back at AK in the afternoon to ride the Na'vi river because we have a FP!

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It was also the 1st time Maddie went on Expediton Everest! She loved it!

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Maddie with her Banshee
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Going home day! BUT not before going back to AK for our FP for Na'vi river and then over to Epcot for dinner and a few rides!
Pandora in the day is just as wonderful as night!
We walked around and lets just say I have a more then a few photo's of Pandora!
It was time for our FP we went right on the ride!
I didn't take any photo's because I wanted to enjoy the ride and I did! We all did!
Just one thing I wish it had more setting around the park so you could just relax and enjoy the scenery, other then that it was great!
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Our view for dinner!
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all in all it was a great weekend getaway and we can't wait to go back in August!
 

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