My not-so-secret "surprise" trip June 9-15 About This Page:

[debic]

Sounds like a great trip!

[mfirst]

After a few more phone calls, I "think" I have our final ADR list - with a few changes (no surprise there, right?). Because we are driving, and have had a crazy mild winter - we've only had...4 inches of measurable snow fall so far, and it's February 2nd!!!! It's actually 50 outside right now !. There aren't any snow days to be made up - unlike this time last year when the district had used 6 (we used a total of 9 by the end of winter) at this point. Anyway - because we haven'd had to use any calamity days, school should get out on time - May 30th this year. Which means...we're adding a couple of days to the front of our trip!!!

We don't have a hotel booked...yet. We're still trying to decide between heading to the Atlantic Coast (Melbourne Beach) for a couple of relaxing beach days. My Uncle has a condo that we could use for pretty cheap...or staying at a hotel near Orlando and taking the kids to Legoland for a day.

Because we've decided to do this, we've tweaked our arrival day a bit:
6/9 ADR - my husband's one and only dining request, so I have to honor it: The Captain's Grill at the Yacht Club. Our ADR's are for 6:45, but we figure that this will give us enough time to check in, explore the resort, etc. After dinner, we plan on walking around the Boardwalk area for a bit before heading back for the night.
6/10 - Still our DHS day with the lunch resie at Hollywood & Vine
6/11 - we have a 4:00 resie at T-Rex - we'll be going mainly for appetizer/desert, paying for this OOP. When I called about their food allergy policies, I was left with the feeling that there may not be many options for my youngest two... After this, we'll probably hang out & explore DTD a bit.
6/12 - 5:00 show for Hoop Dee Doo, category 2 seating
6/13 - The Garden Grill for dinner
6/14 Crystal Palace (I found a way to fit it in )

I ate at the Gareden Grill a really long time ago - before it was a character meal, around the year or so after it first opened. I don't remember the food, but I do remember the restaraunt moved as the meal progressed. Crystal Palace is a repeat (and favorite of the family from last trip). I'd been to Hoop Dee Doo before, but it's new for everyone else in the family. The rest of the restaraunts will be "firsts" for us.


Now, I just need to find my packing lists from the last trip so I can start "stocking up" on items we'll need.

[shnewell]

How exciting that you get to add on a couple of extra days!

Your ADRs sound great. I hope you enjoy GG. On our recent trip, I ate there for the first time in probably 20 years. It was pretty good, especially the fish. And the character interaction was fantastic there!

[mfirst]

More tweaking and I STILL can't find the packing list...now it's time for a couple of decisions:

We've already decided to add on to the beginning of our vacation - no snow day = school gets out May 30th Of course - this mild winter (9 inches of snow total so far and it's mid-February) just means we'll probably be covered in snow next winter...

Anyway, we have several options:
My uncle's condo in Melbourne Beach - we could stay there essentially free (just have to pay for the cleaning crew $100). The boys might like to hang out at the beach, but is the condo kid proof enough to handle my crew?

Staying at a cheaper "off sight" hotel for a couple of days and visiting Lego land

Adding an extra night to our existing reservation - or staying at POP for one night prior to our package at POR.

soo many decisions - I'm actually leaning toward staying for a night at POP - I've always wanted to, and I think we could handle it for one night...plus this would help build in an "off day" for us during the POR stay.

After checking with my Uncle on the condo dates - that's out as an option because his neighbors will be using it for the first two weeks in June...so, now I'm back to Disney or non-Disney.

I've also ordered Scrip cards for T-REX and Disney from my son's school - they get a % and I've started building up our "fund" for tips and souveniers. The T-REX cards will actually be used for our app/desert meal.

For now, Disney is going to take a bit of a back seat (though I will continue trying to decide where we should stay for our "tack on days") as we head off for a long weekend in Cleveland...we're taking the boys to the new aquarium there. My parents bought us an annual pass - which is awesome because I'll be able to use it at other zoos for discounted admission. It also will entitle us to four tickets to the Boonshoft Children's Mueseum in Dayton .

[LouigiAnne]

Love the sounds of your TR already. When do you plan to let the boys in on the planning?? Isn't your oldest wanting to surprise you for your birthday? Later as your visit gets closer Maybe dad should ask if he would like to add afew other surprises or plans in for his brothers too?

[Haleyboo99]

ADR sounds fantastic! Great start!

[mfirst]

Originally Posted by LouigiAnne

Love the sounds of your TR already. When do you plan to let the boys in on the planning?? Isn't your oldest wanting to surprise you for your birthday? Later as your visit gets closer Maybe dad should ask if he would like to add afew other surprises or plans in for his brothers too?

My husband and I have had discussion after discussion - because I want him to let the oldest in on it so he could help plan things, but my husband wants to keep it a surprise as long as we can. I think he's watched too many You tube videos of "surpise we're going to Walt Disney World" nature, LOL.
He figures we'll be able to get them all in the car and mostly on our way before Nolan figures things out...then he'll let him in on it, as long as he promises not to tell his brothers. I keep pointing out that it's supposed to be a surprise for me, and it would make more sense if he let Nolan help "plan out" the trip route we take to get there, etc and I pretend to be really surprised. If we go this route, he'd tell Nolan as soon as school lets out at the end of May and would take him to AAA to pick up our trip tick, and let him help pack "car activities" etc.

[mfirst]

Originally Posted by Haleyboo99

ADR sounds fantastic! Great start!

Thanks! Now if I could just find out where I stashed my packing lists so I don't have to make all new ones

[LouigiAnne]

Sounds Like a Great Plan to bring in Nolan after schools out !! Less time for a little slip about his BIG SURPRISE!!! Enjoy your packing and Planning!!

[mfirst]

It's funny the things kids remember! Driving to school this morning, my oldest said he couldn't wait until this weekend. His dad promised to put new batteries in his "light saver" and he heard it was going to be warm enough to "practice his jedi skills" on Saturday. The picture is the light saver that he bought in WDW in 2010, and it was taken last summer.

Nolan is six, going on seven. Currently, his favorite characters are Anakin Skywalker and....Darth Vader because "he's a good guy since he saves electricity"

He's a great big brother and constantly cheers on his youngest brother (who has been diagnosed with a speech delay). In fact, his patience constantly amazes me. Tonight, he had reading homework and he sat on the couch and read to Cullen (the youngest) and then helped Cullen "read" by showing him how to move his finger under each word. It didn't bother him that Cullen never made a sound, he was just content to spend time with him.

Nolan's favorite sports: soccer, baseball and football. He's a bit sad because he's too small to play pee-wee football in the fall, but happy because his two best buds decided to play soccer with him. He wears bi-focals and has since he was 18 months old. He fell into a cone during a toddler gym class at the YMCA and after a trip to the ER, and a visit with a pediatric ophthalmologist, we learned that he was going blind in his left eye. His glasses have an added twist this year of having ground-in prisms to help with developing (hopefully) a semblance of 3D vision.

There isn't a day that passes without his giggle and a hint that he and his dad are "planning something really cool" It is hard to keep pretending that I don't know about the trip. He really is the sweetest and most thoughtful child.

We've been enjoying a wonderful early spring here this week - with temps in the upper 70's and low 80's (pretty rare for Ohio in March). Today was very humid - so much so that my slightly wavy hair has full on curls. Of course, he noticed this and said "Your hair looked a lot like that back when you took us to Disney, wouldn't it be nice to go back again, someday?" he finished by covering his mouth and giggling.

[shnewell]

Nolan sounds like a super-sweet boy and a great big brother!!

[mfirst]

Patrick is the middle son. He has also given us the most "scares". He is a preemie and was really insistant on picking his own birthdate. He wasn't due to be born until November 4th. We had EVERYTHING planned - that should have told me right away,. I went into labor three times with him and despite lots of bedrest and medication, my water broke at 4:30 am on October 5th and Patrick pushed his way out and was born at exactly 11:59:59 (how's that for crazy?) and was immediatley whisked away to the NICU where he would remain on various degress of ventilators and machines for the next nine days.

Thankfully, he recovered and was able to come home and meet his big brother. He was released from the hospital on my husband's birthday.! Which was very cool! I was very excited to have him home - the hospital was a good 45 minute drive from our house, and I was still recovering from emergency surgery.

The first year proved tough - he had RSV 3 times, had pneumonia twice and was not gaining weight or growing like he should (he had a flat growth curve). He also didn't like to sleep unless the room was brightly lit and noisy. Finally, just after his first birthday (he weighed in at 13 pounds) we learned he had a severe milk protein allergy. Two weeks after removing dairy from his diet, he started sleeping and slowly gained weight.

He is also an extremely vocal child. He told his preschool teacher on the first day that he was advanced because "apparantly I'm the only one who knows how to read" Thankfully she has a good sense of humor! He taught himself how to read by listening to his big brother. He can also did simple addition and subtraction (numbers up to ten). He loves everything big brother does and wants to be just like him. He defintely does not like nicknames - Father Jim came into his room to wish him a happy birthday and made the mistake of calling him "Pat". Patrick put his hand on his hip, wagged his finger and said "PaTRICK, my name is PATRICK, not Pat!" Father Jim makes sure to use his full name now.

He's also extremely patient with his youngest brother. This past weekend, rather than running off with his friends at the playground, he choose to stick by Cullen and help him feel comfortable climbing up to the "rain slide" (the slide sounds like rain sticks).

He weighs in now at 28 pounds and is just over 36 inches. Unfortunately, his younger brother is about the same size. They get called twins a lot which can really urk him to no end.

Currently, his favorite shows are The Octonauts and Jake and the Never Land Pirates. He also likes Star Wars - really enjoys light saver battles with big brother and wants to grow up to be Hans Solo - just not frozen like Hans gets
He was 2 1/2 on our first trip and he remembers Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and Buzz. He also remembers getting a "ticket" from a CM on the Speedway after almost running him over.

[shnewell]

He sounds like a pistol! I bet he makes your family lively and fun.

He also remembers getting a "ticket" from a CM on the Speedway after almost running him over.

[Tabitha34]

Originally Posted by mfirst

He is also an extremely vocal child. He told his preschool teacher on the first day that he was advanced because "apparantly I'm the only one who knows how to read" Thankfully she has a good sense of humor! He taught himself how to read by listening to his big brother. He can also did simple addition and subtraction (numbers up to ten). He loves everything big brother does and wants to be just like him. He defintely does not like nicknames - Father Jim came into his room to wish him a happy birthday and made the mistake of calling him "Pat". Patrick put his hand on his hip, wagged his finger and said "PaTRICK, my name is PATRICK, not Pat!" Father Jim makes sure to use his full name now.

This all sounds very much like my son Asher. A kid in Ashers Karate class came in one day very excited about learning how to count to 100. He was 5 in Kindergarten and Asher was 4, not in school. Asher looked at me and I shook my head at him to NOT say anything. I could tell he was getting ready to say something that would not be nice and he didn't understand that it would not be nice. He comes over to me and says, "but mom! Anyone can count to 100 if they can count to 10! It's not a great accomplishment. It's just repeating the same numbers over and over again but changing the first part of the number. You know, teens then twenties and so one. No Big Deal." I said, "Asher, do not say that to him."

[mfirst]

Originally Posted by shnewell

He sounds like a pistol! I bet he makes your family lively and fun.

He does! He's very funny without even realizing it. He told me yesterday that it was okay his clothes were on wrong side out because when he took them off, they'd be fixed.