3 Peas In A Pod Pre Trip Report - UPDATED 9/12 About This Page:

[elis mom 08]

Well, some of you wonderful people I have already met. But, for the rest, let me introduce you to my small family of 3.
My name is Kelly, and I will be turning 28 in WDW on October the 6th. Hate to admit it, but I am starting to feel old. My hobbies are baking, scrap booking, cake decorating, traveling, and just spending time with the two important guys in my life. Oh yeah, and teaching life skills to my 9 house daughters, like basic cooking, and also sewing blankets.
My DH is Keno by nickname, but his real name is Joaquin. He just turned 30 last month.
Our son is Eli, and he also had a birthday last month and turned 4. He is the love of our lives, and is sharp as a tack. That boy picks up on everything, and can say some pretty crazy things. This kid is Obsessed with Star Wars, if you can't tell by the two lightsabors he is holding! He actually got that from my hubby, who has an entire storage unit full of Star Wars, but then lost interest in collecting it.
A little background: Keno and I have been married for 8 years, and celebrated our anniversary in July. We are House Parents by profession, and have been working at our current job for almost three years. We have a beautiful cottage with now 9 girls, but sometimes up to 10. Out youngest girl is 9, and our oldest is 16! Boy can it get crazy at our house on some nights.
Anyways, our trip report/agenda will be a little different than some, because we are flying into Orlando, spending a week on the Magic, doing a day at Hollywood Studios, and then a day at WDW. I know, one day? That's why we are planning a longer trip for next year (like 8 or 10 days). Neither of us had ever been to WDW, but the two of us did go to Disney Land way back in the day. In fact, it was in 1999. We were, of course just dating then. So we need a renewal of Disney in our life! We have been together since 96, which was my sophmore year of high school. Tried to add some pix of our 99 trip, but for some reason they would not resize

Anyhow, last year, we had planned the cruise, and paid it off a little at a time. When we finally got it paid off, we were so excited! Then we decided to add on a couple of days at the parks onto the end.
So, here is the agenda for us:
Sep 26th: Extremely early flight to Orlando from San Antonio. In fact, we have to be at the airport at 4:30 am. Go and spend the night at a nearby hotel.
Sep 27th: Arrive back to the airport, and catch the transfer to the Magic. That night we will be partying at the deck party!
Sep 28th: We will be at Castaway Cay (Disney's private island for those of you who don't know) Yeah right!
Sep 29th: We will be at sea.
Sep 30: We will be at Grand Caymen. We chose an excursion called Boatswains, where we will be able to see tons of baby sea turtles, snorkel, swim, and see all kinds of cool stuff.
Oct 1st: We will be in Cozumel, where we will be going to check out some ancient ruins, and swimming in aqua waters.
Oct 2nd: Back at sea, spending time with Mickey!!
Oct 3rd: A second visit to Castaway Cay.
Oct 4th: Debark from the ship, and catch a transfer to the movies resort. Lots of shopping at Downtown Disney that night!
Oct 5th: Hollywood Studios. W/ extra hours.
Oct 6th: WDW on my birthday. W/ extra hours.
Oct 7th: Catch a plane home, and back to reality!
So, I hope you have enjoyed our pre-trip report, and of course we will keep you posted as things progress, and after!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start

[lissybri]

Great plans. Hope you have a great trip. Your little boy is so cute.

[vfair]

Love your plans! Have a wonderful time!

[bsblady01]

I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear more

[elis mom 08]

thanks for the compliment! You kiddos are adorable too.

[disneydani]

Has the makings of an awesome trip!

danielle

[mcc0313]

What a cutie...love your sig pic - your son is just adorable. What great plans...

[TinkMulanMickeysMom]

Very Nice start. And Lucky you, a double stop at Castaway Cay! After we did the cruise in November, my DH said he would have been prefectly happy if we had just docked at Castaway the entire week! You are going to have such a great time!

[elis mom 08]

Thanks, when people say that about Castaway Cay, it makes it even more exciting! I think a lot of people feel that way. I am really excited about all of the excursions, and just to be able to tell my son that he has been out of the country! I don't know many other 4 year olds with Passports!! So, that was one of our main excitements in booking! That, and seeing the ruins in Cozumel. I think that will be so cool! BTW - As soon as we get to Florida, Eli has been to 6 states also. We want to be able to do lots of travel with him, and give him as many experiences as we can. So, I am glad to be able to add these things (6th state visit, him being able to go out of the Country, and WDW to the list).
For every one else- Thanks for being so kind. I can't say enough what a great community this is and how glad I am to be part of it. Oh, and I have to agree - my son is adorable haha.

[elis mom 08]

I really like to look at yall's plans, photos, etc....here is what I have gotten ready, a little about tastes in our family, and some other neat and crazy stuff...... haha.....
The first thing I wanted to share is my DH's obsession with "cruising shirts". He wants to look, I guess, like something out of a movie. He bought like three flowery shirts. Now, I would have never expected him to choose something like these shirts, and to top it off, he wants a straw hat! I think he is going insane. Check out this pattern:

Ohhh La La. I was trying to explain to him that the people who would normally sport this type of garb are like 50, but he wouldn't listen. Oh well.
As far as some fashion that I have gotten into reciently due to the trip, I have to say that I have added huge glasses onto my list. Check out these babies.

un hum, now that is style. I still need some ideas for fashionable head cover on the hot day that we will be checking out ancient ruins. I imagine that it will be really hot.
In other preparation, let me share some things that I have gotten in the mail, and have packed in our "trip paperwork":

This is our planner, cruise vouchers, and ever important passports. By the way, for those of you who do not have them, passports are much less difficult to attain then we had thought. I always get tickled to think that my 4 year old has a passport!

Next, we have the custom maps that we ordered for DHS, and for WDW! Eli and I have spent many a night dreaming of the rides, and what we will do in the parks.

This is an autograph book that I made for Eli when we encounter his favorite characters on the Disney Magic, and at the parks. All of the pages are made of different colored and patterned scrapbook paper. It came out pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Next, we have Eli's Disney dollars. The store that we went to only had ones and fives, so imagine the wad of cash it looks like he has, haha. I think that these are the coolest ever! Oh yeah, and so does Eli!

These are all of the envelopes that we made out for the staff on the cruise, as well as Mousekeeping. They are definately not as creative as some of the ones that I have seen, but who cares about the envelope, right?

These are the contents of a little prize bag that Eli will get when we initially get into Orlando on the 26th. It will of course say "From Mickey." He might use the stuff in the hotel, the rest of the time, I am positive he will be to busy.

Next up, we have Eli's busy bag for the plane. Crayons and coloring books, a magnet set, some water paint projects (only color on the special cardboard), a view master and disks, plus a portable DVD player, as well as his DS. Hopefully this will keep him busy! As for movies, we will be bringing all of the original Mickey Cartoons. The ones from when I was a kid. Eli loves them! Also some other Disney movies.

This was Eli pulling off a link from the chain today. I can say that the calender did not work as well for us as the chain does. He loves pulling links off. Look how short it is now, only 13 more links!!!!

And last, I wanted to show you how my husband is containing his excitement!
Well hope you enjoyed. I look forward to sharing more of yall's TR's with you, and will post again soon.

[lissybri]

I love everything you've prepared for your trip. I made goodie bags that I gave my boys whenever we had to wait a long time for a show (like Fantasmic) and I can't tell you how great that worked out. So, maybe you can bring some of Eli's goodies with you to the parks. Love, the sunglasses, autograph books, tip envelopes, and DH's shirt (well, it will look great on a cruise!!). Can't wait to read more.

[Colexis Mom]

Great stuff!!

[B.M.]

Looks like your all ready with less than two weeks to go!