3rd Birthday with a 3 month old! July 2012 PTR! Home

[MrsTeddy]

I've decided to bite the bullet and write a PTR! I've really enjoyed reading along with others, and heck with my OCD planning I might as well share! LOL

We are going on our first REAL Disney trip this July! The trip kind of fell into our laps, and we are just so excited!

My poor ILs have no idea what they are getting themselves into! One day my FIL casually mentioned he'd like to go to Orlando in July and asked if we were interested, he intended on using their time share...

DID I WANT TO GO!? After a little looking into it we realized the time share was booked, however they were still committed to going! Once I mentioned I would like to make it for Logan's birthday they were hooked! They've left the planning to me and they are helping a great deal along they way as my little man's gift!

I hope to share and learn a lot along the way, starting with how to link chapters as well as how to post photos!

Added: I've figured out the links! I will post to the next update at the end of each entry, and 2 posts down are all the chapter links!


Introductions to our cast are up next!

For now, here is a photo (I hope it works!) of Mr. Logan in 2010, his first Disney visit....WAIT! Didn't I say THIS was to be our first Disney trip!?

 

[MrsTeddy]

Let’s start with the intro’s!

Here I am! My name is Sarah, I’m 29 years old this month, and the proud mommy to one wonderful little boy, and another bundle on the way! I’m a L&D nurse and a Lactation Consultant, I’m also a grad student, I’m very slowly working on my Masters Degree! I am a planner and quite type A, I go a little over board with things! I love planning, party planning, trip planning, anything really!

My wonderful husband of almost 4 years, and over 12 years together total! His name is Les, he too will be 29 this month. Yes, we are high school sweethearts. He too is a nurse, and a wonderful daddy! He’s not too much into any planning, he likes to sit back and let me do all the work! He does like some input when it comes to the restaurants and is most looking forward to some bevies in Epcot!

Our sweet boy Logan. He turns 3 just after our trip and tells EVERYONE he’s going to see Mickey for his birthday. He is so excited, we’ve been preparing him by watching lots of Disney videos and Disney Junior. He’s a big fan of the mouse although I think Donald is his favourite! He also loves Jake and is on a bit of a pirate kick. I can’t wait to see his face light up when we are there!

Our little surprise! He or she is due mid April and this WILL be baby’s first trip! We loving refer to baby as Ducky, and he or she will be right around 3 months old for the trip. I am slightly worried about the heat, but we were always out and about with Logan, and it gets quite hot where we are from as well (the Southernmost part of Canada!). I’m hoping this little one is a go with the flow baby like its brother!

Finally my in-laws, we will call them Lolo & Lola, thats grandma and grandpa in Filipino (my husbands background!). Les is their only child, and so these are their only grandchildren. They like to spoil them and this trip is a gift from them! We are very excited to have the extra set of hands and help on this trip!

This is our first REAL Disney trip. In 2010 my dad called me on a Saturday to tell me that he rented a house in Orlando and wanted to take Logan to Disney, he was leaving THE NEXT DAY! Now I was still on maternity leave but there was no way I could convince Les to let me take Logan solo. He went to work on the Monday and begged, borrowed and pleaded, at 4pm we got the green light, he got all his shifts covered for the rest of the week! I spent the evening packing! Les got home at 8pm and went straight to bed, we left the following morning at 4am! We drove straight thru 22 hrs stopping only for food, nursing and potty breaks!

We spent one FULL wonderful day in Magic Kingdom. Logan loved every moment of it, he rode a few rides, nursed his way around the park and met a few characters. It was a fly by the seat of your pants, zero prep whirlwind. We didn’t visit any other parks that trip. So while he had a first VISIT this will be his first real trip, and the first time for ANY of us to stay on property!

Up next the when & where

 

[MrsTeddy]

This is where I will be posting all the links to each post, to make it a bit easier to navigate!

Intros

The when & where

Disney Dining

Princess Detour

An Exciting Change!

Day One:Travel and Our First Park!
Day TWo:Animal Kingdom

Day Three: Magic Kingdom

The Countdown!

Day Four: Epcot

A Very Mickey Birthday Party!

Day FiveHS

Day Six:Magic Kingdom!

And because photos are fun, here we are in the MK March 2010!

 

[newtexan]

Jumping in to read along.

 

[anjalee6]

Jumping in too. Your family reminds me of mine. My husband is also Asian. He is Chinese though. Can't wait to here more.

 

[kmedina]

I'm in. I am so glad you started. You're right about Logan looking like Connor. I should post a baby picture of Xander for you, because he looks more like him to me. He is an absolute doll. "Crapbag" and I have been together for a long time too. It will be 16 years in June. He was my high school sweetheart although he was done with school for over a year by then. It took us about 7.5 years to get married, because I waited until after I finished college and had time to plan it.

I did all of the planning for our trip too. That is the way I prefer it. It is so much fun, especially when it all plays out the way you want it to. Connor did a lot of nursing, so I know what you mean about nursing everywhere. He never really took to a bottle, so pumping was out of the question. Cannot wait to read more.

 

[MrsTeddy]

Sometime in December (perhaps!?) my father in law decided that he wanted to visit Orlando in July and ever so graciously asked us to come! They wanted to bring Logan to Disney! After a little investigation we realized their time share was not available for the time we could go. My FIL is an auto worker and has 2 weeks of scheduled shut down so we needed to coordinate with this timing. I will be at maternity leave and after pulling a few strings we realized MIL and Les could get the same time off!

I did some research, priced some off site options as well as onsite (what I was REALLY hoping for!). I ordered the tri p planning DVD, and on Christmas Day we watched the Disney Parade! It was the official kick off of our trip planning!

I presented all the different options to Lolo & Lola and definitely stressed the “perks” to staying on property! It didn’t take much convincing, they were in! They had brought Les when he was about 7 and went to Disneyland in California for a day a few years ago. I went on a Disney (offsite) vacation in high school as a babysitter, but never as a child. As I said before we went to the MK for one day in 2010 for Logan’s first visit. This however will the first TRUE Disney trip for all of us, and let me tell you I’m getting the bug already! I told Les we need to go back when Ducky turns 3, however if we get a nice enough bounceback offer, perhaps it will be just a little bit sooner!

We debated between two main options (once deciding onsite was for us!) One was two separate, hopefully adjoining rooms at a value, likely POP; option two, stay in a family suite at the New Art of Animation. We were REALLY hoping the CARS suites would be ready but we are just a few weeks too early. With the idea that the kids could nap in one room and we could sit in the living room area, or even settle the kids in bed and leave them with the in-laws for a night out we went with the family suite at AoA! And of course I’m super excited to be staying at a brand new resort!!

We were limited to a 2 week time frame, and made our final date decisions based on airfare, its cheaper to fly mid week so we will be going Wednesday July 11-Tuesday July 17. We contemplated (briefly) driving the 20+ hours each way, but when I found a GREAT deal on airfare we scooped it up. Four adults and one child are flying including luggage & taxes from Detroit-Orlando for $1000! I admit I don’t fly much, but this seems great and I’m fairly certain we couldn’t even drive for that much! Especially if gas sky rockets this summer as they are predicting!

I booked everything 180 days out, I am still anxiously awaiting a PIN or deal of ANY kind as we paid rack rates (WOW!). We are committed either way and a large portion of the trip is a gift but I still love a deal, who doesn’t!

Next up Disney Dining

 

[newtexan]

so jealous of AoA

great airfare deal

 

[kmedina]

The Art of Animation Hotel looks pretty neat. Cannot wait to here how your stay goes. The best way to get a pin is to save vaction offers to your Disney account. They can look so obscure in emails from Disney, so read them from start to finish. If you do not get a pin, I hope Disney has an offer at that time. The offers for July (if any) should be released in the next month or two.

 

[MrsTeddy]

Jumping in to read along.

Jumping in too. Your family reminds me of mine. My husband is also Asian. He is Chinese though. Can't wait to here more.

I just loved mixed babies! They seem to get the best of both and are stinkin cute (if I do say so myself!) hope I'm not too boring!

I'm in. I am so glad you started. You're right about Logan looking like Connor. I should post a baby picture of Xander for you, because he looks more like him to me. He is an absolute doll. "Crapbag" and I have been together for a long time too. It will be 16 years in June. He was my high school sweetheart although he was done with school for over a year by then. It took us about 7.5 years to get married, because I waited until after I finished college and had time to plan it.

I did all of the planning for our trip too. That is the way I prefer it. It is so much fun, especially when it all plays out the way you want it to. Connor did a lot of nursing, so I know what you mean about nursing everywhere. He never really took to a bottle, so pumping was out of the question. Cannot wait to read more.

I would love to see a picture of Xander, I get from my husband's family how "white" Logan looks, he looks less asian the older he gets! But a hat brings out the asian in him, LOL!

We dated for 7.5 years as well before getting married for the same reason we waited until we were both finished nursing school! I prefer to do all the trip planning, however I worry that if something doesn't go right its all on me (more of a stress because of Lolo & Lola!)

I should have a report up tonight or tomorrow, I've been havign some blood pressure concerns-which is what lead to Logan being 5 weeks early, so I've been in a mad dash to get baby stuff ready! Now that my bag is packed and most of the baby stuff is set I can turn my attention to more important things, like my PTR!!

 

[kmedina]

I just loved mixed babies! They seem to get the best of both and are stinkin cute (if I do say so myself!) hope I'm not too boring!

I would love to see a picture of Xander, I get from my husband's family how "white" Logan looks, he looks less asian the older he gets! But a hat brings out the asian in him, LOL!

We dated for 7.5 years as well before getting married for the same reason we waited until we were both finished nursing school! I prefer to do all the trip planning, however I worry that if something doesn't go right its all on me (more of a stress because of Lolo & Lola!)

I should have a report up tonight or tomorrow, I've been havign some blood pressure concerns-which is what lead to Logan being 5 weeks early, so I've been in a mad dash to get baby stuff ready! Now that my bag is packed and most of the baby stuff is set I can turn my attention to more important things, like my PTR!!

I agree.

He was 9 months old in this picture.

Connor's Grandma (my MIL), Grandpa (my Step FIL), Papa (my Dad), Lolo (my FIL) and Lola (my Step MIL) may come with us to Dl in June. We'll see. Other than my Dad, they are Filipino, but we give them all different titles. It may be a little stressful but exciting.

It's crazy how much we have so much in common. I had pregnancy induced hypertension with both boys. Xander was 2 weeks early, and Connor was 15 days early. I know how that goes. Take care of yourself.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

joining in. Your son is adorable. and how exciting your planning this trip with your new little one before he/she is here!

 

[MrsTeddy]

joining in. Your son is adorable. and how exciting your planning this trip with your new little one before he/she is here!

Welcome and Thank you! We are really excited although everytime I'm out shopping I think oh I would get this for Disney if I knew it was a boy/girl! Good thing I have 3 months of shopping time in between his or her arrival and the trip! LOL

 

[MrsTeddy]

I agree.

He was 9 months old in this picture.

Connor's Grandma (my MIL), Grandpa (my Step FIL), Papa (my Dad), Lolo (my FIL) and Lola (my Step MIL) may come with us to Dl in June. We'll see. Other than my Dad, they are Filipino, but we give them all different titles. It may be a little stressful but exciting.

It's crazy how much we have so much in common. I had pregnancy induced hypertension with both boys. Xander was 2 weeks early, and Connor was 15 days early. I know how that goes. Take care of yourself.

OMG Xander is adorable! Reminds me so much of Logan!! I'm so excited to see what this new little person looks like!
That is crazy all the similarities with us! Its a bit more stressful to have others tag along but fun for sure, great memories for the kids of course, and I"m hoping useful to have some extra hands!
I'm already thinking/dreaming of future Disney trips (is this abnormal!?) and thinkign it would be great to go just the 4 of us, or for my mom to come, or how much fun it will be for my sisters and their future kids to tag along! LOL

 

[MrsTeddy]

Less than 4 months until we are in the World!

Soon after we decided that we would be staying onsite I become very interested in Disboard Dining reviews and any other information I could get about the various dining options Disney had to offer. Purely for convenience we decided to go with the DDP. We like the idea of having our food pre-paid for and I hope that my plans will help to make it economically the best decision as well!

I’ve been making a “go to” sheet for each day with little tips and reminders for each park, included in this is some info on CS meals. Based on photos and reviews I’m thinking we can often split meals and try and make them last a little longer.

We debated on having a garden grocer delivery made with breakfast items & diapers (as it looks like I will likely have 2 in diapers!) but after some number crunching we decided that bringing an extra suitcase with us ($18 each way) made more sense, as we will likely need the extra room on the way home as well. We plan on bringing quick grab and go breakfast options and snacks.
On the night that I booked our trip (exactly 180 days out!) I also made all of our ADRs. I didn’t get a whole lot of input from the rest of my family on this, which makes me nervous, if things aren’t great I am solely responsible! Eek! My decisions were based on a few considerations:
1) my in laws are paying for the trip, they are quantity people. While I would have loved to try a nice sit down order a steak type place they like to see a lot of food and to know they can eat as much as they like.
2) This trip is for Logan, I wanted to pick things HE will enjoy, this meant lots of character meals (now I’m REALLY hoping he isn’t terrified of the characters!).
3) Logan is technically under 3 and so is not on the dining plan, he will be sharing from our plates. From what I have read all you can eat and buffets will allow him to have his own selection and plate. Logan is a big eater and is not too picky so this is an important consideration.

I’ve booked a combination of mostly dinners and lunches and one breakfast. Instead of list them all here I think I will wait and talk about our specific dining plans when I go over each days plans-sorry to be a tease!

There are a few places that we considered strongly that for various reasons didn’t make “the cut”, one of these (that I still debate about!) is T-Rex in DTD. I really think L would love that, but the times available to us were not ideal, and of course its not an all you can eat place. Another one of the places I was REALLY looking forward to trying (largely for Les and the ILs) was Cape May Clambake-they all love seafood and this would have likely been a hit! Unfortunately they are closed for refurbs for our entire visit! What will I choose instead!?

Up Next Day One!

 

[kmedina]

Thank you. As soon as I saw Logan, I thought he looked more like Xander than Connor. I think they are all three adorable, as I am sure your new LO will be as well. I am always planning a future trip before I've even taken the next one, so I think you are normal. I have put more thought into out 10/13 trip to WDW than I have to our 06/12 trip to Dl. Speaking of which, I am hoping to finally try the T-Rex, Victoria and Albert's and others that trip. You'll get T-Rex another time too. We've had the deluxe plan lately, so we've only eaten at restaurants on the plan. I am going to get the standard one next trip, so we can try some off the plan.

Buffets sound like a good fit for your party, and Logan will probably love the character meals. I agree with the extra suitcase. Two trips ago, we had to buy a suitcase while there for $150 just to get all of the souvenirs we bought home. We packed so last minute that we did not have time to try to ship it back.

 

[MrsTeddy]

Well it looks like we may need to make a few unplanned stops on our trip to visit some princesses, after all it will be OUR Little princess' first trip to Disney!

On Thursday March 22, 2012 at 1:33pm we welcomed our DAUGHTER

Eliya Deborah Joy
5 lbs 12 oz 18.5"​

We are beyong overjoyed and completely shocked! She was 4 weeks early, we are in the NICU still but she is doing wonderfully. Her big brother is so excited to get her home, as we all are!

I've already been doing some online book marking of girly clothes and Bows for Ellie! I just can't believe we get to do some princess stuff!

I'm sorry I've been MIA, its been a little crazy! I hope to get a trip update up very soon!

 

[newtexan]

she is beautiful. congrats to you.

 

[kmedina]

Congratulations. She is beautiful. Yay to seeing princesses. I hope to have my own princess some day.

 

[anjalee6]

Congrats! She is adorable! Let the princess fun begin.