First time at Sequoia! June 2015 PTR

[magickate]

So I haven't done any else really the past week or so, too busy with work. But keep checking the countdown, 70 days now

I'll work out how to put pictures on here as got the kids costumes pretty much all sorted now. It's hard to do without telling them!

I've got out DS pushchair & it's still fine. Will take it I think. It doesn't cost us any extra with Air France & it's a petite star zia so really small folding & lightweight. Comfier for him if he falls asleep & no messing around to get a rental.

Decided we're definitely not telling the kids until the day we go. Pick up from school as normal then straight to airport! Will be so hard not to let slip, especially to my eldest but reckon the surprise will be totally worth it.

It's getting closer!

 

[magickate]

Ooooh forgot to say, I've made a little list of the films I want us to re-watch before we go. Mainly for characters we might see that my youngest doesn't really know

Pinocchio, although he's read the story with me lots i'm not sure he's ever watched it
Bambi, staying at sequoia so kind of a must
Ratatouille, just because I like it!
Stitch, in prep for stitch live
Mulan, possible studios meet & greet?
Dumbo, who doesn't love dumbo
Alice in wonderland, he loves the maze
Little mermaid, we've got an under the sea brunch theme
Mary Poppins, we miss the spring season though
& watch a bit of WTP too.


then if we have time we'll re-watch some of their favourites
Brave
Beauty & the Beast
Snow white
Peter pan
Tangled
Cinderella
Sleeping beauty
Up

 

[magickate]

Time well spent at work...

I've looked through the most recent menus I can find for the counter service places & noted which have veggie options that are more than just salad. The geek is me is looking forward to cross referencing the list with the opening times

 

[cdsmiler81]

Time well spent at work...

I've looked through the most recent menus I can find for the counter service places & noted which have veggie options that are more than just salad. The geek is me is looking forward to cross referencing the list with the opening times

*Waves* fellow geek here - LOVE doing things like that! lol Part of the planning process I say!!

C x

 

[magickate]

Most definitely! Almost essential when you think about it

I've had a little move around of the ADRs & I'm booking our BBWWS tickets tomorrow. sunday evening 9.30 for 158euro, bargain for the 4 of us I reckon!

Sunday is going to be rammed in the park. It's the 1st weekend of the frozen summer & not a blockout date so my plan is we have the morning in the park using our hotel fastpasses. We'll have 3 each as long as the hotel will re-stamp the ones we haven't used previous days, fingers crossed! Then brunch at 1, couple of hours there & back to SL for a swim (Pool closes the next day so will make the most of it) A rest for us all in our room, a bit of chill out time in the GF lounge then out to BBWWS at 8.30.

Hopefully we'll avoid the worst of the crowds this way but still have a lovely day together Kids both loved the show last time, can't wait to take them again

We'll probably all be stuffed from inventions so will be fine waiting to eat later, it means no Hunters grill for us on this trip but 100 euros more spending money. Can't be a bad thing! So now re-thinking PFAD for dd, it wasn't a to do originally but that'd be it paid for. Could do Tuesday morning before ADC if she wants & we'll have photopass so the pictures would be very welcomed. will email closer to the time & see if it's going to be open

I'm getting there slowly! 68 sleeps & counting

 

[magickate]

Passports: Need to make sure I know where they all are, DP lost his last time just before we went
Airport Parking: Booked the meet & greet service with ncp. Just got to stick the number in my phone to call on way back
Flights: Check in with Air France on line to print boarding passes
Transfers: Booked & confirmed with Ezyshuttle, pay on day.
Hotel Booking: Need to email Sequoia a week before to request having our 2 bookings joined together. Also tell them a 2nd adult is coming.
Annual Pass: Already bought from Supertrips to exchange there.
BBWWS: tickets bought from ticketmaster
ADRs: Ring & book around 60 days before, make sure I write them all down!
Costumes: Ariel for DD & Buzz/Woody for DS. Others bought ready to go.
Money: Add rest of funds to Fairfx card after April payday. Change £300 cash + kids pocket money in May
Balance to pay: all paid
Photopass: print off discount voucher
The Reveal: Decide how we're telling kids. Obviously convince DP my way is the best
Animals: rabbit booked in, need to arrange annual vacs, Parents ok to have dog
School: Apply for leave under the exemption of DPs work. Write supporting letter showing we meet the criteria
Work: annual leave all sorted
Pre-holiday shopping: Primark run done, Autograph books from somewhere?
Luggage: Trunkis for kids hand luggage but need to buy or borrow 2 more bigish suitcases for them.
Skating: Let DDs coach know we'll be away. Arrange extra lessons for Monday before we go & weekend we're back.
Pushchair: just needs a quick clean & good to go

 

[magickate]

Reservations done

Café Mickey @ 6.15 Friday
Blue Lagoon @ 7.30 Saturday
Inventions @ 1pm Sunday
Auberge @ 2.30 Tuesday
Chez Remy @ 3pm Wednesday
Inventions @ 6pm Thursday

Planning Annettes on our last day & either rainforest café or planet Hollywood the Monday, which ever is quietest.

Happy they're all sorted

 

[Anemone]

Great choices for your ADRs Kate. Think it's wise to go early to CM - we were booked for 8.30 after Dreams on our Christmas trip the night we arrived and the queue was half way down the Village at 8 so we went to EOS instead. Before when we've booked for first lunch or dinner time we didn't have to wait at all.

 

[magickate]

Thanks! I was planning a later cafe mickey originally but read a fair few reports of huge queues even with reservations. I don't fancy that thanks

Also not reading great stuff about inventions recently so unsure about a 2nd visit there but will see how brunch goes. fingers crossed!

Just been reading your california TR, love it! can't wait to read the rest

 

[ILOVEDLP]

Great plans Kate do you post on TA too ?
I would give PH a miss if I where you it was the worst meal of our last trip

 

[magickate]

Great plans Kate do you post on TA too ?
I would give PH a miss if I where you it was the worst meal of our last trip

I do indeed I normally post on TA & not much on here to be honest but since they've revamped the site it's much easier to use on my phone. It's a shame you can't add photos on TA either, not that I've actually worked out how to do it on here yet haha. But wanted to do a PTR, finding it helps to organize things loads. I'm so forgetful!

I don't fancy Planet Hollywood, people seem to really love it or hate it. The places I've booked are all my choices though so I suppose if they all want to I'll have to suck it up & give it a go. I've printed off a discount voucher to take with us just in case, if I have to go I'm not paying full price! So I've 20% off excluding alcohol or 15% including alcohol, will have to wait to see cocktail list before deciding which one to use

Other than booking the reservations I've not done anything. I sort of accidentally booked another holiday end of august also in France so been a bit pre occupied with that.

Just under 7weeks now

 

[Anemone]

Lol Kate - my only experience of PH was cocktails and the VIP platter for lunch between me and my sister on our December trip and it was lush. We had a groupon offer for it but I would pay full price less 15% any day.

 

[magickate]

Ooooh thanks, reminded me to keep an eye on groupon again! I saw the PH one last time but expired long before we were due to go. Love a decent cocktail & the kids devour platter type foods, happy everyone!

Considering changing the BCR reservation time to their last 5pm sitting. Love the idea of coming out when the studios is closed, I know we'd be escorted to the gates but we'd be able to sneak some pics on the way. Am I over thinking things again? We could do a late breakfast that day & would only need the one meal then too so save a bit too!

Whatever euros we have left on the card from this trip will be the spending money we have for our August holiday, a plan to help restrain myself in the shops haha.

 

[magickate]

Done! 5pm Remy booking & she confirmed all the other for me too which was a bonus. Hoping for some empty studios pictures

 

[Komble]

Decided we're definitely not telling the kids until the day we go. Pick up from school as normal then straight to airport! Will be so hard not to let slip, especially to my eldest but reckon the surprise will be totally worth it.

This is the best idea!! I'm happy I found your PTR & can't wait to read your trip report! Especially when you tell us about how your children react when they find out!!

 

[magickate]

Hi Komble, thanks I can't wait! They do know we're going to Disney, we did an awesome treasure hunt Easter Sunday with their invitations at the end but they think it's in the summer holidays. It means I can talk about it with them but surprise them on the day too. Totally unsure how they're going to react, pretty sure my eldest won't believe me

 

[magickate]

Can't believe we've less than 3weeks until we go now! Work has been hectic so it seems to have come round pretty quick, can't wait for a break.

Not much left to do now either, just got to wait to payday to sort out money. The exchange rate is so up & down but as long as I get 1.35 for most of it on my fairfx card I'm happy. Still got to change the kids pocket money too, been told asda online is a decent rate so will look on there later.

Still need suitcases too, keep on looking but can't decide. Might just go get DP to buy some, he won't care what they look like!

Writing a letter to the school today to let them know they'll be off, highly doubt it'll get authorized so they'll be a lovely fine coming my way but really don't care, we deserve this break away together! Neither struggle academically so a week won't have a massive impact on their education

counting down

 

[magickate]

2 weeks! 10 days until I finish work for a whole fortnight off Seriously can't wait to get these shifts out the way

To-Do list is looking pretty short & none of it I can do right now anyway. Really want to get email sent off to hotel but know it's too early still

Check in for flights
Get suitcases
Add money to fairfx, change kids pocket money.
Email Sequoia to link bookings

Hairdresser is coming Tuesday & nail tech friend coming round day before we go. Don't want to look trampy for Mickey

School haven't said anything yet about their absence form yet, I'll await the crappy letter from the LEA.

So very nearly Disney Time x

 

[Komble]

Yay!! I'm so excited for you!

I'm currently at uni hoping to one day become a primary school teacher - I was having a discussion the other day with my boyfriend about children taking time off during school term... In my opinion, as long as the absence isn't for too long, the children don't have any important academic dates coming up (SATs or GCSEs, for example) and they have almost perfect attendance, it shouldn't matter. It would also help if the parents could ensure that any work they miss is caught up on once they return so the children don't fall behind!

Although, I'm not a teacher.. Yet. Haha!

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely time, have your children caught on yet that somethings happening?

 

[magickate]

Disney excitement is the best kind!

Exactly, but unfortunately here it's not up to the school head to decide anymore. I genuinely believe he would if he could! DD has only missed days for sports competitions which they allow & DS was off with a sickness bug. Never mind

Nope they haven't noticed anything haha. I got all their dressing up stuff out for them to play with the other day so I could check they were ok, they had a lovely evening playing but neither thought it was odd. It's hard now as so many people know I've had to ask them all to keep quiet their teachers, my parents, DDs coach, friends who take care of the rabbit, neighbours who keep an eye on the house, the dog walker, even the hair dresser cos she loves Disney too!

But I've kept it from them for 15mths, can manage 2 more weeks

Work is slow today & I'm ridiculously tired, hiding in my office humming Disney tunes is helping a little lol x