Planning another magical 5th birthday

annegirl · May 7, 2014

A NOVEMBER 2014 PRE-TRIP REPORT

I am SO excited to be starting a new pre-trip report.
We have only been to Disney World once and it was in December 2010 for our DD's 5th birthday.
She is now 8 and we are going to be back at POP in November for our younger daughter's 5th birthday! :cool1:

annegirl · May 7, 2014

Going back, I wanted to post some pictures from our last trip.
Like I said we were there for the first time celebrating DD8's 5th birthday.
Her favorite princess is Aurora so this was one of my very favorite photos of the entire trip.
She ran to Aurora and hugged her, looked up at her, and whispered, "You're my very favorite princess."
Aurora kissed her on the forehead leaving a big smooch mark! Completely magical!

Another favorite moment was captured in the next photo.
While eating dinner at 1900 Park Fare on her birthday night, Prince Charming asked her to dance! We were so excited but she politely said, "No thank you." Oh my word. The laughs. The stepsister quickly stepped in and said, "I wouldn't want to dance with him either. He's boring." And she danced with her instead.

annegirl · May 7, 2014

Just like last time, my parents will be going with us. Although this time they will be arriving the same day as us but leaving earlier.
The members of our party include:

Eeyore: My dad. 69 by the time we go on the trip. He likes Disney but mainly just enjoys coming along for the fun. I don't think he really has a favorite character but my mom calls him "My Eeyore" so we will go with that. :rotfl:

He is a retired Naval officer and loves to fish and he loves cars.

Marathon Mama: My mom. 66 by the time we leave. She loves Disney almost as much as I do.

My mom is my best friend and we share almost all the same interests. We love watching Doctor Who and Once Upon a Time together and reading all the same books. We are both major bookworms. She is a runner and has ran 20+ marathons not to mention all the other smaller distance races. She is the best grandma in the world to all her grandkids. She had a foot injury this year and we are really hoping it will be all healed up by the time we go.

Then there is me. I'm Cheryl. I am a 37 year old stay at home mom. I love all things Disney but my very favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast and my favorite character is, of course, Belle. I was a teenager when it came out and she was the first princess I related to.
I am a bookworm and always reading. I also love writing, taking pictures, traveling, and anything British. :wave2:

I also love to sew and celebrate any holiday I can no matter how small.

DH

oug, 37 by the time we leave. He loves Disney as well. I basically dragged him to Disney our first time but now he is just as excited about it as I am because he loved it so much. He loves The Great Mouse Detective, Wreck it Ralph, Robin Hood, and The Wind in the Willows.
He is a gamer. Loves playing World of Warcraft and a few other games. He also loves writing. He works for a medical equipment research company.

And the best part of our family and trip cast: Our little princesses

Abigail: 8 years old. You've seen her on our last trip at age 5. Here she is at 8.

Abi loves reading, art, My Little Pony, and Lego friends. Her favorite Disney characters are Aurora (still) and Sofia the first. She is really sensitive and shy and gets frustrated really easily but she is also very sweet and so smart. She is starting a gifted program in school next year and we are excited but also nervous about it, hoping that she will have a good experience and make some good friends.

Madeline: 4 years old, will be turning 5 on our trip. This is what she looked like on our last trip at barely one year old:

She is our wild and crazy little girl. She is super charming and so funny and everyone that meets her falls instantly in love with her.
On her fourth birthday last November:

She loves Disney. She has always loved Mickey and Minnie Mouse but now she is completely in love with Frozen as well. She alternates between having Elsa and Anna as her favorite princesses but I think she likes Olaf the best.

She also loves Care Bears and her new obsession is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Here she is now:

She is extremely girly. Always dancing and singing. And she always wants to wear skirts.... but with her ninja turtle shirts of course.
She also loves art and music.

So there you have it! That's our family!
Next up I will get into the planning!

annegirl · May 7, 2014

We are booked at Pop Century (hopefully the 70's building and connected to my parents) for November 11-21.
My parents will be there November 11-18.
:cool1:

We already have our plane tickets so I was so happy to find out that free dining was available for our time without me having to change any of our dates like I did last time.
This morning I waited on hold for over an hour but finally got through and added the free quick service to our reservation and upgraded to the regular dining plan.

annegirl · May 7, 2014

Our ADR day is next week! I am excited but nervous too since I will be trying to do them online for the first time.
We are going to try to book 'Ohana for the first time for dinner, CRT for breakfast on my daughter's birthday, 1900 Park Fare for her birthday dinner, Liberty Tree, Be our Guest for the first time (might try to get this for two nights due to my husbands request), Akurshus, Crystal Palace, and Chef Mickey's.
If we don't do BOG twice we would probably try Rose and Crown.

I also need to call that day to try to get appointments for both girls for the earliest reservation possible at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique castle location on her birthday morning. We will do the crown package like last time and I will make their dresses. Maddy wants a blue Sleeping Beauty dress and Abi wants a Sofia the first dress.

Denovagirl · May 8, 2014

Awesome start to your PTR!

FYI- you can get online and start booking ADRs earlier than calling. I was able to mine at 6am Disney time, then I called the BBB right at 7am and go that coveted first appt of the morning! Book your BOG dinner first! Do not go in order!

I love all the photos of your previous trip! I bet your princesses are going to be SO excited to return!

How awesome you didn't have to switch any dates!! *PHEW*

annegirl · May 8, 2014

Thanks! I am definitely planning on doing the ADR's out of order. Do you think I should try Be our Guest before CRT?

Denovagirl · May 8, 2014

annegirl said:
Thanks! I am definitely planning on doing the ADR's out of order. Do you think I should try Be our Guest before CRT?

Def! BOG has still been having lots of issues with people not getting it, if it's later in your trip that is best.

After BOG book anything you want before rope drop, if you have any, and then CRT.

Denovagirl · May 8, 2014

Okay, so I basically just spent the last 2 hours reading your ENTIRE trip report on your blog!!! LOL! :rotfl:

I LOVE TR's so much and yours was so special to read because your Maddy was about the same age as my Maddie during our first trip too!! princess:

It was also so cool to see how much things have changed in just those few short years!! I noticed a lot of things that are different now! Too crazy! ::yes::

Alright, so I actually made notes as I was reading so I wouldn't forget things I wanted to comment on... lol.. here we go! :rotfl2:

First off, POP!!! How awesome to see the Resort through your eyes!! It made me even more happy with our choice to stay there and I am SO excited!!! I also found some useful info, like the fact that there is a playground there! I didn't recall seeing one, so that's good to know!!

The clothes, oh my g o o d n e s s, the clothes!! I loved every single outfit, but I think my absolute fave was the sailor outfits for your fancy dinner! How freakin' adorable!!!! I cannot contain how much my heart swelled at that! It was too perfect!! Also Abi's Alice dress, she looked so much like Alice, it was too stinkin' cute!!

Maddy's first haircut! Too cool!! Now my wheels are turning, Olivia, despite being 5, has never had a haircut, I just lover her hair too much!! But I know it is going to happen some day, so why not in Disney, right? I may look into her first cut there this trip, just a trim, of course! :thumbsup2

And then my fave part, the BBB!!! That was my fave part of our trip, it was so special to Olivia so I know exactly how you felt watching Abi get to do it. I just LOVE her dress too! I wish they still had that dress, because it was ADORABLE! Again, gets me so excited for us doing the BBB again this time. I originally thought that would be something we would only ever do once, but once I saw how magical it was I knew we would for sure do it again. When I asked Olivia what was her favorite thing that she wanted to do again this time she immediately said the BBB, so we are doing it again! Yay!

You guys did so many fun character meals too!! I am so excited this time to be going for longer because I get so torn, I love the character meals because they are so fun, but all our fave meals were non-character ones, so this time I feel like we have a pretty good mix.

So happy you commented on my PTR and I found you!!! I can't wait to follow your TR for your new trip!

PS It is so cool to see Abi & Maddi in your current photos now! After seeing all the pics in your TR and coming back and looking at them now its pretty amazing!!! :bitelip:

annegirl · May 9, 2014

Thanks for reading it!! This time I am going to try to do the trip report on here and the blog rather than just links to the blog but I love going back to my blog and looking through it. Makes me so excited to go back again! :goodvibes

I loved BBB so much. It was just so sweet and I am SO happy that Maddy is old enough to do it this time!

Thanks for your comments on the outfits. I love putting them together and as soon as I am in my new place and have my sewing machine again I will start making. Woo hoo. Those sailor outfits I got at Kohls on clearance. It was crazy. Like $5 a dress and came with matching doll dresses. I am so sad they don't fit them anymore. Well, Abi's will fit Maddy's soon.

annegirl · May 9, 2014

One of my favorite things I made for our last trip was Abi's pink Cinderella dress for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
So I knew right away that I want to make their dresses again.
At first I thought we would just have Maddy do the boutique this time because Abi will be almost 9 but then my husband said, "Imagine, even if Abi said she didn't want to do it, how she would feel that morning watching Maddy get all dressed up. I bet she would change her mind."
I think he is right so I am going to book an appointment for both of them.

The difference is that Abi will already have her dress because she wants to be Sofia for Halloween and we will use that dress for the boutique and Maddy's I will have there as a surprise like we did for Abi last time.

At first I thought I might just use an online tutorial and make the dresses more casual but then when I went to JoAnn's for their huge fabric sale a few weeks ago they had these costume patterns for $1.
I got one in each of the girls' sizes.

I will be using the Snow White pattern as a template for the Sofia the first dress for Abi and then tweaking it a bit to make it more of what I want it to look like. I got a little creative with the fabric so it won't look exactly like Sofia but very close.

For Maddy, I am making the blue Sleeping Beauty dress. I will use the Cinderella pattern and ,again, tweak it to fit what I want it to look like.

This trip is going to be a surprise again so it was tricky to find out what they would want to be. I showed them some pictures of Abi at the BBB and said, "If we go to Disney world ever again, what would you want to wear?"

We are staying at my parents' house right now and I can't wait to move into our new place in June and get my sewing machine unpacked so I can start sewing these dresses!

annegirl · May 9, 2014

Like many others on these boards, I have a box in my house that I toss Disney things into as I prepare for a trip. Last time I did big welcome bags in our rooms and then little gifts each day. I didn't do Disney things in the car on the way because they didn't know where we were going yet.

This time we are flying and I am going to surprise the girls the morning before our flight. So, I want to fill their backpacks with fun Disney themed things to do on the flight to Orlando and the flight back.

I have decided not to do the whole welcome bag thing but I will probably have a few things to put out in the room and then I do still want to do the 'pixie' gifts while we are there.

Because of all of this I started gathering things in my box as soon as my DH Doug gave me the go ahead to call and book.

I didn't realize how much I have already gathered until yesterday when I emptied out the box to take pictures!

I have bought everything at Walmart, Target, and Dollar Tree and the only things that have cost over $1/$1.50 are the two big color wonder sets.

annegirl · May 9, 2014

There are three other things I have already got:

I want to make autograph books for each girl this time. I wanted them to be pretty simple to make but still cute. I found these pink foam books at Hobby Lobby. They were 3.99 but I got them each for 40% off.
They have 50 sheets of nice cardstock in them so I am planning on printing off similar autograph sheets to what I had last time and then gluing them onto the cardstock and decorating the front of each book. I'll post pictures whenever I get around to making those.

Last time we were in the World we let Abi do the Pick a Pearl in Epcot. This time Maddy is going to do it and so am I. I got three matching carriage pearl holders on ebay so that we can put all of our pearls in them and have matching mother/daughter necklaces.

And I knew that we wanted to do pin trading again this time but now I would need some pins for Maddy as well. I did a lot of research of good sellers on ebay and found one that had a 'lot' of pins for a decent price (just over $20) and he even sent me a few extra. I really am happy with the quality of the pins and how fast I got them. I am going to give each girl half of the pins except for the Mickey nutcracker. I am going to keep that one!
I got them from Four J's Ltd.

Denovagirl · May 9, 2014

Wow!! Okay, I had no idea you MADE the BBB dress last time! How'd I miss that! No wonder it was so awesome!! I can't wait til June so I can see all the fun things you make too!

I love all your Disney box stuff as well! You have SO much! I am trying to really limit mine this year bc I couldn't stand our room last year, we had SO many things scattered around and it drove me NuTS! lol....

Great find on the autograph book! I'm still trying to decide if I should order Maddie one, she'll be two and I only got one for Olivia, but Mad loves doing what her sister does and now I an worried it will be a cause of distress and maybe I should get two? Or maybe big dis will let her hold her book every now and then to present to the chapters? Decisions, decisions!

Pin trading! Yay! We all got so into this laser year, we had 75 pins then, minus a few we took out, and we traded them ALL! This time hubby wants like 100 or more! I e created a monster!!

MarbleBob · May 9, 2014

Joining in. Great PTR so far! I love that you get to go with your parents again. We've went to WDW with my parents probably more times than we've gone without them. The kids visiting the parks with their grandparents makes memories that last a lifetime. :goodvibes

I love your ADR selections. We've been to all those before (except for Liberty Tree and BOG) and most of them are on my list of favorites. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. You are going to have a blast!!

We are driving to WDW in about a month and I haven't started gathering goodies and treats for the trip yet. I enjoyed the pictures of your stash. I may have to copy some of your ideas for our dd6 :cool1:

Birthday's at WDW are the best!!!! My older kids have celebrated their birthday's there twice each, but our youngest hasn't at all. That will change next month :banana:

Similar to you, we have a big day planned. She's going to start off at BBB, then breakfast at CRT, then meet Anna & Elsa, Ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, dinner at BOG, and then back to the resort pool to swim. (You gotta love a grandmother who loves to spoil her grand kids and is willing to put in the effort for the ADR's and FP+'s!!!)

Anyway, looking forward to following along with your PTR. Looks like you guys are going to have a lot of fun :thumbsup2

courtneybelle · May 9, 2014

Joining in! It sounds like it's going to be an amazing trip. I can't wait to see the blue Aurora dress :goodvibes

annegirl · May 10, 2014

Denovagirl said:
Wow!! Okay, I had no idea you MADE the BBB dress last time! How'd I miss that! No wonder it was so awesome!! I can't wait til June so I can see all the fun things you make too!

I love all your Disney box stuff as well! You have SO much! I am trying to really limit mine this year bc I couldn't stand our room last year, we had SO many things scattered around and it drove me NuTS! lol....

Great find on the autograph book! I'm still trying to decide if I should order Maddie one, she'll be two and I only got one for Olivia, but Mad loves doing what her sister does and now I an worried it will be a cause of distress and maybe I should get two? Or maybe big dis will let her hold her book every now and then to present to the chapters? Decisions, decisions!

Pin trading! Yay! We all got so into this laser year, we had 75 pins then, minus a few we took out, and we traded them ALL! This time hubby wants like 100 or more! I e created a monster!!

I know what you mean about the little sister wanting to do what the big sister is doing!
I love the pin trading. It's so fun to watch them get so excited about the new pins they get.
I figured I would scale down this year too but ...oops.

annegirl · May 10, 2014

MarbleBob said:
Joining in. Great PTR so far! I love that you get to go with your parents again. We've went to WDW with my parents probably more times than we've gone without them. The kids visiting the parks with their grandparents makes memories that last a lifetime.

I love your ADR selections. We've been to all those before (except for Liberty Tree and BOG) and most of them are on my list of favorites. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. You are going to have a blast!!

We are driving to WDW in about a month and I haven't started gathering goodies and treats for the trip yet. I enjoyed the pictures of your stash. I may have to copy some of your ideas for our dd6

Birthday's at WDW are the best!!!! My older kids have celebrated their birthday's there twice each, but our youngest hasn't at all. That will change next month Similar to you, we have a big day planned. She's going to start off at BBB, then breakfast at CRT, then meet Anna & Elsa, Ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, dinner at BOG, and then back to the resort pool to swim. (You gotta love a grandmother who loves to spoil her grand kids and is willing to put in the effort for the ADR's and FP+'s!!!)

Anyway, looking forward to following along with your PTR. Looks like you guys are going to have a lot of fun

Welcome!
That birthday sounds great! I know Maddy will want to meet Anna and Elsa so we will probably do that on her bday as well. I am hoping I can get CRT for that morning but it is only the 3rd day of our trip so hopefully it will have availability!

annegirl · May 10, 2014

courtneybelle said:
Joining in! It sounds like it's going to be an amazing trip. I can't wait to see the blue Aurora dress

So glad you are joining in!

annegirl · May 10, 2014

So- I am trying to make a decision.

On our last trip we pre-ordered Photopass. This time I am hearing so much about Memory Maker.
I know that the latter includes ride photos and restaurant photos. But I just can't decide if that is worth the extra money.
Does anyone have experience with Memory Maker? Do you think it is worth the money as opposed to just doing the regular old Photopass?

Planning another magical 5th birthday

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