Winging it with No Dinning Plan! A Feb. Trip Report

[SweetSerenity]

Charming Charlie's is great! They're a little overwhelming, but I love their sale selection. I got the flower for my hair for my wedding from there.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I can't wait to hear how they liked BBB

I have LOTS of pictures to share when we get to that point!

Yumm!!

It was really good. And I would mobile order just that next time.

No way! That's much better than it could have been with such a long line.

It truly was a bus miracle!

Fortunately, Disney is usually very clean! I love this. Sometimes you're just too tired for shoes.

That it is. I mean there could be broken glass that they just hadn't found yet but it was pretty ok to do. And it made them happy at a point in the day when they were TIRED!

That's a real hard choice. I think you made the right one.

Thanks. Even if we had not made it into the park until lunch I still think we would have been pushing it. It would have been a long day!

Tinkerbell is awfully good to the girls!

That she is. Tinkerbell stresses too much on these gifts now that they are older. It is harder. It was easier when it was grabbing cheap princess dresses from Target instead of the $60 dress in the park. (Which is part of the reason I started doing it)

We have this too. I love it but get overwhelmed sometimes, there is just so much too see.

It is easy to get overwhelmed in these. I spent ALOT of time picking these out and REALLY trying to find ones that fit there personalities AND was on the clearance section.

Cute! I really hate that they added the extra bars. The girls really liked being able to get in the cage with Zurg.

I know! I wonder why they did that.

I also hate this ride but its bc I got 'stuck' on it for a good 15 min once (which is actually a long time when the same music just keeps playing over and over and over...)

No, I can understand that!

The dresses you got the girls are so pretty! And I love Charming Charlie!

Thanks! I really lucked out on how cheap it was to put the outfits together.

Gwen posing in her dress LOL She is TOO much!!!

Oye! She is def too much! I am so in trouble when she is in in high school!

The walls are awesome!!!

Thanks! Glad that it is done! And Morgan loves it. Which you never know, when you talk about something like that, and what Morgan was picturing in her head verses how it would end up. But she loves it.

Last week was the first time since Pandora opened that I didn't get one of these, and when I realized it I was sad

That is sad...

I agree. We've only eaten there once, a couple years ago. Tried it because so many love it. The only thing we thought was great was the jalapeno cornbread, which I hear they've gotten rid of or are getting rid of? However the fries sound delicious so I may have to try them!

I def think we won't feel the need to go back. I would prefer Harambe Market next time. And they def didn't have cornbread when we were there.

OMG not only are the dresses adorable but I love Gwen in this picture lol

Thanks! She is something that one!

I prefer the dresses you got the girls over the standard princess ones! I know my daughter, personally, would be much more likely to wear a nice dress like that once she got home whereas a costume would remain untouched. (As evidenced by her 3 costumes she has currently sitting at the bottom of her toy chest...)

Gwen wore her dress to school the other day. She loves wearing her Christmas dresses to school. She likes to be fancy! God help me!

Charming Charlie's is great! They're a little overwhelming, but I love their sale selection. I got the flower for my hair for my wedding from there.

It is DEF overwhelming in there! I spent a long time looking for these for the girls! I was also determined to pick them from the clearance section to keep it cheap so that made it a bit more challenging.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

We celebrated some of Mother's Day yesterday, since the weather looked better for Saturday than Sunday. We headed to breakfast at the same place we went to last year and was PACKED. It was nicely not this morning, got sat right away. It was fantastic!

Then we headed to the Philadelphia Zoo for the day. We got a new family membership and can now bring 2 guests with us for free. So, if anyone wants to make a visit to the greater Philadelphia Area, we can all go to the Zoo!

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This is the Zoo's oldest turtle named Bubba. Bubba was Gwen's nickname when she was a baby, she was a solid little bruiser of a toddler! You would never know it know! But the girls were obsessed with Bubba yesterday. There was a zoo keeper in the area talking about the turtles and he walked right up to the zoo keeper and stretched out his neck nice and high for the zoo keeper to scratch/pet his head. It was pretty cute.

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Me and my colony of bees.

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The zoo has this area called the Treehouse, and there was lots of things to climb in and on.

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It was fairly cool out yesterday, so alot of the animals were out and about.

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Giraffes always amaze me. They just seem like an un-natural animal with those long necks and beautiful pattern. I was saying that if you didn't know what a giraffe was, and someone explained it to you. You would think they were crazy.

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Lionesses were even moving around a bit.

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WE had to stalk with peacock for ahwile. She (or He) had opened up it's feathers but I swear was purposely standing in the wrong direction. But we got a good pic eventually! Gwen was "sweet" talking the peacock to turn around. She thinks she made it turn.

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The zoo had updated a bunch of things since the last time we had been here. They gave the Kangaroos a nice new area. And a fun photo opt!

We finished up at the zoo around 2, so we decided to also hit one of my favorite restaurants for an early dinner.

I was able to get 2 of my favorite things...
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Sour Beer

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and Poke Nachos!

Yum! This place did have the Ace Pineapple Cider but I stuck with my Sour Beer, as those are super hard to find!

And then this morning the girls and Andy made me breakfast. Gwen even decided to decorate my door, since I do that for there birthdays.
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I could hear her out there doing something, I just wasn't sure what!

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Breakfast in bed brought to you by these two!

We had breakfast in bed and played some family MarioKart this morning. So, a nice weekend so far! I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day, who is a mom!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Three: How many times did we Ride?

So, I left off with us leaving Buzz Lightyear and headed to our next destination... Which turned out to be the Tomorrowland Speedway! We got over there around 9:10 and it said that the wait was 20 minutes. It didn't really look like it was that long and we like the general rule of any wait under 30 minutes is pretty good. So, we got in line.


The line was probably 10 minutes, maybe. It wasn't bad at all.

Morgan let me ride with her while she drived.



A little pre-driving selfie.


Gwen and Andy rode together behind us.




I snapped a cute picture of Andy and Gwen once we were at the end waiting to park.


And Andy returned the favor with a cute pic of us!

When we got off the ride, I had Morgan stand by the height to see if she was tall enough to drive by herself. And in fact she was! So, naturally she wanted to ride again so she could go ALL by herself. SO, we went around to the front to see what the line looked like, and it was about the same as before, so we got back in line.


Morgan ready to drive ALL by HERSELF!


CM giving her the driving instructions.


The big kid ready to go!

I rode with Gwen in front of Morgan. I grabbed this video of Morgan driving and then what I find the funniest is Gwen at the end singing while driving....



Gwen driving.


And a Gwen and me Selfie...

Andy got to drive by himself. I know you are all jealous... I snapped this pic as we were waiting to unload again...

Andy photobombed Morgan. Ha!

Morgan LOVED driving a car all by herself! And of course wanted to go again! Oye! They also realized that they could go together. So, we went around the front again, and saw that the line was still pretty short. So, we got in line one more time. But this time the CM that directs you to which side reconnized us! oops. She was super nice and asked if we had done both sides yet. Which we had and said we could pick. But the girls didn't care so she said to go in the one as it would be faster.


So, for the 3rd time, Morgan and Gwen went together... Gwen steered and Morgan pushed the pedal.

We went in from t of the girls so when we were pulling back in, we tried to get a ride selfie.

But right before this Morgan rammed into us! Oye. There was a dad waiting on the ramp and saw and thought it was hilarious when he realized that it was our kids.

After our 3rd ride, the line had finally started to back up. So that was going to be it for driving for now. And time to move on to something else.

But what?

 

[SweetSerenity]

I can remember how much fun it was to get to "drive" when I was a kid. Now, as an adult, I drive everyday and I'm tired of it!

 

[missjackiemcg]

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Breakfast in bed brought to you by these two!

We had breakfast in bed and played some family MarioKart this morning. So, a nice weekend so far! I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day, who is a mom!

That sounds like a perfect Mother's Day! Love that you did the zoo, too. We became zoo members a couple of years ago and love spending time there!

Morgan Driving: 2nd Ride
The big kid ready to go!

She looks SO proud of herself! Love that they had so much fun and got to go on one of their favorite rides over and over!

 

[missangelalexis]

Happy Mother's Day! I'm glad it was a fun weekend!

So many cute photos!! Morgan must have been so happy to drive by herself! And at least on the last ride you and Andy got to ride together

 

[jrmint427]

We got a new family membership and can now bring 2 guests with us for free

We love having a zoo membership! We finally upgraded this year so we can take guests too. We realized we were taking our parents enough each year to make it worth it!

The zoo has this area called the Treehouse, and there was lots of things to climb in and on.

I wish our zoo had something like this! Our girls would love it. Ours just has a normal playground play structure.

Breakfast in bed brought to you by these two!

Happy Mother's Day! I love the decorations on your door and the breakfast in bed. It looks like a great day!

Morgan looked so happy to be driving!

 

[jrmint427]

I am playing catch-up...

So, as much as it pained us... we decided to cancel our fast 7DMT fast pass

This is why I am having SUCH a hard time NOT over-planning our next trip. There is always so much to do and never enough time. I've promised a more relaxing trip, but struggling to not go into super-planning mode! Were you glad you decided to skip this ride for a more relaxing day?

I decided to go with dresses more fancy than princess-y since they were a bit older.

I love this idea for older girls! The dress and jewelry looks awesome, I can't wait to see pictures after BBB!

 

[jrmint427]

The finished product!

Her room looks absolutely amazing! I would have loved that as a kid. I can only imagine how long it took to paint all that!

Soon enough we were off and riding on our banshees! As always, it was amazing. I did peak to the sides this time to see how the ride worked, as I was curious. And it did make me feel a little queasy doing that. So, my advice, if you are prone to that at all. DON'T look to the sides!!!!

How bad was it?! I was so into the ride that I never even thought to look around me, besides to glance at my mom and husband on either side. I don't remember thinking I was up high or anything like that. I'll probably be more nervous riding it next time when I'm thinking about that lol!

 

[jchurch0409]

Sounds like an amazing Mother's Day!

 

[E.Jane]

Day One: A Ride Down Main Street!


Once the girls, finally got up, they went and checked out the goods and read the sheet. I put our fast passes on them this time around and what park we were going to that day. Which the girls actually seemed to like!


This was our plan for the day. Andy has made these for each trip we have gone on.

THIS!!!!!!!! what an awesome idea! can I ask how he did this?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

@E.Jane - My husband is a wiz at Power Point! He set the print size to 2.3 Wide x 4.1 High, so when he made it into a PDF it would fit the screen of our iPhones. You can search google for images like, Mickey no background or Mickey png to find images with no background to overlap them and stuff. I can kind of do it, but he is really the master at it!

I can remember how much fun it was to get to "drive" when I was a kid. Now, as an adult, I drive everyday and I'm tired of it!

I am with you on that!

She looks SO proud of herself!

She really was!

Happy Mother's Day! I'm glad it was a fun weekend!

Thanks, It was a fun weekend but now we are back to the grind.

Happy Mother's Day! I love the decorations on your door and the breakfast in bed. It looks like a great day!

Thanks. Happy Mother's Day to you to! The decorations on the door, was kind of nice, it reminded me that they do actually appreciate everything I plan and do for them.

This is why I am having SUCH a hard time NOT over-planning our next trip. There is always so much to do and never enough time. I've promised a more relaxing trip, but struggling to not go into super-planning mode! Were you glad you decided to skip this ride for a more relaxing day?

We def were! The girls were tired but so were we! We did go back after lunch and we all took a nap. So, it was def needed! It is hard for me to plan rest days in as well. Our next trip, I am already trying to plan a full down day! I am thinking of having us move to a deluxe for 2 nights so we can have one full day at that resort to literally just enjoy that resort, swim, rest... I am hoping that the appeal of a deluxe resort will help me from trying to add a park day as we get closer.

How bad was it?! I

It wasn't too bad. I was REALLY curious. The first time we did it I didn't look around at all, so I was really curious. I am glad I looked but if you are even a little motion sickness prone I can see how it would do you in! It was very similar to Soar'n in the way it was set up, just people on bikes not seats.

Sounds like an amazing Mother's Day!

Thanks. Happy Mother's Day to you too!

 

[vamassey1]

Looks like you had a nice Mother's Day Weekend. I loved all the neat photo ops at your zoo. I celebrated Mother's Day with Michelle on Saturday and Danielle on Sunday. I did not get breakfast in bed so I'm a little envious.

Congrats to Morgan to making the jump to solo driver. Your ride pictures and selfies are so fun.

 

[amazingact21]

Hooray (for the girls' sake, at least) for three consecutive times on the Speedway! Morgan must have been thrilled to get to ride by herself...I'm sure in another 20 years when it becomes a necessity she won't be nearly as excited. And I was about to say how nice it must have been to get to ride with your husband for a change, but then you mentioned the girls ramming into you and I thought, "Sounds about right."

 

[E.Jane]

@E.Jane - My husband is a wiz at Power Point! He set the print size to 2.3 Wide x 4.1 High, so when he made it into a PDF it would fit the screen of our iPhones. You can search google for images like, Mickey no background or Mickey png to find images with no background to overlap them and stuff. I can kind of do it, but he is really the master at it!

thank you! I'm pretty good in photoshop, so I will give that a go. Love the idea of having a readily accessible reminder for FP!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

thank you! I'm pretty good in photoshop, so I will give that a go. Love the idea of having a readily accessible reminder for FP!

It is really nice to not have to open up the MDE app every five seconds. Can't remember if I mentioned it, but I also made it my lock screen, that way it's just right there.

 

[kastoney]

I decided to go with dresses more fancy than princess-y since they were a bit older.

Great dresses! What an awesome idea. When Casey did it a few years back I kind of went the same route. I found a regular dress that was fancy and skewed princess rather than having her walk around in head to toe polyester all day

Gwen of course decided she needed to try on her outfit.

Wow look at that fierce face. She's so fancy, you don't even know....

What intensity!

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Me and my colony of bees.

Great picture!!!!

I can totally see Casey doing this. i swear they are twins.

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Sour Beer

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and Poke Nachos!

Beer and nachos, every Mom's perfect meal. I was slightly close to you for mothers day, we went to a German place and I got Schofferhoffer and something called Doner fries which is essentially gyro toppings piled on fries. So good!

Morgan LOVED driving a car all by herself! And of course wanted to go again! Oye!

3 times!!! Now that has to be some kind of WDW record.

 

[jrmint427]

I am thinking of having us move to a deluxe for 2 nights so we can have one full day at that resort to literally just enjoy that resort, swim, rest... I am hoping that the appeal of a deluxe resort will help me from trying to add a park day as we get closer.

This is the plan for our next trip! I'm planning 1 night in a savanna view room at AKL. I hated the thought of paying for that and not spending any daylight hours in our room. So we're staying one night and making that day off a resort day. Do you know where you might stay next time?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This is the plan for our next trip! I'm planning 1 night in a savanna view room at AKL. I hated the thought of paying for that and not spending any daylight hours in our room. So we're staying one night and making that day off a resort day. Do you know where you might stay next time?

Oh! When are you going again?

The girls really want to stay at the Poly! We could see the pool from our table when we went for Ohana, and they loved it. And I would love to be able to really enjoy the pool and water area. Maybe try and actually get into Trader Sam's for a drink! AKL is on our bucket list as well. Maybe if this strategy works, we will do it again.

We are looking to go again till March 2019, will you be going before that? We can compare notes, either way.