What's on our minds??

OMG!  We are three weeks away from D-Day.  I've been planning for months and now it's time to seriously get down to business!  Also, it's time to let everyone in on the fine details of our BIG YEAR TRIP!

First of all, in the last week we received our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween tickets in the mail! 

  "Happy Halloween!" 

 So, what am I looking forward to at MNSSHP?  Besides the candy ;) - I'm excited about meeting some characters I've never met before.  Jack Skellington and Sally will be out this year, gotta meet them, and I also really want to meet Lotso from Toy Story 3!  Any of the others will just be a plus for us.  If I hadn't already met the Seven Dwarfs they would be right up there at the top of the list too.  

As I've mentioned before, the Hallowishes fireworks show is the absolute best part of the Halloween party, along with the parade.  Also this year, the Villains have been added to the Celebrate the Magic castle projection show and I know that will be awesome.  

We are ordering our military tickets next week and they will only take a couple days to arrive.  I also have to go to the base to renew my ID the day we pick the tickets up.  I cannot say how much we appreciate what Disney does for military families! 

Click here for more info on Disney's military discounts 

Heroes Work Here - Disney's commitment to hire veterans 

Second of all, we have all been trying to decide on our wardrobe for the week.  This is a pretty tough job for us females!  You wanna be comfy, yet not too slouchy because you know there will be tons of pictures taken.  

So far I have bought 2 Disney shirts from Hot Topic, a red Mickey t-shirt and a Beauty and the Beast tank.  I ordered a customized Mickey pocket tee from a local lady here in Starkville and just today I pre-ordered the first ever official "Walt Life" t-shirt - can't wait for those!  We also have our "Big Year" t-shirts that I made through VistaPrint.  That's 5 Disney tees so I only need to figure out something to wear for 2 other days, lol.  I believe Candice already has enough for every day but she will blog about that later.  Mom almost has all of her outfits picked out too, but I'm not sure about Nona.  

Another thing we have been trying to decide on is how far we will drive down on Saturday.  Mom and Candice have to work half days on Saturday so we will not be leaving until after lunch.

 We have finally decided to stop half way in Bainbridge. GA.  We have stopped in Tallahassee previously but since we are getting a late start, we lose an hour, and the Tallahassee hotels are more expensive we have decided on Bainbridge.  When we wake up on Sunday we will only be 5 hours from Disney.  It is  a total of 10 hours and 30 minutes to get to Disney World from my Mom's house.  Then when you factor in the time change and stops you can say it pretty much takes 12 hours.  I really like to stop some where about half way on the way down, because I don't like being so tired when I first get to my happy place.  On the way back that is a different story though since we gain the hour back and I'm coming home to my other happy place....MY comfy, awesome bed!

Last, I've been thinking about our daily schedule and what I want to make sure we don't miss each day.  

SCHEDULE

Sunday - Arrive.  Check-in if we can even though it will be early.  If we can't, head straight to Downtown Disney.  Grab some lunch, walk around, and activate our military tickets at Guest Services.  Then check-in later in the afternoon and get groceries.

Monday - EPCOT - Food & Wine Festival.

Tuesday - Resort tours.  Lunch at Sanna at Animal Kingdom Villas.  Rest.  MNSSHP at 4pm-midnight

Wednesday - Magic Kingdom - possibly ride monorail to EPCOT sometime during the day.  Depends on how much we ride during MNSSHP.

Thursday - Hollywood Studios then to EPCOT for more Food & Wine

Friday - Animal Kingdom and again to EPCOT once we are done there

Saturday - More resort touring and Downtown Disney with dinner at Ragland Road

We only have 2 ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) because we are planning to really take advantage of the Food & Wine Festival.  We will eat quick service restaurants the rest of the time.  Of course I'll have to get my corn dog nuggets at Casey's Corner one of our nights at the Magic Kingdom and I'll have to get a cinnamon roll too while we are there.  Other than those 2 must haves I am up for anything when it comes to meal time.  We have been thoroughly reviewing the Food & Wine menus and I'm sure that most of our food and drink choices will come from EPCOT.  We will have pictures and reviews of all food choices while we are there.

Thanks for following out Blog! Please continue to check back! Especially starting October 19th! 

----> CHRISSY 

  

What? We're in the 20s??

That's right!! 

23 days until we arrive!! 

The closer it gets, the more I start stressing over what clothes to take? Do I need to buy more things? How much will fit in my suitcase? Ahhhhhh! So much to do in so little time! 

Of course, there will be a blog about how I pack and what I have packed. That way, maybe if you are planning on going on a Disney World Vacation sometime, you can get the jest of things. :)

----> Candice ºoº

It is starting to become surreal!

IT IS NARROWING IN!!!

Only 33 more days until the magic begins!

 

 

With that being said, it is time to get serious. And by serious, I mean, tell you about all the things I am excited about... Organized by park, of course! ºoº

 

 

1. Epcot
• 2013 INTERNATIONAL Food & Wine festival, duh! The main reason we are going.
• Soaring --> Which is our Nona's favorite ride, EVER.
• Mission Space --> Level orange!
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends --> LOVE Nemo!
• Space Ship Earth
• TEST TRACK! --> I am excited to try out the new changes to the ride! :)
• And of course, visiting all of the countries
2. Magic Kingdom
• The Welcome Show! :)
• Taking pictures of/with Cinderella's Castle
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Splash Mountain --> Another of Nona's favorites!
• Space Mountain
• Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin!!
• Haunted Mansion
• "It's a Small World."
• Mad Tea Party --> A classic EVERYONE has to ride. It's a trademark!
• Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor --> Fun for absolutely the entire family.
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Under The Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid --> love Ariel :)
3. Hollywood Studios
• The Great Movie Ride --> Fun relaxing ride after all the walking!
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set --> Every time we have went we haven't had time or the set was closed for maintenance. Maybe it won't be this year!
• Rockin Roller Coaster ft. Aerosmith! --> Because this ride is the bees knees!
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror --> Ahhhhh! So excited!!
• Star Tours --> This was my PawPaw and my favorite ride. So real!
• TOY STORY MIDWAY MANIA! --> Best thing ever.
4. Animal Kingdom --> This is my absolute favorite park.
• Expedition Everest Legend of the Forbidden Mountain --> Best rollercoaster known to man kind.
• Affection Section
• Dinosaur --> I promise to keep my eyes open this year! Maybe... :)
• Disney Island Trails --> So many animals!! <3 <3 <3
• Habitat Habit
• It's Tough To Be A Bug 4D --> I love A Bugs Life, this little show is so much fun!
• Kilimanjaro Safari --> Last time I almost got peepee'd on by a Rhino. Who wouldn't love that?! :)
• Maharajah Jungle Trek --> More animals!!!!
• The Oasis Exhibits
• Tree of Life --> It's so big. I love it!

 

 

And for the first time, this year, I get to tour the resorts and visit Downtown Disney! I am excited about seeing all of this. We have lunch reservations at Sanaa, an African cuisine restaurant located in Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas. We also have supper reservations at Raglan Road, an Irish pub/restaurant, located in Downtown Disney. Our reservation is at 7:45 and the live Irish band starts performing at 8:00!! ALSO, we will be attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! Which I am so excited about!

----> CANDICE! ºoº 

Happy Birthday Chrissy!

I must say I am pretty blessed! Nolan's family knows about my Disney obsession! Check out my 25th birthday present!! Yippie!! Only 37 more days till Disney World!! 💜😃😍🎉

---> Chrissy

Recapping Past Trips

1st Trip:

When - August 8th - 14th 2004

Where -  Vacation Villas at Fantasy World

Who - Nona, PawPaw, Mom, Candice, & Me

~This was our first trip to Walt Disney World.  I remember always wanting to go as a child.  For some reason, it was always a dream of mine to see Cinderella's castle.  When I first saw the castle on our first day in the parks, I honestly teared up.  It had only been a little over a year since my Dad passed away and that was probably the first happy tears I had in a very long time.  It was all so magical.  I can remember the song and the performers on Main Street that morning singing "Walking right down the middle of Main Street USA!" - a song that will seriously get stuck in your head.  I felt like a little kid again and I loved every single moment of it!  Nothing else seemed to matter -  it felt like we were in another world, far away from reality.  Candice celebrated her 12th birthday in the parks everyday on this trip.  

She got a button at each park that showed it was her birthday.  Disney has a unique way of making you feel special while you are at their parks.  We honestly had not done much research before we went and had no idea where to start.  Most of our day was spent sight-seeing.  We rode a few rides, watched some shows, and of course enjoyed the fireworks (I think I cried again during Wishes!)  

We knew we didn't get to experience even half of what Disney World had to offer, but that just meant we would have to go back again one day!!  We had a great time though!

First time on Tower of Terror!!

2nd trip:

When - July 1st - July 4th 2010

Where - Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Who - The Newlyweds - The Coutures

Why - Honeymoon!

 At Hollywood Studios

At Magic Kingdom

~Nolan and I had already planned to go on a cruise for our honeymoon.  When I realized the port was only an hour from Orlando I mentioned to Nolan that I would love to go back to Walt Disney World.  I looked into it a little and found out that we could get 4 day tickets for only $99 a person with the military discount.  Nolan called while I was at school and booked it for us.  He picked the resort, which was also discounted, and the dining plan.  We were only 2 weeks out from the wedding when we decided to add Disney World in at the end of our honeymoon so I had to do a bit of research for the dining plan.  I was able to get us some dining reservations luckily -  Tony's Town Square, Le Chefs, and Sci-fi Dine in Theater.  This trip was amazing!  

Dessert at Tony's Town Square

We literally rode every single ride, some more than once.  We got real familiar with the FastPass system and even got fastpasses given to us by CMs when they saw our honeymoon pins that we wore every day.  Again, Disney is magical and the CMs are amazing at providing wonderful experiences and making you feel special.  

                                                                       

 

At EPCOT - Our favorite park

Getting the Jungle Blessing on our rings :)

We both had so much fun and learned so much more about the place.  When we got home and talked about how much fun we had, my family was very interested.  Which ultimately lead us to trip #3 only 4 months later!!

3rd Trip:

When: Thanksgiving week 2010

Who: PawPaw, Nona, Mom, Candice, Nolan, 

Aunt Jennifer, Whitney, Tiffany, & Me!

Where: Westgate Town Center

~So after asking Nona and PawPaw, only once, if we could go to Disney on a big family trip they agreed it was a great idea!  We all got together at their house for my birthday in September and revealed the surprise to everyone else.  Nona had bought all princesses decorations for my party which made Whitney and Tiffany laugh because they thought she was being funny.  On the Christmas tree Nona already (or still) had put up were cards hanging, one for each of us.  After lunch we got to open the cards and inside was an invitation to Disney World with the date we had booked already.  Unfortunately DenDen couldn't go with us so it ended up just being the 9 of us.  We had 6 day tickets. One day for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and 2 days each for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.  Our first day at Magic Kingdom when we arrived for the opening show I know I saw some tears from some of my family members, whether they care to admit it or not!  It was amazing! 

Watching the Welcome Show! ;)

Wonderful Grandparents - 50th Anniversary

PawPaw & Nona on Space Mountain

While we were there PawPaw & Nona celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! Yes, 50th!  They wore their buttons all week that showed it was their 50th anniversary and you wouldn't believe how great it was!  When PawPaw saw their picture from Space Mountain he had to have it!  He thought it was so funny that he even had to buy us all a copy!  When he was getting out his wallet to pay for the pictures, the CM said "No sir, you don't owe me anything.  Happy Anniversary!"  Yep, gave him over $50 worth of pictures!   I don't know if it was because it was their anniversary or because she thought it was so cute that he wanted this fun picture of them.  Probably a little bit of both but either way it was extremely nice of her!  PawPaw also wanted ice cream every day and I'm not sure how many times they told him he didn't have to pay and Happy Anniversary!  Really, it's just the little things like this that make Disney so awesome and special for people.  

ICE CREAM TIME

I can't even begin to describe all of the wonderful memories from this trip that I will never forget.  I never imagined when we were planning this trip how many rides my grandparents would ride with us.  Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and soooo many more!!

EVERYONE on Splash Mountain!

We grandkids will always hold these memories dear to our hearts because only 4 months later, our wonderful PawPaw was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.  He passed away only a month later.  How could this happen to our PawPaw who was just acting like a kid with us at Disney World only a few months earlier?  

Reason #1 why I will always LOVE Disney World!  We have all these wonderful, happy, family memories there.

4th Trip:

When - October 8th - 15th 2011

Who - Nolan & I; Kasey & Seth

Where - Westgate Villas

At Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

~Kasey and I were in Ultrasound school together at the time and planned a great trip to Disney during the Food & Wine Festival. 

Norway

China

Splash Mountain

Pearls from our oysters

We also went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and to Sea World.  We had the 4 Day military tickets as well as the MNSSHP tickets so we had 5 total days in the parks.  We rode everything-multiple times and dined at some really good restaurants.  The Food & Wine festival was great; as well as the Halloween party --Best fireworks show by far! This was (FINALLY) my first time to ride Rockin' Roller coaster.  Also the first time eating at Via Napoli which has amazing pizza!  Absolutely an amazing trip!

5th Trip:

When: December 31st 2012 - January 6th 2013

Who: Nolan & Me; Steve, Kelly, Hailey, Gracie, & Charlie

Where: Westgate Villas

~Kelly and I planned for months to surprise the kids with their very 1st Walt Disney World Trip.  We had a big reveal for them with balloons and Disney attire.  They were very shocked and excited!  My favorite quote from Charlie "We get to meet Mickey?!?"

When we got to our resort to check in we were upgraded.  They gave us a 2 bedroom instead of a 1 bedroom and the Olsens got a 3 bedroom instead of a 2 bedroom.  First bit of Disney magic and we weren't even on Disney property yet.  For our first morning at Disney World we had breakfast with the characters at O'hana.  

We rode so many rides! They were tall enough to ride everything except Charlie couldn't ride Rockin' Rollercoaster.

Our ride photos were probably one of my favorite this from this trip.  I have way more than this, but these were the best ones to me.  I don't know which I think is the funniest.  Everyone but me worried and looking at Charlie on Tower of Terror, the Rockin' Roller Coaster picture with Nolan and "Honey BooBoo" on the front of the ride (she was hilarious), or the one with Kelly manning 2 guns on Buzz Lightyear with that hat on her head!  The hat that we had to track down for Charlie in about 5 stores because it was sold out every where!  All great and funny stories! 

Lucky for us, Disney keeps all their Christmas decorations up until after the first of the year.  The lights are so beautiful!  The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios is fabulous!  We were on the street for the countdown that night.  When the 5 million lights come on, it also SNOWS!  Yes, it snows in Florida because Disney is just a magical place like that! ;) 

This blog only has a few of the highlights from our trips.  I have probably over 3,000 pictures from Disney World and if a picture tells a thousand words, well, I could go on forever!  I love to travel and I am open to going anywhere in the world but this WORLD is my happy place and always will be!! :)

---->CHRISSY