Yo Ho, A Disney Life for Me - Summer 2020 pre trip

[smithlane]

[QUOTE=Goldia;14315764]Crusing is something that will just have to wait, likely until we've only got it pat for 2. I've looked at the Alaska itinerary too, it looks awesome.

I remember your MNSSHP woes. It's part of what is holding me back I think, in the sense that by now I know what the others like and don't like. I'm the one that pushes for the Orlando holiday every year and while they all enjoy the trips I do know not every thing is going to be a winner. So, Max would be happy if we spent every other day at a water park. Dave would be happy if we never visited Orlando again, but he loves the posh restaurants. Kate loves the thrill rides. What I mean is recognising the things they enjoy about the trip and incorporating that into the plans is what makes it enjoyable for all of us as we all get to do some of what we love. This all makes me feel that dragging them around a packed out park is not going to make anyone happy is just going end up with us sniping at each other. We don't usually do any queues or waiting around for anything longer than 20 minutes. Fireworks we rock up for 5 minutes before a show and we accept the view we have, we don't expect a perfect central view as we just couldn't stand around waiting for the fireworks for an hour, same with the parades. I totally get why other people pick their spot and camp out, but it's not for us. The times we enjoy the most are usually early morning when the parks are almost empty and we are doing rides with less than 5 minutes wait.

You're right though about the delivery of the choice. I think I might reinstate the eating around the world planning sessions we had last year. So, I'll make a themed meal and then have a few suggestions and questions. I don't think buttering them up with a tasty meal is manipulative at all as you can tell though I'm still not wholly convinced the party is for us.

Ooh, I hope you do get to DC for your birthday. I'll share the final itinerary and trip report for Toronto and Niagara so you can add that to your list.

I understand your woes Abby, it can be really tough being the chief planner can't it? Still not going to hand over my duties though, I don't trust anyone else with the holiday .
I think you plan amazing holidays and the kids and Dave will love anything you decide, please don't second guess yourself

The big problem with the parties is that they're really not cheap, especially when having Disney tickets as well so you feel you have to get the best value for money out of them!

The eating around the world themed meals would be a great idea as they were successful last year weren't they. I think a little bit of manipulation for the greater good never hurt anyone

Looking forward to reading about the Toronto plans, have you booked the hotels yet?

[Goldia]

So I keep flip flopping from thinking everything is going to be fine and then thinking the worst I'm sure we've all watched the news and announcements this week and wondered how we are all going to get through the next few months.

I feel so sad for the people who have had their trips disrupted with the recent news about closures and then feel incredibly guilty that this may give us hope that by the end of July we will be able to go on our trip. But of course the holiday going ahead or not is the least of my worries at the moment.

I'm desperately worried about members of my family who have respiratory problems, yet I absolutely don't want the schools to close as I really don't want Max to have to study at home, he has coursework deadlines and work that needs to be completed by April. I am hoping that we can limp on at school for another week or so. But the idea of home schooling him so that he is ready to take his GCSEs and helping Kate (although her being in year 8 is far less of a worry) while working from home fills me with dread

But, as I've been worrying that I've been ignoring your replies and I just can't read anymore about the virus I figure a bit of escapism may be needed every now and then.

Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas

Go Kate:


Dilemma appears solved!

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She was so excited when I put the idea out there and my heart melted, couldn't quite bring myself to tell Dave the price though.

Originally Posted by jothp

Well done Kate. I guess that is decision made then. Will Kate want a costume of some kind?

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We did talk about a costume but she's not sure she would want to dress up, maybe she would change her mind nearer the time.

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

That is lovely that Kate was so excited to go to MNSSHP. I’m sure you will be good to buy your tickets next month, you must be really looking forward to adding that to the planner. very exciting news!

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I'll leave buying tickets until we are more confident the trip will go ahead. Fortunately we are still 4 months away and dont have to pay the holiday off until 2 months prior to going. I'm hopeful things will be on the up by then, maybe that's blind hope and not realism but I'll wait to buy the tickets until much nearer now I think.

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

Yay wl done Kate 😂 looking forward to the update at the weekend xx

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And here is the weekend. Kate was so excited she said that we may never get to go in October so we should take our chance of opening night. I did point out it might be very busy and it wouldn't feel like Halloween in the middle of August, but she wasn't fazed by that at all.

Originally Posted by smithlane

I understand your woes Abby, it can be really tough being the chief planner can't it? Still not going to hand over my duties though, I don't trust anyone else with the holiday .
I think you plan amazing holidays and the kids and Dave will love anything you decide, please don't second guess yourself

The big problem with the parties is that they're really not cheap, especially when having Disney tickets as well so you feel you have to get the best value for money out of them!

The eating around the world themed meals would be a great idea as they were successful last year weren't they. I think a little bit of manipulation for the greater good never hurt anyone

Looking forward to reading about the Toronto plans, have you booked the hotels yet?

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Do you know what I don't want to send over my chief planner duties either! So, while I moan about having to make the decisions and do all the research I don't want to not do it either.

I did book the Toronto hotels last weekend, we've gone for an apartment in Toronto for 5 nights which is a first for us and then I've booked a night at Niagara in a Falls view room in the Sheraton on the Falls which was recommended by a lovely dibber! The views look stunning. Surely the October trip will be fine? Even if there is still disruption in summer.

[caitlinsmummy]

Oh Abby 😔 I know what you mean. I'm not going to dwell on it in here so will keep your pre trippie upbeat.

What a fab way to look at it, I honestly think you'll all love and then at least you can say you've done it can't you 😊 have you bought the tickets yet or are you still hanging on? Xx

[Kat11]

I’m with you on the escapism! 🍹 ☀️ 🎢 🤞🏼 😃

Kat

[Sparksy72]

Abby, I think you are being really sensible regarding the tickets. I am also trying it to not freak about it but at the same time take it seriously and I really do feel for all the people who are directly affected- either by illness or holiday disruptions.

On a happier note, how great that you have booked your hotel in Niagara! It sounds awesome on your recommendation I have also booked The Ride for Cooper whilst we are in New York I currently have everything crossed xx

[Elsa42]

Its worrying not knowing whats going off but I'm hoping in a month everything will have calmed down. Im really hoping so anyway. I think our Pre trip reports will help us escape the worry. Exciting about the party I'm glad you've made a decision. I wonder with the park being closed if all the maintenance work continues I.e riding construction and castle make over or if everything completely stops.

[MrsSilverStar]

It’s such a stressful time isn’t it? But yes, let’s all enjoy the escapism of Disney!

Glad you’ve got Toronto booked up, sounds like a fab trip.

Kate is so sweet and always comes through when you need your secret weapon for more add ons 😄

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

Oh Abby 😔 I know what you mean. I'm not going to dwell on it in here so will keep your pre trippie upbeat.

What a fab way to look at it, I honestly think you'll all love and then at least you can say you've done it can't you 😊 have you bought the tickets yet or are you still hanging on? Xx

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I haven't bought them yet, but the decision is made at least

Originally Posted by Kat11

I’m with you on the escapism! 🍹 ☀️ 🎢 🤞🏼 😃

Kat

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I'm glad I'm not the only one, perhaps people think it's a bit head in the sand but I think I need a bit of a break from the worry too.

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

Abby, I think you are being really sensible regarding the tickets. I am also trying it to not freak about it but at the same time take it seriously and I really do feel for all the people who are directly affected- either by illness or holiday disruptions.

On a happier note, how great that you have booked your hotel in Niagara! It sounds awesome on your recommendation I have also booked The Ride for Cooper whilst we are in New York I currently have everything crossed xx

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Yay, we absolutely loved The Ride. I didn't tell the others what it was beforehand and it took a little while for them to realise what was going on and that we hadn't just got really lucky and chanced upon some bizarre New Yorkers. It was a fab atmosphere on there bus too and the two tour guides we had were so funny, we laughed all the way around.

Originally Posted by Elsa42

Its worrying not knowing whats going off but I'm hoping in a month everything will have calmed down. Im really hoping so anyway. I think our Pre trip reports will help us escape the worry. Exciting about the party I'm glad you've made a decision. I wonder with the park being closed if all the maintenance work continues I.e riding construction and castle make over or if everything completely stops.

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Yes, I think I worried a little that people would think it too trivial to talk about trip planning, but I figure that no one is forced to read my posts if they don't want to then fair enough, that's their choice, but I think I'm going to try stay optimistic.

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

It’s such a stressful time isn’t it? But yes, let’s all enjoy the escapism of Disney!

Glad you’ve got Toronto booked up, sounds like a fab trip.

Kate is so sweet and always comes through when you need your secret weapon for more add ons 😄

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It really is, but as I don't think there's anything more to be gained from worrying about it all I'm going to allow myself to be happy and think about more fun things. It's not that I don't feel for the people stranded around the World wondering when/how they will get home or that I don't feel for the people who have had to cancel their trips as they were due to leave in the next few days. But it doesn't mean I shouldn't be planning my trip or being excited for it.

By that way is that a countdown I spy? Yay!

[Goldia]

Eating Around the World

I’ve decided that even though there is a lot of uncertainty it’s nice to be able to think of happier things and hope for the best so I’m carrying on with the planning. Thanks so much to everyone for the encouragement and for wanting to join in with a bit of Disney Escapism.

Last weekend I reinstated the Eating around the World meals we had last year before the trip. We started with China and I made Lemon chicken and egg fried rice.

Dave and me also had Margaritas which I appreciate isn’t particularly Chinese but it’s what we fancied and it's what I had the ingredients for so no Tipsy Ducks in Love with this meal.

After we had eaten (and had a Marg!) I said that it would be good if they could all be part of the planning, Dave rolled his eyes. I said I wanted their input on some things. The conversation went a little bit like this,

Me “This year we have an opportunity to go to the Halloween Party as we’re there for the first party night” holds her breath wondering what the reaction will be
Kate “Yesssssss” phew
Max “Huh”
Kate (to Max) “You’ll love it as you get loads of chocolate”
Max “Fine then” that was the totality of his enthusiasm and interest
Dave “What’s the catch?”
Me “Well, there are two that I can think of first it’s Halloween in August and I’m not sure how Halloweeny we’ll be feeling in August and the second is it’s the first night which is bound to be really busy” figured I'd just get the fact that it's not Halloween out there straight away, although in the end this didn't seem to be a problem
Dave “Is it basically just going to the parks at night?” he knows there must be something as I don't normally ask them what parks we should visit and when, but he can't quite figure out the right questions to ask
Kate “It’s brilliant there’s parades and fireworks and candy and characters. Plus we might not get another chance to go as we might never be there at that time again.” she's a trooper, even better that I didn't have to prime her to be on my side, I could come across as not minding either way while she did the whole we've got to go spiel. I'm now keeping very quiet, as by this point I realised I didn’t really need to say much as no one really needed convincing.
Dave “If it’s just going to the parks at night then sure. There must be a catch.” Err, what should I say, of course I really should mention the cost, but I didn't...this is what I said...
Me “Some people like to dress up in Halloween costumes.”
Dave "You know I'm not dressing up" I hadn’t really ever hoped for dressing up though so fair enough.

And that was it, decision made, Kate had won everyone over, me included as I hadn't been sure but seeing her so excited about the idea was fab. I said that we could maybe save it and go in October sometime, but she quite rightly pointed out we may never go in October so let's do it while we have the chance.

Ok, so I didn’t mention the cost but no one asked if there was a price tag. Is that naughty? Probably, but as of yet I haven’t actually bought the tickets as I don’t want to spend more money until we’re more confident we aren’t going to have our plans thwarted.

Since the meal Kate has taken a big interest in the holiday and has been wanting to ‘talk Disney’ quite a bit, which is fab She decided she needed to pick a magic band colour which sort of had me freaked out as of course MDE has all the hotels linked so she would see that it wasn’t just CBR booked. But I managed to login to the CBR booking without showing the other bookings. Of course when she spotted the different themed bands she wanted one of those and settled on the rainbow one.



This is another thing I haven’t actually ordered (read CV uncertainty) but given it’s only $10 I may just do it anyway and not worry about losing the money as she asked about it again today.

We also had a chat about what her must do’s are. This year she is not too bothered about getting an autograph book and meeting characters . She picked out all the rides she wants to do and was a bit disappointed that Spaceship Earth won’t be open.

She also wanted to put the dates of the trip in her phone and I told her we had CBR booked for 16 nights and there were surprise hotels for the last 6 nights. I caved in pretty quickly though and told her that we were going to be at Boardwalk and then AKL . She was more excited that she was in on the secret and knew something Dave and Max didn’t know though than about the super long trip and the bonus hotels . She then asked which restaurants I’d booked up so I ran through that with her and said I was saving House of Blues for our final day, which she thought was pretty fitting as we ate their on our travel home day in 2018.

Yesterday it was Italy.

Kate and me made Chicken Parmigiana which I have never made before, but we all agreed this was pretty tasty.

We also made some Tiramisu cupcakes, these were really tasty, they are in red, green and silver cupcake cases (as we didn’t have white).

For our cocktails we had Espresso Martinis. Yum.

Kate and me did some outfit planning and she sorted through her clothes. I explained I was hoping we’d do hand luggage only and that we would do some washing out there. I suggested 7 pairs of shorts and T shirts would be enough. Everything came out of the drawers and in the end she settled on 9 T shirts that she absolutely must have and 6 pairs of shorts, along with one dress and one playsuit. She also wants to bring 3 pairs of trainers (one of which would be worn on the flight) I said I’d hoped not to have to pack any and just have the trainers we are wearing as our feet are the same size and we could swap, but she didn’t like this idea . We’ll see if we can fit it all. To be fair her clothes are teeny tiny and take up next to no space so she probably could fit all the shoes. We also had a look at all the Minnie Ears and settled on just 3 to take with us this year.

Finally we spent a bit of time looking at the menus from the World Showcase restaurants and deciding what we are going to do for each of our Eating Around the World meals. It was so much fun

It has been great taking a break from worrying about the World, of course that’s still there but as we are all doing what we can and there isn’t anything else that can be done I just decided to focus my energy on other things rather than reading endless news stories and opinions.

I think the Eating Around the World will help to bridge the gap between now and fast pass booking day. We are 19 weeks out as of today, so there's a little over 2 months until FP day. It is also lovely to have Kate on board to talk to about the holiday

[Em4owen]

I love the idea of eating around the world meals. I think we might try it too 🙂