As you are reading this, we are driving towards Orlando and our Disney World vacation!! EEEEKKK!!!! We made a stop in Lake Charles, LA our first night because we both had to work all day (by the way I got NOTHING accomplished…way too excited) and then spent the last two nights in Panama City Beach, FL having some fun in the sun and now we are heading to Orlando!!
We will be staying at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, an official Disney World Hotel, across from Downtown Disney until Monday and then we will check into Port Orleans Riverside for 2 full weeks!! WOOHOO!!! Our daughter and son-in-law are traveling with us in their own car and they will be checking into Port Orleans French Quarter for a week! Our son, his girlfriend and our grandson will be flying in next Thursday to join us! As soon as we all get checked in on Monday…we are heading to Magic Kingdom and I will finally get to experience one of my dreams coming true…seeing my daughter see Disney World for the very first time!! I’ve been waiting 34 years for this moment and I am BEYOND excited!!
While we are waiting for Monday to get here, we will be checking out a few things that we’ve never done before as well! Friday, we have to pick up our Universal tickets…as we also spend a day or two there on our trips as well….and then we will just be hanging out at our hotel, checking out the pool and going for a nice dinner. On Saturday, we are going site-seeing around Orlando and then are going to try the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney for lunch! We’ve heard great things about their sandwiches, so we thought we would try them for ourselves! I’ll let you know what we think!!
After an afternoon of lounging around the pool, we have a dinner date at Benihana’s in our hotel and then we are going to go watch the Yehaa Bob show at Port Orleans Riverside! We have our itinerary so full for the next two weeks, we didn’t’ have time to fit his show in even though we are staying at POR…and we really wanted to see it as we’ve heard he puts on an awesome performance! So we figured since we had the extra days before check-in we would take advantage of it and go see Bob! Let me say, that I’m already impressed with him …. I went to his website and sent an email asking him about the show and what time we should arrive and he replied back that same day! I also made a comment on his Facebook page about a video he had posted of a song he wrote and he thanked me for my comment! So he seems to REALLY appreciate his fans and takes the time to let them know!!
On Sunday, our hotel has a character breakfast buffet, so our daughter and son-in-law will get to experience their first character meal with Mickey and Minnie!! YAY!! And of course, since it is Sunday, that means FOOTBALL, so we have to watch the Houston Texans play as both of the hubby’s are into regular and fantasy football! After the game, we will have a little pool time and then will be going to Planet Hollywood for dinner in Downtown Disney!
Five of the seven of us were chosen to test the Magic Bands, as POR is included in the test phase … but our daughter and son-in-law did not as POFQ hasn’t rolled out the test yet. So it should be interesting to see which works best….the old stand by card….or the new magic bands!! I’ll be able to give a full report when I get back on whether or not we have any problems with them!! We were so excited when we got our bands in the mail…each in the color we chose…and each with our names on them! We have also been able to reserve
our Fast-Passes as well for the days we will be at Disney World. You get to pick 3 Fast Passes for 1 park per day. Since we won’t all have the Magic Bands, we called Disney World to ask how this would work for our daughter and son-in-law. They told us to go ahead and book our Fast Passes online and when we got to that particular ride, to let the CM know that we have two in our party that are not part of the Magic Band test, but that we all want to ride together. She said that Disney ALWAYS wants to be as accommodating as possible and that the CM would scan our bands and see what time we had selected for that particular ride and if they have any Fast Passes available, they will give them to them so we can all ride together. If not, then we will just wait in line with everyone else!
This trip has been a 14 month culmination of much planning, a little bit of stressing, a few changes in who was actually going, lots of fun and a shared love of Disney! I can’t WAIT to get there….FLOOR IT HENRY!!!
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As Julie says: “I am addicted to all things Disney! 🙂 I grew up in Vernon, TX and now reside in Waller, TX (outside of Houston) on a small ranch with my hubby and all of our animals who we affectionately call “The Zoo Crew”! We have been married almost a year now (together for 7) and have 5 children and 9 grandchildren between the 2 of us. We knew we were meant for each other when we discovered we were both Disney fanatics! 🙂 I went to Disneyland for the first time when I was 6 and fell in love with the magic of Disney. Now, my husband and I go to Disney World every 2 years either with friends or with whichever kid and grandkid are available to go at the time. We spend a lot of time planning our trips to ensure that everyone has the most memorable time while there, so that is what I will be writing about and hopefully give you some ideas to try for YOUR next Disney vacation. I am very excited to be a part of The Affordable Mouse team!”
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