Blogging LIVE from Disney

We are here!

I know, I haven't posted much in a while.  I have been too stressed out since Hurricane Isaac.

Ok so real quick for this morning....

A is on a semi hunger strike.  I knew he would do this, and I am not fighting it or forcing him to eat.  He says his tummy hurts, and I see that look in his eye.  The look of not knowing where he is and being terrified about it.  His moods have been OK.  Much better since we got in and he was able to buy his first toy last night.  A Star Wars gun.  It is really cute to see him and K, my oldest stalking around with their toys gun shooting imaginary dinosaurs and Storm Troopers...

Hopefully he will eat something today.

Oh and as a PS...
We have been here less than 24 hours and already I saw an irate women tell her son that she "really couldn't even stand to look at him right now!"  He looked about 10.  Now I don't know what happened right before that, but minutes later she told her daughter off for playing with a rock...she might have been 8.

Come on lady you are on vacation at one of the most expensive places on earth...try to have some fun!

Oh and PPS...
We met a women with her mother and two daughters.  One of her daughters was in a wheelchair(the kind that looks like a stroller so you know this child has been in it for a long time).  After a discussion we learned that her daughter had brain cancer.  She said they were having a great time, but some people gave her looks when she and her family used another entrance to get on a ride...a look that reads "must be nice that they get to cut all the lines"...The lady went on to say that she felt like telling them she would gladly trade her daughter's brain cancer for waiting in any line, any day...

Yes I booked my dining 5 months ago...

You may have heard...I am going to Disney World next month!

In the last Disney post I mentioned that you need to plan ahead for Disney.  One of the major planning points is booking dinning reservations (ADRs) 6 months in advance.

Ok, ok I hear you.  How do I know what we are going to want to eat on which day for a vacation 6 months from now?!  Well that's the tricky part.

What people used to do (I never did this but I have read about it) is make multiple ADRs for mealtimes and go to the one they felt like.  Well Disney caught on.  Now they don't allow your ADRs to overlap, plus the popular places now charge a no show fee of $10 per person if you don't cancel your ADR at least 24 hours a head of time.

So what to do?  Well You can over plan, like we did in 2009.  I made an ADR for every meal, for every day of our trip.  It was miserable.  Especially since one of A's panic attack/fit triggers is noisy crowded restaurants, where he doesn't know what kind of food they serve.  Of course we didn't know this at the time.

So I learned from that for this trip.  This go round, I planned out my days better.  First I checked out touringplans.com for their best park for each day of our trip.  It's pretty cool, they compile data from past years, they factor in tour groups or events in the area, plus I think they even factor in the weather that week.

Once I had that info, I planned one sit down meal or dinner show per day.  Now we are going during the Free Dining promotion, so we have a meal plan.  We upgraded to the Deluxe version of that plan, and we get 3 meal credits per day, and 2 snack credits per day.  Most meals cost 1 credit, but the dinner shows cost 2.  For sit down meals we get 1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, and 1 non alcoholic beverage per person, and for counter service meals (fast food) we get 1 combo meal or 1 entree plus side and a non alcoholic beverage.
The meals I didn't plan for we will wing it.  Just grab something at the resort's food court, or if the kids see a restaurant they want to try we will go there.

I prefer the dining plan because it allows us to pre-pay for all of our meals, excluding tip and any alcohol we drink.  I prefer to make at least one reservation per day.  It makes sure we don't have to wait too long for that meal (walking up to a table service restaurant without an ADR is tricky, sometimes you have to wait 45 minutes and longer, and sometimes they have no availability!).

Some of the places we are going to eat at...

I have made ADRs to eat at Hoop Dee Doo Review- a GREAT dinner show, vaudeville style show and they serve fried chicken, BBQ ribs and fixins'...
Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show-another great show that features fire dancers and such while you feast on traditional Luau foods like roasted chicken and pineapple pork...
Cinderella's Royal Table- Dine in the the castle while Disney Princesses and Princes visit your table!
Liberty Tree Tavern-this restaurant is themed like colonial America, my husband loves this restaurant because the dinner is just like traditional Thanksgiving...
50's Prime Time cafe-Very cool restaurant!  Feels like you are dining in Mom's kitchen from the 50s and 60s...they serve the BEST fried chicken!..
Rose and Crown Pub-English food, I love this place for the fruit and cheese plate, the stew and Woodchuck Cider on tap!

See at Walt Disney World eating isn't just something you have to do, it becomes an experience.

Now that we have a plan, what can we do to help A, who doesn't like strange restaurants?  Well Disney is very accommodating.  I will be able to email and call someone in the dining department and explain our situation.  They will contact the chefs at each restaurant and let them know that our child has eating issues due to his Asperger's and they will try to make some of his foods available.  For instance at the Hoop Dee Doo, the chefs will make A a pepperoni pizza or a grilled cheese.  I would not have known this if it wasn't for planning, and I wouldn't know which restaurants to contact if I didn't make my ADRs back in March!

So it is worth it to book your ADRs 6 months in advance if you can!

Been a busy week

Where to begin?  Well now that the kids are back in school, I am working 5 nights a week.  If you didn't know I am a cake decorating instructor.  I normally teach at one account 3 nights a week, now I am teaching at a second account for an extra two nights a week.

I started last week at the new account, and it was the breath of fresh air that I needed.  First off, I am replacing someone.  Very weird/crazy circumstance that I can't go into here.  Let me just say that everyone is glad I am there now, and the students were very thankful that I am shall I say normal!

The kids started school last week.  I brought them to there classrooms, and I think the teachers must think I am nuts!  First to K's class.  I met his teacher and in all of the chaos tried to explain to her that he is newly diagnosised with ADHD.  That maybe she should sit him next to her, and that his doctor also suggeseted giving him tasks to do throughout the day that required him to get up.  I know I sound strange, but I just want the school year to start off on the right foot.
She kind of nodded and then turned away.  I hope to talk to her again soon.

Then to A's class.  Now normally he checks in with the Special Ed teachers and they bring him to class.  However he wanted me to bring him this time.  So we get to his class and again amid the bustleing halls I try to explain to his teacher that he has Asperger's and this morning he decieded not to bring his blanket to school for the first time ever.  And how he uses his blanket to calm himself when he has panic attacks...and where can I find his SPED teacher so I can repeat all of what I just said to her...

Again I get a nod before she turns away.  I get it...it's the first day of school.  I look like that crazy mom not willing to let her babies out of her sight...

I assure you, I am really not that mom.

 

I guess all of this is also compounded by the fact that in a week I am going to tell the teachers that I am taking my kids out of school for a week to go to Disney World.  I just know I am going to be their favorite!

Planning a Disney vacation...aka....Universal is not part of Disney World

As you may have heard, we're going to Disney World in less than two months.  I have been planning this trip since March.

I heard a statistic that 70% of all people traveling to Walt Disney World (that's the one in Florida) are "Once in a Lifetime" visitors.  Meaning that those people go to WDW once and that's it.  I have an idea why those people never go back.

Sure the easy answer is money.  Disney is freaking expensive...more on that later....

I truly believe the reason most people only go once is because of poor planning.

For instance, if I want to go to the beach...All I have to do is book a hotel room, and pack my swimsuit.  Done.  No planning, right?  Of course that isn't how I would travel to the beach...I would spend hours scouring the inter-webs for the best accommodations for our budget, research the best spots of beach to visit in that area, look into what restaurants they have on the way and nearby, and also plan a day trip to something educational as a back up/when my kids are tired of being at the beach!

Disney is NOT this kind of vacation.

I always hear from people returning from Disney, that it was too hot, too crowded, lines too long, no availability at the restaurants(character meals, dinner shows, and signature restaurants fill up 6 months in advance!!!), and everyone was tired and miserable on the 1 hour drive back to the hotel that claimed to be "minutes" from the main gate!  Oh and our ticket to Disney didn't include Universal Studios!

I get it.  Walt Disney World is huge, 47 square miles...twice the size of Manhattan!  It's confusing! It has 4 theme parks (none of which are Universal Studios), 2 water parks, a huge shopping and dining area, and over 20 resorts (all with different themes and levels of amenities).

Overwhelmed yet?  Look at it this way...if you were going to throw down a couple of grand on anything else, you would do your research first!  That is the best was to approach a Disney trip.

Now take that into consideration, then add a toddler, a child with Asperger's, and a child with ADHD.  Yes it does take me 7 months to plan a Disney vacation for my family.

Over the next few posts I will walk through what I go through to get ready for a vacation like this.

It's a Zippidee Do Da kind of day

We are going to Disney World.

Again, yes again.

I have been to the World 4 times on vacation, and dozens more while working there, first on the College Program in 2001-2002, and then for 4 months after Katrina hit in 2005-2006.  Disney is my happy place.  My drug.

I fell in love with the World as a 12 year old in 1995.  I was supposed to go before that.  My grandfather was going to take me.  My dad was going around the same time, but because he thought I was going with my grandparents he didn't take me.  Then my grandfather's trip fell through.  So on Christmas day, 1994, when my aunt and uncle asked me if I wanted to go for Mardi Gras, I was a bit skeptical.

My mom and grandparents scrounged up the me for me to go.  Funny story:  My grandmother won $700 on a slot machine two weeks before we left for this Disney trip.  She gave every penny of it to my uncle, for him to split between my 5 year old cousin and me.  She said God gave her that money for to go and have fun.  I love her!

Not knowing better, my mom packed me up, with mostly t-shirts and shorts, and a pair of Keds.  I don't know if any of yall know what Keds are...but they have maybe a 1/16 of an inch of material between your feet and miles of walking!  Not great Disney shoes!

Normally, my uncle likes to drive in the early morning hours, a tradition I would continue!  However, this trip got delayed.  My aunt and uncle owned a poboy(New Orleans style subs) shop at this time, and they had to open, and work through the lunch rush before we could leave.  I remember my cousin Markie and I waiting that day.  It seemed like it took forever for us to finally get on the road.  I think we left sometime around 3pm.

My uncle doesn't like to stop.  In fact he is one of those travelers that likes to "make good time".  We eat in the car, and only stop for gas, which is where we pee as well...

We arrived around 1-2am.  We stayed at Disney's All Star Music Resort, Calypso section.  I was so excited.  As I sleepily walked to our room, I took in the all the wonderful sights and colors...a 2 or 3 story tall pair of maracas, and everything was bright orange and pink!

I don't remember too much about that trip except for a few details.  Markie and I fought like brother and sister the entire trip!  I remember him singing "It's a Small World after all.." over and over again, all day, just because I told him to stop.

I remember going to eat at the Coral Reef, a restaurant that shares an entire wall with the Living Seas, a huge ass aquarium.  The restaurant makes you fell as if you are dining under water.  Ass you step into the restaurant, you have to step down 4 or 5 steps.  On the side of these steps used to be bubble machines.  Markie, who was in front of me, got distracted by the bubbles(what 5 year old wouldn't?) and to be honest so did I and he stopped mid step, and I tripped over him and landed on top of him.

Disney cast members quickly ushered us to First Aid to make sure I didn't break his arm!  Almost 20 years later and I still haven't lived that one down!

I remember renting a watermouse, falling asleep at the Luau,and not wanting to ride scary rides(Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion) until they made me ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (I LOVED IT!).  I remember my uncle getting sick after riding the Teacups, and I remember hearing Phantom of the Opera for the first time on the drive up there and back(my aunt and uncle had seen it recently and bought the cd, I LOVED IT, and still do!), and I remember going to mass at the Polynesian(it was outdoors and one of the most peaceful services I have ever been to!).

Most of all I remember having to get a wheelchair on the 3rd day because those wonderful Keds I wore gave me blisters on every area of my feet...I couldn't even tie the laces, let alone walk!  Another thing that I haven't lived down yet!



This trip started a lifelong love affair for me with the Mouse.  In my next few posts I will talk about my first trip with my husband, our first trip with our children, and planning our current trip-a trip with 8 y/o with ADHD, a 6 y/o with Asperger's, and a toddler!