Eeyore79's Pre-Trip Countdown/Report

[Chrissy&Tayen]

ours is like 30-45 mins away too.. i get up there about once every 2 months on a avg. and i keep a eye on things and sales online.

[TheLionKing]

Great start to your trip reports, can't wait to read more
The Disney stores over in the U.K. now are pretty rubbish they have hardly anything for anyone over 10 years old and are basically just a Disney toy shop (can't wait to get back to the World of Disney )

[Chrissy&Tayen]

oh my here is the same way.. i'm come on!!! i want some of those cute items in my size.. or kitchen items

[eeyore79]

totally agree!!!

[eeyore79]

Hey everyone...stay tuned this weekend I will be updating here with what I have been up to lately with the trip and buying and doing. Tomorrow I am taking DD4 downtown and we are gonna stop in the Disney Store!! Mini Disney trip!!

[Chrissy&Tayen]

will be waiting

[eeyore79]

Memorial Day Parade May 28th, 2011 Downtown Chicago

Me, DD4, My Mom

I had decided a few days ago I was going to take DD4 to the parade and Mom decided to come with. I knew we were gonna stop at the Disney Store on State Street after, since it had opened last fall and I still had not seen it. I decided to bring Minnie along for the trip since I wanted to do an update here and figured I would look more like a nut with her. I actually wanted to bring Perry but DD4 rather wanted Minnie.

So we took the train into downtown...here we are waiting for the train:





DD4 and Minnie were excited when the train arrived...






On the train Minnie checked the schedule:





Once we arrived downtown, we ran into some familiar friends:







Only I would find this:






We grabbed some McD's and headed to the street for a spot...found a great one right off the corner with not a lot of people around...and waited about 15 minutes for the parade to start. Hey, I figured it would be practice for our trip. Of course, I dont know if I can walk up to Main Street 15 minutes before a parade and find a great seat! LOL




Finally the parade started and we were so excited...here is Minnie posing:





I just want to say...I dont know how many times I told my mom, that people are probably looking at me like I am nuts, taking pictures of Minnie Mouse in front of all the parade going-ons. She just shook her head at me. My mom kinda understands my crazy Disney personality...to a point. I think she thought I was nuts for doing this. She will come to understand when I show her my trip reports. LOL I still am wondering though, what people were thinking of me?


Back to the parade. I was surprised how many similarities I found to Disney parades....


Main Street clock:





World Showcase performers:









Here is Minnie enjoying the parade:





A character sighting!!





Will continue next post....

[eeyore79]

Minnie found the Flower and Garden Show:





Another character!




Minnie thought our mini CTA buses were trams!




I told her no...then she got excited cause she saw the railway!



The parade ended soon after...and after chatting with my friend and her daughter who had joined us...we parted ways and walked down the block to this....





Minnie was so excited to see her friends that I couldnt get a picture of her with anyone, as she kept running around talking to everyone...but I did get a few pics of the store...















No matter if you are at WDW, DL, or a DS...look up and around...never know what you will see!!



We had a blast looking around the store at the interactives...tv area where kids can color and choose different clips to watch...the princess castle and mirrors, and looking up on the walls for Dumbo or the MouseEar ballooon...and the trees were cool too...we saw the Fairies and butterflies on them!!

After we said our goodbyes and left with a princess and prince and wand (sorry no pics right now), we ran back up the street cause Minnie wanted a treat that was similar to what she got back home on Main Street...





Minnie really liked it and said she wishes they had this back in WDW!!

After we got our treat we headed back to the Train Station...got caught in a bit of a rainstorm, but made it to the underground pedway back. I figured the rainstorm was practice again for our trip (no umbrella or ponchos with us though) and I pretended the pedway was the Utilidors!!

I hope you enjoyed this adventure we took today to the parade and Disney Store. Stay tuned for updates on the trip, what I have bought so far, a new addition to the trip and other cool stuff!!! Should be posting more within a day or so.

Have a magical night!!

[eeyore79]

Just wanted to add...know how I said I wondered what people thought of me with taking pics of Minnie and all...made me realize it must be how Lou feels when he does his live newscasts from the parks or takes us on Monorail rides at 10:30pm at night...but that's ok cause we are Disney fanatics and it makes us happy to do things a little silly. At least I think so. Cause it made me happy today. LOL I think I may do another series before the trip with Perry or Stitch...hm, I may have to take someone along on the trip too...now that I think about it. What do you guys think?

[Evilduckqueen]

I think it is awesome! Look forward to the next adventure/post

[eeyore79]

So over the past month or so...I have dipped into the Disney Store about 3 times...and each time I got a few things for my trip.

I got 2 towels for me and DD4, Tinkerbell and Rapunzel. She choose Rapunzel over Tinkerbell, which was a surprise to me since she is a HUGE Tink fan...so I bet you I will have Rapunzel when we get down to FL.




I also got her set for the pool with Tinkerbell goggles, 2 pairs of flip flops, and a pair of sunglasses, and arm floaties (the only thing not Disney brand, but hey, for a $1 at the Dollar Tree and it matches Tinkerbell!)



DD4 has a brand new bathing suit to wear in the pools...Tinkerbell!! It went down to $15 so I grabbed it, since the CM said that's probably about as low as it will go. Plus I have 1 other suit I will take for her just in case. Not Disney though...just purple/pinkish.

I got 3 new shirts too...Princess, Rapunzel, and Fairies. Got those when they were on sale for $8 each...I wanted a few others but they were out of her size during the sale. (Of course, after the sale the size came in!)





I also have been searching the Goodwill and thrift stores for Disney shirts...found 4 already, a couple run a little big, but that is ok. I might leave the bigger ones at home for her to grow into. I am just about set with clothes for DD4 the trip. I was able to find a beautiful pajama set too with Tinkerbell for only $3 from Goodwill...satin type finish, pants and tank top. Love it!! Will be perfect for the nighttime Florida weather in late August! There wasn't a lot as far as "cooler" pajamas...so I may buy 1 or 2 from the Disney Store since they are onsale now for $10 each...maybe. Don't know yet. I only really intend on taking 2 or 3 sets of pjs down.

I got 2 lanyards from Party City for $1 each!! I have to look into buying a few pins off of Ebay before we go, so she can do a little pin trading. I am going to go back to Party City and the Dollar Tree before I go because they have a lot of cute little toys for $1-2 that I can use as "surprises" from Mickey each day. I am not trying to spend tooo much money on actual souvinears from the parks (even though I know I will LOL) We have a lot of beanies already and a few dolls. I don't know yet what I will let her pick out when we are down there...of course, I will have to find something fun too!!




So, I had a last minute addition to the trip...my MOM is now joining us for the entire trip!! She wasn't sure if she wanted to come or not, but I don't think she wanted to miss out on our birthday fun! Plus her birthday is the end of July, so she will be able to "Celebrate" along with us!!



So I had to email Jan at Mei/Mousefan Travel...to adjust my ADR's accordingly! Luckily, everything was able to be changed with just a tweak in the time, not by more than half hour or so from originals, and since we are now coming in a day later than originally planned and leaving a day later, we moved one breakfast back a day.

So here are our new ADRs:

Tues- arrive early afternoon/ resort food court? downtown disney?
Wed- Breakfast, Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom
Thurs- Dinner, Cinderella's Royal Table, at Magic Kingdom
Fri- Lunch, Akusharus, Epcot
Sat- Lunch, Hollywood and Vine, Disney's Hollywood Studios
Sun- Breakfast, Ohana, at the Poly
Mon- leave late evening/ resort food court? resort hop?

I am pretty excited. I am gonna try to make a tentative outline of what I would like us to do each day, based on what park we will be at. I didn't add the park hopper to our tickets, so we will only have 1 park per day. 5 days total. I am planning on getting back to the resort for a little break halfway throughout most of the days. The only day we probably won't be able to is our birthday day. Although, we probably wouldn't want to anyways..don't want to miss any magic!!

Our airfare is booked, I did that a few weeks ago when the sale dropped down to $89-$99 each way on AirTran...I was soo happy to see that!! The trip is just about paid off, I need to make 2 more payments (one will be my mom's half, I told her I will do your airfare, but you gotta pay for your part of the package), gotta get that in by the end of this month! Phew...then I can "relax" for a month!!

I just saw the most adorable suitcase at Target today, it was $30 and it was 4 or 5 of the Princess outside of a castle, the whole luggage was the castle, with zippers on the "turrets" sides of the bag, and then the main compartment and a smaller one on the front. I think I will go back and get it...this would be for DD4. If there was one in a larger size for me, oh ya, I would totally get it. There was a purple one that caught my eye, so I will see. We have some luggage already that we will use, plain black carryon size then a larger one that we could check. I don't know though if we want to do checked bags or not. Since we are using Magical Express we wouldn't have to worry about getting it when we get to the airport, but I dont know if I wanna pay the baggage fee.

I keep asking Jan if there is anything else I need to do or worry about, and she keeps telling me no. I just worry that I will forget something. But I think everything is about covered...airfare, package/resort/tix/dining plan, ADRs made, most of what we need is bought.

[Chrissy&Tayen]

it sounds like you got it under control

[eeyore79]

it sounds like you got it under control

Thanks! I try. I always have been the planner in our family for trips. I don't like when I can't plan stuff to do on trips.

[eeyore79]

52 days!!!!!!!!

So excited!! Making the final payment towards my package tomorrow!!

I think the only things left to do if buy a few shirts for me from DisneyStore.com, buy a few necessities we will need (sunscreen, ect) and whatever I decide to send down in the box before we go (snacks, extra clothes?, ect)

Kay is beyond excited! She tells anyone lately who will listen that she will be 5 in August and going to see the princess!! Aww....I am soo happy to be taking her on this trip, and my Mommy is coming too! It's going to be fun. Busy...but fun.

I am hoping to get to meet my dear friend Amy who just moved down to Florida with her family. I know I have to find out if anyone else will be in the World and wants to meet up? If you will be down there please let me know!!

[Chrissy&Tayen]

i'm there with ya.. i'm too far out to start planing what to wear...lol all though my closet is loaded with mickey shirts i need to start buying school clothes and shoes soon. so i know bug will have new clothes for the trip.. now planning for my hubby is another thing.. because he would run around looking like bum if i let him... he dresses for work.. so when he is not at work he dresses like a bum..lol

all my lil disney tid bits that i like carry in the park with me, and all my bathroom stuff i keep under my sink and when its time for a disney trip my park bag is packed.. and all my bathroom stuff.. all i have to do is pack the ziplock bags..lol