Walt Disney World in November

Recently I posted about an upcoming trip to Florida.  We have decided on November and started making our reservations now.  We will be back up here in time for Thanksgiving so my sister doesn't have to spend it alone, but will be gone for the month up to the day or two before Thanksgiving.  In fact, we will be leaving here at the end of October, and spending Halloween in Missouri.  Elliott has decided that he wants to see Casting Crowns in Missouri instead of trick or treating, so if we can get tickets, that will be our Halloween plans.  Since Elliott can't have anything with artificial dye anyway, I can see why trick or treating would lose some of its appeal.  We'll just take him and buy him a bag of his one of his favorite dye free candies instead. :)

As for our time in Florida, we will be staying 11 nights.  Part of them will be on Disney property, and part of them will be nearby in Celebration.  We'll be going to Disney World, the Disney water park that is open, and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas.  We'll also be visiting Sea World (we all get in free through the military appreciation program) and Lego Land (Carl's ticket is free there as well) while we are there.

Elliott and I have been having a lot of fun planning our trip.  Almost every day when we take a break from school work, we work on vacation plans.  Elliott has been putting together a list of must rides, and characters he must meet.  We met many of his favorite characters last time, but he's looking forward to seeing many of them again.  Plus there are characters that we missed that he wants to see this time.  Then of course there are also some new characters that weren't there 3.5 years ago.

As for rides, last time we went he was barely 5, and was afraid to ride a lot of the rides.  He was also really afraid of the dark.  This time he will be almost 9, and is no longer afraid of the dark.  There are still several rides that he thinks would be way too scary, but his list is much longer this time. 

Last time we didn't make it to any of the water parks, and that is on Elliott's must do list this time.  He's pretty excited about some of the rides there as well.  He hasn't ever been to a water park, but has really enjoyed water slides at hotels we've stayed at, and birthday parties he's attended.  One of the places we are staying has a water slide at one of their pools.  Elliott's really looking forward to that.

Over all, we can't decide what we are most looking forward to, but we are all definitely looking forward to our vacation!

Throw Back Thursday: Walt Disney World March 2011

Since we are currently planning another trip to Disney World, Elliott and I have been going through our pictures from last time over the last few days.  We thought we would do a throw back Thursday post with a few of our favorites.  We literally have hundreds, so it was hard to narrow it down, but for various reasons, here are a few of our favorites.

Waiting in line to meet one of his favorite characters.

He loved Chip and Dale and never missed an opportunity for a picture.

This was the first character hug he initiated.

Handy Manny was the only Disney Junior character we got to meet, but that was fine, because he was Elliott's favorite at the time.

When Elliott looked at this picture he told me that he almost completely disappeared into Lotso's belly!

Pooh was another favorite to hug.

Elliott had a lot of fun with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen.  Here Prince Naveen is asking if Elliott is trying to steal his princess after she hugged him.

Elliott's response was "maybe"

Naveen decided they could still be friends, because Elliott had an awesome name, just like their friend, the dragon (from Pete's Dragon)

Pluto was the first character Elliott went up to by himself (he had already met Snow White and Daisy Duck, but wanted an adult with him for those)

He couldn't believe it when Cinderella wanted to dance with him.

Dancing with Cinderella

All smiles after their dance.

Stitch was Elliott's favorite character to meet, but we only got to meet Lilo the one time, he was soo excited!

Vacation Planning

Ok, so anyone that knows me knows that I like to plan A LOT in advance for any expensive vacations.  I'm totally fine with waiting until the last minute to do something under $1000, like going to visit family, but anything more, I want plenty of time to plan.  Our last vacation besides to Missouri was in July and I started planning in March, and that was the latest I've ever waited.  Last time we went to Florida I planned for nearly a year (I think I started planning in early May and we went in late March).

So I think my husband was pretty surprised when he came home from work the other day, and Elliott and I had been looking at Disney World and Universal rides and comparing them, trying to decide which was better.  We tentatively had a trip to Missouri planned for September, to see family.  After thinking about it, and looking around online, I decided that we should extend it and go to Florida as well.  We have a time share sampler thing that we bought last year that includes more than enough points for 10 nights in Celebration, FL, and they had openings for when we wanted to go.  I told my husband I wanted to do it, fully expecting to have to talk him into it (last time we went to Disney World, he said that would most likely be the only time we went), but instead he liked the idea.  He's been wanting a real vacation for a while because of some of the things going on at work.  And I think it would be great for our whole family as well.  We've had a pretty crazy year!

Carl checked his schedule at work, and it looks like he can take off the full 25 days we want, as long as he requests it soon.  But then the same day he checked it, we got the soccer sign up information, and it turns out that the season is starting late this year, so Elliott wouldn't be able to play if we go then.  So now we have checked out the stuff going on at Disney in November, and made sure that we would be able to get a suite at the resort and everything as well.  Carl hasn't been able to check at work yet to see if he could get that time off, but Elliott is really pushing for that time instead.

There are definite advantages to going in November, like how much cooler it will be.  Elliott and I are both wimps when it comes to really hot weather.  November in Orlando is typically similar to July in North Dakota (our hottest month of the year).  September will seem incredibly hot to us.  No matter which time we go, we can go to one of the special night time parties at Magic Kingdom.  I think I would like the Halloween one better, but Elliott is pushing for the Christmas one.  Waiting until November would also give me more time to plan and save.  So I have a feeling that if November works for Carl's work schedule that is when we will end up going.

I've already checked with my mom (she's who we stay with when we are in Missouri) and she said she doesn't foresee any kind of problems with either dates.  And she can watch Snoopie while we are in Florida as well (Darla will keep Trixie, and the cats will go to my father in law's house, or stay with the house sitter).  I'm getting anxious to know when we will go so I can go ahead and start making reservations and real plans!

A Discount Vacation to Disney!

My son never missed a chance to meet Goofy!

My husband deployed last May, and was gone for six months. Before he left, we decided that while he was gone, I was going to plan for, and save for a Florida vacation in March. We had been kicking the idea around for a while, but didn't have a set time or plan until that point. He put in for leave, and I started looking for great deals.