Quitting Smoking for Walt Disney World!

In case you haven't noticed I am very excited for our trip. The planning has really been awesome. As I have said before my MIL is paying for all the trips expenses. This in a way emberasses me but I know my MIL well enough to know that if she didn't want to do this she wouldn't. She is da' bomb! Even though my ex-husband and I are divorced I think of my MIL as my 2nd Mom. If my ex ever decides to get re-married I am going to look at it this way. I was here first, I am the mother of the grandchildren, I have seniority, so... MY MIL.... LOL!
Even though my generous MIL is doing all these wonderful things if I want something while we are there I will have to buy it:) Not a problem but over the last week I have found that there will be some things I want in advance. One thing being the essential trip item. Personalized Mickey ears. My girls inherieted my anti-minnie stance so it is Mickey all the way:) Then of course they will need special Disney autograph albums for all those wonderful autographs they will be getting ( secretly I will also be getting an autograph album to, but shhhh...) and starter sets for Pin trading which I will cover in another post. All of those things in addition to ID cards for the girls, which have to be government issued, a replacement Birth Certificate for Alianna, and some other things needed for the trip we are talking about some serious cash before the trip. So knowing this trip means a lot I have decided to do some things to make sure I can save money. Quitting smoking is one. Man it is hard:(  I have been doing this cutting back before I quit route and it is helping. It is still hard though. Planning this trip has been a blessing because it has kept my mind occupied. My Mom has my cigarettes and she is being tough. So I know I can't sneak and I can't cheat. She will find out and be disappointed it me, lol. So not only will the trip to WDW be a once in a lifetime experience but it will also be a journey to a healthier me.
My mom had this to say " If I would have known a trip to WDW would make you quit smoking I would have taken you years ago".
Bobbie

Via Napoli.September 8. YAY!

***Food Itenrary Added in top Bar complete with Links***

For those that don't know, Via Napoli is the hottest new restuarant in WDW. Right now it is only open for walk ins but starting in September it will be open by reservation only. I wanted to go really bad and when my MIL called for us to make the reservations it started out very frustrating. As you can see from my food Itnerary up top we left several options free so if we found something else we would have some free spots to fill. All of our free spots were filled already. Gosh, it was the first day they were accepting ressies online and already November 7th through the 14th was filling up? Anyway, I decided to try for the night we had reservations at the Coral Reef. Jackpot!! They had a 4:45 PM. I was so excited that when my MIL was having trouble signing it I jumped the gun, signed in, made the reservation in her name, and well, I just got overly excited, lol. Now that meant I had to give up the Coral Reef but I wasn't very disappointed. After all the Coral Reef is only an experience if you sit next to the aquariums and if you are not lucky enough to get a seat there then what are you going for? So I was more then happy to give it up for Via Napoli:)
Via Napoli serves authentic Italian pizza, pasta, apps, and desserts. The pizzas are cooked in giant ovens that are shaped in roman god-like faces named after the three Volcanoes in Rome. I am embarassed to admit I honestly thought they were the old dudes from the Muppets that sit in the balcony and heckle people. But if you see them you will see why, lol.
I think the girls will find this experience much better then Coral Reef and will have more fun watching them make the pizzas and cooking them in the fire pit ovens.
You can read more about Via Napoli ( including pictures) HERE
Bobbie

Making.Reservations.OMG

Okay, so for those of you reading you are probably wondering how I came into being the planning machine. Well I started with breakfast. I wanted to contribute to the trip so I decided to try to find some decent breakfast places. By this time I had begun to talk about it a little more and of course dream about it a little more. During this time my MIL had hand surgery, on her left hand, that she uses all the time, no big deal....right? I mean we weren't leaving to November so we had plenty of time. Right?
Ummm... no. So one afternoon she calls me to tell me she had called Orange Lake to let them know she would be using her week. Just in case you don't know, Orange Lake  is an incredible resort where my MIL owns a time share. While she had them on the phone she decided to also reserve our  tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Well the nice customer help person told her that it would be in our best interest to reserve everything we wanted now. Uh? Apparently Disney recommends at least a 180 days in advance. Yes, 6 months. We at this point were talking just a little over 3. So my MIL calls me because I had been the one scouring the menus and restuarants and lets me know that we have to make reservations now. What?
I start telling her about all the restuarants and she is trying to write them down, poor thing. So finally she gets her cell phone, calls Disney, and has me, the CM ( cast member) and her all on speaker phone. So this poor cast member is not only talking to my MIL but also to me. Since my MIL could not write it was up to me to write all the info and confirmation numbers. We got everything we wanted except Le Cellier. It was booked solid the week we were there. Bummer. After about 20 minutes everything was reserved and our journey began. So now I am a planning fool. In a few days I will have our itinerary up for everyone to browse:) Hope you will come back to see it.
Up Next.... Why do I suddenly feel like I am on Space Mountain and I am not even at Disney World yet?

Bobbie

Beginnings of the Trip of a Lifetime

Little background:) This is mine and my girls first trip to WDW. My MIL who is taking us there has been a few times. I have just started the planning but already I am learning a few things. We just decided a couple of weeks ago to go. Lesson #1-- When planning a WDW Vacay start a year in advance. The upside is you can pretty much get everything you want reservation wise, downside is you have to wait a year for your Vacay. Me, I would rather do it the way we are doing it. I would drive everyone crazy in a year:) Anyway, don't say I didn't warn you.
So how did this all start? Well my MIL told me a few weeks ago she wanted to take us on a trip to WDW. Between me and you,  I was super excited. However, I was nonchalant, lol. The first order of business was to tell my girls. The princesses of this vacay are Alianna, age 10 ( 11 when we leave) and Dakotah, age 12. Neither have been on a plane and are actually very nervous about planes. So I set them both down to talk to them about flying and to make sure they would be willing to get on a plane and go. They both said Yes, so systems were all a go. After that I tried my best to extract myself from the situation. After all November is a ways away. A lot can happen from now until November. What if we don't get to go? So I let my MIL and my girls start eagerly looking over all the parks. Picking and choosing things to do. Sweet MIL is allowing each one of us to have one special dinner so the girls eagerly looked at all the restaurants. I got on this to:) I was blissfully extracted and pleasantly told everyone " I will do anything you guys want to do". All that changed after one fateful phone call from my MIL...... stay tuned for more....

UP NEXT.... Frantic Reservations and me going into planning mode.

Bobbie
WDW First Timer