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We always make our Lake George trip with fellow travelers (aside from my parents). Sometimes it’s cousins, other times it brothers and sisters. This time, we shared our Lake George experience with three family members brand new to our annual retreat. We all had a wonderful time! Not only that, but it was my Aunts who joined us and my 92 year old Grandmother. A few days before the trip, I told the kids to ask her (AKA Nanny to them) if she was ready for her first vacation with them. And then it dawned on me: I am pretty sure it was my first vacation with her as well. Needless to say, we all shared some wonderful memories.

We arrived at the lake on Thursday mid-afternoon. My Aunt had brought glasses and Malibu (OJ for the kids) and we had a toast. This was a welcome drink after 4 hours in the car.

Our first stop was on the pier for a ride on the MinneHaHa, a steamboat. My kids associate Lake George with this boat. It’s about a 45 minute ride around the lake with beautiful scenery.

We had dinner in a restaurant by our hotel, went back to the room for some hooded sweatshirts and were ready to hit the town. I think I especially love coming here in August because we get the best of both worlds: hot Summer days and cool, Fall-like nights.

It wouldn’t be a night on the town without Ben & Jerry’s (for all Millers but me. I can think of 1,000 other things I would rather eat than ice cream).

I did, however, find a lovely coffee shoppe where I treated myself to a Mocha Latte every night. The drink was smooth and perfectly foamy on top. Emily and I were mesmerized as we watch them ribbon the foam into a leaf shape each night. It may have been better than my usual Starbucks. Yes I really just put that in print.

They shoot off fireworks over the lake every Thursday (I know, seems so random). We finished our night watching those.

Breakfast the next morning was across the street at the Pancake House.

Some family shots outside of the Pancake House:

Um, yes. I talked everyone into my super-neato tie dye plan. Cute, no? It’s like a rainbow threw-up on all of us.

This is where we headed to Six Flags Great Escape which you can read about here. Here’s a shot of the kids before we left our room. Check out my girls’ cute tie dyed socks!

After showers, we went to dinner at George’s which we love. It’s a steakhouse with a delish salad bar.

The next morning, it was up bright and early for breakfast at The White Lion.

We decided to drive the kids over to the stables for our annual pony rides. Emily and Andrew are both old enough to go out on the trails. We said next year. We were in flip flops and shorts and not really prepared for it.

Grace rode on PeeWee, Andrew rode on Munchkin and Emily rode on Molly. My kids have been riding PeeWee and Munchkin for the past 4 or 5 years now. Molly was all new to us.

In keeping with our horse theme, we decided to go back to the lake for horse-drawn carriage rides. My parents were in the carriage with us. My Grandmother was determined to get into one as well (huuuuge animal lover) so her and my Aunts were in the following carriage.

Ok so you totally can’t see my Grandma in the black and white shot but I assure you she’s there, hidden behind the driver.

We’ve been staying at Fort William Henry for years but the last time I took their tour was decades ago. I wanted to try it again since the Fort is filled with lots of history. Grace lasted about 10 minutes (which was 9 minutes more than I assumed she’d last) and Emily bowed-out with maybe 10 minutes to go. Andrew seemed really interested though. We were laughing because at one point, he just took off with our guide and was in the front of the crowd during each speech. It’s pretty interesting actually. The fort was in use for two years during the French and Indian War: 1755-1757 after which is was burned down by the French. In the 1950′s, the fort was re-built. During this tour, we were shown how a Redcoat would have packed and fired a rifle (yes they really fire one) and loaded and shot a canon (they really do that too).

Toward the end of the tour, they ask who wants to enlist in the army. All of the kids get to put on a redcoat, hat and carry a rifle.

Then they went into the 35th Regiment of Foot’s recruiting office, signed their papers and got their pay.

After our Fort tour, we headed to an early dinner at one of our other Lake George favorites, The Sicilian Spaghetti House.

A cute shot of my girls after dinner:

Two doors down is the Lake George Jr./Sr. High, AKA where Rachael Ray went to school!

Since we ate early, we had plenty of time to walk around after and play. Emily has been asking for years to get a hair wrap and they just happened to do them in the place we stopped at for Hawaiian Shaved Ice.

Minnetonka moccasins are another Lake George staple. Grace got hers and the rest of us ended up getting them the following day at a leather store. Vin and I both love the pairs we picked out, which are basically like really nice slippers. These are mine. Love ‘em! The kids get ones with actual soles to wear to school.

I didn’t take a picture of the set I got but after two years of oohing and ahhing over the Matryoshka dolls in this one store dedicated to them, I got a set for my girls. I am thinking about buying a set each year.

We stopped at the end of an outdoor “mall” (I use the term loosely since it’s nothing like a mall on Long Island) and took in the view from those telescopes.

And then we did what any other normal family does on a Saturday night. We took a picture with Frankenstein.

LOL! I know. Is he not the most random character ever? He stands outside of the Wax Museum and he’s been standing there since my childhood. Everyone who knows Lake George knows Frankenstein. But if you haven’t been there, he does come off as an odd choice I guess.

At 7pm, me, my Mom and my Aunt Lorraine went back to the Fort for a ghost tour! The Fort was featured on Ghost Hunters a few months ago. I didn’t bring my camera because I wasn’t sure if you could take pictures (you could) but I did take some cell shots. I didn’t see any orbs or anything like that on my pictures after. We did see a green orb on a video that someone shot right in front of us and my Mom and I both heard lots of running above our heads when we were in the dungeon, formerly the hospital during the war. It was pretty cool, even if we didn’t see any ghostly soldiers trying to run down the hall at us.

My Dad and Vin took the kids on another carriage ride during the tour. They also played shuffleboard and miniature golf. The only thing I could think of that we never got to do that we usually do is swim in the pool overlooking the lake (pools have since lost their charm now that we have one of our very own). At 9pm I told the kids to put on their bathing suits for a surprise swim. They thought that was awesome! Then we got out and everyone had late-night pizza outside. It was a fun last night.

We had beautiful, sunny weather our entire vacation and we left just in time. We heard rain was heading to the lake so after breakfast, we took a few final pictures and then began our journey home.

If you’ve stopped by for a look at our vacation, thanks for taking the time. :)

I thought I would Blog Lake George in two sections: Six Flags Great Escape and everything else. I went to Great Escape as a kid but not since so this was the first time the Millers have all been there together. Plus, my Mom & Dad didn’t come with us (they went to Saratoga the day we came here and my Aunts and Grandma went to Bolton Landing) so these pictures are new to everyone, even our fellow travelers. :)

We waffled back and forth between taking the kids to Six Flags or the smaller Magic Forest during breakfast but I am glad we went with Six Flags. We were afraid there might be too many big rides but honestly, there were maybe 4 roller coasters and the rest of the stuff was perfectly fine for the kids! They had a section of the park that was just redone this year and it was geared towards the littler ones. It had 11 rides in it that were perfect for Grace but even Emily and Andrew enjoyed them.

Park highlights include: riding the Ferris Wheel together, sharing an entire, expensive pizza for lunch and watching as Grace dropped her slice on the pavement (5 second rule? Kidding. We tossed it.), watching Andrew climb to the near-top of the wiggly ladder, meeting Scooby and Scrappy Doo, everyone bowing out of my request for a partner on a rickety old wooden roller coaster but Andrew, who stepped-up only to sigh and tell me “I would but… the line is too long” (sure buddy), orange and purple squid hats and the largest wok we’ve ever seen. Little things impress us.

Our first ride was actually this one:

Nauseating! I don’t know what happened to me in my “old age” but yuck. I used to love the craziest, tallest roller coasters and I did that bungee jump thing where you fly through the air on a cable back in the day. I was a little surpried that a hot air balloon ride completely turned my stomach. Thankfully, it was short-lived.

After that ride we let the kids poke around in Tiny Town which was a few little houses that made them feel like giants, a pumpkin house and Jack’s beanstalk.

Then we headed into Timbertown which is where the bulk of the kiddie rides were. Grace hopped off the line at the last minute so only Emily and Andrew rode this adorable “free fall”. LOL! So cute!

There was an airplane ride…

…and swings.

This was a boat ride that Grace went on while the other two and Vin waited in line for the kid coaster.

This one makes me laugh. Check out her mischievous face. Right after this picture, she leaned over and dipped her hand in the water.

When that finished, we went over to the roller coaster to meet up with Vin and the kids. Grace decided she wanted to go on with them and so she did.

Oh. Can you not see her face clearly in the bottom shot? Wait. Let me blow that up for you.

LOL! And the best part is, she gets off every. single. ride. and tells us how awesome it was and how she wants to ride again!

After we left this kid section, we walked past the game area. There was a tightrope and it was $3 for one measly try across the rope. I mumbled “I could totally do that” and Vin heard me. Challenge extended.

Challenge accepted.

I was a little bummed that I had to wear shoes though. I blame my loss on the fact that I was wearing flip flops. Who walks across a tightrope in flip flops? I still think if I was barefoot I could have done it.

The next ride that we all rode together was the ferris wheel. I was planning to sit it out with Grace but she really wanted to go on. I was surprised she liked being up so high!

Right around here we stopped for lunch and a locker rental. Inside of this park is Splashwater Kingdom, a nicely sized water park! No pictures here since I wasn’t going to carry my camera around in a wave pool. We had a good time. The lockers were weird though. They opened with a pink wristband. I’ve never seen such a thing. I thought I was being clever when I told the girl to put the band on Vin’s wrist but uh, he was then the only person who could open the darn locker. Unless I cut his wrist off and took it with me (and I admit, I stupidly did ponder this idea just to kill some time waiting for the waves to start back up in the wave pool) to swipe under the scanner, I couldn’t get my camera, my cell or a towel. Hmph.

About the lockers. I made him try it out after I put my bag in there. You don’t know what locker is going to open when you scan your wristband. You put it under the red light and BAM – a locker opens (and if you’re lucky, hits you in the head). So I locked away one bag and then shut it. Scan. Ok, the same locker opened. Just checking. I wasn’t going to just leave my camera for any old pink-wristband-wearing-park-goer to come and take.

After the water park, we stopped in another kiddie area on dry land as we got ready to wrap up our day. More airplanes.

We were walking past a ‘penguin’ show at 3:28pm and the next showing was at 3:30pm. We walked in and promptly sat in the front row marked SPLASH ZONE. It was a cute 20 minute show with people dressed as penguins. Yes that sounds a little weird. I guess I should say it was one of those high-dive performances. We probably could have done without the penguin costumes but it made it fun for the kids. One of the ‘penguins’ came over and helped Andrew throw a bucket of water on his father. Needless to say, the splash zone lived up to it’s name and we left soaked.

The kids spotted the cars in Thunder Alley when we first walked into the park so we promised them they could ride before we left. Do you remember loving cars like these as a kid? I do. You felt like you were really driving. My kids had the same reaction. “We’re not on a track (they were). We are REALLY DRIVING MOM!”

The original plan was for Emily to ride with Grace but when it was their turn to get in a car, Emily wasn’t old enough to be Grace’s chaperone. Guess who got to hop in the powder pink car?

“Big guy in a little car, big guy in a little car…” (please sing to the tune of Fat Guy In A Little Coat. Thank you).

Andrew was driving to the right of the shot here yet mysteriously facing backward. That’s some talent for not being on a track. Eyes on the road son!

One more game before leaving. Yes, another game I told my husband I could do. And yet another game where I failed, this time landing on my rear. This stuff was a lot easier when I was 12. Emily and Andrew took the first two tries and Andrew was *so* close to reaching the top. We were so surprised! Two tries = two small prizes. Two small prizes does not = 3 kids. So Mommy had to try one last time, at least resulting in three stuffed frogs.

And a family shot, in all of our tie dyed glory.

As the old saying goes, “The family that plays together, stays together.” I have since amended that to:

“The family that wears tie dye together… looks like a bunch of hippies.”

Peace.

I decided to try something different this year as far as vacation scrapping goes. I usually create a few layouts here and there in the months after our vacation but I am pretty sure that I have never once created a complete themed vacation album (or any themed album for that matter) in all of my years of scrapbooking. My kids LOVE looking through old photographs. I am the Queen of photographs yet, I rarely print them to put into albums. Terrible! (I’ve been doing a few new things to correct this though, ideas which I’ll share in the future). After this trip, I printed all 200+ pictures and put them in a simple 2-up 4×6 album with a pretty royal blue cover that says ‘memories’ on it. I don’t really care if the photo sleeves tear or fingerprints end up on the pages. I am just happy to have the photos saved and within easy reach of my children.

I knew I would need some simple, clean-looking templates to scrap my Disney memories. Enter Cathy Zielske. Her templates were perfect and so easy to tweak (I did lots of that). In about a week, I had a complete 8×8 album scrapped, printed and in a black fabric album for all to see.

Here are the layouts. I never, ever scrap side-by-side spreads but I thought it worked here. If I liked a template and thought it should be used on facing pages, I just swapped stuff around until I created a mirror image. Oh and I purchased a bunch of Disney scrapbook stickers at AC Moore, scanned them into my computer and cleaned them up for the digital pages.

The only thing not show here is the final page which was an 8×8 of the castle. I am showing the pages individually so you can see more detail and then the entire album as a whole.

Whew! With the front and back covers, the scrapbook is 24 pages long! Anyone who knows me knows that these clean & simple pages aren’t my usual style, but I think they’re perfect for creating a memory book that showcases photographs AND records the memories.

Here are all of the pages as spreads (minus covers).

A few handy links:

Cathy Zielske templates can be found here. I knew I wanted solid, non-distracting background papers but not just paint bucket colors. I wanted some texture. I used all of my own solids, which can be found in my various kits here. Medical doodles for Grace’s gray pages are by Kate Hadfield. The felt chef hat is by Kaye Winiecki. A good Disney font can be found here. All of my journaling is done in Century Gothic. If you go to your local scrapbook/craft store, you can find Disney stickers. Since they aren’t available digitally, I would scan them into my MAC and clean them up. A little Mickey here and there really makes the page.

Thanks for peeking in on our Disney World 2011 vacation memories!

Since returning home from the house of mouse, I’ve been busy scrapbooking our vacation. Can I just tell you how much fun I am having? (And how very little sleep I am getting, staying up until 2am scrapping my ideas…) I am pretty sure in the 8 years I’ve been scrapping, I have never, ever completed an entire themed album. I am so happy to get these pages printed and into a book for my kids to enjoy. I’ll be sharing them here soon.

Since we’re still in Disney mode over here, my brother brought over a handful of pictures from when my own family used to vacation there in the 80′s. We would go every Spring. I was most excited to see some of the character pictures. You wouldn’t believe how much Winnie the Pooh has changed (for the better might I add).

I present to you something I like to call Retro-Style Disney World -or- Disney In The 80′s Complete With Weird 80′s Fashions -or- Those Gabbola Boys, My How They Coordinate. You pick.

An alternate title could be Gina Takes On Disney World Rocking The Socks + Sandals Look. Thank you Mom, for accentuating my already large feet at the ripe old age of 6.

May 1987. Disney World. Orlando, Florida

My kids were appalled at Pooh. “But Ma, WHY does he look like that?!” Growth spurt kids. Growth spurt.

Something neat in the above picture: I was 6 1/2 which is the exact same age that Andrew was for this past trip.

I really love this picture posted below. Well, aside from the sandals now paired with contrasting socks. But Snow White and Dopey still look the exact same. We are still in 1987 here.

We also got to meet Pinocchio on this trip. And again, I am sporting socks with sandals only this time, the socks have a thick maroon band across the ankles just so you can’t miss ‘em. May 1987.

That’s Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother in the hooded blue outfit. My kids took a picture with her last year. She still wears the same outfit.

White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. If you take a look at him just last week, you’ll notice his face is covered in more fur and he lost the ginormous clown collar. He doesn’t seem to wear a pocket watch around his neck anymore like he did in the 80′s. May 1987.

Moving into the following year here… Tigger looks the exact same.  June 1988.

What kind of retro scrapbook would this be without a shot of Mickey Mouse himself? June 1988. I remember this outfit of mine. I remember thinking it was kind of ugly. I still kind of think that.

When looking at this one, I actually smiled and said to my brother, “Aww… wait. Who is this?” LOL! I sort of forgot all about Robin Hood. My kids had NO CLUE who this was! We took a picture with Friar Tuck this same day as well. This was in April 1989. I was 8 1/2.

Another shot from April 1989. I am not sure what Pluto is wearing but I do like how my brothers coordinate with him perfectly. I stick out like a sore thumb.

Those round out the first edition of Retro Disney. More to hopefully come once I get a chance to go through my Mom’s photo boxes.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

I thought I would share a small handful of photos from our trip. I am so happy with how bright & colorful these are! This is just the way I see Disney World: loud, bright, colorful and full of energy! This is barely a dent in the photo collection (we took some videos too!) but it’s a start. I also purchased our PhotoPass CD as I always do. All of my family photos are on there since I was not handing my camera off to anyone. The only reason there’s a family picture posted here is because not only did I pay for the CD to be mailed to me but I purchased an individual download of the Woody & Jesse shot because well, patience was never my strong suit.

Top row L-R:

1) Meeting Drizella, Anastasia and Lady Tremaine AKA Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother and Stepsisters. I love the panoramic feel to the shot (not to mention those big, bright costumes!) I shot this with my 50mm 1.4 lens which is a fixed lens so, no zooming in or out. Anastasia (pink dress) was cut off of this particular capture with all 3 of my kids looking on. The whole scene was too wide for my lens. So I ended up splicing this together in Photoshop last night and then re-canvasing it so it will print perfectly. I just left the wider crop posted here because I think it looks like fun!

2) Sisters telling secrets.

2nd row L-R:

1) Andrew has recently started to add African tribal dancing to his arsenal of weird dance moves. I dared him to break out into a tribal dance to the beat playing through Adventureland on our way to Pirates. He obliged.

2) Posing outside bright and early before heading out one morning. Our hotel’s outside walls were all bright orange.

3) The very first character we met was Mickey Mouse! We waited about 20 minutes to meet him in Exposition Hall. Grace was in her glory!

4) Playing in the hotel pool area. We were in the 60′s section so we overlooked the flower-shaped pool. They had crazy flower-shaped sprinklers spraying into the water and this cute pull-down flower shower in the kiddie section.

3rd row L-R:

1) The castle during the day.

2) The castle at night.

3) Getting Chip & Dale’s autograph in Epcot.

4th row L-R:

1) Our annual family picture with Woody & Jesse in Frontierland.

2) I told the kids that they would get wet if they sat on the left side of the tram during our Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios. I caught Grace’s laugh as all of the water barreled down and slammed into our car.

Bottom row L-R:

1) The view from our top-floor room.

2) My favorite picture from the entire trip!

After our Disney vacations, I journal details about our trip. They help jog my memory when I get a chance to work on our scrapbooks.

Grace’s favorite characters were Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, “Piggy” (Piglet) and Pooh. If he was tall (Goofy, Pluto, Woody, Tigger) or a monster (Mike Wazowksi from Monsters Inc., Stitch), she would run and bury her head in our arms. Either Vin or I are present in all of these character photos.

Grace’s very favorite ride was It’s A Small World AKA “the boat ride with the dollies”. Emily and Andrew love Splash Mountain. They rode on it with Vin this year while I did an extra round on Small World with Grace. My favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean which subsequently, was the very first ride we rode on this year! We waited in line for 40 minutes.

We have never been able to make the lines for Toy Story Mania so we made it a point to get to Hollywood Studios when it opened this time and head there first. It was a lot of fun! We actually grabbed FastPasses to ride again but it was so humid out that the kids were crying because they were so sweaty. We ended up giving our passes to a family of 5 heading into the park. Toy Story was probably the ride we waited on longest (about 50 minutes). When I checked the wait time from my phone app later in the day, it was up to 110 minutes.

Characters we met this trip: Mickey (in classic clothes, his chef outfit and country western gear), Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Stitch, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, her wicked stepmother & sisters, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Green Army Man from Toy Story, Mike Wazowski from Monster’s Inc., Woody, Jesse, Alice, the White Rabbit, Chip & Dale and Duffy the Bear (which is Mickey’s teddy bear and the mascot all throughout Epcot). Whew. That’s a lot of characters.

Some of our favorite rides are those that are found in Fantasyland. We did them all. Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel (all 5 of us rode next to one another. The ride seemed fairly short), Peter Pan’s Flight (we FastPassed this early one morning and rode right after we met Peter Pan), Dumbo the Flying Elephant (Emily rode alone, Andrew rode with Vin and Grace and I were in an elephant that didn’t want to any higher than he felt like. Hmph), Mad Tea Party (Vin rode with the girls. Andrew and I waited in line to meet Alice), It’s A Small World (Grace’s favorite part was waving to the woman working on the bridge up above), Snow White’s Scary Adventure (definitely NOT Grace’s favorite. I think she kept her eyes covered the whole time), The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh (one of the rides we got to go on twice. Grace’s favorite part was the psychedelic Heffalump room) and we saw a 3D Mickey’s Philharmagic.

Even if Grace seemed frightened on a ride or by a character, it was short-lived. She would get off and beg to “go on another ride!” The kids and I did go on Haunted Mansion but we waited for Grace to take a nap in her stroller before we did that.

We spent $40 on ponchos one day. Unfortunately (yet understandably), there were no PhotoPass photographers around to take a family shot of us covered in head to toe plastic. We were cracking up! We only made it through one country in Epcot, the least I’ve ever traveled through there, but it was a wise idea to head out of the rain and get ready for our BBQ with Mickey anyway. We beat the rain clouds on this particular day by doing a craft in Mexico’s KidCot station and eating lunch there. I had a delicious Passion Fruit margarita. Yum!

We love purchasing our annual Mickey ears in the Chapeau hat shop! Last year the kids made custom ears which allows you to add your own ears to a plain black cap plus an embroidered name and a patch. This time around, the only plain caps they had were navy with red mohawks (yes, seriously) Uh, no thanks. We ended up picking out some cute pre-made ones on our last night. Emily was a pirate princess this year, Andrew got a colorful, crazy Mickey-printed hat and Grace’s hat had a giant polka-dotted Minnie bow in the center.

We love pin trading! The kids got into it during our trip last year and even Grace participated this time around. Each kid wore their lanyard with pins they wanted to trade. I ended up wearing a Minnie lanyard the last two days with pins we knew we wanted to bring home (since sometimes in the heat of the moment, they try to trade a pin they told me they really liked). We purchased a pin trading portfolio before coming home and I’ve set up all of our pins in there.

And lest you think this trip was all made up of sunshine and rainbows, I am sure we’ll never forget:

The crowds were really not that terrible however, I will most likely never go back in June (or July or August for that matter). The humidity was insane. Granted she wasn’t feeling well, but Grace literally started melting the nanosecond we stepped outside. She would be all fine and perky on the air conditioned bus or in a gift shop but the second we stepped outside (I am not even exaggerating here), she would start sulking around and whining. It was very uncomfortable, even if we did stock-up on beverages and have battery-powered spray fans with us.

Grace and I were on a cab ride from hell. I actually called Vin at one point in tears. I couldn’t even tell if the cab was driving me in the right direction or not because uh hello, I’m a New Yorker in the backseat in Florida! Long story short and $50 later, this cab took me to the wrong walk-in clinic but I did manage to get Grace to the correct pediatric one where she was given an ice pop for her 102 fever and diagnosed with Strep.

I set foot into a Publix for the very first time! Why don’t we have these here? They filled Grace’s amoxicillin Rx for free. That’s kind of unheard of where I come from.

We waited on a big, huge security line in Orlando’s airport. Emily was literally crying at one point that she was so tired. I knew she was getting sick. She never just cries because she’s tired. We were maybe ten people from the front of the security belts and she goes “Moooom…” I ditched our bags, left the other kids with Vin and asked two people if I could fly off the line and to the bathroom before my kid got sick on their floor. Sure, sure I was told. We returned 15 minutes later (she never got sick but you can guess it, was diagnosed the next day with Strep too) and they wouldn’t let me back on line without our boarding passes. Our boarding passes that were now past security with Vin and the other kids. Fantastic.

And just because he didn’t want to feel left out, Andrew got motion sick in the plane. Wait. I amend that. He felt sick at take off but fell asleep. He actually got sick after the wheels touched down in New York. As in, we were literally driving to the gates, minutes from getting out. First time in my life I’ve had to take out and open up the barf bags. Hey, there’s a first time for everything.

I’m happy to report that everyone is fine and medicated now. :)

Instead of doing the Deluxe Dining Plan like we did last year, we opted for the Quick Serve Dining Plan this time and then paid for some meals out-of-pocket. It was perfect! Our hotel had lots of yummy dishes. We really enjoyed the breakfast wraps, Mickey-shaped waffles, supreme nachos and bacon cheeseburgers. All adult meals come with a dessert too so we had plenty of food to go around. This meal package also came with a refillable drink mug for each person (usually $14ea) so we had plenty to drink as well.

We pre-paid for two meals prior to our vacation: Hoop Dee Doo Revue and Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. I’ve been going to Hoop Dee Doo since I’m a little kid. It’s fantastic! My kids love it so much that Andrew is begging us to take him there for his October birthday one year. This year we had a wonderful table too: it was actually attached to the stage. The kids loved interacting with the performers. Mickey’s Backyard BBQ was something new that we tried. We would totally do it again! It’s family-style picnic seating. You serve yourself. There is no wait staff so it’s not fancy. But the food was delicious (ribs, chicken, burgers, dogs, corn, mac & cheese, watermelon, etc) and you definitely get your money’s worth when you watch your kids interact with the characters. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale actually hang out on the dance floor and dance right along side of you. There’s a live Country Western band playing the whole time. Both dinner shows are located in Fort Wilderness.

Since we weren’t on the Deluxe Dining Plan, we paid for two sit-down meals this trip: dinner at Chef Mickey’s and breakfast at The Crystal Palace. Both were delicious (and the red sangria at Chef Mickey’s was extra-pleasing). If you’ve never been to Disney World and aren’t sure about character meals, book them as soon as you can! They fill up fast but not only that, they are your best bet for meeting the characters. There are no long lines to wait on. With a character meal, you are guaranteed to get some autographs! The Millers recommend Chef Mickey, The Crystal Palace and if you are looking to dine with the Princesses, Akershus in Norway (Epcot). We have eaten in the castle before and it’s a novelty. If you must do it, do it. But it’s pricey and you need to pre-pay before your trip. Akershus is covered in the Deluxe Dining Plan and we think the food is better (breakfast is our choice).

Book a Crystal Palace breakfast (featuring Winnie the Pooh characters) on a day where you know the park doesn’t open early for Extra Magical Hours. For example, we had an 8:05am breakfast this past Wednesday when the park opened at 9am. You are now allowed inside the park before it’s open to the public and that’s where I get my Main Street shots of the kids skipping down a very non-crowded street (image posted yesterday and also one below). This is my number one tip that I share with everyone asking for Disney planning advice.

I printed a calendar for us this time and it worked really well. The kids even wanted printed copies to carry in their carry-ons and they would refer to it from time to time (but they understood that Mom got the final say if we needed to skip something). :)  Don’t overbook yourself! Traveling to and from different parks and dinner shows takes a lot of time. Kids get very cranky very easily (and if your name is Grace Miller, after being in 100% humidity for not even 30 seconds). I made sure to schedule in pool breaks every afternoon. I think I especially loved the Quick Serve Dining Plan because I never had more than one ‘big’ meal booked per day. It left plenty of room to grab a light meal back at the hotel, go swimming and take a nap.

Take advantage of the PhotoPass photographers! You walk up to anyone wearing the official vest and ask them to start a card for you. You can have more than one card going. I usually have about 3 in my bag so I always have one in reach. Stop and pose for pictures – lots of them! We had about 110 photos on our cards when we came home in addition to the 620+ I took with my camera. You are going to pay one price for a CD of images once you return home whether there are 30 or 130 pictures on there so the more, the merrier!

We still love Orlando Stroller Rental but the stroller I picked out this time was just way too big (red & black City Elite Double). For our trip next Spring, we’ll be back down to one single stroller. If you are looking for a great double stroller, we loved the orange City Double Stroller that we rented last year.

I tried something new this trip. I ordered a 4 1/2 foot Mickey balloon to be placed in our room. The card read “Welcome back to Disney World Emily, Andrew & Grace. I am so happy that you are here! Love, Mickey Mouse”. It was a really fun surprise when we came back after a long first day in the parks. I would definitely recommend this balloon idea.

Don’t forget your lanyards and pins to do some pin trading! You can read more about pin trading here. The kids get a kick out of it. Cast members must trade with you if they are wearing pins so don’t be afraid to ask to make a trade.

We love these guide book (adults, children) for planning and getting excited about our vacation!

When you return home (or before you go as in my case), you can make some customized keepsake maps and mark off your favorite attractions! Disney prints and sends them to you via snail mail.

This app is super-handy to have. I used it all trip: Magic Guide. I used it to check wait times (which were always accurate as far as I could tell), park hours and even to decide where we were having breakfast one morning. It was well worth the $4.99.

Disney has their own mobile site which is helpful but not nearly as detailed. Still, I would recommend bookmarking m.disneyworld.go.com because one of the features I love that Magic Guide doesn’t offer is a character link. You can tell it what park you are in and it will tell you what characters are waiting to meet you! Along the same lines, make sure to pick up a Times Guide in all park entrances because they are printed weekly and they will also tell you what characters are around and where they are located.

clockwise from top L:

1) Meeting Alice and the White Rabbit in front of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

2) Posing by the fountain on our way into Epcot.

3) Cooling down with frozen Cokes in Hollywood Studios.

4) Skipping down Main Street on our way into the park.

Have a magical day!

We are home…

…and we had a magical time!

We booked this trip nearly 3 months ago and we told our kids about it at 2pm today. It was pretty funny. The adults were so excited about “the big reveal”. Along with Vin and myself, my parents and both of my brothers showed up. I told the kids they were getting a BIG treat this weekend so I figured the extra people plus video cameras rolling wouldn’t be a problem. And they weren’t. Only thing is, this home video is not making it onto a Disney commercial any time soon. It was totally not as exciting as we thought it would be. It’s pretty funny to watch now actually. The kids know we plan to go again next Spring so when they read the sign that was attached to a Mickey balloon, Andrew said “Yeah, in March.” I screamed “NO, TOMORROW!” and then I am pretty sure I told them to jump up and down. LOL! It honestly took a good 15-20 minutes for the whole idea to sink in. Then they started smiling, giving us hugs and racing to pack their carry-ons. They are super-excited now, two hours later. It’s totally sunk in. They have their bags packed, have started reading the new 2011 Birnbaum’s guide I picked up at Borders last night and organized their pin collections for some trading.

Don’t look for us for the next week. We’ll be running around with Mickey!

Note: I will be home and returning client e-mails/inquiries beginning on July 2nd.