Everybody Loves A Little Surprise! An Oct PTR!

[coloredimage]

Hello, all!

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Elle!

For those of you who have never seen one of my TRs or PTRs welcome! For those of you who are coming over from my current TR (found here) or recognize my name, thanks for coming back! I appreciate you!

A little about me for anyone new, I'm Elle (...like I said) and I tend to repeat myself, apparently! I also super love exclamation points when it comes to Disney so fair warning. I'm 29 years old and have lived in Central Massachusetts most of my life, with only about six years away to live in Connecticut, Ireland, and England. I'm currently a teacher - during the majority of the year I teach 7th grade ELA, and in the summer I teach theatre to kiddos ages 8-14. I sing, dance, and plan like a crazy lady!

When it comes to Disney I'm an AP. I love Magic Kingdom and could spend an entire vacation just there and be happy! I love the mountains, with Big Thunder being my favorite of the three, but my heart is torn between Pirates and Haunted Mansion. I own a Disney-centric Instagram account (@elleindisney) and adore taking pictures of all the little details with my little (currently out-of-action) Nikon J1. I'm also hugely in love with Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, and want to go to the Asian Disney parks someday soon.


I've been putting off making this PTR, because I haven't wanted to spill the beans yet, and I finally got some time today to write something up here and not at home, and I wanted to start it before the surprise on Sunday!


So, what's this PTR for?

Well, I'm officially going to WDW again October 13-16, 2017!



See, I've been trying to figure out what to get my mother for Mother's Day, especially when her birthday is two weeks later. I've been fretting and thinking and wracking my brain, and suddenly, something clicked! See, my mother has been saying for YEARS how much she wants to go to Food and Wine, but she'll never get to go until she's retired, but she's been having a super stressful year at work, and our whole renovating two houses at the same time situation. So I decided to surprise her!

I'll make a formal 5Ws-type update later when I can, but I just needed to share my excitement with you guys!

 

[xlsm]

Our trips overlap!!! And I'm bringing my mom too!

My October dates are 15 - 21, but am 99% sure that I'm adding the 14th to that!!

 

[coloredimage]

Our trips overlap!!! And I'm bringing my mom too!

My October dates are 15 - 21, but am 99% sure that I'm adding the 14th to that!!

First of all, how do we always end up planning such similar trips?

Second of all, oh my goodness we'll actually be in Disney at the same time!!!!! The stars have finally aligned!

 

[coloredimage]

Plans? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Plans!

Yeah, the title? That's a lie right there. If I were on Would I Lie to You, I'd be totally lying and everyone would know it. I had the hotel we're staying at in California picked out a YEAR before we left. And it's not like it's the Disneyland Hotel or something, it's the Camelot Inn & Suites. But I need to aim my insanely over-analytical brain on things sometimes and, well, it's gonna be planning.

Except, this plan's kind of in it's baby, larvae form.

So, about a month ago, I sent my dad a text message with my idea to go to Florida with Mum. His response was "Interesting. We'll talk about it later." Did later ever come? No. May and December are his busy seasons at work (concert seasons, graduation, etc.) so he and I haven't been home at the same time, and when we were my mother would be there too and it's not like we could talk about a surprise trip with her around.*

* For anyone who doesn't know the Saga from various other mentions in recent TRs and PTRs, but my parents and I have been embarking on a giant reno project - their (big, historic) house first and then my (tiny, too small for three adults) house second. Their house should be done this summer, but it's a bit hard to have private conversations right now.

Anyway, since I hadn't heard anything, I made a couple of minor plans. Nothing big, just some ADRs that are easily changeable.

Then I got an email that Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets were released. I knew that I wanted to get them, because I knew it'd be a fun thing that my mother wouldn't have the chance to do again for a while, and while the very first time I went to Disney my grandmother brought me to MNSSHP I honestly don't remember much of it except, very vaguely, the parade.

I also knew that, with our only option being the party on the 15th, and that being a holiday weekend, it'd probably sell fairly quickly. So I sent my dad a text message this morning asking him if he thought it'd be a good idea, since he knows her schedule better than I do. Once he greenlit the idea, I jumped on the MNSSHP tickets!

I haven't made a hotel reservation yet. I figured I'd wait until I surprise my mother Sunday, then we can openly talk about where my parents are staying this summer and where my mother would like to stay.

So, so far, my plans I've made:

Friday, Oct. 13:
- Night Flight, unless I can convince Mum to take a day (and myself that I don't need to go to my meeting that day).

Saturday, Oct. 14:
- Epcot during the day for Food & Wine. Planning on a leisurely, go with the flow sort of day because this will be PACKED I'm sure
- Current ADR: 3:00 Restaurant Marrakesh

Sunday, Oct. 15:
- Morning is up in the air, wherever we decide
- Current ADR: 4:30 Skipper Canteen
- MNSSHP this night (tickets bought already!)

Monday, Oct. 16:
- Right now I'm planning for us to leave later in the day so we can spend a few hours soaking in Disney at the very least
- Current ADR: 2:15 Tiffins

I mean, it's a skeleton of a plan. It's like 12% of a plan. But it's a plan!

 

[coloredimage]

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

I surprised my mother with the trip today. I made her this little insert for her card at work this past week:



She looked at it in shock then turned to me and asked me what it meant. When I told her she cut me off and said I shouldn't spend that much money on her, but I assured her she had no reason to worry and that I had already bought her tickets to Not So Scary.

Guys, my mother never cries. She's not an emotional person, it's just not who she is.

I made her tear up and cry a little.

I shouldn't be as proud of that as I am, but I am pretty proud. She had no idea, and she's super hard to surprise. It was SO HARD for me to keep the secret, especially this week when I bought the Not So Scary tickets.

I showed her the ADRs I had made, and she loved that I chose all the places with more "adventurous" food, because whenever she goes with my dad they go to the same places because he's not an adventurous eater. She's been asking me questions all morning and is super excited. I think she's more excited about this than her August trip with my dad lol.

Also, we made a decision on hotel! This was one thing I wanted her to have a say in because we would end up staying where she is in August and I didn't know if she'd be okay with that.

But I've converted her to my love of all things FQ so she and I will be staying at Port Orleans French Quarter! I'll make our reservation this week.

I also talked with her a little bit, and suggested that I give her the money for her to bridge her tickets to an AP while she's down in August, since I realized she'd be going this year in August, this year in October, next spring, and next summer. She admitted she had already been thinking of getting an AP since I have one too.

 

[Raeven]

Aw that's so sweet that you surprised your mom with the trip! I just found this Ptr and now I'm following along!

 

[MamaCoop]

What a wonderful surprise! It is great that she is already loving your plans it makes it a lot easier on you! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[coloredimage]

Aw that's so sweet that you surprised your mom with the trip! I just found this Ptr and now I'm following along!

Welcome aboard! Thanks! I'm so glad she's super excited.

What a wonderful surprise! It is great that she is already loving your plans it makes it a lot easier on you! Can't wait to hear more!

Thank you! My mother and I are the Disney fanatics of the family (we converted my father) so I'm glad I could surprise her with this!

 

[once_upon_a_melora]

Aww surprises are the best and I love making my family and friends cry! (tears of happiness of course haha) Following!

 

[jessicar82]

Joining in! I'm from MA too

 

[suse66]

Awesome! I love that your parents love Disney too! I wish my mother got it but she thinks ( as most of my extended family do) that I have a slight problem with my Disney obsession. However, it is my happy place so it's all good!

 

[cajunfan]

Can you adopt me as your mom, lol?! What sweet daughter! You two are going to have a great time

 

[coloredimage]

Aww surprises are the best and I love making my family and friends cry! (tears of happiness of course haha) Following!

My mother is super hard to get to cry so I'm really proud of myself, I gotta admit lol. Thanks for following

Joining in! I'm from MA too

Welcome! We're in the northern part of central MA

Awesome! I love that your parents love Disney too! I wish my mother got it but she thinks ( as most of my extended family do) that I have a slight problem with my Disney obsession. However, it is my happy place so it's all good!

It used to be just my mother and I who loved it/could travel, so we would go with family friends every summer. My dad finally started to get into it and was done with his grad work when I was about 16 and we haven't looked back since

Can you adopt me as your mom, lol?! What sweet daughter! You two are going to have a great time

Hahaha, thanks!

 

[coloredimage]

Hitches and Glitches and Progress

I have been trying to focus on the last month of school before coming back and touching any of my TRs/PTRs because I just had to focus on work.

So, there's hitch/glitch one.

Work.

I mean, we have some problems. And one of them is super effecting me right now, to the point where I should be able to relax this week before camp starts and I've just been constantly refreshing my email all week because we were told on Sunday we'd get more information after Wednesday and nothing yet. I obviously don't want to get into too many details because I like to keep private me and internet me separate for a bunch of reasons, but just, as many good vibes as you could possibly spare would be greatly appreciated. I think being in limbo is honestly the worst part of all.

So, because of the mess that is work, I had to budget a little differently. Also I had to pay for some things for my August trip (aka, air fare) so I'm going to wait until I get paid for the first session of camp mid-month to book our hotel room.

However! My mother and I were talking and she admitted that she had already decided to get an AP this summer, so she won't have to worry about a ticket either!

Also, the inevitable happened. My mother and I, on Mother's Day, were joking around about our trip. See, when I was younger (12-18) we would go on "family" vacations, except they were really more defined as "vacations with other families". My mother and I would go with three of her and my parents best friends - R, who would either go by himself or with a sibling and nieces/nephews, and P, his wife J, and their kids. As us kids have grown up into our 20s and went off to college/got jobs, my mother and her friends started going on vacations together. R and P have had APs for as long as I can remember, and because they both work in departments that has them go on a ton of business trips, they always try to fit a Disney stop in if they're going to conventions in Orlando (which is at least once every other year).

Well, they always end up going around Columbus Day. So we jokingly asked ourselves when they were going to bring up the subject of spending time with us in the parks (which neither of us would mind!).

We went to see Wonder Woman the day it opened. R was sitting next to me and asked if I would be upset if they were down at the same time as us and tried to coordinate dinner or something and I told no, of course not!

Then last Wednesday I got an email from P confirming our dates.

They're not going to spend all the time with us, probably, but my mother loves traveling with them and enjoying things with them so while we'll be doing our own mother/daughter things I think it'll be nice for her to have her friends with her too!

 

[coloredimage]

Quick Change

Very quick post because in about four minutes I have to start getting ready to go to work my summer job. And I'm 100% procrastinating. Last year was my first year doing drama camp, teaching at the camp I used to go to when I was in elementary/middle school. About a month ago I got a message (after I confirmed that I would do second session of drama camp) asking if I could do the baby camp (K-1) because the girl who normally does it could not. And I can't say no to the camp director so of course I said yes. And I've NEVER taught kids that little before, so I'm kind of freaking out a little.

Anyway, yesterday during our cookout I got a text from Mum's friend P. He had made an ADR for Skipper's Canteen at 5:20 the night of the party and asked if we'd like to join them. Since we had already decided we were going there anyway and had an ADR that was only a little earlier we decided to take him up on his offer.

He also asked if we wanted to go to Tiffins with them Saturday night, and since our Tiffins reservation right now is on Monday and I'm not sure if we can keep it because, y'know, flights, we took them up on the offer!

 

[xlsm]

I hope everything is going ok with work. I'm sorry it's a stressful situation!!

I've finally started to nail down some plans for October...I really hope we can cross paths. I will happily go out of my way to say hello. You've been one of my longest DisFriends!!

I think it's cool the friends of your mom are going to be there for some of the same time! Ah, Disney! Bringing people together unexpectedly!! Skipper's is super fun, so that'll be a nice meal to share with them!

 

[coloredimage]

I hope everything is going ok with work. I'm sorry it's a stressful situation!!

I've finally started to nail down some plans for October...I really hope we can cross paths. I will happily go out of my way to say hello. You've been one of my longest DisFriends!!

I think it's cool the friends of your mom are going to be there for some of the same time! Ah, Disney! Bringing people together unexpectedly!! Skipper's is super fun, so that'll be a nice meal to share with them!

Thanks! I'm kind of still in limbo and trying hard not to panic about it. I hate how long it takes them to tell us anything and I'm just hoping everything turns out okay.

And of course there's a completely unrelated-to-work issue that has also reared its head - ugh, is it Disney time yet???

Yes! I definitely want to see you, even if it's for a fleeting minute during this trip! I need to head back over to your PTR to see if it's feasible - all my super stressful beginning-of-summer plans are done now so I SHOULD be able to carve five minutes to spend on the DiS now to plan!!

 

[coloredimage]

Food And Wine

So, they just released the 2017 Food and Wine booth menus and I'm already ready to go through them all and am salivating just thinking about them all. I really should have dinner before I go through these but whatever.

This is my list of things I definitely know I want. Whether I actually get them is a different story:

* Sweet Avocado Crema with strawberries, yellow cake, and tortilla streussel (Active Eats)
* Spinach and paneer cheese pocket with mint raita (Africa)
* Belgian waffle with berry compote and whipped cream (Belgium)
* beer-braised beef served with smoked gouda mashed potatoes (Belgium)
* Escondidinho de Carne (Brasil)
* Pao de Queijo (Brasil)**
* Schofferhofer Pomegranate (Brewer's Collection)
* Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (Canada)
* Neige Premier iced apple wine (Canada)
* Baijoe punch with baijoe spirit, lychee, coconut, and pineapple juice (China)
* Zesty cheeseburger and cheddar cheese macaroni handwich (Craft Beers)
* JDub's Passion Wheat (Craft Beers)
* Florida Beer Company Passport 35 Triple Chocolate Milk Stout (Craft Beers)
* Ricotta and Zucchini ravioli with rustic tomato sauce (Earth Eats)
* Redstone Meadery black raspberry mead (Earth Eats)
* Crispy Chicken with griddled cornbread and redeye gravy (Farm Fresh)
* Two Henry's Elderberry Cream Hard Cider (Farm Fresh)
* Florida Orange Mango Mama Wine (Farm Fresh)



** This is not a thing to talk about. I'm getting pao de queijo. It's one of my favorite snacks.


It's good to note that the day we plan to spend the most time at Epcot is also the day we have dinner at Tiffins. So basically I'm going to be a glutton the entire day.

So, I may be rolling by you if you see me on the 14th.

 

[Raeven]

So, they just released the 2017 Food and Wine booth menus and I'm already ready to go through them all and am salivating just thinking about them all.

I've been googling them every so often so I was really excited when I googled them on Wed and they were up!

Sweet Avocado Crema with strawberries, yellow cake, and tortilla streussel (Active Eats)

This sounds so good, it's on my list too!

Belgian waffle with berry compote and whipped cream (Belgium)
* beer-braised beef served with smoked gouda mashed potatoes (Belgium)

Yes definitely! Belgium was my favorite booth last year the beer braised beef dish is incredible.

Zesty cheeseburger and cheddar cheese macaroni handwich (Craft Beers)

I didn't even see this one somehow! My interest has been piqued.

Crispy Chicken with griddled cornbread and redeye gravy (Farm Fresh)

 

[coloredimage]

I've been googling them every so often so I was really excited when I googled them on Wed and they were up!



This sounds so good, it's on my list too!



Yes definitely! Belgium was my favorite booth last year the beer braised beef dish is incredible.



I didn't even see this one somehow! My interest has been piqued.

I know!!! I feel like this year there are a lot of on point mixtures of flavor - I can't wait to try them! Belgium is definitely the fan favorite for booths in my house, I have to admit my excitement for the Brazil booth stems a lot from college and my roommate's home cooking lol