We'll be seeing you very soon...

...Disney! Yes, we now have another trip on the books. Last minute but we are actually really excited about it and it's come together quite easily. Here's what happened. Andy's mom has a timeshare with Marriott and each year she has an allotment of points to be used/banked well they also have a shelf life and expire after so long. This summer we were looking at things and there was a bunch of points slated to expire at the end of this year. So, we booked our girls trip to Williamsburg at Christmas time and that chipped away at the total but didn't take care of it completely. Everyone else was available to go somewhere in September but due to schedules and UGA's football schedule we weren't able to go away with them. They booked a few nights at Hilton Head for late September and there were still a few points left. Andy's mom, very generously, gave them to us to use in October. I was able to book us for four nights and use up the last remaining points! We'll be there the week before my 29th birthday. We decided that if there was availability at any of the resorts during AG's fall break that we would go then since we'll be pulling him out for a week to do our surprise Christmas trip. 

We decided that since it will still be warm in October that we wanted a Marriott that has a great pool setup for the kids. Our first choice was Marriott's Harbour Lake because of their Pirate pool and splash areas geared towards smaller kids. (Click on the photos in the above link and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Plus, they have a putt-putt course on-site for us to use which we knew AG would love to use. They had exactly what I wanted and for the dates that I wanted so I booked it without delay. We're excited to try this resort out since the last two times we've stayed at Marriott's Grande Vista...just to see how they compare/try something different. We have an afternoon/evening built in to our trip to be able to just hang out at the resort doing whatever the kids want to do.

We plan to spend lots of time in Fantasyland this trip. Avi-Kate has yet to ride Dumbo and AG missed riding it last trip since it was closed due to the remodel. We are also hoping to get AG on his first roller coaster aka The Barnstormer since he'll be tall enough. We'll see. We are already talking it up. If he's tall enough we may attempt Splash Mountain with him...we know he would love the actual ride thru scenes...we just aren't sure about the huge drop at the end. ;) I have no doubt that if AKs was tall enough she would do it hands down because she is fearless!

 I was able to get all the dining reservations that I wanted for the trip. We have plans to eat at the Liberty Tree, again, because it's one of our favorite meals in the Magic Kingdom. The rest of our reservations will be new to us. We are trying out Garden Grill and Hollywood and Vine. Both are character meals. Hollywood and Vine will be for breakfast and includes Disney Junior characters. Garden Grill is in the Land pavilion at EPCOT and actually overlooks the ride Living with the Land. This ride was probably one of AG's favorite rides from the last trip. Which we found slightly humorous since it's all about gardening and you ride around a hydroponic greenhouse. AG likes to call it the Vegetable Ride...I figured he might like eating at the Vegetable Restaurant this go around. They actually serve food produced on the ride in the restaurant. The other place we are trying out is Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. AG is all about Animal Kingdom and 'jungles' so we thought this might be a great fit. I've eaten at the Rainforest Cafe in Texas but never at Disney. It'll be a first for everyone else. Lots of great eating this trip plus we have our sites on several quick serve locations. We love Cosmic Rays and the last two trips we've not made it there so we are planning to eat there for sure this trip.

Lots of time in the jungle and a full day at Animal Kingdom since AG has really become quite taken with it. This trip we are planning to spend very little time at Hollywood Studios. A breakfast before they open and then a ride on Toy Story Mania...that'll be the extent of our time there this trip. I did this on purpose since I have us spending a huge chunk of our Christmas trip there to see all the holiday lights. We'll have two days at MK, a couple hours at the Studios before hopping over to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day, and one day at EPCOT. Obviously this is all flexible and we can hop around if the kids would rather do something else. We are also planning to try Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party one night. It's a big trick-or-treat extravaganza that they do on certain nights during the fall. AG has requested a Peter Pan costume and that Avi-Kate needs to be Tink so that's what we are going to do. They should be really cute.

 I'm really excited to see everything decorated for the fall season because it's suppose to be the next best thing to their Christmas decorations. My dear friend, Evan, absolutely LOVES going in October and so we are ready to try it for ourselves. We'll actually be arriving the day that they are leaving to come home from their fall trip. One of these days we'll actually have a trip planned together...right Evan?! :)

So, there you have it. Disney for AG's fall break. Should be pretty inexpensive since we will only have to pay for our food, gas, and the few souvenirs we buy every trip. I think a perk of being an annual passholder is we don't feel compelled to buy every single thing we see because we know we are coming back. We tend to pick up a few things but that's really it. I'm planning to start scoping out things for Santa to 'pick-up' while we are there for gifts for the kids. I can't wait. This summer has been a roller coaster and we need a few family days at the happiest place on earth with our kids. We'll see you soon Mickey!