ETD: 60 Hours and Counting....

In less than three days, myself, the hubby and our three boys will be settling in for an 8 night stay at our home away from home, Walt Disney World! In my usual obsessed Disney mom fashion I have been packed for days, and everything is ready to go.....



Uh, no.  Here we are with less than 60 hours to wheels up, and I honestly have practically nothing done. This is very unlike me, and I am trying not to go off the edge with stressing about what yet needs to be done.  I guess, realistically I could be laundering and packing RIGHT NOW. But, I'm not.  You'd think after 9 years of working as a night shift nurse, I wouldn't even need sleep anymore, but alas, this is not true.  After working on a night, off a night, for what seems like 2 weeks, I'm a sleep deprived mess.  So I am finishing one last post before the trip, gonna hit the hay early, and will make tomorrow a marathon preparation day!

Beautiful Bay Lake Tower, part of the Contemporary Resort near the Magic Kingdom

But before tomorrow's long day of laundry, packing and the obligatory mani/pedi, I thought I'd give a little preview of our well planned trip. I may not be well packed, but I am always well planned. Getting up at 6am, 180 days in advance well planned.

The cast of this 8 night tour includes myself, DH, and DS's ages 8, 6, and 4.  To make it even more fun we are traveling with our good friends, @rnawaymama, her DH, their 5 children ages 11 to 4 months, and @rnawaymama's parents Nana and Poppy.  This brings us to a grand total of 14!

We are having our own Disney vacation "pre-show" of course, with a trip to see the 3D version of The Lion King on Friday night.  Saturday we have flights out with a planned arrival at Bay Lake Tower around  2pm.  We have a 1br Lake View Villa booked with our DVC points for 8 nights.

Planned highlights of our trip include our first stay at Bay Lake Tower, checking out the newly revamped Star Tours attraction (probably multiple times considering ALL the kids love Star Wars), our first time dining at Mama Melrose's, Ohana's, and 1900 Park Fare, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, Mickey's Halloween 5K, and hopefully a surprise or two!

The number 40 seems to come up a lot for us on this trip, as one member of our party will be turning 40 during our trip, Walt Disney World itself will turn 40 on October 1st, (we plan to be at the Magic Kingdom to celebrate), and my youngest DS who is 4, will be enjoying his first ever trip to Disney where he will make the 40 inch hight requirement!

Additionally, on the Moms Panel front, @rnwawaymama and myself have RSVP'd to attend a Moms Panel Meet and Greet at the Yacht Club on the 1st. We've yet to receive the final confirmation that we can attend, but we are quite hopeful that we will be able to go and meet current panelists, as well as other hopefuls such as ourselves from the DisBoards!  I think reporting on this event in itself will require an entire post!

Stay tuned for a full trip report when we return, or you can follow me at twitter @dizkrazkate or my fellow Moms Panel hopeful and former guest blogger @rnawaymama for real time updates and pics!