NEWS FLASH: You must be 4YO to go to Disney! Oct '11 PTR, 10/24 WE'RE BACK! p 18

[PEANUT1]

We did a welcome package for our girls in November. After check in...I ran up to the room with my bag while my husband took the girls to look around the hotel. When I was done, I met them and we headed to our room together.

I got some of the mickey head paint chips from home depot in all different colors and cut out the heads.....decorated the door with them with their names and had mickey heads on the floor in the room leading to the surprise...WHen they found the treats they screamed they were so excited. I was so happy that I got the moment on video. They thought the mickey heads on the floor were mickey's footprints.

I got my girls t shirts, disney water bottles (the metal ones), journals, princess pens, light up necklaces, mickey lolly pops, phineus and ferb stuffed animals and santa hats (cause we were doing the christmas party).

I think I will do it again this trip..it was so fun. this time maybe it will be from tinkerbell

 

[Pixiedust530]

I remember those sticker books in the 80s- i love them and collected stickers- remember the good old scratch and stiff stickers? those were my favorite!

We will be at 'Ohana at the same time, well same night- our ressie is for 5pm i think since we are doing MNSSHP that night. congrats on getting all the ADRs you wanted.

lol at your disney math! i hope something good comes out for you that you can utilize to upgrade to CBR. the only bad thing i have heard about those rooms is the mattress issue, but you've already heard it too- otherwise, they look fantastic to me and i would definitely pay an extra $113 to upgrade to CBR from a value!

I LOVED the scratch and sniff stickers. I remember I had a sticker that was Michael Jackson's white glove. It was white and soft to the touch and it had silver sequins on it. LOL....oh how I miss the 80's!

I am looking forward to 'Ohana...I have heard it is wonderful!

The more I think about it the more I think I might just ppocket any savings and stay at All Star Movies. IDK?

I say go for it if it's such a small amount more! FD is now released for September, and I'm not sure if they will release for October, BUT, you can almost always find a way to get a room discount. Do you ever get pins emailed to you? If you don't, go to the WDW site and price (AND SAVE) a few vacations in your dates range, hopefully you will get on their email list!

I have gotten a few pins in the mail but NEVER by e-mail. I am signed up everywhere and am always pricing and saving vacations. We'll see! I'm not sure if we will switch to CBR or not...part of me wants to just pocket the savings.

Well, with free dining being released for September, you have a good chance of getting it in October. Now you just have to wait!

I'm with you on the kids going alone on the cruise. Even though, i'm sure they'll be fine, they do those cruises all the time. NOPE! There's always those freak accidents....

I've heard that FD for Oct usually comes out in July or August. We'll see!

Yeah...he won't be going on the Pirate Cruise this time....of coursse I don't really have anywhere to fit it in anyway so it's a moot point.

If they offer free dining for your dates, I say definitely upgrade to a mod! If it was a few hundred $$ I'd say don't bother, but the price increase really isn't that much, so why not? And if they don't offer it, ASMo sounds awesome, the Toy Story section sounds great!

I'm leaning more towards staying at All Star. I actually dreamed last night that we were at All Star Movies checking in and we got a Toy Story room! WooooHooooo!

crossing my fingers for FD for you!

Thanks... I hope so too!

 

[Pixiedust530]

We did a welcome package for our girls in November. After check in...I ran up to the room with my bag while my husband took the girls to look around the hotel. When I was done, I met them and we headed to our room together.

I got some of the mickey head paint chips from home depot in all different colors and cut out the heads.....decorated the door with them with their names and had mickey heads on the floor in the room leading to the surprise...WHen they found the treats they screamed they were so excited. I was so happy that I got the moment on video. They thought the mickey heads on the floor were mickey's footprints.

I got my girls t shirts, disney water bottles (the metal ones), journals, princess pens, light up necklaces, mickey lolly pops, phineus and ferb stuffed animals and santa hats (cause we were doing the christmas party).

I think I will do it again this trip..it was so fun. this time maybe it will be from tinkerbell

What a great idea getting the Mickey Head paint chips at Home Depot. I think I might have to go start nabbing some of those! Ooooooh....those would be good for scrapbooking too!

I hadn't even thought about getting that on video but I will have to be sure to remember that. The water bottle sound like a great idea....I'll probably pick one of those up! Thanks!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Your PTR name caught my eye on the October 2011 thread, so here I am! Your plans look really good so far.

For your MK list, I really highly recommend Splash Mountain. It's tied with BTMRR as one of my favorite rides in the park and I don't see it on your list. I don't think it will be a big loss if you miss the Tiki Room. I know they are updating it (or would it be retrograding it? ) to make it more like the original but I still think it's annoying.

Epcot: I used to feel the same way about Epcot at age 15...but I didn't get to go on Soarin' or truly explore the park until last year. Now it's my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! There's so much to see and do. I found Maelstrom and the Gran Fiesta tour to be weird and boring. In the Seas with Nemo and Friends, take some time to explore the aquariums, they are awesome and an unexpected hit with us! Yes, you MUST MUST MUST see IllumiNations. It's part of the reason Epcot's my favorite. I've been listening to the soundtrack for three years at least once a week and it never gets old. It's just amazing. With World Showcase, I don't know how Caden is with sitting through shows, so I might skip the ones in China, France, and Canada (though personally I love the France one because it has an amazing sondtrack). I highly recommend the American Adventure show. In each pavilion just look for some of the performers, and almost all of the countries (Mexico, China, Germany, Morocco, France, UK) have characters out at some point.

DHS: Backlot Tour and Great Movie Ride are not must dos for me anymore. I've done each once, on alternating trips, and I can do without them. Backlot is cool if you're into props from movies, and GMR is cool id you're into old movies from the 80s and earlier. I also really like the Beauty and the Beast show, it truly is spectacular, but with a 4 year old boy I can understand why it might not be at the top of your to do list.

AK: Festival of the Lion King is an absolute must do for my family now. It's one of the reasons I was finally able to convince my mom to go see The Lion King stage show when it comes to Buffalo in October. Finding Nemo: is really good too, but FotLK is just amazing.

For the possible free dining deal, I'm pretty sure it's just the Values that are automatic QSDP, I think Mods are DDP no matter what, so you wouldn't have to pay for the upgrade. As for the Pirate rooms, I'm with you: I think CBR is a beautiful resort but a little on the large side, and those beds seem kind of small, I completely forgot about the 4" mattress deal. My friends and I are entering to win a trip on Facebook and a CBR Pirate room is one of the choices. I was warning my friend about it but she was just like, "YOU GET TO SLEEP IN A SHIP! COME ON!"

Meals: In DHS I recommend Studio Catering Co. We had a really good sandwich there. Of course, I know Starring Rolls is also highly ranked what with their ginormous sandwiches and epic dessert options. DTD: Earl of Sandwich is great! I also recommend Goofy's Candy Company for dessert/sweet snacks. Ohana was really good if a little expensive. Crystal Palace is good no matter what meal you go for. I like Columbia Harbour House or Cosmic Ray's for MK CS.

Those are all my tips/advice! I hope I didn't repeat others too much or get too annoying lol. I can't wait to read more.

 

[Nermel9]

Arrival Day looks great! I hope your room is ready when you arrive, but if not, hanging out by the pool sounds like fun! I think Chef Mickey's is a great choice to eat your first night!

The welcome package sounds adorable! The only thing I can think of is maybe a Disney coloring book of some type? It seems like you have a lot of fun things in there already!

LOL I can't believe you opened the Vinylmation!

 

[Parla]

Congrats on your Kentucky Derby win! If I had the chance the bet I would have of course chosen Animal Kingdom.

The only thing I thought of in reading your update was the autograph book you're planning on setting out. That means you'll be at Chef Mickey's without an autograph book... just a thought.

 

[Pixiedust530]

Congrats on your Kentucky Derby win! If I had the chance the bet I would have of course chosen Animal Kingdom.

The only thing I thought of in reading your update was the autograph book you're planning on setting out. That means you'll be at Chef Mickey's without an autograph book... just a thought.

HOLY COW!!! I had not thought of that! Now I have to rethink my whole plan! Ahhhhhhhh.......

 

[Pixiedust530]

It looks like it's time for another PTR update. Last time I gave you details of Day 1...our arrival day. I guess I should probably go in chronological order so as not to confuse all of you! That means Day 2 is up next. I am so excited to introduce Caden and Wayne to the magic of Disney!

Day 2 - Disney's Hollywood Studios - Sunday, October 16

Day 2 will be our first FULL day in WDW and our first day in a theme park. We won't have park hoppers on this trip, so that basically means we only have 1 day in each park. I used touring plans, historical crowd data, park hours, evening event/show schedules and some good ole common sense when deciding which park to visit each day! We decided that we definitely want to see Fantasmic! on our trip, so we'll have to endure the added crowds in the parks that day in order to make that happen! I'm actually okay with this and I feel like we have a good touring plan and will be able to accomplish the things we want to do even with increased crowds! Whew....okay....onto the good stuff!

DHS opens at 9am this day and we are planning to arrive about 30 min prior to Rope Drop to get ourselves positioned for the madness that will ensue! Once we arrive and get inside the gates to the rope we will be splitting our group. Wayne will position himself on the right side to prepare for the mad dash to TSM for FastPasses. Now...keep in mind, Wayne has never been to WDW, has never stepped foot inside DHS (or any other WDW theme park) and I will be sending him off on his own as soon as we arrive! Surely he can follow the crowd and figure out how to operate a FastPass machine all by himself! Meanwhile, Caden and I will be positioning ourselves on the left side to head straight to Jedi Training Academy sign ups at RD! I really really think that Caden will have a blast doing this!

Once Wayne has TSM for the group and Caden is signed up for Jedi Training we'll embark on the rest of the touring plan. Some of our "schedule" will be determined by our return time for Jedi Training Academy. I want to try to minimize our zig zagging across the park as much as possible, but it will be necessary to some degree. Wayne & I will want to get in RnRC & ToT, probably while Caden is seeing a show with my grandparents (Little Mermaid or Beauty & the Beast) but we also have to make sure we ride Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, see the Lights Motors Action Stunt Show, and a few other things.

We'll break for lunch at a CS restaurant...probably somewhat early....maybe 11:30. After lunch we will continue with our touring plan...getting in as much as possible! I think we will be able to accomplish most if not all of what is on our must do list before our dinner ADR. We have an early ADR at 4:40pm for the Fantasmic! dining package at Hollywood & Vine. I'm thinking we should be finished with dinner by 6:00pm and will have about an hour to catch anything we might have missed earlier in the day. Fantasmic! is showing at 7:30pm that night and we will probably head to the theater a little before 7:00pm. We'll have our FDP vouchers so getting a seat shouldn't be a problem! As soon as Fantasmic is over we'll be heading back to the resort and getting in bed. I'm hoping by 9:00 we'll be back at the hotel!

It will be a long and exhausting day but I think it will be worth it! Woohooo I can't wait!

 

[Nermel9]

Sounds like a great day! I love DHS! Hope Wayne can figure out the TSM FP machines for you! The Jedi Training Academy looks awesome! I've only seen Fantasmic once and never bothered with it again, it seems like such a hassle (the one time we did go, we walked in 5 minutes late and stood waaaay in the back!) but I kind of would like to give it another try, everyone loves it so much!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Sounds like a great day! I love DHS! Hope Wayne can figure out the TSM FP machines for you! The Jedi Training Academy looks awesome! I've only seen Fantasmic once and never bothered with it again, it seems like such a hassle (the one time we did go, we walked in 5 minutes late and stood waaaay in the back!) but I kind of would like to give it another try, everyone loves it so much!

Maybe I will have to YouTube FastPass machine usage and give wayne a quick lesson before we leave! I too have only seen fantasmic once, but I LOVED it! I really want Wayne and Caden both to be able to see it!

 

[lbuzz52]

Wayne will have no problem with the fastpasses. They have cm's stationed at the machines to help. Plus, there will be others next to him and in front of him to watch. I was prepared for the worst for TSM rope drop but found the process very organized and easy.

 

[exwdwcm]

Your arrival day plan sounds great! so you will be doing most of the driving? i hate driving at night. since i had lasik about 10 years ago, it is just harder to drive at night and i am only 37!

the welcome package sounds like a great surprise! i think i am going to do one for William this time too. I am going to have a friend- another DISer i chat with pick up an Epcot passport book for me probably when she goes next week. Then i'll do a coloring book, maybe a t-shirt (we have a great disney outlet here near home), sunglasses, i haev a cute mickey halloween ears hat we got last year at another warehouse disney sale (looks like candy corn mickey ears!), autograph book and pen, mickey candy or snacks etc. Plus maybe some new pins for his lanyard.

are there any fun little toys you could pick up that would keep him entertained in lines or anything like that? a lanyard? pins? a ballcap/hat? i know our local walmart and walgreens will often have disney themed candy and suckers even. any kind of disney themed snacks to take with him to the parks each day? maybe his own little disposable camera?

Day 2 looks great too. We are doing MK/epcot that day. at least you have the dining package booked for F!, that should make it a bit easier. I am going to have the same plan for our DHS morning- one of us head to TSM and the other to Jedi Training with my son. My DH grabbed the TSM fastpasses last time, so i may have him do it again. LOL! I am sure Wayne will figure it out. Just be sure to prepare him for the madness that is the rush to TSM!!!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi sorry I got a bit behind....

your Travel day sounds good...good luck w/ the overnight driving...how long of a drive is it for you? we drove overnight from Chicago sub to Atlanta last yr Memorial weekend, my sil got the 2-6 am short end of the stick...she was zonked for a good portion of our actual arrival...so I'd plan on that nap...maybe Wayne can take Caden out of the room so you can do that

re the welcome bucket sounds great and I ditto all of Michelle's ideas too..l;ike a shirt...maybe get a custom DISign done that says "my first WDW trip"...a few snacks/treats and some little line activities.

Day 2) at DHS sounds good...I'd love to see F! to on our trip and it stinks it will only be Sun night our arrival...so we'll miss it.

to help Wayne get to TSM you could always draw him a path on a little map!

can you remind me what are your next days want to double check if we have a match

we are 16th MK, 17th EP, 18th DHS/MK-MNSSHP, 19th AK/EP, 20th MK

Julie

 

[Pixiedust530]

Wayne will have no problem with the fastpasses. They have cm's stationed at the machines to help. Plus, there will be others next to him and in front of him to watch. I was prepared for the worst for TSM rope drop but found the process very organized and easy.

I think he will be okay too. I just want to make sure he is prepared to possibly have to wait in a short line to get the fastpasses.....if I don't prepare him he might get cranky!

Your arrival day plan sounds great! so you will be doing most of the driving? i hate driving at night. since i had lasik about 10 years ago, it is just harder to drive at night and i am only 37!

I will do most if not all of the driving. If I get tired I will ask Wayne to take over, but I am not a very good passenger. I get car sick if I'm a passenger and I prefer to be behind the wheel anyway.

the welcome package sounds like a great surprise! i think i am going to do one for William this time too. I am going to have a friend- another DISer i chat with pick up an Epcot passport book for me probably when she goes next week. Then i'll do a coloring book, maybe a t-shirt (we have a great disney outlet here near home), sunglasses, i haev a cute mickey halloween ears hat we got last year at another warehouse disney sale (looks like candy corn mickey ears!), autograph book and pen, mickey candy or snacks etc. Plus maybe some new pins for his lanyard.

I really want to do an EPCOT passport as well, and I don't think I want to bother with making it. I will have to pick one up when we go to EPCOT I guess. I do have a coloring book already...forgot to mention that. I didn't even think about snacks/candy though....what a GREAT idea!

are there any fun little toys you could pick up that would keep him entertained in lines or anything like that? a lanyard? pins? a ballcap/hat? i know our local walmart and walgreens will often have disney themed candy and suckers even. any kind of disney themed snacks to take with him to the parks each day? maybe his own little disposable camera?

I'm still up in the air on a lanyard and pins. I think maybe I want that for me!

Day 2 looks great too. We are doing MK/epcot that day. at least you have the dining package booked for F!, that should make it a bit easier. I am going to have the same plan for our DHS morning- one of us head to TSM and the other to Jedi Training with my son. My DH grabbed the TSM fastpasses last time, so i may have him do it again. LOL! I am sure Wayne will figure it out. Just be sure to prepare him for the madness that is the rush to TSM!!!

I will definitely prepare him for the mad rush! I definitely don't want to ruin him on Disney on our first park day!

Hi sorry I got a bit behind....

your Travel day sounds good...good luck w/ the overnight driving...how long of a drive is it for you? we drove overnight from Chicago sub to Atlanta last yr Memorial weekend, my sil got the 2-6 am short end of the stick...she was zonked for a good portion of our actual arrival...so I'd plan on that nap...maybe Wayne can take Caden out of the room so you can do that

The drive is about 14 hours for us. I think we will be okay. I wil do most if not all of the driving (I get carsick as a passenger and CANNOT sleep in a car). I think I will definitely need a nap and I'm sure Wayne will have no problem occupying Caden while I sleep.

re the welcome bucket sounds great and I ditto all of Michelle's ideas too..l;ike a shirt...maybe get a custom DISign done that says "my first WDW trip"...a few snacks/treats and some little line activities.

I have a Pirate shirt to put in there already...might have to consider a DISign shirt too. Hmmmm.....

Day 2) at DHS sounds good...I'd love to see F! to on our trip and it stinks it will only be Sun night our arrival...so we'll miss it.

to help Wayne get to TSM you could always draw him a path on a little map!

He will totally laugh and make fun of me, but I will give him a map!

can you remind me what are your next days want to double check if we have a match

we are 16th MK, 17th EP, 18th DHS/MK-MNSSHP, 19th AK/EP, 20th MK

We will also be at EPCOT on the 17th (RD), the 18th is our OFF day from the parks, the 19th we will be our MK day (RD) and then the 20th wil be AK.

So it looks like there's a chance our paths will cross at EPCOT on the 17th!

Julie

 

[WDWCPALUM03]

HEY Joining in here, I will be going to WDW in OCT as well 22-30. It will be me, DH, and DD 2.10 months My mom is also going with us to see DD's first trip to the world. We are going to be doing a welcome package as well as some invitations left out through out the week for different Character meals. Im excited to read the rest of your plans

 

[Parla]

Your DHS day sounds like ours. DH will head to the right for TSM while the kids and I rush to the left for jedi training sign-up. It's not the ideal plan, I would rather be heading toward ToT or RnRC but don't want them to miss out on jedi training. Our last trip wasn't a sign-up. It was pick people out of the crowd so we never bothered getting there early because I couldn't deal with my son's disappointment of not getting picked.

 

[stephielela]

Finally caught up! Everything looks awesome!

As for Epcot Passports, there is a person in Ebay who makes personalized ones with pictures etc.

 

[Pixiedust530]

HEY Joining in here, I will be going to WDW in OCT as well 22-30. It will be me, DH, and DD 2.10 months My mom is also going with us to see DD's first trip to the world. We are going to be doing a welcome package as well as some invitations left out through out the week for different Character meals. Im excited to read the rest of your plans

So glad to have you here! I love the idea of invitations for character meals! I might have to steal that idea.

Your DHS day sounds like ours. DH will head to the right for TSM while the kids and I rush to the left for jedi training sign-up. It's not the ideal plan, I would rather be heading toward ToT or RnRC but don't want them to miss out on jedi training. Our last trip wasn't a sign-up. It was pick people out of the crowd so we never bothered getting there early because I couldn't deal with my son's disappointment of not getting picked.

I know Caden will LOVE the Jedi training. I am also making sure to set aside $$ for a build your own lightsaber for him. He has a lightsaber at his dad's house but not one at mine. All little boys need lightsabers, right?

Finally caught up! Everything looks awesome!

As for Epcot Passports, there is a person in Ebay who makes personalized ones with pictures etc.

Yay for catching up! I will look into the passports. Part of me wants to make one for him, but I've been so busy, IDK if I can fit in in! I'm still working on the Autograph book!

 

[Pixiedust530]

On the agenda for today....DAY 3 plans!

Day 3 - EPCOT - Monday, October 17

EPCOT opens at 9am this day. We will arrive about 30 min early to be there for Rope Drop! We are early risers anyway (Up by 6:30ish everyday, even weekends) so getting up for RD each day shouldn't be a problem!

As soon as the park opens we will be heading to to Soarin' to grab Fastpasses, then straight to Test Track to ride. I really love Test Track & I think Caden will really like it. I think I will plan to spend the $$ for the on ride pic at Test Track. After all....I need lots of photo memories for the scrapbook!

Our morning touring will include Test Track, Soarin (use FP), The Seas w/ Nemo, Turtle Talk, Mission: SPACE (me & Wayne), Circle of Life, Captain EO and Journey Into Imagination. I am hoping to fit all that in before lunch...not necessarily in that order. We have lunch ADR at Akershus at 12:25. the plan is to grab FP for Maelstrom before heading into lunch. If we have time & the wait isn't long we may just ride before eating.

After lunch, we'll head to Spaceship Earth for a nice calm ride while our lunch settles. If we were able to accomplish everything in the morning before lunch we may squeeze in Ellen's Energy Adventure but it's not a must do so we'll see. I think I'll let Caden run around and explore the Innoventions Pavilion next before heading back to World Showcase for touring.

Next up will be touring World Showcase. We'll start in Mexico, ride the GranFiesta Tour, and then tour each of the countries clockwise. When we get to Norway we'll use our Maelstrom fastpasses if we haven't already ridden. I don't really have a PLAN for World Showcase touring {GASP} but I have never leisurely toured WS so that is my goal. I will DEFINITELY bring a stroller for Caden for this day because I know he will NOT want to walk through WS while I explore. I hope to have a Passport for him so he is not TOO bored the second half of the day!

F&wF will be going on, but we will have another day planned JUST for that so that is low on the priority list. I know there are many street performers and little things to see in the WS so we will stop and watch anything that looks interesting! I'm TOTALLY open for suggestions here....what are your favorite street performers, mini shows, etc to see in WS?

We'll tour WS until our 6:50 ADR in Japan. We'll be dining at Teppan Edo. I think Caden will really enjoy the Hibachi grill. When we finish with dinner we'll either finish touring WS or gab a spot for IllumiNations (depending on time). We'll watch IllumiNations at 9 and then head back to the resort!

It is a JAM-PACKED day, but I am hoping with 2 TS meals that will give us all some break time throughout the day.

What do you think? Am I missing anything important? Ideas for WS street performers, mini shows, etc to see?

Thank you all for following along and commenting. I love having fellow Disney Lover's input!

 

[stephielela]

I think your plans are great. I am a fan of the Future World morning/World Showcase evening split. I am planning on getting Jack a passport for the same reason, I really want to spend some time in the WS, without him throwing a fit. I am hoping to get Jack some time in Innoventions this time as well. Since it's just me and him, we will be skipping Mission:Space. I am not sure about Test Track. I am not a fan, but I feel like Jack should get to experience everything he is tall enough for