We haven't completely ruled out visiting AK for part of the HS day. My in-laws are footing most of the bill as a big family gift, and got a plan for 3 park days, so we are planning within what we have. We go to zoos regularly, and dh is not really into seeing the shows there, so we tentatively decided that if we need to skip one, that will be the one. We will see, though, once we are there!
We are planning to be at Epcot by 10 AM on our first day there, so hoping to get in some of the attractions in Future world before heading through World Showcase. Of particular interest by members in our group are Turtle Talk with Crush/The Seas with Nemo, Soarin', the Agent P missions (at least 1), and Illuminations, along with just enjoying the different countries. Anything else we may do beyond those is just icing on the cake!
We know that with limited time there we can't even come close to seeing everything...but we hope to still have a wonderful time!
You should be able to get all that done by arriving at Epcot at 10am. You only have one activity that might get you a longer line, but you should easily be able to get a FP for Soarin if the line is too long.
I LOVE AK, and think it has a completely different feel than any of the zoos I've ever been to, but I can understand why it would drop out easily.
When I was faced with possibly skipping a park for this trip, Epcot actually dropped out for us, then I realized it will be the Flower & Garden Festival, so we're doing hoppers.
I did ours right as soon as I was able and all went fine. We have two rooms on separate reservations so I had trouble at first figuring out how to get to the second reservation. Once I figured that out I was able to complete both rooms. For POFQ we had several room request options to choose from (corner room - near transportation - first floor etc) but you caould only select two. It also gave me the option to attach a CC to the reservation. It would not take my CC info so I proceeded without that. We can do it when we get there I guess but we may not even do that this trip now that I have had time to think about it. We find it too easy to spend when we can just hand over our room key. I saved a PDF of my confirmation screen to print out and take with us.
So corner room is an option on there? That's good to know!
We've never done room charge before, so I don't know what we're going to do.
Has your family participated in the flag retreat at MK? My sister knew nothing about this so yesterday I went online to find a video to send her and found a fantastic video on youtube from Dec. 2012. I've told her that on their next trip they really need to do this. (My sister served in Desert Storm and her dh will be retiring from the AF within a year or so.)
No, we haven't, but I'm seriously considering it this time around. I've read all the tips about it on militarydisneytips.com. I think DH would really enjoy it!
I can definitely understand the elevators not being in convenient locations. I don't usually mind stairs either, but since we'll have a stroller with us, we'll end up using the elevators if we're on a higher floor.
I wouldn't want to book through AAA either. I'm even getting worried about ordering our park tickets through the military.
If we had actually been able to make a trip in January work, we probably could have swung the Wilderness Lodge, but rack rate in April is higher.
Oddly enough, we paid around the same amount per night for CBR in November 2010 as we did for AKL in January 2009 (around $150/night). Part of it was due to rack rate increases, but it's also due to the tiered discounts and differences between seasons. I'm really happy that we got such a good rate for AKL then, but it's frustrating that it's not always a possibility.
At some point, I doubt we'll even be able to justify staying in a Moderate resort.
SO I have been creeping the last couple of weeks since I started thinking about planning a "last minute" trip to the mouse. FINALLY today I joined. Due to my husband being a teacher that also does summer school and camps we are limited to when we can go. Last time we went in July, 5 years ago which was INSANE, hot, sticky and completely crazy busy. THis year we are doing April 3-9, which i know is still a busy time but we are going for longer and it wont be as hot. We have DD9, DS5 Ds2. We are going to relax in the morning and head to parks mostly in the afternoons and stay until the evenings. So we fly in the 3rd, our flight in is around 11AM. What are suggestions for that first afternoon evening that will be somewhat low key, as we will be getting the kids up at 4AM for a flight (it's their first time flying and a surprise that we are even going). We are staying at CSR. Last time was the Beach Club but we got a great deal last time,,, hoping that Beach Club didn't ruin us for other properties.
I would probably head to the Animal Kingdom, because it tends to close a little earlier, but the crowds disperse fairly well after the parade.
April 3-9 will be more crowded than July was, so you may want to consider planning on Rope Drop at least once during your trip.
Hi all!
I can't believe it! We just booked a royal room at POR for Apr 14-22!
We went to POR last October and fell in love. We were looking to go back in Sept this year, but decided this morning to look at prices and they were too reasonable to pass up! Notice I said reasonable and not cheap! Haha!
I start getting Disney colored glasses after a while, since everything's so expensive. I mean....$70/person for Hoop dee doo isn't that much, considering even the Plaza costs a good $20/person?
Although...I've been pricing out a Mother-Daughter trip for my Mom's 50th birthday this summer, and Disney really isn't that bad in comparison. That's why we've gone to Disney so much in the past few years. I could go to Disney, have unlimited entertainment, transportation, and budget exactly what I'm going to need on food, or I could try to cobble together something somewhere else, and not know about the extra charge for underwater basket weaving class etc.
I really want to do the on line check in so I can make some requests but I have some questions. If anyone knows...
Do you need to be paid in full?
I keep seeing conflicting info about the CC thing, I would rather not link a CC just because of security reasons, anyone know for sure about that?
I guess I can just try it and see what happens? 66 more days!!
I doubt it. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't offer it before people reached their 45 day mark.
Yesterday I had my mom log in to the My Disney Experience app on my iPad, and it worked perfectly. Only problem was that I wasn't allowed to look at any day but our arrival day, not because of app issues, but because I accidentally discovered that there was a SURPRISE hidden somewhere in our trip!
All I know is that it's an ADR, it's not on our first day, and that it's not our Garden View Tea Room ADR (we had originally not been able to get the reservation, but we eventually did and I knew about it). Part of me wants to do some sleuthing, because we still have two months to go and I'm a very impatient person, but the other part is interested in waiting it out because I've NEVER had a surprise at Disney that went unspoiled (due to said sleuthing)...
I'm going to go read some TRs to distract myself...
That's why DH can't surprise me with anything, especially anything Disney related.
In fact, a few years ago, we both were thinking about planning surprise Disney trips for each other.
haven't been on in a few days because I was sick as a dog. Today is the first day since thurs. i'm able to get up and around.......but now YDD has it.
Hopefully this means we're getting the sickies out of our system and don't have to worry about it for April.
I haven't attempted to do online check in yet. I'll probably do it this week for the heck of it.
I'm sorry you've been sick!
Booked a spur of the moment trip for April 6-9 at CBR. So excited!! Did not think we would be going until Dec 2014.
Congrats!
. Today it shows us at POR again, so we are good to go!
Most people know just not to bother trying anymore. 
There may still be a month and a half (ish) until our trip but I've got Disney fever! I was up until 2 am last night/this morning on this amazing site! I'm trying to plan as best as I can and create an amazing vacation!
) MK (and maybe HS that afternoon if we didn't get there before and we can manage to leave MK)
but we've got ADR at Boma for breakfast before driving back home
