We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes! A June 2015 PTR - Updated 6/10

MEK · Apr 25, 2015

Great Day 4 plans. I am sure I told your this before, but I LOVE Via. Our first ADR is August is there. I know my kids will love it. They will be definitely licking their plates, just like Braxton. :rotfl2:

Yay for your trip being so close now. I wish mine was, but I'll manage. :laughing:

Looking forward to reading about your spring break trip.

And good for you for trying the dessert party again even though your last experience was less than stellar.

KathyM2 · Apr 25, 2015

Great planning!! I would love to try the dessert party...looking forward to hearing how it goes for you!!

cstorm65 · Apr 26, 2015

MEK said:
Great Day 4 plans. I am sure I told your this before, but I LOVE Via. Our first ADR is August is there. I know my kids will love it. They will be definitely licking their plates, just like Braxton.

That was one of my favorite moments of the trip. He started out just licking it off his fingers and we just wanted him progress to picking the bowl up and licking it it out. It's one of those things you'd never let him do at home, but the "Hey...We're at Disney" parenting mindset just let's him do it!

MEK said:
Yay for your trip being so close now. I wish mine was, but I'll manage.

You will make it!! On the other hand, I'm not sure I will make it 46 more days. School is crazy this year!

MEK said:
Looking forward to reading about your spring break trip.

Update coming shortly!

MEK said:
And good for you for trying the dessert party again even though your last experience was less than stellar.

Sometimes a place just has a bad night, and I really am glad I scheduled it now as it may be the last time ever. Not sure I can shell out double the price, $50 per person, when it goes up in July.

KathyM2 said:
Great planning!! I would love to try the dessert party...looking forward to hearing how it goes for you!!

Didn't go great last time, but the time before that was great. Hoping it was just an off night for them! Even at it's worst it is a great view and you don't have to fight crowds.

cstorm65 · Apr 26, 2015

Spring Trip Break - Part 1

I hope you all have had a great weekend! DW has been out of town and got back today, so it is nice for her to be back. I figured a nice way to break up this PTR of planning was to do a small update of what we did over spring break a few weeks back. Hopefully you all enjoy. I will say, I did a pretty terrible job of taking pictures as our main goal on the trip was to just relax and get away from school for a week...and we accomplished that goal, but unfortunately that means I didn’t take a great deal of pictures. So here it goes:

We didn’t decide to actually take this spring break trip until about a month in advance, but it ended up being a great trip. My grandparents go to the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas each winter...I think they call them “Snow Birds” and we thought it would be nice to pay them a visit. They own a house in a resort/park down there and have plenty of room for us to stay with them, so that was the plan. Of course, that is a long ways south from Oklahoma...I mean Texas is a big state! So we took off on Saturday morning after our niece’s birthday party and drove about half of the way down and spent the night before driving the rest of the distance Sunday and arriving at around 4:00 PM. DS did great on the car ride. He played with books and the iPad very well and took good naps. Or course for about the last 4 hours he kept asking us if we were at Nana and Papa’s house yet, but he handled the car travel well overall.

We were about 30 minutes from South Padre Island so one day we took a trip over there and spent some time on the beach, although it was a little too cold to get into the water. It was a fun day and we capped it off eating some fantastic seafood right on the water.

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Another unexpected highlight was that there was a carnival in the parking lot at the mall down the road from my grandparents house and so we headed over their one night. Unfortunately we did not win the parents of the year award as DS did not like the first ride as evidenced by this photo:

He was ok on the motorcycle, but at one point while it was going around the ride popped a wheelie and he did not like it! So it took a while to get him back on something else, but we finally got him on the four wheeler ride.

And then we found one of his favorites...the Carousel.

Another one of the highlights was the day we went across the border into Mexico.

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We just went across and did a little shopping and had lunch at a little restaurant that my grandfather has made friends with one of the waiters in. The food was outstanding and the service was great! DW and I split a platter of chicken enchiladas covered in green sauce and the one platter had 4 enchiladas, rice, beans, and french fries. We figured out they just think that Americans love french fries and so they add some to every platter. It was kind of funny. But the food was fantastic! A picture of us shopping:

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Overall, we had a great trip. I am going to spend the next part of this mini-report covering the trip we took to the Brownsville, TX Zoo and then the final part covering our trip to Sea World San Antonio. Of course we couldn’t go on a trip without visiting a theme park at least once!

Up Next: Day 5 Plans

KathyM2 · Apr 26, 2015

What a fun road trip for spring break!! We were in that part of Texas when our DS was about the age yours is now! It was a lot of fun and one of my fave things was this casual seaside seafood place....I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. Also, how neat that you could go into Mexico just for the day!!

cstorm65 · Apr 26, 2015

KathyM2 said:
What a fun road trip for spring break!! We were in that part of Texas when our DS was about the age yours is now! It was a lot of fun and one of my fave things was this casual seaside seafood place....I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. Also, how neat that you could go into Mexico just for the day!!

It was a great trip. I could eat seafood until I am sick when in a place like that, so good and so fresh! And yes...we just parked, walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande, paid our quarter to get into Mexico and shopped a little and had lunch. A great time! Then we did the same thing coming back except going through Custom's to get back into the US is a little more in depth!!

hokieinpa · Apr 26, 2015

Your plans sound great! It sounds like a busy morning at Epcot and a fun night at MK!

I'm hope the dessert party experience goes better this trip. I remember reading about your disappointment with the experience last time. Hopefully with the high price they will offer a better experience - less crowded and more (better) desserts?

What a fun spring break trip! Looks like your son is warming up for Disney at the carnival!

cstorm65 · Apr 28, 2015

hokieinpa said:
Your plans sound great! It sounds like a busy morning at Epcot and a fun night at MK!

Love the flexibility to park hop with the AP's. We are interested to see how it works doing a park in the morning without FP+ and doing a park in the evening using our FP's for the day.

hokieinpa said:
I'm hope the dessert party experience goes better this trip. I remember reading about your disappointment with the experience last time. Hopefully with the high price they will offer a better experience - less crowded and more (better) desserts?

I hope so too and I'm sure it will. Regardless it's still a great view if nothing else!

hokieinpa said:
What a fun spring break trip! Looks like your son is warming up for Disney at the carnival!

It was fun and DS loved most of the rides, except that motorcycle. He would ride the carousel all day if we let him!

KatMark · Apr 28, 2015

Love your Day 4 plans; I really need to try Via Napoli...if only I weren't so worried about the red sauce and I not agreeing.

What a fun-filled spring break getaway. Too bad it was too cold to go in the water, but DS looks like he enjoyed his walk on the beach. Nice job on the "hat".

Glittercat · Apr 29, 2015

What a beautiful family... I'm following along on your trip report!

cstorm65 · Apr 30, 2015

KatMark said:
Love your Day 4 plans; I really need to try Via Napoli...if only I weren't so worried about the red sauce and I not agreeing.

You should try it for sure. The Quattro Formaggio pizza, which I guess means four cheeses, doesn't have the red sauce I don't think. But I could be wrong, and it was delicious!

KatMark said:
What a fun-filled spring break getaway. Too bad it was too cold to go in the water, but DS looks like he enjoyed his walk on the beach. Nice job on the "hat".

It was still fun! We were there early in the day before all of the spring breaker's got out of bed!

Glittercat said:
What a beautiful family... I'm following along on your trip report!

Thanks for signing up! Glad to have you.

cstorm65 · Apr 30, 2015

Trip Update: We Added a Day!!!

Don’t you all just love Disney math! I got to having some thoughts over the last couple of days regarding some things with our trip. As you saw on Day 1 because of the major point differential between flying from Oklahoma City and Dallas on Southwest, we had planned to drive to Dallas to fly out, which is about 4 hours away. Well, I just checked by chance yesterday and flights have gone down slightly in Oklahoma City and we can fly from here for a pretty negligible point difference, within 5,000 points. The only catch is our return flight would be a day later as that is the day with the good rate. So, follow my Disney math below:

Flying from Dallas
Hotel Night Before Departure: $125.00
Gas to Get to Dallas: $40.00
Parking at Airport in Dallas: $120.00
Total Cost: $285.00

Flying from Oklahoma City
SW Rapid Rewards Point Differential: 1,300 per person (total tickets were about 17,000 pp)
Extra Hotel Night at Disney World (with Annual Pass Discount): $150.00
Parking at Airport in Oklahoma City (We have a Coupon!): 13 Days at $3.95 per day = $51.00
Total Cost: $201.00

Extra Night at Disney: Priceless!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist that last line, but you see...we actually saved $84 by adding a night. The day most affected by this change is the one I am updating on today, so you’ll hear more below, but I thought I’d share the good news!

Day 5 Plans

So with the above information in mind that actually simplified this day for us. This is our resort change day and so we had planned on a breakfast ADR and then heading to Epcot for about three hours before checking in at our new resort, but with the addition of a day we are adding another park day at the end and going to just use today as a rest and relax day. DS only has a 10 day ticket since he didn’t need a ticket last year as he was under 3 years old. That is good though we can now add a full park day at the end of the trip and get rid of this day where we were only going to use his ticket for a couple of hours. You see...I am justifying this extra day any way I can!

So the plan now is to get up and take our time checking out of Pop Century. We will have to pack and get our bags to bell services to transfer for us before we head off to our breakfast ADR here:

Yes, our first breakfast ever at Kona Cafe. We have wanted to do this on our last two trips, but for whatever reason we never made it work. So, this time we aren’t taking no for an option. We want some Tonga Toast and Macadamia Nut Pancakes. DW and I will probably get those two options and share with each other. DS loves him some breakfast too of late. He will eat eggs and pancakes like he hasn’t seen food in a week.

After breakfast at Kona we will probably head to Downtown Disney for a few hours. Our room may not be ready yet and we aren’t going to a park so we might get some souvenir shopping done. We will of course visit our favorite dessert stop at Downtown Disney:

And we will be sharing one of these:

It is some kind of Sundae with real chocolate chip cookies on it!

After we finish here we will head over and check in at our home for the main part of our trip, Coronado Springs.

We have never stayed here before and I am looking more and more forward to it as we go. I researched our room request the other day and like the layout of the resort. We might even just try to walk up at Maya Grill tonight as I have seen a few good reviews of that lately. Other than that after we check in we are just going to hang out at the resort, swim a little, and unpack our stuff for the next eight nights.

With the extra day we added I think this day will now be a nice recovery day after the start of our trip, especially since these days when you change resorts can be a little exhausting.

I hope everyone has had a great week. Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Up Next: Day 6 Plans

KathyM2 · Apr 30, 2015

Yay for an extra day!! Isn't Disney math the best? I was just debating the cost difference between a 6 and 7 day park ticket - and it's unbelievable - only $20 difference for 1 adult and 1 child...how could you NOT do that even if you only get an hour in the park? Chances are we won't even get that as flights usually leave too early...but they know how to get ya!!

hokieinpa · May 1, 2015

Disney math is by far my favorite kind of math to do...especially since you are usually trying to justify MORE time at Disney!

I think adding a rest day in will make the rest of the trip more enjoyable - everyone will have a chance to hopefully sleep in and relax. That can be a lifesaver since Disney is so draining, especially for kids!

I would love to try breakfast at Kona - Tonga Toast sounds so good! And I've heard the coffee there is amazing!

cstorm65 · May 1, 2015

KathyM2 said:
Yay for an extra day!! Isn't Disney math the best? I was just debating the cost difference between a 6 and 7 day park ticket - and it's unbelievable - only $20 difference for 1 adult and 1 child...how could you NOT do that even if you only get an hour in the park? Chances are we won't even get that as flights usually leave too early...but they know how to get ya!!

Yes, they are not crazy. That is why we always take long trips. We can get a 10 day ticket for not much more than a 6-7 day. Of course we are both teachers so we have plenty of time in the summer so that helps too!

hokieinpa said:
Disney math is by far my favorite kind of math to do...especially since you are usually trying to justify MORE time at Disney!

I know. I didn't even have to skew the results this time to make it work!

hokieinpa said:
I think adding a rest day in will make the rest of the trip more enjoyable - everyone will have a chance to hopefully sleep in and relax. That can be a lifesaver since Disney is so draining, especially for kids!

We agree. We didn't have one last year as we only stayed a week since we did a 4 night cruise as well, but this year it will be nice to have that break.

hokieinpa said:
I would love to try breakfast at Kona - Tonga Toast sounds so good! And I've heard the coffee there is amazing!

I know...coffee and that Tonga Toast. My diet I'm on right now is not liking what is going through my mind! We have been to lunch there twice, but never could work breakfast in, but we made it a priority this time.

ursalita · May 1, 2015

Hi!

I followed you over here from my TR.

You have a beautiful family. Your son is so cute! How wonderful that you get to have lunch with your DW every day. I met my DH at work and we had that for a little while but now I'm home and he works for a different company so I get nostalgic about those days when we commuted and had lunch together.

I'm enjoying reading about your plans and seeing memories from past trips. I have a couple reports going now and lots of stuff to catch up on but I will try to go over and read your previous reports. If this PTR is anything to go by I'm sure I'll enjoy them. :goodvibes

MEK · May 2, 2015

South Padre Island looks like a fun place to go for spring break. I'm glad everyone had a great time and your side trip to Mexico sounds like a lot of fun. The french fries comment made me chuckle.

Well - I've seen a lot of examples of Disney math when the expenses work out to be a wash, but yours is the first example of actually SAVING money by adding a day. So - YAYAYAYAYAYAY - and that parking coupon - Wow! I need one of those!

Great Day 4 - or was that day 5 plans? Sorry. I'm still a little foggy this morning. Kona breakfast - Yum!

cstorm65 · May 3, 2015

ursalita said:
Hi! I followed you over here from my TR.

Welcome Aboard!! Thanks for coming over.

ursalita said:
You have a beautiful family. Your son is so cute! How wonderful that you get to have lunch with your DW every day. I met my DH at work and we had that for a little while but now I'm home and he works for a different company so I get nostalgic about those days when we commuted and had lunch together.

It is pretty nice to have her over each day. She certainly enjoys getting away from her work for a little while!

ursalita said:
I'm enjoying reading about your plans and seeing memories from past trips. I have a couple reports going now and lots of stuff to catch up on but I will try to go over and read your previous reports. If this PTR is anything to go by I'm sure I'll enjoy them.

Thanks for reading. I'll certainly try and stay up to date on your TR's as well!

MEK said:
South Padre Island looks like a fun place to go for spring break. I'm glad everyone had a great time and your side trip to Mexico sounds like a lot of fun. The french fries comment made me chuckle.

Yes, the french fries were hilarious! The food was all great, except for those fries. Why would I want those when I had all of the freshly made food, enchiladas, Chips/Salsas, etc? We certainly laughed about it while we were there!

MEK said:
Well - I've seen a lot of examples of Disney math when the expenses work out to be a wash, but yours is the first example of actually SAVING money by adding a day. So - YAYAYAYAYAYAY - and that parking coupon - Wow! I need one of those!

Yes, it is actually saving us that amount! I think this parking place is new here is OKC and so they are giving those coupons away to try and get their business going. I'll bite!

MEK said:
Great Day 4 - or was that day 5 plans? Sorry. I'm still a little foggy this morning. Kona breakfast - Yum!

I think Day 5, but I think I counted our initial travel day, which I'm not sure if I should do. What are official trip report rules? Ha!

cstorm65 · May 4, 2015

Day 6 Plays

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I’m starting the final week of my track & field season here and then I can really start to get excited about the end of school and our trip! So here are our plans for Day 6 of our trip, which we will spend here:

This is going to be our Hollywood Studios day for the trip. Right now there is just not a ton in this park that appeals to our family with all of the construction and stuff going on. So we are going to spend today here and we should get everything we need done and more.

We will arrive in time for the early rope drop that usually happens here and we like to head down Sunset Boulevard first while a lot of people rush to Toy Story. We take this time for DW and I to ride Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, which is maybe DW’s favorite ride. She is a roller coaster lover...as you can see here:

We do have a FP+ later in the morning at Toy Story Mania as we all love that ride. We also have DW and DS a FP+ to see a Disney Junior show as there is not much for DS to do at this park in regards to FP’s. We think this time we will try those to going to the show while I run down and use FP+ here:

I love that ride! But for as much of a roller coaster lover that DW is, you couldn’t pay her to ride Tower of Terror! So we thought we’d try this way this time so they don’t have to stand and wait for me to ride.

We will head back for a break at Coronado around noon and probably won’t come back to the park until around 4:45 or so. We like our long breaks!

Our goal is to get back in time to see the last Indiana Jones Show, which I think is at 5:15, as it is one show that we have never seen. We then have a dinner reservation at a new restaurant to us...Sci Fi Diner! We are pretty excited about this meal and we think DS will get a kick out of sitting in a car and getting to watch the big screen. Hopefully we are right!

After dinner we will just finish some other things in the park. Our final FP+ of the day is in one of my favorite rides rides, Star Tours. Which by the way “May the Fourth Be With You”...that is today! We will also catch Muppets 3D as DS loved that show last summer. Other than that we will make sure and stop by the Writer’s Stop for a carrot cake cookie as well today.

We are not for sure on Fantasmic! yet. I kind of think we will not stick around. I don’t think DS is quite at the age where he will really enjoy it and it is such a hassle to get into that theatre and we don’t like waiting in that line on Sunset Boulevard. We are just the kind of people that would rather get in bed at a decent hour and do another rope drop in the morning. I didn’t have many pics in this update so I’ll leave you with one of my favorites from our Hollywood Studios time last summer. DS showing Doc McStuffins his hurt finger:

So that is our Day 6. I think next time I may share some more thoughts on our Spring Break Trip to south Texas before getting back to this PTR. Hope everyone has a great week!

Up Next: Spring Break Mini Report Part 2

MEK · May 4, 2015

OMG - I remember that last picture from your previous TR. SOOOOO cute!

Once again - great day 6 plans. Here is the trick to get your DW to do ToT. Have her hold her hands up in the air. Actually - have her grab your hand and hold it up. It is SO freaking fun - and this is coming from someone who also much prefers roller coasters to anything that drops. Once I learned this trick I just laugh my way through the entire ride. Don't ask me why it works, but it does.

Amen to the long afternoon breaks. I am with you on that. I love my pool breaks in the summer! :goodvibes

We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes! A June 2015 PTR - Updated 6/10

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