All you need is to believe....~Our Sizzling Summer Getaway! July 2012~~ TR started!:)

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by BrerMama

Sounds like a great way to end a trip!

Thanks!! I think so too!!

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

The Kingdom Keepers books are so fun! I finally started the new one the other day.

Yay for deciding to go to the Animal Kingdom! I can't imagine taking a trip and not going there. Oooh, can't wait to hear how the boys like Dinosaur.

The Kingdom Keepers book just came in the mail yesterday. I'm so excited to read it!!

I know...I can't imagine skipping Animal Kingdom! Nick is a little nervous about Dinosaur but Noah is so excited. I can't wait to see their reactions!!

Originally Posted by Cory's Gal

Your plans sound awesome Angie!! I love all the new clothes you have gotten and I really like hearing how other people save, we do a lot of the same things as you and your family. I too like Couponing to Disney, there are some great tips & deals on there. I liked your Lion King movie/dinner night too, it looks like so much fun to plan those!! I can't wait to hear if you and Noah brave Rock n' Rollercoaster!! It's lots of fun and it's a quick ride too! I would love to try Animation Academy, I have heard such great things about it and at One Man's Dream there is the model for the new Fantasyland expansion too!! That should be neat to see!! Looking forward to seeing those past trip pics

Thanks Beth!!

I think one of the best parts of getting ready for Disney is all the shopping you get to do. It's so much fun being able to pull out new things to wear during the trip.

We have had such a great time doing our movie nights!! I can't believe we only have 3 left before our trip. I guess I need to get busy and start planning our one for May since we only have a couple weeks left this month. I've already decided on Cars I just need to figure out a menu and some games to go along with it.

Yay! I'm glad to hear you liked Rock n' rollercoaster! I'm still a little nervous but also excited to give it a try! (I think Noah is as well...he hasn't changed his mind yet so that's good!)

I just read the other day that they are including the Fantasyland expansion in One Man's Dream. That will be so interesting to see. Can't wait!!

Originally Posted by mommytothreeboys

AK sounds like a great way to spend your last day. I'm glad you were able to fit it into your schedule!

Me too!! I'm so glad we were able to make AK work for our last day! I always have such a good time there.

[ellajeansmom]

Good plans for the last morning at AK. Leaving is always sad but since you usually only spend part of the day there anyways you won't feel as much like you're missing out when its time to leave. I totally get that logic

Seriously all of your plans sound terrific and this trip will be here before you know it

[archdandy]

It looks like you have some great plans for your park days! And your planning notebook is so cute! I love how you have a map of each park. Ack! Your a brave one. I couldn't stomach the idea of not being in Disney for two years! I hope you guys have fun on this trip!

[DisMomAmy]

Great plans! I think AK fits nicely on your last day.

Don't you hate writing about the last day... when you haven't even left yet! I hate it too!

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by ellajeansmom

Good plans for the last morning at AK. Leaving is always sad but since you usually only spend part of the day there anyways you won't feel as much like you're missing out when its time to leave. I totally get that logic

Seriously all of your plans sound terrific and this trip will be here before you know it

I know...I can't believe how close we are! We're so excited!
AK plans have changed....update coming up next.

Originally Posted by archdandy

It looks like you have some great plans for your park days! And your planning notebook is so cute! I love how you have a map of each park. Ack! Your a brave one. I couldn't stomach the idea of not being in Disney for two years! I hope you guys have fun on this trip!

Thanks!! I had a lot of fun making the planning book. I'm sad that we are waiting to go back but it's been over 2 years since our last visit so I know we can do it. (I'm not saying it won't be hard though....)

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

Great plans! I think AK fits nicely on your last day.

Don't you hate writing about the last day... when you haven't even left yet! I hate it too!

Thanks Amy!! I thought so too...well until this weekend. We've decided to change AK to a different day. Update coming up next.

[Angies1274]

Well, I’ve got some more news.

I think I may have given a little foreshadowing in the beginning of this PTR but honestly I have tried really hard to make it work. But, I did warn you. I tend to change things on our trips one day we are going here and one day we’re not.

The bad news…. we have decided not to go to SeaWorld on this trip after all. I know I said that I was determined to make it work this trip but I just couldn’t. It started to become a much bigger expense than I had originally planned for, the transportation issue also became a factor and to be honest I was really counting on a better discount from Disney to help offset the cost, which is evident we are not going to be receiving with only about a month and half left. Something had to be cut. Now, we could have eliminated the few TS restaurants we picked or decided to stay someplace else but when push came to shove the only thing that everyone seemed willing to sacrifice again....was Sea World. Of course, I’m sad but surprisingly not as sad as I thought I would be. We are trying it again in 2014 when our plan is to visit MK for the Fantasyland Expansion and Epcot to see Test Track. Plus the new Antarctica exhibit (penguins) will be open and I’m hoping the boys will be more willing to try Kraken and Manta which they have no desire to do this year. We’re also thinking we may stay off-site that trip so we’ll have a car and there will be no transportation issue. So, now that I have rambled on about the bad news I have some good news to share.

Since we are saving so much by not going to Sea World, we decided to add a couple less expensive things to the mix. I gave the boys a choice of a character meal such as Chef Mickey’s or we could do the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party on our last MK night and add Mini-golf to the mix on our last day. It didn’t take them long to choose once I mentioned a dessert buffet. So, we are going to the Dessert party! Yay! I’m so excited! It’s something I have really wanted to try. DH does not like crowds especially the ones on Main Street while waiting for the parade and fireworks. The idea of having a place to sit to wait before Wishes start and being able to enjoy yummy desserts sounds heavenly to me. We decided to book it on an EMH evening so after the party we could head back into the park to enjoy more rides.

We have also decided to spend our last morning playing mini-golf at the Winter Summerland course and switched our Animal Kingdom day to the day that was originally supposed to be our SeaWorld day. That evening we will still visit Downtown Disney but I have changed our T-REX ADR to that evening instead.

Lastly, we have decided to pick the QSDP back up. It probably won’t save us anything but I like it just for the convenience alone. I thought that I could do OOP completely but I am the type of person that will order the less expensive item just to try and save money and this way we can get what we want. We will still be paying OOP for T-REX, Sci-Fi and ‘Ohana. We decided against the regular dining plan because we didn’t want to be tied to ADR’s every day.

Oh….I almost forgot. JetBlue has changed our departing flight again. Now, we will be arriving in Orlando around noon instead of 1:30pm. We’ll have much more time to spend in Epcot (which of course has changed our plans a little— which I’ll share later)

Whew! So that’s our big news. I’m excited for the changes especially on our last day because we won’t have to rush in the morning since mini-golf isn’t even opened until 10:00am and we can sleep in after our EMH night.

So here is a rundown of how these changes have affected our plans
Day 1—Arrival Day/ Epcot afternoon and evening
Day 2—Animal Kingdom morning/ Afternoon rest/ DTD evening/ T-Rex Dinner
Day 3—Magic Kingdom/ ‘Ohana dinner (stayed the same)
Day 4—Epcot (stayed the same)
Day 5—Disney Hollywood Studios/ Sci-fi lunch (stayed the same)
Day 6—Magic Kingdom/ Wishes Dessert Party w/ evening EMH
Day 7—Last Day/ Mini-golf

Up Next--Past trips...I promise!

[Victoriasmom98]

Wow Angie! That's quite a few changes, but I really think this sounds better for you guys! It's hard to make everything work and if you are going to be stressing about money spent, well, it's not worth it! Look forward to reading more!!!

[andapanda]

Sea World is something I hadn't considered for this trip, but I'd like to go in the future. We're doing the dessert party also, were you still able to get reservations? That was the one thing I was afraid of - not being able to get the dessert party reservations for the date I wanted. (That's a little bit of OCD kicking in there, haha.) Your plans still sound great

[newtexan]

Sorry about SW, but your plans look great.
The dessert party is on my next wish list.

[DisMomAmy]

I think you made a good choice with Sea World. I know you really want to get there, but it will be so much easier if you stay off-site & have a car. When you were describing what would be involved with just getting there, I was a bit overwhelmed.

You'll really like the dessert party. We did it in April. It was nice to be able to sit and eat while we waited. It got a bit dicey when the fireworks started & everyone went up to the railing though. Fortunately most people were nice & wanted to make sure the kids could be right up front, but there was one woman who kept creeping in closer & closer. She had on a backpack & every time she turned she would hit one of the kids with the backpack. I finally said something to her. I heard other guests complaining about her too... I guess she REALLY wanted to be right up front. I stood behind the boys & Tim was happy to sit at our table. Also, doing it on an EMH night is smart. The park closed after Wishes when we were there so we had to make our way out with the million other people who were leaving.

[wdwgirl03]

Bummer about not being able to fit Sea World in on this trip but I definitely understand the cost. It does get to be expensive doing those one day visits to other parks (as fun as they may be). When my sisters and I did Universal a couple years ago for the WWOHP that was by far our most expensive day. Hopefully you'll get to go on a future trip, because it really is a great park. I'm dying to go back myself.

Looks like you added some great things though! Mini golf is always fun.

[BrerMama]

I'm sad that you don't get to visit Sea World, but you seem to have a good philosophy about it. I'm impressed that you've already got your plans redone to fill in the gaps! I know I can't wait to do the dessert party! We're all going to love it!

[mommytothreeboys]

I agree that skipping Sea World was probably a good choice. That transportation piece is just a pain! You'll get there someday, it's not going anywhere!

I am a big fan of the dining plans. I LOVE the convenience of being pre-paid and the freedom of being able to order what we like. We MAY (and I say that cautiously as I have 3 boys with large appetites) save a little money if we did OOP, but what we save in $$ we give up in trying to budget each meal and limit what we order. It's vacation, after all! I know others will disagree, but for our family, the meal plans are the only way to go.

A dessert party sounds fantastic! And my DH is exactly the same way about the Wishes crowd. It tends to be the most stressful part of our day. And who needs that?? Good choice!

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by Victoriasmom98

Wow Angie! That's quite a few changes, but I really think this sounds better for you guys! It's hard to make everything work and if you are going to be stressing about money spent, well, it's not worth it! Look forward to reading more!!!

Thanks Ann!! I think it's a better plan too! I was really stressing about the cost so hopefully now I can relax and just focus on all the fun we are going to have!!

Originally Posted by andapanda

Sea World is something I hadn't considered for this trip, but I'd like to go in the future. We're doing the dessert party also, were you still able to get reservations? That was the one thing I was afraid of - not being able to get the dessert party reservations for the date I wanted. (That's a little bit of OCD kicking in there, haha.) Your plans still sound great

I was able to book reservations for the dessert party last weekend. I wanted to make sure we had a back-up before I went ahead and made all the changes. I'm a little concerned that our seats won't be that great since we didn't book it right when the reservations opened up. But...oh well I guess we can always move close to the railing when Wishes starts. ( I think that's what they recommend anyway)

Originally Posted by newtexan

Sorry about SW, but your plans look great.
The dessert party is on my next wish list.

Thanks!! I'm still a little bit sad about SW but I know we'll make it there one of these days!!

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

I think you made a good choice with Sea World. I know you really want to get there, but it will be so much easier if you stay off-site & have a car. When you were describing what would be involved with just getting there, I was a bit overwhelmed.

You'll really like the dessert party. We did it in April. It was nice to be able to sit and eat while we waited. It got a bit dicey when the fireworks started & everyone went up to the railing though. Fortunately most people were nice & wanted to make sure the kids could be right up front, but there was one woman who kept creeping in closer & closer. She had on a backpack & every time she turned she would hit one of the kids with the backpack. I finally said something to her. I heard other guests complaining about her too... I guess she REALLY wanted to be right up front. I stood behind the boys & Tim was happy to sit at our table. Also, doing it on an EMH night is smart. The park closed after Wishes when we were there so we had to make our way out with the million other people who were leaving.

Thanks Amy!! We do really want to get there but the transportation issue was beginning to be such a pain. I know it will be so much easier when we have a car! (Next time)

I'm so excited for the dessert party!! It will be so nice to have a place to just sit, relax and eat some yummy desserts at MK. I am a little worried about how it's going to be when Wishes starts though. I have read that there can be a lot of crowding at the railing. I guess we'll hope for the best.

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

Bummer about not being able to fit Sea World in on this trip but I definitely understand the cost. It does get to be expensive doing those one day visits to other parks (as fun as they may be). When my sisters and I did Universal a couple years ago for the WWOHP that was by far our most expensive day. Hopefully you'll get to go on a future trip, because it really is a great park. I'm dying to go back myself.

Looks like you added some great things though! Mini golf is always fun.

It really was getting so expensive which is sad because we really wanted to go there. But, on the bright side it means that we have more time for Animal Kingdom now and it looks like we might be able to make the afternoon parade after all!!

We love playing mini-golf anyways. So, I'm sure playing at Disney is going to be even better!!!

Originally Posted by BrerMama

I'm sad that you don't get to visit Sea World, but you seem to have a good philosophy about it. I'm impressed that you've already got your plans redone to fill in the gaps! I know I can't wait to do the dessert party! We're all going to love it!

I'm really looking forward to the dessert party! I've read a lot of good reviews and the desserts look so yummy!! Can't wait!!!

Originally Posted by mommytothreeboys

I agree that skipping Sea World was probably a good choice. That transportation piece is just a pain! You'll get there someday, it's not going anywhere!

I am a big fan of the dining plans. I LOVE the convenience of being pre-paid and the freedom of being able to order what we like. We MAY (and I say that cautiously as I have 3 boys with large appetites) save a little money if we did OOP, but what we save in $$ we give up in trying to budget each meal and limit what we order. It's vacation, after all! I know others will disagree, but for our family, the meal plans are the only way to go.

A dessert party sounds fantastic! And my DH is exactly the same way about the Wishes crowd. It tends to be the most stressful part of our day. And who needs that?? Good choice!

Ugh! You're right! Between the price and the transportation issue it was getting to be so stressful. I'm sad we can't make it this trip but you're right it's not going anywhere and we'll get there eventually!

Honestly, I don't know why we decided to take the dining plan off in the first place. I think since we wanted a few TS meals that I thought it would be less expensive OOP and it may be but only if we limit what we get. We have always loved the fact that we could get whatever we want and not have to think about it. It was so easy and convenient! I'm glad we decided to add it back on!

I'm so hoping that the dessert party will mean less stress for DH. The last time we saw the parade from Main Street, DH was so stressed because of the crowds but especially because of the people trying to squeeze in at the last minute. We ended up moving down near the train station to watch Wishes which for us wasn't as magical because they left the lights on and the giant flag pole was part of the view as well. Needless to say, I'm hoping for a much more magical experience this time!!