An Anniversary Trip Full of Favorites-May 2012 PTR!*TR Link 5/14 & Question 5/15 p32*

[Nermel9]

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good trip (minus the heat stroke) and I'm even more glad you were able to take advantage of a bounceback! I kept thinking of you guys this week...as I was going to work, etc., I'd be like, "They're in WDW right now. Wonder what they're doing...Epcot? Stormalong Bay?" Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks! Ugh, the heat was so awful! Still, I'd rather be in WDW dealing with the heat than at home!

Haha, if you're ever wondering what I'm doing at Disney while I'm there, it's safe to assume that I'm at Epcot, I spend a LOT of time there!

It's perfectly fine I'd rather you not pass out in the middle of Epcot than send me pictures, LOL.

Haha, thanks! I really did think about it, but between the melting and the crowds and my taking a billion pictures, I somehow always got distracted!

Glad you guys had a great time!!! I'm sorry to hear that the heat got to you though! May sounds like it would be a pretty warm time to go!!

Yay for booking the bounceback!!!

Thanks, we had an amazing time! Yeah, May is really warm, I'm not sure how people say it's not hot during May, this is the 2nd time we've been there at this time of year and both times it was hot, although this time was MUCH worse! Still, we made the most of it and had a great time!

I'm so excited about my next trip, I can't wait to start planning!

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear all about it! Sorry to hear about the heat stroke though. Yayyyy for a bounce back offer!

Thanks! I can't wait to start my TR, I'm so ready to go, but I have to think of a good title, and I have to wait for my PP CD! I'm hoping maybe I can start on Monday!

I'm so happy we got such a great BB offer, it was nice leaving knowing that I would be back soon!

Welcome home... glad you guys had a great time! But, yeah... it seemed like you just left! Why does time have to go by so fast, especially when you're at WDW?! That's just not fair.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Thanks, we had an awesome time! It's so unfair that Disney time flies by!

I'm hoping to start my TR soon!

Glad you stopped and "caught" it, so to speak
I don't fare well in the heat either, and neither does my son... We are hot bodied to begin with (my husband teases us that we never need to buy a heated blanket because I'm always radiating heat), so we get hot faster than others I guess lol

HAHAHA~ Just start the TR without it lol [ can you tell i
m antsy to hear all about your trip?] hehe

I'm always hot too, no matter what I'm doing, I even sleep with my window cracked in the middle of winter because I hate the feeling of sweating under my blankets! I'm sure that doesn't help with the heat in FL!

I wish I could start my TR, unfortunately, Photobucket is taking forever with the pictures that I DO have, so even if I wanted to start without the CD, I can't! I hate uploading pictures, it takes forever!!!

There were a couple days this week that were SO crowded (at least the park I was in was)!

And the heat... completely agree with you there!

But glad to hear you had a great time, and can't wait to read the TR!

Bummed we never got to meet up... my friend had me running ragged all over the World- he's a total park commando, apparently!

Yeah, the crowds were pretty crazy. The last day, we were in Epcot and the crowds were low, and we were like "yep, that figures, right when we're leaving!" And the HEAT...UGH!!! It was insane!!

We did have a great time, I can't wait to read your TR too! I bet we were in the same parks a lot of the time and didn't even know it! I'm sad we couldn't meet up either, but we were doing the same thing, either running around to different parks, or we were at the BC, resting and swimming!

 

[ditsypixie]

Welcome back! Glad the trip went wonderfully and you are ok from the health scare.

Can't wait to read the TR...it seems like FOREVER until my next trip.

 

[IheartDDuck]

It felt like you just left! Disney time does go by too fast.

 

[Nermel9]

Hi everyone! My photopass CD has shipped so I should be able to start my TR soon...however, I'm getting antsy to start, so I might just start it tomorrow! I mean, really, the only reason I'm waiting for it is so I can use one of the pics from it in my intro to my TR, so I'm thinking, I'll just use a non PP picture and then when I get it, put the PP pic in instead. You guys all know what I look like by now, anyway, it's not like it matters.

(And anyway. I didn't take many PP pictures because I was NOT happy with how I looked on this trip. It was hot, my hair was a frizzy mess, my make up was melting off, and I feel like I look like I'm 700 pounds in every picture, so I kind of avoided the camera on this trip! I'll make up for it in November when I'm skinny! )

Welcome back! Glad the trip went wonderfully and you are ok from the health scare.

Can't wait to read the TR...it seems like FOREVER until my next trip.

Thank you! It was a great trip, a little HOT, but other than that, lots of fun!

I'm hoping to start my TR tomorrow, I can't wait!

It felt like you just left! Disney time does go by too fast.

Doesn't it? I feel like I'm still in Disney mode! And I feel like I should have a trip around the corner, and not 6 months away...how am I ever going to survive?

I'm thinking of using something about Disney time going to fast as my TR title, since I kept repeating it over and over towards the end of our trip...I have so many titles I might use, but I'm not really in love with all of them, so we'll see!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Well I'm really late but welcome back. Glad you had a good time despite the heat. I was checking the forecast (I have WDW added as one of my locations on weather.com...) and it looked like it was going to be super hot while you were there.

Jealous you already booked another trip! LOL that the resort might change though. I'm going to guess you're going to stay close to Epcot again if you're there for Food and Wine?

 

[MEK]

Welcome back Jen! So glad you had a great time and were able to book bounceback.

Boo for getting overheated. I am seriously worried about that in June. My last June trip was not great from the heat perspective.

Looking forward to your TR.

 

[Simba22]

welcome back, Jen! I know I'm like 4 days late!

Glad you guys had a good time! It's funny (not really) how we don't even notice (or choose to ignore) that the heat is getting to us until it's too late! Glad it turned out OK for you!

I'm sure your pictures look FINE! They always do!

 

[Nermel9]

Well I'm really late but welcome back. Glad you had a good time despite the heat. I was checking the forecast (I have WDW added as one of my locations on weather.com...) and it looked like it was going to be super hot while you were there.

Jealous you already booked another trip! LOL that the resort might change though. I'm going to guess you're going to stay close to Epcot again if you're there for Food and Wine?

Haha, you're not late, thanks! Yeah, it was ridiculously hot! I don't know how people go in July or August! (And don't worry, I have WDW as one of my locations in Weather Bug on my phone too! )

Haha, I'll tell you guys soon where we're booked for our next trip soon! Although it's looking more and more like the resort will most likely change, but I don't think the dates will now!

Welcome back Jen! So glad you had a great time and were able to book bounceback.

Boo for getting overheated. I am seriously worried about that in June. My last June trip was not great from the heat perspective.

Looking forward to your TR.

Thanks! I was so happy to book a bounceback, Brandon wasn't thrilled, but I told him we could always cancel if we had to and I was afraid there might not be another discount coming out for the time we wanted to go, so he caved as usual!

I hope it's not too hot for you in June, it was SOOOO hot when we were there! Everyone who worked there said it was unseasonably warm, so maybe June will be cooler for you since May was so hot!

I'm starting my TR in a few minutes, as soon as I finish up here, I can't wait for the PP cd!

welcome back, Jen! I know I'm like 4 days late!

Glad you guys had a good time! It's funny (not really) how we don't even notice (or choose to ignore) that the heat is getting to us until it's too late! Glad it turned out OK for you!

I'm sure your pictures look FINE! They always do!

That's ok, thanks!

We had a great time, it was such a fun trip, even with the heat! I'm glad I felt better too, I was worried I might have to stay in and miss almost a whole Disney day because of the stupid heat!

Ugh...my pictures look terrible. I've gained so much weight. But no one to blame but myself, I'm going to get back on track soon and look better than ever for my November trip!

 

[Nermel9]

Hi everyone! I started my May TR finally! I didn't have the patience to wait for the Photopass CD, and anyway, I went through the few pictures I took with PP last night and I really don't even like any of the pics, so whatever! Here is the link, hope to see you all over there!

This is your 24th Anniversary? But you're so young!~A May 2012 TR!
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[Nermel9]

Hey guys!

I know this is my May PTR, and I'm not anywhere close to being ready to start a PTR for my November trip, but I have a planning question that I'm hoping you guys can help me out with.

Basically...how does everyone plan out their days in Disney? Do you go by crowd calendars (easywdw, touring plans), do you go by what park has magic hours? How do you fit in ADR's? If you go to a park with evening magic hours, what do you do the next morning, just jump out of bed and go to the next park?

I'm asking because Brandon and I kind of want to take a different approach to touring on our next trip, and I can't figure out how to do it! So I thought I would ask the experts on different strategies on how to fit everything in and not get completely exhausted and feel like you're missing out on something at the same time!

Thank you!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Basically...how does everyone plan out their days in Disney? Do you go by crowd calendars (easywdw, touring plans), do you go by what park has magic hours? How do you fit in ADR's? If you go to a park with evening magic hours, what do you do the next morning, just jump out of bed and go to the next park?

I think when compared to some people we're pretty laid back when it comes to planning. We go with a general plan of attack and do what we can but are also flexible.

Extra Magic Hours are our friend. You know we like the morning ones best so we generally do those. But if we don't go to EMH, we do stay away from the park that has them. I know my dad sometimes looks at the crowd calendars (I think he mostly looks at easywdw) but I don't know if we necessarily let that dictate which park we go to.

As for ADRs, since we only do one or two a trip, it doesn't really affect our planning too much. I know a lot of people like to plan multiple ADRs but it just seems like a hassle and not much very fun to have meals dictate what you do every day (I really hope I'm not offending anyone, that's just our opinion).

The other thing is that when you go so often, you don't have to feel like you're missing out on anything. If you do miss something, that's what the next trip is for, right?

Hope that helps a little!

 

[PixieMama]

On our first trip in '07, we only went to evening EMH once (and that was on our last night, so all we did the next morning was get up, check out and make the drive home). Back then, I didn't know about crowd calendars or Touring Plans, etc. I'm pretty sure we hit at least one a.m. EMH. We had park hoppers, and hopped 4 out of the 5 days. I don't really recall how it was I planned which park to visit on which day. But I think I figured out what park to go to each day, then fit in the ADRs around them.

When we went in 2010, I was aware of the crowd calendar on EasyWDW and used that to base what park we went to each day. No hoppers this time... so whatever park we went to that day dictated our ADRs.

 

[Mrs T 2009]

I like to plan, but end up planning to an extent...

We usually pick where we want to eat, write all the options down and try to get them.
After making those ADRs, we will try and plan what parks to go when around those ADRs.
It doesn't always work that way though- sometimes we go to one park, then to another just for an ADR. lol

I have an app on my iphone we used the last time we went to WDW; last sepetmber. It's called "disney world wait times" and has a little green frog in the icon. It was free. It was pretty helpful, and I'm using it to look at crowd control.. It'll give red, green, or yellow for parks based on crowds. It was pretty resourceful in september and not wrong.

Sometimes we will plan to go to a park, but then switch to a different one.
Once we get to a park, we head towards the rides we really want to do, and then if we can accomplish those, we head to the other ones that aren't "must do's".

Sometimes we just go with what works... If we pass a ride that doesn't have a long wait and we want to go on, we will go.. even if it wasn't "planned".

Hope this helps!

 

[Nermel9]

I think when compared to some people we're pretty laid back when it comes to planning. We go with a general plan of attack and do what we can but are also flexible.

Extra Magic Hours are our friend. You know we like the morning ones best so we generally do those. But if we don't go to EMH, we do stay away from the park that has them. I know my dad sometimes looks at the crowd calendars (I think he mostly looks at easywdw) but I don't know if we necessarily let that dictate which park we go to.

As for ADRs, since we only do one or two a trip, it doesn't really affect our planning too much. I know a lot of people like to plan multiple ADRs but it just seems like a hassle and not much very fun to have meals dictate what you do every day (I really hope I'm not offending anyone, that's just our opinion).

The other thing is that when you go so often, you don't have to feel like you're missing out on anything. If you do miss something, that's what the next trip is for, right?

Hope that helps a little!

I love magic hours, especially evening magic hours! I can't imagine not going to DHS or MK for magic hours at night. But you're supposed to avoid them, so that makes it hard. I have noticed lately those parks are really crowded.

I LOVE eating at the Disney restaurants, but I hate the feeling of thinking "Ok, I only have 3 hours til my ADR." It's hard to eat everywhere I want to and not feeling like I'm wasting Disney time!

Haha, you would think that right? Except, there was SO much that we skipped on our May trip (like a WHOLE park, for example!) that now I'm trying to make up for it in November, and it's not really working out...

On our first trip in '07, we only went to evening EMH once (and that was on our last night, so all we did the next morning was get up, check out and make the drive home). Back then, I didn't know about crowd calendars or Touring Plans, etc. I'm pretty sure we hit at least one a.m. EMH. We had park hoppers, and hopped 4 out of the 5 days. I don't really recall how it was I planned which park to visit on which day. But I think I figured out what park to go to each day, then fit in the ADRs around them.

When we went in 2010, I was aware of the crowd calendar on EasyWDW and used that to base what park we went to each day. No hoppers this time... so whatever park we went to that day dictated our ADRs.

When Brandon and I went in 2008, I didn't know about crowd calendars or anything, I just knew I wanted to do EMH nights, so we based our park days on that. I've been doing that ever since, but it seems like WDW is getting more and more crowded, and our trips get longer and longer and we end up getting SO tired by the end! It's so hard to plan any differently, I've been planning the same way for so long, I don't know how to do it another way! We wanted to try going to one park per day, go there in the morning, take a break, then go back to that park, but that seems really hard!

I like to plan, but end up planning to an extent...

We usually pick where we want to eat, write all the options down and try to get them.
After making those ADRs, we will try and plan what parks to go when around those ADRs.
It doesn't always work that way though- sometimes we go to one park, then to another just for an ADR. lol

I have an app on my iphone we used the last time we went to WDW; last sepetmber. It's called "disney world wait times" and has a little green frog in the icon. It was free. It was pretty helpful, and I'm using it to look at crowd control.. It'll give red, green, or yellow for parks based on crowds. It was pretty resourceful in september and not wrong.

Sometimes we will plan to go to a park, but then switch to a different one.
Once we get to a park, we head towards the rides we really want to do, and then if we can accomplish those, we head to the other ones that aren't "must do's".

Sometimes we just go with what works... If we pass a ride that doesn't have a long wait and we want to go on, we will go.. even if it wasn't "planned".

Hope this helps!

I sometimes plan park days around where we want to eat too, although I mostly plan around hours. This is my first trip where I'm really trying to listen to the crowd calendar, at least for some of the days, so it's been a challenge!

I have a few wait time apps but not the one you're talking about, I'll have to get it, it sounds great!

I never plan what rides to go on at what time! I mean, obviously with rides like Soarin' and TSM you have to plan that, but everything else, we just go on whenever. Maybe that's a mistake we're making too.

Thanks for the advice everyone, keep it coming!

 

[MEK]

I sort of just go with how I feel when I'm planning the trip. I don't really have a system. Like in June I'm starting with MK because its my Bro's familys first trip so it just seems right. But other trips I just start with whatever park I feel like I missed the most of on my last trip. Helpful, aren't I?

 

[wdwgirl03]

I love magic hours, especially evening magic hours! I can't imagine not going to DHS or MK for magic hours at night. But you're supposed to avoid them, so that makes it hard. I have noticed lately those parks are really crowded.

I LOVE eating at the Disney restaurants, but I hate the feeling of thinking "Ok, I only have 3 hours til my ADR." It's hard to eat everywhere I want to and not feeling like I'm wasting Disney time!

Haha, you would think that right? Except, there was SO much that we skipped on our May trip (like a WHOLE park, for example!) that now I'm trying to make up for it in November, and it's not really working out...

Well, I think your only solution then is to go for a month.

I don't know, I guess you have to pick which you'd rather do-eat at a restaurant or have more time for rides/shows? Maybe just do a couple ADRs each trip?

Our strategy of go to rope drop, eat at Quick Service restaurants, take an afternoon break, and go to a different park later on has always worked for us! But it's really all a matter of preference for what you want to do.

 

[Dugette]

Basically...how does everyone plan out their days in Disney? Do you go by crowd calendars (easywdw, touring plans),

We use the touringplans crowd calendar. We also tend to go during low seasons in general, but we do try to pick the low-crowd days for each park, when possible.

do you go by what park has magic hours?

We usually park-hop to take advantage of EMH. The reason that touringplans usually does not recommend a park that has EMH is because they know that MOST people will not actually take advantage of them (i.e.--get up early and stay up late), so they'll just end up in a busier park that day without getting the EMH benefit (Len talks about this a lot on the WDW Today podcast). We love morning EMH in the MK, since you can pretty much do all of Fantasyland without lines. We also love evenings pretty much anywhere, but the later the better. Lines don't really die down until the last hour. We don't usually spend the rest of the day in the EMH park, though. Also, I've heard Len say that there's no advantage to morning EMH at AK, since the lines are just as long as regular opening hour (not enough attractions to distribute people).

How do you fit in ADR's?

Once we figure out best park days, we'll try to schedule ADRs based on when we'll be in the appropriate park (or near the appropriate resort). Of course, with changing hours and crowd predictions, this can change. I've noticed that we like to schedule resort ADRs as part of a park-hop. Maybe it's because we take Disney transportation, which works well for park-resort-park.

If you go to a park with evening magic hours, what do you do the next morning, just jump out of bed and go to the next park?

Depends on the day. If there's a late night at Epcot followed by an early morning at MK, we'd probably do that. However, if there's a late night somewhere and early EMH at Epcot or AK, we might sleep in. Depends how we're feeling and how much sleep we're getting. Also, for late EMH at MK, sometimes we don't show up until the last hour or two of the three EMH. Take a nap prior to that.

Have fun planning!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

We usually go during low-crowds seasons (theoretically! ), and so EMH's aren't usually huge crowd problems. That said, I'll wait for the calendar to come out, and we normally like to hit the morning EMH's, and I will plan our ADR's around that. But mostly, we just go either around where our ADR's put us, or where we feel like going.

(This past trip, my plans were completely foiled by the crowds from the Marathon, and so I ended up using the crowds apps I have. They were pretty accurate, but since I only have the free version, I could only see that day.)

 

[teekathepony]

Generally we start with our meals, where do we want to eat? We make a list. We try to get at least one restaurant in each park because we don't like doing too much hopping around. We keep the ones outside of parks to a minimum.
Then first we get an ADR for the restaurant that's hardest to get into (i.e this year it was Le Cellier). We decide what day we'd like to have our special meal (last full day, our anniversary, etc) and try for that. If we get that then we try to get our other restaurants based on EMH, so that we tend to go to the parks with evening hours, stay all day and eat in that park. We also go during low season and crowds are never a real concern for us. (Which is why we don't follow the rules about not going to EMH parks!)
We don't plan out every little thing, far from it. If we had a general idea to go to MK the next day, but decide we'd rather go to Epcot, then we do. We sleep in or get up early based on how we're feeling at that time (unless we have a breakfast planned!)
Usually on the bus on the way to the park in the morning we make a general plan. "Ok we'll head to Kali River Rapids first and get nice and wet because its a hot day, then we'll be more comfortable doing everything else!" that sort of thing. That's about it really!

 

[KatMark]

We have never followed any touring plans at all and we've been pretty fortunate with low crowds most of the time. We try to always do Extra Magic Hours at the park having them in the morning and then go to another park mid-afternoon; we also try to do the EMH's in the evening at MK and Epcot each trip (the Studios is our least favorite park so we never do that one for evening EMH's). Once I've got my schedule planned out, I then insert where our meals should be.