August 2012 PTR - It's finally here!! (Updated 8/14/12)!

[Halloween Baby]

The past two times we went to Disney, we did the tourists on caffeine plan . We raced through the parks from attraction to attraction trying to get the most bang for our buck. About halfway through our second trip, we were at MVMCP and the crowds were beginning to thin out. We had spent the morning touring Magic Kingdom so we had already done all of the attractions that we wanted to. As the even went on, we got some cookies and hot chocolate and strolled for a bit. We took in all of the decorations, interacted with characters, and just enjoyed being on vacation with each other. I think all too often on Disney vacations, it turns into see the most and doing the most instead of spending time with each other.

This time around, our plan is different. There's no way we could do that with Aidan. Plus, I really don't want to do that! I've been enough that I know what my must dos are and I know what I can live without. Does that mean at rope drop we won't be racing to get our Toy Story Mania fastpasses?? No way! But it does mean that we won't be going from one place to another without smelling the roses.

One of the things I wanted to do this time was really enjoy the restaurants. A couple we've done before and really want to go back to. And some are ones we've never tried and always wanted to.

And without further ado, here are my ADRs:

8/15/12 - Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose (dinner):
This is the day that we arrive. We'll be getting in around lunchtime and we'll check into the hotel and head on over to the Studios. I'm sure it'll be crazy at that point but we'll bum around and do what we can (here starts the slower approach!). Then we're going to dinner at Mama Melrose. We've done the dinner package twice, once at Mama Melrose. We love the convenience of it! With Aidan, it was really a no brainer for this trip! I'd much rather pay a little more to have dinner than have to sit for an hour while trying to keep him in one spot! Plus Mama Melrose is yummy! Last time, we tried out Hollywood & Vine and just weren't impressed. We liked it, but not enough to go back. I'm totally looking forward to starting off our vacation here!

8/19/12 - Biergarten (lunch): Biergarten is GREAT! If you haven't tried it, you should!! I have daydreams about dipping the pretzel rolls in the potato soup. This is the meal I am most looking forward to, even though I've been there before. The food is great and it is so much fun! The band is awesome and everyone has such a great time! I really can't wait until we're back in Epcot (World Showcase is my favorite place in Disneyworld!).

8/20/12 - Three Broomsticks (breakfast?): I know this one isn't an ADR. In fact, I've been told by Universal that I can't get reservations at all because I didn't book the Harry Potter package. But then people on the boards are saying that it can be reserved with only a hotel stay. Either way, the general consensus is that we can probably get in by asking the concierge for help. When we check in on this morning, we'll check with the concierge. If he or she can't help, then we'll try to get in without a reservation. The worst that can happen is we eat lunch here! Either way, I am dying to see this place! I listened to a podcast with Jim Hill describing the detail of the building and it sounds fantastic. I'm sure we'll try both types of butterbeer, but it's really more about the experience than the food for this one!

8/21/12 - Cafe La Bamba (breakfast): This is a new character breakfast at Universal Studios. It doesn't even start until next week! All I know about it is that Spongebob, Patrick, the Minions, Dora, Diego, and E.B. from HOP will be there. These are all on my kids top characters list so this was a must for us! Ashton could not believe we were going to meet Spongebob! It'll be interesting to see if this is chaotic since it is so new or if they'll have everything settled by the time we arrive!

8/22/12 - Garden Grill (dinner): This was my last minute add on! I've always wanted to go here. I love the Land and I like the idea of being about to rotate around the scenes while we eat. Plus, the kids get to visit with characters on a much lower ratio than most character meals! I've heard mixed reviews about the food so I'm going in with lowered hopes and okay with the fact that we're there for the experience.

8/24/12 - Chef Mickey (breakfast): This is the last day of our trip. Every time I go through the Contemporary on the Monorail, I wish I was dining here. So this time, we are! I'm looking forward to all the characters and the atmosphere. Plus, the kids get to eat Mickey waffles! What could be better!

So that's my list. I think it's pretty steady where it is. I don't want to add anymore sit down restaurants because I do want plenty of park time and rest time. Plus, I like to snack on all of the goodies Disney has to offer...

Next up, I'll list out our daily plans with the must dos!!

7/17/2012: Update on ADRs! I laugh at this line I wrote that states my list is steady. I should have known better!!

Since this post I've cancelled my Chef Mickey's ADR because we are staying an extra day. I tried to switch it and it wasn't available. So here are my new ADRs:

8/16/12 - Kona Cafe (Dessert): We want to watch the fireworks at the Poly so I figured it would be fun to get some dessert and coffee first. Don't know many specifics, but everyone seems to love this place!

8/25/12 - Ohana's (Breakfast): With a new last morning and Chef Mickey's all booked up, I picked Ohana's to try out. I'm thinking, now that I checked it out, that we might like it even better! We're not big Stitch fans, but we do love Mickey and the atmosphere sounds great!!

We'll see if this plan sticks!

 

[Halloween Baby]

What a fun way to break the news. I would have loved to see his reaction.
Speaking of being part of the planning...not sure if you tip Mousekeeping or not but I do....I'm going to have Amanda help by decorating tip envelopes. That might be something he would enjoy helping with.
Pat

We did take a video but I've never uploaded on on here... I'll try but no promises! We do the Mousekeeping and I've thought about asking for some Disigns for the envelopes. At this point though, I've asked for so much that I'd hate to keep asking and asking!! She did design us some really cute pressed penny labels and he's going to help make the containers!

Ok let me just begin by saying how much I enjoyed the story of how you told Ashton. It was tooo cute.

I also want to let you know that I also have an Aidan, but he will be 5 in just exactly a week (Oh no I need to still buy his present) and I also had a baby in 2010. He just turned 2 in March.

I am just loving your purchased, those bags are two cute.

Can't wait to read more about your trip.

P.S. You are doing great for your first PTR. Keep it up.

Thanks for the support! I worry that I'm giving too much detail or not enough! Ha! I love that you have an Aidan too! If he's anything like mine, he's probably the sweetest guy ever!!

I love that story! What a great way to tell him!

Thanks!! We just couldn't keep it from him any longer!!

 

[cbeeindisney]

I think all too often on Disney vacations, it turns into see the most and doing the most instead of spending time with each other.

This time around, our plan is different. There's no way we could do that with Aidan. Plus, I really don't want to do that! I've been enough that I know what my must dos are and I know what I can live without. Does that mean at rope drop we won't be racing to get our Toy Story Mania fastpasses?? No way! But it does mean that we won't be going from one place to another without smelling the roses.

I so agree! When you think about it as if you feel that you need to get everything in at WDW when you're there, you miss the real interaction with the ones you're with, because you're stressing about your next move and how much time it takes to get from point A to point B. I need to try to do the same thing on our next trip too!

We will be at Biergarten the same day, we're going for an early dinner though! Just stay for a few hours later and we'll see you there!

You made great restaurant choices!

 

[Halloween Baby]

We will be at Biergarten the same day, we're going for an early dinner though! Just stay for a few hours later and we'll see you there!

You made great restaurant choices!

Oh that is too funny! Great minds!! We really thought similarly about our plans apparently!!

 

[Halloween Baby]

So I feel like I am so excited for the trip and that I can't wait for it to get here already... But at the same time I'm thinking, "Holy Crap! There's only two months left to do all of this stuff!!" I felt like the weight of the hotel payment was looming over me so I called today and paid it off! Feels so much better!

Its funny how little things like that can do so much!

Yesterday, while at Walgreen's, I bought two of the Cool Downs bandanas to try out. We tested them this morning and they work pretty good. They warm up a bit too quick for my taste but we can just resoak them to cool them. We're going to have a mini-cooler under the stroller so they can just be stuffed in there. I figure it'll cool off the bandanas and at the same time keep the cooler colder by getting rid of the melted water... Win Win!!

Today, we went to the outdoor flea market in a neighboring town and found some homemade versions that are soooo much better. I can kick myself for buying the other two. They are bigger and have more gel inside. Also, they are sewn on the inside so there's nothing to scratch at your neck. Oh well, I only spend ten bucks on the other ones. I bought two of the new ones and if they're really great, I'll go back and get two more!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

 

[cbeeindisney]

So I feel like I am so excited for the trip and that I can't wait for it to get here already... But at the same time I'm thinking, "Holy Crap! There's only two months left to do all of this stuff!!" I felt like the weight of the hotel payment was looming over me so I called today and paid it off! Feels so much better!

Feel the same way and congratulations!

 

[PFW]

I felt like the weight of the hotel payment was looming over me so I called today and paid it off! Feels so much better!

Yippee !!! Congrats

 

[disprincessesmom1012]

i'm here!! love the surprise. we are surprising our girls the morning of. i have over 3 months to keep the secret and i think my 4y is catching on.

feel free to follow my ptr

 

[Halloween Baby]

So I had to drop of the boards for a few days... yesterday was Ashton's birthday and I've had a ton going on between school and work. I'm actually flying to Houston in a couple hours for work, but I figured I had a little bit of time to catch up a bit! So without further ado here is....

DAY 1

We'll be arriving at MCO around 11:30 am on August 15th. We are all early birds (I'm up by 5 every day), but in order to get to the plane in time, we're probably going to have to wake up around 4am. This won't be too bad for me, but the others all usually wake up around 7am!! So, I am hoping we can jump on the Magical Express to ASMusic, grab a quick lunch, and be able to get a room right away. If everyone is worn out, we can all lay around for a bit. I know it's boring to get to the World and hang out in the hotel, but I'm worried about everyone being exhausted before we even get started!! If the boys (as in Chris and Ashton) aren't tired, they can go swim or explore the hotels.

After naptime is over, we'll head on over to Disney Studios. We got our tickets through the YES program, so we'll have to pick them up before going in. Hopefully, it's not too much trouble. Now's where the planning get's kind of fuzzy. We do have an ADR at Mama Melrose at 5:50pm, so we may be getting to the park around the time to check in for dinner. But it may be that we have some time to spare too! If that's the case, we're going to use the Lines app and try to ride any of the attractions we're interested in that have a short wait. We'll also attempt to get a Fast Pass for an attraction that's good between dinner time and Fantasmic time. After dinner, we'll probably have about an hour to play with since we have to go to Fantasmic at least a half hour early. Then after Fantasmic, we'll head to our Disney home tonight.

My goals for this night are to not go too type A and try to get a bunch done in a short amount of time!! If we can see a few attractions, great. If all we do is wander around and check out some performances and shops, then that's fine too. We have a second day at the Studios, so we'll have plenty of time to see everything we want to see!

The countdown is on: only 58 more days!!

 

[Halloween Baby]

i'm here!! love the surprise. we are surprising our girls the morning of. i have over 3 months to keep the secret and i think my 4y is catching on.

feel free to follow my ptr

Oh I'll gladly join!! I hope you're better at keeping surprises than we are!

 

[Halloween Baby]

Every day now I hear, "How many days left?" Ashton can't stand the torture of waiting!! We wrote a countdown on the calendar, but I think it makes him feel better to hear it! He also loves to look at my phone to check the countdown ticker I have on there!! I think I'm almost as excited as he is, but I'm also stressing about taking care of everything! Off the top of my head I need to:

1. Make 40 T-shirts! YIKES!!
2. Make the boys their autograph book
3. Make our luggage tags
4. Make the pressed penny containers
5. Clean the pennies

And that's on top of all the regular vacation stuff that comes with traveling with kids!!

Anywho... on to the next day!!

Day 2

With today being our first full day, we're going straight to Magic Kingdom! We all love this park and I am dying to see the new updates in Fantasyland! This date is early extra magic hours, so the park will be opening at 8 am. Since we're early birds, I'm going to try to get us there well before opening (maybe even to be the family of the day??). It all really depends on the baby though and how he's adapting to travel. I think since we are at the beginning of our trip, he should be good to go at this point!

Must Dos
Dumbo
The Great Goofini
Tom Sawyer Island (one of Ashton's faves!)
Mickey's Philharmagic
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain (for the big boys)

For most of the trip, we plan on the big boys splitting off for at least part of the day. I've been to DW enough to not feel the need to race around. They still want to catch all the big ones. So I figure Aidan and I can do some browsing and people watching!!

I'm hoping to have lunch at Pecos Bill's. We've never been and I have always wanted to go!!

After lunch, Aidan and I will head back to the hotel for some R & R. The boys are free to do what they choose... maybe more MK, maybe swimming, maybe Downtown Disney.

Aidan usually naps 3 or so hours, so I figure we'll be back to the parks before dinner, depending on the time we left. We'll grab some counter service somewhere in MK (or maybe even at ASMu if it's later than expected) and check out some more attractions.

From here we will do one of two choices. The other choice will be saved for our second MK day:

1) Watch the parade from somewhere near the front for early exit after it ends.

2) Avoid the parade and catch a ferry over to the Poly. Grab a spot on the beach and wait for the fireworks.

This all depends on how the kiddo's doing. I'm thinking that it would probably work out best to do the fireworks on this night since we'll be a lot fresher and its a later night. The advantage we have too is that it's actually an hour earlier our time so won't feel as late to us. Aidan usually goes to bed around 8pm but I'm thinking we might start stretching it until 8:30 or so. It is summer after all!!

 

[Halloween Baby]

I got the following fortune tonight:

"It is sometimes better to travel hopefully than to arrive."

Ain't that the truth!! I love that there are so many people like me out there! Chris thinks I'm crazy for spending so much time on all of this! I just want to make the trip as magical as I can!!

We uploaded some recent photos and I thought I'd post some them. Ashton is so excited about Disney and we keep telling Aidan he's going to go meet "Dickey" soon!!

Poor little guy wasn't feeling well here. I hate when he's sick, but I sure love when he cuddles!!

They are so funny! They decided to set the playhouse in the pool and were having the BEST time playing!!

I'm going to work on the Disney t-shirts tonight! Wish me luck!! Right now, I'm just sizing them and printing rough drafts. As soon as I get that all set, I'll try to combine as many as I can and start printing them up! So excited to see them!!

 

[cbeeindisney]

Your family is so cute!

From here we will do one of two choices. The other choice will be saved for our second MK day:

1) Watch the parade from somewhere near the front for early exit after it ends.

2) Avoid the parade and catch a ferry over to the Poly. Grab a spot on the beach and wait for the fireworks.

I was thinking the same thing, I want to see the fireworks, but I'm so torn about the crowds, I think we'll be doing the same as you on this one! We'll have two days in the park also, so at least if we don't get it done the first time around, there's always another time.

 

[Halloween Baby]

Last night, I worked on piecing together the t-shirts for a bit. I have a game plan now and was able to size/print rough drafts of about half of the shirts!! I discovered in working on it that I'm still lacking on some designs! I've asked for so many, I thought I was done, but alas. I guess when you're doing shirts, luggage tags, autograph pages, welcome letters, and more it can get confusing. I just hope I'm not driving the Disigners too nuts! I love their designs and can't wait to be able to wear them all over!!

So here...

DAY 3

On the third day of our trip, we're going to head to Animal Kingdom! Because the crowd levels are only 5.4, I don't know if we'll try to get there for opening or sleep in a bit. All depends on the night before I guess!! This is one of our casual days so we're going to go as slow as we feel like going and stop to smell the animals!!

Must dos:
Kilimanjaro Safari
The Festival of the Lion King
The Boneyard

Other than that, I bet the big boys will want to ride the rapids and I'm sure we'll check out both trails but it won't be a crazy day. We don't have any ADRs this day either, so it's really up to us when and where we go.

My only reason that I'm leaning toward going early is for the heat! I don't want to roast and I know AK is always hotter than the other parks.

So maybe we'll go for a few hours, then head back to the hotel. I don't think we'll go back afterwards. No point really with how early AK closes and how few attractions we want to do! This night can either be down time or Downtown Disney. I know Ashton wants to go to the Lego Store sometime on the trip...

 

[PFW]

My only reason that I'm leaning toward going early is for the heat! I don't want to roast and I know AK is always hotter than the other parks.

Ditto that !!!
I'm planning on going to AK on the 28th. Since it closes so early I think it will be a perfect evening for games, swimming and watching the movie by the pool that night. And I think I'll be splurging and getting myself an adult beverage or 2 LOL

BTW...I just wanna pinch your little ones cute cheeks

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

They are so funny! They decided to set the playhouse in the pool and were having the BEST time playing!!

It looks like DS8 is a great older brother to your DS1. It reminds me of when my brothers were that age.

 

[MSierra123]

Can't wait to see the shirts when they are done. I am thinking of making some for our trip, but am a little hesitant. I am so not the crafty type.

 

[Halloween Baby]

Ditto that !!!
I'm planning on going to AK on the 28th. Since it closes so early I think it will be a perfect evening for games, swimming and watching the movie by the pool that night. And I think I'll be splurging and getting myself an adult beverage or 2 LOL

BTW...I just wanna pinch your little ones cute cheeks

I pinch them all the time!! Watching movies by the pool??? I didn't even know they had that?? Do they show animation films? Can you hang out in the pool and see the movies??

It looks like DS8 is a great older brother to your DS1. It reminds me of when my brothers were that age.

Oh, he's the best! They are just so fun together. Whoever says that kids need to be close in age to be close are so wrong!

Can't wait to see the shirts when they are done. I am thinking of making some for our trip, but am a little hesitant. I am so not the crafty type.

I'm crafty, but not in the way these disigners are! I was able to print up 38 designs before my ink ran out. I ordered more, but it won't get here until mid-week... So for now, I guess I'll work on the autograph book! Since I'm making shirts for each of us for each day, I'm only about halfway done printing so I hope I don't run out again!!

 

[Halloween Baby]

DAY 4

On this day, we're heading back to Disney Studios! It's probably my least favorite park, but Ashton loves Toy Story Mania and he's dying to try the new Star Tours. This is an extra magic morning day, so it opens at 8AM. We're totally going to take advantage of this and head straight over to Toy Story Mania. With any luck, we'll grab some fast passes and the wait line won't be so bad. Hopefully we can ride it and then grab some more fast passes for later (either when we ride with our FPs or before we leave for our break - whatever works with the return schedule). That way, we'll get to ride three times! I can't believe it's so crazy now. We went in July 2008 and rode it several times. Especially late at night there was barely any wait!

Must Dos
Toy Story Mania (DUH! )
Star Tours
Muppets
Honey I Shrunk the Kids Set
Disney Junior

I'm sure Chris will want to ride Rock n Roller Coaster if he didn't on the first night, but he'll go single rider while we're doing something else. I hope Ashton will want to try out some of the "Big Kid" rides like this!

Since we've been here a couple times and I've been here a couple more, there's a few attractions I really am not wanting to do. Like Indiana Jones. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE Indiana Jones. I even named my dog after the movies (Get it? We named the dog Indiana! ). But, seriously, you'd think the show could be updated a bit! I just don't want to sit in a hot packed theater and see the same old show I've already seen several times before! So we'll see if Ashton feels the same way... Chris could go either way, he says.

The real advantage we have on this day is that we've already done Fantasmic. This leaves our schedule wide open for that night. If we get in and take care of everything we want to do, we might end up leaving for our break and not coming back. Or maybe the big boys will go back and Aidan and can hang out by the pool. Or this might be another good night for DTD... Even if we all go back, we'll have a casual evening with plenty of strolling around.

I'm not too interested in any of the food in DS either, so we're pretty much open for anything, which makes it easy. We've mostly done TS in the past so we're not real aware of what CS there is. Any suggestions??

 

[PFW]

Not sure I can post the link to the movie schedule here or not. I'll PM the link to you.
Pat