Can we go to Disney World??????? September '15 PTR Update 4/27/15 - Free Dining is released...

[Anitsirk24]

My grandparents took me and my sisters to Disney World when I was 11. I LOVED it. Unfortunately I have not been back since. When I got married and had kids, I just knew I would have to take my children. And I was so excited to be able to take them.

The beginnings of this trip planning actually began a couple years ago. We planned to take my two girls in November around time of our anniversary. But then I got pregnant with DD#3. Whoops. And everything got put on an indefinite hold.

After Christmas, I got the idea that maybe next year, Santa could bring the girls WDW tickets for Christmas, and have us leaving the 26th and staying through New Years. DH was not sold on the idea (he is not as enthusiastic about us going as I am ). But he told me to begin pricing. So I did. Had us staying in the Finding Nemo suites at AoA. I was hooked.

With DH not being as enthusiastic about it as I was, and knowing I would want to do multiple trips, I began thinking about...what if I took each girl one on one, after our family trip? He actually seemed cool with the idea, and I, again, began pricing. Wow, much more manageable.

me: So what do you think? How about I take DD1 this year, and maybe next year we can all go? That will give DD2 and DD3 some more time to get a little older and then after our family trip, i could take them each one-on-one.

DH: sounds fine to me. Gets me out of having to go again.



So I then began playing around on Disney's website, and also contacted two travel agents to get some pricing. I was looking at September dates, thinking that maybe I could score free dining. One travel agent showed me that if I went ahead and went in the spring, I could get a pretty good rate and free ticket last day tickets....

So now we are looking at May 3-9, staying at Pop.

Hoping to actually book next week. Then the real planning begins.

 

[Anitsirk24]

DD#1 (who is getting ready to turn 7) is all about some Disney. She has been interested in going to WDW ever since she asked me about that castle that they show in front of every Disney movie. Once she realized she could go there, it was on! "Mamma, I wanna go to Disney World! Can we go tomorrow?"

I have been showing her some things about the other parks along with Magic Kingdom to gauge her interest. She is really excited about Magic Kingdom (and she doesn't even know we are going yet). She actually showed some interest in the others as well, which surprised me some. Even wants to do the "scary rides."

Right now she thinks we have to wait until DD#3 (who is 16 months now) gets bigger. I cannot wait to see her face when she realizes we are going.

 

[Anitsirk24]

So a little about me:

I am 32, married to DH who is 33. We have 3 girls, DD1 (who is 7 and going on this trip with me), DD2 (who is 3), and DD3 (who is 1). DD1 has mild autism, mostly social and need for routine. DH is a stay-at-home dad and full time college student.

Anytime I am excited about something, I jump in head first. Things become obsessions for me. It is rather sad sometimes. I recently became a fan of the show "Once Upon A Time," which has renewed my interest in Disney. I love that show and love the way that show interweaves the fairy tales. We also love Frozen in this house as well.

I used to actually take issue with Disney princesses. "Why do they all have to come from dysfunctional families? Why do they never have mothers? Why are the step-mothers always evil? Why can't Ariel be happy with who she is? Why didn't Prince Charming just go find Cinderella himself?"

Yeah, its rather sad how jaded and bitter I used to be. But I do have favorites - I love Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty (Prince Phillip actually fought for his girl! A dragon at that!!), Finding Nemo, and Frozen of course.

DD1 has always loved Cinderella. She also loves Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Already mentioned she loves Frozen. Santa actually brought the girls lots of Frozen things for Christmas.

 

[brittbrat63]

I can't wait to hear more about your adventures! How fun!

 

[princessesandpascal]

We will be there at the same time! Following along as you plan, so exciting to go with a little first-timer! Cinderella was always my favourite when I was a little girl.

 

[Anitsirk24]

Awesome! Glad to have some followers

The plan is to put the deposit down by the end of the week. Then it will time to begin planning specifics.

Right now, the plan is for DD and I to leave and drive down on Sunday, May 3. We will leave early because it will be a nice long 8.5 hour drive. Although we may end up flying...still deciding that part. Regardless, I would like to get down there around around 3 or so (if not earlier), and hopefully head to one of the parks (probably Magic Kingdom). I have been playing around with which day we will go to each park but haven't decided completely.

There are three table service places I definitely want to try to get: Akerhus, 50's Prime, and maybe Cinderella's Royal Table. I would love to do the Hoop Dee Do Review, but will have to nail down when. Definitely want to get the most out of the dining plan.

With how obsessed DD is with Frozen, I would love to get fastpasses for Anna and Elsa. That is definitely one thing I plan to try for.

More to come!!!

 

[Anitsirk24]

Its official! The trip has been booked! Car rental has been completed as well. Now, time to work on ADR's and an itinerary.

 

[princessesandpascal]

First of all, WOO-HOO FOR BEING BOOKED! It's the greatest feeling to know the trip is confirmed and happening!

There are three table service places I definitely want to try to get: Akerhus, 50's Prime, and maybe Cinderella's Royal Table. I would love to do the Hoop Dee Do Review, but will have to nail down when. Definitely want to get the most out of the dining plan.

With how obsessed DD is with Frozen, I would love to get fastpasses for Anna and Elsa. That is definitely one thing I plan to try for.

Akershus is one of our favourite places, we always do a late breakfast/brunch there! The princesses are so great and it's a pretty easy reservation to get, especially this far out I don't see you having a problem. We've done breakfast at CRT too, we did it for the first time in 2012 and it was amazing!! The atmosphere is the coolest part, being in the castle was a wonderful experience! I've never eaten at Prime Time (I'm a bit on the quiet side and don't like a lot of loud attention) but I've heard great things about it on here!

My favourite character meal is Ohana breakfast at the Polynesian. It has Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. If your daughter likes those characters, I would recommend it for sure!

Good luck with the Frozen passes! Given that I never had a princess so much like me until Elsa came along, we'll be going for them too! Our FP reserve date isn't till March so I guess neither of us have to worry about that yet!

Enjoy working on the itinerary! We had so much fun with ours!

 

[Anitsirk24]

Okay, so since booking the trip, I made ADR's. My plan was to use as many as possible for character dining experiences, to hopefully keep us from having to wait in so many meet-&-greets. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an 8:00 CRT or anything for BOG, but was able to do well with the other choices i think. The tentative plan has been made based on crowd calendars from easywdw. They are:

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace - Sunday dinner
Epcot - Akershus Royal Banquet Hall - Monday lunch
Hollywood Studios 50's Prime Time - Tuesday lunch
Magic Kingdom - Chef Mickeys at Contemporary for 7:00 breakfast (hopefully followed by rope drop at MK)
Animal Kingdom - Tusker House - Thursday lunch
Magic Kingdom - 1900 Park Fare at GF - Friday dinner

The plan is to do the parks on those specific day, and use the table service meals for breaks throughout the day for the most part. I figure that we'll do a leisurely pace for the most part, since we have park hopper we'll have some flexibility.

Still working on what to do fast passes for. Our book date for fast passes is March 4, so I have some time. I hope to make the final decision on whether we will drive or fly before then, so I will know how much time we have to work with on Sunday when we arrive. If we fly, then I will book the earliest flight possible (which right now is at 6:30am - ). Otherwise, we won't get there until at LEAST 2 in the afternoon. Seems like wasted time to drive, despite the fact that it will be way cheaper.

 

[Anitsirk24]

My DD, Avery, has gotten to wear she asks if she can go to DW on a daily basis. Here is a pic of her. I let her watch a disney travel dvd, and asked her what she wanted to do while she was there. Of course, she said EVERYTHING. I asked her what characters she would want to meet, and she said EVERYONE! (Hence the high number of character dining). Of course, we're not saying anything to her about actually going until the trip is paid for completely. Otherwise I really wouldn't hear the end of it.

 

[Anitsirk24]

So, my fast pass date is March 4 (23 days!!). Right now my choices are:

Magic Kingdom (3 days worth)
-Meet Anna & Elsa
-Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
-BTMR
-Space Mtn
-Splash Mtn
-Haunted Mansion
-Pirates of the Carribean
-Under the Sea
-either Enchanted Tales with Belle or Peter Pan's Flight

Animal Kingdom
-Kilamanjaro Safaris
-Kali River Rapids
-Expedition Everest
Dinosaur (backup)

Epcot
-Soarin
-The Seas with Nemo & friends
-Mission Space
Test Track (backup)

Hollywood Studios
-Toy Story Mania
-Tower of Terror
-Frozen musical (if its still there)
backups of Rockin Roller Coaster and/or Star Tours

Luckily, Avery is tall and LOVES roller coasters. So she will enjoy pretty much everything I am sure. I cannot wait to let the cat out of the bag and tell her we are going.

 

[princessesandpascal]

Your DD is so cute! Our FP+ day is the next day, March 5th. I can't believe how fast it's coming up!! Your FP choices look good, if you choose to not do a Fastpass for Peter Pan go early because the lineups get really long, especially with the new interactive queue! (it's almost nicer to do standby for that because of the new interactive elements.) Telling your DD is going to be so fun, she'll be so excited!

 

[Anitsirk24]

I figured anything I didn't get fastpasses for, I would try to hit those things first, before the lines get too long.

Real life update: we have been dealing with viruses since Friday. The baby started off sick then, then I got sick on Sunday. Then my other two girls, including Avery, and my husband got sick last night and this morning. So we are chilling out right now, trying to get strength back.

In other news, got my new GoWalk Sketchers in the mail today. They are a little big, so i think I'll need to wear socks to help them fit better. But I am hoping they will be good for walking around the parks. Also got my new portable charger (which will be needed in the parks) and a new book about Disney, 102 ways to save money for and at Walt Disney World. I am hoping there will be some good tips in there I haven't thought of yet to help.

 

[kaetra]

Your little girl is going to have an AMAZING, magical trip. It's very cool that you will get to spend lots of 1 on 1 time with your 7 year old. Seven is truly, truly a magical year!

I've been reading everywhere how super difficult it is to get FP+ for Anna and Elsa, but last night when I did our 60 day mark bookings it was available for every single one of our 3 MK days. I hit it right at midnight Central (1:00am Eastern time because of the weird effect the park closing late has on the FP+ window opening). Maybe it's our trip timing or something that made it seem so available? Hopefully you too will see some of that magic when it comes time for you to book your FP+ in a couple weeks.

Oh my gosh I don't think I could stand waiting to tell my DD we were going to WDW! Looking forward to it and counting down the days together is so fun! Have you worked out how you're going to tell her yet?

 

[Anitsirk24]

Your little girl is going to have an AMAZING, magical trip. It's very cool that you will get to spend lots of 1 on 1 time with your 7 year old. Seven is truly, truly a magical year!

I've been reading everywhere how super difficult it is to get FP+ for Anna and Elsa, but last night when I did our 60 day mark bookings it was available for every single one of our 3 MK days. I hit it right at midnight Central (1:00am Eastern time because of the weird effect the park closing late has on the FP+ window opening). Maybe it's our trip timing or something that made it seem so available? Hopefully you too will see some of that magic when it comes time for you to book your FP+ in a couple weeks.

Oh my gosh I don't think I could stand waiting to tell my DD we were going to WDW! Looking forward to it and counting down the days together is so fun! Have you worked out how you're going to tell her yet?

Oh I hope I am able to get Anna and Elsa. Hopefully some of your pixie dust will make its way to me that day. I am planning on doing it right at midnight, since I don't think I have to worry with the late closings (at least I don't think I do).

My plan is to take my other two girls also when they are 7. That way they will be old enough and tall enough that they can pretty much do everything. Avery is super tall for her age, and often gets mistaken for much older than she actually is. We will plan a family trip at some point with everyone, but not really sure just yet when that will be (hoping for next year).

Not really sure how to tell her. Have been brainstorming different ideas for that. I saw another post where the mom wrapped the magic bands and presented them on the way down there, but I probably won't be able to wait that long. When I decide I will definitely post my plans.

So I did discuss some plans with DH today, and am leaning towards driving down the night before and staying around the Daytona Beach area for the night. Flying down and driving the day of was going to equal a very, very tired Avery and Mommy. I really don't want the first experience for her to be a tired one. We are Wyndham owners, and can get a room in Daytona. So the plan is now to leave Saturday afternoon, drive down to Daytona, stay the night, and then get up that morning bright and early to be there hopefully around 9 or 10. That will give us the whole day Sunday to enjoy Magic Kingdom.

I did add at ADR at T-Rex for Saturday, since we are going to do DTD before heading home. I may play around with my ADR's though. I am getting a little paranoid about my ADR at Chef Mickeys being before buses begin running to MK that day.

 

[kaetra]

Arriving the night before and staying in Daytona sounds like an excellent idea! You'll have fresh faces for Mickey!

7:00am breakfast is very early indeed, but I think you're allowed to keep your car at Contemporary for up to 3 hours, no? That would give you time to eat, see MK Rope Drop maybe even do 1 or 2 early rides before you have to go back for your car at 10:00am. (Maybe there's a bit of wiggle room there too? I haven't done that before myself.)

Otherwise it would be a bit of a squeeze driving back to TTC then getting the monorail to MK.

 

[mandaxx0]

So exciting I'll be there the same time as you with just my daughters she's 6. I'm counting down the days to do my FP+ also.

 

[Anitsirk24]

Made some adjustments to my ADR's. So now, I have...

Sunday - dinner at 1900 Park Fare
Wednesday - lunch at Crystal Palace
Friday - breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
(the rest are the same)

I am also going to attempt to get a ADR for Be My Guest for lunch, since dinner hasn't been available, when those become available. I am so excited for us to try this place out. It looks beautiful!!

I am much happier with these adjustments. I like that the character experiences at 1900 Park Fare so different for dinner and breakfast, and that will allow Avery to meet some different characters. It will give her a really good experience the day we arrive as well, and give us a chance to do rope drop Wednesday without worrying about breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We can catch Mickey somewhere else for a meet and greet. Plus the reviews for 1900 are so much better than Chef Mickey's.

I also went ahead and booked the room in Daytona. Also made anther payment. Things are becoming more and more real!!!!

 

[Anitsirk24]

So excited!! I was able to book a lunch ADR at Be Our Guest yesterday afternoon for Wednesday!!

I did have to move my lunch ADR at Crystal Palace to dinner, but that is perfectly fine with me. I was so disappointed because it took me all day to get one. The system crashed a couple of times with everyone trying to make them, and I didn't think I'd be able to get one. I was checking every. single. day. and. time for any availability. Finally snagged the one I really wanted in the first place.

I am additionally happy that it will take care of one of our quick service credits. So double awesome!

The next thing will be our fast passes, which is next week. I plan to stay up until midnight to try and snag my wish list. I do need to try to sit down and figure out what days I want to do my Magic Kingdom attractions, so I am not running all over creation trying to get to each thing. Once I do that and have those nailed down, then my next goal will be to get an idea of what quick service places we'd like to try to go to. At least if I have an idea, that will be helpful, even though I won't completely commit to them. I do want SOME flexibility.

 

[jchurch0409]

Found your PTR today! We are going May 1-9. We also have a little over an 8 hour drive. We are leaving our early on the 1st and staying in Daytona the night before. Your plans look great!!