Chunkymonkey and ChubbyHubby EAT SLEEP SAIL DISNEY May 2015! Completed PTR - TR Links added!

[chunkymonkey]

Hi Everyone! I'm Su-Lynn a.k.a Chunky Monkey. It's been a while since I've done a PTR or TR but since our upcoming trip in May is going to involve several firsts I thought it'll be a good idea to get a PTR going! This trip starts off with our very first DCL cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Magic. We will be on the cruise for 5-nights before joining my sister, Chunky Sis, at the AoA (in a Cars Suite!) for our 7-night WDW vacay where we get the tail end of Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival and the start of Star Wars Weekends. May the force be with you. Hooray!

CAST:

Myself (Su-Lynn), on the right

I work in IT during the day and I am a travel blogger and Disney fan by night. I also used to dabble in wedding and portrait photography. I absolutely love to travel (Hawaii and Disney are our must-dos every year) but we just returned from an amazing trip to Bali, Indonesia last November and I want to plan more exotic trips to Asia (with maybe a stop in Tokyo Disneyland ) in the future! I also love to eat and dining at Disney is probably my favorite thing to do on our WDW vacations. Like everyone who writes a PTR or TR, I am the resident Disney vacation planner, and I've helped plan trips for myself, family, and friends. I'm still not an expert so I rely on these boards to help me out!

My favorite park is Epcot. My favorite ride is a tie between 7 Dwarves Mine Train and Toy Story Mania. My favorite princess is...hmm tough choice, I like Belle, and I like Elsa and Anna (but together). I love round things...my new favorite round thing is Baymax! I totally want to hug him.


DH a.k.a. Chubby Hubby, Steve

Steve is my wonderful hubby of 6 years. He works in finance in NYC and loves sports and geeky things like Star Wars and figuring out prime numbers in his head. Our very first trip together was WDW back in 2003 and we have continued the tradition of going there almost every year since then. He likes all thrill rides (EE, RnRC, TT) and will indulge me in going to any restaurant and taking pictures with princesses and cute, furry round things.

Steve and I are in our late 30s (approaching 40 very very soon!). We used to live on the Upper West Side of NYC for over 10 years but we bought a house just over a year ago so now we call the suburbs of NJ home. I still do miss living in NYC though!


Joining us on the cruise:

Steve's parents, two brothers: J and M, brother M's wife: S, and their 4 year old daughter Maddie. She is just adorable. We don't get to see them often since they live in California (Steve's parents and J live in So Cal, and M's family lives in No Cal). I don't have many pictures of all of us together but here is one from a trip we all took to Taiwan, which is where Steve's family is from.

Here's a pic of Me, Steve and Maddie (who was about 3 in this picture):

There will be 8 of us on this cruise! No one is a big cruiser so this is a new experience for us. It's great we can all get together again and I'm so happy to finally be going on a Disney Cruise! (I do get seasick but that is another story...) Unfortunately they will not be joining us for the rest of the trip in WDW as they have to head back to Cali, but that's ok as we'll have some new company!


Joining us in WDW:

My younger sister, Chunky Sis (will be known as CS from now on and she'll be in and out of the planning a lot). She's the creative and crafty one of the family. Visit her original card design website here. She and I went on a Frozen-themed sisters trip over labor day weekend last year and we had a blast! We did the Frozen dessert party and everything!

CS likes all sorts of girly things and she loves to dress up and take character pictures. She's always the first one to suggest we get Memory Maker! We act like we are 12 half the time even though we are the oldest of 4 girls. You can read about our crazy sisters trip back in 2011 in one of my TRs here. Even though CS and I are the two older sisters we think our younger sisters are the more "responsible" ones. They are both married and each have a daughter. They all enjoyed Disney but probably not enough to come back every year. I think they are soon gonna have to since our nieces are gonna be jealous of their aunts and uncle who "go to Disney every year."

Welcome to my new PTR and thanks for reading!​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Table of Contents

Introduction and Cast
How This Trip Came About
Figuring out Transportation and Logistics
Park Plans and ADRs so far
Flights Booked!
BOG Announces Lunch ADRs!
MK 24Hr Day announced, Pics of Frozen Summer Fun from 2014!
FP+ made! BOG Announced Breakfast ADRs!
Feel the Force Package Booked!
Disney Magic Cruise Plans
Cruise Stateroom Door Decor Project
Mickey Mail! Magic Bands and Cruise Line package

 

[chunkymonkey]

Since DH and I are kids of the 70's and 80's, we grew up with Star Wars all around us. My cousin even has all the original action figurines back when we were kids (I'm so jealous). DH is definitely more of a true fan and can quote the movies far better than I can, but we both agree that only Episodes IV, V, and VI exist. We were never one for prequels anyways (except for the Hobbit series which we liked).

Here's a picture of me with a Stormtrooper from NY Comic Con in October 2014:

I knew we would go to WDW for Star Wars Weekends one year, but we always seem to plan trips during the fall, when the deals are great and the parks less crowded. Then in 2014, when Disney released all this fantastic Star Wars-themed dining, I knew that we had to partake next year. I asked my sister and she said yes too!

The three of us will be on a WDW trip again!

When Disney released dates for 2015 Star Wars Weekends in late 2014, I started to plan and in a few days, put down a deposit for the three of us in a Cars Suite at AoA for 6 nights including the first Star Wars Weekend in May. We would also get to experience the last days of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! I think it's a win-win situation.

Here's a pic at the Cars section of AoA. In 2012, DH and I stayed in a Finding Nemo Suite and LOVED it. Although my favorite resort is the Poly, having a second bathroom is great especially when there is a 3rd adult!

I thought we were all set with the booking but fast forward to early 2015. Steve's brother, M, asked if we wanted to go on a Disney Cruise with the whole family! Um, yeah!! Their time frame was May/June and their only requirement was that it be a 5 or 7 night cruise and probably to the Bahamas or Caribbean. I did a bit of digging and found only a handful of cruises that we could go on in order to still be in the parks that weekend. We went back and forth and finally we went with the 5-night Bahamas Cruise on the classic Disney Magic!

Image from Comicbookresources.com

Of course it would have been nice to be on the brand new Dream or Fantasy but we're happy this cruise works out for everyone. Since we've never been on a DCL cruise, we have nothing to compare the Magic to! LOL.

We'll be in a verandah stateroom (the cheapest one we found) since I thought having some fresh air at any time would help me overcome any seasickness. The only cruise I've been on was a RC cruise in 2003. It was a short 4 night cruise and it was pretty fun, but I do not do well on boats and it took me a good 3 days just to get used to the motion. Regardless I just dealt with it and still had a good time. I'm hoping this cruise will be ok, I guess it's just getting used to it and getting my sea legs.

We had to shift our dates for the WDW portion of the trip a bit, but in the end it worked out because it resulted in a reduction in price!! So much so that we added on an extra night to Disney and now we'll be there for 7 nights instead of our usual 6!!!

Why so sad Eeyore? We're gonna be there an extra night!

Since this is my first DCL cruise, I need to figure out logistics of getting from the airport to the Port, and the from the Port to Disney, while getting everyone else back to the airport. Also my sister, who has always relied on me to do ALL the Disney planning (she would never find ME without me), has to figure out how to get from the airport to AoA on ME by herself.

If CS doesn't make it to Disney, The Claw can't get her!

I'm sure she'll figure it out.

 

[chunkymonkey]

DH's family are WDW newbies so they are relying on me to help with the planning. Although DH and I have already booked the cruise and our WDW trip, they have yet to book their cruise although they said they are "very close!" (We are using two separate agents since they are going with neighbor's friend and I am using my regular travel agent, Jason at Magical Vacations Travel who is awesome!)

What we all have already booked is the stay at the Orlando Airport Hyatt Regency the night before the cruise on May 9th. Since we will all by flying into Florida, I think getting there a day before is a good idea. It will give us a chance to meet up and get organized before the cruise. I had two free Hyatt night certificates to use before May 31 of this year, so it worked out well! We got two rooms with the certificates and then we paid for one room. Although this is an airport hotel, I am actually looking forward to staying here. I like aviation so I want to watch the planes on the runways taking off and landing!

View of the pool at the MCO Hyatt Regency. Hopefully we can see planes takeoff and land!

Pic from Hyatt website


I am trying to figure out the logistics to get from MCO to Port Canaveral on the day of the cruise. I know that Disney offers ME but it is 35 pp each way. With 8 in our party, I think it makes more sense to rent a private van to the port. I have gotten quotes from Happy Limo, which although pricey, is much cheaper than Disney transportation. The only advantage of having Disney transport is they take care of the luggage from the airport to your stateroom. With a private car service, we'd be responsible for our own luggage, but we are ok with that.

I am wondering what time to book the van service. I hear we are allowed to check in as early as 11:30am - but I am not sure what group boarding # we will be in. (I think this is assigned a few months out from the cruise?). I am supposed to allow about an hour to get from MCO to Port Canaveral but I also want to get a stop at a grocery store along the way (Happy Limo says we can have one 15 minute stop). That will be really cool as we can pick up some snacks and maybe wine and alcoholic stuff to drink in our staterooms. If we leave at 10am, I am assuming that gets us to Port Canaveral at around 11:15am. I don't know if that is too early or too late, but I think I may want to avoid the crowds. I hear the time in between the early arrivals and when the Disney buses get there (around 1:30pm I think) is probably not as crowded, but since this is our first cruise I am thinking we should just get there early and see how it is.

When we arrive back in Port Canaveral on May 15th, this is my dilemma. I got a quote from Happy Limo for a round-trip reservation and it would cost the same no matter how many people are in the van (it's a 10 pax van). We were given a $15 discount which only applies to round trip services. DH's family will be heading back to the airport but DH and I will be heading to WDW. Should DH and I pay separately for another transport to WDW?

OPTION 1: We can take Disney ME and pay 35 pp and go to WDW straight from Port Canaveral. Most likely we'd be in a bus full of people going to WDW too and make several stops along the way, just like any other ME bus. I think we would still pay for our share in the van too, just so it's distributed evenly amongst everyone.

OR

OPTION 2: We can go back to MCO on the same van with DH's family and then take ME from there to AoA. Since the airport to WDW ME is included with our Magic Your Way reservation we won't have to pay anything extra for this. This will probably add an additional hour/hour and a half to the transfer time.

OR

OPTION 3: We reserve an additional private car transfer to WDW from Port, but this is a very expensive option and will only be used if we happen to find a small fortune somewhere. (so this is not happening)
Anyone have any advice on what you would do? An extra 70 dollars is a lot but if it gets us to the resort a lot quicker it would be nice. I just don't know how long the Port to WDW buses take. Maybe they do a lot more resort stops than the airport ME buses?

Right now Option 2 is the most economical and the one I'm leaning towards unless I can figure out something better!

Coming up, I will detail what ADRs I have so far...

 

[chunkymonkey]

So after I booked the land portion of the trip in November of last year, I knew I had a short amount of time before the 180 days mark to make my ADRs for May. I kind of wasn't on my game on this one. Usually I set my calendar 180 days out and get all the ADRs I want. This time, since we hosted Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve at our house, I was so busy being the host that I completely forgot to set my calendar and I did not get the one reservation that I and everyone else wanted, Be Our Guest

Oh well. CS and I ate there in September last year and LOVED it. I actually booked BOG last year before we even booked our trip!

With Beast at BOG in 2014

DH hasn't eaten there for dinner so I was looking forward for him to try it, but it's ok, we got the other meals we wanted, and I guess we can still go for lunch.

Our grey stuff cupcake we got one year at BOG lunch. It was delicious!

CS is pretty adamant about trying new restaurants every year. I am keen on doing that too although I do like to revisit old favorites like Biergarten and Liberty Tree Tavern (for dinner). But the three of us agree that Ohana is da bomb. We love the bananas foster bread pudding! We don't even need the bananas foster sauce, just bread pudding with the giant globe of ice cream! We may not get seconds of anything else but we always do so for that dessert!

This is worth the calories...

Here is our schedule as of now. We have 8-day park hoppers so we're pretty flexible:

Friday May 15: We all arrive sometime in the afternoon at AoA, rest, laundry (if necessary, for DH and I who came from the cruise),then pool time! Then we'll probably do DTD and a park later that night. I don't have an ADR today because I wanted to keep it open. We may catch Wishes at MK, Illuminations at Epcot or Fantasmic at DHS.

Saturday May 16: DHS for Star Wars Weekends!
We have the two Star Wars character meals for breakfast and dinner reserved for today. I'm hoping I can book the fireworks dessert party for today as well so we get to do everything Star Wars in one day. I'm not sure if we can catch Fantasmic as well but it'll be a plus if we do!

Sunday May 17: I'm leaving this between DHS, Epcot and MK. I don't know what events will be happening today for Star Wars Weekends so we may go to that. We also want to go to Epcot if we didn't get a chance to try the Flower and Garden kiosks yet since it is the last day of the festival. ADR that evening at Yachtsman's Steakhouse

Monday May 18: MK today. I have ADRs for CRT for breakfast and dinner. I 'm going to cancel one of them but I'm still deciding which one. Will probably have to discuss with DH and DS.

Tuesday May 19: AK today.I have lunch ADRs at Yak and YetiI think we'll also go to DTD before we head to the Poly for our dinner ADR at Ohana! We'll probably watch Wishes from Ohana as we usually do.

Wednesday May 20: We'll start at Epcot but most likely we'll park hop a bit. I don't have an ADR planned yet because I'm not sure where we'll be. I really want to use this night to catch any shows that we may have missed, like Wishes or Fantasmic.

Thursday May 21: I think we'll start at DHS and park hop. Usually on my last night I have to be in Epcot for Illuminations because it's my favorite park. I've reserved ADRs for La Hacienda de San Angel. Hopefully we can request a view of the lagoon for the show!

Friday May 22: Our last day! Our flight will most likely be in the evening and so we're planning on going to MK today. I am thinking of moving our CRT Breakfast ADR to this day. It's always bittersweet to end your vacation at MK but glad that we have enough time on our last day to get in a few rides and meet n greets. Then we'll head back to AoA and board ME for our flight home. I'm hoping we miss some of the Memorial Day weekend crowds by leaving on Friday!

That's our plan so far. I've been toying around with crowd calendars and stuff but I try not to let it dictate where we go. I still have a few ADRs to make, and I've set my calendar for our FP+ date already! Will probably check back frequently to see if I can get a BOG dinner ADR but I think it is a long shot.

I still have a list of restaurants that I either want to try or want to revisit again. We went to Tusker House twice before and we love it too! We have not been to Yak and Yeti that's why I've included it on this trip, but I love this picture we got in 2013 at Tusker House:

Maybe I need to include more Character Dining in this trip!?!

Also toying around with the idea of doing the dining plan. I think for this trip what makes sense for us is the Deluxe dining since we have so many 2 TS credit meals. However, I think we will probably just pay OOP since deluxe dining is pretty expensive to begin with and it may be too much food and sitting down to eat. I am still thinking about it though.

 

[ursalita]

Hi! I'm happy to follow along with planning this fantastic trip. The timing to include the cruise, Star Wars, and Flower and Garden is perfect.

When I was planning our trip we first considered doing a Disney cruise. They look like so much fun.

I think I would go with Option 2. I don't know if this is a benefit or not but it will give you a little more time with family before they fly back.

Your ADRs look great. I hope you're able to get BOG dinner or lunch FP. It wasn't a priority for us but the castle looks amazing.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

Looks like you have a great trip planned land and sea

I have tried to get my DH on a cruise but he is not interested. I have only been to Disney with family once back in 2009. We went with my brother and his family. We had a good time but with different schedules its hard to makes plans. We do talk about going back family style again.

Ohanas Yummmy!!, we have to eat there every trip.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi! I'm happy to follow along with planning this fantastic trip. The timing to include the cruise, Star Wars, and Flower and Garden is perfect.

When I was planning our trip we first considered doing a Disney cruise. They look like so much fun.

I think I would go with Option 2. I don't know if this is a benefit or not but it will give you a little more time with family before they fly back.

Your ADRs look great. I hope you're able to get BOG dinner or lunch FP. It wasn't a priority for us but the castle looks amazing.

Hi ursalita! Thanks for being my first visitor! I'm happy you're along for the ride! I hope I can get my act together to make everyone's vacation fun and relaxing. Sometimes being the only planner can be a bit stressful but I think everyone who posts on these boards seem to secretly relish and enjoy it. I think it's part of the whole Disney experience!

I think you're right with going with Option 2. It seems like the most sensible choice right now.

I'm going to try BOG every day if I can! So far it doesn't look promising.

Looks like you have a great trip planned land and sea

I have tried to get my DH on a cruise but he is not interested. I have only been to Disney with family once back in 2009. We went with my brother and his family. We had a good time but with different schedules its hard to makes plans. We do talk about going back family style again.

Ohanas Yummmy!!, we have to eat there every trip.

Hi yeheyprincex2!! Thanks for following along!
It is pretty hard to plan for family. I have a family of 11 people including my 3 sisters, 2 BILs, 2 nieces, and my parents...oh and me and DH of course. They all say they do want to go back to Disney but when I tell them when we are going no one seems to be free or want to spend the money just yet. I think it's also because my nieces are too young. They are only 2 and 1 right now and rather shy, so we'll save the big family trip for a few years from now.

I never thought I'd take a Disney cruise actually. They all seemed great but when it came down to it, we'd rather just spend our time and money at the parks! But since it was suggested to us and it's with family, we couldn't say no!

We eat at Ohana on every trip too...in fact one year during free dining, we shifted our dates one day because that was the only day I could get a reservation for us.

 

[chunkymonkey]

So our flights are booked! There is no turning back now!

DH and I will be flying down via Jetblue the day before the cruise (May 9) As I mentioned previously we will be staying at the Hyatt Regency at the airport for one night along with the rest of DH's family who will also be flying in that day. We arrive at around 1:30 in the afternoon which will probably let us chill for a bit, maybe do some shopping at the Disney stores at the airport, and eat at my favorite fast food place, Chick-fil-a!

The next day we all board into a 10-pax van I hired from Happy Limo (using a mousesavers code too!) to take us to Port Canaveral for our cruise.

Chunky Sis will be coming to Orlando Jetblue on May 15th at around 1pm. She will take ME to our resort, AoA and meet us there. I think I'm going with the plan to just return to the airport with DH's family in the van and then take ME from there. It's not going to cost extra and I can't expect it will take much longer than paying for a car service directly to AoA from Port Canaveral.

Can't wait for Star Wars Weekends!

All 3 of us will be returning to New Jersey on Friday May 22nd. We'll hopefully miss some of the memorial day weekend crowds. I'm looking forward to this vacation more and more!

On a side note, we on the northeast were hit by superstorm for the past 2 days, but it wasn't as big as we thought it would be, at least in the NYC and northern NJ area. I definitely have been through worse snow storms before, but I decided to just take the day off yesterday and enjoy a not so snowy snow day anyways.

I took this picture before the worst of the snow hit on Monday afternoon. This is taken from my office in Hoboken, NJ facing downtown Manhattan. That's supposed to be the Freedom Tower in the background that is partially blurred by snow and fog.

​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Hi there! Joining in!

We will be down there about the same time. YOur arrival to WDW day is my departure day.

Sounds like you got the base for some good plans going.

And as to the snow.... Better you then me! I'm a southern girl through and through. a light dusting every few years is fun but thats about it.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi there! Joining in!

We will be down there about the same time. YOur arrival to WDW day is my departure day.

Sounds like you got the base for some good plans going.

And as to the snow.... Better you then me! I'm a southern girl through and through. a light dusting every few years is fun but thats about it.

Hi! Thanks for visiting! I responded over on your PTR too! That's funny that my arrival is your departure! I hope it'll be a good time to go! We're hoping the crowds won't be as bad as right after Memorial day but who knows...

I think I am a person who doesn't like extreme weather...too hot or too cold. I probably would be a good candidate to move to someplace like California...but my heart is in the North East! It's just where I grew up...just wish it wasn't so cold in the winter! Maybe you can send warm vibes my way.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Less than 3 months to go....Exciting stuff! Your plans sound nifty! Hope you aren't deluged by snow again.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Less than 3 months to go....Exciting stuff! Your plans sound nifty! Hope you aren't deluged by snow again.

Ha, we are getting hit by sleet right now which is supposed to turn to snow later. The commute tomorrow will be bad I just know it!

 

[chunkymonkey]

It's been a while since I've updated but not much has changed with our plans...until BOG started releasing ADRs for lunch! It's not the same as dinner, but at least now we are guaranteed a time to eat at BOG! It was funny because the day that they released the dining, I was actually on vacation in...Kauai! We went to Hawaii for a week at the end of February where I celebrated my birthday with DH! It was a fantastic trip...you can read all about it HERE on my blog, and I'm constantly adding new posts as well!

I spent my birthday here, in Kauai, Hawaii, and it was warm and fantastic!

So since we were on vacation I asked ChunkySis to see if she could make ADRs the day they were released. I thought they would be like FP+, and that they would be released right at midnight on Feb 25th...but she was up until then and they wouldn't let her make an ADR! She even tried again early morning on the 25th to no avail. I guess according to her they were released at 6am rather than midnight. In any case, I managed to log in during the day with my iPhone and managed to snag 2 ADRs! Still deciding which one to keep (we may keep both!) but that probably the only big change in our plans!

Plans to date:

Friday May 15: We all arrive sometime in the afternoon at AoA, rest, laundry (if necessary, for DH and I who came from the cruise),then pool time! Then we'll probably do DTD and a park later that night. I don't have an ADR today because I wanted to keep it open. We may catch Wishes at MK, Illuminations at Epcot or Fantasmic at DHS.

Saturday May 16: DHS for Star Wars Weekends!
We have the two Star Wars character meals for breakfast and dinner reserved for today. I'm hoping I can also book the Feel the Force package for today as well so we get to do everything Star Wars in one day. I'm not sure if we can catch Fantasmic! as well but it'll be a plus if we do! I have not heard any news about the FtF package for 2015 yet...I am hoping it will be soon, maybe closer to April? Only the VIP package is available right now and that is a little too expensive for us, especially ChunkySis who is not as much of a Star Wars fan as we are.

Sunday May 17: I'm leaving this between DHS, Epcot and MK. I don't know what events will be happening today for Star Wars Weekends so we may go to that. We also want to go to Epcot if we didn't get a chance to try the Flower and Garden kiosks yet since it is the last day of the festival. ADR that evening at Yachtsman's Steakhouse

Monday May 18: MK today. I have an ADR at CRT for breakfast. I canceled the dinner ADR for CRT, but added BOG for lunch! I think it may be MK all day, with a resort/pool break in between. I think we will try and catch Wishes tonight if we haven't done so already.

Tuesday May 19: AK today.I have lunch ADR at Yak and Yeti which will be a first for all of us! I think we'll also go from AK to DTD before we head to the Poly for our dinner ADR at Ohana! We'll probably watch Wishes again from Ohana as we usually do.

Wednesday May 20: We'll start at Epcot but most likely we'll park hop a bit in case we missed some stuff in other parks. I don't have an ADR planned yet because I'm not sure where we'll be. I really want to use this night to catch any shows that we may have missed, like Fantasmic!

Thursday May 21: I think we'll start at DHS and park hop. Usually on my last night I have to be in Epcot for Illuminations because it's my favorite park. I've reserved ADRs for dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel. Hopefully we can request a view of the lagoon for the show!

Friday May 22: Our last day! Our flight is in the evening at around 7:45pm. I have a late lunch ADR at BOG. I may most likely keep this unless we decided not to do BOG again. I am also thinking about changing our CRT breakfast to today but that will be 2 meals on our last day which will be a short day anyways so we may want to go on more rides.

There are always restaurants I want to try too..Flying Fish, California Grill, Whispering Canyon, Nine Dragons, just to name a few, so I'll keep those in mind too!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Sounds like some good plans.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Sounds like some good plans.

Thanks! We're getting there...just waiting for the FP+ date and then we should be set, I hope!

 

[chunkymonkey]

So today they announced the 24 hour event at MK for the Friday before Memorial day. That is the day we depart but we still have a good deal of time at the parks, and that was a designated MK day. Does anyone know if it's going to be really crazy at MK that day? I assume that it will be, but maybe we will just go for the morning (rope drop at 6am??!!!) and park hop in the afternoon...or visit DTD in case MK gets too crowded. It'll be kind of interesting to see all the celebrations they will have though...looks like they are going to kick off the summer with a Frozen Coolest Summer Ever event and the return of Frozen Summer Fun. We went to this last year and it was a lot of fun!

Here are some pics from last year at Frozen Summer Fun events and photo ops:

They were handing out these Olaf fans during the Summer Fun days at DHS:

The ice skating rink, which is now closed due to the Toy Story Mania expansion:

Some of the desserts they had at the Fireworks

And finally the fireworks (which were partially blocked by the stage, argh)

 

[chunkymonkey]

So, two big things happened in the past few days...I made my FP+ reservations! I stayed up until almost 1am on Sunday night (Monday AM) making FP+ reservations and then modifying some of them. I even went to work at my usual time at 8am! Needless to say I was tired all day.

Then, on Monday they also announced Be Our Guest was going to serve breakfast and it was happening during our time frame. So of course we had to add those on too! I knew the reservations would not appear right at midnight so I just set my alarm for really early Tuesday morning. When I woke up, it was around 6:15am. I logged into the website and I think the server was a little overloaded because I had difficulty making a reservation. It wasn't that there weren't any available, the website kept saying no data could be returned! So then I tried on my ipad and I managed to snag a reservation for our last day at WDW!

I would have actually preferred to have breakfast on another MK day but the only other time we would be at MK during the morning we already have a CRT ressie. I can't change that one because there are no other breakfast ADRs available during our dates! So the way we have it now, we are going to BOG twice on the same day. I will have to tinker with the ADRs a bit, it's just that I know when I cancel one, I most likely can't get it back again so I have to be sure on what we want to do!

Here's our schedule now including our FP+ reservations:

Friday May 15: We all arrive sometime in the early afternoon at AoA, rest, laundry (if necessary, for DH and I who came from the cruise),then pool time! Then we'll probably do DTD for a bit before heading to MK!

3:30-4:30pm BTMRR
4:30-5:30pm Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel
5:55-6:55pm 7DMT
After we use our last FP+ I was thinking of getting another one for the Wishes viewing area, provided it's still available at that time.
No meal ADRs today, we will probably grab some QS - maybe Casey's Corner for corn dog nuggets?

Saturday May 16: DHS for Star Wars Weekends!

9:15am Star Wars Galactic Dine In Breakfast
12:05-1:05pm Star Tours
1:15-1:30pm Frozen Sing-a-long (do I really need FP+ for this? Is it still really popular?)
3-4pm Toy Story Mania
After our last FP is up I'm hoping to get FP+ for RnRC!
5:40pm Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood and Vine

Hoping to do the Feel the Force package and get tix to the fireworks and dessert party! Hopefully they announce it soon.

Sunday May 17: Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! Today is an Epcot day I think, as long as there is nothing we want to do or missed Star Wars-related at DHS.

11am-12pm Spaceship Earth
12-1pm Character Spot
1:35-2:35pm Test Track
6:45pm ADR that evening at Yachtsman's Steakhouse – we’ll probably take the ferry to the Yacht Club a bit earlier as we’ve not really explored that area much. I’m looking forward to this as I hear it’s a great steakhouse!

I’m hoping we will be done in time to go back to Epcot and watch Illuminations or maybe Fantasmic! if we missed it the day before. I am wondering if I should move this dinner up by a bit just so we have enough time to get back to Epcot.

Monday May 18: MK today.

9:15am ADR at Cinderella’s Royal Table
11:30-12:30pm 7DMT
1:15pm ADR at Be Our Guest (not sure if we’re keeping this one because we have another one on our last day)
Maybe a resort break after lunch for pool/relaxing
5:10-6:10pm BTMRR May have to change this time because I don’t know why it’s so late.
8-9pm PFH Anna and Elsa (this was the only time I could get that day!)

Wishes that evening

Tuesday May 19: AK today.

9:10-10:10am Kilimanjaro Safari
DH and Chunky Sis will do single rider at EE. I am not fond of that ride so we’ll split up and I’ll most likely go shopping.
10:50-11:50am Characters at Adventure Outpost
12pm ADR Yak and Yeti
1:45-2:45pm Kali River Rapids
Depending on how wet we get we may head back to the resort or keep going!
8pm ADR ‘Ohana

Wednesday May 20: We'll start at DHS but most likely we'll park hop a bit in case we missed some stuff in other parks.

9:45-10:45am TSM
10:45-11:05am Indiana Jones
11:55-12:55pm Star Tours
We'll probably get another FP+ for RnRC
No ADRs yet for today. I think I want to try and go to Flying Fish though for dinner.

Thursday May 21: Epcot

We’ll go to Test Track at Rope Drop.
10:10-11:10am Character Spot
11:25-12:25am Soarin’
1:10-2:10pm Mission: Space
8:15pm ADR for dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel. Hopefully we can request a view of the lagoon for the show!

Friday May 22: Our last day! We will be going to MK today. This is the 24 hour day and the park opens at 6am!! Not sure how early we get there though…

9:35am ADR for BOG breakfast
11am-12pm Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (May swap this for Peter Pan's Flight. I forget which one has the longer lines usually)
12-1pm PFH Anna and Elsa (I know we already have Anna and Elsa but this is a backup. If we don’t need it then I will switch it out for something else.)
1:15-2:15pm 7DMT
2:15pm ADR at BOG
In a few hours we will have to leave WDW. Boo!
Flight that evening home.

TO DOs:
- Make one or two more ADRs, not sure where yet.
- Buy tix for Feel the Force package when they come out
- Buy Memory Maker

So those are our plans to date! What do you think? I will probably tinker around with the FP+ times a bit until the trip, but for now, I’m glad I got everything I wanted! I’m always torn between making FP+ for early in the day or later in the day. I’m still learning the system since we only experienced it once last year. We definitely did not get to ride as many of our favorites rides multiple times in one day without waiting in a long standby. I guess it's a trade off as you can get into the park later and still be guaranteed an FP to a ride. I am still pretty old school though and I liked the paper Fast Passes.

 

[cajunfan]

Finally caught up! Right now we have the Star Wars breakfast the same day as you but ours is at 8:30, so we may see you there. This is one that we are not sure that we are keeping. I really don't want to drop it as it was one that Matt really wanted to do since he is a Star Wars geek. But financially we may need to.

Lynn

 

[Gracefulskinny]

PLans look good!