Even Miracles Take a Little Time -A March 2017 PTR-

[MochaDrinker]

My sister doesn't think SoG is "Disney" enought for her, whatever that means. So in the interest of keeping everyone happy we settled on CBR. We could change our minds again, cause we're not going until November 2017

 

[Sarahh1027]

I am so very sorry to hear about your Grandaddy He seems like a wonderful man and the picture of you with him is very precious.

Our disney stickers came in and DD1 really enjoyed decorating our spare change jar that has now become our Disney Fund jar

Love this!! Before our trip last year I set up a "Disney Corner" on a little table in our house. It had 4 of those plastic Disney character cups to sort change in. There was a cup for pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters. It was fun to sort them as we saved! The table was decorated with Disney pictures, all my Disney ornaments, and other little Disney things like all my pez dispensers. It was sad when it came time to take it down after our trip! But the money we saved we cashed in for a Disney gift card which bought a lot of our snacks for the week!

Also... DD1 picked our next movie: Alice in Wonderland!!!!!

Aww yay!! I can't wait to hear how it goes!! I just bought Snow White on BluRay today...I CAN'T WAIT! She's my favorite and it's been ages since I've seen it!

The difference in cost between the 2 plans is minimal, so really either one could work. I love SOG, but would really like to stay somewhere new and have the DDP for this trip. But, if we have to use Plan B, there will be no tears shed.

I like that you have a plan B! I mean, ya never know. My parents stayed at CBR for their honeymoon over 25 years ago, and loved it! It's my dream moderate resort. But as you probably know from my pre-trip report, I adore SOG. I was sorta bummed at first because it didn't seem Disney enough, like MochaDrinker's sister. But a fun fact about this resort is in the little restaurant by the pool with the kid's area and arcade, they have a room with all Disney pictures. Such a nice hidden gem. But i really do love this resort. Ontop of the price and amenities, it just feels like home while I'm there. The lobby is stunning and the waterfall area when you head to the bus stop really feels like home. It has that faint smell that Disney water has, like Splash Mountain. I love it. So either way I don't think you can go wrong with SOG or CBR.

 

[jmccoy18]

@MochaDrinker

Sorry I didn't welcome you after your first post. I can understand about it not being "Disney" enough, but I still felt the magic there. It sounds like we are almost planning the same trip except for the dates!

 

[MochaDrinker]

Thanks for the welcome. Our vacations are oddly similar.

 

[jmccoy18]

@Sarahh1027 Thanks for your sentiments about my Grandaddy. Yay for getting Snow White! The copy we have is very old, so the quality isn't very good. I'm sure it looks great on your new BluRay! I also agree about not going wrong with either CBR or SOG... either way I'm at Disney

 

[mdsouth]

I just want to offer my condolences on the loss of your grandfather. The pictures you posted of the two of you are precious. You can see in the photos his devotion to you. They capture the Disney magic that brings families together.

I think both your options are great ones. When my father was still alive, I was checking out the SOG website for a possible trip and loved the photos of the resort. It looks so beautiful and relaxing. Being so close that you can walk to the Poly and MK would be fantastic!

Your Dumbo family movie night looks like a big success! Loved the clown ice cream cones! They turned out really cute! I am not very creative myself about making theme dinners, etc. so I just might have to borrow some of your ideas that you share from your family movie nights to plan some of my own.

Looking forward to reading more about your plans!

 

[jmccoy18]

I just want to offer my condolences on the loss of your grandfather. The pictures you posted of the two of you are precious. You can see in the photos his devotion to you. They capture the Disney magic that brings families together.

I think both your options are great ones. When my father was still alive, I was checking out the SOG website for a possible trip and loved the photos of the resort. It looks so beautiful and relaxing. Being so close that you can walk to the Poly and MK would be fantastic!

Your Dumbo family movie night looks like a big success! Loved the clown ice cream cones! They turned out really cute! I am not very creative myself about making theme dinners, etc. so I just might have to borrow some of your ideas that you share from your family movie nights to plan some of my own.

Looking forward to reading more about your plans!

Thanks for your thoughts. He really was a great man.

Dumbo movie night was really fun and we are looking forward to Alice in Wonderland coming up this weekend. Some of the themed dinners are my ideas, but I got a lot of ideas from a thread in the Familes forum. But you are welcome to anything we do! It's all about trying to get a little bit of that Disney magic at home

 

[jmccoy18]

Progress Update
I have some exciting news!!!!!! With still a year and some change to go, we have been able to save 100% of the money we will need to book our package and 95% of the extra money we will need for our trip (tickets, tip money, etc...)

SO.... DH and I have been discussing adding and extra night and getting a 1 day ticket for our extra day! With the AFS tickets, it is cheaper (about $75 per person cheaper) to get the AFS tickets (4dPH) and then a 1d ticket than it would be to get a 5dPH with the military discount. It would be so great if we could spend 2 days at MK, instead of trying to shove it all into 1 and maybe an extra evening.

 

[Sarahh1027]

I have some exciting news!!!!!! With still a year and some change to go, we have been able to save 100% of the money we will need to book our package and 95% of the extra money we will need for our trip (tickets, tip money, etc...)

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!! That is AMAZING!!!! You guys are doing it right!!

It would be so great if we could spend 2 days at MK, instead of trying to shove it all into 1 and maybe an extra evening.

Oh man you guys gotta do it! Two days in Magic Kingdom is so perfect! That's like my upcoming trip- and since you guys have the military tickets, you're still saving more money doing that and getting a one day base pass or two day park hopper.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Oh I meant to ask- What branch is your husband in? Military families are amazing- you guys know the true definition of sacrifice. So thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you to both him and you

 

[jmccoy18]

Oh I meant to ask- What branch is your husband in? Military families are amazing- you guys know the true definition of sacrifice. So thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you to both him and you

He is Air Force. Thanks

 

[jmccoy18]

Alice in Wonderland Movie Night

Tomorrow we will be having our second movie night. DD1 picked Alice in Wonderland; I'm secretly glad she did because this is an easy movie to have a theme dinner. We will be haivng a "Very Merry Unbirthday Tea Party!"

Our Menu:
Tea sandwiches- cucumber, peanut butter, ham and cheese
Mini croissants with butter, honey, and jam
Fruit salad
Tea (or hot chocolate)
Unbirthday Cake
Tea Cookies

I'll update tomorrow with how it goes!

::Edit:: Picture update!

Tonight was so much fun! DD1 loved Alice in Wonderland and laughed almost the entire time. I'm pretty sure wonderland is a perfect place for a 4 year old girl!

Here is our spread:

Man those cucumber sandwiches were good! DD1 helped to cut out the sandwiches and decorate the unbirthday cake. She enjoyed being a "chef" in the kitchen with me.

DD1 said her favorite part was the Cheshire Cat because he was really silly. I personally like the tea party.

Movie night #2 was another success!

 

[mdsouth]

The food looks delicious! I know it must have been fun for the two of you to prepare the food together.

FANTASTIC NEWS about adding another day! You will be so glad you have the second day at MK! There is just so much to do in that park, especially for a child your daughter's age. I know that we still did not get through it all in the two days that we had there.

I just have to go back so I can finish seeing and doing everything in MK that I missed on my last trip!

 

[jmccoy18]

The food looks delicious! I know it must have been fun for the two of you to prepare the food together.

FANTASTIC NEWS about adding another day! You will be so glad you have the second day at MK! There is just so much to do in that park, especially for a child your daughter's age. I know that we still did not get through it all in the two days that we had there.

I just have to go back so I can finish seeing and doing everything in MK that I missed on my last trip!

I know!!!! I'm so excited about the extra day. I was dreading having to pick and choose things at MK, and now we won't have to for the most part.

 

[jmccoy18]

Planning Update
So now that we know we are going to be staying for 7 nights, we have 2 different options for our schedule while at Disney World.

Schedule 1: Saturday-Saturday

• Day 1- Travel/Arrival Day
  • Hopefully arrive mid to late afternoon, check-in, DTD to activate AFS tickets and dinner
• Day 2- Resort Day
  • CM for breakfast, pool time/explore resort, maybe dinner at Ohana
• Day 3- Park Day
  • All the park days will depend on what the crowd calendars say as to what park we will visit on what day, but we are planning on 3 full park days (park/back to resort for nap/park) and 2 half days (park/back to resort for nap/whatever we want.) I am hoping that the full days will be broken up with half days inbetween them, but that is TBD depending on what the crowd calendars say.
• Day 4- Park Day
• Day 5- Park Day
• Day 6- Park Day
• Day 7- Park Day
• Day 8- Departure/Travel Day
  • Leave on early flight

OR

Schedule 2: Saturday-Saturday

• Day 1- Travel/Arrival Day
  • Hopefully arrive early (earliest flight would get us to MCO at 11:30), check-in, DTD to activate AFS tickets and dinner
• Day 2- Park Day
  • All the park days will depend on what the crowd calendars say as to what park we will visit on what day, but we are planning on 3 full park days (park/back to resort for nap/park) and 2 half days (park/back to resort for nap/whatever we want.)
• Day 3- Park Day
• Day 4- Resort Day
  • • CM for breakfast, pool/explore resort, maybe Ohana for dinner
• Day 5- Park Day
• Day 6- Park Day
• Day 7- Park Day
• Day 8- Departure/Travel Day
  • Leave on early flight

I would like to do schedule 1, as going to CM before we go to the parks is one of our traditions and I would really like to do this. However, I'm not sure if doing the parks 5 days in a row without a break inbetween is wise. Especially since we are RD people. It might be possible to do CM for dinner on arrival day, but we would still need to activate our tickets and I like to do that before we get to the parks.

hmmmmmmm...

 

[mdsouth]

I vote for schedule two. Speaking from my family's experience, we were all excited to go and explore the parks at the beginning of the trip and then we just hit a wall midway through the week and needed extended down time.

You can still plan on Chef Mickey's early in the week. If you are having breakfast there, you would just arrive at the park a bit later. So, schedule your Fastpasses on that day for the late morning, afternoon or evening times when the lines would be long.

 

[jmccoy18]

Planning Update
Ok, I've had some time to think about our scheduling situation. I'm 99.5% sure we are going to go with schedule 2 with a few modifications to our arrival day and resort day.

Day 1: Travel/Arrival Day

• I am hoping to get the earliest flight out and that would put us at MCO around 11:30am.
• MDE to CBR
• go to MK ticket counter to activate our AFS tickets
• CM for dinner (can walk over from MK and then walk back to MK to get back to CBR)

Day 2: Park Day
Day 3: Park Day
Day 4: Resort Day

• All morning at resort to explore and pool time
• DTD after nap and dinner there

Day 5: Park Day
Day 6: Park Day
Day 7: Park Day
Day 8: Travel/Departure Day

 

[abarriger]

Oh my gosh your movie nights are ADORABLE! Your daughter must be thrilled.

 

[jmccoy18]

@abarriger

We have had a lot of fun with our movie nights; thanks! DD1 has really enjoyed them and I like that it gives us something to look forward to that isn't as far away as our WDW trip. We probably won't do another one until mid March just because of all the other things we have going on around here, but I better let DD1 pick the movie so I can start coming up with our menu

 

[mdsouth]

Your adjusted plans look good!

I love to plan what we will be doing in each park we visit and I usually always start with my plans for MK.
So, I thought I would ask you what are your plans for your two days at MK. I think you said you plan to start at MK too, right? We can pass the time talking about each of the other park days one at a time.

At MK, what rides do you think will be your priorities for Fastpasses?


I typically get a Fastpass for Peter Pan since the lines are so long most of the time.
The new 7 Dwarfs Mine train was not open when we were last there, but when we go again, I plan to get a Fastpass for it. Oh, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is another one I Fastpass.

Splash Mountain would be one I would get one for too on our second day. Last trip, I got Space Mountain fastpasses and they used them but no one in my family is really wanting to do it again, so we plan to skip that ride next time.

What about you?


Have you thought about where you want to eat for a counter service at MK? We loved BOG for lunch and had a Fastpass for it. I ordered ahead of time and it worked out great for us. I love that the cost of the meals are similar to other counter service meals.