Loving your random smiles!
Thanks! Isn't it fun to use the ones that normally are totally irrelevant?
(oh and
just because I can!)
Plans look like lots of fun! By now you are a pro at planning for taking a toddler! And how to best utilize the FP+ with them!
Well, I'm trying at least. These little ones do change so much so quickly, though, that it's hard to ever feel totally prepared. But I've managed to learn a few things, at least.
Garden Grove is a great choice! A long time ago (2006) Bob had a conference at the swan and dolphin. I went along with him and this was long before I knew anything about Disbords or Disney planning in general. While he was working during the day I would hang out at the pool, walk around the boardwalk and beach club and have meals at various area spots. The first night he had a dinner so I was on my own. I stumbled into Garden Grove to see if I could get some dinner and they were no where near busy and I was seated right away. Despite dining alone (not something I like doing) I had a great meal. I ended up eating there at least 3 times! As a side note I remebered being so impressed with the entire Boardwalk/beach club area! I loved getting up in the morning and walking around! Your update just brought back a lovely memory for me thank you!
Sometimes I even forget about that trip, I spent a lot of time by myself that time, now time alone at Disney sounds like heaven.
Aw, thanks for sharing the memories!
That Disney alone time does sound lovely. Relaxed, taking in the resorts, and good dining.
That is a heck of a plan! I love the plans for the 24 hour MK day. Only I look at it and think it would be so much nicer to have that as the day before the cruise rather than the first day after the cruise. Nothing you can do about that though, and at least you get to experience it!
Yeah, at least it's during the WDW part of our trip. If it were right before the cruise, I'd be worried about being too tired to fully enjoy the cruise, though - those things aren't cheap, so I want to squeeze every moment of fun out of it that I can.
Wow - those are quite the plans! And quite the smilies (funny that one of my thoughts was - she is going to hit that 25 "image": limit ... but then you cleared that up for me that smiles no longer count towards the limit
I love smilies and now I can use them freely without limits!
(You're welcome).
I think my favorite random smile was: "
then catch a monorail over to the MK for when she wakes up. 
" ... was the Spiderman for the monorail or for waking Izzy up?
That was one of those totally random placements. I saw it and wanted to use it and just threw it in somewhere that didn't have a smilie yet.
But you are right that I did try to line some up with semi-related words.
That would be great if you get to the 24 hour day some - just the idea of a parade at 1am is pretty cool. I think just soaking up the atmosphere and maybe trying to get some of the "special" stuff (food/cupcakes, merchandise, etc.) would be sufficient and then just whatever rides you feel like. I be the Jungle Cruise at like 3am would be a hoot.
Ooooh, I forgot about the special stuff. I never paid much attention to the details of the 24 hour day, as I never really thought about being there. I'll have to look into things. I'm excited!
Not sure if you follow Amberg93 or Marielightning's TRs but they frequent Mama Melrose and really like it - they always get the steak and rave about it. Obviously just one point of view but at least one positive point of reference
I haven't read their reports, but that is great to know. Mmmm, steak! That does make me feel better.
You obviously have all the strategies planned out but the fact you have to book all these "throwaway" FP+ is definitely a negative aspect to the system. Even our last trip there was a day or two where it would have been easier if we could only book 1 or 2 FP+ rather than having to mess with exactly 3
I agree. We're in DHS so often and it feels silly to keep booking the same FP+ over and over. But we need three and we can't split parks and we need the SWW shows...sigh.
And that is great you are getting into CRT while Izzy is still under 3. Still not a cheap meal but I know the fact we didn't have to pay for everyone in our party made it must more tolerable
Yeah, I think I got the idea from you.
I am very much in favor of doing things as cheaply as possible.
Izzy is really looking forward to it. She keeps telling people that she is going to eat in the castle.
Looks like good plans for your 3rd part of the trip.
Thanks!
I fully support this decision! There are so many random smilies and I am always itching to use them!
Makes a picture-less post more interesting and satisfies those "hey, cool smilie" cravings, all at once!
I hope I get to read a review of this! Number 17 on my list of 594 things to do on my solo trip is a visit to Trader Sam's. Hope the time works out for Izzy's nap!
I see that Tikiman's FB feed has had a lot of stuff about it today. I need to make time to sit down and read all about it, I think.
I love the laundry smilie, first of all.
Ha, that's a fun one!
And I love that you get to hit MK after a solo night at Epcot. I watched some of the live feeds of the 24-hour event last year and it looked awesome!!
It's gonna be one crazy night!
Oh, cool, I didn't watch any of those. I need to get on the ball with this planning!
Absolutely the perfect time to catch a parade. I'm curious to see how busy it will be then! I can't imagine how the CMs hold up for their shift!
I'm glad I'm a night owl (clearly, it's after midnight here and I'm DIS-ing). I'm worried about crowds, as I have heard it's busiest at night.
Super excited for these times, if I'm being honest. Mommy time off with no guilt since child is sleeping under watchful eye of other parent.
I would love to stay at Beach Club one day! Hoping we can rent DVC points at some point for here!
Yes, definitely rent DVC points if you stay there! Disney used to offer discounts that made it comparable (we stayed there for 45% off in 2010), but I think those days are gone and DVC point rental is always cheaper than anything Disney can offer. It's a great resort, especially the pool and location.
Great way to end the trip! All the characters look so cute in their beach gear. And I second the tears for the end of your epic Disney adventure!
I'm excited to do this breakfast again. Lauren and I took the girls there on the last morning of our June trip and had a great time. I look forward to sharing it with Dug and I love that it's just downstairs in our resort!
I'm loving your use of rarely used smilies! I find that I tend to have my "go to" ones and rarely use any others.
<-- case and point!
I am the same way. I have my frequently-used ones and always wish I could play with some of the oddball ones. So, why not?
(frequently used one there for sure!)
Your plans sounds great! And I love that you're doing Beaches and Cream on your final night - that's near the top of my list of places I want to try. It looks like we may see some overlap on Friday (May 22) and Saturday (May 23) nights!
I am SO excited for the 24 hour event... though I have a feeling I will wreck myself for Saturday by pushing myself to stay out all night! Oh, well... YOLO, right?!
Beaches and Cream is a nice treat! Simple, but tasty. And you can't beat a giant bowl of ice cream.
Yay for overlap!
We will have to figure out when/where we may cross paths. It would be fun to say hi!
YOLO indeed! But, yeah, I can't handle the all-nighters the way I used to.
(For me, just to clarify).
)
Only three days before our trip.
:
We’ll probably be off fairly early and on our way back to WDW in our rental car. I actually extended our rental car to 24 hours, as it was the same price, but gives us flexibility if we want to drive to a park before returning it. Not sure how we’ll do this yet. 
Great Movie Ride at 12:05pm. It’s a Tier 1. 
It will almost certainly be swapped out for the Behind the Force show, which will likely be at 1:45pm. Star Wars guests to be determined still. 
We’ll have hopefully already seen it the first weekend, though, so it’s probably not a must-do. And with all the other Star Tours rides, that’s not a must-do either. At least not for me. 
However, we were thinking Trader Sam’s would be great for Izzy’s naptime (stroller), but I just read today that it likely won’t open until 4pm. That’s pretty late, so not sure now. Of course, yet another option would be going back to the hotel for an afternoon nap…I may need one in preparation for what’s to come later. 
Here’s what dtr_angel posted about her experience there:
It is a Friday night, so that is the big seafood buffet night mentioned above. As you may recall, that doesn’t interest me one little bit. But it interests Dug a lot. And I like the characters. 
And there is other food there that I will like. And it’s just a short walk from our resort. I’m excited to try something new. 
It’s EMH from 9-11pm that night. My FP+ for this day are for Epcot. 8pm is Nemo – not a priority, but needed one that I wouldn’t be upset to miss if I arrive later than anticipated. 9pm is Soarin’. 10pm is Spaceship Earth. Probably won’t need it, but nothing better to use it on with the silly tiering. 
I might bring Izzy’s band to see if there’s any chance of a late-night Test Track, but I doubt that will be open. I can use Single Rider, though. 
, I will trek with probably a lot of others to the MK. Cause, you know, it’s still open for another 7 hours. 
I’m not really sure what my plan is here. First, just getting there – not sure if the monorail is going to be crazy – or even open that late? Hmmm, I should look into 24-hour-day transportation. 
At any rate, the fireworks will be done, but there are two parades that night – 11pm (I’ll miss) and 1am! Yes, 1am! 
Seems like a good time to see a parade, right? 
I’ll plan for that. I really have no other plan or even an idea of how long I’ll stay. If I haven’t used Izzy’s band yet, I may take it to a kiosk to see what I can get. 
Or get my 4th FP+. 
Depending on Dug’s ambition/sleepiness, I may head back and let him go out for awhile around 3am or so, but not sure yet. We might be hurting in the morning. 
Good thing our morning FP+ are things we’ve already done the first weekend, I guess, just in case. 
All things we’ve done before, I would hope. We’ll have an in-room breakfast, then head back to our home of DHS. Again, there’s a chance Dug will want to go early for the celebs, but we’ll see. Our first FP+ is 9:05-10:05am Tower of Terror. Just one and getting Rider Swap. Our second FP+ is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, both of us have one at 10:10-11:10am. However, Dug’s will likely be swapped out for the Stars of the Saga show that afternoon. 
We’ll Rider Swap, as usual. Next is an 11:10am-12:10pm Star Tours. Just one and Rider Swap. Then we both have the Frozen Sing-Along with a window of 12:10-12:25pm. If we go, this will be the second time on the trip. Then we have a Brown Derby lunch ADR at 1:20pm. Planning a light lunch with a Cobb Salad to share, mmmmm. 
But we need to be back at DHS in time for our 4:45pm ADR for the Jedi Mickey’s Dinner at Hollywood & Vine. Out of the 4 we had, this was the one we decided to keep. (And I put my other 3 up on the 
Then Dug will get Izzy to bed and I get to go back to the MK and do whatever I please. This is my night to see Wishes (10pm). Not sure if I can score a same day FP+ for it, but that would be nice. I’m sure it’ll be fine either way. If I somehow missed that 1am parade, there is one at 11pm this night. The park is open until midnight. But I don’t want to be out TOO late, since we’ve got a castle breakfast in the morning. 
from 10:30-11:30am. 
In no way do I believe this is necessary, but there really aren’t many good Tier 2 choices. 
So, I’m a bit hesitant, but hoping for the best – as Dug pointed out, this might be our last chance to eat there with all the construction planned at DHS. And, most importantly, it gets us the Fantasmic seating that night. 
I dropped my 8:15am Crystal Palace for this. Both are pre-park-opening. I’m a bit bummed to miss CP, as we love it there, but we are still getting into the park early, which is half the fun. This is our last WDW trip before Izzy turns 3, so she is still free for this expensive meal. And we’ve always wanted to eat in the castle, but never have. And she loves princesses. So, why not? I told Izzy about it today and she was very excited and said she wants to see Ariel. 
We have a 7:30am ADR for breakfast at Cape May Café. Good food, right downstairs, and Minnie & friends are there. I can’t think of a better way to spend our last couple hours. And then we go home. 
(I am loving that these smilies no longer count towards the 25 image/post limit!!!)
