Just Keep Swimming- January 2016 PTR (Updated 7/24- ADRs made)

[Opicana]

Life has been a bit bumpy recently. The main challenge has been living apart from my husband and fur children for almost a month (with no end in sight). He started a new job in a different state, and we are in the process of selling our old home. Since we can't afford two mortgages on his income, I have to stay here and continue working until I get a job down there, or our house sells. Coming home to a house that lacks my husband, my 8 cats and 95% of my furniture, only to make a frozen meal (can't make a mess of the kitchen, and I don't have dishes anyway) before scrubbing some walls is starting to get depressing. So...I've been turning to my favorite Disney character for help.

Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming
Everything will be okay
See?
Just keep swimming
Move your tail
And sure enough we'll find our way
Oh sometimes things look bad
Then poof! The moment is gone
And what do we do?

We just keep swimming on!

​

I can't tell you how many times I've repeated this mantra to myself in recent weeks. So, this thread is named in Dory's honor. However, instead of swimming to P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney, I swimming to our WDW January trip!

Planning this trip is the one thing I can look forward to on a daily basis, and it's keeping my spirits up! I figured I might as well try out one of these PTRs since I can't talk enough about it.

I went to Disney often when I was a child, but then I moved, went to grad school, etc...and didn't think I could afford the trip (financially or time-wise; thesis writing doesn't allow for many vacations) and my now husband was also in graduate school.

Only over the last year or so, have things begun to be stable enough where vacations are possible. Up until we were married, our vacations were either back home to visit family, or to my grandfather's cabin in Maine with a bunch of our friends. After 15 years together, we were finally married this past October and we took our first just-the-two-of-us real vacation- to Disney, of course! We went in January and loved it so, so much. Currently working on a TR, see signature for link!

We both fell in love with Disney. If possible, I think I love it more as an adult. We expected to have a great time, but we had an AMAZING time. The Disney bubble made us both so relaxed! Shortly after getting back, we started planning our one year anniversary trip for January 2016.



210 days to go! Today, I booked our trip! 8 days at Pop Century. I have already made a LOT of spreadsheets...as I make spreadsheets for everything.

 

[Opicana]

I'm thinking about diving my posts into 2 sections: one that talks about something I am currently working on, and another that discusses something I had already worked on before I began this thread. And perhaps a third random picture at the end to keep things fun.

Current Stage: Right now I'm pondering whether or not I should choose ALL new dining experiences, or revisit some that we really liked last time. We aren't very picky and enjoy trying new places. However, we had some fabulous dining experiences last January. Should I revisit places we liked? Or stick to all new places? Repeating a few places will ensure that there are more new dining experiences in the future...sort of prolonging running out of park restaurants (particularly since we travel in the off-season and several CS places are closed). Of course, this is more of problem in parks other than Epcot, and Epcot is where most of the favorites are, LOL. Of course, menus do change, so is it better to try as many places as possible. Decision, decisions. (Granted, this is a super fun thing to ponder).

Past Stage: Dates. Last year we had to go in January since Jimmy was teaching. We loved it though. The most important factor to us is low crowds. Second is weather- the colder the better! Our preferred temps are 40s through 60s. We'd rather carry a sweatshirt than being dying of heat. Jimmy's schedule is a bit more flexible at his new job, but January is still an ideal month. However, the one thing I didn't like about our last trip was the Christmas decorations were still up. Now, I am ALL about Christmas....during Christmas. But the middle of January in Disney? I want DISNEY music and decorations.

Therefore, we decided to go a week later than last year. I used two calendars of predicted crowd levels to determine the exact dates. We drive down January 20th!

​

 

[Opicana]

Current Stage: Thanks to one of my favorite planning sites (WDW Prep), I was inspired to make a Disney Binder for this trip. I have 200+days to go, and I'm running out of things I can plan, LOL. Time to make a pretty binder! I customized a Dory binder from Zazzle. I'll post pictures when it comes in! I need to buy some tabs this weekend for all the sections.

Past Stage: So, I suppose this stage happened before the last "past stage" I posted. We made the decision to drive down pretty early on...I think when we were only talking about the trip as a hypothetical right after we got back in January. We are in the process of (as I mentioned) moving from Ohio to Virginia....making the drive reasonable (for us, we've done many long road trips). Not only will driving be a bit cheaper than flying, we don't have to worry about luggage, will have the car as an option instead of the bus, and we can bring more stuff- like snacks! We aren't big on breakfast foods, so we ended up eating pretty light from the CS at AKL (pastry, fruit, juice). May as well bring some breakfast bars, fruit, and some basic snacks.

Does anyone have any recommendations of fun things to stop at on the way down? I heard that the state welcome center gives out free OJ. Has anyone ever been?

 

[Opicana]

Current Stage: My Dory binder arrives today (squee!). Right now I am just listening to a lot of Disney podcasts, printing out things for my binder (like maps of the best spots to view parades and fireworks), and using MeisterTask to organize all the different things left I want to do when it comes to planning.

Previous Stage: While we LOVED Animal Kingdom Lodge (where we went on our honeymoon) we decided to go with a value this time around. Mainly because it allows us to go sooner. I don't think we could have afforded a deluxe this year! Additionally, we don't really take advantage of all the amenities...we didn't swim, didn't lounge by the pool, didn't go to the bar, and we only came back to our resort in the evening. We are in-the-parks-all-day people, so it doesn't make sense for us to spend the money at the moment.

We decided to go with Pop Century after a lot of research. I've never been there and I'm very excited to give it a try. I've heard a lot of great things about it!



Our view from AKL on our last trip.

 

[taythecray]

Following along, we are going in January as well and ironically staying at AKL!

 

[mom2cgj]

We will be there the same time as you (arriving on the 24th). We are staying at AoA, so right across the bridge!

 

[Opicana]

Following along, we are going in January as well and ironically staying at AKL!

Yay! Have you stayed at AKL before? We LOVED it. Are you going with a savanna view?

 

[Opicana]

We will be there the same time as you (arriving on the 24th). We are staying at AoA, so right across the bridge!

Awesome! We plan on visiting AoA at least once. I considered AoA briefly for this trip...maybe for 2017. I wish the Nemo theme had standard rooms, but Little Mermaid is good too. I've never been there, so I need to go have a look while I'm at Pop. Are you in a standard or a suite?

 

[taythecray]

Yay! Have you stayed at AKL before? We LOVED it. Are you going with a savanna view?

No this will actually be our first trip! I've gone twice but they have just been quick day trips over since I have friends close by, but this is my family's first time ever and my first time on property! We opted for standard room since it's already going to be an expensive trip with 9 of us going, but I'm hoping to request a room that gives us a "partial" savannah room

 

[Opicana]

Current: Missing my husband and kitties today. No offers on house or for jobs yet, so Sadness is running headquarters today. Usually, Joy is in charge (with Fear being her second), so it's a bit different for me. But...my Dory binder did come in yesterday, and I discovered last night that my hole punch was magically one of the very few items to not be moved down to Virginia, so I can at least start putting my trip binder together.



Previous Stage: Daily plan. I plan on making 1 ADR per day, and our preferred time slot is lunch time. Since we don't park hop, I wanted to plan out where we are going to be each day....which means, spreadsheet!



I took Touring Plans Crowd Calendar and WDW Prep's suggested parks and categorized them into "low " "moderate" and "high", gave them number equivalents, and then averaged them together. I chose days based on my personal preferences of order and number of days, the possibility of having to squeeze in the watching of an NFL championship game, and the crowd level numbers. DHS is my least favorite, so it goes first (I like building up). MK needs to be last, but since we have 3 days, it can also be the day that is shortened from the game. It looks like the crowds will be predicted to be low at each of our parks, except our second Animal Kingdom day which will be moderate. I'm content with this plan. I'm sure some of the predictions will change, but then I just get to rearrange things which will make me happy, LOL.

 

[Opicana]

No this will actually be our first trip! I've gone twice but they have just been quick day trips over since I have friends close by, but this is my family's first time ever and my first time on property! We opted for standard room since it's already going to be an expensive trip with 9 of us going, but I'm hoping to request a room that gives us a "partial" savannah room

How exciting!!!! Supposedly lots of the non-view rooms still give you a good view. Also, they were upgrading a lot of people when we were there. Have you checked out touringplans.com's room views? You could probably figure out exactly what to request that would give you the best view for no extra money. I used it to figure out exactly what rooms I wanted to request at Pop. Even if you don't have a good view from your room, just go out into the hall! We saw tons of great stuff from the hallways, and in January, all the viewing areas outside were practically empty, so plenty of opportunities to see animals!

 

[mom2cgj]

Awesome! We plan on visiting AoA at least once. I considered AoA briefly for this trip...maybe for 2017. I wish the Nemo theme had standard rooms, but Little Mermaid is good too. I've never been there, so I need to go have a look while I'm at Pop. Are you in a standard or a suite?

We'll be in a Cars Suite. We did Lion King last time, and it was great. The kids are really excited about the Cars, though. I would have liked Nemo, but they are quite a bit more than the others, and I really don't want to pay that difference just for the theme. Since it's January, we don't use the pool that much, and the walk from Cars to Animation Hall isn't that much further than Nemo. Not worth the difference to me!

 

[mom2cgj]

Current: Missing my husband and kitties today. No offers on house or for jobs yet, so Sadness is running headquarters today. Usually, Joy is in charge (with Fear being her second), so it's a bit different for me. But...my Dory binder did come in yesterday, and I discovered last night that my hole punch was magically one of the very few items to not be moved down to Virginia, so I can at least start putting my trip binder together.

View attachment 106414

Previous Stage: Daily plan. I plan on making 1 ADR per day, and our preferred time slot is lunch time. Since we don't park hop, I wanted to plan out where we are going to be each day....which means, spreadsheet!

View attachment 106413

I took Touring Plans Crowd Calendar and WDW Prep's suggested parks and categorized them into "low " "moderate" and "high", gave them number equivalents, and then averaged them together. I chose days based on my personal preferences of order and number of days, the possibility of having to squeeze in the watching of an NFL championship game, and the crowd level numbers. DHS is my least favorite, so it goes first (I like building up). MK needs to be last, but since we have 3 days, it can also be the day that is shortened from the game. It looks like the crowds will be predicted to be low at each of our parks, except our second Animal Kingdom day which will be moderate. I'm content with this plan. I'm sure some of the predictions will change, but then I just get to rearrange things which will make me happy, LOL.

Looks like we will be in the same parks on 1/26 & 1/27. I use Easywdw for crowd calendars, and picked based mainly on those. Thankfully it's low crowd season anyway, so I'm not really worried. I do find the differences between crowd calendars interesting though. I've used easy before and had good luck, so I tend to stick with his predictions.

 

[Opicana]

Looks like we will be in the same parks on 1/26 & 1/27. I use Easywdw for crowd calendars, and picked based mainly on those. Thankfully it's low crowd season anyway, so I'm not really worried. I do find the differences between crowd calendars interesting though. I've used easy before and had good luck, so I tend to stick with his predictions.

Awesome! Exactly, the crowds will be great no matter where we go compared to other times of the year. I just use the crowd calendars to give me a better than random chance of getting the lowest crowd days. I only used touring plans last year, and it worked well.

 

[Opicana]

We'll be in a Cars Suite. We did Lion King last time, and it was great. The kids are really excited about the Cars, though. I would have liked Nemo, but they are quite a bit more than the others, and I really don't want to pay that difference just for the theme. Since it's January, we don't use the pool that much, and the walk from Cars to Animation Hall isn't that much further than Nemo. Not worth the difference to me!

Nemo is more than the other suites? Really? Huh. I've only glanced at suite prices while estimating the cost of Little Mermaid rooms. Is it due to location (like proximity to the pool?) or popularity? I'd love Lion King too. Cars I find less appealing, but I'd probably enjoy it anyway because it's Disney!

 

[Opicana]

Current Stage: I worked on my binder last night! I added:

• Maps of the best fireworks and parade views for each park
• A map of the resort
• A map of all of WDW
• A transportation map of WDW
• A list of all the coin press locations (don't collect these yet, but I'm considering it)

Still lots more things I can add.

Previous Stage:
I've started a list of personal goals for this trip. Since we went last year, I'm not trying to see as much as possible...I just want to be there. So I made a list of some of the little details I want to enjoy.

• Record the Ride Order on a Park Map– I got this tip from a user here (SarahDisney). To help me better remember the timeline for reporting/blogging. I plan to grab a park map and add a number next to each location in the order at which we visit.
• Eat a Disney Cupcake– I only had the Masters Cupcake at BOG last time.
• Pick-A-Pearl- After watching a YouTube video of it, I’d like to do the Pick-A-Pearl in Japan. It seems like a fun souvenir, it’s my birthstone, and there is a certain randomness to it that appeals to me. Oysters are like the biological equivalent of blind pin bags.
• Get Three New Autographs- I only managed 1 last year, so I’d like to shoot for three
• Get a Pair of Earrings from a Different Country- So last year, I got a pair of earrings from the Mexico Pavilion that I adore. This time I hope to get one from a different country.
• Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train– I get motion sickness pretty bad, and I max out at one coaster or nausea-inducing ride per day. Since I didn’t have much info on SDMT, the waits were ridiculous, and I had enough rides to meet my nausea quotient, we passed on this ride last January. However, since then I’ve done some research which included, but was not limited to, watching ride videos and searching comments on forums about motion sickness related to SDMT. I’ve concluded that I think I can handle it, and that’ll it’ll be worth it. Given how the ride is crafted, I may actually be able to get to enjoy the details.
• See Festival of the Lion King– We ran out of time at Animal Kingdom and never got to see Festival of the Lion King.
• See the Main Street Electrical Parade– We didn’t see this last time.
• Thank 3 Cast Members Properly– I'd like to send an email/speak to a manage/go to guest services, etc...to give shout-outs to CMs that do a good job. I failed at this last time.

Trying the poop dessert at AK was also on my list (what can I say, I'm a biologist!), but those are already gone.

​

 

[mom2cgj]

Nemo is more than the other suites? Really? Huh. I've only glanced at suite prices while estimating the cost of Little Mermaid rooms. Is it due to location (like proximity to the pool?) or popularity? I'd love Lion King too. Cars I find less appealing, but I'd probably enjoy it anyway because it's Disney!

Yep - new for 2016 is higher prices on the Nemo suites. I think it's location, which makes them more popular.

 

[mom2cgj]

A list of all the coin press locations (don't collect these yet, but I'm considering it)

Where did you find this list? My kids collect pressed pennies and I would love a list of all of the locations!

• Record the Ride Order on a Park Map– I got this tip from a user here (SarahDisney). To help me better remember the timeline for reporting/blogging. I plan to grab a park map and add a number next to each location in the order at which we visit.

This is a great idea!

• Eat a Disney Cupcake– I only had the Masters Cupcake at BOG last time.

Definitely on my list, too. Planning to start our trip with a cupcake from the AoA food court when we arrive.

• Pick-A-Pearl- After watching a YouTube video of it, I’d like to do the Pick-A-Pearl in Japan. It seems like a fun souvenir, it’s my birthstone, and there is a certain randomness to it that appeals to me. Oysters are like the biological equivalent of blind pin bags.

We are doing this as well. Both DD and I want to do it. I'm planning to order cages off of etsy before we go.

• Get Three New Autographs- I only managed 1 last year, so I’d like to shoot for three

Any particular characters or just any three? We got most of our must dos last time but there are a few new ones I want to try for: Mulan, Tarzan, Stitch, and Jessie in particular.

• Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train– I get motion sickness pretty bad, and I max out at one coaster or nausea-inducing ride per day. Since I didn’t have much info on SDMT, the waits were ridiculous, and I had enough rides to meet my nausea quotient, we passed on this ride last January. However, since then I’ve done some research which included, but was not limited to, watching ride videos and searching comments on forums about motion sickness related to SDMT. I’ve concluded that I think I can handle it, and that’ll it’ll be worth it. Given how the ride is crafted, I may actually be able to get to enjoy the details.

I hope you are right about the motion sickness! I'm really excited for this one, but most coasters make me so nauseous. Space Mountain was awful for me, and Star Tours wasn't great either.

• See Festival of the Lion King– We ran out of time at Animal Kingdom and never got to see Festival of the Lion King.

My favorite show!!

• See the Main Street Electrical Parade– We didn’t see this last time.

We did see this last time. I think we'll pass this time and just do Wishes. Not that it was bad, just wasn't that exciting.

• Thank 3 Cast Members Properly– I'd like to send an email/speak to a manage/go to guest services, etc...to give shout-outs to CMs that do a good job. I failed at this last time.

Love this idea!!!

 

[Opicana]

Where did you find this list? My kids collect pressed pennies and I would love a list of all of the locations!


This is a great idea!


Definitely on my list, too. Planning to start our trip with a cupcake from the AoA food court when we arrive.


We are doing this as well. Both DD and I want to do it. I'm planning to order cages off of etsy before we go.


Any particular characters or just any three? We got most of our must dos last time but there are a few new ones I want to try for: Mulan, Tarzan, Stitch, and Jessie in particular.


I hope you are right about the motion sickness! I'm really excited for this one, but most coasters make me so nauseous. Space Mountain was awful for me, and Star Tours wasn't great either.


My favorite show!!


We did see this last time. I think we'll pass this time and just do Wishes. Not that it was bad, just wasn't that exciting.


Love this idea!!!

Sorry I took so long to reply, I missed the notification that there was a post!

So, the pressed coin list (which is very organized and extensive) is made by presscoins.com but I found it at WDW Prep School's post on building your binder: http://wdwprepschool.com/a-peek-inside-my-disney-world-binder-100-free-downloads/

I didn't think of ordering anything off etsy in preparation for pick-a-pearl...that's a great idea, I'll need to explore that!

Hmm...well, I'll take any characters because the only one I've gotten (in my adult life, I did them a long time ago, but don't have them anymore) is Duffy. I'd like to brave three more, but any three. It'll likely be based on my mood, the line, and the situation. I would really like Gaston (he's always been a favorite of mine...it his voice/songs I think), but I find face characters intimidating. I'm such an introvert and a chicken, LOL! I don't know why. It's Disney so everything will be magical, I'm just irrationally nervous about any social encounter, LOL. I was thinking if I could find a princess without too much of a line (does that exist?), that may be a place to start since they are supposed to be sweet and kind. I also am a Disney Visa member, so I was thinking about checking out that Visa character spot in Epcot. I've been watching some m&gs online to get help prepare me.

I hope I am right as well...since this post, I have also seen a graph of coaster intensity...let me see if I can find it...nope, but if I see it again I'll post it here...but it put 7DMT right after Barnstormer, and before every other coaster. It looks like a smoother, less intense version of Big Thunder. I'm excited. If anyone can make me ride a coaster, it's Disney! I did decide after reading stuff as well that it was the right decision NOT to go on Everest. Apparently that's just under RnR coaster and above Space and Big Thunder. Don't think I could've handled that one.

 

[Opicana]

Current Stage: My count down is now in the 100's! (196) Only 16 days away from my ADRs. I purchased the Passporter Guide yesterday...I don't need more Disney information, but the pictures are fun, and I thought maybe their worksheets would give me some inspiration for my own. Also, I listen to their podcast.

Previous (& Still Current): I need to make my ADRs soon! Still not 100% on my choices...here is what I'm thinking:

• 50's Prime Time
• Tusker House
• Toyko Dining
• The Plaza
• Yak & Yeti
• Crystal Palace
• Via Napoli
• Be Our Guest

All would be lunchtime reservations. If the Jungle Cruise restaurant is open and there is some kind of FP/ADR for that and I can manage to snag one, I will gladly ditch any MK meal, LOL. JC is in my top 5 rides, so...

Photo Fun: Boma food