Just the 3 of us... A March 2016 pre-trip report- Opinions and suggestions welcomed!!!

[Sydney2977]

I am BEYOND excited to be able to start a pre-trip report!!!

I have been planning on paper almost since we got back from our last trip in Nov. 2013. I have been squirreling away money here and there, putting everything possible on our Disney rewards card to earn money, going over menus, drawing up scenarios for park days and plans, calling for quotes, but haven't been able to make concrete booking plans till yesterday!

The last trip we took was AMAZING! It was our older DS's senior year, and we knew that it would become hard to do trips again as a family based on his school schedule, younger DS's school and activity (band, Scouts, and baseball) schedules, and DH and I's work schedules. So we splurged and stayed at AKL, got pixie dusted and upgraded to a savannah view, and enjoyed the most magical trip ever, making tons of wonderful memories. It was great because the boys didn't know till we pulled up where we were staying- and they were so surprised!



Being the Disney nut that I am, of course I was thinking "OK, so when can we go back again?" I also was taking into account when we like to go and how long we like to stay for. Then came the monkey wrenches...

In April 2014 we found out that after several ankle and knee surgeries and years of back and forth with doctors and the military higher ups, DH was being given a medical discharge from the Air Force beginning in June. He was disappointed because he was 3 years shy of making 20 years, which was his goal, and he was still able to do his job- just couldn't run to pass the fitness test. But thankfully because it was a medical discharge, he still receives retirement benefits. It just wasn't exactly in our plans, and DH hadn't started looking for a new job. Whatever it was, he sure wouldn't have time off for a while!

DS had planned to stay at home and go to community college and keep working part time for the first two years after graduation, then transfer to a four year college. Well around the same time we found out about DH's retirement, DS surprised us by saying he wanted to join the Air Force! Now he had done JROTC all during high school, but we never expected him to enlist. He stuck with his decision though, and signed up for delayed enlistment so he would be guaranteed the jobs on his list that he wanted.

After his retirement, DH worked for a buddy for a few months, then got hired on by a local company and has been working for them since. He has worked in a few different departments, but doesn't see a lot of room for growth and doesn't feel like he is accomplishing anything worthwhile. So he asked me to run some numbers (I'm the budgeting/financial planner, hehehe) and we figured he can go to school using his GI Bill and then he can actually have a fulfilling career once his schooling is complete. So come Jan. 2016, he will be a full time student!

As for DS, he worked almost full time and took some college classes while waiting for his Air Force assignment. His patience paid off though, and he got his #1 pick and left for basic training this May. We got to go see him graduate, and so did most of our family since they are all in Texas and could drive to San Antonio. We also surprised him by bringing his girlfriend along! He is now in Mississippi in school till Jan. 2016.



Not knowing where he'll get stationed, or when he'll be able to take vacation again, DS decided that during the two weeks he gets to come home for Christmas, he is taking his girlfriend (who is a HUGE Disney freak too- I swear she so fits into our family!) to Disneyworld for four days. They can drive down, they got to use the military discount on their room at POFQ, and get the discount park tickets too. At first I wasn't wild about the idea, but DH agreed for the reasons I first listed that they should go for it. So a couple weeks ago, with the magic of Skype, DS and I got everything arranged and booked! I know they will have a magical time!



Then I started thinking- so when can the three of us go? I'm a manager in a retail store, so before Christmas with them was out of the question, and DH couldn't get off work either. Younger DS has band till Nov. and we already had a long weekend trip planned to go to Mississippi to visit older DS after that, then I can't take time off for the rest of the year. I looked at DH's school calendar and found that he has the first week and a half off in March, and that's before DS starts baseball, and he actually has one of those days off for teacher in-service. Perfect! Now to wait for the military discount to be released so I could book. I faithfully checked every day for weeks, but nothing...

I get up really early to go into work, and last Friday I didn't even get on the computer in the morning. Then I had to work late, got home, threw together dinner, ran DS back up to school for band, came home and ate dinner with DH, then headed back to the school for the football game, and came home and crashed. Saturday morning the guys got up and went to get haircuts while I went grocery shopping. Then DS had rehearsals so DH and I went to look at a car for older DS- he plans to purchase one when he comes home in Dec. Then it was back to pick up DS, eat, and back to the school for him and headed to the band competition. They won grand champion- yey!- and it was home to crash for me. Sunday morning I had to go in to work, then we had Scout activities in the afternoon, and I just came home from that and vegged out watching football. Little did I know I had missed out on the announcement that the military discounts had been extended through 2016!

Yesterday morning I slept in because I'm off all this week- had to use my time off somehow. I got up, made my breakfast, popped onto the computer, and to my utter delight found out the discount was available! I almost spilled my coffee jumping up to get my phone and was on the line with a cast member in a flash! Yippee- our dates were available! I booked POFQ river view for March 6-13. Then I was onto the Disney site to figure out the days we would go to each park based on schedules. Next I filled in places we wanted to eat and was able to make adr's at every place on our list! Now I just need to purchase the park tickets, pick out our fast passes at 60 days out, and get our Disney reward dollars turned into gift cards so we can pay for part of the trip with them.

More to come on our daily plans soon...

 

[Sydney2977]

Ugh, we just had the wettest week of weather I can remember in the Charleston area! The weather reports weren't exaggerating when they said "historic flooding." Thankfully all is safe here at our house and the rain seems to have slowed to a mist.

Back to the Disney planning! So my added fun I wanted for this trip was to try all new places to eat. I am by far the most adventurous eater in our family, but by no means am a "foodie" or really into fine dining- I just like to try new things. DS#1 is right up there with me, but since he's not going on this trip, I had to take more into account what DH and DS#2 like, while still incorporating some variety. So in the almost two years since our last trip I've been scouring menus for places to add to my list. Knowing that the menus get updated, I once again went through them to make sure there was something for everyone to like at each place, then started filling them in based on what parks and activities I had planned for each day of the trip

Our first few trips we would leave on an afternoon and arrive at the resort late, get the kids to bed, then start the next day going to the parks- 4 to 5 days- then leave the afternoon of check-out day. As they got older and we changed our vacation style a bit, we now like to drive down on a Sunday, enjoy the afternoon and evening getting settled and maybe doing a few things, then start Monday with parks and a down day or two in between, and leave the following Sunday. So that's how I planned this trip too. Another change to this trip is that we won't be using the dining plan as we have with just about every other trip.

Saturday March 5th I expect we will drop our two dogs at the boarders in the morning. One of our neighbors always watches our cat because he likes to go in and out of the house.




I will no doubt have been packed, except for a few last minute things, for weeks! The guys- they'll be packing Saturday! DS will probably be doing laundry because he'll discover that shirt he wore two days before was one he actually wants to wear on vacation- you know teenagers have those favorite articles of clothing that they wear over and over...

Sunday March 6th we will wake up, have breakfast at home, and hit the road! Now while I'm used to getting up at 3:30am for work, I know we are on vacation, and not everyone else in the family enjoys getting up that early. We will most likely still be on the road by 9am, stop for lunch at Whataburger in Jacksonville (it's a tradition), and get to POFQ by 4pm. We'll unpack, look around the resort a bit, and pick up our mugs and grab a drink.

We've enjoyed going to Disney Quest when we have added the water parks and more option to our tickets, and I'd like to this trip too. But I know DQ is closing sometime in 2016, so this may be changing. Anyone heard any work on when this may be? The plan is to take a cruise on the boat to DTD, or Disney Springs, and have dinner at House of Blues. I couldn't make an adr and was told you actually have to call and make a reservation closer to travel time. Anyone have experience with this? If we can't get in there I thought we'd try Bongos Café Express as a back up. If we can do DQ after dinner we will. If it's closed by then we'll probably just shop around then head back on the boat to the resort.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in!!

The plan is to take a cruise on the boat to DTD, or Disney Spring

While I don't have experience with House of Blues I can warn you that lines for the boats to DTD get VERY backed up at dinner time. you may end up being quicker with a bus rarely anyone takes them.

 

[Sydney2977]

Thanks for the tip Gracefulskinny! Maybe we'll take the bus that night and save the boat for a slower time.

 

[Sydney2977]

Monday March 7th will be water park day! While we've enjoyed water parks here in the Charleston area and back in Texas, we've never been to the ones in WDW.

Blizzard Beach is the one that is open during our visit. Since it doesn't open till 10am, I figured we'd just wake up whenever, get our things together, and jump in the car. While DH and I both agree that we like relying on WDW transportation, for this day we'd rather just use our car. We'll stop by the Caribbean Beach Resort for a quick breakfast at Old Port Royale and a look around the resort. Then it will be on the Blizzard Beach!

All of the attractions here look like fun, but I'm most looking forward to Summit Plummet! I don't know if I will convince DH and DS to do it with me (DH cuz of his ankle and knee issues since surgery, and DS cuz he's not fond of heights) but I won't miss it!!! We'll hopefully be able to try all the other slides, spend some time in Melt Away Bay, and relax in between thrills in the Cross Country Creek.

I looked at menus for all of the counter service options here and nothing really stood out. Anyone have recommendations? We'll be eating lunch here whenever we get hungry.

I figure we'll probably leave at closing time which is 5pm. In the event that it's raining too bad to enjoy the water park, we'll try to switch our plans to Thursday and maybe just resort hop or hang around Disney Springs or go to Disney Quest if it's still open.

After going back to POFQ and getting cleaned up we will head over to Coronado Springs Resort. We have stayed here twice but never eaten at Maya Grill, so I made a 7:15pm adr. The menu looks really yummy! We may take a stroll around the lake and then head back to POFQ to hit the sack.

 

[Sydney2977]

Tuesday March 8 is EPCOT day! During our last three trips we've been able to enjoy the F&W festival, so on this trip I figure we'll actually have more time to enjoy Epcot attractions.

To go along with my plan of trying all new places to eat we will take a bus to MK then walk over to the Contemporary for a quick breakfast at Contempo Café. We also should have time to look around a bit too. Then we'll hop on the monorail and continue our journey to Epcot.

We'll start our day in Future World. I am hoping to get fast passes for Soarin' or Test Track at least. Other must-do's in FW are Spaceship Earth (which we'll probably do again before we leave for the night), Ellen's Energy Adventure, The Land, Figment, Nemo, and a drink stop at Club Cool.

Next we'll make our way around the World Showcase, starting in Mexico. Our lunch adr is in Germany at Biergarten at 1:20. There's a place in Texas like this that both DH and I have been to as kids, so I think it will be fun. If we get hungry before that we may stop in the bakery in Norway for a snack. We're so going to miss Maelstrom! It was one of my dad's favs, and DH's too. Older DS found a shirt that I ordered to give DH for Christmas- "Maelstrom- Never Forget" with an image from the mural. He will love it! We'll just enjoy the afternoon and evening meandering through the pavilions, listening to music, checking out shops, and enjoying the attractions and shows. I planned to grab a quick dinner whenever we get hungry at Lotus Blossom in China, and maybe an ice dessert in Japan later. Depending on how much we go to do before lunch in Future World, we may go back later to do some more. Illuminations isn't a must-do, so it will depend on if we feel like watching or not. Epcot has extra magic hours from 9-11, so that gives us plenty of time to do everything we want. Then it will be back to POFQ for bed.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I am hoping to get fast passes for Soarin'

You must not have heard... It was officially announced that Soarin is scheduled to go down in January and not re open until Summer.

 

[Sydney2977]

You must not have heard... It was officially announced that Soarin is scheduled to go down in January and not re open until Summer.

Darn, it always seems like one really good attraction is closed while we're there. Well, that just means we'll get fp+ for the others we want and have more time to even do standby if we want. Thanks for keeping me in the loop!

 

[Sydney2977]

Wednesday March 9 will be Magic Kingdom day! We'll begin the day by hopping on the bus to MK then taking the monorail to the Polynesian. We'll just grab a quick breakfast at Captain Cook's (mainly so I can get Tonga toast) and then we want to check out all the changes. DH and I will miss having our picture taken in the lobby with the waterfall, but the pictures I've seen of the renovations look amazing, so I'm excited to see what they've done with the place. Then we'll hop back on the monorail to MK.



I am hoping to get fp+ for 7 Dwarves, Peter Pan, and one of the Mountains- because Space, Big Thunder, and Splash are all must-do's. I just have to remember to figure out where or how to sit on Splash. Last time I was completely soaked, while the guys barely got wet. My hair was drenched, what little mascara I had made me look like a raccoon, and the dryers in the bathroom didn't even help!


Other must-do attractions for us are Pirates of the Caribbean (which is traditionally our first ride), Jungle Cruise, Aladdin, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Monsters Inc., Tomorrowland Speedway, TTA, Carousel of Progress, Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic, Dumbo, Small World, Little Mermaid, and a trip around the park on the train at some point. I am dying to see the Festival of Fantasy parade too- especially the Maleficent float! If we encounter any characters we haven't met before we'll probably do meets with pictures, with the exception of Anna and Elsa! The crazy thing is we were at Epcot the week before Frozen came out and there were maybe three families waiting in line to meet them. I asked the boys if they wanted to get pics with them and they were like "No, that's ok"- well now I wished they had- it would have been cute! No way am I going to get them to wait for that now!

Food plans for the park include lunch at Sleepy Hollow (gotta try the waffle sandwiches, and they're only open till 5pm), a snack at Gaston's Tavern, dinner at the Lunching Pad (I know, the name, but we have to do hot dogs at some point), and dessert at the Cheshire Café or Auntie Gravity's, depending on where we are in the park.

There are emh from 9-11pm so that gives us some extra time. At some point I do want to go through the regular line for Peter Pan so we can see the new ques. We'll probably do our favs again or anything we missed. Depending on when our fp+ times are, we may be able to score additional ones at the kiosks, but I don't want to spend too much time trying to get more. When the MK closes we'll hop back on a bus for POFQ and crash for the night.

 

[Sydney2977]

Thursday March 10 is another non-park day. If for some reason we can't do Blizzard Beach on Monday we will try to go this day. Otherwise I made a 9:25 breakfast adr for Trail's End buffet at the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. I know DH and DS will love this one. We'll probably take a look around the resort too, and then DS will want to try to convince his Scoutmaster that their troop should plan a camping trip to WDW!

For the rest of the morning we may head over to Winter Summerland and do some mini golfing. We've been one other time and have done Fantasia Gardens twice and always enjoy it. We have a 1:45 adr at Beaches and Cream. If we get there earlier we'll explore the resort and if not we'll look around afterwards. We will see when we get there if we want to attempt the kitchen sink- I am not opposed to eating all ice cream for lunch- we are on vacation after all!

The afternoon will be spent just relaxing at POFQ. We may take in a swim or other leisure activity there or at POR. We'll have plenty of time before our dinner adr at Paradiso 37. We'll take the boat to Disney Springs for that. I'm looking forward to this meal because the menu sounds really good. Afterwards we may shop a bit or look around, then head back on the boat when we're ready.

Another idea I am tossing around for one of the down days is attending an Atlanta Braves spring training game. We are all baseball fans and DS played fall and spring ball since he was 8 (just our local little league/rec league). He didn't play last fall or this fall because he started high school and was doing marching band, and this past spring he fractured his elbow playing basketball in PE the day of evaluations, so he was in a cast for 6 weeks and out for the season. He still hasn't decided if he wants to play this spring. Since we live in the Charleston, SC area we get to go to minor league games, which is really fun because you're so close to the action. We've also been to Houston Astros games when we visit family there in the summer, and DH and I went multiple times as kids growing up there. The tickets go on sale next week so I'll have to see what games are being played what days and if we can fit it in or if it would mean re-arranging the whole schedule. The prices seem pretty reasonable and the stadium looks to be the size of ours here, so it looks like you're pretty close to the field. Anyone else have any experience going to a game there?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The only caution I can give is that I thought I remembered the Dis Unplugged crew discussing the fact that braves weren't going down this next time. You might want to check before you go.

 

[Sydney2977]

The only caution I can give is that I thought I remembered the Dis Unplugged crew discussing the fact that braves weren't going down this next time. You might want to check before you go.

I thought so too, but when I checked on the site, it says the Braves will be there in 2016- so it must be the last year and in 2017 they will be gone. I did manage to check on the Astros site, and they play in Kissimmee and their schedule is out, though you can't buy tickets until Jan. We have our own vehicle so we could go to a game, but it would mean re-arranging some of our park days because of the days they play. They also play the Sun. we are arriving. Then I started thinking... we could drive down Sat. and use Sun. as another non-park day and go see an Astros game. Of course this means paying for another resort night and another night of boarding for the dogs, but I'm sure the guys would LOVE it! Decisions, decisions- just when I thought I had everything all figured out too!

 

[cantoine]

The food at POR FQ is amazing! Would highly recommend it!

 

[Sydney2977]

Friday March 11 we will be spending at DHS. We will likely just get a quick breakfast at the resort and head over to the park via bus. I am hoping for at least a fp+ for Toy Story Mania and maybe one of the shows- either Indiana Jones or Lights, Motors, Action! The guys don't like Tower of Terror, and my older DS was always my ride buddy for that one, so I'll just do the single rider line. For R'n'R, DS may or may not go, so DH and I can also do single rider for that since it's one of our favs. On the other hand, DH and I can't do Star Tours- even though we LOVE Star Wars, the motion simulator makes us sick- so DS will be riding that solo. That just gives me extra time to shop in Tatooine Traders- I need a new Yoda shirt. We'll have to check out the Launch Bay. Hopefully they will still have some character meet and greets too.

For lunch we have a 1:15 adr at The Brown Derby. I haven't been since I was a kid and I'm looking forward to the Cobb salad. Not sure what the guys will get but I liked that there are extra lunch choices too. After lunch we'll do any other fp+ attractions we get and maybe try for another one for TSMM. The other things we'd like to do are the Great Movie Ride, Muppets 3D, and One Man's Dream. If we have time I may even convince them to watch the Beauty and/or the Beast or the Little Mermaid shows, which we've never done.

I figured if we want a snack we'll stop by Starring Rolls- I see a cool cupcake in my future- or we may save that for dessert later in the evening. Whenever we're hungry for dinner we'll try Studio Catering Co. And we have to take in a performance of Fantasmic! DHS has emh that night from 7-9pm, so I'm sure we'll stay for that. If I get to ride ToT during the day and night that will be a bonus. After closing we'll bus back to POFQ for a good night's sleep.

 

[Jasperann]

We will be arriving March 8th! I'm thinking of starting a Pre Trip report too. We are staying at AoA, in the Finding Nemo Suites.

Just a little FYI, there is not a single rider line for Tower of Terror. It would be amazing if there was though.

 

[Sydney2977]

We will be arriving March 8th! I'm thinking of starting a Pre Trip report too. We are staying at AoA, in the Finding Nemo Suites.

Just a little FYI, there is not a single rider line for Tower of Terror. It would be amazing if there was though.

Cool- maybe we'll run into each other. We looked around AoA last trip and it looks so fun. If we ever have 5 people together I'd want to stay there. Can you request a section? I'd want Lion King, but really all of them are cute. You should start a pre-trip report too- I'll follow along!

I guess I was thinking of R'n'R for the single rider line? Or maybe Test Track- I know we've done one before. I'll just wait till it's not too busy. I'm sure the guys can find a Mickey bar to entertain themselves with while they wait!

 

[Sydney2977]

UPDATE: We are now arriving a day earlier!!! I finally got the schedule for the Atlanta Braves Spring Training, and the games at ESPN WWoS are all on days we already have park plans, plus they don't play the Astros that week. So then I looked up the Astros schedule, and same thing- no games during the week on non-park days. So I asked DH what he wanted to do and he asked if there was a game on Sat. or Sun. Why yes, the Astros play on Sun. at 1:05 in Kissimmee. So I called to see if we could add a day on to our existing reservation, and lo and behold, it was still available with the military rate! So now we are arriving Sat. March 5. I made a dinner adr at Boatwright's for 6:30 that night. I think we may do breakfast the next morning at POR too and maybe take a swim. Then we can get ready for the game and grab something quick to eat on the way, or even at the ball park on Sun. We will still try to do House of Blues for dinner that night. Yipee for more vacation time!

 

[Sydney2977]

Saturday March 12 will be our last full day and park day. As we've done the past few trips we will be at AK for most of the day then hop over to end our trip at MK. AK has emh from 8-9 so I'm hoping I can entice the guys up a little earlier than normal with the promise of breakfast. I remember one trip years ago when they still had Donald's breakfast in Dinoland and it was so magical to walk through an almost empty AK checking out the animals in the Oasis area until reaching the majestic Tree of Life- I'm envisioning that again. Even if we don't get there early enough to do any attractions that walk will be worth it for me. Then we have a 9:10 adr for breakfast at Tusker House. We used to go to Tusker House years ago when it was still qs, but haven't been since it changed over. I figured it would be fun since the food offerings look similar to what we love at Boma and it has one of DH's favorite characters- Donald Duck! Whenever we get hungry again we will try Flame Tree BBQ for lunch.

The fp+ we are hoping to get are for the Safari, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur! Older DS and his DGF somehow secured all three of these and they are going the week before Christmas so I think our chances may be pretty good. Actually DH probably won't ride Dinosaur! since he says it jolts too much. Does anyone know if you can use your magic band and linked fp+ to let someone else in? I know we used to get paper fp's and if one of us decided not to use it, or if we changed our minds about using them we could just give them to other guests- that was always fun!

The other attractions that are musts for us are Festival of the Lion King (they were just building the new theater during our last trip), the Forest Trails, the Discovery Island Trails, the Jungle Trek, and the train ride over to check out Conservation Station. Depending on how warm it is we may do Kali River We haven't seen the Finding Nemo show in a long time so if we feel like it we may check it out. I'm still debating trying Primevil Whirl because I don't know if it will make us have whiplash or make us nauseated. The Teacups at MK make us sick, so is this similar? If we can do all the other roller coasters, is this one ok? I've always been scared to try it for that reason, but now I'm kinda wanting to.

AK closes at 5:00 so then we will head over to MK, which is open till 10:00. We will likely do some of our favorite rides again, or see what has the shorter lines and go on those. For dinner I planned on another qs meal at Pinocchio's whenever the mood hits us. We may even get a Dole Whip or another treat if the mood hits us. It will just be nice to end our trip at MK. I am hoping we can do our last ride on PotC before taking that final walk back up Main St.

 

[Sydney2977]

Sunday March 13 will be our departure day. We'll probably sleep in a bit, maybe grab breakfast and bring it back to the room while we pack up and get ready to leave. If we have any shopping we want to do we will take the boat to Disney Springs one last time. Before we leave town we will have lunch at the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk. DS requested this last time we talked about 'our next trip' and they don't require reservations, so I figured we can just go whenever we are ready. We'll probably check out the Boardwalk area before we get on the road to head back home. I can't believe it's only 71 days away now!

 

[NJlauren]

First thank you to your family for their service.

Next I'm here and ready to hear about the final planning!!!