Heigh Ho Ho Ho-it's off to Disney we go(Nov16)-AND Disneyland June '15 AND WDW Mar '16!

[sahm2two]

Following along for the 2016 planning I like to hear I'm not the only crazy person already planning for a trip so far away

 

[3Gsandme]

When I left you, I was in a bit of a panic, but no worries! Look what I have....



We had to switch things around a little bit, but we're booked at Disneyland with park days on Thursday, June 11 and Friday, June 12. Our friends have opted NOT to meet us at Disneyland and I'm okay with that. I know all of you will understand when I tell you that I need to do Disney my way and my way includes Park from sun up to sun down, dining reservations and making sure I catch the night time shows.
Big Daddy loves me enough to do Disney my way, but I selfishly didn't want to have to coordinate with friends to make sure they got reservations, etc. I plan on doing both the Fantasmic and World of Color dining packages to save us some time and effort.

I've already started figuring out our touring plan using the tools at touringplans.com. It probably seems seriously anal, but my subscription expires soon and I'm not planning on re-subscribing until this time next year when I'm trying to plan our time with the Princess's marching band and the trip that inspired this TR. So, I'm going to put together a loose touring plan while I'm subscriber.

It looks like this in our part of Ohio right now....

...so I probably don't have to tell you how much I'm looking forward to summertime.

I was able to reach out to my WDW CM friend to get some advice about what duplicates are worth doing at DL. She's such a peach and actually sent me some of the Starbucks glassware.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/r83f3R]Untitled

which improves my mood. Have you been to both DL and WDW? Are the shared attractions similar?[/url]

 

[3Gsandme]

Following along for the 2016 planning I like to hear I'm not the only crazy person already planning for a trip so far away

Yeah, my husband can only take so much and it's nice to have a place where I can sort of....let out my inner crazy.

Good afternoon! Is spring springing at your house yet? I think we've finally seen the worst of winter. You know, for a long time I didn't really mind winter very much, but these past few years have been just too much for me. I think Big Daddy would move to Orlando if he could get the go ahead. However, the Princess really wants to graduate from high school here, so we have three more winters to ride out.

I was able to spend some time in the rocking chair on the porch this week.


This is one of my favorite things to do while the girls play. I'm so excited for lots of time rocking on the porch while the girls play as the weather warms up.

I guess I'm going to talk about our Thanksgiving 2016 trip for a bit now. It's been on my mind a lot and it's been all I can do to keep myself from planning out park days and ADRs.

We've had some....drama, I guess, regarding this trip. Not on my end! I'm steadfast! But, we'd like to do a family trip with several members of my family and my brother and sister-in-law just can't seem to commit to anything. It's really frustrating. Sunday, we went out for breakfast with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin and we started talking about the 2016 trip. My Aunt, Uncle and cousin are in no matter what. My sister's husband is in the military and she's in unless they cannot due to orders or station. My sister-in-law cannot commit to anything.

Her: Well, we really want to stay at a Value
Uncle: That's fine, but free dining at a Value is the quick service dining program and you won't get any sit down meals
Her: Well, that would be worth an upgrade, but only at $500 difference.
Me:

In reality, it isn't that they cannot afford the price difference, my sister-in-law kind of doesn't want to. And, I understand that! It's no cheaper for us to stay at a Value. With a family of five, we have some limitations and a suite at ASMu is similar in cost to a room at POR. Additionally, this was supposed to be my poly trip! MY POLY TRIP!

Sister and brother-in-law would stay at Shades of Green because he's military and if we're going to split up resorts for the trip anyhow, I guess I can still have my poly trip, but I'm afraid planning this is going to be a substantial headache. I've told everyone to think about it because when the new year rolls around, we want to start booking. We really need to have things lined up well because i we want to do any meals etc together, we're going to have to be prepared and be early.

In addition, Big Daddy and I are thinking of asking along his mom and niece. My mother-in-law has full legal custody of our niece (she's 4) and I don't think there will be a lot of Disney opportunities for her. If we can manage the money, we'd like to ask them along. That would swell our group to 15 or 16, depending on when/if people hae babies between then and now. My sister and sister-in-law are both in the hunt.

Have you ever taken a trip with a large group? How did you manage the logistics? For instance, we're not going to want to be together all the time. People with small kids will need more down time than we will (our kiddos will be 7, 10 and 16) and keeping such a large group on task is just really hard. If we all have seperate reservations can we call dining and make a dinner reservation or two for the whole group of us? We could book them individually, but there's no guarantee that we'd even be near each other in the restaurant.

So much to think about. Which is why I needed to start early![/URL]

 

[3Gsandme]

I've gotten a little hung up on our November 2016 trip, which is silly because I have a Disney trip coming up this summer! I'm starting to wonder if I houldn't find a way to be a Disney Travel Agent, then I can plan trips all day long. I really love planning trips.

I ended up re-subscribing to Touring Plans. I just like using it. I really like the data they provide. I'm a data junkie. There's really no much thing as too much.

Anyhow, Big Daddy and I will be checking in to Paradise Pier on Wednesday, June 10. I'm really REALLY hoping to be able to meet up with our friends who recently moved to LA. They have an adorable little boy and she is one of my oldest friends. I was a little sad when they told us they were moving. I'm worried about how much our paths will intersect now. But, it's my understanding you can watch the Disneyland fireworks from Paradise Pier's roof top pool and that's what I plan to do. Apparently, they pipe in the music and I am such a sucker for Disney's fireworks shows. I get a little panicky when I think about the possibility of them moving away from Wishes at the Magic Kingdom!

Thursday morning, Big Daddy and I will be up bright and early. I don't suspect that will be too difficult because we'll have only been on the west coast for two days and I suspect we'll still be on East Coast time a little bit. Disneyland opens at 7 am, so I'm hoping Big Daddy and I can be on the monorail in time to start touring the park at 7 on the nose.

THis is where touring plans comes in really handy. I used their attraction and show checklist, put in my planned dinner and loooong afternoon break and while we'll be BUSY we should get to see ALL of my "must do" attractions in the park including the fireworks show and the late showing of Fantasmic!

Anyhow, I'm thinking we'll stop at the Downtown Disney starbucks for breakfast and coffee before getting on the monorail. Our day will inclde the following rides...

Space Mountain, Star Tours, Matterhorn, Storybook Land Boats, It's a Small World, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates, Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Tiki Room, Mr Toad, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and the Carrousel. If we have time, I might try to sneak in Splash Mountain. My touring plan was wanting to put me there in the evening and I don't want to take the chance walking around wet in the evening.

Big Daddy and I will be eating at Blue Bayou to take advantage of the Fantasmic! package. Using dining package for both Fantasmic! and World of Color is how I plan to maximize our time. Without the ticket, I'd feel the need to be in place earlier than I do with it. At $61 per person, the dinner offerings for the Fantasmic! package look pretty good and I think Big Daddy will be happy with the variety.

For our afternoon break, I'm thinking of making a reservation at Naples. However, with a big dinner ahead of us, Earl of Sandwich might make more sense. I really should look and see what the cancellation policy is there for dining reservations. I suppose what we want to eat might depend on how much of a nap we want to take. If it's NOT like WDW and I can cancel day of, it may make sense to make the reservation and then make a game time decision.

 

[3Gsandme]

Hello friends.

Long time no update. Life has a way of working like that.

Big Daddy and I are a little more than a month away from our Californian Adventure and we're both getting really excited. I have most of our reservations made, but things have changed since I updated last. Let me give you a run down.

First, we have cemented the dates of our 2016 trip and have provided them to all the involved parties. At the very least, our family, my aunt, uncle and cousin and my mother-in-law and our niece will be traveling with us. My brother is on board but, as mentioned previously, they have a lot less flexibility than we do. We will be arriving in our happy place the Saturday after Thanksgiving and staying for one glorious week at a resort TBD. I'll probably change my mind on that a million times.

In addition, I will be chaperoning the Princess's band trip to Disneyworld in spring 2016. It will be a quick trip, bookended with 24 hour bus trips, but I'm really looking forward to the opportunity. Big Daddy might be attending as well, but we'll have to see. I'd like him to and it sounds like they need male chaperones.

But now, on to California.

Spring has finally sprung here in the midwest after another long, cold, dark winter. We've moved into cold and rain this week, but I'm trying to be grateful as such a large portion of our country is struggling for water right now. Here, everything is lush and green and starting to bloom. I think this is the longest spring we've had in a long time. Usually, we have a week or of spring before the temperature shoots up and we find ourselves in summer.

Untitled by hipmama2000, on Flickr

Here's the itinerary!

Friday: Depart Home, drive 12 hours to the North Woods
Saturday and Sunday : Visit with Big Daddy's Dad and Stepmom and help the girls settle in
Monday: Drive south. Drop off our car with Big Daddy's Aunt for her to use when she has the girls. Have dinner with friends and then check into our hotel near the airport for the night
Tuesday Bright and Early flight to Las Vegas. Pick up a convertible and drive to Sacramento via Red Rocks, Death Valley and Yosemite. It will be a long drive, but Big Daddy and I have it in us.
Wednesday: Meet up with our friend for breakfast and give him a pretty big surprise. Spend the day in San Fransisco (obviously, with just one day we are doing a best of. I want to ride the street car, see China Town and the Golden Gate bridge). Spend the night on the Pacific Coast Highway
Thursday: Continue to wind our way towards San Diego on the PCH. Spend the night in San Luis Obispo
Friday and Saturday: San Diego!
Sunday: Leave San Diego, drive to Los Angeles and check in at the Paradise Pier Hotel!
Monday California Adventure
Tuesday Disneyland!
Wednesday Depart Disneyland and drive to Las Vegas. Spend the night at the Stratosphere
Thursday A bright and early flight back to Illinois to collect our babies
Friday Playgroup reunion and visiting with our IL family and friends
Saturday More time with our IL besties
Sunday Home where we will sleep for a week.

 

[3Gsandme]

Big Daddy is home after a week long work trip to Las Vegas. It's so hard to be home when he's gone. The girls miss him so much and it seems like no one sleeps well. We picked him up at the airport Sunday evening and he as able to take yesterday off. I really needed that Big Daddy time! Plus, I got a few hours alone with him since everyone was in school in the morning. It's hard to get my turn when the little girls are so excited to have him back.

We are finishing up the planning and booking for the California trip. I'm about to do something slightly insane for the Disney portion.

Big Daddy and I have also decided to drag out our drive to Sacramento so we can do a whirlwind visit to three different pitstops. We'll be stopping at Red Rock Canyon, just 30 minutes outside of Las Vegas. From there, we'll drive to and then around and through Death Valley and then north to Yosemite and then on to Sacramento for the night. It will be a long day, considering we'll be departing Chicago at 7am, but I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to see so many different places AND get a loose plan for the trip we hope to take in 2017 with the girls.

I'm hoping to find a few, quick walking/hiking paths at each location so we can get out of the car and actually explore the area a little bit. Right now the Moenkopi loop at Red Rock Canyon and the Golden Canyon trail look like good options, but Ill have to do a little more research, first, to be sure we don't have to drive too far out of the way.

I also need to do some research on how to manage my hair in a convertible for 10 days. Any suggestions?

But, now on to the Disney portion of the trip. Initially, I was spending tons of hours on Touring Plans to try and put together a Touring Plan that would work with the time that we had. Remember, we only have one day in each park and we will be having a sit down downer and a nice, big afternoon break. I plan to take advantage of early entry, but I was really stressing out with trying to make the plans. No matter how much I fiddled and fudged I couldn't get a touring plan to look like what I wanted it to. So, I scrapped it. I'm making no touring plan.

Let me repeat it. I am making no touring plan.

I have a very loose outline (ride Radiator Springs Racers early. Ride Peter Pan early) and dining reservations both night to, hopefully, allow us to see Fantasmic! and World of Color with less waiting and that's it.

It's sort of panic inducing.

I've had to stop myself, several times, from going back to the Touring Plans website and making yet another touring plan with the hopes that I'll be able to get it right this time, but I'm not going to. Big Daddy and I are going to go with the flow and it's kind of terrifying.

 

[3Gsandme]

We are four weeks away from arriving at the park and just about
three weeks away from the start of our trip. I'm starting to get nervous about leaving the kids and whether or not I have enough clothes to get me through a 16 day total vacation.

Additionally I have, again, changed a few plans around.

Initially, my plan for my Disneyland day at the park included dinner at the Blue Bayou on the Fantasmic! dining plan to maximize our touring times and minimize some waits. However, with the announcement of both a new parade (Paint the Night) and a new fireworks spectacular for the Sixtieth Birthday celebration. This has really messed up my plans. In a good way, kind of, because I'm looking forward to seeing the new shows, but it means I've really had to overhaul my Disneyland day.

My current plan is to do all my rides prior to lunch at the Blue Bayou at 1:30. I decided to cancel my evening Fantasmic! package and take our break in the afternoon after we have lunch. We'll return to the park for dinner at Aladdin's Oasis and then camp out on Main Street for the 8:50 Paint the Night parade and the 9:30 Disneyland Forever Firework/Projection thingie. Afterwards, we'll use our FastPass from dinner and catch the 10:45 showing of Fantasmic! I'm a little stressed out about how both how busy that seems and how much waiting Big Daddy and I are going to have to do. I'm hoping to eat dinner on a bench on main street and then move into place on the curb as the crowd starts to build.

Additionally, we received the dates for the Princess's band trip to Disney World this past week, so I'll be adding that ticker when Big Daddy and I arrive home from our trip in June.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Hi there. Following along. We are planing a trip for sometime mid September to first week of November 2016.

 

[3Gsandme]

Hi there. Following along. We are planing a trip for sometime mid September to first week of November 2016.

Hello!

I was actually a little sad that it looked like free dining wouldn't be offered during our selected dates, but I think that will make ADRs easier and crowds lower. We'll see.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Hello!

I was actually a little sad that it looked like free dining wouldn't be offered during our selected dates, but I think that will make ADRs easier and crowds lower. We'll see.

Mid November before people are out for Thanksgiving is a good crowd level time. So even if y'all don't hit a free dining block, (ya know it varies so much some years) y'all should have great crowd levels.

 

[3Gsandme]

I was pretty sure I'd be quiet on the PTR front for a few months while we visited Disneyland and then summered all over the place.

Dd's marching band will be marching at WDW in March 2016. Initially, we planned for just me to go along as a chaperone. However, I realized this past week that dd wasn't going to spend any time with me. SHe was going to hang out with her friends and I was going to be on my own. Initially, I considered having my bff meet me, but since i don't know how "on" I'd have to be as a chaperone, I wasn't sure if that would work. Basically, I told Big Daddy that we needed to figure something else out, so the little girls, Big Daddy and I will be flying down to Florida to spend a few days in the parks and see the Princess march.

When are we going? Oh, the week after Easter with level ten crowds every. single. day.

I'm a little nervous and to make sure we all have the best time, it's going to take some serious planning and, after some numbers crunching it might lead to us purchasing an annual pass afterall. Stay Tuned.

 

[3Gsandme]

Mid November before people are out for Thanksgiving is a good crowd level time. So even if y'all don't hit a free dining block, (ya know it varies so much some years) y'all should have great crowd levels.

Oh, I agree. We're going the week after Thanksgiving (arriving Saturday). We'll have one day of the parks being kind of crowded and then should enjoy pretty low crowds. It's a good trade off. Obviously, since we're taking (and paying for) seven on this trip, free dining would have saved us a LOT of money, but this is likely to be two in our parties only visit, so I'd rather pay more to have lower crowds and more availability.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Oh, I agree. We're going the week after Thanksgiving (arriving Saturday). We'll have one day of the parks being kind of crowded and then should enjoy pretty low crowds. It's a good trade off. Obviously, since we're taking (and paying for) seven on this trip, free dining would have saved us a LOT of money, but this is likely to be two in our parties only visit, so I'd rather pay more to have lower crowds and more availability.

Oh I was thinking before thanksgiving, but yeah the two-three weeks after before everyone is out for Christmas are awesome as well. We've done that week for my birthday (November 30th) and done usually the "week of finals" for everyone else until we were too old and taking them!

 

[3Gsandme]

It will be our first time going that time of year. I'm a Christmas geek, so I'm really excited to be in the parks so close to Christmas time.

 

[3Gsandme]

Hey! I got mail! Big Daddy is a little sad. No magic bands.

Untitled by hipmama2000, on Flickr

The luggage tags are ADORABLE! We only got two so, of course, the kids are kind of fighting over them. However, they're mine, so.....
Untitled by hipmama2000, on Flickr

 

[3Gsandme]

I'm back! I haven't forgotten this little PTR. A lot has happened in the meantime and I'll be doing a fun planning update soon.

We found out last year that this year my daughters band would be marching at Disney World in the spring of 2016, so we have a second trip on the books for 2016 including having already booked our resort! I am starting to plan my ADRs because my 180 days is coming up soon.

Stay tuned!

 

[3Gsandme]

It's time for an update. We had a crazy summer. I also need to spend some time on my Disneyland Trip Report as well, so look for that to be updated within the next day or so.

The big news, of course, is that we have added a trip to Disney World for next March! My 15 year old (sixteen by then) will be joining her High School Marching band as they've been "invited" to march.

At spring break.

Literally.

Big Daddy, Littlebit and Baby Bee and I will flying down on Monday, March 28th (yes, that is Easter Monday) while the Princess will board a charter bus and ride down with the band. We'll have four glorious days in the parks INCLUDING seeing the Princess's band get to parade before flying home on Saturday, April 2.

After our trip to Disneyland, Big Daddy confessed to considering purchasing DVC, so I reached out to member here who was renting points and we're going to be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge-Kidani Village for our March trip. I'm so very excited! We're staying standard view, so we won't get any awesome Savannah balconies, but I thought it would be good entrance into trying DVC rooms to see if it's something we'd like.

I booked our airfare last week (Southwest) and we're super excited because it's going to be Littlebit and Baby Bee's first time on a airplane! THe Princess is a little miffed she has to fly, but I'm sure she'll enjoy the trip anyhow.

OUr 180 day mark is September 30th, so I have some planning to do. Here are my initial thoughts

1) It's going to be really busy and I'm a little nervous.
2) We are probably buying AP and TIW on this trip. We will be in the park in excess ten days and should save a few hundred dollars with the purchase of AP, plus dining discounts with the AP discount and TIW
3) We arrive at MCO at 4:30 on Monday. I've debated strongly about whether or not to rent a car, but considering how busy the parks are forecast to be, I think we will be happier with a car rental.

Touring Plans AND EasyWDW are telling me that we will have crowd levels of 10. Big Daddy had such a great time at DL that I'm afraid this trip might harsh his mellow. I'm hoping to plan a good amount of resort time to counteract the big crowds at the park.

Here's my general outline for day one

Flight Arrives at MCO at 4:20. Assume we won't be into the terminal until 4:45 and probably not off airport property (shuttles, bags, car rental) until 5:30. Google tells me it will take us around 30 minutes to get there, but I'm going to assume it will take an hour to get into our room with traffic. I will do both on-line check in AND an Garden Grocer order to save us some time and effort. We will probably pick up dinner in a sack to eat on our way to the resort.

Hopefully, we can be back in the car at 7pm and be in the Magic Kingdom at 7:30. I plan to FP+ Philharmagic (girls favorite), Town Hall Mickey and Wishes so we can get great seats (stands) for our favorite nighttime show Celebrate the Magic.

Afterwards, we'll try and stay in the viewing area as long as we can before heading back to the car and our room to get a good night's sleep. We will be meeting the Princess at EPCOT the next day.

So, is my first night plan doable?