The Ever Changing Resort PTR, June 2016...Completed!

[ArielSRL]

Well, here I am, attempting to do this again. Didn't go so well last attempt (2007) but I'm gonna give it a go again. With less than 3 months to go, the PTR won't be too extensive and will hopefully get me on the right path to doing a trip report. You see, it's my 2 yr old's first trip and my 4.5 yr old's second trip (he was 9.5 months at the time, so this is his first trip he might actually remember, though), therefore I want a record of it!

So I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. Probably an introduction is the way to start. Here are the travelers:

Mom - who almost loves Disney as much as I do, though isn't quite as obsessed, and Dad - pretty much gets dragged along on most of the trips.


AJ, 4.5 yrs, and Will, 2 yrs. AJ has been a Disney fan for as long as he can remember. Will loves Mickey and his new obsession is McQueen.


Then there is me, Renee. Teacher, mommy, Disney obsessed, total geek (love LotR, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc), college football (specifically UGA and SEC) fan. I've been to WDW around 14 times and DL twice.

DH is skipping out this trip because a few days after we return home, we have to leave town again for his cousin's wedding and he can't take that much time off. Oh well. More reason to plan the next trip with him included!

We'll be at Disney 6/4-6/11 at SSR in a 1 bedroom. I *think* that's our final resort. I mean it is our 4th change...haha....but, unless OKW comes available for a discount, I think we are finally settled. FYI, first it was AoA in a Cars Suite. We had always planned for OKW once discounts got released but there was never any availability (for there or SSR) so we originally switched to VWL. However, costs and construction drove us back to AoA Cars Suite and then, finally, magically SSR became available and we jumped on it. So, as I said, I think we are - fairly...lol - settled there.

Ok, I don't know if anyone will read this but if so, I'll be back with more (ADRs, park days, touring plans, etc) possibly as early as tomorrow. It's midnight here, so I'm gonna stop for now. Thanks to anyone who spends their time on my PTR!

 

[ArielSRL]

Table of Contents

Planning

• Introductions (see above post).
• Travel Day Plan
• Park Days
• Planned Meals
• Arrival Day Plans 6/4
• Day 2 Plans 6/5
• Day 3 Plans 6/6
• Day 4 Plans 6/7
• Trip Clothes
• Day 5 Plans 6/8
• Day 6 Plans 6/9
• Day 7 Plans 6/10
• Scheduled Fast Passes
• Trip Updates as of 4/12/2016
• More Clothes and Changes
• Updated AK Plans as of 4/22
• Weather and MORE AK Changes
• Packing Piles and Pixie Dust Already!
• Semi-Update (I Blew Up Our AK Plans)
• Magic Bands, Luggage Tags, and My New Hat
• Finally Finalizing Plans!!!
• Arrival Day Changes
• Packing

This Time Next Week

• Travel Day 6/3
• Arrival Day 6/4
• MK Sunday 6/5
• DHS/Epcot Monday 6/6
• AK Tuesday 6/7
• Epcot/DS/DHS Wednesday 6/8

Trip Report Link post

 

[ArielSRL]

Travel Day Plan 6/3

Ok, so we are planning to leave on Friday evening (6/3) maybe around 6?? We are driving to Lake City, FL and Mom just booked our hotel for that evening. We'll be at the Country Inn & Suites off I-75, on Hwy 90 (I think). It was the best rated at the lowest cost. And they have a free hot breakfast, so we will enjoy that Saturday AM before heading to WDW.

Google Maps says 4 hrs and 30 min to the hotel. I'm really hoping we don't have to make many stops because I'm also hoping the boys fall asleep (normal bedtimes are 7:30 for Will and 8-8:30 for AJ). Most likely Dad and I will take turns driving. Mom will just sit up front as she gets car sick. I do, too, so I may drive most of the time (I did for our last trip July 2012...but Dad had a blood clot then, so he really wasn't supposed to).

I think arriving before/by midnight is the goal. I probably need to remember to pack a small suitcase with our overnight stuff, pjs, toiletries, and clothes for Saturday. The boys usually get up between 7 and 8, though it could very well be earlier being on vacation, and all in the same room; so we'll head to breakfast then, and I am hoping to be on the road around 9. Its 2.5 hours to SSR, so I would love to arrive by 12 or 12:30. Hoping to get into our room early and definitely have lunch at Artist Palette before heading to the parks. Hoping to be at MK by 3pm.

We will have to pick up the stroller that I rented at bell services and Mom is tossing around the idea of an ECV because she has bad knees.

Ok, time for work. Next update, I'll go into our touring plans....

Thanks for reading!

 

[LMO429]

Hi!! Looking forward to reading more!!!

 

[ErinF]

I'm following!!! It will be fun to read your adventures, as we are going on our trip at almost the exact same time (June 4-13)!!

 

[ArielSRL]

Hi!! Looking forward to reading more!!!

Thanks for joining in!

I'm following!!! It will be fun to read your adventures, as we are going on our trip at almost the exact same time (June 4-13)!!

Thanks for joining in! Where are you staying?

 

[tortilla24]

I'm here!

Disney with grandparents sounds like the perfect way to do Disney! We arrive a few days after you - fingers crossed for good weather (which I guess in June means not boiling and with minimal rain)

 

[ErinF]

Thanks for joining in! Where are you staying?

We are doing a split stay this trip. It was just going to be 2 resorts, but we added an extra night at the beginning. So it's first night at CBR, then 4 nights at POR and 4 nights at the Contemporary. I know a lot of people do split stays, so I know we're not crazy, I just hope the kiddos can go with the flow of moving around!!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm here!

Disney with grandparents sounds like the perfect way to do Disney! We arrive a few days after you - fingers crossed for good weather (which I guess in June means not boiling and with minimal rain)

Thanks for joining in! So exciting! Not too much longer now! As far as the heat, we are planning on midday breaks every day! Where will you be staying?

We are doing a split stay this trip. It was just going to be 2 resorts, but we added an extra night at the beginning. So it's first night at CBR, then 4 nights at POR and 4 nights at the Contemporary. I know a lot of people do split stays, so I know we're not crazy, I just hope the kiddos can go with the flow of moving around!!!

Sounds fun! We love POR!

 

[tortilla24]

Thanks for joining in! So exciting! Not too much longer now! As far as the heat, we are planning on midday breaks every day! Where will you be staying?

I'm going with my out-of-country friend and her 2 boys and because of budget we're not staying as long as you are... only 3 days in Orlando but we're going to the beach afterwards. I guess I can't complain too much The boys didn't grow up with many Disney influences being non-Americans, but they definitely have more connections to Universal's characters like Harry Potter, Spiderman, the Simpsons, etc. So only 1 day MK and the other 2 days are the Universal parks. So we're staying on-site at Royal Pacific.

The boys are older than yours (8 and 14) but I do think mid-day breaks will help wonders. I also plan on buying those handheld spray fans to help the boys cool off - they'll need it! Looking forward to reading more from you!

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm going with my out-of-country friend and her 2 boys and because of budget we're not staying as long as you are... only 3 days in Orlando but we're going to the beach afterwards. I guess I can't complain too much The boys didn't grow up with many Disney influences being non-Americans, but they definitely have more connections to Universal's characters like Harry Potter, Spiderman, the Simpsons, etc. So only 1 day MK and the other 2 days are the Universal parks. So we're staying on-site at Royal Pacific.

The boys are older than yours (8 and 14) but I do think mid-day breaks will help wonders. I also plan on buying those handheld spray fans to help the boys cool off - they'll need it! Looking forward to reading more from you!

Yeh, I think once my boys are older we will probably have to split some time between Disney and Universal. Have fun! And thanks again for reading.

 

[ArielSRL]

Park Days

Ok, so we have 7 day park hoppers. We will be in the parks 6/4-6/10 (6/11 is departure day). Like mentioned in the travel day plans, we are hoping to arrive at SSR by 12 or 12:30, eat lunch, pick up stroller (and possibly ECV) at bell services, and get into the room (fingers crossed). I would love to be at MK by 3. Anything before that would be bonus. I am planning to book FP+ starting at 2:15ish and back to back to back but I am very worried about that. Any idea if 3pm is a good estimate for arriving at the park?? I probably could adjust the FP+ starting times but according to Touring Plans, this will be a busy day (it's a Saturday) so the predicted wait times are the worst/longest of the whole trip on this day - even the usually low crowd attractions have predicted long waits on this day. Therefore I want to be able to try to book extra FP after we use our initial 3.

Also, I made a change to our "park days plan" the other day. Initially I had 1.5 days planned at Epcot because both Soarin' and FEA were predicted to be open on our trip. Those, along with TT will be/are Tier 1. Now, it is pretty much all but confirmed that Soarin' won't be open until late June/early July, so I don't think we need that much Epcot time. Basically we are now doing an AM rope drop half day and a PM half day.

Here's the schedule:
Saturday 6/4 - MK PM
Sunday 6/5 - MK all day
Monday 6/6 - DHS AM, Epcot PM
Tuesday 6/7 - AK all day
Wednesday 6/8 - Epcot AM, Disney Springs PM
Thursday 6/9 - MK all day
Friday 6/10 - DHS all day

Keep in mind, we have a midday break planned for every day except arrival day. Will still naps about 1.5 to 2 hrs in the early afternoon. Plus we want a break from the midday heat. Not sure how he will get his nap on Saturday, but we'll see how it goes. We don't have any nighttime events planned for Saturday night, so if we need to head back to SSR fairly early, we will.

Ok, next up will be dining plans...
Thanks again for reading!

 

[ErinF]

I am planning to book FP+ starting at 2:15ish and back to back to back but I am very worried about that. Any idea if 3pm is a good estimate for arriving at the park??

I think 3pm is reasonable. But I think I would make my first FP+ for 2:30-3:30. Personally, that would make me feel a little bit better since you're probably going to want to unpack and get settled a little bit at SSR, then you've got to get lunch, then drive (or take the bus) to MK, get through security and front gates and then all the way into the park to whatever your first FP+ attraction is. But you should also have a grace period, up to 15 minutes past the end of your FP+ window I believe.

Here's the schedule:
Saturday 6/4 - MK PM
Sunday 6/5 - MK all day
Monday 6/6 - DHS AM, Epcot PM
Tuesday 6/7 - AK all day
Wednesday 6/8 - Epcot AM, Disney Springs PM
Thursday 6/9 - MK all day
Friday 6/10 - DHS all day

I like your schedule! Love that those cute boys are getting lots of MK time!!! And since you've obviously got hoppers, you can always change up Thursday and Friday if you need to do some hopping if you missed anything or want to revisit some favorites. (I find it easy to hop when you're taking a break in the middle of the day already.) Don't be afraid of giving up your current FP+ to make different ones if plans change. On our last trip in June 2014, we decided on our second to last day to visit Epcot instead of MK for our last day (which was just a half day). We got FP+ for Soarin' with that short notice by getting 5 different FP+ times that overlapped enough so we had about a 20 minute window that we were all good for.

I also wanted to say that we'll be at MK all day Sunday as well. We still take a mid-day break (my kids are 7, 10, and 12), but I really want to see the FoF parade so we're going to go from rope drop until just after the parade for this one day--it will be our first day in the parks so I'm counting on everyone to be able to make it because we shouldn't be too exhausted yet!

The only other time our schedules match up is Tuesday, when we'll be at AK in the evening. Hoping for Rivers of Light that night!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I think 3pm is reasonable. But I think I would make my first FP+ for 2:30-3:30. Personally, that would make me feel a little bit better since you're probably going to want to unpack and get settled a little bit at SSR, then you've got to get lunch, then drive (or take the bus) to MK, get through security and front gates and then all the way into the park to whatever your first FP+ attraction is. But you should also have a grace period, up to 15 minutes past the end of your FP+ window I believe.

I probably could change the first one (Peter Pan) to 2:30. Our next one will be 7DMT and its on the plan for 3:26. So, even if the FP was 3:30 and we truly got to 7DMT at 3:26, they should let us on because of the 5 min beforehand grace period, right? If we end up getting to MK a lot earlier than we planned, I suppose I could either try to move 7DMT up after we use the one for PP, or add in something with a low wait between the two.

I like your schedule! Love that those cute boys are getting lots of MK time!!! And since you've obviously got hoppers, you can always change up Thursday and Friday if you need to do some hopping if you missed anything or want to revisit some favorites. (I find it easy to hop when you're taking a break in the middle of the day already.) Don't be afraid of giving up your current FP+ to make different ones if plans change. On our last trip in June 2014, we decided on our second to last day to visit Epcot instead of MK for our last day (which was just a half day). We got FP+ for Soarin' with that short notice by getting 5 different FP+ times that overlapped enough so we had about a 20 minute window that we were all good for.

Yeh, I have a very specific plan, and I'm very set in my ways, but, with that said, I'm a momma to two little boys, so plans get changed a lot more around here than they used to! Good to know about the FP. I'm a total FP+ newbie, so I've been practicing a lot!

I also wanted to say that we'll be at MK all day Sunday as well. We still take a mid-day break (my kids are 7, 10, and 12), but I really want to see the FoF parade so we're going to go from rope drop until just after the parade for this one day--it will be our first day in the parks so I'm counting on everyone to be able to make it because we shouldn't be too exhausted yet!

The only other time our schedules match up is Tuesday, when we'll be at AK in the evening. Hoping for Rivers of Light that night!!

Yah! Well, when I post my touring plans, let me know if anything looks like it might match up and maybe we can stop for a quick hello and a photo! And yes, I am so stalking with this ROL thing. Really hoping for a dining pkg but it's anybody's guess as to when, what, and how, at this point.

Thanks again for reading and commenting!

 

[ErinF]

Yah! Well, when I post my touring plans, let me know if anything looks like it might match up and maybe we can stop for a quick hello and a photo! And yes, I am so stalking with this ROL thing. Really hoping for a dining pkg but it's anybody's guess as to when, what, and how, at this point.

You are so on top of things to have already done your Touring Plans!! I told myself I needed to wait til our Spring Break (which was this week) to make my personalized ones, just so I could spread out the planning a bit. And yet here we are and I still haven't started yet because I feel like I can't start them until we get this whole Rivers of Light possible dining packages thing nailed down!!! Yes, once I do mine and I see what yours are, we'll see if something matches up.

 

[ArielSRL]

You are so on top of things to have already done your Touring Plans!! I told myself I needed to wait til our Spring Break (which was this week) to make my personalized ones, just so I could spread out the planning a bit. And yet here we are and I still haven't started yet because I feel like I can't start them until we get this whole Rivers of Light possible dining packages thing nailed down!!! Yes, once I do mine and I see what yours are, we'll see if something matches up.

I've had the MK ones done for awhile and I just had to tweak them a bit once Disney pushed back the BTMRR refurb. But MK has been fairly steady this whole time. It's the other parks that have questions! I don't have Epcot done at all, just changed up DHS bc of adding the extra time and did AK a few weeks ago but leaving the nighttime open. So I'm not really as on it as it seems, and the only reason I have what I have is bc it helps pass the time until the trip!

 

[punkin413]

I'm here! I'm subbing so I can find it and catch up reading over the next couple days. Yay!!!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm here! I'm subbing so I can find it and catch up reading over the next couple days. Yay!!!!

Glad you are here!

 

[ArielSRL]

Planned Meals

I forgot to mention in my park days post that we were trying to avoid all EMH this trip. One, we cannot get to an 8 am rope drop, and two, with two children under 5, we won’t be able to stay up late enough to take advantage of the evening ones. However, I either missed the Friday evening EMH at DHS or Disney changed it on me (most likely the former….doh). So, for awhile I flirted with trading our Wednesday and Friday plans. However, I ended up deciding that I didn’t want to end the trip on an AM park day and a Disney Springs evening. Sure, it might be more relaxing but going out with Fantasmic and the (kmfx) new Star Wars fireworks would be way more exciting. The point I’m getting to though, is that I currently have five H&V ADRs (3 of which are Fantasmic packages) and two T-Rex ADRs. I offered up 3 of the H&V (1 F! pkg) on the ADR cancellation thread, but no takers yet, so I will probably just cancel them soon.

Notes – We are character meal heavy. With 2 under 5, it just makes sense. And it means we won’t have to do as many M&Gs in the parks. We are on the regular dining plan.

Saturday 6/4 (Arrival Day)

· Breakfast: Country Inn & Suites

· QS Lunch: 12:30/1pm - Artist Palette, SSR

· QS Dinner : 5:45pm - Cosmic Ray’s, MK

Sunday 6/5

· TS Breakfast: 10:25am – Crystal Palace, MK

· QS Dinner: 6pm – Columbia Harbor House, MK

Monday 6/6

· TS Breakfast: 10am – Cape May, Beach Club

· QS Dinner: Time? – Where?, Epcot

Tuesday 6/7

· TS Breakfast: 10:40am Tusker House, AK

· TS Dinner: 5:45pm Yak & Yeti, AK

Wednesday 6/8

· QS Breakfast/Lunch: Time? - Where?, Epcot

· TS Dinner: 5:30 T-Rex, Disney Springs

Thursday 6/9

· QS Lunch: 11:30am – Be Our Guest, MK

· TS Dinner: 5pm – Chef Mickey’s, Contemporary

Friday 6/10

· TS Lunch: 11am – Hollywood & Vine (F! pkg), DHS

· QS Dinner: 6pm – Sunset Blvd or ABC Commissary, DHS

Saturday 6/11 (Departure Day)

· Breakfast: possibly Artist Palette (OOP) or in room

· Lunch/Dinner: on the road

So there it is. We do plan to have a light breakfast/snack in the room before leaving for rope drops and a lunch/snack in the room during our breaks, if needed. I’m sure we’ll take in plenty of snacks (planning to get an Amazon Prime Pantry delivery), as well as purchase snacks throughout the day.

 

[Jfsag123]

I'm here! Got excited just reading your plans. I second the idea of putting your first FP+ on that MK day from 2:30-3:30 to give yourself a little more wiggle room. So far, it looks like we will only be overlapping on 6/8. However, I have been going back and forth between doing AK on 6/7 vs. 6/9. Figured I would let when I am able to get a RoL package settle it for me.