We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes! A June 2015 PTR - Updated 6/10

cstorm65

DDC #699
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes!
A June 2015 PTR


Hello and welcome to the pre-trip report for our family’s 4th trip to Walt Disney World coming up in June. As you can tell from the title the planning process has been pretty crazy thus far and I feel much less prepared for this trip than for any other one in the past. But, hopefully this PTR will help me get things straight in my head and get this trip a little more organized. So, without further ado...let the PTR begin! Thanks for reading along and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE comment as it makes this so much more fun for everyone! Finally, here is a link to the previous trip reports for our other three trips.

Link to Previous Trip Reports

Part 1: Introductions

I guess I should start by introducing myself, I’m Jon.

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I am a high school teacher and coach and love the job I get to do every day. I teach Physics and AP Environmental Science. In addition to teaching I am the defensive coordinator in football and the head boys track & field coach. I honestly think I have the best job in the world. Being able to make a positive impact on kids every day is something I love doing. It certainly has its challenges, but overall I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

Favorite Character: Goofy
Favorite Ride: Expedition Everest
Favorite Show: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Restaurant: ‘Ohana

Now for my best friend and wife, April.

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April loves our family vacations as well as almost any time we get to spend together. We have developed a love for Disney and vacationing together and it is something she cherishes. She is a school psychologist by day and an incredible mother and wife by night. She works in the same school district I do and gets to come over to my classroom for lunch every day, which really is nice. She love her job working with kids as well and she is awesome at it.

Favorite Character: Ariel
Favorite Ride: Rock 'n Roller Coaster
Favorite Show: Festival of the Lion King
Favorite Movie: Little Mermaid
Favorite Restaurant: Whispering Canyon Cafe

Finally, our little man, who by the way turned three years old today, Braxton.

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Which is kind of sad because he is getting older so quick...and now we have to buy him his own Disney park ticket. He loves to run, play, hit things, throw balls, and many other things most little boys love to do. He has a great personality and is a good kid most of the time. In addition to all of these things DS loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and all of the super heros. We even found out the other day he knew who Ironman was. We didn’t know how he knew this, but we saw something in the store he said it was Ironman and sure enough. Anyway, he is an awesome kid and we are so blessed to have him as our son.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of us on our last trip.

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Up Next: The Master Itinerary
 
Current Trip Report
June 2015 PTR - We’re Going For the Record...A Record Number of Resort Changes!

Past Trip Reports

June/July 2014 - Escape from Real Life to Paradise: A New Trip with New Memories
June 2013 - Escape from Tornado Alley to Food, Tropical Storms, Mickey and More Food
June 2011 Trip Report - "Can Two Thrill Ride Junkies Love Disneyworld?"

Past Trips
July 2008 - Offsite
June 2011 - Caribbean Beach Resort - Trip Report
June 2013 - Pop Century/Universal Royal Pacific/Boardwalk Villas - Trip Report
June/July 2014 - Disney Dream Cruise/Wilderness Lodge - Trip Report


Upcoming Trips
June 2015 - Pop Century Resort/Coronado Springs Resort
 
Yay!!! I'm here. Great intros and pics, Jon. I spied you are staying at the Coronado; we've stayed there 10 times...we love it.

Now back to catching up everywhere so I can get an update done on my own PTR....I leave in 30 days.

Can't wait to read about your plans.
 


Thanks for the Batsignal Jon! Sounds like it will be some solid planning going on.

And happy birthday to Braxton! party:

(darn kids and their getting older and needing a ticket).
 
I'm here! I got behind on your trip report but caught up! School has been crazy for me! Looking forward to hearing about plans for this trip!
 


Looking forward to your June plans. We were originally going to vacation in June, but had to push it back until August for summer internships and stuff like that.

I love that last photopass picture. It's awesome.

Happy Birthday to Braxton! :bday:
 
Yay!!! I'm here. Great intros and pics, Jon. I spied you are staying at the Coronado; we've stayed there 10 times...we love it.

I'll get to the story later on in the PTR I'm sure, but we have changed to several resorts now, but ended up at Coronado. We are just so ready to get away I think we'd be happy anywhere, but we have heard so many good things about it we can't help be be excited.

Now back to catching up everywhere so I can get an update done on my own PTR....I leave in 30 days.

That's getting close!

Can't wait to read about your plans.

I can't either! I am so behind I don't even know for sure what they are yet except for our dining reservations. I've got 9 days to get my FP+ act together and I haven't even started!

Here I am! Can't wait to read more about your pre-tripping adventures!

Thanks for coming over! Good to "see" you!

Thanks for the Batsignal Jon! Sounds like it will be some solid planning going on.

No problem! Glad to have everyone over here!

And happy birthday to Braxton! party:

(darn kids and their getting older and needing a ticket).

We are all set up for the party here in about two hours! But yes...buying that ticket was hard...ha!

I'm here! I got behind on your trip report but caught up! School has been crazy for me! Looking forward to hearing about plans for this trip!

School has been crazy for us too. I have to make FP+ plans in 9 days and have barely started. I'm going to have to burn the midnight oil to get some of that done. Thanks for signing up.

Looking forward to your June plans. We were originally going to vacation in June, but had to push it back until August for summer internships and stuff like that.

Oh, that's too bad, but I know you all will have a great trip! Loving your report as well!

I love that last photopass picture. It's awesome.

My favorite two pics. I guess I should have put the one after that where he was mad that he didn't get to put his hands on ours. The photographer got a great pic of him pouting while DW and I had Tinkerbell in our hands.

Happy Birthday to Braxton! :bday:

Thanks...I will tell him. Party just a couple of hours away!
 
Just finished your last report and loved it. Can't wait to hear about the next one!
 
Happy Birthday Braxton!!!!
Happy Birthday Braxton!
Happy birthday Braxton:bday:

Thanks everyone! I have passed all of the birthday wishes along to the three year old! He had a great day!

Just finished your last report and loved it. Can't wait to hear about the next one!

Thanks for reading along. Hopefully I can keep you somewhat entertained with the planning!

Joining in. Looking forward to reading about your plans.

Thanks for joining! Hopefully I'll get some plans done. Time is short right now!!
 
I'm in, Jon! I look forward to hearing your plans for your next trip to the World!

I see from your ticker that you may be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge?! I LOVE that resort! :lovestruc

Also, happy belated birthday to Braxton! (I love the picture of him in the pirate costume! :thumbsup2)
 
Itinerary and The Resort Selection Saga

I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday weekend! I think tonight I will go ahead and give our rough itinerary as well as tell the main part of the resort change story or better termed a saga.

We knew we were going to do a split stay because my TA discount as it was only good for one week, but we wanted about a 10 day trip. Our plan originally was to spend the first 4 days of our trip here:

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Port Orleans Riverside was always a place we wanted to stay, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet, so we figured it would be the perfect place for the first few days. Along with this Riverside stay we had decided to do our full week afterwards here:

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So, that is how it all started. Of course changes were going to happen, but little did we know we were far from our resorts being finalized. I am not exactly sure when this first change happened, but Disney released some room discounts for the spring and early summer, but the discounts did not include Port Orleans Riverside, or at least the rom types we wanted, so we decided to change to a resort we had stayed at before and loved:

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So now it was 4 days at Caribbean Beach Resort and a week at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Just when we thought we were all clear we had some things happen in real life that caused us to try and downsize our trip a little. Since we already had annual passes we decided to downsize our resorts instead of the length of our trip. All of the things that happened in real life were positive, we would just need a little money to make them happen. So we were not too disappointed. So, now we made some changes to our resorts. First, we changed our first four nights to:

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Some pictures from our last stay at Pop Century just to liven things up a little!

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Then, we moved our full week stay to:

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We have stayed at Pop before so we know we will enjoy that and are actually really looking forward to Coronado. It gets overlooked at the moderate level, but are kind of excited to experience it as we always hear great reviews about it.

So, here is our rough itinerary:

Day 1 - Thursday
Fly to Orlando
Check into Pop Century

Day 2-4 - Friday to Sunday
Staying at Pop Century

Day 5 - Monday
Resort Change from Pop Century to Coronado Springs

Day 6-12 - Tuesday to Sunday
Staying at Coronado Springs

Day 13 - Monday
Fly Home

I will get more in depth for each day as we go through the PTR, but I need to spend some time getting a FP+ plan put together over the next few days as I have to make reservations in less than a week! So, I’ll leave it there for now and try to go figure some FP+’s out. Have a great week everyone!

Up Next: Day 1 Plans
 
I'm in, Jon! I look forward to hearing your plans for your next trip to the World!

Thanks for signing up and reading along!

I see from your ticker that you may be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge?! I LOVE that resort! :lovestruc

That was the plan...but we all know the best laid plans! I just posted an update about the resorts, but I do need to fix my ticker!

Also, happy belated birthday to Braxton! (I love the picture of him in the pirate costume! :thumbsup2)

That is maybe my favorite too. He loved pirate night on the cruise ship!
 
Well, I'm glad it was nothing bad in life that made you downsize your resort choices. As I mentioned previously, we love the Coronado. Ten stays and only one really semi-disappointing stay which had nothing to do with the resort...but with the guests (the Pop Warner people). I can't wait to read the day by day plans and what FP+ selections you make.
 
Well, I'm glad it was nothing bad in life that made you downsize your resort choices. As I mentioned previously, we love the Coronado. Ten stays and only one really semi-disappointing stay which had nothing to do with the resort...but with the guests (the Pop Warner people). I can't wait to read the day by day plans and what FP+ selections you make.

Good to hear about Coronado. We enjoyed a deluxe resort last time, but honestly the moderates will suit us just fine. I can't wait until I know what FP+'s I'm making as well! I did actually get to work on a couple of days plans today in about an hour of free time I had, so I at least have a plan for two days done, maybe I'll get a couple of more days finished tomorrow.

Signing on Jon! But I still need to catch up on your last trip report. :faint: :laughing:

Thanks for signing up! Glad to have you here!!
 

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