We're driving 17 hours??? AGAIN??? Yes Dear, I'm THAT kinda guy.

[itJeff]

Welcome to my first attempt at a PTR.

WHO
There are 5 of us. DW and myself, our girls will be 11, 7 and 5 at the time of travel. This is the 2nd trip for the youngest two, the 3rd for the oldest DD and myself, and the 4th(or 5th?) for DW.

WHAT
We have 7 day base tickets. I'm thinking we'll forgo the 'Hopping', and add it on there if we find we need it. We'll pay OOP for the Water Park instead of adding WPM, since we don't plan to do DQ or anything else.

WHEN
We'll be heading to the world for our dates of May 23 - 30 2010.

WHERE
We are from Arkansas.... Oh, that's not what you wanted to know.
We are staying at POR, probably in the AB section since that's were the trundle beds are.

HOW
We are driving from Arkansas. (I knew that went in here somewhere ) We will go trough Memphis to Atlanta, then down to Orlando. The vehicle is a 2006 Toyota Sienna (mini van). We'll need to get a DVD player before we go.

THE PLANS
I've tried to think far enough ahead to know what our ADRs will need to be based on where we'll be that day. I want to be sure I'm not missing something important. Hopefully I don't have anything planned that is too difficult to accomplish with 3 kiddos in tow. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. TIA

Dining is in DarkOrchid
Parks are in Green
Entertainment is in Red

NOTE: An updated Itenerary is located on page 2
Fri May 21 - Partial Travel Day
Leave town around 4:00pm and drive 5 hours. Hope to stay with DW's cousin in Memphis that night.

Sat May 22 - Travel Day

• Drive, Drive
• Potty break
• Drive, Drive
• "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?"
• Drive, Drive, Drive
• Spend the night somewhere in GA - We may decide to try to finish the drive and stay somewhere cheap around Orlando that night so we'll be closer to the world the next morning.

Sun May 23 - Partial Travel Day - DHS
Finish driving (maybe 4 hours) if needed. Arrive no later than noon.

• 'Check-in' @ POR
• head for DHS
• Tour the park until dinner
• 5:00 Dinner @ SciFi DineIn Theatre (we've not eaten here)
• After Dinner secure seats for Fantasmic!
• Possibly more touring while someone saves seats
• 9:00 Fantasmic! (if it gets rained out we plan to try again another night)
• Back to POR- Sleep!

Mon May 24 - Epcot FW

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour FW
• CS Lunch @ _________
• More Touring
• REST in park (DD5 and DD7 will probably collapse in our lap on a bench somewhere)
• 6:00 Dinner @ Garden Grill (We've not eaten here)
• 9:00 Illuminations (or back to DHS for Fantasmic if we didn't see it the night before)
• Back to POR - Sleep

Tue May 25 - AK

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour AK
• CS Lunch @ _________
• More Touring until Park Close
• 7:30 Dinner @ 1900 P.F. (We've not eaten here)
• Back to POR - Sleep

Wed May 26 - MK

• Early light Breakfast in Room
• Arrive for Rope Drop - Tour MK
• 10:30 Brunch @ Crystal Palace (youngest two haven't eaten here)
• More Touring
• 3:00 Parade
• Dinner @ __________
• 9:00 Wishes
• Back to POR - Sleep

Thu May 27 - Un-Theme Park day

• SLEEP IN!!!!
• 11:00 Head to Blizzard Beach
• Lunch in Water Park
• Spalsh! Swim. Slide! Splash! until around 3:00
• Possibly DTD???
• 6:00 Dinner @ Wispering Canyon (We've not eaten here)
• 7:30 Chip & Dale's Campfire Sing-along @ Ft. Wilderness (we've never done this)
• 9:45 View Electrical Water Pagent from FW (we've never seen it either)
• Back to POR - Sleep

Fri May 28 - Epcot WS (pm EMH until midnight)

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour WS
• 11:00 Lunch @ Akershus Princess Storybook Lunch(we've not eaten here)
• More Touring
• Dinner @ ____________
• 9:00 Illuminations (if we didn't see it on Monday)
• More Touring
• Back to POR - Sleep

Sat May 29 - MK

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour MK
• CS Lunch @ _________
• More Touring
• Head to Contemporary
• 5:30 Dinner @ Chef Mickey's (We've not eaten here)
• Back to MK
• 9:00 SpectroMagic Parade (we've not seen this)
• 10:00 Wishes
• Back to POR - Sleep

Sun May 30 - MK Partial Travel Day

• Breakfast in Room
• Pack up Car
• Tour MK
• CS Lunch @ _________
• One Last Ride
• Head Home

Mon May 31 - Travel Day (Memorial Day)

• Drive, Drive
• Potty break
• Drive, Drive
• "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?"
• Drive, Drive, Drive
• Arrive Home still singing "It's A Small World After All, It's A Small World After All. It's A Small World After All. It's A Small, Small World!"

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I quite a full trip you have planned.
First off, you'll need to add in a few more "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?" for each travel day. Heck, add in a few for each day in the parks as well.
As for CS eating a Epcot - I highly recommend Seasons. It's in "Land" pavilion. We stumbled upon it one time while leaving Soarin. You get enough of the burgers and fries at other locations - Seasons has really nice sandwiches, wraps, etc. I don't recall what they had on the kids menu, but my kids (4 and 2 at the time) both got stuff that they really liked.
For AK, I loved Flame Tree BBQ, but unless they changed it, I don't recall a kids menu. What we've done in the past is sent DW and the kids over to Pizzafari (gotta love the air conditioned dining rooms), while FIL and I got some food from Flame Tree. It's not too long of a walk over to Pizzafari with the food to join the rest of the family already eating their pizza.

It's hard for me to accurately critique at touring plan because I'm so used to having mine changed, sometimes weeks or months in advance, sometimes on 5 minute notice.
Anyway, enjoy your trip!

 

[the4princesses]

WHISPERING CANYON!! YOUR IN FOR A TREAT!! SUPRISE! SUPRISE!! HAVE FUN!!

 

[itJeff]

WHISPERING CANYON!! YOUR IN FOR A TREAT!! SUPRISE! SUPRISE!! HAVE FUN!!

Yeah, I know to ask for ketchup. Just not sure what happens when we do.

Any other tips?

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Yeah, I know to ask for ketchup. Just not sure what happens when we do.

Any other tips?

We've been there twice, and it can be very different each visit. One thing to keep in mind - there is a "back" dining room. There's about half a dozen or so tables back there and you really feel left out of all of the fun going on out front. You don't have to sit back there. If the seater leads you back there, you are completely within your right to request a different table. It happened to us last trip. We had to wait another 10 minutes or so, but we were seated in the main dining room. Just be polite but insistent.

Oh yeah, and they have free refills on the milk shakes.

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

We have never been to SciFi but we go to Mama Melrose once every trip we really love it there, food is great.

One thing we love to do if the kiddos are not too pooped is get off the bus at the FQ side and walk back to POR along the river in the evening. Really nice and peaceful and helps work off all those burgers and fries at the CS's. (even though nothing counts when eating at Disney)

Have a great trip, looks pretty good to me.

 

[itJeff]

I quite a full trip you have planned.
First off, you'll need to add in a few more "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?" for each travel day. Heck, add in a few for each day in the parks as well.

As for CS eating a Epcot - I highly recommend Seasons. It's in "Land" pavilion. We stumbled upon it one time while leaving Soarin. You get enough of the burgers and fries at other locations - Seasons has really nice sandwiches, wraps, etc. I don't recall what they had on the kids menu, but my kids (4 and 2 at the time) both got stuff that they really liked.
For AK, I loved Flame Tree BBQ, but unless they changed it, I don't recall a kids menu. What we've done in the past is sent DW and the kids over to Pizzafari (gotta love the air conditioned dining rooms), while FIL and I got some food from Flame Tree. It's not too long of a walk over to Pizzafari with the food to join the rest of the family already eating their pizza.

It's hard for me to accurately critique at touring plan because I'm so used to having mine changed, sometimes weeks or months in advance, sometimes on 5 minute notice.
Anyway, enjoy your trip!

My girls know that we only stop if we need to get gas. (with three DDs plus the DW that obviously isn't happening.)

I'll add Seasons to the 'look for' list while we're in Epcot. I haven't heard of it.

I've heard good things about Flame Tree BBQ. We'll probably try to hit it while we're there.

We've been there twice, and it can be very different each visit. One thing to keep in mind - there is a "back" dining room. There's about half a dozen or so tables back there and you really feel left out of all of the fun going on out front. You don't have to sit back there. If the seater leads you back there, you are completely within your right to request a different table. It happened to us last trip. We had to wait another 10 minutes or so, but we were seated in the main dining room. Just be polite but insistent.

Oh yeah, and they have free refills on the milk shakes.

Thanks for the tip!
Free milk shake refills?!?!?! Awesome!

We have never been to SciFi but we go to Mama Melrose once every trip we really love it there, food is great.

One thing we love to do if the kiddos are not too pooped is get off the bus at the FQ side and walk back to POR along the river in the evening. Really nice and peaceful and helps work off all those burgers and fries at the CS's. (even though nothing counts when eating at Disney)

Have a great trip, looks pretty good to me.

I thought about Mama Melrose, so we could get the F! package. But, I don't think we'll have any trouble getting seats for F! in May (at least I hope).

We'll have our car, and will probably drive ourselves to the parks. But, I have heard how beautiful the PO resort is. Is it worth the walk from POR to FOFQ? We'll probably see a lot of the riverside part anyway. How far is it, and is there anything special you recommend doing?

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[itJeff]

Now I'm reconsidering our arrival day.

Park hours for May show that on the 23rd MK has EMH hours from 11pm until 2am. I wonder if we would have a better time in MK the first day.

Obviously, if we did this we would not be able to anything the next morning. We would have to sleep until 11 (at least). So, that blows half the day.

Another problem with this is that Fantasmic isn't showing when I thought it would be. It's on the schedule now for Sun 23, Tue 25 and Wed 26. So, if we didn't see it on Sunday, then we would need to go to DHS on Tue or Wed. But that messes the whole rest of the schedule up, and I can't seem to fit everything in nicely.

What do I do? I guess if we added the park-hopper back on, we could do DHS on arrival day, see F! then hop over to MK for the EMHs until we drop.
That would leave us sleeping in until 11ish on our first Epcot Day. So we still lose half a day there. But, we'll be in Epcot for late EMHs later in the week, so I think we could use that to make up any lost time.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........
Are late EMHs in MK worth $277, and losing half a day in Epcot?

 

[yourMaire83]

Staying at POR as well... and very excited after all the great pictures I’ve seen on here. They have entertainment there Wed-Sat nights that’s supposed to be great; Yehaw Bob is the performer’s name. FQ has jazz type entertainment that’s supposed to be good as well.

We are not doing park hopping this time either. At $55 extra pp, we’d rather go to Cirque du Soleil.

Just heard a podcast on WDWToday’s archives about counter service meals at the parks.
Here are their suggestions:
AK – Yak & Yeti Express, Flame Tree Barbeque
Studios- Backlot Express, Starring Rolls, Catalina Eddies
MK – Pecos Bill
Epcot – Sunshine Seasons (which another poster mentioned), Boulangerie Patisserie (France), and Tangierine Café (Morocco)
Also - Since you will be near Downtown Disney, they recommend Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich there
I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the Sci-Fi Drive in. They play a very short loop of movie previews so you see the same ones over and over during your meal. If you haven’t been to the 50s Prime Time Café, 50s is supposed to be monumentally better.

We went to the Disney website and picked our favorite rides and just got our customized maps in the mail a couple days ago. They’re amazing and they’re FREE! It’s a must do in my opinion.

My advice for parks is to avoid MK on Sat and Mon if you can, and if you know you aren’t going to stay up late (or get up early) for EMH, to go to a different park on that day. DH and I are going to take advantage of the Evening EMH a few nights of our trip, but on days where that is not a factor our strategy is to go to a park that had EMH the day before. The idea is that they will be the deadest park that day since most people went the day before.

Enjoy your trip!!!!

 

[MiJo]

If you see Illuminations on Monday, I would definitely block Friday evening (after 8:30) to catch Bob "The Piano Man" Jackson at POR. You will not be disappointed that you did. Bob is some of the best family entertainment at Disney and is well worth making some time for.

 

[itJeff]

Thanks yourMaire83 & MiJo. Several people have said to make sure we go see Yeehaw Bob. We should be able to do that one night. Our girls will love that.

I get to make my ADRs tomorrow. I think. Tomorrow is the 190 day mark. I'm NOT going to get up at the crack of dawn. I mean, it's Saturday. I sleep in on Saturday. I just hope all the good times aren't gone by noon!

 

[itJeff]

... or not.

Apparently I misunderstood the "10 extra days" thing. Resort guests get to make reservations @ 180 days, for the day they check in and 10 days after that. Makes perfect sense.

So, I have to wait 10 more days...

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Only a few more days until ADR time. Have you finalized your dining plans?

 

[itJeff]

Wow, Barry! Someone is reading this! I need to do better about making it a true trip report. Life has been a little hectic the past couple of weeks, with the girls activities and school, and my classes and church and etc, etc, etc.

So, yes to answer your question. I have changed a few things up and (hopefully) finalized the dining plans. Tuesday is the day to make the ADRs. At least that's what the CM said when I tried to call last week.

So, here's the plan for TS dining as it stands now. Selections haven't changed, just the days. We'll see if anything changes when I make the ADRs.

Sun May 23 - 7:30 pm 1900 Park Faire
Mon May 24 - 6:00 pm Garden Grill
Tue May 25 - 6:00 pm SciFi Drive In
Wed May 26 - none
Thu May 27 - 6:00 pm Wispering Canyon (before C&D campfire singalong)
Fri May 28 - 9:30 am Akershus
Sat May 29 - 10:30 am Crystal Palace
- 7:30 pm Chef Mickeys

The one for Crystal Palace is supposed to be a late Breakfast, a brunch, a substitute for lunch that day. But, I don't know how late they serve breakfast. So, that may move to a little later time slot depending on how late it runs.

The next post will outline some other potential changes that could happen.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Well, it's either read the DIS boards or actually do work. Not much of a competition there.

I don't know how early of a riser you are, but at 6:01am Central Time Disney's Online Reservation system opens to the next day. (At least is did this summer when I made my ADRs.) You get a full hour before the phone lines open.

Looks like Crystal Palace servers breakfast until 11:30

Good Luck!

 

[itJeff]

Thanks Barry That should work perfectly then!

About a week ago, we found out that a family we know may be going to WDW the same time as us. Our DD is in the same grade as their DD, and they are BFF's. (their terminology)

The parents haven't told the kids yet, because they're not sure of the dates. They have to wait for the vacation calendar to get to them. But, the dates we'll be there are the exact dates they want to go. When my DD spent the night with her BFF the mom brought her home the next morning. DD was telling them that we were going to The World next year. Of course the mom came in and talked to us to find out all the details. They've never been to the Mouse's House and are really excited, and she was a little overwhelmed at all the information we started unloading on her.

So, we told her that one night we would keep their kids (boy-4 and girl-7) so they could have a night-out, and they could keep ours one night. She was (of course) open to the idea. So, our plans may change slightly if/when this ever works out. We probably won't know until after January, when they are able to set their vacation. But, we're really hoping that this might work out. Our 10th anniversary is in April next year. We had planned to take a 'adults only' trip. But, that has been put on the back burner for now. So, it would be great to get to celebrate one evening while at The World.

Okay, off to bed. I get up early in the morning to make ADRs.

 

[itJeff]

WooHoo! ADRs are made!

I got up later than I meant to. I forgot to set the alarm earlier. So at 6:45 am I realized, as I was hitting snooze' that I HAD TO GET UP!!!

I got booted up, then turned the computer on. I went directly down the information superhighway and exited at disneyworld.com. I started with the restaurant that I thought might be the most difficult to get - dinner at 1900 Park Faire. No problem. Next, breakfast at aksherus. Again, no problem. I breezed through all of my ADRs without any problems.

The only snag I hit was for Garden Grill in Epcot. For some reason the site took me to the reservation page for Garden Grove at the Swan. I know I typed the right name in. ...and why does Disney have two restaurants with such similar names? Sheesh!

So, now that the ADRs are made I need to figure out what to plan next.

 

[itJeff]

I've changed the plans for everything at least twice. So, I thought it would be good to update the posted itinerary.
Why is 'itinerary' such a hard word to spell? I misspell it every time.

ADRs have already been made. So, our reservation times are reflected below.

Dining is in DarkOrchid
Parks are in Green
Entertainment is in Red

Updated Itenerary as of 11/25/09 12:27 pm

Fri May 21 - Partial Travel Day
Leave town around 3:00pm and drive 5 hours. Hope to stay with DW's cousin in Memphis that night.

Sat May 22 - Travel Day

• Drive, Drive
• Potty break
• Drive, Drive
• "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?"
• Drive, Drive, Drive
• Lunch somewhere around the Atlanta area. (and potty break)
• Drive, Drive
• Potty break
• Drive, Drive
• "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?"
• Drive, Drive, Drive
• Arrive in the Orlando area. We'll stay offsite somewhere.

Sun May 23 MK

• 'Check-in' @ POR
• head for MK
• Tour the park
• CS Lunch @ _________
• Head back to POR. Officially get into our room. Possibly take a nap.
• Back to MK - More touring
• 7:30 Dinner with Cinderella @ 1900 Park Faire (we've not eaten here)
• 9:00 SpectroMagic Parade (we've not seen this)
• 10:00 Wishes
• Possibly more touring - MK is open until 2:00 am
• Back to POR- Sleep!

Mon May 24 - Epcot FW

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour FW
• CS Lunch @ _________
• More Touring
• REST in park (DD5 and DD7 will probably collapse in our lap on a bench somewhere)
• 6:00 Dinner with Chip & Dale @ Garden Grill (We've not eaten here)
• 9:00 Illuminations
• Back to POR - Sleep

Tue May 25 - DHS

• Breakfast in Room
• head for DHS
• Tour the park
• 6:00 Dinner @ SciFi DineIn Theatre (we've not eaten here)
• After Dinner secure seats for Fantasmic!
• Possibly more touring while someone saves seats
• 9:00 Fantasmic!
• Back to POR- Sleep!

Backup Plan
If F! is rained out, we will switch the next two days. Wednesday becomes our 'rest' day. We will add an extra park day to our ticket and go see Fantasmic on Wed evening. Then Thursday becomes AK day, and we'll still make our ADR for that evening and see the C&D campfire singalong.

Wed May 26 - AK

• Breakfast in Room
• Tour AK
• CS Lunch @ Flame Tree BBQ
• More Touring until park closes - or until we get bored. Whichever comes first
• Dinner on our own, probably outside the World.
• Back to POR - Sleep

Thu May 27 - A Very Merry Un-Theme Park Day

• SLEEP IN!!!!
• sometime around noon head to a Beach (need suggestions for which beach)
• Lunch at the Beach
• Spalsh! Swim. Slide! Splash! until around 3:00ish
• Possibly DTD???
• 6:10 Dinner @ Whispering Canyon (We've not eaten here)
• 7:30 Campfire Sing-along with Chip & Dale @ Ft. Wilderness (we've never done this)
• 9:45 View Electrical Water Pagent from FW (we've never seen it either)
• Back to POR - Sleep

Fri May 28 - Epcot WS (pm EMH until midnight)

• Ride something in FW if there's time
• 9:30 Breakfast with the Princesses @ Akershus (we've not eaten here)
• 11:00 Tour WS
• CS Lunch @ ____________
• More Touring - We'll probably will try to save the world with Kim and Ron
• CS Dinner @ ____________
• 9:00 Illuminations (if we didn't see it on Monday) Otherwise, we'll head back to POR to see Yee Haw Bob
• Back to the room to sleep

Sat May 29 - MK

• Light Breakfast in Room
• Tour MK
• 10:25 Brunch with Pooh @ Crystal Palace
• More Touring
• Head to Contemporary
• 7:30 Dinner with Mickey @ Chef Mickey's (We've not eaten here)
• Back to MK
• 9:00 SpectroMagic Parade (if we didn't see it Sunday)
• 10:00 Wishes(if we didn't see it Sunday)
• Back to POR - Sleep

Sun May 30 - MK Partial Travel Day

• Breakfast in Room
• Pack up Car
• Tour MK
• CS Lunch @ _________
• One Last Ride
• 2:00ish Head Home

Mon May 31 - Travel Day (Memorial Day)

• Drive, Drive
• Potty break
• Drive, Drive
• "We just took a potty break! Do you really need to?"
• Drive, Drive, Drive
• Arrive Home still singing "It's A Small World After All, It's A Small World After All. It's A Small World After All. It's A Small, Small World!"

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

I must of missed the memo of when this turned into a full PTR.

I'm subbed and ready to go.

You know that now that this is a TR, you have to keep it updated because Don is just waiting for someone to pass his TR Procrastination World Title on to.

 

[itJeff]

I must of missed the memo of when this turned into a full PTR.

I'm subbed and ready to go.

You know that now that this is a TR, you have to keep it updated because Don is just waiting for someone to pass his TR Procrastination World Title on to.

Yeah, I felt compelled to make it more of a PTR when I found out people were actually reading it. It is challenging to think that I need to come up with an update on a regular basis. I hope that I don't win the TRPWT (Trip Report Procrastination World Title).