100 (Nope...It's just about time!!!) Days til Our First Family Trip!

[jana616]

Yay on the great ADRs!! It is so great to read all these Sept success stories.

Your ADR day is almost here!!! Do you have your plan all figured out? I'm sure you'll have great success, September seems to be going much more smoothly!

 

[jana616]

Like you I didn't know what would be best to use/have for such little ones. Here is what I have come up with (so far. They each will have a plain autograph book. Maybe even index cards... Idk just something pretty plain. I am only going to even have it out at the character meals. When we get home I am going to scan the autographs in and then print them out on iron transfers and make them each a pillowcase.

Oh, I LOVE the pillowcase idea! So cute, and something they can see and use everyday without destroying it! Now I'm trying to figure out what I can stick on a pillowcase, !!

 

[princesspaige]

Less than 90 days to go!!!
So very exciting!

 

[racefanof88]

On getting all of your ADRs. I still have 13 days before I can make mine. I have several of the same restaurants on my wish list.

 

[jana616]

Quick (very) mini-update!

Online dining reservations started today, so of course I hopped on to see if I could get a little closer to some of my ideal times on the few ressies that we didn't get exactly. I had some great success!

On 9/7, we wanted Crystal Palace at 5:30, but got 6:10 (no biggie). I got it for 5:40 today!

On 9/11, we wanted Tusker House at 8 am, but got 8:15 (probably not a huge deal, but I really want to get started right at 9 there). I got it for 8 am today!

On 9/9, we wanted Cape May for 6:30, but got 5:50 (trying to get as much DHS time in as possible since it closes at 7). I got it for 6:55 today, but am not sure it's better. I don't know if the kids can hold out and behave for dinner at 7, especially with no break during the day. I booked it, but am keeping both for the evening while I think about it.

So the moral of this story is, if you aren't thrilled with your ADRs...go online and play! It was fun!

Oh, and tomorrow I'm ordering Ridemax...I can't wait to obsess over that for the next 82 days!

 

[Angies1274]

Congrats on the success of updating your ADR's. I've been playing around with it the last couple days trying to find some better times. We have an ADR for Cape May for 7:00pm one night--I booked it because we wanted to eat there but I am hoping for an earlier time--so far no luck but I'll keep trying.

How do like Ridemax? I've heard good things about it.

 

[jana616]

Congrats on the success of updating your ADR's. I've been playing around with it the last couple days trying to find some better times. We have an ADR for Cape May for 7:00pm one night--I booked it because we wanted to eat there but I am hoping for an earlier time--so far no luck but I'll keep trying.

How do like Ridemax? I've heard good things about it.

Ummm...I'm in love with Ridemax. I'd pretty much like to marry it and have 10,000 of its babies. I've only been able to play around with August so far, since September dates aren't in it yet, but I've been doing exactly two weeks before we go, same days and parks, and it's been amazing. Having never been with a plan before (we went for just 3 days in 2001 and didn't really know or care what we saw), I had no concept of what we could do in a day. Plus getting an idea on wait times has been great, and I love knowing that it's going to just tell us where to be when. It's very user friendly. The only thing I'm having a hard time with is, like at AK, Chad and I want to ride EE. But no one else in the group does, so we could ride it while they do a show or play in the Boneyard. But then trying to figure out when to get a FP is hard. I think our particular "group" (young kids who can't ride everything, with grandmas who can do other things with them while we do thrill rides) makes it a bit more complicated.

But overall, when I think of the cost to go, $18 seems a very small price to pay, and it's fun to play with!!!

OK, Ridemax commercial over!

 

[racefanof88]

OK what is Ridemax? I haven't heard of it before.

 

[Colleen27]

Your ADR day is almost here!!! Do you have your plan all figured out? I'm sure you'll have great success, September seems to be going much more smoothly!

Yep, I've got everything all set and ready to go. There's only one night I'm waffling a bit about, because there are a lot of good Epcot places we haven't tried and only a couple nights to eat there, but none of them are the hard to get ones so if I change my mind a couple dozen times between now & Sept, I shouldn't have a problem. Only 8 more days till I can get online and get them all set!

 

[jana616]

OK what is Ridemax? I haven't heard of it before.

It's software you can purchase and download. It has the specific hours for each park on specific days. So I will tell it I want to make a plan for MK on 9/8. I tell it I want to be there from 9-9, with a lunch break of 45 minutes at Cosmic Rays, and a dinner ADR for 80 minutes at CP. Then you choose all of the rides, shows, parades, etc. that you want to do. And it puts them into a plan for the day...ie, be at POTC at 9:07, your wait will be 4 minutes, ride will last 13. Then go to Jungle Cruise at 9:27, your wait will be...etc. It fits the rides around the breaks you want to take.

From everything I have read from people who used it, it's amazingly accurate (even more than the posted wait times at rides), and gives you a plan to follow. I was worried about being too regimented, but it gives you free time sporadically throughout the day, and you can revise the plan as much as you want to make that happen. You can also tell it if you want to go to a show at a specific time, if your FP runner is willing to miss certain rides, if you only want to ride water rides between 10-4. It is truly amazing. The people who own it and run it really go to the parks constantly to make sure their times are accurate. People who use it say that they were zagging when everyone else zigged, and that's how the lines were so short. It's www.ridemax.com, and they have a 90 day money back guarantee if you don't like it.

Honestly, they aren't paying me , I've just heard great things and been really impressed so far! HTH!

 

[jana616]

Alright, now that Ridemax has been purchased and I've started making practice plans, I'm getting serious about figuring out what rides, shows, and parades we want to see in each park. This seems much more fun to me than ADR planning was. I feel a little more in control of this part-no worrying about whether there will be room in the rides for me or if we'll only be able to ride at 9:50 pm, unlike ADRs! However, just like with the restaurants, all of which I wanted to eat at, I want to see EVERYTHING! And I'm learning (via Ridemax, ha ha!) that it can't be done!

So here are my must-dos at DHS: (I think...and I welcome all thoughts on this stuff, please!)
*Star Tours (except for Cooper)
*Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show (Griffin saw this on youtube and really
wants to see it)
*Muppet Vision 3-D
*Playhouse Disney Live
*Toy Story Mania (duh!)
*Voyage of the Little Mermaid (enough people recommended it that I think
it's a must do-anyone disagree?)
*RnRC and ToT for Chad and I
*HISTK play area (maybe while we're doing the grown up rides)
*Block Party Bash

Things some of us would like to see, but I don't think will happen, are Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Indiana Jones show, and American Idol. Do you think we're missing anything by not seeing those?

The problem with this day comes because we have a 5:50 ADR at Cape May. So we only have 9-5 to see everything. This is proving to be the toughest park for me by far.

Any thoughts?

 

[Angies1274]

Hi--I think your Park Plans look good. My boys loved Lights,Motor, Action Stunt Show and Toy Story Mania (so fun!!) They are definitely must-do's for our family! I don't think you should have too much problem getting everything accomplished on your lists of things you want to do by five. We were there back in April and were able to do Toy Story Mania (first thing), Playhouse Disney Live, Star Tours, Lights Motor Action, Muppet 3D and HISTK Play Area. We didn't do TOT, or RnRC (DH and DS's opted out) A must-do for me next trip though!! But we did do Backlot Tour, Meet and Greet at the Animation Building and caught the parade on our way out. We left around four that day.(It was also the week after Easter). I think you should be fine as long as you utilize fastpass.

 

[Colleen27]

So here are my must-dos at DHS: (I think...and I welcome all thoughts on this stuff, please!)
*Star Tours (except for Cooper)
*Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show (Griffin saw this on youtube and really
wants to see it)
*Muppet Vision 3-D
*Playhouse Disney Live
*Toy Story Mania (duh!)
*Voyage of the Little Mermaid (enough people recommended it that I think
it's a must do-anyone disagree?)
*RnRC and ToT for Chad and I
*HISTK play area (maybe while we're doing the grown up rides)
*Block Party Bash

Things some of us would like to see, but I don't think will happen, are Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Indiana Jones show, and American Idol. Do you think we're missing anything by not seeing those?

The problem with this day comes because we have a 5:50 ADR at Cape May. So we only have 9-5 to see everything. This is proving to be the toughest park for me by far.

Any thoughts?

DHS is always my planning challenge, because the show times are often difficult to coordinate. I think this year we'll end up splitting up quite a bit so everyone gets to see their "must-dos".

Lights, Motors, Action is a must do for any little boy who has crashed his Hot Wheels for fun. My DS loved it at 6, at 7, at 9, and can't wait to go back and see it again.

Of the ones you're planning to miss, The Great Movie Ride is the one I'd try to fit in. It took until our 3rd trip to see it, and it was one of those "duh" moments when we couldn't believe we didn't check it out sooner.

 

[racefanof88]

DHS is my least favorite park. I don't do ToT or RnR. My favorite show at DHS is Beauty and the Beast. I like Backlot Tour, Lights, Motor, Action and Toy Story is my favorite ride at DHS. We can usually do DHS in one day or even a half day depending on what we really want to ride. This May we rode TSM twice, The Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, and Star Tours and we ate at Sci Fi. We left the park early because of rain.

 

[jana616]

Thanks all for the feedback on DHS! It sounds like we may be able to cram in all of our must do's, but I also want to leave some time for the unexpected things, like seeing a character, photo ops, etc. So...I've been contemplating switching our ADR for that day to give us more time there, and I would LOVE opinions!

Current ADR is Cape May at 5:50. I'm figuring we need to be out of the park and heading to the boat dock at 5. I just really wish we had a little more time there, and now I keep reading negative things about Cape May, so it's making me nervous! (And yes, I know I should just try it and form my own opinions!!).

So I started rethinking about H&V and the character breakfast. I looked, and an 8 am ADR is available for our day. So the question is, what to do?

Pros of H&V:
-first ADR of the day means empty park for photos
-done by rope drop means easy time getting FP for TSM
-another character meal, which my boys will love
-heard it's great interaction and not very crowded
-gives us the whole day to tour with no other obligations

Cons of H&V:
-hear some very negative things about food (breakfast too, or mostly lunch/dinner?)
-my kids don't know who JoJo is, and don't watch LE
-up and at park early
-using TS credit for breakfast not best use of credit
-don't get to do Cape May, which my mom and Chad were kind of excited about (though Chad mostly just wanted to ride the boat there??)

So...what to do? I would LOVE feedback, especially if you've been to one or both of these meals! Please????

 

[ladybugmom]

We did H&V for lunch and we really enjoyed it! There is a lot of variety of foods on the buffet. My girls LOVE LE and Ally used to watch JoJo (not sure why it's not on much anymore). Ally enjoyed the interactive singing and dancing throughout the meal.

 

[jana616]

We did H&V for lunch and we really enjoyed it! There is a lot of variety of foods on the buffet. My girls LOVE LE and Ally used to watch JoJo (not sure why it's not on much anymore). Ally enjoyed the interactive singing and dancing throughout the meal.

Thanks for the feedback! I actually saw your lunch there on your TR, so I knew you'd been there and had fun (LOVING your TR, btw. You guys look like you had such a magical trip!) We are truly not picky people, and it seems like it would be hard to mess up breakfast food, so I can't imagine how it could be so bad. But when you read so many bad reviews, it makes you nervous! And since I would orchestrating this switch (and really picked every other restaurant too), I will feel terrible if we all leave there hungry and cranky!

But geesh, the timing works out so well, and my kids love seeing any big characters, so I think they'd like it. Still working this one out...

 

[jana616]

I know I haven't updated anything in a long while. Part of that was due to how busy things have been...Chad was out of town for 5 days, and then when he came back we had Cooper's 2nd birthday party and were doing all the prep work for that. I'm going to try to post a few pictures later from that. I can't believe my baby is 2!

We also just haven't had much going on, Disney wise. We've kind of hit a quiet patch with no new plans or problems, so things have been slow. Until this weekend, when a great thing happened...Delta totally messed with our flights!!!

Why is this great, you're asking? Well, they've been messing with them by minutes here and minutes there for 3 months. We've gone from one hour and ten minute layovers to 41 minute layovers, which made me nervous with 6 people, two of whom will be tired, cranky preschoolers. And then finally on Friday, they sent me notice that our flights to Orlando had changed from a 9 am departure to a 7 am, and instead of a 41 minute layover, we now had a three hour layover. I called and kept explaining how this wouldn't work for us, how none of the options would, and asked for a refund. And they did it!! I was so shocked and happy!

So I turned around and booked on Airtran, and got NON-STOP flights, and, wait for it...they're cheaper! We still leave at 7 am (which would have been our new time on Delta), but now we get in at 9:17 am instead of 1:11 pm! I am SO excited. Even coming back we get to leave Orlando an hour later, and get into Indy almost 2 hours earlier! Yay for direct flights!

So now I'm hoping and praying our rooms will be ready early. I'd love to get in, swim, all take a rest, and then head to the park late afternoon. We've been planning to stay through Spectro at 9 pm, but leave before Wishes. If the rooms aren't ready, then I think we'll drop our stuff, head to the park for a few hours, come back and rest, and head back in time for our 6:30 dinner at Crystal Palace. Does this sound do-able?

Oh, and...less than 50 days to go!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY for cheaper flights and more Disney time!! That's wonderful! And Happy 2nd Birthday to Cooper!! Glad things are going well!!

 

[jana616]

Big news here....our final payment has been made!!!!!!!! And I think that deserves a !

Just 45 days to go. Time to get serious about park planning, and I am still trying to make shirts for the boys. Man, that Creative DISigns board is overwhelming!

And in case anyone is wondering, we did NOT get an upgrade to SSR or OKW, unlike every other person staying at a Value during free dining. But that's okay, we are still going to have a blast!

Woo Hoo...45 days to go!