13 Days of Disney – Shh-it’s a Surprise! - June 2016 PTR - Update 6/4

[Jfsag123]

Wahoo!! Great feeling, I'm sure.

I have the money to pay off my part of the trip (I'm splitting with my parents) and I want to use my Target red card to get Disney gift cards bc I get them at 5% off, but I'm being overly cautious I guess, in case we would have to cancel for some reason. I'm wondering if I pay with gift cards and had to cancel, how would they refund me....so I'm dragging my heels.

I get the caution there! I've been buying up gift cards with the Target red card as well, but have no idea how they would work if I ever needed a refund.

Crossing the Mississippi in Baton Rouge is always slow. Plus, you have to drive on I10 through the swamps. If there's an accident on those bridges, then you are stuck there. Also, there is no getting off those bridges for miles, so you really need to make pitstops, gas and bathroom, before you get on the long stretches. Last times we have driven to NOLA from Austin, the I10 swamp bridges really weren't bad. They road was in good shape, and traffic wasn't bad. However, we have been stuck on those bridges before for what seemed like forever, due to an accident. DH and I think Google is right to take I20 and meet up to I10 in Mobile. That part of Alabama is really pretty. Traffic can be bad on I20 in Shreveport too, but you have to go through there no matter what.

The surprise is going to be great. It's really an awesome plan.

Thanks so much for that perspective! We've driven the Google MS route round trip twice now and the part on the small highways in MS and AL always drives me nuts. However, I would hate to be stuck in the swamps! We ran into an accident in Jackson, MS on our drive down last time and it was nice to be able to exit, go through some side streets, then get back on after the wreck. Very much appreciate hearing from someone who has actually driven that stretch through LA!

Hi there Kelley I'm so glad I decided to take a look at this PTR, I had no idea this was you! I recognized you and your family from FB Didn't know you guys had a trip planned, awesome!

We're going again for Thanksgiving and just booked BCV today, so excited to stay there! We've had 4 stays at BWV but this will be our first time at BC. Looking forward to following along with you!

Hi! I'm so glad that you stumbled upon me here! What are the odds? Yes, we've been pretty FB quiet on the trip because of paranoia about someone we know potentially spoiling the surprise. I confine my trip excitement to my Disney FB groups and and the Dis, which is probably why I'm so active on both. I am envious that you will be getting to BCV after the refurb is finished. I would love to get a refurbed room, but am trying not to count on it. Congrats on booking your next trip!

 

[disny_luvr]

Hi! I'm following along. It sounds like you have a great trip planned. We love the BC! I've never stayed at BLT but would love to one day. I can't imagine keeping a trip to the World a surprise; I could never do it! We are also going to Disney in June. We'll be celebrating our twin boys' 10th birthday there, which happens to be on June 20th.

 

[Jfsag123]

Hi! I'm following along. It sounds like you have a great trip planned. We love the BC! I've never stayed at BLT but would love to one day. I can't imagine keeping a trip to the World a surprise; I could never do it! We are also going to Disney in June. We'll be celebrating our twin boys' 10th birthday there, which happens to be on June 20th.

Welcome! This is our first time ever at BCV, but I am in love with BLT. And yes, the surprise has been sooooo hard to keep! I have wanted to just blow it a couple of times, but DH has convinced me to keep my mouth shut. So exciting to be celebrating your boys' birthdays there! Do you have any special plans for that? I mean, it is one of the best dates of the year, but I'm just a bit biased. Thanks for following along!

 

[sunshinemelody]

The trip is feeling closer! As of yesterday, it’s completely paid off. Today we made our countdown chain. The kids think we’re counting down to being one year out, but we’ve said we’ll have a special Disney day that day so they feel like they are actually counting down to something they can look forward to. WDW here we come!

EXCUSE. THIS IS SO CUTE. DO WANT.

 

[Jfsag123]

EXCUSE. THIS IS SO CUTE. DO WANT.

Thank you!

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 3 – Tuesday, 6/7: Hollywood Studios (probably)

Hooray for our first park day! We are planning on hitting DHS on this day, but may end up switching this day’s plans with our plans for day 5. In that case, day 5 will look exactly like the plans I’ll lay out for this day and day 3 will look just like what I’ll lay out for day 5.

We are a rope drop family! This fundamentally goes against everything I stand for. I hate hate hate (did I mention hate?) waking up early. I am naturally a night owl and would be up until at least 2am every night if I didn’t knock myself out with some Advil PM. However, at WDW I force myself to become a morning person because it is soooo worth it. With 10 park days we are currently planning on only 2 as non RD days.

Here’s where I need some advice. How should we get to DHS? From BCV our options are walk or boat. We will have our car, so could also drive. I am thinking about driving in the morning and securing a close parking space, using the boat back and forth for our mid-day break, then driving back at night. I’d much prefer to just walk rather than drive at all, but it looks kind of long. I’ve also heard the boat can be pretty slow. Opinions?

Our planned attractions for the morning are as follows:

Toy Story Mania
Meet Woody & Buzz
Star Tours
Muppetvision 3D
Frozen show (FP+)

We then have a Fantasmic! lunch reservation at Hollywood & Vine. I know the food is not spectacular here, but we all found things we liked in the past and love the reserved seating for Fantasmic! Also, DS is straight up in love with Doc McStuffins.

DD is happy to get in on the action as well, despite being a little older. Here they are making pirate faces with Jake. Good times.

After our lunch, we will roll ourselves out into the heat full and happy and head back to the resort to sleep it off. Of course, this being our first park day, I’m betting the excitement level may be too high to get anyone settled down to try to nap, so we may end up having pool time.

We’ll plan to head back to the park around 5:30pm or so. Attractions planned for the evening include:

Star Tours (FP+)
Toy Story Mania (FP+)
One Man’s Dream
The Great Movie Ride (hopefully as an extra FP+)
Fantasmic!

Remember I mentioned that DS is obsessed with Toy Story? This has been a constant since he was 2. As a 2 year old, he met Woody on two separate occasions – once with Jessie by Splash, then again with Buzz in DHS. He had had his autograph book signed the first time, so when Woody went to sign his book on the second meet, the page was already taken. Woody offered to sign DS’s hat instead. They had a really nice moment together and Woody was fabulous with him. We took the same hat back last year and had Woody sign it again in a different spot. DS now wants to take it with him every trip and keep having Woody sign it. This hat is his most prized possession. Needless to say, it will be coming to DHS with us on this day. DS has the first pic below (him as a 2 year old) in a frame on his night stand. Second pic is from last year, arm wrestling with Woody in the same hat, just before getting it signed again. DD generally spends the whole interaction with Buzz while her brother has a love fest with Woody.

Epcot is up next!

 

[ArielSRL]

Day 3 – Tuesday, 6/7: Hollywood Studios (probably)

Hooray for our first park day! We are planning on hitting DHS on this day, but may end up switching this day’s plans with our plans for day 5. In that case, day 5 will look exactly like the plans I’ll lay out for this day and day 3 will look just like what I’ll lay out for day 5.

We are a rope drop family! This fundamentally goes against everything I stand for. I hate hate hate (did I mention hate?) waking up early. I am naturally a night owl and would be up until at least 2am every night if I didn’t knock myself out with some Advil PM. However, at WDW I force myself to become a morning person because it is soooo worth it. With 10 park days we are currently planning on only 2 as non RD days.

Here’s where I need some advice. How should we get to DHS? From BCV our options are walk or boat. We will have our car, so could also drive. I am thinking about driving in the morning and securing a close parking space, using the boat back and forth for our mid-day break, then driving back at night. I’d much prefer to just walk rather than drive at all, but it looks kind of long. I’ve also heard the boat can be pretty slow. Opinions?

I'm struggling with this as well. We have Cape May at 10am on our DHS AM day and I'm not sure if we should park at DHS, boat/walk to Cape May, then boat back to DHS....or park at Boardwalk/BC, boat to DHS after Cape May and back for break. I'm leaning towards option 1 bc we'll be so close to the car when heading out for our break, but it means we need to start our non-rope drop day earlier than I originally planned. We are doing Wishes the night before, so I wanted a later start to the morning. Hopefully you get some answers!

Our planned attractions for the morning are as follows:

Toy Story Mania
Meet Woody & Buzz
Star Tours
Muppetvision 3D
Frozen show (FP+)

We then have a Fantasmic! lunch reservation at Hollywood & Vine. I know the food is not spectacular here, but we all found things we liked in the past and love the reserved seating for Fantasmic! Also, DS is straight up in love with Doc McStuffins.

DD is happy to get in on the action as well, despite being a little older. Here they are making pirate faces with Jake. Good times.

So cute! We are doing this lunch as well on our full DHS day.

After our lunch, we will roll ourselves out into the heat full and happy and head back to the resort to sleep it off. Of course, this being our first park day, I’m betting the excitement level may be too high to get anyone settled down to try to nap, so we may end up having pool time.

We’ll plan to head back to the park around 5:30pm or so. Attractions planned for the evening include:

Star Tours (FP+)
Toy Story Mania (FP+)
One Man’s Dream
The Great Movie Ride (hopefully as an extra FP+)
Fantasmic!

Looks good! Where do Buzz and Woody meet? We'll have to look for them. Also hoping Olaf is out somewhere by then!

Remember I mentioned that DS is obsessed with Toy Story? This has been a constant since he was 2. As a 2 year old, he met Woody on two separate occasions – once with Jessie by Splash, then again with Buzz in DHS. He had had his autograph book signed the first time, so when Woody went to sign his book on the second meet, the page was already taken. Woody offered to sign DS’s hat instead. They had a really nice moment together and Woody was fabulous with him. We took the same hat back last year and had Woody sign it again in a different spot. DS now wants to take it with him every trip and keep having Woody sign it. This hat is his most prized possession. Needless to say, it will be coming to DHS with us on this day. DS has the first pic below (him as a 2 year old) in a frame on his night stand. Second pic is from last year, arm wrestling with Woody in the same hat, just before getting it signed again. DD generally spends the whole interaction with Buzz while her brother has a love fest with Woody.

Epcot is up next!

So precious! My 2 yr old is obsessed with McQueen and Mater. I'm so sad we missed their M&G.

Looking forward to more!

 

[disny_luvr]

Welcome! This is our first time ever at BCV, but I am in love with BLT. And yes, the surprise has been sooooo hard to keep! I have wanted to just blow it a couple of times, but DH has convinced me to keep my mouth shut. So exciting to be celebrating your boys' birthdays there! Do you have any special plans for that? I mean, it is one of the best dates of the year, but I'm just a bit biased. Thanks for following along!

June 20th is one of the best days of the year! We let the boys decide what they want to do that day and they picked MK with dinner at Chef Mickey's and swimming at SAB.

I know you'll love BCV. My boys love SAB!

 

[disny_luvr]

Whenever we stay at the BC we take the boat to DHS. It does take longer than I'd like but we enjoy the ride. We did walk home from DHS once because the line for the boat was loooong after Fantasmic and we didn't want to wait. In all honesty, the walk wasn't bad.

 

[disny_luvr]

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Your FP+ choices are great! Your children are adorable and the interaction between your son and Woody is precious.

 

[Jfsag123]

I'm struggling with this as well. We have Cape May at 10am on our DHS AM day and I'm not sure if we should park at DHS, boat/walk to Cape May, then boat back to DHS....or park at Boardwalk/BC, boat to DHS after Cape May and back for break. I'm leaning towards option 1 bc we'll be so close to the car when heading out for our break, but it means we need to start our non-rope drop day earlier than I originally planned. We are doing Wishes the night before, so I wanted a later start to the morning. Hopefully you get some answers!


So cute! We are doing this lunch as well on our full DHS day.



Looks good! Where do Buzz and Woody meet? We'll have to look for them. Also hoping Olaf is out somewhere by then!


So precious! My 2 yr old is obsessed with McQueen and Mater. I'm so sad we missed their M&G.

Looking forward to more!

Which date do you have Cape May at 10:00am?? We have a 10:00am at Cape May scheduled as well one day that week, but not sure if we're keeping it.

Buzz and Woody meet together inside a building literally right across from Toy Story Mania. Also, the Green Army Men can sometimes be found walking around the road between TSMM and the Woody/Buzz meet. I am really hoping Olaf is out by then too! We are all about the character meets.

Whenever we stay at the BC we take the boat to DHS. It does take longer than I'd like but we enjoy the ride. We did walk home from DHS once because the line for the boat was loooong after Fantasmic and we didn't want to wait. In all honesty, the walk wasn't bad.

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Your FP+ choices are great! Your children are adorable and the interaction between your son and Woody is precious.

I love multiple posts, as you can probably tell from a quick scan of this thread. Thanks for the info on the boat ride/walk! I was thinking that the boat ride might be nice even if it's a bit slower, which is why I was thinking about doing it at break time - we'll be in less of a rush than when we're trying to make RD or trying to get back after a full park day. Glad to know the walk wasn't bad!

I somehow missed quoting your first post. Sounds like your boys have great taste!

And thank you! I need to get DS a new Woody outfit and boots before June...

 

[ArielSRL]

Which date do you have Cape May at 10:00am?? We have a 10:00am at Cape May scheduled as well one day that week, but not sure if we're keeping it.

Buzz and Woody meet together inside a building literally right across from Toy Story Mania. Also, the Green Army Men can sometimes be found walking around the road between TSMM and the Woody/Buzz meet. I am really hoping Olaf is out by then too! We are all about the character meets.

We have Cape May on Monday 6/6.

I don't have a ton of character M&G scheduled bc we are doing so many character meals, therefore knocking them out that way. But...we may have to stop for B&W! Thanks!

 

[Jfsag123]

We have Cape May on Monday 6/6.

I don't have a ton of character M&G scheduled bc we are doing so many character meals, therefore knocking them out that way. But...we may have to stop for B&W! Thanks!

Ah, you'll be eating at BC while we are in route to BC. We have a 10:00am scheduled for 6/10, but I'll probably cancel because we have so many Fab 5 meals scheduled.

 

[ArielSRL]

Ah, you'll be eating at BC while we are in route to BC. We have a 10:00am scheduled for 6/10, but I'll probably cancel because we have so many Fab 5 meals scheduled.

Gotcha. Yeh I think we have 3 Fab 5 but we were flirting with H&V dinner pkg. Decided to go with lunch for Disney Jr. instead.

 

[Along4theRide]

Great PTR so far! Loving the fact that you are surprising the kids! I surprised my two kids and my hubby our last trip (3yrs ago) with a Disney Cruise. We were already in FL at a condo, but they didn't know about it until right then that we were leaving to get on the boat! The surprise was hard to keep, but so worth it in the end! Can't wait to hear how yours goes!

We are also going in June and staying at BLT. We'll be there June 1-9th!

 

[ariane37]

We are a rope drop family! This fundamentally goes against everything I stand for. I hate hate hate (did I mention hate?) waking up early. I am naturally a night owl and would be up until at least 2am every night if I didn’t knock myself out with some Advil PM. However, at WDW I force myself to become a morning person because it is soooo worth it

THIS IS ME! I love to sleep in and hate getting up early. Snow days are the best because it means I don't have to get up and get the boys ready lol! Disney is the only place I willingly get up early but I do need to have at least one morning when I can sleep in a bit. I too am always up late regardless of how early I have to get up; definitely prefer my nights!

Here’s where I need some advice. How should we get to DHS?

I'm going to suggest walking in the morning at some point if you can. It's really not long at all and it's a nice walk, although in June it'll be a HOT one unless you walk early or later at night after the sun is down. I do feel it's much quicker than the boat; after our first stay at BWV we've pretty much always walked unless it's raining or someone is complaining about their feet The boat is relaxing but I honestly get antsy with all the stops it makes.

 

[Jfsag123]

FP+ booking tonight! Should have the next update ready tomorrow.

Great PTR so far! Loving the fact that you are surprising the kids! I surprised my two kids and my hubby our last trip (3yrs ago) with a Disney Cruise. We were already in FL at a condo, but they didn't know about it until right then that we were leaving to get on the boat! The surprise was hard to keep, but so worth it in the end! Can't wait to hear how yours goes!

We are also going in June and staying at BLT. We'll be there June 1-9th!

Wow, I would be thrilled to be surprised with a cruise! That's awesome of you! Have you stayed at BLT before? I looooove it, even though we stay in a studio and they are tiny. Thanks for reading!

THIS IS ME! I love to sleep in and hate getting up early. Snow days are the best because it means I don't have to get up and get the boys ready lol! Disney is the only place I willingly get up early but I do need to have at least one morning when I can sleep in a bit. I too am always up late regardless of how early I have to get up; definitely prefer my nights!

I'm going to suggest walking in the morning at some point if you can. It's really not long at all and it's a nice walk, although in June it'll be a HOT one unless you walk early or later at night after the sun is down. I do feel it's much quicker than the boat; after our first stay at BWV we've pretty much always walked unless it's raining or someone is complaining about their feet The boat is relaxing but I honestly get antsy with all the stops it makes.

I am planning a few sleep in mornings over the course of the trip, which you'll see as I continue to post plans. No way I could get up that many days straight! We did 5 RD mornings in a row on our last trip (including one 7am EMH) and it just about killed me.

Hmm...maybe we will walk. I really like the idea of being able to walk - loved walking to the MK last year! This walk just looked a little far. But it's nice to hear that it doesn't feel that far. I guess with the amount of walking we'll be doing in the park it won't really matter if we tack on a little more, right? We are doing DHS as our first park day, so we have the opportunity to walk over on fresh feet that morning. We could always take the boat back if we are too worn out by the end of the day.

 

[themommy]

I get the caution there! I've been buying up gift cards with the Target red card as well, but have no idea how they would work if I ever needed a refund.

Hello I stumbled upon this and started reading. It sounds like a great surprise! I wanted to let y'all know that when you use gift cards...keep them. If you have to cancel for some reason, it can only be refunded back to the cards that you paid with. Thought I would give y'all a heads up on that since it is important!

 

[Jfsag123]

Hello I stumbled upon this and started reading. It sounds like a great surprise! I wanted to let y'all know that when you use gift cards...keep them. If you have to cancel for some reason, it can only be refunded back to the cards that you paid with. Thought I would give y'all a heads up on that since it is important!

Thanks for the tip and thanks for reading!!

 

[soniam]

Good luck with FP+ tonight