1st time PTR, 1st time ADRs, 1st time FP+ - September 2015 *UDATED 7/22*

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Hello! I'm Mandy and while I've been slowly coming out of lurk-dom, this is my first PTR/TR. I love reading others so I decided to contribute

We have been planning this trip for quite some time:



My best friend had a time share that she needed to use and I had a new love for Disney fever so we started planning in March 2014. I would have loved to go last year but I was pregnant and use my vacation time from work for maternity leave so we started planning for 2015. September to hit ODS's birthday and hopefully F&W based off last years dates... We'll leave the day F&W starts Oh well, my BFF got to go the last two years and I might have a chance at F&W finally later this fall (more on that later).

My first trip to WDW was with friends back in college. I loved it and it totally ruined Six Flags for me. Ten years later I took my first trip with my family and I was hooked. I went home obsessing about how to get back. The next trip I could come up with was our little family of 4 to DL in December 2013. And now on to our up coming trip.

I'm excited to share and I welcome any tips your guys have as so much of this is new to me. (photobucket isn't responding well to me right now so I'll add more soon)

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

The cast: our family of 5 and my best friend of 20 years

My sweet and very patient husband of 8 years, Kyle (30 next week).
Disney Loves:
Movies: Classic live action The Love Bug and Pixar like Cars and Toy Story
Park: DCA for Carsland
Rides: HM and RSR
Character: probably Mater



His first trip to WDW was our family trip in 2012. He went to DL as a young child but doesn't remember much. He enjoyed WDW but would rather spend money on cars than trips. He is good to me though and lets us take wonderful trips without fussing. Someday we'll get his dream car, for now MORE TRIPS!

Myself (on the edge of that photo from the flight to DL). I'm 33, full time in the medical field and full time mom. I'm also our photographer on trips so this is often as much as I get to be in pictures.
Growing up my dad took us on lots of road trips spanning from our home in Oklahoma to California and Florida, but never to anything Disney. These road trips involved stopping at every historical marker my dad noticed (my brother and I refer to them as hysterical markers). This started my love of travel though and I have been lucky to take many trips growing up, through school, and now with my family.
My Disney trips have all been so different. My first trip in college was a great intro, but my roommate considered MK a kid's park so we only spent a half day there, the only rides I remember are IaSW and HM. We spent a day and a half at MGM and one day at EPCOT and I loved it all. We stayed off site and did other Orlando things. Our first family WDW trip was because I had to go for a conference and hey, why not take the kids. My mom and aunt went too and we ended up staying at BWV. Having 4 adults was great with a 3yo and a 3 month old. DH and I braved DL with the 2 kids by ourselves. DD is very independent and I over planned plus I was 7 weeks pregnant so DD and I had several melt downs
Disney Loves:
Movies: The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book, and Aladdin
Park: EPCOT
Rides: IaSW, Soarin'
Character: Ariel




ODS, Jackson 6yo. He is turning 7 during this upcoming trip. I have no idea how this has happened, he was my tiny baby just the other day. His first trip was WDW in 2012 at 3.5yo. It was wonderful watching the magic through his eyes.



He tried ToT at 5yo in DCA and loved/hated it, he said he would like it when he was 7 so that has been our goal to try TOT on his birthday.

He still loved meeting the characters and the girls loved him. DD was so excited to meet Sofia, but she took off chasing Jackson. We tried to meet Jessie but her line was closed so we hopped in to meet Buzz next, but Jackson was wearing a Buzz jacket and Jessie noticed as she walked by and stopped to meet him and hug him and kiss him. He says he hates this picture, yet asks to "not" see it a lot.


Disney Loves:
Movies: currently, Big Hero 6 (previously Cars and Toy Story)
Park: DCA for Carsland and ToT
Rides: RSR and soon to be ToT
Characters: Sulley, Buzz, Woody, Baymax

My princess, Julie is 3y, loves princesses and dress up and rolling in the mud. This girl knows no limits.

Her first trip was WDW when she was 3 months old. She slept a lot, nursed everywhere (even under a poncho at AK), and tried a few rides like IaSW, Peoplemover, Buzz (in her infant carseat), and even the Safari. The only picture I have handy is from the hotel room though.

At least here is a picture of her bucket being carried onto a ride...



Her favorites all come from DL as she loves looking at those pictures and loves the pink castle I mean I like it, but Cinderella's castle is what seems natural to me. I haven't even brought up the Diamond celebration and that she may never see her pink castle ever again. When we look at pictures she says the WDW castle belongs to mommy and the DL castle is her castle. We were in DL in December 2013 and celebrating her 2nd birthday... so she was a joy. Actually there were lots of great things about it, but lots of time spent dealing with the joys of the terrible twos.




Eating Daddy's jacket strings and pretending they are spaghetti, silly things we do to pass the time in lines.


Disney Loves:
Movies: Frozen and Big Hero 6
Park: DL
Rides: King Triton's Carousel, King Arthur's Carousel, Lady Bug Boogie in Bugsland, Tea Cups
Characters: Anna & Elsa, Sofia, Doc McStuffins

After seeing Inside Out, we tease that she is 30% Disgust, 25% Anger, 30% Sadness, 10% Joy, and 5% Fear, but if you ask her she is 100% Joy. She is always singing her heart out to her favorite princess songs.


Little man is Colton, he will be 1 year old next week. You can kinda say DL was his first trip but he was only 7-8 weeks into gestation. He rode a lot though (everything the 5 year old could ride) and not the Tea Cups as I do not do well on things that spin. His Disney loves are yet to be determined, but he dances to the songs brother and sister play over and over and has had the chance to see many of the movies, but he tends to crawl around and play rather than watch TV with the big kids. He will be 14 months on the trip so this will be a new age for me to have at the parks.



My BFF of nearly 20 years is Rachel.


She has the most WDW experience of our group as her family vacationed there almost every summer and she was part of the college program.


She has been back the last couple years to on trips and can never get enough. With her long time love of Disney and my relatively new found love of Disney travel we are in for some trouble.


We have travelled together on long weekends and a spring break to Colorado once, but this will be our first trip together to Disney. This will also be her first trip taking kids to Disney. We've talked about things that may be different and I hope it all goes well for everyone.


Disney Loves:
Movie: Sleeping Beauty
Park: MK
Ride: HM
Characters: Princess Aurora, Mickey Mouse is her one true love

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

The details:

Dates: Friday, September 18th - Saturday, September 26th with MNSSHP on the 22nd

Transportation: Flying on Southwest, we love Southwest. I've flown several airlines and have the best trips with SW. Our local airport is pretty small so we don't have other smaller airlines available.
My family will take the DME to AoA and Rachel will be renting a car. Kyle and I might be crazy but we love the buses. We enjoy sitting back and letting someone else drive and we had no problems in 2012. This time we will have ADRs and a bit more need to follow a schedule so this love may be tested.

Accommodations: Our family of 5 will be in a Cars Suite at AoA. Rachel will be at her condo. Originally we were going to stay with her, but as plans have changed with others coming and not coming and DH wanting to stay onsite again this is our final decision.

ADRs: Rachel and I started with a simple plan on meals having one TS some days, but as I have learned more and more on these boards I've wanted to try other things, more things, different things and now I've created a mess. (over planning nearly ruined us at DL, so I need to cut back soon). I didn't hog reservations initially, but as our plans have changed, I've grabbed new meals and haven't let go of some orginals. At this point I'm waiting to get our FPs in a few days then I will finalize our meals and post on the September cancellation thread. Those in blue will not change
18th: arrival day, nothing specific planned
19th: CRT prepark opening, Harmony Barber Shop around 11am, then back to AoA for
a rest, then back to MK for Wishes & MSEP
20th: EPCOT with Le Cellier lunch
21st: BOG breakfast then back to EPCOT and more eating around the world
22nd: Kona Breakfast, maybe DTD, then MNSSHP
23rd: CM's breakfast for Jackson's birthday, then HS (deciding between HBD F!
package or a late dinner at Sci Fi)
24th: AK day - we had Y&Y scheduled for lunch, then though we'd try Boma for an
early dinner, then got the chance at BOG dinner but only for 4 people at 8pm.
25th: BBB at 8am (good thing DD hates mornings), BOG lunch, but then I just
got a BOG dinner for all 6 at 4pm... I have to decide soon.
26th: 1900 PF breakfast, then a late flight out

Up next will be FP+ time Sunday night.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Sidetrack... I'm going again in October! The official reason is for a work conference but I will definitely be spending my evenings at the F&WF. We hope DH can go too and we booked BLT today, so yay!

 

[misscmac]

Joining in! Good luck making your FP+ reservations!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Joining in! Good luck making your FP+ reservations!

Thanks! And Welcome
We are hoping to make the most of RS. I've never done FP+ so I have a general idea of what we want so I'll see what's available so anxious for tomorrow night!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

The kids and I made a paper chain for our countdown. I know I've seen cuter, more creative countdowns but this works and was pretty simple. Jackson wanted green, black, orange, blue, and brown to be the colors of Goofy so that made it a little different than my more predictable Mickey colors.



A little over an hour until my first adventure with FP+ booking.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Well, I set an alarm for 11pm Central time. Genius me didn't set a sound for it...
But I woke up on my on at 2:40am and got started on FP+. It took for-ev-er, nearly 2 hours, as this was my first interaction with the process and we were splitting up a few times. Many frustrations and changes later I'm finally off to bed again! I will update with our new itinerary once I get some sleep. Good night!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

The last few days have been crazy . After my FP goof, I've spent my time over analyzing my choices and made a couple changes. The biggest thing is that we will need more time at HS because we want to see most of the shows . Another distraction was the Late Fall discount that came out Monday after I had gone back to sleep from FP selection. I spent Monday morning trying to work and changed our Couple only trip in October from BLT to WL for an awesome discount . WL was DH's second choice anyway and he is not concerned about all the reported construction. I would prefer CR/BLT, but for the price I can't say no to WL and it does look pretty neat.
Monday was also CRAZY at work so not much time for Disney daydreams . ODS has also decided ToT is too scary and he doesn't ant to do it now, after I planned our day around it... I'm leaving it in our plans but we'll skip it if he is still scared day of. So on with our plans:

9/18: Arrival Day
Land at MCO 1:45pm and make our way to DME. I'm guessing we'll get to AoA bout 4pm. I've done online check in so hopefully everything is ready to go. We'll stop by the desk anyway because I want to be sure only DH and I can charge to the room as it made me assign everyone our PIN doing the check in. I haven't done all this before so I just want to clarify.
We will plan to get settled, maybe swim, eat at Landscape of Flavors. Rachel is renting a car so she and I might grab some groceries for breakfast in the room.
We've toyed with the idea of adding one more park day, but we don't want to overload ourselves, so if we decide to do this I will probably add it while we are there.

9/19: MK Day #1
Double stroller is scheduled for delivery at 6am, this saved over $30 from delivering arrival day due to length of trip. Hoping there are no delays or issues with this.
Bus stop by 7am
CRT at 8:20am, hoping we can enter MK around 8am and get some empty Main Street shots and good castle pictures. Allowing an hour for the meal so we'll hit Fantasyland as most of the RD crowd is settling in .
We have FP's for PP @ 9:15-10:15 and ETwB @10:20-11:20. We'll fit in the carousel, tea cups, etc as it works out.
Then we have our first scheduling conflict. Harmony Barbershop at 11:30 for YDS's 1st haircut and 2 FP's for 7DMT 11:40-12:40. I wanted to use RS here with YDS, but if he is getting a haircut I'm not sure how that will work, or we go to the haircut then back to 7DMT.
Head back to AoA by 1pm for nap time. Not sure if we'll grab food at Casey's heading out of MK or back at AoA.
Leave AoA by 4:30pm.
7DMT FP for 3 between 5:35pm and 6:35pm. Probably eat at Colombia Harbor House. Ride what we can before our big goal of MSEP and Wishes. I would love to ride rides during the first parade and catch the second but there is no guarantee the kids won't crash and this is our only non-party MK night. If we see the first parade and Wishes we'll try to make use of EMH for the other attractions, but I expect crashing around midnight if not before .

9/20: EPCOT Day #1
If we get up early great, otherwise at the bus stop by 9am.
FP for Turtle Talk with Crush 9:45-10:45 and will do the Nemo ride around then too.
Soarin' FP 10:45-11:45 for 3 of us and grab Rider Swap
Spaceship Earth FP 11:45-12:45
Lunch at Le Cellier 12:35 - DH wants a steak on his meal plan credits and we'll probably get 1 kids meal on FD, then share cheddar soup and fries OOP.
TT FP 1:30-2:30 for 2 of us and grab Rider Swap.
Then head into WS If you can't tell this is my favorite. My hope is the kids will rest in the stroller and at the shows and we will leisurely start in Norway and head around. We are saving Mexico for day 2 as that is DH's other favorite food. I have been to WS twice but always started in Canada and run through everything after Germany. I want to explore this side of WS in the day light. I also love to eat and drink here , but I'll be good with the kiddos around.
Illuminations at 9 then back to AoA for some sleep.

9/21: The Day Formerly Known as EPCOT Day #2: Now called Insanity Day
We got a BOG Breakfast reservation!!!! This was not originally planned but I grabbed it when they released several weeks ago. Fine it was to be our second EPCOT day focused on WS after 11am. Then after getting FP's we planned our HS show times and realized we need more HS time, so EPCOT gets the shaft again . It's ok since DH and I will be returning to F&W in October. The kids will likely get tired of WS.
Bus stop by 8:30 to MK for BOG at 9:55am.
Leave MK for EPCOT by 11am. Maybe do the Monorail for transportation.
Character Spot M&G 11:10-12:10, I imagine we'll be hitting this closer to the end of that time frame. We also want to do the Visa M&G at some point one of the 2 EPCOT days.
Soarin' FP 12:10-1:10 for 2 and grab Rider Swap
Test Track FP 12:45-1:45 for 3 and grab Rider Swap - let the littles explore Figment while on this side.
Spaceship Earth 1:45-2:45. We might cancel this one but there wasn't anything else we wanted to FP.
Then off to Mexico and any other WS spots we missed.
Leave EPCOT through the International Gateway about 4pm
Arrive at HS by 5pm and book it to the Indiana Jones Show.
Frozen for the 6 or 7pm showing and ride the Great Movie Ride some where in there. This is an HS EMH night so we will ride other things if we feel up to it.
AoA by 10pm to crash again .

9/22: MNSSHP/MK Day #2
Bus stop by 8am to make it to Kona by 9:10, Rachel may drive to this one as this is her meal wish. Kyle and one or all the kids may sleep in too as this will be an OOP meal for Kyle and one of the kids.
Maybe DTD after Kona for some shopping and try Wolfgang Puck Express for a late lunch.
Back to AoA by 2pm to rest and get ready for MNSSHP. Rachel has a great costume in mind but we will go simple with the kids.
Bus stop by 3pm and off to MK. Hoping to enter MK at 4pm with out party tickets.
We have FPs for Jungle Cruise at 3:35-4:35 so if we make it, it will be late in that time frame.
BTMRR FPs at 4:55-5:55 and grab Rider Swap. We'll ride the carpets, climb the Swiss Family Treehouse and such in Adventureland around this time as well. Maybe eat at Pecos Bill's.
Haunted Mansion FPs at 5:55-6:55 .
During the party we want to do the dance parties , see the castle shows, parade, fireworks, and maybe ride a few rides. Hopefully the kids make it until midnight.

9/23: DHS and Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday ODS! He wanted to swim and have breakfast with Mickey Mouse. Hopefully he is up early enough to swim.
Bus stop by 9am to MK then jog over to CR to CM's.
CM's at 10am then after breakfast bus over to HS.
Estimating HS by noon.
TSM FPs 12:05-1:05 and explore Pixar Place.
DH and ODS will go to Lights, Motors, Action for the 1:20 show and the little and I will go to Disney Jr. and meet Doc and Sophia around the 1:30 show.
Star Tours FPs 2:35-3:35 for 3 and grab Rider Swap.
Hollywood Brown Derby F! Package at 3:40-4:30.
Beauty & the Beast 5pm show.
ToT FP for 2 5:15-6:15, we'll see if ODS is up to it or not.
RnRC during this time maybe.
Hoping to find Character Palooza while hanging out in this area, I read last night the location and time can no longer be predicted.
Fantasmic FP about 7:30 for the 8pm show.
Back to AoA around 9:30pm. Kind of an early night

9/24: AK Day
Bus stop around 8am to arrive at AK about 9am.
Straight back to the Safari, maybe some trails or the train.
FotLK at 10 or more likely 11am.
EE FPs 11:40-12:40 for 3 of us and grab Rider Swap.
Lunch at Y&Y QS or Flame Tree BBQ.
Dinosaur FPs at 1:10-2:05 for 3 of us and grab Rider Swap.
Explore the Dino area.
Nemo show at 1 or 3 or maybe skip it.
Safari FP 3-4. We really enjoyed the Safari in 2012 .
KRR FP 4-5pm.
Back to AoA by 6pm. QS dinner and swim/relax.
Then DD & I will go with Rachel to BOG dinner at 8:40pm. It will be a late night but hopefully not too intense.

9/25: MK Day #3
Last park day
Bus stop by 7am, really I should plan 6:30 so we stand a chance of making it by 7.
BBB at 8am , at the time the pre-park idea seemed great, now I'm wishing I had gone for 8:30 or even 8:50.
ODS chose the Knight package here over PL again because he doesn't care for face paint so we will have a princess and a knight.
Explore Fantasyland more, meet some princesses or maybe wander over to finish up Adventureland (maybe PotC).
7DMT FPs at 11:15-12:15 for 3 and grab Rider Swap while DD & I go to...
A&E M&G FP 11:10-12:10!!! (even at 60 days from 9/18 this was the earliest day available that worked for us).
BOG lunch at 12:30. I know this is a lot of BOG but Rachel and I are super excited about the chance to try all the different options and hopefully dining rooms, plus its a great use of QS in theory. I actually started with only this BOG reservation.
Tomorrowland Speedway FP for 2 1:30-2:30 and grab RiderSwap. Kyle and Jackson loved Autopia at DL .
Space Mountain FP 1:40-2:40 for 3 and grab Rider Swap. Trade the baby back and forth to also do the Speedway.
FoF Parade at 3pm.
Buzz FPs 3:40-4:40.
Explore Tomorrowland, ride the People Mover and the Carousel of Progress for sure. Then any last thigns we want to do before we say good bye to the parks .
Back to AoA around 7pm. Swim, pack, eat QS.

9/26: Departure Day
Check in with DME/bags etc.
Bus stop by 9:30am to MK. Then boat or Monorail to GF for 1900 PF.
1900 PF breakfast at 10:45.
Maybe DTD or ride the Monorail or explore the Boardwalk.
Back to AoA for DME pick up around 1pm, I'm guessing.
Flight leaves MCO at 5:10pm.
Home very late and exhausted.

I'm exhausted just thinking about all those plans! We still have a little to review and decide, but it's nice to see it all coming together. I'm considering changing my title to "We are relaxed, definitely not a commando family. NOW MARCH!"

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Just a birthday party update - not Disney related, but still exciting for us.

Colton had his 1st birthday party today! DH also turned 30!
We had a little man theme with mustaches and bow ties and such. It turned out pretty well and even the big boys got into the theme wearing mustaches and such.

Birthday Boy!

The other birthday boy!

Remains of a cupcake.

Don't worry it's just cream soda. And he wasn't allowed to drink this either.

Dress up.

Big Brother.

and just for fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my big baby boy!

 

[misscmac]

Love the party theme - Colton looks like he really enjoyed his cake!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Love the party theme - Colton looks like he really enjoyed his cake!

Thanks! He was so tired by that point but he had no problem enjoying the cupcake