3rd Time's the Charm - an August 2018 PTR

[sweetnjmom]

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to have "found" this forum... I didn't remember there was a place for PRE trip reports! LOL Anyway, my family of 3 -- me (48), dh (47) and ds (almost 9) -- will be taking our third family trip to Disney in 5 years. Our first was in November 2013 and the second was May 2015. This is the first time for me going in August -- and I'm totally worried about the heat but it's the one week we don't have camp or childcare, so it's become our annual vacation week.

Here we are from May 2015 - It was my husband's actual birthday!


This past June was my 10th wedding anniversary. As much as I kind of wanted to go to Hawaii, we have nobody to watch our son -- who turns 9 on August 14th -- and we decided to go to Walt Disney World again. We're staying at the Polynesian (regular room) because I've always wanted to stay there. Hopefully we'll be happy with the choice -- we almost chose the Grand Floridian, which I stayed at when I was 20 for MY parents' 25th anniversary -- but I wanted to try someplace new to me.

We had everything pretty much booked last December when we decided we HAD to go to Universal too. My son is totally Harry Potter obsessed -- he dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween -- and since we were already going to fly to Orlando we decided to add two days to the beginning of our trip and stay there. So we're actually staying at the Portofino Bay hotel the first 2 nights of our trip, which comes with their Express Pass, and we're going to hit basically every Harry Potter ride and before Ubering over to the Poly on late Saturday afternoon to arrive on time for our 'Ohana ADR. (I tried to get one later, so we wouldn't be rushing, but I only could get 5:20 PM.)

Now I'm definitely a bit worried about how we'll handle the extreme heat and humidity -- my late grandparents lived in Delray Beach, FL and I used to visit them each Summer as a kid/teen and remember the heat well (and they were near the ocean!). But we figure if we pace ourselves, drink a lot of water, and take pool breaks, we'll be OK. Apparently my husband did Disney in August once and he remembers the heat... but he's the one who suggested it.

So now we're 5 weeks away from our trip and I'm passing the time working up itineraries and tweaking/finalizing some plans. I hope it's OK to share them here.

 

[sweetnjmom]

I may be posting just to see myself post LOL ... but that's OK. (I hope!) With trip #3 now 30 days away (from our Universal arrival) I'm getting really excited.

I've made more changes this trip than I have for any prior ones... I *think* I'm done now. Here is my (hopefully) final itinerary for the WDW part of our Orlando trip (8/25 - 8/31). We have 5 day hoppers with an extra -- even though we're only hopping our last day.

Thursday 8/23
Depart Newark NJ at 6 pm - arrive at Portofino Bay hotel around 10 pm and straight to bed.

Friday 8/24
Wizarding World of Harry Potter day -- we have 2 day park-to-park tickets and an Express Pass (from the hotel). No itinerary except to hit everything Harry Potter.

Saturday 8/25
Universal Day #2 - We'll utilize our ability to get into the park 1 hour early and stay until our late check out (3 pm).
Then we'll Uber to the Poly and check into our room. I figure 2 hours is enough to do that and be ready for our dinner ADR.
5:20 ADR at 'Ohana

Sunday 8/26 - Magic Kingdom
7:30 ADR at Kona
9:30-10:30 FP - Pirates
10:30-11:30 FP - Splash Mtn
11:45-12:45 FP - Peter Pan
5:00 ADR at Morimoto Asia - Disney Springs

We'll probably cool off at the pool that afternoon before heading to Disney Springs around 3 ish. Our dinner ADR is at 5 and we want to spend about an hour or so before dinner shopping, etc. We'll go back to MK after dinner (open until 10 pm that night).

Monday 8/27 - Blizzard Beach/Epcot
8:40 AM ADR at Chef Mickey
Blizzard Beach until around 2 pm or so
3:15-4:15 FP - Spaceship Earth (if we miss this one, we don't care)
4:15-5:15 FP - Test Track (plan to tap in near end of window)
5:15-6:15 FP - Imagination (plan to tap in at beginning of window)
6:15 PM ADR at Via Napoli

Tuesday 8/28 - Hollywood Studios
8:00 AM - 1:30 PM - Star Wars guided tour
1:40-2:40 FP - Slinky Dog Dash
** resort/pool break/QS dinner at Poly **
5:30-5:45 FP - Indiana Jones Stunt Show at 6 pm (my son's request)
6:55-7:55 FP - Tower of Terror
Star Wars Fireworks (reserved viewing area from tour)

Wednesday 8/29 - Animal Kingdom
8:10 AM ADR at Tusker House (River of Light package)
9:50-10:50 FP - Safari
10:55-11:55 FP - Kali River Rapids
11:55-12:55 FP - Flight of Passage
** we'll stay at AK until we're too hot and take a pool break - QS dinner **
Back to AK in time for Rivers of Light (reserved viewing area from dining package)

Thursday 8/30 - MK and HS
7:50 AM ADR at 'Ohana
9:55-10:55 FP - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
10:55-11:55 FP - Space Mountain
11:55-12:55 FP - Buzz Lightyear
** Pool break **
4:15 PM ADR at 50's Prime Time
End trip at Hollywood Studios

Friday 8/31
Fly home.

 

[jojosmom23]

Sounds like a great plan. We love the express pass at Universal, its why we always stay at the hard rock. We will be in Disney the same time as you! Who knows maybe we will run into each other!

 

[sweetnjmom]

Sounds like a great plan. We love the express pass at Universal, its why we always stay at the hard rock. We will be in Disney the same time as you! Who knows maybe we will run into each other!

Thanks! And it would be nice to run into each other... I pretty much look the same as I did 3 years ago.

I'm at the point where I need to stay away from MDE to make sure I don't make any further changes. Originally we had Morimoto set for our last day and 50's on Tuesday -- those were the last changes I made. But I think it will work out better and give us more time in the parks with less running around.

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

I like your itinerary. You have lots of breaks scheduled (pool time, ADR's). Have a magical time!