4 Generations, 5 nights, 1 Birthday, and a 2 year old!

[VBelle68]

Hello! I just had to come out from lurking after getting confused about new FastPass+. Really, Disney? I had it down to a science! Oh well, life goes on!

I should introduce myself. My name is Valleri and for this trip, it will be my mother, myself. my daughter and my granddaughter! 4 generations, one trip!

My mother, SB, is a HUGE Disney fan. She has logged over 50 trips so far, including Paris! She owns about 5,000 pins, 100 snow globes, and more Disney artifacts than anyone I know!

Myself, V, am a BIG Disney fan and am currently planning our 16th trip. We will be celebrating my daughters graduation from high school and my birthday on this trip.

My daughter,K,is 18 and graduating from high school on Thursday! She has had a rough couple of years, and needs a break!

My granddaughter, M, is two and this will be her first trip to the World! And she is free!

I started planning this trip because I like to take my kids on a trip when they graduate. K didn't want to go to NYC, she didn't want to go the the Windy City, she wanted to go to Disney!

At first it was going to be me,K, and M, along with my husband. But he can be a grouch in Disney, so he declined. Hmmmm, we need help with this two year old. Let's ask Gramma!

We made some signs with a heart. a club, a spade, and a diamond. Me, K, and M held on to the spade, club, and diamond. Then we asked SB to be our "heart" and come with us! She said yes!

Now, which property?, which dates? So many things to decide on! And what is this new FP+?

Now, when we go with large group, "the lightning bolts" (maybe you've seen us lol) we stay at the Fort in the cabins. And when we go for short trips with just a couple of people, we stay at POP. And when we go for medium trips, with a medium sized group of people, we like to mix it up!

I like to get a good deal, who doesn't? So I did my homework

I had never stayed at AKL and really, really wanted to! But I just couldn't get the price low enough, or justify the expense and only have one bathroom!

Should we stay at POP? Prices are pretty low. But Me and SB would be spending a lot of time outside, being quiet while M took her naps!

So we decided, drumroll please, to stay at AofA! In a suite! Two bathrooms, a separate room for M to take a nap and SB and I could giggle (and drink coffee ) whenever we wanted!


More plans later!

 

[Villainess]

Joining in - can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[VBelle68]

Joining in - can't wait to hear more about your plans!

I have a follower! woo-hoo!

 

[VBelle68]

When should we go?

Right after Memorial Day is a good time to go. Parks are open late, weather and crowds not so bad.

But I love Disney in October, too! Crowds are great and we could do the Halloween party.

But, we are headed to CMA fest in Nashville the first week in June, and K will be in college in October.

Hmmm......What to do, what to do?

August is incredibly hot, but the parks are open late and I can get off season rates, AND they usually post a summer discount, or one for Disney Visa cardholders (don't you know I have one of those!). And my birthday is the 8th.

So the first week of August it is!

Booked a rack rate Nemo suite on the website. A month later, discounts came out. Called and tried to apply the discount. They couldn't do it on the Nemo suites, so I moved to Cars. No problem! I like a deal!

Two days later, thanks to someone on the budget boards (Thanks anonymous person), I got an additional 20% off the discount by booking through Orbitz and paying in full. AND I got the Nemo suite back!

In about a month, I had saved over $600 on just the room!

Next up, ticket dilemmas!

 

[VBelle68]

Tickets!
How indecisive can someone get? I usually get 10 day, non expiring hoppers. Then I always have a ticket in hand!

But in 2011, I bought an annual pass and squeezed 4 trips out of it, and have not gone to the World since Flower & Garden in April, 2012. Think maybe a 2 year old in the house had something to do with that? You might be right!

So I had to buy tickets!

I automatically assumed I would buy my usual 10 day, non expiring hoppers. But then, I did the math. And did it again, and again, and again! Does anyone else do that? lol

But our Big, Grand Gathering is scheduled in June 2016 and I would have to buy tickets for the hubby and the two year old anyway (who would be 4 by then)!

So, indecision at its best, I keep adding numbers. Expiring, non expiring, hoppers, non hoppers. Good thing I actually understand the system or I would have gone crazy!

In the end, I bought 5 day, expiring non hoppers from Undercover Tourist. By now you should I know I won't pay full price if I can avoid it!
And got them before the prices went up!

Reservations? Check! Tickets? Check! Getting close to the 180 day mark, better decide where we are going to eat!

So glad the folks on the board understand that I know where and what I will be eating 6 months away but have no clue what's for dinner tonight!

I knew for sure I wanted to to the Disney Jr Breakfast at H&V, and try to get to BOG for my Bday dinner. And a couple more TS for fun, but most would be CS. A lot of times when we go we stay at the Fort so we cook quite a bit (I am cheap, you know!)

But, we are staying at AofA, so no kitchen! We will still bring cold breakfast stuff and lunch meat for some meals, along with Cokes, DR Pepper, and some snacks. We drive, so no big deal to bring a cooler. And we have a mini frig and microwave at least.

Mon, Aug 4th "linner" (which in my house means lunch and dinner combined) 2Pm Tusker House Character Lunch

Wed, Aug 6th Breakfast 8AM Disney Jr at H&V
and 5 PM at Beaches& Cream for dinner

Thu, Aug 7, no ADR but it is a must do, Earl of Sandwich at DTD for dinner

Fri, Aug 8 (My birthday!) 9:30 Kona Cafe breakfast and 5PM BOG For Dinner

You would have thought I would have been more indecisive, huh? Nope, I am not a huge foodie. I usually want something quick, fairly inexpensive, and that tastes good. I have been to most character meals and I try to do something new each trip.
The new restaurants this year are Kona Cafe, Dis Jr, Beaches & Cream, and BOG.

Up next, which parks on which days!

 

[VBelle68]

Before I get into telling you what parks we are doing on what days, I am going to give you some background on our "typical" touring style.

We are normally EMH, RD, take a break and hop to another park kind of people. I typically could (and did) ride our favorite rides two or three times, get a snack, jump on a couple of slower moving rides, take PP pics, shop for souveniers, and be out of a park to get lunch at our resort. Nap, swim, shower, chill for an hour or two, get dinner and then hop to and stay in a park for the evening show.

To accomplish this, we rarely take Disney transportation and plan lots of quick meals. Also, I have never traveled with a two year old before! I took her mother when she was 3 months old, but that was different! I didn't have to entertain a baby and she would sleep through anything! (And I will never forget Chip picking her up at Chef Mickey's. They don't do that anymore!)

This time, I elected not to get hoppers, as I think my plan will be to RD, have QS lunch in the parks, and stay until around 2PM or so. Then we will leave to go to the resort and will not return most days. This way, the two year old will not meltdown, and we will ALL have a good time. She typically naps around two in the afternoon and then will be good until around 8PM or so. We are going to try to keep mealtimes fairly normal for her.

Obviously, we will go with the flow! We will not pick the park with EMH, as the "park of the day" can get very crowded with all those folks who choose it because it is EMH but don't get there until 11!

We are driving in from Tennessee and will leave on Sunday morning, driving about 9-10 hours. We plan to overnight about two hours from the World, tentatively arriving around noon on Monday. If we can get early check in, that would be so very cool!

However, if we can't check in yet, we will simply head to our first park, AK! (you may have already guessed that due to the 2PM Tusker House ADR!)

Now, originally, I made that ADR so that I could be in place to watch the Jamming Jungle Parade. In all the times I have been to the world, I have never seen that parade, darn it! And this trip it was gonna happen! Yea, right, V! Disney said that parade was messing up crowd patterns due to construction! I don't care! I am missing the parade!

But we didn't want to move the ADR, and AK only has enough to interest our little group for half a day anyway, so we left the park plan in place for Monday!

 

[VBelle68]

At the latest, we should be at AK by 1pm, after having grabbed a very late breakfast on the road. We should be good and hungry for our 2PM ADR at Tusker House. M seems to be okay with characters. We saw several mascots at a local festival and she loved them! Especially Curious George, who she loves! So she should be very excited to see her Disney pals!

I plan to schedule the following FP+ when our window opens:
4PM Disney Pals at Outpost
5PM Dinosaur! This has to be one of my all time favorite rides in the World! (NOT OUR DINOSAUR! GO! )
6PM Nemo show

Hoping to also see the Safari, take both "treks", and do Child Swap on EE.
We should be able to do EE shortly before close, I'm hoping. I love the Yeti!

The park closes early (7PM) so after closing we will head back to the resort and have our first dinner (or just dessert) at the food court at AofA.

To bed early, we are doing RD Tuesday at..................

 

[VBelle68]

RD at MK!
Out of all the parks, FP+ has me most worried at MK. It has the most amount of attractions we want to see. What I am reading about SB lines building quickly has me a little anxious!

I know that on one of these trips, I will eventually fork out the money to do BBB, but not this one! But I want to do something cool that I have been reading about on the boards for quite some time. Go to the Barbershop!

Little M has not had her first haircut yet, so it will be perfect timing!

I called the PLAY line and waited on hold for 30 minutes to make a reservation (why do they play the HM music?) and got an appointment for 9:30 for her. And guess what? I got K an appointment too! Ssshhhh it's a surprise!

Here is our FP+ plan, followed by our touring plan:
10:30 7DMT
12:00 ETWB
1:00 JourneyLittleMermaid

RD, watch the welcome show, avoid crowds going to A&E, Meet the Big Cheese and maybe , since she is moving soon.

Then the haircuts, followed by PP pics, since everyone will still be fresh looking and the crowds maybe have scattered?

Then we will head to new Fantasyland. I haven't been to the World since April, 12 so most of it is new to me, K, and M (of course). SB has seen most of it already

Hoping to see Pooh and ride the Carousel before lunch, too!

Waffles at Sleepy Hollow, mmmmm!

After lunch, see Dumbo,& the Barnstormer. Barnstormer will only be if M grows to 38" by then! She is a big two year old, just about 37" now. If she does grow, she can do a couple of things, like 7DMT and Barnstormer. If she is not tall enough, we will do ride swap on the train and skip BS.

Then we are going to get soaked! Well, it could rain, it almost always does! But I mean we are going to let M play at Casey Jr!

Then jump on the WDW train and ride to Main St to exit the park, where we will get on a bus (gasp) and return to AofA! This is the only park we will ride a bus to arrive, as it doesn't make sense to drive to the TTC and then get on Disney transportation anyway! I don't mean to seem mean about the buses, generally they get you from Point A to Point B efficiently. I have just had so many bad bus rides that I will avoid them if I can.

Returning to the resort, we will rest, swim, explore,etc.

Our evening plans are to go to the Disney Outlet Store, possibly go to Walmart, and shop at DTD. And eat at EofS. Yum yum!

 

[VBelle68]

This is us! This was taken on Mother's Day in 2013. K is on the far left, I am holding M, and SB is on the far right.

M is quite a bit bigger now!

 

[VBelle68]

Wednesday, Aug 6

Going to start out the day doing two things I have never done! We are going to a theme park BEFORE it OPENS! And eating breakfast with the Disney Jr characters!

That may not seem amazing to you if you have done if before, But I haven't! And I am so excited!

We are going to the Disney Jr Buffet at H&V at 8am when the park open at 9. Woo Hoo!

Little M just loves all the shows on Dis Jr, with Sophia being her absolute favorite, followed very closely by Jake the Pirate. She is going to be so excited!

After breakfast, hoping to do TSMM as a walk on, followed by an immediate FP+ to ride it again!

Here are the FP+ I want to try for:
9AM TSMM
10 LM
11 TOT

Here are the warped, confused, well thought out musings for the whys behind those selections.
1 TSMM is fun for all of us, so let's ride it twice
2 I need to "waste" a FP+, so I chose LM. I actually want to go to the Dis Jr show at 9:40
3 Me and M will probably go to LM while SB and K go to TOT. I HATE that ride! Makes me want to hurl! yuck! But SB and K love it and wanted to be sure to ride it!
4 Why would I waste a FP+ ? Because of the crazy tiering! And we must ride RNR ! and I can't get a 4th pass until I use up 3!

We will probably meet back up to see the B&TB show at 11:30. I am hoping I will be able to get in. First show of the day, park crowd level at a 5, I should be able to, right?

B&TB is my all time favorite Disney movie, and I have not seen this production since......2003? .........2006? Anyway, it's been a long time!

My favorite ever production of B&TB on was Broadway! I took 16 Girl Scouts on a bus trip to NYC (from Nashville) in 2007 and we saw that show. It was fantastic!

Hoping to snag the 4th FP+ for RNR right after B&TB for around 12 or 12:30. Fingers crossed!

After doing that, as a child swap, we shall make our grand exit to the parking lot, where we shall ride in comfort back to AofA for a much needed rest!

Up next, dinner plans??

 

[Villainess]

Great plans so far and I will be there same time as you!!! How's that for a coincidence?!

I've been staring at the FP+ stuff for a few days now and over what to do and what to plan. Maybe it will come to me in a dream!

 

[VBelle68]

After we rest, shower all that August humidity off of us, and have a couple of cups of coffee , we should be good to go again.

Good thing, cuz tonight we go to B&C. This has been on the "I wanna go there someday" list for quite some time!

Other restaurants we considered were Whispering Canyon (May I have some ketchup, please? lol) and the SCI FI at DS. Both are great, but a new place won out over tried and true this time. We will probably order two entrees to share among the four of us, so we have room for ice cream!

As I haven't seen the BC for awhile, we will check out that resort and then walk over to The Boardwalk. This has been on the list, too!

If the stars don't align and we aren't able to get FP+ for RNR earlier in the day, we may return to DS via boat just to ride it! M might enjoy the boat ride, anyway!

I don't want to stay out too late though, Mickey will be calling in the morning to tell us "there are big doings going on today, time to get going" Although the last few times we have gotten wake up calls, it has been "that annoying little alien" SB


Our Thursday plan will involve a quick oatmeal or granola bar and fruit breakfast in our room, and RD at Epcot!

 

[VBelle68]

Great plans so far and I will be there same time as you!!! How's that for a coincidence?!

I've been staring at the FP+ stuff for a few days now and over what to do and what to plan. Maybe it will come to me in a dream!

I saw your PTR and am green with jelly! 15 nights on property! you go, girl!

yea, FP+ is the stuff of dreams

 

[VBelle68]

Here is my beautiful granddaughter, M!

She loves to color, play with her toys, and give lots of hugs and kisses. She has been learning her Disney characters! She just loves the Disney Jr shows, but I think Goofy is her favorite. She knows all the Fab 5, all the Dis Jr characters, Toy Story 1 and 2, Nemo, Dumbo, and Cinderella, We have also shown her Frozen, Wall-E, and Wreck it Ralph (she loves Felix!) She seems to like the movies with lots of singing the most. When I asked her if she wanted to go see "Big Mickey" she said "Yes, let's go, where's shoes?" I love her so much!

Here is SB and myself. Points to you if you know what park we are in!

This was taken in Feb, 2011 when just the two of us traveled down to Disney for some sort of pin event. I think it was something to do with Valentines's Day? You would have to ask SB. She went, I toured parks while she traded her heart out.

My mother loves Disney! She has about 5,000 pins and loves to trade. She has also been known to give pins to little, well behaved children! She works full time out of her house and loves her job! I am the middle daughter and when my two sisters, my mother, and I (with our families) all make plans to go to Disney together, we call ourselves the Lightning Bolts!

 

[VBelle68]

Epcot is such an interesting park, with such a variety of things to do. I mean, one minute you are hugging typical Disney characters, then you are checking out a huge aquarium, then learning about the Chinese culture,then eating fish & chips in England, finishing off with an intense light show the likes of which you can't see anywhere else!

There is something to interest every single member of any family!
I could spend a solid week there!

But they are only open from 9am until 11pm, and I only have one day scheduled to see it all, so here is my plan.

FP+ Soarin' 9:30
FP+ Living with the Land 10:30
FP+ Turtle Talk with Crush 11:30

After RD, we will go to get pics at the Character Spot followed by Soaring & Living with the Land. We will probably eat 2nd breakfast at SS.

Then head over to see The living Seas with nemo, enjoying those attractions. Is Bruce still there in a small play area? I have great pics of all 3 of my kids in his mouth.

That is K when she was 10, with her older brother, who was 17 at the time

Then we will head over to see Figment. I really miss the old ride and Kodak Image Works that used to be there. What they have now is still cool, but I really enjoyed the old one

If it is 1 o'clock by then, we will go get our free VISA character pic. If not,we are leaving the park for our daily rest. We are planning to purchase MM for this trip, so it's not a necessity to get the free pic.

This will be the first time MM is available to me on a trip and I am really looking forward to it! Sometimes, I have bought the PP CD and have thoroughly enjoyed getting the pics taken, playing with the add ons on the website, and then having the freedom to print them at my normal printing place. I have always wished the ride attractions were included, and now they are! Who could pass up getting 4 generations in several shots?

Hoping to get some magic shots, and I have built time in every park day to get pics taken.

But after the pics or not, we are outta here! Time for resting, coffee drinking, and recharging!

 

[VBelle68]

Looking over my notes for this day, there is a sticky note that says "If you didn't do wash yet, today is the day!"

It's always a big internal debate with me whether to do wash in Disney or not. I usually end up doing some, anyway. I usually plan for at least two outfits per day per adult, so I run out of clothes! When we take our afternoon break, I hate to put my dirty clothes from the morning back on, hence the two outfits per day.

Speaking of clothes, we have played around with the idea of doing a little Disney bounding on this trip. M looks quite a bit like Boo, so we are considering a Monsters Inc look alike. K wants to do Randall,and I like the colors for Sully, and SB could do Roz. Hmmmm gets me to thinking I need to get back on Pinterest!

Back to the plan! Epcot is all about eating, and we have already had 2nd breakfast in the park. We will probably eat 1st lunch in our room, eating cold cuts and such.

Today our plan will vary, as we intend to return to Epcot for the late afternoon. Planning to get a TT FP+, then taking a trip around the world showcase, eating 1st & 2nd dinner, shopping, and catching shows. Oh, and eating dessert in France!

Here are the things we want to see in no particular order:

Mexico ride & meet Donald
Pick A Pearl in Japan
Sam Adams & a burger in America
Fish & Chips in the UK
See Belle in France
Maelstrom
Off Kilter in Canada
and will we have room for gelato in Italy?

and anything else that catches our eye!

We won't stay to see Illuminations, however, as that would put M too far past her bedtime!

 

[VBelle68]

I have never been in the World on my birthday and boy, oh boy,am I excited!

I don't plan to wear my birthday button until Friday, so maybe something magical will happen!

On Friday, we plan to lounge around the resort a bit before our 9:30 Kona Cafe ADR. We haven't ever eaten there, so I am looking forward to it!

After breakfast, we may take a monorail excursion. M wouldn't have had the opportunity to ride one yet and we like to visit the monorail resorts at least once!

Hopefully, when we return to the resort, M will want to take an early nap. My thinking is that she will need a little catch up sleep from go-go-going all week! I know, I know, the best laid plans........

We will probably spend some time doing some pre-packing for our departure day, or spending a few last minutes in the pool.

But I plan to be on Main St at 2 o'clock for the parade! Looking forward to the new one. I hope the dragon breathes fire! and that it doesn't choose today to rain!

After the parade, we want to see Tomorrowland, especially riding Buzz! We will get a FP+ for 3:30!

We may ride the Tea Party and/or see PhilHarmagic before our 5:05 dinner ADR at BOG.

It's my birthday and I get to see the Beast after dinner! Woo hOO! Can you tell I am a little excited! I really want to buy a yellow ball gown to wear to dinner! Do you think that would be a little dramatic?

Here is the remainder of our FP+ and other plans

IASW, PP, HM,CB,BTMR,Tiki Room, Aladdin, JC

Planing a FP+ for PP at 6:30 and a 8:00 for BTMR. The others will be SB, so if we see them it would be great, if not, it will still be great!

I really, really want to see Celebrate the Magic, Wishes, and Kiss Goodnight from Main St, so I will be scoping out a spot by 9pm.

Please, weather, please cooperate!

We may go ride the TTA after Wishes, then shop our way down Main St, leaving by 11pm, but avoiding the mass exodus after the fireworks.

So sad, we have to leave on Saturday!

 

[VBelle68]

I have one week to go to before I can schedule FP+! I'm such an over planner! I know I don't need to schedule everything the first day my window opens, but I am going to anyway!

I even did a "practice run" on a day that was available so I could see how it worked out. I discovered that I like using the laptop much better than the app for iPhone for scheduling (and then cancelling lol)

I have been debating the merits of using child swap for a couple of rides. For example, schedule 2 FP+ for Soarin', and 1 for TT (for my party of 3 adults) then getting a child swap for Soarin'

Then it would look someting like this:
SB and V ride Soarin' at 10am using FP+
SB and K ride Soarin' at 10:30 using child swap ticket

K rides TT at 11 using FP+
SB and V ride TT at 11:30 using child swap ticket

From what I am understanding, the child swap allows "up to 2 people" to ride. Anyone got first hand experience doing this? It's my first time using child swap!

I know, I know overthinking this whole thing, as usual!

On another note, I have been shopping for new sandals to take on the trip! I want time to break them in before we leave, and CMAFest is next week, so perfect opportunity! I ordered Teva universal sandals and hated them! So back they went.

Now I am expecting a package from Amazon with a pair of Teva Zirra sandals and a pair of Teva Hurricane sandals.


Hoping I like one of them!

 

[VBelle68]

I got home from work today and checked the mailbox. I got Mickey Mail!

It was my Memory Maker card! So exciting! I tucked it securely away, only 62 days left to wait!

The magical 60 day mark is fast approaching also! I have made my lists and checked them twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice. OH! Wrong song!

But seriously, I have played around with which FP+ to get so many times, I am making myself nuts!

And the fun part is that we are leaving in 1 day to go to CMA Fest in Nashville, so I will be making those FP+ reservations while at the KOA in Nashville!

CMA Fest is always such a blast! Looking forward to some time away from work, seeing some family, and getting to see lots and lots of country stars! And where else can you wear cowboy boots and hats with your shorts? Only in Nashville!

 

[VBelle68]

We are currently sitting at the KOA Campground in Nashville, TN! After our arrival last night, we made our plan for Thursday. We are going to see about 7 performances, have dinner at the Hard Rock in Nashville and then see the big show at LP Field.

After making those plans, I only had about 60 minutes to kill before the magical 11PM CST FP+ window opened for my trip to the World!

Success! I booked all the FP+ passes I wanted, at the times I wanted them (or close to it) by 11:25 PM.

I can also do online check in, but I will wait to get home to do that!

On another note, I decided to keep the Teva Zirra sandals and today they will be put to the test! The weather forecast is pretty close to what I will expect in Florida in August. 90 degrees and a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon!