6 nights at pop w/ deluxe dining!!!!

[princess_momma]

I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!! FINALLY!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG!

I'VE BEEN CRAVING THE MAGIC SO BAD!!

I booked with the free dining offer for September 10th through 16th! The cast will include me—Kimmy (19), my son—Landon (will be 10 months), and my mom (40-something) and my dad (also 40-something). We are going to be staying at Pop Century!

A little more info about the cast…

I have been lurking these boards for a while now because I somehow have a weird Disney obsession, which even I can't explain. I do frequent the wedding boards, even though I am not married. I will be getting married at Disney World one day as well. But I just love weddings and will be starting school soon to get my degree in event planning. I am considering maybe one day working at DFTW, but would love to just be a wedding planner anywhere. I am super excited about all the food I will be eating and my favorite Disney character is Belle. This is my first "real" trip--when I was younger we went for one day to MK and I barely remember it.

My son was born in November. He’s my big boy, having been born at 8 lbs and 8 oz and now having already more than doubled that. I can’t believe how much he’s grown. I love him so much and am thrilled about his first trip to the World. His first Disney experience was Disney on Ice, and it was starring the Incredibles and they took over Disney Land. So he really likes them, and of course Cars like most little boys, but his favorite is Bolt. (I’ve taken the liberty to decide all this for him, since he’s a little too young to have formed his own opinion. Aren’t I sweet?)

My mom is a sweetheart. We’re pretty close. She loves the Lion King and cats. So the Aristocats and Oliver & Company are big winners for her. I think the only rides she likes in general at any amusement park are tea cups and tilt-a-whirls. That will leave her probably way too much free time while I’m on the rides and we will see how long it takes her to max out all her credit cards. Maybe I’ll even start a betting pool…I’m betting less than a day. Haha I kid! She and my dad have been married 25 years this year and this is also kind of a celebration of that. Like me, they only went to the World that one day, but they want to Disneyland for their honeymoon. My dad loves the big thrill rides and also seeing his girls and his grandson happy so he's very excited for this trip!

So that’s us! I will be editing in pictures later as I’m at work and my photobucket apparently doesn’t like it here. So I’ll figure that out tonight! I hope you enjoy reading and planning with me!

 

[princess_momma]

deleted for repetitive info.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Joining in. I love reading pre-trip reports and trip reports. Hope you get photobucket up and running soon so you can post pics.

 

[princess_momma]

Hey! I'm back and into my photobucket account! It turns out that I had been trying to sign in on that using my info for the Disboards! Silly me!! Anyways, here is the cast!

Okay, here am I:

I'm the one on the right. (And for any of you country fans out there, that's my husband, Rodney Atkins )

Here's my son. He's just over 5 months, and I think this picture is about a month old. I will post more recent pictures once I get them on the computer. He'll look way different when we go to Disney World! He'll be twice his current age! Anyway, here he is:

As for my mom, I don't have any pictures of just her they all have me and Landon or both. So I'll put my favorite picture of her, which has all of us, including Landon when he was just a couple minutes old!

So thats us. I don't think I have any pictures of my dad though...Thats probably bad! He is definitely going with us now, and I probably won't be bringing a friend! More updates later today!

 

[princess_momma]

deleted for repetitive info again. sorry!

 

[princess_momma]

So apparently I'm the only one replying to my thread. Oh well...

So my mom wants to go to MNSSHP on our 2nd night there, so thats what we'll do. Tickets go on sale on May 1st!! Yay!! We also decided that we want to go to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique that night that we're going and become princesses for the party!! From my understanding, if you get the highest package, you can keep the costume right? (Will someone please correct me if I'm wrong? Please! I don't want to get excited if thats not so.)

My plans for costumes concerning me and my son is that I will be Belle and he will be Cogsworth!! I think it'll be great. A lot of people keep suggesting for him to be Chip, but I can just visualize Cogsworth in my head so much better!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm still here! I wish I knew the answer to your question but I've never been during that time of year. Still readin' though.

 

[princess_momma]

Oh yay! I have a reader!!

I see your staying at Pop Century too like a month before me!! Are you excited? Do you have a PJ? Its my parents 25th anniversery too this year!! Thats why they're going on this trip! They had a honeymoon at Disneyland!

 

[princess_momma]

Good Morning!! I have a few updates!! I "downgraded" my room to a standard from a preferred. On a few of the pop century thread, it looks like some of the standard rooms can be better than a preferred and I just can't justify paying extra for it. I also went from 7 to 5 tickets because we won't be in the parks all 7 days and I took off the Water Park Fun & More option, keeping just the Park Hopper option. I don't see us going to the water parks. If we'll hot we'll go on Splash Mountain or something!!

So far here's a rough draft of our plan:

We'll get in on a Thursday around 4pm. I don't know how Landon will do on the plane or anything, so I'm assuming he'll be sleepy. I'll take him to our room and let him nap while I unpack. My parents will either be unpacking at this time too or exploring Down Town Disney. If its the latter, I'll meet up with them when Landon wakes up and we'll go to Earl of Sandwich. Then we'll go to bed early to help adjust for the time change and to just be well-rested!!

On Friday, we'll hopefully have the earliest ADR possible for Cinderella's Royal Table and get to go in MK before anyone else and take awesome pics!! Then after breakfast, my mom and I will go to Bibbiddi Bobbidi Boutique and become princesses and walk aroudn like that all day and then be all made up for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night!! Dinner will be at Tony's Town Square. (If we don't get an ADR for CRT for breakfast, we'll probably have our own breakfast and go to TTS for lunch and switch to CRT for dinner if at all possible.)

On Saturday, we're going to Epcot. We will spend all day here going to Electric Umbrella for lunch and Coral Reef for dinner.

On Sunday, its DHS. No table services here, just 2 counter services. I'm not sure which ones yet.

Monday is AK day, and again we are doing 2 counter services. Probably Pizzafari and Flame Tree Barbeque.

Then on Tuesday, we'll go to whichever park we want. I'm assuming we'll choose MK!! We'll do a counter service for lunch and then 'Ohanas for dinner!

Wednesday is our last day, but we won't be hitting any parks. We will have Chef Mickey's for breakfast and then shop til we drop all day at DTD. We leave around 4.

So thats our vacation, assuming we get all ours ADRs. We can't make them until June 12th!! I can't wait!! I would like to meet as many characters as possible!! And I'm especially excited for rides that Landon will be able to go on, like Dumbo. Yay!! I'm beyond excited.

Later I will take pictures of all the Disney stuff my mom, Landon and I have gotten so far to prepare!! So far, we have personalized blankets and some lanyards with pins, clothes and more on the way!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

If all goes according to your plans, I think I'd save the money and drop the park hoppers too. For years and years, we bought the hoppers and never used them. We finally decided to just drop them and use the money we saved to do something special like a dinner show or buying an extra souvenier.

 

[MrsJD]

Hey Princess momma! Your trip sounds great! You will have so much fun with Landon. I took DD when she was a little over 2 and it was a blast. That trip was with my mom, sister and niece....we like to refer to ourselves as the D5 (Disney-5)! Each of us chose a princess that most fit our personality and I was Belle. She has always been my fave too! When we met her at Epcot my DD kept asking her where Beast was, it was so cute.

Will you be doing the photopass? We did and it was well worth it. We split the cost between the 3 of us so it wasn't so bad. The pictures were so great and we thought that finding the photographers was easy and there was rarely a wait.

I am leaning towards staying at the pop also. We still haven't confirmed anything for dates so planning is a little hard. If we end up going in July, I will have a hard time getting into the princess character meal in Epcot that I wanted to do.

Have fun planning and good luck with those ADR's!

 

[shordiebecka]

your son is too cute! your plans look good- i also second what someone else said, drop the hoppers if that's what you will do for sure! you will save 100$!

 

[princess_momma]

If all goes according to your plans, I think I'd save the money and drop the park hoppers too. For years and years, we bought the hoppers and never used them. We finally decided to just drop them and use the money we saved to do something special like a dinner show or buying an extra souvenier.

My question about Park Hoppers is if you have just the normal base tickets, can you leave the park and come back? For some reason I feel like I read that somewhere you can't come back in without park hoppers, but I feel like thats wrong!

Hey Princess momma! Your trip sounds great! You will have so much fun with Landon. I took DD when she was a little over 2 and it was a blast. That trip was with my mom, sister and niece....we like to refer to ourselves as the D5 (Disney-5)! Each of us chose a princess that most fit our personality and I was Belle. She has always been my fave too! When we met her at Epcot my DD kept asking her where Beast was, it was so cute.

Will you be doing the photopass? We did and it was well worth it. We split the cost between the 3 of us so it wasn't so bad. The pictures were so great and we thought that finding the photographers was easy and there was rarely a wait.

I am leaning towards staying at the pop also. We still haven't confirmed anything for dates so planning is a little hard. If we end up going in July, I will have a hard time getting into the princess character meal in Epcot that I wanted to do.

Have fun planning and good luck with those ADR's!

I am very excited to go, especially with my son!! I have a friend with a son the same age as mine and she doesn't want to go until they are like 5 so they will remember it...I think thats crazy! Because a.) they will still enjoy it. There is so much to stimulate them, ya know? And b.) its not like this will be the only time he goes!! I plan on going once a year, maybe switching it up with a cruise every now and then!

Anywho, I hope you get your princess meal...I have a question about my princess meal for my next post!! Belle is the best though! I just love her!! I would love to go see her live show in DHS, but I don't want to do too many of those because my DS would probably get bored and then I'd have to leave in the middle anyway...but who knows?

I am definitely doing PhotoPass! I love all the little edits you can do and stuff. I think that is such a nice touch. I'm also thinking of doing one of the photo shoots at the resort and so then my parents can get some of them for their anniversery and I can get some of me and my little man!!

your son is too cute! your plans look good- i also second what someone else said, drop the hoppers if that's what you will do for sure! you will save 100$!

Thanks!! I am definitely now considering dropping the Park Hoppers but still keeping the money is my Disney fund as if I were purchasing them so I can have the extra money!! So far with dropping the preferred room, the extra tickets, and the water park fun and more option, I saved $260! (I think...lol)

 

[princess_momma]

So I originally wanted to shoot for the earliest CRT breakfast ADR possible so that I could be in the park before opening and have some great MK pics and then hitting up BBB to become a princess for the day and MNSSHP. Now, my son is an early bird and even without that, we could potentially get there super early anyway and maybe even try to be family of the day and then we could just do our own thing for breakfast, hit up BBB to still be princess for the day, but then be dressed like princesses for CRT at a late dinner right before MNSSHP. (TTS would be for lunch.)

Do you guys think this plan is better? Because I've heard that sometimes at breakfast everyone is just herded like sheep for the pictures and that the breakfast is NOT worth the 2 TS credits. I also think it would be fun to be dressed like princesses in the pictures!! I also heard if you go for one of the latest possible ADRs, you can sometimes get a little more time with Cinderella. (Of course I do realize its luck of the draw how attentive your Cinderella is and stuff...but I just think maybe my odds might be better at having an beyond amazing, pixie-dusted experience at night.)

What do you guys think? When would you do it? I have until June 12th to make my decision...gah! So far away!! (Which gives me way too much time to second guess everything and change plans!! )

 

[mickeystoontown]

Even without park hoppers, you can go back to the same park you started in. For instance, you go to Magic Kingdom at 9:00 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m., you decide you need to go back to the resort and take a nap. At 6:00 p.m., you're refreshed and ready to go back to the Magic Kingdom. You CAN do that! You can't, however, go to another park on the same day.

Like I said, we dropped the park hoppers because we like to stick to one park per day. It's saves a good bit of money too!

 

[princess_momma]

Well then those will probably get cancelled this week too!! I don't really see us having the time/energy to hope around! Maybe if I didn't have a 10 month old going with!! Thanks for the info!

 

[Bridora]

Hi! I just read your whole pre-trip report from the beginning...

Your son is too cute!

I have been lurking these boards for a while now because I somehow have a weird Disney obsession, which even I can't explain.

Me too! And to try to explain, just makes me feel silly!

I'll meet up with them when Landon wakes up and we'll go to Earl of Sandwich.


On Saturday, we're going to Epcot. We will spend all day here going to Electric Umbrella for lunch and Coral Reef for dinner.

On Sunday, its DHS. No table services here, just 2 counter services. I'm not sure which ones yet.


Then on Tuesday, we'll go to whichever park we want. I'm assuming we'll choose MK!! We'll do a counter service for lunch and then 'Ohanas for dinner!

Wednesday is our last day, but we won't be hitting any parks. We will have Chef Mickey's for breakfast and then shop til we drop all day at DTD. We leave around 4.

Earl of Sandwich is our 1st day Downtown Disney meal, too! L.O.V.E. it!

We are going to Coral Reef for the 1st time this year, I'll let you know how we liked it!

I like to go to the ABC Commissary and Pizza Planet at DHS.

Yay for 'Ohana!

We, too go back to Downtown Disney on our checkout day. Try to make a quick run for souvenirs we haven't picked up yet, then do lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express and then cry as we drive away.

 

[princess_momma]

Earl of Sandwich is our 1st day Downtown Disney meal, too! L.O.V.E. it!

We are going to Coral Reef for the 1st time this year, I'll let you know how we liked it!

I like to go to the ABC Commissary and Pizza Planet at DHS.

Yay for 'Ohana!

We, too go back to Downtown Disney on our checkout day. Try to make a quick run for souvenirs we haven't picked up yet, then do lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express and then cry as we drive away.

I am SO EXCITED for your trip report!!! I wish I could stay at the Poly!! Sounds like you have good food tastes!! For CS meals, we might end up just going at wherever is closest when hunger strikes! Do you really enjoy Pizza Planet? I read somewhere that it was disappointing! Which is not what I want to hear!

 

[princess_momma]

repetitive.

 

[Stephanie VanMeter]

I just read through your Pre-trip report. I think you have a great plan. I agree with other posters about the hoppers. We have gone the last 6 years and always had hoppers. This year we are going to try to do without them to save money. We looked back over the years and realized we only used them about 2 times each trip. I will let you know how it goes when we return. By the way, I have a son named Landon! He is now 17 and getting ready for his first prom this weekend! Enjoy that little one, they grow too fast!