A 2nd Chance to do "The First Time" - April 2013 Pre-trip report!!! (Post trip -4/29)

[gtpoohbear]

So next up - our daily plans!!! This is my favorite part, because, well, I'm a planner

First of all, here is my Master Planning Spreadsheet, with all of our ADRs and park days mapped out.

I have worked and worked at perfecting it each time we've gone, and am very happy with the way the color-coded parks worked out. In the past I color-coded parts of the day (morning, afternoon, evening) but this is way better.

In past trips, I've also made individual spreadsheet schedules for each day (like below, that was from 2008) but I don't think I'll need those this year. My main spreadsheet has more info on it than before, and I used the TP website to make our daily schedules, so I'll just print those out. But I'm going to miss our cute color-coded daily schedules anyway.

So, I'll start with...

Day 1 - Thursday, April 18, 2013

Our flight leaves Denver around 8am. The airport is a little over an hour from our house, and we'll probably use an off-site parking lot. This all equates to us needing to leave home by 4am. So we'll be up a little after 3am. Needless to say, we need to get to bed EARLY the night before!

(Totally off-topic, but I was really bummed to find out that my very favorite scientist-celebrity, Neil Degrasse-Tyson, is coming to town to give a talk - on April 17! The night before we leave. Technically I could go, but I wouldn't get home until about 11pm. I've had to accept that fact that this would be a BAD idea. But I'm still bummed about it. I hope he comes again sometime.)

We have a direct flight from Denver to Orlando (on United) and are schedule to land at 1:40pm. I'm hoping we can be at the ME loading area by about 2pm, and at YC checking in by 3pm. That might be a little optimistic, but who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky.

The next few hours are a little up-in-the-air, which I do NOT like!! But not knowing exactly when we will get there, if we will have had time to eat lunch, if Owen will have napped any on the plane... there are just too many unknowns, and too many things I can't control. So the basic plan is this, but may have to be altered depending on how our traveling goes.

We will be at the resort until about 5:30. However much time that gives us will depend on when we get there... but hopefully it will be enough time to check out the pool, get out PP+ card, get refillable mugs from the Marketplace, unpack (if our luggage has arrived from ME), and maybe get Owen a short nap, if he didn't nap on the plane. And we might be hungry, so maybe a light-late lunch from Hurricane Hannah's, or Beaches n Cream if it isn't busy.

That's a lot of Maybe's, which stresses me out. But hopefully it will be okay.

At 5:30pm - I want to be headed to Epcot. My first stop will be to see my hero Winnie-the-Pooh, in the UK area. Owen will probably be terrified, but I figure if we start letting him see the characters early on in the trip, maybe he will be okay with going up to them by the end.

After meeting Pooh, we will head to The Seas with Nemo. According to TP, we should be there a little after 6pm. So we'll have about an hour to do the ride, explore the tanks, and maybe do Turtle Talk with Crush. (DD didn't like TTwC last time, but I'm thinking Owen may enjoy it) We just watched Finding Nemo this weekend, so hopefully he'll "get it"

Then we have a 7:20pm dinner ADR at Coral Reef. After dinner, if it's not too late we may try to hit Character Spot, just to give Owen a chance to see Mickey, even if he's still a little nervous. Or, if we have time after Pooh we could stop in to the Disney Visa Character Greeting in Innoventions, since it's now open until 7pm. Not sure which would be better. Again, this whole day feels a little less than solid in my head

Illuminations is at 9pm, we may catch a little of it on the way back to YC, but I don't feel obligated to stay for the whole thing. We'll have LOTS of nights at or near Epcot so I'm sure we'll see it at least once. I figure we might be worn out from all the traveling today, so an early bedtime might be prudent.

So that's it for Day 1. Kind of a confusing jumble - but basically, get to the resort and settle in, see Pooh, do Nemo and Coral Reef, and anything else will be icing on the cake

 

[KyWildcatGirl01]

I have been comtemplating changing one of our ADR's to hollywood and vine but I am trying to lay low on the character meals as DS is still iffy on them! However, I must ask how was lego land?! I am thinking of trying it out next time and saw your picture at the start of the thread from there!

 

[danceintherain]

So next up - our daily plans!!! This is my favorite part, because, well, I'm a planner

First of all, here is my Master Planning Spreadsheet, with all of our ADRs and park days mapped out.

So that's it for Day 1. Kind of a confusing jumble - but basically, get to the resort and settle in, see Pooh, do Nemo and Coral Reef, and anything else will be icing on the cake

As a fellow Disney spreadsheeter....color coding the parks definitely works the best.
I love your plans!

 

[Alysa]

Great report - cute little ones! Hurrah for the YC, such a pretty resort! Great dining picks and love the spread sheet!

 

[TJDisneymama]

Great PTR! I can relate to a lot of it. This will be our second "family trip", me and ODS' 3rd trip, and my umpteenth trip although I dont really count those pre-family trips because they were never onsite (except once when i was a teen) and no planning ever went into them. Same with DH before we met.

I also dont want to repeat any resorts 'til I've stayed at them all.

I'm also a little wary of it being less magical than the "FIRST trip" was.
YDD was 3.5 that time; this time she'll be 5.5. I think it will be more fun with her tho b/c last time she kind of had no clue what was going on/what to expect. She seems to remember a lot of it tho it may just be from us talking about it rather than actual memories. Although just the other day we were looking at pics online of characters and she asked if they were the real characters or just people dressed up as them......and I gasped and said "of COURSE they're the real characters!!!" I think she bought it but I'm sure it wont be much longer before she doesnt.

I too get severe PDD....i actually start to get it before I even get there because I know it soon will be over....and the only cure of course is to start planning the *next* trip back.

 

[gtpoohbear]

My parents were the same way! Granted, back when I was a kid, planning was a little harder, but when we did stay in hotels, they crammed all 8 of us into a single room to save money.

Oh yes, that sounds just like my childhood! Even after we were married they still did that when we traveled with them. Once we had kids, and had enough of our own money that we could , we started insisting on having our own room. Even now, they argue every time, and tell us how they have 5 extra air mattresses, we'll be FINE!! We're like, Ummmm... NO! We need our space, period. Even when we went on our mini-trip with them last year to ASMo, since it was just me and the kids (and Owen was only 1), we could have legitimately stayed in one room, but I still refused. Of course it ended up being good that I did, because at the last minute my sister showed up with her newborn. Not that they would have seen any problem with squeezing two more in.

I have been comtemplating changing one of our ADR's to hollywood and vine but I am trying to lay low on the character meals as DS is still iffy on them! However, I must ask how was lego land?! I am thinking of trying it out next time and saw your picture at the start of the thread from there!

Legoland was a LOT of fun! I just wish we had gone when it wasn't so busy. It was a weekend, two days before Christmas, so you can imagine what the crowds were like. We didn't get to do a whole lot because the lines were all 40-60 minutes long. But they have a lot of really unique and cool stuff, and the theme is really fun. It's a ways from Orlando though - we were staying right by WDW and it took us about 45 minutes to get there. Someday I want to do a Central Florida Vacation and do all the stuff there EXCEPT Disney... not sure how I will keep myself away, lol! But the only time we've done other stuff is when we go at Christmas to visit my parents, and it's so packed everywhere.

As a fellow Disney spreadsheeter....color coding the parks definitely works the best.
I love your plans!

I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out! I felt like my spreadsheet was pretty good the last two times, but kept thinking I wish it was more obvious looking at it where we would be when. I took a lot of tweaking to get it right, but I like it a LOT better. This is what my 2010 spreadsheet looked like (there's a lot of multiple ADRs b/c we were a big group and split up for some meals).

Great report - cute little ones! Hurrah for the YC, such a pretty resort! Great dining picks and love the spread sheet!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to the YC, more now that it's getting closer. Still obsessing a little over some of our dining picks, but hopefully I can resist the urge to keep changing them

Great PTR! I can relate to a lot of it. This will be our second "family trip", me and ODS' 3rd trip, and my umpteenth trip although I dont really count those pre-family trips because they were never onsite (except once when i was a teen) and no planning ever went into them. Same with DH before we met.

I also dont want to repeat any resorts 'til I've stayed at them all.

I'm also a little wary of it being less magical than the "FIRST trip" was.
YDD was 3.5 that time; this time she'll be 5.5. I think it will be more fun with her tho b/c last time she kind of had no clue what was going on/what to expect. She seems to remember a lot of it tho it may just be from us talking about it rather than actual memories. Although just the other day we were looking at pics online of characters and she asked if they were the real characters or just people dressed up as them......and I gasped and said "of COURSE they're the real characters!!!" I think she bought it but I'm sure it wont be much longer before she doesnt.

I too get severe PDD....i actually start to get it before I even get there because I know it soon will be over....and the only cure of course is to start planning the *next* trip back.

I have been worried about DD(9) not "believing" in the characters anymore, but I've recently come to realize that she already "believes" in much the same way I do. I'm pretty sure she knows the reality behind them, but is willing to overlook that because she prefers the Magic instead. She even let it slip once last year that she knew I was "Santa", but she quickly covered and even just last night was talking about what he was probably doing at the North Pole right now. So my guess is that she'll never really stop believing in the characters, and that makes me happy.

But I'm already terrified of this trip being over. To the point that I've had trouble even looking forward to it at times. Especially since it will probably be several years before we go back. We'll have to find ways to get in little-bits of Disney before then though!

 

[gtpoohbear]

Daily Plans: Day 2 - Friday 4/19/2013

Our first full day in WDW!!

We always start our first day with Magic Kingdom. No matter the hours, emh, crowd prediction, etc. It just doesn't feel like we are in Disney World until we are at MK.

So the day will start early, we have a 7:30am ADR at Captain's Grille in YC. I at first had a 7am ADR at Fresh Med over at the Dolphin, but I'm not sure it's worth getting up so much earlier and having to walk over there. So I'm hoping we can eat a super-quick buffet (which DH won't like, he'd much rather order off the menu, but he'll have to deal) and be out of there a little after 8am, and as long as we don't get unlucky with the buses should still get to MK in time for RD.

I LOVE the opening show at MK, so I'm really hoping we make it in time to see it! I always get a little teary-eyed when they do the countdown

Our plan for the morning is Fantasyland! I really want to ride Pooh first, but we may grab a FP for Little Mermaid on the way. I hope Owen isn't scared on the ride. He usually gets scared right before we get on a ride, but as soon as we start going he's fine. So yeah, I'll probably be that hated parent dragging a screaming kid onto a ride. But hopefully the screaming won't last long and he'll end up loving it.

(DD and me waiting for Pooh in 2010 - I was 6 months pregnant!)

After Pooh, we'll hit the other side of Fantasyland - Small World, Peter Pan, and Phillharmagic! I love all of those and could do them over and over. Hopefully we'll have a chance to do them again later in the trip.

I would be perfectly fine skipping the carousel, since we can do those anywhere, but if the kids insist I'll probably run get a FP for Barnstormer while they do it. (TP suggests that our Little Mermaid FP window will already be open by now, so I should be able to get another one)

Then we should be able to use our Little Mermaid FPs! I'm excited to see this ride, but like with the rest of Fantasyland, I feel like it came about 3 years too late for us. When DD was younger she would have gone completely nuts over all the new Princess stuff. Now, she thinks it's neat to see, but isn't really into it anymore.

Then we'll check out the new Dumbo! Owen is especially excited about this one -he has a thing for elephants and Dh has been telling him about the "Flying Elephant ride". Owen asks about it several times a week now! I thought about trying to get a FP but I'm afraid we'll miss some of the interactive stuff in the waiting area. TP only predicts a 20-minute wait, so that's not too bad.

I'm still sad that Toontown is gone, it was always one of my favorite parts of MK. It's going to be bittersweet seeing where it used to be.

If we have time, we may try to do Barnstormer, especially if I managed to get FPs before. Owen is tall enough, but I'm not sure if he'll be up for it. I may let him watch it a couple of times and see how he reacts. Generally he does better with thrill-ride type stuff than dark-and-scary type stuff, but I don't know. We'll see.

Then we are going to do something that I don't think I have EVER done at WDW, as strange as it seems. We are going to ride the TRAIN! I have no idea why I've never ridden it before, but with Owen so fascinated with trains, I figured we had to. Plus it will make for an easy way to get to the front of the park for our lunch ADR at Tony's (12pm).

I've never eaten at Tony's before - we planned to last time but it just didn't work out. On our last day, MIL wanted to sleep in and meet us at the park later (as she had done most days). By the time she and FIL got there, it was almost time for lunch, and we were planning to head back to the hotel right after for naps. MIL threw a fit that she hadn't gotten to ride anything with us (as if this was somehow OUR fault) and FIL demanded that we skip lunch and stay at the park all afternoon so that MIL could have her grandkid time. I had to lay down the law at this point about skipping the break, but as a compromise we did skip the ADR and ride a couple of things together before heading back. I'm very glad that we won't have to deal with these sorts of issues this time!

Anyway, back on topic. Tony's at 12pm. I need to make sure we watch Lady and the Tramp before we go. Depending on how long we're there, we may try to make the 1:15 Dream Along with Mickey show afterwards. I don't have high hopes that we'll make it, but if by chance lunch is quick and we're up for it, it's an option. We'll have a better chance later in the week though, so I'm not too worried. It was one of my favorite parts of our trip in 2008, and we didn't manage to see it in 2010 so I want to be sure it happens this time.

Then it's back to YC for a break! These afternoon breaks are absolute sanity savers for us. Lily probably won't need to nap much, but she and DH can hang out at the pool while Owen naps. Hopefully he can get in some pool time too, though even at home he will usually sleep for 2-3 hours in the afternoon.

The only thing on the agenda for the evening is a little bit of World Showcase time at Epcot. I'm mostly wanting to do The American Adventure. Growing up that was always one of my favorites but I haven't done it in at least 15 years, and I want Lily to see it. (The only time I've been in the American Pavilion at all in our recent family trips was last time (2010) when I was seeking shelter from a violent thunderstorm that erupted right as Illuminations was starting. I had gotten separated from the rest of the group and was trying to rejoin them, but finally had to admit defeat and wait it out inside with about 500 other people. Hoping THAT doesn't happen again!)


Then we have dinner at San Angel at 7pm, and we'll do the ride either before or after depending on time. We LOVE the whole Mexico Pavilion. On our First Trip in 2008, Lily cried leaving it for the last time, and made us promise that we would come back next time, and that it would all be "exactly the same".

In their Easter Baskets, the kids are going to get Epcot Passports. I think you are supposed to have them stamped at each country, but that's something I'm going to have to figure out. And Lily is interested in doing the Agent P World Showcase Adventure at least once. More stuff I'm not familiar with and don't know how to plan well for. Ugh!

Again, we'll probably have a chance to see Illuminations and this might be a reasonable night to make a try for it, except that it's pmEMH so it could be more crowded than normal. But if we get lucky and find a good spot, we may stay. Probably won't make use of emh tonight though, since we have an early morning ahead!

 

[TJDisneymama]

oh, and I'm also a color-coded chart planner.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Well these darn weekends keep getting in the way of my Disney Planning, lol!

Back in the swing of things this week though and in full planning-prep mode.

We did do a little bit of Disney-plotting in the last few days though, and made some changes to our ADR and park schedule. So here is the updated spreadsheet.

Back when I very first started planning, before the hours were out, I had planned to spend the night of the 24th at MK, that's when I was going to try to get our BoG ADR. But when the park hours were released, I was quite annoyed to see that the 24th was the ONLY night during our stay that there was no MSEP. So I rearranged a little and planned our BoG ressie the night before, and scheduled Akershus the 24th.


But... DH and I had been talking about evening plans in general, and had decided that it probably wasn't worth keeping Owen out for any of the 10pm shows, (lest we risk a very grumpy morning the next day) which meant he probably wasn't going to get to see Wishes. Too bad it's always so late that time of year.

Oh, but WAIT, on the 24th Wishes is at 9pm (b/c there is no MSEP). Gee, too bad I didn't think of that when I made our BoG ADR and keep it on the 24th like I had originally planned! We could see MSEP on our other MK night, earlier in the week.

Then I started wondering if there was any way we could make it over to MK after our Akershus ADR on the 24th to see the 9pm Wishes afterall. Probably not, I had to conclude. So then I thought, well, maybe I can rearrange some things... but Akershus has very little availability at this point, and our other 2 MK dinners (CRT and BoG) are completely booked.

So I was feeling a little bummed, like I had really dropped the ball in not seeing the opportunity that the early closing night presented to us, when there was still time to arrange our ADRs appropriately.

But after thinking and talking about it some more, we decided that we really didn't NEED to do Akershus at all. We've done it twice already, and enjoy the food, but it's not one of our very favorites. And it seemed like a bit of overkill actually that we had TWO Princess character meals scheduled, when no one in our family really cares about the Princesses anymore. (When DD was younger that wasn't the case, of course )

So, we decided to cancel Akershus and just spend the whole evening at MK, with dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We've never eaten there, have heard mixed reviews, but we're willing to give it a go.

And I figured if we were going to spend 3 nights at MK (giving up an Epcot night to do so) that we should probably just go ahead an commit to spending our last morning at Epcot to make up for it.

I was trying really hard to leave that last day completely open so we could finish up whatever we felt we needed more time at. But that of course was stressing me out. At least this way we have a plan, and if we are desperate to do something else there's nothing to stop us from changing THE PLAN at the last minute.

So I decided to go ahead and book our last lunch at Biergarten. I had never had any interest in eating here, but after looking at some of the pictures I thought maybe it looked like fun afterall. And we won't get stuck eating hamburgers from the Electric Umbrella, which is what happened last time we ventured into Epcot with no ADR.

So. That's the new plan. I just finished getting all my touring plans and spreadsheets printed out and into my notebook. Hopefully having them in there already will make me more reluctant to keep changing them.

 

[danceintherain]

My Mom definitely still insists on sharing a room, and that you can fit more people than the occupancy. Even going to her house is a struggle, because she always wants everyone to stay together (especially the grandkids). Right now it's just my sister and I who have families. Once some of the younger kids start having families and my parents move apart I imagine it's going to start being difficult, especially when she invites extended family to our family gatherings. My Dad seems a little more open, but he travels A LOT so I think he understands the concept of sleeping in a comfortable bed as much as possible.
Luckily we have the means to avoid sharing to some degree, but it does become more and more expensive. I'm not going to be excited when I have to start paying for a hotel for Christmas.

I have each park assigned a color, then my ADRs within each park are a slight variation of that color to set them off a little. Then a have another color and slight variation for resort time whether it's at our hotel or not.

Your plans are making me reconsider not getting a TP subscription this time around. For our last trip, it wasn't a big deal, but we want to do more this time around. Easywdw is great, but not as specific. I like specific, so I have a good idea in advance of what I'm going to be able to accomplish.

 

[gtpoohbear]

My Mom definitely still insists on sharing a room, and that you can fit more people than the occupancy. Even going to her house is a struggle, because she always wants everyone to stay together (especially the grandkids). Right now it's just my sister and I who have families. Once some of the younger kids start having families and my parents move apart I imagine it's going to start being difficult, especially when she invites extended family to our family gatherings. My Dad seems a little more open, but he travels A LOT so I think he understands the concept of sleeping in a comfortable bed as much as possible.
Luckily we have the means to avoid sharing to some degree, but it does become more and more expensive. I'm not going to be excited when I have to start paying for a hotel for Christmas.

I have each park assigned a color, then my ADRs within each park are a slight variation of that color to set them off a little. Then a have another color and slight variation for resort time whether it's at our hotel or not.

Your plans are making me reconsider not getting a TP subscription this time around. For our last trip, it wasn't a big deal, but we want to do more this time around. Easywdw is great, but not as specific. I like specific, so I have a good idea in advance of what I'm going to be able to accomplish.

This Christmas was the first time that we did end up getting a hotel room when we went to visit my parents. They had recently moved into a new (and smaller) house, and my sister, her husband, and their baby were living with them (since BIL had just lost his job).

My sister emailed me two days before we were going to be there, asking where in the house we were planning to sleep. I was like, ??????? I've never even SEEN this house! The best she could come up with was that we could have the baby's room (and they would keep him in their room all week), but it meant all 4 of us were going to be squeezed into one 10x10 room. And DD was going to have to share a bed with us since there wasn't even enough floor space for a sleeping bag.

So I quickly went online and made us a hotel ressie for the week. (Actually got a really good weekly rate at a LaQuinta only a few minutes from their house) Of course then they all freaked out and my mom begged and begged us to cancel it, even after we got there. But we ended up being SOOOOOO glad we had it, having our own space made it a much less stressful week.

i actually tried the color-coding thing with lighter shades of the park colors for meals! But I was having trouble getting it to print out well with a couple of colors so I gave up and just made them all the same. That would have been perfection though if it had worked

I am LOVING my TP subscription! I can't believe I hadn't discovered this site sooner. I definitely like specific, so I'm excited to see how accurate they are with wait times. If they are pretty close, I'll be a convert forever

 

[danceintherain]

This Christmas was the first time that we did end up getting a hotel room when we went to visit my parents. They had recently moved into a new (and smaller) house, and my sister, her husband, and their baby were living with them (since BIL had just lost his job).

My sister emailed me two days before we were going to be there, asking where in the house we were planning to sleep. I was like, ??????? I've never even SEEN this house! The best she could come up with was that we could have the baby's room (and they would keep him in their room all week), but it meant all 4 of us were going to be squeezed into one 10x10 room. And DD was going to have to share a bed with us since there wasn't even enough floor space for a sleeping bag.

So I quickly went online and made us a hotel ressie for the week. (Actually got a really good weekly rate at a LaQuinta only a few minutes from their house) Of course then they all freaked out and my mom begged and begged us to cancel it, even after we got there. But we ended up being SOOOOOO glad we had it, having our own space made it a much less stressful week.

i actually tried the color-coding thing with lighter shades of the park colors for meals! But I was having trouble getting it to print out well with a couple of colors so I gave up and just made them all the same. That would have been perfection though if it had worked

I am LOVING my TP subscription! I can't believe I hadn't discovered this site sooner. I definitely like specific, so I'm excited to see how accurate they are with wait times. If they are pretty close, I'll be a convert forever

It's definitely nice to have your own space when traveling. I'm even a bit concerned about sharing a room with my sister on our trip and that's only 3 adults and 1 toddler, so it really would not have made sense for us to get separate rooms.

I used TP on our honeymoon and it worked really well. Granted, we had 8 full days in the parks so I had everything spread out a ton, but we ended up having a lot of time leftover after we had done the things on my list. I think they've changed their system slightly since then, but I expect they're still fairly accurate.

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

What a great PTR!! I got so into reading it, I forgot that you haven't actually been on the trip yet. I look forward to hearing more of your plans!

 

[gtpoohbear]

What a great PTR!! I got so into reading it, I forgot that you haven't actually been on the trip yet. I look forward to hearing more of your plans!

Thanks! I know, sometimes I forget that I haven't already been on the trip too I have imagined every part of every day in my head so many times it's easy to start thinking of my plans as memories!

I see you have a PTR too, off to read!!!

 

[gtpoohbear]

Daily Plans: Day 3 - Saturday 4/20/2013

So here we are at Day 3, our 2nd full day at Disney. So far we have had two evenings in Epcot, and one morning in Magic Kingdom. Today, we will be off to Hollywood Studios!

Like most mornings, it is amEMH, so we don't have an ADR for breakfast. My tentative plan is to order room service. The only other good option would be to swing by the Dolphin on the way to DHS, since they have a food court that is open early. I know, I KNOW, I promised DH NO COUNTER SERVICE. But maybe I'll talk him in to it later in the trip. Room service for today though, in all likelyhood. It will be nice actually to be able to eat at our own pace and finish getting ready to go at the same time. And I'm just not even going to think about what a horribly bad deal it is on the DDP.

So hopefully we will be at the gate well before 8am, as I've heard they sometimes let you in a few minutes early. Basically, I am hoping we can get the BIG 3 done during the emh - Toy Story Mania, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror. Or at least be in line for the last one by the time the park opens to the masses.

TSM is the only one that Owen will be able to do, so we are going to split up after that ride - I'll go with Lily and DH will take Owen. Not really sure what they will do - maybe ride TSM again if he liked it, or they could go check out Muppet Vision. Unfortunately there isn't a lot open for emh that Owen could do, and at one point I considered just having DH stay back at the hotel with him until 9. But I think he may like TSM and this will be his best chance to do it. Besides, I think he will enjoy just being able to run around and explore a little bit without having to be rushed to the next ride for a while.

I am super-excited to do RnRC! I haven't ridden it before. The first time we went, in 2008, Lily was too scared of the roller coasters so we didn't try it. Then in 2010, I was pregnant. And very sad that I had to miss all of her First experiences on the big rides. So I thought it was only fair that I get to go with her this morning (Don't worry, DH is going to get his turn later in the week)

And I haven't ridden ToT since I was a kid - that was another First for Lily last time that I had to sit-out for. She ended up riding it several times actually.

Then we will hopefully be able to make the first show of Disney Junior, at 9:40am. We skipped this one last time (though a couple of Lily's cousins did it). But Owen is crazy about Jake, who has recently been added so it's a must-do for this trip! On our First Trip, Lily LOVED it - that was when it was mostly Super-Sleuth Pooh. It's so much fun to be able to do the "little kid" stuff again!

After that, we should have just enough time to do The Magic of Disney Animation, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Last trip (2010) was the first time we watched the show for Animation, hopefully we can see it again b/c I really enjoyed it. I would like for Owen to at least see the characters in the greeting area, even if he won't go up to them. And DH can't come here without seeing LM. Who knew he had a soft-spot for the Princesses????

At 11:15 we have lunch at Hollywood&Vine, with Disney Junior! We've done both breakfast and lunch, and know well that the food is nothing to look forward to, but it's some of the best character interaction anywhere.

On our First Trip, Lily had so much fun doing the parade with the characters, I think she did it 4 or 5 times while we were there, and was just beaming afterwards. It was one of the best memories of the trip, so I hope Owen enjoys it just as much. It will actually be our first character meal, so I hope he isn't scared. We did a character meal at the Nick Hotel in December (w/ Dora, Spongebob, etc) and he seemed to like watching the characters, but wouldn't get close or take a picture with them. But I'm okay with that, as long as he doesn't freak out

(Funny aside from our First Trip - a few months before, Lily had gotten her first pair of glasses. And much to my dismay, she picked out a pair of bright-teal frames. I couldn't believe she didn't want pink or purple! At H&V, when we met Leo, her favorite Little Einstein, I suddenly noticed his glasses, after he excitedly pointed out that they matched hers. Afterwards, I asked her if THAT's why she wanted the teal ones, and she sheepishly admitted that it was.)

The only thing on the agenda after lunch is the Beauty & the Beast show. Another one of DH's must-dos. (I told you, he must be a secret Princess-lover!) I have conflicting info on showtimes, but it looks like either 12:45 or 1:00. Either way we should have plenty of time. Owen will probably enjoy the show, as he tends to be fascinated by any type of lively stage show with music, but if he is seeming worn out already, I'll take him on back to the room while DH stays with Lily. I love that we'll be able to walk from YC!

Afterwards, we'll be back at the resort for our usual nap and swimming break, probably from about 2-5pm. Then we head back to MK - our first evening there!

I'm hoping we can knock out most of Adventureland - PotC, Magic Carpets, Tiki Room, and the Swiss Family Tree House. Those are all classics that we couldn't bear to miss - though I'm not sure about Owen on PotC. He tends to be scared of dark, spooky stuff so it may be best to let him sit that one out. He'll like the others for sure though!

Then, one of the highlights of the trip - Dinner in the Castle!!! On our First Trip, we had dinner here on our first night, and it was the Most Magical part of the whole trip. (And we only had dinner b/c I had waited too late to get a breakfast ADR. I was so bummed about that, but boy was I glad in the end that it turned out this way - nothing else could have possibly compared!!!) I know it won't be quite the same with Owen - it's hard to compete with the Princess-awe of a 4-year-old girl, but he does get excited when he sees a picture of the Castle, so I think he'll still enjoy it.

After dinner, I'm hoping we can stay to watch the parade at 9pm, we'll have to see how Owen is doing. If he got a good nap in the afternoon it should be fine, otherwise we'll try again later in the week.

Either way, this is definitely one of the days I'm most excited for. I know it's partly because we are doing a lot of repeats from before (H&V, CRT), and of things that were my very favorite memories on our First Trip. And I have to be careful there, because I know well the dangers of trying to repeat a Magical Experience. It's never the same, and if you try to make it the same, it just leaves you feeling empty. I have to remember that this is ALL a brand new experience for Owen, it's HIS First Trip, and the Magic will happen when and where it does, not necessarily like it did before. And that's okay.

 

[danceintherain]

That's so funny about Lily's glasses. Kids are so adorable sometimes.

I've always wanted to get room service breakfast, but the only time we had the opportunity was when we were on the regular dining plan, so it didn't make any sense.
Maybe you could order a few things to share, then get something else a bit later in the morning?

 

[gtpoohbear]

That's so funny about Lily's glasses. Kids are so adorable sometimes.

I've always wanted to get room service breakfast, but the only time we had the opportunity was when we were on the regular dining plan, so it didn't make any sense.
Maybe you could order a few things to share, then get something else a bit later in the morning?

I'm kind of curious what the portion sizes are - we'll probably go ahead and order 2 adult meals and 1 child meal the first time, if it's a LOT of food then maybe we can get by with less on other days. But DH eats a LOT, lol! And we generally eat lunch pretty early so I try to not let us snack much if any throughout the morning. I've run the numbers several times, and even if we burn a lot of credits on room service we'll still at least break even from paying OOP. So I'm just going to try to not think about it and do what will keep everyone happy

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

I think room service is an awesome idea. Especially for the kids. They will think it is so fun to have the food delivered to the room. When we went on a cruise, my older son's favorite thing was to get room service.

 

[danceintherain]

I'm kind of curious what the portion sizes are - we'll probably go ahead and order 2 adult meals and 1 child meal the first time, if it's a LOT of food then maybe we can get by with less on other days. But DH eats a LOT, lol! And we generally eat lunch pretty early so I try to not let us snack much if any throughout the morning. I've run the numbers several times, and even if we burn a lot of credits on room service we'll still at least break even from paying OOP. So I'm just going to try to not think about it and do what will keep everyone happy

That's a good plan. I've heard it's easier to get your money's worth on the Deluxe Dining Plan than it is on the regular dining plan anyways, and you've planned the rest of your meals well, so you should try to relax! (I know....easier said than done!)

 

[gtpoohbear]

Daily Plans: Day 4 - Sunday 4/21/2013

This day has given me fits. I've re-done our breakfast and dinner ADRs more times than I can count. I think I'm pretty happy with it now though. I ended up deciding that simplicity is best, so both meals will be at the resort.

It's one of our other few non-EMH mornings, and we're just headed to Epcot (only a 5 minute walk away) so we won't be rushed for breakfast, for once. I was going to try something different, at times I've had ADRs for Fresh Med and Kouzzina for this meal, but ended up deciding that it didn't make sense to have to go to a different hotel, in the opposite direction from Epcot. And then I thought maybe we'd just grab something at Sunshine Seasons, but DH was still not happy about me slipping in a CS meal.

So we are going to do Captain's Grille again. At least this time we won't have to get the buffet if we didn't like it before, we have time to order off the menu. DH will be grateful for that, as he doesn't usually care for buffets. I still got the earliest ADR - 7:30am, so we should easily make to Epcot by the time they open at 9am. I'm a little sad that they don't still do the opening show with the characters, but since we'll be coming in from the IG, we'd miss it anyway.

Our main goal for today is Future World West - which means Soarin'! We'll have to use Child Swap, which we've never done before, but it's supposed to be easy. The first time we did Soarin' (in 2008) Lily thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. It was the first ride that she specifically asked to do again! So it's always a favorite. Not sure what we'll do with Owen while we're waiting, maybe take him to Living with the Land, since he usually likes boat rides.

Then we'll watch the Circle of Life movie. It might be a little cheesy but we always love it. We will have (hopefully) already done The Seas on our arrival night, so then we'll head over to Spaceship Earth. This is one of the rides that I absolutely cannot come to WDW and not do! It's been a classic favorite since I was kid. On our First Trip, we came back to Epcot late on our last night because Lily was begging to ride it again. It is a very bittersweet memory - we were so relieved to have made it just before they closed, but so sad because we had to go home the next day. My only worry now is that it's a little dark and I hope Owen isn't scared. We'll have a few days under our belt at this point though so hopefully he will be an old pro by now.

According to TP, it's going to be after 11am by the time we finish with all this, but I'm hoping we have time to stop by Figment on the way to lunch. I have been a major Figment fan since I was 5 years old. I still have a stuffed Figment from my very first trip to WDW - it's almost 30 years old and falling apart, but I love it. I got a new one last time though (pictured below) I do wish the ride was more like the original though, the new one isn't nearly as good. Depending on how much time we have, we may get to play in the Imageworks area (which Lily had a blast in both trips before). If there's no time, we'll be sure to get back over here later in the week, because its a lot of fun and I know Owen would enjoy it.

Lunch is in Italy today at noon - Tutto Italia! We've eaten at many of the countries before, but never Italy for some reason. And Italian is my very favorite kind of food so I'm very excited for this one.

No real plans afterwards, if Owen isn't seeming tired yet we can explore a little bit of the World showcase. I wouldn't mind finding a character or two, since we don't have any character meals scheduled for today. But it might be a good day to head back early for break too, so that Owen can have some time to swim before nap. As long as we've gotten in Soarin', Spaceship Earth, and Figment, I'll feel like the morning was a success.

We should have a pretty long and relaxing break today, so I'm thinking it might be fun to rent a boat from the Marina for an hour or so. Or we could go explore the Boardwalk area if that doesn't appeal to us at the time. But dinner is back at BC - Cape May (@6:25pm)! This is the ADR that I have undoubtedly changed the most out of all 19 of them. At times, it has been Brown Derby, Kouzinna, H&V, 50's PT Cafe, and a couple of others I can't think of.

The problem is that we are hoping to see Fantasmic! tonight. And unlike our previous June trips, it's at 8:30pm. (It's been at 9pm on our previous trips) Which crowds our dinner time a bit since we like to eat around 7pm. So we needed something either at DHS, or near our resort. And ideally something that wouldn't take very long, so we could still eat fairly late and still have time to get to Fantasmic!

I hope Cape May fits all of those, probably better than the others anyway. At least it's a buffet so once we're seated we'll be able to eat as quickly as necessary. We're not huge seafood eaters, but DH and DD like it fine, and they are supposed to have some vegetarian pasta for me.

Then we'll make a mad-dash to DHS. I'm hoping that we can still get by about 8pm - I'm just not willing to sit in there any longer waiting with Owen, since I know he's going to get restless. In 2008, we got there about 45 minutes early, and still got good seats. In 2010, we were almost an hour early. Unfortunately the rest of our group (my ILs) that were planning to meet us there did not make it before they closed the gates (at capacity) about 15 minutes later. But that was when they were only showing it a couple times a week. Hopefully it's not so crazy now.

I just hope Owen isn't terrified - I figure we'll sit farther back than we normally do. Last time we were so close we could feel the heat of the fire on our face, I'm pretty sure that would be too much for him! If he does panic, I'll be prepared to leave early with him.

DHS will still be open when it's over, so if DH and Lily really want to stay and do ToT or RnRC they can, but I'm sure Owen will need to get back to bed. We have another early morning EMH tomorrow!