A Grand August 2016 Vacation PTR

[Ferrentinos]

Welcome to my very first Pre-Trip Report!

I have traveled to Walt Disney World with my family as a child 3 or 4 times, DH and I visited 3 times before having our daughter and this coming trip will be our DD5's 12th visit to our second "home"! I find myself super excited for all of the new things to come with the new nighttime show and entertainment at AK to the new "Frozen" experiences at Epcot to some new additions to MK and then the new Star Wars fun at DHS.

Every time we go, we have a completely different vacation full of new and different memories! I am creating this thread to share my crazy planning with anyone who wants to follow along as well as to get opinions and advice along the way!

Thanks so much for joining along!

 

[Ferrentinos]

So our vacation started on a bit of a rocky start... we decided that we needed to sell our current home and buy a new home after we had already booked our current vacation... after much debate we decided to keep on planning the vacation and hope for the best. We got extremely lucky and were able to see our home in 1 week and then find a new home a week later - we are currently in the process of packing for the move, completing inspections at the new home, lots of paperwork for our new mortgage, and trying to prepare our DD5 and our 3 furbabies for the move. Obviously, none of them understand what is happening and all are pretty stressed about it all. DH and I are also pretty stressed and busy with it too - This makes our vacation in August even more a necessity - it is keeping a constant for all of us - something that we all know will be there for us once this chaos is over. DD5 really does think of WDW as her second home so I think she is comforted knowing that we will be visiting there again after we have settled in to our new home.

 

[Ferrentinos]

We are booked for 10 nights at the Grand Floridian Garden View. We have stayed 2 other times there and just couldn't resist treating ourselves again - of course through an amazing deal! We are flying out of NY using a smaller airport that we haven't used before but the prices couldn't be beaten!

Our trips are generally at Deluxe resorts although we did a long weekend at Pop last August - we generally like Deluxe for the location and for some of the perks. We've stayed CL a bunch of times at various resorts but it was definitely out of the budget for this trip. That's ok - we are planning to order from GG and eat some breakfasts in our room to save some $$.

I'm excited to see the new Cinderella procession daily at the GF and to enjoy the pools there. We have a half day cabana booked at the pool and I'm already dreaming of how relaxing it will be. DD5 has become a pretty good swimmer these days - so although we will watch her like a hawk - she can actually do pretty well swimming on her own now. I also love the smell at the GF in the lobby and can't wait for the nightly music too - such a great atmosphere!

 

[kathyfog]

Great start. We are staying at the Grand for the first time in August too! Looking forward to more posts and good luck on the move. On a side note my dd9 says we cannot move. If we need to she will stay here. Hope we never need to move lol

 

[Ferrentinos]

Great start. We are staying at the Grand for the first time in August too! Looking forward to more posts and good luck on the move. On a side note my dd9 says we cannot move. If we need to she will stay here. Hope we never need to move lol

Thanks for joining in ! We are making progress packing - I'd much rather pack for WDW - packing a whole house stinks! How funny that your DD says you can't move! Our DD5 is a bit confused about the whole thing - thinking we wouldn't take her bed or her toys - when I explained that we will take it all she pointed to the toilet and asked "How do we take that?" I was laughing so hard!

Today we had another inspection at the new house and I had a friend in town to help me tackle a closet that has become a dumping ground. The only fun that came from that was our packets from each WDW trip in a drawer there. I always make a folder or a big envelope with all memories from each trip so it was exciting to go through all of those again! I can't wait to see what I'll put in the envelope for our August trip!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Joining in! Excited to follow a fellow August Dis'er! We are flying out of NY too (Buffalo). We have to drive from Ontario, but flights out of Buffalo are way cheaper than Toronto. We are staying at Hyatt MCO arrival night, Contemporary (first time) for 4 nights, Beach Club for 4 nights and PO Riverside 7 nights. I see you are at the GF. This will be our first time on a monorail resort - our teen daughters are soooo excited (who am I kidding ... I'm more excited than them ). Looking forward to hearing about your plans.

Last time we moved DD's were 6 and 8 - I took them to Disney for 2 weeks while DH stayed home packed / moved. It was crazy busy, and not the best time for a move, but I was not missing my Disney trip for it lol! So, I totally understand you keeping the vacation. Best of luck with the move and the PTR

 

[SquirmansWife]

Joining in, also! We are booked at the Poly for August and are super excited! Looking forward to following along.

 

[Ferrentinos]

Joining in! Excited to follow a fellow August Dis'er! We are flying out of NY too (Buffalo). We have to drive from Ontario, but flights out of Buffalo are way cheaper than Toronto. We are staying at Hyatt MCO arrival night, Contemporary (first time) for 4 nights, Beach Club for 4 nights and PO Riverside 7 nights. I see you are at the GF. This will be our first time on a monorail resort - our teen daughters are soooo excited (who am I kidding ... I'm more excited than them ). Looking forward to hearing about your plans.

Last time we moved DD's were 6 and 8 - I took them to Disney for 2 weeks while DH stayed home packed / moved. It was crazy busy, and not the best time for a move, but I was not missing my Disney trip for it lol! So, I totally understand you keeping the vacation. Best of luck with the move and the PTR

Thanks for joining! We are flying out of HPN (West Chester) - it makes sense to make the drive from Ontario - we have about 4 airports in the area to pick from and we always go with the one that will save us the most $$! It sounds like you are going to stay at some excellent resorts! We were originally at BC but we got cold feet and canceled - when we realized our mistake, the room was no longer available! We LOVE staying on the monorail - we sometimes just take a ride for fun! I wish I could escape this move for 2 weeks and let DH to it all... but that will never happen! I've been dubbed "In charge of packing everything" because I'm just "so good at it" - Dh's words! I guess I always do our WDW packing too so this is just on a bigger scale! DH is taking care of all of the other stuff... so many phone calls to make and things to arrange... ugh! moving is the worst!

Joining in, also! We are booked at the Poly for August and are super excited! Looking forward to following along.

Thanks for joining in! I LOVE the Poly - it is our #1 resort. We decided on GF this time instead because we just stayed at Poly in Dec. and wanted a change. We will be visiting there though for Kona Cafe dinner and just to check out the new Oasis pool!

 

[Ferrentinos]

Good morning all and Happy April Fool's Day! I am actually not a huge fan of today - as a teacher I get many pranks pulled on this day and it is more annoying than anything... but we are on spring break so there is no threat of pranks at work today! Yay!

At this point in my WDW planning I have secured all of our ADR's and am now just starting to think about FP's... We tend to do 1-2 ADR's a day although I have a few extras booked just in case. I'm not an ADR hoarder by any stretch of the imagination but I booked a few PPO ADR's because we love to get in the parks earlier... although DH may veto some of them just to keep costs down a bit... I used a chart for my planning with colors in each box for where we will be at that part of the day. Last summer we did a lot of EMH mornings and I quickly realized that it was too many early mornings. I am only planning to use AM EMH at MK this time around and have PPO dining planned at the other 3 (however like I said, I think DH will veto H&V ... he just isn't a fan... and we have Akershus as well PPO which I kinda booked in case A&E show up there with the changes going on in Norway)...

What is your thought on using EMH vs. PPO breakfast? I feel like with AM EMH we have to get there even earlier because the lines build... so if it is an 8am EMH we have to be there by 7:15am ... but if it is a PPO breakfast at 8:15am (9am opening) we could get there closer to 7:45am... every minute counts when DD5 needs her beauty sleep!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Another teacher here Probably one of the reasons we're traveling in August
I don't like April Fools day either and I have work today (our Break is in middle of March). I always fall for stuff lol.
We are big PPO fans and have Crystal Palace booked for 8:05 as well as BOG at 8:00 on days when the park opens at 9:00 (hoping they don't change their hours)
This year we moved Akershus and Tusker House breakfast to 10:30 so we could tour a bit and then eat/break. We are doing EMH AM at MK (on a day when we are at Contemporary, so a short walk) and at AK, because it gets so hot there and I'm hoping going early helps. I hear you about DD's needing beauty sleep. Mine are the same

 

[Ferrentinos]

Another teacher here Probably one of the reasons we're traveling in August
I don't like April Fools day either and I have work today (our Break is in middle of March). I always fall for stuff lol.
We are big PPO fans and have Crystal Palace booked for 8:05 as well as BOG at 8:00 on days when the park opens at 9:00 (hoping they don't change their hours)
This year we moved Akershus and Tusker House breakfast to 10:30 so we could tour a bit and then eat/break. We are doing EMH AM at MK (on a day when we are at Contemporary, so a short walk) and at AK, because it gets so hot there and I'm hoping going early helps. I hear you about DD's needing beauty sleep. Mine are the same

I'm glad to meet another PPO fan - right now we have BOG, Tusker House, Akershus and H&V - We'll be there for 11 days so these 4 may actually stay - we are only doing 1 EMH morning this time around at MK - I agree that AK does get quite hot - I just found that the last time we did AM EMH there, DD5 and I just walked around for the hour because there isn't a ton open during the hour for her to do - she met Mickey and Minnie at Adventures Outpost and rode Triceratop Spin but that was about it! I feel like we would be better suited to sleep a little extra! Although DH will miss riding EE 3 times in a row without a wait during that time frame!

 

[Ferrentinos]

Day 1 plans...
Here is what I am thinking for our first day... Let me know your thoughts!
Our flight lands around 10:30am so after DME to the GF, I'm hoping to be checked in by noon (give or take...). Would love it to get a text with our room number while we are in the airport or on the DME! We've had that happen before and I love it! Makes me feel awesome to know our room is ready and waiting!

If our room is ready, we will head to our room, get freshened up and head to MK. If our room isn't ready, we will drop bags with Bell Services and head to MK after that.
At that point we will ride 3 rides with FP's and have some sort of QS lunch (our appetites are always a bit messed up on our travel day) ... 12-1pm Under the Sea, 1-2pm Peter Pan, 2-3pm Meet Tinkerbell (These are all DD5's request for our first day and in the order that she wants to do them!) - we will grab a spot by Town Hall for FoF parade - maybe run in to upgrade to AP's at this point as well.
Then we will monorail or boat it over to Poly - grab sushi from Kona Island (opens at 5pm) and grab chicken nuggets from Captain Cooks and enjoy a meal outside at the Poly - grab a Dole Whip - Finally ride the monorail back to GF, head to room and squeeze in a little swimming, marshmallow roast and/or outdoor movie before an early night - hopefully in bed by 8pm (It was an early morning and DD5 does need her rest!)

Thoughts???

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Hello. I hope you don't mind me joining! My name is Paula. My wife and I are DVC owners at the villas at GF and just adore the resort. After a b2b cruise on The Dream in September and a stay at our other DVC resort SSR we have 2 nights at beloved GF! One is my birthday! Fingers crossed anyway I just fractured my hip! I am in a wheelchair anyway go figure lol.

Well done on selling your house. I am so excited for your family going to WDW and staying at GF. A cabana? How amazing, I can't wait to hear how you like this we have not tried this yet. We have fur babies but not blessed with children. I bet your DD is beyond excited! Bless her being a good swimmer.

The quick service 24 hour place at the GF is very good. I like your first day plans. I hope you get your room quickly. Always a bonus. Movie under the stars great! Isn't it lovely to be on the monorail!

I don't like April fools day either! Silly and outdated now. I don't like playing tricks on folks. Laugh with people not at them.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Ferrentinos]

Hello. I hope you don't mind me joining! My name is Paula. My wife and I are DVC owners at the villas at GF and just adore the resort. After a b2b cruise on The Dream in September and a stay at our other DVC resort SSR we have 2 nights at beloved GF! One is my birthday! Fingers crossed anyway I just fractured my hip! I am in a wheelchair anyway go figure lol.

Well done on selling your house. I am so excited for your family going to WDW and staying at GF. A cabana? How amazing, I can't wait to hear how you like this we have not tried this yet. We have fur babies but not blessed with children. I bet your DD is beyond excited! Bless her being a good swimmer.

The quick service 24 hour place at the GF is very good. I like your first day plans. I hope you get your room quickly. Always a bonus. Movie under the stars great! Isn't it lovely to be on the monorail!

I don't like April fools day either! Silly and outdated now. I don't like playing tricks on folks. Laugh with people not at them.

Looking forward to reading more!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! I'm sorry to hear about your hip - I hope that it feels better soon!

We did book a cabana for half day (10-2pm) on one of our other trips to GF - it was amazing! We loved having our own little retreat and it was lovely ordering lunch and eating in there. We are super excited to do it again!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! I'm sorry to hear about your hip - I hope that it feels better soon!

We did book a cabana for half day (10-2pm) on one of our other trips to GF - it was amazing! We loved having our own little retreat and it was lovely ordering lunch and eating in there. We are super excited to do it again!

It sounds wonderful. Do you mind if I ask how did you book it and how much does it cost? I am all for little treats!

 

[Ferrentinos]

It sounds wonderful. Do you mind if I ask how did you book it and how much does it cost? I am all for little treats!

Not at all - it was easy to book through calling Disney.
The cost used to be $110 plus tax for 10am - 2pm - I'm not sure if that has gone up (I'm sure it has... what hasn't gone up in prices with Disney!)
We arrived closer to 9:30am and they were able to let us start a little earlier but that may not always be the case. It is good to call ahead as there are only a few cabanas for booking - At GF they are located at the Beach Pool.

Here is the info from the Disney website:

Standard Cabana Amenities
Standard cabanas with amenities can be reserved and include furniture, electronics and refreshments. Standard cabanas not featuring amenities are available on a walk-up basis only.


Standard cabana amenities include:

• 2 padded lounge chairs
• 2 padded straight-backed chairs
• Plush towels
• 32-inch LCD television with cable access and optional earphones
• DVD/CD/MP3 player
• Phone for internal Resort calls
• Ceiling fan
• Mini refrigerator stocked with complimentary sodas and water
• Fruit basket (may not be available without advance reservation)

Private dining is available at an additional cost. For reservations, please call (407) WDW-PLAY or (407) 939-7529.

Amenities featured may vary by location.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Not at all - it was easy to book through calling Disney.
The cost used to be $110 plus tax for 10am - 2pm - I'm not sure if that has gone up (I'm sure it has... what hasn't gone up in prices with Disney!)
We arrived closer to 9:30am and they were able to let us start a little earlier but that may not always be the case. It is good to call ahead as there are only a few cabanas for booking - At GF they are located at the Beach Pool.

Here is the info from the Disney website:

Standard Cabana Amenities
Standard cabanas with amenities can be reserved and include furniture, electronics and refreshments. Standard cabanas not featuring amenities are available on a walk-up basis only.


Standard cabana amenities include:

• 2 padded lounge chairs
• 2 padded straight-backed chairs
• Plush towels
• 32-inch LCD television with cable access and optional earphones
• DVD/CD/MP3 player
• Phone for internal Resort calls
• Ceiling fan
• Mini refrigerator stocked with complimentary sodas and water
• Fruit basket (may not be available without advance reservation)

Private dining is available at an additional cost. For reservations, please call (407) WDW-PLAY or (407) 939-7529.

Amenities featured may vary by location.

Thank you! That is a good cost. I feel a birthday treat coming on!

 

[BudgieMama]

Not had a chance to read yet, but will say hello as I'll be following!

 

[Ferrentinos]

Thank you! That is a good cost. I feel a birthday treat coming on!

I think it would be a perfect birthday treat! Go for it!!!

Not had a chance to read yet, but will say hello as I'll be following!

Welcome! I'm glad to have another follower!

 

[Ferrentinos]

Today's Disney thoughts for me ... how much of the planning makes going to Disney more fun versus more stressful?
I am extremely Type A personality - I tend to have places for everything and plans for each part of my day (even when I have a day off like today - I scheduled in time to watch a cheesy Hallmark movie)... so the planning part of a Disney trip is thrilling and fun for me... I love to figure out which park we will go to each day... which places we would love to eat at... I even plan back up plans for when things don't go as originally as planned... I buy new little outfits for DD to wear along with new hair clips and new shoes... and I can't lie, I even by myself new things too (LOVE DISNEY VANS!) ... and this is all a little "Disney High" that I get... I spend months and months planning and loving almost every second of it! However, when we get to the parks, I am also the first to realize when I plan isn't working... when DD needs to take a break and we need to cut things short... when an ADR just isn't a good idea that day... when the rain comes in and we need an alternative to the pool... But it took me a while to get to this point.

I feel like when we first starting going to WDW as a family (DD had just turned 2) I needed to learn how to adjust from planning mode to realistic mode once inside the Disney bubble. At that time I think that the planning actually made me more stressed out because if we strayed from the plan, somehow I felt like I was failing at our vacation.

Over the years and many trips I've realized that I LOVE the planning, but I LOVE the vacation even more. As long as we are in WDW and we are a family together, that is all that truely matters! We will make memories whether we see every character on a checklist, whether we eat at every place that we had hoped, whether we can swim every day or only once... we will be together and isn't that really what vacation is all about?

Anyway, those are just my Disney thoughts for the day