A HECK OF A TRIP-24 MONTH PRE TRIP REPORT UPDATE 4/19/16

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

updating

 

[cantoine]

Joining in! Can't wait to read all of the plans!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Joining in! Can't wait to read all of the plans!

THANKS & WELCOME...THINGS WILL REALLY GET TO ROLLING OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS..MAYBE I CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO CHAPTERS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

PENNY PRESS PALOOZA!
NOTE: this post about brief updates was done prior to me updating the intro above. I left this info as there are comments below referencing it, but basically you can ignore it!
Brief updates….well DH has taken a new job…slightly less pay but better hours and probably less stress. The only downside is no paid vacations for a year…which doesn’t affect our WDW trip in 2017 but does bum us out that we won’t be able to take a vacation this year. We are looking into at least 1 long weekend trip nearby and we have a camper trailer so we will really try to get more camping in this year too!
Anyways on to PTR update…..

PRESSED PENNIES!

DH & CT LOVE THESE! As in they have to hit every single one we pass by. Of course I will print off the list of locations closer to our trip so we can do a scavenger hunt for them.

CT wants one of every single design he sees, DH is ok with just one from each machine. For a Christmas gift I found CT a Donald Duck piggy bank at a yard sale so he can start saving up!

At our house I have decorated an old iphone box in Disney paper & it is our pressed penny box. Qtrs and shiny pennies go in it for our fund. So far we are at around 45 complete sets of Qtrs and Pennies to use in the machines. My goal is to have 100 sets so I’m well on the way, way in advance. But it won’t hurt as much from our budget and it’s fun to save up.

What do you other penny press nuts do? How many do you take? Personal best numbers you've gotten?​

ONLY 711 days to go….haha!

 

[cantoine]

We love press pennies as well! I made the kids some press penny books, and each trip we give them their holder with quarters and pennies! Now if I can only get them to actually put them in their books and leave them there.

My DH and I are in the same boat as your DH, we both took better jobs but we can't use our vacation time until 2017!!!! We each have a few days we got from this year that we can use next year which we will be using since our DD will be turning 5 in November 2016 and we plan on taking her to WDW to celebrate! We planned on renewing our vows in 2016 at Disney but had to push that back to 2017 because of the vacation time. At least I have the next 2 years of planning ahead of me for Disney related events!!!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

THAT IS INCREDIBILY AWESOME ABOUT VOW RENEWAL AT DISNEY! I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ALL ABOUT THAT!!!

ALSO VERY CURIOUS ABOUT THE PRESS PENNY BOOKS YOU MADE. I'M NOT AT ALL CRAFTY!

 

[cantoine]

THAT IS INCREDIBILY AWESOME ABOUT VOW RENEWAL AT DISNEY! I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ALL ABOUT THAT!!!

ALSO VERY CURIOUS ABOUT THE PRESS PENNY BOOKS YOU MADE. I'M NOT AT ALL CRAFTY!

I bought a press penny book off eBay, but they are horrific looking, so I used my silhouette machine and made a cover out of vinyl and added it. Got the idea from Pinterest lol.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

TESTING GIF FAILED

 

[amberdc1987]

Can't wait to read all about your plans. I thought I was crazy starting to plan our February 25-March 4 2017 plans....but you make me feel so much better. LOL

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

amberdc1987- glad I can help you feel better Any thoughts yet on where you'll be staying, etc?

I know I won't be making any big plans until much closer to time but I def wanted a place to keep all my thoughts and ideas and also ask questions. My last trip in 2014 was good and though I consider myself a Disney Pro, I see it takes a lot more planning and better timing to get all of your must dos. Also this will be our first time using DDP and I LOVE FOOD so figuring out ADRS will be the biggest part of this

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Trip Schedule: A 1ST ROUGH DRAFT OF MANY

Looking at my desk calendar it says on Jan 31st we will be 664 days away…but after reading that the Packages for 2017 will be out around August/September this year that’s got me pretty pumped!

Looking at the packages for 2016 the cost with tickets, dining plan, memory maker, etc should run us around $3625.37. We hope to take at least $1000 from tax return this year and apply it to the trip. This amount of course does not cover getting down there or back and souvenirs.

Our Disney fund which we just started and haven’t been working on too hard yet has about $300 in it. So a start. We plan on taking the rest of the trip amount after we pay the initial $1k and break it down into a monthly expense just like it’s a bill. Plus we are also hoping for a discount 25% would be excellent!

Now the great debate is to maybe get the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans I would love it for our DD who will be almost 3 but at the same time I know family we are traveling with would prefer Alligator Bayou for the preferred room locations. Also do I really want to immerse DH into that much Princessy-ness for a week, since we’ll be doing lots of other Princess type things….

Right now Alligator Bayou preferred rooms is where we’re at!

Also I’ve never had much of a desire to go the Dining Plan route, I mean that’s a lot of food. But this time since DD won’t be 3 and therefore will only have to buy her kids meals as we need them and we know we want to do LOTS of character dining we decided the plan with the daily sit down meal will work. We like knowing that every day we will be forced to take a break and just sit and relax a bit.

So that’s the thoughts thus far, now onto our Trip Schedule.

We have a goal of Nov 24th-Dec 2nd trip dates (DD turns 3 on the last day)
​

November 24th (Day after Thanksgiving) –Leave our home in Northern Louisiana, around 5am, to start 13 hour drive. We will not be doing the drive straight through however. At least that’s the plan right now is to drive to Tallahassee and overnight there.

November 25th (Saturday)- Leave Tallahassee around 6am. We are only 4 hours from WDW at this point but I know we plan on stopping at Walmart for cheap souvenirs & room snacks.
(Again this is a maybe I might stock up on cheap stuff for DD before we leave and we have a bigger truck this trip so we might cart water and all from home)

I have a plan of us arriving at POR around 1pm. Even if room is done I figure we will head to a quick lunch in the food court first then get the luggage to the room.

(which is another question can we get bell services to take our luggage for us…even if we valet park for a day…I’ve always used Magical Express in the past but we drove in 2014 and we took our luggage to the room from the truck that was a pain)

The afternoon will be spent exploring the hotel and Disney Springs, but just that section of DH wasn’t a fan of the West Side and all so no need to even go that way.

Supper plans for Saturday night are up in the air…I’m considering a late supper at Boatwright’s then again after a late lunch and a long day I think we will just end up saving that TS credit for another day and getting a quick supper TBD.

Early to bed!

Sunday November 26th – Goal is to get Super Early or as early as possible ADR to Cinderella Royal Table for just me, DH, & DD. Something special just for us and we will meet the rest of the family later that morning after breakfast.
If CRT is a no go the backup plan is Crystal Palace breakfast. Honestly I’d like to do both So we shall see how that falls into place closer to time.

Then touring (no set plans yet) til after the 3pm parade then calling it a night. There will be a Christmas Party that night so we won’t be able to go back anyway.

Monday November 27th – Rope drop Epcot! I worked at Epcot in my College Program days it’s HOME and I am beyond thrilled to take DD there! No concrete plans for this day either, other than we would like to stay til around 2-3pm then back for just the candlelight processional. We plan to take advantage of the Dining Package and are options right now are Germany or Garden Grill breakfast…

Tuesday November 28th- If MVMCP dates stay like they are now we plan to make this our party date. So we won’t do a park until about 4pm. We plan on trying to visit Reedy Creek Fire Station this morning. DH and FIL are so excited about it so it’s a must do for us. We might do a late-ish O’hana breakfast/brunch type thing. By that I mean like 9:30am lol

Wednesday-November 29th Animal Kingdom day- This is totally up in the air so much will depend on the new stuff they are bringing out with the nighttime show and Avatar area. I’m not a big Avatar fan but I do want to check out the new area. We might rope drop til 3pm and back for night time or we might come late since we will be out late the night before. DH is interested in Yak & Yeti for a TS meal.

Thursday November 30th-Epcot Late Day- we won’t arrive until 1ish or maybe a little earlier for lunch. We will stay and see illuminations and that will be our day. We are debating lunch at Cape May or we might do O’hana this day before heading to Epcot.

Friday Decemeber 1st- We will rope drop Hollywood Studios and all we are really interested in is the Pixar stuff. We will browse thru Star Wars area and I def want to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid if it’s still running. We will not stay all day. Lunch at 50’s Primetime is a MUST DO for my mom since she’s always wanted to go there!
That evening we will pack and load up the truck and be ready for an early exit the next morning.

Now the only thing that might get changed is on our Early Epcot Day we might skip Candlelight Proc. That night and save it for the late night instead (of course that means we change our dining pkg for it as well) and add an extra ticket so on the Epcot Early day we might head to MK that night if they are running the Electrical Parade, which my mother in law really wants to see.

Also we plan on trying to see Wilderness Lodge and the Monorail Loop hotels for the Christmas décor. (At least Grand Floridian)

So there you have it. Our working schedule.​

 

[sahm2two]

We did DDP when my dd was almost 3 and other dd was almost 2. We only had to pay for me and DH, but never bought anything for the kids! Granted this was a few years ago, but we did a lot of character meals, some buffets which the kids are free for... and then at some meals they just brought them food and didn't charge us! I think maybe once or twice they didn't get something (counter service), and we just shared something from our plate and supplemented with snacks we brought in.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

We did DDP when my dd was almost 3 and other dd was almost 2. We only had to pay for me and DH, but never bought anything for the kids! Granted this was a few years ago, but we did a lot of character meals, some buffets which the kids are free for... and then at some meals they just brought them food and didn't charge us! I think maybe once or twice they didn't get something (counter service), and we just shared something from our plate and supplemented with snacks we brought in.

I know I'm so excited we don't have to pay for her! Which I know kinda sounds terrible but yay savings! I saw a post that quick service places have these toddler pack things with like gold fish and yogurt so we will probably get a few of those to go along with whatever we get so she has a lot of variety!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

665 DAYS…..THAT’S WHAT MY CALENDAR TELLS ME AT LEAST…..


I’m getting just a little toooooo excited in general to still be almost 2 years out.

Doesn’t help that I spent most of yesterday on the boards reading about stuff….and then I got home & DH has a suitcase out because we are taking a short Hubby/Wife getaway this weekend and it’s our Disney suitcase so of course we had to pull out magic bands and mouse ears…..and my daughter soooooo cute wearing the mouse ears toddling around the house. AH! It’s almost too much!


I have started a scrapbook style autograph book for my daughter as I know if I start on it slowly now I can will actually have it done in time. I use to scrapbook a lot so I had all of the supplies minus the adhesive I will need to hold the pages down.

I have a small spiral 5x7 style notebook with plain white pages covered in burlap. It’s like a sketch notebook. I am adding pretty printed paper (of which I have a ton!) to cover the plain white paper. Then I will take about a 4x6 size piece of plain color cardstock to place in the middle for the signature. I have a list of potential characters and I’m creating a fairly generic page for each with the exceptions of the ones we know we will meet at character dinners such as Pooh & Tigger & Mickey.

I found they make 4x6 card stock with adhesive backs so that will make that part go super fast. Right now Im just focused on getting all of the background paper cut. Then I will jazz it up closer to time…like next year J

Besides t-shirts what are some other fun projects I might could do to bide my time…..665 days is a long time away!!!!

At least packages might be out in you know 8 more months…..ahaha! Oh boy! I need a life!!

 

[KathyM2]

Hi there!!! Following along!! I love reading people's PTR's that are planning way out...I never get to plan this much ahead...I'm lucky if I don't miss the ADR booking date and have a hard time getting my top choices...sigh. You are way ahead of the game!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Bear with me a minute while I try to remember how to do an update

Days like this make me miss MYSPACE (I'm old!!!)

Anyways I just looked at the calendar and we are only 4 months out from being able to book the room only portion of the trip!! YAYHOOO!!!

I talked to my parents about it this past weekend. My mom was all "I doubt your dad will go, blah blah blah" I said he will go for DD. When he came back in the room I said "We're going to Disney in 2 years & you're coming with us!" He's like "ok whatever'. I think my mom is still worried about her mobility issues but I told her we would rent a scooter & all for her. I hate the thought of her missing DD 1st Disney Trip.
So I've decided I will just book the hotel for her and surprise her with it. I can get my dad to help and that will be her birthday gift-the deposit down on the trip!

My in-laws are already well aware of the plans for the trip. They're going to Orlando this summer to see other stuff but they are doing 1 Epcot day. They're excited for full trip also.


Ok so this is what I've been doing to pass the time;
Mini binder planning sheets!
I knew I wanted to bring some sort of planner/binder to keep myself organized. Even my mom use to bring a small notebook. But I knew I didn't want the HUGE BINDER! I have all of my notes in a notebook and printouts in a big binder but I was not about to bring that. Can't have people thinking I'm some sorta weirdo right??!! RIGHT!!!???

So I've made sheets for a small 5x7 binder that can slip easily into my day bag. It will have all the must have info on it and places to write down more info as needed. Here are some pics for those interested. I made this in excel.

Here's the one I made for the Hotel. There is a 2nd page for transportation info from the hotel



Here's what Magic Kingdom looks like with places for FastPass+ times, must attractions & character locations.


And here's page 2 for Magic Kingdom It got a little cut off when I did the snipit tool to save it as a jpeg. But you get the idea. It has dining info and I can write in info for places such as lunch if we Pay out of Pocket I can write amount, etc.


Also I started gathering up goodies that we have around the house for DD activities for the road trip or just in general. WoW I already have SOOO much stuff like small note pads, color pencils, crayons etc. All of it new!! WHY?? WHY do I have this stuff?? Who knows! But now it's in a basket in the closet! So less stuff to have to buy later.

Well Fellow DISers that's where I'm at! Happy Planning!

 

[jrmint427]

I'm following along! I don't feel so bad now... I have a DD just a few months older than yours, and like you, have been mentally planning her first trip to Disney since I found out I was pregnant!

We're planning the same sort of trip for September 2017 - going right before she turns 3, and our last day of the trip will fall on her 3rd birthday. I have an Excel sheet I've been keeping to track plans, dining reservations I want to make, costs, etc. I may need to start my own pre-trip report, because I think the rest of my family is already sick of hearing about it so far out!

We'll hit the 500 day mark in May. I'm thinking about booking a room only, and then waiting to see what deals come out next spring to see if we can get a room discount or free dining.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

I'm following along! I don't feel so bad now... I have a DD just a few months older than yours, and like you, have been mentally planning her first trip to Disney since I found out I was pregnant!

We're planning the same sort of trip for September 2017 - going right before she turns 3, and our last day of the trip will fall on her 3rd birthday. I have an Excel sheet I've been keeping to track plans, dining reservations I want to make, costs, etc. I may need to start my own pre-trip report, because I think the rest of my family is already sick of hearing about it so far out!

We'll hit the 500 day mark in May. I'm thinking about booking a room only, and then waiting to see what deals come out next spring to see if we can get a room discount or free dining.

TO MY RAMBLINGS!
I promise it will get more interesting as we go along just right now I'm trying to get all the junk out of my head and onto paper...err internet??

And it would be great if you did a trip report also it would be very cool to see another parent's ideas traveling with a like age child!

 

[jrmint427]

TO MY RAMBLINGS!
I promise it will get more interesting as we go along just right now I'm trying to get all the junk out of my head and onto paper...err internet??

And it would be great if you did a trip report also it would be very cool to see another parent's ideas traveling with a like age child!

I agree, it's helpful to see what other parents with similar-aged children are planning! I know I have plenty of time, but it's hard for me to know how much my daughter will be able to handle each day while we're there. My previous approach to Disney has been to pack our days full from morning to park close! I know that won't work, but I've been searching other trip reports to try to figure out how much time to set aside for a nap each day, how long it will take to get back and forth from the park, etc.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Same for me I've always been a go until you drop kinda person and loved late EMH but now I know I am going to have to slow way down. We are planning on doing a daily sit down meal at this time. She does good now in sit down restaurants so hoping that trend continues. And with grandparents tagging along it will be good for all of us to take that time that we know we are forced to sit down and relax a bit.