A Jan 2016 PTR-Disney is taking over my life edition *Update 12/10-MagicBands!*

[taythecray]

Hello again Dis friends I know it's been a grand total of a month since I made my last PTR, but I'm back again! Between dealing with the negative degree weather and going through Disney withdraws, I decided to start my PTR now and keep updating it over the year.

There are two reasons why this next trip is going to be one of my favorites.
The first is that it's going to be my first actual DW vacation. The past two years I've gone have just been day trips over and staying offsite, so I'm really looking forward to actually planning and experiencing all of Disney. The resorts, the dining plan, the EMH, and actually taking my time at each park instead of trying to cram a lot in one day (which hasn't actually been a problem so far but will still be nice)
The second exciting aspect to this trip is that I have actually convinced my mom that going to Disney needs to happen for my little siblings. Neither my brother or sister have been before, and my sister is so mature for her age that she's already doubting Disney magic So, my mom is officially budgeting for everyone to go, and this will be a trip with the entire family!

Now you may be wondering why I'm making this PTR so early. Well it's plain and simple....I'm crazy! (and a little Disney obsessed) Ever since my mom okayed the trip, my mind has been overrun by Disney thoughts. Where are we gonna eat? What parks are we going to do when? Where should we stay? What rides do we need to do?
Yeah, it's bad. It's gotten to the point where I actually have dreams of us going to Disney at least once a week, and while my fiance is a huge Disney lover as well, I feel like I'm annoying him whenever I randomly start talking about the different options we have for the vacation. So I figured I'd share my craziness with you all I also have come up with a lot of questions so I would love any input. Again, I'm not sure who will be following along, but at least I can make it seem like I'm sharing my planning with others

 

[taythecray]

PTR Intro

All About Me

The Travelers

Previous Disney Trips

Trip Days-Updated 3/5

Sleeping Arrangements-Updated 3/5

Dining Plan Decisions-Updated 3/5

Savings Plan

Park Plans Day 1-Magic Kingdom

Big News

Newest Additions

Park Plans Day 2-Hollywood Studios

Park Plans Day 3-Magic Kingdom

Park Plans Day 4-Epcot

Park Plans Day 5-Animal Kingdom

Flight Info!

The Last Traveler

Resort Booking

Arrival Day Options

Disney Bucket List

Magicbands

Date Night?

Epcot Snacking

January Park Hours!

The Official Week Plan

Dining Plan and Reservations

Lots of Updates

Itinerary Spreadsheet

Memory Maker and Money Woes

Pin Collection and Pictures!

Fastpasses

Another ADR

Two trips?

 

[ldadar]

looking forward to more

 

[taythecray]

Well now that the intro stuff is all taken care of, I can share a little about me.

I'm Taylor and I'm a 20 year old broke college student living in the suburbs of Chicago. This photo is a little outdated now seeing as I cut all my hair off this summer, but I'm hoping to grow it back to how it was here. When I post my Disney pictures later and you see a girl with super short brown hair and glasses, that's still me.

A few random facts about me: I absolutely love reading and playing video games (any other Kingdom Hearts fans here?) My favorite band is Matchbox Twenty who I've had the pleasure of seeing twice in concert. My family is huge because my parents divorced when I was really young, and although most of my siblings are step-siblings, I consider them all my brothers and sisters. There are eight of us overall, five boys and 3 girls, with me being the oldest I love anything Disney (okay aside from Disney Channel nowadays) but I also love their rival Universal (shhhh)

Here are all my crazy siblings

Apparently my first Disney trip was when I was three (or four I have no idea) but that doesn't count because I don't remember a thing. Actually the only thing I do remember was loving Tower of Terror and riding it over and over again, but this picture of my mom and I meeting Mickey? Don't remember it. Nor do I remember another single detail about my first trip, so I don't count it as a first trip.

The last important detail is that I am engaged to an equally Disney-loving crazy guy named Austin. We're high school sweethearts that have been together just shy of four years now, and he is the reason nothing will ever top my first official trip to Disney.

Well I think that about wraps things up for me. I live a very exciting life I know. I try to entertain with pictures but the beginnings are always boring. Next up you all get to (briefly) learn about my awesome family and who will all be going on this Disney extravaganza! It really is impossible to contain my excitement. I find myself on the Disboards and Disney site every day looking at things. I think this is the start of an addiction

​

 

[taythecray]

Thanks ldadar! I'll try to keep your attention

 

[ldadar]

Wow!! Love your proposal photo!!! Amazing!!

 

[taythecray]

Wow!! Love your proposal photo!!! Amazing!!

Thank you!! He knew how much I wanted a picture of the proposal so he carried the ring around all day waiting for the perfect spot that also had a photographer

 

[taythecray]

Well now that you've heard all about me, I'd like to introduce the half of my family that will be joining me on this Disney excursion. (I'm trying not to post too much at once since I have the entire year)

This would be my mom and step-dad (Tony) To be honest I'm not sure how many times either of them have been to Disney, so this will be interesting. Tony's favorite park is Epcot so I'm sure he'll want to spend most of his time there since he's not a big animation/character person, but who knows, maybe Disney will bring out a different side of him As for my mom, she's always up for a cute movie and loves the parks. She did flat out tell me that she doesn't want to plan everything out like I did with my last trip though, so that makes my job a little tougher.

Next up is my little sissy Macy She just turned nine but she's going on 30. I swear she's smarter than a 5th grader even though she just started 3rd. She is the main reason I want to take the family down to Disney. Whenever I talk to her about my previous Disney trips and meeting the characters, she always looks at me all sassy-like and says "Yeah but you didn't meet the REAL princesses, they are just paid to act that way" Poor girl is already doubting the Disney magic and she's never even been
Anyway, she's never been on a roller coaster, but she is a daredevil so it will be interesting to see what we end up doing aside from meeting ALL the characters (muhaha)

The second little sibling tagging along is my 13 year old brother, Devin I couldn't find a picture of just him so here's the both of us (including my short hair I mentioned earlier) He's going to be the toughest one to entertain on this trip. He's an avid video game player, really sweet but can be a trouble maker. He also is slightly afraid of heights and intense rides (I say slightly because it takes a lot to convince him to ride but typically afterwords he ends up loving it)

Last but not least is my fiance! Austin is not a newcomer to Disney by any means. He used to go at least once a year with his family when he was younger, but once he got into high school they stopped going. He's a very go-with-the-flow kinda guy while I'm the crazy planner so we balance each other out pretty well. I'm just glad he doesn't think I'm crazy for being so Disney-obsessed this early out from our trip Random facts: he loves reading, sings in the university choir, and has a soft spot for Disney.

And that's everyone! Originally it was just going to be five of us and Austin was going to stay with his family, but that's not as fun. Him and I are paying our way to help my mom out so it's not as bad, and he can stay with us instead of driving over everyday. Next up is a brief overview of my past Disney trips. Thanks for sticking through the intro stuff! ​

 

[taythecray]

As I mentioned in my intro, this upcoming trip will be extra special because I will be going with my family and it will be the first time I go for more than one day. I'd say for only two total days spent at Disney World (ever) I've accomplished a lot, but there is still a lot left for me to experience. As another little filler, I just want to share some of the things we've done on our past trips

Trip One: December 19, 2013
My first visit is by far my favorite (for obvious reasons mentioned in my about me post) which is funny because we really didn't do a whole lot. It was just Austin and I, and to save some money we only bought tickets for MVMCP that night, not a day ticket. I wanted to experience the Christmas part of Disney, and I figured the party would be the best way to do that. Although we couldn't get in until four, we started our morning over at Ohana with a nice breakfast.

After that we wandered the Polynesian and hopped on the monorail over to the Contemporary to check out the decorations. We then made our way over to Downtown Disney to spend the afternoon (and park for free) while we waited to get in to Magic Kingdom. It was really just a lot of window shopping but still lots of fun because I had never been.

FINALLY we were allowed into the park and although the wait times were long when we first came in, I just had fun wandering. The party cleared out a lot of people and soon most rides were walk-ons. We watched the Christmas parade, Austin proposed, and overall it was just a magical night

Trip Two: December 17, 2014
I actually wrote a Pre-Trip Report and Trip Report for this one. You can find those here PTR and here TR In a nutshell, this was the busier trip, doing MK, AK, and HS in one full 8am-midnight day. Originally I wasn't even planning on coming down to Florida, but when I found out they were removing the Sorcerer's Hat, I decided I had to see it before they took it down. Then when we found out my friend Hannah was coming down with us (who had never been to Disney) we decided to splurge on park hoppers so we could experience as much as possible. Since I did write an entire trip report on this, I will just give a brief overview of what we did (along with some pictures because those are always fun)

We started our morning in Magic Kingdom, rode a select few rides and met Aladdin & Jasmine (my favorite) then had an early lunch at Be Our Guest which we LOVED. From there we hopped over to Animal Kingdom for a couple more rides and the Lion King show. Around four we made our way over to Hollywood Studios strictly for Tower of Terror and Fantasmic (although we squeezed RnR in there) and then went BACK to Magic Kingdom to ride a few more rides, see the parade, and use our fastpasses (yes we saved them for the evening and it actually worked out great) We also managed to get a little shopping done.

As you may have guessed, we obviously didn't get a lot of down time or experience the parks in their entirety, but that's okay because that's what this next trip is for. And the good news is that I'll finally be posting about the details next! Sharing Disney experiences is just so much fun
​

 

[ldadar]

I'm loving your PTR! going back to read your trip report!

 

[taythecray]

I'm loving your PTR! going back to read your trip report!

Aw thanks once again! My trip report is so short compared to everyone else's but I couldn't resist making one. I pretty much stop myself from going insane by reminiscing past trips and planning new ones

 

[taythecray]

Updated 3/5
I promised the intro stuff was done so now we get to move on to the exciting part of the trip report! I find it funny that I'm planning this entire trip out without even talking to my mother I don't want to bug her too much with details this far out because she'll just get annoyed, so I'm basically just planning this trip for how I want it to go, starting with the most important thing: WHEN?!

Confirmed Dates: Jan 4-9
5 nights, 6 day park tickets, no park hoppers or waterpark passes

This will be a new experience for me because I normally go during the 3rd week of December right before Christmas. This year however, my university semester starts later and pushed everything forward a week, meaning my final exams are during that 3rd week and we go back January 11 instead of the 4th. Unfortunately no matter when we go, both Devin and Macy will be missing school, but it's better for them to miss school than for me to miss my final exams Plus if the weather trends continue like they have been the previous years, this week is prone to school cancellations anyway

The plan is to do 2 days at MK and EP and 1 at HS and AK. With the flight times we booked we will actually have plenty of time to hit the parks on arrival and departure day which is awesome! My mom says not to get my hopes up on what all we end up doing but that doesn't mean I still can't dream right?

 

[taythecray]

Updated 3/5
So I finally got to sit down and talk to my mom about resort options and although she's still looking at off-site places (I REFUSE) I may have convinced her to stay on site at either POR or AKL. If anyone has any input on any of them, feel free to chime in! I would love to see pictures and hear what the resorts are actually like instead of basing them solely off the website pictures

Option 1: A two-bedroom suite at Animal Kingdom Lodge-Kidani! This is by-far our best option and the only one my mom is really considering so I'm a little nervous because it involves renting DVC points.

Option 2: 2 rooms at Port Orleans Resort. This is the other option if AKL doesn't work out because it will hopefully be offered with the Play, Stay Dine package and still give us a little extra space. Mom's worried about being crammed during the down times, but I will not allow her to stay off property!

Option 3: 2 rooms at an All-Stars Resort. Cheapest on-property rooms and a good option since it will be our first stay. I feel like we would end up at All Star Sports with all the guys we got in the family.

Option 4: Suite at Art of Animation or All Star Music. This is a nice trade-off between comfort for those that may spend time in the room and those of us who just need a place to crash. AoA would be nice just for the theme

Option 5: Offsite......won't go into detail about this one because I refuse to let it happen

 

[holleypie]

Whenever I talk to her about my previous Disney trips and meeting the characters, she always looks at me all sassy-like and says "Yeah but you didn't meet the REAL princesses, they are just paid to act that way" ​

Haha, I have a little sister just like this. She's eight and knows that she is just so much smarter and wiser than the rest of us.

I don't have any practical advice about resorts because I haven't stayed at any of them, but I'm going to cast my vote for Art of Animation anyway. My family (not me, just them) stayed there in 2012 and really enjoyed it. I made it as far as the food court and it just looks sooooo coooooool.

 

[taythecray]

Haha, I have a little sister just like this. She's eight and knows that she is just so much smarter and wiser than the rest of us.

Haha darn sisters. They aren't supposed to grow up yet! I'm hoping when we actually go, the Disney magic will set in and she will just forget everything for the trip and turn back into a four year old

 

[taythecray]

Updated-3/5
Now comes one of the most fun (yet complicated) things to plan. Whether or not to choose the dining plan, and where we want to eat I only have a select couple places picked out, and I've been messing around with the link that compares OOP and DP costs so it's a start.

These are the places that are on our to-do list whether we end up doing the dining plan or not.

Cinderella's Royal Table-Lunch/Dinner (Akershus is our backup)
Ohana-Breakfast
Be Our Guest-Lunch/Dinner
Garden Grill-Dinner

We don't want to completely overload with character dining, and I tried to even it out so Macy meets her princesses and Devin meets his Mickey characters. When I was home over break I actually sat down with them and we looked at the character places together so they could help pick (CRT is a secret for Macy still though)

Now, if we do end up with the dining plan, I'm looking for one QS and one TS at or around each park to use them on (aside from the couple we already picked out) I've found a couple that seem good, but opinions are always welcome! The quick service options are kinda up in the air seeing as we will probably just end up stopping wherever is closest while we're at the parks (unless of course there are any must-dos) but any good TS dinner recommendations would be great! Here are a few that I've found that stand out and a general run down of the eating plan. You'll notice no breakfast aside from Ohana because none of us are breakfast eaters so we will probably do an early lunch and early dinner with a snack in between.

Arrival Day-TBD with park plans
MK Days-Be Our Guest, Cinderella's Royal Table, QS or in-room/packed meals
EP Days-Garden Grill Dinner, QS or in-room/packed meals
HS Day-???
AK/Departure Day-Tusker House or QS meal
Extra-Ohana Breakfast

If we don't end up on the dining plan this will most likely mean we got the two-bedroom with the full kitchen and will just eat in the room and pack lunches (which I am totally okay with)

 

[taythecray]

I figure there are two big reasons why I am so obsessed with Disney this far out.
1) My mom gave the okay which is still sinking in (we have never taken trips like this so it's a huge deal)
2) I've been entering the daily flipside sweepstakes every day (and making sure my mom and Austin do too) and KINDA freaking out. Every time my phone lights up with an email or phone call, my heart skips a beat. I couldn't imagine actually winning a contest like this so it's hard NOT to obsess every day. (By the way I'm pretty sure if we got to pick the hotel we would choose Wilderness, just fyi)

ANYWAY, in order to maybe help a little with the obsession, I'm going to try and focus on the other important thing happening in my life soon. My wedding! I figured since I have a lot of the Disney stuff planned out, I can start focusing on one of the most important days of my life. We already have a lot of the big things picked out (and no it's not a Disney wedding....sad ) but I'm going to start focusing on the little things now. We are having a beach wedding in Holland, MI on August 21 of this year! Crazy to think we've already been engaged a year
Anyway, to wrap this up I'm going to throw in a picture of my dress because this post is pretty blank.

 

[ldadar]

My last question for anyone reading...what the heck do you do if you don't get the dining plan? We won't be staying in a resort with a full kitchen, but we still need to at least eat lunch and dinner every day. We were hoping to stay at the parks the whole day and not have to go back to the room, so do you just pack a bunch of food? Are there mini-marts are places to buy basic groceries on the resort? I feel like we'll end up going with the dining plan just for convenience.

You can pay out of pocket at all Disney restaurants. You do not have to buy the dining plan. One of the advantages of the dining plan is you've prepaid and don't have to worry about cost while you are at the parks, but it is not usually a money-saver.

You can buy breakfast or snacks (not groceries) at every resort.

In 2008, we stayed at All Star Music in January. We looked at the Dining Plan, but it would have been much more expensive than paying out of pocket for the meals we planned to buy in the parks.

In 2012, we stayed off property, had breakfast in our timeshare kitchen, and ate our other meals at Disney quick service restaurants. We had one buffet lunch with characters at Animal Kingdom.

Next trip in March, we are again staying at an off property time share and we will have breakfast there. We have reservations for Crystal Palace, Akershus, and the dino restaurant in down town Disney. We'll pay out of pocket at quick service restaurants for the rest of our meals.

Disney is magical even if you choose not to dine with Mickey.

 

[taythecray]

Thanks for all the tips! One of the reasons the dining plan looks like such a good idea is that we will definitely be sitting down for a TS meal every night and those seem to add up quickly. That's why I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Play, Stay, Dine package because since we are all over 10 it would save us a bundle on dining!

Are there a lot of nice quick service places that you can also sit-down at inside? The only QS I've ate at was BOG which was great. I just know by the time dinner comes around we're going to want to sit down and relax inside somewhere

 

[taythecray]

I haven't posted in a few days since there really haven't been any new developments, but I have been thinking about a few other trip-related things that I figured I could share.

Still entering the flip side sweepstakes everyday. I've noticed no one has announced they are a winner yet I'm even part of a Disney junkies page on Facebook and no one on there has spoken up either. I even stalk twitter to see if anyone has posted about it. Does this mean there is still hope for us?

I also sent my mom the link to the Disney vacation account to possibly set one up for all of us to contribute to. I know Macy alone has been saving her money like crazy and already has $200. Devin has started saving as well and I figured we could all just pile it together into one account and get some gift cards while we're at it