A Tale of 2 Trips: Oct 2015 & Feb 2016 PTR *NEW* 2/20 November 2015 TR Started!

[khertz]

A Tale of 2 Trips!​

It's been quite a long time since I've done a proper Pre Trip Report, so I'm still a little rusty. I was even unsure if I should attempt one since I'm in the middle of writing a Disneyland TR ("Does this ride have drops?" March 2015 TR) that was a few months overdue since my DIS time has been more limited as of late. But with two trips coming up and lots of planning underway for each, I just couldn't help myself! Some of you may know us from my many TR's here on the boards, but for those who don't, let's start with a quick little introduction!

DL 02-065 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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There we are on our most recent vacation to Disneyland! As you can see, we are a family of three right now, but soon (as in, within the next few weeks!) to be expanding to a family of four when DD arrives! Here is a little about each of us to get started.

First up, is me, khertz, your narrator from here on out! I'm 30 years old, and love being a wife & mom! To support our Disney trips habit, I work as a pediatric oncology RN. I love all things Disney, especially our visits to the parks. I started off going for the first time as a kid when I was 6, then had a long gap before going again at 12. Our family went pretty regularly for several years, and I always enjoyed it, but I didn't really fall in love with it until DH and I went for our honeymoon in 2007! I'm the main planner in the family, though I do get some input from DH and even DS. I have been to WDW 12 times, DL 3 times, and DLP once. DH and I have also done 1 Adventures by Disney trip, the DIS Exclusive Viva Italia trip at the end of last year.

Next is DH, 31, who can occasionally be found on the boards as dduck4life. In case you didn't figure it out, he loves all things Donald Duck! He works hard as an engineer in the oil field, but like me, is always looking forward to our next Disney trip! He is in charge of the budget, and is the one I count on to get us the lowest airfare and rental car price. While on the trip, he is almost exclusively responsible for the photography you will see in the reports! I swear, his photos only get better with every trip using the DSLR, so the point and shoot is hardly needed anymore. He has been to WDW 11 times, DL 4 times, and DLP once, along with the ABD of course.

Here's a picture of us in Venice on our ABD adventure. What a gorgeous city!

08-007 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Last but not least is DS. He is 4.5 years old and we have properly raised him to be just as Disney crazy as we are! His favorite is Lightning McQueen, and he recently got a room upgrade that includes the cast of Cars. He loves pretty much any Disney movie we have introduced him too, but best of all would be the Cars and Planes franchises. He also shares our love of going to the parks and is my countdown helper once our trip gets close enough for one. He has been to WDW 4 times and DL twice.

Here he is with his most beloved Disney character on our most recent WDW trip.

03-097 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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How did we end up planning 2 trips? I'll save that for the next update!

 

[khertz]

A Tale of 2 Trips - Plans

October 2015
October Trip Basics
October Itinerary
ADRs
Odds & Ends

Trip Report Link for October 2015!

February 2016
February Trip Basics
ADRs

November 2015
A Tale of 2 Trips Becomes a Tale of 3 Trips!​

 

[MataHari22]

Hi! Congrats on your growing family. Two trips?! Count me in to follow along. Sounds like double the fun.

 

[leshunlenese]

Im following along! I am also going in February! My crazy self signed up the the princess 10k!

 

[missangelalexis]

Following along! Love that you have 2 trips in the works!!

 

[goofymimi]

I've enjoyed reading your previous trip reports, congratulations on expanding your family, your little guy is so cute..Yall are starting her out right with 2 trips right away...

 

[khertz]

Hi! Congrats on your growing family. Two trips?! Count me in to follow along. Sounds like double the fun.

Thank you so much!!

Glad to have you along! I have never attempted planning 2 trips simultaneously, and it has been a challenge so far. I debated doing a PTR for a long time, but I think it will help having a place to put it all down and keep track!

Im following along! I am also going in February! My crazy self signed up the the princess 10k!

That's awesome! When is the 10K? We are going Mardi Gras week.

Following along! Love that you have 2 trips in the works!!

Happy to see you here, Alexis!! I'm beyond excited to have 2 trips in the works. Usually we have tentative plans for a second trip in the future after whatever we have coming up next, but this is the first time we have 2 totally booked and ready to go at the same time. Definitely keeps it interesting!

I've enjoyed reading your previous trip reports, congratulations on expanding your family, your little guy is so cute..Yall are starting her out right with 2 trips right away...

Thanks so much! Glad you have enjoyed the previous TR's, I have truly loved writing each and every one. We were so worried about taking a baby before we took DS on his first trip, and second time around we have definitely tossed those fears out the window. I can't believe she'll have 2 under her belt before she makes a year!!

 

[hokieinpa]

I'm here! Excited to read about plans for both trips!

And I can't believe baby #2 is will be here in just a few weeks! Congratulations!

 

[khertz]

I'm here! Excited to read about plans for both trips!

And I can't believe baby #2 is will be here in just a few weeks! Congratulations!

I'm glad you found me!!

Oh man, I sure can't believe it either. It could be any time now!! Thanks

 

[khertz]

October Trip Basics​

Our first upcoming trip is October 2015. This one is, of course, much more fleshed out planning wise than February 2016. Here’s a quick rundown:

WHEN: October 17th-25th

3-004 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

WHERE: Our first two nights will be spent onsite at Universal Orlando at the Hard Rock Hotel. Then we switch to our timeshare resort, Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We ultimately decided on HRH because the rooms are a bit larger than Royal Pacific where we normally stay. At Bonnet Creek, we will have a 1 bedroom villa, which has worked out well for us so far with DS sleeping on the pullout in the living room. Baby will be in the room with us in a Pack ‘n Play.

hrh by disneymom1024, on Flickr


wbc by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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HOW: We are flying (God help us!) out of New Orleans on Southwest. We will probably end up booking a hotel near the airport Friday night because our flight out is pretty early on Saturday morning. Our return flight is on Sunday afternoon.

WHY: Most important! We are itching to take this trip because it has been nearly 2 years since our last full Disney World trip. We did get tastes of Disney along the way by doing a quick weekend trip in May 2014, visiting Disneyland Paris for a day and a half on the tail end of our ABD trip to Italy, and a Disneyland trip earlier this year. And while all of those were great, they just weren’t the big WDW trips we are used to! DS will be in Pre-K, and I booked the trip based on the fact that for the past 2 years, on that particular week in October the kids were out for 2 days of teacher inservices. So I figured that would be great and he would only miss 3 days of school. Of course, this year when the calendar was posted that all changed and they are now out on the Monday after we return home instead. That is what prompted us to change our flight from early Sunday morning to later in the afternoon since he will have another day home to recover and get ready to go back to school.

The timing of this trip also (hopefully, as long as Baby Girl cooperates) falls during my maternity leave. I am pushing it a little because it doesn’t give me a big window if she comes early. But I am hopeful it will all work out and we don’t have to reschedule or worse, cancel. Everyone thinks we are crazy for taking a 2 month old, but we are so ready to go back, it won’t matter if we aren’t able to take it at our usual pace. We just want to be there!

Our family has taken 2 previous October trips and we just absolutely LOVE that time of year! The last couple of weeks of the month have been very kind to us regarding crowds and weather, so hopefully that keeps up again for this year. DS’s birthday is on the 24th, which is what started the tradition of visiting at that time, and it gives the trip a special excitement knowing we are celebrating his birthday at the same time.

3-028 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

For tickets, we are getting Universal AP’s when we arrive. It only makes sense, since they are cheaper than 2 day park-to-park tickets and we hope to get in at least an hour or two on arrival day. Then even if we only go for one day in February 2016, we have more than gotten our money’s worth. We already have some WDW park hoppers we have been sitting on for a couple of years now, so we will upgrade those to AP’s also once we arrive at Disney World. We haven’t committed to buying the tickets yet in case anything crazy were to happen, but we are also planning to get tickets to a MNSSHP, more than likely for the party on Tuesday October 20th. We had such a great time at our first party in 2013, and I have been wanting to go back to one ever since!

06-018 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Our costumes from our first party in 2013​

DH is also considering going to Halloween Horror Nights while at Universal, but that would totally have to be done by himself. Not only do I hate it, I’m of course not bringing the kids, nor paying a sitter so that I can go with him. No thanks! I’m too much of a chicken for that!!

We do have a tentative plan in place, but I’ll share that a little later on!

 

[missangelalexis]

I don't blame you for having the WDW itch! I'm sure it will be a different kind of trip with the new baby, but nonetheless will be FUN and memorable!

I love October at Disney! DS is so lucky to get to celebrate his bday there! And yay for getting to do MNSSHP! Totally don't blame you for skipping HHN though

 

[khertz]

I don't blame you for having the WDW itch! I'm sure it will be a different kind of trip with the new baby, but nonetheless will be FUN and memorable!

I love October at Disney! DS is so lucky to get to celebrate his bday there! And yay for getting to do MNSSHP! Totally don't blame you for skipping HHN though

It has been just way too long since a real trip (October 2013!), so we are totally ready just to be there. Having a small infant will be an adjustment, but we are managing our expectations.

I love that DS has gotten to spend so many birthdays there! I wish I could spend mine, but June is just too darn hot!! I really hope that it works out for the Halloween party. The Not So Scary aspect appeals to me a lot more than Horror!!!

 

[khertz]

February 2016 Trip Basics​

While we don’t have as much planned for this trip, we do have the bare bones of the trip ready to go. We don’t normally plan 2 trips to WDW so close together, but this is a special circumstance!

WHEN: February 6th-13th, aka Mardi Gras week (Believe me, it was not easy to convince DH to miss out on his favorite holiday, even if it meant going to Disney World!)

WHERE: We are doing another split stay between Disney World and Universal Orlando, but opposite this time. For the first 6 nights, we wanted to stay onsite at Disney for the first time in many years. Originally, we wanted to stay at a Cars suite at Art of Animation. However, when the prices came out for next year, the cost of AoA was completely outrageous! Turns out to be because the last weekend of our trip leads into President’s Day and the prices had a huge spike. After a lot of searching around and discussing different options, we decided to rent DVC points…and we are staying in a 1 bedroom at Animal Kingdom Lodge!!

akl by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We are in Jambo House, and I have read a lot of different opinions over whether that is better or worse than Kidani, so anything y’all can contribute, let me know! We will stay onsite at Universal for the last 2 nights, but nothing is booked yet. We will probably end up at Royal Pacific because it is the cheapest of the three deluxe resorts.

rpr by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We have stayed there before and enjoyed it. But if we really end up loving Hard Rock in October we may be willing to pay a little more to stay there again for this trip.

HOW: Hopefully we are not traumatized by our experience flying in October and we will be again flying Southwest out of New Orleans.

WHY: Family!! Last May when we did a short weekend trip to WDW, we overlapped with my aunt and uncle on their first trip with their three little ones. (My uncle is only 8 years older than me, so our kids are in somewhat of the same age range). They had such a great time on their trip and knew they wanted to go back, so we started tossing around the idea of a family trip. Of course we didn’t want to miss out on that! So even though we will have just been a few months before, we will be heading back! Which leads us to…

WHO: Of course, it will be the 4 of us. DS will have turned 5 on our October trip and DD will be about 6 months old.

Along with us will be the aforementioned Uncle David, Aunt Jessica, and their three kids Skylar (will be 11), Sawyer (will be 7), and Stryder (will have just turned 4 right before).

davejess by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

And, no strangers to my TRs if you have read any of them will be my parents and sister, also known as Nonni, Poppi, and Katie/Nanny! Unfortunately, them all going on this trip meant they weren’t available to help us out by coming with us in October but again, hopefully we won’t be totally traumatized. Lol

PP-013 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Our tickets will all be taken care of as we will have activated APs for both Disney and Universal on our previous trip. We are still not sure if we are going to rent a car for the whole trip or rely on Magical Express and Disney transportation. The main reason for staying onsite is to have access to Extra Magic Hours because we figured everyone we were traveling with would be staying onsite as well and may be taking advantage of them and we didn’t want to miss out. However, it looks like it will only be us and my aunt and uncle staying onsite. They are using DVC from their neighbor who is not using all of their points. My parents were also a little sticker shocked at the prices that time of year, so they are opting to rent Wyndham points from us and stay at Bonnet Creek for a little cheaper than staying onsite at Pop where they were planning to stay.

We are very excited about this big family trip! We have taken family trips before, but never with other kids, so I’m really excited for DS to be able to be there with my cousins and get to spend some time with people around his age instead of a bunch of adults.

Now that we have the basics of both trips out there, I’ll start posting my plans!

 

[Imagineer5]

Ah I didn't realize you had started a PTR for these!! EEK! So excited to hear about your plans, and SO hope that we can get in some overlap for February. We have a number of days to do so!!

For AKV, I'd say 1- definitely make time to go to the pool at Kidani but otherwise I like Jambo much better! And 2 - if you can, I'd rent a car. That is the #1 worst thing about AKV is just the long bus ride (I KNOW Paxton loves the buses, so maybe this is a non-issue for you) but those bus rides are a total deal breaker for me if I didn't have a car. My biggest issue for Kidani was due to having a car, but since you'll be at Jambo that won't be a problem. (Kidani and their lack of parking).

I can't wait to hear about your October TR, you'll have to go into excruciating detail since we'll be doing the exact same trip with a newly turned 4 year old and a 2 month old in Feb! hehe

Halloween Horror Nights are something I have ZERO interest in going to lol. MNSSHP parade is about as scary as we like it.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

How exciting two trips in one year! Looking forward to following along!

 

[MataHari22]

I always thought it would be cool to stay at AK and get a Savanah view. I've never been to that resort, but I'd love to!

 

[khertz]

Ah I didn't realize you had started a PTR for these!! EEK! So excited to hear about your plans, and SO hope that we can get in some overlap for February. We have a number of days to do so!!

For AKV, I'd say 1- definitely make time to go to the pool at Kidani but otherwise I like Jambo much better! And 2 - if you can, I'd rent a car. That is the #1 worst thing about AKV is just the long bus ride (I KNOW Paxton loves the buses, so maybe this is a non-issue for you) but those bus rides are a total deal breaker for me if I didn't have a car. My biggest issue for Kidani was due to having a car, but since you'll be at Jambo that won't be a problem. (Kidani and their lack of parking).

I can't wait to hear about your October TR, you'll have to go into excruciating detail since we'll be doing the exact same trip with a newly turned 4 year old and a 2 month old in Feb! hehe

Halloween Horror Nights are something I have ZERO interest in going to lol. MNSSHP parade is about as scary as we like it.

I keep forgetting to post it in my DL TR! Glad you found me anyway!! We will be the only ones with hoppers on the February trip, so we can be a little more flexible in our plans too. Now that you have extended your trip, there's no reason for us not to be able to meet! This has been too long coming!!

We are leaning more towards a car because we like the freedom of having one. And I know AKL is pretty far removed from the rest of the property. If anything, we may get the car and just take the bus to AK one day or something for Paxton to get in his bus rides! The pool and splash park at Kidani do look really amazing from the photos I have seen online! Hopefully it will not be too cold so we can check it out at least once during the trip.

I absolutely will! I know how much reading other TR's with smaller kids and babies helped me when planning Paxton's first trip so anything I can do to help someone else planning it will be a must. I just hope I have picked up enough tips and tricks for taking a teeny baby!!

I am the same way...Not So Scary is more than scary enough for me!!!

How exciting two trips in one year! Looking forward to following along!

Welcome & thanks for stopping by!!

I always thought it would be cool to stay at AK and get a Savanah view. I've never been to that resort, but I'd love to!

A savannah room would be pretty amazing, but we are booked for a standard view at the moment. Maybe we will get some pixie dust, who knows? But I'm just happy enough to be staying there that I don't mind if the view is less than ideal! I have always said I wanted to visit there, but we never have, so I'm really excited to not only be visiting, but staying there!

 

[MataHari22]

A savannah room would be pretty amazing, but we are booked for a standard view at the moment. Maybe we will get some pixie dust, who knows? But I'm just happy enough to be staying there that I don't mind if the view is less than ideal! I have always said I wanted to visit there, but we never have, so I'm really excited to not only be visiting, but staying there!

From what I understand there are many common areas there that you can enjoy viewing the animals, so that will be amazing. I was researching the resort when I booked this trip, but it was just more than I could swing.

 

[missangelalexis]

This family trip sounds SO SO fun!!! Can't wait to hear more about the plans!

 

[khertz]

From what I understand there are many common areas there that you can enjoy viewing the animals, so that will be amazing. I was researching the resort when I booked this trip, but it was just more than I could swing.

Yes, I believe you are right about that. DS is really going to love getting to see all of the animals! I haven't done as much research on that resort yet as the October trip planning has been taking precedence right now. But our 180 day mark is creeping up for February, so I'm going to really have to crack down on planning for that trip!

This family trip sounds SO SO fun!!! Can't wait to hear more about the plans!

We are so excited to all get to go together! My aunt and I have been texting like crazy about plans and ADRs and all kinds of stuff, which is getting me so excited about that trip even though it seems so far away right now.