**A YEAR in the Making of a Disney Trip-Sept. 2011**9/28 TR Link Added!**

[HoltDisney07]

Yes I am pretty much done. Just trying to decided if I should cut CRT (I have Akershus planned) for one of the dinner shows. Anyone done any of the dinner shows and really like it? Spirt of Aloha Luau sounds neat, but eating outside (like MBB) is my one reservation with going in August. Hoop Dee Doo sounds cool too but I hear it is hard to get to....man this is so stressful, especially when you have a DH that is like "I don't care where we eat".

Well, I hate that you had to change your dates, but August will be fun, too! We're lucky that Juju will be on fall break when we go, so she won't be missing any days (she'll be in kindergarten then). I hope you have all your dining choices ready!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Yes I am pretty much done. Just trying to decided if I should cut CRT (I have Akershus planned) for one of the dinner shows. Anyone done any of the dinner shows and really like it? Spirt of Aloha Luau sounds neat, but eating outside (like MBB) is my one reservation with going in August. Hoop Dee Doo sounds cool too but I hear it is hard to get to....man this is so stressful, especially when you have a DH that is like "I don't care where we eat".

We went to the luau in May, and honestly it was too hot to eat much (the foods mostly hot, except the salad and dessert). The show was cute, so if you want it for the show and not the food it would be good. Then again, we're princess people and do both CRT and Akershus!

 

[Purpleblanket]

Hi
Found your PTR today! I'm working on my TR from our recent trip of the week between Christmas and New Years!! and sometimes just need a break and get lost in others reports!!

We stayed at Pop and we loved it. We did CRT for dinner and the food was delicious (although one of our kids got sick that day) !

I was just like you, reading all the books and started planning over a year before our trip. One of the books I really liked was Passporter's Walt Disney world.
It has great maps and places to write things and stickers etc..

I was also on that phone exactly 180 days beforehand to make all our ADR's and I got every one that I wanted!!

I'll be following along with you as I am going through a bit of withdrawl now and don't have a trip coming up!
P.S. You're kids are so cute!! I have 3 boys and 1 girl, but they are a wee bit older than yours!! (ages 18-24!!) The 18 yr old son and 23 yr old daughter joined us on our trip!

Take care
Debbie

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Hi
Found your PTR today! I'm working on my TR from our recent trip of the week between Christmas and New Years!! and sometimes just need a break and get lost in others reports!!

We stayed at Pop and we loved it. We did CRT for dinner and the food was delicious (although one of our kids got sick that day) !

I was just like you, reading all the books and started planning over a year before our trip. One of the books I really liked was Passports Walt Disney world.
It has great maps and places to write things and stickers etc..

I was also on that phone exactly 180 days beforehand to make all our ADR's and I got every one that I wanted!!

I'll be following along with you as I am going through a bit of withdrawl now and don't have a trip coming up!
P.S. You're kids are so cute!! I have 3 boys and 1 girl, but they are a wee bit older than yours!! (ages 18-24!!) The 18 yr old son and 23 yr old daughter joined us on our trip!

Take care
Debbie

HI!! I hope I have your luck when I call for ADRs in March! I am always looking for another good book, so I will have to check into getting that one.
I also read through other people's reports all the time!! I get withdrawal and am constantly looking for new ideas. I'd love to read your TR since I've never been during that time of year.

 

[MissLiz]

Hi there!

I'm jumping over from Brea's PTR since we will be at WDW the same time you guys are AND we are from the Atlanta-area as well!

We are headed to the World 9/16 to 9/23. I'm trying to add another night, but there's no availability with our discount for that night, so I will just continue to look. I should have known that we'd need another night....we add days every single trip. LOL

It will be me, DH, my 2 DDs. They will be 9 and 2 when we go, so it will be our last "cheap" trip. Next trip, we'll have to buy the oldest an adult ticket and the youngest will need a ticket. So sad!

I am in the process of day and ADR planning and it's painful. I'm not really sure why I'm having problems this trip. I can't seem to get a schedule that I like. I think I'm just being difficult, but is it possible to be difficult with yourself?

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Hi there!

I'm jumping over from Brea's PTR since we will be at WDW the same time you guys are AND we are from the Atlanta-area as well!

We are headed to the World 9/16 to 9/23. I'm trying to add another night, but there's no availability with our discount for that night, so I will just continue to look. I should have known that we'd need another night....we add days every single trip. LOL

It will be me, DH, my 2 DDs. They will be 9 and 2 when we go, so it will be our last "cheap" trip. Next trip, we'll have to buy the oldest an adult ticket and the youngest will need a ticket. So sad!

I am in the process of day and ADR planning and it's painful. I'm not really sure why I'm having problems this trip. I can't seem to get a schedule that I like. I think I'm just being difficult, but is it possible to be difficult with yourself?

Whoa! I've got a local gal following now!! I'd love to know if we're in the same area--PM me your city if you want to! Did you guys get much snow today? We just have a dusting on the ground but nothing on the roads.
Uhm, YES, it is possible to be difficult with yourself! At least that's what I tell myself so I'll feel normal!
I have to admit that I have planned my ADRs and days, but I keep reconsidering. I thought I was really positive at first, but now I'm questioning my choices.
We're not close to the adult price bracket for our kids, but this will be our first trip paying for our youngest daughter. At least the baby's still free.

 

[MissLiz]

Thanks for the welcome! Just PM'd you!

We had a nice dusting here. It was a very pretty ride to work today, but no snow on the roads. The first thing my oldest said when her alarm went off was "Are schools closed?"


I went to WDW pregnant in 2008, but I was only about 8 weeks and I was miserable. I can't even imagine going when I was 31 or 32 weeks. You are a trooper!!!

I'm in the process of deciding when we are going to leave on the 16th. Since all of the commercials came out with the parents surprising their kids with trips to WDW, my DD keeps asking why we don't ever surprise her with a trip.

So, I have been playing like we don't know when we are going back and we are either going to get her up that morning and tell her that we have to take her to school really early and leave around 5 or 6 OR pick her up at noon from school and leave from there.

I'm leaning toward just leaving first thing in the morning....more time at WDW.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Thanks for the welcome! Just PM'd you!

We had a nice dusting here. It was a very pretty ride to work today, but no snow on the roads. The first thing my oldest said when her alarm went off was "Are schools closed?"


I went to WDW pregnant in 2008, but I was only about 8 weeks and I was miserable. I can't even imagine going when I was 31 or 32 weeks. You are a trooper!!!

I'm in the process of deciding when we are going to leave on the 16th. Since all of the commercials came out with the parents surprising their kids with trips to WDW, my DD keeps asking why we don't ever surprise her with a trip.

So, I have been playing like we don't know when we are going back and we are either going to get her up that morning and tell her that we have to take her to school really early and leave around 5 or 6 OR pick her up at noon from school and leave from there.

I'm leaning toward just leaving first thing in the morning....more time at WDW.

It wasn't that bad going in the last trimester, but it was hotter than usual!! I'm not saying I'd do it again (going during pregnancy....not getting pregnant...although I probably won't do that, either!) but it wasn't too bad and I'm glad we went.
Juju knows we're going in Sept., but we won't tell her an exact date. We're going during her fall break, but we're going to pick her up on the 16th at lunch time. We're not booked at WDW til the 17th, so we'll just drive as far as we can. We keep adding days, too.

 

[MissLiz]

We love fall break in our family! Cobb just scheduled it for the first time last year and I'm hoping they keep it. We really like being able to go on vacation without all the crowds.

Since DD knows she has fall break, we have to play like we aren't going in order for her to be fooled. I'm not too worried about her missing one day of school, so leaving early won't be too difficult. I just want to miss the majority of rush hour traffic.

I like for her to be involved in the planning, but I want to let her be surprised as well. Oh well, I can't have everything.

 

[Purpleblanket]

HI!! I hope I have your luck when I call for ADRs in March! I am always looking for another good book, so I will have to check into getting that one.
I also read through other people's reports all the time!! I get withdrawal and am constantly looking for new ideas. I'd love to read your TR since I've never been during that time of year.

oops! I made a spelling error on that book! It's called Passporter's (not passport) Walt Disney World.
I also like the Birnbaum's Walt Disney World books as they are so colorful.

You can find my trip report in the TR section! Hope to see you there!!
I know there are some very entertaining writers out there but I have to admit I'm not one of them!
But I'm trying to add lots of photos!

Debbie

 

[TinyDancer]

Jennifer we get to make our ADRs in just over a month!

Are you still planning on Chef Mickey's on Wednesday?

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Jennifer we get to make our ADRs in just over a month!

Are you still planning on Chef Mickey's on Wednesday?

Nope, Sunday now that I know the hours.
I'm going to post about it, but since there's no Saturday MNSSHP this time, we're going on Tuesday...isn't that when you're going?
A couple of other things have changed, too. When I get it perfected and post it, we definitely have to compare.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I'm here ... haven't started reading yet...but I'm going to do it right now!!!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

I'm here ... haven't started reading yet...but I'm going to do it right now!!!!

Awesome!! There will be some more to read (and more pictures...I've been shopping!!) very soon!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

September hours have now officially been posted, and just as predicted by the travel agent pdf file I saw a couple of weeks ago, my plans have to change a little.

And I don't deal well with change.

This time, however, it's turned out to be a good thing for a couple of reasons.

So, our original plan was to go to MNSSHP on our arrival day, which is a Saturday.

Except now...there's no MNSSHP that day.

This is what precipitated the first good change: We're adding a day of park tickets!!

Our second change is to our date night. It's going to be on Friday so that we can try to get a ressie at Le Cellier and be alone together (except for the thousands of other people) for EMH at Epcot until midnight.

Keep in mind that we do not have park hopper tickets. Because of this, some of our days now are not as great on the crowd calendar, but really a 4 is not bad and most days are below a 1 or right at it, so I really think we'll be fine. I mean, on our first trip, we had all 6 or above days and thought it wasn't crowded!

Sooooooo, our new plan looks like this:

Friday, September 16--Drive as far as possible, stop for the night.

Saturday, September 17--Finish driving, check into Pop Century, pick up rental stroller, head to Magic Kingdom

Sunday, September 18--Magic Kingdom

Monday, September 19--Epcot

Tuesday, September 20--Animal Kingdom/MNSSHP

Wednesday, September 21--Magic Kingdom

Thursday, September 22--Hollywood Studios

Friday, September 23--Blizzard Beach/Date Night at Epcot

Saturday, September 24--Magic Kingdom

Sunday, September 25--Drive home and cry

Dude. We go to Magic Kingdom A LOT. Can't get enough! Remember, I have yet to ride a single mountain, and I plan on remedying that over and over on this trip. I'm also very excited about the prospect of being at Epcot more than one time on this trip, and about having adults-only time there!

So, how does this line up with your trip plans, for those of you who will be there at the same time? I know some of you have to be planning on being at the party on Tuesday, at least!

I have several more updates in the works (shopping, ADRs!), so I can tell that the time is getting closer! Things always speed up the closer it gets, don't they??

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

So, Brea, are you going to MNSSHP as a pumpkin this year? Or Pooh? You've got to do something cute with that pregnant belly! Congrats again!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We'll both be at DHS on the same day.

We do MK a lot too.

 

[PirateKate]

That looks like a great schedule. I think it would be nice to have the Halloween party after AK day, since AK always closes early and you won't have park hoppers. Blizzard Beach and a date night sounds like fun, too.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

We'll both be at DHS on the same day.

We do MK a lot too.

Woo-hoo! We'll be there from rope drop until Fantasmic! (At least some of us will...I have a feeling that several children may get sent back for naps at some point.)

That looks like a great schedule. I think it would be nice to have the Halloween party after AK day, since AK always closes early and you won't have park hoppers. Blizzard Beach and a date night sounds like fun, too.

Thanks! You may not believe it, but we never have a date night. Literally. We went to dinner at California Grill in 2009, then came right back to the hotel. That's been our one date since 2006--glad it could happen at Disney!

 

[pinkxray]

Your plans look great! I am so jealous you get to spend so much time in MK. Enjoy it while you can, once the kids grow up you'll have to cut down your MK time like me. I get 1 MK, that's right 1 day.

Congrats on getting a date night I can't even remember the last time DH and I had a night alone. Caitlin is at that age where she wants to come everywhere with us. We used to dump her off at Grandma's but now she wants to come along.