At Least We Are All Tall Enough For Barnstormer! A June 2017 PTR...updated 6/1

[ArielSRL]

Table of Contents

Introductions

Planning

• Preliminary Park/ADR List
• Updated Park/ADR List
• Booked ADR List
• Odds and Ends
• Odds and Ends Part 2
• Initial Touring Plans: Sunday, June 4 - MK Day 1
• My AK Plans Just Blew Up For the Second Year in a Row
• Initial Touring Plans: Sunday, June 4 - MK Day 1 (TAKE TWO)
• Double Digit Dance Time
• Trip Money is Here!!! and a Stroller Rental Question...
• Initial Touring Plans: Monday, June 5 - Epcot Half Day
• Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
• Initial Touring Plans: Tuesday, June 6 - MK Day 2
• Initial Touring Plans: Friday, June 9 - MK Day 3
• Initial Touring Plans: Wednesday, June 7 - AK Full Day
• Initial Touring Plans: Friday, June 9 - AK Evening
• Fastpasses Booked!
• Trip Items
• Ramblings
• Food Budget Done...
• The Day I Almost Lost My Mind
• Odds and Ends Part 3
• Magic Bands are Here!!
• General Itinerary

This Time Next Week

• Friday 6/2/2017
• Saturday 6/3/2017
• Sunday 6/4/2017
• Monday 6/5/2017
• Tuesday 6/6/2017
• Wednesday 6/7/2017
• Thursday 6/8/2017

Trip Report Link!!

 

[ArielSRL]

Introductions

Well, here we go! Let's get this PTR started! Hello to those of you who followed my previous PTR and/or TR (June 2016) and welcome to any and all new followers. To start out, let's make some intros.
First off, my two boys:


First up is AJ:

5 years old, pre-k-er, 2 Disney trips, first haircut at Disney. Favorite rides: Pooh, Speedway, and PeopleMover! Fave characters: I'm going to say Pooh, because he sleeps with him every single night. Honestly, I will have to ask him his favorite Disney movie because all he watches these days are Angry Birds and Despicable Me/Minions. Oops. But he truly loves WDW and he tells me he wishes every day was a day at Disney. Exactly my thoughts, buddy!

Next up is Will:

2 years old, preschooler, 1 Disney trip. His fave rides are Dumbo, IASW, and Pirates of the Caribbean. He loves to sing and dance, and one of his favorite songs is Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me. His fave Disney movie: Cars. His fave characters: McQueen and Mater. Will asks me every day if today is the day we go back to Disney. I'm such a good Disney Momma, as I have already got my children addicted! Haha.

Moving on, here is my DH, Chad (the goofball):

So my hubby has not been to Disney in like 25 or 30 years, I think. I need to ask him again but the last time he went was either right before or right after Epcot opened, I think. LOL. That is ridiculous! So, it is up to me to make him a Disney convert. I will say this...he wants to love it. His dad, who passed more than 10 years ago, LOVED it, LOVED Mickey Mouse. In fact, people called him Mickey. But, my DH has some anxiety/crowd issues....so he is a little worried. My job is to make this an easy and fun trip for him. Fave rides: BTMRR, People Mover, Hall of Presidents (my history buff is not happy that this will be under refurb when we go). Fave characters: Sorcerer Mickey, Mickey (in general), Figment, and the Muppets. I'm really not sure of his favorite Disney movie, either. Another thing I need to ask.

Last, but not least (I hope anyway...lol), me:

Renee, teacher, mommy, Disney obsessed, total geek (love LotR, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc), college football (specifically UGA and SEC) fan. I've been to WDW around 15 times and DL twice. Fave characters: Ariel, Maleficent. Fave rides: BTMRR, ToT, People Mover, Carousel of Progress. Fave movies: Little Mermaid, Tangled.

One more family photo for measure:


So our trip is planned for June 3 - June 11, 2017. And the best news: we are at Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge! We are renting points from a friend/co-worker and we were able to switch to WL yesterday. I am so excited as I have always wanted to stay here. Really loving the idea of the boat to MK and back, especially since we have 3 full days planned for MK.

I have a rough outline for our park days and ADRs (bookable on Dec 5th) and I will post all that stuff in the next update or two.

Thank you all for coming along for the ride, as "At Least We Are All Tall Enough For Barnstormer" this trip!

 

[ariane37]

I am FIRST Excited to be planning along with you again. I also want to know how much you're paying Kelley @Jfsag123 every time someone clicks on your PTR

 

[ArielSRL]

I am FIRST Excited to be planning along with you again. I also want to know how much you're paying Kelley @Jfsag123 every time someone clicks on your PTR

Yay! First! I have yet to discuss royalties at this time...lol.

 

[ArielSRL]

Ok, since I got this thing started, I have the first decision that I am playing around with. I have a rough sketch of days and ADRs but I am waffling on one of my MK days and my AK day.

Here's my dilemma. Right now I have AK as Thursday 6/8 and MK Friday 6/9 (our third MK day). I realize that MK AM EMH is usually Friday, which means it could very well be a very busy day and Thursday is the day after MK PM EMH, which usually is a good time to visit...so I am highly considering switching those days. Here is my one reason for not being sure: last year MK opened at 8am most days during our week (except AM EMH and EMM days). Therefore, Thursday, there is a good chance that MK will open at 8 this year, to the general public. On Friday, MK will open at 8am to resort guests only. So I am thinking the morning of Thursday might be busier than the morning of Friday. We would probably stay until about noonish, then head back to WL for our afternoon break, before coming back to MK for the evening.

Oh and obviously, this is all (semi) subject to change when hours are released in about 2 weeks.

@Jfsag123 I need to pick your brain....what are you thinking? Don't you have a rough draft for park days?

 

[gracer9977]

Joining!! Yay I'm second!!!

So hard to plan park days and hours before that actual times are released. I had to change my plans in 2015 so many times because the hours kept changing.

 

[ArielSRL]

Joining!! Yay I'm second!!!

So hard to plan park days and hours before that actual times are released. I had to change my plans in 2015 so many times because the hours kept changing.

Yes, even though they will release initial hours in a couple weeks, I'm sure they will most definitely change a few times before the trip. Mostly I am looking for EMH schedules which tend to stay the same, though I have noticed that through Feb there is DHS EMH listed for Friday nights but not beyond that, so I'm wondering why. Are they just adding those late or are they planning to not have it, or change it?

ETA: Welcome! Thanks for joining!

 

[ArielSRL]

Ok, so I'm back with another dilemma but I think I know how I'm leaning with this one.

We have 1.5 days planned on Epcot. One full day (Wed 6/7) and one AM half day, with PM being at DHS for either Fantasmic or SW fireworks/dessert party. (Mon 6/5). I will book FP at Epcot for both days...one day will be FEA for all, the other day we will split our FP between Soarin and TT bc Will isn't tall enough to ride so we can pick up Rider Swap passes (and I'm not even sure that Chad and AJ want to ride TT anyway).

I figured we would do FEA on the Monday with a CS breakfast at Les Halles, then Soarin/TT on Wed with a GG breakfast. Also doing Via Napoli that night and Illuminations. But I'm not really sure why I did it that way. Maybe it had to do with doing WS on the half day AM and FW on the full day, but then we are eating dinner in WS and watching Illuminations there too so I really don't know if that was my reasoning or not. It could've had something to do with trying to schedule the dessert party that night so planning a late lunch or really early dinner, but I'm not sure that the plan below would mess that up.

Well, now I'm thinking I don't want two sit down meals in the same day bc it takes a lot of time. And it may be easier to get FEA later in the trip (2 days later but still) and on a full day since I'll have more flexibility with times.

So I think I solved the issue for myself, unless anyone can see a reason that I had it scheduled that way?

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm here! So pleased to hear you've got Wilderness Lodge. We loved staying there - I loved its proximity to MK.

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm here! So pleased to hear you've got Wilderness Lodge. We loved staying there - I loved its proximity to MK.

Thank you so much! I am incredibly excited to have gotten into WL! I'm ready for that boat ride!

 

[ArielSRL]

Preliminary Park/ADR List

Okay, so I am excited to get the Park/ADR list posted to hear, I mean read...lol, your thoughts. Some of this is still in flux and may depend on when I can get certain ADRs. But other than the question I posted earlier about park days, these are pretty much "the plan" at this point.

Here's the schedule:
Sat 6/3 - Arrival Day ~ Pool/Resort afternoon (hoping to leave Atlanta by 6am, arrive between 1-3pm), Disney Springs evening, Boathouse TS (still need to figure out time...maybe closer to 7pm)
Sun 6/4 - MK #1 day ~ Initially I had O'hana breakfast (11:30ish) written for here but I am thinking it would be better to try it for a later MK day, so I may switch Crystal Palace BF (10:30ish) to here.
Mon 6/5 - Epcot/DHS day ~ Initially planning FEA (WS) and Les Halles breakfast but will probably try for Garden Grill later breakfast here and if so, Soarin and TT (FW) this day. SW dessert party?
Tues 6/6 MK #2 Day ~ BOG lunch, Whispering Canyon Cafe early dinner before returning to MK.
Wed 6/7 Epcot ~ Initially GG BF, but probably switching to Les Halles, Via Napoli dinner.
Thurs 6/8 AK or MK ~ Sanaa dinner or O'hana breakfast
Fri 6/9 AK or MK ~ Sanna dinner or O'hana breakfast
Sat 6/10 DHS ~ Hollywood & Vine PPO BF, SW dessert party?
Sun 6/11 Departure Day ~ Trail's End brunch buffet maybe 11:30ish after checkout

I still need to figure out times but generally speaking, later breakfasts (after a light BF in the room - bringing items or maybe something from Roaring Fork) and earlier dinners (right after our midday breaks, I think). Also planning light lunches in the room...maybe grab something from Roaring Fork at least once.

So again, just an initial plan. In some ways I hate planning ADRs so early because I always end up having to tweak the plans later based on my own touring plan and changes from Disney. But I do like having that initial ADR in MDE as a placeholder, if nothing else.

One thing I am wondering...this year, AK hours didn't get extended until right before our trip, however, this time, if rumors are true (and we all know about Rumors...of Light), by the time I make ADRs, ROL will have debuted, so maybe AK hours will already be later. I'm assuming they should be anyway because of the other nighttime stuff already available, but who really knows. I glanced at the May TA calendar but I need to study it a bit more, just to get some hints that I can speculate on.

I honestly can't believe ADR booking is so close. I swear we just got back from our June 2016 trip but in reality its been almost 5 months. We are exactly a month from my 180 window, so I need to get my act in gear and work on a semi touring plan just so I know when to book the meals. I also need to figure out order to book (I had a TA who did it last time). I posted on the Restaurant Forum and got 2 responses. Basically O'hana and BOG are the ones to do first, is the consensus. BTW, I'm taking half a day off on ADR morning.

There ya have it. Any and all observations welcome!

ETA: I asked my DH some specifics. 2 Disney trips total. Last one was the year Epcot opened, so 1982. Y'all that is 34 years!!! 35 by the time we go. What??? How did I ever marry this man? Well that changes soon enough! Oh and he says I don't need to run the restaurants by him. I know what he likes so he trusts me. I like that. That means he is going to be hands-off for the planning! I only hope I can get his input if I need to. Today I asked if he wanted to ride Space Mtn. He said "H*ll NO!" Ah, ok. LOL.

Up next: Updated Park/ADR List

 

[gracer9977]

How exciting that you are getting so close to your ADR date.

Looks good so far, so hard to plan when you don't know the hours.

 

[ArielSRL]

How exciting that you are getting so close to your ADR date.

Looks good so far, so hard to plan when you don't know the hours.

Thank you! Yeh and even when they release them, they won't be final but at least I can get an idea as far as EMH....I think! Lol.

 

[gracer9977]

We had 2 days last year that had no EMH hours, which was really disappointing and I felt like they changed them around constantly. They were solid by the time I had to make my FP+ thankfully but it did cause many problems for my planning.

Hopefully your times will not change around.

My DH is no help either. He has like 2 places he likes to eat and we always do those so beyond that he could care less what we do. The last 4 times I have gone we have had 13 people going. So I have to coordinate meals, FP's, park plans for 13 people. My sister helps and between the 2 of us we always get it worked out but major stress and craziness.

 

[ArielSRL]

We had 2 days last year that had no EMH hours, which was really disappointing and I felt like they changed them around constantly. They were solid by the time I had to make my FP+ thankfully but it did cause many problems for my planning.

Hopefully your times will not change around.

My DH is no help either. He has like 2 places he likes to eat and we always do those so beyond that he could care less what we do. The last 4 times I have gone we have had 13 people going. So I have to coordinate meals, FP's, park plans for 13 people. My sister helps and between the 2 of us we always get it worked out but major stress and craziness.

I think that this past June they ended up changing EMH for Epcot while we were there but it didn't affect us. They did extend hours about 1/2 month ahead and then they also changed MK opening from 9 to 8 several days. So I am really going to have a semi loose plan that can easily be shifted. I mean, if they open an hour earlier, if we can get there, that's just more time to get more stuff done and the same thing for if they extend hours, though with two young kids, we may or may not take advantage.

I'm taking it as a good sign that DH is being hands off because that means he recognizes my expertise in this area and I hope that means he will follow my instructions when we are there!

13 people is quite a bit! I'm sure it was a lot to keep track of, and hopefully everyone else pretty much let you and your mom do all the leading!

 

[Jfsag123]

I am FIRST Excited to be planning along with you again. I also want to know how much you're paying Kelley @Jfsag123 every time someone clicks on your PTR

I like the way you think, lady!

Yay! First! I have yet to discuss royalties at this time...lol.

Have your people call my people? In our cases, our "people" would probably just be our kids, so I don't know how productive that conversation would be. I'm sure Alex and AJ could put their heads together and come up with something.

Ok, since I got this thing started, I have the first decision that I am playing around with. I have a rough sketch of days and ADRs but I am waffling on one of my MK days and my AK day.

Here's my dilemma. Right now I have AK as Thursday 6/8 and MK Friday 6/9 (our third MK day). I realize that MK AM EMH is usually Friday, which means it could very well be a very busy day and Thursday is the day after MK PM EMH, which usually is a good time to visit...so I am highly considering switching those days. Here is my one reason for not being sure: last year MK opened at 8am most days during our week (except AM EMH and EMM days). Therefore, Thursday, there is a good chance that MK will open at 8 this year, to the general public. On Friday, MK will open at 8am to resort guests only. So I am thinking the morning of Thursday might be busier than the morning of Friday. We would probably stay until about noonish, then head back to WL for our afternoon break, before coming back to MK for the evening.

Oh and obviously, this is all (semi) subject to change when hours are released in about 2 weeks.

@Jfsag123 I need to pick your brain....what are you thinking? Don't you have a rough draft for park days?

Ugh, my rough park day plan is like the roughest thing ever because so much about my trip is still up in the air. I won't belabor your PTR with the details, but if I ever finish my current TR and start my next PTR I'll explain there. I do know that we will almost certainly go to MK on Thursday 6/8. I have no idea what will be happening Friday 6/9 for us. It may turn out to be an off day, but only if we stay long enough for an off day. Who knows at this point. I can tell you that I did back to back 8AM rope drops at MK this past June on a Thursday and Friday and I don't remember much of a difference in crowd level. The only day I noticed an actual rise in crowds was the Monday RD. Good Lord, that was bad.

Ok, so I'm back with another dilemma but I think I know how I'm leaning with this one.

We have 1.5 days planned on Epcot. One full day (Wed 6/7) and one AM half day, with PM being at DHS for either Fantasmic or SW fireworks/dessert party. (Mon 6/5). I will book FP at Epcot for both days...one day will be FEA for all, the other day we will split our FP between Soarin and TT bc Will isn't tall enough to ride so we can pick up Rider Swap passes (and I'm not even sure that Chad and AJ want to ride TT anyway).

I figured we would do FEA on the Monday with a CS breakfast at Les Halles, then Soarin/TT on Wed with a GG breakfast. Also doing Via Napoli that night and Illuminations. But I'm not really sure why I did it that way. Maybe it had to do with doing WS on the half day AM and FW on the full day, but then we are eating dinner in WS and watching Illuminations there too so I really don't know if that was my reasoning or not. It could've had something to do with trying to schedule the dessert party that night so planning a late lunch or really early dinner, but I'm not sure that the plan below would mess that up.

Well, now I'm thinking I don't want two sit down meals in the same day bc it takes a lot of time. And it may be easier to get FEA later in the trip (2 days later but still) and on a full day since I'll have more flexibility with times.

So I think I solved the issue for myself, unless anyone can see a reason that I had it scheduled that way?

I don't have a reason you should keep it that way, but it is exactly what we did on one of our Epcot days this year. We did Garden Grill PPO breakfast then Via Napoli for dinner, followed by Illuminations. I actually really liked having them on the same day. They were far enough apart where it didn't feel like we were spending our whole day eating and the experiences were pretty different. I think I did it that way because ADR's are the strictest part of our schedules and so I figured I'd stick our Epcot ones on the same day and just keep that as a highly structured day while leaving the rest of our Epcot time open to flexibility.

I'm excited to see your plans starting to take shape! Maybe seeing you do it will give me the strength to do mine lol.

 

[ArielSRL]

I like the way you think, lady!

I bet you do!

Have your people call my people? In our cases, our "people" would probably just be our kids, so I don't know how productive that conversation would be. I'm sure Alex and AJ could put their heads together and come up with something.

Sounds like that would be quite productive and possibly a plan I could live with...haha.

Ugh, my rough park day plan is like the roughest thing ever because so much about my trip is still up in the air. I won't belabor your PTR with the details, but if I ever finish my current TR and start my next PTR I'll explain there. I do know that we will almost certainly go to MK on Thursday 6/8. I have no idea what will be happening Friday 6/9 for us. It may turn out to be an off day, but only if we stay long enough for an off day. Who knows at this point. I can tell you that I did back to back 8AM rope drops at MK this past June on a Thursday and Friday and I don't remember much of a difference in crowd level. The only day I noticed an actual rise in crowds was the Monday RD. Good Lord, that was bad.

Oh no...I am sensing that I brought up a sore subject. Sounds like some changes afoot for your trip. Now I am all curious! Hopefully though, by the time you do start your PTR, you'll have more answers.

Thanks for the info on the RDs. Sounds like either choice will be ok then, so I may just leave it at Friday so I am dealing with only resort guests at 8am (if we can make it there by then). I'm thinking we will do O'hana on MK Day 3 so I'll let that dictate the final answer.

I don't have a reason you should keep it that way, but it is exactly what we did on one of our Epcot days this year. We did Garden Grill PPO breakfast then Via Napoli for dinner, followed by Illuminations. I actually really liked having them on the same day. They were far enough apart where it didn't feel like we were spending our whole day eating and the experiences were pretty different. I think I did it that way because ADR's are the strictest part of our schedules and so I figured I'd stick our Epcot ones on the same day and just keep that as a highly structured day while leaving the rest of our Epcot time open to flexibility.

Thank you for sharing your experience. The notable difference is that we will probably do a later breakfast (than you did) and an early dinner, so less time between full meals, but it still might not make that much of a difference. Probably the biggest factor is the FEA FP. It just may be easier to get it on a later day in the trip and on a full day where we have more flexibility with FP times.

I'm excited to see your plans starting to take shape! Maybe seeing you do it will give me the strength to do mine lol.

Thank you! And I hope I can be as much of an inspiration to you as you were to me (with the title...lol).

 

[ArielSRL]

OK, Disney people, I am back with another quandary...this time about arrival day.

Plans are to leave home around 6am. Travel time without stops is about 7 hours, however, we would never make it without stopping. We will definitely need bathroom and leg stretching breaks. Not sure about meals...I could probably just bring stuff in the car or we could go through a drive thru for a later breakfast/early lunch. Regardless I am figuring on arrival time sometime between 1 and 3. My plans are to get settled in the room, pool/resort time, and Disney Springs with a Boathouse meal and shopping (this would be our only day of DS shopping unless we went back on departure day). All of that, along with a semi early bedtime for (possibly an 8am depending upon EMM) MK rope drop.

Seems like a lot now that I am thinking about when to actually schedule the ADR. I could skip the pool time but I did tell AJ we would do that first thing. I'm not too worried about getting him out of there because if he knows we are going to the Lego Store, he will be fine with just a quick swim, but it will still take us awhile, regardless. *Thinking out loud...I might could even bargain no pool time with the Lego Store promise, so that is something to keep in mind, as well.*

So my other option is to skip the TS and either do a Roaring Fork QS or a QS in Disney Springs. That would help my pocketbook, as well. I will probably go ahead and make the ADR so I don't have decide for a long time, but I do need to figure out the time to book it Thinking 7 to give ourselves enough time and if we arrived earlier, we could tru to get in earlier or just shop until ADR time.

Opinions?

 

[ArielSRL]

So over the past few days I've been narrowing down ADR times and I think I have a pretty good idea save 15 or 30 minutes either way. Of course, that bugs me somewhat bc that's what happened to me last trip and I ended up having to try to change times by about 30 min or so to fit better in our schedule after we got all the updated info from Disney like 2 weeks out. But it is what it is. I'll wait til the hours are published next week before finalizing and posting.

I'm back today though bc I think I've already made changes...lol. After reading @kastoney 's report about Beaches and Cream, I really think my boys would love this (and me, too)! Seems like a fun meal. So I started looking to see where I could fit this in our plans and we all know how lacking DHS is in food options, so what better to add it on a DHS day! I mean, it is just a boat ride away (is 30 min a good amount of time to plan for the boat, each way?) so why not?

But then I started thinking how out of control my dining has gotten, so 1) I need to figure up approximate costs and 2) I probably need to drop at least one planned TS. Since I have been going back and forth with The Boathouse ADR on arrival day, that is probably the one I'll end up cutting. I hate to give it up bc I have heard sooooo many good things and the options look great but I do not want to feel rushed/overbooked on arrival day. That's what happened last year and it set the tone for the entire trip.

I'll still end up booking the ADR just because who knows what may change between now and then, but I'm fairly certain we will give it up.

 

[ariane37]

I hate to say it, but I think dropping the Boathouse will probably end up being the best thing I'm dying to try it also so I understand you booking it anyway and I'd do the same thing, but after this years trip I KNOW you don't want to rush on arrival day. If you do arrive by 2, get to the pool by 3 and back to the room to change by 4:30, to the bus stop by 5:30...... You're looking at at least 6 for DS. And that's IF you arrive by 2. Plus you may want an early night. So dropping Boathouse and maybe using your coercion skills to woo AJ away from the pool with the promise of Legos lol may fit your plan better. Sorry Renee