August 16, 2011, Disney Dream - Part 2

[hmansure]

I'm sick in bed today with an bad cold. Up side is that I worked on vacation arrangements. Booking transfers and resort stay. Need park advice. We are going to do magical kingdom one day. What do you guys think we should do for day 2. Downtown Disney and resort all day... Or Epcot... Or Animal Kingdom.... Or Disney Studios. Kids have never done any of them except the Magic Kingdom. Advice?

One of your kids is 6, correct? Though my kids love all the parks - and have since they were little tikes - Epcot wasn't one of their favorites at age 6. Our DD (6) if she had her way would spend either another day at MK or in the resort pool

Our pre-cruise plans include 2 resort days and only 1 day touring a park. We plan to do some water activities at the Contemporary as well.

 

[hmansure]

As I know some of us are taking the Auto Train.... Amtrak has a special $19 fare for kids.... I haven't checked yet to see if we can rebook using this discount code or not.

 

[Maryrn11168]

As I know some of us are taking the Auto Train.... Amtrak has a special $19 fare for kids.... I haven't checked yet to see if we can rebook using this discount code or not.

I re-booked using the $19 kids fare...saved over $100. I was able to book each child @$19/way, as I understand it should be 1 child per adult full fare. We are 2 adults with 3 children and I paid $19 for all 3. ( I think there was a glitch in the system ) We have never taken the train before but are looking forward to it!!

 

[Mjasp]

I re-booked using the $19 kids fare...saved over $100. I was able to book each child @$19/way, as I understand it should be 1 child per adult full fare. We are 2 adults with 3 children and I paid $19 for all 3. ( I think there was a glitch in the system ) We have never taken the train before but are looking forward to it!!

Mary...Are you driving to Virginia, or just going without your car out of NY?

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

I'm sick in bed today with an bad cold. Up side is that I worked on vacation arrangements. Booking transfers and resort stay. Need park advice. We are going to do magical kingdom one day. What do you guys think we should do for day 2. Downtown Disney and resort all day... Or Epcot... Or Animal Kingdom.... Or Disney Studios. Kids have never done any of them except the Magic Kingdom. Advice?

GET WELL SOON !!!!!

IF your kids love animals - I'd go visit AK !! I've always seen kids in awe during Kilimangiaro Safaris !!! and the little ones are delighted playing with animals ( petting a small goat and such ) at Rafiki's Planet watch ...

For older kids there are Kali river rapids ,Expedition Everest ,Dinosaur ...

Very beautiful shows - Broadway style FOR ALL THE FAMILY : Finding Nemo and Festival of the Lion king !!

laura

 

[kritter]

I'm sick in bed today with an bad cold. Up side is that I worked on vacation arrangements. Booking transfers and resort stay. Need park advice. We are going to do magical kingdom one day. What do you guys think we should do for day 2. Downtown Disney and resort all day... Or Epcot... Or Animal Kingdom.... Or Disney Studios. Kids have never done any of them except the Magic Kingdom. Advice?

Hope your feeling better.

We go to WDW 4-5 times a year with the girls. Are you doing the parks before or after the cruise? If before hand I would say stay at the resort and rest before getting onto the ship. If not before then I would say do a park. Do they like rollercoasters and fast rides? And do you want to stay in a park all day??

 

[kritter]

Good Sunday Morning Everyone,

Laura I sent you the company that we use for Transportation.

Hope everyone has a GREAT SUNDAY!!

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Good Sunday Morning Everyone,

Laura I sent you the company that we use for Transportation.

Hope everyone has a GREAT SUNDAY!!

Thankyou !!!
It all is coming together NOW !!!

This afternoon WE WILL BE WORKING ON OUR ESTA PERMIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's just a renewal , but ...
So hoping it works for us ... each time I am a bit apprehensive ..................

 

[TexasGirl]

Hope your feeling better.

We go to WDW 4-5 times a year with the girls. Are you doing the parks before or after the cruise? If before hand I would say stay at the resort and rest before getting onto the ship. If not before then I would say do a park. Do they like rollercoasters and fast rides? And do you want to stay in a park all day??

Thanks to everyone that has chimed in. This is what we've planned so far:

DH, me, DD (11) and DS (6)

We are flying in Sat afternoon Aug 13and taking Magical Express to Port Orleans French Quarter. Will prob just eat and go to bed.

Monday, Aug 14 we are hoping on the free bus to Magic Kingdom and having a great park day.

Tuesday, Aug 15 is undecided. We may just stay at Port Orleans French Quarter and sleep in, have a good breakfast, swim in their cool pool area, go down the Serpent Slide, play on the playground...take the free boat shuttle to downtown Disney and ride the Carasol there and eat at RainForest or Wolfgang Puci.

OR...
Go to a 2nd Park but not "go, go, go" come back to the resort late afternoon....swim and eat there.

If we do a 2nd park...I am leaning towards Disney Studios. My son is into PlayHouse Disney and Cars BIG time and they have both shows there. My DD is an aspiring drama queen (She's going to Musical Theatre Camp this summer) and I think she'd enjoy the "studio" aspect. I think I may cross off EPCOT for a visit with more time & when DS is older. Animal Kingdom sounds amazing but we do have Fossil Rim here in Texas that is similar on a much smaller scale.

Wed. Aug 16 we will sleep late, prob get in one last swim in POFQ pool then meet in the lobby at noon to take DCL transfers to the DREAM!

I really, really appreciate you guys chiming in with feedback. What do you think?

 

[jenanderson]

Good Morning Everyone! It is amazing how fast the days are going...we will all be on that ship in no time at all!

My job is still keeping so busy that it is hard to get on here very often. I am really looking forward to summer break. I will have to work some this summer but it will not be as crazy as it is right now.

This week I was able to adjust our airfare....the price had dropped $80! We have never booked with Southwest before because they are new to our region so I was excited to find out that I could adjust their fare without a penalty. To those of you who fly Southwest - do you usually pay the extra money for the early bird check in?

I would love to use the $80 credit to book my flight to Disneyland in January! It will be just me going (with 3 wonderful, old friends from high school). We are going to go and run in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon!

 

[hmansure]

I re-booked using the $19 kids fare...saved over $100. I was able to book each child @$19/way, as I understand it should be 1 child per adult full fare. We are 2 adults with 3 children and I paid $19 for all 3. ( I think there was a glitch in the system ) We have never taken the train before but are looking forward to it!!

Very nice - I will give them a call today (I wasn't able to make this change online for some reason). Thx!

 

[hmansure]

and the little ones are delighted playing with animals ( petting a small goat and such ) at Rafiki's Planet watch

Reminds of trip where I got yelled at by a CM.... my kids were off petting the animals and I was leaning up against a fence looking at my park map or times guide or something... next thing I know some crazy animal snags the papers right out of my hands (I didn't even see it coming as I wasn't paying attention). I made a half attempt at rescuing my map, but that animal seemed pretty determined and I didn't want to end up on You Tube battling a goat or something

Long story short - a CM came flying over and really lit into me about "giving" paper to one of the animals. She was pissed. A bit of a minor argument ensued. Another CM who saw the whole thing came over and diffused the situation, gave us some FPs, and we were on our way. To my knowledge the goat lived!

I guess I should have been paying attention in retrospect?

 

[hmansure]

Good Morning Everyone! It is amazing how fast the days are going...we will all be on that ship in no time at all!

My job is still keeping so busy that it is hard to get on here very often. I am really looking forward to summer break. I will have to work some this summer but it will not be as crazy as it is right now.

This week I was able to adjust our airfare....the price had dropped $80! We have never booked with Southwest before because they are new to our region so I was excited to find out that I could adjust their fare without a penalty. To those of you who fly Southwest - do you usually pay the extra money for the early bird check in?

I would love to use the $80 credit to book my flight to Disneyland in January! It will be just me going (with 3 wonderful, old friends from high school). We are going to go and run in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon!

We're using Southwest for a trip down in late June and since it is just DS and myself - I paid the extra for the early bird check-in.

 

[Maryrn11168]

Mary...Are you driving to Virginia, or just going without your car out of NY?

We are going to drive to Va and get the train. I originally booked because airfares were sooo high and since we are going to need a rental car it will be nice to have our own car. Airfares have come down a little, but the kids (and DH and I) are excited about the experience of taking the train. What I am not looking forward to is the drive from Va back to NY!!

 

[Maryrn11168]

Thanks to everyone that has chimed in. This is what we've planned so far:

DH, me, DD (11) and DS (6)

We are flying in Sat afternoon Aug 13and taking Magical Express to Port Orleans French Quarter. Will prob just eat and go to bed.

Monday, Aug 14 we are hoping on the free bus to Magic Kingdom and having a great park day.

Tuesday, Aug 15 is undecided. We may just stay at Port Orleans French Quarter and sleep in, have a good breakfast, swim in their cool pool area, go down the Serpent Slide, play on the playground...take the free boat shuttle to downtown Disney and ride the Carasol there and eat at RainForest or Wolfgang Puci.

OR...
Go to a 2nd Park but not "go, go, go" come back to the resort late afternoon....swim and eat there.

If we do a 2nd park...I am leaning towards Disney Studios. My son is into PlayHouse Disney and Cars BIG time and they have both shows there. My DD is an aspiring drama queen (She's going to Musical Theatre Camp this summer) and I think she'd enjoy the "studio" aspect. I think I may cross off EPCOT for a visit with more time & when DS is older. Animal Kingdom sounds amazing but we do have Fossil Rim here in Texas that is similar on a much smaller scale.

Wed. Aug 16 we will sleep late, prob get in one last swim in POFQ pool then meet in the lobby at noon to take DCL transfers to the DREAM!

I really, really appreciate you guys chiming in with feedback. What do you think?

I think on Tuesday you should head to Port Canaveral and get on the ship...If you wait until Wed we will already be at Castaway Cay enjoying the beach and a Konk Cooler!! (I think you just missed Sunday on your list of days!)

 

[kritter]

Good Morning Everyone! It is amazing how fast the days are going...we will all be on that ship in no time at all!

My job is still keeping so busy that it is hard to get on here very often. I am really looking forward to summer break. I will have to work some this summer but it will not be as crazy as it is right now.

This week I was able to adjust our airfare....the price had dropped $80! We have never booked with Southwest before because they are new to our region so I was excited to find out that I could adjust their fare without a penalty. To those of you who fly Southwest - do you usually pay the extra money for the early bird check in?

I would love to use the $80 credit to book my flight to Disneyland in January! It will be just me going (with 3 wonderful, old friends from high school). We are going to go and run in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon!

Hi Jen,

I usually do the early bird check-in!!

 

[Mjasp]

I always travel SWA and have never used the early bird check in, even on the ship I have gone online and booked. BUT I think on the return trip I will use the early bird check in but now on the way there. We are home the day before we leave so we can always go online and check in...on the way home though, I think I will just pay the extra for early check in.

 

[TexasGirl]

I think on Tuesday you should head to Port Canaveral and get on the ship...If you wait until Wed we will already be at Castaway Cay enjoying the beach and a Konk Cooler!! (I think you just missed Sunday on your list of days!)

Too Funny!

You are so right. I skipped Sunnday. Yep, Sat arrive. SUNDAY is MK, Monday is my ???? where I need help, TUESDAY we go to the Dream.

Oh the Horrors if I messed that up for real.

 

[Amanda132]

Too Funny!

You are so right. I skipped Sunnday. Yep, Sat arrive. SUNDAY is MK, Monday is my ???? where I need help, TUESDAY we go to the Dream.

Oh the Horrors if I messed that up for real.

Although Epcot is my favorite park, since your kids are pretty young and you only have half a day, I would skip it. You seem to be leaning towards the Studios, and I think that's a good choice. Unless your kids are reeeeally into animals, in which case I'd choose Animal Kingdom.

Just a note, if you plan on riding Toy Story Mania, you might want to be at the park as early as possible. Fastpasses go fast, and since you only want to spend half a day there, you'll want a Fastpass for a relatively early time. According to touringplans.com, by 11:00 am, Fastpasses for TSM will be for 5:30 pm. And by noon they'll be almost gone.

 

[eyes4mickey]

One of your kids is 6, correct? Though my kids love all the parks - and have since they were little tikes - Epcot wasn't one of their favorites at age 6. Our DD (6) if she had her way would spend either another day at MK or in the resort pool

Our pre-cruise plans include 2 resort days and only 1 day touring a park. We plan to do some water activities at the Contemporary as well.

What type of water activities do the have at the Contemporary? We're Staying at BLT and only plan on 2 days of parks.