Aunties Wish Trip

[chicharitta]

Disney World here we come! January 3-9 2013 it will be me, DH, my mom, step dad, Sis, BIL, and Niece, who turns 6 during the trip. Forgive me for not using names or pictures but we would prefer not to post those publicly.

This trip is a dream come true for me. My niece was diagnosed with cancer right after Christmas 2009, just weeks before her second birthday. After surgery and 6 months of chemo she was cancer free. (and still is!!!) January 2010 Make-A-Wish granted her wish to meet Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. I so wanted to go on thar trip but it just wasn't ment to be. March 2011 My husband and I went to WDW for the first time. Now when I say first time it was the first time EVER for both of us. Needless to say I got bitten by the Disney bug, or maybe it was a Mouse. Either way I fell in love with the most magical place on earth. The only thing that was missing was my niece. I must have said it a 1,000 times a day. I wish she was here. Oh look at that little girl, She has the same dress. Fom then on it was my dream to go to Disney World with my niece before she grew up too much. Well 3 years after my niece got her wish I'm getting mine!

So here's the plan

Me and DH have a 2 bedroom Villa at Old Key West thanks to my uncle who so kindly allowed us to use his DVC points. We got a 2Br because friends of ours who recently moved to FL are planning on joining us for a day or 2. The rest of the crew will be staying at Satatoga Springs. We thought about all staying in on of the grand villas together but with the 3rd bedroom being being full sized beds. One couple would either be cramped or sleeping in seperate beds. Plus do we really need to be together 24/7?

So here's the breakdown
Jan 3
We are scheduled to arrive in Orlando around 11. After we take the magical express to our resorts we will meet in Downtown Disney for dinner. We tried to get reservations for T-Rex but they were booked solid. So the new plan is to see if they will take us as a walk in. We doubt it but it's worth a shot. If that doest work out we'll just grab something. After dinner it's off to Buld a Dino to build my niece another Dino. Then it's off to the T-shirt shop to make matching shirts for the crew.

Jan 4
Epcot Day: DH and I have dinner ADR's for Le Cellier for dinner. The rest of the crew didn't want to use 2 dining plan credits so they will be eating at Garden Grill. The plan for the rest of the day is where ever the princess (aka my niece) leads us!

Jan 5
Hollywood Studios: DH, my mom, step dad and myself have ADR for lunch at 50's prime time. My mom loves this place. Sis,BIL and niece will be doing lunch at Hollywood and Vine so niece can meet the Disney Junior characters. Anything else is wherever the princess leads us.

Jan 6
Animal Kingdom and Date night: Early Breakfast ADR at Tusker House. Late Afternoon/Evening is Date Night. My mom ans step dad Are taking my niece to crystal palace for dinner then shopping on Mainstret and/or Downtown Disney DH and I are hoping to be able to do some water activities at OKW before our ADR at Rose and Crown. The after dinner plan is to wander the world showcase and/or boardwalk.

Jan 7
Magic Kingdom day
Early morning reservation for Niece at Pirates League. She is OBSESSED with The Little Mermaid so when she heard they do a mermaid makeover it was a must. We're hoping to get an ADR for Be Our Guest. They still aren't taking reservations. The latest we heard was they will start sometime in August. The rest of the day is our usual plan. Where ever the princess or in this case mermaid leads. I have however made her promise to ride Dumbo with auntie!

Jan 8
Who knows... Today is the day to revisit favorites do what you missed earlier in the week or just sit by the pool. DH and I have ADR's for Ohana along with our friends who are supposed to be hanging out with us. The rest of the crew has ADR for the buffet in Germany. I forgot what it's called.

Jan 9
Check out and fly home.

 

[chicharitta]

Update 1.1

Thanks to the Disney Channel my niece now knows she can get a pirate princess makeover at Pirates League and guess what she wants that instead of the mermaid make over. UGGH I just ordered her a costume off the internet. She wanted a "real" mermaid costume not the ariel dress that Disney sells. We're trying to convince her to stick with the mermaid and be a pirate for Halloween.

DH and I are now playing with the idea of tacking on a couple more days onto the end of our trip. We both work for the same company and do not have traditional work schedules. Every fall we bid on our schedule for the upcoming year. Well I was checking the calendar to see when the 2013 schedule would take effect. (We do the bi-weekly pay thing so it's not always exactly Jan 1) I figured out that Jan 13 will be the start date. DH and I are planning on getting Sundays and Mondays off on the new schedule. How does that impact Disney. We are currently scheduled to fly home on the 9th. And have the 10&11 off to unpack do laundry and catch up on all that sleeping we aren't gonna do on vacation. If we get the schedule we want that would mean we would work the 12th then have the 13&14 off. Go to work one day then have 2 more off? No thank you! So now we are looking at possibly having 5 days at home, in CT, in January. Again no thank you!

The only issue is that weekend 11-13 is the weekend of the Disney Marathon. I looked at what it would cost to add a couple days onto our trip and already things are booked. AKL is booked i could get one of the 3 days I wanted. DH said how about that new one?
Me: Art of Animation
DH: Yeah just no little mermaid.
I bet you can guess what happens next. Yup only Little Mermaid available. As of it was meant to be our friends who are planning to meet up with us call to double check what days we will be in WDW. We tell them about the new plan we are hatching and they suggest we go to their house for a few days. They live far enough away that we won't be getting any extra park days out of this trip but FL in January beats CT in January no matter what you do!

 

[Alyswish]

So exciting! Our youngest, 5, is getting her make a wish trip in February. I was looking on here for some character dining ideas. Hollywood and vine may be a great idea for us hope your trip turns out wonderful!

 

[chicharitta]

So exciting! Our youngest, 5, is getting her make a wish trip in February. I was looking on here for some character dining ideas. Hollywood and vine may be a great idea for us hope your trip turns out wonderful!

Thank you so much. Your going to have so much fun on your trip. Disney really does go all out to make sure the wish kids and their families are treated to a truly magical vacation. Some of our other character dining favorites were the Safari breakfast at Tusker House. With the fab 5 Plus if you book an earlier time you can get into the park and have breakfast before it even opens then be on the safari before the crowds hit. We also loved Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends. I needed some Tigger time!

 

[Alyswish]

Thank you so much. Your going to have so much fun on your trip. Disney really does go all out to make sure the wish kids and their families are treated to a truly magical vacation. Some of our other character dining favorites were the Safari breakfast at Tusker House. With the fab 5 Plus if you book an earlier time you can get into the park and have breakfast before it even opens then be on the safari before the crowds hit. We also loved Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends. I needed some Tigger time!

Thank you for the tip!! Getting an early start is a GREAT idea! Do you know if we need to go through MAW to make the dining reservations, since they are doing the planning. I wasn't sure if I did any planning that it may interefere with the MAW planning.

 

[chicharitta]

Thank you for the tip!! Getting an early start is a GREAT idea! Do you know if we need to go through MAW to make the dining reservations, since they are doing the planning. I wasn't sure if I did any planning that it may interefere with the MAW planning.

You make all your dining and other reservations. MAW will get you your park tix but after that what park you go to or what you see and do is your problem. I highly recommend calling dining to make your dining reservations since the online system likes to link your dining with your room. I'm assuming your staying off site at GKTW?

 

[Alyswish]

You make all your dining and other reservations. MAW will get you your park tix but after that what park you go to or what you see and do is your problem. I highly recommend calling dining to make your dining reservations since the online system likes to link your dining with your room. I'm assuming your staying off site at GKTW?

Yes, we are staying at GKTW. I will see what I can plan. It's so exciting! I just wasn't sure how the planning process goes thank you for all of your help!