Beignets with a side of Butterbeer: An April 2013 PTR (Trip Report Link - 4/25)

[danceintherain]

Yay - I found your PTR too

Your DH sounds a lot like mine - likes to eat and take afternoon breaks!

What's really funny is that we have almost the same situation with flights - we are going United on the way there, Southwest on the way back. Except that it was SW that I had enough points to get mine and the kids tickets, only had to pay OOP for DH's. He is close to having a free ticket on United since he usually flies that for work- probably after this trip he'll be there.

Can't wait to hear about Universal - haven't been there since college, about 14 years ago! I keep saying someday we need to make a whole Orlando Vacation and do everyything EXCEPT Disney. Like that's ever gonna happen

Hey, as long as they like Disney!
This will probably be the only time we have enough miles for tickets on our own. I've flown quite a bit on my Dad's miles, but we simply don't fly enough on the same airline to have enough miles to use. Flying back and forth to Korea really adds up though! If I move G's remaining miles over to my account, I'll have enough miles for another round trip ticket. The biggest issue is that United tends to be more expensive, so unless I go on a trip alone, or split it up again, it may still not make sense for me to use the remaining miles.
EDIT: I forgot to say that we were supposed to do a big extended family vacation next summer, and I'm convinced that Orlando is the best place to go, but some of my other family aren't sold on it. I did some research into the non-Disney portion of town, and now I'm really excited about some of it. Discovery Cove is at the top of my list! I doubt I'd ever be able to go to Orlando and skip Disney altogether though.

I would love to try Restaurant Marrakesh. We love the CS in the Morocco pavilion..it's one of our favorites! I'll be interested to hear how you like it!

Wow...great job on your flights! Sounds like a good deal too. Love the picture of your two guys (big and little) sound asleep!

I've never tried any food at the Moroccan pavilion, so it will be interesting (I'm not the most adventurous of eaters and neither is my sister). I was planning on Via Napoli, but I like to vary what we eat throughout the trip, and we're already planning an Mama Melrose. I asked DH where he wanted to eat, and that's what he went with. I figure my sister and I can deal with some alternative cuisine for one meal. We'll probably split something, and if we hate it, we can do counter service somewhere after we leave.

 

[danceintherain]

I’m a bit of a stroller snob (which is why this part is getting an update of its own).

When DH got his orders to Korea, I thought we’d be going with him from the beginning, and I knew that city life is different than suburbia, so I became obsessed with strollers while I was pregnant with DS. You should have seen the spreadsheets.

Ultimately, I landed on a Baby Jogger City Mini, which just so happens to be the stroller of choice for Orlando rental companies. I LOVE my City Mini, and we’ve gotten tons of use out of it during G’s short life.

there’s a City Mini under there somewhere

It folds so easy, it has a huge canopy, is fully reclining, and its rain cover fits really well. We have several other accessories for it as well.

the last thing you want is a wet baby!

Halloween 2011

However, after I got to Korea, and realized that my child had no interest in standing, let alone walking (he didn’t do so until he was around 22 months old ). I also realized that I needed a stroller that I could manage better on my own with him (try carrying a City Mini up a 100 step flight of stairs whilst carrying a 25 lb 1 year old who doesn’t hold on and you’ll understand what I’m talking about – I left my Lillebaby carrier at home that day ). So, we ended up with an Uppababy G-Luxe:

The G-Luxe has some very positive aspects to it. At 11 lbs it’s the lightest weight fully reclining stroller on the market (at least it was when I bought it) and 8 lbs lighter than my City Mini. It has a 2 hand fold, but I can do it, albeit a little awkwardly, while holding G (although I started bringing the carrier with me more frequently after that incident). It is also freestanding when folded, which helps when I’m trying to attend to G or maneuver anything else I’m carrying. This makes it easier to pick up with a child strapped to you. It also has a handy carry strap, so I can throw it over my shoulder. It doesn’t have a cup holder (I forgot to remove the one that came with it during one flight and it snapped off) or a well fitting rain cover (I haven’t been able to convince myself to spend the money on the one made for it).
Now that G’s officially walking, a lot of the benefits aren’t as necessary, but it’s still a great stroller, and it would probably be moderately easier to deal with at Disney.

I have no idea which one I want to bring.

DH’s vote is for the City Mini, but I have a soft spot for my G-Luxe. We will be bringing our own, because it’s not in the budget to rent one once we get there, and we can use it to transport stuff in the airport, if G doesn’t ride. At the very least, we can use it to carry the car seat. I usually strap whichever car seat we’re taking with us into the seat of the stroller, so G can ride if necessary.

Since we’ll be renting a car, it makes sense to take a car seat. We’ve used a Cosco Scenera as our travel car seat in the past, but my Mom has a Cosco high back booster that we’ll take if G outgrows the Scenera before our trip (he's getting close!). Having a car seat will also be an added bonus should we end up wanting to take a cab anywhere after we return our rental car.

Next Up: Day to day plans

 

[Monny2AE]

We've never gone back to the hotel in the middle of the day- even when the kids were little. We went when DS was 6 months and when DD was 18 months. Both trips we just let them nap in the stroller and we just walked around. I think we're going to have to take an afternoon break and hit the pools during our trip in June just because of the heat.

Love the pic of DH and G on the plane- so sweet!

And I vote for the lightest, most compact, easiest to fold stroller if you're going to use the buses. We took our clunker when DS was a baby and it was horrible trying to get on/off buses especially when it was crowded in the evenings coming back to the hotel. DH fought the stroller while I had baby and backpack. Most of the time he ended up standing because even folded the stroller wouldn't fit in the seat.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I've been struggling with the stroller dilemma too. Pretty much ever since DS was born, I assumed we would take our giant BOB stroller (which I LOVE) on his first trip to Disney. But... it's so bulky and will be hard to deal with on the buses, and can be a pain in a crowd. So we're thinking about just taking the umbrella stroller, even though it's not as nice to push.

Honestly, he never rides in a stroller any more, so I don't know how much he'll use it anyway. if I can get him to sit in it at all, it's only about 5 minutes before he's throwing a fit to get out again and walk. It will probably just sit in the room all week. But at least we'll have something if we need it.

I would vote for taking the smaller one as long as it's pretty easy to push.

 

[danceintherain]

We've never gone back to the hotel in the middle of the day- even when the kids were little. We went when DS was 6 months and when DD was 18 months. Both trips we just let them nap in the stroller and we just walked around. I think we're going to have to take an afternoon break and hit the pools during our trip in June just because of the heat.

Love the pic of DH and G on the plane- so sweet!

And I vote for the lightest, most compact, easiest to fold stroller if you're going to use the buses. We took our clunker when DS was a baby and it was horrible trying to get on/off buses especially when it was crowded in the evenings coming back to the hotel. DH fought the stroller while I had baby and backpack. Most of the time he ended up standing because even folded the stroller wouldn't fit in the seat.

Yeah...I've really struggled with the break thing, so we'll see how G handles it. When he was 3 months, he slept so much anyways, that it didn't really make a difference. Now that he's almost 3, I'm worried that he'll fall asleep on the bus every time, and wake up as soon as he gets back to the room. Since I don't sleep on our breaks anyways, it probably won't matter that much. He and I can hang out while DH sleeps. My sister is kind of the wildcard.

Neither stroller is awful to manage, and there will be 3 adults to the 1 child and stroller. When my sister tagged along when my nephew was 11 months old, it was quite frustrating to deal with her Graco, which is part of the reason I became a stroller snob, when it came to my own kid. She has NO IDEA what she's missing.

This may be one of those situations where I just go with what DH wants to appease him, since I can't make my mind up one way or the other anyways, and neither stroller would make or break the experience. Maybe I'll line them up before the trip and let G pick?

I've been struggling with the stroller dilemma too. Pretty much ever since DS was born, I assumed we would take our giant BOB stroller (which I LOVE) on his first trip to Disney. But... it's so bulky and will be hard to deal with on the buses, and can be a pain in a crowd. So we're thinking about just taking the umbrella stroller, even though it's not as nice to push.

Honestly, he never rides in a stroller any more, so I don't know how much he'll use it anyway. if I can get him to sit in it at all, it's only about 5 minutes before he's throwing a fit to get out again and walk. It will probably just sit in the room all week. But at least we'll have something if we need it.

I would vote for taking the smaller one as long as it's pretty easy to push.

We pulled out the City Mini a few weeks ago, before the weather plummeted again, and G was SOO excited. We walked EVERYWHERE when we were in Korea, and he started getting a little sick of the stroller right before we left. Since we've been back, we haven't used the stroller hardly at all (it's easier to just drive places) and I think he missed it a little. He climbed right up into it and was ready to go.

I think he'll walk some during our trip, but I don't think we'll have a huge problem getting him to ride. He's still fairly new to the walking thing, so he tires easily. I definitely don't plan on having him in the stroller anywhere near as much as he was on our last trip. I'm hoping the photopass pictures will be a bit better this time around.

Have you thought about renting a stroller? Apple Rentals (or something like that) is doing a promotion where it's only $5/day or something for a stroller. If you really don't think he'd ride in it, then it would probably be a waste of money though. We have a cheap umbrella stroller as well, but I can't imagine using it at Disney. Another reason I love my pricy strollers is because I'm a bit taller than average. The umbrella stroller gives me the worst back and neck ache when I try to use it.

 

[danceintherain]

Ironically, the first time we’re going to actually arrive at Disney with lots of time before the parks closed is the time we won’t have park admission that day.
I plan on packing our swimsuits in our carry-ons, in addition to a change of clothes and pajamas for each of us, just in case our luggage takes longer than usual. Our luggage has never taken that much longer than it has taken us to get to our room and look around a bit, but I like to be prepared!
Past that, I’m not really sure what we’ll do….

Last time I had Ohana planned on our arrival night, but by the time we got to CBR that night, we decided we wanted to go to bed early (the ADR wasn't until 9pm!). Part of my thinking was that from the Poly we could head over to Shades of Green to buy our park tickets tax-free, but we decided the little extra sleep was worth more than the few dollars we would have saved.

is anyone else a Psych fan? I thought it would be hilarious to take a picture of G with that pineapple

For our extended family July trip, we got there a bit earlier, so we did go to the Magic Kingdom that night, but no ADRs, because we took the LYNX from the airport and I wasn't sure what to expect.

For our honeymoon, we jumped off the ME bus and ran to the park buses. Since we were staying at AKL on a AP rate, I was supposed to have my AP in hand when we checked in, and I didn't want to risk getting charged full rack rate (it was like twice as much!). We took the bus to Epcot, but didn't go in, because we had an ADR that night at Jiko. They didn't even ask me to see it.

So I've learned that first night plans don't really work for us, especially since they've started to charge for cancellations at a lot of places. Without an ADR we’ll be completely free to do as we wish. I do wish we were going to have park admission though!

I think we'll probably just grab some counter service to eat, but it’s possible that we may take the boat to Downtown Disney and actually sit down somewhere, since it shouldn't be too hard to find a place with space.

I’m not a huge Downtown Disney fan….before my honeymoon I had never even been there, and now I just don’t see the appeal. I LOVE shopping, but I don’t see a lot of reason to shop on vacation. Also, there’s not a lot at Downtown Disney that I can’t see near home. We have a LEGOland AND a T-REX restaurant AND an AMC Dine-In Theatres near my home town. When park time is precious, I just don’t see the point…

I’ve only eaten at one place in Downtown Disney: Wolfgang Puck Express
Oddly enough, it was the only meal at Disney on our honeymoon that gave me a stomachache. We opted for it, because we were on the Dining Plan and it was a good “value.”

I can see us possibly dropping into Earl of Sandwich, and then grab some ice cream at the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain.
We also will likely browse the shops a bit. I do like to wander around the Christmas shop and Art of Disney.

If we don’t go to Downtown Disney, we’ll just hang out at the pool...

G at the pool near my Mom's house last summer
...and explore the resort a bit until Kami arrives - at which point I'll be very excited to talk to her about something...

Can anyone guess what that is? It has something to do with Hollywood Studios for the next day!

 

[danceintherain]

Guess what DH went to pick up yesterday!?!?

I mentioned to him that we should probably go to MWR/ITR to order our tickets for our trip fairly soon. The last time we tried to do the military salute, they didn't have the tickets on hand, and we didn't have time to wait for them to come in the mail.

The Universal tickets have the added complication of putting a March 31st time limit on claiming his free ticket, even though it can be used through June 30th! I wouldn't have a problem buying our Disney tickets once we got there, even if we paid tax, but his free ticket is the whole reason we decided to go to Universal!

Well....he decided that he needed to go in yesterday, because he's convinced that the sequestration means that they're going to lay off a whole bunch of civilians on post starting March 1st (MWR is one of those civilian job places). Luckily, they had the tickets on hand, because I have no idea what would have happened if we had ordered them, and everyone stopped going into work.
Silly politics messing with my trips to Disney!

SO - We have tickets!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I think hanging out at the pool and a possible trip to DTD sound like the perfect arrival night activities! We usually arrive in the afternoon and don't head to a park on the first day. I like to get settled unpack...and soak in the fact that I'm HERE! Get up early and hit the parks running!

Yay for tickets! I ordered ours yesterday from Undercover Tourist...although it's not exactly "Mickey mail", I can't wait to get that envelope!

 

[danceintherain]

I think hanging out at the pool and a possible trip to DTD sound like the perfect arrival night activities! We usually arrive in the afternoon and don't head to a park on the first day. I like to get settled unpack...and soak in the fact that I'm HERE! Get up early and hit the parks running!

Yay for tickets! I ordered ours yesterday from Undercover Tourist...although it's not exactly "Mickey mail", I can't wait to get that envelope!

My tickets didn't even come in the mail, and I was still SO excited. The Military Salute Tickets are absolutely adorable. It's a bit of a bummer that we each won't get our own character, but that's ok.

I'm hoping that taking it slow our arrival day will help us feel refreshed enough for our next 2 days, which are likely to be the most intense of our trip!

 

[danceintherain]

​

I’m sure you’re all wondering what I’ll be so excited about on our arrival day. Well…I think I’ve decided to audition at the American Idol Experience. We’ll see how it goes. I hope to at least get on stage! Part of the reason I’m so excited is because I can have my sister audition with me, while G and DH hang out together. It's still a huge time commitment though (if we make it on stage at all) but I think it would be so much fun! If not, we have plenty of other things to do that day.

Hollywood Studios is DH’s favorite park. It also houses his favorite attraction – Rockin’ Rollercoaster. I agree that it definitely has its charms, but I tend to stray more towards the “artsy” part of it, as my favorite attraction is the Drawing Tutorial at the Animation Studio.

Our MUST attractions are as follows:
Toy Story Midway Mania – It’s definitely a fun attraction, but we skipped it on our last trip, because it made me nervous to have G in one of those jerky vehicles and it’s only really fun if you compete, so it didn’t make sense to take turns. I also refuse to wait in line for more than 20 minutes for it, which means Rope Drop, FastPass, or not happening.

Rockin’ Rollercoaster – Since it is DH’s favorite, we can’t skip it. Although we’re unsure how he’ll handle such an intense attraction.

Magic of Disney Animation- We don’t do the tour anymore. We just go through the gift shop to get back into the area with the characters and the drawing tutorial. I used to LOVE the tour (I wanted to be a Disney animator when I was a teenager) but it hasn’t changed in years, and the Studio is no longer active, so it’s nowhere near as interesting.

Sorcerer Mickey at the Animation Studio – I’m planning on using this as my initial test for G and the characters. He LOVES “Flow” but this “Flow” is a giant, so I’m not sure how he’ll react. I showed him pictures of us with Mickey from previous trips, and he was super excited that Mommy & Daddy seem to know all his favorite characters. He refused to accept that he was the baby in my arms in some of the pictures though.

Disney Junior- Live! – We’ve never done this before. It just didn’t make sense, when we were all adults, but I expect G will appreciate it this time around as he’s somewhat familiar with the characters.

Beauty & the Beast – I just love this show. It’s so dazzling!

Muppets 3D – I get a kick out of this show.

Honey! I Shrunk the Kids Playground – I’m really excited to take G to play somewhere that I played when I was a little kid.

We will definitely spend plenty of time taking in the ambiance.

More on Hollywood Studios in Next Post

 

[danceintherain]

(...continued from last post)

Maybe:
Indiana Jones OR Lights, Motors, Action – We’ll probably make this decision once we get there. I think G might appreciate the LMA! Show, but he may also freak out from the loud noises. I really doubt we’ll have time to do both.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid – This is one of my most vivid memories of attractions from when I was a little kid. It doesn’t hold a huge draw for us though, so we’ll only do it if it’s convenient.

Star Tours – On our honeymoon, DH made me wait in line for this for over an hour. It was a compromise after he HATED Tower of Terror, and I wanted him to ride Rockin’ Rollercoaster (which he loved). He LOVED the Star Tours queue, but the ride made us both motion sick. From what I understand, the basics of the ride haven’t changed much, but they may be better synchronized since the refurb? Either way, we’ll only bother if we really run out of things to do. We will go over there to take pictures though….and DH wants to build a light saber with G. Doing it here would probably be more convenient than DTD.

Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream – I just love Walt Disney’s life, so we’ll probably wander through here, but maybe not stay for the show.
Backlot Tour – Definitely used to be better when there was a real backlot to tour, but it’s still fun to see some of the stuff on the tour.

I also heard something about a Pirates of the Caribbean themed attraction where the Narnia walk through used to be. I can't find it on any of the maps, but if it's there I expect we'll take a look.

Probably Not:
Tower of Terror – I LOVE the theming of this ride, but Kami isn’t into thrill rides, DH hates it, and G will be too short.
Sounds Dangerous – I doubt it will even be open for our trip, and if it is I doubt we’ll care.
Fantasmic! – This is my favorite nighttime show at Disney, but it’s such a pain to try to fit it in nowadays. I guess it will really depend on how G is acting as closing time start coming. I really wasn’t planning on keeping him out late very much. It is our first night though, so he’ll likely still be on central time, so we’ll see.

FOOD:
Breakfast at Sassagoula Floatworks Factory - I’m thrilled that they have Biscuits & Gravy on their menu
Lunch at Starring Rolls – The sandwiches look good, and I really want a cupcake!
Dinner at Mama Melrose – I’m not excited about this meal, but I’m not dreading it either.

It’s likely that we’ll end up picking up our rental car this day, unless we can get a good weekend rental rate that lets us pick it up the day we arrive (most car rental discounts require a Saturday night stay).

 

[gtpoohbear]

Sounds like a fun (and FULL) day! I don't totally get the hype behind TSMM. Sure it's fun, but not worth waiting a hour for. A lot of the ones on your list are our favorites too. Believe it or not, DH is adamant every trip that we HAVE to do Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid at DHS. He's not usually the Princess type so I have to give him a hard time about being so enamored with those two shows, lol!

Can't wait to hear how you American Idol Experience goes!

Oh, and I've never gone in One Mans Dream, but I really want to this time, I'll probably have to sneak in there on my own though because I doubt DH or the kids will be interested.

 

[danceintherain]

Sounds like a fun (and FULL) day! I don't totally get the hype behind TSMM. Sure it's fun, but not worth waiting a hour for. A lot of the ones on your list are our favorites too. Believe it or not, DH is adamant every trip that we HAVE to do Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid at DHS. He's not usually the Princess type so I have to give him a hard time about being so enamored with those two shows, lol!

Can't wait to hear how you American Idol Experience goes!

Oh, and I've never gone in One Mans Dream, but I really want to this time, I'll probably have to sneak in there on my own though because I doubt DH or the kids will be interested.

Finding out that the same ride at Disneyland never has a long line pretty much clinched my no waiting for TSMM policy. I do enjoy it, but really not worth waiting that long for. Granted, I won't wait more than 30 minutes for anything, unless it's the last attraction of the day and I really want to do it.

Those two shows are really great. I expect we'll probably fit Little Mermaid in. I haven't talked to my sister much about our plans, so she may have some specific thoughts about things.

 

[danceintherain]

The next few updates are going to be light on the photos, because our next two planned days are for things we've never done before.

Occasionally I decide I’m not going to do certain things or read certain books by virtue of the fact that EVERYONE else loves it. I can be obstinate like that. So when I was a teenager, and there started being a lot of hype about Harry Potter, I was adamant about not reading the books. Well….when the first movie came out, my Mom made it a rule that we couldn’t go see it unless we had already read the book. The big deal here was that my Mom occasionally, for the right movie, would get tickets for all of us to go see the midnight showing, which of course was a big deal, since it meant we pretty much were the first people to see it, and we got to skip school the next day. (score 5 points for Mom - although I read TONS as a teenager, so it wasn't really that big of a deal that I didn't want to read Harry Potter)

I stayed up most of the night before, and finished the book. A massive headache later and I was addicted to the series. I’m pretty sure I read all the rest of the books in a matter of days.

Needless to say, when I found out about Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I was VERY excited about it. For the first time, there was something in Orlando that had the potential to pull me away from Disney. It didn’t open until the summer of 2010 though, and I ended up having a baby then being promptly whisked off to South Korea. Straying from Disney didn’t make a whole lot of sense during the one trip I got to take at that point, especially since the 3 month old would understandably limit what we could do.

Well….when I started planning our first trip to WDW after we got back from Korea, I still didn’t think Universal would make a lot of sense. We’d still be traveling with a 2 year old, and it’s really not fun to split up for attractions, so initially I planned on getting the Water Parks addition to our Armed Forces Salute tickets. Harry Potter World would keep, and we haven’t been to a water park either.

Then something happened.

I found out that DH gets a FREE ticket to Universal this year on account of his military service (FINALLY the military is worth something!). Alone, that may not have been enough to compel me, but my sister, who may very well be a bigger Harry Potter fan than I am is coming on this trip with us, and taking her to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would score me some serious sister points. We’re still going to have to deal with splitting up to attend to the 2 year old, but at least none of us have to be alone at any point, and luckily Islands of Adventure also has the Dr. Suess themed area, so we can split our time, and I expect G will have fun.

This is probably going to be our earliest rising day, because we’ll have to get all the way over to Universal and park before around 8:45 so we can make sure that we’re there as they open the gates.

Our MUST attractions for this day:
Anything to do with Harry Potter. I have a feeling we’re going to spend more money on souvenirs here a just because it’s all the stuff we’ve read about in the books. I’ve heard most of the edible stuff is awful, but I think we’ll have fun nonetheless. I’m thinking I might try to find the wand that chose me on Pottermore (Blackthorn with a Unicorn hair core, 14 1/2 inches, hard) Do they even sell non-storyline wands? I guess I should probably find out.
We’ll hit Ollivander’s first. (I wonder what the likelihood of a 2 year old getting picked for a wand is?)
Then the Forbidden Journey
G SHOULD be tall enough for the Flight of the Hippogriff
Dueling Dragons
Lots of time spent exploring the shops, and stopping for some Butterbeers.

We’ll also do some of the Dr. Suess stuff, and anything else that G is allowed on.

Past that, I’m not sure we’ll do much else. I have a reservation at Mythos for lunch, because I’m not sure if we will take a break this day due to the extra travel time to Universal. I also think we’ll easily complete what we want to do in the park by late afternoon. I would like to see the park at night, but I don’t know if it will be convenient. This is going to be mine and DH’s date night though, so maybe we’ll go back just us?

 

[Monny2AE]

How fun is it that you're going to try out for American Idol!

G will love Disney Junior especially when the bubbles and confetti come down from the ceiling!

Can't wait to hear how you like Harry Potter. DS wants to go but the cost for us to go there for a day on top of the cost for the week at Disney is just a bit too much right now.

 

[danceintherain]

How fun is it that you're going to try out for American Idol!

G will love Disney Junior especially when the bubbles and confetti come down from the ceiling!

Can't wait to hear how you like Harry Potter. DS wants to go but the cost for us to go there for a day on top of the cost for the week at Disney is just a bit too much right now.

I had this thought the other day that we're planning on DHS on a Sunday, which even though that's the recommended day, it's also more likely that locals will show up. I've read somewhere that some locals try out for AIE on a regular basis, which makes it more difficult for the average park goer to actually get on stage. I tried to adjust our plans, but I can't figure out a suitable alternative, so we'll see how it goes. It's possible that the articles I read are enough out of date that it doesn't matter anymore.

G will love the Disney Junior show. We may end up having to see it more than once.

I'm soo excited about Harry Potter. It really is awesome that this happens to be the year that Universal decided to give a free ticket to military personnel. It's still going to be more expensive, but since G is free and Kami is responsible for her own ticket costs, we only had to come up with the money for 1 ticket and the transportation to get there. As a bonus, we'll have a rental car so we can do a grocery run.
I expect we'll end up spending more time at Universal once we have teenagers, but for now it will be a nice taste, and hopefully I won't be too anxious with only 4 days at the Disney parks.

 

[danceintherain]

The next day is our break day. I’ve got to admit, I’m a bit nervous about this day. We’ve never spent a whole day at our resort before, and while I’m sure DH will be perfectly fine with it….I get antsy. At least I’ll have G and Kami to keep me company.

We’ll probably try to sleep in, which will be difficult with a 2 year old, so G and I will probably go resort wandering in the morning. Maybe we’ll rent a surrey bike or a boat or something?
Then there’s the pool….
G has always been very cautious around water, and it took the bulk of last summer to get him to stand up in it at all, so this year will be interesting. He’s definitely much more secure on his feet, so I think he’ll take to the water nicely. If not, he’ll be perfectly happy sitting on the steps with Mommy.
I have no idea about the slide. He LOVES regular slides, but has always been nervous around the water ones.
Hopefully, there will be other kids in the pool the first few times we go, because G loves playing with other kids, and the surest way for him to do something he’s a little apprehensive about is to see another kid doing it. (we’ll see how positive that is when he’s older)
I expect we’ll spend more time at the pool during this trip than we have in the past.

Downtown Disney is definitely a possibility for this day.

The thing I’m most anticipating for this day is our dining reservation!
We did Ohana for breakfast on our honeymoon, but I’ve wanted to try dinner since then. I mean…it’s meat…on sticks.

I’ve tried to work it into our trips for the past 4 years, but it just hasn’t happened.
July 2009 – I was trying to avoid meals outside the parks, because it was with my extended family that had hardly eaten at Disney at all. I didn’t want to spook them by making them travel too far.
December 2009 – This was supposed to be my 3rd trip for that year on my AP, but we canceled when we found out DH was getting stationed in Korea, so we wanted to save money for traveling while we were there. I wish we hadn’t cancelled it, because traveling in Korea didn’t work out the way we had wanted, and it would have been nice to get another trip with DH before G was born.
November 2010 – This was a last minute trip that I booked after G was born and we found out that we wouldn’t be joining DH in Korea as soon as we had thought. The only Ohana ADR I could find was for 9pm on our arrival night, and once we got to Disney that day, we decided that it really wasn’t worth it to go all the way over there that late, so we cancelled. (this was before they initiated the cancelation charge)
January 2012 – Another misfire trip. It ended up being too soon after we got back from Korea. I made all the ADRs around 6 months in advance, then I had to cancel…it was a bummer.
So, here’s to hoping we actually get to go on this trip, and I get to eat at Ohana…and it lives up to my expectations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week I'm planning on making some shirts for our trip. I was going to do it over the weekend, but I was missing one thing I needed.
I'm also hoping to get the stuff to make DS a few costumes for our trip!

 

[archdandy]

Your day to day plans are sounding good so far! It seems like everybody who goes to Universal and has a meal there eats at Mytho's.

 

[danceintherain]

Your day to day plans are sounding good so far! It seems like everybody who goes to Universal and has a meal there eats at Mytho's.

That seems to be the recommended place. I'm really not sure about it though. We may end up skipping it.

 

[gtpoohbear]

The next few updates are going to be light on the photos, because our next two planned days are for things we've never done before.

Occasionally I decide I’m not going to do certain things or read certain books by virtue of the fact that EVERYONE else loves it. I can be obstinate like that. So when I was a teenager, and there started being a lot of hype about Harry Potter, I was adamant about not reading the books. Well….when the first movie came out, my Mom made it a rule that we couldn’t go see it unless we had already read the book. The big deal here was that my Mom occasionally, for the right movie, would get tickets for all of us to go see the midnight showing, which of course was a big deal, since it meant we pretty much were the first people to see it, and we got to skip school the next day. (score 5 points for Mom - although I read TONS as a teenager, so it wasn't really that big of a deal that I didn't want to read Harry Potter)

I stayed up most of the night before, and finished the book. A massive headache later and I was addicted to the series. I’m pretty sure I read all the rest of the books in a matter of days.

Needless to say, when I found out about Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I was VERY excited about it. For the first time, there was something in Orlando that had the potential to pull me away from Disney. It didn’t open until the summer of 2010 though, and I ended up having a baby then being promptly whisked off to South Korea. Straying from Disney didn’t make a whole lot of sense during the one trip I got to take at that point, especially since the 3 month old would understandably limit what we could do.

Well….when I started planning our first trip to WDW after we got back from Korea, I still didn’t think Universal would make a lot of sense. We’d still be traveling with a 2 year old, and it’s really not fun to split up for attractions, so initially I planned on getting the Water Parks addition to our Armed Forces Salute tickets. Harry Potter World would keep, and we haven’t been to a water park either.

Then something happened.

I found out that DH gets a FREE ticket to Universal this year on account of his military service (FINALLY the military is worth something!). Alone, that may not have been enough to compel me, but my sister, who may very well be a bigger Harry Potter fan than I am is coming on this trip with us, and taking her to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would score me some serious sister points. We’re still going to have to deal with splitting up to attend to the 2 year old, but at least none of us have to be alone at any point, and luckily Islands of Adventure also has the Dr. Suess themed area, so we can split our time, and I expect G will have fun.

This is probably going to be our earliest rising day, because we’ll have to get all the way over to Universal and park before around 8:45 so we can make sure that we’re there as they open the gates.

Our MUST attractions for this day:
Anything to do with Harry Potter. I have a feeling we’re going to spend more money on souvenirs here a just because it’s all the stuff we’ve read about in the books. I’ve heard most of the edible stuff is awful, but I think we’ll have fun nonetheless. I’m thinking I might try to find the wand that chose me on Pottermore (Blackthorn with a Unicorn hair core, 14 1/2 inches, hard) Do they even sell non-storyline wands? I guess I should probably find out.
We’ll hit Ollivander’s first. (I wonder what the likelihood of a 2 year old getting picked for a wand is?)
Then the Forbidden Journey
G SHOULD be tall enough for the Flight of the Hippogriff
Dueling Dragons
Lots of time spent exploring the shops, and stopping for some Butterbeers.

We’ll also do some of the Dr. Suess stuff, and anything else that G is allowed on.

Past that, I’m not sure we’ll do much else. I have a reservation at Mythos for lunch, because I’m not sure if we will take a break this day due to the extra travel time to Universal. I also think we’ll easily complete what we want to do in the park by late afternoon. I would like to see the park at night, but I don’t know if it will be convenient. This is going to be mine and DH’s date night though, so maybe we’ll go back just us?

I was a little like that with Harry Potter for a while too. It got really popular when I was in college, but at least on our campus there was very much a Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter thing going on - you were either on one side or the other! All of my friends were major LotR fans, so we shunned HP for years. I never read the books, but did finally end up watching several of the movies, years later. Now I'm hoping at some point that I can get DD into the books, because she tends to like that genre. And then maybe we'll go to Universal I've actually said for a long time I want to stay at Universal for a few days sometime, but probably when the kids are a little older.

We did spend a couple of days at Universal and IoA many years ago (right after IoA opened I think), and it was a blast! The Suess land was really neat. If you ahve a chance to go back at night for your date I would do it! We thought about going over there for dinner when we were in Orlando last December, the only thing that stopped us was that we would have to pay for parking just to be there a couple of hours. The City Walk area is really cool at night though, unless it's changed in the last decade