Breaking out of our Disney rut!!! Nov 2011 PTR

[prisjoyce]

ooh, I love that.

Thank you! Have you ever been to WDW over the Holidays? There are so many opportunities for pretty pictures!

 

[prisjoyce]

I'm getting excited! We're one month from date of departure!

I'm thinking ahead to what rides and attractions we'll be hitting. Now that DS has grown a bit, he'll be able to do more. He's 44 inches, (For the record, I don't neurotically measure my kids. He just had a bday, so we were at the dr where he got measured.)... so he still can't do upside down rides, but can do some of the coasters/other thrill rides. BTMRR is in the plans, as is Pirates, most of Fantasyland, and TSMM. DD8 went on Everest a few years ago and FREAKED out. Think eyes rolling back in her head. Scary. She wants to do it again, and DS wants to go as well (must check if he's tall enough), but I'm leary. Have any of you had experiences with children on Everest?

DD also wants to try Space Mountain. She is tall enough for the bigger rides, but I feel weird about not being able to sit next to her. And while I personally love Rock-n-Rollercoaster, I'm not sure she's ready for it; it's so fast! We'll have to see how it goes....

I'm also on the fence about Jedi Training. We have never seen the show, but DS is mildly interested in Star Wars, so I think he may like it. I'm thinking of sending DH to get FP's for TSMM while I take the kids to sign up for Jedi Training. But if we skip Jedi, we could get FP for TSMM AND ride stand-by. Ahhh! Decisions! And while I'm talking about HS (anyone else still want to call it MGM??), we've never seen Fantasmic, so that's on our to-do list, as is the Osborne Lights. Really excited about that one!

Another thing we definitely plan to do is the Kim Possible missions in Epcot. They sound really fun for the kids, and Epcot has never been their favorite park, so I'm hoping this will change that. Anyone know when the different Santa's arrive in Epcot?

I plan on checking the crowd calendars this week and having a more solid daily plan....

 

[prisjoyce]

Happy Fall y'all! It's quite chilly in MD today... all the better for sitting inside firming up plans for Disney!

I've got my spreadsheet out so I can make a basic daily plan: considering our ADR's, the crowd calendars and EMH's.

We'll arrive in Orlando sometime Saturday afternoon. We have no ADR's this day, and though it's the least recommended park, we'll probably head straight to Magic Kingdom. We always begin our trips there, and we won't expect to hit a bunch of the rides. It's about being on Main Street in MK...

I think on Sunday we'll go to HS in the morning. It's the highest recommended park and my kids are eager to see some of the characters there and ride TSMM. (I'm still undecided about Jedi Training.) We have dinner reservations at CA Grill and MK has EMH that night, so we may head over there after dinner.

Monday will be our Epcot day. We are all looking forward to trying out the Kim Possible Missions. We have a reservation that we may or may not keep- at Garden Grill. I'd like to try restaurants in France, Italy or Mexico, but DH is being resistant. I made our ADR's w/o looking at any crowd predictions, but coincidentally, Epcot is recommended on this day. Works for me!

Tuesday will be all about Magic Kingdom. We have breakfast reservations at CRT, which DD is all of the sudden very pleased about, and dinner reservations at O'hana. This will likely be an early-to-bed evening for us. After a few days of Disney, DH needs some rest. We'll likely head back to the resort to swim and hang out. My kids think it's so neat to swim with Christmas decorations and music in the background!

Wednesday is up in the air. AK is the strongest possibility, and has early EMH's, but I won't set the alarm to get up early for this park. We're early risers anyway, so I trust we'll get there sometime in the 8:00 hour. Maybe Downtown Disney at night.... The other plan would be to finish up HS, but I really think we'll hit AK.

Thursday is Thanksgiving!!! I have no idea what we'll do this day. Maybe Epcot? We have reservations at Captain's Grille for dinner and that's all I know. When we went 3 years ago for Tgiving, we went to MK after dinner and it was PACKED. Crazy busy. Of course, it was nice to say, "I was in Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving." I'll let my family decide. MK has early EMH's, so maybe we'll go in the morning, head back to the resort for a bit, go to dinner, and see what happens after that. I think everywhere will be pretty busy, so it's all relative.

Friday will be our last park day, so the plan will be to finish up whatever we missed.... likely HS in the a.m. and a good-bye to MK at night.

We check out and head home on Saturday. Depending on what time we get up, we may hit Downtown Disney or spend more time at the resort. Our kids are always up early, and sometimes the stores aren't open yet and it's too cool to swim, in which case we hit the road early.

I feel good about the planning I've done: an idea of where to go when, but not locked into too much. I've learned to be flexible when traveling with children!

 

[prisjoyce]

Got our Mickey Mail! Getting closer!

 

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It's snowing in MD today ....looking forward to FL!!!

 

[prisjoyce]

Guess what? It's November! Headed to Disney this month!! I'm super excited!

The other day I was reading about Pick-a-Pearl in Epcot...sounds fun for DD (and maybe for me!), but it's new to us. Anyone done this?

Any other suggestions as our trip draws near?

 

[fromscratchmom]

Guess what? It's November! Headed to Disney this month!! I'm super excited!

The other day I was reading about Pick-a-Pearl in Epcot...sounds fun for DD (and maybe for me!), but it's new to us. Anyone done this?

Any other suggestions as our trip draws near?

My mother got to do the pick a pearl thing in Hawaii when I was young. She got a blue pearl which apparently is fairly rare and it was lovely. The person who worked there was very impressed but it wasn't what my Dad wanted her to get so he paid again and she got a black pearl. The sales person got really excited at that point and just couldn't believe she had picked two in a row with the rarer colored pearls. My Dad however paid again and she finally got a white pearl. I can't remember what it was he wanted that white pearl for but I remember the ring they had made with the black and blue pearls together.

 

[lovethattink]

Joining in late, hope it's ok.

Hi! Our weekend was good; we went to Hershey Park for their Halloween Party. It was so much fun and the park was practically empty! We repeated several rides w/o getting off! DS was finally tall enough for a "Big Boy" coaster, so we're all set for Disney!

I am def rethinking our ADR's. I just keep tweaking things, but my husband keeps telling me to leave it alone. He has no idea!

Hershey Park is my old stomping grounds!! I use to live in PA.

I'm also on the fence about Jedi Training. We have never seen the show, but DS is mildly interested in Star Wars, so I think he may like it. I'm thinking of sending DH to get FP's for TSMM while I take the kids to sign up for Jedi Training. But if we skip Jedi, we could get FP for TSMM AND ride stand-by. Ahhh! Decisions! And while I'm talking about HS (anyone else still want to call it MGM??), we've never seen Fantasmic, so that's on our to-do list, as is the Osborne Lights. Really excited about that one!

Another thing we definitely plan to do is the Kim Possible missions in Epcot. They sound really fun for the kids, and Epcot has never been their favorite park, so I'm hoping this will change that. Anyone know when the different Santa's arrive in Epcot?

I plan on checking the crowd calendars this week and having a more solid daily plan....

Jedi Training is great! My 7 year old loved it!! He did it first when he was 4, then again at age 7. Darth Vader is VERY tall and intimidating. He was a little scared of him, but he loved being able to defeat him!

There was a crazy long line for us to wait in to register for Jedi Training. We got there at 9:05am and the line was already very long. The child participating must be there for the registration. If you have another adult you might want to send them for fast passes for TSM while your son and you wait in the Jedi registration line. The line is inside Sounds Dangerous, closest to Idol.

Kim Possible can be so much fun. Especially if you "get into" your role as a secret agent. We were sneaking around Mexico and hiding behind things as we listened to our kimunicator. We had a blast, but China and Japan were scary for ds.

 

[prisjoyce]

My mother got to do the pick a pearl thing in Hawaii when I was young. She got a blue pearl which apparently is fairly rare and it was lovely. The person who worked there was very impressed but it wasn't what my Dad wanted her to get so he paid again and she got a black pearl. The sales person got really excited at that point and just couldn't believe she had picked two in a row with the rarer colored pearls. My Dad however paid again and she finally got a white pearl. I can't remember what it was he wanted that white pearl for but I remember the ring they had made with the black and blue pearls together.

I love this story! How wonderful to get two hard-to-find pearls and then a third white one!

I looked at the prices of settings at the Pick-a-Pearl place in Japan, and there are some that aren't too bad. I think DD would get a kick out of this activity and it's something unusual for her to take home. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[prisjoyce]

Joining in late, hope it's ok.


Of course! Thanks for popping in! It's been a little quiet around here!

Hershey Park is my old stomping grounds!! I use to live in PA.

We love Hershey Park! It's a really nice place for families; grounds are clean, rides are nice. We've gone to Hershey Park in the Dark (Halloween festivities) the past few years and that is a lot of fun!

Jedi Training is great! My 7 year old loved it!! He did it first when he was 4, then again at age 7. Darth Vader is VERY tall and intimidating. He was a little scared of him, but he loved being able to defeat him!

There was a crazy long line for us to wait in to register for Jedi Training. We got there at 9:05am and the line was already very long. The child participating must be there for the registration. If you have another adult you might want to send them for fast passes for TSM while your son and you wait in the Jedi registration line. The line is inside Sounds Dangerous, closest to Idol.

Thanks for this info! I really think my kids would enjoy this, but I'm leary about taking touring time away for a show. AND the sign-ups sound kind of stressful. I'm betting we give it a go. I'll let you know!

Kim Possible can be so much fun. Especially if you "get into" your role as a secret agent. We were sneaking around Mexico and hiding behind things as we listened to our kimunicator. We had a blast, but China and Japan were scary for ds.

I think we're going to love, love the KP missions. Scary? Uh-oh... are those countries to avoid, or just be aware of? I've read that some countries are better than others, but don't know the details. I'm pretty excited to give this one a try!

Thanks to everyone who has commented and made suggestions! Our family is really looking forward to this trip and the planning has gone so smoothly in part due to the recommendations of fellow-DISers.

 

[disney.nut]

Joining in for the ride. Cute family. Can't wait to read more.