Celebrating my Un-Birthday Disney Style-April 2010-New 5/3 - The TR has started!

[DisMomAmy]

Tim & I went to dinner last night and I brought a long a spreadsheet. I'll post what I have pulled together so far in a few minutes.

But... At dinner he says to me, "How much does the vacation club cost?" I calmy say, "Our condo or the Disney vacation club?" (assuming he meant DVC but not wanting to jump to any conclusions...) And he says DVC!!

I told him I really didn't know - which he didn't buy. He thought for sure I'd be able to throw a number right out there at him. I did research it several years ago but it wasn't in our ballpark so I don't even remember.

So Mousescrapper - I'll be sending you a pm!!

First draft of the itinerary coming right up!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Since there are no park hours for anything past January, I have used the park hours that are published as a guideline for figuring out when the extra magic hours will be at each park. I'm not too concerned about the actual park hours at this point. We will be buying park hoppers - they are really a must for us. We will also be avoiding EMHs since we aren't eligible & we always avoid them anyway. The restaurants we want to visit are:

Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue (want to get this one in before Alex turns 10 next year.)
Teppan Edo
Chef Mickey's
Crystal Palace - pre-park opening
Hollywood & Vine - character breakfast or lunch. This one is a maybe... I'll probably make an ADR because Alex was disappointed that we didn't meet any Little Einsteins last time.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

Thursday, 4/22 - Arrive in Tampa (11:20am) & get rental car. Drive to Jeff & Karen's (about an hour away).

Friday, 4/23 & Saturday, 4/24 - Visit with Jeff, Karen, J & K

Sunday, 4/25 - Not sure when we'll leave, but we'll head to Orlando & check-in at the timeshare.

Monday, 4/26 - Visit Gramma (about 90 minutes away) - we may end up visiting her on Sunday, in which case this would be an extra park day. I'll probably make our ADR for HDDR for today... if I can get it... My ADR day for today is 10/28 so I'll be a day behind everyone.

This is when our park days reallly start.

Tuesday, 4/27 - Epcot/EMH am - no Spectro/no F! so we can pretty much go anywhere except Epcot today.
Parks today: AK at rope drop/mid-day break/Chef Mickey's 5:00/MK for Wishes (skipping Spectro this year) (ADR day is 10/29)

Wednesday, 4/28 - AK/EMH pm & spectro (no F!) so we will avoid AK & MK today.
Parks today: DHS (maybe not rope drop?)/Hollywood & Vine - late breakfast?/mid-day break - depending how early we started the day/Epcot (ADR day is 10/30)

Thursday, 4/29 - MK/EMH am & F! (no spectro) so we'll avoid MK & DHS today.
Parks today: Epcot at rope drop/Teppan Edo lunch 11:00ish - early night in, do some laundry, swim, get a good night's sleep (ADR day is 10/31)

Friday, 4/30 - Epcot/EMH pm & Grad Night at MK (no spectro or F!)
Parks today: Early breakfast at Crystal Palace (good day for MK since the park closes early and we park hop - crowds should be low)/mid-day break/DHS (ADR day is 11/1)

Saturday, 5/1 - DHS/EMH am & Grad NIght at MK (no spectro or F!)
Parks today: AK/mid-day break/Epcot?? or whatever everybody wants to do (MK will be closed in the pm) (ADR day is 11/2 - if I have any, we'll probably leave the day open for more flexibility)

I may have to switch up Saturday & Sunday mornings depending how well I make out with the Crystal Palace early ADR.

Sunday, 5/2 - Pack up & head home.

So what do you all think?? I'm open to one more restaurant suggestion...

I'm a little worried that I'm going to be a day behind everyone since I won't be calling until 10/28. I am glad I won't have to deal with the chaos of 10/27 though. Plus I have to call/go online each day so it's going to make for a long week!!

I'm leaning toward NOT going to H&V since we can probably catch the Little Einsteins at a character meet & greet somewhere but I'll make the ADR just to have it for now. I'd like to come up another restaurant that isn't a character meal but would be fun for the kids. Suggestions?

 

[Charleston Princess]

Good morning, Amy! How exciting that DH was asking about DVC last night! Fingers crossed that he will continue to be curious about it!

Your itinerary looks good! As far as meals, have you eaten at Sci-Fi or Prime Time before? Either of those would be a lot of fun! Or what about T-Rex at DtD? That looks fun, too!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Good morning, Amy! How exciting that DH was asking about DVC last night! Fingers crossed that he will continue to be curious about it!

Your itinerary looks good! As far as meals, have you eaten at Sci-Fi or Prime Time before? Either of those would be a lot of fun! Or what about T-Rex at DtD? That looks fun, too!

We've never eaten at Sci-Fi - I almost made an ADR there last time, but am afraid it would scare Zach? But I'll think about that one for this time.

We have eaten at 50's PTC and love it, but we've eaten there on each of our last 3 trips so I thought we could use a break.

We considered T-Rex last time but since it wasn't on the DDP we skipped it - that could be fun!! We'll just have to make sure we bring along Zach's headphones - I've heard it's loud.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Amy....


I'll get to the Pm next...

I think your pre-itinerary looks good

I was going to suggest Sci Fi too...I was really pleasently surprised how nice it was...not load, don't feel crowded in, semi-ggod eats and it didn't seem scary to Mae or Margaret who one is a bit easily scared (hated POC and HM last trip and the other obviosly young)...re-read my review in my TR

the movie reel was a good distraction.

As far as other choices....O'Hana dinner is there characters?

what about a TS on the boardwalk?

one thing to factor which I'm sure you already are is the cost of your TS...since it's all OOP vs the DDP....I find it to be a bit scary I have a excel spreadsheet that calculates it out for you, let me know if you want me to email it to you. You know I have my idea of dinning already all figured out for a trip over a yr away

Ahh the "dreaded" turning 10 factor....yes we are there now and will be hit hard next trip w/ paying for a 4 kids for the first time and 2 are now "adults"

I am hoping to do HDDR too...so I say go for it!

Chef Mickey's is classic

Teppan Edo is your new fav! another epcot fun stop could be the TS in Mexico if you guys like that style food and eat under the stars...

always need a pre-park choice

and whatever you decided for studios will be good...

J-

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hi Amy....


I'll get to the Pm next...

I think your pre-itinerary looks good

I was going to suggest Sci Fi too...I was really pleasently surprised how nice it was...not load, don't feel crowded in, semi-ggod eats and it didn't seem scary to Mae or Margaret who one is a bit easily scared (hated POC and HM last trip and the other obviosly young)...re-read my review in my TR

the movie reel was a good distraction.

As far as other choices....O'Hana dinner is there characters?

what about a TS on the boardwalk?

one thing to factor which I'm sure you already are is the cost of your TS...since it's all OOP vs the DDP....I find it to be a bit scary I have a excel spreadsheet that calculates it out for you, let me know if you want me to email it to you. You know I have my idea of dinning already all figured out for a trip over a yr away

Ahh the "dreaded" turning 10 factor....yes we are there now and will be hit hard next trip w/ paying for a 4 kids for the first time and 2 are now "adults"

I am hoping to do HDDR too...so I say go for it!

Chef Mickey's is classic

Teppan Edo is your new fav! another epcot fun stop could be the TS in Mexico if you guys like that style food and eat under the stars...

always need a pre-park choice

and whatever you decided for studios will be good...

J-

Thanks for the feedback Julie - Since I posted the first draft we have added a day! Tim wants to leave his brother's on Sunday morning and go straight to his grandmother's before heading to Orlando to check-in. So we definitely won't visit any parks on Sunday but we'll get checked in and Tim will probably pick up a few groceries then we'll be ready to go on Monday morning. I think we'll also be adding a waterpark visit or two to our itinerary. We had planned to last time but when we changed to CBR we decided the resort pool would be good enough. I know Alex will LOVE the waterparks. Zach & I may just go once then spend the second waterpark day doing something else. We'll see... Maybe Zach will surprise me and love the waterparks too. So I'm reworking things to post draft #2 tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some similarities as far as ADRs go.

Thanks for the DVC info too!!

 

[jordanyosh]

For one additional ADR choice with kids in mind, non-character:

Coral Reef (this gets mixed reviews, but we had a great meal there)

Whisper Canyon Cafe

Ohana

Congrats on the extra day! Typhoon Lagoon....heaven.

 

[Charleston Princess]

We've never eaten at Sci-Fi - I almost made an ADR there last time, but am afraid it would scare Zach? But I'll think about that one for this time.

We have eaten at 50's PTC and love it, but we've eaten there on each of our last 3 trips so I thought we could use a break.

We considered T-Rex last time but since it wasn't on the DDP we skipped it - that could be fun!! We'll just have to make sure we bring along Zach's headphones - I've heard it's loud.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I would definitely do some research on Sci-Fi -- the clips are all more funny than scary, the atmosphere is pretty quiet, but it is on the dark side. Such a neat experience though.

I have heard the same thing abotu T-Rex being loud. I wonder if you could go first thing in the day -- like an early lunch -- to minimize the noise...

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yay for April 2010! We're going then too.

Your plans look great so far!

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi Amy!!

Sorry, I've been so busy with Dad this past week that I haven't been DISing much... I'm thrilled to discover that you have a trip planned!

Hmmm, Tim's asking about DVC you say? I'm sending pixiedust for that little discussion!!


Kathy

 

[eandesmom]

Hi Amy!

The plans are looking good and exciting that DVC is being discussed. I'm really hoping to do it but it's few years away for sure.

I also have heard that T-Rex is loud. I would agree about Sci-Fi that the clips are not really scary, more campy and they are all very short. I think Jordan's suggestion of Ohana is a good one!

 

[DisMomAmy]

For one additional ADR choice with kids in mind, non-character:

Coral Reef (this gets mixed reviews, but we had a great meal there)

Whisper Canyon Cafe

Ohana

Congrats on the extra day! Typhoon Lagoon....heaven.

Thanks for the suggestions Jordan. We ate at Whispering Canyon last time - it was just OK for us, but we were having a bad day. We'll probably try it again some time but not this trip. I've considered Coral Reef before... I'll check out the menu for Ohana.

I would definitely do some research on Sci-Fi -- the clips are all more funny than scary, the atmosphere is pretty quiet, but it is on the dark side. Such a neat experience though.

I have heard the same thing abotu T-Rex being loud. I wonder if you could go first thing in the day -- like an early lunch -- to minimize the noise...

The cars at Sci Fi seem like something the kids would enjoy. I've got that on the top of my maybe list.

Yay for April 2010! We're going then too.

Your plans look great so far!

I really enjoy the Flower & Garden Festival - this will be my third year in a row visiting in April. DH thinks its a bit too hot for him but April won out in the airfare battle.

Hi Amy!!

Sorry, I've been so busy with Dad this past week that I haven't been DISing much... I'm thrilled to discover that you have a trip planned!

Hmmm, Tim's asking about DVC you say? I'm sending pixiedust for that little discussion!!

Kathy

Hi Kathy - Glad you could find some time for yourself this week. Thanks for the DVC pixie dust.

Hi Amy!

The plans are looking good and exciting that DVC is being discussed. I'm really hoping to do it but it's few years away for sure.

I also have heard that T-Rex is loud. I would agree about Sci-Fi that the clips are not really scary, more campy and they are all very short. I think Jordan's suggestion of Ohana is a good one!

I suspect DVC is a few years out for us, at the earliest... we'll see. Tim told me DVC research is my 4th quarter goal. (He has quarterly goals at work for his bonuses.)

I'm adding Ohana to my maybe list. I'm going to go look at the menu now.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I suspect DVC is a few years out for us, at the earliest... we'll see. Tim told me DVC research is my 4th quarter goal. (He has quarterly goals at work for his bonuses.)

I'm adding Ohana to my maybe list. I'm going to go look at the menu now.

Does Tim mean this fourth quarter's goal (as in the one we are in right now) or next year's fourth quarter?

 

[DisMomAmy]

Does Tim mean this fourth quarter's goal (as in the one we are in right now) or next year's fourth quarter?

I'm sure he means THIS 4th quarter... He probably does't want Disney on my mind next year 4th quarter.

 

[mousescrapper]

DH thinks its a bit too hot for him but April won out in the airfare battle.


I just had a good snicker at this comment.... having gone in June and August, plus knowing what it's like in July...ah April is like bath water

I'm sure he means THIS 4th quarter... He probably does't want Disney on my mind next year 4th quarter.

You mean we can't have Disney on our mind EVERY quarter...

 

[KathyRN137]

You mean we can't have Disney on our mind EVERY quarter...

I was just going to say, "Isn't Disney a year-round obsession?"


Kathy

 

[DisMomAmy]

You mean we can't have Disney on our mind EVERY quarter...

I was just going to say, "Isn't Disney a year-round obsession?"


Kathy

Seriously...

 

[DisMomAmy]

Here is the original itinerary I had worked on last week:

Thursday, 4/22 - Arrive in Tampa (11:20am) & get rental car. Drive to Jeff & Karen's (about an hour away).

Friday, 4/23 & Saturday, 4/24 - Visit with Jeff, Karen, J & K

Sunday, 4/25 - Not sure when we'll leave, but we'll head to Orlando & check-in at the timeshare.

Monday, 4/26 - Visit Gramma (about 90 minutes away) - we may end up visiting her on Sunday, in which case this would be an extra park day. I'll probably make our ADR for HDDR for today... if I can get it... My ADR day for today is 10/28 so I'll be a day behind everyone.

This is when our park days reallly start.

Tuesday, 4/27 - Epcot/EMH am - no Spectro/no F! so we can pretty much go anywhere except Epcot today.
Parks today: AK at rope drop/mid-day break/Chef Mickey's 5:00/MK for Wishes (skipping Spectro this year) (ADR day is 10/29)

Wednesday, 4/28 - AK/EMH pm & spectro (no F!) so we will avoid AK & MK today.
Parks today: DHS (maybe not rope drop?)/Hollywood & Vine - late breakfast?/mid-day break - depending how early we started the day/Epcot (ADR day is 10/30)

Thursday, 4/29 - MK/EMH am & F! (no spectro) so we'll avoid MK & DHS today.
Parks today: Epcot at rope drop/Teppan Edo lunch 11:00ish - early night in, do some laundry, swim, get a good night's sleep (ADR day is 10/31)

Friday, 4/30 - Epcot/EMH pm & Grad Night at MK (no spectro or F!)
Parks today: Early breakfast at Crystal Palace (good day for MK since the park closes early and we park hop - crowds should be low)/mid-day break/DHS (ADR day is 11/1)

Saturday, 5/1 - DHS/EMH am & Grad NIght at MK (no spectro or F!)
Parks today: AK/mid-day break/Epcot?? or whatever everybody wants to do (MK will be closed in the pm) (ADR day is 11/2 - if I have any, we'll probably leave the day open for more flexibility)

I may have to switch up Saturday & Sunday mornings depending how well I make out with the Crystal Palace early ADR.

Sunday, 5/2 - Pack up & head home.

Then Tim decided we should visit Gramma on Sunday after leaving Jeff's house, (pretty much giving us another full park day) so I updated things to look like this:

Itinerary #2:
Monday: Epcot (Teppan Edo at 11am)
Tuesday: AK/MK (Chef Mickey's at 5pm) - Wishes
Wednesday: DHS/EP (H&V late breakfast or Sci Fi)
Thursday: Epcot (5pm HDDR dinner)
Friday: MK/DHS (early CP breakfast)
Saturday: AK/EP? - Illuminations?

This wasn't a perfect plan because there was too much Epcot... but I didn't work on it long before we decided to add waterparks... and Tim thought if we are going to hit one park we might as well add the waterparks & more option to our tickets and visit both... So now I have been working on this version:

Itineary #3:
Monday: Epcot/DHS – 11am Teppan Edo
Tuesday: AK/MK – 5:00 Chef Mickeys, 10ish? Wishes
Wednesday: Waterpark & HDDR??
Thursday: AK/Epcot – Illuminations?
Friday: Waterpark & HDDR or ?? (Zach & I may do something else while Tim & Alex go to the waterpark??)
Saturday: MK (Crystal Palace pre-park opening) & DHS or whatever??

What do you think? I'm not sure... I feel like I'm missing something...

I don't really want to start our trip with Epcot though... would it be a mistake to start at MK on what would either be an EMH pm or a Spectro night? Animal Kingdom will be having an EMH morning, DHS will probably be either an EMH pm or a Fantasmic night. Epcot makes the most sense crowd wise.

 

[jordanyosh]

with MK pm emh, it depends. If the regular park closing is at 8-9pm, expect the pm EMH to be fairly busy. However, the later the regular closing is, the better the pm EMH is for those who choose to stay. I think when we did it in Feb 08, the regular closing was at 10pm. It was busy for the first hour, but then after that most attractions had minimal waits and Fantasyland was dead. If your kids can stay up late, then go for it.

 

[DisMomAmy]

with MK pm emh, it depends. If the regular park closing is at 8-9pm, expect the pm EMH to be fairly busy. However, the later the regular closing is, the better the pm EMH is for those who choose to stay. I think when we did it in Feb 08, the regular closing was at 10pm. It was busy for the first hour, but then after that most attractions had minimal waits and Fantasyland was dead. If your kids can stay up late, then go for it.

Thanks Jordan! I'd love to go to a late night EMH sometime, but we are early birds and the kids would never make it! Plus, since we are staying off-site we won't be eligible to stay this time. What I'm worried about is how busy the park will be during the regular hours (primarily the morning hours) due to the EMH later that night. Will the park be busier all day with people who don't have park hoppers? Or will it just get busy later in the day? Any thoughts on that?