Coming full circle! 8+ parks in 5 months PTR part IV

[alyssa810]

Hey everyone! I'm very excited to report a change in my first trip report, a series that I've done on our whirlwind worldwide trips for this year!
For full recaps, feel free to check out my TRs below. Since our DL trip is still 8 weeks away, it's not done, but our DLP TR has where it all begins...sort of.

If you don't feel like checking them out, here's a recap of our cast!
Me, Alyssa, mom to Joel, wife to Mike, Disneyholic and mousejunkie, and proud of them all. I work for a large Boston-based investment bank, where I've been for over 12 years. My DH, the aforementioned Mike, is a project director at market research company in Framingham, just west of Boston. Joel, our little man, is currently in pre-school and deep in the midst of potty training. Hopefully, by the end of this series of trip reports, he will be fully trained

Anyway, we've been AP holders consistently since 2002, and we became DVCers in 2004. We've been taking Joel to WDW since I was pregnant (twice), and he made his first trip at 12 weeks. Our next WDW trip will be #10 for him -with a trip to DLP and DL in the mix as well for 12 Disney trips! This year's plans started out as usual. We planned a trip for late January with the best of intentions but drama started before we left. Feel free to refer to my earlier TR for the sordid details. They make me cry!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2439987

The DLP trip came to be when DLP was offering 40% off packages. Mike had been itching to go back for years -we went there on our honeymoon- and it wsa going to be cheaper for us to go to France then it was to go to Florida, and we had frequent flyer miles that needed to be used...and there was the pitch:

"If we go to DLP, we'll be able to go to 8 parks in 9 months! How cool would that be!?!?"

And there it was. Our DL trip was already planned; we were waiting to stay at the new Grand Californian Villas, so this would in fact, make 8 parks in less than a year.

Anyway, after DLP turned into a ....debacle (again, refer to the TR)...we knew there was no way we'd be able to go so long without a trip to WDW. So after watching airfare and determining our vacation time for the rest of the year, we were able to jump on flights that were reasonably priced. Mike had made a ressie at OKW with hopes that we might get decent flights, so when we did, all was set! Car rental is made, but again, if you refer to the previous TR you know that Mike constantly checks rental prices, changing up until the day we leave.

So far our plans are such:
Fly down to MCO Friday night after work, and stay at the Sheraton Safari, a fantastic off site location and resort, and we're able to use starwood points to book.
Check in at OKW on Saturday, after a day at Epcot. We have ADRs at GG. We've made ADRs here twice before, but didn't make it for one reason or another. We've made an ADR for breakfast at CMC on Wednesday, our last day. We made an ADR for here last time too, but Mike was sick. I also tried calling for an Fantasmic dinner package but alas, all booked up. There's only one showing while we're there, but I haven't given up hope. last time we were able to book a last minute package, so we're hoping we can do the same.
Other stuff- we're very, very likely getting the premiere passes when we go to DL in September, so passes will be set. We've also been getting the tables in wonderland card, which is a great discount. Other than that, I think we'll play quite a bit by ear. I'm really hoping for a smooth trip but for now, I'm not too excited to sleep so that's it. We're going back to where the TR began, coming full circle back to our favorite place!! Thanks for reading!

 

[alyssa810]

Less than 4 weeks to DL, and I just made our first November ADR today:
Garden Grove at the Swan. We've never eaten there, and we're always looking for new places...and they are on restaurant.com! Now I've just reread what I previsouly posted, and realize we have Garden Grill at Epcot planned for Saturday. I do love the online ADRs though, so it was easy enough to cancel.

We did decide on the premiere passes too, which we'll be getting in 3 weeks and 6 days LOL. Joel has his WDW AP already bought too. In the meantime I've been trying to rack up points on mypoints.com and quickrewards.net to get those coveted disney gift cards (or Walgreens gift cards to buy disney gift cards!).

I'm still going to hope for a F! dinner cancellation too, or lunch again at H&V, which we all were suprised to enjoy. I also just learned today that Leo and Annie are siblings.
Car rentals are made too~ woo hoo!

 

[alyssa810]

Less than a month to go!

We had a great trip to California; no major catasrophes (except for our passes); the weather was amazing but record high temps; no one got sick; I loved the Grand Californian Villas and hope to go back, perhaps for Joel's 4th birthday!

Per usual, DH continues to chip away at the car rental. After the debacle with our passes at DL, we are going to try to upgrade our DL APs to premier passes at WDW, hopefully with no issues like we had in DL. I did get my first Walgreens gift card too, but I haven't tried to use it to buy the Disney gift card yet.

Joel is going to need a hair cut once we're down there too, so I may look into making a reservation for him at the barber shop...I need to see what the deal is with that...or maybe we'll just see how it goes. We've had good luck going in the afternoon.

 

[alyssa810]

I have made an appointment for Joel at the barber shop, and requested his "regular" barber, Michal, just in case. The schedule was wide open, which was good to hear, because Sunday is also the only day we can see Fantasmic, so if a F! dinner/lunch package opens up, we'll have to switch the appointment time.
Per usual, Mike has chipped away at the car rental; I think our current ressie is with Alamo, which is our usual car rental of choice- we love the kiosks! I had also ordered the personalized maps (which I also did a few years ago), and they arrived today. I like the older maps better though
Only 13 more work days for me!

 

[alyssa810]

Hotel update!
I just changed our ressie at the Sheraton safari from points to an awesome rate of $69!

 

[alyssa810]

Bags are packed! Tomorrow is errand time before we head to the airport! Still no luck with F! for Sunday, but I will call again tomorrow. I also tried to do the early check in but I was getting a weird error, so I didn't have luck with that. Joel's teacher has asked us to bring bag maps home! I didn't get home in time to secure A boarding passes, but B's, but we'll just board with the family boarding after the A's anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.
I'm getting excited!!!

 

[alyssa810]

I can't believe how quickly the trip has come and gone!

Anyway, Friday started out with our last minute errands and chores; one more load of laundry, a trip to the bank and gas station, and final packing. Mike came home from work a little later than I was hoping -traffic was a bear he said- and we left for the airport a little later than planned too. We decided to avoid driving through Providence and taking 295 instead of 95 since it was Friday evening rush hour, and then we hit traffic on 295, which NEVER happens!!! Luckily it wasn't too bad and we still got to the airport with no issues. Being back in PVD, we were able to do our normal drop off routine; Mike checks a bag curbside while I slowly unload the remaining bags and Joel in the stroller, then he takes off to park the car while Joel and I check in at the counter. The security line was quick, but by the time we got through with everything, we didn't have much time to grab "supper" food. Mike ended up getting us bagels because the pre-made sandwiches from Wolfgang Puck's were something like $8 compared to the $6 he paid for a few bagels.
We decided to stick Joel in the middle seat, which made for a much more comfortable flight for me, and I got the window, which Joel had been getting. We set him up with a movie, I got to read a bit, Mike got to read a bit, it was all good! Since we had some drink coupons, Mike decided to get a drink; I did too, Joel had apple juice. Unfortunately we didn't get it with a cover and straw, so there was some splillage...and Mike spilled his nip bottle in his lap because he didn't realize the cap wasn't on it. I remained unscathed.

The flight was fairly quick, and we landed a little early, which is always nice. Mike took care of the car stuff while Joel and I did a pull up change and got luggage. We were so used to going upstairs to National that we almost missed Alamo on the first floor of the garage. We decided on a lovely white Jeep Patriot after we made sure the big suitcase was going to fit.

From the airport, we headed straight to DTD to get our passes situated! We totally lucked out with an awesome parking spot and I headed to guest services while Mike entertained Joel in the sports store. We got Joel's pass taken care of since that was the easy one, and then we got our "golden tickets" once the CM was finally able to determine the balance we owed. It did take a while but it was worth the wait to have working Premier passes at last!

We left DTD and got to the Safari for a flawless check-in. We called it a night quickly so that we'd be fresh and ready for the parks!

 

[alyssa810]

I woke up early, too excited to sleep! Joel woke up briefly, and I was able to get him to pee in the toilet, which is always a great start, and then he was back to sleep. Once the boys finally were up for good, we got our stuff together, dressed and got ready to head out!
Epcot here we come!
We arrived shortly after rope drop, and debated a snack or ride. We had forgotten to get our TIW card at DTD, so we went to guest services to take care of that first off. We stopped by the pin station for some trades, and then headed over to Test Track. Joel was still too short, but the CM gave us a good "when I'm tall enough to ride" fastpass! Mike rode, and I took Joel to the store and to check out cars. After Mike was done, we decided to hit Ellen and the dinosaurs. We had a minimal wait and were on! Joel was pretty pumped to see the dinosaurs. After that, we headed over to the wonders of life pavillion to see if they might have any food or just food & wine merchandise. No food we did more dillydallying and soon enough it was after 11 and we could hit World Showcase. we were hungry so we decided to try something. Mike is really anti- F&W- he doesn't want little snacks, he wants a meal- but we ended up getting snacks from the Puerto Rico stand. He got the chicken & rice soup, and I had the Medianoche sandwich. It was pretty good, somewhat like a cuban sandwich. From there, we decided to try the new CS in Mexico, which was remodeled from the last time we ate there. I got nachos, Joel went with chicken fingers, and Mike had tacos. The nachos were good, not as good as the ones from the GC, but pretty good.

After lunch we started to make the our way around WS. We rode in Mexico a few times -no lines!- and got Maelstrom FPs. We strolled through China; Joel started a Duffy bear so he was eager to color and get stamps. The crowds were really filling in, mostly at the food lines, not so much on the rides. When we got to the mini railroad, Joel spent nearly 45 minutes watching! The afternoon was wearing on, and before long we were ready for a snack. we were debating on trying the F&W chocolate creme brulee or the regular creme from the pastry shop. we decided on the regular, but then we saw the line way out the door and decided we could pass. We worked our way back to FW, and headed over to The Seas before our ADR at GG. Joel loves sea animals, and he was glued to everything! He was so excited to see the sharks and turtles, and sat all by himself for turtle talk- he was so into it!

Before we knew it, it was time to head over to the Land. We had enough time to catch the lion king movie, which Mike and I haven't seen in years. The line for LWTL was too long to go through before dinner, so we went straight to the restaurant. We were seated fairly quickly, and saw characters right away. Our server was attentive, bringing our drinks and bread quickly. The salad was good; the meats and sides were tasty as well. I think Joel seemed to like our meats better than his chicken, and we were happy to share with him. We took pictures with Pluto, Chip & Dale, and Mickey in between eating. The rotating of the restaurant was way cool too -except when we were at the front because it feels like everyone is watching us eat LOL. The dessert was awesome too- Joel loved his, and we shared some of ours with him. Once dinner was done, we rode LWTL, Joel was psyched to see alligators; I took my jackfruit pictures as always. Soarin' was out of FPs, and the line was super long, so we passed, especially since Joel wasn't tall enough.
We headed over to Journey into your Imagination for a quick ride, then to Spaceship earth before we decided to call it a day.

We decided we'd try to find the laughing place store before we went to check in- we had the address (which of course wasn't in the GPS) and directions from mapquest. Needless to say, we weren't able to find it, and no one answered the phone numbers they had listed. i found out later -after posting on the disboards- that they do not have a storefront...and that people that have used them don't speak very favorable of them. From there, we headed to OKW to check in! Joel had fallen asleep in the car -no surprise there- so I went in to handle all the checking in stuff. We had a 1st floor room -woo hoo- and headed over to it. Our room had the new bedding, curtains, door shades, and to Mike's delight, the flat screen TV! We got settled in and called it a night! Sunday was going to be MK at rope drop!

 

[alyssa810]

I love MK at rope drop!! It seems like we've missed it the last few trips, but not this time! As Joel gets older, he recognizes more things, and he's really into it. We headed straight into Fantasyland to check out the new look. We got Peter Pan fast passes, but since there was pretty much no line, we jumped right on and rode. I also took Joel for a spin on the carousel, and forgot to notice the new name. I also decided to ride a horse for a change, but the one right next to Joel was too high that I had to get on one that wasn't right next to him. Anyway, this family of a bunch of non-english speakers got on next to us, and the dad was a riot! He was making horse-clicking noises and using his belt like reins- he was a hoot and had us all roaring. The guy was talking to Joel too, who was like "I don't know what you're saying!" Anyway, it was fun. We also checked out the new queue at iasw- not much new, just "backwards." We were starting to get hungry, but it was still fairly early, so we decided we'd start to work our way over to cosmic ray's since they start serving early. Fantasyland was filling in quickly anyway- there was even a line for Snow White, so we headed over to tomorrowland.
Joel got his "staples" for "brunch" - chicken fingers & fries and grapes, and I had the chicken & rib combo. Mike had a burger. We rode Buzz Lightyear -I definitely appreciate the laser guns in DL, and being able to move them around more- and did a couple of laps on the TTA. We strolled around some more and found ourselves heading to POTC. As we're all huge fans, we were psyched to not have much of a line. We had forgotten how short and less exciting POTC at WDW compared to DLP and DL. Don't get me wrong, we still love it, but it's just so much better -and longer- in the other parks. Joel could care less, he just made me sing the song, which was pretty funny.
We headed back toward Main street to hit the barber shop for Joel's 2pm appointment. There was quite a crowd in there, and it seemed a little nutty- no one seemed to know what order to go in, and there was a family in there with a 1:45 appointment, and another there for a 2:30...anyway, we finally got in the chair around 2:20, and we were able to have Joel's regular barber, Michal, do it. We told him this was his 4th time cutting Joel's hair, and he joked that he only remembered the "bad" kids. Joel mentioned Michal squirting Mike with a water bottle, and when Mike came inside, Michal gave him a spray, which Joel loved.
With the haircut finished, we took a long awaited for full circle ride on the train. I took Joel for a Barnstormer ride - he loves it still! As it was getting later, we decided it was time for snack, so we headed back to the Main street bakery, and I had my favorite ice cream cookie sandwich, Joel had a big cookie, and Mike had an apple turnover.
Once we were done at MK, we decided to try our luck with the later show at Fantasmic, which the concierge at OKW had suggested when we couldn't get any dinner packages. It worked out great! we got to the studios with enough time to ride the great movie ride and do a quickie run though the animation studio. Joel and I took a picture with Mickey while Mike checked out other stuff, and then we headed over to fantasmic. There was a HUGE line, and it was already about 7:30, but we figured if we get in, great, if not, well, at least we don't have to wait too long. There was another 3 year old boy in line in front of us, and he and Joel made quick friends of each other. The other little boy's name was Cole, and we talked about their names rhyming, and which rides they had been on. Before we knew it, the line was moving and we were on our way in! As it turned out, by the time we made it into the amphitheater, we only had to wait about 10 minutes! We had no trouble getting decent seats too- this is definitely going to be our new routine when there's a second show. Joel was a little scared at scary parts, but loved the music and seeing Mickey and the characters on the boats. All in all it was a great day.
(PS- for anyone keeping track of the potty training procession, Joel peed in the potty in the resort before we left , and sat on the potty at the studios, but didn't actually make)

 

[alyssa810]

Another successful pee on the potty ! before we left!

We didn't get to DHS right at rope drop, but we did get there fairly early. Mike took our tickets to rush over with the rest of the crowds for TSM FPs, and Joel and I went to Starring rolls to get some breakfast food for us. Joel had his usual chocolate muffin, I had my usual chocolate croissant, Mike went with a blueberry muffin. We did quite a bit of walking around since we didn't get to the first Playhouse Disney, but we went there soon enough. We saw a different person this time- a guy for a change. Joel enjoyed it as usual and my legs didn't fall asleep as badly as they usually do, which was nice I won't miss that show, that's for sure. I hope whatever they do next involves seats for parents too!

We went to the little mermaid and the muppets, and took pictures with Lightning and Pooh; we watched some Mulch, Sweat & shears, and decided to skip the playground since Joel tends to wander while he's in there...we had lunch at the backlot express- guess what Joel had? chicken nuggets again. Mike and I both had the turkey sandwich, which seemed a little different than I remembered. Our FPs for TSM weren't until after 2, and there were no more fastpasses left. We rode and it was awesome as always. Joel is getting a little better at it too- he scored 19,900 points! After riding, we did a little more walking around before deciding we were ready to head back to the resort for a little bit. We were hoping to get Joel to take a nap, and sure enough the car ride helped. We had decided for supper that we would hit up my favorite place to snack at DTD- WPE! Since we weren't that hungry, and Mike and I both wanted soup and creme brule, we decided we'd share a pizza. I wanted Joel to have something besides chicken fingers and fries, and he said he wanted pasta, so we got him some spaghetti. Of course he didn't really want any once we got it, and he only wanted our pepperoni from the pizza, so Mike ended up switching with him. The soup was awesome as usual. I don't know what they do with it, but it's always so good I want to lick the bowl clean!
We decided to head back to MK for the electrical parade, which we hadn't seen in ages. We sat in our "usual" parade watching spot by the shooting gallery. Joel was excited to see the lights and people waving to him. Since it was also going to be our only chance to see Wishes, once the parade went by, we looked for a spot near the hub to catch the fireworks. We watched not too far from the Adventureland bridge. We were slightly obstructed but we could see Tinkerbell fly and we could hear the music and most of the fireworks. Another good, full day!

 

[alyssa810]

OMG, so we leave again tomorrow for another trip and I still haven't finished this TR!!!
I love being an annual passholding DVC'er!
I will do my best to finish our report soon (before I forget the details!)!!