Competing our way to Disney World -- A February 2022 UDA PTR - Start Packing! We've Got Plans!

[kimberwee]

We have news!
For the first time in Oklahoma, POM was recognized as a sport by the Oklahoma Secondary School Athletic Association and today was the State “Game Day” Championship. Our team became the absolute first ever State Game Day Champions in Pom. We couldn’t be more proud

One step closer to Nationals…Minnie Donut to kick off the day…

 

[kimberwee]

Well, I am starting another Pre-Trip Report

That trip we were supposed to take to Aulani with DH's family has been rescheduled for Thanksgiving 2022 at DISNEYWORLD!! I am over the top excited and spent much of last week stalking Genie+ return times and crowd reports.

BUT FIRST...
I also started writing down all of the fun info I've accumulated about Genie for our February trip. like this:

Animal Kingdom — Don’t buy Disney Genie+, because Expedition Everest is closed and it would not be worth it for the few rides it covers. However, do buy Lightning Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage. You should be good to do this throughout most of the morning.

EPCOT – Don’t buy Disney Genie+. Buy a Lightning Lane for Ratatouille, if you don’t get a Boarding Group in the morning. Don’t buy Lightning Lane for Frozen Ever After, unless you or your children have ever dressed as Anna and/or Elsa.

Hollywood Studios – Absolutely buy Disney Genie+ for your day and Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance. First, if you are interested in Slinky Dog Dash, you must select a time for this ride. It always goes first. Do this @ 7am and then select your Rise of the Resistance time! Whether to buy Lightning Lane for Runaway Railway, comes down to your personal preference. Wait times for the Runaway Railway tend to be lower before park closing

Magic Kingdom – If you aren’t skipping this park until our Celebration Party, say Yes to Disney Genie+ and Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Believe it or not, Jungle Cruise is one of the harder rides to get at Magic Kingdom, so if that is important to you, book it early. Hard no for purchasing Lightning Lane for Space Mountain.

I've also looked at crowd calendars and created the following cheat sheet:

Best Park to visit on:

Wednesday, 2/2: Hollywood Studios
Thursday, 2/3: Epcot – follow this up with an evening at Disney Springs
Friday, 2/4: Hollywood Studios, again – trust me
Saturday, 2/5: quick visit to Animal Kingdom
Sunday, 2/6: Any park – Evening UDA Celebration Party at Magic Kingdom
Monday, 2/7: Not Hollywood Studios


We paid for our trip in full today, so we should have our confirmation numbers by the end of the week for Disney Park Reservations. Our friends that are traveling with us are wanting to check out Oga's and I really think that may be the only "dining" reservation I have to make, being that we are at the mercy of the team's competition schedule.
Here is our dining plan:
Wednesday: Breakfast will be at the airport during our quick layover, lunch will be up in the air as well with our landing around noon...if we are definitely staying at Caribbean Beach, I am thinking a drink and snack at Banana Cabana would be nice...dinner will be a Hollywood Studios QS but not sure where
Thursday: We are going to try to meet up with DD for breakfast, before heading over to Epcot. We want to try to get into the Space 220 Lounge on 2/3 during lunch and dinner will be at Planet Hollywood with the team - we may just get an appetizer and go over to the Polite Pig. I am not a fan of Planet Hollywood's food. I am also planning a Disney Springs Bar Crawl for this night - some of the other parents are in for this (Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar, Enzo’s Hideaway Tunnel Bar, The Boathouse, The Edison & Raglan Road)
Friday: We are going to try to meet up with DD again for breakfast (depending on whether she competes early), Hollywood Studios is the closest park to ESPN, so we may be running back over there for lunch and/or dinner. This is where we will test the theory that there is some availability movement in reservations during or just before a trip as people's plans change. I love Hollywood Brown Derby and wouldn't mind lunch there one bit.
Saturday: ...Will be much like Friday. Breakfast with DD...maybe. Lunch...depending how Friday went with Hollywood Studios between/around performances, we will be at Animal Kingdom during breaks. We love Yak & Yeti, but may be forced to eat quickly and for that, I would choose Satu'li Canteen....or, because of the schedule, we may do both

Sunday: ...Will feel like Groundhogs Day. Breakfast with DD...hopefully. Lunch...who knows. Dinner...somewhere. The one thing that I DO know is that I want to try and get a small group into Trader Sams Grog Grotto before the party at MK. Love that place. Poly is our DVC Home and it would be weird not going.
Monday: Travel Day: I am wondering if I can get a reservation to Topolinos for a good breakfast... or maybe we will have a chance to sneak away with DD to HS or AK before having to head back to the airport...again, totally up in the air and killing me...

Any feedback or thoughts on this rambling?

 

[kimberwee]

Grocery List
Do you have essentials delivered to your resort? I am going to use this post to list some of the things that we like to have on hand from Shipt or Instacart and edit it as I think of things:

Bottled Water
Coke
Mini Sprite
Blueberry Muffins or Cinnamon Rolls
Cheezit Snack Bags
Kind Bars

 

[Bama Mom]

Grocery List
Do you have essentials delivered to your resort? I am going to use this post to list some of the things that we like to have on hand from Shipt or Instacart and edit it as I think of things:

Bottled Water
Coke
Mini Sprite
Blueberry Muffins or Cinnamon Rolls
Cheezit Snack Bags
Kind Bars

On our girls trip in March we used someone from the ear for each other facebook group (laid off cast members) to pick up groceries for us. We laughed so hard on some of the items we ended up with. My sister did the communication with the guy shopping for us. She had Dill pickle chips on our list (meaning pickle flavored potato chips) and he literally go the hamburger dill pickles that you put on burgers We laughed over that the entire trip every time we saw a pickle!

 

[kimberwee]

Getting Closer!!

We are less than a month away and I am getting incredibly excited. There is a lot to catch up on.

1. Last time I posted the team was prepping for another State Competition (this was for a different dance organization and not affiliated with schools)- the team did well and placed runner up in Game Day
2. Covid went rampant - DD tested positive 3 days after States and we spent half of our holiday break in quarantine. Luckily, her only symptom was a fever, which lasted 3 hours. Now, I am the only one in my household that hasn't had Covid and am terrified that I will test positive right before the competition I need good vibes and prayers that does not happen
3. New Years Day came and went, so now the girls have scrapped previous routines and are working hard for Nationals. They've adjusted their entry category for Pom, so we will actually get Sunday as a free day. All of our competitions and awards will happen on Friday and Saturday!
4. We found out that we are indeed staying at Caribbean Beach, so I am excited about being able to access the Skyliner.
5. However, we also found out that we wont get a room reservation number to use with online check-in or Genie+...BOOOOOO
6. We decided that we will be using Uber or Lyft, instead of Mears, and splitting the cost with another couple.

With Sunday free, it will be interesting to see what we decide to do for the day. UDA hosts a private party at MK that night. Would this be an opportunity to park hop all 4 parks in one day?! We could sleep in and after grabbing lunch, hit Epcot for a ride or activity of DD's choice...move over to DHS at 2 for a ride on RnR (DD's Fave - barring it isn't shut down...have you guys noticed that's been happening a lot lately??), Uber to Animal Kingdom for a ride on FOP and then on to MK for the night. Seems fun, but ambitious and potentially expensive if we utilize iLL. What do you think?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

. We decided that we will be using Uber or Lyft, instead of Mears, and splitting the cost with another couple

I am curious to hear how meats works out. I am not sure what we will do when we go. It splitting an Uber sounds like a win win!

for a ride or activity of DD's choice...move over to DHS at 2 for a ride on RnR (DD's Fave - barring it isn't shut down...have you guys noticed that's been happening a lot lately??), Uber to Animal Kingdom for a ride on FOP and then on to MK for the night. Seems fun, but ambitious and potentially expensive if we utilize iLL. What do you think?

It could be fun if you are all up for it!

 

[kimberwee]

A fun surprise...

Because we use our SW CC for business, we have A LOT of points and decided to use some of them to fly DH's Mom and Sister for DD's competition days (Friday and Saturday). They will surprise DD, who has no idea we are arranging it. My SIL is also bringing my 3 year old nephew, who is quite possibly our DD's favorite person in the world. DD is going to be so excited
They will fly in on Thursday night and stay near Disney Springs. We are coming back as a family in November, so they won't be visiting parks this time and I suggested that Disney Springs will have tons of things for them to do to keep my nephew entertained around DD's competition times.
We mentioned Amphicars, Carousel, Lego Store, Disney Store, Candy Shops, Coca-Cola Store, T-Rex...what am I forgetting that would be fun for a 3 year old?

 

[AndreaDM]

Getting Closer!!

With Sunday free, it will be interesting to see what we decide to do for the day. UDA hosts a private party at MK that night. Would this be an opportunity to park hop all 4 parks in one day?! We could sleep in and after grabbing lunch, hit Epcot for a ride or activity of DD's choice...move over to DHS at 2 for a ride on RnR (DD's Fave - barring it isn't shut down...have you guys noticed that's been happening a lot lately??), Uber to Animal Kingdom for a ride on FOP and then on to MK for the night. Seems fun, but ambitious and potentially expensive if we utilize iLL. What do you think?

Hi! So this private party, does that mean the park will close earlier that day? As of now, it is showing a 10 PM closing time. I am coming down for a few days with a couple of first timers and had planned on MK for that day, but if it is going to be insanely crowded and/or close early, we may rethink our plans. Thanks!

 

[kimberwee]

Hi! So this private party, does that mean the park will close earlier that day? As of now, it is showing a 10 PM closing time. I am coming down for a few days with a couple of first timers and had planned on MK for that day, but if it is going to be insanely crowded and/or close early, we may rethink our plans. Thanks!

No, the park will close @ 10

 

[AndreaDM]

No, the park will close @ 10

Thanks! And what exactly is a Celebration Party? Just curious lol.

 

[kimberwee]

 

[kimberwee]

5 days to go and I haven't even started packing yet...

It's just the way things go, I guess. Time has absolutely flown by and we have received tons of news an updates for our first ever trip to UDA Nationals next week.
Here's the abbreviated version:

Wednesday - we have to be at the airport at 4am and will land in Orlando around noon. While on the plane, my plan is to buy Genie+. We will be able to book rides for the evening throughout the day and it will help make the evening go smoother.
Once we land in Orlando, DH & I will take an Uber with friends to Caribbean Beach Resort and check in. There will be a UDA check-in area, where we will apparently get wristbands for private events, lanyards, etc - our appointment is @ 2pm
Our room probably wont be ready, so we can check our luggage with bell services and go grab some lunch and drinks @ Banana Cabana. DH and I will need to wait for DD to arrive @ the resort with her team before heading to Hollywood Studios as a family, so I will be planning a grocery delivery to the resort using Shipt for arrival between 2pm and 3pm.
Once we are able to head to DHS, we will make our way over and head straight to Rockin Rollercoaster. DD and DH are NOT fans of ToT, so after RNR, we will probably head around to battle it out on Toy Story Mania, hit Railway and then move on to Galaxy's Edge for the rest of the night.
There will be plenty of time and stopping for drinks, etc...Dinner will probably be grabbed from Docking Bay using Mobile Ordering
DD will have to be taken back to the resort for her team party/curfew, which is scheduled for 10:30pm, but that shouldn't be an issue because Hollywood Studios closes at @ 9 anyway.

Thursday - Epcot Day & Disney Springs!
No need to get up early for Thursday. Epcot opens 10
We will catch the Skyliner to Epcot and based on wait times, we will plan to hit all of the major rides before making our way around World Showcase.
Before we move to the showcase, I would like to see what the wait is for the Space220 Lounge. If it isn't a terrible wait, I would love to grab a cocktail and appetizer.
The Festival of the Arts will have some great snacking and drinking for us around the park and we have some favorite hangouts to visit
From Epcot, around 4, we will head back via Skyliner to the resort or just head straight on to Disney Springs. At Disney Springs (depending on on timing), my first stop may be Wine Bar George for a Corkcicle filled with their boozy Dole Whip. Then, DH and I have to go to Planet Hollywood for a team event. Planet Hollywood was literally recently named the worst restaurant in all of DW, so I am super excited.

After dinner, we will start DS pub crawl. It will be a long day of drinking and we will have two goals:
1. Hydrate and Snack
2. Pace ourselves.
May the odds be in our favor...

Friday - This will be day 1 of the UDA Competition.
Yukon is competing in Large Varsity Game Day @2:07pm and Large Varsity Pom @ 7:10pm. Announcements for teams advancing in Game Day will be around 4:30. Announcements for teams advancing in Pom will be around 9:30.
With this, DH and I are going to head over to Animal Kingdom for the morning before competition starts, so that we can ride Flight of Passage and have some lunch before spending the rest of the day at ESPN. After Pom announcements, we will go over to Hollywood Studios for the after-party as I have shown above. Hopefully, we can grab a drink and hop in line for RoR before the party ends @ 11. I have a feeling it will be close and we may have to uber straight to DHS to get there in time.


Saturday - This will be day 2 of the UDA Competition.
Large Varsity Game Day Finals start @ 8am! They should be wrapped up though by 10:30 and we wont have to be back for more Pom competition until 4:30 at the earliest. We will have Game Day Awards @ 9:30
So, DH and I are going to head over to Magic Kingdom during the break, with some of the other parents. After awards, we will probably just go back to the resort to relax and hopefully have something to celebrate there

Sunday - This will be the final day of UDA Competition.
Everything about today will depend on how the team does during the previous days. If the team advances to finals, they compete sometime between 12:34 and 2:10. Coaches said that they will release the girls to parents afterwards for some fun before awards @ 8:45pm. IF, heaven forbid, we don't make finals, the team will watch finals together and then be released to parents for the rest of the day.
I have decided that this is DD's day. Whatever she wants to do is what we will do. We do have the MK Celebration Party at the end of the night.

Monday -The Travel Day
I have a reservation for 11am at Homecomin for us to have brunch, but may cancel depending on how the week goes. We have to meet @ the resort for transport back to the airport by 1pm, so we do have a small chunk of time.


And that will be it...
I will say that I am typically way more excited about going "home." This trip just feels so different and there is a lot of nerves with it being a competition and our first time going. Pray for my sanity. Pray for this team who dream of winning it all...and pray for safe travels & Pixie Dust.

Stay tuned for my Trip Report...which will hopefully be a guide to use for next year's trip to UDA Nationals

GO MILLERS!

 

[kimberwee]

Potential Problem
It has been an extremely mild winter for us here in Oklahoma, but as luck would have it, we are now supposed to get a major winter storm starting on Tuesday night and running through Thursday morning.
We are anxiously watching the weather forecast and hoping we don’t have to delay our departure or change plans

stay tuned…

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Stay tuned for my Trip Report...which will hopefully be a guide to use for next year's trip to UDA Nationals

I will def keep an eye out!

It has been an extremely mild winter for us here in Oklahoma, but as luck would have it, we are now supposed to get a major winter storm starting on Tuesday night and running through Thursday morning.
We are anxiously watching the weather forecast and hoping we don’t have to delay our departure or change plans

What is the weather saying? I saw on the news about the storm! Fingers crossed you make it to Disney!

 

[kimberwee]

We are back from a FANTASTIC weekend!
We made it out and I am working on my trip report

Stay Tuned!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We are back from a FANTASTIC weekend!
We made it out and I am working on my trip report

Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Lisa_lvspplmvr]

How is the trip report coming ? My daughter is most likely going this year to UDA Dance nationals also !! I’d love to hear how it went for you !!