Confessions of a Plannerator!

[mike72688]

I know it's corny but ever since the Terminator came out anyone can just add "ator" to the end of any word, right?

My name is Michael and I started planning my trip to WDW around November 2007. Joining me are my wife Nina and daughters Sabrina, 10 and Elani, 6. We grew up around Oakland, CA. and moved to South Florida (Cooper City) in June 2007. We vacationed at DisneyLand in 2002 and DisneyLand and Disney’s California Adventure in 2005. But we’ve never been to WDW.

Here’s the line-up:

Michael(Me): The planner and fast pass volunteer
Nina: My wife and all around spontaneous person
Sabrina: Our oldest daughter – sings like an angel (everyone’s opinion)
Elani: Our youngest daughter – loves roll playing

Nina’s cousin Michele decided to fly out from her home, also near Oakland, with her Ex, Jason, and their two daughters Krysta, 16 and Ashley, 10. Because they go to a year-round school we could only go during the second week of June.

The next thing I did was subscribe to Tour Guide Mike (TGM) and then Michele and I solidified the dates. Nina wanted to stay at a townhouse which was supposedly just 15 minutes from WDW. According to Google it was at least 20 miles away. But it was a good deal. We could all stay together and split the $150 per night. But I wanted to stay at one of the value resorts or Shades of Green (SOG)(I’m a retired Navy Chief). While the SOG prices are not seasonal ($111 for each family) the value resorts are, and in June the prices are only different by $1. I finally convinced them on SOG because I did not want to spend 2 hours a day driving with the afternoon breaks and all.

December 2007

I wanted to get the ADR’s setup but the least crowded page from TGM wasn’t up yet. So I used the one from the previous year to make a guess. They later turned out to be about the same. It was going to be MK on June 11th. I asked the kids which characters they wanted to see and to my surprise no one wanted to see the princesses. Ashley wanted to see Mickey and Krysta, Sabrina, and Elani were either indifferent or distracted (it was Christmas time). Because TGM lavishly praised Crystal Palace I went ahead and made an ADR, even though the girls said they weren’t interested in Pooh. I didn’t want to do a breakfast and miss out on the rides and I wanted to stay away from the more expensive dinners. And I wanted to stay on site so that actually narrowed it down quite a bit.

Michele’s family decided to only come for 4 days and wanted to go to a water park for one of them so they had to decide which theme park to skip. MK was in and AK was in. Because of the least crowded park list I tried to steer her to the Studios on the 10th. She then went into to this spiel about “seeing how it goes when we get there”. No, No,
No, No, No, No, No, No. I tried to explain about things like rope drop and least crowded parks and ADR’s and she finally came around and picked Hollywood Studios.

So the line-up from 10th to 13th will be Studios, MK, Water park, AK. On the 14th I have to drive them to the airport and then get back for our day at Epcot. At that point I made an ADR for H&V Fantasmic! for the 10th. Later I made a lunch ADR at the Coral Reef for the 14th. Southwest Airlines doesn’t book that far in advance so I had to take a guess that based on the currently scheduled flights on Saturday from Orlando to Oakland and the hotel check-out time they would take a 10:20 am or 10:30 am flight. I think I should make it back by for our 11:50 lunch. We drive up on the 9th and they fly in on the 9th. We drive back on the 15th.

I printed out the “Plan a Genuine WDW 'Resort' Experience” article from TGM and sent it to Michele along with Monica’s cards and a sort of checklist I put together for them. I also sent the Least crowded parks page for the days we will be there. I explained to Michele that I needed each of their top 5 choices for each park and that I would call to get the info from her. Nina and Michele are both kind of spontaneous magic people, what I call anti-planners. I told Nina I was going to get Ridemax. I used it at DL and DCA in 2005. This was before I had ever heard of TGM. Anyway, I just feel like I have to have it. Like Kelly says "Forget it, just get it!" Nina keeps reminding me about time for shopping and other spontaneous occurrences. I have assured her I will work it into the plan.

 

[Lauralee131]

I know it's corny but ever since the Terminator came out anyone can just add "ator" to the end of any word, right?.

Why yes...Hi! I'm the Mominator. Nice to meet ya!!

My name is Michael and I started planning my trip to WDW around November 2007. Joining me are my wife Nina and daughters Sabrina, 10 and Elani, 6. We grew up around Oakland, CA. and moved to South Florida (Cooper City) in June 2007. We vacationed at DisneyLand in 2002 and DisneyLand and Disney’s California Adventure in 2005. But we’ve never been to WDW.

Here’s the line-up:

Michael(Me): The planner and fast pass volunteer
Nina: My wife and all around spontaneous person
Sabrina: Our oldest daughter – sings like an angel (everyone’s opinion)
Elani: Our youngest daughter – loves roll playing

Nina’s cousin Michele decided to fly out from her home, also near Oakland, with her Ex, Jason, and their two daughters Krysta, 16 and Ashley, 10. Because they go to a year-round school we could only go during the second week of June.

The next thing I did was subscribe to Tour Guide Mike (TGM) and then Michele and I solidified the dates. Nina wanted to stay at a townhouse which was supposedly just 15 minutes from WDW. According to Google it was at least 20 miles away. But it was a good deal. We could all stay together and split the $150 per night. But I wanted to stay at one of the value resorts or Shades of Green (SOG)(I’m a retired Navy Chief). While the SOG prices are not seasonal ($111 for each family) the value resorts are, and in June the prices are only different by $1. I finally convinced them on SOG because I did not want to spend 2 hours a day driving with the afternoon breaks and all.

December 2007

I wanted to get the ADR’s setup but the least crowded page from TGM wasn’t up yet. So I used the one from the previous year to make a guess. They later turned out to be about the same. It was going to be MK on June 11th. I asked the kids which characters they wanted to see and to my surprise no one wanted to see the princesses. Ashley wanted to see Mickey and Krysta, Sabrina, and Elani were either indifferent or distracted (it was Christmas time). Because TGM lavishly praised Crystal Palace I went ahead and made an ADR, even though the girls said they weren’t interested in Pooh. I didn’t want to do a breakfast and miss out on the rides and I wanted to stay away from the more expensive dinners. And I wanted to stay on site so that actually narrowed it down quite a bit.

Michele’s family decided to only come for 4 days and wanted to go to a water park for one of them so they had to decide which theme park to skip. MK was in and AK was in. Because of the least crowded park list I tried to steer her to the Studios on the 10th. She then went into to this spiel about “seeing how it goes when we get there”. No, No,
No, No, No, No, No, No. I tried to explain about things like rope drop and least crowded parks and ADR’s and she finally came around and picked Hollywood Studios.

So the line-up from 10th to 13th will be Studios, MK, Water park, AK. On the 14th I have to drive them to the airport and then get back for our day at Epcot. At that point I made an ADR for H&V Fantasmic! for the 10th. Later I made a lunch ADR at the Coral Reef for the 14th. Southwest Airlines doesn’t book that far in advance so I had to take a guess that based on the currently scheduled flights on Saturday from Orlando to Oakland and the hotel check-out time they would take a 10:20 am or 10:30 am flight. I think I should make it back by for our 11:50 lunch. We drive up on the 9th and they fly in on the 9th. We drive back on the 15th.

I printed out the “Plan a Genuine WDW 'Resort' Experience” article from TGM and sent it to Michele along with Monica’s cards and a sort of checklist I put together for them. I also sent the Least crowded parks page for the days we will be there. I explained to Michele that I needed each of their top 5 choices for each park and that I would call to get the info from her. Nina and Michele are both kind of spontaneous magic people, what I call anti-planners. I told Nina I was going to get Ridemax. I used it at DL and DCA in 2005. This was before I had ever heard of TGM. Anyway, I just feel like I have to have it. Nina keeps reminding me about time for shopping and other spontaneous occurrences. I have assured her I will work it into the plan.

I'm looking forward to reading more of your planning!!

 

[mike72688]

I received the free maps on Saturday from Disney. They are nice keepsakes. I think I read in another post that they aren't the type you would use in the park to find your way around which is true. They are more just for looking at and planning.

I also received the planning DVD a few weeks ago. I wasn't as impressed with this one as I was with the one I got in 2005. This one really jumps around a lot while the older one goes from park to park, one at a time this one just seems to be all over the place. It's more about dreaming than planning. But it's nice nonetheless.

I sort of feel at a standstill with the planning at this point. I've bought some waist (fanny) packs for the four of us along with a small bottle of hand sanitizer. I also picked up some sunscreen. Winter is a good time to find it on sale.

We are planning on bringing Camelbaks which we brought to Disneyland. I haven't bought my tickets yet. I'm still trying to figure that part out because I am eligible for the Florida resident discount but AAA has tickets on sale for a 4-day pass while Shades of Green also sells resident tickets. And Shades of Green tickets are tax-free.

I checked out "The Adventures of Brer Rabbit" DVD from my local library. When we went to Disneyland none of us had any idea who the 'Brer' characters were so I thought I'd get us enlighted. Now we know. I also checked out "The Three Caballeros" which is a movie from 1047? starring Donald Duck. Anyway, the Mexican Pavillion at Epcot now has a ride based on the movie so I thought we might as well check it out from the library also. I also got 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' but Sabrina does not want to watch it. Maybe we'll try again in a few months.

Now that we know which parks we are going to on which days, where we are staying, and our restaurant choices, I'm kinda stuck until June gets closer. I still feel like I have to be planning. At this point I'm planning on getting Ridemax when we are about 90 days out. I don't want to pay the extra money for a full year sub. The only other choice is a 90 day sub. The other factor is the show times. I've read on the Steve Soares site that the times don't change that much but I've also read that there are more show times in the Summer. I'll probably start check the site near the beginning of May to check for any weekly variations.

At this point the plan is to make rope drop on Tuesday at DHS, go back to SOG for 2-3 hours and then back for dinner and the first Fantasmic! showing. On Wednesday, rope drop at MK, midday break, and then the first showing of Spectromagic followed by Wishes. Thursday, sleep in and then go to a water park in the afternoon and Downtown Disney in the evening. Friday we go to AK. Saturday we go to Epcot and see Illuminations.

Nice to meet you Mominator!

 

[mike72688]

Read, Read, Read

That's what I've been spending most of my planning time doing. The TGM site has a lot of information so I've been reading through it. Once we get to WDW I want to have a pretty good idea of what we are going to do each hour of the day, at least while we're in the parks. Although we will be there 5 days I've made just 3 ADRs; Dinner at Hollywood and Vine on Tuesday, Lunch at Crystal Palace on Wednesday, and lunch at Coral Reef on Saturday. We plan on eating breakfast in our rooms each day. We'll bring cold cereal and fruit. The rooms at SOG have a refrigerator but no microwave. We also will probably hard boil some eggs ahead of time and bring them in a cooler. The rest of our meals will probably be counter service. Once it gets closer and I have a rough hour by hour itiniary I'll see which counter service choices are available near to where we'll hope to be at lunch time.

I also got the Swiss Family Robinson DVD from the library. Sabrina did not want to watch, as usual, but once I put it one she got into it. Elani didn't really get into it. At Disneyland the Swiss Family Treehouse was converted to the Tarzan Treehouse some time before our first visit in 2002 so we've never seen a Swiss Family Treehouse. We are looking forward to it.

I also got the Unofficial Guide to Disney world 2008 from the library. Wow, something like 800 pages! Most useful to me was the driving chart which shows what the normal and longest expected drive times are between all resorts (including Shades of Green) and all destinations. We are planning to drive to all the parks except for MK. Going to MK we plan to walk to the Polynesian Resort and catch the monorail. The chart also includes the bus/ferry/monorail ride times.

I got a copy of the Wishes! soundtrack. I read that you can watch wishes from the top of the parking garage at SOG. But of course there is no music. I'm thinking I could bring it and somehow figure out how to sync it with the fireworks. Because we are going to AK on Jason and Michele's last day and it closes fairly early compared to the other parks we will be free to relax that evening.

 

[mike72688]

I guess it's time to start thinking about tickets. I found on Mousesavers.com a discount on 4 day FL resident passes. Getting those and then buying a one day to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon looks to be the best deal. The 4 day adult at AAA plus tax comes to 131.08 and the child comes to 110.16. Adding in the water park one day prices of 38.47 and 32.37 also from AAA gives me a grand total of 651.15 or 130.23 per day for all four of us. Compared to the FL resident 5 day Water Park Fun and More price of 217.50 for adult and 183.50 for Elani would give us a total of 836.00. I almost forgot, I know Nina wants to go to Pleasure Island one night, it will either have to be Thursday or Friday. That will run us another 43.34 for a total of 694.48. Still considerably less than the 5 day water park fun and more ticket.

Because most of our family is back in California many of our relatives decided to send money to Sabrina and Elani for Christmas. They got other gifts also so we decided with them that we would save the money for spending money at WDW. They each have $140 for the 5 days + two travel days so I think that should be plenty. When we went to DL in 2005 Nina decided to buy them some disney items at Walmart and wrap them up and then give them to the girls when we arrived at Howard Johnson's. That was a great idea. I think it reduced their desire a bit to think they had to go out shop like crazy. I already let them pick out some pajamas that were on sale from the online Disney store. With all the discounts I think there were 5.99 each. Of course after you add in the shipping it comes out to about 11.00 each. Still not all that bad.

I've got this idea of buying some small inflatable rings, the kind sold for swimming pools, to bring to the parks and sit on while waiting for the parades. Let me know if you've tried this or seen anyone do it. Or if you think it would even be worth it. By worth it I mean worth the trouble, not the cost, I know they have them at the dollar store. Thanks!

 

[mike72688]

Sabrina loves jokes. I thought it would be fun to try and come up with some for the Laugh Floor Comedy Club. Please let me know what you think.

Here's one that Sabrina made up a few months ago:

Why did the woman bring peanuts to the hospital?

Because she was pregNUT!

Here's the rest of the Disney related jokes we made up:

What did Tinkerbell use to cook her breadkfast?
Peter PAN

What do you call an astronaut with heartburn?
A Gastro Orbiter

Where do gold miners go to dance?
Big Thunder Mountain Discoteque

What did the giant say after he walked around the world?
It's a small world after all.

What did the crazy capital T say to the nutty lowercase t?
Let's have a Mad T Party!

Where should you go if you need to just get away from everyone?
Space Mountain

Pretty bad, right?

Let me know what you think!!

I'm going to try and come up with some that are actually funny.

Thanks!