Confessions of an obsessive planner... Let the countdown begin!!

[-Hope-]

Looks good. We always do the Safari 1st and never had a long wait (except the time my mom had an ECV and we had to wait for an accessible jeep - she should have parked it with the strollers and walked!).
We love the Lion King show!

I would be a little worried about getting to the ADR - mostly because I'm crazy like that. I'm the person who would rather wait 2 hours in an airport than risk any possibility of missing a flight. Last May we had a few days where the buses were painfully slow - long waits, etc. Or are you driving? Now I can't remember. If you have a car, you'll totally be fine. If not, it might be a little close.

Amanda

Nope, not driving we are completely relying on Disney transportation. Maybe if we are cutting it too close we can take a cab.

I think it looks great! You might consider skipping the snack and having lunch right after Nemo and THEN going to the boneyard. It might let you judge your time a little more if you do this.

I think your 3:30 time is fine, actually you may find that you make the 2:30 show! The only issue with that is that the lines for the characters will get long right after the show, LK empties out right into the character meet area and many people get right in line.

You really have it all figured out! I'm going to have to take tips from you for our touring plans!

That's a good idea to do the boneyard after lunch, that way if we're running behind I can tell them they only have 15 minutes or whatever. I'm also hoping that we make it to the character trails to do them during the 2:30 show so the lines won't be long. Maybe I should plan to split Discovery Island Trails and the Oasis before and after if I need to instead of the character trails to be sure to avoid the lines.

And I only have it all figured out because you taught me so well!

 

[-Hope-]

IS there a bus from the resorts to the TTC???? You can also take a bus to MK and then get on the monorail to GF. I would push that ADR back just another 15 to 6:30 b/c I think the meal COULD realistically last 2 hours and I want you to get to see those fireworks on the ferry back!

Do you think I'll be pushing it if I make it 6:30 or do you think I'll have plenty of time to get back to the room and get ready without rushing around? I figure we'll need to leave the resort at least an hour before our ADR.

I'm not sure there is a bus to TTC, if not then MK will work just as well.

 

[Charlefours]

I have not look at the PF YouTube videos--I will have to check them out to prep DD. Thanks for the suggestion!

I do that too--skim posts that are super long. A lot of times I am reading the forums when I am relaxing at night or taking a study break so I am not reading super careful.

I completely agree with saving your GAD fastpasses for MK or DHS. I think they would be much more valuable there.

I think you have KRR in a good spot--should give you plenty of time to dry off (anticipating how hot it is going to be when we go) before you sit in an AC room.

I like how you cap off your first park day with 1900 PF--a great way to celebrate being at Disney!!

The only show I foresee you may run into problems with is FN with the transition between FoW to FN only because the show is extremely popular and they will cut the line off if they get up to the limits.

The traveling times seem realistic to me. I plan at least 1/2 hour bus ride to everything (which is high for most times but I rather be safe than rushed). Having an hour to get to GF seems accurate to me. If you get there early than you can always explore GF (heaven forbid )

I don't think there are buses to TTC--you can take a taxi there. So you get back on the MK bus, ride the monorail to GF than back to MK to get the bus to ASMu.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ok, know you are perfectly happy with using Disney transport, but in this instance, would you consider having the backup plan of a cab to GF IF you were running late? This way you don't have to worry about it and can relax and enjoy AK.

Can't wait for the tea party today! It's taking everything I have not to upload pics of the table all set up, but I shall resist!

I also want to talk about your AK order, I have an idea.

 

[DrMomof3]

If you don't mind taking a cab as a back-up, I think you'll be ok! We're so used to relying on Disney transportation that it never occurred to me to take a cab. That's a good thing to keep in mind if we get frustrated with buses to MK or AK...

Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

The only show I foresee you may run into problems with is FN with the transition between FoW to FN only because the show is extremely popular and they will cut the line off if they get up to the limits.

I agree- we'll only have about 15 minutes since we need to be in line at least half an hour early so I'm taking Karen's suggestion to skip the snack. I'll send Robbie and the kids to get in line while I get the FP for Kali and meet them there.

The traveling times seem realistic to me. I plan at least 1/2 hour bus ride to everything (which is high for most times but I rather be safe than rushed). Having an hour to get to GF seems accurate to me. If you get there early than you can always explore GF (heaven forbid )

Yep, I'd rather have time to explore than to be rushed.

Ok, know you are perfectly happy with using Disney transport, but in this instance, would you consider having the backup plan of a cab to GF IF you were running late? This way you don't have to worry about it and can relax and enjoy AK.

Can't wait for the tea party today! It's taking everything I have not to upload pics of the table all set up, but I shall resist!

I also want to talk about your AK order, I have an idea.

Yes definately having the cab as a back up plan this night! Since there's really no way to predict how much time we'll want to spend at AK and I don't want to have to feel rushed in the park or getting to dinner I think a cab is worth it in this instance- I'm frugal but not cheap and when spending a little bit of money will truly improve something I'm all for it.

I can't wait either! For the tea party or to talk about Disney.

If you don't mind taking a cab as a back-up, I think you'll be ok! We're so used to relying on Disney transportation that it never occurred to me to take a cab. That's a good thing to keep in mind if we get frustrated with buses to MK or AK...

Amanda

Yep, I normally love all forms of public transit and don't mind the waits but in this instance I think a cab may be worth it.

 

[-Hope-]

Well, I was going to post my first day of Epcot plans but I think I'll wait until I hear Karen's ideas for AK. I don't want to get ahead of myself!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Meh, I don't think my idea will work out. I was just trying to get you lunch earlier (this will save time, we got DRINKS once at Flame tree in Sept. and it too Mary Alice almost 40 mintues?!?!?! Long lines mid-day). It ends up being the same time finishing up though, with 3 shows and trying to coordinate their times, I think that's what makes it seem so hard to get your itinerary to fit! We'll talk more today!

 

[Charlefours]

Looking forward to seeing your revised plans that Karen mentioned on her PTR.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Looking forward to seeing your revised plans that Karen mentioned on her PTR.

No pressure tho!...AHEM...

 

[-Hope-]

Looking forward to seeing your revised plans that Karen mentioned on her PTR.

No pressure tho!...AHEM...

No pressure at all huh guys!

I have to share my computer (for now) and the kids both beat me to it and by the time they were done it was time for me to fix supper! No excuse I know.

I'm just now getting my pics uploaded to photobucket so I'll go ahead and share my plan changes (you didn't really believe those were my final plans did you?)

Karen and I spent so much time looking mapping and backtracking on my AK plans. Honestly, they looked okay but I know my family and we are just not commando touring kind of people. We could possibly have fit it all in but at what cost? Would we be rushing from one place to the next and not have time to really enjoy the park? Would we feel rushed to get to our dinner and be wishing we had more time to rest? Would we be so exhausted that we couldn't enjoy this dinner that is supposed to be one of the highlights of our trip? That's a lot of what ifs for me. I was just thinking I was going to have to talk to my family and decide what things we would have to leave off of the AK day.

So we moved on to talking about Karen's plans and I wasn't really thinking much more about it. But have you ever heard that your brain will keep working on a problem even when you aren't thinking about it? Well, that must have been what happened because all of a sudden it hit me- it's just impossible to do this park in one day, I really need two days for AK. The park is laid odd so wierd, the park hours are short, you have to stick with show times and can't really know how long a trail might take. It was just too much for one day! Soooo...

I decided that instead of DTD on Friday morning before the party we'll go back to AK for a little while. It will only cost $12 total to add another park ticket and we'd have spent $20 on a cab to get to dinner since we were so rushed trying to do it in one day. It just made sense both budget wise and sanity wise to do two short AK park days instead of one long one. I don't have my touring plans done yet so I'll have to get those up for you tomorrow. But I feel GREAT about this new plan. We'll have a much more pleasant AK experience and we'll still have plenty of time to go do CiF at DTD on Saturday morning before we leave.

My pics still haven't uploaded and I have to get up early so I'll post our movie day and my new AK touring plans tomorrow!

 

[lexmas]

Subbing! I'm still at the beginning, but I wanted to sub so I remember to come back and read the rest! We're going at the same time! Can't wait to read more!

 

[-Hope-]

Subbing! I'm still at the beginning, but I wanted to sub so I remember to come back and read the rest! We're going at the same time! Can't wait to read more!

Welcome!! Stick with me- I got lazy in the middle and my updates just weren't all that interesting but then I got into the spirit of things again.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

btw, you left your candelabra here!

 

[-Hope-]

btw, you left your candelabra here!

hehe, I realized that when I was carrying everything in.

 

[-Hope-]

Alice In Wonderland

Oh.My.Goodness. You guys Karen really outdid herself this week! I knew she loved this movie but I had no idea how much until I walked into her house yesterday!

Here I was carrying my chincy little paper flamingoes and candleabra and she had gone ALL OUT!

another angle...

and another... (btw, Kya and Savannah are both sick of having their picture taken so to get Kya to smile I had to tell her to pretend Jace was in trouble, LOL!)

and another... (you can see Kya's white apron w/ blue shirt in this one so she would be Alice-esque)

one more... (did I mention I love photography)

She was the Queen of hearts last year for MNSSHP (and our homeschool party) so she had some great things to make the table look really fantastic!

Her QoH shoes made a great vase...

and her flamingo purse were really unique and so fun!

And get this- we learned how to make paper roses when we did our volunteer day so she and Savannah made paper roses, some red, and here's the kicker, some white that they painted red!

Rey's (Karen's husband) top hat was a great addition to the tablescape- I kept expecting Johnny Depp to magically appear beneath it at any moment.

Of course she had to make 'eat me' and 'drink me' lables...

Finger sandwiches- cut into the shapes of playing cards of course!

Karen and Savannah even made a string of paper lanterns and hung fun lights from Savannah's room in the kitchen. This woman thinks of everything!

We were trying to get some pics of the girls drinking their tea and we told them pinkies up and this is what they did...

At one point Savannah parted from her roll as The Mad Hatter and wanted to be QoH. This is her right before she told Karen to spread some butter on her biscuit or it would be off with her head!

After they ate Karen also had activity pages and some fun cutouts for them that included a doorhanger, bookmarks and a picture frame. They worked on these in the living room for a bit and then headed to Savannah's room to finish up, play, and watch the movie. Meanwhile Karen and I stayed in the living room to do what else... talk about trip planning!

This movie day was FANTASTIC and is going to be hard to beat!

 

[BabyEeyore]

It looks fabulous!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ha! You got a great shot of those pinkies up!!!!

and my little Queen...what am I going to do with that girl?!?!?

 

[-Hope-]

Oh man I just love getting so much feedback for my plans. You guys really helped me see that we were rushing it in the evening and now thanks to Karen (and skipping our walk yesterday because we were too caught up in planning ) I have an even better plan for AK!

Like I said before I've decided to split it into two days. The first day will be our first park day and will look like this:

Sunday September 26- Day 2: Animal Kingdom
S breakfast @ ASMu, rope drop
• Kilimanjaro Safaris (do this first, prob won’t need FP)
• Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
• Greeting Trails
• Festival of the Lion King (arrive 30 minutes early) 10, 11, 12, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30
• head over to Asia, grab FP for Kali
• lunch @ Yak and Yeti
• Flights of Wonder (arrive about 15 min early, sit on the left) 10:30, 11:20, 1, 2, 3
• Maharajah Jungle Trek
• Kali River Rapids

back to resort to rest/swim

1900 Park Fare for dinner (6:15) take bus to MK, monorail to GF, take ferry back to MK
I'm feeling great about this day now!

 

[-Hope-]

All right- I'm going to assume that you all approve the AK changes or you got fed up with me changing my mind and quit following along. At any rate, here's our first of two Epcot days!

We're starting out in FW but will have some WS time on this day as well. We'll use a GAD FP today so touring FW will be a breeze! As for WS I figured we'll need about 45 minutes per country, not including meals- does that seem realistic?

Monday September 27- Day 3: Epcot
snack breakfast at ASMu, try to make rope drop but if not 9:15 will be okay (it will be less time @ Innoventions but we'll have another chance to go there later in the week)
• Mission: SPACE (Green Team) (FP)
• Turtle Talk with Crush
• Living With the Land (FP)
• Soarin’ (FP)
• Innoventions
• Mexico- lunch, Mariachis 12:15
• back to resort to swim/relax

back to WS (need to leave resort by about 3:30)
• Norway- Maelstrom (FP), Kim Possible
• China- movie, acrobats 5:15
· Germany, dinner
• Ferry to front, walk to UK- Kim Possible, British Invasion 8:00
• Illuminations (9:00)

Anxiously awaiting your feedback!

ETA: If you're joining in late some of the following conversations may be a bit confusing- I changed Norway to the afternoon at a later date and instead of posting a whole new itinerary I just changed it here and linked back to it.