Early Jan 2011, first trip to the World!!

[DIS_Indoctrination]

SO funny about him getting his curls enhanced. He will LOVE that! Brilliant! And it's true, my hair is kind of curly, but when I cut it short it does get much curlier. All that other hair is just weighing those curls down!

Those are good ideas about indoctrination. I would get some maps and go over them with her (If you want to PM me with your address I would be happy to send you some after my trip!)...DS loves doing that! Plus, they have some maps for kids which are really cute.

Have you thought about Kim Possible? I don't know if your DD will be too young for it. We'll see if DS is. I think he will LOVE the idea of having a "mission" to complete! He's always pretending to save the world!

And... HOORAY for booking! It always feels so great to be booked! Congrats!

Maps are a great idea! Disney has some you can order online for free, so I think I'll get a set of those. If they're lying around the house I think it'll get DH a little more excited & it can't hurt to have a vauge idea of how to get from attraction to attraction before we get there.

Kim Possible is a great idea, I'll add that to our list. We might not finish one, but she'll like playing with a gadget with buttons.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Congratulations on booking!!! And you got awesome ADR's to boot!!!! You guys are going to have so much fun! Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for the encouragement. Let me know if you think of any tips/suggestions. I'm open to anything.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

you're booked!!!!!!

Checked out your June report. I'm adding penny pressing to our list of things to do. I think it'll be easier for DD to collect pennies than to trade pins. Although the pin trading does sound like a good way to get conversations going with cast members.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

You all don't know me, but if you keep reading you'll quickly realize I'm all about the numbers. I just had to break down the package price for my own peace of mind, and I thought you might want to see what I came up with.

Our package includes 5 nights at the Pop, 5 days of park tickets and free counter service dining that has been upgraded to the regular dining. The price is $1,326.

The Basics
1. Tickets - $733
2. Room - $478
3. Dining Upgrade - $115
Total - $1,326

The Details
1. Two Adult tickets at $237 ea. + one child ticket (1) at $214 + ticket tax (6.5%) $45 = $733
2. Room $425 (4 nights @ $82/night + 1 night @ $97/night) + tax $53 = $478
3. Extra dining expense $45.99 - $34.99 = $11/night per adult plus $12.99 - $11.99 = $1/night per child OR $23/night for all three of us = $115

I don't know about you, but I feel better now.

 

[lexmas]

Haha. I try not to look at the numbers because they are all so very high. I, instead, try to make packing lists over and over to make sure I don't forget anything. To each his own! Glad you broke it all down and feel better!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Yay for booking! I definitely agree with using youtube videos to prepare. You want to do Youtube videos of meet & greets too. These may be better than pictures because you can see the actual interaction better.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

20thingamabobs - you are right about youtube for character greetings. I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks!

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Haha. I try not to look at the numbers because they are all so very high. I, instead, try to make packing lists over and over to make sure I don't forget anything. To each his own! Glad you broke it all down and feel better!

I need to do more packing lists. We always end up getting out the door late because we're not packed. DH always throws his stuff in a bag the morning of, and somehow I get to thinking I can use the same strategy with my stuff, DD stuff, & all the family stuff. Never works.

I will do packing lists this time. I will do packing lists this time. I will do packing lists this time. I will do packing lists this time...maybe if I repeat 100 times I'll actually do it.

We should have more time to pack because I'll have two weekdays off kid free before the trip to get stuff together. Plus we'll be heading to Disney which is a lot more exciting that another trip to Grandmas house. <--do you see this, I'm already justifying leaving everything until the week before...I'm hopeless.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Day 4 – AK & more

Review of Trip Plans:
Day 1 - Travel all day
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - Epcot
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

This is our animal kingdom day. According to touringplans.com, the crowd levels will be really low this day. Regardless, we’re going to get an early start and aim for 30 minutes prior to rope drop. We will be using the touringplans.com One-Day Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children.

Of course we have to do the Kilimanjaro Safari as a family. DH will want to see the Gorillas, so even though I’ve read that it gets really crowded we’ll take the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. The Pangani trail is not on our touring plan, but we'll squeeze it in before or after the Safari. DH also wants to ride Kali River Rapids, so ponchos made it onto my pre-trip shopping list.

Also not on the touring plan is Expedition Everest. I really really want to ride Expedition Everest. Since DD is 41”, and the minimum height is 44”, we’ll have to do some sort of FastPass or Baby Swap so the adults can go on Expedition Everest. DH said he didn’t want to do anything that DD can’t do. Well this is the one thing I want to do, and I will do it by myself even if he won’t take a turn by himself later. If he’s dead set on not going, I think the best strategy would be for me to go through the single rider line while DH & DD play in Boneyard. I’ll also be on the lookout for an opportunity to run over to get a FastPass at other times during our day.

DD is not that into animals. We have a membership to our local zoo, which we go to at least twice a month. Well DD never wants to see the big animals. She likes the reptile house & the meerkats. Other than that she just wants to play on the playground (they have the best playground I’ve ever seen in my life) or ride the carousel. Therefore we may not spend too much time on the other animal trails and we won’t go to the attractions at Rafiki’s Planet Watch unless we’ve done absolutely everything else of interest.

We’re on the fence about It’s Tough to be a Bug. DD really likes bugs, but I’ve read so much about how it terrifies kids. I think we’ll have to decide that day, depending on how DD has handled other attractions at MK & EP.

We don’t have any ADR in the park on this day. Instead we are going to try to finish the park in the early afternoon & take a rest at the hotel.

We have a 5pm ADR at Whispering Canyon Café. I’d like to get there a little early so we can see them ring the dinner bell. I’m a little worried about having two BBQ meals in one day, but we love BBQ so we should be ok.

After dinner, the plan is to either drive our car or take the boat to Fort Wilderness for the Chip & Dale campfire story. If we take the boat, we’re hoping to catch the Electric Water Pageant on our way back. I don't know if the Chip & Dale campfire story or the Electric Water Pageant runs every day. If they aren't scheduled for this night we'll just have to call it quits after dinner & put these on the list for next time.

Must Do:
Kilimanjaro Safari
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
The Boneyard
Expedition Everest
Kali River Rapids
Flame Tree BBQ

Maybes:
Kid’s Discovery Clubs
It’s Tough to be a Bug
Wildlife Express Train
Rafiki’s Planet Watch

Won’t Do:
Dinosaur
Primeval Whirl

 

[20thingamabobs]

Ak plans sound good. It's Tough to be a Bug is a tough one. There's kids that love it and kids that hate it. I could definitely see where it would be scary but in my honest opinion I think the worst part is when the spiders and bees come. I don't want to share too much because I would hate to spoil it for you but I don't even really like these parts and I'm 24. I think she would enjoy the rest of it though if she likes bugs. You may just want to have her close her eyes during the spider part and lean away from the back of her seat during the bee part. That's the main advice I would give because well, that's what I do!

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Ak plans sound good. It's Tough to be a Bug is a tough one. There's kids that love it and kids that hate it. I could definitely see where it would be scary but in my honest opinion I think the worst part is when the spiders and bees come. I don't want to share too much because I would hate to spoil it for you but I don't even really like these parts and I'm 24. I think she would enjoy the rest of it though if she likes bugs. You may just want to have her close her eyes during the spider part and lean away from the back of her seat during the bee part. That's the main advice I would give because well, that's what I do!

Are you allowed to put kids on your lap for this attraction, or do they have to be in their own seat with a restraint? That way she wouldn't get the bee effect & we could cover her eyes for the spiders.

 

[lexmas]

Haha don't worry, I'm a last minute packer, I just make lots of lists about it!

I'll be dragging DS on ITTBAB, so we'll see how that goes. Oh, and they can be on your lap, it's just a theatre with bench seats.

Rafiki's planet watch is not great. It's pretty terrible, actually. So skipping it is a good idea!

I was just thinking about the campfire at fort wilderness today. I really want to do it this time. Do you have any info about it? I've only heard about it through the grapevine, I don't know anything about it really.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Haha don't worry, I'm a last minute packer, I just make lots of lists about it!

I'll be dragging DS on ITTBAB, so we'll see how that goes. Oh, and they can be on your lap, it's just a theatre with bench seats.

Rafiki's planet watch is not great. It's pretty terrible, actually. So skipping it is a good idea!

I was just thinking about the campfire at fort wilderness today. I really want to do it this time. Do you have any info about it? I've only heard about it through the grapevine, I don't know anything about it really.

ITTBAB - I'll be watching for your trip report to see how he does. Rafiki's planet watch, thank you for alleviating my guilt on intending to skip something. Since there is a potential DD will like it I hate to leave it off our schedule, but I also think we're going to be worn out on this day & will want to just catch the highlights.

You can't claim to be a last minute packer. I've see your pre-trip report where you've already got the kids clothes packed up.

Click here Chip-n-Dale Campfire Sing-a-Long. for an October 2010 schedule. We'll have to wait until closer to departure to get the schedule for our trip.

 

[lexmas]

Thanks for the link!

And this is the first time I have EVER packed before the night before. It's terrible packing that late, so I'm trying something new this trip (You know, being responsible...). When I moved out of my apartment we didn't really pack until the night before either. You can imagine how that went...we did not sleep at all!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Lexmas is right, you can definitely hold her on your lap for ITTBAB and I Would recommend it! I also agree that I wouldn't worry about missing Rafiki's Planet Watch. There's nothing overly special about it, the only reason we went on our last trip was to meet and get Jiminy Cricket's autograph. I don't think you'll feel like you missed out by not going!

 

[2princesses2princes]

We really enjoyed Rafiki's planet watch with the kids, but with that I wouldn't put it on the have to do list either. As for ITTBAB, my kids loved it last time, they were 7, 5, and 18mos. My mother inlaw hated it, too funny. It's great though that you have the option of putting them on your lap, which I did with my 18mos old anyway.

I am a numbers person too, I am thinking about doing that breakdown too. Know what else my crazy nerdy self has done? I took all the restaurants we planned on eating at, figured a good guess at what each of us would order and totalled it up. I wanted to know what kind of deal the dining plan would really be for us, then when free dining came out I REALLY, REALLY appreciated it knowing how much the food would have costed out of pocket.

I am also a list freak though, I write lists for my lists. But I am not an organized person, kind of wierd I guess.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

We really enjoyed Rafiki's planet watch with the kids, but with that I wouldn't put it on the have to do list either. As for ITTBAB, my kids loved it last time, they were 7, 5, and 18mos. My mother inlaw hated it, too funny. It's great though that you have the option of putting them on your lap, which I did with my 18mos old anyway.

I am a numbers person too, I am thinking about doing that breakdown too. Know what else my crazy nerdy self has done? I took all the restaurants we planned on eating at, figured a good guess at what each of us would order and totalled it up. I wanted to know what kind of deal the dining plan would really be for us, then when free dining came out I REALLY, REALLY appreciated it knowing how much the food would have costed out of pocket.

I am also a list freak though, I write lists for my lists. But I am not an organized person, kind of wierd I guess.

Too Funny! I did the detailed calculations of the food too! How did yours turn out? Mine broke even or was slightly cheaper not to do dining. So glad it's free dining when we go!

I used to be a list freak, but DD takes all my lists so my list making has dropped off since her birth. In fact, since she came along, I've joined DH in the fly by the seat of our pants club. I miss my list making slightly organized self. She kept the house cleaner & we were on time a little more often, not much though.

 

[DIS_Indoctrination]

Lexmas is right, you can definitely hold her on your lap for ITTBAB and I Would recommend it! I also agree that I wouldn't worry about missing Rafiki's Planet Watch. There's nothing overly special about it, the only reason we went on our last trip was to meet and get Jiminy Cricket's autograph. I don't think you'll feel like you missed out by not going!

Oh, I didn't know Jiminy Cricket was out there. DD LOVES Pinnochio. I hope we find Pinnochio over at Magic Kingdom. If we don't & we aren't too tired & we have time we might go out to Rafiki's Planet Watch just to find Jiminy.

 

[hollybearsmom]

We keep saying we are going to do chip and Dales singalong but we still havent made it there yet.
thanks for reading my tr too!

 

[999ghostslover]

Hi,
Your trip sounds so great. I have not read all of the comments so forgive me. I have been out of town and then entertaining family. I need a break!

As you are a numbers person I would also take a look at the average food and drink prices of all of your restaurants and figure out the suggested tip that you will need for each meal and for any meals OOP. I would also pre-make some cute tip envelopes and stick whatever tip you usually do in them in advance for mousekeeping. Driving gives you such a great opportunity to stock up on things in advance and cuts way down on park purchases of necessities. You can make an autograph book in advance for way cheaper than buying one in the parks.


Skip rafiki's for sure if you have a zoo membership and your kid isn't totally wild about animals. It takes quite a bit of time.

You are really in a good spot because you have done so much research and put so much thought into it. I usually tell people it is like you have to do Disney once just to be totally and completely confused and overwhelmed and get that out of your system so the next time you go you can really enjoy it. But I think you are going to have a rockin fantastic time the first time.