Fairy Godmother waves her magic wand... Jan 2019 PTR (Update 12/31)

[cinderaimee]

Just a few updates - flight to Orlando is booked as of today! I'm such a genius and realized that I didn't have to book both flights at the same time, because it was primarily the flight down to Orlando that I was stressing out about. So I booked this morning and had plenty of points to cover the whole thing, so that's great. I'll keep an eye on flights home and hopefully will have a few more months worth of points to put towards it by time I book. We're flying Southwest, so it's easy to get a credit for the points I used if the price drops, plus I'm probably travelling for work in a couple of months, and DH's car needs some significant work so we'll just be racking up the points there too (that's one way to look at it, right? lol)

ADR date is coming up on Saturday and this is my basic plan right now:



I'm not sure I'll keep all the reservations, but I'd rather have them and just cancel if we decide not to use them.

 

[Clbemrich]

You should be able to find discounts on Legoland. I think we found buy one get one or something along those lines. You could do the park enough to satisfy your son in a half day. It was cute and I am glad we took ours when they were younger.

Get the double stroller!!!! it will be so worth it. You can also rest your park bags in it if you son wants to walk a bit. Disney days are long and full of walking. Even fit kids can get tired and time is money....

I agree you gotta visit grandma

 

[cinderaimee]

So my first ADR was Saturday and despite sleeping past my alarm, I managed to reserve:



I know I had written in my plans I was thinking of Y&Y, but when I went to book it, it just didn't feel right not to do a character meal the first day. I might switch it to the ROL package later.



This one is really only so we can get in PPO to register the kids for Jedi Training, and then hopefully we can get out fast enough to rope drop whatever Toy Story ride I don't get a FP for.



I'm excited for this one!

My 2nd ADR date is tomorrow and hopefully I'll get the ones I'm really stressed out about - Ohana dinner, hopefully during fireworks and PPO BoG.

I've already fiddled with the times of the reservations so we'll see where they end up!

 

[cinderaimee]

Another successful ADR day!

(are these screenshots annoying? I just love how they look)



A new one for us!



Fairy Godmother and her DH will be joining us for this meal! Here is my Disney math, let me know if you think it's accurate. HEA is at 8:00, 'Ohana always runs 15-30 minutes behind. So if we're seated around 7:15-7:30, we should be good. Hopefully we can get a table near the windows.



AKA just roll me out of the World Showcase day. Fairy Godmother and her DH are joining us at Teppan Edo.



The sense of accomplishment is real y'all.



This is a maybe, might switch it to lunch after check out time or something else all together. I haven't booked our flight home yet so once I sort that out I'll work backwards from there.

So that means ADRs are done (for now)!

117 days until FP day, so what else is left to do?

- Book return flight
- Start shopping for Disney clothes (I really like to do matching shirts for my boys and short sleeves can be hard to find around here come January so I'm hoping to stock up when summer things go on sale. DH and I don't usually wear Disney at Disney, but I did grab a couple of Mickey things from a friend who sells Lularoe and had a great sale)
- Make a decision and reserve stroller (leaning towards a double but I would like to test drive one to see if my kids even fit in it anymore)
- Probably like 637 other things I'm not thinking of

 

[cinderaimee]

I hope this is not unique to me, but I literally cannot stop thinking about this trip that is still over five months away. Just obsessing over trip reports, watching all the Disney vlogs on YouTube, it's just out of control.

Since I've only got a little over 100 days before I can make FP's, I figured it's the perfect time to start planning every minute of this trip.

So, for your reading pleasure, here is the first part of this ideal trip with ideal FP's and some generic photos I stole from the internet.

Park Day One - Animal Kingdom

Our flight arrives at 10:30 PM the night before and hopefully we will be in our room at CBR by midnight. With that late night, I am not planning anything early for the first morning.

Hoping to get an 11:00 FOP FP, and then work counter-clockwise around the park from there, stopping for lunch at Flame Tree,

letting the kids explore the Boneyard (DS1 took an extra long nap through most of AK on our last visit and hasn't let me forget he didn't get to dig for dinosaur bones),

next a 1:30 FP for Dinosaur and a 2:30 FP for Everest, posssibly hitting the Nemo show or Kali in between.
Next, I would try to make a 4th FP for KS that we can use before our 4:45 Tusker House ADR, then catch an evening performance of FotLK.

We'll play the evening by ear, whether we stay for ROL or ride some more rides. We're planning a rope drop the next morning so an early evening might be in order.

Park Day Two - Hollywood Studios

The park is scheduled to open at 9:00 AM and we have an 8:15 ADR at H&V. The plan is to arrive 15-20 minutes early for the reservation and sign the kids up for Jedi training before checking in.
After breakfast, we'll head for Alien Swirling Saucers or TSMM, then 9:30 SDD FP.

Next, a 11:00 FP for Star Tours and hopefully Jedi training.

The third FP for Frozen or maybe Indiana Jones. At this point, we'll possibly head back to the resort for some rest or a swim (if it's warm enough!)
Head back to HS around 4:00ish to check out Toy Story land at night, get a 4th FP for something, and stay for Fantasmic.

I think we'll share some snacks through the day and then have a late lunch/early dinner around 3:00 at the resort, and then share more snacks back at the park/during Fantasmic.

Who knows how things will turn out once we're there, but it's fun to imagine. What will I do with all my free time after the trip?

My husband recently got his motorcycle license and has been hinting around that he wants to buy a motorcycle, which I'm not a super huge fan of, but I'm trying to work in some kind of deal where if he gets to buy a motorcycle, I get to go on a Disney trip with my sisters while he stays home with the kids. That's a fair trade off, right?

 

[cinderaimee]

I wasn't planning on doing another one of these so soon, but I am waiting for something to start at work and thought through a couple more days to pass the time.

Park Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

I am hoping to rope drop this day, but it's also our resort switch day, so we'll see how that goes. So we'll pack up our room and say goodbye to CBR.

I'm honestly not sure where we would start, but it depends on when we arrive. If we can rope drop, maybe we'll try to get a ride on 7DMT, but I'd like to get a 10:00 FP for BTMRR and 11:00 for Splash and ride those back to back,

then make our way through Adventureland, try to get a ride in on Pirates, Magic Carpets or Jungle Cruise before we head to our 12:00 ADR at Skipper Canteen.

After lunch, I'd love to do the Tiki Room and let the boys explore the Swiss Family Treehouse. Next, I'll try to get a 1:30 FP for 7DMT and then spend some time in Fantasyland. After that, depending on the crowds and the weather, we may stick it out and catch the parade, or if our room is ready, we may head across the lake to check out our new room at WL for a break.

From there, we'd play it by ear and see what other FP's we can get, I know the boys would love to do the Speedway and Buzz. Have a QS dinner and then stake out a spot for HEA. If the crowds are too nuts (this is the Sunday of marathon weekend), we might do more rides or watch the fireworks from Fantasyland.

Fairy Godmother is arriving this day, but at this point she is planning on arriving late in the evening, so I don't know if we'll see her until Monday.

Park Day 4 - Epcot

I'm planning on this for a day to sleep in and relax for the morning. We have an early lunch ADR for 11:30 at the Garden Grill, and I won't make any FPs before that.

I'd like to get a 12:30 FP for Soarin' so we can ride after lunch and maybe do LWTL while we're in the area.

This day I plan on just focusing on Future World and leaving the World Showcase for the second Epcot day. The other FP's I plan on making would be for Nemo and SE.

I don't have any other firm plans for this day, we'll see what other FP's we can make and just spend more time exploring all of Future World. We might make it to Illuminations, or we might head out early and spend the evening at Disney Springs.

 

[cinderaimee]

I made my first trip purchase today and just wanted to share!

A pair of Stitch shirts for my boys:

And a pair of fab four shirts

These were $9 each at Target. I also found a Star Wars shirt on clearance for about $3 but I could only find my younger boy's size so I didn't buy one and now I'm regretting it, DS1 has plenty of Star Wars shirts and they could just coordinate without matching. I might go back and grab one...

 

[cinderaimee]

Just another shopping post!

I ran to Target earlier this week for a few things and they still had a few of these shirts left on clearance in the boys section, so I got one for DS2. DS1 has a black Darth Vader shirt that will go with this pretty well. Clearance price is $2.68!



They also restocked these Imagine Ink books in the dollar spot so I picked up a few for the airplane. (Yes I am in Target often enough to know when the dollar spot has been restocked and I’m not ashamed to admit it)



Also, in my last post I said the boys shirts were my first trip purchases, but I forgot about these pieces I bought from a friend who sells Lularoe a few months ago. She was clearing out her Disney collection so I got these for under wholesale price, which is amazing deal.



These are cute Minnie leggings. I think I’ll probably wear them with a long navy tee.




This is a Mickey baseball tee that I’ll probably wear with jeans.

Not much else to report here! Still watching Southwest prices for our return trip and booked flights for a work trip next month so I’ll get some extra points for that.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I'm glad to see someone else completely obsessing about a trip many weeks out! My ADR window doesn't even open for another 27 days and I am double checking something in my itinerary, tweaking, etc practically daily!

You've obviously got some time, but I'm interested to see how your FP+ day goes with SDD so early in the day and so early in your trip. Other people have been reporting no morning availability on 60+2, but by January the parks should be a little emptier and SDD won't be quite so new.

 

[cinderaimee]

I'm glad to see someone else completely obsessing about a trip many weeks out! My ADR window doesn't even open for another 27 days and I am double checking something in my itinerary, tweaking, etc practically daily!

You've obviously got some time, but I'm interested to see how your FP+ day goes with SDD so early in the day and so early in your trip. Other people have been reporting no morning availability on 60+2, but by January the parks should be a little emptier and SDD won't be quite so new.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

I am interested to see how the SDD FP works out too! Luckily we have the luxury of a longish trip and the second HS day planned would be 60+6, so even if we can't get the FP's we want for the first day, hopefully we will for the second. My FP day is Nov. 11 so I'm pretty sure these plans will get tweaked several more times before then.

 

[sheri18]

I still haven't booked air for our January trip...hoping the price will come down. There are 11 of us...so any savings

 

[cinderaimee]

I still haven't booked air for our January trip...hoping the price will come down. There are 11 of us...so any savings

I just keep checking and checking. I think I've heard 6-7 weeks before travel is the sweet spot for prices, but that makes me so nervous to wait that long! With Southwest at least, I've noticed their prices are the lowest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Also, we use a Chase Sapphire card for points and it's been awesome! If you sign up for a new card and make a certain number of purchases your first 3 months (I think) they give you a bonus of something like 40,000 points.

 

[cinderaimee]

Real Life Update August 11, 2018.

Nothing new to report on the Disney planning unless you count refreshing the Southwest page constantly looking to see if any prices dropped so I figured I’d do a quick RL update.

After three years of being completely obsessed with Hamilton I finally saw it at the Kennedy Center last night and it was AMAZING! Absolutely everything I thought it would be and more.

And who did I see this wonderful production with? Well that would be me, myself, and I.



There were a few reasons I went on my own. I had originally planned on seeing it with my husband but the day the tickets went on sale didn’t go very smoothly. The way buying tickets worked was the day they went on sale, you could log in to this virtual waiting room and at 8:00 am everyone in the waiting room was randomly assigned a spot in line.

How did I do?


Yep, in line behind 59,000 people. Not counting the people buying in person or over the phone.

Watching the numbers crawl by felt like this:

To add on to the stress of trying to get tickets, long before the sale date had been announced, I had scheduled a complicated dental procedure that I just could not put off any longer. I checked my place in the queue before I got in the chair and I thought I would be okay.



The appointment was scheduled for two hours and ended up taking over three hours. I had infected bone scraped out of my jaw, a root canal, a bone implant to keep it all in place, and stitches in my gums and roof of my mouth. I was also completely awake for all of it with what seemed like 25 shots of novocaine. By time the dentist finished I felt like I had been hit in the face with a shovel.


To add insult to injury, I left the dentist and checked my phone and saw that I had missed my turn at the front of the line.

I literally sat in the car and cried. I was in so much pain and so disappointed. I had waited years and I failed at getting tickets. I joined the queue again at the end of the line and was assigned a new number that was over 100,000, I didn't think I had any chance left at tickets but the queue was still open so I figured I had to at least try.

Finally around 11:00 PM (15 hours after the queue opened, for anyone counting) my new number came up and there were still seats available!

The catch was they were all either very very expensive box seats or single seats. I talked to MH about getting seats at the same show, but it made more sense for me to just go on my own if we had to sit apart anyway - my office is only a handful of Metro stops away from the Kennedy Center so it was easy to just go there after work. H works closer to our house in the suburbs so it would have been more of an ordeal for him to get downtown, plus with him staying home we didn’t have to worry about getting a babysitter.

A few people thought it was weird that I was going by myself but I was honestly fine with it and maybe even slightly preferred it that way. Going on my own I could totally focus on the show and not worry about whether or not H was enjoying the show.

So, back to the night of the show. I stayed at my office a little later than usual, and headed over to the theater.



It was a bit awkward being by myself waiting around, but I found the drink stand and everything was fine after that.

At the Kennedy Center, if you want to bring a drink into the actual theater, you have to buy a souvenir cup with a lid. The lady in front of me orders her drink and asks the bartender if he can fit two glasses of wine in the souvenir cup.

I was up next and ordered the same thing. Then the lady behind me said “I would also like two glasses of wine in one cup”

Wine in hand, I found my seat. The usher at the door told me no pictures of the stage and even though I saw other people taking pictures anyway, I didn’t want to risk getting kicked out or something, so you’ll have to settle for a picture of my program.



So how was the show? It was incredible. The whole production was just wonderful, especially the actors that played Burr and Eliza, they were just fantastic. I basically ugly cried through the second act. I didn't even know it was possible, but I love the show even more now that I've seen it in person. It was so emotional, it was surreal actually being there, one of the best days of my life for sure.

So there's my Hamilton experience! Hopefully I'll have more Disney updates soon

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

How awesome! I got to see Hamilton in NY in January 2017. My friend's hubby had given her two tickets for Christmas and told her to bring a friend for a girls' day in the city. It was so incredible: tears, chills, just amazing. Best Christmas present ever, and if wasn't even for me! Glad you had such a good time.

 

[cinderaimee]

How awesome! I got to see Hamilton in NY in January 2017. My friend's hubby had given her two tickets for Christmas and told her to bring a friend for a girls' day in the city. It was so incredible: tears, chills, just amazing. Best Christmas present ever, and if wasn't even for me! Glad you had such a good time.

Thanks! That's awesome you saw it on Broadway! One of my good friends saw it with the original cast, so jealous when I found out.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Thanks! That's awesome you saw it on Broadway! One of my good friends saw it with the original cast, so jealous when I found out.

Yeah, no original cast for me. I would have some serious jealously on that front, too.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Just read through your PTR... How exciting! Planning is half the fun, and PTR's are such a great way to share the excitement!!

WE ARE BOOKED FOR 6 NIGHTS IN A ONE BEDROOM BOULDER RIDGE VILLA AT WILDERNESS LODGE!!!!

How awesome?! I'm sure you will love it! DVC 1 bedrooms are the best.

just overwhelmed by FG's generosity and kindness

It's so amazing that there are such a great people in the world.

flight to Orlando is booked as of today!

Rooms booked and a flight?! It's REAL!!!

Another successful ADR day!

(are these screenshots annoying? I just love how they look)

Hooray for ADRs! I love the screenshots!

 

[cinderaimee]

Just read through your PTR... How exciting! Planning is half the fun, and PTR's are such a great way to share the excitement!!


How awesome?! I'm sure you will love it! DVC 1 bedrooms are the best.


It's so amazing that there are such a great people in the world.


Rooms booked and a flight?! It's REAL!!!


Hooray for ADRs! I love the screenshots!

Thanks for reading and responding!

 

[cinderaimee]

Real Life Update: End of Summer Wrap-Up

Just wanted to do a post wrapping up our summer. We didn't have any big plans as we're saving our money and most of our time off for Disney, but we did get away to Ocean City, MD for a few nights with DH's sister, BIL, and their two boys - we had our kids basically back-to-back. If you lined up all the cousins right now, their ages would be 7, 6, 5, and 4. They are loud, messy fun.

We usually stay at a place that is right over the boardwalk, in the middle of all the action, but this time to save some money, we rented a condo that was a little farther out, in a quieter area, but still a 5-minute walk to the beach, and it was great. It had a huge wrap-around balcony, nice open layout, three bedrooms with their own bathrooms, so we had plenty of room and never felt like we were all on top of each other, and the building had a rooftop pool, which was awesome.



We spent our days at the beach and pool, and our evenings at the boardwalk, playing games in the arcades, riding rides, and eating all the amazing boardwalk food.



It was a short but fun trip and I know my kids had a great time. I didn't get to relax much - someone's gotta make sure the kids aren't kicking sand at people on the beach or being swept out to sea, but every year they get a little bigger and more independent and it gets a little easier.

Last weekend, we took the boys for a fun day at the mall before the start of school - bought some new clothes, had burgers for lunch, stopped at Dave and Busters and the Lego store.





And then we sent them off to school yesterday - DS1 started first grade and DS2 in in his second year of preschool.


(No. 1 for day one of school? I guess?)

I kind of burned myself out on Disney planning earlier this summer and have been trying to not obsess over everything just yet. FP day is Nov. 11, so I still have loads of time for tweaking the plans, and I'm still waiting to hear about what rides will be down when we're there, but it sounds like the Speedway and MK Railroad will be down, which is a bummer.

I did change my Tusker House ADR to the ROL package. This was supposed to be dinner but the packages were only available earlier in the day so now it's at 3:30 so I've got to re-think my plans for that day, but that is during the first part of the trip when we'll be on the dining plan so it only makes sense to get our money out of it when they're the same number of credits.

Here's one more Target haul - shirts for my boys (on the clearance rack for $6) and Minnie and Mickey ears I found in the Dollar Spot for $5. They're supposed to be for kids, but they fit me just fine. The Minnie ones are for me and I might customize the plain ones into something else if DS1 doesn't want to wear them.



Still haven't booked our flight home - one of the flights I've been watching on Southwest dipped down to $94 each a few weeks ago, but my points weren't quite there so I decided to wait. Hopefully I don't regret it! I'm travelling for work soon so I'll get points for that and then hopefully book the flight home by the end of the month.

That's all for now!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

It was a short but fun trip and I know my kids had a great time. I didn't get to relax much - someone's gotta make sure the kids aren't kicking sand at people on the beach or being swept out to sea, but every year they get a little bigger and more independent and it gets a little easier.

We just did our week at the Jersey shore, and it was many things, but relaxing wasn't one of them. It is getting easier every year, with less baby/toddler stuff to pack and more independent kids, but it's still a lot. We were doing two loads of laundry a day and still came home to 6 loads needing to be done! Maybe I'll get to relax at the shore once the kids can feed themselves and do their own laundry