Family’s sick of hearing me blabber on about Disney so I’m starting a PTR!

[disneydreamer1980]

Hi, long time Dis-er, first time pre-trip reporter. I’m impatiently awaiting my upcoming trip, and I decided I’m going to try to start a PTR as a means of getting my thoughts out. Hoping to do a trip report after we return.

What: a 2 week trip to WDW

Where: 1 night offsite (TBD) followed by 13 nights at Boulder Ridge villas at Wilderness lodge

When: January 11-25,2025


As of today, 131 long days away.

Who: myself, a former RN current stay at home mom, my DH, and 3 of our 5 kids. Sadly 2 of my older kids opted out of this trip.

Youngest DS, “G”
Favorite park: MK, favorite character: Mickey, favorite ride: test track

 

[disneydreamer1980]

DD, “E”
Favorite parkHS, character: Jack skelington, ride: RnRC

DD “B”, favorite parkHS, character: Donald Duck, ride ToT

 

[disneydreamer1980]

DH, begrudgingly goes along with whatever I want but he enjoys WDW more than he lets on



We have 14 day park hoppers purchased. We don’t ever park hop but it was just included with these tickets. As was Memory maker.

Tomorrow I plan on purchasing AH tickets for MK, after much debate (it’s on same night as one of our Epcot EEHs).

Extras planned this trip:
MK post fireworks dessert party
Harmonious Fireworks Cruise
Fantasmic dinner package
After hours at MK

Transportation to Disney: flying, after years of driving

ADRs we are hoping to get:
Ohana
Tusker House or Chef Mickeys
Be our Guest
Roundup rodeo BBQ
Sci Fi
Crystal Palace
CRT
Biergarten
San Angel inn
Tonys
Whispering Canyon
Chefs de France
Rainforest cafe or TRex
Raglan road

As you can see, we’re not exactly “foodies”, we mainly care about atmosphere and nostalgia. We tend to eat at the same places each trip.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Currently mapping out our park days for when ADR day comes. I can’t stand being in WDW and not stepping foot in a park so we’ll probably only have one day completely park free, but I plan on having many late start days. We have 13 full days to work with. Of those, 12 will be park days. MK has so many attractions and it’s my favorite so we tend to spend the most time there.

My tentative schedule:
MK-4 days
Epcot-3 days
DHS-3 days
AK-2days

Planning on 1 full, RD to close day for each park then the rest will be late start or early evening days. The older kids will just come and join us when they get up most likely.

Not a huge Disney Springs fan, so will probably just spend one evening there.
Would also like to have some time for resort hopping and one campfire/movie evening.

Our tickets come with water park entry but it’ll be January so not sure we’ll use them for that.

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Booked our After Hours today! Booked for January 13, I would’ve preferred the 20th but it’s more expensive. I only got two tickets, DH and I are going as a date night kinda thing. My youngest wouldn’t last that late and the girls are indifferent so I figured they could keep an eye on their little brother back at the resort while we go.


Ugh, seems so far away. I’m hoping that with all the holidays in between now and then it’ll go fast.

 

[DLo]

I bought mine for Feb 3 rd at MK. Only AH during my trip .

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I bought mine for Feb 3 rd at MK. Only AH during my trip .

Yay! I love MK, so excited to see it almost empty!

 

[zanzibar138]

Following along with interest - you seem to be taking a pretty similar approach to us! Our 2 weeks starts from 27 January.

 

[jo-jo]

14 day park hoppers? Where did you get them?

 

[disneydreamer1980]

14 day park hoppers? Where did you get them?

Uk attraction tickets. They include memory maker also. Great deal. And I’m an American but they linked without issue and will work fine

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Following along with interest - you seem to be taking a pretty similar approach to us! Our 2 weeks starts from 27 January.

Your two weeks should be less crowded than mine. I’ve got marathon weekend, possible start of festival of the arts and MLK weekend. Where are you staying?

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’m waiting for discounts to drop to book the 11th and possibly even the 10th, depending on flights. Looking for probably the Poly for those nights. Flights are still expensive. According to Google they should come down at the end of the month. They’re like $400 a ticket now, hoping for closer to $200. We usually spend the first 2 nights of our trips at Universal, and had planned on doing that again, but we decided to just do Disney this trip and then come back down for just a Universal trip after Epic Universe opens. Not much else to do other than wait!

 

[tamitru32]

Come here and trust we never get tired of it !

 

[zanzibar138]

Your two weeks should be less crowded than mine. I’ve got marathon weekend, possible start of festival of the arts and MLK weekend. Where are you staying?

We've got a split stay - 4 nights Poly, 7 nights BLT, 3 nights AKL. Hoping for low crowds We will have the dance/cheer competition weekends to contend with but hopefully we can avoid getting stuck behind too many large groups! Expecting it to pick up towards the end of our trip, hence the few nights at AKL to finish off in case the parks get too crowded for us.

 

[jo-jo]

Uk attraction tickets. They include memory maker also. Great deal. And I’m an American but they linked without issue and will work fine

Can I be nosy and ask cost?

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Can I be nosy and ask cost?

$3800 for 5 people after a discount

 

[zanzibar138]

$3800 for 5 people after a discount

What discount did you get? I paid full price for ours. Still saved about $700 over the cost of 10 day park hoppers with memory maker though

 

[disneydreamer1980]

What discount did you get? I paid full price for ours. Still saved about $700 over the cost of 10 day park hoppers with memory maker though

That’s a great deal! It was some “put in the code word” sale, ended up being like $419 off. But they frequently seem to have different sales.

 

[zanzibar138]

That’s a great deal! It was some “put in the code word” sale, ended up being like $419 off. But they frequently seem to have different sales.

Sounds like I didn't get ripped off then We're Australian so there was an exchange rate differential for us too - GBP was better value than USD at the time.