Family of 3 Takes on Disney!

[Marthonica]

Like everyone else I've decided to stop lurking and start posting.

Be warned! I have no idea what I'm doing - this is the first time I've ever posted on any discussion board. Hopefully I'll figure things out as I go!

Why am I here?

I'm the family planner and sometimes take the job to the extreme While my husband thinks it's crazy that I spend so much time planning he ultimately appreciates it. He just doesn't want to hear about it anymore! So here I am reading other PTR's and TR's and now I'm entering the world of posting (is that even what you call it??) Hey, maybe at least on this site my hard work will be appreciated! And, I can use all the help and advice I can get. Afterall, a lot of work goes into planning the perfect trip!!

I'll run down the cast:

Me (mid 30's) - a working mom
DH (mid 30's) - a working dad
DS (4) - in order to protect the innocent I plan to just refer to him as Jr. on this site.

The plan:

First family trip to WDW. Going in early October 2008. Staying in the Contemporary, Tower Room, MK view, for 5 nights, Basic DDP with park hoppers. I haven't been to Disney since I was 12, DH last went when he was 15. He's not crazy about the idea of a Disney vacation but agrees we should go while Jr. is young enough to still get the magic of the place

Hotel choice was easy - We wanted a monorail hotel, Jr. LOVES trains (does it get any better than one that goes through your hotel??!), and I really like the option of walking to/from the MK if desired. Plus, Jr. tends to go to bed early so this way we can still see fireworks. This is the hotel I stayed in when I was a child and I have great memories. I'd probably choose the GF or AKL if it was just up to me, but I think the CR will work best for everyone on this trip. Other decisions have not been so easy

Up next: How will I ever decide on final ADR by next week How will MNSSHP affect our trip? Will we go to Hollywood Studios or just skip it? Can you really plan a perfect trip?

 

[Marthonica]

to continue....

First up, the ADR's. I'm thinking Coral Reef, Tony's, Yak and Yeti, Chef Mickey's, San Angel Inn. Maybe The Wave (new CR restaurant if it's open). We'd love to do T-Rex in DTD, but I don't know if it's going to be open when we get there. If not, I think we'll do the Rainforest Cafe. I'm trying to pick restaurants that will minimize travel time and will work for all 3 of us.

Side note on Character Meals. DH has NO interest in meeting the characters. I think he's afraid of them. So I'm going to schedule just one and I'm doing Chef Mickey's b/c it's in our hotel. I figure he can get used to seeing what goes on in there during the week and then we'll try it out near the end. Anyone else have experience with a child who doesn't like the characters??


Thoughts on MNSSHP - I'm leaning towards not going. Jr. doesn't do well late at night (he goes to bed at 7:30 most nights) and I'm thinking it may just be too much for him on top of everything else. Looks like there will be a party the day we get there - we're definately not doing that one. I think there will be two more while we're there. I'm going to play it by ear and if DS seems interested and tickets are still available we might go towards the end of the trip. Thoughts on this would be appreciated.

A big question for all you other planners out there......do we need touring plans or just general ideas for each park?? I want to make sure my hard to please DH and DS have fun (me too ) so part of me wants to plan as much as possible to avoid crowds, lines, etc. But another part of me knows that sometimes you can't plan everything and this vacation should really be about what makes DS smile and happy, not about me making sure he gets on every ride and seeing the things I think will make him happy. Some of the other TR's have really made me realize that a plan is important but you can't predict everything.

More thoughts on that to come....

Strange question - will our room keys hold all our info about our park hopper tickets and DDP? Is that one thing what we use for everything? Do we each have our own?

 

[Mallow]

I too am fairly new to posting on the boards ( I lurk a lot). So I may get some thing wrong too. I'll apologize in advance for any wrong info. You will have a great time in Disney & it sounds like you have a great plan already. As far as your passes go, everything will be on a credit card type card. Your passes, dining plan, & room key will all be on that card. We also gave a credit card at check in & were able to charge purchases with that same card.

Sorry I can't help you with the uneasiness with the characters as both of my kids loved all of them. It sounds like you have the right idea about waiting until the end of the week for the character dining. I'd say wait & see, you may be surprised. Your DS may end up getting caught up in the magic & really enjoy them as the week goes on.

About touring plans: We have only gone the week after Labor Day & the crowds have been minimal & therefore did not use touring plans. We did use fast pass frequently though. From what I've read Oct. is also a good time for less crowds, but maybe some one else could speak to this better.

Have a wonderful time.

 

[Marthonica]

The Big Stroller Question


No doubt, we need a stroller. Jr. will be 4, when we go (going in October, he turns 5 in December). We have an umbrella stroller, but he's getting a bit big for it and DH has a hard time pushing it b/c he's pretty tall.

Looks like the ones you can rent are big and comfortable for a 4 year old and easy to use.

BUT (there's always a but!)...if we rent a stroller we won't have one to use in the airport or going to and from the parks. Since we're staying at the CR, I was thinking a big perk would be walking to and from MK - might not be so easy without a stroller. So, do we rent, use our current, not-so-good stroller, or buy a new one which we'll probably only use 3 times?

The exciting news is ADR's this week

I'm still thinking Coral Reef, Tony's, Chef Mickey's, Yak and Yeti. Unsure of the 5th and may make an extra or two. (Don't worry - I'll cancel once I know for sure what we're doing )


Next - the basic touring plan

 

[Mallow]

For our '06 trip we rented a double stroller @ the parks. You're right that it was a lot of walking in the airport & to & from the buses. But if I only brought the umbrella from home then my 6 yr old would have had to do all the walking & that would have not been good for anybody.

This time we do not plan on renting a stroller every day. My kids will be 8 & newly 5 yrs old. I will rent one for big walking days such as, Epcot and if one of them just get too tired or cranky.

 

[Marthonica]

It's exactly 6 months until our trip

Hotel reservations - Check! (CR)
Plane Reservations - Check! (Arrive in Orlando at 9am, depart Orlando about the same time 6 days later)

ADR's - Will make them next week

The Plan - See Below!

Day 1 (Arrival) - Given our flight we should arrive at the CR before noon. I'm not expecting to get into our room that early, so we'll just check in, have some lunch, check out the hotel, maybe visit the pool. After we get into our room and cleaned up and rested, we'll head to Epcot. We'll do a few things, do ADR's at Coral Reef, some more rides or pavilions and then watch the fireworks. It looks like there will be a MNSSHP that night and we don't plan to attend. So rather than go to MK for a few hours and be asked to leave, I figured we'd do Epcot instead. It will be a more relaxing first day I think anyway.

Day 2 - MK Jr. is going to love the place. I love the place! He's so excited about seeing the castle. ADR's at Tony's for lunch. We'll stay as long as we want, head back to the hotel for rest time, then back to MK for the parade and fireworks. CS for dinner at MK somewhere.

Day 3 - AK. None of us have ever been and we're very excited. Jr. LOVES zoos so I think this park may be a favorite. And he LOVES dinosaurs. Seems like we can't lose. ADR's at Yak and Yeti for lunch. We'll stay as long as we can and then call it a day. I'm hoping to maybe do dinner at The Wave in the CR - sounds like it will be open way before then.

Day 4 - Open. We'll let Jr. decide what park he wants to go back to. Depending on how the day goes we may go over to Downtown Disney for some shopping and an early dinner. I'm really hoping the new T-Rex restaurant will be open, but if not we'll probably go to the Rainforest Cafe.

Day 5(last day ) ADR's for Breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Hoping that Jr. will be comfortable with the characters by then. We're leaving this day open as well. We're not planning on going to Hollywood Studios this trip, but if we change our minds we can go this day. I think there will be a MNSSHP this day as well so if it's not sold out and we decide we want to go we can do that as well. I'll probably make ADR's at San Angel Inn at Epcot in case we want to do that.

Day 6 - Departure. We have to leave the hotel around 7am, so no plans for this day

 

[Marthonica]

It's been forever since I've posted on this PTR -

But I'm back in the posting game!

Earlier this week I realized that although we don't want to spend hours a day at sit down restaurants, our out-of-pocket dining expenses with the regular DDP were going to be big. While we don't plan to maximize the deluxe plan I think we'll come out even in the end and we'll get the added bonus of not having to worry about paying while on vacation. Thus, making the vacation even better!!

So now ADR's look like this:

Day 1 (arrival - Epcot day) - Coral Reef for dinner
Day 2 (MK day) - Kona Cafe for breakfast, Cindy's for Lunch
Day 3 (AK day) - Yak and Yeti for lunch, Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner
Day 4 (DD/Open) - San Angel Inn for dinner, may make a DD lunch ressie soon
Day 5 (Open) - Chef Mickey's for breakfast, Citricos for dinner


We may add The Wave for a breakfast or two and maybe dinner on Day 2. I don't want to be too tied to getting to ADR's. I've tried to really plan our ADR's around our daily plans. But, I'd rather have the option there and if we decide to do CS instead, I'll just cancel.

We're also considering dropping DS off at the GF kid's club when we do the Citricos dinner. BUT, I have some concerns with that. More to come later.

 

[Marthonica]

Before I started planning this big family vacation, I knew Disney has tons of hotels but didn't know much about them. Last time I went they only had 2, CR and Poly - nothing like showing your age!!

When we decided to take on the world we really quickly decided on CR. Good location for us, the monorail thing, and it was the one DH requested. Done deal. Now that I spend way more time than I should reading guide books and on this site I'm experiencing hotel envy and I don't like it one bit

It's not even the hotels I thought I would have picked if it were entirely up to me. Nope - it's one I never considered. It's, wait for it....Wilderness Lodge. I LOVE the themeing, the fact that it's all in one building, that lobby, the pool, taking the boat to MK. It just looks so beautiful. I'm in love I know we'll be happy at CR and I do think it's the best choice for us for this trip, but WL just looks so perfect. I have managed to work in an ADR for Whispering Canyon Cafe so we'll have to go over there

Up next: Is it ok to ditch the kid for a parent's night out when your on a vacation that was planned entirely for the kid??

 

[Mallow]

I think your ADR's look good. We ate at Coral Reef last time & really enjoyed it. We ate at Cindy's too but for breakfast. The whole family really enjoyed eating in the castle. This time we're trying Chef Mickey's (for dinner) & San Angel too.

I know what you mean about hotel envy. It was such a hard decision as to where to stay. We really wanted to stay at the Poly but financial it isn't feasible this time, maybe next time.

I had a hard time deciding if we should ditch the kids too. But in the end we thought a short break would be in everyone's best interest.

 

[Marthonica]

That is the question. We recently upgraded to the deluxe DDP and as a result are now dining at CRT for lunch and Citricos for dinner. We we're going to skip the Castle b/c the menu just isn't all that appealing to any of us, our DS isn't ga-ga over princesses and we just didn't think it was worth 2 TS meals. But once we upgraded I decided to go for it b/c it is so neat to eat in a castle and I think DS will really like that. He's pretty afraid of the characters, but I think he might warm up to the "face" ones so we went for it.

Then I added Citricos because I really wanted an opportunity to go to GF and this restaurant looked most appealing to me. I did briefly ask DH if he had an opinion, but his deer in the headlights look just confirmed for me that I need to do all the plannin on my own!!

We have a 6pm ADR, so it's still pretty early and DS does ok at restaurants (if we hurry ) but the more I think about it the more I feel that taking him to Citricos is just ensuring that we all have a bad time. It's our last night - is it terrible to take him to the Kids Club at the GF for 2 hours while we have a nice adult dinner?? We plan to head back to MK after dinner for the parade and fireworks to finish off our trip.

Don't get me wrong, we go out lots without DS, I have no attachement issues or anything like that - it's just that this vacation is supposed to be all for him. Hopefully, I'll find a way to get over this self-impossed guilt and DH and I can enjoy a nice, quite dinner at the GF.

Up Next - The 5 months mark is in site - Need to start making purchases for the trip

 

[Marthonica]

Let's see if this works....

 

[Marthonica]

one more test

 

[julezdisney]

Yay! I caught a PTR at the beginning with someone else who's going at the beginning of Oct!!

I'm just beginning mine as well, but I haven't posted it yet- hopefully tonight. Only we're doing DLR/DCA not WDW. But yay! We'll be in our happy places in less than 5mos!!

 

[Marthonica]

Yay! I caught a PTR at the beginning with someone else who's going at the beginning of Oct!!

Are you going to MNSSHP? There will be 3 parties while we're there but I haven't gotten tickets. DS does not do well staying up late and I hate to spend all that money just to end up going home at 8pm But, I don't want to regret not going.....

 

[julezdisney]

Unfortuneately, DLR hasn't released the dates yet, but from what I understand, it will be going on at least twice while we're there and I haven't decided as well. I think as long as I force an afternoon break in there, that they will do fine to stay up late. They do stay up late whenever given the chance, but with all the walking, and excitement, I think they will tire quickly and become cranky. I'll decide closer to when they release our info.

 

[Marthonica]

Let the shopping begin

DS is kind of picky (perhaps the biggest understatement of the year!), but I want to get him a Disney shirt to wear the day we go. The Disney Store had the coolest Mickey shirts - he would have looked so cute, but, he said he didn't like it so it was a no go We need our vacation to start right, NOT with a battle over a shirt, so I've got to find one he likes.

I'm thinking I'll give him a Going to Disney present the night before we leave. I want to get two pairs of Disney PJ's - to wear that night and one to pack, a Disney shirt to wear the day we leave (see above and wish me luck on that ), and his own little plane bag filled with Disney goodies. I'm thinking I also need to prepare a little bag filled with mini coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc. for restaurants and waits.

I'm pretty sure we'll take a backpack to the parks, but I might look for a little bag I could carry my camera, money, tickets, ID in as well.

I did get the 2008 WDW planning DVD in the mail yesterday - will have to watch that with DS. I'm still not sure he gets what Disney World is!

 

[julezdisney]

Wow! A 4 yr old who DOESN'T like Disney store shirts? Thankfully, my DS always has loved everything I've ever bought him from there. Ours is closing though.

 

[Marthonica]

Just a quick shout-out to everyone. My PTR is now in the right place

Coming soon: Some big decisions and some not so big ones.

 

[Marthonica]

On a side note, just how scary is Snow White's Scary Adventure? I was 12 the last time I rode it and don't remember a thing. DS is not generally afraid of the dark, or scary things, but he did see Enchanted and the witch and poison apple in that did bother him a bit. We still need to watch Snow White I guess.

 

[Marthonica]

Just about 5 months out One of Jr's friends from pre-school is headed to WDW today. I saw him yesterday and told him to report back to us. Not sure I'll get a quality trip report from a 4 year old, but it doesn't hurt to gather as much info as possible

On to my ranting. So I booked the trip through AAA. Last October we decided on a general date and hotel so I started looking on the WDW website to get an idea for the price. Every date I put in kept coming up unavailable. Since we were set on the CR/Tower/MK view and had only about a 6 week window that worked for our schedules I knew we were limiting our options but it was a year in adavance. The planner in me panicked and I called AAA to have them look for our room. (I didn't know about the DisBoards back then - if only I had!) They finally found something that worked so I went for it. Added in tickets and dining and thought we were set to go

A few weeks went by and I never got anything in the mail. After calling (and I gotta tell you - I have never called a place with more phone issues! I got cut-off more times than I can count, got mis-transferred, you name it - finally I got to the person who made my ressie). She had part of my address wrong, which freaked me out What if it's still wrong when they mail something really important She says she corrected it and will remail my stuff. Finally I get the package. I can't tell from the invoice if my order is right, AND the address was still wrong on it. I had to sign some stuff and fax it back. I do, but also include a sheet with questions that I needed answers too. Never heard back. Tried calling, left messages, finally talked to the agent again and cleared up most stuff.

THEN, a few weeks ago I called back b/c we decided to upgrade to the DxDDP. When I finally get to my agents extenstion there's a message saying she's on indefinate leave I get on the phone with someone else and tell him what I need. He finds my ressie (massive heart pounding slows some) and says he'll make the change. He puts me on hold, comes back with my new price and says he'll send me a new invoice. That was 3 weeks ago. Still haven't seen anything

I was able to make my ADR's using my confirmation number on the orginal invoice and when I called the CR to check if they had my ressie in their system (I think the agent thought I was nuts) she said it looked fine. So I think we're ok, but I'm here to tell you that I don't need or want this kind of stress! Planners need things to be planned!

I don't think I'll be using AAA again. Hopefully some pixie dust will sprinkle over me and all will be ok! Wish me luck - I'm getting ready to call Steve at AAA to ask, once again, where my invoice is.