Go big or stay home!

[DisneyCAL]

PTR August 2017
Go Big or stay home!

Welcome to my first ever pre-trip report and what will become my second trip report. I really didn't picture us taking another trip to DisneyWorld until maybe 5 years after the previous but here we are less than two years later doing it again! Before this upcoming trip we took a vacation to Grand Cayman Island and I think it really illustrated to my DH how important family vacations are no matter where or what style they are.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty...
Back in December we decided to put things into motion with idea of going back to the world. We booked tentative dates with a full package at Beach Club Resort garden view room including DDP. I have always wanted to stay here. We've stayed off site and at GF. To entice DH with this idea I simply showed him a video of SAB and the walk from the resort to Epcot and he was SOLD! We knew we were going to do some splurging on this vacation. DH has recently moved up to VP and with that a nice raise and bonus which a portion was put aside for this. DH has always been a spare no expense kind of guy when it comes to technology and luxuries so he wanted this vacation to be BIG and of course I was all for it..I just couldn't, as the best DW ever, deny him the best of the best now could I?

Fast forward to April 2017 and I'm bighting my nails to the bone waiting around for the summer or fall discounts. The one thing that is different from this trip from the last is that I'm now working in our school district at a special needs/mentor preschool program. So of course the random day that discounts were posted I was scrambling to get myself ready for work and the kids ready for school and did not check the DIS boards. ARgh, I was so mad at myself. I was hoping to get a room discount rather than free ddp because at a deluxe resort it would've saved us a tad more. That afternoon I call and go online and nothing is available anymore. More argh! With my job I cant just go sit at a computer or use my phone to keep checking daily. DH then took over as he knew I was disappointed in myself for missing it. Two days later he finds a Beach Club one bedroom Villa discounted. And although this doesnt save us money, it was such a good discount that it didn't raise the cost either and we would be getting a guaranteed balcony, kitchen, washer/dryer and separated rooms for the same price as the garden view 2 queen bed room we had reserved already. I made it clear to him that it wouldnt be saving money but it would be a perk. DH not only responded that bcv option made him even more excited for the trip (I should tell you he likes Disney but isnt obessed like I am) but that he was more comfortable with this set up than the single regular room. I told DH to grab it and he responded "Go big or stay home...we're having a bangin vacation!"

Sooooo.....now for the details"
Where: Beach Club Villas one bedroom villa
When: August 15-23
Why: cause why not, also its sandwiched between our 10 year anniversary and the twins 7th birthday.
Who: Me, DH, DS, DD

Me (32) Mother to twins, Wife of 10 years, and teacher.



Favorite Park: Epcot (cant you tell? bonus points for knowing where I am in the picture)
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite Character: Donald Duck and Penelope Von Sweetz.
Favorite Restaurant: Via Napoli
Favorite treat: this is tricky, toss up between frozen bananas or Dole Whip



DH (36) Father of twins, Hubby of 10 years and Engineer/IT/VP/owner.


Favorite Park: Epcot cause Beer!
Favorite Ride: Test Track
Favorite Character: Grumpy and Goofy
Favorite Restaurant: Ohana
Favorite treat: a pour of Macallan 12 at UK pavilion.


DD (6 almost 7) first born, particular and sassy.
DS (6 almost 7) second born, laid back and cuddly.


Favorite Park: DD Magic Kingdom, DS Epcot
Favorite Ride: DD Splash Mtn., DS Tea Cups
Favorite Character: DD Belle, DS Mickey Mouse
Favorite Restaurant: DD BOG, DS Via Napoli
Favorite treat: DD Mickey Ice cream, DS Mickey candy apple


​

 

[TheRichFam]

Based on your description of the twins, that photo is PERFECT. So funny!

Looking forward to reading along. Also, glad to know I'm not the only one who considers Macallan to be a "treat!" DH and I should start a club or something.

 

[mercydisney]

Following along. Can not wait to read more!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

It is amazing how easily you can become obsessed. It happened quickly for us many years ago. Your twins are so cute. We have boy/girl twins too (our son was born 1 minute before our daughter) - they are teenagers now - they grow so quickly. It is so much fun planning Disney trips. We love the BC - great pool. We will be in Disney around the same time, so your pre-trip report will be about the same timing as our vacation. We will be at the BWI and then the Poly this time. Following along - thanks.

 

[DisneyCAL]

It is amazing how easily you can become obsessed. It happened quickly for us many years ago. Your twins are so cute. We have boy/girl twins too (our son was born 1 minute before our daughter) - they are teenagers now - they grow so quickly. It is so much fun planning Disney trips. We love the BC - great pool. We will be in Disney around the same time, so your pre-trip report will be about the same timing as our vacation. We will be at the BWI and then the Poly this time. Following along - thanks.

Yah it's to believe they're almost 7 now. My babes were born over an hour apart! I did not need a c-section but my daughter the sassy girl decided to push her brother way up on her way out so I had to labor down before he came into the world.

Have you done August trips before? Any tips? (we've gone in september before).

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Yah it's to believe they're almost 7 now. My babes were born over an hour apart! I did not need a c-section but my daughter the sassy girl decided to push her brother way up on her way out so I had to labor down before he came into the world.

Have you done August trips before? Any tips? (we've gone in september before).

That is so funny about your twins birth - we say that our daughter pushed our son out to check things out. She is definitely in charge. I had to have a C-section due to my older children's births.
Since our kids are older now they like to stay up late and then sleep in later around 10ish. We like to make lunch ADRs - so we are in air conditioning. We also keep going when it rains - and it will rain pretty much every day. We wear our ponchos and go. Last year we were in AK when it was raining and before the rain the wait for Expedition Everest was about 50 minutes. During the light rain and after they rode EE about 7 times in a row.
We do travel with at least 2 fans with the water mister as we are a family of 6.
Also with EPCOT and HS so close we often take a midday break and head back when it is later or just walk in and out of all of the countries. We just love the EPCOT hotels for that reason.

Thanks for the report - I will be reading.

 

[DisneyCAL]

Food, Food, and more Food....

So 180 days came quickly and I had all my ducks in a row. I hesitantly set my alarm for 5:45am as I usually don't get up until 6:30 or 6:45 and my sleep is a precious thing now after having twins (I appreciate it so much more than before). I was also hoping I would get everything reserved and done and have time to get myself and the kids ready before school and work. Needless to say my fingers were double crossed.

I'm a schedule and list master of sorts so I had everything written and typed and put into two separate lists using my mde account and my DH's account. I convinced DH to help me this morning. We divided and conquered. I gave DH a chart with restaurant, date and time frame and had it listed with most important/hardest to get first.

I was so nervous but in the end it went perfect, almost perfect. I couldn't get Cape May Cafe character breakfast for any of the days which seemed strange as it's not all that popular (kind of a hidden gem). I put Chef Mickey in its place and hoped something would open up.

Turns out everybody else was having issues with Cape May Cafe breakfast. Several weeks later and all of sudden I could get any time I wanted, so I switched it out with Chef Mickeys!

I should mention that this trip we decided to do something that might seem strange to many. We are focusing on only two parks this time, our favorite two. We are interested in AK Pandora but don't want to deal with chaos and crowds (more than the usual that is). We don't care for HS at all not to mention all the construction. So our ADRs are focused around MK, Epcot, and BC. This focus also allows us to spend more time in the parks we love and also gives us several resort only days to take advantage of some non park activities. We also scheduled some reservations based on our activity so some are late breakfasts if we were up late the night before for fireworks or early morning breakfasts if we had a normal night before. We took in some pros and cons from our last trip and tried to improve our approach.

Our reservations:
Tuesday(travel day)- dinner at Via Napoli
Wednesday- breakfast at Cape May Cafe and dinner at Teppan Edo
Thursday- PPO breakfast at BOG (QS) and dinner at Ohana
Friday- no reservations (resort day and a date night)
Saturday- breakfast at Kona Cafe and special tea time with DD and me at GF Garden View Tea Room
Sunday- dinner at Tokyo Dining
Monday- PPO breakfast at Garden Grill and dinner at Biergarten
Tuesday- dinner Cape May Cafe
Wednesday- no reservations (early flight home)

We plan on using QS credits at BC Marketplace and Hurricane Hannahs, and Les Halles Boulangerie.
Our date night we will be doing drink/snack around the world.
Resort only days we'll make use of the areas QS locations and our bcv kitchen.

New places this trip: Cape May Cafe, Teppan Edo, Kona, Garden Grill, and Biergarten!​

 

[DisneyCAL]

When it came to planning this trip we decided to take it a little slower. We took cues from our last trip on what worked and what didn't. You also wont see any AK or DHS because we want to soak up the two parks we love the most. We knew we would need to have a mid day break each day to cool off not to mention staying at Beach Club with SAB, it just made sense. I also made sure that after a fireworks night, we had a sleep-in day. So without further ado, here is the schedule we came up with, or I should say, I came up with. DH is not a planner nor disney obsessed but I did take some of his requests into consideration.

Tuesday (travel): arrive 10:35am, Check-in, swim at SAB, Epcot for FP Test Track, Italy with ADR Napoli and USA

Wednesday: sleep-in (tuesday was early morning), ADR Cape May, swim SAB, Epcot for Mexico, Norway with FP FEA, and Japan with ADR Teppan Edo.

Thursday: Magic Kingdom with PPO ADR BOG, FP for Splash, BTMRR, and 7DMT, mid day swim at SAB, and evening at the Poly with ADR Ohana, ELWP and HEA from beach.

Friday: sleep-in, Choice of either Blizzard Beach or mini golf and SAB, Date night with DH (kids at Sandcastle Club), evening in Epcot Showcases.

Saturday: sleep-in, ADR Kona Cafe, swim at SAB,"Bro and Girl Time"- DS and DH surrey bike or boats/Me and DD Tea time at GF, evening open.

Sunday: rope drop Magic Kingdom, FP for Peter Pan, Splash and 7DMT, mid day swim at SAB, evening at Epcot for Morocco, China and ADR Tokyo Dining.

Monday: Epcot with PPO ADR Garden Grill, FP spaceship Earth and Test Track, mid day swim at SAB, evening in Epcot for Germany with ADR Biergarten, UK, France and Illuminations.

Tuesday (last full day): sleep-in and pack as much as possible, breakfast at Les Halles, swim at SAB, afternoon in Magic Kingdom with parade, FP speedway, Buzz, and one last Splash, ADR Cape May. We may decide to come back to MK for HEA view in park depending on how we all feel.

Wednesday (travel day): Very early start with MDE at 6:00am

 

[ariel_fan76]

Following

 

[DisneyCAL]

Linking my Trip Report
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...safe-on-the-benches-an-hot-august-tr.3629643/