Hogwarts & HalloWishes - An October Birthday Surprise (Extra Day in the MK)

[Captain_Oblivious]

Looks like you're doing a good job making changes on the fly!

 

[AJRitz]

Southwest Airlines fares ticked back down a bit yesterday, so I went ahead and got our flights booked last night.

I also got our reservation made at the Hard Rock Hotel for our first night side-trip to Universal/WWoHP. Just a tip for others considering adding a side-trip to Universal, there are NO deals for one night stays at Universal on-property hotels. I ran down every possible lead - no GOV rates, no AAA discount (even through AAA's website), no Entertainment Book discount. Nothing. But DS the music freak will love it, and it will be worth it for early admission to WWoHP and FOTL privileges, especially on a short visit.

Between that, and getting my ressie requests and credit card number to the Polynesian IPO folks, all I have left to get locked in between now and October is ground transportation issues. I have to figure out how we're getting to and from the airport in KC and get a rental arranged in Orlando.

Now that the travel details are pretty much figured out, next post I'll start introducing the members of the cast a bit more thoroughly.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Congratulations on the airfare!! My dates and times haven't gone down on SW from our location. I did find some comparible flights on Virgin American that are non-stop so we are really considering biting the bullet and booking those. The only thing that is stopping me is that they only have one flight per day and if something were to happen and they cancel that one flight we'd be stuck.

Regarding ground transportation - I found a great deal with Thrifty, by using my AmEx card I was able to book a mid-sized (or larger) car (they get to chose one when we get there) for $233 for 9 days. Since we're 4 adults we can use the extra room.

Depending on your location, we've found that we can rent a car locally, drop it off at the airport and then do the same on the return for cheaper than it would cost to take a shuttle or park the car at the airport. The benefits are getting to pack the car the night before, and then not have to worry about the car sitting at the airport parking lot the entire trip. (Makes it look like someone is home too).

 

[AJRitz]

A big for the Polynesian IPO staff today. As I posted earlier, I sent back the IPO form with ADR requests last week. Then, just last night while reviewing my itinerary planning, I noticed that three of my ADR times were really later than they should be. So I sent an Email at about 5:30 p.m. last night, asking to move the times of those three ADRs to earlier times, if possible.

Today, I got an Email from the Poly IPO folks with information about the ADRs they were able to make for me (on an attached PDF with confirmation numbers). They got me every ADR I requested, most at exactly the time I requested, and all within 15 minutes of so of what I'd requested. And that included my last-minute changes, a CRT breakfast, Boma dinner, and Akershaus dinner! Paying the extra for Concierge Level service is looking more worth it every day.

 

[AJRitz]

Tonight, I read DD her nightly Harry Potter chapter. As always, when we finished she wanted to know what the next chapter was. We had the following conversation
Me: "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"
DD: I want to go to Hogwarts.
Me: You can't - it doesn't exist. And besides, you're not eleven yet.
DD: There's the theme park. Can I go there?
Me: Maybe when you turn eleven.
DD: But Daddy, you said it's not real, so I don't have to wait until I'm eleven. I want to go now.
(At this point, I am working VERY hard to avoid breaking into a huge grin, because I know that she is "going to Hogwarts," in just under six months.)
Me: Go to sleep sweetheart. Maybe you can go when you turn eleven.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Tonight, I read DD her nightly Harry Potter chapter. As always, when we finished she wanted to know what the next chapter was. We had the following conversation
Me: "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"
DD: I want to go to Hogwarts.
Me: You can't - it doesn't exist. And besides, you're not eleven yet.
DD: There's the theme park. Can I go there?
Me: Maybe when you turn eleven.
DD: But Daddy, you said it's not real, so I don't have to wait until I'm eleven. I want to go now.
(At this point, I am working VERY hard to avoid breaking into a huge grin, because I know that she is "going to Hogwarts," in just under six months.)
Me: Go to sleep sweetheart. Maybe you can go when you turn eleven.

I'm looking forward to hearing about her reaction in October!

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

Tonight, I read DD her nightly Harry Potter chapter. As always, when we finished she wanted to know what the next chapter was. We had the following conversation
Me: "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"
DD: I want to go to Hogwarts.
Me: You can't - it doesn't exist. And besides, you're not eleven yet.
DD: There's the theme park. Can I go there?
Me: Maybe when you turn eleven.
DD: But Daddy, you said it's not real, so I don't have to wait until I'm eleven. I want to go now.
(At this point, I am working VERY hard to avoid breaking into a huge grin, because I know that she is "going to Hogwarts," in just under six months.)
Me: Go to sleep sweetheart. Maybe you can go when you turn eleven.

Try to get her reaction on film, that would be priceless.

 

[trennr]

Hey...I was looking at the DIS Calendar for Oct...looks like you have 3 options for the MNSSHP.

Sunday...Thursday....Friday.

LINK

 

[AJRitz]

Hey...I was looking at the DIS Calendar for Oct...looks like you have 3 options for the MNSSHP.

Sunday...Thursday....Friday.

LINK

You're right, there are three options. But Sunday is our first full day at Disney after the side-trip to Universal, and I'm afraid we'd be gambling the entire rest of the trip by keeping the kids up until midnight at the beginning of the trip. Thursday is The Bug's birthday, and I considered doing MNSSHP for her birthday, but that would probably mean canceling the Storybook Princesses birthday dinner for her at Akershus. I think we're going to stick with Friday and just deal with it.

 

[AJRitz]

Now that our ADRs are all set, and we've settled on a MNSSHP date, there hasn't been much to update for a while. But I did have a fun exchange with The Bug this morning that I wanted to share. DW had to get going early this morning, and she took DS to daycare, so it was just The Bug and me for breakfast.

She saw a flyer on the desk from one of her acting classes, advertising that they do birthday party events. She asked me if she could have her birthday party there (remember, she doesn't know that she's spending her birthday at WDW). I told her that it was too early to make a decision, and that there were a lot of places she seemed to want to have her birthday party - Theater of the Imagination, Zonkers, MonkeyBizness, Elite Gymnastics . . . and besides, what if she had an invitation for dinner with the Queen on her birthday? (This is a long-running joke. She and my MIL have been playing a tea-party type "Dinner with the Queen" game since The Bug was about two years old). That led to the following conversation:

Me: What if you had an invitation for dinner with the Queen on your birthday? What would you say, sorry, I have to be at Theater of the Imagination?
The Bug: DAAAaaad. I can't have dinner with the Queen. I'm not ROYalty!
Me: Hmmmm. That's true. What about a Princess? What if a Princess invited you to dinner for your birthday? Wouldn't that be better than Theater of the Imagination?
The Bug: (rolling her eyes) DAAAaaadddee! I'm not going to get invited to dinner with a Princess either!
Me: OK. OK. But you never know . . .

And, of course, what she doesn't know is that we ARE having dinner with Princesses for her birthday. We've got an ADR for a birthday dinner at Akershus Storybook Princesses, following by Illuminations.

I had to bite my lip so hard to keep from giggling over that conversation that I darned near drew blood!

 

[jenny105]

Joining in! I'll be in Disney the same week as you 10/4-10/9 AND we're planning to visit Harry too!

 

[AJRitz]

Had a close call this evening. I was sure The Bug was engrossed in the episode of The Electric Company she was watching, and I was surfing The DIS reading up on early reports from Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I whispered to my wife about the souvenir pricing. No sooner had I whispered the words "Firebolt Broomstick" than she leapt up from her chair across the room and was trying to read over my shoulder. Luckily, I was again able to play it off by telling her that we were just commenting about how expensive WWoHP is - the Firebolt is priced at $300, Hogwart's house robes at $100. (I was careful not to mention the vast majority of items that are $25 or less).

 

[jundland]

sooo close to being busted.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Had a close call this evening. I was sure The Bug was engrossed in the episode of The Electric Company she was watching, and I was surfing The DIS reading up on early reports from Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I whispered to my wife about the souvenir pricing. No sooner had I whispered the words "Firebolt Broomstick" than she leapt up from her chair across the room and was trying to read over my shoulder. Luckily, I was again able to play it off by telling her that we were just commenting about how expensive WWoHP is - the Firebolt is priced at $300, Hogwart's house robes at $100. (I was careful not to mention the vast majority of items that are $25 or less).

You're going to need to start keeping a few baseball gloves around the house for when you're talking to your wife about this. Just like a pitcher and catcher having a conference on the mound, you put the glove over your mouth so the kids can't read your lips.

 

[trennr]

Had a close call this evening. I was sure The Bug was engrossed in the episode of The Electric Company she was watching, and I was surfing The DIS reading up on early reports from Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I whispered to my wife about the souvenir pricing. No sooner had I whispered the words "Firebolt Broomstick" than she leapt up from her chair across the room and was trying to read over my shoulder. Luckily, I was again able to play it off by telling her that we were just commenting about how expensive WWoHP is - the Firebolt is priced at $300, Hogwart's house robes at $100. (I was careful not to mention the vast majority of items that are $25 or less).

Good recovery...say do they sell those maps that shows where people are walking...and an invisability cloak?

 

[AJRitz]

I'm overdue for PTR updates - sorry about that.

We've had one itinerary change since I last posted. After much consideration, we decided to pass on the Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast on our first morning. Our rationale was:
1) We'd have to wake up and be at the park extra-early, and then we'd still probably not be finished with breakfast in time for rope drop.
2) We've got a nice, free, breakfast set out for us in the Poly concierge lounge. Using two table service credits for a breakfast seemed a terrible waste.
3) We're doing dinner at Akershaus on Thursday for The Bug's birthday dinner, and CRT is almost the same "cast".
4) We're really not keen on starting our experience of the parks by putting a sword in Squeaker's hands!
Instead, I was able to get a California Grill ADR that should put us there around Wishes time. We'll probably finish dinner, wander around the Contemporary for an hour or so, and then head back up to the observation deck for the fireworks. We're gambling a bit that Squeaker will be able to handle it, but we're working HARD on preparing him for sit-down restaurant meals over the next three months.

I'm also starting to second-guess our MNSSHP plans. I'm glad I haven't bought the tickets yet. I'm starting to lean toward coming up with separate plans on MNSSHP night for The Bug and Squeaker. Why? Because we were at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America a couple of weekends ago, and during our day there we learned three important things:
1) The Bug is an adrenaline junkie, who will ride anything (including stuff I won't go near)
2) Squeaker seriously dislikes all amusement park rides. He's a daredevil, who set up the luggage valet in the hotel room in Minneapolis, and climbed on it to get high enough to unlatch the door chain. But every ride he went on at Nick Universe went too fast, too high, or too bumpy (the bumper cars).
3) Squeaker still views walking around characters with distrust and trepidation. He doesn't run from them screaming, but he also won't get within arms reach of them. Three of his favorite characters were at Nick Universe when we were there - Dora the Explorer, Diego, and Blue. His reaction to each was the same. When asked if he wanted to say hi or get his picture taken with them, he said, "NO! They're TOO BIG!"

So I'm starting to think that MNSSHP would be a huge waste of money for him and whichever parent has to deal with him during MNSSHP. Does anyone have any suggestions for something special and fun we could do with a three-year-old while his big sister is enjoying MNSSHP?

Oh, and I almost forgot, I dropped a very subtle hint about this trip when I parked the car at Mall of America for Nick Universe. The parking levels are named for states. We were there early, and pretty much had our pick of parking spaces. I chose to park on this level, near this sign :

 

[jenny105]

I think you made a good decision regarding CRT. I've heard that it's overrated anyway and since you're doing something similar, may as well save the credits!

Nice hint!

 

[AJRitz]

Just over 70 days to go - seems like a good time for an update. As of earlier this week, the Disney portion of our trip is all paid for. Only things left to purchase are MNSSHP tickets (we decided we'll all be going), but I think I'm leaving that until we are close enough to October 8 to have a decently reliable weather report. I also still need to get our Universal tickets bought, and since there's only a $30/ticket difference between the 1-day multi-park and 2-day multi-park tickets at UndercoverTourist.com, I'll probably go ahead and get the 2-day tickets and we can spend some time in the parks on our arrival day.

I've started picking up little things that we'll need for the trip, and stashing them in a trip box in the basement. Target had glow bracelets in the $1 bin - I couldn't pass up 5 tubes containing 15 bracelets each for $5. (I suspect I'll probably be back for more ). I also picked up a couple of kid-friendly Disney guidebooks to give to the kids to look at while we're traveling. I got Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids 2010 (more of a kid's perspective on WDW) and The Complete Walt Disney World 2010 (mostly for the fantastic photos). I also grabbed a copy of Attractions magazine with a multi-page, photo-filled, spread on Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I've also ordered a small starter lot of trading pins and a couple of lanyards on E-Bay, which will be going into the WDW box as soon as they arrive.

I've also continued to find little ways to drop hints. Last week, I picked up Lilo & Stitch to watch for movie night with the kids (I'd never seen it before, but it's one of the Bug's favorites). We had a whole conversation about 'ohana (which, of course, is where we're having dinner on our first night at WDW).

My favorite moment, and the one that jogged me to update this PTR, was reported to me by DW after she dropped Squeaker off at daycare this morning. He was talking the whole way there in the car about his new friend Ellie. When they got to daycare, Ellie was already there. Squeaker ran up and gave Ellie a big hug, and Ellie started telling Squeaker all about her trip to Disneyland that she just got back from and about seeing the princesses and . . . she was still so excited about her trip she barely paused to breathe. The whole time, poor Squeaker is looking up at DW with the look that most guys get in their eyes when women start talking about bridesmaid's dresses or makeup. That, "dear God get me out of here, please come save me" look. Luckily, about that time, another friend arrived and Squeaker got a rescue from his wingman.

It does make me extra-excited for October, when it will be Squeakers turn to be telling the tale.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

My favorite moment, and the one that jogged me to update this PTR, was reported to me by DW after she dropped Squeaker off at daycare this morning. He was talking the whole way there in the car about his new friend Ellie. When they got to daycare, Ellie was already there. Squeaker ran up and gave Ellie a big hug, and Ellie started telling Squeaker all about her trip to Disneyland that she just got back from and about seeing the princesses and . . . she was still so excited about her trip she barely paused to breathe. The whole time, poor Squeaker is looking up at DW with the look that most guys get in their eyes when women start talking about bridesmaid's dresses or makeup. That, "dear God get me out of here, please come save me" look. Luckily, about that time, another friend arrived and Squeaker got a rescue from his wingman.

It does make me extra-excited for October, when it will be Squeakers turn to be telling the tale.

Let's hope he doesn't have that same look standing in line for the rides!

 

[AJRitz]

Just when I thought the plans were all set, I go and watch parade videos on YouTube and decide that, whether it's still Main Street Electrical Parade or Spectro has returned, we can't go to Disney and miss the marquee parade. Of course with three MNSSHPs during our week at Disney, the regular parade isn't really quite so regular. It came down to either shelling out the money for Park Hoppers (an extra $200+) or shuffling our touring plan. Here's the shuffled plan:

Friday, Oct. 1 - Arrive in Orlando shortly before Noon. Check in at Hard Rock Hotel. Spend afternoon/evening at Islands of Adventure. Hoping for dinner at the Three Broomsticks.

Saturday, Oct. 2 - Early entry to IoA. Enjoy IoA/Universal until afternoon. Head over to Disney and check in at the Poly. Dinner at 'Ohana. Water Parade and Wishes from the Poly Beach.

Sunday, Oct. 3 - Animal Kingdom (instead of MK). Dinner at California Grill.

Monday, Oct. 4 - Magic Kingdom (instead of Epcot). Dinner at House of Blues. Back to MK for Parade and Wishes. EMH night has the park open until 1 a.m., so we'll stay for a bit after the fireworks, if only to avoid the rush.

Tuesday, Oct. 5 - Hollywood Studios (no change). Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. (This is the only day I'm worried about - we'll need to hit rope drop at HS, and it'll be a late night at the MK the night before).

Wednesday, Oct. 6 - Epcot WS. Dinner at Boma. I know. It seems silly to go all the way to AKL for dinner, when we're spending our day in the middle of World Showcase during Food & Wine Festival. We'll do F&W booths for lunch. I just see it as adding our own "Africa" booth to World Showcase.

Thursday, Oct. 7 - Epcot FW. The Bug's birthday dinner with the princesses at Akershaus, and staying for Illuminations.

Friday, Oct. 8 - Take it easy day. At some point, transfer over to The Swan. No plans for a park at all until we head to the Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP.

Saturday, Oct. 9 - Sleep in. No park plans, but we may hit a couple highlights. Head to the airport for a 4 p.m. flight out of Orlando.