"I can't believe we're staying here!" An Feb'16 DLR PTR (TR link Post #355)

[skier_pete]

So - a quick but interesting update. I got an e-mail from a close friend (who was my best man at our wedding). We only see them every few years because they live near Boston Mass, about 8 hours away, and they have 3 kids around the same age as our one (ours is the same age as their middle 1). They are planning on going to Disney World at the end of the summer, though there trip won't exactly coincide with ours, it will overlap slightly. (They are currently planning on August 22nd to 29th, we arrive on the 28th.)

Of course, not being Disney people, he is just starting to plan the trip NOW. (3 months+ out) I told him to give me a call, but he hasn't yet - it's been about 4 days. I still don't even know if they are planning on staying on-site or not. (They are 5 - which makes on-site stays more complicated.)

I would hope we can manage to get together on the overlap, but truthfully it might be hard being that it's either our arrival day or their departure day. Probably our arrival day would work out the best as we aren't planning anything but some water park time anyways. Too bad we can't get them into Stormalong Bay, that would be a nice place to hang out for a few hours!

 

[NJlauren]

So - a quick but interesting update. I got an e-mail from a close friend (who was my best man at our wedding). We only see them every few years because they live near Boston Mass, about 8 hours away, and they have 3 kids around the same age as our one (ours is the same age as their middle 1). They are planning on going to Disney World at the end of the summer, though there trip won't exactly coincide with ours, it will overlap slightly. (They are currently planning on August 22nd to 29th, we arrive on the 28th.)

Of course, not being Disney people, he is just starting to plan the trip NOW. (3 months+ out) I told him to give me a call, but he hasn't yet - it's been about 4 days. I still don't even know if they are planning on staying on-site or not. (They are 5 - which makes on-site stays more complicated.)

I would hope we can manage to get together on the overlap, but truthfully it might be hard being that it's either our arrival day or their departure day. Probably our arrival day would work out the best as we aren't planning anything but some water park time anyways. Too bad we can't get them into Stormalong Bay, that would be a nice place to hang out for a few hours!

How different Disney and non Disney people can be sometimes! I always wonder if they know what a disservice it is to themselves to start planning so late. Hopefully you can help him out!

How nice it would be to be able to meet up for a little while.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Maybe suggest to them to try and rent points for one night at the Beach Club Villas? Tell them it would be fun to hang out at Stormalong Bay together... Even if they don't take you up on it, it might open the door for them to start asking questions (what's Stormalong Bay? What's renting points?) And you could sneak some other planning tidbits in while you're at it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

*sigh* That reminds me of the 2010 trip when we went with my younger brother and his family. He didn't understand the planning required and even though I tried to tell him about booking in ADRs, he didn't want to be tied down to that kind of scheduling. I almost killed him when the first time we stepped into Epcot with him, he turned around to me and said that someone had told him there was a great place to get steaks in Epcot and he mentioned Le Cellier. He figured we should walk there to get a table for lunch. I told him to go ahead and call me if he got a table. We headed to enjoy a few attractions. He called me complaining about how they were fully booked out and that standby wait was 2 hours. Bwa ha ha ha ah.

Sad....but true story.


Hope your friend works it out and that you get to spend some time together.

 

[franandaj]

Well I hope things work out that you get to see your friend even if it is for a brief period of time.

Change over day is always a tough one. We usually plan to cook in the room because Fran is so tired not having had a mid day nap that crashing and dinner in the room I'd usually good. Although on our trip with PIO, we went Raglan Road and she did OK. She just crashed all day the next day.

You have motivated me to stay at the Poly on our "redo" trip. Since I don't have enough VWL points to do a week there we have decided to start out with a half a week at the VWL and then try to switch to the bungalows. It's one of the few times we will have others with us, but since we rented out so many points this year it will be tough! First world problems!

 

[skier_pete]

How different Disney and non Disney people can be sometimes! How nice it would be to be able to meet up for a little while.

Maybe suggest to them to try and rent points for one night at the Beach Club Villas? Tell them it would be fun to hang out at Stormalong Bay together...

Hope your friend works it out and that you get to spend some time together.

Well I hope things work out that you get to see your friend even if it is for a brief period of time.

I just got off the phone with talking with my friend for a while. He is planning this as a "once in a lifetime" trip, at least with his 3 kids, so they want to stay somewhere nice. They were actually looking at either the Boardwalk, Poly or AK Lodge. I was trying to convince him to rent DVC and upgrade to a 1-bedroom for the price of their room, but he is saying he prefers to have two full-size beds rather than the sofa beds for the kids. (My arguments weren't working.) The problem with the DVC is while there was availability at Boardwalk in a 1-bedroom, the system still shows 1-bedrooms at BWV holding only 4 people, so he couldn't book it. So sticking with the room, after looking it over I sort of steered him towards either the Boardwalk or Beach Club and told him I recommended Beach Club because of Stormalong Bay, and because we would definitely be able to hang on Friday. Either one was "only" $387 a night with the current discount promotion, which actually seemed almost reasonable. (OK, not really.) Considering the regular rate was $500+, I supposed that's not too bad.

You have motivated me to stay at the Poly on our "redo" trip. Since I don't have enough VWL points to do a week there we have decided to start out with a half a week at the TV and then try to switch to the bungalows. It's one of the few times we will have others with us, but since we rented out so many points this year it will be tough! First world problems!

That would definitely be a special treat if you had the points to stay in the bungalows for a few nights! That would really be a "I Can't Believe we're staying here!" stay.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

That's awesome! I hope it all works out for you guys. What an awesome way to start a vacation by hanging out with old friends.

 

[skier_pete]

So, I was checking out updates to the park hours. Park hours have been extend significantly, and generally that's probably a good thing, but maybe not always. Here's my thoughts:

Day 2 is our potential 3 park day. Originally they were showing MK open until 10 PM, with EMH until 12 AM. Now the park hours are until 11 PM, with EMH until 1 AM. I don't think this changes are potential plans at all, we were going to hop over for a short time after EPCOT closed. The difference is we probably won't make it to EMH, though I wasn't sure we were going to make it to begin with! (They actually extended MK hours most nights - but its not really a problem with any of our plans.)

Day 4 I find a bigger issue. The original calendar showed DHS closing at 8:00 PM most nights of the week, including Monday for EMH. This gave us from 8 to 10 PM to be in the park for EMH. Now they have extended regular hours at DHS until 9:30 PM, meaning EMH goes until 11:30 PM. I am wondering if we still want to go to the park this evening. It is very unlikely we would stay past 9:30 PM anyways, and now being an EMH night, the crowds will be at their worst of the week.

I am tempted to switch our evening at DHS to Wednesday (our last night at BCV). However, we have dinner booked at Via Napoli that night. Do I move the Via Napoli ADR? I am not sure I can move it to Monday. I just threw an extra Beaches and Cream ADR onto late Monday afternoon in case we do end up meeting with our friends on our first night. DO I leave it there, and just head over to DHS after? Do I stick with DHS on Monday and just deal with the extra crowds? Another alternative, switch to Beaches and Cream on Wednesday, and Via Napoli on Monday. Again, assuming I can even get these at this point, what with there being free dining going on.

Anyways, I'm sure I'll talk it out with DW. Hate to complain about them adding more hours, but man what a pain.

Update: I did a quick check, and moving Via Napoli to Monday isn't a great idea. Only times available are 4:30 PM or earlier, or 8 PM or later, neither of which I really like.

 

[skier_pete]

OK - so we discussed it and after sleeping on it, decided to go with the switch. Day 4 will now be entirely an Epcot day, with a late dinner (8 PM) at Via Napoli. I'm thinking this might be a good night for a casual in park viewing of Illuminations. I was then thinking that I might hop over to DHS by myself to ride RnRC and ToT during evening EMH.

Day 6, our last full day at Beach Club, now becomes morning at Epcot (or possibly DHS) followed by evening at DHS (or possibly Epcot). AS I think about it, we don't even really care about being in DHS at night, so maybe it would make more sense to do it in the AM. We will discuss this as it gets closer, but I could foresee this easily being an either or case. Since we have an early dinner reservation at Beaches and Cream at 4:40 PM, even that wouldn't conflict with either option as its back at the resort. In fact, I am thinking I might keep this ADR even if we end up using the one at B&C on our arrival day.

I know this is all pretty boring, the difficulty of the PTR. (Most of this stuff is pretty dull if your not immediately involved.) I promise to have another day update shortly.

 

[NJlauren]

I don't find it that dull.....I use it to help plan my future trips . I love hearing other people's plans.... But I know what you mean all the little changes and adjustments on other PTRs can be a little dull!!

 

[skier_pete]

I don't find it that dull.....I use it to help plan my future trips . I love hearing other people's plans.... But I know what you mean all the little changes and adjustments on other PTRs can be a little dull!!

Maybe it's a reflection of myself. I like following along on DIS friends PTRs, but I don't find them as interesting as the actual trips. However, you are right - you do learn things from reading other people's plans, and they certainly can influence future trips.

What I'm saying is I really appreciate all the folks that actually stick with reading my PTR though the more tedious updates - and hopefully stick around for the actual TR. Their will probably be a LOT of pictures once it comes around.

 

[NJlauren]

Maybe it's a reflection of myself. I like following along on DIS friends PTRs, but I don't find them as interesting as the actual trips. However, you are right - you do learn things from reading other people's plans, and they certainly can influence future trips.

What I'm saying is I really appreciate all the folks that actually stick with reading my PTR though the more tedious updates - and hopefully stick around for the actual TR. Their will probably be a LOT of pictures once it comes around.

Oh I agree with that TR are waaaayyy more exciting then PTR!!!! I mean actual trips trump planning any day!

 

[franandaj]

Well I'm glad you worked out that dilemma it was making my head spin trying to think about your plans and how to change them when I am struggling with my own trip planning!

Either option sounds good, I mean you are at Disney!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Catching up. Glad you worked it out with the family. As Alison said, either option sounds goods and you will be at Disney.

 

[skier_pete]

Well I'm glad you worked out that dilemma it was making my head spin trying to think about your plans and how to change them when I am struggling with my own trip planning!

Either option sounds good, I mean you are at Disney!

Catching up. Glad you worked it out with the family. As Alison said, either option sounds goods and you will be at Disney.

Very sage advice. It's not like I was sweating it really. For all my love of Disney, I am not a fan of the crowds, especially in the summer when the mass of bodies can get all sweaty and smelly. So I tend to fall back on "what option will give me the lowest crowds", and I think that's what the switch-up gives us.

 

[Tinker326]

I am sooooooooo far behind on all my DIS'ing.

We leave in less than 2 days for Disney. I'm not packed or anything! I had to go out and buy tanks for myself last night because projected temp is 95!!!

I am gonna die. But at least I'm gonna die at Disney! Becca's all like "I don't care about the temp" and I'm all like "I do!"

Least we don't have to factor in the whine factor (DH & Sarah). Hahahaha!!!

Good job on your plan changes- should be fun!!!

 

[skier_pete]

I am sooooooooo far behind on all my DIS'ing.

We leave in less than 2 days for Disney. I'm not packed or anything! I had to go out and buy tanks for myself last night because projected temp is 95!!!

I am gonna die. But at least I'm gonna die at Disney! Becca's all like "I don't care about the temp" and I'm all like "I do!"

Least we don't have to factor in the whine factor (DH & Sarah). Hahahaha!!!

Good job on your plan changes- should be fun!!!

Hey - hope you guys have a great time. We would love to get down to check out Star Wars weekends some day, but this is a tough time of year, not just for school but also DW works at a cemetary, and this is a VERY busy time of year, they don't even allow people to take vacation time in May because of it.

Enjoy your trip. Spend your mid-day by the pool!

 

[franandaj]

That's odd do lots of people die in May?

 

[skier_pete]

Day 8 Plans Update

Well, after a couple of short detours around days 1,4 and 6 on my last few updates, I'm back to moving forward.

We are up to the 8th day of our trip. we moved over to the Poly, and it's probably pretty obvious that today will be all about the Magic Kingdom. Every trip plan has some holes in it, and this one I never really liked the fact that we hardly spent any time at MK until the 8th day. However, it just makes sense to take advantage of the proximity of DHS and Epcot when at the BCV and the proximity of MK when at the Poly.

The other thing I'm not sure I totally care for is that we end up at MK across Labor Day weekend. We went once before over Labor Day, and the crowds really weren't too bad, but you do get more locals and longer hours.

BUT - that is a big reason to spend today on MK. It's the Friday before Labor Day, and the locals will not be coming yet. The hours are still pretty long - until 10 PM tonight. Not as long as the next two nights though - so hopefully it'll keep crowds away. Our experience with Fridays at MK have always been very favorable.



So, what's interesting about this trip is the last time we went with DD in 2013 she was 10 years old, but still very focused on the kiddie rides. The question is, will she start getting into the bigger kid rides. She is still saying no to Splash and Space Mountain, but she is very much missing the Pirates ride, which will be down for refurb while we are there. She is very excited to try the mine car ride...definitely one of our FP+.



While I haven't really thought out details, we will definitely hit a couple of headliners at rope drop. Probably Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and maybe Jungle Cruise as early choices.



A little later in the day we'll take on the mine car and Big Thunder Mountain. A stop for lunch at our favorite place - Columbia Harbor House - may be in order.

I think we will probably want to do Splash mountain right before returning to the hotel.
DD is really against this ride after we got incredibly soaked at DLR in 2011. She just remembers that she was wet and tired and she kind of had a breakdown over it. So the goal is to do this right before mid-day break!



I plan on grabbing a fourth FP+ before we leave the park (Space Mountain or Buzz lightyear perhaps) and then back to the resort for some cool-off time. Pool time and nap time I say! Maybe a light snack and a drink at Trader Sams before returning to the park.

In the evening, we will probably be winging it a bit more, just checking out some stuff. The parks closes at 10 PM and wishes is also at 10 PM, so I am not sure if we will watch it from inside the park or back at the resort. (It may depend on if we do that the night before.) Overall, I expect a very cool day of Magic Kingdom bliss.

Firsts:
DD first ride on the 7 D mine-car. I think she'll love this one. (Mild thrills is right up her alley.)
First time riding the monorail from our resort to a park - EVER.
Can I get everyone to try Astro Orbiter after dark? That would be a first!
Trader Sams?

Next Up - it won't ALL be magic Kingdom...

 

[skier_pete]

That's odd do lots of people die in May?

That's what a lot of people ask. No, what it is that more people come in to visit their loved ones combination of weather in the NE getting better and memorial day, and this causes a lot of extra work trying to help these people. Both trying to find the graves of the loved ones, and also this tends to result in an increase in pre-need sales (pre-need being buying a grave before someone is dead). So what happens is she can't keep up on her day-to-day work while she's dealing with all the extra stuff. May and June are both pretty bad, though May is the worst. By July things start to return to normal.

And to answer your question - slightly more people die around the Christmas holidays than any other time of year, otherwise its pretty steady. I always say its a pretty recession proof business!