I didn't know the baby's powers so I covered the basics: An Oct. '11/March 12 PTR

Missyrose · Jul 19, 2011

Well here we are, just mere months after I finished my last trip report and its time to start the planning anew. For those of you who don't remember (or if we havent been properly introduced before), I'm Missy, the 29-year-old, sports copy editor, who's been to WDW six times. DBF is Franklin, the 29-year-old with a passion for photography, who has been to the World twice.

Our first trip to Disney together was for a long weekend in February 2009 and then we went back for five days in October 2010. And now...Were going back to Disney World! :woohoo:

I bet youre wondering about the pre-trip report title. It comes from one of my favorite Disney characters, Edna Mode from The Incredibles. And why would my PTR have a title about a baby with superpowers? Well, thats because the star of our show, er, trip, is Tanner, whose current superpower is being so adorable that he can get anyone to do pretty much anything he wants. :lmao:

Tanner is Franklin's new little nephew, born last February 28. Franklin's family knows how much I love Disney World and Franklin's mom has been telling Tanner that his Auntie Missy wants to take him to Disney World practically since the day he was born. And so, with that seed planted, I casually suggested we all go to WDW to celebrate Tanner's first birthday. And to my great surprise and excitement, everyone LOVED the idea!
Who is "everyone" you ask? Allow me to introduce you.

First up? Tanner's parents, Keith and Lala (Franklin's sister). Both are big time Camero lovers and one of their favorite Disney movies is, of course, "Cars." Lala is a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan and she's very excited to go visit him! Rounding out our Disney-bound crew is Franklin and Lala's mom, Kotkham.

Well be heading to the World on March 6 for four nights. Yes, the trip wont actually be on Tanners birthday, but we didnt want to deprive any family and friends of celebrating Tanners big day! So we get to keep his birthday celebration going into the next week, a very Disney idea!

Our accommodations and flights are booked, but what kind of pre-trip report writer would I be if I gave away those goodies right now? Ive also started to work up a plan for possible ADRs (my 180 day mark isnt until Sept. 7, so Ive got a bit of time), but I could use some restaurant help from you, my intrepid readers. Another thing I may need some help with? Planning tips for touring with a 1-year-old.

So there you have it, folks! Weve got a long way to go until March and a ton of planning ahead, so whos with me?

Missyrose · Jul 19, 2011

PrincessAmongPrinces · Jul 19, 2011

I can't wait to hear all the plans and details! :goodvibes

I am no help on ADR's but I DO know about traveling with small children! :rotfl:

It is going to be an amazing trip!!

ZFamily5 · Jul 20, 2011

Can't wait to hear all about your plans! Tanner is adorable!

Missyrose · Jul 20, 2011

PrincessAmongPrinces said:
I can't wait to hear all the plans and details! I am no help on ADR's but I DO know about traveling with small children! It is going to be an amazing trip!!

Hi Kel!

Kelley is one of my dearest friends and she's planning her first WDW trip with her adorable 2 1/2-year-old twin boys. I showed her the DISboards and now her DH is pretty mad at me b/c she's hooked!

ZFamily5 said:
Can't wait to hear all about your plans! Tanner is adorable!

Thanks for joining in! He is pretty darn cute, I can't wait to get to spend all that time with him at Disney!

teekathepony · Jul 20, 2011

Weeee, jumping in! Your title caught me, haha I love The Incredibles. Edna rocks.

Missyrose · Jul 21, 2011

teekathepony said:
Weeee, jumping in! Your title caught me, haha I love The Incredibles. Edna rocks.

Welcome to my PTR. I love the Incredibles too, we just watched it again a couple of weeks ago. I'm diving into your TR now...

Missyrose · Jul 25, 2011

There’s been a familiar drumbeat in my Disney life. Growing up, my family always stayed at the Marriott World Center when we went to Disney World because my dad has a bajillion miles and is a lifetime platinum member. As a kid, I remember going to Chef Mickey’s and being amazed that there were DISNEY HOTELS! :yay:

Don’t even get me started on how cool I thought it was that the monorail went through hotels.

Cut to 2009, Franklin and I made our Disney plans because my dad had a Marriott timeshare week to trade in before it expired. So we stayed at the Marriott Imperial Palm. It was REALLY nice. We had a one-bedroom villa, with a full kitchen and a living room (and as a bonus, free WiFi!). But as we left Orlando that trip, I said “Next time we come to Disney, I want to stay onsite.”

Fast forward to summer 2010. The plans begin to emerge for another trip to Disney. Though this time Disney wouldn’t be the exact reason we were heading to Florida. The mom of a friend of ours got us and two other couples tickets to see the Discovery shuttle launch (which, at the time, was the second-to-last shuttle launch). I saw it as a prime opportunity to get back to the World, my friends, however, were not enthused about Disney. So needless to say, when we were looking for places to stay, the uber-expensive onsite hotels were never really an option. So, once again, we used my dad’s timeshare company and scored a two-bedroom villa at Mystic Dunes for less than $500 for the week! It was nice (though not quite as nice as the Marriott timeshare) and it worked really well for that trip. But once again, as we were leaving Florida I said: “Next time we come to Disney, I want to stay onsite.”

Which brings us to our upcoming trip. Am I finally getting my long-held wish to stay onsite?

Sadly, no. We priced everything out for onsite, but with five adults we’d need two rooms at a value or mod hotel. And no, the whole trundle thing at POR really wasn’t an option because we weren’t going to make Franklin’s mom sleep on a trundle.

It ended up breaking down like this:
Two rooms at Pop! or ASM would have been $1,000
Two rooms at POR, POFQ or CSR would have been about $1,400
A two-bedroom villa at a Marriott timeshare would have been $1,200
A three-bedroom, three-bath townhome was $675

As much as we wanted to stay onsite, actually, let me rephrase. As much as I wanted to stay onsite, it just didn’t make much sense for a couple of reasons.

1. Taking the townhome option meant Franklin’s mom could get her own bedroom/bathroom, whereas she would have had to bunk with either me/Franklin or Keith/Lala if we stayed at the hotels.
2. The Disney transportation would have been a nice bonus, but we were always going to rent a car (whether we were staying onsite or not), so it’s not essential to our trip.
3. If you look at the prices, the difference between staying at the townhouse and staying at a value hotel would pay for one person’s park ticket for the week!
4. I may have failed to mention this up until now, but the townhouse has its own pool!!!!! Tanner went swimming for the first time a couple of weeks ago and he LOVED it. :woohoo:

So we figure having a pool right in our backyard will be a big plus with him. :thumbsup2

And at the end of the day, everyone in our group really liked the idea of having a living room and a kitchen where we could toast bagels in the morning, and just that little bit of extra space everyone could retreat to after long days in the parks.

Now that we’ve established that we’re staying offsite, where, exactly are we staying?

At Mickey’s Magical Escape, a townhome in Windsor Hills. Which you can see here.

I spent a good bit of time over on the Orlando area and Attractions board, learning about the whole vacation rental home thing. It’s definitely not something I have any experience in. The folks on that board were very, VERY helpful and gave me a good education about what to look for in a house and how to pick from the many choices. The best advice I got (which I happily will pass on to you, my fine readers!) was that when it comes to rental homes, you almost always get what you pay for. Basically, they told me that most of the time, you don’t want to pick a house because it was the cheapest quote you got. They advised me to find a house that had LOTS of good recommendations and if it cost a bit more than the others, you were paying for piece of mind.

So with that advice in mind, I sifted through the 30 or so online quotes I’d received through VRBO.com and Homeaways and came upon a couple of houses I really liked. I whittled the list down from there and really zeroed in on Mickey’s Magical Escape. It came with good recommendations on the DIS and on other sites. And though it cost a bit more than the others, it comes fully equipped with all the essentials (paper products, cleaning solution and other things we would have had to buy if we’d rented other houses).

The house looks really beautiful in pictures. They’ve used the different Disney hotels as inspiration for the decoration in each room. The living room is decorated like Animal Kindgom Lodge, the master bedroom like Old Key West, the second bedroom is Yacht Club and the third bedroom (with twin beds, it’s usually the kids’ room) is Mickey-themed. :mickeyjum

There you have it, our lovely accommodations for our four-nights at the World. Yes, I’m more than a little bummed that I STILL won’t get my first onsite stay. But all the signs pointed to an offsite stay working soooooo much better for our crew. So when we take off for our flight home from MCO, I’m more than sure I will say “Next time we go to Disney World, I’m GOING to stay onsite.”

So what do you guys think? Did we make the right call? Where have you stayed on your Disney trips?

teekathepony · Jul 26, 2011

Personally I'm pretty tight with my money so I'm going to say you made a good call. In my memory, I have only ever stayed at Pop Century (3 times) and I must admit, I really love it there and I love the convienience of staying on site -- sending packages back to your room, emh's, the transportation system... but if you guys were going to rent a car anyway, I'm sure you did the right thing. And having the extra room will be lovely.

Missyrose · Jul 27, 2011

teekathepony said:
I really love it there and I love the convienience of staying on site -- sending packages back to your room, emh's, the transportation system...

Now there are two of the things that make me REALLY want to try staying onsite: EMH and sending packages back to the room.

I've mastered the art of avoiding EMH parks to avoid the crowds, but I think it would be kinda fun to be at MK until 3 a.m. one night :lmao:

Sigh, one day.

As for the packages, we've at least got the compromise of sending packages to the front of the park, so we can pick them up on our way out. Although it'll be nice to have the stroller on this trip to haul some of our stuff!

Tell me about Pop, I've read so many mixed reviews. I've read reviews from the people who LOVE the hotel and reviews from people who say it's no better than a Motel 6. What do you love about the hotel?

teekathepony · Jul 27, 2011

I'll tell you what I know about Pop, but I will preface it by saying I've never stayed on site anywhere else.

Why I love Pop Century (an essay by teekathepony) :lmao:

As I said, I'm tight with my money. The idea of spending a lot on a room doesn't interest me much. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for spending a little more in order to get a little better, but I have to really weigh the benefits. We considered a moderate resort for this upcoming trip, but $500 more just to get a slightly nicer pool or common areas or theming, with no better room just was not justifiable for us personally. Some people really enjoy those little extras, it's all personal preference, but I chose instead to spend that very same upgrade money on a Richard Petty Driving Experience. Pop Century is a clean, fun hotel with a comfortable bed. I only spend as little time as possible at the resort because I want to spend all my time in the parks!
Then there's theme. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that AKL is gorgeous, but the theme at Pop is so very Disney. Huge characters, bright colours and fun music playing all the time. The pools are great, (the best? No, but far better than any Motel 6 could offer!) the cafeteria is ok, it has some pretty good choices. The best food? No, but not bad. I rarely eat there anyway, as I said I spend most of my time in the parks!
Pop also has a dedicated bus. Whereas most other resorts share a bus with other resorts, once you get on a Pop bus at a park, your first stop will always be yours.
Last year we did a split stay and did 5 nights at the Clarion Inn and 10 at Pop Century. Just to give you an idea, I'll compare the two.

Clarion: Extremely hard beds (two twins, we tried both), two crappy pillows per bed, itty bitty tub and shower (also a little mildewy), worn looking carpet & wall paper, LOUD air conditioning, large restaurant with very few (expensive) choices, tiny gift shop with very little in it (though toiletries were reasonably priced), one pool that was always closed, free shuttle to Magic Kingdom that left at 10am and returned at 6pm -- no other choices.

Pop: Nice beds (two twins, both comfy), two large fluffy pillows per bed, small tub and shower (but very very clean), carpet & wall paper in good condition, normal sounding air conditioning, no restaurant, but the food court is large, lots of seating, more choices, food was ok, prices equal to Disney parks food prices, large gift shop (toiletries very expensive), three pools open all day, buses leaving to every park, water park and dtd every 20 minutes.

I'm sure the mods and deluxe are better in lots of ways, it's just to me, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere (extending my vacation, doing those fun extras, buying special souvenirs, etc.). The fact remains, though they might be better, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Pop! :confused3

So that's my personal opinion on Pop Century!

cam&phoebsmom · Jul 28, 2011

Hi Missy-I am popping over from my pre-trip report

Sorry you aren't staying onsite this time, but it will make it all the more special when you do! Tanner is so cuteand as an added bonus will help you get rider swap passes for rides he isn't tall enough for, LOL :rotfl:

.

Missyrose · Jul 28, 2011

teekathepony said:
I'll tell you what I know about Pop, but I will preface it by saying I've never stayed on site anywhere else.

Why I love Pop Century (an essay by teekathepony)

As I said, I'm tight with my money. The idea of spending a lot on a room doesn't interest me much. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for spending a little more in order to get a little better, but I have to really weigh the benefits. We considered a moderate resort for this upcoming trip, but $500 more just to get a slightly nicer pool or common areas or theming, with no better room just was not justifiable for us personally. Some people really enjoy those little extras, it's all personal preference, but I chose instead to spend that very same upgrade money on a Richard Petty Driving Experience. Pop Century is a clean, fun hotel with a comfortable bed. I only spend as little time as possible at the resort because I want to spend all my time in the parks!
Then there's theme. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that AKL is gorgeous, but the theme at Pop is so very Disney. Huge characters, bright colours and fun music playing all the time. The pools are great, (the best? No, but far better than any Motel 6 could offer!) the cafeteria is ok, it has some pretty good choices. The best food? No, but not bad. I rarely eat there anyway, as I said I spend most of my time in the parks!
Pop also has a dedicated bus. Whereas most other resorts share a bus with other resorts, once you get on a Pop bus at a park, your first stop will always be yours.
Last year we did a split stay and did 5 nights at the Clarion Inn and 10 at Pop Century. Just to give you an idea, I'll compare the two.

Clarion: Extremely hard beds (two twins, we tried both), two crappy pillows per bed, itty bitty tub and shower (also a little mildewy), worn looking carpet & wall paper, LOUD air conditioning, large restaurant with very few (expensive) choices, tiny gift shop with very little in it (though toiletries were reasonably priced), one pool that was always closed, free shuttle to Magic Kingdom that left at 10am and returned at 6pm -- no other choices.

Pop: Nice beds (two twins, both comfy), two large fluffy pillows per bed, small tub and shower (but very very clean), carpet & wall paper in good condition, normal sounding air conditioning, no restaurant, but the food court is large, lots of seating, more choices, food was ok, prices equal to Disney parks food prices, large gift shop (toiletries very expensive), three pools open all day, buses leaving to every park, water park and dtd every 20 minutes.

I'm sure the mods and deluxe are better in lots of ways, it's just to me, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere (extending my vacation, doing those fun extras, buying special souvenirs, etc.). The fact remains, though they might be better, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Pop!

So that's my personal opinion on Pop Century!

Thanks for the lowdown on Pop! VERY informative :worship:

The theming does look like so much fun in all the photos I've seen.

cam&phoebsmom said:
Hi Missy-I am popping over from my pre-trip report

Sorry you aren't staying onsite this time, but it will make it all the more special when you do! Tanner is so cuteand as an added bonus will help you get rider swap passes for rides he isn't tall enough for, LOL .

As someone who's only ever done adults-only trips (except for years and years ago when I was a kid myself), I never really paid much attention to the whole rider-swap system. But it does look like Tanner is going to give some of us in the group a couple of extra rides here and there....no flames please!

cam&phoebsmom · Jul 28, 2011

As someone who's only ever done adults-only trips (except for years and years ago when I was a kid myself), I never really paid much attention to the whole rider-swap system. But it does look like Tanner is going to give some of us in the group a couple of extra rides here and there....no flames please!
[/QUOTE]

Once you get the swing of things with the rider swap it can actually be a nice benefit from not being able to ride all the rides together :thumbsup2

brookelizabeth · Aug 1, 2011

I'm here!

I've only ever stayed onsite, but do want to try offsite at some point. Your vacation rental home looks beautiful!!! Even if you got a 40% off code, a 2 bedroom Villa would still cost you quite a bit more. NEXT time on-site! (and gives you a perfect excuse to go back :laughing:

)

DWGal210 · Aug 1, 2011

Hi Missy! Great start!

I agree that for your family, offsite makes more sense right now. We stayed in a home this July and it was GREAT. Everyone had space to have alone time, their own beds, etc. I do prefer on-site BUT you can't ignore the benefits of those rental homes, either.

- Katie

Missyrose · Aug 1, 2011

cam&phoebsmom said:
Once you get the swing of things with the rider swap it can actually be a nice benefit from not being able to ride all the rides together

The rider swap does seem like a nice system, I'm just learning about it now since I had no real reason to know anything about it on prior trips! :rotfl:

brookelizabeth said:
I'm here! I've only ever stayed onsite, but do want to try offsite at some point. Your vacation rental home looks beautiful!!! Even if you got a 40% off code, a 2 bedroom Villa would still cost you quite a bit more. NEXT time on-site! (and gives you a perfect excuse to go back )

Thanks for joining in Brook! I can't believe you'll be leaving for Disney in less than two weeks! I know you're excited, is Henry as excited as you are?
Speaking of planning for next time, I found myself on my computer pricing out a long-weekend trip (and AP's to use on both trips) in October for the F&W Festival. :rolleyes1

How sick is that? Alas, after using two weeks of vacation time and a considerable chunk of our savings to go to Europe in June, I think I'm gonna have to just be satisfied with JUST the March trip, for now.

But yes, next time, I WILL be staying onsite. :yay:

DWGal210 said:
Hi Missy! Great start!

I agree that for your family, offsite makes more sense right now. We stayed in a home this July and it was GREAT. Everyone had space to have alone time, their own beds, etc. I do prefer on-site BUT you can't ignore the benefits of those rental homes, either.

- Katie

Katie! I just finished joining in on your PTR. Once I got past the disappointment of not staying onsite on this trip, I actually found myself getting excited about this beautiful townhouse we're going to stay in! :woohoo:

Can't wait to hear about more of your plans!

Missyrose · Aug 3, 2011

I guess Im doing things a bit backwards. I probably should have done this chapter BEFORE the chapter about where were going to stay, but Ill remember that for my NEXT PTR. :rolleyes1

The last time Franklin and I went to Disney, we flew JetBlue and it was fabulous. We found flight times that were perfect (arriving early and leaving late) and nonstop, to boot. And the tickets cost about $210 round-trip (which was made even a bit sweeter by the credit we were issued after the price of the flights dropped about $60 a couple of months later :yay:

). So when we began planning our trip for March 2012, we knew JetBlue would be our primo choice.

Though JetBlue hadnt extended its schedule through our dates just yet, I started playing with the schedules they had posted. I plugged in our dates though in February instead of March. I was planning for a similar flight time as our previous trip (arrive early, leave late to maximize our time in Orlando), but Franklin was concerned that Tanner wouldnt be a very happy camper if we stayed late on departure day, especially if we had to check out of the townhouse early and there would be nowhere for him to sleep. :sad2:

So, with that in mind, I found February flights that had us getting in at 11 a.m. on arrival day and leaving at 2 p.m. on departure day.
And the best part? Those February flights were pricing out at $84 each way! Wuh-hoo! :woohoo:

My budget could definitely handle that.

So when I got the e-mail that JetBlue would be releasing its extended schedule (through April 30) on Sunday July 17 at noon, I made plans for us to go to Franklins sisters house for lunch that day so we could all get online and buy our plane tickets.

And thats exactly what we did. Got to her house right at noon, fired up the laptop and what did we find?
Arrival day flight, right time (getting us in at 11) and $84, wuh-hoo! Maybe we were in for a little pixie dust? pixiedust:

Lala had put the kibosh on Franklins theory that Tanner needed an early flight on departure day, she wanted to take the later flight and get as much out of the day as possible!

So when we scrolled down to look at return flights, we found both the flight that left at 2 p.m. and another that left at 7, but both were priced at $257.

According to touringplans.com spring break season at Disney starts March 10 (our departure day) and I guess JetBlue agreed with that theory and priced its spring break travel dates accordingly.

Clearly, this was way more than we were willing to spend. So I started looking at other flight options. Southwest was out because there were no nonstop flights. Next up was United, and luckily for us they had almost identical flight times as the JetBlue flights. This looked promising, but after the JetBlue debacle, I knew not to get my hopes too high over flight times. But when we clicked on the flight times we wanted, the price United gave us was $213 round-trip. That was perfectly doable! Clearly not $84-each-eay cheap, but still well within the $200-$250 per person budget wed gone in with.

Next came the seat-selection dance. Franklin and I flew United this summer when we went to Europe and for that trip I signed up for their program where instead of buying Economy Plus (read: extra legroom) seats for each individual flight, I bought it for the whole year. So we selected our two seats in Economy Plus. And Lala, Keith and Kotkham selected three seats in a row just a few rows back from us (Tanner is going to be a lap baby).

So there you have it we fly out of Washington Dulles at 8:50 a.m. on March 6 and get into Orlando at 11 a.m. Then fly out of Orlando at 6:52 p.m. on March 10 and arrive at Washington-Dulles at 9:01 p.m.

So thats how were getting there. And in less exciting news, I also booked our rental car: a minivan through Budget using an awesome code I got for our last trip over on the transportation board. But something wacky happened to my reservation Saturday, I got an e-mail saying my reservation had been modified. All the info was still correct (pickup/drop-off times and dates, type of vehicle) but all that had changed was the confirmed total rate. It went from $295 to $0.40. Yup 40 cents. I was so thoroughly confused, so I went to the Transportation Board for help.

Ill have to see about getting that sorted out. But enough for now. Have you guys had any of your transportation plans go awry? What are your flight preferences (Fly in early? late? Which airline?)?

teekathepony · Aug 4, 2011

Wow... your flights are so cheap! For me to fly to Disney it's usually about $800 per person. The hazzards of living so far away I guess! Glad you got some good flights!

Missyrose · Aug 4, 2011

teekathepony said:
Wow... your flights are so cheap! For me to fly to Disney it's usually about $800 per person. The hazzards of living so far away I guess! Glad you got some good flights!

$800

That's almost the price we paid for our Europe tickets this summer. I'm very grateful to live just a quick, two-hour plane ride away from Disney. It makes justifying trips that much easier :rolleyes1

I didn't know the baby's powers so I covered the basics: An Oct. '11/March 12 PTR

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I didn't know the baby's powers so I covered the basics: An Oct. '11/March 12 PTR