I said we wouldn't do Disney again. I lied. April Vacation - 4 Days Left! 4/17

[ursalita]

Just a thought. How about drop Animal Kingdom all together. From your own words "it is your least favorite park" and that coupled with the fact you have visited it just a year ago. Drop it!

I say this cause we are planning our trip (57 days count down) and I just tossed AK and added more MK days. We have seen everything in AK and visited in 2013 & 2014. I didn't care for it the first time, pretty much the same the second time. Sorry AK your gone!

Happy planning!

Hi! Thanks for stopping by.

That is an excellent idea. That's exactly what we we did last year. We only had 4 days in the park last year and we hadn't done HS yet so we scrapped AK and did 2 days in MK. We would have done the same this year but we had to extend our trip a couple days - a hardship, I know! With 6 park days I thought we'd do MK and EP 2 days and AK and HS for one day.

Your post has me thinking that we could easily add an extra day for MK or Epcot. I'd love an extra day in Epcot because I'd like more time to explore WS and the booths for the Flower festival. Plus it's so convenient to our resort this year. Unfortunately, I don't think the boys will stay interested in Epcot for 3 days. Maybe we could do HS a second day. Dropping AK is definitely something to consider.

I do think the boys will enjoy seeing the animals, more so now that they are older. I'd like to do the safari and the single-rider line at Everest since I've never been on that ride. Even if we finish early in AK it won't be a wasted day because we'll just spend some time at the YC/BC pool. We've never done a movie night and I thought that would be the perfect night for it. I read that they do a campfire at the YC before the movie and I think my boys will enjoy that.

 

[ursalita]

Just a quick update. We had our first movie night on Saturday. I thought we'd watch something on Netflix that we haven't seen like Pocahontas or Mulan but the boys really wanted to watch Snow White from our collection. They are really into Minecraft and they liked the idea that the dwarfs are miners. How could I say no?

We really enjoyed watching the movie together. It's been years since I'd seen it and it was like watching it for the first time. You pick up more details as an adult, I guess. We just turned off all the lights and popped popcorn, nothing special. But it was a nice thing to do as a family and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Also, I added a countdown to my cell phone. It's the first one I've tried and I haven't been able to figure out how to make it my wallpaper on my phone but I like it.



Hopefully I will have my pins tomorrow and can post more pictures. I've also been thinking about posting some pics of favorite moments from prior trips. What do you think?

 

[ursalita]

As promised I'm back with a pic of the pins we got today:



I'm really pleased. I ordered a set of 50 to split between the boys assuming that some of them would not be tradeable. Honestly, I think all of the pins we got are tradeable. I looked up about 10 of them and they very closely matched what was on pinpics down to the markings on the back. Most of the pins I looked up had the following note: Be aware that this pin is being offered for sale directly to pin collectors from a factory in China. As such no one can guarantee the authenticity of this pin.

I have no doubt that these are the pins we have but I think only an avid collector could tell the difference. Since we will be trading with CMs in the parks I think it's ok for us to trade these pins. I'm not looking to build a collection, I just want to give my sons an opportunity to have some interactions with the CMs in the parks. I'm sure many other guests are doing the same.

I've been going through pics from prior trips and thought I'd share some of our favorite moments from past trips. Last October we had an ADR scheduled for an early dinner at The Wave because I really liked the local, sustainable menu. We had tickets for MNSSHP afterwards so the boys had their costumes. I had planned to wear a costume but chickened out at the last minute so DH didn't wear his costume to humor me (he would have been happier dressing up with the boys). When we hit MK I regretted my decision and wished I'd worn my costume.

Anyway, at check-in for dinner we were informed that the boys were chosen as the "Little Farmers of the Day." They were given farmers hats and were tasked with choosing a few items from the wagon which the chef would use to prepare a special appetizer.



You can see DH holding DS9's clone trooper helmet from his costume.

They took a photo with the chef and we were presented with a little certificate as a keepsake.



When the plates were delivered the chef came out and chatted with us. We told him where we were from he told us that he'd attended Johnson & Wales, a culinary school in our neighborhood, and had previously worked at Persimmon, a restuarant in Bristol, RI. It's such a small world.

 

[Sisa]

Eek....a family night, love it!!! I think it's cute that the boys chose Snow White because of the mines. I agree with you, it is amazing the details you notice when you watch movies as adults.

Love all the pins, thanks for posting the picture!

 

[Maggie.lobe]

Hi, I'm going to Disney on April too, on the 17th, very happy that the days go by so fast... I'm just sad I won't get the luggage tags and booklet to remind me of the important dates and stuff, because I live in Mexico, but I don't give up very easily so I will continue searching for a way to get this, there's always a way ... still very excited for our upcoming trip.

 

[ursalita]

Hi, I'm going to Disney on April too, on the 17th, very happy that the days go by so fast... I'm just sad I won't get the luggage tags and booklet to remind me of the important dates and stuff, because I live in Mexico, but I don't give up very easily so I will continue searching for a way to get this, there's always a way ... still very excited for our upcoming trip.

Hi There! That's too bad about the tags and booklet. I didn't realize that international guests don't get those. Bummer.

I also hope the days go by fast. I've been keeping busy reading the Dis and if I stay busy April will be here in no time.

 

[stephm0188]

Too funny! I decided last week that I wanted to order puns for my little guy to trade, and they're supposed to arrive tomorrow. I'm excited to do something new at Disney with him.

The pins you received look great!

 

[ursalita]

Before I get into this update I just have to say that the boys are listening to a Minecraft inspired parody of "Let it Go" titled "Let it Glow." It makes what happened a couple of days ago sort of ironic.

On Wednesday night I attempted movie night part deux. I rented Frozen from Redbox since I haven't seen it yet. I'd immersed myself in Disney lately I really felt like I needed to rectify that immediately. Unfortunately the boys were not as excited as I was. They had seen it and weren't really interested in watching it again (I blame Thanksgiving excitement). So I made DH watch it with me after they went to bed.

I'll try again this weekend and maybe let them help choose the movie.

I've been reading a lot of trip and dining reviews here which has caused me to make several changes to our ADRs and plans. I'll share the new plans here with the caveat that I will probably change it all. Tomorrow. I hope this isn't getting too monotonous but here is a breakdown of our plans:

Tuesday, April 21st. No Park
L: Airport or hotel (Hurricane Hanna's or BC Marketplace)
D: Flying Fish @7:15

I don't think I changed anything here. We are due to get into MCO at 12:20. If the boys are hungry I think it makes sense to eat at the airport to keep them happy during the DME ride. If not we'll grab something at or near the resort like Hurricane Hanna's or BC Marketplace. We will spend the afternoon at the pool and exploring the resort. Dinner will be the meal I'm most looking forward to.

Wednesday, April 22nd. Animal Kingdom
B: Pizzafari
L: Flametree BBQ/Yak & Yeti
D: Beaches & Cream @6:40

I realized that if we want to make RD we will have to grab breakfast at the parks. I thought the breakfast menu at Pizzafari looked good; can you get real coffee there? DH and I really want to try Flame Tree BBQ for lunch but I don't think the menu will please DS9. He's gotten so picky lately, he never used to be. We will probably have to do Yak & Yeti for him. Does anyone know if you can eat at Flame Tree if you bring some food in from Yak & Yeti? I know it's a faux pas in the real world but it's all Disney, right? We still plan on having dinner at B&C because I'm sure we will be done with AK early. I thought we could do the pool and maybe the movie and campfire that they do at the YC.

Thursday, April 23rd. Magic Kingdom
B: Starbucks and Main Street Bakery
L: Grand Floridian Cafe @12:45
D: Columbia Harbour House

No big changes, just breakfast at the park so we can make RD. I won't even have to grab coffee at YC since Main Street has Starbucks. We will be taking a break from the park to check out GF. I moved the reservation at Grand Floridian Cafe up a bit so we'll be hungry for dinner. I'm really looking forward to Columbia Harbour House for dinner at MK before the evening entertainment.

Friday, April 24th. Epcot
B: Fountain View Starbucks or Sunshine Seasons
L: Yorkshire Fish/Tangierine Cafe
D: Biergarten @7:30

We will grab some coffee and food at Starbucks and/or Sunshine Seasons. For lunch we're again split. The boys will absolutely love the Fish & Chips and DH and I want to try something at Tangierine Cafe. Not to mention they should have some Flower Fest booths out. It won't be too hard to find food in Epcot that afternoon. We kept the ressie for Biergarten because DH is really looking forward to it and the restaurant will be fun. Hopefully we will finish up before Illuminations and be in a good spot to enjoy the show.

Saturday, April 25th. Hollywood Studios
B: Captain's Grille @10:30
L: Skip
D: Mama Melrose's Fantasmic! Package @5:10

This is where I made my biggest changes. We haven't seen Fantasmic! so that's a big priority for me this trip. I considered the Fantasmic! package but I thought Hollywood Brown Derby was too pricey, Hollywood and Vine buffet does not appeal and the characters are too young for my boys, and I am really picky about Italian food since there are fantastic Italian restaurants where I live so Mama Melrose's was out. After I'd made my plans for the day I read a couple of recent reviews for Mama's that were very good. One of them was from someone from my area with an Italian family. If they loved it, surely we would enjoy it as well. So I booked an early Fantasmic! dinner package. That got me thinking about breakfast/lunch. I'd read good things about breakfast at Captain's Grille and but hadn't considered it since we don't usually eat a big breakfast. With the early dinner reservation we can hit the park at RD for Jedi training and some rides before we break for a late breakfast at Captains Grille then return to HS for the day. Perfect!

Sunday, April 26th. Magic Kingdom
B: Crystal Palace @8:15
L: Liberty Tree Tavern @2:50
D: Snack or Late QS

I was able to get Crystal Palace a smidge earlier, 8:15 up from 8:20. Maybe I can ease it up another 10 minutes to get some more time in MK. I'd originally thought that since we had a big breakfast we'd have another TS dinner in MK and booked the Plaza since it's more reasonably priced. Then I came to my senses and realized that this is vacation and I should just book Liberty Tree Tavern since I'd been drooling over the colony salad and toffee ooey gooey cake featured in many DRs. SO I booked LTT dinner until I realized that I could only get those things at lunch. So I went back to MDE and switched it to a late lunch. After these two big meals we will probably skip dinner and have some snacks in the evening at MK or YC.

Monday, April 27th. Epcot
B: ??
L: San Angel Inn @12:50

For this morning I think breakfast will depend on how much we accomplished in Epcot earlier in the week. If we feel like we've done everything maybe we can grab something at YC. Otherwise, we can get something in Future World. We're still keeping San Angel Inn because DH is really looking forward to it. I suggested that we just snack at the food booths and he thought he'd be more comfortable sitting down to a meal. Who are you and what have you done with DH?!?! Then we leave. Our flight is at 7:10 so I assume we'll have to meet the ME around 3.

I'm sorry I wrote so much about these plans, I feel like I've just done a mind dump or something. Thanks for reading!

 

[Sisa]

Yay for movie night attempt number two. Sorry the kids weren't buying into it. At least you got one family member to join you!

I how you describe what you changed and why on each day. Made it clear and easy to see. I think it looks great and your changes seem to be for good reason. I can relate to needing to change ADRs because of reading on the DIS. I thought I had my ADRs all lined up and wouldn't be changing them, then I read more and rearrange them again, repeat and repeat. Ugh, too many awesome choices

 

[lilpatty19@aol.com]

Hi! your trip looks like a lot of fun! I had been researching resorts for my own trip and wanted to stay at the YC but it was too pricey for me so I'll be visiting the YC vicariously through your TR lol

As I was reading I noticed you had a lot of new things you were shocked you hadn't done in 3 trips. I feel like it doesn't matter how many times you go there is something new to try all the time! Which is awesome! Good luck getting those things done! I too have a lot of new things to try and I used to be a CM. I regret not doing those things when they were free lol

 

[lilpatty19@aol.com]

For some reason as I was reading though your TR its skipped around and missed that whole section on pin trading!! Just a little info that might be fun to know. When pin trading, if you see a CM that has a pin that has a little silver mickey on it, those are pins you can not buy. You can only get those from CMs. Just thought I'd let you know!

 

[ursalita]

For some reason as I was reading though your TR its skipped around and missed that whole section on pin trading!! Just a little info that might be fun to know. When pin trading, if you see a CM that has a pin that has a little silver mickey on it, those are pins you can not buy. You can only get those from CMs. Just thought I'd let you know!

Great tip. Thanks for letting me know!

 

[ashw100]

Dropping in to say hi . I am curious to see how your pin trading goes. I think my oldest would like it but I have no idea where to start. Your plans sound good. Making choices for ADRs is hard...too many good ones to choose from. Hope your next movie night goes better.

 

[ursalita]

Dropping in to say hi . I am curious to see how your pin trading goes. I think my oldest would like it but I have no idea where to start. Your plans sound good. Making choices for ADRs is hard...too many good ones to choose from. Hope your next movie night goes better.

Hey! Thanks for saying "hi." I was never interested in pin trading but I saw it in another PTR or TR and I thought my older son would enjoy it because he trades Pokemon cards. Both my boys are interested and I think it will be good for them to interact with CMs since they're both so shy. I didn't know much about it but I did a little research and decided to order some pins and lanyards from Amazon. There are a bunch of places to get pins between Amazon and ebay and it seems like they sell them in lots or individually. I just picked a lot of 50 to split among us from a seller that seemed to get mostly good reviews. I didn't know what to expect but I made out pretty well.

Choosing the ADRs is so hard!! I keep changing the times for the reservations or changing/adding restaurants because I read about them on the dining plan.

DS9 informed me that he wanted to see Maleficent next. It's a great idea, I just hope it's not to scary for DS6.

 

[ursalita]

We had a fun day today putting up the tree and doing some decorating. Tomorrow we'll put up the outdoor lights. Tonight we should probably watch a Christmas movie but we're continuing our Disney marathon with Maleficent.

I love the tree this year:



It's our first Christmas with the new puppy (she's about a year now) and she's still chewing stuff half the time we leave her alone in the house. I'm really worried about the tree. This is her:



This morning I got an email from Touring Plans. I'm watching my dates in the crowd calendar and they were letting me know that the crowds had changed for my dates. I was worried that they'd gone up but lucky for me they decreased a level or two overall for the dates of our visit. YAY!!

We decided that when we eat at Flying Fish we will leave the kids at the Sandcastle Club and have an adults only meal. I have always been hesitant drop them off alone while at Disney but this trip is longer than we've ever taken and they're a bit older. I think they will enjoy it more than eating at a fancy restaurant and being told to be quiet, quit moving, etc. They will get to choose kid appropriate food, play games, meet other kids, etc. We will get to have a date in Disney.

My one concern was that I didn't want to drop them off on the first night since they will still be getting used to the place. Since we visit AK the next day and will leave the park early I swapped our dinner plans. We will have dinner at Beaches & Cream the night we get in and then do Flying Fish the following night. I hope I don't feel the need to make more changes, I really like how our plans look right now.

 

[PippiDancer]

It is very exciting to hear that the crowd ratings dropped. The crowd level is the thing I'm worried about the most about going in April

 

[Sisa]

Oh Maleficent was so good! Did you guys like it?

Your tree is beautiful and your puppy is ADORABLE!!!!

Wow lower crowd levels, score!!!

 

[ashw100]

Yay for lower crowds! We got the same notification for May and luckily ours lowered too. That's very exciting about the date. You'll have to report back how they like the kids club.

 

[ursalita]

It is very exciting to hear that the crowd ratings dropped. The crowd level is the thing I'm worried about the most about going in April

I was super excited. Good news for both our trips!

Oh Maleficent was so good! Did you guys like it?

Your tree is beautiful and your puppy is ADORABLE!!!!

Wow lower crowd levels, score!!!

We all loved it. I was worried that it would be scary but the boys were fine with it. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Thank you. The tree is still standing because I was able to gate off the room so the puppy is still on my good list.

Yay for lower crowds! We got the same notification for May and luckily ours lowered too. That's very exciting about the date. You'll have to report back how they like the kids club.

Will definitely report back, I'm looking forward to doing a TR.

 

[Elevationist]

I'm here, I'm here!!! Your family is adorable!

Your plans are so exciting! I love that you're going to have a date night! And your dining choices look so YUM!

Sometimes I wonder if the Dining Plan is the best choice for me, since I'm more into apps than desserts. But the fact is that I just really really LIKE the convenience of it, and being able to plan around it. I always bring a ton of extra money that's earmarked for off-plan apps and snacks and alcoholic beverages. (I spend more money on eating and drinking than I do souvenirs! ) One of these days I'll go big and try the Deluxe Dining Plan, since it includes apps with Table Service meals, and an extra snack credit each day.

Look at that pretty puppy dog! She's beautiful!

Loving the PTR! Can't wait to read more!