It’s been 3 years. We are SO ready for this trip. June 09 PTR

[Sunset Cliffs]

Wow! Looks like you're going to have so much fun!

I stressed over which stroller to bring for our trip last year and ended up with our bigger one like yours. I didn't regret that one bit! I loved how much stuff I could have with us and I felt the 'snack tray' was a really useful option to have.

Good luck with your travels!

Hi! Thanks for reading. The snack tray is another great reason to use this stroller. He likes to play w/ his snacks by moving them to the different compartments. I'm glad to hear you had no regrets. It makes me feel better about the decision.

Oooh all those places sound good!

I can't wait to go to all these places again. It has been so long since we have been there, and I have been hanging on the memories of the great food. So ridiculous, right?

 

[cjackearl]

Your list of restaraunts looks good. We'll be at CP for breakfast on the 22nd also, but earlier. If you'll be in the MK that morning, look for us.

We also want to try Tangierine Cafe and Flame Tree BBQ. Disney food=YUM!

 

[tinkgurl]

I can't wait to go to all these places again. It has been so long since we have been there, and I have been hanging on the memories of the great food. So ridiculous, right?

It's not ridiculous! Half the fun of our trips is the food!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Your list of restaraunts looks good. We'll be at CP for breakfast on the 22nd also, but earlier. If you'll be in the MK that morning, look for us.

We also want to try Tangierine Cafe and Flame Tree BBQ. Disney food=YUM!

Really? What time is your ADR for? We will definitely look for you. Have you done this meal before? This will be our first time.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

You’d think that with all of the planning that I do that our itinerary would be fully completed & ready to go. Quite the opposite, I realize as I am typing this up. There are a lot of holes that need filling, but I’m sure that won’t be hard to fix.

Let me first say that we have thought a lot about what type of ticket we are getting. We finally decided to get a 10 day base ticket. That’s it. No park hopping, it will expire after 14 days, no extra bonus things like water parks or Disney Quest. It seems so weird to do it that way but there is a method to the madness. First of all, we are going to have 12 full days to have fun (plus 2 full days of traveling). So we were looking at prices and realized that it was only like a $5 difference between a 7 day and a 10 day ticket. That made it an easy decision. The 10 day is the best value.

Park hopping – it feels very weird to me to not have this, and it took me a long time to let it go. But I realized that if we paid the extra money for it (I think it was $50 per person more) that I would feel compelled to use it every day just to make it worth it. And that is not the purpose of this trip. We have said all along that we are going to go at Dylan’s pace and not commando style like we tend to do sometimes. I have a feeling that we will be doing the get-to-the-park-early—leave-for-a-nap—come-back-later approach. That means that returning to the same park in the evening will be fine, because there will be a lot that we didn’t get done earlier in the day. So…no park hopping. And so it goes….until we are down to just the base ticket.

Every trip that we have gone on before has included what we call “free days”. We put a free day between each park day so that we don’t over-do it and cram too many parks together until we are exhausted. We use these days to do whatever we want, like shopping, DTD, swimming, mini-golf, etc. We are doing the same thing again this time. So here is what the schedule looks like right now :

June 13 –
Fly to Orlando. Get in at 9:30 pm.

June 14 –
Pick up rental car. Shop for food/supplies. Go to MK for a few hours.

June 15 –
AK for most of day. Let Dylan enjoy the animals.
Pick up parents from airport at 10 pm

June 16 –
Free day – possible DTD, lunch at Earl of Sandwich, shopping. Boma @ 4:45. Animal watching at AKL.

June 17 –
Epcot
Illuminations

June 18 –
Free day – possible Wide World of Sports. There is a huge volleyball tournament there (more on this later).

June 19 –
MK
Spectromagic/Wishes

June 20 –
Free day – possible Beaches & Cream for lunch. Spend time at Boardwalk area??

June 21 –
AK

June 22 –
Free day – but we are doing Crystal Palace for breakfast at MK, so we will probably stay here for at least part of the day. O’hana reservation at 9:20 pm for dinner. (Very weird day!)

June 23 –
DHS – Sci-Fi Dine In @ 11:30 for lunch.
Fantasmic

June 24 –
Free day
Kona Café @ 9:00 am for breakfast

June 25 –
Epcot

June 26 –
Free day
Parents fly home tonight

June 27 –
Fly home in the EARLY morning.

So you can see that we only have 7 days scheduled for parks and a lot of free days to fill. What I think is going to happen is that on some of those free days we are going to sleep in, swim, then realize that we want to go to one of the parks for a few hours. So the other 3 days of our tickets will be used, I just don’t know when.

Volleyball @ WWOS – I know this activity seems really strange but Todd is a girl’s volleyball coach at the high school that I work at. Volleyball is TOTALLY his passion in life and a lot of our time is spent revolving around volleyball practices, games, tournaments, etc. Dylan has grown up around it (even before he was born) and has become quite the little gym-rat. He LOVES volleyball too, and he loves all of the girls (they love him too, and that is great because we have a ton of babysitters available when we need one!). So, there is this large tournament going on June 16 – 20 at the Wide World of Sports arena and Todd is dying to go. I think it will be really fun to go for a few hours and watch. Here are some pictures of Dylan at the gym w/ daddy. He was about a year old when these were taken.


A shirt that someone made for him.

He fell asleep during daddy’s game.

So now I need some help. Please give me any suggestions of what you think we should do with our free days. We are already planning to go to the Premier Outlets to go shopping, and we want to try one of the Disney mini-golf places. We have also considered going to Universal Studios for a day and are still debating whether it is worth the money to pay for a one day ticket. Any thoughts on this? Do you have any suggestions of things for kids Dylan’s age that he might like? We always say that we are going to branch out into Orlando more and try new things and then we never do, so it might be nice to do that this time since we have more free days than usual. TIA for any thoughts!

Next up…plans for the parks

 

[tinkgurl]

Aw man. None of our days are the same! Bummer!

Love the shirt you made! So cute!

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions about outside of WDW. Oh wait..have you thought about doing a day at Sea World?

 

[cjackearl]

Really? What time is your ADR for? We will definitely look for you. Have you done this meal before? This will be our first time.

We've got an 8:05 ressie, before the park opens. I'm hoping to get some empty Main Street shots. We've never done this meal before either.


I think taking days off between park days is very wise with a little guy. What about checking out some of the resorts? I think Ft. Wilderness has a petting zoo, maybe? Pack a shovel and pail and let Dylan dig in the beach at the BC or Poly? I don't know about Univeral. It seems like a better fit for older kids?

The pictures of Dylan are precious. My husband is a varsity tennis coach, so we've got some cute pics of the kids with his players.

 

[DreaGirl]

Hi! You are really good at updating your PTR!

As far as the plane ride:

We took DD at 17 months and then again when she was just over 2. Both times she had her own seat. Some things we brought to keep her busy were:

Lots of snacks, double what I usually feed her.
A DVD player
Play-Doh
Crayons, Stickers, Coloring Book
Books


That seemed to keep her satisfied. Of course, we fly from MI so we have a shorter flight. I think with the two of you switching him back and forth it will be fine.

We have that same stroller and I love it! We brought it our first trip and it worked out great. For our 2nd trip we brought a Maclaren umbrella stroller and it was fine, but I really missed my big basket. When we went back in November we had our DS (2 months old at the time) and we only brought the Graco and it worked great.

I know the feeling about the ADRs. I hate having every meal planned, but there are so many good restaurants. That stinks that you didn't get Tusker House. We ate there in Nov. The food was great and the character interaction was awesome. Have you tried calling back to see if anything opens up.

As far as the 9:20, I think it will be fine if you plan ahead. The schedule is so screwed up being at Disney and on vacation that a 5 pm reservation could be a disaster YKWIM? At least with the late one you won't have to rush around.

I am so jealous of all your free time. We usually go for 6 days so I only plan one free day. It will be nice to get some relaxation and pool time.

Have you thought about Sea World? My cousins live in Tampa and they always take their kids to Sea World. It looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Raecheal]

I followed your link from my PTR..

First off your post on my PTR was so sweet of you.. Thank you for sharing that story.

Your family is absolutely adorable.. especially your little one, Dylan . I like all your ADR's especially Kona, Sci Fi, Earl of Sanwich and O'hana.

I"m in...

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Aw man. None of our days are the same! Bummer!

Love the shirt you made! So cute!

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions about outside of WDW. Oh wait..have you thought about doing a day at Sea World?

Yeah, I'd love to take credit for all of Dylan's cute shirts, but the girls on the volleyball team make them for him. They all make shirts for themselves and they will make some for him at the same time. It's very sweet. We have thought about Sea World but we used to live in San Diego & Sea World was right there. We never went there even when we lived so close....I don't know why. That's definitely one we are considering though.

We've got an 8:05 ressie, before the park opens. I'm hoping to get some empty Main Street shots. We've never done this meal before either.


I think taking days off between park days is very wise with a little guy. What about checking out some of the resorts? I think Ft. Wilderness has a petting zoo, maybe? Pack a shovel and pail and let Dylan dig in the beach at the BC or Poly? I don't know about Univeral. It seems like a better fit for older kids?

The pictures of Dylan are precious. My husband is a varsity tennis coach, so we've got some cute pics of the kids with his players.

Checking out the resorts is one of our favorite things to do, and I totally forgot to add that to the itinerary until you mentioned it! And I love the idea of a petting zoo at Ft. Wilderness as we have never visited there. The more we talk about Universal, the more we are agreeing about waiting until he is older. I think we might just visit Citywalk for an afternoon to try something new. That's so cool that your husband is a coach too! It's such a rewarding thing (for a lot of reasons), but man...your life can get crazy for a while during the season.

Hi! You are really good at updating your PTR!

As far as the plane ride:

We took DD at 17 months and then again when she was just over 2. Both times she had her own seat. Some things we brought to keep her busy were:

Lots of snacks, double what I usually feed her.
A DVD player
Play-Doh
Crayons, Stickers, Coloring Book
Books


That seemed to keep her satisfied. Of course, we fly from MI so we have a shorter flight. I think with the two of you switching him back and forth it will be fine.

We have that same stroller and I love it! We brought it our first trip and it worked out great. For our 2nd trip we brought a Maclaren umbrella stroller and it was fine, but I really missed my big basket. When we went back in November we had our DS (2 months old at the time) and we only brought the Graco and it worked great.

I know the feeling about the ADRs. I hate having every meal planned, but there are so many good restaurants. That stinks that you didn't get Tusker House. We ate there in Nov. The food was great and the character interaction was awesome. Have you tried calling back to see if anything opens up.

As far as the 9:20, I think it will be fine if you plan ahead. The schedule is so screwed up being at Disney and on vacation that a 5 pm reservation could be a disaster YKWIM? At least with the late one you won't have to rush around.

I am so jealous of all your free time. We usually go for 6 days so I only plan one free day. It will be nice to get some relaxation and pool time.

Have you thought about Sea World? My cousins live in Tampa and they always take their kids to Sea World. It looks like a lot of fun.

Hi & welcome! Thank you for joining in, and thanks so much for all of your comments! It's nice to hear from others that have braved this trip with younger kids and their tips for survival. As far as the plane ride goes, we went ahead and bought a PSP so Dylan can watch some shows on it (actually it is for Todd too, as you can play games on it too. But technically it is "for Dylan" ). So I hope that we can buy ourselves some time if he will watch part of a movie.

Isn't that stroller great? We were clueless when we picked it out and ended up really lucky that it works so well for us. The basket holds a lot of stuff! That's a good & a bad thing. I've never thought about calling back to see if we could get into Tusker House. I forget that people cancel...maybe I will try to call again. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

I followed your link from my PTR..

First off your post on my PTR was so sweet of you.. Thank you for sharing that story.

Your family is absolutely adorable.. especially your little one, Dylan . I like all your ADR's especially Kona, Sci Fi, Earl of Sanwich and O'hana.

I"m in...

Aww, thanks for coming over to check out my PTR. I hope you didn't mind me telling you my story on your PTR, but I remember going through what you were describing. Dylan is a pretty cute little kid. We are so blessed with him and his little personality.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Wow....Great PTR! Dylan is so cute! He would fit right in with my crowd wouldn't he? (All that blonde hair...) Make sure you hit Miller's Ale House before it gets too late. At night the bar starts hopping. Kids are still welcome and all since it's a restaurant but things are more calm during the day and you can still find parking. LMK how you like it!

For mini golf you guys would probably like Winter Summerland the best. It's more kid friendly. Fantasia is hard.

Something really fun for you guys and Dylan would be Ft Wilderness! You can walk him on a pony ride and at night they do the camp fire sing along/movie. It's so nice. And you can see Wishes from their beach too. I love Ft Wilderness. My kids, especially the baby, LOVED the backyard BBQ over there. Mickey and Minnie are there dressed up like cowboys/girls. It's such a fun meal. You can find pics in my Disney Waiter TR.

I could never go to WDW and not stay on property. I have to ask...why not DVC? I wish we had done it in the beginning. We considered it when we first got married and decided against it. Now it costs way more than it did then.

I'm marking the PTR right now! Again, great job on your first one!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

It has been very weird planning our trip this time because it is the first time I have had to research things for kids to do. Todd and I have taken many trips here with no kids and we are pretty good at going with the flow. Now that we have Dylan, I have been looking at all of the things for kids to do and I realized, “Oh my gosh, I’m a mom!” (Yes, this still happens to me even though he is 1 ½ years old.).

So we are making 2 lists… a list of things we would like to do for us and for Dylan. Since it is going to be just the 3 of us for the first 2 full days, I want to spend those days mostly concentrating on things for Dylan. That way if we don’t get to all of it once my parents join us, it will be fine. We just really enjoy spending time with our little family and it will be so special to take him on his first trip.

That being said, our first full day in Orlando is going to be spent running errands in the morning (picking up the rental car, getting groceries, etc) but we want to spend a few hours at MK. I have made a list of the things I think Dylan will really like. I know we won’t get to all of them the first day, but we will do our best as long as he doesn’t get too tired. Here we go :

Meet Mickey Mouse – this is a MUST! He loves Mickey and recognizes him everywhere (t-shirts, beach towels, stuffed animals). I am a little concerned about him being scared of a big character in person, but we did a “trial run” with the Easter bunny at the mall this year and he was really into him, so I don’t think it will be a problem.

Pooh’s Playful Spot – I must admit that I didn’t know that any of the parks had little play areas for kids. This one sounds like a good one though, and Dylan has not met a playground that he hasn’t liked so far. So this will be a good pit stop when he needs to run off some energy.

Rides to go on: Small World, Peter Pan, the Carousel, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh. Fantasyland is where we will spend a lot of time. We probably won’t take him on the dark ones like Snow White, but he did Peter Pan at Disneyland and did ok. Here is a picture of him when we got near the loading area and he realized we were getting into the flying ships.

LOL. He really enjoyed it but you could tell his little brain was working overtime to process what was going on.

Then we also have Country Bear Jamboree and the Tiki Room. I think when you combine music w/ animals, he will be pretty happy. I haven’t seen the new Tiki room so this should be a fun one for all of us. I really wanted to take him on the People Mover but it is going to be closed on this trip.

A couple more of him at Disneyland. On the carousel

On the pretend Dumbo

As far as Todd & I, we love all of the mountains, Pirates is our favorite, Haunted Mansion is a must. We also really enjoy Mickey’s Philharmagic as this is something that is not at Disneyland. All of these things will have to happen on a day when my parents go with us, or we will just have to use the baby swap and ride by ourselves (which isn’t as much fun). We also plan on seeing Spectromagic ( a first for us) and Wishes (we’ve only seen the D/L version). I’m a little concerned about the fireworks being too loud for Dylan. Not sure how we are going to handle this yet.

So…have I missed anything? Any other suggestions?

Next up…..Animal Kingdom

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Wow....Great PTR! Dylan is so cute! He would fit right in with my crowd wouldn't he? (All that blonde hair...) Make sure you hit Miller's Ale House before it gets too late. At night the bar starts hopping. Kids are still welcome and all since it's a restaurant but things are more calm during the day and you can still find parking. LMK how you like it!

For mini golf you guys would probably like Winter Summerland the best. It's more kid friendly. Fantasia is hard.

Something really fun for you guys and Dylan would be Ft Wilderness! You can walk him on a pony ride and at night they do the camp fire sing along/movie. It's so nice. And you can see Wishes from their beach too. I love Ft Wilderness. My kids, especially the baby, LOVED the backyard BBQ over there. Mickey and Minnie are there dressed up like cowboys/girls. It's such a fun meal. You can find pics in my Disney Waiter TR.

I could never go to WDW and not stay on property. I have to ask...why not DVC? I wish we had done it in the beginning. We considered it when we first got married and decided against it. Now it costs way more than it did then.

I'm marking the PTR right now! Again, great job on your first one!

Thanks for checking it out! I was thinking the same thing when I saw all of your kids w/ their blonde hair. Thanks for the suggestions on mini-golf and Ft. Wilderness. Both of those will be new to us and they sound like so much fun. Plus, I have always wanted to watch the fireworks from one of the beaches so that sounds perfect.

You know, when we bought our time-share we didn't even know that DVC existed. In fact, we didn't really understand the whole time-share thing at all. And then this company said that you can trade into a few of Disney's places. Of course we know now that will never happen (someone would have to trade into our program first for us to get it), but it sounded good at the time. Now, it would just be too much money to do DVC and our initial payment w/ the other company is totally paid off. It's just one of those things that didn't work out. But I saw on Kristen's TR that you can rent someone else's points, so we may have to try that out sometime. I really want to have the on-property experience at some point.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Oooh, volleyball, that sounds fun! I played all four years in high school and then did intramurals in college. I also helped coach the middle school team for a few years. I miss volleyball so much!

As for the mini golf, I would agree with doing one of the Winter Summerland courses. They seem to be a little bit easier than Fantasia Gardens...especially the winter course!

 

[DisneyMissy]

Great PTR so far!! You must be getting so exited! Dylan is absolutely adorable!! I highly recommend going to Ft. Wilderness. We spent a few hours there before going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo and we loved it so much, that's where we plan on staying our next trip. Make sure you pick up supplies to make s'mores though. The kit you can buy makes 8 and is $9.50!

I'm going to be in MK the day you're having breakfast at CP! Maybe I'll see you there! The character interaction at CP is great, the food at dinner was good, but I haven't done the breakfast. I had never noticed all of the play areas before either. There is one at Splash Mountain too, and a bunch in ToonTown.

I've only been to a coulpe of places you have ADRs at. Sci-Fi is just awesome. Our waiter gave us free souviner cups when he noticed Casey's 1st Visit button! Flame Tree BBQ was really good. One of the ducks was biting at Casey's butt trying to get food from him! It was hilarious!

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
Don't worry about your son on the airplane.
When I see kids on the plane and I am heading to Orlando,
it is suppose to be about kids, so "game on" and don't worry
about it, you will see lots of families with kids.

I think you may enjoy Universal.
They have a whole new section for little one's.
I went the Friday after Easter and the place was empty.
Just get there at opening, the crowds tend to come in at noon.

I stayed off site my first time, this past April, I was surprised
how easy it is to drive around the Orlando area. When we drove
down with my family in 2000, so many roads were under construction.
Now everthing is 5 wide on I4, or 3 wide on every other road.

We went on an airboat ride, called Boogie Creek AirBoats.
My sons thought it was pretty neat,
they like anything thing with engines.
It was a 1/2 hour ride and we did see alligators and they also took you into a Cypruss (sp?) Woods.

You should check out the exchange again with your Timeshare.
I think I read that Disney opened up the exchange now and other Timeshares can stay on Disney property.

Hope you have a great vacation and Florida is hot in June, pack poncho's for late afternoon rain storms.

 

[DreaGirl]

Don't forget about Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. It is just like Dumbo and usually doesn't have that long of wait since the "carpets" hold more people.

My DD loved Mickey, but was scared of almost all the other characters our first couple of trips. On our last one she warmed up a bit, but still likes the face characters better.

We love Pooh's Playful Spot. It is so fun, but last time we were there the "squirters" weren't working.

 

[tinkgurl]

I have 2 suggestions for the MK:

Ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin if he likes Dumbo!

Ride the train all the way around once. It's a nice way to relax!

 

[cjackearl]

I think your little guy list looks great. I thought that I'd read that The Enchanted Tiki Room was a little on the scary side at one point? Maybe just a time to give an extra big snuggle.

What's with the pretend Dumbo? Is there a real Dumbo ride at DL?

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Oooh, volleyball, that sounds fun! I played all four years in high school and then did intramurals in college. I also helped coach the middle school team for a few years. I miss volleyball so much!

As for the mini golf, I would agree with doing one of the Winter Summerland courses. They seem to be a little bit easier than Fantasia Gardens...especially the winter course!

Really? What position did you play? Todd loves being a coach and I'm so glad that he gets to do something that he is so passionate about. He played in college and then just stopped. When I got hired at the school I work at, they needed a coach and the rest is history. It is such a fun sport. I never really played it, but I know all about it now and I love it!

Great PTR so far!! You must be getting so exited! Dylan is absolutely adorable!! I highly recommend going to Ft. Wilderness. We spent a few hours there before going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo and we loved it so much, that's where we plan on staying our next trip. Make sure you pick up supplies to make s'mores though. The kit you can buy makes 8 and is $9.50!

I'm going to be in MK the day you're having breakfast at CP! Maybe I'll see you there! The character interaction at CP is great, the food at dinner was good, but I haven't done the breakfast. I had never noticed all of the play areas before either. There is one at Splash Mountain too, and a bunch in ToonTown.

I've only been to a couple of places you have ADRs at. Sci-Fi is just awesome. Our waiter gave us free souviner cups when he noticed Casey's 1st Visit button! Flame Tree BBQ was really good. One of the ducks was biting at Casey's butt trying to get food from him! It was hilarious!

That is another vote for Ft. Wilderness. I am pretty sure this is going to be added to a free day. I forgot that you are returning so soon! That would be fun if we see each other. The Sci-Fi is one of Todd's favorites, just because he loves the atmosphere so much. He is big on BBQ as well, which is why we are going to Flame Tree BBQ. The duck thing is SO funny! Of course, if it was happening to me, I would totally freak out. I'm so glad that it sounds like you had a good time on your trip. Thanks for coming over to see my PTR!

Hi,
Don't worry about your son on the airplane.
When I see kids on the plane and I am heading to Orlando,
it is suppose to be about kids, so "game on" and don't worry
about it, you will see lots of families with kids.

I think you may enjoy Universal.
They have a whole new section for little one's.
I went the Friday after Easter and the place was empty.
Just get there at opening, the crowds tend to come in at noon.

I stayed off site my first time, this past April, I was surprised
how easy it is to drive around the Orlando area. When we drove
down with my family in 2000, so many roads were under construction.
Now everthing is 5 wide on I4, or 3 wide on every other road.

We went on an airboat ride, called Boogie Creek AirBoats.
My sons thought it was pretty neat,
they like anything thing with engines.
It was a 1/2 hour ride and we did see alligators and they also took you into a Cypruss (sp?) Woods.

You should check out the exchange again with your Timeshare.
I think I read that Disney opened up the exchange now and other Timeshares can stay on Disney property.

Hope you have a great vacation and Florida is hot in June, pack poncho's for late afternoon rain storms.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on the plane ride. I didn't even think about all of the other kids that will be on the plane. He loves other kids, so maybe he will get distracted by watching them as well! You know, we have always rented a car and driven ourselves and it has never seemed that bad (although we have never known anything else!). Dealing with Disney's transporation always sounds so much more intimidating to me.
I have been thinking about the airboat thing, but it sounds a little scary for taking a small child on. Does it feel secure? Thank you for checking out my PTR!