It's a Small World with a Magical Kingdom -We are Home

[gallmcduck]

Here goes ...... Let's start by saying this is our very first pre trip report hopefully we'll get it right.

The beginning goes like this...........................

Following the birth of our DD2 in July 2009 we decided that a trip to the magical place was in order. DS and DD1 were both excited , not forgetting us DW and DH. The cast is myself (DW), DH, DS1, DD1 and DD2 and grandparents in toe as well.

There is someone missing DD2 can you find her?

DH returned to work following DD2's arrival and we started to check out flights and look at options for hotels. We generally stay offsite because our vacation is a 14 day visit and staying onsite for 14 days would be a pretty penny. We got a really good offer on flights back in September 2009 that was us started the first ticked box on our vacation planning agenda. Next step was for us to look at accommodation. We read lots about free dining and offers of 4 for 3 staying onsite and 7 days for 14 park tickets. We didn't know what to do so had to take some time to look over our options.

As Christmas approached we knew that we definatley wanted to stay onsite this trip for our first 7 nights. We booked the POP or so we thought, there will be more on this to come.

Due to the distance to the world we would not travel for any less than 14 days but sometimes that is not always enough so this trip we decided on slighlty longer combined with the onsite stay. We like a bit of variety in our trip as well so like to do a 2 sometimes 3 centers vacation. What did we decide on and how come there was a change of plan, then the ADRs start .................

 

[disneylovin24]

Sounds like it will be fun

 

[gallmcduck]

Sounds like it will be fun

Your trip is real soon, how exciting is that.

 

[gallmcduck]

Sounds like it will be fun

Your trip is real soon, how exciting is that.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Joining in!

 

[disneylovin24]

Your trip is real soon, how exciting is that.

VERY, I don't think I'll be able to wait 9 days, then again I said that when it was 30 days to go and that feels like yesterday

 

[gallmcduck]

Joining in!

we've got to readers, yippee. Need to get reading your pre trip now. GF fantastic

 

[gallmcduck]

VERY, I don't think I'll be able to wait 9 days, then again I said that when it was 30 days to go and that feels like yesterday

9 days wow we've got a long time to go until we can say that

 

[gallmcduck]

So far we have told you who will be coming along this trip and what our thoughts are on accommodation. The master plan has been devised and here is what it is looking like.

Arrive 15th July (staying at POP............... maybe not!)
Depart POP 22nd July, moving onto Gulf Coast Clearwater Beach
Depart Clearwater Beach 25th July, arrive Hilton DTD
Sad part leave for home 31st July

Gran and granddad have stayed at the POP before and thought the kids would love the experience, noise pools etc. This trip we had already decided that we would like to stay on Disney for a while to get the most out of the parks and benefit from EMHs. Some beach time to recharge the batteries was also planned The Hilton in DTD was also a plan this trip as we wanted to get the most out of DTD. Also there was the Earl of Sandwich read so many posts about this and how good the sandwiches were so why not stay across the road and we could go as many times as we wanted !!. The plans were coming together – flights booked, accommodation organised, next step was to look at our ADRs where did we want to eat?. Well that’s when we looked at the dining plan and thought maybe this was an option worth considering Yes it was, so that was next on the check list – dining plan booked.

Coming from the UK it’s a must hiring a car, well we think so, it allows us flexibility to go to the malls and travel at little around the area. Having not stayed onsite often we don’t really have experience of what the Disney transportation is like we will have more on that when we come back from our trip. There will be more on our car hire options later on in this thread

Thoughts moved onto dining and making our ADRs.............. until our resident disney guru (wonderful SIL) advised us of some great news about Disney UK offers. Sadly they won’t be joining us on this trip. Won’t be the same not having them in the USA but suppose there is time yet maybe we’ll have some news on new additions later. We’ll keep trying! A side note it’s our nephews birthday on the day we arrive at Disney, wouldn’t it be fantastic to spend the evening in MK celebrating this with them


Are you wanting to know what the offer was ? Check this out


Upgrade to a moderate resort, enjoy free dining, 14 day park tickets for the price of 7, and save £200 by amending our booking . We had take that offer up. After talking this through with Gran and Grandad, it was costing them slightly more as they had not originally booked the dining plan, we went straight on the phone to Disney. Doing some rough calculations they were also saving as the dining plan was a great incentive. Initially Disney were not so good and were looking to charge a £50 amendment fee, this however was waved and our booking altered. Wow you don’t very often say that you save money when booking a trip, especially staying onsite

The plans are now:-

Arrive 15th July staying at POR until 22nd July.


We upgraded the free dining to the regular dining plan for a small charge. We felt that due to the ADRs we were looking to make, table service was required and this offer was too good not to take up.

Next up we had to look at ADRs our booking slot was approaching fast. Where did we want to dine, what did we want to use during our dining plan week and onsite Disney stay and what did we want to leave until our second week?.

Thought we would leave you with a picture from our last trip of our DD1 meeting Cinderella, did we decide to do CRT again................................

 

[MainStMandy]

Hi there!! What a beautiful family you have!! Your plans sound great! I'm looking forward to more

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Love the master plan!

we've got to readers, yippee. Need to get reading your pre trip now. GF fantastic

Cool, hope to see you over there

 

[gallmcduck]

Hi there!! What a beautiful family you have!! Your plans sound great! I'm looking forward to more

Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest. Thanks for your kind message. I've just popped over to your report, need to catch up on that. Noted that you have got an up and coming wedding, how exciting.

 

[gallmcduck]

We were now onto dining reservations . Our booking timeslot was catching up on us quickly so the thinking caps were on. Gran and Grandad were happy to do what the kids wanted. Where did we want to go, what character dining did we enjoy before and what did the kids want to do?. Well having done table service dining over the years we decided we wanted to try things we hadn’t done before with the exception of a few.

Since we were on vacation for 17 days we had plenty time to spread things out. There was no need to cram everything into the first week. We had booked the dining plan though so planning had to be specific to ensure we used all our dining plan days up.


Having done CRT breakfast and dinner last visit we decided that breakfast was a must. Honestly we didn’t think much about the breakfast food so definitely not going back for that but loved being in the park for an early ADR, walking up main street when its empty and seeing DD1’s face meeting Cinderella. The experience is really what we liked. Here’s a pic from our last visit on the way to CRT look at how quite it is

We also knew not having viewed Fantasmic for a few years we wanted to do a dinner to get the dinner, show package. DD1 not really a big fan of fireworks but loved to watch this show on our previous videos of trips. Also DH and I get to have a dinner out on our own as the kids are having an evening with Gran and Grandad

Decisions made ADRs were booked. Our ADRs look like

Friday 16th
CRT Breakfast
Plaza Restaurant

Saturday 17th
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ (looked over good and bad reviews on this but thought we would give it a try)

Sunday 18th
Goofy’s Beach Club Bash @ Cape May Cafe
Hollywood n Vine Dinner/Show Package

Wednesday 21st (our night out)
California Grill

Tuesday 27th
Princess Storybook Character Breakfast Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Le Cellier
Popping over to the Yacht Club to Beaches n Cream for some ice cream later in the day

Thursday 29th
Crystal Palace

That was another tick on the checklist. A quick side note. The idea of nipping over to the Yacht Club was planted by our resident Disney guru (DSIL). Last visit they all walked over and shared a kitchen sink it sounded just great and look fabulous Maybe they’ll join us this time and we can all share two of them .

Next time lets do our itinerary and we'll look at some pics from our last visit........

 

[gallmcduck]

VERY, I don't think I'll be able to wait 9 days, then again I said that when it was 30 days to go and that feels like yesterday

Only 7 days now it's getting closer

 

[disneylovin24]

Only 7 days now it's getting closer

Yes

 

[Leleluvsdis]

Joining on you PTR!!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[gallmcduck]

Joining on you PTR!!! Can't wait to read more!

Great to have you on board welcome

 

[smithpack]

I am so excited that you started a PTR!! I can't believe I didn't notice it before now. Your family is sooooo CUTE!!! I love the pictures! Especially the one of DD and Cinderella!! I also love the picture of baby in the middle of the stuffed animals. She looks like a little doll!

What is Goofy's Beach Club Bash? I hadn't heard of it before. Also, you will have to let me know how you like Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I have always wanted to try it, but haven't yet. I too have heard a lot about Earl of Sandwich and seen many pictures to make me drool, but have yet to eat there. I definitely am doing that on my next trip.

Your trip looks good so far! How exciting for you.

 

[gallmcduck]

I am so excited that you started a PTR!! I can't believe I didn't notice it before now. Your family is sooooo CUTE!!! I love the pictures! Especially the one of DD and Cinderella!! I also love the picture of baby in the middle of the stuffed animals. She looks like a little doll!

What is Goofy's Beach Club Bash? I hadn't heard of it before. Also, you will have to let me know how you like Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I have always wanted to try it, but haven't yet. I too have heard a lot about Earl of Sandwich and seen many pictures to make me drool, but have yet to eat there. I definitely am doing that on my next trip.

Your trip looks good so far! How exciting for you.

you came over great to see you here Goofy's BCB is a buffet character breakfast over in the Beach Club. Sounds like its minnie, goofy, donald and some others. Haven't been before but thought we would give it a go. Think its kinds of like chef mickey, crystal palace idea. Gran and Grandad loved EOS last year ate there often so is a must this trip

Lots to come on our schedule and stuff.

 

[gallmcduck]

Since we are vacationing (if that is a word ) for 17 days we like to spread things out and not go into commando style too early. Hence we have a break in between weeks. We also like to head over to the US parks as well as we love the rides. Gran and Grandad are more than happy to take DD1 and DD2 to the pool in the evenings if us commandos (Me, DH & DS) wish to take advantage of the EMHs. We get EMHs whilst staying at the Hilton DTD which was another reason for us choosing this hotel

Let’s get onto our touring plans, saw this on another PTR and thought that sounded way much better than itinerary. Hope still keeping you entertained.

15th July – us commandos may head over to MK just to grab that magical feeling of just having arrived Will we get some magical tingles whilst on the magical express we have never done this before. MK visit will depend on how the journey was. Since we leave the UK at 11.20am and do not arrive in the USA until 3:30pm (US time which is 8:30pm UK time) we may not have the energy. Also if DS has a small nap on the plane his batteries should be charged. Do I hear you saying there is no chance of that ........... well last trip we left our house in the UK at 4.30am and he did not fall asleep until 6/7pm US time (which is midnight in the UK) oh how I wish I had his energy sometimes. Our girls are a different matter DD1 will def have a nap on the plane and DD2 will probably have two. DD1 would fall asleep anywhere as long as she was having a cuddle . Just need to wait and see on this front. Side note – this is our DN’s birthday soooooo perhaps perhaps perhaps

16th July – MK
Jet lag will have well kicked in this morning around 5 am when we all will be bright eyed and raring to go . First up will be our ADR at CRT for 8:05am then as we are on way out of the park our late lunch ADR @ the Plaza. Do I hear you say leaving the park so early we’ll be in need of some pool time and will be ready knackered by this point.

DD1 on way to DRT last visit quite quite quite

17th July – Typhoon Lagoon, may fit in some shopping and then Mickey’s Backyard BBQ.

18th July – DHS
On the way to DHS we are stopping off at the Disney Beachclub Resort for Goofy’s Beach Club Bash Breakfast. We knew we wanted to do fantasmic this year but didn’t fancy the really long wait so we have made an ADR at Hollywood n Vine.

19th July – No definite plans for this day we will take it as it comes but I’m sure we head into a park at some point and there will also be some time to do some shopping. No ADRs booked for this day.

20th July – We purchased the $99 US ticket we’ll use this for some of this day then doing some stuff at POR. The bike ride is an option we can all fit on one bike maybe the heat will be too much?. Kids are liking the slide at the pool in POR so there will be some time spent at that this day.

21st July - AK
Don’t have any ADRs booked for this day well the kids don’t......................... I’ll explain in a bit. Early EMHs this day so commando style it will be first thing. Me and DH are having an evening at California Grill looking forward to that as haven’t eaten there before seen lots of lovely pics and good reviews. Our ADR is 9:00pm so we’ll catch the fireworks. DS, DD1 and DD2 are having an evening with Gran and Grandad, they’ll do pool stuff, dinner and a walk about. Oh there is also something on this night at POR, entertainment man so they’ll prob pop along to see how that goes

22nd July – Depart POR
We are heading Clearwater Beach

Next time let’s look at our beach trip and maybe some more on car hire thoughts

This is us last year in DTD we do more on DTD during our last 7 days touring plan and the Earl of Sandwich