It's been 6 years, but we're finally going back: a PTR! UPDATED 2/9 change to August dates?

[tabrizia]

Wave at anyone reading. So my children have decided that since the Disney mail we got on Thursday is just for them and attriel. I am not allowed to look at it because it has their last name, not mine on it. I already looked at it kids so mwhaha. Anyways I am not allowed to use it, they take it away from me when they notice me with it, silly minions.

I have not looked at ADRs at all, since I am not changing them, they are finalized, really, not looking! Yeah still debating, but staying away from changing anything.

I was thinking about posting day 2, but it is semi up in the air still since it is 86 days until we go, which means 26 days until FP+. On the other hand I do have our basic plan so I can add it in.


DAY 2, Disney Park Day 1: EPCOT!
January 13, 2016

We will wake up early. I blame minion 1, but since we'll want to be up early anyways it will work. We will then either get breakfast at the resort dining area, eat something from the random assortment of food we'll have brought with us, or just get ready to go to the parks and get something there. It depends on the minions and what time we get up. We want to get to our first park by Rope Drop, which is 9am. We will try to catch the bus by 8 or so, and then wait to get in. Our first park of the trip is:

EPCOT. I know tradition for most people demands Magic Kingdom, but crowd level wise EPCOT was a better choice, though both places will be fairly quite on a random Wednesday in January. We will probably head toward Test Track first. All 3 minions are tall enough to ride, so we will get in line along with the rest of the rope drop crowd. I plan to FP+ Soarin' if it is still open (rumors say it maybe closed for the refurb it is getting), Nemo and Friends (we like Nemo, so why not) and Spaceship Earth. We will probably hit the Character Spot after TT (if it doesn't end up being our FP+ choice).

We'll do our FP+ options when we get them. The plan to to do as much of Future World as possible before moving towards the World Showcase. Attriel will not do Soarin' so if we have Soarin' FP+ for it, his will likely go unused or I'll take minion 1 on the ride again if one of the other minions decides to skip it, which is always possible. We will likely do Living with the Land after Soarin', because we enjoy the ride, I am hoping even with it is a FP+ ride that the line won't be too bad.

The biggest question we have for this day is if we do the Behind the Seeds Tour. I think it would be fun, the kids would enjoy it and it would totally count as school. After I get FP+, I will see if I can find a good time for it and then we will probably call and book it.

Once we are done with Future World we will head back to the World Showcase, hopefully around 1. We will likely head towards England since we like the Fish and Chips shop and all the kids will eat Fish and Chips. We'll likely get 3 meals and split them, though depending on hunger levels we could get 4 or even 5, most likely 3 will be enough though. After eating we will probably do the Perry game, especially since minion 1 loves Perry. We'll play and explore in the World Showcase until 5.

We will then catch the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then switch to the resort monorail to get to the Contemporary. Once at the Contemporary we'll check in for our dinner at Chef Mickey's. I figure planning to leave at 5 should give us plenty of time to make it to our 7:10 reservation, though if anyone has any idea how long it will actually take it would be nice to know. After we are done with CM, we'll take the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and catch the bus back to CBR. Magic Kingdom has extra magic hours that night until 10, so it seems like our best and easiest way to get back. We'll be back in the room by 10 hopefully and head to bed, since the next day is also an early day and our first Magic Kingdom day!

 

[tabrizia]

Apparently Soarin' is closing on the 4th of January. So ignore the Soarin' FP+ and Soarin' part. We'll probably FP+ Test Track instead. Oh well, hopefully it will be operating in California when we go in the fall.

 

[tabrizia]

So I came up with an idea for our anniversary. I had mentioned Disney to attriel more then once, but he didn't really want to do that without the kids. So I suggested Harry Potter at Universal. Neither of us are huge thrill ride people, but we both love Harry Potter. We could do a long weekend during our anniversary and go to the dark side. We would probably only do 2 days at Universal and I'd probably try to stay on site there for their benefits, but if we did 3 nights there and 4 days we might sneak over to Disney Springs at least while there. Need to let the idea sit for a bit, but I think it would work well.

Our anniversary is on a Friday this year, so if we fly down Thursday night and then fly home either Sunday evening or Monday morning, I think it would work well (okay he would fly home, I'd fly to Atlanta and the minions, but same idea).

 

[tabrizia]

Hi, I've been busy again, sigh that is the problem with 3 active kids, you never get to veg at home and read about Disney. Anyways minor updates. We are going to definitely do Universal for our anniversary or at least that is the plan. I think we're only going to do 1 day tickets, but we are still debating that piece. I am going to see if my Mom has her safety deposit box full off old Disney tickets and see if I can get 2 1 day Disney tickets too, because really we'll be right there! We'll have to see though on that one.

We have another mini trip this weekend. We are driving to Great Wolf Lodge and meeting my parents and nephew and niece there. I am bringing my Mom cupcakes and a cheese platter from Wegmans, since her birthday is Sunday. That means this weekend is exactly 6 years from our last Disney trip. It has been way too long! Of course I am also breaking my, we are never doing Disney with extended family vow I made after that trip too, but oh well, it is Disney!

I got my new toy yesterday and took the kids swimming today to try it out. I got a Olympus TG-4 camera. It is waterproof and works to 50 feet underwater. It is also a tough camera so it is suppose to be able to take a battering and still work. I figure it would be useful for both Disney and Great Wolf Lodge. Here are a couple of the pictures I took today with it.

Minion 2 in the middle of a underwater roll

Look it's me!

This might be my favorite picture of the batch. I love the colors, the crispness and how gorgeous it came out.

 

[tabrizia]

So changes, lots and lots of changes. I've been debating changing our regular dining plan to the deluxe dining plan. It is only 4 nights, but we're already 1 credit over and there were 2 more sit downs we were planning to do.

So I talked to attriel about it tonight. It should save us money so we're going for it. We are also going to move out Narcoossee's meal to Sarurday night. Which is everyone's arrival night. We'll make the reservation for 5 in case my parents can't watch the minions.

That means our Tuesday date night may or may not happen. If it does I think we'll just make reservations the night of or eat off property. I know the horror. In general most signatures are fairly easy to get the night or or day before if I remember right so we'll either try for Jiko, Citricos or Artist Point if we decide to do something that night.

That means I can get the lobster at Narcoossee's on Saturday night yay!

I haven't actually made the ADR change, but I will once we're home later this week. We leave for our mini trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the morning. I should be sleeping. Oops.


Anyways the plan is to add in T-Rex arrival night and Raglan Road Friday night I think or the other way around. I'm going to use the Landry card and hopefully open table for those seats so I don't have to go through Disney dining for ADRs. It lets me still be flexible if we decide to go somewhere else for one of them.

 

[tabrizia]

Waves to anyone reading.

We are back from Great Wolf Lodge, I'll try to do another mini trip report in here. The kids want to go back again. They have a Christmas/winter thing in December. We went with not this year. The girl wants to go back over her birthday. That maybe possible. We decided 2 nights is just a bit too short of a time period, we prefer 3 nights, it gives just a bit more time. It was interesting with my parents and niece and nephew. We are totally sticking to our plan of not sticking together all the time for Disney though. The trip just reinforced that.

I made our reservation for Narcoossee's for Saturday. I was not able to change our resort reservation to deluxe dining on the website this evening. I'll either try tomorrow or have attriel call tomorrow or Thursday. The only issue with the Saturday dinner is it narrows my T-Rex times, but we'll get it in I'm sure. Hoping to do it the first night and Raglan Road on Friday. I don't think a 10:00/10:30 breakfast, lunch at T-Rex and dinner at Narcoossee's on Saturday will work though. Although if my parents can watch the minions maybe we'll do lunch there late and just do apps or something small for me and attriel.


Anyways just to add a picture here are minions 1 and 2 reading together.

 

[tabrizia]

So doing the actually cost comparison, I am not sure we're switching to the deluxe dining plan. Yeah I know I should have done it before now, but based on the nifty calculator someone posted, it looked like we should save money. Based on my cost comparison it looks like we would just break even with our sit down meals and might come out ahead because of the extra meal entitlements and snacks, but it ties us down to doing those 2 meals plus Narcoossee's on Saturday otherwise it doesn't save us money. I am just not sure we're going to want to or feel up to doing Raglan Road and T-Rex especially if we add in Narcoossee's to Saturday.

Hmm anyone reading have any thoughts? It is so close, I am thinking that we will probably skip it and just stick with our original Narcoossee's reservation. I will need to discuss it with attriel still. Sigh, it seemed like a great idea, but apparently, no it actually won't really save us much. Of course knowing how life happens, if we don't do it and I add up the receipts of out of pocket afterwards we'll totally have ended up spending more out of pocket, if we do get it though we'll spend less. Sigh, I do prefer the flexibility without it though. That means we'll probably stick with regular dining. Meh, I hate obsessing in my head!

 

[Baklava]

Hi! I'm here from the Facebook group!

We're doing DxDDP because not only are my husband and the teen big eaters, they are *expensive* eaters. If there is a prime rib or steak or anything that's $10 more than the rest of the menu, they gravitate toward that. We save a little money based on the calculator, but the calculator is using averages. We will be much higher than that.

People keep saying, "oh, you'll spend too much time eating" but for us a sit down meal is a rest period. We're not going back to the hotel for naps, so an hour mid-day off our feet is a good thing.

 

[Baklava]

Also, we homeschool too! Boy is a senior and is actually taking college classes, so he's in classrooms part time but Cupcake is a kindergartener and with her I have the joy of doing it from the start! Boy was in 5th grade when we pulled him out of school so I missed the early years.

 

[tabrizia]

Hi! I'm here from the Facebook group!

We're doing DxDDP because not only are my husband and the teen big eaters, they are *expensive* eaters. If there is a prime rib or steak or anything that's $10 more than the rest of the menu, they gravitate toward that. We save a little money based on the calculator, but the calculator is using averages. We will be much higher than that.

People keep saying, "oh, you'll spend too much time eating" but for us a sit down meal is a rest period. We're not going back to the hotel for naps, so an hour mid-day off our feet is a good thing.

Yeah, the girl child, the middle one who is 6, is my adventurous eater, I've heard I can order adult meals even at sit downs for her on the Deluxe, which would make it worthwhile. My husband has a weird meat intolerance, which means he can only eat vegetarian or fish meals, so he doesn't end up on the high end that often. I am a bit prime rib and steak fan though so my meals are the ones that are the $10 more on the menu.

Yeah the rest periods for meals don't bother us. We'll be there for 11 nights and 12 days, if I count arrival and departure, so a little extra time dining isn't a major deal. I just need to figure out if we break even or save. We'll likely be eating the same places regardless.

No deluxe means that Narcoossee's is definitely a date night after my parents arrive and then we have 3 nights to fit Raglan Road and T-Rex into. Still debating it, I may bite the bullet since I like the extra snacks, the minions are snack kids, and not having to worry about breakfast since we'll have enough credits for it. Plus we might still get a date night on that Tuesday, and I may be able to sneak in another Signature, which is always a bonus.

Also, we homeschool too! Boy is a senior and is actually taking college classes, so he's in classrooms part time but Cupcake is a kindergartener and with her I have the joy of doing it from the start! Boy was in 5th grade when we pulled him out of school so I missed the early years.

Yeah Kindergarten is fun! I have become far more relaxed since my first Kindergartener, which is impressive since my first one was recovering from a traumatic brain injury so it wasn't like I was pushing him much. I love homeschooling. I tend to become more relaxed and confident every year we continue. I will be doing Kindergarten again next year, my last baby! I can't believe how old they are getting, they just keep growing!


Yay posting! Thank you! I was actually posting on your thread as you were posting on mine .

 

[tabrizia]

So talked about it with attriel when he got home. Okay I talked, he actually listened and contributed, which is better then normal. We both agree if we don't do deluxe dining we are very likely to spend more then it would cost us to upgrade. However if we do upgrade we are going to feel a bit resentful and like we must do Raglan Road and T-Rex to make sure we get our money's worth out of it. While we are likely to do both anyways, the whole having to do it and removing any spontaneity from the trip is making us both kind of lean towards the no deluxe dining option. Fully recognizing that we are likely going to spend a bit more because of this option, we still think it is the best choice.

Yes I like planning everything 6+ months ahead of time, but we do like having some options and ability to chose what we're doing. Attriel understand why I have to plan, but he did enjoy when we could just go and figure it all out once there. So it looks like no deluxe dining. We'll still probably end up doing the restaurants, but now we don't feel like we have too.

 

[NJlauren]

Joining in!!

I haven't ever done the dining plan, I always think about it but I am an appetizer no desert kind of girl so I'm not sure it works out best for us.

Your minions are to cute! So nice you'll make two trips this year! Always nice when an AP works out plus TIW card to save you some money!!!

Trip is getting close, did you get the tickets? Are you going to try and book FP at 30 days out?

 

[tabrizia]

Joining in!!

I haven't ever done the dining plan, I always think about it but I am an appetizer no desert kind of girl so I'm not sure it works out best for us.

Your minions are to cute! So nice you'll make two trips this year! Always nice when an AP works out plus TIW card to save you some money!!!

Trip is getting close, did you get the tickets? Are you going to try and book FP at 30 days out?

Yay and welcome!

Actually we changed our plans we're doing California for our second trip instead of Disney a second time. Time wise it was easier to fly across the country to Disneyland then it was to do Disney World, so we are headed to California probably in December.

We've done the dining plan with free dining before but it was years ago, the first time they still included appetizers, second one they didn't. We tend to be more appetizer and no desert people, so if it wasn't for the minions and all the buffets we're doing before everyone else comes it probably won't be worth it this time even with the Stay, Play and Dine discount, but with the buffets and 3 minions still being children it works.

We do have the tickets, we got them through the package. We're at 75 days now. I have our FP+ 60 day time on our my calendar, I think I will have to do it at 60 and 30 days since we're only on property the first 5 days.

 

[tabrizia]

Okay so no major updates. We are 72 days from the trip and 12 days from our FP+. Last night I went through to figure out what Fastpass+ we would want. We decided against all roller coasters except 7 dwarves. Attriel doesn't like roller coasters, the younger two are either too short for most of them or likely won't enjoy them and we aren't sure what minion 1 will want to do. So we'll do lines for roller coasters if the wait isn't too bad, otherwise we'll enjoy the other rides. This made FP+ a lot harder, there are 4 rides that are FP+ at Animal Kingdom based on various criteria, I mean it makes it easier to chose, but it makes our second day FP+ very similar to the first day.

Anyways here is my spreadsheet with the FP+ in orange. They are all italic since I still have a few days until I can try for them.

I don't know if you can read it well, since it is kind of small, but for EPCOT we went with Test Track since Soarin' will be down, Spaceship Earth and Nemo for our first day. Day 2 we went with Anna and Elsa (I am hoping), Mine Train and Jungle Cruise. We have a pre-park breakfast so we hope to do Mine Train and rush to Peter Pan so we decided against FP+ for that on our first day. Day 3 our biggest decision was between Lion King and Nemo, we decided Desmond would like Lion King more since he loves the movie and went for that. The 3rd FP+ for character was chosen because there was nothing else we wanted (we don't want to do Kali in the cold).


Here is the second part of the spreadsheet. These won't be done in 12 days, I believe that I can do each one 60 days out though rather then just 30 days since we're staying on property first. If not I'll try to get them at 30 days out in 42 days.

On our first family day, which is Sunday the 17th, I figured I would try for Anna and Elsa, but doubt we will get it since it is MLK weekend, so I didn't put it on. Everyone likes Peter Pan so I went with that, Rapunzel for minion 2 and Haunted Mansion. I will try to get matching ones at 30 days out for everyone else, or at least similar times.

Day 2 with family is our only Hollywood Studio day. I went with Toy Story Mania, Star Tours and then Indiana Jones since minion 1 loves Indy, he went as him for Halloween. I thought about ToT, but realistically minion 2 is going to be the only one who wants to try it, and even she is iffy on it, so these made a bit more sense. I'm hoping the crowds aren't too horrible, but since it is the Monday of MLK who knows how it will actually be.
Day 4 with family I just changed Nemo for Figment, since we like Figment, I figure it doesn't really matter what I chose for that FP+, so I just chose something. Day 5 I have Anna and Elsa again. I am hoping to get it, I figure even if we don't do it, I have a better chance then everyone else getting it so my sister can take her minions to see them and we can use whatever they have instead. I went for 7 dwarf train since it looks fun for the minions still and Pirates since we like Pirates and I like minimal lines. Animal Kingdom day 2, or only day with family the only thing I switched was Nemo instead of Lion King. That Saturday our last day there I don't really expect much family with us since it is departure day. I am going to try to get the Tinkerbelle meet and Winnie the Pooh, and oddly I put Rapunzel again, I think I'll change that for something else, not sure what yet maybe Haunter Mansion since I'd like to make sure to do that again before we leave. Maybe that Rapunzel is there in case I get Anna and Elsa on the previous Sunday? Not sure, what I was thinking actually.

FYI the numbers after the ADRs are how many it is for, that is not our whole group numbers, just how many wanted to come to the meal. It is going to be chaotic, sigh.




Anyways I am still working on pictures for the mini Great Wolf Lodge trip report, but I have some Halloween pictures so here they are.

First off some of the pumpkins, we had more. From left to right, Minnie Mouse, Sulley, Stormtrooper and K-9 from Dr. Who.

Here are the minions. Minion 2 is Elsa, Minion 3 is Olaf and Minion 1 is Indiana Jones.

And here they are showing off their candy after they are done:

 

[tabrizia]

So not a real update. I am still working on photos for the mini trip report, and I'll try to update sometime this weekend. We're 8 days away from 60 days and FP+ selection at least for the first few days. I can't wait!

 

[tabrizia]

I'm in the middle of Girl Scout cookies time so this weekend has been super busy. I am not sure I'll get the mini trip report done or even started. Not much going on yet. 65 days until FP+ selection! I will probably redo day 2 once I get the info and start on the rest of my days as well at that point. I have my alarm set so I know I need to be online at midnight Thursday night (or Friday morning) to do FP+. Currently A&E are available for our Magic Kingdom day. I'm hoping it doesn't fill in the next few days. I should be able to get our first 3 park days done, I think the days once we check out I can do at exactly 60 days out, if not I'll have to do them at 30 days out. I am hoping to get A&E for one of those days too so if nothing else I can give the bands to my sister so her son can do it too.

I have not changed around ADRs and I think we are set for them. I was thinking about getting a cake at one of our meals to celebrate my Dad's birthday, but I can't figure out what day would be a good day to do it. Our first park day, our meal is at breakfast. Second day is Hollywood and Vine, I guess I could do it then, but I am not sure that bakery does the Mickey Mouse cake. Third day is our day off. Fourth day is EPCOT and breakfast again. Fifth day is BoG lunch, but I want a cupcake and the kids all want the grey stuff, it's delicious. Our Sixth day is AKL and lunch at Tusker house, but it seems really late to do it and again not sure I can get the Mickey cake which was my plan. Oh well maybe I'll skip the cake or pick it up on Tuesday and just bring it back to our offsite resort so we can do it there.

Anyways no real changes to plans at the moment. I will try to start the GWL mini-trip report sometime this week, since this week might be a bit less active then last week.

Here is minion 2 selling cookies!

 

[NJlauren]

Not having any changes is good thing! Cant wait to hear about your FP!

 

[tabrizia]

Not having any changes is good thing! Cant wait to hear about your FP!

I'm counting down the days.

I also might work on pictures from Great Wolf Lodge today since I'm sick and letting the minions run wild because I'm sick!

 

[tabrizia]

So my account is currently hit with the bug where it appears to have lost everything, but has it all registered to me, just not under me, but yet under me. I am hoping it fixes itself soon since FP+ registration is midnight on Thursday, so 1 and a half days away. It does have all the info in the app, but I really don't want to use the app to make FP+ reservations. Of course it isn't admitting to my reservation which is under DH's name, so I may have to log into his account and hope it works and I can do FP+ from there if it doesn't fix itself.

Sigh, why couldn't they mess things up further away from my FP+ time, now I'm going to be paranoid until it is time for FP+ and hoping it will work. attriel is getting a headless Olaf when trying to log into his account.

He said he can see the reservations, so I guess if my account stays borked, I'll use his.

Anyways no real plan changes I did change my mind and went with Storytime with Belle rather then Jungle Cruise on our first MK day, but otherwise no other changes.

The kids are split on if they want to do Big Thunder Mountain, minion 1 does want to do Space Mountain, minion 2 wants to do ToT, and minion 1 is thinking no on Everest and yes on Primeval Whirl. Oh and minion 1 is also thinking yes on Rockin Roller coaster. That being said they are all so iffy on them, we'll just wait in insane lines if they do decide to do them.



Anyways, I did finish all the pictures for my mini-trip report on October 25 - 27th at Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg. We went with my parents, my nephew and my niece. My parents and nephew will be at Disney for the second half of the trip. We still don't know if my niece is coming or not.


Great Wolf Lodge Part 1: Day 1

The older two did not go to Hebrew School in the morning, however we also didn't get out as early as we did last trip. We stopped at the Grocery store on our way out and got cupcakes for my Mom's birthday, some breakfast foods and some other snack like food, plus a cheese tray for my Mom as well.

We then started on our way. We got onto the beltway and minion 1 declared he had to go potty right now. At that point we were in the middle of nowhere MD, I know it is the beltway around DC, but there is a certain part where there really isn't much. We pulled off, ended up on a different highway, followed the signs and made it to a Dunkin Donuts. We stopped, the boy went potty we got a snack. I realized they had left the sausage patty on the sandwich I got. I should have just said, meh, but I went back to get it fixed, of course there was a super long line then. 30 minutes later we were back finding our way to the highway. Sigh.

For some reason everything took longer this trip. We ended up not stopping for lunch, and getting to Great Wolf Lodge about 10 minutes before my parents. We were in rooms across the hall from each other which worked. We always get the Kid Cabin suite, my parents got the Wolf Pack suite. I went into their room, since theirs was ready and ours wasn't it was tiny. The bathroom did not have a sink in it so it was super tiny, and the room itself was a lot smaller then the Kid Cabin. We like the Kid Cabin so I wasn't planning on switching anyways, but going into their room just confirmed it.

We all got changed and headed towards the pools. The elder 3 and minion 3 quickly went and played on the slides. My nephew on the other hand was having a tough time. He did not want to go on the slide, and mainly wanted to cling to my Mom.

While the other kids went down the fort 2 or 3 times.

He wanted nothing to do with them. We finally got him in the lazy river after the others were done with the slides. The elder two, minion 1 and my niece went off to do some of the other slide. The rest of us played in the lazy river. Attriel got a pizza for lunch, since we hadn't done lunch and he was starving.

Eventually we all ended up in the hot tub. My nephew did enjoy that, as did everyone else.

(minion 1 with my Mom)

My Dad and attriel then stayed with the kids and my Mom and I went to get dressed and go to Walmart, since it was right around the corner. We wanted a few more snacks, and GWL was doing trick or treating and we didn't bring costumes for the kids so we wanted to get them something. We finally decided on matching minion shirts for all of them. We got back and my boys were back in their room with attriel, my Dad, minion 2 and my niece and nephew appeared shortly afterwards. I never got the text about our room so the boys had just tried their arm bands at every room until they got to one that opened. It worked.

We got everyone dressed and then headed to the MagiQuest area to get a wand for my niece and nephew. The minions got a couple of accessories for their wands, which meant my nephew did too. I had forgotten that if they got something even if he was already getting something he would want it too, oops sorry Mom. My kids are pretty good about the whole you get something and not everything everyone else does. He hasn't hit that point yet. We all headed up and got a picture of them and did trick or treating at that point.

Then we did dinner. The restaurant was set for buffet (apparently this changes if the resort gets slow, which we learned the next time). Everyone ate a decent dinner. Then my Dad and attriel took them up to start MagiQuesting while my Mom and I payed the bill.

Apparently my niece was being a bit of a know it all, she's 10 it isn't that unexpected and trying to tell everyone what to do. My Dad was telling everyone to listen to her and attriel was rolling his eyes since it is our kids 3rd time doing MagiQuest they knew what to do far better then my niece, but oh well. After about 25 minutes my Mom and I met up with them at which point minion 1 saw everyone gathering for storytime and the Clock Tower Show. So he and my 2 insisted on going down to wait for it. The other two followed. So they waited a bit and then enjoyed that.

They also all except my niece who was pretending to be too old for it, met Violet who was dressed up for Halloween.

At that point we headed back to the rooms, everyone had a cupcake and we wished my Mom Happy Birthday since it was her birthday and then attriel and my Dad took the minions and my niece up to do more MagiQuest. Where my niece again tried to show off what she knew, when my kids actually knew the info, but it is what it is. My Mom put my nephew to bed, since he was exhausted from travelling and it was past his bedtime anyways. I hung out in the room and enjoyed the quiet. Once everyone got back they headed to bed and at least in our room everyone was out by 10:30, except me. I read till later and then went to bed.


It was a fairly busy day and everyone had fun, other then possibly attriel who was a bit annoyed by no lunch, my father (I can't blame him, my Dad can be annoying), and a bit by my niece.

 

[tabrizia]

IT'S FP+ NIGHT!



That also means it is 61 days until we leave for Disney! Last night minion 2 told attriel it was 26 days until Disney. She had transposed the numbers. I wish it was kid, I wish it was!

After 2 phone calls to Disney my account is working again so I can make our FP+ assignments on my account rather then trying to use attriel's. I also talked to my Mom last night she is planning on buying tickets for at least her, my Dad, my sister's family and my other sister soon. We know that my brother and sil are not coming, we still don't know if my niece and her parents or Mom is coming or how long my 2nd sister's husband plans to come for. So some people are set and some are still up in the air.

I admit it I made a change, maybe. Sunday January 17th we have a 9:35am ADR for Crystal Palace. I enjoyed CP and their breakfast when we went last time. The big problem is that time. The 17th is MLK weekend, it is going to be crowded. The best time to do the parks is the first two hours, 9am - 11am. Right while we'll be eating breakfast. I don't mind taking things slow, I don't even mind later starts, but eating during the best time for rides (for our group, most of the kidlets will not make it to close), makes me wince. I went in to check out what I could do. There are no pre-park CP meals available that day, I could have gotten BoG for 11 at 8:50, but that doesn't really help. There were some CP lunch times available though. I booked lunch at 11:50am for 11. I am going to leave it to my sister as to which reservation she wants to do, since my kids are going to get 4 well 3 1/2 days at MK, where her kids will likely only get 2 days there. Even though it would mean we do lunch instead of breakfast I like the timing of it much better. I'll see what my sister thinks though.

Other then that possible change, I have stayed away from the ADR system and I've been good about not changing anything else.


Anyways with that update I'll continue my mini-trip report.

Great Wolf Lodge Part 2: Day 2

We all woke up early, which isn't a huge surprise. I believe I woke up with 2 kids in my bed, which meant they were multiplying, since I went to bed with only 1 kid in my bed. We got dressed into swim suits, they ran over to my Mom's room. Had breakfast, I got my pool bag ready and I headed to the pool at opening to grab a table. Got the table, came back and got all the kids.

I did the waterslide with the kids twice, my Dad came with us. It was minion 2 and 3 and my niece. They all had fun. Minion 1 won't do the family slide this time, it went a little bumpy for him last trip and he decided against it for this trip.

I know we did the wave pool at some point. I also think minion 2 and my niece wandered off and did some slides together. If I remember right minion 1 didn't really feel like doing slides this morning and mostly just hung around.

They all did the hot tub, I think that it was the first thing my nephew was willing to do, so he did that, and everyone else joined in.

We did get my nephew to do the baby slide at one point. It was the only slide he did the entire trip. Oh well, he seemed to have fun.

He also played in the wave pool a bit

At some point my Dad went back to the room because he had a conference call for work. Shortly after that I headed to order 2 pizzas for everyone and a salad since it was lunch time. We then all headed back to the room. Our room, my Mom brought the kids' clothes over so as not to disturb my Dad. They all had lunch after getting dressed and everyone enjoy their pizza. After lunch we were planning on doing minion 1s favorite thing. The rope course.



Continued later...