June 2011 PT: Keeping the sanity on the long drive! (6/6 update, single digit dance)

AND the Touring Plan Revision ONE! Thanks to the change in dining plans, this means a slight change in our touring plan as well. So here we go:

DAY 1 (THUR): Travel day; plan is to depart Maryland sometime between 3am and 4am and be on the road, stopping for breakfast and lunch but only at fast food joints; there is even talk of saving more $$$ by packing lunches with us...a good possibility; with any luck we'll arrive at Bay Lake Towers sometime in the early evening hours, check-in and relax in the room

DAY 2 & DAY 3 (FRI & SAT): Universal Studios parks; kids have never been to either of these parks so they should enjoy it; it might be strange to come back to our room each night overlooking the Magic Kingdom park, but we know we'll get there eventually! Perhaps we can even wander over to the Magic Kingdom in the evenings if we are up for it...for dessert...DOLE WHIPS!

DAY 4 (SUN): Early morning breakfast with Chef Mickey with the whole gang and spend the day exploring Magic Kingdom; we may end up back at the room for a pool/lunch break...easy enough since we can walk right over; it's an extra evening day for Magic Kingdom so we can always go back later that night if we've had a break in the afternoon

I ended up making an 8:05am reservation at Crystal Palace on the day the MK opens at 9am, so we won't start off our visit with Chef Mickey after all. We'll still spend the day at the park, but with any luck we'll be in the park before it opens!



DAY 5 (MON): This is an early entry day for Animal Kingdom, so I'm hoping we can be there close to rope drop since that park gets SO hot so quickly; we have a 10:20am breakfast at Tusker House...which will be more like a brunch since lunch starts at 10:30am there; back to the room in the afternoon for cooling off time and then we have a 7:25pm dinner at California Grill

DAY 6 (TUE): Early morning at Hollywood Studios - Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, RnRC are the big ones to hit and anything else is a bonus; 11:45am lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby; back to our room in early afternoon for a break; head to EPCOT later where we have a 7:45pm dinner at Rose and Crown Pub and hopefully will view Illuminations there; it's an extra evening day for EPCOT so we can stay as long as the kids will tolerate

We also have a 7:05am reservation at Chef Mickey this morning which we can do before heading to Hollywood Studios. Not sure this is the greatest of ideas since we have lunch at the Brown Derby pretty early. May need to move that lunch back a bit or NOT do breakfast this day.



DAY 7 (WED): Possibly a morning at Magic Kingdom again then back to the hotel for a swim and lunch; heading to Hollywood Studios that evening for a 5:15pm dinner at the Prime Time Cafe
We will head to EPCOT this evening instead for dinner at Chef de France. If we don't want to do dinner there, we can easily walk over the Yacht Club and eat at Captain's Grill instead.


DAY 8 (THUR): Morning is pretty open...so we can hit a park or just chill; this is an early morning day at Magic Kingdom I have a lunch at Coral Reef planned as well as a dinner, so I'd like to hit one of those.

I have planned a 3:30pm lunch at Mama Melrose this day and cancelled Coral Reef. Since we're doing the Fantasmic! Dining package, we'll try to get to Hollywood Studios sometime early afternoon and then stay for Fantasmic!



DAY 9 (FRI): Our last full day...so plan is to spend it at Magic Kingdom again since it's close, then of course the packing and stuff to be ready for out trip home the next day; it's also an early morning at EPCOT so if we want to do a few things there first thing in the morning, we may do that

DAY 10 (SAT): Another travel day; probably leave early in the morning after a nice breakfast at our hotel for the long drive home
 
I'm going to read through this more thoroughly later, but isn't Le Cellier only 1 credit for lunch? I hope so, because we booked it!
 
Ok, so it was a little more than five years ago...it was the end of January. :cool1:This is the gang at MGM Studios:

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From bottom left: Nephew Zach (age 1), DH, DD Noelle age 3, DS Nicolas age 5.75, Me holding DS Noah (18 mos)

Back: BIL, SIL, MIL, FIL, My mom, my dad

On this upcoming trip in June, I am not sure I'll get mom and dad there. They aren't big park people and will probably wait to take a trip whenever my brother and his new wife go...and I just found out they are NOT joining us for this upcoming trip but are going on another trip in April instead. The rest of the gang you see here will all be on the June trip though...albeit much older!

:lovestruc
 

Just read up and am joining in!
I am soooo like you when it comes to revising plans! But aren't all Dissers? :surfweb: We just booked our ARDs today and I'm hoping to stick to my guns! We'll see....
Good luck on the drive! We originally talked about driving on our last trip, but I'm too much of a sissy in the car. :sick: Although I'm really looking forward to riding ToT this time (haven't been on it in over 15 years! :scared1: ) and riding RnRC for the first time!
Have fun with your planning! And re-planning! ;)
 
Pretty sure dinner at Le Cellier is changing to 2, but lunch remains 1. I love reading all your plans!!! It's getting CLOSER for us both!
 
Just read up and am joining in!
I am soooo like you when it comes to revising plans! But aren't all Dissers? :surfweb: We just booked our ARDs today and I'm hoping to stick to my guns! We'll see....
Good luck on the drive! We originally talked about driving on our last trip, but I'm too much of a sissy in the car. :sick: Although I'm really looking forward to riding ToT this time (haven't been on it in over 15 years! :scared1: ) and riding RnRC for the first time!
Have fun with your planning! And re-planning! ;)

Yeah DH isn't a big fan of the drive...with three kids...but we've done it before and he recognizes that saving us about $1000 in airfare is worth it! It will be an adventure and since we can easily take turns on the driving it should be okay. I have done the 7+ hour drive from MD to NC several times alone so really we are seasoned in the longer drives now. :thumbsup2

Good luck working up the nerve for ToT and RnRC! I am hoping one or both of my youngest will finally be able to get on RnRC this time around but if not that's okay. We can all do ToT and I know that we will and it gets a little easier each time to convince the kids to do it without bribery! :rotfl2:
 
Pretty sure dinner at Le Cellier is changing to 2, but lunch remains 1. I love reading all your plans!!! It's getting CLOSER for us both!

Ah! I really hadn't read a whole lot about the change...just knew it was happening! I still can't believe we're almost down to just FOUR months to go!:scared1: :cool1: :rotfl2:
 
18 weeks to go!!!

And the news for today is all about the AUTO TRAIN! My youngest son has ALWAYS been into trains. It's the one ride he gets on at every amusement park. He just loves them.

We have always discussed the idea of travel to Florida using the Auto Train. We are about an hour from the Lorton station...so it's not too much of a hassle to get there even though I DETEST Virginia traffic. However when you price it out it's not really THAT much cheaper than flying...once you add in your car but then keep in mind we usually fly AND rent a car...or minivan.

While we dream of the sleeper cars for the overnight trip...that just puts the possibility even further in terms of cost. However...I thought this week...what if we just take the train ONE-WAY? We would get the experience of the train and the cost wouldn't be too bad...especially if we depart on a weekday.

So I priced it out and it looks like right now our family of five could take the Autotrain from VA to FL, leaving Tuesday and arriving Wednesday morning, for a cost of about $460. Now when you factor 2-3 tanks of gas for our vehicle at a current price of about $50/tank we are really only out an additional $300 to take this route. That sounds pretty nice.

Anyway, right now we can't make that change because the kids' current school schedule is still not set. As of TODAY their last day of school is slated to be Monday, so leaving on Tuesday would work. However there is still the month of February to go and the possibility of another snow day is still there. We can't chance booking it right now in case we'd need to change it.

It's definitely something we are going to revisit next month though!

 
Just stopping by after seeing the link to your PTR in the BLT thread. I dont think we live that far from one another since it only took us about an hour to get to Lorton from our house.

I love your plans so far. It is so fun to see other peoples ADRs because it always seem we stick with the same ones although with this trip I am making DH venture out and try new things.
 
Just stopping by after seeing the link to your PTR in the BLT thread. I dont think we live that far from one another since it only took us about an hour to get to Lorton from our house.

I love your plans so far. It is so fun to see other peoples ADRs because it always seem we stick with the same ones although with this trip I am making DH venture out and try new things.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!
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We actually live close to Baltimore...but between Washington and Baltimore.

Yes we are trying a few new ADRs this time around but not many. Once you find a place you like it's hard to skip it for upcoming trips (Cali Grill, Brown Derby, Chef Mickey). :thumbsup2

 
Hard to believe it's been that long...but this is one of my favorite photos during that trip:

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My then almost-4-year old running through EPCOT after a rainy morning. It's like he almost has the place to himself! :lmao:

This was the trip where we took a chance and rented some DVC points from somebody and booked a 2BR at Boardwalk. We just LOVED it. It was so great to have the space, the kitchen, everything especially with 6 of us! My in-laws got the big bedroom and DH and I took the room what was the studio (it was a 2BR lockoff) with the two little kids...age 4 and about 13 months. :lovestruc

Believe it or not, in our years of owning at DVC we have NEVER had the room with the King bed? We've always been the ones with the kids so we take the rooms with more than one bed and give the king bed to the in-laws. This upcoming trip will be our FIRST time getting the room with the king bed in our many years of staying on DVC property. Cool! :thumbsup2
 
Forgive me if you've said this already, but which is your home resort? Did you buy from Disney direct or resale? We are considering buying into DVC when we go in June.

It would be cool to take the auto train! We looked into Amtrak for our trip in June, and the trip would take 41 hours :lmao:. Uh, we'll just drive, thank you! Apparently there's not a direct route from Chicago to Orlando.

Yay for king beds! When we get to sleep in one (we have a queen AND at least one kid in bed with us each night!) it feels like we have SO MUCH ROOM!
 
Forgive me if you've said this already, but which is your home resort? Did you buy from Disney direct or resale? We are considering buying into DVC when we go in June.

It would be cool to take the auto train! We looked into Amtrak for our trip in June, and the trip would take 41 hours :lmao:. Uh, we'll just drive, thank you! Apparently there's not a direct route from Chicago to Orlando.

Yay for king beds! When we get to sleep in one (we have a queen AND at least one kid in bed with us each night!) it feels like we have SO MUCH ROOM!

We bought directly from Disney after doing a DVC tour there. Incentives were pretty good even though per point price was more run resale. I also just read they are changing the rules for those buying resale not through Disney...don't get all of the same perks and vacation choices as Disney buyers. Something to keep in mind.
 
In honor of the closing of Toontown over the weekend, I thought I'd share some of our Toontown Memories...we were quite fond of the playground there when the kids were little! :)


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:scared1: SURELY you can't be SERIOUS with the SNOW?

Yes just last week I was thinking MAYBE just MAYBE I'd go ahead and book our Autotrain tickets for Tuesday. After all, Thursday and Friday we were boasting temperatures in the 70s...Spring must really be right around the corner like the groundhog predicted! :cool1:

Today...the temps are now dropping into the 30s and tonight they are calling for...SNOW! :confused3

What? :rotfl2:

Ok so since we've had temps above the 50 most of the last few days, I cannot imagine the ground is cold enough for any real sticking to happen...right?? :confused3

Back at home, my daughter is battling some kind of virus. She's had a fever since Friday sometime and I spent the weekend dosing her with children's tylenol and motrin every 4 hours or so for headaches and fever. She's still not better today, but the kids are off for Pres Day and my DH is also off from work so he's home...but what if she isn't better by tomorrow?

I just might be taking a sick day...and with the weather I'm guessing there is a small chance of a delay but I don't think school will be close and the kids will earn another snow day...making snow day number three. At least that's my hope.

I was really thinking by this time next week for sure I'd be booking that train trip.

And now I'm hearing about 4-8 inches of snow possible here according to a coworker...OMG! :scared1:

 
Cute pics! How fun to look back and see how much your kids have grown! :cloud9:
And so sorry to hear about the snow! We've had some great (and dare I say warm!) weather here lately after 5 snow days (totally unheard of in this area)! I don't want to jinx it by putting all my winter stuff away just yet. Although it's very tempting... :laughing:
Here's hoping your little one feels better and to no more snow days! pixiedust:
 
Following you over from our June 2011 thread. I know what you mean about the snow. As the day wears on in our part of MD, they keep saying more and more snow totals. I could go for a delay, but I really don't want to have a snow day since that will extend the school year. We are going to the beach with my family before we all get to Disney so this would cut into our vacation plans. I know they said that winter is not technically over until March sometime, but I really thought with temperatures in the 70s this past Friday that snow was out of reach. Ugh! I hope that your plans are not affected too much.
 
Cute pics! How fun to look back and see how much your kids have grown! :cloud9:
And so sorry to hear about the snow! We've had some great (and dare I say warm!) weather here lately after 5 snow days (totally unheard of in this area)! I don't want to jinx it by putting all my winter stuff away just yet. Although it's very tempting... :laughing:
Here's hoping your little one feels better and to no more snow days! pixiedust:


Amanda...yeah Texas has been hit pretty hard this year. Here's hoping you are done there...and so are WE!!! :worship:

Kids did get a snow day today...making that day number three for them. It means right now the last day of school is Tuesday and I decided to go ahead and book the Autotrain for that day. They would get out by 1pm, we would probably pick them up a bit early and have the car packed and then just go so plenty of time to make the train station between 2pm and 3pm I think. Kids did get out and play for a bit.

Oh and I noticed your siggy and the tag about NOT being pregnant. So funny. :rotfl2: Of our trips to Disney, I have been pregnant :lovestruc for TWO of them myself. :rotfl2: In 2001 I was just a few weeks along for my daughter born in Oct 2002. In Feb 2004 I as quite pregnant with my youngest who was born in early July...so I know the feeling. I'll have to hop over and check out your pre-trip!:banana:
 
Following you over from our June 2011 thread. I know what you mean about the snow. As the day wears on in our part of MD, they keep saying more and more snow totals. I could go for a delay, but I really don't want to have a snow day since that will extend the school year. We are going to the beach with my family before we all get to Disney so this would cut into our vacation plans. I know they said that winter is not technically over until March sometime, but I really thought with temperatures in the 70s this past Friday that snow was out of reach. Ugh! I hope that your plans are not affected too much.

Thanks for stopping by!

So how did you fare with the snow? We got probably around 3 inches here, but with the sleet that was underneath the snow they did go ahead and close schools for the kids. I had to come to work in Baltimore though...but our University opened at noon and I get off work at 3pm so I can manage that! :banana:

I went ahead and booked our train tickets anyway this morning. I want to make sure the prices don't increase and even though the kids' last day will be Tuesday right now, they get out early so we should still be able to make Lorton for the train between 2pm and 3pm. :)
 















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