June 2024 PTR - Fam of 4 at Poly w/ DDP! UPDATED 5/30 Last post!!

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Hello all! First time PTR here! I’ve read a lot of TRs and PTRs and it really helps me plan/get excited/live vicariously so I’m paying it forward and sharing my own! I’m very open to others ideas/suggestions so if there’s anything in here that you might do differently, I’m all EARS!

Introductions
We are a family of 4, native Floridians living about 2 hours south of Orlando. My husband and I have been married for 8 years and have a 6 year old daughter and 2 year old boy. Our soon turns 3 very soon after this trip so we wanted a nice vacation before we have to buy his own AP!



We’ve had APs the last 3 years or so, and other trips each year in between including quite a few times just going up for the day and home by bedtime! We really started going often after our daughter’s first trip when she was 2 (so about 4-5 years now)
[Interesting fact: we were at Magic Kingdom the day the parks reopened in 2020 totally by chance. We already had a trip booked with that as our arrival date and never cancelled so we went and got to experience a totally different (and totally empty!) MK.]

I’m an RN and going on my 10th year! It’s unbelievably rewarding and also mentally and physically exhausting. I also am new to the Rundisney crowd and have done 2 half marathons and just registered for the 2025 Marathon during marathon weekend!

We are rope-droppers and usually midday breakers (but not always) and never ever park closers Kids are in bed by 8:30 at the latest so we have not been able to catch any fireworks shows for years. Hopefully going to try and stay up to watch HEA from Poly beach in our Jammie’s on the night that we don’t have to be up early the next day. I’m amazed at everyone here that can stay up until 11-12 (or later!) and then rope drop again the next day!!! Seriously don’t know how you do it.

On with the trip!

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Trip Details

- Staying at the Polynesian (rented DVC) studio for 3 nights, 4 park days.



- After running the numbers and calculating exactly what we would buy for meals, the Disney Dining Plan was purchased! If my math is correct, we won’t save THAT much (~$50) but the pre paying aspect and the joy I will have not worrying about the bill at every meal like I usually do is worth it to me! Reservations are already booked and I’ll share those in another post.

- Rough itinerary
Arrival day: Epcot
Day 2: Magic Kingdom morning, Epcot evening
Day 3: Poly pool day, afternoon/evening at Hollywood Studios
Day 4: Animal Kingdom

Genie+ and ILL$ will be purchased on 2 of the 4 days, the MK/Epcot day and HS evening

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Dining Reservations:

At our 60 day mark, I booked 3 TS meals for our dining plan. As it turns out, they are all buffets. I don’t know if I’ll regret this and wish we had one that wasn’t a buffet but at the time these are the places we wanted to go to. I was a little picky about where we eat based on ease of location and dining plan value. 2 credit TS were not an option so I wanted to go to more higher price point 1 TS credit restaurants.

First night dinner at 1900 Park Fare
The announcement of this reopening got me and I’ve never been here. Characters are a plus for my kids and a lot of the food options sound good to us. It’s easy to get to Grand Floridian from Poly so this seemed like a no brainer. Plus- they are not accepting any discounts for the first year so we wouldn’t have gotten the AP discount if not on the dining plan.

2nd night we are hopping to Epcot for dinner and booked Biergarten. We have eaten here before about 1 year ago and really enjoyed it. Lots of options for kids and the musical entertainment is great. Bonus: ginormous beers for DH

3rd day we decided not to do any TS. This is our pool day and going to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon so our rough plans are to get QS meal at Docking Bay 7. I really want to try the Surly Sarlacc drink!!!

Last day we are going to Animal Kingdom before driving home. Sooo Tusker House it is. More characters and I’ve read good reviews recently. We went once for dinner back in 2020 so this time we are getting breakfast. (Although reservation is for 10:20 so maybe we’ll be able to try a little bit of the lunch??)

Cute pic from last time


Do we think all buffets is a bad idea? It’s not super easy to make plates for 2 kids and ourselves but it also means not waiting for food after ordering so I think I’m ok with it?

 

[kclark9830]

Sounds like fun!

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

SNACKS (etc)

As my tag line suggests…one of my main goals is SNACKS! We are big foodie’s and love to try new things.

So we can’t wait to try out a bunch of yummy stuff on this trip. On the dining plan we will get 3 snacks a day (1 for each of us) which sounds like a lot! We usually only have 1 or 2 snacks a day and share those so to have 3 will be great. I’ve been eyeing menus and trip reports to narrow down what sounds good/be a good value on the dining plan.

(Not you, Mickey pretzel)


Here is a rough list of stuff I have in mind. Anything you think I should add or remove?

(Already planning on a Starbucks Venti Iced Latte for Mommy )

• Magic Kingdom:
  • Cinnamon roll from Gaston’s
  • Cheddar Jack Pretzel from Cheshire Cat Cafe
  • Any float/sundae from Auntie Gravity or Storybook Treats
• Epcot:
  • Pretzel bread pudding from Germany
• Hollywood Studios:
  • Wookiee cookie from Backlot express
• Animal Kingdom:
  • Pineapple crisp sundae from Tamu Tamu

My list ended up being a lot of sweet stuff but I actually prefer savory so send me some ideas!

Also on my must-try list is the Viking Coffee from Norway!! I love anything and everything coffee (helllloooo espresso martinis) so I think I will really like this. Speaking of espresso martinis, anyone know a good place to get one!?

If anyone knows any other snacks that we should try let me know, I feel like there must be others at Epcot I’m missing but without festival booths during our trip I can’t think of any!

 

[kclark9830]

I always intend to try new snacks...yet I never get around to it LOL! Here's to eating all the yummy goodness.

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

35 days to go!!!

Attractions

I’m starting to look at some wait times and Genie+ return times on the app during the day but I know it will be busier when we’re there with it being summer so I’m trying to gauge for that as well. But just getting a rough idea…

Because we are so fortunate to be able to go to Disney pretty often, there aren’t many rides that are “must-do’s”, maybe 1 or 2 in each park. And we also don’t seem to be interested in the rides that everyone else is? (Don’t come @ me but we don’t do Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan) We have done these once or twice the last couple years so we are okay missing those.

MK:
- Big Thunder Mountain and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train are tied for favorites of DD so those are on the list. Thunder mtn will be our first LL, SDMT will be $ILL and we will use Rider Switch for both. That’s my little thrill seeker in the back row hands up!!



She has also requested:

• Philarmargic
• Carousel
• Tiana’s if it’s open (doesn’t seem likely)
• Little Mermaid
• Meet Mickey for DS

Epcot:

• Frozen, Frozen, Frozen!!! It’s my DD’s favorite and her only request everytime we go. So this will be our 2nd LL pick in order to ride in the evening before dinner. (Going to try and book about 9:30ish after tapping in to BTMR)
• Nemo and Aquarium. [Somehow we have never done this with the kids! For some reason we usually by pass all the stuff in the front and go straight to World Showcase. But DH and I had a date day at Epcot recently and decided to explore the area for our upcoming family trip (for Science). The aquarium is awesome! Our kids will love it and I feel bad that we haven’t done it sooner. We didn’t ride the Nemo ride but I know they’ll like it so we’ll do that too. DS has been watching Nemo and Dory a lot lately so he will be in heaven!]
• Soarin’ for DH and DD. [Again something we’ve never done with DD. It had a short wait while we were in the area on our date day so we decided to ride it (for science). It was cool, I don’t need to do it again, I get a little motion sickness, so I will hang back with DS and let DH and DD ride bc I know she will enjoy it]
• Moana journey of water. This will be fun and probably a challenge to get them out of it!! We explored this once without the kids as well and it’s such a cool addition. Love the huge Te Fiti too!

Hollywood Studios:

• Mickey/Minnie Runaway Railway. We love this ride so much and we can all ride together so it’s a win.
• Slinky Dog Dash. Don’t know if you picked up on this yet but DD is a thrill junkie! Loves every coaster she’s done. (This will be 1st LL)
• Toy Story Mania
• Alien Saucers

We are not super Star Wars people so we can focus on the other stuff. Also we did MFSR with DD once and she didn’t really like it so no need.


Animal Kingdom:

• Flight of Passage. I did this once by myself while my DH watched DD when she was about 2. We planned to do rider switch and take turns riding but she ended up getting cranky so he never got to ride. So we will buy an ILL for this because I’m dying for him to experience it. I’m not sure if DD will be ok on this? She’s only 6 but very tall like 48”. Anybody bring a 6yo on FOP with success?

This is the day we drive home so not buying Genie+. If we get on Navi river, great. If not, no biggie. Same with safari. I think my DD would love Everest so we’ll play that by ear. We just like walking around looking at the animals and enjoying the ambiance. Oh and catching FOTLK!!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

 

[DLo]

Oops duplicate post

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

32 days left!!!

How early is too early to start packing??
I have been organizing some of our clothes and ears that I know we will bring. As well as some of the items I purchased recently to use on our trip.

Trying to think of anything might need/enjoy having for the kids. So far I’ve got:
​

- Bubble wands (from last trip) and batteries
- Portable fans and cooling towels
- Popcorn bucket*
- Snack containers
- hand sanitizer
- portable phone battery

*side tangent on our popcorn bucket: We surprised our daughter during spring break since we didn’t get to do a vacation with tickets to Cirque du Soleil Drawn to Life! It was so incredible, if you’ve never done it, you have to add it to your plans next time you’re in the area. My daughter loved it so much. Anyway, we got our first popcorn bucket there and I love it I think it is so unique and now brings up a special memory

I also recently read someone talking about their trip and they linked an inflatable bed they used for their toddler. I ended up buying one to see if our son will like it. We have always done pack n play or crib but I just don’t think he’s comfortable in those anymore and our last trip over Christmas he slept TERRIBLE and ended up in bed with us so I’m willing to try something new. This pic is from Amazon.


Everytime I think my packing list is complete things keep popping up and it keeps growing!! Other than the park necessities/obvious stuff…send me your must-have items for Disney!!​

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

I don’t know about you…but I’m feelin 22!

22 days away that is!!



Somehow we’re only about 3 weeks away and now my excitement is slowly becoming a little more like nervousness. (What am I forgetting to buy/pack? Do we have everything? When should I start packing? What if it pours rain every day?) Thanks Anxiety.


(anyway else excited for Inside Out 2?!)

Anyway- let’s talk CLOTHES! For our past trips, I’ve always had a rough plan of our daily outfits in an effort to have them somewhat color coordinated for pictures. (I’ve actually done this since I was a kid) Only one day on my daughter’s 5th birthday did we have complete matching shirts which was fun but seems like a waste when we won’t wear those shirts ever again because they were so specific. This trip I’m planning a little more “themed” days for our outfits and pretty much have everything nailed down except for our departure day at AK.

So…first day: Arrival and Epcot

When I asked a couple months ago, DD declared her current favorite character is Princess Jasmine. So we are going to try and meet Jasmine at Epcot in the Morocco pavilion and so DD NEEDS to have an awesome Jasmine outfit.

I went on over to Esty and got her some adorable Jasmine-inspired ears. I then went back and forth on a couple different dresses but they were either out of stock or way too expensive. I saw that shopDisney had a Jasmine pants/top set that looked really nice and was normally $49.99. It did end up going on sale to $34.99 and then I waited a little while longer and they had a save an additional 30% off sale items going on PLUS free shipping! So I snagged it for about $23!! And her little crown was only $7. Score!
((side note: She has also been asking for her very own 1st loungefly and we kept telling her maybe for her next birthday. Well during the same shopDisney sale I ended up finding her a beautiful one for $40 and am holding onto it until her birthday!))

This is the only outfit that is more costume-like and not “bounding”. The rest of our clothes will be much more practical with active/dry fit style materials and comfort forward. Because, summer.

I’m planning on doing a subtle Anna disneybound outfit the first day. I bought these ears recently in Epcot and already had the blue top and black skirt. Now looking at pictures of Anna, I’m realizing I really should have done a blue skirt and black top. Oops. Oh well!

DH is pretty basic but it’s a pretty color that won’t clash too much. I’m still working out what DS will wear. If anybody has ideas send them my way.




Next day is MK day so we are going more classic Mickey/Fab 5 and princesses for DD. Love how colorful it all looks together. I didn’t get a picture of it but my DH will be in a light blue drifit shirt with a small Mickey outline on the chest.




For Hollywood studios we are embracing Toy Story Land! I found this super cute sets for the kids on Etsy that are a very soft and stretchy material. crop top and skirt for DD and shirt for DS. They had this really cute pattern of all the Toy Story characters on it. Then I ordered DD some ears in a Bo Peep inspired color scheme. I then jumped on the Halara bandwagon for myself. This dress has become super popular in the parks and after receiving it, I can see why! So comfy and soft and active but still cute. I ordered it in the royal blue and decided I can do a subtle Aliens from Toy Story outfit. This dress and ears I had made in lime green. My vision is very subtle as I didn’t want to spend $$$$$ but I think it will all look cute walking around Toy Story land. Hopefully we can get a picture with Woody and Jessie! DH is going to wear the golf polo with the little Woody on the chest.




And that’s all I’ve got so far! Need ideas for Animal Kingdom! We are having breakfast at Tusker House to meet Mickey and the gang so maybe something with them?

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

18 days to go!! This may or may not be my last post pre-trip. Our normal lives will be a bit hectic with end of the school year (last day here is May 23rd) and end of dance season craziness so I don’t think I’ll have much time to dedicate to this PTR. Which may be good, hopefully it makes it go by fast!

These last couple weeks I’ve been watching typical wait times in the app and also Genie+ return times to get a game plan as far as what time is best for what rides, etc. Here is our rough itinerary:

Daily Plans

Day 1: Arrival to Poly and Epcot

I’m aiming to wake up slightly earlier than usual and get on the road by 7:30am. We will have the car packed up the night before so that should help. After a Dunkin’ run, this should put us to arrive at the Polynesian about 9:30am

We will drop our bags with bell services, change DD into her Jasmine outfit, and take the monorail to Epcot!

We will check out the aquarium when we get there and possibly do Nemo ride. DS is currently obsessed with Finding Dory and anything with sharks so he will be happy.

Then we will go to WS starting at Canada (the wrong way!) to get to Morocco to meet Jasmine. Current times are 10:45 or 11:55 so hoping we can make it the 10:45.
Planning to QS lunch in Mexico. This will be our 1st QS meal of our dining plan. It’s a decent value, the kids love tacos, and helloooo margs for Mom and Dad!!



After lunch we will meander around WS, maybe grab a snack credit dessert somewhere, walk through Moana Journey of Water, and just enjoy.
We will head back to the Poly whenever the room is ready and then we have dinner at 1900 Park Fare! Excited to get a picture of DD in her Jasmine outfit with Aladdin!

Day 2: Magic Kingdom day, Epcot in evening

The next day I will be up early to purchase Genie+ for the day and make our first LL for BTMR! We are hoping to get to MK close to 8 am to get some castle pictures during Early Entry. Oh, and a snack credit Starbucks venti for Mommy!!
​

We will ride a couple low wait things first and then ride BTMR about 9:30 in order to immediately book an evening LL for Frozen. I’ve been watching the return times like a hawk, it looks like we should be able to grab an evening LL about this time. Secondary idea is just to book Frozen at 7 and ride BTMR when it opens at 9? That way second LL can be booked sooner.

We will ride anything with a low-ish wait in the morning before grabbing our QS lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We’ve never eaten here but have heard good things and it’s a good value for the dining plan. Plus DD loves some fried shrimp so she’ll be a happy camper!

We will plan to leave the park about 2pm and possibly change at the hotel before going to Epcot. We will hopefully have LL’s for Frozen and Soarin followed by a dinner reservation at Biergarten! We ate here during Christmas time before and loved it so we’re happy to go back!

I’m not sure if we should try to watch HEA from the Poly beach this night? As I said before, we’ve never managed to watch a fireworks show with the kids as they are usually more than ready for bed and I worry about pushing them too much. This day would be ideal since we can sleep in somewhat the next day and don’t need to rush off to a park. Thoughts? I worry about my son mostly and getting cranky.

Day 3: Pool day and Hollywood Studios

Plan is to enjoy the Poly pool during the day while booking LL’s every 2 hours

We will head to the park about 2:30 ish and ride MMRR first. We love this ride and so do the kids! Such a fun experience.

We will try to meet some Pixar characters next, mainly Sulley and then Woody/Jessie and Buzz! Have to get those with our Toy Story outfits!!

Dinner will be QS at Docking Bay 7 and then we will hopefully have LL’s to ride Slinky, Toy Story Mania, and Alien swirling saucers!

Hopefully we can catch the last Frozen sing a long show at 6:30pm. And Maybe a snack credit Wookie Cookie for dessert!?! Before calling it an evening and heading back for sleep. Never seen Fantasmic, is this a must-do?? Or can we wait until DS is a little older and can stay up later without being a cranky pants?

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

Last park before driving home!
Purchasing an ILL for Flight of Passage for my DD and DH! I’ve ridden it once before but they haven’t. I really think they’ll love it!

Well try to ride Safari or Navi River when we get there but without LLs I’m keeping an open mind.

We have a breakfast reservation at Tusker House so I’m mostly excited about that! Our reservation time is 10:15 so I’m thinking we may see the first few things for lunch come out at the end of our meal? I’ve heard that’s a thing. We’ll see.

Rest of the day is kind of up in the air. I know my son will love Dinoland and the playground there but it will be so hot!! Maybe a spin on Triceratops spin will suffice.

Festival of the Lion King is great so maybe we can do that before heading home!
​

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

One week to go!!!

That’s right, this time next week we will be in Disney!

I know the next 7 days are pretty jam-packed for us and today was my last day at home with some free time to myself so I was planning on getting started on packing!

I work this weekend and then lots of appointments and kids stuff going on today I needed to get a big chunk of the prepping/organizing done and I definitely feel accomplished.

First I had to take to my daughter to my MIL and my son to his preschool. Then I had a doctors appointment and a hair appointment. And I was STILL able to get a lot done.

I was able to find all of our neck fans and stroller fans AND their charging cords to get them all charged up. This felt like such a triumph because we have 3 neck fans (with 3 different cords), 1 stroller fan (another cord) and 3 portable phone chargers (and their cords) And there is no rhyme or reason as to where in the house they are located. They were all over the place and nowhere near their prospective cords. Lesson learned!

And now I’m realizing I forgot about our bubble wands!!!

Add that to the to-do list for another day.

I pulled out my brand new packing cubes, the park bag essentials, and our first day outfits.


Not pictured is the rest of the clothes I’ve had set aside for weeks, ponchos, more ears, etc.

So far I’m very happy with the packing cubes and definitely think they will come in handy on future longer trips. I don’t think we necessarily NEEDED them for this short trip. But I do like that I could sort our clothes by day so each day we’ll just pull out a different cube.

I tested out the inflatable bed for DS to see how the set up works. It was super quick to inflate and seems very comfy. We’ll see how he does!

Like I said I feel accomplished and way more organized after today. Now on Wednesday (the night before we leave) we can just load up the car with the suitcases and save time in the morning.




I’m off to bed now..this will be last post for PTR. Hopefully I can take notes and also do a TR after we get home!!

See ya real soon!!

 

[kclark9830]

I've always wanted to try packing cubes. And it's not long now .