Last Minute PTR

[haleofafamily]

I watched the video and I don't blame you one bit for falling in love with the resort. It's beautiful!

And that was just the room - I wish we had some of the pool, lobby and animal viewing areas. Watching the animals from our balcony was fascinating. We usually had giraffe, zebra, some kind of cattle, various birds and wildebeest.

 

[haleofafamily]

LET THE PRE-TRIP REPORT BEGIN!

The desire for this trip came when Disney decided to give AP holders that renewed their passes 15 months instead of 12. Let me be honest I always desire to go to WDW - this gave me the excuse I was looking for. I reasoned that we could get 3 trips out of a 15 month renewal. Also my grandpa gave me some extra money and why be responsible - when we can go to WDW?

Now I had to find the right dates. We were already planning on going in Dec. '10. After looking at crowd calendars and based on our experience with the month of May we chose this month. I'm really looking forward to the Flower and Garden Festival.

My husband decided right away that he couldn't go this time. So I was seriously considering taking the kids all by myself. To keep cost down I was going to try and drive , but that was just too crazy. We decided to fly and to keep an eye out for the best possible deals. We were able to get 2 roundtrip tickets free from points and found really great deals for the rest of the airfare. Gotta love Southwest.

I think my mom has been wonderful to go with us so many times and I didn't want to press my luck by asking her again. But one day out of the blue she said, "So when is our next trip to Disney World?" I said sheepishly, "Well...in a few months - the first week of May - wanna go?" Of course she did! So we added her to the party.

Our original plan was to use some of our DVC points to stay in a 2 bedroom from May 2 - 7. After research and based on availability we booked (drum roll please) the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. I am excited to give this resort another chance and my mom (who has never stayed here) thinks it looks amazing! She is super excited. (We are wait-listed for BCV - location, location, location and BLT - wanna try something new, but I really think we will stay at VWL)

Up next...Booking the flight brings changes and surprises

 

[__disneygirl]

You are just like me... anytime any extra money that I SHOULD BE SAVING pops up.. I am on the phone with Disney within seconds.

You are sooo lucky to be staying at VWL. We love the WL but we haven't stayed there yet. We want to rent DVC points for our next trip and can't decide which resort. I agree about the BC location. I want to be able to walk to Epcot so bad. We'll see.

PS.. you must be a really great mom if you can have 6 kids driving all those hours staying behaved and only stopping 3 times!! You're my idol!!

 

[haleofafamily]

You are just like me... anytime any extra money that I SHOULD BE SAVING pops up.. I am on the phone with Disney within seconds.

You are sooo lucky to be staying at VWL. We love the WL but we haven't stayed there yet. We want to rent DVC points for our next trip and can't decide which resort. I agree about the BC location. I want to be able to walk to Epcot so bad. We'll see.

PS.. you must be a really great mom if you can have 6 kids driving all those hours staying behaved and only stopping 3 times!! You're my idol!!

Wow - thanks. We have great kids and thankfully they inherited a lot of their dads personality so that is why they're so good most of the time.

As far as renting points I don't think you can go wrong with any DVC property. There are things we have loved about all of them. Choosing just one is a sweet agony .

 

[haleofafamily]

LET'S STAY LONGER...IT WILL BE CHEAPER!?!

After I had our dates settled and our villa booked I started looking at the flights. We really like flying with Southwest because they have non-stop flights from KC to Orl. Plus usually their prices can't be beat.

This time the rates for our dates were fairly expensive and weren't going down at all. So I used the handy little check the rates around your dates option and low and behold the days before and after had $59 each way rates. After some calculating I realized we could go for 2 extra nights and save money. Staying those nights would not be an option at VWL (way too much money). Now I get to research more resorts and try to book those.

I decided to stay at POP (preferred sections - don't want to walk any more than we have too!) for our first night. We booked 2 rooms and were told they are guaranteed connecting, but I am not sure because of what I have read here on the Dis. We'll soon find out. I'm not very worried because my mom decided she could swing adding a day as well so there will be an adult in each room. I think WDW makes switching resorts very easy so I'm not stressing over that either.

Now figuring out the last night proved to be more difficult. Originally I decided on CBR - thanks in large part to Lisa's TR . I booked 2 rooms and they were also guaranteed connecting preferred sections. This time I will be alone because my mom has to go back on Fri. So what was so difficult you ask? I was looking at my confirmation and realized the dates were a night off. I have no idea if it was my fault or the Disney reservation person. So I called to get it straightened out and couldn't be guaranteed a preferred section. And all the talk of connecting rooms not being a sure thing got me very worried. So I decided to change resorts.

I found a GREAT rate for an executive suite at the Dolphin. It was only $20 more than 2 rooms at CBR. We will all be together in one room so my mind is at ease.

I am so excited to be at these resorts. We have never stayed at either one and they both look great and very different.

At the end of the last section I promised some surprises. Here they are: when my mom was booking her flight (she lives in the OKC area) she booked on Southwest as well and after she had her confirmation she laughed and said, 'Hey I have a lay over in KC.' I said, 'What is your flight number and times?' Can you guess the surprise? She told me and I said, 'That is the same flight we will be on!' What are the odds? The second surprise is that this trip is a surprise for the kids. They have no idea we are leaving in 9 days for WDW. I have no idea how I am going to tell them. HELP PLEASE!!

Coming up - Daily Itineraries

 

[lomaha]

I like the idea I read on a thread here where they put a Mickey balloon (filled with helium) in a box aand wrapped it. Then they let the kids open it together and when the box opened the balloon floated up with a note that said "we're going to Disney!" I was actually trying to find a creative way to tell our kids we were going back a couple weeks ago when my DH just told them! I could not believe he did that! Oh well, he just got excited I guess.

 

[haleofafamily]

I like the idea I read on a thread here where they put a Mickey balloon (filled with helium) in a box aand wrapped it. Then they let the kids open it together and when the box opened the balloon floated up with a note that said "we're going to Disney!" I was actually trying to find a creative way to tell our kids we were going back a couple weeks ago when my DH just told them! I could not believe he did that! Oh well, he just got excited I guess.

Sounds like something my husband would do .

I like that idea too. I might do a treasure hunt that ends with the box and balloon.

 

[haleofafamily]

DAY 1 PLANS AND SURPRISES

On Sat. mornings my husband usually makes pancakes for breakfast for the family. Since our flight doesn't leave until 1:15pm I am planning on keeping up the tradition and act like everything is normal.

The day before is Ashlynne's 3rd birthday. We will celebrate when Aaron gets home from work. I entered her information on the Disney website so she should have a b-day pin waiting for her when we check-in.

Since this trip is a surprise I will have to find time to sneakily pack. Hopefully on Thursday Aaron will take the kids to a park or something for the evening so I can get the packing all finished up. We will load the car on Friday night after the kids are in bed.

Now back to Sat. - after breakfast I will surprise the kids somehow. Ideas are still welcome! I know they will be excited, but I also expect mixed emotions when they find out Aaron isn't going.

We will leave for the airport around 11am. I can't wait to see their faces when they see my mom waiting for us. Our flight is non-stop so hopefully it will be uneventful. I am going to take my laptop for the girls to watch a movie. I have never done this before. Is it a good idea?

When we land we will head to baggage claim and find our LIMO driver. Woo-hoo! I am surprising my mom with this. We used ME on our last trip for the arrival and it was great, but I had a little extra money and since we have already established that I am not the frugal type I decided to splurge on a stretch limo.

I can't wait to see POP. I think this resort looks really fun! I already did the on-line check-in and we arrive after 3pm so the rooms should be ready. Cross your fingers we get our guaranteed connecting rooms.

It will be dinner time so we will eat at the food court. Any suggestions for the best meals?

I'm sure we will be pretty wiped out so I am planning on swimming and heading to bed early. If everyone is hyper then we will probably go to Downtown Disney, look around and get our AP's activated. We've tried going into a park on our arrival day and it doesn't work well for us. We are like zombies and grumpy ones at that!

Can't believe we are finished with our first day.

Coming up - Day 2 and our GAD story

 

[bellebookworm9]

Sounds like a lot of fun-I like your treasure hunt idea! I'm planning on bringing my laptop as well. I'm thinking mom and I can watch either the first 2-3 episodes of GLEE or the first Pirates of the Caribbean. How exciting about the Limo! I'd love to do that, but since we're on a budget this time, not happening. I can dream though! I agree, Pop does look like a fun resort. We were deciding between that and All Star Music, and I can't remember why we picked ASMu, but it doesn't matter anymore anyway! Can't wait to read more.

 

[__disneygirl]

Ok, we LOVELOVELOVE Pop. I think even if I was a millionaire I would want to stay there. To me it's not just a value resort. It is so much fun and just so Disneyish, with the huge icons everywhere. And their food court is the best, I think. The food is above counter service quality. The Chicken Penne Alfredo is amazing. They have really good flatbreads too. and the Mom's Night Out Fried Chicken meal is really really great too. Those are my favorite things. Oh and the Tye Dye Cheesecake.

As for the surprise... again I have to say you are an awesome mom! As a kid who's parents surprised her with a WDW trip when she was little, trust me, your children will never forget that moment they find out they are going. I think the treasure hunt sounds like a great idea but my parents just sat me down and said "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD." and that was enough to BLOW MY MIND!

 

[haleofafamily]

Sounds like a lot of fun-I like your treasure hunt idea! I'm planning on bringing my laptop as well. I'm thinking mom and I can watch either the first 2-3 episodes of GLEE or the first Pirates of the Caribbean. How exciting about the Limo! I'd love to do that, but since we're on a budget this time, not happening. I can dream though! I agree, Pop does look like a fun resort. We were deciding between that and All Star Music, and I can't remember why we picked ASMu, but it doesn't matter anymore anyway! Can't wait to read more.

I love GLEE that would be fun to watch on the plane. My mom is a cheer coach and I told her I want to see her 'cheerios' do their next routine on stilts.

 

[haleofafamily]

Ok, we LOVELOVELOVE Pop. I think even if I was a millionaire I would want to stay there. To me it's not just a value resort. It is so much fun and just so Disneyish, with the huge icons everywhere. And their food court is the best, I think. The food is above counter service quality. The Chicken Penne Alfredo is amazing. They have really good flatbreads too. and the Mom's Night Out Fried Chicken meal is really really great too. Those are my favorite things. Oh and the Tye Dye Cheesecake.

As for the surprise... again I have to say you are an awesome mom! As a kid who's parents surprised her with a WDW trip when she was little, trust me, your children will never forget that moment they find out they are going. I think the treasure hunt sounds like a great idea but my parents just sat me down and said "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD." and that was enough to BLOW MY MIND!

Those meals sound really good. I'm going to write them down so I can remember them.

I have decided to go with the clues that end with a box and balloon so now I have to start thinking of what to put on them. Sometimes stuff like that comes to me very quickly and other times it takes days. Since I don't have much time I hope the ideas click fast.

 

[haleofafamily]

DAY 2 SWITCHING RESORTS AND AK

I’m having a little trouble deciding what to do about this morning. We will be up bright and early I’m sure. I’m trying to figure out if we should try to check-in to VWL before we head to the park. My mom is willing to take a taxi there and check us in and then get on a bus from there to AK. What do you think? Should we go for the early check-in (I feel like this gives us a better chance at having our room ready earlier) or just relax a little and have the possibility of being without a room during the afternoon? I really want to see my mom’s face when she sees the WL lobby. Just looking at the pictures has her so excited! I have already checked-in on-line here too.

Whatever we decide - my goal is to be at AK by rope drop (9am). Depending on the crowds we will either use the regular entrance or enter through Rainforest Cafe. I will go Fast Pass Dinosaur and EE while my mom takes the kids to the Safari. I will meet up with them in line. From here our schedule is pretty up in the air. Our must sees are Finding Nemo, EE and Dino (for some), the Boneyard and Festival of the Lion King. We will eat at Pizzafari (I love the italian deli sandwich). We have another day to come back here for anything that we missed or want to do again.

We’ll probably leave by early afternoon. Hopefully our room will be ready. If so, we will rest and swim. Dinner will be at Roaring Forks (WL counter service). We have the counter service dining plan for this trip. We have had the regular dining plan before and enjoyed trying a lot of the restaurants. But we didn’t like how much touring time they consume and the counter service plan is a great deal for kids.

If we have lots of energy we may go into Magic Kingdom for the evening. It has the EMH for the night. If we are tired then we will just swim again and then go to bed.

Up next: Day 3 and now the GAD story

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry I got behind. I can't seem to get caught up with my Dising lately.

We surprised Hunter with a trip to WDW in 2008 and kept it a secret for 14+ hours. We didn't tell him we were going to WDW until we saw the sign (we drove) saying 30 miles to Disney World. It was sooooo much fun seeing the delight in his eyes.

I can hardly wait to hear how your kids react!

 

[mickeystoontown]

You and I must have been posting at the same time. I think I'd try doing early check-in if you have the time. Having said that, I like being at the Animal Kingdom at rope drop so that we can get everything done within their short park hours.

 

[haleofafamily]

You and I must have been posting at the same time. I think I'd try doing early check-in if you have the time. Having said that, I like being at the Animal Kingdom at rope drop so that we can get everything done within their short park hours.

We missed rope drop at AK on our last trip and I felt like it threw the whole day off. We couldn't get ahead of the crowd and the park felt super crowded the whole day. So that is more important to me. I may just play it by ear and if we are up and ready do the early check-in, but if not head to AK.

 

[haleofafamily]

Day 3

MK AND OUR GAD EXPERIENCE

Thank goodness for my mom! She likes to cook breakfast and since we will have full kitchen at VWL I ordered groceries from wegoshop. She will be preparing breakfast in the mornings while I get the kiddos ready. So after what I am sure will be a hearty breakfast we will head to MK.

I’m torn on whether to take the boat or the bus. The boat has great ambience but the bus is sooo much faster. Probably will end up taking the bus because we need to get there as early as possible to get our GAD fastpasses.

I decided to try out this promotion just for the experience and what an experience it was! At first I wanted to try to do a Linus blanket project but when I looked there were none in our area. I wanted something that we all could do. I knew the girls wouldn’t be eligible because of their ages, but I thought this would be something fun for the boys and me. I found an animal shelter about 40 minutes from our house and signed us all up to be dog walkers. I then got an e-mail from the shelter saying they had to change the ages on dog walking because some of their dogs were big. So the older boys could walk dogs while the younger ones could feed and water the cats. The only problem was that the cat job was in the mornings and the dogs in the evenings. I talked to the shelter director and she said we could all come at the same time.

So our evening came for volunteering and we were excited and a little nervous. When we got there I was told that kids under 16 had to stay with an adult at all times so we would all stay together to walk the dogs and then come inside and take care of the cats. The lady took us back to the dogs and gave us our instructions. There were 4 dogs and she said 2 got along and would walk together and then the other 2. Well I misunderstood her and thought we could walk all 4 at the same time just 2 up ahead and 2 behind. So I get 2 dogs and take them to the pen area to put their leashes on and they start fighting. Major oops! Now I’m trying to get these dogs apart and my boys are scared. This was back in Feb and it was cold and lightly snowing so I had a scarf on - it came undone and the dogs decided to play tug-o-war with it. I start yelling for my son to go get someone to help. By the time he gets back with help I had the dogs apart and was taking one back inside. The women looked at me like I was a total idiot for not following her instructions. Before she could say anything I said, “I didn’t understand, but now I do and I have it under control.” She didn’t say anything just turned around and went inside. We are not off to a good start.

I finally get 2 dogs on their leashes and we are on our way. This was very small town and the places we were told to walk the dogs did not have sidewalks for most of the way. Plus it was cold, snowy, and icy. Zach (10) takes one of the dogs out of the pen and it takes off. Now we have a dog at home that he is used to walking and it is a very strong dog, but this was super dog. My son couldn’t control him. So I’m yelling, “Just sit down!” Zach sits down and the dog stops and I run to help him. The whole time I am thinking ‘what have we got ourselves into?’ I decide to walk that dog and the boys take turns walking the other and it still continues to be a calamity of errors. This dog was freakishly strong and would pull me on the ice. I was slipping and falling on the entire walk. Then we turned the corner to head back to the shelter and the dogs see cats. They starting running after them as hard as they could. I will admit there was a part of me that wanted to let them go! I kept telling myself that I would be laughing about this later. Oh how I wished for our flip camera to record our walk - $10,000 could have been ours!

I was completely worn out after walking those dogs and we still had 2 to go. So I put leashes on them and we took off. This time both dogs were strong so I walked one and my older boys walked the other one together. Cade and Jake walked with us. It was so cold that by the end Jake was crying. I felt so sorry for him. We all kept trying to encourage him and distract him . We made it back to the shelter and I took the dogs inside I was so discouraged and tired that I wanted to lay my head over and cry. I probably would have, but there was this sweet older lady back in that area doing laundry. She started talking to me and encouraging me. I’m sure she could tell that I was about to lose it. So I got control, got the boys and went to find out what we had to do next. I was hoping they would say that we could go home, but no such luck. It was time to take care of the cats.

Compared to the dogs this was a non-event. The shelter is a free-roaming shelter so most of the cats were free to walk around. There were probably 100 cats in 10 different rooms and they weren’t supposed to get out of their room. The boys really liked this part. We walked through all the rooms and filled all the food, water pans and humidifiers. Jake fell in love with the cats! He still asks about once a week when he can go see his cat friends.

The good from this was that the boys seemed to forget the drama of the dogs because they enjoyed the cats so much. And the shelter had had 500 volunteers in January alone because of Disney’s program. They said their shelter had never looked so good!

Since this is so long I will be brief with the MK itinerary.

After getting our GAD fastpass, we will head straight to Fantasyland, then Toontown - Jake is devastated that they are changing Goofy’s Barnstormer so we have to get in one last ride, then Tomorrowland. Lunch will be at Cosmic Rays. Depending on our attitudes we will either leave for rest time or tackle Adventureland. After rest time we will come back to MK and tour Liberty Square and eat dinner at Columbia Harbour House (love the tuna sandwich). Then Frontierland and Adventureland if we didn’t do it before. I will stay and watch the fireworks with whoever wants to and my mom will take the others back to the resort. This will probably be our last time to watch Wishes. I'm sure I will cry.

Next - DHS - Will I ever get Seth to ride TOT?

 

[bellebookworm9]

OMG what a terrible GAD experience! It doesn't help that I'm terrified of dogs. We also signed up for the GAD for FPs. We did Project Linus (or actually, I just made two blankets and said one was from mom). There is one in our county, but they weren't participating. There was one participating about 3 hours away, but they told us we could mail the blankets when they were made, so that's what I did. Then we donated one ticket to Dreams Take Flight, and will keep the other for the FPs, in case we need extras on our AK day. So sad that that's the last time to see Wishes. The day I went on the allears site and saw they were getting rid of Spectro and Wishes (if only for the summer) I almost had a heart attack. I was so relieved to find out it wouldn't be happening until after our trip!

 

[haleofafamily]

OMG what a terrible GAD experience! It doesn't help that I'm terrified of dogs. We also signed up for the GAD for FPs. We did Project Linus (or actually, I just made two blankets and said one was from mom). There is one in our county, but they weren't participating. There was one participating about 3 hours away, but they told us we could mail the blankets when they were made, so that's what I did. Then we donated one ticket to Dreams Take Flight, and will keep the other for the FPs, in case we need extras on our AK day. So sad that that's the last time to see Wishes. The day I went on the allears site and saw they were getting rid of Spectro and Wishes (if only for the summer) I almost had a heart attack. I was so relieved to find out it wouldn't be happening until after our trip!

Donating the tickets is such a great thing to do. If the crowds aren't bad I may do that with a couple of ours.

Wishes may come back but from what I have read it seems like this is how Disney fazes things out. I'm sure whatever happens will be great. It's just hard to see my favorites go.

 

[haleofafamily]

Days 4 HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Hollywood Studios is the toughest park for us to tour. We like so many of the attractions that it is hard to fit everything into one day. We will go straight to TSM and ride it. Hopefully we will have the GAD fastpasses so we can take our time for the day. My mom and I love ToT but none of the kids do. Zach and Jake have both been on it, but won’t do it again. We got Seth all the way to the elevator one time and then he took the chicken exit. So we will child swap ToT. My older boys like RnR and so do I so that will be on our to do list. We will also try to fit in (in no particular order) Star Tours, Indiana Jones, Great Movie Ride, Extreme Stunt Show, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid and Disney Animation and maybe Backlot Tours. Did I miss anything? The girls will go back for a rest time and my mom or I will do the boy stuff then. I haven’t found any Counter Service place that I really like at DHS. Any suggestions? Our day should end fairly early. Hopefully we will end our night watching the Electrical Water Pageant from the WL beach.

DAY 5 EPCOT

Epcot has been a park that has slowly grown on us. At first we didn’t think there was much to do here, but now we love almost everything. So we will ride Soarin’, Spaceship Earth, Finding Nemo, Test Track, Mission Space, the Mexico and Norway rides, Journey into Imagination with Figment and hopefully Living with the Land, Crush and Ellen’s Energy Adventure - we haven’t seen this in forever my kids don’t even remember it. We will play in the Innovention Pavilions. For lunch we will eat at Sunshine Seasons - I think this is one of the best Counter Service places in all of WDW. One of my favorite memories from Epcot was when we walked through the World Showcase and tried foods and desserts from all the countries. So my mom and I are excited to do this again for dinner tonight. We will finish the night with Illuminations. A perfect ending to the day!